"Freedom Watch" (plus Some Anarchists)

As I type this, there are two hours to go before the premiere (on Fox Business Network — demand it so that it will be supplied) of the new weekly show for which I’m a writer/producer, Freedom Watch with Judge Andrew Napolitano. You can catch the episode — a “Tea Party summit” featuring Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Michele Bachmann, Dick Armey, Jim DeMint, and critic Ed Rendell — four times this weekend: Sat. 10am and 8pm Eastern, Sun. 7pm and 11pm Eastern.

We’re a bit Mises to John Stossel’s Cato, I think.

Speaking of thinktanks, here are Reason’s text interview and video interview with our host — my new boss — Judge Napolitano. But will the Daily Show be as kind?

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And if our show isn’t anarchist enough for your tastes…

•…you will be pleased by another dash of political-boundary-crossing fusionism going on this month, namely my girlfriend Helen Rittelmeyer’s post on National Review’s Corner blog about a genuine case of leftists throwing a whole class of people out of their restaurant — which is their right as property owners, of course, so maybe we can all get along across political lines (this has been the contention of left-libertarian Rod Long for years, which is why he too blogged about the restaurant incident and why he was praised by Kerry Howley during that online/print spat we had many months ago regarding feminism).

•Meanwhile, in Reykjavik, an “anarcho-surrealist” party called the Best Party (promising, among other things, a polar bear for the local zoo) swept local elections amid crushing national debt and rampant Bjork performances (as pointed out to me by able webmaster and Debates at Lolita Bar moderator Michel Evanchik).

•And one of my favorite anarchists, comic book writer Alan Moore, is working with my favorite skeptic, James Randi, not to mention Richard Dawkins (as pointed out to me by able manga-promoter Ali Kokmen). I have long suspected that Moore’s claim to worship an ancient snake-puppet god was a skeptical prank.

It’s all coming together. But…

•One person who ought to be part of the political dialogue but won’t be anymore is my friend Anna Parachkevova (I will not call her by her married name), a twenty-nine year-old pro-market Bulgarian TV reporter who, I learned during this strange and busy week, has been murdered in Brussels by her cameraman husband, who confessed. Much as I hate to even think about the details, I cannot help recalling that I’ve heard multiple stab wounds are a pattern common in sexual-jealousy cases. I don’t know her husband’s motives, but I’m sure she deservedly had many admirers, and you can see her on-camera at 1 min. 18 sec. in on this clip, which should have been part of decades more to come.

She was one of my fellow Phillips Fellows (receiving a writing grant from the Phillips Foundation). In happier news, two of our fellow Fellows are running for office — Paul Crespo in Florida for U.S. House of Reps and David Sanders for state rep in Arkansas, for the seat being vacated by Dan Greenberg, who, alas, will not go on to be the GOP candidate in his district for state senate, having lost in the primary but no doubt being destined for further greatness regardless.

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This entry having turned bittersweet (while I listen to a lovely CD of classical piano music played by Fox religion correspondent Lauren Green, who played keyboards with the Ventures on Huckabee’s show once and not surprisingly knows Dawn Eden), I will end with two more-fluffy notes from work: (1) it was nice to hear a colleague whose desk is near mine enthusing about getting to meet the actor playing Mr. T in the new A-Team movie, and (2) the default site on my work Web browser seems to be a Canadian (!) news site, which I have to admit has a knack for intriguing headlines, including, recently, “Dolphin Gets Way Too Friendly” and “Sad Baby Dances Against His Will.” I didn’t have time to read the details on that second one, but it does not sound like a very freedom-friendly situation to me.