Nov. 5 — 11, 2006

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Ender's Review
of the Web

Web articles of likely interest to individualists found during the preceding week.
 

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Pursuing Liberty

Articles showing the positive influence of action in the pursuit of Liberty.

Lawsuit Challenges Academic 'Freedom'

      By Wendy McElroy from FOX News

"The case is being painted as 'Christian versus leftist' or 'conservative versus liberal,' but it is far more. It reaches to the heart of freedom of conscience, whatever the content of the conscience may be."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227964,00.html

How to Stage a Coup, American-Style

      By Nathan Thornburgh from Time Magazine

"If Ron Helwig can join the revolution, then so can you. All you have to do is believe, as Helwig does, that the government has gone way too far in regulating your personal life, taxing your income and invading your privacy. And, of course, you have to move to New Hampshire."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555119,00.html

Republican Election Fiasco

      By Edward Hudgins from The Objectivist Center

"The battle today, as in decades past, is between two visions of America. One is of a country of individuals who are capable living their own lives and thus should be left free to do as they please, to make money or families or whatever they want as long as they take responsibility for their actions and deal with their fellows based on mutual consent. This, the vision of America's Founders, sees a government limited to protecting our liberties. In such a robust Republic we all are enriched, educated, enlightened and inspired by the productive efforts and achievements of our fellow citizens. The other vision is of a country of whining, servile subjects who can't tie their shoes or wipe their noses without government help."

http://www.objectivistcenter.org/cth-43-1809-Republican_Election_Fiasco.aspx

Credit Where Due

      By Adam B. Schaeffer from Cato Institute

"The politics of school choice is changing, too, and school-choice supporters need to take advantage of it. Supporters of school choice should take advantage of Spitzer’s overtures to raise their expectations and push for educational freedom on a much more meaningful scale. ... It’s easier to help the disadvantaged through a program that helps everybody."

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6765

Life in Amerika

Articles depicting the negative impact of politics on the cause of Liberty.

S.D. school confiscates teens' medical-marijuana T-shirts

      By The Associated Press from firstamendmentcenter.org

"Two Rapid City high school students who showed up to school wearing T-shirts advocating passage of South Dakota's medical-marijuana ballot issue have had those shirts confiscated…. The green T-shirts featured an image of a marijuana leaf and the message 'Vote Yes on Initiated Measure 4.' Students can wear political T-shirts as long as administrators determine the clothing is appropriate, Wharton said. Some have worn T-shirts urging passage of South Dakota's abortion ban."

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=17627

pard'

      By B.K. Marcus from lowercase liberty

"I apologize for being so insensitive on this issue, for not caring about all the complexities behind choosing contemporary non-sexist and non-heteronormative language. I apologize for being so sexist and heteronormative for believing that clarity of communication was easier before everyone undertook the value-neutralizing language-update game."

http://www.bkmarcus.com/blog/2006/11/pard.html

My Latest Terrorist Tendencies

      By James Bovard from BOVARD

"I was subwaying into Washington last night when I learned of a grave new terrorist peril. The train’s driver kept repeating, 'For safety and security reasons, please do not take pictures or video recordings of Metro trains and buses.' He recited this core message with often mystifying enunciation after each subway station."

http://jimbovard.com/blog/2006/11/12/my-latest-terrorist-tendencies/

Nobody Said Life Was Fair

      By James Leroy Wilson from Independent Country

"Ed Bradley navigated the racially-charged Duke rape case story, in which three Duke University lacrosse players are charged in the rape of a black stripper. His story on 60 Minutes some weeks ago was absolutely devastating, establishing beyond reasonable doubt that the young men are innocent and nailing District Attorney Mike Nifong for irregular and incompetent proscutorial conduct. The bad news is that Nifong was re-elected on Tuesday."

http://independentcountry.blogspot.com/2006/11/nobody-said-life-was-fair.html

Ordered Liberty without the State

Some people say it's Anarchy, some say it's not possible. It is an interesting topic.

