I’ve previously pointed out, and continue to, that Benjamin Tucker made a persuasive case that free market anarchism is best understood as a variety of socialism in his essay “State Socialism and Anarchism: How Far They Agree and Wherein They Differ“. I’ve also made the point that Tucker’s case is by no means contingent on [...]

Shorter Noam Chomsky interview: Question 1: “blahblahcognitivescienceblah?” Noam: “Yup, and it’ll make psycho’s eyes glaze over!” Question 2: “Anarchist movement…WTF, yo?” Noam: “Coherence & foresight would be nice.  Oh yeah, and no more Judean People’s Front/People’s Front of Judea stuff” Question 3: “Government as check on other power, at least in long run: you = for, but reality = why [...]

SHREVEPORT, LA-The “Haynesville” production team, Three Penny Productions and
Creative State Design celebrated the official launch of the film’s Web site today. The site will help fans stay informed about the film, its subjects and about energy issues. “I really want this site to be a place where people can stay in touch with
‘Haynesville,’ but most importantly, I want the site to be a place where everyone can
keep up on the important energy issues in the film and the film’s subjects,” said Gregory Kallenberg, “Haynesville” director and one of its producers.
The launching of the film’s site will also feature the debut of the “Haynesville”
movie trailer.

“This is a film about three lives caught in the middle of the largest natural gas
discovery in the U.S. and maybe the world,” said Kallenberg. “I think Chris Lyon, the
editor, did an excellent job getting this big story and its elements into the trailer.”

The site features a filmmaker blog, a view into the “Haynesville” Twitter
feed (@HaynesvilleFilm) and news and views on national and international energy
issues.

“We want HaynesvilleMovie.com to be a gathering place for people who want to
support the film. We are a small, independently produced documentary with big
aspirations,” said Mark Bullard, the film’s producer. “We plan for this site to be the beginning of a grassroots effort that will take us to the highest heights of the documentary world.”

ABOUT “HAYNESVILLE”: “Haynesville” is a documentary following the discovery of
the United States’ largest natural gas field; a field named the “Haynesville Shale.” The film focuses on three people’s lives caught in the middle of the find and explores the Haynesville’s impact on their lives. The film also looks at this massive field from a national perspective, exploring the implications and huge potential of finding enough natural gas to run the U.S. for decades.

www.haynesvillethemovie.com

Q) Imagine you work for a large organization.  As part of your job, you sell something your organization doesn’t own.  The stock is unavailable for replenishing, and your buyer cannot pick up the product anyway.  What is your job title, & what are you selling? A) Politician.  The product is land: wassa, Ethiopia — We turned off [...]

by Ron Paul Last week Congress voted to encourage participation in the 2010 census. I voted “No” on this resolution for the simple, obvious reason that the census- like so many government programs- has grown far beyond what the framers...

Quote of the day: Jim Henley on a cultural chasm between brands of libertarianism:

[A]nti-anti-sprawl libertarianism will exist so long as there are libertarians who hate hippies more than they hate central planning ...
Someone -- I think it may have been J. Neil Schulman -- slapped me around awhile back for referring to "bourgeois libertarians."

My use of the term was meant to diverge a bit from Kevin Carson's "vulgar libertarians" label, which he characterizes thusly: For vulgar libertarians, "[i]n every case, the good guys, the sacrificial victims of the Progressive State, are the rich and powerful. The bad guys are the consumer and the worker, acting to enrich themselves from the public treasury."

I'd say that my "bourgeois libertarians" are a sub-set of Kevin's "vulgar libertarians." I'm using "bourgeois" in the sense of "conforming to the standards and conventions of the middle class" (Source: WordNet).

Vulgar libertarianism may, in many cases, be a failure of theory or ideology -- its adherent may be incorrectly applying principles, or may be ignorant of this or that historical fact which is important to the issue, or whatever.

Bourgeois libertarianism is a failure not of theory or of ideology, but of imagination: Bourgeois libertarians simply can't get their heads around the idea that a real free market or a real free society might produce outcomes or phenomena that they aren't already familiar and comfortable with.

The bourgeois libertarian's Libertopia is the same house he lives in now, on the same suburban street that house is on now, with the same brands of clothing in the closet and the same shows on TV (minus Keith Olbermann, perhaps).

He still mails out checks for services -- they go to private contractors instead of government tax collectors, but the services are probably pretty much the same. The more efficient market means those checks represent a smaller percentage of his income, though, so maybe he's added a sunroom to the back of that house, has a couple of extra pairs of Nike® shoes in that closet, and watches a 52" plasma screen TV instead of a 26" CRT model.

I have nothing against the bourgeois libertarian's personal aspirations and preferences, mind you. As a matter of fact, I share some of them. There's a lot to be said for the lifestyle options available even in our relatively unfree (compared to Libertopia) society. But the bourgeois libertarian reacts negatively and viscerally to the suggestion that Libertopia may not turn out as a carbon copy of the present-day Peoria metro, only with private label police cruisers.

And so, bourgeois libertarianism tends to produce knee-jerk reactions in favor of comfortable life-food like "suburban sprawl" as if those comfortable, well-known, beloved phenomena had been produced by a free market ... when in fact suburban sprawl has been a rider on the trend toward bigger, not smaller, government.

For the most part, I've found Google Voice very useful. It gives me one number that I can have forwarded to any and all phones where I might be (home phone, cell phone, etc.), and if I grab a new pre-paid phone I can just add it and people use the same Google Voice number to reach me instead of them tracking me down or me wondering whether I've notified everyone.

The other day, however, I decided that I wanted a new Google Voice number. The old one was mnemonically linked to my now-defunct presidential campaign. The new one is mnemonically linked to me in a more permanent way.

Google charges $10 for a number change (and keeps the old number going for three months so that if anyone doesn't get the word, they still get through). No problem. I coughed right up.

But now it's been several days and the new number doesn't work. Callers get "this number is not in service." Skype tells me "number does not exist."

And, as anyone who's ever reported a problem to Google knows, you're about as likely to get action, or even an individual response, as you would be if you climbed down into an abandoned salt mine and scrawled your support request on the walls with a chisel.

Normally, I don't consider that a big deal. Most Google services are free. Most of them are well-supported in a general way, and most of them have active user mutual support forums.

But now that I've got actual money -- even a small amount -- wrapped up in a Google service, being able to share the woe with other unsatisfied users isn't good enough.

I want my damn number to work. Selah.

I've been slacking over at St. Louis on the Cheap lately, but yesterday I got downtown (to scout a venue for an LP Radicals event), and while I was there I grabbed menus from, photos of, etc., a number of restaurants convenient to the convention hotel.

So far, I've blogged four sub sandwich joints and an inexpensive/open-early diner, all within a very easy walk of the Renaissance Grand and Suites.

Coming soon: Italian food. Thai food. Japanese food. Mexican food. Bistros. Family dining. All within 10 minutes of the convention hotel on foot. Bonus: A reasonably-priced, but not especially visible, breakfast/lunch option about one minute away.

My goal with St. Louis on the Cheap is to make it possible for more people to attend the Libertarian Party's national convention by saving them money on those "extra" expenses -- food, travel, entertainment and to a lesser degree lodging (please stay at the convention hotel if you can afford it and if it meets your needs -- it will save you an hour or more a day in going back and forth).

Update, 03/12/10: I've added posts on Charlie Gitto's (Italian cuisine) and Hardee's / Red Burrito (fast food).

-The first thing I thought (other than “…wtf?”) about this whole alleged suburban one-woman sleeper cell business was about how casually pro-ethnic-profiling sentiment had spread in regards to terrorism.  I don’t think you could’ve in a million years designed a case as forcefully showing that approach to be inherently ineffective, in addition to merely being [...]

"Is Justice Scalia abandoning originalism?" Josh Blackman and Ilya Shapiro pose the question in the Washington Examiner in the context of the McDonald gun rights case now before the Supreme Court.

A better question would be "how can one abandon that which one has never practiced?"

Scalia forever surrendered any plausible claim to "originalist" cred with his concurring opinion in Gonzales v. Raich:

Congress's authority to enact laws necessary and proper for the regulation of interstate commerce is not limited to laws directed against economic activities that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce.
He's right. That power isn't limited to "economic activities that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce," it's limited to interstate commerce itself. But Scalia goes the other way and claims that the power extends to items and activities which are "never more than an instant from the interstate market" (in other words, every item and activity).

Scalia has proven time and time again that he'll buy into a pile of bad precedent six days a week and twice on Sunday before he'll go with an original intent that in any way limits the power of his co-partisans to do whatever the hell they feel like doing.

Shorter Charles Lane: “One doctor missing a potential warning sign when seeing the Pentagon shooter means medicinal use of marijuana is 100% BS.” Lane suggests that a symptom common among schizophrenics was glossed over by the doctor in question, who recommended cannabis to address his insomnia.  Even if true it wouldn’t say anything about marijuana in [...]

... to let me know that I'll be getting mail from the Census Bureau:

Dear Resident:

About one week from now, you will receive a 2010 Census form in the mail. When you receive your form, please fill it out and mail it in promptly.

Your response is important. Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs you and your neighbors need. Without a complete, accurate census, your community may not receive its fair share.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely,
Robert M. Groves
Director, US Census Bureau
Of course, the only "legitimate" (for those who accept that anything the state does is legitimate) purpose of the census is to count heads for apportionment of congressional districts.

And I can't say that I'm especially enthusiastic at the prospect of baring my metaphorical neck so that Welfare State Nosferatu can suck data out of it to feed his nest of central planning vampires with.

But beyond that, I have to wonder just how much money these idiots spent sending people mail just to tell them that they'll be sending people more mail.

Back in January, I wrote:

I hate to ask anyone to put off registering for the convention, but it's important that you do so even if you planned on buying one of the "extras" packages. Until the requirement to do so has been withdrawn, buying a convention package amounts to rewarding and encouraging bad behavior. For bonus points, let LPHQ know that you'd like to buy a package and that you'll do so as soon as this poll tax nonsense is dispensed with.
Well, the poll tax nonsense has been dispensed with.

I was one of those who took my own advice -- I held off on buying a package and informed LPHQ that I'd buy one when doing so was no longer a mandatory part of being a delegate. And today, I sent off my $99 money order for the "basic" package.

If you followed my advice back then, I hope you'll follow my example now. The convention packages come with some nice perks, and more importantly buying one now rewards the Libertarian National Committee for doing the right thing.

You can buy your convention package online, or download a PDF with a registration form if you prefer to mail in a check.

If you're a delegate and you can afford to buy a package, please do so.

If you're not a delegate but plan to visit the convention, you'll have a lot more fun with a package (meals, speakers, etc.).

If you're a delegate and can't afford a package, there's a "business session only" registration option -- $0. Registering there will probably make the credentials committee's job easier, and it also hooks you into the "Missouri Compromise" system that LNC Secretary Bob Sullentrup proposed and that LNC regional rep Stewart Flood is implementing. Basically, you may be able to find a sponsor who will purchase a package for you. I'm not sure of the details, but that might involve some sweat equity (for example, assisting LNC members or LPHQ staff in their convention duties).

If you're not attending the convention ... well, attend the convention. There's important party business to be done, and a lot of good times to be had in between (officially and unofficially).

See you in St. Louis over Memorial Day weekend!

The Other McCain wonders:

Is the Obama administration pro-genocide? Or just anti-Armenian?
Correct response: None of the Above. They're just cribbing from the same playbook they've been cribbing from for a year now -- the playbook that George W. Bush left in his desk when he fled the scene of his crimes for Texile.

by Paul Jacob It seems like only yesterday that Burt Rutan flew SpaceShip One into near-orbit and received the Ansari X-Prize for piloting the first manned private craft into space. But it's been five years. Things have happened in the...