First, Amazon.com is offering an incredible deal for students: 1 free year of Amazon Prime. All you have to do is provide a valid .edu email address and your account will be credited. Take advantage of this while you still can, because I have no idea how long it will last. And remember, if you shop at Amazon through an LCC link, a small percentage of your sale is credited to LCC. (Yay! Support LCC!)

Doug Stuart has recently written a couple of nice articles at his blog: Can a Christian Be a Libertarian? and Christianity and Libertarianism, Part 1: Non-Aggression. I hope part 2 is coming soon!

My hero Laurence Vance has three articles posted this month at LewRockwell.com, and all are worth reading. US Presidents and Those Who Kill for Them chronicles military and executive crimes. Gun Liberty and McDonald is an objective look at the positives and negatives of the recent McDonald ruling in the Supreme Court, which ruled Chicago’s draconian gun laws unconstitutional. The American Warmonger’s Bible reviews what I would call the worst Bible ever printed (worse than the Green Bible), the so-called “Patriot” Bible.

Bill Grigg shares some recent news on American torturers and how torture affects one’s psyche.

Stephan Kinsella says that J.H. Huebert’s new book, Libertarianism Today, is the greatest introduction to libertarianism, ever. Looks like I need to pick this one up.

And finally, a comic from Frank and Ernest:

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Links of Note, and Free Stuff…

A Look at the Jury System and Our Participation in It — Graham Dugas observes that being on a jury can be a great check on the State. This piece very much challenged my previous understanding of being on a jury, and I highly recommend reading it. Especially of interest is his explanation of the “How many Jews are here?” question that we sometimes wonder how we would answer, had we been asked in Nazi Germany.

Anarchy and Chaos in Black Communities — My internet buddy Rob Wicks explains in this very short article that anarchy, which is not chaos but the absence of government force, is not to be feared. Well done, Wicks!

On Theonomy — @Silent0 alerted me to this article on Twitter. It’s pretty long, but an interesting read about God using the State to enact Biblical law – which is theonomy. I don’t agree with the concept for a multitude of reasons, but if you’re interested in this long-standing debate you’ll want to read this.

And here’s a fun comic as well…

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Sunday Article Linkage

In a stupendous example of how IP clogs up the works, the Authors Guild, an advocacy group for writers, is claiming that Amazon’s Kindle 2 is breaking copyright law with its new text-to-speech feature. Their director is quoted as saying: “They don’t have the right to read a book out loud. That’s an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law.” So mother, you reading aloud to us as kids makes you a criminal. Okay, not really, but read more about this bizarro situation here.

You know that there is a big problem in America when Vladimir Putin warns us that we might be getting a little too, what’s the word, socialistic?

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

Thomas DiLorenzo reviews the book of a scholar who has come clean about Emperor Lincoln.

Marvel’s 2006 book, Mr. Lincoln Goes to War, says this on the inside cover: “Marvel leads the reader inexorably to the conclusion that Lincoln not only missed opportunities to avoid war but actually fanned the flames – and often acted quite unconstitutionally in prosecuting the war once it had begun.” This is obviously not how to win another “Lincoln Prize.”

Lastly, let me encourage you to check out the brand-spanking new website of UT-Austin’s Libertarian Longhorns, a group I help run. It’s pretty spartan-looking right now, but I’m excited about the potential opportunities it will provide for growing the group.

Have a great weekend!

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Speedlinking Friday: Meltdown, Kindle, Putin, and Lincoln

Fave article of the week: John Hasnas describes What It Feels Like To Be A Libertarian. Don’t be discouraged when you read the following quote, it’s a great article:

I’ll tell you. It feels bad. Being a libertarian means living with a level of frustration that is nearly beyond human endurance. It means being subject to unending scorn and derision despite being inevitably proven correct by events. How does it feel to be a libertarian? Imagine what the internal life of Cassandra must have been and you will have a pretty good idea.

Imagine spending two decades warning that government policy is leading to a major economic collapse, and then, when the collapse comes, watching the world conclude that markets do not work.

Imagine continually explaining that markets function because they have a built in corrective mechanism; that periodic contractions are necessary to weed out unproductive ventures; that continually loosening credit to avoid such corrections just puts off the day of reckoning and inevitably leads to a larger recession; that this is precisely what the government did during the 1920′s that led to the great depression; and then, when the recession hits, seeing it offered as proof of the failure of laissez-faire capitalism.

That may sound pretty bleak for aspiring libertarian thinkers. But you know what else? Despite the frustration, it feels good. Finally making sense of the world and how things work feels good. I don’t regret one minute of it. Period.

Two articles on LRC regarding liberty and the Christian faith came up this week. First, Stan Warford’s article on The Christian and War has some great words to us about the history of Christianity’s view on war. The following quote is excellent:

On the evening of October 28, 311 at a place called Melvian Bridge, the pagan Constantine was at war to determine who would be the emperor of the western empire. He was to do battle the next day, and there was a real possibility that he would lose. That night he had a dream in which he saw a cross in the sky with the Latin words, “With this sign thou shalt conquer.” He rose from his bed and that night had the sign of the cross painted on the armor of his soldiers. The next day he was victorious and became emperor of the western half of the Roman empire. Later he became emperor of the entire Roman empire.

As a result of that battle, Constantine in the year 313 made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire. He confiscated many of the pagan temples and gave them to the Christians, who converted them into houses of worship. After Constantine died, the ruling class criticized the Christian community for receiving benefits from the state while still preaching nonviolence and not supporting its wars. So, the state made the church choose between adjusting its teaching to accommodate the state, or losing its state-sanctioned privileges. In 368 A.D. for the first time in the history of the church, St. Ambrose offered the first justification for the Christian to participate in the violence of war. His student, St. Augustine, codified the teaching in his so-called Just War Theory that is used by most churches today.

In 311 A.D. you could not be a Roman soldier and at the same time be a Christian. By 416 A.D., that is, within the space of about a hundred years, you could not be a Roman soldier unless you were a Christian.

Next, Christopher Bevis has published an article called Caesar and God in Context that explains the “Render to Caesar” passages in the Gospels. He takes a slightly different viewpoint than I do on the topic, but I like his analysis.

Jeff Tucker keeps opining on copyright law, and it’s still fun to read.

Justin Raimondo recounts the history of web political commentary and activism in Ideology and the Internet. I find interesting the shift of websites like DailyKos and Democratic Underground from government critics into Obama-worshipping shills. Just goes to show that most of the modern left is more interesting in their kind of statism rather than getting rid of the uber-power of the Executive and enhancing civil liberties.

Nancy Pelosi did a bang-up job estimating the number of Americans losing their jobs these days:

I really think that if we do not have an economic recovery package, 500 million Americans lose their jobs. I don’t think we can go fast enough to stop that. The President asked for action, swift and bold. That is exactly what we are doing.

Brilliant woman, I’m telling you.

And now for something completely different… James T. Kirk, singing opera with Khan Noonian Singh.

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Speedlinking Friday

First, a few funny things I found on Amazon: Get your very own Pocket Obama! (Thanks to Drew for sharing.) Train up your child in the way he should go with the Playmobil Security Checkpoint! Check out the reviews on this one, they are priceless: “I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger’s shoes cannot be removed.”

To follow up on last weeks links, Paul Green writes about Christianity and Intellectual Property.

I can haz moneyz now?

Anthony Gregor reported that House Republicans seemed poised to seriously consider being fiscally conservative again – well, at least for a few minutes. Obama’s new $825 billion stimulus package swiftly passed through the House regardless – 244 to 188. But one has to admit, when the entire opposition party and eleven others are opposed to a bill, the legislation can’t be good.

Obama signed his first bill into law this week, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, named for an Alabama woman who after a 19-year career at a tire factory complained that she wasn’t getting paid as much as some other men there. This begs the question: if she deserved that much more pay and her skills were so underappreciated, then why did she hang around for 19 years?

Obama continues to escalate the war in Afghanistan. In other war news, Blackwater has been banned from Iraq.

Funny, how can one believe in change when Obama keeps hiring lobbyists for the cabinet after saying time and time again how he wouldn’t hire lobbyists? Go watch this one minute video.

The Hayek Center is back up and running for all you Friedrich-philes.

Ex-NASA climatologist now is a global-warming skeptic. Get the politics out, I say!

Finally, here is a cleverly constructed video with a poignant point to make about how we live as Christians. I hope it gives you something to think about as you approach your congregation’s worship service this weekend.

And that, as they say, is the news.

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Speedlinking Friday

This review has prompted quite a stir amongst libertarians who frequent Mises.org and LewRockwell.com – there are over 300 comments on the related Mises blog post! So I think it would be constructive to bring some of these blog posts all together in one place where you can quickly read what many have been recently saying on the topic of intellectual property and its validity within the free market.

• If you only look at one thing, read Jeff Tucker’s original review of Against Intellectual Monopoly.
• Kinsella comments on Hayek, IP, and Knowledge.
• Tucker warns authors against the dangers of copyright.
• What exactly is your attitude towards IP?

A few more minor blog news notes… I’ve added a few things along the sidebar this week, including a “Blogroll” of links to other libertarian sites (a few specifically Christian ones as well), recent comments, and a little donation button. The idea with the latter basically is that if you enjoy the material here and would like to consider it like a subscription to a magazine, please contribute to the upbuilding of this blog. Ultimately, I’m more interested in your learning than your money, but any contribution towards making this site an even better resource (such as a premium WordPress theme!) would be much appreciated.

Somebody needs to hear this right now, and I’m pretty sure that person is me: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

Let God be your strength, and enjoy the weekend!

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Speedlinking Friday – Intellectual Property

• Acting in a very timely manner with my post yesterday, Nature reports that scientists are getting in line for their own part of the Obama stimulus package. And to top it off, these scientists think they should be planning the economy too: “The fact that we are invited to sit at the table with the economists when we are talking about the future of the US economy — it’s like a new day.” Pathetic.
• Republican Senator Rick Santorum continues to be an embarrassment to the decent conservatives everywhere, now even he is shilling for Obama. Quote: “There is an air of something big, something grand, something electric about to explode upon us. Barack Obama’s visage is everywhere. His relaxed and reassuring – even beatific – smile is omnipresent. So are his irrepressibly cute girls and their together mom.” Eeeewwwww.
• Lew Rockwell writes about the plane crash yesterday and the heroic pilot.
• Scott Ritsema (recent guest poster) reports that the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights has been effectively repealed by the Supreme Court, and by the SC “conservatives” no less. Will the nonsense ever stop?
• My wonderful friend Jaired writes about how the UN may try to interfere with parents and their children.

Now for some fun link goodness…

• Two of my favorite web personalities, Leo Babaua and Tim Ferriss, come together for an interview.
• Extremely geeky flash game (for my brother).

Last but not least, this is an insanely funny video of a gal who has only seen “bits and pieces” of the Star Wars trilogy trying to retell the story. I’m a huge Star Wars fan, so I laughed my socks off.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn’t seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

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Speedlinking and fun stuff for January 16