12/28 -- Iraq: Bombs kill seven Shiite pilgrims; Iran: At least five killed in protests
Thomas L. Knapp
* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
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* Volume VIII, Issue #1,820
* Monday, December 28th, 2009
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In The News:
0) Notice: Ad space auction
1) Iraq: Bombs kill seven Shiite pilgrims
2) Iran: At least five killed in protests
3) Pakistan: Suicide bombing death toll rises to eight
4) China: Regime may give murder victim one day's notice
5) AZ: Activist sentenced to community service for "littering"
6) Revolutionary operation could "cure" high blood pressure
7) Detroit incidents raise airline security barriers
8) New Zealand: 125 whales dead in strandings
9) Congress: 50 tax breaks to die without action
10) Oil prices top $78 a barrel; double last year's figure
11) Obama's first year marked by pragmatism
12) Tribes buy back America -- acres at a time
13) US quietly takes terror war to Yemen
14) Obama orders review of flight screenings
15) House backers of "public option" may yield
16) States with broad benefits dislike Senate health bill
17) Gun ownership surges nationwide, crime drops
18) NE: No charges for Omaha biz owner in fatal shooting
19) FL: Man kills daughter's boyfriend
20) IN: Pizza Hut employee shoots would-be robber
Everybody Has An Opinion:
21) We're on a fool's errand in Afghanistan
22) A short introduction to non-voting
23) The thin blue whine: Who mourns the murdered mundanes?
24) Tea Party sectarianism?
25) The cure
26) The lap bomber mystery
27) Our selfless leaders
28) What the Soviets learned in Afghanistan
29) Cataloging our hope and missed chances
30) When we can't trust the verifiers
31) Why war will take no holidays in 2010
32) A Congress Carol
33) Murder down, gun sales up; proof that guns don't cause crime
34) Nothing voluntary about Obamacare's mandate
35) Health care thoughts for the Congressional recess and beyond
36) EPA delivers lump of coal to Appalachia
37) Proposed WA semi-auto ban blames law-abiding gun owners
38) Dump the audience?
39) Kiss your health plan goodbye
40) Government strips away your right to pee!
41) Unchaining the human heart -- a revolutionary manifesto:
Moonshiners, Medicine men, and merchants of death
42) The joys of airstrikes and anonymity
43) The domestic Iraq
44) The Beck Supremacy
45) Policies for 2010: Free schools
46) The unintended consequences of fascism
47) Obama is failing
48) Discrimination!
49) Power corrupts on the US/Mexico border
50) Economic insurance for the rest of us
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
51) Russ Jones on Freedom Rings Radio, 12/28/09
52) Free Talk Live, 12/26/09
53) Michael Anthony on Antiwar Radio
54) Cato Daily Podcast, 12/23/09
55) Freedomain Radio #1536
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
56) Today's events
WaYbAcK:
57) Bellamy's loyalty oath becomes law
***************
* In The News
***************
0) Notice: Ad space auction
Top bid as of 2:00am Central, 12/28/09 -- $300
For more information, see:
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/74432
-----
1) Iraq: Bombs kill seven Shiite pilgrims
Chicago Sun-Times
"A bomb killed five Shiite pilgrims in a procession in northeast Iraq
on Sunday and blasts in Baghdad killed two more pilgrims as millions
of people marched to commemorate the most important Shiite religious
observance. Pilgrims traveling to the southern holy city of Karbala
have come under repeated attack during the 10-day religious ceremonies
that culminated Sunday with huge processions." (12/27/09)
-----
2) Iran: At least five killed in protests
Fremont Tribune
"Iranian security forces fired on stone-throwing protesters in the
center of the capital Sunday in one of the bloodiest confrontations in
months, opposition Web sites and witnesses said. At least five people
were killed. Some accounts of the violence in Tehran were vivid and
detailed, but they could not be independently confirmed because of
government restrictions on media coverage. Police, who denied using
firearms, said dozens of officers were injured and more than 300
protesters were arrested." (12/27/09)
-----
3) Pakistan: Suicide bombing death toll rises to eight
San Antonio Express-News
"Police say the death toll from a suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim
gathering in the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir has increased
to eight. Police official Yasin Baig said Monday the eight dead
included three police. He said another 10 police were among the 80
people wounded in Sunday's bombing in Muzaffarabad -- a rare sectarian
attack in an area police say has little history of militant
violence." (12/28/09)
-----
4) China: Regime may give murder victim one day's notice
Guardian [UK]
"A British man condemned to die in China on Tuesday morning may not be
told the time of his [murder] until 24 hours beforehand, campaigners
claimed today. ... It was not clear whether Shaikh faced death by
bullet to the head or by lethal injection. The Chinese have said
knowledge of his [murder] is being withheld from the prisoner on
'humanitarian grounds,' according to the human rights campaign group
Reprieve." [editor's note: The victim's "crime" was carrying
unapproved drugs, so let's call it what it is, murder. The use of the
word "execution" is intended to give the killing an undeserved air of
legitimacy - TLK] (12/27/09)
-----
5) AZ: Activist sentenced to community service for "littering"
Yahoo! News
"An activist accused of leaving water jugs in the desert for
immigrants has decided to complete 300 hours of community service
rather than go to jail. Twenty-eight-year-old Walt Staton had vowed
not to comply with his sentence for leaving the water on a southern
Arizona wildlife preserve last year. He was convicted of littering in
June after he was cited last December by a Fish and Wildlife agent.
The area is known as a popular route for illegal immigrants. U.S.
Magistrate Judge Jennifer Guerin gave Staton until Monday's
evidentiary hearing to think about his decision or face 25 days in
jail." (12/25/09)
-----
6) Revolutionary operation could "cure" high blood pressure
The Telegraph [UK]
"In what is being hailed as the most exciting development in the field
for 50 years, doctors can treat the condition with a simple procedure
in under an hour. It could allow some sufferers to come off medication
completely and offer hope for those for whom existing treatments have
no effect. The technique, which is relatively straightforward and
cheap for the NHS, could reduce the risk of a major heart attack or
stroke in such patients by half. ... [T]he new procedure, which
involves placing tiny burns on a nerve responsible for high blood
pressure in some people, has been carried out in Britain for the first
time. It is part of an international clinical trial which could lead
to the new treatment being offered on the NHS." (12/27/09)
-----
7) Detroit incidents raise airline security barriers
New York Times
"As Detroit's airport was rattled on Sunday by a second frightening
incident in three days, passengers at airports in the United States
and around the world encountered stiff layers of extra security, with
international travelers undergoing newly required bag inspections,
body searches and questioning at security checkpoints and before they
boarded planes. ... Pilots on Sunday declared an emergency after a
second man, also a Nigerian, spent an unusually long time in an
airplane restroom, said a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman,
Sara Kuban." [editor's note: The first guy was a nutcase who should
never have been allowed on the plane (and who made his threat WHILE
SEATED), while the second turns out to have been legitimately sick; no
more cause-effect here than the frickin' cosmetics ban of three years
ago! - SAT] (12/27/09)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/us/28security.html
-----
8) New Zealand: 125 whales dead in strandings
Raw Story
"More than 125 whales have died in two separate strandings in New
Zealand, conservation officials said Monday. At Farewell Spit, west of
the South Island tourist town of Nelson, 105 long-finned pilot whales
died in a mass beaching on Saturday, while 21 pilot whales died Sunday
at a beach on the east coast of the North Island. Both areas have a
history of whale strandings. Conservation department official Hans
Stoffregen said none of the stranded pod at Farewell Spit could be
saved." (12/27/09)
http://rawstory.com/2009/12/125-whales-dead-zealand-strandings/
-----
9) Congress: 50 tax breaks to die without action
ABC News
"When members of the U.S. Senate finally head home, they will be
leaving the future of 50 individual and business tax breaks in limbo.
All expire at the end of 2009. Among the disappearing breaks are the
research tax credit and an annual alternative minimum tax 'patch,'
which keeps 23 million additional middle-income Americans from being
forced into calculating and paying the dreaded AMT. ... Among the
expiring individual tax breaks: the deduction for state and local
sales taxes for itemizers." [editor's note: An abuse of the "sunshine
laws" concept if there ever was one; the only valid issue there should
be allowing that same estate tax to stay dead, not stealing existing
credits from taxpayers (which should never expire until after the
income tax dies its own overdue death)! - SAT] (12/27/09)
-----
10) Oil prices top $78 a barrel; double last year's figure
Christian Science Monitor
"Energy traders are blaming the cold weather for a late-year rise in
the prices of crude oil and natural gas. Yes, the freeze that has
extended from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic states is helping to
boost demand for anything that takes the chill out of the house. The
result: Natural-gas prices have soared 78 percent in the past 30 days,
and even home heating oil is up 2.5 percent. The price of a barrel of
oil is now more than $78 -- about double the price of a year ago.
