June 2010

De facto eminent domain

by Isaac Bergman June 24, 2010

Building owner Ricky Wong is being shafted by NYC’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, but it’s his fault because he should have known better than to think that “the land of the free” was anything other than an empty slogan when it comes to property ownership. As the Real Deal reports: Five months after the Department of [...]

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Cultural preconditions for liberty

by Wirkman Virkkala June 23, 2010

Four women and eleven men have been convicted of “mingling” at a party, in Saudi Arabia. Sentence? According to the AP, “flogging and prison terms.” The men, who are between 30 and 40 years old, and three of the women, who are under the age of 30, were sentenced to an unspecified number of lashes [...]

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Wake Up! An Eye Is Upon You

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché June 22, 2010

From Wired.com comes news of the US Army’s latest spy mobile — a high altitude, long-duration flight, combat airship, ominously nicknamed “The Unblinking Eye.” This sweet ride and its two sister blimps will cost taxpayers upwards of half a billion dollars. The 5-year contract calls for a mere $517 million, and we all know military [...]

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Robert Bork poised to do something uninteresting

by Ryan McMaken June 21, 2010

Have you ever wondered what happened to Robert Bork? Neither have I. Today, the big media outlets breathlessly reported that Robert Bork opposes the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan. This wouldn’t be reported at all if Bork were simply some other aging federal judge. Bork isn’t a famous person anymore, and he’s not particularly [...]

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Socialism not working for Hugo Chavez either

by Dick Clark June 19, 2010

With the central government now directly controlling some 20-30% of staple food production, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is certainly striving to put other people’s money where his mouth is. According to CNBC: Mountains of rotting food found at a government warehouse, soaring prices and soldiers raiding wholesalers accused of hoarding: Food supply is the latest [...]

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Why Barton apologized (the second time)

by Ryan McMaken June 18, 2010

As is almost always the case when politicians speak the truth, it’s purely by accident. Barton was correct to note the injustice against BP in the Obama administration’s shakedown for 20 billion. But it is exceedingly unlikely that Barton actually cared about the issue beyond the potential for scoring some political points and whipping up [...]

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Mythbuster: Libertarianism and Unchosen Obligations

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché June 18, 2010

It is a common mistake, made even by some libertarians and former libertarians, that libertarians reject the idea of unchosen obligations. Gene Callahan, apparently a former libertarian turned communitarian, is the latest to make this mistake. He says: Obligation . . . is the crucial idea denied by libertarian political theory. Well, this is just [...]

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