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Don’t panic, folks — it’s not permanent. As a matter of fact, it’s not even long. RRND has published for nearly 5 1/2 years now without missing a single non-holiday weekday edition. Sometimes it’s been web-only, a few times it’s been e-mail only, but we take our role as “the libertarian movement’s daily newspaper” seriously. It’s just that after 5 1/2 years a vacation seems in order, and we found the right time to keep it short, sweet and applicable. Wednesday, May 21st will be the last edition before our break, and we’ll be back on Wednesday, May 28th — if not before. There might even be some light web posting during that off-period. Just nothing to count on and no email updates. You’ve probably already noticed that that period overlaps a three-day holiday weekend, meaning we’ll miss only three editions. You may have noticed that that period overlaps the Libertarian Party’s 2008 national convention as well, which is the main occasion for the break. Two or three of us will be at that convention (along with some of the ISIL / Laissez Faire Books folks!), and I should be doing some liveblogging from it for Third Party Watch. Other RRND/FND editors may be spending their breaks at songwriting festivals, or just hanging out with friends, family and no newsgathering duties for the first time in more than 1,400 editions. Watch this space for more details, and thank you for your patience and understanding. Regards, | | Report Bad Link |
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“Bob Barr, a onetime Republican congressman from Georgia, on Monday announced his plan to run for president as a Libertarian, promising to rein in federal spending and limit military involvement abroad. ‘The government has run amok fiscally,’ Barr said at a news conference. During the first quarter of this year, he said, the private sector lost millions of jobs while the federal government was ‘hiring with enthusiasm.’ Barr, who left the Republican Party two years ago, is expected to win the Libertarian Party’s nomination during its convention this month in Denver.” [editor’s note: “Expected” by whom? Reports of a coronation are premature! - TLK] (05/13/08) http://tinyurl.com/4usbyu | | Report Bad Link |
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“Federal immigration agents in northeastern Iowa have arrested at least 300 people in a raid on the world’s largest kosher meatpacking plant. U.S. Attorney Matt M. Dummermuth says the raid on the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville is the largest operation of its kind in Iowa history and followed months of planning.” (05/13/08) http://tinyurl.com/3uskk3 | | Report Bad Link |
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“At least three militiamen were killed overnight by American troops in Baghdad’s Shiite bastion of Sadr City, the US military said on Tuesday, despite a truce agreed at the weekend. … Iraqi medical and security sources said 11 people were killed in violence overnight in Sadr City. They said another 20 people were wounded, mainly in air strikes. However, the US military denied their air attacks caused those casualties.” http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxYyWdHoWBShTnIjK6GAunJjKEjg | | Report Bad Link |
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“Amid daily bipartisan sniping over high gas prices, Democrats and Republicans appear to agree on at least one thing: With oil over $120 a barrel, President George W. Bush ought to stop buying crude for the government emergency reserve. Both the House and Senate are expected to approve, with bipartisan support, legislation Tuesday directing Bush to temporarily halt the shipment of about 70,000 barrels of oil a day to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Bush has refused to do so, arguing that this small amount of oil won’t impact prices and that for security reasons he wants to increase the stockpile to its full capacity of 726 million barrels. It now has about 701 million barrels, equal to nearly two months of oil imports.” (05/13/08) http://tinyurl.com/4c44yf | | Report Bad Link |
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“The US Supreme Court has declined to take up a case examining whether a Chinese national should be granted political asylum in the United States because his wife was forced to abort their first child under China’s harsh population-control measures. The action, announced on Monday, means that lower court rulings rejecting the Chinese citizen’s asylum claims remain in place. At issue in the case was whether the spouse of someone who had suffered directly under the Chinese program — enduring a forced abortion or sterilization — could claim political asylum in the US.” (05/13/08) http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0513/p25s07-usju.