A New Kind of “Jeopardy”

October 17, 2009

BBC: “Guns given to Somali quiz winners”
The winning team, from the city’s Farjano district, reportedly won a rifle, two grenades, a landmine and office supplies worth $1,000 (£613).
What do you do with one landmine?

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Go, Georgia, Go! Limit the State!

October 17, 2009

EurasiaNet.org: GEORGIA: SAAKASHVILI WANTS TBILISI TO BECOME “GOVERNMENT-LITE”

Ilia Chavchavadze
The Georgian leader used a reference to a national cultural icon, the revered 19th century novelist Ilia Chavchavadze, to sway any doubters who believe that liberalism is “a non-Georgian word.” Chavchavadze, a nobleman who led Georgia’s 19th century national movement and was later canonized, was [...]

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Vienna Dining

October 16, 2009

I had to skip the formal dinner tonight, as I am still very ill and wobbly from something “off” I ate in Egypt, but I managed to go out to the Cafe Diglas on the Wollzeile and have a very dignified Tafelspitz and some Grüner Veltliner and Mineralwasser (mit Kohlensäure), while reading essays by Adam [...]

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A Peek into a Horrible Past

October 16, 2009

More at Ben Lewis TV

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Crony Capitalism….It’s Not Just for Malaysians or Singaporeans!

October 16, 2009

Russell Roberts on NPR: “As Goldman Gloats, What Does It Matter For Us?”
Russell is too much of a gentleman to point out the large number of Goldman cronies who moved into state offices in Washington during the Bush and Obama (or “Bobama”) administrations. Henry Paulson, meet Ferdinand Marcos.

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A Cool New Game….

October 16, 2009

Russia’s new code-breaking game
Not as physically challenging as Parkour, mind you, but mentally challenging in interesting ways:

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Vienna

October 14, 2009

I had an early morning seminar and book presentation on Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice, at the offices of the Hayek Institut in Vienna, followed by a visit to the Finance Ministry to hear the address of the Finance Minister, Dr. Josef Proll, which, while far from perfect from a libertarian perspective, was [...]

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The Egypt Audit

October 14, 2009

I got in last night from Cairo to Vienna, after a successful Egypt Audit program, in cooperation with the Fraser Institute and the IDSC of Egypt. The Egypt Audit applied the methods of the Economic Freedom of the World reports to one country — Egypt — and made recommendations for reforms, which were then discussed [...]

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Cairo, Egypt

October 11, 2009

After traveling about 35 hours from Central Asia to California, I left after 36 or so hours for Cairo, where I landed a while ago. I’m here for the Egypt Audit of the Fraser Institute and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation’s Minbaralhurriyya.org project, as well as meetings with various Egyptian classical liberal groups. [...]

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Where is the “Peace” in the Peace Prize?

October 9, 2009

Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama is escalating the war in Afghanistan and has made no additional moves, beyond what the Bush administration had planned, for any withdrawal from Iraq. He has done nothing to move the world, much less the US, toward peace. It seems he got the “I’m not a Republican” [...]

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My Interview with Reason.TV

October 9, 2009

Talking about Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice (available at a deep discount from Amazon.com and at a sliiiightly deeper discount from Laissez Faire Books).

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Back from Central Asia

October 9, 2009

I’m a wee bit tired, after driving from Issyk Kul to Bishkek (but I did get some hours of sleep), then a very early departure from Bishkek to Istanbul, then Istanbul to Chicago, where I missed the connection to Denver, so I was rerouted to San Francisco and then on to Santa Barbara. I’m [...]

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Idea Night in Bishkek

October 3, 2009

The Central Asian Free Market Institute organized a really impressive and brilliantly coordinated program last night in Bishkek, “Idea Night.” (They expected 100 and got well over 150 [I counted 170].) Young Kyrgyz made a series of presentations, including a very impressive one on the evil “propiska” system of residency permits and internal [...]

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B in B

October 1, 2009

Back in Bishkek, with the Central Asian Free Market Institute. I’ll speak at several events, including the Idea Night and the Free Market School. (Click at upper left for English.)

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A New Search Engine

September 29, 2009

From the founders:
Liberty-Finder (http://liberty-finder.com) is a new Google based search engine with a database restricted to 400+ websites that display resources in English on individual liberty, free market and limited government.
Liberty-Finder’s goal is to make the world’s classical liberal and libertarian resources more accessible and useful. The added value of Liberty-Finder is to keep authoritarian [...]

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Some Thoughts on Health Care “Reform”

September 29, 2009

Everyone labels their proposals “reform,” which is an empty label. You can’t be “for” or “against” reform until you know what the reform is (unless you’re 100% satisfied with the status quo, which few people are). Here are just three worries that occur to me and that have not been widely discussed in [...]

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Chat Chambre

September 28, 2009

Wollstonecraft (”Wolly”) Palmer in a Chat Chambre (she speaks French)

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Time to Look to a Peaceful Future

September 28, 2009

BBC: “Turkey, Armenia to restore ties”
Arguing over the nature or magnitude of crimes in the past is not necessarily a bad thing, unless it gets in the way of peace and freedom. It’s time for the people of Turkey and Armenia to discuss the past openly, through private discussion and through the institutions of [...]

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Some Good News from Germany

September 27, 2009

BBC: “Merkel ‘heads for’ new coalition”
Governing with the liberal Free Democrats will be an improvement. It looks like the FDP got 14.8%. Bravo!

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He Kinda Doesn’t Get It

September 27, 2009

James Fallows in The Atlantic: “FT, Economist, and me”
I’ll post a response later (gotta rush to a meeting now), but it will be fun to show how he has focused on a non-essential difference.
Hat Tip: Jude Blanchette

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