tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78798634626571955352024-03-13T13:06:03.361-07:00LIBERTY POSTLiberty. It’s a simple idea, but it’s also the linchpin of a complex system of values and practices: justice, prosperity, responsibility, toleration, cooperation, and peace. Many people believe that liberty is the core political value of modern civilization itself, the one that gives substance and form to all the other values of social life. They’re called libertarians.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-72995062856132682702012-08-10T15:46:00.004-07:002012-08-10T15:46:54.776-07:00Afghan Soldiers Attack NATO Troops<div id="box">
<h4 id="pagesub">
Second 'Green-on-Blue' Attack This Week</h4>
<div class="details">
by Jason Ditz</div>
</div>
<br />A pair of Afghan soldiers attacked a group of NATO troops
outside of a base today. None of the NATO soldiers were killed but one
of the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-soldiers-attack-nato-troops-afghan-dead-16965116#.UCRo4ERTtSQ">attackers</a> was. The other attacker was reportedly <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/nato-afghan-soldier-is-killed-as-he-tries-to-attack-international-forces-in-countrys-east/2012/08/09/a810ad60-e1fb-11e1-89f7-76e23a982d06_story.html">captured</a>.<br />
<img align="right" alt="" height="194" hspace="10" src="http://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/laghman.jpg" vspace="10" width="255" />The Taliban took <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/09/afghan-soldiers-attack-nato-troops/#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">credit</a></nobr>
for the attack, saying one of the attackers had been in contact with
them before the shooting. It is the 21st “green-on-blue” attack of 2012,
and the second of this week, after a <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/07/afghan-soldiers-kill-one-us-soldier-wound-two-others/">Tuesday</a> attack saw one US soldier slain.<br />
The nationality of the soldiers attacked today in the Laghman
Province was not released, but NATO officials said there were no
fatalities. They declined to comment on if anyone was wounded.<br />
27 NATO soldiers have been killed in such incidents so far this year,
the most in any single year yet. Several of the incidents involved
Taliban infiltrators, but many were also the results of arguments
between Afghans and occupation forces.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-72808047126208941262012-08-10T15:44:00.003-07:002012-08-10T15:44:55.763-07:00US Deploying Surveillance Drones Near China<div id="box">
<h4 id="pagesub">
Even John McCain called the move "unnecessarily provocative"</h4>
<div class="details">
by John Glaser</div>
</div>
<br />The Pentagon will begin <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/operations/242979-pentagon-wades-into-territorial-dispute-between-china-japan-">flying surveillance drones</a>
off the coastlines of Japan, China and Taiwan, an agreement reached
after talks between Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Japanese Defense
Minister Satoshi Morimoto at the Pentagon on Sunday.<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_31778" style="width: 303px;">
<a href="http://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/56779433_us_pacific_bases_46411.gif"><img alt="" class=" wp-image-31778 " height="347" src="http://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/56779433_us_pacific_bases_46411.gif" width="293" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Source: BBC</div>
</div>
The unmanned aerial missions will focus on a Pacific island chain
called the Diaoyutai Islands, which have become the focal point of a
simmering territorial dispute between China and Japan. Even Sen. John
McCain, one of the biggest hawks in Congress, called the deployment
“unnecessarily provocative.”<br />
In keeping with the Obama administration’s antagonistic military
postures towards China, the US has backed various neighboring countries
from Japan to the Philippines. And it’s no surprise drones have taken a
larger role in what the Pentagon plans to make <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-model-for-a-future-war-fans-tensions-with-china-and-inside-pentagon/2012/08/01/gJQAC6F8PX_story.html">a new military theater of Air-Sea Battle</a>.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
New war strategies called “Air-Sea Battle” reveal Washington’s
broader goals in the region and illustrate how a war with China – which
the US apparently yearns for – would play out.<br />
“Stealthy American bombers and submarines would knock out China’s
long-range surveillance radar and precision missile systems located deep
inside the country,” <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-model-for-a-future-war-fans-tensions-with-china-and-inside-pentagon/2012/08/01/gJQAC6F8PX_story.html">reports</a> the<em>Washington</em> <em>Post</em>. ”The initial ‘blinding campaign’ would be followed by a larger air and naval assault.”<br />
The <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/09/us-deploying-surveillance-drones-near-china/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">Obama administration</a></nobr> has been ramping up the pressure on China with an increasingly antagonistic foreign policy. The so-called ‘Asia pivot’ is <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2011/11/17/us-seeks-to-maintain-hegemony-in-asia-pacific/">an aggressive policy that involves surging American military presence</a> <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/06/06/us-refurbishing-bases-in-pacific-for-possible-conflict-with-china/">throughout the region</a> –
in the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Guam, South Korea, Singapore,
etc. – in an unprovoked scheme to contain rising Chinese economic and
military influence.<br />
Chinese officials have not appreciated this unprovoked bellicosity. In May the Chinese Defense Ministry <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/05/22/china-accuses-pentagon-of-hyping-chinese-military-threat/">accused the Pentagon</a> of hyping a Chinese military threat out of thin air. Others have said these Pentagon moves could start an arms race.<br />
“If the U.S. military develops Air-Sea Battle to deal with the
[People’s Liberation Army], the PLA will be forced to develop
anti-Air-Sea Battle,” one officer, Col. Gaoyue Fan, said last year in a
debate sponsored by the Center for Strategic and <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/09/us-deploying-surveillance-drones-near-china/#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">International Studies</a></nobr>, a defense think tank.<br />
A <a href="http://csis.org/files/publication/120413_gf_glaser.pdf">recent report from the Center for Strategic International Studies</a> predicted
that next year “could see a shift in Chinese foreign policy based on
the new leadership’s judgment that it must respond to a US strategy that
seeks to prevent China’s reemergence as a great power.”<br />
“Signs of a potential harsh reaction are already detectable,” the
report said. “The US Asia pivot has triggered an outpouring of
anti-American sentiment in China that will increase pressure on China’s
incoming leadership to stand up to the United States. Nationalistic
voices are calling for military countermeasures to the bolstering of
America’s military posture in the region and the new US defense
strategic guidelines.”LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-65056366374876339912012-08-10T15:42:00.000-07:002012-08-10T15:42:01.366-07:00Afghan Police Commander Kills Three US Special Ops<div id="box">
<h4 id="pagesub">
People continue to get killed in Afghanistan purely for the political reputation of politicians in Washington</h4>
<div class="details">
by John Glaser</div>
</div>
<br />Gunmen in Afghan uniforms <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/08/three-americans-killed-by-uniformed-afghan-in-apparently-premeditated-assault.html">shot and killed three US special operations forces</a> in southern Afghanistan, marking the 28th killed by so-called green-on-blue attacks this year.<br />
<a href="http://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/af-map1-e13147241774581.gif"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-31794" height="238" src="http://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/af-map1-e13147241774581.gif" title="" width="253" /></a>The
US troops were lured to their deaths by an Afghan police commander who
invited them to dinner Thursday night. The Taliban claimed
responsibility and said the gunman had defected to the insurgency.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The <a href="http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/07/25/how-to-fib-isafs-effectiveness/">failure</a>
of the US mission in Afghanistan – to build up and train a centralized
state and security apparatus – is illustrated clearly in the constant
killing of US soldiers by their Afghan counterparts. Much of the
security force has been infiltrated by the Taliban or Pakistani agents.<br />
The fractured nature of the armed population in the country is likely to translate to <a href="http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/07/02/afghanistans-glaring-reality-and-the-argument-for-more-of-the-same/">civil war</a>
once the US occupation is drawn down. “Mark my words, the moment the
Americans leave, the civil war will begin,” one Afghan told Dexter
Filkins in a recent <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/07/09/120709fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all"><em>New</em> <em>Yorker</em> piece</a>. “This country will be divided into twenty-five or thirty fiefdoms, each with its own government.”<br />
The U.S. has begun to recognize that the war is a total failure and the <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/10/afghan-police-commander-kills-three-us-special-ops/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">Obama administration</a></nobr> is scrambling for a partial withdrawal by 2014. As Dexter Filkins <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/07/09/120709fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all">wrote</a> recently in the<em>New Yorker</em>,
reiterating the establishment view: “After eleven years, nearly two
thousand Americans killed, sixteen thousand Americans wounded, nearly
four hundred billion dollars spent, and more than twelve thousand Afghan
civilians dead since 2007, the war in Afghanistan has come to this: the
United States is leaving, mission not accomplished.”<br />
David Rothkopf, CEO and editor at large of Foreign Policy magazine, <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/21/obama_s_debacle?page=0,0">has written</a> that <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/10/afghan-police-commander-kills-three-us-special-ops/#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">President Obama</a></nobr> was reluctant to recommit to the Afghan war with <a href="http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2012/01/23/rate-of-deaths-in-afghanistan-skyrockets-under-obama/">a surge in troops</a>from
the beginning, but that he did it anyways because he “could not afford
to look weak” or “come under political attack from the right.” So,
thousands of coalition soldiers and tens of thousands of Afghans have
been killed <a href="http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2012/05/22/war-for-political-repute/">because Obama was afraid to be called a wimp</a>.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-66280676656636302032012-08-10T15:40:00.000-07:002012-08-10T15:40:18.887-07:00Despite Israeli ‘Leak’ US Intelligence Still Solid on Iran’s Lack of Nuke Program<div id="box">
<h4 id="pagesub">
Israelis pounced on the opportunity to push the US to war, but Obama administration still says Iranian nuke is far off</h4>
<div class="details">
by John Glaser</div>
</div>
<br />Following rumors in Israel of a new US intelligence report
warning of Iranian progress on a nuclear weapon, US officials told
Reuters on Thursday that their intelligence still says <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/us-israel-iran-usa-idUSBRE8781GS20120809">Iran is not on the verge of getting nuclear weapons</a>.<br />
<a href="http://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/iran2.gif"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-31769" height="353" src="http://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/iran2.gif" title="" width="332" /></a>Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/barak-us-now-shares-israels-sense-of-urgency-on-iran-but-there-are-differences-on-how-to-act/">told Israeli news media</a>
early Thursday that a new US intelligence report parted ways with
earlier estimates finding Iran had no nuclear weapons program. <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/07/reports-citing-intelligence-on-iran-weapons-program-lack-credibility/">No new or credible evidence was given</a> in these reports of any Iranian weapons program, however.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Officials in Washington were reportedly “<a href="https://twitter.com/jwcglaser/status/233601189747499008">livid</a>”
with the unilateral Israeli leak of US intelligence. “The rules of the
spy game are clear,” former US Navy intelligence analyst John Schindler <a href="http://20committee.com/2012/08/09/now-isnt-this-interesting/">wrote on his blog</a>.
