Silliness at LGF

"Will the people who screamed for Van Jones’ resignation based on unsubstantiated accusations that he was a Truther now scream just as loud about Pat Buchanan?"

Absolutely I will. I call for the immediate resignation of Patrick J. Buchanan from his position as czar of what? Oh yeah, nothing. And how much federal money is he in charge of disbursing? Oh yeah, none. So yes, Patrick J. Buchanan, I call on you to step down, lest you tarnish the entire conservative movement that you're not really a part of anyway.

A side note, Pat Buchanan's ideas have very little to do with the principles of conservatism. Socially he might think so, I don't. And economically, if anything he's a populist, authoritarian lefty. He's a protectionist, he's xenophobic, he's a lot like Lou Dobbs. That is nothing remotely approaching a liberty-minded, optimistic conservative, but it's probably enough of a subject for a separate post. And that's all aside from the fact Mr. Buchanan is seemingly nuts (Holocaust denier, 9/11 truth promoter, etc.).

So if I see him anywhere near a position remotely close to the importance of where Van Jones was, I'll be calling for his resignation, along with the resignation of whoever put him there. I will also eat my hat if anyone's actually that dumb.

I really don't understand how exactly guilt by association works over at LGF, other than to note that it applies to most everyone but Obama. Which is sort of too bad, I think Mr. Johnson is probably incredibly intelligent, and obviously a talented researcher.

Unruly - I'll take it

unruly
adj., -li·er, -li·est.
Difficult or impossible to discipline, control, or rule.

Yes, that sounds just about right, since we are not to be 'ruled' in the first place.

Obama, Student of History

“IT WAS ISLAM… that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed.”

Well, it sounds pleasant enough. But even a cursory examination of the Wikipedia articles on algebra, the compass, pens, and the germ theory of disease reveals that not one of those four things is settled fully, and the compass is just incorrect.

Algebra goes back to non-Islamic Baylonians. The compass may likely have gone back to the Olmecs, and if not them then the Chinese. Again, not Islam. The pen was not a new idea, being thousands of years old when the ink reservoir was first added to the implement itself. The idea of germs spreading disease originated in the Hindu world.

But let's say he is 100% correct on the facts, he is a student of history, as he tells us in the speech. For one thing, those Wikipedia entries can be cleaned up now. After that, he'd still be wrong, from the first sentence. It was not Islam that did anything. It was an individual. It was a person, with a mind-- not a belief system.

Now I Get It.

Finally I've put it together:

Sarah Palin: Republican + Motherhood = Unthinkable

Rahm Emanuel: Democrat + Fatherhood = Unquestionable

“You’re wasting your time,” Emanuel said. “I’m not going to say a word to you. I’m going to do this with my children. Dont do that. I’m a father. I have two kids. I’m not going to do it.”

Asked, “Can’t you do both?” Emanuel replied, “I’m not as capable as you. I’m going to be a father. I’m allowed to be a father,” and he pushed the reporter’s digital recorder away.

This is only the most recent example, Michelle wielded her kids like a club with the infamous, "You know, this conversation doesn’t help my kids." And it won't be the last example either.

This will be a fun four years yet. These people are beyond shameless.

Will Anyone Remember Obama's Computer Gaffe?

We've had literal years of ridicule for Bush misspeaking and saying 'the Internets' once. Is there an Internet2? Sure, but he had obviously slipped up on the common parlance. I doubt a day's gone by since then that Slashdot hasn't had a reference to it.

Same with Ted Stevens and the Internet as a series of 'tubes'. Again, while not technically that far off, and while a 'fat pipe' is often referred to for fast connections, this was grounds for endless scorn. Ted Stevens deserves scorn, but he deserves it for being a crook, not for a comment on 'tubes'.

So when Barack Obama, legendary Harvard intellect and orator without parallel says, "The same way the computer was originally invented by a bunch of government scientists who were trying to figure out, for defense purposes, how to communicate," will anyone even notice? Sure, maybe he slipped up. But this statement is far, far more egregious than either of the two above. Will it enter the mainstream? I doubt it.

Why not? Once again, it's never funny to criticize The One. In fact, the BBC is already painting it in the most favorable light possible. Again, the meaning is not what matters. I know what he probably thinks he meant. It's just no one notices that the guy can't speak without his prompter.

Was 'The Happening' Even Environmental?

I saw it last night, and I just didn't get as upset as I normally would by the subject matter. It was definitely presented in a more Twilight Zone manner than preachy one, and I found the focus of the movie to be more on the creepiness of visuals of mass suicides and on the relationship between the main characters.

