EDITORIAL MATTERS:

Moving right along, we have yet another new issue of TLE for your reading pleasure. First our usual batch of letters about this and that and the other thing, from our readers to our readers. Then Michael Bradshaw asks about "Fixing the Tiger", a response to an article in last issue. This is followed by the author of that article, Lady Liberty, who is "Positively Negative" about the recent election thing. Jonathan David Morris meditates about "Christmas In November" ... early November!

Then comes our highlighted article this time "Give 'Em What They Want", by Lex Concord. It's both funny and serious (I like that in an article). The following article finds Manuel Miles in a mellow mood (he promises to be back to vitriol by next time) in "Memory Lane". I took a walk down memory lane myself the other day, but got lost in the fog, alas.

L. Reichard White brings us "Greetings from Falluja", supplied all pre-HTMLized with footnotes and return links and such. This is followed by Ron Beatty reminding us that "The Government is Not America", and as usual we end the issue with a Wendy McElroy article, in this case "In Defense of Beauty Pageants".

And since between this issue and the next falls Thanksgiving, those of us involved in the publication end of TLE would like to wish you and yours a very happy, warm, and family-enhanced Happy Thanksgiving. See you next time.

Ken Holder
Editor

ARTICLES

Letters to the Editor
from Scott Bieser, Neil Alexander, EJ Totty, Mike Lorrey, Manuel Miles, and "Chemical" Ali Massoud
• FULL STORY

Fixing the Tiger
by Michael Bradshaw
Her metaphor of bookshelves, bikes and playground equipment is wrong because these things are made for legitimate purposes. When they malfunction there is a fault that can usually be fixed to make them work correctly. That does not apply to an evil government. When a government does evil it is not malfunctioning. It is working correctly and according to plan. There is nothing to fix.
• FULL STORY

Positively Negative
by Lady Liberty
In the presidential election just past, voter turnout hovered around 60%. That was, say those who should know, the highest voter turn-out America has seen since the 1968 presidential elections. Unfortunately, Libertarians still only garnered about the same number of votes as they did in the 2000 election. Libertarians were the only major party advocating a true adherence to the Constitution and Bill of Rights—and for the record, the other third parties didn't fare well this year, either.
• FULL STORY

Christmas In November
by Jonathan David Morris
The first Sunday in November was unseasonably warm this year. Actually, let me retract that. This is the first year—and, thus, the first November—I'm living in southeastern Pennsylvania. For all I know, every Sunday in November is unseasonably warm around here. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. I've seen weirder things in these parts—like drivers signaling right to go left. So let's just say it was t-shirt weather the first Sunday in November and leave it at that.
• FULL STORY

Give 'Em What They Want
by Lex Concord
As it turns out, John Edwards was right—there are two Americas. Not a rich America and a poor America, or a big-government America and an America that values liberty, but a Red America and Blue America. Both are led by nationalist socialist political parties, but the Reds emphasize the "nationalist" part, while the Blues emphasize the "socialist" part. With such a dismal starting point, how can libertarians persuade them to want liberty? Or perhaps just allow it? By giving people what they want: more government.
• FULL STORY

Memory Lane
by Manuel Miles
Today being one of the warmest mid-November days I can remember (and I have lived in this province, off and on, man and boy, for nigh unto 36 years), I went for a long walk. My perambulations took me through the quaint olde part of towne which we call "Old Strathcona" here in Chuk City. You likely have a similar district if you live in a city of over half a million; it's the artsy-fartsy quarter wherein one finds all the coffee shops, ersatz Irish pubs, "consignment clothing boutiques", year-round Christmas shops, drug paraphernalia stores, used book emporia, et cetera. The place has "character" and, even though its character is predominantly lefty and socialist, I like it in small doses.
• FULL STORY

Greetings from Falluja
by L. Reichard White
Do you like the "A-ha!" experience?
• FULL STORY

The Government is Not America
by Ron Beatty
In many of my recent articles, a tone of anti-Americanism may seem to have crept into my writing. If that is what you have perceived, I apologize, and I am going to take this opportunity to set the record straight.
• FULL STORY

In Defense of Beauty Pageants
by Wendy McElroy
A beauty contest at Lakehead University aroused sharp protest from campus feminists. The flap came on the heels of a similar contest at which I applauded from the audience. The contrast made me wonder: "Why are politically correct feminists so upset by beauty pageants?"
• FULL STORY

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