Don’t Fence Me In
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love Jeff Sharlet had some trouble coming back from a trip to Canada because he took a picture. Remember when A...
Category: liberty
The War on Terror
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. What are arms?...
Patience, Grasshopper
A little attention goes a long way. I’ve come to believe that a great deal of unnecessary coercion, what one might call excessive use of force, is directl...
Observations on Compulsory Schooling
Walking back from the bus stop, No. 2 Son, who is only just 10, looked thoughtful. A few steps later, he remarked, “School is slavery.” “It is...
Who Forged These Chains?
For someone who works with computers, I have very little respect for them. Perhaps that’s left over from a programming class where the teacher reminded us...
Speaking of Hate
I really hate that the rhetoric of liberty is perverted in the service of illiberal causes. And I hate this not just because of the hypocrisy of it. I hate this...
What, Me Worry? I’ve Done Nothing Wrong.
One thing I’ve never quite understood is how advocates for expansive government power never quite seem able to imagine themselves as being on the unpleasa...
Somebody Watching Over Me
In Sleeper (1973), there is discussion between Miles and Luna over belief in God. Luna starts, asking Miles. Miles responds in a typically Allen fashion. After ...
Preparing Our Children for Obedience
The elementary school requires the children to enter a personal identification number before they purchase lunch — even if they are paying cash. I feel a ...
Angling for Satisfaction
The excerpts from, and an interview with the author of, Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency are disturbing, and reinforce what we already suspected. In what I ho...
Go Wake Up the Judge
You know how in the movies, when the cops want to bust in on the mob doing their dirty deeds, first they go wake up the judge in the middle of the night, or dra...
Dear Senator Obama
Are you trying to lose our votes, or just revealing your interest in unrestrained Executive power now that you feel it is within your grasp?
Remember, They Are Your Representatives
Dear Congressman Hall: Thank you for your thoughtful and considered response to the concerns expressed in my mail of February 15th this year. Unfortunately, I r...
Every Now and Again a Writer Takes a Plane
Peggy Noonan is tired of the security theater at the airport. Why do we do this when you know I am not a terrorist, and you know I know you know I am not a terr...
Compulsory Education
via Arnold Kling, we learn that the State of California does not like home-schooling by parents who are not also teachers, on the assumption that certification ...
You Made Your Bed, Now Lie in It
I read Joel Spolsky’s “Martian Headsets” post a while back, in which he discusses Microsoft’s about-face with regards to Internet Explor...
Low Opinion of the Press?
Would you like your opinion of the Fourth Estate lowered further? Thought it couldn’t get any worse? Suspect that journalists on deadline have less scrupl...
Yoo Hoo! Cato! Over Here!
I’m surprised that Cato hasn’t mentioned the stink around the latest memorandum from John Yoo [part 1, part 2]. Perhaps they are as shocked, shocked...
Bible Verse of the Day: Acts 16:37
“They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come...
The Castle
At the age of 19, Murat Kurnaz vanished into America’s shadow prison system in the war on terror. He was from Germany, traveling in Pakistan, and was pick...