Tuesday, January 22
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Robert Kaercher is the guest editor today. |
“Bush
and Congress have yet to work out details, but the size of the $140 billion ['economic
stimulus'] plan, although larger than some expected, wasn't enough to convince
investors that economic conditions in the USA would not deepen and spread
around the globe.”
Anti-Iran Coalition in the Gulf? Read This.
“While
in the run-up to Bush’s visit to Saudi Arabia, its foreign minister, Saud
al-Faisal, was quoted in some of the mainstream press as warning against U.S.
efforts to pit the Gulf states against Iran…a remarkably blunt editorial,
entitled ‘Peace Now’, that appeared in the Jeddah-based English-language
Arab News on the second day of the president’s sojourn in Saudi Arabia —
two days after his Abu Dhabi speech — received virtually no notice. It
should have, because it is probably unprecedented in its bluntness about the
kingdom’s honored guest….”
How
Free Is the “Free Market”?
“How can informed writers continue to fob off on us the idea that we live in a laissez-faire world that can only be improved by just a bit of public tinkering? The reason is that most of our daily experience in life is not with the Department of Labor or Interior or Education or Justice. It is with Home Depot, McDonald's, Kroger, and Pizza Hut. Our lives are spent dealing with the commercial sector mostly, because it is visible and accessible, whereas the depredations of the state are mostly abstract, and its destructive effects mostly unseen. We don't see the inventions left on the shelf, the products not imported due to quotas, the people not working because of minimum wage laws, etc.” Nor do we see the firms that would arise to compete with Home Depot, McDonald's, Kroger, and Pizza Hut.
Saudi
Women Can Now Stay in Hotels Alone
“Women
in Saudi Arabia can now stay in a hotel or a furnished apartment without a
male guardian, according to a government decision…” Provided that they
don’t ever show their ankles, of course.
Clinton
Swipes Obama for Praising Republicans
“‘[Obama] said President Reagan was the engine of innovation and did more, had a more lasting impact on America than I did’, [Bill] Clinton said.” This article is hilarious. I’ll settle this dispute right now: Bubba, you and the Gipper both sucked.
Choose
Life: The Growing Aversion to Abortion
“The news that the abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years elicits various explanations, from increased use of contraceptives to lack of access to abortion clinics. But maybe the chief reason is that the great majority of Americans, even many who see themselves as pro-choice, are deeply uncomfortable with it.”
Oliver
Stone to Make Movie on George W. Bush
Frankly, I found Stone’s movie on Richard Nixon a bit of a bore, but who knows? A movie about Duhb-Yuh’s political rise made by cinema’s reigning conspiracy theorist may turn out to be at least halfway interesting.
Petition
to Abolish the Government of the USA
Roderick T. Long’s anarchist statement of “F YOU!” to the powers that be. I agree with him wholeheartedly and that’s why I signed it.
Those
Too-Consistent Libertarians
Sheldon Richman responds to Michael Kinsley’s critique of libertarianism.
Anarchocapitalism
& Libertarianism vs. Liberty
“We do need to dispense with ‘rulers’ and ‘subjects’. That is, we need to dispense with the conventional arrangement of a unilateral government – with an ‘external’ agency, public or private. That is, with the unilateral (one-way) contract between ourselves and a group empowered with the use of force. But, isn't that anarchocapitalism? No, because anarchy leaves it, vaguely, at that point, without putting anything in its place. And anarchy argues that if we put anything in its place, then its [sic] just a standard government, limited or otherwise.” The late Richard Rieben generously gave us much to feast on in this classic essay that was the introduction to his online Liberty Series booklet.
Lost
‘Star Wars’ Scene Recovered
The long lost scene in which Darth Vader informs Emperor Palpatine of the destruction of the Death Star has finally been found.
A photo blog.