Rational Review News Digest
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Published Monday-Friday, except for holidays
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http://www.rationalreview.com/newsProduced in cooperation with the International Society for Individual Liberty http://www.isil.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume IV, Issue #877 Friday, April 14th, 2006 Email Circulation 2,032 ------ 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: Six killed, dozens missing in convoy ambush 2) Airstrip One: Thoughtcrime Act comes into force 3) Iran rebuffs request to suspend enrichment 4) Another general joins ranks opposing Rumsfeld 5) Bush, Reid trade barbs on immigration 6) Some immigration marchers pay high price 7) Afghanistan: Stolen military data for sale 8) Pakistani forces kill suspected terrorist 9) CA: City to test gunshot location system 10) Rev. William Coffin, 1924-2006 11) CA: Official refuses to count votes in city election 12) TN: Death row inmate files suit challenging method 13) Dems expect gains in Congress 14) A tale of hope gets a jarring new chapter 15) Immigrant advocates convene May 1 work stoppage 16) UK: Prisoner of conscience 17) Navy adds 14 locations to list for war on terrorism medals 18) US outsourcing Iran special ops, intel to terror group 19) GA: ATF rids university of ninja threat 20) MO: Eminent domain debate digresses 21) NY: Man receives 3-year sentence for self-defense 22) IN: Intruder shot, killed 23) LA: Business owner shoots robber 24) TX: Man cleared of assault linked to shootout 25) TSA nabs another terrorist Today's Commentary: 26) A history of violence 27) Exploiting the workers 28) Immigrants stage a patriotic protest 29) Exporting "democracy" -- importing trouble 30) Don't create a government in Iraq 31) Tagging trees, animals, people 32) The irrelevance of intelligence again 33) At the very least, don't repeat Iraq mistakes 34) Bush's bluster 35) Romney's responsibility principles 36) The myth of the passive Indian 37) Fitting the crime 38) Permission to speak freely, sir 39) Dropout nation? 40) Target: Iran 41) Special Agent Bush 42) Theocons and theocrats 43) Two cheers for Massachusetts 44) The Enron standard 45) Tame oil's wild price ride with a tax 46) Uh-oh, it's the tax man 47) Dead cities 48) Out of the shadows 49) Bare breasts and bare-faced politics 50) America's secret police? 51) Steps to Social Security reform 52) Milton Friedman's pragmatic and incremental libertarianism 53) Asleep all over America 54) Mo money! Mo money! 55) Dumb and dangerous 56) Time to shake up the peace movement 57) Hoosier oranges: Good for Indiana? 58) Is the US sugar problem solvable? Today's Movement News & Events: 59) Petition: Don't Attack Iran 60) Benefit manuscript auction: Ceres 61) 2nd annual TCF Combat Rifle Postal Match 62) ISIL's 25th World Freedom Summit 63) Authority and autonomy in the family Today in Political History: 64) Sic Semper Tyrannis! News 1) Iraq: Six killed, dozens missing in convoy ambush CBS News "At least six Iraqi policemen were dead and dozens were missing Friday after insurgents ambushed their convoy north of Baghdad, police said. Ten policemen were wounded in the attack Thursday night as they were on their way from Najaf to a U.S. base to pick up new vehicles. U.S. and Iraqi forces engaged the attackers. In Najaf, a senior official in the governor's office said only 35 of 80 members of the police convoy had returned to the Shiite city 100 miles south of Baghdad. ... a suicide car bomber attacked a police station in the northern city of Mosul, wounding at least seven ..." (04/14/06) http://tinyurl.com/o7f95 ----- 2) Airstrip One: Thoughtcrime Act comes into force Guardian [UK] "The government's controversial Terrorism Act comes into force today, outlawing the glorification of terrorism and paving the way for the detention of terror suspects for 28 days without charge. The bill, introduced in response to the July 7 bombings, was opposed by both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, and saw Tony Blair's first Commons defeat since coming to power, when Labour rebels overturned a government clause allowing 90 days detention. The act creates new offences of undertaking terrorism training, preparation of or planning a terrorist act and disseminating terrorist publications." (04/13/06) http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1752937,00.html ----- 3) Iran rebuffs request to suspend enrichment Indianapolis Star "Iran rebuffed a request by the U.N. nuclear agency chief in talks Thursday that it suspend uranium enrichment, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted his country will not retreat 'one iota.' The chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, looked much less optimistic after the four hours of talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, than he had when he arrived for the one-day visit and said the time was 'ripe' for a political solution to the standoff." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/zm5no ----- 4) Another general joins ranks opposing Rumsfeld CNN "The commander who led the elite 82nd Airborne Division during its mission in Iraq has joined the chorus of retired generals calling on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to leave the Pentagon. 'I really believe that we need a new secretary of defense because Secretary Rumsfeld carries way too much baggage with him,' retired Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack told CNN's Barbara Starr on Thursday." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/z3cbg ----- 5) Bush, Reid trade barbs on immigration Cincinnati Enquirer "President Bush accused Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Thursday of 'single-handedly thwarting' action on immigration legislation, and got a brisk retort in return. 'President Bush has as much credibility on immigration as he does on Iraq and national security,' shot back the Nevada Democrat. The exchange was the latest in a series of maneuvers among party leaders trying to assign blame for Senate gridlock over comprehensive immigration legislation." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/gqfwr ----- 6) Some immigration marchers pay high price USA Today "Six employees at a seafood restaurant in Houston were fired this week after skipping work to take part in a pro-immigration march. In Detroit, 21 immigrants lost their jobs as meat cutters after attending a similar protest last month. And several students at a high school near Tampa, were suspended this week for walking out of class to go to a demonstration. Across the country, workers and students have paid a price for attending the immigration rallies that have recently swept the nation." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/gwton ----- 7) Afghanistan: Stolen military data for sale MSNBC "Just outside the main gate of the huge U.S. military base in Bagram, Afghanistan, shopkeepers at a bazaar peddle a range of goods, including computer drives with sensitive -- even secret information -- stolen from the base. This week, an NBC News producer, using a hidden camera, visited the bazaar and bought a half dozen of the memory drives the size of a thumb known as flash drives. On them, NBC News found highly sensitive military information, some which NBC will not reveal." (04/13/06) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12305580/ ----- 8) Pakistani forces kill suspected terrorist Detroit Free Press "An al-Qaida member wanted for his suspected role in the bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa was killed by Pakistani forces in a raid near the Afghan border, a Pakistani Cabinet minister said Thursday. Egyptian Mohsin Musa Matawalli Atwah, 45, who was on the FBI's list of most-wanted terrorists, was killed along with at least six other militants in a raid led by helicopter gunships late Wednesday in the remote North Waziristan village of Naghar Kalai, near the Afghan border, the minister said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/qyd7d ----- 9) CA: City to test gunshot location system San Luis Obispo Tribune "A city councilor hopes to curb a rising murder rate by installing a gunshot-locator system that uses sensitive microphones attached to buildings to remotely pinpoint shootings. Oakland councilman Larry Reid, whose district includes some of the East Oakland's most violent neighborhoods, said Tuesday his office will pay $10,000 to test the ShotSpotter system that is already in use in parts of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Reid hopes to have the system in place by the end of the month. Police hope the technology will help dispatch officers more quickly and catch fleeing criminals. If the test is successful, the city would need to raise about $400,000 to install nearly 100 sensors in an 8-square-mile section of the city, said Oakland police Lt. Pete Sarna II. The system uses microphones mounted on flat roofs and connected to telephone lines to triangulate the location of the gunshots to within 10 to 30 feet, said James Beldock, president of the Santa Clara-based ShotSpotter Inc." [editor's note: Looks like SonicNet is here ... hopefully a Black Arrow will show up in Oakland to put the kibosh on this "experiment" ASAP - TLK] (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/n6n8x ----- 10) Rev. William Coffin, 1924-2006 San Francisco Chronicle "The Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., a civil rights and anti-war campaigner who sought to inspire and encourage an idealistic and rebellious generation of college students in the 1960s from his position as chaplain of Yale University, then reveled in the role of lightning rod thrust upon him by officials and conservatives who thought him and his style of dissent dangerous, died Wednesday at his home in Strafford, Vt. He was 81. The cause was congestive heart failure, said his daughter, Amy Coffin, of Oakland. She said he had been under hospice care. Coffin, a believer in the power of civil disobedience to bring social and political change, was arrested as a Freedom Rider early in the 1960s and was an early admirer of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/zrbkg ----- 11) CA: Official refuses to count votes in city election Arizona Republic "It took a judge's order to force the first local election in 25 years in this industrial city, and it was a contest filled with allegations of intimidation, harassment and undercover surveillance. And it wasn't over when the polls closed, either. On Tuesday night, a clerk promptly carried a metal ballot box into the City Council chambers and announced he would not count the votes. The bizarre, and some say illegal, decision was just the latest eyebrow-raising political turn in Vernon, a city on the edge of Los Angeles where the mayor and council members have served for decades without opposition and most of the voters hold municipal jobs while living in city-owned houses. The political order was upset earlier this year when three new residents filed as candidates for three of the City Council's five seats." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/zm3ju ----- 12) TN: Death row inmate files suit challenging method Nashville City Paper "A man set to be executed in Nashville May 17 for the 1985 rape and murder of a female marine at a Naval base near Memphis has filed a civil suit in federal court challenging the state's lethal injection method. Sedley Alley, who is serving a death row sentence at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, claims the injection method amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, among other constitutional violations. Similar arguments were rejected by the state Supreme Court in October when it upheld use of the execution method against death row inmate Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman. Alley's latest challenge seeks remedy through the federal courts." (04/13/06) http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?news_id=49134 ----- 13) Dems expect gains in Congress Christian Science Monitor "California Democrat Francine Busby's first-place showing in Round 1 of Tuesday's special congressional race may give her party a jolt of optimism in its quest to retake the House in November. But come the June 6 runoff, analysts say, reality will set in: The seat she seeks to occupy, the one vacated by the now-imprisoned Randy 'Duke' Cunningham (R), represents a strong Republican district and the odds are steep against her in a two-person race against a Republican. The GOP has a 15-point registration advantage in the San Diego district. In at least the past 40 years, the Democrats have never defeated a Republican in a district with more than about a four-point GOP registration advantage, says Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego." (04/13/06) http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0413/p01s02-uspo.html ----- 14) A tale of hope gets a jarring new chapter Boston Globe "It was a story that touched the hearts of Minnesotans. But now it has taken a surprising turn, in Boston. A homeless, 22-year-old, undocumented immigrant from Mexico was found secretly living inside a Twin Cities high school last year, using the showers and foraging for cafeteria food. Francisco Javier Serrano's story captivated the news media there and moved a wealthy developer to provide him with money, an immigration attorney, and a rent-free apartment overlooking downtown Minneapolis. But immigration officials ordered Serrano back to Mexico. Officials believed that he boarded a plane for his home country Jan. 5, and it seemed to be a closed case. Then, two weeks ago, a tenant in Boston's North End heard a sound inside his apartment. A man with a knife had broken in. The tenant struck the intruder with a kitchen pan, and police responded to find Serrano and the tenant in a struggle, authorities said. Now, Serrano sits in Suffolk County Jail facing charges of home invasion." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/r9yf8 ----- 15) Immigrant advocates convene May 1 work stoppage Yahoo! News "U.S. immigrant rights advocates on Thursday called for a nationwide boycott of work, school and commerce on May 1, seeking to capitalize on the momentum of recent mass demonstrations across the country. ... The groups announcing the boycott in New York said they had had the backing of the so-called March 25 Coalition that amassed a huge crowd in Los Angeles. They are calling on immigrant workers, elected officials, labor unions and churches to 'take back' May Day, a public holiday in much of the world but not in the United States, where the international labor day has its origins. Organizers declined to predict how many people would take part, but they aim to demonstrate how the United States depends on cheap labor and generate more concern for the well-being of America's legal and illegal immigrants." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/hxyes ----- 16) UK: Prisoner of conscience Independent [UK] "An RAF doctor who refused to serve in Iraq because he believed the war to be illegal was jailed for eight months yesterday. The conviction and imprisonment of Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, the first member of the armed forces to be charged with disobeying orders to deploy in Iraq, has provoked widespread condemnation. Anti-war groups declared that a man who had shown great moral courage and acted according to his conscience was being pilloried for his beliefs." (04/13/06) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article357656.ece ----- 17) Navy adds 14 locations to list for war on terrorism medals Stars & Stripes "Attention, sailors who like brass on their blouses: the Navy has added 14 new locations to the list of areas eligible for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal. A Navy administrative message that went out to the fleet on March 31 said that sailors assigned to these locations may now qualify to wear the 'GWOT' Expeditionary Medal, as long as their assignments meet the other criteria associated with the award: Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chad, Georgia, Hungary, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Turkey, Uganda, Colombia, Guantanamo Bay, Kosovo and the Mediterranean Sea." (04/13/06) http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=36444 ----- 18) US outsourcing Iran special ops, intel to terror group Raw Story "The Pentagon is bypassing official US intelligence channels and turning to a dangerous and unruly cast of characters in order to create strife in Iran in preparation for any possible attack, former and current intelligence officials say. One of the operational assets being used by the Defense Department is a right-wing terrorist organization known as Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), which is being 'run' in two southern regional areas of Iran. They are Baluchistan, a Sunni stronghold, and Khuzestan, a Shia region where a series of recent attacks has left many dead and hundreds injured in the last three months. ... Although the specifics of what the MEK is being used for remain unclear, a UN official close to the Security Council explained that the newly renamed MEK soldiers are being run instead of military advance teams, committing acts of violence in hopes of staging an insurgency of the Iranian Sunni population. 'We are already at war,' the UN official told RAW STORY." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/qdaya ----- 19) GA: ATF rids university of ninja threat Red and Black "ATF agents are always on alert for anything suspicious -- including ninjas. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents, on campus Tuesday for Project Safe Neighborhoods training, detained a 'suspicious individual' near the Georgia Center, University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said. Jeremiah Ransom, a sophomore from Macon, was leaving a Wesley Foundation pirate vs. ninja event when he was detained. After being held in investigative detention, he was found to have violated no criminal laws and was not arrested. 'It was surreal,' Ransom said. 'I was jogging from Wesley to Snelling when I heard someone yell 'freeze.'' Ransom said he thought a friend was playing a joke before he realized officers had guns drawn and pointed at him. ... Ransom was wearing black sweatpants and an athletic T-shirt with one red bandanna covering the bottom half of his face and another covering the top of his head, Williamson said. 'Seeing someone with something across the face, from a federal standpoint -- that's not right,' McLemore said, explaining why agents believed something to be amiss." [editor's note: "From a federal standpoint?" Yo, McLemore -- from any reasonable standpoint, your thugs should be either in jail or in the unemployment line - TLK] (04/12/06) http://tinyurl.com/n2pbv ----- 20) MO: Eminent domain debate digresses Kansas City Star "A dreary, five-hour House debate on technical aspects of eminent domain law Wednesday turned into a battle over gun rights and the propriety of research on early stem cells. The issues arose as House members grappled with what limits the legislature should put on the government's ability to take private property when government officials think buying the property is in the public interest. Rep. Belinda Harris, a Hillsboro Democrat, proposed an amendment to prohibit the government from using the power of eminent domain to force the sale of any house of worship. The amendment was approved, 154-0. That prompted Rep. Mike Frame, a Eureka Democrat, to propose exempting any property used as a gun shop. He said such an exemption befitted businesses protected by the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Rep. Shannon Cooper, a Clinton Republican who owns a gun store, said gun shops were not equivalent to churches and should not be placed in a special class exempt from rules that apply to all other businesses." (04/13/06) http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/14329592.htm ----- 21) NY: Man receives 3-year sentence for self-defense Journal News "A Mount Vernon man cleared of homicide charges in the slaying of an ex-convict who had shot him years earlier was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison for possessing the gun used in the killing. Mark Powell could have faced considerably more time in prison had jurors not found that he was justified in shooting Curtis Liburd Sept. 17 on East Fourth Street in Mount Vernon. The White Plains jury acquitted Powell of murder and manslaughter charges in January after believing his claim that he shot the unarmed Liburd in self-defense. Powell testified that he fired after Liburd threatened him and tried to grab his gun. He was also cleared of a more serious charge that accused him of intending to use the gun unlawfully. ... Powell acknowledged that he illegally [sic] possessed the gun. Westchester County Judge Rory Bellantoni said he would have liked to sentence Powell to the maximum seven years as prosecutor George Bolen requested. But he said he could not because that would have required him to consider that the possession of the gun led to Liburd's death -- which the jury verdict precluded the judge from doing." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/fpxd7 ----- 22) IN: Intruder shot, killed Indianapolis Star "A 20-year-old man was shot to death about noon Wednesday as he tried to break into a home on the Far Eastside.Xavier Rashard Ivory, 1800 block of South State Street, was pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital after being shot once in the chest. Capt. Phil Burton of the Marion County Sheriff's Department said the owner of a home in the 8000 block of East 37th Street heard his doorbell ringing incessantly but ignored it in hopes that the person would go away. Shortly thereafter, the homeowner heard a pounding at his back door. On the way to the back door, he grabbed a firearm from a closet. At the back door, he heard and saw someone trying to force open the door. As he pulled back window blinds, he saw an arm come in through a broken window, Burton said.The homeowner fired one shot, striking Ivory in the chest." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/q2g6a ----- 23) LA: Business owner shoots robber WIAT News "An Anniston business owner is in the clear after shooting a robbery suspect in self-defense. The robbers attempted to shakedown a pawnshop. Now, three are in jail and one's got a gunshot wound to remember it by. The owner of the 202 Pawn Shop says four people charged in the attempted robbery worked as a team, trying to distract him while one stole some jewelry and ran out. Investigators say the bandits jumped into a car. The store owner, who didn't want to give his name, ran after them armed with a pistol and ready for action. 'He pulled up like he was gonna run over me and at that point pulled down on him,' said the owner." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/lalnh ----- 24) TX: Man cleared of assault linked to shootout Longview News-Journal "A 20-year-old Longview man has been cleared of an aggravated assault charge in connection with a shooting last year after prosecutors argued he fired a gun in self-defense. Travale Henson had been indicted in connection with a May 14 shooting with Keethan Harnage outside a birthday party on Avalon Street. A bullet from Harnage's gun left 15-year-old Sierra Foster of Longview dead. Prosecutors argued in a motion to dismiss that an investigation proved Henson fired two shots at Harnage in self-defense after Harnage 'began firing wildly' at him. Judge David Brabham of the 188th District Court signed the order to dismiss April 5." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/hdnqd ----- 25) TSA nabs another terrorist Breitbart.com "A Marine reservist returning home after eight months in Iraq was told he couldn't board a plane to Minneapolis because his name appeared on a watch list as a possible terrorist.Staff Sgt. Daniel Brown, who was in uniform and returning from the war Tuesday with 26 other Marine military police reservists, was delayed briefly in Los Angeles until the issue was cleared up. ... Brown, 32, arrived more than an hour later. ... 'A guy goes over and serves his country fighting for eight or nine months, and then we come home and put up with this?' he asked. Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said Wednesday he could not confirm or deny whether someone was on a watch list." (04/10/06) http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/04/12/D8GUP1VG9.html ----- RRND MEDIASHELF -------------------------------------------- Books, CDs and other tchotchkes from today's edition: The Black Arrow, by Vin Suprynowicz http://www.libertybookshop.us/mall/The-Black-Arrow.htm 1491, by Charles C. Mann http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/140004006X/rationalrev08-20 Note: Affiliate links generate commissions for RRND's editors. -------------------------------------------- RRND MEDIASHELF ----- Commentary 26) A history of violence Slate by Michael Kinsley "When the United States should use its military strength to achieve worthy goals abroad is an important question. But based on this record, it seems a bit theoretical. It's like asking whether Donald Trump should use his superpowers to cure AIDS. Or what George W. Bush should say when he wins the Nobel Prize in physics. A more pressing question is: Can't anyone here play this game?" (04/14/06) http://www.slate.com/id/2139843/ ----- 27) Exploiting the workers LewRockwell.Com by Anthony Gregory "Although the grand larceny is unremitting, April 15 still has its unique significance, for it is this date by which most Americans have to submit their tax forms, often exhausted from an excruciating effort to accurately account for their financial affairs from the past year, dreading that an arithmetic error or misreading of the illegible tax code might land them in federal prison. It is an onerous imposition for millions. It is a reminder that the government is essentially an extortion racket. If it happened closer to election time, campaign rhetoric would perhaps be more interesting. It is notable how little concern there is for the oppressed taxpayer coming from the progressives, the liberals, and the left. Although they might complain about poor priorities and busted budgets, few of them attack the institution of income taxation for what it is: violent exploitation of the worker by the most monopolistic, immense and predatory corporation to be found, the national government." (04/14/06) http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory116.html ----- 28) Immigrants stage a patriotic protest Fox News by Radley Balko "This week, I attended part of the immigration demonstrations in Washington, D.C. Having lived in D.C. for more than five years now, I've seen quite a few protests. ... But this week, I saw families. I saw couples, extended families, and kids in strollers, or riding on their fathers' shoulders. ... I saw signs indicating the pride Hispanic immigrants take in doing much of the grunt work in the United States. ... As you might guess, I'm pro immigration. I think people who need work should be able to meet up with people who need laborers, regardless of what artificial lines governments have drawn in the sand. It also strikes me odd that the most virulent of anti-immigration activists often call themselves conservatives. When it comes to family, work ethic, pride in heritage and religious faith, it's hard to find a more conservative ethnic group than Hispanics." (04/13/06) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191550,00.html ----- 29) Exporting "democracy" -- importing trouble AntiWar.Com by Justin Raimondo "I have to say, it's rather odd to be debating this point at such a late date. With Iraq falling to pieces in front of our eyes, with the death squads of the American-installed Shi'ite regime roaming the streets of Baghdad kidnapping and slaughtering their enemies, with the corrupt kleptocracy we helped install in Kurdistan imprisoning writers for criticizing the authorities -- in the face of all this evidence, is the question even debatable? Just as the claims of phrenology are no longer taken seriously by scientists or the thinking public, so the claims of the democracy-exporters ought to be thrown in the trash bin, along with the bones of 'Piltdown Man.' Why debate a theory, when the evidence of its complete failure is all around us? 