| No human being has the right -- under any circumstances -- to initiate force against another human being, nor to threaten or delegate its initiation. The Zero Aggression Principle |
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April
09, 2007 “Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there’s never more than one.” C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength (A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups), p.70 It is widely conceded that there is a problem with “critical thinking” skills in our society and most educators will agree. Ironically, it is the educational system itself which inculcates students with a deep-seated mental confusion that renders legitimate critical thinking functionally impossible. The quote from C.S. Lewis (which was uttered by a “good guy” who was later murdered for his dangerous beliefs) contains an implicit assumption that allows me to illustrate the problem. Specifically, the quote assumes that the matter at hand (regardless of what it was) has a concrete and provable answer. (Read the rest here)
Libertarian
Commentary on The News, 1
- 7 April, 2007 A lot of the stories this week concern our beloved thugs in Congress – I really like Joe Bast’s recent description of the situation in DC right now: the Democrats’ “bizarre agenda” and the Republican’s “lame counter-thrusts” (notice how he deftly avoided calling it “limp-wristed” and kept from calling Pelosi a “girly-boy” – thus saving Joe from the Ann Coulter treatment). Anyway, as a result, let me recommend that you read this week’s news and commentary on an empty stomach. By the way, lest anyone think that I am getting soft on Congress in my comments here or elsewhere, I want to talk about a very important subject: the mental capacity of Congress. I am sure that all my readers are familiar with two basic equations of mass psychology. The IQ of a committee is calculated by taking the IQ of the most intelligent member of the committee and dividing it by the total number of feet in the committee: for example, if the committee has a member with an IQ of 140, and there are seven committee members, the committee’s group IQ is 20. The IQ of a mob is calculated by taking the IQ of the least intelligent person in the mob and dividing by the number of feet in the mob. So a mob of 500 people with the most stupid member having an IQ of 75 has an IQ of 0.08 – slightly less than that of a wilted green pepper. (Read the rest here) Two full pages again!! Sorry, folks! Somehow I missed adding the link last week and never saw it. Here is the link to last week's Commentary. You can always click on the Commentary link here at the left too.
False
Domestic Violence Accusations Can Lead To Parental
Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is a pattern of thoughts and behavior that can
develop in a child of separated parents where the custodial parent causes
the child, through manipulation and access blocking, to unjustifiably
fear and/or hate the other parent. PAS is more than brainwashing, in that
the child comes to actively participate in the degradation of the target
parent, coming up with original (often ludicrous) reasons to fear/hate
him or her.
Liberty
or Libertine? I firmly believe that if you don't support freedom for everyone, you don't really support freedom for anyone. When limitations are placed on the freedom an individual enjoys, a precedent is set that involves somebody somewhere being given the authority to determine what freedoms should be curbed. Then, too, there is oft-mentioned slippery slope analogy that is sadly all too accurate. In other words, once one incursion into one freedom or another is made, the second one and the rest that follow become all the more likely, not to mention more easily achieved. The infringement of free speech more commonly referred to as "hate speech laws" is a fine example of just what can happen when people decide to put limitations on unalienable rights. Originally, the intent behind hate speech laws was fairly noble if not particularly freedom-oriented. Unfortunately, there's virtually no way to apply such a law with any even-handedness, and any kind of zero tolerance policy will only result in trouble, probably sooner rather than later. (Read the rest here)
Movie
Review: 300 There was no way that somebody who calls herself "Lady Liberty" was not going to be in the audience for a movie telling the story of some of the most heroic freedom fighters of all time. Area theatres were sold out; I bought a ticket for the first show I could (which turned out to be the last) and ran a few errands. I returned to the theatre an hour and a half before showtime. 15 or 20 minutes later, the line was already substantial. Despite the inconvenience, I have to say that I was perversely pleased that so many people were apparently so anxious to see 300. Sure, it's based on a graphic novel with a legion of fans, and yes, it boasts some more than impressive CGI technology. But I had high hopes that the history and the strong pro-freedom message might also seep into a few brains, and so it was with a good deal of optimism that I took my seat. (Read the rest here)
Vowing
To Fix Things How many times have we heard that promise? Do you remember what Bush said about rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast “bigger and better than ever?” Where are we almost two years later? Now, he’s going to fix things at Walter Reed Hospital where wounded veterans that carried out his murder, mayhem, and misery have been neglected and mistreated. The Bush administration still refuses to accept the blame for New Orleans flooding or place blame where it belongs – on the levees that were built weak in the first place, levees that were supposed to withstand Category Three hurricanes but folded under waves generated by winds barely a Category Two. Federal judges admit this and do not allow insurance companies to get away with “natural disaster” or “force majeure” clauses when the problem was man made. Even the Army Corps of Engineers, who built the levees, admits they should have been at least fifty feet deep and anchored on bedrock. (Read the rest here)
