May 15, 2008
ˇViva!
Writes Robert Higgs: "Private-property anarchism is more popular than you would think in Latin America! El Diario de Hoy is El Salvador's top daily newspaper. And in Mexico City, we have this."
Obama/Hillary in a nutshell
Note to liberals: She has more experience; he's slightly to the left, but not much difference on policy really. A tossup.
She has a better chance against McCain though many are in denial on this including right-wing Hillary haters and left-wing Obama lovers.
The race is a statistical dead heat and anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't studied the numbers carefully.
Obama is ahead in delegates because the delegate selection rules are arbitrary and stupid. E.g., O got more delegates in at least two states where H got more votes!
The nomination will be decided by the super delegates and there is no compelling legal, logical, political or moral reason why they should vote for Obama.
From their own perspective, they should vote for Hillary because she has the better chance in November.
Note to libertarians who favor Obama. Personally, I see little difference on foreign policy and expect none in practice. In any event, Obama is slightly worse in domestic policy. Since I believe in a holistic analysis of policy--all sectors of policy tend to reinforce statism, it's a wash. (That is, presidents tend to logroll away their libertarian tendencies to get more statism where they want it.)
Hillary is less likely to serve two terms since she lacks O's Pied Piper-like hypnotic ability and Teflon suit.
Terrified Taxachusetts
See this hilariously biased article from the Boston Globe, an establishment mouthpiece, on the referendum, organized by Carla Howell and her libertarian posse, to repeal the rotten Massachusetts state income tax. (Thanks to Steve Vance.)
Obama's Latest Sin
He called a female reporter "sweetie." Oh dear.
Whenever a female waitress calls me "sweetie," the first thought I always have is to complain to the manager, sue for harassment, and try to make a national issue of it.
Sometimes I think Justin is right about the Bizarro World America has become. 9/11 -- or something -- has indeed ripped a hole in the space-time continuum, and so now petulant preachers, flag pins and endearing, old-fashioned language are the main campaign issue. Not mass murder and crimes against the Constitution.
State Radio on the Ron Paul Revolution
Thanks to Kit Maira on what really is the talk of the nation.
Ron Paul on NPR
Here's Ron Paul being interviewed on the People's Radio.
Bush League Golf
Anthony: Bush isn't much good as a golfer, either. He's managed to get himself into one nasty sand-trap.
W. Should Return to the Greens
President Bush says he stopped playing golf in 2003, to show solidarity with the dead in Iraq.
Since then, about 4,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died. I sure wish he'd go back to playing golf, and stop being president, instead. Thanks to Antiwar.com for the link.
Christian Science Monitor on Ron Paul
A respectful, even positive, review of The Revolution: A Manifesto.
Historians, Mathematicians, and Astrophysicists to Bush: It's Not 1939
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON--After months of rigorous debate and calculated scientific inquiry, a panel of ten of the nation's leading scientists approved, in a 9-1 vote, the following conclusion: given the Earth's current position in relation to the Sun and the fabric of spacetime, it is empirically incorrect and philosophically untenable to label this year '1939'. The findings, soon to be released as a coloring book, will be sent to President Bush in response to his recent remarks to the Israeli Knesset. In his speech, Bush implied that the year was 1939 and a numerically insignificant band of terrists was the mighty Wehrmacht.
Presidential candidate Ron Paul preemptively responded to Bush's comments in his bestselling book, "...after being called an isolationist, I was solemnly informed that the course I recommended in Iraq amounted to the same kind of thinking that had led to Hitler! Now, all of us are used to hearing political propaganda, especially in presidential debates, but this really took the cake: were the American people expected to believe that unless they supposed the invasion and occupation of a completely paralyzed Third World country, they were the sort of people who would have given aid and comfort to Hitler?"
This report is largely seen as a vindication of the fringe Paulist position which contends the year is 2008.
The sole dissenting vote came from Fields Medal-winner Ed Witten who declared, "In a world of extreme relativity where up is down and black is white, President Bush is absolutely correct in his assessment. As we cannot discount the existence of such a world, I cannot categorically deny anything."
[Unfortunately, I have to disclaim; this is a parody.]
Sabrin to McCain and Lieberman: Stop the War
Here's Ron Paul-endorsed candidate Murray Sabrin getting some press coverage this weekend as he challenged the maniacal McCain and his neoconservative coterie including Joe Lieberman.
