Monthly Archives: October 2010

So for Halloween last night my wife dressed up as the Statue of Liberty (and sewed her outfit herself) and I was every immigrant. My name tag read: “America or Bust. To live free before I die. Sincerely, Every Immigrant.” I carried a satchel that, when opened, revealed a modified version of my Nation Reform Plan:

Enter America if you seek individual freedom and understand its opportunities carry responsibilities, which you must bear. There is one rule here: Live freely amongst our individual selves, Whoever we may be. This is OUR America.

I printed a couple of OUR America logos on there too, to help spread the word about Gov. Gary Johnson’s initiative, which advocates for a common sense, business approach to Constitutionally limited, fiscally responsible government. I also included, on a separate sheet, my note to multiculturalists.

Multiculturalists – Please Note: Your lie is that assimilation chills diversity. In fact, Individualism is complete diversity. By ascribing moral, social, and political significance to many other things than each person’s rational faculty you chill individuality and discourage equal treatment. Assimilation is simply the result, unique to every community, of individuals living freely. You should get on board with that.

Funniest thing anyone said to me all night was “You’re right, and the Rent is Too Damn High.”

Bats in a Tunnel.

Happy Halloween.

by Alex Fidel

Take my advice with a grain of salt, but these are truly great movies. They may not be the best produced (although they are wonderfully done if you ever hear how much they are made for), but they make it up with the best gore, and also great writing (which is completely lacking from all modern horrors). These are mostly Italian directors’ movies from the 70’s and 80’s.

1. Suspiria

2. The Beyond

3. Zombie

4. Deep Red

5. Pieces

6. Horror Rises From the Tomb

7. Maniac

8. Cannibal Ferox

9. Tenebre

10. Phenomena

There are 2 great DVD companies that puts those types movies out: Grindhouse Releasing, which is owned by Sylvester Stallone’s son Sage, and Blue Underground.

A Roman Charioteer, who made the equivalent of $15 Billion. T

The very best paid Roman charioteer—in fact, the best paid athlete of all time—was a Lusitanian Spaniard named Gaius Appuleius Diocles. Twenty-four years of winnings brought Diocles—likely an illiterate man whose signature move was the strong final dash—the staggering sum of 35,863,120 sesterces in prize money. The figure is recorded in a monumental inscription erected in Rome by his fellow charioteers and admirers in 146, which hails him fulsomely on his retirement at the age of “42 years, 7 months, and 23 days” as “champion of all charioteers.”

His total take home amounted to five times the earnings of the highest paid provincial governors over a similar period—enough to provide food for the entire city of Rome for one year, or to pay all the ordinary soldiers of the Roman Army at the height of its imperial reach for a fifth of a year. By today’s standards that last figure, assuming the apt comparison is what it takes to pay the wages of the American armed forces for the same period, would cash out to about $15 billion.

That reminds me of something a friend told me. The greatest athlete, statistically speaking, is Sir Donald Bradman – an Australian Cricket player (Cricketeer?). His cricket batting average was 99.4 – more than twice as high as the next highest average. In baseball terms, I suppose that would be akin to someone batting .800 – twice as high as the Splendid Splinter.

Via.

Dubai

A characteristically excellent post by the Southern Avenger. Excerpt below:

The War on Drugs has been an abysmal failure and yet maintaining the status quo on this subject has become an accepted, bipartisan religion. There is little no to evidence that marijuana does any more societal damage than alcohol and efforts to stop its use have been about as successful as Prohibition. When weighing the dollars spent, time wasted and lives damaged due to the War on Drugs against any damage done by actual drugs, it becomes clear that the cure has caused more harm than the supposed disease. The War on Drugs has been worse than just wrong—it’s stupid. Millions of Americans now readily recognize this and yet when a politician like Kentucky Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul dares to suggest that 10 to 20 years of prison for possession of marijuana may be too harsh, his Democrat opponent attacks Paul as somehow being pro-drug. Conservative guru the late William F. Buckley understood the failure of the War on Drugs, yet few Republican politicians will dare touch it. President Bill Clinton and Obama both admit to smoking pot and somehow went on to achieve great success, yet today likely wouldn’t publicly disagree with Paul’s Democratic opponent, who, laughably, calls marijuana a “gateway drug.” This is insanity, making the War on Drugs much like Scientology—it’s only a few decades old, a uniquely American invention and it continues to corrupt the minds of otherwise logical people who still refuse to consider its absurd premise.

by Alex Fidel

John Dennis interview

I propose a Nation Reform Plan.

Enter America if you seek individual freedom and understand its opportunities carry responsibilities, which you must bear. If you’re already here, but consistently mistake freedom for the exercise of authority (usually that of government) over others, leave now. There is one rule here. It is to live freely amongst our individual selves, whomever we may be.

Also, multiculturalists – please note: your lie is that assimilation chills diversity. In fact, individualism is complete diversity. Your worldview chills individuality by ascribing moral, social, or political, significance to many things other than each person’s rational faculty, and also discourages equal treatment. Assimilation is simply the result, unique to every community, of individuals living freely. You should get on board with that.

That’s my new issue – nation reform. My motto? Individualism – Now. Maybe I can have a rally in DC to reform America. The Rally to Nation Reform, Now. That’ll be a quick speech: “Do what you want and take care not to coerce others. Voluntary exchange only.” Quick question: where does your favorite politician stand on nation reform? My favorite politician’s nation reform plan is more individual freedom. I’m on board.

Since you’re still reading, here’s Gov. Gary Johnson’s immigration reform plan, which is the most sensible on offer right now:

Immigration into the United States by ambitious, willing workers and their families is a good thing.  Not only is it a historical and energizing part of American culture and experience, it is vital to our economy. These positive benefits should not be sacrificed or reduced in any solution to stop illegal immigration.  However, a clear distinction must be made between illegal and legal immigration. In reality, true and cost-effective border security will only be achieved through a common sense combination of technology, a market-based guest worker program, and a safe, but efficient system for the legal flow of immigrants to and from the United States.

1. Establish real and cost-effective border security.

• Continue to encourage and allow legal immigration.

• Support current border deterrents and security measures, with an understanding of the low cost benefit analysis of these methods.

2. Create a temporary guest worker program that makes sense.

•  Expand and streamline a market based temporary guest worker program.

•  Enact an application and tracking procedure for guest workers, such as an e-verify system. Procedures must be quick, simple and efficient in providing documentation information, and must meet the needs of both employers and willing workers.

• Require guest workers to not only pay income taxes, but provide proof of adequate health care coverage through insurance, secured savings programs, bonds, or a combination thereof.

• Allow spouses and dependents to enter the U.S. with guest workers, but only with proof of adequate health coverage and subject to the same background checks and health requirements.

3. Impose meaningful enforcement of immigration laws.

• Establish procedures and devote the resources to actually identify illegal immigrants and deport them.  Implement a “one strike, you’re out” policy toward illegal immigrants with regard to future eligibility for guest worker programs.

• Impose and enforce sanctions and fines for noncompliance with immigration laws by employers that are sufficiently costly, ensuring that the risks simply are not worth the rewards.

4. Enact a reality-based process for current illegal workers to earn legal status.

• Allow a two-year grace period during which illegal immigrants already in the U.S. can come forward, pay any taxes owed, provide proof of consistent employment, pass a criminal background check, and apply for guest worker status.

5. Reduce border crime.

• Address the root cause of most border crime by legalizing marijuana, thereby removing 70% of the current cross-border illegal drug trade and replacing cartel and prohibition-related violence with legal, regulated and nonviolent commerce.

6. Achieve a better working relationship with Mexico.

• Stimulate cross-border investment through a robust, above-board and legal guest worker program.

• Strengthen the Mexican government by dramatically weakening the cartels through the legalization of marijuana.

• Aggressively negotiate mutually beneficial agreements with Mexico regarding such issues as funds transfers, taxation of income earned in the U.S. by guest workers, and deportation and incarceration of Mexican nationals arrested in the United States.

[Updated the same day I posted, because I kill my darlings regularly.]

My newest article for MMAReader, an online mixed martial arts magazine that supports amateur and aspiring professional mixed martial artists:

—

Word is that the UFC wants to have an event at the Roman Colosseum. When asked what his “dream” venue for a UFC event is, UFC UK President Marshall Zelaznik said:

“The Coliseum in Rome. That’d be cool. I don’t think we could actually use the Coliseum itself, but there’s a space adjacent to it where you could build a temporary outdoor arena like we did in Abu Dhabi. That’s been mentioned to us as we look into options in Italy, I think that’d be cool.”

When the UFC has an event on the same grounds as the original Colosseum, I will be on an airplane to Italy. It’s that simple. If you don’t understand why that’s awesome, go watch Gladiator a few more times. I just hope the UFC amends its production format to suit the setting. For instance, fighters should enter by chariot, and dress as legionnaires. Drums of war and trumpets, not fighters’ favorite songs should mark their entrance into the arena. Actually, Akiyama’s entrance music would be really awesome at the Colosseum.

I have an idea for the UFC to help expedite their expansion into Europe (Italy, specifically). Purchase the naming rights to the Colosseum, which are on sale for the bargain price of $32 million bucks. Basically, the Colosseum is falling apart and Italy needs money to fix it. In exchange for funding 100 percent of the cost of the Colosseum restoration, Italy is offering the sponsor various advertising rights including: its name and logo on the Colosseum admission tickets, its name and logo on posters no larger than 8.2 feet at the base of the Colosseum, ability to conduct its own private guided tours of the Colosseum and exclusive film rights of the entire restoration process.

By contrast, Citi pays $20 million a year for the naming rights to the Mets’ stadium. And really, who cares about the Mets stadium? Obviously Italy undervalued the naming rights to the Colosseum. For $32 million the UFC’s name can be forever linked to Rome, gladiatorial combat, and the Colosseum. The UFC will have done a public service – restoring the Roman Colosseum. Now that’s goodwill.

Finally, here’s a great read about the history, development, and tactics of the Roman army, which adapted new techniques, methods, and strategies from every enemy and ally – like mixed martial artists do today.

This is the problem with censorship. You don't fucking know, and that's not helpful. Understand? Good. Next Question.

Once more, with feeling. This is the problem with censorship. You don’t fucking know, and that’s not helpful. Understand? Good. Next Question.

Update, watch this. The French may be fighting back.

These were recent thoughts I put on my twitter:

South Parks’ copyright lawyers must be very busy. [Certainly] they’ve generated a lot of precedent. That would be an interesting law review article.

And it better not be a progressive [author]. I don’t want a world where SP is the edge, rather than the epitome, of expression.

SP epitomizes expression [because] it is not restrained by its own precedent. It is the frontier of interpersonal communication, for some of us,

and [we] should not be constrained. Yet many tolerate Islamists who would kill [Trey Parker] & [Matt Stone]. Fuck you pussies. #individualliberty #fuckcoercion

I wrote these on Twitter because it’s difficult for me to blog from my phone, and facebook is a different audience than both my twitter and blog. Please note that I changed some of the punctuation, spelling, and added a word or two. As background I was watching South Park, and was inspired when Cartman, as the Coon, threatened an imposter superhero that he’d sue him for copyright. Ha. Ha. ha. South Park’s  writers must have had a good time with that one. While the in house counsel squirmed.

I hope the author of the (presumably) first law review article discussing South Park’s precedental and potential effect on the Constitutional definition of free speech is an individual whose political compass points towards freedom. So that he/she understand that only speech which elicits an involuntary response should ever be subject to suppression. And that’s South Park’s point, in my view.

Yo South Park, private message me on Twitter, if you haven’t already emailed my duelingbarstools’ yahoo account (which I never check, I’m sorry). Lets find a way for me to advocate for what you’re doing. I think history will salute Trey Parker and Matt Stone, for expanding the scope of expression in an era where Orwell appears more prescient by the day. Whether South Park contacts me or not, I hope some geeky historian, the sort I love to watch in documentaries, one day finds evidence of DuelingBarstools, and blogs like it, and points to them as evidence of the portion of humans of this age – 21st Century Spinozas – who believed in freedom of expression, and were sailors upon her sea.

by Alex Fidel

http://reason.com/blog/2010/10/25/have-a-drink-have-a-heart-atta

So the FDA is cracking down on manufacturers of drinks like the Four Loko. The proof is there that the ‘danger’ is overhyped; that it is not Four Lokos that are the problem, it is the people that choose to overconsume them.

Besides, laws don’t stop stupidity, and people do the same things on normal alcoholic beverages. Four Lokos are a scapegoat.

If banning is put on the table as an option by the FDA, we must voice our opinions loud and proud (and peacefully). And this is not just because I like Lokos… this is about principle, damn it!

Besides, do you want to see these guys cry?:

Also, join the cause on Facebook: 1,000,000 Strong for Four Loko

Via Fightlinker, I present to you the God of MMA entrances. Word to your Mother, Genki Sudo was the man – in and out of the ring.

Genki Sudo – Highlight [HELLO JAPAN] from Hello Japan on Vimeo.

I am not talking about greed or the poor. I am talking about ‘chicken diapers’ and ‘the face bra.’ Go ahead and google them.

Where will it end?

To Whom it may concern at the IRS:

It has recently come to my attention that taxes are due on all trades for goods or services. I am a good citizen and don’t mind paying my due, but I am afraid I am in a bit of a pickle. You see, I have been bartering sexual favors with my wife for quite some time. It is not a full fledged business you see, but just a little “I’ll kiss yours if you kiss mine” sort of thing.

