Libertarianism

Raise Taxes for This?

This entry was posted in Constitution Domestic Terrorism Drug Laws Economics Law Enforcement Libertarianism on by

Alex Knapp is right on with this:

Don’t the cops in Cleburne have anything better to do with their time? Well, don’t get me wrong–I don’t really blame the cops. They’re just doing their job. It’s whoever assigned them to the damn job that deserves the blame.

He is referring to this story from Cleburne, Texas:

A Texas housewife is in big trouble with the law for selling a vibrator to a pair of undercover cops

You’d think Texans would have learned something from Lawrence v Texas (PDF). On the other hand maybe this one will go to the supremes as well and they will eliminate another bunch of laws that are both unconstitutional and unacceptable in a free country.
On the lighter side my first reading of Alex’s post had me wondering about the context of this police scam: were they raiding an adult products store? Or what?
You guessed it! I’ll bet both husbands and wives might find the demonstrations quite interesting:

For the past year, Webb has sold the company’s line of vibrators, gels, lubricants, strawberry-flavored nipple cream and “edible passion puddings.” The merchandise is offered for sale in private, Tupperware-style parties to women who may be reluctant to visit an adult novelty store.

I wonder if these sales folks use any special techniques to maximize audience participation.
Update (12/16): Howard Bashman has been covering this in detail and I learn from him that we don’t need this case to go to the supremes as there is already an Alabama case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Go check out Howard’s posts.

Warding off door-to-door peddlers

This entry was posted in Capitalism Constitution Economics Libertarianism Privacy Regulation on by

The Age has some suggestions for warding off door-to-door sales folks of all varieties. For instance:

If Witnesses, Mormons, and other evangelists, such as mobile phone salespeople, provided some notice then things would be different. Forewarned, you could answer the door wearing a Charles Manson T-shirt, carrying a copy of Aleister Crowley’s The Book of the Law in one hand and a dead chicken in the other, with Alice Cooper’s Welcome To My Nightmare blaring out of the stereo. Or you could answer the door dressed as a Teletubbie, gently cradling a tissue box full of chopped liver. Either strategy would work.

There more, enjoy.
Via The Pagan Prattle.

Reason’s List

This entry was posted in ashcroft Capitalism Constitution Drug Laws Economics Libertarianism on by

Yea, I know this is the 3rd list in a row. It’s just the way the day has been going.
Reason Magazine pays tribute:

…to some of the people who have made the world a freer, better, and more libertarian place by example, invention, or action. The one criterion: Honorees needed to have been alive at some point during reason�s run, which began in May 1968. The list is by design eclectic, irreverent, and woefully incomplete, but it limns the many ways in which the world has only gotten groovier and groovier during the last 35 years.

I found this one most entertaining:

John Ashcroft. If Donny and Marie Osmond were a little bit country and a little bit rock �n� roll, the current attorney general is little bit J. Edgar Hoover and a little bit Janet Reno. Whether it�s prosecuting medical marijuana users, devoting scarce resources to arresting adult porn distributors, or using tax dollars to create USA PATRIOT Act propaganda Web sites, Ashcroft has managed to create an unprecedented coalition of conservatives, liberals, and libertarians around a single noble cause: the protection of civil liberties.

Via AnarCapLib.

Freedom?

This entry was posted in Constitution Iraq Libertarianism on by

I wonder how soon we can expect this form of freedom in the US?

BAGHDAD, Nov. 11 � American soldiers handcuffed and firmly wrapped masking tape around an Iraqi man’s mouth as they arrested him on Tuesday for speaking out against occupation troops.
Asked why the man had been arrested and put into the back of a Humvee vehicle on Tahrir Square, the commanding officer told Reuters at the scene: ”This man has been detained for making anti-coalition statements.”
He refused to say what the man said.

Via Electrolite.

Patriot Act in Action?

This entry was posted in Capitalism Constitution Domestic Terrorism Drug Laws Libertarianism Patriot Act on by

Looks like the feds are using the Patriot Act to watch and evaluate you in many ways:

When Rebecca Foster offered to serve on the board of her homeowners association, she figured the biggest sacrifice involved her time.
But because of the requirements of the Patriot Act, the Las Vegas resident feels her volunteerism could come with a steeper price — her privacy.
Foster first became perturbed two months ago when her association’s new bank sent each board member a letter. Community Association Banc, a division of First National Bank of Nevada, had requested the dates of birth and Social Security and driver’s license numbers for any board members with check-signing privileges on the account.
The personal information was necessary, the bank said in the Aug. 27 letter, “to look for any derogatory banking information” and “to check them against the government’s terrorist list.”

Just say no and use cash.
Via Hit and Run.