Inane Ramblings

30 July 2006

The White House responds!

Remember this letter I wrote to the 'president' back on 25 May?

I have just now received a reply.

There were two "standard response" cards stuffed into an envelope.

#1 says: Due to mail screening procedures, we have only recently recieved your letter. We appreciate your patience in awaiting a response.

#2 says: On behalf of President Bush, thank you for contacting the White House. We have sent your message to the appropriate Federal agency that can best address your concerns. After reviewing your correspondence, the agency will respond directly to you as promptly as possible. - The office of Presidential Correspondence.


So, I guess that means I made the no-fly list today. I'm so proud.

08 July 2006

A brief Libertarian Saturday

Good Morning!

Even though we're on vacation this week, I got a Liberator Online, and I couldn't resist a brief post...

It looks like Fox News is no longer even pretending to be a news organization, and is wholeheartedly pursuing becoming the Arbeiter Zeitung of the Bush "administration"...several 'personalities' have called for the creation of a US 'Office of Censorship'...

                       Since the New York Times exposed the Bush Administration's secret
surveillance of international financial transactions, some
conservative pundits, and even some members of Congress, have
denounced the Times and other journalists for committing
treason.



Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that a couple of prominent Fox News
commentators have proposed that the U.S. government create an
"Office of Censorship" to screen news reports to determine whether
they "hurt the country" or are of "news value."



On June 29, during Fox News Radio's Brian & The Judge,
co-host Brian Kilmeade (also co-host of Fox News' Fox & Friends)
suggested that the U.S. government should "put up the Office of
Censorship."



Kilmeade noted that, during World War II, President Franklin
Roosevelt instituted an Office of Censorship. Kilmeade then (rather
incoherently) justified reviving the idea:



KILMEADE: See, I'm more into the ends justifying
the means. And what they do is, you can sunset this... The same way
they have the Patriot Act sunsetted. You put up the Office of
Censorship. You get a consensus to journalists to analyze and then
you realize what FDR realized early. Winning is everything. Freedom
is -- you don't have any freedom if the Nazis are the victors.



Brian & The Judge co-host Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, who
was recently called "television's fiercest defender of civil
liberties" by the libertarian magazine Reason, quickly
denounced the notion:



NAPOLITANO: If we were to allow some office of the
government to decide what journalists can say, that would be the
same that the King of England imposed on newspapers in England and
in the U.S. and that prompted the Revolution. It would be about the
most un-American thing you can imagine. How can we fight a war to
bring freedom to another country, to bring freedom of the press to
another country, when we're crushing freedom of the press here at
home?



Later that same day, on Fox & Friends, co-host E.D. Hill
also speculated, in language as incoherent as that of his colleague
Kilmeade, whether it was time for a U.S. Office of Censorship:



HILL: What about -- in the past, we have had, at
times, an Office of Censorship, where people review what is about --
is something that was -- it's going to be big, you've got to run it
through and say, "OK. Does this hurt our country or is it of, you
know, news value?"



Of course, having two boneheads on Fox explore such a thing hardly
means it will happen. But some critics argue that Fox stories
sometimes serve as trial balloons for conservative/administration
ideas. And consider some of the jackboot ideas, not long ago
considered way beyond the pale, now being defended by some America
conservatives. Prominent politicians and writers justify torture.
The president insists he has the right to ignore laws passed by
Congress and signed by him into law. The federal government says it
can to arrest people without a warrant and imprison them in secret,
indefinitely. Secret federal courts can issue secret warrants for
wiretaps. Conservative Michelle Malkin has a widely-praised book
defending the World War II incarceration of Japanese-Americans.



Actually, there is one very good reason an Office of Censorship
could never be created in 21st century America: the name is too
obvious. Today it would be called something like "The Warm and Fuzzy
Patriotic Department to Guarantee Freedom of the Press for All,
Regardless of Race, Creed, or Income." What true American could
oppose that?



Finally, you have to wonder just how much Fox conservatives would
appreciate a U.S. Office of Censorship under the command of, say...
President and Commander-In-Chief Hillary Clinton?



Source:
MediaMatters
(June 29, 2006)

And since our National Holiday is just past...it's worth taking a look in the rear-view mirror. As we all know, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the declaration in 1826...about ten days before the Fourth that year, Jefferson sent a letter to the mayor of Washington DC declining an invitation to come due to poor health. It turned out to be his last public statement, and is still worth reading today.

In 1826, when he was 86 years old, Jefferson was invited by the mayor of Washington, D.C. to join in a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. However, he was too ill to make the journey.

He sent a letter reluctantly declining, in his usual eloquence. It turned out to be his last political statement, as Jefferson died ten days later -- on the Fourth of July.

Here is the heart of that letter:

"May [the Declaration of Independence] be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form [of government] which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."

These are words we libertarians can take to heart. Let us dedicate ourselves anew to that most glorious of political causes: bringing to fruition Jefferson's vision of a world of liberty for all.

Lastly...in the ever-popular "Why aren't YOU a Libertarian?" section...let's see what Dr. Ruwart has for us today.

QUESTION:
"Libertarians believe that all taxes should be eliminated as
well as minimum wages, tariffs and farm subsidies. What about those who
are too poor to look after themselves?"

MY SHORT ANSWER:
"A libertarian society would enjoy more jobs and prosperity than we do today,
so fewer people would be unemployed or poor. Services
provided by the private sector instead of the government cost, on average, half
as much. Therefore, only a few people in a libertarian society would
have difficulty paying for services that they need.

"In the prosperous libertarian society, private charity could easily
help these unfortunates. After all, roughly 2/3 of every private charity dollar
goes to the needy, while only 1/3 of our tax dollars earmarked for welfare
does. Middle-class social workers and other administrators receive most of
the taxes intended for the poor."

* * *

QUESTION:
"If you remove all farm subsidies, what happens to the farmer
when drought or flood hits and he losses his crop for one year?"

MY SHORT ANSWER:
"Like other business people, farmers plan for bad
years through savings, insurance, etc. If they fail to make such plans, they
suffer the same fate as other businesses operating on the edge -- they go
under in tough times. They are bought out by someone who manages better. The
displaced farmers find an occupation more suited to their particular talents.

"Subsidies discourage good management and encourage inefficiency. As a
result, consumers pay more for less."
So, there you have it. We're still on vacation here for another week, but the regulars at Air America Place are carrying on every day! Do drop by and check it out if you can.