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Liberty and Power

  • Mar 17, 2004

    Psst -- Don't Let Saddam or George in on This Secret!

    by Liberty and Power

    The Kid was into nuclear reactors!!

    from the March 16, 2004 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0316/p16s03-bogn.html

    The Radioactive Boy Scout The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor, By Ken Silverstein Random House 209 pp., $22.95

    book review

    The nuclear merit badge

    Using common household items, he almost built a breeder reactor

    By Tim Rauschenberger

    These days, the phrase"nuclear ambitions" is applied ominously to count

  • Mar 17, 2004

    HISTORY REPEATS, ENDLESSLY

    by Liberty and Power

    About the early part of the twentieth century (from a UPI story excerpted here some months ago):

    The general impression one got from their writings, and from the pronouncements of President George W. Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy Paul Wolfowitz and the other masterminds of the war was that Iraq, the legendary site of the Garden of Eden, had indeed been one, and that that state of innoce
  • Mar 17, 2004

    Bush responds to the Spanish "flu"

    by Liberty and Power

    Yesterday I mentioned a"glut" of silence from the White House regarding Spain's announced intention to withdraw its troop from Iraq by the end of June if military operations there were not placed under UN command. The silence has ended.

    Predictably, the Bush administration proclaims that"Spain would be sending out a `

  • Mar 17, 2004

    Don't Forget Venezuela!

    by Liberty and Power

    As long as we're all wallowing in horrible news from both a liberty and terrorism perspective I thought I'd throw another smelly fish on the pile and remind everyone about the most unreported dictator in the world - Hugo Chavez.

    In case you'd forgot, this despot has used threats, intimidation, bribery and military force to fend off legal attempts to have himself removed from office then 1000 miles from U.S soil. The Bush adminstration, obsessed with removing the guy who tried to kill Bush

  • Mar 17, 2004

    Some Good News

    by Liberty and Power

    With so much depressing stuff in the news recently, time for some Spring Break cheer. Check out this piece from The Economist that provides some much needed perspective on the hand-wringing about the US economy (hat tip to Instapundit). One money quote:

    Median income of American households, commentators often say, has been stagnant, tho

  • Mar 16, 2004

    Government Outrage of the Day

    by Liberty and Power

    A U.S. Attorney has determined that former Congressman Bill Janklow, who once boasted to friends about regularly driving 100+ mph, who was repeatedly let go by local cops who clocked him at such speeds, and who was recently convicted of manslaughter for speeding and blowing a stopsign, which killed a motorcyclist, should not have to pay any damages, as he was acting within the scope of his duties as a member o
  • Mar 16, 2004

    Self-Promotion

    by Liberty and Power

    It's very long, and I don't want to take up too much L&P space, but I've posted a rant on Spain, Iraq and terrorism on my personal blog.

    Also, I can't remember if I posted here, but I had a column on FoxNews.com last week about the morass of federal laws and regulations, and burdens of compliance and potential for corruption it imposes on the American people.

  • Mar 16, 2004

    On Faculty Senates

    by Liberty and Power

    Yes, David, that is what Senates are for -- well named for their Roman predecessors of the Empire, not the Republic period, who understood the job description, to suck up to Caesar and ratify his wishes.

    I found this to be true in the case of my alma mater; see William Marina and Charleton W. Tebeau (my old teacher who did the 50 year history), Rendezvous With Greatness, a 75th anniversary history of the U. of Miami (FL), (2001). and also in my forthcoming Where Tomorrow Began

  • Mar 16, 2004

    Mixed Reaciton to Socialist Victory in Spain

    by Liberty and Power

    I have a mixed reaction to the Socialist victory in Spain, which is widely viewed (and accurately so) as a response to the terrible train bombing at Madrid. I applaud the new leader's resolve to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by the end of June unless the United Nations assumes control of military operations there. In this, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is not only expressing the wi
  • Mar 16, 2004

    Reflections on Spain, Empire & Anarchism

    by Liberty and Power

    Let me offer some comments on Pat Lynch’s thoughts in “More Madrid Madness,” below.

    Eighty percent of the Spanish public was against Aznar’s decision to support the US in Iraq. Many Americans, who blather on about our modest immigration appear unaware of Europe’s problems in this regard, just as we have bombed the hell out of various nations -- nukes and otherwise -- during and after WWII, killings hundreds of thousands of civilians, its collaeral damage, you know, old chap, but can bec

  • Mar 15, 2004

    More on Madrid Madness

    by Liberty and Power

    Three quick thoughts on the remarkable elections in Spain. First off, this does run contrary to the famous political science theory of"rally 'round the flag" effect that political scientists have long talked about in the U.S. However I know of no extensions of the model to other nations, although I'm not a presidency expert.

    Second, and I believe far more troubling to everyone, is the thought that Iraq, which was never seriously linked with terrorism, may now be used as an excuse for mor

  • Mar 15, 2004

    A Voice of Moderation on Spain at Volokh

    by Liberty and Power

    Although he supported the Iraq war, my friend Jacob Levy at the Volokh Conspiracy criticizes the Spain-bashing that is all the vogue on conservative websites since yesterday. Very thoughtful. Read it here.
  • Mar 15, 2004

    An Attempt to Clarify a Bit of Madrid Madness

    by Liberty and Power

    Just a couple of brief comments on several of the many questions raised by Chris Sciabarra in “Madrid Madness,” below.

    1) The kind of “war” initiated in a Unilateralist, State mode, by Bush and his Neocon minions can only help gain more adherents for Al Qaeda. If you have not already done so, I would recommend reading Jonathan Schell’s, The Unconquerable World in this regard.

    Where was Woodrow Wilson into the kind of “nation-building” advocated by the Neocons? Those Neocon

  • Mar 15, 2004

    Madrid Madness

    by Liberty and Power

    Cross posted on the SOLO Forum here.

    As most of you know, I am a staunch supporter of the War on Al Qaeda. I think the US should have staged an all-out campaign to destroy that group 11 years ago, when they first attacked the World Trade Center on US soil in 1993. They have been an imminent threat to US security and should have been squashed. (Of course, I do believe that the history of how

  • Mar 14, 2004

    Don't Worry, the Beltway Will Take Care of Things!

    by Liberty and Power

    Forget about Imperialism abroad, What is happening in N.H., for example, is an excellent case of Oswald Spengler's definition of Empire as bureaucratic centralization. Why bother with a Town Meeting anymore anyway -- just a waste of time and not as entertaining as Court TV.

    CSM -- As the town meeting dies, and old civic culture fades, New Hampshire town abandon a centuries-old tradition. By Noel C. Paul. Click here.

  • Mar 14, 2004

    How Distinctive Is the University of Southern Mississippi?

    by Liberty and Power

    I agree with David Beito that the ongoing events at the University of Southern Mississippi show how tenure could become a dead letter. Not through post-tenure review, whose primary purpose is to weed out tenured professors who have become incompetent, but through arbitrary firings of productive faculty members for no legitimate cause, as Shelby Thames is trying to do to Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer.

    A comprehensive way to catch

  • Mar 14, 2004

    Putin and Drugs

    by Liberty and Power

    As Mark Brady has pointed out President Vladimir Putin’s resume includes a stint with the KGB, however, he clearly never worked for the Soviet or Russian version of the DEA. A law Putin signed in December just went into effect that essentially decriminalizes possession of small amounts of drugs. A person having up to ten times the “average single dose” will be committing an a
  • Mar 13, 2004

    Immigration Blues

    by Liberty and Power

    A thoroughly confusing post from immigrant foe Mark Krikorian over at National Review's"The Corner":
    A recent Boston Globe story (reprinted by the International Herald Tribune here) makes clear that immigrant colonization of the low-skilled job market is not the result of decadent American teenagers opting to shop at the mall rather than