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TDV Week in Review December 2nd, 2012

Bradley Manning will go down in history as a hero. Manning is like a tiny, white version of Nelson Mandela. But like the vile and charming serpentine dictator that he is, Barack Obama has let his military keep Private Manning locked away in a deep, dark dungeon for the past two and a half years, mostly in solitary confinement. The punishment has been medieval in its cruelty and entirely undeserved.

Actually, let me amend that. The punishment is undeserved in any objective moral sense. In the eyes of the inherently wicked and violent state, however, I'm sure Bradley Manning got exactly what he had coming. Obama has defended the prolonged solitary confinement – which research has proven to be severe psychological torture – and forced nudity. You know, the kind of barbaric stuff you can expect from the government.

Statists, particularly of the “liberal” bent, have this idea that government can be kind, that if only the right people (Democrats and various stripes of Socialists) can be elected, then government can run all our lives like a kind mommy, trying to make sure we're clothed and fed and dispensing violence – at home and abroad – only reluctantly and then never spitefully.

Yet here we have a Democratic president letting the mask slip and reminding us that the state is always the state. No matter whether it's wearing Daddy's Republican gunbelt or Mommy's Democratic power pantsuit. I guess it's hard to keep up the facade when someone pisses you off and embarrasses you the way the whistle-blowing Bradley Manning has.

Now the state will try to twist Manning's bold act of exposing its bumbling hypocrisy and gleeful murder into an act of terrorism. Military prosecutors say they won't seek the death penalty. They just want to lock Bradley Manning away forever. I wish I could honestly say that I would take Manning's place, but I'm not sure that I'm that strong or that tough. I don't know if I would have done what he did...though I have to point out that I wouldn't have joined the military or any branch of the government in the first place. And I also think it's a much better idea to make bold moves against a corrupt empire when you're not living in its midst, though sometimes I suppose it's just unavoidable.

I'm not religious, so I can't offer a prayer for Bradley Manning. But he has my best wishes and my admiration. I wish I could spirit him away on our “underground railroad”, but I fear it may be a little too late.

Regards,

Editor, The Dollar Vigilante

Well, December is here and the end of 2012 is well within our grasp—unless, of course, the Mayans were right and existence as we know it ends on December 21st. But, we trust you’ll see December 22nd and beyond. Why? Well, the Mayans didn’t have TDV to help them see the way.

Here’s what we wrote about this week…

MONDAY, November 26

How Much is That Dildo in the Window?

Yes, you read that headline correctly. The indefatigable Jim Karger goes gonzo and brings us word from the road of Black Friday and the consumer chaos in the USSA.

“Last night I reached into my coat pocket for the phone and came out with six dozen receipts. What I bought I can't remember, but that was my credit card number and those were my signatures. Even now, after days of what appears to have been an uncontrolled buying orgy, my SUV stands still and silent on this highway, stuffed with all manners of stuff, a monument to ugly human consumption. It isn't surprising that shopping is now a recognized addiction in the Diagnostic Manual of Psychological Disorders. I will add it to my other notable afflictions.”

TUESDAY, November 27

Anti-Business US Government Puts a Stop to Intrade Making US Customers Happy

Jeff Berwick on the impending death of online trading exchange website, Intrade.

“Reports have been swirling around about the death of another business at the hands of a US government agency. While those reports weren't totally true, as usual, the US Government has squashed any attempt by unfree US citizens to do what they want. Intrade is still alive and kicking (although it probably wouldn't be if it was based in the US), minus its US customers...for now anyway. As of December 23, 2012, all US accounts with Intrade will be suspended thanks to the meddling of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).”

WEDNESDAY, November 28

The “Flee California Now” Proposition

Wendy McElroy on why it’s time to get out of California before the state gets your money out of you.

“The money grab is supposed to finance public schools and community colleges. But nothing stops politicians from draining existing “school money” and replacing it with Prop 30 funds. Where would the drained dollars go? An editorial in the Wall Street Journal commented sharply, 'California Governor Jerry Brown is trying to sell his tax hike to voters...by saying it will go to schools. The dirty little secret is that the new revenue is needed to backfill the insolvent teacher's pension fund.' An April actuarial report showed that teachers' pension contributions would have 'to increase by about 68% to pay down its $65 billion unfunded liability over the next 30 years.' But the increase would make Big Labor turn against the Democrats. And, so, the private sector is looted again to feed the beast of public sector unions. Or more accurately, California's private sector per se wasn't looted; it was California's wealthy. At the same time Prop 30 was passed, Prop 38 was defeated. Prop 38 would have increased the state tax rate for most Californians and not just the bitterly resented rich.”

THURSDAY, November 29

The Internet Just Became a Dangerous Place

In an excerpt from TDV’s weekly Dispatch, Jeff Berwick considers where to once utopic anarchy of the Internet has been spoiled by the hand of the state.

“In 1995 the Internet was completely anarchic. There were zero problems. According to the government and its media whores, however, the Internet would just become a medium for exchanging child pornography, identity theft and selling designer knockoffs without the wise guidance of the state.”

FRIDAY, November 30

Feedback Friday – November 30, 2012

Feedback Friday, your chance to ask TDV editors, contributors, and correspondents anything about our articles, our opinions, and the ongoing fight for your freedom. This week: What’s going on in Alberta, Canada, and where to go, Chile or Acapulco?

Comment (1)

MoT (not verified) - 23 weeks 21 hours ago

Bradley Manning's tale reminds me of something I just found out the other day. There just so happened to be a man by the name of Tyler Kent who, in 1940 at the American Embassy in London, discovered secret messages between Churchill and Roosevel, and feeling the American public should know about it tried to get the documents out in the open but was caught, tried in secret, and held in jail until the end of the war. Sound familiar? All prior to WW2 hitting it big. Now that should make everyone nervous.