Today’s Links: November 18, 2011

OPINION

NICK GILLESPIE – “Dems and Reps Agree: Let’s Spend Tons More on Defense!
“Heritage Foundation, like most groups on the right, is quick to announce that the government is generally inefficient and incompetent when it comes to spending money. Except for Defense, one of the most obviously bloated, inefficient, and unsupervised parts of the governments. That’s a bit of a contradiction now, isn’t it? Which is why so many cons wrap themselves in the flag to exempt military spending from the same sort of penny-pinching scrutiny that, say, school-lunch programs deserve. ”

FRANK MINITER – “Is the Right to Privacy Dead?
“Defining what constitutes an “unreasonable” search, and therefore requires a warrant, is a question courts have long debated. It’s a fundamental question. It’s also a difficult question that will never be fully answered. But the answer isn’t evolving with technology. The Founders might not have foreseen the Internet, but they did outlaw warrantless invasions of our privacy. The principle remains the same.”

WENDY KAMINER: “The Hypocrisy of Occupy Wall Street
“It’s too soon to tell whether Occupy Wall Street’s drive to appropriate public spaces will entirely obscure its protests of economic injustice, but the dangers of its morphing into an ineffectual Occupy Whatever movement are already evident. Occupation is more exhilarating and instantly gratifying than the hard slog of advancing political and social change, and so far, one of the movement’s primary achievements has been a remarkable judicial ruling implying a new First Amendment right of occupation. ”

NEWS

BIRTH RATE – Is Economy Best Birth Control? U.S. Births Dip Again
“The economy may well be the best form of birth control. U.S. births dropped for the third straight year — especially for young mothers — and experts think money worries are the reason.”

GMO – Genetically Modified Rice Settlement to Pay $750 Million to Participating Farmers
“Rice growers who lost sales after genetically modified rice seed mistakenly entered the U.S. market five years ago have until Monday to sign on to a $750 million settlement proposed by the company blamed for the problem.”