End the War on Freedom

"A couple of years ago, a student of mine was beaten within an inch of his life while walking alone after midnight in downtown Durham, North Carolina. At first, the police thought he had been a victim of a hit-and-run incident that crushed several of his bones and punctured his lungs. He barely survived. Later, the police (realizing it was a bat that hit him, not a car) concluded (based on an outbreak of similar cases in the area) that he had probably been attacked by a minority gang that required the maiming or killing of a white person for initiation. What if the student, a criminal justice major, had been told the truth about inter-racial crime? What if his professors taught him that blacks -- though outnumbered six-to-one in the population by whites -- actually attack whites many times more often than whites attack them? Would white students be more likely to avoid minority neighborhoods while walking alone and late at night? More importantly, would this information save lives? ... [Are we] aware that blacks and other minorities actually do commit murder at a rate higher than whites? [Are we] aware that the victim of minority violence is usually a member of the same minority group-on average about four out of five occasions? ...[Are we] aware that several times in the past more blacks have been killed by other blacks in a single year than have been lynched by the Klan in the course of American history? Does the suppression of this information help minority criminals? Or does it hurt minority victims? If we were more honest and open about this topic, would we save lives?" -- Mike Adams

"It would be devastating to the egos of the intelligentsia to realize, much less admit, that businesses have done more to reduce poverty than all the intellectuals put together. Ultimately it is only wealth that can reduce poverty and most of the intelligentsia have no interest whatever in finding out what actions and policies increase the national wealth. They certainly don't feel any 'obligation' to learn economics, out of a sense of 'social responsibility,' much less because of any 'social contract' requiring them to know what they are talking about before spouting off with self-righteous rhetoric." -- Thomas Sowell

"Let's do a bit of analysis of efforts to assist the elderly, but let's use our brains instead of our hearts. According to a 2003 Housing Vacancy Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with the Current Population Survey, 42 percent of Americans 35 years of age owned their homes compared to 80 percent of those 55 and older. The bureau's May 2003 report, 'Net Worth and Asset Ownership of Households: 1998 and 2000,' shows that excluding home equity, the median net worth of householders 35 to 44 years of age was $44,000 and that of householders 70 to 74 years of age was $120,000. The bottom line is that seniors are far richer than their mid-life counterparts who are in the workforce paying income taxes. They're being taxed to care for those who are not only less likely to be in the labor force paying income taxes but are wealthier than they. That's a particularly perverse form of income redistribution." -- Walter Williams

From muth:

"No matter what you think of the inaccurate Newsweek item about flushing the Koran down a Guantanamo toilet, it's a mistake to say, as the White House does, that Muslims died because of it. Toilets don't kill people, fanatics do." -- Suzanne Fields

"Although he went down to a huge defeat in the 1964 presidential election, (Barry) Goldwater did as much as anybody to launch the modern conservative movement. Yet everywhere you look, the Republican Party is abandoning his principles." -- The Economist, 5/12/05

# I linked on Sunday to an article by "dalbright" entitled FINISHING 80% finished 1911 frames is simple. It appears likely that dalbright has gone by the name of "gunkid" and trolled many gun forums until banned. He joined clairefiles as "user", and was banned yesterday. Read this article with a very big grain of salt. It is likely completely bogus. [clairefiles]

# Encore4570 at Eurohacker Magazine - Why the Americans will not come to rescue Europe - and why Mr. Encore doesn't want us to.

The peoples of Europe should not hope for salvation being delivered from a deus ex machina aka Uncle Sam. Freedom is no thing that can be given, awarded, exported or purchased. Freedom is never a given thing. Freedom can only be taken and lived. If you want freedom to live, live it yourself, take it. Take your freedom, live your own life.

That may sound trivial, maybe, but sometimes the most heroic thing you can do is state the obvious. Freedom is proprietary to every individual. You can share your freedom, but you cannot borrow freedom from others. You can watch other people having sex, maybe, but you will never feel what they feel unless you participate. Watching other people eat does not feed you. In fact, it makes you even more feel your hunger. What is true for sex and food is twice as true for freedom. If you wait for other people to make you free, you will never be free. Nobody will set you free unless you do it. Nobody will ease your hunger unless you eat something.

# Eurohacker Magazine - Dear Johnny Asscroft - "An ode to former US Attorney General John Ashcroft, concocted by one angry Swedish teenager." Hehe.

# Old Horseman - Social Security... - a reminder of why social security should be ended, right now, no payouts for anyone ever again.

"An intergenerational Ponzi scheme." -- Ronald Reagan.

...

And, for those few who really do depend on their Social Security checks, that's just too bad... Seriously. Back when today's retirees were paying into Social Security, it didn't suck up all the money they should've invested in their future like it does for many of today's workers. What makes their piss-poor planning MY responsibility? Just because they were crooked enough to plan their future around the prospect of ROBBING my generation doesn't mean we have to bend over and grab our ankles for it.

The first thing that has to be done is to end Social Security. Drive a stake through its goddamned heart, saw off its head, stuff its mouth with wolfsbane, and burn it to fine ashes... That will leave great wads of cash in the hands of the people who earned it, so that they can spend it on their own futures.

# Scott Horton at Antiwar.com - Star Wars and the American Empire - what George Lucas' six movies have to teach us about the dying of the American Republic. [smith2004]

# Marilynn Marchione at Associated Press via Yahoo News - Scientists Say Sunshine May Prevent Cancer - as with lots of things, sunshine in moderation, without sunscreen, is good for you. [picks]

Many people aren't getting enough vitamin D. It's hard to do from food and fortified milk alone, and supplements are problematic.

So the thinking is this: Even if too much sun leads to skin cancer, which is rarely deadly, too little sun may be worse.

No one is suggesting that people fry on a beach. But many scientists believe that "safe sun" -- 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen -- is not only possible but helpful to health.

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