07/26 -- Leaked documents present bleak view of Afghan war; Venezuela: Chavez threatens US oil cut over Colombia row
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jul 26, 2010, 1:02:20 AM7/26/10
to Rational Review News Digest
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In The News:
0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
1) Leaked documents present bleak view of Afghan war
2) Venezuela: Chavez threatens US oil cut over Colombia row
3) Iraq: 15 killed, 36 wounded
4) Afghanistan: Taliban says one American captured, one killed
5) Pakistan: US drones kill 12
6) WA: Army sergeant guilty of sex trafficking
7) Reports: Pakistan spy service aids insurgents
8) Iraqi forces still frail as US troops head home
9) Report details plight of mentally ill detainees
10) Discharged soldier will continue fight against "don't ask, don't
tell"
11) US holds drills off Korea as Pyongyang talks war
12) Cambodia: War crimes trial opens to issue verdict
13) A Russian milestone: First black elected to office
14) India's $35 tablet -- how low can it go?
15) Some VA clinics to allow medical marijuana use
16) Report: Goldman Sachs sent fed bailout billions overseas
17) US deficit heads toward record $1.47 trillion
18) Pentagon workers tied to child porn
19) NASA: Deep space camera finds many "Earths"
20) Battle over Bush tax cuts looms in Washington
Everybody Has An Opinion:
21) Bradley Manning's gift
22) Government is evidence of failure
23) Gas stations in the sky
24) Statists are a virus
25) Three imperial edicts
26) The regime's war on food
27) The breakup of the United States
28) A few questions for Metro
29) Arma virumque cano
30) Money dominates
31) Bureaucratic brownies
32) How you will change the world with social networking
33) Slavery and the early development of modern capitalism
34) The last American skill
35) The tea party's march madness
36) Green-Libertarian coalition? Good luck!
37) Refudiate liberalism!
38) The geek labyrinth
39) Catholics, Protestants, Hispanics and Gays
40) Liberal tax revolt game-changer?
41) CNN anchors attack the scourge of anonymity
42) The rush to misjudge
43) The Sherrod incident: What the President didn't seem to learn
44) Doctors fleeing faster from profession, Medicare
45) Open-minded is not open borders
46) Emmylou & the EPA take on Big Coal
47) Hungary's malaise
48) What if McCain had been president? And other climate
counterfactuals
49) The real story of racism at the USDA
50) Chris Huhne's "no state subsidies for nuclear"
51) An overused tactic
52) Politics or principle
53) The great myth: Counterinsurgency
54) Obama told lies about bailouts
55) Dodd-Frank bill contains provision that may lead to tracking of
all gold coins
56) "Free enterprise" is not free enterprise
57) Shirley Sherrod, a family farmer's friend
58) Exit through the Gift Shop
59) Abolish the Agriculture Department
60) Modern political prisoners in America
61) Obama leading us down the road of ruination
62) Regulatory magic
63) Rockefeller bill -- is it good enough?
64) Too safe for our own good?
65) On the coming fall of the American empire
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
66) Brian Costin on Freedom Rings Radio, 07/26/10
67) Dr. Elaina George on The Freedom Works, 07/26/10
68) Free Talk Live, 07/24/10
69) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/23/10
70) Freedomain Radio #1703
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
71) Today's events
***************
* In The News
***************
0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
Update, 07/26/10: The ChipIn Meter says $1,170.82, but we're actually
$198 beyond that. Thanks to our latest $20 per month ($60 over the
quarter this fundraiser is for!) subscribing contributor, DLW, and to
ED and FD, whose $120 in "one-time" contributions arrived over the
weekend! We are at $1,368.82, or about 66% of the way to our goal of
$2,083!
As you may have noticed (I sent out a "special notice" about it over
the weekend), we're in the process of moving RRND to a new email list
provider. If you've received a confirmation notice, you'll need to
click on the link to remain subscribed to our email edition. If you
haven't received a confirmation notice, or if you weren't subscribed
but want to be, you can get signed up at:
http://www.trafficwave.net/lcp/rationalreview/rrnd
We'll start publishing through the new service some time this week,
after people have had time to receive and respond to their
confirmation emails.
Speaking of this week, we're now only about $700 from that fundraising
goal. Let's knock it down this week and go without the fundraising for
all of August and September! - TLK
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/83890
-----
1) Leaked documents present bleak view of Afghan war
Wall Street Journal
"Thousands of secret military documents were released Sunday by a Web-
based organization, a gigantic leak of classified information that
appeared to present a bleak view of Afghanistan war and could have a
profound impact on the public perception of the conflict. The release
of the documents, which were obtained and made public by the website
WikiLeaks, evoked the Pentagon Papers, the secret history of the
Vietnam War, which when published contradicted the public narrative of
that war and played a role in turning public opinion against
it." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23fu4tv
-----
2) Venezuela: Chavez threatens US oil cut over Colombia row
BBC News [UK]
"President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has threatened to halt oil exports
to the US if his country is attacked by Colombia -- a close US ally.
The threat comes amid an escalating dispute over allegations that
Venezuela is harbouring Colombian rebels. Mr Chavez broke diplomatic
ties with Colombia last week and put his army on high alert. Venezuela
is America's fifth biggest source of imported oil, supplying about a
million barrels a day." (07/25/10)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10757064
-----
3) Iraq: 15 killed, 36 wounded
AntiWar.Com
"In Mosul, a blast killed a policeman and wounded two others,
including a child, in the Tanak district. Three police officers were
killed and two more were wounded in a blast across town. Gunmen killed
a police captain and two of his bodyguards. A stray bullet killed a
four-year-old child. In Baghdad, a body was found dumped in Harithiya.
A roadside bomb in Amil wounded two people. In Elam, a sticky bomb
killed four people. A roadside bomb killed a policeman and wounded
three others in Doura. A bomb in Saidiya killed a civilian and wounded
three more." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fjama4
-----
4) Afghanistan: Taliban says one American captured, one killed
Los Angeles Times
"The Taliban movement and local Afghan officials said Sunday that one
U.S. serviceman was killed and another captured in a firefight after
they went missing Friday -- a claim that, if true, would mark yet
another setback for Western forces in Afghanistan. The missing
Americans, identified by Western officials as U.S. Navy personnel,
were last seen in a dangerous part of Lowgar province, south of Kabul,
the Afghan capital. A massive ground and air search by NATO and Afghan
forces was underway, with the men's photos plastered at military
checkpoints and a reward offered for information about
them." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/38unnwr
-----
5) Pakistan: US drones kill 12
Daily Times [Pakistan]
"An unmanned US drone fired missiles at houses in two separates parts
of the country's northwest on Sunday, killing at least 12 Taliban in
attacks that occurred hours apart, intelligence officials
said." (07/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eb3yf4
-----
6) WA: Army sergeant guilty of sex trafficking
MSNBC
"A 27-year-old Army sergeant from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in
Washington state has pleaded guilty in federal court to sex
trafficking of a child and attempted sex trafficking of a child.
Prosecutors say Sterling Hospedales set up one juvenile in a Lakewood
apartment to work as a prostitute and had a second juvenile flown in
from Wyoming to do the same. Prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence of
10 to 15 years in prison, but he could get life." (07/24/10)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38391578/ns/us_news/
-----
7) Reports: Pakistan spy service aids insurgents
MSNBC
"Americans fighting the war in Afghanistan have long harbored strong
suspicions that Pakistan's military spy service has guided the Afghan
insurgency with a hidden hand, even as Pakistan receives more than $1
billion a year from Washington for its help combating the militants,
according to a trove of secret military field reports to be made
public Sunday. The documents, to be made available by an organization
called WikiLeaks, suggest that Pakistan, an ostensible ally of the
United States, allows representatives of its spy service to meet
directly with the Talibanin secret strategy sessions to organize
networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in
Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan
leaders." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2acl34u
-----
8) Iraqi forces still frail as US troops head home
Miami Herald
"When the U.S. ends its combat mission in Iraq five weeks from now,
the nation's safety will be in the hands of its homegrown, American-
trained security forces. The army is almost up to the job, the police
are hit-and-miss, and the Kurdish militia is nowhere close to ready.
Iraq's military chief says that without a U.S. presence, the Iraqi
forces won't be able to fully fend for themselves before 2020. Anthony
Cordesman, a former director of intelligence assessment in the
Pentagon, agrees it will take years." (07/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2bk9chb
-----
9) Report details plight of mentally ill detainees
Las Vegas Sun
"Thousands of mentally disabled immigrants are entangled in
deportation proceedings each year with little or no legal help,
leaving them distraught, defenseless and detained as their fates are
decided. Their plight is detailed in a report issued Sunday by Human
Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, who exhort
federal authorities to do better." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2whmh2m
-----
10) Discharged soldier will continue fight against "don't ask, don't
tell"
CNN
"A former Army lieutenant who was discharged from service last week
for being openly gay said Sunday that he will continue to fight for a
quick repeal of the controversial 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. 'I
know that there are a lot of people who are suffering, and my oath, my
commitment to them, doesn't end,' former Lt. Dan Choi told CNN's Don
Lemon." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2d45mx4
-----
11) US holds drills off Korea as Pyongyang talks war
Danville Register & Bee
"U.S. and South Korean warships and helicopters practiced anti-
submarine maneuvers off the Korean peninsula Monday, readying defenses
against the kind of weapon that allegedly sank a South Korean navy
vessel earlier this year. The destruction of the Cheonan in March,
which has been blamed on North Korean torpedo, killed 46 sailors in
the worst military disaster for the South since the 1950-53 Korean
War." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/34y8bvo
-----
12) Cambodia: War crimes trial opens to issue verdict
Austin American-Statesman
"A U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal opened Monday to hand down a
verdict in the first trial of a senior member of the Khmer Rouge
regime that turned Cambodia into a vast killing field three decades
ago. Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, arrived Monday at the court
in a bullet-proof car and was whisked inside by security guards.
Dressed in a light purple shirt, he sat impassively in the dock as he
listened to the chief judge review the proceedings." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/342fd3a
-----
13) A Russian milestone: First black elected to office
ABC News
"People in this Russian town used to stare at Jean Gregoire Sagbo
because they had never seen a black man. Now they say they see in him
something equally rare -- an honest politician. Sagbo last month
became the first black to be elected to office in Russia. In a country
where racism is entrenched and often violent, Sagbo's election as one
of Novozavidovo's 10 municipal councilors is a milestone." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29kgnft
-----
14) India's $35 tablet -- how low can it go?
