Publisher's Notes

• EDITORS' ACTIVITIES: We'd like to report on some recent activities of REASON's three principal editors.

Editor Robert Poole, Jr. has been speaking to a number of groups in recent months. He gave presentations on cutting local taxes to the state convention of the California Libertarian Party in February and the LP's Rocky Mountain Regional Conference in April. His talk on the future of local government was one of the events at the Future of Freedom conference at the University of Southern California, also in April. In addition, Poole spoke on the natural gas crisis to the Libertarian Party in the San Fernando Valley. Poole's monthly column on cost-cutting innovations in local government, "Fiscal Watchdog," now appears in over 130 newspapers across the country. If your local paper doesn't carry the column, you can obtain a sample copy from the Local Government Center, 221 W. Carrillo St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Poole's column, "Brass Tacks" appears each month in Dollars and Sense, the monthly newsletter of the National Taxpayers Union.

Editor Manuel S. Klausner spoke about libertarianism and third parties at the California Conservative Union's 1977 Political Action Conference in March, and he debated the issue of censorship against representatives of Citizens for Decent Literature and the Los Angeles Police Department vice squad before the San Fernando Valley Young Republicans in January and the East Valley Republican Business Women's Club in April. He served as moderator of the Future of Freedom conference at U.S.C. in April and will speak to the Los Angeles Lion's Club on "The ACLU: A Libertarian Perspective" in May. In media appearances in Los Angeles, Klausner spoke about education and the problems of public schools on KPFK-FM's new weekly radio program, "Libertarian Viewpoint," in February, and he participated in a discussion of gun control on KCET-TV in March. A one-hour cassette tape of the sound track from a special T.V. show, "The Libertarian Party Speaks to the Issues," produced last fall in Los Angeles by the California MacBride for President Committee is now available for $5 from P.O. Box 71383, Los Angeles, CA 90071. The show featured Klausner with Nathaniel Branden and Diane Alexander on a panel questioning LP candidates Roger MacBride and David Bergland.

Senior Editor Tibor Machan recently codirected a philosophy conference for Liberty Fund, Inc., in which he presented his paper "Rational Choice and Public Affairs." Machan has papers out on Nozick and Rand in The Personalist (Spring 1977), on Rawls in Philosophical Studies (December 1976), on human rights in The New Lugano Review (October 1976), and on his escape from Hungary in World Research Ink (January 1977). Machan's plans include a Socratic Seminar at Liberty Fund, Inc. (in Indianapolis) on Nozick's work, with others such as Doug Den Uyl, Douglas Rasmussen, Murray Rothbard, Charles King, and Leonard Liggio; a lecture series on the assault on human reason for ISI at Lake Forest College near Chicago (August 21-26), and summer projects on egoism and philosophy and labor law. Machan has papers forthcoming on egoism in Philosophia, human dignity and law in the DePaul Law Review, and on due process versus government regulation in The Journal of Social and Political Affairs.

• POSTAL MONOPOLY: REASON has previously reported on the efforts of Robert Black of Pittsburg, Kansas, to challenge the constitutionality of the private express statutes. This month's Trends reports that another set of postal entrepreneurs has been hauled into court by the Feds. Like Black, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Brennan are fighting the government on constitutional grounds. And like Black, they have very little money to pay for the legal expenses of this court battle. They would greatly appreciate contributions from friends of freedom. Send your check to: P.H. Brennan Hand Delivery Co., 105 Warwick Ave., Rochester, NY 14611.

• CONDOLENCES: We were saddened to learn of the death by accidental drowning of actress Patrecia Wynand, wife of prominent psychologist Nathaniel Branden, at their home early in April. Our sincere sympathies are extended to Dr. Branden.