Posts in "LewRockwell.com"

AndrewWSharp's picture
By Andrew Sharp at 2:58PM

Ron Paul to submit legislation regarding TSA abuses today

UPDATE: Here is the text of Congressman Paul's speech introducing the bill, "The American Traveler Dignity Act."

From the LewRockwell.com blog:

Writes Ron:

I will introduce legislation later today addressing TSA abuses. Look for my floor speech on C-SPAN, probably between 5-6 PM EST.

As the holiday travel season nears, attention on the TSA has become pervasive.  Perhaps there will be some legislative change to come from all the pushback to the new pat down procedures and body scanners.

Bonnie Kristian's picture
By Bonnie Kristian at 12:27PM

Matt Cockerill on LewRockwell.com!

Congratulations, Matt, for getting your Walter Block interview mentioned on LRC -- along with the most favorable mention of YAL from Rockwell himself which I've seen to date!  Here's the post in full:

Here, Matt Cockerill of Young Americans for Liberty interviews our own Walter Block on Murray, the resplendent intellectual and good man who was Mr. Libertarian, an extraordinary and prolific writer, dean of the Austrian School of economics, a revisionist American historian, and a political philosopher of peaceful human relations. Even today, 15 years since his passing, this polymath remains a  figure of contradiction. On one side are all those who appreciate some or all of his work, and with the advent of the internet, that is a vast international army of the young in years and heart. On the other side are those who love the state and the economics of power, not to speak of the historical fables that buttress it.

It was a great honor for me to work so closely with Murray Rothbard for more than 15 years, and what a funny and sweet guy he was, though he never, ever lost sight of the goal of liberty. It didn’t matter who opposed him, or how much money or power they had. It didn’t matter that they kept him on the margins of official academia. He wrote and taught and wrote. Today, he is at the center of the worldwide freedom movement. He was an indomitable fighter, as Walter–who knew him even better than I did–notes. So good for YAL. I should add that Murray was a friend and admirer of Ron Paul’s, and would have applauded a Paulian youth organization. The great libertarian Walter Block stands in this Paulian tradition too, of course. Listen.

Seth Mann's picture
By Seth Mann at 7:16AM

Wise words from Tom Woods...

Via lewrockwell.com and dailypaul.com, Tom Woods says:

Tom Woods

I think it’s a huge mistake to dismiss the Tea Party people just because they’re having Sarah Palin speak at their convention next month.  These people are a diverse lot, and many of them respect Ron Paul.  They know something is wrong, which is more than can be said for most of our fellow Americans, and they are interested in learning.  Tea Party people have come out to several of my speaking events, even co-sponsoring one of them, and I’ll tell you one thing: they read.  Most of them hadn’t heard the case I was making about the Fed and the business cycle before, so they bought copies of Meltdown.  That is a radical book.  How else would I have reached this audience?

Interestingly enough, I was invited to speak at the Tea Party national convention next month, the one that’s received all the attention because of Palin.  I couldn’t make it because my wife’s due date coincides with the event.  But they wanted me to speak about nullification and the 10th Amendment.  Tame for us, maybe, but it’s not nothing.

This is a gigantic movement; why not try to reach them?  I myself was a neocon back in the early 1990s, and I’m sure glad people didn’t write me off.

Bonnie Kristian's picture
By Bonnie Kristian at 5:42AM

Flamingogate

image

A restaurant owner near Baltimore staged the protest you see in the photo above when an $800/year tax was levied by the city on the restaurant's display of a large pink flamingo statue.  Following the protest, the city halved the tax "using different geometry" to measure the bird.  Three things:

1. What the heck is "different geometry," and why wasn't it used in the first place?
2.  Why is the restaurant owner satisfied with this?  He is still paying $400 a year to have a bird statue on his own property.
3.  If there's "different geometry" available, can they different-geomotry that tax all the way down to zero?

Hat tip to LewRockwell.com.

Bonnie Kristian's picture
By Bonnie Kristian at 6:23AM

Making your bed is great, but how exactly does it win wars?

I meant to get this post up yesterday, but never quite got around to it.  Fred Reed recently wrote for LewRockwell.com about the American military and the unfortunate mindsets it reinforces in its members.  Reed begins with a questions:

In re Afghanistan, why, you might ask, is the world’s hugest, expensivest, most begadgeted military unable to defeat a few thousand angry tribesmen armed with AKs and RPGs?

Why, indeed?  Reed attributes the problem to character, noting that the military reenforces all the wrong characteristics, namely submissiveness, conformity, instant and unthinking, unquestioning acceptance of whatever an authority says as truth.  Is this really helpful in our numerous overseas adventures?

This hoopla is not of use in combat. The Taliban seem to be doing rather well. Do you suppose their commanders check their beds to be sure that a quarter will bounce from their blankets?

Reed says no.  Read the rest of the article here to decide for yourself.

Bonnie Kristian's picture
By Bonnie Kristian at 6:23AM

On buying gold

Recently, I've been considering buying gold.  It has topped $1000 per ounce (though you can buy it in very small amounts online, for as little as about $45) and, at the rate we're going, seems likely to keep rising.  It would have been wise, had I been born a lot earlier, but buy gold years ago when the price was significantly lower.

