07/07 -- US sues to block Arizona's Know-Nothing appeasement law; Sri Lanka: Protesters lay siege to UN compound

[Thomas L. Knapp]

**************************************************
* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
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* Volume VIII, Issue #1,956
* Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
* Email Circulation 1,892
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* Published every non-holiday weekday
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In The News:

0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
1) US sues to block Arizona's Know-Nothing appeasement law
2) Sri Lanka: Protesters lay siege to UN compound
3) Iraq: 11 killed, 48 wounded
4) Afghanistan: Occupation soldier, six civilians killed
5) Somalia: Eight killed as insurgents clash in Mogadishu
6) EPA: Clean air rule would overturn Bush-era plan
7) CIA and Pakistan locked in aggressive spy battles
8) Church asks Chile for pardons, including rights abuses
9) Spain wants more progress on Cuba human rights
10) War zone drone crashes add up
11) HI: Lingle vetoes same-sex civil unions bill
12) Venezuela: Chavez regime captures alleged Colombian entrepreneur
13) Report: US funds used to buy villas for wealthy Afghans
14) Leahy: Not dead yet
15) RI: Troopers embrace firm quasi-Stasi role
16) Study: Later schoolday aids teens
17) Study links erectile drugs, STD rates in over-40
18) SAF sues to overturn North Carolina's "emergency powers" gun bans
19) TX: Carjacking victims sexually assaulted, rescued by armed
relative
20) OK: Home invader shot
21) Israeli soldier to be charged over Gaza killings
22) Gulf spill: Crews connecting oil vessel to ruptured well
23) UK: Government to compensate torture victims as official inquiry
launched
24) Thailand: Government extends emergency rule
25) US mail monopoly seeks rate increase

Everybody Has An Opinion:

26) Bradley Manning, American patriot
27) Why we must reduce military spending
28) Without adjectives
29) The death of neoliberalism
30) Stalemate in Toronto
31) The real sin of Michael Steele
32) Battling the banksters
33) Fear of China is overblown
34) A simple, hard answer to long life
35) Slowed food revolution
36) When journalists are attacked, we all lose
37) Gathering data while Washington burns
38) Does the US State Department listen to skeptical scientists?
39) Violent Christians and Iraq
40) Barack Obama, America's selective salary policeman
41) Santa and Frank
42) Stop policing our thoughts, including the hateful ones
43) Where the hell is the peace movement?
44) The Second Amendment, the shooting range, and the race card
45) How the McDonald decision shows that activism works
46) The retiree who is the darling of the gun lobby
47) Eminent domain: We're all Indians now
48) Revolutionary acts you can commit at home in your spare time
49) Brace yourselves for "reasonable regulation"
50) In Second Amendment case, Justice Thomas springs to life
51) Sustainability semantics
52) Founders' vision would shock some
53) The Frankenscales of American Injustice
54) Authority to license?
55) Why has BP endorsed the cap & trade bill?
56) Six-guns over Texas
57) Freedom rings in Smith campaign
58) Overthrowing the government: As American as apple pie
59) Breaking the walled garden of childhood
60) Assimilate and then go back where you came from
61) Making big cuts to public spending
62) The gathering of the libertarian tribes
63) Generosity
64) What do liberals want from Obama?
65) Consequences, chapter 12
66) Second thoughts
67) The crux of our endless War on Terror
68) Endangered species
69) One more mission
70) "Fixing" failing states -- when hubris gives way to reality
71) War of words
72) Finally, a torture investigation
73) India's growth fantasy
74) "Freedom agenda" failures and failed states
75) Just give money to the poor? A surprisingly attractive solution to
poverty

See No Evil, Hear No Evil:

76) George Clowes on The Freedom Works, 07/07/10
77) Talking school choice with reformers Lisa Snell, Leslie Jacobs &
Arwynn Mattix
78) Robert Levy on Declare Your Independence
79) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/06/10
80) Joy Gordon on Antiwar Radio

What's Up In The Freedom Movement:

81) Today's events

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

0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser

Update, 07/07/10: Now we're cooking with gas! Thanks to DD and JR,
whose combined $250 in contributions yesterday bring our fundraiser
total to $270 -- 12% of goal!

As long as things keep going like this, all you'll see from me is
"thank you, and keep it up." Thank you, and keep it up - TLK

http://www.rationalreview.com/content/83890

-----

1) US sues to block Arizona's Know-Nothing appeasement law
Wall Street Journal

"The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Tuesday attempting to block
Arizona from enforcing an anti-immigration law on the grounds that the
state 'crossed a constitutional line' that interferes with the federal
authority over immigration. The law, which the state approved in April
and was set to take effect later this month, makes illegal [sic]
immigration a state crime and requires police to verify the
immigration status of people stopped for other alleged crimes. State
lawmakers said they were acting because the federal government had
failed to protect the state's border with Mexico from encroachment by
illegal [sic] immigrants." [editor's note: As abysmally stupid as the
Arizona law is, there's no "federal authority over immigration" for it
to "interfere" with. Really. Read the Constitution. IT AIN'T IN THERE
- TLK] (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/398j7mo

-----

2) Sri Lanka: Protesters lay siege to UN compound
USA Today

"Hundreds of protesters, led by a government minister, laid siege to
the U.N. compound in Colombo on Tuesday, trapping workers inside for
hours in an effort to force the world body to cancel its investigation
of alleged abuses committed during Sri Lanka's civil war. The United
Nations expressed 'serious concern' over the obstruction of its staff,
which happened despite assurances from the prime minister that the
government would ensure their security. More than 125 people were
believed trapped in the compound when the protesters first descended
on the building in the morning after burning effigies of United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/29g4wq3

-----

3) Iraq: 11 killed, 48 wounded
AntiWar.Com

"In Baghdad, three Shi'ite pilgrims were wounded in a blast while
traveling through Yarmouk. A mortar attack in Shula left one pilgrim
dead and nine more wounded; at least one of the injured later
died. ... In New Baghdad, a bomb killed four pilgrims and wounded 14
more. ... A mortar attack in Kadhimiya killed three and injured eight
late in the evening. ... In Mosul, gunmen killed two
women." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/33edckr

-----

4) Afghanistan: Occupation soldier, six civilians killed
RTT News

"A roadside bomb killed a NATO soldier in eastern Afghanistan even as
six construction workers were killed by Taliban militants south of the
country. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
confirmed the soldier's death without divulging his nationality or the
exact location of the blast." (07/06/10)

http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1352157&SM=1

-----

5) Somalia: Eight killed as insurgents clash in Mogadishu
Voice of America

"Fighting between rival Islamist groups in Somalia's capital has
killed at least eight people. Witnesses say fighters from al-Shabab
and Hizbul Islam clashed late Monday in the southern Mogadishu
neighborhood of Labadhagah. The French news agency, AFP, reports that
six Hizbul Islam fighters were shot and killed by gunmen in a minivan.
It says two al-Shabab fighters were killed minutes later outside a
nearby mosque in apparent retaliation." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/296wj5j

-----

6) EPA: Clean air rule would overturn Bush-era plan
MSNBC

"The Obama administration is proposing a new rule to tighten
restrictions on pollution from coal-burning power plants in the
eastern half of the country, a key step to cut emissions that cause
smog. The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday the new rule
represented its most consequential effort yet to tackle deadly
pollution that contributes to smog and soot that hangs over more than
half the country. The rule would cost nearly $3 billion a year and
those costs are likely to be passed along to consumers, although the
rule's effect on specific companies and on consumers was not
clear." (07/06/10)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38109618/ns/health/

-----

7) CIA and Pakistan locked in aggressive spy battles
MSNBC

"Publicly, the U.S. credits Pakistan with helping kill and capture
many al-Qaida and Taliban leaders. Privately, the relationship is
often marked by mistrust and double-dealing as Pakistan runs double
agents against the CIA and the agency tries to penetrate Pakistan's
closely guarded nuclear program. Spying among friends is old news in
the intelligence business, but the U.S.-Pakistan relationship is at
the heart of Washington's counterterrorism efforts. Any behind-the-
scenes trickery could undermine those efforts as well as the long-
standing hunt for Osama bin Laden." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/23kml5j

-----

8) Church asks Chile for pardons, including rights abuses
Rochester Post-Bulletin

"The Roman Catholic Church is petitioning Chile's government for
prisoner pardons that would include people responsible for crimes
against humanity, angering rights activists and some conservatives.
The church is asking for the pardons as part of the commemoration of
the 200th anniversary of Chile's independence on Sept. 18." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2d2zbug

-----

9) Spain wants more progress on Cuba human rights
Modesto Bee

"Spain hopes Cuba's agreement with Roman Catholic leaders that led to
the release of one political prisoner for health reasons and transfers
to jails closer to home for a dozen others is just the beginning, the
Spanish foreign minister said Tuesday. Foreign Minister Miguel Angel
Moratinos, in Havana for two days to meet with Cuban President Raul
Castro, said Spain is 'very satisfied with the work the Cuban Catholic
Church is doing in its dialogue with Cuban authorities.'" (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2ehxshe

-----

10) War zone drone crashes add up
Chicago Tribune

"The U.S. military often portrays its drone aircraft as high-tech
marvels that can be operated seamlessly from thousands of miles away.
But Pentagon accident reports reveal that the pilotless aircraft
suffer from frequent system failures, computer glitches and human
error. Design and system problems were never fully addressed in the
haste to push the fragile plane into combat over Afghanistan shortly
after the Sept. 11 attacks more than eight years ago." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/27ya8xx

-----

11) HI: Lingle vetoes same-sex civil unions bill
Houston Chronicle

"Hawaii's governor on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have
permitted same-sex civil unions, ending months of speculation on how
she would weigh in on the contentious, emotional debate. Republican
Gov. Linda Lingle's action came on the final day she had to either
sign or veto the bill, which the Hawaii Legislature approved in late
April." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/36s7lvs

-----

12) Venezuela: Chavez regime captures alleged Colombian entrepreneur
Biloxi Sun Herald

"The last remaining fugitive capo of Colombia's Norte del Valle drug
cartel has been captured in Venezuela and will be extradited to the
United States, President Hugo Chavez announced Tuesday. Carlos Alberto
'Beto' Renteria, 65, was arrested Monday after he traveled to
Venezuela's Margarita Island, Chavez said during a speech. He provided
no further details." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/28vn7rq

-----

13) Report: US funds used to buy villas for wealthy Afghans
ABC News

"Brigadier General Mohammed Asif Jabarkhel sits with folded arms in
his office, just a few steps away from the security checkpoint at
Kabul International Airport. 'Of course I know what's going on here,'
the 59-year-old head of the airport's customs police grumbles from
beneath his thick moustache as a fan whirs in the background. 'But, in
this country, who's allowed to speak the truth?' Jabarkhel is
referring to the huge amounts of money regularly being secreted out of
Afghanistan by plane in boxes and suitcases." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2dknnet

-----

14) Leahy: Not dead yet
Fox News

"It appears as if someone posing as a staffer to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-
Vt., sent an e-mail to some media organizations saying that the
senator had died of liver cancer. This is not true. Leahy's press
secretary tells Fox News that 'It was someone's idea of a hoax.' WTOP-
radio in Washington, D.C. was one of outlets that got the bogus
message. The radio station reports that they got the e-mail two days
in a row and it looked so real, a Leahy spokesman first told WTOP that
it did come from the senator's office and they were looking into who
sent the e-mail. Sen. Leahy is doing fine according to David Carle of
the senator's D.C. office. Carle says the sender spoofed the message
to give recipients the false impression that it was an official
statement from the senator's office. He believes other senators have
been incorrectly reported dead also. KGO-TV in San Francicsco says the
station received a similar announcement about Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-
Calif., on Monday. Feinstein's office told KGO-TV that she is alive
and well." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/25bmqo2

-----

15) RI: Troopers embrace firm quasi-Stasi role
Boston Globe

"Rhode Island State Trooper Nuno Vasconcelos was patrolling Interstate
95 a few months ago when he came upon a two-car accident in heavy
traffic. The trooper pulled up, stepped out of his cruiser, and asked
one of the drivers for his license. The man said he did not have a
license, and under questioning, confessed that he was here illegally
from Guatemala. If the accident had happened 15 miles north in
Massachusetts, the man would probably have been arrested for driving
without a license, which carries a fine of up to $1,000 and 10 days in
jail, then released pending an appearance in district court. But in
Rhode Island, illegal immigrants face a far greater penalty:
deportation. From Woonsocket to Westerly, the troopers patrolling the
nation's smallest state are reporting all illegal immigrants they
encounter, even on routine stops such as speeding, to US Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE." [editor's note: Obviously,
these cops have read their copies of "Mein Kampf" and are obeying zee
Emperor's decrees - SAT] (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/25ystde

-----

16) Study: Later schoolday aids teens
Associated Press

"Giving teens 30 extra minutes to start their school day leads to more
alertness in class, better moods, less tardiness and healthier
breakfasts, a small study found. 'The results were stunning. There's
no other word to use,' said Patricia Moss, academic dean at the Rhode
Island boarding school where the study was done. 'We didn't think we'd
get that much bang for the buck.' The results appear in July's
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. ... Researchers say
there's a reason why even 30 minutes can make a big difference. Teens
tend to be in their deepest sleep around dawn -- when they typically
need to rise for school. Interrupting that sleep can leave them
groggy." [editor's note: Umm, well, like DUH! - SAT] (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2bd4a9b

