05/23 -- War Inc. shifts homeward; The rape of Delaware County, Oklahoma
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Thomas L. Knapp
May 22, 2012, 11:58:35 PM5/22/12
to Freedom News Daily
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Private supply ship rockets toward space station
2) UN nuclear watchdog expects deal with Iran
3) Iraq: 14 killed, 11 wounded
4) Afghanistan: Two occupation troops killed
5) Pakistan: Gunmen kill nine in attack on political rally
6) North Korea: Regime vows to push ahead with nuclear program
7) US Senate panel votes to tie Pakistan aid to supply routes
8) ID: AP, news groups sue over execution access
9) Brazil: Lower house passes slave labor amendment
10) IL: Two men say police illegally detained them at protest
11) NC: Student threatened for Obama criticism "wants to laugh"
12) Hawaii turns tables on Arizona's birther requests
13) UK: Olympic official "willing to sell tickets"
14) US: Appeals Court upholds $3.4 billion Native American deal
15) SAF and Calguns sue Oakland and San Francisco police
16) Jackboots: Drug fight must focus on demand
17) US: Catholics sue regime over birth control insurance mandate
18) Germany: Regime offers zero coupon bonds
19) IN: Drunken man breaks into apartment, residents hold him at
gunpoint
20) NC: Woman homeowner shoots suspected burglar
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) War Inc. shifts homeward
22) The rape of Delaware County, Oklahoma
23) More on pretending
24) The government lying to us -- what else is new?
25) No more entangling alliances
26) After the killing
27) Don't let these killjoys kill the Olympic spirit
28) Protecting your family from Fukushima radiation and other health
threats
29) The end in Afghanistan
30) Boobs in the media
31) A censored race war?
32) Honduras: Which side is the US on?
33) Will gay marriage force black churches to reconsider Democratic
Party?
34) End state support of colleges and universities
35) What should you believe? Government stats or your own eyes?
36) The Romney foreign policy agenda
37) Should all laws be obeyed?
38) Jonesin' for a soda
39) Deficit spending won't save us
40) Caging a businessman
41) When all is politics, nothing is law
42) JPMorgan's $2 billion loss: A case for regulation?
43) First indefinite detention. Now your assets can be seized if you
criticize the war in Yemen.
44) Hayek was not dumb
45) Lord Keynes beautifully illustrates why we get nowhere in the
stimulus debate
46) Is the GOP an echo or a choice?
47) Spencer, Hodgskin, and land rights
48) Another new surveillance law (2012)
49) Review: Ron Paul's Revolution
50) Are you one?
Today's Freedom Audio and Video:
51) Glenn Greenwald on Antiwar Radio
52) Free Talk Live, 05/21/12
53) Susan Lindauer and Drew Phillips on Declare Your Independence with
Ernest Hancock
54) Anarchast, episode 26
55) Finally, honest TV
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FREEDOM NEWS
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1) Private supply ship rockets toward space station
Source: CBS News
"A first-of-its-kind commercial supply ship rocketed toward the
International Space Station following a successful liftoff early
Tuesday, opening a new era of dollar-driven spaceflight. The SpaceX
company made history as its Falcon 9 rocket rose from its seaside
launch pad and pierced the pre-dawn sky, aiming for a rendezvous in a
few days with the space station. The unmanned rocket carried into
orbit a capsule named Dragon that is packed with 1,000 pounds of space
station provisions." (05/22/12)
http://cbsn.ws/Lj9A9R
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2) UN nuclear watchdog expects deal with Iran
Source: CNN
"The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says he will sign
an agreement soon with Iran over its nuclear program, a sign that Iran
may have agreed to broader inspections. 'I can say it will be signed
quite soon,' said IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano, speaking to
reporters in Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday after returning from a
meeting with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, on
Monday." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cpb5guj
-----
3) Iraq: 14 killed, 11 wounded
Source: Antiwar.com
"At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 11 more were wounded in new
violence: A bomb exploded at the Baquba home of a Sahwa member,
killing three people, including the member's wife and two minor
children; he and two more sons were wounded. A few minutes later a
blast at a home in Gatoun killed three people and wounded four more.
Four policemen were killed and two more were wounded when gunmen
attacked a Ramadi checkpoint. A small arms attack left one soldier
dead and two more wounded in Rashad. The body of a young man who was
shot in the head was found in Hammam al-Alil. Soldiers in Mosul killed
two gunmen." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/JAZopc
-----
4) Afghanistan: Two occupation troops killed
Source: WireUpdate
"Insurgents attacked coalition service members in eastern Afghanistan
on Monday, killing one of them, the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a brief statement on Tuesday. A U.S.
soldier has also died after being injured in Afghanistan in
April." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/MiY6mh
-----
5) Pakistan: Gunmen kill nine in attack on political rally
Source: Fox News
"Gunmen opened fire on a political rally in the Pakistani city of
Karachi on Tuesday .... City police chief Akhtar Gorchani said nine
people were killed and more th[a]n 30 wounded in shootouts. Another
police officer, Mohammed Amir, said the attackers fired on a rally
held by Awami Tehrik, a small nationalist group, and it was attended
by members of several other parties in the city." (05/22/12)
http://fxn.ws/MiCCpB
-----
6) North Korea: Regime vows to push ahead with nuclear program
Source: Fremont Tribune
"North Korea on Tuesday vowed to push ahead with its nuclear program
because of what it called U.S. hostility, as an outside analysis of
satellite images suggested it has ramped up work at its nuclear test
site over the past month. North Korea's statement from an unidentified
Foreign Ministry spokesman came a day after a senior U.S. envoy met
with high-ranking South Korean and Japanese envoys in Seoul and warned
the North that an atomic test would unify the world in seeking swift,
tough punishment." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cenht7g
-----
7) US Senate panel votes to tie Pakistan aid to supply routes
Source: Hartford Courant
"A U.S. Senate panel voted cuts in aid to Pakistan on Tuesday and
threatened to withhold even more cash if Islamabad does not reopen its
supply routes for NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, reflecting American
frustration over a months-long standoff. The action by the Senate
appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid followed a weekend NATO
summit in Chicago at which Washington had hoped to reach a deal with
Islamabad to end the supply line dispute." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/czfnjla
-----
8) ID: AP, news groups sue over execution access
Source: Raleigh News & Observer
"The Associated Press and 16 other organizations sued the state of
Idaho on Tuesday to force officials to let witnesses watch executions
from start to finish, arguing that the media has a First Amendment
right to view all steps of a lethal injection execution. The group
asked a U.S. District Court judge to require the state to increase
witness access to its executions, starting with the upcoming execution
of Richard A. Leavitt, a convicted killer scheduled to be put to death
on June 12." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/ctdd43c
-----
9) Brazil: Lower house passes slave labor amendment
Source: Vail Daily
"Brazil's lower house has approved a constitutional amendment that
strengthens punishments for landowners and others who force people
into slave-like working conditions. The government reports there are
approximately 20,000 Brazilians stuck in debt slavery. The practice is
most common on remote farms but also occurs in urban
sweatshops." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cppgoks
-----
10) IL: Two men say police illegally detained them at protest
Source: Caledonia Patch
"The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the two men were anarchists, and
part of the militia when they were detained at the 19th Precinct of
the Chicago Police Department during the NATO protests. ... Yocco had
just put his Gadsden flag, which is the first flag U.S. Marine Corps
from 1776 [sic], into the trunk of his car and the two had tried to
get in front of the protestors. He had won the flag in a YouTube
contest and wanted some video of him with it." (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/JB3nC6
-----
11) NC: Student threatened for Obama criticism "wants to laugh"
Source: Fox News
"The North Carolina high school student who was berated by his teacher
after he spoke critically of President Obama told Fox News on Monday
that he wanted to 'laugh' when he heard the teacher suggest he could
be arrested for criticizing a sitting president. 'Honestly, at the
time I wanted to laugh at her, because I've been taught all my life
that nobody can take your opinion,' Hunter Rogers said. He said he
knew that it takes an actual threat against the president, not just
criticism, to be arrested." [editor's note: In a way, it's nice to
know that not all the authoritarian wackjobs in the Tarheel State are
"right-wingers." You go, Hunter! - SAT] (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/dxswb7r
-----
12) Hawaii turns tables on Arizona's birther requests
Source: The Raw Story
"Hawaiian officials have apparently had enough of your requests for
President Barack Obama's birth certificate and they're not afraid to
tell you where to get off, even if you are Arizona's Secretary of
State Ken Bennett. ... Talking Points Memo obtained emails yesterday
detailing the occasionally testy exchanges between Bennett and Jill T.
