California cities looking at eminent domain as way to seize homes which have mortgages for more than the properties are worth — in order to restructure the payments to help the borrower. Does it occur to them that the lender had to shell out the higher amount at the time of purchase? And that they’re using force to mess with private agreements? (You’ll only be able to read the first two paragraphs of this story unless you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal.)

  • Now that it’s clear that Ron Paul won’t be elected president, what’s his next step? He has said he wants to continue to lead a movement based on the ideas of freedom, but it hasn’t been clear until now what that means. Ron and Rand Paul seem to have decided to shift the focus of their fight to Internet freedom.
  • When a Florida beach lifeguard saw a man floundering in the surf, he instinctively ran the 1,500 feet to help him. The man had already gotten help by the time he got there, but the lifeguard was fired for his efforts. The lifeguard was being paid to watch a certain stretch of the beach, and the man was outside of that zone. So the company fired him for leaving his post. Is this reasonable or crazy?

  • The foundation that Bill Gates founded after he left Microsoft is mostly seen as an organization working to improve health and education around the world. But a very critical article in Education Week suggests that the Gates Foundation isn’t as wonderful as they’d like us to think.
  • An Islamic group in Egypt has told the country’s Muslims that they’re now forbidden from eating tomatoes. Why? Because they believe tomatoes are a Christian food. We’re not making this up. Honest.
  • A man in Massachusetts has finally paid off his old mortgage — with 800 pounds of pennies.