05/21 -- Even worse than democracy; The state and capital: A love affair
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Thomas L. Knapp
May 21, 2012, 12:34:57 AM5/21/12
to Freedom News Daily
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Today's Freedom News:
1) IL: NATO protesters bloodied as Chicago police riot
2) Lebanon on edge as Syrian conflict spills over
3) Iraq: Two killed, eight wounded
4) Afghanistan: Regime claims 18 Taliban killed
5) Pakistan: Prison warden gunned down in Quetta
6) Serbia: Nationalist Nikolic wins presidential vote
7) Oil gains first day in seven; Goldman sees tighter market
8) Nasdaq to revamp system after tech problems on Facebook IPO
9) MS: Prison guard dies, others hurt in "disturbance"
10) FL: Half of high school students fail reading test
11) Canada: Quebec passes law to restrict protests, ban masks
12) AZ: Bennett seeks verification of Obama's birthplace
13) US baby boomers urged to take hep C blood test
14) O'Keefe's latest video debunked as fraud itself
15) Apple to use only green power for main data center
16) NY: Judge with cancer makes case for marijuana
17) Libya: Lockerbie bomber dies more than two years after release
18) Pakistan: Regime censors Twitter over cartoon contest
19) NAACP board votes in support of ending marriage apartheid
20) SpaceX launch aborted on pad
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Even worse than democracy
22) The state and capital: A love affair
23) What does Ron Paul want?
24) Brave New World, brave new majority
25) The terrible truth about the TSA
26) "Before I'll follow the law ..."
27) When is a contract not a contract?
28) Uncle Sam and state governments: Looting like pirates in the name
of fighting crimes
29) Border control moves inland
30) Romney, the Right & the bully economy
31) So you work as an elections clerk?
32) GOP not only ones to blame for polarization
33) Yes, we can walk and chew gum
34) Preying on the poor
35) Will Round Two knock out Greece?
36) FTC vs. Skechers: "Overhyped" meets overkill
37) What Air India tells us about state run and monopoly companies
38) How entitlements can perpetuate youth unemployment
39) The agorist stock market
40) Rochdale sex crimes -- are they a product of the Pakistani ghetto
or liberalism?
41) The rEVOLution after Paul
42) The poor and their time are soon parted
43) State has no place in marriage
44) Does Andrew Sullivan's Obamaphilia make sense?
45) Great American Bonuses for Parasites program
46) The bureaucratic Berlin Wall in Amerika
47) Occupy: Nucleus of the new society?
48) Ron Paul and the future
49) Legalized theft: Civil forfeiture
50) The case for a Romney-Paul ticket
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FREEDOM NEWS
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1) IL: NATO protesters bloodied as Chicago police riot
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
"Chicago Police in riot gear battled with angry 'Black Bloc'
protesters at Michigan and Cermak on Sunday, with officers raining
down baton blows, pushing taunting protesters back and leaving some
bloody. ... After an hour of pushing, yelling and aggressive crowd
control tactics, police pushed the block of protesters back about 50
yards. Although most of the pushing and shoving had subsided by 6
p.m., a protester could be seen being dragged away by
police." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KAOQrB
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2) Lebanon on edge as Syrian conflict spills over
Source: ABC Online [Australia]
"Two members of an anti-Assad group have been shot dead in Lebanon,
raising fears the turmoil in Syria is spilling over the border. Sheikh
Ahmed Abdul Wahid, a Sunni Muslim cleric, and Muhammed Hussein Miraib,
both members of the Lebanon-based March 14 political alliance, were
shot by Lebanese soldiers on Sunday. A security official said they
were shot in their car as it sped through a Lebanese army checkpoint
without stopping." (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/KAOukI
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3) Iraq: Two killed, eight wounded
Source: Antiwar.com
"A bomb in Tarmiya killed one civilian and wounded three others. In
Qadisiya a bomb killed one person. Two policemen were wounded in a
second bombing. A man and a woman were wounded when an I.E.D. exploded
in Rashad. A man was wounded in a drive-by shooting in
Kanaan." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KU8Acw
-----
4) Afghanistan: Regime claims 18 Taliban killed
Source: Jagran Post [India]
"At least 18 Taliban militants were killed and 23 arrested in a
countrywide operation in Afghanistan, the interior ministry said on
Sunday. Joint forces of police, Army and NATO troops launched nine
'cleanup operations' in Nuristan, Parwan, Baghlan, Badakhshan,
Kandahar, Helmand, logar, Ghazni and Khost provinces." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/Jv806l
-----
5) Pakistan: Prison warden gunned down in Quetta
Source: Pakistan Today [Pakistan]
"Police said that chief warden of the district prison, Imtiaz Ahmad,
was sprayed with bullets near his office when two miscreants riding on
motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire at him, inflicting critical
injuries on him. ... Imtiaz Ahmad instantly succumbed to his
injuries. ... Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) claimed responsibility for the
killing, telling local media: 'The slain warden was a cruel person and
used to subject our imprisoned leaders and workers to
torture.'" (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/Ljn1TV
-----
6) Serbia: Nationalist Nikolic wins presidential vote
Source: FRANCE 24 [France]
"Serbian political parties are expected to start negotiations on the
formation of a new government Monday after the surprise win of
nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in presidential polls. Nikolic upset the
odds to defeat incumbent Boris Tadic on Sunday but vowed to pursue his
predecessor's drive for the Balkans nation to join the European
Union." (05/20/12)
http://f24.my/KAMB7x
-----
7) Oil gains first day in seven; Goldman sees tighter market
Source: Bloomberg
"Oil rose for the first time in seven days after Goldman Sachs Group
Inc. said the balance between supply and demand of crude is tightening
and China's government pledged to boost the nation's economy. Futures
gained as much as 0.6 percent after falling to the lowest close in
almost seven months on May 18." (05/20/12)
http://bloom.bg/KAMj0B
-----
8) Nasdaq to revamp system after tech problems on Facebook IPO
Source: Reuters
"The Nasdaq is planning to revamp its systems for handling stock
offerings after acknowledging that technology problems had affected
trading in millions of newly issued Facebook (FB.O) shares on Friday,
the Wall Street Journal reported. Individual investors were left in
the dark for hours on Friday about whether their buy and sell orders
for Facebook shares had actually been executed, in the latest of a
series high-profile exchange glitches." (05/20/12)
http://reut.rs/KALEfF
-----
9) MS: Prison guard dies, others hurt in "disturbance"
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"A guard at a southwest Mississippi prison died Sunday and several
other employees were injured during a disturbance involving hundreds
of inmates that continued into the evening, authorities and the
prison's operator said. ... The company said the cause of disturbance
is pending investigation. The 2,567-bed prison houses adult male
criminal aliens for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the news release
said." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KAL9lG
-----
10) FL: Half of high school students fail reading test
Source: Yahoo! News
"Nearly half of Florida high school students failed the reading
portion of the state's new toughened standardized test, education
officials said on Friday.Results this year from the Florida
Comprehensive Assessment Test showed 52 percent of freshman students
and 50 percent of sophomores scored at their grade levels. ... The
results came days after the Florida State Board of Education voted to
lower the standards needed to pass the writing part of the test, known
as FCAT." (05/18/12)
http://yhoo.it/K1GR8j
-----
11) Canada: Quebec passes law to restrict protests, ban masks
Source: The Raw Story
"Authorities in Canada's Quebec province passed emergency measures
Friday to curb protest rights in a bid to restore order after months
of sometimes violent student demonstrations over tuition hikes. The
francophone province's assembly passed a law after a marathon two-day
session requiring groups of more than 10 people to inform police in
advance when they plan to hold a demonstration, and provide the
location, time and duration of the event." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/bwhm9sv
-----
12) AZ: Bennett seeks verification of Obama's birthplace
Source: Arizona Republic
"Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett says he's not a 'birther.' In
fact, he says, he believes President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.
Yet the state's No.2 elected official has waded into the highly
charged controversy, asking the island state to verify the president's
birthplace to ensure Obama can appear on Arizona's Nov.6 ballot. In
doing so, Bennett, who is co-chairman for Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney's Arizona campaign, has reignited the birther
debate coast to coast." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/83da884
-----
13) US baby boomers urged to take hep C blood test
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"US baby boomers have been advised by health officials for the first
time to get tested for the liver-destroying virus hepatitis C. Those
born between 1945-1965 are most likely to be infected but it is
thought only a quarter of this generation has been tested for the
virus. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) believes its campaign
could save more than 120,000 lives. The CDC estimates some 17,000
hepatitis C infections currently occur each year." (05/18/12)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18127654
-----
14) O'Keefe's latest video debunked as fraud itself
Source: The Raw Story
"Conservative provocateur James O'Keefe and his handlers promised to
'expose massive voter fraud' in his new video project, but according
to Think Progress, the one-time right wing media sensation's latest
blockbuster scoop is more of a bust. The video, another release from
O'Keefe's struggling nonprofit Project Veritas, showed alleged 'non-
citizens' voting in U.S. elections, but investigation has proven that
both men are legally entitled to vote." (05/19/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cuz4y4h
-----
15) Apple to use only green power for main data center
Source: Reuters
"Apple Inc plans to power its main U.S. data center entirely with
renewable energy by the end of this year, taking steps to address
longstanding environmental concerns about the rapid expansion of high-
consuming computer server farms. The maker of the iPhone and iPad said
on Thursday it was buying equipment from SunPower Corp and startup
Bloom Energy to build two solar array installations in and around
Maiden, North Carolina, near its core data center." (05/17/12)
http://reut.rs/Ljm3XE
-----
16) NY: Judge with cancer makes case for marijuana
Source: Newsday
"Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach, who is being treated
for pancreatic cancer, wrote in a New York Times article on Thursday
that he had been using marijuana provided by friends at 'great
personal risk' to help him cope with the nausea, sleeplessness and
loss of appetite from chemotherapy treatments. 'This is not a law-and-
order issue; it is a medical and a human rights issue,' wrote
Reichbach, 65, who has spent 21 years on the bench in Kings County
Supreme Court, and continues to hear cases even as he receives cancer
treatment." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/LjlgWP
-----
17) Libya: Lockerbie bomber dies more than two years after release
Source: CNN
"Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the only person convicted in
connection with the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, died
Sunday, the Libyan government and a family member said. He was 60. The
former intelligence officer, who had suffered from prostate cancer,
will be buried Monday, a foreign ministry spokesman said. ... His
death came more than two years after he was freed from a life sentence
in Scotland on the grounds that he was dying." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/LjjXa8
-----
18) Pakistan: Regime censors Twitter over cartoon contest
Source: New York Times
"The Pakistani government blocked access to the social networking
service Twitter on Sunday, after publicly holding Twitter responsible
for promoting a blasphemous cartoon contest taking place on Facebook,
officials said. ... 'The material was promoting a competition on
Facebook to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad,' said Mohammad
Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication's Authority, was
quoted as saying. He was also quoted as saying that Facebook had
agreed to allay the concerns of the Pakistani government." (05/20/12)
http://nyti.ms/LjiP6u
-----
19) NAACP board votes in support of ending marriage apartheid
Source: ABC News
"The NAACP made waves on Saturday evening when its board of directors
voted to support same-sex marriage, releasing a statement that 'civil
marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law' and citing the
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as a reason for backing
marriage equality." (05/20/12)
http://abcn.ws/Lji3GK
-----
20) SpaceX launch aborted on pad
Source: Business Week
"A U.S. mission to send the first unmanned commercial spacecraft to
the International Space Station was aborted with a half second left in
the countdown. Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s Falcon 9 rocket,
carrying the company's Dragon capsule, attempted to lift off at 4:55
a.m. yesterday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A computer detected an
engine pressure problem, grounding the rocket and delaying the flight
for a new attempt May 22." (05/20/12)
http://buswk.co/JI9VVL
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HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 05/21/12
Iraqi Deaths Due to US Invasion: 1,455,590
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/iraq)
US Deaths in Afghanistan: Bush 575, Obama 1296
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/obamavsbush)
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FREEDOM COMMENTARY
------------------------------------------------------------------
21) Even worse than democracy
Source: Independent Institute
by Anthony Gregory
"In practice, you cannot have true majority rule for everything. The
reason is obvious. Everyone would be voting all the time on all
matters, no matter how trivial. So who decides what is being voted on?
A democratic system cannot help but result in a power elite in
practice. Mass democracy must be filtered through some sort of legal
and political structure--and what results is essentially a ruling
oligarchy. Nor is the idea of a 'republic' as being distinct from a
'democracy' nearly as meaningful as is often assumed." (05/18/12)
http://blog.independent.org/2012/05/18/even-worse-than-democracy/
-----
22) The state and capital: A love affair
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by David D'Amato
"In American political dialogue, it's common to hear left-leaning
talking heads paint a picture of the 2008 financial crisis as the free
market gone awry. ... The 'End the Fed' crowd has had its own response
to the financial disaster, one that in the United States is associated
almost exclusively with a particular brand of right-wing populism. ...
