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Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute Author: Alison Mathey, David Malmstrom and Sigrid Fry-Revere Posted on 02.03.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Over the past three decades, collaborative arrangements between academic biomedical researchers and private industry have grown dramatically, resulting in medical innovations that have benefited society greatly. However, a growing chorus of criticism directed at private companies that sponsor and conduct biomedical research casts doubt on the very ethos of science.” (02/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ygervvh Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Acton Institute Author: Ray Nothstine Posted on 02.03.10 by R. Lee Wrights “The violent persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt is becoming harder for the free world to ignore. This is true thanks to thousands of Copts who recently expressed their decades of frustration and anguish in street protests across the globe. One moving example took place in West Los Angeles, Calif., last month. With American flags in hand, over a thousand Copts peacefully demonstrated. One boy simply said, ‘It is very dangerous in Egypt that is why we need America to help us.’” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfzysoq Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Salon Author: Glenn Greenwald Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “[W]hat does Michael O’Hanlon know about the military, and why is he — of all people — being held out as some sort of expert on these matters? He’s never been anywhere near the military. He specializes in establishing himself as a ‘testosterone-laden tough guy’ by cheerleading for wars and urging that we send other people off to fight them — all from the safety and comfort of his Brookings office. Several months ago, over 100 retired Generals and Admirals — people who, unlike O’Hanlon, actually understand the military first-hand — called for a repeal of DADT so that gay people can serve openly. Why would anyone believe that someone like Mike O’Hanlon, who relentlessly waves his pom-poms for war while ensuring he never fights them, has anything worthwhile to say on the topic of the military’s ability to successfully integrate openly gay service members?” (02/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yaorkbk Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: WendyMcElroy.Com Author: Wendy McElroy Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Defining happiness is a personal business but I have always been suspicious of definitions that seem to view it as the sum total of pleasures or things. There are too many walking-talking counter-examples of people with money who are miserable, of people who are in agony because they dependent on experiences for happiness (e.g. drug addicts). Certainly pleasure and enjoyable things are associated with happiness but I suspect that being happy depends more upon the person than upon the experience. ” (02/03/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.3055 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Free Liberal Author: Fred E. Foldvary Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Folks, the recession is over. The economy is still depressed, but it is no longer falling. I wrote back in April 2009 that the second derivative had turned positive. That means that the change in the rate of growth had gone from negative to positive: the downturn was slowing and would become an upturn. I also wrote that, ‘The recession will most likely end in the fall of this year 2009.’ And so it did.” (02/03/10) Link: http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003982.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Mother Jones Author: David Corn Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Obama and House GOPers held a riveting Q&A. A bipartisan group of bloggers, techies, and consultants is now demanding they do it again. And again.” (02/03/10) Link: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/more-question-time-please Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Huffington Post Author: Emma Ruby-Sachs Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “For many countries, the United Kingdom and Canada among them, eliminating discrimination in the military came from a hard fought court battle. One day, the issue was being argued in the European Court of Human Rights (for the U.K.), the next it was illegal. Overnight, the military had to change its policies, its practices and military personnel could, quite quickly, choose to out themselves as gay without facing retribution. This worked, not because Brits and Canadians were somehow (over a decade ago for both countries) more ready for the change than Americans, that they were more open to gay rights or more intrinsically able to accept difference in others. It worked because it had to. That’s the way the court system operates most of the time: we don’t give you time to get comfortable with the fact that you are breaking the law and have to change your actions. But the U.S. is approaching things differently. They are asking for more time. The problem is, I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what exactly they need a year to do.” (02/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ycgj8af Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Cato Institute Author: Daniel J. Mitchell Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Many governments have responded to the economic downturn by increasing the size of the public sector. It was remarkable how quickly they resuscitated the theory that assumes more government spending can boost economic growth. Popularized by John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s, the theory is based on the notion that government can ‘prime the pump’ by spending money, which then begins to circulate through the economy. Keynesian theory sounds good but it overlooks the fact that, in the real world, government can’t inject money into the economy without first taking money out of the economy.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11187 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Reason Author: Jacob Sullum Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The day before President Obama delivered his State of the Union address last week, The New York Times reported that ‘aides said he would accept responsibility, though not necessarily blame’ for failing to deliver on promises he made during his campaign. If you accept responsibility for something bad, aren’t you accepting blame by definition? Not if you’re Barack Obama, who has a talent for accepting responsibility while minimizing and deflecting it.” (02/03/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/03/presidential-promises-and-pret Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The American Conservative Author: Daniel McCarthy Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The ‘liberal’ view of state, society, and the individual holds that society is naturally harmonious, with the interests of diverse individuals (who are the reality behind such secondary institutions such as the family, church, etc.) coinciding to the benefit of all. Crime and war are therefore aberrant and pathological rather than systemic and recurrent. The place of the state, if it has any place at all, is to suppress these incidental eruptions of violence and maintain a set of legal rules that apply equally to all — which is to say, the law is not a battlefield. The latter-day anarcho-capitalist variant of this view says that the state is not in fact necessary to maintain rules and suppress sporadic violence; even those functions can better be performed by non-state agencies.