DistributorInsertion:
www.LP.org Iraq Policy Statement Violates Party Platform see http://www.tx.lp.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22 National LP Chair Mike Dixon on Alan Colmes nationwide radio show with call-in from Terry Liberty Parker in response to which the Chair acknowledges that there is a violation of the party's platform (its 'governing documents') in this plan (aprx 30 minutes into show as 1st caller) WindowsMedia Download/Playback at http://txliberty.dyndns.org/inetpub/wwwroot/webfiles/AC050713.wma Libertarian Party Executive Director Joe Seehusen Resigns ...spent his last day in the office on Thursday, Aug 4, 2005 MoreAt http://www.lp.org/fp/article_170.shtml --EndInsertion Rational Review News Digest ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Published Monday-Friday, except for holidays Made possible by the generous support of our readers http://www.rationalreview.com/news Produced in cooperation with the International Society for Individual Liberty http://www.isil.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume III, Issue #713 Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005 Email Circulation 2,072 ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS -------------------------------------- GET THE HORNS Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left. Agora! Anarchy! Action! http://libertarianleft.bravehost.com IRAQ EXIT STRATEGY Please support our troops by getting them out of harm's way. America's Path Forward provides a practical withdrawal solution which appeals to hawks and doves alike. Please take the time to read the report -- then learn what you may do to help support the plan. http://lp.org/cgi-bin/plan/plan.cgi?action=add_form AN ENEMY OF THE STATE "...one of the most interesting and controversial social theorists of our time. If ideas interest you, this biography sure will as well." -- Bookviews http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573928097/rationalrev08-20 BE REMEMBERED Fretting over a gift idea? Tired of giving the "same old thing" for every occasion? Can't remember what you gave someone for their last birthday? (If you can't, will they?) Want to make an occasion truly special? Want to be remembered? http://www.speakingroses.com/?kbid=1412&img=125x125-wgea.gif SEARCH AND WIN Search the web with Blingo and win great prizes. Refer friends -- when they win, you do too! http://tinyurl.com/alspu -------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ----- Today's News: 1) Iraq: Five US troops killed, constitution vote delayed 2) Afghanistan: US offensive leaves 40 fighters dead 3) Israel: Jackboots, settlers face off in West Bank 4) North Carolina: State suppresses opposition party 5) Scotland Yard: Menezes shooting unjustified 6) Jordan arrests suspect in rocket attack 7) Illinois: Pharmacist resists contraceptive rule 8) Michigan: Library's gun ban conflicts with law 9) Pentagon can't verify Able Danger claim 10) Base closings hint at new air strategy 11) North Carolina: Gas station clerk shoots suspect 12) Robert A. Moog, 1934-2005 13) Ohio: Bloodied intruder flees, shot by business owner 14) Northwest Airlines' success a blow for labor 15) Arizona: NAU prof outed as college author 16) Florida: Minister wounds two in shootout 17) Supreme Court won't reconsider New London thefts 18) California: Court upholds parental rights 19) Califonia: Pot club robbery ends in shooting 20) Bush compares his fiascos to world wars 21) Connecticut to challenge "No Child Left Behind" 22) Illinois: Alleged vandal shot twice 23) Caravan begins Sheehan counter-protest 24) Garcia on a postage stamp? It could happen 25) Twin Cities turn deaf ear to political talk radio shows Today's Commentary: 26) Bring it on, and on, and on 27) Jackassic Park 28) Is the War Party turning on Bush? 29) Incumbent politicians vs. the long tail 30) The Cindy Sheehan you don't know 31) Where's the opposition? 32) Marriage on the rocks 33) Throw the Jew down the well 34) What bonehead design guides Dubya's moves? 35) Iraq: The unseen war 36) Sheehan a critical tipping point for Bush presidency? 37) Bush's option: Escalate the war in Iraq 38) Greenspan's interesting rates 39) Where's the opposition? 40) The poverty of statistics 41) Gaza stripped ... but the occupation remains 42) Karl May and the history of Arab strife 43) The corruption commission 44) Demand accountability 45) Sandsailor 46) Bush vs. Benedict 47) Ten things Congress could demand from Bush on Iraq 48) To what is Cindy a threat? 49) End it already 50) In the garden of Armageddon Today's Movement News and Events: 51) Medicaid and the long-term care crisis 52) The economics of fascism Today in Political History: 53) Catherine, George, Abe, Joe and Adolph News 1) Iraq: Five US troops killed, constitution vote delayed Burlington Free Press "In another dramatic last-minute standoff, Iraqi leaders put off a vote on a draft constitution Monday, adjourning parliament at a midnight deadline in a bid for three more days to win over the Sunni Arab minority whose support is key to stopping the insurgency. The Shiite-Kurdish bloc that submitted the draft constitution expressed optimism that a deal was still possible. Top Sunni Arab leaders said flatly that compromise was far off. ... The U.S. military said three U.S. soldiers were killed Monday -- two from Task Force Liberty by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, and one from Task Force Baghdad during a rocket attack in a southern district of the capital. Two more soldiers died Sunday when their vehicle overturned during a military operation near Tal Afar. At least 1,871 U.S. troops have died since the Iraq war started in 2003, according to an Associated Press count." (08/23/05) http://tinyurl.com/d4mr8 ----- 2) Afghanistan: US offensive leaves 40 fighters dead Houston Chronicle "U.S. and Afghan troops killed at least 40 suspected rebels in an offensive targeting militants who ambushed Navy SEAL commandos and shot down a special-forces helicopter -- the deadliest attacks on American forces in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said today. The military declared the weeklong operation in lawless Kunar province near Pakistan a success, following the spate of insurgent attacks that already has made 2005 the bloodiest year for American forces in the country since the Taliban's ouster." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/bqkd4 ----- 3) Israel: Jackboots, settlers face off in West Bank International Herald Tribune "Thousands of troops, including anti-riot units and mounted forces, pushed into two northern West Bank settlements Tuesday and began clearing out hundreds of extremists [sic] holed up with an arsenal of weapons and determined to foil Israel's first dismantling of West Bank settlements. Military bulldozers tore down the gates of the Homesh and Sanur settlements and cleared the way for riot police with shields and clubs, officers on horseback, all-terrain vehicles and water cannons. Police said militants in both strongholds had hoarded firebombs and stun grenades. In Homesh, two army deserters with army-issue weapons were believed inside, police said." (08/23/05) http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/23/africa/web.0823wbank.php ----- 4) North Carolina: State suppresses opposition party Greensboro News-Record "Monday morning, Beverly Wilcox of Wentworth was one of 13,006 registered Libertarians in North Carolina. Today, Wilcox is an unaffiliated voter, and the Libertarian Party is no longer recognized by the State Board of Elections. ... Top Libertarian officials say they will sue to overturn the state board's ruling along with North Carolina's ballot access laws, which are some of the toughest in the nation. They also say they will continue a campaign to gather enough signatures on petitions to regain their certified status." (08/23/05) http://tinyurl.com/dcm3o ----- 5) Scotland Yard: Menezes shooting unjustified Seattle Times "Scotland Yard acknowledged yesterday that Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician mistaken for a suicide bomber, had done nothing unusual before he was shot by officials after entering a London subway last month. Police said Menezes used a ticket to enter, had not jumped a turnstile and was not wearing a padded jacket that could have concealed a bomb. That version of events, recounted by police in a written statement, was significant because it was similar to a widely publicized report leaked last week about the killing of Menezes, 27. The report, which followed an independent investigation, had contradicted an official explanation of why police shot Menezes seven times in the head on July 22. Menezes was killed a day after four attackers failed to detonate bombs on three subway trains and a London bus." (08/23/05) http://tinyurl.com/ct8g9 ----- 6) Jordan arrests suspect in rocket attack USA Today "A Syrian linked to an Iraqi-based terrorist group has been arrested as the prime suspect in the rocket attack that barely missed U.S. warships docked in the port of Aqaba, the Jordanian government said Monday. The government statement, read on state television, said the suspect, Mohammed Hassan Abdullah al-Sihly, plotted and carried out the attack along with two of his sons and an Iraqi. The statement said the plotters were part of an Iraq-based terrorist group, which was not named." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/9ommt ----- 7) Illinois: Pharmacist resists contraceptive rule Fox News "An Illinois pharmacist says he's being pressured by the state to sell a certain kind of oral contraceptive despite his objection to it for moral reasons. A new rule in Illinois -- the first of its kind in the United States -- tells pharmacists that if they're in the business of selling contraceptives, they must fill all contraceptive prescriptions, including those for so-called 'morning-after' birth-control pills. Luke Vander Bleek owns four pharmacies in suburban Chicago and is one of several pharmacists suing Gov. Rod Blagojevich over the administrative rule, which was approved by a rule-making panel of the Illinois Legislature last week." (08/22/05) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166426,00.html ----- 8) Michigan: Library's gun ban conflicts with law Detroit News "As Waterford Township officials prepare to revise the township's library rules, they've decided the issue of carrying guns into libraries isn't one they'll take further. The library board has worked with a city attorney for a couple of months to adopt new regulations -- one of which would ban guns from the public facility. But board members soon learned that prohibiting guns from the library is in direct conflict with state law. While Michigan's law does not allow anyone with a concealed weapon into schools, bars, sports stadiums and other facilities, it does not include such municipal facilities as libraries. So it's legal for anyone with a valid permit to carry a firearm in those facilities. Now trustees must vote on changing the policy so it doesn't ban weapons, a move that Supervisor Carl Solden said he supports." (08/22/05) http://www.detnews.com/2005/oakland/0508/22/B03-287833.htm ----- 9) Pentagon can't verify Able Danger claim CNN "The Pentagon has so far been unable to validate a claim that a secret military intelligence unit identified four September 11 hijackers as al Qaeda members a year before the 2001 attacks, a spokesman said Monday. But Larry Di Rita said the Pentagon is still looking into the matter. He said the investigation has found general references to terrorist cells, but he would not elaborate." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/9dw4g ----- 10) Base closings hint at new air strategy Christian Science Monitor "When his Cabinet tried to get Calvin Coolidge to up the budget for military aviation back in the days of open cockpits and silk scarves, the president is said to have quipped, 'Can't we just buy one airplane and have the pilots take turns?' It is a joke many in today's Air National Guard would not find funny. Under the Pentagon's plan, which its base-closing commission will vote on this week, 30 Air-Guard sites from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to Houston to Portland, OR, would be closed or downsized; 29 of 88 flying units would end up with no aircraft." (08/22/05) http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0823/p01s02-usmi.html ----- 11) North Carolina: Gas station clerk shoots suspect Channel 14 News "A convenience store clerk shot a man who was trying to rob the store early Sunday morning. Witnesses called police after a man entered the Express Mart on the 3400 block of Wilkinson Boulevard around 6:40 a.m. They said a confrontation was going on between the clerk and the man on the property. 