We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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A leading Tory moderniser warned that the party had to be completely transformed and must be ready to give up “some of the things we hold dear” if it was ever to win power again.
Could he possibly mean giving up its statist attitude and blinkered view of reality? Has the Tory Party seen light at the end of the tunnel? No, Archie Norman, a close ally of Michael Portillo once seen as a Thatcherite Tory leader hopeful, called for tax rises to pay for improved public services.
Not only are the views of Mr Norman, a direct challenge to Ian Duncan Smith’s policy (shock! horror!) but tax rises?! To fund public services?! There is light at the end of the tunnel but, alas, it is an on-coming train…
It is morbid fun watching the Conservative party stumble into oblivion. Meanwhile, Labour, given its own problems, must regard it as a blessing rather than political opposition.
I found while driving in Wyoming that wearing a stetson and driving a beat-up pickup meant you could go as fast as you like, while the police picked up Californian winnebagos that went one mph over 55. After all, they wanted to bring money into the state, not merely circulate it.
-Terry Pratchett
…you fat (alliterative expletive deleted)?
No, not you, dear reader. I refer only to a few words quoted in Jim Bennett’s latest column. The opening sentences might be of particular interest to Samizdata readers. If the line quoted sounds slightly different from the way you remember it, bear in mind that they are a pure-minded lot at UPI. Not like us lot who will print anything.
Oh, and just as an aside, Jim Bennett touches on two subjects that I’d like him to explore further: tort law reform and Ireland.
At least that’s what Law.com says.
We always knew Glenn was destined fer a better title than Perfesser…
The Massachusetts people put in an enormous amount of work these last two years. They put their entire personal lives on hold to fight for Liberty. They came within a statistical whisker of forcing the biggest tax abolition in US history that we are aware of. They fought for our Party.
After the dust and confetti settle and the balloons are all popped… there are the bills. Lots of them. It’s not glamorous or exciting. But they must be paid before moving on.
Please consider helping them close out the old so they can move on to the new.
You can visit their tip jar or you can go to one of their web sites and read about it first.
Carla Howell
Michael Cloud
Small Government Initiative
Our teams fight with perhaps a hundredth of the resources of the Left and Right. Do your part to change the equation.
If we have to buy our Liberty back, then so be it.
This artistic clarity was brought to you by Scrofula!
Whatever else may or may not be said about US Democrats, they are certainly not slow to respond to adverse events. Almost immediately after the mid-term term elections, some of them (grassroots supporters it would appear) set up a ‘message wall’ that gave other disillusioned or frustrated activists an opportunity to, shall we say, let off a little steam. Or possibly suffer a full nuclear meltdown judging from some of the comments.
“BRING BACK THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AND THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND!!!!!!!!!”
Yes, that’s bound to increase your popularity.
“Now I know what moderate Afghanis must have felt when the Taliban took over!”
They’ll be wearing burqas in Boston before the year is out.
“OVER FIFTY PERCENT OF AMERICANS SUFFER SOME FORM OF MENTAL RETARDATION”
The Democrat campaign slogan for 2004?
“DUBYA’S APPROVAL RATING IS STILL LOWER THAN ADOLF HITLER’S!”
And nowhere near Saddam Hussein’s!
I very much expect that the Democrat leadership is huddled in a smoke-free room somewhere at Democrat HQ trying to figure out why they lost. My advice would be, please see above.
I spent yesterday (this is the small hours of Sunday morning) at day one of the conference referred to below, and for my money the star of the show so far has been Terence Kealey, Vice Chancellor of Buckingham University and author of this. Kealey’s performance was terrific, both in terms of content and because the man is blessed with such a clear and mellifluous speaking voice – which was a great asset in what proved to be a tricky accoustic given that no microphones were in use.
Having forced myself up at such a vile hour in the morning to get there in time for the start, I’m too knackered to say more now. I hope to report further and less superficially after tomorrow’s proceedings, and there’s a good chance that one or some of David Carr, Patrick Crozier, Alice Bachini, David Farrer, Paul Marks and Antoine Clarke, also all present, will also have things to say, here and/or elsewhere.
For more of my first thoughts about this conference, I have posted some reactions to another of the speakers, Professor Christie Davies (author of a book called The Mirth of Nations) over on my recently started Education Blog.
That’s why it’s always worth having a few philosophers around the place. One minute it’s all Is Truth Beauty and Is Beauty Truth, and Does A Falling Tree in the Forest Make A Sound if There’s No one There to Hear It, and then just when you think they’re going to start dribbling one of ’em says, Incidentally, putting a thirty-foot parabolic reflector on a high place to shoot the rays of the sun at an enemy’s ships would be a very interesting demonstration of optical principles.
-The many and varied advantages of philosophy (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)
Due to the Libertarian Alliance conference in London, there will be rather less posted on Samizdata until Monday.
The first time I spotted this in a Fox News article, I assumed it was just a simple error, something done in the rush to get the news up on the web. But after seeing it a second time:
“Some of the shootings occurred in Prince George’s County, Md., in the same town where Muhammad’s ex-wife, Mildred, lived with her sister. Mildred Muhammad had fled there from Washington because she feared her husband would hurt her, according to court documents.”
I have to wonder if it is policy.
I do not believe Mildred ever changed her religion or name. From what I remember of what I have read recently, she has not exactly been on speaking terms with her ex for longer than the time since he changed his name.
Why saddle the poor woman with this horrid association?
Steven den Beste points out something I missed entirely. With the change of Senate control, Senator Fritz “I whore for Hollywood” Hollings is no longer head of the Senate Commerce Committee. A very likely result is the DoubleSpeak titled “Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act” is most likely DOA. In case you don’t know, this is the act which would mandate control of your personal computer by the US government and anyone who can buy it.
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We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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