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September 29, 2007

Libertarian Presidential Candidate Running Unique Online Video

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Steve Kubby has a new campaign video out. It's educational, entertaining and decidedly unique. They are employing a unique fundraising angle with it, as well. It's produced by the same people who won a Pollie Award for a related advertisement created for a gubernatorial race Kubby once ran. The Flash animation is available at Kubby's website or on YouTube.

Posted by StephenGordon at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2007

A Dear Friend Lost

John Berthoud, president of National Taxpayers Union, was found dead earlier today in his home. The Free Liberal mourns our friend, who was a dogged defender of liberty and truly principled and decent human being.

-- KDR

Posted by KevinRollins at 04:44 PM | Comments (2)

September 24, 2007

Heresies Out Loud

I dunno. Without having looked at all the details, I have a completely different take on the two big news items of this weekend:

Iranian President Ahmadinejad wants to lay a wreath at Ground Zero. Why not take the opportunity to show him what 9/11 did to some American families? Perhaps have a few surviving families there, or some survivors of the actual attack. He's a Holocaust denier, perhaps have some tatooed Holocaust survivors there, too. Perhaps the man is hopelessly lost in his doctrinal ideology, and he can overlook the pain in the faces of those people and still harbor hate in his heart. But, then, maybe not. Wouldn't that be a positive development?

Hillary's health insurance plan seems not so bad to me. One adjustment -- allow people to opt out, with the knowledge that they can never use government funds (e.g., Medicaid) or free hospital services -- and call it a day. That Hillary has backed off her 90s-style Rube Goldberg HillaryCare is a (relative) win in my book.

-Robert Capozzi

Posted by RobertCapozzi at 07:16 AM | Comments (1)

September 23, 2007

Dilbert Author Skewers Ahmadinejad Visit Panic (graphic language)

I never knew Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert, held such strong and well-informed opinions. This is his take on the hyperventilation surrounding the visit of Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

Posted by PaulGessing at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2007

"Don't Tase Me, Bro"

Still stunned by the videotape of Andrew Meyer being tasered at a recent John Kerry speech, we here at TFL feel the need to weigh in. Not since the brutal, unjustified beating of Rodney King have we seen how the police can over-react. Was Meyer -- like King -- out of line? Sure, a bit. Was a taser necessary to subdue him? Not even close.

Right wing radio used this opportunity to criticize John Kerry. Kerry should have taken charge of the situation, they say. Yeah, I suppose so, but one gets the sense that these radio personalities constantly monitor the news for an opportunity to diss the Ds.

Discourse in the public square continues to degenerate. Best we can do, it seems, is wait the children out, as they whine in the back seat for more candy.

-Robert Capozzi

Posted by RobertCapozzi at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2007

Freedom of Speech...yeah, right

The video of the kid being tasered by the cops at a John Kerry speech is disturbing (on Constitution Day of all days!), but Paul Craig Roberts asks the salient question: "Why didn't John Kerry do anything to stop the out-of-control police?

The said truth is:

The Bush Republicans and their Democratic toadies have, in the name of "security," made all of us powerless. While Sen. John Kerry and his Democratic colleagues stand silently, the Bush administration has stolen our country from us and turned us into subjects.
Posted by PaulGessing at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2007

Do we serve the state or does the state serve us?

Before I was even a libertarian I understood that the state was a creation of man and, at least in theory, it should benefit us. Since the concept of "state" is an abstraction, the idea of serving it seemed downright silly.

That is why I always felt John F. Kennedy's famous quote, "Ask not what your country can do for you...ask what you can do for your country," was a bit ridiculous. Why exactly should I be serving this nameless, faceless, unfeeling entity called the state? Sure, it may benefit politicians if I were to do so because they ultimately control the state, but do I really need to go out of the way to pitch in?

Sheldon Richman expounds on that theme far more thoroughly in response to the latest calls by the political elite for "national service." Of course, like the ridiculous Americorps program, it would be the involuntary payments of taxpayers who would foot the bill for these "volunteer efforts."

Posted by PaulGessing at 12:31 AM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2007

Orwell update, musical edition

Courtesy of the Government of Ghana, a music video reminds the people to get their National ID card. Maybe the US Department of Homeland Security can get Britney Spears to record a version promoting the Real ID.

Posted by NormSingleton at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2007

Disagreeing with Ron Paul

I love Ron Paul. I agree with him on nearly all major issues and think that his race for the Presidency of the United States is the most important political movement this nation has seen at least since Barry Goldwater ran for the White House.

That said, I think he is taking the wrong track -- at least from an economic perspective -- in opposing the ability of Mexican truckers to work in the United States. His argument seems to boil down to the fact that US truckers are too heavily regulated to compete with Mexican truckers and that we should do away with onerous regulations first. Of course, regulations should be reasonable, but the only way politicians and industries can be deregulated is to force them to compete and thus to lobby for more reasonable regulations. Until then, the regulated will simply dictate how they are governed.

Of course, I understand that politically-speaking, free trade is relatively unpopular right now (and Dr. Paul has always been skeptical of trade agreements), so it makes sense to emphasize that point.

I discuss here in greater detail some of the reasons for allowing the Mexican trucker program to move forward.

Posted by PaulGessing at 03:23 PM | Comments (2)

September 13, 2007

Republicans: Again the Stupid Party

Recently, the Democratic candidates for President debated, in what can only be called a very contrived format, on Univsion in an effort to attract Spanish-speaking voters. While this was an experiment that will undoubtedly need to be re-worked for the future, at least the Democrats made an effort.

