LearnLiberty.org is offering a new course developed by George Crowley of Troy University titled “Subliminal Lessons from South Park: A Super Primer on Economics and Politics.” The course blurb:

Today is the 78th birthday of Ralph Raico, the foremost historian of classical liberalism.  Among many other works, Ralph is the author of two outstanding collections of essays, Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School and Great Wars and Great Leaders.  As the latter title suggests, he is a great exponent of revisionist history.

According to Guy McPherson, Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources, Ecology, etc., at the University of Arizona, (presumably man-made) climate change is “irreversible” and, basically, we’re all doomed.

Austrian economist Micheal Pollaro writes that with the end of QE3 coming that stock market bulls need to take a note of caution because the Austrian measure of the money supply is already falling. This is typically a sign of trouble for stock markets.

According to Reuters, two owners of a wedding chapel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho are suing the city, and asking a federal judge to temporarily bar the city “from enforcing a local ordinance that bans discrimination tied to sexual orientation in businesses that are used by the public.” Violators are subject to fi

I think most people know what I mean when I speak of the gatekeepers of permissible discussion. On the left, sites like ThinkProgress and Media Matters smear and attack those uppity peons who stray from the ideological plantation that the Washington Post and the New York Times oversee. On the right it’s neoconservative sites like the Free Beacon, who have built a nice little cabin on that plantation, and who rat out anyone who tries to run away. Why, we don’t hold any of the dangerous views of those libertarians, good Mr. New York Times reporter, sir!

Like other spontaneously evolving systems, language tends to move in the direction of more effective cooperation. But sometimes usage distorts once-clear words into sources of confusion.

C.S. Lewis cited “gentleman” as an example. Its usage moved from stating a fact — a man who was landed and had a coat of arms — to a way of praising someone’s behavior, something we already had plenty of words for. But in the process, the word lost its ability to clearly communicate what it once meant.

In the 1970s, Penthouse magazine had a reputation for featuring the ideas of unorthodox political thinkers and movements. That’s why in October 1976 it interviewed Murray Rothbard to ask about the rapidly-growing philosophy of libertarianism. This interview is now difficult to find, but was recently excavated from the archives at the Mises Institute.

The article begins with an introduction that provides a great snapshot of both Rothbard’s work and personality:

The notion that the Federal Reserve has been acting to manipulate stock markets has been active for decades, but rarely has that notion been openly discussed in the mainstream media. In this article by Howard Gold the Fed is praised for its “market timing” as Fed official quickly responded to recent volatility in the stock market with promises of more quantitative easing if necessary.