Cross-posted from Source of Title

As I wrote about in my last post, "Debate over New York title insurance public option seems to miss the point ", a group of New York state legislators have proposed legislation to create a "public option" for title insurance.  These legislators have pointed to Iowa's Title Guaranty Program, a system of public land title insurance established by Iowa state law.

Unfortunately, there seems to be some confusion on the part of the New York legislators as to the nature of Iowa's land title laws.  In short, it appears that they have leaned too heavily on the vast online encyclopedia Wikipedia in their research of the issue.

If a person wants to engage in a legal, legitimate activity, then the fact that he is part of a group should not make a difference. To that extent, I agree with the G20 resistance project when they say that they don't need a permit to march today . I've heard that some cities only require march organizers to submit their parade route to the authorities, which is infinitely more reasonable than the bureacratic/autocratic "permit" process.

 However, when the stated goal of march organizers is to interfere with someone else's legitimate actions ("disrupt the summit"), then organizing the march amounts to inciting a  riot--which is never permitted.

In the interest of keeping some fresh content on this site, I am republishing an essay that I wrote for Freedom Democrats . It is targeted at a left-libertarian audience and has not been updated for a general audience. I also can't promise that I'll have time to respond to comments. It's easier to just preach to the chior.

In preparation for the G20 summit, some Pittsburgh activists convened the People's Summit to discus a global social and economic agenda without involving the global elite. Even as they claim to offer an alternative to a shallow commercial culture, they use vapid leftist buzz words that would comfortably fit into a corporate press release. As reported by the sympathetic G20Media , their rallying cry is:

"We share the conviction that another world is possible,"

 

Happy July 1! In the Cycle Today: California Schemin,' Sanford has more for ya, drug bans, climate bills, and Wal-Mart's back!

Down Goes California!  California is down! seriously, is there any big state out there who can get together and make state government work?

New York Can! Well, not really . The children in the Senate are still throwing tantrums.

Today is a sad day.

Ronald Reagan is rolling over in his grave.

PRAVDA... of all papers... has announced it - The End of Capitalism.

American Capitalism

- gone without a whimper

 

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

Cross-posted to FreedomDemocrats .

During the Presidential campaign, Gene Healy at Reason wrote up an article about the Cult of the Presidency -- describing the unreasonable faith that many Americans place in the Presidency and its occupant* (covered by John here ). Despite the hypocritical right-wing hand-wringing over the implications of Obama's effectiveness in mass politics, Obama cannot take credit for inventing the Cult of the Presidency.

A number of recent events have vividly illustrated one long-standing aspect of the Presidential cult -- the idea that the President is the ultimate arbiter of cultural worth and the representative of a national consensus on cultural issues. These events showed that Americans expect the President to be the ultimate representative on issues as broad as military valor , piousness , and athletic accomplishment .

Hello Swordsmen! Let's get right into it.

I'd like to open this NCR with a this:

ABC News: A white African-American is suing UMDNJ medical school because he was discriminated against because of his..race? ethnicity? Consider me siding with the plaintiff on this one.

Good Friday morning Swordsmen. It's been a while since I dropped a NCR, but the last week of every month will always be a tough time for me. I hope everything is going well with everyone. a lot of stuff hit the Google reader that have since blown over, so if you see an old story or two, forgive me. On the ledger: a new guy in at Bank of America, Souter stepping down, Obama the socialist, black optimism, the future of the Republican Party, Chysler, cheating, and a surprise guest arrives to Twitter.

Good afternoon Swordsmen! Live, from Chicago, IL..well..technically Schaumburg. Here's your Roundup for Wednesday and Thursday. Torture seems to be on your minds these days, also partisanship, oh and Miss America's runner up. C'mon, admit it--if you didn't Google, would you know who won?  I digress. on the ledger today: Room designs, gun marches, cyber threats, fascism explained, and going green. and I threw a little torture in there for good measure.

 -

Good Tuesday morning, Swordsmen! I think we had a good conversation yesterday. Stories the carried the day at SwordsCrossed were around torture, Obama's budget/spending, among others. On the ledger today: Gary Johnson, Motorbikes, Job losses, Gotch moments, Jackie Chan (yes, that one), immigration, nudging and Yes You Can!

AmConMag wants you to meet Gary Johnson , a 2012 Republican seeking to take the libertarian mantle away from the current front-runner, Mark Sanford.

Good Monday morning Swordsmen! I hope you had your fill of tea and pirates last week, as we try to cycle on towards a new set of stories. On today's ledger: vouchers, stimulus, Al Franken (boo!), Rudy Giuliani, and Palin..oh, and where we are as a country. 

NYT reports on waterboarding usage on 2 suspects.

Good Wednesday morning Swordsmen. Today is tax day, and Americans are filing taxes. Also, there will be tea party marches around the countries protesting Obama's election and implementing campaign promises taxation, bailouts, and other things. We'll see where it goes. On the ledger today: immigrants, tea parties, taxes, lions, dolphins, and charter schools. Otherwise, open thread.

Our next weapon against the pirates? Dolphins .

Good Tuesday morning to all. Some very interesting developments across the nation today involving Cuba, sexting, San Francisco-European-NY values...and we begin in Texas, a state I've been considering moving to...if I can:

Leading Drudge today, it looks like Texas is mad as hell at Washington telling it what to do, but it still needs the federal money..

Good Wednesday morning. Well, some very interesting news stories have hit the G. Reader today, and here are some that i'd with you. Topics include gay marriage, taxes, health care, inflation, and drugs. a little bit of everything.

When inflation goes very, very wrong: This is kinda funny, but it shouldn't be--the fact no one is stealing it is very telling.

The National Organization for Marraige ramps up their side of the 1M1W Marraige debate with scary storm clouds. I'm a little confused (still) about what exactly they are talking about, but the group is very diverse.

Nate Silver analyzes the paradox of taxes and deficits among American voters.

Good Tuesday morning!

Here are some of the news stories hitting my Google Reader this morning (and a couple from yesterday).

SciAm: Remember Olestra (Olean)? it was supposed to be the miracle fat-reducing chemical added in fatty foods like chips and cookies. Well, now the scientists at Procter and Gamble have found another use for it: Paints and Lubricants . No, seriously. and if you're wondering--yes, they do still use it in some foods.

Good Monday afternoon! Today is my Performance Evaluation at work so wish me luck. But, in the meanwhile, I'll leave you with some stories of interest:

WSJ: Obama won't let the banks pay back bailout money .  That is quite alarming to me. If the banks are asking to get out of the bailout plan, let's let them. If they are willing to strike out on their own, perhaps they aren't in as dire straits as advertised.

Recently, our own GoRight challenged my to a sparring match.  It was part of a subthread that I instigated by lamenting that, essentially, Republicans suck .  We both caught a bit of grief from B Rational about being hyperpartisan and biased, which resulted interestingly enough in our both attacking the purplebar, with I calling him a mealy-mouthed Broderite and GoRight attacking his condescension. 

It's Friday. Let's see what we have on the ledger.

Megan McArdle: Please remember what you learned in your stats class in school about correlations .