06/25 -- Iran: New clashes as regime thugs disperse protesters; Bernanke to face hostile questioning on BofA deal
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jun 25, 2009, 2:43:40 AM6/25/09
to Rational Review News Digest
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In The News:
0) RRND/FND mid-year subscription drive
1) Iran: New clashes as regime thugs disperse protesters
2) Bernanke to face hostile questioning on BofA deal
3) Iraq: At least 69 killed in market bombing
4) No surprise: UN hates freedom, supports drug prohibition
5) SC: Sanford admits affair after secret Argentina trip
6) Could 80's rock hit have ripped off classic children's song?
7) CA: Without balanced budget, state to issue IOUs
8) Iran's unrest: Opportunity or threat?
9) MA: State cuts health coverage by $115 million
10) MI: Anarchists go to church
11) Nine nasty online scams to beware of
12) US eugenics legacy: Ruling on Buck sterilization still stands
13) General: US troops must protect Afghans
14) Holder targets cocaine sentencing gap
15) NY: Transport entrepreneurs charged after police chase
16) Iraq to mark US pullback from cities with holiday
17) Feds lend Tesla $465 million to build electric car
18) Fed appeals court revives Virginia abortion law
19) North Korea warns of "fire shower of nuclear" attack
20) South Africa: Gun law challenged in court
21) OK: Prosecutor declines charges in shooting death
22) Prosecutor quits Killing Fields war crimes trial
23) UK: Woolworths returns as online shop
24) SD: Dice, marbles choose new councilman
25) Germany: Pensioners kidnap, beat financial advisor
Everybody Has An Opinion:
26) Obama's fix-it plans
27) Taking the libertarian movement from Main Street to Wall Street
28) America closing her door to freedom
29) Uncle Sugar to the rescue (of our beleaguered newspapers)
30) Crime fighters vs. the Constitution
31) Stay out of Iran's evolutionary process
32) My talk with Hamas about peace with Israel
33) Obama's chance to stand up to China
34) Is "democracy" a dirty word for Obama?
35) Healthcare reform villains
36) Tax and spend is back!
37) Icons of the new Iran
38) Prohibition vs. tax & regulate -- all wrong again
39) Racism in the market and voting booth
40) Smoot-Hawley redux
41) Obama's Iran policy is a bomb
42) Heartless
43) The next generation of gun rights activists
44) Return of the dead hand
45) The nirvana fallacy
46) The real cost of health care
47) Eliminating prison rape
48) Does your freedom depend on gold?
49) The ability to determine one's own destiny
50) The endless war continues
51) Free speech vs. surveillance in the digital age
52) Veterans first on health care
53) Vote for a neighbor or a stranger?
54) Conflict of interest
55) Russia remains the same
56) Shock and audit, part 3: Where's my flying tank?
57) Cap-and-trade war
58) A realistic postmortem on China's Tiananmen
59) Welcome to the Ministry of Propaganda
60) Spies in the classroom
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
61) Kathleen Polizzi on Freedom Rings Radio, 06/29/09
62) Morris, Sugarman on the Wayne Root Radio Show, 06/27/09
63) Free Talk Live, 06/24/09
64) Cato Daily Podcast, 06/24/09
65) Catching up with Motorhome Diarists
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
66) Today's events
WaYbAcK:
67) Custer, you impetuous wretch ...
***************
* In The News
***************
0) RRND/FND mid-year subscription drive
Update, 06/25/09: Sigh ... another "zero dollar day," both in terms of
new subscribing contributors and actual arriving revenues.
Our total stands at $402.50 against our goal of $2,000 per month in
recurring revenues from subscribing contributors.
If we can make it to $1,000 by the end of June, I'll take a
fundraising break before coming back to pick up that other thousand
bucks.
If not, I guess it's going to be a long, hot summer, with either a
continuation of this drive or other measures to get the freedom
movement's daily newspaper into a stable financial situation.
Your call - TLK
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/64484
-----
1) Iran: New clashes as regime thugs disperse protesters
Miami Herald
"Swinging clubs and firing tear gas, security forces clashed Wednesday
with demonstrators who ignored a new demand by Iran's supreme leader
to end nearly two weeks of protests and accept the disputed results of
the country's recent presidential election. ... Iranians who witnessed
the violence wrote in Farsi-language Internet postings and blogs that
many protesters were injured by security forces wielding clubs, pipes
and electric cables and firing tear gas and live ammunition in the
air. State-run media accounts denied there was any violence, insisting
that security forces dispersed demonstrators outside a subway station
at Baharestan Square, while other protesters were prevented from
gathering in a nearby area." (06/24/09)
http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/1112839.html
-----
2) Bernanke to face hostile questioning on BofA deal
Washington Post
"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke likely will face hostile
questions from a House committee investigating whether he and other
government officials pressured Bank of America Corp. into a 'shotgun
wedding' with Merrill Lynch that cost taxpayers $20 billion. The House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee has scheduled a hearing
Thursday as it probes whether federal officials urged Bank of America
CEO Kenneth Lewis to keep quiet last fall about Merrill Lynch's
financial problems and stick with the plan to combine the two
financial powers. Not divulging that information would have violated
Lewis' fiduciary duty to the bank's shareholders." (06/25/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ld65j6
-----
3) Iraq: At least 69 killed in market bombing
Baltimore Sun
"A bomb ripped through a crowded market in Baghdad's main Shiite
district on Wednesday, killing at least 69 people and wounding more
than 100 less than a week before a deadline for U.S. combat troops to
leave Iraq's urban areas. A series of blasts this week have killed
more than 160 people, as U.S. and Iraqi officials warned they expected
more violence before the U.S. withdrawal from cities." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/n3anwb
-----
4) No surprise: UN hates freedom, supports drug prohibition
United Press International
"The United Nations, calling for more global investment in drug
treatment and control, warned against legalizing narcotics. The world
body's Office on Drugs and Crime issued its appeal Wednesday, while
noting a brutal struggle is under way among Central American drug
cartels for a bigger slice of the $50 billion global cocaine market,
U.N. News reported. The agency's executive director, Antonio Maria
Costa, said anti-narcotics laws may have helped create a huge black
market for illicit drugs but that 'a free market for drugs would
unleash a drug epidemic.'" (06/25/09)
http://tinyurl.com/m268kc
-----
5) SC: Sanford admits affair after secret Argentina trip
Fox News
"South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, after pulling off an increasingly
bizarre vanishing act this week, reappeared Wednesday to admit he was
having an affair that involved secret visits with his mistress in
Argentina. Sanford's staff initially told reporters he had left town
Thursday to go hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but the governor
returned Wednesday morning on a flight from Argentina. ... [Sanford]
is resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. The
RGA announced shortly afterward that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour
would assume Sanford's duties. Sanford did not say whether he'll stay
on as governor." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mtvgx4
-----
6) Could 80's rock hit have ripped off classic children's song?
The News [Australia]
"One's a pub classic, belted out at top volume by tipsy patrons around
closing time. The other is a more dignified affair, a favorite of
youth choirs and choral groups. Now, as unlikely as it seems, the
classic children's song, Kookaburra, and the Men At Work hit, Down
Under, are set to go head-to-head in court amid accusations part of
the rock anthem is a rip-off, the Daily Telegraph reports. Music
publishing company Larrikin owns the Kookaburra song and claims the
melody that accompanies the line 'Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree'
is reproduced in Down Under. The case is due to start in full within
days. ... The part of the [latter] song that is alleged to have
breached copyright is the distinctive flute-riff." [editor's note: I'm
as staunch a defender of song-rights as they come, but this seems
specious at best (far less than 8 bars of music) ... and about 25
years after-the-fact as well - SAT] (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ldeg5y
-----
7) CA: Without balanced budget, state to issue IOUs
McClatchy Newspapers
"California state controller John Chiang warned Wednesday that if
legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fail to come up with a
budget-balancing package in the next week, he would begin paying
California's bills with IOUs on July 2. The controller's warning came
as legislators began what many on both sides of the aisle acknowledged
was a rhetorical song-and-dance over closing a $24 billion deficit
that stretches over the fiscal year that ends Tuesday and the one that
begins Wednesday. Republicans in both houses were rejecting a
Democratic bill that contained $11 billion in spending cuts -- the
first of a 20-bill package aimed at reducing the deficit. The
Democratic plan contains new tax hikes and some accounting legerdemain
along with the spending cuts." (06/24/09)
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/70621.html
-----
8) Iran's unrest: Opportunity or threat?
Christian Science Monitor
"Iran's Sunni Arab neighbors have long feared its revolutionary
rhetoric, its Islamist political style, and its popularity among many
of their own citizens for its strident criticism of Israel. With that
background, one would expect the Arab states to be jumping for joy at
the political turmoil in Iran, a Shiite oil power. But so far their
response has been muted to non-existent. Here's why: The mechanism
that has created Iran's biggest political crisis since the Islamic
revolution in 1979 is street power, the voice of a disenfranchised
populace. And while that might eventually deliver a regime in Iran
that Arab states would be more comfortable with, it also provides a
powerful immediate example of the sort of popular sovereignty that the
autocratic Arab regimes fear most." (06/24/09)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0625/p06s01-wome.html
-----
9) MA: State cuts health coverage by $115 million
Boston Globe
"Overseers of Massachusetts' trailblazing healthcare program made
their first cuts yesterday, trimming $115 million, or 12 percent, from
Commonwealth Care, which subsidizes premiums for needy residents and
is the centerpiece of the 2006 law. The board of the Connector
Authority made the cuts as officials confronted two side effects of
the recession: the state budget crisis and a surge in enrollment by
the recently unemployed. The largest share of the savings will come
from slowing enrollment. An estimated 18,000 poor residents who
qualify for full subsidies, but who forget to designate a health plan,
will no longer be automatically assigned a plan and enrolled and thus
could face delays in getting care." [editor's note: This bears
watching, ESPECIALLY because MassCare is now being touted as a model
for the proposed nationalization of wellness - SAT] (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nzufc4
-----
10) MI: Anarchists go to church
In These Times
"Backed by lawyers from the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund, a
Michigan church is using a law pioneered by pro-choice activists to
seek damages, legal fees and a federal injunction against
demonstrators who disrupted a church service. On Nov. 9, 2008, 10
members of Bash Back!, a Chicago-based national network of anarchist
queers, snuck into a Sunday morning service at Mount Hope Church in
Delta Township, Mich. As a group of protesters outside the church
distracted security guards, those in the sanctuary began chanting,
kissing and distributing fliers that called on young people to 'try
exploring and embracing these new feelings your mind and soul have
chosen to engage in.'" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mytywh
-----
11) Nine nasty online scams to beware of
Fox News
"Internet scams have been around for years, but the Federal Trade
Commission's recent crackdown on robocallers pushing car warrantees
has put a spotlight on the thousands of tactics used by scammers to
bilk Americans out of millions. So why are they so successful? One of
the keys to scammers' success is a constant flow of unsuspecting
victims. Another, experts say, is that scammers are targeting specific
demographics, whether it's by age, race or sex. ... And as fast as
investigators try put a stop to the schemes, scammers are reinventing
their tricks and staying one step ahead of authorities and the public.
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has received 1 million
complaints related to scams in the past three years, and the Federal
Trade Commission received over 350,000 complaints about identity theft
and Internet services." [editor's note: Having just (maybe) narrowly
avoided one of these scams myself (one NOT on this list, BTW), I'm
paying closer attention now - SAT] (06/24/09)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528859,00.html
-----
12) US eugenics legacy: Ruling on Buck sterilization still stands
USA Today
"Paul Lombardo hadn't planned on a three-decade detour when he stopped
at a greasy-spoon restaurant for breakfast in February 1980. Lombardo,
then a graduate student at the University of Virginia, picked up a
newspaper to read as he ate his bacon and eggs. And the rest is
history, literally and figuratively. For almost 30 years, Lombardo has
tried to uncover the full story of the wrongs he read about that
day." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/n3ao9y
-----
13) General: US troops must protect Afghans
MSNBC
"Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Wednesday that U.S. and other NATO
troops must make a 'cultural shift' away from being a force designed
for high-intensity combat and instead make protecting Afghan civilians
their first priority. The newly arrived four-star commander said he
hopes to install a new military mindset by drilling into troops the
need to reduce the number of Afghan civilians killed in
combat." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nst2kw
-----
14) Holder targets cocaine sentencing gap
MSNBC
"Attorney General Eric Holder sought support Wednesday for erasing the
gap in prison sentences for crack and powder cocaine crimes, a
disparity that hits black defendants harder than any others. The
effort to change federal sentencing laws for cocaine has broad support
but may still unravel amid disagreements about how equal the sentences
should be, and whether the whole sentencing system needs to be
changed." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/l54gbd
-----
15) NY: Transport entrepreneurs charged after police chase
Reuters
"Operators of an unauthorized New York airport van service that took
five French tourists on a high speed chase in an attempt to evade
police were charged on Wednesday with unlawful imprisonment. ... 'As
tourism, one of New York's most revenue-producing industries,
continues to grow, the need to provide a safe and welcoming
environment requires stronger penalties for those who engage in
unlawful solicitation of ground transportation,' Queens District
Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement." [editor's note: The way
to provide a safe and welcoming environment is to quit enforcing the
medallion monopoly and hassling people who provide needed services.
The chase should never have happened, because the police should never
have been involved - TLK] (06/24/09)
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55N66D20090624
-----
16) Iraq to mark US pullback from cities with holiday
Fort Dodge Messenger News
"The Iraqi government on Tuesday declared a public holiday to mark
next week's withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Baghdad and other
cities. American forces already have begun pulling back from outposts
inside the cities ahead of a June 30 deadline, the first phase of a
full withdrawal by the end of 2011. Government spokesman Ali al-
Dabbagh said Tuesday that ceremonies will be held on Monday and the
deadline itself will be a public holiday, although students will still
have to take their final exams as scheduled." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/njfof6
-----
17) Feds lend Tesla $465 million to build electric car
CNN
"The Obama Administration will lend Tesla Motors $465 million to build
an electric sedan and the battery packs needed to propel it. It's one
of three loans totaling almost $8 billion that the Department of
Energy awarded Tuesday to spur the development of fuel-efficient
vehicles." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/m8e4vn
-----
18) Fed appeals court revives Virginia abortion law
El Paso Times
"A sharply divided federal appeals court upheld Virginia's ban on a
type of late-term abortion Wednesday, ruling that the statute does not
unduly burden a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy by more
conventional means. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a
6-5 decision that the 2003 law also makes clear the type of procedure
that is banned and adequately protects women's health. Abortion
opponents call the prohibited procedure 'partial-birth abortion,' and
doctors call it 'intact dilation and extraction.'" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/lpwuwq
-----
19) North Korea warns of "fire shower of nuclear" attack
ABC News
"North Korea condemned a recent U.S. pledge to provide nuclear defense
of South Korea, saying Thursday that the move boosts its justification
to hold onto atomic bombs and invites a potential 'fire shower of
nuclear retaliation.' The salvo in Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun
newspaper was the North's latest reaction to last week's summit
between President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-
bak. The allies issued a joint statement committing the U.S. to defend
the South with nuclear weapons." (06/24/09)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=7914048
-----
20) South Africa: Gun law challenged in court
The Times [South Africa]
"The SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association has asked the High
Court in Pretoria to extend the deadline for the renewal of gun
licences, reports said today. ... SABC radio news reported that the
association launched an urgent bid requesting an extension of the
implementation of the new Firearms Control Act which comes into effect
on July 1, 2009. Lawyer Bertus Bergenthuin told the court the
government was unable to deal with the administrative load brought
upon by the new legislation." (06/24/09)
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1022767
-----
21) OK: Prosecutor declines charges in shooting death
Times Record
"The fatal shooting of a Sequoyah County man by his daughter Thursday
was justified, and no charges will be filed, District 27 First
Assistant District Attorney John David Luton said Tuesday. ...
According to Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office reports, the department
received a call at 11:09 p.m., saying Foreman had been shot during a
domestic dispute. Foreman's wife, Shelli Foreman, told investigators
that Foreman had been drinking and had been terrorizing her since 5:15
p.m., threatening her with guns and knives and wrapping a telephone
cord around her neck. Foreman's daughter, Felicia Foreman, 22, arrived
home during the incident. Shortly after 11 p.m., when Foreman forced
his wife onto the ground, holding a gun to the back of her head, his
daughter retrieved a gun from another bedroom and shot Foreman once
from close proximity, in the upper body. Foreman died
quickly." (06/24/09)
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2009/06/24/news/news062409_02.txt
-----
22) Prosecutor quits Killing Fields war crimes trial
Independent [UK]
"An international prosecutor who has quit the Cambodian genocide trial
has delivered a parting broadside, saying that the tribunal needs to
guard against corruption, political meddling and a debilitating lack
of funds. Robert Petit, a Canadian lawyer whose decision to quit has
shocked some members of the tribunal and raised questions about how
effectively the process will continue, said that allegations of
corruption levelled at the court have still not been properly
answered. He said the court also lacked sufficient resources and staff
to do the job it had been set." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mmx22m
-----
23) UK: Woolworths returns as online shop
BBC News [UK]
"The Woolworths brand is about to begin trading as an online business,
more than five months after the ex-High Street giant went into
administration. Shop Direct Home Shopping reportedly paid
administrators between £5m ($8.24m) and £10m for the brand name. Goods
on woolworths.co.uk include toys, Ladybird clothing and the firm's
iconic pick n' mix confectionery." (06/24/09)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8117433.stm
-----
24) SD: Dice, marbles choose new councilman
United Press International
"The City Council of a small South Dakota town resolved a tied 126-126
election as dictated by state law -- with a game of chance. David
Baker won the Spearfish City Council seat formerly occupied by
Councilwoman Shawn Davis during a special meeting Tuesday night by
rolling the highest number with a die -- winning him the right to
choose whether to be the first to pull a marble from a hat -- and
pulling the white marble." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nz7a84
-----
25) Germany: Pensioners kidnap, beat financial advisor
Daily Mail [UK]
"Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before
kidnapping and torturing him for losing £2million of their savings.
James Amburn, 56, was ambushed outside his home in Speyer , western
Germany, bound with masking tape and bundled into a car boot. 'It took
them quite a while because they ran out of breath,' said Mr. Amburn,
who was driven to the Bavarian lakeside home of one of the
gang." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/n5wysd
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 06/25/09
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 92,393 ... Max - 100,868
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,316
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
26) Obama's fix-it plans
LewRockwell.Com
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"The entire presumption of the Obama-proposed Consumer Financial
Protection Agency is that banks and mortgage companies are under-
regulated by the state. This is why the financial meltdown took place
-- never mind that the federal regulatory Gosplan includes tens of
thousands of pages purporting to regulate the mortgage industry alone.
Let's leave aside the unknown costs that will be associated with new
regulations -- ever more hoops to jump through, more paperwork, more
confusing terms for lenders and borrowers alike, more government
controls that harm consumers as much as or more than producers. The
core problem here is that none of this rigmarole has anything to do
with the real reason for the meltdown." (06/25/09)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/government-controls.html
-----
27) Taking the libertarian movement from Main Street to Wall Street
Liberty For All
by R. Lee Wrights
"Doctors told Steve Kubby that he had only six months to live. That
was more than thirty years ago! What has Mr. Kubby done with the extra
time physicians told him he didn't have? Well, besides becoming an
icon in the medical marijuana movement and running for the LP
presidential nomination in 2008, he is taking libertarians, and the
liberty movement, out of the trenches. He is taking our message from
the front lines of Main Street to the bottom line of Wall Street. His
new company, Cannabis Science Inc. (NASD OTCBB: CBIS), brings an
opportunity to the libertarian community which has rarely, if ever,
been offered before." (06/24/09)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=2759
-----
28) America closing her door to freedom
Strike the Root
by Douglas Young
"We so feared a Stalin or Hitler that we ignored endless assaults on
our liberty by idealistic home-grown statists and the seductive
narcotic of ever more government goodies buying our acquiescence. What
makes Americans' surrender to statism so shameful is that we freely
chose this course in direct contravention of our founding
principles." (06/24/09)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/91/youngd/youngd1.html
-----
29) Uncle Sugar to the rescue (of our beleaguered newspapers)
Disloyal Opposition
by JD Tuccille
"There's an old saying that 'he who takes the king's coin becomes the
king's man.' Those words are worth remembering as journalists rend
their clothing over the death throes of many of the nation's
newspapers, activist groups call for the government to rescue the dead-
tree press as a crucial prop for preserving democracy, and
opportunistic politicians respond with schemes to put the nation's
broadsheets and tabloids on government-funded life support. When
journalists are dependent on coins tossed their way by the political
class, just which way do you think their stories will
lean?" (06/23/09)
http://tinyurl.com/l6darp
-----
30) Crime fighters vs. the Constitution
Reason
by Jacob Sullum
"In a 1995 decision that overturned a federal ban on possessing guns
near schools, the U.S. Supreme Court noted that 'the Constitution
creates a Federal Government of enumerated powers,' which do not
include a general authority to fight crime. Five years later, when it
overturned a statutory provision that created a federal cause of
action for victims of gender-motivated violence, the Court warned that
congressional attempts to usurp the states' police power threatened to
erase the 'distinction between what is truly national and what is
truly local.' Since then a chastened Congress has consistently
rejected anti-crime legislation that lacks a firm constitutional
basis. Just kidding. Two pieces of legislation in the news, both named
after murder victims, show that posing as a crime fighter is still
more popular on Capitol Hill than obeying the
Constitution." (06/24/09)
http://reason.com/news/show/134308.html
-----
31) Stay out of Iran's evolutionary process
AntiWar.Com
by Philip Giraldi
"Change by evolution is better than by revolution. Both metamorphoses
are underway in Iran: one is immediate and reactionary and, perhaps
necessarily, more graphic and even grim. The other suggests the
possibility that long-lasting change might happening in Tehran -- if
outside influences do not upset the sensitive process of
transformation. As is frequently the case, those who would do nothing
probably have it right, whether arguing for constitutional reasons or
as realists." (06/25/09)
http://tinyurl.com/n58xdl
-----
32) My talk with Hamas about peace with Israel
Christian Science Monitor
by Helena Cobban
"Since his first days in office, President Obama has defined winning a
final peace between Israel and the Palestinians as an urgent US
interest. On Jan. 21 he named former Senate majority leader George
Mitchell his envoy to achieve that peace, and Mr. Mitchell has since
made four fact-finding trips to the Middle East. But neither has yet
said how the administration will grapple with one of the biggest
challenges that peace diplomacy faces: the continuing strength of the
Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas. Hamas has been on the State
Department's 'terrorism list' since its founding in 1987. It has
steadfastly refused to recognize Israel. But it has also won -- and
kept -- considerable popular support among Palestinians." (06/24/09)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0624/p09s01-coop.html
-----
33) Obama's chance to stand up to China
Our Future
by Isaiah J. Poole
"President Obama will get an opportunity in the coming weeks to show
American workers that he has the mettle to get tough with China when
that country flouts the basic principles of fair trade, and it will be
on an issue in which he does not have the luxury of ambiguity. Last
week the International Trade Commission ruled that Chinese automobile
tire imports were at a level that would 'cause or threaten to cause
market disruption' in the U.S. market. That ruling sets the stage for
the commission to propose remedies on June 29 intended to reduce the
number of Chinese tires imported into the United States. Those
remedies would then be presented to President Obama on July 9, and the
administration would have until early September to decide whether to
accept or reject them." (06/23/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mp2hhj
-----
34) Is "democracy" a dirty word for Obama?
Boston Globe
by Jeff Jacoby
"The choice presented by the democracy protests in Iran could hardly
have been clearer. On one side: a brutal theocratic regime that jails
and tortures its critics at home and is a deadly sponsor of terrorism
abroad; that loudly proclaims its enmity for the United States and has
murdered many Americans to prove it; that barely conceals its drive to
amass a nuclear arsenal; that lusts for the annihilation of Israel;
and that for 30 years has pursued a far-flung Islamist jihad. On the
other side: throngs of Iranians calling for an end to their
government's abuses. With whom should America stand -- the bloody
tyranny or the people opposing it? For most Americans the question
answers itself, which is why both houses of Congress voted all but
unanimously last week to condemn the Iranian government and support
the protesters' embrace of human rights, civil liberties, and the rule
of law. So why was President Obama's response initially so
ambivalent?" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nkr9ov
-----
35) Healthcare reform villains
The American Prospect
by Paul Waldman
"What will probably turn out to be the most contentious debate of the
Obama presidency -- healthcare reform -- is now moving into its most
intense phase, and the Obama theory of change is about to be put to
the test. Despite how it has sometimes been characterized, Obama's
impulse to treat everyone respectfully and take their ideas seriously
isn't based on a naive belief that he can bring everyone around to his
position. But it does presume that if you don't start by vilifying
your opponents, you can force them to be constructive and perhaps
mitigate their eventual opposition to your plan." [editor's note: Even
for those who see the dangers of "nationalized" health insurance, the
identification of those who'd pretty much block ANY real attempt at
reforming the health & wellness realm ... is of value - SAT]
(06/23/09)
http://tinyurl.com/moaxxe
-----
36) Tax and spend is back!
Fox News Forum
by Liz Peek
"Americans are not stupid. We may be greedy, self-indulgent and
strangely more fond of Real Housewives than of, well, real housewives,
but at the end of the day we are pretty good at sizing up what works
and what doesn't. A Rasmussen poll conducted last week says that
Americans now trust Republicans more than Democrats to manage our
economy. That's right; while the Paul Krugman camp is still focused on
blaming the Bush administration for the economic collapse (and nearly
everything else including random earthquakes), ordinary Americans have
begun to doubt that President Obama is on the right track. Why the
sudden change of heart? Despite a reassuring stock market surge over
the past three months, there is growing concern that history is about
to repeat itself." (06/21/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mrzjks
-----
37) Icons of the new Iran
The Nation
by Barbara Crossette
"As Iran's government lashed out today at its foreign critics, people
around the world were lighting candles and laying flowers at makeshift
shrines to the political opposition's first 'martyr' in the battle
against the hardliners of the Islamic Republic. In every way the
unwitting victim, Neda Agha-Soltan, has become a powerful if tragic
icon of a new Iran. She was a young woman of 26, and she died Saturday
wearing tight jeans and running shoes, her head uncovered as she fell
from the gunshot that killed her. Male strangers rushed to help her,
ignoring draconian religious taboos. Iran's religious leaders, who
have barred public memorials for Agha-Soltan amid rumors that one was
being planned for Thursday in Tehran, stepped up threats against would-
be demonstrators and reiterated that the disputed election on June 12
that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power would not be
annulled and rerun." (06/23/09)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090706/crossette2
-----
38) Prohibition vs. tax & regulate -- all wrong again
Freedom's Phoenix
by Brock Lorber
"The preface to the UNODC World Drug Report 2009 is truly
breathtaking. For the first time, Executive Director Antonio Maria
Costa is concerned enough about chatter from real people to
acknowledge that there is a significant push for drug legalization. Of
course, it would not be a government report without
mischaracterization and an army of straw men to be knocked over
(original emphasis throughout). Particularly striking is Costa's
(Ph.D. in econ from UC-Berkeley) characterization of policy arguments
as economic." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/lzwb4g
-----
39) Racism in the market and voting booth
FR33 AGENTS
by Brad Taylor
"Nobody likes racism. At least, nobody whose opinion we should take
seriously likes racism. Many argue that private racism provides a
justification for state intervention to ensure everyone is treated
fairly. When we carefully look at basic economic theory and the
historical record, though, it becomes clear that government is much
more likely to produce racism than to prevent it." (06/22/09)
http://tinyurl.com/kl2uhc
-----
40) Smoot-Hawley redux
KN@PPSTER
by Thomas L. Knapp
"In 1930, with the United States in the midst of a king-hell economic
downturn, a couple of typical genius politicians convinced their
fellow congresscritters to raise tariffs on the import of more than
20,000 goods. Against the advice of more than 1,000 prominent
economists, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff
Act into law." (06/24/09)
http://knappster.blogspot.com/2009/06/smoot-hawley-redux.html
-----
41) Obama's Iran policy is a bomb
National Review
by Jonah Goldberg
"Here is the one immutable fact of Barack Obama's foreign-policy
agenda as it relates to Iran: It's over. The rule book he came in with
is as irrelevant as a tourist guide to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If
the forces of reform and democracy win, Obama's plan to negotiate with
the regime is moot, for the regime will be gone. And if the forces of
reform are crushed into submission by the regime, Obama's plan is
moot, because the regime will still be there." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ncb54f
-----
42) Heartless
Slate
by John Dickerson
"The personal impact of the Sanford affair is more gripping than the
political. Sanford has done a horrible thing to his wife and family
and friends. He seemed to know and feel this more profoundly than
other politicians we've seen go through this familiar apology exercise
before. That doesn't excuse him. Not that he was asking that anyone
excuse him. He seemed to be trying to take all the blame, as he
should. Some might think his explanations were excuses. To me they
seemed like a man confessing the details of a crime." (06/24/09)
http://www.slate.com/id/2221255/
-----
43) The next generation of gun rights activists
Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner
by Daniel White
"Now, more than ever, children are bombarded at school with anti-gun
messages. Gun owners are ridiculed in the media and portrayed as
either criminals or low IQ rednecks in television and the movies
(except the 'heroes,' who are always affiliated with law enforcement
or the military). Children are not taught the merits of self-defense,
only to call the police and huddle under a desk until help
arrives.These frequent messages attempt to mold young minds to oppose
civilian gun ownership through indoctrination. If this is not
countered by a pro-gun message at home, the future of gun rights will
be lost." (06/22/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ld7syw
-----
44) Return of the dead hand
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by John P. Cochran
"For much of the world, the period from the 1960s through the early
1980s was an era of ever-greater government intervention into the
economy. The period, an expansion of policy built on an intellectual
foundation of Marxism, socialism, corporatism, and progressivism
culminated in economic stagnation and inflation in the market-oriented
mercantilist-interventionist countries such as the 'Great Society' in
the United States and economic collapse in the Marxist dominated
Soviet block." (06/24/09)
http://mises.org/story/3516
-----
45) The nirvana fallacy
Freedom Politics
by John Stossel
"President Obama has announced his 'sweeping overhaul of the financial
regulatory system.' We can debate endlessly whether the Constitution
authorizes any president to 'overhaul' the financial system. But I
want to focus on a different matter: whether any president, with all
his advisers, is capable of overseeing something as complex as the
financial system. My answer is no, and it is ominous that a bright guy
like Obama doesn't know this." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nn3znc
-----
46) The real cost of health care
Foundation for Economic Education
by William Anderson
"One regular theme in Paul Krugman's column is universal medical care,
and anyone who opposes him either is evil or simply wants people to be
unhealthy. While he is not fully happy with President Barack Obama's
latest plan to create a government health insurance option,
nonetheless he knows all central plans lead to government care.
Knowing the details of this latest plan is not necessary to conclude
it is bad." (06/24/09)
http://fee.org/articles/not-so-fast/real-cost-health-care/
-----
47) Eliminating prison rape
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Eli Lehrer
"It has been far too long in coming but, yesterday, the Federal Prison
Rape Elimination commission released its report on elimination and
prevention efforts regarding the biggest social problem nobody wants
to talk about: prison rape. Anyone who looks at the problem can't
react with anything other than horror. According to the Bureau of
Justice Statics, over 60,000 prisoners -- the great bulk of them male
-- fall victim to sexual abuse in prison each year. A fair number of
these men are 'punks' who are subject to frequent, even daily, male-on-
male rape for years on end." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mfjcoa
-----
48) Does your freedom depend on gold?
Campaign For Liberty
by Adam Murdock
"Many believe, and rightly so, that gold has intrinsic value. As a
result, gold served as the ultimate and most stable form of currency
in the 19th century. A gold-backed U.S. dollar permitted unprecedented
economic growth in the background of a relatively deflationary
economy. However, despite the clear economic advantages to having a
gold-backed currency, this is not its most important
purpose." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/luruqx
-----
49) The ability to determine one's own destiny
Liberty For All
by Kevin Tull
"The ability to determine one's own destiny, for good or bad, for
better or worse, is as much the definition of freedom as any. I know
that this definition may seem flawed by the fact that some may choose
to do badly to others. I am not so naive to believe that there is no
line of demarcation between this freedom and another person's freedom.
In fact, unlike most of my peers (not my more libertarian minded
peers, but most friends, family, acquaintances and co-workers), I
believe there is only one line that a person cannot cross without
destroying freedom. That line is the border between violating the
natural rights of another human being and doing everything in your
power to influence another human without violating their natural
rights." (06/24/09)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=2754
-----
50) The endless war continues
Rabble
by Pierre Tristam
"Since the election of Barack Obama, mainstream observers have
commented on the turmoil in the backrooms of the White House and the
Pentagon. Apparently, the new President is trying to repair the
damages done by the irresponsible and reckless moves of the Bush era
and refocus the U.S. around a new set of policies. It is going to be
very tough. On a parallel track, many think that the long-term decline
of the U.S. is inevitable, partially because of its own internal
fractures (economic crisis, military overstretch), partially because
of the rise of emerging powers. All of this leaves the impression that
U.S. elites are in disarray. Is it the case?" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nv4fzb
-----
51) Free speech vs. surveillance in the digital age
Truthdig
by Amy Goodman
"Tools of mass communication that were once the province of
governments and corporations now fit in your pocket. Cell phones can
capture video and send it wirelessly to the Internet. People can send
eyewitness accounts, photos and videos, with a few keystrokes, to
thousands or even millions via social networking sites. As these
technologies have developed, so too has the ability to monitor,
filter, censor and block them." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ls2tnv
-----
52) Veterans first on health care
Acton Institute
by Ray Nothstine
"Individuals and groups terrified of nationalized health care like to
point to examples of government dysfunction, such as Medicaid, to
stoke fears of what a government-managed plan would look like in the
United States. Proponents of socialized medicine, meanwhile,
frequently offer their own example to demonstrate a more positive
potential of government health care: the medical system operated by
the Veterans Administration (VA). It's time to take a closer look at
this supposed model of effective health care. The VA manages the
largest U.S. health care system, with more than 1,400 medical
facilities. It's true that veterans treated at VA hospitals generally
receive quality care. Yet this fact overlooks major drawbacks, such as
backlogged claims, rationing of treatment, and waiting periods for
appointments." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ne8xst
-----
53) Vote for a neighbor or a stranger?
The Free Liberal
by Fred E. Foldvary
"The protests about the election for president of Iran, and the
violent response of the government, do not just indicate a problem
with the vote count, but more deeply a problem with mass voting. Among
its many flaws, mass voting is vulnerable to miscounting and election
fraud." (06/24/09)
http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003847.html
-----
54) Conflict of interest
Adam Smith Institute
by Steve Bettison
"In a truly free society people can worship anything: images,
fictional or non-fictional publication or even a lump of rock if they
so choose, permitted that they do so whilst not interfering with
others. In the secular states of the Western world the practices of
certain religions have called into question what is right and
justifiable in the public realm. President Sarkozy yesterday spoke to
the French Parliament and raised the issue of the 'burqa.'" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ljpsub
-----
55) Russia remains the same
The Weekly Standard
by Cathy Young
"Hopes of a rapprochement between Russia and the United States under
an Obama administration were being voiced even before last November's
election. Expectations of 'change' from Obama went hand in hand with
cautious optimism about Russia's new president Dmitri Medvedev, the
handpicked successor to Vladimir Putin, who took the post of prime
minister. These hopes were somewhat dampened when, the day after
Obama's victory, Medvedev threatened to put Russian missiles on the
Polish border in response to the planned U.S. deployment of a missile
shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Still, a warmer welcome
followed with a telephone conversation between the two presidents, and
talk of a 'fresh start' has intermittently continued. Today, more than
a year into the Medvedev presidency, it is obvious that there has been
no change of course at the Kremlin." (for publication 06/29/09)
http://tinyurl.com/l74non
-----
56) Shock and audit, part 3: Where's my flying tank?
Mother Jones
by Rachel Morris
"Designed for dogfighting with Soviet planes, an F-22 costs $351
million, more than double the original projections. It was put into
production before being fully tested, and, not surprisingly, has run
into all sorts of snags -- in fact, it has never flown a single combat
mission in Iraq or Afghanistan. Gates wants to buy just 4 more,
capping the US's collection at 187 instead of the 243 that the Air
Force wanted. However, Lockheed Martin cannily ensured that
manufacturing and assembly for the planes was dispersed across at
least 44 states, including Texas and California, which have powerhouse
congressional delegations." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nsettb
-----
57) Cap-and-trade war
Cato Institute
by Patrick J. Michaels and Sallie James
"Despite indications that much of President Obama's agenda is meeting
intra-party skepticism all over Capitol Hill, there is one policy
nexus where congressional leaders are still doggedly determined to
move the country left: energy and the environment. Speaker Pelosi will
reportedly allow a vote on the controversial Waxman-Markey 'cap-and-
trade' legislation at the end of this week. And it gets even better.
Not content to tempt political fate by imposing huge carbon taxes on
the American middle class, Democrats have added a provision which
imposes stiff tariffs on our trading partners if they don't adopt
aggressive carbon restrictions of their own. You heard correctly:
progressives have authored a bill that earns the mortal enmity of
domestic energy consumers and our most crucial trading partners at the
same time. Economy-killing climate policies and a trade war --
together at last!" (06/24/09)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10313
-----
58) A realistic postmortem on China's Tiananmen
Independent Institute
by William Ratliff
"Some pundits have taken to calling the violent military repression of
post-election protesters in Iran a 'Tehran Tiananmen.' Clearly 'a
Tiananmen' has come to mean a military dispersal of largely peaceful
demonstrators, taking its name from the Chinese military's shutting
down of nearly two months of student protests in Beijing's Tiananmen
Square in June 1989. But while this journalistic shorthand adds drama
to today's commentary, it also misses the broader consequences of what
happened in China at that time. On the recent twentieth anniversary of
what has come to be known as the Tiananmen Massacre, some Western
analysts opined that while the students lost the battle for political
rights in 1989, they won the war. But a realistic postmortem of the
showdown and aftermath refutes that politically feel-good
conclusion." (06/22/09)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2529
-----
59) Welcome to the Ministry of Propaganda
Intellectual Conservative
by Steven D. Laib
"Photo ops and access to the inner halls of government have become
more and more a matter of providing favorable publicity to that
government. Asking hard questions and informing the public, is now in
the back seat. The press has found itself vulnerable to government
coercion. They can be excluded, their credentials revoked. Then the
IRS attacked World Net Daily some years ago, at the apparent
instigation of the Clinton White House. So much for honesty,
transparency, and good government. And the press, instead of pointing
out to the public how they have been poorly treated, have decide to
fall in line and do as they are told. " (06/22/09)
http://tinyurl.com/r23o9p
-----
60) Spies in the classroom
AlterNet
by David Price
"As the continuities and disjunctures between the Bush and Obama
administrations come into focus it becomes increasingly clear that
while Obama's domestic agenda has some identifiable breaks with
Bush's, at its core, the new administration remains committed to
staying the course of American militarization. Now we have an
articulate, nuanced president who supports elements of progressive
domestic policies, can even comfortably say the phrase LGBT in public
speeches, while funding military programs at alarming levels and
continuing the Bush administration's military and intelligence
invasion of what used to be civilian life. The latest manifestation of
this continuity came last week when Dennis C. Blair, Director of
National Intelligence, announced plans to transform the Pat Roberts
Intelligence Scholars Program (PRISP) from a pilot project into a
permanent budget item. Blair also announced plans to establish a
'Reserve Officers' Training Corps' to train unidentified future
intelligence officers in US college classrooms. Like students
receiving PRISP funds, the identities of students participating in
these programs would not be known to professors, university
administrators or fellow students -- in effect, these future
intelligence analysts and agents would conduct their first covert
missions in our university classrooms."
http://tinyurl.com/ntcrte
*******************************************************************
* RRND MEDIA SHELF -- Tchotchkes from today's edition
*
* Amazon Gift Certificates -- The perfect gift for readers!
* http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00067L6TQ/rationalrev08-20
*
* Note: Affiliate links generate commissions for RRND's editors.
*******************************************************************
*****************************
* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
*****************************
61) Kathleen Polizzi on Freedom Rings Radio, 06/29/09
Freedom Rings Radio
Kathleen Polizzi joins host Kenneth John to discuss medical marijuana
and government harassment. 9-10am Central on WRMN 1410 AM, Elgin, IL
or live on the web. [live radio or webcast] (06/29/09)
http://freedomrings.net/
-----
62) Morris, Sugarman on the Wayne Root Radio Show, 06/27/09
The Wayne Root Radio Show
Political strategist Dick Morris and sales/marketing guru Joe Sugarman
join host Wayne Allyn Root. See show site for stations and times.
[live radio, Flash video archive] (06/27/09)
http://rootforamerica.com/home/war.php
-----
63) Free Talk Live, 06/24/09
Free Talk Live
"Urban Rangers? / North Korea Threat / Mark's Atheist Comments / Guns
and Convicts / NY Tax Penalties / FORD and Tesla to Take Tax Dollars /
Anarchists and Violence / Bureaucrat Apologizes! / Ludicrous
Scenario / Jaded Police Trainer Tells it Like it Is." [MP3] (06/24/09)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2009-06-24.mp3
-----
64) Cato Daily Podcast, 06/24/09
Cato Institute
"Audit the Fed," featuring US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). [MP3] (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/cato062409
-----
65) Catching up with Motorhome Diarists
reason.tv
"Reason.tv caught up with Motorhome diarists on a recent swing through
DC and took a tour of the RV parked just outside our offices on
Connecticut Avenue NW. Nick Gillespie talks with the Motorhome Diaries
crew about their continuing journey, the shape of individual liberty
in the heartland, their plans for the future, and more." [Flash video]
(06/23/09)
http://www.reason.tv/video/show/811.html
*************************************
* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
*************************************
66) Today's events
Check our sidebar calendar for this week's freedom movement events.
Don't see your event? Drop us a line at in...@rationalreview.com ... or
see:
www.rationalreview.com/add-your-event-to-our-calendar
... for instructions on adding your events directly!
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/group/4042/
***********
* WaYbAcK
***********
67) Custer, you impetuous wretch ...
Details, and the "quote of the day," from Leon's Political Almanac at:
http://perspicuity.net/cgi/hypercal.cgi
* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
*
* Volume VI, Issue #1,688
* Thursday, June 25th, 2009
* Email Circulation 2,080
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* by the staff of Rational Review
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In The News:
0) RRND/FND mid-year subscription drive
1) Iran: New clashes as regime thugs disperse protesters
2) Bernanke to face hostile questioning on BofA deal
3) Iraq: At least 69 killed in market bombing
4) No surprise: UN hates freedom, supports drug prohibition
5) SC: Sanford admits affair after secret Argentina trip
6) Could 80's rock hit have ripped off classic children's song?
7) CA: Without balanced budget, state to issue IOUs
8) Iran's unrest: Opportunity or threat?
9) MA: State cuts health coverage by $115 million
10) MI: Anarchists go to church
11) Nine nasty online scams to beware of
12) US eugenics legacy: Ruling on Buck sterilization still stands
13) General: US troops must protect Afghans
14) Holder targets cocaine sentencing gap
15) NY: Transport entrepreneurs charged after police chase
16) Iraq to mark US pullback from cities with holiday
17) Feds lend Tesla $465 million to build electric car
18) Fed appeals court revives Virginia abortion law
19) North Korea warns of "fire shower of nuclear" attack
20) South Africa: Gun law challenged in court
21) OK: Prosecutor declines charges in shooting death
22) Prosecutor quits Killing Fields war crimes trial
23) UK: Woolworths returns as online shop
24) SD: Dice, marbles choose new councilman
25) Germany: Pensioners kidnap, beat financial advisor
Everybody Has An Opinion:
26) Obama's fix-it plans
27) Taking the libertarian movement from Main Street to Wall Street
28) America closing her door to freedom
29) Uncle Sugar to the rescue (of our beleaguered newspapers)
30) Crime fighters vs. the Constitution
31) Stay out of Iran's evolutionary process
32) My talk with Hamas about peace with Israel
33) Obama's chance to stand up to China
34) Is "democracy" a dirty word for Obama?
35) Healthcare reform villains
36) Tax and spend is back!
37) Icons of the new Iran
38) Prohibition vs. tax & regulate -- all wrong again
39) Racism in the market and voting booth
40) Smoot-Hawley redux
41) Obama's Iran policy is a bomb
42) Heartless
43) The next generation of gun rights activists
44) Return of the dead hand
45) The nirvana fallacy
46) The real cost of health care
47) Eliminating prison rape
48) Does your freedom depend on gold?
49) The ability to determine one's own destiny
50) The endless war continues
51) Free speech vs. surveillance in the digital age
52) Veterans first on health care
53) Vote for a neighbor or a stranger?
54) Conflict of interest
55) Russia remains the same
56) Shock and audit, part 3: Where's my flying tank?
57) Cap-and-trade war
58) A realistic postmortem on China's Tiananmen
59) Welcome to the Ministry of Propaganda
60) Spies in the classroom
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
61) Kathleen Polizzi on Freedom Rings Radio, 06/29/09
62) Morris, Sugarman on the Wayne Root Radio Show, 06/27/09
63) Free Talk Live, 06/24/09
64) Cato Daily Podcast, 06/24/09
65) Catching up with Motorhome Diarists
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
66) Today's events
WaYbAcK:
67) Custer, you impetuous wretch ...
***************
* In The News
***************
0) RRND/FND mid-year subscription drive
Update, 06/25/09: Sigh ... another "zero dollar day," both in terms of
new subscribing contributors and actual arriving revenues.
Our total stands at $402.50 against our goal of $2,000 per month in
recurring revenues from subscribing contributors.
If we can make it to $1,000 by the end of June, I'll take a
fundraising break before coming back to pick up that other thousand
bucks.
If not, I guess it's going to be a long, hot summer, with either a
continuation of this drive or other measures to get the freedom
movement's daily newspaper into a stable financial situation.
Your call - TLK
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/64484
-----
1) Iran: New clashes as regime thugs disperse protesters
Miami Herald
"Swinging clubs and firing tear gas, security forces clashed Wednesday
with demonstrators who ignored a new demand by Iran's supreme leader
to end nearly two weeks of protests and accept the disputed results of
the country's recent presidential election. ... Iranians who witnessed
the violence wrote in Farsi-language Internet postings and blogs that
many protesters were injured by security forces wielding clubs, pipes
and electric cables and firing tear gas and live ammunition in the
air. State-run media accounts denied there was any violence, insisting
that security forces dispersed demonstrators outside a subway station
at Baharestan Square, while other protesters were prevented from
gathering in a nearby area." (06/24/09)
http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/1112839.html
-----
2) Bernanke to face hostile questioning on BofA deal
Washington Post
"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke likely will face hostile
questions from a House committee investigating whether he and other
government officials pressured Bank of America Corp. into a 'shotgun
wedding' with Merrill Lynch that cost taxpayers $20 billion. The House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee has scheduled a hearing
Thursday as it probes whether federal officials urged Bank of America
CEO Kenneth Lewis to keep quiet last fall about Merrill Lynch's
financial problems and stick with the plan to combine the two
financial powers. Not divulging that information would have violated
Lewis' fiduciary duty to the bank's shareholders." (06/25/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ld65j6
-----
3) Iraq: At least 69 killed in market bombing
Baltimore Sun
"A bomb ripped through a crowded market in Baghdad's main Shiite
district on Wednesday, killing at least 69 people and wounding more
than 100 less than a week before a deadline for U.S. combat troops to
leave Iraq's urban areas. A series of blasts this week have killed
more than 160 people, as U.S. and Iraqi officials warned they expected
more violence before the U.S. withdrawal from cities." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/n3anwb
-----
4) No surprise: UN hates freedom, supports drug prohibition
United Press International
"The United Nations, calling for more global investment in drug
treatment and control, warned against legalizing narcotics. The world
body's Office on Drugs and Crime issued its appeal Wednesday, while
noting a brutal struggle is under way among Central American drug
cartels for a bigger slice of the $50 billion global cocaine market,
U.N. News reported. The agency's executive director, Antonio Maria
Costa, said anti-narcotics laws may have helped create a huge black
market for illicit drugs but that 'a free market for drugs would
unleash a drug epidemic.'" (06/25/09)
http://tinyurl.com/m268kc
-----
5) SC: Sanford admits affair after secret Argentina trip
Fox News
"South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, after pulling off an increasingly
bizarre vanishing act this week, reappeared Wednesday to admit he was
having an affair that involved secret visits with his mistress in
Argentina. Sanford's staff initially told reporters he had left town
Thursday to go hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but the governor
returned Wednesday morning on a flight from Argentina. ... [Sanford]
is resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. The
RGA announced shortly afterward that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour
would assume Sanford's duties. Sanford did not say whether he'll stay
on as governor." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mtvgx4
-----
6) Could 80's rock hit have ripped off classic children's song?
The News [Australia]
"One's a pub classic, belted out at top volume by tipsy patrons around
closing time. The other is a more dignified affair, a favorite of
youth choirs and choral groups. Now, as unlikely as it seems, the
classic children's song, Kookaburra, and the Men At Work hit, Down
Under, are set to go head-to-head in court amid accusations part of
the rock anthem is a rip-off, the Daily Telegraph reports. Music
publishing company Larrikin owns the Kookaburra song and claims the
melody that accompanies the line 'Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree'
is reproduced in Down Under. The case is due to start in full within
days. ... The part of the [latter] song that is alleged to have
breached copyright is the distinctive flute-riff." [editor's note: I'm
as staunch a defender of song-rights as they come, but this seems
specious at best (far less than 8 bars of music) ... and about 25
years after-the-fact as well - SAT] (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ldeg5y
-----
7) CA: Without balanced budget, state to issue IOUs
McClatchy Newspapers
"California state controller John Chiang warned Wednesday that if
legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fail to come up with a
budget-balancing package in the next week, he would begin paying
California's bills with IOUs on July 2. The controller's warning came
as legislators began what many on both sides of the aisle acknowledged
was a rhetorical song-and-dance over closing a $24 billion deficit
that stretches over the fiscal year that ends Tuesday and the one that
begins Wednesday. Republicans in both houses were rejecting a
Democratic bill that contained $11 billion in spending cuts -- the
first of a 20-bill package aimed at reducing the deficit. The
Democratic plan contains new tax hikes and some accounting legerdemain
along with the spending cuts." (06/24/09)
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/70621.html
-----
8) Iran's unrest: Opportunity or threat?
Christian Science Monitor
"Iran's Sunni Arab neighbors have long feared its revolutionary
rhetoric, its Islamist political style, and its popularity among many
of their own citizens for its strident criticism of Israel. With that
background, one would expect the Arab states to be jumping for joy at
the political turmoil in Iran, a Shiite oil power. But so far their
response has been muted to non-existent. Here's why: The mechanism
that has created Iran's biggest political crisis since the Islamic
revolution in 1979 is street power, the voice of a disenfranchised
populace. And while that might eventually deliver a regime in Iran
that Arab states would be more comfortable with, it also provides a
powerful immediate example of the sort of popular sovereignty that the
autocratic Arab regimes fear most." (06/24/09)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0625/p06s01-wome.html
-----
9) MA: State cuts health coverage by $115 million
Boston Globe
"Overseers of Massachusetts' trailblazing healthcare program made
their first cuts yesterday, trimming $115 million, or 12 percent, from
Commonwealth Care, which subsidizes premiums for needy residents and
is the centerpiece of the 2006 law. The board of the Connector
Authority made the cuts as officials confronted two side effects of
the recession: the state budget crisis and a surge in enrollment by
the recently unemployed. The largest share of the savings will come
from slowing enrollment. An estimated 18,000 poor residents who
qualify for full subsidies, but who forget to designate a health plan,
will no longer be automatically assigned a plan and enrolled and thus
could face delays in getting care." [editor's note: This bears
watching, ESPECIALLY because MassCare is now being touted as a model
for the proposed nationalization of wellness - SAT] (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nzufc4
-----
10) MI: Anarchists go to church
In These Times
"Backed by lawyers from the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund, a
Michigan church is using a law pioneered by pro-choice activists to
seek damages, legal fees and a federal injunction against
demonstrators who disrupted a church service. On Nov. 9, 2008, 10
members of Bash Back!, a Chicago-based national network of anarchist
queers, snuck into a Sunday morning service at Mount Hope Church in
Delta Township, Mich. As a group of protesters outside the church
distracted security guards, those in the sanctuary began chanting,
kissing and distributing fliers that called on young people to 'try
exploring and embracing these new feelings your mind and soul have
chosen to engage in.'" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mytywh
-----
11) Nine nasty online scams to beware of
Fox News
"Internet scams have been around for years, but the Federal Trade
Commission's recent crackdown on robocallers pushing car warrantees
has put a spotlight on the thousands of tactics used by scammers to
bilk Americans out of millions. So why are they so successful? One of
the keys to scammers' success is a constant flow of unsuspecting
victims. Another, experts say, is that scammers are targeting specific
demographics, whether it's by age, race or sex. ... And as fast as
investigators try put a stop to the schemes, scammers are reinventing
their tricks and staying one step ahead of authorities and the public.
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has received 1 million
complaints related to scams in the past three years, and the Federal
Trade Commission received over 350,000 complaints about identity theft
and Internet services." [editor's note: Having just (maybe) narrowly
avoided one of these scams myself (one NOT on this list, BTW), I'm
paying closer attention now - SAT] (06/24/09)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528859,00.html
-----
12) US eugenics legacy: Ruling on Buck sterilization still stands
USA Today
"Paul Lombardo hadn't planned on a three-decade detour when he stopped
at a greasy-spoon restaurant for breakfast in February 1980. Lombardo,
then a graduate student at the University of Virginia, picked up a
newspaper to read as he ate his bacon and eggs. And the rest is
history, literally and figuratively. For almost 30 years, Lombardo has
tried to uncover the full story of the wrongs he read about that
day." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/n3ao9y
-----
13) General: US troops must protect Afghans
MSNBC
"Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Wednesday that U.S. and other NATO
troops must make a 'cultural shift' away from being a force designed
for high-intensity combat and instead make protecting Afghan civilians
their first priority. The newly arrived four-star commander said he
hopes to install a new military mindset by drilling into troops the
need to reduce the number of Afghan civilians killed in
combat." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nst2kw
-----
14) Holder targets cocaine sentencing gap
MSNBC
"Attorney General Eric Holder sought support Wednesday for erasing the
gap in prison sentences for crack and powder cocaine crimes, a
disparity that hits black defendants harder than any others. The
effort to change federal sentencing laws for cocaine has broad support
but may still unravel amid disagreements about how equal the sentences
should be, and whether the whole sentencing system needs to be
changed." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/l54gbd
-----
15) NY: Transport entrepreneurs charged after police chase
Reuters
"Operators of an unauthorized New York airport van service that took
five French tourists on a high speed chase in an attempt to evade
police were charged on Wednesday with unlawful imprisonment. ... 'As
tourism, one of New York's most revenue-producing industries,
continues to grow, the need to provide a safe and welcoming
environment requires stronger penalties for those who engage in
unlawful solicitation of ground transportation,' Queens District
Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement." [editor's note: The way
to provide a safe and welcoming environment is to quit enforcing the
medallion monopoly and hassling people who provide needed services.
The chase should never have happened, because the police should never
have been involved - TLK] (06/24/09)
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55N66D20090624
-----
16) Iraq to mark US pullback from cities with holiday
Fort Dodge Messenger News
"The Iraqi government on Tuesday declared a public holiday to mark
next week's withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Baghdad and other
cities. American forces already have begun pulling back from outposts
inside the cities ahead of a June 30 deadline, the first phase of a
full withdrawal by the end of 2011. Government spokesman Ali al-
Dabbagh said Tuesday that ceremonies will be held on Monday and the
deadline itself will be a public holiday, although students will still
have to take their final exams as scheduled." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/njfof6
-----
17) Feds lend Tesla $465 million to build electric car
CNN
"The Obama Administration will lend Tesla Motors $465 million to build
an electric sedan and the battery packs needed to propel it. It's one
of three loans totaling almost $8 billion that the Department of
Energy awarded Tuesday to spur the development of fuel-efficient
vehicles." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/m8e4vn
-----
18) Fed appeals court revives Virginia abortion law
El Paso Times
"A sharply divided federal appeals court upheld Virginia's ban on a
type of late-term abortion Wednesday, ruling that the statute does not
unduly burden a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy by more
conventional means. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a
6-5 decision that the 2003 law also makes clear the type of procedure
that is banned and adequately protects women's health. Abortion
opponents call the prohibited procedure 'partial-birth abortion,' and
doctors call it 'intact dilation and extraction.'" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/lpwuwq
-----
19) North Korea warns of "fire shower of nuclear" attack
ABC News
"North Korea condemned a recent U.S. pledge to provide nuclear defense
of South Korea, saying Thursday that the move boosts its justification
to hold onto atomic bombs and invites a potential 'fire shower of
nuclear retaliation.' The salvo in Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun
newspaper was the North's latest reaction to last week's summit
between President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-
bak. The allies issued a joint statement committing the U.S. to defend
the South with nuclear weapons." (06/24/09)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=7914048
-----
20) South Africa: Gun law challenged in court
The Times [South Africa]
"The SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association has asked the High
Court in Pretoria to extend the deadline for the renewal of gun
licences, reports said today. ... SABC radio news reported that the
association launched an urgent bid requesting an extension of the
implementation of the new Firearms Control Act which comes into effect
on July 1, 2009. Lawyer Bertus Bergenthuin told the court the
government was unable to deal with the administrative load brought
upon by the new legislation." (06/24/09)
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1022767
-----
21) OK: Prosecutor declines charges in shooting death
Times Record
"The fatal shooting of a Sequoyah County man by his daughter Thursday
was justified, and no charges will be filed, District 27 First
Assistant District Attorney John David Luton said Tuesday. ...
According to Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office reports, the department
received a call at 11:09 p.m., saying Foreman had been shot during a
domestic dispute. Foreman's wife, Shelli Foreman, told investigators
that Foreman had been drinking and had been terrorizing her since 5:15
p.m., threatening her with guns and knives and wrapping a telephone
cord around her neck. Foreman's daughter, Felicia Foreman, 22, arrived
home during the incident. Shortly after 11 p.m., when Foreman forced
his wife onto the ground, holding a gun to the back of her head, his
daughter retrieved a gun from another bedroom and shot Foreman once
from close proximity, in the upper body. Foreman died
quickly." (06/24/09)
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2009/06/24/news/news062409_02.txt
-----
22) Prosecutor quits Killing Fields war crimes trial
Independent [UK]
"An international prosecutor who has quit the Cambodian genocide trial
has delivered a parting broadside, saying that the tribunal needs to
guard against corruption, political meddling and a debilitating lack
of funds. Robert Petit, a Canadian lawyer whose decision to quit has
shocked some members of the tribunal and raised questions about how
effectively the process will continue, said that allegations of
corruption levelled at the court have still not been properly
answered. He said the court also lacked sufficient resources and staff
to do the job it had been set." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mmx22m
-----
23) UK: Woolworths returns as online shop
BBC News [UK]
"The Woolworths brand is about to begin trading as an online business,
more than five months after the ex-High Street giant went into
administration. Shop Direct Home Shopping reportedly paid
administrators between £5m ($8.24m) and £10m for the brand name. Goods
on woolworths.co.uk include toys, Ladybird clothing and the firm's
iconic pick n' mix confectionery." (06/24/09)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8117433.stm
-----
24) SD: Dice, marbles choose new councilman
United Press International
"The City Council of a small South Dakota town resolved a tied 126-126
election as dictated by state law -- with a game of chance. David
Baker won the Spearfish City Council seat formerly occupied by
Councilwoman Shawn Davis during a special meeting Tuesday night by
rolling the highest number with a die -- winning him the right to
choose whether to be the first to pull a marble from a hat -- and
pulling the white marble." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nz7a84
-----
25) Germany: Pensioners kidnap, beat financial advisor
Daily Mail [UK]
"Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before
kidnapping and torturing him for losing £2million of their savings.
James Amburn, 56, was ambushed outside his home in Speyer , western
Germany, bound with masking tape and bundled into a car boot. 'It took
them quite a while because they ran out of breath,' said Mr. Amburn,
who was driven to the Bavarian lakeside home of one of the
gang." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/n5wysd
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 06/25/09
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 92,393 ... Max - 100,868
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,316
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
26) Obama's fix-it plans
LewRockwell.Com
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"The entire presumption of the Obama-proposed Consumer Financial
Protection Agency is that banks and mortgage companies are under-
regulated by the state. This is why the financial meltdown took place
-- never mind that the federal regulatory Gosplan includes tens of
thousands of pages purporting to regulate the mortgage industry alone.
Let's leave aside the unknown costs that will be associated with new
regulations -- ever more hoops to jump through, more paperwork, more
confusing terms for lenders and borrowers alike, more government
controls that harm consumers as much as or more than producers. The
core problem here is that none of this rigmarole has anything to do
with the real reason for the meltdown." (06/25/09)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/government-controls.html
-----
27) Taking the libertarian movement from Main Street to Wall Street
Liberty For All
by R. Lee Wrights
"Doctors told Steve Kubby that he had only six months to live. That
was more than thirty years ago! What has Mr. Kubby done with the extra
time physicians told him he didn't have? Well, besides becoming an
icon in the medical marijuana movement and running for the LP
presidential nomination in 2008, he is taking libertarians, and the
liberty movement, out of the trenches. He is taking our message from
the front lines of Main Street to the bottom line of Wall Street. His
new company, Cannabis Science Inc. (NASD OTCBB: CBIS), brings an
opportunity to the libertarian community which has rarely, if ever,
been offered before." (06/24/09)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=2759
-----
28) America closing her door to freedom
Strike the Root
by Douglas Young
"We so feared a Stalin or Hitler that we ignored endless assaults on
our liberty by idealistic home-grown statists and the seductive
narcotic of ever more government goodies buying our acquiescence. What
makes Americans' surrender to statism so shameful is that we freely
chose this course in direct contravention of our founding
principles." (06/24/09)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/91/youngd/youngd1.html
-----
29) Uncle Sugar to the rescue (of our beleaguered newspapers)
Disloyal Opposition
by JD Tuccille
"There's an old saying that 'he who takes the king's coin becomes the
king's man.' Those words are worth remembering as journalists rend
their clothing over the death throes of many of the nation's
newspapers, activist groups call for the government to rescue the dead-
tree press as a crucial prop for preserving democracy, and
opportunistic politicians respond with schemes to put the nation's
broadsheets and tabloids on government-funded life support. When
journalists are dependent on coins tossed their way by the political
class, just which way do you think their stories will
lean?" (06/23/09)
http://tinyurl.com/l6darp
-----
30) Crime fighters vs. the Constitution
Reason
by Jacob Sullum
"In a 1995 decision that overturned a federal ban on possessing guns
near schools, the U.S. Supreme Court noted that 'the Constitution
creates a Federal Government of enumerated powers,' which do not
include a general authority to fight crime. Five years later, when it
overturned a statutory provision that created a federal cause of
action for victims of gender-motivated violence, the Court warned that
congressional attempts to usurp the states' police power threatened to
erase the 'distinction between what is truly national and what is
truly local.' Since then a chastened Congress has consistently
rejected anti-crime legislation that lacks a firm constitutional
basis. Just kidding. Two pieces of legislation in the news, both named
after murder victims, show that posing as a crime fighter is still
more popular on Capitol Hill than obeying the
Constitution." (06/24/09)
http://reason.com/news/show/134308.html
-----
31) Stay out of Iran's evolutionary process
AntiWar.Com
by Philip Giraldi
"Change by evolution is better than by revolution. Both metamorphoses
are underway in Iran: one is immediate and reactionary and, perhaps
necessarily, more graphic and even grim. The other suggests the
possibility that long-lasting change might happening in Tehran -- if
outside influences do not upset the sensitive process of
transformation. As is frequently the case, those who would do nothing
probably have it right, whether arguing for constitutional reasons or
as realists." (06/25/09)
http://tinyurl.com/n58xdl
-----
32) My talk with Hamas about peace with Israel
Christian Science Monitor
by Helena Cobban
"Since his first days in office, President Obama has defined winning a
final peace between Israel and the Palestinians as an urgent US
interest. On Jan. 21 he named former Senate majority leader George
Mitchell his envoy to achieve that peace, and Mr. Mitchell has since
made four fact-finding trips to the Middle East. But neither has yet
said how the administration will grapple with one of the biggest
challenges that peace diplomacy faces: the continuing strength of the
Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas. Hamas has been on the State
Department's 'terrorism list' since its founding in 1987. It has
steadfastly refused to recognize Israel. But it has also won -- and
kept -- considerable popular support among Palestinians." (06/24/09)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0624/p09s01-coop.html
-----
33) Obama's chance to stand up to China
Our Future
by Isaiah J. Poole
"President Obama will get an opportunity in the coming weeks to show
American workers that he has the mettle to get tough with China when
that country flouts the basic principles of fair trade, and it will be
on an issue in which he does not have the luxury of ambiguity. Last
week the International Trade Commission ruled that Chinese automobile
tire imports were at a level that would 'cause or threaten to cause
market disruption' in the U.S. market. That ruling sets the stage for
the commission to propose remedies on June 29 intended to reduce the
number of Chinese tires imported into the United States. Those
remedies would then be presented to President Obama on July 9, and the
administration would have until early September to decide whether to
accept or reject them." (06/23/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mp2hhj
-----
34) Is "democracy" a dirty word for Obama?
Boston Globe
by Jeff Jacoby
"The choice presented by the democracy protests in Iran could hardly
have been clearer. On one side: a brutal theocratic regime that jails
and tortures its critics at home and is a deadly sponsor of terrorism
abroad; that loudly proclaims its enmity for the United States and has
murdered many Americans to prove it; that barely conceals its drive to
amass a nuclear arsenal; that lusts for the annihilation of Israel;
and that for 30 years has pursued a far-flung Islamist jihad. On the
other side: throngs of Iranians calling for an end to their
government's abuses. With whom should America stand -- the bloody
tyranny or the people opposing it? For most Americans the question
answers itself, which is why both houses of Congress voted all but
unanimously last week to condemn the Iranian government and support
the protesters' embrace of human rights, civil liberties, and the rule
of law. So why was President Obama's response initially so
ambivalent?" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nkr9ov
-----
35) Healthcare reform villains
The American Prospect
by Paul Waldman
"What will probably turn out to be the most contentious debate of the
Obama presidency -- healthcare reform -- is now moving into its most
intense phase, and the Obama theory of change is about to be put to
the test. Despite how it has sometimes been characterized, Obama's
impulse to treat everyone respectfully and take their ideas seriously
isn't based on a naive belief that he can bring everyone around to his
position. But it does presume that if you don't start by vilifying
your opponents, you can force them to be constructive and perhaps
mitigate their eventual opposition to your plan." [editor's note: Even
for those who see the dangers of "nationalized" health insurance, the
identification of those who'd pretty much block ANY real attempt at
reforming the health & wellness realm ... is of value - SAT]
(06/23/09)
http://tinyurl.com/moaxxe
-----
36) Tax and spend is back!
Fox News Forum
by Liz Peek
"Americans are not stupid. We may be greedy, self-indulgent and
strangely more fond of Real Housewives than of, well, real housewives,
but at the end of the day we are pretty good at sizing up what works
and what doesn't. A Rasmussen poll conducted last week says that
Americans now trust Republicans more than Democrats to manage our
economy. That's right; while the Paul Krugman camp is still focused on
blaming the Bush administration for the economic collapse (and nearly
everything else including random earthquakes), ordinary Americans have
begun to doubt that President Obama is on the right track. Why the
sudden change of heart? Despite a reassuring stock market surge over
the past three months, there is growing concern that history is about
to repeat itself." (06/21/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mrzjks
-----
37) Icons of the new Iran
The Nation
by Barbara Crossette
"As Iran's government lashed out today at its foreign critics, people
around the world were lighting candles and laying flowers at makeshift
shrines to the political opposition's first 'martyr' in the battle
against the hardliners of the Islamic Republic. In every way the
unwitting victim, Neda Agha-Soltan, has become a powerful if tragic
icon of a new Iran. She was a young woman of 26, and she died Saturday
wearing tight jeans and running shoes, her head uncovered as she fell
from the gunshot that killed her. Male strangers rushed to help her,
ignoring draconian religious taboos. Iran's religious leaders, who
have barred public memorials for Agha-Soltan amid rumors that one was
being planned for Thursday in Tehran, stepped up threats against would-
be demonstrators and reiterated that the disputed election on June 12
that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power would not be
annulled and rerun." (06/23/09)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090706/crossette2
-----
38) Prohibition vs. tax & regulate -- all wrong again
Freedom's Phoenix
by Brock Lorber
"The preface to the UNODC World Drug Report 2009 is truly
breathtaking. For the first time, Executive Director Antonio Maria
Costa is concerned enough about chatter from real people to
acknowledge that there is a significant push for drug legalization. Of
course, it would not be a government report without
mischaracterization and an army of straw men to be knocked over
(original emphasis throughout). Particularly striking is Costa's
(Ph.D. in econ from UC-Berkeley) characterization of policy arguments
as economic." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/lzwb4g
-----
39) Racism in the market and voting booth
FR33 AGENTS
by Brad Taylor
"Nobody likes racism. At least, nobody whose opinion we should take
seriously likes racism. Many argue that private racism provides a
justification for state intervention to ensure everyone is treated
fairly. When we carefully look at basic economic theory and the
historical record, though, it becomes clear that government is much
more likely to produce racism than to prevent it." (06/22/09)
http://tinyurl.com/kl2uhc
-----
40) Smoot-Hawley redux
KN@PPSTER
by Thomas L. Knapp
"In 1930, with the United States in the midst of a king-hell economic
downturn, a couple of typical genius politicians convinced their
fellow congresscritters to raise tariffs on the import of more than
20,000 goods. Against the advice of more than 1,000 prominent
economists, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff
Act into law." (06/24/09)
http://knappster.blogspot.com/2009/06/smoot-hawley-redux.html
-----
41) Obama's Iran policy is a bomb
National Review
by Jonah Goldberg
"Here is the one immutable fact of Barack Obama's foreign-policy
agenda as it relates to Iran: It's over. The rule book he came in with
is as irrelevant as a tourist guide to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If
the forces of reform and democracy win, Obama's plan to negotiate with
the regime is moot, for the regime will be gone. And if the forces of
reform are crushed into submission by the regime, Obama's plan is
moot, because the regime will still be there." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ncb54f
-----
42) Heartless
Slate
by John Dickerson
"The personal impact of the Sanford affair is more gripping than the
political. Sanford has done a horrible thing to his wife and family
and friends. He seemed to know and feel this more profoundly than
other politicians we've seen go through this familiar apology exercise
before. That doesn't excuse him. Not that he was asking that anyone
excuse him. He seemed to be trying to take all the blame, as he
should. Some might think his explanations were excuses. To me they
seemed like a man confessing the details of a crime." (06/24/09)
http://www.slate.com/id/2221255/
-----
43) The next generation of gun rights activists
Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner
by Daniel White
"Now, more than ever, children are bombarded at school with anti-gun
messages. Gun owners are ridiculed in the media and portrayed as
either criminals or low IQ rednecks in television and the movies
(except the 'heroes,' who are always affiliated with law enforcement
or the military). Children are not taught the merits of self-defense,
only to call the police and huddle under a desk until help
arrives.These frequent messages attempt to mold young minds to oppose
civilian gun ownership through indoctrination. If this is not
countered by a pro-gun message at home, the future of gun rights will
be lost." (06/22/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ld7syw
-----
44) Return of the dead hand
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by John P. Cochran
"For much of the world, the period from the 1960s through the early
1980s was an era of ever-greater government intervention into the
economy. The period, an expansion of policy built on an intellectual
foundation of Marxism, socialism, corporatism, and progressivism
culminated in economic stagnation and inflation in the market-oriented
mercantilist-interventionist countries such as the 'Great Society' in
the United States and economic collapse in the Marxist dominated
Soviet block." (06/24/09)
http://mises.org/story/3516
-----
45) The nirvana fallacy
Freedom Politics
by John Stossel
"President Obama has announced his 'sweeping overhaul of the financial
regulatory system.' We can debate endlessly whether the Constitution
authorizes any president to 'overhaul' the financial system. But I
want to focus on a different matter: whether any president, with all
his advisers, is capable of overseeing something as complex as the
financial system. My answer is no, and it is ominous that a bright guy
like Obama doesn't know this." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nn3znc
-----
46) The real cost of health care
Foundation for Economic Education
by William Anderson
"One regular theme in Paul Krugman's column is universal medical care,
and anyone who opposes him either is evil or simply wants people to be
unhealthy. While he is not fully happy with President Barack Obama's
latest plan to create a government health insurance option,
nonetheless he knows all central plans lead to government care.
Knowing the details of this latest plan is not necessary to conclude
it is bad." (06/24/09)
http://fee.org/articles/not-so-fast/real-cost-health-care/
-----
47) Eliminating prison rape
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Eli Lehrer
"It has been far too long in coming but, yesterday, the Federal Prison
Rape Elimination commission released its report on elimination and
prevention efforts regarding the biggest social problem nobody wants
to talk about: prison rape. Anyone who looks at the problem can't
react with anything other than horror. According to the Bureau of
Justice Statics, over 60,000 prisoners -- the great bulk of them male
-- fall victim to sexual abuse in prison each year. A fair number of
these men are 'punks' who are subject to frequent, even daily, male-on-
male rape for years on end." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/mfjcoa
-----
48) Does your freedom depend on gold?
