Rational Review News Digest
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Volume III, Issue #727
Wednesday, September 14th, 2005
Email Circulation 2,075
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Today's News:
1) Iraq: Toll nears 100 in day of slaughter
2) Blame me says Bush, as ratings hit new low
3) Louisiana: Nursing home owners charged in deaths
4) Hunger strike at Gitmo grows
5) Roberts rebuffs Democrats' questions
6) Maryland: Marshal sentenced in killing of sailor
7) Study: Vitamin C "helps to fight cancer"
8) Occupied Ireland: British ready to end truce
9) NYC: Mayoral primary undecided
10) Nashville, TN: Tax hike fails by 2-to-1 margin
11) Ophelia nears, islands empty, schools shut
12) Delta, Northwest airlines near bankruptcy
13) North Korea nuke talks resume
14) Bush packs in busy day of diplomacy
15) Iraq: US captures militant, kills four
16) Reports: Police violence against journalists in New Orleans
17) Mercenaries guard homes of the rich in New Orleans
18) New Orleans: Airport reopens
19) "Ginsburg standard" pits parties
20) California: Blackout due to "worker error"
Today's Commentary:
21) Respecting authority
22) No longer out of sight
23) Rand and the ad hominem fallacy
24) Hey, maybe the Singularity really is near
25) Peddling the corruption of liberty
26) Next stop: Syria
27) Fabled danger?
28) High ground
29) Slipping through the cracks of fate
30) Is Bush a racist?
31) Another effort to void our basic rights
32) Most of the people, none of the time
33) Katrina educates world on need for owning guns
34) Nietzsche, New Orleans, and 'Nam
35) It's an ill wind
36) Katrina and the never-ending scandal of state management
37) Fifty years closer to choice
38) The bureaucratic failure of Katrina
39) Bringing home the Davis-Bacon
40) Looking for commies in China
41) Crisis is the health of the state
42) Blowing away the illusion
43) Dear L.A.
44) How does government get away with it?
45) Business as usual
46) Why they legislate "from the bench"
47) Gun seizures are unacceptable, Mr. President!
48) The last man standing
49) Blame to go around
50) The stealth appointee
51) What went wrong
Today's Movement News and Events:
52) Second European Resource Bank Meeting
53) A time for action
54) Bring the Guard home NOW
55) Homes for Katrina victims
56) The economics of fascism
Today in Political History:
57) Death of a President
News
1) Iraq: Toll nears 100 in day of slaughter
Independent [UK]
"About 80 people were killed and 160 wounded early today when a
suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a group of construction
workers in Baghdad, police said. Hours earlier, 17 men were executed
after they were dragged from their homes north of the Iraq capital.
... Sunni militants have mounted a series of attacks on the Shiites in
an apparent effort to provoke retaliation and a sectarian conflict.
Two weeks ago, nearly 1,000 people were killed in a stampede on a
nearby bridge during a Shiite religious procession." (09/14/05)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article312562.ece
-----
2) Blame me says Bush, as ratings hit new low
Times Online [UK]
"As the official death toll from Hurricane Katrina rose above 600,
President Bush took personal responsibility yesterday for the failures
in the US Government?s response to the disaster. He said that serious
questions had been raised about America's ability to deal with a
terrorist attack. With Mr Bush's approval rating at a record low, the
White House announced that the President would address the nation from
Louisiana tomorrow night at peak television viewing time. There was
growing speculation last night that Mr Bush may use the occasion to
appoint a 'czar' to oversee the recovery effort. Possible candidates
include Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State, and Rudy
Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York. Mr Bush's acceptance of
responsibility for the Government's slow and inadequate response is a
sign of how serious the political fallout from the hurricane has
become. It is a rare step from a president who abhors admitting
mistakes." (09/14/05)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,23889-1779465,00.html
-----
3) Louisiana: Nursing home owners charged in deaths
MSNBC
"In a day of reckoning across battered New Orleans, the owners of a
nursing home were charged in the deaths of dozens of patients killed
by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters, the death toll in Louisiana jumped
to 423, and the mayor warned that the city is broke. Mayor C. Ray
Nagin said the city was working 'feverishly' with banking and federal
officials to secure lines of credit through the end of the year, but
for now, it is unable to make its next payroll." (09/13/05)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612/
-----
4) Hunger strike at Gitmo grows
CNN
"The number of Guantanamo Bay detainees taking part in a hunger strike
has swelled to about a quarter of the prison population over the past
month, according to Pentagon officials. Since August 8, the number of
detainees refusing food has slowly increased from several dozen to
128, according to the Pentagon. Eighteen prisoners are in medical
facilities forcibly receiving nutrition intravenously or through nasal
tubes, Pentagon officials said." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/cukw8
-----
5) Roberts rebuffs Democrats' questions
Cincinnati Enquirer
"Chief Justice-nominee John Roberts repeatedly refused to answer
questions about abortion and other contentious issues at his
confirmation hearing Tuesday, telling frustrated Democrats he would
not discuss matters that could come before the Supreme Court. 'I think
nominees have to draw the line where they are most comfortable,' said
Roberts, who also sidestepped questions about civil rights, voting
rights and the limits of presidential power in a long, occasionally
antagonistic day in the witness chair." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/a6wtl