'We do know that the clerk fired shots in self-defense and one of the rounds did strike the suspect,' said Sgt. Steve Huber, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Freedom Division. The man fled from the store on foot, but police tracked him down just a few blocks away. With the help of a canine unit, they had the man in custody in under a half hour." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/awb9c ----- 12) Robert A. Moog, 1934-2005 Fox News "Robert A. Moog, whose self-named synthesizers turned electric currents into sound, revolutionizing music in the 1960s and opening the wave that became electronica, has died. He was 71. Moog died Sunday at his home in Asheville, according to his company's Web site. An inoperable brain tumor had been detected in April. A childhood interest in the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments, would lead Moog to a create a career and business that tied the name Moog as tightly to synthesizers as the name Les Paul is to electric guitars. Despite traveling in circles that included jet-setting rockers, he always considered himself a technician. 'I'm an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers,' he said in 2000. 'They use the tools.'" (08/22/05) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166385,00.html ----- 13) Ohio: Bloodied intruder flees, shot by business owner Toledo Blade "A South Toledo business owner apparently shot a man attempting to break into his sheet metal fabricating shop through a roof vent last night. The man fled, leaving a blood trail, a work glove, and tools on the roof, police said. Thomas Lloyd, 58, the business owner, told police he heard noises coming from the roof of the building that houses his residence and Great Lakes Standard Manufacturing Inc., 2970 Airport Hwy., at about 7 p.m. He got a shotgun, went to the shop area of the two-story building, and spotted a man entering feet first from the vent, police said. Mr. Lloyd repeatedly told the man, 'Stop and get out or I'll shoot,' but the man continued coming through the vent. Mr. Lloyd fired one shot, and the man reversed course, climbed back onto the roof, and fled, police said." (08/20/05) http://tinyurl.com/dksuf ----- 14) Northwest Airlines' success a blow for labor MSNBC "Northwest Airlines Corp.'s success in keeping its planes flying even after its mechanics walked off the job early Saturday could embolden other companies to play hardball with their unions. While the No. 4 U.S. carrier could still hit turbulence in the coming weeks, it has so far effectively used replacement workers and third-party contractors to replace some 4,400 striking mechanics, cleaners and custodians. Its apparent success could send tremors through other unions at Northwest, its beleaguered airline rivals and even other U.S. corporations, further weakening the organized labor movement." (08/22/05) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9043611/ ----- 15) Arizona: NAU prof outed as college author Arizona Republic "It has been one of the most highly anticipated books nationally about higher education in years: How a 50-something anthropology professor passed herself off as an undergraduate and lived in a coed dormitory on the campus where she taught, all the while collecting notes from gossipy students who don't give a flip about learning. On the surface, it was a woman named Rebekah Nathan, teaching at 'AnyU' for the book titled 'My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student,' which will be released by Cornell University press next month. But Nathan was outed Friday by the New York Sun as Cathy Small, an anthropologist at Northern Arizona University, who conducted her research at an NAU residence hall during the 2002-03 academic year. Tom Bauer, an NAU spokesman, said he could not confirm or deny Nathan's true identity. Small did not return telephone calls to her home Sunday, and a roommate said she was playing golf." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/8ymoj ----- 16) Florida: Minister wounds two in shootout Jacksonville Times-Union "Sixty-three-year-old grandfather Joe Dixon clutched a Bible as he sat in his Jacksonville home Friday and, after a sleepless night, asked himself yet again: 'Why did I do this? Why did this happen? I'm a preacher. I'm a Christian. I try to do things right. I don't like to see people get hurt.' ... The shooting on the football field at Grand Park on Henrietta Street came as more than two dozen children practiced -- Dixon's 9-year-old grandson and the brothers' 11-year-old sibling among them. After a pushing match that witnesses said involved the brothers and at least one football coach, police said the brothers took out guns and fired at an unidentified person with whom it's believed they wanted to settle a score. The gunfire sent cheerleaders, football players, parents and coaches scrambling. Dixon himself left, helping his grandson into his vehicle while noticing the gunmen walking back to their black Crown Victoria just a few yards away. Dixon, a Bethel Baptist Institutional Church preacher who has a concealed weapons permit, told his grandson to hit the floor of their Toyota Sequoia. Then he made the choice he lived over and over Friday." (08/20/05) http://tinyurl.com/b4qr6 ----- 17) Supreme Court won't reconsider New London thefts MSNBC "The Supreme Court, given a chance to revisit a heavily criticized ruling, refused Monday to reconsider its decision giving local governments more power to seize people's homes for economic development. So contentious was the court's 5-4 ruling in the so-called eminent domain case earlier this year that some critics launched a campaign to seize Justice David Souter's farmhouse in New Hampshire to build a luxury hotel. Others singled out Justice Stephen Breyer's vacation home in the same state for use as a park." (08/22/05) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9045130/ ----- 18) California: Court upholds parental rights San Francisco Chronicle "Lesbian and gay couples who plan for a family and raise a child together can be considered legal parents after a breakup, with all the rights and responsibilities of heterosexual parents, the California Supreme Court ruled today. In three decisions that a gay-rights advocate described as historic, the court upheld the claims of motherhood by estranged lesbian partners who had been involved in relationships that resulted in children born by artificial insemination. The court noted that the three women had cooperated in conceiving and rearing the children in a family setting and, thus, had the right of parenthood under the law -- from the privilege of visitation to the responsibility of child support payments." 