Why Pacifists Should Support Private Gun OwnershipThere is a dangerous confusion among many pacifists that government gun control will bring us a more peaceful society, but sadly this is far from true. I personally find myself in a rare but growing group of pacifists who oppose any kind of gun control policies whatsoever. It may seem counter intuitive to say that more people having more guns will make us safer, but history shows us that this is actually the case.
When gun control legislation is put into place, every gun in the ... (more)
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Pay Up or Die"I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
Because I don’t like to pay taxes, I was intrigued by the title of the article by Stephen Foster that I was directed to titled: "102 Things NOT To Do If You Hate Taxes." The article is a liberal defense of the legitimacy of the government (usually federal, but sometimes state or local) confiscating a por... (more)
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The State Is a Firing SquadAlthough the common perception of human nature is very negative, the truth is that most people who aren’t mentally ill have a very difficult time committing acts of violence. Usually it takes a sizeable payment and a fair amount of manipulation to convince someone to act violently, and even then a tremendous amount of guilt typically follows regardless of the circumstances. This factor of personal guilt always came into play in executions, so over the years, they devised different ways of killin... (more)
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Is Taxation Voluntary?Have you ever heard the claim that paying income tax is voluntary? The term "voluntary" is variously used in government documents, including the 1040 form itself, and some very naive people have actually taken this to mean that they don't have to pay if they don't want to. They think that "voluntary" actually means voluntary, as in the free exercise of human volition.
It's an odd position that seems not to comprehend the meaning of the word "tax." What makes a tax different from a... (more)
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Torture, Assassination, and the American Way of Life As most everyone knows, the CIA has been assassinating people practically since the time it was formed in 1947. By and large, however, the CIA kept its assassinations secret. Americans, for their part, had a feeling that such things were being done but didn’t ask any questions.
The system was almost in the nature of a secret, unannounced pact between the government and the people. As part of its job to protect “national security,” the government would have the omnipotent author... (more)
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Pirate Bay: The RIAA Is Delusional and Must Be StoppedThe Pirate Bay is not happy with a recent article published by the RIAA, where the torrent site is portrayed as the prime example of why tougher anti-piracy laws are necessary. In a rebuttal, The Pirate Bay argues that the RIAA is delusional, behaving like a spoiled kid that has lost touch with reality.
The following is a guest post by The Pirate Bay’s ‘Winston’ in reply to an article published by RIAA boss Mitch Glazier.
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The Senio... (more)
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Democracy Is Destroying Your Wealth and Freedom Although almost every democratic country suffers from bloated government, over-regulation, heavy taxation and enormous public debts, few people see a causal connection between these problems and the democratic system itself. For many, the solution to these problems is more democracy, not less.
Democracy tends to be equated by many people with prosperity, equality, fairness, togetherness and liberty. There is no evidence for any of this. Democracy rests on three main ... (more)
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No One Should Be Forced to Act Against His ConscienceA question arises from the recent controversy between President Obama and the Catholic Church that aches for an answer: If Catholic institutions have a right to abstain from paying for what morally offends them, why don’t the rest of us?
The initial Obamacare rule held that all employers, in fulfilling their new legal requirement to provide health insurance to their employees, must include contraception (and other “preventive” health services) in the coverage at no cost. The Catho... (more)
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The Global Land GrabIn Vietnam, Peter Doan Van Vuon, a farmer who fought back when police came to confiscate his farm, is widely regarded as a hero. His neighbors have actually considered building a statue in his honor. In the United States, he would almost certainly be dead.
The strike team that assaulted Vuon’s 40-hectare fish farm in Hai Phong on January 5 did demolish the family’s modest two-story home, forcing them to live in a mak... (more)
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Degenerates Rule AmericaWe now live in extraordinarily dangerous times in America. A majority of primary voters support three out of the four remaining Republican candidates for President who believe that the U.S. government may commit acts of aggression and start wars against foreign peoples who were of no threat to us, and who want to use the power of government and police to impose various social views onto others. Only Ron Paul wants to legalize freedom in America, and wants to end our government's aggressions abro... (more)
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Why Are Government Bureaucrats Turning America Into Nazi Germany?I’m sorry to put it in such a crass way, but that is exactly what they are doing. Ever since the September 11th attacks, these power-grabbing scoundrels have been putting policies in place that were planned well before 9/11, searching us, tracking, fri... (more)
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To Love the Unknown[Review of The Lily: Evolution, Play and the Power of a Free Society. Baltimore, Maryland: Laissez-Faire Books, 2011]
Wherever intelligent people gather to discuss current trends in government, we wonder what it is about freedom that people don't like. Why do we let the police power of the state take over and inev... (more)
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Is it the Lawmakers or Law Enforcers who are to Blame?Walter Block has a very interesting defense of the inciter of a riot. He argues that a person who inspires others to commit violent acts is guilty of no violent act at all because the inciter is doing no more than engaging in free speech activity. The act of advocating violence is not a violent act and directly harms no one, therefore the inciter should not be held responsible for any chaos that ensues from his words. It is the fools who listen to and carry out the inciter’s wishes who should... (more)
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Why Facebook Works and Democracy Does NotThis year, Facebook will reach 1 billion users — or one-seventh of the human population. It has elicited more participation than any single government in the world other than India and China, and it will probably surpass them in a year or two. And whereas many people are fleeing their governments as they are able, more and more people are joining Facebook voluntarily.
What is the logic, the driving force, the agent of change?
Yes, the software works fine, and yes, t... (more)
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What Will Jesus Do? Like all wars, the one the Feds wage on our freedom of movement groans with ruined lives, human agony, and casualties.
