Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Libertarian Blog Place

Here are a few things from today's Libertarian Blog Place.

Russell Roberts of the Cafe Hayek blog won't be shedding any tears over Tom Daschle removing himself from consideration for a Cabinet post.

Kevin Colby has a fun list of the items under the Stimulus Package Christmas Tree. The post is called "Pork Found In Senate Version Of Stimulus". In related news, there's been "Liquid Found In The Pacific", "Retirees Found In Miami", "Tax Dodgers Found In The Cabinet", and "Poo-Poo Found In The Latrines At Fort Pemberton".

Samizdata has Brian Micklethwait musing about cannabis. My favorite paragraph: "....it looks like cannabis may soon be legalised, but simultaneously nationalised. A bit like the Church of England with religion. This is the other way to discourage things, when outright banning has failed. As an agnostic about cannabis, I favour outright legalisation on libertarian grounds. As an atheist about religion, I have rather a soft spot for the Church of England."

Also on Samizdata, Johnathan Pearce wonders about the ethics of using tax money to pay for art. While you're over there, check out Nick M's comments on the subject, where he gives a shout-out to his debating buddy, Dr. Ralph. (Note to Nick: Put Counting Cats on the Libertarian Blog Place. You won't get but 10-20 hits per day from that site, but a lot of readers will save the link and keep coming back.)

Stephen Moore at "Point Vs. Counterpoint" believes that we're all living in a badly produced community theatre production of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". Stephen Moore's got a good point.

Christopher Manion at The LRC blog writes that because of the flood in New Orleans ice storms in Kentucky a lot of people drowned 55 people have died while Bush was on vacation while Obama tried to find cabinet members who paid their taxes and a lot of people still don't have homes and a lot of people still don't have electricity.

Also on the LRC....Kathryn Muratore reveals a new bill in the Maryland State Senate that would require certain government buildings (including schools !) to have a picture of the President in a prominent location. (If these shrines are constructed, look for school prayer to be a mandate, not a forbidden activity. All hail to thee, Obamessiah !)

And the UK Libertarian blog has dredged up one of my favorite Ezra Levant videos. Kids, if you're looking for a role model, be like Ezra.

2 comments:

Dr Ralph said...

Daschle? I'm not shedding any tears either. Unfortunate but not tragic.

Cannabis legalized? First I'd heard. This will throw an interesting new wrinkle in the whole smoking ban debate. I may even have to rethink my own position.

I'm tired of arguing about government supported art. I say yes, you say no...and on and on and on...

I thought all schools and government buildings had pictures of the president, thanks to Ronald Reagan. His supporters even wanted him up on Mount Rushmore, for God's sake.

Finally, for those who don't feel up to snoring all the way through Atlas Shrugged, I offer the following abridged version.

The Whited Sepulchre said...

Doctor,
I mourn the loss of Daschle. Had he been confirmed, every time Washington proposed socialized anything, I coulda reveled in Daschle's reluctance to help pay for it.

I've worked around dangerous equipment with plenty of people who smoked weed the night before. I've done the same with people who knocked off a 12-pack of Bud the night before.

I honestly believe that the cannabis is less dangerous to the general public.

I know you're tired of arguing about socialized art. But it gets links and references on other sites. So please, don't stop. We like it. We get so few artists in these parts.

I think all government buildings should have pictures of Guy Fawkes, the only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions.....

The Rand parody is good, especially in the excess adverb department.