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Source: Future of Freedom Foundation Author: Jacob G. Hornberger Posted on 03.18.10 by R. Lee Wrights “What Goldsmith and Wittes are saying is that the war on terrorism is a real war, just like World War I and World War II. Therefore, since prisoners of war in a real war can be kept incarcerated until the war is over, there’s no problem with holding terrorists until the war on terrorism is over, which isn’t likely to happen for a few decades. … Where does such a power come from? It’s certainly not included in my copy of the Constitution. I wonder what Goldsmith’s and Wittes’ position would be if the feds decided to do the same thing in the war on drugs. After all, as Mexican officials will attest, the alleged drug lords are killing many more people than the alleged terrorists. Would it be acceptable for U.S. officials to suddenly convert drug offenses to acts of war, enabling them to circumvent trials and the Bill of Rights for those crimes too?” (03/18/10) Link: http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-03-18.asp Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: J. Neil Schulman @ Rational Review Author: J. Neil Schulman Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Unlike the nonfiction book to which it gives writing credit, Green Zone classifies itself as fiction. There is an unambiguous statement in the movie’s end credits saying that it’s completely fiction. Yet, this movie tells a fictitious story about the origins of a real war.” (03/18/10) Link: http://jneilschulman.rationalreview.com/2010/03/greengrass-zone/ Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: A Passion for Liberty Author: Tibor R. Machan Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “It baffles me why so many people are apologetic about the U. S. having a self-interested foreign policy. When President Obama recently declared that the U. S. ‘is not a self-interested empire,’ the part about being self-interested, pace Obama, sounded just right to me. (It is the ‘empire’ portion that would be disturbing since an empire is a country that aims needlessly to lord it over other countries.) Being self-interested could mean no more than being vigilant in the defense of one’s country, making sure it is safe from invasion or attack. Who can dispute that self-defense is self-interested?” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9umdwx Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Campaign For Liberty Author: Jeff Riggenbach Posted on 03.18.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Late last week, the Texas Board of Education, meeting in Austin, the state capitol, made some preliminary decisions about what the next generation of students will learn about subjects like history, economics, and sociology, when they take courses in those subjects in any of the Lone Star State’s public schools. The board decided, for example, to make a fairly significant change in the existing official description of what a successful Texas student should know about the influence of 17th- and 18th-century ideas after completing a required course in world history in a Texas public school.” (03/18/10) Link: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=699 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty For All Author: John Stossel Posted on 03.18.10 by R. Lee Wrights “It’s natural to fear freedom. Tell most Americans that we’d be better off if we clear-cut the regulatory jungle and simply let the market decide what products are sold, and you’re likely to be told how dangerous the world would be. Most people think government keeps us safe. It’s why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is regarded as absolutely necessary. It protects us from snake-oil sellers. Who could argue with that?” (written 06/05; posted 03/18/10) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=3974 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: LewRockwell.Com Author: Brian Stanley Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “When I first heard of the FairTax three or four years ago, I was excited — as excited as one can get about the subject of tax, that is. I went on line and printed out the entire bill, and, from time to time over the next couple of days, I read it. It seems I have time to do this kind of thing because I don’t go to the ballet or play golf. My first reading left me underwhelmed, but reading any kind of tax code will leave you that way. I didn’t like the fact that the FairTax was to be revenue neutral, but I realized that revenue neutrality was required for it to have any chance of passage. I’m not a strict ideologue; I’m willing to achieve goals incrementally. Incrementally is how we became a welfare state, after all. If the FairTax would simplify the tax code, I saw that as an improvement worth supporting. If I have to pay the federal government a bunch of money, I might as well do it as quickly and with as little paperwork as possible. The issue of tax reduction could come later. But, try as I might, I couldn’t make myself become a supporter of the FairTax. I don’t hate it. But neither do I support it.” (03/19/10) Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/stanley-b3.1.1.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Justin Raimondo Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Part of the problem in writing a column such as this, where I have to write about events as they unfold and at a very rapid pace, is the danger of going too fast — of failing to follow up on stories that once seemed of such pressing interest that I devoted 2000-word columns to the subject, and often a whole series of pieces, only to leave my readers with a lot of loose ends. So let’s clean up some of those longstanding loose ends, why don’t we?” (03/19/10) Link: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/03/18/follow-that-story-2/ Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Fox Business News Author: John Stossel Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “Gore People who commit their lives to going green are just better people. They’re more moral, more honest. At least, they keep telling us that, and apparently many students believe it, say University of Toronto psychologists. They initially quizzed the students on their impressions of people who buy eco-friendly products, and for the most part, they considered such consumers to be more ‘more cooperative, altruistic and ethical’ than ordinary consumers. Then the researchers took it an extra step: They ran a test to see who would be more likely to cheat and steal: Greens? Or conventional shoppers? They divided the greens and conventional shoppers, and then gave the students a test that tempted them to steal money. The researchers found: The green consumers were more likely to cheat than the conventional purchasers, and they stole more money when asked to withdraw their winnings from envelopes on their desks.” [editor’s note: While I’d question the validity of this particular study overall, given the “entitlement mentality” of many “progressives” regarding “social justice” … the results are hardly surprising - SAT] (03/18/10) Link: http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/03/18/green-crooks Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: Anders Ydstedt & Dick Patten Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “America sits at the same economic crossroads today that Sweden faced five years ago. Sweden’s experience in eliminating the death tax could help the United States save businesses and add jobs at a critical time. Once known as Europe’s socialist paradise, Sweden still has one of the world’s highest top income tax rates (57 percent). But like the US, it no longer has an inheritance tax, or what Americans commonly refer to as the estate or ‘death’ tax. The Swedish Parliament abolished its inheritance tax in late 2004. … The country’s entrepreneurs were moving offshore — and taking their companies with them. The death tax was only making a bad situation worse.