Shouldn't Libertarians Oppose Federal Research?

Are there no libertarian bloggers out there willing to state unequivocally that they support the ban on federal funds for embryonic stem cell research because it involves federal funds?

Eugene Volokh writes:

"I assume for the purposes of the post that the ban on federal funding of therapeutic cloning research would handicap such research (as I think it's intended to), " ...

If other countries compete with Korea while the U.S. is left behind, will enough Americans really hold the line on their abstract moral principles to sustain an American funding ban? So while America's religious sensibilities may cut in favor of restrictions on therapeutic cloning (or at least restrictions on federally funding it), America's sense of its place in the world will cut against such restrictions.

And Glenn Reynolds wrote a few days ago:

CHRIS NOLAN is calling Bush's stance on stem cells "UnAmerican." I'm not sure that applies, but I do think that it's wrong, and counterproductive.

But George got CA, NJ, CT, & MA to pay for fetal stem cell research rather than US taxpayers in general. Couldn't that be labelled a brilliant strategy?

I can recall the good old days when most libertarians opposed "government science". What happened?

Latest Expatriate Lists

The IRS (and I) have finally updated the lists of Americans Renouncing Citizenship.

This quarterly exercise in list making -- which consists merely of the names of US citizens who have renounced their citizenship -- has been published in the Federal Register since the end of 1996. A total of 5483 names have appeared on the lists since that year and the numbers are up to just over 600 a year.

If you want a .csv file of all of the names, it can be had here.

As I've followed the lists, I've noticed that the largest group seems to be Koreans who want to return to Korea (now that it's rich) and want to be able to own land and corporations -- something that "foreigners" are restricted from doing.

In fact, even though the list was meant to be used to highlight and target "taxpatriates" -- native-born US citizens who renounce to save taxes -- most of the expatriates seem to be foreigners who have limited contacts with the US (other than citizenship) and don't want to be caught up in the US' unusual world-wide taxation regime.

Violent Attacks on Medical Facilities Advocated

TerranceDC on the Daily Kos writes:

I guess I've been blocking out of my mind the reality that there are camps out there that allegedly make gay kids "straight," and that parents send their kids to these places.

Andrew Sullivan and TerranceDC have united to advocate (or hope for) violent attacks on medical facilities to kidnap children.

To my mind, this is child abuse. What we need are some really dedicated Act-Up types to find these places and liberate the kids.

Camp "Refuge" is in Memphis, TN. With any luck, maybe someone in or near Memphis will come across Zack's story and undertake a "rescue mission" to get him out of there.

When abortion clinic shooters or bombers do it, the Left opposes such attacks. But when minors who may or may not by gay are involved, some have no problem "interfering with child custody".

I've been blocking out of my mind the reality that there are places out there like public schools, abortion clinics, hempfests, Million Mom Marches, plastic surgeons, rock concerts, the Democratic Party, UU churches, graduation trips to Aruba, Brown University, etc. and that parents send their kids to these places. But much as I'm tempted, I don't send private special forces squads in to break them out. I figure that I can't do anything about the poor parental choices of others.