I guess we should be grateful that the federal government has magnanimously agreed to suspend shutting Vonage down on appeal of a patent verdict against it. For now, at least, it may escape the $612M damages that were extorted out of BlackBerry. And why did Vonage lose and might be shut down? Because its service is covered by someone else’s patent, which gives them a monopoly on this concept:
My review is posted here.
Maybe the authors of the Federalist Papers were liars. Maybe they were just engaged in political propaganda in order to shove through the Constitution. In secret, perhaps, they were plotting a Leviathan state with a president who can do all that the Bush administration claims he can, which pretty much amounts to whatever Bush wants to do.
The NY Times is reporting that billionaires Eli Broad and Bill Gates are “joining forces for a $60 million foray into politics in an effort to vault education high onto the agenda of the 2008 presidential race.†What appears to be an extension of their philanthropic activities is simply seed money for the next political solution to failing government schools; a solution that will end up pounding more of my tax dollars down the rat hole that is public education.
I was just astonished at fruit prices this morning at the local grocer. The clerk explained to me that all the prices of regionally grown fruit are going up up up, and it is likely to get worse. Why is this? We had a freeze in April. In April, in the Deep South! It seems that the entire peach and apple crops were wiped out, and people are in a panic about it all. Everyone gathered around the cash register agreed that we could use a bit more of this legendary “global warming.”
The Theory of Collective Bargaining, by William H. Hutt
The Economics of the Colour Bar, by William H. Hutt
Money and Man, by Elgin Groseclose
Although supporters of the market economy often have good reason for pessimism, it is important, especially in this age of globalization, not to lose sight of the genuine victories that the classical liberal tradition can boast.
This article makes the case for dilettantism.
