New on Films on Liberty and the State, Oliver Stone’s controversial JFK:

Radley Balko links to a couple of pieces on the supposed link between inequality and obesity—Polly Toynbee’s claim in The Guardian that there is a causal relationship between the two and an excellent, evidence-based refutation of her claims. Let’s assume for a moment that Polly is right. Can the state fix it with income redistribution?

The post below cites some back-and-forth interplay on the variations between the Chicago school and the Austrian school (in the comments section), and I think a few people incorrectly focus on that main difference being anarcho-capitalism, which is not a fundamental concept of economic theory, and is not relevant to the Austrian school of thought.

A Chicago School, “free-market” economist hails the proposed gas tax:

May 29th marks the birthday in 1736 of Patrick Henry, America’s “Orator of Liberty.” His “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death“ speech in March 1775 was the spark that ignited the Revolution in Virginia, and continues to serve as a battle cry for all who seek to overthrow tyrants.

This is a fascinating editorial apology from the New York Times, an attempt by the paper to deal with its own complicity in the Iraq WMD hoax. It names specific stories that the editors later discovered to be one-sided or just downright wrong, and regrets that these stories were used by the administration as evidence to bolster its claims concerning the need for war. It admits to having believed lies and not having checked out claims made by special interests.