Nagamine, Hawaii's Deputy Secretary of State. Bennett, who is a co-
chair of ... presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney's Arizona
campaign, announced last Thursday that 'it's possible" President Obama
may not appear on the Arizona ballot in November.'" (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cwa2v7o
-----
13) UK: Olympic official "willing to sell tickets"
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A senior Olympic official was willing to sell thousands of pounds
worth of 2012 tickets for cash, a BBC investigation has revealed.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee (NOC),
told a reporter posing as a UK tout he would have up to 100 tickets to
sell. It is a criminal offence, punishable by fines of up to #20,000,
to sell London 2012 tickets to touts. Mr. Gerashchenko claimed he had
'never planned to sell tickets in the UK.'" (05/22/12)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18161743
-----
14) US: Appeals Court upholds $3.4 billion Native American deal
Source: Reuters
"An appeals court on Tuesday upheld a $3.4 billion settlement of a
class-action lawsuit over mismanagement of government trust funds for
hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, ruling that it was fair,
reasonable and adequate. The settlement resolved a lawsuit filed in
1996 claiming the U.S. Department of the Interior had mismanaged funds
held in trust on behalf of Native Americans. The trust money was from
transactions involving land allotted to individual Native Americans
under an 1887 law." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/conl7zd
-----
15) SAF and Calguns sue Oakland and San Francisco police
Source: Liberty For All
"The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit against
the police departments in San Francisco and Oakland, California for
refusing to return firearms to people who had been charged with
crimes, but subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing. SAF is joined in
the lawsuit by the Calguns Foundation and two private citizens. The
case is known as Churchill, et al. v. Harris, et al." (05/22/12)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=7636
-----
16) Jackboots: Drug fight must focus on demand
Source: Arizona Republic
"Federal and state law-enforcement officials told a congressional
panel in Arizona on Monday that efforts to combat drug trafficking
from Mexico to the United States must include reducing the demand for
illegal drugs in this country, not just more enforcement. [They] cited
numerous examples in which increased collaboration between law-
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Mexico ... has been effective in
combating international drug organizations that use Arizona as a major
corridor to smuggle marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin into the
country. But they said more emphasis needs to be placed on reducing
the demand for drugs." [editor's note: NO, DUMBASSES, it "needs to be
placed" on LEGALIZATION! - SAT] (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/ccy3xce
-----
17) US: Catholics sue regime over birth control insurance mandate
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Bishops rarely coordinate the filing of federal lawsuits as 13 of
them did Monday when a total of 43 Catholic organizations filed 12
lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in
eight states and the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs include 13
dioceses and the University of Notre Dame, and their action represents
the largest push against the mandate since Obama announced the policy
in January." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/Mizt9r
-----
18) Germany: Regime offers zero coupon bonds
Source: MarketWatch
"Germany will for the first time on record sell two-year bonds on
Wednesday that won't make scheduled interest rate payments, a ringing
endorsement of the haven appeal of German debt and a reflection of
increased market nervousness over the composition and direction of the
euro zone. The German federal government Tuesday set a zero coupon on
a new issue of two-year federal treasury notes, or Schatz. Germany
will auction EUR5 billion of the two-year note on
Wednesday." (05/22/12)
http://on.mktw.net/MiwSfw
-----
19) IN: Drunken man breaks into apartment, residents hold him at
gunpoint
Source: WSLAM News
"Carlos Rodriquez thought he was home, he later told police, but the
apartment door wouldn't open. So he kicked it in. He was greeted by a
woman with a gun, and he obeyed her order to lie on the ground until
police arrived. ... Rodriguez, whose blood-alcohol level was 0.21
percent, was arrested for felony residential entry and criminal
mischief." (05/18/12)
http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2458536&spid=
-----
20) NC: Woman homeowner shoots suspected burglar
Source: WRAL News
"Cumberland County authorities have arrested two men in connection
with a home break-in over the weekend in which the homeowner scared
them off after shooting one of them in the chest. The woman told
sheriff's deputies that she was taking a nap in her home on Grape
Arbor Drive, east of Fayetteville, Saturday afternoon when she heard
glass breaking. She grabbed the shotgun, police said, went into the
kitchen and saw the hand of a man attempting to unlock a window. She
fired a shot when yelling didn't scare them away. The two teens then
fled the scene, and the woman called 911 to report the crime,
according to investigators." (05/21/12)
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/11022380/
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HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 05/23/12
Iraqi Deaths Due to US Invasion: 1,455,590
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/iraq)
US Deaths in Afghanistan: Bush 575, Obama 1310
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/obamavsbush)
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FREEDOM COMMENTARY
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21) War Inc. shifts homeward
Source: Antiwar.com
by Kelley B. Vlahos
"It's been said many times that the war is a self-sustaining industry
that requires a constant threat overseas to keep the machine thriving
at home. Looking at the millions if not billions of dollars spent on
securing 'national special security events' against its own citizens,
it's clear that protesters have become the threat that has allowed, in
part, the warfare state to flourish on American soil." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/Miy5DI
-----
22) The rape of Delaware County, Oklahoma
Source: Pro Libertate
by Will Grigg
"In Oklahoma's Delaware County, Sheriff's deputies were too busy
figuratively raping motorists in the village of Bernice to supervise
guards who were literally raping inmates in the county jail. As a
result, the County Commission has put the screws to the entire county
in the form of an 18 percent sales tax increase in order to pay the
victims a $13.5 million settlement." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/K9cL4n
-----
23) More on pretending
Source: ErneLewis.com
by Erne Lewis
"If we are to survive as a nation we must immediately stop spending
money we don't have and balance the budget now! And we must start
where the spending is most egregious and least needed, our military-
industrial-spycraft complex, that pretentious monster masquerading as
National Defense." (05/21/12)
http://ernelewis.com/blog/2012/05/more-on-pretending/
-----
24) The government lying to us -- what else is new?
