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* RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
* The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
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* Volume VI, Issue #1,478
* Thursday, August 28th, 2008
* Email Circulation 2,050
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* Published every non-holiday weekday
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In The News:
0) RRND-FND Mid-Year Fundraising Drive
1) Democrats nominate Obama by acclamation
2) TX: GOP, Dems miss presidential ballot deadline
3) Iraq: Gunmen kill Iraqi general
4) Afghanistan: Occupation authority claims 100+ Taliban killed
5) EU considers sanctions on Russia
6) Blogger arrested, bailed over GnR songs
7) NASA: Space station computers infected by virus
8) Del Martin, 1921-2008
9) CO: Men not true threat to Obama
10) TN: Hermitage restroom named top of the heap
11) MA: Soros funding effort to decriminalize pot
12) North Korea threatens to renew nuke program
13) Denver: Reporter arrested taking pictures at meeting
14) MA: Harvard scrutinizing its police on race
15) Australia: School may backflip on cartwheel ban
16) TX: Resident shoots intruder
17) Israel: Police hold Gaza activist
18) Peace activists participate in 500 mile walk
19) Denver: Activists fly the "freedom cage"
20) CO: Americans exercising their freedom of speech
Everybody Has An Opinion:
21) A president, not a savior
22) Whatever happened to the libertarian Democrat?
23) Cracks in the empire
24) Recovering lawns, failed states, and reasons for hope
25) Candidate ratings don't reveal much about the next president
26) Carbon offsets: More harm than good?
27) Is religious politics libertarian?
28) Del Martin: 1921-2008
29) Economics Olympics
30) New poverty data induce Clinton nostalgia
31) Cooler heads in the GOP
32) Mystery in Moscow
33) Positive and negative liberty
34) McCain -- the ugliest American
35) If you give me a child ...
36) Why we need a revolution
37) Moor Family Feud
38) Musharraf has gone, but is civilian rule better?
39) The health care mess: A free market proposal
40) A real standup guy
41) Mr. Smith in Washington? Sell!
42) Dixie turning blue
43) What really scares us about Barack Obama
44) Obama's BIG mistake
45) The speech progressives have been waiting for?
46) Retirement wake up call
47) Running for war president
48) Strip search nation
49) I don't mind if you keep voting, but do you mind if I keep
laughing while you do?
50) Olympic salute, Nazi salute originated in Pledge of Allegiance
See No Evil, Hear No Evil:
51) Cato Daily Podcast, 08/28/08
52) Free Talk Live, 08/27/08
53) Abdulkadir Abdirahman on Antiwar Radio
54) THINKFuture #659
55) Supreme Court pandering
What's Up In The Freedom Movement:
56) Today's events
WaYbAcK:
57) Happy birthday, dear ARPA ...
***************
* In The News
***************
0) RRND-FND Mid-Year Fundraising Drive
Update, 08/28/08 - Sorry for the late edition today, folks -- my
Internet connection was up and down a bit this morning.
Thanks to subscribing contributors MA and DD, whose monthly payments
totaling $40 (and representing $480 per year!) arrived this morning!
That brings our running total to $1,710 against our goal of $5000.
As you've probably already guessed, I'm going to harp on why you
should become one of our subscribing contributors some more. Our "mini-
goal" for this week is to recruit $200/month in subscribing
contributor payments; we're 1/20th of the way to that goal.
The average month includes 20 weekdays and therefore 20 editions of
RRND/FND. Presumably those editions are worth something to you. If
they were worthless, you wouldn't allow me to continue plopping them
into your inbox. They'd just be wasting your storage space.
At our $2.50/month "daily reader" subscribing contributor level, each
edition of RRND/FND costs 12.5 cents. Not a bad price for the freedom
movement's daily newspaper, is it? But we only get the money if you
choose to send it. So please do so - TLK
Become a subscribing contributor: http://www.tinyurl.com/rrndsubs
Make a one-time contribution: http://www.tinyurl.com/rrndbux
Contribute by PayPal Mobile to: 314-750-6993
Other options: http://www.rationalreview.com/content/49503
-----
1) Democrats nominate Obama by acclamation
San Jose Mercury News
"Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois completed an improbable and historic
journey Wednesday when he was nominated by acclamation as the
Democratic candidate for president, becoming the first African-
American to lead a major political party into a general-election
campaign. Obama, who just eight years ago attended his first
Democratic National Convention and who four years later shot to
national prominence with an electrifying keynote address at the
gathering in Boston, was given a final symbolic boost Wednesday by
Sen. Hillary Clinton, who moved from the convention floor to suspend
the roll call of the states and formalize her former rival's
nomination by acclamation." (08/28/08)
http://www.mercurynews.com/presidentelect/ci_10323815
-----
2) TX: GOP, Dems miss presidential ballot deadline
Ballot Access News
"Section 192.031 of the Texas election code says that political
parties must certify their presidential and vice-presidential
candidates for the November ballot no later than 70 days before the
general election. ... This year, neither the Democratic Party nor the
Republican Party obeyed this law. See this link to the Secretary of
State's web page showing a blank for the Republicans and Democrats for
president. It does show Bob Barr on the ballot; scroll down a little
bit." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6jc4do
-----
3) Iraq: Gunmen kill Iraqi general
McClatchy Washington Bureau
"[G]unmen assassinated the brigadier general Najam Abdullah from the
7th division of the Iraqi army and his wife in front of his house in
Adel neighborhood (west Baghdad) .... a roadside bomb detonated at Abu
Shanuna in balad Ruz (east Baquba). One shepherd was killed. ... a
roadside bomb detonated near Rashid Awa restaurant in downtown Kirkuk.
