Friday, September 12, 2003

Free Market Advocates Fight Back at WTO. After days of anti-free trade protests at the WTO conference, including a protest featuring nude activists and another involving a suicide, free market advocates responded in kind on Thursday. They staged several counter demonstrations and street-theater stunts, drawing the ire of anti-globalization protestors and environmentalists. At a mock awards ceremony sponsored by a coalition of free market groups, actors playing the grim reaper handed out "awards" to environmental groups and other organizations that they accuse of promoting "poverty, misery, disease and premature death to billions of people in developing countries." [Cybercast News Service] 1:43:05 PM    comment () Iraq missile attack on US plane. A US military plane taking off from Baghdad airport came under attack from two surface-to-air missiles, it has emerged. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with Lt Gen Ricardo S Sanchez upon his arrival at Baghdad International Airport The attack was not thought to be connected to Mr Rumsfeld's visit The heat-seeking missiles had no chance of hitting the transport plane, which was flying at an altitude of 4,000 metres (14,000 feet) at the time, said British military officials. [BBC News] Although the article carefully avoids saying so, I've read elsewhere that this was indeed Rumsfeld's plane that was shot at. The story hasn't been covered in any US media that I'm aware of. 1:37:11 PM    comment () UT: Concealed-gun permit holder stops would-be robber. A 27-year-old Orem man who entered a Provo Greyhound bus station Thursday and demanded money got quite a surprise. After handing the clerk a note demanding money, the clerk -- a concealed weapons permit holder -- took the robbery suspect into custody at gunpoint, Provo police say. A customer entering the Greyhound station at 124 N. 300 West called police at the clerk's request. The man was booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of attempted robbery and public intoxication. [FirearmNews.com] There's no mention of what happened to the clerk. I suspect he'll end up in trouble with his employer, which would much rather see a helpless (and easily replaced) employee murdered than risk a lawsuit from a dead mugger's family. 1:02:04 PM    comment () Urban Optimism. Writing in the Washington Post, Joel Kotkin hails the resurgent fortunes of the second-tier city: What used to take place almost entirely in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or San Francisco -- whether in high finance, advertising or marketing -- is now happening more and more in unlikely locales such as Omaha, Des Moines, Fargo, N.D., and Columbus, Ohio.... For many cities in the South and Midwest, spreading the wealth could signal the dawn of an era of renewed urban development, a new cosmopolitanism and growing cultural, technological and economic influence. For the long-dominant coastal cities, it offers an opportunity to rethink their priorities and where they want to go. For the country as a whole, it means a more vibrant, heterogeneous landscape, more living choices, a livelier cultural and social panorama -- let's face it, a nation that's more vital and more fun. [Hit & Run] I find it interesting that the author considers various reasons why people are moving to the "second-tier cities" but carefully avoids one of hte more obvious ones: both companies and people are fleeing the socialist policies that dominate New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. The closest he gets to this is an oblique reference in this quote: "It's gotten very easy to get workers to relocate here," notes Randy Schilling, founder and CEO of Quilogy, a St. Louis-area technology company. "You get a guy here from Chicago, New York and San Francisco, and even if he gets a pay cut, he and his family live better." 10:54:00 AM    comment ()

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