Given Lieberman's comments this weekend, it is imperative to stand up to the bipartisan warmongers who look for any excuse to start wars. Lieberman is the archetypal interventionist--arrogant enough to think that he has the answers to the problems of the world, i.e. killing Muslims abroad and increasing the size and scope of the federal government at home. If McCain is elected, we can expect to see more of the same; though he will shroud his positions in the rhetoric of the free market by promising to limit earmark spending, don't be fooled. The earmark issue should be at the very bottom of everyone's list; a few million here and there is not a campaign issue...it is fretting over the leaky faucet as the house is burning down.
Poverty Is Evil (And Statist)
Over the last week I've watched with sadness and anger the disaster that is unfolding in Myanmar. People are dying by the thousands and the state there is making things worse (but what else is new?). Instead of getting out of the way it has resorted to blocking aid from entering the country; it has banned foreign journalists from reporting; and has set up --in traditional police state manner-- roadblocks and checkpoints around the most severely affected areas.
Yet the problem is not just the intervention that is happening now; the problem is with the state itself. Indeed, Myanmar is not exactly ruled by teddy bears. On the contrary, the Junta doesn't place nice with anyone or anything. Thus, whenever I hear about places that are "cut off from the rest of the world" or that are "out of contact" I can't help but think that this has to be the result of government intervention at a massive scale. For how else can we explain the widespread lack of infrastructure?
In countries where the market is relatively free we see greater prosperity. Along with prosperity comes more and better infrastructure --hospitals, communications, transportation, insurance and savings, and of course charity. However, in Myanmar, where people are kept poor at gunpoint, none of the expected growth and development that we see elsewhere has taken place.
Poverty is not a voluntarily-occurring long-lasting phenomenon so long as there is a free market to improve conditions. Poverty is evil and is sustained by the deliberate actions of that criminal gang known as the state. The monsters who rule Myanmar have no place in a civilized society.
How Ron Paul Also Changed Me
Writes Anthony Ajamian: "Much like Charles and Matthew said, Ron Paul changed me. Not so much my political views as I've been a libertarian since I could register to vote, but how I saw things as a whole. When the Ron Paul revolution started, I was a 21 year old metal head who attended a college that had some pretty socialistic leanings. Being in the kind of environment when you're a firm believer in free markets and liberty can bring out the pessimist in you, so I lost quite a bit of interest in other people, what they believed, what their political leanings were, etc. I just didn't think there were other people out there who cared about liberty anymore.
"It took me a bit to throw myself into the Ron Paul meetups, as I had no idea what to expect. Each time I went to the meetup, I found folks of all types, subcultures, ethnicities, religions... No two people believed in the same thing; everyone was there to work hard for freedom. Young people, the elderly, some marijuana activists, folks with quite strong religious tones, and even a Chinese immigrant who came here looking to be part of the 'land of the free', and was sorely dissapointed.
"Ron Paul is right: liberty unites us."
I Love Electric Cars
But psst: they are only "zero-emissions" if you don't count the generation of electricity. Here, Jay Leno reviews the spectacular Tesla roadster:
Ron Paul on His Book and the Election
Ron is interviewed on KTSA in San Antonio about The Revolution: A Manifesto, McCain, and the Fascist Convocation in Minneapolis.
Going to the Ron Paul Book Signing in Louisville This Saturday?
Be sure to get a ticket.
Congratulations, Chris!
Writes Chris Holbrook: "With the help of Dr. Woods, my wife had this cake made for my graduation (MA Political Science). The internet resources provided by Mises.org and LewRockwell.com have been invaluable to my studies and personal intellectual development. I now move on to the University of Missouri for my doctoral studies."
Ron Paul's Second Wind
Of course, the great libertarian athlete has not given up, but is winning the laurels in new ways. Writes conservative James Antle in Politico: "As an author, Ron Paul has accomplished something he failed to do as a Republican presidential candidate: finish first. His new book, 'The Revolution: A Manifesto,' has topped The New York Times best-seller list and the Amazon sales chart. It has also helped rally his grass-roots following long after John McCain clinched the GOP presidential nomination." Read the rest.