Rising energy costs hit consumers directly in the pocketbook. Most
Americans have to spend money to drive their car and heat their homes.
'Energy is a major expense, especially this time of the year,' says
David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's in New York. 'We're
looking at substantially higher costs for the average
American.'" (12/27/09)
-----
11) Obama's first year marked by pragmatism
Boston Globe
"Barack Obama won the presidency on a theme of hope. ... But as he
finishes his first calendar year in office, the president who ran as a
visionary during the 2008 election has been more pragmatic, with a
deliberative governing style more reflective of his years as a law
professor than his time as a Chicago community organizer. Faced with a
massive economic crisis, Obama bailed out big corporations deemed too
big to fail. On healthcare, the president compromised on the public
option in the interests of completing a bill. And on foreign policy,
Obama disappointed his liberal base by expanding the war in
Afghanistan." [editor's note: In the lexicon of the Globe, this is
"pragmatism;" some of us know it better as imperialist tyranny,
keeping the privileged courtiers content at the expense of the
peasants, at all costs - SAT] (12/27/09)
-----
12) Tribes buy back America -- acres at a time
MSNBC
"Native American tribes tired of waiting for the U.S. government to
honor centuries-old treaties are buying back land where their
ancestors lived and putting it in federal trust. Native Americans say
the purchases will help protect their culture and way of life by
preserving burial grounds and areas where sacred rituals are held.
They also provide land for farming, timber and other efforts to make
the tribes self-sustaining." (12/27/09)
-----
13) US quietly takes terror war to Yemen
MSNBC
"In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has
quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in
Yemen. A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent many field
operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country, according
a former top agency official. At the same time, some of the most
secretive Special Operations commandos have begun training Yemeni
security forces in counterterrorism tactics, senior military officers
said." (12/27/09)
-----
14) Obama orders review of flight screenings
CNN
"President Obama has ordered a review of security screening processes
after Friday's botched terror attack on a U.S. airliner, White House
press secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday. Appearing on the ABC program
'This Week' and the NBC program 'Meet the Press,' Gibbs said Obama is
receiving regular briefings by his national security staff on the
incident in which a suspect allegedly tried to detonate an explosive
device on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
making its final approach to Detroit, Michigan." (12/27/09)
-----
15) House backers of "public option" may yield
San Francisco Chronicle
"Two House Democrats who favor a government insurance plan, a central
element of health care legislation passed in their chamber,
acknowledged Sunday it might have to be sacrificed as negotiators work
out a final agreement with the Senate. Rep. James Clyburn of South
Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and one who had appealed to
President Barack Obama not to yield on the public plan, set out
conditions for yielding himself." (12/27/09)
-----
16) States with broad benefits dislike Senate health bill
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
"States that have already broadly expanded health care coverage are
pushing back against the Senate overhaul bill, arguing it unfairly
penalizes them in favor of states that have done little or nothing to
extend benefits to the uninsured. With tax revenues down and budgets
breaking, the states -- including Arizona, California, New Jersey, New
York and Wisconsin -- say they cannot afford to essentially subsidize
other states' expansion of health care." (12/27/09)
-----
17) Gun ownership surges nationwide, crime drops
Crime Report
"Even as gun ownership has surged in the U.S. in the past year,
violent crime, including murder and robbery, has dropped steeply, says
the Christian Science Monitor. With homicides down 10 percent in the
first half of 2009, the FBI reports that gun sales 'especially of
assault-style rifles and handguns, two main targets of gun-control
groups' are up at least 12 percent nationally since the election of
President Obama. Pro-gun groups say the data disprove a long-running
theory by gun-control groups that gun ownership spawns crime and
violence. 'Anti-gunners have lost another one of their baseless
arguments,' says Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment
Foundation." (12/24/09)
-----
18) NE: No charges for Omaha biz owner in fatal shooting
Nebraska News
"Prosecutors won't file charges against an Omaha business owner who
shot and killed a suspected burglar over the weekend. Douglas County
Attorney Don Kleine says he believes the shooting was justified. The
owner of Bazar Latino who shot the man has not been named.Police say
23-year-old Jesus Franco was found dead Saturday morning. His body was
in the snow about 30 feet from a south Omaha business that had
reported a burglary. The owner told officers he fired his gun during a
confrontation with a suspected burglar, who then fled." (12/23/09)
http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=11722102
-----
19) FL: Man kills daughter's boyfriend
WESH News
"The Seminole Sheriff's Office said a man shot and killed his
daughter's boyfriend on a Seminole County street. The Sheriff's Office
said the shooting happened just after 3 p.m. at the intersection of
Dodd Road and Biscayne Drive. Officials said the man was Orlando
Regional Medical Center where he died. Several witnesses at the scene
said the two men were arguing before the shooting and that they
believe the father shot in self defense. 'He pulled out a gun that he
had with him, that he carried most the time, and shot him from the hip
in the stomach,' Dykey Phillips said." (12//24/09)
http://www.wesh.com/news/22055314/detail.html
-----
20) IN: Pizza Hut employee shoots would-be robber
Herald Bulletin
"A Pizza Hut delivery person shot a man who allegedly tried to rob the
store Wednesday, according to police. A police report said Spencer
Simmons, 44, attempted to rob the Pizza Hut on Broadway Street at
about 11 p.m. Wednesday. The report said Simmons pointed a .25 Raven
Arms semi-automatic handgun at the store's cashier and demanded money.
