08/27 -- We're back here again? Why Ron Paul's friends matter; The negative value of US citizenship
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Thomas L. Knapp
Aug 27, 2013, 9:26:11 AM8/27/13
to freedom-n...@googlegroups.com
Freedom News Daily, 08/27/13
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Russia, Iran warn against attack on Syria
2) Egypt: Islamist groups seek truce with army
3) Iraq: 14 killed
4) Afghanistan: Seven killed in US airstrike
5) Pakistan: Attack on security forces’ camp kills six
6) US pols face mid-October deadline to vote themselves more check-kiting authority
7) Italy: Stocks tumble amid political uncertainty
8) Cuban state begins move out of the restaurant business
9) Ecuador: Assange appears in bizarre rap video to promote Wikileaks candidates
10) India: Gandhi stable in hospital
11) Report: Private lobbyists get public pensions in 20 states
12) Bitcoin group meets with US regime bureaucrats, thugs
13) Afghan war veteran receives Medal of Honor
14) India: Lower house of parliament passes cheap food plan
15) Report: Snowden stayed at Russian consulate while in Hong Kong
16) VT: Live grenade found near McDonald’s
17) AL: Three burglary suspects thwarted by gun-packing homeowner
18) US to pour more money into encouraging war in southeast Asia
19) West Bank: Palestinian Arabs killed in clashes with Israeli police
20) China: British and American investigators arrested
21) Report: Why did NSA spy on UN? Not to counter terrorism
22) OH: Homeowner shoots robber who stabbed him numerous times
23) NM: Court rules same-sex marriage is legal in parts of state
24) Manning’s lawyer gives more details on gender change
25) Oberlin student: Months-long campaign of racism, etc. “was a joke”
Today's Freedom Commentary:
26) We’re back here again? Why Ron Paul’s friends matter
27) The negative value of US citizenship
28) Chelsea Manning and the state’s abusive transphobia
29) Anti-smoking activists’ clueless crusade against e-cigarettes
30) Balanced budget amendments, good and bad
31) The police state and the Great Tomato Raid
32) Al Jazeera drinks prison hunger strike kool-aid
33) Prison, plantation and indoctrination center
34) Rights, obligations, and ignorant [sic] libertarians
35) Sending broken men back into Afghanistan
36) Oreo cookies: The “stuf” ridiculous lawsuits are made of
37) US polices deter inward and encourage outward business investment
38) This is about where we tell the government to *!$% off isn’t it? Right off?
39) We are all connected
40) Yes, we can drill our way out of this problem
41) Are you a “potential terrorist?”
42) Bad Quaker Podcast, 08/26/13
43) Market forces lead to better treatment for farm animals
44) Repeal the 17th: Problems to address
45) Neale’s Weekly Gun Rant, Volume 22
46) Fear the worst: Evil state government in New Mexico
47) The French model
48) QandO Podcast, 08/25/13
49) “I apologize,” says Gupta
50) EPA overreach : Higher cost, less energy, greater risk
51) The grand illusion
52) Lying about Syria
53) An open society: A biography of Roger Williams
54) No war with Syria!
