Memorial

I just noticed that Rogier van Bakel has a blogroll link to Peter McWilliams's free on-line version of his magnificant book Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Country. The premise of the book is simple: This book is about a single idea---consenting adults should not be put in jail unless they physically harm the person or property … [Read more...] about Peter McWilliams

I never met Jim Berger. I don't even remember hearing his name before 9/11. My wife used to work for the Chicago office of Aon Consulting. A couple of times, she visited the company's offices in New York City, and met a bunch of people there, including a Senior Vice President named Jim Berger. She liked him and thought he was a great guy. The Aon offices in New York were … [Read more...] about Jim Berger

This is strange and a little sad. From a Chicago Tribune report: Someone broke into the Sept. 11 memorial near Naperville City Hall and stole a piece of concrete that had been part of the Pentagon, police said.The theft occurred Wednesday, police said.Naperville CrimeStoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.The memorial honors victims of the … [Read more...] about Theft At the Shanower Memorial

Economist Milton Friedman has died at the age of 94.Although the man was a huge influence on economic thinking, I never read much of his writing. My self-imposed education in the basics of economics came well after he made his major contributions, so by the time I encountered his writings, I had already learned many of his ideas from other sources.The New York Times … [Read more...] about Milton Friedman, R.I.P.

Back in August, I blogged about Lisa Ramaci-Vincent's response to Professor Juan Cole's suggestion that her late husband, journalist Steven Vincent, had been killed in Iraq because he was having an affair with his translator. She explained what her husband was really up to, and if you don't know the story, you ought to read it. In additional to blogging the story, I also … [Read more...] about Lisa Ramaci-Vincent