Voting: Suppressing Change Through the Pursuit of Power

      By Jeff Snyder from LewRockwell.com

"The essence of the vote is the acquisition of power over others, not, note well, the good faith determination of the relative worthiness of specific societal goals. If it were the latter, the vote would be structured as a vote on goals or programs, and the Congress and President could be a semi-permanent group of functionaries or administrators whose job was nothing more or less than to implement those goals in good faith. ... The nature of the contest – the pursuit of power over others – by its nature creates polarization and opposition, and calls forth ugly emotions and underhanded tactics."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/snyder10.html

Hit Or Myth

      By Jim Davies from Strike The Root

"One by one, our friends and neighbors need to be shown that everything they have been brought up to believe about government is a myth. That's not a simple task nor a quick one--if there is a quick fix to this problem, I've not found it. It will take a decade or three. Everyone in society needs to be led to the understanding that not one of the assumptions underlying government has any validity whatever; that they are myths, from top to bottom."

http://www.strike-the-root.com/62/davies/davies9.html

why not smell a rat?

      By B.K. Marcus from lowercase liberty

"Many libertarians -- even those who acknowledge (in theory, at least) all state action as based in the violation of rights -- are just too spooked by anarchism. Even if we avoid the A-word, the consistent anti-statist position seems unreasonable, or at least unrealistic from a strategic perspective. Neoliberalism is tempting. It seems like a viable direction, however short of the goal we all acknowledge it to be. A half step toward liberalization is better than the socialist status quo."

http://www.bkmarcus.com/blog/2006/11/why-not-smell-rat.html

Hanging Politicians

      By Vache Folle from St George Blog

"I thought about making a list of all the political leaders who want hanging, but I reckon it would be easier to make a list of those who don’t merit the noose."

http://emergencybackupdog.blogspot.com/2006/11/hanging-politicians.html

Spreading Decentralism

Articles demonstrating an increase in the dispersal of power.

Coming together to ponder pulling apart

      By Paul Nussbaum from The Philadelphia Inquirer

"That was the pitch this weekend by neo-Confederates, New England free-staters, Hawaiian nationalists, and a clutch of other dissenters who want out of the United States. The First North American Secessionist Convention, billed as the first national gathering of secessionists since the Civil War, included an eclectic mix of conservatives, liberals, libertarians, left-wing Green Party zealots, and right-wing Christian activists."

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/15939133.htm

Small States, Global Economy: Is Empire Necessary?

      By Jeffrey Herbener from Ludwig von Mises Institute

"If enforcement and adjudication of law can be provided privately in the same market process as other goods, then the state is not merely unnecessary. Because it rests on aggression against person and property, the very existence of the state must impair the social order."

http://www.mises.org/story/2368

Does Father Know Best?

      By Justin Raimondo from Antiwar.com

"Add to this several X-factors – the Israelis, the Kurds, the Mahdi Army – any one of which could spark a wider conflict, and the realization dawns: it's only a matter of time, and not much at that, before the whole joint goes up. Can the Wise Men, with their inherent caution, their unwillingness to withdraw from the region, and their internationalist mindset, prevent the near-inevitable?"

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9989

the post-TV generation

      By B.K. Marcus from lowercase liberty

"The thing that bugged me after he left (because I'm bugged by the kinds of things that bug no one else) is that it's not entirely true that we don't watch TV. We don't have cable, and the reception is terrible on the broadcast channels we might normally be drawn to. But 99% of what we rent from Netflix is stuff produced for television, and we do watch DVDs almost every night."

http://www.bkmarcus.com/blog/2006/11/post-tv-generation.html

The New World Hegemon

Depictions of the coming Imperial power

Lies and Leviathan

      By James Bovard from The Future of Freedom Foundation

"Big government requires big lies — and not just on wars but across the board. The more powerful government becomes, the more abuses it commits and the more lies it must tell. ... Lying is part of the larger problem of deference to the government. If people were not trained to genuflect to their rulers, politicians could not afford to tell so many lies."

http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0608c.asp

Financing the Empire

      By Mark Thornton from Ludwig von Mises Institute

"Most importantly, market-based money in the form of a gold standard would force governments back towards the classical liberal society and prevent its antithesis — imperialism. It is central banking and fiat money that finances imperialism and it is only a true gold standard that represents sound money."

http://www.mises.org/story/2369

Disregarding Democracy

      By Ivan Eland from The Independent Institute

"The next president, whether Democratic or Republican, will inherit a dangerous precedent: the executive branch trampling on the Constitution and the checks and balances therein. The next president could easily use the precedent to further expand presidential powers. This pattern has occurred throughout U.S. history, especially during periods of war or crisis, but was especially pronounced during the long-lasting Cold War."

