Friday, September 23, 2005

Support Frank Gonzalez

Frank Gonzalez got 27.2% of the vote to be Florida's 21st District Congressman as a Libertarian (yeah, that's right, with a capital L). Now, he's running (and probably wisely so) as a Democrat in 2006 for the same seat. Let's hope he wins.

Also, can we get him a better (more professional-looking) website? And maybe the domain name www.frankgonzalez.org or voteforfrank.info or vote4frank.us or frankyg.com or something?

Free Market Environmentalism

Clint Eastwood has been doing some free market environmentalizing in California. This BusinessWeek Online article talks about it.

If you're interested in such things, you may be interested in my "Energy For The Future" blog, too.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Germany's FDP

I just discovered that Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP) is [at least moderately] libertarian. In the most recent election, they got 9.8% of the vote (more than expected). Plus, there's talk of a coalition government between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU, similar to the CDU but only for the state of Bavaria), the Green Party, and the FDP. Since the CDU and CSU are economically "liberal" (i.e., libertarian), the Green Party is socially liberal, and the FDP is both economically and socially liberal, it's possible that the new German government could be rather libertarian in nature.

In order to avoid a gridlocked "grand coalition" (I'm sick of the term, but that's what it's called) with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the CDU/CSU has to convince the Green Party to join them instead of the SDP (the obvious partner). But to do this, the CDU/CSU might have to agree not to do anything too socially conservative (a la the Republican Party in the US) or support any military excursions (again, a la the Republican Party). Of course, it may also mean supporting some socialistic ideas regarding East Germany that the Greens support, but the presence of the FDP within such a coalition may cancel this desire out.

I don't know much about German politics, so this is all just [wishful] speculation. But a coalition comprising the CDU/CSU, the Greens, and the FDP may be able to all agree on their support of individual rights, hopefully both socially and economically.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

An anti-eminent domain stance that's hip

You can protest eminent domain abuse in New York and be ultra hip, too. So do it.

Friday, September 09, 2005

You know, since the government was so effective in this case

How can so many people completely miss the blatant hypocrisy in this?
Hearkening even further back in history to the days of Roosevelt’s New Deal and its vast expansion of federal power in the 1930s, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called for a New Orleans and Gulf Coast Redevelopment Authority modeled after the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Clearly, if there's one thing we've learned after Katrina, it's just how efficient and effective the federal government can truly be!

Will Wilkinson is a good writer

Well said.

More evidence of law enforcement preventing people from leaving New Orleans

This post discusses a very detailed account of people trapped (thanks to the authorities) in New Orleans.

By the way, the Red Cross is better than FEMA.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

I like Mike Gabai

I've never met Mike Gabai, and I only know one thing about him. But I already know I like him.

Why?

Because he's the owner of fuckfema.com, which as of right now automatically forwards you to redcross.org.

See this Radley Balko article and this Catallarcy post to see why I typed fuckfema.com into my address bar.

Monday, September 05, 2005

What!?!

The disaster, it seems to me, is the failure of a philosophy. A philosophy of small government, tax cuts, deficits and privatization. The federal government should have arrived sooner but the federal government was doing other things.
The above is from this Salon.com article by Stephen Elliot.

Huh? The disaster is indeed a failure of philosophy, but a philosophy of big government. Were it not for big governement, would half of the Louisiana National Guard's resources be in Iraq? Were in not for government largesse, would the Red Cross (a non-governmental organization) be prohibited from entering New Orleans and doing what they do best--save lives? Were it not for the iron-fist of the government, would the only exit out of New Orleans become a checkpoint (watch the video)?

Please. The contention that the atrocity that the aftermath of Katrina became is somehow the result of small government is patently absurd. What's more, it's impossible, since government has grown faster under George Bush than Bill Clinton, and has been steadily increasing for the last eighty years (save a one-time cut of non-defense discretionary spending under Reagan).

The evidence is clear. Government failed. Not because it was too small. Nay, as Will Ferrell would say. Because government was too big. Too clumsy and bureacratic to pass the paperwork through agency after agency to get things done. Too procedural to let people who actually could help do so. And too focused on making the public think everything was copasetic to worry about pesky things like evacuating people and saving lives.

Government Failure

Bill Clinton agrees with me.

Utter Government Failure

Watch the video of Geraldo here. It is documented proof that the government was actually preventing people from leaving the horrid New Orleans Convention Center.

So that's one failure. Here's another--the government prevented the Red Cross from entering New Orleans.

Here's another.

But thank God for propaganda--the American people may never know.

But wait, wait. What we really need is more government. 'Cause, you know....they did such a bang-up job here.

I actually think the government (federal, state, whatever) does have a role to play in dealing with natural disasters, but they certainly shouldn't interfere with experts like the Red Cross, or prevent people from leaving hell holes like the Convention Center. Come on.

Oh, and don't forget about Iraq. Due largely to the War in Iraq:
The National Guard Bureau estimates that its nationwide equipment availability rate is 35 percent, about half the normal level, according to Pentagon statistics."
I think Tim West summed it up brilliantly:
Louisiana is not better off becuase of the Iraq War, it’s much worse off."