04/16 -- Good citizen; Does intellectual property deny human nature?
2 views
Skip to first unread message
Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 16, 2014, 8:54:51 AM4/16/14
to freedom-n...@googlegroups.com
Freedom News Daily, 04/16/14
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the International Society for Individual Liberty
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS --------------------------------------
DARK WALLET
Your keys. Your privacy. Your sovereignty
TIPPING POINT: A NOVEL BY FRANK CLARKE
DRUPAL MANAGED HOSTING
Fed up with Maintenance and Hosting companies?
STINKY SHORTS, BY REX BELL
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
-------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS -----
Today's Freedom News:
1) Ukraine: Troops sent by junta to suppress separatists defect, hoist Russian flags
2) India: Top court recognises transgenders in landmark ruling
3) MA: Security theatrics, man with “hoax device” fray nerves at Boston Marathon
4) Iraq: 55 killed, 44 wounded as Abu Ghraib prison shuts down
5) Afghanistan: US airstrike kills three
6) MI: Detroit seals pension deal with police & fire retirees
7) US backs Ukraine military action in east region
8) MT: GOP House contender downs drone in campaign ad
9) Jamaica grants license for natural gas project
10) Study: Brain nerve cells found to aid nerve growth
11) UN report: Iran cuts nuke weapons ability
12) Libya: Jordanian ambassador kidnapped
13) NYPD closes down unit that spied on Muslims
14) Nigeria: Violence surges from Islamic uprising
15) AZ: Brewer signs bill authorizing abortion clinic inspections
16) In a first, France tackles sex assault in military
17) New York becomes 10th “National Popular Vote” state
18) Obamacare: More insurance firms opting “in” than “out?”
19) Israeli, Arab negotiators to meet on Wednesday, US says
20) Congressional Democrats increase pressure on FDA to kill
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Good citizen
22) Does intellectual property deny human nature?
23) Ayn Rand’s theory of rights — a critique
24) “Death to the IRS and its employees”
25) Progressives fight to keep poor kids trapped in failing schools
26) The tortoise and the hair-trigger
27) Stop Tax Day giveaways
28) Governor Bobby Jindal’s health reform proposal: Pros and cons
29) The lost promise of progressive taxes
30) Prostitution in DC
31) #1 — income inequality arises from market forces and requires government intervention
32) This horrendous crime is clearly the fault of my political opponents
33) A note on economic theorizing and “imperfect” information
34) Thoughts on the Bundy ranch victory
35) First ever constitutional ruling against Dodd-Frank voids destructive “conflict minerals” section
36) The growing IRS dictatorship
37) Painting over the rot
38) “Emotional capitalists” need to get a grip
39) Republicans root for the villain
40) The end of ideology?
41) Ukraine: The acid test
42) Cognitive dissonance on minimum wages and maximum rents
43) McCutcheon decision: Supreme Court splits on individual free speech vs. “collective voice”
44) How the CEO of HFT Firm Virtu Financial is demanding a taxpayer bailout in Florida
45) Strike a pose
46) Civil disobedience: King versus Huemer
47) The tax breaks that are killing the planet
48) Hyperlexia: Separating “autistic-like” symptoms from “autism”
49) Is Putin being lured into a trap?
50) Who are the poor going to ask for restitution?
51) Stick it to the tax man: Adopt user fees
52) The importance of Tiebout effects
53) Prevent voter fraud
54) Deputizing everyone isn’t producing results against terrorism, but officials keep trying
55) Ukraine, Venezuela and Chile
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM NEWS
------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Ukraine: Troops sent by junta to suppress separatists defect, hoist Russian flags
Source: Reuters
"Pro-Russian separatists hoisted the Russian flag on Ukrainian army armored vehicles in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, mocking the pro-Western Kiev government's attempt to reassert control on the eve of crucial talks in Geneva on the country's future. ... A soldier guarding one of six troop carriers now under the control of the rebels told Reuters he was a member of Ukraine's 25th paratrooper division from Dnipropetrovsk. 'All the soldiers and the officers are here. We are all boys who won't shoot our own people," he said, adding that his men had had no food for four days until local residents fed them.'" (04/15/14)
-----
2) India: Top court recognises transgenders in landmark ruling
Source: Sydney Morning Herald [Australia]
"India's top court has recognised the country's long marginalised transgender community as a third gender and, in a landmark judgment lauded by human rights groups, called on the government to ensure their equal treatment. There are hundreds of thousands of transgenders in India, say activists, but because they are not legally recognised, they are ostracised, discriminated against, abused and often forced into prostitution." (04/16/14)
-----
3) MA: Security theatrics, man with “hoax device” fray nerves at Boston Marathon
Source: USA Today
"Shortly after ceremonies ended Tuesday to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, two backpacks in the area of the Boylston Street finish line raised concerns of police, who evacuated the neighborhood. The Boston Police Department called in the bomb squad and performed what is known as a 'controlled disruption' of the bags, police department spokesman David Estrada said. Police arrested a man who is the owner of the bags, Estrada said, although later police reports indicated the man owned only one of the backpacks. Police charged the man with possession of a hoax device, disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct." (04/16/14)
-----
4) Iraq: 55 killed, 44 wounded as Abu Ghraib prison shuts down
Source: Antiwar.com
"At least 55 people were killed and 44 more were wounded. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government transferred over 2,000 prisoners out of Abu Ghraib prison citing security concerns, as it is near militant-controlled areas." (04/15/14)
-----
5) Afghanistan: US airstrike kills three
Source: Antiwar.com
"An overnight US air strike against the Khost Province in eastern Afghanistan has killed three civilians, a woman and her two children. It also injured the father of the children. NATO said it was aware of the reports of the incident and is looking into it. There were no previous statements surrounding the air strike, which is unusual for Afghanistan attacks." (04/15/14)
-----
6) MI: Detroit seals pension deal with police & fire retirees
Source: Raw Story
"Detroit reached its first deal with a retired workers group on Tuesday over pension and healthcare benefits and was close to a deal with at least one of its pension funds, giving a major boost to the city’s plan to exit bankruptcy in October. Momentum for the city’s plan to adjust its $18 billion debt burden was building after Detroit last week won court approval for a crucial settlement over interest rate swaps and reached an agreement with bond insurance companies over the treatment of voter-approved general obligation bonds." (04/15/14)
-----
7) US backs Ukraine military action in east region
Source: San Antonio Express-News
"The United States is giving its tacit support to Ukrainian military action against pro-Russian separatists. White House spokesman Jay Carney says such action isn't the preferred option, but that the Ukrainian government has to respond to what he says is an untenable situation." (04/15/14)
-----
8) MT: GOP House contender downs drone in campaign ad
Source: Fox News
"A Republican candidate for Congress in Montana has a message for the federal government: if you send a drone to spy on me, I’ll take it out. Matt Rosendale, a state senator running for the U.S. House of Representatives, unveiled an ad Monday that depicts a standoff between him and a 'government drone' that is 'spying' on him. Spoiler alert, the drone loses. The ad begins from the viewpoint of the drone, and then depicts Rosendale shooting it down with a rifle. Turning to the camera, Rosendale declares that he knows how to deal with big government and is ready to 'stand tall for freedom.'" (04/15/14)
-----
9) Jamaica grants license for natural gas project
Source: ABC News
"A Hong Kong-based company has been granted a license for what would be a major new power project in Jamaica, the Caribbean island's energy minister announced Tuesday. Phillip Paulwell said Energy World International is to supply 381 megawatts of natural gas-fired generating capacity for Jamaica's power grid." (04/16/14)
-----
10) Study: Brain nerve cells found to aid nerve growth
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"Activating nerve cells in the brain appears to trigger the formation of another type of cell that is responsible for building the insulating sheaths that make neural communication possible, according to Stanford scientists. When nerve cells fire, they prompt the production of oligodendrocytes, which make the protective sheaths called myelin, the scientists found. In their study, the researchers looked at mice that had been implanted with neurons that were programmed to activate in response to light waves. When the neurons 'lit up,' that set off the propagation of cells that create myelin." (04/15/14)
-----
11) UN report: Iran cuts nuke weapons ability
Source: El Paso Times
"The United Nations will release a report this week certifying that Iran's ability to make a nuclear bomb has been greatly reduced because it has diluted half of its material that can be turned most quickly into weapons-grade uranium, diplomats said Tuesday. The move is part of Iran's commitments under a deal with six world powers in effect since January that mandates some nuclear concessions on the part of Tehran in exchange for a partial lifting of sanctions crippling its economy." (04/15/14)
-----
12) Libya: Jordanian ambassador kidnapped
Source: Los Angeles Times
"Jordan's ambassador to Libya was abducted by armed assailants Tuesday while heading to his Tripoli office, the latest official taken hostage in the unstable North African country. Masked kidnappers opened fire on the vehicle in which Ambassador Fawaz Itan was a passenger, wounding the driver, said Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsour in a briefing to members of the lower house of parliament." (04/15/14)
-----
13) NYPD closes down unit that spied on Muslims
Source: New York Times
"The New York Police Department has abandoned a secretive program that dispatched plainclothes detectives into Muslim neighborhoods to eavesdrop on conversations and built detailed files on where people ate, prayed and shopped, the department said. The decision by the nation’s largest police force to shutter the controversial surveillance program represents the first sign that William J. Bratton, the department’s new commissioner, is backing away from some of the post-9/11 intelligence-gathering practices of his predecessor." (04/15/14)
-----
14) Nigeria: Violence surges from Islamic uprising
Source: Houston Chronicle
"Suspected Muslim extremists kidnapped about 100 girls Tuesday from a school in northeastern Nigeria, less than a day after militants bombed a bus station and killed 75 people in the capital — a surge of violence that raised new doubts about the military's ability to contain an Islamic uprising. With an 11-month-old state of emergency in three northeastern states failing to bring relief, the attacks are increasing calls for President Goodluck Jonathan to rethink his strategy in confronting the biggest threat to the security of Africa's most populous nation." (04/15/14)
-----
15) AZ: Brewer signs bill authorizing abortion clinic inspections
Source: Reuters
"Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Tuesday signed into a law a bill allowing state health authorities to conduct surprise inspections of abortion clinics without first obtaining a warrant, handing another victory to abortion foes. The Republican-backed bill, which gained final legislative approval from the state Senate last week, removes a provision from state law requiring a judge to sign off on any spot inspections conducted at the nine clinics in Arizona licensed to perform abortions. No other medical facilities in the state require such a warrant for unannounced inspections." (04/15/14)
-----
16) In a first, France tackles sex assault in military
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"France claims great success in recruiting women into its armed forces, boasting one of the world's highest percentages of women in uniform. What it hasn't done is work to prevent sexual assault and harassment once they get there. That is about to change. Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, on Tuesday presented a 36-page report on the problem and announced the military's first effort to tackle it. This report cited 86 reported cases of sexual assault or harassment since the start of 2013 alone." (04/15/14)
-----
17) New York becomes 10th “National Popular Vote” state
Source: Staten Island Advance
"The Empire State has joined the National Popular Vote compact with legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. States that have signed on to the interstate agreement will award electoral votes for president to the candidate who receives the majority of the national popular vote. ... The legislation utilizes New York state's right under the U.S. Constitution to award its 29 electoral votes in any manner it deems appropriate, in this case to the winner of the national popular vote. However, it only takes effect once enough other states have signed on so the compact possesses a majority of the Electoral College's 538 votes. The compact currently contains 165 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win." (04/15/14)
-----
18) Obamacare: More insurance firms opting “in” than “out?”
Source: Christian Science Monitor
"President Obama’s health-care exchanges appear poised to keep growing -- not just in the number of people enrolled but in the number of insurance firms participating and offering coverage. That’s the early indication, at least, as the 2014 enrollment period closes and as insurers begin to ramp up their plans for the next year’s cycle. For consumers, the good news is that the trend promises added competition that could help restrain the pace of price hikes." [editor's note: Inasmuch as the actual purpose of ObombyaCare was to maintain the allopathic/convalescent model and further insulate the insurance industry from real wellness reform, this is hardly surprising? - SAT] (04/15/14)
-----
19) Israeli, Arab negotiators to meet on Wednesday, US says
Source: Reuters
"Israeli and Palestinian [Arab] negotiators will meet on Wednesday to try to extend peace talks beyond an April 29 deadline, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. The two sides will meet despite Israeli anger at the killing of an off-duty Israeli policeman in the occupied West Bank on Monday on the eve of the Passover Jewish holiday. The policeman's wife and a child were wounded." (04/15/14)
-----
20) Congressional Democrats increase pressure on FDA to kill people, protect Big Tobacco from competition
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Congressional Democrats rekindled their attacks on the e-cigarette industry Monday, releasing a new report they say shows that the industry is targeting young people with flavored e-cigarettes and social marketing campaigns. ... Staffers for Durbin, Waxman and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, probed the marketing practices of nine e-cigarette manufacturers. Their report said six of those manufacturers spent $59 million marketing their products last year." (04/15/14)
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM COMMENTARY
------------------------------------------------------------------
21) Good citizen
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Joshua Bennett
"A friend of mine emailed me an article titled 'Home Schoolers make good citizens.' The first thing that ran through my mind was, 'If home schoolers make good citizens, those parents are doing it wrong.' Is being a good citizen even something we should strive to achieve? Should we teach our kids to be one? Or should we be and teach our children to be 'good people?'" (04/16/14)
-----
22) Does intellectual property deny human nature?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Joseph S. Diedrich
"A music-composition professor of mine once lamented that without copyright protection, Western civilization would cease to exist. Most of us take intellectual property (IP) for granted, assuming it is ethically and economically necessary. We’ve become so blase about IP that heavy-handed FBI warnings and billion-dollar lawsuits don’t faze us in the slightest. Yet despite the unquestioned consensus, intellectual property actually defies basic tenets of human nature." (04/15/14)
-----
23) Ayn Rand’s theory of rights — a critique
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Matt Zwolinski
"It usually begins with Ayn Rand, wrote Jerome Tuccille back in 1972, and so it did with me. My first exposure to libertarianism was Rand’s novel, The Fountainhead, and it didn’t take long before I adopted her strong rights-based view of libertarianism as my own. Heck, I even started my own student club, with the appropriately deferential, Rand-sanctioned title and everything. I grimace a bit on reading that interview again now. I still think The Fountainhead is a terrific book. And I still think there is a lot to admire in Rand’s fiction and (somewhat less so) in her explicit philosophy. But as one might surmise from the title of this blog, I’ve moved quite some distance from Objectivism in terms of political philosophy." (04/15/14)
-----
24) “Death to the IRS and its employees”
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal
"Wishing they would all die isn't the same as actively making it happen. No, I am not suggesting you go out and start hunting IRS employees. But doing so is no more wrong than defending yourself from any other violator of your property, so it doesn't bring my condemnation, either. The IRS has the 'authority' of the mugger: 'Your money or your life!' uttered at gunpoint. So anyone who kills an IRS agent who has made 'official' contact is no more guilty than anyone who manages to 'get the drop' on a mugger in a back alley." (04/15/14)
-----
25) Progressives fight to keep poor kids trapped in failing schools
Source: Reason
by Jim Epstein
"With NYC's per pupil spending at $20,000, why can't public schools afford pens?" (04/15/14)
-----
26) The tortoise and the hair-trigger
