Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Years!

Welp, I'm leaving for a boy's night out in a few hours. Happy New Years, everyone! We're one year closer to the collapse of the state and creation of teh anarkeh!

For some reason, every New Year's Eve I think of this video (probably because it's from a New Year's Eve special I was watching live at the time)

The Few Things Bush Did Right

Bush's presidency has been a disaster from beginning to end, and the US will be suffering from the consequences of his insane policies for years to come.

Nonetheless, as difficult as it was, I wanted to come up with a list of the few things he did right:

1) He pardoned a number of pot-heads, tax evaders, and gun owners.

2) He (thankfully) "failed" at securing the borders, and had a somewhat lax immigration policy, which really pissed off conservatives.

3) The Dubai port deal, which also angered conservatives.

Aside from these three things (and a handful of vetoes), what did he do right? His fiscal irresponsibility, foreign-policy blunders, and alienation of the entire world have made it far more likely that the US empire will come crashing down in our lifetimes. If someone with more restraint, responsibility, or intelligence had been in office, the end of the empire would probably be further away. Better that it be headed for collapse.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Zimbabwe As Bad As Ever

Or, it's going through what most countries go through after left-wing shock treatment is applied to their economies.

And just think: Americans are demanding similar policies right now. Sometimes I think that only mass starvation (if even that) will cure people of their idiocy.

Friday, December 26, 2008

My New Blog Is Now Up!

Don't worry, I'm not abandoning this blog. Not by a long shot. I will be paying as much (if not more) attention to this blog as I have in the past. I love this individualist-anarchist stuff to death.

Nonetheless, I invite you to check out my new (non-political) blog: UnMainstream Cinema! I don't know how much of it will appeal to the regulars here, but who knows? Libertarians watch movies, right?

Thursday, December 25, 2008

The Machinery of Freedom: Worth Reading?

Question: is David Friedman's book worth ordering and reading, or is it just a watered down rehash of Rothbard's For a New Liberty (which I already have)? I doubt that I'll convert to his version of ancap, but I'm still curious enough to consider ordering it. Plus, I have quite a few gift cards to get it with--good ol' xmas.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Maybe My Intuition Just Sucks?

When I left my job interview this morning, I was fully convinced that it went terribly. The whole thing just felt really awkward and I wanted to get the fuck out of dodge, pronto. As my cell phone rang later on, I thought they were going to tell me to get lost. Incredibly, they said they were impressed and want me to go to a second interview. WTF? I mean, not that it's a bad thing, but I'm seriously shocked. I thought the interview was friggin' awful. Maybe I'm just a pessimist.

Yippee...I guess?

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Donate To A Bunch Of Lunatics And Bums?

No thanks, Brad.

Infoshop routinely promotes state propaganda, gratuitous vandalism, coercive unions, and all kinds of idiocy.

And Brad wants us to donate to these scumbags? I think all this left-lib stuff has screwed him up in the head.

Objectivist Pipe Dreams, Part 1

One place where market/individualist anarchism is often debated is on Objectivist forums. Every time I read their objections, I get the feeling that none of them have ever read any actual anarchist writing. They parrot the "social contract" gibberish like gospel, apparently unaware that Spooner totally (and extensively) demolished all of that hokum over 100 years ago in No Treason. Here are some particularly big howlers from various Objectivist forums.

Starting at square one, a number of people live in the same geographic area - jurisdiction - and decide to secure their rights. They start a government and draw up a border. Anyone who enters that border must contractually agree to respect the laws and government of that nation. This violates nobody's rights. The government-creation-contract would also stipulate that nobody may enter into other contracts with other protection agencies (governments) without renouncing this contract and moving out of that geographic area (i.e. renounce citizenship and emigrate). Again, no rights are violated.

Of course, if Objectivists would read anything by Spooner or Rothbard, they would quickly learn there's no such thing as a government that was actually created this way. As Rothbard put it, "the historical evidence cuts precisely the other way: for every State where the facts are available originated by a process of violence, conquest, and exploitation."