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“Authorities raided municipal offices in Jerusalem on Monday as part of a fraud investigation involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, police said. Investigators did not disclose the substance of documents that were seized in the raid, which occurred the same day that police questioned American businessman Morris Talansky about contributions he made to Olmert’s campaigns, according to the Israeli daily, Haaretz. Police are investigating whether Olmert illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Talansky while he was mayor of Jerusalem and the nation’s Minister of Industry Trade and Labor.” (05/12/08) http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/12/israel.olmert/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“Air pollution heavy in small particles may cause blood clots in the legs, the same condition air travelers call ‘economy class syndrome’ from immobility during flight, researchers said on Monday. Dr. Andrea Baccarelli of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues said they found the link after looking at 870 people in Italy who had developed deep vein thrombosis between 1995 and 2005. … Air pollution from automobiles and industry can contain tiny particles of carbon, nitrates, metals and other materials that have been linked over the years to a variety of health problems. While lung diseases were an initial concern, later research has indicated it may cause heart disease and stroke, possibly because it increases the rate at which blood can coagulate, Baccarelli and colleagues said.” (05/12/08) http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN12282206 | | Report Bad Link |
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“For the second time this year, families claiming that vaccinations triggered autism in their young children will head to a federal court to determine whether they are eligible to collect damages from the government. The case, which begins today, offers two 10-year-old boys from Portland, Ore. — William Mead and Jordan King — as test cases for the theory that thimerosal-containing vaccines, on their own, cause autism.” (05/12/08) http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/story?id=4836331&page=1 | | Report Bad Link |
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“A group of antitax activists launched a campaign over the weekend to abolish the state income tax, setting the stage for a contentious public battle if the measure is added to the ballot this fall. After pushing a similar initiative that almost passed six years ago, a group called the Committee for Small Government is back for another round, asking voters to end the income tax and save the average taxpayer $3,600 a year. The group, led by libertarian Carla Howell, is almost certain to gather the 11,000 signatures needed to put a question on the November ballot. To say that state officials are worried about the prospect would be an understatement.” [editor’s note: Go, Carla! As this battle continues, they may get closer and closer each time, until … dare we speak? Taxachusetts sheds its moniker? - SAT] (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/5brr3v | | Report Bad Link |
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“Ever since California voters became the first in the nation to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, the state has faced unyielding opposition from the federal government, which insists it has the power to prohibit a drug it considers useless and dangerous. That could all change with the next presidential election. As the candidates prepare for a May 20 primary in Oregon, one of 12 states with a California-style law, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has become an increasingly firm advocate of ending federal intervention and letting states make their own rules when it comes to medical marijuana.” [editor’s note: With McCain courting the troglodyte Right, and Obama having to out-moderate Old John … fat chance of this happening! - SAT] (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/4sqjn4 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Ron Paul has no chance of winning the Republican presidential nomination this year, but he continues to head toward the party’s National Convention with an ardent group of supporters and a second-phase strategy aimed at raising the profile of his libertarian-leaning issues. John McCain locked down the delegates he needs to win the nomination two months ago, but Paul continues to be a draw on primary ballots. Just last week in North Carolina, Paul took 7 percent of the vote along with five convention delegates. He similarly won 8 percent of the votes in Indiana, although he didn’t pick up any delegates there.” [editor’s note: If Ron has an agenda in mind, it’s still open to speculation; one can only hope it has something to do with injecting a little liberty into the GOP program somehow - SAT] (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/5amdbb | | Report Bad Link |
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“When Maulit Shelat heard about the Bush administration’s plan to pump up the economy by sending out stimulus checks, he sat down with his wife and drew up a list of priorities. But Shelat is married to a foreigner who hasn’t completed the often years-long process that would let her apply for a Social Security number. Because they filed jointly, her not having that number makes him ineligible for the rebate checks that started going out last week. He is among an estimated hundreds of thousands of taxpayers — from legal immigrants to soldiers based abroad — who won’t be getting a share of the stimulus package because of a provision aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from getting rebates.” [editor’s note: Did anyone not know this was a scam to sniff out “illegals?” - SAT](05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/6xx5wt | | Report Bad Link |
