-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The resignation of Jack Hunter, the social-media director of Sen. Rand Paul (R, Kentucky), also known by the moniker “Southern Avenger,” has brought to the surface a not insignificant minority who identify themselves as libertarians. This minority defends the Old South, the Southern cause, and the Confederacy. These Neo-Confederate libertarians claim to be anti-slavery and their arguments are a case study in cognitive dissonance.
Category: Politics
Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
One month before I was scheduled to begin my freshman year in College my mother died. My father had gone bankrupt in his automobile franchise the year before and was working as a car salesman. Money was tight, but I had won a full tuition scholarship under the New York State Regents Scholarship program. While tuition was not a problem, there would be other costs associated with College, such as books and various student fees. My father found out about New York State’s student loan program and signed me up for a low amount of money, with the understanding that he would repay it. Due to his business failure my father had no way to get credit in his own name. Ironically, one month before my sophomore year my father died. I was 18 years old and the only work I had ever done was as a “car jockey” at the dealership where my father worked. There was little money in my father’s estate and I soon had to start school. I upped my student loan to the maximum allowed so that I would have living expenses until I could get a job to support myself through my remaining college years. Within two months, still reeling from the effect of being orphaned, I had gotten a job as a Night Watchman in a municipal hospital and arranged my course schedule around it. I lived in a furnished room, with a bathroom in a common hall, but my life slowly began to normalize. Later I got a job as a Clerk/Delivery boy in a liquor store, working 35 hours a week after school and making $32.50 plus tips, using my own car. I managed to scrimp by with the aid of taking out the maximum available student loans each year. The loans under the program them were from a bank, guaranteed by New York State. After I graduated I got a job for $6,000 a year and tried to pull my financial head above water. Six months after graduation though, I was notified by the bank that my student loan was to start being repaid, at a fixed rate that to me was a hardship financially. I went to the bank to ask to restructure the deal so I would pay less each month and they refused. It turned out that the New York State Student Loan plan was set in such a way that if the borrower defaulted the State would pay the bank the full amount immediately and then go after the borrower. It was therefore in the bank’s interest to have the student default, since they would get their return much more quickly.
Flash to many years down the road and my two daughters going to college. I was forced to take out student loans for their education, but I made each of them the promise that I, not they, would pay it back. This was of course the result of my own experience and I considered it my duty. I paid off my oldest daughter’s debt and am now paying off my youngest daughter’s debt. On my fixed income this is difficult. Both of them are working with good jobs, however, I don’t want my children to go through what I went through and would prefer they are not burdened by the costs of their education. Incidentally, they both worked part time when they went through college, although in both instances I didn’t want them to have to do so and that is only a minor part of why I am so proud of them. Which leads me to what is going on today with the Federal Student Loan Program, which brings in a surplus of $184 billion for the Federal Government. Call me what you will, but I don’t think that government should be a profit making enterprise and I certainly believe that it is in all of our interests to educate our children. At least one Senator feels the same way. Continue reading “The Student Loan Problem”
I must admit to being a bit depressed this day about our country and what has come of principles and ethics among both our politicians and citizens. There seems to be a corruption not just of power but of spirit. The Weiner scandal this morning captures my angst perfectly. There literally does not appear a single redeeming character. You have Anthony Weiner aka Carlos Danger. Then you have the other half of the power couple, Huma Abedin, who assured everyone that she still believes in him while recent reports show a questionable salary arrangement with a Clinton-connected company. Then you have Ms. Leathers, one of the other women, who is actually denouncing Weiner as betraying her when she was helping him betray his wife. Then you have Democratic voters who still have Weiner in a close second place to be elected mayor of New York. If you wonder why our politicians treat us like chumps, just take a look at the Weiner scandal.
Continue reading “The Weiner Scandal: The Morality Play Without A Moral Or Redeeming Character”
While some Democratic voters continue to debate whether to support Anthony Weiner in the wake of additional sextexting to women (after he resigned from office), there has been attention drawn to the extraordinary deal given to his wife Huma Abedin, a close aide to Hillary Clinton. This town is infamous for such special deals but this one takes my breath away. It appears that Abedin, the deputy chief of staff at the State Department under Clinton while she was at the State Department, was granted status as a “special government employee” after the birth of her son in the midst of the scandal. That allowed her to continue to earn $135,000 as a government employee while also earning as much as $355,000 as a consultant for Teneo. You guessed it. Teneo Holdings happens to have former President Bill Clinton is a board member.