55) A skyscraper curse with Chinese characteristics
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FREEDOM NEWS
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1) Russia, Iran warn against attack on Syria
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar]
"Russia and Iran have given fresh warning to US and its allies against a military intervention in Syria. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that such an intervention could have 'catastrophic' consequences for the region and called on the international community to show 'prudence' over the crisis. ... Separately, Iran repeated its opposition to any US attack by warning that a military intervention will engulf the whole region. 'There will definitely be perilous consequences for the region,' Abbas Araqchi, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said." (08/27/13)
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2) Egypt: Islamist groups seek truce with army
Source: Yuma Sun
"Two former militant groups offered to call off street protests if the government agrees to ease its pressure on Islamists, a move that underscores how a onetime strong Islamist movement is now bowing to an unprecedented crackdown by security authorities. The proposal comes after the military rounded up hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood leaders and other Islamists in the wake of the country's worst bout of violence." (08/26/13)
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3) Iraq: 14 killed
Source: Antiwar.com
"In Mosul, gunmen killed five people in two separate locations. A sixth victim was shot dead elsewhere. A bomb in Kanaan killed a woman and a child; another woman was wounded. One person was killed and three more were wounded during shelling in Mahaweel. A bomb planted at an Essouira farm killed one person and wounded three more when it explode[d]. In Falluja, gunmen killed a policeman and wounded another. A clash left one gunman dead and two policemen wounded. Gunmen killed a young man in Zubayr." (08/26/13)
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4) Afghanistan: Seven killed in US airstrike
Source: Press TV [Iranian state media]
"At least seven people have been killed in an overnight US-led airstrike in Kunar Province in northeastern Afghanistan, Press TV reports. The Afghan army has confirmed the overnight airstrike, saying it was conducted in Watapur district late Monday." (08/27/13)
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5) Pakistan: Attack on security forces’ camp kills six
Source: Dawn [Pakistan]
"Four militants attacked a security forces' camp using heavy weaponry in Sara Rogh are of South Waziristan tribal region, according to security officials who wanted not to be named. Security personnel engaged in retaliatory firing killing three attackers whereas the fourth militant detonated a suicide vest he was wearing and blew himself up. Security sources said that two soldiers were killed in the attack and nine others sustained injuries." (08/27/13)
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6) US pols face mid-October deadline to vote themselves more check-kiting authority
Source: Washington Post
"The United States is set to run out of borrowing authority in mid-October, leaving the government at a high risk of not being able to pay for Social Security checks, military salaries and other operations, the Obama administration said Monday. ... Republicans are demanding significant new spending cuts in exchange for increasing the nation’s $16.7 trillion debt limit, with some GOP lawmakers insisting on a delay or the scrapping of President Obama’s signature health-care law. Obama, meanwhile, says he will not negotiate on the debt limit, the government’s legal cap on borrowing." (08/26/13)
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7) Italy: Stocks tumble amid political uncertainty
Source: Fort Dodge Messenger News
"Milan's stock exchange has closed sharply lower amid heightened concerns about a government crisis following Silvio Berlusconi's definitive conviction for tax fraud. The benchmark FTSE MIB closed down 2.1 percent Monday, dragged in particular by a 6.25 percent fall in Berlusconi's Mediaset empire." (08/26/13)
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8) Cuban state begins move out of the restaurant business
Source: Reuters
"More than 20 state restaurants in Cuba are about to become employee-run cooperatives as Raul Castro's communist government continues its retreat from running just about everything on the Caribbean island. The restaurants will become cooperatives in October, with hundreds more likely to follow if the experiment succeeds. All aspects of the business from buying the food to splitting the profits will be decided by the employees, not from on high in the government. A similar process is already under way in other sectors from construction and transportation to farmers' markets and light manufacturing." (08/26/13)
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9) Ecuador: Assange appears in bizarre rap video to promote Wikileaks candidates
Source: The Daily Mirror [UK]
"He's been stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy for more than a year, so it's possible Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is being driven to distraction. But the Australian-born fugitive has taken tackling boredom to a whole new level with the release of a bizarre music video as part of his party's campaign in Australia's forthcoming election. The video -- in which Assange appears at one point dressed as an 80s rock star -- combines rap and rock music to get across the message of his Wikileaks party, which is fielding six candidates in next month's vote." (08/26/13)
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10) India: Gandhi stable in hospital
Source: LaCrosse Tribune
"Sonia Gandhi, India's most powerful politician and the leader of the ruling Congress party alliance, was in stable condition after falling ill during a debate in Parliament. Press Trust of India, quoting unidentified sources at the hospital where Gandhi was taken, said she was no longer in the intensive care unit, where she had been taken initially because of chest pain." (08/26/13)
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11) Report: Private lobbyists get public pensions in 20 states
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"As a lobbyist in New York's statehouse, Stephen Acquario is doing pretty well. He pulls down $204,000 a year, more than the governor makes, gets a Ford Explorer as his company car and is afforded another special perk: Even though he's not a government employee, he is entitled to a full state pension. He's among hundreds of lobbyists in at least 20 states who get public pensions because they represent associations of counties, cities and school boards, an Associated Press review found." (08/26/13)
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12) Bitcoin group meets with US regime bureaucrats, thugs
Source: Bloomberg
"A Bitcoin trade group met today with members of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and an array of law-enforcement officials and regulators to discuss oversight of the digital currency. Members of the Bitcoin Foundation briefed representatives of agencies including the FBI, IRS, Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Secret Service on the nature of the virtual currency, created four years ago." (08/26/13)
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13) Afghan war veteran receives Medal of Honor
Source: Seattle Times
"President Barack Obama bestowed the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, on Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter on Monday, saluting the veteran of the war in Afghanistan as 'the essence of true heroism,' one still engaged in a battle against the lingering emotional fallout of war. Carter risked his life to save an injured soldier, resupply ammunition to his comrades and render first aid during intense fighting in a remote mountain outpost four years ago." (08/26/13)
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14) India: Lower house of parliament passes cheap food plan
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"India's lower house of parliament has passed a controversial Food Security Bill that aims to provide subsidized food to two-thirds of the population. Under the plan, which still needs to be approved by the upper house, 800m poor people would receive to give 5kg (11lb) of cheap grain every month. Its backers argue it is a big step towards eradicating the widespread hunger and malnutrition plaguing India. But critics say it is a profligate plan which will hurt India's economy." (08/26/13)
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15) Report: Snowden stayed at Russian consulate while in Hong Kong
Source: Washington Post
"Before American fugitive Edward Snowden arrived in Moscow in June -- an arrival that Russian officials have said caught them by surprise -- he spent several days living at the Russian Consulate in Hong Kong, a Moscow newspaper reported Monday. The article in Kommersant, based on accounts from several unnamed sources, did not state clearly when Snowden decided to seek Russian help in leaving Hong Kong, where he was in hiding to evade arrest by U.S. authorities on charges that he leaked top-secret documents about U.S. surveillance programs." (08/26/13)
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16) VT: Live grenade found near McDonald’s
Source: Fox News
"Police in Vermont say the device found outside a McDonald's restaurant in Morrisville that prompted the shopping plaza to be evacuated was a live hand grenade. The state police bomb squad made the device safe and removed it. WCAX-TV reports that police said Friday that they don't know where the explosive came from. Police were called to the Morrisville Shopping Plaza at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after receiving the report about the grenade. When officers arrived they determined it was a completely assembled grenade." (08/26/13)
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17) AL: Three burglary suspects thwarted by gun-packing homeowner
Source: ABC 3340 News
"A homeowner in Jefferson County thwarted three suspects from stealing his tools after he held the trio at gunpoint, freezing them dead in their tracks until sheriff's deputies could arrive to haul them to jail .... the trio had broken into three storage buildings and three vehicles before the gun-toting property owner confronted the suspects, holding them at gunpoint until the authorities arrived." (08/23/13)
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18) US to pour more money into encouraging war in southeast Asia
Source: Voice of America [US state media]
"The United States has announced a major increase in U.S. funding for military education and training programs in Southeast Asia. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made the announcement Sunday during a speech at the Malaysian Institute of Defense and Security in Kuala Lumpur. He said the latest Pentagon budget includes $90 million for the programs, an increase of more than 50 percent compared to four years ago." (08/26/13)
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19) West Bank: Palestinian Arabs killed in clashes with Israeli police
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"Three Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces in Qalandiya refugee camp in the West Bank. Nineteen Palestinians were wounded in the confrontation, Palestinian medical sources said. Israeli officials said a large crowd attacked police with stones and petrol bombs during an arrest operation and 'riot dispersal methods' were used. Palestinian medics said all those killed were hit by live gunfire.
