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 #872 Friday, April 7th, 2006 Email Circulation 2,034 ------ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS -------------------------------------- VERTORO HELPS YOU BEAT HYPERINFLATION Join the move to better money. Go from green to gold! http://vertoro.com/ TOM PAINE MARU The first UNCENSORED edition of L. Neil Smith's classic novel. http://www.lneilsmith.org/tpm-2005.html WINNING ELECTIONS "[A]n advanced guide to running political campaigns. It provides invaluable, practical advice from the leading pros in the industry." http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590770269/rationalrev08-20 -------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ----- Today's News: 1) Iraq: Baghdad mosque attack kills 30 2) Afghanistan: Three Americans wounded in suicide attack 3) PlameGate: Libby says Bush OK'd leak 4) Congress reaches immigration deal 5) NY: Weld hopes to capture Libertarian nomination 6) CA: Earthlink, Google to provide San Francisco wi-fi 7) Cuba: Castro's thugs shoot escape facilitators 8) US won't join new UN rights panel 9) EU halts aid to "Palestinian Authority" 10) NYPD detectives convicted of mob murders 11) Moussaoui jury hears about impact on kids 12) DoD wants Boy Scout ruling overturned 13) Iraq: Shiite politics nearing impasse 14) Paulison nominated to head FEMA 15) Bush defends surveillance policy 16) Free rent for sex in New York 17) UK: Helen and Sylvia, the new face of terrorism 18) Bill would clean up Caller ID 19) Judas: Betrayer or chosen one? 20) Drug war dropout calls effort a "failure" 21) CA: Cities can block big stores 22) "Pig Book" serves up $29 billion in pork 23) McKinney apologizes for self-defense as grand jury meets 24) India: Gandhi evoked for all manner of causes 25) GOP to cosponsor war cost oversight panel Today's Commentary: 26) Farewell to warblogging 27) First look 2008: Karen Kwiatkowski 28) The wisdom of fools 29) Libertarians say amend NC constitution to protect property rights 30) If Medicare were a country 31) Without exception 32) Interview: Thomas L. Knapp 33) Nation, state & mass immigration 34) The people speak 35) Fighting for a ticket on the Titanic 36) The deception Bush can't spin 37) Iran: The next neocon target 38) A-M-N-E-S-T-Y 39) We've found the leaker in the White House! 40) Three years, few regrets 41) The $10,000 question 42) A good swift kick 43) Of course there is an Israel lobby 44) What victory lost 45) Cutting and running in Baghdad 46) Is capitalism why we fight? 47) What can government do about the obesity epidemic? 48) Massachusetts: False promise of universal coverage 49) A replay of Iraq beckons in Darfur if troops sent 50) The tethered goat strategy 51) Campaign finance reform will end corruption? 52) Wal-Mart's dirty secret is out 53) Our pious Babylon 54) Political upheaval in Latin America 55) Cooling the Iran crisis 56) The scope of Middle East clashes since 9/11 57) Amid cheers for healthcare, fears for funding abound 58) Changing leadership in the White House and Congress Today's Movement News & Events: 59) Benefit manuscript auction: Ceres 60) Question War Ribbon 61) 2nd annual TCF Combat Rifle Postal Match 62) Voters for peace: take the pledge 63) ISIL's 25th World Freedom Summit Today in Political History: 64) America needs a drink News 1) Iraq: Baghdad mosque attack kills 30 The Indy Channel "An explosion rocked a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad after religious services Friday, killing at least 30 people, police said. Police Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi said at least 30 people were wounded in the blast at the Buratha mosque. He said the casualty toll was based on reports from three hospitals." [editor's note: Other reports indicate that there may also have been a US military death in Beiji yesterday - TLK] (04/07/06) http://www.theindychannel.com/news/8528006/detail.html ----- 2) Afghanistan: Three Americans wounded in suicide attack Washington Post "A suicide bomber set off his explosives-laden car outside a U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Friday, wounding three Americans in the second attack on a U.S. base in 24 hours. The police chief of the southern province of Helmand, Abdur Rahman, initially said two British soldiers were wounded when the bomber rammed his car into their vehicle just outside their base in the provincial capital, Lashkar Ghar. But the U.S. military later said two U.S. service members and a U.S. civilian contractor were slightly wounded in the blast at the main gate of their base." (04/07/06) http://tinyurl.com/qmvq3 ----- 3) PlameGate: Libby says Bush OK'd leak Las Vegas Review-Journal "President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney authorized Cheney's top aide to launch a counterattack of leaks against administration critics on Iraq by feeding intelligence information to reporters, according to court papers citing the aide's testimony in the CIA leak case. In a court filing, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stopped short of accusing Cheney of authorizing his chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, to leak the CIA identity of Valerie Plame." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/r26pg ----- 4) Congress reaches immigration deal Detroit Free Press "Putting aside party differences, Senate Republicans and Democrats coalesced Thursday around compromise legislation that holds out the hope of citizenship to many of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States unlawfully. 'We can no longer afford to delay reform,' said Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in a statement that capped weeks of struggle to find common ground." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/l52zm ----- 5) NY: Weld hopes to capture Libertarian nomination New York Daily News "GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Weld is sailing into uncharted waters in New York Republican politics: He's making a major run to line up the backing of the tiny Libertarian Party. Weld confirmed to the Daily News last night that he would 'definitely be interested' in winning the Libertarian line. ''Libertarian' is not a bad word in my lexicon,' he said, noting one of his favorite expressions is: 'I want the government out of your pocketbook and out of your bedroom.'" (04/07/06) http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/406850p-344319c.html ----- 6) CA: Earthlink, Google to provide San Francisco wi-fi Silicon.Com "San Francisco has selected a joint bid by EarthLink and Google to provide the California city with a wireless network. Under the joint proposal, which the two companies submitted to the city in February, free and paid wireless service would be available throughout the city. Chris Vein, executive director of the Department of Telecommunications and Information Services for San Francisco, said on Thursday he expected that negotiations with Google and EarthLink would go smoothly and that work on building out the network could begin this year and be completed within a few months." (04/07/06) http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39157932,00.htm ----- 7) Cuba: Castro's thugs shoot escape facilitators Los Angeles Times "Cuban coast guard officials fatally shot a suspected migrant smuggler and arrested two others after confronting them in an apparent operation to ferry 39 migrants out of the country on a U.S.-registered speedboat. The Communist Party daily Granma on Thursday said the confrontation occurred the previous morning near Cuba's southern coast in the western province of Pinar del Rio. ... Drew Blakeney, spokesman for the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, said American authorities had confirmed the names of the two surviving men and that they were U.S. citizens. He said they were seeking consular access to them in custody. But Blakeney said they had not confirmed the identity nor the citizenship of the dead man." (04/07/06) http://tinyurl.com/jpmxa ----- 8) US won't join new UN rights panel Houston Chronicle "The United States said Thursday it would not be a candidate for the new U.N. Human Rights Council, which was approved last month by the General Assembly with Washington nearly alone in opposition. Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said that the United States would sit out the first election for the council in May but would support other countries with strong rights records and would be likely to run for a seat a year from now. The council, which will hold its first meeting in Geneva in June, replaces the human rights commission, which had been widely discredited for allowing notorious rights abusers like Sudan and Zimbabwe on the panel." (04/06/06) http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3777609.html ----- 9) EU halts aid to "Palestinian Authority" BBC News [UK] "The European Commission has temporarily halted direct aid payments to the Palestinian government, which is now led by militant group Hamas. European Union foreign ministers are due to meet next week to discuss what to do about future aid. The EU is the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority, which is reliant on foreign aid. The EU has been threatening to cut off payments unless Hamas renounces violence and recognises Israel." (04/07/06) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4887226.stm ----- 10) NYPD detectives convicted of mob murders USA Today "Two highly decorated former detectives were convicted Thursday of moonlighting as hitmen for the mob in one of the most sensational cases of police corruption in New York history. Louis Eppolito, 57, and Steven Caracappa, 64, could get life in prison for their roles in eight murders committed between 1986 and 1990 while they were simultaneously on the payroll of both the NYPD and Luchese crime family underboss Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso. Federal prosecutor Daniel Wenner described the case as 'the bloodiest, most violent betrayal of the badge this city has ever seen.'" (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/ogdda ----- 11) Moussaoui jury hears about impact on kids Indianapolis Star "The stories and photos of four young children, all of whom lost parents in the 9/11 attacks, brought witnesses to tears and visibly affected jurors Thursday at the death penalty trial of al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. The second phase of the sentencing trial -- to determine whether Moussaoui deserves execution or life in prison -- opened Thursday. Early on, prosecutors played videos of the two hijacked jetliners hitting the gleaming World Trade Center towers." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/mhrqs ----- 12) DoD wants Boy Scout ruling overturned Houston Chronicle "The Defense Department wants to continue supporting the decades-old National Boy Scout Jamboree because preparing a military base for the event trains soldiers how to deal with displaced people, government attorneys said Thursday. The government is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling that the Pentagon's support of the jamboree violates the First Amendment because the Scouts require members to swear an oath of duty to God." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/euf7a ----- 13) Iraq: Shiite politics nearing impasse MSNBC "Iraq's embattled prime minister vowed Thursday to pursue his bid for a second term despite pressure from home and abroad to step down, signaling no early end to the standoff blocking a crucial national unity government. Shiite politicians suggested they may turn to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the sole figure with the authority to make a decision that risks shattering Shiite unity. In a brutal reminder of the stakes if Iraqi leaders cannot reverse the slide toward chaos, a car bomb exploded Thursday in the country's most sacred Shiite city, Najaf, killing 10 people and wounding more than 30." (04/06/06) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12181408/ ----- 14) Paulison nominated to head FEMA CNN "With hurricane season two months away, President Bush on Thursday nominated the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be permanent head of the disaster response agency. R. David Paulison, a 30-year firefighter, took over at FEMA in September when Bush named him to replace the beleaguered Michael Brown. Brown quit in the face of unrelenting criticism over the agency's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/glymg ----- 15) Bush defends surveillance policy Cincinnati Enquirer "President Bush, told by a critic he should be ashamed of his policies, defended the government's secret eavesdropping program Thursday and said he would not apologize for listening in on the phone and e-mail conversations of Americans talking to people with suspected al-Qaida links. A man who identified himself as Harry Taylor rose at a forum here to tell Bush that he's never felt more ashamed of the leadership of his country. He said Bush has asserted his right to tap phone calls without a warrant, to arrest people and hold them without charges and to revoke a woman's right to an abortion, among other things." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/cqt6e ----- 16) Free rent for sex in New York Ananova [UK] "Wealthy New Yorkers are advertising rent-free rooms to women in exchange for sexual favours. The New York Daily News reports the trend and lists a number of ads on the popular Craigslist.org website. One, entitled 'Take Care of My Needs and Live Rent Free,' offers: 'All you have to do is take care of all my urges, and I'll let you live in a one-bedroom apartment I own rent free.' Another ad reads: 'All I am looking for is an attractive, playful, and submissive woman who is uninhibited to my proposal ... substituting rent for sexual encounters.'" (04/06/06) http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1792238.html ----- 17) UK: Helen and Sylvia, the new face of terrorism The Independent [UK] "Two grandmothers from Yorkshire face up to a year in prison after becoming the first people to be arrested under the Government's latest anti-terror legislation. Helen John, 68, and Sylvia Boyes, 62, both veterans of the Greenham Common protests 25 years ago, were arrested on Saturday after deliberately setting out to highlight a change in the law which civil liberties groups say will criminalise free speech and further undermine the right to peaceful demonstration. Under the little-noticed legislation, which came into effect last week, protesters who breach any one of 10 military bases across Britain will be treated as potential terrorists and face up to a year in jail or £5,000 fine. The protests are curtailed under the Home Secretary's Serious Organised Crime and Police Act." (04/06/06) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article356033.ece ----- 18) Bill would clean up Caller ID Wired News "You can count congressional lawmakers among those who want caller ID to mean something again. Bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday in the House of Representatives seeks to outlaw the use of caller ID spoofing techniques 'with the intent to deceive the person to whom the call is made.' The bill targets the mostly web-based spoofing services that allow users to make phone calls that appear to be coming from a phone number of the caller's choice. Site operators emphasize that their services are used by private investigators and law enforcement agencies, but spoofing is also popular with fraud artists and pranksters." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/z9ve4 ----- 19) Judas: Betrayer or chosen one? Sydney Morning Herald [Australia] "A 1700-year-old papyrus manuscript suggests history has misjudged the greatest villain of Christianity: Judas was under orders when he betrayed Jesus. The only known surviving copy of the lost gospel of Judas portrays the treacherous disciple as a loyal deputy acting at the behest of his leader. In fact, Judas sold Jesus out as an act of obedience not treachery, thereby fulfilling his theological destiny. Key passages from the third or fourth century Coptic manuscript were released by its publisher, the National Geographic Society, last night, a week before Easter, the holiest time of the Christian calendar." [editor's note: This may be controversial, but it shouldn't be. The gospel of John (chapter 13) describes, and Matthew (chapter 26) alludes to, Jesus ordering Judas to carry out the act of "betrayal," although all of the gospels elsewhere try to recast it as a case of demonic possession or greed - TLK] (04/07/06) http://tinyurl.com/sxnyo ----- 20) Drug war dropout calls effort a "failure" Lawrence Journal World "For more than 14 years, Jack Cole fought the war on drugs as a New Jersey state narcotics agent. Now, he's had enough. 'It's not only a dismal failure, but a terribly destructive policy,' he said. Cole said he quit the narcotics force in New Jersey after realizing that the war on drugs not only cost billions in taxpayer money and landed millions of Americans in jail, but also had done little to curb the country's drug problem. In fact, Cole believes that the drug war -- beginning in 1970 during Richard Nixon's first term and continuing today -- may have helped escalate a national drug problem that only the end of drug prohibition can cure, he said." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/odcxr ----- 21) CA: Cities can block big stores San Francisco Chronicle "Cities can outlaw big-box superstores in order to prevent the collapse of local businesses and resulting urban blight, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday in a case that sets a statewide precedent for ordinances aimed at retail giant Wal-Mart. Upholding a 2004 ordinance in the city of Turlock (Stanislaus County) that was backed by neighborhood supermarkets and labor unions, the Court of Appeal in Fresno said the city legally used its power to 'control and organize development within its boundaries.'" (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/n4srq ----- 22) "Pig Book" serves up $29 billion in pork Arizona Republic "For all the hand-wringing on Capitol Hill about larding bills with home-state projects, the latest report from a taxpayer group says lawmakers hit a record last year. Citizens Against Government Waste, in its annual 'Pig Book' released Wednesday, details $29 billion of what it calls pork-barrel spending. For the uninitiated, 'pork' means home-state and home-district projects specially set aside in congressional spending measures, chiefly the 11 annual appropriations bills. ... Some of these earmarks are more audacious than others. For example, last year, there was a 'bridge to nowhere,' a $223 million project connecting Alaska's Gravina Island, population 50, to the mainland. That project drew so much ridicule from the media that an irate public successfully demanded that the bridge be shelved." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/pon22 ----- 23) McKinney apologizes for self-defense as grand jury meets Fox News "A federal grand jury arrived Thursday at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to hear from two House staff aides about a scuffle last Wednesday involving a Capitol Police officer and Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney. Meanwhile, McKinney, made a formal apology on the House floor for the incident, saying 'there should not have been any physical contact. ... I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret this escalation, and I apologize,' she said to applause. McKinney also said she would support a House resolution introduced by Republicans to express appreciation for the work done by Capitol Police." (04/06/06) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190833,00.html ----- 24) India: Gandhi evoked for all manner of causes Christian Science Monitor "She lies on the sidewalk, fanned by supporters, surrounded by TV cameras, fasting to death to protest the displacement of some 35,000 peasant families by a major dam project. He leads a march of Hindu nationalists across northern India to protest the government's 'appeasement' of minorities, especially Muslims. Their causes couldn't be more ideologically different. Medha Patkar is a left-leaning activist who has spent 20 years trying to prevent construction of India's largest dam project. L.K. Advani is a former Indian deputy prime minister who led a mob that tore down a 500-year-old mosque in 1992, an act that set off riots that killed thousands." (04/06/06) http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0406/p07s02-wosc.html ----- 25) GOP to cosponsor war cost oversight panel Boston Globe "Two House Republicans have agreed to cosponsor a landmark proposal to create a special House committee to investigate Iraq war spending, joining Democrats in demanding more accountability for billions of dollars that allegedly have been misspent, according to lawmakers and congressional aides. The stalled proposal to create a modern-day 'Truman Committee' -- modeled after the oversight board run by then-Senator Harry Truman to root out contracting abuses during World War II -- has been blocked from consideration by GOP leaders for more than a year. But after new reports about malfeasance involving reconstruction contracts in Iraq, the bill for the first time has begun to attract the support of rank-and-file Republicans." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/ks4g8 ----- RRND MEDIASHELF -------------------------------------------- Books, CDs and other tchotchkes from today's edition: The Battle for Peace, by Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403971749/rationalrev08-20 Note: Affiliate links generate commissions for RRND's editors. -------------------------------------------- RRND MEDIASHELF ----- Commentary 26) Farewell to warblogging Reason by Matt Welch "I had launched my blog (or shall I say 'warblog,' which is what I named it, apparently coining a term I've come to loathe) five days after the September 11 massacre and almost immediately found myself swept up in an exhilarating whirlwind of grassroots media creation. As a consumer, it was exponentially more edifying to me than the post-9/11 fumblings of the mainstream media's binary, Crossfire-style opinion slinging. 'What do warbloggers have in common, that most pundits do not?' I enthused. 'I'd say a yen for critical thinking, a sense of humor that actually translates into people laughing out loud, a willingness to engage (and encourage) readers, a hostility to the Culture War and other artifacts of the professionalized left-right split of the 1990s a readiness to admit error [and] a sense of collegial yet brutal peer review.' Man, was I wrong." (04/06) http://www.reason.com/0604/co.mw.farewell.shtml ----- 27) First look 2008: Karen Kwiatkowski [EMAIL PROTECTED] by Thomas L. Knapp "Assuming she enters the race, and barring the entry of a former US Representative, US Senator, governor or senior executive branch or military official in the race, the LP is unlikely to see a more qualified prospective nominee than Karen Kwiatkowski. This is not an endorsement (yet) -- just a statement of things as I see them." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/km65n ----- 28) The wisdom of fools Strike the Root by Ali Hassan Massoud "I am no shrinking violet when it comes to my political views. So very shortly after I started driving the Jag, I felt the need to customize it to reflect its driver. Make it unique and uniquely mine. So I added a black, white, and red 'smash the state' license plate holder. And a National Rifle Association Life Member decal to the rear window, and 'Other People Are Not Your Property' bumper stickers, fore and aft. Later I added on an anti-war sticker as well. These politically inspired customizations outraged some local Ann Arborite street bum that fancied himself an anarcho-socialist and the arbitrator of all things to do with the ideological purity of the movement. Included in his portfolio of enforcing ideological purity were me and my car." (04/07/06) http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/massoud/massoud7.html ----- 29) Libertarians say amend NC constitution to protect property rights Liberty For All by Brian Irving "The legal firestorm that erupted across the nation in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo vs. New London has spurred a number of states to consider amending their state constitutions to protect property rights. In North Carolina, Libertarians have called for an amendment to the North Carolina State Constitution to strengthen protection for property rights in the wake of the decision. In a resolution passed Jan. 14, the party's executive committee calls on the General Assembly to submit to the voters an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting seizure of private property to benefit private interests to the voter." (04/07/06) http://www.libertyforall.net/2006/march31/amend.html ----- 30) If Medicare were a country Fox News by Arnold Kling "Most health care reform proposals assume that it is the private health care system that needs fixing. However, over the past 25 years, government spending on health care has been increasing at a faster rate than private spending on health care. Medicare accounts for more than 15 percent of health care spending in the United States. Fiscal projections for the middle of this century show that the looming cost of Medicare is by far the biggest problem for the federal budget. And yet, in too many discussions of health care reform, Medicare is ignored." (04/05/06) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190754,00.html ----- 31) Without exception Free Market News Network by Lady Liberty "Last week, I was searching through news headlines when I found another story about another state working for passage of a 'stand your ground' law (that's a law that says you aren't obligated to retreat before using deadly force if you believe that deadly force is warranted). While I thought the law was a good thing, when I passed along the news to others online I also pointed out (just a little tongue in cheek) that all of us already had one of those, no matter where we lived, and that it's called 'The Second