12/15 -- Democrats drop plan to expand Medicare; Copenhagen climate talks suspended, rich vs. poor cited

[Thomas L. Knapp]

**************************************************
* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
*
* Volume VI, Issue #1,812
* Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
* Email Circulation 2,149
*
* Published every non-holiday weekday
* by the staff of Rational Review
*
* On the Web: http://www.rationalreview.com/news
**************************************************

****SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS*************************
*
* THE CASE ADVENTURES OF SAM COHEN, J.D.
* http://www.postpubco.com/newpulp.htm
*
* THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS STICKERS!
* http://www.libertystickers.com
*
* DALLAS LIBERTARIAN EXAMINER
* http://www.examiner.com/x-1449-Dallas-Libertarian-Examiner
*
* @GORI$T CADRE
* http://alongsidenight.ar.to/
*
*************************SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS****

In The News:

1) Democrats drop plan to expand Medicare
2) Copenhagen climate talks suspended, rich vs. poor cited
3) Iraq: Eight killed, 32 wounded
4) Afghanistan: Four civilians killed in Kabul blast
5) Iran: Regime will try three American hikers
6) CEO tries to breathe new life into eBay and PayPal
7) Congo: UN-backed troops killing civilians
8) Wells Fargo to repay $25 billion bailout
9) Drone attacks may be expanded in Pakistan
10) NC: Atheist city councilman under fire
11) TN: Bart Gordon announces House retirement
12) Frank gets delay in law restricting Net casinos
13) Clean Water Restoration Act raises land grab fears
14) Credit cards getting their licks in now
15) Disputes slow health care bill
16) Some Gitmo detainees headed to Illinois prison
17) UK: Miliband attacks judges over torture ruling
18) UK: Mortgage lenders "too fast to repossess" homes
19) UK: School suspends "crisp dealer"
20) MI: Detroit parents want DPS teachers, officials jailed over low
test scores
21) Millions of Bush administration e-mails recovered
22) NASA launches comet-hunting space camera
23) TX: Friedman leaves gubernatorial race, seeks ag post
24) SCOTUS to review employer access to worker messages
25) IN: Lawsuit challenges traffic court fines

Everybody Has An Opinion:

26) Chicago's thick blue wall
27) A shadow on the Second Amendment
28) What is a "good cop?"
29) One war Obama may curtail
30) The plutocrat's address
31) The fatal prescription pad
32) Don't confuse environmentalism with science
33) Beyond bars
34) Financial "reform" -- too big banks, too much speculation
35) Obama goes from dazzle to drone
36) Obama in Oslo: Ambiguity with "resonance?"
37) Bonus Army needed Oath Keepers
38) American madness
39) Is stealing a virtue?
40) The Fed's money monopoly
41) What does it take to get out of Obama's Guantanamo?
42) Continued culture of corruption
43) EPA's endangerment finding endangers economy
44) Still absurd, insulting and authoritarian
45) For Palestinians every day is Kristallnacht
46) The revolution might begin ... WHERE?
47) The publishing revolution
48) These "clauses" don't give; they steal
49) Intellectual property and libertarianism
50) Afraid of losing liberty to international agreements? Revive the
Bricker Amendment
51) Ayn Rand and libertarianism
52) Privacy: Is it only for people doing bad things?
53) A re-write of the Bill of Rights through the preamble
54) Drowning in red ink
55) Big Whigs
56) The first casualty of health care reform
57) Copenhagen: Geoengineering's big break?
58) Motley Fool misfires at faux libertarians
59) Why science is not final arbiter of truth
60) Why are we drugging our kids?

See No Evil, Hear No Evil:

61) Tim Cox on Freedom Rings Radio, 12/21/09
62) Red, white and sacrebleu
63) Cato Daily Podcast, 12/14/09
64) Freedomain Radio #1531
65) Scott Horton on Antiwar Radio

What's Up In The Freedom Movement:

66) Today's events

WaYbAcK:

67) Happy Bill of Rights Day

***************
* In The News
***************

1) Democrats drop plan to expand Medicare
Wall Street Journal

"Senate Democrats on Monday evening dropped a plan to expand Medicare,
winning the support of moderates and the reluctant acquiescence of
liberals, in another major step toward building enough support to pass
a health-care overhaul. The idea of letting people ages 55 to 64 buy
into Medicare, announced just last week, had threatened to explode the
Democrats' hopes of getting a bill through the Senate when Sen. Joseph
Lieberman came out against it." (12/15/09)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126083637029991305.html

-----

2) Copenhagen climate talks suspended, rich vs. poor cited
Christian Science Monitor

"The final week of Copenhagen global warming negotiations has begun
amid rancor between rich and poor nations, with a negotiating bloc of
mostly African countries complaining that it looks like any deal will
not be tough enough on major emissions producers in the developed
world. The complaints, from the G-77 group of nations that is
currently chaired by Sudan, led the Danish hosts to suspend
negotiations on Monday morning. Talks are expected to resume in the
afternoon on what some are hoping will be a politically binding
agreement on curbing global greenhouse gas emissions." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yabvw8l

-----

3) Iraq: Eight killed, 32 wounded
AntiWar.Com

"In Baghdad, a blast in the Yarmouk district wounded four people.
Three people were wounded in a blast in central Baghdad. A bomb in
Qahira left two wounded. ... A bombing left three wounded in Karrada;
later, a second bomb wounded one more. In the evening, a blast inside
a Doura clinic wounded six people, including a doctor. One person was
wounded when a bomb was detonated under a Sleikh bridge. A roadside
bomb wounded four people north of Baghdad in the Tarmiya suburb. A
policeman was killed and two more were wounded during a blast in
Mandali. In Khalis, gunmen killed two civilians. Three Iraqis soldiers
were wounded in Saidiya, when a roadside bomb blasted their patrol. A
bomb wounded two people in Muqdadiya. ... One policeman was killed
during a raid in Fallujah. In Mosul, a civilian was wounded as police
detonated a found bomb." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/y8onos6

