Sometimes it is the willingness of a person to be brutalised, rather than its enforcement as such, that chills me to the bone. Check out this story. Of course, if the woman genuinely consents to such treatment, then I suppose it would be no different to that of a person who visited S&M bars and liked being beaten up, etc. But a lingering suspicion lurks that this woman, and many others, are not really acting…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

“This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

This must be why we need reform:
Americans are living about two months longer, with the U.S. life expectancy reaching a record 77.9 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. During the past decade, life expectancy has increased 1½ years.
Death rates are down for major killers, including heart disease, cancer and HIV.
Heart disease? […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Michael Shermer had an interesting piece over at The Huffington Post last week in which he posits that libertarian ideas can be the basis on which conservatives and liberals find common political ground:
Libertarianism is grounded in the Principle of Freedom: All people are free to think, believe, and act as they choose, as long as […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

The War On (Some) Drugs has reached the ridiculous stage:
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A man is suing the Kissimmee Police Department for an arrest over mints. When officers pulled Donald May over for an expired tag, they thought the mints he was chewing were crack and arrested him.
May told Eyewitness News they wouldn’t let him out […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

You simply have to watch this to believe that a bit of sand could be turned into art of such emotional depth. I am simply left speechless by the performance artistry of this young Ukranian woman. PS: I owe many thanks to Sharon Shannon for making me aware of this….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Jeffrey Rogers Hummel lays out a pretty solid case for saying that the US government will let down international borrowers, and fairly soon. This is not a new or original argument, but he does so with great aplomb. Definitely worth a read….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

In the health care debate, the question has somewhat changed within the Democratic party from “what do we want?” to “what can we actually pass?” Because they’re relatively sure there’ll be no help from Republicans, this puts them in an awkward spot, and as Bruce of QandO points out, highlights a point showing how […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

A 38 year-old mother of three, who posed no threat to the police or anyone else, was tasered right in front of her children in January of this year. Yet to my knowledge, President Obama has failed to address this genuine case of the police “acting stupidly.” Maybe it’s because Audra Harmon cannot help the […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Excalibur-Almaz has announced its orbital tourism plans. They have built up a great team of astronauts, cosmonauts and contractors and are in the process of resurrecting a flight tested Russian military capsule and space station. They have a long way to go to get the thing flying again, but that is the point, it is 'flying again', not 'flying the first time'. I unfortunately must step lightly here as I was one of the persons…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom