On Scooters and Libbys thereof

I think an interesting way to think about this is, "Are there any good arguments for commuting Libby's sentence?"

On Johnston's Release

Firstly, I'm really happy that he's all right and that the ordeal is over. Many have said that the resolution of this ordeal looks favorably on Hamas, but I'm skeptical. Even if it is granted that Hamas had nothing to do with Johnston's internment and that it was indeed some fringe group, how is that a case for Western nations to support Hamas in the way they have recently begun to support Fatah? The fact that they may have secured Johnston's release does not say anything about their willingness to be effective players in a peace process with Israel. It just says they are willing to respect the neutral status of Western journalists. Yet this is just something we should expect from Hamas. What Hamas has yet to prove is that they are willing partners for peace.

On Liberty...arianism

I feel like having a friendly discussion about Libertarianism. I can't make any argument why such a discussion is particularly relevant right now. However, I have always been interested in Libertarian philosophy since I first learned about it. I know that Kent was and probably still is a Libertarian, and I think KScott has Libertarian leanings (but I may be mistaken). Anyways, I think it's been a while since we all had a hearty political debate, and since they're so fun, I thought we might relight our furnaces of political passion. I was hoping to start by having people put forth some initial thoughts for why they are libertarian or what they find to be the virtues of libertarian ideology. Perhaps, Kent, you can clarify whether you're an economic/consequentialist libertarian or a natural rights libertarian or both or neither. Hopefully from there we can move forward. If noboby bites, I'll put up some thoughts of my own concerning what I see are some issues with the ideology of libertarianism.