Personal Power; Government Hoax; Achtung, Nazi!Emma; these articles have their titles and text in this color and are featured this week in -
 
Ender's Review of the Web
 

Web articles of likely interest to individualists found during the week of May 2 - 8, 2004.

 
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Political Liberty
Articles showing a positive influence of political action on the cause of Liberty.
 
Privacy's Canaries
        by Sunni Maravillosa from The Price of Liberty
"I view privacy advocates -- of which I count myself as one -- as canaries in a pro-freedom coal mine. We speak up when the state, in whatever form, tries to intrude into individuals' private lives and transactions."
 
You Go First: The Peace Amendment
        by L. Neil Smith from The Libertarian Enterprise
"Having voted to declare war, every Congressman who voted 'aye' will immediately get up from his seat and march right out the door, where he will be handed a uniform and a weapon and be conveyed directly to the front, defined as that area of military activity that is producing the highest number of casualties."
 
Free Market Medicine
        by Rep. Ron Paul, MD from LewRockwell.com
"Dr. Berry's experience illustrates the benefits of eliminating the middleman in health care. For decades, the U.S. healthcare system was the envy of the entire world. Not coincidentally, there was far less government involvement in medicine during this time. America had the finest doctors and hospitals, patients enjoyed high quality, affordable medical care...."
 
Life in Amerika
Articles depicting the negative impact of politics on Liberty.
 
A Bum Rap for de Sade
        by Jim Davies from Strike The Root
"But meantime, let's suppose the party was not just by invitation; that the torture was real. Then we have photographic proof that the torturers were happy. And one of them, we're told, is in civilian life a 'corrections officer,' i.e., a government jailer. That carries awesome implications for our understanding of its 'justice' system and the perverts who run it."
 

Between Iraq and a Hard Place

        by Butler Shaffer from LewRockwell.com
"When I was growing up, it was said with a sense of egalitarian pride that, in America, anyone can grow up to be president. George W. Bush has confirmed the truth of this proposition. The underlying premises of his thinking and conduct also attests to the fact that most Americans will accept the rule of anyone."
 
No Draft -- Ever!
        by Sheldon Richman from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"Some backers of conscription cleverly argue that it may turn the public against the war. As middle-class kids face getting shipped off to the Middle East, their parents will suddenly have a reason to oppose Bush's policy. It seemed to work that way with Vietnam, when college deferments were abolished. But even if it worked in this case, it wouldn't change the fact that the draft is slavery. The end can't justify that means."
 
Ordered Liberty without the State
Some people say it's Anarchy, some say it's not possible. It is an interesting topic.
 
The Government Hoax
        by Marc Stevens from Strike The Root
"What exactly is 'government?' Have you ever seen a 'government'? While there are varying degrees, 'government' is one man violently controlling the life and property of another man. In some places this violent control is 'decreed' to be for the latter's 'own good' and 'protection' and hailed as the 'best system in the world'."
 
The Meaning of Jurisdiction
        by Paul Hein from anti-state.com
"The state employee who dons a black robe and assumes the bench has the power to control you and your property because the state says he does-pursuant to 'law,' of course. And you must obey his orders because it's -- you guessed it -- the 'law!'"
 
Planes, Trains, and the Free State Project
        by Alan R. Weiss from The Libertarian Enterprise
"Some libertarians are anarchists, some are not. As Tom Knapp has said, we're all on the same Liberty Train. Some of us may get off the train sooner than others, some may stay on till we reach the end. I would add, 'but we damn well better leave the station, folks'."
 
Spreading Decentralism
Articles demonstrating an increase in the dispersal of power.
 
Gun-Proof Your Children
        by Wendy McElroy from ifeminists.net
"That's why mothers who choose to own a gun have an obligation to teach their children to respect that weapon as a useful and potentially dangerous tool. Millions of parents own guns. They cannot assume that their children will not find and play with a weapon hidden in a nightstand drawer or on the closet's top shelf. Children will usually find anything that is hidden from them."
 
What Does the Geneva Convention Say About S&M?
        by Steven Greenhut from LewRockwell.com
"It is the nature of humanity that some people like to kill, rape, abuse, torment and torture their fellow human beings. Some improperly socialized and evil souls engage in such misbehavior outside the law. But many more will engage in that behavior if they are doing it under the authority of the state. That's why government needs to be strictly limited."
 