Continue reading “Weiner Scandal Focuses Attention On Lucrative Deal Given Huma Abedin”
The respected Foreign Policy magazine details how the recent close vote on the NSA warrantless surveillance program was heading to a victory for privacy when the White House called in Nancy Pelosi. With heavy pressure from Pelosi, the White House was able to get just enough votes to kill privacy. Even with her ignoble role in this vote (and prior work to reduce civil liberties), many democrats are still supporting Pelosi in what is now a robotic form of politics. As their leader takes an axe to privacy, Democrats are again adopting the mantra that the other guys are worse and she is still good on other issues — making privacy just another item to trade off as part of the blue state/red state paradigm maintained by our duopoly of government.
There is an interesting potential lawsuit brewing in Ohio over a Holocaust memorial that will feature a prominent Star of David on the Ohio Statehouse lawn. The memorial, designed by Daniel Libeskind, has been criticized as violation by the separation of church and state by civil libertarians. The case could present a perfect vehicle to explore the meaning of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Salazar v. Buono in 2010 where a sharply divided court allowed a cross to remain on public lands as a memorial for the dead of World War I.
For many years, there has been controversy over the funding of military chaplains and the preferences given certain faiths. The problem is that as much 23 percent of our military list no religious association or preference. While many simply have no religious association with a particular faith, some are agnostics, some are atheists, and some are generally humanists. It would seem logical to have some chaplains who can relate to those groups. However, members of Congress are irate and insist that chaplains must believe in a deity to be funded. They warm that humanist or secularist chaplains would be traumatizing dying soldiers about being “worm food” and dying without hope.
Continue reading “Congress Moves To Block Atheist Chaplains”
New York Democrats must have the weakest bench of leaders in the country. Otherwise, it is hard to see how two disgraced politicians in sex scandals could be leading in the polls to resume power. On one hand you have Elliot Spitzer who, while Governor, used call girls with regularity. He now appears to be praying himself into the comptroller’s office at churches and synagogues. Then you have Anthony Weiner who sent out disgusting pictures of his genitals to women, lied to the press and public, and engaged in conduct that would be at best considered sexual harassment and at worst stalking. Yet, he is leading in the polls for a race for mayor of New York. Now, Weiner is again before the public asking for forgiveness — this time for new pictures and messages sent after his resignation and the birth of his child by his ever forgiving wife. Some as recently as last summer. By the way, Weiner now appears to go under the nom de guerre of Carlos Danger. It is not clear if he will use that name as mayor or just use it when he sends women pictures of himself in various obscene poses.
Continue reading “Meet Carlos Danger: Man of Mystery and Messaging”
These are certain things that you will not easily find in U.S. media like Jimmy Carter declaring that we no longer have a functioning democracy in this country. Another is reading about Snowden as a whistleblower. The White House has been highly successful in telling media not to refer to Snowden as a whistleblower and enlisting various media allies to attack him as a clown and a traitor or mocking his fear of returning home. This week you had to read Moscow Times or other foreign sites (or a link on Reddit) to learn that Snowden has won this year’s Whistleblower Award established by German human rights organizations.
Continue reading “Snowden Is A Whistleblower . . . Just Not In The United States”
The American Civil Liberties Union seems a bit less unified in the aftermath of the Zimmerman acquittal. I remain a huge admirer of the ACLU and its inspiring legacy in fighting for civil liberties in America. I also have great respect for ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. However, the divisions evident on this civil liberties blog appears equally represented in that civil liberties institution. To the surprise of many, including myself, Romero sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that seemed to clearly invite a civil rights or hate crime prosecution of George Zimmerman. The ACLU however has long taken the view that such prosecutions violate the double jeopardy clause of the Constitution. When the federal government does not like the outcome of a high-profile case, it can use the very same facts to bring another prosecution under a different crime. After sending the letter, however, the ACLU staff appear to have objected and sent out a conflicting position that such successive prosecutions are violative of constitutional principles.