But suppose a “government” was magically created in this way? The only way in which it could be maintained would be if every property owner agreed and refused to deal with anyone who wanted a different protection agency. It would only take a single dissenting property owner or newcomer for this “government” to collapse. Since this “government” would not be able to outlaw competing protection agencies, it would not even be a government.

If a pro-capitalist enforcement agency prevented an anti-capitalist agency from operating, it would be acting as a legal monopolist or, in other words, a government.

Umm…no. The point is that the victims would be free to choose from any agency to punish the anti-capitalist agency, instead of a single monopoly (government).

What in so-called 'market anarchy' would stop there being agencies that monopolize aggressive violence, or practice such violence systematically?

ROFL! Does the author really not see the hysterical irony in this question!?

These guys crack me up.

More howlers to come in future posts..

Fred Thompson On The Economic Crisis

Yes, Fred is a statist who shamefully attempted to become dictator ("president"), but I have to admit, I found this video kind of entertaining.

Friday, December 19, 2008

McElroy On Cheating The State

Plan and act right now to protect the quality of life for yourself and your family. The quality of your life is not the amount of money you make. It is the level of comfort (the food, the shelter, etc.) you can sustain and that level can come largely from "alternative financing" rather than from an official pay stub. Indeed, as long as you sustain a reasonable comfort level - what used to be called 'middle/working class'-- the lower your official wage the better because, then, your taxes will also be lower.

Read the rest here.

What Counts As "Left-wing"?

On another blog, I commented on what I consider as being "left-wing." I wanted to re-post it here:

There are two kinds of self-identified left-libertarians: those who support economic (not political) capitalism, and those who oppose it...IMO, if someone is not opposed to economic capitalism, that person is not a left-winger. At least not in my book. That doesn't mean they can't consider themselves left-wingers, or identify with the left, just that I don't really see someone as 'left-wing' unless they oppose economic capitalism. It's just a matter of basic political accuracy. I don't know of a single well-known left-winger who had no problem with capitalist structures.

When asked to define "economic capitalism," I responded:

Economic capitalism = making a profit off of other people's labor via ownership of capital.

This is an issue I've discussed before (see here for a perhaps overly harsh early post on this blog), and my opinion hasn't changed much.

Tropic Thunder: Not Very Funny

So I rented Tropic Thunder, thinking I would like it. After all, it got pretty good reviews for a comedy, and I usually enjoy Ben Stiller's style of humor (Zoolander and Dodge Ball had me in stitches).

But this one just didn't do it for me...I don't know. While I have nothing against profanity or crude humor (I own the entire John Waters collection, for Chrissakes), it just felt excessive and forced here. Nearly every line in the movie was yelled, and the whole thing was just really over the top. Didn't work for me, but who knows? Humor is pretty subjective.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Bush: "The Biggest Regulator Since Nixon"

If only the Democrat myths about Bush being a heartless, regulation-shredding idealogue were true...

Alas, they aren't.

But then again, these are the same people who think the Soviet Union collapsed as a result of "deregulation."

Holy Crap!

The lead singer of Arch Enemy is a chick!? I seriously never had any idea this was the case.

She does a freaking good job, then. Damn.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Brutus Buries The State

A great column at Nolan chart.

Leftists Cheer On Bail-Outs

Abolish all capitalist businesses! But bail them out and prop them up first!

This is oddly reminiscent of the "abolish the state, but empower and kowtow to it first" mantra we get from the (anarcho) left.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

"Universal Pre-K": Another Statist Scam

Right-Thinking From the Left Coast dissects the "universal pre-k" scam.

Right-Thinking is one of my favorite blogs, and I've been reading it on a daily basis for several years. While not anarchist in any sense of the world, it frequently has a libertarian bent, and has been one of the few conservative blogs to speak out against torture, the religious right, the war on drugs, and so on.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Mike Gogulski Foolishly Rejects The "Freedom" Of The US Dictatorship

Mike did the right thing. If things get bad enough, I may end up doing the same thing some day. (Have to finish up my degree first, though ;)

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bratislava resident renounces American citizenship, becomes stateless person

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA, 10 December 2008 – Citing US war, human rights abuses, rapacious state capitalism and hypocrisy, Bratislava resident Michael Gogulski announced today that he has renounced his United States citizenship and become a stateless person as a means of “political divorce”.

