RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Email Circulation: 2,181


FROM THE PUBLISHER

0) In memory of Ron Crickenberger


TODAY'S NEWS:

1) Treasury reneges on 30-year bond holders
2) US set for Iraq election retreat
3) State of the Union address
4) Missile hits Iraq "green zone"
5) Israeli charged with bribing Sharon
6) Ron Paul runs unopposed
7) UK cannabis law "a threat to health"
8) Rabbi invents prayer for porn surfers
9) "Not guilty," Stewart says
10) Dems delay Senate OK of big spending bill
11) New doubts dog Iran's nuclear pledge
12) Thou shalt not violate city rule on monuments
13) Chess champ to challenge Putin
14) Potential 20th hijacker turned away at Orlando airport prior to 9/11
15) Dean's NH lead shrivels
16) Bush meets with Iraqis in election dispute
17) Iran council lifts ban on 200 MPs
18) Russian army joins struggle to save beer
19) Shiite marchers demand Hussein be tried in Iraq
20) Incumbents displease Montanans
21) Resistance to Patriot Act gaining ground
22) Former Green Beret guides GIs in thicket of Iraq
23) Gephardt ends White House bid after poor Iowa showing
24) Details of Army's abuse investigation surface
25) Beards may be outlawed with ban on veils
26) Fathers no longer required
27) Bush warns of "work unfinished"
28) Reilly pushes to end profiling in police stops
29) Affirmative action battle brews anew in Michigan

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TODAY'S COMMENTARY:

30) Bush loses in Iowa
31) Rat Race, part 2
32) The last days of the First Amendment
33) Bush loses his aura of invincibility
34) Malcolm X in the middle
35) A man's (and woman's) home is a castle
36) O'Neill's book forces Bush to lie ... again
37) For truth in journalism
38) Why do Iowans like to caucus but Iraqis don't?
39) Concerns about gun stores misguided
40) Iowa's decision huge, until maybe tomorrow
41) France launches global culture war
42) The Declaration of Independence: A look at the meaning
43) Clark is no Ike
44) A world recreated
45) Bridging the labor-environment gap
46) Broader, not Broder
47) Unhinged reality
48) The high cost of Rubinomics
49) Too much Dick
50) The defense budget is bigger than you think
51) The spontaneous redistribution of wealth, part 2
52) Al-Sistani's Next Move
53) SSA admits private plans will work
54) How does money acquire its value?
55) Another embittered rant by a former soldier
56) The obligatory post-airport Homeland Security rant
57) For the sake of hard-working immigrants
58) Truth in spending overdue


TODAY'S MOVEMENT NEWS & EVENTS:

59) TODAY! Tamara Millay on "Straight Talk with Jerry Hughes"
60) Tamara Millay policy speech
61) Free Hunter!
62) Petition for a Boortz-Free LP national convention


TODAY IN POLITICAL HISTORY:

63) Spoiled politicians; "I did not have sex with that woman"


FROM THE PUBLISHER

0) In memory of Ron Crickenberger

I'm saddened to report that the freedom movement has lost one of its
most active soldiers, Ron Crickenberger. Ron was recently
diagnosed with cancer, and passed away yesterday. RRND will
carry such memorial articles as come to our attention as the week
goes on.

Bonnie Scott of the New York LP has created a web site at which
those who knew and loved Ron can post their remarks, and those
who didn't can read them:

http://ny.lp.org/cgi-bin/condolences.cgi?Ron

On behalf of the staff of RRND, our deepest and most heartfelt
sympathies go out to Ron's partner, Noelle, and to his family and
loved ones.

Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review


NEWS

1) Treasury reneges on 30-year bond holders
Uncle Scam

"The U.S. Treasury will default on contracts with investors, mostly
individuals, who loaned the government money in 1979 on the
agreement that they would receive 9.125 percent interest every year
until their bonds mature in the year 2009. No longer will politicians
and appointed bureaucrats be able to brag that the United States
has never failed to live up to its obligation as the safest investment in
the world. Investment is no longer guaranteed. The Bureau of Public
Debt announcement claims that this recall applies to about $4.6
billion in 30 year bonds issued on May 15, 1979 and calls for their
redemption by May 15, 2004. Of course, investors holding these
bonds are not forced to cash them in and can hold them until 2009 if
they want, but they will no longer receive the interest promised, the
main reason for investing their money in the first place." (01/04)

http://www.uncle-scam.com/Breaking/jan-04/br-7.html

-----

2) US set for Iraq election retreat
Guardian [UK]

"The US-led coalition in Iraq is on the verge of bowing to Shia
Muslim pressure for direct elections before the handover of power
on June 30, the Guardian has learned. According to British officials,
the Blair government has been swayed by Shia arguments and the
US is also shifting ground. They believe that Paul Bremer, the US
head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) running Iraq, has
been persuaded of the need for direct elections, provided it can be
shown that they are practicable." (01/21/04)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1127690,00.html

