Appreciation can make a day, even change a life.
Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.
Margaret Cousins
Guest Quotation of the Day
HARRY BROWNE ON GOVERNMENT: "To every person there are some great mysteries in life. To me, the greatest mystery is how so many people — after seeing what government health care has done, what government schools have done, what the government Drug War has done, how government has failed to protect us against criminals or terrorists — can believe that the next government program will produce the good results that are promised for it."Image of the Day
Guest Post Comment: Rupert Murdoch a Right-libertarian?
Okay, this is a pet peeve of mine about this blog that I've basically let slide for some time but feel I must address--the description of right-libertarism and left-libertarianism.
I lean to conventional pro-immigration and non-interventionist policies, which I know this blog opposes but are quite consistent with a classical liberal perspective and the Old Right, which fought FDR and his domestic/foreign interventionist policies. I know in the past this blog has tried to suggest Ron Paul and others are "left-libertarian"; but Ron Paul, others and I are very much right-libertarian. You seem to be classifying right-libertarians as those who espouse nativist and/or activist foreign policies. I see these more as right-wing populism (see Wikipedia entry).
Wikipedia: "Right-libertarianism (or right-wing libertarianism) refers to libertarian political philosophies that advocate both self-ownership and the unequal appropriation of natural resources, leading to strong support of private property rights and free-market capitalism. This position is contrasted with that of left-libertarianism, which maintains that natural resources belong to everyone in some egalitarian manner, either unowned or owned collectively. Right-libertarianism includes anarcho-capitalism and laissez-faire, minarchist liberalism." [I'm a laissez-faire minarchist classical liberal.]
Counter-Insurgency, Not By Armies But By Song and Dance
We vomit on all these people who suddenly say they are our friends
Staff Charlie cartoonist Bernard Holtrop, who missed the editorial meeting on the day of the tragedy, has ambivalent feelings, if not contempt, for many of the people, who have never read Charlie and/or its cartoons but claim to support it: especially high-profile political figures and celebrities who are running their own agenda. In many Western countries, there are codified "hate speech" laws that writers have to navigate against. He is, of course, grateful for any sign of solidarity for the natural right of free expression.
I have started writing a one-off piece on the Charlie matter. I'm not going to replicate here what I'm saying there, but if any readers noted my last few posts, I've had a more contrarian libertarian perspective that has drawn little support on various libertarian and conservative group threads. Let's be clear: I believe that we should tolerate all sorts of things I don't necessarily agree with: flag-burning, drug use, gambling, all sorts of obnoxious political beliefs (e.g., ethnic cleansing), etc. In part, I see the actions of State prohibition to be counterproductive and/or unenforceable. There are all sorts of things that many libertarians support in concept, like boycotts and hostile speech, which I find are objectionable, even unethical. Just to give a taste: boycotting a business because the owner espouses an unpopular point of view in my view has a chilling effect on free expression and is peripheral to the context of a consumer decision. Do I believe in free association, their rights to make decisions, including unjust ones? Yes. If I choose to do business for no other reason than they advertise on my Sunday church bulletin, I have that right, even though non-Catholic vendors may offer better value for my budget. But that's different from refusing to eat at a restaurant because it's owned by a Hindu or Muslim. I see the latter as a form of aggression, just like I find a cartoon ridiculing anyone's religion as unethical, a violation of the principle of religious tolerance. So, no, I'm not going to march for Charlie, not because I don't think Charlie's cartoonists' rights are just as important as mine, not because I don't believe in the unalienable right to cartoonists' right to live, but because I see the cartoonists' efforts bordering on the abuse of liberty and inconsistent with the principle of tolerance. Am I concerned about terror attacks aimed at trying to intimidate free expression, including obnoxious speech? Yes. I also think the terrorists' activities were counterproductive from a strategic point of view: I wasn't even that aware of Charlie before the murders. The terrorists did more to spread the message of Charlie than Charlie's own marketing department.
This Richard Harris track is something I heard when I bought his anthology years back, primarily to get the "MacArthur Park" track. I think the message would resonate with Holtop's perspective.
Facebook Corner
(Reason). It's not just what Justin Amash says or that he leans libertarian. It's that he communicates his votes, acts out of principles, and sets an example all of Congress should follow.Amash is the ONLY Republican currently in Congress who can truly claim to be libertarian.
No, there are a number of them, including Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Tom Massie, Walter Jones, and others. Of course, there are sometimes nuanced differences on specific issues, but for example Rand and Justin are strong supporters of each other. Of course, there are the crackpot ideologues who constantly bash Rand who has a different political style than his Dad. Let's not forget at least 3 prominent Republicans have headed the LP Presidential ticket since 1988. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Republican
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Eric Allie via IPI |
Céline Dion, "If You Asked Me To". Céline's first A/C #1 and third Top 10 on the Hot 100. I have a somewhat ambivalent feeling about her covering, like Ronstadt, so many vintage hits--I like to see artists make their reputation on fresh material early in their careers (of course, Céline had a decade of success singing in Canada in her native French); I absolutely loved Patti LaBelle's original James Bond song, and I think when you love the original and let's face it, Patti has awesome pipes, it takes chutzpah for a diva to do a remake--but let's face it: Céline enjoyed far better chart success with her version of worthy material. This is one of those songs that I fantasized performing with a scotch on the rocks; don't ask me why, because I don't think I've ever had a scotch on the rocks in real life. Nevertheless channeling my inner music producer, I thought a male version would make for an interesting twist.