'Democracy' is what the neoconservative ideologues who lied us into war talk about when they want to divert attention away from their real motives. The only question now is: what were their real motives? But we'll get to that later." (04/14/06) http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8830 ----- 30) Don't create a government in Iraq Ludwig von Mises Institute by Christopher Westley "What if they don't want a government? Must one be imposed? These are my questions to news reports that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a surprise trip to Baghdad in a desperate effort to jumpstart stalled efforts to form an Iraqi government. The lack of a governing coalition in Iraq was simply the latest of many events that haven't gone the way the war planners predicted they would." (04/13/06) http://www.mises.org/story/2109 ----- 31) Tagging trees, animals, people Free Market News Network by Jim Babka "A web is being woven all around you. A web comprised of red tape and electronic surveillance. Bureaucrats are already tagging trees in the Pacific Northwest, so how long before they want to tag your kids, and grandma too, for their own good of course, in case they go missing. But if this goes on the main thing that will be missing is your freedom. They always promise us it won't happen, but then it always does." (04/13/06) http://www.fmnn.com/Analysis/64/4500/2006-04-13.asp?nid=4500&wid=64 ----- 32) The irrelevance of intelligence again The Power of Narrative by Arthur Silber "I continue to see many references on political blogs to the 'importance of getting the intelligence right.' At the moment, such comments obviously come up most often in discussions about 'what to do about Iran.' It's no surprise that this perspective shows up on conservative and rightwing blogs -- but I continue to be astounded that so many liberal and progressive bloggers still fall for this line. People don't seem to grasp the necessary meaning of this approach. If you contend that it is crucial for the intelligence to be correct and given how the argument is almost always presented, you are assuming that major policy decisions are made on the basis of that intelligence, at least to a significant degree." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/hqfbn ----- 33) At the very least, don't repeat Iraq mistakes The Free Liberal by Paul Gessing "[I]n the run-up to the Iraq War, Bush left no doubt that he believed that he alone was the final arbiter of whether or not we attacked. Members of Congress, like Pontius Pilate who didn't want to get his hands dirty by taking a difficult moral stand in the face of political opposition, (by and large) chose to wash their hands of the matter and let Bush have his war. Now, the president and the more radical neoconservative elements of his administration are in a slow-burn, working behind the scenes to develop a casus belli for war in Iran. But, this time, skeptics in his administration, the media, and the population as a whole are not cowed by the aftermath of 9/11 and heated rhetoric. If we are to have a war against Iran, at least we can have a full and honest debate about it." (04/14/06) http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/002004.html ----- 34) Bush's bluster Salon by Joe Conason "[J]ust as the threat of military action persuaded Saddam Hussein to admit the United Nations weapons inspectors whose work might have prevented war, the possibility of force could persuade the mullahs to meet the West in productive negotiations. For warning noises to be taken seriously, however, the noisemakers must possess credibility -- and over the past three years, the Bush administration has squandered that precious commodity, along with many lives and much treasure." [subscription or ad view required] (04/14/06) http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2006/04/14/iran/ ----- 35) Romney's responsibility principles The American Spectator by David Hogberg "Initially I was inclined to give Governor Mitt Romney the benefit of the doubt. In a scramble to have a major accomplishment he could tout in his run for the White House, he agreed to a bad piece of legislation that is supposed to reform health care in Massachusetts. But after reading his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, I'm feeling a lot less charitable. Instead of trying to play up some of its arguably market-based components, Romney spins it in a manner worthy of Bill Clinton." (04/14/06) http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=9674 ----- 36) The myth of the passive Indian Reason by Amy H. Sturgis Review of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann: "Talking heads on both the right and left squawked in protest when scholars examined connections between the Iroquois Confederation's Great Law of Peace and the political models espoused by the U.S. founding fathers. For such critics, proof of various Founders' admiration for the Iroquois constitution was beside the point; they lined up to take shots at the idea without addressing or engaging the evidence. The opponents ranged from the right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh, who seemed peeved at the thought that his favorite white men had not invented everything themselves in a vacuum, to the leftist ethnohistorian Frederick Hoxie, who dismissed the thesis as 'contributionist' history." (04/13/06) http://www.reason.com/0604/cr.as.the.shtml ----- 37) Fitting the crime National Review by William F. Buckley, Jr. "Again, bear in mind that Moussaoui has been found guilty in a formal judicial procedure of collusive involvement in an operation designed to kill U.S. civilians. That has been done. What goes on and on is the question of an appropriate penalty. This beggars analysis. Why is it so important to the prosecution to go to such lengths to prove that Moussaoui deserves to be executed? Damage is done by this undertaking, because if the government fails, then the aroma of the trial will waft toward an ambiguity concerning the entire business. If Moussaoui 'prevails' in the Virginia trial -- if