…Because Reason is Your Voice in the Fight for Freedom! Please Donate to Reason's 2012 Webathon!

We're in the fourth day of Reason's annual webathon and we're looking for 800 donors to make tax-deductible donations to the nonprofit Reason Foundation that publishes this website, Reason magazine, and Reason TV.

Your contributions are a vital part of our operation. They fund everything we do and help us continue bring you the best libertarian news, analysis, video, and print commentary on the planet.

As Reason's publisher, Mike Alissi, has put it, there's a lot of reasons to support Reason, including:

• Do you spend more time on Hit & Run than on Facebook? Donate!
• Do you find yourself clicking on Reason 24/7 every 5 minutes in search of breaking news? Donate!
• Do you have a burning question that only Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch can answer? Donate!

Beyond bringing you constantly updated news of the day with our great new aggregation at Reason 24/7, the best videos out there (recall our rebuttal of Samuel L. Jackson's Wake the Fuck Up! vid?), tons of free content every day at Reason.com, and 11 issues a year of the only magazine dedicated to "Free Minds and Free Markets," we strive to be your voice in public debates on politics, culture, and ideas.

Like this one I had with Bill Maher and Rachel Maddow earlier in the year over Fast and Furious and gunwalking (among other things).

That's part of what your donations fund: Reason's ability to get out there and mix it up with folks on the right, left, and center. To help change the conversation. To help create the next generation of libertarians. And in places such as Colorado and Washington state, to provide the sorts of information and analysis that eventually changes the world.

We know it's a bum economy - and we also know that you have no greater ally in calling for limited government and increased autonomy to live your life the way you want to.

So please give what you can. Click on the link for swag associated with various giving levels.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Maddow encounter was great, I am forced to admit. The only thing better would have been to somehow work into the conversation a punch to Maher's smug face. But when are we going to get to see that Coulter debate?

[fish]

Ezra Klein really shouldn't wear taupe. And what's with those glasses?

[Julio Cesar Samper Uribe]

Donate now, or Big Bird will lose his job!

[Pro Libertate]

That raises a good point--the Reason Foundation needs a mascot, Like Mr. Peanut, but more arrogant.

[Generic Stranger]

Rich Uncle Pennybags?

[Bardas Phocas]

Please, Lobster Girl has that job for now.

[Citizen Nothing]

Lobster Girl plus monocle and top hat. We'd rule the world.

[Pro Libertate]

Excellent thinking.

[RBS]

Bender Bending Rodriguez

[Pro Libertate]

They should find the model and do a shoot with her wearing the same outfit, but also a top hat and monocle.

[hamilton]

Just finding the model would be a win for starters.

[Pro Libertate]

Years ago, after Hit & Run had first used the image, we were trying to find the model for Urkobold to riff on the whole business with different pictures:

Pro Libertate| 11.6.09 @ 5:17PM |#

By the way, in posting about the Weibskobold over at Urkobold, we have uncovered a few facts about Lobster Girl.

First, the photographer is some dude named Zuan. Second, the photograph appears to have been taken in the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Colombia model competition. Finally, the lobster and the model are just friends.

Around that time, Tim, Matt, or someone else--can't recall for sure--said something about them trying to find the model. Must've been harder than they thought, or she's their new intern.

[hamilton]

I vaguely remember having that discussion, but it seems like it'd be way earlier than 2009.

[Pro Libertate]

It was--probably 2007. My quote above wasn't contemporaneous.

[Pro Libertate]

It was--probably 2007. My quote above wasn't contemporaneous.

[Pro Libertate]

KHAAAN!

[Enough About Palin]

Uncle Wiggily Longears

http://media.comicvine.com/upl....._large.jpg

[Pro Libertate]

Nick, since "No, fuck you, cut spending" offended Matt, I have an alternative. "No, it's the spending, stupid." I like the irony of what was stolen to come up with that, too.

[hamilton]

What I use with my friends is "A mix (raising taxes / cutting spending) is great. But this time: Cuts first. Taxes second."

It works about as well as any other libertarian argument,

[Pro Libertate]

Ask them why government is magically different from any other enterprise in that it doesn't need to ultimately cover its expenditures with actual revenue. Also, ask them why Europe and Japan are somehow irrelevant to our current situation and future.

[sarcasmic]

Government can print money! It creates value out of thin air! What? Money has no value you say? Well then give me your money! Ha! I win! Government is magic!

[Pro Libertate]

That's the thing--the gimmicks don't really change the fiscal situation and, in the long-term, a lot of bad things can pile up from that sort of meddling.

There's one clear solution to our moribund economy--massive and permanent spending cuts. We also need substantial deregulation and some other stuff, like limited government, but one thing at a time, right?

[sarcasmic]

Neither cuts nor deregulation will happen.
Perhaps spending growth may be cut, but not spending.
As far as regulations go, too many people believe that if something exists then the government must create rules because the alternative is chaos.
What people don't understand is that all the government does is stop people from doing things. That's it. You don't create jobs or grow the economy by stopping people from doing things.
All laws and regulations do is say "You can't do this, and if you do that you must do it this way and not any other way but only after you pay a fee and have one of us check your work" and that does nothing to grow the economy.
Like Bastiat's seen and unseen. All people see is the seen. The unseen, being unseen, does not exist.

