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But Wouldn't Warlords Take Over? by Robert Murphy [Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2005] On two separate occasions in the last couple of weeks, people have asked me a familiar question: “In a system of ‘anarcho-capitalism’ or the free-market order, wouldn’t society degenerate into constant battles between private warlords?” Unfortunately I didn’t give adequate answers at the times, but I hope in this article to prove the adage that later is better than never. APPLES AND ORANGES When dealing with the warlord objection, we need to keep our comparisons fair. It won’t do to compare society A, which is filled...

In the wake of criticism about a Fourth of July parade float that depicted a bloody, dog-leashed Osama bin Laden being pulled along by Uncle Sam, many local residents expressed their concern. Ed Miller of Valparaiso said he was watching the Chesterton parade Monday from inside Flannery’s Tavern, located downtown along the parade route on Calumet Road, when the float, sponsored by the Supporters of the Military, went by. “I thought it was terrible,” Miller said. “It was inappropriate, especially with the blood on it. The parade is really a children’s event in a small town like this. It opens...

Communists host meet on religion Author: Susan Webb People's Weekly World Newspaper, 04/28/05 13:46 DES MOINES, Iowa — “The word of God and communism are hand in hand,” said Diana Sowry, a school bus driver from Ashtabula County, Ohio. She was one of a group of clergy and lay people participating in a conference on religion sponsored by the Communist Party USA here April 15-16. Sowry is a union activist and also active in her church, where she sings in the choir. She feels communists and others who are working to defeat the ultra-right and advance peace, social and economic...

A pro-US weblog by three Iraqi brothers has become the unlikely setting for a huge web spat after conspiracy theorists alleged it was a fake. Iraq the Model, a weblog detailing the more positive aspects of the US-led occupation of the country, is one of the most popular Iraq sites on the web. But some anti-war activists said it was a CIA-sponsored propaganda tool. The brothers strongly denied the claims, but the row has led to severe ructions in the online Iraq community. 'Positive message' The blog, written by Baghdad-based brothers Mohammed and Omar, who are dentists, and doctor Ali,...

The Chomsky Debate HBO | November 10, 2004 This transcript is from HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, Episode 43, which aired November 5, 2004. Guests: linguist and political analyst Noam Chomsky, comedian D.L. Hughley, columnist Andrew Sullivan, and former U.S. Representative Pat Schroeder. MAHER: Okay. Earlier today, I spoke with Professor Noam Chomsky, who teaches linguistics and philosophy at MIT. His latest book is Hegemony or Survival. I told him earlier, I have never had a guy requested more of me in 12 years of doing two shows. I swear to God, every kid wants Noam Chomsky. And we...

There is little in John Kerry’s persona or platform that appeals to conservatives. The flip-flopper charge—the centerpiece of the Republican campaign against Kerry—seems overdone, as Kerry’s contrasting votes are the sort of baggage any senator of long service is likely to pick up. (Bob Dole could tell you all about it.) But Kerry is plainly a conventional liberal and no candidate for a future edition of Profiles in Courage. In my view, he will always deserve censure for his vote in favor of the Iraq War in 2002. But this election is not about John Kerry. If he were to...

Fraudulent Prime Ministers, Documents and Polls by Michael I. Niman, ArtVoice (etc.) 9/30/04 Forgery-Gate & Forgotten Truths This is par for the course. Earlier in the week, the corporate media was abuzz with allegations that CBS News’ story about Bush’s National Guard service (or lack thereof) was based on forged documents. In the ensuing frenzy, the media spun the AWOL Bush as a victim of a nasty slander campaign. In reality, however, the CBS story only echoed earlier reports broken, without relying on questionable documents, by The Boston Globe and The Nation. Their stories, based on recently released government documents...

Last weekend's hatefest in New York City, in which John Kerry endorsed the vicious attack of Hollywood hacks on the Commander-in-Chief, provides a sad portent of things to come. Leftist hate group MoveOn.org announced last week that it has enlisted the help of the Hollywood elite in its partisan campaign to smear the president and stigmatize America’s War on Terror. According to a Time magazine story (“I’m Rob Reiner, and I Approve This Ad”), such Hollywood powerhouses as Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, Rob Reiner, “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin, Ed Asner, Danny Glover, Al Franken, the ubiquitous Kevin...

A gasp of disbelief, a sad shake of the head and a feeling of general disgust. That's how San Marcos residents reacted Saturday morning at the sight of graffiti spray-painted on the still under construction Hays County Veterans Memorial. Sometime overnight, someone used yellow spray paint to write "Kill Bush" on a section of the memorial where names of local veterans are displayed on a sloping wall. The same slogan, along with others, was repeated on the back of the memorial. "It's very disgusting," said Robert Guerrero, who served in Germany during the Vietnam era. "I have a lot of...

Cho-time for Moby vs. Drudge Activist rocker Moby is leading a jihad against cybergossip Matt Drudge, blaming him for inciting "far right-wingers" who sent abusive and racist E-mails to comedian Margaret Cho. On his Web site and in private messages to friends, Moby has been claiming that Drudge "took out of context" Cho's stream of anti-Republican invective - intended as comedy shtick - during last week's moveon.org awards show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. "I was outraged," Moby told me. "Everyone knows that Margaret's comedy is very irreverent and Lenny Bruce-style confrontational, and Matt Drudge took it out of context and...

You won't be seeing any video of Howard Dean's x-rated, epithet-ridden New York fund-raiser because Team Dean made sure to bar the TV cameras. Which suggests they expected trouble. Maybe it was the same foresight that inspired Dean to seal his records as Vermont governor for 10 years because of worries, as he put it in a moment of candor to Vermont public radio, about "future political considerations. We didn't want anything embarrassing appearing in the papers at a critical time in any future endeavor." So there were no TV cameras last Monday night when pro-Dean comics took the stage...

Now that the battle for Baghdad is all but won, it may be time to clear up a few things. First: Those who thought it a bad idea for America to launch what was the moral equivalent of unilateral war on Iraq have nothing to apologize for. It's necessary to say this because the polls -- in America and elsewhere -- have been showing more and more support for the American effort. Are all these people changing their minds about the rightness of the war? Some of them, no doubt. But what seems a more reasonable conclusion is not that...

<p>San Francisco -- The four co-sponsors of Sunday's anti-war rally in San Francisco are wildly different umbrella groups united for the day by their opposition to war in Iraq -- and their desire to attract the broadest trail of supporters.</p>