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Liberty and Power

  • Feb 24, 2004

    The End of Conservatism

    by Liberty and Power

    So, let's see: Massive government action at home—including a Medicaid prescription drug plan and a Patriot Act at war with civil liberties. Massive US military action overseas—including foreign occupation and"nation-building." And now: Massive legislative action—by means of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

    I'm no conservative, but there is nothing conservative a

  • Feb 23, 2004

    In Search of...

    by Liberty and Power

    It is simply not true that the Iraq War siphoned off resources and personnel that could have been directed towards finding Bin Laden. And I'm not going to let those lousy Bush-hating pinkos at the Washington Times tell me different.

    The Pentagon is moving elements of a supersecret commando unit from Iraq to the Afghanistan theater to step up the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

    A Defense Department official said

  • Feb 23, 2004

    I Feel Safer Already

    by Liberty and Power

    The Bush administration will soon release Guantanamo detainee Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane from custody. Abderrahmane will be free. No restrictions. This despite the fact that Pentagon officials familiar with his case are alarmed at the release, and still consider him to be a significant terrorist threat to the United States.

    So why is he being released? Because he's a Danish citizen. And Denmark gave 500 t

  • Feb 23, 2004

    To Do: Misrepresent Self to Cultish Following. Party in Panama.

    by Liberty and Power

    Color me firmly in the"Martha Stewart is getting hosed" camp, but to be honest, the woman is such an unlikeable phony, it's hard to generate any sympathy for her. According to her magazine, which has a"Martha's Calandar" feature, here's what Martha told loyal Matha-heads she'd be doing on December 27, 2001:
    Read books all day; Movies at night.
    Citing court records, here's what the Washington
  • Feb 21, 2004

    The Visual Thesaurus

    by Liberty and Power

    For those of you, like me, who love words, here's a site you should check out: the online version of the Visual Thesaurus. Click on the "online edition," wait for the java, then enter a word in the upper left. It gives you a spatial "map" of words similar in meaning to the one you've entered. You have to see it to see just how cool it is. It's a great teaching tool also, especially for students who are visual learners.
  • Feb 20, 2004

    Informed vs. Uninformed Commentary on Academia

    by Liberty and Power

    I will join Steven Horwitz in giving a thumbs-down to this piece by Arnold Kling–and a thumbs-up to this piece by Tim Burke.

    In claiming that academics lean Leftward, because the Left craves freedom without responsibility, and professorial life exemplifies the desired condition, Kling engages in the same caricaturing that one finds in Charles Sykes

  • Feb 20, 2004

    “No Clothes?” Check Out the Emperor’s Tight Flight Suit!

    by Liberty and Power

    Now it turns out that the Prez and his advisor, Condi Rice, didn’t quite read through the entire Intelligence Report last year which contained a number of reservations about WMD’s, and all of that good stuff.

    Maybe the Prez’s educational program should be expanded to “No President or Advisors Left Behind,” to help increase his reading speed and comprehension.

    To his sporadic attendance at Yale has now been added his apparent absence in the Alabama National Guard. Has anybody check

  • Feb 20, 2004

    Voting ReDeux

    by Liberty and Power

    In reply to David and Rod's responses regarding my voting question I appreciate their very thoughtful responses to what I believe libertarians and folks vaguely familiar with public choice theory too often dismiss as"irrational."

    My own reasons for not voting since 1992 were largely practical. Living in the District of Columbia until 2001 meant that any act of political participation legitimized a system I saw as blatantly illegal - taxation without representation. Since the District is

  • Feb 19, 2004

    Deployed in the USA

    by Liberty and Power

    Yesterday, C-Span carried a Cato policy forum featuring former Congressman Bob Barr, Professor David Klinger, and myself debating the military's role on the home front in the war on terror. Here's a link to the forum and one to the paper that inspired it. It was a civil, and, I hope, informative discussion of some pretty frightening issues.
  • Feb 19, 2004

    The Charming Mr. Chalabi

    by Liberty and Power

    Well, isn't this just lovely:

    An Iraqi leader accused of feeding faulty pre-war intelligence to Washington said yesterday his information about Saddam Hussein's weapons, even if discredited, had achieved the aim of persuading America to topple the dictator.

    Ahmad Chalabi and his London-based exile group,

  • Feb 19, 2004

    A Vote Answer

    by Liberty and Power

    To answer David Beito's and Pat Lynch's questions:

    I don't think voting is terribly important as a strategy for libertarians, at least in comparison with education and the like. However, I do vote.

    I don't think voting is immoral, since I accept Lysander Spooner's argument that voting counts as self-defens