ABOVE: If you want to get 30 extra guys in the NES game Metroid, start the game and quickly press up + down + up + down + left + right + left + right + A + B + Select + Start. Enjoy!
Who said I wasn't tech-savvy?

Topic:
Paul, a fifteen-year-old high school student and listener to the show, asked me to provide some assistance with a psychology project he's working on. The topic is public education. He was actually told about the show by his English teacher.This is the discussion we had on Skype.

As noted at Libertarian Papers: For those who like paper, Libertarian Papers is offered in a Print Archive version, at cost, via print-on-demand. Our second print archive is Vol. 1 (2009), Part 2: Articles 18-44 (555 pages). It’s available for $16 (our cost), from Lulu. It may be ordered from our Print Archive page. (Thanks […]

John Pilger draws on George Orwell's prophetic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four to describe a superstate where truth and lies are indivisible, and peace is no longer peace, but rather a permanent war that, in the words of President Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, "extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan".

The problem with the "business?" of public education. And it's a big one.
(An evaluation of the logic and ethics of the American public education system)

Please visit the website for full show notes, references and links.

The problem with the "business?" of public education. And it's a big one.
(An evaluation of the logic and ethics of the American public education system)

Please visit the website for full show notes, references and links.

The problem with the "business?" of public education. And it's a big one. (An evaluation of the logic and ethics of the American public education system)Please visit the website for full show notes, references and links.

I don’t know how can a normal person work as an interrogator!! How can he have his breakfast without remembering those hanged the whole night to come and start a new round with them!! How can he sleep with his …

Above: If this picture isn't disturbing enough, read the article that goes with it.

Imagine a door to complete freedom, abounding opportunity and greater personal satisfaction... Public education is the lock. This is the first in a series of non-sequential shows about finding keys.

Above: If this picture isn't disturbing enough, read the article that goes with it.Imagine a door to complete freedom, abounding opportunity and greater personal satisfaction... Public education is the lock.

Above: If this picture isn't disturbing enough, read the article that goes with it.

Imagine a door to complete freedom, abounding opportunity and greater personal satisfaction... Public education is the lock. This is the first in a series of non-sequential shows about finding keys.

It is clear to anyone who pays attention that IP is under assault–both institutionally, as digital copying, encryption, distributed information, the Internet, and the inherent impotence of IP policing make attempts to monopolize information patterns increasingly futile; and intellectually, as more and more people, especially libertarians–and especially younger libertarians–see the injustice of IP made manifest […]

From my 2004 LRC post: A French-German Tulane law student acquaintance of mine (he speaks nine languages–I only speak about 0.7), Frederic Sourgens, sent me his Inn of Court brief where he argues for the impeachment of President Jefferson for undertaking the unconstitutional Louisiana Purchase. A bit rough, but fun… Download file. After 30 pages […]

My comments to this post by Sheldon Richman: Leave the “Left” Behind? Sheldon: “Being tagged “right-wing” has not helped the libertarian movement. It’s hurt.” I agree with the latter. But that does not mean that we are left–we are not. Nor does it mean that “There are also good strategic reasons for associating libertarianism with […]

In reply to J. Neil Schulman’s post The Great Ideas are Simple, my comment: *** Neil: So what if I am or am not an “anarchist”? What the [f*ck] difference does it make? Is there some Board of Anarchists who’s going to censure me if I don’t stick to the Anarchist Party Line and recite […]

I was reminded the other day of one of my favorite books, a great little introduction to philosophy: T.Z. Lavine’s From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest. Recommended to me by my good friend Jack Criss when I was in law school, I devoured it in 1991 or so. Gil Guillory reminded me of another […]

Latest notable terms from this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest and Slate Political Gabfest (feel free to email me suggestions or leave them in the comments to the main page): verklempt (JT, CG12-23-09) rumpy-pumpy (June Thomas, CG12-23-09) zaftig (June Thomas, CG12-23-09) zeitgeist (SM, CG12-23-09)

Regarding David Levine’s post about drug reimportation, assembled below are various posts I’ve made on this topic: Intellectual Property and Think Tank Corruption Pilon on Patents Patents, Prescription Drugs, and Price Controls Re: Cato on Drug Reimportation Cato Tugs Stray Back Onto the Reservation Epstein and Patents Protectionist Cato? Palmer on Patents Richard Epstein on […]

