On this blog, I return frequently to the things I'm most passionate about — especially civil liberties — from a mostly libertarian point of view. That said, I hate doctrinarian thinking, so every once in a while I'll stray from the course and antagonize even my libertarian friends. Of course, my professional affiliations and long-suffering clients notwithstanding, the thoughts expressed here are mine alone, as are the inevitable typos and other glaring shortcomings. Speaking of which: if you catch a mistake, or a link that doesn't work, please e-mail me and I'll fix it. […] I've borrowed the title “Nobody's Business” from a book that seriously influenced my political thinking: the late Peter McWilliams' “Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do” (the Billie Holiday song of that name isn't bad either). Peter's book is a great libertarian screed based on one simple idea: Consenting adults should not be arrested or punished unless they physically harm the person or property of a nonconsenting other. It's an especially powerful argument when you apply it to the War on Drugs that we've been fighting (and losing, no contest) for the better part of a century. Here's a quick overview of the book. If you want more, you can actually download the whole tome from the McWilliams site.

http://www.bakelblog.com

Bakelblog.com, July 01, 2008. Hundreds of police, firefighters, paramedics and even utility workers have been trained and recently dispatched as “Terrorism Liaison Officers” in Colorado and a handful of other states to hunt for “suspicious activity” — and are reporting their findings into secret government databases. […] “Suspicious activity” is broadly defined in TLO training as behavior that could lead to terrorism: taking photos of no apparent aesthetic value, making measurements or notes, espousing extremist beliefs or conversing in code, according to a draft Department of Justice/Major Cities Chiefs Association document. […] “We're simply providing information on crime-related issues or suspicious circumstances,” said Denver police Lt. Tony Lopez, commander of Denver's intelligence unit and one of 181 individual TLOs deployed across Colorado. “We don't snoop into private citizens' lives. We aren't living in a communist state.”

http://www.bakelblog.com/nobodys_business/2008/07/amateur-terror.html

Rollingstone.com, Naomi Klein, May 29, 2008. The Communist Party chose Chenzen — thanks to its location close to Hong Kong's port — to be China's first “special economic zone,” one of only four areas where capitalism would be permitted on a trial basis. The theory behind the experiment was that the “real” China would keep its socialist soul intact while profiting from the private-sector jobs and industrial development created in Shenzhen. The result was a city of pure commerce, undiluted by history or rooted culture — the crack cocaine of capitalism. […] Over the past two years, some 200,000 surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the city. Many are in public spaces, disguised as lampposts. The closed-circuit TV cameras will soon be connected to a single, nationwide network, an all-seeing system that will be capable of tracking and identifying anyone who comes within its range — a project driven in part by U.S. technology and investment. Over the next three years, Chinese security executives predict they will install as many as 2 million CCTVs in Shenzhen, which would make it the most watched city in the world. (Security-crazy London boasts only half a million surveillance cameras.) The security cameras are just one part of a much broader high-tech surveillance and censorship program known in China as “Golden Shield.” The end goal is to use the latest people-tracking technology — thoughtfully supplied by American giants like IBM, Honeywell and General Electric — to create an airtight consumer cocoon: a place where Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cellphones, McDonald's Happy Meals, Tsingtao beer and UPS delivery (to name just a few of the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics) can be enjoyed under the unblinking eye of the state, without the threat of democracy breaking out.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20797485/chinas_allseeing_eye

Peter McWilliams, Ain't nobody's business if you do, 1996

McWilliams marshals a vast army of anecdotes, quotes, statistics and assertions to argue that America would be a lot better off if we stopped using the force of law to save each other from drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography, suicide and sex in its more exotic flavors. - New York Times

There's a huge difference between crime and sin - and the government has no business making the former out of the latter. At least, not in America. - New York Newsday

In witty, well-researched pages, McWilliams gives a series of compelling arguments to back up his contention that it's morally wrong to prosecute people for victimless crimes against morality. - Detroit News

Download the entire book for free at http://mcwilliams.com/books/books/aint/

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