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Myth of the Kerry Calamity;
How Empires Really End;
Spectrum Should Be Private
Property;
To Kill A Mockingbird;
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 Oct. 24-30, 2004.
Table of
Contents: (Click on
the name to go to that section)
Political Liberty, Life in Amerika, Ordered Liberty without the State;
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Articles showing a
positive influence of political action on the cause of Liberty.
Hear Excerpt of Libertarian Candidate's
Speech
All Things Considered from NPR
"As part of our ongoing series of stump
speeches, we broadcast an excerpt of Libertarian party candidate Michael
Badnarik." This is a segment of a speech given at the Milwaukee School
of Engineering. (Windows Media)
A Modest Proposal -- Let's Allow
Negative Voting
by George C. Leef from The Future
of Freedom Foundation
"The trouble is that our current
voting rules, where you can only vote for a candidate, do not
allow people to most accurately register their feelings about
candidates. So here is my proposal: Voters should be allowed to
cast either positive or negative votes. A negative vote
subtracts from a candidate's positive vote total."
Contra Schulman
by Thomas L. Knapp from
RationalReview.com
"I don't see any reason to believe
that Bush is the 'lesser evil.' I don't believe that he is the
good to which some non-existent perfection is opposed. And I
believe that the possibility of his re-election, as compared
to the possibility that John Kerry might be elected, poses the
greater threat to the liberty of Americans, to the security of
the United States and to the peace of mankind."
Articles depicting
the negative impact of politics on Liberty.
The Myth of the Kerry Calamity
by Llewellyn H.
Rockwell, Jr. from LewRockwell.com
"One reason many
supported Bush the first time was because he would supposedly
stop the great catastrophe of a Gore victory. In fact, we can
have no idea what Gore would have done while in office. With a
Republican Congress, and a stock market deeply suspicious of
an anti-industry president, it might have ended in four years
of blessed gridlock instead of the wild ride of the lunatics
who currently hold office."
Government Debt- The Greatest Threat to National Security
by Ron Paul from The Free
Liberal
"Ultimately, debt is slavery.
Every dollar the federal government borrows makes us less
secure as a nation, by making America beholden to
interests outside our borders. So when you hear a
politician saying America will do 'whatever it takes' to
fight terrorism or rebuild Iraq or end poverty or provide
health care for all, what they really mean is they are
willing to sink America even deeper into debt."
Four More Years
by Mike Wasdin from Strike
The Root
"Why would anyone expect
that someone with any honor would run for President,
anyway? Who but a power hungry, egotistical,
megalomaniac would want the job in the first place?
Anyone with even a shred of decency could never be
elected, because it requires lies, deception, and
criminal intent to even be considered a viable
candidate."
Some people
say it's Anarchy, some say it's not possible. It is an
interesting topic.
Government
Is a Weapon of Mass Destruction
by Anthony Gregory from Strike The
Root
"Government is a monopoly on legal
violence and the legal threat of that violence. Perhaps it's
more accurate to call it a monopoly on aggression. In theory,
ideally, the individual retains the right to self-defense -- but
even this the state will often compromise, abrogate, or attempt
to banish completely. Governments, at a minimum, retain the
exclusive monopoly on the initiation of force."
A Rational Choice For November
2nd
by Butler Shaffer from
LewRockwell.com
"The only significant message
that could emerge from this election is if vast numbers of
eligible voters refuse to participate in the spectacle. To
paraphrase Charlotte Keyes, suppose they gave an election,
and no one came? "
What I Mean by 'Anarchy'
by Ali Hassan Massoud from
Strike The Root
"In Anarchy or a condition
of 'no-authority,' people will still need to obey the
rules, laws and customs of the group they have chosen to
affiliate themselves with, or whose territory they
inhabit or are currently in. Governance would not
disappear; it would necessarily devolve to smaller
groups, self-selected by the individual, though."
