The Definition and Defense of Freedom by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
If there are no limits placed on government, if our freedom under law is not guaranteed as an absolute principle, the final result is that government will have all power and all property, and we will have none. That is the way the world works, from the ancient times until the end of time.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:15 AM (0) comments

 
The greatest threats to our freedom by Lee Enokian
1. Individual freedoms (7): Excessive legislation and regulation has brought various levels of government into every facet of our lives. The REAL ID Act, Patriot Act, criminalization of euthanasia and expanded police powers are examples of this.

2. Increased taxes, government spending and inflation (4): There are too many punitive and unfair taxes that serve political ends rather than the needs of the nation.

3. Eminent domain and private property rights (3): Recent rulings set a precedent for easy government seizure of property belonging to individual Americans.

4. Biased and liberal education (3): Too many teachers use their classrooms as private political forums to expound upon their personal beliefs. Another respondent stated that academia has become too conservative and controlled.

5. Elimination of Christianity from the public eye (3): The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Another person stated there is too much stress on religion in education and public life.

6. Judicial activism (3): Extra-constitutional court rulings and re-interpretation of the Constitution jeopardizes the separation of powers and places undue emphasis on the judiciary.


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:13 PM (0) comments

 
ADL's Foxman Totally Confused about 1st Amendment by Don Feder
The Founding Fathers so wanted to establish a system based on religious inclusiveness -- by which Foxman means militant secularism - that, in the Declaration of Independence, they made God the foundation of our system of government. ("That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ... that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men...")



- posted by SARTRE @ 8:15 AM (0) comments

 
A Tale of Two Constitutional Conventions: Iraq's and Ours by Paul Douglas Newman
The differences between Iraq's and the U.S. constitutional processes (and many, many more exist) far outweigh the similarities, and it is the differences gleaned from history that provide us a glimpse into Iraq's future. Neoconservative pundits like David Brooks from the New York Times, who like to excuse Iraq's constitutional troubles by citing similarities to the U.S. experience, state that constitution-making is hard, and that even the U.S. descended into civil war over the principal issue of states' rights versus federal power, and besides, that was four score and seven years later. This should not comfort us. In the U.S., there were local movements (and one war in Massachusetts) against state governments in the year before the Philadelphia Convention. But in Iraq, civil war is not decades in the future.
- posted by SARTRE @ 7:41 AM (0) comments

 
Not a Christian by Charley Reese
It's funny how many people in the American elite who profess to advocate democracy tend to change their minds when the results of democracy don't suit them. Nowhere is it written that a free and democratic election will produce a leader whom we like. That should be obvious from the outcomes of our elections.
- posted by SARTRE @ 8:34 AM (0) comments

 
Chickenhawk History by Paul Gottfried
This however has not spared patriotic America Firsters from the nonstop invective of Mr. Lowry’s neocon buds. It is therefore fitting and even long overdue that some of us should ask the very question Lowry thinks out of order: "How can neoconservative publicists in the prime of their lives fervently support and even incite a war without running to fight in it?" In Lowry’s case, this question is particularly appropriate since in his tribute to Condoleezza Rice in National Review Online (February 11, 2005) he praised the newly appointed secretary-of-state for wanting to bring the American civil rights movement from Birmingham, Alabama to Iraq. As someone who missed the experience of participating in the first part of that movement he reveres, one might think that Lowry would not miss the opportunity to put his body on the line for its present extension. An Israeli veteran and author of a book on Middle Eastern affairs, Leon Hadar once raised a related question in conversation with me about those who "hang around fancy restaurants in D.C. but never serve in the Israeli army that they try to push into combat." Given this attested habit, it is certainly justified to treat the charge in question as something much more than an "anti-war cheap shot."

- posted by SARTRE @ 8:23 AM (0) comments

 
I.F. Stone on the Perils of Empire - Evan Jones
Izzy Stone was a natural-born blogger. Except that he was born before the age of the pc and the web. But Stone (born Isador Feinstein, 1907-1989) left a pre-historic version of his 'blogging' in the form of the I.F. Stone's Weekly, a model that spawned copies in a later generation of crusading journalists.

I.F. Stone's Weekly (and Bi-Weekly) ran for 19 years from January 1953 to December 1971. Here are excerpts from three entries, relevant to our times.


- posted by SARTRE @ 10:47 PM (0) comments

 
Don't Support the Troops by Brandon J. Snider
It’s easy for libertarians to dislike politicians, but not so easy for them to dislike GI Joe. We hold brutal killers like John Wesley Hardin or Charles Manson in the lowest regard, but the difference between these killers and military troops is semantic and symbolic. It’s time to address the issue of the troops with the brutality it richly deserves. It’s time to deconstruct the myth of the glorious military adventure. It’s long past time we shame people who think about military service. Perhaps then fewer young people will throw their lives away. "Kill the head and the body will die" is a truism that many libertarians no doubt use to justify their attitudes towards the troops. But the supply of troops and the attitudes regarding them is also a key. Shame people into refusing to join and the supply of cannon fodder will atrophy to the point where foreign adventures will not be possible without a draft. Will the populace accept a draft? I have an idea that a draft at this point would be the same as poking a sleeping grizzly bear with a stick. Try it, just try it.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:30 AM (0) comments

 
Americans Surrendering Liberties: Shades Of German History by Chuck Baldwin
It appears that a strengthened U.S.A. Patriot Act will soon sail through Congress with little opposition or consternation on the part of the American people. The new Patriot Act is even more stringent than the original. In addition, many of the more egregious elements of the Patriot Act which were originally scheduled to sunset are made permanent in the latest version. And the vast majority of the American people do not seem to mind.
- posted by SARTRE @ 8:46 AM (0) comments

 
Money for Nothing, or Worse by Robert Higgs
Let’s get real. According to the CBO’s report, in the current fiscal year the U.S. government is gorging on some $2,142 billion of revenues, consisting of taxes, fees, charges, fines, and other species of extractions from the people’s purses. This sum works out to approximately $7,500 for every man, woman, and child resident in this country, or $30,000 for a family of four average persons. Perhaps some of those people feel they are getting benefits worth at least this much. I myself don’t have that feeling.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:26 AM (0) comments

 
Dastardly and Depraved by Christopher Orlet
In the end the court found that the state's cynical so-called safety concerns trumped Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. (Question: If the State of Illinois is so concerned with safety why doesn't it require motorcyclists to wear helmets? And why pass the law only after the feds threatened to withhold millions in highway dollars?) In his reluctance to overturn a bad law, the judge had in fact ignored U.S. Supreme Court precedent and showed his contempt for (or ignorance of) the formerly unassailable Commerce Clause.

- posted by SARTRE @ 6:12 AM (0) comments

 
Good News: American Media Waking Up To Immigration! by Steve Sailer
The neocon open border cheerleaders contend that these newcomers will "assimilate" into American culture. Real Soon Now. Yet, these Mixtec-speaking Indians who increasingly make up California's farm workers haven't even assimilated into Hispanic culture in the 484 years since the Spaniards conquered Mexico.

The good news is that the American media are starting to wake up. The bad news is that the immigration crisis just keeps getting worse.


- posted by SARTRE @ 5:26 AM (0) comments

 
When Tyranny is Law, Revolution is Order by abid Ullah Jan
The most basic understanding of law is that it provides the people with their most important safeguard against "predatory actions of government." The understanding has been turned upside down. The purpose of law, “the greatest happiness for the greatest number,” has now been changed to the greatest happiness of the totalitarians, who want to silence their critics in the name of “greatest safety and security.”


- posted by SARTRE @ 5:13 AM (0) comments

 
Corrupted Justice by Paul Craig Roberts
Prosecutors have destroyed the rule of law and put rule by prosecutors in its place.

