Thoughts, essays, and writings on Liberty. Written by the heirs of Patrick Henry.

November 6, 2009

Liberty Rock Friday: “Land of Confusion” by Genesis

I’m actually surprised that it hasn’t occurred to me to post “Land of Confusion” for Liberty Rock sooner. This is a great song with a great message that seems perhaps even more appropriate now than its original 1986 release.
The song raises questions in my mind such as:
Who is ultimately responsible for this land [...]

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October 31, 2009

Off Topic – Halloween Humor

I’ve been looking for a reason to share this video for a long time.
Why?
Because its one of the funniest videos I’ve seen on YouTube for awhile.
Yeah, I realize that this video has little to nothing to do with the theme or purpose* of The Liberty Papers but sometimes a little humor can go [...]

Posted By: Stephen Littau @ 12:22 pm || Permalink || Comments (0) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Culture, Humor, Multimedia, Off Topic
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October 1, 2009

Hollywood’s Incomprehensible Defense of the Child Rapist, Roman Polanski

From The LA Times:
More than 100 industry leaders and prominent authors — including directors Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Michael Mann, Mike Nichols, Woody Allen and Neil Jordan — have signed a petition asking that [Roman] Polanski be released from Swiss custody. “Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world [...]

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August 25, 2009

An Aristocracy of Talent, and the Triumph of Markets

This is possibly the single best business document I have ever read; and I mean that with no hyperbole. It is also the single most libertarian document I have ever seen applied to a large corporate environment.
You HAVE TO read this.

Culture
View more presentations from Reed Hastings.

Posted By: Chris @ 6:16 pm || Permalink || Comments (4) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Business, Culture, Economics, Free Trade, Theory and Ideas
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August 23, 2009

Europeans Go On Strike; Americans Simply Defy

One of my personal bits of curiousity about the world is related to cultural “ways of thinking”. While I don’t believe that Americans are innately different than Europeans, or Chinese, or Russians, there are certainly differences in average thought borne of the different cultural histories of each place. Dale Franks at QandO recently [...]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 11:03 am || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Culture, Foreign Affairs, Free Speech, Freedom of the press, Government Regulation
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August 21, 2009

Coming To A Garage Sale Near You: Big Brother

Proving yet again that there is no limit to the extent to which the Federal Government will intrude upon our lives, the Feds are now turning their attention to that staple of American Suburbia, the garage sale:
WASHINGTON — If you’re planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you’d best beware: You could be [...]

Posted By: Doug Mataconis @ 10:42 am || Permalink || Comments (2) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Constitution, Culture, Dumbasses and Authoritarians, Economics, The Nanny State
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Leave Us the HELL ALONE

Crossposting something my wife wrote, from here:
I’ve been in an incredibly foul mood the last couple of days, and until this morning I did not understand why.
We’re planning on moving to where we actually want to be. We’re constantly being asked why we want to move to the middle of nowhere. I tell everyone, [...]

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August 19, 2009

Another Genuine Case of a Police Officer ‘Acting Stupidly’ (So where’s Obama?)

A 38 year-old mother of three, who posed no threat to the police or anyone else, was tasered right in front of her children in January of this year. Yet to my knowledge, President Obama has failed to address this genuine case of the police “acting stupidly.” Maybe it’s because Audra Harmon cannot help the [...]

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August 15, 2009

Papers Please

Over at the Agitator, Radley Balko asks why people are amused by Bob Dylan’s latest run-in with the law.
I find it pretty depressing. There was a time when we condescendingly used the term “your papers, please” to distinguish ourselves from Eastern Block countries and other authoritarian states. Post-Hiibel, America has become a place where a [...]

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August 6, 2009

Popular Mechanics Separates CSI Fact from CSI Fiction

CSI, Forensic Files, The First 48 and other television programs of this genre are among my favorites. Investigators study a crime scene and learn all sorts of valuable information from blood spatter, shoe prints, tire marks, hair fibers, ballistics, and trace evidence. We are to believe that “the evidence doesn’t lie” and that these noble [...]

