Archive for August, 2008
Monday, August 18th, 2008
This time, it’s an incredibly bizarre dispatch from the land of paleo-libertarianism:
There is a case to be made for Deng Xiaoping, who launched the biggest, fastest increase in prosperity and freedom in the history of the human race, and brought the Chinese people back into the world economy, to their great benefit and ours.
Yea, [...]
Continue reading Quote Of The Day — Libertarians for Commies Edition
Posted in Dumbasses and Authoritarians, Quote of the Day | 22 Comments »
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
Sometimes, the wisdom of crowds is as bad as the insanity of a dictator:
Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary, but they draw the line at imposing that same requirement on the Internet. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say [...]
Continue reading Why Democracy And Individual Liberty Usually Aren’t Compatible
Posted in Democracy, Free Speech, Individual Rights, The Bill Of Rights | 5 Comments »
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
This is an update to a post I wrote in late June. Maybe its time to propose some sort of “fully informed jury” legislation and demand a return to federalism?
Continue reading Government Reefer Madness Update: Lynch Receives 100 Year Sentence
Posted in Constitution, Crime and Punishment, Fascism in America, Federalism, General, Government Regulation, Government Waste, Healthcare, Human Rights, Individual Rights, Legal, Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Police Watch, Political Correctness, Privacy, Property Rights, Separation Of Powers, Strategies For Advancing Liberty, The Bill Of Rights, The Nanny State, The War on Drugs, Theory and Ideas | No Comments »
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
If you want to go see Barack Obama speak on the last night of the Democratic National Convention, you’ll have to agree to be the guinea pig for his first exercise in forced volunteerism:
Some of those hoping to wrangle a seat for Barack Obama’s speech were told this week they have to put in six [...]
Continue reading Barack Obama: Starting Forced Volunteerism Early
Posted in Democrats, Election '08, Politics | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
I didn’t see the press release from the Bob Barr campaign when I wrote yesterday’s post so I thought I would pass along some of his thoughts on the issue today. The case Barr is specifically referring to is the recent raid in Berwyn Heights, Maryland. Here are a few excerpts:
“Absent exigent circumstances, not [...]
Continue reading Barr Weighs in on No-Knock Raids
Posted in Crime and Punishment, Democrats, Election '08, General, Human Rights, Individual Rights, Legal, Libertarians, Police Watch, Politics, Privacy, Property Rights, Republicans, Strategies For Advancing Liberty, The War on Drugs, Theory and Ideas | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
Back in June, the TSA decided that you were no longer allowed to fly without ID, even if you submit to a more strenuous search process. At the time, though, there was a loophole. Assuming you had lost or forgotten your ID, and were “cooperative” in assisting screeners to assess your identity, you [...]
Continue reading Forgot Your ID? Welcome To The Watch List
Posted in Government Regulation, The Surveillance State, War on Terror | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
There’s a lot of hoopla and hullabaloo over the politicization of the Olympics, including the fact that it’s held in a country that is horrendously restrictive of social freedoms.
But there’s another aspect that’s largely ignored. There is a certain nationalism that follows the Olympics, which is wholly unjustified. As Americans, we [...]
Continue reading The Olympics And Nationalism… Plus Doug Stanhope
Posted in Foreign Affairs, Theory and Ideas | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. For those who wore the badge, they could do no wrong. For the “badge-nots,” they could do no right.
I only wish this was a work of fiction but it is not. When it comes to drug raids (often no-knock raids), suspects (whether [...]
Continue reading A Tale of Two Drug Raids
Posted in Crime and Punishment, Dumbasses and Authoritarians, General, Legal, Police Watch, The War on Drugs, Theory and Ideas, Unions | 11 Comments »
Monday, August 11th, 2008
Blogger Megan McArdle has a problem. 16 years ago, in college at the age of 19, she was caught drinking underage in a bar in Pennsylvania, arrested, and convicted. At the time, she was a college student, without a driver’s license, and thus had no license to suspend. Since then, she’s gone [...]
Continue reading Mindless Rule-Driven Bureaucracy In Action
Posted in Crime and Punishment, Government Regulation, Legal, Look About | 2 Comments »
Friday, August 8th, 2008
From NYT:
“We are fast becoming a nation of alienating individualists, unwilling to put the unifying values of patriotism ahead of our narrow self-interests,” Mr. McCain warned in a speech during his 2000 presidential campaign. He added that “cynicism threatens to become a ceiling on our greatness.”
The only people “alienated” by my individualism, as far as [...]
Continue reading Quote Of The Day - National Greatness Conservatism
Posted in Election '08, Fascism in America, Quote of the Day | 3 Comments »
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
If the myriad of emails coming into my inbox every day are representative of reality, there are many reputable universities willing to offer an easy path to a degree, many “nice girls” would love to share their pictures with me, Africa is full of rich orphans looking for an escape (along with a nice reward [...]
Continue reading Open Thread — A Free-Market Solution To Spam
Posted in Open Thread, Technology | 5 Comments »
Monday, August 4th, 2008
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) has posted its first billboard message in Omaha, Nebraska. To me this is the “right” message we libertarians should be spreading regarding the war on (some) drugs.
LEAP’s homepage has a very interesting statistic from a recent Zogby Poll.
The question: “If hard drugs such as heroin or cocaine [...]
Continue reading LEAP’s First Billboard Advertisement in Omaha
Posted in Crime and Punishment, Healthcare, Individual Rights, Legal, Quote of the Day, The War on Drugs | 7 Comments »
Saturday, August 2nd, 2008
Reported by Norml:
Members of Congress called on lawmakers to enact legislation that would limit the government’s authority to arrest and prosecute adults who possess marijuana for their own personal use.
The federal government should “not lock people up or use scarce federal resources to arrest people for using or possessing … marijuana,” Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) [...]
Continue reading Federal Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana Use Introduced
Posted in Crime and Punishment, Individual Rights, Legal, Politics, The War on Drugs | 2 Comments »
Friday, August 1st, 2008
From Paul Jacob, always a fan of citizen initiatives and ballot measures*:
Lying is objectionable, of course. But only certain kinds of lies — perjury, or lies used to steal from someone — should be punished by force of law.
Some people, however, are forever seeking new ways to harass other people. Especially, it seems, when it [...]
Continue reading To A Politician, Vocalizing Opposition To His Policy Is Lying
Posted in Democracy, Free Speech, Government Regulation, Legal, Theory and Ideas | 1 Comment »