This is a contract between the opinions of two people I respect. I have known Waldo for over thirty years, and I have learned to respect his opinion the most when I initially disagree with it. I have never met Becky, but have come to know her through her blog posts, which are consistently thought out to a depth to which other blogs should aspire. Not surprisingly, Becky being a committed Libertarian and Waldo being a lifetime iconoclast, they often disagree. This time, in their disagreement over Senator Barack Obama's appearance in Germany. Waldo sees cultural sensitivity and homage to the Bauhaus style . Becky shivers and summons up the image of Nuremburg rallies and the cult of personality . Both are worth reading, and between them you get a sense of the divide in this country, not between ideologues and pundits, but between somber intellectuals with a wealth of historical, cultural, and literary information as the foundation for their interpretations. In stark terms, Waldo and B...

... but Becky beat me to it. Um, well she beat me to it, but I mean that in a purely journalistic sense, not that I'd like to be beaten or anything. Not with a paddle. Don't. Stop. Don't Stop. Don't stop. Ahem. Anyway. Have a Happy Libertarian Fourth of July and do something--any small thing you can think of (donating to a Libertarian candidate who is not Bob Barr would be nice)--to stick it into the eye of the State. The picture above, of course, is from Just a Girl in Short Shorts . The banner below is from Jason Gatties .

. . . . and this time it's the public school system in Safford AZ, where a pre-pubescent middle school girl was forced by administrators to strip to her skivvies and then shake her breasts and pelvis to see if. . . a gun (no, that's not it). . . . a knife (no, not that, either). . . . but maybe some heroin (nope). . . . crack or even powdered coke (uh-uh). . . . or just a doobie (not even). . . . but (oh, yeah, now I remember) a single prescription 400mg Ibuprofen. Maybe they just should have water boarded the little (honors student) tramp. Thanks for this one, Becky .

This morning at Delaware Liberal Donviti found God . I know some Republican readers will say, "I never thought it would happen but the liberals actually found God." But who is this God they found? Could it be Google? Wait a second. Before you tell me that that is a crazy idea I want you to consider two facts. First, there is this alarming story about how much private information about you is actually available online. Second, is this excellent article from Becky the Girl in Shorts on the possibility that Larry Page and Sergei Brin know everything about you. If they are not God, perhaps a Triumvirate Omnipotent Godhead with Eric Schmidt as the third leg. We know for a fact that they know everything there is to know about everything, right? A sort of benevolent, omnipotent, webmaster godhead whose supplication I invoke while trying to blog and figure out new applications.....constantly. Finally, in answer to Liberal Geek's question, " What if God is really Mexican? O...

. . . of Becky's (the Girl in Short Shorts) ability to turn in not only the best line of the day but a an astounding--fact-based--analysis of why you may not want to feel quite so sorry for Elliot Spitzer's wife. But first, the line: Hillary, of course, always knew Bill was incapable of keeping his pants on. But I suspect Silda had her suspicions. The girl ain't dumb. And at least her hubby wasn't getting his rocks off on chubby interns. The power of misplaced cum may propel Hillary Clinton into the White House. It will take Silda Wall to anywhere she wants to go. The entire post is entitled Silda Spitzer and the Power of Misplaced Cum . You quite simply won't believe it.

. . . for a better explanation of the continuing collapse of our economy. How the Feds Tanked Our Economy is a brutally well-reasoned post from the Girl in Short Shorts that spares absolutely no one involved in the debacle that is currently the US economy. My favorite bit is the closing: But, it is quite appropriate that , along with the Bubble Rubble, this era now ends with the loan sharks driving up the price of oil, and the rest of us filling our tanks courtesy of Payday Loan. If I keep sending you to her on a daily basis, sooner or later you may realize you don't need me. Oh well, that's probably why her Technorati Rating is five times mine. Doesn't matter: essential information.

DelawarePolitics has a brief post on the young lesbian that Great Britain is allowing to be extradited to Iran, where she faces a death sentence; as usual, Becky, the Girl in Short Shorts, has the definitive post on the subject . However, let's not forget that our own US-supported government in Iraq is equally intolerant of any sexual proclivities that might have brought a sneer to Mohammed's upper lip. Check out New Video Footage Show the treatment of LGBT People In Iraq by Police in Iraqi LGBT . [Note to John Feroce: I suspect on social issues that DE Libertarian qualifies in your mind as "far left"; so in answer to your rhetorical comment, "you won’t read about it on a left wing blog," so please note that we were covering this kind of issue two months ago .]