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“Homeowners in the some of the toniest ZIP codes in the Hamptons are facing a frightening reality — they can’t afford to foot the bill for their high-priced homes, The Post has learned. In the first three months of this year, banks have launched preliminary foreclosure actions — known as lis pendens proceedings — against a record 120 borrowers in East Hampton and Southampton towns. Twenty percent of those borrowers live in homes that are worth more than $1 million, according to figures from the Suffolk County clerk. And the list gets longer every week.” (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/45k533 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Americans facing rising gasoline and diesel prices are cycling about, saddling up, singing out and, sometimes, resorting to violent symbolism. Dozens of Alabama students are bicycling up to 10 miles each way to their rural high school. An Indiana man was arrested for belting out a protest song, ‘Price Gouge’n,’ from the roof of a convenience store. A sign-maker in Kentucky is riding his horse on business errands. And a Tennessee sheriff is investigating a more disturbing protest: a slain deer hanging from a gasoline station sign.” (05/12/08) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355240,00.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“The supermarket chain Budgens has installed face recognition cameras in one of its stores to stop children buying alcohol and cigarettes. It is thought to be the first time a UK retailer has used the technology to identify underage customers. The scheme is being piloted at an unnamed branch of Budgens in London. If the system recognises someone who has previously been unable to prove they are 18, a signal alerts the cashier who will refuse to serve them. Facial recognition software makes a unique template of an individual’s features by taking measurements between key points on the face.” (05/12/08) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7397454.stm | | Report Bad Link |
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“Police said a man who tried to rob a donut store was shot and killed by a man who lives near the store Friday morning. The robber broke into the store in the 100 block of Roberts Cut Off Road in West Fort Worth and terrorized the woman who was working there, police said. Police said the woman, Angel Randle, ran out the back door screaming for help. The neighbor heard the pleas, grabbed his shotgun and then fatally shot the robber, police said.” (05/11/08) http://www.nbc5i.com/news/16210274/detail.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“In Georgia and more than 18 other states, you would be in no legal troubles, because those states have similar versions of a ‘defense of habitation’ law, sometimes known as the Castle Doctrine or, by its pejorative, the ‘Make My Day’ law. Modeled after a law passed in 1987 by the Oklahoma Legislature, and a similar one in Florida years later, the Georgia version has been tweaked and amended in recent years. Instead of justifying the use of deadly force only when the intruder makes a ‘violent and tumultuous’ entrance that causes the resident to expect to be assaulted, or causing the resident to believe that the intruder is about to commit a felony, Georgia in 2001 added a section to its defense of habitation law authorizing use of deadly force against any intruder — not a family member — who forcibly enters a residence. ‘It does give (a resident) a little more leeway to defend himself without having to ask so many questions,’ said University of Georgia Law Professor Donald E. Wilkins Jr. ‘You shouldn’t have to ask questions of intruders and then shoot to protect yourself. You ought not to have to interview them.’” (05/12/08) http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/319795.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“Confidence in Britain’s housing market has sunk to its lowest level for more than 30 years, figures to be published today will reveal, as property prices continue to fall and mortgage lenders restrict home loan finance. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) says that 95 per cent more surveyors reported a fall in house prices in April than a rise, the worst figure it has reported since it began publishing monthly property market surveys in January 1978. In some areas of the country, including East Anglia, the North and North-west of England, not a single surveyor reported house price increases, with 100 per cent reporting declines during April. Even in Scotland, where the housing market has been more robust in recent months, Rics says more surveyors are now reporting house price falls than rises.” (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/4fkdz2 | | Report Bad Link |
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“A Chinese peasant has made a solar water heater — using only beers bottles and hoses. The beer bottles lie on a board in rows, all connected by hoses which allow cold water to flow through them and be heated by the sun. ‘I invented this for my mother. I wanted her to shower at any time more comfortably,’ says Ma Yanjun, a carpenter, of Qiqiao village, Shaanxi Province. ‘A real solar water heater is too expensive to me, so I came up with the idea of making one on my own. I hope this invention can be promoted nationwide, and allow mothers in undeveloped rural areas to have a hot shower.’ Ma has now helped more than 20 families in the village to make and install their own beer bottle solar water-heaters.” (05/12/08) http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2850151.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“Wind power could generate up to 20 percent of the nation’s total electricity needs by 2030, a report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) suggests. However, this scenario would not only require $197 billion in investments, especially in interstate transmission build-out, but also a tremendous jump in the wind industry, from the current production of 16.8 gigawatts (GW) to 304 GW by 2030.” (05/13/08) http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010930873 | | Report Bad Link |
