The Humble Libertarian original

The Super Bowl lets Americans of all creeds and colors come together and watch ads interrupted by men touching each other roughly. Also, some watch the half time show, in what we’re assuming is an act of atrocity tourism. You know what? If we must shut down the country to watch overly toned men in spangly pants molest each other, let’s at least make the half-time show worth watching, and get Weird Al Yankovic to play it. That’s a real petition, and quite frankly, we think it’s a great idea. Why? Read the rest of the article at Gamma Squad . h/t: friend and reader, Andrew ...and listen to this while reading: Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

This Sunday marks the Oscars. The critical and mainstream darling, " Moneyball " may go home empty handed this year, but also may have the most lasting effect out of any movie released in 2011. The film follows manager Billy Beane and the 2002 Oakland Athletics baseball team - how they ignored conventional wisdom to make purely objective player valuations - causing them to match the New York Yankees total wins for the year with approximately 1/3 the salary costs. They dismissed accepted baseball wisdom. That the most effective baseball players look a certain way. Swing a certain way. They argued the true value of a bunt, a steal and a walk. They argued that baseball was a numbers game. And that virtually no one was playing it right. Do you see where I'm going with this? Is Ron Paul the Billy Beane of political thought? Because he is traveling around the country evangelizing an entirely different political game. He claims a smarter way. He argues for both the mor...

-The Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants are currently facing off in the World Series. -The #1 ranked team in college football has lost in three consecutive weeks. -The Kansas City Chiefs and the Seattle Seahawks are currently division leaders in the NFL. And this is exactly what each of these parent organizations is striving for. The idea that any team can win, in any given year, and in any given week. Why? For the money. These organizations all have a vested financial interest in parity. Because it's not fun seeing the Yankees in the World Series every year. And not only that, but when the division winner each year is a certainty, the teams destined for failure don't exactly sell out their home games. And they don't get great TV deals. And they don't sell as much merchandise. And Major League Baseball doesn't get as big of a cut. So, they tweak the system. Salary caps. Trade rules. Drafting equality. In order to create parity that creates more competitio...

"As for the claims that sports are being distorted by steroids, USC law school professor and bioethics expert Michael Shapiro asks to what standard the game has changed: 'There’s no intrinsically natural God-given game of baseball. Better training standards, larger pools of talented persons, changes in the ethnic proportions among competitors—all of these have changed existing sports and games far more than enhancers have.'" Read the entire article at Big Think . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

"In 21st century America, institutional racism and sexism remain great twin evils to be eradicated on our long journey to the wonderful world where, at last, all are equal. "What are we to make, then, of a profession that rewards workers with fame and fortune, yet discriminates ruthlessly against women; an institution where Hispanics and Asians, 20 percent of the U.S. population, are neither sought after nor widely seen. "In this profession, white males, a third of the population, retain a third of the jobs. But black males, 6.5 percent of the U.S. population, have 67 percent of the coveted positions — 10 times their fair share. "We are talking of the NFL. "In figures reported by columnist Walter Williams, not only are black males 77 percent of the National Basketball Association, they are 67 percent of the players in the NFL. "Yet no one objects that women are not permitted to compete in the NFL. Nor do many object to the paucity of Asian and Mexicans, or...

A reader wrote in to point out this article : Two former professional athletes are calling for the "respect of women's choices" in response to the upcoming Super Bowl advertisement featuring the pro-life birth story of college football standout Tim Tebow... In a statement accompanying the video, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said Tebow's story was "compelling," but added that every woman must be able to make important medical decisions for herself and her family. "The Tebow story underlines what Planned Parenthood has learned from the millions of women doctors and nurses at its health centers have cared for over nearly a century," Richards' statement read. "Women take decisions about their health very seriously. They consider their doctors’ advice, they talk with their loved ones and people they trust, including religious leaders, and they carefully weigh all considerations before making the best decision for themselves and ...

H.T. for the photo: FurIsDead.com From Olympics Fanhouse: In Wake of Threats, Johnny Weir Goes From Fox to Faux Animal rights groups can leave Johnny Weir alone now. Weir will replace the fox on his costume with faux fur after receiving "hate mail and death threats" from animal rights activists, agent Tara Modlin said Thursday. "He's changing it because he needs to focus on skating," she said. To non-violent, peace-loving animal rights activists, let me say that I disagree with you that animals have rights (the assertion is actually incomprehensible to my conception of rights), but that I appreciate your earnestness and respect you for finding creative, humorous, and non-violent ways to spread your message and advocate for your cause. To the violent ones that send people death threats and destroy people's property- let me ask how that is consistent with your non-violent philosophy toward animals? So violence toward animals is bad, but threatening violence t...