06/25 -- US House passes campaign disclosure bill; Taliban endorse General Petraeus

[Thomas L. Knapp]

**************************************************
* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
*
* Volume VIII, Issue #1,948
* Friday, June 25th, 2010
* Email Circulation 1,869
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* Published every non-holiday weekday
* by the staff of Rational Review
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* On the Web: http://www.rationalreview.com/news
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In The News:

1) US House passes campaign disclosure bill
2) Taliban endorse General Petraeus
3) Iraq: 24 killed, 33 wounded
4) Pakistan: Five Americans get 10-year sentences in terror verdict
5) US Congress OKs new sanctions against Iran
6) SCOTUS upends widely used anti-fraud law
7) Germans question involvement in Afghanistan
8) MA: Backers say sales tax cut to be on ballot
9) SCOTUS: Petition sigs can be public knowledge
10) Eikenberry: Time to move on
11) Rand Paul's underground electric fence baffles libertarians
12) AR: 10-year-old Grand Marshal at gay rights parade
13) Dye, scan show promise on Alzheimer's
14) 31 states seek standardized academic exam
15) Obama, Medvedev pledge stronger economic ties
16) Gillard reassures Obama on Aussie regime's commitment to Afghan
occupation
17) North Korea: Regime threatens more punishment for abducted
American
18) Guns to be allowed onboard Amtrak trains
19) MO: Homeowner saves wife from attack
20) WA: Armed pizza guy faces off with robbery suspect

Everybody Has An Opinion:

21) If you love newspapers, let them go
22) Don't mind me, I'll just die here in the dark
23) Rolling back prices at the Paris Metro
24) Cultural preconditions for liberty
25) Open borders
26) Worried are the peacemakers
27) Working on a (temp) dream
28) Does Russia have the courage to change?
29) A hole in the world
30) The good news from Beijing
31) Obama missteps on McChrystal
32) Why I hate Harry Truman
33) McChrystal past, present and future?
34) Click it or ticket! Government rampages again
35) The Greek plague: Sticky wages
36) Freddie and Fannie update
37) Let McChrystal bring the troops home
38) Blue Dogs unleashed
39) Guns save lives
40) What a world we live in
41) Defending the rate buster
42) The Appleseed Project
43) Is Petraeus McChrystal's replacement or Obama's?
44) Protecting little Brits from the bogeyman
45) When police kill a city
46) A legal cover for torture?
47) The Ambassadors of the Second Amendment
48) Second Amendment Freedom Riders
49) Woody Allen is a jihadist
50) Why the silence on Wilder?
51) Taliban's time horizon longer than America's
52) The Repossessed
53) A failed president (or two)
54) The KISS principle
55) Tax incentives are a game we can't win
56) The two faces of the Tea Party
57) Now what?
58) Murder with malice aforethought
59) Attacks on the Electoral College gain momentum
60) America's lawless Supreme Court
61) Against Milton Friedman
62) Why I'm running for US Senate
63) Is Spain the last great heist?
64) Entitled to your money: Day care protests
65) Grape gossip from the Central Valley

See No Evil, Hear No Evil:

66) Ed Rutledge on Freedom Rings Radio, 06/28/10
67) Audrey Spaulding on the Charlie Brennan Show, 06/25/10
68) The cost of obesity in America
69) Cato Daily Podcast, 06/24/10
70) Michael Hastings on Antiwar Radio

What's Up In The Freedom Movement:

71) Today's events

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

1) US House passes campaign disclosure bill
USA Today

"Corporate CEOs would have to appear in campaign ads they fund, under
a political disclosure bill the House just passed by a narrow margin.
Democrats, hoping to rein in special-interest spending before
November's midterm elections, pushed the measure, which would impose
broad new disclosure rules on political spending." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2gynfqp

-----

2) Taliban endorse General Petraeus
New York Daily News

"It seems the evildoers were just biding their time to see how the
Rolling Stone flap would play out. Now that President Obama has sacked
his top war boss in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and
replaced him with Iraq surge hero Gen. David Petraeus, the Taliban has
finally weighed in. Their verdict? The new boss is the same as the old
boss. And Petraeus is a wimp, they claimed Thursday." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/28lgw5o

-----

3) Iraq: 24 killed, 33 wounded
AntiWar.Com

"In Mosul, two suicide bombers attacked an army base in the Kokajli
district, where they killed one soldier and wounded five others. Four
policemen were killed and four more were wounded when a suicide bomber
attacked a checkpoint in Shifaa. A bomb killed two policemen and
wounded five others. Late yesterday, gunmen killed three policemen at
an al-Iqtesadiyeen checkpoint. ... In Baghdad, roadside bombs on
Palestine St. killed two people and wounded eight more. ... Police in
Khalis found the bodies of two brothers who were Awakening Council
(Sahwa) members. Two others killed in the attack were found later.
Gunmen killed two Sahwa members and one of their wives near Duluiya in
Sulaybi village. ... Police killed a man driving an explosives packed
car in Tal Afar. ... In Khalidiya, another potential suicide bomber
was killed by police." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2be7ffk

-----

4) Pakistan: Five Americans get 10-year sentences in terror verdict
ABC News

"A special anti-terrorism court closed to observers and presided over
by a single judge convicted five young American men today of planning
to launch attacks in Pakistan. The Americans -- all from Virginia and
all Muslim -- were sentenced to 10-year jail terms in this rural
county for criminal conspiracy to attack Pakistan and for providing
funds to banned terrorist organizations. Their lawyers said they will
appeal, and predicted a higher court will see the evidence as
thin." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2fnhsup

-----

5) US Congress OKs new sanctions against Iran
MSNBC

"Congress on Thursday approved tough unilateral sanctions aimed at
squeezing Iran's energy and banking sectors and sent the measure to
President Barack Obama to sign into law. Final action came as the
House passed the bill after the Senate acted earlier Thursday. The new
sanctions target Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Iran's imports of gas
and other refined energy products in response to the Tehran
government's defiance of demands it abandon its nuclear
ambitions." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/262n8ml

