Archive | May 28, 2010

Census and Sensibility, Part 2

Assume for the moment that we accept the legitimacy of the Constitution (although we shouldn’t).

Assume, also, that the Constitution’s census clause not only authorises the federal government to conduct a census but also authorises it to compel people to answer it (though, again we shouldn’t accept that either).

Even so, as Rothbard reminds us, the freedom to speak includes the freedom not to speak. And since freedom of speech is guaranteed in an amendment to the Constitution, that provision automatically trumps anything in the body of the Constitution that’s inconsistent with it. So, FWIW, enforcement of the census is doubly unconstitutional.


Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, Doctor Who Style

From the 1970 serial “Ambassadors of Death.” During the Pertwee period, the Doctor was continually clashing with his more military-minded colleague, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, with the Brigadier always wanting to use force and the Doctor always preferring to use his mind. The relevant section begins at 2:20.


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