-----

4) Afghanistan: Four civilians killed in Kabul blast
Radio Free Europe

"Four civilians were killed in a blast that shook the center of the
Afghan capital today, a National Security Directorate officer at the
scene said. The officer, Ahmad Bilal, said the blast was caused by a
suicide car bomber who detonated his vehicle outside the Heetal Hotel,
a small hotel often used by foreigners in the central Wazir Akbar Khan
district." (12/15/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yc6gcu5

-----

5) Iran: Regime will try three American hikers
Orlando Sentinel

"Iran said Monday a court will try three Americans who wandered across
the border from Iraq last July and became ensnared in an increasingly
bitter standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear program. Iranian
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not say when the trial would
begin or even what the Americans were charged with, other than that
they had 'suspicious aims.' Last month, Iran's chief prosecutor said
they were accused of spying." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yclzavl

-----

6) CEO tries to breathe new life into eBay and PayPal
USA Today

"While tech giants maneuver to gain an advantage during the worst
economic downturn in more than 50 years, eBay has a simple 1-2
approach: focus on e-commerce and online payments. The biggest
marketplace on the Web, with nearly 90 million active users, is
pinning its future on those two businesses as it navigates choppy
economic waters and a raft of rivals, including Amazon.com,
Walmart.com and hundreds of other major retail sites." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yaz6m2n

-----

7) Congo: UN-backed troops killing civilians
Boston Globe

"U.N. peacekeepers in Congo are violating the laws of war and should
immediately stop backing Congolese troops who have deliberately killed
hundreds of civilians in an operation to oust rebels in eastern Congo,
Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch said it had documented
'vicious and widespread' attacks against civilians by soldiers and
rebels between January and September." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yaovczz

-----

8) Wells Fargo to repay $25 billion bailout
CNN

"Wells Fargo said Monday it has reached an agreement with the
government to return $25 billion in bailout money it received during
last year's financial crisis. The San Francisco-based bank said
repayment of the funds is contingent on a $10.4 billion common stock
offering. The move comes on the same day that Citigroup (C, Fortune
500) announced plans to repay the $20 billion it received under the
government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, while Bank of
America (BAC, Fortune 500) returned $45 billion in TARP money last
week." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yb4mmuo

-----

9) Drone attacks may be expanded in Pakistan
Chicago Tribune

"Senior U.S. officials are pushing to expand CIA drone strikes beyond
Pakistan's tribal region and into a major city in an attempt to
pressure the Pakistani government to pursue Taliban leaders based in
Quetta. The proposal has opened a contentious new front in the
clandestine war. The prospect of Predator aircraft strikes in Quetta,
a sprawling city, signals a new U.S. resolve to decapitate the
Taliban." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yam3x86

-----

10) NC: Atheist city councilman under fire
Associated Press

"Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell believes in ending the death
penalty, conserving water and reforming government -- but he doesn't
believe in God. His political opponents say that's a sin that makes
him unworthy of serving in office, and they've got the North Carolina
Constitution on their side. ... 'The question of whether or not God
exists is not particularly interesting to me and it's certainly not
relevant to public office,' the recently elected 59-year-old said.
Raised a Presbyterian, Bothwell began questioning Christian beliefs at
a young age and considered himself an atheist by the time he was 20.
He's an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Asheville and he still celebrates Christmas, often hanging ornaments
on his Fishhook cactus." [editor's note: Of all the silly things to
challenge a politician for, a lack of professed deific belief might be
the silliest! - SAT] (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yataw7p

-----

11) TN: Bart Gordon announces House retirement
Tennessean

"Rep. Bart Gordon, the dean of the Tennessee congressional delegation,
announced this morning that he will retire at the end of next year.
'When I was elected, I was the youngest member of the Tennessee
congressional delegation; now, I'm one of the oldest,' Gordon, D-
Murfreesboro, said in a written statement. 'In fact, I have members of
my staff who weren't even born when I took office. That tells me it's
time for a new chapter.' Gordon said he made his decision after
consulting with his wife, Leslie. ... Gordon is in his 13th two-year
term. He is the chairman of the House Science and Technology
Committee, the only Tennessee House member to chair a
committee." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yabvchx

-----

12) Frank gets delay in law restricting Net casinos
Boston Globe

"Over the objections of gambling opponents in Congress, the Obama
administration has granted a request by US Representative Barney Frank
to delay a long-scheduled federal crackdown on illegal Internet poker
and casino sites. Frank sought the six-month reprieve so he could keep
working on a pet issue: legalizing online gambling. ... You won't find
the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee at a poker
table or roulette wheel, as Frank doesn't gamble. But he said he does
not want the government telling people what to do with their own
money. ... The law, intended to cut off the life blood of the $16-
billion-a-year online gambling industry, was scheduled to take effect
Dec. 1." [editor's note: Once again, Barney Frank shows up as a
champion of personal liberty; if only he were this consistent across
other issues - SAT] (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yacullj

