Kelo and Takings

I have a long article on this controversial topic (for libertarians) here: A Libertarian Defense of ‘Kelo’ and Limited Federal Power. In Tom Palmer's honor, I should have entitled it "A Libertarian Defense of ‘Kelo’ and Limited Federal Power, or, Why I Am A Racist and Apologist for Slavery."

The Shadow Justice

Yo yo, I am thinking about starting a blog to give my opinion on how recent Supreme Court cases should have been decided (and the opinions of other libertarians who want to join in). I was talking about it with the Gilster and we think some good possible names are:

• The Shadow Justice
• Libertarian Justice
• Dissent in the Ranks
• The Court Intellectual
• The Supreme Revisionist
• A Case of the Red-Ass (nevermind; that's a Louisiana Coonass-ism)
• Justice Unplugged
• Libertarian Supremacy
• The Daily Constitutional
• The Constitutional Nag
  

Any thoughts on a good name for da blog?

Kinsella on Kelo and on Palmer on Kelo

I've had many posts already on the Kelo case: On the Mises blog (Woops, They Did It Again (Bad Supreme Court! Bad! Bad!)) and the Liberty and Power blog (First Raich, now This (Kelo)). I argue that the Justices' reasoning is confused, but the right decision was reached: to let the Connecticut taking practice stand. Because the 5th Amendment was never meant to apply to the states.

And in this post on the Palmer Periscope (Palmer on States and the Feds--Kelo), I critique Tom Palmer's comments on this case and related matters.

Insulting an Objectivist

Well over at SoloHQ I started this thread--Wendy McElroy on Nate, Babs, and Ayn. Predictably, the seriosos went batshit about the nicknames. So I posted this reply, not sure if it will be posted there:

This post may be redundant--not sure if my previous reply worked. Ms. Branden--I meant no offense. I was just pasting the short title used on LewRockwell.com today for McElroy's article. No offense intended, and I'd be happy to call you Ms. Branden or Barbara instead.

BTW my name is Stephan (sounds like Stefan), not Stephen (sounds like Steven). No one ever mispronounces Stephanie. The mind boggles.

To Brant: "Those prissy sissy's at ARI can't take these principal actors' word for what happened--they had to literally bring in a prosecutor--because they refuse to grant either Nathaniel or Barbara recognition or any kind of sanction for their own lives and the contributions they made to the spread of Objectivism and the well being of Ayn Rand."

I am sorry, but I can't follow this... whenever I see the word "sanction" in an Objectivist site my eyes just involuntarily glaze over, as they also do at terms like "whim-worshipper" or "psycho-epistemology." :)

My later reply:

Hi Michael! :)

Just a couple of questions. The premise of Valliant's book is that both of the Branden's autobiographical biographies are nothing but lies. So he drums up exactly the same kind of lies he accuses them of (attributing ill motives to every act, insinuating that Nathaniel was a rapist, etc.). If you do not believe me or think I am overly-biased, look at the "objective" review you just posted the link to from LewRockwell.com.

I would not have purchased it, but someone sent it to me. I read the first couple chapters. I found it to be a hit piece. But I have not read the latter journal stuff. But when Valliant started, in the Preface, his excruciating defense of Peikoff's denunciation of B. Branden's account without having read it, and his defense of the need for non-Peikoffians to have this defense, it becames obvious it was more of the orthodoxy stuff. At least that part. Then I recall later on, there was some passage allegedly showing B. Branden's inconsistency when she at one point said Rand was not maternal at all, then later said Rand would help and guide her. Like that was an aha! moment. As if people could not themselves act inconsistently.

So do you think that the best way for ARI (meaning the heir who authorized this travesty of scholarship) to fight what it deems to be a pack of lies with another pack of lies (or extremely overly-biased insinuations at the very least), but sprucing it up with Ayn Rand's unpublished works?

Dunno, I have not gotten yet round to forming an opinion on this weighty matter.

The present signs point to someone laying a gigantic egg in public here - in Ayn Rand's name. I hold that it is Valliant's approach that is burying this newly released unpublished work of Ayn Rand. There are oodles of people who want to read her unpublished words without having to wade through Valliant's ranting and partisan fighting. So, in doubt, they simply buy other books by other authors.

Do you have another explanation?

Er... no, not at hand. An explanation for exactly ... what, sorry?

(There. No "sanction," no "whim-worshipper" and no "psycho-epistemology.")

Just a little capitalistic common sense.

And who said Objectivists have no sense of humor.

... but... I fail to see what your reply has to do with, umm, capitalism...

catchy tune

I apologize for recommending this annoyingly catchy tune: go to this site, and click "Introduction." It's infectuous.

Gopher balls

When I was little, my grandma used to tell me she was gonna "get my gopher balls". Scared the crap out of me. But it was kinda funny. Now here she is with my baby. But I won't let her get his gopher balls.

I "care" for you. BULLSHIT!

That irks me, in movies, when people say, "Because, because--I care for you." I have never known anyone in real life to say "I care for you." They say, I like you, or I love you.

"I care for you" is the modern agnostic analog to people saying "gezundheit" instead of "God Bless you" (as they do in movies--in real life, I've only seen it a few times, adopted by liberals as an affectation), or "would you move in with me" instead of "will you marry me".

I have also never known anyone in my life who treats the "let's move in together" question as some weighty move that should be celebrated, almost like a mini-marriage. The Hollywood movies MAKE ME SICK.

Libertarianism: The Movie

First task: casting. This ought to be interesting.

Ayn Rand: Helen Mirren, of course.
Murray Rothbard: Jason Alexander (the guy who played George on Seinfeld)
Stephan Kinsella: Michael J. Fox (pre-palpitations)
Hans Hoppe: maybe that guy who played in The English Patient, Ralph Fiennes?
Walter Block: Ned Beatty?
Tom Palmer: Jeremy Irons. Nathan Lane? Paul Giamatti?
Jeff Tucker: Chris Elliot (the guy from the David Letterman show)
Joe Salerno: Joe Pesci?
Tibor Machan: Michael Caine
Lew Rockwell: James Garner. John Rhys-Davies. Frank Gaffney.
David Gordon: John Lequizamo.
Guido Huelsmann: Ashton Kutcher. Rutger Hauer.
Karen DeCoster: Wynona Ryder. Brittany Murphy. Laura Dern.

and so on. Join in. I'll add to the cast as I receive suggestions (either post a comment, or email me at nskinsella -at- gmail dot com.

The Khawajinator

Hmm, Irfan Khawaja won't reply to my latest comment on his little blog thingy. I wonder why (2, 3).

Reflicted

When I was a youngling in rural Louisiana, we would often use the pejorative, colloquial term "reflicted," as in, "Oh, shut up, you're so reflicted!" It was a synonym, roughly, for "retarded" or stupid.

Other colloquialisms from my home state:

• silver dime, meaning, a dime (one time when I was a checkout boy at a supermarket, this black guy, when I was giving him change, kept asking me to give him "silver dime," and, as I used to collect silver dimes, started fishing through the cash drawer, looking on the edge of the dimes, searching for a pure silver one. Finally he pointed at a regular dime, and I realized, he meant a dime by "silver dime". What a non-silver dime is, to him, I have no idea.)
• This calls to mind the time the black lady handed me a nickel and two dimes and asked me for a "solid quarter." After looking at her with the deer-in-the-headlights look for a second, I realized she meant just a quarter. I think two dimes and a nickel must be a "non-solid" quarter.
• The blacks would also ask me to slice them up half a pound of "pepper sausage," by which they meant salami. I got to be good at interpreting their colloquial expressions, like the way they pronounced shrimp ("swimpses").
• I hereby apologize for relaying this story and for remembering the racial aspect.
• In Louisiana they say this, when they see that one of their friends is pregnant: "Who's dat baby for?" Which means, "who is the father of your child?" The answer would be of the form, "It for John."
• They also say someone "caught a heart attack"
• grocery shopping is "makin' groceries". The Schwegmann chain capitalized on this with a campaign "Makin' Groceries--Schwegmann Style"
• They end sentences with the personal pronoun for emphasis, like so: "I need to get me some boiled peanuts, me."
• "If" is used for emphasis. As so: A says, "Man, is dat chick HOT or what?" B would respond, "If!" meaning "Yes!" My theory is that this was someone's adaptation of the Spanish usage of the word "si" for both yes and if (there is some Spanish influence there).
• "Skiing" means water skiing. If you want to refer to the other kind, you have to say "snow-skiing".
• I once saw a flier for a "PENTECOSTAL REVIAL." The typo made me feel much more secure in my lack of thumperness.