Posted By: Stephen Littau @ 10:36 am || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Crime and Punishment, Criminal Justice Reform, Culture, Legal, Look About, Media, Technology, Theory and Ideas
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July 29, 2009

Obama, Gates, Crowley, and the Troubling Controversy that Seemingly Won’t Go Away

Up to now I have purposely avoided this whole disorderly conduct arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. for a number of reasons.
First reason being that compared to the other cases I’ve written about here and elsewhere, this is a very minor case of police misconduct. I have yet to read or hear any reports [...]

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July 19, 2009

Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do

THIS BOOK IS BASED on a single idea: You should be allowed to do whatever you want with your own person and property, as long as you don’t physically harm the person or property of a nonconsenting other.
Thus begins a book that everyone interested in politics should read; Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity [...]

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July 18, 2009

Government Is Not Society

One of the most pernicious beliefs held by Americans is the conflation of the state with society. This belief is causing them acquiesce to government actions that threaten the destruction of American civilization if not stopped.
The word society comes to us from the Latin societas, which meant a group of people bound by friendship [...]

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July 15, 2009

Mother Jones Takes on the War on (Some) Drugs

The July/August 2009 issue of the Left-leaning Mother Jones dedicates several articles to the asinine War on (some) Drugs.

The title of the magazine’s cover story states it best – “Totally Wasted: We’ve blown $300 billion. Death squads roam Mexico. Cartels operate in 259 cities. This is your War on Drugs. Any Questions?”
Reason’s Nick Gillespie points [...]

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July 1, 2009

Common Ground for the Left and the Right on the Bill of Rights

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June 26, 2009

Liberty Rock Friday: …And Justice for All by Metallica

This song somehow seems appropriate in marking the end of another term of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Metallica
…And Justice for All
…And Justice for All (1988)

Songwriters: Hammett, Kirk L; Hetfield, James Alan; Ulrich, Lars
Halls of Justice Painted Green
Money Talking
Power Wolves Beset Your Door
Hear Them Stalking
Soon You’ll Please Their Appetite
They Devour
Hammer of Justice Crushes You
Overpower
The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting [...]

Posted By: Stephen Littau @ 9:52 am || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Crime and Punishment, Criminal Justice Reform, Culture, Legal, Liberty Rock, Theory and Ideas
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June 20, 2009

Symbolic Victories Are Often Real Losses

Judging from his statements and the note he left in his car, James von Brunn walked into the Holocaust Museum believing that he was about to strike a blow against Jewish world hegemony and Federal gun-control.  Even by his twisted standards, his actions were counterproductive. His plan was to massacre people visiting and working at [...]

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June 19, 2009

Liberty Rock Friday: Death Before Dishonor by Five Finger Death Punch

Five Finger Death Punch
“Death Before Dishonor”
The Way of the Fist (2007)
Written by Garamszegi, Zoltan; Greening, Ivan Lewis; Heyde, Jeremy Spencer

[V1:]
To the haters, the takers, the liars, all the vultures and the bottom feeding scum
The FCC, the FBI and every tin god with a badge and a gun
You talk and talk, you preach and bitch [...]

Posted By: Stephen Littau @ 9:45 am || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Culture, Liberty Rock
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June 12, 2009

Liberty Rock Friday: Freewill by Rush

Rush
“Freewill”
Permanent Waves (1980)
Words by Neil Peart, music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
There are those who think that life
Has nothing left to chance
With a host of holy horrors
To direct our aimless dance
A planet of playthings
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive
The stars aren’t aligned —
Or the gods are malign
Blame is better to give [...]

Posted By: Stephen Littau @ 9:56 am || Permalink || Comments (1) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Culture, Freedom, Liberty, Liberty Rock, Theory and Ideas
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May 29, 2009

Liberty Rock Friday: Hook in Mouth by Megadeth

Megadeth
Hook in Mouth
So Far, So Good, So What! (1988)
Music by D. Mustaine/D. Ellefson, Lyrics by D. Mustaine)
A cockroach in the concrete, courthouse tan and beady eyes.
A slouch with fallen arches, purging truths into great lies.
A little man with a big eraser, changing history
Procedures that hes programmed to, all he hears and sees.
Altering the facts and [...]

Posted By: Stephen Littau @ 10:27 am || Permalink || Comments (1) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Culture, Free Speech, Freedom, Liberty Rock
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