07/16 -- BP: No new oil flowing into Gulf of Mexico; US Senate passes financial "reform" bill

[Thomas L. Knapp]

**************************************************
* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
*
* Volume VIII, Issue #1,963
* Friday, July 16th, 2010
* Email Circulation 1,895
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* Published every non-holiday weekday
* by the staff of Rational Review
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* On the Web: http://www.rationalreview.com/news
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In The News:

0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
1) BP: No new oil flowing into Gulf of Mexico
2) US Senate passes financial "reform" bill
3) Iraq: 16 killed, 32 wounded
4) Afghanistan: Two US troops killed
5) Iran: Blasts at mosque kill 15
6) BP asset buyers may face suits amid raising money to pay claims
7) Pakistan: Bus stop suicide bomb kills five
8) US man stuck in Egypt on no-fly list allowed to return home
9) Federal prosecutions of immigrants soar
10) Former DoJ official: CIA exceeded interrogation limits
11) June was worst month for US Army suicides
12) North Korea demands its own probe into ship sinking
13) Iraqis take charge of last prison in US control
14) DC: Photographer detained twice in four months for taking pictures
of cops
15) PA: Town set to repeal ban on bringing firearms into municipal
building
16) Catholics angry as church puts female ordination on par with sex
abuse
17) UT: List of alleged undocumented immigrants sparks state review
18) Ancient ship unearthed at WTC site
19) DC: Appeals court upholds same-sex marriage
20) Railroaded lawyer sentenced to 10 years in "terrorism" case
21) Goldman Sachs to pay $550 million to settle SEC suit
22) James P. Hogan, 1941-2010
23) Argentina legalizes same-sex marriage
24) Officials: Iranian scientist left behind $5 million bribe
25) AZ: Hearing on Know-Nothing appeasement law ends with no ruling

Everybody Has An Opinion:

26) Internet privacy: Will you be assimilated?
27) The NRA needs to grow a pair
28) Is libertarianism a part of the right or the left? Neither. We are
unique
29) Nietzsche and the state
30) The Shahram charade
31) It's Obama's empire now
32) How Jon Gaunt became a free speech martyr
33) The raging revenant: Anti-imperialism -- past, present and future
34) The return of Agent Orange
35) Wordwrangling
36) Classical-liberal exploitation theory
37) Air conditioners banned in the global warming nanny state
38) A lawless regime of unlimited government
39) In defense of payday lenders and their customers
40) Dodd-Frank is not "financial reform," it's more big government
lunacy
41) Just what is America doing all over the world?
42) Requiem for the unemployed
43) The nature of "rights" -- do you have "Second Amendment rights?"
44) A little less hubris and a little more humility
45) What will Johnny Rotten do in Israel?
46) Profit: The forgotten objective
47) Case study: The Maltese expat
48) FTC wants to eliminate competition with government courts
49) Pull, pull, pull to the left
50) Majority math
51) In this case, time doesn't pay
52) Stating the bleeding obvious, part 1
53) Jon Gaunt's loss is Britain's too
54) i-Give Up
55) The wages of collaboration
56) Afghanistan without illusions
57) Shutting it all down for the state!
58) The federal screwing of John Stagliano
59) Bat-crazy Christians hold public bitchfest
60) Obamaland pension meltdown update
61) The revolving door spins faster on healthcare reform
62) Spank the beast
63) Rand, Rothbard and Rights Reconsidered
64) Disney's private city
65) The politics of the deficit
66) Court decisions aside, scofflaws have long made gun control
unenforceable
67) Gotham's capital chance
68) Lies, damn lies, and statistics
69) Concentrated benefits, diffused costs
70) When will BP plug the damn hole?
71) Washington's parasites take aim at Apple
72) Extend unemployment benefits? Politics versus economics
73) The obsolescence of federal censorship
74) What's so conservative about federal highways?
75) How the sneaky hands of the big banks are working overtime to rip
you off

See No Evil, Hear No Evil:

76) Cory Doctorow on the war on kids, Boing Boing, & his next novel
77) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/15/10
78) Mervyn Peake (1911-1968)
79) Andy Worthington on Antiwar Radio
80) Free Talk Live, 07/14/10

What's Up In The Freedom Movement:

81) Today's events

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

0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser

Update, 07/16/10: Thanks to CC, whose $10 contribution brings our
total to $830 against our goal of $2,083!

Have a great weekend ... but first, support the freedom movement's
daily newspaper! - TLK

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

-----

1) BP: No new oil flowing into Gulf of Mexico
CBS News

"BP says oil from its broken well has stopped gushing into the Gulf of
Mexico for the first time since April. The announcement Thursday came
after company officials said all valves had been shut on a new cap
over the busted well in an experiment to stop the spill. ... The cap
is not a permanent fix. BP is drilling two relief wells so it can pump
mud and cement into the leaking well in hopes of plugging it for good.
Those are expected to be completed in August." (07/15/10)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/15/national/main6681825.shtml

-----

2) US Senate passes financial "reform" bill
Washington Post

"The Senate passed the financial overhaul package in a final vote
Thursday, ending more than a year of wrangling over the shape of the
landmark legislation. The focus now shifts to the monumental task of
implementing the new regulations over coming weeks and months. The 60
to 39 decision came just before 3 p.m, only a few hours after
Democrats cleared a final procedural hurdle by securing enough votes
to break a GOP filibuster. The bill now goes to the White House for
President Obama's signature." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2b5pr6m

-----

3) Iraq: 16 killed, 32 wounded
AntiWar.Com

"Nine people were killed and 15 more were wounded in Tikrit, where a
car bomb exploded on a commercial street. A late evening motocycle
bombing left two dead and 10 wounded. in Mahmoudiya. In Baghdad, a
bomb on a minibus left two dead and five injured in the Sheikh Omar
neighborhood. No casualties were reported after mortars fell in the
Green Zone. A shooting left one policeman dead and two wounded in
Babel province. In Ramadi, a gunman on a motorcycle killed a
policeman. A man blew himself up when police in Suleiman Bek arrived
at his home." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2epaemb

-----

4) Afghanistan: Two US troops killed
Las Vegas Review-Journal

"Two U.S. service members were killed in a roadside bombing in restive
southern Afghanistan, where thousands of American troops have been
deployed to wrest back control of insurgent strongholds. Also in the
south, gunmen kidnapped five Health Ministry employees in volatile
Kandahar province while insurgents killed a district official
elsewhere, reportedly on the orders of the Taliban supreme leader,
officials said Thursday." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/25thutz

