Reason Morning Links: Blue Dogs and Freedom Pigs

Jesse Walker | July 27, 2009

• Sarah Palin is officially an ex-governor.

• The House Dems will caucus today to try to come up with a health bill they all can back. Meanwhile, lobbyists are going all out to make sure whatever does pass is to their liking.

• The Agency for International Development suspends a fraud-ridden program in Iraq.

• The Associated Press flails helplessly at the Internet.

• Cuban black marketeers use the Web.

• I'm just gonna quote the subhed here: "A feral pig has become a libertarian hero in Florida after evading capture for five months."

Comments

|7.27.09 @ 9:05AM|#

"A feral pig has become a libertarian hero in Florida after evading capture for five months."

Why do libertarians hate Muslims so much?

Rich|7.27.09 @ 9:10AM|#

What I was going to say, said the Dodo in an offended tone, was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.

|7.27.09 @ 9:13AM|#

Pigs are evil. They are an invasive species that do all kinds of ecological damage.

|7.27.09 @ 9:13AM|#

But they do taste good.

Feral Pig|7.27.09 @ 9:14AM|#

You'll never take me alive coppers.

hmm|7.27.09 @ 9:17AM|#

Pigs are evil.

second this. Mean ass hell and smart.

The need more rednecks in animal control. Freedom pig would be Freedom Bacon in about 6 hours.

You know how you stun a pig? With a .308 round to the head.

Rich|7.27.09 @ 9:18AM|#

That'll learn them Iraqis not to have gov't transparency websites!

|7.27.09 @ 9:18AM|#

Sad news: Roland Emmerich is going to be bringing the Foundation series to the screen.

Art-P.O.G.|7.27.09 @ 9:18AM|#

I'm just gonna quote the subhed here

MSM luv libertarianism?

Art-P.O.G.|7.27.09 @ 9:19AM|#

FSM luv libertarians.

Rich|7.27.09 @ 9:20AM|#

OK, I'm back to reading _Charlotte's_Web_.

robc|7.27.09 @ 9:21AM|#

How many blue dog Dems are there in the House now? I was analogizing to the KY Senate from a decade+ ago and it made me wonder.

The KY senate back in the 90s was split 3 ways. Of the 38 seats, the GOP had ~16 with about 8 conservative Dems and the rest moderate/liberal Dems.

The Dems had a power struggle and the conservative Dems stole power by caucusing with the GOP. All the (important) committee chairs and leadership positions were conservative Dems, the Dems still had a majority on the committees (between the conservative and liberals). The GOP didnt really gain anything other than being a member of the leadership caucus - and getting rid of some committee chairs that they didnt like.

Just wondering, if they were that power hungry, if the Blue Dogs had the numbers to do something similar. Take over the speaker and committee chairs by changing caucuses, while keeping Dem majorities everywhere.

Atanarjuat|7.27.09 @ 9:25AM|#

The Associated Press flails helplessly at the Internet.

They may be racist as well.

robc|7.27.09 @ 9:27AM|#

The reason the Blue Dog thing came up - I was wondering what there response to being pressured into a health care bill, especially if it looks like it would cost them reelection.

Atanarjuat|7.27.09 @ 9:37AM|#

The town (my hometown) where the libertarian hero/feral pig is running around is a fairly libertarian place. The newspaper is owned by Freedom Communications and has fairly libertarian editorials. They constantly attack the drug war, local cops' DUI checkpoints, big government, etc.

I seem to remember a debate about the LP needing an animal mascot to compete with the R and D's donkey and elephant. How about a feral pig, escaping into the woods, with some tranquilizer darts in his ass?

Citizen Nothing|7.27.09 @ 9:39AM|#

Feral Pig/Barr in 2012!

|7.27.09 @ 9:41AM|#

robc- 51 blue dogs

http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/10%20Years%20of%20Leadership.html

T|7.27.09 @ 9:41AM|#

I seem to remember a debate about the LP needing an animal mascot to compete with the R and D's donkey and elephant. How about a feral pig, escaping into the woods, with some tranquilizer darts in his ass?

Too close to Pigasus. There's a substantial undercurrent of libertarians that can't stand hippies and wouldn't want to be associated with them, even by accident.

Art-P.O.G.|7.27.09 @ 9:42AM|#

Feral Pig/Barr in 2012!

I'm going to prematurely declare Citizen Nothing's win. But, hey, that feral pig couldn't really be any worse than Wayne A. Root, could it?