CNet News
"India on Thursday unveiled a prototype tablet computer that would
sell for a mere 1,500 rupees, or $35, with the price possibly dropping
even further as R&D efforts continue. Kapil Sibal, the country's
Minister for Human Resource Development, showed off the super-cheap
touch-screen device in New Delhi as part of a push to provide high-
quality education to students across the country. The tablet also
comes with a solar-power option that could make it more feasible for
rural areas." (07/23/10)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20011536-1.html
-----
15) Some VA clinics to allow medical marijuana use
Associated Press
"Patients treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics will be
able to use medical marijuana in the 14 states where it's legal,
according to new federal guidelines. The directive from the Veterans
Affairs Department in the coming week is intended to clarify current
policy that says veterans can be denied pain medication if they use
illegal drugs. Veterans groups have complained for years that this
could bar veterans from VA benefits if they were caught using medical
marijuana. The new guidance does not authorize VA doctors to begin
prescribing medical marijuana, which is considered an illegal drug
under federal law. But it will now make clear that in the 14 states
where state and federal law are in conflict, VA clinics generally will
allow the use of medical marijuana for veterans already taking it
under other clinicians." [editor's note: Uh oh, how long before the
DEA invades a VA hospital? - SAT] (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/27h44yf
-----
16) Report: Goldman Sachs sent fed bailout billions overseas
Des Moines Register & Tribune
"Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal taxpayer money to 32
entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions,
according to records. Goldman Sachs revealed the list of companies to
the Senate Finance Committee after a threat of subpoena from Sen.
Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee's ranking Republican. The
records were released Friday night. Asked the significance of the list
of companies, Grassley said, 'I hope it's as simple as taxpayers
deserve to know what happened to their money. We thought originally we
were bailing out AIG. Then later on ... we learned that the money
flowed through AIG to a few big banks, and now we know that the money
went from these few big banks to dozens of financial institutions all
around the world.'" [Hat Tip to Arizona Republic] (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26ygalq
-----
17) US deficit heads toward record $1.47 trillion
Christian Science Monitor
"There is some good economic news. The red ink the US is swimming in
is not as bad as projected in February. Yes, at $1.471 trillion, it's
still huge -- 10 percent of the nation's gross domestic product -- but
an improvement of $84 billion from earlier estimates. But bad news
still looms large. In the next fiscal year, according to the mid-
season review released by the White House Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Friday, the US deficit will be $150 billion more than
earlier projections. It is expected to come in at $1.416 trillion, or
9.2 percent of GDP. The White House, which released the change in
budget estimates, was careful not to overplay the changing numbers.
'These are not substantial changes and nothing we want to make too big
a deal about,' said Peter Orszag, director of the OMB in a press call
with reporters. 'The economy remains weaker than we would like and the
unemployment rate higher than we would like.'" [editor's note: Even
when we consider Shrub's headstart ("only a trillion," as some GOPers
cry out) on this fiasco, adding nearly 50% to the deficit in only
about two years on the throne ... is just pathetic - SAT] (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26p4rms
-----
18) Pentagon workers tied to child porn
Boston Globe
"Federal investigators have identified several dozen Pentagon
officials and contractors with high-level security clearances who
allegedly purchased and downloaded child pornography, including an
undisclosed number who used their government computers to obtain the
illegal material, according to investigative reports. The
investigations have included employees of the National Security
Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency -- which deal with some of the most sensitive
work in intelligence and defense -- among other organizations within
the Defense Department. The number of offenders is a small percentage
of the thousands of people working for sensitive Pentagon-related
agencies. But the fact that offenders include people with access to
government secrets puts national security agencies 'at risk of
blackmail, bribery, and threats, especially since these individuals
typically have access to military installations,' according to one
report by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service from late
2009." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/22lbkl5
-----
19) NASA: Deep space camera finds many "Earths"
Fox News
"Scientists celebrated Sunday after finding more than 700 suspected
new planets -- including up to 140 similar in size to Earth -- in just
six weeks of using a powerful new space observatory. Early results
from NASA's Kepler Mission, a small satellite observing deep space,
suggested planets like Earth were far more common than previously
thought. Past discoveries suggested most planets outside our solar
system were gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn -- but the new
evidence tipped the balance in favor of solid worlds. Astronomers said
the discovery meant the chances of eventually finding truly Earth-like
planets capable of sustaining life rose sharply." [editor's note: Not
entirely sure why this is "news;" "skiffy" writers, spiritual seekers
and others have been predicting this for generations - SAT] (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/279awmx
-----
20) Battle over Bush tax cuts looms in Washington
New York Times
"An epic fight is brewing over what Congress and President Obama
should do about the expiring Bush tax cuts, with such substantial
economic and political consequences that it could shape the fall
elections and fiscal policy for years to come. Democratic leaders,
including Obama, say they are intent on letting the tax cuts for the
wealthy expire as scheduled at the end of this year. But they have
pledged to continue the lower tax rates for individuals earning less
than $200,000 and families earning less than $250,000 -- what
Democrats call the middle class. Most Republicans want to extend the
tax cuts for everyone, and some Democrats agree, saying it would be
unwise to raise taxes on anyone while the economy remains weak. If no
action is taken, taxes on income, dividends, capital gains, and
estates would all rise." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/287bylx
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 07/26/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 97,110 ... Max - 105,956
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,413
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
21) Bradley Manning's gift
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo
"They said the huge cache of classified documents -- including 250,000
diplomatic messages passed from US embassies around the world to
Washington -- was a fantasy, 'boasting' by Pfc. Bradley Manning, the
intelligence analyst who gave Wikileaks that video of US soldiers
laughing and shouting 'good shot!' as they mowed down Iraqi civilians.
The 'hi tech' media, especially Wired magazine, did everything they
could do discredit and smear him, including spreading rumors about his
alleged sexuality. Now, with the release of over 91,000 internal US
government communications, intelligence analyses and incident reports
via Wikileaks, the motive behind the determined effort to smear
Manning and shut down Wikileaks is all too apparent." (07/26/10)
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/07/25/bradley-mannings-gift/
-----
22) Government is evidence of failure
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal
"Clinging to the notion of government is an admission that you
wouldn't do the right thing in a crisis. You want someone else to
carry that burden for you. Yet, as has been clearly demonstrated since
the dawn of history, that doesn't work. Either each of us does what is
right to the best of our own ability, or it simply doesn't get done.
Hiring others to do it for us is abject failure." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/38ez4nc
-----
23) Gas stations in the sky
Center for a Stateless Society
by Thomas L. Knapp
"$35 billion is a pretty big number, so let's break it down into
something more manageable: $115 from every man, woman and child in the
US. For gas stations. In the sky. Well, hey, it's for 'defense,'
right? Of the top 15 global government big 'defense' spenders, five
(Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Australia and Spain) each spent less
than $35 billion on 'defense' in 2009. Not less than $35 billion on
gas stations in the sky. Less than $35 billion total. Italy spent
$35.8 billion on 'defense' in 2009. Not just on gas stations in the
sky -- that's their whole army, navy and air force. India -- a nuclear
power with a blue-water navy (including aircraft carrier and nuclear
submarine components), a long history of border tensions with another
nuclear power (Pakistan), a big bristly neighbor (China) and a
population nearly four times as large as that of the US -- spent $36.3
billion on 'defense.' Not just on gas stations in the sky, but
altogether. Meanwhile, the US government will spend somewhere in the
neighborhood of $1 trillion on 'defense' in fiscal year
2010." (07/23/10)
http://c4ss.org/content/3248
-----
24) Statists are a virus
The Libertarian Standard
by Michael Barnett
"Public schools are good enough for your kids, but their kids attend
the finest private schools in the country. You can get by using a
small, energy efficient house with minimal air conditioning, but
they're gonna go ahead and own 3 or 4 or 5 energy-guzzling mansions.
Feel free to get yourself a Smart Car or avail yourself of 'public
transportation,' but they're gonna fly around in private jets or sail
their massive yachts. Do you live in an exclusive, gated neighborhood
or compound with private security? They do -- and they have servants'
quarters, too. And most importantly, you pay the oppressive tax rates
they burden you with, but they always find a loophole for
themselves ..."
http://www.libertarianstandard.com/2010/07/23/statists-are-a-virus/
-----
25) Three imperial edicts
Liberty For All
by Sean Haugh
"The question is fascinating, 'if (I could) pass any three pieces of
legislation, without having to worry about the approval of Congress,
what would they be?' I always associate legislation specifically with
congress or the general assembly. I can relieve that contradiction by
framing my answers not as legislation, but rather as executive orders,
or even better, edicts. So, as the Emperor of the United States and
Protector of Mexico (my preferred title, after Emperor Norton), here
are my first three proclamations ..." (07/24/10)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4593
-----
26) The regime's war on food
Pro Libertate
by Will Grigg
"It isn't an exaggeration to say that the Regime is conducting a low-
grade war against producers and consumers of raw milk -- a campaign
that bears an undeniable family resemblance to the murderous, decades-
long farce called the War on Drugs. It shouldn't come as a surprise to
learn that a government presuming to dictate to us what mood-altering
substances we can consume would likewise presume to tell us what foods
we can eat and offer to others." (07/25/10)
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/07/regimes-war-on-food.html
-----
27) The breakup of the United States
LewRockwell.Com
by Michael S. Rozeff
"As the dissatisfactions of Americans with their national government
grow, so does the likelihood of the breakup of the United States. I
believe that most Americans can improve their well-being by ending the
national government, that is, ending the Union. I believe that this
goal should shape politics if politics is to do much good." (07/26/10)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff328.html
-----
28) A few questions for Metro
Las Vegas Review-Journal
by Vin Suprynowicz
"It's been two weeks since three Las Vegas Metro cops shot and killed
38-year-old West Point graduate Erik Scott as he exited a Costco store
in the upscale area of Summerlin on July 10. So far, the incident has
generated more questions than answers. If officials lock up the
evidence so you can't get the answers, print the questions. Erik Scott
had a permit; he could legally carry a firearm either open or
concealed. It's a right. Mr. Scott was under no obligation to
demonstrate a 'need' to carry his firearms to the store (as some
letter-writers have suggested), any more than you must demonstrate a
'need' to go to church more than once a week." (07/25/10)
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/a-few-questions-for-metro-99190929.html
-----
29) Arma virumque cano
The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith
"'Arma virumque cano ...' are the opening words, give or take, of
Virgil's Aeneid, a ten thousand line epic poem written around 19 A.D.,
about the guy, a Trojan famously defeated by the Greeks, named Aeneas,
who refugeed out to found the city that would someday be Rome. The
words mean 'Of arms and the man I sing ...'" (07/25/10)
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle580-20100725-02.html
-----
30) Money dominates
Cato Institute
by Steve H. Hanke
"Financial panics are usually followed by sharp economic snap backs.
The post-Panic of 2008 has failed to follow this typical 'V-shaped'
economic recovery pattern. After almost two years, the U.S. economy
remains mired in an anemic recovery, with a current 2.4% year-over-
year rate of growth. This paltry growth rate doesn't even reach the
U.S.'s long-term trend rate, and is well below the sizzling growth
rate we should be observing (6%-7.5%). The picture is much the same in
Europe, where growth is even more anemic. The fiscalists have reached
for their standard elixir -- larger government deficits." (07/23/10)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12001
-----
31) Bureaucratic brownies
Reason
by Katherine Mangu-Ward
"The Pentagon's brownie recipe is 26 pages long. Among the
ingredients: water that conforms to the 'National Primary Drinking
Water Regulations (Copies are available from the Office of Drinking
Water, Environmental Protection Agency, WH550D, 401 M Street, S.W.,
Washington, DC 20460),' eggs in compliance with 'Regulations Governing
the Inspection of Eggs and Egg Products (7 CFR Part 59),' and baking
soda 'which meets the requirements of the Food Chemicals Codex.'" (for
publication 08/10)
http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/23/bureaucratic-brownies
-----
32) How you will change the world with social networking
AlterNet
by Deanna Zandt
Excerpt from Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social
Networking by Deanna Zandt. "Social media technology holds some of the
biggest potential for creating tectonic shifts in how we operate, and
the overall open-ended promise of technology gives us a great shot at
creating the systems for change. Technology isn't a magic bullet for
solving the world's problems, but it's certainly a spark to the
fastest fuse to explode our notions of power that the world has seen
in a thousand years. In this book, I hope to show you how to light
that fuse." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eq6wzg
-----
33) Slavery and the early development of modern capitalism
TCS Daily
by Joseph Swetnam
"If slavery and imperialistic plunder lead to industrial development,
why aren't the most culpable nations also the most developed? As it
turns out, of all the ways to exploit and utilize the world's economic
resources, conquest, plunder and enslavement are among the least
efficient. The economy benefits more from free workers who spend their
wages on goods and services than from slaves who have no money to
spend. Likewise, it is more cost-effective to trade for resources than
to fight over them." (07/22/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26etys2
-----
34) The last American skill
TCS Daily
by Bill Costello
"According to a recent 'Newsweek' article titled 'The Creativity
Crisis,' research shows that American creativity is declining for the
first time. If this trend continues, the nation's economic and
national security will be at risk. The research is based on results of
the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, which has been used to test
American creativity for half a century. Dr. Kyung Hee Kim, assistant
professor of education at the College of William & Mary, analyzed the
data and found that American creativity scores began to fall in 1990
after having risen steadily for decades. And they have been falling
significantly ever since." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29wrppq
-----
35) The tea party's march madness
Mother Jones
by Stephanie Mencimer
"The tea party movement is not just a political juggernaut -- it's
also become a big business. That quickly became clear following last
September's unexpectedly enormous rally in Washington organized by
Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, the event that helped put the movement on
the map. With crowd estimates ranging from 75,000 to 2 million, the
rally was such a hit that conservative activists are planning a sequel
this year. A bunch of them actually. And these competing events have
led to confusion and infighting among the tea party
faithful." (07/23/10)
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/07/tea-partys-march-madness
-----
36) Green-Libertarian coalition? Good luck!
Libertarian News Examiner
by Garry Reed
"It's embarrassing when a writer writing about libertarianism can't
tell it from conservatism. But the idea of a Green-Libertarian
political coalition isn't new for people who conflate 'libertarian'
with 'conservative,' supposing that such a political pairing would
pull enough votes from left and right to cause considerable angst in
both camps while vesting significant clout in the coalition. But the
problem here comes down to a single word, a word that appears nowhere
amongst the 1540 words of the article. That word is
coercion." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2avrvsh
-----
37) Refudiate liberalism!
The Weekly Standard
by William Kristol
"The case for linguistic innovation is this: We need a word that
captures and conjoins the meanings of refutation and repudiation. And
we need it now. To save the country from the ravages of contemporary
liberalism, we have to refute liberal arguments and see liberal
politicians repudiated at the polls. So the conservative agenda is, in
a word, refudiation." (for publication 08/02/10)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/refudiate-liberalism
-----
38) The geek labyrinth
Slate
by Fred Kaplan
"The report's numbers are fairly staggering: 854,000 people have
clearances of Top Secret or higher; 1,271 government agencies and
1,931 private companies do superclassified work related to
counterterrorism, homeland security, and intelligence in about 10,000
locations nationwide; 33 building complexes for Top Secret
intelligence work have been built, or are under construction, since
2001. But the numbers are the least of it, and the critics who focus
on them -- scoffing that big isn't always bad and, after all, we might
need all those companies and complexes in this dangerous world -- miss
the point." (07/22/10)
http://www.slate.com/id/2261462/
-----
39) Catholics, Protestants, Hispanics and Gays
Classically Liberal
by CLS
"The idea that only Protestant immigrants should be given a path to
citizenship is astounding if you think about it but consistent with
the historic values of American fundamentalism. It is no accident that
the virulently anti-immigration Ku Klux Klan was heavily
fundamentalist in religious make up. If there has been one trend among
fundamentalists over the last century is their unique ability to
always hate some identifiable group. Over the years different groups
have jockeyed for their attention and often the emphasis has changed
but favorite targets of organized hate campaigns have been blacks,
Jews, immigrants, Mexican immigrants in particular, gays, Catholics,
'liberals,' and feminists. The error that Fischer and his fellow
fundies make is that they equate 'pro-family' with a fundamentalist
morality system." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/246p2ya
-----
40) Liberal tax revolt game-changer?
National Review
by Larry Kudlow
"The liberal tax revolt, as the Wall Street Journal is calling it, is
a very important topic -- especially for investors and small-business
entrepreneurs. And for new jobs. The so-called revolt is comprised of
three Democratic senators: Kent Conrad, Evan Bayh, and Ben Nelson.
They want to extend all the Bush tax cuts. That includes taxes on the
wealthy, or the top personal tax rate, the investment taxes on capital
gains and dividends, and the estate tax. So is this revolt a game-
changer, or merely wishful thinking?" (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/3xv9twa
-----
41) CNN anchors attack the scourge of anonymity
Salon
by Glenn Greenwald
"At least anonymous bloggers are very clear and truthful about what
they are: often citizens whose jobs or other interests prevent them
from attaching their names to their political expression. By stark
contrast, all of these establishment media outlets perpetrate a total
fraud on the public by pretending that they have standards for when
anonymity will be used even though, as these examples from the last 24
hours alone prove, they routinely violate those alleged standards for
absolutely no reason. It just never ceases to amaze how much
establishment journalists like Roberts and Phillips love to rail
against the Evils of Internet Anonymity when reckless, cowardly
anonymity -- for purposes ranging from catty, trivial gossip to
pernicious propaganda and everything in between -- is a central tool
of their 'profession' and of the political class they
cover." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23vxksu
-----
42) The rush to misjudge
Boston Globe
by Scott Harshbarger & Amy Crafts
"This week's Shirley Sherrod incident is 'deja vu all over again' for
those of us engaged in the independent inquiry of ACORN last year.
Last September, Fox News embraced a series of videos released by
blogger Andrew Breitbart that purported to expose the Association of
Community Organizations for Reform Now, a national grassroots advocacy
group, as fraudulently seeking governmental services for folks
disguised as pimps and prostitutes. The ensuing rapid fire media
reaction and the political firestorm it created drove ACORN to its
knees, and it was quickly abandoned by its progressive allies,
funders, and supporters. All this occurred long before the context and
facts were investigated or evaluated. An independent report that we
were commissioned to provide found that Breitbart's video 'stings'
were edited to misrepresent the alleged 'facts.' The Shirley Sherrod
incident has all the same elements. The same conservative blogger
(Breitbart); the same network (Fox News); the same kind of edited,
incomplete video -- again involving race." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eca8nd
-----
43) The Sherrod incident: What the President didn't seem to learn
Our Future Blog
by Richard (RJ) Eskow
"The 'teachable moment' cliche may be overused, as Jason Linkins
observed the other day, but what the White House really needed this
week was a learnable moment. ... In what might be described as a 'the
buck stops there' comment, the President blamed Tom Vilsack for the
decision. 'He jumped the gun,' said the President, 'partly because we
now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a
blog and everybody scrambles.' No, Mr. President. The problem is that
there is a highly motivated, ideologically driven, and extremely well-
funded movement, determined to destroy you, your party, and everything
you stand for, including the proper role of government in a civil
society. Their ideology lies in tatters, destroyed by the economic
collapse and the ecological devastation in the Gulf. All they have
left is the politics of destruction." [editor's note: Even if you
despise the position here ("the proper role of government in a civil
society" indeed -- how 'bout "slim or none?"), the analysis of the
actions on BOTH sides of this mess is impeccable - SAT] (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/24lbjcd
-----
44) Doctors fleeing faster from profession, Medicare
Orange County Register
by Grace-Marie Turner
"The exodus of doctors from Medicare (and, likely, from private
practice altogether) is accelerating. The signs are undeniable: A 2008
poll by an independent Medicare commission found that 28 percent of
seniors had trouble finding a primary-care doctor, up from 24 percent
the year before. In Texas, 38 percent of primary-care doctors will
take new Medicare patients. The Mayo Clinic is opting out of Medicare
in several locations because the low payment rates don't allow the
organization to provide the quality care its culture demands. One
financial planner reported that well over half of his physician
clients have asked him to restructure their finances so they can
retire in 2013 -- the year before the main provisions of the new
health overhaul law take effect." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eybl6r
-----
45) Open-minded is not open borders
Arizona Republic
by E. J. Montini
"Rep. Jeff Flake is the only politician in Arizona (or the country)
who understands that the best way to defeat Senate Bill 1070 is to let
it take effect. 'Then we would see that it is not the answer and we
could move on toward an actual solution,' Flake told me. Like just
about every other Arizona politician, Flake was against the Justice
Department's decision to file a lawsuit that would stop local police
from enforcing SB 1070. His reasoning has nothing to do with election
politics, however, but with having spent years trying to find a
practical solution to the illegal-immigration [sic]
crisis." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fd5dr7
-----
46) Emmylou & the EPA take on Big Coal
In These Times
by Peter White
"In Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May, country singer
Emmylou Harris and friends performed at the 'Music Saves Mountains'
concert, raising their voices to protect Appalachia from the ravages
of coal mining. 'We call the Ryman the Mother Church of country music,
and if that's true, then the Appalachian Mountains are its sacred
ground,' Harris told the audience. Harris shared the stage with
singers Dave Matthews, Alison Krauss and Kathy Mattea, a longtime
opponent of the controversial and profitable practice of blowing up
mountaintops to get at the coal underneath." [editor's note: Although
this issue may not appear to impact as widely as the Gulf oil-spill
has, it is every bit as important in the quest to shift energy
paradigms - SAT] (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23fzdxv
-----
47) Hungary's malaise
A Passion for Liberty
by Tibor R. Machan
"What my mother said to me back after the fall of the Soviet-style
socialists was that unless all those who were part of the old,
communist regime were put in jail, the country would eventually be
retaken by the former bosses because there was no group of classical
liberal leaders ready to lead the country away from its dismal
socialist past. She was confident that without such a group of new
leaders, with genuinely new ideas, Hungary would slowly return to its
old socialist ways." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/22rjuw2
-----
48) What if McCain had been president? And other climate
counterfactuals
The New Republic
by Bradford Plumer
"If McCain had won in 2008, with Democrats controlling both the House
and Senate, then it's quite possible we'd have a climate bill by now.
McCain, after all, supported cap-and-trade on the campaign trail -- he
only reversed himself after he lost the election .... Republicans
would have had a much trickier time demonizing the policy as a --
what's the phrase? -- 'job-killing energy tax,' and most Democrats
would have backed it. Now, would McCain's proposal have been ideal?
Nope. His preferred iteration of cap-and-trade was weaker than Obama's
and rife with corporate giveaways. McCain also would have opposed a
variety of crucial side measures, such as efficiency standards. But
the end result might have been better than, well, nothing." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/27n94pc
-----
49) The real story of racism at the USDA
The Nation Blog
by Chris Kromm
"Right now, if you do a web search of the words 'racism' and 'USDA,'
the majority of links will steer you to coverage of this week's
Shirley Sherrod affair, in which the African-American US Department of
Agriculture staffer based in Georgia resigned after a conservative
website reversed the meaning of a speech she gave last year to imply
she would deny farm loans to whites. It's an astonishing development
given the history of race relations at the USDA, an agency whose own
Commission on Small Farms admitted in 1998 that 'the history of
discrimination at the US Department of Agriculture...is well-
documented' -- not against white farmers but African-American, Native
American and other minorities who were pushed off their land by
decades of racially biased laws and practices." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2vwac6l
-----
50) Chris Huhne's "no state subsidies for nuclear"
Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
"The strangeness is that every other form of non-fossil fuel
generation is getting massive subsidies, so why this prissiness over
some to nuclear? The answer lies in how the other subsidies are
calculated and paid, not in any principled objections or even any
acknowledgment of economic rationality." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2535x8r
-----
51) An overused tactic
Ayn R. Key
by Ayn R. Key
"It has come to the point where the term 'racist' has become so
completely overused that it is losing its impact. There was a time
when a person so accused would take great offense and spend much time
demonstrating a lack of racist tendencies. The typical response now is
to sigh and accuse the other person of making the accusation due to
having run out of actual arguments. The reason it was overused is
because the person making the accusation typically did resort to it
due to having run out of actual arguments. Now an outside observer,
hearing a progressive refer to someone else as a racist, hears 'he's
saying that guy isn't a progressive.'" (07/22/10)
http://aynrkey.blogspot.com/2010/07/overused-tactic.html
-----
52) Politics or principle
LewRockwell.Com
by Scott Lazarowitz
"The Founders' Declaration of Independence is probably one of the most
succinct documents declaring that the rights to life, liberty and
property are inherent among all individuals. The Constitution,
however, assigned to a federal government one monopolistic power after
another, and gave to centralized bureaucrats in Washington the power
of compulsion over their fellow Americans. Such a restrictive monopoly
and that power of compulsion contradicted the very rights recognized
by the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration declares the
principles of Liberty, but the Constitution is the politics and power
of the aggressive, parasitic State." (07/24/10)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/lazarowitz9.1.1.html
-----
53) The great myth: Counterinsurgency
AntiWar.Com
by Conn Hallinan
"That the war in Afghanistan is a failure will hardly come as news to
most people. Our NATO allies are preparing to abandon the endeavor --
the Dutch, Canadians, and Poles have announced they are bailing -- and
the British, who have the second largest contingent in Afghanistan,
are clamoring for peace talks. Opposition to the war in Britain is at
72 percent. But there is a tendency to blame the growing debacle on
conditions peculiar to Afghanistan. ... The problem is not
Afghanistan, but the entire concept of COIN, and the debate around it
is hardly academic." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23tkpel
-----
54) Obama told lies about bailouts
Nolan Chart
by Walt Thiessen
"President Obama on Wednesday signed into law what most major media
outlets called the most sweeping financial industry reform legislation
since the Great Depression, hailing the reforms as establishing 'the
strongest consumer financial protections in history.' In actual fact,
they failed to report that President Obama, Chris Dodd of Connecticut,
who sponsored the bill in the Senate, Barney Frank of Massachusetts,
who sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives, Fed Chairman
Ben Bernanke, and all the top talking heads of the Obama
administration, Wall Street, the major parties, and the media, have
all been telling some of the most brazen, most blatant, most bold-
faced lies ever told in human history in defense of their new law.
Let's take a moment to examine some of these lies." (07/24/10)
http://www.nolanchart.com/article7871.html
-----
55) Dodd-Frank bill contains provision that may lead to tracking of
all gold coins
Economic Policy Journal
"The concept of conflict-free began with diamonds mined in a war zone
and sold to finance an insurgency, invading army's war efforts, or a
warlord's activity. The idea being that the purchase of diamonds from
such war zones should be illegal, ostensibly to stop the financing of
the wars. It is believed by observers of the diamond industry, such as
Edward J. Epstein, that DeBeers was behind the idea of conflict-free
diamonds as a way to limit the supply of diamonds that come on the
market. Nevertheless the concept took hold." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28o8s39
-----
56) "Free enterprise" is not free enterprise
Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"Every single awful thing about the present corporate economy that
Americans react to negatively when they hear the word 'capitalism' is
at the heart of how the dirtbags in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who
love to toss around the words 'free enterprise,' actually make their
money. What the Chamber of Commerce means by 'free enterprise' is
exactly the same thing that people like Naomi Klein and Michael Moore
are attacking under the name of 'capitalism.' As a result, most people
hear the words 'free enterprise' and 'free markets' emanating
primarily from the same interests that want to protect the system as
it is, and that depend most heavily on the suppression of the free
market for their livelihood." (07/22/10)
http://c4ss.org/content/3237
-----
57) Shirley Sherrod, a family farmer's friend
Huffington Post
by Willie Nelson
"The real story of Shirley Sherrod deserved to be told a long time
ago. She has had an amazing impact on the lives and livelihoods of
hundreds of families and communities throughout the South. Farmers of
every race have struggled with the income inequities that have
persisted for generations, and advocates like Ms. Sherrod have moved
mountains to ensure that families can remain in their homes and on
their farms." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2b29rm9
-----
58) Exit through the Gift Shop
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Anders Mikkelsen
"What applies to technology also applies to art. As books like
Literature and the Economics of Liberty and Worldly Goods have shown,
the creation of many classic works of art and literature must be
understood in the context of commercial society's spontaneous order.
The new documentary film Exit Through the Gift Shop, playing in art-
house cinemas throughout the country this year, is an excellent and
comedic illustration of the observation that the most successful
innovations are all about marketing." (07/23/10)
http://mises.org/daily/4554
-----
59) Abolish the Agriculture Department
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"Amidst the big dispute between liberals and conservatives over race
in the Shirley Sherrod controversy, I'd like to make a libertarian
point: Rather than give Sherrod her job back at the Department of
Agriculture, let's instead simply abolish the Agriculture Department,
along with all the socialist programs that enable those welfare-state
bureaucrats to dole out other people's hard-earned money to
farmers." (07/23/10)
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-07-23.asp
-----
60) Modern political prisoners in America
Fr33 Agents
by Szandor Blestman
"When I was growing up, I learned in school that one of the reasons
the United States of America was better than the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics was because we didn't hold political prisoners in
our jails. That was something the bad, bad communists did. That was
something that was done in communist countries to keep dissidents in
line and to silence them. Such a thing could never be done in America.
I don't know if this is still taught in the schools, but if it is then
I believe our children are being grossly misinformed. The United
States of America has become the leading nation when it comes to
jailing its citizens, and the vast majority of them have been jailed
for non violent crimes. We are, in effect, being jailed by the
political class for disobeying rules they have deigned necessary, not
for actions that have harmed another human being or his property. Most
of those jailed are, in effect, political prisoners." (07/23/10)
http://www.fr33agents.com/3159/modern-political-prisoners-in-america/
-----
61) Obama leading us down the road of ruination
Freedom Politics
by Thomas J. Lucente Jr.
"Americans are fighting the wrong war. The greatest threat to national
security is not Islamic extremism. Nor is it a Chinese military
buildup, nuclear weapons in Iran or climate change. 'I think the
biggest threat we have to our national security is our debt,' said
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. How right he
is." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fwyz95
-----
62) Regulatory magic
Foundation for Economic Education
by Sheldon Richman
"President Obama has signed the financial industry regulatory overhaul
-- officially, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act. Predictably, what he said about it cannot possibly be
true. For example: '[T]hese reforms represent the strongest consumer
financial protections in history. And these protections will be
enforced by a new consumer watchdog with just one job: looking out for
people -- not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses -- looking
out for people as they interact with the financial
system.'" (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2at3hab
-----
63) Rockefeller bill -- is it good enough?
OpenMarket.org
by Marlo Lewis
"Barring the trickery of a lame-duck conference committee, cap-and-
trade is dead as a door nail in the 111th Congress. As you'd expect,
there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth, with Obama officials,
Democratic leaders in Congress, and environmental lobbyists all saying
it's all the other guy's fault. Columnist Darren Samuelsohn provides
several juicy quotes in Politico today." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2bp5owf
-----
64) Too safe for our own good?
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Gregory Conko and Henry I. Miller
"Myths about the risks of various products and activities can
themselves be harmful to your health. They include the belief that
greater regulation is synonymous with greater safety, and that excess
or unnecessary regulation is harmless. Self-promoting, self-styled
'consumer activists' perpetuate and feed off those misconceptions. For
example, the Natural Resources Defense Council last month filed a
lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration because of the
agency's refusal to ban bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in many
consumer products." (07/21/10)
http://cei.org/op-eds-and-articles/too-safe-our-own-good
-----
65) On the coming fall of the American empire
Campaign For Liberty
by Daniel McCarthy
"Bruce Fein's American Empire: Before the Fall is not for the faint of
heart. 'You, your family, your friends, your professional colleagues,
and your elected and appointed officials in the nation's highest
circles will fiercely resist the truths this book expounds,' the
author warns. He's not kidding. Only the most well informed
constitutionalist will fail to be surprised by this book -- and even
that reader will come away from American Empire with a clearer
understanding of the dangers facing our republic." (07/23/10)
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1028
*****************************
* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
*****************************
66) Brian Costin on Freedom Rings Radio, 07/26/10
Freedom Rings Radio
Mr. Brian Costin, Founder and President of the Schaumburg Freedom
Coalition, joins host Kenneth John. 9-10am Central on WMRN 1410 AM,
Elgin, IL or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (07/26/10)
http://freedomrings.net/
-----
67) Dr. Elaina George on The Freedom Works, 07/26/10
The Freedom Works
Dr. Elaina George, founder of Peachtre ENT Center, joins host Paul
Molloy. 10-11am Eastern on WTAN 1340 AM, Tampa Bay, FL, KLRG 880 AM,
Little Rock, AR or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (07/26/10)
http://thefreedomworks.com/
-----
68) Free Talk Live, 07/24/10
Free Talk Live
"Apologies :: Federal Infiltration :: Civil Disobedience :: Defeating
Open Container Laws :: Police Enforcement Priorities :: Changing the
Law :: Sweating :: Circumcision :: Useless Medical Procedures :: God
and Circumcision :: Female Genital Mutilation :: The Fantasy of
Holding Politicians Accountable? :: Positive and Negative Rights ::
The Doctrine of Necessity :: FIJA :: Licensing." [MP3] (07/24/10)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2010-07-24.mp3
-----
69) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/23/10
Cato Institute
"Unemployed options," featuring Jeffrey A. Miron. [MP3] (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/cato072310
-----
70) Freedomain Radio #1703
Freedomain Radio
"What it means when a friend supports the state." [MP3] (07/22/10)
http://tinyurl.com/fdr1703
*************************************
* 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
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* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
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* Volume VIII, Issue #1,969
* Monday, July 26th, 2010
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In The News:
0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
1) Leaked documents present bleak view of Afghan war
2) Venezuela: Chavez threatens US oil cut over Colombia row
3) Iraq: 15 killed, 36 wounded
4) Afghanistan: Taliban says one American captured, one killed
5) Pakistan: US drones kill 12
6) WA: Army sergeant guilty of sex trafficking
7) Reports: Pakistan spy service aids insurgents
8) Iraqi forces still frail as US troops head home
9) Report details plight of mentally ill detainees
10) Discharged soldier will continue fight against "don't ask, don't
tell"
11) US holds drills off Korea as Pyongyang talks war
12) Cambodia: War crimes trial opens to issue verdict
13) A Russian milestone: First black elected to office
14) India's $35 tablet -- how low can it go?
15) Some VA clinics to allow medical marijuana use
16) Report: Goldman Sachs sent fed bailout billions overseas
17) US deficit heads toward record $1.47 trillion
18) Pentagon workers tied to child porn
19) NASA: Deep space camera finds many "Earths"
20) Battle over Bush tax cuts looms in Washington
Everybody Has An Opinion:
21) Bradley Manning's gift
22) Government is evidence of failure
23) Gas stations in the sky
24) Statists are a virus
25) Three imperial edicts
26) The regime's war on food
27) The breakup of the United States
28) A few questions for Metro
29) Arma virumque cano
30) Money dominates
31) Bureaucratic brownies
32) How you will change the world with social networking
33) Slavery and the early development of modern capitalism
34) The last American skill
35) The tea party's march madness
36) Green-Libertarian coalition? Good luck!
37) Refudiate liberalism!
38) The geek labyrinth
39) Catholics, Protestants, Hispanics and Gays
40) Liberal tax revolt game-changer?
41) CNN anchors attack the scourge of anonymity
42) The rush to misjudge
43) The Sherrod incident: What the President didn't seem to learn
44) Doctors fleeing faster from profession, Medicare
45) Open-minded is not open borders
46) Emmylou & the EPA take on Big Coal
47) Hungary's malaise
48) What if McCain had been president? And other climate
counterfactuals
49) The real story of racism at the USDA
50) Chris Huhne's "no state subsidies for nuclear"
51) An overused tactic
52) Politics or principle
53) The great myth: Counterinsurgency
54) Obama told lies about bailouts
55) Dodd-Frank bill contains provision that may lead to tracking of
all gold coins
56) "Free enterprise" is not free enterprise
57) Shirley Sherrod, a family farmer's friend
58) Exit through the Gift Shop
59) Abolish the Agriculture Department
60) Modern political prisoners in America
61) Obama leading us down the road of ruination
62) Regulatory magic
63) Rockefeller bill -- is it good enough?
64) Too safe for our own good?
65) On the coming fall of the American empire
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
66) Brian Costin on Freedom Rings Radio, 07/26/10
67) Dr. Elaina George on The Freedom Works, 07/26/10
68) Free Talk Live, 07/24/10
69) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/23/10
70) Freedomain Radio #1703
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
71) Today's events
***************
* In The News
***************
0) RRND/FND 3rd quarter fundraiser
Update, 07/26/10: The ChipIn Meter says $1,170.82, but we're actually
$198 beyond that. Thanks to our latest $20 per month ($60 over the
quarter this fundraiser is for!) subscribing contributor, DLW, and to
ED and FD, whose $120 in "one-time" contributions arrived over the
weekend! We are at $1,368.82, or about 66% of the way to our goal of
$2,083!
As you may have noticed (I sent out a "special notice" about it over
the weekend), we're in the process of moving RRND to a new email list
provider. If you've received a confirmation notice, you'll need to
click on the link to remain subscribed to our email edition. If you
haven't received a confirmation notice, or if you weren't subscribed
but want to be, you can get signed up at:
http://www.trafficwave.net/lcp/rationalreview/rrnd
We'll start publishing through the new service some time this week,
after people have had time to receive and respond to their
confirmation emails.
Speaking of this week, we're now only about $700 from that fundraising
goal. Let's knock it down this week and go without the fundraising for
all of August and September! - TLK
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/83890
-----
1) Leaked documents present bleak view of Afghan war
Wall Street Journal
"Thousands of secret military documents were released Sunday by a Web-
based organization, a gigantic leak of classified information that
appeared to present a bleak view of Afghanistan war and could have a
profound impact on the public perception of the conflict. The release
of the documents, which were obtained and made public by the website
WikiLeaks, evoked the Pentagon Papers, the secret history of the
Vietnam War, which when published contradicted the public narrative of
that war and played a role in turning public opinion against
it." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23fu4tv
-----
2) Venezuela: Chavez threatens US oil cut over Colombia row
BBC News [UK]
"President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has threatened to halt oil exports
to the US if his country is attacked by Colombia -- a close US ally.
The threat comes amid an escalating dispute over allegations that
Venezuela is harbouring Colombian rebels. Mr Chavez broke diplomatic
ties with Colombia last week and put his army on high alert. Venezuela
is America's fifth biggest source of imported oil, supplying about a
million barrels a day." (07/25/10)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10757064
-----
3) Iraq: 15 killed, 36 wounded
AntiWar.Com
"In Mosul, a blast killed a policeman and wounded two others,
including a child, in the Tanak district. Three police officers were
killed and two more were wounded in a blast across town. Gunmen killed
a police captain and two of his bodyguards. A stray bullet killed a
four-year-old child. In Baghdad, a body was found dumped in Harithiya.
A roadside bomb in Amil wounded two people. In Elam, a sticky bomb
killed four people. A roadside bomb killed a policeman and wounded
three others in Doura. A bomb in Saidiya killed a civilian and wounded
three more." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fjama4
-----
4) Afghanistan: Taliban says one American captured, one killed
Los Angeles Times
"The Taliban movement and local Afghan officials said Sunday that one
U.S. serviceman was killed and another captured in a firefight after
they went missing Friday -- a claim that, if true, would mark yet
another setback for Western forces in Afghanistan. The missing
Americans, identified by Western officials as U.S. Navy personnel,
were last seen in a dangerous part of Lowgar province, south of Kabul,
the Afghan capital. A massive ground and air search by NATO and Afghan
forces was underway, with the men's photos plastered at military
checkpoints and a reward offered for information about
them." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/38unnwr
-----
5) Pakistan: US drones kill 12
Daily Times [Pakistan]
"An unmanned US drone fired missiles at houses in two separates parts
of the country's northwest on Sunday, killing at least 12 Taliban in
attacks that occurred hours apart, intelligence officials
said." (07/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eb3yf4
-----
6) WA: Army sergeant guilty of sex trafficking
MSNBC
"A 27-year-old Army sergeant from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in
Washington state has pleaded guilty in federal court to sex
trafficking of a child and attempted sex trafficking of a child.
Prosecutors say Sterling Hospedales set up one juvenile in a Lakewood
apartment to work as a prostitute and had a second juvenile flown in
from Wyoming to do the same. Prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence of
10 to 15 years in prison, but he could get life." (07/24/10)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38391578/ns/us_news/
-----
7) Reports: Pakistan spy service aids insurgents
MSNBC
"Americans fighting the war in Afghanistan have long harbored strong
suspicions that Pakistan's military spy service has guided the Afghan
insurgency with a hidden hand, even as Pakistan receives more than $1
billion a year from Washington for its help combating the militants,
according to a trove of secret military field reports to be made
public Sunday. The documents, to be made available by an organization
called WikiLeaks, suggest that Pakistan, an ostensible ally of the
United States, allows representatives of its spy service to meet
directly with the Talibanin secret strategy sessions to organize
networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in
Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan
leaders." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2acl34u
-----
8) Iraqi forces still frail as US troops head home
Miami Herald
"When the U.S. ends its combat mission in Iraq five weeks from now,
the nation's safety will be in the hands of its homegrown, American-
trained security forces. The army is almost up to the job, the police
are hit-and-miss, and the Kurdish militia is nowhere close to ready.
Iraq's military chief says that without a U.S. presence, the Iraqi
forces won't be able to fully fend for themselves before 2020. Anthony
Cordesman, a former director of intelligence assessment in the
Pentagon, agrees it will take years." (07/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2bk9chb
-----
9) Report details plight of mentally ill detainees
Las Vegas Sun
"Thousands of mentally disabled immigrants are entangled in
deportation proceedings each year with little or no legal help,
leaving them distraught, defenseless and detained as their fates are
decided. Their plight is detailed in a report issued Sunday by Human
Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, who exhort
federal authorities to do better." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2whmh2m
-----
10) Discharged soldier will continue fight against "don't ask, don't
tell"
CNN
"A former Army lieutenant who was discharged from service last week
for being openly gay said Sunday that he will continue to fight for a
quick repeal of the controversial 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. 'I
know that there are a lot of people who are suffering, and my oath, my
commitment to them, doesn't end,' former Lt. Dan Choi told CNN's Don
Lemon." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2d45mx4
-----
11) US holds drills off Korea as Pyongyang talks war
Danville Register & Bee
"U.S. and South Korean warships and helicopters practiced anti-
submarine maneuvers off the Korean peninsula Monday, readying defenses
against the kind of weapon that allegedly sank a South Korean navy
vessel earlier this year. The destruction of the Cheonan in March,
which has been blamed on North Korean torpedo, killed 46 sailors in
the worst military disaster for the South since the 1950-53 Korean
War." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/34y8bvo
-----
12) Cambodia: War crimes trial opens to issue verdict
Austin American-Statesman
"A U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal opened Monday to hand down a
verdict in the first trial of a senior member of the Khmer Rouge
regime that turned Cambodia into a vast killing field three decades
ago. Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, arrived Monday at the court
in a bullet-proof car and was whisked inside by security guards.
Dressed in a light purple shirt, he sat impassively in the dock as he
listened to the chief judge review the proceedings." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/342fd3a
-----
13) A Russian milestone: First black elected to office
ABC News
"People in this Russian town used to stare at Jean Gregoire Sagbo
because they had never seen a black man. Now they say they see in him
something equally rare -- an honest politician. Sagbo last month
became the first black to be elected to office in Russia. In a country
where racism is entrenched and often violent, Sagbo's election as one
of Novozavidovo's 10 municipal councilors is a milestone." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29kgnft
-----
14) India's $35 tablet -- how low can it go?
CNet News
"India on Thursday unveiled a prototype tablet computer that would
sell for a mere 1,500 rupees, or $35, with the price possibly dropping
even further as R&D efforts continue. Kapil Sibal, the country's
Minister for Human Resource Development, showed off the super-cheap
touch-screen device in New Delhi as part of a push to provide high-
quality education to students across the country. The tablet also
comes with a solar-power option that could make it more feasible for
rural areas." (07/23/10)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20011536-1.html
-----
15) Some VA clinics to allow medical marijuana use
Associated Press
"Patients treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics will be
able to use medical marijuana in the 14 states where it's legal,
according to new federal guidelines. The directive from the Veterans
Affairs Department in the coming week is intended to clarify current
policy that says veterans can be denied pain medication if they use
illegal drugs. Veterans groups have complained for years that this
could bar veterans from VA benefits if they were caught using medical
marijuana. The new guidance does not authorize VA doctors to begin
prescribing medical marijuana, which is considered an illegal drug
under federal law. But it will now make clear that in the 14 states
where state and federal law are in conflict, VA clinics generally will
allow the use of medical marijuana for veterans already taking it
under other clinicians." [editor's note: Uh oh, how long before the
DEA invades a VA hospital? - SAT] (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/27h44yf
-----
16) Report: Goldman Sachs sent fed bailout billions overseas
Des Moines Register & Tribune
"Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal taxpayer money to 32
entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions,
according to records. Goldman Sachs revealed the list of companies to
the Senate Finance Committee after a threat of subpoena from Sen.
Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee's ranking Republican. The
records were released Friday night. Asked the significance of the list
of companies, Grassley said, 'I hope it's as simple as taxpayers
deserve to know what happened to their money. We thought originally we
were bailing out AIG. Then later on ... we learned that the money
flowed through AIG to a few big banks, and now we know that the money
went from these few big banks to dozens of financial institutions all
around the world.'" [Hat Tip to Arizona Republic] (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26ygalq
-----
17) US deficit heads toward record $1.47 trillion
Christian Science Monitor
"There is some good economic news. The red ink the US is swimming in
is not as bad as projected in February. Yes, at $1.471 trillion, it's
still huge -- 10 percent of the nation's gross domestic product -- but
an improvement of $84 billion from earlier estimates. But bad news
still looms large. In the next fiscal year, according to the mid-
season review released by the White House Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Friday, the US deficit will be $150 billion more than
earlier projections. It is expected to come in at $1.416 trillion, or
9.2 percent of GDP. The White House, which released the change in
budget estimates, was careful not to overplay the changing numbers.
'These are not substantial changes and nothing we want to make too big
a deal about,' said Peter Orszag, director of the OMB in a press call
with reporters. 'The economy remains weaker than we would like and the
unemployment rate higher than we would like.'" [editor's note: Even
when we consider Shrub's headstart ("only a trillion," as some GOPers
cry out) on this fiasco, adding nearly 50% to the deficit in only
about two years on the throne ... is just pathetic - SAT] (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26p4rms
-----
18) Pentagon workers tied to child porn
Boston Globe
"Federal investigators have identified several dozen Pentagon
officials and contractors with high-level security clearances who
allegedly purchased and downloaded child pornography, including an
undisclosed number who used their government computers to obtain the
illegal material, according to investigative reports. The
investigations have included employees of the National Security
Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency -- which deal with some of the most sensitive
work in intelligence and defense -- among other organizations within
the Defense Department. The number of offenders is a small percentage
of the thousands of people working for sensitive Pentagon-related
agencies. But the fact that offenders include people with access to
government secrets puts national security agencies 'at risk of
blackmail, bribery, and threats, especially since these individuals
typically have access to military installations,' according to one
report by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service from late
2009." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/22lbkl5
-----
19) NASA: Deep space camera finds many "Earths"
Fox News
"Scientists celebrated Sunday after finding more than 700 suspected
new planets -- including up to 140 similar in size to Earth -- in just
six weeks of using a powerful new space observatory. Early results
from NASA's Kepler Mission, a small satellite observing deep space,
suggested planets like Earth were far more common than previously
thought. Past discoveries suggested most planets outside our solar
system were gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn -- but the new
evidence tipped the balance in favor of solid worlds. Astronomers said
the discovery meant the chances of eventually finding truly Earth-like
planets capable of sustaining life rose sharply." [editor's note: Not
entirely sure why this is "news;" "skiffy" writers, spiritual seekers
and others have been predicting this for generations - SAT] (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/279awmx
-----
20) Battle over Bush tax cuts looms in Washington
New York Times
"An epic fight is brewing over what Congress and President Obama
should do about the expiring Bush tax cuts, with such substantial
economic and political consequences that it could shape the fall
elections and fiscal policy for years to come. Democratic leaders,
including Obama, say they are intent on letting the tax cuts for the
wealthy expire as scheduled at the end of this year. But they have
pledged to continue the lower tax rates for individuals earning less
than $200,000 and families earning less than $250,000 -- what
Democrats call the middle class. Most Republicans want to extend the
tax cuts for everyone, and some Democrats agree, saying it would be
unwise to raise taxes on anyone while the economy remains weak. If no
action is taken, taxes on income, dividends, capital gains, and
estates would all rise." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/287bylx
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 07/26/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 97,110 ... Max - 105,956
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,413
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
21) Bradley Manning's gift
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo
"They said the huge cache of classified documents -- including 250,000
diplomatic messages passed from US embassies around the world to
Washington -- was a fantasy, 'boasting' by Pfc. Bradley Manning, the
intelligence analyst who gave Wikileaks that video of US soldiers
laughing and shouting 'good shot!' as they mowed down Iraqi civilians.
The 'hi tech' media, especially Wired magazine, did everything they
could do discredit and smear him, including spreading rumors about his
alleged sexuality. Now, with the release of over 91,000 internal US
government communications, intelligence analyses and incident reports
via Wikileaks, the motive behind the determined effort to smear
Manning and shut down Wikileaks is all too apparent." (07/26/10)
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/07/25/bradley-mannings-gift/
-----
22) Government is evidence of failure
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal
"Clinging to the notion of government is an admission that you
wouldn't do the right thing in a crisis. You want someone else to
carry that burden for you. Yet, as has been clearly demonstrated since
the dawn of history, that doesn't work. Either each of us does what is
right to the best of our own ability, or it simply doesn't get done.
Hiring others to do it for us is abject failure." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/38ez4nc
-----
23) Gas stations in the sky
Center for a Stateless Society
by Thomas L. Knapp
"$35 billion is a pretty big number, so let's break it down into
something more manageable: $115 from every man, woman and child in the
US. For gas stations. In the sky. Well, hey, it's for 'defense,'
right? Of the top 15 global government big 'defense' spenders, five
(Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Australia and Spain) each spent less
than $35 billion on 'defense' in 2009. Not less than $35 billion on
gas stations in the sky. Less than $35 billion total. Italy spent
$35.8 billion on 'defense' in 2009. Not just on gas stations in the
sky -- that's their whole army, navy and air force. India -- a nuclear
power with a blue-water navy (including aircraft carrier and nuclear
submarine components), a long history of border tensions with another
nuclear power (Pakistan), a big bristly neighbor (China) and a
population nearly four times as large as that of the US -- spent $36.3
billion on 'defense.' Not just on gas stations in the sky, but
altogether. Meanwhile, the US government will spend somewhere in the
neighborhood of $1 trillion on 'defense' in fiscal year
2010." (07/23/10)
http://c4ss.org/content/3248
-----
24) Statists are a virus
The Libertarian Standard
by Michael Barnett
"Public schools are good enough for your kids, but their kids attend
the finest private schools in the country. You can get by using a
small, energy efficient house with minimal air conditioning, but
they're gonna go ahead and own 3 or 4 or 5 energy-guzzling mansions.
Feel free to get yourself a Smart Car or avail yourself of 'public
transportation,' but they're gonna fly around in private jets or sail
their massive yachts. Do you live in an exclusive, gated neighborhood
or compound with private security? They do -- and they have servants'
quarters, too. And most importantly, you pay the oppressive tax rates
they burden you with, but they always find a loophole for
themselves ..."
http://www.libertarianstandard.com/2010/07/23/statists-are-a-virus/
-----
25) Three imperial edicts
Liberty For All
by Sean Haugh
"The question is fascinating, 'if (I could) pass any three pieces of
legislation, without having to worry about the approval of Congress,
what would they be?' I always associate legislation specifically with
congress or the general assembly. I can relieve that contradiction by
framing my answers not as legislation, but rather as executive orders,
or even better, edicts. So, as the Emperor of the United States and
Protector of Mexico (my preferred title, after Emperor Norton), here
are my first three proclamations ..." (07/24/10)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4593
-----
26) The regime's war on food
Pro Libertate
by Will Grigg
"It isn't an exaggeration to say that the Regime is conducting a low-
grade war against producers and consumers of raw milk -- a campaign
that bears an undeniable family resemblance to the murderous, decades-
long farce called the War on Drugs. It shouldn't come as a surprise to
learn that a government presuming to dictate to us what mood-altering
substances we can consume would likewise presume to tell us what foods
we can eat and offer to others." (07/25/10)
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/07/regimes-war-on-food.html
-----
27) The breakup of the United States
LewRockwell.Com
by Michael S. Rozeff
"As the dissatisfactions of Americans with their national government
grow, so does the likelihood of the breakup of the United States. I
believe that most Americans can improve their well-being by ending the
national government, that is, ending the Union. I believe that this
goal should shape politics if politics is to do much good." (07/26/10)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff328.html
-----
28) A few questions for Metro
Las Vegas Review-Journal
by Vin Suprynowicz
"It's been two weeks since three Las Vegas Metro cops shot and killed
38-year-old West Point graduate Erik Scott as he exited a Costco store
in the upscale area of Summerlin on July 10. So far, the incident has
generated more questions than answers. If officials lock up the
evidence so you can't get the answers, print the questions. Erik Scott
had a permit; he could legally carry a firearm either open or
concealed. It's a right. Mr. Scott was under no obligation to
demonstrate a 'need' to carry his firearms to the store (as some
letter-writers have suggested), any more than you must demonstrate a
'need' to go to church more than once a week." (07/25/10)
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/a-few-questions-for-metro-99190929.html
-----
29) Arma virumque cano
The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith
"'Arma virumque cano ...' are the opening words, give or take, of
Virgil's Aeneid, a ten thousand line epic poem written around 19 A.D.,
about the guy, a Trojan famously defeated by the Greeks, named Aeneas,
who refugeed out to found the city that would someday be Rome. The
words mean 'Of arms and the man I sing ...'" (07/25/10)
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle580-20100725-02.html
-----
30) Money dominates
Cato Institute
by Steve H. Hanke
"Financial panics are usually followed by sharp economic snap backs.
The post-Panic of 2008 has failed to follow this typical 'V-shaped'
economic recovery pattern. After almost two years, the U.S. economy
remains mired in an anemic recovery, with a current 2.4% year-over-
year rate of growth. This paltry growth rate doesn't even reach the
U.S.'s long-term trend rate, and is well below the sizzling growth
rate we should be observing (6%-7.5%). The picture is much the same in
Europe, where growth is even more anemic. The fiscalists have reached
for their standard elixir -- larger government deficits." (07/23/10)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12001
-----
31) Bureaucratic brownies
Reason
by Katherine Mangu-Ward
"The Pentagon's brownie recipe is 26 pages long. Among the
ingredients: water that conforms to the 'National Primary Drinking
Water Regulations (Copies are available from the Office of Drinking
Water, Environmental Protection Agency, WH550D, 401 M Street, S.W.,
Washington, DC 20460),' eggs in compliance with 'Regulations Governing
the Inspection of Eggs and Egg Products (7 CFR Part 59),' and baking
soda 'which meets the requirements of the Food Chemicals Codex.'" (for
publication 08/10)
http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/23/bureaucratic-brownies
-----
32) How you will change the world with social networking
AlterNet
by Deanna Zandt
Excerpt from Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social
Networking by Deanna Zandt. "Social media technology holds some of the
biggest potential for creating tectonic shifts in how we operate, and
the overall open-ended promise of technology gives us a great shot at
creating the systems for change. Technology isn't a magic bullet for
solving the world's problems, but it's certainly a spark to the
fastest fuse to explode our notions of power that the world has seen
in a thousand years. In this book, I hope to show you how to light
that fuse." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eq6wzg
-----
33) Slavery and the early development of modern capitalism
TCS Daily
by Joseph Swetnam
"If slavery and imperialistic plunder lead to industrial development,
why aren't the most culpable nations also the most developed? As it
turns out, of all the ways to exploit and utilize the world's economic
resources, conquest, plunder and enslavement are among the least
efficient. The economy benefits more from free workers who spend their
wages on goods and services than from slaves who have no money to
spend. Likewise, it is more cost-effective to trade for resources than
to fight over them." (07/22/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26etys2
-----
34) The last American skill
TCS Daily
by Bill Costello
"According to a recent 'Newsweek' article titled 'The Creativity
Crisis,' research shows that American creativity is declining for the
first time. If this trend continues, the nation's economic and
national security will be at risk. The research is based on results of
the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, which has been used to test
American creativity for half a century. Dr. Kyung Hee Kim, assistant
professor of education at the College of William & Mary, analyzed the
data and found that American creativity scores began to fall in 1990
after having risen steadily for decades. And they have been falling
significantly ever since." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29wrppq
-----
35) The tea party's march madness
Mother Jones
by Stephanie Mencimer
"The tea party movement is not just a political juggernaut -- it's
also become a big business. That quickly became clear following last
September's unexpectedly enormous rally in Washington organized by
Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, the event that helped put the movement on
the map. With crowd estimates ranging from 75,000 to 2 million, the
rally was such a hit that conservative activists are planning a sequel
this year. A bunch of them actually. And these competing events have
led to confusion and infighting among the tea party
faithful." (07/23/10)
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/07/tea-partys-march-madness
-----
36) Green-Libertarian coalition? Good luck!
Libertarian News Examiner
by Garry Reed
"It's embarrassing when a writer writing about libertarianism can't
tell it from conservatism. But the idea of a Green-Libertarian
political coalition isn't new for people who conflate 'libertarian'
with 'conservative,' supposing that such a political pairing would
pull enough votes from left and right to cause considerable angst in
both camps while vesting significant clout in the coalition. But the
problem here comes down to a single word, a word that appears nowhere
amongst the 1540 words of the article. That word is
coercion." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2avrvsh
-----
37) Refudiate liberalism!
The Weekly Standard
by William Kristol
"The case for linguistic innovation is this: We need a word that
captures and conjoins the meanings of refutation and repudiation. And
we need it now. To save the country from the ravages of contemporary
liberalism, we have to refute liberal arguments and see liberal
politicians repudiated at the polls. So the conservative agenda is, in
a word, refudiation." (for publication 08/02/10)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/refudiate-liberalism
-----
38) The geek labyrinth
Slate
by Fred Kaplan
"The report's numbers are fairly staggering: 854,000 people have
clearances of Top Secret or higher; 1,271 government agencies and
1,931 private companies do superclassified work related to
counterterrorism, homeland security, and intelligence in about 10,000
locations nationwide; 33 building complexes for Top Secret
intelligence work have been built, or are under construction, since
2001. But the numbers are the least of it, and the critics who focus
on them -- scoffing that big isn't always bad and, after all, we might
need all those companies and complexes in this dangerous world -- miss
the point." (07/22/10)
http://www.slate.com/id/2261462/
-----
39) Catholics, Protestants, Hispanics and Gays
Classically Liberal
by CLS
"The idea that only Protestant immigrants should be given a path to
citizenship is astounding if you think about it but consistent with
the historic values of American fundamentalism. It is no accident that
the virulently anti-immigration Ku Klux Klan was heavily
fundamentalist in religious make up. If there has been one trend among
fundamentalists over the last century is their unique ability to
always hate some identifiable group. Over the years different groups
have jockeyed for their attention and often the emphasis has changed
but favorite targets of organized hate campaigns have been blacks,
Jews, immigrants, Mexican immigrants in particular, gays, Catholics,
'liberals,' and feminists. The error that Fischer and his fellow
fundies make is that they equate 'pro-family' with a fundamentalist
morality system." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/246p2ya
-----
40) Liberal tax revolt game-changer?
National Review
by Larry Kudlow
"The liberal tax revolt, as the Wall Street Journal is calling it, is
a very important topic -- especially for investors and small-business
entrepreneurs. And for new jobs. The so-called revolt is comprised of
three Democratic senators: Kent Conrad, Evan Bayh, and Ben Nelson.
They want to extend all the Bush tax cuts. That includes taxes on the
wealthy, or the top personal tax rate, the investment taxes on capital
gains and dividends, and the estate tax. So is this revolt a game-
changer, or merely wishful thinking?" (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/3xv9twa
-----
41) CNN anchors attack the scourge of anonymity
Salon
by Glenn Greenwald
"At least anonymous bloggers are very clear and truthful about what
they are: often citizens whose jobs or other interests prevent them
from attaching their names to their political expression. By stark
contrast, all of these establishment media outlets perpetrate a total
fraud on the public by pretending that they have standards for when
anonymity will be used even though, as these examples from the last 24
hours alone prove, they routinely violate those alleged standards for
absolutely no reason. It just never ceases to amaze how much
establishment journalists like Roberts and Phillips love to rail
against the Evils of Internet Anonymity when reckless, cowardly
anonymity -- for purposes ranging from catty, trivial gossip to
pernicious propaganda and everything in between -- is a central tool
of their 'profession' and of the political class they
cover." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23vxksu
-----
42) The rush to misjudge
Boston Globe
by Scott Harshbarger & Amy Crafts
"This week's Shirley Sherrod incident is 'deja vu all over again' for
those of us engaged in the independent inquiry of ACORN last year.
Last September, Fox News embraced a series of videos released by
blogger Andrew Breitbart that purported to expose the Association of
Community Organizations for Reform Now, a national grassroots advocacy
group, as fraudulently seeking governmental services for folks
disguised as pimps and prostitutes. The ensuing rapid fire media
reaction and the political firestorm it created drove ACORN to its
knees, and it was quickly abandoned by its progressive allies,
funders, and supporters. All this occurred long before the context and
facts were investigated or evaluated. An independent report that we
were commissioned to provide found that Breitbart's video 'stings'
were edited to misrepresent the alleged 'facts.' The Shirley Sherrod
incident has all the same elements. The same conservative blogger
(Breitbart); the same network (Fox News); the same kind of edited,
incomplete video -- again involving race." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eca8nd
-----
43) The Sherrod incident: What the President didn't seem to learn
Our Future Blog
by Richard (RJ) Eskow
"The 'teachable moment' cliche may be overused, as Jason Linkins
observed the other day, but what the White House really needed this
week was a learnable moment. ... In what might be described as a 'the
buck stops there' comment, the President blamed Tom Vilsack for the
decision. 'He jumped the gun,' said the President, 'partly because we
now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a
blog and everybody scrambles.' No, Mr. President. The problem is that
there is a highly motivated, ideologically driven, and extremely well-
funded movement, determined to destroy you, your party, and everything
you stand for, including the proper role of government in a civil
society. Their ideology lies in tatters, destroyed by the economic
collapse and the ecological devastation in the Gulf. All they have
left is the politics of destruction." [editor's note: Even if you
despise the position here ("the proper role of government in a civil
society" indeed -- how 'bout "slim or none?"), the analysis of the
actions on BOTH sides of this mess is impeccable - SAT] (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/24lbjcd
-----
44) Doctors fleeing faster from profession, Medicare
Orange County Register
by Grace-Marie Turner
"The exodus of doctors from Medicare (and, likely, from private
practice altogether) is accelerating. The signs are undeniable: A 2008
poll by an independent Medicare commission found that 28 percent of
seniors had trouble finding a primary-care doctor, up from 24 percent
the year before. In Texas, 38 percent of primary-care doctors will
take new Medicare patients. The Mayo Clinic is opting out of Medicare
in several locations because the low payment rates don't allow the
organization to provide the quality care its culture demands. One
financial planner reported that well over half of his physician
clients have asked him to restructure their finances so they can
retire in 2013 -- the year before the main provisions of the new
health overhaul law take effect." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2eybl6r
-----
45) Open-minded is not open borders
Arizona Republic
by E. J. Montini
"Rep. Jeff Flake is the only politician in Arizona (or the country)
who understands that the best way to defeat Senate Bill 1070 is to let
it take effect. 'Then we would see that it is not the answer and we
could move on toward an actual solution,' Flake told me. Like just
about every other Arizona politician, Flake was against the Justice
Department's decision to file a lawsuit that would stop local police
from enforcing SB 1070. His reasoning has nothing to do with election
politics, however, but with having spent years trying to find a
practical solution to the illegal-immigration [sic]
crisis." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fd5dr7
-----
46) Emmylou & the EPA take on Big Coal
In These Times
by Peter White
"In Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in May, country singer
Emmylou Harris and friends performed at the 'Music Saves Mountains'
concert, raising their voices to protect Appalachia from the ravages
of coal mining. 'We call the Ryman the Mother Church of country music,
and if that's true, then the Appalachian Mountains are its sacred
ground,' Harris told the audience. Harris shared the stage with
singers Dave Matthews, Alison Krauss and Kathy Mattea, a longtime
opponent of the controversial and profitable practice of blowing up
mountaintops to get at the coal underneath." [editor's note: Although
this issue may not appear to impact as widely as the Gulf oil-spill
has, it is every bit as important in the quest to shift energy
paradigms - SAT] (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23fzdxv
-----
47) Hungary's malaise
A Passion for Liberty
by Tibor R. Machan
"What my mother said to me back after the fall of the Soviet-style
socialists was that unless all those who were part of the old,
communist regime were put in jail, the country would eventually be
retaken by the former bosses because there was no group of classical
liberal leaders ready to lead the country away from its dismal
socialist past. She was confident that without such a group of new
leaders, with genuinely new ideas, Hungary would slowly return to its
old socialist ways." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/22rjuw2
-----
48) What if McCain had been president? And other climate
counterfactuals
The New Republic
by Bradford Plumer
"If McCain had won in 2008, with Democrats controlling both the House
and Senate, then it's quite possible we'd have a climate bill by now.
McCain, after all, supported cap-and-trade on the campaign trail -- he
only reversed himself after he lost the election .... Republicans
would have had a much trickier time demonizing the policy as a --
what's the phrase? -- 'job-killing energy tax,' and most Democrats
would have backed it. Now, would McCain's proposal have been ideal?