LewRockwell.com has an article today on buying gold -- the advisability of bullion over diamonds; basic coins over those marked up for their historic value; physical gold instead of certificates; and private storage over safety deposit boxes easily accessable by Uncle Sam (yes, even in Switzerland).

The piece doesn't explain everything one would need to know about buying gold, but it's a good start.  Especially because "[t]he dollar is in huge trouble and is on its way to reaching its intrinsic value, which is very bullish for gold."

Matt Cockerill's picture
By Matt Cockerill at 1:06PM

YAL Interviews Stephan Kinsella!

Mises Institute legal scholar Stephan Kinsella and I had a great discussion this past weekend about what the practical ramifications of a truly libertarian society would be. Please view our YouTube discussion below and tell me what you think:


This is the first video; click through to YouTube and you'll find the link to the next part in each segment's description.

Update I- Audio quality definitely leads a lot to be desired. I'm sorry if that detracts from anyone's enjoyment of an otherwise good exchange-- It will be taken care of for future interviews.

Update II- Thanks to Mr. Kinsella for the shoutout on LewRockwell.com

Bonnie Kristian's picture
By Bonnie Kristian at 11:34AM

76 Reasons to Own a Gun

Here's the whole article, and here are a few of my favorites:

1.  The simple act of having a gun is its own best use.  Like a battleship parked off the coast its mere presence changes the dynamic of the situation without having to fire a single shot.  By having a gun you become too dangerous to your predators.  Criminals interviewed in jail say they don’t want anything to do with an armed civilian.  That change in my human predators is exactly what I want to accomplish.

2. A right exercised is a right retained.

4. You detest American gun laws based on 1938 Nazi weapons laws. (JFPO)

6. Switzerland is armed to the teeth with virtually no crime (Stephen Holbrook).

13. We call the police because they have guns, not pens to document what already happened to us.


Read more here
Elliot Engstrom's picture
By Elliot Engstrom at 4:48PM

Patriotism ≠ Statism and Militarism

It seems that many people tend to misunderstand the true meaning of patriotism.  It should be no surprise to find Vice President Joe Biden as one of the louder members of the statist/militaristic faction of "patriotism."  Speaking at an American naturalization ceremony in Iraq for American soldiers who were becoming citizens July 4, Biden made some typically statist remarks.  CNN reports:

"We did [the naturalization ceremony] in Saddam's palace and I can think of nothing better.  That S.O.B. is rolling over in his grave right now," Biden said of the former Iraqi dictator, who was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and executed by the Iraqi government in 2006.

Standing in the shadow of a 50-foot American flog, the service members recited the Oath of Allegiance and the Pledge of Allegiance in the rotunda of the Al-Faw Palace, now part of the U.S.'s Camp Victory complex in Baghdad.

This, my friends, is NOT patriotism.  The previous statement then obviously begs the question -- what is patriotism?  Robert Higgs over at LewRockwell.com has an interesting answer.

Bill Clinton once felt moved to scold the people who took offense at some of the government's especially monstrous recent crimes by saying, "You can't love your country and hate your government." Au contraire, Slick Willy. I am living proof that you can indeed. I do so in every waking minute of every day, and sometimes in my sleep, too. To be perfectly frank, I have trouble in understanding how any decent, halfway honest person who loves America cannot hate its governments, inasmuch as by their laws, their judicial decisions, their regulations, and their daily conduct they prove themselves a standing reproach to every ideal embraced by the men who shed their blood to establish this country's independence from the British Empire.

...loving America has nothing whatsoever to do with loving its governments and their actions. Moreover, everything about this country that truly warrants a free person's love is antithetical to the operations of its governments...The good that this country embraces does need defense, of course, but the protection it most urgently requires is defense against those who falsely purport to be its guardians and saviors.

Read the rest here.


Read more here
Bonnie Kristian's picture
By Bonnie Kristian at 7:48AM

Government Safety Nets

Gary North writes on LewRockwell.com today about the modern perception of government as our safety net, our back-up plan, if you will, should anything really serious go wrong.

The problem with this situation is twofold (that's a huge understatement, of course, but bear with me): first, this concept of government as safety net is grossly abused by government itself, used as a tool for blatant and unwarranted expansion -- expansion which is unjust even if a majority of voters want it to occur.  North explains:

This faith in safety nets has sustained men's faith in the expansion of central governments all over the world. Voters have called for guaranteed retirement and guaranteed medical care for the aged. Now this is about to be extended in America to the poor through a system of national health insurance. The voters are supportive.

The second major problem is the horrific misallocation of trust which takes place when government is viewed in this benevolent, paternal manner:

For two thousand years, Western man had faith in God, in private charities, in local churches, and above all the family to provide safety nets. But he has steadily surrendered his faith in all of these in favor of the state. The state is seen as a healer. It is seen as the provider of reliable safety nets.

Government may arguably be a necessary evil, but it is still an evil.  Randolph Bourne observed that "War is the health of the state."  This hardly seems like the sort of organization we would want caring for our elderly, healing our sick, and educating our children....right?

Read more here.


Read more here