Don't Back Down

So Warner Bros is releasing movie DVDs in China on the same day as the US movie arrives in theaters. The selling price of these DVDs? Just $2.75.

Now I realize that the average Chinese resident makes a lot less than their US counterpart - about $1000 a year isn't much, and $2.75 can add up if you're a movie buff. But $2.75 for a DVD? That's cheaper than the cost of the movie admission in the US, and suggests that the movie industry has done a whole lot of inflating in that price.

Read "How Much do Bootlegs Cost?" »

Walter Williams hits another home run with his latest article, Click It or Ticket. The article that shares the title with the popular US program to give tickets to those who don't wear their seatbelts hits that sweet spot that illustrates that we aren't living in a true free society, but a socialist one that cares more about the greater group than the rights of the individual.

Could an individual die if they don't wear their seat belt and are involved in a wrekc? Sure. Is that my business? No. If you drive and choose not to wear a seat belt, so be it. I have the same choice for me and my family. But to impose that will upon me for the simple sake of doing so? That's ridiculous. Even if you compare the "cost" of providing medical care to someone who doesn't wear a seat belt, you're on the wrong path as you've left out the cost of implementing such a program - take away that marketing budget and I'd suspect that the numbers would be just about the same.

So how about it, America? Why is it that we are governed to the lowest common denominator, and more specifically, that we've grown to stand for it?

After a couple of very fast-paced tourist days, we decided to tone things down a bit. To start things off, we slept in and had breakfast downstairs at a relaxed pace, instead of at the standard eat-and-run pace we had been keeping up previously.

Then we headed out and found our way to Gas Works Park (I was actually able to follow the directions this time). A beautiful day again, and the view across the lake was simply wonderful. Interestingly, there seemed to be fewer homeless people here than at the piers downtown. Perhaps this is an unwritten (or even a written) code someplace, but it seems that a more relaxed setting, with less noise, would be more conducive to living - and sleeping. But what do I know? Perhaps the lesser flow of foot traffic has its downside.

Read "More Relaxed Tourists" »