The Humble Libertarian original

Senator Rand Paul's speech at the historically black college was pretty good, but not great. Watching the speech (full video at C-SPAN and full text below), I certainly think Paul did a great job talking about drug policy in a sensible way. He even got an applause break or two for his statements on drug policy. This was my favorite part of the speech (other than the Q&A, perhaps, which I liked better than a lot of the speech): 'I am working with Democratic senators to make sure that kids who make bad decisions such as non-violent possession of drugs are not imprisoned for lengthy sentences. I am working to make sure that first time offenders are put into counseling and not imprisoned with hardened criminals. We should not take away anyone’s future over one mistake. Let me tell you the tale of two young men. Both of them made mistakes. Both of them were said to have used illegal drugs. One of them was white and from a privileged background. He had important friends, ...

John Stossel: "Glenn, I welcome you to libertarianism and moving toward it. I hope all the time..." Glenn Beck: "I still have a lot to learn, but I will tell ya, it's refreshing to talk to somebody who will welcome somebody with open arms... I am willing to admit when I had been wrong, and try to correct it." This clip up at The Daily Paul today: Top comment on the YouTube page for this video: "Glenn Beck can't be trusted." Fine, don't trust him. But keep paying attention to him. Agree with him when he's right, disagree with him when you disagree with him. In my estimation, he's a net positive for liberty in this country because he's pushing Americans to have conversations about things and consider ideas that they have never discussed or considered before, ideas favorable to liberty. These blanket, all-or-nothing statements about people, about parties, about historical trends and events... they fail to help libertarians...

Ben Swann, of the wildly popular Reality Check video series on a local Cincinnati news station, is moving on to bigger and better things, and wants your input on this next move. Here's Ben: You can answer his survey at BenSwann.com . If you're interested, here's a sample of my answers to his survey questions: --- 6. Where do you prefer to get your video-based content from? Internet 7. Where do you go to get entertainment programming? The Pirate Bay 8. What is your favorite show on tv or internet? The Office! 9. Where does the majority of Liberty-oriented content you share with others originate from? You create it yourself The Humble Libertarian 10. If you picked website/blogs on the last answer which website/blog is your favorite news source? The Humble Libertarian 11. How difficult has it been to find Liberty-oriented content on TV? Occasionally get lucky 12. Describe your trust in the majority of Mainstream Media TV Networks. Sometime...

Saw this on Facebook: Left this comment: It's more thorough of a wash job than that. They don't just believe they are not brainwashed, the question has never occurred to them and as long as they keep reading TIME and watching MTV, it's *impossible* for the question to occur to them. Oh brave new world, that has such people in it. EDIT: And one more thing-- don't ever stop considering what questions it is currently impossible to occur to you . This is what I've been thinking about a lot lately and I'm worried just how large and numerous my own blindspots are. The only solution is to be as intellectually curious as possible. To learn voraciously. To read things that challenge us. To read things that are hard for us to understand and then try to understand them. To expose ourselves to ideas far removed from our present culture and place on the timeline. Read old books. Read foreign books. Turn off the TV. You have already absorbed its biases and blindspots. ...

Robert The Bruce http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2013/01/dominique-francon-and-dagny-taggert-and.html#IDComment579325160 Nicely done. If you're reading-- any good movie recommendations?

Over the weekend, we learned that Ron Paul's next big project is a full K-12 Ron Paul homeschool curriculum that will be offered to parents for free from grades K-5. Website: RonPaulCurriculum.com "You're trying to decrease my future tax obligations and improve my education?" *mmmwwwaaahhhh* The curriculum is being co-authored with libertarian economist Gary North and libertarian historian Tom Woods . On his own blog, Woods lists the benefits of the new Ron Paul homeschool curriculum as follows: (1) Grades K-5 will be available for free. You have six years to try out the program without having to spend a dime. (2) Students will learn the origins and travails of liberty in the Western world and in the United States in particular. (3) Students will learn the economics of the Austrian School. (4) Students can learn at their own pace. If they’re advanced and move more quickly, they can quiz out of the first two years of college and enter college as juni...

From Reason : Man Faces Charges After Defending Himself from a Bear in His Own Yard Richard Ahlstrand, of Auburn, Massachusetts, faces criminal charges after encountering a bear in his back yard and shooting the damned thing to avoid being mauled or eaten. Specifically, as noted at Reason 24/7, he's charged with "illegally killing a bear, illegally baiting a bear, illegal possession of a firearm and failure to secure a firearm." All of these charges, once translated from Massachusetts to American, seem to stack up to outrage that Ahlstrand didn't make his yard completely inhospitable to animals that are rarely seen in the area, and then investigated a suspicious noise with a weapon in hand rather than cower under the bed. Worst of all, he actually defended himself when he encountered danger. According to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Ahlstrand had a 50-gallon drum of birdseed in his backyard, and this appears to be the basis of the "baiting"cha...