Libertarians for Authoritarianism?

 

It seems like it should be a no-brainer, but for some reason some “libertarians” need continual reminding that a Rudy Giuliani presidency would be bad, to put it mildly, for freedom. David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute, does his part to slap some sense into our erstwhile allies with an excellent op-ed in yesterday’s Daily News.

I really don’t get why this is even an issue. Yet some otherwise sensible folks in the libertarian community have jumped on the Rudy bandwagon. This weekend I even received an email — from a reliable source — claiming that the Republican Liberty Caucus would not be endorsing Ron Paul, and that some New York RLC leaders were actually campaigning for Giuliani! What in the world is the point of even having a Republican Liberty Caucus if it won’t endorse a Ron Paul candidacy automatically?

My theory is that this is the inevitable blowback from too many years of using the pithy but woefully inadequate “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” as shorthand to explain libertarianism to newbies. Giuliani is a poster-child for why this slogan is meaningless. He’s socially liberal and fiscally conservative on a lot of important issues, yet he is about as far from a libertarian as any politician I can think of.

Keep Ron Paul in the GOP Debates

The truth hurts - and Ron Paul tells the truth.  In the last GOP Presidential debate Ron Paul simply stated what every CIA agent and anyone who has read beyond the tip of their nose already knew - that US interventionist foreign policy - not our wealth and freedom - is a major cause of anti-American sentiment and terrorism.

So of course, the welfare-war machine has to try to silence him.  People who should know better, like Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party immediately demanded Ron Paul be banned from further debates.  Apparently listening to both sides of the story is too much for poor old Saul to process.  But some of us actually like to hear both sides.

So now we have to make sure Ron Paul is included. 

According to Richard A.Viguerie of ConservativesBetrayed.com  you can sign the petition to Keep Ron In at www.KeepRonIn.com. 

You can also send a message to the debate sponsors:  Wolf Blitzer of CNN, Joe McQuaid, Manchester Union Leader at writeus@unionleader.com and Jeff Bartlett, General Manager of WMUR-TV, Manchester, NH at comments@wmur.com.  

Make sure they all know we want Ron Paul in the debates.

Here is a great video of Ron Paul and Bill Maher.

Terrorists Among Us

In a recent Op-Ed piece in the Los Angeles Times, Rosa Brooks points out that the man who could be considered “until 9/11 — perhaps the most successful terrorist in the Western Hemisphere,” is freely roaming among us. In fact, Luis Posada Carriles appeared in both the New York Times and the Miami Herald within the last ten years, openly admitting his crimes. He takes credit for being behind ”a 1976 plot to blow up a civilian airliner, killing all 73 people on board, including teenage members of Cuba’s national fencing team. He’s admitted to pulling off a series of 1997 bombings aimed at tourist hotels and nightspots.”

Brooks points out that Carriles has been in close contact with the CIA, and in fact, trained with them in 1961.

If the Bush administration’s so-called “War on Terror” is really what they claim it to be, then why in hell are they detaining comparatively petty criminals or even innocents at Guantanamo Bay, while they conveniently ignore Carriles?

Banned in China

 

According to the Great Firewall of China, the Serf City blog is among the many websites that are blocked in China. I don’t know what we said that could have possibly offended them. The Manhattan Libertarian Party website is also blocked. They even blocked my publishing company East River Press. You can test any URL at the Great Firewall website to see if you’ve been banned too. (The only URL I tested that wasn’t blocked, oddly enough, was the official New York City website. I guess commie regimes gotta stick together.)

The only trouble with Chinese censorship is that in a half hour I’ll want to be censored again.

Hat tip: Capitol Confidential

A Jeffersonian Democrat in Harlem?

Could Adam Clayton Power IV be a Libertarian in Democrat’s clothing? I suspect it’s safe to answer no. Still, it’s refreshing to see a New York politician who would rather not introduce any new laws:

For the last three years, an East Harlem assemblyman, Adam Clayton Powell IV, has stood out for his streak of inactivity.

Of the thousands of bills introduced this year, Mr. Powell can take credit for not a single one. If Mr. Powell doesn’t introduce a bill in the next month, he will have made it through three consecutive session years without acting as the prime sponsor of any piece of legislation, according to a legislative database.

The other law-happy assembly members may laugh at him, but Powell has the crazy notion that new legislation isn’t all that.

“There’s much more to being a strong leader than how many insignificant bills you introduce,” Mr. Powell said. “There seems to be a race among the media and political pundits as to who will introduce the most bills.”

Mr. Powell also argued he was behaving in a fiscally responsible way, noting: “Each bill we introduce costs thousands of dollars.”

Three cheers for Powell’s moratorium on new laws. Now if he takes the next step and tries to repeal some old laws, I’ll give him a standing ovation.

Who Am I to Disagree?

Quote of the day:

“I’m New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, and I should be dead.”

Hat tip: Gawker

New York’s War on Window Puppet Shows

According to this Diet Mountain Dew commercial, “window puppet shows are illegal in New York City”:

Caveat: I don’t know for a fact that window puppet shows really are illegal in New York City, but given the thousands of other insane laws in this city that I do know about, I wouldn’t bet against it. If any of our readers have the straight dope on puppet law, please share in the comments section.

Hat tip: LewRockwell.com

Life Begins at 25

To paraphrase Mark Twain… Imagine you’re Peter Vallone Jr., and imagine you’re an idiot. But I repeat myself.

Last year, the nepotistic councilmember from Queens introduced and got enacted legislation to prohibit adults under 21 from possessing everyday items that might be used for graffiti. The absurd law was quickly thrown out by the first court to come across it.

So what does lessons does Vallone learn from his humiliation? Young Pete has now introduced similar legislation — only this time aimed at any adult under 25!

According to Gotham Gazette, Vallone’s new bill, if enacted, would strictly limit possession of such weapons of mass destruction as aerosol paint, thick permanent markers and etching acid. The bill would require written permission for those traveling with these materials for work or school, or who are permitted to use the paints and markers on a particular surface or structure.

A buzz on the anti-graffiti bills has continued in classrooms where graffiti work is studied and conceptualized. Vallone said of the professor and students of a Geek Graffiti class at Parsons School of Design, “He’ll be giving his students A’s, but we’ll be giving them misdemeanors.”

It’s bad enough that Vallone pushed through unconstitutional legislation once. If they pull this same crap a second time, the next court that throws the new law out should impose some sort of serious sanction on Vallone and every councilmember who votes for it. There must be some penalty for knowingly violating your oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Sunday Funnies

Hat tip: The Libertarian Enterprise

Carbon Debits — An Idea Whose Time Has Come

 

It’s brilliant ideas like this that make me happy Al Gore invented the Internet. At last you can offset Gore’s ludicrous carbon credits by buying your own carbon debits.

Hat tip: NYPundit