Global Warming Consensus Watch, Vol. III

Friday, May 4, 2007
Welcome to the latest edition of the PowerBlog’s GLOBAL WARMING CONSENSUS WATCH, a weekly news recap where we highlight the continuing strength and enduring permanence of the universal scientific consensus on the causes and effects of global warming.

THIS WEEK: A fungus among us - again; more on Mars; are weather satellites creating more hurricanes?; Live Earth isn’t totally worthless; Laurie David is the GREATEST HERO IN AMERICAN HISTORY; and human sacrifice on the altar of environmental religion.

All this can be yours - after the jump!
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Books of Interest

Friday, May 4, 2007
A few books that have recently crossed my Journal of Markets & Morality reviews editor desk, and that may be of interest to PowerBlog readers:

Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice, edited by Edward P. Stringham. A reader of classic and other essays from a libertarian perspective—authors include Murray Rothbard, David Friedman, Hans Hoppe, Lysander Spooner, and Robert Nozick.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought, by Anthony Kenny and Charles Kenny. Another installment in the expanding (and welcome) effort to examine more closely the concepts of utility and happiness and how they are used in economics.

Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution, by Michael D. Tanner. The title is self-explanatory.

The Inner Vision: Liberty and Literature, edited by Edward B. McLean. A collection of essays analyzing the concepts of freedom present in great Western literature. Authors such as Marion Montgomery and Catherine Zuckert treat authors such as Dostoevsky and Mark Twain.
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In this Case, the Loser Isn't Paying...

Friday, May 4, 2007
...at least not yet.

Check out this disheartening AP story, “Judge: Cleaner owes me $65 million for pants; 2 years of litigation x 1 pair of trousers = headaches for family business.”

The US court system shouldn’t be a venue for the pursuit of a personal vendetta. This case clearly shows how lawsuits can be used to bring incredible expense and stress on the defendant, regardless of his or her guilt or culpability. And unless things change, like moving to a loser pays system, the plaintiff risks nothing.

All too often the real victims in these kinds of lawsuits are hardworking small business-owners, whose livelihood is threatened. And when small businesses suffer, the entire community suffers with them.

Is the neighborhood being made better off by Pearson’s lawsuit? Is Pearson protecting them from a business that engages in false advertising? If Pearson drives the Chungs back to Korea, the neighborhood will be made worse off, not better, and Pearson will have settled a petty grudge.

When business enterprise and successful entrepreneurship makes you the target of predatory lawsuits seeking only deep pockets, there’s something deeply wrong with the tort system.

In this monograph, Ronald Rychlak argues that the tort system needs to be reformed with a view toward the common good.

Let’s hope in this case Pearson doesn’t get off scot-free. It seems like that even in the absence of a formally-instituted loser pays system, the arbitrating authorities should have the power to dismiss Pearson’s case with extreme prejudice and require him to pay all the court costs and legal expenses for the defense.
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