March 13, 2006

The Truth About Depleted Uranium
By Nathan A. Barton (TM and © 2006)

It is a dangerous world - not just because of what people might like to do, and actually try to do to us, but the residues that result from when they DO those nasty things to us or each other. And we all expect the worst from government (after all, when have they disappointed us?), so we don’t take much persuading to believe that once more, government has done something stupid, even insane, then both proclaim it and worry about it. Examples abound.

But sometimes, just some times, it really isn’t as bad as it appears, or as bad as people what to make it out to be. And sometimes, when a threat turns out to be fake, it also seems to have consumed an inordinate amount of time and attention and distracted people from more serious dangers and issues. A very old example of that is the “FCC- Madelyn Murray O’Hare” letter that has been circulating since at least the early 1970s if not earlier, first by snail mail (remember 22 cent stamps?) and then (and still!) by e-mail: it cites a phony FCC docket number that purports to be an attempt by Mrs. O’Hare to remove all religious broadcasting from the airwaves. Tens of thousands of man-hours and dollars have been spent responding to this bogus attempt, and in FCC time to respond - taxpayer dollars as well as private time and money. (Read the rest here)

Prosecutorial Misconduct Cannot be Dismissed or Forgotten
By Iloilo Marguerite Jones

Private citizens living in the area where Idaho County Prosecutor Kirk MacGregor abuses his authority -- and wields vindictive power to against honest, law-abiding citizens who refuse to do his bidding -- should not rest easy.

The dismissal of charges of felony perjury against retired nun Carol Asher does not excuse the vindictive and ill-informed actions on the part of MacGregor. His attack on the authority of the jury, on the right of the juror to render a verdict based on conscience, and his malicious back-door tactics to advance his revenge cannot be forgotten by the people who pay his salary: the public. (Read the rest here)

Reclaiming Ownership Of Our Lives
Susan Callaway, Editor

Last week I challenged everyone to think about who actually owns their life now. When you understand that ownership means control, you can quickly be overwhelmed with the realization that we actually control very little about our lives today, even some of our most personal actions. We've gradually - over many years - allowed government to dictate what is "safe," and even what is moral - wrapped up in the lie that it is all for "the common good." We've allowed ourselves to believe whatever they tell us, especially through the popular press and other media. Far too few people ever consider that information critically or make any attempt to verify it from a non-government and truly independent source. (Read the rest here)

International Taxes?
by Congressman Ron Paul - R - TX

April 15th is once again approaching and with it the necessity of filling out your tax return. It is a good time to reflect on the taxes you do pay - and especially on the taxes you may soon be forced to pay. Throughout the year you paid federal taxes through withholding, including Social Security payroll taxes. You also paid state income taxes, unless you’re fortunate enough to live in Texas or another state without an income tax. You paid local property taxes. You paid local sales taxes and numerous miscellaneous taxes on your vehicles and gasoline and so many other things. Like most people, you probably feel taxed to death by all these layers of taxes. Well, hold on to your wallets, because the United Nations once again has launched a plan to impose a whole new level of global taxes on us. (Read the rest here)

Talking the Talk
By Lady Liberty

Last year, Hollywood claims to have had it rough. Box office receipts were down about 6%, and studios were worried (never mind the fact that 2004 was a record year and that 2005 was almost bound to be down at least a little). Some people said that this was just desserts for moviemakers who weren't offering enough family-friendly fare or even a significant number of really good films (by "good," I mean films of the type that usually win Oscars® and critical acclaim, but which don't make lots and lots of money).

Of the ten top grossing movies of 2005 in the US, none were G-rated. Outside of technical categories, none are nominated for Oscars®, either. And yet the low movie on the Top 10 list made nearly $200 million in domestic receipts alone. Combined, we're talking two and a third billion dollars in revenue for these ten movies alone! Let's be honest with ourselves here and admit that, whatever else Hollywood may be, it's not stupid when it comes to making money. It's going to make and release what it thinks it can make money making and releasing. How else would we ever have been subjected to more than one Police Academy? (Read the rest here)

Another Look at the Wording of the Second Amendment
By Robert Greenslade and Claude Ellsworth © Nitwit Press

As shown in "The Second Amendment and the Preamble to the Bill of Rights," the wording of the Second Amendment is easily understood if it is read through the preamble to the Bill of Rights. In this article, the authors decided to approach the Second Amendment debate from a different angle and examine the wording of the Amendment without resorting to the preamble.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence claims the only purpose of the Second Amendment was "to limit the ability of Congress to interfere with the states' right to keep and maintain armed militias." If this statement was an accurate description of the intent of the Founders, then the Amendment would have been worded as follows: (Read the rest here)

Family Make-Over Ponzi Scheme
By Carey Roberts

Charles Ponzi certainly couldn't be faulted for a lack of ingenuity. Way back in 1820 Mr. Ponzi began to lure people in with the promise of double your money in 90 days. Word spread, and soon Ponzi found himself ensconced in a 20-room mansion and was raking in $1 million a week. A similar Ponzi scheme is at work today. This time it's an ideological pyramid scam, and it has to do with families and fathers.

The Mother of All Confabulations goes back to 1986. That's when feminist Phyllis Chesler alleged in her book Mothers on Trial that divorcing fathers win child custody in 70% of cases. (Read the rest here)

A Conspiracy of Really Smart and Really Evil Demons
by Bob Wallace

While I have no doubt there exist miniscule conspiracies that involve two or three guys dumping Jimmy Hoffa in a swamp, I also have no doubt there do not exist unbelievably, indeed impossibly complex conspiracies that involve two passengers planes being remote-controlled into skyscrapers (which have remote-controlled explosives in them) while a missile hits the Pentagon and another missile hits another plane.

Yet, these kinds of conspiracies have been around since, oh, the day the human race showed up. I'm sure the conspiracy stories thousands of years ago were doozies, just as they are today: "See that tribe over there? Their witch-doctor sent a tornado right through our teepees last night. Let's go rub all of them out." (Read the rest here)

RIM Was Wronged
By Sheldon Richman

For the last few years we've been reading that Research in Motion's popular mobile-email service, BlackBerry, may be shut down because the company "infringed the patents" of a company called NTP. That's all the newspapers said.

Curious readers would want to know more. Did black-clad RIM operatives break into NTP's office safe and steal the idea for mobile email? Did RIM spies tap the phones at NTP? Did RIM gumshoes tail NTP's engineers and eavesdrop on confidential conversations? (Read the rest here)

Localism for a Free Republic
By SARTRE

Lew Rockwell asked the following question: “What do you do with a state – a highly centralized and militarized state – that has unconstrained hegemonic ambitions and is a proven threat to its citizens and other nations around the world?” No doubt the consequences of internationalism make up the bulk of the daily news cycle. But how many ordinary people really care what transpires in every remote corner of the world! Most average citizens are struggling to get through another torturous day and keep their head above water.

As for a better future for their children, how many of us can say with confidence and honesty that the next generation will have it better than their parents? Few of us are perpetual travelers. We all live somewhere. Even the most hardened recluse has an address. And as reluctant as many of us are willing to admit, we are part of some community. The smallest unit of social interaction is as local as you can get. (Read the rest here)

State Science is Bad for Your Health
by Brad Edmonds

Medical studies that contradict conventional wisdom in a number of socially and politically charged areas have been making recent headlines. The messages conveyed by these studies, however, have significance beyond face value: They remind us that medical research, technology in general, indeed any human endeavor, can be a wonderful avenue for human progress provided it exists within the framework of freedom as versus state control.

A few popular topics illustrate the point: (Read the rest here) (Please use back button to return to The Price of Liberty)

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