-----

13) Clean Water Restoration Act raises land grab fears
Fox News

"Upwards of 40 percent of all land in the United States is already
under some form of government control or ownership -- 800 million to
900 million acres out of America's total 2.2 billion acres. The
government now appears poised to wield greater control over private
property on a number of fronts. ... Outraged over that ruling and a
series of recent efforts by government to wield greater control over
private property, citizens are fighting back. Fox News' Shannon Bream
takes a fair and balanced look at the controversy in a three-part
series. The Clean Water Restoration Act currently pending in the U.S.
Senate could reach to control even a 'seasonal puddle' on private
property." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yd7dpe9

-----

14) Credit cards getting their licks in now
Tennessean

"Customers such as Dannie Decker, 55, of Lebanon are accustomed to
getting good treatment from their credit card company. Decker pays his
bill on time each month. He has good credit. Normally, when JP Morgan
Chase raised the interest rate on his credit card in years past, he'd
simply complain and the company would back down. Not this time. ...
[A] September letter from Chase [said] his interest rate would go from
a fixed rate of 7.99 percent to a variable rate of 13.24 percent. ...
Credit card companies are raising rates for many customers and adding
fees, even on customers with solid credit histories, as they get ready
for sweeping changes in federal consumer protections set to go into
effect in February." (12/13/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ydyfrru

-----

15) Disputes slow health care bill
Dallas Morning News

"The next 48 hours will be critical to the fate of health care
legislation in the Senate, as Democratic leaders struggle to settle
disputes that stand in the way of holding a final vote this year on
the massive package. By midweek, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-
Nev., must begin the process of ending debate on the $848 billion bill
or risk missing his deadline of final passage by
Christmas." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yefu2pr

-----

16) Some Gitmo detainees headed to Illinois prison
ABC News

"A prison complex 150 miles from Chicago will house Gitmo detainees,
the Obama administration will announce Tuesday. A senior
administration official tells ABC News that on Tuesday the
administration will announce that President Obama 'has directed that
the federal government proceed with the acquisition of the Thomson
Correctional Center in Thomson, Illinois to house federal inmates and
a limited number of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.'" (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yangp9u

-----

17) UK: Miliband attacks judges over torture ruling
Independent [UK]

"The Government has launched a damaging attack on the judiciary in its
increasingly desperate legal battle to stop the public from seeing
evidence of Britain's involvement in torture. Lawyers acting for the
Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, yesterday accused two High Court
judges of acting 'irresponsibly' when they delivered a ruling in
favour of disclosure of sensitive material relating to the alleged
torture of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident, by US
agents." (12/15/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yd6sose

-----

18) UK: Mortgage lenders "too fast to repossess" homes
BBC News [UK]

"Lenders have failed to exhaust all possible ways of keeping people in
their homes in a third of repossession cases, a report by charities
has said. Mortgage providers are expected to use repossession only as
a last resort under legal rules." (12/14/09)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8412141.stm

-----

19) UK: School suspends "crisp dealer"
Ananova [UK]

"A 12-year-old 'crisp dealer' has been suspended from a Liverpool
school where fatty drinks and snacks are banned. Joel Bradley was
caught allegedly selling a packet of Discos at a marked-up price of 50
pence, reports the Liverpool Echo. The student at the Cardinal Heenan
High School was given a day's suspension because it was the second
time he had been caught. His father, Joe Bradley, said his son was
being 'victimised' for the enterprise, which could earn him as much as
#15 a day. Mr Bradley, from Norris Green, admitted he too had once
been caught selling canned drinks, chocolate bars and crisps from a
van outside the school." (12/14/09)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3599919.html

-----

20) MI: Detroit parents want DPS teachers, officials jailed over low
test scores
Detroit News

"Impassioned parents demanded jail time for educators and district
officials Saturday following the release of test scores that showed
fourth- and eighth-graders had the worst math scores in the nation.
City students took the National Assessment of Educational Progress
test this year, and 69 percent of fourth-graders scored below the
basic level in math and 77 percent of eighth-graders scored below
basic. ... Sharlonda Buckman, CEO of the Detroit Parent Network,
called for jailing and civil lawsuits against anyone in the city's
educational system that is not doing his or her share to help properly
educate children. 'Somebody needs to go to jail,' she
said." (12/12/09)

http://tinyurl.com/y9x2sll

-----

21) Millions of Bush administration e-mails recovered
CNN

"Computer technicians have recovered about 22 million Bush
administration e-mails that the White House had said were missing, two
watchdog groups that sued over the documents announced Monday. The e-
mails date from 2003 to 2005, and had been 'mislabeled and effectively
lost,' according to the National Security Archive, a research group
based at George Washington University." (12/14/09)

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/14/white.house.emails/

-----

22) NASA launches comet-hunting space camera
Information Week

"NASA on Monday successfully launched a space telescope designed to
create a highly detailed map of the heavens and spot comets and
asteroids that could pose a threat to life on Earth. NASA's Wide-field
Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, lifted off from California's
Vandenberg Air Force Base atop a Delta II rocket at 6:09 a.m. PST. ...
WISE is designed to provide information about the size, composition,
and texture of near-Earth objects such as comets and
asteroids." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/y8lpqo9

-----

23) TX: Friedman leaves gubernatorial race, seeks ag post
Dallas Morning News

"Musician and humorist Kinky Friedman said Monday he is dropping his
bid to be Texas governor and will instead seek to become the state's
agriculture commissioner. Friedman, who ran for governor as an
independent in 2006, says he decided to drop his gubernatorial bid
after visiting with Democratic candidates Bill White and hair care
magnate Farouk Shami over the weekend. 'The thought of going up
against multimillionaires with only my trusty slingshot was a
problem,' Friedman said." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ydeas5b

