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Cartoon World of Good &
Evil; Reflections On
Democracy;
Corporate State Socialism;
Equilibrium; 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 June 20-26, 2004.
Comments,
suggestions and discussion
on the content and structure of this review are welcome
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Political
Liberty
Articles showing a
positive influence of political action on the cause of Liberty.
Identities and Aliases
by Joe Blow from Strike The Root
"Identities are labels, but there is no
limit on how many you may have. In most states, there are two ways to
change your name. One is to go to court to petition for a change. The
other is to just start using a new name. Both methods are totally
legal. Who's to say that you didn't decide to change your name five
minutes before the police detained you and then changed your mind
again after they left? It would be legal to do so."
Libertarians aim to 'cost Bush the election'
by Vin Suprynowicz from Las Vegas
Review-Journal
"He and sidekick Jon Airheart, a
former University of Texas student impressed with Badnarik's
ability to sell the libertarian message, covered 24,000 miles,
hitting 36 states. Although Badnarik says there were days when
they counted their dollars to see if they could afford a room
and a meal and still have enough to gas up and reach the next
town, in the process he has gained enormously in poise and
confidence as a public speaker."
Throw the Bums Out
by Gail Jarvis from
LewRockwell.com
"In 1992, after withdrawing and
reentering the race, firing his campaign manager, selecting
a weak running mate and other flip-flopping, Ross Perot
still garnered almost 20% of the popular vote. Teddy
Roosevelt got almost 30% of the popular vote in the 1912
election. These statistics bode well for a third party bid
for the presidency."
Life in
Amerika
Articles depicting
the negative impact of politics on Liberty.
Dudley Do-Right and Deputy Dove
by Matthew Bryan from Strike
The Root
"The implications of the case
are chilling. Officers of the state now have a doubly
reinforced precedent to stop anyone, anywhere for anything.
... There is now literally nothing stopping the 'protect and
serve' crowd from detaining you based on the flimsiest, or
most patently false, of pretexts."
Cooperate, Or Else!
by Timothy Lynch from
Reason
"Citizens ought to be able
to turn to a simple defense when confronted by abusive
police behavior (instead of acquiescing and 'winning' in
court at some later date). Unfortunately, the Court has
now hopelessly complicated the simple right to remain
silent."
Torture Trail
by Nat Hentoff from The
Village Voice
"Will there be
congressional subpoenas for the leading members of
this working group who deliberately bypassed the 1949
Geneva Conventions as well as the U.N. Convention
Against Torture, which this nation signed in 1994, and
the Torture Statute passed by Congress that prohibits
torture anywhere outside the United States? "
Ordered Liberty
without the State
Some
people say it's Anarchy, some say it's not possible. It is
an interesting topic.
by Fred Reed from
FredOnEverything
"Finally,
cultivate apathy, which is cheaper than Prozac and works
better. You do not worry about what you do not care about. I
do not propose a depressed scowl at life, but merely a
wholesome indifference toward those forces malign and
otherwise over which you can have no influence. ... A huge gap
separates those who, on the one hand, eat their souls up over
things they can’t change, and those who, on the other, focus
on their friends, family, children. You probably have a sense
of what is right, wrong, moral, decent, and just. To these, I
say, you owe allegiance. To nothing else."
Church and State
by Catfarmer from The Price
of Liberty
"I picture Church and State as
one dragon with different cut out clothes and
terminological accessories for various tastes and
occasions. So many rational people blame religion for the
Church's influence that it seems equally rational to blame
secularism for the State's influence."
To Serve and
Protect--Itself
by John Peters from
Strike The Root
"If these police officers
had been private security officers instead, they and
their employer would be held accountable in a court of
law under breach of contract or negligence theories.
Alas, they are government employees. The result is
that they are not accountable for their malfeasance or
her death. This is what separates the private sector
from government."
Spreading Decentralism
Articles demonstrating an increase in the dispersal of
power.
Parental involvement not
always as expected
by Susan Cassatt from
aberdeennews.com
"The encouragement of parent
involvement is a two-edged sword. When parents become
involved with the lives and education of their children
they may want to educate their children in a different
style from what our educational systems provide."
