Campaigns shift as McCain choice alters the race

We totally ignored the Democratic conclave last week and had planned to do the same this week with the Republican get-together. Until Gov. Sarah Palin was nominated for VP, that is. This could be entertaining at the very least.

McCain's choice of a running mate comes at a pivotal time in the campaign. It follows what even Republicans said was a successful convention here by Obama. And it comes on the eve of McCain's convention, with Republicans nervously watching Hurricane Gustav as it heads into the Gulf of Mexico, an unwelcome reminder of how the Bush White House's halting response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 hurt the president and his party politically.

Longing for Dictatorship

Watch the conventions with an eye to what the political class wants to do for you. Everything they promise has a flip side of what they want to do to you. And the power to do these things has to come from the violence of the state, and using that violence requires a form of total control over government and society. They may look nice and sweet. They may claim to love you and your family and community. But their political ideology is actually steeped in hatred for your liberty and property. They seek an end to your freedom to seek a better life.

My goodness! Such cynicism. Don't politicians want to help us? No they don't says Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

A President, Not a Savior

Hard as it may be to imagine in the midst of a modern campaign season, the Framers wholly rejected the notion of the "bully pulpit."

Presidents were to be seen more than heard, which is why our first seven presidents averaged a little over three public speeches a year. Nor did early presidents follow the modern practice of referring to themselves as the "commander in chief," as if all America was a vast army directed by a supreme military leader. When George Washington referred to the office he held, most often it was with the humble term "chief magistrate."

Alas, humility is hard to discern on the modern campaign trail.

Times have certainly changed since the Founders' days. The power vested in the Presidency now is not what they envisioned when they set set up the checks and balances of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

Charley Reese's Final Article

Goodbye
This is the last Charley Reese column, as the author is retiring.

Years ago, the first time I saw my friend Brother Dave Gardner after he had survived a plane crash, the comedian smiled and said, "The devil like to got me." That's a good explanation for my last trip to the hospital.

I've been running a footrace with piled-up years and bad living habits, and they have pulled even and will soon be ahead. I know it may not seem to normal people that writing three columns a week requires any hard work, but it does require energy to do the research and an alertness of the mind that I can no longer muster. Hence, this will be my last column.

Charley is going to be missed by many. IABR sends Best Wishes. Check his archive here.

Councilmen reject treasurer’s allegations

Update to our previous story regarding Oconee County property tax mischief.

County officials rejected Wednesday allegations that an assessment error led to taxpayers having been overcharged millions of dollars and said a state Department of Revenue (DOR) review of the matter would not cause a new millage rate to be set or tax bills sent out in the fall.

Oconee County councilmen contacted Wednesday said they received no indication prior to last week of County Treasurer Greg Nowell’s contention that a Duke Energy lump-sum payment of $24 million in 2006 increased values on the tax rolls without giving taxpayers relief.

Nowell believes the higher value from Duke’s payment has been kept on the tax rolls and, as a consequence, county residents possibly could have overpaid $72 million in taxes.

Key quote: “If there’s a mistake it’ll be corrected, but I don’t see how a mistake this big could be made,” Crumpton said. “I want to stand by the employees who work so hard and diligently for the county.”

There is no word from the county on who will stand by the taxpayers.

Whatever, it's a field goal

DENVER --

The Democratic presidential convention finally reached its dramatic and historic climax Thursday night as Barack Obama, appearing in a stadium packed with nearly 80,000 wildly cheering supporters, kicked a 67-yard field goal to defeat the Oakland Raiders in overtime. He also formally accepted the Democratic nomination, thereby becoming the first Hawaiian-born Indonesian-educated African-American ever to become a major-party presidential candidate since Al Gore.

Dave Barry was there.

An Unknown Road

As a lad in the early 1930's I was aware that grownups were having a great deal of difficulty making ends meet, and my grandfather's nightly attention to the radio news didn't escape my notice. Any children who happened to be in the living room while he was absorbed in the evening news and commentary had to be silent under threat of being banished to their bedrooms.

I can still picture that console radio with its antenna running to a flat strip under the window sash and thence to a long length of copper wire fastened, with ceramic insulators, from the house to a tree some seventy-five feet away.

Potiphar Gride recalls the beginnings of government intrusions into economic affairs.

Why I Will Not Vote For a President in 2008

The Democratic and Republican parties are de facto extensions of corporate America. Unless a candidate is systemically embedded in the corporatocracy, not only for the purpose of raising money, but in order to insure electability, she/he cannot succeed. Candidates from the Green Party or others such as Kucinich and Paul, are unequivocally consigned to the periphery, and while they may add fascinating nuances from the media-image perspective, they have exactly a snowball’s chance in hell of prevailing. And while I could cast my vote for one of the peripheral candidates as a moral statement, it would be meaningless in terms of affecting change. In summary, if my vote won’t make a difference, I’m not willing to cast it.

I'm not the only one who believes there's no reason to vote in a national election. Carolyn Baker has her own reasons and I have mine but we both agree that neither party has liberty and freedom on their agenda.

Federal Attitude Policy

Today, “law” and regulations have become tools to force people to behave in ways government officials approve of, rather than a clear line that citizens can respect in order to live their lives in privacy and peace. Government agencies now routinely covertly change their regulations. The rule of law – the classical concept endorsed by the Massachusetts constitution of 1780 as a restraint on government power – has been replaced by the “rule of memo,” whereby federal officials on a whim create new rules to bind private citizens.

The above is yet another reason why I plan to never fly commercially again. Below is a related incident I encountered yesterday at the Social Security Administration.

The security guard at the local SSA office must have been late yesterday. I arrived early, was greeted by a friendly staffer and concluded my business with an efficient worker in minutes and went on my way. About 2 hours later, I decided to return to verify a question I had and the security guard greeted me:
Guard: "Do you have a weapon?"
Me: "No. I only have a cell phone."
Guard: "Turn it off or put it on vibrate."
Me: "It's on vibrate."
Guard: "You can't call anybody!"
Me: "I don't intend to call anybody."
Guard: "Sit down and wait."
Me: "I gotta go."

ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors

Aug. 27, 2008—

DENVER -- Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.

Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit.

(Click here to watch video of the arrest.)

A cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant, accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on Eslocker's neck, then twisted the producer's arm behind him to put on handcuffs.

