The Libertarians

Victor Davis Hanson, jackass

What a schmuck:

So along comes someone (unlike Biden’s vastly inflated middle-class biography) who really is from the working class. She likes it—and finds snowmobiling, hunting, fishing and living in small-town America not as a wasteful use of carbon-emitting fuels, cruelty to animals, gratuitous depletion of our resources, or proof of parochial yokelism. Instead it is a life of action in an often harsh natural landscape, where physical strength is married to intelligence to bring us food, fuel, and progress.

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Wazzzup Biatches

Just a shout out to all the boyz out there! Who’da guessed that when me and Bris, you know, got it on, that her moms was gonna be Vice Prez of the United States of America!!!!!!

For reelz.

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Secede…

Generally, I’m in favor of secessionist movements, particularly ones that are non-violent. Therefore, I count it among her positives that Sarah Palin was a member for two years of the Alaskan Independence Party, the third largest political party in Alaska. In as much as Alaska is a highly socialized state that benefits from enormous federal subsidies, it’d probably do the rest of the country a whole lot of good to see that state secede.

But it does strike me, at least in the context of American politics, that being a member of a secessionist party would be a liability. What’s more, it’s kind of absurd for John McCain to continue to pound Barack Obama on the grounds of “experience” and “judgment” when the man couldn’t be bothered to vet his vice presidential nominee.

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Darcy Olsen for Vice President

So it turns out that in the long list of possible Republican Party hacks to choose to be Vice President, John McCain bypassed Goldwater Institute President & CEO Darcy Olsen to choose Sarah Palin, former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (pop. during her tenure 1990s: 5,000)

Olsen, having run Republican think tank for the past six years, is clearly marginally better informed about public policy. In doubt? Just read Olsen’s bio wherein she proclaims herself an authority on everything from education policy to constitutional law. Palin, by contrast, ran a shitty little town in one of the smallest states in the union.

I suspect, however, that Olsen and McCain, both hailing from Arizona, wouldn’t have done much to bring in additional electoral votes.

More on Palin’s shenanigans as mayor of Wasilla.

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Palin is a joke

Sarah Palin, Ron Paul supporter:

Video

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The Harriet Miers of VP Picks

With Pick, McCain Reclaims His Maverick Image:

McCain’s selection of the nationally untested Palin is the most unlikely choice of a running mate since George H.W. Bush tapped then-Sen. Dan Quayle in 1988, a move as risky as it was bold. The decision brings the senator from Arizona immediate dividends with his base and eventually, perhaps, with swing voters. But it comes at potentially significant cost to his effort to discredit Democratic nominee Barack Obama as unprepared for the presidency.

This is a fair analogy, but misunderstands the political dynamics. The elder Bush’s pick in 1988 was a terrible choice, but Bush was running for a still largely popular president’s third term. Even after Quayle got his 3 years of experience, in 1991 political pundits still speculated about whether Bush would keep him on the ticket.

McCain has picked an awful candidate for VP, someone who is a pure token, who has no appreciable experience, comes from a thoroughly corrupt political climate in Alaska, and who has engaged in her own political corruption. This is very bad for McCain, who was pulling even.

I predict a bump, followed by a decline as McCain loses his best argument against Obama - his lack of experience - and as word comes out about Palin, her lack of experience, and her inevitable gaffes.

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Fantasy and Reality

It’s fun to take a law class after having spent a summer working in that particular area. This past summer I did criminal defense work, and watched as prosecutors turned over discovery at the very last moment, charged defendants with crimes they knew, or should have known, they could not prove, and used bail as a tool to keep defendants in jail in order to extract pleas.

Now I’m taking Criminal Procedure, which looks at how, in theory, such practices should work. The textbook is almost too precious for words. For instance, it refers to a prosecutor’s obligation not to charge defendants with crimes they can’t prove. It refers to the use of bail in terms of ensuring defendants show up for trial or to keep dangerous defendants off the streets.

In other words, this is fantasy land.

In the real world, not 20 miles from where I sit, I know of defendants sitting in jail who have been charged with crimes they probably did not commit. I know of prosecutors who use bail to keep people in jail so they will eventually agree to a plea. And I know of prosecutors who have withheld discovery material that they were required to turn over to the defense well in advance of trial.

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I’ll be back…

This summer has been full of great stories. Unfortunately, as I am a law student doing work that almost always is covered by privileges and confidentiality requirements, I haven’t been able to share that on this blog. But I will be returning to class in two weeks, so expect me to have both more time for blogging and more things that can be said publicly.

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Nudge this

There is a great article in the Times of London debunking the “libertarian” paternalism advocated in the book Nudge. Here is the heart of the matter:

Libertarianism is motivated by the idea that a government cannot know what is best for individuals. That is why it is likely to harm us when it attempts to influence our behaviour. Those who favour governmental nudging must think the “central nudger” knows what is good for us. But then they have no reason to be libertarians.

No central authority can possess the on-the-ground, personal information needed to nudge, guide or direct any individual’s life choice.

The book’s conceit is that saving or paying taxes is always good for everyone at every time in every way and, so, it makes sense to nudge people into performing such beneficial acts. It is hard to believe U. of Chicago economists ignore the infinite variety of individual needs, time preferences and circumstances. What works for one person and one particular moment may not work for that same person at a different time.

What Nudge really does is provide a justification for political and intellectual elites to impose their preferred values on the great unwashed. There is nothing libertarian that.

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Apple: Hype, Hype, Underperform

I can’t be the only one who waited is really disappointed at the new iPod Touch/Iphone App Store. After hearing the hype about how this device can support high quality programming, it’s shocking how bad these applications are. Applications I had on my jailbroken phone were much superior - and free - to the ones now on the Apple IPhone store.

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