33) Will Bush cancel the 2008 election?
Common Dreams
by Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis
"It is time to think about the 'unthinkable.' The Bush Administration
has both the inclination and the power to cancel the 2008 election. The
GOP strategy for another electoral theft in 2008 has taken clear shape,
though we must assume there is much more we don't know. But we must also
assume that if it appears to Team Bush/Cheney/Rove that the GOP will
lose the 2008 election anyway (as it lost in Ohio 2006) we cannot ignore
the possibility that they would simply cancel the election. Those who
think this crew will quietly walk away from power are simply not paying
attention. The real question is not how or when they might do it. It's
how, realistically, we can stop them." (07/31/07)
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/31/2874/
21) Report: Ohio trashed 2004 election records
AlterNet
"In 56 of Ohio's 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004
have been 'accidentally' destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve
them -- it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the
election was stolen. Ohio's Secretary of State and Attorney General are
engaged in settlement talks in the neighborhood association suit,
suggesting the voter suppression claims have merit. In contrast, the
case for Republican vote count fraud in the rural areas has been much
harder to prove, even as the certified vote count is problematic in some
counties. Compared to Ohio's Democratic urban core, turnout in the
Republican districts was higher than the 2000 election. Moreover, in a
handful of counties there were vote count anomalies that made
post-election observers question whether Bush's vote was padded."
(07/31/07)
http://www.alternet.org/story/58328/?page=3
27) "To punish and enslave"
LewRockwell.Com
by William Norman Grigg
"In all of the foregoing incidents we see the local police (and the SS,
collaborating with the local police) acting as enforcers of political
orthodoxy, rather than defenders of persons and property. They were
acting as the security 'Organs' of the Regime, not as peace officers
defending the rights of peaceful, law-abiding citizens. It's not
difficult to imagine how the incidents described above would be
perceived had they occurred in Venezuela or Iran -- and in those
benighted countries, incidents of this sort (and others much worse than
these) are common. The point, of course, is that things of this sort are
becoming common here, where they should never happen at all." (08/01/07)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w28.html
48) The politics of prohibition
Reason
by Don Boudreaux
"The standard, schoolbook history of alcohol prohibition in the United
States goes like this: Americans in 1920 embarked on a noble experiment
to force everyone to give up drinking. Alas, despite its nobility, this
experiment was too naive to work. It soon became clear that people
weren't giving up drinking. Worse, it also became clear that Prohibition
fueled mobsters who grew rich supplying illegal booze. So, recognizing
the futility of Prohibition, Americans repealed it in 1934. This popular
belief is completely mistaken." (07/31/07)
http://www.reason.com/news/show/121674.html
44) Centenarian told to wait 18 months for care
Classically Liberal
by CLS
"There is something absurd in a system that asks a woman who is 108
years old to wait another year and a half for a hearing aid. In essence
they are denying her the hearing aid. Certainly they are aware that her
ability to wait that long is highly doubtful. No socialized system of
health care has been able to get around the rationing issue. When
consumption of health care is not directly paid by the consumer the
demand for health care will always exceed the supply. And every
nationalized system tries to ration in one way or another." (07/31/07)
51) Hurricanes and hot air
Independent Institute
by William M. Gray
"Some scientists, journalists and activists see a direct link between
the post-1995 upswing in Atlantic hurricanes and global warming brought
on by human-induced greenhouse gas increases. This belief, however, is
unsupported by long-term Atlantic and global observations. Consider, for
example, the intensity of U.S. land-falling hurricanes over time --
keeping in mind that the periods must be long enough to reveal long-term
trends. During the most recent 50-year period, 1957 to 2006, 83
hurricanes hit the United States, 34 of them major. In contrast, during
the 50-year period from 1900 to 1949, 101 hurricanes (22% more) made
U.S. landfall, including 39 (or 15% more) major hurricanes." (07/26/07)