A federal trial over a Pennsylvania school that required bringing up the question of “intelligent design” (are there aspects of life not explained by evolution, which might best be explained by the existence of an intelligent “designer”?) has brought the issue to America’s front pages.

The Wall Street Journal’s Cynthia Crossen, whose history column is called Deja Vu, recounted a 1937 incident in which a drug containing antifreeze killed 75 people, leading to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, which led, of course, to many, many more deaths in the decades it has been in force.

In this article (subscription to wsj.com required), Crossen refers scornfully to Americans - evidently numerous at the time - who claimed the right to “self-medicate.”

Google under scrutiny, Officials say it’s dodging taxes by building on federal land:

The New York Times reports that FEMA wasted over $100 million of ice that was intended to help to hurricane victims. One frustrated truck driver had to drive 2,000 pounds of ice around for 4,100 miles, being redirected half a dozen times, and waiting up to a week (with the engine running) for FEMA to make up their mind.

The Francis Wayland Institute is now up and running (or at least the website is). The Institute is named after Francis Wayland (1796-1865), the Baptist minister who wrote the free market textbook, The Elements of Political Economy (fourth ed. was 1841). The Francis Wayland Institute is a think tank in the intellectual tradition of Francis Wayland that upholds the ideals of Christianity, liberty, property, and peace. The website is still in its early stages. More information will soon be added about Francis Wayland and the Institute.

Hey you conservatives and libertarians, don’t you criticize President Bush, he is so smart bla, bla bla, he knows that if the government don’t spend $200 billion on New Orleans, some other American city will be nuked by terrorists bla, bla, bla $200 billion is nothing compared to the inflated value of American property bla, bla, bla Bush know how good his corporate fat cat buddies are at spending taxpayer’s money bla, bla bla Jack Kemp is a genius too bla, bla, bla Vouchers from the government is free enterprise in action bla, bla, bla.

The Brady Campaign, a prominent gun control advocacy group that has long been rightfully reviled by supporters of gun-rights is now engaging in a campaign to attempt to educate foreign tourists and others about a new Florida law that gives citizens greater latitude in defending themselves.