The Republicans, on the other hand, including Ron Paul (but not John McCain), have refused to even attempt a similar debate. Of course, the reason is immigration and the desire for Republicans to "look tough" on the issue in order to satisfy the nativist vote, but in the long-term this is a big mistake.

Of course, I have long disagreed with Dr. Paul on immigration (even though I have agreed with him on most everything else), but snubbing Hispanic voters will create problems for Republicans as a Party, one that will help consign them to minority status for years to come. I don't blame Dr. Paul and the other Republicans necessarily. After all, they are just responding to their base. The fact is that the Republican base needs to wake up and understand that immigration is good for the country and that immigrants don't move here to go on welfare, but to work for a better life for their families....how's that for "family values?"

Posted by PaulGessing at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2007

Huckabee's Smoking Ban

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee wants a national smoking ban. He says it is a workplace safety issue and compares subjecting restaurant workers to cigarette smoke is like exposing them to radon. He asks us not to think of it as a consumer issue.

I suppose, he doesn't want us to think of consumers, because that might lead us to think of the market, specifically, the free market. (Hint: I'm in favor of it!)

We can assume most bar patrons and employees are aware of this hazard and can choose accordingly to subject themselves to the smoke or to avoid the smoke. Bar owners can choose the amount of smoking allowed which maximizes the profits enjoyed. Smoking is not an externality, as pointed out by economist David Henderson in the latest issue of Econ Journal Watch.

So Governor Huckabee, do you want to be a health nanny, or do you just find the free market unpalatable?

/KDR

Posted by KevinRollins at 04:27 PM | Comments (5)

September 08, 2007

Never Underestimate the “Power” of Denial

Bridging on Daryl Sawyer’s blog “We broke it, we bought it?”, it is quite relevant whether going into Iraq was a mistake in the first place. The premise informs the action. That is, if the premise is that Iraq was the right thing to do, that tends to imply a range of actions in the here and now. If, however, Iraq was a mistake, the range of appropriate action shifts.

Huckabee’s position might well be appropriate for a soldier. Adopting “my country right or wrong” seems motivational when one is in the thick of battle. But Huckabee’s view makes no sense to me in crafting policy. It is the worst sort of denial – to unquestioningly go forward with no moral compass.

The “cakewalk” is already a “bloodbath,” as I see it. Iraq should more properly be viewed as a triage operation. Limit further damage and get the heck out!

-Robert Capozzi

Posted by RobertCapozzi at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

September 07, 2007

We broke it, we bought it?

Mike Huckabee, during last night's debate in New Hampshire, used the logic "we broke it, we bought it" to say that it doesn't matter that going into Iraq was a mistake, that now that we're there, we must stay and fix it.

The logic has a certain appeal. Our government did "break" Iraq. They certainly did break a lot of things over there.

The thing is, Iraq is not a fragile consumer good taken off the shelf for examination, and accidentally dropped. Iraq is a country, filled with people. If we must regard Iraq as a singular entity, a better analogy would be to refer to it as a patient, an injured man. By this analogy, Huckabee is basically saying that because a thug kicked some guy's ass, it is his responsibility (or that of someone else who shares his attitude) to "fix" the injured man, preferably using the same techniques used to "break" him in the first place.

Or perhaps Huckabee's "we" could be considered a quack of a surgeon, who incorrectly diagnosed a disease, cut in and predicted where a tumor might be found, couldn't find it, just kept digging until he nearly killed his patient. By Huckabee's logic, it would be wrong to force the quack to stop cutting into the patient, bandage his wounds, and leave him to heal.

It sounds to me like we need a doctor on the job. <.<

Posted by DarylSawyer at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)

Last Night's Republican Debate

I stopped watching the debates months ago. Not due to a lack of interest, but because I have already made up my mind. There is only one candidate I can enthusiastically support, Ron Paul, and I'll just have to wait until the primary process works itself out to decide which "lesser of two evils" candidate I might vote for if Ron Paul fails to win the Republican nomination. The great thing about Youtube is that I don't have to waste an hour or two watching Giuliani pontificate or Tancredo bash Mexicans, I can watch the only candidate I really care about.

From the looks of these clips, Ron Paul was stirring things up last night. The idiots on Fox News of course can't stand Ron Paul's principled stances, but as Jim Bovard points out, "Ron Paul is the Buster Douglas candidate".... and I believe that down to the lawlessness of the competition (like Mike Tyson).

Posted by PaulGessing at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)

September 03, 2007

State Medical Marijuana Laws Under Attack in New Mexico

New Mexico passed a law protecting sick and dying people from prosecution under state law, but the goon squads sent by our imperial leader in Washington don't recognize state law, so they invaded the home of a paraplegic New Mexico man named Leonard French who lost the use of both of his legs in a motorcycle accident and seized...six plants, most of which were dead.

Mr. French suffers chronic pain and muscle spasms due to his spinal cord injury, and qualified as a medical marijuana patient under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act state law that passed earlier this year. Medical marijuana offers him relief with fewer side effects, he reports, than other pharmaceuticals that he's tried.

Posted by PaulGessing at 08:13 PM | Comments (0)

Good enough for government work

From the department of things that are not at all surprising, comes news of a man whose unusually tiny brain did not prevent him from having a successful career in the French bureaucracy.

Posted by NormSingleton at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)

Time for fascism

Time magazine's Richard Stengel is worried that the increase in volunteerism shows people are turning their back on the welfare state in favor of the "little platoons" of Church, family, and local community. His solution? A federal "national service" program. Stengel claims the program will be voluntary since no one will be forced to participate. Of course, participation will be mandatory for the taxpayers.

Posted by NormSingleton at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

Free-for-all (frfr-ôl) -- n. A disorderly fight, argument, or competition in which everyone present participates.

from Dictionary.com



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