Month: June 2006

June 21, 2006

Movie review: Nacho Libre

Jack Black stars as the title character in this campy salute to Lucha Libre, or freestyle wrestling, a hallmark of popular Latin culture. In Nacho Libre, Black’s character begins as the lowly Ignacio, an orphan who grew up at a Catholic mission, and who has now become one of the mission brothers. Continue Reading...
June 20, 2006

Remembering Kelo

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a year since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which seriously damaged the institution of property rights. Continue Reading...
June 20, 2006

Cuban counts on corporate crime

Mark Cuban, billionaire and owner of the NBA franchise in Dallas, announced that he is “starting a website that focuses on uncovering corporate crime.” He continues, outlining the business model for the site: “I have every intention of trading on the information uncover[ed], and disclosing exactly what i do. Continue Reading...
June 19, 2006

Toward a government-run gambling monopoly

Radley Balko, blogging at Cato@Liberty (he also blogs at The Agitator), writes about the creeping campaign in Washington state to crack down on internet gambling. A new law would impose “up to a five-year prison term for people who gamble online,” but since passage has also been used to “to go after people who merely write about gambling.” Continue Reading...
June 19, 2006

Pinpoint federalism

There’s a new e-version of The Federalist Papers produced by Edward O’Connor. The innovation with this edition compared to all the other various electronic iterations of the papers is the ability to link to an exact paragraph within a particular paper. Continue Reading...
June 19, 2006

Millennium technology prize 2006

The world’s largest prize for technological innovation was awarded this year to Professor Shuji Nakamura, currently at the University of California Santa Barbara, for his development of bright-blue, green and white LEDs and a blue laser. Continue Reading...
June 16, 2006

Making freedom a reality

How does a country transition from being an impoverished former Soviet republic to a free society that enjoys a rank among those enjoying the highest degrees of economic liberty in the world? Continue Reading...
June 16, 2006

A quick misanthropy quiz

Before reading the rest of this post, let’s try a little experiment. Here are a set of quotations…your job is to decide who said it, a real-life scientist or Agent Smith from the Matrix trilogy (see answer key below the jump): 1. Continue Reading...
June 16, 2006

Donors have responsibilities

A recent NYT article outlines some recent research showing that many people who give to charity “often tolerate high administrative costs, fail to monitor charities and do not insist on measurable results — the opposite of how they act when they invest in the stock market.” Continue Reading...