The Price of Liberty

Libertarian Commentary on The News 22 - 29 August
By Nathan A. Barton © 2009

Theft by Government - New Religions: Global Warming
Government Agencies Would Need $16.6 Billion in New Tax Revenue to Buy Carbon Allowances Under Global Warming Legislation
CNSNews.com
A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) study says that all levels of government – federal, state, and local – will have to come up with a total of $16.6 billion in additional revenue to purchase carbon allowances if cap-and-trade is enacted into law. Experts say this could prompt tax hikes. This is the second government report to estimate that the proposed climate-change legislation, formally known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, will eventually cost consumers more.

How nice! This is called the double-whammy! Of course, this article makes a big and probably false assumption - that government will bother to collect the taxes to pay for this, instead of just electronically printing the money or borrowing it. Lots of "security" in this Act - for Gore and his kind, and for government bureaucrats - imagine the thousands more bureaucrats needed to do all this collecting and paying and reporting. And imagine who profits from selling indulgences - excuse me, "carbon allowances."

Mama's Note: And don't forget that this will be the new "war on..." with brand new "carbon criminals" for government to persecute - and how long before hanky panky with the "carbon credits" gets you total asset forfeiture? Can you say "revenue?" I knew you could.
(Read the rest here)

Open Carry Challenge
By Susan Callaway, Editor

Why was there only ONE person who open carried in the recent New Hampshire story, or only a few at the Arizona protest? Why are not hundreds or thousands of us carrying openly everywhere, every day - and not just to protest the latest insanity of the government? It would quickly cease to be "news" if those hundreds - or thousands - were openly carrying in the grocery store, the bank, the park, the office and every other place possible.

As long as this right is connected mostly with politcal activity and protest, far too few will see it as a normal and rational act of free people, but will continue to dismiss it as the dangerous posturing of "wingnuts." Which is not at all to say that the exercise of our right to self defense is NOT a rational, political act as well. It just can't be relegated to that and remain viable.

Let's encourage one another and, in the process, perhaps we can encourage others to join us. Let's be the shining example of self governors, peacefully going about our business - but ready to respond appropriately to any threat. In order to do that we must be seen. We must be seen carrying openly, often and everywhere. (Read the rest here)

"Lock & Load" - Music For Our Times

by The Hunter

Leslie Fish and her producers at Random Factors have given us something we really needed. Music for our times. The release of the long promised album "Lock & Load" could not have come at a better moment.

Every era of American history has music associated with it. "Yankee Doodle" started out as a taunt by the British Redcoats, but was taken up and thrown back in their teeth by the Minutemen. "John Brown's Body", "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", "Dixie", and "Follow the Drinking Gourd" were sung in the dark years before and during the Civil War. The old West gave us "Home on the Range" and dozens of other tunes and an entire genre of music. George M. Cohan gave us "Over There" for the Great War, and World War 2 is recent enough that many of the songs and artists from that era are still heard today. (Read the rest here)

External Article
The Flaw of Many of the Arguments Against Nationalized Health Care
by Rob Sandwell

The problem with all these arguments, even though they are all of course correct, is that they fail to address the most important issue regarding government funded health care.

What, besides government fiat, gives you the right to the fruit of another man's labor in the first place? What gave you the right to demand that I give you something I've produced at great cost for a price you set? What gave you the right to decide that I can't sell my product to some people, but I have to sell it to others? What gave you the right to decide how much of my product anyone can buy at a time? What gave you the right to take money out of your neighbor's pocket to pay for your pizza?

When we talk about health care many people get emotional because we're all afraid to die. When we talk about pizza, the argument seems silly. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Because That's How They Roll
by Rob Sandwell

He wanted to pigeonhole my position as simply playing devil's advocate, but I informed him that no, I wasn't arguing merely as an intellectual exercise, but that instead I held a consistent principled position and was upholding it. That's when another coworker chimed in with, "well, he's consistent, even if he is illogical."

This is what passes for civil political discourse. Ad hominem attacks and subjectivity. I pointed out that there was nothing illogical about my position. The same coworker then asked me why I was so hung up on the concept of the individual, after all, what of those philosophies which hold the individual and the group as equal, or even hold the group as superior to the individual? I stated in no uncertain terms that such beliefs are intrinsically evil because any belief system which would subsume the needs and desires of the individual to the needs and desires of the group is slavery on its face.

And that's when a female coworker of mine said that if she had a gun, she would shoot me.

(Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return)

Our Right To Defend Ourselves
RKBA Resources

(Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Hope House Shelter Denies Woman the Help She ‘Desperately Needed’
By Carey Roberts

According to its website, the mission of Hope House is to “eliminate domestic violence through leadership, education, empowerment, and community collaboration.” Hope House operates on a budget upwards of three-quarters of a million dollars, so it’s safe to say the program is no fly-by-night operation.

According to Mrs. Pope’s recent statement, “I told the shelter staff that I was a victim of domestic violence and needed help…The staff asked me for no proof [of abuse] or no identification. The truth was I was not a domestic violence victim but had abused my husband.” (emphasis added) (Read the rest here)

Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
Local government more a threat than federal
By Kent McManigal

Since it is now apparently a "crime" to be free, and committing such an infraction requires decisive action on the part of the LEOs- like demanding your "papers"; demanding to know where you are going and what business you have there- just the fact of your existence places you in danger if local tools of the state are near. Each and every encounter with a cop has become a life-and-death drama, where one hint that you are not a badge-licker can cause it to escalate out of control. (Read the rest here) (Read the entire article at the source website. Use the back button to return.)

Anchorage Libertarian Examiner

Those wacky anarchists
By Kevin Wilmeth

Wendy McElroy weighs in about the current health-care "discussion". (For those of you who do not yet know about McElroy, it's worth spending a little time finding out what a feminist-individualist-anarchist is.) Typical of her work, the comments are measured and considered, and every now and then an absolutely perfect gemstone pops out.

Expect to encounter a lot of resistance. For example, critics of the free market tend to pose questions like "how will the marketplace take care of a poor family with a catastrophically ill and disabled child who gets run over by a bus?" Clearly, there is no guarantee that the child will receive 'adequate' medical, whatever adequate means in this context. The question is an attempt to discredit the free market alternative by requiring it to solve problems for which no system can guarantee solutions.

(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 24/09)
By Nathan A. Barton © 2009

Open Carry As A Political Act
by The Hunter

The Constitution does not Grant the Federal Government
the Authority to Establish a so-called National Health Care Program
By Robert Greenslade © Nitwit Press

External Article
A Chance to Reboot History
by L. Neil Smith
(Read the rest

Secession, Five Years Later
by William Buppert

Does Feminism Portend the Rise of a New Master Race?
By Carey RobertsBy Carey Roberts

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