Liberty and Power

• May 16, 2004
  

  Uneasy Stalemate at USM

  by Liberty and Power

  At the University of Southern Mississippi an uneasy stalemate now prevails, as just a few days remain until the next meeting of the Mississippi College Board. On May 19th and 20th the Board is slated to review the performance of President Shelby Thames.

  Thames has sustained a series of losses over the past two and a half weeks:

  • The Board, via retired Judge Reuben Anderson, required him to accept a settlement that prevented him from firing Professors Frank Glamser and Gary
  

• May 16, 2004
  

  Imperialism Loses, Again!

  by Liberty and Power

  Yesterday in the Preakness,"Smarty Jones" blew away the field winning by 11 and a half lengths, a new record."Imperialism" finished out of the money.

  Now the Question of the Day is, did Bush, Rummy, Wolfie, Condi & all the Neocon tooters for Empire bet on their nag Imperialism, or even go out to Maryland to see him run?

  

• May 15, 2004
  

  More Kristof, More Iran

  by Liberty and Power

  As a follow-up to my posts on important changes in Iran, take a look at Nicholas Kristof's ongoing series in today's NY Times. In"Velvet Hand, Iron Glove," Kristof inadvertently makes a Hayekian-friendly point about how the radical dispersal of knowledge and information is contributing to the unraveling of a

  

• May 15, 2004
  

  TOC's Hudgins Gets it Right

  by Liberty and Power

  As many of my L&P readers know, I have been extremely critical of a number of Randian commentators who have not shown enough sensitivity to the enormously complex issue of bringing"freedom" to the Islamic-dominated countries of the Middle East.

  So it is only fair that I highlight an essay with which I do agree, in large measure. Edward Hudgins of The Objectivist Center has written an insightful essay that asks the following questi

  

• May 15, 2004
  

  Thomas Sowell Now One of the Anointed

  by Liberty and Power

  Apparently, one of the casualties of the war in Iraq has been the intellect of Thomas Sowell. On Thursday the Washington Times published a column by Sowell which argued that the messenger deserved the blame for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. He wrote, “What the media did, irresponsibly, was send inflammatory photographs around the world.”

  Sowell goes on to suggest that it would have been better to wait until af

  

• May 14, 2004
  

  "Exterminate All the Brutes"

  by Liberty and Power

  Apropos of the war-and-human-nature discussion going on these past weeks, here's the Toledo Blade's four-part series on war crimes by"Tiger Force," an elite U.S. Army unit in the Vietnam War. (The series earned the Blade a Pulitzer this year). Links to the whole thing can be found here. There's so
  

• May 14, 2004
  

  They're Coming for Your Beer

  by Liberty and Power

  Here comes the first big wave of lawsuits:

  Consumers' attorneys across the nation have begun to target the alcoholic beverage industry, filing lawsuits that claim that some leading brewers and distillers are using slick advertising to sell products to underage drinkers.

  Lawsuits filed since November in Ohio, California, North Carolina, Colorado and Washington, D.C., appear modeled after cases that wer

  

• May 14, 2004
  

  Nick Berg

  by Liberty and Power

  The Nick Berg story gets weirder by the minute. 9/11 connections, his parents are members of ANSWER, and his father apparently said he was a"friend" of al-Qaeda and Iraq.

  Read here, here, here, and

• May 14, 2004
  

  Secondhand Blowback

  by Liberty and Power

  Since 9/11, any mention of violence against Americans as"blowback" from our foreign policy has triggered cries from the conservative crowd of treachery. Merely suggesting that we ought not needlessly provoke militant Muslims into further wanting to killing us has always been met with words like"appeasement,"" capitulation," and"kowtowing."

  Funny how attitudes change when the provocation comes from the news media instead of Republican foreign policy.

  The latest meme from the pro-wa

  

• May 14, 2004
  

  FIRE Opposes University of Alabama Censorship

  by Liberty and Power

  The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, headed by Alan Kors, has launched a full-scale campaign against the University of Alabama's violation of the free speech rights of the Alabama Scholars Association.

  I am a member of that organization as is my fellow L and P blogger Charles W. Nuckolls. We greatly appreciate the help from FIRE. The campus admi

  

• May 14, 2004
  

  Not the First Time

  by Liberty and Power

  Lest we forget our history this is not the first time that the U.S. government has made indefensible moral decisions under some half-baked rationalization to defend American interests. As bad as beating and abusing Iraqi prisoners is, it's nothing compared to the choices U.S. intelligence made after World War II when we knowingly allowed Nazi war criminals to emigrate to the U.S. Of course we've known some of this for a while, but a new collection entitled

• May 13, 2004
  

  This Month's Reason

  by Liberty and Power

  Just a brief note to mention the brilliant cover of this month's Reason magazine. The cover of my issue says "STEVE HORWITZ: They know where you are!" above that is a satellite shot of Canton with my street circled in red. You can pick out my house. Inside the front cover is a customized intro letter from Nick with all kinds of data about Canton. They did this for all 40,000 subscribers as part of a feature on databases and privacy etc.. It is
  

• May 13, 2004
  

  Derbyshire at The Corner: "Kick one for me"

  by Liberty and Power

  One unfortunate byproduct of recent disasters in Iraq is that it some of the worst qualities of many conservatives have come to the surface.

  For a recent example, see John Derbyshire's cynical vent on Abu Ghraib at The Corner on National Review Online:"Good. Kick one for me. But bad discipline in the military (taking the pictures, I mean). Let's have a couple of courts martial for appearance's sake

  

• May 13, 2004
  

  P.T. Barnum Politics

  by Liberty and Power

  It's P.T. Barnum time on Capitol Hill. The famous circus entrepreneur was once quoted as saying that"there's a sucker born every minute," and that's the only way to justify the bizarre justifications given my members of Congress defending the administration's decision to not release any of the additional photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq. Among the better excuses mentioned, the prisoner's civil rights (?????) and inciting the
  

• May 13, 2004
  

  The Costs of Free Trade

  by Liberty and Power

  Here's a group of people who probably never thought that free trade would harm them - Czech prostitutes. How long before we see them protesting with the anti-globalization luddities because they can't ply their trade because of open borders. Labor unions, watermelon environmentalists and hookers all part of the anti-globalization forces. Sounds like the group is at least getting potentially more fun after the
  

• May 13, 2004
  

  82 Percent of Iraqis Against U.S. Occupation

  by Liberty and Power

  This latest Washington Post poll of Iraqis is perhaps the best response to the person who argues that"I opposed the war but we have to stay until we create a more stable Iraq." Sticking around actually makes this goal less likely to achieve. How can we create a more stable Iraq if the presence of our troops leads more Iraqis hate us all the time?

  As I have said, sometimes when digging a hole, it i

  

• May 12, 2004
  

  The Siege

  by Liberty and Power

  I saw the 1998 movie "The Siege" on USA network last night. Pre-9/11, it's just another"Peacemaker" or"Sum of All Fears"--distinguished principally by the filmmakers' politically incorrect decision to cast terrorists that aren't some variety of Slav. Post-9/11, it's as close to prescient as Hollywood gets.

  * Terrorism that's mostly low-tech, yet nonetheless terrifying; bus bombings, buildings levelled (in

  

• May 12, 2004
  

  Shameless Self-Promotion

  by Liberty and Power

  As W. S. Gilbert put it in Ruddigore:

  If you wish in the world to advance,
  Your merits you're bound to enhance,
  You must stir it and stump it,
  And blow your own trumpet,
  Or, trust me, you haven't a chance!

  So here goes: A page of links to my writings on psychiatric and medical issues has been added to the Thomas S. Szasz Cyberc

  

• May 12, 2004
  

  Dear Warhawks

  by Liberty and Power

  I know these have been an extraordinarily difficult couple of weeks for you, and I'm very sorry about that. The unending fighting in Iraq after we've been there for over a year, the accelerating race to the June 30 deadline -- even though we don't seem to have the slightest idea who or what it is we're going to be turning"sovereignty" over to or what the hell that"sovereignty" might consist of, the inability of our

  

• May 12, 2004
  

  Don Boudreaux Rejoins Liberty and Power

  by Liberty and Power

  Don Boudreaux is rejoining Liberty and Power. He has a distinguished record both in law and economics at George Mason University. He is also blogging at Cafe Hayek.

  Welcome Back!