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"The corporate economy, with its monstrous concentration of political
and economic power, was no spontaneous or inevitable outgrowth of
modern technology. It resulted from massive top-down social
engineering by the state. But a system of power can only survive if
it's seen as natural and inevitable by the ruled. So since the
beginnings of mass democracy, there have been carefully orchestrated
efforts to ensure that, by the time the public plays out the ritual of
its 'sovereign' power in electoral politics, most everything of
importance has already been decided." (05/22/12)
http://c4ss.org/content/10446
-----
25) No more entangling alliances
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M. Vance
"Would the United States go to war over marine life illegally
harvested in the South China Sea? The very thought of such a thing
sounds ludicrous. But under the U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty with the
Philippines, it is a possibility." (05/22/12)
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1205q.asp
-----
26) After the killing
Source: In These Times
by Rebecca Burns
"Nearly a month after the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin,
something unusual happened: The shooting of a black teenager became
the subject of national attention. When 911 recordings of the incident
were released, they suggested neighborhood watch captain George
Zimmerman had not carried out the shooting in self-defense, as he had
claimed and as police in Sanford, Fla., had accepted, but had in fact
stalked Martin through the gated community where Martin's father lived
on the assumption that the unarmed youth represented a
threat." (05/22/12)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/13177/after_the_killing
-----
27) Don't let these killjoys kill the Olympic spirit
Source: Spiked
by Tim Black
"Whether it is the latest terror-attack warning from the authorities
or a cynical, masses-averse jibe about bread and circuses from a smug
columnist, there has been no shortage of fearmongering and killjoyism
in the run-up to this summer's Olympic Games." (05/22/12)
http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/12469/
-----
28) Protecting your family from Fukushima radiation and other health
threats
Source: Strike the Root
by Glen Allport
"Yes: There really are things we can do to reduce the risk of cancer
and other health problems not only from radiation, but from many of
the other toxins and stresses so common in the modern world. A great
many studies, peer-reviewed articles in medical and scientific
journals, and other sources of information tell us that we don't have
to just 'hope for the best' when faced with radiation exposure or
other assaults on our health." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/K98U7p
-----
29) The end in Afghanistan
Source: CounterPunch
by Dave Lindorff
"How much worse must those soldiers feel than the US soldiers in
Vietnam, who at least didn't have an end-point held out in front of
them to taunt them. Today's American soldiers and Marines in
Afghanistan fight staring at a surrender date at which point all their
fighting and killing and dying and being will be acknowledged as
having been in vain. The American soldiers in Vietnam in 1971 or 1972
could at least pretend that after they left, the South Vietnamese
government might at least try to fight on and establish
itself." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/K98UnQ
-----
30) Boobs in the media
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise
by Jonathan David Morris
"A recent cover of TIME Magazine shows a woman breastfeeding her three-
year-old son. Apparently this is supposed to shock me. It certainly
seems to have shocked the culturemakers in the media, who can't stop
talking about how controversial and provocative it is. Even The View,
a show of, for, and by women (trust me: most men would rather have a
testicle removed with a dirty steak knife than watch it) chose to blur
out the cover when they did a discussion about it. The question I have
is, why? Why does this image bother people? Does it bother people? And
if it does, what does that say about our culture?" (05/21/12)
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2012/tle671-20120520-04.html
-----
31) A censored race war?
Source: Freedom Politics
by Thomas Sowell
"When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were
driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of
young blacks -- beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from
work -- that might seem to have been news that should have been
reported, at least by their own newspaper. But it wasn't." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/c67dgma
-----
32) Honduras: Which side is the US on?
Source: The Nation
by Dana Frank
"In the early hours of the morning on May 11, a group of indigenous
people traveling by canoe on a river in the northeast Mosquitia region
of Honduras came under helicopter fire. When the shooting was over, at
least four persons lay dead, including, by some accounts, two pregnant
women. In Honduras, such grisly violence is no longer out of the
ordinary. But what this incident threw into stark relief was the
powerful role the United States is playing in a Honduran war. ... The
United States has, in fact, been quietly escalating its military
presence in Honduras, pouring police and military funding into the
regime of President Porfirio Lobo in the name of fighting
drugs." (05/21/12)
http://www.thenation.com/article/167994/honduras-which-side-us
-----
33) Will gay marriage force black churches to reconsider Democratic
Party?
Source: Freedom Politics
by Larry Elder
"President Obama's affirmation of gay marriage threatens to undermine
the near-monolithic black support Obama enjoyed in 2008. Several
members of the black clergy now say they intend to sit out the
presidential election. One poll from last November found black
opposition to gay marriage at 58 percent, higher than the rest of the
country, which is about evenly split. The real question is this: What
took black church leaders so long to reconsider their near blind
support for the Democratic Party?" (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cceatav
-----
34) End state support of colleges and universities
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"In an era in which many statists are doing their best to assure
themselves and others that they are not socialists, this might be a
good time to visit one of the most deeply entrenched and popular
socialistic programs in our time -- state-supported colleges and
universities. State-supported colleges and universities receive their
revenues in two ways: voluntarily (e.g., through tuitions and
donations) and coercively (i.e., through taxation)." (05/22/12)
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2012-05-22.asp
-----
35) What should you believe? Government stats or your own eyes?
Source: Heartland Institute
by Steve Stanek
"Price inflation is running at an annualized rate of 4.8 percent,
according to official data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. That is more than double the Federal Reserve's target rate
of 2 percent annual inflation. And as millions of Americans have come
to learn since the government 40 years ago began playing games with
this and other economic statistics to make things look better than
they really are, there is good reason to take this latest report with
a shaker or two of salt." (05/12)
http://tinyurl.com/d47nznu
-----
36) The Romney foreign policy agenda
Source: The American Prospect
by James Mann
"Imagine for a moment: It is two weeks after Election Day and
President-elect Mitt Romney holds a press conference to announce his
foreign-policy team ... Sec. of State: Rick Santorum, Sec. of Defense:
Newt Gingrich, CIA director: Rick Perry, national security adviser:
Michele Bachmann ... OK, that was just a scary joke. It's not going to
happen. But it does serve as a reminder that, after 30-plus Republican
primaries and an unprecedented number of debates, voters have little
idea of how Mitt Romney would deal with the world outside America's
borders." [editor's note: Actually we do; he'd continue the Bush/Obama
imperialism, but kick it up a few notches! - SAT] (05/22/12)
http://prospect.org/article/romney-foreign-policy-agenda
-----
37) Should all laws be obeyed?
Source: Orange County Register
by Walter E. Williams
"Let's think about whether all acts of Congress deserve our respect
and obedience. Suppose Congress enacted a law ... requiring American
families to attend church services at least three times a month.
Should we obey such a law? Suppose Congress, under the Constitution's
commerce clause, enacted a law requiring motorists to get eight hours
of sleep before driving on interstate highways. ... Suppose you were a
jury member during the 1850s and a free person were on trial for
assisting a runaway slave, in clear violation of the Fugitive Slave
Act. .... A moral person would find each one of those laws either
morally repugnant or a clear violation of our
Constitution." (05/21/12)
http://tinyurl.com/c9mpoj7
-----
38) Jonesin' for a soda
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Max Raskin
"The tongue is a discerning instrument; in the hands of a traveled
soda aficionado, it is capable of leading to insightful truths about
agricultural geopolitics. To those who have drunk foreign sodas, this
truth stems from the peculiar yet incontrovertible fact that American
soda is awful." (05/22/12)
http://mises.org/daily/2678/Jonesin-for-a-Soda
-----
39) Deficit spending won't save us
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Sam Bowman
"Sumner argues that Sweden's success is thanks to a Central Bank that
provided monetary stimulus back in 2009. There's a large contingent of
people who claim that the government's cuts are hurting the economy,
but seem completely ignorant of the fact that, in the Keynesian model,
monetary expansion should be able to completely offset fiscal
contractions. That's not a model I subscribe to, but the so-called
'Keynesians' who seem to think that there exists some kind of 'real'
aggregate demand simply don't know what they're talking
about." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/MiXKfz
-----
40) Caging a businessman
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Skip Oliva
"Steven VandeBrake is presently serving a four-year prison sentence
for exercising control over his own property. His 'crime,' according
to the Department of Justice, was that in exercising said property
rights he entered into voluntary coordination with other property
owners. Because this coordination occurred among individuals with a
similar type of property -- in this case, concrete -- VandeBrake
committed 'price fixing,' which the government deems a felony. After
coercing a confession from VandeBrake, the DOJ was content to kidnap
and imprison him for a period of about 18 months." (05/22/12)
http://lewrockwell.com/orig13/oliva3.1.1.html
-----
41) When all is politics, nothing is law
Source: Cato Institute
by Roger Pilon
"Long-time establishment apologists Norman Ornstein (AEI) and Thomas
Mann (Brookings) have generated a lot of ink lately, pro and con, over
their claim that our 'dysfunctional' government is the fault of
Republican 'extremists' whose party has become 'an insurgent outlier
in American politics,' blocking measures for economic recovery,
climate change, health-care reform, and much else. Well, for the legal
branch there's a more complex but not much more subtle variation of
the Ornstein/Mann thesis that academic lawyers of the progressive
persuasion -- I repeat myself -- have been peddling in recent
years." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/MiB2UK
-----
42) JPMorgan's $2 billion loss: A case for regulation?
