Each star marks a US military base, but just so we're all clear: Iran is threatening us; we're not threatening them.

GREAT LIBERTARIANS

Henry David Thoreau

"Thoreau" redirects here. For other uses, see Thoreau (disambiguation).

Henry David Thoreau
Maxham daguerreotype of Henry David Thoreau made in 1856
Full name	Henry David Thoreau
Born	July 12, 1817 Concord, Massachusetts
Died	May 6, 1862 (aged 44) Concord, Massachusetts
Era	19th century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Transcendentalism
Main interests	Natural history, Unitarianism
Notable ideas	Abolitionism, tax resistance, development criticism, civil disobedience, conscientious objection, direct action, environmentalism, anarchism, simple living

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) (pronounced like the word thorough, with emphasis on the first syllable)^[1]^[2] was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

Romney's Tax Return: Really Nothing Unusual There. by Alan Reynolds

After the fuss that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich made over his rival's 2010 taxes, it turns out there was nothing in Mitt Romney's return that should have caught anyone by surprise. Not that any facts could possibly discourage political interests from fishing for shadowy insinuations.

Looking around for an objective tax analyst, the New York Times settled for Bill Burton, who happens to run an Obama Super PAC.
Mr. Burton claims Romney "has access to complicated legal maneuvers involving offshore accounts and retirement savings that simply are not available to everyday Americans." That is not so.
The assets of Mitt and Ann Romney have been held in blind trusts since 1993, leaving them with no choice about how or where the money is invested. Accounts in Bermuda or the Caymans would be suspicious only if the resulting interest income was not reported on the tax return — as it obviously was.

[T]ax rates on capital gains and dividends above about 20% damage the economy without raising more revenue.

Obama's Unwelcome Mat. by Mark A. Calabria

In his State of the Union address, President Obama let us know that he will be "sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates."

What he failed to tell us is that such a push would do nothing to turn around either the housing market or the broader economy. In fact, by continuing his trend of confusing redistribution of wealth with its creation, the effort will likely hurt both the economy and the housing market.
Let's start with the impact on the economy at large. The logic is that when you lower mortgage rates for thousands of families, reducing their monthly payments, you thereby increase disposable income and spending. That spending then increases demand and helps turn around the economy.
In other words, it's a no-cost stimulus.

Continued efforts to delay foreclosures only prolong the inevitable adjustment of the housing market.

Schools need choice, competition. Bob McTeer

Bryan/College Station Eagle

In my first legislative session as chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, I was so focused on getting "our fair share" of higher education funds that I barely noticed the important effort to introduce choice and competition into Texas public education. The failure of that effort is arguably more detrimental to raising the educational achievement of Texans in the long run than the failure to approve tuition revenue bonds for needed university building programs.
Choice and competition work wonders. It wasn't that long ago that the introduction of high-quality Hondas and Toyotas into the U.S. market not only broadened the choices available to American consumers, but ultimately improved Ford and Chevrolet quality as well.

The Evil 1%. by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

The "occupy" protest movement is thriving off the claim that the 99% are being exploited by the 1%, and there is truth in what they say. But they have the identities of the groups wrong. They imagine that it is the 1% of highest wealth holders who are the problem. In fact, that 1% includes some of the smartest, most innovative people in the country – the people who invent, market, and distribute material blessings to the whole population. They also own the capital that sustains productivity and growth.

The Obama Regime Has No Constitutional Scruples. by Paul Craig Roberts

During an interview with RT on December 1, I said that the US Constitution had been shredded by the failure of the US Senate to protect American citizens from the detainee amendment sponsored by Republican John McCain and Democrat Carl Levin to the Defense Authorization Bill. The amendment permits indefinite detention of US citizens by the US military. I also gave my opinion that the fact that all but two Republican members of the Senate had voted to strip American citizens of their constitutional protections and of the protection of the Posse Comitatus Act indicated that the Republican Party had degenerated into a Gestapo Party.

The Next War on Washington’s Agenda. by Paul Craig Roberts

Only the blind do not see that the US government is preparing to attack Iran. According to Professor Michel Chossudovsky, “Active war preparations directed against Iran (with the involvement of Israel and NATO) were initiated in May 2003.”
Washington has deployed missiles directed at Iran in its oil emirate puppet states, Oman and the UAE, and little doubt in the other US puppet states in the Middle East. Washington has beefed up Saudi Arabia’s jet fighter force. Most recently, Washington has deployed 9,000 US troops to Israel to participate in “war games” designed to test the US/Israeli air defense system. As Iran represents no threat unless attacked, Washington’s war preparations signal Washington’s intention to attack Iran.

The Post—9/11 Roundup of Innocents. by James Bovard

Many Americans have been lulled into a false sense of security by the end of the George W. Bush administration. In reality, the government continues to pose grave perils to people's rights and liberties. And it could take only one shocking incident for the government to once again show its heavy-handed ways.

Prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks, the dark side of the Bush administration was barely evident. But within days after those attacks, the government seized almost any conceivable excuse to lock up anyone it chose to target. At a time when many people are lowering their guard against Leviathan, we should recall how quickly the government razed restraints on its power.

A Lethal Hypocrisy

Bill Clinton on Violence and Government

By JAMES BOVARD

Yesterday, on the fifteenth anniversary of the attack on the federal office building in Oklahoma City, former President Bill Clinton had an op-ed in the New York Times headlined: “Violence is Unacceptable in a Democracy.” The article settles any doubts about whether Clinton was one of the most talented demagogues of modern times.
Casting a net of collective guilt over much of the 48 contiguous states, Clinton announced that the 1995 bombing was the fault of people who believed “that the greatest threat to American freedom is our government, and that public servants do not protect our freedoms, but abuse them.” People who distrusted government helped echo ideas which somehow persuaded “deeply alienated and disconnected Americans” to carry out the attack.

Tea Party Vindicators: I Am a Traitor, Communist, Nazi, and Racist. by James Bovard

The Christian Science Monitor ran an article of mine on the Tea Party last Friday. The article opened, "Many ‘tea party' activists staunchly oppose big government, except when it is warring, wiretapping, or waterboarding." It concluded, "America needs real champions of freedom — not poorly informed Republican accomplices."
Many Tea Party supporters posted rebuttals to the piece on the web. Here is a sampling of how they vindicated their cause (taken from Yahoo.com).

Mark: None of the author's comments can withstand a fair and open debate. If one was to fairly generalize the character of the Tea Party protesters it is the opposite of this propagandist's flawed spin. The protesting Tea Party bunch are mostly informed and above average educated. Exactly what the continued good health of a successful democracy requires.

MichaelA: A truly socialist article. I thought Christian Scientists were conservative. What a shock. Traitors

GBM : more liberal racist crap

Paul: The "Christian" Science Monitor is so far LEFT that what they have to say is as meaningful and valuable as the trash I set out for pickup once a week!!

Ragnar: Just another dihonest bit of editorializing nothing new to see here just move on everyone

Ed: Just ready Michael Savage's book, "liberalism is a mental disorder" get off your lazy buts and get a job or open a business and stop mooching off the government.

D.D: I wonder if Mr. Bovard is part of the 50% who pay no income tax?

JamesM : The Report of this artical built a straw man and put words in the straw mans mouth. Of course our reproter won the argument with his straw man. I saw no resemblance between this reporter's straw man, and the Tea Party.

Who Commissioned Us to Remake the World?. by Patrick J. Buchanan

U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, Obama's man in Moscow, who just took up his post, has received a rude reception. And understandably so.
In 1992, McFaul was the representative in Russia of the National Democratic Institute, a U.S. government-funded agency whose mission is to promote democracy abroad.
The NDI has been tied to color-coded or Orange revolutions such as those that dethroned regimes in Serbia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Lebanon. The project miscarried in Belarus.

Gingrich offers the same false choices as liberals

By D.A. King

Illustration by John Camejo for The Washington Times

Nobody should be surprised that Newt Gingrich’s immigration enforcement position has devolved from his unworkable gibberish of November down to the Bush-Kennedy-McCain “guest-worker” amnesty schemes of the last decade he has been trying to camouflage.

Another million dead. Roe v. Wade anniversary marks social failure

an. 22 marked the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade and corresponding abdication of social responsibility. The March for Life and other pro-woman and pro-life groups commemorated the day as they have every year since 1974, with vigils and gatherings across the country and a march from downtown Washington, D.C., to the Supreme Court.
There is much to mourn in this anniversary. The loss of at least a million unborn children (most recent data recorded 1.21 million in 2008) is most prominent. But what this decision says about us as a nation comes in as a strong second: America does not support its women and children. Many abortions are the result of women trying to find their way out of bad situations, whether lack of partner support, no funds, no access to child care, the need to finish school in an environment that’s hostile to parenthood, fear of recriminations - the list goes on.

Posted by Ricardo Valenzuela at 7:42 A

LATICONOMICS

Sunday, January 29, 2012