06/28 -- Toronto: Arrest total tops 400 after night of riots at G20 meeting; Military-led Guinea holds first free election since 1958
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jun 28, 2010, 1:20:41 AM6/28/10
to Rational Review News Digest
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* Volume VIII, Issue #1,949
* Monday, June 28th, 2010
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In The News:
1) Toronto: Arrest total tops 400 after night of riots at G20 meeting
2) Military-led Guinea holds first free election since 1958
3) Iraq: Ten killed, eight wounded
4) Afghanistan: Five occupation troops killed
5) Pakistan: US drone strike kills three
6) Gaza: Hamas-Fatah fuel spat leaves thousands in dark
7) Robert Byrd, longest-serving member of US Congress, hospitalized
8) DISCLOSE Act: Who's exempt?
9) Israel setting up Saudi base for Iran raid?
10) Peaceful region of Somaliland votes for president
11) SCOTUS: A preview of "Big Monday"
12) Regulators to shape finance rules
13) IL: Oak Park's gun ban also is in the balance
14) Troubled contractor gets Afghanistan security deal
15) MA: "Hands Across the Sand" protests offshore drilling
16) North Korea: Kim regime says it must bolster nuclear capability
17) Obama moves to reinstate Superfund tax
18) OH: Girl, six, makes no-fly list
19) NC: Store clerks shoot, kill robbery suspect
20) Panetta: No idea where bin Laden is
21) World leaders walk economic tightrope in Canada
22) NATO: Afghan ops not slowed despite command change
23) Pope rebukes Belgium over police raid
24) Kyrgyzstan: Referendum "backs constitutional change plan"
25) Kagan SCOTUS confirmation hearings to begin Monday
26) TX: Judge intervenes to protect Democrats from democracy
27) Canada: "Secret" law lets police abduct people over paperwork
28) Banker turned IRS rat fink whines for sentence commutation
29) Costner cleanup device gets high marks from BP
30) AZ: Brewer babbles new, even less coherent Know-Nothing nonsense
Everybody Has An Opinion:
31) A brief review of the history of US immigration law
32) Business as usual for Las Vegas police
33) Corporations, mercantilism, and capitalism
34) Five years after Kelo, property rights still threatened
35) The desktop revolution in worker protection
36) Colonialism, Obama-style
37) The return of nullification
38) Putting Petraeus in perspective
39) Wall Street reform: A good first step
40) Winners and losers in Gaza conflict
41) After 41 years, a belated victory for butter
42) Kyrgyzstan on the brink
43) Toward a new monetary order
44) Obama's oil spill panel a farce
45) Why statists hate gold
46) The inconveniently oily truth
47) McChrystal flap sign of war's loss
48) Hayek's Road to Serfdom: Despotism then and now
49) The Toronto G20 riot fraud
50) Beware, carpetbaggers!
51) Indians along the Mohawk
52) Seattle's blue gang extortion racket
53) Who kills your freedom?
54) Crony capitalism and corporate welfare: Is this $30 billion worth
of corruption?
55) In case Americans care: Afghanistan war "will not miss a beat"
56) (Everyone except) the (New York) Times, they are a'changin'
57) "Let them eat coriander!"
58) Suiting up for a post-dollar world
59) Obama's online power play
60) Is the US a fascist police state?
61) Leave Coke alone!
62) The libertarian case against abortion (and its prohibition)
63) Obama vs. the US Army
64) Why do we care about countries we'll never go to?
65) Not so NICE
66) Conservatives Against Journalism
67) Signs that the culture war is all but over
68) How many Americans are targeted for assassination?
69) Orszag's broken cost-cutting promises
70) Did the anti-vaccine movement help create a whooping cough
epidemic?
71) Financial reform bill won't stop next crisis
72) Zuloaga, a wanted man
73) On being a 21st-century peasant
74) What's your Bible?
75) Police your own damn copyrights
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
76) Ed Rutledge on Freedom Rings Radio, 06/28/10
77) Hans Bader on The Freedom Works, 06/28/10
78) Larry Siems on Antiwar Radio
79) Free Talk Live, 06/26/10
80) Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis on
streamlining government
81) Cato Daily Podcast, 06/25/10
82) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 06/25/10
83) Former US Comptroller General David Walker on the federal fiscal
crisis
84) Gold, oil, and the dollar
85) Individual liberty, free markets and peace
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
86) Today's events
***************
* In The News
***************
1) Toronto: Arrest total tops 400 after night of riots at G20 meeting
Los Angeles Times
"Police said they arrested more than 400 people after a demonstration
against the Group of 20 summit turned violent in downtown Toronto and
braced for more possible trouble Sunday. Police spokeswoman Michelle
Murphy said 412 people had been arrested across the city after what
she described as 'quite a messy protest' on Saturday. They face
charges ranging from mischief to assaulting police. Saturday's protest
started as a peaceful demonstration, but rapidly turned into a riot
after groups of masked anarchists broke away from the main crowd,
smashing store windows and banks and torching at least two police
cars." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2anmya8
-----
2) Military-led Guinea holds first free election since 1958
CNN
"Voters in Guinea cast ballots Sunday in the first free election since
the west African nation gained independence in 1958. 'With successful
elections, a democracy will be born, and all Guineans together will
have together taken a giant step forward,' the U.S. ambassador to the
country, Patricia Newton Moller, said in a message to the country
ahead of the first round of voting." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/255fmz9
-----
3) Iraq: Ten killed, eight wounded
AntiWar.Com
"At least nine Iraqis were killed and eight more were wounded in light
violence. Also, a U.S. soldier was killed and two more were wounded
during a vehicular accident in Diwaniya." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fzxvaw
-----
4) Afghanistan: Five occupation troops killed
Reuters
"Five troops, including four Norwegians, serving with the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan have
been killed, ISAF said Monday. The Norwegian defense ministry
confirmed the nationalities of the four killed by a roadside bomb in
Afghanistan's north on Sunday. A fifth ISAF service member was killed
during an attack by insurgents in the south Sunday." (06/27/10)
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE65R0EZ20100628
-----
5) Pakistan: US drone strike kills three
Agence France-Presse
"A US drone attack killed at least three militants Sunday in
Pakistan's North Waziristan district, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-
Qaeda cohorts on the Afghan border, officials said. The attack
targeted a militant compound in Tabbi Torkhel village about four
kilometres (2.5 miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in the
lawless tribal district. One security official said at least three
militants were killed. A local administration official confirmed the
attack and put the toll at four dead and two wounded." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2676jzz
-----
6) Gaza: Hamas-Fatah fuel spat leaves thousands in dark
Jerusalem Post [Israel]
"The continued power struggle between Hamas and Fatah has left tens of
thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the dark following the
closure of the area's main power plant. The power plant, which
supplies 25% of electricity to the Gaza Strip, was shut down on Friday
night because of a dispute between the rival Palestinian parties over
payment for fuel that is needed to keep it running. Hamas and Fatah
traded allegations over the power outage, with each party blaming the
other for the crisis." (06/28/10)
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=179719
-----
7) Robert Byrd, longest-serving member of US Congress, hospitalized
USA Today
"Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress, was
admitted to a Washington-area hospital last week and is 'seriously
ill,' according to a statement released by his office Sunday. Byrd,
92, was admitted to the hospital for what was believed to be heat
exhaustion and dehydration following recent high temperatures in
Washington, D.C. In a statement, Byrd spokesman Jesse Jacobs said that
'other conditions have developed which has resulted in his condition
being described as 'serious." First elected to the House in 1952 and
the Senate six years later, the Democrat has been in frail health for
years." (06/27/10)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-06-27-Byrd_N.htm
-----
8) DISCLOSE Act: Who's exempt?
Christian Science Monitor
"The House vote Wednesday to impose new disclosure requirements for
corporations that fund campaign ads was a nail biter, with the last
few votes eked out in overtime, 219 to 206. But the road in the Senate
-- and to the president's desk -- could be tougher still. The bill,
known as the Disclose Act, aims to 'fix' a recent Supreme Court ruling
that struck down limits to corporate spending on election campaigns.
House Democrats called the campaign-finance decision 'a threat to
democracy.' In anticipation of a surge in special-interest spending to
influence the 2010 midterm elections, the bill requires corporations
-- profit or nonprofit - to disclose their spending on campaign ads.
In addition, corporate CEOs must appear in the ads they finance, and
nonprofits must disclose their top donors. Some corporations -- those
accepting TARP bailout funds, federal contractors, or foreign
corporations such as BP -- would be banned from spending on US
elections altogether." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/24nos9z
-----
9) Israel setting up Saudi base for Iran raid?