-----

24) SCOTUS to review employer access to worker messages
San Jose Mercury News

"The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide how much privacy workers
have when they send text messages from on their employers' accounts.
The justices intervened in a case from Ontario, Calif., where three
police officers and another employee complained that the department
improperly snooped on their electronic exchanges, including many that
were said to be sexually explicit. While the case involves government
workers, the decision could have broader privacy implications. Many
employers tell workers there is no guarantee of privacy in anything
sent over their company- or government-provided computers, cell phones
or pagers." (12/14/09)

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13993441

-----

25) IN: Lawsuit challenges traffic court fines
Louisville Courier-Journal

"A class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Marion County Superior Court
alleges a traffic court judge's practice of assessing additional fines
to defendants who challenge their tickets is unconstitutional. The
lawsuit, filed by Indianapolis attorney Paul K. Ogden, claims Marion
County Traffic Court Judge William Young imposes fines of up to an
additional $500 against defendants who choose to have their day in
court. ... The lawsuit, which names Young, the traffic court and the
city of Indianapolis as defendants, also cites a news release from the
city of Indianapolis in which officials intend to authorize a new
parking citations court to fine defendants up to $2,500 if they
challenge their parking tickets." [hat tip -- Rex Bell] (12/08/09)

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091208/NEWS02/912080339

*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 12/15/09
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 94,768 ... Max - 103,410
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,371
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************

****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************

26) Chicago's thick blue wall
Reason
by Radley Balko

"This is a police department still under federal investigation for an
officer-run torture ring in the 1980s and, more recently, for a major
scandal in which officers in the department's Special Operations Unit
-- alleged to be made up of the city's most elite and trusted cops --
have been convicted of a variety of crimes, including home robberies,
theft, physical abuse and intimidation, and even planning a murder.
The 'best of the best' unit was disbanded last year. ... the Chicago
PD recently went to federal court -- and won -- to prevent the release
of the names of 662 officers who had more than 10 citizen complaints
filed against them between 2001 and 2006. Even members of the city's
Board of Aldermen aren't allowed to see the officers' names. Now, the
police department is working to become even less accountable. ... the
department announced a new policy whereby it would reserve the option
to file criminal charges against citizens who file police misconduct
reports deemed to be without merit." (12/14/09)

http://reason.com/archives/2009/12/14/chicagos-thick-blue-wall

-----

27) A shadow on the Second Amendment
J. Neil Schulman @ Rational Review
by J. Neil Schulman

"[T]he Supreme Court's Heller ruling was 5-4, and if the Court shifts
to an anti-Second Amendment make-up, Heller could be short-lived.
Second Amendment politics is therefore still critical and politically
motivated murders using firearms -- particularly those identified with
conservative causes -- could once again swing the balance of public
opinion against the Second Amendment. We've had two political murders
identified with conservative causes -- both using firearms -- within
as many weeks." (print publication 07/09, posted 12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ydt8m36

-----

28) What is a "good cop?"
Ayn R. Key
by Ayn R. Key

"Too many people have too relaxed a definition of 'good cop.' To them,
a good cop is one who is not engaging in criminal activity. However,
since a police officer's job is to apprehend those who are engaging in
criminal activity, any officer who does not do that is by definition a
bad cop. That includes failure to arrest fellow officers when fellow
officers break the law." (12/13/09)

http://aynrkey.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-is-good-cop.html

-----

29) One war Obama may curtail
AntiWar.Com
by Kelley B. Vlahos

"As far as ending wars abroad is concerned, 2009 was the year of too
many dashed hopes. President Barack Obama appears both master and
slave of the Long War trajectory as we move into year nine of our
post-9/11 war ethos. But there's one war the president may stop -- in
fact, his election has motivated developments toward this end at a
pace not seen in decades. We're talking about the War on Drugs, and it
could change the lives of tens of thousands of Americans and millions
of Mexicans, Colombians, and others in places that feed America's
illicit drug habits." (12/15/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ya9ykpg

-----

30) The plutocrat's address
LewRockwell.Com
by James Ostrowski

"Four score and twelve years ago our plutocrats1 brought forth on this
continent, a new nation, conceived in power lust, ruthlessness and
greed, and dedicated to the proposition that the old republic should
be replaced by a corporate state. Now we are engaged in a Second
American Revolution, testing whether that corporate state, or any
corporate state so conceived and so dedicated, can long
endure." (12/15/09)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/ostrowski/ostrowski94.1.html

-----

31) The fatal prescription pad
San Francisco Chronicle
by Deepak Chopra

"It's well known that the most expensive medical technology in America
is a doctor's ballpoint pen. Doctors call for hundreds of billions of
dollars in unnecessary tests and procedures every year. This has
become a major thrust in healthcare reform. But now we discover that
the prescription pad can also be deadly. A story in USA Today reports
on a statistic from the Centers for Disease Control showing that
deaths by drug overdose are now higher from prescription painkillers
than from heroin and cocaine. ... For decades it's been slow going to
convince Americans, especially older ones, to kick the prescription
drug habit. This spreads far beyond painkillers. Effective prevention
could radically cut into the seven prescription medications taken by
the average person over seventy. Whole categories of disorders, such
as obesity, type II diabetes, and heart attacks could be profoundly
reduced." (12/14/09)

http://www.sfgate.com/columns/chopra/#ixzz0ZgfD5r5B

-----

32) Don't confuse environmentalism with science
Tennessean
by Richard J. Grant

"Truth is not determined by majority vote. Any talk of a 'consensus'
in science is best not taken as the final word. As Somerset Maugham
once put it, 'If 40 million people say a foolish thing it does not
become a wise one, but the wise man is foolish to give them the lie.'
Climatology is a science, not to be confused with environmentalism.
The heart of environmentalism is not to be found in the natural
sciences. It is ideology and nothing more. That is why it ends in '-
ism.' Environmentalism is itself not a monolith, but its dominant
strand is distinctly statist in character. As such, its main nemesis
is the science of economics, not climatology or any of the other
natural sciences. A sound understanding of economics is all that is
needed to discredit the emerging interventionist social agenda of the
environmental movement." (12/13/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ybb5zem

