Astonishing insularity

“I don’t care what somebody on some college campus says.”
– President George W. Bush, on hearing last week that more than 200 eminent economists had signed a letter expressing concern about the White House’s proposed bailout plan.
(Hat Tip: The Agitator)

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We are entering interesting times

“May you find what you are looking for;
May you come to the attention of those in authority;
May you live in interesting times.”
– Ancient Chinese curses.

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The Missouri thugs?

I wrote earlier about Obama’s attempts to silence ads critical of him by legal intimidation.
His “truth-squad” at Missouri is, however, no less disturbing. [However, see update below]
Perhaps we are getting overworked about the whole thing and this “truth squad” is simply there to issue rebuttals and not actually engage in prosecutions.
Perhaps Obama really does not [...]

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Money, power elites and morality

Eliezer Yudkowsky writes:
One of the major surprises I received when I moved out of childhood into the real world, was the degree to which the world is stratified by genuine competence.
Now, yes, Steve Jurvetson is not just a randomly selected big-name venture capitalist.  He is a big-name VC who often shows up at transhumanist conferences.  [...]

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Speech is best countered by speech

And thuggishness by, well, see below…
A month ago, I wrote critically about Obama’s attempt to silence advertisements that opposed him: using a combination of his passionate supporter-strength and legal threats.
Sadly, it was not a one-off incident.
The latest targets of the Obama campaign is an advertisement by the National Rifle association (NRA). Obama claims that the [...]

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Another prediction

A month an a half from now, when John McCain’s team tries to pinpoint the reason they lost the election, they will eventually stumble upon a date: September 24.
It was a day that saw McCain making his disastrous debate postponement offer (stellarly countered by Obama) that saw him mocked by Dave Letterman and much of [...]

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“If he’s insisting, I might hug”

Sarah Palin met with world leaders for two days, presumably to educate herself on foreign policy. So what’s the only news we have about the affair? Click here for the answer.
Well, sex sells, I guess. Now only if Dubya was hot, the world might have been such a peaceful place…

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Cracking down on hate speech

After Canada, it is Australia.
Australian gun lobbyist Ron Owen has been told he is entitled to express his homophobic views, but that he went too far with the bumper sticker: “Gay Rights? Under God’s law the only rights gays have is the right to die.”
Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Tribunal found Owen guilty of inciting hatred against homosexuals [...]

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McCain’s boiling moralism

Conservative columnist George Will is bang on the money:
Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked the Wall Street Journal to editorialize that “McCain untethered” — disconnected from knowledge [...]

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The bad and the ugly — measuring fallout

Neither of the major candidates of the upcoming US presidential election offers much hope to those who believe in individual liberty and limited government. In this post, I will outline the five things to fear most from each of them becoming President.
Five things to fear from an Obama presidency:
1. Card check. This ought to be [...]

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The crazy Dodd bill

One of the disturbing aspects of the whole bailout thing is the staggering amount of power it gives to Paulson, the Treasury secretary (basically, complete discretion, with virtually no oversight, about how to spend $700 billion). You’d think that the Congress would try to solve this problem, not make it worse. The whole thing beggars [...]

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Ron Paul endorses Christianist Chuck Baldwin

Ron Paul displays another example of the kind of bad judgement/position  that has ensured that I have never been his supporter. (Previous examples — his stands on abortion, immigration and international treaties, his practice of voting ‘no’, the newsletter scandal)
Yes, I am disappointed.

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Political correctness is degenerating into farce

… says Quirky Indian.
I agree.

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Ron Paul eulogy

I have never been a hardcore Ron Paul fan. Nonetheless, I found the video below touching, not just because it reminded me that I have much more in common with him than not, but also because it poignantly reflects the truth — more stark today than it has ever been — that truth-tellers can never [...]

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First Amendment survey

This survey reveals everything that is wrong with the the state of freedom in the US. Some highlights:
42% believe that people should NOT be allowed to say things in public that are offensive to certain religious groups.
54% believe that people should NOT be allowed to say things in public that are offensive to certain racial [...]

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