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Source: Human Events Author: Amelia Foxwell Posted on 11.10.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The story of a female grad student who aspires to do refugee work with children in war torn countries, who is a daughter, a girlfriend, a friend, and is also a member of the local militia, might sound strange to most. Once you understand the truth about militias, my life doesn’t seem strange at all. Militia members are normal everyday people. We are just like you, and some of us may be your neighbors, your friends, and your family.” (11/09/10) Link: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39780 Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Libertarian News Examiner Author: Garry Reed Posted on 11.09.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Been groped, fondled, cavity searched or scanned by an x-rated x-ray at the airport lately? The grassroots libertarian We Won’t Fly campaign wants to put a stop to the full body ‘porno-scanners’ and the crude pat-downs and they think you want it stopped too.” (11/09/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/22vx532 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Walter Brasch Posted on 11.09.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The BLM claimed Twelve was unadoptable because of his age and fiery independence. Blake saw something else. And so he paid $120 to adopt the unadoptable horse, one who wouldn’t associate with Blake’s domestic horses yet watch over them and be their protector. There was no way Blake would tame Twelve, not in their home near Los Angeles, nor at Wolf House, which became their home near Tucson. But with love and mutual respect, they would be companions for more than 15 years.Twelve is the story of that love, that companionship, the story of a writer and a horse, each of whom values not just the spirit of independence but also the land and all that live upon it.” (11/09/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/brasch11092010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Donald Meinshausen Posted on 11.09.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “You can tell a lot about a country and its culture by its ceremonies and celebrations. In some countries there is nothing but ‘patriotic’ parades, rallies and displays of martial power. Ordered ranks of soldiers, athletes and other military hardware march before the visages of Great Leaders, past and present. Emotions are martialed to maintain the might of the state. Everyone is either part of a passive audience or a puppet on parade. But there are exceptions as celebrations and ceremonies are older than states. And these exceptions can change everything, even in Vietnam.” (11/08/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle594-20101107-04.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Daily Anarchist Author: Seth King Posted on 11.08.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “My preconceived notions were that the majority of Free Staters were minarchists, with pockets of anarchists sprinkled in the Keene and Grafton areas. I know now I was wrong. While the minarchists may still possibly outnumber the anarcho-capitalists, the ratio is much less than I could have imagined. I was also elated to learn that the Manchester area is teeming with voluntaryists.” (11/08/10) Link: http://dailyanarchist.com/2010/11/08/new-hampshire-dreamin/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: LewRockwell.Com Author: Michael Roberts Posted on 11.07.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “What is happening in the U.S.A. today is not safe. The things our government is doing do not make us secure or protect us. On the contrary, it is now necessary for us to protect ourselves from our supposed protectors. My wife and I teach our children to defend their bodies, and not to allow anyone to touch them in certain ways — not even friends or relatives. But if we wish to travel by air as a family, we must now deliver our children over to such abuse at the hands of strangers and tell them it’s okay because these are security guards who work for the government and wear uniforms with shiny badges. We will not.” (11/08/10) Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/roberts-m2.1.1.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Richard Phelps Posted on 11.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “November 5th holds a special place in the British calendar: ‘Guy Fawkes Night’ — named after a Catholic-led conspiracy in 1605 to blow up the Houses of Parliament with barrels of explosives concealed in the building’s basement, then take over the state in the chaotic aftermath. The plot’s failure is commemorated annually with firework displays, and burning effigy ‘Guys.’ Amid a backdrop of terrorism-related stories from Yemen, Turkey, and Iraq in the past week, not to mention the trial of a woman who tried to kill an British member of parliament, Guy Fawkes Night serves as a reminder that Britain’s Muslims are not the first religious community to experience pressures over the need to address the issue of political violence, and the stigmatisation and suspicion that it provokes.” (11/06/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/phelps11052010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: WendyMcElroy.Com Author: Wendy mcElroy Posted on 11.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “A question I was asked years ago has been turning in my mind ever since: what if the success of libertarianism led to a society in which you did not wish to live? What if enough people chose to live according to rules you so deeply deplore that society lost many or most of its benefits for you? The benefits to which I refer are the values of Western culture that I prize, including a focus on individuality and reason, diversity and progress. If freedom destroyed the things I valued most about my culture, would I look back upon the advocacy of libertarianism as a mistake?” (11/06/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?item.3594.1 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Doug Peacock Posted on 11.04.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “When Desert Solitaire hit the bookstores in 1968, the world was introduced to a writer who was at once eloquent, angry, poetic, crude and funny as hell. Edward Abbey wrote precise prose that raced like a jackrabbit and he spoke with a voice that stung with the pungency of garlic. Abbey was a fierce defender of wilderness, the enemy of injustice and champion of the voiceless and powerless of the world. Along his cantankerous path, Ed slaughtered as many sacred cows as he could. Accordingly, Desert Solitaire was received with both exuberant praise and caustic scorn.” (11/04/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/peacock11042010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Libertarian News Examiner Author: Garry Reed Posted on 11.03.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Ron Clark, one of two La Crosse Watchdog Bloggers, was arrested, cited, and released on October 26 for merely displaying his videocam and because of ‘his attitude,’ according to the La Crosse Tribune, quoting the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse campus police chief, which suggests that possession of ‘attitude’ is illegal in La Crosse. The incident happened at a local political debate at UW-L that some politically influential people have attempted to declare off limits to anyone with a camera except those whom they approve, such as officially sanctioned local media like WXOW Channel 19, a co-sponsor of the event.” (11/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25cab67 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Ⓧ2012 Project Author: Thomas L. Knapp Posted on 11.02.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “If you choose not to vote because you do not to consent to ‘the system as it is,’ and if you’re willing to say so, you’re an Ⓧ Voter. Yes, it’s really that simple.” (11/02/10) Link: http://x2012.us/archives/41 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Rifleman Savant Author: Kevin Wilmeth Posted on 11.02.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “For days on end after voting, affix various physical and virtual ‘pieces of flair’ to yourself, sanctimoniously offering to the world that ‘I voted.’ Well, good on you. You have discharged the duty you learned about in Civics class, and proven that you know how to take orders and follow the rules. You have played your part in deciding who gets to play with the guns of the state for the next term, without raising any serious challenge to the legitimacy of the very Establishment you are voting to ‘fix.’ (Oh, it’s fixed, all right: did you not choose from among the Establishment-approved candidates in the Establishment-approved election constructed, monitored and interpreted by Establishment appointees?) Yes, you’re a Cool Kid now. Come get your cookie.” (10/28/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25ebb9h Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: David Macaray Posted on 11.02.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Arguably, the 1950s were what the Baby Boomers thought the 1960s were. Everything the Boomers thought happened for the first time during their turbulent coming-of-age years actually happened a decade earlier … and in a more disciplined, presentable and elegant fashion. The only difference was that these phenomena didn’t affect the masses or spill out into the streets until the 1960s.” (11/02/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/macaray11022010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Strike the Root Author: Paul Bonneau Posted on 11.01.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “No matter what, the state wins and you lose. The only way you can get any benefit out of this race is by withholding your vote. Since virtually all races for some position in government are between two statist or easily-corruptible candidates, and since you get no benefit from voting in such a race, we can eliminate from consideration almost all of these races. So, it becomes even more improbable than you thought, that your vote could ‘make a difference.’” (11/01/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25a4kvt Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: WendyMcElroy.Com Author: Wendy McElroy Posted on 11.01.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “By now you may have heard of Firesheep, the Firefox extension that collects login credentials for various websites from users of unsecured wireless hotspots. Which is most wireless hotspots, including hotels, airports, and your local coffee shop. Here’s the report of one experiment by a friendly hacker.” (11/01/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.3584 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Economist Author: WW Posted on 11.01.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The feds didn’t unveil an unsuccessful terrorist plot. They unveiled a man’s willingness to join a fabricated plot. But let us suppose that Mr Ahmed had signed on to an honest-to-goodness mass-murder conspiracy, and that this intrigue is now exposed and its principals rounded up. The chances of an attack are now higher or lower? There is now more or less reason for police to nose through the personal belongings of law-abiding citizens?” (10/29/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/257wvow Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Marjorie Cohn Posted on 11.01.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Like his predecessor, President Obama also hypes fear — by connecting his war in Afghanistan to keeping us safe, even though CIA director Leon Panetta recently admitted that only 50 to 100 al Qaeda fighters are there. Hoping to put the unpopular Iraq war behind him, Obama declared combat operations over, although 50,000 U.S. troops and some 100,000 mercenaries remain.” (11/01/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/cohn11012010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Independent [UK] Author: Johann Hari Posted on 11.01.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “To understand how and why protest like this can work, you need some concrete and proven examples from the past. Let’s start with the most hopeless and wildly idealistic cause — and see how it won. The first ever attempt to hold a Gay Pride rally in Trafalgar Square was in 1965. Two dozen people turned up — and they were mostly beaten by the police and arrested. Gay people were imprisoned for having sex, and even the most compassionate defense of gay people offered in public life was that they should be pitied for being mentally ill. Imagine if you had stood in Trafalgar Square that day and told those two dozen brave men and women: ‘Forty-five years from now, they will stop the traffic in Central London for a Gay Pride parade on this very spot, and it will be attended by hundreds of thousands of people. … it will be the homophobes who are regarded as freaks.’” [hat tip — Wendy McElroy] (10/29/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/24tvn48 Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: LewRockwell.Com Author: Terry Hulsey Posted on 11.01.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The effective tool of our times for withdrawing support from the state, or challenging its power, just might be the creation of mass campaigns with a conditional response. … suppose that your expenditure of energy was conditioned on the involvement of a critical mass of other like-minded people. Suppose that you could somehow commit time, money, and resources on the condition that others, many others, make a similar commitment. The promise, in and of itself, would generate participation from these other people.” (10/30/10) Link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/hulsey8.1.1.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Mick Hume Posted on 10.31.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Sometimes it’s the little things that reveal a lot about the times in which we live. Such as, for example, the signs which appear in many British shop windows at this time of year, announcing that, on police advice, they will refuse to sell eggs or flour to anybody aged under 18 until after Halloween on 31 October. Such a regular display of official intolerance for wheat and dairy products looks like a symptom of a dyspeptic society that apparently cannot stomach any youthful outbreak of wind.” (10/29/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9838/ Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Jonathan Cook Posted on 10.31.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Israeli police injured two Arab legislators yesterday in violent clashes provoked by Jewish rightwing extremists staging a march through the northern Arab town of Umm al-Fahm. Haneen Zoubi, a parliament member who has become a national hate figure in Israel and received hundreds of death threats since her participation in an aid flotilla to Gaza in the summer, was among those hurt. Ms Zoubi reported being hit in the back and neck by rubber bullets as she fled the area when police opened fire. In an interview, she said she believed she had been specifically targeted by police snipers after they identified her.” (10/30/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/cook10292010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 10.31.10 by Mary Lou Seymour ‘Your Tea Party may look a little different from mine. That’s inevitable, and it’s a good thing. The Tea Parties have become the last free marketplace for ideas left in America. You can’t truthfully say, “Tea Partiers oppose abortion”. Some of them do, certainly. Maybe the overwhelming majority. But not all of them, not by any means. I don’t. ” (10/31/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle593-20101031-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: Libertarian News Examiner Author: Garry Reed Posted on 10.31.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Questions still linger weeks after Americans won the right to photograph federal facilities without fear of being ridden to the pavement with a fist around their throats and a knee in their backs by government-sanctioned stooges bearing badges. The first question might be how we lost such a right in the first place.” (10/31/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2uysyep Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Kirkpatrick Sale Posted on 10.28.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Let’s wake up these ‘real Constitution’ die-hards and the ardent ‘Tenthers’ and tell them that it’s a waste of time to try to resurrect that document in order to save the nation — because because the growth of government and the centralization of power is inherent in its original provisions. As the anti-Federalists were trying to say all along from the very beginning of the ratification process. Only when we get people today off this understandable but ill-fated track can we begin to open their eyes to the reality of our present peril: we have a big overgrown government because that’s what the Founding Fathers founded, and we won’t escape from it until we take the idea of secession as seriously as it must be taken.” (10/28/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/sale10282010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Philip Hammond Posted on 10.28.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Denouncing Western leaders as war criminals certainly sounds radical, but an accusation of criminality is a poor substitute for political argument. Worse, it obscures the negative role played by international war crimes trials, and even lends legitimacy to the thoroughly undemocratic idea that heads of state should be subject to some ‘higher’ judicial power.” (10/28/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9834/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CNet Author: Declan McCullagh Posted on 10.28.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Forget China or Al Qaeda. In a twist that would have been inconceivable even a few months ago, the WikiLeaks.org Web site is being proposed as the first public target for a U.S. government cyberattack.” (10/27/10) Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20020835-38.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Times of India [India] Author: Arundhati Roy Posted on 10.28.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I write this from Srinagar, Kashmir. This morning’s papers say that I may be arrested on charges of sedition for what I have said at recent public meetings on Kashmir. I said what millions of people here say every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators have written and said for years. Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of my speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for justice.” [hat tip — Mark Brady at Liberty & Power] (10/26/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2crn36s Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Slate Author: Brad Friedman Posted on 10.27.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “As we barrel toward Election Day, Direct Recording Electronic voting systems — usually touch-screen, always entirely unverifiable — are still being used by 20 percent to 30 percent of U.S. voters. The nation will rely on the faith-based results reported by these oft-failed, easily manipulated, virus-prone voting systems for the next two to six years and probably beyond. Whoever the machines report as the ‘winner’ will become the winner, even though no human being will be able to prove that any of those candidates received more votes than the ‘loser.’ And there will be virtually nothing we can do about it.” (10/27/10) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2272627/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Justin Raimondo Posted on 10.26.