One person was killed and 7 others were injured." (08/28/08)
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/212/story/50988.html
-----
4) Afghanistan: Occupation authority claims 100+ Taliban killed
Monsters & Critics
"US-led coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 100 suspected
Taliban militants in four days of fighting and airstrikes in the
southern province of Helmand, the coalition said Thursday. The
fighting occurred from Monday through Thursday when Afghan and
coalition forces were attacked by insurgents 'multiple times,'
sparking several engagements, a coalition statement said." (08/28/08)
http://tinyurl.com/56q7ek
-----
5) EU considers sanctions on Russia
BBC News [UK]
"EU leaders are considering sanctions 'and many other means' against
Russia over the Georgia crisis, French Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner has said. But he said he hoped the matter would 'be solved by
negotiation.' Moscow's military action in Georgia and its recognition
of independence for rebel regions has angered the West. ... Russia's
foreign minister described talk of sanctions, which correspondents say
Mr Kouchner ruled out earlier this week, as an emotional response that
demonstrated Western confusion over the situation." (08/28/08)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7585580.stm
-----
6) Blogger arrested, bailed over GnR songs
eFluxMedia
"A 27-year-old man from Culver City, Los Angeles, was arrested
Wednesday by federal police on suspicion of violating federal
copyright law after posting online nine previously unreleased songs
from 1990s rock icon Guns N' Roses. ... According to court papers,
Cogill eventually removed the tracks from the site, when the band
intervened. Larry Solters, a spokesman for Guns N' Roses, said the
band 'had been made aware of the arrest and are leaving the matter to
the authorities.' Cogill appeared in court on Wednesday and was
released on $10,000 bail. He faces a maximum of three years in prison
if convicted, and five years if he is found to have had a financial
gain from his action." (08/28/08)
http://tinyurl.com/59xmoz
-----
7) NASA: Space station computers infected by virus
The Register [UK]
"A computer worm that ferrets out passwords managed to stow away on
laptops aboard the International Space Station, NASA has confirmed. It
is not the first time a NASA computer has become infected. ... The
infected machines were not considered mission critical, meaning they
weren't responsible for command and control. The NASA spokesman was
unable to say if the infected laptops were connected to mission-
critical systems." (08/26/08)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/26/nasa_laptops_infected/
-----
8) Del Martin, 1921-2008
San Francisco Chronicle
"Lesbian rights pioneer Del Martin, whose trailblazing activism
spanned more than five decades, most recently in the battle for same-
sex marriage, died Wednesday, just two months after she made history
again by wedding her longtime partner in San Francisco City Hall. Ms.
Martin, an author and organizer, died at UCSF Hospice after a long
period of declining health. ... Ms. Martin's crusading began in 1955,
during an era in America known more for social conformity than for
rebellion, when she co-founded a lesbian social-turned-political
organization, Daughters of Bilitis, named after a 19th century book of
lesbian love poetry. This year, on June 16, she and her partner of 55
years, Phyllis Lyon, were legally wed." (08/28/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5a3xza
-----
9) CO: Men not true threat to Obama
Arizona Republic
"A group of suspected drug users arrested in Denver last weekend with
methamphetamine, guns and bulletproof vests made racist threats
against Barack Obama but posed no true danger to the presidential
candidate as he accepts the Democratic nomination here this week,
federal authorities said Tuesday. The three men -- all said to be high
on methamphetamine when arrested -- are the subject of an
assassination investigation, but so far, authorities say, it appears
they had no capacity to carry out any attack on Obama. ... The three
have been charged with drug and weapons offenses but not with
threatening to assassinate Obama or with other national-security-
related crimes." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6dor35
-----
10) TN: Hermitage restroom named top of the heap
Tennessean
"Nashville's five-star Hermitage Hotel has been named the finest
restroom in America by voters in the 7th annual 'America's Best
Restroom' contest. The Hermitage received the coveted 'America's Best
Restroom' plaque of recognition during a special presentation today,
and secured its place in the "America's Best Restroom Hall of Fame"
found at www.bestrestroom.com. 'From the architecture and room
furnishings to exceptional customer service, The Hermitage Hotel has
an uncompromising commitment to excellence,' said Greg Sligh,
Hermitage Hotel president and managing director." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5v96n4
-----
11) MA: Soros funding effort to decriminalize pot
Fox News
"A measure that would decriminalize minor marijuana-possession cases
is on the ballot in Massachusetts largely because of one man:
billionaire financier and liberal activist George Soros. Of the
$429,000 collected last year by the group advancing the measure,
$400,000 came from Soros. ... The Committee for Sensible Marijuana
Policy needed about $315,000 of that just to collect the more than
100,000 signatures that secured a spot on the ballot. ... If the
measure is approved in November, Massachusetts would become the 13th
state to lift or ease criminal penalties on marijuana possession. The
proposal would make having an ounce or less of the drug a civil
offense punishable by a $100 fine." (08/27/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,411961,00.html
-----
12) North Korea threatens to renew nuke program
Christian Science Monitor
"North Korea threatened Tuesday to renew its nuclear weapons program.
Pyongyang says that the United States has reneged on its promise to
remove North Korea from the state sponsors of terrorism list, while
Washington responded that it wants independent verification of the
country's nuclear disarmament. North Korea also announced this week
that it 'suspended disabling' its nuclear facilities on Aug. 14. The
announcement escalates tensions and threatens to throw the six-party
disarmament talks with North Korea and its neighbors into
disarray." (08/27/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0827/p99s01-duts.html
-----
13) Denver: Reporter arrested taking pictures at meeting
ABC News
"Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a
camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of
Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the
Brown Palace Hotel. Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers
the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC
News investigative unit. A cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant,
accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on
Eslocker's neck, then twisted the producers arm behind him to put on
handcuffs. A police official later told lawyers for ABC News that
Eslocker is being charged with trespass, interference, and failure to
follow a lawful order. He also said the arrest followed a signed
complaint from the Brown Palace Hotel." (08/27/08)
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5668622
-----
14) MA: Harvard scrutinizing its police on race
Boston Globe
"Harvard University will launch an examination of the campus Police
Department following long-running complaints that officers have
unfairly treated black students and professors and, in an incident
this month, a black high school student working at Harvard. President
Drew Gilpin Faust announced yesterday that she has appointed an
independent, six-member committee to review the diversity training,
community outreach, and recruitment efforts of Harvard police, the
first review of its kind in more than a decade. In recent weeks, black
student and faculty leaders have been pressing the university to
address what they view as racial profiling by the predominantly white
campus police force, which Harvard oversees. Ralph Martin, former
Suffolk district attorney and managing partner of the Boston office of
the Bingham McCutchen law firm, will lead the committee, which will
start work next week." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6oj8c9
-----
15) Australia: School may backflip on cartwheel ban
Yahoo! News
"An Australian school which recently banned its students from doing
cartwheels, somersaults and other gymnastics during recess is
reviewing the decision after parents and students got all bent out of
shape. The school, in the coastal town of Townsville in Queensland
state, told students they could not perform any acrobatics such as
handstands outside class because they were a safety
hazard." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/56es8h
-----
16) TX: Resident shoots intruder
Austin American-Statesman
"Sheriff's deputies in Bastrop are investigating a fatal shooting that
happened Tuesday when a man fatally shot another man he says was
trying to break into his residence on John Croft Road near the city of
Bastrop. A dispatcher said that Dillian Wilhelm shot James Nauer, of
Bastrop, around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday when Nauer reportedly entered his
house with a club. Nauer was critically injured and taken to the
University Medical Center at Brackenridge where he was pronounced
dead, according to the sheriff's office." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6xj8kp
-----
17) Israel: Police hold Gaza activist
BBC News [UK]
"Police in Israel have arrested an Israeli citizen who entered Gaza
with a group of pro-Palestinian activists. Jeff Halper, a US-born
Israeli citizen, was arrested after he entered Israel through the Erez
border crossing. He is accused of breaking Israel's law forbidding its
citizens from entering the Gaza Strip. Mr Halper was part of an
international group of protesters who entered the Gaza Strip by boat
to challenge Israel's blockade of the territory." (08/27/08)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7583391.stm
-----
18) Peace activists participate in 500 mile walk
Leaf Chronicle
"Witness Against War is a 500-mile walk from Chicago to Saint Paul to
challenge and non-violently resist our nation's wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The campaign seeks to hold both major political parties
-- Democrat and Republican -- accountable and responsible for
continuing and ending the Iraq war. Joshua Brollier joined the walk in
Chicago on July 12 and has participated in awareness events and
community forums along the route to St. Paul. The walkers will convene
there on August 29 to march in step with the Veterans for Peace at the
Republican National Convention protests." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6nztgz
-----
19) Denver: Activists fly the "freedom cage"
Christian Science Monitor
"They're outside city offices, in parks, on the capitol steps and near
the US Mint. But the one place most protesters here are avoiding is
the official demonstration zone, a fenced-in parking lot near the
Democratic National Convention that activists here mockingly call 'the
freedom cage.' The 47,000-square-foot zone is hemmed by rows of metal
barricades and concrete barriers and watched over by uniformed Secret
Service agents. Views of the Pepsi Center convention site, some 700
feet away, are blocked by a giant tent housing news media. ... most
protesters are taking their message elsewhere, many to a constellation
of 13 parks within a mile of the Pepsi Center. One of the most active
groups is Recreate 68, an alliance of anticorporate and antiwar
protesters that has demonstration permits every day of the convention.