Since your information page declares that the taxable amount will be applied to the “fair market value” for service, I hit the street to find out what it was. I met a met a sex-worker named Trixie who informed me that the fair market value for “head” was $150 bucks.

Since each of our transactions includes two instances of “head” that brings our total transaction cost to $300. Unfortunately, since we file jointly this astronomically raises our total household income.

My question is two fold: first, which form would I need to fill out to report our immense earnings over the years, and second, will my wife and I be arrested for prostitution since we are, in essence, paying for sex (and being taxed on it).

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Occamatic

by Alex Fidel

My representative Brian Bilbray (R, CA-50) and his staff have been calling my house ever since I re-registered as a Republican so I can vote for Gary Johnson or Ron Paul in 2012. I got a mailer too:

“Bigger government and higher taxes out of Washington aren’t the answer … Cut reckless Washington borrowing and spending.”

Really? Does he really think that is believable? My intelligence has been deeply insulted. If he wants to stop reckless borrowing and spending, maybe try ending all current wars, reducing our military presence around the world, ending the war on drugs, and eliminating needless and wasteful agencies and departments. Well that’s too bad, because it seems as if he’s in favor of all those things.

Since I am so offended (I generally mean that in a pompous, sarcastic way…), I am going to personally see to it that he has a Tea Party opponent in the 2012 Republican primary (from the Ron Paul/libertarian side of the Tea Party, not the Palin/Gingrich side). I was surprised he was unopposed this year.

OH WAIT! I forgot, thanks to Prop 14, there are no more primaries…

As you know, I harp on Islamists all the time. But I understand and am thankful for the profound differences between Islamists and Muslims. I despise the former and respect the latter as I do every other human. Here’s a great article about a group of extraordinary Muslims, via GoodShit.

Creve Coeur, MO (KSDK) — With rising anti-Muslim sentiment across the country, an untold story is raising greater awareness about the Muslim faith and the teachings of the Quran. That awareness comes from an unlikely source: a small Jewish congregation in Creve Coeur.

Temple Emanuel is premiering a groundbreaking exhibit of photos that reveals Albanian Muslims who saved 2,000 Jews during World War II.

It’s a story you’ve likely never heard. It is a story told through the faces of Albanian Muslims who risked their own lives to live by a code of faith and honor called Besa.

Dr. Ghazala Hayat is a neurologist at St. Louis University and serves as spokesperson for the Islamic Foundation of Greater Saint Louis.

Hayat said while Besa is an Albanian word, it is part of Islamic culture and teachings. According to Dr. Hayat, Besa is an ancient code which requires people to endanger their own lives if necessary to save the life of anyone seeking asylum. To this day, Besa is the highest moral law of the region, superseding religious differences, blood feuds, and even tribal traditions.

The exhibit is opening eyes throughout the world.

“You don’t have to share the same faith. You have to respect each other’s faith,” Hayat said.

Pictures of the Albanian Muslims in the exhibit tell a lifetime of stories. As a young mother, one woman did not have enough breast milk to feed her son. A Jewish woman she hid nursed him instead. She was asked if she minded that a Jewish mother had fed her baby.

“Jews are God’s people like us,” the woman said.

Another man who also hid Jewish families said, “I did nothing special. All Jews are our brothers.”

And the head of the Bektashi sect, with more than seven million followers, tells the story of Albania’s prime minister, who gave a secret order during the Nazi occupation.

“All Jewish children will sleep with your children, all will eat the same food, and all will live as one family,” the order read.

In post-war Europe, it is said Albania was the only Nazi-occupied country to boast a greater number of Jews than before the Holocaust.

“They were among the people who at great personal risk sheltered Jews and protected them in their homes and did so out of a religious obligation,” said Rabbi Justin Kerber, Temple Emanuel.

The Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis and several local Jewish agencies hope the St. Louis community will experience this rare look at the role Albanian Muslims played in sheltering Jews from the Nazis.

“At this time of tension over Islam in America, there is so much more to understanding Islam,” Rabbi Kerber said.

Advocacy is logic with feeling.

Judge a republic by its tolerance for voting fraud.

Life is about the positive stimulation we want. We cannot be positively stimulated as wished unless every individual is free to choose. So freedom, yes?

A story from the bar: “Whats wrong with you Maurizio?” asked Dave. Maurizio replied, “A lot of things, man. I mean really – where do you want me to start?”

From @tommcammon: “Twitter makes you like people you’ve never met. Facebook makes you hate people you know in real life.”

The first pirate was a businessperson whose trade Government prohibited. The Somalian marauders, and others of their ilk, are thieves not pirates because their trade is ransoming freedom. Pirates do business and defend their freedom. That’s the difference.

Consider Dwight D. Eisenhower civil service resume. He was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WWII, personally directed the invasion of Normandy, essentially stomped his boot on Hitler’s face, braced NATO’s military forces for the Cold War, obtained a truce in Korea, which permitted us to observe the free prosper next to the languishing oppressed, and served two terms as President of the United States of America, in which he accomplished the following in the realm of civil rights:

[a]ppointed California Governor Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Warren molded a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, striking down public school segregation. Eisenhower also appointed outstanding jurists such as Potter Stewart, William Brennan, John Marshall Harlan II, and Charles Evans Whittaker to the Warren court.

[] was consistently careful to appoint to the southern districts federal judges who were solidly committed to equal rights, fighting southern senators to get them confirmed. When enforcement of future civil rights laws came before the district courts in the 1960s, they were upheld by progressive judges – Frank Johnson, Jr., and Elbert Parr Tuttle, for instance – appointed by Eisenhower years earlier. Eisenhower’s judicial appointments constitute a significant contribution to civil rights.

[] achieved Congressional passage of the first civil rights legislation in the 82 years following Reconstruction. The Senate at first refused to pass the bill, which included both voting rights and a provision authorizing the Attorney General to protect all civil rights. Eventually, Congress approved the Civil Rights Act of 1957 without overall civil rights protection. This was a much weaker law than what Eisenhower had advocated. In 1960, Eisenhower was successful in getting Congress to pass additional voting rights legislation.  These laws were the precedents for the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.

[] implemented the integration of the U.S. military forces. Although President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 (1948) to desegregate the military services, his administration had limited success in realizing it. As a life-long soldier, Dwight Eisenhower knew intimately the reality of racial intolerance in the military.  As president, he commanded compliance from subordinates and was able to overcome the deeply rooted racial institutions in the military establishment. By October 30, 1954, the last racially segregated unit in the armed forces had been abolished, and all federally controlled schools for military dependent children had been desegregated.

[he] sent elements of the 101st Airborne Division to carry out the mandate of the U.S. Supreme Court, when Orval Faubus of Arkansas openly defied a federal court order to integrate Little Rock Central High, an all-white high school. This act, the first time since Reconstruction that federal troops were deployed to a former Confederate state, was condemned by many at the time, but it established that southern states could not use force to defeat the Constitution.