A police official later told lawyers for ABC News that Eslocker is being charged with trespass, interference, and failure to follow a lawful order. He also said the arrest followed a signed complaint from the Brown Palace Hotel.

Wonder what they are trying to hide? As far as I know, there is no law against recording video on a public sidewalk.

The Building Storm: Gold, the Dollar and Inflation

A good analogy to the global currency devaluation is a slow-moving hurricane that, once over warm water, gains energy.

Right now the global inflation is a huge storm, slowly circling off the proverbial coast where it is gathering strength from the hundreds of billions of dollars being fed into it by governments desperate to avoid economic collapse…and from pricing decisions being made by everyone from manufacturers to local shopkeepers looking to cover rising costs.

At this point the skies are dark, the wind is rising, and the torrential rains are beginning to sweep in. The radio is broadcasting warnings to move to higher ground, but the hurricane has yet to hit the shore.

But when it does, it will be a Category 5 and maybe worse.

Gloomy forecast for the economy. You won't hear much about this from the candidates.

The Election From Hell

I do not believe, as both candidates apparently do, that our country has the nigh-infinite fiscal resources required to fund their lunatic world-saving schemes. The effort to rid Iraq of evil has cost us working stiffs a trillion dollars so far; say $7,000 a head. Population-wise, the world has 260 Iraqs. So I’m in for two million bucks? John, hate to tell ya, but I don’t have that kind of money. And this is the “conservative” candidate!

What a disaster! What on earth has happened to us? Nothing yet as bad as what will surely happen if either of these two gibbering numbskulls gets his hands on the levers of supreme executive power.

But one these numbskulls is what we'll get. There are no other choices because the election process is controlled by government and its willing accomplice, the mainstream media. Dissenting voices are either ignored or ridiculed.

I Don't Mind If You Keep Voting, But Do You Mind If I Keep Laughing While You Do?

I cannot think of a single scenario whereby I might vote in a national election such as that for president. Not one.

I don’t care who the candidate is. I don’t care what issues to which he seems to gravitate. I don’t care about his record, his leadership qualities, the apparent first-lady-ness of his wife (or her husband), his insider-ness or his outsider-ness, his race, his height, his weight, how well he speaks, how wonderfully he photographs, the nation of his birth, how likely it might be that he’s fun to drink with, or his appreciation for unique uses for a fine cigar.

More importantly though, given two other observations, voting strikes me as an incredible waste of time for anyone who is ultimately interested in two rather vital issues: personal liberty and personal responsibility.

Any vote in a national election for either of the mainstream parties is a vote for bigger government and less freedom. I can think of no better reason to refrain from casting a ballot.

Freedom is Golden

Central Planning is sold to a hopeful people as a way to solve societal problems, to right wrongs, and bring about perfect justice and equality. Central Planning promises you everything you are entitled to. As a bonus, goods and services produced by others are added to the list of commodities that everyone has a "right" to. Suddenly everyone is entitled to healthcare, housing, education, food, et cetera. It might sound nice that the state will magically provide all these wonderful things, but these rosy promises mask a dehumanizing, ugly reality. The other side of these entitlements is that now the doctor, the builder, the teacher, the farmer are slaves to the all-powerful state.

Government soothes the sting of taxation with the ointment of entitlements.

Of Moose and Pit Bulls

As always, the key is to avoid waking the public. Thus the military avoids attention. But add up overt and hidden military expenditure: the “defense” budget, appropriations for the wars, the black programs, the Veterans Administration, the national laboratories, TSA, and so on. The sum is backbreaking for a nation in decline, but the public knows neither that it is backbreaking nor that the country is in decline.

To countries competing with the US, as for example Japan, the American military budget is a godsend, the equivalent of a golf handicap on a rival, because it represents money the US cannot spend to become more competitive. Fortunately for Asia, American military expenditure cannot readily be cut back. Too many jobs, military towns, and corporate profits depend on it. Consequently China builds infrastructure while the US builds fighter planes. The only plausible brake will be conflict with Social Security and Medicare, cuts in which will wake the Public Monster.

Fred Reed believes we should re-think our priorities - and the sooner the better.

Inflation Rate is 5.6%... and Other Nonsense

Supply and demand haven’t shifted much, if at all. In fact, the value of gold and silver haven’t shifted much in the past five years, either. An ounce of gold or silver will still buy you about as much stuff as it would in 2003 or 2004.

What’s happened is that the value of the Federal Reserve so-called “dollar” notes in which these metals are denominated has fallen neatly in half.

It’s called inflation.

Gold, silver and most other commodities are not really investments. They are hedges against inflation - an anchor in a tempest. As long as we have inflation, paper money loses value almost daily.

Oconee taxpayers overcharged $72 million?

Nowell said the red flags went up a week ago while he was compiling local government reports for the South Carolina Office of Comptroller General.

The bottom line on those total revenue collection reports from 2004-2008, which were made available to the Daily Journal/Messenger, shows the following:

• $73.2 million total revenues collected in fiscal year ending June 30, 2004

• $76.9 million in fiscal year ending June 30, 2005

• $95.2 million in fiscal year ending June 30, 2006

• $95.6 million fiscal year ending June 30, 2007

• $89.7 million in fiscal year ending June 30, 2008

The nearly 24 percent increase from the amount collected in fiscal 2005 to 2006 caught Nowell’s attention.

“The numbers didn’t make sense,” Nowell said.

County budget shenanigans in our neck of the woods. The total revenue windfalls from 2006 to 2008 were not questioned by county financial gurus - they just spent it. Treasurer Greg Nowell has busted the administrators who are now, since they've been caught, howling about how it wasn't their fault and how the county's finances will suffer if reparations to taxpayers are demanded.

Louisiana Lawmen Play Fast and Loose with the Constitution

In its 2000 decision in Indianapolis v. Edmond, the US Supreme Court held that the city's effort to attack the drug trade by holding a checkpoint to look for drugs was an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment's protection of the right to be free from unwarranted searches and seizures. But in the years since then, a handful of departments across the county, usually in the South, have brazenly trumpeted their resort to drug checkpoints.

nighttime driving checkpoint

The latest department to step into the breach was Louisiana's Beauregard Parish Sheriff's Office, which held such a checkpoint last Thursday night near the town of Starks. Following the lead of sheriff's deputies, the local newspaper was all over the story. "Narcotics checkpoint a success," blared the headline in Monday's Derrider Daily News story on the police action.

