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 IV, Issue #806 Thursday, January 5th, 2005 Email Circulation 2,072 ------ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS -------------------------------------- LIBERTARIAN? TIRED OF BEING A SLAVE? Discover how to locally build, market and popularize liberty. No need to move or give up. Free libertarian outreach materials, eBooks and more. You can be free. Join us. http://libertopia.net/pages/downloads.html BUREAUCRASH CONTRABAND Buy a subversive tee or 5 for your favorite free-thinker. They make great Chrismukkahwanzadan gifts! http://bureaucrash.com/contraband LIBERTYSTICKERS.COM The world's most dangerous stickers! http://www.libertystickers.com THE THIRD REVOLUTION Follow libertarian governor Ben Kane as he walks a harrowing tightrope between his conscience and the law. "[D]eserves to attract the attention of Libertarians and fiction lovers alike." -- LP News http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591135001/rationalrev08-20 -------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ----- Today's News: 1) Iraq: Attacks on Shiites, police kill 99 2) Afghanistan: Blast kills ten during envoy's visit 3) FISA court seeks answers on Bush spy plot 4) Supreme Court: US can "launder" Padilla kidnapping with charges 5) Texas: Libertarians field record slate 6) Saudi Arabia: 23 killed in Mecca hotel collapse 7) Israel: Sharon's condition critical after surgery 8) Texas: Gubernatorial candidate bolts GOP 9) Man held for desertion -- 40 years ago 10) Bush returning funds linked to Abramoff 11) Abramoff pleads guilty to more federal charges 12) Bush: Iraqi forces will take more control in 2006 13) PA: Swann to run for governor 14) Nigeria: The curse of the miracle healers 15) Stoli'n'Tang, neat 16) MI: Burglar could get life 17) CO: Man shot after bar break-in 18) MD: Store robbery leads to shootout 19) Groups go to court over wiretap rule for Internet calls 20) CA: Phys ed teacher busted for filming students 21) Arizona Poll: Many want feds, state to step up in health care 22) Prescriptions of mind-altering drugs for teens rise 23) MO: Largest prime numb3r found 24) CT: Kelo battle goes on, despite ruling 25) MA: Lawmakers seek to end limits on church liability Today's Commentary: 26) The unrestrained presidency 27) Taking a leak 28) 9,240 victims, and counting 29) Troop reduction legerdemain 30) The dog that has not barked 31) By the grace of God, free markets are healing the blind 32) The books that rock the cradle 33) Cornering freedom in China 34) Students against the democratic process 35) Free the Barrett Report 36) Bush's war on professionals 37) Jargon good, oil bad 38) Deceptive Munich 39) Plea Bargain With America 40) Politically correct suicide 41) Source code 42) Sun Tzu and the art of spying 43) Enviros' agenda is selfishness and greed 44) Abortion, trauma and control 45) The spy plan's spoiler 46) Wait for Microsoft WMF patch? No thanks! 47) They don't tell him anything 48) Pundits disguising their own Iraq failures 49) Intellectual history 50) Iran's future: Watch the streets 51) To Russia, love Tom DeLay 52) Iran's anti-gay pogrom 53) Abolish anti-discrimination laws 54) Minimum wage ACORN roots 55) Good test scores begin with room to think 56) Demand growing for cyber medicine 57) How the stewardess lost her stripes 58) PETA: Cruel and unusual 59) The education monopoly and Intelligent Design 60) Martin's handgun ban idea a cheap political subterfuge Today's Movement News and Events: 61) BlogLaunch: Yearning to Breathe Free 62) Stop Big Brother Project 63) Book Forum: Electing to Fight 64) Austrian Scholars Conference 2006 Today in Political History: 65) Twelve Zeroes News 1) Iraq: Attacks on Shiites, police kill 99 ABC News "Suicide bombers targeted Shiite pilgrims in the south and police recruits in central Iraq Thursday, killing almost 100 people in a stepped-up line of attacks. Thursday's bombings came a day after insurgents killed 53 people, including 32 killed by a suicide attacker at a Shiite funeral east of Baqouba. ... The blast near the Imam Hussein shrine in central Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, killed at least 49 people and injured 52 .... In Ramadi, police and hospital officials said at least 50 people were killed and 40 injured in a suicide attack on a line of police recruits. ... Meanwhile, a roadside bomb south of Karbala hit an American convoy, and there were multiple U.S. casualties, said Iraqi police Capt. Rahim Salho." (01/05/06) http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1473438 ----- 2) Afghanistan: Blast kills ten during envoy's visit Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "A suicide attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body during a visit by the U.S. ambassador Thursday, killing 10 Afghans and wounding 50, Afghan officials said. Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann and other American officials were unhurt, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. A purported Taliban spokesman said the Americans were targeted. The attack occurred about a quarter-mile from the governor's house in the central Afghan town of Tirin Kot in Uruzgan province, said Abdullah Khan, the governor's spokesman. The Americans were inside the building at the time." (01/05/06) http://tinyurl.com/84l3v ----- 3) FISA court seeks answers on Bush spy plot Washington Post "The members of a secret federal court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence officials about a controversial warrantless-eavesdropping program, according to sources familiar with the arrangements. Several judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said they want to hear directly from administration officials why President Bush believed he had the authority to order, without the court's permission, wiretapping of some phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. ... The court is made up of 11 judges who, on a rotating basis, hear government applications for surveillance warrants. But only the presiding judge, currently Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, was notified of the government eavesdropping program. One judge, James Robertson, who also serves on the federal bench in Washington, resigned his seat on the surveillance court in protest shortly after the wiretapping was revealed by the New York Times in mid-December." (01/05/06) http://tinyurl.com/bppx6 ----- 4) Supreme Court: US can "launder" Padilla kidnapping with charges Indianapolis Star "The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to let the military transfer accused 'enemy combatant' Jose Padilla to Miami to face criminal charges in at least a temporary victory for the Bush administration. The justices overruled a lower court, which had attempted to block the transfer as part of a rebuke to the White House. The high court said it would decide later whether to consider the inmate's argument that President Bush overstepped his authority by ordering Padilla's indefinite detention in 2002." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/djt24 ----- 5) Texas: Libertarians field record slate KGBT 4 TV "A record 187 candidates have filed with the Libertarian Party of Texas to run this year for federal, state and district offices across Texas. ... Libertarian candidates have filed to run in 30 of the state's 32 congressional districts, eleven of the 16 state Senate districts and 97 of the 150 Texas House districts. Libertarians also have filed to run for all statewide elected offices except presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals." (01/04/06) http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=4316813&nav=0w0v ----- 6) Saudi Arabia: 23 killed in Mecca hotel collapse Terre Haute Tribune "A hotel outside the Grand Mosque in Islam's holiest city collapsed Thursday as millions of Muslims converged for the annual hajj pilgrimage, and Al-Jazeera TV said at least 23 people were killed and 60 injured. Rescue teams pulled bodies from beneath the rubble of the five-story Al Ghaza Hotel. Most of the victims were Arabs from Egypt, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media." (01/05/06) http://tinyurl.com/75yd9 ----- 7) Israel: Sharon's condition critical after surgery Guardian [UK] "The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was today in intensive care after seven hours of emergency surgery to stop 'massive, widespread' bleeding in his brain. The 77-year-old was rushed to hospital from his ranch in the Negev desert last night after complaining that he felt unwell. He suffered a mild stroke last month, and the bleeding is believed to have developed on the hour-long ambulance journey to Jerusalem. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the hospital to which Mr Sharon was taken, said his vital signs were'functional and stable' but that the cerebral haemorrhage -- also known as a bleeding stroke -- had left him in a severe condition. He said the prime minister would be under anaesthetic and ventilated for at least the next 24 hours as part of the treatment. Close associates of Mr Sharon said they did not expect him to return to office. His illness throws Israeli politics and diplomacy throughout the region into turmoil amid election campaigns for both the Palestinians and Israel." (01/05/06) http://tinyurl.com/b8m9h ----- 8) Texas: Gubernatorial candidate bolts GOP Austin Chronicle "With her political campaign on the ropes, state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn launched a Hail Mary pass Monday, declaring herself an independent candidate for the governor's seat. While not altogether surprising -- rumors of an identity switch had circulated for a couple of weeks -- Strayhorn's decision to sit out the GOP race against bitter rival Gov. Rick Perry drew a mixture of scorn and praise -- and no shortage of jokes. ... Strayhorn has her work cut out for her. Like indie candidate Kinky Friedman, the comptroller will have just 60 days after the March 7 primary to collect 45,450 signatures from registered voters to qualify for the November ballot." (01/05/06) http://tinyurl.com/aw3bb ----- 9) Man held for desertion -- 40 years ago Myrtle Beach Online "Military prosecutors have charged a 65-year-old Florida man with deserting the Marine Corps during the Vietnam war solely to serve as an example to troops in Iraq, his civilian defense lawyers charged Wednesday. The accusation was quickly rejected by a Marines Corps spokeswoman, who said the Corps does not act against accused deserters to scare others in the ranks. ... Jerry Texiero is suspected of leaving Camp Pendleton, Calif., without permission in 1965. The Corps has held him at Camp Lejeune since Dec. 14, said base spokeswoman Lt. Col. Annita Best. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to three years in prison." (01/04/06) http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/13549608.htm ----- 10) Bush returning funds linked to Abramoff Houston Chronicle "President Bush's re-election campaign is giving to charity thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from disgraced former lobbyist and Bush fund-raising 'pioneer' Jack Abramoff, the White House said today. Abramoff, once a high-flying deal-maker in Washington with ties to numerous lawmakers, including Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/a5qtt ----- 11) Abramoff pleads guilty to more federal charges MSNBC "Once-powerful lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiracy and wire fraud stemming from his 2000 purchase of a gambling boat fleet. The plea by Abramoff, 46, before U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck came a day after Abramoff entered guilty pleas to three other federal charges as part of an agreement with prosecutors requiring him to cooperate in a broad corruption investigation into members of Congress." (01/04/06) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10706220/ ----- 12) Bush: Iraqi forces will take more control in 2006 CNN "President Bush said Wednesday that U.S. efforts in Iraq are bearing fruit, and predicted that Iraqi forces will shoulder more of the responsibility this year and that U.S. force levels will drop. 'Those who want to stop the progress of freedom are becoming more and more marginalized,' Bush told reporters at the Pentagon after meeting with members of his national security team, led by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/dmcqq ----- 13) PA: Swann to run for governor Cincinnati Enquirer "Former Steelers star Lynn Swann declared his candidacy for Pennsylvania governor Wednesday in the city where he made his name in professional football. He told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday afternoon that he made up his mind to run in the fall, after spending months weighing support at events around the state. Swann, a Hall of Fame receiver and longtime TV football commentator, faces three other candidates in seeking the Republican nomination for governor -- his first run for political office." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/d5w6b ----- 14) Nigeria: The curse of the miracle healers Guardian [UK] "Some HIV-positive churchgoers are suffering at the hands of their pastors who, in order to attract more worshippers - and consequently make more money at the offertory - claim they can cure their congregations of HIV. These church leaders instruct worshippers to pray to receive their blessing. Believers are told they will be exhibiting a lack of faith if they continue with their antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) or if they take a HIV test to confirm the healing. This leads to disaster for many." (01/04/06) http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1677905,00.html ----- 15) Stoli'n'Tang, neat Ananova [UK] "The ban on astronauts drinking alcohol aboard the International Space Station could be about to be lifted. It follows pressure from Russian authorities to allow 'overworked cosmonauts a chance to restore their strength.' A source from the Russian medical team for manned space programmes told the Russian Interfax agency: 'They spend over half a year in the orbit with a heavy workload, especially during exhausting space walks when they can loose several kilos in weight over a few hours. Many people think a small ration of alcohol would help restore their strength.' Moderate alcohol consumption was tolerated on Russia's former orbital station MIR until it was taken out of service, but a strict ban has been in force on the ISS ever since Russia and the US sent the first joint crew." (01/04/06) http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1670928.html ----- 16) MI: Burglar could get life Citizen-Patriot "Bryan Allen Cary and his girlfriend spent two nights looting an unoccupied hunting lodge in Grass Lake Township before they returned a third night, when they were chased off by the owner, guns blazing in their direction. For the burglary crimes, as well as stealing a pickup truck to haul the stash away, Cary, 25, could face life in prison. He pleaded no contest Tuesday in Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker's court to three counts of home invasion, a count of felony firearm possession and a count of auto theft. 'All he does is steal,' said Assistant Prosecutor Earl Poleski. 'He's just a menace.'" (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/cab5t ----- 17) CO: Man shot after bar break-in Denver Post "A man was seriously wounded in a shooting at the Funky Buddha early Tuesday while the downtown bar was closed. The man broke in to the bar at 776 Lincoln St., and one of four people who were inside at the time shot him about 4 a.m., police said. It's unknown if it was an employee who shot the man and if there was a relationship between the shooter and the man who broke in, police spokeswoman Virginia Lopez said. The names of the people involved were not released. No arrests were made, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. " (01/04/06) http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3369104 ----- 18) MD: Store robbery leads to shootout WBAL TV News "Two juveniles and a storeowner remain hospitalized Wednesday evening after an apparent robbery and shoot-out. Baltimore police responded at about 2 p.m. to Keeper's Market, located at the intersection of Brehms Lane and Brendan Avenue. WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Lowell Melser reported the convenience store was filled with students and other customers when three boys under the age of 18 began robbing the store. Police said they first received notification from a holdup alarm inside the store before a flood of 911 calls came in reporting shots fired. 'The storeowner was able to get to a weapon and gunfire was exchanged. Two of the suspects were struck, as well as the owner; the third suspect got away,' Baltimore police spokesman Donny Moses said." (01/04/060 http://tinyurl.com/8nqfr ----- 19) Groups go to court over wiretap rule for Internet calls Foster's Online "A new federal regulation making it easier for law enforcement to tap Internet phone calls is being challenged in court. Privacy and technology groups asked the federal appeals court in Washington on Tuesday to overturn a Federal Communications Commission rule that expands wiretapping laws to cover Internet calls -- or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Law enforcement agencies already can obtain a subpoena for the contents of VoIP calls from Internet access providers. But the FBI and others want the ability to capture the technology live and they want systems designed so it would be easy to do that. 'The whole process of innovation on the Internet would be seriously damaged,' said John Morris, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/a8sh4 ----- 20) CA: Phys ed teacher busted for filming students San Francisco Chronicle "The San Carlos Police Department arrested a middle-school physical education teacher who allegedly made secret videotapes of female students as they changed clothes, according to Cmdr. Sandra Spagnoli. Neal Sato, 34, of San Bruno was arrested Tuesday on six counts of lewd acts with a child after investigators found in his computer 100 deleted files and images of girls changing into uniforms, Spagnoli said. Some of the files date to October 2004, and not all the victims have been identified, according to Spagnoli. Police said Sato was a teacher and athletic director at San Carlos' Central Middle School when he allegedly hid video cameras in rooms where students changed into sports uniforms. Police also believe he used his position as a teacher to direct certain students to change in rooms and offices where he had secreted cameras." [editor's note: One more example of exploitation of children having almost no relationship to "Internet predators" ... - SAT] (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/c7aoe ----- 21) Arizona Poll: Many want feds, state to step up in health care Arizona Republic "Jessa Johnson was sick for a couple of weeks. She figured it was probably some kind of virus. But without health insurance, the 23-year-old Gilbert resident could not afford to see a doctor and find out. 'I need to be healthy,' Johnson said as she recovered by spending a pleasant afternoon at the Phoenix Zoo with her boyfriend. 'But I need money to live.' Johnson is not alone in her concerns about the cost of health care and the American health care system. The Arizona Republic poll completed in mid-December indicated that 39 percent of registered voters surveyed statewide worry about their ability to afford the health care or prescription drugs they need this year. Many more, 81 percent, believe it is time that the state or federal government step in and create a universal health care system that ensures everyone has access to medical care." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/ckpzo ----- 22) Prescriptions of mind-altering drugs for teens rise Washington Times "Teenagers are taking more mind-altering drugs -- but under doctor's orders. Drug prescriptions meant to counter depression, anxiety and mood or attention disorders in teens increased by 250 percent between 1994 and 2001, according to a Brandeis University study released yesterday. 'There is an alarming increase in prescribing these drugs to teens,' said lead author Cindy Parks Thomas, who tracks prescription drug trends for the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at the university. Teenage boys are particularly targeted: one out of every 10 who visits the doctor leaves with a prescription to treat a mental condition." (01/04/06) http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060104-122700-9017r.htm ----- 23) MO: Largest prime numb3r found Fox News "Researchers at a Missouri university have identified the largest known prime number, officials said Tuesday. The team at Central Missouri State University, led by associate dean Steven Boone and mathematics professor Curtis Cooper, found it in mid-December after programming 700 computers years ago. A prime number is a positive number divisible by only itself and 1 -- for example, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, etc. The number that the team found is 9.1 million digits long. It is a Mersenne prime known as M30402457 -- that's 2 to the 30,402,457th power minus 1. Mersenne primes are a special category expressed as 2 to the "p" power minus 1, in which 'p' also is a prime number." (01/04/06) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180503,00.html ----- 24) CT: Kelo battle goes on, despite ruling Christian Science Monitor "The moment of truth is yet to arrive in the now-famous Fort Trumbull neighborhood in New London, Conn. Six months after the US Supreme Court ruled that the city could seize and demolish private homes to make way for a commercial development project, determined residents are still living in their homes in the targeted neighborhood. There have been no bulldozers. No wrecking balls. No police officers dragging homeowners away. At least, not yet. Instead, the state of Connecticut has hired a mediator to try to find a more peaceful solution to the seven-year battle that has touched off a heated debate over the government's use of eminent domain to foster economic development." (01/04/06) http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0104/p02s01-ussc.html ----- 25) MA: Lawmakers seek to end limits on church liability Boston Globe "Support is growing on Beacon Hill for legislation to lift charitable immunity protections for the Catholic Church and other nonprofit organizations in sexual abuse cases involving minors. More than 60 lawmakers have signed onto a bill that, in civil cases involving such abuse, would eliminate the current $20,000 limit on liability for churches and other nonprofit organizations. That charitable immunity limit, supporters say, has discouraged sexual abuse victims from coming forward and has sharply limited payments in other cases. Two other bills would restructure the complicated laws governing the statute of limitations in criminal and civil cases involving sex crimes against juveniles. Current laws lay out various limitations based on the number of years that elapse after a sexual crime is allegedly committed." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/8kgl2 ----- RRND MEDIASHELF -------------------------------------------- Books, CDs and other tchotchkes from today's edition: Note: Affiliate links generate commissions for RRND's editors. -------------------------------------------- RRND MEDIASHELF ----- Commentary 26) The unrestrained presidency Mother Jones by Tom Engelhardt "As 2006 begins, we seem to be at a not-completely-unfamiliar crossroads in the long history of the American imperial presidency. It grew up, shedding presidential constraints, in the post-World War II years as part of the rise of the national security state and the military-industrial complex. It reached its constraint-less apogee with Richard Nixon's presidency and what became known as the Watergate scandal -- an event marked by Nixon's attempt to create his own private national security apparatus which he directed to secretly commit various high crimes and misdemeanors for him. It was as close as we came -- until now -- to a presidential coup d'etat that might functionally have abrogated the Constitution." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/cdv47 ----- 27) Taking a leak [EMAIL PROTECTED] by Thomas L. Knapp "The disclosure of the program's existence and its criminal nature did not damage the national security; it only damaged the president's reputation. It did not endanger the United States; it only endangered the president's ability to continue committing crimes with impunity. If there's any parallel between the Plame case and this one, that parallel is to be found in the Bush administration's continuing insistence that it is above the law. To their everlasting shame, Malkin and friends' political raison d'etre seems to have become defending that insistence at all costs." (01/04/06) http://knappster.blogspot.com/2006/01/taking-leak.html ----- 28) 9,240 victims, and counting Boston Globe by Jeff Jacoby "The longest-ruling despot in the world is Fidel Castro, who seized power in Cuba 47 years ago this week. Like most dictators, Castro is a brazen liar, especially about his own regime. This, for example, is what he told an international conference in Havana in April 2001: 'There have never been death squads in our country, nor a single missing person, nor a single political assassination, nor a single victim of torture. ... You may travel around the country, ask the people, look for a single piece of evidence, try to find a single case where the Revolutionary government has ordered or tolerated such an action. And if you find them, then I will never speak in public again.' One would have to be willfully blind -- a useful idiot, in Lenin's phrase -- to believe such a reeking falsehood. But when it comes to Castro, useful idiots have never been in short supply." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/cp94h ----- 29) Troop reduction legerdemain AntiWar.Com by Charles Pena "Ultimately, all the talk of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq is just that: talk designed to create the illusion that the administration is serious about ending the occupation to appease restless voters. And the reason for all the talk should be abundantly clear: the looming 2006 midterm elections that threaten to unseat Republican control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once said that 'all politics is local,' and President Bush understands that local politics means here in the United States, not in Iraq. But just because he is talking the talk does not mean he will walk the walk." (01/05/06) http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=8344 ----- 30) The dog that has not barked TechCentralStation by James K. Glassman "As I write, 1,576 days have passed since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and still there has been no subsequent terrorist assault on American soil. Every day, 130 domestic and 118 foreign airlines serve the United States. Air traffic controllers handle 20 million flights a year -- without a terrorist incident. In fact, the past three years have been the safest in aviation history. The United States remains the most open nation in the world. Since 9/11, scores of millions of sealed trailer-size containers have entered U.S. ports, and 6 million legal international immigrants have joined the American population. But no terrorist attacks. Is this just good luck, or is it the result of good policy?" [editor's note: Glassman seems to have forgotten the anthrax attacks, the LAX attack, the crash of American Airlines flight 587, etc. -- not to mention the numerous terror attacks conducted by the government itself - TLK] (01/05/06) http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=010406D ----- 31) By the grace of God, free markets are healing the blind LewRockwell.Com by Steve McKamey "In the Bible, one of the miracles used by the Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles to demonstrate their divine calling was the healing of the blind. One of the plagues of the fallen creation is the loss of the ability to see. I have numerous friends and relatives with vision problems, including an uncle who was totally blind. Since 1975, I have been continually reminded of the blessing of sight because I have been unable to see clearly in my right eye. As recently as last summer, I was told that nothing could be done to remove the scarring from my right cornea short of a $50,000 cornea transplant that had a significant chance of failure. One entrepreneur has changed all of that." (01/05/06) http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/mckamey5.html ----- 32) The books that rock the cradle Reason by Stuart Anderson "You are 12 years old, and you're watching your father cradle an infant in his arms. He works for a special branch of the government tasked with population control and ensuring the health of those deemed 'normal.' He weighs the infant on a scale, then places the baby on a blanket. As you watch, he fills a needle with a clear liquid, then plunges the syringe into the baby's skull. The newborn squirms, wails faintly, and dies. You have just watched your father commit murder in the name of controlling the size and quality of the population. What would you do? The scenario comes from Lois Lowry's 1993 novel The Giver, which won the prestigious Newberry Medal for children's fiction. If it doesn't strike you as the usual children's fare, you're right." (01/06) http://www.reason.com/0601/cr.sa.the.shtml ----- 33) Cornering freedom in China Cato Institute by Daniel J. Ikenson "What to do about China? That question is troubling U.S. policymakers, as they grapple with the implications of the Middle Kingdom's rapid economic growth. Liberals worry about China's effect on manufacturing jobs, and conservatives suspect her ambitions. Is it necessary for Americans to regard China's economic success and growing influence as a threat? I thought about that question a lot during a recent trip to China. An impromptu encounter on the campus of Renmin University in Beijing, where I had the pleasure of interacting with some of the young people who will become China's business managers and government officials in the coming decades, helped shape my own answer." (01/05/06) http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5353 ----- 34) Students against the democratic process The Free Liberal by Paul Jacob "When I think of creative ways to protest and make waves, I think of Saul Alinsky. He was the master of this back in the '60s. He literally wrote the book on the subject, 'Rules for Radicals.' But what would he think of taking busloads of teenage high school students to make noise as protesters? It happened in Michigan. A new Michigan Civil Rights Initiative is supposed to be placed on the 2006 ballot. Enough signatures were gathered. All that was left was for the Board of Canvassers to vote to put it on the ballot. That is, to do their duty. They didn't." (01/05/06) http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/001773.html ----- 35) Free the Barrett Report The American Spectator by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. "This report by Independent Counsel Barrett is the first time in history that the unique powers of an Independent Counsel have been brought to bear on the IRS. With Barrett's grand jury subpoena power he has, sources familiar with the report say, opened the internal workings of the IRS against private citizens for the first time. For ten years and at a cost of over $20 million to taxpayers Barrett has put together this important report. Surely the taxpayers have a right to see it." (01/05/06) http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=9231 ----- 36) Bush's war on professionals Salon by Sidney Blumenthal "[T]here is a consistency between his absence of fervor in discovering who was behind the outing of Plame and his furor over the reporting of warrantless NSA domestic spying. In the Plame case, the administration officials who spun her name to conservative columnist Robert Novak and others intended to punish and intimidate former ambassador Joseph Wilson for having revealed that a central element of the administration case for the Iraq war was bogus. In the NSA case, Bush is also attempting to crush whistle-blowers. Bush's war on professionals has been fought in nearly every department and agency of the government, from intelligence to Interior, from the Justice Department to the Drug Enforcement Administration, in order to suppress contrary analysis on issues from weapons of mass destruction to global warming, from voting rights to the morning-after pill. Without whistle-blowers on the inside, there are no press reports on the outside." (01/05/06) http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/01/05/spying/ ----- 37) Jargon good, oil bad Liberty Unbound by Jo Ann Skousen "'Syriana' is about big government and big business and oil deals and terrorism. It's about spies and counterspies and loyalty and betrayal. It's about suicide and sacrifice and accidental death. And yet -- it is one of the most interminably boring movies I have seen in ages. Even the torture scene is a disappointment (you'll know it's coming because the soundtrack begins an ominous pounding beat, heralding the only bit of excitement in the first half of the film). Forget what you've been hearing about this movie being 'important' and 'Oscar-worthy' and in the style of 'Traffic.' The characters and locations are so scattered, the characterizations and motivations so weak, the action so lacking, that I found myself pleading, 'Please! Just do something!'" (for publication 02/06) http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2006_02/skousen-syriana.html ----- 38) Deceptive Munich National Review by Jonah Goldberg "Ever since World War II, the German city of Munich has been symbolic of a single, solitary political lesson: the folly of 'appeasement.' The 1938 Munich Pact represented the futility of compromising with evil. This was always a bit unfair to poor British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who had better reasons to sign on to the pact than most people remember. But the moral of the story was a good one, going all the way back to Aesop, who told the fable of the scorpion and the frog, which ends with the frog being shocked that the scorpion would sting him even though the scorpion could do nothing else, for that was its nature. Hitler was a scorpion, and thinking or hoping otherwise wouldn't change that fact. Much of the Cold War was predicated on this lesson, as the World War II generation agreed not to let down its guard ever again. Steven Spielberg would like to rewrite the meaning of Munich. In his film about the response to the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Spielberg seems determined to invest the word with a new meaning: We must not treat scorpions like scorpions." (01/04/06) http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg200601040824.asp ----- 39) Plea Bargain With America Slate by Bruce Reed "Already Republicans are distancing themselves from Abramoff and hinting that they will sue for peace. Gingrich, always the Republican Party's best canary in the coal mine, has become a born-again reformer. Rep. Bob Ney warmed to reform as soon as his name made the papers; Tom DeLay may need to do the same to save his own seat. If enough members look vulnerable, Dennis Hastert will start sounding like John McCain. Jaded Congress-watchers may look askance at any election-year change of heart by the Republicans. But as my old boss Bill Clinton used to say, we ought to believe in deathbed conversions. Reform won't happen any other way." (01/04/06) http://www.slate.com/id/2133655/ ----- 40) Politically correct suicide Free Market News Network by Alan Caruba "We live in a society in which virtually anything can be known about your buying preferences, your credit rating, where you live, where you went to school, your employment history, et cetera. As often as not, you provide this information whenever you apply for a credit card, open a bank account, secure a loan, or fill out a job application. In short, you give up some of your private information in exchange for something you deem beneficial. Why, then, do some -- maybe a lot -- of Americans get upset when their government undertakes the intelligence gathering and surveillance needed to insure the nation remains safe from its enemies?" [editor's note: Yes, Mr. Caruba, some oppose secret domestic government surveillance in general; the reason this story has legs with the general public, however, is that the government chose a blatantly illegal method when a technically legal method was readily available - TLK] (01/04/06) http://www.fmnn.com/Analysis/160/3357/2006-01-04.asp?nid=3357&wid=160 ----- 41) Source code The Weekly Standard by Thomas Joscelyn "By now it is no secret that the timing of James Risen's December 16 bombshell concerning the NSA's eavesdropping program coincided neatly with the publication of his new book, State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration. As a veteran reporter covering the U.S. intelligence community for the New York Times, Risen is uniquely positioned to spill at least some of the details of this secret history. But perhaps not in the manner he thinks." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/aw9uz ----- 42) Sun Tzu and the art of spying AlterNet by Noah Leavitt "Last week, White House spokeperson Trent Duffy provided the Bush administration's rationale for its extralegal program to spy on United States citizens. Duffy quipped: 'The fact is that Al Quaida's play book is not printed on Page 1, and when America's is, it has serious ramifications. You don't need to be Sun Tzu to understand that.' Duffy was referencing the 'big idea' of Sun Tzu's seminal work, 'The Art of War,' which could be stated as 'the ideal strategy is to win without fighting -- to defeat the enemy before combat becomes necessary.' It was an odd but telling comment, and worth exploring for the critical insights it provides about Bush's views on spying and executive branch power." (01/05/06) http://www.alternet.org/rights/30394/ ----- 43) Enviros' agenda is selfishness and greed Human Events by Thomas Sowell "In some cities, housing prices have actually declined as the housing supply has expanded. None of this is rocket science. It is supply and demand. Why then are there particular places where housing costs have skyrocketed? In those places, much of the land is prevented by law from being used to build housing. These land use restrictions are seldom called land use restrictions. They are called by much prettier names, like 'open space' laws, laws to 'preserve farmland' or prevent 'sprawl,' 'greenbelt' laws -- or whatever else will sell politically. People who already own their own homes don't worry about whether such laws will drive housing prices sky high. Somebody else will have to pay those prices while existing homeowners see the value of their property rise by leaps and bounds. Meanwhile, land that might otherwise provide homes for others becomes in effect free park land for themselves, while such upscale communities use 'open space' laws to keep out the masses. The crowning touch is that such self-interest is depicted as idealism." (01/05/06) http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=11293 ----- 44) Abortion, trauma and control Institute for Liberal Values by Jim Peron "An economist is likely to note that there are few choices which are all good or all bad. More likely one faces trade offs. You gain something on one side, otherwise you wouldn't do it, and you lose something on the other side. Such is the nature of choices. If we reach the point where the state is going to protect us from the consequences of bad choices we end up with a situation where the state must control all choices. And what is a good choice and what is a bad choice is often something that no person, other than the one involved can make." (01/05/06) http://tinyurl.com/aqt8q ----- 45) The spy plan's spoiler Los Angeles Times by staff "James B. Comey can hardly be considered soft on terrorism. As deputy attorney general, he has been one of the Bush administration's chief prosecutors of the war on terror, pursuing accused bombers and terrorists from Riyadh to Chicago. So his refusal to approve the administration's warrantless wiretaps of Americans cannot simply be dismissed as the rantings of an Al Qaeda apologist. ... Last, and most important, the NSA's surveillance program is an affront to the American system of checks and balances -- and Americans' right to privacy as guaranteed by the 4th Amendment. The president fails to grasp this point. Asked Sunday what he'd say to Americans worried about violations of their privacy, Bush responded with a breathtaking non sequitur. 'If somebody from Al Qaeda is calling you,' he said, 'we'd like to know why.' So, no doubt, would James Comey. But at least he understands that, even in a time of war, the government is not free to simply tap your phone to find out who's calling you and why." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/ajfad ----- 46) Wait for Microsoft WMF patch? No thanks! ZDNet by George Ou "By now, you've probably heard of the unofficial WMF Vulnerability patch by programming genius Ilfak Guilfanov. Some experts say install it now! Others say you better wait till next week for the official patch from Microsoft. Since I've spent a good part of New Years day weekend researching and testing this bug, I would tell you that this vulnerability is so dangerous that you better install the unofficial patch now and then uninstall it when the official Microsoft patch is hopefully released next week. The highly respected SANS.org has fully vetted the patch and they're so impressed that they've even started hosting copies of the patch on their own website. ... If you're wondering why this is such a high priority patch, it's because existing workarounds are weak at best and the exploit is extremely dangerous. There are those who say this isn't anymore dangerous than an Internet worm but worms can't infect you through firewall perimeters. Even Antivirus and Intrusion Detection Systems are having a hard time with the WMF exploits since a group released proof-of-concept code that automatically generates randomized headers and fragmented packets to defeat nearly every AV and IDS signature. With the WMF exploit, you just need to look at an infected image file while surfing the web or checking your email and you're instantly infected with nasty spyware or rootkit." (01/04/06) http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/index.php?p=144 ----- 47) They don't tell him anything The Free Press by Molly Ivins "My theory is that they don't tell him anything, that's why the president keeps sounding like he doesn't know what he's talking about. There he was at Brooke Army Medical Center over the weekend, once again getting it wrong: 'I can say that if somebody from al-Qaida's calling you, we'd like to know why. In the meantime, this program is conscious of people's civil liberties, as am I. This is a limited program ... I repeat, limited. And it's limited to calls from outside the United States, to calls within the United States.' So then the White House had to go back and explain that, well, no, actually, the National Security Agency's domestic spying program is not limited to calls from outside the United States, or to calls from people known or even suspected of being with al-Qaida. Turns out thousands of Americans and resident foreigners have been or are being monitored and recorded by the NSA." (01/03/06) http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2006/1290 ----- 48) Pundits disguising their own Iraq failures Minuteman Media by Peter Hart "While elite journalists argue that public debate is somehow incapable of tackling more than one important question at a time, their real concern may be that a robust discussion of pre-war intelligence could very well leave all sides -- Republicans, Democrats and the mainstream media as well -- looking culpable for the Iraq War. That could explain why some in the press have long been opposed to examining the White House's record of deception." (01/04/06) http://www.minutemanmedia.org/HART%20010406.htm ----- 49) Intellectual history The American Prospect by Julia Gronnevet "Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University and author, most recently, of The Intellectuals and the Flag, spoke on a cell phone from a noisy café in New York about his latest book. Q: What prompted you to collect these essays and publish this book now? A: I started out to write a book which was simply a tribute to intellectuals who have been important to me, and I had written about three of the sections when September 11 hit. And that exploded a lot of things, and among other things it exploded the original book, because there was now an urgency, for me, to rethink the left. So for a while I was writing off to the side of the original project, a variety of pieces, and I realized at a certain point these pieces were still pointing toward a conclusion that did have to do with the left, and maybe two conclusions." (01/04/06) http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10797 ----- 50) Iran's future: Watch the streets International Herald Tribune by Peter Ackerman and Ramin Ahmadi "For months Iranian activists and even moderate clerics have been concerned about the radical tendencies of Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the past few weeks -- after he said that the Holocaust was a myth, called for Israel to be wiped off the map and banned Western music from state-run radio and television, the concern spread around the world. But there is another development in Iran -- this one positive and with great potential -- that the world should not miss: civic defiance against Ahmadinejad's authoritarianism is increasing. " (01/04/06) http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/04/opinion/edacker.php ----- 51) To Russia, love Tom DeLay Tom Paine by Russ Baker "Once in a very long time, a scandal comes along that seems to capture the essence of our times. I'd say that scandal appeared on Saturday, when most of us were too busy getting out the honkers and the booze to notice. Here's the crux: Was the Republican leader Tom DeLay working on behalf of Russians against the American public interest -- and being compensated for it? That's a pretty strong accusation, but unless I read my Washington Post wrong, that is exactly what was alleged in a front page story that appeared on Saturday, the last day of 2005, and therefore may escape proper notice. The article is even easier to miss because of the mundane 'more of the same' headline above it: 'The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail : Nonprofit Group Linked to Lawmaker Was Funded Mostly by Clients of Lobbyist.'" (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/8sskf ----- 52) Iran's anti-gay pogrom In These Times by Doug Ireland "The Islamic Republic of Iran -- under the new government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- is engaged in a major anti-homosexual pogrom targeting gays and gay sex. This campaign includes Internet entrapment, blackmail to force arrested gays to inform on others, torture and executions of those found guilty of engaging in 'homosexual acts.' Homosexual acts have been considered a capital crime in Iran since the 1979 revolution that brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power. Iranians found guilty of gay lovemaking are given a choice of four death styles: being hanged, stoned, halved by a sword or dropped from the highest perch." (01/04/06) http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2458/ ----- 53) Abolish anti-discrimination laws iFeminists.Com by Wendy McElroy "An ideological conflict underlies the attempt by either sex to force open the doors of 'exclusive' businesses: individual rights versus egalitarianism. Under individual rights, every human being has control over the peaceful use of his or her own body and property. Under egalitarianism, access to and use of property is equally distributed across society, with or without the consent of owners. I come down on the side of individual rights." (01/04/06) http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2006/0104.html ----- 54) Minimum wage ACORN roots Washington Times by Bruce Bartlett "According to a Dec. 25 report in the Boston Globe, the Democratic Party is joining forces with the activist group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to place initiatives on state ballots this fall to raise the minimum wage. The idea is to energize the poor to vote for Democratic candidates as well as the initiative. ACORN's involvement in this campaign is amusing because a few years ago the group sued the state of California in order to be exempted from its minimum wage requirement, which was higher than the federal government's. In its appellate brief, ACORN acknowledged that the more it had to pay each worker, the fewer such workers it would be able to hire. Of course, the same thing is true for businesses as well, something minimum wage advocates refuse to admit." (01/04/06) http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20060103-093213-4084r.htm ----- 55) Good test scores begin with room to think Christian Science Monitor by Nancy Humphrey Case "The recently released 2005 Nation's Report Card brings to light once again that our educational process needs more than tweaking. While the report shows modest gains by some student groups, the rate of improvement has slowed, and this while teachers are undoubtedly under pressure to 'teach to the test.' Narrowing the curriculum to content anticipated on standardized tests and drilling students in order to improve test scores is a poor excuse for enlightening young minds, and it won't hold up in the long term. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) report for 2003 showed US students lagging behind their counterparts not only in Japan, but in a broad range of countries, including Latvia." (01/04/06) http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0104/p09s02-coop.html ----- 56) Demand growing for cyber medicine National Center for Policy Analysis by Devon Herrick "There are legal obstacles to these consumer-centered models of practice, says Herrick. Physicians are licensed by state medical boards to practice medicine in a specific state, and many state medical boards find cyber-medicine (that is, consultation via the Internet or e-mail) unethical unless the consultation occurs after an initial face-to-face examination. State-specific licensure of physicians also makes practicing medicine online illegal if the patient resides in a state other than where the physician is licensed." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/ahke6 ----- 57) How the stewardess lost her stripes Ludwig von Mises Institute by B.K. Marcus "Taking up the study of economics can help unravel many mysteries of history, among which the pressing issue: Whatever happened to sexy stewardesses? I don't mean as individuals, but as an institution, as a cultural icon, as a persistent commercial expectation. There was a time when a jetsetting playboy was pictured as having a stewardess or two on his arm. On TV, one guy would be trying to get some other guy to be the necessary second guy for a double date: 'They're stewardesses, Bob ... stewardesses!'" (01/04/06) http://www.mises.org/story/2002 ----- 58) PETA: Cruel and unusual Competitive Enterprise Institute by Iain Murray and Ivan Osorio "On January 9, two employees of the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will appear in court to answer felony charges of animal cruelty. Far from being an isolated incident or an illustration of PETA's hypocrisy, their crimes offer a chilling insight into the beliefs that motivate the group's strategy of animal rights advocay. What the trial reveals may well be just the tip of the iceberg." (01/04/06) http://www.cei.org/gencon/019,05069.cfm ----- 59) The education monopoly and Intelligent Design Acton Institute by D. Eric Schansberg "With the recent election results in Kansas and Delaware, the debate continues to intensify over teaching evolution and 'Intelligent Design' in the public schools. There is much at stake, from scientific integrity to philosophical baggage. The stakes are greater than they ought to be because of the way our country delivers educational services. Evolution refers to two different but related areas in science. On one hand, evolution is an observable mechanism by which life evolves in modest increments over time .... On the other hand, evolution is also used to refer to a largely unobservable process by which today's observable range of life supposedly developed from the earliest days on the earth. ... 'Intelligent Design' fully accepts evolution in the former sense. But it proposes an alternative hypothesis for the development of life ..." (01/04/06) http://tinyurl.com/dxb83 ----- 60) Martin's handgun ban idea a cheap political subterfuge Liberty For All by CCRKBA staff "Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, heading a Liberal Party that has been scandalized by corruption and recently fell after a 'no confidence' vote in the House of Commons, is trying to deflect attention from his abysmal failure as a national leader by calling for a ban on handguns, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today. 'This is nothing less than a cheap political subterfuge,' said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. 'I'm not sure if they understand the 'smell test' north of the border, but Martin's attack on handgun owners sure doesn't pass it. This is a smarmy attempt to shift public focus away from his political troubles, and those of his party.'" (01/05/06) http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/dec31/subterfuge.html Movement News and Events 61) BlogLaunch: Yearning to Breathe Free Yearning to Breathe Free Breaking a bottle of champagne over the bow of Ohio Libertarian Jason Hallmark's new blog ... http://yearningtobreathefree.blogspot.com/ ----- 62) Stop Big Brother Project Free Market News Network ongoing "It's not every day you see a mainstream newspaper step outside the safe zone and take up the activist role. The Oakland Tribune is daring to do so. An editorial last week titled 'Big Brother is watching' listed some of the most egregious examples of how George Orwell's '1984' has been becoming truer and truer of America itself .... The editorial went on with more background on the Orwell work itself, then issued an appeal to its readers: 'We think it's time for Congress to heed the warning of George Orwell. To that end, we're asking for your help: Mail us or drop off your tattered copies of '1984.' ... The challenge has been taken up by a group of libertarians, to collect and donate as many copies of '1984' as possible, and forward them to the Tribune for distribution. ... One contributor has promised to match donations up to the first $100 toward purchases of new copies. Libertarian bookseller Jim Peron has agreed to provide the books at a discount. Moreover, the International Society for Individual Liberty is getting into the act, offering to purchase copies of the book from that bookseller, with any donations made for that purpose. All one needs to do is indicate it is for the Stop Big Brother Project." (12/29/05) http://fmnn.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=4364 ----- 63) Book Forum: Electing to Fight Cato Institute 01/12/06 Featuring the authors (of Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War), Edward D. Mansfield, University of Pennsylvania; Jack Snyder, Columbia University; with comments by Christopher Layne, Texas A & M University; and Thomas Carothers, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Noon (luncheon to follow) at the Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Free admission -- online registration required. Webcast available. http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=2558 ----- 64) Austrian Scholars Conference 2006 Ludwig von Mises Institute 03/16/06-03/18/06 "The Austrian Scholars Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, and for scholars interested or working in this intellectual tradition, it is the event of the year. Over the course of three full days, the Austrian Scholars Conference offers eighty plus presentations on economics, history, philosophy, and the humanities, in addition to named lectures by the leaders in the field." Mises Institute campus, Auburn, AL. Free for students (application required), $200 for others. Online registration available. Group rate available at local hotel. http://www.mises.org/upcomingstory.aspx?control=77 Today in Political History 65) Twelve Zeroes 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 ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! 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