Many of those horrors are on display at the airports, as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) sexually assaults, irradiates, harasses, and steals from passengers. And though most of the witnesses to these atrocities used to claim that the agency only needed more money and power to transform its inept brutes and sociopaths into efficient W... (more)
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"Repulsive Progressive Hypocrisy" and Why Peaceniks Should Oppose DemocratsGlenn Greenwald is one of my very favorite writers, and my favorite left-liberal blogger hands-down. I am always reluctant simply to link to his newest post, but every single one is well worth reading. His newest on “Repulsive Progressive Hypocrisy” demonstrates what separates him from most of the journalistic class, as well as from his ideological brethren. The occasion that inspired his newest is a recent Washington Post poll showing that a majority of self-described liberal democrats favor Ob... (more)
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Will Iran Be Attacked?Washington has made tremendous preparations for a military assault on Iran. There is speculation that Washington has called off its two longest running wars – Iraq and Afghanistan – in order to deploy forces against Iran. Two of Washington’s fleets have been assigned to the Persian Gulf along with NATO warships. Missiles have been spread amongst Washington’s Oil Emirate and Middle Eastern puppet states. US troops have been deployed in Israel and Kuwait.
Washington ... (more)
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How Change HappensMy brother is teaching a semester in London, and he casually video Skyped me last week to show me around his apartment, which is small but charming. I reciprocated by hauling up the cover of the e-book I am reading, and shared my desktop to show a YouTube performance of Renaissance music I thought he would enjoy. We chatted a bit more and hung up. No “long distance” charges.
So what? Well, none of this could have happened 10 years ago. Not only that, you probably wouldn’t have und... (more)
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New DHS Report: If You Love "Individual Liberty" Or If You "Believe In Conspiracy Theories" You Are A Potential TerroristDo you love America? Are you against a one world economy and a one world government? Do you deeply love individual liberty? Do you believe in conspiracy theories? If you answered any of those questions affirmatively, then you are a potential terrorist according to a brand new Department of Homeland Security report that was just released in January 2012. The report is entitled "Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970 to 2008", and it was produced by the "Nationa... (more)
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The Seven-Lesson SchoolteacherCall me Mr. Gatto, please. Twenty-six years ago, having nothing better to do at the time, I tried my hand at schoolteaching. The license I hold certifies that I am an instructor of English language and English literature, but that isn't what I do at all. I don't teach English, I teach school -- and I win awards doing it.
Teaching means different things in different places, but seven lessons are universally taught from Harlem to Hollywood Hills. They constitute a national curriculu... (more)
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What Do You Do When The Country Where You Live Is Literally Going Insane?Do you ever get the feeling that the world around you is going crazy? If you live in America today and you are not in a television-induced coma, then you have probably had that feeling. It seems like almost everywhere you turn these days, there is someone that is seriously losing it. It is not just our politicians either. In every profession and on every level of society there are lots of people that appear to be a few fries short of a Happy Meal. So what do you do when the country where yo... (more)
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David Stanley, RIPI'm not quite sure how to say this, but I've just received word long time InfoLib poster David Stanley aka Dave has reportedly passed. His girlfriend says he committed suicide two days ago on Wednesday, February 1st.
I didn't always understand his posts, but he loved the site and with 4204 comments he was our most prolific poster, he had a lot of friends who posted here as well.
I'm ab... (more)
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Get Off the Road to War: Stop the Sanctions on Iran It would be nice if the U.S. kept its word when it signs those international agreements that are in some kind of accord with rights and advance the international maintenance of rights.
The U.S. has not done this with Iran.
The U.S. and Iran signed the Algiers Accords in 1981 to end the hostage crisis. See also here. Point 1 of the accords is titled "Non-Intervention in Iranian ... (more)
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The SOPA Wake-Up Call to Abolish CopyrightI’ve blogged quite a bit lately about SOPA and PIPA and the recent Internet blackouts and other protests against these bills, which threaten free speech and the open Internet (Mike Masnick et al. at Techdirt have also been great on exposing and analyzing SOPA).
As Jeffrey Tucker noted recently, the protests against SOPA started not with conservatives or even “libertarians,” but with civil libertarians of the “left,” as well as Silicon Valley tech types. Of course, some libertarian... (more)
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Adventures in jury dutyAnCapper speaks out against jury duty in packed court room, masses agree, great story! - Chris |
Worship of the MobSeveral months ago, I was visiting some friends in Sydney and was invited to the house of a friend-of-a-friend for some late night drinks and a chat. My host and his friends were left-wing bohemian types and had been informed by my friend that I am a "free-market anarchist," or something like that. They found this notion intriguing, and so they quizzed me on what that means, and this naturally led into a discussion of the merits of a free market versus a democracy.
The discussion ... (more)
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Pre-Election EuphoriaThe year before a presidential election is a period of great euphoria for the American people, for this is the period of time when presidential candidates are extremely nice to the American people.
And why not? They’re seeking votes. They’re seeking to be elected or reelected. They have to be nice.
This is the time when presidential candidates promise tax cuts and increases in welfare benefits. They promise to create jobs. They assure us that they’re going to br... (more)
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The State of the Union: Just Another Reality Show It looks just like a reality show that’s not going to be renewed for another season. President Obama’s State of the Union ratings are headed in the same direction as American Idol’s so far this season – down.
Let me make a secret confession right here. For years, the producer of my radio talk show and I would draw straws each January to see who would "have the high privilege and distinct honor" of watching the president’s State of the Union address.
... (more)
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