-----
6) Maryland: Marshal sentenced in killing of sailor
Monterey Herald
"Family members watching from both sides of the courtroom remained
still and silent Tuesday as a Montgomery County judge handed the
former U.S. Marshal convicted in the shooting death of a Navy seaman
from California a 15-year sentence. Arthur L. Lloyd, who sat beside
his lawyers in a green prison jumpsuit, showed little emotion as
Circuit Court Judge Ann Harrington sentenced him to 25 years, then
suspended 10. ... When Lloyd was offered the chance to speak on his
own behalf, he sought to explain his actions in the Rockville shopping
center parking lot. He said law enforcement officers like him are
skittish since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that he was
incensed by a barrage of profanities and racial epithets that Stowers
subjected him to. He also said he feared that Stowers might be someone
he helped put in jail as a marshal, who was now seeking revenge. 'I'm
sorry if my reaction was an overreaction,' said Lloyd, who shot
Stowers in the leg during their altercation before killing him with a
bullet to his back as he drove away." (09/13/05)
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/12636028.htm
-----
7) Study: Vitamin C "helps to fight cancer"
BBC News [UK]
"High doses of vitamin C injected into the bloodstream may help fight
cancer, a US study says. Scientists found that intravenous vitamin C
in the form of ascorbate killed cancer cells in lab tests. The
findings contradict earlier studies, but the Maryland-based Institutes
of Health said they had looked at lower-dose oral vitamin C. Cancer
experts said the 'overwhelming' evidence still suggested vitamin C was
not an effective treatment." (09/14/05)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4238250.stm
-----
8) Occupied Ireland: British ready to end truce
Billings Gazette
"Protestant outlaws backed off Tuesday from riots that have ravaged
much of Belfast and other Northern Ireland towns for three nights, but
Britain pressed ahead anyway with plans to declare at least one
group's 11-year-old truce in tatters. Police commanders say the two
largest illegal Protestant groups, the Ulster Defense Association and
the Ulster Volunteer Force, both attacked police and British troops
with assault rifles and homemade grenades in what were the worst
Protestant riots for nearly a decade." (09/14/05)
http://tinyurl.com/du4sr
-----
9) NYC: Mayoral primary undecided
Reuters
"Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer was the top
vote-getter in New York's Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, but
it was unclear whether he could avoid a runoff with the runner-up,
U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner. With 99.7 percent of precincts reporting,
unofficial results showed 'Freddy' Ferrer had 39.9 percent [of] the
vote, just shy of the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff in
three weeks. Weiner, who made a late push in the final weeks of the
campaign, finished with nearly 29 percent. ... Political experts say
regardless of the outcome, the Democratic nominee will likely lose
against Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire
businessman elected just weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks
on the World Trade Center. The popular incumbent is expected to spend
more than $100 million on this campaign." (09/14/05)
http://tinyurl.com/95ady
-----
10) Nashville, TN: Tax hike fails by 2-to-1 margin
Tennessean
"A proposed half-cent sales tax increase for schools failed at the
polls today in Nashville by a 2-to-1 margin. With 100% of all
precincts reporting, there were 15,389 votes in favor of the increase,
or about 30% of the votes tallied, and 36,090 against it, which is
roughly 70% of the balloting, election officials said around 9:15 p.m.
[Tuesday]. That total included early and paper ballots and all of
Davidson County?s 172 precincts. The question was whether to raise the
local sales tax, which if approved would have brought the combined
Metro and state rates to 9.75 cents on the dollar. ... If the
referendum had passed, 80% of the revenue generated by the tax would
have gone toward schools while 20% was earmarked for a tax relief
program for senior citizens." (09/14/05)
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050913/NEWS0202/309130008
-----
11) Ophelia nears, islands empty, schools shut
Tampa Tribune
"Vulnerable islands were evacuated and mainland schools were closed
Tuesday as Ophelia strengthened to a hurricane and wobbled closer to
land with a threat of flooding rain. The National Hurricane Center
upgraded the storm's status Tuesday evening, saying maximum sustained
winds had reached 75 mph, with higher gusts. The center said further
strengthening was possible." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/afy79
-----
12) Delta, Northwest airlines near bankruptcy
Las Vegas Review-Journal
"Two of the nation's largest airlines edged closer to the brink of
bankruptcy on Tuesday as Northwest Airlines Corp. said it had decided
not to make $42 million in required debt payments in recent days and
Delta shares sunk further below $1 ahead of a long-expected petition
for court protection. Northwest's board was scheduled to meet
Wednesday to decide on a Chapter 11 filing, said Will Holman, a
spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association union, which has a
member on the board." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/d8w7a
-----
13) North Korea nuke talks resume
USA Today
"Negotiations aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons
aspirations resumed Tuesday after a monthlong recess, but prospects
for progress were uncertain as Pyongyang remained insistent on its
right to a civilian atomic program. Envoys from China, Japan, Russia,
the United States and the two Koreas gathered at a state guesthouse in
Beijing to continue the fourth round of talks since 2003 on the issue.