-----

17) Study links erectile drugs, STD rates in over-40
Bloomberg News

"Men age 40 or older who use Pfizer Inc.s Viagra and Eli Lilly & Co.'s
Cialis to boost sexual potency have higher rates of sexually
transmitted diseases, a Harvard study found. Men who took the
impotence pills were almost three times more likely to have a sex
disease, particularly HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in the year
before and after they started the drugs, according to research
published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The higher rate of
sexually spread infections could have more to do with the habits or
temperament of the men using the erectile drugs than with the
medicines enabling them to have more frequent or riskier sex, the
authors said. The findings suggest that users of drugs to treat
erectile dysfunction, which also include Bayer AG's Levitra, could be
more likely to engage in unsafe sex than nonusers, said Anupam Jena,
the lead author of the study. Although sexual diseases are far more
common in young people, infection rates are increasing in those middle-
aged and older, the researchers said." [editor's note: DUH! "Oh goody,
I can get it up again now; time to screw anything with an orifice!" -
SAT] (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2ckxw7j

-----

18) SAF sues to overturn North Carolina's "emergency powers" gun bans
Liberty For All

"The Second Amendment Foundation on Monday filed a federal lawsuit in
North Carolina, seeking a permanent injunction against the governor,
local officials and local governments from declaring states of
emergency under which private citizens are prohibited from exercising
their right to bear arms. Joining SAF in this lawsuit are Grass Roots
North Carolina -- the state's leading gun rights organization, and
three private citizens, Michael Bateman, Virgil Green and Forrest
Minges, Jr. Named as defendants in the federal lawsuit are North
Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue; Reuben Young, secretary of the
Department of Crime Control and Public Safety; Stokes County and the
City of King." (07/06/10)

http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4532

-----

19) TX: Carjacking victims sexually assaulted, rescued by armed
relative
Houston Chronicle

"The women, who are in their mid-20s, were at the drive-thru at 2:30
a.m. when the suspect jumped into their Mustang convertible and held
them at gunpoint .... The suspect ... forced the women to drive around
for several hours, during which time he sexually assaulted them ...
But the suspect was instead tricked by one of the women into going to
an apartment complex in northwest Houston where her brother lived ...
There, she was able to call her brother on a cell phone and told him
what was happening ... 'The brother is a concealed weapons permit
holder,' she said. The brother confronted the suspect, allowing the
second victim to escape ... and the suspect then took off in the
victims' car." (07/05/10)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7094901.html

-----

20) OK: Home invader shot
KTUL News

"A home invasion suspect is in custody after being shot by the
homeowner during a robbery. Police said Melvin Dan forced his way in
to an apartment around 5:30 a.m. Monday at the Wellsford Oaks near
15th and Riverside. According to the arrest report Dan put a gun to
the face of the homeowners and forced them into a bathroom. One of the
homeowners had a gun of his own and shot the suspect through the
bathroom door." (07/05/10)

http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0710/752474.html

-----

21) Israeli soldier to be charged over Gaza killings
ABC Online [Australia]

"The Israeli military has announced it will prosecute one of its
soldiers for killing civilians during its invasion of Gaza in late
2008. ... it will press manslaughter charges against one of its
marksmen who shot dead a Palestinian woman and her mother. The pair
were waving white flags when they fled their house with a group of
children after it was hit by an Israeli tank shell." (07/06/10)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/06/2946503.htm

-----

22) Gulf spill: Crews connecting oil vessel to ruptured well
CNN

"Crews are in the process of connecting the vessel Helix Producer to
the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, said the man leading the
federal response to the Gulf oil disaster. The hookup has been
partially completed despite rough seas. The vessel should draw up to
53,000 barrels of oil a day when it becomes operational, newly retired
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Tuesday afternoon in Houston, where
he traveled to meet with BP officials. He also said progress continues
to be made on two relief wells." (07/06/10)

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/06/gulf.oil.disaster/

-----

23) UK: Government to compensate torture victims as official inquiry
launched
Guardian [UK]

"David Cameron today ordered an unprecedented inquiry into evidence
and allegations of British complicity in the torture and abuse of
terror suspects. But he immediately moved to ensure the courts would
no longer be able to disclose damning evidence which, he implied,
could jeopardise intelligence sharing with the US. ... He said the
government wanted to pursue 'mediation' with six former Guantanamo Bay
detainees who had brought civil claims about their treatment -- and
who are demanding the disclosure of MI5 and MI6 intelligence. They
will be offered out-of-court compensation." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3a6e2j6

-----

24) Thailand: Government extends emergency rule
USA News Week

"The Thai government today extended emergency, imposed in April,
across about one quarter of the country by three months, saying that
the red-shirt protesters are still active. The rights groups have
slammed the extension of the emergency, which will be maintained in
Bangkok and 18 other provinces, arguing that it will hit the
reconciliation efforts. ... The opposition has asked the government to
revoke the emergency decree before a parliamentary by-election in
Bangkok on July 25, but the government rejected the
demand." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/25j29k3

-----

25) US mail monopoly seeks rate increase
New York Daily News

"The post office wants to increase the price of a stamp by 2 cents to
46 cents starting in January. Facing a $7 billion loss in 2011, the
U.S. Postal Service said the move was necessary on Tuesday. 'The
postal service faces a serious risk of financial insolvency,' said
agency vice president Stephen M. Kearny said. Kearny said the rate
increase would bring in additional $2.5 billion, but the postal
service would still face a $4.7 billion loss." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2a4fu5q

*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 07/07/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 96,845 ... Max - 105,596
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,411
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************

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

26) Bradley Manning, American patriot
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

"Army Specialist Bradley Manning, the intelligence analyst who leaked
the 'Collateral Murder' video of US pilots shooting down Iraqi
civilians (including two Reuters photographers) in cold blood, is
finally being charged. For revealing to the American people the truth
about what's going on in Iraq, Manning faces horrendous legal
consequences -- nearly sixty years in prison if convicted on all
counts. One of the charges, incredibly, is espionage. He was a 'spy,'
according to the US government -- for letting Americans in on the
'secret' that we are committing war crimes in Iraq, and around the
world." (07/07/10)

http://tinyurl.com/34hwgkw

-----

27) Why we must reduce military spending
Huffington Post
by US Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