-----

6) SCOTUS upends widely used anti-fraud law
MSNBC

"The Supreme Court Thursday defanged a legal doctrine used to convict
a rogues gallery of corporate fraudsters based on a 23-year-old
statute that says the public has an 'intangible right to honest
services' from public officials. In the past decade, prosecutors have
used the law to press fraud cases against corporate executives,
including Enron's CEO Jeffrey Skilling, whose appeal lead to the
ruling." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/299d5gm

-----

7) Germans question involvement in Afghanistan
Los Angeles Times

"Omid Nouripour's effort to keep German troops in Afghanistan is an
uphill battle, and he knows it. Not only must the Berlin lawmaker
fight his country's aversion to an increasingly bloody war once billed
as a peacekeeping effort, but he must buck his own Green Party's
antiwar platform." (06/25/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2brabql

-----

8) MA: Backers say sales tax cut to be on ballot
Boston Globe

"Voters in November will get the chance to slash the state sales tax
from 6.25 percent to 3 percent, according to advocates who say they
submitted more than enough petition signatures yesterday to force the
item onto the ballot. Carla Howell -- chairwoman of the Alliance to
Roll Back Taxes, based in Wayland -- said her group submitted about
19,000 signatures to town and city clerks by yesterday's deadline, a
comfortable margin over the required 11,099 signatures. Her group put
similar measures on the ballot in 2002 and 2008, but neither passed.
She called the latest campaign a 'modest start to bringing the state
government in line with the level of spending that's appropriate.' The
proposal, Howell said, would force state officials to cut spending by
more than $2 billion." [editor's note: I so am delighted to see that
Carla Howell continuing to fight to roll back Bay State taxes, even
after her Pygmalion moved on to other games - SAT] (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/23af635

-----

9) SCOTUS: Petition sigs can be public knowledge
Christian Science Monitor

"Those who sign a petition to place an issue of public dispute onto a
statewide ballot may not later claim a broad First Amendment shield of
anonymity to prevent disclosure of their names to the public, the US
Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. In an 8-to-1 decision, the high court
said public disclosure of referendum petitions does not as a general
matter violate the First Amendment. But the court also stressed that
under certain circumstances, petition signers may be able to remain
anonymous. 'Those resisting disclosure can prevail under the First
Amendment if they can show a reasonable probability that the compelled
disclosure [of personal information] will subject them to threats,
harassment, or reprisals from either government officials or private
parties,' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion in
a case called Doe v. Reed. The issue arose in Washington State after a
group opposed to same-sex marriage sought to repeal a recently passed
domestic partnership law. The group wanted the law to reflect that
marriage and related legal benefits could only be between a man and a
woman." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2evjp3m

-----

10) Eikenberry: Time to move on
Colorado Springs Gazette

"The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan on Thursday acknowledged having
'vigorous debates' behind closed doors with Gen. Stanley McChrystal,
but said he and the ousted NATO commander acted in synch to implement
war strategy. 'Stan and I have known each other for a very long time,
and worked shoulder-to-shoulder here together under very difficult
circumstances over this past year. He was an excellent partner,'
Ambassador Karl Eikenberry told a group of Afghan
reporters." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2clzdhp

-----

11) Rand Paul's underground electric fence baffles libertarians
Huffington Post

"Republican Senatorial candidate Rand Paul wants to build a fence
along the U.S.-Mexico border. It's a rather ho-hum proposition in the
larger context of conservative ideas -- except that Paul wants that
fence to be electric and he wants it built underground. Among the
variety of proposals to stem illegal immigration along the southern
border, the construction of an underground electrical fence appears to
stand alone on the extreme. There is little contemporary evidence of
other Republican officials proposing such a project, even among the
most conservative of the bunch. Indeed, when approached in the halls
of Senate several weeks ago and asked about the idea (though not told
who proposed it), National Republican Senate Committee Chair John
Cornyn (R-Tex.) assumed it was a joke." [editor's note: This guy
deserves a smack in the head from his (far closer to having a clue)
Dad - SAT] (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3x39mon

-----

12) AR: 10-year-old Grand Marshal at gay rights parade
Fox News

"When the Fayetteville, Ark., Gay Pride Parade steps off on East
Street Saturday on its way to the Wal-Mart parking lot, it will be led
by a young man who has made a career out of fighting for gay rights.
Make that a young boy. Will Phillips, the grand marshal, is 10 years
old, and his presence has thrust Fayetteville's Gay Pride Parade into
the national spotlight. Ordinarily, the annual parade is pretty low-
key, residents say. The mayor issues a proclamation, the police close
a few streets and a few hundred people show up. ... But the selection
of young Will, who last November refused to stand and recite the
Pledge of Allegiance in school to show his support for gay rights, has
changed all that. This year the parade has drawn national attention,
and it's promising to tread the line between farce and
confrontation." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/27tz8kx

-----

13) Dye, scan show promise on Alzheimer's
New York Times

"Dr. Daniel Skovronsky sat at a small round table in his corner
office, laptop open, waiting for an e-mail message. A few minutes
later, the message arrived -- results that showed his startup company
might have overcome one of the biggest obstacles in diagnosing
Alzheimer's disease. It had found a dye and a brain scan that, he
said, can show the hallmark plaque building up in the brains of people
with the disease. The findings, which will be presented at an
international meeting of the Alzheimer's Association in Honolulu on
July 11, must still be confirmed and approved by the Food and Drug
Administration. But if they hold up, it will mean that for the first
time doctors would have a reliable way to diagnose the presence of
Alzheimer's in patients with memory problems." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/27a47ex