OK, here's what to do in Iraq
        by Vin Suprynowicz from Las Vegas Review-Journal
"Oil-rich southern Shiastan would become our friend overnight. Don't bother 'teaching them about democracy.' Sign oil development treaties and get the hell out of there. The new nation of Kurdistan would have a few problems -- though it has some oil wealth of its own. For one thing, it might need help defending itself against Turkey and Syria. So, sell them arms."
 
The New World Hegemon
Depictions of the coming Imperial power
 
The Occupation - Things fall apart
        by David T. Wright from The Last Ditch
"...[H]is remark would seem ... reminiscent of the things British imperialists used to say about various wogs, fuzzy-wuzzies, and other foreign riff-raff. ... One wonders whether this 'tougher approach' will develop into a policy similar to the one the Nazis used against conquered peoples: for every occupier killed by insurgents, ten ordinary citizens are taken out and shot."
 
Achtung, Nazi!--One Year Later
        by Douglas Herman from Strike The Root
"The imperial war eagle symbolized ancient Rome, Nazi Germany and now--conveniently--the US. One empire rose to power as a republic before slowly eroding into tyranny. The other empire--The Thousand Year Reich--began and ended as a tyranny. America might now be somewhere at the crucial divide, between right and might, between former greatness and outright fascism, where another few years reveals all."
 
Out of Bounds - Did Pat Tillman get what he deserved? Or did Rene Gonzalez?
        by Matt Taibbi from NewYorkPress
"It was precisely because Gonzalez was naive, vulnerable, sincere and easily smashed that he made a perfect target. If someone like me had written that piece, it wouldn't have even registered a blip on the national radar screen -- because I'm clearly not going away, which is no fun, and beyond that everyone knows my editors would be all too glad for the attention."
 
Politics by Other Means
War, rumors of war, and politicians fomenting war.
 
It's Not A Job. It's An Adventure -- Ilsa Koch Gets Kotched
        by Fred Reed from FredOnEverything
"How surprising is any of this? Not very. War brutalizes people. It provides opportunities to people who are already brutal. This is no secret. The various Moslem groups torture prisoners. The Afghans are famous for it. Democracies lie about it, but they do it. Wars do not bring out the Emily Post in us. Torture is what we do."
 
The Status Quo Ante
        by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. from LewRockwell.com
"Also, we must think about the message that keeping Saddam in prison sends. It says that the end justifies the means, and powerful states with WMDs like the US can get away with anything. That is not a good message for the world. The US will continue to pay for this disastrous war so long as it holds Saddam."
 
It Was About 'Regime Change' from the Get-Go
        by Jacob G. Hornberger from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"The newest reason that U.S. officials are giving that U.S. soldiers are dying in Iraq is to fight terrorists as part of the U.S. government's 'war on terrorism.' The problem with that rationale, however, is that it is such policies as the invasion and occupation of Iraq that gave rise to the anger and hatred that motivated the terrorists in the first place."
 
Spontaneous Order
Articles showing decentralized successes.
 
Third World Workers Need Western Jobs
        by Radley Balko from FOX News
"In a world full of robust, stable economies, abundant natural resources and highly skilled workforces, cheap labor is the developing world's only real bargaining chip. While it may make us feel better to demand that Western corporations invest only in countries with high labor standards, in reality such policies rob the world's poorest people of their only marketable asset."
 
A Flag for a Free Country
        by Anthony Gregory from Strike The Root
"I felt betrayed that the flag that I respected and proudly showcased for so long became a de facto seal of approval for war and madness. ... So I replaced my Stars and Stripes with a Don’t Tread on Me flag. Old Glory still fails to offend me the way the state's actual policies do. Sometimes I even look at it with admiration and hope, thinking about how free the country could have been."
 
Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another?
        by Brian Doherty from Reason
"From big names like Michael Moore to the most obscure blogs, markets and technologies have given everyone the power to say everything they want to everyone who cares to hear.... It would be nice if once in a while Moore would acknowledge that instead of pretending for his own marketing purposes that corporate tyranny and a fake president are crushing him into dust."
 
Nonspontaneous Disorder
Articles showing centrally planned disasters.
 
The Fed Is Lifeblood to the Root of Evil
        by Alexander "Ace" Baker from Strike The Root
"Central banking is the stroke of evil genius that simultaneously solves the dilemmas of both the King and the Banker. The king gets an almost unlimited supply of financing for his war, and the banker gets the almost unlimited ability to expand credit without fear of a bank run. It is an unholy marriage consummated in the very depths of hell."
 
