Tuesday, January 15
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Robert Kaercher is the guest editor today. Due to technical difficulties, STR was published late on Sunday. If you missed it, you can see it here. |
An Open Letter to Voters: Please Don't
Recommended "Like the man who bayonets a baby to save a city, when a man votes, he necessarily approves of the means used to obtain his end. The means of attaining any political end in a tax-based government is the coercion of tax dollars from innocents: an act of aggression. Quite simply, if you vote, you de facto support the infliction of violence upon your neighbors...." Column by new Root Striker Geoff Turecek.
"Nor are all choices mutually exclusive. A slave could both choose an overseer and attempt to run away, thus increasing his odds of survival if he’s captured in the escape attempt, thus making an attempt equal in effectiveness – if successful -- to the slave who would only choose non-cooperation and running away as tactics." Column by Robert Jackson.
Uncle Sam Sugar Daddy’s Corporate War Cronies Make Another Killing
“The
Democratic-led Congress is unlikely to block U.S. plans to sell $123 million
worth of sophisticated precision-guided bomb technology to Saudi Arabia,
despite concerns from some members that the systems could be used against
Israel.” No need to worry…Israel’s
a customer, too!
Did 'Filipino Monkey' Almost Cause WWIII?
“There may be a serious problem here. Has the Bush administration's demonization of Iran so pervaded the U.S. government that the judgement [sic] of vital decision-makers is becoming dangerously clouded? So when a possible practical joker [known as ‘Filipino Monkey’] issues a threat to a warship, you have a Strangelovian military chain of command from Bahrain to Washington racing to insist that the crazy, murderous mullahs in Tehran are at it again. By the Pentagon's own account, one of the warships very nearly took out at least one of the Iranian vessels but the order to fire was prevented at the last minute when the speedboats turned away.” Uncle's trigger finger is awful itchy.
Fire
‘Em All and Let God Sort ‘Em Out
“Homeland Security’s latest weapon against illegal immigration could cost legal workers their jobs.” Fun and yuk-yuks with state socialist bureaucracy.
Credit
Expansion, Economic Inequality and Stagnant Wages
“The
truth is that credit expansion is responsible not only for the boom-bust cycle
but also for another major negative phenomenon for which public opinion
mistakenly blames capitalism: namely, sharply increased economic inequality,
in which the wealthier strata of the population appear to increase their
wealth dramatically relative to the rest of the population and for no good
reason.”
Mysterious
$100 ‘Supernote’ Bills Pop Up Worldwide
“The 'supernote' appears to be made from the same cotton and linen mix that distinguishes U.S. currency from other currency. It even has watermarks visible from the other side of the bill, colored microfibers woven into the substrate of the banknote and an embedded strip, barely visible, that reads USA 100 and glows red under ultraviolet light. The secret operation, stumping officials worldwide, could be the ‘most sophisticated counterfeiting operation in the world’, former congressman James Kolbe told McClatchy Newspapers.” I guess all that competition from the Federal Reserve just makes counterfeiters work all the harder to make a better quality product.
Sexism,
Racism: Which Is More Taboo?
“Expressions of sexism and racism emerging from the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have been blatant, subtle and perhaps sometimes imagined, and they are renewing the national debate over what is and isn't acceptable to say in public.” One thing that’s definitely unacceptable to say in public is how much easier it is for the ruling elites if its corporate media propagandists foment plenty of animosity between various groups.
“Both
the book and movie Charlie Wilson's War glorify the ‘colorful’ liberal
Democratic congressman's successful crusade to bludgeon the reluctant,
neoconservative Reagan administration into dramatically escalating funding,
arming, and training of radical Islamists fighting against the Soviet Union in
Afghanistan. Although the zestful life and escapades of Wilson make for an
entertaining and true-to-(Wilson's)-life movie, both the book and movie give
short shrift to the dire long-term policy consequences of Wilson's and
Reagan's proxy war.”
“Secularists often criticise the notion of ‘faith’, which they take to mean belief without evidence, or at least belief without sufficient evidence. I think this is a mistake.” Roderick Long on keeping faith.
“Does it seem paradoxical that Anarchists don’t want to eliminate the State? The problem is the method of that elimination, not the elimination itself. Violence cannot be used, and neither can magic be used, because neither of them lead to permanent freedom.” Francois Tremblay wouldn’t be so hasty to push that “magic button.”
Benjamin
Tucker on Misinterpretations of Anarchism
“Government
is invasion, and the State, as defined in the last issue of Liberty, is the
embodiment of invasion in an individual, or band of individuals, assuming to
act as representatives or masters of the entire people within a given area.
The Anarchists are opposed to all government, and especially to the State as
the worst governor and chief invader. From
Do
The Robots Who Run Our Society Have Too Much Power?
“Panelists discuss whether controversial decisions by the Robot Congress and President Executron indicate robots have too much control over our lives.” Satire.
A photo blog.