Why You Shouldn't
Disarm Crazy People
by Doug Newman from
Strike The Root
"Gun laws do not deter
crime. If you are determined enough, you will use
a gun anyway (Harris and Klebold) or you will find
a plan B such as a knife (O.J. Simpson),
fertilizer (Tim McVeigh), a bathtub (Andrea Yates)
or box cutters (Mohammed Atta and friends). The
only people affected by gun laws are law-abiding
folks."
Beggars Can Be
Choosers
by Robert P.
Murphy from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"In the case of
pure charity, what happens in this: Britain
sends Zambia free clothing, thus obviating the
need for a Zambian textile industry. This
frees up Zambian labor for other tasks. And
into which tasks should these unemployed be
directed? Whatever goods and services the now
much richer Zambian consumers buy with their
extra money (previously spent on clothing)."
The
New World Hegemon
Depictions of the coming Imperial power
Bush Continues the
'Big Lie' in the Face of Mountains of Contrary
Evidence
by Ivan Eland from The
Independent Institute
"Conveniently ...
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who is seeking
to curry favor with the only remaining superpower,
claims that Russian intelligence services warned the
United States after 9/11 that Saddam Hussein was
planning terrorist attacks against U.S. targets. ...
One wonders ... whether we should put much faith in
intelligence supplied by the former KGB."
No Right to Remain
Silent
by Sheldon Richman
from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"It should make the
citizens of a putatively free country
uncomfortable to know that the police can have the
authority to stop and demand identification on the
basis of a 'reasonable suspicion,' which after all
is a highly subjective state of mind."
Bill O'Reilly's
Final Solution -- Bomb the Living Daylights Out of
Them
by Thomas Wheeler
from Strike The Root
"The Geneva
Convention states that destroying
infrastructure essential to the survival of
civilian populations is a war crime and the
'starvation of civilians as a method of
warfare is prohibited.' Besides being an
obvious racist, O'Reilly is an advocate of
targeting and killing civilians (non-white
folks, of course) that clearly constitute war
crimes and crimes against humanity. ... You
are either with us or against us. America über
alles. Sound familiar?"
Politics by Other Means
War, rumors of war, and politicians
fomenting war.
Politicians--Are They Prostitutes or Pimps?
by Robert
Johnson from Strike The Root
"The President
and Congressmen/women walk the halls before
their clients from the lobby groups. The
lobbyists whisper in the ears of the
political prostitutes what they're after.
...[T]he politician/prostitute feigns
concern that the request goes against their
'convictions.' Knowing this game, the
client/john/lobbyist, offers more money to
further entice the reluctant political
whore...."
The
Quintessential Politician
by Harry
Browne from HarryBrowne.org
"His [Ronald
Reagan] electoral victories gave
doctrinaire conservatives something to
cheer about, because they're far more
concerned with winning elections than in
bringing liberty back to America. It's not
surprising that they revere both Franklin
Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, since both
demonstrated how insincerity can succeed
in politics."
At Justice,
worst record in memory
by Robyn E.
Blumner from St. Petersburg Times
"Mr. Attorney
General, I must speak frankly about an
issue that has emerged as a basic problem
during your tenure. There are two words
that succinctly sum up the Justice
Department's accountability and its
cooperation with congressional oversight
on your watch. Those two words are
'sparse' and 'grudging'."
Spontaneous Order
Articles
showing decentralized successes.
Are Markets Boring?
by Llewellyn H.
Rockwell, Jr. from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"To the extent that
you move away from market means, you leave the sphere of
voluntarism and enter the sphere of coercion. Markets do not
exist as a 'policy'; they are the de facto result of respecting
rights to person and property. It is impossible to move away
from market means without violating the rights to person and
property."
Inside-Out
by Hanah Metchis from Reason
"Americans are savvy enough to
know that a high-tech scan is no substitute for the personal
care of a family doctor. ... Instead, these patients are not
satisfied with the passive role that traditional medical
practices has scripted for them. They want to take control of
their health situation, and now technology and the free market
are providing that opportunity."
