A hearty forward-biased welcome to readers from Daily Pundit and friends of, and members of, the Life, Liberty and Property Community! If you've never been here before, why, pull up a chair and set read a spell. You might find some stuff here that brings you back now and then. Either that, or sends you running--but let's try to think positively, shall we?
Welcome, one and all, to the...
Um, wait a minute. I just noticed something. (Checks calendar) Dang...
Welcome to the thirteenth Carnival of Liberty. The thirteenth. Hey, it's not that I'm, like, superstitious or anything. No, really. (Not that there's anything wrong with being completely irrational, if that's your "lifestyle choice...") But I hadn't noticed until now that the triskaidekoid CoL fell to me, you know? Can't be a coincidence. (Looks around nervously before tossing a pinch of salt over shoulder.) Dang; there goes my instalanche and everything...
Well. Moving right along, folks...
(Brief pause while I mount a horseshoe on the wall over my desk and get out my cute, furry little rabbit's-foot mouse. No--wait, before you go all PETA on me, it's fake. See? Not real. No cute, cuddly little bunnies were harmed in the making of this--this thing.)
(Now get back on topic and quit rambling, for Pete's sake. You have guests.)
The Carnival of Liberty is sponsored by the Life, Liberty and Property Community of TTLB's ecosystem, but you don't have to be a member to contribute or even to host the carnival. Just contact our Fearless Leader Eric (of Eric's Grumbles) and let him know that you would like to participate. No particular political perspective is required at all--while a lot of "small-l" libertarians are to be found in a community like this, it's by no means necessary that you be the same. All that's needed is a commitment to the importance of individual liberties, property rights, that sort of thing.
Oh--and while you're reading these truly worthy offerings, don't forget to take a few minutes and browse each proprietor's site to get a feel for what each one offers. You might discover another daily read, something you can't imagine ever having done without; you never know.
We start with a state-by-state rundown of examples of all manner of legislative malpractice, and at least one (count 'em!) example of doing things right.
The week's first entry comes from Peter Porcupine, who laments that voters' rights in Tax-achusetts are once again thwarted by business as usual. Hey, so what's new, dude? Happens down south all the time, too, I'm afraid. But keep calling 'em as you see 'em.
And LLP's blogger-on-the-scene in NOLA, Kevin Boyd of Louisiana Libertarian, lets us know it's business as usual there, too, with Louisiana politicians doing what they do best. If post-Katrina NOLA isn't pork paradise, nothing is, eh? (Or is that too post-Postmodern of me to say so? Dang, now someone's gonna call me racist...)
I know--all I have to do is say something like "if you will" somewhere. That always sounds enlightened.
Well, someone has to hold these people accountable. Might as well be us. To that end, Ironman at Political Calculations offers a DIY Checklist for Good Governance based on the World Bank Institute's checklist to reduce corruption and promote, well, good governance. Yes, you too can rate your local government!
Reaganite at Reaganites Unite! points us to Get it at Porky's! A pork-o-nalysis of Alaska's Rep. Don Young (R-Bendover) who seems to be competing with Tom Delay over who can insult our intelligence the most. It seems Rep. Jim Clyburn from my own state is being just as intransigent (not my district--don't blame me).
On the other side of the coin, TKC at The Pubcrawler gives us Maryland's Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Porkbuster) in Operation Offset: $500 billion in cuts proposed. Give this man a medal! At least a few of our "representatives" take their jobs seriously, i.e. aren't trying to buy votes with other people's money. Actually, our own money.
I should point out here that a few years back there was a local flap over our Rep. Bob Inglis (4th district, R-SC) refusing federal money for some local highway projects. He said that he had pledged to fight pork, he was elected with that mandate, and this was pork, plain and simple. Good for him. Unfortunately, some folks, such as the local asphalt and paving companies, didn't appreciate his integrity when it meant less money for local projects. But he kept his promise. He gets a medal too.
Moving on to national issues...
Mark A. Rayner at the skwib satirizes (what else?) the FBI's latest attack on personal liberty with Special Agent Mulva, whose job it is to keep the rest of us from learning anything at all about (gasp!) sex. You read it here first. I'm not making this stuff up, folks.
Brad Warbiany at The Unrepentant Individual demonstrates his bravery by taking on the phrase under God in On the Pledge of Allegiance, gives us a bit of the history of the pledge, and does so rather sensibly, if I do say so. Actually, it's just as sensible if I don't say so, I suppose.
And from a New York perspective, Perry Eidelbus at Eidelblog lets us in on some Gestapo-like tactics being used in merrye olde England these days, with Your papers are not in order. The police are keeping the DNA records of cleared, i.e. innocent, suspects--and this tactic now seems to be headed for American shores as well. Hey, I'm all for catching the bad guys, but let's not toss our civil liberties out the window in the process, ok?
And now, for something completely different, but just as good: Dan Melson at Searchlight Crusade gives us the low-down on shifty lending practices in Games Lenders Play, Part I.
Finally, although this wasn't really entered in the Carnival this week, and just because I'm a nice guy, let me say welcome to LLP's newest member, milblogger David Earney at dave's not here. For those confused about why we who call ourselves "libertarian" don't all join the Libertarian Party, take a look at Losing My Libertarian Party Heart. This guy merits a closer look, methinks.
And with that we conclude this week's smorgasbord of great reading. The next iteration of the Carnival of Liberty will be hosted by Fearless Leader--I mean Eric--over at Eric's Grumbles Before the Grave. (Lucky stiff. Why couldn't he get the thirteenth one?) See you there--and don't forget to be grateful that, in this country at least, you still have the liberty to do so.
document.getElementById('clustrMapsLink').href='http://clustrmaps.com/'">
Posted by: David Earney | Tuesday, 27 September 2005 at 08:23 AM