Last month, negotiators took a break after a record 13 days of
meetings failed to yield an agreement on a statement of principles to
lay the foundation for the North's disarmament." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/cy5mu
-----
14) Bush packs in busy day of diplomacy
Indianapolis Star
"President Bush won a pledge from Chinese President Hu Jintao to step
up pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, but the two
leaders remained apart Tuesday over whether to seek international
sanctions against Iran. The two leaders met here as talks resumed in
Beijing aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear
weapons. Bush said his discussions with Hu ranged from how to prevent
an avian flu pandemic to economic matters and feared nuclear
proliferation in North Korea and Iran." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/2e9mx
-----
15) Iraq: US captures militant, kills four
Houston Chronicle
"U.S. forces along the Euphrates River attacked the insurgent
stronghold of Haditha early today, capturing a militant with ties to
al-Qaida in Iraq and killing four others, the military said. The
assault on Haditha followed a recent offensive to retake Tal Afar,
another northern town, which U.S. commanders said netted more than 400
suspected militants. The Iraqi military said its troops had detained
36 others, including a Yemeni citizen, just south of Tal Afar."
[editor's note: The Department of Defense has identified one soldier
killed in action in Iraq over the weekend (DoD releases are usually
24-96 hours after the fact) - TLK] (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/bu29z
-----
16) Reports: Police violence against journalists in New Orleans
Halifax Live
"Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about police violence
against journalists covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New
Orleans, especially about the attacks on reporters and photographers
that took place on September 1. ... Reporter Tim Harper and
photographer Lucas Oleniuk of the Canadian Toronto Star daily were the
victims of police violence while covering a clash between police and
looters. The police threatened them several times at gunpoint and,
when they realized Oleniuk had photographed them hitting looters, they
hurled him to the ground, grabbed his two cameras and removed memory
cards containing around 350 pictures. His press card was also torn
from him. When he asked for his pictures back, the police insulted him
and threatened to hit him. Harper said in a report about the police
violence in the Toronto Star that, given the situation in New Orleans,
there was no doubt that the police saw journalists as an obstacle to
their efforts to regain control of the city." (09/07/05)
http://tinyurl.com/9z7bp
-----
17) Mercenaries guard homes of the rich in New Orleans
Guardian [UK]
"Hundreds of mercenaries have descended on New Orleans to guard the
property of the city's millionaires from looters. The heavily armed
men, employed by private military companies including Blackwater and
ISI, are part of the militarisation of a city which had a reputation
for being one of the most relaxed and easy-going in America. After
scenes of looting and lawlessness in the days immediately after
Hurricane Katrina struck, New Orleans has turned into an armed camp,
patrolled by thousands of local, state and federal law enforcement
officers, as well as 70,000 national guard troops and active-duty
soldiers now based in the region." [editor's note: Nothing wrong with
hiring armed guards for your stuff ... but why is it that the rich get
a free pass to introduce armed personnel into New Orleans while the
hoi polloi's guns are being confiscated? - TLK] (09/12/05)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1567656,00.html
-----
18) New Orleans: Airport reopens
San Francisco Chronicle
"The airport reopened to commercial flights Tuesday for the first time
since Hurricane Katrina struck more than two weeks ago, and the port
was back in operation, too, as a battered New Orleans struggled to get
up and running again. The slow signs of recovery came amid promises
from the White House and FEMA to learn from their mistakes and
intensify their efforts to help the victims. Northwest Airlines Flight
947 from Memphis, TN -- the first commercial flight into or out of
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport since the storm hit
-- landed around midday with about 30 people aboard, far fewer than
the jet could hold. Those aboard included emergency workers from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Some carried only a few belongings in plastic
bags and gym bags." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/e27c3
-----
19) "Ginsburg standard" pits parties
Washington Times
"The Senate Judiciary Committee split along party lines yesterday over
whether Judge John G. Roberts Jr. must answer questions about his
views on issues such as abortion and civil liberties during this
week's confirmation hearings. 'No matter how badly senators want to
know things, judicial nominees are limited in what they may discuss,'
said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch [R-UT]. 'Nominees may not be able to answer
questions that seek hints, forecasts or previews about how they would
rule on particular issues.' Referring to the so-called 'Ginsburg
standard,' Hatch said Ruth Bader Ginsburg's handling of questions
during her Supreme Court confirmation in 1993 laid groundwork for why
nominees should be allowed to avoid answering certain questions. 'She
refused nearly 60 times to answer questions, including mine,' he
noted." (09/13/05)
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050912-095826-2567r.htm
-----
20) California: Blackout due to "worker error"
Fox News
"Traffic lights, businesses and ATMs were plunged into lunchtime
darkness when utility workers accidentally sliced several power lines,
startling some in a city already jittery following a purported Al
Qaeda threat. The mishap, which lasted about 2 1/2 hours Monday, cut
power to 750,000 homes and businesses -- or about 2 million people --
from downtown Los Angeles to Venice Beach to much of the city's San
Fernando Valley. ... As word spread that terrorists were not involved,
people calmed down and many, unable to take elevators back to their
offices, enjoyed an extended lunch hour on a sunny, pleasant
afternoon. ... The outage came just a day after the release of a
videotape in which a reported Al Qaeda member said Los Angeles was
being targeted for attack." [editor's note: And they say timing is
everything ... - SAT] (09/13/05)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169239,00.html
Commentary
21) Respecting authority
Strike the Root
by Richard Rieben
"I have written elsewhere that the meme that runs the show is
authority worship -- in any manifestation -- but the 2,000-year-old
lie that fuels the meme is that freedom is a subset of submission to
authority, that we are free only within the context of the clan, upon
the strength (security) of the clan, by virtue of the clan, and,
therefore, through subordination to the clan (from which all blessings
flow). ... The authority meme is across-the-board. It can never
achieve or even simulate anything that is humane ... it can only lead
to misery, suffering, poverty, war, brutality, and slavery. ... It is,
at every minor occurrence, a complete capitulation to hell." (09/13/05)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/rieben/rieben3.html
-----
22) No longer out of sight
Cato Institute
by Michael D. Tanner
"Some commentators are now claiming that New Orleans poverty was a
result of 'the shredding of the social safety net.' The implication is
that, if we had only been willing to spend more money, much of the
unfolding tragedy could have been avoided. In reality, however, the
federal government has spent nearly $1.3 billion on cash welfare
(TANF) in Louisiana since the start of the Bush administration. That
doesn't count nearly $3 billion in food stamps. Throw in public
housing, Medicaid, Child Care Development Fund, Social Service Block
Grant and more than 60 other federal anti-poverty programs, and we've
spent well over $10 billion fighting poverty in Louisiana. This
doesn't even begin to count state and local welfare spending.
