Links for March 2, 2010: Noam Chomsky on Ron Paul Supporters, A Marxist Response to the “Mudpie Argument”, others….

1. YouTube | Noam Chomsky on Ron Paul & his supporters

   A fundamental disagreement I have with Chomsky is that, whereas he seems universally to recognize the authority of democracy, I do not. Chomsky reassures us that alien forces such as government are not trying to steal our money through taxation. We should rejoice on tax day, Chomsky argues, because it is only a majority of our brethren who have voted to steal our money from us for the purposes that “we” (read “they”) have agreed upon. The assumption is that we all always assent to democracy. I do not accept that assumption. The cliche to remember is tyranny of the majority. Fifty-one percent of the people have have no inherent right to the property of the other forty-nine percent. If some members of the forty-nine percent wish to waive their property rights in the name of democracy, they may. To force this waiver, however, is simply tyranny of the majority. We all know how much Chomsky hates tyranny!

Links for March 1, 2010: Utah Gov’t Poised to Treat Reckless Miscarriage as Criminal Homicide; UK Criminalizes Secret Treasure, others….

Coffin for a miscarried fetus (photo: Doroquez)

1. Utah Women May Face Murder Charges After Miscarriages | CommonDreams.org

   “Similarly astonished is the syndicated columnist Dan Savage. ‘Where will this insanity end?’ he wrote. ‘If every miscarriage is a potential homicide, how does Utah avoid launching a criminal investigation every time a woman has a miscarriage? And how is Utah supposed to know when a pregnant woman has had a miscarriage? You’re going to have to create some sort of pregnancy registry to keep track of all those fetuses. Perhaps you could start issuing ‘conception certificates’ to women who get pregnant. And then, if there isn’t a baby within nine months of the issuance of a conception certificate, the woman could be hauled in for questioning.'” Bill text here.

2. Mail Online | Woman who found coin worth £2,000 in garden becomes first to be prosecuted for not reporting treasure

   Pure bullying. Government, get out of that woman's business.