Doug Newman writes:
"Does 'tyranny’s end' mean:
An end to the income tax?
An end to social security?
..."
What Does Tyranny's End Really Mean?
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Vox Popoli: Mailvox: Lay down the crack pipe
Vox Day asks about the Iraq elections:
"For whom are the people voting, and will the winner(s) be permitted by the occupation coalition to take sovereign power?"
Vox Popoli: Mailvox: Lay down the crack pipe
"For whom are the people voting, and will the winner(s) be permitted by the occupation coalition to take sovereign power?"
Vox Popoli: Mailvox: Lay down the crack pipe
US lowers expectations for Iraq vote -- Reuters
Saul Hudson writes for Reuters:
"Unable to deliver on its lofty goal of bringing democracy to Iraq through the January 30 elections, the Bush administration is pressing a damage-control campaign to lower expectations for the vote.
"With fears for a low voter turnout among Sunni Arabs due to a boycott and insurgents' intimidation, the administration no longer touts the elections as a catalyst to spread democracy across the Arab world...
Instead, U.S. officials now emphasize the political process that will follow the vote.
"Almost two years after Operation Iraqi Freedom, a raging insurgency across mainly Sunni areas forced the White House this week to prepare the American public for elections it called 'less than perfect.'"
World News Article | Reuters.co.uk
"Unable to deliver on its lofty goal of bringing democracy to Iraq through the January 30 elections, the Bush administration is pressing a damage-control campaign to lower expectations for the vote.
"With fears for a low voter turnout among Sunni Arabs due to a boycott and insurgents' intimidation, the administration no longer touts the elections as a catalyst to spread democracy across the Arab world...
Instead, U.S. officials now emphasize the political process that will follow the vote.
"Almost two years after Operation Iraqi Freedom, a raging insurgency across mainly Sunni areas forced the White House this week to prepare the American public for elections it called 'less than perfect.'"
World News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Agape Press: Democracy Without Judeo-Christian Basis Doomed to Fail?
Fred Jackson writes:
An Indiana congressman is warning that an Iraqi-style democracy may not make much of a change there. Why? Because the Judeo-Christian ethic is critical to the success of such a venture, he says.
Earlier this week, Republican Mark Souder was one of the speakers at a bipartisan prayer service before the opening of the 109th session of Congress. He told the audience that religious faith is the conscience of democracy...
Without a faith grounded in such beliefs, the congressman said, democracy as it is known in the United States cannot work -- and he believes that could well be the case in Iraq.
"John Adams said, 'Our Constitution is made for a moral and religious people,'" Souder noted...
News from Agape Press
An Indiana congressman is warning that an Iraqi-style democracy may not make much of a change there. Why? Because the Judeo-Christian ethic is critical to the success of such a venture, he says.
Earlier this week, Republican Mark Souder was one of the speakers at a bipartisan prayer service before the opening of the 109th session of Congress. He told the audience that religious faith is the conscience of democracy...
Without a faith grounded in such beliefs, the congressman said, democracy as it is known in the United States cannot work -- and he believes that could well be the case in Iraq.
"John Adams said, 'Our Constitution is made for a moral and religious people,'" Souder noted...
News from Agape Press
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Friday, January 28, 2005
A Case for Conscientious Objection
Andrew Young writes:
"War violates principles most Americans hold dearly. It forces people to kill under false pretenses and denies the sanctity of human life. Governments, ours included, show reckless and wanton disregard for the lives of their own citizens during war, even though they always claim that war serves the public interest..."
A Case for Conscientious Objection
"War violates principles most Americans hold dearly. It forces people to kill under false pretenses and denies the sanctity of human life. Governments, ours included, show reckless and wanton disregard for the lives of their own citizens during war, even though they always claim that war serves the public interest..."
A Case for Conscientious Objection
Can You Imagine?: Hussein Was Right & Bush Was Wrong by Harry Browne
Harry Browne writes:
"You may remember that in 2002, the year before the Iraq War began, the United Nations Security Council ordered Iraq to produce a report detailing all of its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons – past and present. Iraqi officials complied and produced an 11,800-page report on Iraq's weapons programs...
