Freedom Politics Hits the Web

A nifty new resource for followers of liberty-oriented news and commentary has launched from the fine folks at Freedom Communications, publishers of the Orange County Register and a chain of other papers with a consistently libertarian editorial and opinion policy. It's called Freedom Politics, filled with both links and fresh content related to the causes of free markets, liberty, and peace. Right now its featured video stars none other than reason.tv's Nick Gillespie, so you know their judgment is sharp.

My April 2007 tribute to Freedom Communications founder R.C. Hoiles.

Comments

[Lefiti]

Whatever you do, don't question any of your right-wing dogmas. As aging guru Nick Gallespie has pointed out, it's really government inteference that has caused the current crisis, which itself has been hyped by government interference types. You fucking zombie market fundamentalist cultists will presevre the faith forever!

[JLM]

Right now its featured video stars none other than reason.tv's Nick Gillespie, so you know their judgment is sharp they have a thing for leather. There, fixed.

[Lester Hunt]

Now what we need is TV station alternative to Faux News.

[Lester Hunt]

I know that H & R has the capacity to remove comments, and I suggest they do so with the first one above, on grounds of language and general creepiness.

[General Creepiness, defending]

First they came for the comments on grounds of language and general creepiness...

[SugarFree]

Lester,

Did you see the 2nd season of HBO's Rome? Titus Pullo is challenged by an enemy. He headbutts the guy and then rips his tongue out with his teeth and spits it at him. The next episode begins many months later. The guy with no tongue sits in a cage, long bread and hair, starved into insanity and sucking the marrow out of chicken bones. When asked why he keeps him around, Pullo replies: "He keeps the others in line."

That's Lefiti. He's the gibbering, shit-stained idiot they keep around to keep the others in line.

[Naga Sadow]

Jesus fucking Christ! SugarFree, you should be a spokesman for that show. I'm gonna go buy the first season now. Do you get a commission for sales or something?

[Davebo]

On what planet does the Orange County Register have a consistent libertarian editorial policy?

[SugarFree]

Naga,

$5 bucks per. Just use the redeem code: SugFre(hearts)you

[Naga Sadow]

Damn. Seriously, i've never watched an episode. Brief synopsis please . . . (waves five dollars in front of SugarFree's face) . . . come on. You know you want to supplement that teachers salary.

[Naga Sadow]

Nevermind SugarFree. Only two seasons. It's gonna be like Jericho where I get into it and then it gets cancelled. Crap.

[armchairpunter]

Too often free markets are promoted on the basis of their efficacy. I happen to believe there is ample evidence of their tendency to produce prosperity. That, however, is beside the point. Free markets are justified not b/c they work well but b/c they are free. Why would a citizenry that embraces slogans like "Give me liberty or give me death" and "Live free or die" sell their freedom for the (false) promise of prosperity or the ever-evolving "equality"?

[Episiarch]

NutraSweet is not a teacher, Naga. He's a librarian (or archivist, if you prefer). I'm not sure which is worse.

[SugarFree]

Naga,

It is very good. The first season starts in the waning days of the Gallic War and ends SPOILER ALERT with Ceaser's death in the Senate. The 2nd season ends with Octavian being made Emperor. It is very self contained and comes to a logical ending point.

Not a teacher; I'm a photographic archivist.

[Brandybuck]

Brief synopsis please . . .

Bad history, unsympathetic characters, and a plot that feels like they're making it up on the spot. But lots of gratuitous nudity, sex and violence, mixed in various combinations. It's porn for those who like to pretend they're not really watching porn.

[kinnath]

The first season is self-contained and comes to a definite conclusion. I haven't seen the second season yet, but I am completely satisfied that I purchased the DVD set for the first.

[Naga Sadow]

SugarFree,

"The first season starts in the waning days of the Gallic War and ends SPOILER ALERT with Ceaser's death in the Senate"? That isn't much of a spoiler. A spoiler alert should have been used if Ceasar pulled some Matrix style moves and then pulled a jet pack out from under his chair and blasted away to safety. Also I seem to recall you talking of grading papers or something. It was a while ago though.

Brandybuck and Kinnath sold it for me. I'll go buy it today.