-----

14) 31 states seek standardized academic exam
Associated Press

"Thirty-one states have banded together to compete for a federal grant
to create a series of new national academic tests to replace the
current patchwork system. Currently, every state gives a different
test to its students. In some states, including Massachusetts, passing
the exam is a graduation requirement. The federal government has said
it will award up to two grants of up to $160 million to create a
testing system based on proposed new national academic standards in
reading and math. Washington state is submitting the application on
behalf of the group of states." [editor's note: having made a portion
of my living over the last near-decade reading & scoring test-papers
(from kids from 8 to 18), I applaud this effort to streamline the
process (although the prospect of reading 93,000 papers on the same
topic, as opposed to 3000 scares me just a bit!) - SAT] (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/265z5y7

-----

15) Obama, Medvedev pledge stronger economic ties
CNN

"President Barack Obama and visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
pledged cooperation on stronger economic ties Thursday, announcing a
deal for Russia to again accept U.S. poultry exports and touting U.S.
support for Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization. During
a busy day that included White House talks, a joint news conference
and participation in a U.S.-Russia business council meeting, the two
presidents repeatedly cited strengthening relations between their
countries after what Obama called a 'drift' under the previous
administration." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/22ltyqr

-----

16) Gillard reassures Obama on Aussie regime's commitment to Afghan
occupation
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Australia's new prime minister said she used her first telephone
conversation with President Barack Obama on Friday to assure him the
country's military commitment to Afghanistan would not change under
her leadership. Some observers have speculated Prime Minister Julia
Gillard may push for an early withdrawal of Australia's 1,550 troops
from Afghanistan as the war loses popularity among Australians and
elections loom." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2e8ydfn

-----

17) North Korea: Regime threatens more punishment for abducted
American
Austin American-Statesman

"North Korea threatened to increase punishment for an American
sentenced to hard labor for illegally entering the country, linking
his case to U.S. criticism of Pyongyang over the deadly sinking of a
South Korean warship. Aijalon Mahli Gomes, from Boston, was sentenced
in April to eight years of hard labor and fined $700,000 for entering
the country illegally and for an unspecified 'hostile
act.'" (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/27sypa3

-----

18) Guns to be allowed onboard Amtrak trains
Security Info Watch

"Under language inserted into a transportation funding bill last year,
Amtrak passengers will be allowed to carry firearms in checked luggage
beginning in December. According to the provision, firearms and
ammunition may be transported in secure baggage onboard Amtrak trains
under several guidelines including * Passengers must declare to Amtrak
within 24-hours of departure that the firearm will be placed in their
checked baggage. * The gun must not be loaded and must also be carried
in a hard-sided container. * The hard-sided container must be locked
with only the passenger having the combination or key for the
container." (06/23/10)

http://www.securityinfowatch.com/guns-be-allowed-onboard-amtrak-trains

-----

19) MO: Homeowner saves wife from attack
KCTV News

"A residential robbery in Kansas City, Mo. ended with the homeowner
shooting the man who was who was allegedly robbing his wife. 'She's
roughed up, terrified,' Kansas City police Det. Steve Shaffer said.
Police said the incident happened 'in a matter of seconds.' The couple
was doing yard work at their home near Gregory Boulevard and Holmes
Road just before 5 a.m. when police said a man ran up to them. 'The
subject came up in the grass and started yelling and acting
aggressive,' Shaffer said. Police said the homeowner tried to keep his
distance, when the alleged robber turned his attention to the woman.
The man grabbed the woman, police said, and pulled her inside the
house as he started grabbing items from inside the house. The suspect
barely made it to the doorway with a flat-screen when police said the
homeowner, now armed with a gun he retrieved from his truck,
confronted him. '(The homeowner) told him to stop, I'll sho[o]t,'
Shaffer said. 'He didn't and the man shot him in the leg.'" (06/23/10)

http://www.kctv5.com/news/24002578/detail.html

-----

20) WA: Armed pizza guy faces off with robbery suspect
KATU News

"A pistol-packing employee foiled a robbery attempt at pizza delivery
business in Spokane. Police says a masked man armed with a pellet gun
entered the Pizza Pipeline store Wednesday night and demanded money.
That's when an employee with a concealed weapons license pulled his
pistol and told the would-be robber to drop his weapon. The man bolted
out the door." (06/24/10)

http://www.katu.com/news/local/97064594.html

*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 06/25/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 96,808 ... Max - 105,558
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,408
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************

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

21) If you love newspapers, let them go
Reason
by Katherine Mangu-Ward, Jesse Kline & Robby Soave

"Newspaper. Personally, I never touch the stuff. But rumor has it
there is a certain amount of distress about the impending doom of the
news-on-dead-tree industry. Here at Reason, our 'News You Can Use'
stories tend toward subjects like what to use as a bong when the Feds
close down your neighborhood head shop, but yesterday I put our crack
team of summer interns, Jesse Kline and Robby Soave, on the case of
what to do after the last print run of the last newspaper ends. Our
goal was twofold: 1) selfless public service journalism, and 2)
selfish desire to ease the glide into a marvelous digital
future." (06/24/10)

http://reason.com/archives/2010/06/24/if-you-love-newspapers-let-the

-----

22) Don't mind me, I'll just die here in the dark
When Falls the Coliseum
by JD Tuccille

"[M]y wife and I live in Arizona, which has a nasty habit of bursting
into flames from time to time. Seeing as how the state is so
unpredictably flammable, it's generally a good idea to be ready to bug
out if the neighborhood starts to get well-done, and we keep a 'go
bag' of important documents and the like at hand in case we need to
head for less-smoky environs. Dear old dad-in-law's California digs
are similarly combustible, and also prone to slide into the ocean if
visited by rain instead of fire. So we thought it wise to inquire as
to his preparations for unfortunate events. 'Oh, I'll just do what
they tell me to do.' When pressed, he grew upset at the idea that he
should presume to make plans when there are experts whose job it is to
handle such eventualities." (06/23/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2vo7s97