"Although the report was prepared for the United Nations, U.S. officials intercepted the report, edited out 8,000 pages (over two thirds) of it, and delivered its Reader's Digest version of the report to the UN...
"... the missing parts covered the Iraqis' acquisition of chemical and biological weapons from the U.S., the delivery of non-fissionable materials for a nuclear bomb by the U.S. to the Iraqis, and the training of Iraqi nuclear scientists at U.S. nuclear facilities in Los Alamos, Sandia, and Berkeley...
"UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said the conclusions stated in the report were basically true – that Iraq no longer had dangerous weapons...
"Colin Powell dismissed the report, calling it a 'catalogue of recycled information and flagrant omissions.' Of course, as we now know, the information was recycled because it happened to be true, and the omissions were flagrant because U.S. officials had done the omitting...
"Now here we are, over two years later. What have we learned?
"The hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction has turned up exactly nothing, and so the hunt was been called off.
"Everything Hussein said about the weapons has turned out to be true.
"Everything George Bush said about Iraq's weapons has turned out to be false...
"In other words, the Butcher of Baghdad was correct; the President of the United States of America was wrong. The Butcher of Baghdad will be put on trial for 'war crimes.' The President of the United States of America was reelected to 'lead' the country for four more years."
Can You Imagine?: Hussein Was Right & Bush Was Wrong by Harry Browne
"You may remember that in 2002, the year before the Iraq War began, the United Nations Security Council ordered Iraq to produce a report detailing all of its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons – past and present. Iraqi officials complied and produced an 11,800-page report on Iraq's weapons programs...
"Although the report was prepared for the United Nations, U.S. officials intercepted the report, edited out 8,000 pages (over two thirds) of it, and delivered its Reader's Digest version of the report to the UN...
"... the missing parts covered the Iraqis' acquisition of chemical and biological weapons from the U.S., the delivery of non-fissionable materials for a nuclear bomb by the U.S. to the Iraqis, and the training of Iraqi nuclear scientists at U.S. nuclear facilities in Los Alamos, Sandia, and Berkeley...
"UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said the conclusions stated in the report were basically true – that Iraq no longer had dangerous weapons...
"Colin Powell dismissed the report, calling it a 'catalogue of recycled information and flagrant omissions.' Of course, as we now know, the information was recycled because it happened to be true, and the omissions were flagrant because U.S. officials had done the omitting...
"Now here we are, over two years later. What have we learned?
"The hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction has turned up exactly nothing, and so the hunt was been called off.
"Everything Hussein said about the weapons has turned out to be true.
"Everything George Bush said about Iraq's weapons has turned out to be false...
"In other words, the Butcher of Baghdad was correct; the President of the United States of America was wrong. The Butcher of Baghdad will be put on trial for 'war crimes.' The President of the United States of America was reelected to 'lead' the country for four more years."
Can You Imagine?: Hussein Was Right & Bush Was Wrong by Harry Browne
The Tax-Reform Racket - Mises Institute
Excellent analysis of tax-reform proposals by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.:
"But let us focus on the first part of the tax reform message, the part that is undeniably true: the current tax code is a disaster...
"But the neutral tax is a myth. In one way or another, every tax punishes productivity in both seen and unseen ways...
"Actually, all of history shows that taxes are a leading cause of the breakdown of civilization. The higher the tax, the less wealth there is to create and sustain civilization. We have civilization despite taxes...
"The only tax plan anyone should trust is the most simple possible: the one that proposes to lower existing taxes...
"[T]he Bush administration genuinely believes in creating a new forced savings scheme... [T]hese people do not... trust people to manage their own money...
"Let me close with a proposal that we abolish the income tax. It took in $873 billion last year. If we cut the budget by that amount,... We would end up with a federal budget of about $1.5 trillion, where it was in the last year of Clinton's second term. If anyone thinks that the federal government was too small back then, I can only recommend a complete education in economics, politics, and the truth about human freedom...
"Thus do I end this talk with a call, not for reform, but for an end to the income tax. It should be replaced with nothing at all. In any case, that would be a good first step."
The Tax-Reform Racket - Mises Institute
"But let us focus on the first part of the tax reform message, the part that is undeniably true: the current tax code is a disaster...
"But the neutral tax is a myth. In one way or another, every tax punishes productivity in both seen and unseen ways...
"Actually, all of history shows that taxes are a leading cause of the breakdown of civilization. The higher the tax, the less wealth there is to create and sustain civilization. We have civilization despite taxes...
"The only tax plan anyone should trust is the most simple possible: the one that proposes to lower existing taxes...
"[T]he Bush administration genuinely believes in creating a new forced savings scheme... [T]hese people do not... trust people to manage their own money...
"Let me close with a proposal that we abolish the income tax. It took in $873 billion last year. If we cut the budget by that amount,... We would end up with a federal budget of about $1.5 trillion, where it was in the last year of Clinton's second term. If anyone thinks that the federal government was too small back then, I can only recommend a complete education in economics, politics, and the truth about human freedom...
"Thus do I end this talk with a call, not for reform, but for an end to the income tax. It should be replaced with nothing at all. In any case, that would be a good first step."
The Tax-Reform Racket - Mises Institute
WorldNetDaily: Final fix for Social Security
On 7 August 2001, Harry Browne addressed several myths of Social Security, and proposed a solution:
"Shut Social Security down – completely, immediately and for good. End the Social Security tax tomorrow morning and stop making Social Security payments tomorrow evening. Anyone under 50 can have a better retirement putting 10 percent of his income in the bank instead of 15 percent into Social Security.
"And what happens to those who are currently dependent on Social Security and those too close to retirement to build a new nest egg?
"Have the government make a one-time purchase of private annuities – secure, non-political annuities that guarantee the same income Social Security is paying now to senior citizens...
"This approach doesn't appeal to politicians, because it takes tax money and power away from them. But the only alternative to it is to resign yourself to having more and more of your income taken from you and poured down the drain."
WorldNetDaily: Final fix for Social Security
"Shut Social Security down – completely, immediately and for good. End the Social Security tax tomorrow morning and stop making Social Security payments tomorrow evening. Anyone under 50 can have a better retirement putting 10 percent of his income in the bank instead of 15 percent into Social Security.
"And what happens to those who are currently dependent on Social Security and those too close to retirement to build a new nest egg?
"Have the government make a one-time purchase of private annuities – secure, non-political annuities that guarantee the same income Social Security is paying now to senior citizens...
"This approach doesn't appeal to politicians, because it takes tax money and power away from them. But the only alternative to it is to resign yourself to having more and more of your income taken from you and poured down the drain."
WorldNetDaily: Final fix for Social Security
Coming Up Empty - by Gordon Prather
"Scott Ritter, who was a chief UN inspector in Iraq in those years recently had this to say about the Duefler report:
"'One of the tragic ironies of the decision to invade Iraq is that the Iraqi WMD declaration required by security council resolution 1441, submitted by Iraq in December 2002, and summarily rejected by Bush and Blair as repackaged falsehoods, now stands as the most accurate compilation of data yet assembled regarding Iraq's WMD program\s (more so than even Duelfer's ISG report, which contains much unsubstantiated speculation).
"'Saddam Hussein has yet to be contradicted on a single point of substantive fact. Iraq had disarmed; no one wanted to accept that conclusion.'"
Coming Up Empty - by Gordon Prather
"'One of the tragic ironies of the decision to invade Iraq is that the Iraqi WMD declaration required by security council resolution 1441, submitted by Iraq in December 2002, and summarily rejected by Bush and Blair as repackaged falsehoods, now stands as the most accurate compilation of data yet assembled regarding Iraq's WMD program\s (more so than even Duelfer's ISG report, which contains much unsubstantiated speculation).
"'Saddam Hussein has yet to be contradicted on a single point of substantive fact. Iraq had disarmed; no one wanted to accept that conclusion.'"
Coming Up Empty - by Gordon Prather
Absolutely? - by Juan Cole
Juan Cole writes:
"... Saddam without weapons of mass destruction could not have been 'dangerous' to the United States. Just parroting 'dangerous' doesn't create real danger. Danger has to come from an intent and ability to strike the US. Saddam had neither. He wasn't dangerous to the US. It is absurd that this poor, weak, ramshackle Third World state should have been seen as 'dangerous' to a superpower. That is just propaganda.
