Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Molly Ivins, Populist Texas Columnist, Dies at 62 - New York Times

Molly Ivins, Populist Texas Columnist, Dies at 62 - New York Times: "In her syndicated column, which appeared in about 350 newspapers, Ms. Ivins cultivated the voice of a folksy populist who derided those who acted too big for their britches. She was rowdy and profane, but she could filet her ideological opponents with droll precision.

After Patrick J. Buchanan, as a conservative candidate for president, declared at the 1992 Republican National Convention that America was engaged in a cultural war, she said his speech “probably sounded better in the original German.”"

Saturday, January 27, 2007

FW: A Libertarian State of the Union Message Please report and circulate

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------ Forwarded Message
From: George Phillies <phillies@4liberty.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:19:10 -0500
To: <undisclosed-recipients:;>
Subject: A Libertarian State of the Union Message Please report and
circulate

The American people can tell the truth.

The United States is on the wrong track. The state of the Union is not
good, and it is getting worse by the day.

Our brave men and women perish in Iraq, fighting for ever-changing
objectives. The trade deficit soars toward a trillion dollars a year.
The national debt of the United States climbs three-quarters of a
trillion dollars a year. The Federal government treats our Bill of
Rights as a doormat. Our immigration laws are an unenforced joke. Some
children receive excellent educations. Others face a dismal future with
little studying or learning. Medical care costs are through the
ceiling. Energy and environmental issues endanger our national safety.
Take-home pay is stagnant. A third of young African-American men are
someplace on their way through the justice system, in jail, on
probation, or disenfranchised.

And what has Congress debated, the past few years? Gay marriage.
Abortion. French Fries: Congress renamed them. Twice. Flag burning.
Billions in corporate welfare subsidies.

It's time for a change. It's time for a new future, the Libertarian
future of peace, freedom, and prosperity. What are some of our
problems, and how would Libertarians solve them to bring you a happier
report next year?

The War On Iraq was built on a pile of lies. Our armed forces in Iraq
should be removed as rapidly as logistics permit. The major delays are
moving equipment and supplies, not people. Until then, we should
announce we are leaving, cease offensive operations, remove our forces
from urban areas such as the Green Zone, and emphatically suggest to the
Iraqis that they need a divorce: Iraq would be happier split into four
parts, namely a Kurdish part, a Sunni part, a Shia part, and a part for
the secularized Iraqis who 25 years ago brought Iraq to the standard of
living of Greece.

There should be an Independent Commission of Inquiry, with complete
access to all Federal records and full powers to force testimony
(witnesses can always plead the Fifth), to determine what was being said
behind the scenes as the War On Iraq was sold to the American people.
Graft and corruption affecting the War effort should be most rigorously
investigated and prosecuted, starting with the 18 billion dollars in
cash that was flown to Iraq and disappeared.

Warrantless wiretaps and warrantless searches are crimes. Reading your
email without a warrant is a crime. Kidnapping and torturing people are
crimes. If you go abroad and torture someone until they die, it's a
death penalty offense. Generating legal justifications for kidnapping
and torturing people is not an official duty: it's part of a criminal
conspiracy. There are no legal exemptions for government officials who
claim they are just following orders: That's the Nuremberg Defense, and
it's invalid. I will ask Congress to create a Corps of Special
Prosecutors to see that every single person who committed these and
other crimes in the name of America is given a fair trial. Judges and
juries will decide their fates.

Oh, and I have a message to anyone who tries 'graymail' (Trying to block
a trial by requesting secret documents.) Your crime was far more
dangerous to America than the loss of a few secrets. I will happily
declassify whatever you request.

Debt: We should end the national debt, the 'grandchild tax'. You spend,
your grandchildren pay. That's immoral, and will be brought to a stop.
I have offered a plan to discharge the national debt over 30 years,
and will seek to put it into effect. For runaway budgets, I have a
plan. Not the veto pen. If elected I will I gather be the first
President to have a computer in my working office, and attached to it
will be the 'veto-high-speed-laser-printer'.

Education: The No Child Left Behind Act bears no semblance to a
legitimate activity of the Federal government. I will work for its
repeal. In its place, I will ask Congress to phase in a tax credit,
$5000 to each child, available to anyone or any company who contributes
to the child's education. That's enrichment like computers, books in
the house, and a daily newspaper subscription. That's tuition for
private schoolers. That's teaching materials for home schoolers.

Health care costs to your insurance company can be cut by a quarter,
almost overnight. Several years ago, Congress passed a law requiring
hospital emergency rooms to treat anyone who reached their doors. They
did not bother to pay for this requirement. They required hospitals to
find the money. Hospitals found the money: they send the bills to your
insurance company. In effect, they imposed a hidden Federal tax, the
'cost transfer'. When you go to a hospital, your health insurance is
charged for the medical care of the uninsured. That's the cost
transfer. It's a de facto Federal sales tax on your health insurance,
and it's huge.