Articles
demonstrating an increase in the dispersal of power.
Imagine
There's No Healing
by Cat Farmer from The
Libertarian Enterprise
"Imagine a truly free market in
medicine, with places for the do-it-yourself healer to shop
for information, compare available products and therapies,
and consult experienced and caring people willing to offer
suggestions and instructions. Imagine a 'Health Depot:' A
vast yet accommodating supply house of tools, supplies, and
information on healing."
Twilight for
Traditional Telecom Regulation?
by Adam Thierer from
Cato Institute
"Slowly but surely,
change is coming to the world of telecommunications
regulation. While it's easy to get pessimistic about
the sluggish pace of reform in the eight years since
the not-so-revolutionary Telecommunications Act of
1996 passed, recent developments prove that central
planning is finally starting to give way to a future
of free markets and consumer choice."
Phantom road menace
by Matthew Magee
from Scotsman.com
"'Although we don't
normally think of it in these terms, traffic is
a social phenomenon in the sense that one
driver's behaviour affects that of others
nearby,' writes Strogatz. 'Every driver has the
power to impose his whims on others around him,
by tailgating or weaving aggressively, or
honking for no reason'."
Depictions of the coming Imperial power
Kerrycrats and the War -- The Great Delusion
by Alexander Cockburn
from CounterPunch
"The constituencies
President Kerry will be eager to placate and to
satisfy will be exactly the ones he has courted the
whole of this election year: the Neocons in
Washington, and the bankers in Wall St."
The lunatics, knaves, and fanatics who rule us
by Douglas Olson from
The Last Ditch
"What sane person would
spend millions of dollars of his personal fortune to
win a position that pays $160,000 a year? Senators
John Edwards (D-N.C.), Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), Frank
Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), and John D.
Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.) did. Such people are
obviously bored with money, and have no challenges
left except a lust for power, which it is far too
easy to purchase in America today."
7 homeschooling
dads thrown in jail
by Ron Strom from
WorldNetDaily.com
"Seven homeschooling
fathers in Germany spent several days in jail
for refusing to pay fines that were imposed on
them for failing to send their children to
government schools."
War, rumors of war, and politicians fomenting war.
Six questions
for President Bush
by Joseph Audie
from The Last Ditch
"Mr. President,
prior to the invasion of Iraq I inferred that
Iraq no longer possessed WMDs and lacked an
active WMD program. I managed to figure that
out by spending a few hours per week searching
the Internet while dippin' Skoal. Indeed, it
was obvious to me that Iraq did not possess
WMDs. In light of that, and given your
pre-invasion guarantee that Iraq had such
weapons, it seems to follow that you are
either dangerously incompetent or mendacious
-- you are either a fool or a liar. Either
way, it seems you are not fit to be president.
Do you care to comment?"
Campaign candor
can prove a losing proposition
by Robyn E.
Blumner from St. Petersburg Times
"Only those
candidates who promise a boatload of
middle-class goodies as well as tax cuts and
protection for Social Security and Medicare,
have a shot at winning. Candidates who try
to responsibly raise difficult realities,
such as the likelihood that current Social
Security benefits are unsustainable into the
future, are unilaterally disarming. They may
leave the political battlefield with their
integrity intact, but that is all they would
leave with."
Voter's Digest
by James
Ridgeway from The Village Voice
"Throughout this
election, the Voice will be gathering
information and articles about allegations
of voter fraud and disenfranchisement."
Articles
showing decentralized successes.
Trimming Waistlines by Trimming
Government
by Michael Cannon/Radley
Balko from Cato Institute
"Currently, many
states require insurers to charge the same premiums for any member
of a group health plan, regardless of risk. Removing those
barriers would encourage insurers to begin experimenting with
carrot-and-stick approaches to healthy lifestyles. One company
might give premium discounts for gym memberships, for example.
Another might foot the bill for nutritional counseling. In short,
we'd get a system where health insurers compete amongst themselves
to contrive a system that best balances the health and
self-interest of consumers."
Gov'ts must
minimize roles in economic growth
by Jia Hepeng from
Chinadaily.com.cn
"Frederich Hayek (1899-1992), winner
of the 1974 Nobel prize in economics, argued governments always
receive limited information. Therefore, he suggested, a
government, by interfering with market operations, will disrupt
the market's spontaneous order."
Has a New Era
of Space Venture Arrived?
by Raymond J. Keating from The
Freeman: Ideas on Liberty (FEE)
"One has to ask: why is government
involved in outer space, beyond any national-security and
law-enforcement needs? Space travel certainly is exciting, and
the expansion of knowledge of the universe is a worthy endeavor.
But these facts do not mean that taxpayers should be forced to
pick up the tab. Leave these adventures and inquiries to private
groups, allow the government to undertake appropriate defense
matters in space, and close down NASA."
Articles
showing centrally planned disasters.
NEWS & COLUMNS -- The Two
Johns
by Paul
Krassner from New York Press
"The drug laws
that imprison non-violent youth, that allow the seizure of
property -- many times without an arrest -- that is then
converted to cash to fund the DEA. The two Wars on Whores
and Drugs are the foundation for the discrimination against
women and minorities, and the justification for the violence
by the state."
Government: Trafficking in
Failure
by Mark Thornton from Ludwig
von Mises Institute
"With government, speed limits
are influenced by political and environmental
consideration and the rules of the road are enforced in an
arbitrary manner. As a result, the bulk of drivers simply
flaunt existing rules resulting in more accidents and in
the extreme we have the problem of 'road rage' where
people take the law into their own hands."
Blame Government for the
Vaccine Shortage
by Sheldon Richman from The
Future of Freedom Foundation
"We now know that when the
government tries to suppress the production of a drug,
say, heroin, supplies nevertheless remain plentiful. Yet
when the government tries to guarantee production of a
drug, say, flu vaccine, supplies can run short,
endangering the people most vulnerable to disease. That's
government for you. "
War is the ultimate State intervention in
society.
American Exceptionalism
by Ivan
Eland from Antiwar.com
"Meanwhile,
every overseas war in which the United States has been
embroiled has undermined individual liberties at home.
For example, the Bush administration’s war on terrorism
has given us the draconian PATRIOT Act, which allows
more U.S. government snooping into the lives of its
citizens."
The Iraq War Has Made Us
neither Safer nor Freer
by Jacob G. Hornberger
from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"Did you ever think you'd
live in a country where the military, following in the
footsteps of their counterparts in Argentina and
Chile, would actually claim and exercise the power to
seize any American and foreigner anywhere in the
world, including right here on American soil, and send
him to a military brig for the rest of his life,
claiming that no federal court had the power to
interfere with such operations, denying the accused
habeas corpus, right to counsel, and due-process
principles that stretch all the way back to Magna
Carta? "
Fear and Loathing in
America
by Mike Wasdin from
Strike The Root
"The war on 'terror' will
never be over, it will just change locations. Like the
war on drugs, prostitution, pornography, and the many
others that will follow, it is a war on humanity.
These wars will never be won; the State will just keep
creating new boogiemen to frighten us with."
The Past seen with a
fresh look.
by Sean
Corrigan from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"Buy gold,
then, if you will -- but only because you share the
view that it is very much harder to acquire than paper
money is to create and that this means it should tend
to maintain its value better. ... In trying to
preserve your liberty from the zealots in charge of
today's increasingly Roman State, don't surrender it
instead to your fears by becoming either a
metaphorical or an actual survivalist."
A Forgotten Day & a
Forgotten Country
by Harry Browne from
HarryBrowne.org
"And what we have in
America today is so far from what existed in 1886
that they really should replace the Statue of
Liberty with something much more appropriate --
perhaps soldiers holding assault rifles. Call it the
Statue of the World's Policeman, the Statue of the
Superpower, the Statue of the National Interest, or
the Statue of the All-Powerful State."
