Walter Williams' gives his take on this guy "the market".

What we call the market is really a democratic process involving millions, and in some markets billions, of people making personal decisions that express their preferences. When you hear someone say that he doesn't trust the market, and wants to replace it with government edicts, he's really calling for a switch from a democratic process to a totalitarian one.

An excellent example is when people demand that government confiscate the earnings of wealthier Americans to give to poorer Americans. Michael Jordan is much wealthier than I, but whose doing is that? It's decisions made by millions upon millions of people who prefer to fork over their money to watch him play basketball. I'd be just as rich if they were willing to do the same to watch me play. When someone condemns Jordan's earnings, they are really condemning the voluntary decisions made by millions of people.

A take on the "I wish it was a joke law suit versus fast food."
Reasonable people once thought lawsuits against tobacco companies would never succeed, but they did.

Given the tobacco precedent, predatory lawyers see the future in the anti-junk food arena. As one veteran tobacco insider told me: "They'll keep throwing spaghetti against the wall until something sticks. A crazy judge somewhere somehow will let something go further than it should … you try enough courts and jurisdictions, someone will let it out of the box. It only takes one and they know it."

Which is to say, watch for state excise taxes to expand, and keep an eye on the blossoming budgets of the Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture. And start weaning yourself from the exercise of choice. Like the greasy burgers you used to love, you'll crave freedom when it's gone

Why libertarians are great!

Libertarians are sometimes damned as purists, but at least they aren’t as predictable or as boring as their sniping counterparts on the right and left. They’re also – and I say this from experience – a whole lot more fun. They lack the anti-corporate nervous tics of progressives (“Oh, I couldn’t order Dominos. Do you have any idea what kind of causes they finance?!”) and the woe is us moralistic hang-ups of conservatives (“There was sex on TV last night! We’re doomed.”).

A startlingly diverse group, the only common ground that all libertarians share is a desire to live in a society in which people are truly free – of wars, of petty government regulations, of a creeping Puritanism that holds suspect any fun activity. That might be a pipe dream, but it's one I’ve come to share.

Not getting that many hot votes? What is up with that?

The onion on fat people paying extra.

Death to the energy industry???

Some industry insiders believe the write-offs faced by banks and bondholders could exceed the losses caused by the collapse of WorldCom and Global Crossing. The two US telecommunications companies filed for bankruptcy with combined debts of $44bn.

"We are past the point of no return on significant levels of debt default in the energy industry, which will dwarf WorldCom and Global Crossing," said Mr Miller. "There is no doubt we will see multiple bankruptcies shortly."

US energy companies borrowed heavily in the late 1990s to take advantage of deregulation, investing in infrastructure and building up trading operations.

The debt of the top eight energy traders soared by 200 per cent to $115bn in the three years to May 2002, according to SNL Financial. Lenders were attracted by the strong earnings growth shown by the companies based on optimistic forecasts of future US power prices.

Happy Birthday Mitlon.

If you're looking for the father of the 20th century libertarian renaissance, start your paternity tests with Uncle Milty. Certainly fingers should point in the direction of Mises, Hayek, and other such luminaries. Murray Rothbard and Ayn Rand were both making sizeable waves as Friedman was wading into the pool. But Friedman really deserves the brass ring for creating both academic and popular support for the idea of reducing government controls and increasing individual freedom.

Mises and Hayek got the ball rolling after World War II, but Keynes and his cronies had all the loot and influence. The libertarian economic position was muffled and marginalized. Something had to shake it loose. That something was Friedman, who helped create a massively influential free-market academic network based at the University of Chicago.

Get ready for some more trick plays from the "STILLERS" this season.


"We were purposely going to line (quarterback) Kordell (Stewart) up under the right guard," said Mularkey, recalling one such play, on Sunday at St. Vincent College. "You know how some quarterbacks make the mistake, they come out of the huddle and they're trying to get the backs in the right position and they turn around and, by accident, they get under the right guard? And then, all of a sudden, you see them get back under center and they're totally embarrassed?

"Well, we were purposely going to line Kordell up under the right guard, and as the defense is going 'You big dummy,' direct-snap it to (running back) Jerome (Bettis). We could not do it."

Mularkey said that the NFL wouldn't allow the Steelers do it.

"That would have been a penalty," Mularkey said. "We had some ideas last year that I thought were great. I'd check with the officials and they said we could not do it because it would be attempting to deceive the defense.

Hines Ward is already getting nasty, just wait till the season kicks off.

It was Sunday, so naturally Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward decided to put on a show.

Not that Ward is in mid-season form just yet, but he's closer today than he was yesterday following an electrifying practice-field performance at St. Vincent College.