Nathanael D Snow

How do we know what rights we have? Hmmm. How do we know how many planets there are? By scientific investigation. Various theories were attempted at explaining the universe and currently we have a model that includes probably 10 planets in an heliocentric solar system. What rights do we have? We can know by scientific investigation. The courtroom is our labratory, and judges are the scientists in a common law system. Such an arrangement existed in England off and on for several hundred years. The development of good law coincided with the development of good science. Now both are failing. Common law got far enough to determine that life, liberty, and property are three of our inherited rights. It answered a lot of questions. But the system was destroyed before it could answer others. So, whether Murray Rothbard is God or not, we know that we do have certain rights as a law of nature. JN

I e-mailed this letter to the editor to the N&O today in response to an editorial in Tuesday's paper. How shall we measure the economic benefit of 395,000 illegal aliens on the North Carolina economy? (Our Open Door, p.8A 2/28/06) Certainly not by tallying up public revenues and expenses related to this demographic! Such a method merely demonstrates that the legislature knows how to milk many cows, even those that are not their own. The overall economic benefit is unknown. We must not assume that our immigrants are laborers only, but also consider the entrepreneurial spirit each generation of immigrants has adopted once experiencing liberty for the first time, and acknowledge that many of them are also employers. New jobs have been created and the North Carolina economy is stronger for it. As for the strain on public funds that the immigrant population generates, the problem is with the law not the individuals. Straighten out welfare policies that create incentives not to...

The Law – by Frederic Bastiat (paraphrased) The law has been changed into something it was not meant to be! The power of the government has become more likely to encroach on liberties as well! The law has become a way of making greedy men rich! The law was meant to protect us from encroachment and fraud, but now it causes these things to happen! Life Is a Gift From God God gave us a gift that has every other gift inside of it. This gift is life: our bodies, our minds, and our souls. But we need things to keep us alive. God has given to us the job of keeping ourselves alive, working on making our lives better, and perfecting it. So God gave us things that we could do – like work, and things to work with – like dirt and seeds, and He also allows us to enjoy what we make. This is the way life should be. Living, working, and enjoying what we make – in other words, individuality, liberty, property – this is man. And even though some tricky politicians try to hide the fact, thes...

From today's newspaper. Funny, I believe in creationism, and I believe Global Warming is a myth. I'm currently reading Crichton's State of Fear as recommended by FEE's Freeman, and thoroughly enjoying it. Now, about Fox news, I'm not sure. It's still statist much of the time. JN

It does not "require any courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." G. K. Chesterton JN

The bootleggers and baptists are up to their old games again. This time some other baptists are the whistle blowers. World magazine (www.worldmag.com) is an evangelical weekly magazine, published in Asheville. They have brought to the evangelical community's awareness an interesting story. Jack Abramoff, of the Indian Casino scandals, gave Ralph Reed, former Christian Coalition president and Religious Right poster boy, nearly a million dollars to influence pastors and their congregations into voting against a law that would legalize gambling in Texas. Abramoff's goal was to protect his clients' monopoly. Reed's motive was to prevent gambling... uh... and to get paid. The interesting part that World brought out was that Reed asked Abramoff for more money and said that he could get Focus on the Family's James Dobson to speak out against the gambling law on his popular and influential radio show. This caused something of a rift between World and Focus. A Focus VP ...

"Us vs. them" mentalities abound, and the Christian Community is not immune. Evangelical loyalty to individuals such as James Dobson, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell, etc. often blind the Christian community to real issues requiring greater thought and discernment. Prohibition was a bad idea 80 years ago, and it hasn't gotten any better since. Today's Baptists are anti-gambling. I say fine, don't gamble. I don't. But when laws are passed to regulate otherwise voluntary transactions unintended consequences ensue. Witness the latest mix up. Ralph Reed, former directer of the Christian Coalition, and former Religious Right poster boy, has been caught receiving nearly a million dollars from Jack Abramoff in the Indian Casino scandals. Apparently Reed was getting paid by Abramoff for trying to influence Focus on the Family's James Dobson into speaking out against legalizing gambling in Texas. If Dobson wants to speak out against gambling, okay...

I just puuled a baby tooth out for my daughter, who is 6 years old. That was cool! JN

What made the ancient Phonecians rich? Was it their exports or their imports? It was their money. They had good money. And lots of imports. They made good use of their comparative advantage in dye making (from the shells of myrex), and total net imports were huge. But in America today we worry about too many imports. We want to protect jobs and restrict imports. We must be crazy. It's like somebody saying, "Here's a quarter, will you give me two nickels?" And we say no. JN

Reading should provoke responses. If what you are reading doesn't provoke a response from you you probably aren't reading the right things. Or you aren't thinking enough. I just got the latest issue of the Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education. www.fee.org Daniel Griswaold from the Cato Institute writes in an article titled "The Trade Deficit Lowers Our Living Standard? It Just Ain't So!" that "there is no shortage of jobs in the American Economy; indeed, worry is growing of a worker shortage." That's odd, the media has given me the impression that outsourcing has left everyone from textiles workers to computer programmers jobless. And the influx of Latin American workers have been stealing what little jobs there are left here. The Numbers: (though statistics do lie). # of jobs lost annually to imports and outsourcing: 400,000 # of employed persons in the economy:138 million. # of jobs that disappear permanently each ye...

I had a brie brush with fame today. I sat in a barber's chair at an undisclosed location in Raleigh having my hair cut. Barber shops are full of mirrors, so you can keep an eye on what your barber is doing to you. Ever since Quixote, its been an unwritten law (my favorite kind). I then spied, two seats to my right, a familiar face: Mike Easley, Governor of N.C., having his hair cut. I resisted the urge to call him a pagan before leaving, and was glad I hadn't when I noticed the two Big Guys in an SUV watching everyhting going in and out of the barber shop. So, anyway, a brush with fame. JN

Originally posted at http://thebrokenwindow.blogspot.com/ Nonviolence doesn't make sense for anyone except those committed to a particular set of ethics for a defined purpose. What non-violence does is it refuses to make an issue about dignity or human rights into a political power struggle. Issues like these should not, must not, be about who has the political power to achieve their ends. The idea is to appeal to the moral consciousness of the people who ARE in power to help them recognize an injustice. It is a legitimate tool of minority groups in achieving legitimate ends, but it is contingent upon those in power recognizing the injustice and being willing to forfeit their priviledges in order to bring about justice. This requires a common sense of morality, dignity, and rights. Nonviolence is an ineffective means when used to achieve priviledge, favor, or unjust ends. It is likewise ineffective if the consciousness of those in power is seared and moral appeals are unheed...