Teaching Resentment
        by Russell Madden from ATLAS
"Sadly, State regulation of ideas is evident and prevalent today as never before in our society. For instance, governmental boards and bureaucrats require that they approve the textbooks, lesson plans, course content, and testing that schools and teachers can use. Whether done at the level of a city's school board, on a statewide basis, or when Congress directs that 'no child shall be left behind,' the government enforces its edicts even upon unwilling parents."
 
Reinstating the military draft
        by Walter E. Williams from Townhall.com
"The true cost of a soldier in the army is the value of what he could have produced, and society must sacrifice, were he not in the army -- what economists call 'opportunity cost'."
 
War Is The Health Of The State
War is the ultimate State intervention in society.
 
Democracy: A Heretic's View
        by Sam Gerrans from Antiwar.com
"These terrorists, these bogeymen we need to be protected from, are very helpful when it comes to providing the people who spend our money with reasons to imprison us. You can't help wondering who's funding them."
 
War: Who's to Blame?
        by Robert L. Johnson from Strike The Root
"A sign of maturity is to admit when you are wrong and to change course. Following proven liars into battle is wrong. No one makes the individual do it. The alternative to doing what is wrong is to do what is right. In the case of the military, if you refuse to do the wrong thing, they will do their utmost to make you pay a price. But the peace of mind of doing what is right is worth it."
 
A War on Everything
        by Bob Wallace from LewRockwell.com
"And all these 'wars' involve the coercion of the State, rather than the liberty and creativity of the free market. Isn't that what 'war' means - the destructive involvement of the State?"
 
Bits of History
The Past seen with a fresh look.
 
The Ancient Suicide of the West
        by Nicholas Davidson from LewRockwell.com
"Imagine a world in which peasants are bound to the soil; in which the military dominates society; in which soldiers form a hereditary caste; in which sons are required to follow their fathers' trade.... Such an image evokes for many the world of the Middle Ages; but it applies equally well ... to the society established by Diocletian and reinforced by Constantine...."
 
Economist for the Poor Wins Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty
        by Peter F. Schaefer from Cato Institute
"De Soto decoded America's legal revolution that allowed squatters who improved land to gain a property right to that land, thus preempting the owner. And if the owner moved them off the land, they had to be compensated for those improvements, which made reclamation unlikely. The first preemption code was passed in Virginian in 1642, but the principle was in operation from the first settlers."
 
When it comes to denying rights, we've been down this road before
        by James Ottavio Castagnera from Zwire
"In the near-century-and-a-half between the Civil War and the so-called War on Terror, other precedents support the President's power to put people, including his fellow citizens, in places where hearing the dogs bark is, at best, problematic."
 
War and Peace
Articles showing the nature of War.
 
Who's Responsible for the Iraqi Prisoner Abuse?
        by Harry Browne from HarryBrowne.org.
"In a kill-or-be-killed environment, emotions run high. Men don't just oppose the enemy, they hate him. And when they think information might save a buddy, they will commit heinous acts to extract the information from a prisoner. There's only one way to stop such things from happening: don't go to war in the first place."
 
The Lesson of the ANZAC's
        by Amir Butler from Antiwar.com
"Tens of thousands of young men died for one simple reason: the British were not prepared to 'cut and run.' They remained stubborn and obstinate despite facing what was clearly a battle that could not be won. Far from being an argument for a continued Iraqi occupation, the experience makes a powerful argument against 'staying the course' in an increasingly dangerous and hostile land."
 
Torture and Civilian Deaths in Three Counterinsurgencies
        by William Marina from Independent Institute
"What a century of this imperialism has done to Americans is not apt to be mentioned by those who glorify empire such as Niall Ferguson or William Kristol. Perhaps these are the people who ought to be the ones trained to do the torturing for the greater glories of the Empire!"
 
Great Individuals In History
Some people stand out from the crowd.
 
Actor - Gary Cooper : May 7, 1901
        by John Mulholland from GaryCooper.com
"Whether striding the streets of Hadleyville as Marshal Will Kane, romping over the Tennessee Hills as Alvin York, or facing down the city slickers as Longfellow Deeds, Gary Cooper embodied the best that was America."
 
Songwriter - Betty Comden : May 3, 1919
        from Internet Movie Database
"Songwriter ('New York, New York', 'Lonely Town', 'The Party's Over', 'Just in Time'), author and actress. educated at New York University with a Bachelor of Science degree."
 