We're fucked.

[Pro Libertate]

I didn't say I think these things will happen. And, as we've seen in Japan and Europe, even when things gets bad, the government appears incapable of self-diminishing. That goes for the voters, too.

[sarcasmic]

the government appears incapable of self-diminishing

Of course it does. Government is force. It cannot be restrained from without, only from within.

That goes for the voters, too.

Since people do not seek positions of power for the purpose of dismantling it, how the heck can voters select people who will dismantle government?

[Pro Libertate]

We need more people who do want to stab Leviathan in the heart. There do seem to be more of them--though still pitifully few--in politics these days.

[sarcasmic]

Those who rob Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

There are more Pauls than Peters.

We're fucked.

[Pro Libertate]

Also, this:

Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
Do not forget: Stay out of debt;
Think twice, and take this good advice from me,
Guard that old solvency.
There's just one other thing you ought to do.
To thine own self be true.

[sarcasmic]

Way to tame the Madcow. Like the rest of her ilk, she has nothing but fallacious false choices and straw men.

[wareagle]

the Maddow thing demonstrates there is no substantive debate with people who refuse to use substantive argument and refuse to consider the possibility that a point of view other than theirs both exists and is legitimate. I thought she was supposed to be so damn smart.

[Drake]

She claims that she's impartial - then absolutely refuses to admit that Holder or the ATF did anything wrong (that isn't Bush's fault). What a dishonest party shill.

[Randian]

She claims that she's impartial

She claims that?

[NoVAHockey]

i think it's more of a "truth has liberal bias" nonsense.

[The Late P Brooks]

If I "owned" Rachel Maddow, I would return her for a refund.

[Drake]

I would dress her up like Will Crusher every day.

[Enough About Palin]

I'd wrap her head-to-toe with duct tape just like I did to...ah, never mind.

[The Late P Brooks]

People are loath to renounce their religious beliefs. Especially on the live teevee.

[hamilton]

Christ I saw this the first time and didn't get this agitated. Maher's "two black guys selling guns to the Mexicans" comment deserved a full-on rage punch Nick, for the sheer douchebaggery of it.

How much do we have to donate to see you do that next time you're on the show? We could take up a collection.

[CampingInYourPark]

"Maher's 'two black guys selling guns to the Mexicans' comment deserved a full-on rage punch"

Notice how he pauses for tardy applause from his lemming audience to validate himself.

[R C Dean]

Suggestion:

The little counter for the fundraiser should be upgraded, so that instead of an orange bar gradually rising, you gradually reveal more and more of lobster girl as donations come in.

You're welcome.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Two words: gene. yus.

[RBS]

Does that mean Nick is Lou Brown?

[Ska]

Was Lou Brown the Indians' manager in Major League?

[hamilton]

Donations would stop once the sea level rose above sideboob.

[Groovus Maximus]

That's why you make exposing side-boob last

Also, see RBS' reference to Major League.

[Randian]

I love when Bill Maher says he's not for the Drug War and then turns around and funds the Drug War.

What a tool.

[Randian]

"I don't know if Eric Holder is bad"

god I want to hit him in the face.

[R C Dean]

"What would Eric Holder have to do to make you believe he was bad?

Overseeing and covering up smuggling guns to Mexican drug cartels? No?

Raiding over 600 medical marijuana dispensaries? No?

Anything?

[Randian]

He's not a partisan, RC - he just sides with Democrats over Republicans every single time.

If Nick had actually called Maddow a hack I might have had his baby and named it Reason.

[Groovus Maximus]

Threadwinner, TAO. What you did there, I sees it. And now sloopy must decide whether or not to be angry with Gillespie.

[The Late P Brooks]

Do you believe in magic?

So why aren't we helping the unemployed? It's not because we can't afford it. Given those ultralow borrowing costs, plus the damage unemployment is doing to our economy and hence to the tax base, you can make a pretty good case that spending more to create jobs now would actually improve our long-run fiscal position.

1) Borrow money from the Fed

2) ???????

3) JOBS!

[The Late P Brooks]

And this is how he begins, by the way...

Let's get one thing straight: America is not facing a fiscal crisis. It is, however, still very much experiencing a job crisis.

Apparently I need to have the term "fiscal crisis" explained to me.

[WittyName]

The comments burn my eyes.

[WittyName]

This is in response to the above post. That's what I get for posting twice a year.

[The Late P Brooks]

There's one clear solution to our moribund economy--massive and permanent spending cuts. We also need substantial deregulation and some other stuff, like limited government, but one thing at a time, right?

Nonsense. Higher taxes are what you need! You'll find it quite invigorating, I assure you.

*polishes edge of bleeding knife*

[$park?]

In fact, of course, it's just the opposite: The danger is that the deficit will come down too much, too fast. And the reasons that might happen are purely political; we may be about to slash spending and raise taxes not because markets demand it, but because Republicans have been using blackmail as a bargaining strategy, and the president seems ready to call their bluff.

If you need me, I'll be hanging in my closet.

[Julio Cesar Samper Uribe]

Somebody please Krugman in the nuts with a letter opener for me, please. Please.

[Julio Cesar Samper Uribe]

*stab