This book by Ayn Rand's heir, Leonard Peikoff, is an arresting depiction of the "ominous parallels" between America today and the chaos of pre-Hitler Germany.  I highly recommend it to my fellow liberty-lovers.  This review via LewRockwell.com sums it up rather well.

 Here's what Ayn Rand had to say about it:

If you do not wish to be a victim of today's philosophical bankruptcy, I recommend The Ominous Parallels as protection and ammunition. It will protect you from supporting, unwittingly, the ideas that are destroying you and the world.

H/t: BigGovernment.com

In September, the European Union banned the sale of 100-watt incandescent light bulbs, with lawbreakers facing up to $70,000 in fines. Over the next few years, bans on lower-wattage bulbs kick in. In the United States, similar legislation comes into play in 2012. The idea is to kickstart the market for compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), which use less energy than conventional incandescents. Although CFLs present any number of problems (even beyond a much higher initial cost), governments all over the globe are determined to make them the new standard.

Invented in its modern form by Thomas Edison in 1879, the light bulb became synonymous with a brilliant idea. Now, it seems, it’s just one more symbol of a nanny state that increasingly dictates more choices in our public and private lives.

Last night, 9.30.09, over a hundred students met at Florida State University for a standing room only, “Introduction to Austrian Economics” lecture hosted by the College Libertarians, Young Americans for Liberty, and the Institute for Conservative Studies.

Speaking at the event was the Seminoles' own Dr. Randall Holcombe, a DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics. Dr. Holcombe is an Adjunct Scholar at the Mises Institute; a Senior Fellow at the James Madison Institute; has authored twelve books; and has served as President of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics.

His knowledge served him well as he answered skeptics and statists quickly and sufficiently on the principles of Austrian Economics, limited government, and freedom. Granted, a two hour lecture on the Austrian school is like eating a sample spoon from Baskin Robbins when you crave all 31 flavors, however students of various majors, ethnic groups, and political ideologies got a little taste of what Austrian Economics is all about, from the foundations of Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek to the practicality of privatized roads.

An article on how we are seeing more and more liberty minded candidates hitting the scene.