Oct 7, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
ARI executive director Dr. Yaron Brook is scheduled to appear on the CNBC program "On the Money" tonight, October 7, 2005. The program airs between 7:00 and 8:00 pm Eastern. The topic will be: Should the UN Control the Internet?Oct 4, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
From AP: EU Wants Shared Control of Internet.BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union insisted Friday that governments and the private sector must share the responsibility of overseeing the Internet, setting the stage for a showdown with the United States on the future of Internet governance. A senior U.S. official reiterated Thursday that the country wants to remain the Internet's ultimate authority, rejecting calls in a United Nations meeting in Geneva for a U.N. body to take over. EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said a new cooperation model was important "because the Internet is a global resource." A stalemate over who should serve as the principal traffic cops for Internet routing and addressing could derail the summit, which aims to ensure a fair sharing of the Internet for the benefit of the whole world. At issue is who would have ultimate authority over the Internet's master directories, which tell Web browsers and e-mail programs how to direct traffic. That role has historically gone to the United States, which created the Internet as a Pentagon project and funded much of its early development. The U.S. Commerce Department has delegated much of that responsibility to a U.S.-based private organization with international board members, but Commerce ultimately retains veto power. Some countries have been frustrated that the United States and European countries that got on the Internet first gobbled up most of the available addresses required for computers to connect, leaving developing nations with a limited supply to share.
From last week's Washington Times: U.S. tells nations hands of Internet (hat tip Allen Forkum)
From ARI:
IRVINE, CA-- A cabal of countries, including Cuba, Syria, China and Iran--now backed by the European Union--is demanding that control of the Internet be surrendered to the United Nations.
These and other thug-nations restrict their own citizens' ability to receive and broadcast news and grievances from inside their blood-soaked walls. China, for instance, currently has many individuals jailed for being "cyber-dissidents" and it engages in massive censorship of the Internet. It recently passed a law mandating that only "healthy and civilized" news may be read by its citizens--to be determined, of course, by the same "civilized" officials who brought us Tiananmen Square.
This world-wide web of evil nations, hiding behind the veneer of technical complaints, now seeks to control not just what its own citizens are able to see and say on the Internet, but what every individual on the face of the planet is able to see and say. If the UN is given control of the Internet, we can expect free trade and freedom of speech to be crushed.
The Internet was created in and by the land of the free, America. It has now become the object of an alarming power-grab by the world's dictatorships and their puppet, the UN. America must not surrender its citizens' freedom to the mercy of a debating society for dictators.
Oct 3, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
Writes Wayne Dunn on the economics and morality of Price Gouging:
It's the criminalization of price hikes -- not the hikes themselves -- that's immoral. The moral premise behind price-gouging laws is summed up in the altruistic injunction, "People before profits" -- as if merchants aren't people. What this "ethical" position really boils down to, then, is that the needs and desires of some people (consumers) trump the needs and desires of other people (businessmen) and that in a pinch government should sacrifice the latter to the former.
[...] The high prices oblige consumers to economize. Artificially low prices, by contrast, invite hoarding and frivolous buying, emptying shelves sooner. For instance, someone able or willing to purchase only 10 jugs of water at a "gouged" price might've bought 30 if the price were "normal," leaving less for others customers.
Oct 2, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
Writes Professor Brian Thompson in Who's Really to Blame for High Gasoline Prices?:
One thing is certain: oil companies are not to blame for high gas prices. These companies are responsible for producing the gasoline we need. In California, where gas prices are among the highest in the nation, the oil industry has been repeatedly investigated to find evidence of "price manipulation" (four times in 2003 alone) and none has ever been found.
Although there are other causes of high gas prices, such as high gasoline taxes, the primary cause is environmental regulation. For example, environmental regulation significantly restricts drilling for oil in Alaska and on the continental shelf. More drilling could considerably increase the gasoline supply (up to 20% from greater Alaskan drilling alone) and thus lower prices.
Oct 1, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
This series of articles and declassified U.S. government documents recounts the death of the destroyer of the Cuban economy: Ernesto "Che" Guevara who died looking like a "piece of trash." Interesting quotes on the real effect of Che's policies:
A CIA Intelligence Memorandum discusses what analysts perceive as Che Guevara's fall from power within the Cuban government beginning in 1964. It states that at the end of 1963, Guevara's plan of "rapid industrialization and centralization during the first years of the Revolution brought the economy to its lowest point since Castro came to power." "Guevara's outlook, which approximated present -day Chinese--rather than Soviet--economic practice, was behind the controversy." In July 1964, "two important cabinet appointments signaled the power struggle over internal economic policy which culminated in Guevara's elimination." Another conflict was that Guevara wanted to export the Cuban Revolution to different parts of Latin America and Africa, while "other Cuban leaders began to devote most of their attention to the internal problems of the Revolution." In December, 1964, Guevara departed on a three-month trip to the United States, Africa, and China. When he returned, according to the CIA report, his economic and foreign policies were in disfavor and he left to start revolutionary struggles in other parts of the world. (CIA Intelligence Memorandum, "The Fall of Che Guevara and the Changing Face of the Cuban Revolution," 10/18/65)
On Che's capture:
Che's final battle commences in Quebrada del Yuro. Simon Cuba (Willy) Sarabia, a Bolivian miner, leads the rebel group. Che is behind him and is shot in the leg several times. Sarabia picks up Che and tries to carry him away from the line of fire. The firing starts again and Che's beret is knocked off. Sarabia sits Che on the ground so he can return the fire. Encircled at less than ten yards distance, the Rangers concentrate their fire on him, riddling him with bullets. Che attempts to keep firing, but cannot keep his gun up with only one arm. He is hit again on his right leg, his gun is knocked out of his hand and his right forearm is pierced. As soldiers approach Che he shouts, "Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead." The battle ends at approximately 3:30 p.m. Che is taken prisoner.
[...] Félix Rodríguez arrives by helicopter in La Higuera, along with Colonel Joaquín Zenteno Anaya. Rodríguez brings a powerful portable field radio and a camera with a special four-footed stand used to photograph documents. He quietly observes the scene in the schoolhouse, and records what he sees, finding the situation "gruesome" with Che lying in dirt, his arms tied behind his back and his feet bound together, next to the bodies of his friends. He looks "like a piece of trash" with matted hair, torn clothes, and wearing only pieces of leather on his feet for shoes. In one interview, Rodríguez states that, " I had mixed emotions when I first arrived there. Here was the man who had assassinated many of my countrymen. And nevertheless, when I saw him, the way he looked....I felt really sorry for him." (Rodríguez:2)
Also worth reading: The Cult of CheSep 30, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
For decades creationists have sought to replace evolution with the Book of Genesis. But defenders of evolution have consistently prevailed in the schools and the courts of law. This struggle for intellectual survival has led to the evolution of a new "species" of creationist, better adapted to its inhospitable environment. The new creationism goes by the name of "intelligent design" and poses a greater danger than old-style creationism. In this talk Dr. Lockitch will examine the intelligent design movement focusing on its similarities and differences with standard creationism. By hiding its religious essence behind a cloak of pseudo-science, the movement seeks to make itself more palatable to intellectuals and the general public. And because today's academics--including the most passionate and vocal defenders of evolution--are incapable of answering its most fundamental arguments, the doors of our colleges and schools are ominously open to primitive mysticism masquerading as science.
One hour lecture followed by one hour Q and A. (Details: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 7:30 to 9:30 PM at SGM-123 (Seely G. Mudd), 3620 McClintock, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089)