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The "private sector" of the economy is, in fact, the "voluntary" sector; and...the "public sector" is, in fact, the "coercive" sector. -- Henry Hazlitt

NEW YORK HAD THEIR ELECTRICITY BLACK OUT ...

... and we had our Internet failure. So .. here's what I have to offer. Not much, but I have to head to the studio.

JUST FOUR

By far the most amazing fact emerging from this electricity emergency in the Northeast was the fact that there were only four reported burglaries in New York City last night. Only four. Yesterday afternoon I was fully expecting that the evening would bring reports of widespread looting in NYC. Not so. How do you explain it? Hard to say. Have we grown up just a little bit?

INSTRUCTIONAL

Unfortunately this massive power outage might have served as a rather brilliant lesson to terrorists, a lesson in just how easy it might be to all but cripple the business infrastructure of the United States by depriving it of electricity. As you drive to or from work today notice how many power substations you drive by. Take a look. Do you see a lot of security?

Oops. I had better watch myself here. Politicians are going to be heard on this power blackout sometime real soon, and they're going to be heard recommending some incredible new spending programs to make sure that this does not happen again. What do you want to bet that some politician suggests that we need some sort of enhanced security to make sure that terrorists are never able to duplicate yesterday's outage. The politician will suggest millions of dollars to create a federalized (naturally) security force to protect Americas electricity grid.

The Niagara Mohawk power grid has been overloaded for years. New electric generating capacity is needed. That new generating capacity should be nuclear. Nuclear energy is, unfortunately, politically incorrect, as is any electricity generation process involving the burning of fossil fuels.

HEY, LET'S BE AN IDIOT!

In the midst of the electrical problems facing the Northeast we had the usual number of mind-numbed idiots calling radio and television broadcasts pretending to be experts or government officials of some type. Their purpose of getting on the air is only to mention Howard Stern's name. Idiots. They're idiots, and they make Howard Stern look like an idiot.

HERE'S THE NAME, BUT IT'S NOT ON SALE YET

Yesterday I told you about a book that I was reviewing for The Cato Institute. The book, Mugged by the State, was written by Randall Fitzgerald. It is a frightening compendium of stories of Americans wronged by bureaucratic abuse of the law. I specifically told you yesterday about how governments are using eminent domain processes to take property from one owner and then sell it to another private individual or business simply because that transfer might result in higher property taxes being paid to the government.

Mugged by the State is not available yet. Publication may be around November. Whenever it is, I'll be sure to let you know. This is a book that you absolutely must read, and a book you can use to convince your liberal friends that there actually might be a danger in runaway government.

A FEW READING ASSIGNMENTS

The Wall Street Journal editorializes that the lights didn't have to go out, but do politicians have the guts to prevent this from happening again?

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003889

The harsh truth on the future of Medicare. None of this matters, though, so long as Medicare is an effective vote-buying tool for politicians.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/edwinfeulner/ef20030815.shtml

Putting a name to the philosophy of George W. Bush. A Big Government Conservative.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110003895

Democrats think that they can sink Arnold Schwarzenegger by exploiting his support of a proposition to deny government benefits to illegal aliens. Schwarzenegger should campaign on this .. after all, this is where many of California 's problems have come from.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/richlowry/rl20030815.shtml

A common theme throughout Democratic presidential politics is the institution of a socialized medicine system for the United States . Mona Charen takes a look at those "fantastic socialist medical systems." It doesn't matter, though, just how bad these systems are. Americans will embrace them because Americans don't think they should have to pay for their own medical care.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/monacharen/mc20030815.shtml