The Price of Liberty

Libertarian Commentary on The News 01 - 08 August
By Nathan A. Barton © 2009

Theft by Government and the First Citizen
Geithner Floats Obama’s Next Big Move: A Tax Hike on the Middle Class
CNSNews.com
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” Sunday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made it clear that the administration believes new federal revenues are needed, and he declined to rule out raising taxes on Americans earning less than $250,000 a year to get those revenues.

Oh, this is just a scare tactic - many middle class people will not have a tax increase. Surely you don't believe unofficial statements off-the-cuff by people like this. Listen to the Man (the First Citizen) and believe! Especially when his press secretary repudiates the comments within 24 hours, as happened this week!!

Mama's Note: Your assignment, if you decide to accept it, will be to make sure there is nothing the thieves can find to tax. Let them eat cake. (Read the rest here)
[New material added Monday afternoon!]

NYT Decrees, Women ‘Better Managers’ than Men
Carey Roberts

In a reprise of Sonia Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comments, the New York Times has settled the age-old debate about who makes better office managers. “No Doubts: Women are Better Managers” announces the July 26 headline.

To resolve the galloping debate, the NYT editors summoned Carol Smith, senior vice president for the Elle Group. In case you haven’t made the acquaintance, the Elle Group woos new members with the breathless claim it will “enrich your life, pamper your body, nurture your spirit, accelerate your business, and celebrate your soul.” Sorry, no men allowed. (Read the rest here)

Vibrant Response Update

By Captain Eric H. May

DHS Czarina Janet Napolitano has even suggested that veterans, pro-gun advocates, anti-abortionists, and other conservatives are potential “terrorists” who may resort to violence. While some individuals in those categories have shown that disposition, it is strange –even bizarre—to characterize these groups using such language. This is especially true in the case of veterans.

While it would be absurd to imagine that false flag attackers are hiding behind every bush, it would be irresponsible not to take notice of specific situations that might be used to conceal another false flag attack. Far from being an exception to the rule, the U.S. Government has shown a propensity to deceive the American people about its aims and objectives. 9/11 was only the most spectacular of all “inside jobs.” (Read the rest here)

Our Right To Defend Ourselves
RKBA Resources

National Gun Rights Examiner
Pro-gun foundations file lawsuits in Oregon and DC
by David Codrea

We've talked about Jeffrey Maxwell before, the US Marine Corps veteran, student and concealed carry permit holder wrongfully arrested for having a gun at Western Oregon University. After charges were dropped because no crime had been committed, an indignant student "tribunal"...well here...read about it yourself. Seriously, it'll outrage all non-pinkos to see how presumptuous proto-commissars treated a real man. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Check out the latest from other Gun Rights Examiners

Atlanta: Ed Stone

Austin: Howard Nemerov

Boston: Ron Bokleman

Charlotte: Paul Valone

Chicago: Don Gwinn

Cleveland: Daniel White

DC: Mike Stollenwerk

Denver: Dan Bidstrup

Los Angeles: John Longenecker

Minneapolis: John Pierce

National: David Codrea

Seattle: Dave Workman

St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann

Wisconsin: Gene German

National Self Defense Examiner
Texas store owner shoots armed robber in self defense
By Eric Puryear

Once again, guns are a valuable self defense tool. Unarmed individuals can suffer a terrible fate when a criminal robs them, even if they fully cooperate with the criminal’s demands. The same is true for those who try to run from the robber.

On the other hand, fighting back against robbers can be quite effective as a means of reducing the risk of injury to the victim. This armed barber shot an armed criminal who threatened him and his son, saving their lives. This armed pet shop clerk shot an armed robber who threatened a fellow employee’s life, as well as his own life, preventing them both from being stabbed. This armed pizza delivery man defended himself against 3 armed robbers, and walked away unharmed. This armed citizen stopped a bank robber, while this armed Israeli citizen stopped a terrorist. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

External Articles
The Plague of Punitive Populism
by William Norman Grigg

When you see a cop – or, more likely, several of them – beating up on a prone individual, do you instinctively sympathize with the assailant(s) or the victim? If it's the former, you're an authoritarian, irrespective of your partisan attachments or professed political philosophy. If it's the latter, you're an instinctive libertarian, whether or not you are consistently guided by that impulse in your political decisions. It may later be demonstrated that the figure on the receiving end of the beating had committed some horrible crime. However, such a disclosure wouldn't invalidate the results of the Tom Joad Test, because that test reveals a subject's default assumptions about the relationship between the individual and the state.

Do you assume that the state is entitled to the benefit of the doubt whenever its agents inflict violence on somebody, or do you believe that the individual – any individual – is innocent of wrongdoing until his guilt has been proven? (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return

Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
Finding freedom
By Kent McManigal

Trying to achieve freedom by using government is like trying to ride your bicycle to Mars. There is not even a rational "starting place". However, you don't need to destroy all the bicycles in the world in order to get to Mars, just ignore them because they are irrelevant and make a vehicle that is appropriate for the task.

The allure of the state is real for a lot of people. It is easy to get seduced by the power and even by the big buildings, built with stolen property, that those who play the game get to use. Keep playing the state's game, with rules established, interpreted, and enforced by the state, and you will keep losing freedom. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return

Anchorage Libertarian Examiner

Ninth Circus detects reason in its ranks...and moves to quash it
By Kevin Wilmeth

Did you find yourself scratching your head a few months ago, when a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided to "selectively incorporate" the Second Amendment to apply to the states?

You probably should have. Not because the decision was somehow wrong, but because it came from the Ninth Circuit, which has a long history of animosity towards the very concept of the Second Amendment. It really was a bit of a surprise. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Dallas Libertarian Examiner
Fewer Mexicans making the move to America
By Garry Reed

"People in Mexico are very aware that there's an economic crisis in the U.S. and that there are far fewer jobs," says a U Cal-San Diego Immigration expert. Fewer jobs? This would seem to put the lie to the claim that Mexicans jump the black border line drawn on the map just so they can latch onto the big government udder and suck up billions of our give-away dollars through the teats of Medicaid, AFDC, Food Stamps, SSI, WIC, pub lic housing, taxpayer funded schools and so on down through the welfare list. So this tells us the reason immigrants come to America is the same reason immigrants have always come to America – jobs. When the jobs dry up the flow of immigrants drys up. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Features From The Last Issue

Libertarian Commentary on The News (August 03/09)
By Nathan A. Barton © 2009

Out On A Limb
by The Hunter

Another Open Carry Day
By Susan Callaway, Editor

Cover-Up: No Cause for Worry at Florida Abuse Shelters
Carey Roberts

National Gun Rights Examiner
LA gun bust raises questions
by David Codrea

National Self Defense Examiner
Topeka employee fends off robbers with his handgun
By Eric Puryear

External Articles
Praetorian presumptions
by William Norman Grigg

Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
Why 'anarchy' is superior to statism
By Kent McManigal

Anchorage Libertarian Examiner
Who knows about Xeer?
By Kevin Wilmeth

Dallas Libertarian Examiner
Boss Barack, Everything-In-Chief
By Garry Reed

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