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
by Debra J. Saunders
"Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and his well-armed supporters forced the well-armed federal government to back down and return Bundy's seized cows -- which were seized because Bundy, 67, stopped paying grazing fees in 1993. How does anyone get the government to back down? At first blush, Bundy seemed to have right on his side. He's a cowboy who just wants to keep being a cowboy. The federal government, which owns more than 80 percent of Nevada land, including the land on which the Bundy family had settled, threatened to put him out to pasture." (04/15/14)
-----
27) Stop Tax Day giveaways
Source: Our Future
by Dave Johnson
"It’s Tax Day! And right now Congress is working on Tax Day giveaways for the big corporations. When corporations avoid paying their fair share of taxes, the rest of us end up picking up the tab. So Happy Tax Day! Have you heard politicians screaming about 'the deficit?' Have you heard them saying we have to 'make the tough choices' and cut back on ... 'government spending.') That’s what they say. But guess what they’re doing right now." [editor's note: How does one determine what the "fair share" to be handed over to the muggers is? - TLK] (04/15/14)
-----
28) Governor Bobby Jindal’s health reform proposal: Pros and cons
Source: Independent Institute
by John R. Graham
"Unfortunately, like the Republican Study Committee’s American Health Care Reform Act, Jindal’s proposal replaces the current exclusion of employer-based tax benefits with a standard tax deduction. Although he does not quantify the dollar amount, he proposes that it increase with inflation. A standard deduction for health benefits has problems similar to the current exclusion of employer-based benefits from taxable income ..." (04/15/15)
-----
29) The lost promise of progressive taxes
Source: Reuters
by Ajay K. Mehrotra
"Conservatives bemoan that not enough people are paying taxes. They insist that a minority of 'job creators' and 'makers' are underwriting the social benefits that go to the 'takers.' Liberals cite the growing concentration of wealth and lament that the rich don’t pay their fair share. In this new Gilded Age, they say, the 1 percent should be paying far more of their annual earnings. Yet neither party seems willing to reform our tax system dramatically." [editor's note: This noodnik praises the "progressive" methods of "reform" that have things as screwy as they are today - SAT] (04/15/14)
-----
30) Prostitution in DC
Source: Idaho LIberty
by Ted Dunlap
"Prostitution is the most lucrative business in the District of Criminals. I do not use that word arbitrarily. pros-ti-tute 3. a person who willingly uses his talent or ability in a base and unworthy way, usually for money 4. to sell or offer oneself as a prostitute ..." (04/15/14)
-----
31) #1 — income inequality arises from market forces and requires government intervention
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Max Borders
"Whenever we hear someone lamenting inequality, we should immediately ask, 'So what?' Some of the smartest (and even some of the richest) people in America confuse concerns about the poor with concerns about the assets the wealthy control. It’s rooted in that old zero-sum thinking -- the idea that if a poor guy doesn’t have it, it’s because the wealthy guy does. But one person is only better off at the expense of another under crapitalism, not under conditions of honest entrepreneurship and free exchange." (04/15/14)
-----
32) This horrendous crime is clearly the fault of my political opponents
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
"Hanging nasty crimes on political opponents is a popular pastime, with conservatives and the Tea Party as the main recipients in recent years of the most bogus links to shootings, bombings, and the like. ... You know who was really responsible for those crimes? The individuals who committed them, not some thoughts they may or may not have shared with people who didn't hurt anybody." (04/15/14)
-----
33) A note on economic theorizing and “imperfect” information
Source: Cafe Hayek
by Don Boudreaux
"Words and labels matter. When used carelessly, words and labels can mislead. Economists routinely build models of markets in which people are assumed to have perfect information (which is to say, models in which all potentially relevant information is acquired costlessly by all people ‘acting’ in the models). Such ‘perfect-information’ models yield certain predictions about how markets operate and of what the results of those operations will be. Not surprisingly, these predictions are generally quite agreeable -- that is, they satisfy our instincts about what good market operations and outcomes ought to be." (04/14/14)
-----
34) Thoughts on the Bundy ranch victory
