Weekend Reads

There are tons of fantastic things for y’all to read this weekend. I’ve been hanging onto these for days, hoping for time to write more substantial comments, but since it won’t happen, I’ll share the best with you anyway. You’re smart, you can more than figure it out for yourself, right? Of course!

There’s even a book-shopping list (perhaps my favourite kind of shopping list) at the end.

All right, first up, some Philosophy of Liberty 101: Health Care and the Fallacy of Positive Rights from Josh Eboch at The Tenth Amendment Center.

Before government can guarantee provision of a specific good or service to any one individual, thus creating a so-called “positive right,” it must first take by force the means of producing that very good or service from someone else.

Health care is no different. Whether by forcibly appropriating and redistributing the money to purchase care for those who lack it, or by arbitrarily devaluing the time and effort of those who provide it, once a government mandate supplants voluntary exchange, coercion must be used to exercise that “right” to health care.

But how can taking what belongs to another person (their money, time, or effort) through legislative force be a right?

Is that not the very essence of slavery?

Sounds like it to me. Also, didn’t some big Revolution-thingy happen over similar problems on this very continent not too long ago?

…the only rights actually guaranteed to Americans by the Constitution are those that protect freedom of action.

They are “negative rights,” which do exactly the opposite of their positive counterparts. Rather than initiate and rely on the use of force to produce a specific reward or outcome, negative rights allow individuals to act or not act in the absence of coercion, so long as they do not hinder the freedom of others to do the same.

For instance, it is the right of people in this country to vocalize unpopular opinions, associate with unpopular people, practice unpopular religions, and even carry unpopular weapons. Thanks to our negative rights the government cannot, without due process, take the life, liberty, or property of any American.

But nowhere in the Constitution does it say that, in order to exercise their rights, each citizen must at birth be given a microphone, a bible, or a gun.

That was not an accident.

Absolutely worth a read, and it’s a quick one, too.

Did you know that wood is illegal? As is the purchase of certain plants? And that your business or even your home could be raided by federal agents in search of such illegal wood, which could be in your furniture, picture frames, or firearm grips? We are talking felony here.

Sad but true. This will drive you INSANE. Grab your bourbon and read on, but try not to throw anything or kill yourself. Via Classical Values, we (begin to) learn what was in the Farm Bill vetoed by President George W. Bush:

Henceforth, all wood is to be a federally regulated, suspect substance. Either raw wood, lumber, or anything made of wood, from tables and chairs, to flooring, siding, particle board, to handles on knives, baskets, chopsticks, or even toothpicks has to have a label naming the genus and species of the tree that it came from and the country of origin. Incorrect labeling becomes a federal felony, and the law does not just apply to wood newly entering the country, but any wood that is in interstate commerce within the country.

Paper products are included, as are the wood pallets the wooden stuff is packed on.  Eric posts bits of the summary of the Lacey Act, noting that it affects everyone, including regular Joe citizens. He notes that IKEA is quite unhappy about the act, that the Gibson Guitar plant has already been raided by the feds (Gibson Guitars! How much more American can one get?), and that even flooring blogs have touched on it.

Unfortunately, the massive, 663-page “farm” bill came down the pike so near the election few paid attention, including, sadly, most of us bloggers, even the libertarian ones, much less the (worthless) media. All focus was on the election, and as Eric points out, the media used this to make that evil George W. Bush look like a rainforest-torching beast wearing polar bear skins and a cape made from baby humpback whales.

This thing affects everyone and everything! Even if you’re not a retailer and you don’t intend to buy illegal wood (THAT sounds weird), since every wood-based product must now be labeled, the price on everything will go up, at the very least, to say nothing of the more dire possibilities Eric enumerates so well at his post.

His concern lies, as usual, and as it should with all, with what this means for liberty:

In short, I pity the American people. This is not their fault, though, for no one has any control over what is going on. Not even the despicable fools we call “legislators” who cannot read the “laws” they pass because they are not meant to be read. As to the enforcers, they are only doing their job. They have to earn a living. And we are supposed to respect them, because they lay their lives on the line, “protecting” the public! From felonious wood!

…I realize I’m in full-blown libertarian scold mode, and it probably reflects impotent rage over the fact that this is too little too late. But that goes to my biggest complaint (aside from my discovery of yet another horrific legislative power grab), which simply is this:

How come we were not told about this?

So depressing. As Eric notes, had someone, CATO or Heritage or a few bloggers, discovered this and gotten the word out in time, Bush’s veto may well have not been overridden, and this atrocity never passed into law. (Maybe they did find it, I don’t know.) But that didn’t happen. And though my disagreements with Bush 43 are well known…He did do the right thing on this bill. For shame, Congress! And for shame, press! They especially are beyond worthless. Their ‘fathers’ were not just muckrackers, but men like Samuel Adams, but those principles have been long abandoned.

From the CATO Institute, The Myth of The Compact City. Next, perhaps they ought to write one about the myth of “shop local” and “local sustainability”. Hey, how many car factories are in YOUR neighborhood, to say nothing of, oh, cattle farms?

Want to send a Christmas gift to our troops? NutraPlanet is working with Operation Gratitude, and they’re offering a great discount on the Operation Care Combat Package. Just $25 sends a great gift to one of our troops overseas!

Want to see some great action photos? You might enjoy this Flickr blog post, entitled, “A cowboy uses his free hand for balance”. Some fantastic shots of…well…

Finally, if you’re looking for some great reads to take along on your Thanksgiving and Christmas break or even for gift-giving, War On Terror News has a list full of superb books, all at bargain prices (provided you act quickly; Amazon’s used book service is such a blessing!). Several have been ‘in circulation’ here, but of them all, I think Marcus Luttrell’s “Lone Survivor” is the best. It’s…difficult to read, but excellent. Keep your movie and sports heroes; this dame prefers the real thing, thank you, and suspects her readers do as well.

Have a great weekend!