The 1942 Italian film of Ayn Rand's debut novel We The Living is a gem. The novel is itself well worthwhile, even if (or especially if) you think already know all you need to know about Rand and her fiction. It's definitely underrated, very good, and interestingly different from her later fiction. Also, it's a valuable primary source on life in Bolshevik Russia. Anyway, in case you hadn't heard the story of the movie, it's pretty neat: in the early 40s, some liberty-minded Italian filmmakers decided to make the movie. Being at war with the US, they couldn't get permission from Rand, so they just did it. The fascist censors, seeing it was critical of their Russian enemies, let things go ahead, not realizing it was anti-fascist also. When they figured it out, most copies of the film were destroyed, but not all, and decades later Rand tracked it down and oversaw the initial stages of preparing it for rerelease. I first saw it in the late 80s, after seeing an article about it in the January 89 Reason, having never read any Rand. I found it extremely moving and intellectually stimulating. A few years later, I thought I should buy a copy on VHS, but DVDs were starting to become commonplace, so I held off, figuring I'd wait til it was released on DVD. And I've been waiting for 15 years. But now it's available! About time too. (HT Roderick Long, on his other blog.)

Sad but true. Have a look.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an campus-wide email the other day announcing that Eugene Volokh was being brought here to give a talk to the BSC Pre-Law Association. The talk was this afternoon. Volokh's is one of the sharpest minds I know, and it was a great opportunity for my students to be able to listen to him and ask questions. Well, those of my students who came, anyway. He was giving his"Mechanisms of the Slippery Slope" talk, which is well worth your time, in case you haven't read it - it's on his UCLA webste in several versions; here is one of them.

Good review essay by Johann Hari of what looks to be an important book on how, even today, many cultures perpetuate hardcore misogyny by claiming religious inspiration, which makes them essentially immune to criticism.

[Reposted from a year ago, but whatever.]
When I first moved to Massachusetts, I was pleased to see that they have official observance of a holiday that, afaik, no other state, nor the feds, seem to recognize: Patriot's Day, which commemorates (even if doesn't always fall on) April 19th. April 19th of 1775, in case you didn't recall, was the battles of Concord and Lexington, the date many use as the actual start of the War for Independence, aka the Revolutionary War. I've toured the Concord battle site a couple times, and it never fails to elicit a little misting up around the eyes. I can't help but be impressed with the guts it must have taken for the colonists to have not only decided they'd had enough of British oppression, but that they were going to do something about it - and then to face fire from actual British troops. Impressive, amazing. Just as we commemorate July 4th, I think it's important to commemorate April 19th. A lot of things about Mass. may irk me, but I'm glad they celebrate this here.

Clear-headed readers help me out please: Did I misunderstand the news story I heard on the radio driving to work? It sounded like the Democratic president proposed a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, and the Republican congressional leadership said it was a bad idea. I'm confused.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

L&P Reader Daniel Schmutter shares this scary anecdote about big brother.
"I had an appalling expreince yesterday trying to trade in my daughter's used Nintendo DS games at Gamestop. Trying to trade in Petz Hamsters and Shrek 2 turned into a lesson in just how pervasive the surveillance state has become.

I walked into Gamestop to trade in the two used DS games, and the clerk asked me if I wanted cash or a store credit. When I replied "cash" the clerk asked for my driver's license. When I asked why, he told me that they are technically a pawn shop, and when giving cash for a trade-in they must report the recipient's driver's license number to the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service.

So, I changed my selection to "store credit," whereupon the clerk promptly asked me for my name and telephone number. When I asked why . . . you guessed it . . . he replied that, as a pawn shop, he had to report that information to the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service. He said that they needed to track these things.

Outraged, I replied that they do NOT need to track these things and that they already track way too many things. I told him that it was nobody's business but his and mine that I was selling used video games.

I reminded him that I cannot even buy cold medicine at the drug store without reporting the transaction to the government. (I no longer buy Sudafed. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, he who is willing to give up essential liberty to purchase a little decongestant deserves neither liberty nor decongestant.)

I stormed out of the store Petz Hamsters and Shrek 2 in hand. I doubt the kid even understood the point."

Kudos to Dan for standing up agaisnt surveillance, and thanks again for sharing the story. I have to note that, Ben Franklin's scorn notwithstanding, I do surrender my liberty for properly functioning cold meds. Help, help, I'm being repressed!

L&P readers will be interested to see that GMU economist Daniel Klein has made two of his"libertarian theoretics" available online as powerpoints. One is Challenging, Bargaining, and Royalty: An Analysis of Libertarian Argumentation. The other is Mere Libertarianism: Blending Hayek and Rothbard. (The latter is based on a 2004 article Klein published in Reason Papers.) Check them both out!