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Liberty and Power

  • Oct 29, 2006

    Peikoff says, Vote Democrat!

    by Liberty and Power

    Leonard Peikoff, bearer of the official Objectivist torch, advises re: the upcoming election, Vote Democrat across the board. I am a bit surprised by his ringing rejection of the Republican Party because I remember all too well Peikoff's appearance on the Bill O'Reilly show a few years ago where the man outhawked Bill and most neo-cons by calling for the pre-emptive bombing of Iran. Given that the Democrats are 'softer' on war than the Repubs, I assumed he
  • Oct 28, 2006

    The Libertarian Nobel Peace-Prize Winner

    by Liberty and Power

    Last week, with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, I underscored the historical-philosophical link between freedom of commerce and peace in classical liberalism. (The article is here.) What I did not know at the time, and what I have since learned thanks to Auburn University philosopher Roderick T. Long, is that one of the first winners of the Nobel Peace Prize w
  • Oct 28, 2006

    Page Scandal: Political Corruption Precedes Sexual Corruption

    by Liberty and Power

    For the sake of those vulnerable 16-year-old boys and girls who come to Washington each year, we should abolish the congressional page program immediately. I’m not referring only to the danger posed by the sexual predators in Congress. There’s a more widespread danger that hardly anyone cares about: the congressional page program encourages high schoolers to worship and lust for power. In 20 years only three congressmen have been known to engage in sexual improprieties with pages. Bu
  • Oct 27, 2006

    Demise of the Warblogs, Rise of the Antiwarblogs

    by Liberty and Power

    In 2001 and 2002, blogging pioneers, many of them self-described libertarians, such as Glenn Reynolds and Matt Welch, also pioneered in creation of the"warblog."

    They exuberantly urged on and applauded the invasion. After that, they dependably celebrated each"milestone" on the ever forward march to liberty and democracy and chronicled (repeatedly) the"last throes" of the insurgents.

    Now, the warbloggers seem in disarray and dispirited. The word"Iraq" has not appeared in Matt Welch'

  • Oct 27, 2006

    King's Counsellor: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles

    by Liberty and Power

    Next week the edited diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles (1887-1981) are published by Orion in Britain."Tommy" Lascelles was private secretary to four monarchs, and his diaries reveal the inside story of the Abdication, the royal family during the Second World War and the Princess Margaret-Peter Townsend affair.

    You can read extracts here. If you're interested in
  • Oct 26, 2006

    Quote of the month award goes to . . . .

    by Liberty and Power

    Stephen Colbert! "I believe with Thomas Jefferson that government that governs best governs least. Based on that criterion, we are doing a great job in Iraq."
  • Oct 25, 2006

    Simon Jenkins on Iraq as a Living Hell

    by Liberty and Power

    Simon Jenkins recounts the awful truth here.

    "[Iraq] has been turned by two of the most powerful and civilised nations on Earth into the most hellish place on Earth. Armies claiming to bring democracy and prosperity have brought bloodshed and a misery worse than under the most ruthless modern dictator. This must be the stupidest paradox in modern history. Neither America nor Britain has the guts to rule Ir
  • Oct 24, 2006

    Lord Harris of High Cross (1924-2006)

    by Liberty and Power

    Ralph Harris, the first general director of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London, has died suddenly aged 81 of a heart attack. For the last photograph of Harris alive, go here.

    The Daily Telegraph describes Harris as"perhaps the most successful polem
  • Oct 20, 2006

    Law and Order: 87th Precinct?

    by Liberty and Power

    I don't know whether any L&P readers watch the “Special Victims Unit” iteration of the Law and Order franchise, but something about this past Tuesday’s episode has been bothering me and I couldn’t figure out how to contact the producers of the show, so I’m just going to tell you. (And if you know how to contact the producers, please let me know.)

    The problem is, this past Tuesday’s SVU episode was flagrantly plagiarized from an Ed McBain “87th Precinct” novel from 1984 (iirc) calle

  • Oct 20, 2006

    Peace and Free Trade: "One and the Same Cause"

    by Liberty and Power

    The Nobel Peace Prize this year went to a different sort of activist. Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economics professor, and his Grameen Bank won the prize for pioneering the concept of microcredit, small loans made to poor producers who because they lack collateral can't get conventional bank loans."Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty," the Nobel committee said."Microcredit is one such means. Development from bel
  • Oct 19, 2006

    Henry Porter: We're All Suspects Now

    by Liberty and Power

    Henry Porter explains how individual liberties have been eroded since Tony Blair became prime minister.

    "Identity cards. Number-plate surveillance. CCTV. Control orders. The list of ways in which the Government has sought to manipulate and define the limits of our liberty grows ever longer. Ten years ago, the novelist and polemicist Henry Porter would have felt silly speaking out about human rights in Britain.
  • Oct 18, 2006

    Alternative Theory

    by Liberty and Power

    Steven Milloy who publishes the website junkscience.com has an excellent column in today's Washington Times which brings much needed attention to work by Danish researchers Henrik Svensmark and Eigil Friis-Christensen. The the study’s results, which were published by the prestigious
  • Oct 18, 2006

    Frank Furedi: My Hungarian Revolution

    by Liberty and Power

    Frank Furedi recalls the Hungarian uprising of October 1956 and how Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest to crush the insurrection. The son of a dissident, he was a nine-year old 'class enemy'. Later, on the night of November 21, his family crossed the border to Austria.
  • Oct 17, 2006

    The Courts Are Starting to Accept that the War against Iraq Is a Crime

    by Liberty and Power

    George Monbiot describes some recent British and Irish court proceedings where protesters who have deliberately damaged military equipment are walking from the dock.

    "It is true that such verdicts (or non-verdicts) impose no legal obligations on the government. They do not in themselves demonstrate that its ministers are guilty of war crimes. But every time the prosecution fails to secure a conviction, the state's