-----

33) Beyond bars
The American Prospect
by Adam Serwer

"Eric Haines lives in his father's basement in Paterson, New Jersey,
just across the street from a freshly anointed memorial to a childhood
friend who was shot to death two weeks ago -- Haines' second friend to
die violently in as many weeks. A white sheet hangs over a chain-link
fence, facing an audience of Jesus candles sprinkled with dirt kicked
up from a recent rainstorm. A few dozen feet away, several men are
gathered outside a corner store, where they will remain past
nightfall. Haines might be out there with them if it weren't for the
black box that's been strapped to his ankle since he violated the
conditions of his parole several weeks ago." (12/14/09)

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=beyond_bars

-----

34) Financial "reform" -- too big banks, too much speculation
The Nation
by John Nichols

"The U.S. House has voted for legislation that is described as
'financial services reform.' But most of the 'reforms' are so mild
that the savviest of the nation's big bankers will be breathing sighs
of relief, rather than worrying about being regulated into good
behavior. That's not to say that the House bill is meaningless. It
proposes some valuable shifts, including the creation of a Consumer
Financial Protection Agency that could -- if infused with proper
authority and backed by a White House and Congress that want to tip
the regulatory balance in favor of the great mass of Americans -- give
bankers and speculators some headaches. Unfortunately, that's a vague
promise rather than a firm one." (12/13/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yebr4px

-----

35) Obama goes from dazzle to drone
Orange County Register
by Mark Steyn

"It wasn't so long ago that Barack Obama's speeches were being hailed
as 'extraordinary rhetorical magic' ... that should be 'required
reading in classrooms' .... Pity the poor grade-schoolers who have to
be on the bus at 5 a.m. for a daylong slog through the 4,000-word
sludge of the president's Nobel thank you. ... [T]he point of Barack
Obama is to dazzle. ... The squealing Obammyboppers of the media seem
to have gotten more muted since those inaugural specials hit the
newsstands back in late January. His numbers have fallen further
faster than those of any other president -- because of where he fell
from. ... The Obama speechwriting team doesn't seem to realize that.
They seem to be the last guys on the planet in love with the sound of
his voice and their one interminable tinny tune with its catchpenny
hooks." (12/12/09)

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/obama-223697-belgian-rompuy.html

-----

36) Obama in Oslo: Ambiguity with "resonance?"
Boston Globe
by James Carroll

"President Obama's Oslo speech could have been titled 'the ambiguities
of history.' That the president spoke with self-awareness from within
those ambiguities made the speech important. Two notes of ambiguity
stood out. First, that his 'labors on the world stage' have not
merited the Nobel Peace Prize. His 'accomplishments are slight,' yet
there he was in receipt of the highest honor. Second, that he was
'responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to
battle' where they 'will kill, and ... be killed.' ... Those
ambiguities were enough to prompt skepticism and even anger,
especially from many who opposed the escalation of the war in
Afghanistan. I count myself among those so opposed, yet oddly the
president's stance in the thicket of such contradiction gave his
remarks resonance." [editor's note: Resonance? interesting euphemism
ya got there - SAT] (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/y9doxr8

-----

37) Bonus Army needed Oath Keepers
Liberty For All
by Jessi Winchester

"Congress granted WWI veterans a bonus in the form of government
'Service Certificate' bonds but they would not mature for 20 years.
Then the Great Depression hit and a majority of the veterans were
unemployed and destitute and began demanding immediate payment of
their bonuses. Congress ignored their oath and obligation to those who
fought for their country by refusing the demands of the veterans, so
20,000 vets descended upon Washington in June 1932 to protest. They
became known as the 'Bonus Army.'" (12/14/09)

http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=3513

-----

38) American madness
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Doug French

"Some analysts see the outlook for America's banks to be bright for
the coming year; just earlier this year the financial sector looked to
be toast. Those who follow the industry at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
believe all will be well for at least the banking behemoths. As a sign
that things are looking up, Charlotte banking giant Bank of America
(BofA) just managed to issue $20 billion in stock to help repay the
$45 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds the
government infused into the bank during the financial meltdown a year
ago." (12/14/09)

http://mises.org/daily/3951

-----

39) Is stealing a virtue?
Heartland Institute
by Jim Johnston

"I am profoundly disappointed in Caritas in Veritate, the encyclical
issued on June 29, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. It contains no fewer
than six endorsements of wealth redistribution by government. It must
be understood that wealth redistribution by government involves the
use of its coercive powers to take resources from those who have
earned them and give them to those who have not. Previous popes have
seen a serious danger in such a forced redistribution." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ydjmk34

-----

40) The Fed's money monopoly
Hawaii Reporter
by US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

"Last week, in the name of protecting the little guy from Wall Street,
the House passed HR 4173 to increase the little guy's false sense of
security in the financial system. This mammoth piece of legislation
would massively increase government regulation and oversight in the
banking industry under the misguided reasoning that more government
could have stopped faulty lending practices, when in actuality it
caused them. This bill would also greatly increase the powers of the
Federal Reserve, which too many in Congress still see as savior rather
than perpetrator in this mess." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/y99yqzz

