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 #743 Wednesday, October 6th, 2005 Email Circulation 2,077 ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS -------------------------------------- POSTCARDS DELIVER THE MESSAGE Postcards work by delivering the message, be it commercial, political, or greetings! 500 cards, 4.25" by 6"; 4 color both sides, front glossy, delivered US$ 175. You supply text and an idea; I supply layout and image, complete. E-mail inquiry to [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.chartimages.info THE EXTERRITORIAL IMPERATIVE If you've never visited "TEI" or haven't done so in a long time, discover the new goodies in the "Main Fare" rubric, "CB's notewok," on the Op-Ed page, etc. etc. http://www.butterbach.net LIBERTYSTICKERS.COM The world's most dangerous stickers! http://www.libertystickers.com ELECT "BO" BODENHAUSEN Birmingham is one of the most notorious cities for eminent domain abuse. Please help keep private property out of the hands of development corporations by supporting Bo's campaign! http://markbodenhausen.com/eminentdomainblogads THE GOLD CASINO The gold standard in Internet gaming -- play for real gold, and withdraw your winnings instantly! http://2465679.thegoldcasino.com/ -------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ----- Today's News: 0) RRND ad sale! 1) Iraq: 16 killed in latest attacks 2) Pentagon analyst pleads guilty in spy case 3) Senate approves detainee treatment rules 4) High Court clashes over assisted suicide 5) Iraqi parliament reverses election rules 6) DeLay, successor Blunt swapped donations 7) Some unhappy with Bush pick for high court 8) Pakistan: Taliban spokesman arrested 9) Feds crack down on spyware operation 10) Fears as flu virus recreated 11) CIA agents won't be punished for 9/11 errors 12) Possible White House spying probed 13) "UnGoogleables" hide from search 14) School expels author for gay jibe about Potter 15) Brazil: Thousands join fasting bishop in protest 16) Nobel shared by American, German physicists 17) Carter son considers Senate run 18) Arizona: Buddhists save dogs left after hurricane 19) Tennessee: Trip would promote bottle deposit bill 20) British tolerance of forced marriages wanes Today's Commentary: 21) The right's left turn 22) In defense of Lew Rockwell 23) A white oppressor? Who, me? 24) The inherent contradictions of forcible government 25) Iraq: A prediction 26) The myth of the paper trail 27) Fall of the Rovean empire? 28) Feingold: A fresh breeze and perhaps a sea change 29) Gods vs. geeks 30) Easy come, easy go 31) The recusal trap 32) A bugged game 33) Dead but not gone 34) Beyond the (in)security state 35) Sunshine gun laws 36) DNA chips bring personalized medicine to China 37) Arrogance in the face of disaster 38) Doing the right wing's dirty work 39) Our rogue republic's dangerous game of risk 40) Economics and the story of freedom 41) School choice foes propose diverting voucher funds 42) Profiting from misfortune 43) Trading real liberty for impossible equality 44) Sic transit Maria Landrieu 45) Afterthoughts on the aftermath 46) The jury is still out on protecting gun makers 47) Category 5 hot air 48) Running from the running 49) Death squads and diplomacy 50) Miers: A choice with few footprints 51) Did Bush blink on Supreme Court pick? 52) The people's voice on gay marriage Today's Movement News and Events: 53) New site: Motho Movement 54) Libertarian writer: Want to get paid? 55) Second European Resource Bank Meeting 56) The economics of fascism Today in Political History: 57) Tyndale's fire News 0) RRND ad sale! Rational Review Through October, Rational Review News Digest BlogAds (which run on all of Rational Review's pages and news digests, and in the email editions of Rational Review News Digest and Freedom News Daily) are discounted by more than 80% -- $30 instead of $200 for a one-week ad, $200 instead of $1500 for a three-month ad! http://www.rationalreview.com/content/1339 ----- 1) Iraq: 16 killed in latest attacks Toronto Metro [Canada] "Iraqi insurgents killed at least 16 people in two strikes on Thursday, sending a suicide bomber to blow up a bus near the oil ministry in Baghdad and shooting oil ministry security guards in the north. Police said a suicide bomber strapped with explosives boarded the bus carrying mostly students from a nearby police academy and blew himself up, killing at least 11 people and wounding another 11. ... Gunmen also shot dead five oil ministry security guards who were driving to the northern city of Kirkuk, one day after another bomb attack critically wounded six security guards for the state-owned North Oil Company in the city, an oil center." (10/06/05) http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=100094 ----- 2) Pentagon analyst pleads guilty in spy case USA Today "A top Pentagon analyst pleaded guilty Wednesday to giving classified information to an Israeli diplomat and members of a pro-Israel lobbying group, saying he did it because he was frustrated with U.S. government policy. Lawrence A. Franklin, 58, a policy analyst whose expertise included Iran and Iraq, pleaded guilty to three felony counts as part of a plea bargain. In exchange, federal prosecutors dropped three other felony charges." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/aef25 ----- 3) Senate approves detainee treatment rules Cincinnati Enquirer "The Republican-controlled Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to impose restrictions on the treatment of terrorism suspects, delivering a rare wartime rebuke to President Bush. Defying the White House, senators voted 90-9 to approve an amendment that would prohibit the use of 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment' against anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held. The amendment was added to a $440 billion military spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/ahstq ----- 4) High Court clashes over assisted suicide Las Vegas Review-Journal "New Chief Justice John Roberts stepped forward Wednesday as an aggressive defender of federal authority to block doctor-assisted suicide, as the Supreme Court clashed over an Oregon law that lets doctors help terminally ill patients end their lives. The justices will decide if the federal government, not states, has the final say on the life-or-death issue. It was a wrenching debate for a court touched personally by illness. Roberts replaced William H. Rehnquist, who died a month ago after battling cancer for nearly a year." [editor's note: Wow -- I rather expected Roberts to be a big-government anti-federalist and anti-constitutionalist, but I didn't expect him to show his colors so truly in his very first week! - TLK] (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/7h4qo ----- 5) Iraqi parliament reverses election rules Tampa Tribune "Under U.S. and U.N. pressure, Iraq's Shiite-led parliament Wednesday reversed its last-minute electoral law changes, which would have ensured passage of a new constitution but which the United Nations called unfair. Sunni Arab leaders who had threatened a boycott because of the changes said they were satisfied with the reversal and were now mobilizing to defeat the charter at the polls. But some warned they could still call a boycott to protest major U.S. offensives launched over the past week in western Iraq, the Sunni heartland." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/42n9j ----- 6) DeLay, successor Blunt swapped donations USA Today "Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes. When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay's private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/aymqj ----- 7) Some unhappy with Bush pick for high court Indianapolis Star "Not satisfied with President Bush's word, conservative senators and others questioned Wednesday whether Harriet Miers was the best Supreme Court nominee a self-proclaimed conservative Republican president could find. 'I guess they thought we'd all just say 'Whoopee!' but that's not the way it works around here anymore,' said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. He insisted there were many potential nominees more qualified than Miers. The White House and congressional GOP leaders -- weakened by the Hurricane Katrina recovery, high gas prices, the war in Iraq and investigations of House and Senate majority leaders Tom DeLay and Bill Frist -- now find themselves defending Bush's decision to elevate his 60-year-old White House counsel to the Supreme Court." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/8dtgc ----- 8) Pakistan: Taliban spokesman arrested Houston Chronicle "Pakistan said Tuesday that it had arrested the chief spokesman of the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, in a rare move against a Taliban leader living in Pakistan. The arrest was announced on state-run Pakistan Television, PTV, by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Hakimi had been arrested in Baluchistan, a province bordering Afghanistan." (10/04/05) http://tinyurl.com/dzv97 ----- 9) Feds crack down on spyware operation Houston Chronicle "Government regulators are trying to shut down a company they say secretly downloaded spyware onto the computers of unwitting Internet users, rendering them helpless to a flood of pop-up ads, computer crashes and other annoyances. The Federal Trade Commission accused Walter Rines of Stratham, N.H., and his company, Odysseus Marketing, of luring computer users with the promise of free software that would make peer-to-peer file sharing anonymous. The claim was bogus, the agency said, and the software was bundled with spyware that was secretly downloaded onto computers." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/9lfgh ----- 10) Fears as flu virus recreated Guardian [UK] "Scientists have recreated the 1918 Spanish flu virus, one of the deadliest ever to emerge, to the alarm of many researchers who fear it presents a serious security risk. Undisclosed quantities of the virus are being held in a high-security government laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia, after a nine-year effort to rebuild the agent that swept the globe in record time and claimed the lives of an estimated 50 million people. The genetic sequence is also being made available to scientists online, a move which some fear adds a further risk of the virus being created in other labs. The recreation was carried out in an attempt to understand what made the 1918 outbreak so devastating. Reporting in the journal Science, a team lead by Dr Jeffery Taubenberger at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Maryland shows that the recreated virus is extremely effective. When injected into mice, it quickly took hold and they started to lose weight rapidly, shedding 13% of their original weight in just two days. Within six days, all mice injected with the virus had died." (10/06/05) http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1585977,00.html ----- 11) CIA agents won't be punished for 9/11 errors CNN "CIA Director Porter Goss has decided against punishing agency employees singled out by the CIA inspector general for mistakes that contributed to the failure of U.S. intelligence to stop the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. 'I will not convene an accountability board to judge the performances of any individual CIA officers,' Goss said in a statement released to reporters Wednesday." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/9o6pe ----- 12) Possible White House spying probed CNN "The White House is cooperating with an FBI investigation into a former Marine who worked in the vice president's office and has been charged with passing classified information to Philippine officials. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, a 21-year Marine veteran who became an FBI intelligence analyst last year, already has been charged in New Jersey with passing classified information about Filipino leaders to current and former officials of that nation." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/acdbw ----- 13) "UnGoogleables" hide from search Wired News "Geri Agalia doesn't appear to leave less of a data trail than most Americans. She has a phone in her name, a bank account, utility bills, a mortgage and a credit card. But the stay-at-home mom and part-time student is among a select and ever-shrinking group of the digitally privileged -- her name does not appear on Google. 'I just value my privacy,' says Agalia, who lives in San Diego. 'And I think that the government and corporations already know too much about people for the benefit of marketing.' ... These unGoogleables don't post online, blog, publish or build web pages using their own names. They're careful about revealing information to businesses, belong to few organizations that can leak personal data, and never submit online resumes -- all common ways that Google captures your data. They spoke to Wired News only on condition that their names be changed for this story." (10/03/05) http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,68998,00.html ----- 14) School expels author for gay jibe about Potter Independent [UK] "His epic tale of an evil sorcerer's efforts to dominate the universe from Yorkshire was praised by critics, sold 250,000 copies and secured a £2.5m film deal. But when G P Taylor, a former vicar turned publishing phenomenon with his fantasy novel Shadowmancer, addressed 120 pupils at a Cornish secondary school, staff took a different view of his use of the English language. The talk by the children's author was abruptly ended and his audience of 12-year-olds ordered to return to their classrooms after he used what the school termed 'inappropriate language.' His crime was to have used words such as 'bum,' 'fart,' 'bogey' and 'crap,' as well as comparing Harry Potter to a gay character in the television comedy show Little Britain. ... He said: 'I have done this talk in many schools and I have been invited back many times. If the words 'fart' and 'bogey' are unacceptable, that's sad. I heard these kids speaking in the school and outside, and they were using language far worse than the language I used.'" (10/05/05) http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article317496.ece ----- 15) Brazil: Thousands join fasting bishop in protest Planet Ark "A 2,000-strong crowd gathered around a small chapel on the banks of Brazil's Sao Francisco River on Tuesday in a show of support for a bishop who is staging a hunger strike to stop a government project that would divert its waters for irrigation. ... The project would divert the river through a 440 mile (700 km) network of canals to irrigate large areas of Brazil's dry, poverty-stricken northeast. Cappio and other critics say the $2 billion plan will benefit big business rather than help the poor. He has vowed to fast until death unless President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva cancels it. ... Critics say the huge canals to transport water across five states are costly, unnecessary and aimed at promoting Lula's possible reelection in 2006. Cappio proposes smaller projects to store and distribute water for the rural poor." (10/05/05) http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/32813/story.htm ----- 16) Nobel shared by American, German physicists Boston Globe "Four decades after his research launched a whole new branch of physics, Harvard (and Arizona) University professor Roy J. Glauber was named a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize yesterday for insights into the strange behavior of light that laid the groundwork for high precision instruments from lasers to global positioning systems. Sharing the $1.3 million physics award with Glauber are two experimental physicists -- John L. Hall of the United States and Theodor W. Hänsch of Germany -- whose work built on Glauber's predictions of how tiny amounts of light behave. Hall and Hänsch devised an ingenious way to measure light that will probably lead to the most accurate clocks ever devised, improved global positioning systems, and other new technologies." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/77pof ----- 17) Carter son considers Senate run San Francisco Chronicle "Jack Carter, the oldest child of former President Carter, said he's considering a run for the Senate, citing unhappiness with the federal government's handling of Hurricane Katrina. 'I'm more concerned than ever with the way that the country is headed,' said Carter, 58. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Tuesday's editions that he's considering a challenge of Sen. John Ensign [R-NV] in 2006. He termed himself a social liberal with conservative Southern roots and a business background that taught him that 'you pay for what you spend. ... I'm very seriously exploring it,' he said. 'I had not planned to run for office. I have no infrastructure and this is new to me.'" (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/dlltq ----- 18) Arizona: Buddhists save dogs left after hurricane Arizona Republic "Tibetan Buddhists see reincarnation as more of a circle than a straight line. One past life can lead to any other life, which means a person could come back as a lost dog. That is why Buddhists based in Sedona are now caring for more than 100 dogs at an Arizona ranch. The dogs had been abandoned in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. 'The traditional teaching from the Buddha is that any animal could be somebody you love,' said Alana Elgin, a Buddhist nun with the Kunzang Palyul Chöling in Sedona. This particular group of animals has survived the horror of the hurricane, the danger of the flood and being abandoned by their families." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/7r9ap ----- 19) Tennessee: Trip would promote bottle deposit bill Tennessean "State Rep. Russell Johnson is planning a trip -- paid for with his own campaign funds -- to take interested colleagues to Maine to learn more about how a 5-cent bottle deposit law could benefit Tennessee. The Loudon Republican says the trip would be a unique way to lobby for a bill that is opposed by much of the beverage industry. 'I think it's a novel approach to the ethics issue,' Johnson said. 'It is sort of a way to lobby for a bill that now receives so much lobbying pressure from the other direction.' Johnson sponsored a bottle bill in the last legislative session that died in committee, but he plans to reintroduce the bill in the next session." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/b2dtn ----- 20) British tolerance of forced marriages wanes Christian Science Monitor "In a drafty railway station cafe in England's Midlands, Ayesha, a young Muslim girl whose family is from Pakistan, is trying not to cry as she talks about her wedding day. 'When I was young I always expected to have an arranged marriage,' she says. 'But I also thought that I'd get a chance to know the man first.' Instead, at 17, her family forced her to marry a man she had never met. When Ayesha, not her real name, tried to have the marriage annulled, she was disowned by her family, and forced to flee her hometown of Birmingham. Although every year hundreds of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu women in Britain, according to figures from the government and aid agencies, are forced into marriage to fulfill traditional ideas of family honor or parental prestige, Britain's government has so far been reluctant to interfere in the private lives of immigrants." (10/05/05) http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1005/p06s02-woeu.html Commentary 21) The right's left turn FrontPageMag by Jacob Laksin "[Lew] Rockwell's certitude about the essentially fascistic character of the Bush administration has prompted him to embrace an unlikely ally: the far left. The alliance is contracted unambiguously in a December 2004 column Rockwell penned for his website. In it, he urged his libertarian adherents to make common cause with the anti-war left. 'In short, what we have alive in the US is an updated and Americanized fascism,' Rockwell explained. The solution, he added, 'requires that we face the reality of the current threat forthrightly by extending more rhetorical tolerance leftward and less rightward. What is the most pressing and urgent threat to freedom that we face in our time? It is not from the left.'" (10/05/05) http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19727 ----- 22) In defense of Lew Rockwell AntiWar.Com by Joshua Frank "President Bush and co. can only get away with their imperial agendas as long as the U.S. public remains catatonic. But alas, citizens are slowly waking from their slumber, and Bush's henchmen at FrontPage aren't the least bit happy about it. Any alliance between occasional political foes more than worries the pro-war gang; it scares the holy bejesus out of 'em. In their little, twisted, misinformed worlds, if the majority of America starts turning on Bush, they must simultaneously be thumbing through the pages of the Communist Manifesto. That's hogwash, of course. All the new poll numbers indicate is that Americans realize they've been lied to, spit on, and slapped around by the Bush administration. And they've had enough of it." (10/06/05) http://www.antiwar.com/orig/jfrank.php?articleid=7531 ----- 23) A white oppressor? Who, me? iFeminists.Com by Wendy McElroy "Your daughter is enrolled at a major university that has well-defined policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race. She decides to attend a campus event. The organizers forbid her entry because of her skin color: white. Under concerted pressure from the Student Government Association, which prohibits racial discrimination at school-sponsored events, the organizers grudgingly admit your daughter. But they make a point of publicly humiliating her from the podium for the color of her skin. On Sept. 25, the Women's Studies and Graduate Consortium at Northeastern University in Boston held a public on-campus meeting called 'Breaking Bread: Women of Color Dialogue.' White women were barred." (10/05/05) http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2005/1005.html ----- 24) The inherent contradictions of forcible government LewRockwell.Com by Brad Edmonds "Forcible government has been a part of human civilization (using the term 'civilization' loosely) for thousands of years -- indeed, for all of recorded history. There have been experiments in non-forcible governance bordering on anarcho-capitalism, in Iceland, Ireland, and the American west, and these instances produced long periods of peace and prosperity; but all in all, few humans whose names we know have lived outside forcible government. Of course, every government has justified its existence in terms of improving the lives of those governed. This is the first and most obvious contradiction behind forcible government, as every government in recorded history has made life worse for its subjects than it need have been ..." (10/06/05) http://www.lewrockwell.com/edmonds/edmonds264.html ----- 25) Iraq: A prediction [EMAIL PROTECTED] by Thomas L. Knapp "Many years ago, an associate ... worked in a union shop. The contract was up, things were at a deadlock, and a strike seemed not only inevitable, but desirable. Sometimes ya just gotta show'em who's boss. My associate voted, and was in some way, shape manner or form involved in the ballot counting .... The new contract was approved ... by two votes. And then the union business manager walked over to the table, picked up three of the counted 'yes' ballots, wadded them up and threw them in the trash. 