Nope. His preferred iteration of cap-and-trade was weaker than Obama's
and rife with corporate giveaways. McCain also would have opposed a
variety of crucial side measures, such as efficiency standards. But
the end result might have been better than, well, nothing." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/27n94pc
-----
49) The real story of racism at the USDA
The Nation Blog
by Chris Kromm
"Right now, if you do a web search of the words 'racism' and 'USDA,'
the majority of links will steer you to coverage of this week's
Shirley Sherrod affair, in which the African-American US Department of
Agriculture staffer based in Georgia resigned after a conservative
website reversed the meaning of a speech she gave last year to imply
she would deny farm loans to whites. It's an astonishing development
given the history of race relations at the USDA, an agency whose own
Commission on Small Farms admitted in 1998 that 'the history of
discrimination at the US Department of Agriculture...is well-
documented' -- not against white farmers but African-American, Native
American and other minorities who were pushed off their land by
decades of racially biased laws and practices." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2vwac6l
-----
50) Chris Huhne's "no state subsidies for nuclear"
Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
"The strangeness is that every other form of non-fossil fuel
generation is getting massive subsidies, so why this prissiness over
some to nuclear? The answer lies in how the other subsidies are
calculated and paid, not in any principled objections or even any
acknowledgment of economic rationality." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2535x8r
-----
51) An overused tactic
Ayn R. Key
by Ayn R. Key
"It has come to the point where the term 'racist' has become so
completely overused that it is losing its impact. There was a time
when a person so accused would take great offense and spend much time
demonstrating a lack of racist tendencies. The typical response now is
to sigh and accuse the other person of making the accusation due to
having run out of actual arguments. The reason it was overused is
because the person making the accusation typically did resort to it
due to having run out of actual arguments. Now an outside observer,
hearing a progressive refer to someone else as a racist, hears 'he's
saying that guy isn't a progressive.'" (07/22/10)
http://aynrkey.blogspot.com/2010/07/overused-tactic.html
-----
52) Politics or principle
LewRockwell.Com
by Scott Lazarowitz
"The Founders' Declaration of Independence is probably one of the most
succinct documents declaring that the rights to life, liberty and
property are inherent among all individuals. The Constitution,
however, assigned to a federal government one monopolistic power after
another, and gave to centralized bureaucrats in Washington the power
of compulsion over their fellow Americans. Such a restrictive monopoly
and that power of compulsion contradicted the very rights recognized
by the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration declares the
principles of Liberty, but the Constitution is the politics and power
of the aggressive, parasitic State." (07/24/10)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/lazarowitz9.1.1.html
-----
53) The great myth: Counterinsurgency
AntiWar.Com
by Conn Hallinan
"That the war in Afghanistan is a failure will hardly come as news to
most people. Our NATO allies are preparing to abandon the endeavor --
the Dutch, Canadians, and Poles have announced they are bailing -- and
the British, who have the second largest contingent in Afghanistan,
are clamoring for peace talks. Opposition to the war in Britain is at
72 percent. But there is a tendency to blame the growing debacle on
conditions peculiar to Afghanistan. ... The problem is not
Afghanistan, but the entire concept of COIN, and the debate around it
is hardly academic." (07/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/23tkpel
-----
54) Obama told lies about bailouts
Nolan Chart
by Walt Thiessen
"President Obama on Wednesday signed into law what most major media
outlets called the most sweeping financial industry reform legislation
since the Great Depression, hailing the reforms as establishing 'the
strongest consumer financial protections in history.' In actual fact,
they failed to report that President Obama, Chris Dodd of Connecticut,
who sponsored the bill in the Senate, Barney Frank of Massachusetts,
who sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives, Fed Chairman
Ben Bernanke, and all the top talking heads of the Obama
administration, Wall Street, the major parties, and the media, have
all been telling some of the most brazen, most blatant, most bold-
faced lies ever told in human history in defense of their new law.
Let's take a moment to examine some of these lies." (07/24/10)
http://www.nolanchart.com/article7871.html
-----
55) Dodd-Frank bill contains provision that may lead to tracking of
all gold coins
Economic Policy Journal
"The concept of conflict-free began with diamonds mined in a war zone
and sold to finance an insurgency, invading army's war efforts, or a
warlord's activity. The idea being that the purchase of diamonds from
such war zones should be illegal, ostensibly to stop the financing of
the wars. It is believed by observers of the diamond industry, such as
Edward J. Epstein, that DeBeers was behind the idea of conflict-free
diamonds as a way to limit the supply of diamonds that come on the
market. Nevertheless the concept took hold." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/28o8s39
-----
56) "Free enterprise" is not free enterprise
Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"Every single awful thing about the present corporate economy that
Americans react to negatively when they hear the word 'capitalism' is
at the heart of how the dirtbags in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who
love to toss around the words 'free enterprise,' actually make their
money. What the Chamber of Commerce means by 'free enterprise' is
exactly the same thing that people like Naomi Klein and Michael Moore
are attacking under the name of 'capitalism.' As a result, most people
hear the words 'free enterprise' and 'free markets' emanating
primarily from the same interests that want to protect the system as
it is, and that depend most heavily on the suppression of the free
market for their livelihood." (07/22/10)
http://c4ss.org/content/3237
-----
57) Shirley Sherrod, a family farmer's friend
Huffington Post
by Willie Nelson
"The real story of Shirley Sherrod deserved to be told a long time
ago. She has had an amazing impact on the lives and livelihoods of
hundreds of families and communities throughout the South. Farmers of
every race have struggled with the income inequities that have
persisted for generations, and advocates like Ms. Sherrod have moved
mountains to ensure that families can remain in their homes and on
their farms." (07/21/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2b29rm9
-----
58) Exit through the Gift Shop
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Anders Mikkelsen
"What applies to technology also applies to art. As books like
Literature and the Economics of Liberty and Worldly Goods have shown,
the creation of many classic works of art and literature must be
understood in the context of commercial society's spontaneous order.
The new documentary film Exit Through the Gift Shop, playing in art-
house cinemas throughout the country this year, is an excellent and
comedic illustration of the observation that the most successful
innovations are all about marketing." (07/23/10)
http://mises.org/daily/4554
-----
59) Abolish the Agriculture Department
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"Amidst the big dispute between liberals and conservatives over race
in the Shirley Sherrod controversy, I'd like to make a libertarian
point: Rather than give Sherrod her job back at the Department of
Agriculture, let's instead simply abolish the Agriculture Department,
along with all the socialist programs that enable those welfare-state
bureaucrats to dole out other people's hard-earned money to
farmers." (07/23/10)
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-07-23.asp
-----
60) Modern political prisoners in America
Fr33 Agents
by Szandor Blestman
"When I was growing up, I learned in school that one of the reasons
the United States of America was better than the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics was because we didn't hold political prisoners in
our jails. That was something the bad, bad communists did. That was
something that was done in communist countries to keep dissidents in
line and to silence them. Such a thing could never be done in America.
I don't know if this is still taught in the schools, but if it is then
I believe our children are being grossly misinformed. The United
States of America has become the leading nation when it comes to
jailing its citizens, and the vast majority of them have been jailed
for non violent crimes. We are, in effect, being jailed by the
political class for disobeying rules they have deigned necessary, not
for actions that have harmed another human being or his property. Most
of those jailed are, in effect, political prisoners." (07/23/10)
http://www.fr33agents.com/3159/modern-political-prisoners-in-america/
-----
61) Obama leading us down the road of ruination
Freedom Politics
by Thomas J. Lucente Jr.
"Americans are fighting the wrong war. The greatest threat to national
security is not Islamic extremism. Nor is it a Chinese military
buildup, nuclear weapons in Iran or climate change. 'I think the
biggest threat we have to our national security is our debt,' said
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. How right he
is." (07/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fwyz95
-----
62) Regulatory magic
Foundation for Economic Education
by Sheldon Richman
"President Obama has signed the financial industry regulatory overhaul
-- officially, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act. Predictably, what he said about it cannot possibly be
true. For example: '[T]hese reforms represent the strongest consumer
financial protections in history. And these protections will be
enforced by a new consumer watchdog with just one job: looking out for
people -- not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses -- looking
out for people as they interact with the financial
system.'" (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2at3hab
-----
63) Rockefeller bill -- is it good enough?
OpenMarket.org
by Marlo Lewis
"Barring the trickery of a lame-duck conference committee, cap-and-
trade is dead as a door nail in the 111th Congress. As you'd expect,
there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth, with Obama officials,
Democratic leaders in Congress, and environmental lobbyists all saying
it's all the other guy's fault. Columnist Darren Samuelsohn provides
several juicy quotes in Politico today." (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2bp5owf
-----
64) Too safe for our own good?
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Gregory Conko and Henry I. Miller
"Myths about the risks of various products and activities can
themselves be harmful to your health. They include the belief that
greater regulation is synonymous with greater safety, and that excess
or unnecessary regulation is harmless. Self-promoting, self-styled
'consumer activists' perpetuate and feed off those misconceptions. For
example, the Natural Resources Defense Council last month filed a
lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration because of the
agency's refusal to ban bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in many
consumer products." (07/21/10)
http://cei.org/op-eds-and-articles/too-safe-our-own-good
-----
65) On the coming fall of the American empire
Campaign For Liberty
by Daniel McCarthy
"Bruce Fein's American Empire: Before the Fall is not for the faint of
heart. 'You, your family, your friends, your professional colleagues,
and your elected and appointed officials in the nation's highest
circles will fiercely resist the truths this book expounds,' the
author warns. He's not kidding. Only the most well informed
constitutionalist will fail to be surprised by this book -- and even
that reader will come away from American Empire with a clearer
understanding of the dangers facing our republic." (07/23/10)
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1028
*****************************
* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
*****************************
66) Brian Costin on Freedom Rings Radio, 07/26/10
Freedom Rings Radio
Mr. Brian Costin, Founder and President of the Schaumburg Freedom
Coalition, joins host Kenneth John. 9-10am Central on WMRN 1410 AM,
Elgin, IL or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (07/26/10)
http://freedomrings.net/
-----
67) Dr. Elaina George on The Freedom Works, 07/26/10
The Freedom Works
Dr. Elaina George, founder of Peachtre ENT Center, joins host Paul
Molloy. 10-11am Eastern on WTAN 1340 AM, Tampa Bay, FL, KLRG 880 AM,
Little Rock, AR or live on the web. [live radio or stream] (07/26/10)
http://thefreedomworks.com/
-----
68) Free Talk Live, 07/24/10
Free Talk Live
"Apologies :: Federal Infiltration :: Civil Disobedience :: Defeating
Open Container Laws :: Police Enforcement Priorities :: Changing the
Law :: Sweating :: Circumcision :: Useless Medical Procedures :: God
and Circumcision :: Female Genital Mutilation :: The Fantasy of
Holding Politicians Accountable? :: Positive and Negative Rights ::
The Doctrine of Necessity :: FIJA :: Licensing." [MP3] (07/24/10)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2010-07-24.mp3
-----
69) Cato Daily Podcast, 07/23/10
Cato Institute
"Unemployed options," featuring Jeffrey A. Miron. [MP3] (07/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/cato072310
-----
70) Freedomain Radio #1703
Freedomain Radio
"What it means when a friend supports the state." [MP3] (07/22/10)
http://tinyurl.com/fdr1703
*************************************
* 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!
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