TownHall.com:: Walter Williams gives a good explanation of "Public Choice Theory" and explains why (a) protectionism is bad, and (b) why most of us don't care enough to do anything about it.

Washingtonpost.com Special Report: Congressional Sex Scandals of the 20th Century - this is what the press is all about, or should be -- history, background, context, research, and an unflinching look at the foibles of the powerful.

from www.directedfire.com:

In 1960, Robert Menard was a Commander aboard the USS Constellation when he was part of a meeting between United States Navy personnel and their counterparts in the Japanese Defense Forces.

Fifteen years had passed since VJ day, most of those at the meeting were WWII veterans, and men who had fought each other to the death at sea were now comrades in battle who could confide in one another.

Someone at the table asked a Japanese admiral why, with the Pacific Fleet devastated at Pearl Harbor and the mainland US forces in what Japan had to know was a pathetic state of unreadiness, Japan had not simply invaded the West Coast.

Commander Menard would never forget the crafty look on the Japanese commander's face as he frankly answered the question.

"You are right", he told the Americans. "We did indeed know much about your preparedness. We knew that probably every second home in your country contained firearms. We knew that your country actually had state championships for private citizens shooting military rifles. We were not fools to set foot in such quicksand."

Google Search: Vossekuil school shootings - this is a Google search that will call up news articles on a Secret Service study that indicates that (a) school shooters are not impulsive, and (b) "profiles" of school shooters are ineffective as policing tools.

BBC News | EUROPE | France upholds 'right not to be born' - one scary item from Socialist France. I still feel that such a "wrong" should be righted rather than compensated for.

Got this from someone's .sig:

The right of self-defense is the first law of nature: in most
governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right
within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies
are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear
arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited,
liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of
destruction."
-- Henry St. George Tucker (in Blackstone's Commentaries)

Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments - loads of fun.

Reason magazine describes the dystopian fearmongering of the neo-luddites in this 29-Aug-2000 article.

Denver Post.com - Colo. to 'map' faces of drivers - so Colorado owns your face. But should they?

Lost freedoms are almost always traded in for a promise of safety. The loss is real, and the promise is usually empty. Colorado's face-mapping scheme is going to be very much the same.

The best way to fight this will be with property rights law. The legislature should state that you own your face, and you can license the state to use it for specific purposes -- but not for any old thing the government wants to do. The same protections would cover private imaging and face-capture activities as well. The mall operator can use your image only if you're seen stealing something -- otherwise they should not retain the image or sell it.

The Secret to Software Success - APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT - CIO Magazine Jul 1,2001 - a cool examination of failing software methodologies and efforts to improve things - well written and fun. Appropriate for CIOs.