But rallies and parades have also being staged by groups pitching
everything from immigrant rights, women's equality, and Ralph Nader to
lower fuel costs, legal marijuana, and a united Jerusalem." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6bzzj6
-----
20) CO: Americans exercising their freedom of speech
Denver Post
"Police in riot gear surround protesters on 15th Street near Civic
Center park in downtown Denver on Monday night. 'This is not America.
This is what a police state looks like. You're worried about Beijing?
This is repression,' one activist shouted." [news photo] (08/26/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6mh3ge
*******************************************************************
* HEALTH-OF-THE-STATE-O-METER, 08/28/08
*
* Reported Civilian Deaths in Iraq: Min - 86,669 ... Max - 94,562
* (source: www.iraqbodycount.org)
*
* American Military Deaths in Iraq: 4,148
* (source: www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
*******************************************************************
****************************
* Everybody Has An Opinion
****************************
21) A president, not a savior
Christian Science Monitor
by Gene Healy
"What moved Barack Obama to seek the presidency was 'the basic idea of
empathy' and the notion that if 'we see somebody down and out ... we
care for them.' Republican John McCain explained that he was running
'to inspire a generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than
their self-interest.' Noble sentiments, to be sure, but in the
original constitutional scheme, the president was neither Empath-in-
Chief nor a national life coach. His role was to faithfully execute
the laws, defend the country from attack, and check Congress with the
veto power whenever it exceeded its constitutional bounds." [editor's
note: Yep, to act as "presiding officer" over the Administrative
Branch of a three-legged governmental structure; NOT to become King or
Emperor of the land! - SAT] (08/28/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0828/p09s01-coop.html
-----
22) Whatever happened to the libertarian Democrat?
Reason
by David Weigel
"Tuesday afternoon, I saw Markos 'Daily Kos' Moulitsas, author of the
'Left-Libertarian Manifesto' from 2006, share a stage with 'market
Democrat' Bill Richardson and avowed libertarian Tucker Carlson to
talk about race and gender politics. After Carlson suggested,
plausibly, that Obama would win in a landslide if he declaimed race-
based affirmative action and replaced it with preferences based on
class, Moulitsas rolled his eyes and told the Kostastic audience to
never listen to the advice of 'a Republican.' Carlson spent the rest
of the hour fending off accusations of misogyny and suggestions that
he be kicked off the panel. What makes up the alleged libertarianness
of the allegedly libertarian Democrats? As yesterday's events
suggested, it's about attitude, not ideas. Moulitsas stared down
moderator Dan Abrams of MSNBC, attacked his network for doing John
McCain's work for him, and repeatedly made the case for liberals to go
on offense. It was the same with Schweitzer: What made him a model for
other Democrats was not his heterodoxy on liberal issues, but his
belly-first, bar-room swagger." (08/27/08)
http://www.reason.com/news/show/128325.html
-----
23) Cracks in the empire
LewRockwell.Com
by Michael S. Rozeff
"Government is like a great glacier. At first, the glacier grows and
builds up, drawing mass from the cold and snow and strength from the
compressed ice. These lead to movement of the river of ice. It slowly
flows, grinding everything in its path. The old landscape gives way
and a new one appears. But the motion creates fissures and crevasses.
The glacier reaches lower and warmer climes and begins melting away.
Cracks in the ice field appear. Huge chunks break off as icebergs form
and float away. The glacier dissipates. Fannie and Freddie have broken
off. Their values have melted away. The Government is trying to hold
them in place. The more that it tries, the more that these GSEs will
dislodge further pieces of the Government and weaken it. The current
international financial system is already at an ending phase, if by
that is meant the dominance of the U.S." (08/28/08)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff214.html
-----
24) Recovering lawns, failed states, and reasons for hope
Freedom in Our Time
by Will Grigg
"People have been seduced into believing that they can live in
symbiosis with the State that is killing what little liberty and
prosperity we still enjoy. We have succumbed to the lure of what
Bastiat called 'institutionalized plunder,' fallen prey to the
temptation to employ the State's coercive power to live at the expense
of others. And now we've reached a point where a simple weeding, even
a thorough one, won't suffice. Something much more invasive, more
catastrophic, will be required to beat down the State's overgrowth and
clear the field so that freedom can flourish and genuinely civilized
life can recover." (08/26/08)
http://tinyurl.com/667q4t
-----
25) Candidate ratings don't reveal much about the next president
Disloyal Opposition
by JD Tuccille
"With the Democratic National Convention in full swing and the
Republicans eagerly awaiting their turn, political silly season has
officially commenced. That means it's time for everybody with an axe
to grind to rate the candidates' positions on issues near and dear to
their hearts. Based on those positions, and by peering into crystal
balls and divining the future from the entrails of sacrificial
animals, we then forecast the candidates' likely performance in the
White House. There's just one problem with this approach: It's
crap." (08/26/08)
http://tinyurl.com/59s3o9
-----
26) Carbon offsets: More harm than good?
