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“An explosion on an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico early today ignited a fire that caused workers to evacuate into the water, but the U.S. Coast Guard said that all the workers survived and there are no oil leaks reported near the platform. The cause of the explosion is not yet known, but the 13 workers who were photographed floating in the ocean waiting to be rescued have been accounted for. They were airlifted to Terrebone General Medical Center in Houma, La.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/2du47o6 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Two American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday hours before Defense Secretary Roberts Gates arrived in Kabul for talks with President Hamid Karzai and the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, U.S. General David Petraeus. The marines, serving as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), were killed in separate militant attacks in the east and the south of the country.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/23zs7tv | | Report Bad Link |
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“FAA officials have resolved the lingering issue of listing a Cessna 172S leased to John and Martha King, owners of King Schools, as stolen. The listing caused Santa Barbara police to remove the couple from the aircraft at gunpoint Aug. 28. The N number was once used by a Cessna 150 that remains missing after it was stolen from McKinney, Texas, in 2002. … In other developments, Santa Barbara Police Chief Camerino Sanchez has called John and Martha King and apologized ‘clearly and profusely’ for his department detaining the couple at gunpoint Saturday, Aug. 28, Martha King said Aug. 31.” (08/31/10) http://tinyurl.com/32a3fd8 | | Report Bad Link |
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“The Democratic Governors Association is accusing Fox News of making an illegal campaign contribution to a Republican gubernatorial candidate, the Huffington Post reports. The DGA reportedly filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission accusing Fox of giving Ohio candidate John Kasich free political advertising. When Kasich appeared on Fox News earlier this month, the complaint reportedly lays out, he solicited donations on air while Fox added the graphics ‘John Kasich (R), KasichforOhio.com‘ under Mr. Kasich’s image. The complaint says Kasich raised more than $21,000 from the solicitation.” (09/02/10) http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015464-503544.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“Governor Deval Patrick declined to say yesterday whether he would implement a tax rollback if the voters mandate it in November, pitting him against all three of his campaign rivals, who say they would abide by the referendum. During a morning radio appearance, Patrick answered a question by saying he wanted to persuade the electorate to oppose the referendum. ‘I think we work real hard to try to show them how calamitous a choice that would be,’ Patrick said in response to a question from Jim Braude, WTKK-FM 96.9 host, about whether he would implement a reduction in the sales tax to 3 percent.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/277dlr9 | | Report Bad Link |
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“While Washington might be abuzz with the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks today after a nearly two-year hiatus, only 1 in 3 Palestinians support the negotiations according to a late August poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion. Though the 17-year-old peace process has yielded trappings of self-rule amid Israel’s military occupation, Palestinians have largely lost hope that summits such as this week’s in Washington can deliver on their ultimate goal of Palestinian statehood. While a majority oppose the armed uprising Hamas has been calling for, pervasive apathy and distrust here highlight the more intangible barriers that Israeli and Palestinian leaders alike must overcome — in addition to final status issues such as Jerusalem, borders and refugees.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/2wb83yt | | Report Bad Link |
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“As the Treasury Department considers a tax policy change that would allow trial lawyers to deduct their litigation expenses in contingency-fee cases, the American Medical Association and 90 medical organizations are urging Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to drop the proposal like a bad habit. ‘Changing the tax policy to allow trial attorneys to deduct court costs and other expenses would cost taxpayers $1.5 billion and increase the cost of health care in our nation,’ J. James Rohack, the immediate past president of the group, said in a written statement. ‘This change would encourage trial attorneys to file more lawsuits.’” [editor’s note: And were this the UAW & the Teamsters scrapping, it would also be a “labor-union battle” - SAT] (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/2cbvjxb | | Report Bad Link |
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“Editors of a top medical journal call Meridia ‘another flawed diet pill’ and question whether it should stay on the market as a study shows it raises the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with heart problems. The strongly worded editorial comes two weeks before government advisers review the prescription drug, which has already been pulled in Europe. In January, US drug regulators strengthened existing warnings that the appetite suppressant should not be used by those with a history of heart trouble.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/27lr5h7 | | Report Bad Link |
