IN THIS ISSUE: A rare two-bagger by Our Founder, Himself, plus
spectacular rantings from many stalwart contributors.
A special double fudge chocolate chip kudo to TLE contributor Carl
Bussjaeger (who busts a cap on the Supremes in this issue). Carl's
Net Assets has been picked as Free-Market.net's
"Freedom Book of the Month"!
The Editor
Letters To The Editor
from Pamela B. Maltzman, Sam, William Blair, L. Neil Smith,
Joe Johnson, Scott Graves, Roy J. Tellason, and Stephanie Kalina-Metzger
FULL STORY
Picking the Deepest Pocket:
Ohio's High Court Allows Liability Lottery to Proceed
by Vin Suprynowicz
On June 12, the Ohio Supreme Court voted 4-3 to reinstate a liability
lawsuit filed by the city of Cincinnati against a group of American
handgun manufacturers, supposedly in an attempt to recoup millions of
dollars spent by that city on police, emergency, court, and health
care services in response to "gun-related violence."
FULL STORY
Twenty-Three Skiddoo!
by L. Neil Smith
Every now and then I hear some morally challenged parasite express a
deep, churning, irrational hatred for an artifact that, in my part of
the country at least, stands as a shining symbol of the Productive
Class.
FULL STORY
The Anarchist's Guide to Being Neat
by David M. Brown
A crucial self-help principle--one that is rarely elaborated,
stressed, or exalted in most of the rah-rah-rah primers, which talk
instead about how to get sex and money and happiness, important items
but not all there is to life--is the principle of being neat and tidy.
FULL STORY
Right Wing Anarchy: A Dead End
by Manuel Miles
In the early months of this year I began to post at an "anarcho-
capitalist" site. My purpose was to learn more about right wing
anarchism and to investigate whether it offered any solutions to the
problem of statism. Like its ugly twin sister, left wing anarchism, it
is ideologically bankrupt, however, and is, at bottom, just a confused
attempt to repackage the essence of rightist philosophy.
FULL STORY
Supremely Stupid
by Carl Bussjaeger
Let me make this plain up front. Supreme Court Chief Justice William
H. Rehnquist is an idiot in jackboots and a black dress.
FULL STORY
The Case For Eugenics
by Curt Howland
By using one of the "evil" words, Francis Fukuyama attempts to create
a straw man and spends the rest of his article abusing everything he
can label as "Libertarian" because of this belief in such an awful
thing. However, I do not accept the axiom that eugenics is by
definition "bad". The above paragraph by itself is logically
consistent and I propose to show that by trying the "Archie Bunker"
style of argument, otherwise known as "Guilt By Association", Fukuyama
succeeds not in ridiculing Libertarians, but in putting forth an
excellent individual rights defense of eugenics.
FULL STORY
If Rights are Wrong, I Don't Want to be Right
by W. James Antle III
There has been a lot of disparagement lately of "rights talk" and not
merely among the usual statist suspects. What was held as "self-
evident" truth in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 is being
questioned in the America of 2002.
FULL STORY
Libertarian Approaches to Addressing Spam
by Steven Cousineau
This morning I processed about 150 e-mails. The 50 good ones were from
friends, co-workers, legitimate business leads, and one headhunter.
The balance, 100 bad ones, were unsolicited commercial e-mails
commonly called "spam." [Hormel asks that we not use their all
capitalized spelling to refer to ubiquitous unsolicited e-mail and
poorly targeted cross posting.] It takes me about 30 minutes to sort
that much email and fire off the appropriate quick replies. It used
to take me at least twice as long, but I've started using filtering
software. I love the communication freedom in email, but it is
costing me time and materials to maintain. As Libertarians we accept
there are some costs to freedom. But a full and time wasting email
in-box need not or should not be one of those costs. To add insult to
injury I'm trying to justify the benefits and costs while my copies of
"The Libertarian Enterprise" are getting routed to the spam bin. This
led me to start thinking about how we as Libertarians can address spam
beyond putting "spam blocks" in addresses.
FULL STORY
The List
by Patrick K Martin
A few days ago, I and an acquaintance were talking about politics, and
he said something that really upset me. He said, "Ya know, I really
like the Libertarians, but I want to get into politics someday, and if
you join things like that you get put on a list, and you just don't go
anywhere." Well he was, of course, talking about "The List", you know,
the one "THEY" have. The list of all the bad girls and boys that the
government Satan Clause will come to visit one day. The list that
says, we need to keep an eye on this one.
FULL STORY
Playing PADI Cake With Liberty
by Jeff Elkins
Are you one of the millions of recreational scuba divers who learned
the hobby from a PADI instructor? If so, congratulations. The FBI now
has you in its sights.
FULL STORY
On the Creation of the West Bank Ghetto
by Manuel Miles
We live in the dreaded "interesting times". Personally, I like it, for
masks are slipping off of all manner of frauds and bad actors. Phony
"libertarians" are exposing themselves for the statist warmongers and
racist xenophobes that they are. False "humanitarians" are calling for
more and more innocent "collateral damage" deaths in the One Big
Imperial War On Bad Guys. Supposed "educators" are publicly opposing
any kind of instruction which results in analytical thinking. It's
great -- we can finally, if we wish, see people and institutions for
exactly who and what they are.
FULL STORY
"Mr. Weaknee"
by Sean Gruber
Peace is not a means it is an end. It is not a cause it is an effect.
FULL STORY
Ugh!
by L. Neil Smith
When is the last time you and your friends sat thrilled, watching the
Racine Rapists defeat the Miami Child Molestors in sudden death
overtime?
FULL STORY
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Back to 2002 Issues Archive