The cashier loaded about $720 into a small bag. Simmons wasn't aware
that a delivery man, Michael Shaker, had heard the commotion and snuck
to the back as well, the report said. 'Seconds later, Simmons left the
register area, and walked to within six to seven feet of his
location,' the report said. According to the report, Shaker gave
Simmons a verbal warning but Simmons 'lifted and swung his gun up
towards' Shaker. Shaker fired one round from his personal 9mm Kel-Tec,
hitting Simmons in the back of his head." (12/24/09)
http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_358172439.html
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 12/28/09
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 94,888 ... Max - 103,535
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,371
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
21) We're on a fool's errand in Afghanistan
Las Vegas Review-Journal
by Vin Suprynowicz
"Peace on earth, good will toward men. Fine sentiments. But as
citizens of a republic, can we really assume we'll be held forever
blameless for the actions of our government? Barack Obama, who if he
were not in office would be applying for a Community Development Block
Grant to stage anti-war rallies in Chicago, just authorized sending
30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. But it's OK: He promises to pull
them out in 18 months -- soon enough to guarantee they can't actually
accomplish anything." (12/27/09)
-----
22) A short introduction to non-voting
WendyMcElroy.Com
by Carl Watner
"Governments, like all other hierarchical institutions, depend upon
the cooperation and, at least, the tacit consent over those whom they
exercise power. In other words, government soldiers and police can
force people to do things they don't want to do, but in the long run
-- in the face of adamant opposition -- such coercion is either too
expensive or too futile to accomplish its goals of subjugating entire
populations. It is far simpler to motivate people to do what you want
them to do, rather than forcing them to do it by pointing guns at them
all the time. As Boris Yeltsin supposedly said, 'You can build a
throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it long.' Educating
generations of parents and children in government schools and teaching
them to be patriotic and support their government in political
elections is one of the fundamental ways governments garner public
support. Citizens are taught that it is both their right and duty to
vote. But all this is done with an ulterior motive in
mind." (12/27/09)
http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2970
-----
23) The thin blue whine: Who mourns the murdered mundanes?
LewRockwell.Com
by William Norman Grigg
"While the names of every police officer who dies before retirement is
known and carefully memorialized, there is no similar record kept of
those who were unjustly killed by police. We are told that 2009 was a
year fraught with peril for the police because 47 officers were killed
by gunfire. During the same time frame, however, at least 56 people
suffered 'Taser-related' deaths at the hands of police. It's difficult
to find out how many others were killed by police -- in shootings,
beatings, or mistreatment in jail or prison. The chances are pretty
good, however, that the body count is much higher than the 117 police
deaths that occurred during the past year." (12/26/09)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w122.html
-----
24) Tea Party sectarianism?