-----

5) Iran: Blasts at mosque kill 15
Los Angeles Times

"Explosions at a mosque in the southeastern Iranian provincial capital
of Zahedan on Thursday killed at least 15 people and injured more,
Iranian news agencies reported. The semiofficial Fars News Agency
quoted Interior Ministry official Ali Abdollahi as saying the attack
was carried out by one or more suicide bombers and that at least 22
people were injured in addition to those killed." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/29kurkm

-----

6) BP asset buyers may face suits amid raising money to pay claims
Bloomberg

"BP Plc may saddle potential buyers of its assets with lawsuits as it
tries to raise money to pay claims that could reach $100 billion from
the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, lawyers and analysts said. Apache Corp.
may agree to pay $10 billion to $11 billion in cash next week for some
of BP's Alaskan assets, according to people familiar with the deal.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Tullow Oil Plc have also
said they may be interested in buying some of BP's properties. Laws
prohibiting fraudulent transfers could allow victims to sue a buyer to
recover money deemed essential to pay claims, and successor liability
could leave a purchaser with BP's obligations, if BP files for
bankruptcy." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/23nxhe7

-----

7) Pakistan: Bus stop suicide bomb kills five
BBC News [UK]

"At least five people have been killed and nearly 50 injured by a
suicide bomb next to a bus stop in north-west Pakistan's Swat Valley,
officials say. The attack happened in Mingora, the main town in the
former tourist region overrun by the Taliban in 2007. Police say the
area where the bomb went off was crowded, so the number of casualties
could rise." (07/15/10)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south+asia-10645638

-----

8) US man stuck in Egypt on no-fly list allowed to return home
USA Today

"A U.S. man whose travels to Yemen caught the attention of the FBI and
landed him on the U.S. no-fly list, leaving him stuck in the Middle
East for months, will be allowed to return to the U.S. Yahya Wehelie,
26, of Virginia has been stuck in Egypt for more than two months but
is now expected to arrive in New York Friday afternoon. FBI agents had
been questioning him about his time in Yemen, Wehelie said. He went to
Yemen nearly two years ago at his parents' urging to learn Arabic and
gain some direction in his life." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2bdtcxv

-----

9) Federal prosecutions of immigrants soar
MSNBC

"Federal prosecutions of immigrants soared to new levels this spring,
as the Obama administration continued an aggressive enforcement
strategy championed under President George W. Bush, according to a new
study released Thursday. The 4,145 cases referred to federal
prosecutors in March and April was the largest number for any two-
month stretch since the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was
created five years ago, the Syracuse University-based Transactional
Records Access Clearinghouse found. They ranged from misdemeanor
illegal entry [sic] to prosecutions of immigrants with criminal
records." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/23u432m

-----

10) Former DoJ official: CIA exceeded interrogation limits
San Jose Mercury News

"The former Justice Department official who cowrote the so-called
torture memos testified that the department did not sanction some of
the harsh methods the CIA used against detainees during the George W.
Bush administration, including the repeated waterboarding of two
suspected terrorists. Jay Bybee, former head of the Justice
Department's Office of Legal Counsel, said in testimony released
Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee that the CIA went further in
its tough tactics than he had outlined as permissible in a widely
criticized legal memoranda. Bybee appeared before the committee May
26." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/29wpnjk

-----

11) June was worst month for US Army suicides
CNN

"More U.S. soldiers killed themselves last month than in recent Army
history, according to Army statistics released Thursday, confounding
officials trying to reverse the grim trend. The statistics show that
32 soldiers killed themselves in June, the highest number in a single
month since the Vietnam era. Twenty-one of them were on active duty,
while 11 were in the National Guard or Army Reserve in an inactive
status." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2adl3gy

-----

12) North Korea demands its own probe into ship sinking
Bismarck Tribune

"North Korea's military renewed calls to conduct its own investigation
into the March sinking of a South Korean warship during rare talks
with the U.S.-led U.N. Command, the first since the deadly incident.
An international team of investigators concluded in May that a North
Korean submarine fired a torpedo that sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan,
killing 46 South Korean sailors in what Seoul called the worst naval
attack on the South since the 1950-53 Korean War." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/28qdy2e

-----

13) Iraqis take charge of last prison in US control
ABC News

"Iraq assumed control of the last U.S.-run prison camp in the country
on Thursday, a milestone that casts a spotlight on the Iraqi
government's troubled record of caring for inmates amid allegations of
torture and overcrowding at Iraqi-run facilities. The change in
command at Camp Cropper -- which was renamed Karkh Prison -- marks the
end of a troubling chapter in the U.S. presence in the country, which
was marred in the early years by photographs showing American soldiers
abusing inmates at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/25ncjra

-----

14) DC: Photographer detained twice in four months for taking pictures
of cops
CarlosMiller.com

"Jerome Vorus, a 19-year-old man living in Washington DC, is the
latest photographer to prove that cops either do not know the law
regarding photography or just choose to make it up as they go along in
the hopes the photographer will be clueless. Fortunately, Vorus is far
from clueless. In the last four months, he's been detained twice for
taking pictures of cops. In the first incident last March, he was
actually tackled by an officer ... you can hear that incident in the
audio recording he made ... The assault takes place in the first clip.
The second clip captures the aftermath, including a moment when a cop
tells Vorus he needs to 'stop hiding behind the
Constitution.'" (07/13/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3ywesvl

-----

15) PA: Town set to repeal ban on bringing firearms into municipal
building
Reading Eagle

"Less than a month after passing an ordinance that made it illegal to
carry firearms into the municipal building, the Oley Township
supervisors plan to repeal the measure tonight. The supervisors have
moved quickly to withdraw the ordinance after gun advocates pointed to
a state law that they contend prohibits counties and municipalities
from regulating the lawful ownership and possession of firearms.
Supervisors Chairman David R. Kessler, who also is a Democratic state
representative, had little to say Wednesday about the change of heart.
But fellow Supervisor Jeffrey A. Spatz acknowledged the board had made
a misstep that quickly aroused opposition." (07/15/10)

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=234650

-----

16) Catholics angry as church puts female ordination on par with sex
abuse
Guardian [UK]