More
ERA Malarkey Last Tuesday Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy and Barbara Boxer resurrected the long-forgotten Equal Rights Amendment and then anointed it with a new name: the Women's Equality Amendment. And no coincidence, the very next day presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accepted an endorsement from the National Organization for Women. Seeking to deflect criticism over the move, Mrs. Clinton explained, "If you look in the dictionary, the word feminist means someone who believes in equal rights for women." So in the true Clintonian spirit, let's parse the meaning of that elusive word, "equal." (Read the rest here)
From
The Archives I do not believe for a moment that people in the military today are "serving their country," nor do I believe we "support the troops" by sending them in harm’s way, thousands of miles from home to fight wars based on lies, while thousands of illegals from foreign countries, many from countries who have sworn to destroy us, cross our virtually undefended southern border each and every day. This country’s military long since ceased to serve their country, but instead, fight and die for the duplicitous State. One Master Sergeant in particular, questioned my "responsible journalism." I felt compelled to answer him with a series of questions. In two weeks I have yet to receive a reply, but it would benefit all who wear the uniform to answer these questions for themselves. (Read the rest here)
The
Independent Institute President Bush has scolded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for visiting Syria. In the president’s opinion, shared by others, the U.S. government should speak with just one voice overseas. Yet that view flies in the face of both the text and the spirit of the Constitution. Before the rise of the post–World War II imperial presidency, the powers among the branches of the U.S. government were much more balanced—as the Constitution originally intended. In fact, suspicious of European monarchs’ propensity to wage war with the blood and treasure of their citizens, the Constitution’s framers actually gave more powers in foreign affairs to the Congress than the president. The Congress was given the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, declare war, raise and support armies, provide and maintain a navy, regulate the armed forces, organize, arm, and discipline the militia, and call them forth to resist invasions. (Read the rest here)
The
Future of Freedom Foundation Our
Patience on Iraq Should Be Exhausted Cheney would have us believe that the way to support the troops is to insert them into a brutal war far from home, bashing down doors, searching civilians, and even firing on them and killing them. In his Orwellian world "support" means not letting anyone say what everyone knows: that the troops have been put in the untenable position of an occupying army. They are not fighting for "our freedom"; they are doing the bidding of politicians bent on shoring up a crumbling empire. They are not fighting for the Iraqis' freedom either. Is anyone surprised that public-opinion polls show that Iraqis believe things have gotten worse for them since the fall of Saddam Hussein? (Read the rest here)
External
Articles Recently CNN dispatched a reporter to the West African country of Gambia to do a story on Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, who announced in January that he has discovered a cure to AIDS. President Jammeh has come up with a recipe consisting of seven herbs and spices that is administered to an HIV-positive patient once a day. According to the charming and kooky president (a former army sergeant risen to the rank of colonel – what else?), this treatment was revealed to him by his ancestors in a dream. The reporter, Jeff Koinange, interviewed many people who are on the new treatment and seem to be genuinely feeling much better, though he is suspicious of the true efficacy of the treatment and worries that these patients will ultimately get much sicker now that they are no longer taking their regular medicines. Let’s look at one of the interviews and see if we can glean anything useful from it. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)
Individual
Liberty - 101
If a free society means a world in which no one aggresses against the person or property of others, then this implies a society in which every man has the absolute right of property in his own self and in the previously unowned natural resources that he finds, transforms by his own labor, and then gives to or exchanges with others.[1] A firm property right in one's own self and in the resources that one finds, transforms, and gives or exchanges, leads to the property structure that is found in free-market capitalism. Thus, an economist cannot fully analyze the exchange structure of the free market without setting forth the theory of property rights, of justice in property, that would have to obtain in a free-market society. In our analysis of the free market in Man, Economy, and State, we assumed that no invasion of property takes place there, either because everyone voluntarily refrains from such aggression or because whatever method of forcible defense exists on the free market is sufficient to prevent any such aggression. But economists have almost invariably and paradoxically assumed that the market must be kept free by the use of invasive and unfree actions — in short, by governmental institutions outside the market nexus. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)
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Luke7777777.blogspot.com CATHOLICISM - LIBERTARIANISM - INFOANARCHY (Editor's Note: Very good blog with lots of thoughtful comments. Does not seem to originate in the US and has non-English material on the top of the page, so scroll down for English articles. ML)
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