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“The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced it had sued Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, for failing to turn over documents in a probe of whether his aggressive operations against illegal immigrants had violated civil rights.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/29dutle | | Report Bad Link |
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“The number of illegal immigrants [sic] living in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in two decades — decreasing by 8 percent since 2007, a new study finds. The reasons range from the sour economy to Mexican violence and increased U.S. enforcement that has made it harder to sneak across the border. Much of the decline comes from a sharp drop-off in illegal immigrants from the Caribbean, Central America and South America attempting to cross the southern border of the U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center, which based its report on an analysis of 2009 census data.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/2b96cug | | Report Bad Link |
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“North Korea has changed the names of its trading companies and falsified trade documents to avoid international sanctions and continue exporting weapons, a news report and an intelligence official said Wednesday. The U.N. Security Council slapped tough sanctions on North Korea last year over its launch of a long-range rocket and a subsequent nuclear test, including the blacklisting of some North Korean companies suspected of involvement in weapons exports.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/2b6ze3x | | Report Bad Link |
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“In Mosul, a bomb killed two people and wounded six others in the Wadi Hajar area. Gunmen killed a woman. Two policemen were killed in a raid. In Baghdad, a sticky bomb in Baladiyat killed one civilian and wounded three others. A policeman was killed and two others were wounded in a Kadhimiya blast. … A roadside bomb killed two policemen in Saidiya. … In Kirkuk, a policeman and his brother, angry at electricity rationing, attacked a power station where they killed the owner’s father and wounded another relative; the father was a Kurdish official.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/2dgpbyz | | Report Bad Link |
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“Two troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in separate insurgent attacks in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, ISAF said. … An official for religious affairs was killed by a bomb blast as he entered a government building in Kandahar …. Afghan and ISAF forces shot and killed one civilian and wounded another when the pair approached personnel who were conducting a medical evacuation in Marjah …. Two women were killed when ISAF attacked a Taliban position with ground forces and air strikes after a patrol came under small-arms fire in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province on Tuesday, ISAF said.” (09/01/10) http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/NROI-88W5BP?OpenDocument | | Report Bad Link |
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“Three bombs ripped through a Shiite Muslim religious procession in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing 25 people and wounding about 150 others, officials said. The explosions appeared to be the latest in a string of attacks by Sunni extremists against the minority Shiites they consider infidels. Allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban, the bombers are also seeking to destabilize Pakistan’s U.S.-backed government.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/kl5t6h | | Report Bad Link |
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“The legality of France’s crackdown on Roma migrants was thrown into doubt Wednesday when a report from the European Commission said that French law lacked minimum safeguards required by the European Union to protect deportees. The document from the European Union’s executive body, obtained by the International Herald Tribune, highlighted failings in France’s law and pointedly declined to endorse the French government’s actions, which have led to thousands of deportations.” (09/01/10) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/world/europe/02roma.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“While staying mentally active in old age has been linked to a delayed onset of dementia, seniors who engage in such brain ‘exercise’ may actually have a faster rate of decline once Alzheimer’s is diagnosed, researchers reported Wednesday. … mentally active older adults may develop dementia later than those who ‘exercise’ their brains less often. But once they do develop it, they are in a more extensive state of brain damage. That, at least, is ‘the working hypothesis,’ said Dr. Charles B. Hall, a researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.” (09/01/10) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38961742/ns/health-alzheimers_disease/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday ordered authorities to reopen a case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on charges of rape allegations, saying there was reason to believe a crime has been committed. The case was reopened just days after Swedish prosecutors initially charged Assange on rape and molestation charges but later dropped some charges after issuing a brief arrest warrant against him last month.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/28qbbsx | | Report Bad Link |