Shredding the social safety net? Hardly. Welfare spending rose
steadily throughout the Bush administration." (09/14/05)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4760
-----
23) Rand and the ad hominem fallacy
Notablog
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
"The Rand-Branden Affair is not going away. And the rancor and
divisiveness it provokes won't dissipate, I suspect, for a few
generations. All the more reason for Rand scholars to insist that
critics adopt a scrupulous focus on ideas in their engagement with
Rand's philosophy. And if their subject is Rand biography, then they
should do their best to assess all the information now at our disposal
To reiterate: There is a place for biography and there is always a
place for situating ideas in a larger historical context. But I don't
think it serves the cause of Marxist criticism, for example, to
criticize Marx's private life as a means toward criticizing his
analytical framework." (09/09/05)
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sciabarra/notablog/archives/000740.html
-----
24) Hey, maybe the Singularity really is near
TechCentralStation
by Glenn Harlan Reynolds
"Ray Kurzweil's book, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend
Biology comes out next week. And I suspect that a lot of people wonder
if things will really happen as fast as Kurzweil suggests. But as I
look at the news reports, I see quite a few signs that we're living in
a future that not long ago would have looked science fictional. ... as
we look at the pace of change, we tend to take change that has already
happened for granted. But any of these stories would have been
science-fictional not long ago. And they're still a big deal now,
they're just a big deal that people often miss. Much as we get
'velocitized' in a speeding car, so we've become accustomed to a rapid
pace of technological change. Except that this change isn't just fast,
but continually accelerating." (09/14/05)
http://www.techcentralstation.com/091405C.html
-----
25) Peddling the corruption of liberty
Free Market News Network
by Tibor R. Machan
"Ever since the idea of individual liberty has achieved some measure
of credibility over the world, those who would be unseated by its
limited triumph had to find some way to discredit it or trump it
somehow. One way was to re-christen servitude, to make it appear like
an even more important kind of liberty than what individual liberty,
properly understood, amounts to. When a human being is free in the
most important, political sense, he or she is sovereign. This means he
or she governs his or her own life -- others must refrain from
intruding on this life, plain and simple. That life may be fortunate
or not, rich or not, beautiful or not, and many other things or not,
but what matters is that that life is no one else's to mess with. One
gets to run it, no one else does." (09/13/05)
http://www.freemarketnews.com/pview/5834/2598/html/index.php
-----
26) Next stop: Syria
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo
"The pressure on Syria is being increased, and I wouldn't be at all
surprised to see a 'border incident' involving a shoot-out between
Syrian and American troops. We may be in for a new Tonkin Gulf,
leading to an extension of our 'liberatory' efforts in the Middle
East. We already have U.S. Ambassador (i.e., Imperial Viceroy) Zalmay
Khalilzad making threats, and this, coupled with the ongoing frame-up
of Syria over the assassination of Rafik Hariri, will soon put
Damascus in the spotlight. Readers of the 'Clean Break' scenario
co-authored by Richard Perle and his gang in Washington will be
familiar with the strategic rationale advanced by the Likudniks now in
positions of power in the Bush administration: the road to Damascus,
always considered by Israel the front line in their battle against the
Arab world, runs through Baghdad, and this latest propaganda campaign
is similar to the one preceding the invasion of Iraq." (09/14/05)
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7249
-----
27) Fabled danger?
Reason
by Paul Sperry
"Later this month, Washington may witness one of the most intriguing
hearings in history. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter
is expected to call a career military official to testify about his
shocking allegation that the Pentagon flagged 9/11 ringleader Mohamed
Atta as a potential al-Qaeda terrorist more than a year before the
attacks, and that his name and face wound up on a chart buried
somewhere in the bureaucracy. The revelation, if true, would rewrite
the 9/11 Commission Report, which concluded the government could not
have prevented the attacks and was not responsible for the loss of
thousands of lives. Navy Capt. Scott J. Phillpott, who headed a
Pentagon counterterrorism project codenamed Able Danger, has claimed
that as early as January 2000, his team identified lead hijacker Atta
as part of an al-Qaeda terror cell operating out of Brooklyn. That's
all very curious, however, because according to German police records,
Atta was nowhere near the U.S. then." (09/13/05)
http://www.reason.com/hod/ps091305.shtml
-----
28) High ground
LewRockwell.Com
by Bill Bonner
"When a rare thing hasn't happened for a while, people begin to think
it never will. But after it has happened, they expect it to happen
everyday. After 9/11, Americans bought duct tape and plastic to
protect themselves from sleeper cells they believed lurked in Duluth
and Farmington. Now, they keep their eyes on hurricanes and
earthquakes. What kind of disaster is next, we ask ourselves? Of
course, we don't know, dear reader. But we will take a wild guess
anyway: The disaster people least expect and most deserve, a financial
one." (09/14/05)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner145.html
-----
29) Slipping through the cracks of fate
The Free Liberal
by Fred E. Foldvary
"The world is astonished at the gross incompetence of the US
government in handling the New Orleans disaster. Now that recovery is
underway, the government agencies seem to be draining the city,
securing safety, and gathering the bodies rather efficiently. What
failed was the swift reaction and coordination which is supposed to be
the rationale for centralized government. It is said, by those who
don't think it through that deeply, that the market, that voluntary
action, that private enterprise, cannot deal with such emergencies.