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjodnsv Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Orange County Register Author: Deroy Murdock Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her henchpersons are whipping Democrats to secure 216 votes to pass the Senate’s healthcare reform bill. The Senate then would approve a companion ‘reconciliation’ measure to deodorize some of the more pungent legislative bribes and corrupt deals that helped grease the Senate legislation’s passage last Christmas Eve. Nebraska’s so-called ‘Cornhusker Kickback,’ the ‘Louisiana Purchase’ and Florida’s ‘Gator-Aid’ are among the most sinus-piercing payoffs. Before they vote, however, wavering Democrats should wonder: ‘What if the Senate doesn’t deliver?’ … ‘House Democrats are being asked by the president to hold hands, jump off a cliff, and hope (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid catches them in the Senate after the bill is law,’ Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told CBS’ Face the Nation last Sunday.” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/senate-239918-house-democrats.html Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Boston Globe Author: Jeff Jacoby Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “In the first half of the 20th century, Cleveland was an economic powerhouse. … Today that golden age is just a memory. Cleveland’s population now is not even half of what it was at its peak. Its median household income is less than $28,000, far below the national average of $50,300. One out of every five homes in Cleveland stands vacant. ‘The economy is in trouble, the schools are in trouble, and people have been leaving the city in droves for a long, long time,’ says TV star Drew Carey, a Clevelander born and bred. Carey appears in Reason Saves Cleveland, a wonderfully incisive series of mini-documentaries produced by the Reason Foundation and airing this week at reason.tv, its video website. … The Reason Foundation’s approach is libertarian. Its video series repeatedly contrasts the sclerotic, top-down culture that so often stifles innovation in Cleveland with the decentralized, entrepreneurial approaches that would encourage it.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ylb4t36 Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Our Future Blog Author: Richard (RJ) Eskow Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “When President Obama asked a group of senior executives for suggestions on streamlining government, it’s unlikely that any of them suggested layers of new bureaucracy, vague marching orders, or management by committee. Yet Sen. Dodd’s ‘compromise’ financial reform proposal does all these things. The likely result? Banks and other financial institutions will still be tightly-run, aggressive organizations that can develop and sell complicated and risky new products in a heartbeat. But the agencies tasked with their oversight will be complicated and slow, encumbered by hard-to-follow rules and divided lines of authority. … Banks shouldn’t be too big to fail, and bureaucracies shouldn’t be too big to succeed.” [editor’s note: if it is indeed a “bureaucracy” (rather than a tiny “steering group” of advisors?), it’s already by definition “too big to succeed” - SAT] (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yl3jgfw Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The American Prospect Author: Matthew Yglesias Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “Like a specter, the unpopularity of Congress’ reform proposals haunted the ultimate goal of universal health care all winter long. This issue weighed heavily on the minds of Democratic senators as they moved toward a final pre-Christmas vote on their version of reform; it became explosive after Scott Brown’s unexpected win in the Massachusetts special election. Brown’s victory needn’t have been a devastating blow to reform — there’s always been a clear legislative path forward — but the message it sent to Congress, rightly or wrongly, was that the bad poll numbers associated with health care could have real consequences on Election Day. And that’s made a big difference ever since. But a funny, though little noticed, thing happened as the wounded cause of reform limped toward the finish line: The polling started to turn around.” (03/18/10) Link: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=breaking_unhealthy_habits Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute Author: Jeremiah Dyke Posted on 03.18.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Property is that beautiful foundation from which libertarians approach conflicts. Accepting that the rights to property come through the rights of original homesteading, appropriation, and exchange eliminates the need to question motives or intentions in action. Without defined property rights, the public is left squabbling for some other rubric from which to judge action.” (03/18/10) Link: http://mises.org/daily/4175 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Heartland Institute Author: Ben Boychuk Posted on 03.18.10 by R. Lee Wrights “A standardized national curriculum wouldn’t make California’s kids smarter or well equipped to compete in the global economy, or even better citizens. But a national, one-size-fits-all curriculum would be highly political, beset by special interest lobbying, and almost certainly diluted by teachers unions and education bureaucrats unaccountable to parents and voters.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yzrporh Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Foundation for Economic Education Author: Steven Horwitz Posted on 03.18.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Many aphorisms and common expressions take on a different meaning when seen through the lens of economics. One of my favorites is: ‘If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we …’ followed by some earthly concern that needs to be addressed. What that expression seems to miss is the idea of opportunity cost: Perhaps the reason we can’t solve the particular earthy problem is precisely because we sent a man to the moon.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yamoxzx Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute Author: Ryan Young Posted on 03.18.10 by R. Lee Wrights “On Wednesday, the Senate passed a $17.6 billion spending bill. It needs only President Obama’s signature to become law. The hope is that the new spending will create jobs. But hope is not the same as reality. Remember: anything that Washington giveth, it must first taketh away from somewhere else. This jobs bill is a zero-sum game. All those new jobs that politicians will be showing off for the cameras will have come at the expense of other jobs elsewhere. On net, they’re not creating a thing.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjytzx7 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Jeffersonville Evening News Author: Debbie Harbeson Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Not a single person in either chamber voted no on this bill. They celebrated their bipartisanship and I heard some were even making out in the halls. But I think that was just a rumor. So what led to such a love-in? A bill for revisions to the current ethics law. When a law is more about preserving the system than anything else you will almost always find both parties in agreement. Ethics laws can pass easily when things are looking bad for government as a revered system of order because politicians understand that, above all else, they must maintain the system that provides the power.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yblw2eq Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Adam Smith Institute Author: Sam Bowman Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Boris Johnson says that he’d like to give ‘one almighty head-butt’ to Ed Balls over the Minister’s refusal to give more support to Latin classes in state schools. At its core, this spat is a case of two politicians fighting over what other people’s children should be taught, and it demonstrates the folly of having a state-designed national curriculum.” (03/18/10) Link: http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/education/balls-vs.-johnson-vs.-parents/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Freedom's Phoenix Author: Stephen Lendman Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Lawfare Project (LP) claim: ‘The abuse of the law and legal systems (is used) for strategic or military ends.’ Fact Check …. International law is clear and unequivocal. The UN Charter explains under what conditions violence and coercion by one state against another are justified. Article 2(3) and Article 33(1) require peaceful settlement of international disputes. Article 2(4) prohibits force or its threatened use, and Article 51 allows the ‘right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member …. until the Security Council has taken measures to maintain international peace and security.’ In other words, justifiable self-defense is permitted, and Articles 2(3), 2(4), and 33(1) absolutely prohibit all unilateral threats or use of force not allowed under Article 51 or authorized by the Security Council. Even then, under Fourth Geneva, civilians are ‘protected persons’ off-limits to attack. Doing it is a war crime.” (03/19/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ychv7zl Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The American Spectator Author: George Neumayr Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “According to the Washington Post, taxpayers are now financing, via a $321,000 HHS grant, a pilot program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Presbyterian Hospital and Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh to obtain organs from emergency room patients, a practice heretofore ‘considered off-limits in the United States because of ethical and logistical concerns.’ The goal of the project, reports the paper, is to ‘investigate whether it is feasible and, if so, to encourage other hospitals nationwide to follow.’ The article is somewhat obtuse about the longstanding moral problem at the center of organ transplantation, which is that the donors aren’t actually dead.” (03/18/10) Link: http://spectator.org/archives/2010/03/18/the-futures-shadow Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Economic Policy Journal Author: Robert Wenzel Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “It is my belief that in most cases there is time to react once the die is cast. It takes time for markets to react to changes that will impact a cross spectrum of prices. The Fed adding reserves would be a signal that the Fed has changed course from deflationary to inflationary. It would not be a signal that would be fully understood as to its significance by most market participants. For example, once a Fed adding reserves becomes clear, it would be unlikely that gold would jump by $100 an ounce, but such a jump could be clearly justified. So there will be time to move into inflationary positions, once a Fed stance that way is clear. So am I expecting accelerated inflation right now? No. But I realize Bernanke could turn the kaleidoscope soon, so I am beginning to think about what such a turn of the kaleidoscope would mean, and how to position for it.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9szpo2 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Partial Observer Author: James Leroy Wilson Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “A friend recently asked about libertarianism and social justice. Particularly, the question of slavery and racial discrimination. The concern is that the libertarian movement does not address these things often or adequately, which hinders its ability to persuade and attract minorities.” (03/18/10) Link: http://partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=3428 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The New Republic Author: Jonathan Chait Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The important claim here is not the stated argument that terrorist lawyers should be publicly revealed, or that they shouldn’t be working for the DOJ. It’s the assumption that they are representing terrorists. The assumption permeates conservative rhetoric on issues of torture and detainee rights. … Thiessen makes explicit the position that the rhetoric about ‘terrorist lawyers’ is meant to imply — namely, that terrorists should not have lawyers at all. The conclusion flows naturally when you begin by defining the defendants as ‘terrorists.’ The truth, though, is that a good number of these ‘terrorists’ are not terrorists at all.” (03/18/10) Link: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/lawyer-up Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Classically Liberal Author: CLS Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “This ruling basically says that a government regulation, one that is onerous and harmful, is not punitive because the government calls it a regulation instead of punishment. The court also said that the state may place people on the sex offender list, for public scrutiny and harassment, even if they have never committed a sex crime in their life. As the Justice (sic.) put it, ‘it is of no consequence’ whether or not a sex crime was committed. I am going to rename my cat Fido, because that will apparently, miraculously turn him into a dog, at least if the logic of the court is accurate.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yekshha Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: National Review Author: Michael Barone Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The Democratic leadership’s struggle to pass the Senate health-care bill in the House looks like a great case study for political scientists. They have many examples of the leaders of a majority party trying to push controversial legislation through a balky chamber. But seldom have the political incentives of the party leadership and the party’s members been so differently aligned.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yllljny Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Salon Author: Glenn Greenwald Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “For almost a full year, scores of progressive House members vowed — publicly and unequivocally — that they would never support a health care bill without a robust public option. They collectively accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars based on this pledge. Up until a few weeks ago, many progressive opinion leaders — such as Moulitsas, Howard Dean, Keith Olbermann and many others — were insisting that the Senate bill was worse than the status quo and should be defeated. But now? All of those progressives House members are doing exactly what they swore they would never do — vote for a health care bill with no public option — and virtually every progressive opinion leader is not only now supportive of the bill, but vehemently so. In other words, exactly what Rahm said would happen — ignore the progressives, we don’t need to give them anything because they’ll get into line — is exactly what happened.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj8a93p Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: QandO Author: Bruce McQuain Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I’ve noted any number of times that government taxes comprise 14% of the national income and government spending is at 25% of the national income. That’s as high as its been since WWII I believe. The point, of course is there are three obvious choices here — cut spending to the income level (and beyond, really, if you plan on paying off debt) or increase taxes to the spending level (and beyond, again, if you plan on paying off the debt) or a combination of both. Watching this current administration, it appears option two is in the works. Lots of lip service about ‘unsustainable’ spending, etc., but the only movement I’ve seen is legislation that increases that. And, also, plans to increase taxes.” (03/18/10) Link: http://www.qando.net/?p=7540 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner Author: Kent McManigal Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The case of an Albuquerque woman’s disappearance inspired calls for a new law to make sure it never happens again. The headline says the new law will help ‘missing persons cases,’ but that is missing the target. It does nothing to help the missing person. By the time a person is realized to be missing and the ‘law’ comes into play, it is too late. The only way to help the person is to make certain they never go missing in the first place.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ycgvg4r Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Slate Author: Daniel Gross Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Does it make sense to buy insurance against, say, a nuclear attack on Washington — if all the insurance providers’ headquarters are inside the Beltway? Of course not. So why do investors buy insurance on U.S. government debt?” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2247590/ Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Mother Jones Author: Stephanie Mencimer Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “During the Tea Party protests on Capitol Hill this week, conservative activists warned that if Congress manages to pass health care legislation, their movement would become more formidable than ever. Mark Meckler, a national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots — one of the larger and better-organized national groups — predicted that if the bill passes, ‘the tea party movement will double in size almost instantaneously.’ But far from fueling the tea partiers’ cause, a sweeping new health care law could suck the air right out of their movement. Many tea party activists have a lot to gain from reform — because their ranks are dominated by aging baby boomers.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yzpq5r5 Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: AX Perez Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The 14th amendment was diverted from its original purpose of guaranteeing the civil rights and liberties of Black Americans and applied to guarantee the personhood of corporations and their rights as such. This led to the decision earlier this year that laws and bureaucratic regulation denying corporate free speech by limiting corporate buying of air time to exercise free speech is unconstitutional. The left has been howling bloody murder ever since. They claim that the deep pockets of corporate donors will overwhelm the airwaves and the corporations will buy the voters souls, or something like that. While I see where they are coming from I have to call my left wing buddies on this one. Until and unless corporations are stripped of their status as persons under the law by Constitutional Amendment or by very carefully worded Court decision we are stuck with protecting their rights.” (03/14/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle561-20100314-05.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Patrick Cockburn Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “All votes have still not been counted from the election on March 7, but the political landscape of Iraq after the poll is beginning to become clearer. Maliki has done well, but possibly not well enough to hold his post, since the Sadrists, who may have as many as 40 seats in the new 325-member parliament, are insisting that he should not head the next government. Once his allies when he became Prime Minister in 2006, the Sadrists blame him for co-operating with an American drive against them in 2008. Maliki might look to split the INA and seek an alliance with ISCI, which appears to have polled badly.” (03/18/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/patrick03182010.html Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Reason Author: Steve Chapman Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The question is not: Is it time to change the $50 bill? The question is: What’s taking us so long, and why are we considering only one bank note? The current lineup of faces — George Washington ($1), Thomas Jefferson ($2), Abraham Lincoln ($5), Alexander Hamilton ($10), Andrew Jackson ($20), Grant ($50), Benjamin Franklin ($100) — has been around since 1929. The world has changed beyond recognition, but you’re carrying around bills that look pretty much the same as the ones your great-grandfather carried around during the Great Depression. Money was not always synonymous with monotony.” (03/18/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/03/18/in-for-a-dime-in-for-a-dollar Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AlterNet Author: Andy Kroll Posted on 03.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Every great American boom and bust makes and breaks its share of crooks. The past decade — call it the Ponzi Era — has been no different, except for the gargantuan scale of white-collar crime. A vast wave of financial fraud swelled in the first years of the new century. Then, in 2008, with the subprime mortgage collapse, it crashed on the shore as a full-scale global economic meltdown. As that wave receded, it left hundreds of Ponzi and pyramid schemes, as well as other get-rich-quick rackets that helped fuel our recent economic frenzy, flopping on the beach.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ylpqohp Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: LewRockwell.Com Author: Fred Reed Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Washington is out of control. It does as it likes, without restraint. It spends American money and American lives to fight remote wars for which it cannot provide a plausible reason. It determines what our children will be taught, who we can hire and fire, to whom we can sell our houses, whether we can defend ourselves, even what names we can call each other. The feds read our email and track the web sites we visit, make us hop around barefoot in airports at the command of surly unaccountable rentacops. They search us at random in train stations without even a pretense of probable cause. We have no influence over them, no way of resisting. Except, perhaps, to ignore them.” (03/18/10) Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/reed/reed175.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Independent Institute Author: Robert Higgs Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “A popular slogan of the Italian Fascists under Mussolini was, ‘Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato’ (everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state). I recall this expression frequently as I observe the state’s far-reaching penetration of my own society. What of any consequence remains beyond the state’s reach in the United States today?” (03/16/10) Link: http://www.independent.org/blog/?p=5309 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Reason Author: Jacob Sullum Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a literal war against the country’s drug cartels in December 2006, some 19,000 people have died. Mexican and American drug warriors are unfazed, saying the staggering death toll is a sign of their success. ‘Mexico lives with the violent consequences of an American dilemma,’ writes former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda. ‘It is because of American demand that Mexico is ‘forced’ to wage a war on drugs that otherwise it would not have to fight.’ It is not simply American demand for drugs that creates this situation; it is our government’s refusal to let legal businesses meet that demand. Just as it did during alcohol prohibition, that refusal creates a black market in which suppliers violently contend for territory instead of peacefully competing for customers.” (03/17/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/03/17/death-in-juarez Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Fairfield County Weekly Author: Phil Maymin Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “With Tea Parties all around us, President Obama’s approval at all-time lows and dissatisfaction with government seemingly ubiquitous, you might wonder if this kind of discontent is happening in other countries. In Israel, one of the world’s longest-lasting bastions of socialism and concentrated state power, the flower of liberty has not yet started to bloom, but seeds are afoot. Boris Karpa, a graduate student of history at Tel Aviv University, is spearheading a libertarian uprising. His Israeli freedom blog is at www.libertarian.org.il. Karpa agreed to an exclusive interview with the Weekly.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb474gw Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: A Passion for Liberty Author: Tibor R. Machan Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Democracy is a process by which some decisions are made and in the context of politics it means the kind of system that depends upon the participation of the citizenry for certain purposes. What grounds democracy as a just mode of political decision-making is that citizens have the ultimate authority concerning certain matters in the polis. And the reason they do have this ultimate authority is that they are, as adults, equal in their status vis-a-vis the stake they have in their political institutions, their laws, public policies, foreign relations, etc. That they have this equal status hinges on certain extra or pre-political matters, to be discerned by way of reflection upon human nature and proper human relations.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8jyehf Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Philip Giraldi Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The state sponsor designation is little more than a bureaucratic exercise that is political in nature and serves no practical purpose. It identifies adversaries that must be punished for one reason or another while carefully avoiding nations like Israel that have the clout of a powerful domestic lobby or Venezuela that has a lot of oil to sell. It also conveniently ignores Washington’s own sponsorship of terrorist groups, particularly those focused on Iran. Unfortunately, it is a narrative that has been repeated over and over. Hypocrisy is deeply ingrained in American foreign and security policy, even when it comes to determining who is actually helping terrorists.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykcqf9o Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Pro Libertate Author: William N. Grigg Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Eight years ago, three insignificant, position-seeking henchmen in the Bush administration were handed the equivalent of the Joker’s improvised punji stick. The White House, at the initiative of Vice President Cheney, had secretly ordered the use of torture against suspected terrorists and other detainees, and it was prepared to reward Justice Department attorneys who could swaddle that criminal enterprise in a suitable cloak of pseudo-legal sophistry. In this the Bush junta displayed a trait is shared with Josef Stalin’s regime, which fastidiously preserved the pretense of legality even as it carried out torture and mass murder. It was the Bush administration’s position that the Authorization for Use of Military Force, enacted by a panicked Congress immediately following 9-11, authorized the president to do pretty much whatever he wanted to anyone anywhere. But institutionalizing torture — a policy that would involve serial violations of several laws (including federal statutes, military regulations, the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and various international accords) — would require at least a pretense of legal justification.” (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ycyhjh8 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Fox Business News Author: John Stossel Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Washington’s ruling class must believe that, like 5-year-olds, if you cover your ears and repeat ‘I can’t hear you,’ all problems go away. On the one-year anniversary of the $787 billion stimulus scheme last month, Vice President Joe Biden said taxpayers had ‘gotten their money’s worth’ from the massive waste of tax dollars. Biden said the program, now a year old, was designed to be implemented in two stages, saying ‘we’ve only been halfway through the act.’ Or maybe we’ve driven off a cliff and are halfway to the bottom. Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, is also skeptical.” (03/16/10) Link: http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/03/16/delusional/ Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: In These Times Author: Candace Clement Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “While channel-surfing the other day, I came across a fresh-faced, young reporter for a cable network aggressively following an important person around an airport and refusing to let up with his questions. The unwilling interviewee grew angry, suddenly snapping and shouting at the reporter to leave him alone. ‘Do you think you’re immune to questions?’ the reporter shouted back repeatedly. I was speechless. ‘Do you think you’re immune to questions?’ It was perfect — such a simple and powerful question. This would have been the most hopeful piece of journalism I had seen in years if it weren’t for one small detail: This was not a journalist from CNN or Fox or MSNBC. … The exchange was between an E! network reporter and a Hollywood celebrity. And that’s when it clicked. Could the news media learn something from the paparazzi?” (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yccgp63 Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Nation Author: Neve Gordon Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Seven years ago today, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9R Israeli bulldozer while nonviolently protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, along with other members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Now her parents, sister and brother are suing the State of Israel and the defense minister, claiming wrongful death. The suit’s objective, according to Rachel’s mother, Cindy, ‘is to illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by [Israel’s] occupation. … We hope the trial will bring attention to the assault on nonviolent human rights activists (Palestinian, Israeli and international) and we hope it will underscore the fact that so many Palestinian families, harmed as deeply as ours or more, cannot access Israeli courts.’ The State’s attorneys have decided to use any and all ammunition to undermine Corrie’s suit.” (03/16/10) Link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100329/gordon Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Boston Globe Author: Jeff Robbins Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “When she was four, the daughter of friends would circle the dining room table during political discussions, waiting for one of the adults to use a word that her nursery school teacher had admonished the class never to use. When one of us inevitably used the offending word, she would wag her finger and scold: ‘Don’t say ’stupid!” Politeness notwithstanding, the announcement by an Israeli bureaucrat that additional housing had been approved in East Jerusalem, made while Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel and just after the Palestinian Authority had finally been persuaded to resume peace negotiations with Israel, however indirectly, was stupid and indefensible. And that is why the Israeli government made no pretense at defending it.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhz5cmx Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Our Future Blog Author: Robert Borosage Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Where will the jobs come from? President Obama wants to double America’s exports over five years to help generate good jobs. With Recovery Act spending coming to an end, states and localities laying off employees, banks still not making loans, and consumers reeling from unemployment, stagnant wages, and losses in home values and retirement plans, increasing exports is one ray of hope to generate jobs. And the U.S. can’t go back to the old economy where trade deficits reached 6 percent of gross domestic product, and we were borrowing over $2 billion a day from abroad to pay for goods made elsewhere. But if the U.S. is to sell more abroad and borrow less, countries with trade surpluses — notably Germany and China — will have to spend more, buy more, save less and export less. The G-20 governments, representing the leading economies in the world, agreed that is the only way to have the reductions essential to a secure recovery in the dangerous and unsustainable imbalances in the global system.” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010031117/showdown-chermany Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The American Prospect Author: Tim Fernholz Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “In the prologue to The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Michael Lewis explains that he envisioned his first and perhaps most famous work, Liar’s Poker, as a grim obituary for an industry that rewarded inexperience and greed. However, the byzantine banking industry continued to flourish, and young readers wrote Lewis to ask how they, too, could get into the game. His disappointment is palpable. In his new book, he may have replicated the mistake of glorifying a troubled industry. The premise of the book is simple: A few investors had the foresight to see that the sub-prime-mortgage loans at the heart of a vast bubble in the bond markets were destined to default and made fortunes betting against them. The Big Short, then, is the story of those counter-investors and in turn, an illustration of what was (and is) wrong on Wall Street.” (03/16/10) Link: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_short_game Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Dallas Libertarian Examiner Author: Garry Reed Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Four public facilities in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex will be the recipients of money coerced from Americans nationwide by their own national government and then redistributed through a process called ’stimulus grants.’ … Each public facility, we’re told, will reap ‘around $2 million each’ to install solar panels on top of their parking structures … Beyond the issue of converting privately earned income into publicly spent ‘benefits’ through forced redistribution there are a few other problems not addressed by the article.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8s9f3b Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Jim Davidson Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “[P]eople who spend their time in the anarchist movement often ask me about my unwillingness to use terms like anarchist or even anarcho-capitalist to describe my political philosophy. Some of these people see the history of the term capitalism and its application widely in the culture to identify the marriage of big business with big government and say ‘well, that’s why I don’t call myself a capitalist.’ Now you see from this screed at anarkismo dot net that my use of anarchism to describe my propertarian and libertarian philosophy of individual self government without externally imposed coercion would certainly cause just as much confusion. If saying that I’m a sovereign individual, an agorist, a propertarian, and a self governor is more confusing, then I would invite further discussion.” (03/14/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle561-20100314-04.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Mike Whitney Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Housing is still on the rocks and prices are headed lower. Master illusionist Ben Bernanke has managed to engineer a modest 7-month uptick in sales, but the fairydust is set to wear off later this month when the Fed stops purchasing mortgage-backed securities (MBS). When the program ends, long-term interest rates will creep higher and sales will begin to flag. The objective of Bernanke’s $1.25 trillion quantitative easing program was to transfer the banks’ toxic assets onto the Fed’s balance sheet. Having achieved that goal, Bernanke will now have to find a way to unload those same assets onto the public. Freddie and Fannie, which have already been used as a government-backed off-balance-sheet dumping ground, appear to be the most likely candidates.” (03/17/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/whitney03172010.html Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Cato Institute Author: Daniel J. Ikenson Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Will the Treasury Department’s semi-annual report on foreign-exchange-rate practices, due to be released in April, label China a ‘currency manipulator,’ as is being increasingly speculated? If so, that conclusion would spark bilateral negotiations on an ‘expedited basis’ and open the door to ‘remedial’ legislation to compel China to revalue its currency. For Congress and President Obama, the issue is not the undervalued renminbi per se, but the large bilateral trade deficit with China. To them, currency revaluation is a proxy for reducing the trade deficit to zero — or better yet, turning it into a surplus. But trying to legislate trade balance is a fool’s errand.” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11581 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Liberty For All Author: Lady Liberty Posted on 03.17.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Do you remember the first real, full time job you ever had? If you’re like most people, that first job coincided with the first time you really went out on your own. I can clearly recall all of the excitement that filled me as I moved into my first apartment. I can also remember how I felt when, for the first time in my life, I had to buy my own groceries and pay my own electric bill. While I couldn’t help but be proud of myself, I also recall being appalled at how expensive everything seemed to be.” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=3972 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Heartland Institute Author: James G. Lakely Posted on 03.17.10 by R. Lee Wrights “The long-awaited National Broadband Plan, hot off the presses of the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday, is an impressive document—if one is impressed by a federal agency grossly inflating its competence and proposing a vast expansion of its power. It’s important to remember that Congress last year asked the FCC to do something relatively simple and straightforward after passing the ’stimulus’ bill: Propose ways the government might increase access to broadband and make it more affordable.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjstrmd Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Future of Freedom Foundation Author: Jacob G. Hornberger Posted on 03.17.10 by R. Lee Wrights “The controversy over guns and Starbucks provides us with an opportunity to understand the relationship between gun rights and property rights. The gun-control crowd is upset with Starbucks because the chain is permitting people to openly carry firearms into its stores. They say that this is carrying the right to keep and bear arms too far.” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-03-17.asp Filed under: 2AM Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Disloyal Opposition Author: JD Tuccille Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The New England Journal of Medicine cites interesting poll numbers on the reaction of physicians to proposed federal legislation that would greatly expand the government’s role in medicine. At a time when the Bureau of Labor Statistics is predicting 22 percent growth in demand for physicians by 2018, ‘24.7% of physicians stated that they would ‘retire early’ if a public option is implemented, and an additional 21.0% of respondents stated that they would quit practicing medicine, even though they are nowhere near retirement. This brings the amount of physicians who would leave medicine to a total of 45.7%.’ In the case of passage of the current health care ‘reform’ bill without a so-called public option, the number of physicians planning to flee medicine drops — to ‘only’ one-third.” (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8qme5v Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Free Liberal Author: Fred E. Foldvary Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Several U.S. states are depleted of funds, and are not paying their bills. They are delaying paying back tax refunds. Over 40 of the states have deficits and are unable to pay their bills promptly. In some states, cutbacks on staff are contributing to delays. The delays are not just a problem for those who are waiting for their refunds. Many of the states have to pay interest on late refunds after the closing date. But paying wages and debt service take priority over the refunds. Taxpayers are last in line.” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/004004.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Intellectual Conservative Author: Robert Higgs Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “In sum, when we disaggregate the recent increase in personal income, we find signs that the recovery has been weaker and less sustainable than many observers have taken it to be. Not all sources of personal income are created equal, and in the present circumstances, not even the rise in personal rental income counts as grounds for optimism. Because the recovery, such as it is, has begun only recently, it may acquire a healthier tone as it proceeds, if indeed it does. For the moment, however, we must recognize that recent changes give little warrant to the expectation of a full, sustainable recovery in the near term.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb43w4k Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Foundation for Economic Education Author: William L. Anderson Posted on 03.17.10 by R. Lee Wrights “It seems that the so-called health care ‘reform’ bill will become law soon enough. (President Barack Obama has told recalcitrant Democrats in the House of Representatives that he won’t campaign for them if they vote no. Most will give into the President.) Therefore, I am more interested in what will occur after the bill is passed, not the sordid politics behind it.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9mzxh8 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Huffington Post Author: US Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Three years ago, when I met with Senator Barack Obama in his Chicago office and we contemplated his possible run for the presidency, I was enthusiastic. On that day, it was hard for me to imagine a time I would have to say no to Barack Obama when he asked me for support. But last week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sat down with the president, and he asked us to vote for the health care reform bill — a bill that denies immigrants the opportunity to purchase health care with their own money. It was one more in a string of disappointments for the Hispanic community, and today, I no longer find myself able to confidently say ‘yes’ when President Obama asks me for his support.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yg38dmc Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner Author: Kent McManigal Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “There has always been the odd authoritarian around who can not meet criticism of his chosen religion (state worship) without snapping, but I am seeing it more and more these days. They can’t refute the arguments, so they just start striking out however they can. They must know their time as the dominant, or at least loudest, ideology is coming to an end. The panic of realization is setting in. Perhaps it is due to the repeated failure of coercion to make anything resembling a ‘better world.’” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ycl9lud Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute Author: Angela Logomasini Posted on 03.17.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Imagine your infant tossing a glass baby bottle. It shatters and you try to clean it up before your child crawls across the floor. Now imagine a plastic bottle falling — no worry. That is why babies have been tossing break-proof plastic bottles for decades — we value safety. Yet now, environmental activists are urging us to go back to glass, and they have convinced some lawmakers to consider banning the plastic.” (03/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ygx6n4p Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Campaign For Liberty Author: Chuck Baldwin Posted on 03.17.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Anyone paying attention knows that John McCain has been a Big-Government Globalist Neocon (BGGN) for virtually his entire senatorial career. As with many BGGNs hiding out in the Republican Party, McCain likes to talk about smaller government, but his track record is littered with the promotion of one big government program after another. But, what else would one expect from a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)?” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=698 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Weekly Standard Author: John P. Walters Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The anti-antidrug camp had high hopes that Barack Obama would end ‘drug prohibition.’ Last year, George Soros, a leading proponent of drug legalization and perhaps the most generous financial backer of the president, seemed in a position to get the change he wanted. In fact, Obama drug czar Gil Kerlikowske made it his first order of business to tell the press he was ending ‘the drug war.’ More significantly, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that federal enforcement regarding ‘medical marijuana’ would be dialed back, which caused the number of storefront marijuana shops in Los Angeles to skyrocket. Things are looking a little different a year later, however. Kerlikowske turned old school and proclaimed that drug legalization was not in the administration’s ‘vocabulary.’ The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) continues to enforce marijuana laws in California (although without vocal support from Holder). And the Obama administration just released its first drug control budget requesting a fully funded, well, drug war.” [editor’s note: As a former top government drug thug, Walters naturally considers this good news. Hopefully, he’ll someday have an opportunity to make his argument in orange coveralls - TLK] (for publication 03/22/10) Link: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/obama-just-says-no-soros Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Acton Institute Author: Jordan Ballor Posted on 03.17.10 by R. Lee Wrights “In the wake of the domestic credit crisis in America, the subsequent global economic downturn, and the various attempts to diagnose and correct the problems with today’s business culture, politicians and pundits alike have been casting about for villains. Perhaps no one has filled that public role more prominently in recent months than the high-profile investment bank, Goldman Sachs. As The Times’ John Arlidge wrote last November, ‘Goldman’s reputation is suddenly as toxic as the credit default swaps and other inexplicably exotic financial instruments it used to buy with glee.’” (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yf24bvb Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Slate Author: John Dickerson Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “For the moment, the public focus is on the House’s ’self-executing rule,’ an effort by House Democrats to get around voting on the unpopular Senate health care bill. Under that back-bend, members would vote on a 100-page House bill of popular fixes to the roughly 2,000-page Senate bill. Passage of this smaller bill would automatically ‘deem’ that the larger Senate bill had passed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is leaning toward this approach because no one would have to actually vote on a bill he or she doesn’t like (one of the impediments she faces as she tries to line up the 216 votes she needs to pass health care legislation). But House Democrats aren’t going through all this just out of cowardice. Part of what is requiring them to be so creative is the unpredictability of the coming reconciliation process in the Senate.” (03/16/10) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2248032/ Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty & Power Author: CJ Maloney Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “It says much about the immaturity of American discourse that before one can say anything at all that might somehow, in some way, be construed as anti-Israel, you need to assure the readers of your pure heart, that you do not have a secret stash of Nazi paraphernalia hidden in the attic and get up to some goosestep late at night when the world is asleep. So here it goes: Fear not, I have nothing at all against Israel, harbor no ill will towards her, and the collection of totalitarian paraphernalia in my home has a decidedly communist bent. (My Chairman Mao collection grows daily.) That being said, I find it strange how American politicians have such a mindless bent towards supporting the Israelis regardless of their actions, support of a fervor usually seen only in sports fanatics or Ayn Rand acolytes.” (03/16/10) Link: http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/124500.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Classically Liberal Author: CLS Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Between the arrival of Columbus in the West Indies and the American Revolution there were numerous colonies, which tended to differ from one another. It was during this period that Christianity, or more precisely, specific strains of Christianity, did hold political power. If ever there was a time when there was a ‘Christian America’ this was it. It is also a time that most Americans know nothing about. Perhaps because it was a very ugly period in American history, which contradicts the rosy view of America held by most citizens today.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc3l7vx Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: National Review Author: Jonah Goldberg Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The case against the tea-party movement is constantly evolving. Initially, they were written off as ‘astroturfers,’ faux populists paid by K Street lobbyists to provide damaging footage for Fox News’s Obama coverage. Then they were deemed racists who couldn’t handle having a black president. But now that the movement — or, more broadly, the Obama backlash — has become so widespread, it’s being chalked up to populist anti-elitism.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yba9trk Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Salon Author: Glenn Greenwald Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “[T]he bill recently introduced by Joe Lieberman and John McCain — the so-called ‘Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act’ — now has 9 co-sponsors, including the newly elected Scott Brown. It’s probably the single most extremist, tyrannical and dangerous bill introduced in the Senate in the last several decades, far beyond the horrific, habeas-abolishing Military Commissions Act. It literally empowers the President to imprison anyone he wants in his sole discretion by simply decreeing them a Terrorist suspect — including American citizens arrested on U.S. soil. The bill requires that all such individuals be placed in military custody, and explicitly says that they ‘may be detained without criminal charges and without trial for the duration of hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners,’ which everyone expects to last decades, at least.” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhwsw9k Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute Author: SM Oliva Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “A simple but effective trick the state uses to eliminate due process and violate individual rights is experience. What do I mean? The foundation of all regulatory ‘law’ is the notion that any body of regulators created by Congress possess, by virtue of said creation, unlimited expertise and experience over whatever subjects they regulate. This regulatory ‘experience’ creates a strong judicial presumption in favor of the regulator; the presumption of innocence and individual rights gives way to disproving the ‘experience’ of the regulator.” (03/13/10) Link: http://blog.mises.org/12171/experience-the-experience/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Nolan Chart Author: savoy Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “According to S. 3801, The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010, you might be.” (03/16/10) Link: http://www.nolanchart.com/article7511.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The New Republic Author: Yossi Klein Halevi Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Astonishingly, Obama is repeating the key tactical mistake of his failed efforts to restart Middle East peace talks over the last year. Though Obama’s insistence on a settlement freeze to help restart negotiations was legitimate, he went a step too far by including building in East Jerusalem. Every Israeli government over the last four decades has built in the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem; no government, let alone one headed by the Likud, could possibly agree to a freeze there. Obama made resumption of negotiations hostage to a demand that could not be met. The result was that Palestinian leaders were forced to adjust their demands accordingly. Obama is directly responsible for one of the most absurd turns in the history of Middle East negotiations.” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.tnr.com/article/world/the-crisis Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Adam Smith Institute Author: Charlotte Bowyer Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I tend to stay away from the ‘health’ sections of newspapers, mainly because I am rather bored of being told that I am a chronically unfit binge-drinker with a lifestyle leading unavoidably to obesity and depression. However, I’m surprised that I managed to miss hearing about the newest public health terror: third hand smoke.” (03/17/10) Link: http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/health/blowing-smoke%2c-thirdhand/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The American Spectator Author: Peter Ferrara Posted on 03.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “When Ben Franklin first emerged from the Constitutional Convention, he was asked by a passerby, ‘What government have you given us?’ Franklin replied, ‘A Republic, if you can keep it.’ For 220 years, until last year, we did keep it. America was a democratic constitutional republic, governed by the rule of law, a beacon of liberty to the entire world. But no more. After just one year of Barack Obama’s fundamental change, aided by the far left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco, and the easily confused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, America has been transformed from a Constitutional Republic into a Banana Republic.” [editor’s note: Ferrara seems to have memory-holed the eight intensely “banana republican” years immediately preceding, and creating the template for, the Obama regime - TLK] (03/17/10) Link: http://spectator.org/archives/2010/03/17/turning-america-into-a-banana Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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