CounterPunch
by Melissa Checker
"From Coldplay to Leonardo diCaprio to Al Gore, influential
environmentalists are increasingly modeling green behavior by
neutralizing their carbon emissions through carbon offsets. Briefly,
offsets are based on the notion that consumers can balance out carbon
intensive activities, like travel, by contributing to projects that
reduce greenhouse gases. Between 2005 and 2007 the market for carbon
offsets grew 175%, reaching $110 million (Faris 2007). But just as
buying indulgences in the Middle Ages never really erased your sins,
carbon offsets rarely counteract your carbon use. Moreover, in some
cases, carbon offset projects actually hurt local people. Many experts
now believe that well-intentioned consumers are not just wasting their
money on offsets, but that purchasing them actually does more harm
than good." (08/27/08)
http://www.counterpunch.org/checker08272008.html
-----
27) Is religious politics libertarian?
Rebirth of Reason
by Tibor R. Machan
"There are many benefits to religions from living in a free society
but one will not be available, namely, to forcibly establish a
homogeneous culture that follows that religion's dictates and none
other. Such imperialism is just what some religions -- or at least
factions of religions -- insist upon and they will not get it from
citizens of a fully free society. The faithful who insist on such
hegemony will simply not be satisfied. If their mission is to coerce
everyone to follow their way -- not just those of the faithful but
everyone else -- they will be rebuffed, opposed and if they take
action to fulfill their mission, they will become
criminals." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5bd8x9
-----
28) Del Martin: 1921-2008
Classically Liberal
by CLS
"It astounds me that for 55 years these two individuals, so clearly
committed to one another, were considered by the law to be nothing
more than friends. For so long, and through so much, they were second
class citizens when it came to their relationship. Yet, the most
fleeting heterosexual liaison could be sanctified in a drunken moment
in Vegas with no forethought and no true commitment. And there are
some who dare say that these two women, bound [b]y mutual love for so
long, were trivializing marriage. If what Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons
had was trivial then I say there are a hell of lot of marriages that
could use some trivializing of that sort. I am pleased that Del spent
the last ten weeks of her life as the legal spouse of the woman she
had loved for most of her life. And I firmly believe that this
November the voters of California will NOT vote to overturn marriage
equality. But even if they do, it will be too late to take that away
from Del Martin." (08/28/08)
http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2008/08/del-martin-1921-2008.html
-----
29) Economics Olympics
The Free Liberal
by Fred E. Foldvary
"In a previous article, I proposed an economics Olympics. Some
elementary and middle schools have done this, but with factual
questions, such as what money some country uses. But suppose there
were an economics Olympics judging all economists, past and present.
These economists would win the gold medals: Best economic metaphor:
Adam Smith, for the invisible hand. Best literary economics writing:
Henry George, whose work was used in English classes. Best economic
historian: Milton Friedman, for his work on the consumption function
and the history of money and banking during the Great
Depression." (08/27/08)
http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003493.html
-----
30) New poverty data induce Clinton nostalgia
Mother Jones
by Stephanie Mencimer
"Hillary's speech last night at the Democratic convention wasn't the
only event of the day to inspire a little nostalgia for the Clinton
administration. A few hours earlier, the Census Bureau released its
2007 poverty and income report, a snapshot of the nation's economic
well-being. The easy takeaway message might have been this: We never
had it so good as we did in Bill Clinton's second term, when
unemployment was low, poverty was low, and the rising tide was lifting
all boats. The Census data for 2007 confirm that all future economic
progress will be measured by whether the country can get back to the
prosperity of 1999. Right now, the Bush administration can't even get
the economy back to where it was during the 2001
recession." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5aq9q2
-----
31) Cooler heads in the GOP
National Review
by Stephen Spruiell
"Crafting a platform that marries John McCain to the Republican base
on environmental policy is a little like filing a lawsuit against
yourself in which you only get to write one brief. By the time you're
done, you've scratched through so many lines and penciled in so many
revisions that the document is barely legible. I wish I could show you
my copy of the energy section of the 2008 Republican Platform's
working draft. You wouldn't be able to read it, but you'd see what I
mean. The first thing that's scratched out is 'Global Warming and' at
the top of a section that used to read 'Global Warming and
Environmental Protection.'" (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5o3q5f
-----
32) Mystery in Moscow
AntiWar.Com
by Nebojsa Malic
"By recognizing the two provinces, the argument goes, Moscow
completely antagonized the Georgians, irritated the West, and
undermined its own principled foreign policy of insisting on
international law (specifically when it comes to the illegal secession
of Kosovo). Of course, given that Georgia was already a 100% client
state of Washington, and that no matter what Russia did or did not do
it would still be demonized in the West, those two points hardly seem
relevant. What about the principle of sovereignty, then? This is the
truly puzzling part. By claiming that Ossetia and Abkhazia simply
followed the Kosovo precedent, Russia effectively abandoned the moral
high ground from which it criticized NATO's aggression in the Balkans,
and admitted that the world order is now based on the pernicious
doctrine of 'might makes right' and 'whatever we can get away with.'
Washington and Brussels have operated from those premises for years,
but their results have been less than stellar." (08/28/08)
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=13370
-----
33) Positive and negative liberty
Ayn R. Key
by Ayn R. Key
"Isaiah Berlin once did a valuable service to the cause of liberty. He
wrote a rather muddled book that discussed the difference between
positive liberty and negative liberty. People are familiar with
negative liberty -- it is the 'eave me alone' liberty that forms the
cross-axis of the Nolan Chart, stretching from Statist to Libertarian.
What is less familiar to most people is positive liberty, which is the
liberty of having a voice in government, be it the ability to vote, to
create and implement ballot initiatives, or to run for office. This is
an important distinction because occasionally these two come into
conflict. When the come into conflict, the libertarian believes that
negative liberty must win while the democratic statist believes that
positive liberty must win." (08/21/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5f3aa3
-----
34) McCain -- the ugliest American
The Art of the Possible
by cernig
"Out of all the Ugly Americans of the modern hard Right, John McCain
is rising as the star. His entire worldview is based not just upon
American exceptionalism but upon McCain exceptionalism - 'Verb, Noun,
P.O.W.' He can't remember how many houses he owns (through his joint-
property marriage in Arizona with his heiress wife) and thinks $5
million is the cut-on point for 'rich' -- I doubt highly that he knows
the price of bread or the rise in the cost of milk over the last year
unless its from a briefing by his staff. The nearest he gets to the
common American is talking to his coterie of advisors, who all wear
lobbyist or think-tank hats too and apparently do all his thinking for
him on someone else's dime. Meanwhile, he accuses others of uppity
elitism, oblivious to the irony." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5gae8p
-----
35) If you give me a child ...
The Line is Here
by Ted Bronson
"I will be able to hold every mistake he ever makes over his head
until he dies. (Sorry Jesuits, just revamping for the new order.) When
the UK's DNA database plan for kids as young as five worked out so
well, it seemed to embolden Her Majesty's Government to really up the
ante. Now from the Jolly Old comes this fresh hell. So the UK is going
to register every single child in Great Britain, approx 11 million
under 18 that is, in one gigantic database that will list their home
addresses, doctors, schools, parents or guardians, whether they have
ever visited a drug counselor, ever been arrested, etc. That is,
unless the kid happens to belong to a celeb or an MP ... for security
ya know." (08/26/08)
http://thelineishere.org/?p=423
-----
36) Why we need a revolution
AlterNet
by Bill Vitek
"We want to see our current problems as part of the usual ups and
downs of the business and climate cycles. But in the past three years
oil production has remained steady while the price has doubled. Oil
supplies will soon fail to keep up with ballooning world demand. Then
the other fossil fuels will flare out too. But not before adding to
atmospheric carbon dioxide already a third higher than pre-industrial
levels and strongly tied to a long, abnormal rise in global
temperatures. I have come to this perspective reluctantly, but am now
convinced: We are living in revolutionary times! We must change to a
way of life as inconceivable to us as the invention of the modern
factory or heart transplant would have seemed to a peasant or
professor in medieval Europe. The good news, if I can call it that, is
that only by accepting this challenge in revolutionary terms will our
odds of succeeding in this change go from 'fuggedaboutit!' to 'long
shot.'" (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5la45y
-----
37) Moor Family Feud
The Weekly Standard
by Roger Kaplan
"While attention was focused on the other side of the earth, a band of
soldiers in Mauritania led by General Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz overthrew
the government of Sidi Ould Cheik Abdallahi in a bloodless coup during
the first week of August. The president, his family, and entourage are
detained and unharmed, despite calls for their release by the African
Union, the United States, and the governments of the continent's major
powers, Nigeria and South Africa. There have been peaceful
demonstrations in support of both sides of a political drama that
superficially appears to be a fight for power among leaders of the
country's Moorish tribes who have run Mauritania since it gained
independence from France in 1960." (08/28/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5h59td
-----
38) Musharraf has gone, but is civilian rule better?
