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 #962 Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 Email Circulation 2,010 ------ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS -------------------------------------- THE FUTURE OF FUEL, THE FUTURE OF FORD With one of the worst fuel efficiency records of any car company, Ford is trying to "go green." As another oil crisis looms on the horizon, can they turn talk into action? http://tinyurl.com/jr5aw REDHANDED, BY JOHN WESLEY DOWNEY What if you had blood on your hands that would not wash away? That's the dilemma of Will Mason in the supernatural mystery novel, Redhanded. Get it at amazon.com and watch a 4 minute short film about Redhanded that's better than the DaVinci Code movie! http://www.redhanded.info/ YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION? Portland Purge got you down? Hook up with the Movement of the Libertarian Left via MLL ONLINE http://mll.agorism.info/node/22 YOU ARE IN CONTROL! "'Free Talk Live' is more than a typical political jabfest." -- Sarasota Herald Tribune http://www.freetalklive.com THE BOSTON TEA PARTY America's new libertarian political party wants you! Online convention -- August 19th, 2006 http://www.bostontea.us -------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ----- Today's News: 0) RRND Summer Fundraiser 1) "Terror" charges dropped in cell phone fiasco 2) UK: A new law a day for nine years 3) Iraq: Eight dead in market bombing 4) CT: Libertarian petitions way to ballot 5) Cape Breton joins space race 6) Bloomberg pushes millions at smoking bans 7) Feds declare ex-Comverse CEO "fugitive" 8) CA: Pol plays eminent domain for tax break 9) Shots fired near White House; athlete arrested 10) Ford hospitalized "for tests" 11) Drug thugs kidnap 130 in massive spree 12) CA: Cops suppress companionship operation 13) Lebanon: Ceasefire solidifies after shaky start 14) Lebanon: Jackson tries to arrange prisoner swap 15) Judge: Reporters must snitch on sources 16) Man pleads not guilty in Seattle case 17) UK police probe terror money trail 18) PA: ACLU, immigrants challenge Know-Nothings 19) UK: "People are definitely sceptical" 20) UK: Executed WWI soldiers to be pardoned 21) TSA concept video shows future airport 22) UK: 5-year-old's passport photo rejected 23) Overweight "top world's hungry" 24) FL: Woman fatally shoots intruder 25) TN: Assailant shot dead by victim Today's Commentary: 26) Sustainable freedom: Shifting the world 27) Relentless incrementalism 28) Republican Liberty Cockeyed 29) Darwin reconsidered 30) Rothbard as intellectual inspiration 31) The natural rights of the child 32) Some can't go home, others can't serve 33) A versatile solution 34) How green is your church? 35) So much for small government 36) Boys of summer 37) About those "birth pangs" 38) The great equalizer 39) The mythology of minimum wage 40) Terrorists ain't what they used to be 41) Shakes on a plane 42) Congress should repeal Sarbanes-Oxley 43) Who will benefit from the Lieberman debacle? 44) Blackwater's mercenary jackpot 45) A few thoughts about "independence" 46) Welcome to Club Fed 47) Your taxes subsidize China 48) Reuters' picture kill 49) Miami vice 50) A necessary moral equivalence 51) Lt. Watada's mother asks for support 52) A dummy run against Hezbollah 53) The pols who cried wolf 54) US anti-war movement: Weak, passive, distracted 55) Everything old becomes new again Today's Audio and Video: 56) TCS Daily Spotlight: Stephen D. Cooper 57) How Republicans went Buck Wild 58) Freedomain Radio #371 59) Free Talk Live, 08/15/06 Today's Movement News & Events: 60) Authority and autonomy in the family 61) Boston Tea Party organizational convention 62) Reason in Amsterdam 2006 63) 4th Annual Africa Resource Bank Meeting Today in Political History: 64) Lincoln's declaration of war News 0) RRND Summer Fundraiser Rational Review "As of now, our regular, recurring net revenue from subscribing contributors (i.e. exclusive of 'one time donations') stands at less than $150 per month. We deeply appreciate the continuing support of the readers who send us that money, but even with our other revenue streams, we just can't make it on that. As we approach our 1,000th edition ... we have a modest goal: To achieve regular, recurring monthly revenues, from reader contributions, of $1,000. One thousand issues, one thousand dollars. Symmetrical and catchy, eh? Please, consider becoming a contributing subscriber: An 'RRND Daily Reader' ($2.50 per month), 'RRND Subscriber' ($5.00 per month), 'RRND Supporter' ($10 per month), or 'RRND Patron' ($20 per month) ..." [Update, 08/16 -- First off, let me get in the thanks for a couple of contributions I accidentally missed over the last few days: EA's "one-time" contribution of $100 (!), and CS's "one-time" contribution, via e-gold, of $30. Thanks, EA and CS! And, of course, thanks to RF for the very welcome $25, and to AH for the latest monthly $5 "subscription" payment ... We love you guys! Now, will the rest of you will consider supporting your "daily libertarian newspaper" to the tune of $2.50 a month or more? - TLK] http://www.rationalreview.com/content/15649 ----- 1) "Terror" charges dropped in cell phone fiasco Conway Log Cabin Democrat "Prosecutors dropped terrorism charges Tuesday against two Michigan men who were arrested after buying large numbers of cell phones, saying they couldn't prove a terrorism link. Ali Houssaiky and Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, both of Dearborn, Mich., left jail after each posted a $1,000 bond on the remaining misdemeanor counts of falsification." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/h5r2g ----- 2) UK: A new law a day for nine years Independent [Uk] "Tony Blair's government has created more than 3,000 new criminal offences during its nine-year tenure, one for almost every day it has been in power. The astonishing tally brought accusations last night of a 'frenzied approach to law-making' that contrasts with falling detection rates and climbing levels of violent crime. The figures emerged as police chiefs disclosed they were considering asking ministers for a set of new measures to allow them to impose 'instant justice' for antisocial behaviour." (08/15/06) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1219484.ece ----- 3) Iraq: Eight dead in market bombing ABC News "Clashes erupted in two of Iraq's largest cities on Wednesday and a bomb killed eight in the capital .... British troops and a column of armored personnel carriers rushed to Basra as gangs fought a pitched battle with Iraqi forces for more than an hour .... Police said they killed six insurgents in the religiously divided city of Mosul .... A roadside bomb in a small flea market in east Baghdad killed eight and wounded up to 28 ..." (08/16/06) http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2319137 ----- 4) CT: Libertarian petitions way to ballot Stamford Advocate "He and his family have contributed more than $9,000 to his campaign, and the payoff so far has been a spot on the November ballot. Greenwich hedge fund founder Phil Maymin has collected enough signatures for the secretary of the state to recognize him as a Libertarian candidate for the 4th Congressional District. 'I am here to represent those of us who are sick and tired of the stranglehold the two-party system has taken of our liberties,' the 31-year-old Cos Cob resident said at a news conference yesterday at his office at 222 Railroad Ave. 'I am here to represent new directions.'" (08/16/06) http://tinyurl.com/qdbls ----- 5) Cape Breton joins space race Toronto Star [Canada] "Cape Canaveral's got competition. Cape Breton is going to enter the space race. The Toronto Star has learned that Nova Scotia has signed a 'team agreement' to provide 300 acres of land -- and perhaps even some funding -- for a massive orbital launch facility that will involve industry giants and could eventually be on scale with huge NASA operations. 'We're basically building a private manned space program for Canada,' says Chicago's Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, chairman of the PlanetSpace firm that lit the fuse for this deal." (08/16/06) http://tinyurl.com/oqaof ----- 6) Bloomberg pushes millions at smoking bans Houston Chronicle "Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire and former smoker, announced Tuesday he is throwing $125 million of his own money into a new anti-smoking campaign targeting tobacco worldwide. ... It will include cash for programs that help smokers quit and educate children to prevent them from starting; funds to push for smoking bans and higher tobacco taxes; and money to track global tobacco use and the effectiveness of anti-smoking efforts." (08/16/06) http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4119777.html ----- 7) Feds declare ex-Comverse CEO "fugitive" Los Angeles Times "U.S. authorities declared Tuesday that Jacob 'Kobi' Alexander, the former Comverse Technology Inc. chief executive charged in a stock-option backdating case, is a fugitive and asked for the public's help in finding him. In a joint statement, the FBI and U.S. Marshal's Service said Alexander was being sought 'for his role in a multimillion-dollar stock options scheme.' It also said an Interpol notice for Alexander's arrest was issued July 31." (08/16/06) http://tinyurl.com/zr9fu ----- 8) CA: Pol plays eminent domain for tax break Whittier Daily News "Monrovia officials and Rep. Gary Miller deleted reference to 'friendly condemnation' from a 2002 land sale so the city could qualify for state matching funds to complete the purchase. ... The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that Miller used the threat of eminent domain to shelter profits from capital-gains taxes on the sale of the Monrovia land and other Southern California properties. ... Miller said he was forced to sell the land under threat of condemnation. The Brea Republican maintains he had two years to reinvest the profits under Internal Revenue Code 1033. Internal Revenue Service spokesman Bill Steiner explained Code 1033 requirements. 'What it boils down to is that if a person's property is condemned or in eminent domain status, there has to be some formal declaration of either purchase or condemnation,' he said. Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa, who said he wrote the July 31 letter, called Miller a willing seller. 'If Mr. Miller has an issue with the IRS over friendly condemnation, it's up to him and the IRS.'" (08/16/06) http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_4188090 ----- 9) Shots fired near White House; athlete arrested Terre Haute Tribune Star "Former NBA player Lonny Baxter was arrested by uniformed Secret Service agents on Wednesday after shots were fired from a vehicle about two blocks from the White House. Baxter, who played with the Charlotte Bobcats last season, was taken into custody around 2:30 a.m. after a witness flagged down a Secret Service agent and reported shots fired from a white sport-utility vehicle, said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren. ... Baxter, 27, and the vehicle's passenger, 35-year-old Irvin Martin, were charged with carrying a pistol without a license and other firearms charges. It wasn't immediately clear why they were allegedly firing the gun." (08/16/06) http://tinyurl.com/ljnx4 ----- 10) Ford hospitalized "for tests" Chicago Tribune "Former President Gerald Ford was admitted Tuesday to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for 'testing and evaluation,' his office said in a statement. The statement gave no details about why the 93-year-old former chief executive went to the clinic in Rochester, about 75 miles southeast of Minneapolis. ... Last month, Ford spent a few days in a Colorado hospital because of shortness of breath. In January he was hospitalized for 12 days in Rancho Mirage, Calif., for pneumonia." (08/16/06) http://tinyurl.com/rjzhz ----- 11) Drug thugs kidnap 130 in massive spree USA Today "Federal agents arrested more than 130 alleged drug traffickers from coast-to-coast Tuesday who U.S. officials said smuggled heroin from Mexico and offered phone-up home delivery like a takeout pizza shop. Beginning before dawn, Drug Enforcement Administration agents conducted arrest raids and searches, seeking up to 150 people, about half of them illegal aliens, according to senior drug enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity before the official announcement." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/ka2pa ----- 12) CA: Cops suppress companionship operation USA Today "Two Israeli nationals were arrested on suspicion of running a massive Palm Springs prostitution ring that employed more than 240 women in several Western states and generated millions of dollars, authorities said. The men operated Elite Entertainment, which posed as an escort service in online and newspaper advertisements, according to court documents. For at least three years, the business managed more than 80 phone lines, where clients across California, Nevada, Oregon and Arizona could call an 800 number and request an escort." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/hakyj ----- 13) Lebanon: Ceasefire solidifies after shaky start Johnson City Press "Hundreds of Israeli soldiers walked out of Lebanon on Tuesday -- some smiling broadly and pumping their fists, others weeping or carrying wounded comrades -- as a cease-fire with Hezbollah solidified after a shaky start. The process was expected to accelerate over the coming days. The international community looked to build a U.N. peacekeeping force for south Lebanon, but it remained unclear how quickly such a force could be deployed. The guerrillas' patrons, Syria and Iran, proclaimed that Hezbollah won its fight with Israel -- claims the Bush administration dismissed as shameful blustering." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/evlbm ----- 14) Lebanon: Jackson tries to arrange prisoner swap MSNBC "Trying to build on a cease-fire in Lebanon, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson launched an effort Tuesday to arrange the release of prisoners held by Hezbollah and Israel. 'The cease-fire is a step in the right direction,' Jackson said after talking to the Israeli and Syrian ambassadors here. 'Release of prisoners would reinforce the positive direction.' Jackson, an experienced go-between, has brought Americans home from Syria, Cuba, Iraq and Yugoslavia." (08/15/06) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14366661/ ----- 15) Judge: Reporters must snitch on sources Richmond Palladium-Item "A federal judge told two San Francisco Chronicle reporters they must comply with a subpoena and tell a grand jury who leaked them secret testimony of Barry Bonds and other elite athletes ensnared in the government's steroid probe. The decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White means reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada must appear before a grand jury investigating the leak unless a higher court blocks the ruling." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/fwcmz ----- 16) Man pleads not guilty in Seattle case New Bern Sun Journal "A man accused of storming Seattle's Jewish Federation offices, killing one woman and wounding five others in a fit of rage over U.S. foreign policy, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and other charges. Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, had indicated in court last week that he wanted to plead guilty, but a judge continued his arraignment to give his lawyers time to determine whether their client was competent." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/zszap ----- 17) UK police probe terror money trail CNN "British investigators believe some of the money raised to help victims of last year's earthquake in Pakistan may have been used to fund the alleged airliner terror plot. In a separate development in the case, another man was arrested Tuesday in connection with the alleged plot to blow up commercial jetliners over the Atlantic, bringing the number in custody to 24, according to London's Metropolitan Police." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/zbmlr ----- 18) PA: ACLU, immigrants challenge Know-Nothings Lodi News-Sentinel "Hispanic activists and the ACLU sued Hazleton on Tuesday over one of the toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants by a U.S. city. Hazleton, a city of about 31,000 people 80 miles from Philadelphia, voted last month to fine landlords $1,000 for renting to illegal immigrants, deny business permits to companies that give them jobs, and make English the city's official language." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/f3pk4 ----- 19) UK: "People are definitely sceptical" Guardian [UK] "It was not in horror or panic that thousands of ordinary people contacted the BBC or posted points on the Guardian's Comment is Free website in the hours after last week's terror plot. The mood of many seemed to be one of profound caution, even scepticism, over the allegations of a murderous scheme in which 50 people would try to bring down up to 20 planes between Britain and America. Almost a week later, and after a downgrading of the terrorist threat, what do ordinary voters now think of those excitable early briefings by John Reid, the home secretary, and Scotland Yard's dramatically voiced belief that it had foiled 'mass murder on an unimaginable scale?' Are people still sceptical?" (08/15/06) http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1851078,00.html ----- 20) UK: Executed WWI soldiers to be pardoned Guardian [UK] "All 306 British first world war soldiers executed for desertion or cowardice are to be pardoned, Des Browne, the defence secretary, will announce today. For 90 years, families, friends and campaigners for the young soldiers have argued that their deaths were a stain on the reputation of Britain and the army. In many cases, soldiers were clearly suffering from shellshock but officers showed no compassion for fear that their comrades would have disobeyed orders and refused to go 'over the top.' Mr Browne decided to pardon them mainly on moral grounds, defence sources said last night. He will say a grave injustice was done at the time given the 'horrific circumstances' in which they were shot." (08/15/06) http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1851104,00.html ----- 21) TSA concept video shows future airport Spychips "RFID-laced passports may be just the start of an Orwellian airport experience, warn privacy advocates and authors Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre as the nation braces for a rollout of the controversial technology in passports this week. They point to a U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) concept video created by CompEx Inc. that shows how citizens can be tracked and monitored throughout an airport terminal -- without their knowledge or consent.The animated flash clip is posted on the authors' website at: http://www.spychips.com/RFIDairport.html In the video, citizen 'Bob' is remotely identified and tracked via Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices as he enters an airport and navigates to his gate. The video ends with chilling frames of a government agent surreptitiously scanning Bob and his belongings as he sits in the waiting area. " [editor's note: If this doesn't give you cold chills, I dunno