Ender's Review: Dec. 26, 2004

Precursor of National Id Cards; Liberty Doesn't Hinder Moral Conduct; Red-State Fascism; Key Largo; 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 Dec. 26, 2004 - Jan. 1, 2005.

Table of Contents: (Click on the name to go to that section)
Political Liberty, Life in Amerika, Ordered Liberty without the State;
Spreading Decentralism, The New World Hegemon, Politics by Other Means;
Spontaneous Order, Nonspontaneous Disorder, War Is The Health Of The State;
Bits of History, War and Peace, Great Individuals In History;
Culcha', The lighter side, Deep Thought, Miscellany.

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Political Liberty
Articles showing a positive influence of political action on the cause of Liberty.

The Future Is Not Hopeless
by Harry Browne from HarryBrowne.org
"If you speak up when you have the chance ... the future isn't hopeless, because you never know who will hear or read your words. You may say just the right thing to finally bring around someone who's close to crossing the line to active libertarianism ... someone who has the ability to multiply your efforts a hundred or a thousand times over, just because of who he is."
http://harrybrowne.org/articles/FutureIsNotHopeless.htm

Telling it like it is
by Nat Hentoff from The Village Voice
"Because of [Charles] Jacobs and, among others, black pastors throughout this country, black leaders such as Congressman Donald Payne of New Jersey and talk show host Joe Madison, white evangelicals, and schoolchildren in Denver and other cities, much money was raised to redeem thousands of slaves through Christian Solidarity International."
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0452/hentoff.php

Revolt of the Porcupines!
by Brian Doherty from Reason Online
"For libertarians who crave genuine political influence, perhaps the most encouraging thing about New Hampshire is that it has the largest state legislature in the country: 400 representatives, most with constituencies smaller than 3,000. (The downside of this is that each legislator is commensurately rather powerless to get things done.) You could realistically shake hands with every single voter in your district, and probably have a cup of coffee with every voter you'd need to win."
http://www.reason.com/0412/fe.bd.revolt.shtml

Life in Amerika
Articles depicting the negative impact of politics on the cause of Liberty.

Down With Education -- Sort Of
by Fred Reed from FredOnEverything
"It is not just in the universities that we force the young to study things that mean nothing to them and will have no influence on their lives. As soundings of the public monotonously reveal, a minority of the population is in possession of such arcane information as the century in which the Civil War occurred, or who fought in World War I, or where Italy might be found on a map."
http://www.fredoneverything.net/DownWithSchools.shtml

They Are Coming For The Christians
by Doug Newman from The Price of Liberty
"The failure of German pastors in the 1930s to denounce an out-of-control government had gruesome consequences. Those Germans who expressed concern about the coming nightmare were told that 'It can't happen here.' In America, 70 years later, most pastors are silent about the limitless ambitions of their government. They condemn Janet Jackson, Harry Potter and Ozzy Osbourne, but they are silent when their brothers in Christ right here in America face 47 years in the joint for quoting Scripture."
http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/04/12/30/newman.htm

NASCAR Nannies
by Doug Bandow from Cato Institute
"When Seagrams abandoned its voluntary ban on broadcast ads several years ago one would have thought that cocaine merchants had seized the airwaves. Federal commissions launched investigations, Congressmen introduced legislation, commentators fulminated, and activists raged. The political furor eventually died down and cable television has since run millions of dollars worth of ads for spirits."
http://www.cato.org/dailys/12-30-04.html

Ordered Liberty without the State
Some people say it's Anarchy, some say it's not possible. It is an interesting topic.

Liberty Doesn't Hinder Moral Conduct: It Rewards It
by Ali Hassan Massoud from Endervidualism
"Individualists are not hermits, but men and women who refuse to be lumped together into a government-sanctioned collective. Societies, communities, neighborhoods and families thrive when free from government compulsion. To allow autonomy is to allow the individual to expand his or her social relations. And we believe that as with flowers in the sunlight, they will flower and bloom, and that it will be beautiful to behold."
http://www.endervidualism.com/amassoud/liberty_rewards_morals.htm

All Government Is Evil
by Michael Gaddy from LewRockwell.com
"I know that the fledgling government of the Confederacy was just as cruel and wicked as any other. The government of the Confederacy, born, as we believe, to the parents,' self-determination and liberty, was nothing but coercion, violence and force wearing a butternut uniform. I offer as partial evidence the plight of an ancestor, one Montraville Ray, listed in the 1860 census as a farmer, a husband and a father, who owned not one slave."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/gaddy1.html

A Little Bit Pregnant?
by Jim Davies from Strike The Root
"It is simply not possible to be a little bit pregnant. One must be for government, or one must be against it; one thing or the other. The choice is binary."
http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/davies/davies17.html

Spreading Decentralism
Articles demonstrating an increase in the dispersal of power.

The Little Trailer that Could
by Claire Wolfe from Backwoods Home Magazine
"A trailer, when you think about it, can pretty easily be turned into a large and versatile super bug-out-bag or 72-hour kit for use in emergencies. Or even for longer-term SHTF situations."
http://www.backwoodshome.com/columns/wolfe050101.html

Long Live The Free Republic Of Gotham
by Christopher Ketcham from New York Press
"For anyone watching history and thinking ahead in the wake of November 2, the secession of New York City from the United States of America is no longer a question of ambiguities but practicalities, not a question of why but how."
http://www.nypress.com/17/52/news&columns/feature.cfm

Traffic Teaches
by Paul Hein from LewRockwell.com
"Indeed, anarchy is my point. I haven't researched traffic laws, because it wouldn't make any difference in the way I drive, but I am sure there are lots of them. ... There are probably 'laws' regarding passing, using signals, honking, and headlights, but it's a safe bet that few people know them, or care about them. Yet they manage to get from here to there safely!"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hein/hein89.html

The New World Hegemon
Depictions of the coming Imperial power

The Reality of Red-State Fascism
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. from LewRockwell.com
"What is the most pressing and urgent threat to freedom that we face in our time? It is not from the left. If anything, the left has been solid on civil liberties and has been crucial in drawing attention to the lies and abuses of the Bush administration. No, today, the clear and present danger to freedom comes from the right side of the ideological spectrum, those people who are pleased to preserve most of free enterprise but favor top-down management of society, culture, family, and school, and seek to use a messianic and belligerent nationalism to impose their vision of politics on the world."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/red-state-fascism.html

PRAVDA, IZVESTIA, TIME -- On the "Person of the Year" issue.
by Matt Taibbi from New York Press
"Last time I checked, the press was not supposed to be part of the ruling structure in our system of government. On the contrary -- and I'm just going by Jefferson and Madison, so I may be out of date -- it's supposed to be an antagonist to it, a check on civil power."
http://www.nypress.com/17/52/news&columns/taibbi.cfm

Confused About Democracy
by Alan Bock from Antiwar.com
"After the fall of the Soviet Union, most Western leaders were more interested in democracy than in freedom. Not surprisingly, countries such as Russia that focused more on democratic forms than on liberty didn't do so well and are in danger of reverting to autocracy."
http://www.antiwar.com/bock/?articleid=4238

Politics by Other Means
War, rumors of war, and politicians fomenting war.

Operation Republican Freedom
by Anthony Gregory from LewRockwell.com
"They appear to have been the lesser of two evils in the years that Wilson, FDR, Truman and LBJ held power -- but such an appearance is not difficult for anyone without an overt and explicit disdain for liberty to manifest. The Republicans turned America into a consolidated nationalist state under Lincoln, and into an international bully under McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt. Looking back at the Progressive Republicans and their Spanish-American War, we see similarities to today's GOP imperialism that imply a direct lineage and continuity."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory52.html

Unbecoming Conduct -- Forget Torture; It's the Sex That Matters
by Paul Craig Roberts from CounterPunch
"But General Fiscus behaved unbecomingly for an officer. Yes, he did. And President Bush behaved unbecomingly for a commander in chief. Dick Cheney behaved unbecomingly for a Vice President. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz behaved unbecomingly for civilian leaders of the military. But no one is being held accountable except General Fiscus."
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts12302004.html

Balancing Your Moral Outrage Budget
by Alexander Cockburn from Common Dreams
"Do I have a line in the sand? OK, I do. I resent, and I hereby protest, money in the defense budget going for war crimes, which, as stipulated in a 1996 law for which Republicans voted, could put the commander in chief in the death cell."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1227-25.htm

Spontaneous Order
Articles showing decentralized successes.

I'll Give You My Heart...
by Stephanie R. Murphy from LewRockwell.com
"I can't understand how LifeSharers is any different than an organ donor who specifies that his organs should go to his family members or friends before others. After all, they're your organs. You grew them yourself. You own your body -- and you should decide if, when, and how you want to give of it. You own your body. What a powerful concept. Yet nowadays more and more we are being bombarded with legislation and propaganda that implies just the opposite."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/murphy-s1.html

Home schooling is attracting mainstream families for a variety of reasons
by Kavita Kumar from Fort Wayne News Sentinel
"Indeed, as the people who homeschool become more diverse, so do the ways in which they do it. Some homeschool the old-fashioned way - at home. Others supplement home lessons with classes, band, choir, bowling leagues, and sports through homeschool associations or community centers or colleges. At the most structured are places like Dayspring that mimic a school setting a day or two a week. At the other end of the spectrum is 'unschooling,' an unstructured type of homeschooling that is directed by the child."
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/10513464.htm

Podcasts bring DIY radio to the web
by Clark Boyd from BBC
"It is called 'podcasting' and its strongest proponent is former MTV host and VJ (video jockey) Adam Curry. Podcasting takes its name from the Apple iPod, although you do not need an iPod to create one or to listen to a podcast."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4120773.stm

Nonspontaneous Disorder
Articles showing centrally planned disasters.

The Federal Attack on the Dollar
by Jacob G. Hornberger from The Future of Freedom Foundation
"So when all those notes and bonds come due, how does the government repay the loans? ... [G]overnment officials will simply use their printing press to print the money to repay all the loans. The process is, of course, more complicated than that but that in essence is what they are doing...."
http://www.fff.org/comment/com0412i.asp

Government Should Regulate Charities? It Just Ain't So!
by Sheldon Richman from The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty (FEE)
"Government-mandated disclosure either would be redundant or, as with business corporations, would require reams of data that potential donors don't want. The bureaucrats' agendas and incentives don't necessarily line up with the needs of people making decisions about their own money. Who is likely to be a better judge of things?"
http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=6465

How to Save the Dollar
by Katy Harwood Delay from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"These manipulations always hurt someone, and that someone is the unwary, main-stream, working man or woman who invests his or her hard-earned money in the bubbles that are the direct result of the Fed's fiddling. The insult spreads itself out over the whole market making it less perceptible -- the old story of many being billed a little for the multiple follies of a few; but the cumulative toll is in the trillions of dollars' worth of our collective purchasing power."
http://mises.org/fullstory.aspx?Id=1705

War Is The Health Of The State
War is the ultimate State intervention in society.

Greater Government Spending Has Not Enhanced National Security
by Ivan Eland from The Independent Institute
"[T]he same incentives operate when the government manufactures guns as ... when it provides butter. For instance, although food stamp and public housing programs are ostensibly designed to benefit the poor, the biggest recipients of their welfare are probably the respective large agricultural corporations and housing contractors that profit from them. Similarly, most of the recent defense budget increases have little to do with fighting terrorists and more to do with providing welfare for politically connected defense contractors."
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1444

The Great Crime Spree of 2004
by Justin Raimondo from Antiwar.com
"If 2003 was the year of the liars, as I opined last year, then 2004 was the year of the war criminals, starting with Time magazine's designated Man of the Year, criminal-in-chief George W. Bush. It was Bush who presided over the torture and abuse not only at Abu Ghraib but in U.S.-run dungeons from Guantanamo to Afghanistan...."
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=4242

Are Tsunamis Good for the Economy?
by Christopher Westley from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"According to a study reported last fall in the British medical journal The Lancet, this number [the loss of innocent human life that has resulted from U.S. intervention in Iraq since the 2003 invasion] is already well over 100,000. Compared to the innocent civilian deaths resulting from the wars of the 20th century, it is clear that large, bureaucratic nation-states are a greater threat to human life than occasional and inevitable natural disasters."
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?Id=1712

Bits of History
The Past seen with a fresh look.

The Great Chinese Inflation
by Richard M. Ebeling from The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty (FEE)
"In the war years Chiang's government resorted to the printing press to finance the majority of its spending, covering 65 to 80 percent of its annual expenditures through money creation. During the civil war years of 1946-1949, monetary expansion covered 50-65 percent of the government's spending."
http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=6460

The First Free State Project
by Jackson Kuhl from Reason
"John Sevier, a chief proponent of separate statehood and an indefatigable Indian fighter, was elected governor. The new state was named Franklin. Its namesake, Benjamin Franklin, was invited to move to the area from Philadelphia. He declined, but his epistolary advice was sought throughout the state's lifetime."
http://www.reason.com/0412/fe.jk.the.shtml

Season's Greetings from the Fed
by George F. Smith from Strike The Root
"The German hyperinflation was one of many runaway inflations of the last century. Hungary, China, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Russia, Austria, Poland, Greece, and the Ukraine, among others, all experienced hyperinflations in varying degrees. But the worst case of monetary destruction happened in Yugoslavia from 1993-1994."
http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/smith/smith12.html

War and Peace
Articles showing the nature of War.

We Must Leave Iraq -- Sooner rather than later
by Justin Raimondo from Antiwar.com
"Our great 'democratic' achievement to date has been to polarize the country along religious lines and conjure the specter of civil war."
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=4232

Miracles Are Unlikely in Bush's Middle East Gospel
by Charles V. Peña from Cato Institute
"In Iran, given that American troops are currently bogged down in next-door Iraq, realism and prudence would dictate that military action is unlikely. Indeed, according to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, an American attack against Iran is 'inconceivable.' But it would be a mistake to presume that a military option is completely out of the question. Indeed, it may be more likely than not."
http://www.cato.org/dailys/01-01-05.html

Terror wars can be risky
by Eric Margolis from Toronto Sun
"Terrorists were murdering politicians, police and prominent citizens, kidnapping entire families for huge ransoms, blowing up power stations, and blocking main roads, causing paralysis in major urban areas. Iraq 2004? No. Latin America in the late 1960s and 1970s."
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2004/12/26/797151.html

Great Individuals In History
Some people stand out from the crowd.

Inventor - Charles Babbage : Dec. 26, 1791
by J. A. N. Lee from The History of Computing
"Babbage faced significant problems with mechanical techniques. He had to invent the tools for his engine. His thought is so thoroughly modern that we wonder why he did not pursue electromechanical methods for his engines (especially after Faraday's 1831 discovery of induction, and Babbage's own electrical experiments). It is easy to forget how long ago Babbage worked."
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Babbage.html

Actress - Marlene Dietrich : Dec. 27, 1901
from IMDb
"In a posthumous gift of forgiveness, she left her vast collection of memorabilia to the city of Berlin. She demanded that Max Factor sprinkle half an ounce of real gold dust into her wigs to add glitter to her tresses during filming."
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000017/bio

Mathematician / Computer Scientist - John von Neumann : Dec. 28, 1903
by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson from University of St Andrews, Scotland
"Von Neumann was one of the pioneers of computer science making significant contributions to the development of logical design. ... He advanced the theory of cellular automata, advocated the adoption of the bit as a measurement of computer memory, and solved problems in obtaining reliable answers from unreliable computer components."
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Von_Neumann.html

Culcha'
Books, Movies, TV, Media, Music, poetry, etc.

Key Largo (1948)
Reviewed by Tom Ender from Endervidualism
"[Johnny] Rocco, who is shown in the film to be a true monster, is not stopped by government. It isn't the feds who deported him who stop him, since he comes back into the country by boat. It isn't the local sheriff or his deputy who stop him, in fact, they do far more harm than good. What stops Johnny Rocco are the actions of a small group of individuals, primarily one man, acting on his own to save himself and in showing a fine sense of courage wins a life that he wants with other good people."
http://www.endervidualism.com/agora/key_largo_1948.htm

A Little Dab of Ultraviolence Will Do Ya
by Bob Wallace from LewRockwell.com
"His novel is not only about free will, and the impossibility of behaviorism overcoming human nature; it is also about the oppression of the State. All three are indeed related. What State truly desires free will for the citizens? And does not try to overcome free will through coercion and violence?"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/wallace/wallace196.html

Hellraising for Dummies
by Andy von Sonn from Liberty
"[R]ead Wolfe's 'Freedom Outlaw Handbook: 179 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution.' This is a manual for surviving and thriving in our topsy-turvy times. It is the Boy Scout Handbook for anyone thirsting for a guide through our present dilemma. It's got philosophy and practical information. What Wolfe is talking about is living freedom. Talking about liberty ... is important, but unless you are living free, you are missing out."
http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2004_12/vonsonn-hellraising.html

The lighter side
Humor, satire, cartoons, parodies, food, popular music and other things to amuse.

Dave Barry's 2004 year in review
by Dave Barry from Deseret News
"Looking back on 2004, we have to conclude that it could have been worse. 'HOW??' you ask, spitting out your coffee. Well, OK, a giant asteroid could have smashed into the earth and destroyed all human life except Paris Hilton and William Hung."
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600101355,00.html

Fun with Block Figures
by Drew from Corrupt.Net
"there is lots of porn on the inter-net but i could not find any BLOCK STRUCTURE porn. until now!!! this is the official web page for BLOCK STRUCTURE porn…." Hilarious, but avoid if 'Team America' (the movie) offended you.
http://drew.corrupt.net/lp/index.html

Canadian Immigration Under Fire
from The Onion
"Canada's relatively lax immigration policy has drawn criticism from U.S. leaders, who say the country provides an easy home base for terrorists. What do you think?"
http://www.theonion.com/wdyt/index.php?issue=4052

Deep Thought
Scientific and scholarly studies, philosophical essays, in-depth and longer articles

The Precursor of National Identification Cards in the U.S.
by Carl Watner from voluntaryist.com
"Although we do not have a national identification card (yet), the drivers license of today is clearly an indication of what might occur. ... A drivers license is the only form of identification held by a majority of Americans and controlled and distributed by the State. ... Is there not something Orwellian about the way the requirements for compulsory birth certificates and compulsory drivers licenses complement each other? Isn't this development a perfect example of how government manages to spin a web of power to ensnare unaware citizens?"
http://www.voluntaryist.com/articles/119a.php

Ayn Rand Watches The Incredibles
by Steve Damerell from The Free Liberal
"In this context, The Incredibles would perhaps best be seen as a form of 'neo-Objectivism,' taking the core concepts of achievement and self-esteem and working in a more explicit space for family and community. Doubtless, part of this effect is due to the need to make the movie palatable as family viewing, but in large part it is likely the true intent of the filmmakers to even out their message -- the individual should achieve and believe in their own power, but such does not preclude deep love or sacrifice."
http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/000574.html

Wait for the Autism Fat Lady to Sing
by Richard C. Deth from Tech Central Station
"As it turns out, thimerosal is a potent inhibitor of the same methylation pathways that are involved in autism. In April 2004, an article in Molecular Psychiatry described how thimerosal, along with other well-accepted neurodevelopmental toxins (e.g. lead, mercury and alcohol), blocked folic acid-dependent methylation in human neuronal cells. DNA and gene expression were also affected by methylation, providing a link to impaired development."
http://www.techcentralstation.com/123004E.html

Miscellany
Articles not easily classified

Government-Enhanced Disaster
by Timothy Terrell from Ludwig von Mises Institute
"When the state is granted the money and power to prevent disaster, the state will look after itself first, not the people it is supposedly protecting. Just as post-disaster tax dollars are regularly misallocated, the state's disaster prevention dollars will be diverted into political pork barrels and high-profile but ineffective projects."
http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?Id=1713

New Year's Revolutions
by Ray Daugherty from anti-state.com
"Why should this year be any different? Honestly, it shouldn't be. But all the same, I'm lighting an extra fire under my ass by publishing my list online this time. And just as well: it has a bit of a more political edge to it this time."
http://www.anti-state.com/article.php?article_id=458

The Jubilant Anarchy of Looney Toons
by Bob Wallace from LewRockwell.com
"But those Merrie Melodies and Looney Toons -- now those are wild, jubilant, anarchistic stories! They're the best cartoons ever made. There's nothing in any of them about the wonders of the State and how it can take care of you from cradle to grave. Any of the characters who appear to have even a vague resemblance to a politician is treated as a buffoon, like Foghorn Leghorn, or insane, like Marvin the Martian."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/wallace/wallace195.html

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