Know your rights. You can just say NO if they want to search your vehicle.

Lysander Spooner on the 2008 election

If, like me, you have had your fill of non-stop election coverage, partisan peans (sic) to would-be kings (and queens), heated discussions over whether McCain or Obama's pastor hates America and apple pie more, and the every-four-years talk about the "Most. Important. Election. Ever.", then you may enjoy this letter from 19th century radical Lysander Spooner which shows that things really haven't changed a whole heck of a lot over the years.

Sent to President Glover Cleveland in 1886, Spooner's letter could just as easily be describing modern day America. In the excerpt below he gives the U.S. political system a much needed reality check, and in the process, as Karl Rove might note, he sounds an awful lot like one of those angry left-wing bloggers:

Lysander Spooner was an anarchist in the 19th century. He was strongly against slavery yet supported the right of the Southern states to secede from the Union. He established a mail business which so successfully competed against the U.S. Postal Service that the government shut it down. He took a dim view of the political process of his time which was not all that different from the political process of our time.

Criminals dumping weak US dollar for euro

The weakened US dollar has fallen out of favor with organized crime groups to pay for drug shipments or to settle scores, a Canadian government report said Friday.

And if the greenback continues its slide in 2008, as expected, more and more criminals are likely to exchange euros for illicit goods, said Criminal Intelligence Service Canada in its annual report.

"The US dollar weakened significantly against other major currencies in 2007 and according to some economists, is expected to depreciate further in 2008," said the report.

"As a consequence, other currencies -- particularly the euro -- are poised to weaken the US dollar's dominance as the currency of choice for international remittances and payments," it said.

Even the mob doesn't want our dollars. It's also interesting to note that they have expanded into credit card fraud, organ trafficking, identity theft and illegal logging in Canada. Of course, marijuana remains one of the most profitable "drugs" for organized crime.

Good Life Synonymous With South

One of my favorite Southern things is what we call a Three-B night: bullets, beer and barbecue.

Of course, the beer and the barbecue follow the shooting of the bullets at the gun range. Alcohol and gunpowder are a dangerous mix. But Three-B is a social activity I highly recommend. Good friends, a little target shooting and then a repast of spicy barbecue and cold beer is a fine, fine way to spend an evening.

God, I love the South so much I can't stand it.

An oldie from Charley Reese. Charley is on medical leave for now - here's wishing him the best and hoping he'll be back at his typewriter soon.

Disarm: The Lesson of the Georgia Fiasco

George Bush, with the clock ticking down the last months of his presidency, nearly started yet another war that might have escalated in the manner of World War I: a diplomatic failure backed by arms that resulted in a superpower clash.

It is a wonder that the world has survived his "war on terror," which turned out to be a war on American liberty and anyone in the world who got on his nerves. His confrontation with Russia in defense of a belligerent little client state of the United States could have sealed his fate and ours too.

We need to examine Bush's actions and see how the United States nearly stumbled into a calamity...

More criticism of GWB and his interventionist policies. The good news is we'll soon have another President who will assuredly make similar blunders - or is that the bad news?

No More NATO Members

NATO expansion only benefits the US military industrial complex, which stands to profit from expanded arms sales to new NATO members. The “modernization” of former Soviet militaries in Ukraine and Georgia will mean tens of millions in sales to US and European military contractors. The US taxpayer will be left holding the bill, as the US government will subsidize most of the transactions. Providing US military guarantees to Ukraine and Georgia can only further strain our military. This NATO expansion may well involve the US military in conflicts as unrelated to our national interest as the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia. The idea that American troops might be forced to fight and die to prevent a small section of Georgia from seceding is absurd and disturbing.

The prophetic Ron Paul - April 1, 2008

Bizarro Imperialism

The status of forces agreement has been demoted to the level of a "memorandum of understanding," so as not to require a vote by the US Congress, nevertheless it cannot avoid a vote in the Iraqi Parliament. That's what they mean by "exporting" democracy: It's the Iraqis who do the voting, while we just get to foot the bill.

That's how American imperialism works. We're the only empire on earth where, as Garet Garrett put it, "everything goes out and nothing comes in." In the olden days, you'll recall, when Roman legionnaires went a' conquering, at least they came back with some loot, which they would distribute to the populace whilst keeping some for themselves: however, here in Bizarro Rome, it's we who are being looted. Not that I'm suggesting the Iraqis ought to pay the costs of their own occupation, but only to point out the irony of our predicament.

Let's see if I have this straight. Some Saudis blew up our buildings in New York and we couldn't find them in Afghanistan because they went to Pakistan. But Pakistan is our ally so we can't look for the terrorists there so we decided to bomb Iraq. The Taliban is getting stronger in Afghanistan but we are winning the War on Terror because we can blow up stuff in Iraq and spend our dollars to rebuild it. We are doing all this so the Iraqis will have a democratic government and make their own decisions but, right now, they can't decide because we are not through bombing them. That makes sense - doesn't it? It just seems we are wasting a lot of money over there when it would be more efficient to invest it over here. But that's just me.

Double-count magic

The kids were, as usual, complaining about how I get bacon and eggs with fresh-squeezed orange juice, but they have to eat plain, pasty gruel, and how that was so unfair to them. I was explaining to them for the thousandth time that life is unfair, but that if one is big enough, powerful enough, mean enough and enough of a thieving little bastard (like me, the federal government and the Federal Reserve), one can sometimes tip the playing field so it is a little fairer to me, and if they don't believe me, then consider that all the money in their college funds and piggy banks has all been replaced by IOUs from me.

The bad news is that their money is all gone, but the good news is that I have effectively doubled our family income if one is allowed (like the government and Social Security) to double-count the money I borrowed from them as still being in their accounts, although I spent it! Accounting magic!

The Mogambo Guru explains what happened to the Social Security trust fund and other feats of accounting prestidigitation.

A Path to Peace in the Caucasus

Through all these years, Russia has continued to recognize Georgia's territorial integrity. Clearly, the only way to solve the South Ossetian problem on that basis is through peaceful means. Indeed, in a civilized world, there is no other way.

