09/06 -- The lies behind this war; The NSA's secret war against online privacy seekers
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Thomas L. Knapp
Sep 6, 2013, 8:56:31 AM9/6/13
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Freedom News Daily, 09/06/13
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Report: Unnamed US regime propagandists accuse Iran of planning Syria retaliations
2) New Snowden documents say NSA can break common Internet encryption
3) Iraq: 16 killed, 44 wounded
4) Afghanistan: “Militants” murder Indian author
5) Pakistan: At least seven killed in US drone strike
6) PA: Libertarian state senate candidate arrested at pro-marijuana rally
7) Report: Parents who home-school question Common Core’s reach
8) CA: Conviction in slaying over “existence of God”
9) Court: Dutch state liable for three Srebrenica deaths
10) Iran’s foreign minister condemns Holocaust
11) With privacy battle brewing, Facebook won’t update policy right away
12) MO: Kansas City home owner shoots, kills intruder with shotgun
13) Privacy poll: Americans more worried about Facebook than NSA
14) Virgin Galactic’s SpaceshipTwo soars in second rocket-powered flight test
15) E-cigarette use doubles among US teens
16) CO: Deer Trail clerk returning checks for drone hunting licenses
17) Kerry portrait of Syria rebels contradicts intelligence reports
18) Wal-Mart protesters arrested as demonstrations return
19) CA: Inmates end hunger strike over prison conditions
20) Cyprus: Lawmakers reject key term for EU/IMF bailout
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The lies behind this war
22) The NSA’s secret war against online privacy seekers
23) The case for a military too small for Obama (or any president) to abuse
24) History’s worst sales pitch
25) We can’t trust White House Syria claims
26) This ain’t East Germany
27) Pelosi’s rocky road to peace in Damascus
28) Before Net Neutrality eats the world, part 13: What FCC should do now
29) Review: Everything Voluntary
30) The isolationists’ dilemma
31) Who should pay for the education of children?
32) We don’t have to bomb Syria
33) Looking for Waldo
34) Legal consequences of NSA et. al.?
35) Why the real founders of democracy would be pissed if they saw what we did …
36) Don’t tell us what our “marginal productivity” is: We’ll tell you
37) Questionable tax breaks to help certain Hawaii industries
38) Minds against progress
39) Tobacco “smoking gun” shows real TPP agenda
40) Australia’s carbon tax: Lessons for the United States
41) Bad Quaker Podcast, 09/05/13
42) Peacekeeper community defense, stateless security
43) Dress code controversies in public schools
44) Coming to Ft. Worth: Libertarian planning vs. urban planning
45) Obama’s Syria war really about Iran & Israel
46) Will 1000 American “human shields” stop another criminal war?
47) Medisave accounts in Singapore
48) CEI Podcast, 09/05/13
49) Football? Why?
50) Information sharing is caring
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FREEDOM NEWS
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1) Report: Unnamed US regime propagandists accuse Iran of planning Syria retaliations
Source: Reuters
"The United States has intercepted an order from an Iranian official instructing militants in Iraq to attack U.S. interests in Baghdad in the event the Obama administration launches a military strike in Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The American embassy in Baghdad was a likely target, according to unnamed U.S. officials quoted by the newspaper. ... The Journal reported that the Iranian message was intercepted in recent days and came from the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force." (09/06/13)
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2) New Snowden documents say NSA can break common Internet encryption
Source: Reuters
"The U.S. National Security Agency has secretly developed the ability to crack or circumvent commonplace Internet encryption used to protect everything from email to financial transactions, according to media reports citing documents obtained by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The Guardian, The New York Times and journalistic nonprofit ProPublica reported on Thursday that the U.S. intelligence agency used a variety of means, ranging from the insertion of 'back doors' in popular tech products and services, to supercomputers, secret court orders and the manipulation of international processes for setting encryption standards." (09/05/13)
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3) Iraq: 16 killed, 44 wounded
Source: Antiwar.com
"In Kirkuk, two people were killed and 20 more were wounded in two blasts. ... Security forces killed an al-Qaeda leader in Mosul during an arrest attempt that turned into a clash; one soldier was killed and three more were wounded. ... In Haswa, three Sahwa members were killed and two more were wounded when gunmen attacked their checkpoint; one gunman was killed and another was wounded. An I.E.D. at a Muqdadiya shop left two dead and five wounded. ... A sheikh was shot dead in Garma. Gunmen killed a civilian in Falluja. In Shirqat, an I.E.D. killed two Sahwa members and wounded two more. A gunman was killed when a bomb in his car exploded." (09/05/13)
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4) Afghanistan: “Militants” murder Indian author
Source: CNN
"An Indian author whose memoir about her dramatic escape from the Taliban became a Bollywood movie was shot dead by militants in Afghanistan, police said Thursday. Sushmita Banerjee, also known as Sushmita Bandhopadhya, was killed outside her home in Paktika province, according to Dawlat Khan Zadran, the police chief of eastern Paktika province." (09/06/13)
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5) Pakistan: At least seven killed in US drone strike
Source: NBC News
"At least seven suspected militants were killed and four other people were injured when a U.S drone fired two missiles early Friday, striking a house in the Dargah Mandi village in the North Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan. The village is located near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Government officials said the drone fired two missiles and razed the structure to the ground." (09/05/13)
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6) PA: Libertarian state senate candidate arrested at pro-marijuana rally
Source: Raw Story
"A Libertarian candidate for the New Jersey Senate got himself arrested at a pro-marijuana rally in Philadelphia over the weekend. Don DeZarn, 46, was arrested for the second time in four months for marijuana possession on Saturday at the monthly SmokeDown Prohibition demonstration. After encouraging the participants of the rally to visit their representatives, DeZarn lit up and smoked a marijuana joint as police stood nearby. Six other people were issued citations for marijuana use at the demonstration, according to Philly.com." (09/05/13)
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7) Report: Parents who home-school question Common Core’s reach
Source: Fox News
"There are few things 9-year-old Rhett Ricardo relishes more than curling up on his family’s living room couch and delving into a novel, like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea his imagination whirling as he reads the fantastical plot about a mysterious sea monster and a submarine, his mother says. But Jill Finnerty Ricardo, who home-schools her three oldest children, has concerns about what is known as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) -- a national assessment standard adopted in 45 states that, among other objectives, seeks to balance out a perceived literature-heavy English curriculum with more non-fiction reading and writing, particularly informational text." (09/05/13)
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8) CA: Conviction in slaying over “existence of God”
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"An Oakland man has been convicted of first-degree murder for using an assault rifle to gun down a friend and wound another during an argument over the existence of God. Douglas Yim, 33, was found guilty by an Alameda County jury on Tuesday of killing Dzuy Dunh Phan, 25, of Alameda. Yim was also convicted of assault with a firearm and mayhem for wounding Paul Park of El Sobrante. He faces more than 100 years in prison at a November sentencing." [editor's note: Not sure I even want to know which side of the argument he was on! - SAT] (09/05/13)
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9) Court: Dutch state liable for three Srebrenica deaths
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"The Dutch supreme court has ruled that the Netherlands was liable for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslim men killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The men had been ordered to leave a UN compound run by Dutch peacekeeping forces when Bosnian Serb forces overran it. The ruling upheld an earlier decision by an appeals court in 2011." (09/06/13)
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10) Iran’s foreign minister condemns Holocaust
Source: Zee News [India]
"Iran's foreign minister said on Facebook that Tehran condemns the World War II Nazi massacre of the Jews, in stark contract to Holocaust denials by former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 'We condemn the massacre of Jews by the Nazis, and we condemn the massacre of Palestinians by the Zionists,' Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his Facebook page, where he published the text of an interview given to a news agency. Zarif was also asked whether he wished Jews 'Happy Rosh Hashanah' (new year), and had had an exchange about the Holocaust on Twitter." (09/06/13)
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11) With privacy battle brewing, Facebook won’t update policy right away
Source: Los Angeles Times
"Facebook will not roll out controversial changes to its policies until next week, the giant social network said Thursday. Six consumer watchdog groups have asked the Federal Trade Commission to block the changes that they say would make it far easier for the company to use the names, images and personal information of its nearly 1.2 billion users -- including teens -- to endorse products in ads without their consent. ... Facebook has insisted that it is not changing its policies, just clarifying the language in them." (09/05/13)
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12) MO: Kansas City home owner shoots, kills intruder with shotgun
Source: Fox 4 News
"Police said when he left Creason’s, the suspect then car jacked a third vehicle -- a Ford F150 -- at gunpoint at a HyVee near Indiana. Police said the suspect ditched that truck at 92nd and North Brooklyn and from there broke into a home near 90th and Garfield where he fought with the home owner. The suspect fled the scene and broke into a second home, which is where he was shot and killed." (09/04/13)
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13) Privacy poll: Americans more worried about Facebook than NSA
Source: Christian Science Monitor
"Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn ... social media sites encourage users to create a digital trail of life events. But a recent survey shows that Americans might be having second thoughts about uploading details of their lives to the Internet. Internet users say that their pictures, birth dates, e-mail addresses, and cellphone numbers are available online, but what concerns those surveyed the most is the privacy of their e-mails and online searches, two of the items hardest to keep from Internet companies." [editor's note: Yeah, I'm much more concerned that some company knows I like the Red Sox and Big Bang Theory than I am that a bunch of government thugs can kidnap me anytime they want to without a warrant! - SAT] (09/05/13)
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14) Virgin Galactic’s SpaceshipTwo soars in second rocket-powered flight test
Source: Space.com
"A private Virgin Galactic spaceship built to carry passengers on suborbital joyrides aced its second powered test flight Thursday (Sept. 5), breaking the sound barrier as it roared through the skies here over the Mojave Desert. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo soared skyward on a column of bright orange flames and white smoke after being released from its WhiteKnightTwo mother ship." (09/05/13)
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15) E-cigarette use doubles among US teens
Source: USA Today
"Now chic among celebrities, electronic cigarettes are gaining favor among U.S. teenagers as new data show a recent doubling in usage. Last year, 10% of high school students say they tried e-cigarettes, up from 4.7% in 2011, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." [editor's note: Since this isn't a disease, why is CDC "studying" it? Oh. Politics. And notice that the article doesn't mention if there's been any accompanying trend change -- say, DOWNWARD -- in teen use of actual tobacco. Elsewhere in the article, an FDA bureaurat explains that he wants to regulate e-cigarettes because "we don't understand" them. Hmm ... usually it's the other way around. Not understanding a car means you don't get to drive, etc. - TLK] (09/05/13)
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16) CO: Deer Trail clerk returning checks for drone hunting licenses
Source: Denver Post
"Deer Trail can't keep up with demand for licenses to hunt unmanned aerial vehicles -- even though the town hasn't yet passed an ordinance allowing them to be issued. Town clerk Kim Oldfield stopped counting two weeks ago, when the tally of personal checks made out to the town of Deer Trail hit 983 and $19,006. The checks came from all over the U.S." (09/04/13)
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17) Kerry portrait of Syria rebels contradicts intelligence reports
Source: Reuters
