End the War on Freedom

"And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps." -- H.L. Mencken

Paul Thompson at The Center for Cooperative Research - The Complete 9/11 Timeline - a large web site dedicated to bringing to light inconsistencies in the official 9/11 story. I have only scanned the introduction. [grabbe]

To be honest, I don't know exactly what happened on 9/11. I have my theories and hunches, but its an extremely complicated plot, and there are a number of plausible explanations for part or all of the story's aspects. Also, I don't want to force my ideas down your throat. I'm using the timeline to draw attention to interesting stories that you may not have read. I have tried to let the stories speak for themselves, and reduce my voice as much as possible. When I do add my own comments, I put those at the end of a summary in question form and in italics. I hope you come to your own conclusions.

This document I have made is veeeeery, very long. Its chock-full of information and may be difficult to get through. You may want to tackle a bit at a time, (and if you're impatient, start from around July, 2001 to get to the "good stuff"). But 9/11 was possibly one of the most pivotal events in world history, and its impact will be felt on all of our lives for years to come. You owe it to yourself to go beyond the sound bites and the simplified official story. This is an extremely complicated story with numerous players and motives. Not everything makes sense or fits neatly together. Its a story full of espionage, deceit, and brazen lies. But if there are forces out there tricking us, they can only succeed if we, the general public, remain ignorant and passive.

Sherman H. Skolnick at Rense.com - The Overthrow Of The American Republic - Part 14 - another one for the black helicopter crowd. [grabbe]

After all, censorship often is simply not mentioning known facts when and where it would enlighten readers, viewers, and listeners. The four commercial airplanes involved in Black Tuesday, were Boeing aircraft of a type and model which are equipped with perfected computer hardware and software installed for emergency ground control. On the one hand, the cockpit crew can send a silent signal to the ground controllers of an attempted hi-jacking in progress. The ground crew can then over-ride the airplane on-board computer and remotely cause the plane to land at the nearest possible airport capable of handling such a plane.

On the other hand, on behalf of a group within the American aristocracy, some treasonous U.S. military and other officers and operatives, in and out of the government, used the built-in system, UNKNOWN TO THE COCKPIT CREW and commotion-makers onboard, to make the airplane's onboard controls inoperative. So the planes were secretly controlled from the ground. Smashed up was the U.S. Constitution to promote a new Hitler, for America.

Charley Reese - Truth Is The Best Argument - why the administration's story on the urgency of attacking Iraq makes no sense. [lew]

Vice President Dick Cheney said the other day in his war-call speech that Iraq represents a mortal threat to the United States. This is an example of falsehoods being peddled.

Think for yourself. Iraq is a small, Third World country of 20 million people. Its economy has been wrecked by 10 years of sanctions. It has a small, practically worthless air force, no intercontinental missiles and no nuclear warheads. It might have some quantities of chemical or biological weapons, but no means of delivering them and certainly not enough of them to wipe out the United States.

Myles Kantor at LewRockwell.com - A Freedom Referendum in Miami - On September 10, Miami-Dade county voters will have the chance to repeal an ordinance that forbids discrimination in housing and employment on the basis of sexual orientation. [lew]

The BBC comments on the consequences if Miami-Dade residents repeal the ordinance: "A company could choose [emphasis added] not to hire people on the grounds of sexual orientation, a landlord would not have to rent to someone he thinks may be gay and insurance companies can refuse to insure."

That is, Miami-Dade proprietors will be free to dispose of their property as they see fit. (Well, not quite. Miami-Dade also criminalizes racial and other discrimination, so it's more accurate to say that municipal oppression of proprietors will be diminished.)

Nat Hentoff at The Village Voice - General Ashcroft's Detention Camps: Time to Call for His Resignation - I agree. Ashcroft must go. Lew titled this, "Resign, Adolf." [lew]

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk - Important Questions about War in Iraq - Lots of questions that need to be answered by debate in Congress before the administration can even consider sending our troops into danger.

Is Iraq a real danger to us, or have the war hawks wildly exaggerated the threat posed by this impoverished third-world nation?

