In spite of the title, I have very little to say about the State of the Union speech last night. It was about what I expected, and my expectations were pretty low. I got pretty tired of Bush’s smirk by the end of the speech, but self-medicating with a bit of bourbon helped.
- Arlen Spector is pushing a New Patriot Act Provision [which] Creates Tighter Barrier to Officials at Public Events. Basically it means that instead of the Secret Service protecting a human at some event, they’ll be allowed to
protect the event
, so they can arrest protesters even after the big-wig has left. Hmm. Let me see ….Congress shall make no law respecting … the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
[fark!] - Warren’s been busy. Regulation and Choice talks about the regulation state and why toilets are regulated. Speaking of the regulation state, he says Not to Know it is to Love it which makes a lot of sense. Hey, more regulations are no big deal until you have to deal with them personally. [coyote blog]
- Next, Warren cuts loose on Progressive Hypocracy. While there are cases where progressives and libertarians are natural allies, there are a lot of progressives who project that
we are smarter than you are and sometimes will tell you what to do because it is for your own good
vibe. I immediately thought of Larry Pogemiller and Phyllis Kahn, my state legislators, who are holding atown meeting
from 1 to 3 this coming Saturday at Van Cleve Park. I’ve been trying to decide whether I’m going to go or not, but I worry that if I do, it will be too easy to get sidetracked by specifics (such as the Sudafed ban), rather than dealing with their certainty that they’re smart enough to decide how I should live. [coyote blog] - Steve Green takes a look at that
natural alliance
between the Democrats and libertarians and asks What Do You Do With a Broken Party? and has some Late Night Rambling about what’s wrong with the Democrats. [vodkapundit] - Will our 2006 gubernatorial election be an interesting one? Well, perhaps a bit less so than people thought: ‘Vampyre’ candidate is jailed on warrants from Indiana. And a while back his wife got fired from her job (probably illegally) because of the publicity he’s attracted. Seems to me he was a guy who might have been better off keeping his head down. [press-patch]
- Matt Welch’s cup runneth over with annoyance over having
folded like a cheap tent
when faced with a piss-test on his new job at the LA Times. Claire thinks he showed some spine by writing about it, but I’m not convinced. And I’ll miss him at the helm of Reason. [claire] - Don’t read The Libertarian’s Legitimate Litmus Lessons if you’re easily offended. But damn, it’s funny if you get all the in-jokes. [endwar]
- Finally, the article Whose Land Is It? takes a look at eminent domain in St. Paul. [press-patch]