As for the environmental message, I don't know. The plants totally blew away some of the most reliably blue-state states on the map, and then headed for Paris of all places. Maybe Nature was tired of being disrespected by environmentalists as not being able to take care of itself and decided to shut some of them up.



Here's a map, the 'event' didn't even touch any red states, it was New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. I didn't see any loggers going down, and the protagonists escaped in the most gas-hogging vehicle in the movie, a roughly 10 mpg, early 80s Jeep Grand Wagoneer. The plant-whisperer guy got taken out as well.

All of that is in jest obviously, but if you think you'd be irritated by any message in the movie, I would say just watch it to watch it and enjoy the 'what if' aspect of it. It's not great, but it's got some memorable moments.

To Republicans Not Voting For McCain

I am exhausted listening to 'pricinpled' conservatives, and the vast majority of talk radio, bad-mouthing the idea of voting for McCain. The reasons range from "he doesn't respect us" to "bring on the bad times, then blame the Dems." That charts out a territory roughly from 'hypersensitive' and 'immature' on up to 'idiot'.

The primaries are over. Were there perfect choices? Not really. Were there good ones? Yeah, in my opinion. Would I take all of the top ones over Obama or Hillary? Yes.

The thing about teaching the voters a lesson by electing Obama is, we've got to live through those 4-8 years. I'm not interested in paying higher taxes, in socializing medicine, in waiting out more liberal judges to retire. I'm not interested in the Obamas 'healing my soul'.

John McCain is reliably for lowering taxes and earmarks. For those that claim to care, he's pro-life and anti-gay-marriage. You want to throw those positives in the toilet? Have at it. But don't expect anyone to listen to your childish demands next time around, just go join Buchanan or the Constitution Party and take your tears and diapers with you. I'm interested in winning, in improving, and living.

Does it take a Carter to get a Reagan?

Short answer: No.

If you actually believe in limited government, in allowing people to reach their potential and keep their work's rewards, this argument is just ridiculous. In essence, you are saying that Reagan's (or general conservative/libertarian) ideas are only truly attractive when looked at from some of the worst years since World War II.

Needless to say, I don't think that's the case. Limiting government is attractive, both in a practical and idealistic sense, at any time, compared to any other form of government.

If you think Reagan's great only when compared to Carter, I don't think you really know the meaning of the word 'great'.

Ron Paul Blackout Continues

So a record in Internet fundraising is set yesterday, around $4 million dollars for Ron Paul. But neither RedState.com, Hugh Hewitt, nor Little Green Footballs takes any notice? Maybe they aren't totally representative, but come on... Especially on Hugh Hewitt's side, I would hope maybe Patrick Ruffini might have at least some kind of take on it.

It is kind of hilarious though, to read back through how his support has been dismissed as a 'spam bot' campaign. I guess if you just don't acknowledge it it isn't real, but I thought that was how we got voted out in the first place.

Obama is Clueless

“We’ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money,” Obama said. “If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?”

And likely the kid would, voluntarily. But that's not at all what Barack Obama is referring to. If Obama was being honest, he would drop the 'friend', he would drop the 'give', well actually-- he'd drop the whole thing, as it's all a lie.

I don't know what kind of moron thinks taxed redistribution of income is anywhere near the same universe as voluntarily sharing food with a hungry friend. But whatever kind of moron it is, Obama is one.

Laissez Faire Books, RIP

I have read the Laissez Faire Books is going to be shutting down. I work for a company that does business with them, so I have access to a list of books that they offer. I am not sure that it is complete, but just about everything on the list is worth reading.

The links lead to a price comparison for each book. I know it's ridiculously long, but it makes it fun to randomly click somewhere for a book to read. Enjoy, and thank you to LFB for such a great service.

Here goes:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Jerome Adler

Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Discovery of Freedom Man's Struggle Against Authority by R. Wilder Lane

Atheism The Case Against God by George H. Smith

Passion of Ayn Rand by Barbara Branden

What Every Investor Should Know About Austrian Economics and the Hard Money Movement by Mark Skousen

Judgment Day My Years With Ayn Rand by Nathaniel Branden

Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology by Ayn Rand

Prosperity Versus Planning How Government Stifles Economic Growth by David Osterfeld

Mises An Annotated Bibliography A Comprehensive Listing of Books and Articles by and About Ludwig Von Mises by Bettina Bien Greaves