Source: Independent Institute
by Randall Holcombe
"When JPMorgan announced it had sustained a $2 billion trading loss a
few weeks ago, some commentators, including Paul Krugman, argued that
their irresponsible investing was more evidence that we need stronger
financial regulation. The evidence in the JPM case actually shows the
opposite." (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/MixykY
-----
43) First indefinite detention. Now your assets can be seized if you
criticize the war in Yemen.
Source: Delaware Libertarian
by Steve Newton
"Thankfully, my 'assets' pretty much consistent of $11.62 in an old
savings account and a will leaving same to be distributed 'by law.'
Because now President Obama is apparently coming for me, and others
who oppose US involvement in Yemen ..." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/MioEnP
-----
44) Hayek was not dumb
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Kevin Vallier
"In the end, if you think a really smart and important social
philosopher and economist said something pretty dumb about a topic on
which he was an expert, you should doubt your own judgment first.
Hayek was not dumb and one need not be a slavish Hayekian to think
so." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/Mio4GD
-----
45) Lord Keynes beautifully illustrates why we get nowhere in the
stimulus debate
Source: Free Advice
by Robert P. Murphy
"And there you have it, kids. Even if we set aside the deficit
(because an inadequate spending surge could lead to a collapsing
economy and hence tax revenues), and focus exclusively on government
spending, we see that whether in absolute dollars (obviously), whether
in the change in percentage points of GDP, or whether in the
percentage change in the percentage of GDP, the US government
increased its spending more in 2008 and 2009, than the Swedish
government did. Since Sweden handled the crisis much better than the
US did, I would say the case of Sweden is prima facie evidence for the
Austrian / austerian camp." (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/Lj7Yga
-----
46) Is the GOP an echo or a choice?
Source: Reason
by Tim Cavanaugh
"Why would a president who gave America vast unemployment, soaring
inflation, a moribund economy, record deficits, and a manically ill-
conceived energy policy be coasting toward re-election? For the same
reason Dianne Feinstein (who, like Romney, generates little excitement
in her base but is considered electable) is a lock. Republicans have
spent so long in ideological hibernation that the only challengers
they can field are clones of the Democratic incumbents. And who would
choose a clone when you can buy the original?" (for publication 06/12)
http://bit.ly/Lj7aIb
-----
47) Spencer, Hodgskin, and land rights
Source: Liberty & Power
by Roderick T. Long
"As 'everyone knows,' Herbert Spencer was a reactionary defender of
capitalism and an opponent of socialism, while Thomas Hodgskin was a
proto-Marxian defender of socialism and an opponent of capitalism; so
what should one expect from Hodgskin's review (now online) of
Spencer's Social Statics? The right answer, it turns out, is almost
total agreement: 'there are very few conclusions or remarks to which
we are disposed to object.' And the one point for which Hodgskin does
take Spencer to task is Spencer's rejection of private ownership of
land." (05/21/12)
http://hnn.us/blogs/spencer-hodgskin-and-land-rights
-----
48) Another new surveillance law (2012)
Source: Libertarian Alliance
by Sean Gabb
"At the beginning of April 2012, the BBC and a couple of newspapers
reported that the British Government was considering a new
surveillance law. This would allow it to monitor the telephone calls,
text messages, e-mails and website visits of everyone in the United
Kingdom. There was a flurry of debate about civil rights and the need
to protect us all against terrorists. There was a side argument
between those who said the law was required by the European Union, and
those who said it would be in breach of European Union law. Since
then, the various debates have gone quiet." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/Lj4r1F
-----
49) Review: Ron Paul's Revolution
Source: EconLog
by Bryan Caplan
"Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired is the
latest book by historian and journalist Brian Doherty. Like his
magisterial Radicals for Capitalism, Ron Paul's Revolution is first
and foremost an oral history. Doherty lays out all the main facts,
writes engagingly, and has a great sense of humor. But his book stands
out because he interweaves the public record with hundreds of
interviews." (05/22/12)
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/05/ron_pauls_revol.html
-----
50) Are you one?
Source: Idaho Liberty
by Ted Dunlap
"The Department of Justice has published a Terrorism and Criminal
Extremism guide for government forces so they can learn how to
recognize enemies of the state. You might want to check it out so you
can know which side of the ramparts you occupy. This is good
information for all. I mean, after all, you should know which jersey
you are wearing before game time." (05/21/12)
http://idaholiberty.com/?p=1507
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM AUDIO & VIDEO
------------------------------------------------------------------
51) Glenn Greenwald on Antiwar Radio
Source: Antiwar.com
"Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses federal judge Katherine
Forrest's amazing ruling against the 2011 National Defense
Authorization Act ..." [Flash audio or MP3] (05/22/12)
http://antiwar.com/radio/2012/05/22/glenn-greenwald-39/
-----
52) Free Talk Live, 05/21/12
Source: Free Talk Live
"Court Intimidation :: Recording Police :: Home Raided over Power
Bill :: The Drug War Affects Everyone :: Arrested for Court Protest ::
Stamping Dollars :: Constitutional Fail :: Department of Safety ::
Creepy DEA Cameras on Interstates :: Another Pathetic Jury :: Kate's
Arrest for Standing :: Immigration :: Permanent Yard Sale :: Mark
Interviews the Muslim Agorist, Davi Barker." [MP3] (05/21/12)
http://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2012-05-21/download
-----
53) Susan Lindauer and Drew Phillips on Declare Your Independence with
Ernest Hancock
Source: Freedom's Phoenix
"Susan Lindauer, former U.S. Intelligence asset, provides some
background and update on what is going on in Yemen -- Drew Phillips on
the Silver Calculator Universal Translator Project." [MP3 or Flash
video] (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/JB0Ec1
-----
54) Anarchast, episode 26
Source: Anarchast
"In this episode, we talk with David Giessel from http://www.patriotslament.blogspot.com."