"It was meant to be the document that put a lid on the clerical sex
abuse scandals that have swept the Roman Catholic world. But instead
of quelling fury from within and without the church, the Vatican
stoked the anger of liberal Catholics and women's groups by including
a provision in its revised decree that made the 'attempted ordination'
of women one of the gravest crimes in ecclesiastical law. The change
put the 'offence' on a par with the sex abuse of minors. ... The
revision of a decree first issued nine years ago was intended to
address the issue of clerical sex abuse. Last night it remained
unclear why the Vatican had decided to invite further controversy by
changing the status of women's ordination in canon law." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2uptfzb

-----

17) UT: List of alleged undocumented immigrants sparks state review
Salt Lake Tribune

"Utah Gov. Gary Herbert wants to know whether any state employees
helped create a list of 1,300 people an anonymous group has publicly
accused of being undocumented immigrants. Herbert on Tuesday ordered
several state agencies to determine whether computer records were
accessed inappropriately to create the detailed list, which arrived by
mail Monday at media outlets, law enforcement agencies, and the state
House and Senate." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/24jevn5

-----

18) Ancient ship unearthed at WTC site
Toronto Sun [Canada]

"The decayed hull of a centuries old ship was unearthed at the World
Trade Center construction site in New York city, providing a glimpse
into the history of Manhattan, archeologists said. ... The 32-foot
long craft was discovered Tuesday and made public late Wednesday. Many
other kinds of antique debris have also been found." (07/15/10)

http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/07/15/14724701.html

-----

19) DC: Appeals court upholds same-sex marriage
Washington Post

"The D.C. Court of Appeals narrowly sustained same-sex marriage in the
District on Thursday in a 5 to 4 vote. The nine judges were asked to
determine whether the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics acted
lawfully when it rejected an initiative by opponents of gay marriage
to have the matter voted upon by District residents in a referendum,
rather than by the D.C. Council, which in December approved same-sex
marriage." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2vefygj

-----

20) Railroaded lawyer sentenced to 10 years in "terrorism" case
New York Daily News

"Radical lawyer Lynn Stewart is to be sentenced to 10 years and a
month in prison -- a new penalty that could keep her behind bars until
she turns 80, a judge said Thursday. Stewart, 70, wiped tears and her
supporters in Manhattan Federal Court started sobbing as the judge
made his annoucement ahead of the formal sentence expected later
Thursday. The controversial civil rights attorney was convicted in
2005 of helping bomb plotter Omar Abdel Rahman pass messages from
prison to his terror cohorts in Egypt." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/252kaz9

-----

21) Goldman Sachs to pay $550 million to settle SEC suit
Business Week

"Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to pay $550 million and change its
business practices to settle U.S. regulatory claims it misled
investors in collateralized debt obligations linked to subprime
mortgages. The penalty is the largest ever levied by the Securities
and Exchange Commission against a Wall Street firm, the agency said in
a statement announcing the accord today." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2c9y7zh

-----

22) James P. Hogan, 1941-2010
Locus

"British author James P. Hogan, 69, died in his home in the Republic
of Ireland on July 12, 2010. The cause of death has not yet been
determined. Hogan, a hard SF writer, won three Seiun Awards and two
Prometheus Awards." (07/13/10)

http://www.locusmag.com/News/2010/07/james-hogan-1941-2010/

-----

23) Argentina legalizes same-sex marriage
Los Angeles Times

"Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in an early-morning vote
Thursday, making it the first country in the overwhelmingly Roman
Catholic region of Latin America to grant [sic] gay couples the same
rights as heterosexual couples. After a long and emotional debate, the
Senate voted 33 to 27, with three abstentions, to approve a measure
that had passed Argentina's lower house." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2bajdgr

-----

24) Officials: Iranian scientist left behind $5 million bribe
ABC News

"The Iranian nuclear scientist who returned to Tehran today left
behind some $5 million he was promised by the CIA as part of 'benefits
package' offered by the CIA's National Resettlement Operations Center,
US officials tell ABC News. 'Anything he got is now beyond his reach,
thanks to the sanctions against Iran,' one US official said. 'We've
got his information and the Iranians have him.' When Amiri defected,
the CIA offered him $5 million for information about the Iranian
nuclear weapons program. Typically, the CIA places these kinds of
funds in escrow so that an informant is only paid bit by bit, at the
agency's discretion." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2c2zmse

-----

25) AZ: Hearing on Know-Nothing appeasement law ends with no ruling
Associated Press

"A federal judge in Phoenix didn't rule on whether to block Arizona's
new immgiration law Thursday after two hours of testimony in the first
major hearing in one of seven challenges to the strict crackdown. The
Phoenix police officer who filed the lawsuit could be fired if he
doesn't enforce the law he has sued to block, an attorney told U.S.
District Judge Susan Bolton, who didn't say when she'd decide whether
to halt the law before it takes effect July 29." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/22ms7u7

*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 07/16/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 97,077 ... Max - 105,850
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,412
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************

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

26) Internet privacy: Will you be assimilated?
Downsize DC
by Jim Babka

"A huge part of the business of politics involves conferring subsidies
and special protections on favored companies and industries, making
many of them near (or actual) monopolies that also happen to be 'too
big to fail.' Now here comes the latest example of monopoly creation
by The State ... The Feds want to monopolize the user names and
passwords that you employ on the Internet! The so-called Department of
Homeland Security, in cooperation with major corporations like
Microsoft, has drafted what they call a 'National Strategy for Trusted
Identities in Cyberspace.' That sounds ominous, and it is. Will you be
a 'trusted entity,' or a distrusted one?" (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2aa5yoe

-----

27) The NRA needs to grow a pair
J. Neil Schulman @ Rational Review
by J. Neil Schulman

"There is just no excuse for the NRA considering endorsing Harry Reid
to keep his U.S. Senate seat and his position as Senate Majority
Leader simply because some election tout at 11250 Waples Mill Road is
pissing his pants that if Nevada voters fire Reid New York Senator
Charles Schumer might replace him. So what? Even if the Republicans
don't take back one house or the other, are we so afraid of the
outcome of one lousy election that we have to give our sanction of the
victim to Harry Reid who is just as opposed to gun-owner rights as
Schumer, but has the slight tactical advantage that he's more
retarded?" (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/342ejh7

-----

28) Is libertarianism a part of the right or the left? Neither. We are
unique
LewRockwell.Com
by Walter Block