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1847

Bush Revives Espionage Act

      By Nat Hentoff from The Village Voice

"Not many Americans know about this trial, slated for next January, that could result in future government suppression of news stories—based on classified information—[such as] The Washington Post's reports by Dana Priest of CIA secret prisons in Europe and the James Risen–Eric Lichtblau New York Times revelations on the National Security Agency's secret, warrantless spying on Americans."

http://villagevoice.com/news/0646,hentoff,75002,6.html

Politics by Other Means

War, rumors of war, and politicians fomenting war.

THE LOW POST: The Worst Show on Television

      By Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone

"Meanwhile, Jeff Greenfield on the Democratic talking points (change, new direction, Baker-Hamilton): 'They look to be very focus-group-tested for maximum appeal.' He says this approvingly. An ancient fantasy rises from my subconscious: I start looking for the 'Instant Leatherface' button on the TV remote that will trigger the entrance onto the CNN news set of a crazed chainsaw-wielding figure...Would pay any mount of money to see Greenfield drop his earpiece and run off the set away from a screaming Leatherface, loafers sliding on the studio floor as he races away in panic. No luck, though." This small and fairly tame sample of Taibbi in fine form shows what this excellent article offers. However, less "tame" material abounds in this piece also, therefore not for the "easily offended."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12400846

Gates of Hell: Another Constitution-Betraying Bushist in the Pentagon

      By Chris Floyd from Empire Burlesque

"Could anyone be worse than Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary? Well, how about an old Bush Family factotum who was hip-deep in the Iran-Contra arms-drugs-terror scam, who doctored, spun and manipulated intelligence for partisan purposes and also steered secret U.S. military intelligence to help Saddam Hussein launch WMD attacks?"

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=917&Itemid=135

Can Jim Baker Save the American Establishment?

      By Leon Hadar from Antiwar.com

"The Bush administration may have unleashed powerful, destructive forces in the Middle East that cannot be restrained and contained anymore. It may be impossible to close Pandora's box. At the same time, other global players, such as the EU and Russia, may not have enough incentive to help Washington stabilize its position in that region and may prefer to leave the U.S. twisting in the wind. And one cannot dismiss the possibility that even if the Baker commission presents a realistic plan for Iraq, President Bush will not be ready to change the course. "

http://www.antiwar.com/hadar/?articleid=9983

The Repudiation of Bush

      By Sheldon Richman from The Future of Freedom Foundation

"It’s reasonable to conclude from the election results that most voters felt the Republicans had been in power too long. The hopeless war in Iraq, the culture of corruption and incompetence, the spending binge (which includes the war), the grating social conservatism, and the autocratic arrogance approaching the dictatorial — all culminated in a thunderous repudiation of President Bush and the Republican Party. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch."

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0611b.asp

Spontaneous Order

Articles showing decentralized successes.

Treasure Island: The Hidden Elegance of Comparative Advantage

      By Russell Roberts from Library of Economics and Liberty

"Once upon a time, Pete and Pamela Palmer of New York, NY were sailing alone on their South Seas honeymoon. Alarmed at a suddenly darkening sky, the Palmers tried to steer their small craft homeward, but it was too late. The Palmers found themselves in the middle of a terrible tropical storm. They were blown many miles from the marina at the resort where they were staying. The sailboat capsized and the couple barely made it to a island they somehow spied amid the sheets of rain and the surging waves."

http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2006/Robertscomparativeadvantage.html

Wave-powered 'ducks' could purify seawater

      By Tom Simonite from NewScientist.com

"Ocean waves could provide an energy-efficient way to desalinate seawater, say UK researchers. While conventional purification plants have high energy demands, the rocking motion of floating buoys could be used to drive a pump system for desalination."

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10465?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=dn10465

Mining and the Markets

      By Doug Casey from Resource Investor.

"All great bull markets end in a mania. It’s interesting to contemplate why this is; books have been written on it. In essence, however, it’s a matter of psychology and economics. Psychologically, when people see others making a killing, they can’t help but join the party. Especially if there’s a credible reason why it’s a good idea. The nice thing about this gold bull market is that the story of why gold is going up not only tells very well, but very few investors (in today’s world) have actually heard it. That means almost nobody owns gold. And that’s good, because it means the only thing they can do is buy it."

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=26035

Common Sense Economics

      By Walter Williams from George Mason University.