What is seldom remarked upon is how well the right and left populist
narratives at play regarding the financial crisis fit together and
indeed strengthen one another." (05/20/12)
http://c4ss.org/content/10416
-----
23) What does Ron Paul want?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Justin Raimondo
"This is the question puzzling Paul's friends, as well as his
enemies." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/LjmgKg
-----
24) Brave New World, brave new majority
Source: CounterPuch
by Alex Cockburn
"A fascist regime is the sworn foe of the right to assembly,
'unauthorized' marches and encampments. We see this now more signs of
this around the NATO summit and will endure more of it at the national
conventions. America is a network of SWAT teams and kindred state-
employed thugs on permanent red alert. A fascist regime spies
obsessively on its citizens. Study US laws on secret surveillance
since the Patriot Act and you will find procedures that would have
been the envy of the East Germans." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/K9ZzeL
-----
25) The terrible truth about the TSA
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
"Most head-shaking coverage of the TSA focuses on headline-worthy feel-
ups of children and senior citizens, humiliating treatment of
travelers, theft of or damage to valuables by federal agents, and the
like. ... the inevitable comeback from the Feinsteins of the world is
that these are relatively minor and unavoidable tradeoffs for saved
lives and property. When you dig a little deeper, though, it's clear
that year after year, the Transportation Security Administration not
only engaged in these abuses, it has proven itself to be spectacularly
bad at implementing programs it rarely makes any effort to demonstrate
actually accomplish a damned thing." (05/17/12)
http://bit.ly/Ljju7R
-----
26) "Before I'll follow the law ..."
Source: La Bocca della Verita
by Gene Callahan
"'The law must contain no errors.' I sometimes see a position implying
this in posts by libertarians who claim that, say, they needn't follow
a law forbidding, say, speeding, because positive law should be a pure
expression of natural law, and whenever the positive law is not such,
it is morally acceptable to ignore it. But this just won't do, unless
one is an anarchist in the sense of 'I don't want any social order at
all.'" (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KALZ1S
-----
27) When is a contract not a contract?
Source: Delaware Libertarian
by Steve Newton
"This is another chapter in the hidden costs of accepting massive
Federal intrusion into local school districts. As with Christina
School District last year, it really doesn't matter whether or not the
State lives up to its part of the agreement, it only matters if the
teachers and school board members continue to do exactly what they are
told. So now Cape Henlopen teachers are being blamed for the loss of
4.5 teacher positions and $1.5 million in funding simply because they
exercised an option that had existed in the agreement with the State
from the start." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KALpRN
-----
28) Uncle Sam and state governments: Looting like pirates in the name
of fighting crimes
Source: Cafe Hayek
by Don Boudreaux
"Civil asset forfeiture, certainly as used today in the United States,
is a crime. A rather vile crime, at that. Read, for example, George
Will's column in today's Washington Post. Or this 2010 study by the
Institute for Justice (which Will links to in his column.) And yet
governments practice civil asset forfeiture routinely, mostly in the
name of fighting the misnamed 'war on drugs.'" (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KAKQqZ
-----
29) Border control moves inland
Source: Activist Post
by Joe Wright
"Once again the War on Drugs threatens the fundamental rights of
ordinary Americans. Despite protections afforded under the U.S.
Constitution, the federal DEA is trying to initiate a blanket sweep of
all license plates traveling along Interstate 15 in Utah, with the
intent to store the information in a centralized database." (05/19/12)
http://bit.ly/K1H8YT
-----
30) Romney, the Right & the bully economy
Source: Our Future
by Terrance Heath
"My first reaction to the now-famous Washington Post story of how an
18-year-old Mitt Romney bullied and assaulted a fellow student at the
prestigious Cranbrook School was personal. ... I was bullied for years
in middle school and high school, and have never forgotten the
experience. I understood the story and context viscerally, on a
personal level. But the personal is almost always political. The more
I thought about it, the more I saw the story in a political context;
and the parallels between Romney's prep-school bullying and the
politics, policies, and tactics of present-day conservatism became
clear." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/7aejwaq
-----
31) So you work as an elections clerk?
Source: Strike the Root
by Jim Davies
"Probably you also hold another job in your state or city government,
but at election time, you help administer the voting process. Once
every other year it's really busy, and once every four years, no doubt
it's like a zoo! But this is a task fundamental to our democracy, so
you take pride in doing it well. Nothing here suggests otherwise.
What, then, can possibly be 'dishonest' about it?" (05/18/12)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/so-you-work-as-elections-clerk
-----
32) GOP not only ones to blame for polarization
Source: The New Republic
by William Galston
"The working assumption of many political commentators in Washington
is that politics is more polarized than it has been in decades and
that it's the Republican Party's rightward drift that's to blame. The
evidence bears this out -- in part. But it also suggests a more
complex story. First, the electorate has polarized. Over the past two
decades, the public's ideological self-description has changed
significantly." [editor's note: Though I was hoping from the title
this "progressive" writer was gonna call the Donkeycrats to task here,
what he does say is also valid - SAT] (05/18/12)
-----
33) Yes, we can walk and chew gum
Source: In These Times
by David Sirota
"Our country's story is the story of multitasking: a tale of extending
the franchise to women while passing progressive legislation to deal
with crushing economic inequality, a tale of both passing civil rights
legislation and creating Medicare. One of the most overused metaphors
in a writer's arsenal is the one about 'walking and chewing gum at the
same time.' As a hiker and Big League Chew enthusiast, I particularly
hate this cliche. Nonetheless, I feel it is fitting right now because
it so perfectly summarizes the argument being made by Republicans.
They now insist that America cannot simultaneously walk the walk on
equal rights and also chew economic gum." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/8a95rde
-----
34) Preying on the poor
Source: The Nation
by Barbara Ehrenreich
"Individually the poor are not too tempting to thieves, for obvious
reasons. Mug a banker and you might score a wallet containing a
month's rent. Mug a janitor and you will be lucky to get away with bus
fare to flee the crime scene. But as Business Week helpfully pointed
out in 2007, the poor in aggregate provide a juicy target for anyone
depraved enough to make a business of stealing from them. The trick is
to rob them in ways that are systematic, impersonal and almost
impossible to trace to individual perpetrators. Employers, for
example, can simply program their computers to shave a few dollars off
each paycheck." (05/17/12)
http://www.thenation.com/article/167936/preying-poor
-----
35) Will Round Two knock out Greece?
Source: The American Prospect
by Yannis Palaiologos
"Consistent in its suicidal tendencies, the Greek political system
failed this week to come to an agreement on forming a coalition
government. The leaders of Greece's political parties--as we know from
the published minutes of the meetings with the President of the
Republic--showed themselves, with one or two dignified exceptions,
tragically unable to rise to the occasion. New elections have now been
called. The outcome on June 17, or even the mounting uncertainty of
the pre-election period itself, could spell the end of Greece's
membership of the euro." (05/18/12)
http://prospect.org/article/will-round-two-knock-out-greece
-----
36) FTC vs. Skechers: "Overhyped" meets overkill
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
by Debra J. Saunders
"The Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday that Skechers USA
Inc. will pay $40 million to settle charges that the company made
'unfounded claims' about its Shape-up shoes. 'Shape Up While You
Walk,' one ad proclaimed. And: 'Get in Shape without Setting Foot in a
Gym.' Kim Kardashian endorsed the rocker-bottom sneaks. She said they
worked so well she got rid of her personal trainer. The FTC found
Skechers' weight-loss and tone-up claims to be 'over
hyped.'" (05/20/12)
http://tinyurl.com/6lhmrpw
-----
37) What Air India tells us about state run and monopoly companies
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
"The temptation for any group of insiders is to make use of that
insiderdom to gain privileges. This is as true of CEOs as it is of
airline pilots, as true of politicians as it is of scribblers for
think tanks. It's simply human nature: when we talk about bureaucrats
we call it public choice economics and when we talk about everyone
else we call it the blindingly obvious." (05/19/12)
http://bit.ly/Jv8oBX
-----
38) How entitlements can perpetuate youth unemployment
Source: Cato Institute
by Jagadeesh Gokhale
"Persistently high postrecession unemployment is ravaging the economic
prospects of younger workers, delaying their skill development and
eroding their work ethic. Some pundits have argued for more government
spending on job training and infrastructure to speed the recovery of
the economy and labor market. But blaming the recession alone is
misguided. We must also address longer-term trends in education,
labor, and capital, largely due to government policies." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/Jv7eX8
-----
39) The agorist stock market
Source: Daily Anarchist
by Seth King
"As anarchists we should understand that our money is not safe or
ethical when invested in Wall Street. However, as capitalists we
understand that stock markets are a cornerstone of capital formation
and wealth creation. And as agorists we should be working tirelessly
to create alternative institutions. Therefore, we should be extremely
pleased that we now have our very first agorist stock
market!" (05/17/12)
http://dailyanarchist.com/2012/05/17/the-agorist-stock-market/
-----
40) Rochdale sex crimes -- are they a product of the Pakistani ghetto
or liberalism?
Source: Libertarian Alliance
by Yamin Zakaria
"For certain, had these men been white Anglo-Saxons, the media
coverage and the reaction would have been different; an isolated group
of criminals only, with no reference to their racial or cultural
identity. ... In contrast, based on the actions of the 9 culprits in
Rochdale, the media and certain politicians have been busy tarnishing
the Pakistani community, which is almost a million or more in the
UK." (05/17/12)
http://bit.ly/LjmAJg
-----
41) The rEVOLution after Paul
Source: The Liberty Papers
by Stephen Littau
"With Congressman Ron Paul's third presidential run and career coming
to an end, what will become of his rEVOLution he inspired? Prior to
the 2012 campaign, some suggested that former New Mexico Gov. Gary
Johnson would be the 'next' Ron Paul but with Johnson running as the
Libertarian Party nominee after being mistreated by the GOP
establishment in the primaries, it appears to me that that bridge has
been burned and will likely never be rebuilt. Johnson's activities in
furthering the liberty movement will be done outside the Republican
Party. The new heir apparent to lead the rEVOLution appears to be the
congressman's son Sen. Rand Paul." (05/19/12)
http://bit.ly/LjluwQ
-----
42) The poor and their time are soon parted
Source: Unqualified Offerings
by Thoreau
"Why do I bring this up? I bring it up because I read this article
about how the poor get trapped in a system that rains shit down on
them. No, I'm not here to offer the poor advice on how to find good
prices. They know far more about that than I do. Rather, I do this to
point out that good decision-making depends in part on having the time
and space to make a good decision, somethign that is harder if you are
caught in Catch-22 situations, things that pile one nasty consequence
after another onto the smallest of mistakes." (05/17/12)
http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2012/05/17/14626
-----
43) State has no place in marriage
Source: Clovis News Journal
by Kent McManigal
"No marriage needs government as one of the partners. If that were the
case, every marriage would be polygamous since it would include, at a
minimum, two individuals plus a government. Why beg for recognition
from the state?" (05/17/12)
http://bit.ly/LjjCUY
-----
44) Does Andrew Sullivan's Obamaphilia make sense?
Source: The Moral Sciences Club
by Will Wilkinson
"Andrew's heartfelt loving admiration seems to me to immunize his
censure of Obama's manifold crimes against suspicion of low
ideological opportunism. Andrew loves Obama. Apparently it does really
pain him that Obama has not able to find the courage to, say, oppose
the extrajudicial assassination of American citizens. (Just think of
the poor man's sleepless nights!) I don't see this as a higher form of
concern trolling so much as the pure form of rhetorical entreaty which
the concern troll mimics in bad faith." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/Ljipx5
-----
45) Great American Bonuses for Parasites program
Source: Authority!
by Timothy J Taylor
"A new database compiled by The Asbury Park Press via a Freedom of
Information Act request, reveals that federal workers, many of whom
are nothing short of parasites, in the United States government are
raking in $billions in salaries and $millions in bonuses on top of
that while the private sector suffers through the worst economic
meltdown since the great depression." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/LjialD
-----
46) The bureaucratic Berlin Wall in Amerika
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Scott Lazarowitz
"People are trying to escape now from this Prison State. The wealthy
ones are lucky if they actually can get out. But many of us do not
have the wealth and can't afford any big moves, or some people have
medical issues which make a big move impossible. So, many of us will
have to suffer in the near future because these bureaucrats in
Washington are turning America into a Nazi-Soviet concentration camp.
The truth is, no one should have his citizenship renounced or revoked
more than these covetous, clinging senators." (05/19/12)
http://lewrockwell.com/lazarowitz/lazarowitz46.1.html
-----
47) Occupy: Nucleus of the new society?
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"The beauty of Occupy is that its module/platform architecture, and
its openness to anyone who wants to create a new node for their own
purposes, make it an ideal laboratory for experimentation in
revolutionary praxis. Any local node is free to try out new ways of
doing things, and to share its experience with others; the new
techniques are freely available to any other node in the network that
finds them useful. No permission, no administrative coordination to
make sure everybody's on the same page, is needed at any step in the
process. It's the same kind of stigmergic platform as Wikipedia, a
Linux developer group ... or Al Qaeda Iraq." (05/17/12)
http://c4ss.org/content/10402
-----
48) Ron Paul and the future
Source: Liberty Unbound
by Bruce Ramsey
"What was the point of the Paul campaign? To put Ron Paul in the White
House? That was never possible. In public, Paul had to pretend that it
was, because those are the American rules, and his supporters have
been pretending it even harder. But it was a fairy tale. Ron Paul's
purpose has been to advance the cause of liberty, sound money, and a
non-imperial foreign policy." (05/17/12)
http://www.libertyunbound.com/node/808
-----
49) Legalized theft: Civil forfeiture
Source: QandO
by Bruce McQuain
"I want you to read carefully the arrogance implicit in the 'law' that
these sorts of forfeitures represent. A more convoluted and outrageous
example of the tyranny of the law I can't imagine (although I'm sure
there are many) ..." (05/17/12)
http://www.qando.net/?p=13046
-----
50) The case for a Romney-Paul ticket
Source: Reason
by A. Barton Hinkle
"Picking Paul as his running mate would enable Romney to draft the
Texas congressman's revolutionary army -- or at least a good portion
of it. It also would give the ticket something else it has lacked up
to this point: spine. Romney is notorious for changing his positions
on the issues. Paul is widely admired for sticking to his (mostly)
libertarian principles." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/LjlLjr
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Today's Freedom News:
1) IL: NATO protesters bloodied as Chicago police riot
2) Lebanon on edge as Syrian conflict spills over
3) Iraq: Two killed, eight wounded
4) Afghanistan: Regime claims 18 Taliban killed
5) Pakistan: Prison warden gunned down in Quetta
6) Serbia: Nationalist Nikolic wins presidential vote
7) Oil gains first day in seven; Goldman sees tighter market
8) Nasdaq to revamp system after tech problems on Facebook IPO
9) MS: Prison guard dies, others hurt in "disturbance"
10) FL: Half of high school students fail reading test
11) Canada: Quebec passes law to restrict protests, ban masks
12) AZ: Bennett seeks verification of Obama's birthplace
13) US baby boomers urged to take hep C blood test
14) O'Keefe's latest video debunked as fraud itself
15) Apple to use only green power for main data center
16) NY: Judge with cancer makes case for marijuana
17) Libya: Lockerbie bomber dies more than two years after release
18) Pakistan: Regime censors Twitter over cartoon contest
19) NAACP board votes in support of ending marriage apartheid
20) SpaceX launch aborted on pad
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Even worse than democracy
22) The state and capital: A love affair
23) What does Ron Paul want?
24) Brave New World, brave new majority
25) The terrible truth about the TSA
26) "Before I'll follow the law ..."
27) When is a contract not a contract?
28) Uncle Sam and state governments: Looting like pirates in the name
of fighting crimes
29) Border control moves inland
30) Romney, the Right & the bully economy
31) So you work as an elections clerk?
32) GOP not only ones to blame for polarization
33) Yes, we can walk and chew gum
34) Preying on the poor
35) Will Round Two knock out Greece?
36) FTC vs. Skechers: "Overhyped" meets overkill
37) What Air India tells us about state run and monopoly companies
38) How entitlements can perpetuate youth unemployment
39) The agorist stock market
40) Rochdale sex crimes -- are they a product of the Pakistani ghetto
or liberalism?
41) The rEVOLution after Paul
42) The poor and their time are soon parted
43) State has no place in marriage
44) Does Andrew Sullivan's Obamaphilia make sense?
45) Great American Bonuses for Parasites program
46) The bureaucratic Berlin Wall in Amerika
47) Occupy: Nucleus of the new society?
48) Ron Paul and the future
49) Legalized theft: Civil forfeiture
50) The case for a Romney-Paul ticket
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM NEWS
------------------------------------------------------------------
1) IL: NATO protesters bloodied as Chicago police riot
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
"Chicago Police in riot gear battled with angry 'Black Bloc'
protesters at Michigan and Cermak on Sunday, with officers raining
down baton blows, pushing taunting protesters back and leaving some
bloody. ... After an hour of pushing, yelling and aggressive crowd
control tactics, police pushed the block of protesters back about 50
yards. Although most of the pushing and shoving had subsided by 6
p.m., a protester could be seen being dragged away by
police." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KAOQrB
-----
2) Lebanon on edge as Syrian conflict spills over
Source: ABC Online [Australia]
"Two members of an anti-Assad group have been shot dead in Lebanon,
raising fears the turmoil in Syria is spilling over the border. Sheikh
Ahmed Abdul Wahid, a Sunni Muslim cleric, and Muhammed Hussein Miraib,
both members of the Lebanon-based March 14 political alliance, were
shot by Lebanese soldiers on Sunday. A security official said they
were shot in their car as it sped through a Lebanese army checkpoint
without stopping." (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/KAOukI
-----
3) Iraq: Two killed, eight wounded
Source: Antiwar.com
"A bomb in Tarmiya killed one civilian and wounded three others. In
Qadisiya a bomb killed one person. Two policemen were wounded in a
second bombing. A man and a woman were wounded when an I.E.D. exploded
in Rashad. A man was wounded in a drive-by shooting in
Kanaan." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KU8Acw
-----
4) Afghanistan: Regime claims 18 Taliban killed
Source: Jagran Post [India]
"At least 18 Taliban militants were killed and 23 arrested in a
countrywide operation in Afghanistan, the interior ministry said on
Sunday. Joint forces of police, Army and NATO troops launched nine
'cleanup operations' in Nuristan, Parwan, Baghlan, Badakhshan,
Kandahar, Helmand, logar, Ghazni and Khost provinces." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/Jv806l
-----
5) Pakistan: Prison warden gunned down in Quetta
Source: Pakistan Today [Pakistan]
"Police said that chief warden of the district prison, Imtiaz Ahmad,
was sprayed with bullets near his office when two miscreants riding on
motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire at him, inflicting critical
injuries on him. ... Imtiaz Ahmad instantly succumbed to his
injuries. ... Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) claimed responsibility for the
killing, telling local media: 'The slain warden was a cruel person and
used to subject our imprisoned leaders and workers to
torture.'" (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/Ljn1TV
-----
6) Serbia: Nationalist Nikolic wins presidential vote
Source: FRANCE 24 [France]
"Serbian political parties are expected to start negotiations on the
formation of a new government Monday after the surprise win of
nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in presidential polls. Nikolic upset the
odds to defeat incumbent Boris Tadic on Sunday but vowed to pursue his
predecessor's drive for the Balkans nation to join the European
Union." (05/20/12)
http://f24.my/KAMB7x
-----
7) Oil gains first day in seven; Goldman sees tighter market
Source: Bloomberg
"Oil rose for the first time in seven days after Goldman Sachs Group
Inc. said the balance between supply and demand of crude is tightening
and China's government pledged to boost the nation's economy. Futures
gained as much as 0.6 percent after falling to the lowest close in
almost seven months on May 18." (05/20/12)
http://bloom.bg/KAMj0B
-----
8) Nasdaq to revamp system after tech problems on Facebook IPO
Source: Reuters
"The Nasdaq is planning to revamp its systems for handling stock
offerings after acknowledging that technology problems had affected
trading in millions of newly issued Facebook (FB.O) shares on Friday,
the Wall Street Journal reported. Individual investors were left in
the dark for hours on Friday about whether their buy and sell orders
for Facebook shares had actually been executed, in the latest of a
series high-profile exchange glitches." (05/20/12)
http://reut.rs/KALEfF
-----
9) MS: Prison guard dies, others hurt in "disturbance"
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"A guard at a southwest Mississippi prison died Sunday and several
other employees were injured during a disturbance involving hundreds
of inmates that continued into the evening, authorities and the
prison's operator said. ... The company said the cause of disturbance
is pending investigation. The 2,567-bed prison houses adult male
criminal aliens for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the news release
said." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KAL9lG
-----
10) FL: Half of high school students fail reading test
Source: Yahoo! News
"Nearly half of Florida high school students failed the reading
portion of the state's new toughened standardized test, education
officials said on Friday.Results this year from the Florida
Comprehensive Assessment Test showed 52 percent of freshman students
and 50 percent of sophomores scored at their grade levels. ... The
results came days after the Florida State Board of Education voted to
lower the standards needed to pass the writing part of the test, known
as FCAT." (05/18/12)
http://yhoo.it/K1GR8j
-----
11) Canada: Quebec passes law to restrict protests, ban masks
Source: The Raw Story
"Authorities in Canada's Quebec province passed emergency measures
Friday to curb protest rights in a bid to restore order after months
of sometimes violent student demonstrations over tuition hikes. The
francophone province's assembly passed a law after a marathon two-day
session requiring groups of more than 10 people to inform police in
advance when they plan to hold a demonstration, and provide the
location, time and duration of the event." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/bwhm9sv
-----
12) AZ: Bennett seeks verification of Obama's birthplace
Source: Arizona Republic
"Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett says he's not a 'birther.' In
fact, he says, he believes President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.
