Winners do not empathize with losers.

The Freedom Ship is an idea that's been, ahem, floating around for some time. Effectively it's a Libertarian paradise; a tax-free floating utopia. It would have it's own hospital, casinon and 3000 member police force. The ultimate gated community.

The project has been plagued with delays. Initially the construction was to have been finished in 2000. As of this writing they haven't even begun building the ship and are still in the fundraising/ design phase. Something to do with various "scams" that have caused set backs. Huh. You'd think that if anyone would be able to spot business scams it would be financially savvy libertarians.

Could you come up with a better metaphor for libertarianism if you tried? Pie-in-the-sky idealism which, for one reason or another, never quite meets fruition. This why most libertarian ideas don't quite make it out of the pot smoke filled college dorm rooms in which they were concieved.

Still- the Freedom Ship is an interesting idea in a Waterworld sort of way. And who could deny they have a great theme song?


Greed, exciting and new Come Aboard. We're expecting you.

Greed, life's sweetest reward. Let it flow, it floats back to you.

Libertarian Boat -- soon will be making another run. The Libertarian Boat promises selfishness for number one.

Set a course for anarcho-capitalism, your mind on a world with no laws. Greed won't hurt anymore. It's an open wallet on a foreign shore.

Yes GREEEEEEDDDDDDD! It's GREEEEDDDDDDDD! (hey-ah!)



For a serious article on this subject read this.

There you are, right back in the jungle again.

Kung Fu Monkey has done some terrific stuff on the screenwriter's strike (he's a screenwriter himself) but I'm really of fond of this latest post because he tears apart not just the giant production companies that are jobbing writers regularly but the libertarian rubes that support them.

This is where I'm always amused at libertarians, because they so love markets but never seem to understand how business actually works. If you, my fine libertarian friend, decide to forego the union and negotiate your own contract vis a vis residuals (or pretty much anything else), you will find that unless you are one of the maybe eight out of 12,0000 most famous and profitable writers in Hollywood, you will get exactly the same deal from each studio, or slightly worse. Because what possible motivation would they have to share their profits, relative to each of the other five competitors? That's just common sense.

Asking why writers don't just go start a new United Artists instead of negotiating for a fair residual on new media is like asking why autoworkers, if unhappy with their current contracts, don't just go start their own car companies. Sure, some of us are actually trying -- did anybody notice, in my posts on the pilot, any mention of a studio? -- but what the hell are the rank and file writer supposed to do in the meantime? And how does the remote possibility this could be done in any way justify the AMPTP's position, that they will reuse our material for free for the foreseeable future? And AGAIN, people, try to be clear on this -- we have intellectual property rights on this material. If you believe authors and songwriters should get royalties, then you believe screenwriters should get residuals. Period.

One of the odd things about libertarianism is it can include some of the smartest people on the planet who, at the same time, can also embody an almost child-like naivete about how business works. Free-markets left to their own devices without the interference of the state do not remain free as businesses tend to naturally consolidate. Free markets don't remain that way for long.

Anyhoo - it's hard to think of what we can do to support the screenwriters other than sign a petition.