In 95 out of 100 cases, the evidence against the defendant is never tested in court. This has corrupted police work. It is easier to round up the usual suspects than to solve a case. High recidivism rates may simply reflect the practice of rounding up those with records.


- posted by SARTRE @ 1:18 PM (0) comments

 
Making "PATRIOT" Permanent by William Norman Grigg
“If the PATRIOT Act is constitutional and badly needed, why were sunset provisions included at all? If it’s unconstitutional and pernicious, why not abolish it immediately? All of this nonsense about sunsets and reauthorizations merely distracts us from the real issue, which is personal liberty. America was not founded on a promise of security; it was founded on a promise of personal liberty to pursue happiness.”


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:19 AM (0) comments

 
Virginia Politicians and Highway Pork by Jacob G. Hornberger
To paraphrase the 19th-century French free-market legislator Frédéric Bastiat, the federal highway bill provides a good example of how the federal government has become a fiction by which everyone is trying to live at the expense of everyone else.

This is what democracy in America is now all about. Everyone in Washington knows that there is no better way for a member of the U.S. House or Senate to ingratiate himself with voters than by announcing, “Free federal pork for your community. Come and get it.”


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:58 AM (0) comments

 
Inordinate Fear by Joseph Sobran
In due course we calmed down. Communism was a shabby system, based on basic errors about human nature, and all we really had to do was wait for it to collapse. Sometimes I think it lasted as long as it did chiefly because the West believed in it. We overestimated its efficiency, its military power, and its popular appeal around the world.

- posted by SARTRE @ 7:51 AM (0) comments

 
Situational Totalitarianism by Anthony Gregory
As Robert Higgs has explained, most famously in his brilliant work Crisis and Leviathan, crises and especially wars lead to a "ratchet effect": Government grows in size and power, ostensibly as it "responds to existential threats" (as Krauthammer would put it), but then it does not retract all the way when the crisis ends. Instead, government is more powerful than it was before the crisis began, although not quite as tyrannical as it was during the hysterical, crisis-induced stampede toward collectivism.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:14 AM (0) comments

 
Shunning the Real ID Enablers
Freedom's latest foe is the two-headed snake-in-the-grass Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. These cyberserpents are collaborating to create the hardware/software mission of turning us all into walking talking Real ID card chattel. (Quickie definition of Real ID: a thin slice of plastic containing our digitized biological and biographical persona so BigGov can steal our identities whenever it wishes.)


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:51 AM (0) comments

 
The Right to Travel by C.T. Rossi
There is no express right to travel found in the Constitution, unlike the Articles of Confederation which provided for "free ingress and regress to and from any other State." Taking advantage of this omission, the Supreme Court declared, in Zemel v. Rusk, that Congress has the power to enable the President to restrict travel to certain countries. At issue was whether a U.S. citizen could travel to Cuba in 1965, a country with whom we were not at war, in order "to satisfy [his] curiosity . . . and to make [him] a better informed citizen." Despite the rights granted in the Magna Carta, to which Americans are heirs via the Common Law, the Court ruled against curiosity and a well-informed citizenry.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:24 AM (0) comments

 
Hiroshima, Nagasaki & Christian morality by Patrick J. Buchanan
Yet, whatever the mindset of Japan's warlords in August 1945, the moral question remains. In a just war against an evil enemy, is the deliberate slaughter of his women and children in the thousands justified to break his will to fight? Traditionally, the Christian's answer has been no.
- posted by SARTRE @ 6:34 AM (0) comments

 
Liberty Preservation for Dummies by D. Saul Weiner
One year after he has made his case for taking the country to war and the Congress has declared war, a referendum shall be made on the question of whether or not the president has deceived the citizens into supporting the war venture. If a majority votes yes, the president will need to step down. Now what kinds of rituals might truly reinforce a consequence such as this? Hearkening back to earlier American history, the practice of tar and feathering comes to mind. Of course, religions are a great potential source of inspiration for ritual practices. How about this: 40 years of wandering in the desert might allow the ex-president ample time for contemplation of his misdeeds and also ensure that he does not return to public life!