American-style race to space
from USA TODAY
"Funded by Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen and built by legendary airplane designer Burt Rutan,
it's an example of what makes America such a vibrant place.
The project unites the nation's genius for free enterprise,
its hunger to push back frontiers and its abiding love of
contests."
Nonspontaneous Disorder
Articles
showing centrally planned disasters.
Your Right to Deflation
by Llewellyn
H. Rockwell, Jr. from LewRockwell.com
"Sadly, in our
times, we are being robbed of our right to deflation by a
massive countervailing force: the central bank. Thanks to
the Federal Reserve and its monetary spigot, the value of
our money continues to decline overall rather than
increase as it should. We now face the largest increase in
consumer prices in 2.5 years."
Gobbling freedom
by Joel Miller from
WorldNetDaily.com
"In all its forms, the
prohibitionist approach to life -- e.g., ban or restrict
all things remotely troublesome or messy -- is not only
profoundly un-American (notice the Constitution gives
the federal government no power to control these facets
of our lives), but it is also based on an incredible
contempt for individual freedom and responsibility."
Leave telecommunications to
the marketplace
by Doug Bandow from
Townhall.com
"Yet broadband Internet
access, which transforms service possibilities, seems to
be crawling rather than galloping. So both President
George W. Bush and presumptive Democratic presidential
nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., have promised to
invest in broadband. The problem is not inadequate
federal attention, however. It is misguided regulation -
for 70 years and counting - that has slowed the
development of broadband."
War Is The Health Of The State
War is the ultimate State intervention in
society.
by
Anthony Gregory from Strike the Root
"Socialism
and corporations without the aid of the coercive state
are voluntary economic agreements that could
conceivably coexist in peace. Anarcho-capitalism and
anarcho-socialism are not necessarily mutually
exclusive. With the power of the state, however, state
corporatism and state socialism become the greatest
enemies to human freedom, redistributing wealth,
empowering the elites, and fostering war."
Global Eye -- Spy Game
by Chris Floyd from
TheMoscowTimes.com
"It would be the answer
to Osama bin Laden's prayers: an unprovoked
'Crusader' attack on the Muslim heartland, an
inexhaustible recruiting tool for generations of
'holy warriors.' Bush knew this going in -- he just
didn't care. His eyes were on the prize -- the
milking of Iraq for power and profit -- not on the
security of those riff-raff who didn't even elect
him president: the American people."
The Final Victim of
9/11: the Myth of Government Competence
by James Ostrowski from
LewRockwell.com
"If a novelist of
Dostoevsky's caliber set out to illustrate the
inherent incompetence of government, he could not
surpass the impact of a third-rate journalist's
account of what the federal government 'did' on
September 11, 2001. Then ... the myth of the modern
state as our indispensable protector has been
destroyed."
Bits of History
The Past seen with a
fresh look.
A Lesson from Vietnam, Part 1
(has links to Parts 2 & 3)
by
Wendy Mcelroy from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"Not
understanding the culture, religion, or tribal
structure of Vietnam, the Americans did not realize
that Diem was systematically destroying the social
networks that had held off communism for decades. He
did so with the same motivation that possesses all
political leaders; he wanted to maintain and
increase his power."
Whose Mug on the
Paper?
by Clifford F. Thies
from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"Our money results
from political decisions. Thus, our productivity,
wages and standards of living, our money and our
wealth, are continually at risk. If good decisions
are made, we will prosper, and if poor decisions
are made, we will suffer."
Why We Don't Speak
French
by Ralph Kinney
Bennett from Tech Central Station
"It can fairly be said
that America as a distinct and separate entity
really began on this green, mountainous frontier.
The buckskin-clad souls living here by wit and
watchfulness had to be independent, because the
'protection' of the British crown was pretty much
a concept rather than a reality."
War and Peace
Articles showing the
nature of War.
