Moses trudged down from Mt Sinai, tablets in hand, and announced to the assembled multitudes: “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. The good news is I got Him down to ten. The bad news is ‘adultery’ is still in.”
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
It is 40 years since the introduction of legalized abortion to the UK and the Science & Technology Select Committee have recently begun an inquiry into the science of abortion, not the ethical or moral issues relating to it.
Their investigations include the upper time limit of 24 weeks on legal abortions with regard to predicting foetal viability, and whether a medical or scientific definition of abnormality is required post 24 weeks.
In the UK the majority of abortions (around 90 percent) occur in the first trimester. Currently there is a requirement for two GPs signatures, something that both women and doctors wish to see reduced to one. This might be introduced in conjunction with greater access and wider availability of treatments.
The contentious point is foetal viability after 20 weeks (and the definition of viability). Whilst it is rare for women to undertake an abortion after this time (only 1.6 percent in 2006) it is also unlikely that the foetus can survive a premature birth between weeks 20 and 24, especially weeks 20 through 23. In a study from 1995 of the 761 births up to week 24 of the pregnancy, only 17 percent survived to discharge from hospital and, of the subsequent numbers assessed at six years old, only 13 percent had no impairments.
A review of the law is entirely sensible - it is the nature of science to advance and it helps life as it does so. But it is still some way from giving a viable life to those born before 24 weeks, so there is not as yet a convincing case for lowering that current limit.
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
The technology was originally developed for medical use by Mark Ombrellaro, to give distant doctors a ‘hands on’ feel.
The system he came up with includes a special version of the 3rd Space vest with 64 contact points on the abdomen alone. A glove worn by the physician has eight contact points that are used to touch the patient remotely and impart responses.This could be a real winner with gamers looking for a touch more realism in their contests. It’s one reason why many find paintball more exciting than laserquest – you get hit, splat, and it hurts. There’s a big boy version of laserquest which supplements the flashing light when you get hit by an electric shock administered through the gun you’re holding.
The vest promises something of the same. It’s due out in late November at $189, with several games already being adapted to work with it. It’s readily portable, so you can take it over to a friend’s house for a one-on-one. My guess is that some of the heavyweight gamers might turn up the effect to maximum to give each other something of a walloping. Hey, though, isn’t this a lot more fun than the games we played as kids, when you pointed a toy gun at your friends and cried ‘bang!’?
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Earlier, Doug posted a story about an expansion of freedom in the taxicab market in Minneapolis. It seems that someone finally asked why it was necessary to set an arbitrary limit on the number of cabs operating in the city, and that someone was able to muster enough power to end the restriction.
Perhaps NYC […]
From The Liberty Papers
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Mike Huckabee would hate this…
Speaking of Milton Friedman…on November 2nd, PBS will be showing The Ultimate Resource, which focuses on individuals in five countries (Ghana, Peru, Bangladesh, Estonia and China) and how the ideals of individual choice, freedom, free trade and private property are successfully being spread throughout the world and improving quality of life […]
From The Liberty Papers
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
No, it’s not the setup for some weird joke, it’s the lineup on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul will have the largest audience in his longshot bid for the Republican presidential nomination tonight when he joins Tom Cruise and the legendary punk rock band the Sex Pistols as guest on […]
From The Liberty Papers
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
The Club for Growth paper on Ron Paul has generated some discussion over pragmatism vs radicalism. The Club for Growth, while overall praising Ron Paul, took exception over some stances that they believed as too unrealistic. This post will take a look at the actual paper and evaluate which who’s right on any particular issue, […]
From The Liberty Papers
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
Good news on the gender gap again (it’s amazing how it really is always good news, isn’t it?). It continues to shrink.
A wonderful post on the value of school vouchers:
Memo to suburban voucher opponents who “support public education”: you’re already sending your kid to private school. You’re just confused because your tuition fees came bundled with granite countertops and hardwood floors.
Judging by the numbers here yes, something really does have to be done about welfare dependency.
Compare and contrast the US and UK health care systems. One of the things we appear to be proud of makes them laugh.
Gary Becker has just been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “The 76-year-old economist’s early work showed that companies discriminating on the basis of race or sex hurt themselves by losing out on productive workers.” And to think, he’s regarded as right wing.
And finally, something completely different. The blog of a postmistress in the South Atlantic Antarctica.
From Adam Smith Institute
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
It’s got to be John Murtha, Congressman from Pennsylvania:
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — If John Murtha were a businessman, he’d be the biggest employer in this town.
The powerful U.S. congressman has used his clout on Capitol Hill to create thousands of jobs and steer billions of dollars in federal spending to help his hometown in western Pennsylvania […]
From The Liberty Papers
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
If you grew up in the 1970s, you probably remember Phil Donohue, who was a loud-mouthed talk show host before loud-mouthed talk shows hosts were cool. And he was, very, very liberal.
Here’s a classic segment of an interview with the great Milton Friedman where he tries to trap a Nobel Prize winner in an intellectual […]
From The Liberty Papers
Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom
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