Freedom of Informed Choice: FDA Versus Nutrient Supplements by Pearson, Durk

The God of the Machine by I. Paterson

From Magna Carta to the Constitution Documents in the Struggle for Liberty by David L. Brooks

A Man of Principle Essays in Honor of Hans F. Sennholz by John W. Robbins

How the West Grew Rich The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World by Nathan Rosenberg

Market for Liberty by Morris Tannehill

Resampling: The New Statistics by Julian Lincoln Simon

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Liberty and the Great Libertarians by Charles T. Sprading

The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden

None of the Above by Sy Leon

True Odds How Risk Affects Your Everyday Life by James Walsh

Community Technology by Karl Hess

Ending Affirmative Action The Case for Colorblind Justice by Terry Eastland

Free to Try by Hans F. Sennholz

Venetian song. by Kay Nolte Smith

Laissez-Faire Banking by Kevin Dowd

Explorations In Economic Liberalism by GEoffrey Wood

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

People's Pharmacy by Joe Graedon

Net Gain Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities by Arthur Armstrong

Human Action A Treatise on Economics by Ludwig Von Mises

Mortal Peril Our Inalienable Right to Health Care? by Richard A. Epstein

Breaking the Environmental Policy Gridlock by Terry L. Anderson

Insanity The Idea and Its Consequences by Thomas Szasz

The State by Franz Oppenheimer

The State by Franz Oppenheimer

No Law Against Mercy Jailed for Sheltering a Child from the State by Rachel B. Lapp

Taxing Choice The Predatory Politics of Fiscal Discrimination by William F. Shughart

Taking Responsibility Self-Reliance and the Accountable Life by Nathaniel Branden

Facts, Not Fear Teaching Children About the Environment by Michael Sanera

On Liberty Vindication of the Rights of Woman by John Stuart Mill

The Prince/Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by MacHiavelli

Communist Manifesto Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand by Douglas & Rasmussen, Douglas Den Uyl

The Other Americans How Immigrants Renew Our Country, Our Economy and Our Values by Joel Millman

Release 2.0 A Design for Living in the Digital Age by Esther Dyson

Those Dirty Rotten Taxes The Tax Revolts That Built America by Charles Adams

How to Get Happily Published by Judith Appelbaum

Less Than Zero The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy by George Selgin

Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men A History of the American Civil War by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel

Ayn Rand A Sense of Life The Companion Book by Michael Paxton

Going Digital! A Guide to Policy in the Digital Age by William A. Niskanen

The Roosevelt Myth by John T. Flynn

Transformation The Promise and Politics of Empowerment by Clint Bolick

New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources by H. L. Mencken

Regulating Financial Markets A Critique and Some Proposals by George J. Benston

The Right to Home School A Guide to the Law on Parents Rights in Education by Christopher J. Klicka

The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang

The Twelve-Year Sentence: Radical Views on Compulsory Education by Boaz, David

The Twelve-Year Sentence by William F. Rickenbacker

Guilt, Blame, and Politics by Allan Levite

Letters of Ayn Rand by Ayn Rand

The End of Money And the Struggle for Financial Privacy by Richard W. Rahn

Who Rules America The People Vs. the Political Class by Eric O'Keefe

Cyber Rights Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age by Mike Godwin

Real Federalism Why It Matters, How It Could Happen by Michael S. Greve

The Mocker by Steve Ditko

Speaking of George Gilder by Frank Gregorsky

Ayn Rand's Marginalia Her Critical Comments on the Writings of over 20 Authors by Ayn Rand

The Fuzzy Future From Society and Science to Heaven in a Chip by Bart Kosko

Crossing by Deirdre N. McCloskey

Addiction Is a Choice by Jeffrey Schaler Ph.D.

Building Regulation, Market Alternatives, and Allodial Policy by John Cobin

Freedom in Chains The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen by James Bovard

Actual Innocence Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted by Jim Dwyer

The Golden Globe by John Varley

Monopoly Politics by James C. Miller III

Thrust for Freedom An Introduction to Volitional Science by Andrew J. Galambos

Genesis by Poul Anderson

Days of Obligation An Argument With My Mexican Father by Richard Rodriguez

Home and Work Negotiating Boundaries Through Everyday Life by Christena E. Nippert-Eng

Minds, Machines & Evolution by James Hogan

What Art Is The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand by Louis Torres

Gesundheit, Dummy The Best of Baloo by Rex F. May

Cutting Green Tape Toxic Pollutants, Environmental Regulation and the Law by Richard L. Stroup

Harnessing Complexity Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier by Michael D. Cohen

Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand by Mimi Reisel Gladstein

