DWill, most most sincere apologies for not replying to this topic. In case you haven't guessed, my participation at BookTalk is sporadic at best. Work keeps me in front of a computer for nine or ten hours a day, so the last thing I usually want to do when I get home is plant my ass in a desk chair o...

Without even checking, I'm certain that at least some of those books (and others concerning "American Imperialism" that you haven't listed here) are available from US bookstores. However, any store - bookseller or otherwise - will tend to stock what sells. Obscure political diatribes from ...

OK, thanks, that was helpful. I've been hearing about the high happiness ratings of countries with quite high taxation, mainly the Scandinavian countries. I wonder if there is anything to the belief that the leveling out of income through what some would call confiscatory taxation, produces a less ...

My impression is that libertarians of whatever stripe will be not just fiscally conservative, but anti-taxation and againt most government interference in any part of our lives. I'm just curious how far in this direction you go yourself. As with any other political philosophy, you'll get different ...

I was actually in Tijuana recently and everyone told me the drug gangs would cut my head of etc etc and I had a very nice time, actually. As for the Mormons, i really dislike people who smile at me behind white shirts and black ties as they use church donations to change the constitution. I have ac...

I was walking innocently down the road here in san diego and to my left were a group of mormons who were smartly dressed and smiling as they spent 20 million dollars taking rights away from gays and lesbians. i'll take my chances on the gang members, thank you. Well, I was making a little (perhaps ...

Conservatrive libertarian? Isn't that an oxymoron? Not in the slightest. Politically speaking, conservative vs. liberal denotes one's stance on economic issues. Authoritarian vs. libertarian denotes one's stance on social issues. I am a fiscal conservative and a social libertarian. Therefore I use ...

Walk down the street late at night and approach a fork in the road. To the left you see a small group of what appears to be Mormon missionaries huddled together discussing the Book of Mormon. To the right you see the same number of individuals, but these people are wearing what appears to be gang c...

I can't believe Palin was chosen over Rice. In fact, I would prefer Rice over McCain. The woman is brilliant. I agree, more or less. I would have preferred a McCain-Rice or Rice-McCain ticket to any other realistic possibility. But it wasn't really a case of "chosen over", it was a case o...

Warren will give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. The choice of a Southern Baptist evangelical is interesting, to say the least. But it might not be so surprising, since Obama has already virtually endorsed Warren's religious entrepeneurism by appearing with McCain at his church on Aug. 16, ...