"As members of opposing political parties, we disagree on a number of
important issues. But we must not allow honest disagreement over some
issues to interfere with our ability to work together when we do
agree. By far the single most important of these is our current
initiative to include substantial reductions in the projected level of
American military spending as part of future deficit reduction
efforts. For decades, the subject of military expenditures has been
glaringly absent from public debate. Yet the Pentagon budget for 2010
is $693 billion -- more than all other discretionary spending programs
combined. Even subtracting the cost of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, military spending still amounts to over 42% of total
spending." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/273a4ke

-----

28) Without adjectives
Center for a Stateless Society
by Anna Morgenstern

"So why the pretense? Why go through this ruse of 'public' and
'private?' Well that's it. That's the state. The state IS the ruse.
The state ... is a social fiction. It is the myth of legitimacy. This
myth is the thin black line that separates 'the government' and its
'private sector' attachments from any other Mafia." (07/04/10)

http://c4ss.org/content/3111

-----

29) The death of neoliberalism
Reason
by Matt Welch

"Our grandchildren won't believe our stories about the 1990s. Yes,
there really was a time before the World Wide Web and ubiquitous
portable communication devices in sub-Saharan Africa. Yes, you really
could travel to some foreign countries without a passport, without a
return ticket, without a credit card, and without entering multiple
government databases. Yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates really did once play
winning baseball. But as the Bush-Obama era of bailout economics and
Keynesian rehabilitation settles into something like cruising speed,
perhaps the most fantastic fact to swallow will be that once upon a
time the United States had a president who restrained government
spending, balanced the budget, argued forcefully for the benefits of
free trade, and declared that 'the era of big government is over.' And
he was a Democrat." (07/06/10)

http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/06/the-death-of-neoliberalism

-----

30) Stalemate in Toronto
Campaign For Liberty
by John Browne

"Last week, global attention was focused on Toronto as the G-20
gathered to confront the growing financial and economic worries
darkening the global economic horizon. In an irony worthy of Orwell,
the representatives of the world's top 20 economies (19 countries plus
the European Union) managed to ignore the out-of-control spending
contained in Western governments' budgets and instead unite behind a
banner that they called 'financial responsibility.' This is akin to a
group of Mafiosi holding a summit on business ethics." (07/06/10)

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=991

-----

31) The real sin of Michael Steele
LewRockwell.Com
by Patrick J. Buchanan

"'This was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United
States has actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.' Strictly
speaking, Republican Party Chair Michael Steele was way off base when
he made this remark at a closed-door meeting of party contributors in
Connecticut. For the war began in 2001 under George W. Bush and was
backed by almost all Americans, who collectively cheered the downfall
of the Taliban and the rout of al-Qaida from its sanctuary in
Afghanistan. Yet, Steele was not entirely wrong." (07/07/10)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan142.html

-----

32) Battling the banksters
The Nation
by William Greider

"Hold the applause. The president would like us to celebrate his 'Wall
Street reform,' but the legislation is misnamed. Barack Obama did not
set out as president to reform Wall Street in fundamental ways but to
restore it. Judging by the largest banks' booming stock prices and
executive bonuses, he appears to have succeeded. The leading bankers
expressed relief when they saw the reform package Congress cobbled
together on June 25. Wall Street, loathed by citizens everywhere,
dodged the bullet in Washington. Congress followed Obama's path and
rejected the sterner measures that promised to actually change things.
As with healthcare reform, the White House, joined by the Treasury and
the Federal Reserve, spent much of its energy opposing more aggressive
ideas or bargaining small-bore compromises. The president kept a low
profile, saving himself for the victory celebration." (06/30/10)

http://www.thenation.com/article/36905/battling-banksters

-----

33) Fear of China is overblown
Christian Science Monitor
by Jeffrey Wasserstrom

"'When the Chinese become our overlords, will they be benevolent
overlords -- or horrific taskmasters?' The Daily Show host Jon Stewart
made that joke three years ago, but American anxiety over China's rise
is more intense today. The good news is that our anxieties are often
misdirected -- we fret more about dying in rare plane crashes than in
common highway accidents. Is the current Sinophobia also overblown?
When I give talks about my new book on China, people often ask me
fearful questions about everything from Beijing's large holding of US
Treasury notes to its military buildup. I try to put their anxieties
in perspective with these five points." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/267aevm

-----

34) A simple, hard answer to long life
Boston Globe
by Christoph Westphal

"Friends occasionally ask me how they might best live healthy, longer.
They inquire because I went to medical school, work in biotech, and
focus professionally on developing drugs to treat diseases of aging by
targeting aging genes. My response seems to surprise them, because it
does not center on pharmaceutical products. The current answer on how
to increase healthy human lifespan is simple: 'Eat less, and exercise
more.' Why do I not, in the first instance, suggest the use of
medications or other medical interventions? The reason is
straightforward. The experiment has been run in humans where certain
groups of individuals appear to live longer, healthier lives than the
general population without resorting to modern Western medicine. One
such group of longer-lived individuals is the Seventh Day Adventists,
but there are additional examples such as Okinawans, who also have
historically modest diets and exhibit remarkable
longevity." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/26xfal6

-----

35) Slowed food revolution
The American Prospect
by Heather Rogers

"Morse Pitts has been cultivating the same land in New York's Hudson
Valley for 30 years. His operation, Windfall Farms, is the very
picture of local, sustainable agriculture. From early spring to late
fall, the farm's 15 acres are luxuriant with snap peas, squash, mint,
kale, and Swiss chard. Its greenhouses burst with sun gold tomatoes
and an array of baby greens. Pitts, who is in his 50s and is tall with
gray hair, doesn't use chemical fertilizers or pesticides or any
genetically modified seeds. He cultivates biodiversity, not just
vegetables. Twice a week, he hauls his produce 65 miles south to
Manhattan to sell at the lucrative Union Square farmers market. His
converted school bus runs on biodiesel he makes from used vegetable
oil, which he is also trying to use to power his greenhouses. Pitts
does a brisk trade; demand for his produce is high, and the way he
farms is increasingly valued. Since the mid-1990s the number of
farmers markets has shot up 300 percent, and the organic sector has
seen annual double-digit expansion." [editor's note: Once again, the
issue is NOT how many subsidies are being given to promote organic
farming, but how much corporate welfare goes to keeping factory-
farming and the institutionalization of food as the dominant trend -
SAT] (07/06/10)

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

-----

36) When journalists are attacked, we all lose
In These Times
by Megan Tady

"The attacks on reporters trying to bear witness to last month's G20
Summit in Toronto are chilling. During last month's G20 Summit in
Toronto, Canada, which brought together finance ministers and central
bank heads from 20 countries, more than 600 people were rounded up and
arrested during peaceful public demonstrations. Among those arrested,
and in some cases physically abused, by police were journalists --
many of whom were clearly donning the press badges of their affiliated
media outlets. The violence and scare tactics leveled at protesters in
the streets of Toronto -- and the increased militarized protection
these summits request -- is frightening." [editor's note: Although I'd
agree with most of this, there are some "journalists" out there who
might benefit from a good smack on the head! - SAT] (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/277mum2

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37) Gathering data while Washington burns
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Mark R. Crovelli

"When future generations of scholars look back on the economic and
political disaster enveloping the United States today, three questions
should be at the forefront of their minds. First, they should wonder
whether the many generations of politicians that collectively
engineered this economic and political disaster were either (1) too
outrageously stupid to know that what they were doing would produce
such a dreadful catastrophe, or (2) whether they were so evil and
underhanded that they did know what they were doing would result in
disaster -- and yet they did it anyway." (07/06/10)

http://mises.org/daily/4529

-----

38) Does the US State Department listen to skeptical scientists?
Heartland Institute
by Jim Lakely

"As Heartland Senior Fellow James M. Taylor reported when the draft
report was released April 8, the State Department had concluded,
'Global warming is unequivocal and primarily human-induced ... Global
temperature has increased over the past 50 years. This observed
increase is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping
gases.' Those sentences remain in the final report, leading one to
question whether State Department editors bothered to read and
consider comments that did not agree with their pre-conceived
notions." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/249sf9p

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39) Violent Christians and Iraq
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger

"Ever since the invasion of Iraq, I have been absolutely amazed by the
position taken by many American Christians. Needless to say, I'm no
theologian but it just seems to me that it would be difficult to find
a clearer example of a violation of God's prohibition against murder
than what the U.S. government has done to the Iraqi people, with the
full support of many American Christians." (07/06/10)

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-07-06.asp

-----

40) Barack Obama, America's selective salary policeman
FreedomWorks
by Ted Abram

"Personal freedom best advances civilization. America is exceptional
because of the philosophy of freedom acknowledged in our founding
documents. Indispensable for personal freedom is the liberty to
contemplate, reason, communicate, exchange and work and to possess the
gains made by these endeavors." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2czqd7e

-----

41) Santa and Frank
Freedom Politics
by Thomas Sowell

"People who remember the old comic strip 'Peanuts' will recall an
often repeated situation where Lucy offers to hold a football for
Charlie Brown to kick. Then, as Charlie coming running up to kick it,
Lucy snatches away the ball and Charlie Brown loses his balance and
goes crashing on his backside. The reason this same scene remained
funny, despite how often it was repeated, is that in the later
repetitions Charlie Brown would express suspicion at Lucy, recalling
how she had tricked him before." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2aqz9ha

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42) Stop policing our thoughts, including the hateful ones
Spiked
by Brendan O'Neill

"Presenting himself as part John Stuart Mill, part Uncle Sam, the Lib-
Con deputy PM Nick Clegg last week launched his Your Freedom
initiative for which he NEEDS YOU to help make Britain a 'less
intrusive, more open society.' You log on to the Your Freedom website,
propose which nannying New Labour laws and other unnecessary
legislation should be fed into the shredding machine of history, and
who knows, says Clegg, 'some of your proposals could end up making it
into bills that we bring before parliament.' The ultimate aim, in
Cleggspeak, is to 'restore Britain's traditions of freedom and
fairness.'" (07/06/10)

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9166/

-----

43) Where the hell is the peace movement?
CounterPunch
by Missy Beattie

"Peace activists with Peace of the Action (POTA) had just set up
across from the White House when police officers arrived to shake
their authority at Cindy Sheehan with a badass threat of six months in
jail. Of course, she and Jon Gold knew they were under a stay-away
order and couldn't put even a toenail over the line of demarcation --
this order imposed after they were arrested March 20, 2010 and spent
more than 50 hours behind bars for exercising shrinking rights to
protest. We POTA activists are focusing on a gargantuan dilemma -- one
that impacts our security with heartbreakingly vivid images of gushing
oil, dead marine life, and a bleak prognosis for planet Earth. We
gathered in Lafayette Park in DC across from the House occupied by an
imperial president to declare freedom from oil addiction." (07/07/10)

http://counterpunch.org/beattie07062010.html

-----

44) The Second Amendment, the shooting range, and the race card
The Libertarian Enterprise
by Neale Osborn

"Recently, the Supreme Court gave us Hoplophiles (gun people) a half-
assed victory. They acknowledged that the 2nd Amendment is about an
individual right, and applies to the states as well as the federal
government. Of course, they failed to go far enough, but it is a
start. Then Obama made his speech about illegal aliens, and that
brought to my mind the HUGE divide between the races. These two un-
related ideas then met an article about liquor stores, gun shops, and
minority areas of town. It made me think about all the different
ranges I've shot at over the last 46 years." (07/06/10)

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle577-20100704-07.html

-----

45) How the McDonald decision shows that activism works
Hot Air
by Ed Morrissey

"Glenn Reynolds takes note of the significant shift in judicial and
popular thought on gun control over the last 30 years, ending with the
McDonald decision that made clear the individual right of Americans to
keep and bear arms, in a Washington Examiner column over the weekend.
Glenn emphasizes that this shows how much impact the Tea Party can
have if it maintains its efforts in the long run, reversing a
seemingly-unstoppable tide of government bloat and intrusion, but the
transformation is worthy of note even without that
context ..." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/36ygokm

-----

46) The retiree who is the darling of the gun lobby
Vancouver Sun
by Barbara McMaron

"McDonald, recruited by gun advocates as the figurehead for the court
case, has become an unlikely star of the American gun rights lobby.
The son of a former Louisiana sharecropper, he worked his way up from
a caretaker's post at Chicago University to become a building
maintenance engineer. The African-American acknowledged that some
people think he is being used as a pawn by the largely white gun-
rights organizations. 'Oh, I know they probably picked me because I'm
black,' he laughed. 'But that don't matter because I feel that law-
abiding citizens like me, who are confronted with violent crime every
single day of their lives, are finally getting a level playing
field.'" (07/04/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2blbh5p

-----

47) Eminent domain: We're all Indians now
Pro Libertate
by Will Grigg

"Seizure of property through eminent domain is facilitated by ... the
Fifth Amendment provision specifying that private property can be
taken for 'public use' when the government offers what it considers
'just compensation.' The familiar civics class platitude describes
this provision as necessary for the construction of bridges,
hospitals, and other amenities ... The inescapable reality is that
eminent domain is a particularly vulgar form of plunder used to enrich
the political class and their corporate cronies at the expense of the
rest of us. In his recent book Government Pirates ... former real
estate developer Don Corace offers a concise description of eminent
domain operated prior to the onset of the current
depression ..." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2458je8