“When intelligence services share information, as they do every day,
you don’t pass it to third parties without clearance. Ever. And if you
do, eventually you will get burned and nobody will want to play marbles
with you.”<br />
But a White House National Security Council spokesman disagreed with Barak’s <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/09/despite-israeli-leak-us-intelligence-still-solid-on-irans-lack-of-nuke-program/#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">claim</a></nobr>
that the new US intelligence “transforms the Iranian situation into an
even more urgent one.” He said the US intelligence assessment of Iran’s
nuclear activities <a href="http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/us-still-believes-iran-not-on-verge-of-nuclear-weapon/">had not changed</a> from the last National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that Iran halted its weapons program in 2003.<br />
“We believe that there is time and space to continue to pursue a
diplomatic path, backed by growing international pressure on the Iranian
government,” the spokesman said. “We continue to assess that Iran is
not on the verge of achieving a nuclear weapon.”<br />
White House spokesman Jay Carney <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/white-house-u-s-focusing-on-talks-with-iran-no-comment-on-new-intel-report-1.457249">reiterated this</a>, saying the <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/09/despite-israeli-leak-us-intelligence-still-solid-on-irans-lack-of-nuke-program/#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">Obama administration</a></nobr>
is focusing on economic sanctions and diplomacy with Iran. He also
refused to discuss any rumors about new intelligence assessments.<br />
The incident underscored the apparent <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/07/28/former-us-officials-cia-considers-israel-no-1-spy-threat-in-middle-east/">distrust</a>
between the Obama administration and that of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite record levels of economic and military aid
to Israel under Obama, as well as consistent diplomatic support even of
Israel’s worst crimes against the Palestinians, the Israelis continue be
unhappy with Obama’s support and continue to pressure for a US war with
Iran.<br />
In the meantime, Obama has refused to launch a military strike on
Iran’s non-existent weapons program, but he has given in to Israeli
pressure to impose economic warfare on Iran. After extremely severe
economic sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors, Iranian civilians
are being subjected to high <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/09/despite-israeli-leak-us-intelligence-still-solid-on-irans-lack-of-nuke-program/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">unemployment</a></nobr>,
rampant inflation and food shortages, and even dramatically less access
to vital pharmaceuticals and medical treatment. Some estimate the
sanctions could end up <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/sahimi/2012/08/08/sanctions-will-kill-tens-of-thousands-of-iranians/">killing tens of thousands of Iranians</a>.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-61499596024917579212012-08-10T15:37:00.001-07:002012-08-10T15:37:06.935-07:00Nuclear Righteousness<br />
<div id="read-edge">
<div id="read-edge-disabled">
<div id="re-controls">
<br />
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="blog_author_info">
<div class="blog_author_name clearfix">
<div class="blog_author_date" style="width: auto;">
<div class="float_left">
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-koehler"><img alt="Robert Koehler" height="45" src="http://s.huffpost.com/contributors/robert-koehler/headshot.jpg" width="45" /></a><br />
</div>
<div class="float_left fixed_width_author" style="width: 195px;">
<h2>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-koehler" rel="author">Robert Koehler</a></h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="blog_title">
<h1 class="title-blog">
Nuclear Righteousness
</h1>
</div>
This is American exceptionalism: "Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."<br />
But you have to say it without the doubt, the regret -- the horror --
of Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist extraordinaire and
director of the Manhattan Project, who famously uttered these words in
reference to the Trinity nuclear explosion in New Mexico's Jornada del
Muerto desert on July 16, 1945. <br />
When you remove Oppenheimer's moral awareness from the quote, it
sounds more like: "Oh, I wouldn't hesitate if I had the choice. I'd wipe
'em out. You're gonna kill innocent people at the same time, but we've
never fought a damn war anywhere in the world where they didn't kill
innocent people. ... That's their tough luck for being there."<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The unrepentant <a href="http://www.avweb.com/profiles/" target="_hplink">Paul Tibbets</a>,
pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima
less than a month after the Trinity explosion, made this comment in an
interview with Studs Terkel in 2007, in response to Terkel's question:
"... when you hear people say, 'Let's nuke 'em. Let's nuke these
people,'" -- the terrorists -- "what do you think?"<br />
This is the Simple America: nuclear-armed and ready to fight. The
only anti-nuke action it's willing to take is against Iran -- and before
that, Iraq -- whose alleged nuclear weapons program is an excuse to
wage war. <br />
Meanwhile, we have over 1,700 nuclear warheads deployed, while Russia
has about 1,500. Both countries have many thousands in reserve. And
we're upgrading our nuclear arsenal all the time, at a cost of hundreds
of billions of dollars.<br />
"... current plans call for 12 new nuclear-armed ballistic missile
submarines to carry more than 1,000 strategic nuclear warheads into the
2070s, at a total cost of almost $350 billion," Daryl G. Kimball of the
Arms Control Association wrote last month for the <a href="http://www.defpro.com/news/details/37665/?SID=82a7b6f6c23eadab5fa917288f6c0c3f" target="_hplink">DefPro</a> (Defense Professional) News.<br />
In addition, "The Air Force is seeking a new, nuclear-armed strategic
bomber that would cost at least $68 billion, as well as a new fleet of
land-based ballistic missiles. Modernization and operation of the United
States' 450 Minuteman III land-based ballistic missiles would cost
billions more."<br />
And, oh yeah, all this development continues to generate radioactive
waste. Above-ground nuclear testing in the '50s and '60s spread cancer
across a huge swath of the western U.S. And the Los Alamos <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-koehler/nuclear-righteousness_b_1759962.html#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">National Laboratory</a></nobr>,
site of the original Manhattan Project and currently one of six
nuclear-weapons production sites in the country, has disposed of at
least 17,500,000 cubic feet of hazardous and radioactive waste at 24
locations since 1944, according to the <a href="http://www.lasg.org/waste.htm" target="_hplink">Los Alamos Study Group</a>.
It "continues to generate and dispose of radioactive waste on-site at a
facility called 'Area G,'" where nearly 11 million cubic feet of waste
is stored in perpetuity. The lab is hoping to expand the 63-acre site by
another 66 acres, according to the <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-koehler/nuclear-righteousness_b_1759962.html#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">Study</a></nobr> Group.<br />
A group of physicists changed the world in 1945, opening up our
godlike potential to destroy life itself. We're still smug about it.<br />
Monday was Hiroshima Day; today is Nagasaki Day. Sixty-seven years
ago, the United States ended World War II -- and launched a new era of
human existence -- by dropping atomic bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, on
the cities, killing some 220,000 people. In the context of the carnage
of World War II, perpetrated by all sides, including the Japanese, the
death toll seemed minimal... a small price (for them) to pay. A war this
big needs a dramatic ending. <br />
And this is where American consciousness has stalled. The national
ethos -- Frontier Nation, conqueror of a continent -- hardly changed
when we became a nuclear superpower. We retained the same simplistic
exceptionalism, the same sense of our own moral rightness and
victimhood, ignoring any inconvenient data that would challenge it, such
as evidence suggesting that Japan was ready to surrender before we
dropped the atom bombs. <br />
While internal anti-nuclear and antiwar sentiment roiled the national
identity over the decades, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
set its clock at varying minutes before midnight (right now it's at five
minutes till), the national mainstream maintained its unquestioning
patriotism and the military-industrial economy grew increasingly
entrenched. <br />
The irony is that, all the while, the ethos of exceptionalism and
moral righteousness has been vulnerable not to the bluster and swagger
of other nations but to the tiniest piercings of conscience and
awareness. In 1995, for instance, the Smithsonian Institution was going
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, but the
planned exhibit drew such howls of outrage from veterans' and other
military organizations -- who claimed it depicted Japanese suffering far
too graphically, to the point where Americans came off as the
aggressors -- that the exhibit was cancelled.<br />
One of the most shocking and controversial pieces in the planned exhibit was <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/levine/bombing.htm" target="_hplink">a young girl's lunchbox</a>, which was found after the bombing. Its contents -- rice and peas -- had been carbonized. The girl's body was never found.<br />
This was too much. It undid the righteousness of patriots. "Now I am
become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds." As I think about it now, I feel a
renewal of hope that, against all odds, our humanity will save us.<br />
- - -<br />
Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His new book, <a href="http://commonwonders.com/" target="_hplink">Courage Grows Strong at the Wound</a> (Xenos Press) is now available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com or visit his website at commonwonders.com.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-2337183472191123372012-08-10T15:28:00.000-07:002012-08-10T15:28:56.005-07:00At Drone Convention, Zero Tolerance for Peace<div id="outer">
<div class="title">
At Drone Convention, Zero Tolerance for Peace</div>
<div class="details3">
by <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/author/mbenjamin/" rel="author" title="Posts by Medea Benjamin">Medea Benjamin</a>,</div>
</div>
When are we, as a nation, going to have a frank discussion about
drones and remote-controlled killing? One might think that such a
dialogue could take place when thousands of people come together, once a
year, at the gathering of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems
International (AUVSI). <br />
But AUVSI, the lobby group for the drone industry, brooked no dissent at its August 6-9 <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/mbenjamin/2012/08/09/at-drone-convention-zero-tolerance-for-peace/#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">Las Vegas Convention</a></nobr>. When I, as author of a new book <em>Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control</em>, tried to rent a room at the Convention Center to give a presentation on my book, AUVSI vetoed my request. When I tried to <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/mbenjamin/2012/08/09/at-drone-convention-zero-tolerance-for-peace/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">register</a></nobr>
as a journalist, I was told that I did not meet their criteria, but
they refused to say what that criteria was. And after registering online
as a normal participant and paying the $200 fee, when I appeared to get
my badge I was yanked off the line, surrounded by police, and told I
would be arrested if I set foot in the Convention Center during the
duration of the gathering.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The same thing happened to Father Louie Vitale, an 80-year-old
Franciscan priest who had registered and pre-paid for the conference.
Father Vitale is known for his dignified, faith-driven stance against
war, including drone killing. "There’s something from my Air Force days
that fascinates me about drones, which is one of the reasons I wanted to
get in to see the exhibits," said Father Vitale, "but I also wanted to
have conversations with some of the drone manufacturers and operators."
That was not to be. Unprovoked, Father Vitale found himself surrounded
by Convention Security and Las Vegas police, who threatened him with
arrest.<br />
CODEPINK supporter and writer Tighe Barry flew all the way from
Washington DC to attend the conference. Pre-registration confirmation in
hand, he was given his badge, only to find it snatched away from him 20
minutes later. "I was sitting quietly in a session on the integration
of drones into US airspace when I was grabbed by security agents and
pulled out of the room. How sick is that?" said Barry. "These people are
crazy!"<br />
A few peace activists did not get immediately stopped by AUVSI’s
thuggish security, but two of them were banned when they dared to simply
ask a few probing questions to the exhibitors at the booth of General
Atomics, the company making the lethal Predator and Reaper drones. "I
was merely asking if the company feels any responsibility when its
products are used to kill innocent people in places like Pakistan and
Yemen," said Jim Haber of Nevada Desert Experience, a group that has
been peacefully protesting nuclear weapons for decades.<br />
Janis Sevre-Duszynska, a writer for National Catholic Reporter, was
allowed inside but was overwhelmed by the experience. "Walking through
the exhibit hall was surreal. It is all about performance, speed,
targets and sales — nothing about consequences," said Sevre-Duszynska.
"It felt like a war zone, and I felt like an alien. There didn’t seem to
be others who were questioning the deadly uses of this technology."<br />
CODEPINK cofounder Jodie Evans, who managed to get in for a few hours,
had the same alien feeling — especially from a women’s perspective.
"There were so few women it was spooky," said Evans. "I would say the
ratio of men to women was about 500 to one — and some of the women were
girlfriends of the guys. Let’s just say the Ladies Room was empty."<br />
Lockheed Martin used the occasion to announce that it had completed
flight tests for a new drone that can be repowered in the air by laser.
"You know what they named their drone? The Stalker," said Evans, who is a
longtime advocate for women’s rights. "Misogynistic, macho, and violent
messages were everywhere — stalking, neutralizing, eliminating the
enemy — and of course the phallic symbols start with the drones
themselves."<br />
Mary Lou Anderson, Council Member of Nevada Desert Experience, who was
also ejected from the trade show floor, noted that there was a huge
discrepancy between the keynote addresses that focused on the potential
civilian uses and benefits of drones versus the overwhelming presence of
the military in the exhibit hall. "I would say over 85% of the vendor
and manufacturer exhibitors were either entirely military based, or
partnered with the military and police."<br />
The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps had their exhibits. So did
weapons manufacturers such as General Atomics (maker of the Reaper and
Predator drones), Northrop Grumman (maker of the Gray Eagle, known for
its "lethal persistence") and Boeing (maker of the Phantom Eye).<br />
Other exhibitors were military bases like Yuma Proving Grounds in
Arizona and Edward Air Force Base in California that are trying to rent
space out to private companies to test and develop drones, and
universities like the University of North Dakota touting their training
programs for drone operators.<br />
"Some of us are worried about the unregulated proliferation of drones,
and the innocent people who are being killed in our remote-controlled
wars" said Jim Haber, who lives in Las Vegas and often vigils outside
the nearby Creech Air Force Base where drones killing people in
Afghanistan are being piloted. "But AUVSI is worried about peace — and
people who profess pro-peace views. I suppose they see us as bad for
business." Indeed, some of the sessions addressed the dronemakers’
concern about finding new markets with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
winding down.<br />
Outside the Convention Center, protesters staged a die-in to
commemorate the innocent people killed by lethal drones. And the next
morning at 6 am, a handful of peace activists headed out to Creech Air
Force Base 40 miles away to greet military personnel driving into the
base, some of whom are drone operators.<br />
The group included Father Vitale and 75-year-old Father Zawada, who
sat on his walker in the blazing sun. Vitale and Zawada held a banner
that read "Ground the Drones, Lest You Reap What You Sow." Another
vigiler held a sign with a friendly-looking bee saying "Make Honey, Not
Drones."<br />
"Peace be with you, brother," the priests called to the military
personnel in their cars. Overhead, a menacing Reaper pierced the desert
sky.<br />
Twenty minutes later, alerted to the ragtag pro-peace group, several
large police SUVs came careening down Route 95 towards the base. AUVSI
is not the only group threatened by devout peacemakers.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-12596957904240463842012-08-10T15:23:00.005-07:002012-08-10T15:23:43.867-07:00The Drug War Expands to Africa<div id="outer">
<img alt="" class="lefty" src="http://dgxhtav2e25a8.cloudfront.net/eland_ivan_100.jpg" />
<div class="title">
The Drug War Expands to Africa</div>
<div class="details3">
by <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/author/eland/" rel="author" title="Posts by Ivan Eland">Ivan Eland</a></div>
</div>
Ignoring trillion-dollar annual budget deficits and a nearly
$16 trillion <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2012/07/24/the-drug-war-expands-to-africa/#" id="FALINK_1_0_1">national debt</a></nobr>, the American Empire is still growing.
The latest imperial foray is expanding the ineffectual U.S. drug war
into Africa to combat such smuggling into Europe. Yes, Europe. Not
only does the United States spend tens of billions of dollars a year
subsidizing the defense of rich European countries, it is now
swelling such welfare spending to include essentially financing a
drug war in Africa for Europe. Never mind that cocaine use is a
declining problem back home in the U.S.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/world/africa/us-expands-drug-fight-in-africa.html">According to the <i>New York Times</i></a>, the United States has begun
training counternarcotics police in African countries because Latin
American drug cartels are increasingly moving cocaine into Europe
from weakly governed African states instead of through Spain, which
has conducted a crackdown on drug smuggling.