The Honest Case for
War
by
Matthew Barganier from Antiwar.com
"So
our first objective is to liberate the Iraqi
people. ... Our second objective is to secure
Israel's interests, at least as the Likud party
defines [them].... Our final objective is to show
the Arabs and other Muslims who's boss. ... Yes,
we want to help them, we want to give them
American political institutions, we want them to
love us - but above all, we want them to fear us."
The Wrong War
by Patrick J.
Buchanan from LewRockwell.com
"In his now-famous
2002 State of the Union, President Bush named
Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an 'axis of evil.'
He vowed that America would not allow any one of
the three to acquire weapons of mass
destruction. In 2003, we attacked and invaded
the only one of the three that did not have a
secret nuclear program. ... At this point, the
Bush Doctrine has to be judged a limited
success."
Resolving the
Catch-22 in Iraq
by Christopher
Preble from Cato Institute
"A catch-22 is a
no-win situation. So long as one remains in the
situation, one cannot win, no matter what one
does. Such is the case in Iraq. On the one hand,
the United States is responsible for ensuring
the security of the Iraqi people, including the
task of killing or capturing those who would
prefer the country stay in a state of anarchy.
On the other hand, whenever the United States
tries to accomplish this task, the actions
threaten or bring harm to some individuals who
were not engaged in the insurgency. So the
catch-22 is: America must harm Iraqis in order
to liberate them."
Great Individuals In History
Some people stand out
from the crowd.
Philosopher/Historian - Adam Ferguson : June
20, 1723
from History
of Economic Thought
"Human
institutions, he argued, emerge
spontaneously from human activity, and
evolve in a variety of ways: 'Every step
and every movement of the multitude, even
in what are termed enlightened ages, are
made with equal blindness to the future;
and nations stumble upon establishments,
which are indeed the result of human
action, but not the execution of any human
design.'(Ferguson, 1767: Pt. 3.2) This
idea of 'spontaneous order' arising from
human interaction is echoed in modern
evolutionary economics, particularly in
the work of F.A. Hayek."
Singer -
Cyndi Lauper: June 20, 1953 (She still bops)
by Michael
Dwyer from The Age
"You always
have to remember, there'll always be
somebody to tell you what you should be
and when and how you should be it. But
if you feel a calling within you, to
stand on your feet and feel grounded and
feel elated and happy and free, you
don't have to go along with it. Yeah,
you have to get along with other people,
but you don't have to be in shackles."
Film
Director/Writer - Billy Wilder : June 22,
1906
by Michael
Brooke from IMDB
"His
partnership with Charles Brackett
started in 1938 and was responsible for
the scripts of some classic Hollywood
comedies, including 'Ninotchka' and
'Ball of Fire'. The partnership expanded
into a producer-director one in 1942
with Brackett producing, which turned
such classics as 'Double Indemnity'...."
Culcha'
Books, Movies,
TV, Media, Music, poetry, etc.
Reviewed by Tom Ender from Endervidualism
"Equilibrium
blends elements that can also be found in
The Matrix, Nineteen Eighty Four, Fahrenheit 451,
and Brave New World, but it is also more.
When Preston meets sense offender Mary O’Brien
(Emily Watson) she rightly questions him about why
he is alive: what purpose his life serves. He has
no satisfactory answer. Equilibrium
attempts to supply an answer to that fundamental
question and other similar posers."
Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 9/11: A
Conservative Critique
-- by William Norman Grigg from
LewRockwell.com
Thank You, Michael Moore
-- by William Rivers Pitt from t r u t h o u t
I have not been a fan of Michael Moore's
productions. I spite of that I went to see
'Fahrenheit 9/11' Saturday evening. It was
sold out at every regular showing in town, but I
was lucky enough to find an entrepreneurial
theater which added a special midnight showing.
That also sold out, but not before I got
tickets. I don't think most people know the
facts presented in this movie. I already knew
most of them, but they were presented in a very
persuasive manner. This movie "has legs." It may
help make a very interesting election season.
Can
George Bush Be Americanized?
by Harry Browne
from HarryBrowne.org
"'The
Americanization of Emily'
is one of my favorite movies, and it's certainly
one of the best anti-war movies ever made. ...
