Libertarian Man of Mystery

Let druggies die

I'm as in favor of legalizing drugs as the next libertarian. But government funded "needle exchanges" (as recommended by Julie Saltman) is something I just don't get.

How can a rational government on the one hand say an actviity is illegal, and on the other hand give out equipment to help people engage in said illegal activity?

If people are dying because they are stupid enough to use AIDs infected needles to shoot themselves up with illegal drugs, then I say our society is better off without such people! Let them die.

Paul Krugman and bankruptcy

It's a pretty rare event when I agree with anything that Paul Krugman has to say, but I agree with everythign he writes today about the bankruptcy bill in Congress.

What most people don't realize about Krugman is that he's writing his columns for those on the left. He normally doens't care what people on the right think. All the Bush bashing is supposed to get people on the left to think he's on their side.

But in today's column, there's not a single sentence of Bush bashing nor any mention of Iraq. He wants everyone to read his column today.

Open source software

There's some talk about open source software over at Mises Economics Blog.

With a few exceptions, most open source software sucks. Without a profit motive to ensure that the software is user friendly, the geeks who program it get bored with it once it works and they never finish polishing it.

One should remember the 80/20 rule: it usually takes something like 20% of the effort to get something 80% completed. Most open source software doesn't have that last 10% to 20% completion.

John Bolton, U.N. ambassador

Kudos to Bush for selecting a John Bolton to be the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. WaPo. Critics of roundly criticized Bush for his selection. They say that Bolton’s on the record anti-U.N. stance is a snub to that august body.

I say that we don’t want a starry eyed wuss at the U.N. who actually thinks that organization represents U.S. interests. A tough guy like John Bolton is who we need. A guy who won’t take any sh** from whining jealous and undemocratic third world nations.

Harry Stonecipher vs. Bill Clinton

Harry C. Stonecipher, the CEO of Boeing, was ousted because of "a personal relationship he had with a female executive at the company." NY Times. Boeing's chairman said, "as we explored the circumstances surrounding the affair, we just thought there were some issues of poor judgment that as I said earlier impaired his ability to lead going forward."

It's interesting to note that the CEO of a corporation is held to a higher standard than the President of the United States. Mr. Stonecipher didn't even lie about anything while under oath.

Hot Lebanese babes

It's at Instaporndit--oops, I mean Instapundit.

Back to the past

According to the NY Times, a cinema degree is the new MBA.

I am 100% behind the idea that in the future, marketing will be more important than manufacturing or technology. However, the NY Times is a little behind the times on this observation. In the classic 1980s movie, Back to the Future, Doc Brown observed, after seeing Mary McFly’s video camera, “No wonder your President has to be an actor, he's gotta look good on television.”

Armanious family killed by robbers

According to this NY Post article, the Armanious family was killed by robbers and not Muslims seeking revenge.

Read some additional commentary at Joe’s Dartblog.

Become a vet, meet girls

According to the NYT, pharmacy and vetinary medicine are chick careers. Who knew?

I would urge you to read the linked article strictly for the interesting numbers. The conclusions are completely bogus and unscientific. Like: "Lawrence Summers - has so far missed the central point: scientists are made, not born." Huh? Hasn't the NY Times heard that intelligence is primarily an hereditary trait? You can't be dumb and still become a scientist. Not going to happen.

Bad meteorology costs money

The Mayor of Moscow wants to fine meteorologists when they get the forecast wrong.

Perhaps we need the same thing to happen here. Those meteorologists predicted a huge winter storm for the Washington, DC area, and so far there's hardly enough snow to cover the grass. They made all the schools close yet again, wasting a lot of taxpayer money, when the main roads don't even have a speck of snow on them.