<br />
That drug producers and traffickers merely move production or
reroute supplies, respectively, when confronting such crackdowns
should be no surprise to U.S. officials. In Latin America, a
U.S.-backed Colombian government crackdown on coca growers merely
moved such production to Peru. When the U.S. government started
interdicting drug smuggling routes in the Caribbean, the trafficking
merely moved through Mexico. When the U.S.-backed Mexican military
violently clashed with drug cartels, they moved their trafficking
through Central America. The U.S. is now training and participating
in — even leading — lethal raids with Central American anti-drug
forces. That model has begun to be copied in Africa.
<br />
The United States recently completed a <a href="http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/166329.pdf">West Africa Cooperative Security
Initiative</a> [.pdf] with 15 African countries that will encourage them to
battle trafficking using the same techniques Americans imported into
Mexico and Central America. Such methods include building
institutions (nation-building) and leading regional cooperation,
including sharing intelligence and operating regional law
enforcement training centers.
<br />
That they are wasting tens of billions of dollars annually on
what amounts to ineffective “Whac-A-Mole” efforts
doesn’t deter U.S. anti-drug officials. They are confident
that they can at least push the drug trade out of selected
countries, but they leave out that the drug lords will merely
migrate to other countries. And if U.S. officials increase
violence in nations where they are militarily
challenging previously dominant drug lords — as they did by
apparently leading lethal drug raids recently in Honduras — they say
it’s all worth it, because they believe the alternative is
worse. They <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2012/07/24/the-drug-war-expands-to-africa/#" id="FALINK_2_0_2">claim</a></nobr> that nations experiencing drug trafficking also
become consumer nations. So implicitly these anti-drug warriors are
saying that people’s freedom to put what they want into their
bodies is worse than being endangered or killed by wanton violence.
<br />
The people of Mexico — who have experienced such a spike in drug
war–related carnage, because the U.S.-backed Mexican army and police
have challenged the drug lords — would beg to differ with this line
of argument. Enrique Peña Nieto was recently elected president of
Mexico on a platform that emphasized reducing the violence, thus
implicitly lessening the confrontation with drug lords. In a few
years, the people of poor African countries may also disagree with
the “increased violence to reduce drug consumption”
trade-off.
<br />
In the case of Africa, U.S. security forces may have ulterior
motives for moving into West African nations. The U.S. training of
local counternarcotics forces has begun in Ghana and is planned for
Nigeria. The DEA has set up its first office in Senegal, and the
Pentagon has set up a center in the island nation of Cape Verde off
the West African coast to detect drug-trafficking vessels headed for
the continent. First, instead of reducing the federal deficit by
reducing spending, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have wound
down, U.S. security forces need something to do and are putting more
effort and money into fighting drugs. Second, West Africa is
supplying an increasing percentage of American oil imports. As a
result, Africa, previously the only continent in the world that the
U.S. security establishment didn’t regard as strategic, now
has the U.S. Africa Command created to police it. The U.S.
government now wants to have closer relationships with governments
and security forces in West Africa, and helping them fight drug
smuggling is a good excuse. However, this “let’s be
friends” policy may backfire among the people of these
countries if U.S. security forces are perceived to be responsible
for increased drug violence either by backing the militaristic
response of local governments to drug lords, as in Mexico, or by eventually leading
the lethal raids against them, as has seemingly happened in
Honduras.<br />
At any rate, the Caribbean-Mexico-Central America model of
militarized drug interdiction is not one that should be replicated
in Africa. It will only bring spiraling violence and heartache to
Africans and distress to the American taxpayer’s pocketbook.
The proper response is to end the ineffectual and violent drug war
everywhere and legalize drugs for adults.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-38804219519138263512012-08-10T15:21:00.003-07:002012-08-10T15:21:59.480-07:00The Drug War Finds New Ways to Fail<div id="outer">
<img alt="" class="lefty" src="http://dgxhtav2e25a8.cloudfront.net/eland_ivan_100.jpg" />
<div class="title">
The Drug War Finds New Ways to Fail</div>
<div class="details3">
by <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/author/eland/" rel="author" title="Posts by Ivan Eland">Ivan Eland</a></div>
</div>
The federal government’s effort to battle drug abuse has
been a tragic and expensive failure. But of course, admitting that
would make politicians, who regularly endorse it to sound tough, seem foolish and careless with taxpayer
dollars. So the War on Drugs continues, while of necessity it
slowly morphs into new forms of federal waste and unnecessary
intrusion into people’s lives.
<br />
Militarized federal law enforcement just can’t cope with
trendiness in recreational drug use. Cocaine use is so yesterday
(the 1980s, to be exact) and is a declining problem. Even at the
height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the mid-1980s, only 5.8
million people in a population of about 240 million were
using the drug; the latest <a href="http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k10NSDUH/2k10Results.htm"><i>National Survey on Drug Use and Health</i></a>
estimated that only 1.5 million in a population of 313 million use cocaine. In recent years, methamphetamine use has also
declined. Lately, heroin use is up slightly but still affects a
minuscule portion (less than .08%) of the American
population.
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Even if these numbers were higher, the federal War on Drugs,
which<i> </i>regularly wastes 60% of its budget trying to
interdict elusive supplies of drugs, has failed miserably. And
nostalgically, the government continues to emphasize cocaine
interdiction. <i>The New York Times</i> recently quoted Mark L.
Schneider, a special adviser on Latin America at the International
Crisis Group, who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/world/americas/us-priority-on-illegal-drugs-debated-as-abuse-rises.html">disparaged such anti-cocaine efforts</a>:
<br />
<blockquote>
It just hasn’t worked. All interdiction and law
enforcement did was shift cultivation from Colombia to Peru, and the
increase in interdiction in the Caribbean drove trafficking to
Mexico, and now with the increase in violence there it has driven
trafficking to Central America as the first stop. So it is all
virtually unchanged.</blockquote>
Except for all the hundreds of billions of dollars wasted since
the drug war began during the early 1970s and all of the people
killed by police and drug lords alike because high profits can be
made trafficking illegal substances that should be legal.
<br />
There has been talk of drug legalization in war-weary
Latin America but not in the <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2012/07/17/the-drug-war-finds-new-ways-to-fail/#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">Obama administration</a></nobr>. Instead of
noticing that cocaine use has become passé and prescription painkiller and stimulant abuse is the new rage — according to
the <i>Times</i>, there are 7 million prescription-drug abusers versus the 1.5 million cocaine
users and 20,044 annual prescription-drug overdose deaths out of 36,450 total, more
than all illegal drugs combined — some parts of the U.S. government,
such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), continue their emphasis
on interdiction and securing the borders against the entry of
illegal drugs. Of course, the niggling problem is that the
prescription drugs are already within the borders. That has not
deterred the DEA, which has moved to create new “tactical
diversion squads” to do <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2012/07/17/the-drug-war-finds-new-ways-to-fail/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">prescription drug</a></nobr> investigations.
<br />
The more progressive State Department, also ignoring the
changed “threat environment,” has merely decided to deal
with the old problem in new ways. In Mexico, the department’s
anti-drug budget has shifted from an overwhelming emphasis on border
security and providing foreign countries with hardware — for
example, helicopters — for interdiction to funding nation-building
programs, such as the training of judges, prosecutors, and prison
guards and programs to build stronger communities there. Perhaps
this shift will result in fewer people — drug lords and
innocents alike — dying in Mexico at the hands of the U.S.-equipped
security forces, but it still will be wasting U.S. taxpayers’
dollars fighting a problem that could best countered by drug
legalization.
<br />
However, at least one unlikely politician recently reached a
public conclusion that may indicate a ray of hope in the United
States. Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor and now governor
of New Jersey, argued that the War on Drugs was a failure because it
imprisons people who really need to be medically treated. Drug
legalization would recognize that people stupidly abuse a variety of
substances — including alcohol, tobacco, and fatty foods — but
it would acquiesce to the reality that the government can do very
little about it and really has no right to tell us what we should
put into our bodies, no matter how unhealthy it may be.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-45945142771270438952012-08-10T15:20:00.000-07:002012-08-10T15:20:05.015-07:00Quagmires Are Often Just a Few Steps Away<div id="main">
<div id="content">
<div class="post" id="post-2012041105">
<div id="outer">
<img alt="" class="lefty" src="http://dgxhtav2e25a8.cloudfront.net/eland_ivan_100.jpg" />
<div class="title">
Quagmires Are Often Just a Few Steps Away</div>
<div class="details3">
by <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/author/eland/" rel="author" title="Posts by Ivan Eland">Ivan Eland</a></div>
</div>
<div class="entry">
Despite its massive annual federal budget deficits and national
debt, the American superpower continues to meddle in faraway
countries that pose little direct threat to U.S. national security.
Examples of those nanny-like interventions have recently occurred in
Syria and South Sudan.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The U.S. Pentagon and State Department, having learned the wrong lessons
from post-American-invasion Iraq, are now planning for a post-Assad
Syria.
Undeterred by that previous mess, U.S. planners are busily
concocting grandiose plans to remodel Syria’s society, security,
economy, and political system — despite the objection of the
Syrian opposition to foreign “transition plans.”
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/middleeast/state-dept-and-pentagon-planning-for-post-assad-syria.html">According to <i>The</i> <i>New York Times</i></a>, Rafif Jouejati, a
spokesman for <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2012/08/07/quagmires-are-often-just-a-few-steps-away/#" id="FALINK_1_0_1">a network</a></nobr> of Syrian activists, said, “What we
don’t want to do is descend into the total chaos that Iraq
did. I don’t think we want the United States to impose
lessons learned here.” But those alleged lessons from Iraq are
exactly what U.S. officials are trying to implore the Syrian rebels
to learn. The officials are cautioning the Syrian opposition in
the post-Assad era to avoid dismantling the military, police, and
government agencies — in order to avoid the security vacuum and
interruption of government services that caused the chronic
rebellion in Iraq.
<br />
Such management by exhortation might have to do for U.S.
planners, given the fact that this time they’ll have a plan
but may not have an occupation force on the ground to enforce it
(providing President Obama’s pledge of overt military
nonintervention holds up). In Iraq, the U.S. had an occupation
force but insufficient postwar planning. Bureaucracies usually
commit compensatory errors as perceived lessons learned from
previous errors. The compensatory error in this case seems to be
postwar planning even with no resources or armed force to implement
it.<br />
Some hawks are loudly criticizing Obama for not giving the Syrian
opposition enough resources to carry out U.S. planning (making the
herculean assumption that the Syrian opposition would not just take
the resources while resisting implementation of a foreign plan).
Of course, the real lesson from Iraq is the difficulty of imperially
<nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2012/08/07/quagmires-are-often-just-a-few-steps-away/#" id="FALINK_2_0_2">remodeling</a></nobr> foreign societies to American liking and the futility and
costliness of even trying.
<br />
Worse, even if the United States had a postwar plan and the
resources to implement it, the entire enterprise might be
counterproductive. If current U.S. policy toward Syria is any
indication, that will be the case. Most U.S. officials have dire
predictions of post-Assad chaos fueled by greater ethnic, sectarian,
and tribal tensions than in Iraq. Yet increasing U.S. and foreign
overt and covert assistance to the rebels has encouraged them to try
to unify and overthrow Assad rather than seek some sort of
compromise or power-sharing with him. Sometimes, the U.S.
government can be its own worst enemy.<br />
In Africa’s South Sudan, which recently gained its
independence from Sudan after a brutal civil war that killed
millions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly twisted the
arm of the country’s president to reach a deal to pay greater
sums to Sudan for transporting via pipeline the oil South Sudan
pumps out of the ground. South Sudan had cut off oil
production — thus further impoverishing both countries and
threatening to reignite war between them — to get Sudan to lower its
oil pipeline transit fees. The two sides were far apart in
negotiations until the day after Clinton appeared in South Sudan,
browbeat the South Sudanese president to reach a deal, and said, “We
need to get those resources flowing again.” The next day,
miraculously, South Sudan raised substantially the amount it was
willing to pay Sudan, and an agreement between the two countries was
reached.
<br />
Despite the oil (only a small portion of the world’s market), the United States has no real national security
interest in either of these nations; but Clinton interceded in their
oil dispute because the United States had previously intervened,
during the George W. Bush administration, to end the civil war and
broker South Sudan’s independence. The U.S. thinking seemed
to be that the original outcome had to be preserved or U.S. prestige
would suffer. Yet, the next time to the two feuding countries have
a dustup — likely over territorial disputes on their common
border — the United States again probably will feel the need to
intervene because even more U.S. prestige will be on the line.
<br />
Thus, one American intervention begets another. To avoid
getting enmeshed in quagmires — one step at a time — in areas in the
world not strategic to U.S. security, the United States should rely more
on regional powers and organizations, such as the Arab League and
the African Union, to ensure peace and stability.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-54658557632021495622012-08-10T15:17:00.000-07:002012-08-10T15:17:24.537-07:00Otto Does Foreign Policy<div id="outer">
<img alt="" class="lefty" src="http://dgxhtav2e25a8.cloudfront.net/giraldi.gif" />
<div class="title">
Otto Does Foreign Policy</div>
<div class="details3">
by <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/author/giraldi/" rel="author" title="Posts by Philip Giraldi">Philip Giraldi</a></div>
</div>
Does anyone remember Otto, the brain
damaged ex-CIA assassin played so deliciously by Kevin Kline in <i>A
Fish Called Wanda</i>?
