Freespace

The lost Rostand

Some time ago, I mentioned that Jason Kuznicki has been working on translations of Edmomd Rostand's lost lyrical poetry. Although people still know Rostand through his masterpiece Cyrano de Bergerac, his lyrical poems appear never to have been published in English. Although the work is necessarily slow, Kuznicki has posted a new translation, of “To My Lamp,” from Les Musardises. I think it's magnificent.

For once I agree with Stephan Kinsella

The golden age of America is now. Still a lot to do. But dang, some things are so good.

Pfriday pfoto

Rational Basis and the 12(b)(6) motion

I've posted the latest draft of my article, "Rational Basis and the 12(b)(6) Motion: An Unnecessary 'Perplexity'" on SSRN. I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions from readers.

From half a year to two and a half weeks

That's the decrease in the delay for getting your license as a moving company in Missouri, thanks to PLF's lawsuit.

When Bruce Willis and Frank Sinatra played the same role

In Die Hard, no less.

Upcoming talks in Maine, Pennsylvania, & California

On Monday, I'll be at the University of Maine Law School's Federalist Society to talk about "Why Lochner Was Rightly Decided." The event is at 12 pm in the moot court room, and I'll be debating Prof. James Friedman.

On April 7, I'll be speaking at the California Libertarian Party Convention in Sacramento about ongoing challenges to Obamacare.

On April 17, I'll be speaking at the Arlin Adams Center for Law & Society at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., about The Right to Earn A Living.

On April 23, I'll be giving the David S. Saurman Provocativ​e Lecture at San Jose State University. I'll be speaking about "How Government Stifles Our Innovators: A Case Study on the Right to Earn A Living in Missouri"--focusing on the senselessness of Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity laws.

Stay tuned for upcoming talks in Texas, Chicago, and Southern California.

The late adopter

I've given in and set up a Twitter account.

Atlas Shrugged Part 3 is coming

So says John Aglialoro.

Freedom From Religion Foundation opposes taking the Lord's name in vain

I’m personally not much offended by “In God We Trust”on the currency. It means nothing to me, so I don’t care. But I can understand why others are troubled by it. If our money instead had “Jesus is Lord” on it, or “There is only one Allah and Mohammed is his prophet,” or “God doesn’t exist,” I think folks would be bothered.

Note that there is only one way to distinguish those hypotheticals from what’s actually on the currency. That’s to argue that “In God We Trust” doesn't really mean much—that it’s just a harmless, essentially empty “ceremonial deism,” which has “lost through rote repetition any significant religious content.” But that argument, meant to rescue the phrase, actually makes it far more objectionable—or at least it should, to the religious. What is that but taking the Lord’s name in vain? Or, at the very least, denying Him? It’s at the very least lukewarm. To say that these phrases are okay because they don’t really mean anything ought to offend sincere Christians. Is it ever proper to invoke God without significant religious content?

To do so for political or social reasons is exactly the sort of insincere professional religion that Jesus Himself denounced in Matthew 6. Those who defend religious iconography for political-social reasons seem to me to be modern-day Pharisees. Jesus the rebel preached a lot of things, but He never preached a unity of church and state. On the contrary, He was its most prominent victim.