execution is not ordered by the jury -- loose-minded analysts will arrive at the conclusion that he was finally not guilty of atrocious deeds, although he has admitted that he'd happily have been a member of the suicide team if he hadn't been detained by the FBI." (04/13/06) http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/wfb200604131323.asp ----- 38) Permission to speak freely, sir AlterNet by Stephen Pizzo "I am sorry that high school and college kids no longer have to face a couple of years of mandatory military service. That may be a strange thing to say for a guy who protested the draft back in the '60s. Maybe it's the inevitable aging process. Or maybe it's the perspective you get from the higher altitude of experience. What got me thinking about this were the extraordinary statements being made by recently retired U.S. generals. Those who have never served in the military don't understand how extraordinary it is for career military officers to say the things these guys are saying about their former civilian superiors." (04/14/06) http://www.alternet.org/story/34937/ ----- 39) Dropout nation? Cato Institute by Alan Reynolds "Time magazine's latest cover story, 'Dropout Nation,' illustrates a serious educational crisis -- not in the nation's high schools, which are bad enough, but among the nation's writers and editors. One critical lesson our schools have failed to teach aspiring journalists is that when something sounds too bad to be true, it probably isn't." (04/14/06) http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6352 ----- 40) Target: Iran The Weekly Standard by Thomas McInerney "A military option against Iran's nuclear facilities is feasible. A diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis is preferable, but without a credible military option and the will to implement it, diplomacy will not succeed. The announcement of uranium enrichment last week by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shows Iran will not bow easily to diplomatic pressure. The existence of a military option may be the only means of persuading Iran -- the world's leading sponsor of terrorism -- to back down from producing nuclear weapons. A military option would be all the more credible if backed by a new coalition of the willing and if coupled with intense diplomacy during a specific time frame. The coalition could include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, Britain, France, and Germany. Solidarity is important and would surely contribute to potential diplomatic success. But should others decline the invitation, the United States must be prepared to act." [editor's note: Yes, Virginia, some people really are this stupid - TLK] (for publication 04/24/06) http://tinyurl.com/josun ----- 41) Special Agent Bush Mother Jones by Mark Fiore Cartoon. [Flash format] (04/13/06) http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/fiore/2006/04/special.html ----- 42) Theocons and theocrats The Nation by Kevin Phillips "Is theocracy in the United States (1) a legitimate fear, as some liberals argue; (2) a joke, given the nation's rising secular population and moral laxity; (3) a worrisome bias of major GOP constituencies and pressure groups; or (4) all of the above? The last, I would argue. The characteristics are not inconsistent. No large nation -- no leading world power -- could ever resemble theocracies like John Calvin's Geneva, Puritan Massachusetts or early Mormon Utah. These were all small polities produced by unusual migrations of true believers." (04/13/06) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060501/phillips ----- 43) Two cheers for Massachusetts The American Prospect by Robert B. Reich "Forty-five million Americans are without health insurance, and the number keeps rising. Recently the state of Massachusetts unveiled a plan for reversing this trend. It would provide nearly every Massachusetts resident with health insurance -- and the plan won't require any additional state spending. There's no free lunch and no free health care. So how does Massachusetts plan to insure its half mission non-insured residents? ... First, its using the money it now pays hospitals for giving free emergency care to the uninsured. As it is now, most people without health insurance don't see a doctor. They wait until whatever problem they have is so severe it becomes a health emergency. ... So Massachusetts says, sensibly, let's use this money instead to insure poor and working-class people ... so they can see a doctor before their health problem becomes an expensive emergency." [editor's note: As usual, Mr. Reich has the problem well-diagnosed, even though his solution is more socialism - SAT] (04/13/06) http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=11379 ----- 44) The Enron standard Tom Paine by Lee Drutman "The blockbuster Enron trial is far from over, and things are not looking up for [Jeffrey] Skilling and Enron founder Kenneth Lay, both of whom could face 25 years in prison if convicted on fraud charges. ... Such a painstaking prosecution has been four years and millions of dollars in the making, and has ensnared more than a dozen co-conspirators along the way. And while it is heartening to see what government prosecutors are capable of when they set their minds to it, Enron represents a mere drop in the bucket in the wide world of corporate crime. When it comes to government follow-through in punishing corporate crime, Enron is a true shining star. Unfortunately, the rest of the universe is rather dim -- particularly when it comes to crimes where the victims don't happen to be wealthy investors." (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/gynjy ----- 45) Tame oil's wild price ride with a tax Christian Science Monitor by Henry Lee "With the onslaught of high oil prices, war in the Middle East, an increasingly bellicose Iran, and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, energy security has reemerged as a major public policy priority. We have been here before, and the responses from elected officials have been quite predictable: find scapegoats (usually the oil companies), demand subsidies for the energy technology of the month, and point out that the country lacks a coherent national energy policy. Give it a few years, however, and the sense of urgency will fall in tandem with the price of oil and we'll go back to business as usual. Presidents from Richard Nixon to Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush have all made similar pledges and yet progress in many of these areas over the past 30 years has been paltry at best. Why?" [editor's note: This may be the weirdest dish so far on the veritable buffet of bizarre schemes relating to energy prices -TLK] (04/13/06) http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0413/p09s02-coop.html ----- 46) Uh-oh, it's the tax man Los Angeles Times by Martin Miller "TO: The American taxpayer ... FROM: The Internal