Issue CLII 

April 25-27, 2008

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Art
Spirograph Cube:
G. Stolyarov II
April 27, 2008
In this artwork by Mr. Stolyarov, an online spirograph was used to create the design on each of the faces of the cube, whose top and bottom faces are covered by glass pyramids. This work of Abstract Orderism focuses on the appearance of elaborate geometric designs from unusual angles and through semi-transparent media. One might say that it literally adds another dimension to spirograph drawings!

Economics
The Double Trouble of Taxation:
Ron Paul
April 27, 2008
Taxes were on the forefront of many Americans’ minds this week as they scrambled to meet the April 15th deadline to file their returns.  Tax policy in this country hurts taxpayers twice – once when they pay taxes, and then when the government spends the money.  Americans are sick and tired of the financial burden and the endless forms to fill out.  To add insult to injury, after collecting this money, the government does some very detrimental things to the economy. Rep. Ron Paul proposes to change this burdensome situation.

Liberte for Consumers:
Cecile Philippe
April 27, 2008
Bargain hunters in France have to be fast because, regrettably, sales in this country run just a limited time. There’s the summer sale, generally in July, and the winter sale, generally in January. Outside these regulated mark-down seasons, customers must usually pay the full price. In recent years there was an exception, and it applied to books. Unfortunately, French authorities have decided to eliminate that fortuitous exception as well. Cecile Philippe explains the problems with not allowing customers to buy goods at reduced prices.

The Euro Witch Hunt Against Microsoft:
Cecile Philippe
April 27, 2008
For the third time in a decade-long antitrust saga, the European Commission imposed a fine on Microsoft, this time to the tune of 899 million euros. The new fine, for failure to provide information needed for interoperability with its operating system, confirms that the Commission is acting blindly by not measuring competition correctly in the market for these technologies. Cecile Philippe discusses the flaws in the Commission's reasoning and standards.

It is Possible: Worst Aspects of Telecom Meddling are Disappearing:
Martin Masse
April 27, 2008
Regulatory agencies always find good reasons to regulate. Even when the goal is to maintain "competitive" markets, they tend to define competition so as to give themselves a role in managing these markets. Fortunately, in the Canadian telecom sector, the worst aspects of regulatory meddling have been fast disappearing over the past year, thanks to two major initiatives by the federal government inspired by recommendations made in March 2006 by the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel. Martin Masse describes these splendid developments.

Politics
Revolution Takes Time and Planning: We've Only Just Begun:
Tom DeWeese
April 25, 2008
It is now obvious that Rep. Ron Paul will not be elected President of the United States in November 2008. There are those who have predicted that the Republic will die if Paul does not occupy the White House next January. A dire prediction, most certainly overstated, but considering the candidates left in the offering, it can be said with equal certainty that the Republic is going to be severely damaged by the next administration. Rather than throw ourselves in a fetal position and wait for Armageddon, now is the time to make some concrete, long term plans to assure we can elect the next Ron Paul. Tom DeWeese offers a few suggestions for how to do this.

Earth Day is a Holiday for Liars:
Alan Caruba
April 27, 2008
Since 1970, April 22 has been celebrated as Earth Day. It is generally regarded as the date of the birth of the modern environmental movement. Alan Caruba has followed the apocalyptic claims and the legislated mandates of the environmental movement since the 1970s, and their single unifying factor has been the lies told to achieve various elements the Green agenda.

From the Soviet Union to Putin's Russia:
Alan Caruba
April 27, 2008
When the government of the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the fall was attributed to all kinds of reasons. There was the failed invasion of Afghanistan, the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and, after some desperate efforts by Mikhail Gorbachev, Communism as a guiding principle and economic system simply imploded. That’s the thumbnail version that passes for history, but Michael J. Economides and Donna Marie D’Aleo have another answer, and it’s one you may not want to hear. Alan Caruba explains these two authors' theory that the fall of the Soviet Union was due to its failure to competently address its oil situation.

Global Warming Tax Hikes Heading Your Way:
Paul Driessen
April 27, 2008
America is in the throes of a major housing and financial downturn, soaring food and energy costs, rising unemployment, and near-recession. But legislators, bureaucrats, and presidential candidates are falling all over themselves to restrict fossil fuel use, advance climate change legislation – and thereby increase energy prices, oil imports, and costs for families and businesses. Paul Driessen discusses the dangers of climate change alarmism to millions of Americans' standards of living.

When Will We Admit the Truth About Barack Obama?:
Selwyn Duke
April 27, 2008
Selwyn Duke discusses the profound discrepancy between Barack Obama’s damage-control denials and flowery rhetoric, and his long track record. Understand that he, like the other candidates, is interviewing for the job of president with you, the interviewer. His job is to bend the truth; your job is to discern it. The only question is: Who will do a better job, he or you?

"All people, however fanatical they may be in their zeal to disparage and to fight capitalism, implicitly pay homage to it by passionately clamoring for the products it turns out." 
~ Ludwig von Mises

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