From the monthly archives:

November 2001

Bob Barr has big balls!

November 29, 2001

Bob Barr has big balls! While most Republicans stand mute as the President cedes new powers to himself and the state and conducts the war like a benevolent despot, Rep. Barr tells it like it is on civil liberties issues.
Barr, unlike many in Congress, at least knows what his job isn’t:
Most people up [...]

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In Praise of Bad Habits

November 29, 2001

In Praise of Bad Habits — Text of fascinating lecture by Peter Marsh, a learned and even moving defense of hedonism and full living against the self-righteous ascetics and the health police. Highly recommended! I’m going outside to smoke a Marlboro!

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Instapundit, with the lowdown on

November 29, 2001

Instapundit, with the lowdown on therapuetic cloning. And more from the always reliable Ron Bailey.

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Philosopher John Kekes attacks the

November 29, 2001

Philosopher John Kekes attacks the egalitarian tendencies of John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin.

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Since the name of this

November 29, 2001

Since the name of this blog is taken from a Wittgenstein quote, I feel obliged to pass along good Wittgensteiniana. Try this fun excerpt from Wittgenstein’s Poker by David Edmonds and John Eidinow. The title refers to a celebrated, and much disputed, confrontation between Wittgenstein and Karl Popper involving a fire poker.

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Although I doubt he is

November 29, 2001

Although I doubt he is taking up my challenge to present a non-fluff argument against cloning, Dawson of dawson.com teases us with this:
Until I have time to expound, expatiate and yes, eviscerate, on the very real evils of cloning, I leave you this quotation from one of my favorite authors:
“A person is a person no [...]

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James Taranto of Best of

November 29, 2001

James Taranto of Best of the Web demonstrates mocking disregard for civil rights when he gladly cites poll data to show that people who care about liberty are out of touch with most Americans. The data show most Americans approving of such things as indefinite, secret state imprisonment for trivial offenses and the ability of [...]

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From mensactivism.org: The YWCA of

November 29, 2001

From mensactivism.org:
The YWCA of Middle Tennessee recently ran an ad in both the Nashville Scene and Nashville’s City Paper depicting the blurred image of a young boy walking up to his front door. The caption: “One day he’ll own his own house…raise his own kids…beat his own wife.”
It’s part of an anti-domestic abuse campaign. [...]

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Wendy McElroy discusses ceramic penises

November 29, 2001

Wendy McElroy discusses ceramic penises in Boulder and anti-male hate speech at I-Feminists.com.

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I’ve been looking…. Is there

November 28, 2001

I’ve been looking…. Is there an argument against cloning other than (1) We shouldn’t be playing God, (2) It makes me feel really funny, or (3) It’s not safe yet?
(1) and (2) are ridiculous, because there is no God (and if there were she’d want us to do it) and feeling funny isn’t an objection [...]

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Good article by Reason’s Ron

November 28, 2001

Good article by Reason’s Ron Bailey on Tech Central Station (thanks to Instapundit) about the smear campaign on Bjorn Lomberg. Lomberg is a ex-Greenpeacer statistician from Aarhus University who set out to show that there was something wrong with Julian Simon’s anti-enviro-gloom research, only to find that most of it was right.
I went to [...]

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The first U.S. combat death,

November 28, 2001

The first U.S. combat death, Johnny “Mike Spann, a CIA agent, has been officially reported. First, it’s just amazing that it took this long for an American death. Second, it’s really amazing that your chances of dying appear to be higher if you’re a journalist than if you’re a U.S. combat troop.

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In a comment on my

November 28, 2001

In a comment on my blurb for Will Thomas’s cipro article, my revered colleague, Damon Chetson, replies that intellectual property rights are a myth.
One of the interesting divisions among libertarians is the split between IP communists, like Damon, and pro-IP rights people, like myself. Some IP commies claim that the point of property rights [...]