Revenue Service ... The IRS stands ready to provide clear, simple answers to the public's tax-related questions. For better service, we encourage inquiries weekdays between 9:15 a.m. EST and 8:35 a.m. PST and between 11:10 a.m. MDT and 9:45 p.m. GMT. Don't hesitate to contact us, except on federal holidays and certain state commemorations. Also, Mondays aren't very good. Actually, Fridays aren't so hot either. Midweek can be hit-and-miss too, as staff ponders the cheerless, thankless remainder of the workweek. Our toll-free taxpayer help-line number is a state secret. We can't be more specific unless you possess a government security clearance of 17 or higher. If you don't know what that means, it's probably best to forget the entire enterprise. However, if these conditions are satisfied, you will be placed in contact with the IRS representative who has the office coordinates." [editor's note: This would be much funnier were it not mostly true - SAT] [additional editor's note: Hey, making it hard for us to find the tax man is half the job done! Now all we have to do is make it even harder for him to find us - TLK] (04/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/fuuhx ----- 47) Dead cities Moscow Times by Chris Floyd "Of all the war crimes that have flowed from the originating crime of President George W. Bush's unprovoked invasion of Iraq, perhaps the most flagrant was the destruction of Fallujah in November 2004. Now, as ignominious defeat looms for Bush's Babylonian folly, some of the key players in fomenting the war are urging that the 'Fallujah Option' be applied to an even bigger target: Baghdad. What these influential warmongers openly call for is the 'pacification' of Baghdad: a brutal firestorm by U.S. forces, ravaging both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias in a 'horrific' operation that will inevitably lead to 'skyrocketing body counts,' as warhawk Reuel Marc Gerecht cheerfully wrote last week in the ever-bloodthirsty editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal. Gerecht's war whoop quickly ricocheted around the right-wing media echo chamber and gave public voice to the private counsels emanating from a group whose members now comprise the leadership of the U.S. government: The Project for the New American Century." (04/14/06) http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/04/14/120.html ----- 48) Out of the shadows Truthout by Paul Rogat Loeb "Why can't we have these kinds of marches to challenge the war or global warming, or all of Bush's arrogant reign? Anti-war marches were huge before Bush went into Iraq, but since then they have been far more disappointing, even as the polls steadily shift. Maybe it's because those more comfortable sit behind our computers too much and believe we can do all politics with the click of a mouse. Maybe the issues feel abstract or intransigent. Unless you have a son or daughter serving in Iraq, it doesn't hit home nearly as much as the raw callousness of Congressman Sensenbrenner's plan to make 12 million people instant felons, as well as anyone who gives them water or food, education or medical care. The Catholic churches here that helped mobilize their congregations have been silent on so many other issues except abortion. And maybe we haven't taken enough time to organize all of the diffuse anger about Bush beyond complaining to ourselves." (04/13/06) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041306I.shtml ----- 49) Bare breasts and bare-faced politics Asia Times by Sudha Ramachandran "India's morality stormtroopers were steamed up last week in response to two incidents of 'wardrobe malfunction' at the Lakme India Fashion Week in Mumbai. But while these self-appointed custodians of 'Indian cultural and moral values' seem to have no problem wasting public resources on non-issues like the wardrobe malfunction, they ignore the real issues confronting the country -- farmers' suicides, drought and the spiraling electrical power crisis." (04/13/06) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HD13Df02.html ----- 50) America's secret police? MSNBC/Newsweek by Mark Hosenball "A threatened turf grab by a controversial Pentagon intelligence unit is causing concern among both privacy experts and some of the Defense Department's own personnel. An informal panel of senior Pentagon officials has been holding a series of unannounced private meetings during the past several weeks about how to proceed with a possible merger between the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), a post-9/11 Pentagon creation that has been accused of domestic spying, and the Defense Security Service (DSS), a well-established older agency responsible for inspecting the security arrangements of defense contractors." (04/13/06) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12290187/site/newsweek/ ----- 51) Steps to Social Security reform National Center for Policy Analysis by Matt Moore "Tax Day is right around the corner. And if you're like me, you're wringing your hands about how much we owe to the federal government. But whether we realize it or not, most people pay more in Social Security taxes than income taxes. And if the program is not reformed, the payroll tax rate will have to climb so high that the amount we pay today will look like chump change. The most important domestic policy issue facing the United States today is the retirement of the 77 million baby boomers. If Congress doesn't get a handle on elderly entitlement spending, we won't be able to afford anything else." (04/10/06) http://tinyurl.com/glawd ----- 52) Milton Friedman's pragmatic and incremental libertarianism Rebirth of Reason by Edward W. Younkins "Milton Friedman (1912 - ) is a consequentialist libertarian and one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. He has been able to create both academic and popular support of the idea of increasing individual freedom and reducing government controls. Friedman fervently believes in the power of a sort of secular religion of progress to move the world forward. His enthusiasm for the positive consequences for the world resulting from economic progress has been contagious. Friedman achieved his influence as an economist and as a political commentator by first gaining impeccable credentials in technical economics. Once this highly respected student of the money supply had a firm standing in the academic world, he was thus free to look outward to the world of policy." [editor's note: Ah, the world of policy -- where Friedman came up with such "libertarian" innovations as income tax withholding and redistribution of wealth via a "negative income tax" - TLK](04/12/06) http://tinyurl.com/jzwh6 ----- 53) Asleep all over America Unknown News by Helen & Harry Highwater "Are you awake yet, America? I'm wide awake, and worried. Are you worried with me, wondering what's next? Are you terrified? If you're not scared silly, that frightens me even more. Some people are seriously suggesting that the Constitution should be ignored, because it puts people's rights above Presidential power. Can Americans truly be this stupid? ... The United States of America is not magically immune to totalitarianism, and we're flirting with it. It can happen here, and we're approaching the brink. It's amazing to me, how quickly so-called 'patriots' are willing to surrender Amerca's freedom. You might as well piss on dead soldier's graves, if you're willing to hand over everything they fought and died for. Patriots don't meekly and obediently surrender the nation's liberty on demand." (04/14/06) http://www.unknownnews.org/060414a-hh.html ----- 54) Mo money! Mo money! Hawaii Reporter by State Rep. Bud Stonebraker (R-HI) "I have received dozens of letters from students at Kaiser High School using the familiar rhetoric of the Department of Education. 