Otto cruised around London in a massive old Chrysler, driving on
the right and forcing British drivers off the road while screaming
that they were a**holes. Described by one reviewer as a walking id,
Otto’s most famous line was “Oh, you English are so
superior, aren’t you? Well, would you like to know what you’d be
without us, the good ol’ US of A to protect you? I’ll tell you.
The smallest f***king province in the Russian Empire, that’s what!
If it wasn’t for us, you’d all be speaking German! Singing
‘Deutschland, Deutschland über alles’….”<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Exit Otto, who is a fictional
character, enter stage right Mitt Romney, who is, unfortunately, all
too real. Mitt demonstrated his international savoir faire shortly after arriving in London by
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/29/mitt-romney-not-ready-obama-adviser?newsfeed=true">telling</a>
NBC’s Brian Williams that he
had concerns about the preparations for the Olympics. This
presumably was at least in part intended to highlight the splendid
job he did in Salt Lake City after receiving massive subsidies from
the federal government to prevent the total collapse of the
enterprise. He wanted to compare that well-oiled machine to the work of the
hapless Brits who, per Mitt, seem to be unable to control their own
labor unions. Labor unions are a bit scarce in Utah. Unfortunately,
the hapless Brits found out about the interview and Romney learned
that the first rule in visiting foreign countries is not to insult
your hosts.
<br />
Mitt followed up with several
gaffes worthy of our last <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/08/08/otto-does-foreign-policy/#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">Republican</a></nobr> president, the greatly missed
W. He forgot the name of Labor Party head Ed Miliband and
referred to him as “Mr. Leader,” and he later expressed his
admiration for the Olympic venues visible from the “backside”
of the prime minister’s residence. Though his wife’s
horse is participating in the Olympic dressage event, Mitt belatedly
<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/romney-puts-horse-sized-distance-between-himself-and-dressage/">discovered</a>
that he actually knows little about horses and horsemanship despite
riding frequently, thus demonstrating his common-man credentials
even if his spouse has allowed herself certain aristocratic airs.
It was a poker-faced denial worthy of Michael Corleone taking the
Fifth Amendment in front of the Kefauver Committee. Mitt then tried
to explain himself with characteristic flip-flopping on what he had
actually said or meant to say and also let slip that he had met
privately with the head of the British intelligence service MI6, a
definite no-no, as such meetings are strictly
confidential. Fortunately, he kept his mouth shut on his last day
in the British capital.<br />
Then Mitt was off to Israel to
consult with Benjamin Netanyahu before attending a $25,000-a-plate
fundraiser to which the media was initially <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/romney-bans-media-from-jerusalem-fundraiser-violating-pre-established-protocol/2012/07/28/gJQAAaeVGX_blog.html">not
invited</a> despite an earlier pledge to open all fundraisers to
the press. Romney may have wanted to <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/08/08/otto-does-foreign-policy/#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">speak</a></nobr> candidly to casino
mega-mogul Sheldon Adelson and his friends, i.e., tell an adoring
group of potential big donors how he would squash Iran like a
cockroach. Two weeks ago at the VFW convention in
Reno, Mitt (or was it Otto?) set the stage for his fireworks display
by <a href="http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/07/24/transcript-mitt-romneys-remarks-at-vfw-national-convention/">stating</a>
his view that an Iran with the <i>capability</i>
to develop a nuclear weapon would be the greatest threat facing the
world. Actually, as Iran already has that capability, Mitt was
either poorly informed or knowingly giving a green light for the military option.
<br />
But after arriving in Israel,
Romney also went several steps further. His Middle East
spokesman Dan Senor, a former AIPAC employee, <a href="http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=279278">endorsed</a>
an Israeli unilateral attack on Iran sooner rather than later
because there are reports that the mullahs are hardening their
nuclear sites. Mitt said that as president he would support
whatever the Israelis see fit to do. And then, with an over-the-top
flourish, he <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/29/mitt-romney-unity-israel-iran">denounced</a> Iran’s “radical theocracy” as the
“leading state sponsor of terrorism and the most destabilizing
nation in the world. We have a solid duty and a moral imperative to
deny Iran’s leaders the means to follow through on their malevolent
intentions.” Otto could not have expressed it better, giving
short shrift to the pinkos and appeasers who seem to have forgotten
that it is actually 1938 and we are in Munich. Along the way, Mitt
made sure that everyone heard him assert that Jerusalem really is
Israel’s capital, pledging himself to move the U.S. embassy
there if he is elected. It might be a bit lonely there, as it would be
the only foreign mission in the city.<br />
Romney did not directly mention the
Palestinians except to <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/08/03/mitt_romneys_view_on_culture_boosting_israelis_over_palestinians_puts_an_idea_into_2012_campaign/">note</a>
that their poverty is their own fault, a direct result of their
despicable culture, while the Israelis benefit from
their entrepreneurial spirit and the hand of Providence.
It was a version of “with God on our side,” or, as the kaiser’s army belt buckles used to proclaim, “Gott Mit
Uns,” which from now on might be translated “God and
Mitt are with us.”<br />
Through all the perfectly coiffed,
serious-demeanor photo ops culminating in a solemn march to the
Wailing Wall escorted by a squadron of rabbis, Mitt regularly
dropped thoughtful, carefully scripted asides meant to provoke deep
contemplation. But he did not bother to explain exactly what
American national interests might be served by endorsing a shooting
war while angering every Muslim in the world by granting Jerusalem
to Israel and denigrating Islamic culture. Nor did he linger over
what consequences America might face if a major armed conflict were
to erupt. But Otto was not big on explanations either, and he
would have approved of America’s leader again promising to
kick ass.<br />
Mitt ended
his Innocents Abroad tour in Poland, where he praised the Polish
people while carefully avoiding taking a swipe at Russia, which he
has <a href="http://www.ksdk.com/video/1532673720001/1/Romney-calls-Russia-public-enemy-number-one-on-CNN">called</a>
“public enemy number one.” That’s a bit confusing, actually,
since he has also said the same thing about Iran and it is hard to
envision a world with two number-one enemies. And what about China
deliberately unbalancing American trade? And Mexico, which suffers
from the same culture deficit as the Palestinians, according to Mitt,
and has been corrupting America’s youth with all those drugs
it sends up north of the border?<br />
Romney had assiduously avoided the
press throughout his pilgrim’s progress, allowing them only
three questions in London and never drifting back to the tail end of
his plane to talk to them. At the conclusion of his time in Poland,
he refused to hold a press conference afterward, and his media
spokesman Rick Gorka <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-spokesman-tells-reporters-kiss-polish-holy-110442318--abc-news-politics.html">told</a>
a group of waiting reporters to kiss his ass and “shove it”
when they shouted out some questions. Otto, who understands that
American exceptionalism means never having to say you’re
sorry, must have been proud.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-31964875965498117122012-08-10T15:15:00.000-07:002012-08-10T15:15:17.991-07:00New York Declares War on Iran<div class="title">
New York Declares War on Iran</div>
<div class="pagesub">
Why do you think they call it the 'Empire State'?</div>
<div class="details3">
by <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/author/justin/" rel="author" title="Posts by Justin Raimondo">Justin Raimondo</a>,</div>
<br />While speaking truth to power is not the sort of thing one
expects the executive of a leading bank to indulge in, we’ll take it
where we can find it. <a href="http://observer.com/2012/08/you-f-ing-americans-who-are-you-to-tell-us-the-rest-of-the-world-that-were-not-going-to-deal-with-iranians/">Here</a>‘s the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/richard-meddings-goal-is-sight-for-banker-on-the-run-2301280.html">Group Director</a> of
the Standard Chartered Bank responding to the charges, leveled by New
York State bank regulator Ben Lawsky, that SCB was involved in financial
dealings with Iran to the tune of $250 billion:<br />
<em>
"You f—king Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we’re not going to deal with the Iranians?"<br />
</em>
This, by the way, is cited in <a href="http://www.dfs.ny.gov/banking/ea120806.pdf">the complaint</a> filed by the state of New York: Lawsky apparently thought it was incriminating enough to include. There is plenty of <a href="http://observer.com/2012/08/ben-lawsky-gains-rogue-regulator-moniker-after-standard-chartered-hedge-funds-fight-over-madoff-claims-roundup/">evidence</a> this case has little to do with the sanctions, and more to do with bank <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/08/us-standardchartered-iran-fightback-idUSBRE8770NU20120808">protectionism</a>: SCB is a British bank, and the city of New York is now engaged in a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsZFrHbeFw4">strenuous campaign</a> to
lure the high finance crowd away from London and back to the Big Rotten
Apple. The Group Manager, who goes unnamed in the complaint, is asking
the right question, which apparently Senor Lawsky isn’t prepared to
answer – so I will.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
We think we’re the center of the world: that’s what "American
exceptionalism" is all about. Let’s say the Russian government decided
that no one was to trade with, say, Italy, and the Duma passed
legislation mandating economic sanctions. No one would pay the least
amount of attention, except to mock the pretensions of the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC28623/">wounded</a>
Russian bear. When we do it, however, everyone is supposed to sit up
and take notice. And of course they do: after all, the US is the
epicenter of world financial markets, and New York is …well, where Wall
Street is located. So the New York Department of <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/08/09/new-york-declares-war-on-iran/#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">Financial Services</a></nobr> can act as if it’s the agency of a sovereign government, which in a very real sense it is. Aside from having one of the <a href="http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=321262">highest tax</a> rates in the country, and aspiring to regulate the <a href="http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/04/controversy-fizzing-over-bloombergs-soda-ban/">caloric intake</a> of some of its residents, New York officials have lately moved to extend their reach internationally: the NYPD has <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/21/nypd-says-iran-has-conducted-surveillance-in-new-york-city/">sounded</a> the alarm over the alleged "terrorist threat" posed by Iranian diplomatic personnel in the US:<br />
<em><span lang="">
"Mitchell Silber, the NYPD’s director of intelligence analysis, told
Congress that Iranians may be using ‘diplomatic cover’ to conduct
‘hostile reconnaissance’ on America’s biggest city.<br />
"Silber cycled a string of incidents where law enforcement questioned
Iranians, who turned out to be working with the Iranian mission to the
United Nations or otherwise tied to the government.<br />
"He said the Iran-backed Hezbollah also has a presence in the New
York area. ‘Iran and/or Hezbollah remain deeply committed to striking
against Israeli and Western targets and they are willing to deploy a
variety of methods in order to do so,’ he said, citing recent attacks
‘plausibly linked to Iran’ in Georgia, India and Thailand.<br />
"’Given the recent alleged Iranian directed plot against a foreign
diplomat here in Washington, Iran’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric and
its recent as well as long history of sponsoring terrorist attacks
abroad, the NYPD must remain vigilant in attempting to detect and
disrupt any attack by Iran or its proxies,’ Silber told the House <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/08/09/new-york-declares-war-on-iran/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">Homeland Security</a></nobr> Committee.<br />
"He said authorities have interviewed at least 13 people since 2005
with ties to Tehran who were seen taking pictures of city landmarks."<br />
</span></em>
Almost no one from out of town takes pictures of New York City’s landmarks – like, say, the Statue of Liberty, or at some <a href="http://www.nypp.org/"><span lang="">cultural event</span></a><span lang="">.