"Secretary of State John Kerry's public assertions that moderate Syrian opposition groups are growing in influence appear to be at odds with estimates by U.S. and European intelligence sources and nongovernmental experts, who say Islamic extremists remain by far the fiercest and best-organized rebel elements. At congressional hearings this week, while making the case for President Barack Obama's plan for limited military action in Syria, Kerry asserted that the armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 'has increasingly become more defined by its moderation, more defined by the breadth of its membership, and more defined by its adherence to some, you know, democratic process and to an all-inclusive, minority-protecting constitution.'" [editor's note: So Kerry's now literally in Colin Powell's shoes, except he KNOWS he's telling a lie! - SAT] (09/05/13)
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18) Wal-Mart protesters arrested as demonstrations return
Source: CNN Money
Protests against Wal-Mart returned in cities across the country on Thursday, with 21 demonstrators arrested at a rally in Los Angeles. Organizers said Thursday's protests, planned in 15 cities, were the largest such action against the retailer since demonstrations on Black Friday last year that they claim drew over 30,000 people. The demonstrations are part of the Making Change at Walmart campaign, which is spearheaded by the United Food & Commercial Workers union." (09/05/13)
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19) CA: Inmates end hunger strike over prison conditions
Source: Chicago Tribune
"California inmates have ended a two-month-old hunger strike that ranked as the largest in state history and took aim at a policy of keeping some prisoners in near-isolation for years, corrections officials and inmates said on Thursday. Inmates credited a move by two California legislators to hold hearings on prison conditions as a reason for stopping the strike, which at its peak saw about 30,000 prisoners refusing food, even as they said most of their demands had not been met. Some 100 inmates at two California prisons had remained on hunger strike as of Wednesday afternoon, with 40 having refused state-issued meals continuously since they began their protest on July 8, state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Dana Simas said." (09/05/13)
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20) Cyprus: Lawmakers reject key term for EU/IMF bailout
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"Cypriot MPs have rejected legislation demanded by international creditors in return for the second instalment of a 10bn-euro (£8.7bn) EU/IMF bailout. Lawmakers voted 23 to 21 against two bills bringing co-operative banks under the central bank's direct supervision. Cyprus has already received 3bn euros as part of the deal agreed in March. The island has been in financial difficulties since the collapse of the Greek economy, where Cypriot banks had huge investments. The Cypriot rescue package is aimed at the country's two largest banks, Bank of Cyprus and the now defunct Laiki." (09/05/13)
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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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21) The lies behind this war
Source: Antiwar.com
by Justin Raimondo
"This government lies about everything -- James 'least untruthful' Clapper is the poster boy for the distinct style this gang has brought to the White House. Kerry is fast catching up to him, however, as the whoppers come thick and fast. These folks are no different from their neocon predecessors -- except that the neocons were better liars. The lies they told were bigger, more imaginative, and far more elaborate, although the Obamaites are doing some pretty quick catching up." (09/06/13)
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22) The NSA’s secret war against online privacy seekers
Source: Freeman's Perspective
by Paul Rosenberg
"If you hadn’t taken this seriously or were content to let others keep you safe, now’s the time to wake up and act. You have to protect yourself. No one is going to do step in and do it for you. Magic hackers will NOT ride in to your rescue. You must either learn to handle your own security, seriously, or pay for a top-notch service. If you go cut-rate, you’re just paying for the NSA to spy on you." (09/06/13)
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23) The case for a military too small for Obama (or any president) to abuse
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
"If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If politicians have a whole bunch of Tomahawk missiles, they look for places to put craters." (09/05/13)
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24) History’s worst sales pitch
Source: Idaho Liberty
by Ted Dunlap
"The people with the podiums, microphones and 95% of the media coverage claim that bombing Syrians is both urgent and important. The reasons they give are clearly fictitious or foolish, but they are delivered professionally, repeated often and come out of many well-known mouths. That is not cover. That does not make it right. It does not sway thinking people." (09/05/13)
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25) We can’t trust White House Syria claims
Source: USA Today
by Jim Bovard
"President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are adamant that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians last month. They have thus far provided the public scant hard information to back up their claims. Even Obama ally Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) characterized the evidence in a Sunday Capitol Hill classified briefing as 'circumstantial.' Perhaps the Assad regime did commit this brutal attack. But can we expect the U.S. government to be honest about an alleged atrocity which the president is invoking to sanctify his foreign policy? History is not reassuring on that score." (09/05/13)
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26) This ain’t East Germany
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise
by Paul Bonneau
"The hoopla surrounding Snowden's revelations included the claim that the old East German secret police, the Stasi, would have loved to have had in their bag of repressive tools the same mechanisms that the NSA has already put in place in America. I believe this is true; but that's not the same thing as saying we are in the same boat (or worse) than those unfortunate East Germans. America is not East Germany." (09/02/13)
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27) Pelosi’s rocky road to peace in Damascus
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
by Debra Saunders
"In 2007, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a congressional visit to Damascus where she met with President Bashar Assad. 'We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace,' Pelosi famously proclaimed. She met with Assad in defiance of President George W. Bush and his efforts to isolate Syria for its role as a 'state sponsor of terror.' Now Pelosi supports the use of military force against Damascus. I asked Pelosi as she visited the high-tech firm Square in San Francisco on Wednesday: What changed since her famous proclamation?" [editor's note: Umm, the emperor's wardrobe-color? - SAT] (09/05/13)
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28) Before Net Neutrality eats the world, part 13: What FCC should do now
Source: OpenMarket.org
by Wayne Crews
"While hiccups during the arduous process of emerging from a heavily regulated telecommunications past are inevitable, market failure as such is not stalking the United States’ communications industry. Even if there existed numerous instances of blockage by Internet access providers, today’s dispute should focus not on the mechanics of how best to implement top-down regulation, but on the very relevance and capabilities of a man-made, imperfect entity like Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in liberalizing infrastructure for tomorrow’s users." (09/05/13)
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29) Review: Everything Voluntary
Source: Strike the Root
by Alex R. Knight III
"While there are certainly many superb libertarian/voluntaryist anthologies in publication, both past and present, most tend to be unitopical in nature. This is why Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting, a 2012 offering from editor Skyler J. Collins, is not only instantly distinguishable, but perhaps of broader utilitarian value in terms of outreach." (09/05//13)
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30) The isolationists’ dilemma
Source: Reuters
by Nicholas Wapshott
"There has been a lot of loose talk about the return of isolationism since President Obama asked Congress for permission to degrade Bashar al-Assad’s ability to gas his people. Isolationism hasn’t been a respectable thread of political thinking in America since the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor made redundant the clamor to keep America out of World War Two. The isolationists grounded their belief that America had no business interfering in other countries’ affairs in Washington and Jefferson’s warnings not to become entangled in foreign alliances." [editor's note: I just wish this fellow knew the difference between "isolationist" and ... non-interventionist! - SAT] (09/05/13)
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31) Who should pay for the education of children?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M. Vance
"Who but parents are responsible for deciding for their children the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the toys they play with, the church they attend, the company they keep, the music they listen to, and the programs they watch on television? We may not like some of the decisions that parents make for their children. Parents sometimes make bad decisions that result in negative consequences in the future for their children. But only die-hard collectivists, socialists, and statists would say that the upbringing of children was the responsibility of anyone but their parents. Except when it comes to education." (09/05/13)
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32) We don’t have to bomb Syria
Source: In These Times
by Stephen R. Weissman
"After an August 21 military attack on rebel-held areas of the eastern suburbs of Damascus killed hundreds of people, the United States and others accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons. President Obama is now pushing Congress to authorize military action against the Syrian regime, on the grounds that the attack 'presents a serious danger to our national security.' Let us assume that the U.S. allegations against the Syrian government are all true. Contrary to the administration’s assumptions, military force is not the only available option. And responding to the Syrian regime’s reported massacre with air strikes could still do serious harm to U.S. foreign policy in the region and worldwide. We should take a look at diplomatic options that have been shoved aside in the haste to use force." (09/05/13)
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33) Looking for Waldo
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Bruce Yandle
"At one time or another, we have all been intrigued by graphic puzzles that invite us to find Waldo, the proverbial everyman lost in a photo packed with people. A creation of Martin Handford, a British writer of children’s stories, Waldo is fun to find in the crowd for young and old alike. But Handford offers puzzles that can be solved. Look long enough and Waldo will surface. Would that the search for the U.S. labor force in these times were as easy." (09/05/13)
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34) Legal consequences of NSA et. al.?
