Aliança-Libertária caption competition, no-666

I Don’t Think the Last Diamond Jubilee was this Tacky

The Battle for the Cato Institute | Politics & Personalities | Washingtonian

The Battle for the Cato Institute

Charles Koch and Ed Crane were once allies in the libertarian movement. Now the former friends are facing off in a fight for control of Cato, the think tank they founded together 35 years ago. By Luke Mullins

Billionaire Charles Koch (left) has emerged as a champion of the Tea Party, while Ed Crane has remained a strict libertarian. Illustration by Steve Brodner.

Ed Crane lumbered into Capitol Hill’s Christ Church on a rainy morning in October 2011. He walked the creaky floors in the 19th-century nave and found a seat in the paint-chipped pews. Mourners crowded the interior as the choir began singing.

Everything You Might Have Wanted to Know about the Jubilee

Thoughts on the Diamond Jubilee

Thoughts on the Diamond Jubilee:
Sixty Years a Rubber Stamp
By Sean Gabb

Those of us who pay attention to such things will have noticed a difference between the BBC coverage of the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and of the present Diamond Jubilee. Ten years ago, the coverage was adequate, though reluctant and even a little stiff. This time, it has been gushing and completely uncritical. There are various possible reasons for my observation. The first is that I was mistaken then and am mistaken now. I do not think this is the case, but feel obliged to mention it. The second is that Golden Jubilees are rare events, and Diamond Jubilees very rare events, and that extreme rarity justifies a setting aside of republican scruples. The third is that the BBC was taken by surprise in 2002 by the scale of public enthusiasm, and does not wish to be caught out again. The fourth is that, while not particularly conservative on main issues, we do now have a Conservative Government, and this is headed by a cousin of Her Majesty. There may be many other reasons.

Let us use our power and be thankful

David Davis

I just passed by my facebook page a minute ago, to see how the flowers are growing.

Here’s a picture I used a little time ago. Even though the GreeNazis are beaten and gasping in their horror and ire, they will always come back. LIke weeds. They will never say sorry and they will never give up. This is the last serious chance that leftoNazis have to destroy liberal civilisation, and they strive and strive hard. If they bugger it up this time, they are f***ed, for good. Because once everybody’s cottoned on to the fact that they were “avvin-us-fer-a-laff”, they are dead.

 

So Long as Government Exists, a Governing Class is Inevitable

by Kevin Carson
http://c4ss.org/?p=10425

It was inevitable, argued English liberal Oliver Brett in his 1921 work A Defence of Liberty, that so-called “state socialism” would become simply another class society — this time with the state bureaucracy in the position of privilege. “So long as Government exists at all” — so went his brilliant quip on the principle — “a governing class is inevitable.” Just as everyone who attended Eton — regardless of their class of origin or what rustic access they originally spoke — “bore the stamp of Eton,” everyone who exercises state power bears the stamp of that power. Government molds everyone who wields its authority into a governing type.

Mike Gogulski and the Citizens of Nowhere

by James Tuttle

Note: I met Mike in Slovakia in 2008, and look forward to seeing him again every year. His principled stand isn’t one I feel inclined to imitate. However, it is very much to be admired. SIG

Another New Surveillance Law (2012), by Sean Gabb

Another Surveillance Law:
One More Step towards the Big Brother State
By Sean Gabb
(Published in The Barrister, May 2012)

At the beginning of April 2012, the BBC and a couple of newspapers reported that the British Government was considering a new surveillance law. This would allow it to monitor the telephone calls, text messages, e-mails and website visits of everyone in the United Kingdom. There was a flurry of debate about civil rights and the need to protect us all against terrorists. There was a side argument between those who said the law was required by the European Union, and those who said it would be in breach of European Union law. Since then, the various debates have gone quiet. Possibly, the Ministers have decided to drop the matter. More likely, the initial leak was to soften us up for something less ambitious to be announced in the Queen’s Speech. The Ministers will say they have “listened” to our concerns – and will use the lesser measure they had in mind all the time as a precedent for moving to the full measure in later stages. This being so, whether greater or lesser, another step will have been taken to a Big Brother police state.

Keep the Gravy Train Coming?

D. J. Webb

I’m a great supporter of lower taxation, and so the report released on Sunday evening by the 2020 Tax Commission, supported by the Taxpayers’ Alliance under the chairmanship of Allister Heath, attracted my attention. Of course, as a libertarian, I would prefer to see the state spend around one-third of GDP, as recommended in the report, which would be an improvement on the current level of around 50%. But the report struck me as incredibly unambitious. Why should the state even spend as much as one-third of GDP? In Hong Kong, the figure is closer to one-fifth. The conclusions of this report are therefore a long way from libertarianism, amounting to a proposal that would keep the gravy train coming for the bloated public sector. A glance at the image below shows that the proposals in this tax reform report are far from amounting to a genuine closing down of the public-sector sinecures. All the income streams indicated below are required to keep the state show on the road:

Christianity and Homosexuality: The Textual Sources

http://www.clgs.org/arsenokoit%C3%A9s-and-malakos-meanings-and-consequences

Note: I republish this text as background matter to the long discussion that followed David Webb’s essay on homosexuality. I was also put in mind of the textual debate when Robert Henderson made emphatic claims about the meaning of Islam from his reading of the Koran in translation. Religious text are generally hard to understand in their details. SIG

Liberals in a multicultural denialfest

by Robert Henderson
http://livinginamadhouse.wordpress.com/?p=1466

Note: This is an alternative view of the Rochdale sexual predation case to the one we published the other day by Yamin Zakaria. Probably, our readers are more likely to agree with it. Indeed, I agree with a lot of it.