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:53 AM (0) comments

 
Just Plain Stupid by Harry Goslin
These days, trying to figure out what Americans are thinking isn’t an easy task. Trying to figure out how Americans think is even tougher. Judging by how many Americans “think,” as measured by polls, statistics, and reaction to the ruling class, maybe they don’t think at all. One thing is certain, though. Too many Americans are prone to fickleness, short-sightedness and just plain stupidity.
- posted by SARTRE @ 6:15 AM (0) comments

 
The Radical Middle by John Kaminski
We haven't had enough radicals. America was founded by radicals (though some were surreptitious scoundrels, too). Jefferson, even Adams, Madison and Franklin were radicals, and we Americans would definitely not have the good deal we have without the intrepid efforts of these intelligent men.

- posted by SARTRE @ 12:34 PM (0) comments

 
The Necessity of Enemies by Bob Wallace
The Zionists in the administration have the same problem as the Christians. They've been able to hijack U.S. foreign policy, thanks to George Bush and the deluded Christian Zionists who support them. They're now sacrificing U.S. troops to defend Israel . It sure sounds to me they consider U.S. troops to be expendable, that is, non-human.




- posted by SARTRE @ 12:03 PM (0) comments

 
Uncle Sam's Iron Curtain of Secrecy by James Bovard
Government officials often cite the cost of compliance with FOIA requests as a reason for violating the statutory deadlines. The Justice Department estimated that responding to FOIA requests cost federal agencies $300 million in 2002. Fees paid by people requesting information covered part of this cost. In contrast, the federal government spends almost $5 billion a year classifying documents to prevent their disclosure. The federal government spends almost 15 times as much locking information away as it does responding to requests for information.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:12 AM (0) comments

 
Hiroshima Cover-up Exposed by Greg Mitchell
The full story of this atomic cover-up is told fully for the first time today at E&P Online, as the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings approaches later this week. Some of the long-suppressed footage will be aired on televison this Saturday.

- posted by SARTRE @ 6:50 AM (0) comments

 
Casting Aside Justice by William Norman Grigg
Many conservatives consider it something akin to sedition or treason to criticize the Bush administration for claiming that the president has unlimited power to deal as he sees fit with anyone he designates as an enemy in the "war on terror." This perspective rests on two completely unjustified assumptions. The first is that George W. Bush, being a better man than Bill Clinton (hardly the highest hurdle to surmount), can be entrusted with extraordinary powers. The second is that the powers in question would always be used against "them" — that is, the "worst of the worst" — rather than against "us."


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:26 AM (0) comments

 
Armageddon Gets No Press by Paul Craig Roberts
It came about through media concentration. There are no longer independent voices in the mainstream media. American news reporting is a corporate operation run with a view to advertising profits and the accommodation of government in order to protect holdings of valuable federal licenses. For reporters and editors, knowing what to say and not to say is the main qualification for job security.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:53 AM (0) comments

 
What the 'Struggle' Is All About by Butler Shaffer
Ever since our resident emperor announced his “War on Terror,” I have insisted that this campaign had less to do with confronting “terror” – an effort that would have implicated the United States’ use of the practice – than with forcibly resisting the peaceful decentralizing processes that threaten the established institutional order. (See, for example, here, here, here, and here.) Social systems are moving from vertically-structured to horizontally-networked models, a transformation that bodes ill for the political and economic establishment. Some three years ago I suggested naming this conflict the War for the Preservation of Institutional Hierarchies. If a shorter name is preferred, how about the War for the Status Quo?


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:39 AM (0) comments

 
In Defense of Jury Nullification by Vin Suprynowicz
The American populace is being conditioned with incredible speed to accept the conditions of a de facto police state with no regard to our privacy or dignity, let alone the solemn guarantees of the Fourth Amendment.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:10 AM (0) comments