The Georgian leadership flouted this key principle.

What happened on the night of Aug. 7 is beyond comprehension. The Georgian military attacked the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali with multiple rocket launchers designed to devastate large areas. Russia had to respond. To accuse it of aggression against "small, defenseless Georgia" is not just hypocritical but shows a lack of humanity.

Confused about the Russia/Georgia conflict? You're not alone. The Bush administration has bashed the Russians for defending their territory. Mikhail Gorbachev explains.

Long period of frugality needed for the U.S. economy

Looking for the foundations for the next bull market in U.S. stocks? Wait until you see consumers who save much more, have a lighter debt load and can actually sell their houses. In other words, bring a book: it may be a bit of a wait.

The S&P 500 is down about 12 percent this year and is at levels seen in both 2001 and 1999, leaving many investors sitting on paltry gains or losses for the past decade.

On top of that, the United States is arguably in recession, a state of affairs that won't be helped by the rapid deterioration of economies in Europe and Japan.

Fair enough, you say, but that information is a heck of a lot less useful than telling us when we might expect an improvement.

If the Fed can't save us by printing more money, then we must be doomed! But, maybe not. If we let the market take it's natural self-correcting course, we will spend less, save more and maneuver our way out of this crisis. That is, unless Congress decides to help us by creating new rules and otherwise interfering with the process. Then we will really be doomed!

Congress's Finest Hour

As the 110th Congress continues its August recess, the big legislative news is that it has passed fewer laws than any Congress in the last two decades. An outfit known as Taxpayers for Common Sense reports that the fighting 110th has passed a mere 294 laws, while nonetheless finding time to consider 1,932 resolutions favoring such causes as National Watermelon Month. This is apparently supposed to be a matter of public consternation because Congress should be accomplishing more.

Sorry, but that's the best thing we've heard about this Congress. What a relief to discover the destruction could have been so much worse.

September is on the way though and, just like in Poltergeist II, we'll be saying "They're back!!"

Rice: Military power is "not the way to deal in the 21st century"

The idea that the U.S. can, should and must be, more or less, in a state of permanent war, and can start wars in a whole host of circumstances having nothing to do with defending the country from an attack or imminent attack, is as close to an unchallengeable, bipartisan article of faith as it gets. We're a country that fights wars and uses military force in far more places and for far broader reasons than any other country in the world, by far. Again, regardless of one's views about whether our wars are really Good and Just -- even if one believes that what we drop on other countries are Good and Loving Freedom Bombs -- it's still just a fact that no country views military action as a more appropriate response in more situations than the U.S. does.

The US has troops deployed in over 130 countries. There are a myriad of reasons for each deployment and they are all essential, else why would we be there?

The Idiocy of Energy Independence

A "domestic energy only" policy (call it "Drain America First"?) is a fantasy. America's demand for oil is too great for us to supply ourselves. Electricity we could provide. Not with windmills and solar panels -- they are not yet close to providing enough -- but coal and nuclear power could produce America's electricity.

But cars need oil. We don't have nearly enough.

That doesn't keep the presidential candidates from preying on the public's economic ignorance.

Any suggestions for a workable energy policy would be appreciated but don't expect the presidential candidates to propose one.

The High Costs of the Drug War

Norm Stamper is a cop who saw it all during his 34 years on active duty. As police of Seattle from 1994 through 2000, he was in charge during violent World Trade Organization protests in the Emerald City.

Stamper, who holds a Ph.D. in leadership and human behavior from United States International University, has emerged as one of the most thoughtful and outspoken critics of the war on drugs, which he believes causes untold misery, undermines effective law enforcement, and doesn't begin to pass any sort of cost-benefit analysis. As important, the libertarian Stamper believes that the drug war—and other wars on the behaviors on consenting adults—does great violence to the idea that we own our bodies.

See the video here.

He dreamt up Bond, but did Fleming also create the CIA?

Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, liked to claim – only half in jest – that he had helped to create the CIA.

During the Second World War Fleming worked as personal assistant to John Godfrey, the hard-driving head of Naval Intelligence, who was Fleming’s model for M in the Bond series.

Part of Fleming’s job was to liaise with General William “Wild Bill” Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), America’s newly minted wartime answer to MI6. The two men got on extremely well, and when Donovan was preparing plans for a new American intelligence service in 1941, he asked Fleming to write him a blueprint.

It seems that Fleming knew quite a bit about the espionage game which is probably why his James Bond books are still popular.

We are squandering our wealth

We heard a man say this Friday night on television: “The clearest statement of what I value is found in the Preamble to the Constitution. There is nothing in the Preamble to the Constitution which defines the purpose of the United States of America as remaking the world in our image, which I view as a fool's errand… I believe that the framers of the Constitution were primarily concerned with focusing on the way we live here, the way we order our affairs. To try to ensure that as individuals, we can have an opportunity to pursue our, perhaps, differing definitions of freedom, but also so that, as a community, we could live together in some kind of harmony. And that future generations would also be able to share in those same opportunities… With the current crisis in American foreign policy, unless we do change our ways, the likelihood that our children, our grandchildren, the next generation is going to enjoy the opportunities that we've had is very slight because we're squandering our power. We are squandering our wealth.” Whereupon we remarked to the Missus, "He is exactly right. Nominate this man for president and he has my vote."

But Colonel Andrew Bacevich (Army - Ret.) is not a politician. Google him for the lowdown. He was interviewed by Bill Moyers on PBS Friday night (8-15) and we wish a massive audience could have seen the program. You can check a few of his video remarks right here. Moyers Interview Highlights.

Clipped this from Wrisley.com

North Texas school district will let teachers carry guns

A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported.

Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.

In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Key quote: "When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in Friday's online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Well, this is welcome news. Texas is allowing teachers to pack heat. This will be a model for other school districts to possibly minimize violence in their classrooms.

Behind Politics, A Philosophy of Fear

George Orwell, in his novel “1984,” described Oceania, a society in which the prime motivating force for controlling the populace was fear, both fear of its own government and its enemies. He wrote of continual war, of enemies so horrendous that the public was constrained to rigid compliance with its rulers in order to demonstrate its patriotism. Much of Orwell’s description is found again in the teachings of University of Chicago Professor Leo Strauss, who died in 1973.

