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Source: Fr33 Agents Author: Kirsten Posted on 03.11.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I lose no sleep over the deaths of career IRS collections thugs or other ‘enforcer’-type government agents, nor do I have even the tiniest of violins to play for their money-grubbing relatives trying, through similar government-enforced tactics, to get their filthy paws on assets belonging to others who committed no wrong against them. That said, I do believe there are certainly more clearly ethical and more effective options available to proponents of freedom in the realm of nonviolence — options that do not invoke the damaging appearance of ceding the moral high ground to the state, nor the self-destructiveness of sinking to the level of government agents.” (03/11/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc9hljk Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Orange County Register Blog Author: Alan Bock Posted on 03.10.10 by Steve Trinward “I’m not sure yet what to make of the arrest of an owner-operator of a medical marijuana facility called 215 Agenda in Lake Forest, and two others. There certainly are operators of such facilities who operate outside the law, and the state law and guidelines issued by Attorney Gen. Jerry Brown, though they were developed in cooperation with patient advocates, have some ambiguities and shortcomings, IMO. On the other hand, given that it issued complaints against 35 facilities last year and has made it clear it wants to shut down all such operations in the city, it appears that Lake Forest is not all that interested in a good-faith effort to allow California’s medical marijuana law to operate without unnecessary hindrance. A particular example of bad faith is the city attorney’s invocation of federal law. The city is a subdivision of the state and its officials’ job is to uphold state law, not federal law.” (03/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yldrle2 Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Orange County Register Blog Author: Alan Bock Posted on 03.07.10 by Steve Trinward “… if the federal government actually obeyed its own laws. … The relevant law is the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which establishes five lists or ’schedules’ of progressively decreasing strictness for drugs and other controlled substances. The strictest is Schedule I, on which marijuana was put as a placeholder with the promise that the ‘medical community’ would decide if it should stay there. Possession and use of these drugs is strictly forbidden. … According to all the relevant available scientific information, as affirmed by the chief administrative law judge of the Drug Enforcement Administration way back in 1988 (and as most recently confirmed by the California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC San Diego), marijuana or cannabis meets none of these criteria.” (03/05/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ye9ow7c Filed under: CANDi Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Fox News Forum Author: John Stossel Posted on 03.03.10 by Steve Trinward “‘It’s a free country.’ That’s a popular saying — and true in many ways. But for a free country, America does ban a lot of things that are perfectly peaceful and consensual. Why is that? Here are some things you can’t do in most states of the union: rent your body to someone for sex, sell your kidney, take recreational drugs. The list goes on. … The prohibitionists say their rules are necessary for either the public’s or a particular individual’s own good. I’m skeptical. … Government force has nasty unintended consequences. I would think that our experience with alcohol prohibition would have taught America a lesson. Nearly everyone agrees it was a disaster. It didn’t stop people from drinking, but it created new and vicious strains of organized crime. Drug prohibition does that now.” (03/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc9qgk9 Filed under: CANDi Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary | |
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Source: Porcupine Blog Author: Larry Gambone Posted on 02.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I have never cared much for the Black Bloc, but the amount of hypocrisy about the ‘violence’ of breaking a couple of bank windows this Saturday in the demonstration against the Olympics corporate welfare fest has almost made me sympathetic. Tactical differences and criticism are legitimate. There are ethical and utilitarian aspects to any tactical choice and the BB’s are can be questioned about these. However, the bulk of hostility wafting their way has little to do with arguments about tactics. Many of the red-faced and bellowing crowd simply hate ‘protesters’ period and use the BB as an excuse to spout venom at any public critic of the system.” (02/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yg9t743 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Nolan Chart Author: Jake Towne Posted on 02.10.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “America’s greatest and strangest political secret is that, in the dead of the winter, the two parties have a brief signature gathering process and then each precinct (usually just the few streets around your home) elects a committeeman/woman. In Pennsylvania, just 10 signatures are required to be listed on the May 18 primary ballot. The signature gathering is from February 16 to March 9, hence the timing of this post. The May primary vote elects the precinct committeemen/women. These party precinct committee members then elect the party leaders, and the party leaders then pretty much decide which candidates to support and endorse and how to control funds on the local level. (Yes, it’s a little bit like a democratic mafia. Stay true to your principles.)” [editor’s note: Those dates and process details apply to Pennsylvania - TLK] (02/09/10) Link: http://www.nolanchart.com/article7358.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Rad Geek People's Daily Author: Rad Geek Posted on 02.10.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “So by now you may be familiar with South Carolina Code Title 23 Chapter 29, the state law that requires all organizations who ‘directly or indirectly advocate, advise, teach or practice the duty or necessity of controlling, seizing, or overthrowing the government of the United States, the state of South Carolina, or any political division thereof,’ to register their activities with the South Carolina Secretary of State. Now that I’ve been informed of the law, here are the contents of the letter that I wrote and dropped in the U.S. postal service today, addressed to Mark Hammond, arbitrary Secretary of State over South Carolina.” (02/09/10) Link: http://radgeek.com/gt/2010/02/09/civic-duties/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Poli-Tea Author: d.eris Posted on 02.08.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Is it possible that the GOP’s public hijacking of the tea party movement could turn out to be a grave strategic error? Is it possible that the attempted coup will solidify resistance to the co-optation of the movement by the representatives of the establishment parties and their political apparatus? One thing is certain: if tea party activists do not fight to maintain their political independence, they will soon find themselves deprived of it.” (02/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj8evvy Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Fr33 Agents Author: Surrealpolichick Posted on 02.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I appreciate that ending Prohibition is not everyone’s cuppa, and some local activists may be hesitant to support this issue. To them, I say, Big Mike’s act of civil disobedience — smoking a joint in public — is not what he was arrested for, he was arrested for touching a tax-feeder. He is a political prisoner. He is a poster child for abuse of power. Your support would be against the system itself, against their incessant bullying. They arrest and terrorize peaceful people for victimless crimes because they can. Because we let them.” (02/03/10) Link: http://www.fr33agents.com/2158/are-you-willing-to-get-arrested/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: Darian Worden Posted on 01.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “After years of being ruled by governments even more destructive than usual, Haiti was far less prepared for the recent earthquake than it could have been. Not inclined to let a serious crisis go to waste, the United States government and the business interests it works with will combine essential lifesaving work with efforts to gain control of Haiti’s future. The alternative to the deprivation of social control and the disasters it will cause is mutual aid.” [editor’s note: Please support Mutual Aid Disaster Relief for Haiti at http://herbs4orphans.org! - TLK] (01/18/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/1727 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Jim Davidson Posted on 01.17.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “If you have been thinking about leaving the mainstream economy, this might be an excellent time. Instead of getting a job and reporting your income, consider starting a business or a non-profit that never makes any earnings. If that business also doesn’t employ anyone, there are essentially no forms to fill out, no taxes to file with the feral gummint. In some states, there is no sales tax. In many, services are not subject to sales tax.” (01/17/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle553-20100117-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: WendyMcElroy.Com Author: Wendy McElroy Posted on 01.12.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Why is it? People who would never click on a suspicious email link or fall for other phishing ploys think nothing of turning over intimate details about themselves and their family members to strangers who hand them official-looking forms, like bank clerks or doctors or almost anyone from the government. When you click on an email link that collects personal data, you take the risk that the info will be used without your knowledge for purposes of which you may not approve or which may harm you. When you hand the same info to banks or hospitals or a government agency (e.g. the post office), it is a given that they will share it automatically or at the request of virtually any other government agency: child protective services, the IRS, the police … If you do not wish any of the those agencies to know certain personal data — e.g. your income level, do you own a gun, your religion, etc. — then do not tell any agency.” (01/12/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.3001 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Jennie Bristow Posted on 01.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The anti-choice lobby’s claim that abortions always impact on women’s mental health is moralism masquerading as science.” (01/06/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7906/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Bruce Patterson Posted on 01.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “2,600 years ago the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote, ‘Victory in war is a funeral procession.’ As a young boy in Vietnam, I won my victory and I shuffled in the procession. Beginning in the spring of 1968 I spent three months in various military hospitals and during that time I saw a ghoul’s gallery of the hideously wounded. I saw the psychological impacts of physical mutilation and how phony the distinction is between the two. If you wish to experience not just ‘trauma’ but real pain and suffering, whack your thumb with a roofer’s hammer. Smash you[r] thumb and see how that affects your psychological well-being. Now imagine taking three machine gun rounds through the belly and surviving. Imagine getting your jaw and nose blown off and surviving. When you’re young and looking forward to a lifetime of pain, disability and poverty, wearing your battlefield Badges of Honor doesn’t feel like such a privilege. Almost inevitably, PTSD is the result.” (01/07/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/patterson01072010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Shotgun Blogs Author: Matthew Johnston Posted on 01.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The Frontier Centre for Public Policy today released a backgrounder on Canada’s homeless population. It examines the role of regulation in reducing the supply of low-cost housing. ‘Freedom to Build,’ written by researcher Fergus Hodgson. … The study notes that the policy responses to affordable housing, while numerous, have not addressed the primary cause: the restrained supply of private housing, which for the last two decades has been a significant reason the homeless proportion of the population has grown so rapidly.” (01/06/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yckg2x7 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Wendy McElroy.Com Author: Wendy McElroy Posted on 01.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Remember Eric Williamson? He was the Fairfax, Virginia man arrested for making coffee while naked and alone in his own kitchen last October. Apparently, he was ‘viewed’ by a woman and her 7-year-old who were taking a shortcut near or through his property, which allowed them a clear view of Williamson’s nudity through his own window. Rather than apologize, rather than knock on his door to complain or just shrug it off, the woman called the police to report a pervert and Williamson now faces a year in jail. Of course, the woman was the wife of a police officer so appealing to a gun-toting authority is probably what she does when a lightbulb needs changing.” (01/07/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2983 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Francis A Ney, Jr. Posted on 01.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “This is the face of Homeland Security (which sounds better in the Original German). Osama Bin Laden is pissing his pants laughing. Where else can you send a few thousand dollars and a patsy and cause an entire government department to collectively spin their heads like a bad horror movie?” (01/04/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle551-20100103-04.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: Cindy Sheehan Posted on 01.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “How do we stop this constant cycle of violence that is perpetrated, fomented and encouraged by the U.S. Empire? We have to realize that the people of Yemen have the same existential imperative as do the 300 travlers aboard the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit!. … I have dubbed 2010 the YEAR OF RESISTANCE and we must sacrifice some of our creature comforts for peace — not just peace here at home, but most of all, peace abroad!” (01/05/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24330.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Pro Libertate Author: Williasm Grigg Posted on 01.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “‘We need to make it clear,’ fulminated Patrick Lynch of the New York City Policeman’s Benevolent Association, ‘that if someone lifts even a finger against a police officer, their life could be on the line.’ Taken literally, this would make a capital offense out of a familiar disrespectful gesture, a salute that is entirely appropriate when directed at officious tax-grazers of Lynch’s ilk. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that Lynch perceives criticism of the police as a species of crime. A little more than a decade ago, Lynch (whose surname appears to be one of God’s little in-jokes) attempted to manufacture public outrage over Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘American Skin (41 Shots).’ That ballad described the death of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was perforated by 19 bullets fired by NYPD officers in a perfectly avoidable eruption of gunfire.” (01/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8s9ng5 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Uri Avnery Posted on 01.04.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Something odd, almost bizarre, is going on in Egypt these days. About 1400 activists from all over the world gathered there on their way to the Gaza Strip. On the anniversary of the ‘Cast Lead’ War, they intended to participate in a non-violent demonstration against the ongoing blockade, which makes the life of 1.5 million inhabitants of the Strip intolerable. At the same time, protest demonstrations were to take place in many countries. In Tel-Aviv, too, a big protest was planned. The ‘monitoring committee’ of the Arab citizens of Israel was to organize an event on the Gaza border. When the international activists arrived in Egypt, a surprise awaited them. The Egyptian government forbade their trip to Gaza. Their buses were held up at the outskirts of Cairo and turned back.” (01/04/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/avnery01042010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 01.04.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “For years there have been rumors on the Internet (sometimes accompanied by photographs) about ‘relocation camps’ being prepared here in America, ostensibly to help deal with large-scale emergencies like Hurricane Katrina, but actually for the purpose of dealing with dissenters. … Is any of it true? I have no idea, which is what this article is all about.” (01/04/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle551-20100103-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Survivalist Blog Author: MD Creekmore Posted on 01.03.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Yes it’s true! I’ve put together an E Book on how to survive the end of the world as we know it! And it’s available for sale today! Don’t miss this chance to grab your copy at the special price of zero dollars! That’s right! My E Book is absolutely FREE!” (12/31/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8wnzog Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal Author: Vin Suprynowicz Posted on 01.03.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The vacant storefronts, the unbelievable new initiatives to make air travel even more onerous and unattractive to foreign tourists (who already have to be fingerprinted, prodded, strip-searched, and otherwise humiliated before being allowed to bring their money here) — all make the search for truly hopeful signs a task for those who can step back and take a long view. … But for those who can hang on till 2020 — I hope you salted away some gold, some silver, and some guns — spring will come.” (01/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yapap4f Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Independent [UK] Author: Robert Fisk Posted on 01.03.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “But the English and Scots ’settlements’ failed in Ireland. Protestant hopes of eternal support from London eventually proved false. And so, what of Israeli hopes of eternal support from Washington? I still don’t believe in a one-state solution — which the Protestant minority will one day have to accept in Ireland, if they have not, subconsciously, already done so — but colonisation leads only to the graveyard. Walls don’t work. Nor ’superior’ religions. Nor ethnic cleansing. History, which should be studied as eternally as false hopes, is a great punisher.” (01/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ylmxk7j Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Common Dreams Author: Robert Naiman Posted on 01.03.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Some of us reached Gaza and particpated in the Gaza Freedom March as planned. All of us significantly raised the profile of dissent — particularly, American dissent — against the blockade of the people of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt, with the backing of the United States and the acquiescence of Europe. The groundwork is being laid for future campaigning in the U.S. for ‘citizen sanctions’ against the Israeli government that could help change the balance of forces influencing U.S. policy, so that U.S. policy becomes a force for peace, rather than continuing to perpetuate the Israel/Palestine conflict as the U.S. is doing today.” (01/02/10) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/02-1 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: Yvonne Ridley Posted on 01.03.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Telling the truth in Cairo, as I later discovered, can be a rather precarious occupation and certainly does not endear you to people in places of power or authority. I have been told that I will never be allowed in Egypt again although, as usual, the implied threats are never put down officially. … I am in Egypt now following the Free Gaza Movement of 1400 peace activists who gathered in Cairo from more than 40 different countries. Their week-long efforts to get to Gaza to give humanitarian aid and messages of goodwill and solidarity to the Palestinians have been thwarted with the utmost vigour and enthusiasm by the Egyptian Government.” (01/03/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24314.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Reason Author: Radley Balko Posted on 12.31.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “I’ve lived in the Washington, D.C., area for the better part of the last 10 years. So I’ve seen my share of demonstrations, although more often than not I just try to avoid the traffic nightmares they cause. Among the various classes of protests — pro-life, anti-war, environmental, and now tea parties — the most destructive are the anti-globalization marches. So when cops clashed with anti-globalization demonstrators at the Pittsburgh G-20 summit in September, it was easy to assume that most of the altercations represented justified police responses to overzealous protesters. But a number of disturbing photographs, videos, and witness accounts told a different story. Along with similar evidence from other recent high-stakes political events, they reveal an increasing, disquieting willingness to smother even peaceful dissent.” (for publication 01/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2009/12/30/the-criminalization-of-protest Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The American Conservative Author: Chase Madar Posted on 12.29.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “[I]n 1951, he signed up to become a parish priest in one of New York’s poorest neighborhoods — Washington Heights, on the northern tip of Manhattan, then a barrio of fresh-off-the-airplane Puerto Rican immigrants. The classically educated bookworm turned out to be an effective and popular priest. The experience of tending to immigrant parishioners as they got flash-fried in urban modernity left a lasting impression of the grotesque inadequacy of large-scale, rationally administrated institutions in dealing with basic human needs.” (for publication 02/01/10) Link: http://amconmag.com/article/2010/feb/01/00024/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Truthdig Author: Chris Hedges Posted on 12.28.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “This corruption of our legal system, if history is any guide, will not be reserved by the state for suspected terrorists, or even Muslim Americans. In the coming turmoil and economic collapse, it will be used to silence all who are branded as disruptive or subversive. Hashmi endures what many others, who are not Muslim, will endure later. Radical activists in the environmental, globalization, anti-nuclear, sustainable agriculture and anarchist movements — who are already being placed by the state in special detention facilities with Muslims charged with terrorism — have discovered that his fate is their fate.” (12/28/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yavutdo Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Jayne Lyn Stahl Posted on 12.28.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “In February, the Supreme Court will hear on appeal what many consider to be among the most important cases that speaks to the constitutionality of political speech in recent times, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project. And, in light of the failed attempt to blow up a Northwest jetliner heading from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas day, it will be a test of the strength of the Bill of Rights, and even more important that the First Amendment prevail.” (12/28/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/stahl12282009.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Tim Black Posted on 12.28.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “A DNA database of five million people; thousands of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders dished out in place of justice; the extension of pre-trial custody from a draconian seven days in 1997 to necessity-defying 28 days; a de facto suspension of habeas corpus not seen since the French Revolution got up the noses of William Pitt the Younger’s aristocrat-only administration in the 1790s. The list of attacks on our liberty goes on. It’s a narrative of anti-freedom that characterises the decade.” (12/22/09) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7869/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 12.28.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Had enough, yet? As you are no doubt aware, the United States Senate has joined the House of Representatives in forcing medical Marxism down the throats of tens of millions of Americans — a clear and unmistakable majority, if democracy still means anything to you — whether they want it or not.” (12/27/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle550-20091227-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Strike the Root Author: Jim Davies Posted on 12.20.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “So Obama’s unspoken premise is critically important, when one contemplates the awesome subject of organized mass murder. If it continues — while governments exist — wars will, indeed, always take place; because the ‘evil in the world’ to which he alluded consists precisely of those governments, of that premise. Once it has been abandoned, however, they will cease. The world will then consist of human beings, each striving to improve his life by pleasing his customers; and killing customers is really bad for business.” (12/16/09) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/92/davies/davies9.html Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Ron Jacobs Posted on 12.17.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “There is no promise to end the war in any particular year, much less a specific date. If history tells us anything, the only way to stop a war is to make it difficult for the government waging it to continue to do so. This scenario will not occur within the walls of Congress. Nor will it take place inside the White House or the Pentagon. It can only occur in the streets of the United States. As long as the US government is convinced it has at least tacit support for its adventures overseas, it will continue them. As the recent escalation proves, it will not only continue them but will expand them.” (12/17/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/jacobs12172009.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Slate Author: Christopher Beam Posted on 12.16.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “It’s a testament to the persistence of the tea partiers — the group of mad-as-hell, not-gonna-take-it-anymore protesters who want nothing more than for government to get out of their lives and for Glenn Beck to fill the hole — that the sight of them toting signs and chanting in front of the Capitol building has become so familiar. When a couple thousand of them showed up at Upper Senate Park in Washington, D.C., Tuesday afternoon, they practically blended into the landscape. The protest, dubbed ‘Code Red’ due to the urgency of stopping health-reform legislation, may not have been their biggest. But if you looked closely, there were signs that the group — or, in this case, a motley collection of groups called High Noon For Healthcare — is gaining steam. For one thing, Republicans are increasingly trying to associate themselves with the movement. For another, more Democrats seem willing to hear them out.” (12/15/09) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2238731/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Mother Jones Author: Stephanie Mencimer Posted on 12.16.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “Yesterday, Tea Party activists converged on Capitol Hill to stage a ‘die-in’ to protest health care reform. Originally, they’d planned to camp out in their senators’ offices and simulate what it would be like to wait in line for government-run medicine. ‘As the day goes on some of us will pretend to die from our untreated illnesses and collapse on the floor,’ Tea Party Patriots national coordinator Mark Meckler explained on the group’s website. ‘Many of us plan to stay there until they force us to leave.’ But instead of leaving a trail of prostrate patriots, the event ended up more like a run-of-the-mill lobbying day for AARP.” (12/16/09) Link: http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/12/give-me-liberty-or-give-memeh Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner Author: Daniel White Posted on 12.16.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “In 1941, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights which were added to the U.S. Constitution on December 15, 1791, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 15 to be Bill of Rights Day. It isn’t really surprising that a national holiday celebrating the first ten amendments to the Constitution would be ignored by many people, most of whom aren’t even aware the holiday exists. A couple hundred years have weathered much of the patriotic spirit to little more than flag waving in early July. Even some of our Founding Fathers would probably be ok with not commemorating the day since they were opposed to a Bill of Rights being added to the Constitution in the first place.” (12/15/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yawmet6 Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Frank Furedi Posted on 12.15.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “There is a long and sordid tradition of trying to socialise children by scaring them. The aim of such socialisation-through-fear is twofold: firstly, to get children to conform to the scaremongers’ values; secondly, to use children to influence, or at least to contain, their parents’ behaviour. When I was a schoolchild in Stalinist Hungary, we were frequently warned about the numerous threats facing our glorious regime. I also recall that we were encouraged to lecture our errant parents about the new wonderful values being promoted by our brave, wise leaders. The Big Brothers of the 1940s saw children as tools of moral blackmail and social control. Today, in the twenty-first century, scaremongers see children in much the same way, exploiting their natural concern with the wonders of life to promote a message of shrill climate alarmism.” (12/15/09) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7830/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Daniel G. Jennings Posted on 12.14.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Something rather extraordinary happened to me in the last month; I became a published author and I did it without the New York publishing industry!! The extraordinary thing about this feat was that I had been trying to get published for about twenty years or ever since I got infected with the writing bug. Like most authors I tried to go through the ’system’ by mailing manuscripts and book proposals to the literary agents and publishers listed in the big books in the reference section at the library. Nothing actually happened except that I made the good folks at Kinko’s and the Post Office a lot of money.” (12/13/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle548-20091213-04.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Slate Author: Andrew Dubbins Posted on 12.14.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “The Modern Whig Party is like its namesake, only with fewer frock coats. The party was conceived in 2007 by active-duty service members in Iraq and Afghanistan, who then started recruiting nonmilitary members when they came back home. They resurrected the old Whigs’ symbol, the owl, and chiseled out a platform centered on fiscal responsibility, energy independence, education, states’ rights, separation of church and state, and support for veterans. In other words, a Republican head with a Democratic heart. By the time the meeting started on Saturday morning, only 13 people had taken their seats. National Whig Party Chairwoman Elaine Stevens pointed out the historical significance of the 13 attendees — one for each original colony. But the symbolism ended a minute later, when No. 14 walked in late.” (12/14/09) Link: http://www.slate.com/?id=2238557 Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Antifascist Calling Author: Tom Burghardt Posted on 12.13.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “And why not. As the interface between state and private criminality, following the money trail is oxygen and combustible fuel for rooting out corruption in high places: indelible signs left behind like toxic tracks by our sociopathic masters. After all, there’s nothing quite like exposing an exchange of cold, hard cash from one greedy fist to another to focus one’s attention on the business at hand. And when that dirty business is the subversion of the American people’s right to privacy, there’s also nothing quite like economic self-interest for ensuring that a cone of silence descends over matters best left to the experts; a veritable army of specialists squeezing singular advantage out of any circumstance, regardless of how dire the implications for our democracy.” (12/11/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8edrul Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: David Macaray Posted on 12.13.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “But the difference between the working class a century ago and workers today, is that the former hadn’t yet been ‘domesticated.’ They hadn’t yet been co-opted by the Establishment. They were still filled with a working man’s piss and vinegar. Indeed, they believed you could bring self-respect to any task, even a mundane one, and that any job — no matter how crude or ‘low’ — could be performed with pride and dignity. … Not only were they not embarrassed to hit the streets and demand their fair share, they were proud of it; they flaunted it, they rejoiced in it. They regarded the streets as their turf and themselves as the economy’s foot soldiers — the one segment of society with the de facto power to equalize what needed equalizing. And they reveled in it …” (12/13/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/macaray12112009.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Asset Protection Blog Author: Mark Nestmann Posted on 12.13.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Airport security in the USA is a joke, and a bad one at that. It’s easy to create a fake boarding pass with Photoshop. And it’s not that much more difficult to steal someone’s identity to create fake identification documents. Indeed, the entire U.S. airline security process is nothing but ’security theater,’ a term coined by programmer and security consultant Bruce Schneier. But we still have ID checks, secret databases, and no-fly lists.” (12/11/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydsemkg Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 12.13.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Both conservatives and liberals are dedicated to one form of socialism or another — right wing socialism or left wing socialism — and both are more than willing to lie, cheat, steal and murder in order to advance their collectivist agendas. Only the excuses differ, the pablum mouthed by the left most frequently being ’social justice’ and the pablum of the right being ‘national security,’ for the sake of which either of them will cheerfully kill you and cook you and eat you.” (12/13/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle548-20091213-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Jayne Lynn Stahl Posted on 12.10.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Lawmakers have now decided to subpoena the Salahis, the Virginia couple who arrived uninvited to the White House’s first state dinner last month. The couple will appear before the Committee for Homeland Security to answer questions as to what they were doing at the dinner, and why they went there in the first place. For a country that has become consumed with concerns about national security, over the past eight years, why is it that Congress appears not only to selectively subpoena, but selectively enforce subpoenas?” (12/10/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/stahl12102009.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The American Spectator Author: Robert Stacy McCain Posted on 12.09.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “Rhonda Lee Welsch has a vision. ‘When we go back to Washington next year, there’s going be a lot of Harleys,’ the Florida activist said. ‘And those Harleys make a lot of noise.’ Making noise may not seem like much of a goal to D.C. political strategists, but if thousands of thundering Harleys roll up in front of the White House as part of a national Tea Party march on Washington, Welsch’s vision might make more impact than Beltway wizards imagine.” (12/09/09) Link: http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/09/if-we-do-nothing Filed under: CANDi Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Information Cleearinghouse Author: US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) Posted on 12.08.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “One has to ask, if the people who elected these leaders so obviously do not want these wars, who does? Eisenhower warned of the increasing power and influence of the military industrial complex and it seems his worst fears have come true. He believed in a strong national defense, as do I, but warned that the building up of permanent military and weapons industries could prove dangerous if their influence got out of hand. After all, if you make your money on war, peace does you no good. With trillions of dollars at stake, there is tremendous incentive to keep the decision makers fearful of every threat in the world, real or imagined, present or future, no matter how ridiculous and far-fetched.” (12/08/09) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24133.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Fr33 Agents Author: benconley Posted on 12.08.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “I find myself, through no fault of my own, a member of Generation Y. We are the ‘New Digitals;’ coming of age through Facebook amidst the Bush, and now Obama, regimes. We are tech-savvy, connected, and get information faster than every generation preceding us. We have access to more knowledge and literature easier and cheaper than ever before. We should be the most politically aware, as well. We are not. We are woefully uninvolved and uninterested.” (12/08/09) Link: http://www.fr33agents.com/1634/my-generation-and-the-youth-movement/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Buzz Feed Author: Matt Stopera Posted on 12.07.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “We saw some really great protest signs in 2009. Thanks to our President for being a socialist, gay people for being gay, and Kanye West for interrupting Taylor Swift. America, I applaud your creativity. Here’s to you! ” (12/09) Link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-50-best-protest-signs-of-2009/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal Author: Vin Suprynowicz Posted on 12.07.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “By now, you doubtless know a dastardly hacker broke into the e-mail system at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain late last month, grabbing and making public more than 1,000 e-mails that expose how these ’scientific experts,’ cited so often to confirm ‘man-made global warming,’ have been fudging their data, conspiring to remove global warming skeptics from the teams that ‘peer-review’ their doctored data for publication, and advising each other to delete incriminating e-mails being sought under the public disclosure laws. Wow. I’m about as shocked as Claude Rains’ character when he found out there was gambling going on at Rick’s Place in ‘Casablanca.’ Aren’t you?” (12/06/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjku64z Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Author: E. J. Montini Posted on 12.07.09 by Steve Trinward “The prospect of writing (or reading) about a lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute citing the alleged ‘overzealous regulation’ of a state governing board against a small business is as appealing to me (and to you) as watching tropical fish nibble dead skin off soaking feet. Unless we happen to get really, really lucky and the lawsuit actually is about fish nibbling the dead skin off soaking feet. … Last year, a woman named Cindy Vong, owner of LaVie Nails and Spa in Gilbert, saw her Arizona cosmetology license pulled when she added ’spa fish therapy’ to her salon. Clients paid Vong $30 each to dip their tootsies for 20 minutes in an aquarium filled with Garra rufa fish, a tiny carp of Chinese origin, which gently gnaw away the superfluous epidermis of customers. ‘We recognize the humorous aspect of this case,’ said Clint Bolick, the Goldwater litigator who filed the lawsuit. ‘But as funny as it is, it allows us to get into some very serious constitutional issues.’” (12/06/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjslly7 Filed under: CANDi Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Veterans Today Author: Gordon Duff Posted on 12.01.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Tonight, I will listen to the President tell me that it will take years to withdraw from Afghanistan. He will, out of political necessity tell a series of lies. He will lie by omission, failing to tell people that this war, our ‘good war’ was, when the facts are examined, a farce. … Years of propaganda and war mongering has made it impossible for any honest dialog about war. Years of lying, lying for politics, lying for profit, lying in support of treasonous foreign interests has left us with nothing to build on. No honest voice is left, just screaming liars paid by thieves claiming to represent the right or the left.” (12/01/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8b3y5v Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Buckeye Firearms Association Author: staff Posted on 11.29.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “The Buckeye Social Strike Force is a team of smart, dedicated pro-gun patriots who use the power of social bookmarking to share stories that appear on our website with millions of other citizens in Ohio and around the U.S. When you join the Buckeye Social Strike Force, you agree to share at least one item on our website each week with whatever social sites you use. The more items you share, the more social sites you share them on, the more impact you will make.” (11/27/09) Link: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/social-strike-force Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Russell Longcore Posted on 11.24.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “I am beginning to believe that the new Founding Fathers and Mothers will be men and women whose names you’ve never heard before. The present crop of state politicos may have to be shoved aside and considered obstructionists. The visionaries who actually bring new nations into existence will rise from obscurity and their names will eventually be found in history books. ” (11/24/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle545-20091122-04.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Dallas Libertarian Examiner Author: Garry Reed Posted on 11.23.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “At some point the American justice system quit being about justice and morphed into a cynical blood sport for the lawyering classes who only care about ego gratification and winning at all costs.Now Cory Maye is reentering that befouled gladiatorial arena for a second chance at justice….. As anyone who has followed this case knows, Maye won his second chance due largely to the efforts of Radley Balko, Reason magazine senior editor, investigative reporter and former Cato Institute policy analyst, who tirelessly trained his flashlight in all the dark corners where a whole swarm of self-serving “legalcrats” huddle, to expose such deeply questionable issues as paramilitary police tactics, self defense, the reliability of informants, racial bias, and junk science. …. In a libertarian society Cory Maye is hands-down innocent because there is no such thing as a victimless crime, and anyone who attacked him, police officers included, would be dealt with as any other gang of criminals.: (11/21/09) Link: http://www.examiner.com/x-1449-Dallas-Libertarian-Examiner~y2009m11d21-Cory-Maye-gets-second-chance-in-the-justice-bullring Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: Dallas Libertarian Examiner Author: Garry Reed Posted on 11.22.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “At some point the American justice system quit being about justice and morphed into a cynical blood sport for the lawyering classes who only care about ego gratification and winning at all costs. Now Cory Maye is reentering that befouled gladiatorial arena for a second chance at justice. In 2001 Maye’s home was forcibly invaded. In the ensuing exchange of gunfire the intruder’s leader, Officer Ron Jones, a white cop conducting a drug raid on an innocent man’s home in the middle of the night in Mississippi, was fatally shot by Maye, a black man. Maye was sentenced to death in a primarily white county.” (11/21/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjj73wr Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: Dick Meister Posted on 11.19.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “It’s Nov. 19, 1915, in a courtyard of the Utah State Penitentiary in Salt Lake City. Five riflemen take careful aim at a condemned organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World, Joe Hill, who stands before them straight and stiff and proud. ‘Fire!’ he shouts defiantly. The firing squad didn’t miss. But Joe Hill, as the folk ballad says, ‘ain’t never died.’ He lives on as one of the most enduring and influential of American symbols. … Joe Hill’s story is that of a labor martyr framed for murder by viciously anti-labor employer and government forces, a man who never faltered in fighting for the rights of the oppressed, who never faltered in his attempts to bring them together for the collective action essential if they were to overcome their wealthy and powerful oppressors. … The cause of radical unionism to which Joe Hill devoted his life was lost a long time ago. The call to revolution is scarcely heard in today’s clamorously capitalist society. Labor organizations seek not to seize control of the means of production but rather to share in the fruits of an economic system controlled by others. Yet Joe Hill’s fiery words and fiery deeds, his courage and his sacrifices continue to inspire political, labor, civil rights and civil liberties activists.” (11/19/09) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24014.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Wendy McElroy.com Author: Wendy McElroy Posted on 11.19.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “In an earlier post I outlined several intellectual sleights-of-hand that often attend the arguments advanced by libertarians who wish to justify war, especially in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. The enumeration was by no means exhaustive…so here I am again!One of the sleights-of-hand is the fallacy of the excluded middle. In arguing against libertarians who have fundamental opposition to war, many hawks suggest — explicitly or implicitly — that the choice is between “pacifism” or their approach.” (11/19/09) Link: http://wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2868 Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: Campaign for Liberty Author: Steve Bierfeldt Posted on 11.18.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Curiously, only a week before the government’s response was required, the TSA stated they would be altering their policy for flight security. Their screening process would be limited to searches for the purpose of safety only and their illegal searches and detainments of the past could not continue. With this change in policy the ACLU voluntarily dismissed the suit, pending TSA’s compliance. No longer can the TSA harass passengers for carrying cash. Suspiciousness searches unrelated to airline safety should be a thing of the past. With an adherence to the Constitution, the latest technology, and a tremendous amount of support from Campaign for Liberty members and liberty advocates all throughout the country, we had been able to influence a direct change in federal policy. We had fought the law, and we had won.” (11/18/09) Link: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=371 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Progressive Historians Author: midtowng Posted on 11.18.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “By any standard measure the suicide of Wesley Everest should be considered unusual. Everest had only recently returned from the front lines of WWI France, so a suicide isn’t all that shocking. However, the circumstances of his death on Veterans Day 1919, should have raised questions with the coroner. That is, if the coroner had bothered to examine the body before declaring it a suicide. Everest’s teeth had been knocked out with a rifle butt. He was then tossed over the side of a bridge several times until his neck was broken from the noose tied around it. Afterward his lifeless body had been shot full of bullets, which is very difficult for a dead man to inflict upon himself. Perhaps the coroner was just stating that Everest’s suicidal action happened long before his death. It happened when he decided to become a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.” (11/14/09) Link: http://www.progressivehistorians.com/2009/11/we-are-all-leaders.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Common Dreams Author: Dave Lindorff Posted on 11.17.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “President Obama, in his visit to China, held a “town meeting” with Chinese students in which he praised openness and lectured them on the value of freedom of information, saying that he is a “supporter of non-censorship” and that open access to information was a “source of strength.”And yet America is hardly free of censorship. Heck, the president himself has gone to court to prevent the release of photographs of US troops torturing captives in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo. Talk about censorship! But it goes way beyond just such crude, totalitarian style control over information.” (11/17/09) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/17-9 Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Martha Rosenberg Posted on 11.17.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Like the poultry and egg farms it has investigated, the choice of Country View/Hatfield Quality Meats at 12722 Creek Road in Fannettsburg, PA was random — and the practices recorded, universal across the industry, says Chicago-based Mercy For Animals. Hatfield is one of the nation’s top pork providers and supplies Wal-Mart, IGA Shaw’s, Stop & Shop, Sam’s, Club, Costco, Giant and other well known food chains. ‘We are calling on the nation’s largest grocery chains to take a stand against egregious cruelty to animals,’ says MFA executive director Nathan Runkle. ‘These companies have the power and the responsibility to ensure that the products sold on their shelves come from producers who have abandoned the abusive practices uncovered in our investigation.’” (11/17/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/rosenberg11172009.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Brenda Norrell Posted on 11.16.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Human rights activists protesting torture being carried out by the United States marched to the main gate at Fort Huachuca Army Intelligence Center, where five crossed into the base and were taken into custody on Nov. 15. … Torture protesters revealed that the torture training manual used by the School of Americas, resulting in the torture and deaths of masses in the Americas in the 70s and 80s, was produced here at Fort Huachuca. The majority of those tortured and murdered were Indigenous Peoples, farmers and villagers.” (11/16/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/norrell11162009.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Strike the Root Author: Jim Davies Posted on 11.16.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “One of the debates among liberty seekers is about the extent to which it’s morally right to accept or reject government handouts. In my opinion, it’s one of a rather small number of issues still open to valid debate.” (11/16/09) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/92/davies/davies7.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Economic Policy Journal Author: Robert Wenzel Posted on 11.16.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “At noon, the weather was beautiful in Washington D.C. The temperature was about 70 degrees with low humidity. A perfect day to watch a protest. And, the gods blessed me, there was a protest. The National Political Action Network staged a protest against Goldman Sachs. A pig against pig battle, I thought. Fighting over taxpayer spoils. So I headed down to the offices of Goldman Sachs at 101 Constitution Avenue Northwest.” (11/16/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yho2z3b Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Strike the Root Author: Michael Kleen Posted on 11.15.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “If the United States came under the control of a totalitarian regime, would we recognize it? This question is of utmost importance today, when many of us harbor fears that some time in the near future ideas such as freedom, liberty, and privacy will be alien to our society. But as we witness the regular passage of legislation designed to restrict and regulate, and the tendency of the Federal government to increase rather than decrease its power (with a handful of exceptions), we are struck by the uninterrupted routine of life in the USA. As the central government brings more and more of private society under its control, we continue to watch cable TV, shop at supermarkets overflowing with products, and eat at our favorite restaurants. Could it be that we have already passed that dreaded threshold and missed it?” (11/12/09) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/92/kleen/kleen5.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Miami Herald Author: staff Posted on 11.15.