SOME PRE-HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS SUGGESTIONS.

Plus, a hurricane preparedness list. And here’s a roundup of hurricane tips from a while back.

GUNWALKER AND THE FOUNDATION OF LIBERTY.

It all comes down to this: Is there an inalienable right to self-defense? If there is, each man has indisputable, inestimable value, value that he may rightly preserve even if the life of another man is forfeit. A man may kill another in lawful self-defense even if the policy preferences of the state would prefer his death. If a right to self-defense actually exists, it is in a very real sense the highest law of the land and all lesser laws must pay it deference. It fundamentally defines the social contract, the nature of the relationship between man and the state.

But if there is no such inalienable right, the entire nature of the social contract is changed. Each man’s worth is measured solely by his utility to the state, and as such the value of his life rides a roller coaster not unlike the stock market: dependent not only upon the preferences of the party in power but upon the whims of its political leaders and the permanent bureaucratic class. The proof of this analysis surrounds us.

I made a similar observation in my Second Amendment Penumbras piece.

DEMONSTRATING TO HAVE AMERICANS FREEZE IN THE DARK: Sixty-five arrested outside White House in oil pipeline protest. “Police arrested 65 environmentalists outside the White House Saturday as they staged a demonstration urging President Obama to block a proposed pipeline that would bring oil from Canada’s oil sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries.”

The Saudis don’t like this pipeline either. They’d rather we buy their “conflict oil” than Canadian “ethical oil.” Funny to see hopey-changey leftists taking the same side.

UPDATE: Reader Matt Edens notes the irony in this quote from the article: ““If Barack Obama mans up, says no to this thing, it will send a surge of electricity through all of the people that voted for him three years ago. It will be the reminder of why we were so enamored of this guy in 2008.” Apparently, that’s the only kind of electricity these people favor — the kind that comes from the government saying no to development. . . .

YOU KNOW WHO LOVED HIGH-SPEED RAIL? Hitler!

KEN ANDERSON: Out Of State Admissions To State Universities.

GREEN FAIL: “Nobody Ever Uses Them:” Costco Removes Free EV Chargers From Parking Lots.

TODAY ONLY: Sharp 40″ LCD HDTV for $649.

BRINGING CHANGE WHEREVER HE GOES: Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard No-Fly Zone Creates Airport Recession.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Stock Market Begins To Feed Economic Fear: Fourth weekly decline in stock prices raises concern that people and businesses will pull back.

Related: Why Obama’s Stimulus Program Failed.

TROPICAL STORM IRENE heading for Florida?

HMM: Intrade Now Pricing Greater Than 50% Chance Obama Will Not Be Re-Elected. Plus, speculation that he’ll start a war to boost his popularity. My guess is that, as with the stimulus spending and quantitative easing, we’re past the point of diminishing returns there. Even I have to stop and think to remember all the countries where we’re currently at war, or at least at “kinetic military action.”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? Generation Vexed: Young Americans rein in their dreams: Amid so much economic uncertainty, many are rethinking career plans, putting off marriage and avoiding the stock market like the plague. “Fewer than half of Americans believe that the current generation will have a better life than the last, according to a Gallup poll this spring. It was the most pessimistic showing for that barometer in nearly three decades.”

MORE ON GUNS AND BRITISH HISTORY, from Joyce Malcolm.

STRIKE FAIL: Verizon Strikers Return To Work, Without A Deal.

IT WAS PAUL CAMPOS: Anonymous LawProf Scamblogger Outs Himself. “”ScamProf is the failed academic who has done almost no scholarly work in the last decade, teaches the same courses and seminars year in and year out, and spends his time trying to attract public attention, sometimes under his own name, this time anonymously. These are important facts about ScamProf, since he is indeed scamming his students and his state, and his initial posts were tantamount to a confession that he’s not doing his job. His colleagues, in any case, now know who he is, and are quite understandably angry, since the reckless generalizations are naturally read as commentary on them..”

Related thoughts from Ann Althouse. “I thought it was a student, because it had some bad writing and simplistic thinking.”

ARGENTINA CENSORS over a million blogs.

JOHN KASS: Obama Dangerously Close To A “Killer Rabbit Moment.” “There are eerie similarities. Like Obama, Carter was at that point where he was constantly viewed as weak and ineffectual. His fellow Democrats had lost patience with him. Liberal writers who once fawned on him had turned against him. And like Obama, Carter foolishly left the White House for a ‘vacation.'”

SPURRED BY MY ROBERT HEINLEIN CURMUDGEONS QUOTE, Dodd Harris reminds me of this post from last year: Dismiss The Tea Party At Your Peril.

CHARLES BLOW: How Did Barack Obama Turn Into A Creepy Robot?

HISTORY:

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Christians were not supposed to charge interest. Therefore, the most common moneylenders-to-kings were Jews. They could loan money at a profit, and were thus more likely to lend it.

But whenever the King’s debts got too large to repay, he began to demonise the Jews. And eventually came a pogrom. And hey-ho, the debt went away along with the Jews.

I’m seeing the demonisation of banks. I wonder how long before government throws a pogrom?

Well, they’ve already bused mobs to bankers’ houses, though that was kind of a bust overall.

CHARLIE MARTIN: “I’m not gonna let Glenn get all the good Heinlein quotations.”

OBAMA’S ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY: Getting Ready For A Wave Of Power-Plant Shutdowns.

DELIBERATELY MISJUDGING Rick Perry. “Since his entry into the presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has faced continued derision for his ‘secession comment.’ After his recent announcement, we were curious about the national media’s characterization of the comment and were surprised to learn it is far less salacious than proclaimed.” Now there’s a shock.

AT AMAZON, IT’S the electronics outlet sale.