The admiral [Melvyn Douglas] wants to make a
movie showing that the first Americans to reach
France on D-Day are naval demolition engineers,
clearing the mines so the soldiers and marines
can hit the beach. He commands Charlie [James
Garner] to be there with a camera filming the
operation."
The lighter side
Humor, satire, cartoons,
parodies, food, popular music
and other things to amuse.
Majority Of Kerry Voters
Believe He Is Not Bush -- Not-Bushness Key to Dem's
Appeal, Poll Suggests
by Andy Borowitz from
BorowitzReport
"Asked to name the issue
that concerned them most, 9% of Kerry voters named
'improving the economy,' 12% named 'fighting
terrorism,' and a whopping 79% named 'electing someone
who is not George Bush'."
Halliburton: America's
Favorite Contractor
by Mark Fiore from The
Village Voice
"They spare no expense!"
How cronyism is spoiling the reputation of the
"private sector."
China Stockpiling
Massive Fireworks Arsenal
from The Onion
"Galliard said that,
while she doesn't want to be an alarmist, she has
received reliable intelligence suggesting that a
major fireworks-related incident on American soil is
being planned for early July."
Deep Thought
Scientific
and scholarly studies, philosophical essays,
in-depth and longer articles.
by Bob Wallace from
Endervidualism
"It is a continuum, but the
more one is afflicted with
narcissism, with hubris, the
more one sees that continuum
as either all good at one end
and all bad at the other, with
nothing in between. That's why
we end up with the cartoon
world of Pure Good and Pure
Evil mapped onto the continuum
that exists in the real world.
It exists harmlessly in the
imaginary Secondary World, but
when it makes it way to the
Primary World, it causes
nothing but horrendous
trouble."
Getting the Skinny on Fat
by Radley Balko from Tech
Central Station
"This isn't to definitively
say people like Paul Campos
and Jeffrey Friedman are
right, and the obesity
warriors are wrong. But it
is to say that we ought to
have a debate, and the
debate shouldn't be premised
on the notion that we're
already in full crisis mode,
the sky is already hurtling
earthward, and that the only
real debate ought to be over
which panoply of government
programs we ought to
implement to keep earth and
sky from colliding."
Civil Society in Ancient Greece:
The Case of Athens
by Roderick T. Long from
LewRockwell.com
"The conception of freedom
endorsed by democratic
ideology was not simply the
freedom to participate in
political decision-making
(though that was part of it)
but, as Aristotle laments,
the freedom to 'do as one
pleases.' ... Democratic
Athens in particular allowed
considerable scope for
private action free from
governmental
interference...."
Miscellany
Articles not
easily classified.
They May Be Heroes
by Drew Taggart from
intellectualconservative.com
"They are men who
truly loved their families and were robbed of all
hope in this life. They gave all they had… and
failed… and this happens everyday here in the Home
of the Brave and the Land of the Free. Perhaps the
one most basic liberty throughout the history of
man is the freedom to become and be a parent and
today that once valued estate is routinely stolen
in our nation’s family court system."
Fairness with Your
Coffee?
by N. Joseph Potts
from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"Yes, Fair Trade
marijuana could be the very next thing. The
purpose of all this stuff, after all, is to make
you feel good. Including -- especially including
-- the Fair Trade. And speaking of drugs and
governments, it seems that part of the global
increase in the supply of coffee comes from
Colombia, where government agents have
'persuaded' growers of coca, the main ingredient
of cocaine, to switch their cultivation efforts to
the main ingredient of government-approved
caffeine."
Prophet for Hire, Cheap
by Bob Wallace from
Strike The Root
"I know that those
behind these wars think they are for a good reason.
They're 'pre-emptive,' to get rid of the Bad Guys,
even though evil cannot be eradicated.
Unfortunately, that 'pre-emption' involves murdering
a lot of innocent people, lying to just about
everyone, and stealing the wealth and liberty of
Americans, and the land, oil and liberty of
foreigners."
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