Author: Gunner

Welcome to the Carnival of Liberty XI: Freddy vs. Predator at Red Dawn (Wolverines!!!) of the Dead.

But first, a few preliminaries.

This carnival is primarily, though not exclusively, the work of the Life, Liberty, Property community, and I’d like to thank its founder, Eric, for the opportunity to host this week’s round-up.

Postings are listed in the order they were received, so don’t stop reading after the first few. That said, as host I have arbitrarily decided to designate a few personal favorites with the groovy tank from the classic Atari Combat game. Yeah, I loved my M-1, but Atari’s little beauty could guide its rounds back and forth via joystick (on some settings, that is). Do check out the other entries — personal tastes may vary.

Be sure to visit the concession stand for popcorn and soda. Now, away we go with Carnival of Liberty XI.

From T F Stern’s Rantings, Simple Reminder from a Wise Man. Mr. Stern looks back on the spirit felt throughout America after 9/11 and how that spirit and our liberties are under assault today.

A destructive wedge has been applied to our Union, one that attempts to silence our uniquely American Spirit, a Spirit that says, “We can do it; with the help of God, we can do anything!” There is an under current tearing at the foundation of Liberty. It has the appearance of being for the collective good of the group while destroying the Liberty of each individual in that group; in other words, it’s a lie.

From Fair Vote Watch, New Orleans, meet Naples ’44. Jarndyce contrasts the recent mayhem in New Orleans with 1944 Naples after the Allied invasion of Italy.

Lewis’s masterpiece, Naples ’44 does recount the breakdown of order after the Allied invasion of Italy: petty crime, prostitution, kleptomania, freebooting, black-marketeering. Survival, yes, but Lewis’s tale isn’t one about the end of civilisation

From The Sharpener, ID cards by stealth. Nosemonkey rants against the possibility of ID cards being forced upon the nations of the EU.

Apparently the reason some people are wary of the EU is that it “does not appear to give sufficient priority to offering practical solutions which make a difference to some of the issues of greatest concern” – namely EEEVIL TERRORISTS, organised crime and asylum seekers. Let’s ignore the fact that people have been wary of the concept of the EU since its inception, shall we? And while we’re at it ignore that the original concept was economic, not judicial… Done? Excellent! Now that we’ve constructed a false history we can make that fiction fit our arguments. Hurrah!

From Searchlight Crusade, Sites That Cover Specific Issues. Dan Melson provides a handy and lengthy list of sites that can be referenced by those looking for information in a variety of categories. Further, Dan hopes to enhance the list with help from readers.

This is intended as one of those resource posts, a list of which blogs and personal websites make a habit of covering certain issues, or a list of “Go To” blogs and websites for various issues.

From Below The Beltway, Santorum On Liberty. Doug looks at a schism between the likes of Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and the libertarian wing of Santorum’s own party. Doug turns the post into a series with follow-on pieces here and here.

Therefore, I found this post on Catallarchy about the ideas expressed in Santorum’s book It Takes A Family: Conservatism And The Common Good very interesting, especially in the comparison of Santorum’s book with Barry Goldwater’s ground-breaking Conscience Of A Conservative.

From Political Calculations, Is Economic Freedom the Key to Peace? Ironman adds his emphasis to the findings of a recently-released study.

The Canadian-based Fraser Institute has released its Economic Freedom of the World 2005 Annual Report (available online as a 1.96MB PDF document). The report was primarily written by James Gwartney and Robert Lawson (of Division of Labour fame), but the most remarkable findings of the report were contributed by Columbia University political scientist Erik Gartzke, who found that economic freedom is an extremely important contributor to promoting peace between nations!

From Critical Mastiff, Are Progressive Taxes a Good Thing? While many opposed to the system of progressive taxation from the angles of reduced incentive on the individual or unequal treatment of supposedly equal citizens, Mastiff examines the issue from the ramifications on government behavior.

Now, at some level the government’s policies are constrained by the need to increase tax revenue—perhaps even to maximize revenue. Therefore, the government will more readily pursue policies that will generate more taxes than those generating fewer, let alone those policies decreasing tax revenues. (That this theory only works if our congressmen understand basic economics is, of course, its gaping flaw. But regardless.)

In our present fiscal situation, wealthy people and corporations pay high Federal income taxes, and poorer people pay no income taxes at all or very few. Therefore, it makes sense for our rational actor, the Federal Government, to make laws that give preference to the rich and corporations over the poor, since tax revenues respond much more quickly when the rich get richer than when the poor get less poor.

From Fearless Philosophy for Free Minds, Yes, I’m Angry About Gas Prices Too. Stephen Littau feels the pinch at the pump but points his anger in a less-than-common direction.

Unlike so many Americans however, my anger is directed mostly at the environmental extremist greenie-weenies, the politicians who pander to them, an American public that is largely economically illiterate, and the politicians/interest groups who exploit this illiteracy.

From Resistance is futile!, Our Future. Oregon’s dark-horse gubernatorial candidate sits down with a couple of bloggers.