They say, here is where we really need centralized government to
command the resources, coordinate action, and issue orders. How many
more disasters will it take for folks to realize that top-down
centralized big government is not the best answer?" (09/13/05)
http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/001417.html
-----
30) Is Bush a racist?
National Review
by William F. Buckley, Jr.
"[T]here are serious critics who say that the basic question has to do
with racial disparities. USA Today features a poll on this question.
Asked whether the president 'cares about black people,' 67 percent of
whites said yes, 79 percent of blacks said no. A broader question was
put in a poll by the Washington Post, which recorded that nearly
two-thirds of black respondents said that race played a part in the
government's response while just over two-thirds of whites said that
wasn't the case. The beginning of wisdom in accosting that question
is: Do you believe it? Do you believe that a helicopter looking for
men and women in desperation would give preferred treatment to someone
whose hands flailed for help because those hands were white, not
black? No doubt that consanguinity plays a role in human affinities
(that's why Ebony magazine features black models), but it is
blasphemous to suppose that organized official aid discriminated in
New Orleans against blacks." (09/13/05)
http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/wfb200509131545.asp
-----
31) Another effort to void our basic rights
SOLO HQ
by Tibor R. Machan
"A need cannot be weighed against a right, any more than a wish or
desire or urgent want can be weighed against a right. There can be no
weighing involved, not between rights, nor between rights and needs,
etc., although a rights holder could very well weigh whether to hang
on to what he or she owns, contribute it to the person in dire need,
to some cause or project, or otherwise dispose of it in light of his
or her weighing of the importance of these alternative possibilities.
The weighing is not of different rights or different people's rights,
but of the importance or value of the goals to which one may
contribute what one has the right to freely acquire." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/a7by9
-----
32) Most of the people, none of the time
AlterNet
by Robert Scheer
"Unfortunately, what the Bush White House is good at when it comes to
national security is providing flash over substance, as Democratic
Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana found out the hard way. After riding
in a helicopter with the president and seeing machinery apparently
working on the breached 17th Street levee, she was shocked the next
day to find the work mysteriously stopped. 'Flying over this critical
spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent
that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a
presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources
we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of
equipment,' said the senator in a press release. For far too long,
this kind of shenanigan worked well for Bush .... But, as one of this
nation's greatest war presidents said, you cannot fool all of the
people all of the time." (09/13/05)
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/25412/
-----
33) Katrina educates world on need for owning guns
WorldNetDaily
by Erich Pratt
"'All our operators are busy right now. Please remain on the line and
an operator will be with you shortly. Your call is important to us.'
Can you imagine any words more horrifying after dialing 9-1-1? Your
life's in danger, but there's no one available to help you. For
several days, life was absolutely terrifying for many New Orleans
residents who got stranded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. There
were no operators ... there were no phone calls being handled. Heck,
there was no 9-1-1. Even if the phone lines had been working, there
were no police officers waiting to be dispatched." (09/13/05)
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46297
-----
34) Nietzsche, New Orleans, and 'Nam
Unknown News
by Herb Ruhs
"Granted the horror of New Orleans is grand even by battlefield
standards, but something like this is happening in the world,
somewhere, nearly all the time. For much of the world it is relatively
normal. What is unusual is that these are Americans, and many of us
identify with them very strongly, and the fear touches our hearts, and
we hurt deeply, for a change. If my apocalyptic vision turns out,
unfortunately, to be premonitory, then there will be more New Orleans,
coming soon, to a town near you. Get a leg up on your survival skills,
grow a thick skin. Besides, it is hard to be compassionate and helpful
when you are disabled by horror." (09/13/05)
http://www.unknownnews.org/050913a-hr.html
-----
35) It's an ill wind
CounterPunch
by Ben Tripp
"A tiny group of particularly horrible individuals run the entire
nation to suit themselves. Moneymen at the top, followed by
celebrities and the Church or church; then you have your executive
class, people that carry out the wishes of the upper class; then talk
show hosts, creative types, and scientists and academics, living just
a little better than the next folks by making the executive classes'
orders seem more palatable to the working class, at the bottom of
which are the rednecks, followed by immigrants, people with ethnic
identities, and finally Mexicans and Wal-Mart employees, and then me.
