The Incumbent Re-election Act of 2001
We are born naked, wet, and hungry. Then things get worse.
Lowell Ponte at FrontPage Magazine - Unreal Reform - Good commentary the Incumbent Re-election Act of 2001, er... campaign finance "reform", from Senator Hawk Dollar (Independent, Oz). Follow the yellow brick road. [zero]
Samuel L. Blumenfeld at Enter Stage Right - How to eliminate poverty and retire rich - Mr. Blumenthal reiterates an idea he wrote in 1982 that still has merit. Replace the Social inSecurity system with the Birthday Account Retirement System. [zero]
There's a new article in The Libertarian series by Vin Suprynowicz:
- "America's five-foot giant: James Madison" - March 16th was the
250th birthday of the founding father, James Madison. Almost
noone noticed. They've nearly destroyed his blueprint for American
liberty, the constitution.
But America's Constitution is no perpetual motion machine. It cannot long protect us in a land where a dumbed-down, propagandized populace has been gulled into rationalizing any usurpation by piteously mewling "They must have a good reason -- just shut up and show your ID card."
...
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations," Madison told the Virginia ratifying Convention on June 16, 1788.
Hidden Motives for a War: Colombian journalist Alfredo Molano, in exile in Barcelona, tells Narco News about the real reasons for and the likely consequences of Plan Colombia. [grabbe]
Washington's Plan Colombia will not slow the illegal drug trade.
But Plan Colombia will...
...spread the cocaine crop to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and to Northern Colombia
...increase the narco-power of violent paramilitary squads and their impunity to commit human rights atrocities (and to threaten journalists)
...displace Colombian peasants with the motive of constructing a new Atlantic-Pacific canal within Colombia
...cause grave environmental harm to the Amazon jungle
The best way to fight against drug trafficking is to legalize it. I believe it is a very worthy movement. But my worry is that this tendency has lost momentum. When the Nobel economist Milton Friedman came out for legalization, there had been a big movement. The British magazine The Economist also advocated for it. Some major columnists did the same. There was a movement. In Italy they succeeded in decriminalizing. And what happened to this movement?
Dave Winer's DaveNet - Unstalling SOAP: Dave tells of the process that got him to his Busy Developer's Guide to Soap 1.1. He's decided that wrapping XML-RPC in SOAP is the way to interop. I ask: so then, why do we need SOAP? Anyway, his guide makes this use of SOAP very easy to understand. Thanx, Dave.
Jon Healey at the L.A. Times - Gnutella Targeted for Piracy Control - Now that they've virtually shut down Napster, the RIAA is going after Gnutella and friends, a bit harder nut to crack, since the only target here is individual users. [grabbe]