An Enemy of the State The Life of Murray N. Rothbard by Justin Raimondo

From the Fountainhead to the Future: And Other Essays on Art and Excellence by York, Alexandra

Antidote Essays against the Socialist Indian State by Sauvik Chakraverti

Harmonizing Sentiments The Declaration of Independence and the Jeffersonian Idea of Self-Government by Hans L. Eicholz

A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell

Telecosm How Infinite Bandwidth Will Revolutionize Our World by George Gilder

Roots of Freedom A Primer on Modern Liberty by John W. Danford

A Force More Powerful A Century of Nonviolent Conflict by Peter Ackerman

Regulation Without the State by Colin Robinson

Egalitarianism As A Revolt Against Nature And Other Essays by Murray N. Rothbard

Trust on Trial How the Microsoft Case Is Reframing the Rules of Competition by Richard B. McKenzie

Genome The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley

Faster The Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick

The Teacher Unions How They Sabotage Educational Reform and Why by Myron Lieberman

Why Atheism? by George H. Smith

A Student's Guide to Economics by Paul Heyne

More Guns, Less Crime Understanding Crime and Gun-Control Laws by John R. Lott Jr.

The Psychology of Self-Esteem A Revolutionary Approach to Self-Understanding That Launched a New Era in Modern Psychology by Nathaniel Branden Branden

The Homeschooling Revolution by Isabel Lyman

The Future of Financial Privacy

Surthrival Guide for Under 18ers by Mark Feest

The Founders' Constitution by Philip Kurland

The Government Vs. Erotica The Siege of Adam & Eve by Philip D. Harvey

The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand Truth and Toleration in Objectivism by David Kelley

Rebel Code (The Inside Story of Linux and the Open Source Revolution) by Glyn Moody

Tethered Citizens Time to Repeal the Welfare State by Sheldon Richman

Miss Liberty's Guide to Film and Video Movies for the Libertarian Millennium by Jon Osborne

Think Free to Live Free A Political Burnout's Guide to Life, Activism and Everything by Claire Wolfe

The Changing Fortunes of Economic Liberalism Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by David Henderson

Anti-Liberalism 2000 The Rise of New Millennium Collectivism by G.C. Harcourt

The End of Privacy by Charles Sykes

Fool's Errands America's Recent Encounters With Nation Building by Roger W. Fontaine

The Ceo of the Sofa by P. J. O'Rourke

Human Rights & the U.S. Drug War by Chris Conrad

Cosm by Gregory Benford

Armed New Perspectives on Gun Control by Gary Kleck

Njal's Saga by Robert Cook

Egil's Saga by Paul Edwards

The Essays A Selection by Michel E. De Montaigne

Origin Of Species by Charles Robert Darwin

Baghdad Without a Map And Other Misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz

The Einstein Syndrome Bright Children Who Talk Late by Thomas Sowell

Germs Biological Weapons and America's Secret War by Judith Miller

Ayn Rand and Business by Theodore B. Kinni

Breaking The Pattern The 5 Principles You Need To Remodel Your Life by Charles S. Platkin

Secrets from an Inventor's Notebook by Maurice Kanbar

Invasion of Privacy How to Protect Yourself in the Digital Age by Michael Hyatt

The Ten Things You Can't Say in America by Larry Elder

Lectures on the Relation Between Law and Public Opinion in England During the Nineteenth Century by Albert V. Dicey

School Reform The Critical Issues by Williamson M. Evers

Martha Washington Goes to War by Dave Gibbons

Liberation by Oppression A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry by Thomas Stephen Szasz

Gold Wars The Battle Against Sound Money As Seen from a Swiss Perspective by Ferdinand Lips

Power of Economic Thinking by Not Available

Showdown Confronting Bias, Lies, and the Special Interests That Divide America by Larry Elder

Exiting the Balkan Thicket

Napoleon A Penguin Life by Paul Johnson

Personal Character and National Destiny by Harold B. Jones

Space The Free-Market Frontier by Edward L Hudgins

The Rule of Lawyers How the New Litigation Elite Threatens America's Rule of Law by Walter K. Olson

Government America's No. 1 Growth Industry How the Relentless Growth of Government Is Impoverishing America by Stephen Moore

Diversity The Invention of a Concept by Peter Wood

Collapse of a Dream Social Effects of Economics in India and the World by Rayasam Prasad

The Bias Against Guns Why Almost Everything You'Ve Heard About Gun Control Is Wrong by John R. Lott