"'Common Sense,' subtitled 'What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity,' contains a wealth of information about the major sources of economic progress, economic progress and the role of government, and important elements of practical personal finance. "

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/06/economics.html

Nonspontaneous Disorder

Articles showing centrally planned disasters.

Mixed Day at the Polls

      By Sheldon Richman from Foundation for Economic Education

"Would they have voted for a minimum-wage increase had they known that the workers they most want to help could lose their jobs as a result? But most people have no inkling that market forces operate independent of our wishes, hopes, and intentions. They never learned about the market process, and virtually everything they see and hear in the news media keeps them blissfully ignorant about it. Thus they see no harm in creating a wage floor and decreeing that no one may fall below it."

http://www.fee.org/in_brief/default.asp?id=913

Piercing through Myths, Lies, and Stupidity

      By George C. Leef from The Future of Freedom Foundation

"Politicians love to parade around as great benefactors of the people, but Stossel wants his readers to understand that most politicians are just 'busybodies who want to force their preferences on us.' Exhibit A is the mayor of Friendship Heights, Maryland, who pushed for an ordinance to ban smoking in any public place, even outdoors. When Stossel confronts the health-zealot mayor, he lamely replies, 'Well, we’re elected to promote the general welfare and this is part of the general welfare.' The pleasant-sounding term 'the general welfare' is used as cover for lots of petty tyranny like that."

http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0608g.asp

Mercury Madness - FDA Still in Denial

      By Elissa Meininger from NewsWithViews.com

"Victims of mercury poisoning have long endured an uphill battle in their efforts to expose the risks of dental mercury fillings against the entrenched dental and medical establishment and the government agencies this establishment appears to control."

http://www.newswithviews.com/Meininger/elissa3.htm

The Harmful Democratic Agenda

      By James Leroy Wilson from Independent Country

"If illegal immigrants are working below minimum wage, then the issue isn't that they do 'jobs that Americans won't do,' but rather, that they do jobs that Americans are prohibited from doing. If the Feds refuse to protect the border and look the other way when illegal immigrants are employed, but enforce the law if American citizens accept the same terms of employment as illegals, the result is 'exploitation' (according to the law) of the immigrant and unemployment for the Americans."

http://independentcountry.blogspot.com/2006/11/harmful-democratic-agenda.html

War Is The Health Of The State

War is the ultimate State intervention in society.

Outlaw Empire Meets the Wave

      By Tom Engelhardt from Antiwar.com

"A mighty country, soon to be termed a 'hyperpower,' straddling the globe alone and without obvious enemies – that should have been a formula for declaring victory (as many Cold Warriors promptly did) and acting accordingly (which none of them did). It should have been the moment for the Long Peace. But in an enemy-less world, there was a small problem called the Pentagon (and the vast military-industrial complex that had grown up around it). So, while the peace-dividend-that-never-was vanished in the post-Cold-War morning fog, some new, prefab enemies did make their appearances with startling speed. They essentially had to."

http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=9984

The Deeper Reality Behind Rumsfeld's Resignation

      By Chris Floyd from Empire Burlesque

"For when Bush opens his mouth, clotted bits of corpseflesh tumble out; when he walks, he wades through pools of human blood. And behind him, skittering and scooting in the blood-slick on their hands and knees, come all his ministers, handlers and toadies, come all the media sycophants who eagerly peddled his lies, come all the war profiteers who fill their bank vaults with hacked limbs, blown guts, crushed heads and mounds of viscera -- their treasure, their prize."

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=916&Itemid=135

The Bush Administration's Torture of U.S Citizen Jose Padilla

      By Glenn Greenwald from LewRockwell.com

"It is worthwhile to note that all of the treatment described by Padilla has been described by numerous other detainees, and from what I can tell, all of the treatment he describes are part of the 'interrogation and detention techniques' which the President now has the legal authority to invoke pursuant to the so-called Military Commissions Act of 2006 – enacted by our Congress just ten days ago. Thus, everything Padilla describes is now perfectly legal in the United States – even when applied against individuals charged with no crimes of any kind."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/greenwald1.html

The ‘I am fed up‘ Vote

      By Bill Fletcher, Jr. from BlackCommentator.com

"We must keep in mind that certainly with regard to foreign policy, Bush still has his finger on the trigger. This should be understood both literally and figuratively. The Bush administration military threats towards Iran and North Korea are not ending just because of this election. At the same time, this election was certainly a shock to the system, and the Bush administration must assume that it will be under a good deal of scrutiny in both branches of Congress. The resignation/firing of Rumsfield may be the tip of the iceberg in terms of shaking things up."

http://www.blackcommentator.com/205/205_fed_up_vote_fletcher_ed_bd.html

Bits of History

The Past seen with a fresh look.