JLM|7.27.09 @ 9:42AM|#

I like the feral pig better than the FSP's porcupine.

hmm|7.27.09 @ 9:44AM|#

How many blue dog Dems are there in the House now? I was analogizing to the KY Senate from a decade+ ago and it made me wonder.

I had the same question a week or so ago.

robc|7.27.09 @ 9:44AM|#

What ever happened to the liberty penguin? I thought it was too close to the linux penguin, but whatever.

hmm|7.27.09 @ 9:44AM|#

Doh too slow, but better at linking!!

|7.27.09 @ 9:52AM|#

Mean ass hell and smart.

RC'z Law in the morning, like an extra shot of espresso!

Wake up!|7.27.09 @ 9:58AM|#

What ever happened to the liberty penguin?

Penguins will extinct due to global warming in just a few years. An animal driven to extinction because of global warming denialism is the perfect libertarian mascot.

|7.27.09 @ 10:03AM|#

Why did you just restate the first link in the last one?

hmm|7.27.09 @ 10:03AM|#

Mean ass hell and smart.

RC'z Law in the morning, like an extra shot of espresso!

I'm not sure about the law, but I can tell you it ain't easy keeping this much stupid from getting out on a regular basis.

I vote the I like to Move It Move It lemurs.

Abdul|7.27.09 @ 10:10AM|#

A true libertian feral pig would respect private property rights and only elude the police on public property.

Art-P.O.G.|7.27.09 @ 10:15AM|#

Abdul,

Word. I think they pig's more anarchist than minarchist.

Art-P.O.G.|7.27.09 @ 10:16AM|#

the*

|7.27.09 @ 11:06AM|#

"Penguins will extinct due to global warming in just a few years. An animal driven to extinction because of global warming denialism is the perfect libertarian mascot."

The AGW alarmists have not proven that there will be a future catastrophe due the man's small contribution of CO2 into the atmosphere.

|7.27.09 @ 11:08AM|#

I don't know how you can top a porcupine as a libertarian animal mascot. What else so perfectly captures the non-aggression principle backed up with self-defense?

|7.27.09 @ 11:10AM|#

"I'm going to prematurely declare Citizen Nothing's win. But, hey, that feral pig couldn't really be any worse than Wayne A. Root, could it?"

I question a libertarian's libertarian credentials when he calls Churchill his hero as Root did.

Spartacus|7.27.09 @ 11:26AM|#

From the article about the AP:

Yes, Google built a multi-billion dollar business out of "keywords" but they did so not by forcing people to pay, but by adding value to people who did pay.

Since newspaper journalism consists mostly of reprinting press releases anyway, they should just start charging the PR departments for the service. The PR departments could bid for placement: front page, above the fold, etc. This would be a great new revenue opportunity for print media, while retaining the same level of quality that exists today.

Rich|7.27.09 @ 11:40AM|#

> Penguins will extinct due to global warming in just a few years.

Promise?

> An animal driven to extinction because of global warming denialism is the perfect libertarian mascot.

The *Conservative* is the perfect libertarian mascot? ;-)

|7.27.09 @ 11:49AM|#

bookworm-

Churchill did have a classical liberal streak in his heart, even if it showed up much more in his words than in his actions (kinda like Reagan in that way). The former is what more people know him for now anyway, and his single greatest accomplishment, saving Britain from Nazi occupation, is something any liberty-loving individual can appreciate as a positive-sum for freedom.


Not defending Root in any way, though. The only thing I can see him doing reasonably well at is running for mayor or city council of Las Vegas, given that there he could be trusted to bring a decently libertarian agenda to those issues he's most interested in. That's the one niche in the movement where he could fit, but he can't see himself as anything but leading it. He was and is an ongoing embarrassment for the LP.

|7.27.09 @ 12:27PM|#

Penguins will extinct due to global warming in just a few years.

You're thinking of polar bears. There are penguins that live in South Africa, for Frith's sake.

EJM|7.27.09 @ 1:01PM|#

• The Associated Press flails helplessly at the Internet.

On a similar note, check out "How (and Why) to Replace the AP" by Jeff Jarvis (also here), plus the similar "Hey, AP: Here Are 7 Money Making Ideas for You".

MonkeeHeadinSouth|7.27.09 @ 6:59PM|#

Someone really should mention that old thing about capitalism and pigs eh?