Gogulski, 36, renounced his citizenship on 8 December 2008 at the American embassy in Bratislava, surrendering his US passport and culminating a two-week process and months of personal preparations. He currently awaits a Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States confirming his loss of American citizenship. As Gogulski has no other citizenship, he is now a stateless person.

“I was disgusted to be associated through citizenship with the most dangerous gang of criminals in the world, the United States government. Renouncing my citizenship is a means of achieving a political divorce with that vile institution,” Gogulski said. “American politicians extol their state in terms of liberty, human rights, free markets and the rule of law. Examination of the country’s history and present actions reveals nothing but lies and hypocrisy. The genocide of Native Americans, slavery, nuclear slaughter at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, support for brutal dictators, the torture of innocents at places like Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, the massive robberies for the benefit of big business in the name of ‘rescuing’ the economy, the world’s biggest prison population, the growth of a domestic police state and the brutal wars of oppression underway in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia paint a rather different picture. America, via its government agents, is truly exceptional – exceptionally evil,” he stated.

Gogulski says that when he receives the Certificate of Loss of Nationality he will apply to the Slovak Interior Ministry for a Travel Document – similar to a passport – under the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, which Slovakia signed in 2000. He says that he has no plans to leave Bratislava until then, and that he recognizes that his life without citizenship will be more difficult, especially with respect to travel. But, “if the Schengen Zone is to be my cage,” Gogulski states, “I think it’s large enough for me. There’s enough to explore within Europe to last a lifetime.”

On his personal blog, Gogulski indicates that he works as a freelance translator and editor. He also writes about anarchism and supports the revolutionary theory called agorism, which posits that free-market service providers will compete with and eventually supplant states, giving rise to a voluntary society. “Governments pride themselves on notions of ‘equality’ and ‘rule of law’, but fail to apply the same standards to themselves that their subjects must endure,” he says, explaining his political philosophy. “The foundation of state power, taxation, is robbery. That the robbers have fancy uniforms, impressive titles and the sanction of law does not in the slightest way change the basic formula for extortion: pay us, or we will kill you.”

Michael Gogulski’s blog can be found at http://www.nostate.com/.


Mike has been a friend of this blog since the beginning, and is responsible for a good chunk of my readers. Congratulations and god speed, Mike. Sever all ties with this neo-fascist shit-hole and never look back.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

It's Official: Franc Is A Communist

Or at least that's what his most recent post sounds like.

Slowly but surely, Franc continues to slide into the wackier backwaters of ultra-leftism. He's starting to sound indistinguishable from the 16 year-old Tater Trots at RevLeft.

Some excerpts:

The consumerist view of progress is that corporations exist to “serve the customer” by providing ever-expanding alternatives, advancements, by lowering the prices of the resulting products, and by providing more of them. This is possible due to the profit motive: the more they sell, the more they profit, and there are always more expensive novelties to introduce to compensate for lower prices elsewhere. In the labour view, economic organizations serve the needs of their workers and the community, not primarily profit.

"Serve the community, not profit!"

Sounds like loser talk to me.

In the labour view, poverty can be eliminated if the poor self-organize and reclaim their own labour from the ruling elites, working solely for their own benefit and the benefit of their community.

*coughdirtycommiecough*

Psychologically, the consumeurist view leads to mental passivity. As consumers, we watch ads (now, even down the aisles of the stores and at the checkstands) which appeals to his most primitive emotions, wanders around aisles of brightly packaged products which are geared towards the lowest common denominator, and just generally gets in the same mindset that leads to the acceptance of propaganda in general.

And the Frankfurt School begins to rear its ugly head. Blech.

Will he keep going or will he one day realize how crazy all this blather is?

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Where I Stand Or Something

The left-libertarian vs right-libertarian war continues!!!

Where do I stand in all of this? I'm beginning to think I'm more of a 'plumb-line' radical libertarian, like Walter Block.