Julius Caesar had Gaul; Bush just has gall

      By Terry Jones from The Observer (via Guardian Unlimited)

"In 59BC, Julius Caesar declared he was so shocked by the incursions of the dangerous Helvetii tribe into Gaul, and the suffering of the Gaulish peoples, that he had himself appointed 'protector of the Gauls'. By the time he'd finished protecting them, a million Gauls were dead, another million enslaved and Julius Caesar owned most of Gaul. Now I'm not suggesting there is any similarity between George W Bush's protection of the Iraqi people and Caesar's protection of the Gauls. For a start, Julius Caesar, as we all know, was bald, whereas George W Bush has a fine head of hair."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1940066,00.html

The Acid Guru’s Long, Strange Trip

      By Jesse Walker from The American Conservative

" A decade before his jailbreak, Leary was a respected Harvard psychologist known for his work in personality assessment. He was also one of several researchers around the world who were exploring the effects and potential benefits of psychedelic drugs, which still were legal at the time. It gradually became clear that where other scientists tried to maintain their traditional objectivity, Leary was an evangelist eager to spread the good news of acid and shrooms. His new enthusiasm eventually led to scandal, and he happily left Harvard behind."

http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_11_06/review.html

The Beat Root

      By C.Carr from The Village Voice

"The Beats were the first bohemian movement born under the eye of mass media, thus also the first to gain huge fame that flattened them into images, or caricatures. In Ginsberg, detractors saw merely the most infamous of the bearded bathless Beats, while admirers saw a visionary, Dharma seeker, fearless activist, and master of the long buoyant line."

http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0646,ccarr,74995,10.html

Revisiting Iran-Contra: The Nomination of Robert Gates

      By Ivan Eland from The Independent Institute

"Gates’ role in ignoring Congress’s specific ban on assisting the Contras—one of the most dangerous threats to constitutional government in American history—should not be dismissed as merely 'old news.' Apparently, the media and the Democrats are so relieved about getting rid of Rumsfeld that they appear to be doing just that."

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1850

War and Peace

Articles showing the nature of War.

Tragedy, Farce, and Worse

      By Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. from LewRockwell.com

"In other words, the government that now says that Saddam has to be killed for his crimes is the very same government that supported him while he was committing those crimes. There ought to be a word more poignant than hypocrisy to describe such a case as this. ... Had the US pulled out of Iraq years ago, there might still be a chance for pluralism. Now with the US responsible for killing Saddam, we are faced with a long and protracted internal war run by fanatics bent on killing more of their enemies."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/tragedy-farce.html

The Antiwar Wave

      By Justin Raimondo from Antiwar.com

"This election provides the antiwar movement with some reason for optimism, but we shouldn't put our trust in politicians. Once they are in office, they tend to forget the reasons the voters put them there. Unless we hold their feet to the fire, they'll get comfortable in their new Washington offices, and will soon accommodate themselves to the ruling bipartisan foreign policy consensus, which is that we are in Iraq (and the Middle East) in a big way for the long haul, and there isn't much anyone can do about it."

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9981

They Deserved to Lose

      By Jacob G. Hornberger from The Future of Freedom Foundation

"Republicans deserved to lose not only because of the damage their big-government devotion has brought to our nation but also because of the horrible death and destruction they have brought to Iraq, a country that never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so. Compared to the hundreds of thousands of people killed and maimed in the president’s invasion and occupation of Iraq, the number of people killed by Bill Clinton’s and Janet Reno’s massacre at Waco pales to relative insignificance."

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0611a.asp

Armagideon Time: Bush's Nuclear Folly and the National Security Lie

      By Chris Floyd from Empire Burlesque

"On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that six nations had given notification of their intention to pursue nuclear programs, The Times (UK) reports: Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, which had revealed its nuclear ambitions last month, but had not given official notice to the IAEA. As the Times notes, arms experts view the announcement as 'a stunning reversal of policy' in the Arab world, which has long called for a nuclear-free Middle East – a stance aimed at dismantling Israel's large if nominally secret nuclear arsenal and preventing Iran from acquiring atomic weaponry. "

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=914&Itemid=135

Great Individuals In History

Some people stand out from the crowd.

