Posted in Politics, liberty, philosophy, rights, tagged McCain on May 2, 2008 | No Comments »
Jonathan Rauch argues that John McCain is a true conservative, in the mold of Edmund Burke–and that “movement” conservatives aren’t. Rauch starts with a nice precis of an aspect of Burke’s thought that influenced, among others, Freidrich von Hayek:
Burke is the father of modern conservatism, and still its wisest oracle. Tradition-minded but (contrary to [...]
Posted in Children, Politics, law, liberty, regulation, tagged alcohol, law on April 29, 2008 | 2 Comments »
That’s what Bart Simpson told his family in “Homer v. the Eighteenth Amendment.” “I’ll go with you!” said Homer. Marge put a stop to it, and that was that—except, of course, that Bart’s drinking started a temperance campaign that led to prohibition. As the episode illustrates, things get complicated when the government [...]
Posted in liberty, tagged freedom of speech on April 17, 2008 | No Comments »
for writing a letter to a government official about matters of policy:
In December 2006, Bardot wrote a letter to Sarkozy, then France’s Interior minister, to demand that Muslims anaesthesize their animals before slaughtering them. In her letter she said, referring to Muslims, that she is “fed up with being under the thumb of this population [...]
Posted in liberty, tagged freedom of speech on April 7, 2008 | No Comments »
A Dutch judge has ruled that Geert Wilders is not guilty of spreading hate.
Posted in Religion, liberty, tagged freedom of speech, Islam on April 5, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Caroline Glick:
The West stands by idly as its foundations are rent asunder.
Last Friday the UN’s Human Rights Council took a direct swipe at freedom of expression. In a 32-0 vote, the council instructed its “expert on freedom of expression” to report to the council on all instances in which individuals “abuse” their freedom of speech [...]
Posted in liberty, tagged gun control, Obama on April 5, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Many states have enacted concealed carry laws over the past decade. The result, in every case, has been a reduction in crime. The shootings over traffic accidents, backyard arguments, etc., that opponents warned us about haven’t happened. Barack Obama nevertheless repeats those arguments:
“I am not in favor of concealed weapons,” Obama said. [...]
Posted in Religion, liberty, tagged freedom of speech, Islam, liberty, reasoning on April 1, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Thomas Landen describes the hypocrisy and cowardice of European elites faced with works of art criticizing or mocking religion:
Depicting Jesus sodomizing his apostles is not considered to be a “degradation of religious symbols” in Austria, but referring to the historic fact that Muhammad married a six-year old girl is “incitement to racial hatred.”
People are facing [...]
Posted in Cats, Religion, liberty, tagged freedom of speech, Islam, Osama Bin Laden, Religion on March 21, 2008 | No Comments »
Flemming Rose proposes that we answer Osama Bin Laden’s latest with defiance.
What should the response of Europe be? More cartoons or less cartoons? What kind of civilization are we, after all, if we refrain from mocking and ridiculing bin Laden and his followers?
In related news, the Bangladeshi cartoonist who drew a cartoon about a cat, [...]
Posted in liberty, tagged freedom of speech, Islam on March 20, 2008 | No Comments »
Wretchard reflects on the power of the Mohammed cartoons, which must be very powerful indeed, given the evidence of the latest from Osama Bin Laden.
What makes the Mohammed Cartoon attack on radical Islam so potent that Bin Laden himself must oppose it, is two things. First, anyone can make fun of radical Islam. Second, the [...]
Posted in liberty, regulation, tagged liberty, regulation on March 7, 2008 | No Comments »
And George McGovern has discovered the value of liberty and the limitations of government.
Since leaving office I’ve written about public policy from a new perspective: outside looking in. I’ve come to realize that protecting freedom of choice in our everyday lives is essential to maintaining a healthy civil society.
Why do we think we are helping [...]
