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Liberty and Power

  • Sep 23, 2004

    Draft Talk

    by Liberty and Power

    The pro-Bush blogoshpere's having a field day with Sen. Kerry's alleged statement that if President Bush is reelected, he'd bring back the draft. Instapundit jumped on the story but, then, after the quote was put into context, retreated a bit. Still, he linked to this snarky post from Chicago Boyz.

    Here's what Kerry said:
    "If George Bush were to be re-e
  • Sep 22, 2004

    Politics, Pain, and Drug Prohibition

    by Liberty and Power

    I know L&P co-blogger Arthur Silber has written a bit on the DEA's heartless war on prescription painkillers. Last Friday I attended a Capitol Hill briefing on the topic sponsored by the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons. Half the room was in tears. It's really hard to believe that the war on drugs has reached the point where the federal government would rather sick people suffer than take the chance that otherwise helpful medication might be used for recreational purposes. And
  • Sep 22, 2004

    So Far You Can Fool Most of the People Most of the Time

    by Liberty and Power

    Despite all of the death and mayhem in Iraq and counterproductive results in the war on terror, the ever-chipper President Bush soldiers on with upbeat assessments of those efforts in campaign appearances. And the ever-gullible American voter is apparently willing to believe him.

    Just as it is “unpatriotic” these days to criticize the U.S. military during a war, it is equally politically incorrect to criticize the pitifully uninformed American public. To ingratiate themselves with v
  • Sep 21, 2004

    Rumor: RNC behind fake memos

    by Liberty and Power

    According to the New York Post,"The hot rumor in New York political circles has Roger Stone, the longtime GOP activist, as the source for Dan Rather's dubious Texas Air National Guard `memos.' The irony would be delicious, since Rather became famous confronting President Nixon, in whose service a very young Stone became associated with political"dirty tricks."
  • Sep 21, 2004

    Hastert's Implication

    by Liberty and Power

    Near the beginning of September I posted a missive concerning Dennis Hastert’s implication that George Soros received money from drug cartels. It provoked a comment from one Tipton Cole pointing out that during the FOX television interview the Speaker did not actually use the word cartel. The Hillreported the incident this way; ”Asked if Soros had earned money from drug cartel
  • Sep 20, 2004

    Sadistic Like a Fox

    by Liberty and Power

    I found this post at Crooked Timber interesting.

    The problem British progressives have with fox hunting apparently isn't the actual animal cruelty, it's that people are deriving pleasure from the animal cruelty. It's the sadism that makes it egregious enough to merit a prohibition, not the act itself.

    I have little use for fox hunting, and in fact I agree with the poster -- it's pretty sadistic. But pleas
  • Sep 20, 2004

    Looking Back

    by Liberty and Power

    We all know now about the Bush administration's pre-9/11 $43 million gift to the Taliban -- in thanks for the regime's prohibition on opium. Still, this Robert Scheer column written in May of 2001 is simply chilling:
    Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line
  • Sep 17, 2004

    A new Census Threat to Privacy

    by Liberty and Power

    One of the most disturbing violations of privacy rights is becoming more aggressive: the American census form in its various incarnations. In 2000, in an article entitled"Beware of Census Takers Bearing Gifts" I wrote of the then-looming census,"an estimated one in six households will receive a 'long' Census 2000 form with dozens of questions and subquestions. For example, 'Last week did this person do ANY work for either pay or prof
  • Sep 17, 2004

    PajamaGate

    by Liberty and Power

    PajamaGate is 60 Minutes' imprudent response to the fact that bloggers were the ones to break the news that the memos it aired on Bush's non-service may well be frauds. Jeff from the Beautiful Atrocities site writes,"This week, CBS News found itself up to its sphincter in a journ
  • Sep 17, 2004

    Vietnam

    by Liberty and Power

    I am annoyed by so much of the debate about Bush's and Kerry's roles during Vietnam. The other night Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame repeatedly said that the one thing no one can doubt is that George Bush was a "shirker" and Kerry wasn't. If he meant that Bush shirked according to the standards Bush himself would likely endorse, then Bernstein is right. But objectively speaking, Bernstein is wrong. To shirk is to avoid a duty or responsibility. No one had a duty or responsibility to g
  • Sep 17, 2004

    Shelter from the Storm

    by Liberty and Power

    [cross-posted at Austro-Athenian Empire]

    Well, Ivan has passed over Auburn, with less damage than predicted. My power was out for only 19 hours -- compared with two days for my last hurricane (Fran, Chapel Hill NC, in ’96). Auburn’s email server is back up. I can begin to recover from my IWS (Internet Withdrawal Symptoms). Oh, and, like, cook food and stuff.

    I haven’t been in to the office yet but I as
  • Sep 16, 2004

    A Horrible Idea From Walter Williams

    by Liberty and Power

    Walter Williams has a column in today’s Washington Times with an idea so bad I can scarcely believe it came from him. Williams writes “So here's my idea. Every American regardless of any other consideration should have one vote in any federal election. Then, every American should get one additional vote for every $10,000 he pays in federal income tax. With such a system, there would be a modicum of linkage betwee
  • Sep 16, 2004

    Come to the Light

    by Liberty and Power

    I have to try to answer Radley's question for economists. I forwarded his message to my colleagues who offered these answers. The first, which I think is correct, was this:
    If sold under best lighting, then when the customer got it home and saw the item under less than ideal lighting they might be inclined to return it. Dealing with returns can be costly. If sold under harsh light, when you get the item home, it can only look bet