RedPaper
"I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way." -- Robert Frost
From kaba:
"The average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty -- and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies." -- H.L. Mencken
Kevin Tuma - Bob Hope - cartoon tribute to a true hero.
Mark Tran at Guardian Unlimited - Pentagon scraps terror betting plans - no AP for DARPA. Hehe. More on this and a zipped up archive of the now defunct site at this Cryptome page. [grabbe]
Harry Browne - What Happened to the U.S. Economy? - Big government, that's what. Ends with a commercial for Harry's Fail-Safe Investing.
It's no secret that the American economy is ailing. But few people realize that it's been ailing for about 30 years.
When World War II ended, there were a few years of transition to peacetime, and then the economy returned to normal. From 1949 through 1973, economic growth (as measured by the estimated Gross Domestic Product) averaged 4.0% per year. But from 1973 through 2002, the growth was only 2.7% per year.
In other words, the economy was very strong for the 24 years from 1949 through 1973, but it has become more and more sluggish since then. This sluggish growth has left us all less well-off than we should have been.
The median family income is the income of the American family that's exactly in the middle of all families -- earning more than what half of American families make, and earning less than what the other half of American families earn. (Using this measurement eliminates the possibility that a few large incomes will skew the figures.)
From 1949 through 1973, the median income rose an average of 3.1% per year. Since then the increase has been only 0.2% per year -- barely any gain at all. If the earlier trend had continued, the typical American family's income today would be more than twice as large as it is.
RedPaper "is the world's first collaborative Newspaper filled with articles for sale written by people from around the world." You can use it as either a buyer or a seller (or both). I signed up so that I could read the first six chapters of The Halaunbrenner Grant, by Tom Knapp, founder of Rational Review. Good story. Definitely worth a buck. Tom expects to post the next three chapters soon. From the description of Chapters One and Two:
The author's note and the first two chapters of a novel. What kind of novel? Well, it's got evil Nazis, good Nazi-hunters and strange political discussions. Let's call it a "thriller." The book isn't complete, but six chapters are reasonably complete so far. If the first two are well thought of, the rest will come out in installments.
