Below The Beltway

Walter Williams explains why, unlike the rights protected by the Constitution, health care is not a right:
True rights, such as those in our Constitution, or those considered to be natural or human rights, exist simultaneously among people. That means exercise of a right by one person does not diminish those held by another. In other [...]

Not quite sure why right wing nutjob and birther apologist J.D. Hayworth is obsessed with equine nuptials, but here it is:

The Air Force didn’t ask, she didn’t tell, but a 28 year-old Air Force Sergent was discharged anyway because she’s gay:
Jene Newsome played by the rules as an Air Force sergeant: She never told anyone in the military she was a lesbian. The 28-year-old’s honorable discharge under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy came only [...]

Following up on a move by the Virginia Senate last month, today the Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill that would make it illegal to force any resident of the Commonwealth to purchase health insurance:
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s General Assembly is the first in the nation to approve legislation that bucks any attempt by [...]

I’m not skeptical of creeping government power. I hate and fear it.
— Tucker Carlson

Here’s Judge Andrew Napolitano’s speech at last month’s CPAC conference.
Great speech, and unlike a certain former Governor, he didn’t have to write notes on his hand !

In addition to Ron Paul’s victory in the 2012 straw poll at CPAC, there were also these interesting results, which seem to show that mainstream conservatism may be moving in a move libertarian direction:
First, this shows that limited government is at the core of the attendees beliefs:

And, this chart shows that the primary concern among [...]

Further evidence that it’s time for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to go:
Three-quarters of Americans say that they support openly gay people serving in the U.S. military, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, a finding that could lend momentum to the Obama administration’s effort to dismantle the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
The [...]

In case currently before the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Obama Administration is arguing that you have no expectation of privacy in any of your cell phone data:
Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy [...]