Why us?

Because Atkinson is running a different kind of campaign. He is reaching out to alternative media and reaching out to the many concerned voters who feel disenfranchised by the status quo.

[…]

So what did the three of us get out of this meeting?

Well, in a nutshell, I gained confidence that Jason Atkinson is the right man to run Oregon.

From Publicola, the related Homes and That Ain’t Right. Publicola examines the consequences of forced evacuations from Katrina-ravaged N’awlins.

“As flood waters receded inch by inch Tuesday, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin authorized law enforcement officers and the U.S. military to force the evacuation of all residents who refuse to heed orders to leave the dark, dangerous city.”

I have serious misgivings about the idea of the government forcing someone from their home. That’s not taking into account the method they will likely use. Government has two methods to act – force or threat of force. Neither one is appealing in this situation.

From The Pubcrawler, Iceland and Estonia. TKC looks at the success blooming in two European nations stemming from economic freedoms and ponders the lessons to be learned.

I wonder how long it will take America to answer the clue phone on this? Our toying with socialism is dragging us down. There is a choice to be made. Do we want the failure of the European model and its corresponding bleak outlook and suffering or do we want to return to our free-market roots and thrive like Estonia and Iceland.

FromWILLisms.com, Quotational Therapy: Part 43 — Huey P. Long, Socialist. Will Franklin looks at the roots of Louisiana’s political scene that has been pushed into the spotlight of late.

Many of Louisiana’s problems today are rooted in its long-term one-party rule. The notoriously corrupt Louisiana political machine has waned quite a bit over the past several decades, but it still lingers, particularly within New Orleans. We can look back to infamous Louisiana Governor (and Senator) Huey Long for insight into Louisiana’s political culture

From Satire, French President Chirac To Deliver “Vive La Louisiane Libre” Speech From Hospital Balcony. Self-named Mr. Satire uses the N’awlins situation to take a shot at Jacques.

French President Jacques Chirac has been admitted to a military hospital. The hospital said that the president is being treated for “lack of vision, diarrhea of brain and fracture of a spine.”

From The Unrepentant Individual, On Constitutional Interpretation. Brad examines the ramifications of drifting from the written word of the U.S. Constitution.

The overarching power in America is the Rule of Law. It is a blueprint, the first of its kind, that declares the terms of the social contract between individual and government. It is a simple, short, and powerful document, which can be understood by any adult with an eighth-grade education. And if it needs to change with changing times, there is an amendment process by which this can be accomplished.

So why have we messed it up so badly?

From NYgirl, A Crisis They Cried. NYGirl, a very welcome Carnival of Liberty newcomer, takes a critical look at the downside of foreign aid in Niger.

But, is aid the answer? The flood of foreign aid creates economic problems by driving down the price of locally produced grain & produce, forcing farmers who might otherwise be self sufficient into poverty. It also leads to the governments of the recipient countries to become less reform oriented as they lose the incentive to do so.

Ironically, it may even cause hunger, as has happened in some villages where the men have locked up the surplus grain & forbidden its consumption by their wives & children in order to receive aid. These men have an excellent understanding of the workings of aid agencies & are happy to exploit them. The women & children of Niger are paying the price.

From ROFASix, Rebuilding New Orleans. NOTR considers the idea of rebuilding N’awlins, not with its problematic past but with a blank slate.

We have a chance to do something different in rebuilding New Orleans. If government falls back into the same old rut of handing out money it is doomed to return to what it was before Katrina hit, the most corrupt city in America.

From TMH’s Bacon Bits, Remembering and Grieving …and a Warning. Bergbikr looks back on 9/11 and warns of lessons learned since.

The past few years have seen Jihadist attacks occur around the globe. Some are targeted at centers of Western civilization from which emanate our philosophy of individual worth and personal freedom and religious tolerance, principles that are anathema to those of the Death Culture. Muslims too are not spared the sword or the suicide bomber when they cooperate with the West or themselves deviate from the extreme readings of the Quran by this medieval set of thugs.

From Eric’s Grumbles Before the Grave, Liberty Is The Right Policy. Using Katrina as a lens, Eric examines the fundamental problem of knee-jerk, freedom-restricting responses to crises.

Why is it that the first instinct of the majority of our politicians when there is a problem of some sort is to restrict people’s freedoms and liberties? Even more importantly, why is the instinct of the majority of the citizens to go along with such an idea? Especially considering that time after time the end results don’t come out the way people think they will.

Well, that wraps up the Carnival. Maybe. As needed, I’ll add late submissions up until I feel it’s time to hand over the reigns to next week’s host, Sunni Maravillosa. A final thanks to all contributors; I’ve enjoyed reading your work. I will attempt to send a well-deserved trackback from this post to all of you but Alas! I have yet to successfully manage the feat, try as I may.

Target Centermass will be hosting the next installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community‘s Carnival of Liberty tomorrow.

Information of submitting entries can be found here.