Weekend ramble

Here’s your weekend ramble round the best liberty links on the ‘net. {As always, you get them first at my Twitter page.]

• Here’s yet another "success" for advocates of “youth rates” and minimum wage laws to cheer about: New Zealand's youth unemployment rate is now 25.1%
  http://bit.ly/13bnTq
  And the number of working age New Zealanders now collecting a “main benefit” was 274,605 in November last year, 323,160 in August this year – which was just over 7% of the country’s entire population - & will be up even more this quarter.  (Can’t wait for those figures.)  And this doesn’t count those on Welfare for Working Families.
  No wonder the country’s broke.
• Meanhile, do you want to see why Rodney Hide's dip into your pocket cost you so much? How do you spell Hawaiian holiday for two? http://tinyurl.com/yh5mjyj
• Fort Hood shooter says "Muslims have to stand up against the aggressor." Yeah, right.
  http://bit.ly/1lr1h1
• Matthew Hooton explains that property rights in the Foreshore and Seabed have to be recognised. Yes, that Matthew Hooton! Good writing. Great arguments. Some of them even sound familiar...
  http://bit.ly/3bVtAA.
• New book recommended to me for parents: 'Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief'
  http://bit.ly/L0QML
• Red State Democrats Read The Election Returns [hat tip Noodle Food]
  http://ping.fm/vuXEJ [That's good news!]
• Yaron Brook on Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.  How did capitalism arise in places with Christian ethics? Answer: It’s a miracle!
  http://bit.ly/1F77oD
• Cato Institute explains about the double standard on Nazism and Communism: Why, for instance, do  you rarely hear about the atrocities of Soviet communism?
  http://bit.ly/1KTo1W
• 'My Thirty Years With AynRand' - Leonard Peikoff does better Rand biography than any of the current crop of blowhards. And offers an insight into induction . . .
  Listen here:  http://bit.ly/H9Mwe
• Rodney Hide the Hypocrite - you know it.
  http://bit.ly/653Sh
• It's official: Warmism is a religion, says British court.
  http://bit.ly/32MnmA
• Praying Won't Make It So:...
  http://bit.ly/3OSINd
• Welcome to the November 5th, 2009 edition of the Objectivist Blog Roundup..
  http://bit.ly/2w2Hsp
• Monday marks 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. From 1961 to 1989 the Wall was THE symbol of the tyranny of the totalitarian state.
  http://bit.ly/3LLzii
• Oklahoma plans to build “a Christian prison” ... which doesn’t mean quite what it sounds. Sadly,. it means a prison to be administered by Christians, which gives Christian criminals special privileges.
  http://bit.ly/1hiKRv
• Lindsay Mitchell is a "bullshit troll," apparently.
  http://bit.ly/PS63r

Here’s Phil Manzanera:

"The main political problem is how to prevent the police power from becoming tyrannical. This is the meaning of all the struggles for liberty.”
- Ludwig Von Mises

• That’s today’s National Party for you: Tough on crime, tough on the rights of the innocent.
  http://bit.ly/3VaEWy
• Even The Standard’s bloggers understand: “We are continuing our chilling progress towards a surveillance state.”
  Guilty until proven innocent
• The Wall Street Journal looks at fears of new bubbles as more and more of governments’ "Counterfeit Capital" keeps pouring Into markets . . .
   http://bit.ly/q6thV
• A sad day for democracy & liberty - a sad day for Europe – and a sad day for Vaclav Klaus, as Czech courts force him to sign up to the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. http://tinyurl.com/ykc4456
• Take the Harvard University "raaaaacism" test. On such "research" as this are great theories made, apparently. [Hat tip Tim Blair]
  http://bit.ly/1oPVmE
• Ridiculous “RAAACISM” charge o' the day. AFLCIO suffers delusions after seeing Chamber of Commerce ad.
  http://bit.ly/3JBirC
• Want to buy an "eco car"? Then it's a Holden performance ute with a 6.2-litre V8 engine you'll be wanting, buster.
  http://tinyurl.com/yj3osy8
• One of my houses featured in this month's Waikato Times’ 'House & Lifestyle' magazine.
  http://bit.ly/pFbnh [PDF]
  Naturally, the designer is not mentioned. . .
• Google Maps’ mashup of threatened or arrested bloggers around the world:
  http://threatened.globalvoi...
• Whale Oil has been chasing up another example of bureaucratic oxygen theft: Te Reo Marama and the Maori Smoking crowd. This is Troughing 102
  http://bit.ly/1AZw4c
• This is neat: A three-part chapter-by-chapter discussion of AtlasShrugged by the Ayn Rand Center’s Dr. Onkar Ghate
  http://bit.ly/SFO44 (Caution: Plot Spoilers)
• Here’s a History Fun Fact courtesy of the Cato Institute: Ayn Rand Liked Education Tax Credits:
  http://bit.ly/44e4Gl
• Here’s a quote to contemplate: 'To feed a starving child is to exacerbate the world population problem.'- Lamont Cole, environmentalist. Nice people, these environmentalists.
  http://bit.ly/SkcMZ
• Lindsay Mitchell talks to Paul Henry about National's timid plans to limit welfare spending.
  http://bit.ly/8oQoG http://bit.ly/2Cg8yh
• Support for Obama's climate policies is waning . . . for now.
  http://bit.ly/4D5wsC
• The "recovery in risky assets" is looking like another Fed-driven bubble, says Nouriel Roubini.  We’re looking at the toxic assets of tomorrow.
  http://tinyurl.com/yfmzusz
• "If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning ..." – here’s the perfect gift for a Green, this Christmas.
  http://www.thingiverse.com/...
• Dealers say federal clunkers program has made cheap, used vehicles harder to find. Who would ‘a thunk it, eh?
  http://tinyurl.com/yejtpby

