As though the state doesn’t already do enough to magnify the power of the rich by its very nature, Walter Williams suggests that people with more money should have more votes.
Because, y’know, them pore ole bosses ….
Tag Archives | Thank You Please May I Have Another
When Rights Get A Little Too Sticky
Gosh! What if substantial portions of the pro-IP lobby aren’t motivated by a passionate concern for property rights after all?
Next I expect we’ll hear that copylefters are violating their own rights. Or, um, something.
Competition, Government Style
Wouldn’t you know that a politician’s idea of a solution to the problem that no one’s allowed to compete with X would be to mandate that X is allowed to compete with no one?
In T. H. White’s words: Whatever is not forbidden is compulsory.
Aliens Among Us
Just caught a clip of Joy Behar talking about Joslyn James, the porn star who claims to have been pregnant by Tiger Woods.
Behar said, inter alia, that a) of course Joslyn James wouldn’t have wanted to raise a child, because she’s a porn star and so has no “maternal instinct”; and b) it’s not plausible that Joslyn James would have objected to Woods’ being unfaithful to her, because she’s, you know, a porn star.
I wonder whether Behar’s aware that according to recent cutting-edge scientific tests, the DNA of porn stars is very similar to that of human beings?
All Your Mind Are Belong To Her
So law prof Karin Calvo-Goller writes a book with the catchy title Trial Proceedings of the International Criminal Court: ICTY and ICTR Precedents; and fellow law prof Thomas Weigend pens what seems to me a rather mildly negative review.
Why doesn't Karin Calvo-Goller want to let you read anything critical of her book?
Whereupon Calvo-Goller reacts by writing to journal editor (and likewise law prof) Joseph Weiler demanding that he suppress the review, on the grounds that it might have a negative impact on her “professional reputation and academic promotion.” When Weiler very politely declines (at the same time patiently explaining some of her misinterpretations of the review), she drags him into court and has him charged with criminal libel. (CHT Der Leiter. Whether similar charges are being brought against Weigend as well is unclear.)
Given that Calvo-Goller’s actions threaten to injure her reputation by making her look like an idiot and a fascistic jerk, I am hereby charging her with criminal libel against herself.
Goons Get Greedier
Check out this story, which reveals that the maximum fine for not answering the census has risen from $100 to $5000, but also notes that the higher amount can be charged only as a result of a trial.
I continue to think that noncompliance with the census is likely to be a fairly safe form of resistance for most people; but one should of course keep all relevant data in mind.