-----

23) Rolling back prices at the Paris Metro
Center for a Stateless Society
by Darian Worden

"In Paris, subway fare dodgers have devised an ingenious method of
competing against the government subway system. They offer an
alternative method of price collecting. Essentially, insurance funds
for fare dodgers have been established. Henry Chu reports in the LA
Times that for approximately $8.50 a month, an individual can
participate in a fund that will pay your fine if you are caught
dodging fares. At least one such group has been operating for years
and several funds are now operational in Paris. By contrast, a legal
monthly pass costs about $74, and a single ride about $2, with fare
increases scheduled for the near future." (06/24/10)

http://c4ss.org/content/3003

-----

24) Cultural preconditions for liberty
The Libertarian Standard
by Wirkman Virkkala

"The Sauds follow the Old Time Religion, and it's pretty darn strict.
(The AP explains it as follows: 'Saudi Arabia follows a strict
interpretation of Islam that prohibits unrelated men and women from
mingling.') It is also amazingly illiberal, in almost all of the
senses of the word. But before you jump to saying nasty things about
sand dwellers, ragheads, and the Prophet, it is worth noting that such
rigorous following of old honor rules is increasingly hated in Arab
society. These old, opprobrious rules have a shelf life. And hey, look
on the bright side. The cultural preconditions for liberty, much
talked about these days amongst libertarian thinkers, may be in place
in the Arab world, right now." (06/23/10)

http://tinyurl.com/22rtzvv

-----

25) Open borders
Adam Smith Institute
by Felix Bungay

"Why should any government be able to deny people the freedom to live
where they wish? Should the pure luck of one's birth place confine a
person to remain there? If one is serious about freedom then we must
take a stand and say that a truly free nation, both socially and
economically free, would have open borders for people to come and
leave as they like. This policy already exists within the borders of
the EU, and so the logical extension should be to first apply this to
other English speaking countries (America, New Zealand, Canada,
Australia) and in time to the rest of the world. Such a policy should
be pursued in tandem with a pursuit of global free trade, which is
itself dependent on the free movement of goods, services and of
course, labour." (06/24/10)

http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/international/open-borders/

-----

26) Worried are the peacemakers
San Francisco Chronicle
by Jon Carroll

"Blessed are the peacemakers, saith Christ Jesus. Not so fast, saith
the Supreme Court of the United States. It turns out that if you are
counseling terrorist groups that want to reject their violent pasts
and peacefully resolve their disputes, you could be charged with
aiding and abetting terrorism, which is a serious crime, very close to
treason. Nasty stuff. The Supreme Court said that the terrorist groups
could just be buying time by using American dupes to cover up their
evil ways. But suppose, you know, they're not. Suppose they're sick of
combat or believe they can't win. Maybe they're looking for the best
deal possible. That tracks with our understanding of human nature,
does it not? The peacemaking group was the Humanitarian Law Project.
The groups they were helping plot a course to peace were the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Kurdistan Workers' Party. It
does seem likely that these groups might want peace -- they're losing.
In fact, the court made no judgment as to whether the motives of the
terrorist groups were sincere." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/25tzce4

-----

27) Working on a (temp) dream
In These Times
by Richard Greenwald

"We are living at the dawn of the freelance world, as more and more
people find themselves working as consultants, contract workers or
freelancers. This change in the way we work is as profound as the
shift that occurred during the industrial revolution. More than 25
percent of all working Americans are, whether they want to be or not,
temporary laborers, and that number will surely rise in the coming
years. (According to the Freelancers Union, which represents almost
100,000 contract workers in the New York City metro region,
freelancers already comprise 30 percent of America's workforce.) Job
security and 9-to-5 jobs are becoming a relic of the past." [editor's
note: Yes, and it could mean an end to dead-end jobs, employee
"benefits" (instead of decent compensation for jobs well done),
disgruntled employees and tyrannical middle-managers. Where's the
downside? Folks must give up the delusion of cradle-to-grave security!
- SAT] (06/24/10)

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6107/working_on_a_temp_dream

-----

28) Does Russia have the courage to change?
Christian Science Monitor
by Lawrence E. Harrison

"President Obama met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today. In
their press conference, they talked about Afghanistan, an upcoming
G-20 summit, and the World Trade Organization. What they should have
discussed also is whether Moscow has the courage to lead Russia into a
truly prosperous and democratic future. Based on a recent meeting I
had with Mr. Medvedev, I'm not sure it is. In Moscow last month, I
participated in a symposium on cultural values, cultural change, and
economic development dedicated to the memory of Harvard political
scientist Samuel Huntington. I left with a strong sense that Russia is
at a crossroads. Will it accept the mediocrity of continuing as a
Second-World nation, or will it adopt the conditions to become a First-
World power?" [editor's note: Dumbass question? If it has any clue
about the value of NOT becoming another empire, maybe Russia might be
smart enough to choose Option A. Second-World is like Switzerland, fer
crissakes! - SAT] (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/28nrt2h