-----

3) State of the Union address
White House

Full text of George W. Bush's 2004 State of the Union address.
(01/20/04)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040120-7.html

-----

4) Missile hits Iraq "green zone"
Seattle Times

"A missile landed in the sprawling U.S. compound in central
Baghdad last night, causing little damage, a U.S. spokesman said.
The projectile, believed to be a rocket, hit near the Al-Rasheed
Hotel, said the spokesman, who said there was an unconfirmed
report of one person being injured, but no significant damage."
(01/21/04)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001840719_iraqdig21.html

-----

5) Israeli charged with bribing Sharon
Bradenton Herald

"An Israeli businessman was indicted Wednesday on charges of
bribing Ariel Sharon with hundreds of thousands of dollars, further
complicating the prime minister's clouded legal situation. Analysts
said the indictment against real-estate developer David Appel
increases the chances that Sharon himself may face charges,
which would compel him to leave office. Sharon was not charged
Wednesday, but opposition lawmakers urged him to resign. Appel
was indicted in the Tel Aviv Magistrates court for giving Sharon
hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote an ambitious real-estate
project in Greece when Sharon was foreign minister in 1999 and to
help rezone urban land near Tel Aviv before and during Sharon's
term as prime minister." (01/21/04)

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/7759515.htm

-----

6) Ron Paul runs unopposed
WorldNetDaily

"Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas -- known as 'Mr. Constitution' on Capitol
Hill for his strict adherence to the document when voting on
legislation -- won't face any challengers for his House seat this year
since he was the only person to file for the race. The deadline to file
in his 14th Congressional District was Friday." (01/21/04)

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36694

-----

7) UK cannabis law "a threat to health"
MAPINC

"A city drugs expert has warned of a mental health time bomb set to
go off, following the re-classification of cannabis. Verina McEwen,
Peterborough Drug Action Team co-ordinator, said young people
may mistakenly think cannabis is harmless following the change in
law, which will take place on Thursday, January 29. But she claimed
the drug was a factor in 80 per cent of inner-city mental health
cases in the UK." (01/20/04)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n128/a09.html

-----

8) Rabbi invents prayer for porn surfers
Ananova [UK]

"An Israeli rabbi has invented a prayer to help Jews overcome the
guilt of visiting pornographic websites. The benediction by Shlomo
Eliahu says: 'Please God, help me cleanse the computer of viruses
and evil photographs which disturb and ruin my work ... so that I
shall be able to cleanse myself (of sin)." (01/20/04)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_857733.html

-----

9) "Not guilty," Stewart says
Tallahassee Democrat

"Martha Stewart waved to her supporters, strode into a Manhattan
courthouse and repeated a plea of innocent at the formal start of her
stock-trading trial Tuesday. The 62-year-old millionaire gracious-
living guru stood in court and nodded at the first batch of jurors, who
were interviewed one by one in a judge's private robing room. 'Not
guilty,' Stewart said five times, speaking almost inaudibly and
nodding as she re-entered her plea to five criminal counts related to
her 2001 sale of nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems."
(01/21/04)

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/7755273.htm

-----

10) Dems delay Senate OK of big spending bill
USA Today

"Democrats angry with delayed food-labeling rules and other issues
blocked the Senate on Tuesday from finishing a long-overdue $373
billion spending bill but predicted Congress would approve the
measure by next week. The vote to halt delaying tactics against the
wide-ranging package was 48-45, 12 votes short of the 60 needed.
It was Congress' first roll call of its election-year session and came
just hours before President Bush was to deliver his State of the
Union address." (01/20/04)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-01-20-spending_x.htm

-----

11) New doubts dog Iran's nuclear pledge
MSNBC

"Western diplomats and nuclear experts voiced growing concern
Tuesday that Iran has reneged on its promise to fully suspend
uranium enrichment -- a process that can be used to make nuclear
weapons. The most recent developments threaten to put Iran at
center stage at the next top-level meeting of the International Atomic
Energy agency in March." (01/20/04)

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4011455/

-----

12) Thou shalt not violate city rule on monuments
Charlotte Observer

"A day after it was placed in front of Winston-Salem's [NC] City Hall,
a one-ton granite monument to the Ten Commandments was
removed Tuesday by city officials who called it a safety hazard. ...
City Council member Vernon Robinson, who said he was inspired
by Alabama's ousted Chief Justice Roy Moore, placed the 4-foot-
tall, blue-granite block in front of City Hall early Monday while it was
closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The monument is
inscribed on one side with the Ten Commandments and on the other
side with the Bill of Rights." (01/21/04)

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/7758141.htm

-----

13) Chess champ to challenge Putin
BBC News [UK]


"A group of top Russian liberals is joining forces to keep Vladimir
Putin from staying in the Kremlin after 2008. They concede that they
cannot stop the popular president from being re-elected this March,
but have vowed to scotch any efforts to extend his term. The group
is led by chess champion Gary Kasparov, a leading critic of Mr
Putin. ... His group, called '2008: Free Choice,' also includes liberal
politician Boris Nemtsov, Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky and
TV political satirist Viktor Shenderovich .... They issued a statement
on Monday accusing President Putin of trying to consolidate his
'tsar-like' power at all costs. They criticised his control over the
parliament and the media, and what they called the 'flat-out
falsification of the last election's results.'" (01/21/04)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3413161.stm

-----

14) Potential 20th hijacker turned away at Orlando airport prior to 9/11
USA Today

"A Saudi man who was prevented from entering the United States a
few weeks before the Sept. 11 terror attacks may have been the
plot's intended 20th hijacker, federal officials say. The man,
identified only as al-Qahtani, was turned away by a U.S. immigration
agent at Orlando International Airport in late August 2001, according
to two senior law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of
anonymity Tuesday." (01/20/04)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-01-20-hijacker_x.htm

-----

15) Dean's NH lead shrivels
MSNBC

"Howard Dean, who once held a 30-point lead over Sen. John Kerry
in New Hampshire, is now locked in a statistical tie with the Iowa
caucus winner one week before the state's presidential primary,
according to a Reuters/MSNBC Zogby poll released Tuesday. Dean
led Kerry 25 percent to 23 percent in the three-day tracking poll,
which began Sunday, the day before Kerry’s stunning win in Iowa in
the first contest in the Democratic race to pick a challenger to
President Bush." (01/20/04)

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4012326/

-----

16) Bush meets with Iraqis in election dispute
Dodge City Daily Globe

"President Bush met Tuesday with a leader who acts as a go-
between for the Shiite cleric who is demanding direct elections in
Iraq. The administration also enlisted the United Nations to help
resolve the growing dispute over Iraqi self-rule. Bush met with
visiting Iraqis on the day of his State of the Union speech,
underscoring his commitment to end the U.S. occupation by July 1
though U.S. peacekeeping troops would stay on after that date."
(01/20/04)

http://ap.dodgeglobe.com/stories/20040120/1819467.shtml

-----

17) Iran council lifts ban on 200 MPs
Guardian [UK]

"Iran's hardline guardian council said yesterday that it had lifted a
ban on 200 candidates for next month's parliamentary elections, but
reformist MPs said they wanted to see the full reinstatement of all
those barred from the poll. ... following a request from the supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the council was reviewing its
decision to disqualify more than 3,000 prospective candidates.
Protesting MPs said the move was insufficient, and vowed to
continue their daily sit-ins in the parliament building until free
elections were assured." (01/21/04)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1127615,00.html

-----

18) Russian army joins struggle to save beer
ABC News

"Russia has sent in the army to bolster a week-long struggle to
rescue 10 tons of beer trapped under Siberian ice, Itar-Tass news
agency said Tuesday. A lorry carrying the beer sank when trying to
cross the frozen Irtysh river, and a rescue team of six divers, 10
workers and a modified T-72 tank from the emergencies ministry
have so far failed to save the load. 'The situation hasn't developed
according to our ideal scenario,' the deputy head of the Cherlaksky
region, told the agency. Temperatures were around minus 27
degrees Celsius (minus 17 degrees Fahrenheit) in the region, near
the Siberian city of Omsk and around 1,400 miles from Moscow."
(01/20/04)

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/BackPage/reuters20040120_225.html

-----

19) Shiite marchers demand Hussein be tried in Iraq
Washington Post

"For the second day in a row, Shiite Muslim demonstrators took to
the streets here Tuesday, this time demanding that U.S. officials
allow ousted president Saddam Hussein to be tried and executed in
Iraq rather than treated as a prisoner of war. About 5,000
protesters, mostly followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, staged a
peaceful rally in central Baghdad. They also called on U.S. officials
to resist efforts by Iraqi Kurds to divide the country under an
ethnically oriented federal system." (01/21/04)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33401-2004Jan20.html

-----

20) Incumbents displease Montanans
Billings Gazette

"Montana voters are pessimistic about the direction of state
government and would prefer to vote against incumbent legislators, a
Montana Chamber of Commerce poll shows. Both major political
parties lost ground with voters, as did advocacy groups, poll results
showed. More Montana voters identify themselves as Republicans
than Democrats in the polls, but the percentage of voters calling
themselves Republicans dropped slightly more than those saying
they are Democrats in a similar 2001 poll. 'We see a real strong
sense of dissatisfaction about all segments of state leadership,' said
Webb Brown, president of the Montana Chamber of Commerce. 'It's
pretty much across the board.'" (01/20/04)

http://billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2004/01/20/build/state/40-i\
ncumbents.inc

-----

21) Resistance to Patriot Act gaining ground
Boston Globe

"More than two centuries ago, the patriots of Brewster [MA] shut
down the Colonial courts on Cape Cod in one of the first acts of
resistance against the tyrannical rule of King George III. Now,
deliberately evoking its Revolutionary history, Brewster Town
Meeting has formally condemned the antiterrorist USA Patriot Act,
united against the laws of a different leader named George. While
the act is largely symbolic ... the grass-roots opposition has forged
an unlikely alliance of people angry at Washington's domestic
handling of the war on terror. In Brewster, anger at the Patriot Act
has drawn together libertarians, an antitax group, and a Unitarian
congregation, as well as a more traditional coalition of civil
libertarians and antiwar activists." (01/20/04)

http://tinyurl.com/2k6hb

-----

22) Former Green Beret guides GIs in thicket of Iraq
Washington Post

"Knight carries no weapon, though he mightily wishes he could.
Instead, tucked in his rucksack is a book covered in camouflage
canvas that says 'Army of the Lord.' Knight is the regimental
chaplain, a soldier's soldier who switched gears in mid-career, spent
two years at a Louisiana seminary and reappeared in Afghanistan
and Iraq carrying a military-issue Bible." (01/21/04)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33504-2004Jan20.html

-----

23) Gephardt ends White House bid after poor Iowa showing
Dodge City Daily Globe

"Democrat Dick Gephardt abandoned his second bid for the
presidency Tuesday, delivering a political valedictory after some
three decades of public service while putting his home state of
Missouri up for grabs in the competitive primary race. After a poor,
fourth-place showing in Iowa Monday, Gephardt exited the race for
the nomination, leaving a field of seven candidates." (01/20/04)

http://ap.dodgeglobe.com/stories/20040120/1819919.shtml

-----

24) Details of Army's abuse investigation surface
CNN

"Sources have revealed new details from the Army's criminal
investigation into reports of abuse of Iraqi detainees, including the
location of the suspected crimes and evidence that is being sought.
U.S. soldiers reportedly posed for photographs with partially
unclothed Iraqi prisoners, a Pentagon official told CNN on Tuesday."
(01/20/04)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/20/sprj.nirq.abuse/

-----

25) Beards may be outlawed with ban on veils
Sydney Morning Herald [Australia]

"France's plan to bar religious symbols from state schools slid into
confusion today after the education minister said a looming ban on
Muslim veils could also outlaw beards if they were judged to be a
sign of faith. Opposition politicians derided the government plan as
misguided and some of President Jacques Chirac's conservative
allies said they would abstain or vote against the law meant to stem
growing Islamist influence among some of France's five million
Muslims." (01/21/04)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/21/1074360805810.html

-----

26) Fathers no longer required
Independent [UK]

"A revolution in the law that governs IVF treatment -- which would
end the requirement for women to find a man to act as father to their
child -- will be called for today by the head of Britain's fertility
regulator. Suzi Leather, chairman of the Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Authority (HFEA), says the law should be changed to
remove the clause requiring doctors who assess infertile women to
take account of the 'need of the child for a father' before offering
treatment. It would give the green light to single women and lesbians
to seek treatment on equal terms with heterosexual couples. But the
downgrading of the father's role in child rearing is likely to be
portrayed as an attack on the traditional family." (01/21/04)

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=483234

-----

27) Bush warns of "work unfinished"
CNN

"Ten months before facing voters, President Bush delivered an
upbeat State of the Union address Tuesday night that defended his
stewardship of the nation at home and abroad, as he called on
Americans to stay the course. Addressing a joint session of
Congress in the House chamber, Bush cited progress in the war on
terrorism and in turning the U.S. economy around. But much work
remained, he said." (01/20/04)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/sotu.speech/

-----

28) Reilly pushes to end profiling in police stops
Boston Globe

"In an effort to eliminate racial profiling of drivers, Boston and Lowell
police officials have agreed to work with state law enforcement
authorities to track all traffic stops, and not just those that result in
citations or written warnings, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly
announced yesterday. ... The US Supreme Court has held that to
justify a stop, police must show they had 'reasonable, articulable
suspicion' to pull the car over. However, studies in Massachusetts
and elsewhere have found that blacks are more likely than whites to
not only be stopped but also given a ticket rather than a written
warning." (01/20/04)

http://tinyurl.com/39vjq

-----

29) Affirmative action battle brews anew in Michigan
Christian Science Monitor

"It's a cold time of year to be out collecting signatures. But as
Michigan's affirmative action debate heats up once again, that's
exactly what opponents of racial preferences in hiring and school
admissions are doing. Last week, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative
(MCRI) launched a petition drive to let voters decide whether to ban
such preferences by state institutions. If the group gathers 317,757
signatures by July 6, its proposed amendment to the state
constitution will appear on November's ballot." (01/20/04)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0120/p18s01-legn.html

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COMMENTARY

30) Bush loses in Iowa
WorldNetDaily
by Joseph Farah

"The big loser in the Democratic presidential caucuses in Iowa
wasn't Howard Dean. It wasn't Dick Gephardt. It wasn't even Al
Sharpton who managed to attract about .5 percent of the vote. The
big loser was George W. Bush. ... If Bush were deliberately
throwing this election, he couldn't do a more masterful job of losing
votes, breaking bonds with his constituency and losing touch with
his base. If ever there was a time for a third party to emerge with
some alternative ideas, 2004 is it." (01/21/04)

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36701

-----

31) Rat Race, part 2
Lies, damn lies and Republican rhetoric revisited
Rational Review
by Thomas L. Knapp

"The Busheviks have finally awakened to the fact that their man is
cruisin' for an electoral bruisin', and they're not a bit happy about it.
But, having turned their cannon loose on deck for three years, they
seem at a loss as to how to get him chained the hell down and
pointed in the right direction. No matter which way the ship of state
turns, and no matter how it orients itself to the waves, that
NapoleBush 12-pounder always seems to end up aimed at the
Republican Party's own feet instead of at the Democrats. Last
night's salvo cost Karl Rove some toes." (01/21/04)

http://www.rationalreview.com/tlknapp/012104.shtml

-----

32) The last days of the First Amendment
Liberty For All
by Jonathan David Morris

"I laugh sometimes when I hear Republicans and Democrats fighting
over appointments to the Supreme Court. Both parties rally their
bases by pledging to appoint judges who'll fight for their pet issues.
Both promise to oppose judges who'll fight for the opposite side. The
reason I laugh is because I'm not sure it matters anymore. No
matter who wins, we all get screwed. Case in point: The Court's
recent decision to uphold the McCain-Feingold campaign finance
reform law." (01/21/04)

http://www.libertyforall.net/2004/jan25/last-days.html

-----

33) Bush loses his aura of invincibility
Salon
by Gary Kamiya

"As they prepared for Tuesday night's State of the Union speech,
President Bush, Karl Rove and Bush's speechwriters were faced
with a choice. The latest poll showed that Americans still supported
Bush on national security and the war on Iraq, but were increasingly
worried about his economic policies. Which way should they play
it? ... In fact, it was a no-brainer. Following the venerable football
philosophy that you dance with the one that brung you, Team Bush
decided to keep the focus on the war on terror -- and keep the
terror alert coded red." [subscription or ad view required] (01/21/04)

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/01/21/state_of_union/

-----

34) Malcolm X in the middle
Ether Zone
by Roderick T. Beaman

"True to form, since [Malcolm X's] death, the vogue Left has focused
on his revolutionary rhetoric and not his message of independence
and self-reliance. What is interesting about his revolutionary
rhetoric, is that it wasn't that revolutionary when you looked at it
more closely. He advocated violence only as a response to violence
not as the primary action. This is something that any libertarian can
accept." (01/21/04)

http://www.etherzone.com/2004/beam012104.shtml

-----

35) A man's (and woman's) home is a castle
Fox News
by Wendy McElroy

"The story of Anthony Bars (the 4-year-old boy who was starved
and beaten to death in Indiana by foster parents with a criminal
record of child abuse) continues. Due to media and public outrage,
the caseworker who recommended removing Anthony from an
earlier, loving foster parent is facing charges. Denise Moore is
accused of official misconduct and of falsifying reports in an
adoption proceeding: misdemeanor offenses. Sadly, Anthony is just
one in a long list of children neglected or abused by Child Protective
Services in state after state. In his case, the press is still pounding
on why child welfare officials never disciplined Moore for her
actions and cited state confidentiality laws at almost every question
asked." (01/20/04)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,108888,00.html

-----

36) O'Neill's book forces Bush to lie ... again
Yellow Times
by Firas Al-Atraqchi

"Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's book has slapped the
Bush administration with an explosive set of embarrassing charges,
not the least of which is the claim that George Bush came to the
U.S. presidency with one objective in mind -- the removal of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein. O'Neill's book, The Price of Loyalty,
written by Ron Suskind, claims that the first national security
meeting of the new Bush administration in January 2001 focused on
how to find a way to remove Saddam from Iraq." (01/20/04)

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1745

-----

37) For truth in journalism
WorldNetDaily
by Pat Buchanan

"For generations, our media elite has fed the people the party line
that journalists are objective and neutral observers who call it as they
see it, concerned only with fairness, truth and accuracy, and who
are ever on guard to keep their opinions our of their copy. The
media have a vested interest in perpetuating this myth. But it is not
the truth. In many cases, it is wholesale consumer fraud. Almost
everyone in journalism, and much of the public, knows it." (01/21/04)

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36705

-----

38) Why do Iowans like to caucus but Iraqis don't?
AntiWar.Com
by Ivan Eland

"Iowans seem pretty happy with their quadrennial caucuses. The
results are now in and the 2004 presidential election season has
been kicked off. Half a world away, however, Iraqi Shiites have
launched massive demonstrations against the Bush administration's
plan for caucuses to elect an interim national assembly. Why do
Iowans love what Iraqi Shiites hate? It's simple: Iowa's version of
caucuses is true grassroots democracy in action, whereas the U.S.
occupation authority's version in Iraq is a sham." (01/21/04)

http://antiwar.com/eland/index.php?articleid=1743

-----

39) Concerns about gun stores misguided
Houston Chronicle
by Doug Pike

"A Washington-based non-profit group called Americans for Gun
Safety claims to take the middle ground on gun ownership. I
question its neutrality. As a hunter, target-shooter and gun owner,
I've been courted in the past by groups that claimed common-sense
positions on firearms. These champions of 'responsible use' recruit
membership and money from both sides but typically lean hard to
one side." (01/19/04)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2361320

-----

40) Iowa's decision huge, until maybe tomorrow
Miami Herald
by Dave Barry

"It's caucus day, the day when hundreds of thousands of Iowa
voters, finally getting their chance to respond to months and months
of campaign rhetoric, will stay home. I'm not kidding. Officials here
are predicting a 'record turnout,' but it turns out that 'record turnout'
means 'at least 75 percent of the voters will not be turning out.'"
(01/19/04)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/7743514.htm

-----

41) France launches global culture war
Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Neil Hrab

"Global cultural snobs take the popularity of American music and
movies as a personal affront. They have quietly devised a scheme to
cut back the worldwide flow of U.S. cultural exports. There is still
time for the Bush administration to stop this effort dead in its tracks,
but only if the President acts decisively." (01/20/04)

http://cei.org/gencon/019,03819.cfm

-----

42) The Declaration of Independence: A look at the meaning
Citizens for a Sound Economy
by Max Pappas

"Any discussion about the proper role of government can be
improved by an appeal back to the ideas upon which our nation was
founded. In the Declaration of Independence, we find perhaps the
most concise expression of those very ideas and beliefs. The
Declaration is clear: the Founders believed in individual liberty,
defined by the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
secured by a government created for that purpose, gaining its
legitimate power from the consent of the governed." (01/19/04)

http://www.cse.org/informed/issues_template.php?issue_id=1660

-----

43) Clark is no Ike
Cato Institute
by Doug Bandow

"Clark is presenting himself as the anti-Bush with military
experience. Alas, Clark is no Dwight D. Eisenhower. Whatever
Clark's virtues as a military leader, his experience in Kosovo did not
exhibit them. In that conflict Clark led the world's most powerful
military alliance against a small, impoverished country beset by a
messy guerrilla war. It didn't take the least bit of talent to win. In fact,
only a genius could have found a way to lose. As Clark almost did."
(01/21/04)

http://www.cato.org/dailys/01-21-04.html

-----

44) A world recreated
LewRockwell.Com
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

"Americans are famously ignorant about the affairs of other
countries, and this wouldn't matter in the slightest but for the ongoing
political pressure to demonize foreign nations and deny their value
to the world economy. This is a problem for the present. In the
future, however, as the world becomes ever more integrated, and
emigration becomes a more viable option for American workers,
there will be a growing consciousness that the US is not a country
divinely appointed to rule the world, but a wholly normal country that
has much to offer the world via its commerce and culture."
(01/21/04)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/recreated.html

-----

45) Bridging the labor-environment gap
In These Times
by Adam Werbach

"A vote for exploration of Alaska’s National Wildlife Reserve is a vote
for environmental responsibility, Jerry Hood, Local Alaska
Teamsters leader, said on July 31, 2001. When the Teamsters
announced support for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to create jobs, many commentators claimed that the nadir of the
relationship between environmentalists and the labor movement was
reached. Halting drilling in ANWR is the No. 1 defensive priority of
the largest environmental organizations in the country, and creating
new jobs is the top priority for many labor unions. This public rift
was exactly what the Bush administration sought." (01/20/04)

http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=564_0_1_0_C

-----

46) Broader, not Broder
Tom Paine
by Russ Baker

"As the campaign season heats up, one can't help but wonder: do
we really need David Broder to referee events? Recently, the
Washington Post reporter and muller, covering what must be his
7,865th presidential primary, did what he so often does: he got in an
ever-so-polite tizzy about someone not following protocol. His target:
none other than Howard Dean, who of course worries a lot of
conventional people. Broder filed a dispatch that read like a warning
to the Democrats: that this particular grey sheep was straying too
far from the flock. ... Well, so too can a pattern be evinced in the
coverage provided by Broder -- and, for that matter, so many of his
jaundiced colleagues on the campaign bus. Instead of celebrating
candor, they censure it." (01/20/04)

http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9795

-----

47) Unhinged reality
Center For Individual Freedom
by staff

"The sobering thought about the Dean phenomenon is not about the
diminutive candidate himself, but about the minions of citizens good
and true who believe in their minds and feel in their hearts that there
fulminates someone qualified to be President of the United States.
That, friends, represents unhinged reality as epidemic." (01/16/04)

http://www.cfif.org/htdocs/freedomline/current/in_our_opinion/howard_dean.htm

-----

48) The high cost of Rubinomics
The American Prospect
by Jeff Faux

"If a Democratic president gets to replace Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan when the latter's term is up in 2006, Bob
Rubin is the odds-on favorite. He has the financial credentials:
Goldman-Sachs, U.S. Treasury, CitiGroup. He raises money for
Democrats. And he is credited with the one accomplishment of the
Clinton era that all Democrats are proud of: eight years of
peacetime economic growth that, by 2000, had produced something
pretty close to full employment. As Rubin tells the story in his new
memoirs, he persuaded Clinton early on to make financial-market
'confidence' the administration's chief economic priority." (01/20/04)

http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/2/faux-j.html

-----

49) Too much Dick
Reason
by Tim Cavanaugh

"I come not to bury Gephardt (tempting as that is) but to praise the
Iowa voters, and to admit that there may be some value yet in an
arcane primary system that lets secondary states set the course for
the nation. Any system that performs early triage on a Gephardt
can't be all bad. ... It's frequently objected that the baroque
caucus/primary patchwork points up the crabbed idiosyncrasies of
the political system, rather than smoothing them over. This is in fact
the best feature of the primary system. By courting chaos, the
primaries provide little guidance about who the strong candidates or
potential winners will be. But they're ruthlessly efficient when it
comes to weeding out the jokers." (01/20/04)

http://www.reason.com/links/links012004.shtml

-----

50) The defense budget is bigger than you think
Independent Institute
by Robert Higgs

"When President Bush signed the defense authorization bill for
fiscal year 2004 on November 24, 2003, the event received
considerable attention in the news media. At $401.3 billion, the
public's visible cost of funding the nation's defense seemed to be
reaching astronomical heights, and the president took pains to
justify that enormous cost by linking it to the horrors of 9/11 and to
the 'war on terror.' ... Although the public may appreciate that
$401.3 billion is a great deal of money, few citizens realize that it is
only part of the total bill for defense." (01/18/04)

http://www.independent.org/tii/news/031222Higgs.html

-----

51) The spontaneous redistribution of wealth, part 2
Strike the Root
by Per Bylund

"The left blames the market for causing inequalities because in times
of radical change, there seems to be growing differences between
the wealthy and the poor. But they fail to see this is only a result of
wealth not being created everywhere at once and at equal speed.
Wealth is created only where entrepreneurs seize the moment to
provide those in need with what is needed. The conclusion about the
rhetoric of the left is they are ignorant. Blaming the market for
causing inequality is like blaming the sun for causing darkness."
(01/21/04)

http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/bylund/bylund2.html

-----

52) Al-Sistani's Next Move
Power and Interest News Report
by Erich Marquardt

"Shi'a leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has been flexing his
political might in Iraq, urging his loyal followers to take to the streets
to peacefully protest the current U.S. power transfer plan. Al-Sistani
is worried that the current plan will marginalize the country's Shi'a
population and is demanding that the U.S. allow direct elections to
decide who will sit on the soon-to-be-formed national assembly; the
current plan calls for local caucuses to choose members of the
body. Al-Sistani's actions represent perhaps the most significant
political challenge thus far encountered by the U.S.-led coalition."
(01/20/04)

http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=136

-----

53) SSA admits private plans will work
Heartland Institute
by Jay Lehr

"The memo from SSA Chief Actuary Steve Gross to Institute for
Policy Innovation (IPI) tax expert Peter Ferrara admits that, 'Under
the plan specifications described [by Ferrara] the Social Security
program would be expected to be solvent and to meet its benefit
obligations throughout the long range period 2003 through 2077 and
beyond.' That statement contrasts with SSA figures that place the
current Social Security system in bankruptcy within the forecast
horizon." (01/04)

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=14122

-----

54) How does money acquire its value?
Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Frank Shostak

"To say that the value of money is on account of social convention is
to say very little. In fact, what Varian has told us is that money has
value because it is accepted, and why is it accepted? ... because it
is accepted! Obviously this is not a good explanation of why money
has value." (01/20/04)

http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1430

-----

55) Another embittered rant by a former soldier
CounterPunch
by Stan Goff

"[A]s George W. Bush, who was just denounced by Black leaders
across the United States for his latest shameless publicity stunt at
the tomb of Dr. King ... as this arrogant piece of sh-- called the
President of the United States prepares to give the 2004 State of the
Union address, I invite readers to click onto this link [DEAD LINK
ELIDED] where you can see video footage of the multiple murder of
three Iraqis that the United States armed forces and thousands of its
apologists will inevitably claim is justified. ... Enjoy this video, like
good pornography. That's what it is ... a snuff film." (01/20/04)

http://www.counterpunch.org/goff01202004.html

-----

56) The obligatory post-airport Homeland Security rant
Liberty For All
by Rachel Mills

"When you infuse the land with too much 'security' antibiotics, you
slow everything down and you end up disabling the function of the
REAL protection, which comes from 280 million white blood cells
called citizens, many of whom are armed, many of whom are
trained in self-defense, and many who would die to defend the lives
of others, and I'm not just talking about the military. That bravado in
our citizenry is our real strength, our real protection." (01/21/04)

http://www.libertyforall.net/2004/jan25/rant.html

-----

57) For the sake of hard-working immigrants
Tennessean
by Mario Ramos

"President Bush's immigration reform proposal is a call to allow an
estimated 8-10 million people to come out of the shadows to freely
participate in our democracy. The president's proposal is not an
amnesty which would allow automatic citizenship. Rather it is a good
start by granting work authorization to those already here working to
support our economy. The proposal has been attacked from all
sides. All the immigrants I have spoken to who need to apply have
indicated that they will apply under the terms being proposed by the
president. They and their families want to be law-abiding, tax-paying
workers. Without this new immigration road map they could not
apply." (01/18/04)

http://tennessean.com/opinion/nashville-eye/archives/04/01/45574740.shtml

-----

58) Truth in spending overdue
Washington Times
by Ed Feulner

"Americans shell out more than $2 trillion each year to keep our
federal government running. The least we should expect in return is
honesty. Alas, Washington officials aren't telling the truth about how
much they've spent, are currently spending or plan to spend.
Consider the omnibus spending bill the Senate will consider later this
month. The House of Representatives has already passed this
measure. Lawmakers claim it would increase federal discretionary
spending -- what Congress spends above and beyond what it must
spend on mandatory programs such as Social Security and
Medicare -- by 'only' 3 percent." (01/20/04)

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20040119-082935-8641r.htm


MOVEMENT NEWS & EVENTS

59) Tamara Millay on "Straight Talk with Jerry Hughes"
Accent Radio Network
01/21/04

Tamara Millay, contender for the Libertarian Party's vice presidential
nomination, will appear on Accent Radio Network's "Straight Talk
with Jerry Hughes." 3-4 p.m. eastern time. See URL for affiliate
stations or webcast information.

http://www.accentradionetwork.com

-----

60) Tamara Millay policy speech
Jackson and Cass County, MO LPs
01/24/04

Tamara Millay, contender for the Libertarian Party's 2004 vice
presidential nomination, will give the first policy speech of her
campaign (topic TBA) at Trails West Library, Independence, MO.
2:30 p.m. Free and open to the public, w/Q&A period following. For
more information, contact michaelaferguson at yahoo.com.

http://cass.molp.org

-----

61) Free Hunter!
Liberty Round Table
until the thugs give it up

Defense fund information for Jeff Jordan, a/k/a "Hunter." Arrested
in Ohio for exercising his inalienable human and constitutionally
guaranteed right to keep and bear arms. Help us convince Ohio's
jackbooted thugs that this time they're messing with the wrong
freedom-lover!

http://www.libertyroundtable.org/projects/freehunter/

-----

62) Petition for a Boortz-Free LP national convention
PetitionOnline.Com
ongoing

"We, members and supporters of the Libertarian Party, object to the
scheduled appearance of talk radio host Neal Boortz as a speaker at
the Libertarian Party's 2004 National Convention. We further
request that said appearance be cancelled."

http://www.petitiononline.com/noboortz/petition.html


TODAY IN POLITICAL HISTORY

63) Spoiled politicians; "I did not have sex with that woman"

Details, and the "quote of the day," from Leon's Political Almanac at:

http://perspicuity.net/cgi/hypercal.cgi

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