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

November 12, 2009

The Death of Language: Terrorist Edition

But the special function of certain Newspeak words, of which oldthink was one, was not so much to express meanings as to destroy them. These words, necessarily few in number, had had their meanings extended until they contained within themselves whole batteries of words which, as they were sufficiently covered by a single comprehensive term, [...]

Posted By: tarran @ 6:37 pm || Permalink || Comments (4) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Culture, Doublespeak
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October 28, 2009

A symbolic victory in a sea of defeats

The governator sent a letter to the California State Assembly where he, er, told them he would “strike” them. Carnally.
To the Members of the California State Assembly:
I am returning Assembly Bill 1176 without my signature.
For some time now I have lamented the fact that major issues are overlooked while manyunnecessary bills come to me [...]

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October 9, 2009

Nobel Committee Insults America

Yesterday the Nobel Prize Committee insulted the Great Helmsman, President Barack Obama by awarding yet another prize to an unworthy second rater while ignoring the Great Helmsman’s dramatic contributions in every field.  Our dear leader wrote the two greatest books in modern civilization. These books are an inspiration to all of us who are his [...]

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October 6, 2009

The Original “War on Terror”

The first recorded mention of the term “War on Terror” in the New York Times did not occur after 9/11 as many would assume… In fact it was in 1934, and wasn’t even about the U.S.
You might be shocked as to exactly which nation it was about… or perhaps not…

War On Terror

(New York Times) December [...]

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August 25, 2009

Obama: You’re doing a heck’uva job, Bernie

Continuing his George Costanzaesque presidency, Obama has decided to reappoint Ben “Helicopter” Bernanke to another term on the Fed.
Here’s what Obama had to say:
Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and outside-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic freefall
I thought it [...]

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August 20, 2009

Disturbing Quote of the Day

“This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim [...]

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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 17, 2009

RINO of the Day: Nebraska’s Jeff Fortenberry

It wasn’t all that long ago that Karl Rove was using an example of Republican socialized medicine to illustrate why Democratic socialized medicine is bad.  Now here’s Nebraska Republican Jeff Fortenberry calling for an increase in government health care spending:
In addition, we could expand subsidies for high risk pools for those with chronic illnesses and [...]

Posted By: Stephen Gordon @ 2:27 pm || Permalink || Comments (2) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Doublespeak, Dumbasses and Authoritarians, Healthcare, Republicans
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Would Joe Biden promote orgies for sexual abstinence?

CNS News provides the following quote (emphasis added) from Vice President Joe Biden:
“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even [...]

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July 7, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI Would Make Marx Proud

Pope Benedict XVI has decided to wade into territory which he has no understanding or expertise: the global economy. The New York Times reports that the pope is now calling for a “New World Economic Order”*
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday called for a radical rethinking of the global economy, criticizing a growing [...]

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May 28, 2009

Does Sonia Sotomayor Believe that Some Individuals are More Equal than Others?

Perhaps we could chalk up President Obama’s SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s racially charged statement as a Bidenesque blunder if she had not made rulings as a judge which suggests that she does believe that some individuals are more equal than others. Ricci v. DeStefano is a case-in-point. Sotomayor joined the Second Circuit’s majority which concluded [...]

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May 18, 2009

Does Rick Perry think that NCLB preceded the 10th Amendment?

I’m getting pretty sick and tired of hearing about Texas Governor Rick Perry being described as some sort of libertarian Messiah or hero of the 1oth Amendment. If Perry has a libertarian bone in his body, it’s one he obtained through the use of eminent domain.  This paragraph clearly outlines his dedication to small [...]

Posted By: Stephen Gordon @ 3:01 pm || Permalink || Comments (1) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Doublespeak, Republicans
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May 14, 2009

DHS Pulls Report On “Right-Wing Extremism”

It was just a little over a month ago that our own Stephen Gordon was among the first to break the story about a Department of Homeland of Security report that appeared to label most conservatives and libertarians in the country as “extremists.”
Now, the Washington Times reports that DHS has officially pulled the report:
A contentious [...]

Posted By: Doug Mataconis @ 6:01 am || Permalink || Comments (4) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Doublespeak, Fascism in America, The Surveillance State, War on Terror
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May 11, 2009

Cap And Tax

Coming from Ezra Klein –
Via Dave Weigel and Matt Yglesias comes the depressing news that the vast majority of the public doesn’t know what cap and trade” is. And I don’t mean in the sense that they don’t understand the auctions. They have no idea what problem the policy actually refers to.
“Given a choice [...]

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 3:14 pm || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Doublespeak, Economics, Environment, Government Regulation, Taxation
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May 8, 2009

Quote of the Day: Empathy vs. The Rule of Law

President Obama says that he wants to nominate a Supreme Court Justice who has “empathy” as opposed to a jurist who makes decisions based on “some abstract legal theory.” Not surprisingly, I’m not the only one troubled by his selection criteria. Thomas Sowell has written an excellent 3 part series “Empathy” Versus Law” (Part 1, [...]

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May 1, 2009

No Secession, No Legitimacy!

Many Republicans, having discovered that Bush’s policies are tyrannical, are making noises about wanting out of the fascist state that they were cheering on a few months ago. While we may wonder why it took the trivial matter of having people who have the letter D appended to their names on [...]

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April 30, 2009

A new libertarian line-of-attack when debating medical marijuana issues with Republicans

For years, activists have been trying to pass federal legislation which prevents the feds from arresting patients (or doctors, growing clubs, etc.) when they’ve been prescribed medicinal marijuana by a physician in the states where such prescriptions are allowed by law.  Libertarians have often made valid points about Republican hypocrisy regarding federalism when it comes [...]

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April 15, 2009

DHS Responds To Uproar Over Report On “Right Wing Extremism”

In light of the uproar that we’ve seen over the report that Stephen Gordon brought into the public light earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security has issued this press release:
Release Date: April 15, 2009
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
The primary mission of this department is to prevent terrorist attacks on our [...]

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April 13, 2009

If you are reading this, you may well be a terrorist

Last night, I uploaded a document I had received by e-mail and wrote the following:
According to this new Homeland Security report, all it takes to fit the terrorist profile is to have general anti-government feelings or prefer local/state government to federal control over everything.
The federal Homeland Security Department document entitled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and [...]

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April 12, 2009

Astroturfing Republican of the Day Award

Big-government Republican hypocricy knows no limits, it seems.  Here’s the latest tweet from Mike Huckabee:
Pls support HPAC today, my 3 reasons for $3: rising taxes, deficits, massive exp. of govt http://tinyurl.com/cwpy6t Plse RT #tcot
Let’s see if I understand this correctly: Tax Hike Mike wants us to give money to the Huck PAC because of [...]

Posted By: Stephen Gordon @ 4:25 pm || Permalink || Comments (1) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Doublespeak, Dumbasses and Authoritarians, Huckabee Watch, Republicans
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