-----

29) A hole in the world
The Nation
by Naomi Klein

"Everyone gathered for the town hall meeting had been repeatedly
instructed to show civility to the gentlemen from BP and the federal
government. These fine folks had made time in their busy schedules to
come to a school gymnasium on a Tuesday night in Plaquemines Parish,
Louisiana, one of many coastal communities where brown poison was
slithering through the marshes, part of what has come to be described
as the largest environmental disaster in US history. 'Speak to others
the way you would want to be spoken to,' the chair of the meeting
pleaded one last time before opening the floor for questions. And for
a while the crowd, mostly made up of fishing families, showed
remarkable restraint." (06/24/10)

http://www.thenation.com/article/36608/hole-world

-----

30) The good news from Beijing
The American Prospect
by Matthew Yglesias

"The Great Chinese Currency Manipulation Debate ended this week, with
more of a whimper than a bang. China's central bank announced that it
would allow its currency, the renminbi, to trade up or down according
to market demand for Chinese money -- just in time for Rolling Stone's
blockbuster article on Gen. Stanley McChrystal to obliterate all other
issues from the news cycle. It's worth recalling, however, what a big
deal this was just a few weeks ago when Paul Krugman called on the
Obama administration to 'get tough' with China over trade. In March,
Krugman had deplored the U.S. failure to threaten tariffs as a leading
reason to despair over our economic prospects. Meanwhile, on June 13,
China's state-controlled press slammed members of Congress who wanted
China to let its currency trade as a 'bunch of baby-kissing
politicians' who didn't know what they were talking about. But now the
storm has passed, we're all friends again, and the problems are
solved, right?" (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/242ar2t

-----

31) Obama missteps on McChrystal
Reason
by Steve Chapman

"In making and tolerating disparaging comments about his civilian
superiors in front of a reporter, Gen. Stanley McChrystal failed a
test of leadership, judgment, and respect for his role in a democratic
government. But most obviously, he failed an IQ test. Popping off
about people in the Obama administration in the presence of a
journalist can be characterized by many adjectives. 'Smart' is not one
of them. By any reasonable standard, President Obama had ample cause
to sack him. But if he thought McChrystal was the right person to lead
the U.S. effort in Afghanistan before the latest issue of Rolling
Stone came out, he should have stuck with that judgment." (06/24/10)

http://reason.com/archives/2010/06/24/obama-missteps-on-mcchrystal

-----

32) Why I hate Harry Truman
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

"Today is the sixtieth anniversary of the war that never ended -- the
Korean war, to be exact, the first real face-to-face armed conflict of
the cold war era. Although a truce was declared, a peace treaty was
never signed, and the threat that Harry Truman's war will erupt once
more hangs over our heads to this day. Yet the North Koreans are a
threat mainly to themselves, as they rail and rant and launch
provocations that are almost comical in their extravagance: Pyongyang,
which routinely threatens to incinerate the South, has elevated
bellicosity into an art form. However, these odd relics of a half-
forgotten past are not what haunts us today: after all, the Korean
peninsula is on the outer fringes of the Empire, and what happens
there is of little consequence to most Americans. What has the Korean
war to do with us, in the here and now? Well, now that you ask:
plenty." (06/25/10)

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/06/24/why-i-hate-harry-truman/

-----

33) McChrystal past, present and future?
LewRockwell.Com
by Karen Kwiatkowski

"The day-to-day drama of the parasitic exploiting class -- Obama and
Petraeus, Clinton and McChrystal, Enron and Unocal, Lockheed-Martin
and Northrop-Grumman, FOX versus CNN versus MSNBC in their three-
legged sack race to put out the status quo story -- is really not
important. As we have been assured repeatedly by top Senators and
talking heads and the White House, the status quo for the exploiting
class that benefits immensely from the Afghanistan occupation (and
sorry, I forgot to mention many stately and elegant drug money
laundering establishments in Europe, Asia and America) will not be
changed by the retirement of McChrystal. Move along, there's nothing
to see here." (06/25/10)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski251.html

-----

34) Click it or ticket! Government rampages again
Liberty For All
by Roderick T. Beaman

"By the fall of 1958, I had finished up in St. Agnes Grammar School in
Manhattan and we had moved to Bayside, Queens. My father's 1948 Dodge
Fluid Drive four-door had seen better days. He found a used 1955 Dodge
for sale and bought it. My family always had a fondness for Chrysler
products, especially Dodges. It was a two-tone dark and light blue,
two tones being in style at the time with the gear shift on the
dashboard, one of the very few years that Dodge had it that way. It
also had seatbelts partially installed." (06/24/10)

http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4487

-----

35) The Greek plague: Sticky wages
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by David Howden

"After the deaths of three bank employees, Greek president Karolos
Papoulias lamented that the debt-ridden country had finally 'reached
the edge of the abyss.' It should be so lucky. Abysses allow for falls
into the deep unknown. If real wages would make the plunge, Greek
workers would have a future with more options than striking and
senseless destruction." (06/24/10)

http://mises.org/daily/4490

-----

36) Freddie and Fannie update
Heartland Institute
by Matthew Glans

"Years of mismanagement and poor decisions have taken their toll on
the beleaguered government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, with Fannie Mae recently bleeding out roughly $13.1
billion during the first quarter of 2010. It has requested an
additional $8.4 billion cash infusion from the Treasury Department.
Since the takeover of Freddie and Fannie by the federal government,
taxpayers have spent more than $145 billion keeping the institutions
afloat. In 2009, the Treasury and Federal Reserve spent approximately
$1.4 trillion buying bad debt off their books." (06/23/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2d8hpbw

-----

37) Let McChrystal bring the troops home
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger

"We really shouldn't let the furor over President Obama's firing of
Gen. Stanley McChrystal cause us to lose focus on three important
points regarding Afghanistan: The U.S. government should never have
invaded and occupied the country in the first place, it should have
exited the country years ago, and continuing the occupation for any
period of time whatsoever is the height of immorality and
folly." (06/24/10)

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-06-24.asp

-----

38) Blue Dogs unleashed
FreedomWorks
by Matt McKillip

"Harold Meyerson's June 23rd article 'Centrist and clueless' in the
Washington Post attacks the 'skittish' Blue Dog Democrats who have
inexplicably become hesitant about continuing the onslaught of
government spending. Meyerson is disgusted by any considerations that
ask the least amount of prudence in federal spending -- 'cutting
weekly unemployment benefits by $25?' Outrageous! 'Scroogish!' How
could these Blue Dog Democrats be so foolish, he wonders, to confuse
the short term need for government job creations with the mounting
long term deficit?" (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3xkoaxj