Strauss’s political philosophy contains many subtle and not-so-subtle effects evident in the Bush administration’s activities since Sept. 11. And remarkably, taken as a whole, they resemble the fictional world of Oceania. For instance, there’s the perpetual political deception between rulers and ruled, a necessity according to Strauss. There’s the obsession with secrecy and the Machiavellian conviction that stability among the populace requires an external threat, that if no such threat exists one must be manufactured.

Why can't we all get along? Perpetual war and deception benefits the tyrants and controls the populace and makes a mockery of the Constitution according to Eliot J. Chandler.

NEW SCIENTIFIC DATA JUSTIFIES REPEALING GLOBAL WARMING RESPONSE ACT

“There are many credible members of the scientific community who have questioned the theory of global warming, and now we have some scientists actually suggesting the earth’s temperatures may be entering a period of dramatic cooling,” said Doherty, R-Warren and Hunterdon. “With this growing level of scientific uncertainty, it makes no sense to enact a new set of economically damaging regulations prompted by the global warming hysteria of recent years.”

Let's wreck the economy by passing stupid laws to protect the planet from global warming - er, I mean global cooling.

How the Smart Money Lost $1 Trillion, So Far

Think of the famous lyric of the great country western song, "The Gambler."

You've got to know when to hold 'em; know when to fold 'em; know when to walk away; know when to run.

This is exactly what we've got to know. This is exactly what the central planning agency has to know. But it cannot possibly know this. There are too many decision-makers, who own too much property, who face too many different local situations, for any central planner to come close to understanding what drives the economy, moment by moment, let alone far into the future.

The best and the brightest in the investment world do their best to figure out when to buy, hold, and sell. If they are deliberately misinformed by the rate of interest, because the Federal Reserve is tampering with the rate of interest, the best and the brightest will drive the economy off the road. This is what has happened.

Gary North wonders how the average Joe can possibly make sound financial decisions when the best and brightest are stumbling and bumbling along with no clear idea of what the best approaches are.

Secession Tales

"Mr. President, taxation is theft and the weight of Federal encroachment on the states has been enormous. Once DC started to behave like an occupation government, all the natural forces seeking remedy and escape started to form the perfect storm of events that liberated the Confederation from the former US configuration. We will conduct a full accounting of the valuation and match it to the previously mentioned audit. We have no Federal Reserve and the Confederation will be relying on free banking to mint a new currency or currencies backed by hard metal. What little government we have will be financed through a one percent tariff at the borders."

"Governor, how can a government run on a one percent tax?"

William Buppert has a dream that revolt against oppression will occur one day.

Mr. Bush, Enough!!

The United States shows no respect for Russia. The United States shows no respect for any other country weaker than itself, much less a rival as you perceive Russia to be. How about your NATO? Today the west, tomorrow the world, eh? America uber alles!

How about your missile shield breathing down the neck of the Russian nation? There to protect Europe from Iran? The most totally absurd thing that only a moron would believe.

How about your deliberate breaking of your agreements regarding Serbian Kosovo? UN Resolution 1244 which your country agreed to, is the ink dry…you deliberately went against it and recognized Kosovo in total disregard and in violation of that agreement.

And you expect your words to be heeded or even listened to? You are joking! It is said when Caligula went mad he heard laughing.

Do you hear people laughing at you Mr. Bush?

Lisa Karpova, writing for Pravda, expresses her feelings about the Bush administration's disapproval of Russia.

Blowback From Bear-Baiting

That Putin took the occasion of Saakashvili's provocative and stupid stunt to administer an extra dose of punishment is undeniable. But is not Russian anger understandable? For years the West has rubbed Russia's nose in her Cold War defeat and treated her like Weimar Germany.

When Moscow pulled the Red Army out of Europe, closed its bases in Cuba, dissolved the evil empire, let the Soviet Union break up into 15 states, and sought friendship and alliance with the United States, what did we do?

The US cannot seem to refrain from involving itself in clashes which do not concern us. Bush is indignant about Russia attacking Georgia and does not see the hypocrisy of his attitude.

Open ANWR Already!

In July, CNN repeatedly reported that offshore drilling would take "seven to 10 years" to get into production. Yet Brazil's Petrobras expects its new finds in extraordinarily deep waters to already be producing 100,000 barrels per day in just two years. What is wrong with American oil companies that they would take so long?

In fact, the world oil shortage is political, not geological. In the U.S., the government prohibits drilling offshore. In Nigeria, civil strife has shut down major production. In Libya and Iran, Washington effectively blockaded and isolated the nations for years to inhibit new production. In Iraq, of course, the U.S. destroyed much of the infrastructure since the first Gulf war in 1991 and then blockaded reconstruction. In nations such as Russia and Mexico nationalism and corruption curtail increased production.

We will need oil and natural gas for the foreseeable future - until wind, solar and nuclear become viable alternatives. ANWR offers an alternative to foreign oil and natural gas but the greenies have the clout, so far, to block the extraction of our own resources.

Whose Business Is It Anyway?

"Whose business is it? Suppose you're an Italian restaurateur and you want to have only Italian men as your waiters because that's the ambience you want. Shouldn't you be able to do that?"

I would think so, but American law says no.

We don't need laws against discrimination. We need a free, competitive marketplace. Competition is better at punishing sexists, racists and "ageists" than clumsy laws.

Discrimination laws and free competition at odds.

Why are Cholesterol Drugs Being Recommended for 8 Year Olds?

Every few years, the number of people who “need” cholesterol-lowering (statin) drugs is suddenly expanded. At this rate, it won’t be very long before someone suggests that everyone take them, cradle to grave. The companies that make the drugs would certainly approve of that idea.

Although the AAP maintains that these new guidelines have nothing to do with any commercial entities, the New York Times uncovered some pretty glaring connections.

For starters, the AAP has received contributions from several drug makers, including:

* $433,000 from Merck
* $835,250 from Abbott Laboratories’ Ross Product Division
* $216,000 from the Bristol-Myers Squibb company Mead Johnson Nutritionals

Meanwhile, several members of AAP’s nutrition committee, which developed the new guidelines, also have ties to drug makers:

Speaking of drugs, the government - while delcaring war on so-called recreational drugs - promotes prescription drug use (or abuse) as long as the contributions from the pharmaceutical companies keep rolling in.