Philosopher/Historian -- Will Durant : Nov. 5, 1885

      By the editors of Wisdom magazine and John Little from Will Durant Online

"Unlike the cloistered academics who turned up their noses at Durant’s attempt to bring philosophy back to the common man, Durant was not content merely to write about such subjects, he actually did his best to put his ideas into effect. "

http://www.willdurant.com/bio.htm

Comedian/Actor -- Ed Wynn : Nov. 9, 1886

       From Great Character Actors

"After a time his comedy became outdated and he was out of work. It was at his son Keenan’s insistence that he take up serious acting and he developed a flair for drama. He became a great character actor."

http://www.dougmacaulay.com/kingspud/sel_by_actor_index_2.php?actor_first=Ed&actor_last=Wynn

Writer -- John P. Marquand : Nov. 10, 1893

       From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Although his major work is largely out of print, his spy fiction remains in print. Like his contemporary John O'Hara (and with a lighter touch), Marquand addressed issue of privilege and inequality. These issues make Americans generally uncomfortable and left-leaning academic literary critics scornful and dismissive. Marquand's financial success and seeming veneration for the upper classes, like O'Hara's, was sufficient to cause academia to ignore him."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Marquand

Anarchist/activist -- Dorothy Day : Nov. 8, 1897

      By Jim Forest from The Catholic Worker Movement

"Day lived long enough to see her achievements honored. In 1967, when she made her last visit to Rome to take part in the International Congress of the Laity, she found she was one of two Americans -- the other an astronaut -- invited to receive Communion from the hands of Pope Paul VI. On her 75th birthday the Jesuit magazine America devoted a special issue to her, finding in her the individual who best exemplified 'the aspiration and action of the American Catholic community during the past forty years'."

http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/ddbiographytext.cfm?Number=72

Culcha'

Books, Movies, TV, Media, Music, poetry, etc.

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

      Reviewed by Tom Ender from Endervidualism

Autobiographical drama stars Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava; based on an autobiography by Ron Kovic, screenplay by Ron Kovic and Oliver Stone; directed by Oliver Stone. “‘American exceptionalism,’ which may have given rise to earlier doctrines such as ‘manifest destiny,’ may also, at least in part, have fired the post-WW2 US-variant of jingoism. Oliver Stone’s movie based on Ron Kovic’s autobiographical account of events from the period of US involvement in Vietnam remains extremely relevant to Americans today.”

http://endervidualism.com/agora/born_4july_1989.htm

UWA #7

      By Warren Bluhm from Uncle Warren's Attic

"For a time I thought we'd never get this show going again, but here 'tis, the seventh edition of Uncle Warren's Attic. Just in time for Election Day, we have some deep thoughts about freedom from William Wallace, V and Malcolm Reynolds sprinkled among some fun old tunes, mostly from the 1960s and 70s this time."

http://unclewarrensattic.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=148599

Frank Miller Talks The Spirit

      By Eric Moro from IGN » Entertainment » Movies » News

"Comic book icon Frank Miller has seen a great deal of press lately, what with the adaptation of his Sin City breaking cinematic ground last year and 300 looking to do the same in 2006. But the fan favorite illustrator/scribe is looking to dive headfirst into the Hollywood system, making the transition from 'adapted' to 'adaptor' helming the live-action version of Will Eisner's The Spirit."

http://movies.ign.com/articles/745/745055p1.html

Preaching the Farthing

      Reviewed by Adrienne Martini from specfic floozy at Bookslut

"This month’s sermon is about Jo Walton’s Farthing, which is a subversive, trenchant and simultaneously dark and light piece of speculative fiction. Can I get an amen?"

http://www.bookslut.com/specfic_floozy/2006_11_010217.php

The lighter side

Humor, satire, cartoons, parodies, food, popular music and other things to amuse.

Negative Campaigning

      By Jon Stewart and Dan Bakkedahl from The Daily Show

"Dan Bakkedahl breaks down the one negative campaign that worked."

http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=78012

Bush Asks For Do-Over -- Offers to Fire Rumsfeld

      By Andy Borowitz from Borowitz Report

"Across the country, voters registered shock and astonishment at the unorthodox speech by Mr. Bush, many of them troubled by the president's decision to appear on national television wearing only a stained undershirt."

http://www.borowitzreport.com/archive_rpt.asp?rec=6626

Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections

      By staff from The Onion

"While analysts had been predicting a possible sweep for months, and early exit-poll numbers seemed favorable, politicians reportedly exceeded even their own expectations, gaining an impressive 100 percent of the overall national vote."

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/54918

Midterm Comedy Troupe

      By Mark Fiore from MarkFiore.com

Animated flash cartoon video w/audio

http://www.markfiore.com/animation/botched.html

Deep Thought

Scientific and scholarly studies, philosophical essays, in-depth and longer articles

Who Is 'We'? -- Part Two

      By David R. Henderson from Antiwar.com

"The number of e-mails I've received about that one article, both from those who love it and those who don't, exceeds the number I've received on any of my other Antiwar.com columns. Those who love it seem, by the content of their e-mails, to understand it. Those who disagree don't generally understand it. They seem to think that I'm throwing out the concept of 'we.' I'm not. I'm simply saying that the term 'we' should be used accurately."

http://www.antiwar.com/henderson/?articleid=9968

Night in Joco -- Thoughts, or Approximations Thereof, Little Organized

      By Fred Reed from FredOnEverything

"Mexicans of any schooling take the Day of the Dead more seriously than Americans do Halloween, but no more so, I suppose, than the Roman senate took Apollo. Yet death and the dead have more immediacy here than in a country which carefully ignores both. Mexicans have not persuaded themselves that there is no mystery in existence. Besides, tradition is tradition."

http://fredoneverything.net/NightofDead.shtml

A group lesson for the individualist

      By Marian Lacy from Daily Wildcat

"I can't speak for all Americans, but I know that I don't want to be beholden to anyone; I want to plan and follow my own program that won't be messed up by others; I want my life to be influenced only by my own will and not by human dynamics. ... Of course, this attitude has its benefits. Individualists will stick to their principles despite social pressure; collectivists, like many people here [Israel], women especially, may express their desire to be 'free' - in dress, occupation or marital status - but they are hindered by a fear of what the relatives and neighbors will say. But when we dismiss social support networks as complicated, intrusive or unnecessary, we miss out on the reciprocal altruism that's allowed humans to survive."

http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/2006/11/08/Opinions/A.Group.Lesson.For.The.Individualist-2445810.shtml

The Failure of Market Failure: Part II. The Public Goods Dilemma

      By Anthony de Jasay from Library of Economics and Liberty

"Whether a good can be 'made public' by voluntary contributions depends on how rational calculation and anticipation of the behaviour of others leads to a division within a group between free riders and suckers. Each of the two possible social roles, the free rider and the sucker, leads to a pair of uncertain alternatives."

http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2006/Jasayfailureii.html

Miscellany

Articles not easily classified

Why Eyes are So Alluring

      By staff from LiveScience

"According to one idea, called the cooperative eye hypothesis, the distinctive features that help highlight our eyes evolved partly to help us follow each others' gazes when communicating or when cooperating with one another on tasks requiring close contact."

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/061107_human_eyes.html

Elections Observations

      By Chuck Baldwin from NewsWithViews.com

"The Republican Party now understands that if the war in Iraq continues as it is into 2008, the GOP will be murdered at the polls, and the Democratic nominee (whoever he or she is) would most certainly win the White House. In other words, President Bush and Republicans are about to engage in the biggest 'cut and run' strategy you have ever seen."

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin331.htm

The Return of Two-Party Rule

      By Radley Balko from Reason

"There is no party of limited government right now, only two parties who fight over which special interests will benefit from big government." [Same as it ever was.]

http://www.reason.com/news/show/116649.html

Mysterious 'Neural Noise' Actually Primes Brain for Peak Performance

      By staff from The University of Rochester

"Pouget's work for the first time connects two of the brain's biggest mysteries; why it's so noisy, and how it can perform such complex calculations. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, the noise seems integral to making those calculations possible. … Pouget now prefers to call the noise 'variability.' Our neurons are responding to the light, sounds, and other sensory information from the world around us. ... Each neuron responds to a particular variable and the brain will decide on a conclusion about the whole set of variables using Bayesian inference."

http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=2683

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