Here’s more Phil Manzanera (damn, he’s good):

 

“Remember remember the fifth of November. And its lessons: it takes more than a few kegs of gunpowder to beat govt.”
- Brad Taylor

• From the almost-Darwin-Awards file: "Man dressed as a Breathalyzer for Halloween is arrested for DUI"
  http://is.gd/4Lmmm
• THEN: “News is what they don’t want you to hear.” NOW: “News is what the hack receives in a press release."
  http://tinyurl.com/ykmc238
• Is “deflation” beginning? "You should not be afraid of deflation. You should be afraid of policies attempting to fight it."
  http://bit.ly/3q6Tn
• Insight from The Onion: BREAKING NEWS: Afghan Presidential Election Winner Hamid Karzai Receives Consolatory Phone Call From White House.
• Cato Institute reflects on Communism: Twenty Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall
  http://tinyurl.com/yb7q9c2
• DRUG WAR: Republican Jessica Corry argues for legal marijuana on Fox.
  http://bit.ly/4ayfTB
• While the Nats just tinker with our welfare burden, we need to wonder: what is their ultimate goal for welfarism in NZ? DO they even have one?
  http://bit.ly/3ZFTsr
• "A slew of Ayn Rand links" here http://bit.ly/3Pgt8e courtesy of Marginal Revolution:
  http://bit.ly/4EBKzl
• Numbers on NZ Invalids Benefit [a place to hide the growing unemployed] have been increasing well above the rate of population growth.
  http://tinyurl.com/ygwbf3m
• Put me on the list of people who are NOT fans of Middlemore Hospital.
  http://bit.ly/2Y4G3w
• My name is Peter, and I'm a busybody.
  http://bit.ly/3O3XnM
• Two pages you need to read: The fact prices are stable or rising in some sectors, indicates that inflation is already spreading across the economy.
  http://bit.ly/s3jxO
• Hallensteins defends having a murderer depicted on their clothing.
  http://bit.ly/4172BO
• Some of the country’s most highly-paid beneficiaries make their case for your support.
  http://bit.ly/jLKSJ

Here’s Kevin Ayers.  Not bad for a hippy.

 

“Asset confiscation, suspension of the right to silence, and wider search and surveillance powers for a huge range of government departments.
Must be a Tory government, eh?”
- The Dim Post

• Try out the Mises media page: ... “our massive treasure of media is just waiting to be opened.”
  http://bit.ly/19mbia
• In the wake of bursting bubbles, the fact some prices are stable or rallying suggests inflation is already here.
  http://tinyurl.com/yzq5bbs
• "Stimulus" is not growth. "Stimulus" Can Not Work and Reality is Still What It Is.
  http://tinyurl.com/yjo84jp
• The Effectiveness of US Federal Government Spending on Education – evidence that’s very short and very graphic [ http://tinyurl.com/yjd2p8x ] :
  
   
  
• Tell the truth on drugs and get fired.
  http://bit.ly/4nuSE7
• WHEN will National be going ahead with welfare pledges?. When? Well, when the details are "finalised" ... http://tinyurl.com/yftpn9u1:43 PM Nov 1st from Flock
• Govt to implement pledge requiring parents on DPB to find work or training once their youngest child turns six.  Eventually.
  http://tinyurl.com/yf4xte5
• AlGore’s ‘good lies’. When is an error not an error? Environmentalism really has no shame!
  http://is.gd/4IL4K #JustWrong #tcot1:14 PM Nov 1st from Flock in reply to Not_Evil
• Speaking of lies: Here’s 7 Obama Lies In Under 2 Minutes (Video)
  http://bit.ly/169iSN
• Billy T. James battles bureaucracy:
  



• Don’t forget that you can watch the Best of Billy T. James comedy at NZ Onscreen!
  Billy T James at NZ OnScreen
  

And finally, a short poem by philosopher Stephen Hicks to take away with you tonight

A 3am Poem, After a Midnight Snack
Burrito. Mistake.
Now stomach ache.

 

Enjoy your weekend!