908/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/d7kek ----- 19) Califonia: Pot club robbery ends in shooting San Francisco chronicle "A San Leandro neighborhood was on edge Saturday after a brazen daytime robbery and shootout at a medical marijuana club that led to the death of an 18-year-old Oakland man. Alameda County sheriff's investigators were still searching for three suspects after five men -- several armed with semiautomatic rifles and pistols -- stormed the medical marijuana club at 16360 Foothill Blvd. on Friday and exchanged gunfire with the store owner. The shooting happened just before the pot club was due to open at noon, said sheriff's Sgt. Linda Thuman. The owner was inside with one other employee, she said, when they heard loud footsteps on the roof. Five men then forced the store owner at gunpoint to open the safe before they made off with an untold amount of money and pot, she said. As the men left, the owner got a gun from a hiding place, followed the men outside and demanded that they 'freeze.' That's when the intruders opened fire, according to Thuman. The club owner fired back, mortally wounding one." (08/21/05) http://tinyurl.com/7957e ----- 20) Bush compares his fiascos to world wars Indianapolis Star "President Bush compared the fight against terrorism to both world wars and other great conflicts of the 20th century as he tried to reassure an increasingly skeptical public on Monday to support U.S. military involvement in Iraq. With the anti-war movement finding new momentum behind grieving mother Cindy Sheehan, Bush acknowledged the fighting in Iraq is difficult and dangerous. But he told the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention the fight is necessary to keep terrorists out of the United States." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/2e9mx ----- 21) Connecticut to challenge "No Child Left Behind" Fox News "The state of Connecticut filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging President Bush's No Child Left Behind school reform law, arguing it is illegal because it requires expensive testing and programs it doesn't pay for. The lawsuit, which officials said was the first of its kind to be brought by a state government, asks a federal judge to declare that the federal government cannot require state and local money be used to meet federal testing goals. 'The goals of the No Child Left Behind Act are laudable,' Blumenthal said. 'Indeed, Connecticut has pursued these goals for decades, but the federal government has failed in implementing them.'" (08/22/05) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166425,00.html ----- 22) Illinois: Alleged vandal shot twice Morning Sentinel "A man who allegedly beat on a house, garage and two vehicles and broke a satellite dish at 2:57 a.m. Tuesday in the 300 block of Kent Street was shot twice by the elderly occupant of the house, according to Wamac police. Jaime Matthew Evilsizer, 19, of Brookside Trailer Court was taken to St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment of wounds to his abdomen and thigh, police said. ... Wamac police said Evilsizer was shot by Roy J. Miller, 76, who lives on the property where Evilsizer allegedly was causing a disturbance. Marion County State's Attorney Matt Wilzbach said Tuesday afternoon that he had just received preliminary verbal reports on the incident and was not sure what charges might be filed against Evilsizer." [Editor's note: 'What charges might be filed?' Heck, he should get a medal! - MLS] (08/17/05) http://www.morningsentinel.com/news/2005/0817/Front_Page/001.html ----- 23) Caravan begins Sheehan counter-protest Houston Chronicle "A caravan proclaiming support for U.S. troops began a tour through California on Monday, stopping in the hometown of Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war mother who gained national prominence during a vigil outside President Bush's Texas ranch. Conservative activists and military families embarked on the tour they call 'You don't speak for me, Cindy!' They planned rallies in several California cities before heading to Crawford." (08/22/05) http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3320852 ----- 24) Garcia on a postage stamp? It could happen San Francisco Chronicle "As Grateful Dead fans everywhere know, the music never stopped when Jerry Garcia died 10 years ago, and now a grassroots campaign wants to memorialize the Dead's driving force with a U.S. Postal Service stamp. The centerpiece of the effort, so far conducted in the mellow fashion one would expect from Deadheads, is an online petition, first posted on Aug. 9, the 10th anniversary of Garcia's death at age 53. Everyone involved recognizes that a Garcia stamp would be a leap for the post office by honoring a rock-era figure associated with hippies, casual drug use and a way-laidback lifestyle. But they proudly point out that Garcia was a great musician whose work blended many styles, a father figure to millions of Americans and others around the world and a philanthropist." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/dny23 ----- 25) Twin Cities turn deaf ear to political talk radio shows Minneapolis Star Tribune "Twin Cities listeners have been tuning out political talk radio. Locally, conservative-talk icon Rush Limbaugh's show has lost 43 percent of its audience among 25- to 54-year-olds in the past year. Sean Hannity's show is down a whopping 63 percent. The shift is serious enough that 'we're weighing where these shows fit for us in the future,' according to Todd Fisher, general manager at KSTP (1500 AM), which carries both syndicated programs. Many Americans also are switching the dial. While ratings for political talk radio typically drop the year after an election, experts around the country sense something else in the air." (08/20/05) http://startribune.com/stories/462/5569938.html Commentary 26) Bring it on, and on, and on Reason by Doug Bandow "Too many Americans and Iraqis already have died based on false claims about Saddam Hussein's supposed possession of WMDs and connection to 9/11. No one should die now under the illusion that we are fighting terrorists in Baghdad and Fallujah instead of New York and London. Terrorists who kill and maim should