Monday, January 30, 2012

I submitted the three Wellerisms that follow to AWAD. The webmaster, one Anu Garg, is not the least bit sympathetic to libertarian political theory, so I strongly suspect he'll reject all three.

“This legislation will save Thai children from sweatshop exploitation,” sniffed the Western do-gooder, barring the youngsters' only escape from a lifetime of backbreaking subsistence labor in the family rice paddies.

“I favor applying the Golden Rule to our foreign policy,” the presidential candidate remonstrated with his audience of South Carolina Christians, as they erupted in a chorus of jeers.

"I believe in a woman's right to do as she chooses with her own body," intoned the ardent pro-choice drug warrior, circulating her anti-medicinal marijuana petition.

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sun, Jan 29, 2012 1:09 pm
Subject: Disorder

At the Chinese New Year parade. You may not be able to make out what it says on
the cop's jacket -- it's "disorder control unit".

Also the distinguished Senator Chuck Schumer just got out of the car in the
foreground. Wonder if the cop will control him.

Larry

I can't make it out, but I have no reason to doubt it. You and I are among the one percent who see irony in those words.

Most right-thinking people regard theft, extortion, murder, mayhem, bludgeoning, thumb-breaking, counterfeiting, kidnapping, surveillance, etc., as instrinsically disordered acts. But if central political authority is meting out those instrinsically disordered acts, those same people blithely assume it's doing so only to advance the cause of order. That's why we have central political authority, don't you know?

Central political authority controls the disorder all right. It's at the helm.

What's the alternative? Anarchy? Anarchists trust people too much. Because cops, judges, prosecutors, politicians, bureaucrats, soldiers and generals are angels or automotons. Everybody knows that. How naive can the anarchists be?

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/pres-john-tylers-grandchildren-still-alive_n_1232430.html?1327539506&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D130326

Can you believe it? Two grandsons of the 10th president of the United States, John Tyler (1790 -1862), are still alive. That’s right. The president was born in the 18th century; here we are in the 21st, sharing this vale of tears with two men a mere two generations removed from the president himself.

Here’s how it went down. At age 63, in 1853, John Tyler begat Lyon Gardiner Tyler. Lyon in turn was 71 when he begat Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr., in 1924. Four years later, Harrison Ruffin Tyler came along. Lyon, Jr., and Harrison still live.

It wouldn't surprise me if we're still paying for these geezers' Secret Service protection. I don’t see any way around it. If some lone nut (it's always a lone nut, isn't it?) whacks John Tyler’s superannuated grandsons, the terrorists win.

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Jews routinely make bigoted statements about Christians without regarding them as bigoted. They just think they're being incisive and satirical.

I was talking politics with my Jewish boss some years ago. I'm a libertarian. I said I believe the State preserves far more disorder than it prevents. It cannot be otherwise, insofar as the State has a license to steal and extort. It calls its extortion taxation. It assures us it requires taxing authority to promote the common good, but if the rest of were to assume that authority, we'd rightly see it as undermining the common good. Universality, I said, is the hallmark of morality. If it's not good for us to steal and extort, it's not good for the State to do it.

My boss said he believed basically the same thing. He said his dad used to tell him that if somebody were to drop an atomic bomb on Washington, D.C., it would set things back in the country for a month or so. Then things would get much better. Without missing a beat, my boss proceeded to toss out this pearl of wisdom: "My dad used to say the same thing about the Catholic Church."

I have an Italian surname. He knew I was at least culturally Catholic. I had a picture of my first grade daughter in her Catholic schoolgirl uniform on my desk. None of this gave him pause. He delivered this virulently anti-Catholic statement in a most matter-of-fact manner. As if I'm the one who has something to apologize for.

I almost parried, "Yeah, my dad used to say the same things about the Jews. He's a Holocaust denier." But I thought better of it.

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Leftists have threatened the life of Arthur Laffer, the "free-market" economist who favors lower tax rates because--get this--they generate additional revenue for the government. As if the government doesn't do enough damage with the revenue it collects under high tax rates. Anywaym Laffer reports someone has gone so far as to kill his animals.

I am reminded of a joke I heard in 1986. This is back in the good old days when the Soviets were the Implacable Enemy With Whom No Compromise Was Possible, and the mujahideen were freedom fighters armed and funded by the U.S., to thwart that Implacable Enemy.

A Brit, a Frenchman and a Russian stumble into a lantern. They rub it. Sure enough, a genie appears. The genie offers to make one wish come true for each of them.

The Brit says, "I want a million pounds of cash, a fish and chips franchise, and a castle in the Scottish Highlands."

The Frenchman says, "I want a kilogram of gold, a chateau on the Riviera, and a beautiful French mistress."

The Russian says, "My neighbor Sergei has a goat. I haven't got a goat. Kill my neighbor's goat."

That's the politics of envy for you. Like Puritans resenting others' having a good time, the leveler chafes at others' wealth, no matter how attained.

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Sunday, January 08, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGDisyWkIBM

This speech was delivered April 24, 2002 on the House floor. Yes, that's 2002, as in well nigh ten years ago. It's only five minutes and fifty-two seconds long. You may well find it astonishing.

Some call a firm grasp of economics, history and political philosophy whacky. Others say this kind of whackiness lends itself to prophecy. Full disclosure: I long ago abandoned belief in limited government. With apologies to Congressman Paul, I find the concept neither desirable nor possible.

I'm not necessarily advancing anybody's candidacy. Vote for the criminal of your choice. Better yet, don't vote at all. The Revolution, if it ever takes place, will take place between people's ears. There's no telling what will come when that happens.

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