This is a near perfect essay on distinguishing free-market capitalism from the current mix of Corporatism and Socialism in America.

THE COMMITTEE TO PROTECT BLOGGERS ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST CAMPAIGN: Free Arash and Mojtaba



Spread the word. Can bloggers help expose Iranian tyranny for what it is?

It is almost too ridiculous to believe. The feds can't keep their grubby hands off of anything. They enact a bad law (thanks a lot, McCain) and instead of repealing the bad law, they look to expand their power, creating untold collateral damage along the way. Enough is enough!

Political Web ads may be curtailed

The freewheeling days of Internet political advertising may be coming to an end.

The Federal Election Commission plans to begin reviewing next month whether the Internet should continue to enjoy its privileged status as exempt from some of the stricter dictates of a 2002 campaign finance law.

I have the flu today, thank you. By all accounts, this is turning out to be one of the worst flu seasons on record. Even the King of Pop has the flu! Michael Jackson claims he is being persecuted by the state, but little does he know about the silent persecution against the health of all Americans being perpetrated by the government medicine bureaucracies.

This fall, every American heard the collective siren call from government officials and the unquestioning mainstream media apparatus announcing a major shortfall in flu vaccines, asking young folks like myself to forgo the shots so that old people would not die. Fast forward to the heart of the flu season and we are dropping like flies, while millions of unused surplus vaccines sit in cardboard boxes across the country. Why did this happen? The answer is simple – socialized medicine has reared its ugly head once again.

Instead of letting supply and demand run its course, government bureaucrats (our nice word for American Soviets) are given total control over the supply of these vital medicines.

Had the government stayed out of this, an anticipated supply shock would signal to vaccine suppliers that they may raise their prices. Suppliers of alternative vaccine and flu-protection options would immediately see the increased profit margins in this sector and step in to fill the gaps. As the market matured, supply and demand shocks would be predicted well in advance of the disaster, allowing time for these alternative companies to meet demand.

However, the government bureaucrats determine who can and can not supply vaccines, allowing no room for competing companies to even think about manufacturing and selling their own vaccine. ID Medical in Canada had a reported 1.5 million vaccines ready for sale that the US Government would not allow Americans to purchase. Thanks.

Price ceilings are also maintained, either directly or with the threat of “price-gouging” lawsuits. So, no one does anything on the supply side. The government announces the supply shock, and begs young folks to stay away from the flu shot. As a result, too many people don’t get their shots, influenza runs rampant, and we end up with a massive vaccine surplus instead.

How many people will die this year because of this socialist nightmare? Americans must rise up now and demand a free market in medicine, for the sake of our health! Think Soviet-style bread lines, but for Tylenol. Dr. Big Brother is not our friend.

I am convinced that there are operatives working within the Democratic Party to make the party irrelevant, Sun Tzu-style. How does Howard Dean make any sense?

I know a number of good democrats. Might there be a revolutionary split in that party between the socialist wing (which is now assuming control) and those who respect markets, private property, and Wal-mart? I know a number of good republicans who dislike the religious "moralists" within their party who would join them.

I am doing my taxes today - happy times! I decided to seek out a petition to end this foolishness and found the following:

Support a national retail sales tax (H.R. 2525). End the oppressive income tax!

Sign it and forward it on!

Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it's a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There's an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there's a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

-Michael Crichton




In the recent municipal elections, several "green" candidates were elected (note that green might also denote a lack of experience in politics), and they are continuing their efforts in the elections to the Knesset. Experts in Western European poltiics will tell you that there are heads of government who used the green path to obtain their objectives. I have a problem with this issue, since for some reason a passion for ecology is identified with the polticial left, as if to say: "green on the outside, red on the inside." Perhaps the basis for this is the feeling of global cosmopolitics at the root of the ecological movement, which would seem to be the opposite of nationalism, and also the fact that it is based on the concept of the global village. These themes are well represented in the leftist press both in the world and in Israel. And there is another problem, which I feel is even more serious: the ecological approach is turning into a new religion. It has prophets and priests, preachers and followers, and even is own rituals. I cannot shake the feeling that there will be a temple built in Germany, which will become the basis for their manifesto...
-Rabbi Yisrael Rozen of Israel in Parashat Beshalach, No. 737 (January 30, 1999)

Happy 100th Birthday Ayn...


Ayn Rand: A Legacy of Reason and Freedom

The Appeal of Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand's Contribution to the Cause of Freedom

A Centennial Toast to Ayn Rand