Source: Students for Liberty
by Max LaFave
"What’s interesting to me is that despite the BLM’s steadfast dedication to tyranny, superior armory, and ostensible 'authority,' the support kept piling on. A friend of mine had even booked a hotel and planned a trip to the ranch. No militia affiliation, nothing. Just a guy who wanted to see the ranch remain in the hands of its rightful owners. The fact that such a widespread feeling of solidarity moved nearly 300 protestors to come to Bundy’s aid is nothing short of inspiring." (04/15/14)
-----
35) First ever constitutional ruling against Dodd-Frank voids destructive “conflict minerals” section
Source: OpenMarket.org
by John Berlau
"Today’s ruling of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that Dodd-Frank’s 'conflict minerals' disclosure mandate violates the First Amendment is the first time ever a court has ruled that a provision of Dodd-Frank violates the Constitution. Regulations issued under Dodd-Frank have been struck down for reasons such as inadequate cost-benefit analysis and other procedural violations, but this is first time a provision has been found to be unconstitutional. And it couldn’t happen to a more misguided and destructive provision of the law!" (04/14/14)
-----
36) The growing IRS dictatorship
Source: JimBovard.com
by Jim Bovard
"A Gallup Poll released last week found that two-thirds of Americans believe that the Internal Revenue Service abuses its power. Yet few people realize exactly how much arbitrary power politicians and judges have granted IRS agents over other Americans. The IRS has become the authoritarian means to paternalistic ends." (originally published in 1994; posted 04/15/14)
-----
37) Painting over the rot
Source: QandO
by Bruce McQuain
"I’ve been watching the media circus surrounding the resignation of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. If a more inept bureaucrat ever lived, the best they could do is hope to tie with her for last place. Yet we have so-called 'jounalists,' or at least those who would like to be thought of as journalists, so engaged in spin it is almost unseemly. Well it is unseemly. In fact, it’s nauseating." (04/15/14)
-----
38) “Emotional capitalists” need to get a grip
Source: Spiked
by Dennis Hayes
"Capitalists need to be more 'emotionally intelligent,' according to a recent Business World report. Apparently, master of business administration (MBA) courses are now promoting emotional intelligence as a core value for business and industry leaders. Of course, business courses have always tried to make themselves look more cuddly." (04/15/14)
-----
39) Republicans root for the villain
Source: In These Times
by Leo Gerard
"Rejecting dozens of heroic characters, from Captain America to Underdog, Republicans last week chose instead a villain for their figurehead. They selected Prince John, the guy who coddled the rich and tried to crush Robin Hood. House Republicans voted to elevate Prince John as their champion when they passed a budget slashing taxes for the rich and decimating programs for workers and low-income Americans." [editor's note: Despite the vested interest displayed by his title, Mr. Gerard is not far off with this analysis of the usual suspects of corporati plutocracy in action - SAT] (04/15/14)
-----
40) The end of ideology?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Patrick J. Buchanan
"If a single sentence could express the seeming indifference of the silent majority of Americans to what is going on abroad, it might be the simple question: 'Why is this our problem?' If a Russian or Ukrainian flag flies over Simferopol, why should that be of such concern to us that we send U.S. warships, guns or troops? If Japan and China fight over islets 10,000 miles away, islets that few Americans can find on a map, why should we get into it? And, truth be told, the answers of our elites are unconvincing." (04/15/14)
-----
41) Ukraine: The acid test
Source: Antiwar.com
by Justin Raimondo
"Ukraine is the acid test for libertarians. How they respond is a measure of how far they've traveled from their origins as a subset of the conservative movement during the cold war era. Those who haven't come all that far and are still mired in the old cold war mentality that dominated the American right in the age of Bill Buckley – no matter what their age -- will react with a jerking of the knees: 'To arms! To arms! The Russians are coming!' Those who have long since moved on -- or were never in that space to begin with – are bound to have a view much closer to Ron Paul than to some Lithuanian lady who expects us to pay her 'defense' bill." (04/16/14)
-----
42) Cognitive dissonance on minimum wages and maximum rents
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Gary M. Galles