Commentary
News | Audio and Video | Events and Movement News
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“The term ‘boycott’ was coined in 1880 by the Irish Home Rule leader Charles Stewart Parnell to describe the version of ostracism being used against a certain Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott by his Irish neighbors. This specific form of ostracism became an effective tactic in the struggle of the Irish peasants against English landlords who enjoyed legal privileges. By contrast, Irish tenants faced legal barriers to ownership and paid racking rents that left them in near-starvation.” (05/11/08) http://www.wendymcelroy.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.65 | | Report Bad Link |
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“‘I ain’t running for preacher,’ Republican presidential candidate Phil Gramm snarled to religious right activists in 1995 when they urged him to run a campaign stressing moral themes. Several months later, despite Gramm’s fund raising prowess, the Texas conservative finished a desultory fifth place in the Iowa caucuses and quickly dropped out of the race. Since then, few candidates have made Gramm’s mistake. Serious contenders for the office recognize that the role and scope of the modern presidency cannot be so narrowly confined. Today’s candidates are running enthusiastically for national preacher — and much else besides.” (for publication 06/08) http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9396 | | Report Bad Link |
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“If I’m your nominee this Summer, that means I hope to be in Georgia to campaign with Libertarian Senate Candidate Allen Buckley. His opponent Saxby Chambliss received $3,500 from Bob Barr’s PAC. I hope to be in New Hampshire to campaign with Libertarian Senate Candidate Ken Blevens. His opponent John Sununu received $3,000 from Bob Barr’s PAC. I hope to be in Virginia to campaign with Libertarian Senate Candidate Bill Redpath. The Gilmore for Senate campaign received $1,000 from Bob Barr’s PAC. I hope to be in North Carolina to campaign with Libertarian Congressional Candidate Thomas Hill. His opponent Robin Hayes received $1,000 from Bob Barr’s PAC. I hope to be in Texas to campaign with Libertarian Congressional Candidate Ken Ashby. His opponent Jeb Hensarling received $3,500 from Bob Barr’s PAC. I hope to be in Idaho to campaign with Libertarian Senate Candidate Kent Marmon. His erstwhile opponent, Larry Craig, dropped out, but not before he received $1,000 from Bob Barr’s PAC. That’s Republicans who have a Libertarian opponent. Bob Barr supported a longer list of Republicans who don’t yet face Libertarian opposition.” (05/12/08) http://www.rationalreview.com/content/46361 | | Report Bad Link |
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“As Hillary Clinton clings to the almost mathematically impossible dream that she can be the Democratic nominee, it’s becoming increasingly clear that November’s general election match-up will pit Barack Obama against John McCain. While Democrats worry that Ralph Nader could, yet again, take votes from their nominee, Republicans might also be concerned about former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, the front-runner to be Libertarian Party’s nominee. A real right-wing stalwart, could Barr play McCain’s spoiler?” (05/09/08) http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/lets_run_for_pr/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“There are only two reasonably likely outcomes in Iraq: An orderly withdrawal on an announced timetable, or a ‘last helicopter out of Saigon as the embassy is overrun’ scenario. Barr has now publicly positioned himself — and, if he receives its presidential nomination, the Libertarian Party — in support of the latter. As for the third possible outcome, ‘victory’ in Iraq, well, I don’t think that is possible … but just to accommodate any hawkish readers, if it is, it won’t be achieved by Barr’s proposal to ‘draw down dramatically the US troop presence in Iraq.’ It would require a much larger, and much longer, ’surge.’So Barr’s not appealing to the ‘victory’ crowd either. … Whom, exactly, does a weak-sister version of McCain’s ‘100 years in Iraq’ nonsense make Barr look good to?” (05/12/08) http://knappster.blogspot.com/2008/05/barrs-line-in-sand.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“Bob Barr has the ‘Bob Barr Leadship Fund’ PAC, which files reports with the FEC. If you want to know how Bob Barr actually spends donor money, that’s a great place to start. His PAC raises between $235,000 and $305,000 per quarter. He only spends 10%, 5%, or 1% of that amount on financially supporting candidates. Over 90% has been spent on operating expenses for every quarter since January 2007. On average, he has spent less than 5% of his PAC’s operating expenses on supporting candidates. If Barr spends the same way on his campaign as he does on his PAC, for every dollar he raises, you’ll see a dime, a nickel, or a penny of real politics.” (05/12/08) http://lastfreevoice.