The Economist: “What happens when you display “Forbidden art”

From Prof. Andrei Zorin of Oxford University (and a contributor to InLiberty.ru and speaker at InLiberty.ru events):

There can be no doubt that a guilty verdict will dramatically change the political climate in Russia and deal a powerful, if not a mortal, blow to the much-hyped modernisation plans of President Dmitry Medvedev. Whether economic and technological modernisation can succeed without political reforms is the subject of intense discussions in Russia. But no one can hope to modernise society without freedom of conscience and the freedom of thought.

Russia’s image abroad, which had just started to improve, will be ruined for at least another decade. The damage to the country’s reputation may prove even longer-lasting than in the Khodorkovsky case. Businessmen are pragmatic people and can sometimes be prepared to trade one of their own to save their investments. Artists and intellectuals are less forgiving.

The story of an art curator and human-rights activist jailed for arranging an exhibition will haunt Russia and all its projects of cultural integration with the West. In such an environment who needs grandiose events like the current “Russian year” in France?

A New York Times discussion, including Cato’s outstanding scholar Jim Harper: “Should Government Take On Facebook?”

I am reminded of the posters I saw in Beijing last year (just up for a short time before they would swiftly be taken down by police): “I want my Facebook!” The state should keep its damn hands off.

Johan Norberg on Book TV (from his Cato appearance)

Johan Norberg at Cato (full video of forum)

Daily Telegraph: “Nick Clegg: tell us the laws that you want scrapped”

The public will be asked what laws they want ripped up, in far-reaching reforms designed to put back “faith in politics”, the Deputy Prime Minister will say.

The reordering of power will sweep away Labour legislation and new criminal offences deemed to have eroded personal freedom.

It will involve the end of the controversial ID cards scheme, the scrapping of universal DNA databases – in which the records of thousands of innocent people have been stored – and restrictions placed on internet records. The use of CCTV cameras will also be reviewed.

Dubbed the “Great Reform Act”, the measures will close down the ContactPoint children’s database. Set up by Labour last year, it includes detailed information on all 11 million youngsters under 18.

In addition, schools will not be able to take a child’s fingerprint without parental permission.

In an attempt to protect freedom of speech, ministers will review libel laws, while limits on peaceful protest will be removed.

HT: Jim Peron

Explained by Experts Takis Michas and Patrick Welter

I’ve known both Takis and Patrick for years and it was great to have them both together in D.C. to talk about a subject on which both are experts, albeit from different directions.

A Forceful Call For Change From El Paso

George F. Will: “Greece and GM: Too weak to fail“

David Bernstein on the rather, um, selective history of “Progressivism” given by the “Center for American Progress”: “Whitewashing Progressivism”

One could add many, many sins to the account of so-called “Progressives,” including prohibition, victimless crime laws generally, vice squads, public morals legislation, and generally attempting to replace the rule of law by the rule of wise and moral “experts,” i.e., themselves.

Ten years ago I wrote for Slate the truth about what our federal census has become: “Census 2000: You May Already Be a Winner!”

(Note: Some of the links — ten years on — don’t work, but you could have learned how to say “The money will be distributed by national and local authorities,” among other fascinating things, in Hmong, Polish, and Laotian.)

Washington Post: “Is health-care reform unconstitutional?“

Watch the admission at Cato@LibertyGOP Congressmen: Most Republicans Now Think Iraq War Was a Mistake

Paul Krugman of the New York Times on “An Irish Mirror” and Constantin Gurdgiev of Trinity College, Dublin on “Replying to Prof Krugman”

Hat Tip: Cyril Morong

Third Wheel, by Prabodh.

Yesterday on the radio I heard an interview with Cheye Calvo, mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, who recounted his family’s nightmare as they were attacked by a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team, which assaulted them, abused them, and killed their dogs. It was chilling. Radley Balko of Reason covers the story; “4.5 SWAT Raids Per Day”

After some shocking numbers about the huge numbers of SWAT attacks, Balko notes,

Worse even than those dreary numbers is the fact that more than half of the county’s SWAT deployments were for misdemeanors and nonserious felonies. That means more than 100 times last year Prince George’s County brought state-sanctioned violence to confront people suspected of nonviolent crimes. And that’s just one county in Maryland. These outrageous numbers should provide a long-overdue wake-up call to public officials about how far the pendulum has swung toward institutionalized police brutality against its citizenry, usually in the name of the drug war.

I don’t smoke. I don’t like smoking. I hate the smell it leaves on your clothes when others smoke around you. But that doesn’t change my views about this injustice: “Pub landlord is first person in Britain to be jailed over smoking ban”

‘Ninety per cent of people who come into my pub want to smoke, even the non-smokers think there should be a choice. These laws are ridiculous.’

If you’re like me and don’t like being around a lot of cigarette smoke, don’t go to places where other people smoke.

Thanks, Reason.tv, for a clear explanation!

La Prensa San Diego on El narco: La guerra fallida by former Mexican presidential spokesperson Rubén Aguilar and political analyst and former foreign minister Jorge Castañeda: “The So-Called War on Drugs a Complete Failure”

CNN: “Former Mexican official urges legalizing marijuana”

I have heard Castañeda speak and he is truly exceptional as an analyst and as a speaker. It’s a shame that on the clip here he barely has a chance to make even one point.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and the Students for Liberty have filed a joint amicus brief for freedom of association in the case of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. Both groups deserve support from believers (whether “believers” or not) in the right to freedom of association.

The issue has some complications, but I think that the FIRE and SFL brief makes the case well against attempting to dictate the views of groups that receive official recognition at state universities.

Reason’s Jacob Sullum: “If We Make Sure We’re Not Killing Innocent People, We Might Not Get to Kill Anyone at All“