Cato Institute
by Malou Innocent
"As expected, Pervez Musharraf has resigned rather than face
impeachment as president of Pakistan. But, despite the widespread
sense that the retired army general drastically eroded the public
trust while in office, there is growing doubt that a civilian
government is any better equipped to improve Pakistan's shaken economy
and fragile rule of law." (08/27/08)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9601
-----
39) The health care mess: A free market proposal
Liberty For All
by Roderick T. Beaman
"We already have virtual endoscopy and whether people are aware of it
or not, often their x-rays and laboratory reports are originating in
India. The films or slides are being read by a radiologist,
pathologist or technician on the other side of the world and at a cost
far less than an American practitioner would charge. This is going to
accelerate as technology eliminates distance as a barrier for all
services, not just medical. This scenario may seem far-fetched but
it's not out of the question. You have a sore throat. You plug into
the Internet and a physician in Pakistan or China comes onto your
screen. He instructs you to open your mouth and insert a fibre optic
attached to your computer that transmits the image of your throat to
him. You take your temperature and tell him what it is. You attach a
stethoscope to your chest and breathe while the sounds are
transmitted. He does the entire examination without ever having been
in the same room as you. Getting you the medication could be a
challenge but in these days of rapid shipping that might be
accomplished within twelve hours. You pay for everything by credit
card." (08/28/08)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=1410
-----
40) A real standup guy
River Cities' Reader
by Garry Reed
"All right! Wow! Ha ha. What a great-looking audience. My name is Hill
Larrius, and it's great to be here in Vegas! Whoo! Hey, what's up with
these crazy presidential candidates? We have this McCain guy for the
Republicans, right? Now, I'm not gonna say he's old, 'cause he really
didn't fight in the Civil War, right? Hell no! He was already way too
old for that war, see? Ha ha ha. Then over here we have this Democrat,
Obama, who keeps promising change. So if we elect him president, we'll
have change, right? Like he'll raise our taxes and all we'll have left
in our pockets is change. Ha ha ha! Ooooh. Hey, don't get mad at me,
I'm just the messenger here." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6xeflm
-----
41) Mr. Smith in Washington? Sell!
Boston Globe
by Jeff Jacoby
"On July 5, 1930, a letter from Will Rogers was published in the New
York Times. ... 'This country has come to feel the same when Congress
is in session as we do when the baby gets hold of a hammer,' Rogers
continued. 'It's just a question of how much damage he can do with it
before you can take it away from him. Well, in 18 months these babies
have left a record of devastation.' Rogers was referring to the 71st
Congress, which did indeed leave a record of devastation; its
execrable Smoot-Hawley tariff helped bring on the Great Depression.
The current Congress, the 110th, hasn't brought on a depression -- not
yet, anyway. Unfortunately, the House and Senate are scheduled to
reconvene after Labor Day. And as Rogers noted, when Congress is in
session the question is not whether the economy will suffer, but how
much." (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/6fk3bn
-----
42) Dixie turning blue
In These Times
by David Moberg
"Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's tepid keynote address to the
Democratic convention Tuesday night was little noted and will not be
long remembered. But it was important in signaling new Democratic
political hopes in the South. For decades, following Richard Nixon's
successful 'Southern strategy' to win over white Democrats by playing
on backlash to the civil rights movement, many national Democrats had
written off the South -- and often with good reason, if wretched long-
term consequences. But Bob Moser, author of the new book Blue Dixie:
Awakening the South's Democratic Majority, and newly appointed editor
of the muckraking Texas Observer, argues that Democrats in the rest of
the country should put aside their stereotype of the South as uniquely
racist and resistant to change." [editor's note: And anyone who still
holds to that stereotype needs to spend some time in the South - SAT]
(08/27/08)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3882/dixie_turning_blue/
-----
43) What really scares us about Barack Obama
Haaretz
by Bradley Burston
"The signs are everywhere. Taped to vintage windowpanes in antebellum
mansions in the tony Garden District, to wrought-iron balconies in the
French Quarter, to the ruins of housing projects in the still-Katrina-
ravaged 9th Ward. The signs are everywhere, it seems, except in the
polls. One August survey showed likely Louisiana voters favoring John
McCain by a margin of 57 percent to 39 percent. The significance of
the poll may go well beyond the fate of the Bayou State's nine
electoral votes. Simply put, Louisiana has voted for the winning
presidential candidate in every election for the past 36 years. In the
end, one suspects, John McCain may take this election in a quiet
walk." (08/27/08)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1015095.html
-----
44) Obama's BIG mistake
Fox News
by Susan Estrich
"They aren't giving up. When I turned on my computer this morning, it
was overflowing with email from women who supported Hillary Clinton.
And still do. After her electrifying speech Tuesday night, they were
more certain than ever that they were right in their choice, that she
was -– as is -– more qualified to be President than Barack Obama, and
certainly a better choice for Vice President than the one Obama made.
And that certainty made them even angrier at what they perceive as
Obama's slights towards Senator Clinton, his failure to vet her or
call her or reach out to her donors and supporters. Will they
ultimately vote for Obama-Biden anyway?" (08/27/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,412041,00.html
-----
45) The speech progressives have been waiting for?
