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Liberty and Power

  • Mar 27, 2004

    Learning from the Past

    by Liberty and Power

    Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States:

    President Bush: My fellow Americans, good evening. I want to announce tonight that I have sent American forces into Iran. We intend to use overwhelming force so that this conflict can be brought to a swift conclusion with a minimum of casualties. I'll let you know why we are doing this when the war is over. God bless America. Goodnight.

  • Mar 27, 2004

    White House, 4/01: Focus on Bin Laden "A Mistake"

    by Liberty and Power

    March 26, 2004 | Daily Mislead Archive

    White House, 4/01: Focus on Bin Laden"A Mistake"

    A previously forgotten report from April 2001 (four months before 9/11) shows that the Bush Administration officially declared it"a mistake" to focus"so much energy on Osama bin Laden." The report directly contradicts the White House's continued assertion that fighting terrorism was its"top priority" before the 9/11 attacks 1.

    Specifically, on April 30, 2001, CNN reported that the B

  • Mar 26, 2004

    Howard Stern: Politcal Free Speech in Danger

    by Liberty and Power

    Almost all speech can be put into one of three categories; political speech, commercial speech, or artistic speech. Of the three I believe that freedom of political speech is the most important legacy that we can hand to our children. If either commercial or artistic free speech are lost but freedom of political speech is preserved then that can be used to recover the other two. However, if political free speech does not exist then the other two will quickly follow it into the void.

    That i

  • Mar 26, 2004

    Empire Subverts Reformers in Middle East

    by Liberty and Power

    Here is an excellent article from the Los Angeles Times showing why one should favor liberal reform in the Arab world and oppose American imperial intrusion there. In fact, the latter undercuts the former.
  • Mar 25, 2004

    Punchline

    by Liberty and Power

    I'm with Gene.

    Perhaps President Bush might want to try his"oops, I started a war" shtick out on this audience.

  • Mar 25, 2004

    Laff Riot

    by Liberty and Power

    Bush put on a slide show, calling it the "White House Election-Year Album" at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association 60th annual dinner, showing himself and his staff in some decidedly unflattering poses.

    There was Bush looking under furniture in a fruitless, frustrating search."Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere," he said.

    Somewher

  • Mar 25, 2004

    Israel and Hamas: Strange Bedfellows

    by Liberty and Power

    Lest we forget (or that we never realized it in the first place):

    “In the early 1980s the occupation authorities encouraged the founders of Hamas, hoping that they would create a counter-weight to Yasser Arafat and the PLO. Even after the start of the first intifada, the army and the security services gave preferential treatment of Hamas.” —Uri Avnery, long-time Israeli writer and peace activist

    Hamas's suicide bombing is

  • Mar 24, 2004

    The Return of the Gladiators -- Why Not?

    by Liberty and Power

    From the Boston Herald March 23, 2004:

    "Wrestler-turned-politician Jesse Ventura all but threw his hat into the 2008 presidential ring yesterday - and said he's already decided to tap basketball star Charles Barkley as a running mate.

    An independent, Ventura admitted it would be hard to gain nationwide ballot access - but added he's interested enough to have already tapped Barkley, the outspoken retired NBA star."

  • Mar 24, 2004

    It's Not the First Time

    by Liberty and Power

    I am amused that Israel’s supporters are upset that the late Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas founder assassinated the other day by Israeli forces, is described in media reports as a “spiritual leader,” rather than as a terrorist leader. What’s the problem? It's not the first time a spiritual leader was responsible for fomenting mayhem and murder.
  • Mar 24, 2004

    Still Time to Register: Boston University Libertarian Conference

    by Liberty and Power

    Last minute reminder. On Saturday, March 27, I will speak on"The Collapse of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1912" for the 1st Annual Liberty Conference. The sponsor of the event, which will run between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., is the Boston University Libertarian Society. Many of other names on the rostrum need no introduction including Volokhite Randy Barnett (Boston University) Jeffery Miron (Boston University) and James Stacy Taylor (Louisiana State University. For more information about the
  • Mar 24, 2004

    Oops! Did I Really Say That?

    by Liberty and Power

    Top La-Z-Boy imperialist Bill Kristol should be appreciated for his honesty, especially when he reveals something so astounding. Yesterday on Fox News’ “Special Report with Brit Hume,” Kristol trashed former antiterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who has indicted the Bush administration for pre- and post-9/11 misfeasance and malfeasance. Kristol’s chief complaint against Clarke is that he broke an implicit agreement between the equally culpable Democrats and Republicans not to use the other
  • Mar 23, 2004

    Wolf V: Anita Hill and the Inner Bad Girl

    by Liberty and Power

    (Continued from Parts I, II, III, and IV).

    Naomi Wolf’s 1993 book urged women to stop playing the victim role. Her 2004 article re-embraced it. All the same, there are two passages in the book that I fo

  • Mar 23, 2004

    Wolf IV: No Other Recourse?

    by Liberty and Power

    (Continued from Parts I, II, and III)

    Let’s grant, for the sake of argument, that Harold Bloom really did exactly as charged. On top of that, let’s grant that Naomi Wolf couldn’t have gotten any justice while she remained at Yale. Not by confronting Bloo