"Calling Saddam 'dangerous'... without regard to the evidence falls under the propaganda techniques of name-calling and stirring irrational fear..."
Absolutely? - by Juan Cole
"... Saddam without weapons of mass destruction could not have been 'dangerous' to the United States. Just parroting 'dangerous' doesn't create real danger. Danger has to come from an intent and ability to strike the US. Saddam had neither. He wasn't dangerous to the US. It is absurd that this poor, weak, ramshackle Third World state should have been seen as 'dangerous' to a superpower. That is just propaganda.
"Calling Saddam 'dangerous'... without regard to the evidence falls under the propaganda techniques of name-calling and stirring irrational fear..."
Absolutely? - by Juan Cole
DC at Coronation Time by C.T. Rossi
C.T. Rossi wrote on 15 Jan 2005:
"The new face of Washington is angular with a thick neck and a curled wire running into its ear... It is ominous and omnipresent... Though this face has slowly gained ascendancy over the past three years, it appears that its coming out party will be this month’s Presidential Inauguration activities...
"The actual inauguration ceremony of George W. Bush is of secondary importance – the more important event is a formal and overt display of force designed to make the masses cower. The haute couture of the festivities, with all due respect to the First Lady’s designer, will not be grand ball gowns nor even 'black ties and boots' but the S.W.A.T.-style assault jumpsuits. The special guest list of 'military personnel, FBI agents in full SWAT outfitting, snipers on rooftops and scores of bomb-detecting dogs' has also been confirmed. Just as important as the seating arrangement and placing of name cards is the 'inspecting miles of underground Metro and sewer tunnels, sealing manhole covers, closing streets and surveying the more than 450 downtown buildings.'...
"Like the Neanderthal bouncers outside of chic Hollywood nightclubs, the 'security force' will decide who gets in and who doesn’t. Without 'your papers,' residents of the Shaw neighborhood will not be allowed ingress and egress from their own homes. Other 'security' measures have had the (intended?) effect creating such inconvenience that law-abiding people plan to stay away.
"Once upon a time a man said that if the terrorists forced us to change our way of life, then they will have won. But things have changed. This means that either the terrorists are winning or that these changes were not forced – but desired – by our leaders."
DC at Coronation Time by C.T. Rossi
"The new face of Washington is angular with a thick neck and a curled wire running into its ear... It is ominous and omnipresent... Though this face has slowly gained ascendancy over the past three years, it appears that its coming out party will be this month’s Presidential Inauguration activities...
"The actual inauguration ceremony of George W. Bush is of secondary importance – the more important event is a formal and overt display of force designed to make the masses cower. The haute couture of the festivities, with all due respect to the First Lady’s designer, will not be grand ball gowns nor even 'black ties and boots' but the S.W.A.T.-style assault jumpsuits. The special guest list of 'military personnel, FBI agents in full SWAT outfitting, snipers on rooftops and scores of bomb-detecting dogs' has also been confirmed. Just as important as the seating arrangement and placing of name cards is the 'inspecting miles of underground Metro and sewer tunnels, sealing manhole covers, closing streets and surveying the more than 450 downtown buildings.'...
"Like the Neanderthal bouncers outside of chic Hollywood nightclubs, the 'security force' will decide who gets in and who doesn’t. Without 'your papers,' residents of the Shaw neighborhood will not be allowed ingress and egress from their own homes. Other 'security' measures have had the (intended?) effect creating such inconvenience that law-abiding people plan to stay away.
"Once upon a time a man said that if the terrorists forced us to change our way of life, then they will have won. But things have changed. This means that either the terrorists are winning or that these changes were not forced – but desired – by our leaders."
DC at Coronation Time by C.T. Rossi
Hammurabi by Robert Klassen
Robert Klassen writes:
"I either missed something important in my education, or I am missing a critical gene, but I cannot understand what motivates people like Cyrus, Alexander, Napoleon, Hitler, or Bush. Military domination of people doesn’t produce anything except grief, an obvious truism, and it’s a tremendous waste of time, money, and energy. If somebody has something you want, why not trade for it? No, these guys want to pulverize them, even if that means destroying whatever it is they want. Where’s the point?"
Hammurabi by Robert Klassen
"I either missed something important in my education, or I am missing a critical gene, but I cannot understand what motivates people like Cyrus, Alexander, Napoleon, Hitler, or Bush. Military domination of people doesn’t produce anything except grief, an obvious truism, and it’s a tremendous waste of time, money, and energy. If somebody has something you want, why not trade for it? No, these guys want to pulverize them, even if that means destroying whatever it is they want. Where’s the point?"
Hammurabi by Robert Klassen
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Want to Reform Social Security? Stop Spending.
Congressman Ron Paul writes:
"Social Security reform promises to be the biggest domestic issue this year in Washington, but most of the proposals are nothing more than flim-flam. The only honest solution to the future insolvency of the program is for Congress to stop spending so much money. Unless Congress makes real cuts in spending -- and stops spending Social Security taxes on completely unrelated programs -- millions of Americans simply will not receive even a fraction of the money they paid into Social Security. Ignore the rhetoric about tax increases and cuts in benefits, as though you are to blame for the problem! All Social Security obligations could be met if Congress did not spend so much on other things...
"Notice that neither political party proposes letting people opt out of Social Security, which exposes the lie that your contributions are set aside and saved...
"The truth, of course, is that your contributions are not put aside. Social Security is simply a tax. Like all taxes, the money collected is spent immediately as general revenues to fund the federal government. The Social Security trust fund does not exist... Social Security benefits are paid each year from general funds, like other federal programs... Allowing people to opt out of Social Security would force the federal government to admit it has been stealing money from Social Security for decades...
"If the administration truly wants to give people more control over their retirement dollars, why not simply reduce payroll taxes and let them keep their own money to invest privately as they see fit? This is the true private solution...
"Your money has never been safe in the government’s hands, and it never will be. Governments spend money; it’s just their nature. It is preposterous to believe our government is capable of simply sitting on a huge pile of money without touching it because it’s earmarked for one purpose or another. No matter what politicians promise, Social Security reform will not change the fact that your money is taken from your paycheck and sent to Washington, where it will be spent..."
Want to Reform Social Security? Stop Spending.
"Social Security reform promises to be the biggest domestic issue this year in Washington, but most of the proposals are nothing more than flim-flam. The only honest solution to the future insolvency of the program is for Congress to stop spending so much money. Unless Congress makes real cuts in spending -- and stops spending Social Security taxes on completely unrelated programs -- millions of Americans simply will not receive even a fraction of the money they paid into Social Security. Ignore the rhetoric about tax increases and cuts in benefits, as though you are to blame for the problem! All Social Security obligations could be met if Congress did not spend so much on other things...
"Notice that neither political party proposes letting people opt out of Social Security, which exposes the lie that your contributions are set aside and saved...
"The truth, of course, is that your contributions are not put aside. Social Security is simply a tax. Like all taxes, the money collected is spent immediately as general revenues to fund the federal government. The Social Security trust fund does not exist... Social Security benefits are paid each year from general funds, like other federal programs... Allowing people to opt out of Social Security would force the federal government to admit it has been stealing money from Social Security for decades...
"If the administration truly wants to give people more control over their retirement dollars, why not simply reduce payroll taxes and let them keep their own money to invest privately as they see fit? This is the true private solution...
"Your money has never been safe in the government’s hands, and it never will be. Governments spend money; it’s just their nature. It is preposterous to believe our government is capable of simply sitting on a huge pile of money without touching it because it’s earmarked for one purpose or another. No matter what politicians promise, Social Security reform will not change the fact that your money is taken from your paycheck and sent to Washington, where it will be spent..."
Want to Reform Social Security? Stop Spending.
Monday, January 24, 2005
U.S. Foreign Policy: Question All Assumptions: Newsroom: The Independent Institute
Ivan Eland writes:
"Post-World War II U.S. foreign policy, including that of the Bush administration, has been based on certain assumptions about the nature of the world. Unfortunately, most of those assumptions are suspect...
"The most notable assumption is that if the U.S. government (USG) does not dominate the globe militarily and ensure security through wanton armed interventions, the world will fall apart...
"In addition to expending much blood and treasure, all U.S. wars have eroded civil liberties at home...