'Why does the government want to take away our creative outlets? Why don't you put more effort into getting money for education?' It seems the weighted student formula spending scheme is shortchanging schools like my alma mater, Kaiser High. Ironically teachers and administrators from the DOE were the primary drivers for Act 51 which devised the spending formula. Now they have driven their students to do the political dirty work, demanding to know why I want to get rid of school librarians. It is laughable that a decision that is wholly the Department's is being used to draw unsuspecting students into the DOE's favorite past time, chanting 'mo money, mo money!'" (04/12/06) http://tinyurl.com/rdraf ----- 55) Dumb and dangerous FreedomWorks by Richard W. Rahn "It is no secret that politicians frequently put all of us at risk because of their real or willful ignorance. Most wars are a result of political miscalculations, but so are many recessions, depressions and other economic calamities. What follows are three examples where the political class is putting us in danger because of economic ignorance or worse. U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer, New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, have come up with a particularly dumb and dangerous proposal, and that is to place a 27.5 percent tariff on Chinese goods if China does not increase the value of its currency. They claim that this is necessary because the Chinese have a big trade surplus with the U.S." (04/07/06) http://tinyurl.com/m3wzh ----- 56) Time to shake up the peace movement CounterPunch by Stan Heller "In what country will a huge peace coalition hold an anti-war rally have nothing to say about Iran, Israel and Palestine or Afghanistan? Is the answer Israel? Turkey? Micronesia? Sadly it's the USA. On April 29 United for Peace and Justice is holding a big demonstration in New York City called 'March for Peace, Justice and Democracy.' The only 'peace' demand mentioned is bringing troops home from Iraq. The silence about Iran is staggering." (04/13/06) http://www.counterpunch.org/heller04132006.html ----- 57) Hoosier oranges: Good for Indiana? Foundation for Economic Education by T. Norman Van Cott "NEWS FLASH: Purdue University professors have developed an orange-production technology for Indiana. Indiana economic development experts laud the news, saying hundreds of new jobs are coming to the state. 'The hemorrhage of Hoosier dollars to Florida is over,' says one expert. So can residents of Indiana, who affectionately refer to themselves as Hoosiers, ride oranges to the economic promised land? A land filled with new jobs and retained dollars? The news flash is fictional. Nevertheless, it captures what passes for 'thinking' about state and local economic development these days. To wit: quick fixes, cutting-edge technologies, lots of new jobs, and buying less from others." (04/13/06) http://www.fee.org/in_brief/default.asp?id=402 ----- 58) Is the US sugar problem solvable? Competitive Enterprise Institute by Ivan Osorio, Barbara Rippel and Fran Smith "The United States' sugar policy has a long history of supporting sugar producers, and the current system has its roots in the agricultural programs of the Great Depression. The policy has been widely criticized both at home and abroad for supporting a relatively small group of sugar producers at the expense of consumers, taxpayers, sugar-using industries, and the environment. The program relies on restricting sugar imports to keep domestic prices high, which especially hurts those developing countries that are low-cost producers of sugar. The artificially high price also provides incentives for domestic sugar producers to increase production into environmentally sensitive areas." (04/13/06) http://www.cei.org/gencon/025,05263.cfm Movement News & Events 59) Petition: Don't Attack Iran After Downing Street ongoing "Dear President Bush and Vice President Cheney,We write to you from all over the United States and all over the world to urge you to obey both international and U.S. law, which forbid aggressive attacks on other nations. We oppose your proposal to attack Iran. Iran does not possess nuclear weapons, just as Iraq did not possess nuclear weapons. If Iran had such weapons, that would not justify the use of force, any more than any other nation would be justified in launching a war against the world's greatest possesor of nuclear arms, the United States. The most effective way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons would be to closely monitor its nuclear energy program, and to improve diplomatic relations -- two tasks made much more difficult by threatening to bomb Iranian territory. We urge you to lead the way to peace, not war, and to begin by making clear that you will not commit the highest international crime by aggressively attacking Iran." [Sign petition online] (04/11/06) http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/iran ----- 60) 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 ----- 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) 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/ ----- 63) Authority and autonomy in the family various 08/19/06 "August 19, 2006 at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA. Speakers confirmed so far include Nathaniel Branden, Peter Breggin (via live video), Susan Love Brown, Marshall Fritz and Sharon Presley. Topics include liberating education, liberating childrearing, encouraging critical intelligence in children, alternative family structures, egalitarian marriage, and encouraging self-esteem in children. The sponsors are Resources for Independent Thinking, the Civil Society Institute, and the Association of Libertarian Feminists." http://www.autonomyinthefamily.org Today in Political History 64) Sic Semper Tyrannis! 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 --------------------------------- Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! 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