'This strike is necessary,' he said to my associate, 'and I'll be damned if I'll let two votes stand in the way of what's necessary.' From the perspective of the sitting pre-constitutional government, and of the Bush administration, this constitution is necessary ... and I doubt that they'll let a few votes stand in the way." (10/04/05) http://knappster.blogspot.com/2005/10/iraq-prediction.html ----- 26) The myth of the paper trail Reason by Tim Cavanaugh "With so many uncertainties, at least we know one thing for sure: Miers' greatest strength is her lack of a paper trail that could lead to an ideological fight in her Senate confirmation hearings. Forget her bragging rights as president of a 400-person law firm, president of the Dallas Bar Association, and president of the Texas State Bar. Miers' real selling point is that she provides no outstanding opinions or controversial rulings for her opponents to exploit; and in the contemporary climate of Senate confirmation hearings, this is the most important qualification a candidate can boast. Or is it?" (10/06/05) http://www.reason.com/links/links100605.shtml ----- 27) Fall of the Rovean empire? Salon by Sidney Blumenthal "For 30 years, beginning with the Nixon presidency, advanced under Reagan, stalled with the elder Bush, a new political economy struggled to be born. The idea was pure and simple: centralization of power in the hands of the Republican Party would ensure that it never lost it again. Under George W. Bush, this new system reached its apotheosis. It is a radically novel social, political and economic formation that deserves study alongside capitalism and socialism. Neither Adam Smith nor Vladimir Lenin captures its essence, though it has far more elements of Leninist democratic-centralism than Smithian free markets. Some have referred to this model as crony capitalism; others compare the waste, extravagance and greed to the Gilded Age. Call it 21st century Republicanism." [subscription or ad view required] (10/06/05) http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/10/06/rovean_empire ----- 28) Feingold: A fresh breeze and perhaps a sea change The Free Liberal by Bernie Quigley "[W]e had a bright moment here in New Hampshire last week when Russ Feingold, the Democratic Senator from Wisconsin, came up to give us a talk. Feingold is not running for President but the series in which he spoke is called, 'Road to the White House.' So it is not an impossibility, and it must be somewhere in the back of his mind. Feingold is a unique politician and one of the six who voted in opposition to the war on Iraq. But he is not a consistent pacifist, or an 'alternative' candidate like Howard Dean or a perennial oppositional leftist like Ted Kennedy by any means. He is main stream and main street." (10/06/05) http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/001486.html ----- 29) Gods vs. geeks Slate by John Dickerson "The debate within the Republican Party over Harriet Miers has quickly devolved into a simple question: Is the nominee qualified because of her religious faith, or unqualified by her lack of intellectual heft? On the one side, James Dobson, Miers' fellow parishioners at Valley View Christian Church, and President Bush speak for her heart. On the other, George Will and William Kristol and others who swooned for John Roberts decry her unimpressive legal mind. In this battle, the White House has clearly sided with the churchgoing masses against the Republican Party's own whiny Beltway intellectuals. The Bushies have always mistrusted their own bow-tied secularists, but the rift has never before been so public." (10/05/05) http://www.slate.com/id/2127492/ ----- 30) Easy come, easy go Free Market News Network by Rob Kirby "This past week saw already unsettling rhetoric between the U.S. and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez 'kick it up a couple notches,' so to speak, when it was revealed on Friday, Sept. 30 -- that Venezuela had moved its central bank foreign reserves out of U.S. banks, liquidating its holdings in U.S. Treasury securities ---moving the proceeds to Europe. 'We've had to move the international reserves from U.S. banks because of the threats from the U.S.,' Chavez said during televised remarks from a South American summit in Brazil. Anyone ever wonder what the Venezuelans might be purchasing with those proceeds? While it's perhaps somewhat difficult to view this development in a positive light -- it did shed some light on what might have been motivating the Fed's aggressive actions 'behind the curtain' where their Open Market Operations are concerned ..." (10/06/05) http://tinyurl.com/7qvyd ----- 31) The recusal trap The American Spectator by John C. Wohlstetter "President Bush's choice of White House counsel Harriet Miers has prompted much criticism, but his friends miss perhaps the biggest problem with the nomination: the likelihood that if confirmed the new Justice, because of her White House work, will recuse herself in major cases where her vote could prove decisive -- notably, war cases. The White House can claim executive privilege and refuse the Senate Miers's memos written as White House counsel. ... But if Senators are prevented from seeing memos they should ask on what actual cases Miers has advised the President. Under federal law, if Ms. Miers is confirmed, and has professionally advised on a matter that subsequently comes before her on the bench, she must recuse herself." (10/06/05) http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=8848 ----- 32) A bugged game AlterNet by Annalee Newitz "The thing that really pisses me off is that this is all being done in the name of having fun and playing games. I'm supposed to give up my Fourth Amendment rights in order to ax a bunch of warriors controlled by teenagers