"'Many cities are pricey places to live.' That was the opening line and major premise of a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece advocating that high-cost cities raise minimum wages to mitigate the problem. I was struck by the fact that for years, the exact same basis was used by the same left liberal groups to justify rent controls. Apparently, high costs of living, largely caused by a panoply of government taxes, regulations, and restrictions, justify still more government-imposed coercion in both the labor and housing markets. Unfortunately, those government 'solutions' are not only based on flaws in basic economic logic, but they are mutually contradictory." (04/15/14)
-----
43) McCutcheon decision: Supreme Court splits on individual free speech vs. “collective voice”
Source: Heartland Institute
by Randolph May
"Like Citizens United, McCutcheon was another 5-4 decision. While the case was narrowly decided, the gulf between the understanding of the majority and the dissenters of the First Amendment’s meaning is wide. Indeed, two different conceptions of the role of individual rights in our constitutional regime emerge." 904/15/14)
-----
44) How the CEO of HFT Firm Virtu Financial is demanding a taxpayer bailout in Florida
Source: A Lightning War for Liberty
by Michael Krieger
"By now, pretty much everyone in America knows about Michael Lewis'[s] book Flash Boys, which exposes the high frequency trading (HFT) industry for the money-sucking parasite it is. However, what will really get your blood boiling, particularly if you live in Florida, is how the CEO of one of the biggest players in the HFT space, Virtu Financial, is looking for taxpayers to bail-out his poorly performing investment in the Florida Panther NFL hockey franchise. This takes having 'some nerve' to a whole new level of absurdity." (04/15/14)
-----
45) Strike a pose
Source: The American Prospect
by Paul Waldman
"One of the central dynamics of American politics in the last few decades has been the sorting of the parties, the way that the Republican and Democratic coalitions have become ideologically clearer and more narrow. There are some ways in which this has been a salutary development; for instance, if like many Americans you're a low-information voter, its easier to figure out which party to vote for than it once was. But while the GOP has become particularly unified (the northeastern liberal Republicans who once constituted a substantial faction within the party are all gone)there are still some moderate Democrats around, even in the South." (04/15/14)
-----
46) Civil disobedience: King versus Huemer
Source: EconLog
by Bryan Caplan
"Martin Luther King's 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail' defends an odd position: You may morally break an unjust law IF you make no effort to evade the legal punishment for the unjust law you break. The obvious question: If the law is unjust, doesn't consenting to punishment simply compound the injustice?" (04/15/14)
-----
47) The tax breaks that are killing the planet
Source: The Nation Blog
by Zoe Carpenter
"ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, hauled in a $32.6 billion profit last year. Chief executive Rex Tillerson got a 3 percent bump in his pay package, sending it above $28 million. And today the company gets its annual boost from the federal government: an estimated $600 million in tax breaks. All told, the government gifts as much as $4.8 billion to the oil industry each year, more than any other country. Much of that comes not as direct handouts but instead via loopholes in the tax code; deductions for depleting oil reserves, for example, and write-offs for the expense of drilling a new well." [editor's note: As much as I hate "special favorite" treatment for ANYONE in the tax code, it's still just a simple fact that "not stealing some of your money" is NOT the same thing as "gifting" you anything - TLK] (04/15/14)
-----
48) Hyperlexia: Separating “autistic-like” symptoms from “autism”
Source: National Health Federation
by Darold A. Treffert, MD
"There is a great deal of attention these days, appropriately, to autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). It is a serious condition and deserves serious attention. But discussions continue whether an apparent increase in the disorder is due to expanding criteria and better identification, or whether there is in fact an actual increase in incidence and prevalence. This is an important question because if we are to make accurate diagnoses, develop effective treatment, and hopefully someday create preventative strategies, we need be careful to properly identify the condition. Because, as elsewhere in medicine, the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right name from both clinical and research standpoints." (04/14/14)
-----
49) Is Putin being lured into a trap?