Campaign For Liberty
by Lawrence Samuels
"The Tea Party movement has reconnected the cooperation between
conservatives and libertarians that harks back to their mutual
opposition to FDR's big government days. But a host of these newly
forged alliances have failed to take hold. There is an undercurrent of
ill-fitting philosophies and anti-intellectual clashes that suggest
freedom is not always brewing in many Tea Parties. One example of a
Tea Party divorcing its libertarian brethren recently occurred in
Monterey California." (12/26/09)
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=477
-----
25) The cure
The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith
"Had enough, yet? As you are no doubt aware, the United States Senate
has joined the House of Representatives in forcing medical Marxism
down the throats of tens of millions of Americans -- a clear and
unmistakable majority, if democracy still means anything to you --
whether they want it or not." (12/27/09)
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle550-20091227-02.html
-----
26) The lap bomber mystery
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo
"We are asked to believe that a highly privileged young man, with
everything to live for, was suddenly seized with a desire to commit
suicide as an act of jihad: that he disappeared from his life of ease,
on a street lined with Mercedes Benzes and Ferraris, in a fashionable
district of London, and traveled to Yemen, where he received what may
have been a defective bomb, which was sewn into his underwear by his
jihadist trainers. This bomb then went undetected in Amsterdam
airport, where the security arrangements are said to be tight (and a
personal interview is conducted), and where he was let on a plane
headed for the US in spite of explicit warnings given by his own
father. I'm not buying it ..." (12/28/09)
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/12/27/the-lap-bomber-mystery/
-----
27) Our selfless leaders
Fox Business News
by John Stossel
"Victor Davis Hanson writes about the new taxes coming to the millions
of 'wannabe rich': Often those in government claim that their tax-
increase proposals are simply targeting the affluent like themselves
-- proof of their own selflessness. President Obama, for example, has
complained that the well-off like himself could afford to pay more.
But unlike politicians in Washington, most upscale Americans in
private enterprise do not receive free government perks and lavish
pensions. Nor are they guaranteed lucrative post-political lobbying
and speaking careers. Tax hikes on hard-working entrepreneurs are job
killers. Why risk money to build a business, or expand one, if
government will take an increasing stake in your profits?" (12/26/09)
http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2009/12/26/our-selfless-leaders/
-----
28) What the Soviets learned in Afghanistan
Christian Science Monitor
by Jordan Michael Smith
"Thirty years ago today, on Dec. 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan. The United States saw the invasion as unmistakable
evidence that the Soviets were committed to aggression in the Middle
East and the Third World. It was 'the greatest threat to peace since
the Second World War,' President Jimmy Carter announced. But archival
documents released since the cold war's end show that the Soviet's
actions were defensive, not offensive. The Soviets had sincere, albeit
highly exaggerated, concerns about US involvement in Afghanistan. Far
from intending to use Afghanistan as a trampoline from which to jump
to conquer nearby countries, the Soviets were reluctant to invade the
economically backward, illiterate Islamic nation. But the US
misinterpreted the Soviet invasion, and as a result overinflated its
dangers and overreacted to its occurrence." (12/24/09)
-----
29) Cataloging our hope and missed chances
Boston Globe
by James Carroll
"History is the mechanism by which humans learn from the past, and
turn dreams of the future into action. ... What is the sum total of
the last year? And what do we expect of the year to come? ... One year
ago, America was in the grip of a collective euphoria tied to
political transformation. It seems fair to say that even many who had
not voted for Barack Obama felt the pull of hope that was changing how
the nation was both seen, and saw itself. If that hope has not been
dashed, precisely, the euphoria is certainly gone." [editor's note:
Give the man credit; the scales are falling from his eyes - SAT]
(12/28/09)
-----
30) When we can't trust the verifiers
In These Times
by David Sirota
"This month, a British government report admitted that one of the
major rationales for invading Iraq -- the claim that Saddam could
deploy WMDs in 45 minutes -- probably came from a cab driver. Had the
public originally been told about this sketchy sourcing, there may
have been a more, ahem, forceful mass opposition to pre-emptive war in
the Middle East. ... That's the common sense rationale behind our
sunshine laws. While courts say we can't ban politicians from raising
private money, we can force politicians to disclose who their
benefactors are so that we know what they really represent. We may not
bar sugary foods, but we do require nutrition labels so we can know
what we are eating." [editor's note: And if this were the only
function being served by regulatory agencies (truth in packaging,
enforcement of fraud laws) it MIGHT be acceptable (although the fact
still remains: nowhere in the Constitution is such power granted) -
SAT] (12/27/09)
-----
31) Why war will take no holidays in 2010
The Nation
by Tom Engelhardt
"Excuse the gloom in the holiday season, but I feel like we're all
locked inside a malign version of the movie Groundhog Day. You
remember, the one in which the characters are forced to relive the
same twenty-four hours endlessly. Put more personally, TomDispatch
started in November 2001 as an e-mail to friends in response to the
first moments of our latest Afghan War. More than eight years
later ... well, you know the story. Worse yet, the latest Washington
Post/ABC News poll indicates that a startling 58 percent of Americans,
otherwise in a mighty gloomy mood, support the president's latest
'surge' in Afghanistan, which will extend that war into the dismal
future. And worse than that, in Afghanistan as in Iraq, from the point
of view of official Washington, next year won't really count for much.
The crucial decisions on both wars will evidently leapfrog 2010. So,
on that score, we might as well just mark the year off on our
calendars now." (12/23/09)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100111/engelhardt
-----
32) A Congress Carol
The American Prospect
by Tim Fernholz
"What a year for Congress! In February, it passed an $820 billion
fiscal stimulus with more infrastructure investment than tax cuts. By
April, it approved the president's landmark progressive budget. In
June, an unprecedented energy bill complete with carbon cap-and-trade
provisions passed. Then, in September, it agreed to a bill to
eliminate subsidies to private education lenders in favor of direct
federal loans for college, with much of the savings directed to Pell
Grants for low-income students. Next, it passed a major healthcare
reform bill in November, complete with a public insurance option. By
December, an omnibus financial regulatory reform bill had cleared. I
know what you're thinking. It's all a lie." [editor's note: Or (in the
immortal words of Dickens), "an undigested bit of beef..." as well as
a reason to be thankful there are two houses in Congress, and one is
not (always) just a rubber-stamp for the other - SAT] (12/23/09)
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=a_congress_carol
-----
33) Murder down, gun sales up; proof that guns don't cause crime
Liberty For All
by SAF staff
"A ten percent drop in murders during the first six months of this
year at a time when gun sales were up dramatically is more proof that
there is no correlation between gun ownership and violent crime, the
Second Amendment Foundation said today. The FBI released data Monday
that shows murders dropped by 10 percent from the same period in 2008.
Meanwhile, according to data released by the FBI's National Instant
Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that during the first
six months of this year, gun sales were up." (12/27/09)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=3591
-----
34) Nothing voluntary about Obamacare's mandate
Hawaii Reporter
by Hans Von Spakovsky
"Some supporters of the health care 'reform' bill being shoved through
the Senate are dismissing concerns over the individual insurance
mandate and the tax penalty imposed on those who don't meet that
requirement. They claim that because S 5000A of the bill waives
criminal prosecution of taxpayers and says that no liens or levies can
be filed on the taxpayer's property, this is supposedly a 'voluntary
mandate' and the IRS can't do anything against you if you refuse to
pay the penalty. That claim is wrong for a number of
reasons." (12/24/09)
-----
35) Health care thoughts for the Congressional recess and beyond
FreedomWorks
by Rossputin
"There are plenty of examples in the US and overseas where this sort
of rationing is already happening. I would also note that rationing
will tend to be to the great detriment of senior citizens, a CRITICAL
voting block for Democrats, not least because they tend to vote in
higher percentages than do young people. Retirees must be shown how
ObamaCare will lead to their being denied tests and to cutbacks in
Medicare, not least to the parts of Medicare (like Advantage) which
are most effective." (12/26/09)
-----
36) EPA delivers lump of coal to Appalachia
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by William Yeatman
"If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, the
Environmental Protection Agency would still investigate. This corny
joke reflects a sad truth: President Barack Obama's overbearing EPA is
holding hostage thousands of coal-mining jobs in Appalachia in order
to protect an insect that lives for a day. The EPA claims that trading
jobs for bugs is part of its proper oversight role, but the evidence
suggests that politics are at play. Environmentalists are a very
important voting bloc for the Democratic Party, and they earnestly
believe that coal is evil, despite the fact that it generates half of
the country's electricity." (12/20/09)
-----
37) Proposed WA semi-auto ban blames law-abiding gun owners
Liberty For All
by CCRKBA staff
"A proposal to ban so-called 'assault weapons' in Washington State
shifts the blame for recent violent crimes from the perpetrators to
every law-abiding gun owner in the state, holding them and their
firearms responsible for crimes they did not commit, the Citizens
Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. 'This is a
proposal by three vehemently anti-gun rights state lawmakers who are
exploiting two recent murders in an effort to push a political agenda
they have had for several years,' said CCRKBA Chairman Alan
Gottlieb." (12/26/09)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=3587
-----
38) Dump the audience?
Reason
by John Stossel
"After my first two new Fox Business shows, I'm taking a break for
Christmas and the New Year's holiday. We resume Thursday, Jan. 7.
Again, I ask your help. Last time, most of you said: Go with global
warming for the first show -- Atlas Shrugged can wait -- and so I did.
Atlas will be the first show after the holidays. Today, I need your
help in deciding what to do with the studio audience." (12/24/09)
http://reason.com/archives/2009/12/24/dump-the-audience
-----
39) Kiss your health plan goodbye
TCS Daily
by Diana Furchtgott-Roth
"As the Senate votes this morning on a revised health 'reform' bill
from the Democratic leadership, it's worth recalling President Obama's
repeated promise that 'if you've got health insurance, you like your
doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep
your plan.' Would that it were true." (12/24/09)
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=122409A
-----
40) Government strips away your right to pee!
Classically Liberal
by CLS
"Some idiot from Nigeria tried to light a powder he had strapped to
his leg. There was some smoke and popping sounds and some flames but
no explosion of any kind. The flames were quickly put out by
passengers and crew members and the man incapacitated. So the travel
Nazis are now allegedly announcing new regulations that chain
passengers to the seats for much of a flight, if not the entire
flight. ... The man was 'confined to his seat' when he did it -- that
didn't stop him from trying set the plane on fire. The individual in
question would have been in compliance with the new rules had them
been in place. In other words, they would have done absolutely nothing
to stop the incident that happened. But then all the other measures
put into place didn't stop this incident from happening
either." (12/27/09)
-----
41) Unchaining the human heart -- a revolutionary manifesto:
Moonshiners, Medicine men, and merchants of death
J. Neil Schulman @ Rational Review
by J. Neil Schulman
"This is a book about liberating passion. What do people who evade
federal excise taxes on the manufacture of liquor, push drugs that
haven't achieved FDA approval, and sell weapons designed only to kill
other people have to do with that? What the three examples in the
title of this chapter have in common, of course, is that they are all
legally and morally dubious. So it might be useful to start with a
legal analysis. We'll start where I get most of my legal knowledge --
movies and TV -- in this case from the movie Legally
Blonde." (12/27/09)
-----
42) The joys of airstrikes and anonymity
Salon
by Glenn Greenwald
"Each time the U.S. bombs a new location in the Muslim world, the same
pattern emerges. First, officials from the U.S. or allied governments
run to their favorite media outlet to claim -- anonymously -- that
some big, bad, notorious, 'top' Al Qaeda leader 'may have been' or
'likely was' killed in the strike, and this constitutes a 'stinging'
or 'devastating' blow against the Terrorist group. These compliant
media outlets then sensationalistically trumpet that claim as the
dominant theme of their 'reporting' on the attack, drowning out every
other issue. ... over and over and over, it turns out that these
anonymous government assertions -- trumpeted by our mindless media --
are completely false. The Big Bad Guy allegedly killed in the strike
ends up nowhere near the bombs and missiles. Sometimes, the very same
Big Bad Guy can be used to justify different strikes over the course
of many years ..." (12/26/09)
-----
43) The domestic Iraq
The Partial Observer
by James Leroy Wilson
"In 2003, the hate-filled and hysterical Right attacked all who
disagreed with them. In 2009, the hate-filled and hysterical Left is
doing the same. In the end, I suspect that healthcare reform will be
to Obama what Iraq was to Bush -- an expensive failure. All caused
because he scapegoats the wrong people." (12/24/09)
http://partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=3386
-----
44) The Beck Supremacy
The New Republic
by Jason Zengerle
"Politicians and pundits may argue about whether Limbaugh, Beck, and
their ilk have real pull at the polls, but, when it comes to selling
thrillers, those who work in publishing agree: Right-wing talk jocks
deliver. Beck, in particular, has become a make-or-break blurb for
thriller writers, with The New York Times recently hailing him as the
genre's Oprah. Brad Thor, who writes political thrillers about an ex-
Navy seal battling Muslim terrorists and is a frequent guest on Beck's
radio and TV shows, says, 'Glenn has been one of the three best things
to happen to thriller books in the last fifty years' -- right up there
with John F. Kennedy including Ian Fleming's From Russia with Love on
a list of his favorite books and Ronald Reagan plugging Clancy's The
Hunt for Red October." (12/26/09)
http://www.tnr.com/article/metro-policy/the-beck-supremacy
-----
45) Policies for 2010: Free schools
Adam Smith Institute
by Tom Clougherty
"Assuming the Conservatives win the upcoming General Election, it
looks like Britain will finally get a fully fledged school choice
scheme in 2010 -- something the Adam Smith Institute has been pushing
for ever since it was founded. Under Michael Gove's planned reforms,
parents would be free to choose which school their children attended,
with government funding following that choice. Crucially, Gove also
aims to liberate the supply-side of education, by allowing charities,
companies, groups of parents and so on to set up new schools, which
would compete with existing state sector ones." (12/27/09)
-----
46) The unintended consequences of fascism
Freedom's Phoenix
by Dave Hodges
"With increasing public dissatisfaction of the politicians forsaking
of the American middle class in favor of Congress' servitude to
corporate special interests, many refer to our elected representatives
as metaphoric whores who will do anything for monetary donations to
their next political campaign. There is a situation brewing in Arizona
which may move the term 'political whore' from a figurative term to a
literal form of speech." (12/26/09)
-----
47) Obama is failing
Ayn R. Key
by Ayn R. Key
"Although Obama supporters continue to tell all doubters that it is
far too early to judge whether Obama has been a successful president
or not, and indicate that for the foreseeable future it will still be
too early, there are indications that he has indeed become a failure
in spite of all his good intentions." (12/26/09)
http://aynrkey.blogspot.com/2009/12/obama-is-failing.html
-----
48) Discrimination!