Race and Class aren't enough for such a ruddy-cheeked infant as the
USA. We can do more. And we have, and in the 21st Century we will. The
Master of Disaster, George W. Bush, has ensured that America will be
an authoritarian nation as the weary century creeps by. More laws,
more enforcement, more cracking down. More intolerance. More
surveillance. More secret files on more citizens for more and more
tenuous reasons; restrictions on travel and civil rights and freedom,
that hoary canard. The government is going to get bigger and bigger on
the insidious end of things: more warmaking power, more
control-grasping mechanisms. But for the average Joe, Jane, and
Undecided, the government will become a remote and inscrutable force,
like the Evil Empire in George Lucas's epic sci-fi cycle 'Bedtime for
Bonzo.' " (09/13/05)
http://www.counterpunch.org/tripp09132005.html
-----
36) Katrina and the never-ending scandal of state management
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William Anderson
"For the most part, we know what happened -- and what did not happen
-- after Katrina had battered parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast and flooded
most of New Orleans. Despite promises of aid 'around the corner,'
adequate government assistance did not reach many of the refugees, and
especially the people of New Orleans who were stuffed into the
Superdome, the New Orleans Convention Center, not to mention nursing
homes and roofs of houses. As we now know, government agents stymied
attempts by private individuals and organizations to bring provisions
to people who had none. People languished for about five days before
the 'cavalry' arrived, bringing provisions and some bit of hope."
(09/13/05)
http://www.mises.org/story/1909
-----
37) Fifty years closer to choice
Heartland Institute
by Karla Dial
"In considering the role government plays in various areas of life in
1955, Milton Friedman cast his discerning eye on education and saw a
Six Million Dollar Man. Government-controlled public education was
already well on its way to becoming a total wreck. But Friedman,
seeing what the G.I. Bill had done for soldiers returning from the
recently concluded World War II, envisioned a way to rebuild it --
better, stronger, faster. The result was an essay, 'On the Role of
Government in Education,' which proposed a universal voucher system as
a way to allow government to continue financing public education while
separating it from its administration, establishing a true free-market
arena in which choice would be equal for all, competition would be
fierce, and only the best schools would survive. In 1962, the essay
became a chapter in Friedman's historic book, Capitalism and Freedom."
(09/05)
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17652
-----
38) The bureaucratic failure of Katrina
Hawaii Reporter
by Don Newman
"With all the accusations and recriminations being bandied about
concerning who is responsible for the fiasco that became the disaster
in New Orleans, there is one element that isn't being examined at all
that is at the heart of the matter. The poor results were directly
attributable to one thing: bureaucracy. Whether it was the Louisiana
Emergency Management Agency turning away the Red Cross trucks bound
for the area filled with supplies, the failure of the mayor of New
Orleans to foresee the disaster and get the people who had no other
means of transportation on the available school buses and out of town
as his own emergency plan called for, the governor of the state of
Louisiana postponing in declaring a mandatory evacuation of the city
and asking for National Guard help, or the president lollygagging an
extra day on his ranch before he realized the seriousness of the
situation, what they all have in common are a dependence and
unrealistic expectation that bureaucracy will operate in fast and
efficient manner." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/eyqk9
-----
39) Bringing home the Davis-Bacon
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Ivan Osorio
"If, needing to move quickly in an emergency, one of your hands is
tied behind your back, you should untie it. But once the emergency has
passed, you might ask: 'Why did I tie it in the first place?' That's a
question Congress should now ponder. On September 8, President Bush
suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, the federal 'prevailing wage' law, in
the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. This is a welcome move in the
effort to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region, helping to
create jobs in the hurricane-stricken areas. But if suspending
Davis-Bacon is good for economic development and job growth in a
disaster area, repealing it entirely would be good for the country."
[editor's note: Once again, funny how it seems to go in opposite
directions depending on who's getting paid. In an emergency, the
people at the top of the government contractor chain get paid premium
prices because it's "necessary" to get things done hard and fast; but
when it comes to the proles, exactly the opposite logic is applied -
TLK] (09/13/05)
http://www.cei.org/gencon/019,04827.cfm
-----
40) Looking for commies in China
Fred On Everything
by Fred Reed
"I couldn't find the commies. Conservatives, who apparently preserve
their minds in amber at birth, ramble on about Communist China. I
guess their brains have parking brakes. Things are much less confusing
if you have only one idea and stick with it. Anyway, if China is a
communist country, I'm Julius Didianus. Who ever heard of a communist
economy growing at nine percent? Or at all? I grant you, the rascals
used to be commies, but they've degenerated, and lost their touch. I
could do it better. When I landed at Beijing, I got through passport
control in about thirty seconds. They didn't even glance at my
baggage. Grabbed a cab to my hotel. The driver tried to overcharge me.
It looked like capitalism to me." (09/11/05)
http://fredoneverything.net/ChinaTrip.shtml
-----
41) Crisis is the health of the state
Strike the Root
by George F. Smith
"The attitude of turning our worries over to government prevailed, and
now, as bodies are collected, we witness federal officials playing
their hand, giving us spinning press conferences, bureaucratic
stonewalling, a growing military occupation, and a craven Congress
writing fat checks without cutting spending, starting with a $50
billion appropriation to FEMA for what President Bush considers the
'heck of a job' it's doing." (09/13/05)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/smith/smith1.html
-----
42) Blowing away the illusion
Strike the Root
by David MacGregor
"When it comes to private companies, we expect accountability. And if
we don't get it, we demand it. But when it comes to the state, it
seems we are under a strange hypnotic spell, which blinds us to its
colossal failures -- in every realm. Where is the accountability?
Where is the outrage? Where is the demand for heads to roll?" (09/13/05)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/macgregor/macgregor4.html
-----
43) Dear L.A.
America's Future Foundation
by Eric Neigher
"We need to talk. I think you know as well as I do that our
relationship has been going through a rough patch lately, and I want
to work this thing out before we end up like Brad and Jen. Sure, we've
been through some bad times before: remember that subway system you
just had to have? I worked like a dog to pay for it, and the damn
thing just sits there. Or how about that time you said I couldn't
smoke anymore, anywhere, even if other folks were okay with it? And as
for your inflated sales tax -- well, I know you don't like to talk
about it. But this new 'Business Tax' you've imposed on me is a whole
different ballgame. I'm starting to think maybe you don't like me
anymore." (09/11/05)
http://www.affbrainwash.com/archives/020289.php
-----
44) How does government get away with it?
Liberty For All
by Ed Lewis
"Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers had an interesting piece on Lew Rockwell's
site. Although it was actually about eating out in Tokyo rather
cheaply, what really caught my mind was the idea that it is primarily
American airports in which people are treated like criminals or cattle
-- or both, I might add. ... Why is this? Why are people in America
treated as less than human, robbing them of their dignity, their
possessions, and their peace of mind? Why are women essentially
strip-searched by idiots that barely can tie their own shoes -- and
are allowed to carry firearms?" (09/14/05)
http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/sept11/crimes.html
-----
45) Business as usual
The American Prospect
by Matthew Yglesias
"The recall of Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Mike Brown
last week from the disaster on the Gulf Coast to Washington was,
perhaps, the perfect Bush administration moment. Faced with growing
criticism of the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina
and the revelation that the nation's disaster-management agency is run
by a man whose primary job qualification seems to have been sharing a
college dorm room with one of the president's political cronies, the
White House acted swiftly ? to control the political fallout. Brown
wasn't fired -- that would be too much like an admission that he
shouldn't have had his job in the first place. Instead, the
administration moved Brown out of the limelight in the hopes that the
controversy would die down." [editor's note: In his haste to post
this, Mr. Yglesias obviously did so before Brown resigned last night;
the message is still valid, nevertheless! - SAT] (09/13/05)
http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10238
-----
46) Why they legislate "from the bench"
Christian Science Monitor
by Martin Mayer
"President Bush, in nominating John Roberts to be chief justice of the
US -- along with conservative senators questioning him during his
ongoing judiciary committee hearings -- insists that if confirmed, Mr.
Roberts will not 'legislate from the bench.' From within the court,
Justice Antonin Scalia has complained that the common-law tradition
leaves judges too free to make a decision that pleases them and then
hunt up prior cases or evidence of 'legislative intent' that can be
interpreted to support their position. Such judicial arrogance,
Justice Scalia argues, leaves us an uncertain law different from the
language in the statute book and tainted by the political preferences
of judges. Protection against such 'activism' can be won by insisting
that statutes be enforced precisely as written, what Scalia calls
'textualism.'" (09/13/05)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0913/p08s02-coop.html
-----
47) Gun seizures are unacceptable, Mr. President!
Men's News Daily
by Will Malven
"This is more frightening than any horror movie coming out of the
inventive minds of Hollywood or terrorist attack coming out of the
Middle East. When the Government of the people, by the people, for the
people, becomes a government against the people, I begin to fear for
the survival of this great nation. The Mayor of New Orleans is
attempting to do in a couple of days that which has eluded the power
of the anti-gun factions in this country for 218 years, strip
law-abiding citizens of their right to keep and bear arms. In spite of
the fact that the Constitution clearly reserves this right for the
people, and under the 9th and 10th Amendments proscribes those rights
among the many Americans have, specifically from the Federal and State
governments; this is being allowed to occur. Mr. President, you must
step in and stop this violation of the Constitution. What part of
'shall not be infringed' don't you and your administration
understand?" (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/cryn7
-----
48) The last man standing
Sierra Times
by Larry A. Jones
"Okay, let me see if I understand this report. Under this 'plan' we
get to use our weapons of mass destruction before you get to use your
weapons of mass destruction, which you will want to use before we use
our weapons of mass destruction, which we will want to use before you
use your weapons of mass destruction, which you will want to use
before we use our weapons of mass destruction, which we will want to
use before you use your weapons of mass destruction, which you will
want to use ... So, if Saddam had actually possessed WMD and had used
them on us before we got to attack him to keep him from using his WMD
(which he didn't have), his preemptive attack would have been
justified under the terms of our own 'plan' -- right? And when the
dust settled, the last man standing (if there is a last man standing)
would get to decide who was 'right' -- right?" (09/13/05)
http://www.sierratimes.com/05/09/13/65_71_189_66_65659.htm
-----
49) Blame to go around
Washington Times
by Michael Barone
"A team of Indiana firefighters, volunteering to help rescue victims
of Katrina, went to Atlanta, where Federal Emergency Management Agency
staff told them their job was to hand out fliers and to attend a
multihour course on sexual harassment and equal employment
opportunity. This is, astonishingly, standard FEMA operating
procedure. And in other parts of the federal government: Former CIA
agent Robert Baer writes in his recent book how in Central Asia he
asked headquarters to send someone who spoke Afghan languages, and