Composer - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky : May 7, 1840
        by Allen Krantz from Classical Archives
"Tchaikovsky, along with Brahms, is probably the most performed of the late 19th century composers."
 
Culcha'
Books, Movies, TV, Media, Music, poetry, etc.
 
They Voted Against Mother's Day
        by Bill Kauffman from LewRockwell.com
"Senator Jacob Gallinger (R-NH) judged the very idea of Mother's Day to be an insult, as though his memory of his late mother 'could only be kept green by some outward demonstration on Sunday, May 10.' ... Besides -- and this objection may strike modern ears as bizarre -- whether or not young men honored their mothers was NONE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S BUSINESS."
 
Emma (1996)
        by Tom Ender from Endervidualism
"One of the ideas behind the scenes in Emma is the 'law of unintended consequences.' Normally one encounters this idea involved with a central planning agency of some kind. There is no government or State perceptible in this film, but Emma herself fills this role. For as the opening narration also has it she is 'a young woman who knew how this world should be run'." Emma is being shown by HBO on cable and DBS this month.
 
Kill It and Grill It -A Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish
        By Ted & Shemane Nugent, Review by Sunni Maravillosa from Townhall.com
"...Nugent makes it clear that he loves every element of the hunt -- and for good reason. Reading his tales of hunting in the southwestern desert and on his Michigan ranch captivate me. His love of nature and his acceptance of his part in the life and death cycle of all predators is compelling."
 
The lighter side
Humor, satire, cartoons, parodies, food, popular music and other things to amuse.
 
Let's Get Physical
        by Mark Fiore from The Village Voice
With the Physics of war, anything is possible.
 
Lone Wolf Ashcroft Given Rookie Partner
        from The Onion
John Ashcroft, the tough, no-nonsense U.S. attorney general famous for his refusal to take orders, was assigned a rookie trainee Tuesday.
 
U.S. to Hand Over Blame On June 30 - Rumsfeld 'Delighted' by News
        by Andy Borowitz from BorowitzReport
"In a nationally televised address, President George W. Bush revealed that the blame for the Iraqi prison abuse scandal would be transferred from the U.S. to the new Iraqi government on June 30."
 
Deep Thought
Scientific and scholarly studies, philosophical essays, in-depth and longer articles.
 
Balance of Power: Personal Power
        by Sunni Maravillosa from Endervidualism
"Each person has personal power to exert over him- or herself. While that's obvious, I think many people fail to see the depths of power inherent in that truth. Beyond choosing the clothes one wears, the food one eats, and other fairly mundane things, this sort of power is about making important choices. Choices about how to be, as a person. Choices about how to think, what to feel and value, how to act."
 
Which American?
        by Claes G. Ryn from LewRockwell.com
"The French Jacobins appointed France as the Savior Nation. The new Jacobins have appointed America. Its great, benevolent cause is to rid the world of evil. This cause gives the appetite for power the moral cover it likes to have. One kind of universalist ideology, communism, has been replaced by the ideology of American empire...."
 
Neoconservatives and the Freedom Philosophy
        by Richard Ebeling from The Freeman
"The public ethos of a free society rejects as inconsistent with liberty any notion that majorities or minorities may use the democratic process to restrict the freedom of the individual in his social, economic, and personal actions as long as he does not in any way violate the rights of others to peacefully go about their affairs."
 
Miscellany
Articles not easily classified.
 
Why Are You So Bitchy?
        by Matthew Bryan from Strike The Root
"To those who insist I have nothing to fear from the encroaching state as long as I 'obey the rules,' I ask these questions: Do you not realize all forms of preemptory public surveillance imply a presumption of guilt on your part? Why do you not resent this with all of your being? Why do you cede the privacy of your communications with others to federal agents so readily?"
 
Is the War Party Embarrassed by its Own Handiwork?
        by Anthony Gregory from LewRockwell.com
"There is no way to bring back the dead, and the momentum of the occupation will probably mean many more deaths in vain before the United States finally leaves Iraq. But perhaps there is at least hope for the future, and it will be harder to sucker Americans into another unjust war."
 
What is the Proper Way to Run a School?
        by Robert Murphy from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"We have the option of allowing free individuals to reach their own conclusions. In a private educational setting, with no government meddling, individual schools could set their own policies. Parents and students would then be free to patronize whichever schools seemed the most successful to them."
 
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