The Libertarian solution: Hospitals should not be forced to give 'free'
medical care unless Congress pays for it. Remove requirements that
hospitals give care when no one is paying for it. Charity stays legal.
Make cost transfers illegal. Your insurance rates will fall a quarter
or more. Also, all medical expenses should have the same tax
consequence: they should be deductions. Whether your employer buys
insurance, you buy insurance, or you pay out of pocket for costs, those
costs should be treated the same way by the IRS

America's dependence on foreign oil endangers our security. We can't
solve our oil shortage by drilling here in the USA: American oil
production is beyond its peak and will continue to decline, no matter
whether or not we allow drilling in Alaska or Florida. The Bush
Republican ethanol from corn program is a corporate welfare boondoggle:
the energy in the ethanol is barely more than the energy in the coal
burned to distill the ethanol up to fuel purity.

The most effective thing the Federal government can do to solve the
long-term energy problem is to offer fixed-price contracts for buying
electricity from private vendors, vendors who use renewable sources,
wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, whatever. The contracts will offer at
most a modest premium over current energy prices. The objective over
some years, including energy trades, is to move the Federal government
entirely to renewable energy sources. There will be no boondoggle
construction projects with Federal guarantees and massive cost overruns
paid by your taxes: The Federal government only buys the electricity.
Private enterprise does what it does best, deciding how to make that
electricity at a profit.

The American people are entitled to decide for themselves how we want to
handle immigration. Some people want more immigration. Others want
less. Some want more people from the old country. Others want people
from places that have not historically sent us immigrants. Those are
political decisions, properly made by the people and Congress, not by
the President. The current Libertarian Party platform represents a
positive point of view here, as do Congressman Ron Paul's remarks. I
offer one guiding principle: You can't have true open borders and a
welfare system at the same time: You'll go broke. Indeed, given the
bankrupt nature of our Social Security system, every time someone enters
our work force, our long-term national indebtedness goes up. A lot.

Finally, the national problem that gets ignored, because it's invisible
to most Americans: A third of young African-American men pass through
the prison and parole system, generally for criminal charges created by
the war on drugs. That', thanks to selective enforcement, is the racist
war on drugs. Those young men, many of them, end up disenfranchised and
relatively unemployable. They remain in our inner cities, a sullen,
disaffected population isolated from the vibrant political and economic
life of our Republic. Americans should remember: Every so often, one
spark is enough to transform a silently sullen population into a
population that expresses its rage. In the 1960s, we had riots, massive
episodes of looting and burning. This time, that population has watched
the Iraqi resistance on television. This time, they may choose far more
violent and disruptive approaches.

Here we have a challenging problem to solve. Admitting that we have a
problem is the first step. A vigorous application of the Presidential
pardon pen may help. The Bully Pulpit of the Oval Office may persuade
Congress that the racist War on Drugs is as ineffective as liquor
prohibition, is as destructive as liquor prohibition, and like liquor
prohibition should be brought to an end.

The difficulties faced by small business -- the people who might employ
these unemployed young men and their sisters and brothers -- are
manifold. Government regulations that increase the costs for a large
business are a crushing burden on small businesses. For the good of the
country, we must change our treatment of the small businesses that
create the bulk of new jobs.

Solve the above problems, and take home pay will climb. Communist China
has 8% economic growth every year. There is no reason why free America
cannot do as well.

That's the State of the Union. We are on the wrong track. Matters are
getting worse, not better.

Fortunately, the ship of state has not yet sunk.

There is still time for American creativity and initiative to turn us
around.

There is still time for Americans to agree: Ask not what your government
can do for you. Ask what you, freely and voluntarily, chose to do.

There is still time to choose the Libertarian future of peace, freedom,
and prosperity.

------ End of Forwarded Message

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

From Relative Obscurity, Obama’s Star Rose Quickly - New York Times

From Relative Obscurity, Obama’s Star Rose Quickly - New York Times

Quotation About All Kinds of Pain

"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” ~Kenji Miyazawa

The Will to Fight

From Frank Rich, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, page 223:

The price has been enormous, and not just in American and Iraqi lives. One hideous consequence of the White House's biggest lie - conflating Saddam's regime with the international threat of radical Islam, fusing the war of choice in Iraq with the war of necessity that began on 9/11 - is that the public, having turned against one war, automatically rejects the other. When Americans gave up on Iraq in 2005, the percentage who regarded fighting terrorism as a top national priority fell in sync. That's the bottom line of the Bush catastrophe: the administration at once increased the ranks of jihadists by turning Iraq into a new training ground and recruitment magnet while at the same time exhausting America's will and resources to confront that expanded threat.

Monday, January 01, 2007