May 04, 2008
Once Again, Ron Paul Leads in Military Contributions
Ron Paul is once again the leading receiver of military contributions to presidential candidates.
The Air Force Times elaborates.
Racing to the Wire
A number of people are looking for meaningful symbolism in the Kentucky Derby death of a horse - a filly names Eight Belles - to which Hillary Clinton had emotionally committed herself and picked to win. The horse finished second, then collapsed with two broken ankles and had to be destroyed.
I wonder if Hillary might try to rid herself of any stigma this event might hold for her campaign, perhaps borrowing the critical line from the movie "The Sting": "Win? I said 'place'!"
Thank Goodness for Lawyers
And I think I may have found a prosecutor that I like. Wait ... before you send me that angry email.
I think it's a bad strategy, and often a statist one, to always be dissing lawyers as shysters and no-gooders and such. Plus we always hear that there are too many lawyers. True, the courts are packed with silly cases and greedy lawyers. But in an era of the drug war, paramilitary police, and political office-seeking, crooked prosecutors, I am glad that law schools continue to turn out "too many lawyers."
Tonight, 60 Minutes ran the heartbreaking story about James Woodard, the man who was locked away for 27 years by a reckless and power-seeking Dallas County prosecutor, Henry Wade, who ditched evidence that would have allowed the defense to successfully defend him. Woodard was convicted of raping and killing his girlfriend and lost all the best years of his life while he refused to admit guilt while in prison in order to have a chance at parole. No victim of Wade has served more time in prison than Woodard and then been released for being wrongly convicted.
Henry Wade is always referred to as "a legend." In fact, Wade was an FBI Special Agent under Hoover, and learned all of his dirty tricks from the Feds. As a prosecutor, he is said to have played dirty in order to win cases. Very dirty. He prosecuted - and probably executed - many innocent people. Since 2001, many innocent men have walked from Dallas County prison, freed because of DNA tests that proved their innocence. Several of them were on 60 Minutes, and they were all intelligent and articulate, and it makes you wonder how good men like that could sustain so many years of the brutality in the government's dungeon. Watching these men talk about their lost lives was painful.
When Wade died, the New York Times ran a sappy story about how Wade was really just a folksy guy who played dominos and puttered on his farm. The Times also celebrated this:
He was district attorney from 1951 to 1987, and during the early years, when his office was relatively small, he often prosecuted cases himself. When he did, he never lost a single one. As a prosecutor in those years, and earlier during three years when he was assistant district attorney, he asked for death sentences on 30 occasions, and got them on 29.
Even the liberal Times celebrates a man who brings death to men when it's the state that is killing them. (See my thoughts on the death penalty here.)
The Innocence Project of Texas is sifting through years of cases - as they did with Woodard's - looking for signs that innocent people may have been wrongly convicted. Law students donate their time to work with the project, and in fact it was a volunteer law student who investigated Woodard's case.
The new Dallas County DA, Craig Watkins, appears to be sincere in his attempt to reform the office that turned into a conviction and killing machine under Wade. (Wade's motto was "conviction at all costs.") He is cooperating with the Innocence Project in regards to investigating old cases and has sworn to make things right as best as he can. Watkins has admitted to uncovering all kinds of shenanigans, including prosecutorial misconduct, and fortunately, he has been able to bring justice to some of the victims of previous prosecutors.
All said, thank goodness for all the aggressive, passionate lawyers who will defend individuals from the state, its injustices, and its execution machine.
Reason Magazine ... Wazzup?
I blog about Reason magazine here. Some good, some bad, and much to be perplexed over. Keith Halderman has his own opinion on this thing over at the History News Network blog.
When I first became a libertarian back in the late 1980s I used to love Reason Magazine. On the day an issue appeared in my mailbox it got read cover to cover and the information presented was invaluable to a budding activist trying to convince others that freedom was the correct path. Now, I would not let my dog take a dump on it because it is just not good enough for him.
In spite of my 'sometimes good, sometimes bad, often terrible' opinion of Reason and my partial praise of the magazine/website in general, I do agree that Reason is lowering itself to the point of becoming a persistent platform for gossip, trash, and Soviet-style guilt by association. The attempt at trash journalism is so bad that people have taken to using sources such as no-name bloggers with empty profiles and "open secrets" (whatever that means) of certain sects of the libertarian movement. The magazine's attitude of "political correctness or else" jives with the appointment of Matt Welch as the magazine's mouthpiece-in-chief. The Postrel years were awful, but under Welch Reason has become worse than awful - it is a launching pad for loose cannons that claim the glorious high mantle of anti-bigotry as they endlessly launch hyper-emotional, crazed rants at those who have dared to "just say no" to The Kochtopus. The loose cannons scrambled from one venue to another - including The Economist - in order to launch their attacks from various platforms in order to make it appear as if those few people engaged by The KochtopuSS were actually many people who all shared the same sweet goal: take Lew Rockwell and his one-man "empire" down because he, and all associated with him, are guilty of not living up to the various moral codes of the state that will be enforced by Beltway "libertarians" and Kochtopus. Well, the offensive lacked any heavy artillery, and in fact it launched wet noodles and promptly fell off the radar map of the blogosphere. The loose cannons keep trying to revive interest in their pc garbage journalism, but the comments underneath the blog threads tell us that, in general, people are sick of the constant pc policing and phony do-goodism.
Prior to the Welch era, I don't believe this would have happened. But hey, I could be wrong. And lastly, thank goodness for Justin Raimondo, whose pen is mightier than any rubber sword offered up by the agents of the Beltway at Reason or elsewhere.
We're #2!
I guess this picture is supposed to evoke some visceral reaction--nausea, uncontrolled rage, or a vote for McCain; but I wonder--what kind of a person would look at this and think of himself any less? Does it really matter that his country doesn't maintain the largest global empire or have the world's tallest skyscraper?
There's nothing wrong with living in a peaceful country that does not go around foisting its beliefs on the rest of the world--most of the world lives this way. There is something wrong with spending over a trillion dollars maintaining a global empire and allowing a bloated federal government to strangle an economy.
America is not the biggest and bestest; get over it. What we should be lamenting is that it is not the freest.
Hagee's Church of Death
Here is Frank Rich on McCain's minister-pal, the Rev. John Hagee. Hagee attempts to portray the Prince of Peace as a neocon who favors exterminating Arabs, Persians, and anyone else who disagrees with imperial domination in the Middle East.
GOP Deathstar Blocks Paulians
At the Maine Repuglican convention, or so says the Kennebec Journal.
The People's Choice
The LRC people, that is. Here are the best-read articles for April and for last week, and the blog posts.
Ron Paul Book Sold Out at Amazon, But
As you may have noticed, Amazon.com has sold out of its copies of The Revolution: A Manifesto. In fact, many people are reporting that their local bookstores are sold out as well. However, the Mises bookstore still has copies in stock. Get them while you can.
GTA IV Police Recruitment Ad
(Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City is based on New York. Thanks to Rast!)
Admiring a WASP Aristocrat
"Abu Ghraib's a Moral Fig Leaf for the Disastrous Decision to Invade (and Other Wit n Wisdom of Linc Chafee)," from Phillip Weiss.
Tax Protesters vs. the Government's Religion
Writes Bill Butler: "Comments from Dan Scott, Robert Beale's first attorney, on tax protesters and the government's true religion:
"'They all go to trial,' he said. 'They have a given belief system and are all incapable of admitting they are wrong. You hope to talk some out of it and tell them they will lose, that they will go to jail, but they never listen.'
"He said clients most often find their way into a tax crusade through failed farms, or religion.
"'Once they adopt it, it becomes a religion,' he said. 'If you don't agree with them, it's because you don't understand and you're attacking their religion. Then the government goes absolutely bananas for the same reason, because [the resisters] are attacking the government's religion -- taxes.'" Read the whole story.
Centralizing Militarist
Though, unlike Lincoln, TR, Wilson, FDR, LBJ, Bush, etc., at least some of the first Chinese emperor's tax expenditures resulted in magnificent art. (Though the taxpayers of the time didn't get to to see his terra cotta army.) Watch the video.
Anti-State Comments in Video Games
Writes Lewis Ballard: "Rockstar puts biting social commentary into most of their games. From the GTA: Liberty City Stories game, a radio commercial (reproduced mostly from memory):
"I failed as a hall monitor in high school, and ever since I've had a hard-on for authority. Is there a job for me?"
"Yes, shooting people...for the state! Join Liberty City PD. You're a man, don't let anyone tell you different. In the PD, you'll always be right. Meet new members of the community, and beat them down, because you're drunk, or just don't like them. Ride around for hours, eating junk food, and being paid for it! And if you're hurt on the job, the disability more than makes up for it."
"Hey, they had me at 'shooting people for the state.'"
Man and Mane
Boris Johnson's great mop: a bulwark against conformity and political correctness.
How Dare the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright...
...refer to Truman's terror nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki--defenceless cities full of old men, women, and children, in a country that was desperately trying to surrender--as terrorism? Will no one rid the regime of this turbulent minister? (Thanks to Ron Holland.)
Ron Paul Cured Their Apathy in North Carolina
"Candidate's a long shot, but local supporters still strong," says the Star News.
The Ron Paul Guerillas in Indiana
The "underground legion" is giving Indiana voters a choice, says the Tribune Star. The occupying forces of McCain are vulnerable, insist the Paulian irregulars.
Ron Rebels in Maine
The Maine Politicker has it right! And thanks to Scott Johnsson.
The Rebels of Ron
The Ron Paul alliance continue to resist McCain's deathstar, reports the LA Times political blog.
Ron Paul's Austin Book Signing
Ron Paul will sign copies of The Revolution: A Manifesto at BookPeople bookstore, 603 N. Lamar, Austin, Texas, on May 19 at 7:00pm.