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“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned two recent Hamas attacks on Israelis in a speech at the White House Wednesday night. … [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu, who spoke before Abbas in an East Room event proceeding a dinner hosted by US President Barack Obama, said the recent attacks wouldn’t stop Israel from engaging in direct negotiations set to start Thursday.” (09/02/10) http://www.jpost.com/SpecialSection/Article.aspx?id=186773 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Iraq is preparing to buy as much as $13 billion in American arms and military equipment, a huge order of tanks, ships and hardware that U.S. officials say shows Iraqi-U.S. military ties will be tight for years to come. ‘It helps to build their capabilities, first and foremost; and second, it builds our strategic relationship for the future,’ said Army Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, the ranking U.S. officer responsible for training and advising Iraq forces.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/24a4c4z | | Report Bad Link |
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“James J. Lee, longtime critic of Discovery Communications, has died after being shot by police and the device he had with him detonated, Montgomery County Police said Wednesday evening. … Discovery Communications’s Silver Spring-Md. headquarters was evacuated at lunchtime Wednesday when Lee, a frequent protester of the company and aspiring environmental TV show producer walked into the lobby with what was believed to be an explosive device and a gun.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/2anbf6j | | Report Bad Link |
Commentary
News | Audio and Video | Events and Movement News
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“America’s military misadventure in Iraq comes to an end this week, with Tuesday’s official declaration of an end to combat operations and a handover of authority to the Iraqi government. It’s a strange end — neither victory nor defeat — to a war made all the stranger since it’s not entirely clear what’s ending here. … it’s also a clear demonstration of the fact that the Obama administration’s policy of disengagement has succeeded as spectacularly as the Bush administration’s policy of invasion failed. And it’s important to recall the scope of that failure. The war was initially framed primarily in terms of the need to halt an Iraqi nuclear-weapons program that didn’t exist.” (09/02/10) http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_wars_end | | Report Bad Link |
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“In the market for a used car? Good luck finding a bargain: The price of ‘pre-owned’ vehicles has climbed considerably over the past year. According to Edmunds.com, a website for car buyers, a three-year-old automobile today will set you back, on average, close to $20,000 — a spike of more than 10 percent since last summer. … Why are used-car prices rocketing? Part of the answer is that demand is up. … But an even bigger part of the answer is that the supply of used cars is artificially low, because your Uncle Sam decided last year to destroy hundreds of thousands of perfectly good automobiles as part of its hare-brained Car Allowance Rebate System — or, as most of us called it, Cash for Clunkers.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/2fm3x57 | | Report Bad Link |
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“As every Mafia don knows, even the slightest loss of control might lead to unraveling of the system of domination as others are encouraged to follow a similar path. Amid all the alleged threats to the world’s reigning superpower, one rival is quietly, forcefully emerging: China. And the U.S. is closely scrutinizing China’s intentions. On August 13, a Pentagon study expressed concern that China is expanding its military forces in ways that ‘could deny the ability of American warships to operate in international waters off the coast,’ Thom Shanker reports in The New York Times. Washington is alarmed that ‘China’s lack of openness about the growth, capabilities and intentions of its military injects instability to a vital region of the globe.’ The U.S., on the other hand, is quite open about its intention to operate freely throughout the ‘vital region of the globe’ surrounding China (as elsewhere).” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/2veka8y | | Report Bad Link |
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“Sitting at a sidewalk coffee shop a block from the White House, Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union, is reflecting on a series of visits he’s made since 2002 to China, where he has discussed organizing and collective bargaining with leaders of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). China’s economic transformation is a profound challenge to the United States, and to American workers in particular, Stern says. … Few would argue that the rise of China has world-altering significance. But across the American left there are sharp, sometimes acrimonious differences about what constitutes appropriate and principled responses to China’s emergence as a great power, and whether the country’s ascendance is promising or ominous.” (09/02/10) http://www.thenation.com/article/154484/china-drivers-seat | | Report Bad Link |
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“Liberals have become hysterical. Who can blame them? Just when things were going so well, their beloved leader has done the unthinkable — he has flopped. Not only has President Obama crashed in the polls, but he has managed to anger the right, the left and the center of the country, not an easy feat. Worse for the U.S., the policies that energized his followers have failed as well. An economy that was sending out ‘green shoots’ and accelerating a year ago has slowed before the anti-business invective and regulation-happy policies of the White House as surely as a race car dragging Mt. Rushmore in its wake.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/247wp97 | | Report Bad Link |
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Fundamental differences between progressives & conservatives, part 3
Our Future Blog by Terrance Heath “Remember the auto-bailout? Around beginning of June, and again in mid-August, we started seeing reports that it at last this bailout was starting to pay off. Particular attention given to GM’s turnaround: the first quarterly profit reported in almost three years, rising prices for the company’s cars, filing to once again sell shares publicly, and already producing returns on the government’s investment. Where U.S. manufacturing has lost nearly 175,000 jobs in the last two years, the U.S. auto parts and production sectors grew by 41,000 jobs to 704,000 between July 2009 and July 2010. No wonder president Obama, when he toured a GM factory in Detroit, touted the success of GM’s turnaround to vindicate government intervention to save U.S. automakers — and the jobs of auto-workers, as well as those in the parts, supply, and service sectors that depend on the auto-industry.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/2a9celz | | Report Bad Link |
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“When we think of human-rights problems, most of us imagine arbitrary arrests, political repression, religious persecution, torture, show trials, censorship, and the like. In America, we don’t often have those kinds of problems. Even the current controversy over an Islamic center near ground zero isn’t about the right to build there; it’s about the wisdom of doing so. All of which made it surprising to learn from the Obama State Department that America does indeed have human-rights problems.” (09/01/10) http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12107 | | Report Bad Link |
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“As President Obama gave a self-congratulatory speech about keeping his campaign promise to remove U.S. combat forces from Iraq by the end of August, he accomplished this feat by merely redefining the mission of the 50,000 combat-trained U.S. forces remaining there to ‘advising and assisting’ Iraqi forces. Of course, this really means that we are not out of the woods yet in that fractured and violence-prone country.” (09/01/10) http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2853 | | Report Bad Link |
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“If it were a crime to venture onto Capitol Hill to reveal yourself as a self-absorbed liar with an inability to admit mistakes, there would be tumbleweeds blowing through the vacant halls of Congress. Fortunately for members of the legislative branch, that is not a crime. Unless your name is Roger Clemens.” (09/02/10) http://reason.com/archives/2010/09/02/the-pointless-prosecution-of-r | | Report Bad Link |
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“A state appeals court ruled Tuesday that two gay men from Dallas who were married in Massachusetts may not get divorced, essentially binding them in marriage slavery unless the[y] return up north. The case against granting the divorce was argued by the Plano-based Liberty Institute, which recently helped to get charges dropped against a local activist harassed in Wautaga who was exercising free speech on so-called public property. It goes to show that even so-called liberty supporters are willing to concede their principle of ‘Responsible and limited Government’ for the sake of a higher-ordered religious belief.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/284u2lj | | Report Bad Link |
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“Are the masters of ‘drone porn’ committing war crimes by remote control? It’s a bit shocking that more people aren’t asking this question. I have a feeling that many of us, particularly liberal Obama supporters (like myself, for instance), haven’t wanted to look too closely at what is being done in his name, in our name, when these remote-controlled and often tragically inaccurate weapons of small-group slaughter incinerate innocents from the sky, in what are essentially video-game massacres in which real people die.” (087/31/10) http://www.slate.com/id/2265655/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“The middle of the road in American politics today is a sort of mushy libertarianism. Voters don’t want high taxes, don’t want lots of regulation, are tired of the wars and foreign interventionism, don’t trust politicians of any party, and aren’t particularly interested in imposing ‘Christian values’ on our largely secular society. This doesn’t mean there is a consistent libertarian streak by any means — just witness the ugly anti-immigration hysteria disgustingly pandered to even by some Libertarian Party candidates. This is why I refer to the middle as a mushy libertarianism. It is not consistent and it is not principled but it is there.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/2eexnv2 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Even in markets it is very tempting to treat all potential customers as if the same goods and services were proper for them all. Thus we have mass marketing of stuff that really can only benefit some people — a certain type of exercise, a back ache cure, or a headache remedy. The more this is understood, the more the notion starts to make sense that one person’s way of life could well be perfectly well suited for that person without this being an offense to others for whom it is not suitable. Yet the idea persists that everyone ought to worship alike or admire the same artists or fashion designer’s work. Here the temptation isn’t just a mistake but also a desperate hope since if one size does fit all, those who make that size will be able to cash in on this big time.” (08/31/10) http://tinyurl.com/396hvc8 | | Report Bad Link |
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“The Iraq war? Fuggedaboudit. ‘Now, it is time to turn the page.’ So advises the commander-in-chief at least. ‘[T]he bottom line is this,’ President Obama remarked last Saturday, ‘the war is ending.’ Alas, it’s not. Instead, the conflict is simply entering a new phase. And before we hasten to turn the page — something that the great majority of Americans are keen to do — common decency demands that we reflect on all that has occurred in bringing us to this moment.” (08/31/10) http://tinyurl.com/39mh66n | | Report Bad Link |
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“According to a commission set up by the Scottish Labour Party, in order to reduce alcohol consumption, a ‘floor price’ for alcohol should be introduced together with a levy on alcohol retailers. Its report also suggests a limit on the number of licences available for retailers and a halt to the sponsorship of sporting events. However, under scrutiny these suggestions may be ineffective.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/2err7pg | | Report Bad Link |
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“The implication, reinforced elsewhere in the piece, is that the Democrats did the right thing, just not enough of it. Their only mistake was not making the stimulus even bigger. If only they had spent even more and taxed even less, the economy wouldn’t be in such miserable shape. That is one possible interpretation of what happened. Another is that Romer is like a medieval physician explaining to the grieving relatives that if only he had bled the patient a few more times, he would have recovered.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/2g3x2cj | | Report Bad Link |
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“There are multiple conceptions of American creed equally consistent with American history. That’s why movements to glorify, elevate, and honor a particular conception of American identity based on a particular conception of the American creed necessarily marginalize equally or more historically plausible conceptions and therefore tend to suggest that citizens who favor those conceptions are less or even un-American. It seems pretty clear to me that this is exactly how the conservative politics of American identity works.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/3yuvy9b | | Report Bad Link |
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“Last month, in recognition of the program’s 75-year anniversary, the Social Security Administration put out a statement by President Obama declaring his administration’s dedication ‘to strengthening our retirement system’ and to preserving ‘this program’s original purpose in the 21st century.’ But what was the original purpose? Social Security was first devised not by Franklin Roosevelt, but by Prussia’s autocrat Otto von Bismarck, as a way to co-opt socialists, ensure the loyalty of the people to the regime, and finance militarism.” (09/02/10) http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38804 | | Report Bad Link |
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“The message of real promise, of peace and independence, will never emanate from an institution defined by aggression or from anyone who applauds what it does. Reduced to its essentials, market anarchism is the extension of the anti-war reasoning to all patterns of human interaction, tolerating force only as an act of defense. If individuals forswear hostile intervention in each other’s lives, whether next-door or across some line on a map, then a stateless society is the ineluctable result.” (09/01/10) http://c4ss.org/content/3840 | | Report Bad Link |
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“For most of my adult life I’ve tacitly or explicitly operated on a doctrine of ‘natural rights,’ and for about half that time the particular doctrine in question has been Objectivist …. Over time, though, I’ve often noticed Underpants Gnome problems (’Phase 1: Collect Underpants; Phase 2: ?; Phase 3: Profit!’) in implementation of ‘natural rights’ doctrines …” (09/01/10) http://knappster.blogspot.com/2010/09/lets-talk-about-rights.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“[S]ome people actually have the nerve to think that the project should be scaled down. They believe that doing more than building the east-end bridge right now is unacceptable. Dalby said they are delusional and not living in reality. As soon as I read that, I immediately sympathized because I’m called delusional all the time. Sure, it may be for completely different reasons, but still I know how they must have felt. Dalby doesn’t want to scale down to just an east-end bridge because he said it will do nothing for the transportation problems downtown. He is in full support of the project as is, which is nothing short of humongous, involving two brand new bridges and a total revamping of Spaghetti Junction. The cost estimate is staggering — more than $4 billion and counting. For that kind of money, it seems like we should be able to just part the river like Moses did with the Red Sea.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/2gyxubq | | Report Bad Link |
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An administration Keynesian speaks of failure, failure and failure (and an alternative examined)
Economic Policy Journal by Robert Wenzel “If ever there was an real world clue of the failure of Keynesian economics, it is this departing speech by [Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina] Romer. She admits that Administration economists (all Keynesians) missed forecasting the economic crisis and its severity, failed to implement policies that halted the downturn, and that the Administration has no clue what will happen next. It should be made clear that this was not a failure of economics, but of Keynesians economics.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/344tvc3 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Most of the hours we work, far from being required to produce the value we consume, go to feeding useless eaters or to the equivalent of digging holes just to fill them back in. The holders of artificial property rights are thereby able to protect themselves against competition from overly efficient production, and collect rents from artificial scarcity. The managers who control the economy, from the $50 million/year CEOs on down, are protected against the possibility of defection by people producing a major part of their needs in the informal sector, outside the control of bosses — escaping the plantation, so to speak.” (09/01/10) http://c4ss.org/content/3853 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Every time someone advocates passing a new ‘law’ to control non-coercive behavior they don’t like they are following the same pattern as this aggressor. Every time their actions or ‘laws’ injure a person who wasn’t even directly engaging in the offending behavior they are guilty of the same thing as this attacker. Every time someone thinks people should be punished for offending them they are copying this thug’s behavior to the letter.” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/2cjcu38 | | Report Bad Link |
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Interview with New York-based investment gurus Jeff Mosseri and Doug Loud. Mosseri: “We are paid by our clients to invest in small- and micro-cap stocks. We get very close to a company with a unique or very desirable product and that has recently had a problem or a corporate reorganization. We look for that problem to be solved by new management or with a new business plan. Then we look for an exciting growth picture over the next three years to five years, where we can make a lot of money for our clients. That takes us to mining because we believe that with the slow economy, the Fed will continue to print ad nauseam. The result of that will be that the precious metals, and probably all commodities, will benefit as a protection of buying power.” (09/02/10) http://tinyurl.com/24yctlh | | Report Bad Link |
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“While the reasons for protectionism may sound good on the surface — save the forests, higher wages, less competition to ensure jobs — it isn’t a good thing. If freedom is defined by the variety of choices, what protectionism does is limit those choices and impose an unofficial tax on consumers. They end up paying the cost of collusive action between government and special interests. So, each time your government announces that it is doing you the favor of limiting the imports of this commodity or that, based on ‘green’ concerns, hold on to your wallet.” (09/02/10) http://www.qando.net/?p=9325 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Not infrequently in Obama’s America, the conservative movement seems so on point, so focused on battling the federal government at home, so close to adopting Jeffersonianism or even Misesian radicalism, that we who love liberty are almost tempted to root for them and not just against our common enemy, the statist progressive left. But then, like clockwork, practically the entire rightwing is whipped back into a frenzy of bloodthirstiness, intolerance, and belligerent nationalist collectivism. Whether it’s illegal immigrants or Muslims, such scapegoats serve to distract conservatives from their supposed goal of shrinking the state. And the distraction is not a minor matter — it speaks directly to what modern conservatism is still all about.” (09/02/10) http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory200.html | | Report Bad Link |
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“This war, which has raged more or less continuously since 1990, is far from over. The reasons for its longevity — and for its likely extension into the distant future — may be found not on the ground in Iraq, but in the campaign headquarters of American politicians and the boardrooms of American profiteers who benefit from its continuation. The war on Iraq was never about ‘blood for oil,’ or at least not just that. It’s always been about blood for armored humvees, blood for ’smart’ bombs, blood for no-bid contracts to build and operate bases, blood for jobs (and votes) in your congresscritter’s district, blood for campaign contributions, blood for ever-expanding political power and for never-ending access to your wallet.” (09/01/10) http://c4ss.org/content/3844 | | Report Bad Link |
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“While I don’t doubt Melissa’s sincerity, I think what she misses here are the facts which seem to establish that that the conservative/libertarian ‘alliance’ is really just a marriage of temporary convenience. For better or worse, victory for conservatives means victory for Republicans. You can make distinctions between small-government fiscal conservatives and ‘Big Government Republicans’ all you want, but the truth of the matter is that conservatives cannot succeed unless the Republican Party as a whole succeeds, and that means allying with and often voting with ‘Big Government Republicans.’” (09/01/10) http://tinyurl.com/3adbse7 | | Report Bad Link |
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“What a blown opportunity! Glenn Beck gathered thousands of people at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday to urge a restoration of American honor — but not once did he mention the most egregious assault on America’s honor: militarism. It would have been a perfect time to call for dismantling the American empire, ending the bloody occupations and covert wars in Muslim lands, and terminating the gross violations of the rights of Americans and foreigners alike.” (09/01/10) http://www.fff.org/comment/com1009a.asp | | Report Bad Link |
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“At dinner last night with extended family, we discussed one person’s experience in New Zealand, a socialist country where most residents seem content with their government. I was informed that 96% of the population loves the country just the way it is. It’s fairly hard to immigrate there. The cops are actually nice to people. Health care — even dental work — is provided to all comers free of charge. And the income tax rate is about 50%.” (09/01/10) http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4782 | | Report Bad Link |
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“Abraham Lincoln referred to the ‘terrible arithmetic’ of war, meaning that sometimes a general or statesman would have to accept large numbers of casualties in fighting that would bring the conflict to an end and thereby save even more lives. … We Americans of the twenty-first century are now experiencing our own ‘terrible arithmetic,’ but an arithmetic that goes on and on without end. Worse, we are engaged in several conflicts that have nothing to do with national survival and did not have to be fought.” (09/03/10) http://tinyurl.com/2b8l38y | | Report Bad Link |
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“The carnage is not yet complete, and President Barack Obama’s attempt to put the best face on the ignominious US occupation of Iraq will not hide what he and the rest of the world well know. The lies that empowered George W. Bush to invade Iraq represent an enduring stain on the reputation of American democracy.” (09/01/10) http://www.thenation.com/article/154426/two-wars-dont-make-right | | Report Bad Link |
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Cartoon. [hat tip — Christian Science Monitor] (09/01/10) http://robertariail.com/2010/09/01/mission-its-complicated/ | | Report Bad Link |
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http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=homegrown_mujahideen | | Report Bad Link |
Audio and Video
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Interview with Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe of Freedom Works. [Flash video] (09/02/10) http://reason.com/blog/2010/09/02/reasontv-give-us-liberty | | Report Bad Link |
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“Lew Rockwell, founder and Chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, discusses how central banks print fiat money to pay for world wars that would otherwise be impossible to finance, the enormous resources at the U.S. government’s disposal to delay an economic reckoning, why WalMart is a net gain to society, the division between those who live off the state and those who support it (albeit unwillingly) and why more super-rich dynastic families are needed to compete for power with the state.” [Flash audio or MP3] (09/01/10) http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/09/01/lew-rockwell-10/ | | Report Bad Link |
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“Liberty on Tour Update :: Police Raining of Festival-Goers’ Parade :: Burning Man :: Cannabis Prohibition :: Federal Reserve :: Driver’s License Disobedience :: Finland’s Health Care System :: Lack of Incentive in Health Care :: Electrocuting Fish :: Internet Censorship.” [MP3] (09/01/10) http://traffic.libsyn.com/ftl/FTL2010-09-01.mp3 | | Report Bad Link |
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“A parenting update, asserting freedom when bullied by bosses, public sector pension disasters, self-knowledge versus religion, and Glenn Beck!” [MP3] (08/29/10) http://tinyurl.com/fdr1740 | | Report Bad Link |
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“FEE President, Lawrence W. Reed spoke to supporters attending an Evening at FEE in Irvington on August 7, 2010.” [MP3] (posted 08/10) http://fee.org/media/the-origin-nature-and-history-of-money/ | | 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 |