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/bob-barr/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“Yes, the Burmese junta is reclusive and tyrannical. But when a hundred thousand innocents may have died in a catastrophe, and many more tens of thousands of lives hang in the balance, the time is not right to make a regime, already paranoid of the outside world, even more jittery of outside interference — especially when the West is trying to get emergency workers and relief supplies in to the restrictive nation. (The administration has made a similar mistake by saber-rattling against a paranoid and nuclear-armed North Korean regime.) Any administration criticism of the junta should have been held at least until the country is able to get back on its feet. Once the disaster had already occurred, it was especially unhelpful for the First Lady to focus on the irrelevant matter of whether the Burmese government had issued adequate advance warning. Furthermore, the secretive junta was slow to open the country to outside relief workers and supplies, but the U.S. president’s public criticism certainly was not going to — and did not — help matters.” (05/12/08) http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2196 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Even with large increases in riders these systems are losing money every day. The paper notes: ‘Typically, mass transit systems rely on fares to cover about a third of their costs, so they depend on sales taxes and other government funding.’ In other words one third of the actual cost of riding mass transit is paid by the commuter and the other two-thirds is paid by people who don’t commute. And even with increases in ridership some services are seeing shortfalls increase.” (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/5xxofs | | Report Bad Link |
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“Banned! First alcohol prohibition, then other drugs. Now candy. Yes, candy is now banned on many school campuses. Why? Refined sugar is so bad for you it’s wicked. I’m sure you know many of the major bad guys here. Twinkies. Ho Hos. Nestle’s Crunch. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Maybe you consumed some of these unsavory savories yourself in your youth. They’re not fruit and vegetables, that’s for sure. In California the ban on intra-curricular sugar is legislative and statewide. So, that’s that, right? No candy ever winds its way into a Golden-State kid’s lunch pail or backpack. Right? Uh, not quite.” (05/12/08) http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003335.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“The IRS lurks out there for all of us. Like a vampire of legend it hovers, rapacious teeth gleaming, waiting to pounce, sucking the life’s blood from our veins. Most people experience a shiver of fear when a letter from the IRS arrives. Given the propensities of that institution, passed into law though never actually ratified in 1913, the fear is understandable. But some people are more frightened than others. One such individual was my former husband, Craig Franklin. Craig not only feared the IRS as other people do he was phobic on the subject. That phobia took a form that made it impossible for him to file his yearly return. This is not to say someone else then had to do it for him. He made sure it was not done no matter what.” (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/3waamr | | Report Bad Link |
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“In 2005 Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska championed a $10 million earmark for a highway interchange. The earmark appeared in an 835-page transportation bill called SAFETEA-LU. Rep. Young was the man behind Alaska’s infamous $233 million ‘Bridge to Nowhere,’ so this sounds like nothing unusual for him, except that … * The project wasn’t in Alaska, but as far away as possible, in the Florida district of Republican Rep. Connie Mack. * Mack and other local Republicans opposed the project. There were environmental concerns and higher priorities. * But they were told that they had to accept the project or risk losing future federal funds. Why? Because a local developer who owned 4,000 acres near the proposed interchange had raised $40,000 for Rep. Young’s re-election campaign.” (05/12/08) http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/2008/may/12/the_earmark_that_backfired | | Report Bad Link |
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“It should be obvious to all that the Hillaroid and McManiac are trigger happy. And Obama made clear that should either of his opponents reach the White House after the election, it will just allow a continuation of the destruction of America already started and well underway by Cheney, Bush and Limbaugh. Senator Barack Obama’s greatest strength is his seemingly steady-at-the-helm approach to leadership, which I believe to be totally sincere. And as a long-time GOPer, and if threatened to the point where my life depended upon the choice between Hillary Clinton and Crazy John McCain, I’d go with Hillary! This is how badly the GOP has done itself in. It’s Clinton vs. Dole all over again!” (05/12/08) http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/08/05/12/lang.htm | | Report Bad Link |
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“There is much excitement in some libertarian circles over the entrance of Bob Barr into the race for the Libertarian Party’s nomination. Even the mainstream media has been reporting his candidacy, as well as that of Mike Gravel. Based on the way these men are covered, you would have thought that the party had previously planned not to run a Presidential candidate, or that it hasn’t run a candidate in every Presidential race since it’s founding. Nonetheless, many are thrilled with the idea that, if we nominate Bob Barr, this press coverage could continue. Others see the Barr candidacy as an opportunity to continue the energy of the Ron Paul campaign. I believe the excitement over the Barr candidacy is misplaced, will lead to disappointment, and that Barr should not receive the LP’s Presidential nomination. While Barr seems, in some ways, to be among the more libertarian-leaning conservatives, he is not a libertarian on the most important issue of our time — foreign policy.” (05/13/08) http://www.lewrockwell.com/katz-j/katz-j28.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“A recent Gallup poll shows John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. All this before Republicans even begin publicizing the worst that can be said about either of two candidates whose alleged defects provide a supremely target-rich environment. But it’s easy to let the individuals involved obscure larger factors that may prove more important. In a hurricane, even handsome, well-built boats can end up underwater. And right now, the GOP looks as though it may be sailing into a perfect storm.” (05/12/08) http://www.reason.com/news/show/126443.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“It’s not just the economy. We’ve gone through swoons before. It’s that gas at $4 a gallon means we’re running out, at least of the cheap stuff that built our sprawling society. It’s that when we try to turn corn into gas, it sends the price of a loaf of bread shooting upwards and starts food riots on three continents. It’s that everything is so inextricably tied together. It’s that, all of a sudden, those grim Club of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the ‘limits to growth’ suddenly seem how best to put it, right. All of a sudden it isn’t morning in America, it’s dusk on planet Earth. There’s a number — a new number — that makes this point most powerfully. It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.” (05/12/08) http://www.alternet.org/environment/85080/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“Obviously not everyone in New Orleans is a slave to the welfare state. But on balance its residents have drifted since 1927 into the entitlements mentality: abandonment of personal responsibility and individual initiative. The socialist welfare state is a form of slavery, or more accurately, a sort of neo-feudalism in which the individual has no rights independent of the figurative ‘piece of ground’ to which the political state has assigned him.” (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/48kv9w | | Report Bad Link |
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“The next president will have to choose. Decision time is rapidly approaching. In January 2007, China destroyed an aging Chinese weather satellite in an anti-satellite weapons test, roughly replicating a 1985 U.S. test. Do we want China to dominate space? Of course not, leading some to argue that the United States needs to lay claim to space — and soon. My view is that we shouldn’t want anybody to dominate space; we should do whatever we can to ensure that space remains free of weapons. Whoever becomes the next U.S. president should lead that effort by calling on the nations of the world to update the 41-year-old Outer Space Treaty.” (05/09/08) http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2195 | | Report Bad Link |
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“In Friday’s New York Times, Susan Faludi rejoiced over Hillary Clinton’s destruction of the myth of female prissiness and innate moral superiority, hailing Clinton’s ‘no-holds-barred pugnacity’ and her media reputation as ‘nasty’ and ‘ruthless.’ Future female presidential candidates will owe a lot to the race of 2008, Faludi wrote, ‘when Hillary Clinton broke through the glass floor and got down with the boys.’ I share Faludi’s glee — up to a point. Surely no one will ever dare argue that women lack the temperament for political combat. But by running a racially tinged campaign, lying about her foreign policy experience and repeatedly seeming to favor McCain over her Democratic opponent, Clinton didn’t just break through the ‘glass floor,’ she set a new low for floors in general, and would, if she could have gotten within arm’s reach, have rubbed the broken glass into Obama’s face.” (05/12/08) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080526/ehrenreich | | Report Bad Link |
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“Progressives have always loved holidays, which may be why we’ve created so many of them. There are … May Day. And Labor Day. And Mother’s Day, which started out as the first and perhaps greatest progressive holiday of all. … Conservatives don’t like holidays unless they can use them to sell stuff. They have special reason to really not like this one. Mother’s Day got its start as the fusion of two holidays created by two women, both activists protesting the carnage of the Civil War: … Ann Jarvis, whose established the first Mother’s Work Day in 1858 to improve sanitation among her Appalachian neighbors … [and] was Boston socialite, suffragette, and poet Julia Ward Howe … still best remembered as the author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic — the abolitionist anthem that captures much of the righteous fury of the Union cause.” (05/10/08) http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/reclaiming-mothers-day | | Report Bad Link |
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“The Presidential candidate who promises to change Washington raced into Washington’s arms right after the media crowned him as the presumptive Democratic nominee. During a Thursday visit to the nation’s Capitol, Barack Obama was fawned over by those he critiqued two days earlier: ‘Washington didn’t give us much of a chance,’ he said during his North Carolina victory speech. Clearly, that’s no longer the case. But, being hailed as a winner is different from being hailed as the change agent Obama pledges to become. Obama changed the rhetoric and style of the 2008 contest and would make history if he becomes the first African-American president. A Democrat in the White House would change the dogma. But what else, besides the face of Washington, will he change?” (05/11/08) http://tinyurl.com/5ap76j | | Report Bad Link |
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“While Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, lost to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by a close two percentage points in the Indiana primary, people around the nation and elsewhere might as well go ahead and admit that he’s unofficially got the Democractic nomination for president, signed, sealed and delivered. And even while Clinton declared in Charleston, W.Va., Thursday that she intends to move forward with her presidential campaign, she might as well go ahead and admit that it’s time to crown Obama as the Democratic nominee. That’s especially true after she was routed in the North Carolina Democratic primary the same day she narrowly beat Obama in Indiana. … So will Clinton be Obama’s running mate in the general election, as many Democrats seem to want? Don’t look for that to happen.” (05/11/08) http://tinyurl.com/4x9swv | | Report Bad Link |
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“In March, on the five-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the nation’s major news outlets reflected on the war and what led us to the half-decade mark. But few evaluated their own roles in the disaster that has maimed countless Iraqis and U.S. troops, killed hundreds of thousands and … could ultimately cost up to $3 trillion. Fortunately, two new books do examine the media’s role. Greg Mitchell’s So Wrong for So Long lays out a timeline of the media’s damning missteps, while When the Press Fails, co-authored by W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. Lawrence and Steven Livingston, shows how these missteps are not aberrations, but byproducts of the American press.” (05/12/08) http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3619/collapse_of_the_fourth_estate/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“With oil prices closing above $125 a barrel of oil on Friday, angry politicians are blaming the higher prices on everything from speculators to greedy oil companies. Last week some Democratic Senators demanded ‘urgent action … to adequately investigate whether speculators are driving up prices.’ Democrats are proposing to protect the American people from ‘greedy oil traders who manipulate the market.’ Senator Barack Obama wants price gouging by oil companies to be a federal crime. Everyone wants lower prices, but many politicians seem unable to understand that speculators actually smooth out wild swings in prices. Speculators make profits by buying oil when the price is low and selling it when it is high, and doing that protects consumers.” (05/12/08) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355157,00.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“History often provides an excuse for a party. In Europe and America, romantics are celebrating 1968. … But what was 1968? … In truth, instead of being the time when ‘the movement’ came together, 1968 was the year it flew apart, its pieces scattering weird directions. The year was more a death rattle than a glorious birth. If we must celebrate, let’s honor a different year, say 1964. On Dec. 2 that year, Mario Savio stood on the steps of Sproul Hall at the University of California and gave the best speech ever uttered by any ’60s radical: There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part. You can’t even tacitly take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus — and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it … that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.” [editor’s note: Not sure we’d agree it was “the best speech ever uttered” in that era, but it did have its effects - SAT] (05/13/08) http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0513/p09s01-coop.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“For many years the United States Government could not deprive you of your rights, without due process of law and a felony conviction. However, since the passage of the Lautenberg Amendment in 1996 tens of thousands of Americans have been deprived of their right to keep and bear arms for mere misdemeanors. Lautenberg’s logic is if you commit any violent act then you should be deprived the use of firearms. The law enacted in 1996 was retroactive, meaning it not only affected future action but past actions as well. … This law has irritated me for twelve years, as it clearly is unconstitutional. Finally, the legality of this act will face the scrutiny of the United States Supreme Court.” (05/12/08) http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/5660 | | Report Bad Link |
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“The presence of the US military, 63 years after World War II, is a huge source of anger for the citizens of Japan, Korea, Germany and Italy. On the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, the US military uses an artillery firing range known as Yausubetsu. The range is small in comparison to ranges in the United States and Germany — only 30 kilometers by 10 kilometers — but the source of irritation to Japanese farmers whose land was taken for the range and for those who live near the range is large. The peaceful rolling hills and valleys of the area are the home of the dairy industry of Hokkaido. The Japanese have used a cartoon of an angry dairy cow with boxing gloves as their symbol of protest of the US military’s use of the range.” (05/12/08) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051108F.shtml | | Report Bad Link |
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“Over the last decade, a movement to build a vibrant local and regional food system has gained tremendous momentum in Western Montana. As someone involved in this effort, I smile when I step back and look at how many pieces of the localization puzzle have begun to fall into place. While there is much to celebrate, the challenges have become clearer too. In the face of rapid population growth and development, one of the biggest hurdles of all may be saving fertile soil — the medium in which our local food system must be rooted. Yet, opportunities for innovative and collaborative problem solving present themselves.” (05/12/08) http://www.newwest.net/city/article/rooted_in_the_soil/C8/L8/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“As someone who has been urging focused citizen activism for some time now, I find it heartening that there are those in the United States who put action to words and seek to lead by example. This is the case with Chicago Alderman Joe Moore, who, together with seven of his 49 colleagues (Toni Preckwinkle, Sandi Jackson, Eugene Schulter, Robert Fioretti, Freddrenna Lyle, Ricardo Munoz and Mary Ann Smith), has prepared a resolution for the Chicago City Council opposing war on Iran. By itself, this resolution most probably will not serve to alter the policies currently being pursued by the Bush administration. But when a great American city such as Chicago takes the lead in expressing its rejection of irresponsible national policy, other cities should, and will, take notice.” (05/12/08) http://tinyurl.com/3vrxrg | | Report Bad Link |
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“Howard Zinn, 85, is a Professor Emeritus of political science at Boston University. He was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1922 to a poor immigrant family. He realized early in his youth that the promise of the ‘American Dream,’ that will come true to all hard-working and diligent people, is just that — a promise and a dream. During World War II he joined US Air Force and served as a bombardier in the ‘European Theatre.’ This proved to be a formative experience that only strengthened his convictions that there is no such thing as a just war. It also revealed, once again, the real face of the socio-economic order, where the suffering and sacrifice of the ordinary people is always used only to higher the profits of the privileged few.” (05/12/08) http://counterpunch.org/vodovnik05122008.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“Some handguns have long and illustrious histories. Some are beautiful, handsome or ‘fine,’ and there are even awe-inspiring movie stars like the custom long-barrel AutoMag used by Dirty Harry. I have a work horse. It’s not pretty, shoots a half-assed round, isn’t fast, isn’t special in any way. But it’s mine.” (05/11/08) http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2008/tle467-20080511-03.html | | Report Bad Link |
Audio and Video
jump to News | jump to Commentary | jump to Events and Movement News
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Suroosh Alvi, co-founder of VICE Magazine Publishing, joins host Scott Horton. 1:15pm Eastern on KAOS 92.7 FM, Austin, TX or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (05/13/08) http://www.kaosradioaustin.org/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“The politics of Reading First,” featuring Neal McCluskey. [MP3] (05/13/08) http://www.cato.org/dailypodcast/podcast-archive.php?podcast_id=619 | | Report Bad Link |
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“New Mics / Truancy Tracking / The So-Called Fair Tax / Mother Teresa / Strong City Update / Legal Fictions and Court / Gene The Christian Anarchist Takes on the GOP / Paranoid Kooks / Mind Control? / Conspiracy Theorists Empower the State / Pirating a Public Nuisance / Money or Power / Defeatism / Popularizing Liberty / Man Jailed over Truancy.” [MP3] (05/12/08) http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2008-05-12.mp3 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Former reason intern Robert Pollock has been the editorial features page editor at The Wall Street Journal for more than a year. The Buffalo native sat down recently with reason.tv to talk about how he came to his libertarian beliefs; how the mainstream media is toeing the Journal’s line on capital gains taxes; why The Washington Post is the Journal’s toughest competition and why The New York Times’ editorial pages have a ‘hectoring’ tone; how the GOP turned its back on its small-government philosophy; why America needs more immigrants; and much more.” [Flash video] (05/12/08) http://www.reason.com/news/show/126454.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“The virtue of enemies: The pride of being hated.” [MP3] (05/11/08) http://tinyurl.com/5qqx96 | | Report Bad Link |
Movement News & Events
News | Commentary |Audio and Video
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Check our sidebar calendar for this week’s freedom movement events. Don’t see your event? Drop us a line at info@rationalreview.com … or see: www.rationalreview.com/add-your-event-to-our-calendar … for instructions on adding your events directly! http://upcoming.yahoo.com/group/4042/ | | Report Bad Link |