The American Prospect
by Paul Waldman
"It's hard to think of a speech that was more eagerly anticipated and
subjected to as much prior commentary as the one Barack Obama will
deliver tomorrow night at Invesco Field in Denver. ... But there's
something else worth hoping for in Obama's speech, something that has
been glimpsed only occasionally in his presidential campaign: a full-
throated defense not just of his candidacy or of the vague ideas of
change and progress but of progressivism as an ideology. And while
he's at it, he could offer an attack not just on the actual failures
of George W. Bush or the potential failures of John McCain but on the
failure that is conservatism." [editor's note: It's the claim that
Obama really has this in him that is most ludicrous among the
"progressive" pundits - SAT] (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/58orrj
-----
46) Retirement wake up call
Asia Times
by The Mogambo Guru
"I figure that the proverbial poop will hit the proverbial fan when
people finally realize that they have been played for chumps, as it is
obviously mathematically impossible for everyone, or even the majority
of people, to take more purchasing power out of the stock market than
they put in. So investing in the stock market, especially over the
long-term, is, for almost everybody investing in it, a loser."
908/28/08)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JH28Dj01.html
-----
47) Running for war president
TruthDig
by Robert Scheer
"Just great! Nuclear-armed Pakistan is falling apart, Iran's nuclear
program is unchecked and congressional legislation on cooperation with
the Russians on controlling nuclear proliferation is now dead in the
water. Horrid news except for Sen. John McCain, who thrills to a
repeat of the danger lines of the Cold War, and now stands a good
chance of being our next president. A very good chance, if the Russian
recognition of the independence of two breakaway Georgia provinces can
be elevated to the status of a major challenge to the security of the
United States. It is an absurd claim: How can one justify uncritical
support for the independence of Kosovo from Serbia earlier this year
while denouncing a similar claim by a Georgian ethnic minority?"
908/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5jddhb
-----
48) Strip search nation
CounterPunch
by Dave Lindorff
"We've come a long way towards imperial government in the US --
towards a view of the relationship between the federal government, and
especially the administration, and the citizenry that has more of a
ruler-subjects than a democratic feel to it. Now I know it is easy to
gloss over the way things were, and since I spent a few days in
federal prison for protesting the Indochina War at the Pentagon in
1967, after being beaten by federal marshals for doing nothing more
than exercising my constitional [sic] right to protest on public
ground, I am well aware that 40 years ago we were also often treated
like serfs. But that said, there was something different back then --
a sense that you could deal with powerful officials as an
equal." (08/27/08)
http://counterpunch.org/lindorff08272008.html
-----
49) I don't mind if you keep voting, but do you mind if I keep
laughing while you do?
Strike the Root
by Wilt Alston
"I don't care who the candidate is. I don't care what issues to which
he seems to gravitate. I don't care about his record, his leadership
qualities, the apparent first-lady-ness of his wife (or her husband),
his insider-ness or his outsider-ness, his race, his height, his
weight, how well he speaks, how wonderfully he photographs, the nation
of his birth, how likely it might be that he's fun to drink with, or
his appreciation for unique uses for a fine cigar." (08/27/08)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/82/alston/alston1.html
-----
50) Olympic salute, Nazi salute originated in Pledge of Allegiance
The Libertarian Enterprise
by Tinny Ray
"The official Olympic salute originated in the United States, as did
the Nazi salute. Both gestures are products of the early Pledge of
Allegiance to the flag in America's government schools. ... Real
Americans don't pledge allegiance to big government. Help educate
students in the new school year." [editor's note: A good summary, with
links, of the 'Stop the Pledge' movement - MLS] (08/26/08)
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2008/tle482-20080824-06.html
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* See No Evil, Hear No Evil
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51) Cato Daily Podcast, 08/28/08
Cato Institute
"Pakistan in turmoil," featuring Malou Innocent. [MP3] (08/28/08)
http://www.cato.org/dailypodcast/podcast-archive.php?podcast_id=717
-----
52) Free Talk Live, 08/27/08
Free Talk Live
"Three Person Group Prohibition / Commie Trucker? / Communications
Frustration / Protection Agency War? / Questioning School
Bureaucrats / Gouging / Claiming Freeman Status / Paid Killers /
Fringe Conspiracy Theories / Paula / Couch Controversy /
Noncooperatives Ruining It?" [MP3] (08/27/08)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/ftl/FTL2008-08-27.mp3
-----
53) Abdulkadir Abdirahman on Antiwar Radio
AntiWar.Com
"Abdulkadir Abdirahman, president of Somali Cause, discusses the
humanitarian catastrophe resulting from America's proxy war waged by
Ethiopian forces there since December, 2006 ..." [Flash audio or MP3]
(08/27/08)
http://antiwar.com/radio/2008/08/27/abdulkadir-abdirahman/
-----
54) THINKFuture #659
THINKFuture
"Hillary Tepid / Bill Petulant / Obamas Faux White House / Ayers
Connection / McCains Female VP Pick." [MP3] (08/27/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5vn23e
-----
55) Supreme Court pandering
reason.tv
"reason Associate Editor Damon Root discusses John McCain and Barack
Obama's pandering performances at Rev. Rick Warren's Saddleback
Forum." [Flash video] (08/26/08)
http://www.reason.tv/roughcut/show/521.html
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* What's Up In The Freedom Movement
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57) Happy birthday, dear ARPA ...
Details, and the "quote of the day," from Leon's Political Almanac at:
http://perspicuity.net/cgi/hypercal.cgi
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