LNC Staff Member in Washington Post
A little free publicity for one LNC staff member.
From US Libertarian Party
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Internal DOJ probe sets sights on Gonzales
Many people questioned the fate of deposed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after he resigned from office amid a deluge of scandals. For some, his resignation was a sufficient closure to what has been one of the most controversial periods the Department of Justice has ever seen. However, others felt that a simple resignation should not be an easy ticket out of allegations of perjury, illegal firings of U.S. attorneys, and intentionally misleading Congressional investigators.
To the delight of these people, it is being reported that Gonzales may not get off so easily.
The Justice Department’s inspector general acknowledged Thursday he was examining whether departing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made false or misleading statements to Congress about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) terrorist surveillance program, the fired U.S. attorneys affair and other subjects.
On Aug. 16, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy sent a letter to Inspector General Glenn Fine, who is leading the investigation of Gonzales, asking Fine to investigate five points of contention. Fine responded that the department already had ongoing internal investigations of some of Gonzales’ statements.
The disclosure by Inspector General Glenn Fine in a letter to Congress signals an expansion of the department’s internal investigations into Gonzales’ troubled tenure, probes that were not previously known to be focused so sharply on the attorney general and his testimony.
The Justice Department has declined to comment.
Gonzales’ resignation is to take effect Sept. 17: the day the Constitution was signed in 1787. His resignation on Constitution Day should celebrate the departure of a man who spent two and a half years as Attorney General trying to destroy it.
From US Libertarian Party
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Blog Review 346
It can be difficult to work out which is the more vile, fatuous and wasteful: the American Farm Bill or the EU’s CAP. Just to help stoke the ire, here’s Alex Massie with a map of who gets farming subsidies in Manhattan. Anyone seen one for Chelsea?
Some calculations on what we might do about climate change. Unfortunately, it appears that the suggestions of both the Stern Review and Al Gore don’t cut it: they’ll cost more than the damages they’ll save. This is known in numerate circles as not being sensible.
Something we can do about climate change that won’t hurt at all: buy more wooden furniture.
Just who is rebuilding New Orleans? Well, we know it’s not FEMA, nor any other bureaucracy, so meet some of the entrepreneurs who actually are.
The costs of the smoking ban: if you’re a once a week pub visitor that cleaner air is costing you £5 a time. Would you actually have paid for that directly? And if you would, then a voluntary code where non-smoking pubs charge for entry would work, wouldn’t it?
Contrary to the happiness research experts, it seems that more money does indeed make you happier.
And finally, my, how opinions can change in a month.
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
The poverty of poverty numbers
The US Census has just released the poverty numbers for that country. There’ll be boundless debate about what they all mean: rising tides and all boats, it’s not statistically significant, it should be better, poverty ain’t what it used to be…
The New York Times, WaPo, you can find hundreds of stories on Google about it. All of them, every single one, entirely missing the point.
Unlike all of the other OECD nations the US reports its poverty numbers before the effects of most of the tax and benefits system. Except for direct cash transfers that is. So the number actually being reported is the number of people who would be in poverty if it were not for what help is given to them. Not included in these calculations are the major programs which are designed to lift people out of poverty: the EITC (earned income tax credit), food stamps, housing vouchers and Medicaid. Unfortunately the US does not, with any regularity, collect the numbers on those who actually live in poverty after such help.
It’s also true that, over the past four decades, there’s been a move from the alleviation of poverty by direct cash grants to the more indirect methods that are not included in this calculation. That’s the reason that measured poverty has not declined, because the measures intended to cause a decline are not being counted.
So far, of course, this is just the pedant in me lashing out. But, unfortunately, this confusion has serious consequences as this from John Edwards’ campaign shows. His proposals, by the way, to reduce poverty are a rise in the EITC and more housing vouchers. Unfortunately, he insists on counting poverty by the method that doesn’t include the effect of the EITC and housing vouchers, meaning that his efforts will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on the number, as calculated, in poverty.
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Joke of the Day 862
Two children were in a doctor’s waiting room. The little girl was softly sobbing.
“Why are you crying?” asked the little boy.
“I’m here for a blood test, and they’re going to cut my finger,” said the girl.
When he heard this, the little boy started to cry too.
“Why are you crying?” asked the girl.
The boy looked at her worriedly and said, “I’m here for a urine test.”
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Nanowire scaffolds in medicine
A nanowire coating on biocompatible titanium gives a more effective surface, and a University of Arkansas team has found an inexpensive way of doing this. This is significant for areas such as hip replacement, dental implants and stents, the little things popped into arteries and veins to keep them open. They used an alkali and heat to create titanium oxide-based ceramic nanowires that coat the surface of a titanium medical device.
“We can control the length, the height, the pore openings and the pore volumes within the nanowire scaffolds” by varying the time, temperature and alkali concentration in the reaction, said Z. Ryan Tian, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. “This process is also extremely sustainable,” requiring only that the device be rinsed in reusable water after the heating process.One problem with regular titanium implants is that muscle tissue may not anchor itself to them, causing replacement to be necessary after a decade. The new process results in good muscle growth to the implanted units, and has potential uses to help stents elute drugs to combat fatty build-up. The treated units are also easy to sterilize.
The material, when rinsed in water and exposed to ultraviolet light, kills more than 99 percent of bacteria on its surface. This effect occurs because photons from the light cause a charge separation on the material, splitting water molecules into free radicals that destroy the bacteria. Alternatively, immersion in 70 percent ethanol completely sterilizes the material, allowing growth of cells/tissues in the laboratory prior to implantation.This is one of those things that make what we already do somewhat better. Much of nanotechnology is like that.
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Terrorism by any name
Why is this scum called animal rights activists? A notorious extremist group says it has tampered with more than 250 items containing the antiseptic, which is mainly used to treat children suffering from cuts and grazes, as part of a long-running campaign against an animal testing laboratory. The group, calling itself the Animal Rights Militia, said it targeted Savlon in a "clear and uncompromising" manner because it believes its Swiss manufacturer, Novartis, to be a…
From Samizdata.net
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
At least he made the trains run on time, sort of
Correlli Barnett, a long-standing critic of the Coalition overthrow of Saddam's Ba'ath dictatorship, gives us this in this week's Spectator: "In Saddam's strictly secular Iraq, al-Qa'eda and other forms of Islamist extremism were ruthlessly put down. Is it not plainer every month that we would all (including Iraqis) now be much better off if Saddam Hussein had been left in power,but under continued allied air surveillance?" The regular trope that Saddam was a "strictly" secular…
From Samizdata.net
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Those dirty polluting humans
This glorious article in the BBC website appeared today. I'd love to know whether the person who wrote this has a sense of irony. There is just a hint that he might: Britons are "addicted" to cheap flights and confused about the climate impact of flying, according to research. Well, at least the writer had the good grace to put addicted inside scare quotes. Britons want to fly for a cheap fare. The horror….
From Samizdata.net
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Let’s Play a Game
A quiz for the readers: what is the drawing below supposed to be? Does this picture in any way seem threatening to you?
The answer is below the fold.
From The Liberty Papers
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