Still More Trouble for
the Lincoln Cartel
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
from LewRockwell.com
"Northern politicians
wanted protectionism, corporate welfare, and the
giving away of public lands, as opposed to their
sale. All of these policies were opposed by Southern
Democrats, who correctly viewed them as instruments
of plunder at their expense."
Articles showing the
nature of War.
Bush's Iraq War: An
Offer You Would Have Refused
by
Robert Higgs from The Independent Institute
"In
exchange for $2,000 from your personal bank account
and a nontrivial chance of death or injury among
members of your household, it offers you -- well,
scarcely anything of value. Even the good part of
the deal, the overthrow of the tyrant Saddam
Hussein, is unlikely to be worth so much to you;
even if you are that rare American who cares deeply
about the well-being of the Iraqi people, it's not
as if once the old tyrant has been driven from
power, everything will be sweetness and light in
Iraq...."
Kerry's Entangling
Alliances
by Michael Badnarik
from Antiwar.com
"Democratic skeptics
of Bush's procedural and logistical missteps in
the Iraq war, and especially of his unilateralism,
have yet to answer an important but rarely raised
question: Is waging a non-defensive, imperialistic
war okay if you have more people on your side?"
Seymour Hersh: Man On
Fire
interviewed
by Lakshmi Chaudhry from AlterNet
"I'm one of those
people who believes that Bush really did go to war
to free the Middle East and turn these nations
into democracies. I don't think he went to war for
oil primarily or Israel. He went because he has
this 'idee fixe' that it was his mission, his
crusade to change the Middle East -- to turn it
into a democratic stronghold of good, well-meaning
people who would buy American and support Israel
against the Palestinians and keep the oil flowing.
It's idealistic. It's utopian. Is there anything
more dangerous than an ideologue who doesn't know
he's wrong?"
Some people stand out
from the crowd.
Radical/Mathematician - Evariste Galois : Oct.
25, 1811
from GAP -
Groups, Algorithms, Programming
"February 1827
was a turning point in Galois' life. He
enrolled in his first mathematics class, the
class of M. Vernier. He quickly became
absorbed in mathematics…."
Actor/Comedian - John Cleese : Oct. 27, 1939
by Leonard
Maltin (and others) from Internet Movie
Database
"Ever since
one of his most famous Monty Python
sketches, 'The Ministry of Silly Walks',
he has found himself continually pestered
by admirers to do silly walks for them.
'Who's Who' lists his recreations as
'gluttony, sloth'."
Singer -
Grace Slick : Oct. 30, 1939
from A
Jefferson Starship/Airplane Site
"Grace, as a
newcomer, merely sang over Signe's parts
on most of 'Surrealistic Pillow', but she
did contribute two stand-out cuts from the
Great Society -- 'White Rabbit' and Darby
Slick's 'Somebody to Love'. Though the
Airplane recognized those songs as
special, even they had little inkling as
to how popular they would become."
Books, Movies, TV,
Media, Music, poetry, etc.
Reviewed by Tom Ender from Endervidualism
"Atticus
may sum up much of the difference in attitude
between the world of the movie and the world of
today when he says: 'There's a lot of ugly things in
this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away
from you. That's never possible.' When parents
perceive that it isn't possible to totally shelter
their children, instead they usually attempt to
prepare them for life."
The Black Arrow
Reviewed by Sunni
Maravillosa from The Price of Liberty
"'The Black Arrow' is
a unique novel. It's a complex blend of
stylization, inspiration, and information that
works wonderfully at portraying personal,
interpersonal, and logistical challenges the
freedom movement faces. Suprynowicz has a
reputation for being a master wordsmith, and 'The
Black Arrow' adds a new dimension to his
well-deserved acclaim. Suprynowicz's tale combines
superhero stylishness with realistic problems and
strategies, resulting in an inspiring portrayal of
freedom activism and people whose lives are
centered on winning liberty."
Dubya bin Laden
by Bob Wallace from
Strike The Root
"'Pinky and the Brain'
may have been the catalyst, but the ideas went
beyond the cartoon. In real life, leaders
afflicted with hubris always engage in
black-or-white thinking. Bush sure does,
believing he is engaged in a contest between Good
and Evil. And I'm sure the other side thinks
exactly the same thing, with the roles reversed.
And there is no one more liable to murder than
someone who is convinced he is absolutely in the
right, and dealing with someone he truly believes
to be evil who is trying to destroy everything."
Humor, satire, cartoons,
parodies, food, popular music
and other things to amuse.
Republicans Urge Minorities
To Get Out And Vote On Nov. 3
from The Onion
"With the knowledge that the
minority vote will be crucial in the upcoming
presidential election, Republican Party officials are
urging blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities to make
their presence felt at the polls on Wednesday, Nov. 3."
In Search Of An Honest
Republican
by Peter Bagge from
Reason
This is a multiple panel
per page, 4 page political cartoon strip, which really
has a great deal of substance.
Why Anarchists Must
Support Bush
by Anthony Gregory from
Strike The Root
"Bush realizes that the
world is a dangerous place, that there are people
everywhere who want to destroy America, that it's good
to get some of your armies in the Middle East, because
it makes it hard for your opponent to take Europe and
Asia -- and that taking Europe and Asia would allow
your opponent to get twelve extra armies each turn, on
top of the number of territories he controls divided
be three and any extra armies because of countries he
owns that correspond to the cards he might turn it at
any time."
Scientific
and scholarly studies, philosophical essays,
in-depth and longer articles.
by B.K. Marcus from
Ludwig von Mises Institute
"Murray Rothbard's praxeological
property theory makes common law
more coherent and obviates our
dependency on metaphor. While
classical (and neoclassical)
property models struggle to
adjust to new conditions, the
'relevant technological unit'
serves as a principle for
judging any new resource -- or
new understanding of an old
resource." This is a long, but
excellent and insightful essay.
The Miracle Of Voting
by Russell Madden from Atlas
Magazine
"I
accept and acknowledge that
such a sea-change in awareness
and action among people today
is unlikely to occur anytime
soon. But there was a time not
so long ago in this country
when most citizens realized
that they had no claim on the
lives of other Americans. If
such attitudes prevailed once,
they can gain ascendancy
again."
Hayek and Iraq
by Max Borders from Tech
Central Station
"Anyone who cares about the
success of Iraq would do well
to pay attention to both
sides' interpretations of
Hayek, as each camp's
treatment can inform the
nation-building project, such
as it is. The key Hayekian
insights are two sides of the
same coin."
Articles not
easily classified.
Privacy and Freedom Cost
$100
by Joe Blow from Strike
The Root
"Even if you plan to
continue living in the U.S. for now, you should keep a
valid passport for contingency purposes. Think of it
as your escape plan, should it ever become necessary.
If you don't have a valid passport, when you need one
you will be out of luck since it takes several weeks
to receive a new passport, even with express
delivery."
Hayek and Market
Socialism: Science, Ideology, and Public Policy
by Peter J. Boettke
from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"If incentives are not
required for individuals to pursue the social good
due to a change in human nature, then there still
remains the question as to what exactly would be
the correct action required to achieve economic
optimality and thus the social good. Here the
argument moves beyond the incentive alignment
question of coordination to the informational
requirements of coordination. Once again private
property plays a vital role because it is a
precondition for exchange."
My Endorsement for
President: Libertarian Candidate Michael Badnarik
by Glenn Sacks from
MensNewsDaily
"Many of you have
written to me asking me who I think deserves the
vote of those of us concerned about boys', men's
and fathers' issues in the upcoming presidential
election."
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