Source: CounterPunch
by Mike Whitney
"Russia is not responsible for the crisis in Ukraine. The US State Department engineered the fascist-backed coup that toppled Ukraine’s democratically-elected president Viktor Yanukovych and replaced him with the American puppet Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a former banker. Hacked phone calls reveal the critical role that Washington played in orchestrating the putsch and selecting the coup’s leaders. Moscow was not involved in any of these activities. Vladimir Putin, whatever one may think of him, has not done anything to fuel the violence and chaos that has spread across the country. Putin’s main interest in Ukraine is commercial." (04/15/14)
-----
50) Who are the poor going to ask for restitution?
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Valdenor Junior
"Last Friday (04/11), a piece of land property in Rio’s suburbia was reinstated to telecom giant Oi. The area was known as 'favela da Telerj' and had been occupied by 5,000 people, mostly from Mandela, Manguinhos, and Jacarezinho favelas, who built improvised homes there. There were serious confrontations with the Military Police in the enforcement of the court order of disoccupation and even an O Globo newspaper reporter, who was following the acts of the police, was arrested. This is the same Rio de Janeiro where thousands of families had their homes expropriated to open up space for the FIFA World Cup 2014 developments." (04/15/14)
-----
51) Stick it to the tax man: Adopt user fees
Source: The Canal
by Nicholas Zaiac
"By moving toward a model of user fees, the government has less leeway to expand in size and scope than in a system where taxes pay for all services. Those who pay such fees have strong incentives to ensure that the money is being spent wisely. Moreover, by keeping a larger share of revenues locked into specific projects, the government cannot use the funds for new projects and programs at its own discretion. Even better, moving more programs to user fee models can help prove that certain areas of the economy traditionally provided by government, such as parks, canals, and airports, can be provided by the private sector. Not everything is easy to charge user fees for, but for any area where fees are viable, they should absolutely be implemented as a substitute or supplement for tax dollars." (04/15/14)
-----
52) The importance of Tiebout effects
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
"Think about what Tiebout really means: that people differ in their desires, differ in the trade offs they're willing to make. We all thus potter about looking for that set of circumstances that best suit us. It can be the trivial of making sure when young and dating that we live near the good booze and a decent supply of potentially willing sexual partners, moving out to calmer climes when we have chosen (or been chosen to) settle down, through to the ability of the self-appointed righteous to cluster together to congratulate themselves on their righteousness." (04/15/14)
-----
53) Prevent voter fraud
Source: Cagle Post
by Mike Luckovich
Cartoon. (04/15/14)
-----
54) Deputizing everyone isn’t producing results against terrorism, but officials keep trying
Source: Cato Institute
by Gene Healy
"We’ve had more than 10 years’ experience with 'if you see something, say something,' and the results are nothing to write home about. The brainchild of a now-defunct ad agency, the campaign started in New York City, with posters urging straphangers to phone in tips. By 2008, the Metropolitan Transit Authority was running ads boasting that 'last year, 1,944 New Yorkers saw something and said something.' Campaign-inspired calls had resulted in 18 arrests over two years, none terrorism-related." (04/15/14)
-----
55) Ukraine, Venezuela and Chile
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"In 1970, Salvador Allende, a self-avowed socialist-communist, was elected president in a three-way race in Chile. His election caused U.S. President Richard Nixon and the entire U.S. national-security state to go ballistic. Based on Allende’s record, they knew that he would never play a submissive and compliant role within the U.S. Empire. Concluding that Allende was a threat to U.S. 'national security,' Nixon and the national-security state apparatus, which had come into existence after World War II to wage a Cold War against America’s World War II partner and ally, the Soviet Union, initiated plans to oust Allende from office and replace him with a pro-U.S. dictator who would play an appropriate role within the Empire." (04/15/14)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
Support ISIL (tax deductible)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages