Big Fish; Bush LegacySurviving The FallNew Boogeymen; these articles have their titles and text in this color and are featured this week in -
 
Ender's Review of the Web
 

Web articles of likely interest to individualists found during the week of Jan. 25-31, 2004.

 
Comments and suggestions on the content and structure of this review are welcome. To accommodate such discussion I have created a Yahoo group for it. That group is ERevD: EnderReviewDiscussion. Feel free to jump in there at any time.
 
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Political Liberty
Articles showing a positive influence of political action on the cause of Liberty.
 
Congress Cannot Be Appointed
        by  Rep. Ron Paul from Antiwar.com
"Legislation I cosponsored, recently passed by the House Judiciary committee, will enable congressional districts around the nation to hold emergency elections without resorting to political appointments."
 
Freedom and Its Supposed Liabilities
        by Tibor R. Machan from Strike The Root
"But because strong fences exist between us in a free society­-we, as adults at least, need to choose to be with others for an association to exist, we cannot be lumped together by tyrants or even the majority­-in the end we can leave those who mess up to stew in their own juices. "
 
Political Gimmicks Won't Increase Freedom
        by Steven Greenhut from LewRockwell.com
"People do change their minds, they do shift their thinking, even if they are reluctant to change their affiliations. I have a 'left-wing' friend who agrees with me about war, regulation, many areas of freedom. I have 'right-wing' friends who agree with me also. Who really cares what they call themselves?"
 
Life in Amerika
Articles depicting the negative impact of politics on Liberty.
 
America the Unfree
        by Paul Craig Roberts from LewRockwell.com
"Slaves in that situation were as free as today's American taxpayer to choose their housing from the available stock, purchase their food and clothing, and entertain themselves. In fact, they were freer than today's American taxpayer. By hard work and thrift, they could save enough to purchase their freedom. No American today can purchase his freedom from the IRS."

A 'right' to someone else's labor?

        by Vin Suprynowicz from Las Vegas Review-Journal
"This is not a merely theoretical formulation. American doctors today have little more freedom to set their own prices and withhold their services at will, once they 'volunteer' to accept Medicare and Medicaid patients."
 
The First Lie
        by John C. Bonifaz from TomPaine.com
"Now more than ever, the Constitution and the rule of law must apply. And, now more than ever, the truth must be told. The first lie about the Iraq war was not that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or ties to Al Qaeda. The first lie told to the American people is that Congress voted for this war."
 
Ordered Liberty without the State
Some people say it's Anarchy, some say it's not possible. It is an interesting topic.
 
Anarchist Finance, or What Price Ancapistan?
        by Mark Gillespie from Strike The Root
"A mutual savings and credit association (MSCA) is the perfect solution on many levels.  For one, they are mostly unregulated.  They are not banks.  Secondly, they can operate using whatever currency they wish.  Thirdly, because of the mutual aspect of the association, there is an emphasis upon shared responsibility and shared profits."
 
The Constitution Is Not The Answer
        by Michael Gaddy from The Price Of Liberty
"If the Constitution truly had the built in protections to prevent opportunistic politicians from abusing it, we would not be in the mess we are today. There is a very good reason the Patriot who said, 'give me liberty or give me death' refused to sign that document."
 
Unchaining Liberty
        by Butler Shaffer from LewRockwell.com
"We are conditioned through the schools, the media, the state, and other institutions to fear our own autonomy, and to transfer control over our behavior to external agencies."
 
Spreading Decentralism
Articles demonstrating an increase in the dispersal of power.
 
Surviving the Fall of the State
        by William S. Lind from LewRockwell.com
"As I have said to David more than once, what he and other Amish are doing is preserving an understanding of how to live in reality for the time when all the virtual realities collapse."
 
The case for local currencies (Part Two)
        from Indian Country
"Local currencies don't make earning a living any easier, for labor must back the Ithaca Hour - that is its value. But the point is: it makes it possible to labor for profit where the dollar economy might not."
What the Change in Germany Means
        by Frank X. Vogelgesang from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"So much more so when the institutional structure forms an overbearing state and a society with marked corporatist traits. Every attempted reform calls into action the defenders of the status quo who do have something to lose."
 
The New World Hegemon
Depictions of the coming Imperial power
 
Give You Liberty or Give You Death
        by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. from LewRockwell.com
"The Iraqi people are free so long as they say and do only what the occupation military government tells them to do. ... If you think that is striking enough...consider something even more alarming: the US doesn't consider this abnormal."
 
Ground Zero
        by Chris Floyd from TheMoscowTimes.com
"Thus we come to this unavoidable conclusion: The Bush Regime launched a war of aggression on the basis of evidence that had to be, by its very nature, insubstantial, insufficient, false. "
 
Eerie similarities
        by Malcolm Reynolds from The Last Ditch
"So how does any of that [recent Yugoslavian history] remind me of the United State nowadays? Increasing socialism, political correctness run rampant, rabid attacks on culture and tradition as 'hate', and the constant promotion of hyphenated people over 'ordinary' Americans ring a few bells."
 
Politics by Other Means
War, rumors of war, and politicians fomenting war.
 
Will Dubya Dump Dick?
        by Jim Lobe from AlterNet
"Ongoing disclosures about Cheney's role in the drive to war in Iraq and other controversial administration plans reveal him as not the much-touted moderate but an extremist who constantly pushed for the most radical policies."
 
Campaign Clichés
        by Jesse Walker from Reason
"But there's one candidate with a very solid chance of beating Bush. His name is George W. Bush. Four years ago, the person who did the most to defeat Al Gore was Al Gore; the same was arguably true of Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, and Walter Mondale before him."
 
Vote Here, Pay Later
        by Dorothy Anne Seese from Ether Zone
"The last man to run for president who really wanted to change things in America was Barry Goldwater and he was soundly beaten by socialist Lyndon B. Johnson. "
 
Spontaneous Order
Articles showing decentralized successes.
 
Morality and the market
        by Gurcharan Das from The Times Of India
"Friedrich Hayek, the Noble laureate, called the market a spontaneous order -- it is natural for human beings to exchange goods and services and in the process every society evolved money, laws, conventions and morals to guide behaviour in the marketplace."
 
Move Aside, NASA
        by Edward L. Hudgins from Cato Institute
"If Americans are again to walk on the moon and make their way to Mars, NASA will actually need to be downsized and the private sector allowed to lead the way to the next frontier."
 
Need a Ride? Try Freedom and the Free Market 
        by Scott McPherson from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"The only thing in need of reform is our cultural dependence on government to solve our problems. No one has a right to the services of another. As free people, we should be able to control our own destinies, even if that means doing things or behaving in ways that others find offensive, wrong, or even discriminatory."
 
Nonspontaneous Disorder
Articles showing centrally planned disasters.
 
Leave The Internet Alone
        by James K. Glassman from Capitol Hill Blue
"But companies with an interest in maintaining that traditional system are complaining that VoIP [Voice over Internet] is not really an Internet application. It's more like a long-distance phone call. So it's subject to rules and expensive access fees that will jack up costs to consumers and kill VoIP in the cradle."
 
Forensic evidence in the dock 
        from NewScientist.com
"Contrary to what is generally thought, there is little scientific basis for assuming that any two supposedly identical fingerprints unequivocally come from the same person."
 
Perpetual Debt: From the British Empire to the American Hegemon
        by H.A. Scott Trask from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"Since Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole's introduction of the funding system in England during the 1720s, the secret was out that government debt need never be repaid. Just create a regular and dependable source of revenue and use it to pay the annual interest and the principal of maturing bonds."
 
War Is The Health Of The State
War is the ultimate State intervention in society.
 
Bush Pursues Big-Gov Nanny State
        by Radley Balko from FOX News
"Early 20th century journalist and World War I protester Randolph Bourne famously wrote that 'war is the health of the state.' The reason why politicians declare 'war' on intangibles like drugs or poverty is because a 'war' mentality implies that the problem in question is so serious that the traditional rules of interaction between the governing and the governed need to be suspended."
 
The New Boogeymen
        by Russell Madden from Atlas Magazine
"The State obsesses about terrorists who can do only comparatively limited and minor damage around the peripheries of our society then tells us we must sanction its explosive growth in order to do what it should have done long ago; a classic example of failure rewarded."
 
Recalling Pol Pot's Terror, But Forgetting His Backers
        by John Pilger from LewRockwell.com
"The genocide in Cambodia did not begin on April 17 1975, 'Year Zero.' It began more than five years earlier when American bombers killed an estimated 600,000 Cambodians."
 
Bits of History
The Past seen with a fresh look.
 
'Free' Education and Literacy
        by Barry Dean Simpson from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"...[T]he charge of illiteracy in a fee-based or privatized system seems to be weak at best, considering the history of education in America and England."
 
Lincoln's Civil War Against New York
        by John Chodes from SouthernEvents.org
"Between 1861 and 1865 there were two wars being fought simultaneously in the United States by Abraham Lincoln and his Republican administration. The first was to prevent the independence of the seceded Southern states. The second was a civil war in the North upon the six states controlled by the Democratic Party: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin."
 
Do These Deficits Look Familiar?
        by Jonathan Rauch from Reason
"Repairing the fiscal breach would require Bush to set priorities and make trade-offs, something he, like Nixon, has been conspicuously reluctant to do."
 
War and Peace
Articles showing the nature of War.
 
Leak Against This War - Expose the Lies from the Inside
        by Daniel Ellsberg from CounterPunch
"Later that afternoon, I turned to the radio man, a wiry African American kid who looked too thin to be lugging his 75lb radio, and asked: 'By any chance, do you ever feel like the redcoats?' Without missing a beat he said, in a drawl: 'I've been thinking that ... all ... day.' You couldn't miss the comparison if you'd gone to grade school in America."
 
Send the Children of Politicians to the Front Lines?
        by Stanley Kober from Cato Institute
"One of the great challenges facing a democracy -- indeed, any society -- is the connection between the military and civilian society. Any sense of inequality and inequity is bound to erode that connection."

The United States and World War I

        by John J. Dwyer from LewRockwell.com
"Wilson went so far as to campaign for re-election in 1916 with the slogan, 'He kept us out of war.' Less than ninety days after beginning his second term, however, he called upon Congress for a declaration of war against Germany in order to 'make the world safe for democracy.'"
 
Great Individuals In History
Some people stand out from the crowd.
 
Pamphleteer/Radical - Tom Paine: Jan. 29, 1737
        by Joseph R. Stromberg from Antiwar.com
"In commercial and other voluntary arrangements, society -- that is people -- takes care of itself. By contrast, 'governments, so far from being always the cause or means of order, are often the destruction of it.'"
 
Comedian/Juggler - W. C. Fields: Jan. 29, 1880
        from People of Pennsylvania
"His bulbous nose, raspy voice, and his delivery of mischieivous caustic witticisms became the trademarks of his film career. Often providing the script for the films' comedic skits himself, W.C. Fields had become a top star in the motion picture industry."
 
Author/anarchist - Edward Abbey: Jan. 29, 1927
        from AbbeyWeb
"...Edward Abbey was offered a major award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Abbey declined the honor; he had plans to run a river in Idaho the week of the award ceremony.... "
 
Culcha'
Books, Movies, TV, Media, Music, poetry, etc.
 
Reynolds Dons Spacesuit 
        from SCI FI Wire
"Oscar-nominated writer David Reynolds (Finding Nemo) has closed a deal to adapt Robert A. Heinlein's SF classic Have Spacesuit, Will Travel for Warner Brothers, according to The Hollywood Reporter."
 
The Everyman's Artist: A Review of 'Big Fish'
        by Ryan McMaken from LewRockwell.com
This film is a comedic celebration of life, people and relationships. Tim Burton has crafted a fine piece of cinema which I expect to be popular a very long time. The acting and casting are outstanding. I saw the movie recently and recommend it as well as this review of it.
 
American Icon series - Clint Eastwood
        Interview by Dennis McCafferty from USA Weekend
"I don't see myself as conservative, but I'm not ultra-leftist. You build a philosophy of your own. I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone."
 
The lighter side
Humor, satire, cartoons, parodies, food, popular music and other things to amuse.
 
Sling A Thong At Six Pence, A Pottle Full Of Rye
        by Fred Reed from FredOnEverything
"Fred Manipulates Readers. Subtly Though. They Won't Notice." Normally, I don't include other people's "cup-rattling" messages, but Fred has such skill at writing he even brings this off. It is definitely funny.
 
Bush 2004 Campaign Pledges To Restore Honor And Dignity To The White House
        from The Onion
"'One thing is clear -- it's time for a fresh beginning,' Bush said. 'Choose the ticket that leads to freedom, peace, and security. Choose Bush and Cheney.'"
 
'Duck Season'
        by Mark Fiore from The Village Voice
If you have missed the old Elmer Fudd since Mel Blanc's passing, perhaps this flash animated cartoon with Antonin Scalia as Fudd will help.
 
Deep Thought
Scientific and scholarly studies, philosophical essays, in-depth and longer articles.
 
Boomtown China: Opportunity and Crisis
        by Grant M. Nülle from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"Far from being a scourge to be feared, China's emergence as global economic power bodes well for consumers and producers all over the world through the blessings of trade."
 
Leisure Socialism
        by Marcus Verhaegh from LewRockwell.com
"Opportunities for an immediate life of leisure were noted, and plans for further government expenditure to relieve the need for 'excessive' amounts of work entered into day-to-day discourse."
 
Self Delusions
        by Julian Sanchez from Reason
"When I make a genuinely free decision, no set of antecedent causes predetermines what I must do. But an exercise of free will is also supposed to be something that the agent does, not merely something that happens."
 
Miscellany
Articles not easily classified.
 
Bush Legacy: Less Freedom
        by Sheldon Richman from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"Considering that the choice in November will be between two men who both want bigger government (it won't matter who the Democrat is), one wonders how a serious candidate would be received if he actually proposed to scale back the monstrosity we currently labor under."
 
A Not Very Funny Valentine
        by  Wendy McElroy from ifeminists.com
"The play consists of 15 vignettes in which women speak out as vaginas -- about their experiences, including rape, lesbianism, and genital mutilation. (Puzzling, I know, to those who thought feminists objected to women being viewed as body parts.)"
 
Logic, Liberty and Reality
        by Tibor R. Machan  from Strike The Root
"There is no consistent public policy anywhere, none to which political leaders swear any allegiance and none they bother to follow loyally. ... And the courts, too, are all over the map, one day affirming individual rights, the next denying them in the myriad of cases on which they rule. "
 
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