07/22 -- Obama signs financial "reform" bill; Judge refuses to reinstate US oil drill ban
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jul 22, 2010, 12:56:13 AM7/22/10
to Rational Review News Digest
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* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
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* Volume VIII, Issue #1,967
* Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
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In The News:
0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
1) Obama signs financial "reform" bill
2) Judge refuses to reinstate US oil drill ban
3) Iraq: Car bomb kills 15
4) NATO: Taliban behead six Afghan police
5) Pakistan: 14 dead in Karachi "targeted killings"
6) US Senate votes to extend unemployment benefits
7) Japan hopes spy sheds light on North Korea abductions
8) Watchdogs slam Obama housing programs
9) UN court orders retrial for former Kosovo premier
10) IMF forgives Haiti's $268 million debt
11) Moscow accuses US of kidnapping pilot
12) Taliban denounce Kabul meeting as sign of failure
13) Report: Sherrod may not take back job if offered
14) CA: Residents protest pay of city manager
15) CT: Fed court says cheerleading not a sport
16) Billboard campaign puts right-to-die group in spotlight
17) Elevator smoke forces Statue of Liberty evacuation
18) FDA panel opposes Avastin use for breast cancer
19) Ireland: Gun owners can now shoot intruders
20) NC: Man holds burglar at gunpoint for police
21) CO: Grandfather killed intruder in self-defense
22) SC: From seedlings to servings
23) CA: Oakland to regulate medical marijuana farms
24) Russia: Two killed in power plant attack
25) Clinton announces new US sanctions against North Korea
Everybody Has An Opinion:
26) What makes Bradley Manning a hero?
27) The nonviolent black market in information
28) The national security product
29) Who are the real terrorists?
30) Serving two masters
31) Back to the Articles
32) Don't give the press a bailout
33) If Barney can reform Wall Street, why not the Pentagon?
34) Do we need a Commission on Civil Rights?
35) Stop coddling the McCarthyite smear machine
36) The scariest unemployment graph I've seen yet
37) The dangers of seeing America as a "Christian nation"
38) Slavery in our time
39) Pro & Con: Should Georgia continue to ban guns in places of
worship? (Con)
40) Pro & Con: Should Georgia continue to ban guns in places of
worship? (Pro)
41) What's the alternative?
42) V for Vendetta
43) Race card fraud
44) Is it spending or consumption?
45) Obama's latest monstrosity
46) Advice for General Petraeus on the rules of engagement
47) Finding the balance: Privacy and the civil society
48) Obamacare's broken promises
49) Ending the Gaza blockade might help Israel as much as Gaza
50) Cuba -- is it different this time?
51) Obama's lack of faith
52) A nation of many rules and much abuse: The antidote is charity
53) Government's fear of marijuana causes shortage even when legal
54) Bright lights, bad schoolhouses
55) Poor little CEOs
56) Two very different incidents, same lesson
57) Food safety bill: I am not afraid ... to eat
58) The boundless beneficence of Big Brother
59) The heroism of Shirley Sherrod
60) Life on planet Crazy
61) A moral foreign policy? Get serious
62) The political class and the police state: A tale of two cities
63) Marxism and libertarian exploitation theory
64) A step closer to legalization?
65) Economists vs. economics
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
66) Brian Costin on Freedom Rings Radio, 07/26/10
67) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/21/10
68) David Spero on Antiwar Radio
69) Free Talk Live, 07/20/10
70) Liberty and the long run growth of government
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
71) Today's events
***************
* In The News
***************
0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
Update, 07/22/10: Thanks for the TREMENDOUS response, everyone! As I
write this, the ChipIn meter says $1,024, but the actual number is
$138 higher -- $1162.
We were at $108 above the ChipIn meter, but then KM became our latest
$10 per month subscribing contributor, which comes to $30 this
quarter. Today's one-time contributions, from DH, AM, TP, AJ, AB,
(another) DH, TC, and LT came to $289! Thanks to all of you! We're now
past the halfway point!
$921 to goal, or about $100 a day to wrap this thing up before July
ends. Let's do that and have a quiet, peaceful, fundraising-free
August and September! - TLK
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/83890
-----
1) Obama signs financial "reform" bill
Omaha World-Herald
"Reveling in victory, President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into
law the most sweeping reform of financial regulations since the Great
Depression, a package that aims to protect consumers and ensure
economic stability from Main Street to Wall Street. The law, pushed
through mainly by Democrats in Washington's deeply partisan
environment, comes almost two years after the infamous near financial
meltdown in 2008 in the United States that was felt around the
globe." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2cv579g
-----
2) Judge refuses to reinstate US oil drill ban
Reuters
"A U.S. judge on Wednesday refused a request by environmental groups
to reinstate the Obama administration's original moratorium on
deepwater drilling set in the wake of the BP Plc oil spill. Defenders
of Wildlife and other groups requested that U.S. District Judge Martin
Feldman lift his injunction blocking the moratorium because he had
owned stock in several oil and offshore energy companies, arguing that
showed he should be disqualified from the case." (07/21/10)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66K6GV20100721
-----
3) Iraq: Car bomb kills 15
USA Today
"A car bomb outside a Shiite mosque in a village north of Baghdad
killed 15 people Wednesday, the third deadly attack in the region in
as many days, while a U.S. soldier was killed in a separate bombing in
the same province, Iraqi officials and the U.S. military said. The
blast in a shopping area in the village of Abu Sayda also left 21
wounded, Ghalib al-Karkhi, a police spokesman in Diyala province
said." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/275ubn4
-----
4) NATO: Taliban behead six Afghan police
ABC News
"Taliban insurgents beheaded six Afghan police during a raid on
government buildings in northern Baghlan province, the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Wednesday.
Tuesday's attack by the Taliban targeted a police post and a district
government building in a province where they have been largely absent
until recently." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23vszq6
-----
5) Pakistan: 14 dead in Karachi "targeted killings"
Pakistan Times [Pakistan]
"Separate incidents of targeted killings during the last 36 hours have
claimed 14 lives in Karachi. Unknown attackers killed three people and
dumped bodies their bodies in Pak Colony, Surjani Town and Baldia
Town, police sources said. One of the deceased found in Surjani Town
has been identified as Amjad Hussain." (07/22/10)
http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=13152
-----
6) US Senate votes to extend unemployment benefits
USA Today
"The Senate approved a $34 billion bill that would extend unemployment
benefits to millions of out-of-work Americans -- clearing the way for
President Obama's signature on Thursday. The legislation, which will
extend benefits for those who have already used up their standard 26
weeks of unemployment, was passed on a 59-39 vote. The measure must
now be approved by the House of Representatives." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/33r4br7
-----
7) Japan hopes spy sheds light on North Korea abductions
MSNBC
"Hoping to unravel a mystery that has haunted them for decades, the
families of two Japanese abducted by North Korea met with a former spy
who claims she knew the captives before she committed one of North
Korea's most notorious acts of terrorism -- the bombing of a South
Korean airliner in 1987. The carefully orchestrated visit this week by
former North Korean agent Kim Hyon-hui, who was sentenced to death but
later pardoned for the bombing, has been hailed as a rare chance to re-
examine one of the coldest of cold cases, the disappearance of 17
Japanese citizens Tokyo says were kidnapped by North Korea in the
1970s and '80s." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eaggvp
-----
8) Watchdogs slam Obama housing programs
MSNBC
"Obama administration housing rescue programs have been ineffective at
preventing a rise in home foreclosures even as the government's
support for the mortgage market grew by nearly $700 billion in the
past year, bailout watchdogs said on Wednesday. Neil Barofsky, Special
Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, heaped more
criticism on Treasury for its failure to adopt more realistic goals
for the number of people who can benefit from its program to modify
mortgages to slash monthly payments." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2dkd7o3
-----
9) UN court orders retrial for former Kosovo premier
The Daily Caller
"Kosovo's former prime minister must be retried on murder and torture
charges related to the country's 1998-99 war with Serbia, the Yugoslav
war crimes tribunal ruled Wednesday, calling his acquittal two years
ago 'a miscarriage of justice.' The original trial for Ramush
Haradinaj and two former Kosovo Liberation Army comrades was marred by
intimidation that left two prosecution witnesses too scared to
testify, tribunal President Patrick Robinson said." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2au7qat
-----
10) IMF forgives Haiti's $268 million debt
CNN
"The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved
Wednesday the cancellation of Haiti's $268 million debt to the fund.