MSNBC
"An Iranian allegation that Saudi Arabia is allowing Israel to use its
terroritory in preparation for attacking Iran nuclear sites has
stirred a flurry of reports in the Israeli media. The allegation could
not be independently confirmed, and the Saudis deny cooperating with
the Israeli military. The Jerusalem Post website on Sunday said
reports that the Israeli military had established a base in Saudi
Arabia originated with Iranian and Israeli news outlets." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fvlh5h
-----
10) Peaceful region of Somaliland votes for president
MSNBC
"Voters in Somaliland queued for hours and thronged polling stations
Saturday for the second presidential election held in the self-
declared republic, in a peaceful exercise in governance not seen for
decades in the country's anarchic south. Voters and candidates said
they hope this vote will award Somaliland the international
recognition it seeks. The three men vying to become president of the
region have all promised to seek international recognition for the
autonomous region." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fx7ymt
-----
11) SCOTUS: A preview of "Big Monday"
Wall Street Journal
"Readers, consider yourselves duly warned. You need to be well-rested
and alert Monday when the Supreme Court is expected to issue four big-
time rulings. ... In McDonald v. City of Chicago, which involves a
challenge to a Chicago handgun ban, the court will weigh in on whether
the Second Amendment can be incorporated into the 14th Amendment so as
to apply to the states. As Ashby Jones, our esteemed colleague who's
due back Monday from a well-deserved vacation, once said about the
case: 'It's not an understatement to say that the entire gun-control
regime in the U.S. hangs in the balance.' The smart money is that the
court will rule 5-4 that the 2nd Amendment constrains the right of
states to regulate firearms." (06/27/10)
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/06/25/scotus-a-preview-of-big-monday/
-----
12) Regulators to shape finance rules
Boston Globe
"Well before Congress reached agreement on the details of its
financial overhaul legislation, industry lobbyists and consumer
advocates started preparing for the next battle: influencing the
creation of several hundred new rules and regulations. The bill,
completed early Friday and expected to come up for a final vote this
week, is basically a 2,000-page missive to federal agencies,
instructing regulators to address subjects ranging from derivatives
trading to document retention. But it is notably short on specifics,
giving regulators significant power to determine its impact -- and
giving partisans on both sides a second chance to influence the
outcome." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ekpo6h
-----
13) IL: Oak Park's gun ban also is in the balance
Chicago Tribune
"People in Oak Park don't often mention the names James Piszczor or
Donald Bennett anymore. But more than 20 years ago, those men came to
symbolize opposing sides of the village's handgun ban and thrust the
western suburb to the center of a national battle over Second
Amendment rights. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to
decide whether municipalities such as Oak Park and Chicago can legally
forbid their residents to possess handguns. And in Oak Park, the first
municipality in the country to approve a handgun ban referendum
measure, the ruling could signify how much of a say citizens have on
the issue." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2flyzzy
-----
14) Troubled contractor gets Afghanistan security deal
Winston-Salem Journal
"CIA Director Leon Panetta says the agency has hired Xe (zee) Services
-- the company once known as Blackwater -- for a $100 million contract
to provide security in Afghanistan. He says Xe underbid others by $26
million and that a CIA review concludes that the contractor has
cleaned up its act. Panetta says Moyock, N.C.-based Xe does not engage
in actual CIA operations, but instead helps secure agency bases in war
zones." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/235bfmz
-----
15) MA: "Hands Across the Sand" protests offshore drilling
Boston Globe
"Give Jane Barry five days and a bullhorn and she can give you 200
protesters and a message: No to offshore drilling. Barry, a 63-year-
old real estate broker from Gloucester, organized one of 26 'Hands
Across the Sand' protests in Massachusetts -- 808 nationwide -- to
oppose offshore drilling and call for clean energy alternatives.
Participants linked hands, standing on beaches together at noon for 15
minutes yesterday. 'Sometimes in order to start something, you have to
scream,' Barry said in an interview. Barry took an old real estate
sign and decorated it with paper hands and an ocean made of blue
electrical tape. Beneath her straw with the words 'Hands Across the
Sand' written in orange and blue marker, she was joined by 15 others
who gathered at one end of Good Harbor Beach, held hands and started
walking toward the other end, their feet splashing in the surf. Barry
started yelling into her bullhorn for people to join." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2balvr6
-----
16) North Korea: Kim regime says it must bolster nuclear capability
Albany Times Union
"North Korea said Monday it must bolster its nuclear capability to
cope with 'hostile' U.S. policy amid high tension over the deadly
sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang. An
international investigation concluded last month that North Korea
torpedoed the warship Cheonan near the tense Korean sea border. North
Korea flatly denies the allegation and has warned any punishment would
trigger war." (06/28/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2akzmjh
-----
17) Obama moves to reinstate Superfund tax
Boston Globe
"There is no question that the Superfund program, first established 30
years ago to clean up sites around the country contaminated with
hazardous waste, is facing a budget crunch. For 15 years, the
government imposed taxes on oil and chemical companies and certain
other corporations. The money went into a cleanup trust fund, which
reached its peak of $3.8 billion in 1996. But the taxes expired in
1995, and because Congress refused to renew them, the fund ran out of
money. Now the Obama administration will push to reinstate the
Superfund tax. The Environmental Protection Agency will send a letter
to Congress calling for legislation to reimpose the tax." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2dyqjuh
-----
18) OH: Girl, six, makes no-fly list
Fox News
"An Ohio family recently learned their 6-year-old daughter was on the
Department of Homeland Security's 'no-fly' list, Fox8.com reported.
Alyssa Thomas, 6, was traveling with her parents when a ticket agent
notified the family she was on the list of restricted fliers. 'We
were, like, puzzled,' said her father, Dr. Santhosh Thomas. 'I'm like,
well, she's kinda six-years-old and this is not something that should
be typical.' When the family tried to clear up the issue with Homeland
Security, they received a letter notifying them that it could not be
changed." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/365p2nc
-----
19) NC: Store clerks shoot, kill robbery suspect
WBTV News
"A pair of store clerks shot and killed a gunman during an attempted
robbery in Monroe late Thursday night, Monroe police said. The two
convenience store clerks reacted by pulling their own guns during the
attempted robbery and exchanging fire with the suspect, police said.
The shooting happened at the Sunny Food Store located on Walkup Road
at 10:17 p.m. According to the Monroe Police Department, the suspect
approached the two clerks in the store, displayed a gun and demanded
money from the register. During the robbery, both of the clerks in the
store pulled out their own weapons. It's unclear at this point who
fired the first shot or how many shots were fired, but police say
shots were exchanged. The suspect was hit at least once, and stumbled
down the street before collapsing in the front yard of a
house." (06/26/10)
http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12708001#
-----
20) Panetta: No idea where bin Laden is
ABC News
"CIA Director Leon Panetta says that Osama bin Laden 'is in an area of
the tribal areas of Pakistan.' But Panetta conceded the agency has not
had good intelligence on bin Laden's whereabouts since the early
months of the war in Afghanistan, which began nine years ago. In an
exclusive interview on ABC's This Week, Panetta told anchor Jake
Tapper, 'It's been a while. I think it goes back almost to the early
2000s, you know in terms of actually when [bin Laden] was leaving from
Afghanistan to Pakistan that we had the last precise information about
where he might be located.'" (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/284uz2c
-----
21) World leaders walk economic tightrope in Canada
Aberdeen News
"Wary of slamming on the stimulus brakes too quickly but shaken by the
European debt crisis, world leaders pledged Sunday to reduce
government deficits in richer countries in half by 2013, with wiggle
room to meet the goal. Leaders of 20 major industrial and developing
countries generally sided with cutting spending and raising taxes,
despite warnings from President Barack Obama that too much austerity
too quickly could choke off the global recovery." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2boop6g
-----
22) NATO: Afghan ops not slowed despite command change
Yuma Sun
"The NATO-led command stressed Sunday that military operations to
secure vast areas of Afghanistan would not be delayed by the ouster of
its top commander and mounting casualties. To reinforce the message,
NATO announced that more than 600 Afghan and international troops were
battling al-Qaida and Taliban forces Sunday in the eastern province of
Kunar, which borders Pakistan. Three members of the allied force were
killed in the fighting, including two Americans, a military statement
said." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2gy5epd
-----
23) Pope rebukes Belgium over police raid
United Press International
"In a rare rebuke of a sovereign nation, Pope Benedict XVI criticized
Belgium for a raid on church property by police investigating alleged
sex abuse by clerics. The pontiff stressed the Catholic Church's
'autonomy' to conduct its own investigations while characterizing last
week's raid by Belgian police searching for documents as 'surprising
and deplorable,' .... The police allegedly confiscated files, detained
bishops and drilled into the tombs of at least one cardinal in a
Brussels cathedral." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/27jdwle
-----
24) Kyrgyzstan: Referendum "backs constitutional change plan"
BBC News [UK]
"Early results from the referendum in Kyrgyzstan show a large majority
approving a new constitution giving parliament more power. The interim
government called the referendum after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was
overthrown in April. ... With over 70% of all precincts counted, the
Central Election Commission said more than 90% of those who voted
supported the new constitution and about 8% voted against it. Some 2.7
million people were eligible to vote, and turnout was nearly 70%, it
said." (06/27/10)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10426533.stm
-----
25) Kagan SCOTUS confirmation hearings to begin Monday
Voice of America
"Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan
begin Monday in Washington. Kagan is President Barack Obama's choice
to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the high
court's leading liberal thinker. The nine Supreme Court justices are
appointed for life after confirmation by the Senate. But before that
can happen, nominees must endure a week's worth of confirmation
hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee, where they are grilled on
their views of the law and their personal backgrounds." (06/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ar7nc3
-----
26) TX: Judge intervenes to protect Democrats from democracy
Dallas Morning News
"A state judge blocked Green Party candidates from Texas' general
election ballot Thursday, ruling that illegal corporate money was used
in a Republican attempt to put them there to benefit Gov. Rick
Perry. ... Democrats say Perry would be helped if the Green Party
candidate for governor siphons votes from Democrat Bill White [sic].
The Perry campaign denied any involvement in the effort." [editor's
note: Votes can't be "siphoned from" White, because they don't BELONG
to White - TLK] (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ah6xqf
-----
27) Canada: "Secret" law lets police abduct people over paperwork
Vancouver Sun [Canada]
"The Ontario government secretly passed legislation giving police
sweeping new powers for the duration of the G8 and G20 summits,
enabling authorities to arrest anyone who refuses to furnish
identification and submit to a search while within five metres of a
designated security zone in downtown Toronto. Critics reacted
furiously to the new rules, which remained unpublicized until Thursday
when a man, 32, was arrested in Toronto for refusing to show ID to
police." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/352orgv
-----
28) Banker turned IRS rat fink whines for sentence commutation
Bloomberg
"Bradley Birkenfeld, once a UBS AG banker who handled a $200 million
investment for a billionaire client, now makes 12 cents an hour
mopping floors at the federal prison in Minersville, Pennsylvania.
Sleeping in a bunk bed in a dormitory-style building with 35 other
inmates is far from the reward Birkenfeld says he deserves for
exposing a massive tax-evasion scandal at UBS, the biggest Swiss
bank. ... Birkenfeld, 45, has asked President Barack Obama to commute
a 40-month term he began in January at Schuylkill Federal Correctional
Institution for his part in the conspiracy. ... His disclosures
preceded UBS's decision to pay $780 million to avoid prosecution,
admit it fostered tax evasion from 2000 to 2007, and turn over data on
250 secret accounts to the IRS. UBS later agreed to reveal data on
another 4,450 accounts, a transfer upheld last week by the Swiss
Parliament." [hat tip -- CJ Maloney] (06/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26ud37f
-----
29) Costner cleanup device gets high marks from BP
Yahoo! News
"It was treated as an oddball twist in the otherwise wrenching saga of
the BP oil spill when Kevin Costner stepped forward to promote a
device he said could work wonders in containing the spill's damage.
But as Henry Fountain explains in the New York Times, the gadget in
question -- an oil-separating centrifuge -- marks a major breakthrough
in spill cleanup technology. And BP, after trial runs with the device,
is ordering 32 more of the Costner-endorsed centrifuges to aid the
Gulf cleanup. ... The device can purportedly take in thousands of
gallons of oil-tainted water and remove up to 99% of the oil from
it." (06/26/10)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts2851
-----
30) AZ: Brewer babbles new, even less coherent Know-Nothing nonsense
MSNBC
"Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday that most illegal immigrants entering
Arizona are being used to transport drugs across the border, an
assertion that critics slammed as exaggerated and racist. Brewer said
the motivation of 'a lot' of the illegal immigrants is to enter the
United States to look for work, but that drug rings press them into
duty as drug 'mules.' 'I believe today, under the circumstances that
we're facing, that the majority of the illegal [sic] trespassers [sic]
that are coming into the state of Arizona are under the direction and
control of organized drug cartels and they are bringing drugs in,'
Brewer said." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26cjyt7
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 06/28/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 96,813 ... Max - 105,563
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,409
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
31) A brief review of the history of US immigration law
KN@PPSTER
by Thomas L. Knapp
"Smitty detects a 'dissonance ... when the word 'illegal' is used with
respect to immigrants.' As well he should, since there's no such thing
as an 'illegal immigrant.' A law repugnant to the Constitution is
void, the Constitution reserves powers not delegated to the United
States to the states or to the people, and the Constitution delegates
no power to the United States whatsoever to regulate immigration.
None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Bupkus. It ain't there." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2wvp9x9
-----
32) Business as usual for Las Vegas police
Las Vegas Review-Journal
by Vin Suprynowicz
"Sequioa Pearce was made to kneel before the Las Vegas police officers
who held her at gunpoint in her bedroom Friday night, June 11, and
watch them shoot her unarmed fiance in the head. The 20-year-old, who
was nine months pregnant, could see Trevon Cole reflected in the
mirror from the bathroom, where he, too, was being held at gunpoint as
officers told him to get on the floor. He met her gaze in the mirror.
She watched him put his hands up. 'All right, all right," he told the
cops, according to Pearce. Then she heard the shot." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2cbn35k
-----
33) Corporations, mercantilism, and capitalism
The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith
"People tend to have mixed feelings about corporations. Just as it's
said that 'Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die,'
it's equally true that everybody wants a secure job with good pay and
generous benefits, but nobody wants to spend their lives in a cubicle,
or on an assembly line. Likewise, everybody wants inexpensive goods
and services of a reliable, predictable quality, but nobody wants to
surrender their freedom of personal choice or individual
sovereignty." (06/27/10)
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle576-20100627-02.html
-----
34) Five years after Kelo, property rights still threatened
Liberty For All
by Brian Irving
"Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted an important private
property protection in the U.S. Constitution. In Kelo v. New London,
the court wrongfully decided it was acceptable for government to
condemn and seize private property and give it to another owner. To
call attention to this unjust decision, the chairs of the 50 state
Libertarian Party chapters and the members of the Libertarian National
Committee have signed an open letter calling on the Supreme Court to
reverse the Kelo ruling in a future case." (06/27/10)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4495
-----
35) The desktop revolution in worker protection
Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"Sometimes anarchists are asked, without a government, who will stop
employers from treating their workers badly? The answer is, we will.
Conventional unions have been in decline for years, and labor laws --
such as they are -- are generally notable for their lack of
enforcement. But if employers laugh at unions and labor regulations,
one thing they're seriously afraid of is public exposure and
embarrassment." (06/25/10)
http://c4ss.org/content/2999
-----
36) Colonialism, Obama-style
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo
"Everyone is shocked -- shocked! -- that the indiscretions of Gen.
Stanley McChrystal failed to provoke a general reevaluation of our
course in Afghanistan, rather than merely a review of who's in charge
of it. I find this shocking. After all, as I recall, Obama ran on
ramping up the war on the Afghan front, and even threatened to invade
Pakistan, two campaign promises he has kept. Furthermore, he is
committed to prosecuting the war in Afghanistan and now Pakistan on a
scale that even the nuttiest neocons never dared suggest, a 'nation-
building' project that is nothing less than the construction of a US
colony, or satrapy, from scratch." (06/28/10)
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/06/27/colonialism-obama-style/
-----
37) The return of nullification
LewRockwell.Com
by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
"Today is the official release date for my new book, Nullification:
How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. Nullification, as
many readers of this site already know, refers to the power of a state
to refuse to enforce an unconstitutional federal law. Most Americans
have never heard of the idea, or know of it only in caricature --
which is pretty much the way the New York Times likes it. ... You can
imagine what the response of critics will be to a book like this. Let
me put that more strongly: you can script the critical replies down to
the last syllable." (06/28/10)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods142.html
-----
38) Putting Petraeus in perspective
CounterPunch
by Patrick Cockburn
"General David Petraeus has a high reputation but his real abilities
are not the ones usually attributed to him. He is, above all, a
general with an acute sense of US politics combined with a realization
of the importance of understanding the politics of Iraq and
Afghanistan. His great achievement in Iraq was to persuade Americans
that they had won the war when, in fact, they were withdrawing with
little achieved. He was able to sell the 'surge' as a triumph of
military tactics when in reality its most important feature was that
Sunni insurgents allied themselves with American forces because they
were being slaughtered by the Shia." (06/27/10)
http://counterpunch.org/patrick06252010.html
-----
39) Wall Street reform: A good first step
Our Future
by Zach Carter
"Members of Congress finished ironing out their differences on Wall
Street reform last night, and the resulting bill deserves unequivocal
support from progressives and conservatives alike. But while the final
package is a necessary first step to overhauling the nation's out-of-
control financial sector, it will do very little to change the
destructive status quo on Wall Street. The bill is a good first step.
The public deserves too see stronger reforms from Congress next year.
As a matter of history, sweeping financial change takes several years
to secure. ... Obama is correct to state that the legislation approved
by Congress late last night is the most significant since the
Depression -- but it is a hollow truth." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/284fzfe
-----
40) Winners and losers in Gaza conflict
The American Prospect
by Gershom Gorenberg
"As befits the son of a historian, Benjamin Netanyahu loads his
speeches with references to the past. He talks about 3,000 years of
Jewish history in Jerusalem; he conjures up the Holocaust when he
discusses Iran's nuclear program; he recalls the Arab rejection of
partitioning Palestine in 1947 to show who's at fault in the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict. Yet the prime minister's short-term memory seems
to be vanishing. Otherwise, it's hard to understand his comments to a
Knesset panel this week, explaining his decision to ease the Israeli
siege on Gaza. The new policy of allowing free import of civilian
goods, he said, was entirely in Israel's interest. It would 'eliminate
Hamas' main propaganda claim' and allow Israel to focus on its real
security problems." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2vzrlav
-----
41) After 41 years, a belated victory for butter
In These Times
by David Sirota
"Over the last decade, Rep. David Obey has been methodically
campaigning against the Iraq War and the endless Afghanistan
occupation, saying their deficit-financed costs are unaffordable. The
last time America found itself in a budget debate pitting domestic
priorities against war expenditures, Richard Nixon was in the White
House and David Obey was the youngest member of Congress -- an antiwar
liberal whose insurgent campaign unexpectedly vaulted him into the
House seat vacated by the hawkish president's new defense secretary.
In those dark days of the late 1960s and early 1970s, as Obey was
still learning his way around Washington, it was the guns of Vietnam
and the Cold War versus the butter of the Great Society and the War on
Poverty -- and, despite Obey's protests, guns won the day." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2couyv8
-----
42) Kyrgyzstan on the brink
The Nation
by David Trilling
"Residents are hesitantly dismantling barricades and emerging from
behind burned cars and felled trees, but the streets in central Osh
remain painted with large white letters looking skyward: S-O-S. As
violence engulfed the city June 11-14, ethnic Uzbeks scrawled the
pleas hoping that some of the helicopters circling overhead might come
to their aid, that the government might stop the pogroms. In their
mahallas, or separate neighborhoods, small groups of Uzbek men mingle
and reminisce, sharing news of family members taking shelter across
the border in Uzbekistan and guarding what's left of their homes. They
worry that some Kyrgyz will return to finish the job." (06/25/10)
http://www.thenation.com/article/36683/kyrgyzstan-brink
-----
43) Toward a new monetary order
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thorsten Polleit
"Henry Ford is alleged to have said that 'it is well enough that
people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary
system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before
tomorrow morning.' The spirit of his words encourages us to put
forward questions about the banking and monetary system -- especially
in view of the international credit-market crisis." (06/25/10)
http://mises.org/daily/4501
-----
44) Obama's oil spill panel a farce
Heartland Institute
by James M. Taylor
"President Barack Obama's seven-member panel charged with examining
offshore oil and natural gas production is stacked with environmental
activists and does not include a single expert on oil and natural gas
production, the Houston Chronicle revealed Thursday. The panel will
make recommendations on the future -- or lack of a future -- for
offshore drilling, which President Obama will likely cite as 'blue
ribbon' support for his policies." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/24fng79
-----
45) Why statists hate gold
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"Amidst the increasing calls among statists for increased federal
spending, one can practically feel the deep, visceral hatred for gold
arising within statists. The reason is that statists know that gold is
a communications vehicle that tells people what government officials
are doing to their money. That's the last thing that statists want
people to find out." (06/25/10)
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-06-25.asp
-----
46) The inconveniently oily truth
FreedomWorks
by Matt Matyjek
"During the Congressional hearing last week of BP CEO Tony Hayward,
Rep. Joey Barton publicly apologized for the $20 billion shakedown of
the company. The statement created large waves throughout the media
and prompted a vigorous response from both the left and the right.
Liberal politicians such as Rahm Emmanuel expounded the statement,
saying that finally, a member of the GOP had a slip of the tongue and
showed the true colors of the party, one in the pocket of big oil
lobbies." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2bsfz3v
-----
47) McChrystal flap sign of war's loss
Freedom Politics
by Thomas J. Lucente Jr.
"The comments and subsequent sacking of Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal
expose a larger problem than a general who showed poor judgment. The
Afghanistan war, which is now President Barack Obama's war, is a
colossal failure. It is, at this point and under this president and
his philosophy, simply unwinnable, or, what the Pentagon would term,
'mission failure.'" (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29trbjb
-----
48) Hayek's Road to Serfdom: Despotism then and now
Campaign For Liberty
by Thomas DiLorenzo
"When Friedrich A. Hayek published his classic book, The Road to
Serfdom, in 1944 he was loudly denounced by academic statist
apologists in England, where he resided at the time, and in America.
In the preface to the 1976 edition of the book Hayek noted that a
prominent philosopher even denounced the book despite admitting that
he had not read it! But average citizens did read it. The book was a
gigantic success in America, quickly selling over half a million
copies." (06/26/10)
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=967
-----
49) The Toronto G20 riot fraud
Centre for Research on Globalization
by Terry Burrows
"Toronto is right now in the midst of a massive government / media
propaganda fraud. As events unfold, it is becoming increasingly clear
that the 'Black Bloc' are undercover police operatives engaged in
purposeful provocations to eclipse and invalidate legitimate G20
citizen protest by starting a riot. Government agents have been caught
doing this before in Canada. At the 'Security and Prosperity
Partnership' meeting protests at Montebello Quebec on August 20, 2007,
a Quebec union leader caught and outed three masked undercover Quebec
Provincial Police operatives dressed as 'black bloc' protestors about
to start a riot by throwing rocks at the security police. ... The
Quebec Provincial Police were then forced after three days of public
outrage to admit that these three men were indeed their officers
operating undercover." [hat tip -- Kitty Antonik Wakfer] (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2efen26
-----
50) Beware, carpetbaggers!
Liberty For All
by George Phillies
"Once again, carpetbagging, the old 'Carpetbaggers for Eli' folks (on
which more below) have reared their heads at a national convention.
Yes, we did have a national convention. And as also happened in 2002,
though really not much before or since, one state not only filled
their own delegation but brought in extra people that they slipped
into the delegations of other states, necessarily with the connivance
of the local state chairs." (06/26/10)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4493
-----
51) Indians along the Mohawk
Daily Speculations
by Alan Corwin
"[T]the Mohawk Valley, like most of Central New York State, has been
going downhill for many decades. The towns are dotted with closed
mills and factories, and the countryside is covered with what used to
be family dairy farms. There are still a few left, but most of the
farms are either not being worked or owned by giant corporations. A
working factory is very hard to find. That is apparently starting to
change in a small way. Businessmen from other countries see perfectly
good factory buildings, in many cases with free hydroelectric power
from turbines that are still there and still work perfectly, and the
cost of the buildings is a tiny fraction of their current construction
cost. In some cases, they open a factory making exactly what it did
thirty years ago when it was abandoned by its American owners.
Sometimes the businesses are new. None seem to employ very many
people, but it's a long time since those factories employed
anyone." (06/25/10)
http://www.dailyspeculations.com/wordpress/?p=4940
-----
52) Seattle's blue gang extortion racket
Fr33 Agents
by Darren Wolfe
"Like so many cities in our recession ravaged land Seattle has a
budget shortfall. It is cutting services, which makes politicians mad
as they have less pork to pass around. Naturally, they look for
additional sources of revenue. Many cities abuse traffic citations and
parking tickets to this end, but Seattle seems to have decided to go
back to issuing excessive numbers of jaywalking citations to raise
more money. They resort to this kind of legal plunder to avoid raising
taxes or increase the deficit, hiding behind the guise of protecting
the public. People know what's going on. It's just a form of robbery.
When the police become a blue gang enforcing an extortion racket they
command no respect. All they have left is their ability to use
violence to get people to submit, a situation guaranteed to foster
police brutality." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2a2kttg
-----
53) Who kills your freedom?
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal
"Do you know why I am not obsessed over government and its war on
liberty? Because government can't force you to do, or not do, anything
unless one of its agents is holding a gun on you right now. And
government does not have enough thugs or guns to control us all. It
relies on 'governing' you in most cases. Only you can consent to be
governed -- or not." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ctj8kz
-----
54) Crony capitalism and corporate welfare: Is this $30 billion worth
of corruption?