"The libertarian political economic philosophy is unique. It belongs
neither to the right or left hand part of the political economic
spectrum. This thesis is in sharp contrast to the views of left
libertarians Long, Holcombe, and Baden who maintain that
libertarianism is really part of the left, or left-feminist movement,
and equally so with the perspective of conservative libertarians
Hoppe, Feser and Paul, in whose view libertarianism is a constituent
element of the right-wing conservative movement. The present paper
defends the position of libertarian centrism, or libertarian purity or
plumb-line libertarianism, vis-a-vis its two competitors for the
libertarian mantle: left-wing libertarianism and right-wing
libertarianism." (07/16/10)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block162.html

-----

29) Nietzsche and the state
Strike the Root
by Michael Kleen

"'Where the state ends -- look there, my brothers! Do you not see it,
the rainbow and the bridges of the overman?' Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900) is one of the most famous of the modern philosophers. A
prolific writer on just about every subject, his views on the modern
state have been largely overshadowed by his critique of morality,
which is a shame because despite the adoption of his philosophy by
political movements after his death, Nietzsche held a very clear and
consistently critical view of the subject throughout his adult life.
In his more sober moments, he saw the modern state as nothing more
than a vehicle for mass power and as a squanderer of exceptional
talent. In his most feverish moods, the state was 'a cold monster' and
a base falsehood." (07/15/10)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/nietzsche-and-state

-----

30) The Shahram charade
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

"By now the narrative is well-established, at least as far as the
Western media is concerned: Shahram Amiri, an Iranian scientist,
defected to the US last year, but changed his mind and has now
returned to Iran. No matter: we squeezed him dry, as one intelligence
official boasted, and received 'valuable' information about Iran's
nuclear weapons program (which doesn't exist and hasn't existed since
2003, according to the CIA's own assessment, but never mind that
bothersome detail). 'He's free to go, he was free to come,' declared
practiced liar Hillary Clinton, 'these decisions are his alone to
make.' Well, he did go, and is now in Tehran, where he's being given a
hero's welcome -- which kind of undercuts the story that he sold out
his country for $5 million. That, however, isn't the only indication
that this murky affair is not what the government-media complex would
have us believe." (07/16/10)

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/07/15/the-shahram-charade/

-----

31) It's Obama's empire now
Truthdig
by Stanley Kutler

"The American Empire is alive and well -- and as expansive as ever. We
have established more than 700 military bases across the world,
largely encircling the peripheries of Russia and China, which are now
central to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The Cold War in the
aftermath of World War II drove the expansion as we searched for
security--and markets, to be sure.Perhaps we now are the largest
imperial power the world ever has known." (07/15/10)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/its_obamas_empire_now_20100713/

-----

32) How Jon Gaunt became a free speech martyr
Spiked
by Rob Lyons

"Even idiots should have the right to free speech. And idiots don't
get much bigger than Jon Gaunt. Jon Gaunt -- 'Gaunty' as he likes to
be known -- is about as shocking as UK 'shock jocks' get, which is not
terribly shocking. He's been the presenter of noisy phone-in shows for
the BBC and Talksport and a columnist for the Sun (where he now
presents an online-only talk show). Like many 'shock jocks' -- he
apparently dislikes the label -- he has appointed himself as the voice
of the common man." (07/15/10)

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9205/

-----

33) The raging revenant: Anti-imperialism -- past, present and future
Empire Burlesque
by Chris Floyd

"Mark Twain is returning to us, in the unexpurgated editions of his
much-censored autobiography which will be published in three volumes.
And one of his most notable successors in the fine art of anti-
imperialist polemic, Arthur Silber, has provided some useful context
for some of the views that Twain and his literary executors thought
too hot to print in their now-vanished present day. Many of these
passages dealt with Twain's angry railing against America's militarist
empire-builders, as they perpetrated mass murder and savage torture
during the 'liberation' of the Philippines from, er, the
Filipinos." (07/14/10)

http://tinyurl.com/34y5qqy

-----

34) The return of Agent Orange
CounterPunch
by Firmin DeBrabander

"For years critics ominously warned that, as is the nature of
'nature,' weeds would eventually evolve to withstand Roundup. Monsanto
brushed aside such concerns, saying it would be ages before anyone had
to worry about something like that. The glory days lasted about a
decade. The superweeds evolved faster than anyone imagined -- and with
a vengeance. Farmers accustomed to drenching their fields with Roundup
are now battling a monster breed of pigweed that, the New York Times
reports, 'can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more ...
so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. Nature has issued
quite a challenge to our 'weed solution.' The chemical industry has
decided to respond in turn with Agent Orange. To be precise, Dow
Chemical is working on seeds that are resistant to 24-D, a component
of Agent Orange ... presumably because it intends on spraying farmland
with wartime defoliant. This is alarming on a number of fronts. But
let's be clear on one thing at the outset: we don't necessarily need
Agent Orange to deal with weeds. The Amish don't. Never have.
Superweeds -- like superbugs (or superbacteria) emerging in
concentrated chicken farms -- are the product of industrial
agriculture, which aims to squeeze as much as possible from the land,
and has selected monoculture as the optimal means of doing
so." (07/15/10)

http://counterpunch.org/debrabander07132010.html

-----

35) Wordwrangling
Liberty For All
by Garry Reed

"While eyeballing through LewRockwell.com (street name: L Rock) I
happenstanced upon an article by Brad Edmonds advocating the frequent
use of neologisms, which is an old invented word that means inventing
new words. I've always been in favor of performing neologistics
whenever new words are needed. And they are especially needed in the
libertarian milieu. Years ago, for example, libertarians noted the
lack of distinguishing features between the two major political
parties." (07/15/10)

http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4564

-----

36) Classical-liberal exploitation theory
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ralph Raico

"In the popular academic mind, the doctrine of class conflict seems to
be inextricably linked to the particular Marxist version of the idea.
Lip service is often paid -- especially by those eager to diminish the
claims to originality of Marx and Engels -- to the fact that these
writers had precursors in this approach to social reality. Frequently
a certain 'French school,' preceding Marx and Engels and influencing
their views, is alluded to; Guizot, Thierry, Saint-Simon, and a few
others are sometimes mentioned in this connection." (07/15/10)

http://mises.org/daily/4567

-----

37) Air conditioners banned in the global warming nanny state
Heartland Institute
by James M. Taylor

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to round up enough votes
to pass a counterpart to the House's Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill
that would impose an 83 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
Proponents of the restrictions, which would require the average U.S.
citizen to emit no more carbon dioxide than the average citizen
emitted during the 1800s, publicly claim these draconian cuts will
have little impact on our American lifestyle, other than inducing
energy producers to utilize different fuel sources. The July 11
Washington Post, however, offered a peek at the bait-and-switch
tactics the global warming alarmists seek to employ." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/345v968

