The Big Mac Index

The Economist has its Big Mac Index out again.

The Shock Doctrine

A short film by Alfonso Cuaron based on Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine".

Supreme Court Rules That Individuals Have Gun Rights

The conservatives at SCOTUS have overturned Washington D.C.'s ban on handguns. But they do recognize that guns are not appropriate in some places ... such as their own offices. Your office (and school and church, etc.) is another matter, it seems. I also wonder what is a 'firearm'. Are RPGs allowed? Bazookas? It would seem so. From Supreme Court Rules That Individuals Have Gun Rights:

Scalia said nothing in Thursday's ruling should "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."

Supreme Court Rules That Individuals Have Gun Rights

The conservatives at SCOTUS have overturned Washington D.C.'s ban on handguns.

George Carlin R.I.P.

It occurs to me that our fiercest social critics in America today are comedians. Today we lost our Solzhenitsyn, George Carlin. Here is my favorite bit of his from Gulf War I. It could easily apply today, by just changing the names. Wait. You don't even have to change the names ....

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, or Can You?

I can't resist one more on the alleged Oil Bubble. This one is from Ben Stein, who I enjoy occasionally. He is one of those unrepentant ex-Nixon staffers, so there is only so much of his writing I can take seriously. And of course, he is something of a comedian to begin with. You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, or Can You?

The Oil Nonbubble

An opposing view from Paul Krugman of the New York Times. He thinks the run-up of oil from $25 a barrel to $125+ (and purportedly heading for $200 if you believe Goldman-Sachs) is all normal supply and demand: The Oil Nonbubble