-----

39) Guns save lives
Freedom Politics
by John Stossel

"You know what the mainstream media think about guns and our freedom
to carry them. Pierre Thomas of ABC: 'When someone gets angry or when
they snap, they are going to be able to have access to weapons.' Chris
Matthews of MSNBC: 'I wonder if in a free society violence is always
going to be a part of it if guns are available.'" (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/337tbk3

-----

40) What a world we live in
Foundation for Economic Education
by Steven Horwitz

"The last two years have, for the most part, not been good for those
who care about free markets and human prosperity. The financial crisis
and recession have led to a major increase in the size and scope of
government intervention in the economy, and many people have seen
their wealth take a major hit. It's easy to get down about the
prospects for the future, but when one stands back and takes the
longer view, one finds abundant evidence that we are, and will
continue to be, more prosperous than ever before." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3ykhkrk

-----

41) Defending the rate buster
Campaign For Liberty
by Walter Block

"The scene is familiar from hundreds of movies featuring labor themes:
the young eager worker comes to the factory for the first time,
determined to be a productive worker. In his enthusiasm, he happily
produces more than the other workers who have been at the factory many
years, and who are tired, stooped, and arthritic. He is a 'rate
buster.'" (06/24/10)

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=963

-----

42) The Appleseed Project
Backwoods Home
by Massad Ayoob

"There is nothing else in the shooting world quite like the Appleseed
Project, which combines American Revolutionary War history with rifle
marksmanship and firearms safety, and in so doing finds a balance that
can be equally fascinating to shooter and, yes, non-gun-owner
alike." (06/10)

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob123.html

-----

43) Is Petraeus McChrystal's replacement or Obama's?
Information Clearinghouse
by Paul Craig Roberts

"The most telling aspect of the McChrystal-Obama contretemps is that
it has caused no one in the US government, or media, to ask why the US
is still killing women and children in Afghanistan after 9 years. The
US government is prepared for everyone except itself to be tried at
the War Crimes Tribunal." (06/24/10)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25808.htm

-----

44) Protecting little Brits from the bogeyman
Spiked
by Natalie Rothschild

"The Lib-Con coalition has raised the spirits of some British civil
rights campaigners who have praised the new government for scrapping
New Labour's ID-card scheme, amending the DNA database model, and
ensuring that migrant children will no longer be held in detention.
Yet last week's news headlines declaring that an Indian Muslim
preacher would be barred from the UK brought about a strong sense of
deja vu from the not-so-distant New Labour past." (06/24/10)

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9076/

-----

45) When police kill a city
Pro Libertate
by Will Grigg

"In Maywood, as case elsewhere, the economic crash has choked off the
tax revenue on which the municipal government subsists. The town is
currently facing a $450,000 deficit. But what finally broke the city,
reports the Los Angeles Times, was the decision by the California
Joint Powers Insurance Authority to terminate 'general liability and
workers' compensation coverage because the city posed too high a
risk.' More specifically, the city was un-insurable because of 'a
large number of claims filed against the police.' This is because the
department (which also afflicted the neighboring city of Cudhay) had
become the police equivalent of The Island of Misfit Toys -- a
sanctuary city for criminals in state-issued costumes." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/28wvvdn

-----

46) A legal cover for torture?
CounterPunch
by Sheldon Richman

"It's not enough that the last gang to occupy the Executive Branch got
us into two illegal wars, accumulated autocratic powers, violated our
civil liberties, and tortured suspects. Now it appears that it kicked
things up a notch. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) says it has
unearthed 'evidence that indicates the Bush administration apparently
conducted illegal and unethical human experimentation and research on
detainees in CIA custody.'" (06/23/10)

http://counterpunch.org/richman06232010.html

-----

47) The Ambassadors of the Second Amendment
LA Gun Rights Examiner
by John Longenecker

"Many, many Americans think of liberty purists as Good Will
Ambassadors of the Bill Of Rights. We are. The obligation is that if
you're going to be an ambassador of anything, you have to come a-
calling. You have to spread the word. 90 million gun owners span the
nation, owning and maintaining some 300 million guns .... One of the
very best subtle illustrations of this safeguard of the United States
during World War II was Admiral Yamamoto's admonition to his own
Japanese Navy not to invade the mainland because '... there would be a
rifle behind every blade of grass.' Yamamoto studied in the U.S. and
came to appreciate the culture. We are a liberty culture, and that
liberty is ensured by being armed." (06/20/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2b5svkb

-----

48) Second Amendment Freedom Riders
Denver Gun Rights Examiner
by Dan Bidstrup

When I wrote that the people with obvious weapons would be shot first
I was thinking of the murders of the four police officers last
November .... The thrust of what I was trying to say was that people
who open carry are the Freedom Riders of the second amendment rights
movement. The Freedom Riders were brave blacks who rode buses across
the south to challenge segregation. The Interstate Commerce Commission
had already technically removed the 'separate but equal' rules but
interstate bus companies still segregated people. ... The riders
forced the country to face the laws and enforce them as they were
written. It took brave men and women to finally get the equality the
laws had given them.Those who choose to open carry open themselves up
to trouble of a similar nature." (06/22/10)

http://tinyurl.com/26437e8

-----

49) Woody Allen is a jihadist
Fairfield County Weekly
by Phil Maymin

"Woody Allen has recently lamented that it is too bad that President
Obama is not a dictator. 'It would be good,' Allen said, 'if he could
be dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of things
quickly.' Obama has already done a lot of things quickly. He has
effectively nationalized the automobile industry, the banks, the
insurance companies and much of America's real estate through the
backdoor of mortgage nationalization. He has pushed through universal
health insurance. Based on their voting, Americans have seemingly
waged an internal struggle for political philosophy, a greater jihad
if you will, and concluded that big government is good." (06/22/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2abxlam