My reply to Kevin Carson’s post Libertarians for Junk Science: Whatever the sins of libertarians re junk science the statists are 100x worse. And in my view the libertarians (and fellow travelers) have been very good on junk science–Bruce Ames (of Alar fame), Peter Huber (Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists A Conservative […]

My wife and I saw Avatar this weekend in 3D. Here’s the verdict: four out of four stars. Absolutely amazing special effects–best I’ve ever seen; fun story; all in all a very fun, nice movie. And at its core it was very libertarian: it was about a group of people (the Na’vi) defending their property […]

I was recently reminded of “The Reluctant Anarchist,” a wonderful piece by the great columnist Joseph Sobran about his intellectual journey from conservatism to strict constitutionalism to anarchist–thanks to Rothbard and Hoppe. Highly recommended. [Mises; AM]

[Please reply to this at the original Mises Blog post] It’s my impression that in the last 5-10 years, there has been a striking movement towards the anti-IP camp among libertarians and Austrians. This is a result of the mounting everyday evidence of injustice resulting from the digital age magnifying the baleful effects of IP […]

In the Dec. 18 Slate Political Gabfest, the three liberal hosts discuss a case (also discussed here by host Emily Bazelon) of whether a high school could “punish” a student who posted a YouTube video mocking and insulting a fellow student of the same high school. The mean girl was suspended for 2 days (some […]

The concluding episode in a series aimed at detailing and dismantling specific elements of the destructive hidden curriculum in public education.
Topic:
A review of what I consider to be the three foundational lessons of public education. These are the most destructive to the individual. I go to Jonathan Taylor Gatto for reinforcements.I also recount my recent visit to three New Hampshire public schools.

Please visit the website for full show notes, references and links.

The concluding episode in a series aimed at detailing and dismantling specific elements of the destructive hidden curriculum in public education.
Topic:
A review of what I consider to be the three foundational lessons of public education. These are the most destructive to the individual. I go to Jonathan Taylor Gatto for reinforcements.I also recount my recent visit to three New Hampshire public schools.

Please visit the website for full show notes, references and links.

The concluding episode in a series aimed at detailing and dismantling specific elements of the destructive hidden curriculum in public education. Topic: A review of what I consider to be the three foundational lessons of public education. These are the most destructive to the individual. I go to Jonathan Taylor Gatto for reinforcements.I also recount my recent visit to three New Hampshire public schools.Please visit the website for full show notes, references and links.

I was driving my 6 year old to school this morning. We somehow got into a conversation about how laws were made. I started explaining to him the distinction between law formed by courts, and law artificially made by legislation. This led into a brief explanation of the British system, the role of the king […]

Nicholas Dykes: Robert James Bidinotto and “The Contradiction in Anarchism”.

I just recalled interesting article by Michael Boldin of the Tenth Amendment Center, Randy Barnett and the Destruction of Federalism. I had made some comments on it to someone in email, which are adapted below. I also commented on this previously in Randy Barnett’s Proposed “Federalism Amendment”. In my view, a better view is that […]

What we need is an amendment forbidding the circumvention of the Constitution. It could read: “The Constitution shall not be circumvented.” I just got a big laugh from any lawyers who may be reading this. –Joe Sobran, “Constitutional Legerdemain,” syndicated column of April 11, 1996 (reprinted in Sobran’s, May 1996, Vol. 3, no. 5, page 12) (quoted […]

In Carson: Good Reading!, Sheldon Richman commends Kevin Carson’s Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective, which is fine, but then he seems to accept some standard jabs left-libertarians launch at normal libertarians. My reply: Sheldon: “the modern American economy is far more the product of government-business collusion than of free markets. Contrary to the way free-marketeers tend […]

Mises Daily has one of the most powerful, withering attacks on antisemitism ever. By Mises himself: The Socialist Calumny Against the Jews, from Omnipotent Government. [Mises]

[From this Mises blog post] A discussion in the comments section of a post about blackmail brings up an issue about which many libertarians are confused. This concerns the idea of “harm.” Libertarians often condemn “harming” others, and this is fine so far as it goes, if it is kept in mind that “harm” here […]

In view of the recent passing of Paul Samuelson, it may be worthwhile to recall the “Symposium: On the Occasion of the Eighteenth Edition of Paul Samuelson’s Economics” in the Summer 2005 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, which contained Samuelson and Rothbard: Two Texts and Two Legacies, by Shawn Ritenour, and Samuelson’s […]

Against Intellectual Property has been translated into Italian by Mr. Robert Newson: Contro La Proprietà Intellettuale (.doc file). Translations into Spanish, Polish, Portugese and Georgian have been made as well. [Mises; AM]

An article I wrote as an appendix to a book: Economic Calculation Under Socialism, Appendix I to Protecting Foreign Investment Under International Law: Legal Aspects of Political Risk (1997).

I was a guest on the Bill Handel Show today discussing the libertarian perspective on blackmail, with reference to the Tiger Woods and other cases. (See my post Blackmail should be legal: the case of David Letterman.) We also touched on common law versus legislation (see my Legislation and Law in a Free Society), intellectual […]

John Perry Barlow‘s 1994 Wired article, “The Economy of Ideas: A framework for patents and copyrights in the Digital Age,” tagged: “(Everything you know about intellectual property is wrong.)”, is a classic. Written at the dawn of the Internet, it’s amazing how non-dated it is. It’s a fascinating, well-written, and insightful paper about the problems […]

Interesting thread in the Mises Forums, started by “liberty student”: Estoppel – Argumentation Ethics – Aggression. Update: Another interesting thread is the anti-state.com forum The Great Hoppe Debate, which discussed Defending Argumentation Ethics: Reply to Murphy & Callahan; see also Hülsmann on Argumentation Ethics; Revisiting Argumentation Ethics, Mises and Argumentation Ethics.

I’m often stunned when an Objectivist is bold enough to be explicit–as when they occasionally admit they are really in favor of one-world government; or when they admit that they are in favor of legislation, or that scarcity has nothing to do with property or, yes, that they think “values” are some kind of real […]

It’s no wonder that Obama sounds no different than George W. Bush on war: the left are just as warlike as the right. Example: On the December 11 Slate Political Gabfest, the hosts discuss B. Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech, including his remarks that we should honor American soldiers “not as makers of war, but […]

Great piece by Henry Mark Holzer, Ayn Rand’s former attorney. F**K THE DRAFT Here is where I part company with some of my conservative and patriotic friends. Among the memorabilia that adorns my office is a replica of a Civil War recruiting poster, reflecting one view of a citizen’s military duty to his country: “Volunteers […]

Great comment about Thomas Paine by Bill Stepp on this thread: Paine forfeited his copyright in “Common Sense” so that any printer could publish it (this was prompted by a dispute with his printer, if memory servies), but he later defended copyright. For what it’s worth, he also defended the evil Pennsylvania Test Oaths, and […]

This Huffington Post piece by Alan Kaufman, “Google Books And Kindles: A Concentration Camp Of Ideas“. I thought this piece was a joke at first, but realizing it’s not only reminds of how terrible the left remains. Utterly hostile to technology, commerce, progress, industry, individuality, freedom, and modernity. A few choice sentences are enough to […]

A brilliant post by Kevin Carson, Honest Statism Beats a Fake “Free Market” Every Time, discussing an article by Matt Welch in the January issue of Reason, makes a persuasive case that there is little reason to think that the French “socialized” healthcare system is inferior to the nominally “private” American healthcare system. Yes, a real free […]

John Pilger describes the lonely death of an honourable man, a whistleblower, as striking contrast to those British politicians and officials now running for cover from the part they played in the invasion of Iraq, the crime of the 21st century.

In the Winter 2009 issue of LSU Alumni Magazine, “Tigers in Print” section. Undoubtedly LSU’s first connection to Hoppe!

Objectivist Diana Hsieh says: “Kensella [sic] is an unhinged and dishonest bit of nastiness, and he deserves to be shunned by all reasonable people — not treated as a civilized interlocutor.” I can’t say I’m very bothered by this: this is the same person who officially announces her change in allegiance from David Kelley to […]

So says Adam Mossoff, Objectivist law professor, here: Just FYI, I am just about to complete my first draft of my article, tentatively titled, “A Value-Based Theory of Intellectual Property,” in which I explain why intellectual property rights are a fundamental property right. In fact, my thesis can be summed up as: All Property is […]

Wes, Daniel and I continue our discussion, switching to the topic of civil disobedience.
This topic will be an open forum in the near future. If you want to come on the show and discuss it, please let me know.

Please visit the website for full show notes, references and links.

Wes, Daniel and I continue our discussion, switching to the topic of civil disobedience.
This topic will be an open forum in the near future. If you want to come on the show and discuss it, please let me know.

Please visit the website for full show notes, references and links.