Downsize DC
by Jim Babka
"Do mere politicians really know how much credit should be given to
small businesses? They sure seem to think so. The House voted to pass
something called the 'Small Business Lending Act of 2010
* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
*
* Volume VIII, Issue #1,949
* Monday, June 28th, 2010
* Email Circulation 1,873
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* Published every non-holiday weekday
* by the staff of Rational Review
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* On the Web: http://www.rationalreview.com/news
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In The News:
1) Toronto: Arrest total tops 400 after night of riots at G20 meeting
2) Military-led Guinea holds first free election since 1958
3) Iraq: Ten killed, eight wounded
4) Afghanistan: Five occupation troops killed
5) Pakistan: US drone strike kills three
6) Gaza: Hamas-Fatah fuel spat leaves thousands in dark
7) Robert Byrd, longest-serving member of US Congress, hospitalized
8) DISCLOSE Act: Who's exempt?
9) Israel setting up Saudi base for Iran raid?
10) Peaceful region of Somaliland votes for president
11) SCOTUS: A preview of "Big Monday"
12) Regulators to shape finance rules
13) IL: Oak Park's gun ban also is in the balance
14) Troubled contractor gets Afghanistan security deal
15) MA: "Hands Across the Sand" protests offshore drilling
16) North Korea: Kim regime says it must bolster nuclear capability
17) Obama moves to reinstate Superfund tax
18) OH: Girl, six, makes no-fly list
19) NC: Store clerks shoot, kill robbery suspect
20) Panetta: No idea where bin Laden is
21) World leaders walk economic tightrope in Canada
22) NATO: Afghan ops not slowed despite command change
23) Pope rebukes Belgium over police raid
24) Kyrgyzstan: Referendum "backs constitutional change plan"
25) Kagan SCOTUS confirmation hearings to begin Monday
26) TX: Judge intervenes to protect Democrats from democracy
27) Canada: "Secret" law lets police abduct people over paperwork
28) Banker turned IRS rat fink whines for sentence commutation
29) Costner cleanup device gets high marks from BP
30) AZ: Brewer babbles new, even less coherent Know-Nothing nonsense
Everybody Has An Opinion:
31) A brief review of the history of US immigration law
32) Business as usual for Las Vegas police
33) Corporations, mercantilism, and capitalism
34) Five years after Kelo, property rights still threatened
35) The desktop revolution in worker protection
36) Colonialism, Obama-style
37) The return of nullification
38) Putting Petraeus in perspective
39) Wall Street reform: A good first step
40) Winners and losers in Gaza conflict
41) After 41 years, a belated victory for butter
42) Kyrgyzstan on the brink
43) Toward a new monetary order
44) Obama's oil spill panel a farce
45) Why statists hate gold
46) The inconveniently oily truth
47) McChrystal flap sign of war's loss
48) Hayek's Road to Serfdom: Despotism then and now
49) The Toronto G20 riot fraud
50) Beware, carpetbaggers!
51) Indians along the Mohawk
52) Seattle's blue gang extortion racket
53) Who kills your freedom?
54) Crony capitalism and corporate welfare: Is this $30 billion worth
of corruption?
55) In case Americans care: Afghanistan war "will not miss a beat"
56) (Everyone except) the (New York) Times, they are a'changin'
57) "Let them eat coriander!"
58) Suiting up for a post-dollar world
59) Obama's online power play
60) Is the US a fascist police state?
61) Leave Coke alone!
62) The libertarian case against abortion (and its prohibition)
63) Obama vs. the US Army
64) Why do we care about countries we'll never go to?
65) Not so NICE
66) Conservatives Against Journalism
67) Signs that the culture war is all but over
68) How many Americans are targeted for assassination?
69) Orszag's broken cost-cutting promises
70) Did the anti-vaccine movement help create a whooping cough
epidemic?
71) Financial reform bill won't stop next crisis
72) Zuloaga, a wanted man
73) On being a 21st-century peasant
74) What's your Bible?
75) Police your own damn copyrights
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
76) Ed Rutledge on Freedom Rings Radio, 06/28/10
77) Hans Bader on The Freedom Works, 06/28/10
78) Larry Siems on Antiwar Radio
79) Free Talk Live, 06/26/10
80) Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis on
streamlining government
81) Cato Daily Podcast, 06/25/10
82) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 06/25/10
83) Former US Comptroller General David Walker on the federal fiscal
crisis
84) Gold, oil, and the dollar
85) Individual liberty, free markets and peace
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
86) Today's events
***************
* In The News
***************
1) Toronto: Arrest total tops 400 after night of riots at G20 meeting
Los Angeles Times
"Police said they arrested more than 400 people after a demonstration
against the Group of 20 summit turned violent in downtown Toronto and
braced for more possible trouble Sunday. Police spokeswoman Michelle
Murphy said 412 people had been arrested across the city after what
she described as 'quite a messy protest' on Saturday. They face
charges ranging from mischief to assaulting police. Saturday's protest
started as a peaceful demonstration, but rapidly turned into a riot
after groups of masked anarchists broke away from the main crowd,
smashing store windows and banks and torching at least two police
cars." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2anmya8
-----
2) Military-led Guinea holds first free election since 1958
CNN
"Voters in Guinea cast ballots Sunday in the first free election since
the west African nation gained independence in 1958. 'With successful
elections, a democracy will be born, and all Guineans together will
have together taken a giant step forward,' the U.S. ambassador to the
country, Patricia Newton Moller, said in a message to the country
ahead of the first round of voting." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/255fmz9
-----
3) Iraq: Ten killed, eight wounded
AntiWar.Com
"At least nine Iraqis were killed and eight more were wounded in light
violence. Also, a U.S. soldier was killed and two more were wounded
during a vehicular accident in Diwaniya." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fzxvaw
-----
4) Afghanistan: Five occupation troops killed
Reuters
"Five troops, including four Norwegians, serving with the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan have
been killed, ISAF said Monday. The Norwegian defense ministry
confirmed the nationalities of the four killed by a roadside bomb in
Afghanistan's north on Sunday. A fifth ISAF service member was killed
during an attack by insurgents in the south Sunday." (06/27/10)
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE65R0EZ20100628
-----
5) Pakistan: US drone strike kills three
Agence France-Presse
"A US drone attack killed at least three militants Sunday in
Pakistan's North Waziristan district, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-
Qaeda cohorts on the Afghan border, officials said. The attack
targeted a militant compound in Tabbi Torkhel village about four
kilometres (2.5 miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in the
lawless tribal district. One security official said at least three
militants were killed. A local administration official confirmed the
attack and put the toll at four dead and two wounded." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2676jzz
-----
6) Gaza: Hamas-Fatah fuel spat leaves thousands in dark
Jerusalem Post [Israel]
"The continued power struggle between Hamas and Fatah has left tens of
thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the dark following the
closure of the area's main power plant. The power plant, which
supplies 25% of electricity to the Gaza Strip, was shut down on Friday
night because of a dispute between the rival Palestinian parties over
payment for fuel that is needed to keep it running. Hamas and Fatah
traded allegations over the power outage, with each party blaming the
other for the crisis." (06/28/10)
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=179719
-----
7) Robert Byrd, longest-serving member of US Congress, hospitalized
USA Today
"Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress, was
admitted to a Washington-area hospital last week and is 'seriously
ill,' according to a statement released by his office Sunday. Byrd,
92, was admitted to the hospital for what was believed to be heat
exhaustion and dehydration following recent high temperatures in
Washington, D.C. In a statement, Byrd spokesman Jesse Jacobs said that
'other conditions have developed which has resulted in his condition
being described as 'serious." First elected to the House in 1952 and
the Senate six years later, the Democrat has been in frail health for
years." (06/27/10)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-06-27-Byrd_N.htm
-----
8) DISCLOSE Act: Who's exempt?
Christian Science Monitor
"The House vote Wednesday to impose new disclosure requirements for
corporations that fund campaign ads was a nail biter, with the last
few votes eked out in overtime, 219 to 206. But the road in the Senate
-- and to the president's desk -- could be tougher still. The bill,
known as the Disclose Act, aims to 'fix' a recent Supreme Court ruling
that struck down limits to corporate spending on election campaigns.
House Democrats called the campaign-finance decision 'a threat to
democracy.' In anticipation of a surge in special-interest spending to
influence the 2010 midterm elections, the bill requires corporations
-- profit or nonprofit - to disclose their spending on campaign ads.
In addition, corporate CEOs must appear in the ads they finance, and
nonprofits must disclose their top donors. Some corporations -- those
accepting TARP bailout funds, federal contractors, or foreign
corporations such as BP -- would be banned from spending on US
elections altogether." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/24nos9z
-----
9) Israel setting up Saudi base for Iran raid?
MSNBC
"An Iranian allegation that Saudi Arabia is allowing Israel to use its
terroritory in preparation for attacking Iran nuclear sites has
stirred a flurry of reports in the Israeli media. The allegation could
not be independently confirmed, and the Saudis deny cooperating with
the Israeli military. The Jerusalem Post website on Sunday said
reports that the Israeli military had established a base in Saudi
Arabia originated with Iranian and Israeli news outlets." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fvlh5h
-----
10) Peaceful region of Somaliland votes for president
MSNBC
"Voters in Somaliland queued for hours and thronged polling stations
Saturday for the second presidential election held in the self-
declared republic, in a peaceful exercise in governance not seen for
decades in the country's anarchic south. Voters and candidates said
they hope this vote will award Somaliland the international
recognition it seeks. The three men vying to become president of the
region have all promised to seek international recognition for the
autonomous region." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2fx7ymt
-----
11) SCOTUS: A preview of "Big Monday"
Wall Street Journal
"Readers, consider yourselves duly warned. You need to be well-rested
and alert Monday when the Supreme Court is expected to issue four big-
time rulings. ... In McDonald v. City of Chicago, which involves a
challenge to a Chicago handgun ban, the court will weigh in on whether
the Second Amendment can be incorporated into the 14th Amendment so as
to apply to the states. As Ashby Jones, our esteemed colleague who's
due back Monday from a well-deserved vacation, once said about the
case: 'It's not an understatement to say that the entire gun-control
regime in the U.S. hangs in the balance.' The smart money is that the
court will rule 5-4 that the 2nd Amendment constrains the right of
states to regulate firearms." (06/27/10)
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/06/25/scotus-a-preview-of-big-monday/
-----
12) Regulators to shape finance rules
Boston Globe
"Well before Congress reached agreement on the details of its
financial overhaul legislation, industry lobbyists and consumer
advocates started preparing for the next battle: influencing the
creation of several hundred new rules and regulations. The bill,
completed early Friday and expected to come up for a final vote this
week, is basically a 2,000-page missive to federal agencies,
instructing regulators to address subjects ranging from derivatives
trading to document retention. But it is notably short on specifics,
giving regulators significant power to determine its impact -- and
giving partisans on both sides a second chance to influence the
outcome." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ekpo6h
-----
13) IL: Oak Park's gun ban also is in the balance
Chicago Tribune
"People in Oak Park don't often mention the names James Piszczor or
Donald Bennett anymore. But more than 20 years ago, those men came to
symbolize opposing sides of the village's handgun ban and thrust the
western suburb to the center of a national battle over Second
Amendment rights. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to
decide whether municipalities such as Oak Park and Chicago can legally
forbid their residents to possess handguns. And in Oak Park, the first
municipality in the country to approve a handgun ban referendum
measure, the ruling could signify how much of a say citizens have on
the issue." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2flyzzy
-----
14) Troubled contractor gets Afghanistan security deal
Winston-Salem Journal
"CIA Director Leon Panetta says the agency has hired Xe (zee) Services
-- the company once known as Blackwater -- for a $100 million contract
to provide security in Afghanistan. He says Xe underbid others by $26
million and that a CIA review concludes that the contractor has
cleaned up its act. Panetta says Moyock, N.C.-based Xe does not engage
in actual CIA operations, but instead helps secure agency bases in war
zones." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/235bfmz
-----
15) MA: "Hands Across the Sand" protests offshore drilling
Boston Globe
"Give Jane Barry five days and a bullhorn and she can give you 200
protesters and a message: No to offshore drilling. Barry, a 63-year-
old real estate broker from Gloucester, organized one of 26 'Hands
Across the Sand' protests in Massachusetts -- 808 nationwide -- to
oppose offshore drilling and call for clean energy alternatives.
Participants linked hands, standing on beaches together at noon for 15
minutes yesterday. 'Sometimes in order to start something, you have to
scream,' Barry said in an interview. Barry took an old real estate
sign and decorated it with paper hands and an ocean made of blue
electrical tape. Beneath her straw with the words 'Hands Across the
Sand' written in orange and blue marker, she was joined by 15 others
who gathered at one end of Good Harbor Beach, held hands and started
walking toward the other end, their feet splashing in the surf. Barry
started yelling into her bullhorn for people to join." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2balvr6
-----
16) North Korea: Kim regime says it must bolster nuclear capability
Albany Times Union
"North Korea said Monday it must bolster its nuclear capability to
cope with 'hostile' U.S. policy amid high tension over the deadly
sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang. An
international investigation concluded last month that North Korea
torpedoed the warship Cheonan near the tense Korean sea border. North
Korea flatly denies the allegation and has warned any punishment would
trigger war." (06/28/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2akzmjh
-----
17) Obama moves to reinstate Superfund tax
Boston Globe
"There is no question that the Superfund program, first established 30
years ago to clean up sites around the country contaminated with
hazardous waste, is facing a budget crunch. For 15 years, the
government imposed taxes on oil and chemical companies and certain
other corporations. The money went into a cleanup trust fund, which
reached its peak of $3.8 billion in 1996. But the taxes expired in
1995, and because Congress refused to renew them, the fund ran out of
money. Now the Obama administration will push to reinstate the
Superfund tax. The Environmental Protection Agency will send a letter
to Congress calling for legislation to reimpose the tax." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2dyqjuh
-----
18) OH: Girl, six, makes no-fly list
Fox News
"An Ohio family recently learned their 6-year-old daughter was on the
Department of Homeland Security's 'no-fly' list, Fox8.com reported.
Alyssa Thomas, 6, was traveling with her parents when a ticket agent
notified the family she was on the list of restricted fliers. 'We
were, like, puzzled,' said her father, Dr. Santhosh Thomas. 'I'm like,
well, she's kinda six-years-old and this is not something that should
be typical.' When the family tried to clear up the issue with Homeland
Security, they received a letter notifying them that it could not be
changed." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/365p2nc
-----
19) NC: Store clerks shoot, kill robbery suspect
WBTV News
"A pair of store clerks shot and killed a gunman during an attempted
robbery in Monroe late Thursday night, Monroe police said. The two
convenience store clerks reacted by pulling their own guns during the
attempted robbery and exchanging fire with the suspect, police said.
The shooting happened at the Sunny Food Store located on Walkup Road
at 10:17 p.m. According to the Monroe Police Department, the suspect
approached the two clerks in the store, displayed a gun and demanded
money from the register. During the robbery, both of the clerks in the
store pulled out their own weapons. It's unclear at this point who
fired the first shot or how many shots were fired, but police say
shots were exchanged. The suspect was hit at least once, and stumbled
down the street before collapsing in the front yard of a
house." (06/26/10)
http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12708001#
-----
20) Panetta: No idea where bin Laden is
ABC News
"CIA Director Leon Panetta says that Osama bin Laden 'is in an area of
the tribal areas of Pakistan.' But Panetta conceded the agency has not
had good intelligence on bin Laden's whereabouts since the early
months of the war in Afghanistan, which began nine years ago. In an
exclusive interview on ABC's This Week, Panetta told anchor Jake
Tapper, 'It's been a while. I think it goes back almost to the early
2000s, you know in terms of actually when [bin Laden] was leaving from
Afghanistan to Pakistan that we had the last precise information about
where he might be located.'" (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/284uz2c
-----
21) World leaders walk economic tightrope in Canada
Aberdeen News
"Wary of slamming on the stimulus brakes too quickly but shaken by the
European debt crisis, world leaders pledged Sunday to reduce
government deficits in richer countries in half by 2013, with wiggle
room to meet the goal. Leaders of 20 major industrial and developing
countries generally sided with cutting spending and raising taxes,
despite warnings from President Barack Obama that too much austerity
too quickly could choke off the global recovery." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2boop6g
-----
22) NATO: Afghan ops not slowed despite command change
Yuma Sun
"The NATO-led command stressed Sunday that military operations to
secure vast areas of Afghanistan would not be delayed by the ouster of
its top commander and mounting casualties. To reinforce the message,
NATO announced that more than 600 Afghan and international troops were
battling al-Qaida and Taliban forces Sunday in the eastern province of
Kunar, which borders Pakistan. Three members of the allied force were
killed in the fighting, including two Americans, a military statement
said." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2gy5epd
-----
23) Pope rebukes Belgium over police raid
United Press International
"In a rare rebuke of a sovereign nation, Pope Benedict XVI criticized
Belgium for a raid on church property by police investigating alleged
sex abuse by clerics. The pontiff stressed the Catholic Church's
'autonomy' to conduct its own investigations while characterizing last
week's raid by Belgian police searching for documents as 'surprising
and deplorable,' .... The police allegedly confiscated files, detained
bishops and drilled into the tombs of at least one cardinal in a
Brussels cathedral." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/27jdwle
-----
24) Kyrgyzstan: Referendum "backs constitutional change plan"
BBC News [UK]
"Early results from the referendum in Kyrgyzstan show a large majority
approving a new constitution giving parliament more power. The interim
government called the referendum after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was
overthrown in April. ... With over 70% of all precincts counted, the
Central Election Commission said more than 90% of those who voted
supported the new constitution and about 8% voted against it. Some 2.7
million people were eligible to vote, and turnout was nearly 70%, it
said." (06/27/10)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10426533.stm
-----
25) Kagan SCOTUS confirmation hearings to begin Monday
Voice of America
"Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan
begin Monday in Washington. Kagan is President Barack Obama's choice
to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the high
court's leading liberal thinker. The nine Supreme Court justices are
appointed for life after confirmation by the Senate. But before that
can happen, nominees must endure a week's worth of confirmation
hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee, where they are grilled on
their views of the law and their personal backgrounds." (06/23/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ar7nc3
-----
26) TX: Judge intervenes to protect Democrats from democracy
Dallas Morning News
"A state judge blocked Green Party candidates from Texas' general
election ballot Thursday, ruling that illegal corporate money was used
in a Republican attempt to put them there to benefit Gov. Rick
Perry. ... Democrats say Perry would be helped if the Green Party
candidate for governor siphons votes from Democrat Bill White [sic].
The Perry campaign denied any involvement in the effort." [editor's
note: Votes can't be "siphoned from" White, because they don't BELONG
to White - TLK] (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ah6xqf
-----
27) Canada: "Secret" law lets police abduct people over paperwork
Vancouver Sun [Canada]
"The Ontario government secretly passed legislation giving police
sweeping new powers for the duration of the G8 and G20 summits,
enabling authorities to arrest anyone who refuses to furnish
identification and submit to a search while within five metres of a
designated security zone in downtown Toronto. Critics reacted
furiously to the new rules, which remained unpublicized until Thursday
when a man, 32, was arrested in Toronto for refusing to show ID to
police." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/352orgv
-----
28) Banker turned IRS rat fink whines for sentence commutation
Bloomberg
"Bradley Birkenfeld, once a UBS AG banker who handled a $200 million
investment for a billionaire client, now makes 12 cents an hour
mopping floors at the federal prison in Minersville, Pennsylvania.
Sleeping in a bunk bed in a dormitory-style building with 35 other
inmates is far from the reward Birkenfeld says he deserves for
exposing a massive tax-evasion scandal at UBS, the biggest Swiss
bank. ... Birkenfeld, 45, has asked President Barack Obama to commute
a 40-month term he began in January at Schuylkill Federal Correctional
Institution for his part in the conspiracy. ... His disclosures
preceded UBS's decision to pay $780 million to avoid prosecution,
admit it fostered tax evasion from 2000 to 2007, and turn over data on
250 secret accounts to the IRS. UBS later agreed to reveal data on
another 4,450 accounts, a transfer upheld last week by the Swiss
Parliament." [hat tip -- CJ Maloney] (06/24/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26ud37f
-----
29) Costner cleanup device gets high marks from BP
Yahoo! News
"It was treated as an oddball twist in the otherwise wrenching saga of
the BP oil spill when Kevin Costner stepped forward to promote a
device he said could work wonders in containing the spill's damage.
But as Henry Fountain explains in the New York Times, the gadget in
question -- an oil-separating centrifuge -- marks a major breakthrough
in spill cleanup technology. And BP, after trial runs with the device,
is ordering 32 more of the Costner-endorsed centrifuges to aid the
Gulf cleanup. ... The device can purportedly take in thousands of
gallons of oil-tainted water and remove up to 99% of the oil from
it." (06/26/10)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts2851
-----
30) AZ: Brewer babbles new, even less coherent Know-Nothing nonsense
MSNBC
"Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday that most illegal immigrants entering
Arizona are being used to transport drugs across the border, an
assertion that critics slammed as exaggerated and racist. Brewer said
the motivation of 'a lot' of the illegal immigrants is to enter the
United States to look for work, but that drug rings press them into
duty as drug 'mules.' 'I believe today, under the circumstances that
we're facing, that the majority of the illegal [sic] trespassers [sic]
that are coming into the state of Arizona are under the direction and
control of organized drug cartels and they are bringing drugs in,'
Brewer said." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/26cjyt7
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 06/28/10
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 96,813 ... Max - 105,563
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,409
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
31) A brief review of the history of US immigration law
KN@PPSTER
by Thomas L. Knapp
"Smitty detects a 'dissonance ... when the word 'illegal' is used with
respect to immigrants.' As well he should, since there's no such thing
as an 'illegal immigrant.' A law repugnant to the Constitution is
void, the Constitution reserves powers not delegated to the United
States to the states or to the people, and the Constitution delegates
no power to the United States whatsoever to regulate immigration.
None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Bupkus. It ain't there." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2wvp9x9
-----
32) Business as usual for Las Vegas police
Las Vegas Review-Journal
by Vin Suprynowicz
"Sequioa Pearce was made to kneel before the Las Vegas police officers
who held her at gunpoint in her bedroom Friday night, June 11, and
watch them shoot her unarmed fiance in the head. The 20-year-old, who
was nine months pregnant, could see Trevon Cole reflected in the
mirror from the bathroom, where he, too, was being held at gunpoint as
officers told him to get on the floor. He met her gaze in the mirror.
She watched him put his hands up. 'All right, all right," he told the
cops, according to Pearce. Then she heard the shot." (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2cbn35k
-----
33) Corporations, mercantilism, and capitalism
The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith
"People tend to have mixed feelings about corporations. Just as it's
said that 'Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die,'
it's equally true that everybody wants a secure job with good pay and
generous benefits, but nobody wants to spend their lives in a cubicle,
or on an assembly line. Likewise, everybody wants inexpensive goods
and services of a reliable, predictable quality, but nobody wants to
surrender their freedom of personal choice or individual
sovereignty." (06/27/10)
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle576-20100627-02.html
-----
34) Five years after Kelo, property rights still threatened
Liberty For All
by Brian Irving
"Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted an important private
property protection in the U.S. Constitution. In Kelo v. New London,
the court wrongfully decided it was acceptable for government to
condemn and seize private property and give it to another owner. To
call attention to this unjust decision, the chairs of the 50 state
Libertarian Party chapters and the members of the Libertarian National
Committee have signed an open letter calling on the Supreme Court to
reverse the Kelo ruling in a future case." (06/27/10)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4495
-----
35) The desktop revolution in worker protection
Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"Sometimes anarchists are asked, without a government, who will stop
employers from treating their workers badly? The answer is, we will.
Conventional unions have been in decline for years, and labor laws --
such as they are -- are generally notable for their lack of
enforcement. But if employers laugh at unions and labor regulations,
one thing they're seriously afraid of is public exposure and
embarrassment." (06/25/10)
http://c4ss.org/content/2999
-----
36) Colonialism, Obama-style
AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo
"Everyone is shocked -- shocked! -- that the indiscretions of Gen.
Stanley McChrystal failed to provoke a general reevaluation of our
course in Afghanistan, rather than merely a review of who's in charge
of it. I find this shocking. After all, as I recall, Obama ran on
ramping up the war on the Afghan front, and even threatened to invade
Pakistan, two campaign promises he has kept. Furthermore, he is
committed to prosecuting the war in Afghanistan and now Pakistan on a
scale that even the nuttiest neocons never dared suggest, a 'nation-
building' project that is nothing less than the construction of a US
colony, or satrapy, from scratch." (06/28/10)
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/06/27/colonialism-obama-style/
-----
37) The return of nullification
LewRockwell.Com
by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
"Today is the official release date for my new book, Nullification:
How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. Nullification, as
many readers of this site already know, refers to the power of a state
to refuse to enforce an unconstitutional federal law. Most Americans
have never heard of the idea, or know of it only in caricature --
which is pretty much the way the New York Times likes it. ... You can
imagine what the response of critics will be to a book like this. Let
me put that more strongly: you can script the critical replies down to
the last syllable." (06/28/10)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods142.html
-----
38) Putting Petraeus in perspective
CounterPunch
by Patrick Cockburn
"General David Petraeus has a high reputation but his real abilities
are not the ones usually attributed to him. He is, above all, a
general with an acute sense of US politics combined with a realization
of the importance of understanding the politics of Iraq and
Afghanistan. His great achievement in Iraq was to persuade Americans
that they had won the war when, in fact, they were withdrawing with
little achieved. He was able to sell the 'surge' as a triumph of
military tactics when in reality its most important feature was that
Sunni insurgents allied themselves with American forces because they
were being slaughtered by the Shia." (06/27/10)
http://counterpunch.org/patrick06252010.html
-----
39) Wall Street reform: A good first step
Our Future
by Zach Carter
"Members of Congress finished ironing out their differences on Wall
Street reform last night, and the resulting bill deserves unequivocal
support from progressives and conservatives alike. But while the final
package is a necessary first step to overhauling the nation's out-of-
control financial sector, it will do very little to change the
destructive status quo on Wall Street. The bill is a good first step.
The public deserves too see stronger reforms from Congress next year.
