Departments

;

Liberty and Power

  • Apr 7, 2004

    Silver Lining

    by Liberty and Power

    Let's look at the bright side of the latest developments in Iraq: The Bush administration is accomplishing its goal of bringing the Shiites and Sunnis together. Maybe the same strategy can be applied to the Israel/Palestine conflict.
  • Apr 7, 2004

    Winning the Hearts and Minds

    by Liberty and Power

    From today's Washington Post:

    "In Baghdad, anxiety over the turn of events was matched by unease over dozens of casualties in Baghdad's poor Shiite neighborhoods. In Sadr City, a slum of 2 million named for Sadr's father, hundreds gathered before Sadr's office, waving flags and chanting his name. Two U.S. tanks were parked a few hundred yards away, their barrels trained on the crowds. Residents reported clashe

  • Apr 7, 2004

    The Big Lie Continues

    by Liberty and Power

    President Bush yesterday in my state of domicile, Arkansas:

    "We've got tough work there [in Iraq] because, you see, there are terrorists there who would rather kill innocent people than allow for the advance of freedom. That's what you're seeing going on: These people hate freedom, and we love freedom, and that's where the clash occurs."

    Are the American people swallowing this swill served up by his Royal S

  • Apr 7, 2004

    An Orwellian Definition of "Sovereignty"

    by Liberty and Power

    The United States Imperial actions have always had a rather Orwellian tendency in the way in which its spinmeisters distort words, but the new definition of"Sovereignty" sets an even lower standard.

    The Coalition -- that's us Folks, where even our private contractors, 15,000 at last count paid up to $1,000 a day, are almost double the number of British troops at 8,000 --

  • Apr 7, 2004

    Israel/Rwanda/Iraq

    by Liberty and Power

    As we move toward setting up a Quisling government in Iraq, with a requested increase in troops while talking of handing over power June 30th -- our Kommandant in Guantanamo has just been sent to Iraq to supervise more prisons there (some exit strategy !) -- we should not forget the events which continue to unfold in Israel. A Financial Times piece, for subscribers only, is pasted in below.

    You might also want to check out this NYT piece describing

  • Apr 6, 2004

    more on the new machine

    by Liberty and Power

    More on the character of the new machine appeared in an AP story today. Here is an excerpt from the Detroit Free Press. (The full story is longer than the Free Press version, but I have not yet found it on line.)

    By Nancy Benac

    WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Department analyzes Sen. John Kerry's tax proposals and the numbers soon find their way to the Republican National Committee.

    The Health and Human Services Department spends millions on ads promoting President George W.

  • Apr 6, 2004

    Failure is Not an Option

    by Liberty and Power

    As a postscript to Wendy's discussion of Al-Sadr, I would like to point out a NY Times report that"Generals in Iraq" are considering"options for more troops." Since many current U.S. troops are National Guard or reservist in origin, I'm still counting the days before the administration decides that a military draft is going to be required because"failure in Iraq is not an option."

    This same NY Times

  • Apr 6, 2004

    Al-Sadr

    by Liberty and Power

    Here is my understanding of what is happening in Iraq re: Muqtada al-Sadr, an understanding which may well be imperfect but which may be useful nevertheless for those who are consuming news-lite from sources like CNN... Al-Sadr is an anti-American Shiite cleric who is a major player in the internal jostling for power within the Shiite community -- which is the largest community of Iraq -- and, thus, al-Sadr is a major player
  • Apr 6, 2004

    Strategic Petroleum Reserve

    by Liberty and Power

    Sunday’s Washington Times featured a piece by Alan Reynolds on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that simply astounded me. He reported that, “Since November 2001, the U.S. government has been adding about 160,000 barrels a day to the 651 billion barrels already stockpiled in the SPR. During that time, oil prices rose from less than $20 a barrel to as much as $37. The Energy Department can't resist a bad barga
  • Apr 5, 2004

    USM: Maybe the Mess Will Get Cleaned Up after All

    by Liberty and Power

    The latest turn of events in the USM crisis should remind everyone of the weakness and duplicity of governing boards when university administrators are up to no good. But it should also remind us of the power of publicity in such cases.

    Trouble had been brewing ever since Shelby Thames became President of the University of Southern Mississippi, back in May 2002. But the crisis was precipitated exactly one month ago, when Thames

  • Apr 5, 2004

    contracting out, machines, and limited government

    by Liberty and Power

    Many libertarians and classical liberals have been favorably impressed with the Bush administration's interest in contracting out governmental jobs.

    They are being taken for a ride.

    The argument for contracting out is that jobs are done better when they are awarded competitively. There is lots of truth to this, and if this were all that was at stake, the case for contracting out would be powerful indeed. But there is another dimension as well.

    As government employment grew

  • Apr 5, 2004

    The Sopranos and the Bush Doctrine

    by Liberty and Power

    Fans of the HBO drama learned last night that young thug Christopher Moltisanti is a fan of the Bush Doctrine. As Chris-tah-fuh puts it, reassuring his fiance Adriana:"You don't listen to the president? We're gonna mop up the Middle East. The whole world's gonna be under our control. You got nothin' to worry about."
  • Apr 5, 2004

    May Issue of Penthouse

    by Liberty and Power

    I just received an advanced copy of the May issue of Penthouse in which I have the feature article. Alan Dershowitz has a piece in the issue as well but I've not forgiven him for coming out for the "right to torture prisoners", specifically through torture warrants That's a shame because I used to point to him as an example of someone
  • Apr 4, 2004

    Reply to Roderick Long

    by Liberty and Power

    In reply to Roderick Long's comments on my earlier observations about his previous discussion of differences between Abraham and Mrs. Laney:

    Since I have never myself talked to God, in any of his/her/its various manifestations in a number of religions, I have some doubt that others, among them Abraham and Mrs. Lacey, did so.

    Certainly, Mrs. Lacey may have thought she did so, but most of us would consider that God to be a very perverse one in ordering a mother to kill her two sons.

  • Apr 4, 2004

    Politics and Censorship

    by Liberty and Power

    Interesting article on how the Bush administration determines what information ought to be classified in the interest of national security and what information is safe to be released.

    Looks more and more like national security has very little to with what gets classified. Instead, information that backs or backed the administration's case for war is deemed okay, where information that might hurt the White Ho

  • Apr 4, 2004

    I Must Hate Children...

    by Liberty and Power

    ...because I think banning outdoor smoking, as Port Orange, FL is about to do, is a ridiculous idea.
    You try and teach your kids not to smoke. If you're going have people right around, second hand smoke is probably really bad as it is," says Port Orange resident Harry Eoulmegis.

    John Jackson, a former city council member, proposed the ordinance. He says this is about more than second-hand smoke. To him, it's also about s