Why, it’s unheard of! This is certainly suspicious behavior on the part
of those Eye-ranians, and I’m glad the NYPD is taking time off from
their important work of stopping and frisking </span><a href="http://www.nyclu.org/issues/racial-justice/stop-and-frisk-practices"><span lang="">non-white</span></a><span lang=""> New
Yorkers on the streets, and is on the job. What Officer Silber’s
testimony lacks in geographical expertise – alleged Iranian activities
in Georgia (no, not </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28U.S._state%29"><span lang="">that</span></a><span lang=""> Georgia!),
India, and Thailand hardly make the case Tehran is "deeply committed"
to blowing up the Empire State Building – is more than made up for in
sheer gall.</span><br />
Here we have a glorified state trooper acting as if he’s Henry
Kissinger, making Profound Pronouncements on matters usually reserved
for the US Department of State. In reality, Hezbollah – a Lebanese
organization – has never targeted the continental US. If Silber is so
concerned about suspicious foreigners taking photos in the New York
metropolitan area, then what did he and his "intelligence" division do
about <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2007/02/16/the-high-fivers/"><em>these guys</em></a>?<br />
Lawsky exhibits the same sort of pretensions, describing SCB in the
complaint as a "rogue institution" – you know, like Iran is a "<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2010/12/201012133225891426.html">rogue state</a>" because it defies Washington’s imperial will.<br />
<span lang="">
New York state and city government officials seem to hold a grudge
against the Iranians, although I can’t imagine why that might be. So
determined are they to start a war with Tehran that they’ve even
launched their own independent foreign policy. How long before Governor
Andrew Cuomo inaugurates his very own State Department?<br />
New York looms large on the national political scene, as Gen. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/dc-notes-wes-clark-is-ste_b_37837.html">Wesley Clark has pointed out</a>, and New Yorkers are <a href="http://www.ehow.com/how_2278834_cope-rude-new-yorkers.html">world-famous</a> for their <a href="https://twitter.com/TIMENewsFeed/status/208105565027704833">pushiness</a>,
and their brazen rudeness, not to mention the delusion that their own
city is the center of the known universe. Isn’t it high time we non-New
Yorkers pushed back? To paraphrase that SCB official:<br />
</span>
You f—king New Yorkers. Who are you to drag us, the rest of the
country, into yet another unjustified destructive and costly war in the
Middle East?<br />
If Cuomo, Lasky, and Silber want war with Iran, let them send the New
York state National Guard over there and leave the rest of us out of
it.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-69123678638031282372012-08-10T10:31:00.003-07:002012-08-10T10:31:45.057-07:00Actress Alonso: Obama's Second Term a 'Step Toward' Venezuela<h1>
<br /></h1>
<div class="clearfix" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_divImageShareStatic">
<div class="grid_9 alpha">
<img class="featured" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_imgMain" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso/15_11_2010_23_02_37_1267769825.jpg" style="height: 356px; width: 475px;" />
</div>
<div class="grid_3 omega">
<div class="utilityStatic">
<br /><a class="tip cboxElement" data-cbox="true" data-ga-action="Send Tip" data-ga-label="Article" href="http://www.breitbart.com/System/Send%20A%20Tip?page=%2fBig-Hollywood%2f2012%2f08%2f09%2falonso-obama-second-term-venezuela"></a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article articleStyle7">
<span class="articleAuthor" id="content_0_maincontent_0_spanAuthor">
by
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Columnists/Christian-Toto" id="content_0_maincontent_0_hplAuthor">Christian Toto</a> </span><span class="articleTime"></span><a class="articleCommentLink" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso-obama-second-term-venezuela#comments" id="content_0_maincontent_0_disqusCommentCount01_aPostComment"></a>
</div>
<h2>
Venezuelan actress Maria Conchita Alonso is best known for her work
in '80s films like "Moscow on the Hudson" and "The Running Man."</h2>
Today, she's a fierce critic of current Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, and <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/08/09/maria-conchita-alonso-obamas-reelection-moves-us-towards-becoming-cha#ixzz233NIz2o6" target="_blank">she isn't too happy</a> about the similarities she sees between Chavez's government and a potential second term for <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso-obama-second-term-venezuela#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">Barack Obama</a></nobr>.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
STEVE
MALZBERG: ....Again, Hollywood, your industry embraces Obama, has
fundraisers in their homes for Obama, yet Obama wants to punish people
who are successful. Don’t’ the people in Hollywood understand that Obama
will go after them and is going after them?
MARIA CONCHITA ALONSO: I guess not, but you know what? They will
understand when it touches them. Sadly that's what happens. A lot of
people voted for Chavez I believe in the first term – which that’s the
only one I believe that he won for real – and, and because he lied. And
then, like more than half of the people that voted for him started
realizing because then they started being, you know, punished like. They
took away their jobs, you know, because they became like, they, they
closed down stores, they closed down <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso-obama-second-term-venezuela#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">super markets</a></nobr>....<br />
MALZBERG: Maria, do you believe if Obama wins again we could wind up like Venezuela in any way?<br />
ALONSO: Well, I think that would be a <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso-obama-second-term-venezuela#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">step</a></nobr> forward that, moving forward there.<br />
</blockquote>
LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-19634447859892899162012-08-10T10:31:00.001-07:002012-08-10T10:31:31.098-07:00Actress Alonso: Obama's Second Term a 'Step Toward' Venezuela<h1>
<br /></h1>
<div class="clearfix" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_divImageShareStatic">
<div class="grid_9 alpha">
<img class="featured" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_imgMain" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso/15_11_2010_23_02_37_1267769825.jpg" style="height: 356px; width: 475px;" />
</div>
<div class="grid_3 omega">
<div class="utilityStatic">
<br /><a class="tip cboxElement" data-cbox="true" data-ga-action="Send Tip" data-ga-label="Article" href="http://www.breitbart.com/System/Send%20A%20Tip?page=%2fBig-Hollywood%2f2012%2f08%2f09%2falonso-obama-second-term-venezuela"></a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article articleStyle7">
<span class="articleAuthor" id="content_0_maincontent_0_spanAuthor">
by
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Columnists/Christian-Toto" id="content_0_maincontent_0_hplAuthor">Christian Toto</a> </span><span class="articleTime"></span><a class="articleCommentLink" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso-obama-second-term-venezuela#comments" id="content_0_maincontent_0_disqusCommentCount01_aPostComment"></a>
</div>
<h2>
Venezuelan actress Maria Conchita Alonso is best known for her work
in '80s films like "Moscow on the Hudson" and "The Running Man."</h2>
Today, she's a fierce critic of current Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, and <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/08/09/maria-conchita-alonso-obamas-reelection-moves-us-towards-becoming-cha#ixzz233NIz2o6" target="_blank">she isn't too happy</a> about the similarities she sees between Chavez's government and a potential second term for <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso-obama-second-term-venezuela#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">Barack Obama</a></nobr>.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
STEVE
MALZBERG: ....Again, Hollywood, your industry embraces Obama, has
fundraisers in their homes for Obama, yet Obama wants to punish people
who are successful. Don’t’ the people in Hollywood understand that Obama
will go after them and is going after them?
MARIA CONCHITA ALONSO: I guess not, but you know what? They will
understand when it touches them. Sadly that's what happens. A lot of
people voted for Chavez I believe in the first term – which that’s the
only one I believe that he won for real – and, and because he lied. And
then, like more than half of the people that voted for him started
realizing because then they started being, you know, punished like. They
took away their jobs, you know, because they became like, they, they
closed down stores, they closed down <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso-obama-second-term-venezuela#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">super markets</a></nobr>....<br />
MALZBERG: Maria, do you believe if Obama wins again we could wind up like Venezuela in any way?<br />
ALONSO: Well, I think that would be a <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/09/alonso-obama-second-term-venezuela#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">step</a></nobr> forward that, moving forward there.<br />
</blockquote>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-21382186235291887952012-08-10T10:27:00.001-07:002012-08-10T10:27:58.698-07:00LISTEN: Joe Soptic Tells OFA's Cutter Life Story<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tfOoZl0tHvQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-29109472570509363152012-08-10T10:26:00.001-07:002012-08-10T10:26:03.218-07:00RNC Pounds Stephanie Cutter With Devastating Ad<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DSs9v2tUuXE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-22887380023154009212012-08-10T10:23:00.002-07:002012-08-10T10:23:54.193-07:00'They Are Not Telling The Truth' MSNBC Dismantles Team Obama for Sick Ad<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a29n38-kauc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-41981801021378470162012-08-10T10:21:00.000-07:002012-08-10T10:21:20.516-07:00Sheldon Adelson Punches Back with $60 Million Libel Suit<h1>
<img class="featured" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_imgMain" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Government/2012/08/08/SHELDONjpg.jpg" style="height: 356px; width: 475px;" /><span class="articleAuthor" id="content_0_maincontent_0_spanAuthor"> </span></h1>
<h1>
<span class="articleAuthor" id="content_0_maincontent_0_spanAuthor">by
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Columnists/Michael-Patrick--Leahy" id="content_0_maincontent_0_hplAuthor">Michael Patrick Leahy</a> </span><span class="articleTime"></span><a class="articleCommentLink" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/08/Sheldon-Adelson-Punches-Back-With-60-Million-Libel-Suit#comments" id="content_0_maincontent_0_disqusCommentCount01_aPostComment"></a>
</h1>
<h2>
Sheldon Adelson, the self made billionaire, CEO of the Las Vegas
Sands Corporation, and major Republican donor, filed a multi-million
dollar libel lawsuit in New York today against David Harris and the
National Jewish Democratic Council. As <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-08/adelson-sues-national-jewish-democratic-council-for-libel-1-.html">Bloomberg News reported</a>:<a name='more'></a></h2>
<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
Adelson, a billionaire and top fundraiser for Republican Mitt
Romney’s presidential campaign, filed his $10 million suit today in
Manhattan federal court. He claims the NJDC, its president, David
Harris, and its chairman, Marc Stanley, “crossed the threshold from
constitutionally protected speech to defamation of a public figure.”<br />
The suit is over an article that Adelson says was authored by Harris
and posted on the NJDC website claiming Adelson approved of prostitution
in his Macau casinos and urging Romney to cease accepting his
donations. The article cites allegations made in a separate lawsuit by
an employee of Sands China Ltd. (1928), Adelson says. Adelson denies the
claims.<br />
</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/08/us-sands-adelson-lawsuit-idUSBRE8771E720120808">Reuters reported today</a> that in addition to his <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/08/Sheldon-Adelson-Punches-Back-With-60-Million-Libel-Suit#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">claim</a></nobr>
for $10 million in compensatory damages Adelson is seeking $50 million
in punitive damages, bringing the total claim to $60 million.<br />
In an op-ed that ran in the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=276709">Jerusalem Post on July 9</a>, Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz dissociated himself from the NJDC attacks on Adelson:<br />
<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
David Harris, the president of the National Jewish Democratic
Council, has asked Jewish Democrats to sign a petition demanding that
Mitt Romney and the rest of the <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/08/Sheldon-Adelson-Punches-Back-With-60-Million-Libel-Suit#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">Republican Party</a></nobr> stop taking campaign contributions from Sheldon Adelson, and return those already received. They claim his money is “tainted.”<br />
<br />
This absurd allegation comes from a highly questionable, if not totally
discredited, source – namely a former employee who was fired and is
suing Adelson. He claims that Adelson approved of prostitution in his
Macau casinos. Harris has apparently credited this claim even though no
evidence has been submitted to support it and no finding has been made
by any court. Has he never heard of “due process” or the “presumption of
innocence?” ...<br />
<br />
Adelson grew up in Boston in near poverty and is a shining example of
the American dream. He is a self-made multi-billionaire who has
contributed significantly to the world of modern technology and to the
economic growth of Las Vegas and other areas. His generosity has helped
repair the world.<br />
<br />
I AM a Democrat and do not agree with many of Adelson’s political views,
but I think it’s outrageous for the National Jewish Democratic Council
to level unfounded allegations against Adelson. They do not speak for
me, and for the many other Jews who admire Adelson’s contributions to
the world, to America, to Israel and to the Jewish community.<br />
<br />
I don’t know who Harris purports to speak for as president of the NJDC,
but his partisan gamesmanship is an embarrassment to many Jewish
Democrats. The attack comes with particular ill grace from a Jewish
organization, considering all that Adelson has done for Jewish causes,
and considering the fact that there is nothing uniquely “Jewish” about
the questionable allegations against him.<br />
</blockquote>
Earlier this week, <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/08/adelson-lawyer-sends-letter-to-njdc-131028.html">Politico reported</a>
that Adelson's attorney had sent letters to both the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee and the NJDC requesting apologies. The
DCCC complied, but the NJDC defiantly refused, as <a href="http://www.njdc.org/media/entry/adelson080812">their statement on their website today</a> <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/08/Sheldon-Adelson-Punches-Back-With-60-Million-Libel-Suit#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">confirmed</a></nobr>:<br />
<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
“We will not be bullied into submission, and we will not be silenced
by power. This is not Putin’s Russia, and in America, political speech
regarding one of the most well-known public figures in our country is a
fundamental right. One would think the person making greatest use of the
Citizens United ruling would understand this. To be sure, referencing
mainstream press accounts examining the conduct of a public figure and
his business ventures—as we did—is wholly appropriate. Indeed, it is
both an American and a Jewish obligation to ask hard questions of
powerful individuals like Mr. Adelson, just as it is incumbent upon us
to praise his wonderful philanthropic endeavors.<br />
“We know that we were well within our rights, and we will defend
ourselves against this SLAPP suit as far and as long as necessary. We
simply will not be bullied, and we will not be silenced.”<br />
</blockquote>
Politico described the final communications to the NJDC from Adelson's attorney's prior to the filing of the lawsuit today:<br />
<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
Sheldon Adelson, who got an unusual public correction and apology
from the DCCC after his lawyers sent a letter demanding one after the
group pushed a damaging story about him, is now going after the National
Jewish Democratic Council.<br />
The NJDC "recently" got a letter from Adelson's lawyers, the group
confirmed, but declined to comment on how it plans to address it.<br />
But sources described it as similar to the one Adelson's lawyers sent
the DCCC, which was over an email blast about a story claiming Adelson
was aware of prostitution going on at some of his Macau holdings.
Adelson's lawyer and aides have denied that.<br />
The NJDC sent out an email highlighting the prostitution story and other negative headlines.<br />
"It’s well known that Adelson makes tremendous sums of money through
his casinos in China, which — according to 2008 Republican presidential
candidate Senator John McCain (AZ) — means that Chinese “foreign money”
(to quote McCain) is flooding our political system," read the email
that went out on July 5. "But this week, reports surfaced that in
addition to his anti-union and allegedly corrupt business practices,
Adelson “personally approved” of prostitution in his Macau casinos."<br />
</blockquote>
Breitbart News contacted David Streeter, Senior Communications and
Research Associate at NJDC, and requested an interview with NJDC
President David Harris to ask him a simple question: Why not just
apologize to Mr. Adelson and save everyone a lot of legal fees? Mr.