-----

38) A lawless regime of unlimited government
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger

"U.S. officials are denying claims by Shahram Amiri, an Iranian
nuclear scientist, that CIA operatives kidnapped him, secretly
transported him to the United States, tortured him, and kept him
incarcerated for more than a year. The officials are saying that Amiri
voluntarily defected to the United States and was paid some $5 million
to provide information about Iran's nuclear program, allegations that
Amiri denies but ones that U.S. officials surely know would get him
into hot water in Iran." (07/15/10)

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-07-15.asp

-----

39) In defense of payday lenders and their customers
Foundation for Economic Education
by Steven Horwitz

"Almost 40 years ago Walter Block wrote a fun little book called
Defending the Undefendable. In it he explicated the libertarian
arguments in defense of all sorts of people and practices that most
observers would find objectionable: drug dealers, pimps, and the like.
One such group he defended was loan sharks, who charge high interest
rates, normally on short-term loans." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2bfhuxn

-----

40) Dodd-Frank is not "financial reform," it's more big government
lunacy
OpenMarket.org
by John Berlau

"The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill should not be
called 'financial reform.' Instead, it should be called what for what
it is: pages and pages of massively costly, counterproductive and
possibly unconstitutional mandates on nearly every type of business
except for those government-sponsored enterprises at the root of the
crisis. And while the bill claims to crack down on excesses on Wall
Street, its harshest impact will likely be on Main Street businesses
that had nothing to do with the crisis." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2are98s

-----

41) Just what is America doing all over the world?
Campaign For Liberty
by Doug Bandow

"In one of the most celebrated debate exchanges of the 2008
presidential campaign, GOP contender Rep. Ron Paul pointed out that
Americans were hated because they were 'over there' in Islamic lands.
In fact, there is virtually no country on earth where American forces
are not located. Luckily, most people in most of those nations are not
trying to kill Americans. In fact, many foreigners enjoy being
protected at U. S. expense." (07/15/10)

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1016

-----

42) Requiem for the unemployed
Fr33 Agents
by Szandor Blestman

"The unemployed are on their way to becoming the sacrificial lambs of
the power elite. They are about to be shoved under the bus and
trampled under foot in the name of political expediency and
correctness. Millions of men and women will soon be hung out to dry
simply because they don't have the political power or clout of the
mega rich that inhabit Wall Street or the web spinning spiders
crouched in their plush central banking offices ready to strike.
Unfortunately, I am one of those who will go under the bus should this
happen. Perhaps we will get a slight reprieve, hopefully, perhaps not,
but sooner or later we will be forced to have to fend for ourselves.
Big government has once again shown its indignation toward the little
folk and I fear for the fate the central planners have in store for
us." (07/15/10)

http://www.fr33agents.com/3135/requiem-for-the-unemployed/

-----

43) The nature of "rights" -- do you have "Second Amendment rights?"
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal

"You don't have 'Second Amendment rights,' the government has 'Second
Amendment limits.' That they choose to illegally and illegitimately
ignore and violate those limits doesn't affect your rights in the
least. It only affects your liberty, which is the freedom to exercise
those rights." (07/14/10)

http://tinyurl.com/27swl53

-----

44) A little less hubris and a little more humility
Liberty & Power
by CJ Maloney

"The US Chamber of Commerce recently issued an open letter to
President Obama and Pals taking them to task because, 'Through their
legislative and regulatory proposals the congressional majority and
the administration have injected tremendous uncertainty into economic
decision making and business planning.' It's a crying shame eighty
years after the carnage of the Great Depression that we learned
absolutely nothing from it -- we still hold fast to the idea that
political intervention into economic matters is proper, rational, and
just." (07/15/10)

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/129150.html

-----

45) What will Johnny Rotten do in Israel?
Center for a Stateless Society
by Darian Worden

"Activists who oppose Israel's treatment of Palestinians have
criticized musician John Lydon for his decision to perform in Israel.
Lydon, who achieved fame as the Sex Pistols' frontman under the name
Johnny Rotten, said that 'You cannot separate yourself from your
audience because of political powers that be.' The Israeli state and
those who support it engage in systematic oppression and deprivation
that is rightly called apartheid. Their attack on the Gaza relief
flotilla shows that like any state, they will not hesitate to murder
people when they think it will benefit them. Although pickets and
boycotts that are made in the pursuit of freedom and do not infringe
on anyone's liberty should not be condemned, that doesn't mean that
they must be endorsed." (07/14/10)

http://c4ss.org/content/3191

-----

46) Profit: The forgotten objective
Nolan Chart
by EJ Moosa

"As the Nation's economy continues to flounder about like a fish on
the deck of a boat, some of the best paid, so called 'experts'
continue scratching their heads asking what it will take to get this
economy going? The Federal Reserve has injected trillions of dollars
into the U.S. economy. The Federal Government has taken the failing
and worthless assets off the books of many institutions. We, the
People have taken on the risk many of these institutions and
corporations previously held upon our own backs, hoping that this
would result in a better economic environment. It hasn't. Government
is involved in every aspect of American business, from stimulating
supply to stimulating demand. There are credits of all types for
hiring long term unemployed. Yet they stay away from tackling the one
challenge of American businesses that needs to be
addressed." (07/15/10)

http://www.nolanchart.com/article7853.html

-----

47) Case study: The Maltese expat
Economic Policy Journal
by Simon Black

"'Emma' is a 70-year old British widow who originally hails from Bath.
Perhaps it's true what they say about Bath's mineral-rich waters,
because Emma looks absolutely spectacular for her age, and her energy
level would make a 40-year old envious. For the last several decades,
though, Emma has been living an expat lifestyle all over the world --
in Dubai, Scotland, Switzerland, and now finally in Malta." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/29s5rvs

-----

48) FTC wants to eliminate competition with government courts
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by SM Oliva