Source: Ideas
by David Friedman
"I am a law professor but not a lawyer, and so would like opinions from those who know more than I do about current American law as to the legal consequences of the facts coming out of Snowdon's revelations. For instance ... It appears that U.S. firms deliberately put back doors into the encryption provided by their programs in order to let the NSA access material. If such firms advertised their encryption as secure, are they at risk of suits for damages, possibly class actions on behalf of all customers who bought software whose characteristics had been deliberately misrepresented?" (09/06/13)
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35) Why the real founders of democracy would be pissed if they saw what we did …
Source: Freeman's Perspective
by Paul Rosenberg
"People actually believe that democracy gives us harmony and peace, not to mention wealth. They are sure that it is the ultimate and inevitable end of human development, created by the wise and noble Greeks and given to us, the enlightened society that took it to the ends of the Earth! But if the ancient Greeks could see what we call 'democracy,' they would spit at it. They'd probably want to burn it down." (09/05/13)
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36) Don’t tell us what our “marginal productivity” is: We’ll tell you
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"When you take a big dose of syrup of ipecac, you get a big stream of projectile vomiting. And when someone calls for a living wage, you get a nice big vomit stream from the usual suspects on the Right, denouncing such calls on the basis of what they call 'hard-headed economic rationality.' Response to the recent strike by fast food workers is no exception: An endless slough of cookie cutter pieces once again recycling the old chestnut that strikes for better wages are useless because wages are determined by the marginal productivity of labor." (09/05/13)
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37) Questionable tax breaks to help certain Hawaii industries
Source: Hawaii Reporter
by Lowell L. Kalapa
"Over the last decade or so as Hawaii muddled out of the economic doldrums of the 1990’s and was beset with the economic repercussions of the 9/11 tragedy, lawmakers have sought ways to stimulate and encourage economic activity in the 50TH State. Of course, the most attractive way for lawmakers to claim that they did something for the economy is to grant tax 'breaks' to certain taxpayers or in the case of that last few years certain industries." (09/05/13)
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38) Minds against progress
Source: Everything Voluntary
by Gregory V. Diehl
"It's important to always defend ourselves and those we love from potentially dangerous foreign concepts and people. But it's also crucial for our own growth and the betterment of those around us that we never lose hope in the goodness contained in people, ideas, and practices outside our current understanding. The loss of this hope is what eventually leads to the withering of anything which can be referred to as a human spirit." (09/05/13)
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39) Tobacco “smoking gun” shows real TPP agenda
Source: Our Future
by Dave Johnson
"Right now governments and the giant multinational corporations are engaged in writing a treaty that would overrule national laws that try to rein in what these giant corporations can do to us. This treaty will allow corporations to sue governments for 'lost profits' if governments try to enforce environmental, health, labor and other laws. ... The upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) 'trade' deal has been called the 'corporate death star.' It is a NAFTA-on-steroids that goes so far beyond 'trade' that it isn’t really about 'trade' at all. TPP is about putting corporate and investor rights above the rights of regular people." (09/05/13)
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40) Australia’s carbon tax: Lessons for the United States
Source: Institute for Energy Research
by Robert P. Murphy
"Dr. Alex Robson is a serious academic who has published peer-reviewed technical papers on the interaction of public finance with environmental policy. His new study documents Australia’s first-hand experience with a carbon tax. The result has been sharply rising electricity prices and unemployment, with no demonstrated benefit in emission reductions." (09/05/13)
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41) Bad Quaker Podcast, 09/05/13
Source: Bad Quaker Dot Com
"The clash between Chris Cantwell and the FSP is important, but the underlying issue is more important than the actions of either of the parties involved." [Flash audio or MP3] (09/05/13)
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42) Peacekeeper community defense, stateless security
Source: Cop Block
by Cody Drummond
"Peacekeeper is Community Defense without the state. Are you fed up with the so-called state protection services? We know that you are the one with the greatest incentive to safeguard your family and community. That is why we are running a crowd funding campaign to develop an app that will give you and your neighbors the opportunity to send, receive and respond to emergency alerts." (09/04/13)