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First the smoking idiocy, now

November 28, 2001

First the smoking idiocy, now this! These freaks in Montgomery County are making me glad to live in rather less chi chi Prince Georges County (for a change). If you can set the cops on your neighbor because you don’t like the odor coming from their place, can’t we in PG County do something about [...]

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If you’re so smart… why

November 27, 2001

If you’re so smart… why don’t you write an encyclopedia entry! Go to Wikipedia, which is, naturally enough, a wiki and an encyclopedia. A wiki is a web page that can be edited by anyone who can view it. At Wikipedia, you can jump right into entries and improve them (although if it’s not an [...]

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I’m worried that Tony Adragna

November 27, 2001

I’m worried that Tony Adragna may have misconstrued what I intended by “rational ignorance” when he links to my blurb about Eugene Volokh from his post on Leon Kass. I shudder even now to mention them in the same breath. (Volokh good! Kass bad!)
Rational ignorance, in the sense Volokh was talking about, has to do [...]

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Not only are the military

November 27, 2001

Not only are the military tribunals bad justice, but they’re bad tactics and bad politics too.

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Oh the irony! Ashcroft won’t

November 27, 2001

Oh the irony! Ashcroft won’t release a list of the detainees because that it would “violate their rights. As Lucas Guttentag, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said (to WashPost):
It is ironic that the government is now concerned about rights when it has arrested and jailed hundreds of people without giving the American public [...]

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Whatever his weaknesses, Bush has

November 27, 2001

Whatever his weaknesses, Bush has no difficulties in categorical moral pronouncement. The War Against Terrorism has prompted from Bush the most exhilarating restoration of manichean language to the public forum. God bless Bush for being able to say ‘evil’ without irony, because it’s certainly nothing to be ironic about when it’s staring you in the [...]

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Today was the day of

November 26, 2001

Today was the day of high-powered libertarian law professors. Had a fun lunch with Eugene Volokh of UCLA (visiting at George Mason this semester) who wanted to talk about… blogs! He’s a huge fan of my blogging hero Instapundit! (I think he knows Prof. Reynolds from the 2nd Amendment lit.) After blogs, nice chat on [...]

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More on AmeriCorps. Fun-filled takedown

November 26, 2001

More on AmeriCorps. Fun-filled takedown by James Bovard on the often acidic Ludwig von Mises Institute Website. Highlight:
In Buffalo, N.Y., AmeriCorps members helped run a program that gave children $5 for each toy gun they brought in. In Lone Pine, Calif., AmeriCorps members put on a puppet show to warn four-year-olds of the dangers [...]

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Good! Ashcroft is getting heat.

November 26, 2001

Good! Ashcroft is getting heat. Sen. Leahy is pissed. He says, Ashcroft, “Owes the country an explanation” for his “ad hoc, outside the justice system tactics. I’d say. Undoubtedly, some my-country-right-or-wrong war groupies will be dismayed that Leahy is criticizing the administration, but at this point Leahy has a fair bit of war on terrorism [...]

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Forget moral equivalence… America’s worse!

November 26, 2001

Forget moral equivalence… America’s worse! Check out this interminable Chomsky lecture (RealAudio) made at the MIT Technology and Culture Forum. (Link from Backwash.) Chomsky, in his usual laconic, newspaper quoting fashion, enumerates America’s crimes against all that is true and good. We’re starving the Afghans. And our involvement in Nicauragua in the 80’s constitutes a [...]

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On Sunday, December 2nd, people

November 25, 2001

On Sunday, December 2nd, people around the world (108 cities) will Walk for Capitalism! Tired of clueless protests against liberty and prosperity? Check to see if your city is involved, and walk in celebration of freedom, markets and commercial culture! I’ll be joining Washington, D.C. folks at the Rosslyn Metro at 2:00 pm on Sunday, [...]

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Speaking of Randiana… learn how

November 25, 2001

Speaking of Randiana… learn how to get the Ayn Rand Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for your verifiably rational products.

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