Rafa and his girlfriend

I must say that they look cute together.

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Heath Ledger as the Joker

It was a mindblowing performance, a work of art that makes the artist irrelevant.
Heath Ledger, RIP.
(Top picture by Flickr user Howie_Berlin . Lower picture by Flickr user yotambientengosuperpode res)

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Charlie Lynch’s trial begins on Tuesday

His crime was that he owned a medical marijuana dispensary that sold small amounts of the drug as a pain-reliever to the sick and the dying.
He faces 100 years in prison.
It goes without saying that one doesn’t have to be a libertarian or even believe in drug legalization to see the absurdity or the tragedy of the situation. (All [...]

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On Czechoslovakia and satirical cartoons

For someone who claims an advantage over his rival on foregin policy and ‘how the world works’, John McCain sure lets slip a few embarassing gaffes. For the second time in two days, he referred to the country of ‘Czechoslovakia’, which as the reader might recall, does not exist any more. 
In view of the above, the Seattle [...]

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The strange case of Salvatore Culosi

The wages of sin is death. What constitutes sinful behavior is going to be decided by us, the government. We will do everything in our power to ensure that your children grow up in a moral environment.
Sometimes shit will happen in the process. Culosi– poor guy – his fate was an unfortunate one. But you know what, some collateral damage is unavoidable in matters like [...]

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Porn producer gets it, one law professor doesn’t

Adult film producer John Stagliano — facing up to 40 years in jail if convicted in a currently running obscenity case – debates Pepperdine Law School’s Barry McDonald on free speech vs obscenity. Money quote from Stagliano:
Barry, your point is that people must be forced to not think things that you don’t like, and for that [...]

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The choice of a doubting prosecutor

A fascinating account of how a district attorney was forced to prosecute a case even though he felt the defendant was innocent. Compelled to choose between his conscience and his job, he took an unusual decision. He took the case, but helped the defence win.
(Link via Reason Hit and Run)

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Bill Clinton or George Bush?

Moblogic interviews Bob Barr, the Libertarian nominee for president.

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Keira Knightley ‘happy to go nude’

That’s good news. Now, if she would only put on some more flesh…

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The Kozinski affair

Since the Judge Kozinski story broke three days ago, I have frequently visited The Volokh Conspiracy hoping that Eugene Volokh — an outstanding blogger who I frequently cite —  would post on the issue. My interest was piqued not only because I admire Kozinski — a brilliant judge with a libertarian streak — but because Volokh had once clerked for him. Here [...]

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Rowling at Harvard

One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my [...]

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300 days alone on a island

Yep, its for real!
French explorer and adventurer Xavier Rosset is about to embark on a 300 day trip to live alone on a remote tropical island in the South Pacific. His adventures will be filmed and used for a 52 minute documentary.
Xavier’s only luggage will be a Swiss army knife, machete, video camera, and a [...]

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Two mommys, one daddy (and us)

After landing in Columbus, the [Hillary Clinton] campaign entourage headed by motorcade to Zanesville, a town of about twenty-five thousand, sixty miles away, for what was billed as an economic “summit.” When one speaker offered encomiums to Clinton rather than economic prescriptions, she gently reprimanded her, saying, “We’re going to put a moratorium on compliments.” [...]

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Barr’s the man

Bob Barr is the Libertarian party nominee for president. He defeated Mary Ruwart and others after days of political drama, debates and discussions at the Libertarian national convention at Denver, Colorado.
Dave Wiegel from Reason has a stellar coverage of the Libertarian convention here. Highly recommended.

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NY Times on Ron Paul

A nice article in the New York Times on Ron Paul and his passionate supporters.
Mr. Paul was supposed to be a memory by now. But in the Oregon primary last week, he won 15 percent of the vote, and the campaign appears to be growing into something beyond a conventional protest campaign. Some supporters have [...]

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