PROGRESSIVE NEWS DIGEST - Volume III, Issue 40
Steve Trinward
The latest news, commentary & event listings
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Volume III, Issue #40
Monday, March 12, 2007
CONTENTS
00 - Sunday cometh again ...
NEWS
01 - Where neo-nomad attitudes percolate
02 - PA: City’s legal migrants fight back
03 - Radio industry challenged to avoid payola relapse
04 - Fred Thompson considering ‘08 Presidential bid
05 - VA straining to keep a promise
06 - Iraq’s neighbors take first small steps toward working
together
07 - Government usually wins ’sunshine’ cases
08 - Bush deflects pardon talk as Libby prepares appeal
09 - AR: Pols blast FEMA for tornado response
10 - DoJ report critical of FBI Patriot Act abuse
11 - US: Military force alone won’t solve Iraq woes
12 - China: NPC debates landmark property law
13 - Brazilians protest upcoming Bush visit
14 - Free-fare transit a bumpy road
15 - Peace Prize: Ali’s crowning triumph?
16 - TN: Killing food tax would hurt state, says finance
chief
17 - MA: Obama paid late parking tickets
18 - Obama questioned on investments
19 - Borat shown as human rights victim
20 - Wal-Mart urged to disclose spy info
21 - CAGW issues new Congressional “pig book”
22 - The battle over fired US attorneys
23 - States may force megaprimary, winnow 2008 field
24 - Thomas Eagleton, 1929-2007
25 - NM: Richardson touts state as renewable energy leader
COMMENTARY
26 - Healthcare reform: If you’re so smart …
27 - How will we end this war?
28 - A catalogue of errors in Afghanistan
29 - Deadline dilemmas
30 - What Chinese threat?
31 - Presidents behaving badly in unwinnable wars
32 - Killed cartoons
33 - Faulty US intelligence is anything but intelligent
34 - Church, state and taxpayers
35 - Review: Can America Be Saved from Stupid People
36 - The imaginary adventures of the US Senate
37 - Waiting for Fidel
38 - The other war
39 - The scandal at Walter Reed
40 - Entitlement and empire
41 - Zeroing in on Bush-Cheney
42 - The tragic case of Jose Padilla
43 - High school student council passes non-binding resolution
44 - Top secret: We’re wiretapping you
45 - Can you say “Reefer Madness?” Sadly, yes
46 - The two collectivisms
47 - Congress becomes big labor’s obedient subsidiary
48 - Don’t let Uncle Sam become a computer hacker
49 - The power of one
50 - War on immigration and unintended consequences
51 - The family values sham
52 - Which side are we on?
53 - Easing downward mobility
54 - Free Speech 101: (Lecture deleted)
55 - “Ma Ellen” is delivering Liberia
ACTIVISM/EVENTS
56 - ReFamous quotes (liberty)
57 - National GI Resistance Alert Network
58 - Voters for peace: take the pledge
59 - The War on Iraq costs ...
60 - Get Human Database
RESOURCES
61 - How to Kill the Job Culture Before It Kills You
62 - Book: Scars of the Square Needle
63 - Fire 1: Out of the gray zone
64 - Outreach Opportunity -- A Drug War Carol
65 - Book: Good To Be King
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00 - Sunday cometh again ...
Along with another Progressive News Digest,
This week's News is about everything from how WiFi is affecting business startups (01) to a potential immigration standoff in PA(02) to Fred Thompson thinking about the White House (03), as well as 22 more.
In Commentary, we lead with your editor's latest FMNN column (26), brashly outlining (at least an outline of) his own ideas on how to "fix healthcare" ... This is followed by a variety of columns on Iraq, Afghanistan, China, the Supreme Court ... plus pieces from the amazing Claire Wolfe (35), Jesse Walker, Justin Raimondo, Ron Paul, Ryan Singel, Rusty White, Michael Cloud, CLS, Harold Meyerson, Sen. Bernie Sanders and many others.
See for yourself, and check the website for constant updates throughout the week, at:
http://www.rationalreview.com/pnd
And while you're at it, consider this is also our "fundraising" season. This publication has been going out every week (with a couple of exceptions) for over 2-1/2 years now, as a focused compilation from Rational Review News Digest, which just celebrated its fourth year of existence. RRND is busily drumming up a few extra dollars from "subscribers" as well as some donations to the bottom line. The link to the updated "candy cane" (better than a thermometer, just barely?) is at http://www.rationalreview.com/
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and
The Choice Channel http://thechoicechannel.isil.org.
for the latest news on how Healthcare, the Environment and Education, respectively, are being taken away from the impersonal, bureaucratic and coercive institutions that now run these "shows" ... and moving toward voluntarism, human-centered and cooperative methodologies. I believe that each channel goes a long way toward being "part of the solution, instead of part of the problem."
So here's Progressive News Digest ... read it as you wish ... contribute as you will.
