In less than a week it will be over; a year and a half of maneuvering, jockeying, speechifying, electioneering and speculating will thankfully draw to a close, and the U.S., which once was a sort of free republic, will crown a new king, who promises to reward the innocent and punish the guilty.
In less than […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Dizzy, of Dizzy Thinks fame, recently made an interesting prediction, concerning the attitude of Brits towards the USA: If Barack Obama becomes President-Elect next week, don't expect any of the snide anti-american Brits, Aussie and others to change their tune. They've had a hate figure in Bush for the past eight years, and I don't doubt that Barack Obama will become an equal hate figure within a short amount time. I do doubt this. I…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Someone asked me what I was going to be doing on November 4th. I said I will most likely watch television, probably Battlestar Galactica or a re-run of Firefly. I may well go to dinner with my inamorata at some point and after that I may indulge my intermittent MMO habit and get a fix of virtual violence. Gawd knows there is nothing else that I give a damn about happening on that day….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

These pictures are pretty cleverly done. (Via Andy Ross)….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

During the recent LA/LI Conference, Sean Gabb, half of the two-man team that now runs the Libertarian Alliance (Tim Evans being the other half) sat himself down next to me and asked me to suggest good speakers for next year. My best two suggestions were two Michaels. Michael Jennings will be well-known to regular readers here as an expert on technological trends and much else besides. He would be exactly the kind of second-tier speaker,…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

There's a rather comical culture clash now being played out in the West Indies, between new money and cricket: Senior ECB officials, who almost bent over backwards to welcome Stanford and his millions at Lord's last summer, were also under fire with calls for them to stand down after failing to undertake adequate checks on Stanford. Rod Bransgrove, Hampshire's chairman, told the Daily Telegraph that the position of Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, was in…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Over at Reason, Ryan Sager tries to figure out where the libertarians who used to vote for Republicans have gone, and why:
[The] coalition between social conservatives and economic libertarians (who tend to be socially moderate to liberal), served the GOP well from 1964 to 2006. It gave the party eight years of Ronald Reagan and […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Ed Schafer, US Secretary of Agriculture, seems to think we need to bail out the ethanol industry:
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer’s statement on Oct. 17 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture could provide ethanol companies that got into trouble by speculating on corn with up to $25 million per company in refinancing has caused a firestorm […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Snow in London last night. The BBC news report I just watched (having come home past the BBC's television studios which were covered in the white stuff) mentioned it on the East coast of England, but no mention of it in London. For those not familiar with London weather, the last time I can find when snow was even claimed here this early in the autumn was 1974. One eyewitness suggested it was really hailstones….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Jonathan Ross has not followed his own advice. His new book is entitled "Why do I say these things". How apt! Perhaps he should employ a chimpanzee as a personal censor. Especially when his foolishness focused upon a member of the satanic sluts. I would not dare to cross them….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom