URLs du Jour

2007-05-31

  • Shawn Macomber echoes Todd Seavey's list of Ron Paul's relentlessly libertarian positions, and so will I:
    • abolish the Federal Reserve
    • end Federal involvement in drug enforcement
    • abolish the income tax
    • dismantle the entire welfare state
    • get the U.S. out of the U.N.
    • restore the gold standard and/or allow private currency production
    • end all subsidies
    • eliminate virtually all Cabinet-level agencies
    As the young whippersnappers say these days: w00t! If not for his ostrich views on terrorism … not bad at all.

    Todd Seavey's article, linked to by Shawn, is also a real good read, funny and rambling.

  • If Ron Paul is eliminated from consideration, you might find yourself asking: "Hey! Is Fred Thompson a small-government conservative?" Find out one Catoid's take on that question in the post "Is Fred Thompson a Small-Government Conservative?" (Spoiler: he's far from perfect, but he might be the best bet for serious-about-terrorism libertarians.)

  • We've been real tough on REAL ID here, so let's give some equal time to James Jay Carafano, writing at NRO. He bemoans the fact that, even though REAL ID was passed "with bipartisan support", the current Congress is waning in its enthusiasm, and may repeal it.

    James could have added, but didn't, that numerous state legislatures are refusing to implement it. He could have also mentioned, but didn't, that REAL ID was a rider snuck onto a must-pass military appropriations bill. A stand-alone REAL ID bill had previously stagnated.

    But that's neither here nor there! Because James' primary point is that Congress can be notoriously squishy when it comes time to get tough on previous commitments. He makes a good argument that similar fates await the "tough" enforcement and border security provisions of the comprehensive immigration reform bill.

    Anti-REAL ID guru Jim Harper responds more fully to James' article here.

  • Perhaps the quote of the month is via Powerline:
    "The line between what is prostitution and what is immigration was blurry," Rybak replied.
    You know, my eyesight isn't what it used to be, either. Still …

  • Some long-overdue linklist maintenance: I've added some comics (Lio, Liberty Meadows, and the wonderful Wondermark); a couple of humor sites (Guns 'n' Butter and Lore Sjöberg's Alt Text); James K. Glassman's American.com; Planet Gore from NRO; the too-sporadic Ninth State; Mr. Fairness himself, Brendan Nyhan; the liberaltarian Brink Lindsey. And last, but not least, a new link to Shawn Macomber's bright and shiny (and—best of all—functional) new blog. Have at 'em.

  • By the way, Patrick Hynes is a class act.