David T. Beito
Padilla, an American citizen, will not get his day in court. Roberts and Alito have tipped their hands. Clarence Thomas passed up another chance to stand up and call for limiting the powers of the federal government under the Bill of Rights.
Monday, April 3, 2006 - 12:23
Comments
Sheldon Richman
Over in England Secrerary of State Condoleezza Rice has been met with antiwar demonstrations at each stop. This prompted her to say,"To a certain extent, the protesters make my point, that democracy is the only system where people's voices can be heard and heard peacefully and then safely ignored."
Okay, I made that last part up. But I bet that's what she was thinking.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Okay, I made that last part up. But I bet that's what she was thinking.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Monday, April 3, 2006 - 18:27
Sheldon Richman
Some choice quotations from the great peace and free-trade activist who remains relevant today:
Cross-posted at Free Association.
The middle and industrious classes of England can have no interest apart from the preservation of peace. The honours, the fame, the emoluments of war belong not to them; the battle-plain is the harvest-field of the aristocracy, watered with the blood of the people.Hat tip: Ralph Raico (pdf).
The peace party . . . will never rouse the conscience of the people so long as they allow them to induldge the comforting delusion that they have been a peace-loving people. We have been the most combative and aggressive community that has existed since the days of Roman dominion.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Monday, April 3, 2006 - 18:19
Sheldon Richman
President Bush, sticking to a script like a five-year-old clinging to a security blanket, insists that the United States can bring democracy to Iraq and other Middle East countries at the point of an American bayonet. So convinced is he of that, he has made death America’s best-known export.The rest of my op-ed is here at The Future of Freedom Foundation.
Not everyone is convinced, however. A refreshing dissent was voiced during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent visit to the United Kingdom. There Douglas Hurd, Margaret Thatcher’s former foreign secretary, said what has long needed to be said: “It is quite possible to believe ... that essentially the path [to democracy] must grow from the roots of its own society and that the killing of thousands of people, many of them innocent, is unacceptable, whether committed by a domestic tyrant or for a good cause upon being invaded.”
Also, don't miss my analysis of Bush's promise to send Americans to defend Israel here.
Cross-posted at Free Association.
Monday, April 3, 2006 - 19:37
Mark Brady
In his most recent essay self-identified Trotskyist Tariq Ali provides a more informed and coherent perspective on the current situation in the Middle East than any number of self-identified liberals, conservatives, and libertarians who have written on the subject and with whom readers may be more conversant. It seems to me that he doesn’t force his analysis and conclusions to fit the Marxist doctrines that he holds. And what I found very welcome was that his essay reflects an extensive knowledge of the history of the region and some keen insights into recent events and is not imbued by one or other variant of American nationalism. Classical liberals and libertarians should resist the temptation to write from a nationalist perspective but should embrace the cosmopolitanism that was once the hallmark of real liberal doctrine. It is sad that real liberals too often leave that universalism to Marxists.
I encourage you to read his essay, Mid-Point in the Middle East?, published in the new issue of New Left Review. The PDF version is here.
Also available for non-subscribers are Yoav Peled’s analysis of Viginia Tilley’s The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock (2005), Zionist Realities: Debating Israel—Palestine, and Tilley’s reply, The Secular Solution: Debating Israel—Palestine. PDF versions are available here (Peled) and here (Tilley). At first glance, they look well worth reading if you are interested in the Israeli—Palestinian question. I look forward to reading them carefully.
I encourage you to read his essay, Mid-Point in the Middle East?, published in the new issue of New Left Review. The PDF version is here.
Also available for non-subscribers are Yoav Peled’s analysis of Viginia Tilley’s The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock (2005), Zionist Realities: Debating Israel—Palestine, and Tilley’s reply, The Secular Solution: Debating Israel—Palestine. PDF versions are available here (Peled) and here (Tilley). At first glance, they look well worth reading if you are interested in the Israeli—Palestinian question. I look forward to reading them carefully.
Sunday, April 2, 2006 - 00:31
Mark Brady
Last spring Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s Freakonomics grabbed the headlines and generated its authors fat royalty checks. I was less taken by the book than some of my colleagues and acquaintances.
Then late last year Tim Harford’s The Underground Economist (Oxford University Press) rolled off the press—and to far less hype. This Thursday the book is finally published by Little, Brown in Britain. Judging by the review in today’s Financial Times, for whom Harford writes a weekly column in the Weekend section, his book is a well written introduction to the economic way of thinking for anyone who wishes to get a handle on how markets work. This morning I had a quick look at a copy in Border’s and later read extracts online at Amazon.com. It strikes me as a much better book than Freakonomics to hand someone who asks what economics is all about. I invite those readers who are familiar with the book to share their thoughts online.
Then late last year Tim Harford’s The Underground Economist (Oxford University Press) rolled off the press—and to far less hype. This Thursday the book is finally published by Little, Brown in Britain. Judging by the review in today’s Financial Times, for whom Harford writes a weekly column in the Weekend section, his book is a well written introduction to the economic way of thinking for anyone who wishes to get a handle on how markets work. This morning I had a quick look at a copy in Border’s and later read extracts online at Amazon.com. It strikes me as a much better book than Freakonomics to hand someone who asks what economics is all about. I invite those readers who are familiar with the book to share their thoughts online.
Saturday, April 1, 2006 - 20:35
Mark Brady
Readers may remember Professor Bernard H. Siegan for his justly celebrated study of the effects of non-zoning in Houston, Texas, Land Use without Zoning (Lexington Books, 1972), and his forthright advocacy of constitutional protection for property rights, Economic Liberties and the Constitution (University of Chicago Press, 1980; 2nd revised edition, Transaction Publishers, 2006). Go here for John Cobin’s paper which seeks to provide a theoretical framework for the case against zoning.
Siegan was born in Chicago on July 28, 1924, and died last Monday, March 27, in Encinitas, California, aged 81. The Institute for Justice has posted an appreciation here and two of his colleagues at the University of San Diego law school have written a tribute here.
Siegan was born in Chicago on July 28, 1924, and died last Monday, March 27, in Encinitas, California, aged 81. The Institute for Justice has posted an appreciation here and two of his colleagues at the University of San Diego law school have written a tribute here.
Saturday, April 1, 2006 - 23:13