themselves be killed or captured -- whether they are operating in London, Baghdad, or New York. Which is why the administration's initial response to 9/11 -- targeting al-Qaeda and overthrowing the Taliban in Afghanistan -- was entirely appropriate. But battling terrorism should not mean fighting blind or basing policy on delusions." (08/22/05) http://www.reason.com/hod/db082205.shtml ----- 27) Jackassic Park The Libertarian Enterprise by L. Neil Smith "The process of stealing America from Americans is already well underway. Many of the country's parks and wildlife reserves are said to be under the control of the U.N., or at least operating in compliance with its dictates. Some even display signage to that vile effect. There are a lot of things that need to be done about this. The first is what I like to refer to as 'Land Reform.' It was a very bad (and unconstitutional) idea to establish government-owned parks in the first place. These lands must now be returned to the people they were stolen from, either the original owners, if possible, or to individual taxpayers. Every single square inch of the country must become private property." (08/21/05) http://www.ncc-1776.com/tle2005/tle333-20050821-02.html ----- 28) Is the War Party turning on Bush? [EMAIL PROTECTED] by Thomas L. Knapp "Awhile back, I noted that, in response to the growing realization that the US has not won (and cannot win) the war on Iraq, the 'we were defeated at home' meme was beginning to circulate. This week, a more virulent strain of that meme -- 'the President won't let the troops win' -- is beginning to rear its head. ... Until now, Republican Surrealist digs at the administration have generally taken the form of attacks on Donald Rumsfeld, preserving the image of Bush as 'the guy who's on our side, but constantly undermined by his subordinates.' What's going on here ... and why is it going on now, at this particular time?" (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/8287h ----- 29) Incumbent politicians vs. the long tail TechCentralStation by Arnold Kling "The Long Tail is not the political center. It is not a third party waiting to form. It is not a coalition. It is not a 'silent majority' of either the right or left. It is simply every variety of political belief that does not fit within the two major parties. If we had a parliamentary system with proportional representation, the Long Tail would consist of many splinter parties, including some parties that are ethnocentric, a variety of Greens, a variety of libertarians, single-issue activists, and parties which are outside of today's classifications. The Long Tail is a motley assortment of political misfits, wing nuts, and sober independents. The key point is that the size of the Long Tail, and its rapid growth, represents the most significant political phenomenon of our time. What you will start to notice is the tendency for politics to reflect tension between the Long Tail and the major political parties." (08/23/05) http://www.techcentralstation.com/082305A.html ----- 30) The Cindy Sheehan you don't know Boston Globe by Cathy Young "It is enormously difficult to say anything critical about Cindy Sheehan, the Everymom of the antiwar movement, without sounding indecently callous. She is, after all, a woman who has lost her child -- one of humankind's most universal images of grief. Her vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where she has vowed to stay until the president meets with her and hears her out, has inspired great sympathy. Conservative attempts to make an issue of Sheehan's far-left ties have been cited as an example of how low those abominable right-wingers will to stoop: They'll even slime a grieving mother. I respect Sheehan's pain, no doubt compounded by her mother's stroke last week. Yet Sheehan is not simply expressing her pain and rage, privately or even publicly; when she turns her grief into a political cause, her politics cannot remain off-limits." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/dh69t ----- 31) Where's the opposition? Cato Institute by Chris Edwards "The bipartisan support for pork-filled highway and energy bills passed in July highlighted a void in Washington: an opposition party willing to challenge wasteful spending. After a decade of Republican control in Congress, the budget has expanded by two-thirds and earmarked pork projects have exploded tenfold. Democrats snipe at Republicans for just about everything -- except their reckless spending. In the early 1990s, Republicans lambasted the Democrats' wasteful spending, and that helped propel them to power in 1994. Today, Democrats are missing a ripe opportunity to attack the GOP's equally wasteful ways. The two parties are partners-in-crime in pork spending, corporate subsidies, unneeded Pentagon weapons systems, misallocated homeland security funding, and other waste." (08/23/05) http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4251 ----- 32) Marriage on the rocks National Review James S. Robbins "Could the Sunnis be the solution to the problem of al Qaeda in Iraq? Recent events have shown that the marriage of convenience between domestic opponents to the new Iraqi government and foreign terrorists seeking to foment a civil war may be headed for annulment. The strain has been showing in recent weeks in Ramadi, the capital of al Anbar province, along the Euphrates River west of Baghdad. Seeking to incite a violent confrontation, Zarqawi's terrorists had ordered members of the city's Shia minority to get out of town. On August 13, they tried to eject them by force, and found the way barred by armed Sunni militia. The ensuing gun battle lasted for an hour before Zarqawi's fighters retreated. On August 18 a group of mostly Sunni political, tribal, and religious leaders (including the governor of al Anbar), hosted by the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, were meeting in a mosque discussing the new constitution when Zarqawi's men opened fire on them. The next day Abu Muhammad Hajeri, a Saudi leader in Zarqawi's group, was found dead with three other members of the group, killed by local tribesmen in retaliation." (08/22/05) http://www.nationalreview.com/robbins/robbins200508220811.asp ----- 33) Throw the Jew down the well WorldNetDaily by Vox Day "[E]ven if it could be proven that support for Israel was the cause of three decades of Arab anti-Americanism, no decent citizen would cravenly betray