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Liberty and Power

  • Apr 11, 2004

    Moratorium

    by Liberty and Power

    I hereby request that Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy refrain from criticising the Iraq war. Not because I think it's unpatriotic while our troops are in the field, or anything. It's just that I have a lot of friends who are psychologically wedded to the logical fallacy t
  • Apr 11, 2004

    Consequences: Intended and Unintended

    by Liberty and Power

    There is a very good article, written by James Traub, with accompanying decorative illustrations by Peter Max, in today's NY Times. Traub's"Making Sense of the Mission" raises some very important questions—even if I don't agree with many of his answers—about the nature and complexity of nation-building in Iraq. Pointing to the failures of nation-building in such pl

  • Apr 10, 2004

    What's the beef?

    by Liberty and Power

    Kevin Drum over at Washingtonmonthly.com writes:

    "WEIRD SCIENCE....This story is so weird it defies belief:

    The Department of Agriculture refused yesterday to allow a Kansas beef producer to test all of its cattle for mad cow disease, saying such sweeping tests were not scientifically warranted.

    The producer, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wanted to use recently approved rapid tests so it could resume selling its fat-marbled black Angus beef to Japan, which banned American beef

  • Apr 9, 2004

    QED

    by Liberty and Power

    If, as Clark and Condi agree, no counterterrorist measure taken between January 20 and September 11, 2001, could have stopped the attacks on New York and Washington, this is all the more reason to cleave to a strict noninterventionist foreign policy. If there is no way to stop the people that intervention will make angry from striking back, then let's mind our own business and not make them angry.
  • Apr 9, 2004

    Wolf & Bears

    by Liberty and Power

    I don't agree with much of Wolf's worldview as he remains a Keynesian.

    Bonds dropped a half point this last week and mortgage rates went up by the same amount, due, I think, to the news about unemployment being down, however inaccurate that figure might be.

  • Apr 9, 2004

    What Can One Do Individually for Grade Inflation?

    by Liberty and Power

    David has wanted me to post something and this is an odd choice perhaps, but bear with me. Today's New York Times (copy provided by Univ. of Houston) carries an article describing about a proposal at Princeton to stop grade inflation. The proposal would keep the proportion of A's given at 35% of all grades taken. (Yes,"taken" -- we professors don't give grades, students take them.) Currently the rate is
  • Apr 9, 2004

    Iraq: Is This the Beginning of a “People’s War”?

    by Liberty and Power

    The article of mine below, with photo, will appear in the Asheville Citizen-Times, NC, Sunday edition. If it appears a bit dated at this point, it is because it was originally written a week ago. A shorter version was posted yesterday by the Independent Institute at antiwar.com:

    Iraq: Is This the Beginning of a “People’s War”?

    By William Marina

    The death and mutilation of four American private contractors in the Sunni dominated city of Fallujah was followed by

  • Apr 9, 2004

    The Marines’ “How To” Handbook for Empire

    by Liberty and Power

    The official cheerleader publication for the neoconservatives effort to rejuvenate the American Empire’s interventionist agenda around the world, The Wall Street Journal, carried a page one article April 7, 2004, entitled “For Guidance in Iraq, Marines Rediscover A 1940s Manual.” It highlighted that “Small-War Secrets Include: Tips on Nation-Building, The Care of Pack Mules.”

    Considering the exploding insurgency in Iraq this week, the insurgents might well proclaim what Gen. Geor

  • Apr 8, 2004

    Deanna Laney: My Take

    by Liberty and Power

    The bottom line on the insanity verdict in Deanna Laney’s murder case is this: If she's not responsible for killing her kids, then you’re not responsible for not killing yours. The same psychiatrists and neuroscientists who think that Laney could not control her actions also think you can’t either (i.e., mind is nothing but brain).
  • Apr 8, 2004

    Saying What Others are Thinking

    by Liberty and Power

    Bradley Gitz teaches history at a small college in Arkansas and writes a column for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He calls himself a libertarian, but he is a rabid hawk. In today's column, “Time for Ruthlessness”, he says what surely many conservatives are thinking, so I thought it was worth bringing it to wider attention:

    "The paradox inherent in the Amer

  • Apr 7, 2004

    Shocked and Awed by Ted Kennedy

    by Liberty and Power

    On Monday, I was struck by"shock and awe" to hear Ted Kennedy declare,"Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam." He also stated,"this President has now created the largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon." NIxon!? Where is the reference to John F. Kennedy -- Teddy's brother -- the Democrat who plunged the nation into Vietnam's quagmire in the first place? Nixon -- as loathe as I am to"defend" him -- ended the draft and de fac