Austrian Rockfest and Bunkbeds

Ok, so maybe you'll never catch Lew Rockwell fanning flames on top of his Jackson, and maybe Thomas DiLorenzo prefers Bach to Lightning Bolt, but you can easily catch them raging against the "tax feeders" and illuminating the Keynsian phantom-recovery at the 2010 Supporters Summit on October 8-9 at the Mises Institute in Auburn, AL. 

The theme this year is "The Economic Recovery:  Washington's Big Lie" and will host an incredible line-up of leading Austrian scholars including:

• Doug French
• Mark Thornton 
• Robert Murphy
• Gary North
• Lew Rockwell 
• Peter Klein 
• Thomas DiLorenzo
• Robert Higgs
• Jim Rogers

Students may apply to attend the Supporters Summit for free through a scholarship offered by the Mises Institute.  To learn more about the event and apply for the scholarship (information at the bottom of the page), go here. 

And finally, for those who are accepted and would like to defer the cost of a hotel for the weekend, the Auburn University YAL chapter has a number of members who have agreed to bunk other YAL attendees for free.  Contact us at auburnyal@gmail.com to make arrangements or with any questions.  This is only six weeks away, so the sooner you can give us some word the better.

"Blessed be the Warmakers"?

If someone is a devout  Christian, or merely a libertarian believer in natural rights and individual responsibility, he can't deny the logic of  Laurence Vance's arguments on military service. Vance's belief that enlisting is morally wrong is uncomfortable, but the unadulterated  truth rarely is easy to swallow. Still, it is my conviction that  pure truth, bereft of disclaimers and sugar-coating,  is the only way to change minds. This is  especially important when talking to  fellow young people considering military service. If members of  YAL aren't going to speak the truth, no other group of young people will.

If you know of anyone who is thinking about enlisting, I'd recommend showing he or she this  great and highly relevant interview of Vance by Lew Rockwell:

Assumptions make an A$$ out of you and me

Prior to one of my interviews, I failed to live up to the journalistic  standards  that   the "real" media pretends to abide by. Specifically, I came into an interview with  Cato Senior Scholar Tom Palmer several months back with negative preconceptions. I knew he had been a critic of Lew Rockwell and the Mises Institute and an advocate of military intervention in Afghanistan. I also felt cynical about Cato's commitment to libertarian principles.

In the last few months, I have gotten to know Dr. Palmer better, and realized my assumptions about him couldn't have been more wrong.

Hey, Cato -- How about that Friedman Prize!

Liberty activist Michael Maresco suggests on his Facebook page that Ron Paul receive the Cato Institute's annual "Friedman prize for advancing liberty." Considering Cato's tentative relationship with Ron Paul-type libertarians, and some downright vitriolic exchanges between excellent libertarian scholars from both the Mises and Cato Institues, giving the high-profile, unequivocally principled Paul the award would not only be more than justified, but helpful for mending some damaged fences.

Now, this shouldn't (seriously) be interpreted as a knock on Cato or Catoites. I'm well aware that the "feud" between the two libertarian camps is long-standing, I respect Cato's immense and principled contributions to liberty, and understand that they're two sides to every story. But unless Cato's New Year's Resolution is to cling onto old grudges and secure Beltway cocktail party invites, they ought to reach out to give Paul the Friedman Award to reach out to the growing constituency of anti-state, anti-war, anti-PC libertarians.