What Motley Crue Can Teach Us About Drug Legalization

Anyone supporting drug legalization must reconcile their position with the existence of these coked-up hallucinating tattooed hooligans on motorcycles. Most citizens fear legalization would lead to the rapid decline of Western Civilization: the youth would jump at drugs; dope would be in every home and every vein; morality would fly out the window, and life as we know it would collapse all around us.

With these "esteemed" gentlemen as examples, only the deranged could support drug legalization. That is, until one examines the specifics more closely.

The expensive War on Drugs has not significantly slowed drug abuse. Neither will drug legalization but let's compare the differences in the effects on drug abusers...

For Most People, College is a Waste of Time

Imagine that America had no system of post-secondary education, and you were a member of a task force assigned to create one from scratch. One of your colleagues submits this proposal:

First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn't meet the goal. We will call the goal a "BA."

You would conclude that your colleague was cruel, not to say insane. But that's the system we have in place.

Is college a huge waste of time and money? If so, why don't we change the way we educate our young people?

Truth in the Coin Shop

You are uptown in a shopping district of a small community, and you pass by the meat shop, the wine shop, the coffee shop, two churches side by side, a coin shop, an antique store … and hold it right there.

A coin shop? This is irresistible, because, as implausible as this may sound, all political truth can be found in a coin shop. And not just political truth: you find in here the story of the whole of modern life on exhibit, and learn more from looking than you find in a multivolume history.

An interesting visit to the neighborhood coin shop.

Global Warming, Global Myth

The global warming advocates make all sorts of false claims about dire consequences of global warming. They claim it will result in the spread of malaria, food shortages, more human deaths, more violent weather, and a loss of biological diversity through the extinction of species. All untrue. The largest number of species — the greatest biological diversity — is in the tropics. As you move away from the equator, you find fewer and fewer species, until you reach the earth's poles, where there is zero diversity because nothing can live there.

Global warming is not caused by man and would be a good thing if it were. Al Gore will not be amused by these claims.

GOP warns dissident wing

State Republicans are trying to thwart a move by Ron Paul supporters to take over the party in St. Johns County and the state.

This week, the Republicans sent warning letters to 10 state chapters of the Republican Liberty Caucus -- an organization within the party that promotes an agenda much the same as Ron Paul libertarians. The letter warned the caucus the law doesn't allow them to use the word "Republican" in its name without permission.

Some local Republicans see the caucus as seeking control of their party and then opposing Sen. John McCain, who they see as too liberal. This is similar to what is playing out on the national stage, as mainstream Republicans are losing western support for McCain to libertarians.

Ron Paul is anathema to Republicans because he not only talks about smaller government and less spending; he votes for them.

'Rogues' and Humpty Dumpty Judges

Judge Young’s oath had two parts: 1. Disregard the wording of the Constitution and 2. Follow only the instructions of the judge.

It was an oath to pledge to act as if we are not a government of laws, but instead act as if we are a government of men, respectively. If I had taken the oath, the judge could have said "the law says all Italians are guilty" and I would have been bound to declare the defendant guilty because the defendant was of Italian heritage.

I didn’t take the oath, and was immediately dismissed from jury service.

Since when are jurors told not to think for themselves - and why?

'Good Morning, Mr. President.'

"Good Morning, Governor, how might we…"

"Mr. President, I realize you are a busy man so let’s get down to brass tacks…we are calling the ball and withdrawing our support of your Administration and the Federal government in DC. Effective immediately, we have coordinated to place all outgoing receipts to the IRS in a caged account here in Boise…"

"Governor, you can’t do that…"

"Please don’t interrupt while I am speaking as we are from this point onward peers in the family of nations. I hope you have reviewed the diplomatic instruments we sent by courier last night to Department of State which delineates the terms of our divorce."

Tyrannic rule cannot be maintained without the cooperation of the ones being ruled. When the cooperation is achieved by threats and force, it can be withdrawn if the populace has the will and gumption to do it.

What Next for D.C.'s Gun Laws

The Supreme Court ruled in June that provisions of Washington, D.C.'s gun laws are unconstitutional. Unfortunately, the city has responded with new regulations that are a flagrant attempt to circumvent the court's decision.

It's time for Congress to use the power granted to it in the Constitution to "exercise exclusive legislation" in the District and uphold its residents' constitutional rights. It can do so by passing the District of Columbia Personal Protection Act now pending in Congress, with a few adjustments.

A suggestion to pass more laws to correct the problems with previous laws. Why not, instead, abolish stupid laws?

With Friends Like These…

To better understand the reliability of America's oil imports it's helpful to see who America's faithful oil-suppliers are - and who they aren't. The chart shows that 54% of U.S. crude imports come from countries we consider Allies willing to work with the United States (shown in black and grey). Some 31% of imports come from Axis countries (shown in shades of red) that have demonstrated hostility to America. Another 15% are from Saudi Arabia, a Wildcard we believe could go either way. It's unsettling to note that almost half of U.S. imports come from countries that are either unfriendly or have the potential to be.

No tax increase needed

There has been a big shift in spending by the federal government over the last few decades, from defense to "entitlements," specifically Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other welfare, medical and federal employee retirement programs. Many of those who insist that tax increases are needed argue that the entitlement programs will grow more rapidly than the economy and they must be funded. The problem with this argument is that tax increases will slow economic growth, and that no amount of tax increase can fund these programs if they are allowed to continue to grow faster than the economy. Fortunately, there are solutions that do not require any tax increase at all or substantial benefit cuts.

Some ideas to smooth the bumpy road ahead.

Our $100 Trillion National Debt

The "official" debt of the United States is only around $10 trillion dollars as of August 6, 2008. This is a manageable number; we could pay it off in a few decades if we quit buying luxuries like food and clothing, and take a few other minor economy measures. Unfortunately, the "$10 trillion" number was produced by government accounting, which among other things allows one to ignore Social Security, Medicare, and the new prescription drug benefit. This is like ignoring rent, food, and utilities in your household budget… it will lead to a few bounced checks. Our real debt is about ten times higher.!

Ten times $10 trillion? That's a staggering amount of debt. Are we doomed or can we possibly recover? Bill Walker has a few suggestions.