-----

48) Revolutionary acts you can commit at home in your spare time
Before Its News
by The Crocker Post

"Turn off your television. This will help put Main stream Media out of
business and help clear your mind of its lies. Turn on the internet.
The traditional free press no longer exists in America. The real free
press is now the blogosphere. ... Start your own blog. It's fun and
easy. ... Speak the truth on your new blog .... Arm yourself. Exercise
your Second Amendment rights. You'll need weapons if the country goes
down the tubes and owning a gun will give you peace of mind when you
start receiving the hate mail that inevitably comes with speaking the
truth." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/25d52kd

-----

49) Brace yourselves for "reasonable regulation"
Seattle Gun Rights Examiner
by Dave Workman

"How do you feel about licensing gun owners, registering all of their
firearms, requiring training in order to own a firearm, mandatory
liability insurance for every gun owner, limiting citizens to owning a
single handgun for personal protection, background checks for all
firearms transactions and mandatory waiting periods on all gun
purchases? Are these 'reasonable regulations' that pass the
constitutional smell test? (Be sure and offer an opinion below.)In the
48 hours that followed Monday's historic ruling by the U.S. Supreme
Court ... various anti-gun newspaper editorials have essentially
provided the gun prohibition lobby's definition of 'reasonable
regulation.'" (07/01/10)

http://tinyurl.com/28kudgj

-----

50) In Second Amendment case, Justice Thomas springs to life
Delaware online
by Courtland Milloy

"He hardly ever speaks during oral arguments, often appearing asleep
on the bench.But in his written opinion Monday supporting the right to
bear arms, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas roared to
life.Referring to the disarming of blacks during the post-
Reconstruction era, Thomas wrote: 'It was the 'duty' of white citizen
'patrols to search negro houses and other suspected places for
firearms.' If they found any firearms, the patrols were to take the
offending slave or free black 'to the nearest justice of the peace'
whereupon he would be 'severely punished.' Never again, Thomas
says.This was no muttering from an Uncle Tom, as many black people
have accused him of being. His advocacy for black self-defense is
straight from the heart of Malcolm X." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2df62yl

-----

51) Sustainability semantics
Reason
by Ronald Bailey

"The word 'sustainability' has appeared more than 3,000 times in major
world publications over the last three months, according to the news
search engine Nexis. But does anyone know what it really
means?" (07/06/10)

http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/06/sustainability-semantics

-----

52) Founders' vision would shock some
Orange County Register
by Walter Williams

"How might our Founders have commented about last week's U.S. Supreme
Court's decision upholding our rights to keep and bear arms? Justice
Samuel Alito, in writing the majority opinion, said, 'Individual self-
defense is the central component of the Second Amendment.' The
Founders would have responded 'Balderdash!' ... Contrary to Alito's
assertion, the central component of the Second Amendment is to protect
ourselves from U.S. Congress, not street thugs. Today's Americans have
contempt for our Founders' vision. I'm sure our Founders would have
contempt for ours." (07/05/10)

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/founders-256419-people-congress.html

-----

53) The Frankenscales of American Injustice
Libertarian News Examiner
by Garry Reed

"Nowhere does the US Constitution identify the Supreme Court as being
the final arbiter of what is or isn't constitutional. SCOTUS Chief
Justice John Marshall arrogantly declared one day that his court,
meaning himself, was the Ultimate Decider Dude. This is like some
midlevel Medieval European bully standing up and declaring, 'I hereby
proclaim myself King!' If nobody challenges him, he's King. Nobody
challenged Marshall so he became the Ultimate Decider
Dude." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/26jglfd

-----

54) Authority to license?
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal

"In the latest issue of The Libertarian Enterprise (you do read it
weekly, right?), A.X. Perez said, in a letter-to-the-editor exchange
regarding the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment: 'I
might, maybe, concede that people should not own weapons powerful
enough to literally blow the planet apart without special licenses.'
That statement stopped me in my tracks. Who could possibly have the
authority to issue such licenses?" (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/347tt9b

-----

55) Why has BP endorsed the cap & trade bill?
Downsize DC
by Jim Babka

"BP is justly criticized for its handling of the Gulf oil spill. But
it's dishonest to use this tragedy to promote the cap & trade bill. In
fact, BP has endorsed the bill! And it's no wonder. The Kerry-
Lieberman American Power Act (APA) is little more than a corporate
welfare scheme." (07/06/10)

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/why-has-bp-endorsed-the-cap-trade-bill

-----

56) Six-guns over Texas
Dallas Libertarian Examiner
by Garry Reed

"July 4 must have been an incredibly slow day for the Ft. Worth Star-
Telegram. An article titled 'Dallas-Fort Worth businesses wrestle with
issues created by patrons' tattoos' squandered 767 perfectly good
words on a total non-issue; almost nobody cares about other people's
tats. The article focused mostly on Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington
where employees are ever vigilant for anyone bearing a tattoo that may
offend others and then asking the human canvas to cover the ink art,
primarily 'for the children.'" (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/32f8pqd

-----

57) Freedom rings in Smith campaign
Pueblo Chieftan
by Peter Strescino

"Christine Smith wants to set you free. If Smith were to be paid a
nickel every time she spoke or wrote the word 'Freedom,' LeBron James
might be asking her for a loan. Smith is running against Republican
Tom Massey for the Colorado House District 60 seat in November, and
her entire campaign -- maybe her entire life -- is based on the word
that helped forge the United States as a nation." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/367t2lo

-----

58) Overthrowing the government: As American as apple pie
Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson

"It's nice to remind people, as they gather for July 4th picnics and
the local car dealers run ads thanking the troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan for 'our freedoms,' that the holiday they're celebrating
commemorates -- as one libertarian blogger put it -- the victory of an
insurgency against a global military superpower. Chris Matthews, a
popular liberal news commentator on MSNBC, frequently expresses his
dismay at all the Gadsden Flags and suchlike imagery at Tea Party
rallies. Why, he says, these people are using the 'Don't Tread On Me'
symbolism to 'attack our own government' -- an utterly unheard of
departure from its original appearance in a patriotic foreign war
against 'an enemy imperial nation.' Rather than using it to fight a
foreign government like Britain, they're using it to fight (gasp)
'their own central government!' It's really not fair to single
Matthews out for blame. His historical illiteracy is typical of the
vast majority of people who absorbed the triumphal statist propaganda
the publik skools call 'civics' and 'American history.'" (07/05/10)

http://c4ss.org/content/3122

-----

59) Breaking the walled garden of childhood
Ideas
by David Friedman

"A very long time ago, I attended a conference at which one of the
other participants was the late John Holt, a prominent and
unconventional writer on education. The part of his talk I still
remember was his description of the Victorian ideal of the walled
garden of childhood -- that children needed to have their innocence
preserved by being walled away from the corrupting influence of the
real world. As he put it then, some children want nothing more than to
climb over that damned wall. It is an attitude that is all too common
in the modern world. The Internet is a wonderful educational tool --
but a lot of parents assume that their children must be protected, by
monitoring or filtering, from seeing too much of it." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2d4yfur

