I talked to our webmaster, Seth, last night. He says he's planning on making upgrades to the site this weekend. Hopefully this should fix any issues you are having.

"I'd like to upgrade things, which will not only solve some problems but also fix potential security holes."

So hang in there. Hpopefully by Monday all will be well.

The argument "The government shouldn't be involved in X, but since it is..." comes up a lot.  What is the proper libertarian response to such questions.  Ideally, we want to get the State out of as many things as possible but how do we approach issues where in the meantime, government isn't going to get out.  For example, the marriage issue.  A case could be made both ways:  the gov't shouldn't extend marriage or the gov't should treat people equally.  Or immigration.  The government owns property.  Should immigrants have unimpeded access to the property in order to get into the U.S. ?  It seems like a potential can of worms.

Thoughts?

That demagogue (Mencken defined a demagogue as "one who will preach doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.") Thom Hartmann is at it again.  In a nutshell, he is proposing that the right to keep and bear arms should be curtailed because some stats have shown an increase in violence in right to carry states. 

This lead to my question.  What if liberty resulted in less prosperity and more violence?  We know it won't but what if it did?  I would still support liberty.

Hopefully I'm not retreading over old territory, but I'd like to know if anybody else on here spends time trying to reach others with the ideas of complete liberty in one on one discussions.  I think it would be constructive to have a thread for comparing notes about what types of responses and reactions you get, what works for reaching people, and what to avoid.  I chaired a tea party group for a year and gave it up as I came to more enlightenment.  I simply was unable to restrain my clashes of opinion to act as a leader for people I don't agree with.  I stayed with the group to try to work within it to see if I could reach people.   

In Gard's 2011-01-14 podcast he mentions that Manifest Destiny, as a concept of expanding the territorial boundaries from the Atlantic to the Pacific originated in the 1840's.  I think that is probably incorrect.

Common Sense back, by Thomas Paine was originally published on January 10, 1776.  I read it in 2002 as part of a book club I was involved with.  It was pointed out to me by my brilliant brother in-law that Manifest Destiny is talked about quite a bit.

Here are some thoughts recorded from that time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/opinion/14krugman.html?_r=2&hp

This guy understands morality about as well as I understand algebra.

In Spain we have a new law about tobacco prohibition -socialist law-. It is forbidden to smoke in any bar, pub. How is this issue in USA, or other countries?

For me it is a radical and hardcore prohibition.

Regards

Over at Sheldon Richman's blog, he has reposted a nice intro/summary of Thomas Szasz's position on "mental illness".  In light of the recent shooting in AZ, it is very timely.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8108735/Fed-prints-another-...

This goes into some detail. Gard is the genius so maybe he can explain it more clearly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12148753

I couldn't help chuckling about this story.

In fact I remember this group were raided last year by the police & I had wondered how the police knew what they might be scheming

No joke that the man charged with carrying out the massacre in Arizona on Saturday is being alleged to being a devil worshipping transsexual by sections of the US media.

LISTEN HERE

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_16988452

Police issue warning about buying and selling gold
By Brian Day Staff Writer
Posted: 01/02/2011 04:46:53 PM PST

PASADENA - As soaring gold prices tempt many to sell off jewelry and other gold items, police are working to keep thieves from taking advantage of the trend by making it difficult to sell stolen gold.

With gold selling for more than $1,400 per ounce, officials remind the public that there are laws governing the buying and selling of gold, Pasadena police said in a written statement.

"The Pasadena Police Department would like to inform the public that buying gold is against the law unless you are licensed by the California Department of Justice," the statement said.

http://governmentfreemarriage.com/

Check it out.  I haven't had a chance to look over it at length, but I like what I see so far.

I don't agree with almost anything that has come out of Congress, but I absolutely condemn this violence.

http://www.texasgopvote.com/gabrielle-giffords/breaking-news-arizona-con...

Giffords and her family are in my prayers and I hope she will come out of this okay.

So Mothy now you Aussies are now finding out how its like to be British

Pissing with rain i& you're shit at cricket ;)

This is so funny. I've never laughed so hard. :P

Dude #1: If America is number one, which country do you think is number two?"

Dude #2: Europe.

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLL You know she went to public school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl0DBmFLlfk

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870473530457605822104825562...

From the 4th of January VAT has risen to its highest ever level of 20%

As ever with any blanket tax its going to hit the most vulnerable in society & VAT is just that a blanket tax.

Though people seem to think that food stuffs are excluded from VAT but this is isn’t actually true, though there are some exclusions on food products even when there are exclusions on particular items those items will still go up due to VAT being added to transportation costs etc.

Well this government in particular do seem help bent on having the most vulnerable in society to pay the economic mess this country is in, when in fact it should be the bankers & their politician mates as they got us into this fucking mess.

http://www.the-bastard.com/index.php?page=4413&section=6

Interesting debate to be had about press freedom surrounding ongoing police investigations.

In order to observe the freeing of slaves, the modern day slave is getting a 2 day reprieve in giving Master our money.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tax-day-extended-to-April-cnnm-517323115.h...