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20) China: British and American investigators arrested
Source: ABC News
"Two private investigators, a Briton and an American, have been arrested in Shanghai on charges of illegally trading in personal information about Chinese citizens, police announced Tuesday. The announcement was the first official word on Peter Humphrey and Yingzeng Yu, a married couple who operate ChinaWhys Ltd., an investigation firm in Shanghai that serves corporate clients. They were detained in July." (08/27/13)
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21) Report: Why did NSA spy on UN? Not to counter terrorism
Source: Christian Science Monitor
"The National Security Agency (NSA) has bugged United Nations and European Union internal communications, according to secret documents obtained by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and disclosed by the German news magazine Der Spiegel. The story, published Sunday, charges that the NSA 'infiltrated the Europeans' internal computer network between New York and Washington, used US embassies abroad to intercept communications, and eavesdropped on video conferences of UN diplomats.' Among the UN activities targeted by the NSA, Der Spiegel says, was the UN’s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency." (08/26/13)
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22) OH: Homeowner shoots robber who stabbed him numerous times
Source: WCPO News
"Police said a man was shot to death and another was stabbed Thursday night during a home invasion in Hamilton. When officers arrived at the home in the 1800 block of Parrish Avenue, they found 38-year-old Robert D. Shoemaker with multiple stab wounds to his neck on his front porch. Inside, they found 44-year-old Chad Gabbard dead from multiple gunshot wounds. ... Gabbard ... was attempting to commit a robbery at the home and stabbed Shoemaker. Shoemaker then shot and killed Gabbard in self-defense." (08/25/13)
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23) NM: Court rules same-sex marriage is legal in parts of state
Source: Christian Science Monitor
"Same-sex marriages are now legal in New Mexico's most populous county and the city of Albuquerque, a court ruled on Monday, adding to recent victories for gays and lesbians seeking the right to wed statewide. Last week, a judge in Santa Fe County ordered the county clerk there to issue same-sex marriage licenses and a clerk in the southern part of the state decided to hand out such licenses independently of any court ruling. The ruling could set precedent for expanding the right of gays and lesbians to eventually marry statewide in New Mexico, said representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union." (08/26/13)
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24) Manning’s lawyer gives more details on gender change
Source: USA Today
"Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, who was previously known as Bradley Manning, decided to announce that she wanted to live as a woman the day after sentencing because a military prison said publicly it would not provide hormone treatment, her attorney said Monday. ... Coombs said he and Manning knew the Army might not provide hormone treatment, but they were hoping the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., would allow it since Manning had been diagnosed with gender-identity disorder by an Army psychiatrist who testified at his trial. It wasn't until they read a Courthouse News Service story that Manning decided to make the announcement." (08/26/13)
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25) Oberlin student: Months-long campaign of racism, etc. “was a joke”
Source: Raw Story
"A male student at Oberlin College admitted to police that he is responsible for a series of racist, antisemitic, and anti-LGBT incidents at the traditionally progressive institution. The student’s campaign began on February 5, 2013, when an unnamed female student complained to the Oberlin College Safety and Security Office that someone had posted on her door a flyer with a link to 'OBIETALK.COM,' which led to a site containing offensive comments about the unnamed female." [editor's note: This is sure one dumbshit student, or just a waste of human skin; your call - SAT] (08/26/13)
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HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER
Iraqi Deaths Due to US Invasion: 1,455,590
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/iraq)
US Deaths in Afghanistan: Bush 575, Obama 1576
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/obamavsbush)
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FREEDOM COMMENTARY
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26) We’re back here again? Why Ron Paul’s friends matter
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Steve Horwitz
"For all the good Ron Paul has done in bringing people to the ideas of libertarianism (and it has been significant), it remains troubling that there seems to be something in the way he talks about libertarian ideas that makes people like Stormfront or the organizers of that conference think he is 'one of them.' Equally troubling is the attempt by some Ron Paul supporters to shrug at this issue and just say 'that’s Ron being Ron' or the equivalent. Or, as often happens to me, argue that people raising these criticisms are just trying to gain pats on the back in the faculty lounge. Why is it so hard for Ron Paul supporters to believe that there are libertarians who are genuinely troubled in a principled way by his hanging out with racists and anti-Semites and their support of him in return?" (08/26/13)
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27) The negative value of US citizenship
Source: Reuters
by Felix Salmon