Langley offered a four-member sexual harassment team, instead. These
are perhaps things to keep in mind when it comes time to assess the
response to Katrina. Government is a clumsy instrument. Even so, it is
possible to spot some clear mistakes." [editor's note: Duh ... ya
think? Mr. Barone spends half of this tap-dancing around Bush's
failure, and half correctly identifying the other culprits - SAT ]
(09/13/05)
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20050912-090352-2732r.htm
-----
50) The stealth appointee
Boston Globe
by Thomas Oliphant
"John Roberts is poised to win confirmation as the next chief justice
of the United States because, among other things, he knows the law
cold. But after one of the most near-perfect, resume-punching voyages
ever to the Supreme Court, there is almost no evidence of his
understanding of justice. ... To illustrate, I have no doubt that [he
has] a detailed understanding of Plessy v. Ferguson, the landmark
abomination that enshrined segregation in 1896 for another 58 years
under the delusional mantra of 'separate but equal.' It wouldn't
surprise me if Judge Roberts could quote sentences from Justice Henry
Brown's majority opinion ... and even from John Harlan's passionate
dissent. But I doubt very much that Roberts knows beans about Homer
Plessy, and I can imagine him being tripped up even if asked Plessy's
first name. It is that human face of justice, or injustice, that
concerns me, and, from the available record anyway, has never
interested Roberts." (09/13/05)
http://tinyurl.com/7dfmd
-----
51) What went wrong
Tom Paine
by David Corn
"We are not safe. It was frighteningly too easy to witness the
post-disaster disaster in New Orleans and realize that the authorities
-- the local, state and federal governments -- cannot effectively
handle any of the nightmare scenarios that have seeped into our
post-9/11 collective consciousness. ... The mismanagement and
non-management was stunning, painfully embarrassing ... and lethal. In
the fortnight since Katrina struck and exposed the obvious fault lines
of American society ... much has been said and written about the
failure of the country's leaders ... to contend with a situation that
had been accurately predicted years ago. ... Whatever comes out of
these likely-to-be unimpressive endeavors, one conclusion is clear and
needs no further evidence to support it: the Bush administration has
shirked what might be called its First Response responsibilities. And
that ought to be a firing offense." (09/13/05)
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050913/what_went_wrong.php
Movement News and Events
52) Second European Resource Bank Meeting
Lithuanian Free Market Institute
10/14/05--10/15/05
"The European Resource Bank Meeting draws on the Heritage Foundation's
similar Resource Bank Meeting event and the Atlas Foundation's Asian
Resource Bank Meeting, the forums which gather outstanding
free-marketeers to discuss how free market principles can be applied
in addressing economic and social concerns and conducting reforms. The
topics of this year's ERBM are the future of the European social
policy and economic security." Vilnius, Lithuania, October 14-15.
Speakers include Jose Pinera, Richard Rahn and John Blundell. Online
registration available.
http://www.rbeurope.org/
-----
53) A time for action
AntiWar.Com/United For Peace and Justice
09/24/05-09/26/05
"There is a time to talk the talk, and a time to walk the walk ? a
time for analysis, and a time for action -- and now is the time for
the latter. We need immediate action to stop the war -- before it
spreads beyond Iraq, before it bankrupts our country, before all the
blood needlessly shed leaves an indelible moral stain that will shame
us for generations to come. I read and write about this rotten war
practically every day, and I'm beginning to wonder: when will it ever
end? We've talked, and written, and discussed among ourselves until
we're blue in the face: now it is time to act. Thanks to United for
Peace and Justice, a national coalition of hundreds of groups opposed
to our interventionist foreign policy, a golden opportunity presents
itself on the weekend of Sept. 24-26, when a great coming together of
the antiwar movement is planned." (09/09/05)
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7202
-----
54) Bring the Guard home NOW
The People's Email Network
ongoing
"After 5 years of laughing off or suppressing sound policy advice, the
criminal neglect of our REAL homeland security by the Bush
administration has now resulted in the total loss of a major American
city. And where is our National Guard and all their equipment that are
supposed to be here to protect and save us? They are being ground up
in the sand half a planet away for absolutely nothing but the
arrogant, uncaring and obstinate pride of our chief executive, who is
mentally incapable of admitting or correcting any mistake ever. We
must DEMAND that our National Guard come home now. The form above will
send your personal message to all your members of Congress, and now
you can send a letter also to the editor of your nearest daily
newspaper at the SAME time, all with one click. Our troops in Iraq
need to come home immediately. Not a year from now, not a month from
now, NOW now." (09/01/05)
http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm
-----
55) Homes for Katrina victims
Homes for Katrina
"Purpose: Find safe temporary housing for those displaced by Hurricane
Katrina, Connect local organizations trying to help these efforts
Protect those that need or offer help. What you can do: If you have
room -- register below and enter a comment that you would be
interested in providing room. A local organization will be in contact
with you to make sure that you can offer a safe place for those
needing it. If you have ties to an established organization --
register below or contact us directly to become part of the Network Of
Trust to help connect those offering help with those needing it If you
have a voice -- please spread the word of this site to your friends
and on your blogs and publications. There is power in numbers and
there is power in compassion. We are blessed to have an abundance of
both in this country." (09/01/05)
http://www.homesforkatrina.org/index.html
-----
56) 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
57) Death of a President
Details, and the "quote of the day," from Leon's Political Almanac at:
http://perspicuity.net/cgi/hypercal.cgi
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