The Commanding Heights The Battle for the World Economy by Daniel Yergin

Teach Your Own The John Holt Book of Homeschooling by John Holt

Feynman Lectures on Physics (volume20) by Richard Phillip Feynman

Dependent on D.C The Rise of Federal Control over the Lives of Ordinary Americans by Charlotte Twight

Tethered Citizens Time to Repeal the Welfare State by Sheldon Richman

To Begin the World Anew The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders by Bernard Bailyn

Lafayette by Harlow Giles Unger

Government Creep What the Government Is Doing That You Don't Know About by Philip D. Harvey

The Illusion of Victory America in World War I by Thomas Fleming

What's Yours Is Mine Open Access and the Rise of Infrastructure Socialism by Adam Theirer

The Liberal Tide from Tyranny to Liberty by Jim Peron

Liberty, Security, and the War on Terrorism by Richard M. Ebeling

Terrorism And Tyranny Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil by James Bovard

Adventures in Legal Land by Marc Stevens

Economic Freedom of the World 2003 Annual Report by James D. Gwartney

Bioevolution How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World by Michael Fumento

Whatever Happened to Justice? by Richard J. Maybury

Art A New History by Paul Johnson

Origin of the American Revolution 1759-1766 by Bernhard Knollenberg

Saving Capitalism From The Capitalists Unleashing The Power Of Financial Markets To Create Wealth And Spread Opportunity by Raghuram Rajan

The Good Old Days--They Were Terrible! by Otto L. Bettmann

The Seven Myths of Gun Control by Richard Poe

Breach Of Trust How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders by John Hart

Agricultural Policy and the Environment by Roger E. Meiners

The Grounds and Limits of Political Obligation by Emile Capriotti

Growth of the American Revolution, 1766-1775 by Bernhard Knollenberg

Words to the Wise A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary by Thomas Szasz

National Identification Systems Essays in Opposition by Wendy McElroy

Just Get Out of the Way How Government Can Help Business in Poor Countries by Robert E. Anderson

Weeping by Shelly Reuben

Mugged by the State Outrageous Government Assaults on Ordinary People and Their Property by Randall Fitzgerald

How to Be Invisible The Essential Guide to Protecting Your Personal Privacy, Your Assets, and Your Life by J. J. Luna

Financial Reckoning Day Surviving The Soft Depression Of The 21st Century by Bill Bonner

Ex America The 50th Anniversary of the People's Pottage by Garet Garrett

The Real Lincoln A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War by Thomas J. Dilorenzo

Commerce, Culture, and Liberty Readings on Capitalism Before Adam Smith by Henry C. Clark

Faith in Freedom Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practices by Thomas Stephen Szasz

Operation Hollywood How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies by David L. Robb

Ottoman Centuries The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire by Kinross

The Skeptic The Life of H.L. Mencken by Terry Teachout

Bad Trip How the War Against Drugs Is Destroying America by Joel Miller

Economy and Virtue by Dennis O'Keefe

Abuse Of Power How The Government Misuses Eminent Domain by STEVEN GREENHUT

Economic Freedom of the World 2004 Annual Report by James D. Gwartney

The Limits of Civic Activism Cautionary Tales on the Use of Politics by Robert Weissberg

Shakedown How Corporations, Government, And Trial Lawyers Abuse The Judicial Process by Robert A. Levy

A Practical Guide to Winning the War on Terrorism by Adam M. Garfinkle

The Universal Hunger For Liberty Why the Clash of Civilizations Is Not Inevitable by Michael Novak

Gun Laws of America Every Federal Gun Law on the Books With Plain English Summaries by Alan Korwin

Hard America, Soft America Competition Vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future by Michael Barone

Turn Neither to the Right Nor to the Left A Thinking Christian's Guide to Politics And Public Policy by D. Eric Schansberg

Betrayal How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics by Linda Chavez

Africa Unchained The Blueprint for Africa's Future by George B.N. Ayittey

Sowing The Wind Essays And Articles On Popular Economic Policies That Make Matters Worse by Hans F. Sennholz

Enlightened Democracy The Case For The Electoral College by Tara Ross

Perilous Times Free Speech In Wartime From The Sedition Act Of 1798 To The War On Terrorism by Geoffrey R. Stone

State Of Fear by Michael Crichton

Creating Equal My Fight Against Race Preferences by Ward Connerly

Wilson's War How Woodrow Wilson's Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and World War ii by Jim Powell

Against All Enemies Inside America's War On Terror by Richard A. Clarke

Bubbles and How To Survive Them by John P. Calverley

Noble Vision by Lagreca

Public Schools, Public Menace How Public Schools Lie to Parents And Betray Our Children (volume1) by Joel Turtel

No Place To Hide by Robert O'Harrow

For Us, The Living A Comedy Of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein

Bound For Canaan The Underground Railroad And The War For The Soul Of America by Fergus M. Bordewich

Ayn Rand And Song Of Russia Communism And Anti-communism In 1940s Hollywood by Robert Mayhew

The Republican Revolution 10 Years Later Smaller Government Or Business As Usual? by Chris Edwards

Cato Handbook On Policy by David Boaz

Christianity and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State by Laurence M. Vance

Big Fat Liars How Politicians, Corporations, And The Media Use Science And Statistics To Manipulate The Public by Morris E. Chafetz

Varieties Of Conservatism In America by Peter Berkowitz

Vindication A Life Of Mary Wollstonecraft by Lyndall Gordon

Breaking Free Public School Lessons and the Imperative of School Choice by Sol Stern

Hoodwinked How Intellectual Hucksters Have Hijacked American Culture by Jack Cashill

Smut A Sex Industry Insider (And Concerned Father) Says Enough Is Enough by Gil Reavill

Thomas Jefferson Author of America by Christopher Hitchens

Hot Commodities How Anyone Can Invest Profitably In The World's Best Market by Jim Rogers

The Organization of Inquiry by Gordon Tullock

Citizen Of The Galaxy Library Edition by Robert A. Heinlein

The Tenth Man The Great Joke (Which Made Lazarus Laugh) by Wu Wei Wei

Vienna & Chicago, Friends or Foes? A Tale of Two Schools of Free-Market Economics by Mark Skousen

Sandstorm Policy Failure In The Middle East by Leon Hadar

The Narnian The Life And Imagination Of C. S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs

Tax Revolt The Rebellion Against An Overbearing, Bloated, Arrogant, And Abusive Government by Phil Valentine

After Enron Lessons For Public Policy by William A. Niskanen

The Closing Of The Western Mind The Rise Of Faith And The Fall Of Reason by Charles Freeman

The Naked Crowd Reclaiming Security And Freedom In An Anxious Age by Jeffrey Rosen

How Capitalism Saved America The Untold History Of Our Country, From The Pilgrims To The Present by Thomas Dilorenzo

Underexposed What If Radiation Is Actually Good for You? by Ed Hiserodt

Spychips How Government And Major Corporations Are Tracking Your Every Move by Katherine Albrecht

Economic Freedom Of The World 2005 Annual Report by James D. Gwartney

Insatiable Government and Other Old-Right Commentaries, 1923-1950

Making Great Decisions in Business and Life by David R. Henderson Ph.D.

Meltdown The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, And the Media by Patrick J. Michaels

Attention Deficit Democracy by James Bovard

Downsizing the Federal Goverment by Chris Edwards

Something for Nothing The All-consuming Desire That Turns the American Dream into a Social Nightmare by Brian Tracy

Size Matters How Big Government Puts the Squeeze on America's Families, Finances, And Freedom (And Limits the Pursuit of Happiness) by Joel Miller

America's Coming War with China A collision course over Taiwan by Ted Galen Carpenter

Basic Principles of Economic Value by Eugen Von Bohm Bawerk

No Place To Hide by Robert O'Harrow

Creators From Chaucer And Durer to Picasso And Disney by Paul Johnson

FDRs Folly How Roosevelt And His New Deal Prolonged The Great Depression by Jim Powell

Government without Taxes Operating For-Profit and Paying Dividends to Its Owners the Constitution for Capitalism by Donald Kirchinger

The Last Free Man in America Meets the Synthetic Subversion (volume2) by Gatewood Galbraith

Homeland Security Scams by James T. Bennett

Street Smart Competition, Entrepreneurship, And the Future of Roads by Mary E. (FWD) Peters

The Constitution in Exile How The Federal Government Has Seized Power By Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land by Andrew P. Napolitano

The Global War on Your Guns Inside the U.N. Plan to Destroy the Bill of Rights by Wayne Lapierre

The Early Ayn Rand A Selection from Her Unpublished Fiction by Ayn Rand

The White Man's Burden Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill And So Little Good by William Easterly

Identity Crisis How Identification Is Overused And Misunderstood by Jim Harper

Will the Boat Sink the Water? The Life of China's Peasants by Chen Guidi

Life, Liberty, And Happiness An Optimist Manifesto by Frank S. Robinson

One Nation Under Therapy How the Helping Culture Is Eroding Self-reliance by Sally L. Satel

