Also at BHL, Gary Chartier reviews Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch’s Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong With America.
Tag Archives | Terror
Should Sex Be Illegal? Only At the Local Level!
Presidential aspirant Jon Huntsman tells Piers Morgan that he can think of no “issue more important” than the debt ceiling; “that is about as fundamental as it gets.” (More fundamental than not beating, maiming, and killing quite so many people, apparently.)
Christine O’Donnell tells Piers Morgan (shortly before bizarrely storming off his show in mid-interview) that her views on sex are not relevant to her status as a national politician “because there aren’t laws outlawing sex; and if there are, they should be on the local level.”
Speaking of O’Donnell, there ought to be something called Wiccan, Blynken and Nod. According to Google there isn’t yet, and that’s just wrong.
One Nation Under Flag
I’ve received multiple emails, variously titled “Patriotism Banned in the USA” and “Banning the American Flag on U.S. Soil,” from some outfit calling itself “Conservative Action Alerts.” The horrific story unfolds:
Dawn Kamin, who owns an optometry office in Germantown, Tennessee, received a notice that flying the American flag outside her office is a violation of the complex’s bylaws. … According to a letter sent to Dr. Kamin by the business condominium group that owns her building, she must take down the flag by Aug. 22 or face the consequences – fines and paying for the cost to remove the flag and staff.
What our soldiers do for us
“I have family in the military and we have really become aware of our freedoms and what our soldiers do for us,” she said. [You are permitted to gag here.] – RTL “It’s not tacky. It’s just out of respect for our military and the wonderful country that we have the privilege of living in.” …
Patriotic Americans are not the enemy! WE MUST POUND CONGRESS until they pass legislation that will protect Americans from encroachment on our Fourth Amendment rights and protections!
So in other words, however much conservatives may like to talk about private property rights, as soon as those rights come into conflict with the myths and symbols of the Federal imperialist leviathan demigod (which I’m sure is all one word in German), property rights get thrown under the bus.
(But wait, Roderick – do the condo owners have legitimate title to their complex under natural law? Well, I don’t know. But clearly no such questions are troubling the senders of these alerts.)
(And speaking of German, if Dawn Kamin is so patriotic, why is she living in Germantown? Wasn’t Americantown good enough for her?)
Let the Work of Government Begin
Britain’s current PM came to power wrapping himself in anti-big-government rhetoric. No surprise that once in power he talks a bit differently:
In an emergency meeting of the House of Commons, David Cameron indicated that the police could be given powers to shut down social networks during times of unrest, and widen officers’ remit to compel people to remove face coverings.
Remember how the Western political establishment spoke in a unified voice of condemnation when governments in Egypt and Iran shut down social media networks like Twitter in an attempt to prevent protestors from coordinating? Double standard, anyone?
“This is a time for our country to pull together,” said Cameron, praising those who had taken to the streets to defend their communities from thugs.
Cameron’s praise for those who “had taken to the streets to defend their communities from thugs” seems a bit selective. After all, the riots began as protests against murderous thugs in police uniforms; but I doubt that Cameron meant to be praising the protestors – or encouraging his subjects to take to the streets to defend free communication against Cameron’s own thuggish plans for censorship.
MacLeod on Norway
See Ken MacLeod’s discussion of the Oslo/Utøya massacre.
Cordial and Sanguine, Part 7
Gary Chartier’s latest BHL post explains why bleeding hearts should be anarchists.
In related news, see Stuart Bramhall on anti-union laws.