The Sun Is Shining Bright in St. Louis
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Gotham ââ?¬â? mighty Beltran has struck out.
Hat tip: Ernest Lawrence Thayer.
Posted on October 20, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
The Search for a Libertarian Democrat
In his writings about "libertarian Democrats," Markos "Kos" Moulitsas always cites Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer as Exhibit A. In the current Cato Unbound symposium, he writes:
Mountain West Democrats are leading the charge. At the vanguard is Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, who won his governorship the same day George Bush was ...
Posted on October 20, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
The Search for a Libertarian Democrat ( Foreign Policy ) by David Boaz
In his writings about "libertarian Democrats," Markos "Kos" Moulitsas always cites Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer as Exhibit A. In the current Cato Unbound symposium, he writes:
Mountain West Democrats are leading the charge. At the vanguard is Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, who won his governorship the same day George Bush was winning Montana 58 to 38 percent. While the theme of Republican corruption played a big role in Schweitzer's victory, he also ran on a decidedly libertarian Democrat message.Hope springs eternal. But alas, in Cato's "Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors," released Thursday, Schweitzer gets an F for his taxing and spending policies. Author Stephen Slivinski writes, "Spending in his first proposed budget exploded." Plus he reinstated an expiring tax. We're still waiting for a libertarian Democrat. Really. We'd love to find one.
Posted on October 20, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
The Sun Is Shining Bright in St. Louis ( General ) by David Boaz
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Gotham — mighty Beltran has struck out.
Hat tip: Ernest Lawrence Thayer.
Posted on October 20, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
Taxing Times
Washington Post headlines Thursday read "Poll Shows Support for Tax Increase" (front page) and "In N.Va., Open to More Taxes" (jump page). And on the website "Poll Shows Support for Tax Increase." Well . . . sort of.
It's true that voters in Northern Virginia (the Washington suburbs), though not the rest ...
Posted on October 19, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
Taxing Times ( General ) by David Boaz
Washington Post headlines Thursday read "Poll Shows Support for Tax Increase" (front page) and "In N.Va., Open to More Taxes" (jump page). And on the website "Poll Shows Support for Tax Increase." Well . . . sort of.
It's true that voters in Northern Virginia (the Washington suburbs), though not the rest of Virginia, want to spend more money on roads. And they support allowing voters to approve local tax increases for roads. But if you read down to the 19th paragraph, on the second jump page, you'll find that they don't actually like the idea of raising taxes. Even in Northern Virginia, only 21 percent of respondents said that raising taxes was a good way to pay for increased transportation spending. Twenty-nine percent preferred tolls, and 22 percent said other spending should be reduced. In the rest of Virginia, tolls were more popular and tax increases even less popular.
Sometimes it just seems that journalists like taxes. Which is their right as Americans. But they should be careful about how they present voters' opinions. In this case, even though voters would like to spend more on transportation, they believe either that users should pay through tolls or that less-essential spending could be found somewhere in the state's $37 billion annual budget. Seventeen percent statewide seems like fairly minimal "Support for Tax Increase."
Posted on October 19, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
Watch Your Libertarian Language
Colleges often have to decide what their rules are about language that offends people. Is a professor's criticism of affirmative action offensive to black students Is a gay-rights group's advocacy offensive to Christian or morally conservative students And people can debate how to weigh free speech versus a nurturing atmosphere ...
Posted on October 18, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
Watch Your Libertarian Language ( General ) by David Boaz
Colleges often have to decide what their rules are about language that offends people. Is a professor's criticism of affirmative action offensive to black students? Is a gay-rights group's advocacy offensive to Christian or morally conservative students? And people can debate how to weigh free speech versus a nurturing atmosphere in a particular college.
But Marquette University seems to have reached new heights, or depths, in what it considers offensive. A graduate student there posted on his office door a pithy quotation from humorist Dave Barry:
“As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government.”A strong opinion, to be sure. One that I'd bet is shared by many but certainly not all Americans. Apparently Barry's sentiment is not shared by the chairman of Marquette's philosophy department, who took it upon himself to take down the quotation and sent a department email declaring it "patently offensive." Offensive to whom? Surely not to any of the usual identity groups, ethnic or religious or sexual-orientation or gender or whatever. Nor does it use the four-letter words that might be inappropriate for a public space. Perhaps it's offensive to employees of the federal government, or to those who have a great deal of respect and admiration for the federal government. But one would think that at a university it falls within the parameters of debate. And while Dave Barry writes more effectively and memorably than most philosophers, his statement still qualifies as humor or political commentary or both. Marquette is a private university and is thus free under the First Amendment to regulate speech as it chooses. But if libertarian jests are "patently offensive" and subject to censorship at Marquette, it might want to note that in a new paragraph of its academic freedom guidelines and perhaps in the catalog provided to prospective students.
Posted on October 18, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
Friday. Orange County. Property Rights.
This Friday afternoon the Federalist Society of Chapman University Law School in Orange, California, will present a seminar (.pdf) on property rights, eminent domain, and California's Proposition 90. The leadoff speaker will be Timothy Sandefur, author of the new Cato book Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in the 21st Century.
Here you ...
Posted on October 17, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
Christian Toleration
I've just seen an interesting new book, The Choice Principle: The Biblical Case for Legal Toleration, by Andy G. Olree, who is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where he studied under Richard Epstein and Michael McConnell, and now teaches law at Faulkner University's Jones School of ...
Posted on October 17, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
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