Ron Paul Changed Me Too
Writes Charles Krblich II: "Last year (coming from the most fascist of the right), I never would have agreed with Matthew Dailey -- the man who wrote you. Now however, I find that a common ground exists between us. Not only has Ron Paul changed his world view, but he has also changed mine, and LRC.com is where I get to deluge myself with this perfectly sane and rational world view. As Ron Paul says himself in his book THE REVOLUTION, 'And despite their philosophical differences in some areas, these folks typically found, to their surprise, that they rather liked each other.'"
Has Karl Rove Always Been So Wrong?
My Texas friends tell me yes. I've seen him in action with conservative groups, with a masterful grasp of arcane facts -- but a Game Boy has more memory, and is less inane.
Today he tells the WSJ that McCain must convince America of the importance of the Iraq War. Once we swallow that whopper, Rove serves up an even better one: "Republicans also face challenges with the young (whose opposition to the war and attraction to Mr. Obama have made them Democrats)" -- conveniently and intentionally (remember his mind is a junior Game Boy) ignoring Ron Paul's inspiration of millions of young people, who are fed up with the cynical manipulations of people like -- Karl Rove!
All this he puts under the title of, "The GOP must stand for something"! As in, let's embrace the same policies that have destroyed the GOP, the conservative movement, the pro-family coalitions -- Claes Ryn is right,the Jacobins have triumphed. The revolution requires annihilation of reality to make way for the new abstract universalism in which the neocons can rule the world.
McStrangelove's "I Have A Dream" Speech
When I heard Faux News announce this morning that John McStrangelove was to share his "vision for America" in a speech this morning, I decided to see what the GOP's visionary had to say. The speech was about what the world is like in January 2013, after his first term:
We are still mired down in the Iraq quagmire, although "most" troops have returned. "We maintain a military presence" there, however, as we continue (forever?) "trying to finish the job."
We will finally catch bin Laden. Ha!
The military/industrial/congressional complex will have ballooned in size: "The size of the Army and Marines has significantly increased."
There are only two income tax rates, althouth McStrangelove didn't say what the rates would be.
Every federal bureaucracy will be "reviewed" and made more efficient. And elephants will magically fly out of McStrangelove's ears during his state-of-the-union speeches.
There will be new ten-thousand-pages-of-bureaucracy NAFTA-style trade agreements that allow governments to centrally plan world trade.
The federal bureaucracy will throw endless dollars down the rathole of "government job retraining programs," an idea so stupid that most such programs were abandoned when the Democrats ran Congress prior to the Republican "revolution" of 1994.
The feds will "stabilize" obesity rates in children. (Rumor has it that former Congressmen Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert, along with Bill Bennett, will be in charge of this effort).
The feds will throw endless dollars down the even bigger rathole of "green technologies."
The U.S. will occupy Sudan under the guise of "peacekeeping."
Tax loopholes will be ended, i.e., your taxes are going up.
Extra efforts will be made to brainwash American children in the notion that "true happiness" comes from serving the state, not "pursuing self interest." That is, true happiness comes from being a sacrificial lamb for the Republican Party, not from becoming educated, finding a job or starting a business, raising a family, living your life in peace.
"Public service" will be "reinvigorated."
I'm afraid that's all I could stand to listen to.
Two-time loser endorses Obama
John Edwards (his wife's for Hillary).
A real man of principle, that principle being opportunism.
My ancient take on Mr. No There There.
Correction: a three-time loser (nomination twice, VP once).
Rather be lucky than good
Obama attacked by the most unpopular person in the country, George Bush.
Maybe Bush can make a living after retirement by selling his criticism to the highest bidder.
Maverick label a fit for Sabrin
Maverick label a fit for Sabrin
By RICHARD PEARSALL • Courier-Post Staff • May 13, 2008
CHERRY HILL — The most conservative of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate outlined a radical plan to cut the federal government in an interview Monday.
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Contending that Washington is "bankrupt" of both money and ideas, Dr. Murray Sabrin said the country is in a "perfect economic storm" that demands a return to free enterprise and confines the federal government to the role outlined in the U.S. Constitution.
"There's nothing (in the Constitution) about agriculture, housing, education, or energy," Sabrin, an economics professor at Ramapo College, said. He proposes that the federal departments bearing those names and functions be eliminated.
Social Security would also be phased out under Sabrin's plan, with new workers shifting their contributions to 401(k) plans.
The Defense Department would remain, but much downsized, limited to defending our own borders and security, while withdrawing from places such as Germany, South Korea and Iraq.
Check out his site.