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Paz y amor. Peace and love. That was the message that 200 young people chanted in Havana while holding placards calling for ‘no more violence’ as passing cars honked their horns. Not among them: Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, who was on her way to the Friday demonstration when she and another blogger, Orlando Luis Pardo, were hauled into a car by three men, likely state security agents. The pair was dragged into the car, beaten black and blue in the head and chest before being dumped miles away from the demonstration as if they were trash. (You can watch a short video of the protest at http://desdecuba.com/generationy/) In a Sunday blog post, Ms. Sanchez, who is walking with a crutch because of back pain post beating, summed up the ‘blame the victim’ attitude that permeates after 50 years of dictatorship: ‘The dozens of eyes that watched as Orlando and I were forced into a car with blows would prefer not to testify, and so they put themselves on the side of the criminal.’” (11/14/09) Link: http://www.bradenton.com/442/story/1848607.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: WendyMcElroy.Com Author: Wendy McElroy Posted on 11.09.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “The response of police and others in authority has been changing for some time now; recently, there seems to be a tipping point in the willingness of authorities to use brutality and utterly disregard civil rights. In fact, willnessness may not be the best word. The attitude is more perfunctory as though Heicklen were meat being processed by people jaded in their jobs. The only time he experienced brutality was when he caused a problem, an annoyance; that is, he complained too vigorously at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital. If he had maintained silence, I expect they would have let him just alone sit in a cell. They would have been content to process him like a good, quiet piece of meat. Equally, had Heicklen acted up with the police by talking back or even by wagging a finger at them, I expect they would have tased him, beaten him down, etc. instead of just hoisting him into the ambulance like the piece of meat he was to them. This is not your mother’s America any more. It is not an America in which the authorities feel a need to even pretend you have rights.” (11/06/09) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2835 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: James Bovard Posted on 11.08.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “Why do politicians so easily get away with telling lies? In large part, because the news media are more interested in bonding with politicians than in exposing them. Americans are encouraged to believe that the media will serve as a check and a balance on the government. Instead, the press too often volunteer as unpaid pimps, helping politicians deceive the public.” (11/08/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/bovard11062009.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Pro Libertate Author: William Grigg Posted on 11.05.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “For reasons unclear to a mind not enthralled by statist assumptions, most people simply assume that both reason and morality dictate an unqualified duty to surrender without cavil or complaint whenever armed, violence-prone strangers in peculiar government-issued garb seek to restrain one of us. … Given that police claim the supposed authority to pre-empt potential violence in the name of ‘officer safety,’ we’re entitled to ask: Why isn’t ‘citizen safety’ a legally effective defense for preemptive violence by law-abiding people to protect themselves against unjustified violence by police? At present, the only form of ‘preemption’ considered legally and morally acceptable is unqualified submission. People wrongfully on the receiving end of police violence are given the same advice that used to be given to potential rape victims: Don’t resist, don’t fight back — it will only turn out much worse, and you may be killed.” (11/05/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfd8m7z Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Natalie Rothschild Posted on 11.05.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “He’s a staple of office life: the penny-pincher checking that colleagues aren’t using too much paper or drinking more than their fair share of instant coffee. Now, anyone who shows open contempt for a colleague who does these things in the name of upholding ‘sustainable office practices’ or caring for the environment can be deemed prejudicial, and green workers can take their bosses to court if they feel they’ve been discriminated against because of their environmental convictions.” (11/05/09) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7672/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Common Dreams Author: Dialogues Against Militarism Posted on 11.05.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “The Dialogues Against Militarism (DAM) delegation has arrived in Be’er Sheva, Israel, a small city that sits in the middle of the Negev Desert. … Why did a group of US war resisters, conscientious objectors, and anti-militarist organizers decide to fly across the world here to Israel/Palestine?” (11/05/09) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/05-7 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Telegraph [UK] Author: Boris Johnson Posted on 11.05.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “It is precisely now, when the public mood is so bitter towards bankers, so hostile to profit, so seemingly brassed off with the very idea of wealth creation that we should remember how ghastly, grim and unworkable was the alternative — state-controlled socialism. It was a moral disaster, a system that extolled equality but entrenched the privileges of an unelected elite who luxuriated in their dachas and their Zil limos, roaring down their reserved lanes and splashing the people with contemptuous sludge. It was a cultural and artistic wasteland, a regime that promoted the kitsch and camp of socialist realism and whose only literary legacy is the handful of books by authors brave enough to denounce the regime. It was a complete and utter environmental catastrophe, as anyone who travelled behind the Iron Curtain will remember.” (11/02/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj4ha98 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Mother Jones Author: Stephanie Mencimer Posted on 11.04.09 by Thomas L. Knapp “The tea partiers are launching the revolution. This week. But will anyone actually show up? On Sunday, Rep. Michele Bachmann challenged viewers of Sean Hannity’s Fox News show to join her last-ditch attempt to kill health care reform. The fiery Minnesota Republican plans to hold a press conference at ‘high noon’ on Thursday. She urged Americans to flood the halls of Congress that day, find their elected officials, ‘look at the whites of their eyes and tell them, ‘don’t you dare take away my health care.” Since then, so-called tea party patriots have been burning up the Internets trying to rally supporters to attend Bachmann’s event. But so far, their efforts haven’t amounted to much.” (11/04/09) Link: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/11/tea-party-down Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Common Dreams Author: Tom Gallagher Posted on 11.02.09 by Mary Lou Seymour “The occasional sign at an antiwar demonstration used to ask, ‘What if they had a war and nobody came?’ Unfortunately, right now the question is more like ‘What do we do when they have an antiwar demonstration and nobody comes?’ While I can’t readily come up with a satisfying answer to that one, I thought it might at least be a useful first step to find out why they’re not coming.” (11/02/09) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/02-0 Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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