[] was the first president to elevate an African-American to an executive level position in the White House. In July 1955, President Eisenhower appointed E. Frederic Morrow, a graduate of Bowdoin College and the Rutgers University Law School, as Administrative Officer for Special Projects.

[] worked to achieve full integration in the nation’s capital from his first day in office until the end of his administration. The President approached this task from several different angles.  He appointed pro-desegregation district government officials and directed the Justice Department to argue in favor of desegregation in the Supreme Court.  One of the results of judicial actions he instigated was the Supreme Court’s Thompson decision which desegregated Washington restaurants. He personally cajoled, persuaded, and pressured local government administrators, motion picture moguls, and business men in meetings at the White House.  By the time Eisenhower left Washington, the Capital of the United States was transformed from an entirely segregated to an almost fully integrated city.

[] was the first president since Reconstruction to meet personally in the White House with black civil rights leaders. He discussed national policy on civil rights with Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Lester B. Granger.

And played golf twice a week, but did not receive the Nobel Peace prize. The problem with lists is that they suggest exclusivity. This is no exception. In fact, Eisenhower did much more. Such as coin the phrase “military-industrial complex” while warning America against its evils.

He was the man of the hour. I wish he lived long enough to see Americans land on the moon.

By Megan McCardle:

I see that my post on gentrification has attracted some more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger finger wagging from Alex Baca, an intern at the City Paper, who writes at Greater Greater Washington:

I’ve complained before that McArdle takes a rather reductionist and simplistic view towards gentrification, and her latest piece is no exception. She boils gentrification down to middle-class (and likely white) buyers moving in, displacing poor (and likely African American) residents. Note that she does not specify whether she believes her neighbors do or do not own their homes. Neighborhood change, whether it’s gentrification or not, extends far beyond this assumed black/white binary — especially in cities other than DC.

I confess, the supercilious tone of the post makes me smile a bit–how could I possibly be so simplistic and reductive when she’s already complained about it? But when I was a senior in college, I was also lucky enough to know everything, and I remember how impatient this made me with the reactionary geriatrics who couldn’t see the obvious.  So I do retain a smidgen of sympathy for her plight.

But I can’t say the same for her argument.  It seems a bit odd to complain that I have reduced a discussion about gentrification in DC to the specifics of gentrification in DC, rather than exploring the full symphony of themes, dilemmas and opportunities presented by “neighborhood change”.  This was a blog post, after all, not an urban planning tome.  I might as well respond to Ms. Baca by complaining that her post didn’t mention anything about traffic management in Lyon.

Nor am I clear on why it matters whether my neighbors own their homes–as in most places, some do and some don’t.  Those who are homeowners, and don’t mind moving, will get a nice boost to their home prices if gentrification continues.  On the other hand, those who are homeowners, and don’t want to move, may well not enjoy all the fruits of gentrification.  ”Neighborhood change” disrupts existing social and commerce networks, whether or not you own your home.   As someone who still makes regular pilgrimmages to “my” neighborhood pizza place (now relocated five blocks north of my childhood home in New York), I am sympathetic to those who resist it.

And of course, when that “change” is gentrification, it also raises property taxes beyond what some people may be able to afford.

Nonetheless, I think it’s useful to respond, because she highlights a lot of the problems I find in discussing urban planning with people who think that . . . well, that acknowledging the poor track record of technocratic interventions is simplistic and reductive.

First, Clint Eastwood.

During an interview about his latest film “Hereafter,” Eastwood told Couric that the president is not “governing” and he’s laying out lines in the hopes that people will believe him “so he can stay in his position.”

Eastwood, who was once the Mayor of Carmel, Calif., expressed his view on the political election process.

“I don’t think there’s anybody I see out there, or many people that have that kind of discipline, that are willing to take a chance on losing.”

Mr. Eastwood, meet Gov. Gary Johnson. Gov. Gary Johnson, Clint Eastwood. Here’s what you need to know about Gov. Johnson:

Believe it or not, the failure of the booing portion of this purportedly liberty loving crowd to either identify their collective hypocrisy or be sufficiently convicted by it to reform their views on marijuana, or at least listen politely to someone who has considered the counterargument to his position, and takes care to consistently apply his governmental philosophy to all issues, is not the most noteworthy aspect of the video. It’s Gov. Gary Johnson walking onto a stage to address a crowd essential to Gary Johnson 2012 of which a substantial portion was certain to boo, ignorantly and rudely. That’s political balls, people. Big, cast iron, balls. On which Gov. Johnson bounces around the country advocating for a common sense, business approach to Constitutionally limited, fiscally accountable government. And he’s the only politician with a proven track record in doing exactly that.

India’s take on TOTUS (teleprompter of the United States):

Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual–not only because he is famous for his oratory, but because no other president has used one so consistently and at so many events, large and small.

Unusual indeed. Reading from teleprompters is oration. Add that to the list.

Finally, I completely agree with Instapundit on this:

CHANGE: “Home invasions by people disguised as law enforcement seem to happen more and more these days.” If you could be confident that a real police officer wouldn’t break down your door, it would be less of an issue . . . .

Somebody breaks into your house, they should be at their own risk. They get hurt . . . too bad. You get hurt — they get charged with assault, or murder, and also pay damages with no sovereign immunity. No, this isn’t the law. But it should be.

Remember the Islamist who threatened to kill Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators of South Park) and aided and abetted terrorists overseas? He got 30 years in the clink.

Zachary Adam Chesser, 20, of Fairfax County, Va., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady to a three-count criminal information that included charges of communicating threats against the writers of the South Park television show, soliciting violent jihadists to desensitize law enforcement, and attempting to provide material support to Al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Suck it. I commented on the South Park jihadi incident here and here. Note to Islamists, again: your intolerance will not limit my expression. Where do you think you are, England?

Half Sigma (“HS”) points to an Old Gray Mare article about the apparently novel idea of academics studying the rich, rather than the poor, to identify factors that contribute to success. HS has been recommending that approach for a while, because that’s what HS does – he identifies the common sense solution to an issue and dares you to see how many times he’s wrong. That’s basically what his blog is all about. Here’s most of his short post:

I have stated before that academics spend far too much time studying the poor and far too little time (if any at all) studying the rich. Therefore, this NY Times article about a group of Ivy League college professors studying the “the elite,” bespeaks a good trend.