Harris has not yet responded to the question.<br />
<em>Michael Patrick Leahy is a Breitbart News contributor, Editor of
Broadside Books’ Voices of the Tea Party e-book series, and author of </em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Liberty-Ideological-Origins-Movement/dp/0062066331/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338260320&sr=1-1">Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement</a>.<br />
<br />
<h1>
ON BREITBART TV</h1>
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/08/08/Dem-Rep-Republican-Business-People-Are-Greedy-Because-They-Wont-Share-The-Wealth" id="content_0_maincontent_1_hplFeaturedArticleLink"><img id="content_0_maincontent_1_imgFeaturedArticle" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Breitbart-TV/2012/08/08/welsh.jpg" style="height: 356px; width: 475px;" /></a>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-43925253011997149552012-08-10T10:17:00.000-07:002012-08-10T10:17:09.185-07:00New York Times Falsely Links White Supremacist Groups to Tea Party<h1>
<img class="featured" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_imgMain" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Journalism/2012/08/09/NYT.png" style="height: 356px; width: 475px;" />
</h1>
<div class="article articleStyle7">
<span class="articleAuthor" id="content_0_maincontent_0_spanAuthor">
by
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Columnists/Tony-Lee" id="content_0_maincontent_0_hplAuthor">Tony Lee</a> </span><span class="articleTime"></span><a class="articleCommentLink" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/08/09/New-York-Times-Falsely-Links-White-Supremacist-Groups-To-Tea-Party#comments" id="content_0_maincontent_0_disqusCommentCount01_aPostComment"></a>
</div>
<h2 class="p1">
It did not take long for a mainstream media organization
to exploit the tragic Sikh temple shootings to link White supremacist
groups, of which the shooter was allegedly a part, to the Tea Party. <a name='more'></a><span class="s1"></span></h2>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">And of course, the offending organization was the <em>New York Times</em>.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">In a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/us/hatecore-music-is-called-white-supremacist-recruiting-tool.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper">story</a> titled, "Music Style Is Called Supremacist <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/08/09/New-York-Times-Falsely-Links-White-Supremacist-Groups-To-Tea-Party#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">Recruiting Tool</a></nobr>," the <em>Times </em>describes
how "white power" music, referred to as "hatecore," acts like a gateway
drug to more extreme white supremacist groups and activities. The <em>Times </em>interviews<em> </em>another journalist and gratuitously prints this journalist's unfounded opinion (which comes across as reported facts) about the <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/08/09/New-York-Times-Falsely-Links-White-Supremacist-Groups-To-Tea-Party#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">Tea Party</a></nobr> in another effort to malign the movement and make it out to be something (racist) that it is demonstrably not: </span></div>
<blockquote style="border: medium none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">One reason for the disarray might be the
growth of a more mainstream movement, the Tea Party, whose successful
forays into electoral politics have siphoned energy and support from
violent fringe groups, said Chip Berlet, a Boston-based journalist who
writes about right-wing groups.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span>To the writers at <em>New York Times</em>,
it is not conceivable that the "white power" music scene may be
diminishing because there are fewer people who share those racist views.
Instead, <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/08/09/New-York-Times-Falsely-Links-White-Supremacist-Groups-To-Tea-Party#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">the decline</a></nobr> has to be falsely attributed to the rise of the Tea Party. </div>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-53367501540852037872012-08-10T10:14:00.001-07:002012-08-10T10:14:49.014-07:00West Responds: Ad Depicting Him Beating White Women 'Plays on Stereotypes'<h1>
<img class="featured" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_imgMain" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Government/2012/08/09/beautiful-beverly-hills-house-luxury-money-Favim_com-312628.jpg" style="height: 356px; width: 475px;" />
</h1>
<div class="article articleStyle7">
<span class="articleAuthor" id="content_0_maincontent_0_spanAuthor">
by
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Columnists/John-Nolte" id="content_0_maincontent_0_hplAuthor">John Nolte</a> </span><a class="articleCommentLink" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Allen-West-Responds-To-Attack-Ad#comments" id="content_0_maincontent_0_disqusCommentCount01_aPostComment"></a>
</div>
<h2 style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Before Americans are able to recover from the shock of Team Obama releasing an ad <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Top-Dem-Demands-Obama-repudiate-Ad">that accuses Mitt Romney of murder</a>,
they will first have to deal with an ad out of Florida that depicts
Congressman Allen West as beating the hell out of an elderly white woman
-- literally knocking all of her teeth out, before he steals money from
a black family:<a name='more'></a></h2>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
-<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BSke77t5xCw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
-</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Breitbart News contacted Allen West's office for comment and just received this from the Congressman himself:</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
I spent my life in uniform
fighting for our great nation and protecting all Americans. The ad
being run against me by my opponent's family depicting violence against
women and senior citizens is reprehensible. It plays on stereotypes and
fear to divide Americans, and it cheapens the very real and tragic
occurrences of violence against women and seniors. The American people
are suffering from crushing debt, horrific tax and regulatory policies,
and epic <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Allen-West-Responds-To-Attack-Ad#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">unemployment</a></nobr>.
This classless ad shows a lack of regard for the issues plaguing our
nation. This ad reflects the sad state of politics in our Republic with
those who seek to destroy a person's character to cover for their lack
of intellectual ability and integrity.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Congressman West is exactly right that the ad comes from his opponent's family. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
The super PAC behind the ad is American Sunrise PAC, which was founded <a href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00509455/797636/sa/ALL">with $250,000 by Thomas Murphy</a>, the father of the Congressman's opponent, Patrick Murphy. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Yeah, no illegal collusion between a super PAC and a candidate going on there. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
When you consider the hyper-sensitive
racial environment created by Obama's Media Palace Guards, it's not hard
to imagine how they might react were this a pro-Romney super PAC ad
showing Obama beating an old white woman senseless. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
But the very same media that uses the cry of racism to protect Obama from criticism on issues ranging from <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Allen-West-Responds-To-Attack-Ad#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">food stamps</a></nobr>
to his dismantling of welfare reform, isn't likely to make a very big
deal out of a black Congressman being depicted as a woman-beating thief.
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
After all, the media doesn’t see West as black, they see him as a sell-out apostate. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
By the way, the "<a href="https://americansunrisepac.org/about-us">About Us"</a> section of the America Sunrise's website reads:</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
We believe in an America that is
at the dawn of a new day, in which Congress is ready to refocus on
creating family-supporting American <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Allen-West-Responds-To-Attack-Ad#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">jobs</a></nobr>,
addressing issues of fairness and equality, and reasserting the core
progressive values that were the real foundation of our democracy.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
You can believe it, too, because
there's no question "core progressive values" involve racial
stereotypes, violence, and defaming a veteran who fought for his
country. </div>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-80881775271043299142012-08-10T10:11:00.001-07:002012-08-10T10:11:24.843-07:00<h1>
<img class="featured" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_imgMain" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Government/2012/Obamas/obama-sunglasses.jpg" style="height: 356px; width: 475px;" />
</h1>
<div class="article articleStyle7">
<span class="articleAuthor" id="content_0_maincontent_0_spanAuthor">
by
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Columnists/John-Nolte" id="content_0_maincontent_0_hplAuthor">John Nolte</a> </span><span class="articleTime"></span><a class="articleCommentLink" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Top-Dem-Demands-Obama-repudiate-Ad#comments" id="content_0_maincontent_0_disqusCommentCount01_aPostComment"></a>
</div>
<img class="authorPhoto" id="content_0_maincontent_0_imgAuthor" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Columnists/Headshots-80x100/contributor-80x100-jnolte.png" style="height: 100px; width: 80px;" />
<h2 style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
The evidence connecting the Obama
campaign to Priorities USA, a super PAC that launched an appalling and
blatantly false attack ad blaming a woman's death on Mitt Romney, is <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2012/08/09/bill_burton_we_totally_stand_by_our_romney_cancer_ad">starting to pile up</a>. </h2>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Bill Burton runs Priorities USA and was
Obama's deputy press secretary under Robert Gibbs. You can also add in
the fact that the man in the ad telling the undeniably tragic tale of
his wife's passing, Joe Soptic, has also appeared in ads for the <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Top-Dem-Demands-Obama-repudiate-Ad#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">Obama campaign</a></nobr>. Finally, just yesterday, senior Obama campaign advisor Stephanie Cutter was <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/08/09/RNC-Pounds-Obama-Spokesman-Staphnie-Cutter">caught red-handed lying</a> about her knowledge of the ad. </div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
The ad's overall accusation against Romney is bad enough, but <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2012/08/09/bill_burton_we_totally_stand_by_our_romney_cancer_ad">the misleading elements within are so numerous and undeniable</a>,
that the ad has prompted the kind of media blowback usually reserved
for Republicans. But as you might expect, very little of that blowback
has been directed at the person the ad is meant to benefit, President
Obama. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
And you can bet, that's intentional. As just one example, I give you… <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/08/08/Politico-buries-Obama-lie">Politico</a>. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Up until now, Obama and his staff have
adamantly refused to repudiate something this objectively despicable.
This, likely, is for two reason. First, the ad is yet another welcome
distraction soaking up the news-cycle, which ensures no one is talking
about Obama's failed record, and Romney can't get his message out.
Secondly, the media is being careful to make sure Obama pays no
political price for benefitting by and refusing to repudiate something
so scurrilous. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
That, however, might change now. Earlier today, Lanny Davis, a widely respected <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Top-Dem-Demands-Obama-repudiate-Ad#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">Democrat</a></nobr> and one-time top advisor to President Clinton, blasted the ad and, in the strongest possible language, demanded <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/disgusting-pro-obama-ad-criticized-by-democrat/">Obama repudiate it</a>:</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
“Bill Burton needs to go back to
ethics school,” Davis said of the group’s senior strategist, who is a
former Obama White House spokesman. “He knows perfectly well that the
ad is misleading and disgusting and he needs to apologize for it.” …</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
Davis said the president shouldn’t allow his supporters to suggest that Romney is in any way to blame for the woman’s death.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
“President Obama owes it to the American people to repudiate this ad,” he said.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
Obama campaign officials have
refused to disavow the ad, claiming independence from the outside group
and no knowledge of the woman’s story. Priorities USA strategists
insist the ad is factually correct and will air as scheduled later this
week.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
This might be the tipping point that finally forces the media to acknowledge the elephant in the room and demand the president <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/09/Top-Dem-Demands-Obama-repudiate-Ad#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">start</a></nobr> acting like one. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Just don’t hold your breath. </div>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-34317733167515397292012-08-10T10:09:00.002-07:002012-08-10T10:09:33.028-07:00CNN Is Just Making Up Poll Numbers Now<h1>
<br /></h1>
<div class="clearfix" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_divImageShareStatic">
<div class="grid_9 alpha">
<img class="featured" id="content_0_headlineimage_0_imgMain" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Government/2012/08/10/3874843.jpg" style="height: 356px; width: 475px;" />
</div>
<div class="grid_3 omega">
<div class="utilityStatic">
<br /><a class="tip cboxElement" data-cbox="true" data-ga-action="Send Tip" data-ga-label="Article" href="http://www.breitbart.com/System/Send%20A%20Tip?page=%2fBig-Government%2f2012%2f08%2f10%2fcnn-is-just-making-up-poll-numbers-now"></a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article articleStyle7">
<span class="articleAuthor" id="content_0_maincontent_0_spanAuthor">
by
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Columnists/Mike-Flynn" id="content_0_maincontent_0_hplAuthor">Mike Flynn</a> </span><span class="articleTime"></span><a class="articleCommentLink" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/10/cnn-is-just-making-up-poll-numbers-now#comments" id="content_0_maincontent_0_disqusCommentCount01_aPostComment"></a>
</div>
<img class="authorPhoto" id="content_0_maincontent_0_imgAuthor" src="http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Columnists/Headshots-80x100/contributor-80x100-mflynn.png" style="height: 100px; width: 80px;" />
<h2>
Okay, I'm not certain they are <em>literally</em> making up poll results, but the poll CNN and British market research firm ORC International <a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/08/09/rel7b3.pdf">released Thursday afternoon</a>
is so screwy and raises so many questions that they might as well be
doing it intentionally. If CNN is already resorting to these kinds of
tricks before the conventions have even started, it's going to be a very
long campaign.<a name='more'></a></h2>
First let me say, with less than three months to go in this campaign,
can we please stop polling the political views of "adults", rather than
"registered voters." We really should be moving soon to a "likely
voter" screen, but I'll take "registered voters" for now. Knowing the
political views of unregistered voters is worthless at the height of an <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/10/cnn-is-just-making-up-poll-numbers-now#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">election</a></nobr> campaign and serves no real purpose but to give the Democrats an advantage. Nate Silver at the <em>New York Times</em> has estimated that polls of adults are biased towards Democrats by around 7 points.<br />
CNN does at least test an Obama-Romney match-up among registered <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/10/cnn-is-just-making-up-poll-numbers-now#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">voters</a></nobr>. It <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/09/cnn-poll-obama-holds-7-point-lead-over-romney/">trumpets across its news page</a>
that, among registered voters, Obama is leading Romney 52-45. Looking
deeper into the poll, however, we learn that these numbers include
"leaners." In other words 52% of registered voters either support Obama
or are "leaning" towards him. Now, there is nothing wrong with
documenting voters who are "leaning" towards a candidate. But, you know,
you have to document it! Knowing the percentage of voters who support a
candidate and those who are currently "leaning" towards that candidate
is what we call relevant information.<br />
For example, if 50% of voters say they support Obama while 2% are
leaning towards him that tells us one thing. If, however, 45% support
him and 7% are leaning, that is kind of something else entirely, right?