-----

50) Why the silence on Wilder?
Jeffersonville Evening News
by Debbie Harbeson

"Of course it's positively shameful that Ms. Wilder, who has finally
been charged in relation to allegedly using city credit cards for
personal transactions, has not already resigned. But from all we've
seen from her since this first came out, that's no real surprise.
Which means someone else in Jeffersonville's government needs to step
up. Why isn't that happening? Maybe it's because she's charged with
conversion, which is exerting unauthorized use or control of someone
else's property. That definition does sound darn close to describing
what they all do as government employees, so it could be kind of
embarrassing to call for her resignation, I suppose." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/232sds8

-----

51) Taliban's time horizon longer than America's
Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

"In Afghanistan, as in Vietnam, proper skepticism of an outright U.S.
military victory abounds, leading to an escalation aimed at gaining
military advantage for ultimate negotiations with the Taliban. Yet
President Obama has given the escalation only 18 months in which to
reach this goal, as well as the equally unrealistic objectives of
crippling al-Qaeda and training Afghan security forces to operate on
their own. To get the U.S. military to buy into the 18-month period
prior to commencement of withdrawal, Obama had to consent to the
escalation of an extra 30,000 troops. The 18-month timetable to begin
withdrawal was the standard naive liberal dogma that this would jolt
the Afghan government into becoming a clean, democratic governing
force that could effectively battle the Taliban. Instead, Afghan
President Hamid Karzai has made clear he doesn't think the United
States can win, is trying to cut deals with the Taliban and their
patrons in the Pakistani military (also ostensibly an American ally),
and has even threatened to join the Taliban if the United States keeps
killing Afghan civilians." (06/23/10)

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2815

-----

52) The Repossessed
J. Neil Schulman @ Rational Review
by J. Neil Schulman

Fiction. (originally performed/published 1994/95; posted 06/24/2010)

http://jneilschulman.rationalreview.com/2010/06/the-repossessed/

-----

53) A failed president (or two)
The American Conservative
by Patrick J. Buchanan

"America is facing a crisis of confidence in government, with the
nation unable to win its wars, balance its budgets, control its
borders, stop the bleeding of its manufacturing base or plug a hole in
the ocean floor. Should the sovereign debt bombs start going off, as
they have lately threatened to do in Greece, bringing on another
financial crisis to dwarf the one we have lately gone through, the
crisis of democratic governments will become a crisis of democracy
itself. Perceived to have failed the country, the Bush Republicans
were summarily dismissed in 2006 and 2008. Obama's Democrats go to the
wall in November. Republicans will inherit the windfall. Yet few
harbor great hopes that the GOP has the cure for what ails
America." (06/24/10)

http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2010/06/24/a-failed-president-or-two/

-----

54) The KISS principle
TCS Daily
by Steven Selengut

"Over the past 30 years Federal Tax receipts (Corporate, Personal,
Estate, Excise, Gift, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, et al) have
averaged less than 20% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Read that
again, and don't think for a minute that it's not a large number. But
it's not nearly large enough to pay the bills, reduce the national
debt, grow the economy, and come to the aid of all of the people in
the world who need us. Why, because nearly half of us (some legally,
some not so) pay little or no federal income taxes at all -- and
because our elected representatives have no financial management
skills." (06/23/10)

http://tinyurl.com/23uhcxc

-----

55) Tax incentives are a game we can't win
Show-Me Institute
by Caitlin Hartsell

"Economic development tax incentives, no matter how they are packaged,
are not effective. They allow government officials, who have no
special knowledge of how to maximize growth, to pick winners and
losers in the market. As Show-Me Institute Executive Vice President
Joseph Haslag has written before, lowering broad tax rates is a much
more efficient method of stimulating the economy than targeted tax
credits. This allows everyone to benefit, rather than a few select
industries chosen by the state." (06/24/10)

http://www.showmedaily.org/2010/06/tax-incentives-are-a-game-we.html

-----

56) The two faces of the Tea Party
The Weekly Standard
by Matthew Continetti

"As a student in the exciting new field of Tea Party Studies, I've
noticed that no one agrees on what the Tea Party actually is. Is the
anti-Obama, anti-big government movement simply AstroTurf fabricated
by Dick Armey's FreedomWorks? Is it a bunch of Birthers, Birchers,
conspiracists, and white power misfits? Is it a strictly economic
phenomenon -- the inevitable result of high and persistent
unemployment? Or are the Tea Partiers nothing more than indulgent
Boomers who combine 1960s social libertarianism with 1980s laissez-
faire economics? Does the Tea Party draw on longstanding American
constitutional, political, and economic traditions, eddies of thought
that one can trace back to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew
Jackson? Or is it of a more recent vintage: Are the Tea Partiers
simply the same folks who once were called Reagan Democrats and
Perotistas? All of the above." (for publication 06/28/10)

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/two-faces-tea-party

-----

57) Now what?
Slate
by Fred Kaplan

"McChrystal is out, Petraeus is in. Civilian authority is reasserted,
with no real compromise to the military mission. Good news,
masterfully played. Now what? Or, to put it more crudely, so
what?" (06/24/10)

http://www.slate.com/id/2258098/

-----

58) Murder with malice aforethought
The Power of Narrative
by Arthur Silber

"Obama and his administration claim the 'right' to murder anyone in
the world, wherever he or she may be, for whatever reason they choose
-- or for no reason at all. Obama and his administration recognize no
upper limit to the number of people they can murder in this manner:
they can murder as many people as they wish. And they claim there is
nothing at all that may impede their exercise of this 'right.' This is
the game entire. Understand this: once Obama and his administration
have claimed this, there is nothing left to argue about. They can
murder you -- and they can murder anyone else at all. What in the name
of anything you hold holy remains to be 'debated' once a vile,
damnable 'right' of this kind has been claimed?" (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/22nqg5a

