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Liberty and Power

  • Dec 28, 2010

    The Logic of the British Cold War Deterrent

    by Liberty and Power

    Rob Edwards explains how documents written in 1970s and marked"personal and top secret" reveal that British civil servants believed the British nuclear deterrent needed to kill ten million Russians in order to be effective.
  • Dec 28, 2010

    Mall Rats

    by Liberty and Power

    Over at antiwar.com, Jason Ditz reveals that the TSA is now extending its bureucratic reach to shopping malls. Will Americans protest this further federalization of the private sphere? The fizzled resistance to the TSA's grope-down policy is not an encouraging sign.
  • Dec 24, 2010

    The Mosque, Some Muslims, and A Mob

    by Liberty and Power

    Is it possible The People should ever be their own enemies?
    ~ Fischer Ames (1805)

    Remember the"Ground Zero Mosque" controversy? It took place last summer in New York City when some people – with no sense of how a democracy works – had the foolish notion to build on property they owned an Islamic cultural center to worship God as they pleased. In both Constitutional law and simple humanity they were well within their rights but their proposed location was, unfortunately, just
  • Dec 20, 2010

    The War You Don't See

    by Liberty and Power

    Watch John Pilger's"powerful and timely investigation into the media's role in war, tracing the history of 'embedded' and independent reporting from the carnage of World War One to the destruction of Hiroshima, and from the invasion of Vietnam to the current war in Afghanistan and disaster in Iraq" here.
  • Dec 18, 2010

    Well, Mr. Moore?

    by Liberty and Power

    Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a"mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a"popular backlash", according to US diplomats in Havana.

    The revelation, contained in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks , is surprising, given that the film attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuba
  • Dec 16, 2010

    About Those English Student Protests

    by Liberty and Power

    The best thing I've read about the English student protests against reduced government subsidies for higher education is here. In"A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste," Kevin Carson writes:

    Aren’t these just a bunch of spoiled brats, throwing a tantrum when they’re cut off from the taxpayer teat?

    Not exactly.

    British students, like those in America, are hit from two directions under the state capitalist model: First, by

  • Dec 15, 2010

    Holbrooke or Milosevic: Who Is the Greater Murderer?

    by Liberty and Power

    Diana Johnstone answers the question.

    "It is usually considered good form to avoid sharp criticism of someone who has just died. But Richard Holbrooke himself set a striking example of the breach of such etiquette. On learning of the death in prison of Slobodan Milosevic, Holbrooke did not hesitate to describe him as a"monster" comparable to Hitler and Stalin."

    Read her essay
  • Dec 14, 2010

    Just Shut Up!

    by Liberty and Power

    Criminal defense attorney Norm Kent offers some wise advice when the cops stop you drugs - or any other purpose.