* * *

the biggest determining factor of whether someone moved into the elite was an early career opportunity

Yeah, no shit. Why did you think that parents obtain Ritalin for their teenagers to assist their studies? It’s to help get them into Harvard. You don’t need to sharpen Occam’s fucking razor to realize that the sooner you get your first gig waiting tables the sooner you can move to a restaurant where you’ll make more money. There is no substitute for experience, and the sooner you get experience the better off you’ll be because you’ll have more options. The problem, however, is that in certification-required industries such as law, higher education is essentially a prerequisite to entering the industry, rather than a shortcut to the skills and knowledge necessary to be productive within it. That’s why I love the Internet. It doesn’t care who you are.

by Alex Fidel

Gary Johnson interview

It’s about 10 minutes in… unless you like gnarly technical progressive metal, then you can start from the beginning B-)

The Jackass 3D D-box ticket giveaway goes on until next week (Oct. 26th). Works for CinemaWest theaters only, the one we went to is in Petaluma, CA in Sonoma county.

John Dennis with Ron Paul

By Alex Fidel

John Dennis is the Republican candidate for congress in California’s 8th congressional district, who’s incumbent is none other than Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Nancy Pelosi usually rakes in 70% of the vote in San Fransisco, with Green Party candidate Cindy Sheehan winning more votes than the Republican in 2008. Shockingly, Cindy Sheehan is one of the many prominent anti-war activists to endorse John Dennis.

You’re probably scratching your head at the idea of a Republican getting the support of Cindy Sheehan, who said, “[John Dennis is] a good person who is truly antiwar and truly wants to make the world a better place.” Well maybe I should introduce you to John Dennis and his roots.

John has never run for public office. The most activism he has been involved in was campaigning for Ron Paul in 2008. He is a principled libertarian, being against both wars when they were Bush’s wars. He voted No on California Proposition 8 of 2008, supports government getting out of the marriage business completely, and wants to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ He supports the legalization of marijuana, and the complete repeal of the Patriot Act. So from this, you can gather he is not coming to his anti-war, pro-gay positions just to pander to San Fransisco voters. He really believes these things in a very principled way.

He decided to run in the Republican primary against Dana Walsh, who was the candidate in 2008, who got less votes than Cindy Sheehan. He won by a pretty big margin, and the race began to defeat Pelosi.

He has garnered endorsements from Ron Paul, Barry Goldwater Jr., the pro-gay activist group Log Cabin Republicans, and has had a puff piece written about him in the prominent LGBT publication The Bay Area Reporter.

But recently, he has begun to gather support from people outside the libertarian and Republican circles.

In September, he, Ron Paul, and former San Fransisco City Supervisor and Ralph Nader’s VP running mate Matt Gonzalez held an anti-war/anti-drug war/pro-liberty/pro-integrity rally called “Principles Over Politics” outside San Fransisco city hall to bring together the left and right on the issues of war and debt/defecit. To paraphrase, John Dennis pointed out that the left/right fight is counterproductive; that the real fight is between Washington and us.

All three speakers were quick to point out Nancy Pelosi’s flip flops on the wars and the Patriot Act, and her lack of commitment to gay rights. They also pointed out her arrogance and seeming lack of care for her district.

This eventually culminated in Matt Gonzalez’s shocking endorsement of John Dennis, in an open letter to Pelosi. “I write you because a large number of your constituents, myself included, are tired of your leadership,” Gonzalez writes, “Although you may want to dismiss your congressional opponent John Dennis because he is a Republican, I assure you that he is a serious candidate with views worthy of consideration. In addition to being firmly anti-war and committed to defending civil liberties, Dennis is pro-gay rights, opposed the Wall Street bailouts and has joined in the populist call challenging the legitimacy of the Federal Reserve … I intend to vote for John Dennis and I will encourage everyone I know to do the same.”

The Huffington Post even wrote an article saying that liberals should vote for John Dennis. This is true, while liberals may not be able to agree with him on economic issues, John Dennis’s integrity insures voters that he will be principled on the wars. Nancy Pelosi has no shred of integrity in her, and the most SF voters get out of her is an arrogant and condescending tone.

That is why I keep stressing that integrity is the most important thing to look for in a politician. John Dennis is a very cool, down-to-earth, laid back, honest guy. You can tell that by the way he talks; he doesn’t talk in circles, but rather says what he means and means what he says. Can you say the same about Nancy Pelosi? Probably not, that’s why under Barack Obama, she suddenly has a complete policy reversal on the wars and the Patriot Act. That is why liberals should choose John Dennis, because at least they can trust him, rather than leave it up to a game of chance in the hands of Pelosi.

John Dennis is proving to be a formidable opponent to Pelosi. He is gathering support from Democrats, Independents, and others who would normally never dream of supporting a Republican. People are even disgusted by Pelosi’s refusal to debate him, in fact, there is a video of Nancy Pelosi very arrogantly telling off a reporter asking her if she intends to debate John Dennis, which was featured on Drudge Report. That was the second time she has refused a debate, and there is a timer on John Dennis’s website indicating the amount of time Nancy Pelosi has not responded to a debate.

I can sense your skepticism, you’re probably thinking ‘OK, he has a big chance of winning. But he’s just one congressman, what can he possibly do?’ True, he is just running for Congress. But when he enters Congress, he will be entering with a lot of political capital, because he will be pulling the biggest political upset in recent history, which will send a shockwave through the entire political establishment.

————————————–

Visit JohnDennis2010.com for more info, and tune in to Freethought Radio this Tuesday, October 26th at 8PM PST, for our interview with John Dennis, only on ksunradio.com

Great read here. Excerpt:

Laws are observed less because of the police, and far more because people choose to observe them. It is not because murder is illegal that most people refuse to bash in the skull of their next door neighbour. It is because most people choose not to resort to violence that such laws can be enforced.

Once more than a tiny percentage of the people refuse to observe a law, it becomes a dead letter. Sure the police will still catch a few people, from time to  time, but so many violate the law that being caught becomes a kind of negative lottery, akin to being caught in a speed trap. The use of marijuana has become in the popular imagination, like breaking the speed limit, a folk crime of little moral consequence.

Having failed to stigmatize marijuana itself, prohibitionists have instead tried to frame its use as the first step to perdition. With such paranoid classics as Reefer Madness, pot prohibitionist have resorted to describing the weed as a gateway drug. In the sense that people who use hard drugs have often used soft ones, it is a gateway drug of sorts. But it doesn’t necessarily work in the other direction. Johnny isn’t going to become a coke-head because he was once a pot-head. Just like everyone who has had a drink doesn’t become an alcoholic. It’s an argument that falls apart, unless wrapped in the sentimental thinking of soccer-moms and fire-breathing preachers.

The pot laws are a dead letter, yet they continue to claim victims of their “negative lottery.” Their end will signal not just a victory for users of the magic weed, but for everyone who believes in freedom.

DFTU:

This is my message to all Republican officeholders, from McConnell and Boehner on down:

“Don’t F*** This Up”.

You’ve been given another chance, another opportunity, and the stakes couldn’t be any higher: DFTU. You won’t get another chance like this in 2 generations, if ever again: DFTU. And so on.