-----

41) What does it take to get out of Obama's Guantanamo?
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Andy Worthington

"No one knows how long it takes for an appeal against a habeas ruling
to crawl back through the courts, as only a few have been mounted to
date. Several of the eight prisoners who have lost their habeas
petitions have mounted appeals, but only one, on behalf of Belkacem
Bensayah, an Algerian whose habeas petition was denied in November
2008, has begun to be heard by the Court of Appeals, and those
hearings only began this September. On the government's side, only one
appeal has been mounted -- against the successful habeas petition in
March of Yasim Basardah, another Yemeni and a well-known and
contentious informer within Guantanamo." (12/14/09)

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0912g.asp

-----

42) Continued culture of corruption
Freedom Politics
by Gary Galles

"In 2006, Republican earmark scandals helped Democrats re-capture
control of the House of Representatives. Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised
to address the 'culture of corruption' by introducing earmark reforms
on Congress' opening day. How have those reforms turned out? Progress
is hard to identify, with the House's just-passed (with no Republican
votes) omnibus spending bill including over 5,000 earmarks worth
almost $4 billion, and the military spending bill expected to add more
than that. And all that is offered as justification are recycled
invalid arguments." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yd7ejdf

-----

43) EPA's endangerment finding endangers economy
Foundation for Economic Education
by Bruce Yandle

"EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced on Monday that agency
scientists, taking into account hundreds of thousands of comments, had
determined that carbon and other greenhouse-gas emissions endanger the
health and safety of the U.S. population. The EPA finding followed
Supreme Court instructions to the agency to determine if greenhouse
gases should be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Jackson then
carefully pointed out that this decision enabled the agency to move
forward with draconian command-and-control regulation as dictated by
the Clean Air Act. She expressed hope that Congress would pass the
currently debated cap-and-trade legislation and therefore preclude EPA
from moving forward with the regulatory process." (12/10/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yaxstl9

-----

44) Still absurd, insulting and authoritarian
Spiked
by Josie Appleton and James Panton

"It appears that the government has recognised the growing public
frustration with Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, and the fact
that vetting has become an increasingly cumbersome obstacle for
schools and children's sports clubs across the country. However, while
the new development should be welcomed, as it means that fewer people
will be subjected to the burdensome requirements of registering on the
vetting database, the essential absurdities of this scheme -- and its
founding assumption that we are all potential paedophiles until proven
otherwise -- remain unchallenged." (12/14/09)

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7826/

-----

45) For Palestinians every day is Kristallnacht
Information Clearinghouse
by Paul Craig Roberts

"The Israel Lobby has such power over America that even former
President Jimmy Carter, a good friend of Israel, is demonized for
using the polite term -- apartheid -- for the genocide that has
occurred over the decades during which American 'Christian' preachers,
together with bought-and-paid-for politicians, justified Israel's
policy of slow genocide for Palestine. ... In the Israeli-controlled
American media, we hear endlessly that Palestinians are terrorists who
strap on explosives in order to kill innocent Israelis and who
terrorize Israeli towns by firing rockets into them. One look at the
maps above is enough to make clear who the real terrorist is. The
success of Israeli propaganda in the face of totally obvious facts
damns the ignorance and unconcern of the American people." (12/14/09)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24176.htm

-----

46) The revolution might begin ... WHERE?
Strike the Root
by Paul Hein

"Article 1, Section 10, the U.S. Constitution: 'No State shall -- pass
any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the
Obligation of Contracts -- .' Is that at all confusing? Does it
require legal expertise to understand? If words mean what they say
(and if they don't, why pay any attention to a 'law' in Valley Park?)
then a lady in Valley Park, Missouri, who wishes to contract with a
person who might be an illegal alien (need she ask, or, for that
matter, care?) has every right to do so. That right is guaranteed by
the Constitution, to which the officials of Valley Park have probably
sworn an oath of adherence, but even if they haven't, they would
hardly admit that they consider it irrelevant. ... Is someone injured
in any way by a person hiring an illegal alien?" (12/14/09)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/92/hein/hein6.html

-----

47) The publishing revolution
The Libertarian Enterprise
by Daniel G. Jennings

"Something rather extraordinary happened to me in the last month; I
became a published author and I did it without the New York publishing
industry!! The extraordinary thing about this feat was that I had been
trying to get published for about twenty years or ever since I got
infected with the writing bug. Like most authors I tried to go through
the 'system' by mailing manuscripts and book proposals to the literary
agents and publishers listed in the big books in the reference section
at the library. Nothing actually happened except that I made the good
folks at Kinko's and the Post Office a lot of money." (12/13/09)

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle548-20091213-04.html

-----

48) These "clauses" don't give; they steal
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal

"The Constitution has fatal flaws. The 'general welfare clause' and
its equally twisted sibling: the '(interstate) commerce clause,' have
become the goose that lays the golden egg, for government at least.
But that egg gets cracked open while government keeps the gold shell
and dumps the radioactive yolk on the denizens of America." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ycts2bv