I agree with left-libertarians on some things and right-libertarians on others.

On the corporate form / limited liability arguments, I tend to agree with right-libertarians.

While I think the size of firms in the free market is irrelevant, I ultimately fall somewhere between right-libs and left-libs on the issue.

On immigration, religious idiocy, and cultural conservatism (blind hated of all minorities), I agree with left-libertarians. To be honest though, I really don’t care as much about these issues as most left-libertarians seem to. I also sometimes get annoyed by the overbearing PC police on their side. (If you think criticizing Lincoln is “racist,” then you’re simply an idiot.)

I identify more with individualist anarchism than the "Old Right" (and am also more influenced by it) so I guess I'm a left-libertarian in that regard.

On corporatism, I'm with the left-libertarians. I think it’s a far bigger problem than most right-libertarians do (though I think the left-libs can sometimes get pretty nit-picky on the issue).

IMHO, the vast majority of anarcho-communists are statist social democrats in disguise, and the left in general is pretty hopeless--except for some of the mutualists! So I'm probably with the right-libertarians on that.

And that's where I sit...er, stand. Just thought I might as well kick these random thoughts out there, because I had to comment on the whole thing sooner or later.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Peter Schiff Continues Pwning Idiots

This may be the first time I've heard Rothbard's name said on national television!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Slayer - Consfearacy

Welp, I'm busy as hell for the next two weeks, so I'll mostly be video-blogging. Here's another great anti-state metal song, and it's by one of my favorite bands of all time. Sing along, boys and girls! (Eh..let's not kid ourselves, there are no females reading this blog.)



I need to redefine
All the things I hate today
Politics that fail
From a president derailed
I hate the shit economy
It might as well be sodomy
I know that in the end
I'm expected to pretend

But I can't relate
To your verbal idiocy
No one's in control
When the government's the enemy

So light the fuse
Impose your views
Consfearacy Is anarchy

Actions of hostility
Breeds conformity
Annihilation will begin
Extermination from within

So light the fuse
Impose your views
Consfearacy
Insanity

I need to redefine
How I see the world today
Seems that all the war
Didn't even up the score
It's only mind pollution
There is no resolution
Still I know that in the end
I'm expected to pretend
That I can't think for myself
Blame it all on someone else
Half hearted smile
While you look the other way

I can't relate
To your verbal idiocy
No one's in control
When the government's the enemy

So light the fuse
Impose your views
Consfearacy
Complacency
Is your demise

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Otep: Warhead

Since I'm a metalhead, and metal has a tendency to be extremely anti-state. I don't know why I don't post videos more often. Sadly, while this music video was released years ago, it's still nearly every bit as relevant today. :(

Anarcho-Soviets

Everyone at Mises.org is taking a thwack at the anarcho-communist pinata, and ignoring the tired "They're our allies! Our disagreements are just semantics!" bullshit that some ancaps have been claiming. Good for them.

Make no mistake: I am sure there are some decent anarcho-commies out there who want are picturing something like the kibbutz. But it seems like the vast majority want something more like Venezuela..

Monday, December 1, 2008

The LP's Unbearable Lameness Continues

Could the Libertarian Party possibly get any more lame (or irrelevant)? It's become so embarrassing that I literally wince whenever I have the misfortune of stumbling upon its web page.

In an obvious attempt to pander to conservatives, they are now doing different "volumes" (as if anyone is actually keeping track of this bullshit) of "Free Market Heroes."

Excerpt:

This is why John A. Allison, the chairman and CEO of BB&T, is the Libertarian Party's Free Market Hero for the week.

In addition to running one of the nation's largest banks, Allison and BB&T fund programs at more than 40 universities that teach the moral defense of capitalism. "Although each of these programs differs in its composition and mission," says Clemson University's
business profile of BB&T's charitable programs, "all are united by a commitment to teaching and research on the moral foundations of capitalism."

ROFL. Sweet Jesus, that is fucking retarded.

This blog post alone makes me wish I had never told anyone else that I'm a 'libertarian.' Ever. **Shudder**

What is it about the LP that just rubs me the wrong way?