AntiWar.Com
by Nebojsa Malic
"On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled
that the Constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina discriminated against
minorities by allowing only Serbs, Croats, and Muslims to run for
certain public office. The lawsuit was filed several years ago by
Jakob Finci, a Jew, and Dervo Sejdic, a Rom, prompting countless
headlines along the lines of 'Bosnia discriminates against Jews and
Roma.' As is usually the case with anything concerning Bosnia, the
truth is somewhat more complicated tha[n] a sound bite. The said
Constitution was drafted in 1995 as one annex of the Dayton Accords,
the peace agreement that put an end to three and a half years of
vicious civil war. Its authors are not Bosnian, but rather Western
diplomats, led by U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke." (12/25/09)
-----
49) Power corrupts on the US/Mexico border
Fr33 Agents
by J. Nick Puglia
"In Latin America, and in much of the world, police corruption, even
if we are only talking about mordidas (small bribes) to get one out of
a traffic ticket, are widely accepted. Everyone knows it takes place
and everyone knows that the police are corrupt. In the United States
things are a bit different as so much of the populace, despite all of
the evidence to the contrary, do seem to put law enforcement officers
on a lofty, undeserved pedestal." (12/23/09)
-----
50) Economic insurance for the rest of us
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal
"Would you work for slips of paper on which I sketch a little doodle
and sign my name, saying that it is 'legal tender' but not backing it
with anything other than your trust? I hope not. The government's
counterfeit 'dollars' are no better unless people imagine they are
better. Once people realize they are being duped, the game is over.
Don't be the last one to figure it out." (12/25/09)
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* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
*****************************
51) Russ Jones on Freedom Rings Radio, 12/28/09
Freedom Rings Radio
Russ Jones of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition joins host Kenneth
John. 9-10am Central on WRMN 1410 AM, Elgin, IL or live on the web.
[live radio or stream] (12/28/09)
-----
52) Free Talk Live, 12/26/09
Free Talk Live
"Passengers Stop Alleged Terrorist :: Security Theatre :: Jail and
Respect :: Convenience Store Slavery? :: Ludicrous Energy Conspiracy
Theories :: Nuclear Power :: Immigration Control Freaks :: English
Mandate? :: The Unfree Power Market :: Immigration Convert :: Ending
Govt Welfare :: Collusion, Licensing, and Regulation :: Minimum
Wage :: Leave People Alone :: Teen Murderer." [MP3] (12/26/09)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2009-12-26.mp3
-----
53) Michael Anthony on Antiwar Radio
AntiWar.Com
"Michael Anthony, author of Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True
Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq, discusses the
military's neglect of suicidal soldiers, officers more interested in
self-promotion than doing their jobs, veterans' struggles with family
life and homelessness and how the process of becoming a man in the
military sometimes involves refusing orders." [Flash audio or MP3]
(12/24/09)
http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/12/24/michael-anthony/
-----
54) Cato Daily Podcast, 12/23/09
Cato Institute
"Christians and capitalism," featuring Jay Richards. [MP3]
-----
55) Freedomain Radio #1536
Freedomain Radio
"Egg-AH!, a tidal dream, curiosity in relationships, and a distant
father." [MP3] (12/20/09)
*************************************
* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
*************************************
56) 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/
***********
* WaYbAcK
***********
57) Bellamy's loyalty oath becomes law
Details, and the "quote of the day," from Leon's Political Almanac at: