A couple of good links

The American Nightmare that is Civil Asset Forfeiture, by Wendy McElroy. Tells the sad story of the Caswell family of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, life-long motel owners who made the mistake of cooperating with local police to keep crimes from being committed in their motel rooms.

On his Fox News television show, Judge Andrew Napolitano asked Russell Caswell, “What’s the worst thing that happened in that motel ... that has the police trying to steal it from you?”

Caswell answered, “I paid the mortgage off.” By this, he meant that he acquired a real asset that the government coveted and could seize.

Mr. Policeman is Not Your Friend. Especially not in this brave new world where your property can commit crimes without your participation.

A Consensual Mass Hallucination, by Silver. What is the origin of money? How does real money differ from what we use now? Just how screwed are we?

Happiness is not the same as freedom. A sweeping, unfair generalization about America today would be “fat, dumb, increasingly unhappy, and less free every single day.” You can be poor and free, rich and a slave. (I’m aiming for rich and free, but that’s another story.) As a nation, we’re rich compared to most of the people on the planet, and we’re slaves. There are reasons we have come to this, and the nature of our money is one of those reasons.

Good stuff - I recommend it.