James Bowman on the latest work of Quentin Tarantino, a sort of cartoon treatment of WW2: "It is important for us to remember that those known to history as Nazis were not cartoon characters. Nor were those who fought and finally defeated them. Nor was that defeat accomplished by a gang of bloodthirsty, free-lancing American Jews in search of revenge who manage to commandeer a ludicrously implausible scheme to assassinate the entire German high command,…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

I came across this gem of a comment by an Obama supporter - assuming the commenter was sincere and not a troll, and it is just too good to go unremarked. The comment was made on a suitably acerbic column by Matt Welch, one of those Reasonoids who have gone very sour indeed on the US president. Here is the comment: "I´m american and not angry. i´m happy with our new president. vladimir putin likes…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

There’s the oft-repeated factoid that the Indians used every part of a buffalo when they killed it. The Danes are learning from their example:
But in one area, greenery might be taken to excess. Denmark’s crematorium association has revealed its profitable sideline in recycling metal parts salvaged from the dead. Burnt bodies leave knee or […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

One of my personal bits of curiousity about the world is related to cultural “ways of thinking”. While I don’t believe that Americans are innately different than Europeans, or Chinese, or Russians, there are certainly differences in average thought borne of the different cultural histories of each place. Dale Franks at QandO recently […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

A few months ago I noted the importance of having good people selected for the top jobs at NASA under the Obama administration. I believed then, as now, that NASA and the current way of doing business is a fact of life for those in space business and the best we can hope for is folks in the power seats who are positive towards wholly private space ventures. There has been much too-ing and fro-ing…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

If you are rich enough, you will be able to circumvent the prohibition and obtain the right to select the sex of your child. The Human Fertilisation and Embryological Authority bans the practice here, though their grounds are weak: Britain’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority remains cautious, citing public opposition to sex selection. “In the US there is no official regulator to monitor clinics and no legal obligation to offer the counselling that is an…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

It is always rather foolish to invoke misty eyed national wells for values. One can always point to counter-examples.Now we know that Alex "a touch of the" Salmond and Gordon Brown have one thing in common? Is Macavity a 'Scottish' value? There is one person in the SNP administration, however, who appears to have worked out just how sensitive this situation is: and that is Mr Salmond. Usually, the First Minister has to be restrained…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Proving yet again that there is no limit to the extent to which the Federal Government will intrude upon our lives, the Feds are now turning their attention to that staple of American Suburbia, the garage sale:
WASHINGTON — If you’re planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you’d best beware: You could be […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Crossposting something my wife wrote, from here:
I’ve been in an incredibly foul mood the last couple of days, and until this morning I did not understand why.
We’re planning on moving to where we actually want to be. We’re constantly being asked why we want to move to the middle of nowhere. I tell everyone, […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

I’ve not been kind to the forces for ethanol. I’ve pointed out that demand for ethanol raises the price of food for poor people, how I’ve felt the pinch personally in increased prices for homebrew supplies, how the use of ethanol is wasting scarce water resources. Finally, I pointed out that ethanol actually […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom