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Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp
Latest fundraiser stats: Goal: $800 Thanks to subscribing contributors MF and SW! Their payments yesterday advanced us another $5 toward our $800 goal. It’s been a loooooong week, folks. Lots of extra hours put in — but I think you’ll agree those hours were worth it when we show you the results. Expect a “weekend special edition!” Along with a special announcement that I hope you’ll like a lot, I’d love to be able to announce that we wrapped up this fundraiser on Friday. That part is up to you, though. Yours in liberty, PS: “One-time” donors of $50 (or more) get a signed first edition copy of Bill Branon’s Let Us Prey. For your convenience, here’s a $50 “one-time” contribution link: Filed under: Feature Articles and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Nation Author: Laura Flanders Posted on 12.16.10 by Steve Trinward “Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is out on bail — apparently headed for the 10-bedroom home of British former army officer Vaughan Smith, described by the Guardian as a rightwing libertarian. Assange’s lawyer joked that it would not be so much ‘house arrest as manor arrest’ while he fights extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges. There’s no manor for Bradey Manning. As Glenn Greenwald noted yesterday, the alleged leaker of much of the WikiLeaks information … has been sitting in solitary confinement for seven months under torture conditions.” (12/16/10) Link: http://www.thenation.com/blog/157175/forgetting-bradley-manning Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Justin Raimondo Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “WikiLeaks is a touchstone. Amid all the brouhaha and legal shenanigans engaged in by various governments — the Brits, the Swedes, the Americans — the prospect of having a web site devoted to spilling the secrets of the elites has brought out everyone’s true colors. To those truly devoted to liberty, it has evoked cheers; for those with other agendas, it has provided a target for their polemical arrows.” (12/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/37mmy4w Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “About two million Shi’ite pilgrims are in Karbala for the climax of Ashuraa rituals. Heavy security, including the arrests of three female bombers, has so far prevented any large-scale violence today, but attackers targeting pilgrims in other parts of the country were more successful. At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 17 more were wounded.” (12/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2btoa69 Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: Kevin Carson Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Among the diplomatic cables recently released by Wikileaks is a document from last February by Johnnie Carson — Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs — in Lagos, Nigeria. In it he bemoans the ‘aggressive and pernicious’ nature of Chinese policy in Africa. Aggressive, eh? Why, mercy me, whatever could they have done?” (12/15/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/5404 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Orange County Register Author: Jay Ambrose Posted on 12.16.10 by Steve Trinward “It’s possible that Judge Henry Hudson has done something big to help save the day from a destructively overreaching government. Maybe, possibly, conceivably, the age’s new absolutism had a setback with a judge’s ruling. He saw the absurdity of thinking the Commerce Clause somehow lets the government tell you what private products you have to buy. Open that door and ‘unbridled police powers’ rush in. The judge is right, of course.” (12/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/36jvfe3 Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Boston Globe Author: Joshua Green Posted on 12.16.10 by Steve Trinward “Use of the filibuster — debating indefinitely as a means of preventing a vote or other action — has skyrocketed, slowing business to a crawl. Were it not for the Democrats’ decisive majorities in both houses, it’s hard to see how anything would have been accomplished. That advantage will disappear when Republicans take over the House in January. A trio of young Democratic senators is hoping to limit this chronic power to obstruct by reforming Senate rules.” (12/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2wq4u8l Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Jeffersonville Evening News Author: Debbie Harbeson Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I don’t know how you feel about illegal drug use, but if you are currently against it and you also care about funding government schools, you may want to reconsider your position. Here’s why: Indiana’s laws are set up so that the government schools can benefit from illegal drug trade through asset forfeiture laws. Of course, it’s kind of a bureaucratic process so a couple steps need to happen before the schools get any money from your illegal transactions.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/23s34lu Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Freedom's Phoenix Author: Stephen Lendman Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “AfPak increasingly looks like an unwinnable quagmire, draining America’s resources. Staying the course, committing larger force levels, applying more pressure, and escalating war aren’t solutions. They’ve made conditions worse, not better. ” (12/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/28uo5bb Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Adam Smith Institute Author: Nigel Hawkins Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Just over six months into the Coalition Government — much disliked in the Westminster village but more popular outside it — some welcome economic stability has been achieved. The 10-year gilt yield — currently at 3.6% — is well down on the figure at the May General Election. And, in the meantime, the eurozone has had a torrid time. But 2011 will be challenging for the UK economy — to achieve a 2% growth rate next year will not be easy.” (12/16/10) Link: http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/tax-and-economy/hard-times/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Ayn R. Key Author: Ayn R. Key Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The recent controversy over Wikileaks has put the position of government officials on an informed population in plain view. It is obvious to everyone that the government officials do not want people to know what the government is doing, and are going to great lengths to keep people uninformed, not only by targeting Julian Assange with trumped up charges, but by keeping the conversation focused on the act of leaking instead of on the content of the leaks. But the Wikileaks controversy is just one of the many ways in which there is a demonstrated preference for an uninformed population.” (12/15/10) Link: http://aynrkey.blogspot.com/2010/12/ignorance-is-strength.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: New Kind of Mind Author: Chris George Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “It shouldn’t really be such a huge surprise to see so much support for Wikileaks, Assange, and Manning coming from the genuine Left and principled conservatives who understand that common decency and the right to privacy go out the window when you’re dealing with scoundrels of the US Government’s caliber. We wouldn’t lock up anyone who stole information from crime syndicates because it’s ‘theft’ or ‘embarrassing.’ The contexts of such thefts and disclosures matter. The architects of a decade’s worth of worldwide clusterfucks do not get the benefit of the doubt that so many want to grant it.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.newkindofmind.com/2010/12/applying-good-rules-to-bad.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: David D'Amato Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “That’s the progressive corporate state at its best; it has succeeded in deceiving the American Left into the belief that a comprehensive corporate holdup is the best way to provide health services to the poor. On the other side, it has coaxed the American Right into its customary, knee-jerk reaction, rising to the defense of Big Insurance and Big Pharma as paragons of some supposed ‘free market.’” (12/14/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/5398 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute Author: SM Oliva Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The Commerce Department and the Federal Trade Commission are pushing ahead with the ‘reorganization’ of the decentralized Internet into a more centralized government program.” (12/16/10) Link: http://blog.mises.org/15038/the-end-of-the-internet-fast-approaches/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Cato Institute Author: Daniel J. Mitchell Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The weeks since Election Day have provided nauseating confirmation of Mark Twain’s observation: ‘There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.’ Exhibit A is the ‘omnibus’ spending bill Harry Reid is trying to push through the Senate. This monstrosity contains about 6,500 earmarks — special provisions inserted on behalf of lobbyists to benefit special interests. The lobbyists get big fees, the interest groups get handouts and the politicians get rewarded with contributions from both. It’s a win-win-win for everyone — except the taxpayers who finance this carousel of corruption.” (12/16/10) Link: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12643 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Independent Institute Author: Alvaro Vargas Llosa Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Not everything in the European Union is rotten. A few countries stand out for grounding their economic model on sounder foundations in the second part of this waning decade. They show the rest of Europe the way. Sweden is one such case.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2942 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Reason Author: Steve Chapman Posted on 12.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “If you don’t want to pay the minimum wage, you can refuse to start a business. If you don’t want to buy car insurance, you can take the bus. But if you don’t want to buy health insurance, your only options are to leave the country or depart this vale of tears. The question in this case is not just whether this part of the health care reform will stand. It’s whether there are any limits on the powers of the federal government in matters economic.” (12/16/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/12/16/an-unhealthy-mandate Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Reuters Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Federal prosecutors are looking for any evidence WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange conspired with a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking classified government documents, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. U.S. Justice Department officials were trying to determine whether Assange encouraged or helped Private Bradley Manning extract classified military and State Department files from a government computer system, the newspaper said.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BF0KQ20101216 Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Because of Ashuraa observances, reports of violence have been scant the last few days except for significant attacks. Only six casualties were reported today and all of them survived.” (12/15/10) Link: http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/12/15/wednesday-6-wounded/ Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Pakistan Observer [Pakistan] Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed in an explosion Wednesday in Afghanistan’s restive southern region, ISAF said in a statement. ‘An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan today,’ the statement said. The nationality of the victim and exact location of the incident had not been revealed in the press release.” (12/16/10) Link: http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=66779 Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: BBC News [UK] Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The Foreign Office says it is investigating reports that two white British al-Qaeda members have died in a suspected US drone raid in Pakistan. The Muslim converts were reportedly killed in a missile attack near the town of Datta Khel five days ago. The men, said to be aged 48 and 25, were apparently in a vehicle with two other fighters at the time. The Foreign Office said the British High Commission in Pakistan was seeking further information.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12006061 Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Campaign For Liberty Author: John Tate Posted on 12.15.10 by R. Lee Wrights “On behalf of nearly 600,000 Campaign for Liberty grassroots activists across the country, I urge you to stand up for the American people by opposing Washington’s unsustainable spending spree as laid out in the ‘Omnibus’ spending bill on every vote — including cloture. As President Obama was fond of reminding everyone during the health care debate, elections have consequences.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1244 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: San Francisco Chronicle Author: Mark Morford Posted on 12.15.10 by Steve Trinward “Wikileaks is one unprecedented, stunningly detailed explanation of just how the global diplomatic sausage gets made. And lo, it is vile sausage indeed. … What we’re learning is, this meat is more rancid, disrespectful, abusive, cruel, barbarian and childish than anyone wanted to imagine. No wonder world governments and whimpering doltbuckets like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee want this Assange guy dead. It’s because Wikileaks is just terrifically embarrassing, humiliating to the bone …” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/249olla Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Fox News Forum Author: John Stossel Posted on 12.15.10 by Steve Trinward “Politicians like Bernie Sanders promise that they will ’save family farming’ and ’strengthen family-based agriculture.’ The result: lots of special tax exemptions for farmers. Livestock owners don’t have to pay any taxes on income that they then spend on their business. They can write off property taxes. For breeding animals, they can pay capital gains tax (15%) instead of income tax, which may be 30%. Most people don’t want to run, say, a cattle farm. But there is an animal that qualifies for all the tax breaks — but acts more like a pet. It’s called the alpaca. Alpaca breeding has boomed since people found out about the tax benefits.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/349ro8g Filed under: CANDi Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Washington Post Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “After a decade of partisan sniping over tax breaks enacted at the dawn of the George W. Bush administration, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a plan to extend them beyond Dec. 31, voting 81 to 19 to keep the cuts in place for families at all income levels for another two years. Prospects for House passage also appeared to be brightening, as lawmakers acknowledged the need to avoid expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the likely shock to the economy that would result.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/29ntxfd Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: USA Today Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The House has easily passed a bill to repeal the policy known as ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ The vote was aimed at sending a message to the Senate, where efforts to repeal have been blocked by Republicans. The final House vote was 250-175, primarily along party lines. There were 15 Republicans who joined 235 Democrats to support the measure.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/27rnwam Filed under: PND News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Guardian Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The decision to have Julian Assange sent to a London jail and kept there was taken by the British authorities and not by prosecutors in Sweden, as previously thought, the Guardian has learned. … It had been widely thought Sweden had made the decision to oppose bail, with the CPS acting merely as its representative. But today the Swedish prosecutor’s office told the Guardian it had ‘not got a view at all on bail’ and that Britain had made the decision to oppose bail. Lawyers for Assange reacted to the news with shock and said CPS officials had told them this week it was Sweden which had asked them to ensure he was kept in prison.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2cls6mw Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: MSNBC Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The U.S. Justice Department sued BP and several other companies involved in the Gulf oil spill Wednesday, an opening salvo in the government’s effort to get billions of dollars for untold economic and environmental damage. The government accuses the companies of disregarding federal safety regulations in drilling the well that blew out April 20 and triggered a deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40683543/ns/us_news-environment/ Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Cato Institute Author: Patrick Basham Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “First, kill all the farm subsidies! That should have been President Obama’s mantra if he truly wanted to curb the nation’s child-obesity ‘epidemic.’ Instead, on Monday he signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. That law has plenty of problems. But it’s certainly striking how it ignores such a flagrant contributor to flabby youth — Uncle Sam’s economically illiterate farm program.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12636 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Independent Institute Author: Ivan Eland Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “If sanctions can only potentially achieve modest goals at best, why do nations continue to use them with such frequency — especially the U.S. superpower, which is by far the biggest practitioner of this peculiar ‘isolationism’ (attempting to isolate other countries, while itself intervening in other countries’ affairs all over the world)? The answer is international and domestic symbolism.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2941 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: EconLog Author: Bryan Caplan Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Hypersensitivity Training is still in its infancy. At the moment, I’m the world’s only certified Hypersensitivity Training Coordinator, and even my experience is limited. But I here propose the following exercises to start a dialog about proper program design.” (12/15/10) Link: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2010/12/welcome_to_my_h.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Show-Me Institute Author: Christine Harbin Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “On a previous post about subsidizing industries, a Show-Me Daily reader poses the following question: ‘So it would be better to not subsidize these programs and allow them to not exist? It’s not worth it to let them become proven while working toward the longer-term goal of eliminating the subsidies?’ The argument implies that emerging industries need to be protected temporarily in order to develop the economies of scale that established companies and industries possess. My answer is an emphatic yes. For reasons that I am about to describe, It would be better if the state did not subsidize these programs.” (12/15/10) Link: http://www.showmedaily.org/2010/12/the-case-for-eliminating.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Liberale et Libertaire Author: dL Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Radical Libertarians have been warning that ‘GOP Tea Party Libertarianism’ was joke and that it portended some negative consequences. WikiLeaks is likely going to end up being the catalyst that demonstrates just how bad of joke it was. I think the influx of these ‘Tea Party Patriots’ into the GOP greatly increases the likelihood that we are going to end up with laws that make publishing, commenting, or supporting Wikileaks material and/or WikiLeaks itself a crime.” (12/15/10) Link: http://rulingclass.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/wikileaks-watch-12152010/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Liberty Unbound Author: Tim Slagle Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Climate is always changing, but telling us how much of the change is attributable to human activity is one spot where science is woefully inept. By extension, there is no way to predict what effect climate change legislation will have on the climate. To date there has been no legislation proven effective in mitigating climate change. If such legislation were labeled medicine, the FDA would never approve it, nor would any legitimate scientist endorse it. Yet there is a great clamor inside the scientific community to get it passed. Power, like any other seductive influence, renders most mortals incapable of rational thought.” (12/14/10) Link: http://libertyunbound.com/node/415 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Salon Author: Glenn Greenwald Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old U.S. Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, has never been convicted of that crime, nor of any other crime. Despite that, he has been detained at the U.S. Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia for five months — and for two months before that in a military jail in Kuwait — under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/28qbxqz Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Truth To Power Author: James Mann Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I began the decade a libertarian, now, if I’m anything, its anarchy. Our political system is nothing more than than a distraction meant to keep the rabble fighting amongst ourselves, voting against our own interest, and ignoring the real movements in the stream. Sure, we’ve seen the rise of the Tea Party, but they are being sold the same bill of goods by the same people who packaged Obama, but their version has boobs. And not much else.” (12/15/10) Link: http://blogs.ink19.com/truthtopower/archives/8994 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Adam Smith Institute Author: Terry Arthur Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “It is nothing short of a scandal that generally respected commentators can still promote government spending as a major plank in getting out of the current recession when (in addition to the fact that such spending was a major plank in creating the recession) it will inevitably reduce output even further. Such a level of ignorance could not possibly exist were it not for the state’s iron grip on the education system via a nationalised school system including a national curriculum.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2dman2j Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Author: Justin Raimondo Posted on 12.15.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “This ghoulish regime is the legacy of Richard Holbrooke, and, indeed, of the bloody ‘humanitarian’ interventionists of the Clinton era, who are, today, running our foreign policy. Kosovo is a nightmarish society in which human vampires, aided and abetted by the US-installed-and-supported ‘government,’ tear out their victims’ organs and sell them on the open market. During the US-supported war of ‘liberation,’ KLA units captured Serbs, spirited them across the border to Albania, and harvested their organs, the inquiry revealed.” (12/15/10) Link: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/12/14/holbrookes-legacy/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Future of Freedom Foundation Author: James Bovard Posted on 12.15.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Wednesday, December 15, is the 219th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Bill of Rights Day should be the preeminent Anti-Politician Day on the American calendar. Instead, it has become simply another pretext for rulers to delude the ruled. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787, ‘A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth … and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.’” (12/14/10) Link: http://www.fff.org/comment/com1012h.asp Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Missourian Author: Ken Paulson Posted on 12.15.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “It’s the holiday that got away. Wednesday is the 219th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, a critical turning point in the history of this country and one that transformed this nation forever. Still, you won’t find any Bill of Rights greeting cards in local stores. It’s not that Americans are short on patriotism. In fact, we celebrate Veterans Day, Constitution Day, Flag Day, Memorial Day, Washington’s Birthday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Independence Day.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25zdwj2 Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Freedom Politics Author: Thomas Sowell Posted on 12.15.10 by R. Lee Wrights “It is hard to come up with Christmas gifts for people who already seem to have everything. But there are few — if any — people who can keep up with the flood of books coming off the presses. Books can be good gifts for such people. Among the books I read this year, the one that made the biggest impact on me was ‘New Deal or Raw Deal’ by Burton Folsom, Jr., a professor at Hillsdale College. It was that rare kind of book, one thoroughly researched by a scholar and yet written in plain language, readily understood by anyone.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/269rs8b Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Newnan Times-Herald Posted on 12.14.10 by R. Lee Wrights “Civilians detained by the Kosovo Liberation Army were allegedly shot to death in northern Albania so their kidneys could be extracted and sold on the black market after the war in Kosovo ended in 1999, according to a report prepared for Europe’s premier human rights watchdog. The report by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty — more than two years in the making — also suggested Kosovo’s U.S.-backed prime minister was once the ‘boss’ of a criminal underworld behind the alleged grisly trade.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2a6ldy6 Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “At first, it seemed the religious holiday of Ashuraa would result in fewer reports of violence, but several large attacks have occurred in the last few days, today included. At least nine Iraqis were killed and 72 more were killed across the country in the latest brutalities. The holiday culminates on Thursday and, incidentally, highlights the schism between Sunnis and the Shi’ites who are marking the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali. Shi’ite processions and trips to Karbala make these pilgrims easy targets for violence.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/24gqvft Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: John Hughes Posted on 12.14.10 by Steve Trinward “The WikiLeaks dump of US embassy cables last month was a reckless act. It is a far cry from the responsible reporting on foreign affairs with which I am familiar. When I was the State Department spokesman in the Reagan administration, Bernard Kalb, then diplomatic correspondent for NBC, called me about a tip that the bad guys in Beirut, Lebanon, had captured and were holding an American CIA officer. ‘Bernie,’ I said, ‘I’ll only talk off the record about that.’ ‘No way,’ Bernie replied, ‘If it’s off the record I can’t use it.’ ‘Well, that’s the deal,’ I said. ‘See what your network says.’ The network agreed to the deal.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2wvafna Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: In These Times Author: Leonard C. Goodman Posted on 12.14.10 by Steve Trinward “Now in its tenth year, the war in Afghanistan is the longest in U.S. history. And as the war drags on, the situation goes from bad to worse: 2010 is the most violent year on record. The Taliban, who were largely defeated in December 2001, now control about 80 percent of the country. In the meantime, we are propping up a government in Kabul that is predatory and corrupt. We are spending about $100 billion a year to wage war in one of the poorest countries on earth. Yet our president, who assured us during the campaign that he was opposed to ‘dumb wars,’ has re-committed America to this fight for at least four more years.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/27wbqb2 Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Raw Story Posted on 12.14.10 by Steve Trinward “If Amazon.com won’t host leaked diplomatic cables posted by the website WikiLeaks, Michael Moore will. The liberal filmmaker and author announced in a web posting Tuesday that he had donated $20,000 to the cause of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks’ embattled chief who is being held in the United Kingdom on sexual offense charges and is seeking to be released on bail. ‘I support Julian, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect itself from these follies,’ Moore wrote in a web posting Tuesday.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/23wv6b6 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp Robert Murphy, adjunct scholar of the Mises Institute, joins host Scott Horton. 2:30pm Eastern on LRN.fm, KAOS Radio Austin, Anomaly News or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (12/15/10) Link: http://antiwar.com/radio/ Filed under: RRND Audio and Video and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Independent Institute Author: William F. Shughart II Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “At a time when economic stimulus programs, financed primarily by borrowing and the Federal Reserve’s recently announced second round of ‘quantitative easing,’ total in the trillions, who could object to spending a mere few hundred million dollars to support the production and distribution of public programming? Well, I do!” (12/10/10) Link: http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2940 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Reason Author: Michael C. Moynihan Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Why is WikiLeaks employing a well-known Holocaust denier and his disgraced son?” (12/14/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/12/14/the-assange-employees Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Unqualified Offerings Author: Thoreau Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The state cannot successfully occupy 2 countries, send flying killer robots to countless more, and generally meddle at whim and murder at whim if organizations like Wikileaks exist and enjoy the protection of the law. If we are to have a state that does these things, then we cannot protect Wikileaks. To any decent person, the choice is obvious: Freedom of information has done far more for our individual liberty, for our wealth and well-being, and for our general happiness than anything done by a government employee with a gun.” (12/14/10) Link: http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2010/12/14/12242 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Porcupine Blog Author: Larry Gambone Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp
Link: http://tinyurl.com/384t4ml Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: A Passion for Liberty Author: Tibor R. Machan Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Now that Judge Henry E. Hudson of the Virginia district court ruled that the Obama health care measure violates the U. S. Constitution by forcing people to make purchases they may not want to make, there are innumerable sophists who want to refute the rationale for the ruling. They trot out the ‘argument’ that since people living in states may be required to carry auto insurance, they can also be made to purchase anything the government, including the feds, decides they must.” (12/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2acuarw Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: The Raw Story Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Credit card companies that prevented card-holders from donating money to the secrets outlet WikiLeaks could have their operating licenses taken away in Iceland, according to members of the Icelandic Parliamentary General Committee. … The committee is seeking additional information from the credit card companies for proof that there was legal grounds for blocking the donations.” [hat tip — Freedom’s Phoenix] (12/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/37kz77t Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: Darian Worden Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Everyone who values freedom should be concerned about the arrest of WikiLeaks personality Julian Assange. This is one of those cases that are not just about the accused, but are contests of values. Anyone who wants freedom and truth to triumph over tyranny and censorship should make two specific demands: A fair trial for sexual offenses and no prosecution for free speech.” (12/10/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/5362 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Los Angeles Times Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi squeaked through a vote of no confidence in his government Tuesday, surviving one of the toughest tests of his leadership but emerging with his power severely weakened. The media magnate, who has led Italy for most of the last decade, secured the barest of majorities in a vote marred by scuffles in the lower house of Parliament. Lawmakers voted 314-311 in favor of the government.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2d43fou Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Liberty Unbound Author: Gary Jason Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Several recent stories indicate anew just how green the Obama administration is, and how much harm it is prepared to inflict on the country to further its environmentalist agenda.” (12/14/10) Link: http://libertyunbound.com/node/414 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Fox Business Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp Tibor R. Machan appears on Freedom Watch. Likely topic: demagoguery vis-a-vis America’s “rich.” 5pm Pacific, 2pm Eastern on Fox Business. Link: http://freedomwatchonfox.com/ Filed under: RRND Audio and Video and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog Author: Kent McManigal Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “My stance is not so much ‘anti-government’ as it is pro-liberty. Other individuals and groups of individuals can threaten liberty just as much as The State, but those other threats are not usually protected from the consequences of their actions by quite as large a gang, and are not protected by the illusion of legitimacy that has been draped around The State and its actions.” (12/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/32awj2n Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Fr33 Agents Author: Davi Barker Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp Cartoon. (12/13/10) Link: http://fr33agents.net/2010/12/13/chubbys-ice-cream/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: EconLog Author: Arnold Kling Posted on 12.14.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The price system and the central planner play similar roles. They set priorities and ration scarce resources. In war, the task is to shift a lot of resources toward manning and provisioning an army. The price system can do that (as the volunteer army shows), but central planning also can do that. The Recalculation problem is different.” (12/13/10) Link: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2010/12/rationing_and_r.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Time Posted on 12.13.10 by Steve Trinward “The man behind WikiLeaks has won the most votes in this year’s Person of the Year poll. Readers voted a total of 1,249,425 times, and the favorite was clear. Julian Assange raked in 382,020 votes, giving him an easy first place. He was 148,383 votes over the silver medalist, Recep Tayyip Ergodan, Prime Minister of Turkey. But Assange wasn’t the winner in all aspects — Lady Gaga trounced him on Facebook, receiving 65,417 ‘likes’ on Facebook to Assange’s 45,643.” (12/113/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/26cdbhu Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: CNN Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Government troops backing Ivory Coast’s President Laurent Gbagbo clashed with ex-rebels supporting the internationally recognized winner of last month’s presidential vote Monday, as the European Union announced ‘targeted measures’ aimed at Gbagbo’s rule. Alassane Ouattara’s supporters attacked a checkpoint near the hotel that houses the former prime minister’s office, surprising Gbagbo’s forces and making off with a machine gun designed for mounting on a vehicle, witnesses reported. Gbagbo’s troops responded to the raid by setting up a blockade of the hotel, barring all but a few diplomatic vehicles from passing.” (12/14/10) Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/13/ivory.coast.election/ Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: AntiWar.Com Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “More attacks against Shi’ite pilgrims occurred today, while Christians are themselves on the move to safer locations both within and outside Iraq’s borders. At least nine Iraqis were killed and 32 more were wounded in the latest violence Meanwhile, Adm. Mike Mullen met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki today to discuss the United States and Iraq’s military relationship after the withdrawal of troops next year.” (12/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/28t7mnx Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Strike the Root Author: Paul Bonneau Posted on 12.13.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The stereotypical political prisoner is not the conservative activist, rotting in a Cuban jail. It is a pot smoker, or the guy with a worn sear in his AK-47, rotting in an American jail. With 2.3 million people in jail, largely for mala prohibita, America has more political prisoners than any other place. Unfortunately, with our government, ‘political prisoner’ has become as American as apple pie.” (12/13/10) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/political-prisoners-in-america Filed under: PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Campaign For Liberty Author: Anthony Gregory Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson just found the individual mandate central to Obamacare unconstitutional. The provision would force most Americans to buy health insurance by 2014. Who’s right? Judge Hudson, or Obama and his supporters?” (12/14/10) Link: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1240 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: Walt Minnick Posted on 12.13.10 by Steve Trinward “Every business person, and anyone who has ever managed a checkbook, knows you can’t survive by borrowing 40 cents of every dollar you spend. Yet this is what our federal government is doing — with no real improvement projected even after the economy recovers. Tax cuts, trillion-dollar wars, deep recession, and the spending binge of the past 10 years have boosted our national debt to $13.8 trillion, over 90 percent of our total national output (GDP). This is two and a half times what it was 10 short years ago.” (12/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/27bh3sn Filed under: CANDi Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Liberty For All Author: Michael Badnarik Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Whenever we hear of someone using excessive force, it is frequently a police officer who is being accused of losing rational control. Memories of Rodney King come to mind. This article attempts to define excessive force, and to point out that anyone could be guilty, such as in most domestic violence cases.” (12/14/10) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=5259 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: Thomas L. Knapp Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Since its birth as a movement, anarchism has had to contend with the problem of competing visions (the example that comes immediately to mind is Fernando Tarrida del Marmol and Ricardo Mella’s ‘Anarchism Without Adjectives’ plea). We’re united in our opposition to the state, but divided on what we anticipate replacing it with. That’s not going to change. Not today, not tomorrow, and not in whatever stateless future we bring about … if, indeed, we succeed in bringing about such a future at all.” (12/08/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/5309 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Fr33 Agents Author: Szandor Blestman Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Many people were a little depressed when Dr. Ron Paul didn’t get the nomination to run as the Republican candidate in the 2008 presidential election. Many activists had fought hard to get his name out there and get him the recognition he deserved. Many people found real hope in his message and were sorely disappointed by the way the corporate mass media reported on the movement and misinformed the general public as to the real numbers and nature of those involved.” (12/12/10) Link: http://fr33agents.net/2010/12/12/the-ron-paul-revolution-phase-2/ Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Liberty Unbound Author: Robert H. Miller Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “[Tyler] Cowen, along with many others, believes that fear of flying is irrational. Now, I consider myself a rational empiricist, but when facing a flight, I gird my loins and make sure my affairs are in order. And I don’t think my fear is irrational. Yet I had never really tried to work out the problem until I read Tyler Cowen, who skewers popular fallacies as only a libertarian economist can. My conclusion is that he may have embraced a popular fallacy himself.” (12/13/10) Link: http://libertyunbound.com/node/411 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Downsize DC Author: Jim Babka Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “We told you last week that the Senate made a mistake when they passed their version of the Food Safety Bill (S.510). Under the Constitution only the House can introduce revenue measures. The Senate trampled on this prerogative, and the House leadership wouldn’t stand for it. Because of this … We thought the so-called food safety bill was dead, and that we had won. Not so. Instead, we lost. Badly.” (12/13/10) Link: http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/understanding-congressional-trickery Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: CBS News Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Republican Rep. Ron Paul, known for bucking his party in favor of his libertarian principles, says there’s a chance he’ll make another run for the presidency. ‘I’d say it’s at least 50-50 that I’ll run again,’ Paul told the New York Times in a profile of the 75-year-old congressman. His decision will reportedly hinge in part on how the economy fares.” (12/13/10) Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20025443-503544.html Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: Darian Worden Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The Department of Homeland Security wants to expand invasive search procedures beyond airports to other transportation hubs. They’ve already launched pilot programs at bus depots in Tampa and elsewhere. Like anybody else, I want to be as safe as I can reasonably expect. I certainly don’t want my loved ones to suffer a terrorist attack. But I don’t believe that sacrificing liberty is going to make anyone safer.” (12/10/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/5351 Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Nolan Chart Author: Joel S. Hirschhorn Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “The WikiLeaks situation has brought much attention to hacktivism, which has been employed against commercial websites as payback for attacks on WikiLeaks and its founder. But hacktivism is best seen as a new force for democracy.” (12/12/10) Link: http://www.nolanchart.com/article8194.html Filed under: RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
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Source: Ars Technica Posted on 12.13.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen has hit a snag in his massive patent infringement suit against Apple, Google, Netflix, Facebook, YouTube, and numerous others. US District Judge Marsha Pechman dismissed the lawsuit on Friday, according to court documents, saying that Allen’s company failed to specify infringing products from any of the 11 companies. Interval Licensing LLC, Allen’s patent holding company, filed the lawsuit in August and accused 11 Internet giants of violating four patents.” (12/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/23exklv Filed under: RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
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