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43) Dress code controversies in public schools
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"Robson is upset over the increasingly strict enforcement of dress codes within America’s public schools. She says that enforcement of such codes interferes with what public schools should be all about -- education. Now, that’s not to say that Robson is opposed to any dress codes. It’s just to say that she feels that the schools should enforce a type of limited dress code that she favors. What do libertarians say about the dress-code controversy in public schools? We don’t say anything about that. Why? Unlike Robson and other statists, we don’t believe in public schooling. So, we don’t permit ourselves to get mired down in disputes over how public schools should be operated." (09/05/13)
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44) Coming to Ft. Worth: Libertarian planning vs. urban planning
Source: Dallas Libertarian Examiner
by Garry Reed
"What do Libertarian Party planning and local urban planning have in common? To find out, first remember this date: Saturday, September 7, 2013." (09/05/13)
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45) Obama’s Syria war really about Iran & Israel
Source: The Nation
by Bob Dreyfuss
"The dirty little not-so-secret behind President Obama’s much-lobbied-for, illegal and strategically incompetent war against Syria is that it’s not about Syria at all. It’s about Iran -- and Israel. And it has been from the start. By 'the start,' I mean 2011, when the Obama administration gradually became convinced that it could deal Iran a mortal blow by toppling President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, a secular, Baathist strongman who is, despite all, an ally of Iran’s. Since then, taking Iran down a peg has been the driving force behind Obama’s Syria policy. Not coincidentally, the White House plans to scare members of Congress into supporting the ill-conceived war plan by waving the Iranian flag in their faces." (09/05/13)
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46) Will 1000 American “human shields” stop another criminal war?
Source: CounterPunch
by Frederick Lamb
"International Human Shields are planning on coming to Syria in solidarity with the Syrian people and in an effort to send a global message and hopefully deter an American attack next week ... In order to achieve a significant impact having at least 1000 Americans and several thousand international Human Shields deployed in Syria is the objective. With ideally at least one representative from every UN Member State, as evidence of the true ‘international community’ opposing the American attack." (09/05/13)
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47) Medisave accounts in Singapore
Source: Independent Institute
by John C. Goodman
"In Singapore, people are required to save for health care, retirement income, and other needs. They can use their forced saving to purchase a home, pay education expenses, and purchase life insurance and disability insurance. For individuals up to age 50, the required saving rate is 36% of income (nominally divided: 20% from the employee and 16% from the employer). Of this amount, 7 percentage points is for health care and is deposited in a separate Medisave account. Individuals are also automatically enrolled in catastrophic health insurance with a deductible of about US $1,172, although they can opt out." (09/05/13)
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48) CEI Podcast, 09/05/13
Source: Liberty Week
"Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton puts a scary new study about energy drinks and children into its proper, non-scary context. The risks that do exist are best dealt with through parental supervision, not legislation." [Flash audio or MP3] (09/05/13)
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49) Football? Why?
Source: Liberty Unbound
by Ted Roberts
"Me? I like tennis, a much more gentle and gentlemanly sport than the current favorite, football. Knocking people down takes little skill. Pounding a 'down the line' passing shot that just ticks the line takes super hand-eye coordination. Notice that in football the home team fans are encouraged to hoot and scream like the lynch mob in front of the jailhouse, to drown out the quarterback’s signals. Contrast that with the silent courtesy given to the server even if you’ve got 50 bucks riding on the match against him." (09/04/13)
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50) Information sharing is caring
Source: The American Prospect
by Jonathan Bernstein
"Many members of Congress are either yahoos who couldn’t find Syria on a map or partisan hacks who make policy choices purely based on political expediency. And yet: The best thing about President Barack Obama’s decision to ask Congress to authorize a strike against the government of President Bashar Assad is that it increases the chances that the eventual road taken by the United States in Syria will be a good one. In fact, cases such as this one demonstrate the advantages of a more democratic system when it comes to achieving smart policy over a system which relies purely on the rule of experts." (09/05/13)
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