» Kim Jong Il Wins With 99.9% Turnout
What a heroic democrat, the people love him and have spoken (no offense, lovers of demo-crazy).
If only our "our" "great" "leader" had received such widespread support...
March 10, 2009
February 24, 2009
February 23, 2009
» IT'S FOR THE TEENAGERS!
Over the weekend I went to the neighborhood liquor store to pick up a couple of items. I had not completely forgotten about the proposal to allow grocery stores to sell wine; I was ready for it. On the door, on the walls, on the counters--everywhere a poster, a sign, a card, a flier or brochure. The campaign is well underway.
Here's what a sign said:
Save our Store
Protect our Jobs, Protect our Teenagers
Last Store on Main Street
On December 16th, Governor Paterson proposed to allow grocery stores to sell wine in his '09-'10 state budget. This proposal must be stopped. If not, it will cost New York thousands of jobs and contribute to a significant increase in underage drinking.
Please log on to www.lastmainstreetstore.com to learn more about the impact of GovernerPatterson's [sic] proposal and how you can join the fight and stop it before April 1, 2009.
So there you have it. One must not allow even the most remote possibility of freedom because to do so might upset the statist-monopolist "order" associated with secured jobs and protected industries.
Oh, and let's not forget about the children. No popular appeal would be complete without some good old fashioned scaremongering.
My progressive proposal is simple: Patterson should abolish drinking age laws, eliminate taxes on liquor and allow anyone to sell wine. I'd love to see the campaign against that. ("He hates the world!")
January 29, 2009
» The Sign of Our Pro-War Times
In Ithaca, NY, a house sits in the intersection of two well trafficked roads (this one, in fact, on the south-west corner of the intersection). At the edge of the property, by the road, there is a sign. For the last couple of years that sign has attacked GWB, his administration, the Republicans, Big Oil and the wars. Every few days the owner would paint something different on the sign to remind us of just how evil the Republican state really is.
I drove by yesterday for the first time since the inauguration. This time the sign was different. "Let's help him," it said.
Of course, I knew all along that it had always been standard pro-Democratic, left-liberal attacks on the "other side" (they are unified now) of the political spectrum. But if the Democrats are really anti-war, where is the outrage over Obama's murders barely a few tens of hours into his reign?
As a friend said recently: "Let's see how many anti-war protest marches there are, how big they are, how many anti-war bumper stickers there are in two years, and how vocal places like Daily Kos (or other ... leftist rags) are about war. Let's see. But as for me, I'm calling it this way right now: the majority of Americans support foreign wars, or at least are not actually anti-war. The ones who were in the last eight years were simply anti-Bush, and I think Obama is going to prove me right on this."
Indeed, if this is the way things are going to go then J.H. Huebert is correct (and I am wrong) when Huebert says that "whatever goes wrong will not be his [Obama's] fault, no matter what. Instead, it will be the fault of anyone who has attempted to restrain him in any way. When he fails, they will be ready and willing to give him more power -- all that he says he needs."
No principles, just politics. Death? Mass murder? Empire? Theft? Sure, so long as there is a "D" after the name.
January 27, 2009
» Not Even Trash Pickup
Over in the Big (un)Easy, Mayor Nagin plans to cut sanitation services in the French Quarter to alleviate a budget shortfall.
Nagin said his administration was forced to make "hard choices" by reducing sanitation services because council members did not cut enough spending in other areas when they revised the city's spending plan two weeks ago.
How about letting residents decide the quality and quantity of trash pickup? What if I live in the Quarter and require less or more service than what the government has decreed? And I bet you can't form your own neighborhood trash pickup to compete with the politically connected Privileged One(s) who have been given a monopoly.
Another example of the perils of state involvement in society.
January 24, 2009
» Congrats, Obama
From Rob Wicks:
I just wanted to congratulate President Barack Obama in his performing that grand rite of passage for American Presidents. No, not any such silliness as his first bill or executive order. I meant something much more important. Today, President Obama ordered his first murder.
So, while you can look into the loving eyes of your own beautiful daughters, somewhere in Afghanistan, a grieving family will never look into the loving eyes of three children again.
Have a nice weekend.
January 22, 2009
» Announcing Libertarian Papers: A New Journal
From the LRC blog, posted by Stephan Kinsella:
The Mises Institute is proud to announce the launch of a new, online journal today: Libertarian Papers. Edited by yours truly and boasting a impressive and geographically- and academically diverse Editorial Board, Libertarian Papers is publishing its first seven articles today, one per hour starting at 8:00 a.m. CST. These include articles by two eminent libertarian thinkers, Jan Narveson (writing on Nozick, justice, and restitution) and Robert Higgs (on depressions and war). These are followed by two, count 'em, two, previously unpublished memos from ... Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. Mises's is a memo dated New Year's Eve, 1946, to F.A. Hayek, relaying his concerns and advice about the then-nascent Mont Pèlerin Society. Rothbard's is a 1961 "confidential" memo the Volker Fund, about libertarian tactics and strategy. Provocative, fascinating stuff.
The last three articles to be published today are a fascinating three-part exchange between Nicolás Maloberti and Joshua Katz about libertarianism, positive rights, and "Possibility of the Legitimate State."
---
More about the journal here.
January 20, 2009
» "L'Éstat c'est moi" No More
One of the problems I see with Obama's populism (which reminds me of the Latin American populism that I grew up with) is that it could weaken, even if temporarily, whatever little distrust of the state remains. Obama yearns to be more inclusive, to solve problems, to change the United States, and people seem to be gobbling this up. It is no longer "us against the government." It's "we are the state."
On the other hand, perhaps Obamalism need not be negative on the long run, for once the god-president fails, the disillusionment will be deliciously widespread.
That said, the Obamalians will blame it, partly with reason, on Bush's policies and on Republican congressional animosity. Either way, I'm not particularly thrilled that millions of people have decided to converge (physically or electronically) around one person.
All this reminds of the song "I Am The Walrus":
I am he as you are he
as you are me
and we are all together
[Cross-posted]
January 11, 2009
» Arrested For Touching A Plant
Via Rob Wicks:
In the words of legendary singer/songwriter Bob Marley, "Get up, stand up, stand up for your right." The heroic Andrew Carroll decided to stand up for his in the city of Keene, New Hampshire. As expected, the police arrived shortly thereafter. Note the onlookers' apt description of the situation in which this peaceful young man is "getting arrested for touching a plant."
Some video here and here. There is also an interview with Andrew.
December 24, 2008
» Plaxico Had More Guns!
Various pistols and a rifle were stolen from Burress's home by people with pistols and rifles (and machine guns, tanks, SWAT teams, tasers, explosives, canines, surveillance equipment and helicopters). All this For Your Own Good. After all, safety is very important.
December 22, 2008
December 16, 2008
» Tax Hunger In Albany
Though there seems to be some cuts being made to the enormous $120 billion budget for the State of New York, the latest Patterson plan includes nonetheless new or additional taxes. Incredibly, the proposal would increase taxes on hospitals and insurance companies. Then there's the elimination of the current tax-free status for clothing, the removal of the tax gap on gasoline, and the threat of forcing Indian retailers to collect sales taxes to non-Indians. Oh, and a tax on non-diet soda.
Thank you, Mr. Governor, for taking care of me. My family also thanks you very much. I cannot imagine what I would do without Albany.
December 6, 2008
November 26, 2008
» Bush The Compassionate
He will pardon a turkey but not the thousands rotting in federal prisons for non-crimes. Ain't justice grand?
November 21, 2008
November 18, 2008
» Rising for the Judge, Bowing to the State
On LRC today I have my latest article.
Rising for the Judge, Bowing to the State
When one walks into a business, most often you are greeted. As part of treating customers as their very livelihood, companies usually enact policies that make it a requirement for employees to acknowledge the arrival of a client or customer.
Imagine, however, if instead of getting a "hello" or "good morning," the manager of the store asks you to greet him. Further, imagine if the manager holds you at gunpoint and threatens you with imprisonment. Assuming you could escape, chances are that you'dd never go back to that store. Yet this is what happens in the courts.
Virtually everyone in the courtroom has to rise when the judge enters. Failure to do so might result in contempt of court --you can get a fine or be sentenced to jail time for your audacity. This is, of course, absurd. First of all, government courts are financed through taxation. People who do not use the system at all, for example, still have to pay. This is a form of redistribution, also known as socialism. Aside from the fact that the resources to run the system are extracted aggressively, often the accused are anything except victims.
Laws and ordinances regulating peaceful drug or firearm possession or usage, municipal codes regulating assembly, zoning, prostitution and gambling, for example, violate no rights and therefore have no victims. Thus, when an innocent person is brought (violently or through the threat thereof) to one of those government courts, the last thing one expects is to be further humiliated by having to stand for the judge. If anything, the judge should be kissing the defendantâ??s feet and begging for forgiveness.
We should not be surprised that the state does whatever possible to assert its aggressive political power in every instance; the courtroom is not an exception. Perhaps in the old days it was customary to rise for the judge. So what? Today, however, I see this not as a gesture of respect but as a demand for obedience. The judge, a state bureaucrat, has no authority over anyone. Prove that the judge and the court deserve any respect. After all, they were the ones (along with the legislative and executive branches) to kidnap people from their homes, families and places of employment, only to be dragged to face "justice." Show that, especially in the case of victimless crimes, the defendant should stand for the judge. The concept of contempt of court, so long as the state holds a monopoly over this institution, is a farce. I believe it is the court, along with all the thugs it employs, who is in contempt.
Anyone willing to show the violence of the court by refusing to obey is a hero. Rising for the judge is bowing to the state.
November 17, 2008
November 16, 2008
November 15, 2008
» Obama, otro producto milagroso
No se piedan este artículo en Juan de Mariana de Jorge Valín acerca de Obama.
Uno de los grandes defectos del ser humano es su fe ciega en los milagros, esto es, la esperanza de liberarse de sus responsabilidades y de obtener al mismo tiempo el mejor de los resultados posibles. Algo así, no tiene precio. Fíjense por ejemplo en estas pastillas y dietas para adelgazar o aquellos potingues que hacen crecer el pelo y los hombres buscan desesperadamente. Todos sabemos que no funcionan, pero ¿y si dieran resultado?
Seguir leyendo.
November 11, 2008
» Hamilton's Curse
Recently I finished reading Hamilton's Curse: How Jefferson's Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution--and What It Means for Americans Today by Thomas DiLorenzo.
The book, of course, centers around the Hamiltonian legacy and his ideological successors. Hamilton proposed a strong central government ruled by a king-like president with authority to control the various legislatures. He was also a supporter of central banking (which fuels wars and depressions), the corporatist state (through various bailouts), high taxes and protectionist tariffs, nationalism and empire.
I enjoyed the book but I've liked DiLorenzo's work on Lincoln to be more satisfying.