If you are going to combine two different numbers to get a final result,
you kind of have to show your math. CNN obviously has this information,
so why didn't they publish it?<br />
CNN takes another questionable turn when they produce a sub-sample of
Republicans for a poll on potential VP picks. They report their sample
is 419 Republicans and Independents leaning Republican. Wait, what? How
many of each, exactly? You can see how that information might make a
difference in the results. Independents who lean Republican are not
exactly the party base. If, however, they make up a majority of CNN's
sample, it might not accurately reflect the views of the base GOP.
Again, CNN, you have to show your math. <br />
At least this sub-sample gives us a small glimpse of the partisan
make-up of the poll. Naturally, CNN doesn't provide any information on
this directly. According to the sub-sample, though, Republicans and
GOP-leaning Independents make up about 45% of CNN's overall sample of
registered voters. (Hey, that's Romney's vote share!) So, around 55% are
<nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/10/cnn-is-just-making-up-poll-numbers-now#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">Democrat</a></nobr>
or Democrat-leaning independents. By this, not only is the poll a
heavily skewed D+10, but Obama is underperforming at only 52%.<br />
Maybe there is some large number of Independent voters in the poll
who lean neither way, but we don't know, because CNN won't tell us. At
this late stage in the campaign, if you don't show your work on a poll,
then I'm just going to conclude you're making it up.<br />
After all, at the end of June, CNN and ORC International <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/03/cnn-poll-economic-optimism-jumping/">conducted a poll</a> and found that economic optimism was "skyrocketing." How is that result holding up?LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-88476168642359680942012-08-09T19:11:00.005-07:002012-08-09T19:11:48.764-07:00US: 54.5 mpg and the law of unintended consequences<h2 class="post_name" id="post-2169">
<span style="font-size: small;">US: 54.5 mpg and the law of unintended consequences</span> – by Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr.</h2>
<div class="post_meta">
</div>
<img alt="Listen to this Post. Powered by iSpeech.org" height="18" src="http://www.ispeech.org/images/listen.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" title="Listen to this Post. Powered by iSpeech.org" width="77" /><br />
<em><img alt="" class="alignleft wp-image-2171" height="235" src="http://www.hacer.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/obama-announces-cafe-standards.jpg" width="378" />Legislators
and regulators need to observe a fundamental Golden Rule: Do not
implement new laws if you have not considered or cannot control
important unintended consequences.</em><br />
A perfect example is the Obama Administration’s plan to increase new
car mileage standards, from the currently legislated requirement of 35.5
miles per gallon by 2016 to 54.5 mpg by 2025, as an average across each
automaker’s complete line of cars and light trucks.<br />
Carmakers reluctantly agreed to the new requirements, to avoid even
more onerous standards, or different standards in different states. But
the deal does nothing to alter the harsh realities of such a
requirement.<br />
First, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
analyses indicate that the mileage standards will add $3,000 to $4,800
to the average price of <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2169#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">new vehicles</a></nobr>
for models from now until 2025. Moreover, this price increase does not
include the $2,000 to $6,000 in total interest charges that many
borrowers would have to pay over the life of a 36-60 month loan.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The consequence: 6 million to 11 million low-income drivers will be
unable to afford new vehicles during this 13-year period, according to
the National Auto Dealers Association (NADA). These drivers will
essentially be eliminated from the new vehicle market, because they
cannot afford even the least expensive new cars without a loan – and
many cannot meet minimal lending standards to get that loan.<br />
These drivers will be forced into the used car market. However, far fewer <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2169#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">used cars</a></nobr>
are available today, because the $3-billion “cash for clunkers” program
destroyed 690,000 perfectly drivable cars and trucks that otherwise
would have ended up in used car lots. In addition, the poor economy is
causing many families to hold onto their older cars longer than ever
before.<br />
Exacerbating the situation, the average price of used cars and trucks
shot from $8,150 in December 2008 to $11,850 three years later, say the
NADA and <em>Wall Street Journal</em>. With <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2169#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">interest rates</a></nobr>
of 5-10% (depending on the bank, its lending standards and a borrower’s
financial profile), even used cars are unaffordable for many poor
families, if they can find one.<br />
All this forces many poor families to buy “hoopties,” pieces of junk
that cost much more to operate than a decent low-mileage used car. These
higher operating costs can cripple families in borderline poverty
situations.<br />
The compounded financial impact is a “regressive” tax and a war on the poor.<br />
Another, far worse consequence of the skyrocketing mileage
requirements is that many cars will need to be made smaller, lighter,
and with thinner metal and more plastic, to achieve the new “corporate
average fleet economy” (CAFÉ) standards.<br />
These vehicles – even with seatbelts, air bags and expensive vehicle
modifications – will not be as safe as they would be if mileage weren’t a
major consideration. They will have less “armor” to protect drivers and
passengers, and less space between vehicle occupants and whatever car,
truck, bus, wall, tree or embankment their car might hit.<br />
The NHTSA, Brookings Institution, Harvard School of Public Health, National Academy of Sciences and <em>USA Today</em> discovered
a shocking reality. Even past and current mileage standards have
resulted in thousands of additional fatalities, and tens of thousands of
serious injuries, every year – above what would have happened if the
government had not imposed those standards.<br />
They also learned that drivers in lightweight cars were up to twelve
times more likely to die in a crash – and far more likely to suffer
serious injury and permanent disabilities.<br />
Increasing mileage requirements by a whopping 19 mpg above current
rules will make nearly all cars even less safe than they are today.<br />
For obvious reasons, most legislators, regulators and environmental
activists have not wanted to discuss these issues. But they need to do
so, before existing mileage requirements are made even more stringent.<br />
These affordability and safety problems may be unintended. However,
no government officials – elected or unelected – can claim they are
unaware of them.<br />
Finally, the asserted goals of CAFÉ standards may once have been
somewhat persuasive. The standards were necessary, it was argued, to
preserve US oil reserves that were rapidly being depleted, reduce oil
imports from unstable parts of the world, and prevent dangerous global
warming. However, the rationales used to justify these onerous, unfair,
injurious and lethal mileage standards are no longer persuasive.<br />
New seismic, drilling and production technologies have dramatically
increased our nation’s oil and natural gas reserves. Opening some of the
publicly owned lands that are currently off limits would increase
reserves even more. Using government and industry data, the Institute
for Energy Research has calculated that the USA, Canada and Mexico alone
have 1.7 trillion barrels of recoverable oil reserves – enough to meet
current US needs for another 250 years – and another 175 years of
natural gas.<br />
As to global warming, even the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change is now backing away from previous claims about alarming
changes in global temperatures, sea levels, polar ice caps and major
storms, due to greenhouse gas emissions.<br />
All of us should conserve energy and be responsible stewards of the
Earth and its bounties, which God has given us. However, to ignore the
unpleasant realities of existing and proposed mileage mandates is
unethical, immoral and unjust.<br />
We must not emphasize fuel savings at the cost of excluding poor
families from the automobile market – and putting people at greater risk
of serious injury or death.<br />
* Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr. is Senior Pastor of Hope Christian
Church in the Washington, DC area and President of High Impact
Leadership Coalition.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-42785217340257166352012-08-09T19:10:00.001-07:002012-08-09T19:10:21.562-07:00US: Hands off Chick-fil-A<h2 class="post_name" id="post-2164">
<span style="font-size: small;">US: Hands off Chick-fil-A</span> – by Lawrence Reed</h2>
<div class="post_meta">
</div>
<img alt="Listen to this Post. Powered by iSpeech.org" height="18" src="http://www.ispeech.org/images/listen.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" title="Listen to this Post. Powered by iSpeech.org" width="77" /><br />
<img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-2166" height="199" src="http://www.hacer.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/chick-fil-a-logo.gif" title="" width="300" />In
coming weeks, I expect to eat often at Chick-fil-A and not just because
I like the company and the food they serve. I’ll be there as my way of
protesting the disgusting <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2164#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">behavior</a></nobr> of some big city political hacks.<br />
The personal views of Chick-fil-A’s CEO Dan Cathy on gay marriage
sparked the recent controversy. It should be noted the company does not
discriminate against anybody in its hiring or in whom it serves in its
restaurants. Cathy expressed an opinion shared by millions of Americans
and, until recently, even by President Obama. Agree or disagree with
Cathy, you should be concerned when elected officials threaten to use
government power against a company because of a political disagreement
with the CEO. Consider the following remarks.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wrote a letter declaring that there was
“no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for
your company alongside it.”<br />
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Chick-fil-A’s values were “not
Chicago’s values.” Chicago alderman Joe Moreno says he will block the
company from building a restaurant in his ward.<br />
San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee tweeted that the closest Chick-fil-A
restaurant to his city “is 40 miles away and I strongly recommend that
they not try to come any closer.”<br />
Similar statements were made last week by others in positions of
authority across the country. Some later backed off, others didn’t.<br />
Forgive my bluntness but frankly, such statements don’t belong
anywhere near a free society. These smug, self-righteous,
power-wielding, small-time Nazi-types should hang their heads in shame.
American <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2164#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">voters</a></nobr>
who still appreciate what freedom is about should send them packing for
Pyongyang, Havana or at least early retirement at the first electoral <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2164#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">opportunity</a></nobr>. Better to nip this anti-social behavior in the bud before it really goes to their heads.<br />
I thought city governments were supposed to police the streets, keep
the sewers clear and the lights on and a few other things and otherwise
leave people alone. Who anointed these pin-striped thugs with the right
to decide who gets to do business in town? What makes Rahm Emanuel the
arbiter of the “values” of five million people? What other personal
views of Mayors Menino and Lee and Alderman Moreno must a CEO agree with
before he can open up shop in their territory?<br />
It’s no coincidence that these political gangsters are all left-wing
ideologues. This is the way the left operates these days. Their
end-justifies-the-means contempt for economic liberty is frightening for
its ignorance, for its arrogance and for its willingness to use or
threaten force to shut people up. It’s also a logical extension of the
very core of left-wing ideology, which is to put the force of government
in charge of as much of your life as their guys can get their greedy,
grubby hands on.<br />
Chick-fil-A, here I come.<br />
* Lawrence W. Reed, a resident of Newnan, is president of the
Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington, N. Y., and Atlanta.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-29370032808258547992012-08-09T19:06:00.003-07:002012-08-09T19:06:44.364-07:00US: Aurora and the left’s hatred for America<h2 class="post_name" id="post-2179">
<span style="font-size: small;">US: Aurora and the left’s hatred for America </span>– by Jeffrey Kuhner</h2>
<div class="post_meta">
</div>
<img alt="Listen to this Post. Powered by iSpeech.org" height="18" src="http://www.ispeech.org/images/listen.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" title="Listen to this Post. Powered by iSpeech.org" width="77" /><br />
<img alt="" class="alignleft wp-image-2180" height="223" src="http://www.hacer.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/JamesHolmes.jpg" title="Aurora shootings suspect James Holmes" width="326" />Liberals
are exploiting the Aurora massacre to advance a political agenda. The
tragic mass murder of 12 people is being used as fodder against the
right. Within hours of the killing spree, the media establishment was
hoping to link the suspected shooter, <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/james-holmes/">James Holmes</a>, with the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tea-party/">Tea Party</a>, conservatives and — ultimately — the presumptive <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2179#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">Republican</a></nobr> nominee, Mitt Romney.<br />
On <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/abc/">ABC</a>’s <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/good-morning-america/">“Good Morning America,”</a> investigative reporter <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/brian-ross/">Brian Ross</a>urgently told host <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/george-stephanopoulos/">George Stephanopoulos</a> that a “Jim Holmes” was a member of the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/colorado-tea-party/">Colorado Tea Party</a>. In fact, it was a different person. It never occurred to <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/brian-ross/">Mr. Ross</a> and <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/george-stephanopoulos/">Mr. Stephanopoulos</a> that there could be numerous people with a common name like <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/james-holmes/">James Holmes</a>. Even by <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/abc-news/">ABC News</a>‘ standards, that was pathetic.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Yet the desperate rush to identify <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/james-holmes/">Mr. Holmes</a> with the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tea-party/">Tea Party</a> reveals
the mainstream media’s real aim: to smear conservatives as kooks. For
years, the left has been unable to defend President Obama’s obvious
economic failures. Hence, liberals have resorted to demonizing his
critics.<br />
From its inception, Democrats and their media allies have branded the<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tea-party/">Tea Party</a> movement
as extremist. Rather than debate the real issues, they prefer to engage
in slanderous attacks. The problem, however, is that the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tea-party/">Tea Party</a> represents
the broad swath of Middle America. It does not promote white supremacy
or bellicose nationalism but restoring fiscal sanity. Yet, for
progressives, <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tea-partyers/">Tea Partyers</a> are really closet right-wing terrorists. This is why <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/brian-ross/">Mr. Ross</a> ridiculously reached (and overreached) for the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tea-party/">Tea Party</a> narrative.<br />
It also explains why the media rushed to blame the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tea-party/">Tea Party</a> and
conservative talk radio for last year’s Tucson, Ariz., shooting. The
left’s ideological template is clear: Conservatives are deranged — and
by extension, they must be responsible for every deranged act. The very
opposite is true. The Tucson and Aurora, Colo., massacres share
similarities. One of the most obvious is that both were nonpolitical
acts — politics had nothing to do with these crimes. Moreover, both were
presumably committed by psychotic sociopaths and social outcasts.<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/jared-lee-loughner/">Jared Loughner</a> should
have been institutionalized long before he could wreak havoc. Instead,
Americans died. Massacres — whether at college campuses, public rallies
or movie theaters — are becoming a recurring tragedy. This is the real
issue few are willing to confront.<br />
I am always shocked at the left’s depth of contempt for this country
and its historical heritage. Every year, Americans wake up to some
gruesome shooting, and every year liberals lecture us on how uniquely
depraved America is. The Aurora attack, of course, was no exception. <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/bill-d-moyers/">Bill Moyers</a>, the liberal doyen of the Public Broadcasting Service, prattled on NBC that violence in America stems from our bloodstained <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2179#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">history of slavery</a></nobr> and genocide against American Indians.<br />
“We are, after all, a country which began with the forced subjugation
into slavery of millions of Africans and the reliance on arms against
Native Americans for its westward expansion,” <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/bill-d-moyers/">Mr. Moyers</a> said. “In truth, more settlers traveling <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2179#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">the Oregon Trail</a></nobr>
died from accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wounds than from Indian
attacks. We were not only bloodthirsty, we were also inept.”<br />
Echoing the liberal clamor for tighter gun control, <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/bill-d-moyers/">Mr. Moyers</a> used the massacre to rail against the Second Amendment.<br />
“We’re fooling ourselves that the law could allow even an inflamed
lunatic to easily acquire murderous weapons and not expect murderous
consequences,” he said. “That’s a license for murder and mayhem.”<br />
Inevitably, Mr. Obama also has jumped on the anti-gun-rights
bandwagon. On Wednesday, he told the National Urban League convention
that stricter background checks are needed, demanding that the ban on
assault weapons be restored.<br />
“A lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of
soldiers, not in the hands of criminals,” Mr. Obama said. “They belong
on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities.”<br />
He is wrong. <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/james-holmes/">Mr. Holmes</a>,
the Aurora suspect, had a wide variety of weapons, not just an assault
rifle (an AR-15, not an AK-47). He booby-trapped his apartment with more
than 30 explosives and bombs. It is illegal to purchase materials in
order to produce a bomb — never mind amass a stockpile. Yet that didn’t
stop <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/james-holmes/">Mr. Holmes</a> from
doing so. If he couldn’t have gotten his hands on guns, he would have
used some other weapon — an improvised explosive device, a makeshift
bomb or a stick of dynamite. There are more than 200 million guns in
America. Millions of citizens regularly use shotguns for sporting and
hunting. By the liberals’ twisted logic, there should be an Aurora-style
massacre every day. There isn’t.<br />
I believe justice will find <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/james-holmes/">Mr. Holmes</a> not only deranged, but evil. Like the superhero villain he emulated, the Joker, <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/james-holmes/">Mr. Holmes</a> has
the appearance of a coldblooded monster who relishes destroying others.
He is similar to the Norwegian butcher, Anders Behring Breivik, who has
admitted responsibility for killing 77 people. Norway has some of the
strictest gun laws in the world. That didn’t stop a madman from
acquiring the guns and bombs necessary to unleash a reign of terror.
Mass violence happens in every society. It is not a uniquely American
phenomenon. Rather, it lies in the evil capacity of human nature. A free
society is especially vulnerable to the depredations of a lone
psychopath.<br />
This is why the Second Amendment is essential. It enables law-abiding
citizens to defend themselves from barbaric acts. The problem is not an
abundance of guns, but the lack of them. If moviegoers had exercised
their Second Amendment rights and been armed, many still would be alive.
The shooter would be dead or lying in intensive care. Instead, the good
people of Aurora mourn, and the left’s political jackals continue to
use the victims for their own advantage.<br />
<em>Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist at The Washington Times and president of the Edmund Burke Institute.</em>LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879863462657195535.post-44559788323231358972012-08-09T19:05:00.000-07:002012-08-09T19:05:06.505-07:00US: John Cochrane, The Grumpy Economist, Meets The Gold Standard<h2 class="post_name" id="post-2174">
<span style="font-size: small;">US: John Cochrane, The Grumpy Economist, Meets The Gold Standard </span>– by Ralph Benko</h2>
<div class="post_meta">
</div>
<img alt="Listen to this Post. Powered by iSpeech.org" height="18" src="http://www.ispeech.org/images/listen.gif" style="cursor: pointer;" title="Listen to this Post. Powered by iSpeech.org" width="77" /><br />
<em><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-2175" height="276" src="http://www.hacer.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/cicharane.jpeg" title="University of Chicago Booth School of Business Professor John Cochrane." width="182" />8+% <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2174#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">unemployment</a></nobr>, now. The GDP, last we checked, crawls along at a 1.5% growth rate, slower than population growth. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/places/dc/washington/">Washington</a> is paralyzed.</em><br />
Neither political party is presenting a compelling solution. In the
words of Frank Cannon, president of American Principles Project (which
this writer professionally advises) and former Kemp presidential
campaign aide, the GOP has reverted to its pre-Kemp status as a party of
severe rectitude rather than a party of equitable prosperity. How
little political sense does it make to turn to the voters to say, “Times
are tough. Our solution is to… cut your benefits”?<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
What the voters want to hear is a credible plan to create jobs (which
also will allow Uncle Sam to balance its budget, fast). Several rising
leaders are beginning seriously to grapple with how to reignite high
level economic growth and good job creation.<br />
Much depends on the GOP getting the importance of growth… and getting
the recipe right. Reps. Kevin Brady and Jim Jordan are leading figures
among the rising stars on whom may depend the future of the Republican
Party and, maybe, the republic. Brady, as vice chairman of the Joint
Economic Committee, and Jordan, chairman of the Republican <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2174#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">Study</a></nobr> Committee, are beginning to take seriously monetary reform as a critical, perhaps even <em>the </em>critical, missing growth factor.<br />
Daredevil <a href="http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/soaring/index.htm">glider pilot</a> – and University of <a href="http://www.chicagobooth.edu/faculty/bio.aspx?person_id=12824682496">Chicago Booth School</a> of <a href="http://www.forbes.com/business/">Business</a>‘s
Professor of Finance — John Cochrane is the most recent voice to weigh
in on the conservative consensus against discretionary activism and for
rule-based monetary reform. Cochrane enters the debate via a recently
published meditation on the gold standard in the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303918204577444270864399342.html?mod=googlenews_wsj"><em>Wall Street Journal</em></a>. (Prof. Cochrane then reprised a “director’s cut” — with choice material restored — at his blog <a href="http://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2012/07/myths-and-facts-about-gold-standard.html?m=1">The Grumpy Economist</a>.)<br />
Cochrane leads with an acknowledgement that “many people believe the
United States should adopt a gold standard.” Interesting. Cochrane
teaches at<a href="http://www.forbes.com/places/il/chicago/">Chicago</a>’s Booth School which recently <a href="http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_cw1nNUYOXSAKwrq">polled 40 economists</a>,
all residents of the ivoriest of ivory towers – “distinguished experts
with a keen interest in public policy from the major areas of economics,
to be geographically diverse, and to include Democrats, Republicans and
Independents as well as older and younger scholars. The panel members
are all senior faculty at the most elite research <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=2174#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">universities</a></nobr> in the United States.” –<br />
to dispute the proposition that “If the US replaced its discretionary
monetary policy regime with a gold standard, defining a ‘dollar’ as a
specific number of ounces of gold, the price-stability and employment
outcomes would be better for the average American.”<br />
The discrepancy between Prof. Cochrane’s observation that “many
people believe the United States should adopt a gold standard” and his
own institution’s plenary anathema on gold is … noteworthy. Cochrane
cheers for rules and inventories some of the leading theories: “Since
the demise of the gold standard, thoughtful economists have been
searching for a replacement rule—Milton Friedman’s money-growth rule,
for example, John Taylor’s interest-rate rule, and inflation or nominal
GDP targets. Rules advocates understand that the economy works better
overall with stable units, rather than the government manipulating units
to trick us into buying more or less. A price-level standard is a firm
rule.”<br />
Prof. Cochrane laudably relies, in describing monetary policy’s past,
on history rather than theory. He then departs from history to rely
upon … hypothesis: “The success of a gold standard in achieving stable
prices depends heavily on its rules and commitments against
devaluation—rules honored in the past, until they weren’t.”<br />
While technically correct, this ignores how very much honored, over
long periods, were the gold standard’s rules and commitments against
devaluation — except in circumstances of war. The valuation was,
until the abdication under presidents Johnson and Nixon, far more often
politically defended than debauched.<br />
Prof. Cochrane concludes: “With these warnings, a modern version of
the gold standard is attractive. Why not the old version? … First, in
the past, inventory demand for gold coins linked the value of gold to
other goods. If prices rose, people needed to hold more gold coins to
make transactions. They would spend less on other goods and services,
which brought prices down again. But that channel is absent in a modern
economy. Since people could buy and transfer gold deposits with a click
of a mouse, nobody would have to hold substantial inventories. And we
are not going back to a 19th-century payments system based on lugging
around gold coins.”<br />
… Second, features that made gold such good money in the past—it is
hard to produce and has few other uses—make its price especially badly
connected to other prices….<br />
The solution is pretty simple. A gold standard is ultimately a
commitment to exchange each dollar for something real. An
inflation-indexed bond also has a constant, real value. If the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) rises to 120 from 100, the bond pays 20% more, so your
real purchasing power is protected. CPI futures work in much the same
way.<br />
Conservative proponents of gold click a mouse with equal dexterity to
the very best financiers (and better, apparently, than those at Knight
Capital Group). Gold proponent <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/nathanlewis/">Nathan Lewis</a>, recently published a column at <em><a href="http://forbes.com/">Forbes.com</a></em> entitled <em><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2012/08/02/to-achieve-a-successful-gold-standard-you-dont-need-gold-coins/">To Achieve A Successful Gold Standard, You Don’t Need Gold Coins</a></em>. Conservative gold proponents are not Ebenezer Scrooge and by no means advocate lugging around gold coins.<br />
The Achilles heel of Prof. Cochrane’s argument is his claim that the
policy he advocates “could achieve a stable price level and avoid the
many disruptions brought upon the economy by monetary instability.”
This is a proposition entirely, of course, based on theory and not at
all on history.<br />
Propositions such as this are what this writer calls “the chalk-dust
standard” — in which yet another clever but untested theory of elite
central planning is propounded as (theoretically) superior to the
straightforward restoration of the tried and true gold standard as
meticulously expounded by monetary scholars such as Lewis E. Lehrman,
author of <em>The True Gold Standard</em> and chairman of the Lehrman
Institute (which this writer professionally advises). Another species
of chalk-dust was neatly disposed of by <em><a href="http://forbes.com/">Forbes.com</a></em> Opinions editor <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/johntamny/">John Tamny</a> in an devastating analysis, <em><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2012/06/10/national-reviews-ramesh-ponnuru-embraces-the-failed-religion-of-monetarism/">National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru Embraces the Failed Religion of Monetarism</a></em> .
Possibly the most outré of the “chalk-dust standard” advocates, until
demolished by Tamny, were the proponents of the “Nominal GDP Targeting”
rule. (Scott and David, please <em>take your target off our backs</em>!)<br />
Claims of superiority for different forms of fiduciary currency have
been propounded for thousands of years. Innumerable permutations have
been tried innumerable times. Every effort fails: quickly or slowly,
stubbornly and mystifyingly, yet fails always. Each time new
proponents wipe clear the chalkboard and replace old nostrums with new
nostrums. “<em>Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”</em><br />
Yet the appearance of Prof. Cochrane’s analysis is extraordinary. It
may indicate an inflection point in the discourse. It appears to be the
first contemporary significant attempt by a member of the elite academy
to begin to come to terms with the arguments of the modern proponents
of the classical gold standard.<br />
Arguments for a CPI standard, of course, are a reminder of the old
joke about the economist marooned on a deserted island with a crate full
of canned food. He assumes the existence of a can-opener and settles
down to eat. Good luck with that.<br />
Back in the real world some in Congress actively are looking for the
missing growth factor, good money. It took an obscure member of the
House of Representatives, Jack Kemp, to take the idea of low marginal
tax rates from the fringe to world-wide (except for denizens of 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, apparently) common sense.<br />
Neither of the presidential contenders is likely to put monetary
policy into play. But as Prof. Cochrane’s editorial shows the argument
between gold and chalk-dust is heating up. Democracy, like any good
pulp medium, has a way of finding dramatic plot twists. So do not be
surprised to find some Congressional star rising to national visibility
next year with the golden ticket to explosive economic growth. As Kemp,
quoting Shakespeare, liked to say, “<em>There is a tide in the affairs of men</em> <em>which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” </em>On to gold.LIBERTY POSThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16035055075261698099noreply@blogger.com0