"Civil, Rights, Action!" Responding to Liberal Attacks on Libertarianism

A member of the New York City Campaign For Liberty published a response to an article that appeared on the Huffington Post a few days ago. I felt like it was worth publishing here for all the kiddos to read to help better defend themselves as you all are no doubt being asked constantly about the Civil Rights Act as it pertains to libertarianism.

Before you read his response, I felt like this quote by Fredrick Douglass basically sums up his entire argument:

"In regard to the colored people, there is always more that is benevolent, I perceive, than just, manifested towards us. What I ask for the negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice. The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us... I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! ... And if the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! ... your interference is doing him positive injury."

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Speaking Out Again

Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey, is speaking up again. He is one of many prominent libertarian-minded voices that has decided to enter the spotlight and open himself up for criticism. This time it's on the subject of government involvement in climate change and Mackey's disapproval of current proposals.  This comes despite his Whole Foods stores' notoriety of being proactive in the environmental movement. However, according to Mackey, the climate change hype is not supported by sound science. 

An article by an independent blogger was published on the Huffington Post yesterday admonishes Mackey's nerve to take issue with climate change science. He notes how he's often fought for Mackey in defense of Whole Foods, but after Mackey's lashing out against universal health care and now climate change, he's lost all patience. 

Read the article here.

I chose to engage with a few commenters at the Huffington Post. Read a few of my comments after the jump. Will others follow John Mackey's lead? I hope so. 

How well has Obama Kept Foreign Policy Promises?

Huffington Post posed a series of questions on Monday to people in the "international community" to examine and think of Obama's performance to date -- primarily his foreign policy -- now that we have approached the one year mark since the election. Now, I assume they were surveying those outside of the U.S. but what does the international community really mean? I took it upon myself to give an account. They were supposed to publish the most "thoughtful" responses yesterday, but after scouring their site I could not find anything. No worries, I have an outlet here. 

Is this even surprising anymore?

Remember when the tobacco companies were funding their own "studies" done by "experts" that claimed that smoking was not carcinogenic. Well according to the Huffpost it appears the Fed might just be taking some strategies out of their playbooks:

The Federal Reserve's Board of Governors employs 220 PhD economists and a host of researchers and support staff, according to a Fed spokeswoman. The 12 regional banks employ scores more. (HuffPost placed calls to them but was unable to get exact numbers.) The Fed also doles out millions of dollars in contracts to economists for consulting assignments, papers, presentations, workshops, and that plum gig known as a "visiting scholarship." A Fed spokeswoman says that exact figures for the number of economists contracted with weren't available. But, she says, the Federal Reserve spent $389.2 million in 2008 on "monetary and economic policy," money spent on analysis, research, data gathering, and studies on market structure; $433 million is budgeted for 2009.