The board also approved a three-year request by authorities to support
Haiti's reconstruction and growth program. The decisions are part of
an effort to support Haiti's longer-term reconstruction plans after
the January 12 earthquake, which killed more than 220,000 people,
destroyed 60 percent of government infrastructure and left more than
180,000 homes uninhabitable." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2dhlnbr
-----
11) Moscow accuses US of kidnapping pilot
Lincoln Journal Star
"The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. on Wednesday of
'kidnapping' a Russian pilot in the West African country of Liberia
several weeks ago for alleged drug smuggling. Konstantin Yaroshenko,
41, was arrested in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, in late May -- by
U.S. agents, Russian officials said -- and then extradited to New
York. He was charged with smuggling 'thousand-kilogram quantities of
cocaine' throughout South America, Africa and Europe, the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration said in a statement Wednesday." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/25evdls
-----
12) Taliban denounce Kabul meeting as sign of failure
La Crosse Tribune
"The Taliban denounced this week's international conference on
Afghanistan's future, saying the 'vague and terrible agenda' shows
that the U.S. and its allies intend to abandon the country and blame
their ultimate defeat on the Afghan government. Representatives of the
U.S. and 60 other countries met Tuesday to endorse President Hamid
Karzai's plan for Afghan police and soldiers to take charge of
security nationwide by 2014." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2burq99
-----
13) Report: Sherrod may not take back job if offered
Christian Science Monitor
"Shirley Sherrod might be offered back her job. But she's not sure she
she'd take it. That is the latest development in a fast-moving
controversy involving race, politics, the NAACP, and the Department of
Agriculture. Ms. Sherrod, an African-American, Tuesday was booted from
her Agriculture Department job after a conservative web site posted a
video clip in which she appeared to say she did not give a white
farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago, when she was a
state worker in Georgia. ... But reporters investigating the case
quickly discovered that the clip was taken out of context. In the full
speech, Sherrod was describing an impulse which she overcame to help
the white farmer save his land. Her point was the need for racial
reconciliation." [editor's note: This story brings out the worst
aspects of partisanism, and reminds me of Donna Shalala, who was
hounded for equally spurious reasons - SAT] (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/25bfhze
-----
14) CA: Residents protest pay of city manager
Bloomberg News
"Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los
Angeles County shouted in protest Monday night as tensions rose over a
report that the city's manager earns an annual salary of almost
$800,000. An overflow crowd packed a City Council meeting in Bell, a
mostly Hispanic city of 38,000 about 10 miles southeast of Los
Angeles, to call for the resignation of Mayor Oscar Hernandez and
other city officials. Residents left standing outside the chamber
banged on the doors and shouted 'fuera' ('get out' in Spanish). It was
the first council meeting since the Los Angeles Times reported
Thursday that Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637
-- with annual 12 percent raises -- and that Bell pays its police
chief $457,000, more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck makes
in a city of 3.8 million people. Bell council members earn almost
$100,000 for part-time work." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/25vjb2c
-----
15) CT: Fed court says cheerleading not a sport
Associated Press
"A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled competitive cheerleading is
not an official sport for schools looking for ways to meet gender-
equity requirements. U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill said
competitive cheerleading is too underdeveloped. The ruling comes in a
lawsuit filed by members of the volleyball team at Quinnipiac
University. The players sued after the school announced last year that
it would eliminate the team for budgetary reasons. The school replaced
it with a competitive cheer squad to stay in compliance with the 1972
federal law that mandates equal opportunities for men and women in
athletics. Quinnipiac has 60 days to come up with a plan to keep the
volleyball team and comply with gender rules." [editor's note: Can
hardly wait to see what "Glee" does with this story-line - SAT]
(07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2e6ooft
-----
16) Billboard campaign puts right-to-die group in spotlight
Fox News
"A national right-to-die organization has launched a controversial
billboard campaign to inform terminally ill and elderly adults that
they have a right to end their own lives -- but critics say the group
is simply preying on vulnerable senior citizens and mentally unstable
people. The Georgia-based Final Exit Network says it provides a
service for ailing people who want to die, giving them the
information, materials and emotional support they need to commit
suicide. But the group's detractors say its mission is immoral and
dangerous -- and members of the group's leadership, as well as some
volunteers, are facing criminal trials in two states on charges that
include facilitation to commit manslaughter, conspiracy to commit
manslaughter, assisted suicide, evidence-tampering and
racketeering." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/27rl2k3
-----
17) Elevator smoke forces Statue of Liberty evacuation
Raw Story
"Tourists were evacuated from the Statue of Liberty Wednesday after
smoke, apparently coming from an elevator motor, was detected inside
the famed monument, firefighters said. 'The statue has been evacuated
and no injuries have been reported,' a spokesman for the New York Fire
Department said. He said 'a minor smoke condition' had been detected
inside the monument, possibly related to the 'overheating' of a motor
in one of the statue's elevators. The statue, dedicated in 1886 and
located on an island in the Hudson River just off Manhattan, was
closed to the public after the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was
partially reopened in 2004, but the crown of the massive statue was
not reopened to tourists until 2009." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26wkmvy
-----
18) FDA panel opposes Avastin use for breast cancer
Associated Press
"A panel of cancer specialists said yesterday that the government
should remove its endorsement of Roche's drug Avastin for breast
cancer, after follow-up studies failed to show benefits. A Food and
Drug Administration panel voted 12 to 1 in favor of removing the
drug's approval for use against breast cancer alongside chemotherapy.
The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panel, though it
often does." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/24b4txw
-----
19) Ireland: Gun owners can now shoot intruders
Irish Channel
"Irish homeowners can now legally use guns to defend themselves if
their homes are attacked under new legislation. The new home defence
bill has moved the balance of rights back to the house owner if his
home is broken into 'where it should always have been,' say top Irish
police. The police association of superintendents and inspectors ...
stated that 'the current situation, which legally demands a house
owner retreat from an intruder, was intolerable' ... Under the bill
homeowners will be allowed to use 'reasonable' force against intruders
to defend themselves, others or their property. This includes lethal
force, depending on the circumstances." (07/20/10)
http://tinyurl.com/38pykst
-----
20) NC: Man holds burglar at gunpoint for police
WSOC News
"A Charlotte man caught a burglar in the act and held him at his home
until officers arrived, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said. The
homeowner told police he returned to his Park Crossing home on
Saturday and found a man attempting to steal his pickup truck. ...
'Right in his garage, in his pickup truck, and half-backing out of the
garage,' Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Steve Whitesel said. The
victim then got a shotgun and held Webber until police got to the
home." (07/20/10)
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/24325643/detail.html
-----
21) CO: Grandfather killed intruder in self-defense
The Denver Channel
"Denver prosecutors will not charge a 62-year-old grandfather
initially arrested in a weekend killing, saying Filberto Alderete
acted in self-defense when he shot a man trying to forcefully enter
his home. It appears Alderete fired one or two warning shots before
shooting 36-year-old Jesus Sifuentes Jr. during the confrontation on
his porch .... The deadly shooting occurred as a group of people was
involved in an altercation outside Alderete's duplex .... Neighbors
told 7NEWS that Alderete, a Vietnam veteran, had been repeatedly
harassed by neighborhood gang members. They said that a group of men
armed with knives and bats were milling around outside the Alderete
home just before the shooting." (07/20/10)
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24327608/detail.html
-----
22) SC: From seedlings to servings
Yahoo! News
"It all began in third grade, when Katie Stagliano's 40-pound cabbage
fed 275 homeless people. Now, Katie's six gardens have produced over
4,000 pounds of vegetables to feed the needy. ... So Katie started
planting vegetable gardens as part of her nonprofit Katie's Krops. She
has six right now -- including one the length of a football field at
her school in her hometown of Summerville, S.C. Classmates, her family
and other people in the community help plant and water, and Bonnie
Plants donates seedlings. This past year, Katie took her commitment to
a new level, giving soup kitchens over 2,000 pounds of lettuce,
tomatoes and other vegetables." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/33l6w3e
-----
23) CA: Oakland to regulate medical marijuana farms
San Francisco Chronicle
"Oakland's City Council late Tuesday adopted regulations permitting
industrial-scale marijuana farms, a plan that some small farmers
argued would squeeze them out of the industry they helped to build. To
address concerns from smaller farmers, the council pledged to create
regulations on regulating small- and medium-size marijuana farms this
year. Council members and proponents of marijuana cultivation
regulation viewed the proposal as smart public policy: It would
generate revenue, ensure that fire and building codes are enforced,
keep neighborhoods safe from robberies, and further position Oakland
as the center of the state's cannabis economy." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fmkkel
-----
24) Russia: Two killed in power plant attack
CNN
"Unidentified gunmen killed two people and injured another two
Wednesday in what Russian officials called a terrorist attack intended
to blow up a hydroelectric power station. The attackers targeted the
Baksan Hydropower Plant in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-
Balkaria, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor's
Office said. They killed two guards and badly beat two control-room
operators, authorities said." (07/21/10)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/21/russia.station.attack/
-----
25) Clinton announces new US sanctions against North Korea
Washington Post
"Searching for new ways to punish North Korea after blaming it for
sinking a South Korean warship in March, the Obama administration
announced Wednesday that it will strengthen existing sanctions against
the North and impose new restrictions on its weapons trade and
trafficking in counterfeit currency and luxury goods. Administration
officials traveling here with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates offered few details of
what seemed a hastily put-together addition to other warnings and
measures of displeasure already announced." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2dzj3tu
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 07/22/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 97,106 ... Max - 105,952
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,412
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
26) What makes Bradley Manning a hero?
Center for a Stateless Society
by Darian Worden
"Everybody must deal with stress and everybody makes mistakes. A hero
is not someone without weakness. A hero is someone who manages to do
the right thing in spite of his weaknesses. Manning realized the
tyranny of an organization he played an active part in. Instead of
force-feeding himself more propaganda or eating his gun, he did
something positive about it. As Henry David Thoreau said in Civil
Disobedience, 'Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least
degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a
conscience, then?'" (07/21/10)
http://c4ss.org/content/3223
-----
27) The nonviolent black market in information
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Manuel Lora and Daniel Coleman
"Unlike most black markets, the black market for information is
characterized by peace and stability. There is a near-perfect harmony
between the supply and the demand for movies, music, songs, and other
digital content that falls under the control of intellectual-property
legislation. In the market for information, we do not see the kinds of
conflicts that are rampant in other black markets. There are no turf
wars between gangs for the right to offer the latest pop hit or
blockbuster movie; there are no robberies committed by would-be users
who need the money to get their fix." (07/21/10)
http://mises.org/daily/4553
-----
28) The national security product
AntiWar.Com
by Philip Giraldi
"Those who are agonizing over whether Iranian nuclear scientist
Shahram Amiri was a double agent or just an agent or whether he was
kidnapped or a defector are really missing the point. Amiri was just a
small cog in the Greatest Show on Earth, the $100 billion a year US
intelligence community. United States intelligence is a huge and
expensive bureaucracy and the information it produces must be consumed
even when it does not necessarily make Americans safer. More important
than that, it is a product that must have enough bells and whistles to
impress Congress, the media, and the White House to keep the money
flowing." (07/22/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29g2ank
-----
29) Who are the real terrorists?
Strike the Root
by Per Bylund
"What is fascinating in this day and age is how the definition of
previously well-known concepts mysteriously have changed. I'm not
thinking of, e.g., the word 'defense,' which nowadays seems to have a
much broader meaning and includes waging wars, occupying foreign
nations, and having permanent military bases in almost 200 foreign
countries. Not long ago these things would fit squarely in definitions
of offense or aggression -- but not anymore." (07/21/10)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/who-are-real-terrorists
-----
30) Serving two masters
The Libertarian Standard
by Robert Wicks
"MSNBC, a media outfit not known for pro-liberty sentiments, is
reporting that there are 3100 organizations involved in the war on
terror. The original report comes to us from The Washington Post,
another entity not commonly regarded as champions of laissez faire.
According to the Post, 1271 government organizations and 1931 private
ones are working on counterterrorism. 854,000 people hold top secret
clearance. When government programs have become so large that even
liberals can't help but notice, you know you've got a
problem." (07/21/10)
http://www.libertarianstandard.com/2010/07/21/serving-two-masters/
-----
31) Back to the Articles
LewRockwell.Com
by Ron Holland
"Our goal should be to ultimately replace the failed Washington
federal government that is operated for the benefit of a few wealthy
special interests with a central government controlled and responsible
to productive working American citizens where the states and people
are sovereign. Although some sovereign states might want to remain
outside the framework of a central government, our goal should be to
remove the offending bankrupt entity and replace it with a debt-free,
restored legitimate confederation government based on America's first
government, The Articles of Confederation." (07/22/10)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/holland/holland22.1.html
-----
32) Don't give the press a bailout
Boston Globe
by Jeff Jacoby
"Are government subsidies the cure for what ails the news business?
Add Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, to the roster
of eminentos who think the answer is yes. In a new book, 'Uninhibited,
Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century,' Bollinger
argues that the condition of the mainstream press, which is slowly
being crushed under the treads of the Internet, 'may become so grave
as to require injections of public funds.' He is convinced 'that this
will prove to be the only way to sustain a free press over time.' ...
But why should journalists be entitled to a multi-billion-dollar batch
of media subsidies?" (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29hgw5y
-----
33) If Barney can reform Wall Street, why not the Pentagon?