in Milwaukee? No thanks. I'd rather go back to playing Dungeons and Dragons, where at least I could roll the dice without the DM reading all my f--king e-mail. Breaking the rules isn't nice, but this is a game, people -- a game!" (10/04/05) http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/26402/ ----- 33) Dead but not gone The American Conservative by William S. Lind Review of The Strange Death of Marxism by Paul Gottfried: "It sometimes happens that the worst characteristic of an otherwise valuable book is its title. Such is the case with Paul Gottfried's latest work .... Instead of Marxism's obituary, what Gottfried has actually written is the story of its transmutation into -- well, into exactly what remains in dispute. Whatever it might best be called, it is clearly the basis for the political correctness and multiculturalism that have become the state ideology in most of Europe and the United States." (for publication 10/10/05) http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_10_10/review1.html ----- 34) Beyond the (in)security state Mother Jones by Ira Chernus "Who can deny it? It's an almost physical pleasure to watch George W. Bush's fall from grace. And it's so easy. All you have to do is say, 'Bush has botched the war on terrorism. Bush is not keeping us safe from terrorists -- or from the terrors of nature.' You've already got over half the country with you, and more are jumping on board the anti-Bush train every day. But before we settle in to ride that train to political glory, we ought to consider whether it can really take us to a better future." (10/04/05) http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2005/10/fear.html ----- 35) Sunshine gun laws Hawaii Reporter by Alan Korwin and Mark Moritz "Experts are anticipating a flood of new anti-rights legislation from people terrified of guns. That flow should be met head-on with measures blatantly supportive of individual rights, in defense of the personal liberties we anchor for the rest of the world. ... POOR-MAN'S-GUN-BAN BAN Congress shall make no law restricting a person who may drive an inexpensive car, watch an inexpensive TV or eat inexpensive food, from buying an inexpensive gun. It is the belief of Congress that a family living in a slum has as much right to protect itself as homeowners in suburbia. Racist measures seeking to allow only large expensive guns are a national disgrace." (10/04/05) http://tinyurl.com/bmfty ----- 36) DNA chips bring personalized medicine to China Asia Times by Matt Young "Overcrowded hospitals and underserved patients are still part of Chinese healthcare-as-usual, but some researchers and businesses are introducing some of the most cutting-edge Western medical technology in an effort to personalize medicine in China. Known technically as pharmacogenetics (sometimes called pharmacogenomics), their research doesn't involve better bedside manners, but rapidly analyzing Chinese patients' individual genetic makeup, which can affect their response to drugs." (10/06/05) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/GJ06Cb01.html ----- 37) Arrogance in the face of disaster Common Dreams by Stephen Zunes "One of the most tragically irresponsible decisions of the Bush administration in the critical hours following Hurricane Katrina was its refusal to accept offers by the government of Cuba to immediately dispatch more than 1500 medical doctors with 37 tons of medical supplies to the devastated areas along the Gulf coast. ... A full week after President Castro's initial offer, the State Department finally did respond, officially rejecting the offer on the grounds that the United States did not have full diplomatic relations with Cuba. Notably, the Bush administration did accept aid from the government of Taiwan, with which the United States does not have full diplomatic relations either. ... Curiously, despite outcries by Congressional Democrats regarding other areas of negligence and incompetence by the Bush administration surrounding Hurricane Katrina, little attention has been given to the Bush administration's tragic decision to reject the offer of Cuban aid. Part of the reason may be that the Democratic Party has for decades shared the Republicans' seemingly pathological hostility toward Cuba even as they have supported bipartisan efforts to pursue close economic relations and even military and police aid to regimes with even worse human rights records." [editor's note: It's not hostility to Cuba, Mr. Zunes; it's hostility to Cuba's evil dictator - TLK] (10/05/05) http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1005-24.htm ----- 38) Doing the right wing's dirty work CounterPunch by Alan Maas "It was no surprise when Christopher Hitchens and his fellow neo-cons slandered British antiwar leader George Galloway during his North American speaking tour in September. But some of the ugliest attacks on Galloway came from liberals -- namely, journalist Greg Palast and LA Weekly commentator Marc Cooper. These hatchet jobs, directed at the best-known antiwar figure in Britain, were obviously designed to discourage people from turning out to hear Galloway speak. But they were also about something more -- trying to impose political conformity on the antiwar movement by attempting to marginalize a figure from the left, in particular, on the question of how the U.S. occupation has been opposed in Iraq." (10/05/05) http://www.counterpunch.org/maass10052005.html ----- 39) Our rogue republic's dangerous game of risk Strike the Root by Doug Herman "The Great Game, Rudyard Kipling called the global land grab that passed for empire building in the Middle East during the late Nineteenth century. Nowadays I call it Risk, the game of global domination." (10/05/05) http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/herman/herman16.html ----- 40) Economics and the story of freedom Ludwig von Mises Institute by staff "The story of freedom can't be told without economics. What a beautiful science it is, especially when it is explained by Murray Rothbard. He was one of the most brilliant historians of economic thought. He knew how capitalism was essential to the rise of modern civilization, and he told the whole story in two towering volumes called An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought." (10/05/05) http://www.mises.org/story/1897 ----- 41) School choice foes propose diverting voucher funds Heartland Institute by Mike Ford "Two Wisconsin state senators are trying to garner support for a plan to divert voucher money from low-income city children enrolled in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) to a school district in far northern Wisconsin. After failing to receive voter support for a $2.25 million district-wide referendum, the Florence County School Board voted June 29 to dissolve the 600-student district on July 1, 2006. If that happens, Florence students will be absorbed by neighboring school districts." (10/05) http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17801 ----- 42) Profiting from misfortune Future of Freedom Foundation by Sheldon Richman "Amid the shrieks of price gouging as hurricanes ravaged the Gulf coast were a few voices of good economic sense. They correctly pointed out that when supplies of vital goods are disrupted, nothing matches the price system for restoring normalcy as quickly as possible. It does so by encouraging conservation and attracting additional supplies. In each case, it is the rising price that causes the badly needed effect." (10/05/05) http://www.fff.org/comment/com0510b.asp ----- 43) Trading real liberty for impossible equality Foundation for Economic Edcuation by Tibor R. Machan "Modern 'liberals' say they want liberty for all, sovereignty for each individual, but first they want to make sure that everyone is equal, starting from the same socio-economic position (which includes health and welfare in all spheres). Thinkers like the famous German neo-Marxist Jürgen Habermas and the American legal theorist Ronald Dworkin, not to mention radical egalitarians like Kai Nielsen and more moderate ones such as James P. Sterba, assure us that liberty, individual rights, and personal autonomy are all fine things, but only if people start from the same point and are assured fairness as they make their way through life." (10/05/05) http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=7244 ----- 44) Sic transit Maria Landrieu Competitive Enterprise Institute by Iain Murray "When Sen. Mary Landrieu (D.-La.) appeared on Fox News Sunday on September 11, she blamed the fact that so many people were left behind in New Orleans on the administration's transportation policies: 'In other words, this administration did not believe in mass transit. They won't even get people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out.' This characterization displays a profound ignorance of the realities of urban transportation. Mass transit would not have helped; only increased automobility would have." (10/05/05) http://www.cei.org/gencon/019,04879.cfm ----- 45) Afterthoughts on the aftermath Acton Institute by D. Eric Schansberg "A month after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of levees around New Orleans, and the disappointment with the government's relief efforts, let's take a look at the lessons we should learn from this disaster. The disaster was much more about the flood than the hurricane. Many people seem to be missing this point. The over-estimation of Hurricane Rita's predicted impact is one symptom. Another side-effect is that, relatively speaking, the damage wrought by Katrina outside of New Orleans was ignored by the media. When we think about the devastation of hurricanes, unfortunately, we're far more likely to remember flooded New Orleans than flattened coastal Mississippi." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/aad2b ----- 46) The jury is still out on protecting gun makers Liberty For All by GOA staff "Sometimes it's a lonely battle fighting gun control. GOA was the only gun group fighting trigger locks in the Senate, and once again, is the only group fighting these gun restrictions in the House. The drums in the House are beating for gun control. There are two bills that would take baby steps toward protecting gun makers from the frivolous lawsuits that are plaguing the industry. The House bill (H.R. 800) would help protect gun makers WITHOUT imposing any new gun restrictions. The Senate bill (S. 397) attempts to help gun makers, but does so by 'sticking it' to all gun owners as well." (10/06/05) http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/oct15/Jury.html ----- 47) Category 5 hot air Washington Times by Walter E. Williams "President Bush, in his post-Hurricane Katrina address to the nation, said, 'And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.' Accepting blame for the federal response is one thing, but I hope he doesn't shoulder blame for the hurricane itself. In a Sept. 9 speech to the National Sierra Club Convention in San Francisco, former Vice President Al Gore said Hurricane Katrina and global warming are related: 'We will face a string of terrible catastrophes unless we act to prepare ourselves and deal with the underlying causes of global warming.' Our European allies, most of whom have signed the Kyoto Protocol, have made scathing attacks on President Bush. 'Katrina should be a lesson to the U.S. on global warming,' read a headline of the German magazine Der Spiegel. Jurgen Tritten, Germany's environment minister and a Green Party member, said, 'The American president is closing his eyes to the economic and human costs his land and the world economy are suffering under natural catastrophes like Katrina.'" (10/05/05) http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20051004-093113-9284r.htm ----- 48) Running from the running The American Prospect by David Weigel "On Monday morning, West Virginia Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito dashed five years of Republican hopes and announced she would not run against Senator Robert Byrd. The formerly rock-solid Democratic state (52 percent for Michael Dukakis) gave George W. Bush a 13-point landslide last year, and Republicans had considered a Thune v. Daschle-style upset of the 87-year-old Byrd a top 2006 goal. In July, the National Republican Senatorial Committee charged in with the cycle's first negative ad -- $53,000 of airtime for a TV spot attacking the senator. But it couldn't get Capito in the race. Coming only four days after North Dakota Governor John Hoeven's decision not to challenge Senator Kent Conrad, Capito's bluff should wave a matador-sized red flag about Republican chances for 2006." (10/05/05) http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10387 ----- 49) Death squads and diplomacy Tom Paine by Robert Dreyfuss "A flurry of Arab diplomacy over the last few days is unfolding in a rear-guard effort to prevent the crisis in Iraq from exploding into what Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal warned last month could be a regional civil war involving not only Iraq, but all of its neighbors. The main, and well-deserved, target of Saud's ire was the increasingly authoritarian and brutal rule of the main Iraqi Shiite parties, especially the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), whose Badr Brigade militia are terrorizing Iraq's secular, urban Shiite population and carrying out death-squad attacks against Sunnis. The attacks against the Sunnis are aimed not only at the Iraqi armed resistance but at secular, nationalist Sunni leaders and activists." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/caq7n ----- 50) Miers: A choice with few footprints The Nation by David Corn "Here we go again. Another pick for the Supreme Court without much -- or, in this case, any -- judicial experience. And that will make it hard for senators -- or anyone else -- to assess what sort of Justice Harriet Miers, currently George W. Bush's White House counsel, will be if the Senate confirms her as Bush's pick to replace the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor. In announcing his selection of Miers, Bush said, 'I believe that senators of both parties will find that Harriet Miers's talent, experience and judicial philosophy make her a superb choice.' But what precisely is her 'judicial philosophy?' And how can it be discerned?" (10/04/05) http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=26302 ----- 51) Did Bush blink on Supreme Court pick? Sierra Times by Vincent Fiore "A year into his second term, President Bush may be feeling the effects of political shell shock. Even putting aside the first four years of his presidency, Bush has had a dubious, if not distressful beginning to this, his final years in elected office. The last month, particularly, has been brutal. Through no fault of his own, Bush has had to deal with the fickleness of nature -- Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- and the harsh political damage that came with them. Bush, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was widely blamed for what was sensationally reported as a near-criminal response to Hurricane Katrina. Subsequently, FEMA director Michael Brown was fired, and the agency did recover to do a much more credible job in regard to Hurricane Rita. But the damage was done." (10/05/05) http://www.sierratimes.com/05/10/05/64_12_116_12_96369.htm ----- 52) The people's voice on gay marriage Boston Globe by Jeff Jacoby "When California lawmakers narrowly passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage last month, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he would veto it. Not because he opposes legal rights for gay and lesbian couples -- he doesn't -- but because he opposes treating California elections as meaningless. Five years ago, Californians went to the polls and approved Proposition 22, a ballot initiative confirming the traditional definition of marriage. Unless they change their minds or are overruled by the Supreme Court, Schwarzenegger said, their decision ought to be binding. ... Needless to say, liberal supporters of gay marriage had a fit. ... But it wasn't Schwarzenegger who was being disingenuous ..." (10/05/05) http://tinyurl.com/9z4pm Movement News and Events 53) New site: Motho Movement Motho Movement "The Motho Movement hopes to bring the libertarian ideals of respect for life and property to the wider South African community through education, interaction with the media, and personal contacts." http://www.libertarian.org.za/ ----- 54) Libertarian writer: Want to get paid? from Reason to Freedom ongoing "Are you a libertarian writer who can produce an article on roughly a weekly or biweekly basis? And you would like to get paid for it? Would you rather use your time writing and thereby spreading the libertarian message than learning search engine optimization techniques (SEO), researching revenue generation methods, understanding visitor acquisition techniques, or devoting time to marketing? ... we are now adding writers." http://www.reasontofreedom.com/Libertarian_Writer.html ----- 55) 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/ ----- 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) Tyndale's fire 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, unsubscribe, or financially support RRND, visit: http://www.rationalreview.com/news To support ISIL's Free-Market.Net Project (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 --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/VpgUKB/pzNLAA/cUmLAA/KlSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 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/
