Antiwar Protesters Hold Vigils on Fifth Anniversary of Iraq War

Opponents of the War in Iraq will be holding protests, including vigils, across the country today to commerate the fifth anniversary of the conflict.

Here’s an excerpt of the Orlando Sentinel article that ran in the paper today:

WASHINGTON – Opponents of the Iraq war will gather for vigils across the country today in the culmination of a series of protests marking the fifth anniversary of the conflict.

‘It has been five years too many. We’re in a war that’s only for money and oil,’ said Kathryn Milholland, 19, a sophomore at the University of Central Florida.

Milholland and six others from Central Florida affiliated with the anti-war group CODEPINK got a jump on the protesting with a week of demonstrations in Washington.

The Supreme Court to Review FCC Profanity Case

The statist-dominated U.S. Supreme Court will formally review a case against the FCC for its profanity rules. Interestingly enough, Fox Broadcasting was the company that brought the case against the government agency, which is heading its way to the courthouse.

Obviously, this is all done in the wake of U2 front man Bono’s utterance of a vulgarity when he accepted his Golden Globes award for Best Original Song in 2003 and, of course, Janet Jackson’s uproarious right breast exposure (even though her nipple was covered with a pasty) during her half-time performance with Justin Timberlake at the 2004 Super Bowl game. (Yes, I’m referring to the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” incident all right.)

If these rules are upheld by the Court, then it will most likely pave the way for all radio stations to employ “dump boxes,” a measure that will be mandated by the state.

Moreover, this is lunacy at the highest. No government agency — no matter how coercive it will be — will be able to stop every performer on television or every caller or talk show host on the radio from dropping the F bomb. It just won’t happen. People will find more ways around the regulations, creating perverse incentives along the way. Does anyone really think that this will just solve anything at all?

Plus, the atmosphere of regulating speech on the public “government” airwaves is revolting. It paints this erroneous yet idyllic, white-picket-fenced view of what America is, especially since that idea was installed at the time of the 1950s. Americans during that period were swearing back in those days (although in less numbers than they are today), and today’s generation is using them more so in record numbers than ever. This is in large part of the federal government and conservative movement’s imposition of morality on the American public, injection of puritanism into our society, and creation of the forbidden fruit paradigm that has come to reign in the U.S.

This is all the more reason to abolish the FCC and let TV stations and their viewers and AM and FM radio stations and their viewers decide what content is objectionable and what content isn’t. Let them take personal responsibility for what they say and do. By allowing the free market to come back into existenc, it’s a win-win scenario for everyone, because, after all, everyone gets what they want in the realm of social cooperation and voluntaryism, not coercion and control by the diabolical state.

Hypocrisy Regarding the Boycott of Chinese Olympics’ Opening Ceremony

A bunch of VIPs, made up of government rulers from all over the world, are calling for a complete boycott of the opening ceremony of China’s Olympics because the country invaded and occupied Tibet while employing violence to bring order to the land.

So let’s get this straight once and for all. It’s outrageous that China invades and occupies Tibet to subjugate an entire population and imposes barbarism on it. But, if the U.S. invades and occupies Afghanistan and Iraq to subjugate their populations and imposes barbarism on them, it’s extoled.

Wow! Talk about hypocrisy in every step of the way.

Oops! What do you know? I’m starting to sound like the good Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

The Fed’s Days Are Numbered

The Fed has been in existence since 1913 and has been and still is responsible for engineering the business cycles, the depreciation of the dollar, and the redistribution of wealth from the working poor and middle class to the pro-corporate welfare whores on Wall Street, Big Banking, Big Business, the state, and other sections of the powers-that-be. Now its days are numbered.

The need for true monetary reform is stronger than ever: a Rothbardian version of the gold standard.

Ron Paul’s Column Now on WND

Ron Paul’s column “Texas Straight Talk,” which is housed on his congressional website, will be a regular column on WorldNetDaily on Mondays. It starts today, as a matter of fact.

This certainly shows that Ron’s pro-freedom message is reaching out to everyone, including conservatives.

(Hat tip to Antoinette Henson of the private RP Meetup Organizers group on Yahoo Groups.)

LP Presidential Candidate Steve Kubby on Economic Stimulus

Here’s a full transcript of the speech at Kubby’s campaign web site.