The Nation
by John Nichols
"President Obama lavished praise on House Financial Services Committee
chairman Barney Frank as he prepared Wednesday to sign the sweeping
financial services regulatory reform legislation that the
Massachusetts Democrat and Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris
Dodd, D-Connecticut, framed and then moved toward passage over the
course of a year. The president declared himself 'profoundly grateful'
to Frank -- and Dodd -- for having 'worked day and night to bring
about reform.' Frank deserved the kudos. Even those of us who have
been critical of the final form the legislation took -- and who
disagree with the president's claims that this bill necessarily
prevents future bailouts of big banks and Wall Street -- recognize
that the congressman took on an incredibly daunting task, managing
huge amounts of data, balanced conflicting assessments and ultimately
beat back some serious special interests on some meaningful issues.
Indeed, survivors of the all-night conference committee session that
hashed out the final compromise will attest to Frank's remarkable
skills." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2b2bno9
-----
34) Do we need a Commission on Civil Rights?
The American Prospect
by Adam Serwer
"During his confirmation hearings, Eric Holder vowed that as attorney
general, he would restore the Civil Rights Division, which he referred
to as a 'crown jewel' of the Justice Department, to its former luster.
The division was marred by scandal -- internal department
investigations found that officials appointed by George W. Bush had
politicized the hiring process, resulting in an unprecedented exodus
of career attorneys. While the politicization of the Civil Rights
Division has drawn a great deal of attention, the politicization of
the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the independent fact-finding body
created in 1957 by the same law that established the Civil Rights
Division, has gone largely unnoticed until the recent controversy over
its role in the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) voter-intimidation
case." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2aefkmv
-----
35) Stop coddling the McCarthyite smear machine
Our Future Blog
by Robert Borosage
"The right-wing smear machine that cost an exemplary Agriculture
Department official her job should be denounced for what it is: a high-
tech, low-rent McCarthyism that launches search-and-destroy missions
with no purpose but poisonous partisanship. That the Obama
administration keeps retreating whenever this hit squad starts
strafing someone -- firing Van Jones; disassociating itself from ACORN
and contributing to its demise; and this week firing Agriculture
Department official Shirley Sherrod, over a slanderously edited video
-- is shameful. It only feeds the appetite of the zealots, with dozens
now looking to collect pelts to hang on their walls, and propaganda
outlets like Fox News, Limbaugh, and others eager to pile on the next
target. It demoralizes those in public service generally. And it puts
active progressives ... on notice that they may be vulnerable to a
random attack, distorting some moment from their past." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28djpuh
-----
36) The scariest unemployment graph I've seen yet
The Atlantic
by Derek Thompson
"The median duration of unemployment is higher today than any time in
the last 50 years. That's an understatement. It is more than twice as
high today than any time in the last 50 years." (07/20/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2835mjn
-----
37) The dangers of seeing America as a "Christian nation"
Christian Science Monitor
by Stuart Whatley
"It may be a sign of the times that on Billy Graham Parkway in
Charlotte, N.C, from whence the famed evangelist hailed, the North
Carolina Secular Society recently unveiled a suggestively secular
billboard: a flag with the words 'One Nation Indivisible.' It is also
a sign of the times that this message was promptly doctored by vandals
with the words, 'UNDER GOD' -- a qualifier that wasn't added to the
Pledge of Allegiance until 1954. With a creeping rise in secularists
and nonbelievers today, some American Christian traditionalists see a
politically existential threat, leading to reactions such as those
from a few of Charlotte's faithful. One is reminded of John Kennedy
Toole's cantankerously amusing character, Ignatius J. Reilly, in
'Confederacy of Dunces' -- combative towards modern culture and
nostalgic for the halcyon days of Thomas Aquinas. This traditionalist
camp is deeply perturbed by new threads in the social fabric and
insistent that America is a Christian nation, demographically as well
as politically." (07/20/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29daoj5
-----
38) Slavery in our time
In These Times
by Michelle Chen
"One-hundred-and-fifty years after the abolition of slavery, the State
Department has acknowledged that people in the United States continue
to be bought and sold as property. The department's 2010 'Trafficking
in Persons' (TIP) report, a global review of human trafficking and
civic and legal responses to it, lists the United States for the first
time among the nations that harbor modern-day slavery. The report was
a long time in coming." (07/21/10)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6192/slavery_in_our_time
-----
39) Pro & Con: Should Georgia continue to ban guns in places of
worship? (Con)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
by Jonathan Wilkins
"NO: An armed congregation keeps the peace against those who would
harm. ... As you may know, the Baptist Tabernacle in Thomaston is
seeking an injunction against a provision in Georgia law that forbids
its members from carrying guns to church.The question asked by our
critics is, 'Why would any one want to have a gun at church?' Folks
are genuinely astonished that a pastor and his congregation would want
to exercise such a right. Let me list several reasons why this is
so. ... In fact early colonial and later state laws required men to
bring their guns to the church house. The earliest gun law is found in
colonial Virginia in 1619. It said all those attending church 'shall
bring their pieces, swords, pouder and shotte [sic].' Legally, this is
a constitutional and private property issue. Corporately, as a body of
believers, on our own property, it should be our decision and not the
state's as to whether we will allow armed people on that
property." (07/19/10)
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/pro-con-should-georgia-574763.html
-----
40) Pro & Con: Should Georgia continue to ban guns in places of
worship? (Pro)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
by Patricia Templeton
"YES: Places of worship must be havens of peace, trust and
healing. ... Yes, I know that places of worship are not immune from
violence. Last summer, a doctor who performed abortions was murdered
at his Lutheran church in Wichita, Kan., where he was serving as an
usher. ... The horror of these violent deaths was compounded by the
fact that they happened in churches that are supposed to be places of
peace. If a place of worship has received threats of violence, then it
may be necessary to hire security. But arming clergy and congregations
against possible random violence is not an act of safety or of
faith." (07/19/10)
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/pro-con-should-georgia-574763.html
-----
41) What's the alternative?
Liberty For All
by John Stossel
"Last week, I wrote about a federal agency that most people think is
indispensable. In reality, I said, the FDA regulates us to death,
literally, by forbidding even dying Americans who can't be helped by
established medical treatments from trying innovative therapies. But
what's the alternative? Have no oversight? Let any company peddle
every dubious medicine to an unsuspecting public? That sounds
terrifying." (written 06/05; posted 07/21/10)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4584
-----
42) V for Vendetta
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Wendy McElroy
"The movie V for Vendetta (V) is a thriller set in London's dystopian
future of 2020, where an anti-government anti-hero named 'V' (played
by Hugo Weaving) uses violence to bring down a totalitarian right-wing
state called Norsefire. V's motivation is partly personal; he was
brutalized by a state-run medical experiment. It is partly political;
he wants to spark revolution by awakening the masses to their
oppression and their own power." (07/21/10)
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1007h.asp
-----
43) Race card fraud
Freedom Politics
by Thomas Sowell
"Credit card fraud is a serious problem. But race card fraud is an
even bigger problem. Playing the race card takes many forms. Judge
Charles Pickering, a federal judge in Mississippi who defended the
civil rights of blacks for years and defied the Ku Klux Klan back when
that was dangerous, was depicted as a racist when he was nominated for
a federal appellate judgeship. No one even mistakenly thought he was a
racist. The point was simply to discredit him for political reasons --
and it worked." (07/20/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2bjqrm7
-----
44) Is it spending or consumption?
Foundation for Economic Education
by William L. Anderson
"In reading the various pundits giving advice on what the government
should be doing (or not doing) about the current recession, people
that economist Robert Higgs properly calls 'vulgar Keynesians' are
claiming that we need 'more spending.' From Paul Krugman, who puts the
full weight of the prestige of his Nobel Prize behind this exhortation
for the government to spend more, to President Obama, who declared
last year that this country must spend its way out of recession, the
belief by many is that the more people spend, the more prosperity they
create." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2cb9ndc
-----
45) Obama's latest monstrosity
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by John Berlau
"The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that President
Obama will sign today should not be called 'financial reform.' Instead
the bill, which passed the Senate 60-39 last week when Massachusetts
Senator Scott Brown joined Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan
Collins to grant cloture, 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 meltdown." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/25jc5bs
-----
46) Advice for General Petraeus on the rules of engagement
Campaign For Liberty
by Tom Engelhardt
"Recently, we've been flooded with news stories and debate about the
'rules of engagement' for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Now-discredited
war commander General Stanley McChrystal, we've been told, instituted
fiercely restrictive rules of engagement to lessen the number of
Afghan civilians who died or were wounded at the hands of American
forces, and to 'protect the people,' just as the 'hearts and minds'
part of counterinsurgency doctrine tells us should be
done." (07/21/10)
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1023
-----
47) Finding the balance: Privacy and the civil society
Acton Institute
by Gregory Jensen
"Privacy in our culture has come to serve not a deepening of community
life but an ever deeper sense of social isolation. Even otherwise
laudable behavior is increasingly justified not by the goodness of
what is done but by the modern sense of privacy. Even among those who
ought to know better, the Gospel is presented in terms that are almost
wholly personal without any sense of its public character and demands.
Our sense of isolation from each other has become so profound that
even to suggest that there is a human nature and that true happiness
is only possible when we live in conformity to our nature, is seen a
provocation and an assault on the radical autonomy of the
individual." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28yh5ls
-----
48) Obamacare's broken promises
Cato Institute
by Michael D. Tanner
"Does President Obama have any idea what's in his own health-care
reform law? Since he signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act a bit more than 100 days ago, the president has given a number of
speeches and interviews in which he continues to say things that,
well, just aren't so." (07/20/10)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11993
-----
49) Ending the Gaza blockade might help Israel as much as Gaza
Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
"Overall, the blockade helped Hamas, the precise target of the Israeli
policy. Surprisingly, Hamas isn't that well liked in Gaza, but people
anywhere tend to rally around their government when they are under
military or economic attack. What is called the 'rally around the flag
effect' also occurred in the United States after 9/11, when George W.
Bush, who was shortly before elected with only a minority of the
popular vote, benefited from soaring approval ratings. If we define
terrorism as coercion designed to harm innocent civilians to pressure
their government to change policy, then Israel's attempt to
economically strangle Gaza is economic terrorism. Gazans resent the
attempt at strangulation and provide greater support to Hamas. What
pain sanctions and blockade have inflicted on Gazans has further
radicalized them against Israel." (07/21/10)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2829
-----
50) Cuba -- is it different this time?
Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"You have to hand it to Fidel and Raul Castro. They are masterful
tacticians. Whenever they have needed to diffuse pressure, they set
tongues wagging with speculation about reform. By the time the ruse
was exposed, another period of stability had set in. The recent
announcement that 52 political prisoners will go free has spawned a
whirlwind of conjecture. Are the brothers at it again?" (07/21/10)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2830
-----
51) Obama's lack of faith
Reason
by David Harsanyi
"With midterm elections approaching, President Barack Obama has gone
on the charm offensive, claiming Republicans are demonstrating a 'lack
of faith in the American people.' 'Faith' often is defined as 'having
confidence or trust in a person or thing.' In this case, though, faith
means adding another $35 billion in unemployment benefits to the
infinite intergenerational tab -- sometimes referred to as the budget
-- and mailing out as many checks as possible before Election Day. Yet
the jab is revealing in other ways. To begin with, what mysterious
brand of public policy has Obama employed that exemplifies this sacred
trust between public officials and the common citizen?" (07/21/10)
http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/21/obamas-lack-of-faith
-----
52) A nation of many rules and much abuse: The antidote is charity
Fr33 Agents
by Lounge Daddy
"What is the deal with this sudden rash of police abuse in the news?