"Kirk Semple has a big piece today on a longstanding phenomenon: the millions of people who live in America, who are eligible to become citizens, and yet who never do so. ... More generally, if your home country requires that you give up your native citizenship when you become an American, then the choice can be a very tough one. But beyond, that there are numerous much more practical considerations at play. Semple touches on one, which is the sheer cost, both financial and psychic, of going through the naturalization process." (08/26/13)
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28) Chelsea Manning and the state’s abusive transphobia
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Nathan Goodman
"Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower who released evidence of US war crimes to WikiLeaks, has announced that she identifies as a woman. 'Given the way I feel and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible,' she wrote in a statement. But the US Army, which will be incarcerating the whistleblower throughout her 35 year sentence, has shown no interest in respecting her gender identity." (08/24/13)
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29) Anti-smoking activists’ clueless crusade against e-cigarettes
Source: Hawaii Reporter
by Nick Gillespie
"The latest push from tobacco eliminationists doesn’t involve actual smoking, which has already been driven out of polite society more thoroughly than Rev. Jeremiah Wright sermons, early David Allan Coe records, and Three’s Company-era gay jokes combined. But it does lay bare the prohibitionist mindset and its fixation on scrubbing the planet clean of any behavior or attitude the crusader deems unacceptable." (08/26/13)
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30) Balanced budget amendments, good and bad
Source: Independent Institute
by J. Huston McCulloch
"An effective Constitutional amendment requiring a supermajority of both houses of Congress to increase the national debt limit is long overdue. Republicans in Congress have proposed a series of well-intentioned Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) proposals that are meant to achieve this worthy objective. Unfortunately, the existing proposals would result in a fiscal train wreck, would encourage a perpetual state of war, and even then would not prevent the Federal Reserve from doing an end-run around the borrowing limit." (08/25/13)
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31) The police state and the Great Tomato Raid
Source: Dallas Libertarian Examiner
by Garry Reed
"A self-sufficient communal farm in Arlington, Texas called 'Garden of Eden' was raided by SWAT forces looking for a marijuana grow but they found only tomato plants instead. While it's now old news in North Texas, Police State Watchers around what used to be a "free country" might be interested in knowing just how incredibly dull-witted and unaccountable America's militarized cops have become." (08/26/13)
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32) Al Jazeera drinks prison hunger strike kool-aid
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
by Debra Saunders
"As I was researching my Sunday column on the California prison strike, I ran across a number of Al Jazeera stories on the network’s Website. Like this Aug. 21 story, 'Hunger Strike in California prisons escalate.' Escalates? The number of hunger strikers fell from 30,000 on July 8 to fewer than 200 on Aug. 16, which the story reported. So how did it escalate? This piece buys all the arguments about the SHU being 'torture' and 'solitary confinement.' The writer repeats claims by an inmate lawyer that the system is stacked against inmates, apparently unaware that this very system ordered the release of 40,000 inmates in California prisons in 2009 and placed an order on the Pelican Bay SHU for years." [editor's note: Ms, Saunders has taken on the thankless task of "fact-checking" this story - SAT] (08/24/13)
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33) Prison, plantation and indoctrination center
Source: Everything Voluntary
by Skyler J. Collins
"When you consider how we were programmed by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to learn and gain knowledge about the world, ie. education, it's rather asinine to put children in school. Everything about school is antithetical to human nature. Like prison, school keeps children locked up and their activities regimented. Like a slave-worked plantation, school makes children labor away at tasks assigned by others. Like an indoctrination center, schools tell children what they must think, the knowledge that they must have and memorize in order to regurgitate later so that they can be evaluated, or in other words have their worth as a human being determined, and that they shouldn't think too critically about the facts or processes that are being poured into their minds." (08/26/13)
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34) Rights, obligations, and ignorant [sic] libertarians
Source: The American Prospect
by Paul Waldman
"Oh, Rand Paul. What are we going to do with you? ... Paul is obviously unaware of this, but saying that health care is a right doesn't mean that doctors have to treat people without being paid, any more than saying that education is a right means that public school teachers have to work for free. Because we all agree that education is a right, we set up a system where every child can be educated, whether their families could afford to pay for it themselves or not. ... All this talk of 'servitude' and 'conscription' is just baffling." [editor's note: Mr. Waldman of course ignores the facts -- coerced taxation is by definition "extortion" and that "system" he touts is funded solely by that theft! - SAT] (08/26/13)
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35) Sending broken men back into Afghanistan
Source: Antiwar.com
by Kelley B. Vlahos
