The Humble Libertarian original

Doctors back euthanasia in severe dementia case : 'A 64-year-old woman suffering from severe senile dementia has become the first person in the Netherlands to be given euthanasia even though she could no longer express her wish to die, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday. Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands under strict conditions. For example, the patient must be suffering unbearable pain and the doctor must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice. The woman was a long-time supporter of euthanasia but became unable to make this clear as the disease progressed. Nevertheless, a medical committee approved her right to die, the paper says. The case has serious implications for Dutch euthanasia law because it means patients who are no longer able to state their wish can still be helped to die, Constance de Vries, who acts as a second opinion doctor for euthanasia cases, told the paper. The woman, who died in March, left a written statement when she was fully ...

As clear as it is that some commentators are really hoping that torture helped extract the information that led to bin Laden's death (which proves they aren't really interested in what is effective at keeping us safe, they just really like torture for some sick reason), Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee has said: "To the best of our knowledge, based on a look, none of it came as a result of harsh interrogation practices," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee in a wide-ranging press conference. Moreover, Feinstein added, nothing about the sequence of events that culminated in Sunday's raid vindicates the Bush-era techniques, nor their use of black sites -- secret prisons, operated by the CIA. "Absolutely not, I do not," Feinstein said. "I happen to know a good deal about how those interrogations were conducted, and in my view nothing justifies the kind of proc...

Yesterday, while channel-surfing, I saw a pundit on one of the news channels’ talking head shows pontificating on the internal contradictions inherent in U.S. government policy toward the new “Twitter Revolutions” in Tunisia and Egypt. He said that, no matter how unpopular and authoritarian autocratic regimes like Mubarak’s are at home, the United States unfortunately has an interest in preserving their stability because such regimes “support our interests” in the Middle East. Note the unintended irony there. When I hear a reference to “our interests,” or what “we” are doing in Iraq or Afghanistan, my automatic response is “Are you carrying a friend in your pocket?” Read the rest of Kevin Carson's article at The Center for a Stateless Society . James Tuttle , Regular Columnist, T H L Articles | Author's Page | Website

I have often heard it loudly proclaimed, as if bellowed atop a great mountain in triumph, that x is a “human right” -everything from food, clean water, education, and even health care. The socialists on my campus routinely make such proclamations. But are any of these things a human right? As flowery and “compassionate” as it is to say yes, I must put my foot down. Food, water, health care, education, all of these things are very important. Certainly I want everybody to have these things. But here is my barometer of whether something is a right: Can you demand this “right” from a stranger? Neither you nor I can stop someone on the street and demand to be educated. It is equally as silly to stop a doctor and demand heart surgery, or an inspection of an ingrown toenail. The stranger is not obligated to teach nor to look at your toenail. On a more serious note, even if someone is starving and dehydrated he is not entitled to demand food and water from anyone. Now, if I see someone starv...

Feminism has been derided by the socially conservative for as long as anyone can remember. Consequently, the women’s liberation movement and its many goals and names have fallen to the realm of the socialist progressives. The time has come to ask if this monopoly is justified. It is time for libertarians to show how women's rights make sense only in the context of human rights- that is, in the context of the philosophy of Liberty. Here are some examples: Women's Suffrage A woman's right to vote seems to me, a natural corollary to the libertarian principle of republicanism- that our government is properly a representative of its people (which includes women), exists only by the consent of the governed (which includes women), and that its members should therefore be selected by the people (which again, includes women). Rape Women own their person and their body. Another way to say this is that each person, male and female, have a supreme claim on themselves and are the supr...

By Daryl Luna, Editor at: *In Defense of the Constitution* An alarming movement is afoot in New York. Already New Yorkers are told what they can eat and how they can defend themselves (among other things). Now they may lose total control of their bodies. Legislation is being proposed that will create mandatory "organ donor" status for all residents of the Empire State. On the surface, this may not seem like a big deal. One may ask , "What's wrong with everyone being an organ donor?" But the issue is more than one of organ donor status; the mandatory nature of the legislation is what makes this bill so appalling. The decision to donate part of one's body is a personal one in which the government has no legitimate role. Aside from violating the decisions regarding one's own body, this law could easily violate religious liberty. A number of religions and religious sects have adherents who refuse to separate organs from the body based on religious...

Akbar Ganji, an Iranian writer and journalist who spent six years in a Tehran prison for advocating a secular democracy and exposing government involvement in the assassination of individuals who opposed Iran's theocratic regime, has been named the 2010 winner of the Cato Institute's Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty . Established in 2002 and presented every two years, the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty is the leading international award for significant contributions to advancing individual liberty.