Note: All opinions expressed herein are those of Matthew Edgar only and not of any organization with which he is associated.
July 7, 2003
Daily Thoughts: Mondays from now on
Mondays! My regular readers are knocking down my doors telling me I need to get to blogging...all one of them. So, here is the deal: I promise to update on Mondays. I may update other days, but Mondays for sure!
There is one other change, my blog will be moving off Blogspot.com soon and will be hosted on my own site, MatthewEdgar.Net. Stay tuned for updates.
Walter in Denver! Colorado Libertarian blogger Walter in Denver has a new home: www.walterindenver.com. go there and find the latest on Libertarians and the cat craze that has hit Denver!
From Rome to DC I have long made the case that America, like it or not, is an empire. An interesting example of this can be found in a letter of a libertarian DC intern. It is well worth the read because it gets at the biggest problem with government.
I enjoy the optimistic view that he has in this article, but for some reason, I don't see it. Part of me wants the world to fall under its own pressure - much like in Atlas Shrugged. Then when it collapses, we can return and repair the world.
Hmmm I never really thought much of the argument that religion can save someone, but the data does seem to indicate this. Whether it does or not, however, is different than arguing for or against funding for such programs.
Mistakes that you will regret in the future Mac is picking up power and fame, but Adobe doesn't see this. Something tells me they will be regretting this later on.
Internet file trading More on the court cases dealing with on-line music trading. I have to agree with going after the individual. If you copy passages out of a book, or copy lyrics out of a song, that is one thing - provided you give proper a cite. If you copy an entire book or an entire song, that is the same act of theft and both should be equally enforced. I am not sure, however, if I agree with not punishing the company. If Kinkos takes a request from me to copy an entire book, and they actually copy it, they are at as much fault as me for making the request.
Not at all related For any of you that like banjo picking, southern twang, Blue Grass music, I just discovered, thanks to an e-mail from a friend, Blue Grass Country Radio. It is a pretty good station with no commercials and a pretty good selection of rare blue grass music.
Time Off Sorry, had no intention of disappearing for such a long period of time (not that anybody probably noticed). I work at two jobs and have been working 12 hour days for the past 12 days between the two. No, I am not complaining, but I am pointing this out to note that blogging is not my first priority. I have to exercise a good deal of self constraint in blogging. Now on to news I may have missed.
The Crackdown on Free Music The heavy crackdown on internet music sharing is a little disturbing. After all, if I purchase the disk, I own the music and I have a right to do with my property whatever I will. That said, when an organization publishes a book, there are strict restrictions (that are enforced) against copying and distributing those copies, even if I own the book. in this light, maybe the music industry is on to something.
Protecting Privacy Wayne Crews, of Cato, has published an interesting op-ed on how to protect privacy. At the same time, Ed Crane, the president of Cato, published an op-ed on post 9-11 privacy. Both are worth reading.
You Decide 2004: Howard "McGovern" Dean NCPA has an overview of the 04 landscape. Part of me hopes Dean makes it to the final round. He is so incredibly left wing, it makes me want to support Bush. (ug!) However, I will say that he has a lot of courage coming out against the war when so many people - including other Dems - have come out in support of it. That takes gut, and I appreciate the one person willing to challenge accepted wisdom, especially wisdom that is currently on shaky ground.
GM Foods This is just funny: Bush and GM foods. I think it is still too early to say on GM foods. I know a lot of people who are scared of them. Why? To say that "it is playing God", does not hold up in my book because every advancement of science has been challenged along similar lines. That said, there are plausible health concerns with GMOs. One fact that is all but certain: it helps in third world countries to produce enough food.
Huh? While at the above news site, I found a link to another story in the sidebar: Singing cop jailed for 16 months. Go read the story, too odd.
We are bombarded with a message that CO2 is somehow a pollutant that will degrade the global biosphere as concentrations continue to increase. In fact, experiments the world-over show just the opposite. As we've seen in these latest five articles in major peer-reviewed scientific journals, trees benefit enormously from elevated CO2. We see the forest and we see the trees, and they both thank us for the CO2 we're adding to the atmosphere.
Weekly Riddle (leave answers in the comment section) A bus driver was heading down a street. He went right past a stop sign without stopping, he turned left where there was a "no left turn" sign, and he went the wrong way on a one-way street. Then he went on the left side of the road past a cop car. Still - he didn't break any traffic laws. Why not?
The Economic Impact of SARS Unemployment is up in Hong Kong, probably because of SARS. This is not really a shocker seeming the HK industry is based on exports and tourism, two things SARS has prevented.
More Dangers of the War on Drugs The War on Drugs has problems, far too many to list fully here. One of the problems is that lawmakers can abuse it to carry out other agendas, such as racism.
Something is weird here And it isn't just the missing information, this story points to a bigger problem, though I am not sure what exactly it is.
I Don't Smoke I do not smoke. I have severe asthma that is aggravated by smoking. I should be the poster child of banning smoking. But I still come down firmly opposed to smoking bans in restaurants and other such public places. It is the owners choice as to whether or not smoking should be allowed, and it is the customer's choice to visit that place or not. In this line, I find it acceptable for the government to ban smoking in buildings and on land they own - it is their property. But until they own every bar, I can see no reason why these bans should be allowed.
Today in History The Battle of Bunker Hill started on this day in 1775, led by Revolutionary General William Prescott who coined the famous phrase "don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" They didn't and the battle began, but as the Americans were outnumbered, the British won the Battle of Bunker Hill. Despite the loss, the Americans lost fewer men than the British did at this battle.
Zen My apologies about taking yesterday and this morning off. I got lost in a really good book. I am currently finishing Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. This is a book I would suggest everyone read. it is the best book I have read that expresses my idea of search for meaning in life and the finding of true wisdom. It is this sort of search i am on now following graduation. More than searching for what is next, there is a search for who am I and am I what I was.
5280 Magazine Well, I got a surprise yesterday. A reporter called yesterday from the local Colorado print magazine 5280. They wanted to talk to me about Denver blogging. the article will be out in August-September. Expect more details when the article comes out. It was my first interview. I said some things I kind of regret now (note to self: reevaluate your sense of humor when someone is writing down what you are saying...). Like for example, I should have given the tag line of this blog as "A cynics view on life" but instead said something like, "it is an explanation of my views on religion, philosophy, politics, and everything else". Anyway, I found it cool that he wanted to talk to me.
The Real Problem The real problem about this, is that college students keep it a secret. If only they would come out of the closet (under the stairs), as it were, then it would be much easier for them.
The Supremes Wrap It Up Or at least, they are getting close to wrapping up for the session. A ton of articles are out about it, this one is pretty good.
Patriot Act: A Bad Little Puppy Or at least according to this news report from the Cato Institute. Not good.
Apparently, Government is NOT the Answer It seems that the private companies are not the only bad guys when it comes to accounting problems. The fact is they are both evil, but the market based companies will go away if they are evil (unless they are guarded with so much regulation that they are subject to the same problem of government run companies, i.e. Enron/Qwest).
Today in History On this day in 1968 the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, went into space for a total travel of 48 orbits and 71 hours. Score one for the communists, the US decided to limit astronaut qualifications to men only. The first woman in space from America was Sally ride in 1983 - 20 years later - who went up on the Challenger. (Yes, I did just say "score one for the communists", but only one!)
Interesting Fact of the Day Proving once and for all that there is too many specialized fields of study in the world today, there is such a thing I just found out as a person who studies flags. Such a person is called a vexillologist. It is shocking, but true, that there is also a North American Vexillological Association. And be sure not to miss the site with all the latest news about flags: Flagwire. After all, you need to know the latest news about flags and flag controversies. Like for example, the horrible controversy over putting black bars on the British flag.
So, why talk about flags? Well, because it is Flag Day. One of the most pointless and painfully nationalistic holidays that is nauseatingly covered in blue, white, and red vomit. Holidays like this make me sick because it emphasizes the wrong kind of patriotism. Patriotism (or for that matter any belief - religion, philosophy, or patriotism) is not something that can be represented truly by waving a flag, wearing special clothes, or shouting down people of opposite beliefs. All that proves is that you do not mind looking a moronic because of something you believe in. Yes, it proves your devotion. I wonder though how devoted you actually are to something, if you have to constantly prove it to the rest of the world?
Back to the point: the fact of the matter is, patriotism (religion, philosophies, whatever) is strictly an internal sense of believing in a particular country (belief structure, etc.) that should be taken to heart. Further, you should only care about your devotion to it, and not care about proving it to the rest of the world. (I want to make it clear that arguing for a belief is different here, provided it is to a willing audience because you are expressing your devotion by telling people willing to listen to join your cause instead of shoving it down their throats by waving a flag in their face.) Ceremonies with funny dress and flag waving won't get very far except to annoy people. The same holds true in the opposite direction: burning a flag (or Bible, etc.) is pointless to represent an anti-American standpoint because it accomplishes nothing to further your belief against a country (or a against a particular religion) and does nothing to help persuade others to join your cause and become as devoted as you.
I am a little off topic, nevertheless, it is June 14, Flag Day.
What is patriotism? On second thought, I want to keep going on this subject.
Despite the fact that I detest flag waving, America cheering, and red-white-blue-wearing, I do consider myself a patriot of American ideology because I support the Constitution in a very strict sense. Thusly, anyone who violated the Constitution (like, oh I don't know, Ashcroft in taking away civil rights via forcing the Patriot Act through Congress) is not a patriot in my book. Patriotism is then a belief in the historical American values, not so much the country as it stands now. This is why I can come down very hard on the Bush administration without losing my sense of patriotism. No offense intended, and I hate to over generalize this much this early, but the wrong kind of patriotism (the flag waving, non-historical types) tend to be Republican much more than they tend to be Democrat. Democrats tend to be neither. Libertarians usually fall in to the kind I am talking about, but many of them get into the flag waving I-got-to-prove-it patriotism. Of course, talking about parties is pretty pointless when you think about it, because 1) the two are pretty much the same and 2) no one particular party has the answers. The main reason is that parties force you to trap yourself in to thinking strictly along party lines. This makes you really narrow minded and forces you to forget seeing that there are more solutions out there besides the particular party you are trapped in. Why, I wonder, do so many people allow themselves to be blockaded with a certain party structure? It makes no sense and limits the mind's ability to wander. Patriotism can do the same thing, if one is too devoted to it.
And now, I am stopping this subject...
The War in Iraq What do you know? Bush might have ignored facts in going to war. Read the article. Oddly enough, the CIA had data that suggested war was not the best path and yet the CIA data was relied on heavily, according to many reports of the time.
Horrorwitz Earlier this week, David Horowitz spoke at the Independence Institute. He makes me sick; I ditched the event early because I could not stand him. He represents that idea of limiting yourself within a certain perspective: Democrats bad, Republicans good. He also ignores a good lot of facts, such as about the Patriot Act. In a recent letter to his e-mail group (which I cannot find on-line) he said that some radical communist group called People for the American Way are evil:
Now [John Ashcroft is] back in their sights because he is diligently enforcing The Patriot Act, the measure Congress passed to help coordinate our nation's intelligence and investigative forces in their battle against terrorists. The radical left hates the Patriot Act because it helps the government fight their friends. But it knows better than to admit this, so it claims that the tough security measures violate the Constitution.
They don’t, but telling the truth isn't People for the American Way's strong suit. The truth is the Patriot Act is already helping prevent radical enemies -- like those who carried out the murderous September 11, 2001 attack -- from moving around our nation with impunity.
I don't like People for the American Way that much, but setting that aside, this provides a great example of what I was saying above. One can get too locked in to a certain point of view and lose a sense of perspective from the issue. In other words: Regardless of where you stand on the Patriot Act, I hope you are smart enough to realize that not just Democrats hate it. Many people dislike it from all perspectives and sides. Take me for example. I am no Democrat (I am also not a Libertarian [big L], Republican, or any other party), and I do not support the Patriot Act because somehow I don't think that limiting free speech or giving the federal government more power to search you without your knowledge fits with the original notion of the Constitutional right to privacy. (For more see the Electronic Frontier Foundation's take on it. Furthermore, more evidence in the news has pointed to the fact that there were too many regulations causing a break down of communication, which would suggest the solution to terrorist attacks is not to give up our freedoms, but instead is to consolidate and limit the government back to a more manageable and efficient (as efficient as government can be) size. Regardless of 9-11-01, the fact is many facts are being ignored by both sides largely because of getting too trapped in to a certain perspective.
And more reasons to have faith in this country The Clintons made 10 million dollars last year. Man, morons really get ahead in this country, which means I am at a loss.
Today in History Instead of repeating the flag day history, which obviously happened today in history, I will instead point out a better story, and a more fun story. Today in history, in 1951, the Universal Automatic Computer, or UNIVAC, was dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau. The UNIVAC was one of the first commercially produced computers and was produced by Remington Rand. This was one of the good old fashioned huge computers that needed a few rooms to hold its many tubes and cables. As it happens, this computer was not the first computer, but it was one the first that was not produced by a government agency. Granted it was sold to a government agency, but imagine the wonder of knowing that a huge, bulky machine could be produced without government funding along the way!
Today in History In 1982, around 11:50PM, I was born. (For those of you who cannot do the math, that makes me 21 years old today.)
As for drinking, which so many people associate with 21 (as if the majority of people wait till 21), I see no point to it and have no interest in it. For one, I have allergies to the majority of alcohol's contents (such as yeast and grapes and mold). More than that though, I wouldn't drink, even if my health conditions allowed it. I stand firm on the belief that one should practice mental freedom (freedom from toxins that is) as much as possible; why bother clouding the mind with toxins that make you feel good temporarily when life can make you feel oh so much better and for a longer period of time?
Will Jesus be a Myth in a Thousand Years? One of the earliest known belief structures from the Ancient Greek culture. We all learned this one in school. Zeus, Apollo, the mighty Aphrodite, Poseidon and the rest of the gang from Mt. Olympus. This was all but lifted by the Romans, but the names were changed to protect the innocent. We learned the belief structure of the Romans in school as well.
Then we have a whole bunch of other religions that come about around the same time. Hinduism in India, believing in reaching a high state of being of belonging to the Brahman. This path to the enlightenment is measured by karma: how many times will you need to be reincarnated until you lead a pure life that will allow you to leave this earth and pass on to the next. Up until the the late 1980s, this was seen as a strange eastern myth. Very similar to Hinduism was Buddhism, which came about somewhere around 500 years before Christ was allegedly born. Again, this was seen as a strange myth, up until very recently.
I point this out, because this is something that has always fascinated me: the transformation of beliefs to myths and sometimes the repeating of this pattern.
Very few people still believe in the belief structure of ancient Rome and ancient Greece. In today's world, that is a myth. Even Buddhism and Hinduism, which are still practiced today, are seen by most of the world as funny myths about life, not as alternative religions. This is especially true, I have noticed, with Christians, who believe that their way is the only way; everything else is wrong or is a myth which is not even worth arguing against.
Oddly enough, that was the same idea most Greeks and Romans had about their polytheistic belief structure. To them, that was the only answer. Up until the beginning of trade with Japan, Buddhism and Shinto were really their only answer to religious questions. The same holds true for Hinduism in India. Then the Christians entered these societies and broke down these belief structures and replaced them.
What I am driving at is this: the belief structures of the past are seen as myths in todays world. This forces me to wonder if in 1000 years, people will begin to think that the idea of Jesus being reborn and being the son of some great spirit in the sky is just a myth. I can hear the Christians: no we, have the true religion; the Greeks and Romans were wrong. Oddly, that is what the Romans originally said about the Christians, and now the Romans are viewed as believing in myths.
Let me get at this a different way:
Religion is incredibly related to societal conditions. Fewer people believe in Christianity today in the same way people believed in Christianity 1000 or even 500 years ago. The core beliefs of the Bible are still there to be sure, but more and more the Bible is being viewed as a collection of stories that drive to moral points; no longer are the Biblical stories literary tales about actual occurrences, for the most part. In large part, this is because of the development of scientific technique which has proved or at the very challenged the authenticity of the tales in the Bible. Put differently, the Biblical stories which were seen as complete truths up until 500 or 600 years ago, are now being seen as myths that tell stories about ethical points, much in the same way the Greeks and Roman are seen today. The only difference is that the Bible is viewed as having a religious nature to it, and the Greek and roman stories are viewed as having an historical nature to it.
Let me sum it up this way: there are many ways of approaching religion. All of them answer pretty much the same questions, and many do so in the same or in very similar ways. Those that believe in a particular belief structure tend to support it as the only truth, when in reality that belief might be proved wrong in a few hundred years and might join the ranks of being just a myth.
No Fault to Tort Colorado will be changing its insurance structure on July 1. This works out really well for me because not only will i save money because of this switch, I will also be saving money now that I am turning 21 instead of being a reckless 20 year old driver (don't age regs make sense!?) Anyway, this policy is considerably better because it gives the motorist seeking insurance more of an option. The law now says we trust you to choose whether or not to include PIP in your insurance. Granted, it is still horribly communistic a system because of the thousands of other insurance regulations. Nevertheless, it is now slightly more choice than before.
Sexism Comes to Town Thirty two women at the Denver mint are claiming sexual harassment. This seems to be an appropriate case where sex harassment charges are being charged. A good number of the charges are frivolous and involve only minor offenses (in comparison).
I have no idea what to say Nine times out of ten, people can't shut me up. This story was one that shut me up because it is just so weird. I have never heard of such a thing before, and I suspect neither have you.
Tainted Drugs I admit that this story is sad and presents a very real danger. But there is something of note here. The fake drugs that were created not by those nasty pharmaceuticals that are heavily regulated. This offense was from a single man. With such heavy regulation, and stiff penalties and rewards for not following or following that system, the FDA no longer needs to actually go after the drug companies as heavily; they need to start controlling the black market that has been created as a result of their work.
Whatever happened to the good old days? Web sites any more are losing the good old days of the web feel: simple, few graphics, and less complex coding that kills the older browsers. I am on a DSL high speed connection, yet certain websites (like most of the newspapers linked to above) take forever to load and usually result in two or three error messages. Plain text websites take no time to load and still get the job done. Why can't we go back to the good old days of the web?
A Non-News Exchange Expect a post later this morning to get your blood boiling...on religion...and the shifting of truth through the ages.
Today in History In 1987, Reagan made his famous speech to Gorbachev asking him to "tear down that wall". I was alive then, but don't remember much. What can I say, I was five at the time. However, this had to have been one of Reagan's most important speeches, if not the most important speech he ever made. Ultimately it was this speech, I think, that led to the wall coming down.
Daily Post: 6-11-03 (a short one) Gas Prices It is pretty obvious from this story that the Iraq War was not about oil for America. If that were the intentional outcome of war, one would expect that right now we would have so much oil coming the US that we would have to pay only a few cents per tank of gas we want. But, obviously that is not going to be the case. Gas prices are going to go up this summer, and they are going to do so because we have a more limited supply of oil at the same time of a sharp increase in the use of oil during the summer months. Do your part to keep prices down: drive less (and tell your friends to do the same).
Maybe I am too much of a geek... But, man, this new MRAM chip is way cool! Basically, it works by adding magnetic charges to the RAM which in turn makes drawing on the RAM easier, making the data flow faster, but more importantly, making the data remain in the RAM even when you turn off the computer. So, with an MRAM chip, your computer will come on much faster because the data stored on the RAM (general operating instructions, typically) will still be there. With traditional RAM or DRAM, that data is lost and then needs to be reloaded each time, which is why the computer can take a long time to come up. The other cool feature is that the new chip will drain less power off the computer, making the battery on notebooks (and the mother board battery) last much longer. If you want to know more about MRAM, check our NVE's white paper on the subject. Yes, I am drooling over this technology. I want it now.
Equal Pay for Equal Work I agree with the statement that men and women doing equal work, should indeed get equal pay. However, I do not agree with the involvement of government. I was passed this story through an e-mail from a reader asking for my opinion on the issue. As for the story, read it, it provides a goof background on the issue. As for my opinion, I do not, as I said above, believe in government action (except in government hiring and paying) to level wages. Why? Because there can be no true reform until it comes from within society. Slowly, we are breaking down the strict gender roles that came about throughout history, mostly in the upper class, but were most clearly defined in all classes during the 19th century in European society. As those are broken down, wages for women will go up. It is my guess that this will be especially true once the Millennial Generation, the generation that grew up during the 90s when it was taught that women could be outside the home and in the workplace.
Today in history The Continental Congress made the decision to begin drafting the Declaration of Independence to separate from Britain. For those who want to know more about the Declaration, I would suggest you read the summary at the library of Congress's website, which gives a good overview of the many stages of the Declaration. It wasn't until July 2 that Congress would vote for independence from Britain, and it wasn't until July 8 that the Declaration was read to the public.
Risk Based Airport Security A new study from the Reason Institute comes up with a crazy idea that the current airport system is flawed and instead there should be a system of risk assignment to people and luggage. It is long, but worth reading. You can also read NCPA's summary of the RPPI study.
Monkeypox? it doesn't sound like a real name, and at first didn't really take it seriously, but evidently there is a real problem with Monkeypox in the Midwest. This is easy to avoid from the sounds of it: stay away from prairie dogs.
Recall Davis This story is just downright funny. It seems to me to be a good idea: undo your voting choices. After all, you would expect that in an actual democracy. Nevertheless, this could only happen in California.
Local Sheriff, An Alcoholic? The county sheriff in Jefferson County has taken a leave from duty to deal with his alcohol addiction. The JeffCo papers attacked this as if it was some huge scandal. It isn't. In fact, Cook may very well be one of the smarter government officials out there: he realizes he should deal with a personal problem out of the spotlight and free from risk of screwing up his job.
Today in History As if by some strange occurrence, today in history Alcoholics Anonymous was founded. But that is not what I wanted to talk about in this section, I just found it interesting.
The interesting story from today in history, however, is about a sheriff: in 1885 Sheriff Bill Daniels, was killed at the hands of Apache Indians. Daniels proved himself a competent leader with his handling of the so-called Bisbee Massacre. So basically, Daniels is a shining example of a typical "Old West" lifestyle: lived by the code of the west, did good that was forgotten quite quickly, and then was killed. I point this out because it amazes me how many people like this there are in history of any society. People who just were not remembered for what they did, but yet did as much (or more) good as those immortalized in song and story. Strikes me as odd, and reminds me of the eternal truth of history: you need a good PR man by your side.
George Bernard Shaw: Get Over It As you might know, I manage the Independence Institute website. One of my many duties on the site is to update the quote on a weekly basis. Last week I chose for the quote:
Reasonable men adapt themselves to their environment. Unreasonable men try to adapt their environment to themselves. Thus all progress is the result of efforts of unreasonable men
Sadly, I failed to remember that my e-mail is on the Institute's website, and that I was listed as the contact for all "technical or web" related concerns. Well, I heard from many unreasonable men about this quote. Many people were upset and annoyed that the Independence Institute would put such a quote on their website. One guy called the Institute and told me "My heart is in pain over the fact that you have posted the thoughts of a raging socialist;" he wouldn't give me his name. Another guy e-mailed the Institute and asked "Don't you know that George Bernard Shaw was a raging socialist?" And so it went: everything from pain to offending to raging Republicans screaming over an innocent little quote. This got me to thinking about how serious people take things; often too serious.
The fact of the matter is that the quote above from Shaw can be argued just as easily in favor of or opposed to free market/libertarian ideas. This would suggest that those upset by this little quote didn't think hard enough about the quote (if you don't get that, stop go back and read the quote). But even that takes such a silly quote too seriously.
The quote is intended for humor (humour). And only humor (humour). Most of what Shaw did was for this purpose. Why can't people get that? More importantly, why can't people get past the beliefs of an author and just enjoy - or judge, perhaps to enjoy - the work of the author? Shaw has some of the finest plays and writings that in no way involve his socialism. Are the two connected? Sure. But get past an artist's beliefs long enough to evaluate, and perhaps enjoy, the craft of that artist.
Mars Launch There is something about the exploration of Mars that intrigues me. It is more than the fact that it is a terrific advancement for society in general, it is also a notion that the science fiction dreams of the 20th century (and 19th century) are coming true. That said, there needs to be considerably more competition in getting to the red planet than what there is now. Competition causes more innovation than a government program that has the ability to beg for money at any turn.
Respect for America? I have made it clearly known that I am not a patriotic zealot, and am proud of not being so. That said, I get quite upset with those who go to the opposite extreme of constantly bashing, for lack of a better word, America and the western values on which it is based. Indeed, I support the values on which America was founded and consider myself a patriot in that sense only. Certainly not in the sense of a flag waving, lapel-pin wearing, soldier saluting, "support-the-troops"-bumper-sticker-sticking manner. That is why I find Neil Cavuto's column to be quite appealing: it forces the truth (well, except that AIDS part) upon those who constantly put down America. If you want to criticize America (or anything else) do so on facts, not on lies and fiction.
More on Social Security This issue is getting old, and I rarely bother to read the article debating Social Security any more because they are getting to the point of repetitiveness, repeating themselves constantly saying the same thing over and over again. {ahem} However, the most recent Social Security article from Cato provides an interesting twist, which only serves to prove how ridiculous the articles on this issue are getting.
Have you ordered your copy yet? I'll wait for the paperback. I simply don't want to read Hillary's new book. Every paper seems to be talking about it, in some manner or another...some better than others. The first article on her book I read this morning was from the USA Today, which actually provided a good overview of the book. Private person? Yeah right. Then we have a summary of thoughts from the Guardian. Then we move on to ridiculous stories, such as debating if it was ghost written, or questioning Bill's magnetism. But instead of linking to all the wonderful stories here, you can look for yourself.
Euro: Doing Better than Expected Turns out the communist currency is doing quite well. That is good news if you use it, but not really good news when you don't.
Today in History The Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide on this day in 68 A.D. bringing to an end a reign of a man who had his mother, his wife, his second wife, and a whole bunch of others killed. Nero was one of the better emperor's however: the legislature was given quite a bit of power, compared to previous emperors...at least for a while. Not to mention, he helped to rebuild Rome after parts of it burned. (This was the fire he blamed on the Christians.) Of course, there was that little problem of executing legislatures who he thought were out to kill him (the whole Pisonian Conspiracy). Thanks to that, the army, the legislature, neighboring territories, and key Roman officials all abandoned their loyalty to the great torturer, Emperor Nero. Eventually, Nero was sentenced to be flogged to death, but instead committed suicide to escape punishment by death (a common occurrence of the time) and did so on June 9, 68 AD. An artist at hear, his last words were "What an artist the world loses in me" (Qualis artifex pereo).
