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Photo courtesy of moodaholic.

 
HRW Says Israel 'Failed' to Probe Gaza War Crimes
Original article “Last Friday, the UN chief received a 46-page report from Israel in which it denied violating international law but admitted "tragic results" due to the "complexity and scale" of fighting in heavily populated areas.”
“Unintended Consequences”: A Feature, Not a Bug
Original article “There’s a whole range of laws, originally passed for some noble-sounding and limited purpose, whose present function is mainly to allow government thugs to shop for a pretext to go after people they don’t like.  If you want to get somebody, you just look through the statute book (like Neo in the gun shop before the lobby scene) until you find some arcane law that’s tailor made for busting him.  There’s no such thing as too much of a stretch.”
Why Washington "Cares" About Honduras and Haiti
Original article “Why do they care so much about who runs these poor countries? As any good chess player knows, pawns matter. The loss of a couple of pawns at the beginning of the game can often make a difference between a win or a loss. They are looking at these countries mostly in straight power terms.”
When 70 Percent Support Marijuana Legalization, Starbucks Got The Message
Original article
The Terror-Industrial Complex
Original article “Terrorism, however, is a very good business. The number of extremists who are planning to carry out terrorist attacks is minuscule, but there are vast departments and legions of ambitious intelligence and military officers who desperately need to strike a tangible blow against terrorism, real or imagined, to promote their careers as well as justify obscene expenditures and a flagrant abuse of power.” 
Bettendorf School Officials Confiscate Student Newspaper
Original article
How Many More Are Innocent?
Original article “Most prosecutors fight requests for post-conviction DNA testing. That means the discovery of wrongful convictions is limited by the time and resources available to the Innocence Project and similar legal aid organizations to fight for a test in court.” 
The Right To A Fair Defense Cannot Be Controversial
Original article
U.S. Rule Directs Banks to Share Data Abroad
Original article “FinCEN, established in 1990 to provide and analyze financial intelligence, administers the Bank Secrecy Act. The act requires financial institutions to submit reports to the government aimed at preventing money laundering.”
Growing Cartilage: Bioactive Nanomaterial Promotes Growth of New Cartilage
Original article
Farmer to Loose Secret Castle
Original article “Robert Fidler constructed the mock-Tudor property without planning permission and put up the bales and a tarpaulin to hide it.”
Supreme Court Allows Corporations To Run For Political Office
Original article Satire.
Cognitive Dysfunction
Original article A photo blog.

In the DVD player: The Hurt Locker (intense, recommended), The Taking of Pelham 123 (recommended), Angels & Demons (excellent!), American Teen (recommended), Twilight (recommended), 3:10 to Yuma (excellent), My Flesh and Blood (should see), Coach Carter (recommended), The Guardian (recommended), Frontline: Ten Trillion and Counting (recommended), Frontline: The Madoff Affair (MUST SEE), Taxi to the Dark Side (MUST-MUST SEE), Frontline: Hand of God (MUST SEE), The Tunnel (recommended), Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (MUST SEE), Defiance (strongly recommended), Frontline: Ghosts of Rwanda (MUST SEE), The Heart of the Game (highly recommended),Downfall (highly recommended), Frontline: Inside the Meltdown (recommended), White Light, Black Rain (strongly recommended), Rendition (highly recommended), Religulous (recommended), The Ground Truth (highly recommended), I.O.U.S.A. (highly recommended), The Wire, Seasons 1-5 (highly recommended); see recommended movies 

On the nightstand: Wall Street Revalued by Andrew Smithers and Anatomy of the Bear by Russell Napier

Playing on Pandora or on Songza or in iTunes: The Ocean by The Bravery.

 

Creeping Totalitarianism
8.66667
Alex Schroeder 2010-02-01 03:00
Exclusive to STR   In the past decade, public smoking bans in America have become increasingly commonplace; governmental efforts to institute such bans often prove successful, primarily because the majority of Americans do not smoke. In other words, the majority can only gain from such legislation. Supporters reason that they should not have to inhale second-hand smoke every time they...
Timing Is Everything
8.66667
Bill Butler 2010-02-01 03:00
Exclusive to STR Time preference is an economic concept that compares time in relation to an individual’s need for material gratification. Time preference is a comparison, not a measurement. Time preference is immeasurable because it is, by definition, subjective. That is, each individual has a different time preference and each individual’s time preference can change...
Valor and Discretion
9
tzo 2010-02-01 03:00
Exclusive to STR   Once upon a time I worked a second shift job and regularly walked home from the train station during the later hours of the evening. One night as I was making my way home, a police cruiser pulled up alongside me and the officer asked me where I was headed. I said I was going home, and he then asked me where that might be. I gave him the name of my street, and with that he...
Governor of Virginia Embraces Romans 13:1-7
7.33333
Robert L. Johnson 2010-01-29 03:00
 Exclusive to STR   Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s newly elected governor and graduate of televangelist Pat Robertson’s RegentUniversity, said at a prayer breakfast before his inauguration that he looks at his political career and being governor as a ministry.  He also said, “For a ruler to be just and to be fair and to have the wisdom needed in order to do right for...
Love and Freedom in Avatar
8
Glen Allport 2010-01-25 03:00
Exclusive to STR [Spoilers ahead] A month after its opening, “Avatar” has brought in more than $1.8 billion worldwide and is still packing theaters, which suggests that it may become the first film to pull in $2 billion or more.   There are many reasons “Avatar” is so popular – it is visually gorgeous and inventive, it tells a good story, and the film's casting...
The Divine Right of Kings in Sheeple's Clothing
9.5
tzo 2010-01-21 03:00
  Exclusive to STR   The art of political discourse is the art of deception. Since government is, by definition, an unethical enterprise masquerading as an ethical organization, then whatever comes out of a politician's mouth or pen is necessarily meant to deceive his audience. Whatever the politician proposes is unethical in that it is based on aggression, and so the proper spin must...
Half Full
8
Jim Davies 2010-01-21 03:00
  Exclusive to STR   I've been re-reading a couple of excellent, recent articles on Strike The Root, each of which in its way predicts a gloomy future.   One is Glen Allport's "Year Ahead" and the other, Tzo's "Got Money?. Glen provides us as usual with a wealth of evidence to prove his point, piling one piece atop another until there can be no doubt of the message...
How to Survive Obamacare
8
Tamara Wilhite 2010-01-19 03:00
1. Get all necessary but schedulable treatment in before rationing kicks in. If you have needed a new hip or knee, rotator cuff injury or lazy eye treatment, have it done BEFORE the government can deny you the right to have the surgery. 2. Have all elective surgery and treatment done before the insurance mandates drive about 40% of doctors out of the profession. If you have been considering...
The State Will Never Win the Drug War
7
Bob Wallace 2010-01-19 03:00
Exclusive to STR   There are several reasons why the State will never win the Drug War, but one not often discussed is the Arndt-Schultz Law. It is a biological law that states, "Small doses stimulate, medium doses poison, and large doses kill."   Probably the best-known examples of this law are vaccines. They are small doses that stimulate the body's immune system to defend...
Sorry, Wendy and Lew
3.7
John deLaubenfels 2010-01-19 03:00
Exclusive to STR Because I send occasional feedback to libertarian-leaning websites, I tend to get added to their lists and solicited for donations.  Two such sites are WendyMcElroy.com and LewRockwell.com.  To each, when I'm asked to part with hard-earned cash, I write back saying that I cannot in good conscience donate to them because of their opposition to all forms of...

 

 

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