"Most of us cannot understand the pain associated with post-traumatic stress in any visceral way, as described by this recent veteran from the Iraq War: 'My mind is a wasteland, filled with visions of incredible horror, unceasing depression, and crippling anxiety.' Now think of the veteran who wrote these words, 30-year-old Daniel Somers, being sent back into the warzone for another tour of duty. Clearly a joke, right? Not exactly." (08/27/13)
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36) Oreo cookies: The “stuf” ridiculous lawsuits are made of
Source: Hawaii Reporter
by Baylen Linnekin
"In a particularly slow news week in the slowest news month, ABC News and other outlets came calling. Even the gossip website TMZ got in on the action. The story does indeed make for some light summer reading. But it piques my interest because, as a food lawyer who's very often not a fan of lawsuits targeting food companies, I fear the next step might be litigation." (08/26/13)
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37) US polices deter inward and encourage outward business investment
Source: Cato Institute
by Daniel J. Ikenson
"The capacity of the United States to continue to be a magnet for both foreign and domestic investment is largely a function of its advantages, many of which are shaped by public policy. Considerations of taxes, regulations, trade openness, access to skilled workers, infrastructure, energy policy, and dozens of other policy matters factor into decisions about whether, where, and how much to invest." (08/26/13)
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38) This is about where we tell the government to *!$% off isn’t it? Right off?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by anonymous
"All will know that I am a very peaceful, calm and contented sort of chap. So it is with a certain sense of betraying that peaceful persona that I now need to tell you that I've entirely blown my top. It's not that the specific design of mobile phones that we are allowed to purchase or not legally is all that much of a concern to liberty and freedom. Rather, it's the entirely insufferable assumptions behind this mooted ban on certain models ..." (08/26/13)
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39) We are all connected
Source: Our Future
by Dave Johnson
"If your core cause is the environment, LGBT, healthcare, women’s rights, social justice, civil rights, labor, economic equality ... YOU NAME IT, you are seen by the giant corporations as the same enemy. But for too long all of these groups have been divided. But here is the reality: the corporate-funded conservatives oppose all of these things at the same time, and when they are in office they obstruct people from making progress on all of these things. ... And the same holds true for the rest of these concerns -- the people who are fighting us are fighting against all of these." (08/26/13)
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40) Yes, we can drill our way out of this problem
Source: Heartland Institute
by Marita Noon
"In a particularly slow news week in the slowest news month, ABC News and other outlets came calling. Even the gossip website TMZ got in on the action. The story does indeed make for some light summer reading. But it piques my interest because, as a food lawyer who's very often not a fan of lawsuits targeting food companies, I fear the next step might be litigation." (08/26/13)
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41) Are you a “potential terrorist?”
Source: Activist Post
by Michael Snyder
"Are you a conservative, a libertarian, a Christian or a gun owner? Are you opposed to abortion, globalism, Communism, illegal immigration, the United Nations or the New World Order? Do you believe in conspiracy theories, do you believe that we are living in the 'end times' or do you ever visit alternative news websites (such as this one)? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you are a 'potential terrorist' according to official U.S. government documents." (08/26/13)
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42) Bad Quaker Podcast, 08/26/13
Source: Bad Quaker Dot Com
"Today Ben covers the fundamentals of liberty, and talks about Spooner, Thoreau, Spencer, Mises, and Rothbard." [Flash audio or MP3] (08/26/13)
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43) Market forces lead to better treatment for farm animals
Source: Reason
by Steve Chapman
"In recent years, one major food corporation after another, from McDonald's to Safeway, has announced plans to stop buying pork from suppliers that confine pregnant sows in gestation stalls -- individual enclosures so tiny the pig can't turn around. Target has set a deadline of 2022, voicing an increasingly common sentiment: 'We're committed to the humane treatment of animals, and believe they should be raised in clean, safe environments free from cruelty, abuse or neglect.' Johnson, who has lived on this farm since he was a teenager, saw a business opportunity in getting rid of the cramped crates, as well as eliminating the routine use of antibiotics. So in 2010, his company switched -- a big undertaking for a farm that sells 20,000 pigs per year." (08/26/13)
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44) Repeal the 17th: Problems to address
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Rob Natelson
"Some political activists argue for repeal of the 17th amendment. In other words, they want to end popular elections of U.S. Senators and return to the original constitutional system of election by state legislatures. Repeal advocates argue that the pre-17th amendment system better preserved federalism than does direct election." (08/26/13)
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45) Neale’s Weekly Gun Rant, Volume 22
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith
"Isn't it amazing the lack of respect for Starbucks right to NOT adopt a gun-free policy in it's stores. Especially since not ONE open carrying or legally concealed carrying patron has ever injured another patron in a Starbucks. Again, I've been thinking of taking up coffee drinking. This clinches it!" (08/26/13)
