David Boaz wrote an interesting post for / at Cato@Liberty (the blog of the Cato Institute) about a review by David Leonhardt (for the New York Times) of Brian Doherty’s book Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. The title of the post: NYT Clueless on Libertarianism.

No, the NYT is clueless on libertarianism? Who would have thought!

Anyway, Boaz’s article provides for quite an interesting read about the history of the libertarian movement.

At Raw Story:

Due to its increasing practice of contracting out to private firms and agencies, the U.S. government is quickly losing its expertise and competence in vital national security and defense programs, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

“Since the 2001 terrorist attacks and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the federal government’s demand for complex technology has soared,” writes by Bernard Wysocki, Jr. for the Journal.| MORE ›

The very experienced former Governor of Wisconsin, Tommy Thompson, has joined the race for the Republican nomination for President. The more people the merrier I assume.

As noted, Thompson is very experienced. As Ed Morrissey writes:

He has the best resume of any Republican in the race so far. With fourteen years of executive experience, he has more than Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney combined.| MORE ›

The Conscience of a Conservative is one of the most (politically) inspiring books I have ever had the pleasure to read. Barry Goldwater describes the conservative ideology almost perfectly. He doesn’t just describe what policies conservatives favor, instead he emphasizes and explains the reasons behind conservative policies.

The edition I read, Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1990, has a foreword by Patrick J. Buchanan. In this foreword, Buchanan describes the importance of Goldwater’s conservative manifest:| MORE ›

Some Iranian – please excuse the language – idiots protested outside the British embassy in Tehran today. According to CNN, the protestors threw rocks (among other “projectiles”) and set off firecrackers. No one was injured.

Now, I find it remarkable that where CNN says “firecrackers”, Ynet says home-made explosive devices and The Jerusalem Post “gasoline bombs”.

Meanwhile, the ‘protestors’ also sang a nice, creative song. The lyrics:| MORE ›

A interesting editorial in the New York Times about Karl Rove. The conclusion:

The investigation of the firings of the United States attorneys seems to be closing in on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who should have been fired weeks ago. But Congress should bring equal scrutiny to the more powerful Mr. Rove. If it does, especially by forcing him to testify in public, it will find that he has been at the vortex of many of the biggest issues they are now investigating.| MORE ›

Let me take the time to congratulate Sean Hackbarth: his blog, The American Mind has been bought by Fox Interactive Media.

As Sean comments: “Going pro is a webloggers dream. Starting in 1999 by hand coding and manually uploading my posts onto the web I didn’t imagine the blogosphere would become so important to politics. Now, I have the resources to go all Web 2.0 on politics and the blogosphere.| MORE ›

Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen for the Washington Post:

About one-third of the nearly four dozen U.S. attorney’s jobs that have changed hands since President Bush began his second term have been filled by the White House and the Justice Department with trusted administration insiders.| MORE ›

The Anonymous Liberal wrote a good article about how the GOP will try to portray whomever wins the Democratic nomination.

So, how will the Republicans attack, say, Hillary Clinton?

She will be portrayed as an overly-ambitious, calculating opportunist, much like Al Gore was in 2000. But there will also undoubtedly be a strong misogynist undercurrent to the attacks.| MORE ›

Consider this an hostage situation update.

US President George W. Bush called for the immediate and unconditional release of the 15 British sailors and marines taken hostage by Iran and described the act as “inexcusable.”

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, said: “The British occupier forces did trespass our waters. Our border guards detained them with skill and bravery. But arrogant powers, because of their arrogant and selfish spirit, are claiming otherwise.”

An important development:| MORE ›