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NEWS
01 - Where neo-nomad attitudes percolate
San Francisco Chronicle
“A new breed of worker, fueled by caffeine and using the tools of modern technology, is flourishing in the coffeehouses of San Francisco. Roaming from cafe to cafe and borrowing a name from the nomadic Arabs who wandered freely in the desert, they’ve come to be known as ‘bedouins.’ San Francisco’s modern-day bedouins are typically armed with laptops and cell phones, paying for their office space and Internet access by buying coffee and muffins. ‘In Lawrence of Arabia, the bedouins always felt like they were on the warpath. They had greater cause,’ said Niall Kennedy, a 27-year-old San Franciscan who quit his day job at Microsoft Corp. to run his own Web company, Patrick Media, out of cafes and a rented desk. ‘At a startup, you’re always on the go, plowing ahead, with some higher cause driving you.’” (03/11/07)
***
02 - PA: City’s legal migrants fight back
Arizona Republic
“Jose and Rosa Lechuga operated a successful grocery store for a decade in this northeastern Pennsylvania city, but they say a local crackdown on illegal immigrants killed their business. The Mexican-American couple, who are in this country legally, closed their store and moved to Arkansas. But they are returning as plaintiffs in a federal court trial opening Monday that has thrust the former coal town into the middle of the national debate over illegal immigrants. As Congress considers changes to immigration policy, the trial will determine whether Hazleton has the right to make life difficult for illegal immigrants by penalizing landlords who rent to them and businesses that give them jobs.” (03/11/07)
***
03 - Radio industry challenged to avoid payola relapse
Tennessean
“The disclosure last week of a $12.5 million settlement between the Federal Communications Commission and four of the nation’s largest radio conglomerates appeared to signal an end to the long-running payola scandal involving bribes swapped for radio airtime. But reaching an agreement with the FCC — an official version of which has yet to be released — may have been the easy part. Observers say the challenge going forward will be to keep the industry from relapsing into its old pay-for-play habits, which stretch back to the 1950s when a string of similar cases originally sparked the creation of the U.S. payola laws that are still on the books today. ‘This settlement is more than a slap on the wrist. It sends a strong message,’ said Craig Aaron, communications director for the public advocacy group Free Press, which oversees a national coalition of activists called Stop Big Media.” (03/11/07)
***
04 - Fred Thompson considering ‘08 Presidential bid
Fox News
“Law and Order star and former Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson is weighing a bid for the White House in 2008, he told Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday. ‘I’m going to wait and see what happens,’ Thompson said. ‘I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trial, what they say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November.’ Thompson, 64, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC’s drama, said he was pondering a run after former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker and other Tennessee Republicans began drumming up support for his possible Republican candidacy, citing his conservative credentials. ‘I think people are somewhat disillusioned. A lot of people are cynical out there. They’re looking for something different,’ he said.” (03/11/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258220,00.html
***
05 - VA straining to keep a promise
Boston Globe
“Jeffrey Lennon returned from Iraq to his hometown of Plymouth a broken man. Soon enough, he would also be a very angry man. A sergeant in the US Army Reserve, Lennon was racked by nightmare visions of fellow soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed during his tour of duty. Almost anything could trigger the memories, particularly smells of garbage and gasoline that steer his mind back to the roads of Iraq. He abandoned his dream of being a police officer. He took refuge in alcohol. He contemplated suicide. And he waited, and waited, for the Department of Veterans Affairs to help him make his way back. Diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder in March 2004, it may take months, he said, to get an appointment for mental health counseling at the VA Medical Center in Brockton because of staffing shortages.” (03/11/07)
***
06 - Iraq’s neighbors take first small steps toward working
together
Christian Science Monitor
“The weekend’s regional conference in Baghdad was modest, but it nevertheless accomplished two things: It promoted the legitimacy of Iraq’s new government among reluctant neighbors, and it heralded the Bush administration’s evolving conversion from unilateralism to hard-nosed diplomacy under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. … And even though the weekend meeting was mostly limited to an exchange of accusations, US officials did speak to the Iranians present — paving the way for Secretary Rice to sit at the same table with her counterpart from Tehran as early as next month. The last time a meeting of Iraq’s neighbors was held in Baghdad, it ended in a brawl. Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait followed.” (03/12/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0312/p01s01-usfp.html
***
07 - Government usually wins ’sunshine’ cases
Yahoo!News
“Though laws in every state say government records and meetings must be open to all, reality often falls far short: Laws are sporadically enforced, penalties for failure to comply are mild and violators almost always walk away with nothing more than a reprimand, an Associated Press survey of all 50 states has found.Even in the handful of states that monitor such cases, when citizens appeal over lack of access to information, the government usually wins — and keeps public business secret.” (03/10/07)
***
08 - Bush deflects pardon talk as Libby prepares appeal
Foster\'s Online
“Attorneys for I. Lewis ”Scooter” Libby began crafting a request for a new trial Wednesday as the Bush White House tried to knock down speculation about a pardon for the convicted former aide. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was found guilty of perjury and obstruction in the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. He is the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago. His conviction immediately fueled speculation that Libby, who also served as an aide to President Bush, would be pardoned and spared prison. Top Democrats have called on Bush to pledge not to pardon him. At the White House, Bush was guarded in his comments. ‘This was a lengthy trial on a serious matter, and a jury of his peers convicted him. And we’ve got to respect that conviction,’ the president said in an interview with CNN En Espanol.” (03/08/07)
***
09 - AR: Pols blast FEMA for tornado response
USA Today
“U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor said Wednesday the Federal Emergency Management Agency has given him ‘lame excuses’ for not helping tornado-damaged Desha County, and he called for a Senate committee hearing on the agency’s performance since the Feb. 24 storms. Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., whose district includes Desha County, also announced that a hearing he requested to look into the federal agency’s response will be held March 15 before the House Committee on Homeland Security.” (03/08/07)
***
10 - DoJ report critical of FBI Patriot Act abuse
Topeka Capital-Journal
“A blistering Justice Department report accuses the FBI of underreporting its use of the Patriot Act to force businesses to turn over customer information in terrorism cases, according to officials familiar with its findings. The report, to be released Friday, also says the FBI failed to send follow-up subpoenas to telecommunications firms that were told to expect them, according to several government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report by the Justice Department’s inspector general had not yet been released.” (03/08/07)
***
11 - US: Military force alone won’t solve Iraq woes
MSNBC
“Military force alone is ‘not sufficient’ to end the violence in Iraq and political talks must eventually include some militant groups now opposing the U.S.-backed government, the new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said Thursday. ‘This is critical,’ U.S. Gen. David Petraeus said in his first news conference since taking over command last month. He noted that such political negotiations ‘will determine in the long run the success of this effort.’” (03/08/07)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17515918/
***
12 - China: NPC debates landmark property law
Independent [UK]
“It’s not what the red flags, the hammers and sickles and the Marxist-Leninist rhetoric would have you expect, but China’s Communist leaders have drafted a proposal to safeguard private property, saying rising personal wealth needs better legal protection. The proposed property law being debated by China’s annual parliament, the National People’s Congress, is the first to cover an individual’s right to own assets in China — and it is proving political dynamite. … While the venue, and the language of his speech, is a throwback to the Soviet era, the legislation is a groundbreaking effort to protect private wealth by a government that only a generation ago preached egalitarianism and jailed or executed entrepreneurs as ‘capitalist roaders.’ The party is taking this step because a lack of clarity about property rights has allowed corrupt local officials to snatch up land, businesses and homes at will, without giving compensation, causing widespread anger and undermining the government’s efforts to encourage private enterprise.” (03/08/07)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2341350.ece
***
13 - Brazilians protest upcoming Bush visit
ABC News
“Police clashed Thursday with students, environmentalists and left-leaning Brazilians protesting a visit by President Bush and his push for an ethanol energy alliance with Latin America’s largest nation. Riot police fired tear gas at protesters in Sao Paulo after more than 6,000 people held a largely peaceful march, sending hundreds of demonstrators fleeing and ducking into businesses to avoid the gas.” (03/08/07)
***
14 - Free-fare transit a bumpy road
San Francisco Chronicle
“Every major American public transit system that has tried a fare-free program quickly abandoned the initiative due to a rise in crime and rowdiness aboard buses and a mounting burden of funding operating costs — issues that may influence San Francisco officials considering elimination of Muni fares. The places where fare-free transit has taken hold are smaller, mainly rural communities, and in the downtown pockets of larger cities, such as Portland and Seattle. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has broached the notion of abolishing fares for San Francisco’s buses, streetcars and cable cars. He has asked the Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates the Municipal Railway transit system, to study the idea before he decides whether to pursue it. ‘The fact is, we have among the lowest fare-collection rates of any transit agency in the country,’ Newsom said. ‘The consequence of that is we have two options: to go higher or, arguably, to look at the cost of collecting fares and go lower.”’ (03/08/07)
***
15 - Peace Prize: Ali’s crowning triumph?
Arizona Republic
“A Georgia-based peace group confirmed Wednesday that it nominated Muhammad Ali for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, recognizing his efforts to reduce global conflict. ‘You cannot find a better candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize,’ said Subash Razdan, chairman of the board of the Gandhi Foundation USA. ‘(He) has reached out to a diverse group, including Muslims, children and the sports community.’ Razdan, whose group works to promote the kind of non-violence, community service and social justice pursued by Mohandas Gandhi, said there may be no better time to recognize Ali because of the world’s many religious and cultural differences, including wars in Iraq and elsewhere. Ali, who moved to Paradise Valley in 2005, is on a list of nominees this year that includes former Vice President Al Gore, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Oprah Winfrey.” (03/08/07)
***
16 - TN: Killing food tax would hurt state, says finance
chief
Tennessean
“Tennessee could face a $228 million revenue shortfall in five years if legislation to phase out the food tax is approved, according to new figures released Wednesday by state finance officials. Thirty-seven Republican legislators have signed on to a bill that would cut the 6 percent food tax by half a cent over the next 12 years. Gov. Phil Bredesen has strongly opposed the measure. … [S]tate Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz … shows the budget would be $39.8 million short of revenue the first year and $228.4 million short by the fifth, for a cumulative shortfall over five years of $626 million. ‘This is why we think this is such a terrible idea,’ Goetz said. … Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, the Senate sponsor, said Wyoming and Arkansas removed or reduced their food taxes. Arkansas has a personal income tax. Wyoming does not. ‘If they can do it, we can do it,’ Beavers said.” [editor’s note: As usual, the focus is on keeping a bloated budget growing, rather than recognizing the value of freeing up all that wasted “energy” … and relieving those who now choose between overtaxed food and … everything else! - SAT] (03/08/07)
***
17 - MA: Obama paid late parking tickets
Boston Globe
“Barack Obama is no longer a scofflaw, at least in Cambridge and Somerville. Two weeks before the US senator from Illinois launched his presidential campaign, he paid parking tickets he received while attending Harvard Law School, officials said yesterday. Obama received 17 parking tickets in Cambridge between 1988 and 1991, according to the city’s Traffic, Parking & Transportation Department. Of those tickets, he paid only two while he was a student and paid them late, said Susan Clippinger, the office’s director. In January, about when the Globe began asking local officials about Obama’s time at Harvard, including any violations of local laws, someone representing the senator called the parking office to inquire about the decades-old tickets. On Jan. 26, the remaining $375 in fines and fees were paid by credit card using the city’s website, Clippinger said. She said she didn’t know who paid them.” (03/08/07)
***
18 - Obama questioned on investments
Northwest Herald
“Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday he was not aware he had invested in two companies backed by some of his top donors and said he had done nothing to aid their business with the government. … Obama set up a trust that gave his broker authority to trade stocks on his behalf without his input, according to 16 pages of documents he released Wednesday. … Obama purchased $5,000 in shares for AVI, which was developing a drug to treat avian flu. Two weeks after buying the stock, as the disease was spreading in Asia, Obama pushed for more federal funding to fight the disease, but he said he did not discuss the matter with any company officials. Obama also had more than $50,000 in shares of Skyterra, a company that had just received federal permission to create a nationwide wireless network that combined satellite and land-based communications systems. Among the company’s top investors were donors who raised more than $150,000 for Obama’s political committees, the New York Times reported Wednesday.” (03/08/07)
***
19 - Borat shown as human rights victim
Reuters
“Fictional Kazakh TV reporter Borat has made an unexpected cameo appearance as a victim of censorship in a heavyweight annual human rights report issued by the State Department. The 2006 report, released in Washington on Tuesday by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, criticized the real Kazakhstan, a vast oil-producing Central Asian state, for increased restrictions on freedom of speech and other abuses. The State Department, which says Kazakhstan has no independent judiciary, also listed the murder last year of Kazakh opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly, his bodyguard and driver as ‘unlawful deprivation of life.’” [editor’s note: You will notice that this comes, not from The Onion, but from Reuters! - SAT] (03/07/07)
***
20 - Wal-Mart urged to disclose spy info
Arizona Republic
“Two of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s most vocal critics — the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which backs WakeUpWalmart.com, and Wal-Mart Watch — are putting pressure on the world’s largest retailer to disclose if it has monitored its workers’ communications. The moves come amid a federal investigation after Wal-Mart said a systems technician monitored text messages and phone calls of other employees and non-employees, including a New York Times reporter. In a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said the technician ‘acted alone’ and used his own personal equipment to intercept text and pager messages. Wal-Mart said Monday that it had fired the technician and his immediate supervisor. The company has taken disciplinary action against a manager, also.” (03/07/07)
***
21 - CAGW issues new Congressional “pig book”
Fox News
“After seven record-breaking years in a row, the number and cost of so-called pork barrel projects is way down, thanks to voter outrage and a one-year moratorium imposed by Democrats after taking over Congress. That’s good news, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group that has railed against congressional ‘earmarks’ for years. ‘There are no indoor rain forests, National Peanut Festivals, mariachi music grants, or teapot museums to be found,’ according to the group’s annual ‘Pig Book.’ For the uninitiated, ‘pork’ means homestate and home district projects specially set aside in congressional spending measures, chiefly the 11 annual appropriations bills. The reason, said the group, is that Senate GOP conservatives put a halt to moves late last year to pass a huge pork-laden spending bill wrapping up unfinished budget work.” (03/07/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257420,00.html
***
22 - The battle over fired US attorneys
Christian Science Monitor
“The Bush administration’s controversial firing of eight US attorneys sets up a major clash between the White House and the new Congress, as Democrats step up efforts to rein in new presidential powers. At issue is whether the Justice Department’s decision to replace these top federal prosecutors was a political purge and, if so, what Congress can do about it. As a start, lawmakers are revisiting a last-minute provision added to last year’s reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act at the request of the Justice Department. It gives the president authority to replace a US attorney without going back to the Senate for confirmation.” (03/07/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0308/p01s01-uspo.html
***
23 - States may force megaprimary, winnow 2008 field
Boston Globe
“States with more than half the nation’s population are zeroing in on Feb. 5 next year to stage their presidential primaries, creating a single day that could determine the major party nominees at a historically early point in the process. At least 19 states have moved or are considering moving their primaries to the first Tuesday in February — contests that would follow earlier ones in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. If only the 10 largest of the 19 states move their primaries to Feb. 5, more than half the American population will have a chance to go to the polls on the same day, creating a one-day election that would become the prime focus of the campaign. The trend would mark the biggest change in the presidential nominating process in decades.” (03/06/07)
***
24 - Thomas Eagleton, 1929-2007
San Diego Union-Tribune
“He was a leading advocate of environmental reforms and a vocal opponent of the war in Vietnam. Still, former three-term Sen. Thomas Eagleton had no illusions about how he would be best-remembered. ‘In my obituary, it will probably be, ‘Tom Eagleton, United States senator for Missouri, for a short time the vice presidential candidate on the McGovern ticket in 1972,’ so that will be in my first paragraph,’ Eagleton told The Associated Press in a 2003 interview. Eagleton, 77, who resigned as McGovern’s running mate after it was revealed that his depression had been treated with shock therapy, died Sunday of a combination of heart, respiratory and other problems, his family said.” (03/06/07)
***
25 - NM: Richardson touts state as renewable energy leader
Farmington Daily Times
“Gov. Bill Richardson proclaimed Monday that by his signing of two bills, New Mexico has moved past California and reclaimed the title of the nation’s renewable energy king. The bills would create a new authority to finance and oversee the building of additional transmission lines (House Bill 418) and increase the renewable energy requirement for utilities operating in New Mexico (Senate Bill 418). The two bills work together to increase both the generation and transmission of renewable energy, said Joanna Prukop, secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.” (03/06/07)
http://www.daily-times.com/ci_5364305
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COMMENTARY
26 - Healthcare reform: If you’re so smart …
Free Market News Network
Steve Trinward
“Okay, we’ve seen the others; now it’s our turn! If we ruled the world, what sort of healthcare program would be already in place, and successfully solving the ‘crisis’ created by the present paradigms? Let’s begin with what it would not be: A catchall ‘insulation’ program for treating the slightest sniffle, at the least efficient cost and effectiveness, and at no direct expense to the ‘patient’! That’s what the vast majority of advocates of ’single payer’ nationalized health insurance are asking for, whether they admit it or not. And with the many examples staring us in the face, of other countries (Canada, most of Europe, et alia) that have tried this, we dare not tread that path to ruin - though many continue to support doing so, in spite of the evidence. No, if we’re going to dig out of this hole we’ve created, the first move needs to be away from the current idea of what ‘insurance’ means.” (End of 6-part series) (03/09/07)
http://fmnn.com/Analysis/136/7084/steve.asp?wid=136&nid=7084
***
27 - How will we end this war?
Common Dreams
Tina Richards
“I’ve come to Washington, DC because my son Cloy, who has been honorably discharged from the Marines with the presidential unit citation, is now facing a possible third deployment. Cloy is suffering from undiagnosed traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder. As Cloy says in one of his poems, every time I look in the mirror I see a casualty of the war.” (03/11/07)
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0311-23.htm
***
28 - A catalogue of errors in Afghanistan
Asia Times
Michael Scheuer
“Afghanistan is again being lost to the West, even as a coalition force of more than 5,000 troops launches a major spring offensive in the south of the country. The insurgency may drag on for many months or several years, but the tide has turned. Like Alexander’s Greeks, the British and the Soviets before the US-led coalition, inferior Afghan insurgents have forced far superior Western military forces on to a path that leads toward evacuation. What has caused this scenario to occur repeatedly throughout history? ” (03/09/07)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IC09Df01.html
***
29 - Deadline dilemmas
The American Prospect
Paul Starr
“The strange thing about the debate in Congress over a deadline for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq is that the objective political interests of the two parties are the reverse of their stated positions. Republicans are facing a disaster in the 2008 election if the Iraq War continues unabated. But if the Democratic Congress ties the president’s hands and forces a pullout, the Republicans would have an excuse for the war’s failure, and their party could move on to focus the 2008 election on other issues. If GOP leaders could act on pure political self-interest, they would be secretly encouraging just enough defections by their own members of Congress to pass legislation requiring a pullout.” (03/09/07)
http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=12544
***
30 - What Chinese threat?
Tom Paine
James Nolt
“At the start of China’s parliament session this week, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said, ‘China would advocate peace, development and cooperation, and always pursue an independent foreign policy of peace.’ Fine words indeed, but words are cheap. Americans are used to discounting such pronouncements. In fact, our media often ignores them altogether. On the other hand, time and time again, we hear that China is a ‘rising power,’ ‘growing threat’ or ‘emerging superpower.’ Phrases like this are repeated so often by American politicians and media that most Americans believe China is a formidable military power and likely adversary. In fact, despite its large population and vibrant economy, China is remarkably weak militarily, especially compared with the U.S.” [editor’s note: We must not allow the neocons to convince Americans of the “Asian threat” as an excuse for further “defense” spending. - ST] (03/09/07)
***
31 - Presidents behaving badly in unwinnable wars
Orange County Register
Michiko Kakutani
“In recent months, President Harry S. Truman has been claimed by both sides of the political aisle as a visionary architect of the grand strategy that won the Cold War. New Republic editor-at-large Peter Beinart has hailed Truman as a Cold War liberal, who cannily built a tough-minded but resilient foreign policy based on the intertwined principles of containment, overseas economic development, and restraint on the world stage. Conservatives have argued, in the words of a Weekly Standard column, that Truman’s ‘heirs are Republicans now,’ with George W. Bush taking up the mantle of global leadership. For that matter, a recent issue of Newsweek reports that President Bush ‘has increasingly invoked Truman’ as his own approval ratings have tumbled: ‘His aides say that Bush wants to be remembered for creating a new and effective framework for fighting the war on terror, just as Truman did for the Cold War.’” (03/11/07)
***
32 - Killed cartoons
San Francisco Chronicle
David Wallis
“Adolf Hitler understood the power of cartoons. They made him crazy … crazier. Long before World War II, David Low of Britain’s Evening Standard routinely depicted Hitler as a dolt, which infuriated the thin-skinned fuhrer so much that the Gestapo put the British cartoonist on a hit list. The CIA also appreciated the huge influence of little drawings. Declassified documents detailing the 1953 U.S. overthrow of Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq reveal that something called the ‘CIA Art Group’ produced cartoons to turn public opinion against the democratically elected leader. Meanwhile, over at the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover placed Alfred E. Neuman under surveillance.” (03/11/07)
***
33 - Faulty US intelligence is anything but intelligent
Christian Science Monitor
Daniel Schorr
“I don’t know why they call it ‘intelligence,’ because it is responsible for some of the most unintelligent episodes in US history. In 1976 I covered congressional investigations of intelligence mishaps, such as the failure to see, in 1973, the launch of the Egyptian invasion of Israel — even when the tanks were already deployed in the desert and their communications were monitored by the CIA from Jordan. But the nuclear age presents an intelligence challenge of a wholly different order. And when President Bush designated Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an ‘axis of evil,’ it was with a nuclear threat in mind. The invasion of Iraq can be said to have been the result of a failure of intelligence. Or perhaps, as a British memorandum put it, the ‘fixing’ of intelligence to serve the buildup for invasion.” (03/09/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0309/p09s01-cods.html
***
34 - Church, state and taxpayers
Boston Globe
Cass R. Sunstein
“When the government has violated the Constitution, who is entitled to complain? The Supreme Court will soon cast new light on this question in one of the most intriguing cases in recent years, a suit challenging President Bush’s ‘faith-based initiatives.’ The legal issue may appear somewhat technical, but the outcome of the case could have broad implications for the power of the executive branch and for the relationship between government and religion. To be entitled to go to court to challenge a government action, people have to have ’standing.’ In other words, they have to show an actual injury because of the conduct to which they are objecting. If a state requires you to salute the flag, you have standing. If a state requires your neighbor to salute the flag, she has the right to complain; you don’t.” (03/11/07)
***
35 - Review: Can America Be Saved from Stupid People
WolfesBlog
Claire Wolfe
“No, that’s apparently not a question (no question mark). It’s the title of a new book by Dave Duffy, editor and publisher of Backwoods Home magazine.Every time I get a new issue of BHM, the first thing I turn to is Dave’s editorials. Next, I gobble up any of John Silveira’s myth-debunking articles of historical or scientific inquiry. John’s articles are always eye-openers, but they require the labor of heavy concentration. Dave’s editorials, on the other hand, are quick, pleasurable reads — yet stay in the mind, sometimes for years after.Can America Be Saved from Stupid People is a compilation of the best of those editorials from the last 15 years or so. Read one or two before bedtime each night or with your morning coffee and you’ll find yourself smiling or contemplating or delving into your own memories.” (03/10/07)
http://www.clairewolfe.com/wolfesblog/00002498.html
***
36 - The imaginary adventures of the US Senate
Reason
Jesse Walker
“On June 8, 2006, as Congress mulled a measure to repeal the estate tax, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California rose to oppose the proposal. ‘Now is not the time,’ the Democrat declared, ‘to place the interests of a small number of millionaires ahead of millions of working families.’ She continued in this vein for over 1,100 words, then yielded the floor to Sen. Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican took the opposite point of view, declaring the levy ‘one of the most destructive, unfair taxes ever conceived by government.’ Then more senators took their turns at the microphone, arguing one side or the other: Mike Enzi, Tom Harkin, Lamar Alexander, Carl Levin, John Kerry, Orrin Hatch, Conrad Burns, Gordon Smith, Barbara Mikulski, John McCain. Barack Obama called the proposal ‘the Paris Hilton tax break,’ which probably prompted some chuckles in the gallery. Or would have, had he actually said it. Though all that activity appears in the Congressional Record, none of it really occurred.” (03/08/07)
http://www.reason.com/news/show/119028.html
***
37 - Waiting for Fidel
Liberty Unbound
Robert H. Miller
“My mother, Ana Maria, died on July 14, 2000, at 78 years of age. For 40 years, ever since our flight from Cuba in 1960, she’d clung to the hope of outliving Fidel Castro Ruz, a man four years her junior. Almost more galling than having Castro outlive her was having her saint’s day fall on the 26th of July, the anniversary and official title of Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement. To a Cuban, one’s saint’s day — the birth date of the saint after whom one is named, in this case Santa Ana — is a personal holiday second only to one’s birthday. After our flight following the revolution, first to Mexico and then to the U.S., my mother never again celebrated anything on that day.” (for publication 04/07)
http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2007_04/miller-castro.html
***
38 - The other war
AntiWar.Com
Justin Raimondo
“The Democrats have a plan — finally! — to get us out of Iraq, and it involves — as usual with the Dems — a complicated process of measuring ‘benchmarks’ that, if not met, will supposedly trigger a U.S. withdrawal (in 180 days). Two dates are given — July 1 and Oct. 1, 2007 — by which time the ‘benchmarks’ must be met. Oh, yes, and they add $4 billion to Bush’s ‘Defense’ Dept. budget request, making it just short of $100 billion. See, those Dems aren’t anti-military, by any means: who says shelling out more than the next 14 top spenders on military items is enough? One news account describes this as the Democrats ‘drawing their line in the sand’ — and a pretty wobbly and indistinct line it is. After all, how will Congress disprove the administration’s assertion that those ‘benchmarks’ have been met — or, rather, how eager will they be to challenge the White House’s rosy scenario?” (03/09/07)
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=10646
***
39 - The scandal at Walter Reed
LewRockwell.Com
US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)
“Our policies naturally lead to resentment, which in turn leads to prolonged wars and increased casualties. We spend billions in Iraq, while bases like Walter Reed fall into disrepair. This undermines our ability to care for the thousands of wounded soldiers we should have anticipated, despite the rosy predictions that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq. Now comes the outrage. Now Congress holds hearings. Now comes the wringing of hands. Yes, better late than never. Clean it up, paint the walls, make Walter Reed look neat and tidy! But this won’t solve our problems. We must someday look critically at the shortcomings of our foreign policy, a policy that needlessly and foolishly intervenes in places where we have no business being.” (03/09/07)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul373.html
***
40 - Entitlement and empire
Common Dreams
Richard Thieme
“A few of us silverbacks were sitting around the coffee shop talking about the newest generation. Someone mentioned the sense of entitlement we hear about these days, how they were raised to think that one opinion was equal to another, that everyone should be making a hundred thousand dollars a few years out of college, that everyone gets a trophy. ‘It’s more than entitlement,’ one said. ‘My son is nineteen, a sophomore in college, and I don’t think that he can imagine hardship.’ … ‘Your son,’ I said, ‘grew up in a uni-polar world. He has known nothing but American Empire, the presumption of American dominion over all of the creatures of the earth.’ I think there’s a link between the personal sense of entitlement we had been discussing and the way the nation has been extending its power.” (03/08/07)
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0308-25.htm
***
41 - Zeroing in on Bush-Cheney
Consortium News
Robert Parry
“Criminal trials — especially relating to national security scandals — are an imperfect way of learning the larger truth. As with the four-count conviction of former White House aide I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, the charges are often structured narrowly to avoid long battles over classified secrets or inherent presidential powers. But even limited trials can offer important glimpses into the inner workings of an administration, especially one as secretive as George W. Bush’s. Though Libby was convicted only on perjury and obstruction charges, there should be little doubt what the full picture looks like.” (03/07/07)
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/030707.html
***
42 - The tragic case of Jose Padilla
CounterPunch
Elaine Cassel
“Last week, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ruled that American citizen Jose Padilla, who is now facing terrorism charges in Miami, Florida, is competent to stand trial. In order to put the competence issue in context, it is necessary to review the long and unprecedented history of the U.S. government’s cases against Jose Padilla. Cases involving Padilla have been before federal courts in New York, South Carolina, and now Florida, and back and forth to the U.S. Supreme Court on three occasions.” (03/08/07)
http://www.counterpunch.org/cassel03082007.html
***
43 - High school student council passes non-binding resolution
The Onion
staff
“In a move intended to send an ‘unmistakably clear message’ to Barstow County High School Principal Robert McCluskey, the school’s student council approved by a vote of 22-3 during seventh period Monday a nonbinding resolution criticizing the principal’s recent decision to install three extra hall monitors.” [satire] (03/05/07)
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/high_school_student_council
***
44 - Top secret: We’re wiretapping you
Wired
Ryan Singel
“It could be a scene from Kafka or Brazil. Imagine a government agency, in a bureaucratic foul-up, accidentally gives you a copy of a document marked ‘top secret.’ And it contains a log of some of your private phone calls. You read it and ponder it and wonder what it all means. Then, two months later, the FBI shows up at your door, demands the document back and orders you to forget you ever saw it. By all accounts, that’s what happened to Washington D.C. attorney Wendell Belew in August 2004. ” (03/05/07)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72811-0.html?tw=wn_index_18
***
45 - Can you say “Reefer Madness?” Sadly, yes
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Rusty White
“How is it Americans have become so easily manipulated?? Have we forgotten the manipulation and lies our government and MEDIA used in the propagandist film Reefer Madness? While it is truly sad to see these two young people in Texas make such a stupid mistake, it is equally as sad to see the media use it for propaganda. How is this any different than when elders give a young person a beer, or a when a person puts alcohol in a bottle to get a kid to go to sleep? All are wrong, yet you don’t hear anybody asking for the same punishment. Why?” (03/08/07)
***
46 - The two collectivisms
Strike the Root
Francois Tremblay
“During these past weeks, I have been conducting an informal survey on varied message boards, in order to try to learn something about the relation between people’s collectivist beliefs. To do so, I posted a survey asking people to rate their belief in the following social factors: government, religion, nationalism, family, popular culture.” (03/08/07)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/71/tremblay/tremblay2.html
***
47 - Congress becomes big labor’s obedient subsidiary
Center For Individual Freedom
staff
“A funny thing happened on the road to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s utopian end to the ‘culture of corruption.’ Namely, the 110th Congress quickly became a mere appendage of Big Labor, Inc. After acquiring majority status by portraying themselves as centrists untainted by any so-called ’special interests,’ Democrats quickly passed their innocuous-sounding ‘First 100 Hours’ agenda. This included such symbolic measures as student loan rate reductions, lobbying reform and the minimum wage.” (03/08/07)
***
48 - Don’t let Uncle Sam become a computer hacker
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Achim Schmillen
“Do you remember every Web site you visited, every email you sent, and every word you Googled during the last two years? Probably not, but your Internet service provider might—especially if a popular proposal in Washington becomes law. In September, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called for a law to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to store customer information for one to two years. Rep. Dianne DeGette (D-Colo.) plans to introduce such a “data retention” bill this coming spring.” (03/08/07)
http://www.cei.org/gencon/019,05802.cfm
***
49 - The power of one
Free Market News Network
Michael Cloud
“‘One is 4 times as powerful as two,’ said Karl Hess. ‘One is 9 times as powerful as three. One is 16 times as powerful as three.’ This was not math class. Nor business. It was speechwriting. And master speechwriter Karl Hess was teaching me. One on one. Karl Hess was best known as Barry Goldwater’s speechwriter. But he was far more than that. He was a journalist, a gunrunner, businessman, Republican activist, New Left activist, Libertarian activist, author and speechwriter. But on this day, Karl was showing me how to prune my speech into something elegant, simple, and direct.” (03/08/07)
http://www.fmnn.com/Analysis/232/7080/one.asp?nid=7080&wid=232
***
50 - War on immigration and unintended consequences
Classically Liberal
CLS
“Someone recently sent me to a website about the evils of Republicans. Someone had combed various crime reports and then listed Republican office holders, or party officials, who had been arrested for the sexual abuse of children. It was impressive. The conservative response was logical: there are millions of Republicans. With any large enough group you can find sufficient numbers to make up such a list. Anti-immigrationists use the same process to make their case against illegals.” (03/08/07)
***
51 - The family values sham
The American Prospect
Harold Meyerson
“As conservatives tell the tale, the decline of the American family, the rise in divorce rates, and the number of children born out of wedlock all can be traced to the pernicious influence of one decade in American history: the ’60s. The conservatives are right that one decade, at least in its metaphoric significance, can encapsulate the causes for the family’s decline. But they’ve misidentified the decade. It’s not the permissive ’60s. It’s the Reagan ’80s. In Saturday’s Washington Post, reporter Blaine Harden took a hard look at the erosion of what we have long taken to be the model American family — married couples with children — and discovered that while this decline hasn’t really afflicted college-educated professionals, it is the curse of the working class. The percentage of households that are married couples with children has hit an all-time low (at least, the lowest since the Census Bureau started measuring such things): 23.7 percent. That’s about half the level that marrieds-with-children constituted at the end of the Ozzie-and-Harriet ’50s.” (03/08/07)
http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=12541
***
52 - Which side are we on?
In These Times
Sen. Bernie Sanders
“In early February, President Bush told a group of Wall Street executives that ‘income inequality is real; it’s been rising for more than 25 years. … And the question is whether we respond to the income inequality we see with policies that help lift people up, or tear others down.’ It’s ironic that this president raised the issue of income inequality because his own trickle-down economic policies have contributed to the growing gap between the very rich and everyone else, a situation worse today than at any time since the ’20s. Despite Bush’s professed concern, the budget he recently submitted to Congress will exacerbate the enormous gap between the rich and the poor, squeeze the middle class, reward war profiteers and hurt those most in need.” [editor’s note: Although Sen. Sanders has always been a self-described “socialist,” he is correct here; as long as the justifiable functions of a civilized society (caring for those who cannot help themselves — although in a free society, this would be done out of generosity and charitable impulse, not by fiat!) are being neglected, in favor of empire-building and corporate welfare … we are fighting for the wrong causes! - SAT] (03/08/07)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3063/which_side_are_we_on/
***
53 - Easing downward mobility
Tom Paine
Ross Eisenbrey & Maurice Emsellem
“Congress will soon debate whether to renew President Bush’s fast track authority to negotiate trade deals, and lawmakers — and even corporate America — will talk about the fate of U.S. workers hurt by increased imports or offshoring exacerbated by past deals. Several Democrats are proposing the idea of ‘wage insurance,’ giving laid-off workers up to $10,000 a year for two years — but only if they lost their job due to offshoring and only if they take a job with a big pay cut, unlike traditional unemployment benefits that are given to all workers that lose their jobs. … Wage insurance does nothing to improve the economy, give the workforce new skills, or create jobs. Essentially, it is a game of musical chairs that rewards higher-paid people whose jobs disappear with a subsidy for taking lower paying jobs, at the expense of other unemployed people who otherwise would have had those jobs.” (03/08/07)
***
54 - Free Speech 101: (Lecture deleted)
Arizona Republic
E. J. Montini
“Will the class please come to order? Take your seats. Thank you. Quiet please. Thank you. Hello again, students. For the second time this semester, I’ve been asked to serve as your substitute history teacher. This time, you and I get to perform a valuable service for our state by conducting an experiment involving what history classes in Arizona schools will look like if some politicians get their way. Are you ready? I can’t hear you. That’s better. Anyway, some members of the Arizona Legislature would like pass a law that would prevent any teacher or college professor in the state from saying anything in class that may be construed to ;endorse, support or oppose; any candidate, legislation, rule or court proceeding. And also to prohibit instructors from saying anything that may appear to support ‘one side of a social, political or cultural issue that is a matter of partisan controversy.’” (03/08/07)
***
55 - “Ma Ellen” is delivering Liberia
Boston Globe
Swanee Hunt
“Driving down a dusty dirt road littered with cavernous potholes recently, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf ordered her 10-car motorcade to stop. Flanked by 15 bodyguards, including UN peacekeepers toting AK-47s, she stepped out to investigate the quality of bricks being laid by construction workers. A former UN development program official, she wanted assurance that all the bricks would come from the same factory, so as to provide a consistent and solid foundation for the boulevard. It has been a year since ‘Ma Ellen,’ the first woman elected president in Africa, began to lay a solid foundation for her country. Today we celebrate International Women’s Day, which recognizes women as agents of change. Johnson-Sirleaf has demonstrated that one of her principle themes is elevating women in all sectors of society. And as she reflects on her first year in office, she can point to success.” (03/08/07)
ACTIVISM/EVENTS
56 - ReFamous quotes (liberty)
Liberty Tree
"Famous quotes, quotations, sayings, phrases, idioms, proverbs, and axioms about Liberty and the Responsibility that comes with it. Quotes are organized by Name and Category. If you'd like, join us on the Liberty Tree Daily Quotes emailing list for a daily dose of Liberty Quotes in your mail box. Leave us your email address to subscribe."
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/
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57 - National GI Resistance Alert Network
Courage To Resist
ongoing
"We urge you to join us in a National GI Resistance Alert Network! It's time for us to escalate public pressure and action in support of the thousands of courageous men and women who have in many different ways followed their conscience to uphold international law and to take a principled stand against the unjust, illegal war and occupation of Iraq. We are asking concerned organizations, communities, and individuals to join us and commit to a sustained campaign of support for GI resistance and conscientious objection! Courage to Resist will send out alerts about GI resisters in need of support, asking for support in the following ways as appropriate: send letters, make phone calls, create educational events, educate your community and networks, attend court martials or hearings, and organize vigils, demonstrations, and civil disobedience/nonviolent direct actions."
http://www.couragetoresist.org
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58 - Voters for peace: take the pledge
Voters For Peace
ongoing
"Americans who oppose the Iraq occupation are a committed and growing majority of the voting population. But, anti-war voters are not organized and too often fall into the trap of voting for a pro-war candidate because the candidate is seen as the 'lesser evil.' So, rather than voting for what we want -- ending the Iraq occupation, or preventing a new war against Iran -- people vote for what they don't want -- someone who promises to 'manage' the war better or even send more U.S. troops. The goal of Voters for Peace is to educate and organize voters so candidates need to support both ending the occupation of Iraq and preventing future wars of aggression. Together, using lobbying, targeted demonstrations, media advocacy and a pledge to eschew pro-war candidates, we will make the anti-war perspective a powerful mainstream political force that cannot be ignored." (03/06)
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59 - The War on Iraq costs ...
NationalPriorities.org
ongoing
Below is a running total of the U.S. taxpayer cost of the Iraq War. The number is based on Congressional appropriations. Or compare to the cost of: PRE-SCHOOL ... KIDS' HEALTH ... PUBLIC EDUCATION ... COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS ... PUBLIC HOUSING ... WORLD HUNGER ... AIDS EPIDEMIC ... WORLD IMMUNIZATION ... [note: Although this focuses on "what the money 'should' be spent on" rather than whether taxpayers should be gorged at all ... it is valuable information nevertheless. - SAT]
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
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60 - Get Human Database
Get Human
ongoing
"Our goal is to improve the quality of customer service and phone support in the US. This free website is run by volunteers and is powered by over one million consumers who demand high quality phone support from the companies that they use.The most popular part of the gethuman website is the gethuman database of secret phone numbers and codes to get to a human when calling a company for customer service. Please help us grow our customer support ratings database by taking a moment to rate the quality of support you receive when calling a consumer company you use." [Editor's note: OK, this is a really useful service! Spread the word, particularly to your elderly friends/relatives who really really HATE talking to machines. - MLS]
RESOURCES
61 - How to Kill the Job Culture Before It Kills You
Paladin Press
Claire Wolfe
"With this book, Claire may have crossed over into the mainstream -- not by selling out, in any sense of the word, but by creating something accessible even to the most hidebound sheeple-person … who's looking to carve out a little progress toward personal autonomy, even in the midst of the most soul-numbing of job situations. Yes, even for that person there is something to be learned. As the subtitle proclaims, this book is a welcome guide to 'Living a Life of Autonomy in a Wage-Slave Society.'
http://www.paladin-press.com/detail.aspx?ID=1385
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62 - Book: Scars of the Square Needle
Outskirts Press
ongoing
Recently re-released (in both trade paperback and e-book download versions), an action-packed roman a clef about Viet Nam, the military in general, libertarian issues about authority, and "recovery" ... Initially self-published by Pierre R. Beaumier, writer/activist and social services worker, in the early 1990s -- from writing to typesetting to artwork ... to hand-binding! This slightly (but only a little) higher-quality product is both an enjoyable read and a thoughtful look at the things we accept when we "follow orders" instead of our own hearts. $13.95 paperback, $4 e-book download. (06/05)
http://outskirtspress.com/ScarsoftheSquareNeedle
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63 - Fire 1: Out of the gray zone
RebelFire
ongoing
"Jeremy has a dream: To be the greatest lightmaker for the greatest west coast rock band, RebelFire. But what can he do? He's just a kid. A kid trapped in a prison-like school. Trapped in world here dreams are 'treated' with drugs -- and roving patrols make sure you take your dose. Trapped in the Zone, where travel without a permit is impossible. Trapped under the all-controlling eye of spycams, sensors, and monitors. Trapped by the chip in his wrist that regulates everything Jeremy can -- or can't -- do. Trapped in a world where some far-off control freak can even decide what music you're allowed -- or forbidden -- to hear. Jeremy's only choice is to shut up and do as he's ordered. But some people were never meant to be controlled ..." [editor's note: The new book by Claire Wolfe and Aaron Zelman is now available ... read an excerpt online, dowload the song "Justice Day," order the book online ... Order the book and a t-shirt, and get $5 off! - MLS] (05/01/05)
http://www.rebelfirerock.com/home.html
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64 - Outreach Opportunity -- A Drug War Carol
Big Head Press
ongoing
A Drug War Carol (web version) is one of the best outreach tools ever created for the drug policy reform community. Now this stunning graphic novel is available to non-profits and campus groups for outreach use at an incredible $1.75 per copy. Great for everything from distribution to the skeptical to use as a donor premium for your non-profit. Email author Susan Wells for more information.mailto:sw...@aol.com
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65 - Book: Good To Be King
Writer's Collective - Michael Badnarik
ongoing
2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik explains the Constitution. $13.97 from Amazon.Com. [editor's note: I keep this in here, in part because I really like the guy, and in (larger) part because it's a damned fine piece of work, examining the Constitution and the Bill of Rights the way it should be examined and read: as specific restrictions on the power of government over our lives. - SAT]
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594110964/rationalrev08-20
This compilation is drawn from Rational Review News Digest ("your premier web journal of libertarian politics and culture"), with an eye to the (self-defined) "humanist/evolved souls" among us ;). I also urge you to check out the web-version of Progressive News Digest whence this springs, where you will find more content than I have in this weekly summary. If you think the time spent is worth it, PLEASE contribute directly at: http://rationalreview.com/progressive/
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