-----

49) Intellectual property and libertarianism
Liberty Unbound
by Stephan Kinsella

"Many libertarians abandon minarchy in favor of anarchy when they
realize that even a minarchist government is unlibertarian. That was
my experience. And it was like this for me also with IP. I came to see
that the reason I had been unable find a way to justify IP was because
it is, in fact, unlibertarian. Perhaps this would have been obvious if
Congress had not enacted patent and copyright statutes long ago,
making them part and parcel of America's 'free-market' legal system;
and if early libertarians like Rand had not so vigorously championed
such rights. But libertarianism's initial presumption should have been
that IP is invalid, not the other way around. After all, we
libertarians already realize that 'intellectual' rights, such as the
right to a reputation protected by defamation law, are illegitimate.
Why, then, would we presume that other laws, protecting intangible,
intellectual rights, are valid -- especially artificial rights that
are solely the product of legislation, i.e. decrees of the fake-law
generating wing of a criminal state?" (for publication 01/10)

http://libertyunbound.com/article.php?id=446

-----

50) Afraid of losing liberty to international agreements? Revive the
Bricker Amendment
Nolan Chart
by BS Kalafut

"Treaties, in general, are not 'gotcha!' propositions, nor are they
magical in the sense that a party must obey the terms of a treaty that
will infringe the liberties of its citizens. None of this, however, is
spelled out in the plain text of the Constitution. Even if it is akin
to fear of the bogeyman under the bed, however, fear of Rajendra
Pachauri and an international conspiracy between environmentalists,
socialists, and scientists is having a detrimental effect on public
discourse in the U.S. and on the environmental health of the planet.
To silence those who scream about 'socialism' and use such worries as
an excuse to lie about science, necessary or not, passage of an
amendment clarifying the treaty power and requiring acts of Congress
for treaty provisions to become domestic law is in order." (12/14/09)

http://www.nolanchart.com/article7135.html

-----

51) Ayn Rand and libertarianism
A Passion for Liberty
by Tibor R. Machan

"The question still comes up, 'What does Rand have to Contribute to
Libertarianism?' Of course, late in her life Rand tried to
disassociate herself from libertarians, whom she called 'hippies of
the Right.' In fact, of course, what she found most objectionable
about libertarians is their alleged disdain for a philosophical
foundation for their political ideas and ideals. Rand was convinced
that philosophy matters very much in the defense of a free society.
She stressed, moreover, that in the last analysis she was not a
capitalist, not an egoist, not even an individualist but, first and
foremost, a champion of human reason. From this, she argued, one can
infer most of what really matters to us all, including the vital
importance of a free society. Libertarians, however, tend to want to
have an open door policy -- they don't want to exclude people from the
rank of those who defend liberty even if their defense is wrong or
weak or really badly put." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/y9ovvzw

-----

52) Privacy: Is it only for people doing bad things?
Classically Liberal
by CLS

"When businesses get big they often suck up to the authorities.
Consider the ass kissing Google CEO Eric Schmidt referring to how
Google keeps track of people's searches and will happily turn them
over to the government. His response is: 'If you have something that
you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the
first place.' Really? So Mr. Schmidt how many times per month do you
masturbate? Clearly that is not a privacy issue any more since, if you
don't want people to know about it, you shouldn't be doing it. This
contempt for privacy is bad news for Google in that is is very off-
putting. At one point they fought the State for the privacy of their
clients now they roll over and take it up ... well, you get my point.
But if they didn't want people to know that's what they are doing they
shouldn't be doing it in the first place." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ya8db6y

-----

53) A re-write of the Bill of Rights through the preamble
The Price of Liberty
by Robert Greenslade

"With the 218th anniversary of the adoption of the Bill of Rights only
days away, every American who has graduated from high school should be
able to explain the original intent of the Amendments in ten minutes
or less. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The last thing the
statists want is a constitutionally educated populace. Thus,
government and the education system it controls continue to distort
and hide the true intent of the Amendments. The goal of government is
to convince the people of these United States that the document known
as the Bill of Rights is the source of their rights and government was
granted the constitutional authority to determine the extent of those
rights. In other words, government views the Amendments as a source of
power over the rights of the people. Fortunately, there is a quick and
simple way to disprove this assertion and show the true intent of the
Amendments." (12/14/09)

http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/09/12/14/greenslade.html

-----

54) Drowning in red ink
The Weekly Standard
by Irwin M. Stelzer

"It took the Obama administration less than a year to reduce the
United States from the country with a currency that is considered a
safe haven when international storms threaten, to one that is warned
by a rating agency that unless it mends its profligate ways it will
lose the triple-A credit rating it has had since U.S. government debt
was first assessed in 1917. Who would have thought when Barack Obama
took the oath of office some eleven months ago that Dubai World,
Greece, the UK, and America would attract the attention of the rating
agencies in the same week. But here we are, caught in what consultants
at The Lindsey Group call an 'Attack on the Sovereigns.'" (12/12/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ye3otvc

-----

55) Big Whigs
Slate
by Andrew Dubbins

"The Modern Whig Party is like its namesake, only with fewer frock
coats. The party was conceived in 2007 by active-duty service members
in Iraq and Afghanistan, who then started recruiting nonmilitary
members when they came back home. They resurrected the old Whigs'
symbol, the owl, and chiseled out a platform centered on fiscal
responsibility, energy independence, education, states' rights,
separation of church and state, and support for veterans. In other
words, a Republican head with a Democratic heart. By the time the
meeting started on Saturday morning, only 13 people had taken their
seats. National Whig Party Chairwoman Elaine Stevens pointed out the
historical significance of the 13 attendees -- one for each original
colony. But the symbolism ended a minute later, when No. 14 walked in
late." (12/14/09)

http://www.slate.com/?id=2238557

-----

56) The first casualty of health care reform
The Free Liberal
by Paul Jacob

"The first casualty of war is truth. The first casualty of health care
reform? Free speech." (12/14/09)

http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003957.html

-----

57) Copenhagen: Geoengineering's big break?
Mother Jones
by Chris Mooney

"You won't find geoengineering on the official agenda at the climate
summit in Copenhagen. But for anyone watching the trajectory of the
climate change debate, the controversial notion of intentionally
modifying the planet or its climate system to counteract the effects
of global warming is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Attracting almost no attention, Russia may have already conducted the
first-ever geoengineering field trial. And if the climate talks at
Copenhagen fail, it could give geoengineering advocates the lucky
break they've been waiting for." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/yb4p4qb