What Would the Founders Do? Our Questions, Their Answers by Richard Brookhiser

The Bottomless Well The Twilgiht of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, And Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy by Peter Huber

Bully Boy The Truth About Theodore Roosevelt's Legacy by Jim Powell

Unwarranted Intrusions The Case Against Government Intervention in the Marketplace by Martin S. Fridson

Flight from Inflation by E.C. Riegel

The New Approach to Freedom by E.C. Riegel

Flight from Inflation by E.C. Riegel

Reclaiming Our Children The Healing Solution for a Nation in Crisis by Peter Breggin

The Identity of Man by Jacob Bronowski

Nation Of Rebels Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture by Joseph Heath

White Guilt How Blacks And Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era by Shelby Steele

Depression, War, And Cold War Studies in Political Economy by Robert Higgs

The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett And George Soros by George Soros

Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure by Roger Garrison

Freedom! by Martin Harry Greenberg

Buck Wild How Republicans Broke the Bank And Became the Party of Big Government by Stephen Slivinski

The Christian Theology of Public Policy Highlighting the American Experience (volume1) by John M. Cobin

Then Athena Said Unilateral Transfers And the Transformation of Objectivist Ethics by Kathleen Touchstone

Excellence Without a Soul How a Great University Forgot Education by Harry R. Lewis

The Big Ripoff How Big Business And Big Government Steal Your Money by Timothy P. Carney

War by Edward Cline

Ghost Plane The True Story of the CIA Torture Program by Stephen Grey

Liberty for All Reclaiming Individual Privacy in a New Era of Public Morality by Elizabeth Price Foley

The Star Sailors by Gary L. Bennett

Moral Minority Our Skeptical Founding Fathers by Brooke Allen

Cato Supreme Court Review 2005-2006 by Mark K. Moller

The Road More Traveled Why the Congestion Crisis Matters More Than You Think, and What We Can Do About It by Sam Staley

Radicals for Capitalism A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty

A Religious Orgy in Tennessee A Reporter's Account of the Scopes Monkey Trial by H. L. Mencken

Dictionary of Dangerous Words by Digby C. Anderson

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris

The Stem Cell Controversy Debating the Issues by Ruse

Bastiat's 'the Law by Norman Barry

The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible by Ken Schoolland

Somebody's Gotta Say It by Neal Boortz

Liberal Reform in an Illiberal Regime The Creation of Private Property in Russia, 1906-1915 by Stephen F. Williams

In Defense of Advertising Arguments from Reason, Ethical Egoism, and Laissez-faire Capitalism by Jerry Kirkpatrick

Eco-freaks Environmentalism Is Hazardous to Your Health! by John Berlau

Electric Choices Deregulation And the Future of Electric Power by Andrew N. Kleit

Leviathan on the Right How Big Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution by Michael D. Tanner

Milton Friedman A Biography by Lanny Ebenstein

Silence of the Rational Center Why American Foreign Policy Is Failing by Jonathan Clarke

Freedom and Capitalism by John Robbins

The Structure of Production by Mark Skousen

The Economic Naturalist In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas by Robert Frank

Samuel Adams Father of the American Revolution by Mark Puls

It's Getting Better All the Time 100 Greatest Trends of the Last 100 Years by Stephen Moore

Discover Your Inner Economist Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist by Tyler Cowen

Common Genius by Bill Greene

I'm Moving to Seattle

Look like the nanny state is leaning my way for once, as Seattle considers banning city employees from making microwave popcorn.

It's just a first step, but it's a good one-- they've established that there is a 'public cost' to microwave popcorn, what with all the overcooking and smoke evacuations. From here there's nowhere to go but up.

To me, the smell is every bit as offensive as the cheapest Cambodian cigarette. And if only microwave popcorn can be banned for everyone instead of me just avoiding it, well, that's the wave of the future. I'm sure we can get a study on the carcinogenic effects of the superheated plastics and corn smoke, and if it's inaccurate, so much the better-- it'll make the case almost identical to that of tobacco.

Coming up next-- coffee. No more coffee in public buildings, buildings accessible to the public, or private attached buildings.

Then pets. Because I just can't keep to myself, everything that annoys me and a slight majority must be banned to everyone. You know, for the collective good.

Good Times

This is who I am

You'd think I could pull it together enough to just be aware of my various bank balances, but no, not me. The worst part is, if someone had said that crappy Jack in the Box milkshake would cost me effectively $30, I'd have still taken it:

09/18/2006	MC-SUBWAY II SALEM	-$9.99	$0.96
09/19/2006	MC-MCDONALD'S F594 Q17 SALEM	-$4.55	($3.59)
09/20/2006	*OVERDRAFT CHARGE	-$27.00	($30.59)
09/20/2006	MC-JACK IN THE BO00071Q43 SALEM	-$2.49	($33.08)
09/21/2006	*OVERDRAFT CHARGE	-$27.00	($60.08)
09/21/2006	*CUSTOMER DEPOSIT	+$60.00	($0.08)

The best part is where I decided to go put $60 in just in case the balance was getting low. I'm sure the teller thought I was a genius in coming up $.08 short. I didn't even look at the receipt.

My Evening on the Mean Streets of Salem

Earlier tonight was kind of a downer. Headed for Subway and parked a block away, and an older homeless guy hit me up for a dollar for food. I had no cash on me, so I had the genius idea of offering him a meal at Subway. Not only did he not really want food, he was kind of indignant, and said, "I can get my own food." Obviously wanted booze, not food.

So I was a little discouraged, figuring all homeless were basically the same as those freeway onramp career panhandlers or lying drunks.

Well, coming back from my midnight stroll through Bush Park, I ran into a guy in my back alley carrying a couple of blankets to wherever he planned to sleep. When I got to my driveway, his bike was parked there, my Diet Coke 2-liter bottles in a plastic bag, and it hit me that his blankets were the two I'd thrown in the trash earlier that night during Spring cleaning.

Obviously it was kind of a downer, but at the same time, the guy was making his way, whatever way that was, on his own. I talked to him when he came back for the bike, and he had a little route he runs every day. So we worked out what I can do with stuff he might use, he doesn't have to root through my trash, and I have my own personal Goodwill drop-off.

I'll probably get ripped off now somehow, but I'm Mother Teresa tonight. At the very least I got the bad taste of that old drunk guy out of my mouth.

My Message to Ron Wyden Today

Mr. Wyden,

I look forward to seeing how you apply your Internet Non-Discrimination Act to the US package delivery service industry and other industries with different levels of service.

We are all tired of having to choose between Next Day Air, Second Day Air, and Ground transport for packages, and look forward to our egalitarian future where nothing can be delivered any faster than USPS Media Mail, regardless of what you are willing to pay.

From there, with your foresight and guidance, we can work on abolishing charter and private plane flights that move passengers back and forth in a discriminatory fashion, only based on how much they are willing and able to pay. Better yet, ground the planes and get everyone on Amtrak, for the ultimate in delivering poor service equally to all.

I'll leave it to your imagination where we can go from there, but suffice it to say we are all looking forward to a future with less confusing choices to make, or, God willing, no choices to make at all.

Thank you,
Morgan B MacArthur
Salem, OR

Go George - The UAE Ports Deal

Lawmakers, he said, must 'step up and explain why a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard.'

Exactly. We have both enemies and allies in the Middle East, and I'm glad someone is keeping track of them by criteria beyond skin color and religion.

Besides the racial idiocy on this one, our ports system should not rely on the trustworthiness or security of a private business to safeguard our country. It shouldn't matter who is managing the ports, the policies are ours to set, not theirs.

My Hat's Off to Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google

Everyone's outraged at our Internet companies doing business in China without somehow single-handedly overturning their Communist government. As though it is business's role to actually affect change in the form of government in their marketplace.

Microsoft was never a fan favorite, and Yahoo has been getting it pretty good lately. For my part, I don't really like Google. "Don't be evil" is a little self-righteous for my taste.

But let's be honest. Before these American companies were doing business in China, nobody knew or cared to know the extent of the censorship that goes on in China. We have learned more about the Chines government's repression in the last few months than we ever wanted to before.

When a company does business in a foreign country, they are generally required to follow local law, not write it. The people complaining should instead be applauding, because there is now a spotlight on the Chinese government's abuses.

So keep it up, American tech giants, you're doing the right thing-- business.

I Haven't Seen Outrage Like This Since...

I haven't seen outrage in the Muslim community like that over this image--









--since the outrage in the Muslim community over this image:









Oh yeah, I forgot.

Happy Birthday Dr. King

In comments commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, Mayor Ray Nagin seamlessly joined the insanity Pastor Pat Robertson --

"Surely God is mad at America... Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses."

-- with the racism of former Klansman Robert Byrd --

"It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans _ the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans."

-- Happy Birthday, Dr. King.