what will - MLS] (08/14/06) http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/orwellian-rfid-airport.html ----- 22) UK: 5-year-old's passport photo rejected Telegraph [UK] "A five-year-old girl's passport application was rejected because her photograph showed her bare shoulders. Hannah Edwards's mother, Jane, was told that the exposed skin might be considered offensive in a Muslim country. ... Mrs Edwards, a Sheffield GP, said: 'I was incensed. I went back home and checked the form. Nowhere did it say anything about covering up shoulders. If it had, I would have done so, but it all seems so unnecessary. This is quite ridiculous, I followed the instructions on the passport form to the letter and it was still rejected. It is just officialdom pandering to political correctness.'" (08/14/06) http://tinyurl.com/jgsfl ----- 23) Overweight "top world's hungry" BBC News [UK] "There are now more overweight people across the world than hungry ones, according to experts. US professor Barry Popkin said all countries -- both rich and poor -- had failed to address the obesity boom. He told the International Association of Agricultural Economists the number of overweight people had topped 1bn, compared with 800m undernourished. ... he urged governments to begin to develop better strategies to combat the problem. He said food prices could be used to manipulate people's diets and tilt them towards healthier options." [editor's note: Hat tip to Kitty Antonik Wakfer for this piece of insanity. Yeah, let's trust government to "fix" the problem that it creates in the first place by shoveling tax-subsidized high-carbohydrate crap into schoolkids' mouths (if it's one of "those" kinds of governments instead of the kind that starves half its victims to death intead). Er, not - TLK] (08/15/06) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4793455.stm ----- 24) FL: Woman fatally shoots intruder WPMI News "A scared woman -- Pam Hagan: 'Very upset. My sister is not able to come out of the house. She's traumatized by Saturday night's shooting.' Hagan's sister, a woman in her 50's, fatally shot 29 year old Vincent Wesley, after Escambia County Sheriff's deputies say Wesley tried to enter her Pensacola home twice that night. According to reports, Wesley climbed the woman's fence, approached the house, and began shaking her door. When she showed him a gun, he ran off, but he wasn't done. According to deputies, Wesley then ran out to the street, tried to carjack someone, and came back to the woman's home when the carjacking was unsuccessful. Hagan: 'At that time, my sister is trying to close the door. When she came out to close the door, her house door closed and locked behind her and there she was, face to face, with a man coming at her. He never said a word to her. She fired once. It didn't stop him. She fired a second time and he went down." (08/14/06) http://tinyurl.com/p8x7r ----- 25) TN: Assailant shot dead by victim Rocky Mount Telegram "A Rocky Mount man was shot and killed this weekend after allegedly attacking a Whitakers man in his own house, and authorities on Monday cleared the shooter of any wrongdoing. Authorities said Leroy Thorpe acted in self-defense when he shot 27-year-old Tavaras T. Pittman of Western Avenue once in the chest with a shotgun. Two other Whitakers men were charged with beating Thorpe and another man with a baseball bat before the 59-year-old Thorpe fired the fatal shot at the trio, Nash County Sheriff Dick Jenkins said." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/n6hj2 ---------------------------------------------------------- HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 08/16/06 Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 40,094 ... Max - 44,621 (source: www.iraqbodycount.org) American Military Deaths in Iraq: 2,600 (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/) ---------------------------------------------------------- Commentary 26) Sustainable freedom: Shifting the world Backwoods Home Magazine by Claire Wolfe "It's a simple fact. To become free and stay free, we need to shift our cultural paradigm about the role government should play in our lives. Only with a new way of thinking about happiness and government's role in it do we have the opportunity to create Sustainable Freedom. Change the concept and millions can suddenly, easily perceive that government is not their friend. Change the concept and millions have opportunity and inspiration to look in the one place freedom is actually available -- in ourselves. " (08/15/06) http://www.backwoodshome.com/columns/wolfe060815.html ----- 27) Relentless incrementalism Free Market News Network by Jim Babka "[W]e prefer evolution, not revolution. We didn't always think this way. But studying history and surveying the system, we realized that there were no quick-fixes. Revolutions mean angst, anger, and bloodshed. Looking back, there is, realistically, only one revolution in history that turned out okay. Revolutions have a bad track-record. But the most telling point, to us at least, is that we didn't lose this country to the statist-upsizers in a revolutionary fashion. Instead ... Our statist opponents sat us down for a national dialogue, Hegelian-style. They pushed. They poked. They prodded. They complained. They wrote and lectured. They gathered. They organized. They demonstrated. They infiltrated. They marched. They lobbied. And they moved us an inch closer to their position. And do you know what they did after moving us that inch? They came back and did it all again." (08/15/06) http://www.fmnn.com/Analysis/64/5773/today.asp?nid=5773&wid=64 ----- 28) Republican Liberty Cockeyed [EMAIL PROTECTED] by Thomas L. Knapp "It had never occurred to me to look up Jim Talent's RLC 'Liberty Index' rating before. Of course, it hadn't occurred to me to look up Pol Pot's or Francisco Franco's, either. I only did so because I came across a headline on one of Eric Dondero's non-mainstream, non-libertarian web sites -- 'RLC SCORES MAJOR VICTORIES IN GOP PRIMARY RACES' -- and wanted to make absolutely sure that the listing of Talent's name under it was another Dondero calumny before letting the RLC know they needed to issue a disclaimer/denunciation. But ... but ... he was telling the truth. WTF, RLC?" (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/p3prj ----- 29) Darwin reconsidered Strike the Root by Bill Ross "History is best viewed as a series of pretexts of why we must be slaves. ... The Holy Grail for tyrants has always been some accepted rationalization of why we must be forcefully organized in a hierarchy of masters and slaves, as opposed to a cooperative trade federation of autonomous individuals and groups, freely associating and peacefully pursuing our own goals." (08/15/06) http://www.strike-the-root.com/62/ross/ross1.html ----- 30) Rothbard as intellectual inspiration Ludwig von Mises Institute by Doug French "As Murray launched into his opening lecture for ECO742, I knew that this was economics the way it should be taught. Forget the graphs, equations and other nonsense I'd endured my first two semesters; this was: good guys vs. bad guys, human action stories told at the pace of a Robin Williams monolog, punctuated with the occasional cackle and a dozen or so reading references a night -- book title, author, year published, and usually the publisher name. I also took Murray for US Economic History the following semester. But, I still didn't know Murray at all." (08/15/06) http://www.mises.org/story/2281 ----- 31) The natural rights of the child The Free Liberal by Fred E. Foldvary "On Saturday, August 19, 2006, the Civil Society Institute at Santa Clara University in California will host an international conference on Authority and Autonomy in the Family. Topics include education, critical thinking for children, and the application of liberty and natural rights to raising children. This is perhaps the first ever conference on how libertarianism applies to families and children. Educational and reformist movements which have promoted liberty and justice have focused mostly on economics, civil liberties, war and peace, and foreign policy, with relatively little analysis and discussion of the rights of children and how to apply liberty and justice within families. The greatest tyranny can come from family life, so this conference is an opportunity to bring family issues into the constellation of free-society thought. What are the natural rights of the child?" (08/15/06) http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/002239.html ----- 32) Some can't go home, others can't serve Classically Liberal by "CLS" "It has to be sad to think of the soldier[s] on their way home from Iraq when Donald Rumsfeld ordered them to return to Iraq for another 4 months of duty. It is sad to think of their families, the wives who won't see their husbands for four more months or sooner in a casket. Children without fathers, Broken families. Meanwhile the military is throwing out gay soldiers willing to serve. Does it make sense? Last year, Fort Campbell alone, discharged 49 soldiers for being gay. They only managed to find 19 the year before. In 1999 a soldier there was murdered by an anti-gay soldier who erroneously thought his victim was gay. The response of the military was to blame the victims and increase the number of discharges of people for being gay. This would be like the old south dealing with the problem of lynchings by deporting blacks." (08/16/06) http://tinyurl.com/muh6o ----- 33) A versatile solution The Free Liberal by Carl S. Milsted, Jr. "Everyone is getting money [back] from the government, but they are receiving that money through dozens, if not hundreds, of different mechanisms. The result is a bureaucratic nightmare which makes our businesses less competitive, weakens our moral fiber, and makes life less pleasant generally. Why don't we just give every citizen a chunk of money each month and be done with it? This is the idea behind the citizen's dividend." [editor's note: Or hey -- why don't "we" just not steal the friggin' money in the first place -- then "we" won't have to hand it back and pretend that "we're" bestowing a favor upon the person "we" stole it from in the first place - TLK] (08/16/06) http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/002240.html ----- 34) How green is your church? TCS Daily by Roy Spencer "The Earth is marvelously resilient, constantly cleansing our air and water, yet we know from experience that there are limits to this resiliency. The tension over what constitutes environmental "stewardship" has led to a wide range of opinions within the Christian church on the subject. Some churches have been actively involved in the environmental movement since the 1970's. The concern has been expressed in ways as small as recycling waste, to what can only be called 'Earth worship,' elevating the value of the creation to a position above that of mankind. The past several months have had considerable activity in the Christian church on the subject of climate change." (08/16/06) http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=081606D ----- 35) So much for small government National Review by Michael J. New "Shortly after the 1994 election, many conservatives hoped that Republicans would fulfill their campaign promises to end scores of federal programs and eliminate Cabinet agencies. However, just a few years later the Republican National Committee was sending out press releases boasting about record increases in federal education spending. Even worse, in 2004 the same Republican leadership ruthlessly twisted arms and violated House procedural rules to pass the Medicare prescription-drug bill, the largest increase in entitlement spending since the Great Society. Stephen Slivinski's new book, Buck Wild: How the Republicans Broke the Bank and Became the Party of Big Government, describes this transformation." [editor's note: If Slivinski describes it as a transformation, then he's missing something. The GOP has always been the party of big government - TLK] (08/16/06) http://tinyurl.com/e7otp ----- 36) Boys of summer Salon by Garrison Keillor "Crowds hustling to the park, funneling through the turnstiles, the yap of the hucksters, the smell of bratwurst. Love can break your heart, but nobody was ever betrayed by a bratwurst. Baseball is classic American. Every time you go to the game, you pay homage to your old man. He who lobbed the tennis ball so it bounced off your bat and gave you the thrill of success, who engaged in the patient, silent and intimate conversation of playing catch." [subscription or ad view required] (08/16/06) http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/08/16/keillor ----- 37) About those "birth pangs" AntiWar.Com by Justin Raimondo "'What we're seeing here, in a sense,' said Condoleezza Rice at a July 21 press conference announcing her trip to the Middle East, 'is the growing -- the birth pangs of a new Middle East and whatever we do we have to be certain that we're pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old one.' Well, that was quick, because here it is, a month later, and the Old Middle East has bounced right back -- with a vengeance, as Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was quick to note: 'Their 'New Middle East,' based on subjugation and humiliation, and denial of rights and identity, has turned into an illusion,' he crowed. Not that the denial of rights and identity isn't an everyday occurrence in Syria, a tightly controlled one-party state. Bashar was addressing the Syrian Journalists Union, although, given Syria's state-owned -and controlled media, what journalists in Syria do is much closer to stenography." (08/16/06) http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9542 ----- 38) The great equalizer LewRockwell.Com by Gabriel Kolko "The United States had a monopoly of nuclear weaponry only a few years before other nations challenged it, but from 1949 until roughly the 1990s deterrence theory worked -- nations knew that if they used the awesome bomb they were likely to be devastated in the riposte. Nuclear war was not worth its horrendous risks. Today, by contrast, weapons of mass destruction or precision and power are within the capacity of dozens of nations either to produce or purchase. Every kind of weapon is now available; deterrence theory is less and less relevant, and the equations of military power that existed in the period after World War Two no longer hold. This process began in Korea after 1950 and the Americans discovered that great space combined with guerrilla warfare was more than a match for them in Vietnam. But there has now been a qualitative leap in technology that makes inherited conventional wisdom utterly obsolete." (08/16/06) http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/kolko3.html ----- 39) The mythology of minimum wage The Weekly Standard by Whitney Blake "A recent Reuters article stated that the minimum wage 'equat[ed] to $10,700 a year for full-time work, well below the roughly $20,000 needed to keep a family of four above the federal poverty level.' The article then cited Labor Department statistics that there are now 1.9 million workers earning an hourly wage at or below $5.15, 'with most of those people working in service-oriented jobs.' Conflating these two statistics leads one to believe that almost 2 million people in the United States are trying to keep families financially afloat, when, in reality, the vast majority of minimum wage earners contribute second and third incomes to a household. On average, a family with a minimum-wage worker has a total income of $43,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau." (08/16/06) http://tinyurl.com/nke73 ----- 40) Terrorists ain't what they used to be Slate by Christopher Hitchens "Conversation with these men over the years was enough to convince me of what I already knew: It is indeed possible for one man to have been both a terrorist and a freedom fighter, though it is probably better to have skipped the 'terror' phase altogether. The Iraqi Kurds, for example, never tried to involve noncombatants in their war of liberation. Nonetheless, evolution can and does occur. This is only one of the many ways in which to appreciate how much the current phase of Islamic 'terrorism' is utterly different. Whether or not the London plot turns out to have been real, one knows for sure that similar plots have been afoot ever since the 1990s, when Ramzi Yusef and others conspired to bring down several jumbo jets over the Pacific. And one day fairly soon, we may be sure that human and mechanical debris will fall from the sky upon a city." (08/15/06) http://www.slate.com/id/2147787 ----- 41) Shakes on a plane Reason by Jacob Sullum "When an airline agent told me about the new rules, I obediently transferred toothpaste, eyeglass cleaner, and hand lotion from my computer bag to the little rolling suitcase I had planned to carry on but now had to check. In retrospect, however, the carry-on bag still contained several items that could have been used to conceal liquid explosives, including gel-ink pens, highlighters, and a Liquid Paper correction pen. Worse, although I refrained from buying beverages at the Chicago airport, I bought a salad to eat on the flight to Montreal, and it came with a little container of dressing. According to an expert cited by the International Herald Tribune, 'about 5 ounces...of a powerful explosive like nitroglycerin might be enough' to bring down a plane. If I can inadvertently smuggle enough liquid to do the job, surely a determined terrorist could do it on purpose -- especially since the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is letting passengers carry on baby formula, breast milk, and baby food." (08/16/06) http://www.reason.com/sullum/081606.shtml ----- 42) Congress should repeal Sarbanes-Oxley Cato Institute by William A. Niskanen "At a minimum, Congress should clarify that the criminal penalties in the SOA require proof of malign intent and personal responsibility for some illegal act Any potential SOA cleanup legislation should address the potential problems of delisting by foreign and small firms from the American stock exchanges, maybe by exempting such firms from the regulatory requirements A wise Congress would also eliminate the expensive new and wholly unnecessary PCAOB, preferably before it establishes new precedents and creates some new special interest A Congress that is both wise and brave would repeal the SOA -- lock, stock, and barrel." (08/16/06) http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6624 ----- 43) Who will benefit from the Lieberman debacle? Intellectual Conservative by Christopher Adamo "[T]he potential does indeed exist by which the Lamont victory could spell trouble for the Democrats. However, the conservative analysts who have expressed such hopes may be forgetting another political reality of the Republicans that cannot be omitted from the mix. And if recent history is any harbinger, despite the phenomenal opportunity this situation affords them, the Republicans will fumble this one as well." (08/14/06) http://tinyurl.com/ldxwy ----- 44) Blackwater's mercenary jackpot AlterNet by Jeremy Scahill "While the Bush Administration calls for the immediate disbanding of what it has labeled 'private' and 'illegal' militias in Lebanon and Iraq, it is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into its own global private mercenary army tasked with protecting US officials and institutions overseas. The secretive program, which spans at least twenty-seven countries, has been an incredible jackpot for one heavily Republican-connected firm in particular: Blackwater USA. Government records recently obtained by The Nation reveal that the Bush Administration has paid Blackwater more than $320 million since June 2004 to provide 'diplomatic security' services globally. The massive contract is the largest known to have been awarded to Blackwater to date and reveals how the Administration has elevated a once-fledgling security firm into a major profiteer in the 'war on terror.'" (08/16/06) http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/40164/ ----- 45) A few thoughts about "independence" Liberty For All by Ed Lewis "Most of my life is spent living in fear for the American people and the people of the rest of the world. The fear does not stem from threats made by other countries. It is caused by current US Government officials and the scare tactics being used to induce support for the Bush administration's military and overt aggressions against other countries and/or their leaders. The aggressions are unfounded as defensive measures and are accordingly resulting in great anger against America and within America. Thus, July 4 was a day of mourning for this American Citizen, not a day of celebration." (08/15/06) http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=24 ----- 46) Welcome to Club Fed National Center for Policy Analysis by staff "The closest thing to a lifetime job in America is a federal government job, and now it turns out that it's also a very lucrative way to make a living, says the Wall Street Journal. ... It's true that many federal employees are in white collar occupations that often command high pay, but studies find that public sector workers enjoy a 20-30 percent pay bonus above comparably skilled private workers. And this differential does not account for one of the biggest benefits of a government job: civil service rules giving virtual lifetime job security." (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/fqz53 ----- 47) Your taxes subsidize China Hawaii Reporter by Ron Paul "Each year the people of the United States write a check to subsidize China, one of the most brutal, anti-American regimes in the world. Lately it has been in vogue for everyone in Washington to eagerly denounce the egregious abuses of the Chinese people at the hands of their communist dictators. Yet no one in our federal government has been willing to take China on in any meaningful way. Very few people realize that China is one of the biggest beneficiaries of American taxpayer subsidies. Thanks to the largesse of Congress and the President, China enjoys subsidized trade and the flow of US tax dollars into Beijing's coffers." (08/14/06) http://tinyurl.com/j8weq ----- 48) Reuters' picture kill Center For Individual Freedom by staff "With the admission by Reuters that two Israeli/Hezbollah war photographs by Adnan Hajj were faked, photojournalism of the mainstream media is now being subjected to the same scrutiny as examples of biased reporting that are already alienating consumers from the principal international suppliers of news and information. Once again, researchers of the blogosphere have demonstrated that the mainstream media have no unchallenged dominion over the lofty perch of objectivity and accuracy so widely proclaimed, yet less convincingly demonstrated." (08/10/06) http://tinyurl.com/z883u ----- 49) Miami vice Competitive Enterprise Institute by Ivan Osorio "Florida tourism officials rarely make headlines, but they once did with the slogan, 'Florida. The Rules are Different Here.' Talk about truth in advertising -- especially for the state's southern tip. I grew up in Miami, so I read with great interest Jay D. Homnick's newcomer's take on the local politics there. As he notes, it can be confusing, so I offer here a blunt explanation. Quite simply, South Florida is corrupt and weird -- and it is these things to such an extent that its residents are cynical about local politics and politicians." (08/15/06) http://www.cei.org/gencon/019,05472.cfm ----- 50) A necessary moral equivalence America's Future Foundation by Daniel Larison "'We are all Lebanese now.' That is not a phrase likely to be heard coming from any American politician or official of either party, much less from any professional pundit. It is the sort of phrase that people utter when they see devastating attacks that kill and maim innocent civilians, but it is not the solidarity extended to the innocent in states that are at war with our government or with one of our allies. As I have read about and seen pictures of the damage from the Israeli campaign in Lebanon, it occurred to me to ask myself why there was not the same sense of goodwill and charity towards the innocent who have suffered death, injury or displacement. I still do not have a satisfactory answer." (08/13/06) http://tinyurl.com/nouz4 ----- 51) Lt. Watada's mother asks for support Truthout by Carolyn Ho "I am the mother of Lt. Ehren Watada, an officer stationed at Ft. Lewis. He was part of a Stryker brigade unit that deployed to Iraq on June 22nd. On that fateful day, he quietly defied the movement order and chose not to board the plane with his men. ... As an officer, his duty is to support and defend the US Constitution, against enemies foreign and domestic, and to obey only lawful orders. In refusing to deploy to Iraq, Lt. Watada fulfilled his duty. In response, the military charged him with missing movement, contemptuous remarks against the president and behavior unbecoming to an officer. Taken together, these charges amount to 7 years in a military prison. ... I invite you to affirm your support of Lt. Ehren Watada now, during his pre-trial hearing on Aug 17th and 18th, and into the future. Whether or not he is permitted to submit evidence supporting his refusal to deploy and his first amendment rights remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the military must know that the world is watching and that justice must be served. ... Join us in laying the groundwork for mass mobilization and civil disobedience during the court-martial." [editor's note: For updates and action info see www.thankyoult.org - MLS] (08/15/06) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081506R.shtml ----- 52) A dummy run against Hezbollah Asia Times by Ehsan Ahrari "The ink was barely dry on reports that the Bush administration was involved in the planning of Israel's air attacks against Hezbollah than the official denials came out. Either way, with neo-conservatives, both within and outside the government, itching to attack Iran, the Israeli operation provided a possible template for a US assault on Iran's nuclear installations." (08/15/06) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HH16Ak02.html ----- 53) The pols who cried wolf Truthdig by Molly Ivins "We have nothing to fear but fear itself, especially since fear is now being fomented and manipulated for political purposes by a bunch of shameless hacks. Who is trying to make you afraid and why? This Karl Rove tactic is getting quite threadbare, in fact, and so much so that it is getting dangerously close to comedy. .... The administration has put itself in the position of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. If, God forbid, a serious terrorist conspiracy is uncovered, there will be a tendency to dismiss it in a backlash to these over-hyped 'plots.'" (08/14/06) http://tinyurl.com/k7aq4 ----- 54) US anti-war movement: Weak, passive, distracted CounterPunch by Todd Chretien "On August 12, 2006, some 25,000 people in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and other cities took part in protests against the Israeli/American war in the Middle East. Probably around 50 per cent of the marchers were Arab or Muslim. These protests showed the Arab world, and specifically our brothers and sisters in Lebanon and Gaza that there is opposition to the U.S. government's policies. That's a good start. But you have to ask the question: Why after a month of war did so few people come out to protest? Where were the 'anti-war' Democratic leaders? Where were the anti-war groups such as United for Peace and Justice or MoveOn.org?" (08/15/06) http://www.counterpunch.org/chretien08152006.html ----- 55) Everything old becomes new again Truthout by William Rivers Pitt "Everything old becomes new again. 'A Clean Break' was written ten years ago to advocate for an Israeli attack on Lebanon, and by proxy Syria and Iran. It was cast aside then, but appears to have been revived for this current disaster. The lessons Israel is learning in Lebanon have been vividly available in Iraq these last years, as the basis for that invasion was essentially premised upon a slightly edited version of the same paper. Those lessons have not achieved purchase with the neo-conservatives, and 'A Clean Break' may come again to serve as the basis for an attack on Iran. There is little hope that such an attack will meet with any more success than the last two conflicts inspired by this dangerous document and the men who wrote it." (08/15/06) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081506A.shtml ----- RRND MEDIASHELF -------------------------------------------- Books, CDs and other tchotchkes from today's edition: Buck Wild, by Stephen Slivinski http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159555064X/rationalrev08-20 Watching the Watchdog, by Stephen D. Cooper http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0922993475/rationalrev08-20 Note: Affiliate links generate commissions for RRND's editors. -------------------------------------------- RRND MEDIASHELF ---- Audio and Video 56) TCS Daily Spotlight: Stephen D. Cooper TCS Daily "TCS Daily columnist Ed Driscoll interviews Stephen D. Cooper, an Associate Professor of Communications at Marshall University about his new book, 'Watching the Watchdog: Bloggers As the Fifth Estate' which addresses both sides of the isle of the blogosphere since 9/11." [MP3 format] (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/gc6bm ----- 57) How Republicans went Buck Wild Cato Institute Cato daily podcast featuring Stephen A. Slivinski. [MP3 format] (08/15/06) http://tinyurl.com/omp6m ----- 58) Freedomain Radio #371 Freedomain Radio "Loss: Self-knowledge is both very easy and very hard." With host Stephan Molyneux. [MP3 format] (08/15/06) http://www.freedomainradio.com/Traffic_Jams/FDR_371_Loss.mp3 ----- 59) Free Talk Live, 08/15/06 Free Talk Live "Of Governments and Slavery / British Air Travel Restrictions / US Govt crying because they want to have more power like the UK Govt! / CAFRs / Cel Phone Terrorists! ... or not. / Gold Standard Concerns / Man detained by US Govt for FIVE years, no charges. / Ghost Riding / Space Entrepreneur successfully launches module, while bumbling NASA loses original tapes of the moon landing!" [MP3 format] (08/15/06) http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2006-08-15.mp3 Movement News & Events 60) 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 ----- 61) Boston Tea Party organizational convention Boston Tea Party 08/19/06 America's new libertarian political party opens its organizational convention -- held online and open to all members -- on August 19th. Agenda items include the election of a permanent national committee and creation of the party's program. http://www.bostontea.us ----- 62) Reason in Amsterdam 2006 Reason Foundation 08/23/06-08/26/06 "Amidst the beauty of Amsterdam's canals, flower markets and colorful people, attendees of Reason in Amsterdam, 2006 will enjoy a unique opportunity to learn about the contemporary struggle in Europe from prominent European and American intellectuals." An astounding roster of guests and speakers, including Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the hit series "South Park," Time Magazine's Andrew Sullivan, Reason editors Nick Gillespie and Jacob Sullum, and a host of distinguished authors, activists and political leaders. August 23-26 at the Grand Amsterdam Hotel. $425. Online registration available. http://www.reason.org/amsterdam/ ----- 63) 4th Annual Africa Resource Bank Meeting Inter Region Economic Network 11/26/06-11/29/06 "IREN will publish 'Reclaiming Africa -- 2' from the views raised in this meeting. Registration is $ 300. All participants are encouraged to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. For more details email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Attention Jackie." http://www.irenkenya.com/modules/events/index.php?event_title_id=25 Today in Political History 64) Lincoln's declaration of war 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 --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta. [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! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