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Remember all those marches, all those placards, those giant puppets and loud displays of moral outrage? It’s vanished! Gone! Evaporated like morning mist! At one point, millions were marching in the streets in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, people all over the world, and then — nothing! Never in the history of politics has a movement retreated faster and more completely — but in this case, it was a voluntary retreat, an act of self-abolition.” (10/27/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/26hyadk Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Living Freedom Author: Claire Wolfe Posted on 10.25.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Maybe, I said, if bloggers started printing the addresses of the bosses of the top 10 tourist destinations in the U.S., and if thousands of people said they’d regretfully have to boycott those places because of the scanners and the ‘enhanced groping’ (reportedly to begin at the end of this month for those who refuse scans) it could make a difference. Then money would talk to money and something might get done.” (10/25/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2aggac3 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Brendan O'Neill Posted on 10.25.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Both Europe’s burqa-banners and burqa-defenders are denigrating tolerance by inviting the state to police our beliefs and thoughts.” (10/25/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9814/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Patrick Cockbutrn Posted on 10.25.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The leaks are important because they prove much of what was previously only suspected but never admitted by the US army or explained in detail. It was obvious from 2004 that US forces almost always ignored cases of torture by Iraqi government forces, but this is now shown to have been official policy. Of particular interest to Iraqis, when Wikileaks releases the rest of its hoard of documents, will be to see if there is any sign of how far US forces were involved in death squad activities from 2004.” (10/25/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/patrick10252010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Pro Libertate Author: Will Grigg Posted on 10.24.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “‘We’re going to make this much more difficult for you if you don’t cooperate.’ This stereotypically thuggish threat issued from a stereotypical thug named Vincent, an FBI agent who was among a half-dozen Feds and local police who descended on the Santa Clara home of 20-year-old Yasir Afifi earlier this month. A few days before that visit, Afifi had discovered a government-issue GPS tracking device attached to his car during an oil change.” (10/23/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/24xhaqu Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Kathy Kelly Posted on 10.24.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Khamad Jan, age 22, remembers that, as a youngster, he was a good student who enjoyed studying. ‘Now, I can’t seem to think,’ he said sadly, looking at the ground. There was a long pause. ‘War does this to your mind.’ He and his family fled their village when Taliban forces began to attack the area. Bamiyan Province is home to a great number of Hazara families, and Khamad Jan’s is one of them. Traditionally, other Afghan ethnic groups have discriminated against Hazaras, regarding them as descendants of Mongolian tribes and therefore inferior.” (10/24/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/kelly10222010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Daily Kos Author: Jeff from PA Posted on 10.21.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “I grew up in a non-gun state where they all had to be registered, both handguns and long guns. We had a rifle and shotgun in the house, to be handed down to me by each of my grandfathers, but they sat in their cases … It was also a nice neighborhood where everybody checked on each other when the power went out or the water pipe broke, a couple neighbors had a housekey to take in the newspapers and mail if we were away. … So what could have possibly taken me from such a life of rainbows, unicorns and warm fuzzy pooties?” [editor’s note: This is a little old, but, important … from a ‘group of second amendment supporters who also have progressive and liberal values. We don’t think that being a liberal means one has to be anti-gun’-MLS] (10/05/10) Link: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/10/5/6267/39794 Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Josie Appleton Posted on 10.21.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Spanish thinkers, drinkers, smokers and non-smokers are rebelling against their government’s smoking ban. Let’s back them. … The bars of Spain are putting up a spirited defence against the onward march of the European smoking ban.” (10/21/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9804/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Bill Quigley And Laura Raymond Posted on 10.21.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Today, October 21, the democratic resistance in Honduras will celebrate Artists in Resistance Day. This event contrasts directly with today’s official recognition of Honduras Armed Forces day. … On September 15, 2010, a non-violent march and musical concert in Honduras was attacked by police and security forces. Incredibly the police involved in the attack made it a point to destroy the instruments of the musicians. The musicians who were attacked called for today to be renamed Artists in Resistance Day. To mark the occasion the collective Artists in Resistance and the National Front of Youth in Resistance (FNJR) organized concerts tonight in San Pedro Sula and in Tegucigalpa.” (10/21/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/quigley10212010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary | |
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Source: Gun Rights Examiner Author: David Codrea Posted on 10.20.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Once it was determined he did not pose a danger to himself or others, why was Aitken not released and his property returned to him?” (10/19/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/24ofmbb Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Mike Roselle Posted on 10.20.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “At 9:00 am on October 20th my jury trial on criminal trespass, obstruction and conspiracy will be held in the Circuit Court of Raleigh County, West Virginia …. I am facing a possible two and a half year sentence if convicted on all counts, and this is my fourth arrest since being detained for trespass on Coal River Mountain when the blasting began …. I am not going down without a fight. I was on Massey property to prevent blasting above the Brushy Fork impoundment, a badly engineered and fragile structure over 700-feet-high and holding back eight billion gallons of toxic coal sludge, and which is situated directly above the Marsh Fork Elementary School. Even though I have been denied the right to a defense of necessity, I will make it very clear to the jury the reasons for my actions.” (10/20/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/roselle10202010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Strike the Root Author: Paul Hein Posted on 10.19.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “When you think about it (and wouldn’t it be wonderful if people did!), you can only be struck numb with amazement. Can you go into a store, order thousands of dollars worth of goods, and then tell the clerk to send the bill to assorted strangers? Obviously, you cannot do such a thing, and, in fact, it would probably never even occur to you to attempt such a preposterous act. Yet your elected ‘representatives’ do it regularly, with impunity, spending not thousands, but billions, based upon the power which, we are told, we have delegated to them, although in fact they somehow gave themselves the power they use.” (10/19/10) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/just-say-no Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Living Freedom Author: Claire Wolfe Posted on 10.19.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “On the other hand, when you’re a mature, self-responsible, sapient creature living in a land of laws (even if it’s no longer a land that has much use for the rule of law), the Second Amendment is one potential self-defense tool. Especially if you’ve already been captured by the state.” (10/19/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2698t8r Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Pro Libertate Author: Will Grigg Posted on 10.19.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The setting may be Fairbanks, Fargo, Frankfort, or Fallujah; it makes no difference. When the State’s armed enforcers are trained to act as an army of occupation, geography is inconsequential.” (10/19/10) Link: http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/10/fallujah-usa.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Reason Author: Armin Rosen Posted on 10.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The plight of Iranian ‘blogfather’ Hossein Derakhshan, known by his online handle Hoder, is a chilling reminder that there are still places where the exercise of one’s freedom of expression could be a capital offense. According to officials in Iran, Canada is one of those places. Derakhshan, an Iranian-born Canadian citizen, has been in prison in Iran for the past 22 months, after being arrested shortly after returning to his country of birth under suspicious circumstances in 2008.” (10/18/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/10/18/tyranny-goes-global Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Blog of Helios Author: Ken Starks Posted on 10.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “We gave a disadvantaged family an extremely nice computer through The HeliOS Project and in less than two weeks, their apartment was broken into and everything of value was stolen. … we told you of what happened in the Singleterry household. We told you that Joe didn’t have enough money to buy another computer or pay for Internet service. We also told you that Joe did not have enough money to afford an alarm service for his low income apartment. He does now. You saw to it.” (10/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/26mjvsd Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 10.17.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Ladies and gentlemen, fellow children of the American Revolution, I regret not being with you on this occasion, but there is important business — historically important business — that needs to be discussed. Once again we find ourselves standing at the brink. In just a few more days, our neighbors will choose — for themselves, and, to an unfortunate degree, for us — whether they want to live brave and free or would rather cower with the boot-heel of collectivism on their necks.” (10/17/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle592-20101017-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Wendy McElroy.Com Author: Wendy McElroy Posted on 10.17.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “As long as women are as free as men to run for office and to vote as they choose, then whatever number of women are elected is the right number for an equality based on freedom.” (10/16/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?item.3551.1 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Peter Lee Posted on 10.17.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The world has been transfixed by the fate of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, now serving an 11-year sentence for his advocacy of democracy and opposition to the Chinese Communist Party’s single-party dictatorship.However, a less-known case — the detention of investigative journalist Xie Chaoping — provides another perspective on the rise of Chinese civil society. It also illustrates the difficulties China faces in righting a wrong, even when the party’s survival and the national interest are not seen to be at risk.” (10/17/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/lee10152010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: Darian Worden Posted on 10.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “‘Unlike other Canadians, he’s not allowed to speak to the press.’ You might think that line would part of a joke. But the reality is not funny at all. The quote appears in a Toronto Star article (”Staggering’ conditions on accused G20 ringleader,’ Oct 15th) about the draconian new bail conditions placed on Alex Hundert. Hundert is charged with conspiracy for his involvement in protests at this year’s G20 summit.” (10/15/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/4404 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Pro Libertate Author: Will Grigg Posted on 10.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The ‘Petition for Abuse/Neglect’ filed on behalf of Cheyenne Irish by New Hampshire’s Division of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) alleges that the baby, who was born on October 6, was ‘neglected’ by her mother on that very day in the hospital where the infant was born. What this means is that Stephanie Taylor’s act of ‘neglect’ was to give birth to her child, and that the only way she could have avoided that charge was to have Cheyenne killed in utero. Because Stephanie had neglected this supposed duty, the DCYF kidnapped Cheyenne a little more than 16 hours following her birth.” (10/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/37wrna3 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Backwoods Home Author: Dave Duffy Posted on 10.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Bradford Metcalf remains in prison these past 12 years on trumped-up charges concerning weapons possession, but the Supreme Court may hear his case. … Please join me in contacting the Supremes to consider this case. Bradford Metcalf is a political prisoner left over from the Janet Reno/Bill Clinton crackdown on conservative dissidents in the wake of Waco and Ruby Ridge.” (10/11/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2euw5e8 Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Elliott Blog Author: Christopher Elliott Posted on 10.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “When it comes to the Transportation Security Administration’s new security measures, it’s hard to know who to believe anymore. Take enhanced pat-downs. A few months ago, I asked the TSA if it was was giving people who refused the full-body scans a more thorough once-over. It denied it. Then it un-denied it, admitting that it had been testing a more aggressive pat-down technique. So when I asked TSA about what reader Andrew Burmeister heard when he was flying last week, I had to read between the lines.” (10/13/10) Link: http://www.elliott.org/blog/tsa-enhanced-pat-downs-coming-oct-31/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Sipsey Street Irregulars Author: Mike Vanderboegh Posted on 10.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “‘Mad Anne’ Bailey was born Anne Hennis in Liverpool, England, in 1742 and came to America at age 19, probably as an indentured servant. Her first husband, Richard Trotter, was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant, West Virginia on 10 October 1774. Grief-stricken and hungry for vengeance, Anne … joined the militia, took up ‘male dress,’ the rifle and the tomahawk, and became a frontier scout, messenger, spy, and Indian fighter. She was the subject of many adventures … She became known as the ‘White Squaw of the Kanawha’, but was more widely known as ‘Mad Anne.’” (10/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/37rvlpn Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Brenbdan O'Neill Posted on 10.13.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The most startling thing about the various psycho-pronouncements being made about the miners is not their undiluted miserabilism, their ability to see future suicides where most of us see a moment of joy, but their ignorance of the facts of the past two months. Because the inconvenient truth is that the 33 miners survived underground not as a result of psychological advice and intervention but by sometimes rebelling against the psychologists who kept a watchful eye on their every move. The real story of the Chilean miners, for anyone who cares to look, is that the interventions of the various wings of the trauma industry often make things worse rather than better, and people are mostly happier and healthier without them.” (10/13/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9785/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Patrick Bond Posted on 10.13.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Just a few hundred meters away from such villages, like plush white South African suburbs drawing on cheap black township labor, stand some of the 120 Israeli settlements that since the early 1970s have pocked the West Bank. The most debilitating theft is of Palestinian water, for where once peasants gathered enough from local springs and a mountain aquifer to supply ponds that fed their modest crops, today pipe diversions by the Israelis’ agro-export plantations leave the indigenous people’s land scorched.” (10/13/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/bond10132010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Z Magazine Author: Bobby Whittenberg-James Posted on 10.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “After becoming involved with the anti-war movement in 2008/2009, I soon became disenchanted with sign-holding, chanting, and marching behind police escorts. I had joined an anti-war veterans organization, but soon realized how internally focused such organizations can be. Issues such as staff salaries, personal healing of veterans, policing the actions of its members, and fundraising took precedence over ending the wars and reducing suffering and injustice. None of this was what I wanted to be a part of and I encountered many other veterans who felt the same way. We wanted direct action to challenge power and create something new.” (10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25knrbh Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Jim Davidson Posted on 10.12.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “For over a year, I have been advancing the hypothesis that many Americans have already withdrawn. I now have a number of pieces of data that seem to corroborate this hypothesis. I wanted to advance the discussion of these facts and figures in order to encourage people to disprove my hypothesis. If I’m mistaken, we would be better served to find out so we can develop a better theory to account for the data. If I’m correct, we can potentially use this information to advance our purposes.” (10/10/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle591-20101011-04.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Kelley B. Vlahos Posted on 10.11.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Vets like these, who turned against the war after they got home, have risked alienation of friends and family to publicly oppose the pro-war orthodoxy and the military for which they once pledged their lives. They really are the hope of today’s antiwar movement. They smash the caricatures created by the mainstream media of Vietnam-era war protesters, and they have the advantage of experience and of numbers — there are already some 1.25 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans today. They tend to be non-political, driven more by their mistrust of the state than advancing a Democratic or Republican agenda, making them attractive to activists on both sides.” (10/12/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2a8p8wk Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Gun Rights Examiner Author: David Codrea Posted on 10.11.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Several developments have occurred in recent days that indicate something as innocuous as visiting pro-gun rights websites that are critical of government Constitutional compliance, and especially participating in comments and forums, can results in heightened law enforcement scrutiny and even as a supporting criteria for ‘legal’ intervention.” (10/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/26tl5zo Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Pro Libertate Author: Will Grigg Posted on 10.10.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “‘Happy birthday. You’re property of the State.’ This is the message that was given to Cheyenne Irish, the newborn daughter of New Hampshire residents Jonathan Irish and Stephanie Taylor, who was literally stolen from her parents hours after her birth on October 6. … This is hardly the first time law enforcement officials and social workers have cited ‘”political extremism’ to justify severe and extra-constitutional sanctions against people who have not been convicted of an actual crime.” (10/09/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2cn78vu Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Infowars Author: Paul Joseph Watson Posted on 10.10.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “A newborn baby was ripped from its mother’s arms by officials from the New Hampshire Division of Family Child Services accompanied by police after authorities cited the parents’ association with the Oath Keepers organization as one of the primary reasons for the snatch, heralding a shocking new level of persecution where Americans’ political beliefs are now being used by the state to kidnap children. … Even if the additional reasons cited in the affidavit, which are unproven at this time, could be considered sufficient reason for the state to take the baby, the fact that political affiliations were even mentioned is a frightening indictment of how far the government’s war on Americans who dissent against authority has advanced.” (10/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2f9s6xl Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Urban Dissent Author: Royce Christian Posted on 10.10.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Seems like a good dose of ‘he isn’t Bush,’ is more powerful than rohypnol. After all, if Bush had carried out raids on anti-war activists, half the world would be up in arms.” (10/07/10) Link: http://urbandissent.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/yes-we-can-turns-deadly/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Paul Craig Roberts Posted on 10.10.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The latest jobs report issued today shows that America’s transformation into a third world economy continues. The economy lost 95,000 jobs in September, mainly due to cuts in local education and federal employment. Part of the loss of 159,000 government jobs was offset by 64,000 new private sector jobs.Where are the new jobs? They are in nontradable lowly paid domestic services: 32,000 were in health care and social services, and 33,900 were in food services and drinking places. Link: http://counterpunch.org/roberts10082010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Ron Jacobs Posted on 10.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “On October 10, 2010 at the Mission Cultural Center of Latino Studies in San Francisco, the Freedom Archives will premier its latest documentary. Titled Cointelpro 101, this hour-long film makes it quite clear that the US government is certainly not above such practices and that, furthermore, it has a long history of them. For those who don’t know, Cointelpro was the abbreviated name for the intelligence and counterinsurgency operation waged against a multitude of organizations and individuals deemed threats to national security during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s by the FBI and other US law enforcement and intelligence agencies.” (10/07/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/jacobs10072010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Bill Quigley and Rachel Meeropol Posted on 10.06.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “While ITTR [Institute of Terrorism Research and Response] frequently acknowledges that the groups whose first amendment actions it has so closely monitored have no history of violence or illegality, over and over they warn law enforcement of the risk of violence and property destruction that accompanies protest.” (10/06/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/quigley10062010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Stewart Lawrence Posted on 10.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “One of the key provisions of the Obama administration’s tough new immigration enforcement strategy is coming under fire again. The program, known as ‘Secure Communities,’ allows federal immigration authorities to obtain the fingerprints of any illegal alien booked in the nation’s jails, and to have that alien detained for deportation. … Immigration activists — furious with the Obama administration for laying the groundwork for what amounts to a mass deportation program — thought they’d extracted an agreement from the White House and from the Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, to scale back Secure Communities in two ways.” (10/05/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/lawrence10052010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: Michael Edwards Posted on 10.04.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The idea that in order to recognize tyranny, you must force it to act as such, is very much the case right now. Humanity is rebelling worldwide to the dictates of Elite overlords and petty bureaucrats alike. The small, silent statements of resistance have reached a classic tipping point. Whether it is tax rebellion, free speech, freedom of religion, the freedom to speak out against endless war, women’s rights in oppressive regimes, or the freedom to grow one’s own food in peace, the small defeats and victories have become a sustained chorus of resistance to ever-increasing forces of control. This chorus has coalesced from the choirs of different nations, different genders, different political affiliations, different races, and different socio-economic positions. This is the ultimate sign of a true tipping point: critical mass has been reached.” (10/04/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26518.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Wendy McElroy.com Author: Wency McElroy Posted on 10.03.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The slide of the United States into the world’s foremost totalitarian police state is symbolized most clearly to me by the insane ’security’ being imposed upon the nation’s airports.he most disturbing aspects of this police state symbol, however, are not the scanners, the armed and uniformed quasi-military, the random searches, the repeated demands for ID, the ludicrous carry-on regulations, the arrogant petty interrogators… The most disturbing aspect is the people who line up…shoeless, speechless, obedient sheep, papers-at-the-ready, anxiously answering intrusive questions, with their hands on the shoulders of children whom they gently push toward the scanners. The spirit of America, land-of-the-free, is deader than the meal I am currently digesting. ” (09/30/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?item.3530.1 Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Dave Lindorff Posted on 10.03.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “If you have been feeling uneasy about having to be X-rayed by a Transportation Security Administration goon who can look under your clothes every time you fly, consider this: at least you can say no, and agree to be subjected to an old-fashioned full-body search. No opt-out for the latest in anti-terror technology though, with reports just out in Forbes Magazine and the Christian Science Monitor that the Homeland Security Department has purchased 500 mobil[e] X-ray vans called ZBVs that can scan cars, trucks and homes without the drivers even knowing that they’re being zapped.” (10/02/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/lindorff10012010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: War in Context Author: Paul Woodward Posted on 09.30.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “For anyone blogging in the US or most other democratic countries, it’s easy to take freedom of speech for granted. The case of Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian-Canadian blogger who was just sentenced to 19 years in prison, is a salutary reminder of the dangers individuals face when simply voicing their thoughts in a country like Iran. Earlier reports that he might get a death sentence are believed to have been a way to make his actual sentence appear in some way lenient. ” (09/29/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25jjug6 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: The New Republic Author: Stephen Sestanovitch Posted on 09.30.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “When Putin said in August that those who demonstrate without a permit deserve a good beating, he was explicitly backing Luzhkov. Now that presidential authority over Moscow’s leadership has been re-asserted, however, someone new is responsible for the escalating confrontation between the authorities and the opposition. For better or worse, it’s Dmitri Medvedev. One opposition leader, former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, who has been repeatedly roughed up by Moscow cops, immediately praised Medvedev’s decision and said it gives him a chance to become a ‘real president.’ He got a quick little validation of his hope — yesterday, a small rally was held by a group of Nemtsov’s allies near the Kremlin, without police interference.” (09/30/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25nvmxe Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Spiked Author: Sean Collins Posted on 09.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Liberal activists’ dismissal of the Tea Party as ‘insane’ only shows how cut-off they are from the American masses.” (09/27/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9657/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Backwoods Home Author: Claire Wolfe Posted on 09.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Hardyville managed to scrape its way into the twenty-first century almost entirely without politicians, bureaucrats, or any of their Evil Spawn. It is, in other words, what America once had a chance to become — and didn’t.” (09/28/10) Link: http://www.backwoodshome.com/store/files/cw01.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Tenth Amendment Center Author: Michael Boldin Posted on 09.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Question. How many people here own a gun, or manufacture or sell guns? And how many of you are proud felons — meaning, when the government makes rules to restrict your right to keep and bear arms, you simply ignore them because they don’t have the authority to do so?” (09/28/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/27t5x5h Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: CounterPunch Author: Sheldon Richman Posted on 09.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “It’s easy to point out flaws in the Tea Party. What is getting old quickly is the political elite’s criticism, which exhibits an intolerance and bad faith that it often attributes to the tea partiers. You don’t have to read too much of this criticism to see that the powers that be and their fawning admirers in the media and intelligentsia dislike one thing in particular: the movement’s apparent anti-authoritarianism. To be sure, at best it’s an imperfect anti-authoritarianism…..But let that go for now. What’s noteworthy is that the movement’s anti-authoritarian tone has establishment statists so upset. They seem really worried that this thing could get out of control. ” (09/29/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/richman09292010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
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Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Paul Bonneau Posted on 09.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “This is not Thoreau’s America any more. It is not the British Raj either (although the difference between the way we and Gandhi’s India threw off British dominance is instructive). Resistance, serious resistance will come. I’m betting it will happen when the Feds flush the dollar down the toilet and the food riots start, and they decide to try gun confiscation. When we are sliding into the “Solzhenitsyn scenario”, you are going to see some action. ” (09/26/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle589-20100926-07.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
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