I wrote an open letter to the GOP a while back that’s still relevant.

by Occamatic

I can see why folks get a little squirrely when the topic of paid sterilization comes up, because of the past ugliness of eugenics, but I kind of like the idea. I am not a lawyer, so I am not entirely sure how drug addiction and duress interplay, but I am pretty sure that drug addicts should not be having children (fundamental right to procreate blah, blah, blah… go work in a labor word, and see all the jacked-up babies from drug addicted mom’s that often already have a dozen offspring in protective custody).

Maybe people prickle at the mention of it because widespread societal acceptance of such practices creates some slippery-slopery toward government-run sterilization programs. As a lover of freedom (and my gonads), I would most certainly oppose any mandate giving government “snipping rights” over me or others. With that being said, I am 99.9% supportive of a measure to require long-term (i.e. non-screw-up-able) birth control administration (yes, male and female) for anyone receiving public assistance. It seems to flow pretty logically that if you cannot pay your own way, you can certainly not afford another way to pay in addition to yourself. Plus, nobody is holding a gun to your head- if you want to have children so bad, go get another job (yes, I am a cold and callous bastard) and get off of welfare.

What do you think?

Came across a few pictures of places I’ve spent a lot of time. Here they are, in no particular order.

Stout Public House

Waikiki

Best party. Ever. Fact.

North Shore, O'ahu. I think. Great photo in any case.

The horror.

Ha. I’ve never been to scene of the last picture. Forty-six tons of pot, up in smoke, somewhere in Mexico. I mean really – what the hell are they drumming for? Well, it does bring up a good story. Years ago, while waiting tables at Merriman’s Market Cafe in Waikoloa, Hawai’i, a bartender from Kohala told me about his friend, who operated the incinerator at the Kona Hospital. The drug authorities at the time were engaged in “Operation Green Harvest,” which was a concerted effort to stamp out marijuana from the Big Island of Hawai’i. It goes without saying that it was a total failure. And that it spawned the ice epidemic that Dog the Bounty Hunter is still dealing with. Happily, it appears. But anyway, the drug authorities would regularly visit the Kona hospital late at night to burn the stolen confiscated marijuana plants in the hospital’s incinerator. Since the bartender’s friend – a stoner himself – was the incinerator operator he often personally assisted the officers burn the plants. One day, while slogging through the burning of a particularly large amount of mature marijuana plants, the incinerator operator – who was no dummy as to the ways of the world – deadpanned: “Eh officers, how come these plants never have buds?” Replied the officers: “Eh, brah, no one burns money.”

Here’s Gov. Gary Johnson laying the smack down 0n DADT, a discriminatory policy whose time for repeal is long overdue. Just another example of Gov. Johnson’s political compass pointing straight at increasing individual liberty in America.

Sometimes the Courts get it right, and when they rule against a government policy that is just wrong, the President should let that ruling stand. That is precisely the case with this week’s rejection of the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.

‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has always been wrong, and it is still wrong.  As Barry Goldwater said when the policy was first put in place, a fundamental tenet of conservatism is that government should stay out of people’s private lives — and out of the impossible task of legislating morality.  When we are talking about men and women who are voluntarily defending our freedom, that is especially true.

To those who say we need to further study the issue and then let Congress decide, I say stop the smoke screen, this policy just is not fair and it does not work, we need to get rid of it now.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has pointed out that there is something fundamentally troubling about a policy that requires men and women who are voluntarily serving our nation to lie about who they are, and he is absolutely correct.  A Federal Judge has done the right thing to order an immediate end to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’  The government needs to let that ruling stand, and move on.

In short, equal treatment. Always.

by Alex Fidel

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554261952309990.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_news

Another bit of California nullification is about to take place. Since the Feds mostly used local law enforcement, the only problem we will have is with the DEA and federal patrol. Hopefully they won’t step up their game to where it will interfere with the new law. Otherwise we will have to begin on a long legal battle against the federal government, hoping that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor, or have to bear with it until a new administration (hopefully Gary Johnson or Ron Paul), or, dare I say, encourage ganjapreneurs to use their second amendment rights to at least stand up for themselves, even though they will probably lose.

by Alex Fidel

Gary Johnson on TV. photo credit: unknown

Gary Johnson is the honorary chairman of Our America Initiative, on the boards of directors of both Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Students for Liberty, and was the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico.

Now, I know what you think. ‘Republican? Ew!’ I understand your feelings, I ‘ew’ at a lot of Republicans myself. But, Gary Johnson has some surprising stances. For instance, he supports fully and unequivocally the legalization of marijuana, he would have vetoed the infamous AZ immigration bill if he had been governor, he has never been for the Iraq War, and thinks the Afghan War no longer serves the purpose we originally went in for. Johnson was pretty much the only governor to support Ron Paul for president in 2008.

Johnson even admits fully to smoking (and inhaling) marijuana several times a week. He no longer smokes pot, and he abstains from drinking as well. He is an accomplished athlete and entrepreneur, climbing Mt. Everest with a broken leg, and starting a one-man handyman business that eventually had 1,000 employees when he sold it.

His race for governorship was quite entrepreneurial. He was a complete outsider. The Republican Party told him his ideas were nice, but that he just couldn’t win. Well, he won. Then he got re-elected. In a state that is 2 to 1 Democrat.

As governor, Johnson vetoed over 750 bills, not including all the line item vetoes. He did this, because everything was to be done in a cost-benefit analysis; best product/service, lowest cost. He was an advocate of school choice and voucher systems. He also supported a woman’s right to choose up to the point of viability (he is pro-choice), while still gaining praise from pro-life groups for policies such as parental consent for minors, etc. He advocated for the legalization of marijuana while governor, which caused his approval rating to drop sharply, but it eventually rose as he explained his views openly and honestly to the people.

They respected him for putting issues and principles first, politics last.

The people of New Mexico, being 2 to 1 Democrat, recognized not only good stewardship of tax dollars, but honesty in government. Gary Johnson as a person is very humble and down-to-earth, and has a great deal of integrity. People respected a politician that didn’t talk down to them, talk in circles, or pander to votes. Johnson says pretty much the same thing to any audience. For example, he recently spoke at the FreedomWorks 9/12 rally on Washington. He did mention his views of the War on Drugs, only to be met with 70% boos, 30% cheers. However, when he talked about putting an end to nation-building wars, he got nothing but cheers, so there is progress being made.

We can learn a lot from Gary Johnson, not just with government but as people. If you think about it, we as people should change first. It is only if we change that our government will change. Bottom-up is the only way things ever change. Top-down force never works, because we get the government we deserve. But if we have integrity, and set high standards for others’ integrity, not only will government end up with more integrity, but in our personal lives will be much better, because we will look for integrity in other people as well. That’s why the Our America Initiative logo has the ‘u’ and ‘me’ (as bolded previously) in a different color, to show that it has to start with you and me.

Johnson is supposedly coming out with a book, called the Seven Principles of Good Government. I’ll go over them one by one (they’re not the unabridged versions; they are the shortened versions from the Our America site). They are more like life lessons than they are political.:

1- Seek reality and base all decisions and actions upon it.

Rational thought and decision making. Can you say common sense? Unfortunately, politicians don’t make decisions based on reality. They ignore the facts, and there for embrace things like Keynesian economics and the War on Drugs. That’s why there’s a huge disconnect between the people and politicians on things like the War on Drugs.

2- Be honest to all people all of the time.

Wouldn’t it be nice if more people were like this? Wouldn’t it be especially nice if more politicians were like this? I try to live my life this way, with the exception of things that involve privacy, but I never decieve. When you spend a minute listening to Gary Johnson speak, you know he says what he means and means what he says.

3- Acknowledge your critics, but do what’s right.

Going back to how Gary Johnson says what he means and means what he says, he sticks to his convictions, but is open to the facts. For example, at an Our America event during a Q&A section, a small amount of the questions people would ask him would be responded by ‘I’m not going to pretend to know the answer to that.’ If he doesn’t know all the facts for a specific thing, he’s not going to lie or deceive. He’ll take their advice, and look into the issue himself, coming to a conclusion of what he believes is right. That’s how he got his position on the drug war. He wanted to look at the drug problem and consider legalization as a possible alternative.

4- Determine your goal, develop a plan and then execute it.

He fought against the odds to become governor and he fought against the odds to climb Mt. Everest with a broken leg. He obviously has great strategy that we can all learn from. Hopefully this is laid out further in his book, and can inspire a lot of people.

5- Communicate.

He isn’t touring around the country for nothing. He believes what he is saying needs to be said, and that other people should hear it. We aren’t going to ‘right the fiscal ship’-as Gary often says-without communication.

6- Anything that could be revealed eventually, should be revealed immediately.

Transparency would be nice… try telling that to Washington.

7- Find a job you love and make a difference.

Gary Johnson made a difference, both in his company Big J Enterprises (the name Big J is rumored to come from the slang for a fatty joint hahah) and in his governorship.

Now, Gary Johnson is not perfect. No one is. But, you can get pretty damn close, especially with all that integrity.

Gary Johnson is a rumored 2012 Republican presidential contender. He can’t announce it officially, because Our America is a 501c4 non-profit advocacy committee. But people are keeping their eyes out, because Fred Thompson did the same thing for the ‘08 election. Don’t underestimate him either. Just because he is relatively unknown, does not mean he has no chance. That’s what they said in New Mexico before he served two terms as their governor.

Go to OurAmericaInitiative.com to find out more. Regardless how you feel about the issues, at least respect the man’s character. New Mexico did, and they were 2 to 1 Democrat.

————

Gary Johnson joins KSUN Radio’s Freethought Radio (hosted by yours truly) on Tuesday, October 19th at 8PM Pacific Time, only at ksunradio.com

My name is Alex Fidel. I am 19 years old and attend Sonoma State University as a business major, but I am an [Austrian] econ buff and host my own radio show called Freethought Radio every Tuesday from 8-10PM PST at www.ksunradio.com

My show is mostly music, I am a big metal fan and also a huge jazz-fusion fan. But occasionally I like to shove my libertarian leanings down everyone’s throats, so I will have Gary Johnson on the show October 19th, John Dennis on October 26th, and a mesh between Halloween and the election results on November 2nd.

So I am a libertarian, it’s no secret. I believe in individual rights, that laws should apply equally to all people, and laws like gay marriage bans, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and politicians being able to get away with being tax cheats are totally against individual rights and equal justice.

I’m not a fan of Alex Jones, so it gets a little frustrating when the small handful of people that show up to liberty meetings rapidly turn it into the First Church of Alex Jones. I mean really, if the whole point of libertarianism is that our militarism creates the unintended consequences of terrorism, how can these ‘truthers’ be against our military industrial complex when they think the government ’staged’ 9/11? It doesn’t make any sense. Furthermore, if our government was able to stage the 9/11 attacks, why can’t they properly run Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, Amtrak, USPS, or the DMV? They can’t do anything right; they couldn’t even do ‘Watergate’ right. There is no government conspiracy in 9/11. It was an unintended consequence of our miltary expansion. (If they were efficient enough to do all those things, why cut government? That is the big hole in their logic…) Speaking of inefficiency, the whole reason we ignored the intel we had on the hijackers is because we are so incompetent. Judge Napolitano recently did a thing on FreedomWatch where he exposed the 9/11 commissions’ attempt to cover up their incompetence prior to 9/11, not their involvement. Enough of my anti-conspiracy rant… I’m just tired of seeing infowars ‘inside job’ stuff everywhere. BUT I would never want them to shut up about it, in fact, they should speak louder, because we live in a marketplace of ideas, so as long as we speak non-violently, it’s all good.

So I’m going to be blogging here about current events. I don’t have direct feeds to sources… I can get off my ass and check AP or Reuters once in a while to check all the stuff, but I usually get my current events from Drudge Report or Reason.com’s Hit and Run blog, because they wade through all the extraneous news info and get to the important things. I’m not going to blog about earthquakes or Jonas Brothers news haha. I might blog about music and movies as well. We’ll see.

Advocacy for free speech in China. Excellent. Are you even a communist if you advocate for free speech? Or are you the communist that wants to have his cake and eat it too? You’d never make it in Cuba, El carnicero would be so disappointed in you. You’ve forgotten that “[i]t is criminal to think of individuals!” And for that I salute each of you.

BEIJING – A group of eminent Chinese Communist Party elders has issued a bold call to end the country’s wide-ranging restrictions on free speech, just days after the government reacted angrily to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo.

In an open letter posted online, the retired officials state that although China’s 1982 constitution guarantees freedom of speech, the right is constrained by a host of laws and regulations that should be scrapped.

“This kind of false democracy of affirming in principle and denying in actuality is a scandal in the history of democracy,” said the letter, which was dated Monday and widely distributed by e-mail.

Wang Yongcheng, a retired professor at Shanghai’s Jiaotong University who signed the letter, said it had been inspired by the recent arrest of a journalist who wrote about corruption in the resettlement of farmers for a dam project.

“We want to spur action toward governing the country according to law,” Wang said in a telephone interview.

In other words, they seek a nation of laws not men.

If I appear on vacation it is because my friends are near, and our fellowship begets revelry.

On foreign policy, my wife opined:

[As a nation] Be a Boy Scout – always prepared.

