The New York Times has a story about the Texas judge who recently ordered 21 sex offenders to display signs on their homes and automobiles saying, “DANGER: Registered Sex Offender Lives Here.” This sort of requirement is irresponsible and goes well beyond reasonable bounds of community notification. In Michigan, where I live, there is a…
May, 2001
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Israel is experiencing severe water shortages at the moment, though most of the shallow media coverage of the problem completely missed the main reason for the shortages — Israel’s massive subsidies that encourage wasteful water use. The BBC recently reported that Israeli Water Commissioner Shimon Tal will call for a total ban on watering lawns…
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Sometimes I think the answer to that question is Slashdot. Today’s case in point is a post by Timothy about Google’s terms and conditions for posting to Usenet via Google. Slashdot summarizes the policy as, “Google Owns Your UseNet Post,” which is completely false. The actual terms of service say, By posting communications on or…
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In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States recently upheld the right of a radio station to broadcast a tape recording of a cellular phone conversation, even though the act of recording the conversation was itself a crime. In the case before the Court, somebody secretly recorded a 1993 cellular phone conversation…
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Is Kobe Bryant a better all-around basketball player than Michael Jordan was? Someday that might be a legitimate question, but at the moment it’s silly to even ask. And yet here’s Phil Jackson saying that yes, Bryant is better than Jordan. Please. If this weren’t the playoffs this would be a bad joke. On the…
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I had one of those experiences today that made me feel like a complete idiot. Several days ago I was in the gym getting dressed after showering. I wasn’t having a very good day to begin with, and I was getting my clothes out of my locker when I heard this voice behind me saying…
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As you may have heard, Robert Redford and Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton have been trading potshots over conservation, with Redford like to think of himself as an environmentalist’s environmentalist. Which makes New York Times writer John Tierney’s op-ed on his experience at a Redford global warming retreat all the more hilarious, The event…
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The Cato Institute’s Lucas Mast makes an interesting point about EBay’s recently announced policy that it will no longer list items that promote hatred, intolerance, and/or violence. Which, of course, means that you can’t buy a Nazi flag or Charles Manson recording, but you will still be able to buy flags and other collectibles related…
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Following the declining fortunes of the French Communist Party, one of the oldest surviving Communist daily newspapers in Europe — L’Humanite — recently announced that it had reached an agreement with private investors to bail out the troubled newspaper. Founded by French Communist leader Jean Jaure (who was assassinated in 1914), the paper once had…
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Foreign aid doesn’t seem to work. Plans to subsidize agriculture in developing countries to give farmers and others enough to live off of won’t work. So what should the developed world due to help the poor in the developing world? There’s one cheap, easy thing that industrialized nations could do immediately which would not only…