"Yesterday the Federal Trade Commission staff issued a report
declaring the nation's debt collection system 'broken.' The staff
concluded this because 'consumers are not adequately protected in
either debt collection litigation or arbitration.' The staff is
particularly down on arbitration, which is understandable. Arbitration
competes with government-run courts, and the last thing the FTC -- the
agency charged with protecting and promoting competition -- would want
is to promote competition for the resolution of consumer credit
disputes." (07/13/10)

http://tinyurl.com/24cyt2g

-----

49) Pull, pull, pull to the left
Huffington Post
by Peter Daou

"It didn't require convoluted Beltway analysis to figure out that Bush
and Rove were lying in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. And it doesn't
take the Politico's regurgitation of Beltway wisdom to tell me what's
ailing the current White House: simply put, Obama hasn't adequately
repudiated Bushism, in deed or words. ... It astonishes me that the
White House, Obama's supporters, and pundits fail to understand how
profoundly detrimental this is to his fortunes. In the long run -- and
coupled with his unwillingness to present a grand unified vision -- it
will likely trump his legacy of legislative achievements.
Unfortunately, the President, his advisers, and many Democratic
leaders and strategists are captives of the same Beltway mindset that
tells us Iraq is a resounding success and Obama's problem is the
liberal blogosphere." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3xt9vus

-----

50) Majority math
The Liberty Papers
by Chris

"Ok, so I'm hearing a lot of noise from people on the right and
libertarian side of the aisles that 'the dems are going to lose
everything this election and we can undo everything Obama has
destroyed yaaaay!!!!' Yeah ... No. Not Gonna Happen." (07/15/10)

http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2010/07/14/majority-math/

-----

51) In this case, time doesn't pay
Jeffersonville Evening News
by Debbie Harbeson

"Jeffersonville's Mayor Tom Galligan and City Council President Nathan
Samuel sure get excited when vice presidents come to visit. At least
that's the impression I got after reading a recent letter to the
editor they wrote. What I don't understand is why they think others
should feel the same. Not everyone nearly tinkles their pants in
excitement just because a 'high-profile' federal politician comes to
town. Particularly when the purpose of their visit is to raise funds
at private election campaign fundraisers. We've known since Vice
President Cheney came to town to campaign for Mike Sodrel that such
visits cost the city money, and when the campaigns do not reimburse
the city for the extra costs, it has the effect of forcing taxpayers
to donate to candidates whether they support them or not." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/27st8l3

-----

52) Stating the bleeding obvious, part 1
Freedom's Phoenix
by Larken Rose

"Sometimes it can be difficult deciding how to state the bleeding
obvious, when your target audience has been carefully trained to miss
the bleeding obvious. To wit, it's possible to demolish the
fundamental assumptions underlying statism using very simple lines of
reasoning. And for the ex-statist, the logic is undeniable, and the
rational conclusion self-evident. But for the thoroughly indoctrinated
(and that included me not many years ago), sometimes the most simple
explanation causes the most drastic cognitive dissonance." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2elrvob

-----

53) Jon Gaunt's loss is Britain's too
Adam Smith Institute
by Karthik Reddy

"Freedom of speech in the United Kingdom suffered another blow
yesterday when shock jock Jon Gaunt lost a legal fight with the
regulator Ofcom, which had censured Mr Gaunt for having verbally
attacked Michael Stark, a councillor from Redbridge who defended his
borough's decision to prevent smokers from being foster
parents." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2483pk4

-----

54) i-Give Up
Rad Geek People's Daily
by Rad Geek

"So no, in case you were wondering, there is no bottom to this
cognitive barrel: absolutely no 'drug' panic so flimsily contrived
that narcocratic Officials won't use it as an opportunity to issue
breathless press statements pleading for greater social control, or so
obviously manufactured and transparently idiotic that the responsible
gatekeepers of the newsmedia won't gravely report about the Alarming
New Trend, the worried reactions of Concerned Parents & Teachers, and
the pressing need for Officials and Concerned Parents to be even more
'proactive' in freaking the hell out, obsessively spying on their
sons' and daughters' pastimes, taking away teenagers' possessions, and
controlling teenagers' behavior. It's not just that you don't need to
demonstrate that anybody is suffering, or even could possibly suffer,
any kind of physical harm. The drug scare doesn't need to involve any
actual drugs; apparently it doesn't even need to involve a physical
substance." (07/15/10)

http://radgeek.com/gt/2010/07/15/i-give-up/

-----

55) The wages of collaboration
The American Spectator
by David Catron

"At length, as Congress prepared to head home for recess, the
Democrats tossed a pittance in the direction of the weeping Dr. Wilson
and thanked the AMA for its trouble. The country's largest physician
association had completely compromised its integrity and received
virtually nothing in return. Rohack and his fellow quislings delivered
their patients and colleagues into the hands of Washington's health
care bureaucrats in exchange for yet another temporary reprieve from
Medicare payment cuts. They whined about Beltway perfidy, but had
little choice but to accept a short-term fix set to expire immediately
following the midterm elections, when neither the Democrats nor the
Republicans will have any incentive to cough up the $240 billion
required for a permanent solution to the SGR mess. Even worse, the
once-feared physician lobby has revealed itself to be far weaker than
most, including the organization's membership, realized. The people
that matter inside the Beltway now openly wonder how much clout the
AMA actually wields." (07/15/10)

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/15/the-wages-of-collaboration

-----

56) Afghanistan without illusions
The New Republic
by Barry Gewen

"It seems to me that we have been approaching democracy promotion in
Afghanistan more in this pessimistic spirit of Spinoza than in the
optimistic spirit of Jefferson. That's a very good thing. Democracy
may not be the best solution to Afghanistan's problems, but in the
absence of a strongman able to hold the country together, it's
probably the least bad one. Will our policy work? That is to say, will
the Afghans 'come to their senses' and figure out that cooperation is
better than killing each other? I don't know. And neither do the other
contributors to Entanglements. For that matter, neither do General
Petraeus or President Obama. But there are some grounds for
optimism." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/299pku3

-----

57) Shutting it all down for the state!
A Passion for Liberty
by Tibor R. Machan

"Some time ago I noticed something that one might wish to explore more
systematically than just relying on one's personal observation. This
is that in much of Europe the public authorities are who matter most,
with the public standing in the back, waiting its turn. Twenty years
ago I wrote about this in a column and it all got reconfirmed for me
these last couple of days as I was making an 800 kilometer trip on the
German Autobahn. I am talking about how whenever some mishap happens
on the road, the authorities shut it all down, even if it is just a
crate of apples that spilled." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3azjm2o

