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Liberty and Power

  • Aug 19, 2004

    Aristotle and Boxing

    by Liberty and Power

    Interesting article from the free section of The Chronicle of Higher Ed. In addition the main point the author is making, also interesting is the entirely predictable and smug reaction from another academic.
  • Aug 18, 2004

    Does Your Government Really Have an Interest in Protecting You from Terrorism?

    by Liberty and Power

    August 17, 2004

    American athletes at the heavily fortified Olympic games in Athens have been assigned bodyguards by the U.S. State Department and have practically had to assume secret identities in an attempt to remain safe. Fearful of a terrorist attack, American spectators have stayed away from the games in droves. Both the Republicans and the Democrats seem to be throwing up their hands and capitulating to the notion that the world has simply become more dangerous. But this more
  • Aug 18, 2004

    Chavez - the Evita Sequel

    by Liberty and Power

    While I'm a bit surprised my lament about Venezuela has prompted two negative reactions, I'll take this opportunity to suggest, at the very least, some sort of musical might come from this. An Evita sequel? Perhaps with Antonio Banderas playing Chavez? Don't cry for me Venezuela, the truth is I've slept with Castro! He's such a cutie, not such a bastard....

    First, Bill's quote from Wanniski. Agreed that it often takes Nixon to go to China, but I suspect anyone who has Chavez's views an

  • Aug 18, 2004

    Something Worth Watching

    by Liberty and Power

    Now days, the television show with the strongest libertarian content is Penn and Teller’s Bullshit on Showtime. They have looked at such diverse subjects as recycling, PETA, the funeral industry, the Bible, and the war on people who use certain kinds of drugs, in a very entertaining way, always using a free market and individual liberties perspective. Tomorrow night, August 19th, at 10PM (it will be repeated numerous times) they take on one of our most sacred of cows, 12 step programs. It
  • Aug 18, 2004

    Tempest in a Waffle Cone

    by Liberty and Power

    Call me insensitive, but this seems to me just plain silly. Timothy Noah has a piece at Slate taking Dairy Queen to task for insensitive product naming - he claims they made a colossal blunder naming their coffee+ice-cream+crushed-ice drink the"MooLatte" because that"sounds like""mulatto," and that's offensive. Part of the reason he claims it's offensive is that the drink is light-brown. Of course, it's only light brown if you order the Moc
  • Aug 18, 2004

    A Popular Vote For Chavez

    by Liberty and Power

    A front page headline in today’s Washington Times reads ”Chavez survives recall; observers find no fraud.” Now, why should anyone be surprised by this? As the link to Greg Palast’s article, provided by William Marina directly below, points out the rule of Hugo Chavez has provided tangible benefits to the poor Venezuelans who make up the overwhelming majority of the population. No need for fraud or intimidation on the part of Chavez existed and any distortion of the vote that occurred most likely went in the other direction.

    In an earlier post Pat Lynch takes a much more hostile view of Chavez’s victory comparing it to the most recent electoral triumph of Saddam Hussein. He states that “Elections were held in the Soviet Union and we all know the results of those exercises in freedom and liberty. I suspect Chavez to be only a shade better than the Kremlin when it comes to managing vote counting and the like.” I strongly disagree with the implications of this statement and believe the Venezuelan election results to be a genuine expression of the will of the people involved. Although, I think that a comparison with the last election in Iraq is apt.

  • Aug 17, 2004

    Three Cheers for Hugo Chavez

    by Liberty and Power

    Not all Free Market advocates are opposed to Hugo Chavez. Jude Wanniski, under the title"Three Cheers for Hugo Chavez," posted a link to the column by the BBC’s Greg Palast, along with this comment:

    "There`s been lots of ink spilled on the recall election of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, but most of it that I`ve seen in the major media gave little indication why we should have expected his victorious outcome in Sunday`s voting. Yes he`s a lefty, but what have the right-wing po

  • Aug 16, 2004

    The Other Oil Producing Dictator We're Ignoring

    by Liberty and Power

    Tough news this morning that Hugo Chavez apparently survived the recall attempt against him by a much wider margin than anticipated. Dems and Republicans alike have been strangely silent about this Castro wanna be this year as the process towards his recall progressed, and I hope that's because they believed any anti-Chavez rhetoric would have hurt the opposition.

    As random speculation, I wonder if Saddam would have won a referendum before the invasion? Elections were held in the Soviet

  • Aug 16, 2004

    Literary Inspiration

    by Liberty and Power

    I just returned from lecturing in Bulgaria and vacationing on Cape Cod. I took the latter opportunity to read, for the first time, George Eliot's magnificent novel Middlemarch. It crackles with wise insights. Here are just a few:

    "Wise in his daily work was he:
    To fruits of diligence,
    And not to faiths or polity,
    He plied his utmost sense.
    These perfect in their little parts,
    Whose work is all their prize --
    Without them how
  • Aug 15, 2004

    Anti-Gouging Idiocy

    by Liberty and Power

    [cross-posted at Austro-Athenian Empire]

    It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized
    discipline and one that most people consider to be a"dismal science."
    But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on
    economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

    -- Murray N. Rothbard