"The last assumption -- given to us by the president but eagerly embraced by the interventionist foreign policy elite -- is that al Qaeda is attacking the United States because of its freedoms. The Defense Science Board, made up of high-powered consultants to the Department of Defense, recently issued a report debunking this notion and accurately noting that al Qaeda attacks the United States because it hates U.S. interventionism in the Islamic world...
"Why doesn’t the public ask its government to explain why Saddam Hussein’s unnecessary invasion of Kuwait was bad and President Bush’s unnecessary invasion of Iraq was good? Also, why don’t they ask if killing innocent civilians, even as collateral damage, in an unnecessary and aggressive invasion is any better than deliberately targeting them as bin Laden does?
"These are politically incorrect questions, but the American people should start asking them of their government. Instead, by accepting questionable assumptions on the part of its government, the American people are allowing it to unnecessarily turn the greatest nation on earth into an international rogue state."
U.S. Foreign Policy: Question All Assumptions: Newsroom: The Independent Institute
"Post-World War II U.S. foreign policy, including that of the Bush administration, has been based on certain assumptions about the nature of the world. Unfortunately, most of those assumptions are suspect...
"The most notable assumption is that if the U.S. government (USG) does not dominate the globe militarily and ensure security through wanton armed interventions, the world will fall apart...
"In addition to expending much blood and treasure, all U.S. wars have eroded civil liberties at home...
"The last assumption -- given to us by the president but eagerly embraced by the interventionist foreign policy elite -- is that al Qaeda is attacking the United States because of its freedoms. The Defense Science Board, made up of high-powered consultants to the Department of Defense, recently issued a report debunking this notion and accurately noting that al Qaeda attacks the United States because it hates U.S. interventionism in the Islamic world...
"Why doesn’t the public ask its government to explain why Saddam Hussein’s unnecessary invasion of Kuwait was bad and President Bush’s unnecessary invasion of Iraq was good? Also, why don’t they ask if killing innocent civilians, even as collateral damage, in an unnecessary and aggressive invasion is any better than deliberately targeting them as bin Laden does?
"These are politically incorrect questions, but the American people should start asking them of their government. Instead, by accepting questionable assumptions on the part of its government, the American people are allowing it to unnecessarily turn the greatest nation on earth into an international rogue state."
U.S. Foreign Policy: Question All Assumptions: Newsroom: The Independent Institute
This Plastic Moment- by Justin Raimondo
Justin Raimondo writes:
"We have arrived at a plastic moment, during which we can jump out of the Iraqi quagmire in a single bound and leave the Iraqis to 'make their own way,' as our president put it the other day. Whether we take it or not is a fateful decision that will put George W. Bush's words to the test...
"This plastic moment will soon pass: in the next few weeks we either commit ourselves to a long, bloody course of empire in the Middle East, or we withdraw with honor and our dignity intact. Which will it be?"
This Plastic Moment- by Justin Raimondo
"We have arrived at a plastic moment, during which we can jump out of the Iraqi quagmire in a single bound and leave the Iraqis to 'make their own way,' as our president put it the other day. Whether we take it or not is a fateful decision that will put George W. Bush's words to the test...
"This plastic moment will soon pass: in the next few weeks we either commit ourselves to a long, bloody course of empire in the Middle East, or we withdraw with honor and our dignity intact. Which will it be?"
This Plastic Moment- by Justin Raimondo
FREEDOM? NO THANKS -- Nealz Nuze January 21, 2005
While I disagree with Neal Boortz that the appropriate U.S. government role is to try to spread freedom to the rest of the world at the point of a gun, he does make some good points.
"What is the problem with freedom? I think that the biggest problem is that people realize that along with personal freedom comes personal responsibility... Introduce responsibility and consequences for irresponsibility, and the love of freedom suddenly wanes...
"Should you be free to negotiate with an employer on the basis of salary? No ... we need a minimum wage. Should you be free to buy a health insurance policy that doesn't include pregnancy benefits? No .. the government stands in the way. Should you be free to chose who is going to come into your home and tell you what drapery fabric would look good with your throw pillows? No. The government tells you who you can and can't hire for that job. Do people complain? Do they protest? Not a bit. Just accept the government controls and regulations and move on...
"When freedom isn't cherished people are opposed to paying a price to make freedom secure...