-----

59) Attacks on the Electoral College gain momentum
National Review
by Tara Ross

"You won't hear about it in the mainstream media, but the Electoral
College is on the verge of being eliminated. One important legislative
vote could occur Thursday. Two others could occur in the upcoming days
and weeks. A California-based group, National Popular Vote, is
lobbying hard for a dangerous piece of anti-Electoral College
legislation. ... Five states have already approved NPV, but now three
additional states are dangerously close to joining them: Delaware,
Massachusetts, and New York." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/348qyxa

-----

60) America's lawless Supreme Court
Freedom's Phoenix
by Stephen Lendman

"Given extremist right wing governance under both parties, (Eric
Holder the new John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, or Michael Mukasey;
Obama the new Bush) no longer do constitutional protections apply. As
a result, anyone may be prosecuted for supporting human rights, civil
liberties, democratic freedom, writing articles like this one, or
airing populist views on programs like the Progressive Radio News
Hour." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2dcsegn

-----

61) Against Milton Friedman
Ayn R. Key
by Ayn R. Key

"For reasons unknown, Milton Friedman is considered to be a
libertarian thinker, especially in matters economic. He is often used
as an example of libertarian thinking by those who are not
libertarians but wish to reference libertarians to support a point.
The problem is, Milton Friedman was a Monetarist. As pointed out,
Monetarism is not the same thing as Capitalism. When compared to
Keynesianism then of course it appears to be more libertarian, but
that is an awfully low bar to measure against. There are many
critiques libertarians can make against Friedman, such as his
relationship to Pinochet or how he instituted income tax withholding,
but the most fundamental one is that he, like Irving Fisher, advocated
central banking." (06/23/10)

http://aynrkey.blogspot.com/2010/06/against-milton-friedman.html

-----

62) Why I'm running for US Senate
Nolan Chart
by David F. Nolan

"I was not originally planning to run, but the thought of going up
against John McCain -- and some hapless Democrat -- eventually proved
irresistible. McCain embodies almost everything that is wrong with our
political system. He's been in the Senate for 24 years, he's out of
touch with his constituents, he's bad on almost every issue you can
think of, and he's just a nasty, arrogant man." (06/24/10)

http://www.nolanchart.com/article7812.html

-----

63) Is Spain the last great heist?
Economic Policy Journal
by Howard Rich

"Ponzi schemes rely on people falling for promises that are literally
too good to be true -- but the outcomes are never really in doubt for
the perpetrators of these scams, are they? First they are playing with
money that does not belong to them -- which means they cannot lose.
Also, when the scams finally unravel, the perpetrators have invariably
moved on to their next group of unsuspecting victims -- where the
fleecing begins anew. Sound familiar? It should. This is the modus
operandi of governments all over the world in our current era of
Keynesian excess -- an era in which new taxes, fees and fines must be
continually created and levied in order to pay for promises made in
previous years." (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/3997sdf

-----

64) Entitled to your money: Day care protests
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal

"Budget problems have caused the state to reduce the income
eligibility for state-subsidized day care by half, and some parents
are upset. This isn't about 'day care;' it's about day care that is
paid for by someone else. When did this become any business of the
government at any level? 'Never' is when. Either these parents forget,
or never understood, that nothing from government is 'free.' If
government gives it to you, government stole it from someone
else." (06/23/10)

http://tinyurl.com/2afejj5

-----

65) Grape gossip from the Central Valley
Daily Speculations
by Stefan Jovanovich

"It's a game of cat and mouse in California's winegrape sector this
year, which can all be traced back to the worldwide economic downturn
and the impact it is having on the wine-buying public. Growers in the
state's major winegrape regions report an average to above-average
crop. At the same time, though, they say they feel concern about a
reluctance on the part of wineries to set prices and enter into
purchase contracts to buy the grapes. Brian Clements, vice president
of Turrentine Wine Brokerage in Novato, says there are three primary
reasons for this hesitancy: Wineries want to have a good idea of
future sales, they want to have a good idea of crop size and they want
to have all of their finances in place." (06/24/10)

http://www.dailyspeculations.com/wordpress/?p=4937

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

66) Ed Rutledge on Freedom Rings Radio, 06/28/10
Freedom Rings Radio

Ed Rutledge, Libertarian Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor of
Illinois, joins host Kenneth John. 9-10am Central on WRMN 1410 AM,
Elgin, IL or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (06/28/10)

http://freedomrings.net/

-----

67) Audrey Spaulding on the Charlie Brennan Show, 06/25/10
KMOX

Audrey Spaulding, public information specialist at the Show-Me
Institute, joins host Charlie Brennan. 10:20am Central on KMOX 1120
AM, St. Louis, MO or live on the web. [live radio or stream]
(06/25/10)

http://www.kmox.com/pages/5159544.php

-----

68) The cost of obesity in America
Ideas In Action

"As the number of overweight Americans continues to grow, so do
questions about how we, as a society, should respond. A discussion of
issues such as personal responsibility, the higher costs of medical
care for overweight people, insurance coverage, federal legislation
and whether 'fattening' foods should be subject to a weight
tax." [Flash video] (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/23kswtq

-----

69) Cato Daily Podcast, 06/24/10
Cato Institute

"McChrystal and the incoherent Afghanistan mission," featuring
Christopher A. Preble. [MP3] (06/24/10)

http://tinyurl.com/cato062410

-----

70) Michael Hastings on Antiwar Radio
AntiWar.Com

"Michael Hastings, author of the article 'The Runaway General' in
Rolling Stone magazine, discusses the controversy surrounding his
profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal (who has now been relieved of
command in Afghanistan)." [Flash audio or MP3] (06/23/10)

http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/06/23/michael-hastings-5/

*************************************
* 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/