Pakistan arrests man for sending ‘obnoxious’ and ‘blasphemous’ emails

The International News reports,

The Cyber Crime Circle of the Federal Investigation (FIA) and police have jointly achieved a unique breakthrough by successfully tracing and arresting a person found involved in using the Internet to disseminate his highly obnoxious and blasphemous thoughts about the Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

On the complaint of Ansar Abbasi, Editor Investigations, The News, and following initial investigations held by the IT Wing of the Jang Group, the FIA traced the accused through the obnoxious e-mail and got him arrested for allegedly committing blasphemy. This is the first case of its nature in Pakistan where an accused has been arrested for committing blasphemy through the Internet.

I better watch what I write.

Yemen to protect against the so-called exploitation of freedom

According to the Yemen Times,

In an attempt to safeguard the morality of Yemen’s youth, the Ministry of Culture will step up its campaign to search internet cafes and CD sellers without warning.

The article continues,

Both Internet service providers in Yemen are 100 percent government-owned, but TeleYemen is managed by a French company.

The Ministry of Telecommunication controls what is accessed on the Internet, both by banning websites and keywords, and by the regular campaigns by Ministry of Culture to internet centers to observe the contents of the server commuters.

And just in case that wasn’t enough, the article concludes,

Some people exploit the open space of freedom to do things that may harm themselves and society, according to [Kamal] Al-Bartani.

“Regulations need to be updated and added to control Internet businesses,” he adds.

Quote of the Day

“Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.”

~ Barry Goldwater, San Francisco (July 1964)

Passing The Buck

Only 3% of Americans believe their taxes are too low, yet 52% voted for President Obama – which, in effect, means 52% of Americans voted for a tax increase. What does this say about the moral caliber of our society? Unfortunately, our nation has accepted “democracy” or “majority rule” as a moral sanction. It is not. A majority never has the moral authority to violate the rights of any minority. But this is exactly what many government actions do, under the false legitimacy of “majority rule.”

Citizens must take more responsibility for their government. If an individual wants more government services, but does not wish to pay more taxes, and that individual votes for a tax increase as part of the majority, that individual has effectively used force against his neighbors to seize their property for his own personal gain. I am not claiming that all taxes are a violation of individual rights. I am merely making the point that when our government acts, it does so in our name. For this reason, Americans should carefully consider the philosophical and moral ramifications of their votes.

HT: Cafe Hayek

USPS faces $7 billion loss

The Hill reports,

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in putting the Postal Service on its “high-risk list,” said Tuesday that the service faces a net loss of $7 billion this year and a cash shortfall of about $1 billion this year, in addition to more losses in years to come. The losses are due to the recession and a shift away from regular mail toward toward e-mail and other new technologies, the GAO said. Those factors will lead to a 13.7 percent drop in mail volume from last year, according to the GAO.

There is a very simple solution to this problem: shut down the USPS.

There is no reason for the government to be in the postal business when private industry can perform more efficiently. But as it stands, the USPS holds an unjustified monopoly on non-urgent first class mail. Its competition–UPS, FedEx and the like–is only legally permitted to deliver packages. They are prohibited from putting letters in mailboxes.

If that is not socialism, I don’t know what is.

The Renaissance of Self-Interest

Any person with an understanding of the principles of individual liberty can put his ear to the ground and hear the coming of collectivism in America. For my own part, I would argue that collectivism has already arrived. But along with the changing tide, there is a resurgence of interest in the principles behind the freedoms that we, as a nation, are losing. The sales of Ayn Rand’s magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, are skyrocketing – and see even greater numbers every time a new government program is forced upon us. The following is an article by Dr. Yaron Brook, President of the Ayn Rand Institute, on the resurgence of Ayn Rand’s works.

Ayn Rand’s Renaissance
By Dr. Yaron Brook,
Executive Director, The Ayn Rand Institute

The U.S. economy is in shambles. Government intervention into the economy is increasing by the day. Americans are alarmed and desperate for answers: What caused the crisis? What is the solution? That might sound like a description of today’s world, but in fact it’s sketch of the world of Ayn Rand’s 1957 classic novel Atlas Shrugged.

Ayn Rand died more than a quarter of a century ago, yet her name appears regularly in discussions of our current economic turmoil. Pundits including Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santelli urge listeners to read her books, and her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, is selling at a faster rate today than at any time during its 51-year history.

There’s a reason. In Atlas Shrugged, Rand tells the story of the U.S. economy crumbling under the weight of crushing government interventions and regulations. Meanwhile, blaming greed and the free market, Washington responds with more controls that only deepen the crisis. Sound familiar?

The novel’s eerily prophetic nature is no coincidence. “If you understand the dominant philosophy of a society,” Rand wrote elsewhere in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, “you can predict its course.” Economic crises and runaway government power grabs don’t just happen by themselves; they are the product of the philosophical ideas prevalent in a society — particularly its dominant moral ideas.

Why do we accept the budget-busting costs of a welfare state? Because it implements the moral ideal of self-sacrifice to the needy. Why do so few protest the endless regulatory burdens placed on businessmen? Because businessmen are pursuing their self-interest, which we have been taught is dangerous and immoral. Why did the government go on a crusade to promote “affordable housing,” which meant forcing banks to make loans to unqualified home buyers? Because we believe people need to be homeowners, whether or not they can afford to pay for houses.

The message is always the same: “Selfishness is evil; sacrifice for the needs of others is good.” But Rand said this message is wrong — selfishness, rather than being evil, is a virtue. By this she did not mean exploiting others à la Bernie Madoff. Selfishness — that is, concern with one’s genuine, long-range interest — she wrote, required a man to think, to produce, and to prosper by trading with others voluntarily to mutual benefit.

Atlas Shrugged argues that ideas shape society. A society that values reason, the individual, and freedom creates the United States of America. A society that denounces the mind, preaches self-sacrifice, and worships the collective creates Nazi Germany. What Atlas shows is how our culture’s ideas — particularly its ideas about morality — are moving us step by step away from the Founding Fathers’ ideal.

Rand also noted that only an ethic of rational selfishness can justify the pursuit of profit that is the basis of capitalism — and that so long as self-interest is tainted by moral suspicion, the profit motive will continue to take the rap for every imaginable (or imagined) social ill and economic disaster. Just look how our present crisis has been attributed to the free market instead of government intervention — and how proposed solutions inevitably involve yet more government intervention to rein in the pursuit of self-interest.

Rand offered us a way out — to fight for a morality of rational self-interest, and for capitalism, the system which is its expression. And that is the source of her relevance today.

A Consistent Method of Taxing Fat

Many taxes and regulations supposedly enacted for our own good actually harm us. The minimum wage, EPA emissions standards, drug laws… the list goes on. Included in this extensive list are taxes designed to combat obesity. Many increase the costs of food (disproportionately affecting the lower income brackets) and the majority violate our civil liberties. But, if we’re going to have socialism and big-brother in America, we might as well be consistent. Gerald Prante of the Tax Foundation has some ideas on the right way to tax fat.

Senior Discounts: A Thing of the Past?

In my introductory economics course (ECON 011: Microeconomics, taught by Prof. Anthony “The Razor” Yezer), Daniel Hamermesh was required reading. He has a knack for applying economic principles to everyday topics (dating, babysitting, senior discounts, etc.). I’m somewhat surprised that we haven’t linked to one of his articles before now.

Enjoy Senior Discounts While They Last

The graduate migration

Simon Broscoe, Statistics Editor at The Financial Times writes,

Australia, the US and Canada–all former British colonies–have the highest proportion of foreign-born graduates, along with Luxembourg and Switzerland. Many countries have modest in- and outflows (for example Japan and Italy) or larger flows that cancel out (UK and New Zealand). But every developed country is a net ‘importer’ of graduates from less developed countries.

70% of Americans Don’t Like the Fed

According to Gallup,

At a time when Americans are discouraged about the direction of the country and hesitant about the scope of President Barack Obama’s federal budget plans, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NASA, and the FBI earn credit for a job well done from a majority of Americans. The 61% who say the CDC is doing an excellent or good job can be contrasted with the 30% who say this of the Federal Reserve Board, making the latter the worst reviewed of nine agencies and departments rated in the July 10-12 Gallup Poll.