An edited version of my reply to a global warming alarmist on another thread:
I’m against the state. I’m against junk science. I’m against science used by liberal arts and women’s studies majors from Brown who now infest the state to advance their anti-capitalist interests.
I believe we are in an interglacial period. I believe the evidence trotted out so far by global warming advocates is spotty and selective, and almost always insincere and agenda-driven, or driven by pure ignorance. I believe that global warming would probably be good, but is not going to happen. I suspect that even if it were happening and even if it were bad, the cost of stopping it would far exceed its damages–that is, that it’s not worth it to stop it; that human survival is more important, ultimately, than environmentalist concerns; moreover, I would never trust the state to make this assessment or to impose the “right” regulations to ameliorate the “problem.”
I think that the global warming advocates are not interested in real science or real debate–they want to just take their temporary popularity in the polls and among the arts & croissant crowd, among the DC jetset bored housewives and ditzy Hollywood stars and parlay that as quickly as possible into legislation sponsored by corrupt pols like Nancy Pelosi. I.e.., they just want to win, right away, as quickly as possible before the public starts to catch on or yet another pseudo-science fad catches its eye.
The primary enemy is the state. Any scheme that involves them as a part of the “solution” to a posited problem is obviously flawed. I have no wish to cooperate with or endorse that criminal gang’s legitimacy. Period.
Note: earlier today I quoted a comment by Mario Rizzo. As Rizzo explains here, he requested that his comment be taken down. Out of respect for Dr. Rizzo, I’ve deleted the substance of my post.
Physicist Howard Hayden, a staunch advocate of sound energy policy, sent me a copy of his letter to the EPA about global warming. The text is also appended below, with permission.
Abstract: The discussion of what is and what is not inflation has become central among the Austrian economists in their debate between free banking with fractional reserves versus banking with 100-percent reserve. Many Austrians also turn to the writings of Mises to find out what the dean of Austrian Economics thought about inflation, but there is no agreement on the interpretation of his writings either. This article tries to contribute to the interpretation of Mises’ concept of inflation.
See also Tom Knapp’s political spectrum bell curve: “On the far Left (market anarchism) and the far Right (anarcho-capitalism), appetite for political government trails off to zero (which is why “Left” and “Right” libertarians have so much in common).”
Tom Knapp’s Political Spectrum Bell Curve
Update: See also the Political Triangle (from Twitter):
The recent Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) decision, Ex parte Rodriguez (discussed here), is a good example of the completely arbitrary, artificial nature of patent law. This is what counts as the meat and bones of natural “justice” in the IP world. This opinion discusses the relationship between the Patent Act’s Sec. 112, 6th and 1st paragraphs, and clarifies why and under what conditions a functional claim limitation that is not a means-plus-function recitation may be invalid under Sec. 112, 1st para. for lack of enablement. Blah blah blah.
How anyone can think this is possibly compatible with libertarian principle is beyond me. No offense, Randians.
A debate between IP opponent David Koepsell and patent attorney Gene Quinn about gene patents. As noted in IP Debate? (see also Gene Quinn the Patent Watchdog and Is It So Crazy For A Patent Attorney To Think Patents Harm Innovation?), Quinn previously said he wanted to debate an IP opponent, before transparently banning me from his site after I called his bluff; then David Koepsell offered to debate Quinn–it was supposed to be held yesterday at Cardozo law school, but then Quinn backed out, and finally agreed to the online thing you see above. Good thing for him he was not there face to face to present his embarrassingly weak “arguments.”
KINSELLA: I had forgotten how good Pilon is in his discussion of why limited liability for torts is justified–have you seen this (pp. 1309-16)? He makes the arguments similar to those I have made–that the problem is respondeat superior. There is no reason to hold a shareholder liable in the first place.
CARSON: But as I’ve argued before in response to such arguments, the creation of the corporate form creates an artificially tenuous relationship between property and responsibility, precisely because the “owner” can seek a form of “ownership” in which control is lacking ex ante. IOW, plausible deniability: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” [continue reading…]
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