Do you personally feel strongly enough about Iraq to leave your home, family, and job to join the war? If you are beyond the age of military service, would you want your children or grandchildren to do the same? After Pearl Harbor, almost all Americans would have answered yes to this question, but do we really have the same national unity and clear sense of purpose when it comes to Iraq?

What would you give up at home to provide the billions of dollars necessary to prosecute the war? Would you support a huge tax increase, or give up your Social Security benefits for a decade? I know many Americans would be happy to sacrifice, but we should be honest about what this war might cost us and judge whether it's worth it.

Ronald Bailey at Reason - Reality Check for Redistributionists: Why property rights are environmental rights - Want to eradicate poverty? Simple. Strengthen property rights. [market]

Uri Avnery at Strike the Root - The Return of the Dinosaurs - Hehe. [market]

Now we are witnessing the return of the dinosaurs. Human dinosaurs. People who control immense power structures and who have the brains of a bird.

Take the American tyrannosaurus. He has power that no empire in the history of the world could even have dreamed of. The US military machine can take over the whole world, wage war anywhere, destroy any country, eliminate any people. Over this immense body reigns the brain of George W. Bush, and around him a small group of people whose moral standard and intellectual capacity are like those of the caveman.

But why should we look down on others? After all, the Israeli tyrannosaurus is no different from his big brother. Compared to all his neighbors, he has immense military capacity, and over this huge power reigns the brain of a child.

Kyle Wiliams at World Net Daily - The American experiment is failing - good essay from a thirteen year old who "gets it." [kaba]

Jim Peron at Laissez Faire Electronic Times - My Encounter with the Poverty Pimps: The World Summit on Sustainable Development, Part 3 - A first-hand account of the gathering in Johannesburg. [grabbe]

The World Bank's statistic is true but misleading. The 20 poorest nations are nations that have centralized control over the economy, protectionists trade policies and corrupt governments. The Bank has admitted elsewhere that poor countries that refuse to globalize are seeing their economies shrink by 1.5% per annum. So globalization ends up getting blamed for the results in nations which refuse to globalize. Considering that rich nations with liberal market policies are growing at 2% and poor nations with authoritarian policies are shrinking at 1.5%, then the differences in wealth between them will continue to grow. But poor nations adopting market policies are catching up with the West very quickly.

This did reveal something that has being going on since Jesus told the story of the rich and Lazarus. The wealthy of the world are constantly blamed for the poverty of others regardless of whether they are responsible in any way. The policies that make the West rich do not impoverish the Third World regardless of how many times the Pope, Mbeki or Greenpeace pretend it's so. Poor nations today are poor because they have poverty-enhancing economic policies. It's their own fault they are poor and if they continue listening to the Pope, Mbeki and Greenpeace they will always remain poor.

...

On Wednesday, August 8 a unique march for capitalism took place in Johannesburg. As mentioned in an earlier report the ANC government, which claims to represent poor blacks, pushed all the poor blacks out of the Summit area and they were angry. They make a living selling on the streets and they were forbidden from doing that. Street hawkers in Johannesburg had long been working with the Free Market Foundation. In addition many market oriented groups like the Liberty Institute of India, the Sustainable Development Network and others were also working with the FMF.

...

This time it was different. Far more different than first meets the eye. You had to read the signs these poor people were carrying to understand how much their message contrasted with that of affluent protesters from the Northern Hemisphere. If you stepped in front of the man with slivers of leather attached to his feet you'd see his sign said: "Trade Not Aid."

The marchers in this protest were mainly poor, virtually all black, and mostly women. They were street traders and farmers. Without fail everyone had a sticker saying: "Freedom to Trade."

Farmers from India marched side by side with Zulu women wearing T- shirts saying: "Biotechnology for Africa."

On the sideline the press and Summit delegates stood aghast. What do you say to poor people with signs reading: "Stop Eco-Imperialism" or "Save the Planet from Sustainable Development" or "Free Trade IS Fair Trade".

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