his fellow Americans simply because they happened to be Jewish. But apparently ethnic cleansing, so appalling in Finland and Pakistan, so outrageous when performed in Yemen, Yugoslavia and Turkey, is perfectly acceptable, even lauded, when Jews are being ethnically cleansed by Israeli forces. Even if removing Jews from the Holy Land is not an offense to God, the removal of the Jewish settlers from Gaza is a violation of their rights to liberty and property, it is a foolish incitement to Hamas and it sets a horrific precedent in a fallen world that has never been overfriendly to the Jewish people." (08/22/05) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45892 ----- 34) What bonehead design guides Dubya's moves? Toronto Star by Linwood Barclay "How does one explain all the misguided, unwise, sometimes outright boneheaded things the Bush administration has done since taking over nearly five years ago, and continues to do on a pretty much daily basis? How is it possible for a group of supposedly intelligent, experienced individuals to take this many wrong turns? Wouldn't you think that once in a while, even by accident, that George W. Bush and his advisers would make a decision that made sense? Can this much mismanagement happen totally at random? Would the occupants of the Bush White House have us believe that all these things, these missteps, these miscalculations, these attempts to deceive, that they all, you know, just kind of happened?" (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/8znbe ----- 35) Iraq: The unseen war Salon by Gary Kamiya "This is a war the Bush administration does not want Americans to see. >From the beginning, the U.S. government has attempted to censor information about the Iraq war, prohibiting photographs of the coffins of U.S. troops returning home and refusing as a matter of policy to keep track of the number of Iraqis who have been killed. President Bush has yet to attend a single funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq. To be sure, this see-no-evil approach is neither surprising nor new. With the qualified exception of the Vietnam War, when images of body bags appeared frequently on the nightly news, American governments have always tightly controlled images of war. There is good reason for this. In war, a picture really is worth a thousand words. No story about a battle, no matter how eloquent, possesses the raw power of a photograph." [photo gallery; subscription or ad view required] (08/23/05) http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/08/23/iraq_gallery/ ----- 36) Sheehan a critical tipping point for Bush presidency? Christian Science Monitor by Dante Chinni "By the strictest terms and in the most fundamental way, President Bush is right not to meet with Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother who created the encamped protest down in Crawford, Texas. There are thousands of parents and relatives who, like her, have lost loved ones in Iraq and many of them would also like to talk to the president. If he opens the door to her, why not open the door to all of them? In fact, meeting with Ms. Sheehan would open the door to meetings with anyone who feels passionately about any topic and wants to talk to the president." (08/23/05) http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0823/p09s01-codc.html ----- 37) Bush's option: Escalate the war in Iraq Common Dreams by Norman Solomon "The Bush administration may ratchet up the Iraq war. That might seem unlikely, even farfetched. After all, the president is facing an upsurge of domestic opposition to the war. Under such circumstances, why would he escalate it? A big ongoing factor is that George W. Bush and his top aides seem to believe in red-white-and-blue violence with a fervor akin to religiosity. For them, the Pentagon's capacity to destroy is some kind of sacrament. And even if more troops aren't readily available for duty in Iraq, huge supplies of aircraft and missiles are available to step up the killing from the air. Back in the USA, while the growth of antiwar sentiment is apparent, much of the criticism -- especially what's spotlighted in news media -- is based on distress that American casualties are continuing without any semblance of victory. In effect, many commentators see the problem as a grievous failure to kill enough of the bad guys in Iraq and sufficiently intimidate the rest." (08/22/05) http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0822-20.htm ----- 38) Greenspan's interesting rates The Weekly Standard by Irwin M. Stelzer "Alan Greenspan famously described the failure of long-term interest rates to rise in tandem with the increases he is engineering in short-term rates as a conundrum, a puzzle. The Fed chairman might with even greater accuracy describe the situation in which he now finds himself as a quandary, a state of extreme perplexity. Start with the contradictory nature of the information about the state of the economy. Last week the government reported that the producer price index jumped 1 percent in July, and that even after volatile oil and food prices have been stripped out, the core index rose a surprising 0.4 percent. Surely that is an indication that inflation is taking off, that high oil prices are finally seeping into the prices of other goods, and that interest rates should be raised. Well, not so surely." (08/23/05) http://tinyurl.com/7vnve ----- 39) Where's the opposition? Washington Times by Chris Edwards "The bipartisan support for pork-filled highway and energy bills passed in July highlighted a void in Washington: an opposition party willing to challenge wasteful spending. After a decade of Republican control in Congress, the budget has expanded by two-thirds and earmarked pork projects have exploded tenfold. Democrats snipe at Republicans for just about everything -- except their reckless spending. In the early 1990s, Republicans lambasted the Democrats' wasteful spending, and that helped propel them to power in 1994. Today, Democrats are missing a ripe opportunity to attack the GOP's equally wasteful ways. The two parties are partners-in-crime in pork spending, corporate subsidies, unneeded Pentagon weapons systems, misallocated homeland security funding, and other waste." (08/22/05) http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20050821-103902-2097r.htm ----- 40) The poverty of statistics Independent Institute by Alvaro Vargas Llosa "Much like it