Amendment.'" (04/06/06) http://www.fmnn.com/Analysis/157/4411/2006-04-06.asp?nid=4411&wid=157 ----- 32) Interview: Thomas L. Knapp Free Market News Network by John St. George Rational Review's publisher talks with host John St. George about "Libertarians for Slave Labor" and the fight over immigration. [streaming audio or MP3 download] (04/06/06) http://www.fmnn.com/eRadioLaunch.asp?rid=542 ----- 33) Nation, state & mass immigration WorldNetDaily by Ilana Mercer "Libertarians are supposed to obediently avoid certain concepts. Good little pack animals do not mention the nation or nationhood, as I did in my last column, for which I was predictably -- and derisively -- dubbed a 'flaming nationalist.' The root of this simplistic and vulgar individualism, as Murray Rothbard called the aversion, is an inability to distinguish the nation from the State. The former encompasses 'the land, the culture, the terrain, the people;' the latter 'the coercive apparatus of bureaucrats and politicians.'" [editor's note: Question for Mercer: Which one of the aforementioned entities draws imaginary lines on the ground and forbids people to cross those lines without bureaucratic permission? The answer to that question is itself a line ... a line separating "nationalism" from "statism" if such a distinction exists - TLK] (04/07/06) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49634 ----- 34) The people speak AntiWar.Com by Justin Raimondo "The War Party's base is seriously eroding, and they can't maintain their present level of aggression -- never mind launch new wars -- with this level of public support. A new propaganda campaign -- and, perhaps, a fresh provocation, some sort of Gulf of Tonkin-like incident -- is going to be necessary in order to dispel the present mood and ratchet up the war hysteria once again. What the War Party is counting on, in the end, is its ironclad control over the two-party system and its all-pervasive grip on Congress: this, they hope, will suppress the effects of widespread discontent and prevent popular antiwar sentiment from upsetting their future plans. ... If no major party candidate offers the people a clear choice between war and peace, if the Democrats as well as the Republicans push a foreign policy of 'preemptive' aggression and global intervention, then -- they hope -- the antiwar majority can be rendered impotent. No wonder they want to "export democracy" to the rest of the world -- it's the system that keeps them in power, while masking their anti-majoritarian, anti-populist rule in the shiny raiment of democratic idealism. A more self-consciously cynical doctrine would be hard to invent." (04/07/06) http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8820 ----- 35) Fighting for a ticket on the Titanic The American Spectator by Jed Babbin "Why in the world would anyone want to be the next Wesley Clark? In the 2004 election General Clark played Ashley Wilkes to Dan Rather's Scarlett O'Hara. Clark went wacky early, doing his best to endear himself to the Howard Dean lefties by making a habit of statements such as his call for a criminal investigation into the president's decision on the Iraq war. Clark's only achievement was to make of himself a useful tool of the Clinton machine. Comes now former CENTCOM commander General Anthony Zinni, and his book, The Battle for Peace. Zinni, a decorated combat soldier and no fool, is turning his book tour into a tour de farce for the left." (04/07/06) http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=9646 ----- 36) The deception Bush can't spin Salon by Joe Conason "If we are to believe the grand jury testimony of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby -- as reported by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in court papers -- then the president of the United States has been deceiving the country ever since the CIA leaks investigation began in 2003. Compared with other deceptions that George W. Bush has perpetrated in the years since he promised to restore honor and integrity to the Oval Office, this one cannot be spun away as a misunderstanding, a 'misunderestimate' or a mistake." [subscription or ad view required] (04/07/06) http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2006/04/07/libby_case/ ----- 37) Iran: The next neocon target LewRockwell.Com by US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) "I smell an expanded war in the Middle East, and pray that I'm wrong. I sense that circumstances will arise that demand support regardless of the danger and cost. Any lack of support, once again, will be painted as being soft on terrorism and al Qaeda. We will be told we must support Israel, support patriotism, support the troops, and defend freedom. The public too often only smells the stench of war after the killing starts. Public objection comes later on, but eventually it helps to stop the war. I worry that before we can finish the war we're in and extricate ourselves, the patriotic fervor for expanding into Iran will drown out the cries of, 'enough already!' The agitation and congressional resolutions painting Iran as an enemy about to attack us have already begun. It's too bad we can't learn from our mistakes." (04/05/06) http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul315.html ----- 38) A-M-N-E-S-T-Y National Review by Mark Krikorian "The parallel to the abortion debate is telling; both 'amnesty' and 'abortion' (not to mention 'acid!') are things people dislike, so their promoters have to invent new terminology. The National Abortion Rights Action League, for instance, is no more -- now it's 'NARAL Pro-Choice America,' fighting for 'reproductive rights' and 'women's health.' Like in the abortion debate, amnesty was called by its name in earlier, more naive phases of the debate. The legalization portions of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act were almost universally referred to as amnesty, by both supporters and opponents. But when it became clear what a debacle that amnesty was (it legalized nearly three million illegal aliens, sparking massive illegal immigration and distorting the development of agriculture and other industries), it became necessary to find a different word for the next amnesty." (04/06/06) http://www.nationalreview.com/krikorian/krikorian200604060624.asp ----- 39) We've found the leaker in the White House! Slate by John Dickerson "President Bush has always made his view of leakers perfectly clear. Before, during, and after the Valerie Plame and NSA wiretapping leaks that have bedeviled his presidency, Bush has insisted that leakers thwart