Imaginary Freedoms

The powerful tell us to treasure them, defend them, yet give them up when national security calls. From our first social studies class to our final history exam, we are reminded that this country was built by men who valued them above all else, even life. Dear readers, I’m talking about civil liberties — those imaginary red-white-and-blue freedoms that completely protect the individual from government. We’re told our troops die for liberties abroad so we can enjoy them at home, but I can’t convince myself we have them at all. News reports from the past six months serve as evidence.

The War on Terror is purported to make us safer but requires us to submit to embarrassing and invasive searches when we board airplanes or enter government buildings. Well, we may be embarrassed but our tormentors seem nearly gleeful as they enforce their rules and regulations while we politely smile and squirm and obey.

Jim Rogers' Ultimate Road Trip

In the early ‘90s, James B. Rogers, Jr., the oldest of five boys from Demopolis , Alabama , where his phone number once consisted of a single digit, traveled the world alone with a motorcycle under him, reporting his journey in the best-seller, Investment Biker: Around the World with Jim Rogers. So why go around again in the same decade? Because he wanted to see what shape the world was in as it headed into the new century. And to do that, he had to experience it from ground level. “In Rome , talk to the Romans,” as he puts it. Though he’s never patronized a prostitute, he believes you can learn more about a country by speaking to a madam of a brothel or a black marketeer than from speaking to a government minister.

Besides this, the man simply loves adventure, and his first trip only left him hungrier for more.

Interesting book synopsis. Brief recounts of visits to foreign lands.

The Looming Federal Default: Sooner or Later?

As surely as holders of pay option mortgages will default, so will the U.S. government default. But there is a huge difference. Mortgage lenders can evict mortgage holders in default and gain ownership of their houses. There is no way that "lenders" to the U.S. government can evict the government for non-payment.

This relieves today's politicians from having to make payments above the minimal required payment to be re-elected. Year by year, month by month, day by day, the government is adding to principal owed to future retirees by not setting aside funds to pay the beneficiaries of the two old-age programs. The funds are immediately spent by the government. Any funds not paid out to today's growing army of elderly recipients is borrowed by the Treasury and spent. The Treasury issues IOUs to the two trust funds, but these IOUs are not counted as part of the official on-budget debt.

This is deception. The voters don't understand. Congress likes the results: deferred day of judgment.

The pyramid schemes of Medicare and Social Security are crises waiting to happen. Are we doomed? Gary North suggests you put aside some cash for a rainy day because the forecast is for inclement weather ahead.

Washington's Intervention Addiction

One problem with politicians is that when problems they create come to a head, they typically feel this irresistible urge to DO something, rather than to UN-do something, or to simply back off to avoid exacerbating the situation. Too often, that which they end up doing has very little connection to the cause of the crisis, but plays well in the press and superficially makes everyone feel better. Bills that are rushed through Congress under duress are never studied enough, providing too tempting an opportunity to quietly slip in unrelated provisions that erode freedoms in ways that would never pass as a stand-alone bill. We famously saw this with the PATRIOT Act, but Washington learned nothing from that.

Congress postures as having the cure while only exacerbating the disease. Thankfully, we may have a brief respite while they are on an extended vacation.

How Hospital Costs Ran Amok

Health insurance costs are now so awesome that they are even wrecking large businesses—American auto manufacturers, for example. Health insurance costs also drive businesses overseas, they absorb much of the surplus from rising wages, and have increasingly made many Americans eager for a socialized system such as that offered in Europe and Canada.

Almost no other business in America has such abusive pricing power, including the power to keep charges secret from customers until they get their bills.

Government run health care destroys competition among health care providers. Without competiton, providers are able to manipulate the system to their benefit and bilk patients for charges far in excess of their actual costs.

Katrina a la Mexicana

About nine o’clock that morning the speakers on the church tower began: “Necesitamos personas, ropa, comida. Personas, ropa….” We need people, clothes, food. Something had happened.

The towns of our region—Chapala, Ajijic, San Juan Cosala, Jocotepec—lie along the north shore of Lake Chapala, squeezed into a narrow strip between the mountains, or high hills anyway, and the lake. You can walk from the shore to the upslope in about five minutes. The hills, which have little vegetation, are dotted with roundish boulders stuck in raw earth. The vegetation that once held the earth in place has been eaten by goats, which graze in the hills. When enough rain washes away the soil, the rocks begin to roll. This had happened.

A Mexican town manages a disaster without the help of FEMA

Rx for Economic Pain

Americans feel as though the economy is in a recession and want the government to do something about it. In reality, it is expanding. In the second quarter, it grew at a respectable inflation-adjusted rate of 1.9 percent, double the pace of the first quarter. Unemployment was up, but it's still a pretty mild 5.7 percent.

The recession cures being bandied about by the presidential candidates and others miss the real source of our current pain and what can be done about it—which is not much.

Time to batten down the hatches and prepare to ride out the recession?

The Market Process in Action

The myriad adjustments to expensive gas show us how market processes change our activities and behavior. We use less of some things and more of others, and we innovate. In more concrete terms, we drive less and walk more, and we invest in alternative sources of energy. Perhaps we telecommute instead of driving to the office. The number of venture capital firms focusing on alternative energy sources has increased rapidly in the last few years, and blueprints for do-it-yourself solar iPod chargers, solar lawnmowers, and other solar technologies are all over the Internet. Some students at my institution made a solar iPod charger as part of a year-end project this past semester. The list of innovative responses to high gas prices goes on and on.

The situation of high gasoline prices and a sluggish economy will be a boon to entrepreneurs with vision and a disaster for those who cannot adjust to the reality.

We Don’t Need a War on Terrorism

RAND deduced that the best way to kill a terrorist group is to capture or kill its leaders. This task is best carried out, according to the study, by law enforcement, intelligence, and, if needed, troops from the local country. Instead of giving terrorists the exalted status of warriors, they should be deemed criminals. In other words, the authors conclude that in most past cases in which terrorist groups have been defeated by getting their leaders, local law enforcement did the job. They say that when troops are needed, local troops have a better understanding of the culture and terrain and thus have more legitimacy than do U.S. forces. In fact, the study says that the presence of U.S. forces on Muslim soil can create more terrorists to fight; thus the authors argue that the U.S. military should confine itself to training the locals.

Invading Afghanistan and Iraq to avenge 9/11 was political theater. Instead of sending in the Army and Marines, a more tactical approach would have been to send in the CIA with undercover agents to locate the villains and then call in military teams to eradicate them. There was no need to invade the countries with mass force.

Betrayed by the Village Idiot

Now we know why nobody wanted to loan money to these "red-lined" areas! Ergo, too many loans, as required by Congress under penalty of law, were made to too many people that couldn't pay them back, and didn't, which the lenders knew beforehand, but were forced to do it! Hahaha! Thanks, Mr. Sowell! I never put that two and two together before!

Now that I think about it, it's the same thing that happened to health care; the cost has run to back-breaking levels because the government demanded that healthcare providers provide first-class services to anybody who asked for them, whether they could (or would) pay for them or not, and the providers just added it to the bill of those who paid for their healthcare! Hahaha!

Congress (except Ron Paul), having done sufficient damage for the time being, has mercifully adjourned for five weeks - leaving us to ponder why we should allow them to return in September.

No More Boola-Boola

A fully accredited college education for the price of a Honda Civic.

College? Don't pay $50,000 for three years, and then your kid drops out.

College? Pay for your child's education, not four years of party time.

Wal-Mart University: Save Money. Learn Better.

Wal-Mart U? Higher education is very expensive with the Department of Education in control but if companies could make a profit by educating young people, competition would provide a cheaper and better alternative.

Drilling and Blissful Ignorance

Democrats want no oil from the American OCS or ANWR. But of course they do want more oil. From OPEC. From where Americans don't vote. From places Democratic legislators can't see. On May 13, Sen. Chuck Schumer -- deeply committed to saving just those pieces of the planet that might have huge reserves of American oil -- demanded that the Saudis increase production by a million barrels a day. It doesn't occur to him that by eschewing the slightest disturbance of the mating habits of the Arctic caribou, he is calling for the further exploitation of the pristine deserts of Arabia. In the name of the planet, mind you.

Charles Krauthammer explains why the Dems won't allow drilling on our territories. They say it's to protect the environment but it's actually to suck up to the environmental lobbies which support them with $$$$$.

The Republic, Slip-Sliding Away

Despite all the blather about democracy, we did not invent it, do not support it and have, during the recent administration, become less democratic than we were before.

We are and always have been too large a country for a true democracy. That's why the Founding Fathers created a republic. In a true democracy, the people would decide practically all the issues. In a republic, the people delegate that power to elected representatives who serve for a fixed term.

A republic is a good form of government provided the people pay attention, fairly judge the performance of their elected officials and boot 'em out of office when they don't cut the mustard.

Once elected, most politicians make a full time career of getting re-elected and the voters continually oblige. Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd - to name only two - should have been ejected long ago but it appears that both will draw their last breath in the Senate. When the voters are unwilling to "throw the bums out", the bums get more entrenched and more powerful.

House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking

Update: The uprising lasted until the clock struck 5:00 PM yesterday. The Republicans, who vowed to stay until they got to vote on a drilling bill, found the allure of a five week vacation too tempting to resist.

Recommended reading.

"This is the people's House," said Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.). "This is not Pelosi's politiburo."

Democratic aides were furious at the GOP stunt, and reporters were kicked out of the Speaker's Lobby, the space next to the House floor where they normally interview lawmakers.

"You're not covering this, are you?" complained one senior Democratic aide. Another called the Republicans "morons" for staying on the floor.

Update: The Capitol Police are now trying to kick reporters out of the press gallery above the floor, meaning we can't watch the Republicans anymore. But Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is now in the gallery talking to reporters, so the cops have held off for a minute. Clearly, Democrats don't want Republicans getting any press for this episode. GOP leaders are trying to find other Republicans to rotate in for Blunt so reporters aren't kicked out.

Anarchy on Capitol Hill. The Republicans are staying while the Democrats head home for a five week vacation. Amusing and sad at the same time. The comments range from thoughtful to hilarious.

Some Facts of Power – and a Question

The evolution of political exploitation has followed a general pattern: hit-and-run robbery, regular tribute, slavery, rent-collections. In the final stage, rent collections become the primary proceeds of exploitation. The political power is supported by levies on production. The citizen lives for the State which nurtured him. He belongs to the State by right of purchase. Natural man knows by conscience and intuition that he has right of free and unencumbered ownership of the product of his efforts. Observe any family member when another snatches what is "mine."

There cannot be a good tax, or a just tax. Every tax is a compulsion, a violation of person.

Through a process of continuous propaganda beginning in very early childhood and extending with great intensity through twelve years of compulsory public education, we are brainwashed to the point that many cannot see these fundamental relationships.

Fiat money is used to manipulate the populace and conduct perpetual war.

Live Chat Transcript With John Stossel

LaurenV_8972343: Mr. Stossel, you eschew the label “conservative”. Where do you part ways with traditional conservatives?"

John Stossel: I don't want government to police the bedroom. I agree with Milton Friedman that the drug war is a mistake - he compared it to free speech regulation - just as government should have no say in what comes out of the mouths of adults, they shouldn't tell them what goes in.

John Stossel: I am also skeptical about America having troops in 130 countries.

Excerpt from an interview with John Stossel.

Bush's Fierce Global War of Denial

At the very moment when, without the Soviet Union, the U.S. might have accepted its own long-term vulnerability and begun working toward a world in which destruction was less obviously on the agenda, the U.S. government instead embarked, like the Greatest of Great Powers (the "new Rome," the "new Britain"), on a series of neocolonial wars on the peripheries. It began building up a constellation of new military bases in and around the oil heartlands of the planet, while reinforcing a military and technological might meant to brook no future opponents. Orwell's famous phrase from his novel 1984, "war is peace," was operative well before the second Bush administration entered office.

Call this a Mr. Spock moment, one where you just wanted to say "illogical." With only one superpower left, the American Age of Denial didn't dissipate. It only deepened and any serious assessment of the real planet we were all living on was carefully avoided

We could be in a very different situation today if we had reacted differently to two events - the collapse of the USSR and September 11, 2001 - yesterday. Ah, hindsight. But it is not too late to reconsider our priorities.