Such stories used be pretty sparse, or so it seemed. But just the past
few years -- blammo. The stories are everywhere. What's makes it more
alarming to me, is that I have actually been reading the basic news
less than I used to for the past year. So I wonder how many such news
articles I haven't seen." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ffuju3
-----
53) Government's fear of marijuana causes shortage even when legal
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal
"Can government approval make one individual thing good while another
identical thing, only lacking this approval, is 'so bad' it is worth
committing murder over? No. But government's tools, fools, and
cheerleaders believe their approval has this power. Immigration, the
War on (some) Drugs, 'gun control' ... the list of examples crosses
every human activity. This is my 420th Albuquerque Libertarian
Examiner column, so, appropriately enough, it deals with marijuana.
Medical marijuana in particular." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2boan39
-----
54) Bright lights, bad schoolhouses
The Weekly Standard
by Sonny Bunch
"Facing thousands of worried members at the annual convention of the
National Education Association on July 3, the head of the nation's
largest teachers' union sounded a little whiny. 'Today, our members
face the most anti-educator, anti-union, anti-student environment that
I have ever experienced,' said Dennis Van Roekel, the NEA's president.
Leaving aside the bizarre suggestion that there is burgeoning anti-
student sentiment in America, Roekel's concerns are well-founded: For
the first time in living memory, poor-performing teachers and the
unions that protect them are under real scrutiny. So much so that even
documentarians -- the most liberal enclave of the most liberal
institution (the entertainment-industrial complex) in American society
-- are now taking aim at union excesses." (for publication 07/26/10)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/bright-lights-bad-schoolhouses
-----
55) Poor little CEOs
Slate
by Daniel Gross
"The notion of these guys holding a jobs summit is a little like BP
holding a deepwater-drilling safety summit. Between 2001 and 2009,
corporate America designed the playing field to its specifications --
easy money from the Federal Reserve; lower taxes on capital gains,
dividends, and income; an administration that let industry essentially
write its own regulations. But the players proceeded to put up goose
eggs. In January 2001, there were 111.6 million private-sector payroll
jobs in the United States. In January 2009, when Bush left office,
there were 110.9 million. The stock market is basically where it was a
decade ago. The lost decade ended with the deepest recession since the
Great Depression. Yet the CEO class exhibits an unseemly combination
of myopia and ingratitude. This administration -- like the Bush
administration before it -- continues to be remarkably solicitous of
its needs." (07/17/10)
http://www.slate.com/id/2260634/
-----
56) Two very different incidents, same lesson
Liberty & Power
by Keith Halderman
"The firing of the Agriculture Department's director of rural
development in Georgia, Shirley Sherrod, for allegedly making racial
remarks reminds me of something from my childhood. In my twelfth year
we went to a family gathering in the Finger Lakes region. There,
because I was studying German at the time, parental pressure resulted
in a brief Teutonic conversation with an older distant cousin who had
emigrated from Germany during the 1930s. I never saw the man again but
later learned that he had been a Brownshirt who had to flee for his
life when Hitler decided to eliminate Ernst Roehm and his followers on
the last day of June 1934. Now, I am not comparing Shirley Sherrod to
my cousin, nor am I comparing the Obama Administration to Hitler's
regime, but I do believe that the situations are similar in that they
both teach the same lesson." (07/21/10)
http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/129375.html
-----
57) Food safety bill: I am not afraid ... to eat
Downsize DC
by James Wilson
"Yes, there have been high-profile cases of foodborne illness
outbreaks. But public policy shouldn't be driven by exaggerated panic.
Free market competition, backed by civil and criminal penalties for
wrongdoing, would provide strong incentives for farmers, processors,
distributors, and grocers to keep food safe. Whereas, more government
regulations and fees will wipe out many farms and other small
businesses. Forcing everyone to be beholden to bureaucrats, instead of
accountable to the free market and the courts, will NOT make our food
any safer. The new regulations could actually make food LESS safe as
the large distributors and industrial farms wipe out the smaller
competition." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28uvva2
-----
58) The boundless beneficence of Big Brother
National Review
by Jonah Goldberg
"Officially, the Republicans do not oppose extending unemployment
benefits yet again. Rather, they merely want to observe the rules
Obama championed last fall. In other words, Democrats should pay for
the spending by finding cuts elsewhere in the budget. What is
'fiscally responsible' when Obama is for it, is rank partisanship when
he's against it. But enough with the point scoring. I want to get back
to Mr. Chukalas, a father of two and a diligent, decent man for all I
know. Again, he says, 'If your brother or your sister needed
something, you wouldn't say, 'When are you going to pay me back?'' I
don't know about the Chukalas clan, but in my family and my wife's
family, and in most families I know, asking, 'When are you going to
pay me back?' isn't so unimaginable." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2e7hfn4
-----
59) The heroism of Shirley Sherrod
Salon
by Glenn Greenwald
"Sherrod's speech -- which caused her to be fired -- is simply
inspiring in its uncommon candor, courage and wisdom. Few people are
willing so publicly to confess to tribal biases and detail how they
struggle to overcome them, even though that's a challenge which any
person who evolves at some point must confront. That process -- far
more than the pretense of having always been bias-free -- requires
difficult self-examination, and its public discussion offers vitally
needed lessons for everyone. Many people are unwilling ever to engage
that process privately, let alone candidly describe it publicly. Those
with the courage to do so, like Sherrod, should be heralded for that
candor. Instead, she was slandered, falsely disparaged, and
fired." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2amu8hp
-----
60) Life on planet Crazy
Nolan Chart
by Joel S. Hirschhorn
"Come take a look at life on the newly discovered planet Crazy.
Inhabitants there look exactly like us and live in an advanced
technological society. But the big difference is a strange time warp
effect that greatly shapes their lives. Actions these beings take
produce effects that are delayed by rather long times." (07/21/10)
http://www.nolanchart.com/article7865.html
-----
61) A moral foreign policy? Get serious
The New Republic
by Andrew J. Bacevich
"Let us note before exploring this matter further that the issue is
almost entirely a theoretical one. There exists precious little
evidence to suggest that moral considerations in practice figure
substantially in the making of foreign policy. Americans readily
accept that statement as true when applied to Beijing or Moscow or
Paris (especially Paris). It's long past time that they accept it with
reference to Washington as well. Perhaps moral issues should influence
the formulation of American statecraft. Yet they don't, except perhaps
as an afterthought. To imagine that Barack Obama and his lieutenants
sit around the Oval Office anguishing over 'sin and virtue' serves
only to impede our understanding of how power actually gets exercised.
(To imagine that members of the previous administration did so is
risible)." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28xsopr
-----
62) The political class and the police state: A tale of two cities
Poli-Tea
by d.eris
"Following Maywood's elimination of its workforce, the nearby city of
Bell took control of numerous municipal functions within Maywood. But
now citizens in Bell are demanding that this process be halted until
an independent audit of city contracts and the salaries of city
officials is undertaken and completed. The city's political class have
established an impressive fiefdom for themselves at the taxpayer's
expense." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28fhuzo
-----
63) Marxism and libertarian exploitation theory
The Liberty Papers
by Brad Warbiany
"I tend to be a stickler for definitions and proper usage of terms.
One of those that stick in my craw is the use of 'Marxism' to describe
a lot of systems that Marx wouldn't have supported. Marx, as an
intellectual, had quite a few pretty strong insights economically, but
he had some social beliefs on human nature that led him down the wrong
path. While I'm no Marxist, by ANY stretch of the imagination, I find
myself sometimes defending Marx from the unfair criticisms. There's
enough about his beliefs that are fair to criticize that it makes no
sense to add falsehoods." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29r4jqr
-----
64) A step closer to legalization?
Adam Smith Institute
by Sara Williams
"If some drugs are legalized, the state could regulate accordingly.
There would obviously be an age requirement and special taxes. This
would increase tax revenue and decrease costs to the justice system.
Although I don't support this, the state could even hold monopoly
rights to sell the drugs. Despite a strong black market, the state
would still profit off the setup. This issue is not just about cost-
benefit analysis though. It's also a matter of individual rights. A
grown man or woman should be able to use personal discretion to make
lifestyle choices. Drug use that does not harm any third parties
directly needs no state intervention." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28gy9pl
-----
65) Economists vs. economics
The American Spectator
by Ryan Young
"Has the financial crisis ruined economics? Not only did economists
fail to predict it, nobody seems to have a clue how to right the ship.
Unemployment went up despite hundreds of billions of dollars of
stimulus spending. Tinkering with interest rates and the money supply
hasn't worked, either. The dismal science now has a dismal reputation.
But economics itself isn't to blame. Economists are." (07/21/10)
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/21/economists-vs-economics
*****************************
* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
*****************************
66) Brian Costin on Freedom Rings Radio, 07/26/10
Freedom Rings Radio
Mr. Brian Costin, Founder and President of the Schaumburg Freedom
Coalition, joins host Kenneth John. 9-10am Central on WMRN 1410 AM,
Elgin, IL or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (07/26/10)
http://freedomrings.net/
-----
67) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/21/10
Cato Institute
"Constraining state spending with TABOR," featuring Michael J. New.
[MP3] (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/cato072110
-----
68) David Spero on Antiwar Radio
AntiWar.Com
"David Spero RN, author of the book The Art of Getting Well, writer
for DissidentVoice.org, discusses his push for a left-right-
libertarian realignment for liberty and against the empire, the
important issues we agree on and the divisive social issues that
divide us, Scott's hairbrained idea for a real two-party system, TV's
best efforts to keep Americans helpless, the hopeful rise of civilian
mutual support networks to decrease dependence on the central state as
economic times get worse." [Flash audio or MP3] (07/21/10)
http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/07/21/david-spero/
-----
69) Free Talk Live, 07/20/10
Free Talk Live
"Email from Heroic Anti-Prohibition Activist and Federal Prisoner Marc
Emery :: Another Prisoner Update :: Pornographer's Charges Dropped ::
Crackdown on Whistleblowers :: Secret Government :: Information
Collection :: Government can't be like business. :: Underage
Drinking :: Mainstream Media :: The Distraction of Politics :: Sir
Real's Top Ten List of Things Women Want :: Extended Internet-Only
Edition NOT FOR BROADCAST!" [MP3] (07/20/10)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2010-07-20.mp3
-----
70) Liberty and the long run growth of government
Foundation for Economic Education
"Dr. Robert Higgs speaks to students attending the History and Liberty
seminar about the government expansion that imposes limits on
individual liberty and economic opportunities." [Flash audio or MP3]
(07/10)
http://fee.org/media/liberty-and-the-long-run-growth-of-government/
*************************************
* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
*************************************
71) 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/
* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
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* Volume VIII, Issue #1,967
* Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
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* by the staff of Rational Review
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In The News:
0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
1) Obama signs financial "reform" bill
2) Judge refuses to reinstate US oil drill ban
3) Iraq: Car bomb kills 15
4) NATO: Taliban behead six Afghan police
5) Pakistan: 14 dead in Karachi "targeted killings"
6) US Senate votes to extend unemployment benefits
7) Japan hopes spy sheds light on North Korea abductions
8) Watchdogs slam Obama housing programs
9) UN court orders retrial for former Kosovo premier
10) IMF forgives Haiti's $268 million debt
11) Moscow accuses US of kidnapping pilot
12) Taliban denounce Kabul meeting as sign of failure
13) Report: Sherrod may not take back job if offered
14) CA: Residents protest pay of city manager
15) CT: Fed court says cheerleading not a sport
16) Billboard campaign puts right-to-die group in spotlight
17) Elevator smoke forces Statue of Liberty evacuation
18) FDA panel opposes Avastin use for breast cancer
19) Ireland: Gun owners can now shoot intruders
20) NC: Man holds burglar at gunpoint for police
21) CO: Grandfather killed intruder in self-defense
22) SC: From seedlings to servings
23) CA: Oakland to regulate medical marijuana farms
24) Russia: Two killed in power plant attack
25) Clinton announces new US sanctions against North Korea
Everybody Has An Opinion:
26) What makes Bradley Manning a hero?
27) The nonviolent black market in information
28) The national security product
29) Who are the real terrorists?
30) Serving two masters
31) Back to the Articles
32) Don't give the press a bailout
33) If Barney can reform Wall Street, why not the Pentagon?
34) Do we need a Commission on Civil Rights?
35) Stop coddling the McCarthyite smear machine
36) The scariest unemployment graph I've seen yet
37) The dangers of seeing America as a "Christian nation"
38) Slavery in our time
39) Pro & Con: Should Georgia continue to ban guns in places of
worship? (Con)
40) Pro & Con: Should Georgia continue to ban guns in places of
worship? (Pro)
41) What's the alternative?
42) V for Vendetta
43) Race card fraud
44) Is it spending or consumption?
45) Obama's latest monstrosity
46) Advice for General Petraeus on the rules of engagement
47) Finding the balance: Privacy and the civil society
48) Obamacare's broken promises
49) Ending the Gaza blockade might help Israel as much as Gaza
50) Cuba -- is it different this time?
51) Obama's lack of faith
52) A nation of many rules and much abuse: The antidote is charity
53) Government's fear of marijuana causes shortage even when legal
54) Bright lights, bad schoolhouses
55) Poor little CEOs
56) Two very different incidents, same lesson
57) Food safety bill: I am not afraid ... to eat
58) The boundless beneficence of Big Brother
59) The heroism of Shirley Sherrod
60) Life on planet Crazy
61) A moral foreign policy? Get serious
62) The political class and the police state: A tale of two cities
63) Marxism and libertarian exploitation theory
64) A step closer to legalization?
65) Economists vs. economics
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
66) Brian Costin on Freedom Rings Radio, 07/26/10
67) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/21/10
68) David Spero on Antiwar Radio
69) Free Talk Live, 07/20/10
70) Liberty and the long run growth of government
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
71) Today's events
***************
* In The News
***************
0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
Update, 07/22/10: Thanks for the TREMENDOUS response, everyone! As I
write this, the ChipIn meter says $1,024, but the actual number is
$138 higher -- $1162.
We were at $108 above the ChipIn meter, but then KM became our latest
$10 per month subscribing contributor, which comes to $30 this
quarter. Today's one-time contributions, from DH, AM, TP, AJ, AB,
(another) DH, TC, and LT came to $289! Thanks to all of you! We're now
past the halfway point!
$921 to goal, or about $100 a day to wrap this thing up before July
ends. Let's do that and have a quiet, peaceful, fundraising-free
August and September! - TLK
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/83890
-----
1) Obama signs financial "reform" bill
Omaha World-Herald
"Reveling in victory, President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into
law the most sweeping reform of financial regulations since the Great
Depression, a package that aims to protect consumers and ensure
economic stability from Main Street to Wall Street. The law, pushed
through mainly by Democrats in Washington's deeply partisan
environment, comes almost two years after the infamous near financial
meltdown in 2008 in the United States that was felt around the
globe." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2cv579g
-----
2) Judge refuses to reinstate US oil drill ban
Reuters
"A U.S. judge on Wednesday refused a request by environmental groups
to reinstate the Obama administration's original moratorium on
deepwater drilling set in the wake of the BP Plc oil spill. Defenders
of Wildlife and other groups requested that U.S. District Judge Martin
Feldman lift his injunction blocking the moratorium because he had
owned stock in several oil and offshore energy companies, arguing that
showed he should be disqualified from the case." (07/21/10)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66K6GV20100721
-----
3) Iraq: Car bomb kills 15
USA Today
"A car bomb outside a Shiite mosque in a village north of Baghdad
killed 15 people Wednesday, the third deadly attack in the region in
as many days, while a U.S. soldier was killed in a separate bombing in
the same province, Iraqi officials and the U.S. military said. The
blast in a shopping area in the village of Abu Sayda also left 21
wounded, Ghalib al-Karkhi, a police spokesman in Diyala province
said." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/275ubn4
-----
4) NATO: Taliban behead six Afghan police
ABC News
"Taliban insurgents beheaded six Afghan police during a raid on
government buildings in northern Baghlan province, the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Wednesday.
Tuesday's attack by the Taliban targeted a police post and a district
government building in a province where they have been largely absent
until recently." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23vszq6
-----
5) Pakistan: 14 dead in Karachi "targeted killings"
Pakistan Times [Pakistan]
"Separate incidents of targeted killings during the last 36 hours have
claimed 14 lives in Karachi. Unknown attackers killed three people and
dumped bodies their bodies in Pak Colony, Surjani Town and Baldia
Town, police sources said. One of the deceased found in Surjani Town
has been identified as Amjad Hussain." (07/22/10)
http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=13152
-----
6) US Senate votes to extend unemployment benefits
USA Today
"The Senate approved a $34 billion bill that would extend unemployment
benefits to millions of out-of-work Americans -- clearing the way for
President Obama's signature on Thursday. The legislation, which will
extend benefits for those who have already used up their standard 26
weeks of unemployment, was passed on a 59-39 vote. The measure must
now be approved by the House of Representatives." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/33r4br7
-----
7) Japan hopes spy sheds light on North Korea abductions
MSNBC
"Hoping to unravel a mystery that has haunted them for decades, the
families of two Japanese abducted by North Korea met with a former spy
who claims she knew the captives before she committed one of North
Korea's most notorious acts of terrorism -- the bombing of a South
Korean airliner in 1987. The carefully orchestrated visit this week by
former North Korean agent Kim Hyon-hui, who was sentenced to death but
later pardoned for the bombing, has been hailed as a rare chance to re-
examine one of the coldest of cold cases, the disappearance of 17
Japanese citizens Tokyo says were kidnapped by North Korea in the
1970s and '80s." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eaggvp
-----
8) Watchdogs slam Obama housing programs
MSNBC
"Obama administration housing rescue programs have been ineffective at
preventing a rise in home foreclosures even as the government's
support for the mortgage market grew by nearly $700 billion in the
past year, bailout watchdogs said on Wednesday. Neil Barofsky, Special
Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, heaped more
criticism on Treasury for its failure to adopt more realistic goals
for the number of people who can benefit from its program to modify
mortgages to slash monthly payments." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2dkd7o3
-----
9) UN court orders retrial for former Kosovo premier
The Daily Caller
"Kosovo's former prime minister must be retried on murder and torture
charges related to the country's 1998-99 war with Serbia, the Yugoslav
war crimes tribunal ruled Wednesday, calling his acquittal two years
ago 'a miscarriage of justice.' The original trial for Ramush
Haradinaj and two former Kosovo Liberation Army comrades was marred by
intimidation that left two prosecution witnesses too scared to
testify, tribunal President Patrick Robinson said." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2au7qat
-----
10) IMF forgives Haiti's $268 million debt
CNN
"The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved
Wednesday the cancellation of Haiti's $268 million debt to the fund.
The board also approved a three-year request by authorities to support
Haiti's reconstruction and growth program. The decisions are part of
an effort to support Haiti's longer-term reconstruction plans after
the January 12 earthquake, which killed more than 220,000 people,
destroyed 60 percent of government infrastructure and left more than
180,000 homes uninhabitable." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2dhlnbr
-----
11) Moscow accuses US of kidnapping pilot
Lincoln Journal Star
"The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. on Wednesday of
'kidnapping' a Russian pilot in the West African country of Liberia
several weeks ago for alleged drug smuggling. Konstantin Yaroshenko,
41, was arrested in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, in late May -- by
U.S. agents, Russian officials said -- and then extradited to New
York. He was charged with smuggling 'thousand-kilogram quantities of
cocaine' throughout South America, Africa and Europe, the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration said in a statement Wednesday." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/25evdls
-----
12) Taliban denounce Kabul meeting as sign of failure
La Crosse Tribune
"The Taliban denounced this week's international conference on
Afghanistan's future, saying the 'vague and terrible agenda' shows
that the U.S. and its allies intend to abandon the country and blame
their ultimate defeat on the Afghan government. Representatives of the
U.S. and 60 other countries met Tuesday to endorse President Hamid
Karzai's plan for Afghan police and soldiers to take charge of
security nationwide by 2014." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2burq99
-----
13) Report: Sherrod may not take back job if offered
Christian Science Monitor
"Shirley Sherrod might be offered back her job. But she's not sure she
she'd take it. That is the latest development in a fast-moving
controversy involving race, politics, the NAACP, and the Department of
Agriculture. Ms. Sherrod, an African-American, Tuesday was booted from
her Agriculture Department job after a conservative web site posted a
video clip in which she appeared to say she did not give a white
farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago, when she was a
state worker in Georgia. ... But reporters investigating the case
quickly discovered that the clip was taken out of context. In the full
speech, Sherrod was describing an impulse which she overcame to help
the white farmer save his land. Her point was the need for racial
reconciliation." [editor's note: This story brings out the worst
aspects of partisanism, and reminds me of Donna Shalala, who was
hounded for equally spurious reasons - SAT] (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/25bfhze
-----
14) CA: Residents protest pay of city manager
Bloomberg News
"Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los
Angeles County shouted in protest Monday night as tensions rose over a
report that the city's manager earns an annual salary of almost
$800,000. An overflow crowd packed a City Council meeting in Bell, a
mostly Hispanic city of 38,000 about 10 miles southeast of Los
Angeles, to call for the resignation of Mayor Oscar Hernandez and
other city officials. Residents left standing outside the chamber
banged on the doors and shouted 'fuera' ('get out' in Spanish). It was
the first council meeting since the Los Angeles Times reported
Thursday that Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637
-- with annual 12 percent raises -- and that Bell pays its police
chief $457,000, more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck makes
in a city of 3.8 million people. Bell council members earn almost
$100,000 for part-time work." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/25vjb2c
-----
15) CT: Fed court says cheerleading not a sport
Associated Press
"A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled competitive cheerleading is
not an official sport for schools looking for ways to meet gender-
equity requirements. U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill said
competitive cheerleading is too underdeveloped. The ruling comes in a
lawsuit filed by members of the volleyball team at Quinnipiac
University. The players sued after the school announced last year that
it would eliminate the team for budgetary reasons. The school replaced
it with a competitive cheer squad to stay in compliance with the 1972
federal law that mandates equal opportunities for men and women in
athletics. Quinnipiac has 60 days to come up with a plan to keep the
volleyball team and comply with gender rules." [editor's note: Can
hardly wait to see what "Glee" does with this story-line - SAT]
(07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2e6ooft
-----
16) Billboard campaign puts right-to-die group in spotlight
Fox News
"A national right-to-die organization has launched a controversial
billboard campaign to inform terminally ill and elderly adults that
they have a right to end their own lives -- but critics say the group
is simply preying on vulnerable senior citizens and mentally unstable
people. The Georgia-based Final Exit Network says it provides a
service for ailing people who want to die, giving them the
information, materials and emotional support they need to commit
suicide. But the group's detractors say its mission is immoral and
dangerous -- and members of the group's leadership, as well as some
volunteers, are facing criminal trials in two states on charges that
include facilitation to commit manslaughter, conspiracy to commit
manslaughter, assisted suicide, evidence-tampering and
racketeering." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/27rl2k3
-----
17) Elevator smoke forces Statue of Liberty evacuation
Raw Story
"Tourists were evacuated from the Statue of Liberty Wednesday after
smoke, apparently coming from an elevator motor, was detected inside
the famed monument, firefighters said. 'The statue has been evacuated
and no injuries have been reported,' a spokesman for the New York Fire
Department said. He said 'a minor smoke condition' had been detected
inside the monument, possibly related to the 'overheating' of a motor
in one of the statue's elevators. The statue, dedicated in 1886 and
located on an island in the Hudson River just off Manhattan, was
closed to the public after the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was
partially reopened in 2004, but the crown of the massive statue was
not reopened to tourists until 2009." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26wkmvy
-----
18) FDA panel opposes Avastin use for breast cancer
Associated Press
"A panel of cancer specialists said yesterday that the government
should remove its endorsement of Roche's drug Avastin for breast
cancer, after follow-up studies failed to show benefits. A Food and
Drug Administration panel voted 12 to 1 in favor of removing the
drug's approval for use against breast cancer alongside chemotherapy.
The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panel, though it
often does." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/24b4txw
-----
19) Ireland: Gun owners can now shoot intruders
Irish Channel
"Irish homeowners can now legally use guns to defend themselves if
their homes are attacked under new legislation. The new home defence
bill has moved the balance of rights back to the house owner if his
home is broken into 'where it should always have been,' say top Irish
police. The police association of superintendents and inspectors ...
stated that 'the current situation, which legally demands a house
owner retreat from an intruder, was intolerable' ... Under the bill
homeowners will be allowed to use 'reasonable' force against intruders
to defend themselves, others or their property. This includes lethal
force, depending on the circumstances." (07/20/10)
http://tinyurl.com/38pykst
-----
20) NC: Man holds burglar at gunpoint for police
WSOC News
"A Charlotte man caught a burglar in the act and held him at his home
until officers arrived, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said. The
homeowner told police he returned to his Park Crossing home on
Saturday and found a man attempting to steal his pickup truck. ...
'Right in his garage, in his pickup truck, and half-backing out of the
garage,' Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Steve Whitesel said. The
victim then got a shotgun and held Webber until police got to the
home." (07/20/10)
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/24325643/detail.html
-----
21) CO: Grandfather killed intruder in self-defense
The Denver Channel
"Denver prosecutors will not charge a 62-year-old grandfather
initially arrested in a weekend killing, saying Filberto Alderete
acted in self-defense when he shot a man trying to forcefully enter
his home. It appears Alderete fired one or two warning shots before
shooting 36-year-old Jesus Sifuentes Jr. during the confrontation on
his porch .... The deadly shooting occurred as a group of people was
involved in an altercation outside Alderete's duplex .... Neighbors
told 7NEWS that Alderete, a Vietnam veteran, had been repeatedly
harassed by neighborhood gang members. They said that a group of men
armed with knives and bats were milling around outside the Alderete
home just before the shooting." (07/20/10)
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24327608/detail.html
-----
22) SC: From seedlings to servings
Yahoo! News
"It all began in third grade, when Katie Stagliano's 40-pound cabbage
fed 275 homeless people. Now, Katie's six gardens have produced over
4,000 pounds of vegetables to feed the needy. ... So Katie started
planting vegetable gardens as part of her nonprofit Katie's Krops. She
has six right now -- including one the length of a football field at
her school in her hometown of Summerville, S.C. Classmates, her family
and other people in the community help plant and water, and Bonnie
Plants donates seedlings. This past year, Katie took her commitment to
a new level, giving soup kitchens over 2,000 pounds of lettuce,
tomatoes and other vegetables." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/33l6w3e
-----
23) CA: Oakland to regulate medical marijuana farms
San Francisco Chronicle
"Oakland's City Council late Tuesday adopted regulations permitting
industrial-scale marijuana farms, a plan that some small farmers
argued would squeeze them out of the industry they helped to build. To
address concerns from smaller farmers, the council pledged to create
regulations on regulating small- and medium-size marijuana farms this
year. Council members and proponents of marijuana cultivation
regulation viewed the proposal as smart public policy: It would
generate revenue, ensure that fire and building codes are enforced,
keep neighborhoods safe from robberies, and further position Oakland
as the center of the state's cannabis economy." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fmkkel
-----
24) Russia: Two killed in power plant attack
CNN
"Unidentified gunmen killed two people and injured another two
Wednesday in what Russian officials called a terrorist attack intended
to blow up a hydroelectric power station. The attackers targeted the
Baksan Hydropower Plant in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-
Balkaria, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor's
Office said. They killed two guards and badly beat two control-room
operators, authorities said." (07/21/10)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/21/russia.station.attack/
-----
25) Clinton announces new US sanctions against North Korea
Washington Post
"Searching for new ways to punish North Korea after blaming it for
sinking a South Korean warship in March, the Obama administration
announced Wednesday that it will strengthen existing sanctions against
the North and impose new restrictions on its weapons trade and
trafficking in counterfeit currency and luxury goods. Administration
officials traveling here with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates offered few details of
what seemed a hastily put-together addition to other warnings and
measures of displeasure already announced." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2dzj3tu
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 07/22/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 97,106 ... Max - 105,952
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,412
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
26) What makes Bradley Manning a hero?
Center for a Stateless Society
by Darian Worden
"Everybody must deal with stress and everybody makes mistakes. A hero
is not someone without weakness. A hero is someone who manages to do
the right thing in spite of his weaknesses. Manning realized the
tyranny of an organization he played an active part in. Instead of
force-feeding himself more propaganda or eating his gun, he did
something positive about it. As Henry David Thoreau said in Civil
Disobedience, 'Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least
degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a
conscience, then?'" (07/21/10)
http://c4ss.org/content/3223
-----
27) The nonviolent black market in information
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Manuel Lora and Daniel Coleman
"Unlike most black markets, the black market for information is
characterized by peace and stability. There is a near-perfect harmony
between the supply and the demand for movies, music, songs, and other
digital content that falls under the control of intellectual-property
legislation. In the market for information, we do not see the kinds of
conflicts that are rampant in other black markets. There are no turf
wars between gangs for the right to offer the latest pop hit or
blockbuster movie; there are no robberies committed by would-be users
who need the money to get their fix." (07/21/10)
http://mises.org/daily/4553
-----
28) The national security product
AntiWar.Com
by Philip Giraldi
"Those who are agonizing over whether Iranian nuclear scientist
Shahram Amiri was a double agent or just an agent or whether he was
kidnapped or a defector are really missing the point. Amiri was just a
small cog in the Greatest Show on Earth, the $100 billion a year US
intelligence community. United States intelligence is a huge and
expensive bureaucracy and the information it produces must be consumed
even when it does not necessarily make Americans safer. More important
than that, it is a product that must have enough bells and whistles to
impress Congress, the media, and the White House to keep the money
flowing." (07/22/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29g2ank
-----
29) Who are the real terrorists?
Strike the Root
by Per Bylund
"What is fascinating in this day and age is how the definition of
previously well-known concepts mysteriously have changed. I'm not
thinking of, e.g., the word 'defense,' which nowadays seems to have a
much broader meaning and includes waging wars, occupying foreign
nations, and having permanent military bases in almost 200 foreign
countries. Not long ago these things would fit squarely in definitions
of offense or aggression -- but not anymore." (07/21/10)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/who-are-real-terrorists
-----
30) Serving two masters
The Libertarian Standard
by Robert Wicks
"MSNBC, a media outfit not known for pro-liberty sentiments, is
reporting that there are 3100 organizations involved in the war on
terror. The original report comes to us from The Washington Post,
another entity not commonly regarded as champions of laissez faire.
According to the Post, 1271 government organizations and 1931 private
ones are working on counterterrorism. 854,000 people hold top secret
clearance. When government programs have become so large that even
liberals can't help but notice, you know you've got a
problem." (07/21/10)
http://www.libertarianstandard.com/2010/07/21/serving-two-masters/
-----
31) Back to the Articles
LewRockwell.Com
by Ron Holland
"Our goal should be to ultimately replace the failed Washington
federal government that is operated for the benefit of a few wealthy
special interests with a central government controlled and responsible
to productive working American citizens where the states and people
are sovereign. Although some sovereign states might want to remain
outside the framework of a central government, our goal should be to
remove the offending bankrupt entity and replace it with a debt-free,
restored legitimate confederation government based on America's first
government, The Articles of Confederation." (07/22/10)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/holland/holland22.1.html
-----
32) Don't give the press a bailout
Boston Globe
by Jeff Jacoby
"Are government subsidies the cure for what ails the news business?
Add Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, to the roster
of eminentos who think the answer is yes. In a new book, 'Uninhibited,
Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century,' Bollinger
argues that the condition of the mainstream press, which is slowly
being crushed under the treads of the Internet, 'may become so grave
as to require injections of public funds.' He is convinced 'that this
will prove to be the only way to sustain a free press over time.' ...
But why should journalists be entitled to a multi-billion-dollar batch
of media subsidies?" (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29hgw5y
-----
33) If Barney can reform Wall Street, why not the Pentagon?
The Nation
by John Nichols
"President Obama lavished praise on House Financial Services Committee
chairman Barney Frank as he prepared Wednesday to sign the sweeping
financial services regulatory reform legislation that the
Massachusetts Democrat and Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris
Dodd, D-Connecticut, framed and then moved toward passage over the
course of a year. The president declared himself 'profoundly grateful'
to Frank -- and Dodd -- for having 'worked day and night to bring
about reform.' Frank deserved the kudos. Even those of us who have
been critical of the final form the legislation took -- and who
disagree with the president's claims that this bill necessarily
prevents future bailouts of big banks and Wall Street -- recognize
that the congressman took on an incredibly daunting task, managing
huge amounts of data, balanced conflicting assessments and ultimately
beat back some serious special interests on some meaningful issues.
Indeed, survivors of the all-night conference committee session that
hashed out the final compromise will attest to Frank's remarkable
skills." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2b2bno9
-----
34) Do we need a Commission on Civil Rights?
The American Prospect
by Adam Serwer
"During his confirmation hearings, Eric Holder vowed that as attorney
general, he would restore the Civil Rights Division, which he referred
to as a 'crown jewel' of the Justice Department, to its former luster.
The division was marred by scandal -- internal department
investigations found that officials appointed by George W. Bush had
politicized the hiring process, resulting in an unprecedented exodus
of career attorneys. While the politicization of the Civil Rights
Division has drawn a great deal of attention, the politicization of
the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the independent fact-finding body
created in 1957 by the same law that established the Civil Rights
Division, has gone largely unnoticed until the recent controversy over
its role in the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) voter-intimidation
case." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2aefkmv
-----
35) Stop coddling the McCarthyite smear machine
Our Future Blog
by Robert Borosage
"The right-wing smear machine that cost an exemplary Agriculture
Department official her job should be denounced for what it is: a high-
tech, low-rent McCarthyism that launches search-and-destroy missions
with no purpose but poisonous partisanship. That the Obama
administration keeps retreating whenever this hit squad starts
strafing someone -- firing Van Jones; disassociating itself from ACORN
and contributing to its demise; and this week firing Agriculture
Department official Shirley Sherrod, over a slanderously edited video
-- is shameful. It only feeds the appetite of the zealots, with dozens
now looking to collect pelts to hang on their walls, and propaganda
outlets like Fox News, Limbaugh, and others eager to pile on the next
target. It demoralizes those in public service generally. And it puts
active progressives ... on notice that they may be vulnerable to a
random attack, distorting some moment from their past." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28djpuh
-----
36) The scariest unemployment graph I've seen yet
The Atlantic
by Derek Thompson
"The median duration of unemployment is higher today than any time in
the last 50 years. That's an understatement. It is more than twice as
high today than any time in the last 50 years." (07/20/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2835mjn
-----
37) The dangers of seeing America as a "Christian nation"
Christian Science Monitor
by Stuart Whatley
"It may be a sign of the times that on Billy Graham Parkway in
Charlotte, N.C, from whence the famed evangelist hailed, the North
Carolina Secular Society recently unveiled a suggestively secular
billboard: a flag with the words 'One Nation Indivisible.' It is also
a sign of the times that this message was promptly doctored by vandals
with the words, 'UNDER GOD' -- a qualifier that wasn't added to the
Pledge of Allegiance until 1954. With a creeping rise in secularists
and nonbelievers today, some American Christian traditionalists see a
politically existential threat, leading to reactions such as those
from a few of Charlotte's faithful. One is reminded of John Kennedy
Toole's cantankerously amusing character, Ignatius J. Reilly, in
'Confederacy of Dunces' -- combative towards modern culture and
nostalgic for the halcyon days of Thomas Aquinas. This traditionalist
camp is deeply perturbed by new threads in the social fabric and
insistent that America is a Christian nation, demographically as well
as politically." (07/20/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29daoj5
-----
38) Slavery in our time
In These Times
by Michelle Chen
"One-hundred-and-fifty years after the abolition of slavery, the State
Department has acknowledged that people in the United States continue
to be bought and sold as property. The department's 2010 'Trafficking
in Persons' (TIP) report, a global review of human trafficking and
civic and legal responses to it, lists the United States for the first
time among the nations that harbor modern-day slavery. The report was
a long time in coming." (07/21/10)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6192/slavery_in_our_time
-----
39) Pro & Con: Should Georgia continue to ban guns in places of
worship? (Con)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
by Jonathan Wilkins
"NO: An armed congregation keeps the peace against those who would
harm. ... As you may know, the Baptist Tabernacle in Thomaston is
seeking an injunction against a provision in Georgia law that forbids
its members from carrying guns to church.The question asked by our
critics is, 'Why would any one want to have a gun at church?' Folks
are genuinely astonished that a pastor and his congregation would want
to exercise such a right. Let me list several reasons why this is
so. ... In fact early colonial and later state laws required men to
bring their guns to the church house. The earliest gun law is found in
colonial Virginia in 1619. It said all those attending church 'shall
bring their pieces, swords, pouder and shotte [sic].' Legally, this is
a constitutional and private property issue. Corporately, as a body of
believers, on our own property, it should be our decision and not the
state's as to whether we will allow armed people on that
property." (07/19/10)
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/pro-con-should-georgia-574763.html
-----
40) Pro & Con: Should Georgia continue to ban guns in places of
worship? (Pro)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
by Patricia Templeton
"YES: Places of worship must be havens of peace, trust and
healing. ... Yes, I know that places of worship are not immune from
violence. Last summer, a doctor who performed abortions was murdered
at his Lutheran church in Wichita, Kan., where he was serving as an
usher. ... The horror of these violent deaths was compounded by the
fact that they happened in churches that are supposed to be places of
peace. If a place of worship has received threats of violence, then it
may be necessary to hire security. But arming clergy and congregations
against possible random violence is not an act of safety or of
faith." (07/19/10)
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/pro-con-should-georgia-574763.html
-----
41) What's the alternative?
Liberty For All
by John Stossel
"Last week, I wrote about a federal agency that most people think is
indispensable. In reality, I said, the FDA regulates us to death,
literally, by forbidding even dying Americans who can't be helped by
established medical treatments from trying innovative therapies. But
what's the alternative? Have no oversight? Let any company peddle
every dubious medicine to an unsuspecting public? That sounds
terrifying." (written 06/05; posted 07/21/10)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4584
-----
42) V for Vendetta
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Wendy McElroy
"The movie V for Vendetta (V) is a thriller set in London's dystopian
future of 2020, where an anti-government anti-hero named 'V' (played
by Hugo Weaving) uses violence to bring down a totalitarian right-wing
state called Norsefire. V's motivation is partly personal; he was
brutalized by a state-run medical experiment. It is partly political;
he wants to spark revolution by awakening the masses to their
oppression and their own power." (07/21/10)
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1007h.asp
-----
43) Race card fraud
Freedom Politics
by Thomas Sowell
"Credit card fraud is a serious problem. But race card fraud is an
even bigger problem. Playing the race card takes many forms. Judge
Charles Pickering, a federal judge in Mississippi who defended the
civil rights of blacks for years and defied the Ku Klux Klan back when
that was dangerous, was depicted as a racist when he was nominated for
a federal appellate judgeship. No one even mistakenly thought he was a
racist. The point was simply to discredit him for political reasons --
and it worked." (07/20/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2bjqrm7
-----
44) Is it spending or consumption?
Foundation for Economic Education
by William L. Anderson
"In reading the various pundits giving advice on what the government
should be doing (or not doing) about the current recession, people
that economist Robert Higgs properly calls 'vulgar Keynesians' are
claiming that we need 'more spending.' From Paul Krugman, who puts the
full weight of the prestige of his Nobel Prize behind this exhortation
for the government to spend more, to President Obama, who declared
last year that this country must spend its way out of recession, the
belief by many is that the more people spend, the more prosperity they
create." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2cb9ndc
-----
45) Obama's latest monstrosity
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by John Berlau
"The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that President
Obama will sign today should not be called 'financial reform.' Instead
the bill, which passed the Senate 60-39 last week when Massachusetts
Senator Scott Brown joined Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan
Collins to grant cloture, 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 meltdown." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/25jc5bs
-----
46) Advice for General Petraeus on the rules of engagement
Campaign For Liberty
by Tom Engelhardt
"Recently, we've been flooded with news stories and debate about the
'rules of engagement' for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Now-discredited
war commander General Stanley McChrystal, we've been told, instituted
fiercely restrictive rules of engagement to lessen the number of
Afghan civilians who died or were wounded at the hands of American
forces, and to 'protect the people,' just as the 'hearts and minds'
part of counterinsurgency doctrine tells us should be
done." (07/21/10)
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1023
-----
47) Finding the balance: Privacy and the civil society
Acton Institute
by Gregory Jensen
"Privacy in our culture has come to serve not a deepening of community
life but an ever deeper sense of social isolation. Even otherwise
laudable behavior is increasingly justified not by the goodness of
what is done but by the modern sense of privacy. Even among those who
ought to know better, the Gospel is presented in terms that are almost
wholly personal without any sense of its public character and demands.
Our sense of isolation from each other has become so profound that
even to suggest that there is a human nature and that true happiness
is only possible when we live in conformity to our nature, is seen a
provocation and an assault on the radical autonomy of the
individual." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28yh5ls
-----
48) Obamacare's broken promises
Cato Institute
by Michael D. Tanner
"Does President Obama have any idea what's in his own health-care
reform law? Since he signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act a bit more than 100 days ago, the president has given a number of
speeches and interviews in which he continues to say things that,
well, just aren't so." (07/20/10)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11993
-----
49) Ending the Gaza blockade might help Israel as much as Gaza
Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
"Overall, the blockade helped Hamas, the precise target of the Israeli
policy. Surprisingly, Hamas isn't that well liked in Gaza, but people
anywhere tend to rally around their government when they are under
military or economic attack. What is called the 'rally around the flag
effect' also occurred in the United States after 9/11, when George W.
Bush, who was shortly before elected with only a minority of the
popular vote, benefited from soaring approval ratings. If we define
terrorism as coercion designed to harm innocent civilians to pressure
their government to change policy, then Israel's attempt to
economically strangle Gaza is economic terrorism. Gazans resent the
attempt at strangulation and provide greater support to Hamas. What
pain sanctions and blockade have inflicted on Gazans has further
radicalized them against Israel." (07/21/10)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2829
-----
50) Cuba -- is it different this time?
Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"You have to hand it to Fidel and Raul Castro. They are masterful
tacticians. Whenever they have needed to diffuse pressure, they set
tongues wagging with speculation about reform. By the time the ruse
was exposed, another period of stability had set in. The recent
announcement that 52 political prisoners will go free has spawned a
whirlwind of conjecture. Are the brothers at it again?" (07/21/10)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2830
-----
51) Obama's lack of faith
Reason
by David Harsanyi
"With midterm elections approaching, President Barack Obama has gone
on the charm offensive, claiming Republicans are demonstrating a 'lack
of faith in the American people.' 'Faith' often is defined as 'having
confidence or trust in a person or thing.' In this case, though, faith
means adding another $35 billion in unemployment benefits to the
infinite intergenerational tab -- sometimes referred to as the budget
-- and mailing out as many checks as possible before Election Day. Yet
the jab is revealing in other ways. To begin with, what mysterious
brand of public policy has Obama employed that exemplifies this sacred
trust between public officials and the common citizen?" (07/21/10)
http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/21/obamas-lack-of-faith
-----
52) A nation of many rules and much abuse: The antidote is charity
Fr33 Agents
by Lounge Daddy
"What is the deal with this sudden rash of police abuse in the news?
Such stories used be pretty sparse, or so it seemed. But just the past
few years -- blammo. The stories are everywhere. What's makes it more
alarming to me, is that I have actually been reading the basic news
less than I used to for the past year. So I wonder how many such news
articles I haven't seen." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ffuju3
-----
53) Government's fear of marijuana causes shortage even when legal
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal
"Can government approval make one individual thing good while another
identical thing, only lacking this approval, is 'so bad' it is worth
committing murder over? No. But government's tools, fools, and
cheerleaders believe their approval has this power. Immigration, the
War on (some) Drugs, 'gun control' ... the list of examples crosses
every human activity. This is my 420th Albuquerque Libertarian
Examiner column, so, appropriately enough, it deals with marijuana.
Medical marijuana in particular." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2boan39
-----
54) Bright lights, bad schoolhouses
The Weekly Standard
by Sonny Bunch
"Facing thousands of worried members at the annual convention of the
National Education Association on July 3, the head of the nation's
largest teachers' union sounded a little whiny. 'Today, our members
face the most anti-educator, anti-union, anti-student environment that
I have ever experienced,' said Dennis Van Roekel, the NEA's president.
Leaving aside the bizarre suggestion that there is burgeoning anti-
student sentiment in America, Roekel's concerns are well-founded: For
the first time in living memory, poor-performing teachers and the
unions that protect them are under real scrutiny. So much so that even
documentarians -- the most liberal enclave of the most liberal
institution (the entertainment-industrial complex) in American society
-- are now taking aim at union excesses." (for publication 07/26/10)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/bright-lights-bad-schoolhouses
-----
55) Poor little CEOs
Slate
by Daniel Gross
"The notion of these guys holding a jobs summit is a little like BP
holding a deepwater-drilling safety summit. Between 2001 and 2009,
corporate America designed the playing field to its specifications --
easy money from the Federal Reserve; lower taxes on capital gains,
dividends, and income; an administration that let industry essentially
write its own regulations. But the players proceeded to put up goose
eggs. In January 2001, there were 111.6 million private-sector payroll
jobs in the United States. In January 2009, when Bush left office,
there were 110.9 million. The stock market is basically where it was a
decade ago. The lost decade ended with the deepest recession since the
Great Depression. Yet the CEO class exhibits an unseemly combination
of myopia and ingratitude. This administration -- like the Bush
administration before it -- continues to be remarkably solicitous of
its needs." (07/17/10)
http://www.slate.com/id/2260634/
-----
56) Two very different incidents, same lesson
Liberty & Power
by Keith Halderman
"The firing of the Agriculture Department's director of rural
development in Georgia, Shirley Sherrod, for allegedly making racial
remarks reminds me of something from my childhood. In my twelfth year
we went to a family gathering in the Finger Lakes region. There,
because I was studying German at the time, parental pressure resulted
in a brief Teutonic conversation with an older distant cousin who had
emigrated from Germany during the 1930s. I never saw the man again but
later learned that he had been a Brownshirt who had to flee for his
life when Hitler decided to eliminate Ernst Roehm and his followers on
the last day of June 1934. Now, I am not comparing Shirley Sherrod to
my cousin, nor am I comparing the Obama Administration to Hitler's
regime, but I do believe that the situations are similar in that they
both teach the same lesson." (07/21/10)
http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/129375.html
-----
57) Food safety bill: I am not afraid ... to eat
Downsize DC
by James Wilson
"Yes, there have been high-profile cases of foodborne illness
outbreaks. But public policy shouldn't be driven by exaggerated panic.
Free market competition, backed by civil and criminal penalties for
wrongdoing, would provide strong incentives for farmers, processors,
distributors, and grocers to keep food safe. Whereas, more government
regulations and fees will wipe out many farms and other small
businesses. Forcing everyone to be beholden to bureaucrats, instead of
accountable to the free market and the courts, will NOT make our food
any safer. The new regulations could actually make food LESS safe as
the large distributors and industrial farms wipe out the smaller
competition." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28uvva2
-----
58) The boundless beneficence of Big Brother
National Review
by Jonah Goldberg
"Officially, the Republicans do not oppose extending unemployment
benefits yet again. Rather, they merely want to observe the rules
Obama championed last fall. In other words, Democrats should pay for
the spending by finding cuts elsewhere in the budget. What is
'fiscally responsible' when Obama is for it, is rank partisanship when
he's against it. But enough with the point scoring. I want to get back
to Mr. Chukalas, a father of two and a diligent, decent man for all I
know. Again, he says, 'If your brother or your sister needed
something, you wouldn't say, 'When are you going to pay me back?'' I
don't know about the Chukalas clan, but in my family and my wife's
family, and in most families I know, asking, 'When are you going to
pay me back?' isn't so unimaginable." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2e7hfn4
-----
59) The heroism of Shirley Sherrod
Salon
by Glenn Greenwald
"Sherrod's speech -- which caused her to be fired -- is simply
inspiring in its uncommon candor, courage and wisdom. Few people are
willing so publicly to confess to tribal biases and detail how they
struggle to overcome them, even though that's a challenge which any
person who evolves at some point must confront. That process -- far
more than the pretense of having always been bias-free -- requires
difficult self-examination, and its public discussion offers vitally
needed lessons for everyone. Many people are unwilling ever to engage
that process privately, let alone candidly describe it publicly. Those
with the courage to do so, like Sherrod, should be heralded for that
candor. Instead, she was slandered, falsely disparaged, and
fired." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2amu8hp
-----
60) Life on planet Crazy
Nolan Chart
by Joel S. Hirschhorn
"Come take a look at life on the newly discovered planet Crazy.
Inhabitants there look exactly like us and live in an advanced
technological society. But the big difference is a strange time warp
effect that greatly shapes their lives. Actions these beings take
produce effects that are delayed by rather long times." (07/21/10)
http://www.nolanchart.com/article7865.html
-----
61) A moral foreign policy? Get serious
The New Republic
by Andrew J. Bacevich
"Let us note before exploring this matter further that the issue is
almost entirely a theoretical one. There exists precious little
evidence to suggest that moral considerations in practice figure
substantially in the making of foreign policy. Americans readily
accept that statement as true when applied to Beijing or Moscow or
Paris (especially Paris). It's long past time that they accept it with
reference to Washington as well. Perhaps moral issues should influence
the formulation of American statecraft. Yet they don't, except perhaps
as an afterthought. To imagine that Barack Obama and his lieutenants
sit around the Oval Office anguishing over 'sin and virtue' serves
only to impede our understanding of how power actually gets exercised.
(To imagine that members of the previous administration did so is
risible)." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28xsopr
-----
62) The political class and the police state: A tale of two cities
Poli-Tea
by d.eris
"Following Maywood's elimination of its workforce, the nearby city of
Bell took control of numerous municipal functions within Maywood. But
now citizens in Bell are demanding that this process be halted until
an independent audit of city contracts and the salaries of city
officials is undertaken and completed. The city's political class have
established an impressive fiefdom for themselves at the taxpayer's
expense." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28fhuzo
-----
63) Marxism and libertarian exploitation theory
The Liberty Papers
by Brad Warbiany
"I tend to be a stickler for definitions and proper usage of terms.
One of those that stick in my craw is the use of 'Marxism' to describe
a lot of systems that Marx wouldn't have supported. Marx, as an
intellectual, had quite a few pretty strong insights economically, but
he had some social beliefs on human nature that led him down the wrong
path. While I'm no Marxist, by ANY stretch of the imagination, I find
myself sometimes defending Marx from the unfair criticisms. There's
enough about his beliefs that are fair to criticize that it makes no
sense to add falsehoods." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29r4jqr
-----
64) A step closer to legalization?
Adam Smith Institute
by Sara Williams
"If some drugs are legalized, the state could regulate accordingly.
There would obviously be an age requirement and special taxes. This
would increase tax revenue and decrease costs to the justice system.
Although I don't support this, the state could even hold monopoly
rights to sell the drugs. Despite a strong black market, the state
would still profit off the setup. This issue is not just about cost-
benefit analysis though. It's also a matter of individual rights. A
grown man or woman should be able to use personal discretion to make
lifestyle choices. Drug use that does not harm any third parties
directly needs no state intervention." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28gy9pl
-----
65) Economists vs. economics
The American Spectator
by Ryan Young
"Has the financial crisis ruined economics? Not only did economists
fail to predict it, nobody seems to have a clue how to right the ship.
Unemployment went up despite hundreds of billions of dollars of
stimulus spending. Tinkering with interest rates and the money supply
hasn't worked, either. The dismal science now has a dismal reputation.
But economics itself isn't to blame. Economists are." (07/21/10)
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/21/economists-vs-economics
*****************************
* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
*****************************
66) Brian Costin on Freedom Rings Radio, 07/26/10
Freedom Rings Radio
Mr. Brian Costin, Founder and President of the Schaumburg Freedom
Coalition, joins host Kenneth John. 9-10am Central on WMRN 1410 AM,
Elgin, IL or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (07/26/10)
http://freedomrings.net/
-----
67) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/21/10
Cato Institute
"Constraining state spending with TABOR," featuring Michael J. New.
[MP3] (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/cato072110
-----
68) David Spero on Antiwar Radio
AntiWar.Com
"David Spero RN, author of the book The Art of Getting Well, writer
for DissidentVoice.org, discusses his push for a left-right-
libertarian realignment for liberty and against the empire, the
important issues we agree on and the divisive social issues that
divide us, Scott's hairbrained idea for a real two-party system, TV's
best efforts to keep Americans helpless, the hopeful rise of civilian
mutual support networks to decrease dependence on the central state as
economic times get worse." [Flash audio or MP3] (07/21/10)
http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/07/21/david-spero/
-----
69) Free Talk Live, 07/20/10
Free Talk Live
"Email from Heroic Anti-Prohibition Activist and Federal Prisoner Marc
Emery :: Another Prisoner Update :: Pornographer's Charges Dropped ::
Crackdown on Whistleblowers :: Secret Government :: Information
Collection :: Government can't be like business. :: Underage
Drinking :: Mainstream Media :: The Distraction of Politics :: Sir
Real's Top Ten List of Things Women Want :: Extended Internet-Only
Edition NOT FOR BROADCAST!" [MP3] (07/20/10)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2010-07-20.mp3
-----
70) Liberty and the long run growth of government
Foundation for Economic Education
"Dr. Robert Higgs speaks to students attending the History and Liberty
seminar about the government expansion that imposes limits on
individual liberty and economic opportunities." [Flash audio or MP3]
(07/10)
http://fee.org/media/liberty-and-the-long-run-growth-of-government/
*************************************
* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
*************************************
71) 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/
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