Mark's Friday Links

1 ) It surprises me the number of people today who want to march under the banner "progressive" when the actual time in America in which self-proclaimed "Progressives" were in power included such abuses as Jim Crow segregation and eugenics. Probably the height (or depth) of the Progressive Era support for eugenics was in forced sterilization laws. Here is an article on attempts to provide compensation for some of the still-living victims of that program. (Hat Tip to Instapunidt).

2 ) Not exactly a link, but here is a headline from this morning's Wall Street Journal: "Airbus Caps Week With Record Order." It seems that while one of America's biggest and most successful employers and exporters, Boeing, is having to spend energy, time and resources fighting our own government over Boeing's right to optimize their production model by building things in that strange foreign country known as South Carolina, Boeing's biggest rival (Airbus) is spending its energy, time, and resources, you know, building and selling airplanes.

UPDATE: Here are some from Doug

This is a really interesting non-economic perspective on immigration by President of Asbury Theological Seminary Timothy C. Tennent. The video is a short 5 minute talk and well worth the time.

I've started reading this really good book on hospitality called Making Room. The book begins with this fantastic quote from Henri Nouwen, "If there is any concept worth restoring to its original depth and evocative potential, it is the concept of hospitality."

Here is a fantastic new podcast on "benevolent autocrats" by William Easterly. Normally I am not a fan of sarcasm; however, I find Easterly's sarcastic bent to be funny. It's definitely worth listening to if you're curious about the growth miracles in China, South Korea, Singapore, etc.