did last year, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has issued an avalanche of statistics that paint a rosy picture of the region's economy. The report projects a 4.3 percent rate of growth for this year, with countries like Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Panama exceeding the average. It also plays up the region's current account surplus for the second year running (totaling the equivalent of 0.9 percent of its GDP). Other statistics, such as the growth of fixed investment, are also brandished as very positive signals. All of this misses some essential points. In the thirty years between 1950 and 1980, Latin America experienced an average rate of growth higher than today's. Considering that half the population was in poverty at the end of that period, statistical growth clearly did not spell development." (08/22/05) http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1555 ----- 41) Gaza stripped ... but the occupation remains CounterPunch by Sonia Nettnin "Although Israeli Forces withdrew settlers from Gaza the military occupation of Palestinians continues. Despite U.S. mainstream media reports that the 38-year-occupation of Palestinians within Gaza has 'ended,' the Israeli military still controls water, the Palestinians' passage through checkpoints and air space. When the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs surveyed the West Bank in April 2005, OCHA counted over 600 closure barriers placed by Israeli Defense Forces. When Israeli soldiers create flying checkpoints, they block roads with cars or tanks so they can stop Palestinians instantly. These physical obstacles restrict Palestinians' access to jobs, schools, health care, shopping, family gatherings, community events, and places of worship. When Palestinian farmers transport their goods across checkpoints their produce may perish because of the wait-time in checkpoint lines, or because Israeli soldiers deny them passage." (08/22/05) http://www.counterpunch.org/nettnin08222005.html ----- 42) Karl May and the history of Arab strife Free Market News Network by Tibor R. Machan "When as a kid in Europe I devoured that peculiar German author's, Karl May's, novels -- about American Indians (Winnetou is his most famous) and the Near East (In the Desert toping the list here) -- I had no idea that much later in my life May's research and the information conveyed in his books would come in very handy. But I remembered enough from back then to take another look recently at some of May's work because, as I recalled, he seemed to have a very detailed understanding of what he wrote about. Turns out, he did, in fact, do the research so diligently that many came to admire him for his historical accuracy. Among these were Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Isaac Asimov, and, embarrassingly, Adolph Hitler. All in all May appears to have been obsessed with getting it right about a culture if he was to write about it, even in a fictional work." (08/22/05) http://www.freemarketnews.com/pview/5834/2382/html/index.php ----- 43) The corruption commission Tom Paine by James Sample "Nominees for important government posts will be announced in a matter of days, and the radical suggestion of Sens. John McCain [R-AZ] and Russ Feingold [D-WI] is this: Appoint capable individuals inclined to carry out their legally mandated duties. Three years ago, in response to widespread public support, Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). In late 2003, the Supreme Court upheld nearly every critical aspect of BCRA against challenge. Now, opponents of reform -- and even nominal campaign finance proponents in Washington -- are planning to use appointments to the decidedly low-profile FEC to undermine those high-profile victories. It is a tale of Washington at its worst." [editor's note: Instead of corectly identifying the problem of BCRA (It is bad law, made for all the wrong reasons!), this fellow seeks to ENFORCE it! - SAT] (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/dg2vc ----- 44) Demand accountability AntiWar.Com by Charley Reese "What Americans should demand from their governments at all levels is accountability. Accountability is far more important than transparency, which can be easily faked. Accountability is not complicated. It simply means people must take responsibility for their actions. If the actions are successful, take responsibility; if they are a failure, take responsibility. This principle applies daily to Americans in their private lives. It is the heart of the tort system. If we wrongly injure someone, we are held accountable. Of all the sins one might list of the Bush administration, failure to be accountable is the worst." (08/23/05) http://www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=7021 ----- 45) Sandsailor Strike the Root by Doug Herman "I love the desert almost as much as I love lakes. You can get lost -- or found -- in the desert. Become a mystic or madman, or enjoy lovemaking under the stars while all around you the world fossilizes." [An experimental new series, "Sailing Around North America" is the account of an ongoing jaunt, more than halfway finished.] (08/22/05) http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/herman/herman7.html ----- 46) Bush vs. Benedict The American Conservative by Daniel McCarthy "The doctrine of papal infallibility does not, of course, extend to Benedict?s remarks as a cardinal nor even, for that matter, to any of John Paul's opinions about the Iraq War, however well informed they were. But there is no mistaking the gravity of their views. If, as both men believed, the attack on Iraq in 2003 was unjust, support for the war becomes unconscionable. Novak, Neuhaus, and Weigel have spent much of their careers battling relativism, arguing forcefully that there is moral truth at the core of even the most contentious and divisive issues. There is a moral truth, they would surely agree, at the heart of the Iraq War -- the justice of the war is not something that is ultimately moot or merely a question of perspective. The war in Iraq is a matter of moral right and wrong. Catholic neoconservatives say it was right; Benedict says it was wrong. Faithful Catholics of conservative disposition face a difficult choice here." (for publication 08/29/05) http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_08_29/article.html ----- 47) Ten things Congress could demand from Bush on Iraq