To that I add: walk softly and carry a big stick. Now, America’s got the big stick thing down. And we’ve done all sorts of talking. But we don’t walk softly. Our globally coercive presence, although well intentioned, breeds contempt by those we intend to befriend. Furthermore, no amount of bombs or appeasement will make Islamist terrorists not want to kill us. We must better identify terrorists and make it increasingly hard for them to finance and conceal themselves.

Walking softer will engender less contempt for America among that humans that tacitly enable the terror networks that threaten us. Consider, too, that the alternative includes two wars, troops in 150+ countries, and a secret CIA army. That’s an awfully large footprint, particularly for a nation out of money.

Boy Scouts understand the value of public service and merit – patches are earned, not given. Be a Boy Scout, America.

I’m a fan of Geert Wilders for standing up for freedom of expression in a purportedly liberal country (Netherlands) that is prosecuting him for the non-crime of hate-speech. However, I don’t endorse Wilders’ take on civil liberty, which would essentially restrict the extent to which Muslims can be Muslim (banning the Koran, for instance). I don’t believe in violating classic liberal principles to conserve classic liberal principles. But, then, Wilders’ lives under the threat of multiple Fatwas issued by Neanderthelian Imams born 1000 years too late. So I’d like to give him a pass. But, as a friend pointed out to me, Salman Rushdie has copped more than his share of hate and death threats from Islamists, as well as and intellectual castigation from Islamist-enablers amongst the academic illiterati, and remains true to traditional liberal notions of civil and political liberty. In short, while there’s valid criticism to be levied at Geert Wilders I think that there’s more to admire as he stands fast for expression. So three cheers to Geert Wilders, and non-coercive expression.

If you intend to comment that “hateful” expression should be excluded from civil liberty, strongly consider the following. Expression should only be subject to restraint when it produces an involuntary response in others. Such expression is inherently coercive, and potentially subject to restraint. For instance, shouting “fire” in a crowded theater. Now, Muslims [Islamists, really, read this book and learn the difference] will insist that my posting multiple pictures of Mohammed – for instance here =-o * * * (((:~{> it’s the Starship Enterprise shooting three photons right at Mohammed – produces an involuntary response in Islamists, which is characteristically violent and marked by deadly protests throughout the world. Since the vast majority of non-Islamist humans do not involuntarily react to others’ expression, excusing Islsamists’ unacceptable responses (fatwas, actual murder (e.g. Theo Van Gogh)) as involuntary denies that Islamists possess the same measure of rational faculty as non-Islamist humans. Or, it ascribes greater moral, social, and political significance, to Islamists than to non Islamists. Either you believe Islamists are subhuman, or that they are entitled, by virtue of their rancid ideology, to preferential treatment at the cost of non Islamists’ civil liberty. Probably because you’re terrified they’ll kill you.

Fight or flight. Islamists’ intolerance will not limit my expression. Islamists are human beings possessing as much rational faculty and ability to control their actions as any other homo sapien. Therefore I require Islamists, and every other (myself included), to conform their actions and conduct to societally acceptable standards. Fatwas, death threats, murder, and terrorism, are simply unacceptable responses to any individual’s expression. Particularly expression as beautiful as Theo Van Gogh’s film Submission, which you should watch immediately.

Without further adieu, some expression in support of Geert Wilders:

Yes, it is.

Spot the difference.

My kind of Islamist.

Word:

“Words should be answered with words,” . . . “That’s all we have in a democracy, and if we give that up we will be locked in a tyranny of silence.”

I suggest Republics, not Democracies, because Republics are capable of preserving individual freedom. Now, a true believer in expression: Ezra Levant.

Note: Updated on Oct. 11, 2010.

Excellent letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal.

Arthur Brooks, Edwin Feulner and William Kristol claim that military spending is not the prime driver of our current fiscal crisis, but the Pentagon accounts for 23% of the federal budget (“Peace Doesn’t Keep Itself,” op-ed, Oct. 4). It is inconceivable that this spending should be exempt from scrutiny in a time of soaring deficits.

Rather than Congress constantly writing a blank check, the process of military budgeting should begin with a discussion about security necessities and their costs. That isn’t a discussion that Messrs. Brooks, Feulner and Kristol seem anxious to engage in—unsurprisingly, since all three support the disastrous military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of course, cutting spending without a corresponding reduction in commitments is a recipe for overburdening service members taxed by too frequent deployments to far-flung places. But it is already obvious that most of what America spends on its military—often erroneously labeled “national defense”—really defends others who can and should defend themselves.

It’s time for advocates of free markets and limited government to recognize that a vast military presence around the world is utterly inconsistent with those ideals. If we agree that government intervention domestically often has unintended, harmful consequences, we should recognize that the same principle holds true internationally, in spades. If we believe that the Constitution created a government whose most important duty is to “provide for the common defence” and “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” we should not be so willing to deploy the sharp end of that government’s power in support of those who are not parties to our unique social contract.

The Brooks-Feulner-Kristol approach to military spending amounts to another form of foreign aid, a massive wealth transfer from Americans to non-Americans, helping them finance generous social welfare systems. It is time to get our allies off the dole.

Ed Crane

Christopher Preble

The Cato Institute

Washington

Will someone please tell the political class that it’s insane and contrary to basic notions of individual liberty to expend billions of dollars, and apportion half of the cost judicial and law enforcement resources, to imprisoning millions of individuals who, but for the noxious advent of victimless crimes, would be well regarded entrepreneurs, like Messrs Adams (brewer), Mondavi (vinter), Daniels (distiller), Sherman (tobacco), and Pemberton (original Coca-Cola recipe included Cocaine, and was probably awesome). Instead, the drug war makes pirates of business people and the narco wars are its predictable result.

I met Gary Johnson in San Diego. He drove himself to a modest deli to address a small crowd. He introduced himself as an entrepreneur who believes in individuals and markets. He spoke simply, logically, and briefly. Then he took questions, for twice as long as he spoke.

A characteristically impassioned Libertarian rose and called paltry the particular balance between government and liberty that Gov. Johnson champions. Gov. Johnson listened patiently, and encouraged the young man to continue speaking after several other attendees shouted him down, on account of him being rude. Gov. Johnson listened until the the young man finished articulating his Rothbardian worldview, which is pure freedom. Then, Gov. Johnson smiled and said: “If you ever run for office you’ve got my vote.”

And he meant it, because Gov. Gary Johnson votes for freedom. That’s what he does.

Democracy has proven to give people exactly what they thought they wanted, good and hard. What we’ve gotten, before and since the most recently promised change came, is a political class skilled at coercing the People with their own money. We’ve elected partisans who relish exercising government power over others. Freedom withers.

Gary Johnson reads the Constitution plainly and would reduce government’s scope accordingly. He endeavors to restore diminished individual liberties, believing the Bill of Rights strikes an equitable balance between government and freedom. And his political compass points to individual freedom.

Strongly consider having individual freedom guide your next President. Vote Gary Johnson in 2012.