[kinnath]

But lots of gratuitous nudity, sex and violence, mixed in various combinations.

Huzzah!

[EJM]

Considering the significant number of Spanish-language publications and sites that Freedom owns, I hope that Freedom Politics will end up having a Spanish-language section or companion site--if for no other reason than to annoy you-know-who.

[Mike Laursen]

On what planet does the Orange County Register have a consistent libertarian editorial policy?

Yeah, I'm dubious, too, that an Orange County newspaper is going to represent anything other than the conservatism-compatible half of libertarianism. A quick scan through the stories confirms my doubts.

[Isac Bartram]

...unsympathetic characters...

Come on, who couldn't like Titus Pullo? 🙂

[some clown]

also in Season 2, Cleopatra was hot.

[Egosumabbas]

You know, Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" wasn't historically accurate either. "Rome" wasn't supposed to get the history perfectly correct. It's an historical *drama*. Its aim was authenticity, which I believe it nailed better than any other Rome-inspired drama ever made.

SPOILER ALERT

Who else liked the sacrificial bull scene?

[BakedPenguin]

I'm a photographic archivist

So you catalog all the pr0n at the University? LC or DDS?

[BakedPenguin]

Its aim was authenticity, which I believe it nailed better than any other Rome-inspired drama ever made.

You mean Caligula wasn't authentic? No wonder I failed Roman history. Especially after that final essay on sodomy.

[Scott]

The OCR editorial board has consistently opposed the Iraq invasion (prior to its start), the drug war, and supports gay marriage rights (the libertarian "get the government out of it" argument). They've definitely been consistent in their application of libertarian beliefs, though they do indeed focus a lot more on fiscal conservatism given their community.

(Disclosure: I work for one of the other Freedom Communication newspapers and would probably be blogging for the new site if I weren't too busy here)

[Egosumabbas]

Huh. Haven't seen Caligula. I wonder if the library carries it...

[BakedPenguin]

If they do, they probably have the truncated "R" version. Unless you go to Sugarfree's library, apparently.

[Pain]

You know, Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" wasn't historically accurate either. "Rome" wasn't supposed to get the history perfectly correct. It's an historical *drama*. Its aim was authenticity, which I believe it nailed better than any other Rome-inspired drama ever made.

SPOILER ALERT

Who else liked the sacrificial bull scene?

Speaking of that. I would add that the whole way they handled religion was fantastic. Other Greek or Roman dramas are content to pay lip service to it or ignore it completely. Unable to seperate themselves from modern perceptions of it.

Rome did a wonderful job of really intergrating it into the atmosphere. Signs and portents are seen today usually as simple coincidence. Inducing someone to make a snarky "ooooh" sound. Back then they were serious business. And to observe the proper rituals and not pay off the offended God properly was to risk one's well being.

[Egosumabbas]

Huh, Ebert rated Caligula an epic zero stars. Is it really worth seeing?

[Lefiti]

"The term libertarian as used in the US means something quite different from what it meant historically and still means in the rest of the world. Historically, the libertarian movement has been the anti-statist wing of the socialist movement. Socialist anarchism was libertarian socialism. In the US, which is a society much more dominated by business, the term has a different meaning. It means eliminating or reducing state controls, mainly controls over private tyrannies. Libertarians in the US don't say let's get rid of corporations. It is a sort of ultra-rightism."
--Noam Chomsky

[BakedPenguin]

Ego - not really, no. While Ebert's zero is a tad harsh (especially coming from someone who loves Russ Meyer), it's a mediocre movie with mediocre porno scenes tacked on.

OTOH, it's interesting (to me, at least) because it was kind of the Heaven's Gate of porn - a hugely expensive flop. Also, the main movie stars actual actors (Peter O'Toole, Malcolm McDowell, Gielgud, Helen Mirren) who were never told there would be hardcore scenes added after the main shoot. Softcore director Tinto Brass directed the main part of the movie, and because his scenes weren't explicit enough, producer Bob Guicionne (sp?) stepped in to film scenes the way he wanted.

[Lefiti]

I haet yuo gies! I waant you to shut up! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUPT!

[Hale-Bopp Cosmic Express]

a hugely expensive flop

To be fair, you don't know this for sure.