Informed Comment by Juan Cole "The Washington Post notes that the Democratic Party is deeply divided between those who want US troops out now and those who fear the consequences and think it best to stay the course. The article might as well have noted that the Republicans are also divided on Iraq policy. So the issue isn't a partisan one. It is an American one. Personally, I think 'US out now' as a simple mantra neglects to consider the full range of possible disasters that could ensue. For one thing, there would be an Iraq civil war. ... People often allege that the US military isn't doing any good in Iraq and there is already a civil war. These people have never actually seen a civil war and do not appreciate the lid the US military is keeping on what could be a volcano." (08/22/05) http://tinyurl.com/cgpab ----- 48) To what is Cindy a threat? LewRockwell.Com by Butler Shaffer "At the same time the war-lovers were excoriating Cindy [Sheehan] for the offense of having been born, the children and spouses of persons murdered by Dennis Rader -- Kansas' BTK killer -- were testifying at his sentencing hearing. I heard no words of rabid vilification -- from people who had the most personal reasons for being angry at this mass-murderer -- that came close to those being directed at Cindy Sheehan. What explains these ferocious and slanderous attacks? Cindy is but one lone woman. Unlike President Bush, she does not claim to speak or act on behalf of 275,000,000 people, but only for herself. Relatives of other dead soldiers have criticized this woman, saying 'she doesn't speak for us.' But I am unaware of any statement made by Cindy purporting to speak for anyone but herself. She only seeks an answer to her personal question: 'why did my son die?' Cindy Sheehan does constitute a threat, not to America, but to the totalitarian forces that insist on crushing the spirit of peace and liberty in order that they might dominate the American people." (08/23/05) http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer117.html ----- 49) End it already In These Times by Joel Bleifuss "Here is the question to the parents of American service men and women that the Bush administration never thought to pose, much less answer: Is the war in Iraq worth the life of your son or daughter? 'No,' was the answer Cindy Sheehan gave on August 6 as she walked down the road in Crawford, Texas, to Bush's country estate. ... By taking a public stand, Sheehan is playing the historic role of women in time of war. She has become an emblem of the sacrifice made by the mothers, wives and daughters who lose family members in battle. But unlike the Spartan mother, she did not tell her son: 'Return from Iraq victorious or dead.' Instead, she used her loss to make Americans pause to consider whether the deaths of Casey and his fellow soldiers ... has been worth it. In essence, she broke through the media's monotonous recitation of daily deaths to put a human face on the tragedy." (08/22/05) http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2287/ ----- 50) In the garden of Armageddon Mother Jones by Kurt Pitzer "It's not as if the administration hasn't talked about the danger posed by Saddam's WMD scientists. Whether Iraq had actual weapons or just 'capabilities' didn't matter, it has long argued: Even mere capabilities could leak out to terrorist groups or the states that support them. During the presidential campaign, John Kerry and President Bush reached a rare point of agreement when both named the spread of nuclear weapons as the No. 1 danger facing the United States. As it happens, Saddam's nuclear centrifuge program during the late 1980s was one of the most efficient covert nuclear efforts the world has ever seen. The scientists who pulled it off are very gifted men and women, many of whom are now out of work. Their names are still being kept secret by the international agencies familiar with their work. But a source close to one of those agencies recently said that of the 200-some scientists at the top of its nuclear list, all but three remain unaccounted for." (08/21/05) http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/09/armageddon.html Movement News and Events 51) Medicaid and the long-term care crisis Cato Institute 09/07/05 Cato policy forum featuring Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform, Inc.; Vincent J. Russo, Certified Elder Law Attorney, Past President, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; with comments by Michael F. Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute; and moderated by Ceci Connolly, National Health Policy Reporter, Washington Post. Noon, 09/07 at the Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC. Free. Online registration. http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=2307 ----- 52) The economics of fascism Ludwig von Mises Institute 10/07/05-10/08/05 "Join us at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit 2005, October 7-8, Auburn, Alabama. The senior and adjunct faculty will discuss the history, theory, and contemporary meaning of the fascist temptation, and what the Austrian economists are doing to combat it. Sessions begin at 1:00pm Central Time on Friday, continue all day Saturday, and conclude with dinner on Saturday." Online registration. http://www.mises.org/upcomingstory.aspx?control=75 Today in Political History 53) Catherine, George, Abe, Joe and Adolph Details, and the "quote of the day," from Leon's Political Almanac at: http://perspicuity.net/cgi/hypercal.cgi ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RRND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely. To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: http://www.rationalreview.com/news Support publication of RRND (not tax deductible) http://www.rationalreview.com/news/subscribe.html Support ISIL and Free-Market.Net (tax deductible) http://www.isil.org/store/membership.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thomas L. Knapp ..... Publisher Mary Lou Seymour .... Editor Steve Trinward ...... Editor R. Lee Wrights ...... Editor YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "rrnd" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12hgoe47o/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705060682:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1124819094/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back!</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
