Robert Higgs In Oakland, CA, on Thu, Dec 6

The great Robert Higgs, author of many books and classic articles on political economy, and longtime opponent of the U.S. government’s policy of imperial war, will be speaking at the Independent Institute in Oakland, CA, this Thursday, December 6. The reception is at 6:30 and the talk begins at 7. There will be Q and A and a book signing.

In light of his recent book, Neither Liberty Nor Safety, the Higgs presentation will be called “Why Are Politicians Always Trying to Scare Us?” Antiwar.com readers would also be interested in his book, Resurgence of the Warfare State.

Every day, politicians, the media, and interest groups warn of imminent “crises” and “emergencies” which they claim only government can solve by wielding massive new powers. Too often, such purported crises — particularly in the realm of foreign policy — are later proven to have been exaggerated, erroneous or even fabricated. However, such knowledge usually comes well after the new harms created by the government’s “crisis” programs have taken their toll. Higgs has long stood up against the fearmongering warfare state, and has done so with the highest level of scholarship and dedication to principle.

If you’re in the Bay Area, you won’t want to miss it!

‘I Just Thought the Quote Was Interesting’

Jonah Goldberg, whose still unreleased masterpiece Liberal Fascism now has its least moronic working subtitle yet, has posted what is already being hailed as the “Best. Update. Ever.” Oh my, how will Ron Paul’s acolytes ever respond to Evelyn Waugh’s defense of (wait for it, wait for it) fascism?

Don’t Blame Us, All Arabs Are Liars

National Review‘s Kathryn Jean Lopez explains Thomas Smith’s false reporting from Lebanon:

That’s why I wrote, in my first editor’s note on the subject, that we “should have provided readers with more context and caveats” – the context that Smith was operating in an uncertain environment where he couldn’t always be sure of what he was witnessing, and the caveats that he filled in the gaps by talking to sources within the Cedar Revolution movement and the Lebanese national-security apparatus, whose claims obviously should have been been treated with the same degree of skepticism as those of anyone with an agenda to advance.

As one of our sources put it: “The Arab tendency to lie and exaggerate about enemies is alive and well among pro-American Lebanese Christians as much as it is with the likes of Hamas.”

One question: will we be allowed to quote this back to the neocons the next time they cite their buddies in Beirut regarding Syrian perfidy, or will they call us racists?

Jim Powell

US Entry in WWI Caused WWII

[audio:http://wiredispatch.com/scott/07_11_29_powell.mp3]

Jim Powell, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Wilson’s War: How Woodrow Wilson’s Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin and World War II, explains that it was American intervention, not a lack thereof, that created the circumstances which led to the Second World War and the unbroken chain of U.S. intervention overseas from Woodrow Wilson’s breaking of the stalemate of 1917.

MP3 here. (39:20)

Jim Powell, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is an expert in the history of liberty. He has lectured in England, Germany, Japan, Argentina and Brazil as well as at Harvard, Stanford and other universities across the United States. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Audacity/American Heritage and other publications.

He is the author of several books, including The Triumph of Liberty, A 2,000 Year History Told Through The Lives Of Freedom’s Greatest Champions (Free Press, 2000), FDR’s Folly, How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression (2003), Wilson’s War, How Woodrow Wilson’s Great Blunder Led To Hitler, Lenin, Stalin And World War II (2005) and Bully Boy, The Truth About Theodore Roosevelt’s Legacy (2006).