Yet the state's No.2 elected official has waded into the highly
charged controversy, asking the island state to verify the president's
birthplace to ensure Obama can appear on Arizona's Nov.6 ballot. In
doing so, Bennett, who is co-chairman for Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney's Arizona campaign, has reignited the birther
debate coast to coast." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/83da884
-----
13) US baby boomers urged to take hep C blood test
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"US baby boomers have been advised by health officials for the first
time to get tested for the liver-destroying virus hepatitis C. Those
born between 1945-1965 are most likely to be infected but it is
thought only a quarter of this generation has been tested for the
virus. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) believes its campaign
could save more than 120,000 lives. The CDC estimates some 17,000
hepatitis C infections currently occur each year." (05/18/12)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18127654
-----
14) O'Keefe's latest video debunked as fraud itself
Source: The Raw Story
"Conservative provocateur James O'Keefe and his handlers promised to
'expose massive voter fraud' in his new video project, but according
to Think Progress, the one-time right wing media sensation's latest
blockbuster scoop is more of a bust. The video, another release from
O'Keefe's struggling nonprofit Project Veritas, showed alleged 'non-
citizens' voting in U.S. elections, but investigation has proven that
both men are legally entitled to vote." (05/19/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cuz4y4h
-----
15) Apple to use only green power for main data center
Source: Reuters
"Apple Inc plans to power its main U.S. data center entirely with
renewable energy by the end of this year, taking steps to address
longstanding environmental concerns about the rapid expansion of high-
consuming computer server farms. The maker of the iPhone and iPad said
on Thursday it was buying equipment from SunPower Corp and startup
Bloom Energy to build two solar array installations in and around
Maiden, North Carolina, near its core data center." (05/17/12)
http://reut.rs/Ljm3XE
-----
16) NY: Judge with cancer makes case for marijuana
Source: Newsday
"Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach, who is being treated
for pancreatic cancer, wrote in a New York Times article on Thursday
that he had been using marijuana provided by friends at 'great
personal risk' to help him cope with the nausea, sleeplessness and
loss of appetite from chemotherapy treatments. 'This is not a law-and-
order issue; it is a medical and a human rights issue,' wrote
Reichbach, 65, who has spent 21 years on the bench in Kings County
Supreme Court, and continues to hear cases even as he receives cancer
treatment." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/LjlgWP
-----
17) Libya: Lockerbie bomber dies more than two years after release
Source: CNN
"Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the only person convicted in
connection with the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, died
Sunday, the Libyan government and a family member said. He was 60. The
former intelligence officer, who had suffered from prostate cancer,
will be buried Monday, a foreign ministry spokesman said. ... His
death came more than two years after he was freed from a life sentence
in Scotland on the grounds that he was dying." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/LjjXa8
-----
18) Pakistan: Regime censors Twitter over cartoon contest
Source: New York Times
"The Pakistani government blocked access to the social networking
service Twitter on Sunday, after publicly holding Twitter responsible
for promoting a blasphemous cartoon contest taking place on Facebook,
officials said. ... 'The material was promoting a competition on
Facebook to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad,' said Mohammad
Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication's Authority, was
quoted as saying. He was also quoted as saying that Facebook had
agreed to allay the concerns of the Pakistani government." (05/20/12)
http://nyti.ms/LjiP6u
-----
19) NAACP board votes in support of ending marriage apartheid
Source: ABC News
"The NAACP made waves on Saturday evening when its board of directors
voted to support same-sex marriage, releasing a statement that 'civil
marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law' and citing the
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as a reason for backing
marriage equality." (05/20/12)
http://abcn.ws/Lji3GK
-----
20) SpaceX launch aborted on pad
Source: Business Week
"A U.S. mission to send the first unmanned commercial spacecraft to
the International Space Station was aborted with a half second left in
the countdown. Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s Falcon 9 rocket,
carrying the company's Dragon capsule, attempted to lift off at 4:55
a.m. yesterday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A computer detected an
engine pressure problem, grounding the rocket and delaying the flight
for a new attempt May 22." (05/20/12)
http://buswk.co/JI9VVL
------------------------------------------------------------------
HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 05/21/12
Iraqi Deaths Due to US Invasion: 1,455,590
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/iraq)
US Deaths in Afghanistan: Bush 575, Obama 1296
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/obamavsbush)
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM COMMENTARY
------------------------------------------------------------------
21) Even worse than democracy
Source: Independent Institute
by Anthony Gregory
"In practice, you cannot have true majority rule for everything. The
reason is obvious. Everyone would be voting all the time on all
matters, no matter how trivial. So who decides what is being voted on?
A democratic system cannot help but result in a power elite in
practice. Mass democracy must be filtered through some sort of legal
and political structure--and what results is essentially a ruling
oligarchy. Nor is the idea of a 'republic' as being distinct from a
'democracy' nearly as meaningful as is often assumed." (05/18/12)
http://blog.independent.org/2012/05/18/even-worse-than-democracy/
-----
22) The state and capital: A love affair
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by David D'Amato
"In American political dialogue, it's common to hear left-leaning
talking heads paint a picture of the 2008 financial crisis as the free
market gone awry. ... The 'End the Fed' crowd has had its own response
to the financial disaster, one that in the United States is associated
almost exclusively with a particular brand of right-wing populism. ...