-----

58) The federal screwing of John Stagliano
WendyMcElroy.Com
by Wendy McElroy

"John Stagliano is a staunch libertarian who has generously funded
institutes and movement activities for decades; he is one of the most
principled libertarians I've ever met. John also makes pornographic
movies with consenting adults which are sold to other consenting
adults. His production company Evil Angel focuses on the fetish market
and is one of the most successful businesses in the Industry. As the
originator of Gonzo Porn -- a form of pornography that invites the
viewer into the scene through various techniques, such as having the
actors hold cameras and film their POV -- John deserves a great deal
of credit for years of innovation and artistry that have
revolutionized the quality and content of porn in America. These
credentials make John's trial the most important test of obscenity
laws I'm likely to encounter in my lifetime. If John loses his case,
then it may well become open season on all and any porn that the
government wants to target. How long before they begin to slowly
expand the target range to all 'offensive' (read unPC) sexual
expression?" (07/15/10)

http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.3388

-----

59) Bat-crazy Christians hold public bitchfest
Classically Liberal
by CLS

"People often argue that Christian fundamentalists are not as bad as
Muslim fundamentalists. What they ignore is the different social
contexts. In the Muslim world the fundamentalists dominate and thus
their hatred and violence is unleashed. Christian fundamentalists live
in Western, predominantly secular society where social sanctions are
brought to bear instantly when clear cut hatred is demonstrated. All
one has to do is witness what happens every time the nutters from
Westboro Baptist Church show up with their hate signs against gays and
Jews. Thousands of people instantly respond in a counter-protest. But
the real test of the tolerance of individuals is not how they behave
when they are restrained by the culture and law that surrounds them,
but how they behave when they have the freedom to act
inhumanely." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2dzajlf

-----

60) Obamaland pension meltdown update
National Review
by Kevin D. Williamson

"And so it was prophesied: Illinois is headed into a public-pension
death spiral even sooner than predicted. The Land of Obama leads the
way. The state of Illinois -- broke, overleveraged, and still refusing
to get its accounts in order -- is up to something interesting:
selling bonds to meet its pension obligations." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2f58l2d

-----

61) The revolving door spins faster on healthcare reform
Salon
by Glenn Greenwald

"This is an administration that almost employs more Goldman Sachs
officials in financial and regulatory positions than Goldman Sachs
itself does. One of the first acts of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
was to hire a BP executive to serve as a deputy administrator for land
and minerals management. And now they've just hired to implement the
new healthcare law someone who was just recently in charge of the
lobbying and government activities of the nation's largest private
insurer. With a record like that, it's not really possible for them to
pretend any longer that they oppose the 'Revolving Door Politics'
which the Obama campaign so vehemently scorned." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/377ck2f

-----

62) Spank the beast
Unqualified Offerings
by Thoreau

"Before I was a libertarian I was a liberal, and the one constant for
me in all ideological stages, being a math-oriented person who went to
the bank with my grandfather to deposit my paper route earnings
starting when I was 12, was that however much you spend, you should
tax accordingly. I see the case for a small deficit in bad times and a
small surplus in good times, but overall they have to match. An
argument can be made for high spending and an argument can be made for
low spending, but an argument cannot be made for taxing less (on
average) than you spend. In the long run, it will catch up to you. In
the short term, it divorces causes from effects and costs from actions
and thereby distorts policy in unsustainable ways." (07/14/10)

http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2010/07/14/11437

-----

63) Rand, Rothbard and Rights Reconsidered
Libertarian Papers
by Kathleen Touchstone

"This paper examines rights and the protection of rights from both the
minarchist and the anarchist perspectives. The former relies on
Objectivist (and Neo-Objectivist) perspectives and the latter relies
primarily on Murray Rothbard's views." [abstract -- full paper
downloadable in PDF or MS Word format] (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2bztwbr

-----

64) Disney's private city
Let A Thousand Nations Bloom
by Brad Taylor

"Disney World is often cited as a real-world proprietary community.
The fact that what is essentially a private, for-profit city can
provide high-quality public services should warm the heart of any fan
of competitive government, especially those with a plan for getting
from here to there." (07/15/10)

http://athousandnations.com/2010/07/15/disneys-private-city/

-----

65) The politics of the deficit
The Weekly Standard
by Gary Andres

"Do budget deficits matter? In one sense the answer is unequivocally
yes. Experts agree that when the federal government spends more than
it takes in for a sustained period and borrows to make up the
difference, the result is severe economic consequences.
Hyperinflation, currency devaluation, and default are the haunting
ghosts of fiscal imbalance. Just ask Greece. Yet, in the shorter term,
the political waters surrounding the issue are a little murkier.
Indeed, an important debate about the politics of debt is now
unfolding in Washington." (07/15/10)

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/politics-deficit

-----

66) Court decisions aside, scofflaws have long made gun control
unenforceable
Disloyal Opposition
by JD Tuccille

"My family (I'm descended from immigrants originating in those suspect
regions of Europe) has long had a habit of owning, and often carrying,
weapons in and around New York City. But we got to this country --
most of my ancestors, anyway -- just about the time the Sullivan Act
became law. Which means all that carrying and brandishing of weapons
took place despite the law, because nobody in my family bothered to
get a pistol permit through several generations of residency in New
York City. Until me." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2948rnp

-----

67) Gotham's capital chance
TCS Daily
by Nicole Gelinas

"New York and London have long competed to be the global capital of
global capital. With plenty of business to go around, the competition
has usually been friendly; now, as the West's financial industry
shrinks, it could become fierce. London is already stumbling in this
race, giving New York a golden opportunity to pull ahead. But instead,
our politicians are sacrificing growth to higher taxes and bad
regulations, just as London is." (07/15/10)

http://bit.ly/9ZOLDG

-----

68) Lies, damn lies, and statistics
The Libertarian Standard
by David C

"Apparently some ideologues are unpersuaded by facts, but others
manipulate them to justify their agendas. Looking at US Government
Spending, lets find out what government welfare spending
is ..." (07/14/100

http://tinyurl.com/2e8azqk

-----

69) Concentrated benefits, diffused costs
Show-Me Institute
by Christine Harbin

"Allowing the profit and loss system to allocate resources efficiently
in a free market is better way to encourage economic development.
However, when the government intervenes in the market through targeted
subsidies, the 'loss' signal is muted as a consequence because
producers are at least somewhat insulated from risk. As an additional
consequence, producers have less of an incentive to respond to
consumer demand, which mutes the incentive for producers to target
their operations efficiently. For example, as a result of agricultural
subsidies and tariffs, much of the sugar that we consume in the United
States is made from beets instead of from sugar cane. This is a less
efficient process of making sugar, and consumers pay a higher price
for it." (07/14/10)

http://www.showmedaily.org/2010/07/concentrated-benefits-diffused.html

-----

70) When will BP plug the damn hole?
Mother Jones
by Kate Sheppard

"Last week, BP said it aimed to stop its Gulf gusher no later than
July 27 -- which also happens to be the day that the company reports
its second-quarter profits. 'In a perfect world with no interruptions,
it's possible to be ready to stop the well between July 20 and July
27,' Managing Director Bob Dudley told the Wall Street Journal. Talk
about hedging your bets. BP's stock prices have perked up a bit since
it announced that the first of two relief wells could be finished in
the coming days. The Coast Guard, however, has been unwilling to
rubber-stamp Dudley's estimate." (07/15/10)

http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/07/bp-spill-relief-wells