-----

60) Assimilate and then go back where you came from
New Kind of Mind
by Chris George

"The most common complaint seems to be, which includes the language
issue, the 'unwillingness' of immigrants to assimilate. I mean, how
dare Mexicans fly the Mexican flag, demonstrating their own
nationalist stupidity! If you're going to be stupid, be stupid like
the rest us! But the assimilationist's argument doesn't make any
sense. Exactly how does someone assimilate when they are here
illegally? It's a pretty serious catch-22 they've got going there:
we're going to make it as hard as possible to come and assimilate and
then complain when you don't." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2dctkrl

-----

61) Making big cuts to public spending
Adam Smith Institute
by Dr. Eamonn Butler

"The RAC says people should pay directly for the roads they use. Even
the expense claims of Tony Blair's security staff are under public
scrutiny. Where is it all going to end? The point is that it shouldn't
end. The magnifying glass has to be put over every part of the public
sector. Do we really need new school buildings? Well, in many places
we do, but in others that I know, the local people weren't even
consulted, and thought that rebuilding was a complete waste of money.
Should taxpayers really stump up for free bus passes, or winter fuel
and Christmas bonuses, to wealthy pensioners? Or buy sweeties for Tony
Blair's protection squad?" (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/34fkfgj

-----

62) The gathering of the libertarian tribes
The American Spectator
by Shawn Macomberr

"In 2002, while serving as president of the Foundation for Economic
Education, [Mark] Skousen had an epiphany: Why not corral the free-
market feline fracas in 'the world's most libertarian city' for a few
days to 'learn, network, and celebrate liberty?' The result was
FreedomFest, a fun, engaging, always eclectic, occasionally eccentric
swirl, which, yes, delves deeply into politics and policy --
immigration, energy independence, geopolitics, science -- but, unlike
the myriad Manichean which-way-to-power political confabs, also
expands its cultural purview in serious ways. It is almost certainly
the only politically minded conference this year that will cover Billy
the Kid, baseball, Edgar Allan Poe, and new discoveries of the Hubble
telescope, as well as feature both science fiction writer Orson Scott
Card and Steve Forbes -- the latter, I'm told, may give his keynote
speech dressed as George Washington. 'Freedom,' Skousen explains,
'means different things to different people.'" (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3x8dvt8

-----

63) Generosity
The Partial Observer
by James Leroy Wilson

"Money, as a facilitator of exchange, is a form of energy. The more
property and money you have, the more energy you have at your
disposal. Each person can increase his or her own energy by exchanging
that which he does not value for something he does value. When two
people make a trade, each one feels better off. The positive emotion
from the satisfactory change in turn creates more positive energy. But
wealth isn't created just through work and trade. It is also created
through generosity." (07/06/10)

http://partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=3487

-----

64) What do liberals want from Obama?
The New Republic
by Jonathan Cohn

"Look at the record: Obama has made a pair of liberal appointments to
the Supreme Court, the second of whom appears to be on track to easy
confirmation. He's populated the National Labor Relations Board with
officials who actually believe in labor law. He's rescued the auto
industry, and the region of the country that depends upon it, from
economic oblivion. He'll likely get the chance to sign a major Wall
Street reform package, just as he did an overhaul of the student
lending program. And, of course, he led and won the fight for
comprehensive health care reform. Bob isn't that impressed and, I
know, neither are many other liberals. Among other things, they think
Obama made too many compromises." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/36lkvte

-----

65) Consequences, chapter 12
The Price of Liberty
by Susan Callaway

Fiction. (07/05/10)

http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/2010/06/07/consequences-12.html

-----

66) Second thoughts
National Review
by David Horowitz

"[Christopher] Hitchens is a man of such unruly contradictions that it
may be said of him, as Dr. Johnson did of the metaphysical poets, that
he has 'the ability to yoke heterogeneous ideas by violence together.'
Opponent of America's war in Vietnam and supporter of America's war in
Iraq; libertarian defender of free-market capitalism and unabashed
admirer of Trotsky and Marx; friend to Paul Wolfowitz, a
neoconservative hawk, and to Victor Navasky, an apologist for the
Rosenbergs, Hamas, and Alger Hiss. It is not only incompatible ideas
and comrades that Hitchens comfortably embraces, but modes of
being." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/39l7vps

-----

67) The crux of our endless War on Terror
Salon
by Glenn Greenwald

"So between Afghanistan and Paksitan combined, there are a few hundred
Al Qeada members total. All of this ongoing war and those hundreds of
billions of dollars spent and those deaths and the decade of
occupation, and those bombings and shootings and drone attacks and
lawless prisons and habeas-stripping court precedents: it's all
(ostensibly) for a few hundred extremists total hiding in remote
tribal areas. A few hundred." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/232h6r3

-----

68) Endangered species
The Weekly Standard
by John McCormack

"The health care vote confirmed that when a pro-life Democrat's
principles collide with his loyalty to the broader Democratic agenda,
it's the pro-life principles that give way. This pattern goes back all
the way to Roe v. Wade. It happened long ago with the likes of Jesse
Jackson and Richard Gephardt and Al Gore. Ultra-liberal Dennis
Kucinich of Ohio -- long a pro-lifer -- tossed that position overboard
the instant he launched his vanity presidential campaign in 2004.
Harry Reid of Nevada sold out what remained of his pro-life principles
in exchange for becoming the Senate Democratic leader in 2005. The
Senate's health care vote in December claimed the credibility of the
two remaining pro-life Democrats in that chamber: Bob Casey of
Pennsylvania, who announced he'd rather pass a national health care
bill that funds abortions than pass no bill at all, and Ben Nelson of
Nebraska, who held out for a bit of extra federal cash for Nebraska
known as the Cornhusker Kickback. But Stupak was supposed to be
different." (07/05/10)

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/endangered-species

-----

69) One more mission
Slate
by Christopher Hitchens

"Might it be salutary to ask Gen. McChrystal for one more mission?
Send him back to Baghdad to help oversee the drawdown and also to
continue the trouncing of those who are trying to disrupt the
transition. Help pass on to the Iraqi army a cadre of battle-tested
fighters, Arab and Kurdish, who have learned to take the measure of
the enemy. Make it plain that further help from over the horizon is
available if they ask for it. This would be a much more fitting career
conclusion than the one currently offered, which has something small
and dishonorable about it." (07/06/10)

http://www.slate.com/id/2259431/

-----

70) "Fixing" failing states -- when hubris gives way to reality
Let A Thousand Nations Bloom
by Rachel Mathers

"Though development projects are often lauded as critical for
improving human welfare and alleviating human suffering, one nuance of
development goals that must be addressed is the relevant alternatives
to the proposed project. One such alternative, infrequently considered
as a realistic option, is letting failing states fail rather than
attempting to fix them. In spite of the best intentions on the part of
foreign aid agencies and their counterparts, what is best for human
well-being may be no intervention at all, especially in cases where a
predatory government rules, making outside aid subject to confiscation
by a corrupt and malicious government." (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2ax4n5g

-----

71) War of words
Intellectual Conservative
by Lisa Fabrizio

"As we know, the world of political journalism has radically changed
in the post-WWII decades. The methods, the tone and the very role of
media have morphed over time, although they have always been prone to
liberal leanings. They began as mere reporters, whose sole function
was to chronicle events in Washington. These pressmen represented the
classic liberalism of the Scoop Jackson variety -- committed to
equality among men at home and the belief that a strong America was a
force for good in the world -- and generally represented the views of
those to whom they reported the news. Then, as the influence of
radical socialists who had begun to infiltrate journalism schools in
the 1930s began to take effect, they came to view their profession as
a way to 'change the world for the better.'" [editor's note:
Interesting historical view. Too bad it's entirely made up and bears
no resemblance to reality - TLK] (07/06/10)

intellectualconservative

-----

72) Finally, a torture investigation
Mother Jones
by Nick Baumann

"Good news for accountability advocates: The government will soon
launch an investigation of claims that it was involved with the
torture, abuse, and 'rendition' of terrorism suspects. The British
government, that is. Eighteen months into the Obama administration,
there has been no movement towards a full, public investigation of
America's treatment of detainees. But on Tuesday afternoon in the UK,
David Cameron, the new conservative prime minister, announced that his
government will launch an inquiry into Britain's role in alleged
detainee abuse." (07/06/10)

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/07/cameron-uk-torture-investigation

-----

73) India's growth fantasy
Cato Institute
by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says he wants India to hit an annual
GDP growth rate of 10% soon. Since the country averaged 8.5% from
2003-08, he thinks this is definitely achievable. Think again. Given a
sluggish global economy and lack of domestic reform, India may not
average much more than 8% growth in the next five years. True, the
country has many advantages -- cheap skills, catch-up possibilities
and good demographics (the working-age share of the population is
rising). But against these must be weighed disadvantages such as high
inflation, rising corruption and deplorable public services. The
biggest dampener is not local but global." (07/05/10)

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11954

-----

74) "Freedom agenda" failures and failed states
The American Conservative
by Daniel Larison

"There is something obviously wrong when Fred Hiatt, friend of
warmongers and torture apologists, holds forth on the dangers to
liberty around the world. Here was the line that was the most jarring
to me: 'Taking advantage of their control of television, they
mobilized ideologies of nationalism and anti-terrorism to undermine
the rhetoric of freedom.' Of course, Hiatt is referring here to
various authoritarian states, but he seems to have no notion that
apart from the reference to television that statement could just as
easily be applied to his own op-ed pages and the politicians he has
defended over the last decade. For that matter, the measures he and
his allies have favored haven't just undermined the rhetoric of
freedom, but have seriously undermined the limits on government power
and significantly damaged the substance of American liberty and the
liberty of people in other nations as well. More perversely, they did
all of this while pretending to celebrate American freedoms. One might
ask why Hiatt expects freedom to be flourishing elsewhere in the world
when our own authoritarians have worked so hard to harm it here at
home with security measures, power grabs and grossly illegal
activities." (07/05/10)

http://tinyurl.com/26cgg35

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75) Just give money to the poor? A surprisingly attractive solution to
poverty
AlterNet
by Melinda Burns

"Who's responsible for the poor? Back in the reign of the first Queen
Elizabeth, English lawmakers said it was the government and taxpayers.
They introduced the compulsory 'poor tax' of 1572 to provide peasants
with cash and a 'parish loaf.' The world's first-ever public relief
system did more than feed the poor: It helped fuel economic growth
because peasants could risk leaving the land to look for work in town.
By the early 19th century, though, a backlash had set in." (07/04/10)

http://tinyurl.com/26ezjmb

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* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
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76) George Clowes on The Freedom Works, 07/07/10
The Freedom Works

George Clowes, Education Expert at The Heartland Institute, joins host
Paul Molloy. 10-11am Eastern on WTAN 1340 AM, Tampa Bay, Florida and
KLRG 880 AM, Little Rock, Arkansas or live on the web. [live radio or
stream] (07/07/10)

http://thefreedomworks.com/

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77) Talking school choice with reformers Lisa Snell, Leslie Jacobs &
Arwynn Mattix
Hit & Run

"Reason Foundation's Director of Education Lisa Snell hosts a panel
with Leslie Jacobs, founder of education reform nonprofit Educate Now!
As a former member of the New Orleans School Board, Jacobs was a
driving force behind the charter school movement that rejuvenated the
New Orleans public school system after Hurricane Katrina. Also on the
panel is Arwynn Mattix from the BASIS Education Group, which runs
charter schools in Arizona that have attracted praise from figures
such as Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton." [Flash video] (07/06/10)

http://reason.com/blog/2010/07/06/reasontv-reason-weekend-2010-t

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78) Robert Levy on Declare Your Independence
Freedom's Phoenix

Robert Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute's board of directors,
joins host Ernest Hancock. [MP3] (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/27xokta

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79) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/06/10
Cato Unbound

"Reform proposals for Social Security," featuring Jagadeesh Gokhale.
[MP3] (07/06/10)

http://tinyurl.com/cato070610

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80) Joy Gordon on Antiwar Radio
AntiWar.Com

"Joy Gordon, author of Invisible War: The United States and the Iraq
Sanctions, discusses the comprehensive sanctions imposed on Iraq in
the 1990s that killed 500,000 children, the US led effort to literally
starve Iraq by cutting off food importation, how the Gulf War and
subsequent sanctions destroyed Iraq's modern infrastructure and
prevented rebuilding, contradictory US and UN policies on rewarding
compliance of Security Council resolutions and how the US 'reverse
veto' power guaranteed the sanctions would never be lifted while
Saddam Hussein remained in power." [Flash audio or MP3] (07/04/10)

http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/07/04/joy-gordon/

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* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
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81) 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/