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46) Fear the worst: Evil state government in New Mexico
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton and Mama Liberty
"The question isn’t really a matter of belief in God, or who/what one worships as such. The question is the right of self ownership, free association, as well as the freedom to use one’s own property as one sees fit. Those are the rights being violated. The photographer, as well as any other person, has the right to trade with, associate with, and live with anyone or anything they want -- for any reason or NO reason. To impose anything else is simply aggression, tyranny." (08/24/13)
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47) The French model
Source: Cafe Hayek
by Russ Roberts
"Sometimes the impact of a set of policies is not obvious immediately. When Japan was riding high in the late 1980′s, a lot of people suggested that their model was one to emulate. Their public/private partnership with lifetime employment seemed to be working well. Japan had high growth rates and their future seemed limitless. It was only a matter of time before their economy surpassed America’s. It didn’t turn out that way. France is another example." (08/27/13)
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48) QandO Podcast, 08/25/13
Source: QandO
"Michael and Dale discuss Syria, the NSA, and tiptoe ever so carefully around the subject of race in America." [various formats] (08/25/13)
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49) “I apologize,” says Gupta
Source: In These Times
by David Sirota
"Whether it is the impeached Bill Clinton leaving office with solid approval ratings or the once-disgraced Eliot Spitzer now surging in New York City electoral polls, there is ample evidence that America forgives public figures for their transgressions. And yet, contrition is not exactly common on the public stage. Like the Fonz from 'Happy Days,' today's media stars, politicians and celebrities often have trouble saying the words 'I was wrong' or 'I am sorry' -- even when they have made obvious mistakes and when apologies are clearly necessary. Such a pervasive hostility to self-reproach is one of the big reasons that the recent mea culpa from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is so significant." (08/26/13)
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50) EPA overreach : Higher cost, less energy, greater risk
Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute
by William Yeatman
"Since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a suite of ideologically- charged regulations that collectively hamper the ability of utilities to deliver low-cost energy to American families. Under the banner of Regional Haze regulations, EPA has sought to aggressively execute the President’s environmental agenda in Oklahoma by forcibly mandating utilities to add new costly emissions control systems to coal-fired power plants." (08/26/13)
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51) The grand illusion
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Bill Sardi
"Today, in a political sense, those Americans who don’t embrace complete blind faith in American government are potential terrorists. The President of the United States stands in Congress and asked Americans to decide: 'Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.' That deciding-point had a political objective. Today any American who is skeptical of government and outspoken may be placed on a watch list by the Department of Homeland Security, and listened to by the National Security Administration." (08/27/13)
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52) Lying about Syria
Source: CounterPunch
by David Swanson
"Threatening to attack Syria, and moving ships into position to do it, are significant, and illegal, and immoral actions. The president can claim not to have decided to push the button, but he can’t pretend that all the preparations to do so just happen like the weather. Or he couldn’t if newspapers reported news." (08/26/13)
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53) An open society: A biography of Roger Williams
Source: Libertarianism.org
by Jim Powell
"The most dramatic opportunities for religious liberty opened up in the New World as persecuted people fled from England. Roger Williams was the greatest pioneer. He went beyond toleration and insisted that people be free to worship according to their conscience. 'It is impossible for any man or men to maintain their Christ by the sword,' he wrote. He established the American colony of Rhode Island, the first sanctuary for religious liberty." (08/26/13)
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54) No war with Syria!
Source: The Nation
by Bob Dreyfuss
"Here’s the core question now, in regard to Syria: If it’s true that President Bashar al-Assad’s government used poison gas in an incident that killed hundreds of people, at least, in the suburbs of Damascus, can the United States avoid military action in response? The answer is: yes. And it should. That doesn’t mean that the United States ought to do nothing. The horrific incident, reported in detail by Doctors Without Borders, demands action. But the proper response by the United States is an all-out effort to achieve a cease-fire in the Syrian civil war. It’s late in the game, but it can be done." (08/26/13)
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55) A skyscraper curse with Chinese characteristics
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Mark A. DeWeaver
"China has well-developed product markets but can hardly be called capitalist, given that most of the means of production are at least partially state owned.At the same time, the Chinese economy has also never really been centrally planned. Most economic decision making takes place at the local-government level, much as was the case during the Maoist period." (08/26/13)
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