As a matter of history, sweeping financial change takes several years
to secure. ... Obama is correct to state that the legislation approved
by Congress late last night is the most significant since the
Depression -- but it is a hollow truth." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/284fzfe
-----
40) Winners and losers in Gaza conflict
The American Prospect
by Gershom Gorenberg
"As befits the son of a historian, Benjamin Netanyahu loads his
speeches with references to the past. He talks about 3,000 years of
Jewish history in Jerusalem; he conjures up the Holocaust when he
discusses Iran's nuclear program; he recalls the Arab rejection of
partitioning Palestine in 1947 to show who's at fault in the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict. Yet the prime minister's short-term memory seems
to be vanishing. Otherwise, it's hard to understand his comments to a
Knesset panel this week, explaining his decision to ease the Israeli
siege on Gaza. The new policy of allowing free import of civilian
goods, he said, was entirely in Israel's interest. It would 'eliminate
Hamas' main propaganda claim' and allow Israel to focus on its real
security problems." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2vzrlav
-----
41) After 41 years, a belated victory for butter
In These Times
by David Sirota
"Over the last decade, Rep. David Obey has been methodically
campaigning against the Iraq War and the endless Afghanistan
occupation, saying their deficit-financed costs are unaffordable. The
last time America found itself in a budget debate pitting domestic
priorities against war expenditures, Richard Nixon was in the White
House and David Obey was the youngest member of Congress -- an antiwar
liberal whose insurgent campaign unexpectedly vaulted him into the
House seat vacated by the hawkish president's new defense secretary.
In those dark days of the late 1960s and early 1970s, as Obey was
still learning his way around Washington, it was the guns of Vietnam
and the Cold War versus the butter of the Great Society and the War on
Poverty -- and, despite Obey's protests, guns won the day." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2couyv8
-----
42) Kyrgyzstan on the brink
The Nation
by David Trilling
"Residents are hesitantly dismantling barricades and emerging from
behind burned cars and felled trees, but the streets in central Osh
remain painted with large white letters looking skyward: S-O-S. As
violence engulfed the city June 11-14, ethnic Uzbeks scrawled the
pleas hoping that some of the helicopters circling overhead might come
to their aid, that the government might stop the pogroms. In their
mahallas, or separate neighborhoods, small groups of Uzbek men mingle
and reminisce, sharing news of family members taking shelter across
the border in Uzbekistan and guarding what's left of their homes. They
worry that some Kyrgyz will return to finish the job." (06/25/10)
http://www.thenation.com/article/36683/kyrgyzstan-brink
-----
43) Toward a new monetary order
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thorsten Polleit
"Henry Ford is alleged to have said that 'it is well enough that
people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary
system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before
tomorrow morning.' The spirit of his words encourages us to put
forward questions about the banking and monetary system -- especially
in view of the international credit-market crisis." (06/25/10)
http://mises.org/daily/4501
-----
44) Obama's oil spill panel a farce
Heartland Institute
by James M. Taylor
"President Barack Obama's seven-member panel charged with examining
offshore oil and natural gas production is stacked with environmental
activists and does not include a single expert on oil and natural gas
production, the Houston Chronicle revealed Thursday. The panel will
make recommendations on the future -- or lack of a future -- for
offshore drilling, which President Obama will likely cite as 'blue
ribbon' support for his policies." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/24fng79
-----
45) Why statists hate gold
Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"Amidst the increasing calls among statists for increased federal
spending, one can practically feel the deep, visceral hatred for gold
arising within statists. The reason is that statists know that gold is
a communications vehicle that tells people what government officials
are doing to their money. That's the last thing that statists want
people to find out." (06/25/10)
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-06-25.asp
-----
46) The inconveniently oily truth
FreedomWorks
by Matt Matyjek
"During the Congressional hearing last week of BP CEO Tony Hayward,
Rep. Joey Barton publicly apologized for the $20 billion shakedown of
the company. The statement created large waves throughout the media
and prompted a vigorous response from both the left and the right.
Liberal politicians such as Rahm Emmanuel expounded the statement,
saying that finally, a member of the GOP had a slip of the tongue and
showed the true colors of the party, one in the pocket of big oil
lobbies." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2bsfz3v
-----
47) McChrystal flap sign of war's loss
Freedom Politics
by Thomas J. Lucente Jr.
"The comments and subsequent sacking of Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal
expose a larger problem than a general who showed poor judgment. The
Afghanistan war, which is now President Barack Obama's war, is a
colossal failure. It is, at this point and under this president and
his philosophy, simply unwinnable, or, what the Pentagon would term,
'mission failure.'" (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/29trbjb
-----
48) Hayek's Road to Serfdom: Despotism then and now
Campaign For Liberty
by Thomas DiLorenzo
"When Friedrich A. Hayek published his classic book, The Road to
Serfdom, in 1944 he was loudly denounced by academic statist
apologists in England, where he resided at the time, and in America.
In the preface to the 1976 edition of the book Hayek noted that a
prominent philosopher even denounced the book despite admitting that
he had not read it! But average citizens did read it. The book was a
gigantic success in America, quickly selling over half a million
copies." (06/26/10)
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=967
-----
49) The Toronto G20 riot fraud
Centre for Research on Globalization
by Terry Burrows
"Toronto is right now in the midst of a massive government / media
propaganda fraud. As events unfold, it is becoming increasingly clear
that the 'Black Bloc' are undercover police operatives engaged in
purposeful provocations to eclipse and invalidate legitimate G20
citizen protest by starting a riot. Government agents have been caught
doing this before in Canada. At the 'Security and Prosperity
Partnership' meeting protests at Montebello Quebec on August 20, 2007,
a Quebec union leader caught and outed three masked undercover Quebec
Provincial Police operatives dressed as 'black bloc' protestors about
to start a riot by throwing rocks at the security police. ... The
Quebec Provincial Police were then forced after three days of public
outrage to admit that these three men were indeed their officers
operating undercover." [hat tip -- Kitty Antonik Wakfer] (06/27/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2efen26
-----
50) Beware, carpetbaggers!
Liberty For All
by George Phillies
"Once again, carpetbagging, the old 'Carpetbaggers for Eli' folks (on
which more below) have reared their heads at a national convention.
Yes, we did have a national convention. And as also happened in 2002,
though really not much before or since, one state not only filled
their own delegation but brought in extra people that they slipped
into the delegations of other states, necessarily with the connivance
of the local state chairs." (06/26/10)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=4493
-----
51) Indians along the Mohawk
Daily Speculations
by Alan Corwin
"[T]the Mohawk Valley, like most of Central New York State, has been
going downhill for many decades. The towns are dotted with closed
mills and factories, and the countryside is covered with what used to
be family dairy farms. There are still a few left, but most of the
farms are either not being worked or owned by giant corporations. A
working factory is very hard to find. That is apparently starting to
change in a small way. Businessmen from other countries see perfectly
good factory buildings, in many cases with free hydroelectric power
from turbines that are still there and still work perfectly, and the
cost of the buildings is a tiny fraction of their current construction
cost. In some cases, they open a factory making exactly what it did
thirty years ago when it was abandoned by its American owners.
Sometimes the businesses are new. None seem to employ very many
people, but it's a long time since those factories employed
anyone." (06/25/10)
http://www.dailyspeculations.com/wordpress/?p=4940
-----
52) Seattle's blue gang extortion racket
Fr33 Agents
by Darren Wolfe
"Like so many cities in our recession ravaged land Seattle has a
budget shortfall. It is cutting services, which makes politicians mad
as they have less pork to pass around. Naturally, they look for
additional sources of revenue. Many cities abuse traffic citations and
parking tickets to this end, but Seattle seems to have decided to go
back to issuing excessive numbers of jaywalking citations to raise
more money. They resort to this kind of legal plunder to avoid raising
taxes or increase the deficit, hiding behind the guise of protecting
the public. People know what's going on. It's just a form of robbery.
When the police become a blue gang enforcing an extortion racket they
command no respect. All they have left is their ability to use
violence to get people to submit, a situation guaranteed to foster
police brutality." (06/26/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2a2kttg
-----
53) Who kills your freedom?
Albuquerque Libertarian Examiner
by Kent McManigal
"Do you know why I am not obsessed over government and its war on
liberty? Because government can't force you to do, or not do, anything
unless one of its agents is holding a gun on you right now. And
government does not have enough thugs or guns to control us all. It
relies on 'governing' you in most cases. Only you can consent to be
governed -- or not." (06/25/10)
http://tinyurl.com/2ctj8kz
-----
54) Crony capitalism and corporate welfare: Is this $30 billion worth
of corruption?
Downsize DC
by Jim Babka
"Do mere politicians really know how much credit should be given to
small businesses? They sure seem to think so. The House voted to pass
something called the 'Small Business Lending Act of 2010
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