What is seldom remarked upon is how well the right and left populist
narratives at play regarding the financial crisis fit together and
indeed strengthen one another." (05/20/12)
http://c4ss.org/content/10416
-----
23) What does Ron Paul want?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Justin Raimondo
"This is the question puzzling Paul's friends, as well as his
enemies." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/LjmgKg
-----
24) Brave New World, brave new majority
Source: CounterPuch
by Alex Cockburn
"A fascist regime is the sworn foe of the right to assembly,
'unauthorized' marches and encampments. We see this now more signs of
this around the NATO summit and will endure more of it at the national
conventions. America is a network of SWAT teams and kindred state-
employed thugs on permanent red alert. A fascist regime spies
obsessively on its citizens. Study US laws on secret surveillance
since the Patriot Act and you will find procedures that would have
been the envy of the East Germans." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/K9ZzeL
-----
25) The terrible truth about the TSA
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
"Most head-shaking coverage of the TSA focuses on headline-worthy feel-
ups of children and senior citizens, humiliating treatment of
travelers, theft of or damage to valuables by federal agents, and the
like. ... the inevitable comeback from the Feinsteins of the world is
that these are relatively minor and unavoidable tradeoffs for saved
lives and property. When you dig a little deeper, though, it's clear
that year after year, the Transportation Security Administration not
only engaged in these abuses, it has proven itself to be spectacularly
bad at implementing programs it rarely makes any effort to demonstrate
actually accomplish a damned thing." (05/17/12)
http://bit.ly/Ljju7R
-----
26) "Before I'll follow the law ..."
Source: La Bocca della Verita
by Gene Callahan
"'The law must contain no errors.' I sometimes see a position implying
this in posts by libertarians who claim that, say, they needn't follow
a law forbidding, say, speeding, because positive law should be a pure
expression of natural law, and whenever the positive law is not such,
it is morally acceptable to ignore it. But this just won't do, unless
one is an anarchist in the sense of 'I don't want any social order at
all.'" (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KALZ1S
-----
27) When is a contract not a contract?
Source: Delaware Libertarian
by Steve Newton
"This is another chapter in the hidden costs of accepting massive
Federal intrusion into local school districts. As with Christina
School District last year, it really doesn't matter whether or not the
State lives up to its part of the agreement, it only matters if the
teachers and school board members continue to do exactly what they are
told. So now Cape Henlopen teachers are being blamed for the loss of
4.5 teacher positions and $1.5 million in funding simply because they
exercised an option that had existed in the agreement with the State
from the start." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KALpRN
-----
28) Uncle Sam and state governments: Looting like pirates in the name
of fighting crimes
Source: Cafe Hayek
by Don Boudreaux
"Civil asset forfeiture, certainly as used today in the United States,
is a crime. A rather vile crime, at that. Read, for example, George
Will's column in today's Washington Post. Or this 2010 study by the
Institute for Justice (which Will links to in his column.) And yet
governments practice civil asset forfeiture routinely, mostly in the
name of fighting the misnamed 'war on drugs.'" (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/KAKQqZ
-----
29) Border control moves inland
Source: Activist Post
by Joe Wright
"Once again the War on Drugs threatens the fundamental rights of
ordinary Americans. Despite protections afforded under the U.S.
Constitution, the federal DEA is trying to initiate a blanket sweep of
all license plates traveling along Interstate 15 in Utah, with the
intent to store the information in a centralized database." (05/19/12)
http://bit.ly/K1H8YT
-----
30) Romney, the Right & the bully economy
Source: Our Future
by Terrance Heath
"My first reaction to the now-famous Washington Post story of how an
18-year-old Mitt Romney bullied and assaulted a fellow student at the
prestigious Cranbrook School was personal. ... I was bullied for years
in middle school and high school, and have never forgotten the
experience. I understood the story and context viscerally, on a
personal level. But the personal is almost always political. The more
I thought about it, the more I saw the story in a political context;
and the parallels between Romney's prep-school bullying and the
politics, policies, and tactics of present-day conservatism became
clear." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/7aejwaq
-----
31) So you work as an elections clerk?
Source: Strike the Root
by Jim Davies
"Probably you also hold another job in your state or city government,
but at election time, you help administer the voting process. Once
every other year it's really busy, and once every four years, no doubt
it's like a zoo! But this is a task fundamental to our democracy, so
you take pride in doing it well. Nothing here suggests otherwise.
What, then, can possibly be 'dishonest' about it?" (05/18/12)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/so-you-work-as-elections-clerk
-----
32) GOP not only ones to blame for polarization
Source: The New Republic
by William Galston
"The working assumption of many political commentators in Washington
is that politics is more polarized than it has been in decades and
that it's the Republican Party's rightward drift that's to blame. The
evidence bears this out -- in part. But it also suggests a more
complex story. First, the electorate has polarized. Over the past two
decades, the public's ideological self-description has changed
significantly." [editor's note: Though I was hoping from the title
this "progressive" writer was gonna call the Donkeycrats to task here,
what he does say is also valid - SAT] (05/18/12)
-----
33) Yes, we can walk and chew gum
Source: In These Times
by David Sirota
"Our country's story is the story of multitasking: a tale of extending
the franchise to women while passing progressive legislation to deal
with crushing economic inequality, a tale of both passing civil rights
legislation and creating Medicare. One of the most overused metaphors
in a writer's arsenal is the one about 'walking and chewing gum at the
same time.' As a hiker and Big League Chew enthusiast, I particularly
hate this cliche. Nonetheless, I feel it is fitting right now because
it so perfectly summarizes the argument being made by Republicans.
They now insist that America cannot simultaneously walk the walk on
equal rights and also chew economic gum." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/8a95rde
-----
34) Preying on the poor
Source: The Nation
by Barbara Ehrenreich
"Individually the poor are not too tempting to thieves, for obvious
reasons. Mug a banker and you might score a wallet containing a
month's rent. Mug a janitor and you will be lucky to get away with bus
fare to flee the crime scene. But as Business Week helpfully pointed
out in 2007, the poor in aggregate provide a juicy target for anyone
depraved enough to make a business of stealing from them. The trick is
to rob them in ways that are systematic, impersonal and almost
impossible to trace to individual perpetrators. Employers, for
example, can simply program their computers to shave a few dollars off
each paycheck." (05/17/12)
http://www.thenation.com/article/167936/preying-poor
-----
35) Will Round Two knock out Greece?
Source: The American Prospect
by Yannis Palaiologos
"Consistent in its suicidal tendencies, the Greek political system
failed this week to come to an agreement on forming a coalition
government. The leaders of Greece's political parties--as we know from
the published minutes of the meetings with the President of the
Republic--showed themselves, with one or two dignified exceptions,
tragically unable to rise to the occasion. New elections have now been
called. The outcome on June 17, or even the mounting uncertainty of
the pre-election period itself, could spell the end of Greece's
membership of the euro." (05/18/12)
http://prospect.org/article/will-round-two-knock-out-greece
-----
36) FTC vs. Skechers: "Overhyped" meets overkill
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
by Debra J. Saunders
"The Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday that Skechers USA
Inc. will pay $40 million to settle charges that the company made
'unfounded claims' about its Shape-up shoes. 'Shape Up While You
Walk,' one ad proclaimed. And: 'Get in Shape without Setting Foot in a
Gym.' Kim Kardashian endorsed the rocker-bottom sneaks. She said they
worked so well she got rid of her personal trainer. The FTC found
Skechers' weight-loss and tone-up claims to be 'over
hyped.'" (05/20/12)
http://tinyurl.com/6lhmrpw
-----
37) What Air India tells us about state run and monopoly companies
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
"The temptation for any group of insiders is to make use of that
insiderdom to gain privileges. This is as true of CEOs as it is of
airline pilots, as true of politicians as it is of scribblers for
think tanks. It's simply human nature: when we talk about bureaucrats
we call it public choice economics and when we talk about everyone
else we call it the blindingly obvious." (05/19/12)
http://bit.ly/Jv8oBX
-----
38) How entitlements can perpetuate youth unemployment
Source: Cato Institute
by Jagadeesh Gokhale
"Persistently high postrecession unemployment is ravaging the economic
prospects of younger workers, delaying their skill development and
eroding their work ethic. Some pundits have argued for more government
spending on job training and infrastructure to speed the recovery of
the economy and labor market. But blaming the recession alone is
misguided. We must also address longer-term trends in education,
labor, and capital, largely due to government policies." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/Jv7eX8
-----
39) The agorist stock market
Source: Daily Anarchist
by Seth King
"As anarchists we should understand that our money is not safe or
ethical when invested in Wall Street. However, as capitalists we
understand that stock markets are a cornerstone of capital formation
and wealth creation. And as agorists we should be working tirelessly
to create alternative institutions. Therefore, we should be extremely
pleased that we now have our very first agorist stock
market!" (05/17/12)
http://dailyanarchist.com/2012/05/17/the-agorist-stock-market/
-----
40) Rochdale sex crimes -- are they a product of the Pakistani ghetto
or liberalism?
Source: Libertarian Alliance
by Yamin Zakaria
"For certain, had these men been white Anglo-Saxons, the media
coverage and the reaction would have been different; an isolated group
of criminals only, with no reference to their racial or cultural
identity. ... In contrast, based on the actions of the 9 culprits in
Rochdale, the media and certain politicians have been busy tarnishing
the Pakistani community, which is almost a million or more in the
UK." (05/17/12)
http://bit.ly/LjmAJg
-----
41) The rEVOLution after Paul
Source: The Liberty Papers
by Stephen Littau
"With Congressman Ron Paul's third presidential run and career coming
to an end, what will become of his rEVOLution he inspired? Prior to
the 2012 campaign, some suggested that former New Mexico Gov. Gary
Johnson would be the 'next' Ron Paul but with Johnson running as the
Libertarian Party nominee after being mistreated by the GOP
establishment in the primaries, it appears to me that that bridge has
been burned and will likely never be rebuilt. Johnson's activities in
furthering the liberty movement will be done outside the Republican
Party. The new heir apparent to lead the rEVOLution appears to be the
congressman's son Sen. Rand Paul." (05/19/12)
http://bit.ly/LjluwQ
-----
42) The poor and their time are soon parted
Source: Unqualified Offerings
by Thoreau
"Why do I bring this up? I bring it up because I read this article
about how the poor get trapped in a system that rains shit down on
them. No, I'm not here to offer the poor advice on how to find good
prices. They know far more about that than I do. Rather, I do this to
point out that good decision-making depends in part on having the time
and space to make a good decision, somethign that is harder if you are
caught in Catch-22 situations, things that pile one nasty consequence
after another onto the smallest of mistakes." (05/17/12)
http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2012/05/17/14626
-----
43) State has no place in marriage
Source: Clovis News Journal
by Kent McManigal
"No marriage needs government as one of the partners. If that were the
case, every marriage would be polygamous since it would include, at a
minimum, two individuals plus a government. Why beg for recognition
from the state?" (05/17/12)
http://bit.ly/LjjCUY
-----
44) Does Andrew Sullivan's Obamaphilia make sense?
Source: The Moral Sciences Club
by Will Wilkinson
"Andrew's heartfelt loving admiration seems to me to immunize his
censure of Obama's manifold crimes against suspicion of low
ideological opportunism. Andrew loves Obama. Apparently it does really
pain him that Obama has not able to find the courage to, say, oppose
the extrajudicial assassination of American citizens. (Just think of
the poor man's sleepless nights!) I don't see this as a higher form of
concern trolling so much as the pure form of rhetorical entreaty which
the concern troll mimics in bad faith." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/Ljipx5
-----
45) Great American Bonuses for Parasites program
Source: Authority!
by Timothy J Taylor
"A new database compiled by The Asbury Park Press via a Freedom of
Information Act request, reveals that federal workers, many of whom
are nothing short of parasites, in the United States government are
raking in $billions in salaries and $millions in bonuses on top of
that while the private sector suffers through the worst economic
meltdown since the great depression." (05/20/12)
http://bit.ly/LjialD
-----
46) The bureaucratic Berlin Wall in Amerika
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Scott Lazarowitz
"People are trying to escape now from this Prison State. The wealthy
ones are lucky if they actually can get out. But many of us do not
have the wealth and can't afford any big moves, or some people have
medical issues which make a big move impossible. So, many of us will
have to suffer in the near future because these bureaucrats in
Washington are turning America into a Nazi-Soviet concentration camp.
The truth is, no one should have his citizenship renounced or revoked
more than these covetous, clinging senators." (05/19/12)
http://lewrockwell.com/lazarowitz/lazarowitz46.1.html
-----
47) Occupy: Nucleus of the new society?
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"The beauty of Occupy is that its module/platform architecture, and
its openness to anyone who wants to create a new node for their own
purposes, make it an ideal laboratory for experimentation in
revolutionary praxis. Any local node is free to try out new ways of
doing things, and to share its experience with others; the new
techniques are freely available to any other node in the network that
finds them useful. No permission, no administrative coordination to
make sure everybody's on the same page, is needed at any step in the
process. It's the same kind of stigmergic platform as Wikipedia, a
Linux developer group ... or Al Qaeda Iraq." (05/17/12)
http://c4ss.org/content/10402
-----
48) Ron Paul and the future
Source: Liberty Unbound
by Bruce Ramsey
"What was the point of the Paul campaign? To put Ron Paul in the White
House? That was never possible. In public, Paul had to pretend that it
was, because those are the American rules, and his supporters have
been pretending it even harder. But it was a fairy tale. Ron Paul's
purpose has been to advance the cause of liberty, sound money, and a
non-imperial foreign policy." (05/17/12)
http://www.libertyunbound.com/node/808
-----
49) Legalized theft: Civil forfeiture
Source: QandO
by Bruce McQuain
"I want you to read carefully the arrogance implicit in the 'law' that
these sorts of forfeitures represent. A more convoluted and outrageous
example of the tyranny of the law I can't imagine (although I'm sure
there are many) ..." (05/17/12)
http://www.qando.net/?p=13046
-----
50) The case for a Romney-Paul ticket
Source: Reason
by A. Barton Hinkle
"Picking Paul as his running mate would enable Romney to draft the
Texas congressman's revolutionary army -- or at least a good portion
of it. It also would give the ticket something else it has lacked up
to this point: spine. Romney is notorious for changing his positions
on the issues. Paul is widely admired for sticking to his (mostly)
libertarian principles." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/LjlLjr
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