The Libertarian Party has broken new ground; they’ve successfully petitioned the FEC for the right to sell their mailing lists (original). By “sell their mailing lists,” I mean “sell them to any random bulk mailer who wants to send me more junk mail.” This allows the LP to work around some of the unfortunate side effects of the BCRA (original), which prohibits political parties from accepting money from corporations. ...

Orin Kerr nails it over at the Volokh Conspiracy, which is as good a time as any to launch into a discussion of my own anti-war feelings. This post summarizes my opinion on a lot of the arguments we’ve seen on both sides. I believe that Bush wants to invade Iraq in order to expand American presence in the region. I think he also believes, quite accurately, that Saddam is a very bad leader and that regime change in Iraq will be a net good for the world — but that’s not the primary reason, it’s a nice side effect. ...

Caf

The Peking Duck (original) is a weblog written by an American ex-pat in Bejing. Really good stuff, very daring and brave. It’s now on my blogroll. (Via Scripting News.)

People occasionally accuse me of being a sensible liberal, or likely to lose my liberal blogger badge (original). This is pretty warming, since I don’t really think of myself as a liberal; I think of myself as an anarchocapitalist hampered in his desire for untrammeled freedom by the practicalities of realpolitik. I.e., if I could push a button and remove all government from the world, I wouldn’t do it. I think that, unpaired with some serious education about enlightened self-interest, the results would be very bad. In the interim, I tend to lean towards the left, because I think the left is somewhat more likely to preserve the freedoms I care the most about without imposing the restrictions I find most distasteful. ...

I always approve of primary sources. Here’s a great place to get them: DoD News. It’s the central page for Department of Defense news items, and most interestingly includes email lists for DoD press releases and so on. I get the transcripts of all the DoD press briefings. It’s always interesting reading.

Mister Sterling isn’t bad. I was kind of expecting something more draggy, and it is a touch preachy at times, but as TV dramas go it’s not bad. I like the cast, I like the characters, and I was OK with the setup. I can say that last mostly because of the nice little twist in the middle of the first episode, which I personally took as a metatextual zing at everyone who thought the show would be The West Wing II. ...

Cory Doctorow has another story, “ Liberation spectrum (original),” up on Salon. It’s most definitely Transhumanist: deeply rooted in today’s technological culture, set in a fairly near future, and so on. It doesn’t have the body modification elements I’d been thinking were a key component of the subgenre, although I think there’s one or two offhand references to the concept. I like this story more than “ Jury Service” or “ 0wnz0red,” possibly because the conflict between the techie founder and the need for business oversight is something that crops up all the time in my day to day work. The characterization rocks too. Lee-Daniel’s got personality, and he’s real, not just a carrier for the thoughts on technology. Same goes for the other characters. I’m really impressed with how much Doctorow was able to say about Mac in so little room.

I just implemented this tip. Someday I’ll be the kind of person who meticulously adds titles to my links by hand, too.

Lessig has posted the opinions in Eldred vs. Ashcroft. Here’s the majority decision, here’s Stevens’ dissent, and here’s Breyer’s dissent.