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Source: The Free Liberal Author: Micah Tillman Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “We’re cynical because politicians spend so much time promising us change when we know there’s nothing new under the sun. Things have always been the way they are now; and they always will be. History makes no permanent progress and suffers no permanent regress. Hegel and Fukuyama and Marx and Bush are all wrong. Freedom is not on the march any more now than it ever has been. Neither capitalism nor communism nor democracy nor tyranny is anything new, none of them is dead, and none of them is the future. And government is not now, nor has it ever been, the answer to any question other than, ‘What’s the best tool for destroying things?’” (10/16/08) Link: http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003580.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Cato Institute Author: Gene Healy Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Joe Biden hardly brings the glamour and excitement to his ticket that Sarah Palin does to hers, but he surely warmed civil libertarian hearts at the vice-presidential debate when he forcefully denounced ‘dangerous’ theories designed to ‘aggrandize the power of a unitary executive.’ After seven years of an administration that has recognized few, if any, limits on executive power, it’s only natural that many people look to the Obama-Biden ticket to put the presidency back in its proper constitutional place. But there are good reasons to doubt that an Obama administration would meaningfully de-imperialize the presidency. From Truman and Johnson’s undeclared wars to the warrantless wiretapping carried out by FDR, JFK, LBJ and Nixon, the Imperial Presidency has long been a bipartisan phenomenon.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9713 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty For All Author: Lady Liberty Posted on 10.16.08 by R. Lee Wrights “There’s little question that free speech is endangered in America today. Witness, for example, those protesters at both the Democrat and Republican national conventions who were relegated to ‘free speech zones.’ Consider hate speech laws that are often broad and, as a result, even more broadly interpreted. Remember that we now know that protesters in California were the subject of surveillance by the National Guard, and that the FBI, too, has been monitoring those who would speak out.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=1460 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: LewRockwell.Com Author: US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “It has been long understood that our federal government is going deeper into debt, consistently raising the debt ceiling and demonstrating no fiscal restraint. In recent years, debt ceiling increases have been placed in ‘must pass’ legislation as a means to guarantee that Republicans as well as Democrats would vote for them when Congress was under Republican control. We also know our nation’s ‘negative savings rate’ reflects the habits of private citizens, showing those habits to be not tremendously different than the habits of the public sector. Yet, the signs of decline are becoming ever more apparent. So apparent, in fact, that it seems unlikely that bailouts or other gimmicks will have even short-term success.” (10/16/08) Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul485.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Nolan Chart Author: Dan Clore Posted on 10.16.08 by R. Lee Wrights “Of the two candidates who have a chance of getting elected, John McCain and Barack Obama, Obama is clearly the least bad. Both are fairly typical state-corporate capitalist politicians, whose state-capitalism is mitigated by various social-welfare measures. So Obama wins on that level. Those who follow the ‘lesser of two evils’ strategy will therefore choose Obama. However, I think a better voting strategy is to vote for a third-party candidate or a write-in that shows the direction away from the Duopoly Party that you want things to go.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.nolanchart.com/article5216.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Freedom\'s Phoenix Author: Brock Lorber Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Freedom’s Pheonix publisher, Ernest Hancock, observed that information and opinions on the banking crisis and bailout plans was moving so fast and furious, that the simple concepts were being lost in the hyperbole. To cut through the chaff, we’ll establish this article as a repository of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re heading as nations take over their financial sectors.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Feature-Article.htm?InfoNo=039724 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Adam Smith Institute Author: Philip Salter Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “It would be nice to hear politicians refer to the principles of freedom and liberty, instead of simply banging on about the propensity the government seems to have for losing things (relevant as that is). Even if the scheme could catch more criminals and the government was able to protect the information, the essential point still stands that a centralized database of this sort gives powers to the state that they should simply never be allowed to have. There is a great appetite for greater freedom in the UK, but no major party that is offering to give it to us to any meaningful degree.” (10/16/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3kdq6h Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Sunni and the Conspirators Author: Jorge Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “I view libertarian values as very narrow. A libertarian is someone who does not violate the rights of others. Those rights are narrowly defined as Life, Liberty, justly acquired Property. If someone decides not to serve us in their restaurant because I am Latin and my wife is Chinese, they have not violated our rights. If, because I am Latin, they will not come to my aid while I am being mugged, they have not violated my rights. If they write an op-ed piece for the local newspaper exhorting their neighbors not to sell us a house because we are a mixed-race couple they have not violated our rights. Therefore it is possible for them to be libertarian. The only thing that our philosophy requires is a negative. It requires us not to violate the rights of others.