Evening roundup

• More on the business of piracy in Somalia and South Park's take on same. Cartman's wrong though: the Somali pirates don't rape. HT: BoingBoing


• Ezra Levant in Reason on his fight with the Canadian thought police. Anyone not familiar with his fights against the Canadian thoughtcrime enforcement agencies ought to read up on it, and ought to follow his blog where he's posted delicious videos of his turning the tables on his inquisitors during the inquisition.


• Depressing results on innumeracy. Proportion of Americans who know how many millions are in a trillion? 21%. The majority of respondents vastly underestimate the size of a trillion. Why does this matter? Run a Google search on the size of Obama's projected deficits and ponder whether voter numeracy might affect support for his spending programmes.


• Dani Rodrik on the origins of American tariff protections for US-built trucks: would you believe European chicken tariffs in the 1960s? Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to enact trade protection.