[Flash video] (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/JudfnG
-----
55) Finally, honest TV
Source: The Lew Rockwell Show
"Executive Producer Demetri Kofinas talks to Lew Rockwell about why
Russia Today's 'Capital Account,' starring Lauren Lyster, is so good
and so right." [Flash audio or MP3] (05/15/12)
http://bit.ly/MiYW2z
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Private supply ship rockets toward space station
2) UN nuclear watchdog expects deal with Iran
3) Iraq: 14 killed, 11 wounded
4) Afghanistan: Two occupation troops killed
5) Pakistan: Gunmen kill nine in attack on political rally
6) North Korea: Regime vows to push ahead with nuclear program
7) US Senate panel votes to tie Pakistan aid to supply routes
8) ID: AP, news groups sue over execution access
9) Brazil: Lower house passes slave labor amendment
10) IL: Two men say police illegally detained them at protest
11) NC: Student threatened for Obama criticism "wants to laugh"
12) Hawaii turns tables on Arizona's birther requests
13) UK: Olympic official "willing to sell tickets"
14) US: Appeals Court upholds $3.4 billion Native American deal
15) SAF and Calguns sue Oakland and San Francisco police
16) Jackboots: Drug fight must focus on demand
17) US: Catholics sue regime over birth control insurance mandate
18) Germany: Regime offers zero coupon bonds
19) IN: Drunken man breaks into apartment, residents hold him at
gunpoint
20) NC: Woman homeowner shoots suspected burglar
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) War Inc. shifts homeward
22) The rape of Delaware County, Oklahoma
23) More on pretending
24) The government lying to us -- what else is new?
25) No more entangling alliances
26) After the killing
27) Don't let these killjoys kill the Olympic spirit
28) Protecting your family from Fukushima radiation and other health
threats
29) The end in Afghanistan
30) Boobs in the media
31) A censored race war?
32) Honduras: Which side is the US on?
33) Will gay marriage force black churches to reconsider Democratic
Party?
34) End state support of colleges and universities
35) What should you believe? Government stats or your own eyes?
36) The Romney foreign policy agenda
37) Should all laws be obeyed?
38) Jonesin' for a soda
39) Deficit spending won't save us
40) Caging a businessman
41) When all is politics, nothing is law
42) JPMorgan's $2 billion loss: A case for regulation?
43) First indefinite detention. Now your assets can be seized if you
criticize the war in Yemen.
44) Hayek was not dumb
45) Lord Keynes beautifully illustrates why we get nowhere in the
stimulus debate
46) Is the GOP an echo or a choice?
47) Spencer, Hodgskin, and land rights
48) Another new surveillance law (2012)
49) Review: Ron Paul's Revolution
50) Are you one?
Today's Freedom Audio and Video:
51) Glenn Greenwald on Antiwar Radio
52) Free Talk Live, 05/21/12
53) Susan Lindauer and Drew Phillips on Declare Your Independence with
Ernest Hancock
54) Anarchast, episode 26
55) Finally, honest TV
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM NEWS
------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Private supply ship rockets toward space station
Source: CBS News
"A first-of-its-kind commercial supply ship rocketed toward the
International Space Station following a successful liftoff early
Tuesday, opening a new era of dollar-driven spaceflight. The SpaceX
company made history as its Falcon 9 rocket rose from its seaside
launch pad and pierced the pre-dawn sky, aiming for a rendezvous in a
few days with the space station. The unmanned rocket carried into
orbit a capsule named Dragon that is packed with 1,000 pounds of space
station provisions." (05/22/12)
http://cbsn.ws/Lj9A9R
-----
2) UN nuclear watchdog expects deal with Iran
Source: CNN
"The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says he will sign
an agreement soon with Iran over its nuclear program, a sign that Iran
may have agreed to broader inspections. 'I can say it will be signed
quite soon,' said IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano, speaking to
reporters in Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday after returning from a
meeting with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, on
Monday." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cpb5guj
-----
3) Iraq: 14 killed, 11 wounded
Source: Antiwar.com
"At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 11 more were wounded in new
violence: A bomb exploded at the Baquba home of a Sahwa member,
killing three people, including the member's wife and two minor
children; he and two more sons were wounded. A few minutes later a
blast at a home in Gatoun killed three people and wounded four more.
Four policemen were killed and two more were wounded when gunmen
attacked a Ramadi checkpoint. A small arms attack left one soldier
dead and two more wounded in Rashad. The body of a young man who was
shot in the head was found in Hammam al-Alil. Soldiers in Mosul killed
two gunmen." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/JAZopc
-----
4) Afghanistan: Two occupation troops killed
Source: WireUpdate
"Insurgents attacked coalition service members in eastern Afghanistan
on Monday, killing one of them, the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a brief statement on Tuesday. A U.S.
soldier has also died after being injured in Afghanistan in
April." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/MiY6mh
-----
5) Pakistan: Gunmen kill nine in attack on political rally
Source: Fox News
"Gunmen opened fire on a political rally in the Pakistani city of
Karachi on Tuesday .... City police chief Akhtar Gorchani said nine
people were killed and more th[a]n 30 wounded in shootouts. Another
police officer, Mohammed Amir, said the attackers fired on a rally
held by Awami Tehrik, a small nationalist group, and it was attended
by members of several other parties in the city." (05/22/12)
http://fxn.ws/MiCCpB
-----
6) North Korea: Regime vows to push ahead with nuclear program
Source: Fremont Tribune
"North Korea on Tuesday vowed to push ahead with its nuclear program
because of what it called U.S. hostility, as an outside analysis of
satellite images suggested it has ramped up work at its nuclear test
site over the past month. North Korea's statement from an unidentified
Foreign Ministry spokesman came a day after a senior U.S. envoy met
with high-ranking South Korean and Japanese envoys in Seoul and warned
the North that an atomic test would unify the world in seeking swift,
tough punishment." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cenht7g
-----
7) US Senate panel votes to tie Pakistan aid to supply routes
Source: Hartford Courant
"A U.S. Senate panel voted cuts in aid to Pakistan on Tuesday and
threatened to withhold even more cash if Islamabad does not reopen its
supply routes for NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, reflecting American
frustration over a months-long standoff. The action by the Senate
appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid followed a weekend NATO
summit in Chicago at which Washington had hoped to reach a deal with
Islamabad to end the supply line dispute." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/czfnjla
-----
8) ID: AP, news groups sue over execution access
Source: Raleigh News & Observer
"The Associated Press and 16 other organizations sued the state of
Idaho on Tuesday to force officials to let witnesses watch executions
from start to finish, arguing that the media has a First Amendment
right to view all steps of a lethal injection execution. The group
asked a U.S. District Court judge to require the state to increase
witness access to its executions, starting with the upcoming execution
of Richard A. Leavitt, a convicted killer scheduled to be put to death
on June 12." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/ctdd43c
-----
9) Brazil: Lower house passes slave labor amendment
Source: Vail Daily
"Brazil's lower house has approved a constitutional amendment that
strengthens punishments for landowners and others who force people
into slave-like working conditions. The government reports there are
approximately 20,000 Brazilians stuck in debt slavery. The practice is
most common on remote farms but also occurs in urban
sweatshops." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cppgoks
-----
10) IL: Two men say police illegally detained them at protest
Source: Caledonia Patch
"The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the two men were anarchists, and
part of the militia when they were detained at the 19th Precinct of
the Chicago Police Department during the NATO protests. ... Yocco had
just put his Gadsden flag, which is the first flag U.S. Marine Corps
from 1776 [sic], into the trunk of his car and the two had tried to
get in front of the protestors. He had won the flag in a YouTube
contest and wanted some video of him with it." (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/JB3nC6
-----
11) NC: Student threatened for Obama criticism "wants to laugh"
Source: Fox News
"The North Carolina high school student who was berated by his teacher
after he spoke critically of President Obama told Fox News on Monday
that he wanted to 'laugh' when he heard the teacher suggest he could
be arrested for criticizing a sitting president. 'Honestly, at the
time I wanted to laugh at her, because I've been taught all my life
that nobody can take your opinion,' Hunter Rogers said. He said he
knew that it takes an actual threat against the president, not just
criticism, to be arrested." [editor's note: In a way, it's nice to
know that not all the authoritarian wackjobs in the Tarheel State are
"right-wingers." You go, Hunter! - SAT] (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/dxswb7r
-----
12) Hawaii turns tables on Arizona's birther requests
Source: The Raw Story
"Hawaiian officials have apparently had enough of your requests for
President Barack Obama's birth certificate and they're not afraid to
tell you where to get off, even if you are Arizona's Secretary of
State Ken Bennett. ... Talking Points Memo obtained emails yesterday
detailing the occasionally testy exchanges between Bennett and Jill T.
Nagamine, Hawaii's Deputy Secretary of State. Bennett, who is a co-
chair of ... presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney's Arizona
campaign, announced last Thursday that 'it's possible" President Obama
may not appear on the Arizona ballot in November.'" (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cwa2v7o
-----
13) UK: Olympic official "willing to sell tickets"
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A senior Olympic official was willing to sell thousands of pounds
worth of 2012 tickets for cash, a BBC investigation has revealed.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee (NOC),
told a reporter posing as a UK tout he would have up to 100 tickets to
sell. It is a criminal offence, punishable by fines of up to #20,000,
to sell London 2012 tickets to touts. Mr. Gerashchenko claimed he had
'never planned to sell tickets in the UK.'" (05/22/12)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18161743
-----
14) US: Appeals Court upholds $3.4 billion Native American deal
Source: Reuters
"An appeals court on Tuesday upheld a $3.4 billion settlement of a
class-action lawsuit over mismanagement of government trust funds for
hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, ruling that it was fair,
reasonable and adequate. The settlement resolved a lawsuit filed in
1996 claiming the U.S. Department of the Interior had mismanaged funds
held in trust on behalf of Native Americans. The trust money was from
transactions involving land allotted to individual Native Americans
under an 1887 law." (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/conl7zd
-----
15) SAF and Calguns sue Oakland and San Francisco police
Source: Liberty For All
"The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit against
the police departments in San Francisco and Oakland, California for
refusing to return firearms to people who had been charged with
crimes, but subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing. SAF is joined in
the lawsuit by the Calguns Foundation and two private citizens. The
case is known as Churchill, et al. v. Harris, et al." (05/22/12)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=7636
-----
16) Jackboots: Drug fight must focus on demand
Source: Arizona Republic
"Federal and state law-enforcement officials told a congressional
panel in Arizona on Monday that efforts to combat drug trafficking
from Mexico to the United States must include reducing the demand for
illegal drugs in this country, not just more enforcement. [They] cited
numerous examples in which increased collaboration between law-
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Mexico ... has been effective in
combating international drug organizations that use Arizona as a major
corridor to smuggle marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin into the
country. But they said more emphasis needs to be placed on reducing
the demand for drugs." [editor's note: NO, DUMBASSES, it "needs to be
placed" on LEGALIZATION! - SAT] (05/22/12)
http://tinyurl.com/ccy3xce
-----
17) US: Catholics sue regime over birth control insurance mandate
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Bishops rarely coordinate the filing of federal lawsuits as 13 of
them did Monday when a total of 43 Catholic organizations filed 12
lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in
eight states and the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs include 13
dioceses and the University of Notre Dame, and their action represents
the largest push against the mandate since Obama announced the policy
in January." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/Mizt9r
-----
18) Germany: Regime offers zero coupon bonds
Source: MarketWatch
"Germany will for the first time on record sell two-year bonds on
Wednesday that won't make scheduled interest rate payments, a ringing
endorsement of the haven appeal of German debt and a reflection of
increased market nervousness over the composition and direction of the
euro zone. The German federal government Tuesday set a zero coupon on
a new issue of two-year federal treasury notes, or Schatz. Germany
will auction EUR5 billion of the two-year note on
Wednesday." (05/22/12)
http://on.mktw.net/MiwSfw
-----
19) IN: Drunken man breaks into apartment, residents hold him at
gunpoint
Source: WSLAM News
"Carlos Rodriquez thought he was home, he later told police, but the
apartment door wouldn't open. So he kicked it in. He was greeted by a
woman with a gun, and he obeyed her order to lie on the ground until
police arrived. ... Rodriguez, whose blood-alcohol level was 0.21
percent, was arrested for felony residential entry and criminal
mischief." (05/18/12)
http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2458536&spid=
-----
20) NC: Woman homeowner shoots suspected burglar
Source: WRAL News
"Cumberland County authorities have arrested two men in connection
with a home break-in over the weekend in which the homeowner scared
them off after shooting one of them in the chest. The woman told
sheriff's deputies that she was taking a nap in her home on Grape
Arbor Drive, east of Fayetteville, Saturday afternoon when she heard
glass breaking. She grabbed the shotgun, police said, went into the
kitchen and saw the hand of a man attempting to unlock a window. She
fired a shot when yelling didn't scare them away. The two teens then
fled the scene, and the woman called 911 to report the crime,
according to investigators." (05/21/12)
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/11022380/
------------------------------------------------------------------
HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 05/23/12
Iraqi Deaths Due to US Invasion: 1,455,590
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/iraq)
US Deaths in Afghanistan: Bush 575, Obama 1310
(source: justforeignpolicy.org/obamavsbush)
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM COMMENTARY
------------------------------------------------------------------
21) War Inc. shifts homeward
Source: Antiwar.com
by Kelley B. Vlahos
"It's been said many times that the war is a self-sustaining industry
that requires a constant threat overseas to keep the machine thriving
at home. Looking at the millions if not billions of dollars spent on
securing 'national special security events' against its own citizens,
it's clear that protesters have become the threat that has allowed, in
part, the warfare state to flourish on American soil." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/Miy5DI
-----
22) The rape of Delaware County, Oklahoma
Source: Pro Libertate
by Will Grigg
"In Oklahoma's Delaware County, Sheriff's deputies were too busy
figuratively raping motorists in the village of Bernice to supervise
guards who were literally raping inmates in the county jail. As a
result, the County Commission has put the screws to the entire county
in the form of an 18 percent sales tax increase in order to pay the
victims a $13.5 million settlement." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/K9cL4n
-----
23) More on pretending
Source: ErneLewis.com
by Erne Lewis
"If we are to survive as a nation we must immediately stop spending
money we don't have and balance the budget now! And we must start
where the spending is most egregious and least needed, our military-
industrial-spycraft complex, that pretentious monster masquerading as
National Defense." (05/21/12)
http://ernelewis.com/blog/2012/05/more-on-pretending/
-----
24) The government lying to us -- what else is new?