-----

71) Washington's parasites take aim at Apple
Cato Institute
by David Boaz

"After years as a cute little niche player, Apple has suddenly started
producing wildly popular products such as the iPod, the iPhone, and
the iPad. The Federal Trade Commission has started rumbling about
Apple's threat to competition. Note the absurdity here: Apple creates
whole new products and industries, consumer benefits that didn't exist
before, and the federal government worries that it's somehow going to
'limit' competition in a field it brought to the market. Apple's
competitors, including the massive Google, continue to play the game
by filing complaints with the government. Politicians, seeing an
opportunity to extend their power and rake in some campaign cash, are
circling like sharks." (07/11/10)

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11972

-----

72) Extend unemployment benefits? Politics versus economics
Independent Institute
by Randall Holcombe

"Unemployment benefits normally can be collected for 26 weeks, but
currently they can be collected for up to 99 weeks in certain hard-hit
areas. The House of Representatives has approved the continuation of
extended benefits, but Senate Republicans have, so far, kept the
extension from passing the Senate. One can argue the merits of
extending unemployment benefits, but a basic economic analysis will
show that if you pay people not to work, more people will remain out
of work and unemployed." (07/14/10)

http://www.independent.org/blog/?p=6954

-----

73) The obsolescence of federal censorship
Reason
by Steve Chapman

"Americans generally take a wary view of government interference and
control in their lives. But for decades, federal regulators, acting at
the behest of Congress and the president, have presumed to tell TV and
radio stations what they can and cannot broadcast, which also means
telling audiences what they may and may not hear. Never mind that the
First Amendment says Congress 'shall make no law ... abridging the
freedom of speech.' Elsewhere, that means what it says. The government
may not ban profanity in movies, CDs, e-mails, magazines, newspapers,
websites, leaflets, T-shirts, or bumper stickers. Only broadcasters
are subject to these paternalistic dictates. The reason offered by the
Supreme Court in days of yore is that broadcasting is 'uniquely
pervasive' in American life. But today, it's barely more pervasive
than other media, like cable TV and the Internet, that are immune from
censorship. This selective treatment is beginning to look like
Tyrannosaurus Rex: fierce and terrifying but unsuited for the 21st
century." (07/15/10)

http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/15/the-obsolescence-of-federal-ce

-----

74) What's so conservative about federal highways?
The American Conservative
by William S. Lind

"So why are conservatives using the public transportation we are told
they oppose? Because being stuck in traffic isn't fun, even if you are
driving a BMW. On a commuter train or Light Rail line, you whiz past
all those cars going no-where at 50 or 60 miles per hour -- reading,
working on your laptop, or relaxing, instead of staring at some other
guy's bumper. Still, libertarians shriek, 'Subsidies!' -- ignoring the
fact that highways only cover 58 percent of their costs from user
fees, including the gas tax." (for publication 08/01/10)

http://amconmag.com/article/2010/aug/01/00023/

-----

75) How the sneaky hands of the big banks are working overtime to rip
you off
AlterNet
by Zach Carter

"In 2009, banks reaped over $38 billion in overdraft fees from their
own customers, while posting a total combined profit of just $12.5
billion. Without overdrafts, many banks would have scored massive
losses last year, and possibly gone under. Instead, they booked epic
bonuses. It can come as a huge shock to get hit with a rash of
overdraft fees. You open a bank statement to find that you are not
only broke, but deep in the hole thanks to several $30 or $40 charges.
Your first reaction is shame. How could I have let this happen? But
looking into the ways that banks conduct their overdrafts, you come to
realize that you've simply been scammed." (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/278l62k

*****************************
* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
*****************************

76) Cory Doctorow on the war on kids, Boing Boing, & his next novel
Reason

"In July Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie talked with Doctorow about raising
free-range children, the future of copyright, and what makes Boing
Boing tick." [Flash video] (07/15/10)

http://reason.com/blog/2010/07/15/reasontv-cory-doctorow-on-the

-----

77) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/15/10
Cato Institute

"Repeal the 17th Amendment?" featuring Todd Zywicki. [MP3] (07/15/10)

http://tinyurl.com/cato071510

-----

78) Mervyn Peake (1911-1968)
Ludwig von Mises Institute

Mises Institute podcast featuring Jeff Riggenbach. [Flash audio or
MP3] (07/14/10)

http://mises.org/media/5187

-----

79) Andy Worthington on Antiwar Radio
AntiWar.Com

"Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files, discusses his
updated 'definitive prisoner list' for Guantanamo, how the US whisked
away the real suspected terrorists to CIA black sites and used Gitmo
as a catch-all and PR stunt, more reasons why torture is unjustifiable
and how the Justice Department is forced to pursue terrorism charges
against Yemenis who have been cleared for release." [Flash audio or
MP3] (07/14/10)

http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/07/14/andy-worthington-16/

-----

80) Free Talk Live, 07/14/10
Free Talk Live

"Bonds :: Fined for Obstructing a Police Bullet :: Court Smacks FCC ::
Getting Rid of the FCC :: L. Neil Smith vs. Shire Society Controversy
Update :: Intellectual Property :: Digital Breaking and Entering ::
Police Apology :: Announcing the FTL LRN AMP program :: Mark
Interviews Ben Powell." [MP3] (07/14/10)

http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2010-07-14.mp3

*************************************
* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
*************************************

81) Today's events

Check our sidebar calendar for this week's freedom movement events.
Don't see your event? Drop us a line at in...@rationalreview.com ... or
see:

www.rationalreview.com/add-your-event-to-our-calendar

... for instructions on adding your events directly!

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/group/4042/