the proper functioning of government. In certain cases, they commit 'treason.' He has described leakers as low-level, frustrated bureaucrats who feed their own egos by passing along juicy tidbits to mangy reporters. ... Now we learn that the president himself is a leaker. We've always known that the commander-in-chief's distaste for leaking didn't stop it from happening (as it has in every administration), but this is the first time we appear to have direct evidence that Bush had his hand on the siphon." (04/06/06) http://www.slate.com/id/2139469/ ----- 40) Three years, few regrets Reason by Michael Young Interview with Kanan Makiya: "I still think that in the long run history will judge this to have been a morally just war, one that will in time produce a better Iraq than the one ruled over by the Ba'ath Party. And yet I now realize I was wrong on a whole number of questions. I misjudged, for instance, the damage done to the Iraqi state and institutions by 13 years of sanctions. And while de-Ba'athification and demilitarization were right in principle, they were mishandled in practice and that was partly because we in the Iraqi opposition did not think through the other side of dismantling enormous bureaucracies of repression. That other side was winning over the people who were in these institutions and reconciling them with the new order." (04/06) http://www.reason.com/links/links040606.shtml ----- 41) The $10,000 question The Weekly Standard by Jonathan V. Last "'Entitlement reform.' Few words in the English language make readers turn the page faster. So let's begin this way: How would you like it if, after you turned 21, the federal government cut you a check for $10,000, every year, for the rest of your life? If that sounds intriguing, then Charles Murray has gotten your attention." (04/07/06) http://tinyurl.com/na9nb ----- 42) A good swift kick AlterNet by Molly Ivins "I never minded DeLay being a tough guy -- it was his syrupy claims to carry the banner for Christianity that I found offensive, as he frog-marched the House toward being a cash- operated special-interest machine. The idea of putting pressure on lobbyists to give only to Republicans, pressuring lobbying firms into hiring only Republicans and then letting lobbyists sit at the table during committee meetings where legislation was written -- it was just screaming overt corruption. Tom DeLay and Newt Gingrich turned the U.S. House of Representatives, 'the people's House,' into a pay- for-play machine for corporations." (04/06/06) http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/34596/ ----- 43) Of course there is an Israel lobby Independent Institute by Edward Peck "All democracies have lobbies. Shrill insistence that no groups promote Israel is ludicrous. Opinions differ on the long-term costs and benefits for both nations, but the lobby's views of Israel's interests have become the basis of U.S. Middle East policies. That this influence largely results from the efforts of people determined to exercise their democratic prerogatives is not open to question -- or to challenge. The dangerous, unacceptable result of that lobbying, however, is the stifling of public debate." (04/06/06) http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1700 ----- 44) What victory lost The American Conservative by Wayne Merry "President Bush has enunciated an ambitious standard for success in Iraq, albeit a much more modest one than his original vision of a democratic transformation of the entire Middle East. However, even if the current U.S. program is achieved, the question remains: is this war in the national interest of the U.S.? Success in Iraq is certainly preferable to outright failure but still may be inferior to abandonment of a policy that was erroneous from inception. Thus, even if Bush can genuinely proclaim 'Mission Accomplished' in Iraq when he leaves office, will the war not leave America worse off both at home and in the world?" (for publication 04/10/06) http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_04_10/article2.html ----- 45) Cutting and running in Baghdad Mother Jones by Robert Dreyfuss "Too late, the urgency of the crisis in Iraq, and the sheer ugliness of its civil war, seems finally to be dawning on the Bush administration. As usual, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and their stalwart secretaries of state and defense, are johnnies-come-lately in their ability to understand how far gone Iraq is. Perhaps, as has been the case in the past, that is because they continue flagrantly to disregard what they are told by analysts in the U.S. intelligence community. Before, during, and after the invasion of Iraq, with a rising sense of alarm, the CIA, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and other agencies warned the Bush-Cheney team that the destruction of Iraq's central government could tumble the country into a civil war. In 2004, of course, the president famously dismissed such CIA warnings as 'just a guess.' Well, guess what, Mr. President? It's civil war. And it isn't pretty." (04/06/06) http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2006/04/the_d_word.html ----- 46) Is capitalism why we fight? Ludwig von Mises Institute by Gregory Bresiger "Rome was a republic that once knew the rule of law. It acquired an empire by accident. It became an empire in which one man reigned and wars were endless as they were in almost every empire. The Roman Senate ended up losing most of its powers. The United States was born a republic. Yet our nation, ignoring the warnings of the founding fathers and of President Eisenhower in 1961, has mutated into an empire." (04/06/06) http://www.mises.org/story/2104 ----- 47) What can government do about the obesity epidemic? Heartland Institute by Devon Herrick "[P]ublic health advocates are increasingly calling for government intervention to slow the increasing incidence of obesity. They are trying to remove from schools foods and drinks they consider unhealthy. Trial lawyers have explored suing fast food restaurant chains. One of the more extreme proposals is a so-called 'fat tax' to offset government medical expenditures and raise the cost of unhealthy foods. Current government efforts to control obesity largely take the form of consumer education and food industry requirements for transparency in nutritional information. The federal government has required food producers to disclose nutritional information for years." (04/06) http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=18824 ----- 48) Massachusetts: False promise of universal coverage Common Dreams by Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H. & David U. Himmelstein, M.D. "It's a stirring scene. The Governor, legislative leaders and leaders of Health Care For All standing in the State House Rotunda declaring victory in the fight for universal health coverage. Unfortunately, this week's tableau merely repeats one from 20 years ago when Governor Dukakis was celebrating passage of his universal healthcare bill. That plan imploded within two years, and today about 250,000 more people are uninsured in Massachusetts than the day it was signed. Unfortunately, Massachusetts' new health reform legislation looks set to repeat that disaster." [editor's note: Another good analysis of the problem, in spite of its agenda and "solution" offered - SAT] (04/06/06) http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0406-35.htm ----- 49) A replay of Iraq beckons in Darfur if troops sent The Guardian [UK] by Paul Moorcraft "If there is a world journalism record for being arrested by Sudan's dictatorial government, I probably hold it: I was detained on the first morning of my first visit. Despite many less eventful subsequent visits to Sudan, I remain very wary of the regime. Nevertheless, Khartoum does have a point about the dangers of western military intervention in Darfur. In February President Bush, during an unscripted question-and-answer session in Florida, suggested an expanded international role in Darfur, with 'Nato stewardship' of a UN force there. This statement caught many policy makers off guard." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/j7gek ----- 50) The tethered goat strategy Truthout by Sidney Blumenthal "Amid an internal crisis of credibility, Condoleezza Rice has washed her hands of her department. Since the Iraqi elections in January, US foreign service officers at the Baghdad embassy have been writing a steady stream of disturbing cables describing drastically worsening conditions. ... Meanwhile, President Bush's strategy of training Iraqi police and army to take over from coalition forces -- 'when they stand up, we'll stand down' -- is perversely and portentously accelerating the strife. State department officials in the field are reporting that Shia militias use training as cover to infiltrate key positions. Thus the strategy to create institutions of order and security is fuelling civil war. Rather than being received as invaluable intelligence, the messages are discarded or, worse, considered signs of disloyalty." (04/06/06) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040606A.shtml ----- 51) Campaign finance reform will end corruption? Foundation for Economic Education by Sheldon Richman "People with an investment in government power will torture logic like a medieval inquisitor rather than face the facts. Consider campaign-finance reform. The standard reformist wisdom is that campaign contributions corrupt the democratic process: Candidates need money to run for office. Corporations and wealthy folks offer to provide the money in return for favors when the candidates take or resume office. Politicians pay their debts by writing tax loopholes, subsidies, and other goodies into law. The 'little guy' can't compete in the bidding for favors and, worse, ends up financing the payoffs to the big contributors." (written 05/00; posted 04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/dwc4o ----- 52) Wal-Mart's dirty secret is out Seattle Post-Intelligencer by John J. Sweeney "The Dubai Ports World battle has trumpeted the gaping holes in our seaports' security systems, but few ask: Why are U.S. ports so poorly protected nearly five years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001? Why has the government spent just $630 million -- less than 4 percent of the $18 billion-plus we have spent since 9/11 on airport security -- to make ports safer? House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said it best: '(While we) talk about having strong homeland security, checking 100 percent of cargo containers. In the end, our commercial interests get ahead of us.' Those commercial interests are led by the world's largest retailer and the United States' biggest importer, Wal-Mart." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/gewkq ----- 53) Our pious Babylon The American Prospect by Harold Meyerson "Let us not think that Tom DeLay's decision not to seek reelection was prompted by merely temporal concerns. The Rev. Rick Scarborough, DeLay's sometime pastor, told the New York Times that The Hammer confided in him last Saturday that 'God wanted him to get out of that race.' DeLay's apparently is the most obliging of Lords. He stuck with the embattled incumbent long enough for DeLay to give a 'Texas whuppin' to those infidels who ran against him in the Republican primary, only to counsel withdrawal when the polling made clear that a Democrat could still beat The Hammer in the fall. The broader question is whether such a deity still rules in Washington. As gods go, He was surely more ethically flexible than most." (04/06/06) http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=11373 ----- 54) Political upheaval in Latin America In These Times by Nadia Martinez "The presidential palaces of Latin America are famous for their imposing Spanish colonial grandeur. Not long ago these marble edifices on grand plazas were inhabited mostly by military strongmen. That these leaders were elites of European descent went virtually without question. Today, Chile's presidential palace, La Moneda, is the home of a single mother and torture survivor. In Buenos Aires' famous Casa Rosada lives a man who is perhaps the biggest thorn in the side of the International Monetary Fund. In Bolivia it is an indigenous coca farmer, in Brazil a metalworker and in Uruguay a former leader of left social movements who call these palaces home." (04/05/06) http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2564/ ----- 55) Cooling the Iran crisis Tom Paine by Dilip Hiro "President George W. Bush's dogged refusal to rule out a military option to resolving Iran's nuclear issue along with his thinly disguised attempts to foment 'regime change' in Tehran by bankrolling opposition is leading to a dangerous impasse. It took three weeks of hard bargaining by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to hammer out a statement on Iran's nuclear program. Issued on March 29, it expressed 'serious concern' about aspects of the Iranian nuclear program 'which could have a military nuclear dimension,' demanded a cessation of uranium enrichment and instructed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report back in 30 days on Iran's compliance. The council did not have to wait that long. The next day Iran's chief representative at IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said, 'The enrichment matter is not reversible.'" (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/nhsnh ----- 56) The scope of Middle East clashes since 9/11 Christian Science Monitor by Pat M. Holt "If the US had stopped with Afghanistan, its world standing might be better. ... The initial US reaction to 9/11 did not need to go beyond Afghanistan. It was Afghanistan and its Taliban government that shielded bin Laden. After the victory over the Taliban, the US should have pursued him more vigorously. His capture in those early days could have ended the whole affair, but the White House was intent on spreading democracy [sic]. There was no Iraq-Al Qaeda connection until after the US established an American presence in Iraq. Hence, there was no need to invade." [editor's note: This is not exactly a fresh approach, but at least the concept is "spreading" - SAT] (04/06/06) http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0406/p09s01-coop.html ----- 57) Amid cheers for healthcare, fears for funding abound Boston Globe by Joan Vennochi "Massachusetts politicians just built the healthcare McMansion of their dreams. Now, where do they get the money to underwrite the mortgage? Like many a thrilled new homeowner, they're not sure. Governor Mitt Romney, legislative leaders, and healthcare lobbyists are congratulating one another and basking in favorable media reaction. At the same time, they hope there is enough money to cover commitments made in this sweeping healthcare package -- especially the commitment to extend health insurance coverage to 95 percent of the population within three years. But to some degree, the foundation for this plan is a mixture of euphoria and hope. And that's not enough." (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/pzrbr ----- 58) Changing leadership in the White House and Congress Center For Individual Freedom by staff "Some have argued recently that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's decision to retire was in part to help the GOP. A similar argument has been made to justify the changing of the guard in the White House Chief of Staff office. At a time when President Bush's approval ratings are low and scandals surrounding Republican Members of Congress are receiving increased attention, is the Grand Old Party reorganizing?" (04/06/06) http://tinyurl.com/f9zke Movement News & Events 59) Benefit manuscript auction: Ceres The Libertarian Enterprise by L. Neil Smith thru 04/18/06 "Okay, I feel better now (it's the damned antibiotics, I'm certain) and have taken keyboard in lap to offer the one and only working manuscript of my new novel, Ceres, to the highest bidder. ... Proceeds will benefit The Libertarian Enterprise, which can use every bit of monetary help it can get. ... So dig deep, if you will. Bidding starts at $100.00 and should proceed in increments of $5.00. Contact Ken at [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (03/26/06) http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2006/tle360-20060326-02.html ----- 60) Question War Ribbon Question War "'Support Our Troops' does not mean Support Our War. The best way to support our troops is to Question War itself. It is time the voices questioning war become stronger than those justifying war. We are the growing majority and the Question is fundamental. Share this message and help create a collective voice at a critical time. Magnets and stickers, 10% of profits donated to groups working towards a sustainable, just and compassionate world." (03/25/06) http://www.questionwar.com/ ----- 61) 2nd annual TCF Combat Rifle Postal Match WolfesBlog 04/29/06 "The 2nd TCF Combat Rifle Postal Match will be taking place in the month of April! This match will be dedicated to the memory of Mordechai Anielewicz and the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. For those of you not familiar with postal matches, the idea is that a bunch of people all shoot the same course of fire and then mail their targets to a single person for scoring. It allows us to hold a rifle match without needing to get everyone together at the same shooting range. For the privacy-minded, you may scan your targets and email them in rather than using a mail carrier. Everyone with a military-style rifle is encouraged to participate, regardless of skill level. ... Targets must be received by April 29th to be eligible for scoring." (03/21/06) http://www.clairewolfe.com/wolfesblog/00001975.html ----- 62) Voters for peace: take the pledge Voters For Peace ongoing "Americans who oppose the Iraq occupation are a committed and growing majority of the voting population. But, anti-war voters are not organized and too often fall into the trap of voting for a pro-war candidate because the candidate is seen as the 'lesser evil.' So, rather than voting for what we want -- ending the Iraq occupation, or preventing a new war against Iran -- people vote for what they don't want -- someone who promises to 'manage' the war better or even send more U.S. troops. The goal of Voters for Peace is to educate and organize voters so candidates need to support both ending the occupation of Iraq and preventing future wars of aggression. Together, using lobbying, targeted demonstrations, media advocacy and a pledge to eschew pro-war candidates, we will make the anti-war perspective a powerful mainstream political force that cannot be ignored." (03/06) http://www.votersforpeace.us/ ----- 63) ISIL's 25th World Freedom Summit International Society for Individual Liberty 07/07/06-07/12/06 "ISIL's international conference for 2006 is being held in the stunningly beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic." Scholarships for students/young activists available. Watch this space for details To Be Announced! http://www.isil.org/conference/ Today in Political History 64) America needs a drink 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 --------------------------------- Blab-away for as little as 1¢/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls using Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. --------------------------------- Love cheap thrills? Enjoy PC-to-Phone calls to 30+ countries for just 2¢/min with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 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! 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