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Liberty and Power

  • Aug 8, 2004

    Welcome Aboard Grinder & Hagel

    by Liberty and Power

    I am elated to see Walter Grinder and John Hagel join the ranks of Liberty & Power Group Blog, and wanted to personally welcome them aboard. Walter was so instrumental in helping to craft my libertarian education as a young undergraduate—something I will never forget—and I'm sure that my comments here will make both of these gents blush a bit.

    But David reminds us correctly of the pioneering work that these two scholars did decades ago

  • Aug 8, 2004

    News from the Front

    by Liberty and Power

    [cross-posted at Austro-Athenian Empire]

    Q: How many Austrian economists does it take to change a light bulb?
    A: We don't make quantitative predictions.


    I've just finished a week of Mises University, lecturing on apriorism, abstraction, and anarchy. It's encouraging to see the hordes of bright, committed, hardcore Austro-libert
  • Aug 5, 2004

    Commander in Chief finally 'fesses up

    by Liberty and Power

    By Associated Press, 8/5/2004 13:48

    WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush offered up a new entry for his catalog of ''Bushisms'' on Thursday, declaring that his administration will''never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people.''

    Bush misspoke as he delivered a speech at the signing ceremony for a $417 billion defense spending bill.

    ''Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we,'' Bush said. ''They never stop thinking about n
  • Aug 5, 2004

    It's a New York Thing

    by Liberty and Power

    With all this talk about alerts, there's one thing that remains a perennial New York (okay, andNew Jersey) thing: traffic. Oh, I know, LA has its insane freeway traffic. But the other day, Denis Hamill in the New York Daily News had me roaring with laughter. Here's an excerpt from his piece,"The Easy Way Out is Closed for Summer":

    The tortur
  • Aug 4, 2004

    What if?

    by Liberty and Power

    Several my colleagues and I were chatting about the government's decision to increase the security alert yesterday when someone argued that Bush would benefit electorally from a terrorist attack because of a rally around the flag affect. Another colleague argued that such an attack would undermine Bush's claims that he's the right president during this war on terror.

    The coverage of the politics surrounding the decision to elevate the security in NYC and DC yesterday had a strong undercur

  • Aug 3, 2004

    More on 9/11 Commission

    by Liberty and Power

    The 9/11 Commission proposed creating a new intelligence director with control over budget and personnel for the 15 intelligence agencies. This proposal superimposes a new layer of bureaucracy above the intelligence agencies. In a time when the U.S. government is trying to counter small, shadowy, agile terror groups, it should be streamlining and consolidating intelligence bureaucracies not adding new ones. More bureaucracies exacerbate the coordination difficulties among them (the original pr
  • Aug 3, 2004

    What Color is the Wolf Today?

    by Liberty and Power

    What Color is the Wolf Today?
    (Aug 2)

    Orange is the color currently in fashion in the nation’s capital and its
    main financial center. The U.S. government has once again raised the terror
    alert level from yellow to orange—this time in Washington, D.C. and New York
    City--based on information obtained from the arrest of a computer engineer
    in Pakistan several weeks ago. Yet by frequently changing its colors, the
    government has cried wolf too
  • Aug 3, 2004

    Bush Wins!

    by Liberty and Power

    Just a note to bring your attention to an article of mine, written this past May, which was posted today to SOLO HQ."Bush Wins!" is my assessment of the President's good chances of being re-elected. Here's an excerpt from the essay:

    ... if there is anything the last year has shown, it is that events move rapidly, while Bush keeps pace. A parade of authors, whom the administration has labeled
  • Aug 3, 2004

    Self-Promotion

    by Liberty and Power

    Forgive the self-indulgence, but I thought I might direct L&P readers to several articles I've written over the last week or so:

    1) The Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed of mine last Friday which Congress to adhere to the Constitution, and vote on Medicare's decision to fund obesity treatments -- which basically amounts to a vast new entitlement, potentially more expensive than the prescription drug benefit. Since the Times requires registration, you can read the piece o
  • Aug 2, 2004

    Conventioneer Kerry avoids the clap.

    by Liberty and Power

    Commentators have criticized Kerry for “stepping on his applause lines” during his acceptance speech. I welcomed it.

    I believe that most politicians allow themselves too many applause lines and let the applause go on for too long. (This happens most annoyingly at the National Conventions and the State of the Union addresses.)

    The excessive length and occurrence of applause has two negative consequences for the speaker’s political interests. First, it makes politici