"I've been watching Inauguration and State of the Union speeches for years... Over the decades there were some obvious changes. Take the word 'democracy,' for instance. You never saw that word in a State of the Union speech until sometime around the 1930's. The idea of 'democracy' suddenly became popular when politicians sought to expand the power of the state beyond anything imagined by our Constitution. To do this they needed to cite the 'will of the people.' Majority rule moved the rule of law aside, and our modern 'democracy' was born. Along with the arrival of the 'D' word came disappearing references to freedom and more emphasis on security ... government-provided security..."
boortz.com: Nealz Nuze January 21, 2005
"What is the problem with freedom? I think that the biggest problem is that people realize that along with personal freedom comes personal responsibility... Introduce responsibility and consequences for irresponsibility, and the love of freedom suddenly wanes...
"Should you be free to negotiate with an employer on the basis of salary? No ... we need a minimum wage. Should you be free to buy a health insurance policy that doesn't include pregnancy benefits? No .. the government stands in the way. Should you be free to chose who is going to come into your home and tell you what drapery fabric would look good with your throw pillows? No. The government tells you who you can and can't hire for that job. Do people complain? Do they protest? Not a bit. Just accept the government controls and regulations and move on...
"When freedom isn't cherished people are opposed to paying a price to make freedom secure...
"I've been watching Inauguration and State of the Union speeches for years... Over the decades there were some obvious changes. Take the word 'democracy,' for instance. You never saw that word in a State of the Union speech until sometime around the 1930's. The idea of 'democracy' suddenly became popular when politicians sought to expand the power of the state beyond anything imagined by our Constitution. To do this they needed to cite the 'will of the people.' Majority rule moved the rule of law aside, and our modern 'democracy' was born. Along with the arrival of the 'D' word came disappearing references to freedom and more emphasis on security ... government-provided security..."
boortz.com: Nealz Nuze January 21, 2005
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Homeland Intelligence Chief Hughes Warned Civil Rights Would Have to Be ‘Abridged’ -- CQ.com
Justin Rood writes:
"Eight months before the White House appointed him the Homeland Security Department’s top intelligence official, retired U.S. Army Gen. Patrick M. Hughes told a public forum at Harvard last year that the government would have to 'abridge individual rights' and take domestic security measures 'not in accordance with our values and traditions' to prevent terrorist attacks in the United States...
"'Therefore, we have to abridge individual rights, change the societal conditions, and act in ways that heretofore were not in accordance with our values and traditions, like giving a police officer or security official the right to search you without a judicial finding of probable cause,' said Hughes."
CQ.com
"Eight months before the White House appointed him the Homeland Security Department’s top intelligence official, retired U.S. Army Gen. Patrick M. Hughes told a public forum at Harvard last year that the government would have to 'abridge individual rights' and take domestic security measures 'not in accordance with our values and traditions' to prevent terrorist attacks in the United States...
"'Therefore, we have to abridge individual rights, change the societal conditions, and act in ways that heretofore were not in accordance with our values and traditions, like giving a police officer or security official the right to search you without a judicial finding of probable cause,' said Hughes."
CQ.com
Graven Images by Paul Hein
Dr. Paul Hein writes:
"How absurd must life become before we begin to see things in their proper perspective? We’re kept trembling with fear from possible exposure to Alar, or DDT, or cyclamate (but never fluoride!) or Saddam Hussein, or some other pipsqueak tyrant (but never our own government!)... There seems to be some sort of deep-seated human instinct to be afraid of things: a fear upon which our rulers capitalize with gusto. But we seem oblivious to genuine danger... allowing ourselves, instead, to be afraid of shadows, or the possibility of the threat of shadows!"
Graven Images by Paul Hein
"How absurd must life become before we begin to see things in their proper perspective? We’re kept trembling with fear from possible exposure to Alar, or DDT, or cyclamate (but never fluoride!) or Saddam Hussein, or some other pipsqueak tyrant (but never our own government!)... There seems to be some sort of deep-seated human instinct to be afraid of things: a fear upon which our rulers capitalize with gusto. But we seem oblivious to genuine danger... allowing ourselves, instead, to be afraid of shadows, or the possibility of the threat of shadows!"
Graven Images by Paul Hein
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