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"The corporate economy, with its monstrous concentration of political
and economic power, was no spontaneous or inevitable outgrowth of
modern technology. It resulted from massive top-down social
engineering by the state. But a system of power can only survive if
it's seen as natural and inevitable by the ruled. So since the
beginnings of mass democracy, there have been carefully orchestrated
efforts to ensure that, by the time the public plays out the ritual of
its 'sovereign' power in electoral politics, most everything of
importance has already been decided." (05/22/12)
http://c4ss.org/content/10446
-----
25) No more entangling alliances
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M. Vance
"Would the United States go to war over marine life illegally
harvested in the South China Sea? The very thought of such a thing
sounds ludicrous. But under the U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty with the
Philippines, it is a possibility." (05/22/12)
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1205q.asp
-----
26) After the killing
Source: In These Times
by Rebecca Burns
"Nearly a month after the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin,
something unusual happened: The shooting of a black teenager became
the subject of national attention. When 911 recordings of the incident
were released, they suggested neighborhood watch captain George
Zimmerman had not carried out the shooting in self-defense, as he had
claimed and as police in Sanford, Fla., had accepted, but had in fact
stalked Martin through the gated community where Martin's father lived
on the assumption that the unarmed youth represented a
threat." (05/22/12)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/13177/after_the_killing
-----
27) Don't let these killjoys kill the Olympic spirit
Source: Spiked
by Tim Black
"Whether it is the latest terror-attack warning from the authorities
or a cynical, masses-averse jibe about bread and circuses from a smug
columnist, there has been no shortage of fearmongering and killjoyism
in the run-up to this summer's Olympic Games." (05/22/12)
http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/12469/
-----
28) Protecting your family from Fukushima radiation and other health
threats
Source: Strike the Root
by Glen Allport
"Yes: There really are things we can do to reduce the risk of cancer
and other health problems not only from radiation, but from many of
the other toxins and stresses so common in the modern world. A great
many studies, peer-reviewed articles in medical and scientific
journals, and other sources of information tell us that we don't have
to just 'hope for the best' when faced with radiation exposure or
other assaults on our health." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/K98U7p
-----
29) The end in Afghanistan
Source: CounterPunch
by Dave Lindorff
"How much worse must those soldiers feel than the US soldiers in
Vietnam, who at least didn't have an end-point held out in front of
them to taunt them. Today's American soldiers and Marines in
Afghanistan fight staring at a surrender date at which point all their
fighting and killing and dying and being will be acknowledged as
having been in vain. The American soldiers in Vietnam in 1971 or 1972
could at least pretend that after they left, the South Vietnamese
government might at least try to fight on and establish
itself." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/K98UnQ
-----
30) Boobs in the media
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise
by Jonathan David Morris
"A recent cover of TIME Magazine shows a woman breastfeeding her three-
year-old son. Apparently this is supposed to shock me. It certainly
seems to have shocked the culturemakers in the media, who can't stop
talking about how controversial and provocative it is. Even The View,
a show of, for, and by women (trust me: most men would rather have a
testicle removed with a dirty steak knife than watch it) chose to blur
out the cover when they did a discussion about it. The question I have
is, why? Why does this image bother people? Does it bother people? And
if it does, what does that say about our culture?" (05/21/12)
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2012/tle671-20120520-04.html
-----
31) A censored race war?
Source: Freedom Politics
by Thomas Sowell
"When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were
driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of
young blacks -- beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from
work -- that might seem to have been news that should have been
reported, at least by their own newspaper. But it wasn't." (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/c67dgma
-----
32) Honduras: Which side is the US on?
Source: The Nation
by Dana Frank
"In the early hours of the morning on May 11, a group of indigenous
people traveling by canoe on a river in the northeast Mosquitia region
of Honduras came under helicopter fire. When the shooting was over, at
least four persons lay dead, including, by some accounts, two pregnant
women. In Honduras, such grisly violence is no longer out of the
ordinary. But what this incident threw into stark relief was the
powerful role the United States is playing in a Honduran war. ... The
United States has, in fact, been quietly escalating its military
presence in Honduras, pouring police and military funding into the
regime of President Porfirio Lobo in the name of fighting
drugs." (05/21/12)
http://www.thenation.com/article/167994/honduras-which-side-us
-----
33) Will gay marriage force black churches to reconsider Democratic
Party?
Source: Freedom Politics
by Larry Elder
"President Obama's affirmation of gay marriage threatens to undermine
the near-monolithic black support Obama enjoyed in 2008. Several
members of the black clergy now say they intend to sit out the
presidential election. One poll from last November found black
opposition to gay marriage at 58 percent, higher than the rest of the
country, which is about evenly split. The real question is this: What
took black church leaders so long to reconsider their near blind
support for the Democratic Party?" (05/18/12)
http://tinyurl.com/cceatav
-----
34) End state support of colleges and universities
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"In an era in which many statists are doing their best to assure
themselves and others that they are not socialists, this might be a
good time to visit one of the most deeply entrenched and popular
socialistic programs in our time -- state-supported colleges and
universities. State-supported colleges and universities receive their
revenues in two ways: voluntarily (e.g., through tuitions and
donations) and coercively (i.e., through taxation)." (05/22/12)
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2012-05-22.asp
-----
35) What should you believe? Government stats or your own eyes?
Source: Heartland Institute
by Steve Stanek
"Price inflation is running at an annualized rate of 4.8 percent,
according to official data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. That is more than double the Federal Reserve's target rate
of 2 percent annual inflation. And as millions of Americans have come
to learn since the government 40 years ago began playing games with
this and other economic statistics to make things look better than
they really are, there is good reason to take this latest report with
a shaker or two of salt." (05/12)
http://tinyurl.com/d47nznu
-----
36) The Romney foreign policy agenda
Source: The American Prospect
by James Mann
"Imagine for a moment: It is two weeks after Election Day and
President-elect Mitt Romney holds a press conference to announce his
foreign-policy team ... Sec. of State: Rick Santorum, Sec. of Defense:
Newt Gingrich, CIA director: Rick Perry, national security adviser:
Michele Bachmann ... OK, that was just a scary joke. It's not going to
happen. But it does serve as a reminder that, after 30-plus Republican
primaries and an unprecedented number of debates, voters have little
idea of how Mitt Romney would deal with the world outside America's
borders." [editor's note: Actually we do; he'd continue the Bush/Obama
imperialism, but kick it up a few notches! - SAT] (05/22/12)
http://prospect.org/article/romney-foreign-policy-agenda
-----
37) Should all laws be obeyed?
Source: Orange County Register
by Walter E. Williams
"Let's think about whether all acts of Congress deserve our respect
and obedience. Suppose Congress enacted a law ... requiring American
families to attend church services at least three times a month.
Should we obey such a law? Suppose Congress, under the Constitution's
commerce clause, enacted a law requiring motorists to get eight hours
of sleep before driving on interstate highways. ... Suppose you were a
jury member during the 1850s and a free person were on trial for
assisting a runaway slave, in clear violation of the Fugitive Slave
Act. .... A moral person would find each one of those laws either
morally repugnant or a clear violation of our
Constitution." (05/21/12)
http://tinyurl.com/c9mpoj7
-----
38) Jonesin' for a soda
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Max Raskin
"The tongue is a discerning instrument; in the hands of a traveled
soda aficionado, it is capable of leading to insightful truths about
agricultural geopolitics. To those who have drunk foreign sodas, this
truth stems from the peculiar yet incontrovertible fact that American
soda is awful." (05/22/12)
http://mises.org/daily/2678/Jonesin-for-a-Soda
-----
39) Deficit spending won't save us
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Sam Bowman
"Sumner argues that Sweden's success is thanks to a Central Bank that
provided monetary stimulus back in 2009. There's a large contingent of
people who claim that the government's cuts are hurting the economy,
but seem completely ignorant of the fact that, in the Keynesian model,
monetary expansion should be able to completely offset fiscal
contractions. That's not a model I subscribe to, but the so-called
'Keynesians' who seem to think that there exists some kind of 'real'
aggregate demand simply don't know what they're talking
about." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/MiXKfz
-----
40) Caging a businessman
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Skip Oliva
"Steven VandeBrake is presently serving a four-year prison sentence
for exercising control over his own property. His 'crime,' according
to the Department of Justice, was that in exercising said property
rights he entered into voluntary coordination with other property
owners. Because this coordination occurred among individuals with a
similar type of property -- in this case, concrete -- VandeBrake
committed 'price fixing,' which the government deems a felony. After
coercing a confession from VandeBrake, the DOJ was content to kidnap
and imprison him for a period of about 18 months." (05/22/12)
http://lewrockwell.com/orig13/oliva3.1.1.html
-----
41) When all is politics, nothing is law
Source: Cato Institute
by Roger Pilon
"Long-time establishment apologists Norman Ornstein (AEI) and Thomas
Mann (Brookings) have generated a lot of ink lately, pro and con, over
their claim that our 'dysfunctional' government is the fault of
Republican 'extremists' whose party has become 'an insurgent outlier
in American politics,' blocking measures for economic recovery,
climate change, health-care reform, and much else. Well, for the legal
branch there's a more complex but not much more subtle variation of
the Ornstein/Mann thesis that academic lawyers of the progressive
persuasion -- I repeat myself -- have been peddling in recent
years." (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/MiB2UK
-----
42) JPMorgan's $2 billion loss: A case for regulation?
Source: Independent Institute
by Randall Holcombe
"When JPMorgan announced it had sustained a $2 billion trading loss a
few weeks ago, some commentators, including Paul Krugman, argued that
their irresponsible investing was more evidence that we need stronger
financial regulation. The evidence in the JPM case actually shows the
opposite." (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/MixykY
-----
43) First indefinite detention. Now your assets can be seized if you
criticize the war in Yemen.
Source: Delaware Libertarian
by Steve Newton
"Thankfully, my 'assets' pretty much consistent of $11.62 in an old
savings account and a will leaving same to be distributed 'by law.'
Because now President Obama is apparently coming for me, and others
who oppose US involvement in Yemen ..." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/MioEnP
-----
44) Hayek was not dumb
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Kevin Vallier
"In the end, if you think a really smart and important social
philosopher and economist said something pretty dumb about a topic on
which he was an expert, you should doubt your own judgment first.
Hayek was not dumb and one need not be a slavish Hayekian to think
so." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/Mio4GD
-----
45) Lord Keynes beautifully illustrates why we get nowhere in the
stimulus debate
Source: Free Advice
by Robert P. Murphy
"And there you have it, kids. Even if we set aside the deficit
(because an inadequate spending surge could lead to a collapsing
economy and hence tax revenues), and focus exclusively on government
spending, we see that whether in absolute dollars (obviously), whether
in the change in percentage points of GDP, or whether in the
percentage change in the percentage of GDP, the US government
increased its spending more in 2008 and 2009, than the Swedish
government did. Since Sweden handled the crisis much better than the
US did, I would say the case of Sweden is prima facie evidence for the
Austrian / austerian camp." (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/Lj7Yga
-----
46) Is the GOP an echo or a choice?
Source: Reason
by Tim Cavanaugh
"Why would a president who gave America vast unemployment, soaring
inflation, a moribund economy, record deficits, and a manically ill-
conceived energy policy be coasting toward re-election? For the same
reason Dianne Feinstein (who, like Romney, generates little excitement
in her base but is considered electable) is a lock. Republicans have
spent so long in ideological hibernation that the only challengers
they can field are clones of the Democratic incumbents. And who would
choose a clone when you can buy the original?" (for publication 06/12)
http://bit.ly/Lj7aIb
-----
47) Spencer, Hodgskin, and land rights
Source: Liberty & Power
by Roderick T. Long
"As 'everyone knows,' Herbert Spencer was a reactionary defender of
capitalism and an opponent of socialism, while Thomas Hodgskin was a
proto-Marxian defender of socialism and an opponent of capitalism; so
what should one expect from Hodgskin's review (now online) of
Spencer's Social Statics? The right answer, it turns out, is almost
total agreement: 'there are very few conclusions or remarks to which
we are disposed to object.' And the one point for which Hodgskin does
take Spencer to task is Spencer's rejection of private ownership of
land." (05/21/12)
http://hnn.us/blogs/spencer-hodgskin-and-land-rights
-----
48) Another new surveillance law (2012)
Source: Libertarian Alliance
by Sean Gabb
"At the beginning of April 2012, the BBC and a couple of newspapers
reported that the British Government was considering a new
surveillance law. This would allow it to monitor the telephone calls,
text messages, e-mails and website visits of everyone in the United
Kingdom. There was a flurry of debate about civil rights and the need
to protect us all against terrorists. There was a side argument
between those who said the law was required by the European Union, and
those who said it would be in breach of European Union law. Since
then, the various debates have gone quiet." (05/22/12)
http://bit.ly/Lj4r1F
-----
49) Review: Ron Paul's Revolution
Source: EconLog
by Bryan Caplan
"Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired is the
latest book by historian and journalist Brian Doherty. Like his
magisterial Radicals for Capitalism, Ron Paul's Revolution is first
and foremost an oral history. Doherty lays out all the main facts,
writes engagingly, and has a great sense of humor. But his book stands
out because he interweaves the public record with hundreds of
interviews." (05/22/12)
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/05/ron_pauls_revol.html
-----
50) Are you one?
Source: Idaho Liberty
by Ted Dunlap
"The Department of Justice has published a Terrorism and Criminal
Extremism guide for government forces so they can learn how to
recognize enemies of the state. You might want to check it out so you
can know which side of the ramparts you occupy. This is good
information for all. I mean, after all, you should know which jersey
you are wearing before game time." (05/21/12)
http://idaholiberty.com/?p=1507
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FREEDOM AUDIO & VIDEO
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51) Glenn Greenwald on Antiwar Radio
Source: Antiwar.com
"Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses federal judge Katherine
Forrest's amazing ruling against the 2011 National Defense
Authorization Act ..." [Flash audio or MP3] (05/22/12)
http://antiwar.com/radio/2012/05/22/glenn-greenwald-39/
-----
52) Free Talk Live, 05/21/12
Source: Free Talk Live
"Court Intimidation :: Recording Police :: Home Raided over Power
Bill :: The Drug War Affects Everyone :: Arrested for Court Protest ::
Stamping Dollars :: Constitutional Fail :: Department of Safety ::
Creepy DEA Cameras on Interstates :: Another Pathetic Jury :: Kate's
Arrest for Standing :: Immigration :: Permanent Yard Sale :: Mark
Interviews the Muslim Agorist, Davi Barker." [MP3] (05/21/12)
http://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2012-05-21/download
-----
53) Susan Lindauer and Drew Phillips on Declare Your Independence with
Ernest Hancock
Source: Freedom's Phoenix
"Susan Lindauer, former U.S. Intelligence asset, provides some
background and update on what is going on in Yemen -- Drew Phillips on
the Silver Calculator Universal Translator Project." [MP3 or Flash
video] (05/21/12)
http://bit.ly/JB0Ec1
-----
54) Anarchast, episode 26
Source: Anarchast
"In this episode, we talk with David Giessel from http://www.patriotslament.blogspot.com."
[Flash video] (05/18/12)
http://bit.ly/JudfnG
-----
55) Finally, honest TV
Source: The Lew Rockwell Show
"Executive Producer Demetri Kofinas talks to Lew Rockwell about why
Russia Today's 'Capital Account,' starring Lauren Lyster, is so good
and so right." [Flash audio or MP3] (05/15/12)
http://bit.ly/MiYW2z
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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