If Gay Marriage should be a right, how about ladyboy marriage? Becky has a nice take on it that when gay marriage comes to Utah the rapture cannot be far behind. I guess it is just whose behind we are discussing that matters in a literalistic sense. http://girlinshortshorts.blogspot.com/ I think the case can be made that people should be allowed to do pretty much whatever the hell they want as long as they do not hurt others in doing so. It is only in cases of harm that government should intercede to protect the rights of both parties. In parts of Asia where everything seems to be illegal, people do everything anyway. I mean, who would ever really know that in the above picture of the Band they are all men? I bet half of you young men out there would love to marry one of these "girls" and only later ( but hopefully not too late ) figure out that they are not tastefully carrying a mango in their thong underwear. I am proud to say that I have male friends who look like this, a...

. . . is buried in a sad post by Becky about the breaking story of Patrick Swayze's terminal pancreatic cancer : Patrick Swayze was the kind of sweaty sinewy bad boy, that militant lesbians have to deny even exist, in order to maintain their world view. I can certainly think of worse eulogies (especially when written by a lesbian).

With a more sombre look on her face, the Girl in Short Shorts posts on Planned Parenthood & Black Genocide . I won't excerpt it because you need to read the entire unbelievable article. {giving you time to leave and return} Maybe the problem is that Margaret Sanger is a liberal feminist icon.

The irrepressible Girl in Short Shorts is at it again, with Comrade Obama and the Hot Air Express , an thoughtful examination of both the potential vapidity of Barack Obama's rhetoric and the incredibly stupid depths to which his critics will sink. Here's just a taste: It is the type of argument one might expect out of the Ron Paul Investment Letter, or one of Ann Coulter's good books, but this bullshit spilled forth from the empty skull of Lisa Schiffren in the National Review: “And yet, all of my mixed race, black/white classmates throughout my youth, some of whom I am still in contact with, were the product of very culturally specific unions. They were always the offspring of a white mother, (in my circles, she was usually Jewish, but elsewhere not necessarily) and usually a highly educated black father. And how had these two come together at a time when it was neither natural nor easy for such relationships to flourish? Always through politics. No, not the young Republ...

... and those of us in Delaware can again hang our heads in shame at Tom Carper's craven vote. Becky, that Girl in Short Shorts , lays out the best simple (but not simple-minded) analysis not only of what telecom amnesty means, but just how much of a travesty it is to portray the Democratically-controlled Congress as opposing the Bush administration on anything significant. Junior has also unequivocally stated he will veto any version which does not give amnesty to the telecommunications companies, who participated in his illegal spying program. He won't even accept a 21 day stop gap extension of the current law, to keep us safe until the House can act on this.. Its all or nothing, and its all about priorities. It seems protecting the pocketbooks of giant telecommunication companies is more important than dead Americans. So yesterday the Senate gave our president the greatest gift all. They retroactively rendered crimes committed by Bush’s illegal spying program totally cool an...

I'm traveling back home from New Mexico today, so posts will be in short supply. To tide you over, here's an as-usual incisive piece from Becky, the Girl in Short Shorts, on Barack Obama's constitutional views . As is her wont, Becky actually does solid research, thinks about her topic, and only then lets fly. The result is a well-considered consideration of how Obama got his constitutional interpretations from Laurence Tribe, what Barack actually taught in the classroom, and how this might all affect us in a Barack Obama presidency. Take the ten minutes to read it, and ask yourself, "Why doesn't the mainstream media take the time to do this much research?" But then, don't. Because right, left, or center, everyone who's looking for answers in the blogosphere already knows the answer to that.

I am on record as suggesting that in a John McCain-Hillary Clinton presidential race, everybody loses and nobody wins. I see both candidates as insider politicians with a complete investment in the way Washington works. Hillary's health care proposals (and her previous record on the issue) and John's plan for a century-long occupation of Iraq both scare the hell out of me, but more importantly, neither will be able to lead the nation into any fundamentally new direction. Hillary's not going to push for gay rights any more than Bill fulfilled his campaign promise on gays in the military. John McCain not only approves of "big-government" solutions to problems like education, immigration, and campaign finance, he approves of big-government responses that are inherently incapable of delivering the results he claims to want. I think Hillary will edge out Obama at the end, but let's assume she doesn't. When I watched the last debate (number 2,399) between him ...

Every day Just a Girl in Short Shorts is one of my first stops. I really don't want you to get into that habit, because then you wouldn't have to come here. [My only advantage is that I'm more prolific; that doesn't offset the difference in clarity of thought, depth of research, or just pure writing ability.] There are three recent posts you have to check out. Paris Needn't Fear Joe Arpaio takes on the down-home Southwestern sheriff who has become famous for the pink uniforms and the bologna sandwiches in his jail. Leave it to Becky to discover--as in the case of the tragic death of fifteen-year-old Felicia Edwards who died in a car accident that all evidence suggests was the fault of seventeen-year-old Laura Varker, a drunk driver who had used a fake ID to buy Coors, and who hit the van driven by a black postman making a legal U-turn. Here's Becky at her best: If you are thinking Sheriff Joe has young Laura in pink underwear and horizontal stripes, you be ...

The Girl in Short Shorts once again has the most interesting post of the day, regarding a murder case in Texas, which (surprise, surprise!) includes an incompetent judge, an ineffective defense lawyer, and a woman who finally decided to take justice into her own hands. Her worst crime, in my estimation, is that she attempted to clean up afterward. Besides, you should read this story just because Becky manages to work the word skank into the narrative in a satisfying way.

Once again Becky, the Girl in Short Shorts , has the scoop. Not only does she take you through the nearly uniform anti-gay positions of the major presidential candidates, she also lays out the issues that are critical, especially to gay and lesbian couples. She ends up with the conclusion that gays have no other choice than to vote Libertarian. [No, sorry, Ron Paul doesn't come out very well.] [ Outright Libertarians has already endorsed Libertarian presidential hopeful George Phillies . I don't know much about Phillies as a candidate, but I do remember him as the original dominant American player of Avalon Hill's Stalingrad game back in the 1960s-70s.] Beyond the gay/lesbian issue, this situation raises a fundamental question about a two-party system, as opposed to a more open multi-party system. With only an either/or choice pragmatically available, we are virtually guaranteed to elect least common denominator candidates. No serious candidate for national office c...

Becky, my favorite Girl in Short Shorts , has an elegant and powerful post today on how the War on Drugs has affected all of us--in this particular case by preventing American consumers from getting effective cough medicine. Why are we stuck with dextromethorphan-based elixirs that have been proven not to work? Why do we have to visit the doctor to get a prescription for codeine-based meds that, twenty years ago, sold over the counter? The pharmaceutical industry does not really care if anyone takes these drugs. Even though the opiates are the most effective substances known to combat pain, coughs and diarrhea—they are all ancient and can not be patented. Thirty codeine pills might put you back four bucks. No way can the drug lobby finance a presidential campaign with miserly sales like that. Its enough to drive a person to Nyquil. As usual, probably the most thoughtful Libertarian site on the Net.

"The long-term fundamentals are very strong in our economy," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on the Today Show a few minutes ago, blaming the media for "a steady dose of negative news" that obscures the positive reality of continued long-term growth and the impact that targeted tax rebates of up to $300 would have in improving consumer confidence to turn around the current stock market slide. I'm so comforted. Here I'd foolishly thought that skyrocketing energy prices, a massive trade deficit, a sub-prime mortgage blow-out, mounting government debt, a sinking dollar, out-of-control Federal spending, a foreign policy in tatters, and, well, I could go on.... For hours, as a matter of fact. But my rant would get progressively wonkish, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, I'd rather refer you to one that's already thoughtfully written by Becky in Short Shorts . And besides, her website not only does politics, it's crammed with pict...

If you're not reading Just a Girl in Short Shorts Talking About Whatever on a daily basis like I told you to do, it's your loss. Today's Rocking with Huckabee takes a devastating look at why Mike is the perfect candidate for the new and not-so-adorable Republican Party. In the process, she reminds Republicans of their roots before the social conservatives and neo-con foreign policy interventionists took over. And, being Becky, it's all good, razor-sharp fun: Mike Huckabee is a conservative populist—kind of a happy version of Pat Buchanan. But unlike Pat, the Huck is a big government conservative. And he is honest about it. Huckabee's crunchy conservatism is a lot more appealing to Americans than the nasty populism of the no-more-sunny John Edwards. And all Hillary can do is trot out her aging husband, and try to invoke old memories of pre-9-11 prosperity. And we are comfortable that the preacher will have the federal government overseeing the moral state of the c...