-----

58) Motley Fool misfires at faux libertarians
Dallas Libertarian Examiner
by Garry Reed

"A blog on the Motley Fool website proclaimed ETFsRule's December Walk
of Shame: Libertarians! Unsurprisingly, it's a tirade written by
someone who neither knows who 'libertarians' are nor distinguishes
them from 'Republicans.' This anonymous Muttley Tool begins well by
asking, 'So what exactly is a Libertarian?' and answering with
freedom, independence from government interference, and 'They don't
want the government to touch their money (or their guns).' But then
we're treated to a series of half-truths that are almost excusable
since even many libertarians get these concepts wrong." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ybhtyxn

-----

59) Why science is not final arbiter of truth
Independent Institute
by David J. Theroux

"For far too long, science has been shrouded in a cloak of
unquestionable authority as the final arbiter of all knowledge
(except, of course, when the research has been funded by business,
which for some makes it necessarily suspect). Such a status has
resulted in the creation of enormous, government-funded institutions
to examine seemingly every aspect of human existence, with climate
science alone receiving $7 billion annually from the U.S. government
-- more than is spent on cancer and AIDS research. Unlike business- or
even independently funded research, the findings and recommendations
of government-funded researchers has been viewed by many as
sacrosanct." (12/09/09)

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2681

-----

60) Why are we drugging our kids?
AlterNet
by Evelyn Pringle

"The path to child drugging in the US started with providing
adolescents with stimulants for ADHD in the early 80s. That was
followed by Prozac in the late 80s, and in the mid-90s drug companies
started claiming that ADHD kids really had bipolar disorder,
coinciding with the marketing of epilepsy drugs as 'mood stablizers'
and the arrival of the new atypical antipsychotics. Parents can now
have their kids declared disabled due to mental illness and receive
Social Security disability payments and free medical care, and schools
can get more money for disabled kids. The bounty for the prescribing
doctors and pharmacies is enormous and the CEOs of the drug companies
are laughing all the way into early retirement." (12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/ydu544p

*******************************************************************
* RRND MEDIA SHELF -- Tchotchkes from today's edition
*
* Amazon Gift Certificates -- The perfect gift for readers!
* http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00067L6TQ/rationalrev08-20
*
* Note: Affiliate links generate commissions for RRND's editors.
*******************************************************************

*****************************
* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
*****************************

61) Tim Cox on Freedom Rings Radio, 12/21/09
Freedom Rings Radio

"Tim Cox, author of Revolution, a New Plan for Selecting
Representatives and the founder of the Get Out Of Our House Project
joins host Kenneth John. 9-10am Central on WRMN 1410 AM, Elgin, IL or
live on the web. [live radio or stream] (12/21/09)

http://freedomrings.net/

-----

62) Red, white and sacrebleu
Hit & Run

"From wine elves to classy pitchmen, American winemakers have tried
just about everything to challenge the dominance of French vintners.
And yet, with infamous labels like Ripple and Thunderbird, Yankee
wines had long endured the reputation of being good for just one one
thing -- getting blitzed. So it must have seemed like a cruel joke in
1976 when a British wine merchant arranged The Paris Tasting, a one-of-
its-kind competition that pitted mighty France versus lowly America in
a blind taste test judged entirely by Gallic wine experts. But as
viewers of the movie Bottle Shock and the documentary Mondovino can
tell you, the unthinkable happened: America took home top honors for
both red and white wine." [Flash video] (12/14/09)

http://reason.com/blog/2009/12/14/reasontv-red-white-and-sacrebl

-----

63) Cato Daily Podcast, 12/14/09
Cato Institute

"Perverse incentives in Obamacare," featuring Michael F. Cannon. [MP3]
(12/14/09)

http://tinyurl.com/cato121409

-----

64) Freedomain Radio #1531
Freedomain Radio

"Talking about anarchism with atheists: The poverty of being left
behind." [MP3[ (12/13/09)

http://tinyurl.com/fdr1531

-----

65) Scott Horton on Antiwar Radio
AntiWar.Com

"The Other Scott Horton (no relation), international human rights
lawyer, professor and contributing editor at Harper's magazine,
discusses the Seton Hall report that casts doubt on the 'suicide'
death of three Guantanamo inmates in 2006, the highly redacted and
delayed release of the military's cover-up investigation, indications
that less than ten percent of all Gitmo prisoners may be serious
terrorists, the legal immunity enjoyed by high governmental officials
during the Bush and Obama administrations and why Justice Antonin
Scalia's Opus Dei affiliation may influence his views on
torture." [Flash audio or MP3] (12/11/09)

http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/12/11/scott-horton-25/

*************************************
* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
*************************************

66) Today's events

Check our sidebar calendar for this week's freedom movement events.
Don't see your event? Drop us a line at in...@rationalreview.com ... or
see:

www.rationalreview.com/add-your-event-to-our-calendar

... for instructions on adding your events directly!

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/group/4042/

***********
* WaYbAcK
***********

67) Happy Bill of Rights Day

Details, and the "quote of the day," from Leon's Political Almanac at:

http://perspicuity.net/cgi/hypercal.cgi