Where the meaning of the Koran is concerned, however, I am more cautious. We know that undoubtedly sincere Christians have adopted interpretations of the first five books of the Old Testament which are at variance with the natural meaning of the text. Even where the New Testament is concerned, something as apparently obvious as the condemnations of homosexuality depend on the meaning of words like malakos and arsenokoites – words that do not appear to have had clear meanings until about a century after they were used in their specific context.

Over the past 1,300 years, Moslems appear to have adopted interpretations of the Koran and Hadith that are equally at variance. Understanding the “meaning” of any religious text requires more than a reading of its words in their plain sense – especially when the text has been translated from a radically foreign language. All we can say is that some present interpretations of Islam by Pakistanis resident in England sanction sexual predation against natives.

This is something which imams and believers in places like Rochdale need to address. We cannot say that “true” Islam promotes any of the things that Robert says it does. SIG

Marriage: Politics vs. Society

by Thomas Knapp
http://c4ss.org/?p=10357

The late William F. Buckley, Jr., stated the mission of his publication (National Review), and by implication the mission of his brand of political conservatism, thusly: “Standing athwart the tracks of history yelling stop.”

If we extend that analogy to other areas of political ideology, it’s reasonable to think of political progressives as firemen on a train rolling down those tracks toward Buckley and his compatriots, building up a head of steam to run right over their barricade and bust through pursuant to a theory of where those tracks must necessarily lead.

Richard Blake: It’s That Time of Year Again!

http://www.hodder.co.uk/books/work.aspx?WorkID=166843

612 AD.

Decadent, desperate Athens is the Roman Empire’s most vulnerable city.

Aelric – senator of the Roman Empire, fresh from a bloodbath in Egypt that may or may not be regarded in Constantinople as his fault- is forced to divert the Imperial galley to Athens for reasons the Emperor has neglected to share with him.

He finds a demoralized and corrupt provincial city threatened by an army rumoured to contain twenty million starving barbarians.

Not to mention an explosive religious dispute, an unexplained corpse, and hints of something worse than murder. Is he on a high level mission to save the Empire? Or has he been set up to fail? Or is the truth even worse than he can at first imagine?

He will have to call upon all his formidable intellect and lethal ingenuity to survive his enemies inside and outside the city walls . . .

Reviews

‘Vivid characters, devious plotting and buckets of gore are enhanced by his unfamiliar choice of period. Nasty, fun and educational.’

Daily Telegraph on THE TERROR OF CONSTANTINOPLE

‘He knows how to deliver a fast-paced story and his grasp of the period is impressively detailed’

Mail on Sunday on THE TERROR OF CONSTANTINOPLE

‘Fascinating to read, very well written, an intriguing plot and I enjoyed it very much.’ 

Derek Jacobi on CONSPIRACIES OF ROME

‘A rollicking and raunchy read . . . Anyone who enjoys their history with large dollops of action, sex, intrigue and, above all, fun will absolutely love this novel.’

Historical Novels Review on THE TERROR OF CONSTANTINOPLE

‘Blake’s plotting is as brilliantly devious as the mind of his sardonic and very earthy hero. This is a story of villainy that reels you in from its prosaic opening through a series of death-defying thrills and spills.’

Lancashire Evening Post on THE SWORD OF DAMASCUS

Kevin Carson Awarded C4SS’s Karl Hess Chair in Social Theory

by James Tuttle

We congratulate Kevin Carson SIG

http://c4ss.org/?p=10390

The Center for a Stateless Society has named Kevin Carson the inaugural holder of its Karl Hess Chair in Social Theory.

Carson, a C4SS senior fellow, is the author of three books—Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective, and The Homebrew Industrial Revolution—as well as C4SS research studies on topics including land ownership and intellectual property and articles in publications including The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty. Studies in Mutualist Political Economy was the focus of a symposium in the Journal of Libertarian Studies.

The chair honors Karl Hess, who played a key role in fostering the alliance between libertarians and the New Left that briefly flourished in the 1960s. Hess’s writings on topics ranging from appropriate technology to the reconfiguration of the political spectrum have helped to shape the left-libertarian project to which the Center is committed.

“Kevin Carson is one of the most creative and influential thinkers on the contemporary anarchist and libertarian scene,” said C4SS board chair Sheldon Richman. “I can’t think of a better occupant for this chair.”

“Being able to appoint Carson to this chair is an honor for the Center for a Stateless Society,” said Center director Brad Spangler. “We’re proud of him, and we believe this appointment will highlight the importance of his work to all aspects of the freedom movement.”

The Failings of the Crown Prosecution Service: A Barrister Writes

by Howard R. Gray

Note: This is a comment on a thread about the defects of the Crown Prosecution Service, but is worth posting in its own right.SIG

Two nuggets of experience about the CPS rather set the scene for what is happening. These took place years ago in the first year or so of the service when the majority of the lawyers were extraordinarily green and frankly of dubious competence in some quarters. I was defending a case when I was given an offer by the prosecution before lunch and it was then summarily withdrawn after lunch upon instructions from the prosecution lawyers “boss”.

Rochdale Sex Crimes – Are they a product of the Pakistani Ghetto or Liberalism?

by Yamin Zakaria

Note: This is a point of view seldom encountered in our circles. Without necessarily agreeing with it, I think it worth publishing. SIG

Rochdale Sex Crimes – Are they a product of the Pakistani Ghetto or Liberalism?

America the Victimised!

Heartwarming Poster

Advertising Standards Authority Persecution

by Sean Gabb

Archbishop Cranmer says that he is being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority for carrying the advertisement shown below. I thought the ASA was a private body with jurisdiction only over its own members. However, we do live in a country where the laws have no stability, and in which formally private bodies are increasingly given policing and enforcement powers.

The Libertarian Alliance takes no corporate view on homosexual marriage. But we do believe in freedom of speech. So here is the advertisement in question.