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.amconmag.com/mccarthy/2010/02/01/state-and-society/ Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: LewRockwell.Com Author: William Norman Grigg Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Prior to being scooped up by Pakistani bounty hunters and sold to the U.S. government, Deghayes had been a peaceful, unassuming man, an entrepreneur who was devoted to his religion and studying to become a lawyer. He had done nothing to merit his imprisonment, let alone the constant, dehumanizing mistreatment he suffered from the moment he was stuffed, hooded and shackled, into a military transport plane bound for the former Soviet air base in Bagram, Afghanistan, where he was imprisoned before being sent to Gitmo. The partial blinding he suffered — he never regained the vision in his right eye — was retaliation for his persistent defiance. When guards would assault him, Deghayes would fight back — as hard as he could, however he could, for as long as he could.” (02/03/10) Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w128.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Future of Freedom Foundation Author: Jacob G. Hornberger Posted on 02.03.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Would someone please explain to me how it’s possible that millions of Toyota vehicles have that accelerator problem? I thought the federal government was supposed to keep us safe from these sorts of things. … Indeed, what about those much-vaunted car ’safety inspections,’ where people have to wait in line for an hour or two to get their cars inspected and, of course, hand over some moolah to the state for the privilege of having a pretty decal on their windshield?” (02/02/10) Link: http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-02-02.asp Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Dallas Libertarian Examiner Author: Garry Reed Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Yesterday, the Edmond (Oklahoma) Sun even performed the public service of warning the unwary that ‘con artists may pose as census workers’ in an attempt at identity theft. But the US census is itself a con. The ‘controlling authority,’ the US Constitution, authorizes the government to do no more than enumerate the country’s population. Merriam-Webster Online: ‘Enumerate 1: to ascertain the number of: count.’ So how exactly do the ‘10 simple questions in 10 minutes’ about your name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship, and whether you rent or own qualify as ‘counting?’” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb8akeh Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Campaign For Liberty Author: US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) Posted on 02.03.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Last week politicians in Washington made a few things clear about how they really feel about the state of the union. First, they are beginning to hear the growing discontent with the size and scope of government and the broken promises that keep piling up. Certain events in Massachusetts recently made that statement loud, clear and unavoidable. In the face of those events, the powers that be made the determination that some populist rhetoric was in order, and the idea of a spending freeze in Washington was proposed, albeit with several caveats. These caveats to the proposed spending freeze ensure that we are not at any real risk of actually doing anything about spending.” (02/02/10) Link: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=578 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty For All Author: George Phillies Posted on 02.03.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Change is time-consuming. Change is demanding. Change is frightening. Sometimes, change is necessary. In a previous article I described LNC fund raising over the last decade and a half. From 2000 to date, LNC yearly fundraising has fallen by three quarters in real terms. This article turns to another challenge facing our national party: Membership.” (02/02/10) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=3761 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Justin Raimondo Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Yes, we ‘failed to connect the dots,’ say our government officials — just like on 9/11. Oh, but don’t worry, because now we’re on the ball, we’re taking new and even more intrusive steps to guard against in-flight terrorism — spanking-new strip-scanners in every airport, and lots of even more obnoxious TSA agents. If those geniuses in Washington failed to connect the dots, then one of the passengers on Northwest Flight 253 is drawing our attention to a dot that isn’t mentioned in most news reports, one that gives us a whole new perspective on the Christmas Day would-be bomber and how he managed to evade routine screening procedures.” (02/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhnw7v2 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Reason Author: Cathy Young Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Last Wednesday’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, which this year commemorated the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, was marked by customary calls to combat anti-Semitism worldwide. Yet resisting bigotry is not as clear-cut an issue as it might seem at first glance, at a time when the very definition of anti-Semitism is shifting and constantly questioned. Where some see the cancer of Jew-hatred, others see the charge of anti-Semitism being used to stifle discussion of issues particularly in relation to Israel and the conflict in the Middle East. Anti-Semitism is probably the world’s oldest still-extant form of group hate. But where does legitimate opinion end and bigotry begin?” (02/02/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/02/holocaust-remembrance-day-and Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute Author: Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan Posted on 02.02.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Many economists have already compared the years 1929–1932 to those of 2007–2009, and the current period of recovery to the time period 1933–1939. It was only a matter of time before they began to look for a comparison between the recession of 1937 and a potential ‘double dip’ today. The 1937 recession was preceded by a decrease in deficit spending and an increase in the reserve requirements of banks by part of the Federal Reserve.” (02/02/10) Link: http://mises.org/daily/4039 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Heartland Institute Author: Alexander Cockburn Posted on 02.02.10 by R. Lee Wrights “The global warming jamboree in Copenhagen was an outlandish foray into intellectual fantasizing. Shortly before the Copenhagen summit, the proponents of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) were embarrassed by a whistleblower who put on the Web more than a thousand emails either sent from or received at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, headed by Dr. Phil Jones.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykmxnon Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Hawaii Reporter Author: Jim Henshaw Posted on 02.02.10 by R. Lee Wrights “A recent letter to the editor got it completely wrong when the author said the recent Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision in Citizens United versus FEC is a ‘disaster for democracy’ and has ‘pretty much turned our country over to the Almighty Corporation.’ What really happened? SCOTUS affirmed and defended the clear language of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, which declares, ‘Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.’” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfsnx3b Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: FreedomWorks Author: BPeck Posted on 02.02.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Instead of choosing to abandon the Keynesian tax, borrow, and spend philosophy for which he has become notorious, Obama will continue to raise taxes for hard working Americans, increase discretionary spending faster than the tax dollars come in, and therefore create more debt for the current and future taxpayers of America. I’m not exactly sure how this approach exemplifies fiscal responsibility; a priority that Obama emphasized the importance of achieving during last week’s State of the Union Address.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj8oexf Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Foundation for Economic Education Author: Sandy Ikeda Posted on 02.02.10 by R. Lee Wrights “The typical way to commit the broken-window fallacy is to argue that a natural disaster, war, or economic crisis is actually good for an economy. The idea is that if the event causes an increase in spending on infrastructure or war materiel or what-have-you, the ‘new’ demand will stimulate the economy and create more wealth than there would have been otherwise.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb3yb2k Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Nation Author: Katrina vanden Heuvel Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Who would know from all of the whining about budget deficits that military spending is the largest discretionary item in the federal government? Exempting all security-related expenditures from common sense cuts will have serious consequences for almost everything the government does - -from job creation, poverty reduction and alternative energy development, to aid for cash-strapped state and local governments. In fact, the Economic Policy Institute reports that non-security-related discretionary spending is already at near-historic lows as a share of GDP.” (02/02/10) Link: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/525267/no_defense_for_this_budget Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The American Prospect Author: Paul Waldman Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The one-year mark is about the time when partisans can reasonably begin expressing their disappointment with the president they elected, and anyone who spends time talking to progressives knows that their frustration has grown in recent weeks. So it was a welcome relief to liberals when President Barack Obama recommitted to a major campaign promise in his State of the Union address: He was finally moving to end the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ (DADT) policy, under which thousands of qualified service members have been kicked out of the military. If this effort succeeds in ending a rather shameful chapter in our history, it will be because of the shift in public opinion since the policy was instituted in 1993. Much of the credit for that belief shift goes to conservatives themselves.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjvjstz Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: John Stossel's Take Author: John Stossel Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “At the State of the Union, Obama said the federal government ’should tighten its belt,’ but today’s Wall Street Journal points out how unlikely that is, given that the number of federal employees has surged …. After eight years of war, it’s natural to assume the growing federal job count is a result of the military. But the real boom is in the federal agencies …” (02/02/10) Link: http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/02/02/obamas-jobs-plan/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: Christian DeFrancia Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Exclusive focus on the nuclear issue has caused a strategic myopia in Washington that prevents the development of a viable long-term strategy for Iran and misses broader opportunities to induce Iranian cooperation. Pressure tactics may score political points, but have little chance on their own to facilitate a rapprochement between Iran and the world. Nor are outside actors likely to bring major political change to Iran.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfe6h4o Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Strike the Root Author: Alex Schroeder Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “No one is forced to visit a particular bar, restaurant, club, etc. Many counter that they wish to patronize a town watering hole, but all local holes permit smoking. These irrationalists fail to appreciate the simple fact that the very existence of these businesses is merely a side effect of the business owners pursuing their self-interest. That is, they aren’t selling you those Bud Lights to make you happy, but rather to get your money. The business owner, given that she is a maximizer of profit (evil capitalist!), will implement a smoking ban if economic conditions are such that it is profitable to do so. The absence of such a ban should illuminate the fact that it is nothing of the sort. Top-down public smoking bans are a blatant violation of business owners’ property rights, allowing the masses (non-smokers) to essentially seize control over private property.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/node/26413 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “My only child turned twenty years of age early last month, so it has been some time since I kept daily track with her of the various comings and goings of the diverse and colorful inhabitants of Sesame Street. Thus it was with considerable dismay that I recently learned that my favorite of these denizens had been abducted, tortured, brainwashed by the vile forces of political correctness, and returned to society a broken, pitiable shadow of his former self, rather like Winston Smith in 1984, after rats had been used to force him to scream ‘Do it to Julia!’ A product of merciless North Korean-style mind-conditioning, the great blue googly-eyed Cookie Monster now mouths mindless, robotic platitudes and slogans like ‘cookies are a sometimes snack.’” (01/31/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle555-20100131-04.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Chris Floyd Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “What is most interesting here, of course, is not Sanger’s noodle-scratching over imaginary numbers projected into an unknowable future, but his total and apparently completely unconscious adoption of the mindset of militarist empire. For as he puzzles and puzzles till his puzzler is sore on how in God’s name the United States can possibly find any money at all to spend on bettering the lives of its citizens over the next 10 years, it becomes clear that Sanger — like the rest of our political and media elite — literally cannot conceive of an end to empire. Our elites and their courtiers literally cannot imagine life without a permanent war for global dominance, fueled by a gargantuan war machine spread across hundreds and hundreds of bases implanted in more than 100 countries.” (02/02/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/floyd02022010.html Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: On ALLiance Author: James Tuttle Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Many people hear the word ‘collectivism’ or ’socialism’ and see a homogenous mass of uncaring human monsters assimilating or destroying everything before their boots. Many people hear the word ‘individualism’ or ‘egoism’ and see some hunched unkempt ravenous creature with a recognizable human form that has long been disregarded for a loping powerful frame, blood thirsty teeth and throat ripping claws. And even more people believe that ‘anarchism’ or ‘libertarianism’ is the unholy marriage of the two, consummated in the bed chambers of extreme poverty or extreme opulence; bombs and dynamite the wedding gifts.” (02/02/10) Link: http://alliance.rationalreview.com/2010/02/caricature-propaganda/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Cato Institute Author: Julian Sanchez Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “In a major speech on Internet freedom last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged American tech companies to ‘take a proactive role in challenging foreign governments’ demands for censorship and surveillance.’ Her call to action followed a series of dazzlingly sophisticated cyberattacks against online giant Google and more than thirty other major technology companies, believed to originate in the People’s Republic of China. Few observers have found the Chinese government’s staunch denials of involvement persuasive — but the attacks should also spur our own government to review the ways our burgeoning surveillance state has made us more vulnerable.” (01/29/10) Link: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11185 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Washington Examiner Author: Gene Healy Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “[Venezuela’s Hugo] Chavez is only the most recent example of our southern neighbors’ long-running problem with authoritarian presidents who decry U.S. ‘imperialism’ as they push for increasingly imperial powers. Ironically, though, when Latin American autocrats blame the region’s problems on Yankee influence, they may be more right than they know.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yetcp4s Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Independent Institute Author: Randall Holcombe Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “In the December 2009 National Tax Journal, which targets an academic and policymaking audience, there are several articles on international tax avoidance and evasion. One, by Gaetan Nicodeme, who works with the European Commission, is titled ‘On Recent Developments in Fighting Harmful Tax Practices.’ These ‘harmful’ tax practices, as you might guess, are policies some countries implement that allow people from other countries to lower their tax burdens. If these tax practices are harmful, I have to ask, who is hurt by them?” (02/02/10) Link: http://www.independent.org/blog/?p=4899 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Reason Author: Ronald Bailey Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Since 2007, the California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) has been pushing the U.S. Trade Representative to file a case against China on the grounds that it has been violating its WTO obligations. CFAC argues that, among other violations, China discriminates against foreign suppliers of Internet services by blocking them at the border while allowing domestic suppliers to offer like services. In addition, China has violated its commitments not to introduce or apply non-tariff measures when it joined the WTO by blocking a number of imported products without explanation or justification. China has also not set up any administrative procedures through which foreign suppliers of online services could appeal the blocking of imported publications and content. Based on precedent, the ECIPE report argues that the WTO would very likely find that China’s censorship is a breach of its free trade obligations.” (02/02/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/02/battering-down-the-great-firew Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The American Conservative Author: Patrick J. Buchanan Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “A month after Germany surrendered in May 1945, America’s eyes turned to the Far East, where the bloodiest battle of the Pacific war was joined on the island of Okinawa. Twelve thousand U.S. soldiers and Marines would die — twice as many dead in 82 days of fighting as have died in all the years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Within weeks of the battle’s end came Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Three weeks later, Gen. MacArthur took the Japanese surrender on the battleship Missouri. That was 65 years ago, as far away in time from today as the Marines’ arrival at Da Nang was from Teddy Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill. Yet the Marines are still on Okinawa.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2010/02/01/bring-our-marines-home/ Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Mother Jones Author: Nick Baumann Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “It’s not unusual to see Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman, (I-Conn.) complaining about President Barack Obama’s conduct of the war on terror. But when they’re openly joined by two Democratic senators — with more potentially hovering in the wings — that spells trouble for the administration’s agenda. On Tuesday morning, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) teamed up with Graham for a press conference to announce a bill that would block funding for Obama’s proposal to try 9/11 co-conspirators, including Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, in civilian courts.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykj6j3d Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Slate Author: Fred Kaplan Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The Pentagon released its budget for fiscal year 2011 this afternoon, and it is enormous —much larger, even adjusting for inflation, than any budget since World War II. What’s more, some numbers buried within the budget suggest that it’s set to grow larger still in the coming years — to a greater extent than the White House or the Defense Department acknowledges. One bit of good news: Defense Secretary Robert Gates is more honest than his recent predecessors about how much money he’s really requesting.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2243297/ Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Classically Liberal Author: CLS Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Many of you know that the misnamed American Family Association is a gaggle of fundamentalist Christians, many of whom seem certifiably insane. Of course, I dare not say they are all crazy. Some are just as dumb as a post. Others, of course, may just be malevolent, evil people. Recently the new head of AFA, Rev. Bryan Fischer, addressed why he wants the law to arrest gay people. His comments will be indented and in blue, my reply, will not be indented and in black.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yk9kw6p Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: National Review Author: Daniel Pipes Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “He needs a dramatic gesture to change the public perception of him as a light-weight, bumbling ideologue, preferably in an arena where the stakes are high, where he can take charge, and where he can trump expectations. Such an opportunity does exist: Obama can give orders for the U.S. military to destroy Iran’s nuclear-weapon capacity.” [editor’s note: Sociopath or just garden variety idiot? Inquiring minds want to know - TLK] (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ya5kvdy Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Salon Author: Glenn Greenwald Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Seriously: if you were a Bush follower, wouldn’t you feel as though you were owed a major apology for all the accusations and the fuss that came from Democrats and media figures, accusing you of supporting radical and Constitution-shredding policies when, it turns out, they actually crave those policies in order to feel safe? Doesn’t all of this bolster the Republican claim that those attacks on the Bush administration for civil liberties abuses were not due to genuine conviction, but rather for partisan gain (in the case of Democratic officials) and cheap, preening, wet-finger-in-the-air moralizing (in the case of media stars)?” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9rzobn Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The New Republic Author: Jack Goldsmith Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Formal centralization of presidential power and agenda-setting unilateral presidential action: these were the tenets of the executive power that guided progressive thinking from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson, not only in domestic affairs but also in military and foreign affairs. ‘The initiative in foreign affairs, which the President possesses without any restriction whatever, is virtually the power to control them absolutely,’ wrote Wilson in 1908, capturing the presidential philosophy of the incumbent Roosevelt and anticipating his own attitude in office. Much more significant were the aggrandizing military acts of our two greatest war presidents.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/the-accountable-presidency Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Poli-Tea Author: d.eris Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Partisans of the Democratic-Republican two-party state are often willing to entertain the idea of third party and independent opposition to the political status quo; sometimes they are even willing to concede the superiority of third party and independent strategy over acquiescent accommodation with the ruling parties. However, more often than not, they do so with the caveat that ‘now is not the time,’ that it is more important to side with the lesser evil against the supposedly greater evil than it is to organize against the system of competing evils as such. This is the reactionary politics of infinite deferral, the primary ideological support for the reproduction of the corporatist Democratic-Republican two-party state. Independently minded progressives and libertarians recognize this canard for what it is.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9xhefp Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Fairfield County Weekly Author: Phil Maymin Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Nearly seven years ago, President Bush stood on the flight deck of a warship and declared victory in Iraq. ‘My fellow Americans,’ Bush said, ‘major combat operations in Iraq have ended.’ A ‘mission accomplished’ banner infamously hung in the background. It turned out, of course, that we had barely begun murdering Iraqis and sacrificing Americans. Last week, President Obama addressed the nation and proudly declared victory on the economy.” (for publication 02/04/10) Link: http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/article.cfm?aid=16540 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Liberty Unbound Author: Bruce Ramsey Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Eventually same-sex marriage will come to all 50 states. Two things make it inevitable. The first is the social acceptance of openly gay couples. The second is their adoption of children. Marriage follows. It is taking time because of older people’s discomfort with homosexuality, but younger people are much more accepting of it. They see the question as one of fairness and tolerance, and also as a practical matter of specific legal rights that adults and their dependent children need. Over time, their views will prevail, in liberal places first and conservative places later.” (01/10) Link: http://libertyunbound.com/article.php?id=465 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Fr33 Agents Author: Ziggy Encaoua Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The importance of prostitutes and dominatrixes is an uncomfortable truth, since their existence shows our society is not as liberal and enlightened as we like to think. Sex workers service sexual deviants and allow many to indulge the desires they cannot be honest with their partners about. Further, because society is driven by vanity, sex workers often service the sexual urges of the physically disabled and socially inept: people whose sexual urges we like to pretend don’t exist. So I say thank goodness for Miss Whiplash, because prostitutes and dominatrixes actually perform a vital service.” (02/02/10) Link: http://www.fr33agents.com/2142/thank-goodness-for-mistress-whiplash/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Kelley B. Vlahos Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “He was defiant and unrepentant — he even made a few people sob in disgust — but there he was on Friday, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, sitting for a six-hour public inquest on his role in taking England down the bloody path to war seven years ago this March. Pity is, the chances of getting George W. Bush to take a similar hot seat here in the United States seem only slightly better than seeing Martians land a flying saucer on the National Mall.” (02/02/10) Link: http://original.antiwar.com/vlahos/2010/02/01/where-is-our-chilcot/ Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Fr33 Agents Author: Lounge Daddy Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Almost a decade ago, some politicians lamented that while America was at war, Americans themselves were at the mall. There’s some truth to that, to be sure. I think a more accurate way to put it might be: while the Political Class is declaring war on everything from vaguely-defined terrorists, to a free-market … American private citizens are trying to peacefully live out their lives. It is my observation that what we have in the West generally, and in American culture specifically, are the makings of widespread American Agorism: a free people who have faith in the Market, and not in the State.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.fr33agents.com/1771/time-for-americas-new-great-experiment/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Liberty Papers Author: Brad Warbiany Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “If business were democratic, like our government, all restaurants would be McDonald’s, all beer would be Budweiser, all cars would be GM, and all computers would run Windows and use Internet Explorer. In democracy, everyone votes on what everyone else will have access to. But the free market isn’t democratic. There is no single entity from which you are voting to have your needs met. You have competing entities trying to earn your custom. If I want something cheap, known, and tasty, I’ll stop at McDonald’s. But McDonald’s doesn’t make a burger like St. John’s does. I may drink Miller Lite out of nostalgia for my college days, but The Bruery is a bit more my speed.” (02/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ya98q3o Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty For All Author: Scott Williamson Posted on 02.02.10 by R. Lee Wrights “When we meet another libertarian we often spend the first few minutes sizing them up and trying to determine the nuances of their philosophy. Once we have this piece of the puzzle we too often create a relationship based on if a person is one of ‘us’ or one of ‘them.’ The fact of the matter is the ‘them’ is never our fellow libertarians, but those statists who wave the flag with one hand while stealing our liberties with the other. A pendulum swinging back and forth never moves forward.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=3757 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Jim Davidson Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Why do we have so many useless politicians? Someone keeps feeding them. The banking gangsters, for example, don’t want any changes to their cushy deal, where they take enormous risks, hedge off the price risk, then pile all the counter-party risk on AIG, get the taxpayers to bail out AIG, get the Treasury secretary and the Fed head to make sure AIG pays out (even to foreign banks) one hundred cents on every dollar of outstanding debt obligation, and then, when the scandal breaks wide open, maybe the treasury secretary loses his job. Maybe.” (01/31/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle555-20100131-03.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Reason Author: Radley Balko Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Three ordeals in particular were popular. In the first, the accused was to retrieve a stone ring from a pot of boiling water. If his arm emerged unscathed, he was believed to have been protected by God, and proclaimed innocent. In the second, the accused walked nine paces while carrying a piece of heated iron. Again, if he managed to avoid severe burns he was deemed innocent. The third submerged the accused in icy water. If he sunk, he was believed innocent. If he floated, he was guilty. Absurd as these rituals sound, their intent wasn’t torture. Torture will produce a confession from anyone, guilty or innocent, if it’s sufficiently harsh and unrelenting. Ordeals, on the other hand, really were intended to separate the guilty from the innocent.” (02/01/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/01/trial-by-ordeal Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Patrick Cockburn Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “In trying to prove him mendacious, critics of Blair underplay his incompetence. His very fluency as a propagandist militated against long term military success. He conflates the invasion of Iraq with the long term occupation of Iraq as if both were seen as acts of liberation by ordinary Iraqis. The US and Britain might just have got away with overthrowing Saddam Hussein, whom most Iraqis wanted to see the back of, but a long term imperial occupation was never going to succeed because it had too many enemies inside and outside the country. It was striking in Blair’s testimony that so many of his references to Iraq are inaccurate.” (02/01/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/patrick02012010.html Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: LiberaLaw Author: Gary Chartier Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Of course, what matters most is the absence of violence. But while ‘anything peaceful’ may be (surely is) better than ‘anything aggressive,’ aggression-free relationships can still involve a lot of pushing around. And the same concern to avoid being pushed around at gun-point rightly animates the desire not to be pushed around by HOAs and corporate bosses. The sort of counter-cultural free-spiritedness from which Rothbard wished (at least in 1986) to distance libertarians seems to me to be one of the things that matters most about the libertarian movement.” (01/31/10) Link: http://liberalaw.blogspot.com/2010/01/rothbard-and-free-spirits.html Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner Author: Kent McManigal Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Comparing America and England, and the respective dominant ‘cultures’ of each, gave me an idea. Why not encourage all the gun-haters and otherwise self-hating, socialism-loving people to emigrate to England where guns are illegal and where self-defense is now routinely punished more harshly than aggression? Then there would be plenty of room to encourage all the freedom-loving people of England to immigrate, with or without government ‘permission,’ to America.” (02/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8z9s2f Filed under: 2AM Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Idaho Liberty Author: Ted Dunlap Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The popular argument between the Republican faithful and the Democratic faithful rages on. The elephant fans gleefully point out Obama’s failure to fix everything like he promised. The donkey fans respond that it took eight years to create the financial mess. The correct response is that the path to this point where destruction of our economy is all but assured began in the 1860s where the Rs and Ds agreed that four, five or more somewhat equal political parties was inferior in meeting their needs than two. With a monopoly power-sharing agreement worked out, they then went for the money.” (01/31/10) Link: http://idaholiberty.com/?p=280 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty Unbound Author: Edmund Contoski Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The government program that gave people up to $4,500 for trading in an old car for a new energy-efficient model has been widely proclaimed a huge success, as measured by the popularity of the program. That certainly made it successful for the politicians who, in effect, were buying future votes for themselves. Of course, they didn’t say so; instead they claimed they were pursuing the noble benefits of stimulating the economy, promoting energy efficiency, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Absent from the discussion was whether there was any moral or constitutional basis for taking money from some people (taxpayers) and redistributing it to others for purchasing automobiles.” (01/10) Link: http://libertyunbound.com/article.php?id=464 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Wall Street Journal Author: Jesse Walker Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “If all you knew about Barack Obama was that he once held a job called ‘community organizer,’ you might be forgiven for finding something populist in his persona. The rest of you have no excuses. Even when attacking the malefactors of great wealth, Mr. Obama evinces all the insurgent anger of Charlie Rose obsequiously interviewing a starlet.” (01/30/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yke92le Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: LewRockwell.Com Author: Hans-Hermann Hoppe Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “A government is a territorial monopolist of compulsion — an agency which may engage in continual, institutionalized property rights violations and the exploitation — in the form of expropriation, taxation and regulation — of private property owners. Assuming no more than self-interest on the part of government agents, all governments must be expected to make use of this monopoly and thus exhibit a tendency toward increased exploitation. However, not every form of government can be expected to be equally successful in this endeavor or to go about it in the same way.” (02/02/10) Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe23.1.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: Kevin Carson Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Since we’ve just lost someone who probably contributed more of value to the world than all forty-odd dead presidents together, I’m turning this column over to Howard Zinn.” (01/29/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/1801 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Freedom's Phoenix Author: Larken Rose Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Despite all the lovey-dovey rhetoric about the supposed greatness of ‘democracy,’ there’s only one thing its proponents want it for: to get moral permission to force their preferences, opinions and ideas on other people. People vote, hoping ‘their guy’ will win. Why? So their own interests and agenda, and not the interests and agenda of the people who voted for ‘the other guy,’ will be served by the machine of ‘government.’ And everything ‘government’ does, it does by threat of force.” (02/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhuzjry Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Adam Smith Institute Author: Nigel Hawkins Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “President Obama’s savage attack on Wall Street’s bankers was primarily politically-driven on the back of the disastrous loss of one of the Democrats’ prized Senate seats in Massachusetts. Undoubtedly, Main Street, USA, is profoundly unhappy about events on Wall Street — unprecedented levels of taxpayers’ money being used to prop up leading US banks, not forgetting AIG, and now monster bonuses. Bankers’ message to Main Street — heads we win, tails you lose.” (02/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhohr6l Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The American Spectator Author: Andrew Cline Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “On the front page of the New York Times‘ online edition Sunday was an artist’s rendering of the pride and joy of the federal General Services Administration: a renovated federal building in Portland, Ore., that features plants growing up all 18 stories of one side. ‘They will bloom in the spring and summer when you want the shade, and then they will go away in the winter when you want to let the light in,’ Bob Peck, commissioner of public buildings for the G.S.A., told the Times, adding, ‘Don’t ask me how you get them irrigated.’ Don’t ask how much they cost, either.” (02/01/10) Link: http://spectator.org/archives/2010/02/01/green-math-is-bad-math Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: A Passion for Liberty Author: Tibor R. Machan Posted on 02.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “In THE WEEK, January 16, 2010, the item ‘The last word’ is given to someone whose attitudes and ideas have always put me off. I am speaking of Barbara Ehrenreich, a prolific author whose major theme tends to be that the world needs to make equality its primary public purpose and until that comes about, let everyone be miserable. Her latest book appears to reinforce this impression. Her Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World (Granta, 2010) is a relentless, over the top rant against a group of authors and advocates who have produced much print aiming to ease the agony of those who are suffering from cancer.” (02/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc5mqzt Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Classically Liberal Author: CLS Posted on 02.01.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “There are people who claim that marriage equality is unimportant because gay couples can secure the same legal rights before the law as other couples merely by paying thousands of dollars to attorneys to draw up a web of contracts for them to sign. Such people are either woefully misinformed, intentionally dishonest, or making the claim for some reason of a personal nature — perhaps they simply want to deny gay people equality of rights but don’t wish to appear bigoted. They harbor their bigotry in their heart they just don’t want you to know about it.” (01/31/10) Link: http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2010/01/outrage-of-inequality.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Price of Liberty Author: Carey Roberts Posted on 02.01.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Following a breath-taking electoral surge, Scott Brown took the seat formerly held by liberal patron saint Ted Kennedy, handily defeating Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts senate election. Although the national press spun the contest as a referendum on Obamacare, another powder-keg issue lurked behind the headlines: Martha Coakley’s prominent role in prosecuting a child abuse case and her contended culpability of the ‘primary male offender.’” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/2010/02/01/roberts.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Salon Author: Glenn Greenwald Posted on 02.01.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Over the weekend, Sen. Susan Collins released a five-minute video in which she sounded as though she were possessed by the angriest, most unhinged version of Dick Cheney. Collins recklessly accused the Obama administration of putting us all in serious danger by failing to wage War against the Terrorists. Most of what she said was just standard right-wing boilerplate, but there was one claim in particular that deserves serious attention, as it has become one of the most pervasive myths in our political discourse: namely, that the U.S. Constitution protects only American citizens, and not any dreaded foreigners.” (02/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yee2uso Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute Author: Robert P. Murphy Posted on 02.01.10 by R. Lee Wrights “San Jose State economics professor Jeffrey Rogers Hummel tells all his students that the easiest way to understand the Federal Reserve is to think of it as a giant, legalized counterfeiter. I had always known that the Fed and other central banks were like counterfeiters, but I still thought that the actual mechanics of open-market operations and so forth actually provided some important distinctions.” (02/01/10) Link: http://mises.org/daily/4029 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Heartland Institute Author: Eli Lehrer Posted on 02.01.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Unless policymakers in Washington and New York decide to change course, the American International Group (AIG) will remain the property of U.S. taxpayers for the foreseeable future. But continued public ownership of the company will do no good for the economy, and if the nation’s financial mandarins won’t spin off AIG immediately, they should at least insist that the firm open all its relevant records to the general public.” (02/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yk55gmc Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Hawaii Reporter Author: Michael R. Fox Posted on 02.01.10 by R. Lee Wrights “The underlying science of man-made global warming has always been quite thin and tenuous, with little hard measurable evidence to support the hypothesis. In fact many temperature stations have shown either no warming or actual cooling over the past 80 years or more. Similarly exaggerations by many UN nations of sea level changes have flourished and in turn blamed the United States for imagined damages.” (02/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yzgcc7f Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Future of Freedom Foundation Author: Jacob G. Hornberger Posted on 02.01.10 by R. Lee Wrights “President Obama’s tiff with the Supreme Court over the Court’s ruling in the corporate-spending case brings to mind what President Franklin Roosevelt, one of Obama’s icons, did when the Supreme Court began declaring some of his socialist and fascist schemes unconstitutional. Roosevelt came up with a plan that would enable him to pack the Court with additional justices, legal cronies of FDR who he could count on to vote to uphold his alien schemes.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-02-01.asp Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Liberty For All Author: Brian Irving Posted on 02.01.10 by R. Lee Wrights “The last time President Obama addressed the Congress the most controversial part probably occurred when Rep. Joe Wilson shouted ‘You lie’ when the president’s claimed that illegal immigrants would not get special treatment under health care reform. Political pundits and the mainstream media talking heads called this an unprecedented breach of protocol (the most polite comment made).” (01/31/10) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=3752 Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Slate Author: Christopher Hitchens Posted on 02.01.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Here are the two most shattering facts about North Korea. First, when viewed by satellite photography at night, it is an area of unrelieved darkness. Barely a scintilla of light is visible even in the capital city. … Second, a North Korean is on average six inches shorter than a South Korean. You may care to imagine how much surplus value has been wrung out of such a slave, and for how long, in order to feed and sustain the militarized crime family that completely owns both the country and its people. … Unlike previous racist dictatorships, the North Korean one has actually succeeded in producing a sort of new species. Starving and stunted dwarves, living in the dark, kept in perpetual ignorance and fear, brainwashed into the hatred of others, regimented and coerced and inculcated with a death cult: This horror show is in our future, and is so ghastly that our own darling leaders dare not face it and can only peep through their fingers at what is coming.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2243112/ Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Freedom Politics Author: Thomas J. Lucente Jr. Posted on 02.01.10 by R. Lee Wrights “It must be a sickness. Perhaps the superb doctors at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., can give President Barack Obama something to cure his delusional state. On Thursday, a day after a State of the Union address in which St. Barack made silly promises such as a spending freeze that might save $250 billion if maintained for 10 years, he handed out $8 billion for a high-speed rail project that will be a further drain on our already fragile economy.” (01/31/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj44e7x Filed under: RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Free Liberal Author: Paul Jacob Posted on 02.01.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Words change over time, in meaning as well as sound. Since much of this comes from misuse, ignorance, laziness, and even wordplay, the more you know and the less fun-loving you are, the more a scold about words you will likely be. Over the long run, though, for each loss in meaning we gain another. Might as well live with it. In any case, the history of words can be fascinating. For example, did you know that ‘rob’ and ‘robe’ have the same ancestor?” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003981.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: TCS Daily Author: Jens F. Laurson & George A. Pieler Posted on 02.01.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “On February 7, the Airport Security-2010 conference convenes in Dubai. Featured on the program are forums and workshops on technology, overuse of technology, and even ‘Middle East criminals.’ Nothing about Islamist extremism, though. The 2009 holiday season exposed this weakest links [sic] in air travel security. The near-disaster of Flight 253 — thank God for wardrobe malfunction — betrayed more than just a ’systemic’ problem, as President Obama put it. It unveiled a deep-seated cultural fear of confronting the hard realities of 21st century Islamist terror. Until that fear is overcome, air travelers will probably be less than secure, and definitely, massively, inconvenienced.” (02/01/10) Link: http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=020110A Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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