I’m not a fan of the automatically-dismissive approach to UFO sightings, but I have to say these pics don’t impress me at all. This thing looks like something assembled out of spare parts and hung on a wire. Okay, so if it really is where it appears to be in relation to the telephone pole, it’s bigger than most of the items used in such hoaxes; but it wouldn’t have to be very big.
Archive | March, 2008
Shia LaBeouf Is A “Genius”!
Apparently. New Indy IV teaser here.
Shiny News
Another Firefly/Serenity comic book is on the way. No substitute for another movie or tv show, but we of the brown coats take what we can get. (Conical hat tip to Norm Singleton.)
Labour Contracts
[cross-posted at Liberty & Power]
I don’t know anything about Robert Steinfeld’s book Coercion, Contract, and Free Labor in the Nineteenth Century except the following description, but it sounds interesting:
This book presents a fundamental reassessment of the nature of wage labor in the nineteenth century, focusing on the use of sanctions to enforce wage labor agreements. Professor Steinfeld argues that wage workers were not employees at will but were often bound to their employment by enforceable labor agreements, which employers used whenever available to manage their labor costs and supply. Modern free wage labor only came into being late in the nineteenth century, as a result of reform legislation that restricted the contract remedies employers could legally use.
Anybody know any more about it?
Left-Libertarian Explorations
Kevin Carson has written an excellent response to Paul Marks’ muddled critique of Kevin’s earlier essay Contract Feudalism.
Also “Lysander’s Ghost” (I know who this is, but don’t know whether they want it made public) has an interesting article on debt here.
With regard to the concerns raised in this latter article, I’ve previously argued for libertarian-based restrictions on the extent of debt here.
Free At Last! Free At Last!
So my former governor is out of prison, for now.
Was Don Siegelman targeted by Karl Rove? It looks like it.
But does that mean Siegelman was completely innocent? I’m inclined to doubt it. After all, this is the same guy who, when criticised for reappointing Auburn University’s most controversial trustee, replied: “But I had to reappoint him; he was my biggest donor” – a confession that doesn’t inspire much confidence in his integrity (or intelligence).
(A couple of Siegelman’s other bons mots: “If God had meant you to have pierced ears, you would have been born a girl,” and “No, I have no comment on whether the old law banning interracial marriage should be repealed; I ran on an education platform.” I admit I get a kick out of seeing all these clueless Yankee liberals rallying to the defense of their fellow Democrat.)
Still, regardless of his guilt or innocence, he certainly doesn’t belong in prison; no one should be there unless they pose a serious threat to others, and I doubt Siegelman could even successfully mug somebody.
P.S. – The headline on Dan Abrams’ show reads: “Former Governor Siegelman Freed From Prison After Dan’s Call For Justice.” C’mon, Dan, that’s getting a little O’Reillyish.