Campaign For Liberty
by Adam Murdock
"Many believe, and rightly so, that gold has intrinsic value. As a
result, gold served as the ultimate and most stable form of currency
in the 19th century. A gold-backed U.S. dollar permitted unprecedented
economic growth in the background of a relatively deflationary
economy. However, despite the clear economic advantages to having a
gold-backed currency, this is not its most important
purpose." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/luruqx
-----
49) The ability to determine one's own destiny
Liberty For All
by Kevin Tull
"The ability to determine one's own destiny, for good or bad, for
better or worse, is as much the definition of freedom as any. I know
that this definition may seem flawed by the fact that some may choose
to do badly to others. I am not so naive to believe that there is no
line of demarcation between this freedom and another person's freedom.
In fact, unlike most of my peers (not my more libertarian minded
peers, but most friends, family, acquaintances and co-workers), I
believe there is only one line that a person cannot cross without
destroying freedom. That line is the border between violating the
natural rights of another human being and doing everything in your
power to influence another human without violating their natural
rights." (06/24/09)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=2754
-----
50) The endless war continues
Rabble
by Pierre Tristam
"Since the election of Barack Obama, mainstream observers have
commented on the turmoil in the backrooms of the White House and the
Pentagon. Apparently, the new President is trying to repair the
damages done by the irresponsible and reckless moves of the Bush era
and refocus the U.S. around a new set of policies. It is going to be
very tough. On a parallel track, many think that the long-term decline
of the U.S. is inevitable, partially because of its own internal
fractures (economic crisis, military overstretch), partially because
of the rise of emerging powers. All of this leaves the impression that
U.S. elites are in disarray. Is it the case?" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nv4fzb
-----
51) Free speech vs. surveillance in the digital age
Truthdig
by Amy Goodman
"Tools of mass communication that were once the province of
governments and corporations now fit in your pocket. Cell phones can
capture video and send it wirelessly to the Internet. People can send
eyewitness accounts, photos and videos, with a few keystrokes, to
thousands or even millions via social networking sites. As these
technologies have developed, so too has the ability to monitor,
filter, censor and block them." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ls2tnv
-----
52) Veterans first on health care
Acton Institute
by Ray Nothstine
"Individuals and groups terrified of nationalized health care like to
point to examples of government dysfunction, such as Medicaid, to
stoke fears of what a government-managed plan would look like in the
United States. Proponents of socialized medicine, meanwhile,
frequently offer their own example to demonstrate a more positive
potential of government health care: the medical system operated by
the Veterans Administration (VA). It's time to take a closer look at
this supposed model of effective health care. The VA manages the
largest U.S. health care system, with more than 1,400 medical
facilities. It's true that veterans treated at VA hospitals generally
receive quality care. Yet this fact overlooks major drawbacks, such as
backlogged claims, rationing of treatment, and waiting periods for
appointments." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ne8xst
-----
53) Vote for a neighbor or a stranger?
The Free Liberal
by Fred E. Foldvary
"The protests about the election for president of Iran, and the
violent response of the government, do not just indicate a problem
with the vote count, but more deeply a problem with mass voting. Among
its many flaws, mass voting is vulnerable to miscounting and election
fraud." (06/24/09)
http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003847.html
-----
54) Conflict of interest
Adam Smith Institute
by Steve Bettison
"In a truly free society people can worship anything: images,
fictional or non-fictional publication or even a lump of rock if they
so choose, permitted that they do so whilst not interfering with
others. In the secular states of the Western world the practices of
certain religions have called into question what is right and
justifiable in the public realm. President Sarkozy yesterday spoke to
the French Parliament and raised the issue of the 'burqa.'" (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/ljpsub
-----
55) Russia remains the same
The Weekly Standard
by Cathy Young
"Hopes of a rapprochement between Russia and the United States under
an Obama administration were being voiced even before last November's
election. Expectations of 'change' from Obama went hand in hand with
cautious optimism about Russia's new president Dmitri Medvedev, the
handpicked successor to Vladimir Putin, who took the post of prime
minister. These hopes were somewhat dampened when, the day after
Obama's victory, Medvedev threatened to put Russian missiles on the
Polish border in response to the planned U.S. deployment of a missile
shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Still, a warmer welcome
followed with a telephone conversation between the two presidents, and
talk of a 'fresh start' has intermittently continued. Today, more than
a year into the Medvedev presidency, it is obvious that there has been
no change of course at the Kremlin." (for publication 06/29/09)
http://tinyurl.com/l74non
-----
56) Shock and audit, part 3: Where's my flying tank?
Mother Jones
by Rachel Morris
"Designed for dogfighting with Soviet planes, an F-22 costs $351
million, more than double the original projections. It was put into
production before being fully tested, and, not surprisingly, has run
into all sorts of snags -- in fact, it has never flown a single combat
mission in Iraq or Afghanistan. Gates wants to buy just 4 more,
capping the US's collection at 187 instead of the 243 that the Air
Force wanted. However, Lockheed Martin cannily ensured that
manufacturing and assembly for the planes was dispersed across at
least 44 states, including Texas and California, which have powerhouse
congressional delegations." (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/nsettb
-----
57) Cap-and-trade war
Cato Institute
by Patrick J. Michaels and Sallie James
"Despite indications that much of President Obama's agenda is meeting
intra-party skepticism all over Capitol Hill, there is one policy
nexus where congressional leaders are still doggedly determined to
move the country left: energy and the environment. Speaker Pelosi will
reportedly allow a vote on the controversial Waxman-Markey 'cap-and-
trade' legislation at the end of this week. And it gets even better.
Not content to tempt political fate by imposing huge carbon taxes on
the American middle class, Democrats have added a provision which
imposes stiff tariffs on our trading partners if they don't adopt
aggressive carbon restrictions of their own. You heard correctly:
progressives have authored a bill that earns the mortal enmity of
domestic energy consumers and our most crucial trading partners at the
same time. Economy-killing climate policies and a trade war --
together at last!" (06/24/09)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10313
-----
58) A realistic postmortem on China's Tiananmen
Independent Institute
by William Ratliff
"Some pundits have taken to calling the violent military repression of
post-election protesters in Iran a 'Tehran Tiananmen.' Clearly 'a
Tiananmen' has come to mean a military dispersal of largely peaceful
demonstrators, taking its name from the Chinese military's shutting
down of nearly two months of student protests in Beijing's Tiananmen
Square in June 1989. But while this journalistic shorthand adds drama
to today's commentary, it also misses the broader consequences of what
happened in China at that time. On the recent twentieth anniversary of
what has come to be known as the Tiananmen Massacre, some Western
analysts opined that while the students lost the battle for political
rights in 1989, they won the war. But a realistic postmortem of the
showdown and aftermath refutes that politically feel-good
conclusion." (06/22/09)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2529
-----
59) Welcome to the Ministry of Propaganda
Intellectual Conservative
by Steven D. Laib
"Photo ops and access to the inner halls of government have become
more and more a matter of providing favorable publicity to that
government. Asking hard questions and informing the public, is now in
the back seat. The press has found itself vulnerable to government
coercion. They can be excluded, their credentials revoked. Then the
IRS attacked World Net Daily some years ago, at the apparent
instigation of the Clinton White House. So much for honesty,
transparency, and good government. And the press, instead of pointing
out to the public how they have been poorly treated, have decide to
fall in line and do as they are told. " (06/22/09)
http://tinyurl.com/r23o9p
-----
60) Spies in the classroom
AlterNet
by David Price
"As the continuities and disjunctures between the Bush and Obama
administrations come into focus it becomes increasingly clear that
while Obama's domestic agenda has some identifiable breaks with
Bush's, at its core, the new administration remains committed to
staying the course of American militarization. Now we have an
articulate, nuanced president who supports elements of progressive
domestic policies, can even comfortably say the phrase LGBT in public
speeches, while funding military programs at alarming levels and
continuing the Bush administration's military and intelligence
invasion of what used to be civilian life. The latest manifestation of
this continuity came last week when Dennis C. Blair, Director of
National Intelligence, announced plans to transform the Pat Roberts
Intelligence Scholars Program (PRISP) from a pilot project into a
permanent budget item. Blair also announced plans to establish a
'Reserve Officers' Training Corps' to train unidentified future
intelligence officers in US college classrooms. Like students
receiving PRISP funds, the identities of students participating in
these programs would not be known to professors, university
administrators or fellow students -- in effect, these future
intelligence analysts and agents would conduct their first covert
missions in our university classrooms."
http://tinyurl.com/ntcrte
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* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
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61) Kathleen Polizzi on Freedom Rings Radio, 06/29/09
Freedom Rings Radio
Kathleen Polizzi joins host Kenneth John to discuss medical marijuana
and government harassment. 9-10am Central on WRMN 1410 AM, Elgin, IL
or live on the web. [live radio or webcast] (06/29/09)
http://freedomrings.net/
-----
62) Morris, Sugarman on the Wayne Root Radio Show, 06/27/09
The Wayne Root Radio Show
Political strategist Dick Morris and sales/marketing guru Joe Sugarman
join host Wayne Allyn Root. See show site for stations and times.
[live radio, Flash video archive] (06/27/09)
http://rootforamerica.com/home/war.php
-----
63) Free Talk Live, 06/24/09
Free Talk Live
"Urban Rangers? / North Korea Threat / Mark's Atheist Comments / Guns
and Convicts / NY Tax Penalties / FORD and Tesla to Take Tax Dollars /
Anarchists and Violence / Bureaucrat Apologizes! / Ludicrous
Scenario / Jaded Police Trainer Tells it Like it Is." [MP3] (06/24/09)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2009-06-24.mp3
-----
64) Cato Daily Podcast, 06/24/09
Cato Institute
"Audit the Fed," featuring US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). [MP3] (06/24/09)
http://tinyurl.com/cato062409
-----
65) Catching up with Motorhome Diarists
reason.tv
"Reason.tv caught up with Motorhome diarists on a recent swing through
DC and took a tour of the RV parked just outside our offices on
Connecticut Avenue NW. Nick Gillespie talks with the Motorhome Diaries
crew about their continuing journey, the shape of individual liberty
in the heartland, their plans for the future, and more." [Flash video]
(06/23/09)
http://www.reason.tv/video/show/811.html
*************************************
* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
*************************************
66) Today's events
Check our sidebar calendar for this week's freedom movement events.
Don't see your event? Drop us a line at in...@rationalreview.com ... or
see:
www.rationalreview.com/add-your-event-to-our-calendar
... for instructions on adding your events directly!
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/group/4042/
***********
* WaYbAcK
***********
67) Custer, you impetuous wretch ...
Details, and the "quote of the day," from Leon's Political Almanac at:
http://perspicuity.net/cgi/hypercal.cgi
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