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.sunnimaravillosa.com/node/1479 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Nebojsa Malic Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Almost eight months after the US — followed by most NATO members — recognized the occupied Serbian province of Kosovo as a dependent state, the Serbian government finally did something about it. On October 8, the UN General Assembly approved Serbia’s request to seek the opinion of the International Court of Justice about the legality of Kosovo’s separation. Albania, the US and four Pacific island nations in its orbit were the only votes against. For a moment, Belgrade basked in victory, no matter how feeble or immaterial. The Empire would not be denied, however; within hours, recognitions of Kosovo’s ‘independence’ came from Portugal, Montenegro and Macedonia. A day after that, the announcement came that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner was none other than Martti Ahtisaari; the official explanation listed Ahtisaari’s peacemaking activities in Namibia, Aceh and Iraq (!?) but it is plain as day that the Nobel was a direct reward for his efforts to establish occupied Kosovo as a separate state.” (10/16/08) Link: http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=13596 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: No Force, No Fraud Author: Bob Smith Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “I recently listened to a group of reasonably intelligent people each insisting that the federal government must do something about the ‘health care crisis.’ Uninsured people, expensive plans, and pre-existing conditions all were mentioned. In a nutshell, their consensus was that the problem is big, that people are being hurt, and that government can fix it if it has the will to do so. Oh … and that voting for a ‘progressive’ is the answer to getting it fixed. After listening patiently for a while, I added some comments designed to make them think again … little things like the fact that, in less than a lifetime, group health insurance came into being and has become the center of this huge issue., creating an enormous group of workers who fear loss of group insurance coverage so much that they’re willing to work decades in jobs they hate.” (10/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/45hm9s Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty & Power Author: Jeffrey Rogers Hummel Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “The credit tightening that had been bothering the Fed over the past year was the increase in the Treasury-Eurodollar (TED) spread and the LIBOR-OIS (overnight index swap rate) spread. The first reflects a market shift from riskier to less risky assets and the second reflects a shift from intermediate maturity lending between banks (one to three months) to overnight lending. Then on September 18, the increasing demand for liquidity caused the T-bill rate to go temporarily negative, which is when Bernanke and Paulson hit the panic button. T-bill rates can only go negative so far before it pays to flee into base money.” (10/15/08) Link: http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/55702.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: TCS Daily Author: Larry Kudlow Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “It certainly wasn’t the big-bang across-the-board tax-reform and tax-cut plan that I and others lobbied for. But John McCain’s ‘Pension and Family Security Plan’ unveiled today on the campaign trail does have some solid pro-growth nuggets. I’m calling it some good little stuff. The most important pro-growth measure is a reduction in the capital-gains tax rate to 7.5 percent in 2009 and 2010. Although I wish it were permanent, at least it will reward investors who scoop up undervalued assets, including bargain-basement stocks and underwater homes. Two years is not a very wide window. But this could promote a faster recovery in asset prices and wealth creation.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=101508A Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Disloyal Opposition Author: JD Tuccille Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “The advertising campaign for Prop. 102 has been a bit … odd. It consists of TV spots, flyers and posters boasting that the proposition is ’simple’ and ‘clear’ in its definition of marriage — as if the wisdom of that definition is a given. But why is it so necessary to restrict marriage?” (10/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3m5nck Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Reason Author: Jacob Sullum Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “John McCain calls his promise to help millions of Americans with their mortgages the McCain Resurgence Plan. Ostensibly, the ‘resurgence’ has something to do with home values, but his poll numbers are what he really has in mind. This desperate ploy, unveiled at last week’s presidential debate, speaks volumes about McCain’s readiness to forsake his avowed principles and his supposed commitment to candor. Meant to bribe swing voters with taxpayers’ money, it should repel anyone who considers its rationale, its fairness, and its fiscal implications.” (10/15/08) Link: http://reason.com/news/show/129434.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Independent Institute Author: Alvaro Vargas Llosa Posted on 10.16.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “I spent a good chunk of the last year and a half working on a documentary series covering contemporary Latin American history for the National Geographic Channel. It has started to air in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, and will soon air in other languages. I have been asked a few times what I learned from this experience. I think the most important lesson was that Latin Americans don’t consider themselves Latin Americans. Despite the increased migration, trade and political connections among countries of the region, most citizens are unaware of the recent and not-so-recent histories of their neighboring countries. Which is why so many nations keep repeating the mistakes of the past — and why in those countries that seem to be on the right track, the forces pushing in the opposite direction are so powerful.” (10/15/08) Link: http://independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2344 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Orange County Register Author: staff Posted on 10.15.08 by Steve Trinward “Sen. Barack Obama proposes a welfare plan that will transfer billions of dollars from those who earned it and to others who didn’t. He doesn’t call his plan ‘welfare’ or even ‘hand-outs,’ which would be accurate descriptions. Instead, Mr. Obama portrays this massive redistribution of wealth as ‘tax cuts,’ which is more palatable to voters. Who could object to tax cuts? The presidential aspirant from Illinois says he will ‘cut taxes for 95 percent of workers and their families.’ The first of many problems with this claim is that only about 62 percent of U.S. households pay any income taxes. … But, after all, it is an election year.” [editor’s note: It’s quite correct to define these terms properly; if subsidies to the poor were ever properly constructed (e.g., as direct tax credits to those who choose to support such efforts?) … why, they might even work! - SAT] (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3kzlbc Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Boston Globe Author: Stephen Kinzer Posted on 10.15.08 by Steve Trinward “Despite their differences over how to pursue the US war in Iraq, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama both want to send more American troops to Afghanistan. Both are wrong. History cries out to them, but they are not listening. Both candidates would do well to gaze for a moment on a painting by the British artist Elizabeth Butler called ‘Remnants of an Army.’ It depicts the lone survivor of a 15,000-strong British column that sought to march through 150 kilometers of hostile Afghan territory in 1842. His gaunt, defeated figure is a timeless reminder of what happens to foreign armies that try to subdue Afghanistan. The McCain-Obama approach to Afghanistan, like much of US policy toward the Middle East and Central Asia, is based on emotion rather than realism.” (10/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4ea898 Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The American Prospect Author: Paul Waldman Posted on 10.15.08 by Steve Trinward “Throughout his nearly two-year-long campaign for the White House, Barack Obama has talked about Americans’ hunger for unity — their ache for a government that will get past the petty divisions of recent decades, put aside partisanship, and come together to solve problems. From what we can tell, Obama’s desire to provide that kind of presidency is sincere and stems from his own personality and history. … But as we finally approach the end of this campaign, one has to wonder whether Obama knows quite what he’s in for. Not what will happen over the next three weeks but what he’ll face if he actually wins. Because for all his talk of bringing Americans together, a President Obama could face an opposition so consumed with disgust and anger and outright hate that it would make the 1990s look like a tea party.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4hmfed Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: John Hughes Posted on 10.15.08 by Steve Trinward “A few days ago, I was doing an interview with National Public Radio. The topic was the presidential election. But within seconds it was all about Sarah Palin, that winking-at-the-camera, ‘gosh darnit’ hockey mom, and moose-hunting frontierswoman from Alaska. What the interviewer wanted to know was whether Sarah Palin in the White House might become Dick Cheney. In a few weeks, Governor Palin has exploded from Arctic oblivion to get the kind of buzz any Hollywood press agent would pay big money for. Her face leaps out from every newsstand. Late-night TV comics adore her. There are more Sarah impersonators than Elvis impersonators. Is she a short-term sensation?” (10/16/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1016/p09s02-coop.html Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Nation Author: Robert Scheer Posted on 10.15.08 by Steve Trinward “And the winner is … Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Remember him — the great Democratic president who saved capitalism from the capitalists by reining in their exorbitant greed? … The hero of the hour is FDR, as the essential wisdom of his New Deal is now embraced by most Republicans as well as Democrats. … The banking bailout is pure FDR at his big-government best. Greedy bankers are being taken to the woodshed and read the riot act: if they behave, then they will once again have the opportunity to be filthy rich — that’s the American way.” [editor’s note: This is almost not worth posting. The only real value of this retrospective is to remind us that the GOPocrat Hoover was every bit as irresponsible in creating the Depression, as his DemoPub successor FDR was in prolonging it and making it worse … and that neither of the current contendahs (nor Scheer) has CLUE ONE about what to do now! - SAT] (10/15/08) Link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081027/scheer Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Our Future Author: Robert Borosage Posted on 10.15.08 by Steve Trinward “Hey, ‘my friends,’ about the economy? ‘How about a little straight talk?’ All that palaver about cutting spending, balancing the budget? Ruinous. Can’t happen. We’re going to have to borrow and spend a boatload of money to get this economy going. And tax cuts? That won’t do it; we have to rebuild America. Getting this done is the next big fight that the next president will face. You won’t hear that from Sen. John McCain Nor is it conventional wisdom. … Barack Obama pledges an investment agenda — in new energy, in education, in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yet, he too pays tribute to the conventional, promising to scrub the federal budget, pledging that each of his spending proposals is ‘paid for,’ and vowing to bring deficits down.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008104215/next-fight Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Crooks and Liars Author: John Amato Posted on 10.15.08 by Steve Trinward “As we are witnessing, the conservative movement is in shambles now and the only thing they can do is spew racist hatred out into the world and hope it sticks to their audience in droves. And how is the conservative right going to make sure race is all you can think of when you think of the name Obama? How about by making the case that blacks in general are lazy, angry, and engaged in a 3 decades old plot to train black children as militants against the US? It’s those scary black terrorists again. Don’t think anyone would actually SAY that? Think again. Listen to it in Rush Limbaugh’s own words.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3qov8p Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Consortium News Author: Nat Parry Posted on 10.15.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “While the label of ‘terrorist’ is perhaps fitting for the Weather Underground, which carried out bombings of U.S. government targets in the early 1970s, the idea of condemning Obama for having crossed paths with someone decades after the person was involved in such a group should send chills down everyone’s spine. After all, if Obama is being branded a ‘terrorist sympathizer’ for having a very limited relationship with Ayers on an issue such as education — wholly unrelated to the context of Ayers’s controversial past actions — the message is clear to all Americans that they must be extremely careful with whom they associate, even casually. This is even more the case today, when the word ‘terrorist’ is tossed around loosely or applied in an ideological way that strips it of its classic meaning — violence directed against civilians to achieve some political end.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/101508a.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CentralJersey.com Author: Rick Malwitz Posted on 10.15.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “I knew there were people who could tell the story Ray Babecki tells, about how a loaded gun at the side of the bed can be a good thing … Shortly after midnight on May 29, he heard the unmistakable noise of someone breaking into his mobile home. He reached for his loaded handgun next to his bed, and shouted to his wife Heather to grab her rifle. The intruder entered their bedroom, and fired a shot into the floor. Babecki figures the bad guy wanted to intimidate them, not knowing they were armed. … his wife pointed her rifle at the intruder. … ‘I didn’t know his intention was, except when he saw two people pointing guns at him he left,’ said Babecki.” (10/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4kgjm4 Filed under: 2AM Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Frank Furedi Posted on 10.15.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “The massive expansion of state control over the banking system may counter the powerful forces threatening to destabilise the financial sector and the currency markets. But, at best, all that the government-led rescue packages can achieve is a framework for managing the imminent decline of economic activities. Banks may have been rescued, but at present there is no strategy for re-engaging them with the rest of the economy.It is evident that there is a lot more pain to come. Existing levels of state expenditure cannot be maintained without unleashing massive inflationary pressures, the outcome of which will be cuts in living standards. In any case, the choice is not between inflation and deflation. We are likely to see both as the contraction of credit forces numerous businesses to cut investment and production. Nor will it be easy for companies to export their way out of the predicament. There is now the danger that the global flows of goods, like capital investment, will decline.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5817/ Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Asia Times Author: Andrew Symon Posted on 10.15.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “The harshest crackdowns on Vietnam’s Catholics in decades signal Hanoi’s hardline approach to demonstrators demanding the return of church property. Conservatives in the government believe that if the Catholics are successful in challenging the state’s control, there could be an unmanageable spate of similar demands.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JJ16Ae01.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: P. Jerome Posted on 10.15.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “Contrary to the accepted ‘wisdom’ of the electoral experts, Americans are not so divided as we might seem. More than 80 percent of us oppose the war in Iraq, with the majority wanting immediate withdrawl (not ‘redeployment’). Larger majorities want an end to government wiretapping (and vociferously opposed the wiretapping immunity bill), a scaled-back military budget, and universal health care that excludes the insurance industry. Further, almost no one outside the beltway or the NY financial district bought into the ‘crisis’ that mandated a $850 billion bailout for Wall Street.These are not complicated positions, but we are given the ‘choice’ between John ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran’ McCain and Barack ‘Threats in 100 different countries’ Obama.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21025.htm Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute Author: Scott A. Kjar Posted on 10.15.08 by R. Lee Wrights “Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson needs to change his reading list. Instead of reading the balance sheets and income statements of the failing banking industry, he needs to read Henry Hazlitt’s classic book Economics in One Lesson. It will cost Paulson far less than the $700 billion that he is spending on the bailout, and he might just learn a little economics in the process.” (10/15/080 Link: http://mises.org/story/3142 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Heartland Institute Author: Joseph L. Bast Posted on 10.15.08 by R. Lee Wrights “The front page of today’s Wall Street Journal carries a story titled ‘At Moment of Truth, U.S. Forced Big Bankers to Blink.’ In the quarter-century I’ve been reading the Journal, I’ve never read a news story that was more disturbing. The article describes the Monday, October 13 meeting between government regulators and top executives from nine of the nation’s largest banks. On one side of the table sat Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, flanked by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Benanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.heartland.org/full.html?articleid=23982 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Future of Freedom Foundation Author: David R. Henderson Posted on 10.15.08 by R. Lee Wrights “On Monday, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences is Princeton University economist Paul Krugman. Krugman, probably the best known economist under the age of 60, is known to the public mainly for his regular column in the New York Times. Yet those columns do not do justice to the extent of his economic knowledge and understanding.” (10/10/08) Link: http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810h.asp Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Foundation for Economic Education Author: Becky Akers Posted on 10.15.08 by R. Lee Wrights “If I had a nickel for every time someone described the government’s bailout of the financial industry with that adjective, I could have bailed out Wall Street myself. Tragically, parts of the bill Congress passed earlier this month weren’t unprecedented. In fact, they constitute a pattern for the Bush administration. Even more tragically, many of these sections showed all the staying power of an incumbent politician as Congress and the White House maneuvered, deleting this and amending that among 451 pages few of the voting congressmen could possibly have read.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.fee.org/in_brief/default.asp?id=2405 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CNN Author: Jeffrey Mixon Posted on 10.15.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “In any event, government ownership of banks has frightening long-term implications, whether or not it alleviates the credit crunch. Government ownership means that political forces will determine who wins and who loses in the banking sector. The government, for example, will push banks to aid borrowers with poor credit histories, to subsidize politically connected industries, and to lend in the districts of powerful members of Congress. All of this is horrible for economic efficiency. … It is time for the government to do the one thing it does well: nothing at all. This might mean serious economic pain in the short term, as more banks fail and the economy suffers through a recession. As for a cancer patient who has a tumor removed, however, the long-term benefit will more than compensate.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/14/miron.banks/index.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute Author: Richard Morrison Posted on 10.15.08 by R. Lee Wrights “Last night, voters in Canada decisively rejected a tax on energy use aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon tax had been the centerpiece of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion’s election campaign. His party suffered a serious reverse at the polls, losing a quarter of its seats. Analysts agree the pledge was a significant factor in the Liberals’ failure to take advantage of the economic crisis. The last thing the Canadian people wanted was extra costs to their families in troubled times.” (10/15/08) Link: http://cei.org/node/21195 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Acton Institute Author: Anthony B. Bradley Posted on 10.15.08 by R. Lee Wrights “With only a few weeks to Election Day, racial politics has reared its pathetic head as pundits attempt to decipher poll numbers and audience comments at political rallies. It seems silly to imagine that adults in America may vote along racial lines but it should come as no surprise. Many people on the ideological margins of society vote irrationally. In fact, voting along racial lines says less about racism than it does about the lack of mature civic responsibility among voters who are indifferent to the nation’s common good.” (10/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3nkumj Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Forum for Education and Democracy Author: George Wood Posted on 10.15.08 by R. Lee Wrights “It’s mid-October, and with the Presidential Election less than a month away public education is still not playing a major part in the campaign, or in voters’ decisions. The crumbling financial situation, concerns over health care, and the war in Iraq are all more important to the voters and the candidates. And yet, come January, our new President will appoint a Secretary of Education and begin to influence, if not direct, federal education policy. Unfortunately, too many education advisers these days are not educators, and not in touch with the daily successes — and struggles — of schools and schoolchildren. I thought about this on the way home from school on Tuesday, October 7.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.forumforeducation.org/blog/index.php? Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Justin Raimondo Posted on 10.15.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Barring a catastrophe — a terrorist attack on American soil, a calamitous gaffe, or the documented revelation that he really is a Muslim after all — it looks like Barack Obama is going to be the 44th president of these United States. Not only that, but I’d bet the farm we’ll have a Democratic Congress, one with a working majority that relegates the Republicans to the role of back bench naysayers whose dissent barely registers. Last year, Paul Craig Roberts expressed the hopes of many American voters when he wrote: ‘If we are fortunate, Republicans will complete their self-destruction before they extinguish the Constitution and destroy America.’ It looks like he’s going to get his wish.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13592 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: LewRockwell.Com Author: William Norman Grigg Posted on 10.15.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Our just-in-time commercial supply system runs on just-in-time financing. And most American households, which are operated on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis, are woefully unprepared to deal with the shortages and dislocations that would result if store shelves were suddenly denuded, and gas station fuel tanks went dry. If, as we have reason to fear, municipal and state governments start to default on their debts, then the teeming hordes of public employees may be left without their share of official plunder. We’re being advised that crime rates among the, ahem, common people tend to soar during times of severe economic hardship. What would be the result were widespread unemployment suddenly to hit the huge and ever-growing population of tax-feeders — who are often well-armed people with an exceptionally well-developed sense of entitlement, and accustomed to a living based on coercive extraction, rather than mutually beneficial free commerce?” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w53.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Foundation for Economic Education Author: J. R. Clark and Dwight R. Lee Posted on 10.15.08 by R. Lee Wrights “Social Security is a fundamentally flawed system. If a private firm offered such a retirement system and made the same claims for it that the federal government makes for Social Security, that firm would quickly become a poster child for corporate fraud, and its managers would soon be convicted of criminal charges. There are two fraudulent claims the federal government makes about Social Security that deserve special attention. By considering how these two claims interact with each other, it becomes clear that the politicians and pundits who defend Social Security are increasing the harm it is imposing on American workers.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4tj3uw Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty & Power Author: Robert Higgs Posted on 10.15.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Wake up and smell the fascist roses, my fellow Americans. The so-called free-market fundamentalists the people elected in 2000 and 2004, are now moving quickly to eliminate any remaining vestiges of capitalism from this country, and from other leading industrial countries, as well. (The moves are being coordinated by the governments of the G-7 countries, among others.) As the Bush administration proceeds with its takeover of the financial commanding heights of America’s pseudo-capitalist system, any resemblance between the system they are creating and a free-market system, either living or dead, will become purely coincidental.” (10/14/08) Link: http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/55654.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Art of the Possible Author: Roderick Long Posted on 10.15.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “The bailout is just diverting resources from the productive poor and middle-class to the failed rich. … The only good effect such a bailout could possibly have (at least if you prefer costly boondoggles without piles of dead bodies to costly boondoggles with them) is if it convinced the warmongers that they just can’t afford a global war on terror right now — but there’s no sign that they’re being convinced of anything of the sort.” (10/10/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3kpsx9 Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Cato Institute Author: William G. Shipman Posted on 10.15.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “So the bailout legislation passed. The stock market did not respond favorably to the fix. In fact it went into free fall. The fall in housing prices didn’t just stop, and the securities that are in part collateralized by the housing stock did not all of a sudden trade. And the U.S. is on a path that will accelerate its already well-established departure from free-market principles, individual liberty and personal responsibility. What do we do, then, to reverse this trajectory, to support housing prices and facilitate the market for toxic securities that ultimately are tied to housing? Here’s a simple, promising idea: No tax on short- or long-term capital gains or other income realized upon sale of the asset through 2013 for any individual or institution that purchases either the distressed real estate or securities collateralized by the real estate. This idea will produce winners and no — or few — losers.” [editor’s note: Giving bad investments special tax treatment to make them artificially more attractive relative to sound investments won’t produce losers? - TLK] (10/14/08) Link: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9718 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Asia Times Author: M K Bhadrakumar Posted on 10.14.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “The Saudi Arabia-brokered Afghan peace talks that include the Taliban have opened a new turf war. Washington is determined to exclude Russia from the country, even as Moscow insists on its legitimate role. The prospect of peace and a United States-sponsored oil and gas pipeline via Afghanistan suits India, but Delhi has been slow off the mark. Iran has begun counter moves to assert its authority. Hapless Afghans can only look on as others decide their fate.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ15Df01.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Economic Policy Journal Author: Robert Wenzel Posted on 10.14.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “Please sit down before you read this. If you have high blood pressure or heart trouble don’t even try to read this, find a decent sports page instead, this is not for you. Approximately half of the first $250 billion tranche of money approved by Congress for the mortgage crisis will end up in the hands of the ‘healthy’ big banks.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4tsco4 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Common Dreams Author: Robert Naiman Posted on 10.14.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “The U.S. military is planning a large polling operation in Iraq over the next three years to help ‘build robust and positive relations with the people of Iraq and to assist the Iraqi people in forming a new government,’ Walter Pincus reports in the Washington Post. This provides an excellent opportunity to revisit an important question: How many Iraqis have died since the U.S. invasion?” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/14-1 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Tennessean Author: Saritha Prabhu Posted on 10.14.08 by Steve Trinward “The United States has the best institutions of higher learning in the world, has made the most advances in science and technology, attracts the best and brightest from all over, has the best publications and books, the best movies, and I could go on and on. All this progress wasn’t effected by Joe Six-packs, but by brainiacs in every field who moved the intellectual goal posts further and further. And yet, the political discourse of recent years indicates that voters of different stripes seem to prefer in their leaders common-man cred over book knowledge, thought and analysis. It doesn’t make sense to someone like me. I have more than a dozen members of my immediate and extended family in the United States. My relatives aren’t here for freedom or democracy (we have that at home), but to pursue higher learning, go the furthest in their respective fields and realize the American dream in the process.” (10/13/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4xoczr Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Rolling Stone Author: Matt Taibbi Posted on 10.14.08 by Steve Trinward “Wayne Slater has known Karl Rove for 20 years. As the author of Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, he’s not easily shocked by the Republican strategist’s Gila-monstroid tactics. But even he’s been blown away by Rove’s latest political comeback. At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, Slater watched Rove address a delegation from South Carolina on John McCain’s behalf. That would be the same South Carolina where Rove helped torpedo McCain’s campaign in 2000 by reportedly spreading rumors that the candidate’s adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually his illegitimate black love child. Addressing the convention delegates, though, Rove acted like McCain’s long-lost friend.” (10/16/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4kgeno Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Author: E. J. Montini Posted on 10.14.08 by Steve Trinward “The guy on the phone is angry because he already has mailed in his early ballot and I’m just telling him that if Proposition 105 passes it will give dead people the vote. ‘Why didn’t you pass on that little bit of information sooner?’ he says. I tried. I wrote a column about the proposition when we were barely into October, but even that was too late for the most prompt of the early voters. The problem, I tell the guy, is that politicians aren’t as smart as Wal-Mart. They haven’t figured out that the best retailers put out the holiday decorations and offer sales way early. Political salesman should do the same. For example, I read an article last week saying that Wal-Mart was determined to have Christmas shops open in its stores by Oct. 10. Anyone looking to convince voters in Arizona of anything must follow that lead.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3w9vtd Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Paul Craig Roberts Posted on 10.14.08 by Mary Lou Seymour “The explanation that has been given for the financial crisis does not match up with the solution that has been devised. Moreover, the windows into the crisis offered by the authorities are opaque rather than transparent. The only clarity we have is that the crisis is resulting in financial concentration and that the bailout constitutes a massive raid by financial crooks on both taxpayers and central bank reserves in the US and Europe.” (10/14/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/roberts10142008.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Nation Author: Nomi Prins Posted on 10.14.08 by Steve Trinward “European leaders came up with a plan to inject ‘unlimited short-term funds’ into the system in addition to $2.3 trillion of guarantees and various emergency measures (pledged by Germany, Britain, France, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Austria). This could be like dumping money into a black hole, since most of these funds will be given in the form of loans, which means banks must come up with adequate collateral to back them, which is in short supply these days. But it’s more decisive than anything the Treasury or Federal Reserve has done so far. Indeed, the coordinated efforts of the European central banks have had a more positive initial impact on the markets than the bipartisan passage of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion rescue fund did.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081027/prins Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: Angela Kays-Burden Posted on 10.14.08 by Steve Trinward “I am still not sure about Republican motives behind the choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. As I try to sort out the truth and fiction behind the barrage of attacks against Governor Palin (and my confidence in her ability to lead our country), one thing is certain: The 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling made for women during this campaign have not been made for me. As a social worker who believes that life begins at conception, I am both pro-life and pro-woman. Both parties’ platforms force me to betray my core values and choose between the two.” (10/15/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1015/p09s02-coop.html Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Boston Globe Author: Derrick Z. Jackson Posted on 10.14.08 by Steve Trinward “Having failed to convince voters that they represent a break from the tragic Bush presidency, Republican presidential candidate John McCain and vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin are careening into George Wallace territory to destroy the nation’s first African-American nominee, Democrat Barack Obama. How close? When Wallace, best known as the segregationist governor of Alabama, ran for president in 1968, supporters at a rally at Madison Square Garden surrounded black protesters and screamed — as recounted on PBS’ American Experience website — ‘Kill ‘em, Kill ‘em, Kill ‘em.’ At a Florida rally this week, according to The Washington Post, the crowd got so worked up by Palin’s attacks on Obama’s patriotism and the media that one supporter shouted ‘Kill him!’” [editor’s note: The fact that racist morons have always existed among us is not hard evidence that McCain is “playing the race card” - SAT] (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4mo5ge Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty For All Author: Roderick T. Beaman Posted on 10.14.08 by R. Lee Wrights “‘The right of the state to deal with the entire subject (health care) can assuredly not be gainsaid. The physician is a social instrument.’ This is just one of Flexner’s statements that bespoke a deep socialist paternalism. It could have been made by John Dewey, the radical socialist educator and Flexner’s contemporary. In retrospect, Flexner was a cog in the wheel of socialism and an authoritarian one to boot. All socialists are opposed to anything that smacks of the profit motive, especially when someone else makes the profits.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=1459 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Nolan Chart Author: The Frugal Libertarian Posted on 10.14.08 by R. Lee Wrights “Many people assume that I don’t like income taxes because I am frugal. This is not the case. I despise income tax because I believe them to be immoral. This may be blasphemous to some Libertarians, but I think that a certain level of taxation is necessary and must be allowed in order for the federal government to fulfill its Constitutional responsibilities. The level of this taxation should be proportional to what is actually needed to perform its legitimate, Constitutional functions.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.nolanchart.com/article5208.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: National Center for Policy Analysis Author: staff Posted on 10.14.08 by R. Lee Wrights “It turns out that John McCain, who was widely mocked for saying that ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong,’ was actually right. We’re in a financial crisis, not an economic crisis. We’re not entering a second Great Depression, says Casey B. Mulligan … a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. How do we know? Well, the economy outside the financial sector is healthier than it seems.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3vv8dv Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: FreedomWorks Author: Matt Kibbe Posted on 10.14.08 by R. Lee Wrights “Over the past several days, I have found myself in the most unusual of positions: defending myself and the organization I work for, FreedomWorks, for to having clung to ‘ideology’ and ‘principle’ in opposing the bailout plan racing through Congress. I had never heard the word principle used so much as a pejorative. You know the tone in someone’s voice when they clearly understand the world and are trying to explain it to someone, well, simple. What was even more interesting was who was doing the scolding.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/52ep9u Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Adam Smith Institute Author: Dr. Eamonn Butler Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “So Paul Krugman has won this year’s Nobel Prize for economics. Well, congratulations, I suppose, but Krugman’s not exactly our kind of economist. Anyone described as neo-Keynesian has got to be bad news. One interesting question, which I was asked yesterday, is whether there should be a Nobel Prize for economics at all. Friedrich Hayek, who won it in 1974, subsequently said that had his opinion been consulted, he would ‘have decidedly advised against’ its creation.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/45mv52 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Salon Author: Mark Benjamin Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Once a cop, always a cop. Asked if she wanted to see a graphic battle video showing her son Albert bleeding to death, Jean Feggins, retired from the Philadelphia Police Department, said yes. ‘Listen, I’ve moved dead bodies of people I don’t even know,’ she told me, as she sat on a brown couch in the den of her West Philadelphia row house. ‘I need to know everything. Because he is not a stranger. That’s my baby. That’s my child.’ When Pfc. Albert Nelson died in Iraq in 2006, the Army first told Feggins that he might have been killed by friendly fire, and then that it was enemy mortars. She says she never believed the Army’s explanation.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/14/friendly_fire/ Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: National Review Author: Thomas Sowell Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “One of the oldest phenomena of American elections — criticism of one’s opponent — has in recent times been stigmatized by much of the media as ‘negative advertising.’ Is this because the criticism has gotten more vicious or more personal? You might think so, if you were totally ignorant of history, as so many of the graduates of even our elite universities are. Although Grover Cleveland was elected president twice, he had to overcome a major scandal that he had fathered a child out of wedlock, which was considered more of a disgrace then than today. Even giants like Lincoln and Jefferson were called names that neither McCain nor Obama has been called. Why then is ‘negative advertising’ such a big deal these days? The dirty little secret is this: Liberal candidates have needed to escape their past and pretend that they are not liberals, because so many voters have had it with liberals.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4tycpu Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Fly Bottle Author: Will Wilkinson Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Maybe I’m missing something, because almost all arguments to the effect that people have no moral right to their pretax income (such that taxation would require a special moral justification) and therefore taxation is legit, are plain non-sequiturs. For instance, Ronald Dworkin argues in Is Democracy Possible Here that the status quo system of political and economic institutions is the result of what he calls ‘the political settlement.’ Because the distribution of incomes is to a large extent a function of these institutions, it is to that extent a function of the political settlement. But the political settlement is either morally justified or it is unjustified.” (10/14/08) Link: http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/10/14/fearful-asymmetry/ Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Slate Author: Christopher Hitchens Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: ‘What does he take me for?’ Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her — her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations — were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party’s right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama’s position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses. It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them.” (10/13/08) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2202163/ Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Weekly Standard Author: Fred Barnes Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “John McCain trails Barack Obama and shows no signs, at the moment anyway, of propelling himself into the lead. Democrats lead in eight Senate seats currently held by Republicans and are close in three others. In the House, Republicans once thought they’d lose only 5 to 10 seats. Now things look worse. Thanks particularly to the month-long financial crisis, Republicans are in extremely poor shape with the election three weeks away. This means the worst case scenario is now a distinct possibility: a Democrat in the White House, a Democratic Senate with a filibuster-proof majority, and a Democratic House with a bolstered majority. If this scenario unfolds, Washington would become a solidly liberal town again for the first time in decades. And the prospects of passing the liberal agenda — nearly all of it — would be bright.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4bxwsq Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Tibor\'s Space Author: Tibor R. Machan Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “It is hardly ever disputed among honest political economists that most Western countries, including the United States, are welfare states or mixed economies. Unlike, say, a fascist or socialist country, in a relatively free society if a substantial number of voting citizens champion a system that undermines the very liberty that makes it possible to have an influence in how the country is governed, the country is going to reflect this fact in its public policies. Under socialism, which is a planned society — especially when it comes to its economic features — or fascism, which is run by some charismatic leader, opponents tend to be officially silenced. The more the system is socialist, the more such silencing takes place. The same with fascism. Unity is crucial for both of these political organizations and when such unity is believed by the leadership to be threatened, dissent is squelched. But in countries where political participation is deemed to be a basic right, it isn’t customary to silence opponents.” (10/13/08) Link: http://tibikem.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B2FD693F4B9A5746!447.entry Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Distributed Republic Author: Kyle Eliason Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Since we’re all in the political minority here, perhaps some of you have felt the same way: I find it interesting how often politicians and PACs will run smear ads that have the exact opposite of the desired impact on me because of my libertarian views. I know they’re targeting the undecided voter and don’t care how I vote, but it still makes me chuckle from time to time. Every time I’ve checked my fantasy football team or my spam Yahoo e-mail account tonight, there has been an ad that asks, ‘Why didn’t Norm Coleman help stop meth in Minnesota?’” (10/14/08) Link: http://distributedrepublic.net/archives/2008/10/14/whackjobery Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Independent Country Author: James Leroy Wilson Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Longtime readers of this blog know I despise John McCain and do not want him to become President. But here’s an idea for a McCain ad, that illustrates a point.” (10/13/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3mwoem Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Mother Jones Author: Jonathan Stein Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “For years, conservatives have grumbled about voter registration efforts aimed at low-income citizens, particularly those mounted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), claiming these campaigns are rampant with fraud and corruption that benefits Democrats. On Tuesday, this low-grade battle became a headline-making clash, as the McCain-Palin campaign blasted ACORN and the Obama-Biden campaign and ACORN responded in kind.” (10/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3rjrre Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Intellectual Conservative Author: Jack Ward Posted on 10.14.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “To find the root cause we need to go back to our high school civics class. When I took civics in high school we studied the U.S. Constitution and learned the limited power of the federal government. Our founders knew that if left unchecked eventually government would replace private endeavors to the detriment of liberty and economic growth. Our Founders envisioned a government of strictly limited powers. These powers are clearly specified in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does it state that the U.S. Government has a resp |