Continue reading “ACLU.2.0: ACLU Shifts Position On Civil Rights Action Against Zimmerman”
After a global outcry, Dubai has pardoned Norwegian Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24, who was sentenced to 16 months in prison after she reported her alleged rape by a colleague. The police allegedly asked her if she was just complaining because she did not like it and she was eventually convicted of having unlawful sex, making a false statement and illegal consumption of alcohol. The case highlights the abusive Sharia laws applied to women and the continuing barriers to countries like Dubai as they try to attract greater tourism and investment.
Continue reading “Dubai Pardons Alleged Rape Victim Sentenced For Having Sex Out of Wedlock”
Many civil libertarians around the world have rallied to support Clare Daly, Irish Parliament member of the United Left Alliance representing Dublin, after she challenged the prime minister and the reception given to President Barack Obama who she called a war criminal. The video of the speech is below. Daly called Obama the “hypocrite of the century” for lecturing children on peace while expanding drone attacks and funding civil wars around the world. Many in the United States particularly took note of her attack on the type of cult of personality surrounding Obama that seems detached from his horrendous record on civil liberties, privacy, and international law.
Continue reading “Irish Politician Calls Obama A War Criminal And Hypocrite In Parliament”
Submitted by Darren Smith, Guest Blogger
Does the US Government have rose colored glasses when it looks at itself administering justice for an individual after the demands of the public to instigate a prosecution are satisfied by an individual going to prison? One may look at a bit of history to see this more clearly. A chapter would be read by some in the case of Iva Toguri. Another might be that of George Zimmerman.
Continue reading “Seeing Justice Through Tokyo Rose Colored Glasses”
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
There has been a large volume of discussion on this blog concerning the loss of our personal liberties and constitutional freedoms. One of the most important of those “freedoms” that seem to be at risk is the Freedom of the Press, especially in light of recent events.
“Following the amendment of a long-standing U.S. law, people in this country will now be exposed to news which is produced by the U.S. government. On Jul. 2, a change to the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act, came into effect, reversing a ban on the State Department and U.S. international broadcasting agencies which had prevented them from disseminating their program materials within U.S. borders. The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the U.S. federal government agency which oversees all U.S. government-supported media internationally, notes that individuals residing in the U.S. will now have access to vast amounts of new information.” Nation of Change Continue reading “Is Freedom of the Press Dead?”
Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
As erudite and informed as I pretend to be, the fact is that there is much that is important that I either miss, or fail to see any significance in. The death of investigative reporter Michael Hastings showed me that because my first reaction to the news flash was “who is Michael Hastings?” Reading further into the story I discovered that he was the reporter who brought down General William McChrystal and that he was considered to be one of America’s premier investigative journalists. As I read that original story, the thought occurred to me that possibly Hastings’s death in an auto “accident” was not simply a case of reckless driving, but I initially dismissed that as merely the operation of my cynical mindset. Nevertheless, the thought nagged at the back of my consciousness and then I saw a story on http://whowhatwhy.com/ , my favorite investigative website, run by the renowned Russ Baker. The stories title: “The Michael Hastings Wreck-Video Evidence Offers a few Clues” http://whowhatwhy.com/2013/07/14/the-michael-hastings-wreck-video-evidence-offers-a-few-clues/
For my own benefit and perhaps yours, I’ve done a little research into who Michael Hastings was and what he did that deserves attention. I explore the possibility that his death was no accident. I admit that I have no proof beyond speculation. Hopefully I can give you enough information to make your own judgments. In a world where American Presidents openly arrogate to themselves the right to kill people deemed enemies of the United States, all things suddenly become possible. When the basic right of habeas corpus can be denied to American citizens, based upon unproven allegations of their being threats to this country, isn’t it possible for those with the power to detain and to eliminate individuals, to make decisions as to someone’s existence doing harm to this country? Finally, doesn’t this unconstitutional expansion of powers give individuals with government connections the leeway to take revenge on those who expose them? While I’m not privy to knowledge of the actions of those in power and can claim no inside information, I certainly can speculate based on the experience of my lifetime. This then is my speculation about the death and life of Michael Hastings in the context of current life in these United States. Continue reading “What Happened to Michael Hastings?”