Another Female Presidential Candidate for President?

Dr. Mary Ruwart, the author of Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle and Healing Our World In an Age of Aggression (which is an update of her widely-read yet much-beloved book) and a devout libertarian in the Libertarian Party, is said to be a candidate for president on the LP ticket.

According to an excerpt of a post made by LP activist Less Antman, CPA on the Yahoo Groups list lpradicals regarding the timing of her “official” announcement:

I spoke directly with Mary, and she estimated it would be late this week (I said within 10 days to provide a limit she would beat). Obviously, the grapevine wasn’t as accurate as the information I received. Keep in mind that she probably contacted me early because I had promised to make the legal maximum contribution as soon as she committed to running, and not because I’m in any way more important than other people.

The reason for the delay is that you only get one chance to make a first impression. She wants her web site to look good and to have the ability to take credit card contributions, and there are a few other matters that protocol requires before making a public declaration.

Ruwart, who is originally from my home state of Michigan, moved to Texas in recent years, I believe, with her husband where she accepted a job at a pharmaceutical company there. I corresponded with her once on the phone, and she seemed like a nice lady. I did it to talk to her about a draft campaign to get her appointed to the FDA as a commissioner which eventually turned out to be unsuccessful. All in all, we had a pleasant conversation on the phone.

Check out this LP survey of LP convention delegates which shows that she beats frontrunner Wayne Allyn Root (who’s the most pro-war, anti-immigrant collectivist Republican infiltrator in the party).

New New York Governor Admits His Affairs

Newly-sworned in New York Democratic Governor David A. Paterson is now coming out of his closet full of political sins: he had extramarital affairs. This is all now a revelation, considering many people were going ape over Spitzer’s high-paid call girl scandal.

However, when peaceful individuals and entrepeneurs are being persecuted and crucified for breaking draconian vice laws and the evil state is enforcing putrid drug laws and tax laws and invading your private bank accounts (among other things), they are atrociously silent. Where’s the justice and fairness in all of that?

The state never gets prosecuted for committing terrible crimes against the law-abiding citizen, but the state always goes after the little guy. That’s the real monstrous crime there.

Hungry Taxifornia’s New Download Tax

An $8 billion shortfall which is affecting the State of California is leading state legislators to come up with a proposal to tax downloads of music from online stores like Amazon and iTunes.

Here’s an interesting excerpt from the Oakland County Register piece that says it all:

New taxes require a 2/3rd vote of the Legislature, meaning some anti-tax Republicans would have to sign onto the proposal, but Calderon got creative.

Instead of proposing a new tax, AB 1956 simply requires the Board of Equalization to amend the definition of ‘tangible personal property’ to include ‘digital property.’ That needs only a majority vote, meaning no Republicans necessary.

Voila! A new tax – without a 2/3rds vote.

‘This is crazy stuff,’ said Michelle Steel, Orange County’s representative on the Board of Equalization, who has been the lead opponent of the ‘iTax’ since before it was even in bill form.

‘It’s totally illegal,’ she said.

To be fair, California isn’t the first state to propose the tax. Far from it. A 2006 report by CNET News.com found that 15 states and the District of Columbia tax media downloads. A November survey by the Washington state Department of Revenue found 21 states tax cell phone downloads.

‘It’s not new,’ said Calderon, who readily admits he’s trying to cut out Republicans. Calderon said their opposition to new taxes shouldn’t get in the way of a legitimate policy debate.

‘Our economy’s changed,’ he said, ‘shouldn’t our laws?’

Madeleine Albright on One of Things She Misses

Madeleine “the price was worth it” Albright is quoted on one of the things she misses in an intriguing Washington Post piece covering items that are now becoming a thing of the past:

‘Network nightly news broadcasts as a source of common information and national unity. Opinions differed, but Americans began thinking with the same images and facts in mind, brought to them by experienced journalists. If you cared about national or world affairs, you scheduled dinner before or after the nightly serving of Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw or Jennings.’

That collectivistic ideology of hers makes one shiver. This is the Washington elites’ paradigm: “We must control you; therefore, you may not get your news from anywhere else but us. We own your mind. Accept it or else.”

If anything, that speaks volumes of their agenda and their mindset that they want to impose upon us and the rest of the world. Down with traditional news media! Go alternative news media!