Mythsmasher

Repeating History?

2007-11-24T20:35:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx attributed to G. W. F. Hegel the dictum that "History repeats itself, the second time as farce." Today, we can say that on Broadway "Film and literature repeat themselves, the second time as musicals."

Drew Carey's TV Program On Eminent Domain Abuse

2007-11-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

Comedian and Libertarian Party member Drew Carey is hosting a series of Internet TV programs for the Reason Foundation, which publishes Reason magazine. Reason.tv now has its third program "National City: Eminent Domain Gone Wild." http://reason.tv/video/show/56.html)

The short program focuses on eminent domain in National City, California where a Community Youth Center diverting at-risk youth with its boxing program is threatened with removal by eminent domain abuse in order to install a luxury condominium development. To the rescue arrives the Institute for Justice (http://www.ij.org/), the libertarian public-interest law firm.

The show is interesting, informative and fast-paced. It may be my Internet connection but it was jumpy, requiring me to push the show along.

But it is well worth watching and giving careful consideration. As an eminent domain abuse activist and Libertarian, I heartily approve of its message. Today, we face the New York Regional Interconnect, the Atlantic Yards, Willets Point and Columbia's West Harlem eminent domain schemes. As usual, the public officials and developers lie.

Next year, Americans will elect a new president and Congress. New Yorkers will elect a new state legislature. Let all ask every candidate how they stand on eminent domain abuse and what they are going to do to eliminate it.

I will vote for Ron Paul (http://www.ronpaul2008.com/) in February 5th's New York GOP presidential primary, and will support Libertarian Party (http://www.lp.org/ and http://www.ny.lp.org/) candidates where they surmount New York's unfair and Byzantine ballot access election laws.

Responding To Newsday's "Dark Horses Keep Challenging Suffolk Executive"

2007-11-06T05:22:00.000-08:00

As usual, Newsday runs its condescending article covering minor party challengers to the old party establishment candidates "Dark Horses Keep Challenging Suffolk Executive." (Newsday, Oct 31, 2007 http://www.newsday.com/ ) Highlighted are Estelle Edwards from the Libertarian Party and Peter Busacca from the Integrity Party. This year, there is even less pretense of choice than usual. Suffolk voters will have a choice between: Steve Levy, Democrat; Steve Levy, Republican; Steve Levy, Independence; Steve Levy, Conservative; Steve Levy, Working Families. Some choice.

Did any readers notice how much space supposedly devoted to Busacca and Edwards was given over to Levy to respond? Maybe when there is an article quoting Levy, their quotes can be run as well. Naturally, as the incumbent Steve Levy is accorded pages of coverage by Newsday. Perhaps in between its coverage of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, Estelle Edwards as an exemplary hardworking woman could be given some space to present her views at length or a full fledged interview, if not both.

The slogan "A choice, not an echo" inspired many to engage in politics. A choice, not an echo can encourage participation in the elections.

Richard Cooper, former State Chair, Libertarian Party of New York http://www.ny.lp.org/ 2000-02, 2006-07
former Chair, Libertarian Party of Nassau County

Libertarian School Board Candidates In Partisan Race

2007-10-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

The City of Rochester is probably unique in New York State in having partisan elections for school board. They will be voting for four positions. The Libertarian Party is running two candidates, Christopher Edes and Max Kessler. The Republicans are running candidates but have not won a citywide election in Rochester in about 30 years. Two of their candidates didn't bother sending in the surveys to the Democrat and Chronicle daily newspaper.

Edes and Kessler plan to run spots on the main black-oriented radio station in Rochester. The "anytime" spots which run whenever the station decides are $45 each, while the most expensive advertiser-selected spots are about $90. At my suggestion, the State Committee voted to grant $100 each to Edes and Kessler. But they need more money NOW! If you can afford a contribution, please send one now to Edes and Kessler's separate campaign committees. Visit http://www.vote-for-chris.net/ and http://www.maxkessler.org/.

Please help Edes and Kessler now while there is still time. School choice is a message that needs to be heard in New York State.

Richard Cooper, former Chair Libertarian Party of New York www.ny.lp.org

Eminent Domain Activist & Suffolk County Executive Candidate Estelle Edwards

2007-10-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

If you live in Suffolk County, New York on beautiful suburban and rural Long Island, you will have the option this November to vote in the County Executive's race for Steve Levy-Democrat, Steve Levy-Republican, Steve Levy-Conservative, Steve Levy-Working Families. Did you want a real choice?

Estelle Edwards, shown in the middle of the three people in the photo above, is the candidate of the Suffolk Libertarian Party, which is the local affiliate of the Libertarian Party of New York http://www.ny.lp.org/ (call 516-767-4688).

She has been very active on eminent domain, travelling to New London in Connecticut and New Cassel in Nassau County for rallies against eminent domain abuse. On a bitter cold day, she came more than 50 miles from Riverhead to New Cassel when Senator Clinton and her fellow Democratic gang members such as North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy gathered to celebrate the successful robbery of the American taxpayers and property-owners such as St. Luke's Pentecostal Church.

She rejects eminent domain abuse and champions property rights, which is why she also opposes the elitist "open space" scheme and real estate transfer taxes, advocated by Levy and the repellent ideologue Richard Amper of the Pine Barrens Society. This scheme, coupled with the already burdensome zoning, rent control and permitting laws, will spell the death-knell for affordable housing in Suffolk County. Estelle Edwards is a low-income Suffolk resident, working as a house monitor in a shelter. Her days on Long Island may well be numbered if Levy and Amper have their way. Perhaps that is what they intended all along.

She says she hopes her campaign will attract people to support both Ron Paul (http://www.ronpaul2008.com/) and the Libertarian Party (http://www.ny.lp.org/ and http://www.lp.org/).

As a Nassau County resident and former Chair of the Libertarian Party of New York, I can only wish her well. If you live in Suffolk, please vote Estelle Edwards for Suffolk County Executive.

Pass The Bricker Amendment To The US Constitution

2007-09-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

Senate Joint Resolution 130, the "Bricker Amendment" to the Constitution was introduced in Febuary 1952 by the late US Senator John W. Bricker (Republican-Ohio)

Section 1. A provision of a treaty which conflicts with this Constitution shall not be of any force or effect.
Section 2. A treaty shall become effective as internal law in the United States only through legislation which would be valid in the absence of treaty.
Section 3. Congress shall have power to regulate all executive and other agreements with any foreign power or international organization. All such agreements shall be subject to the limitations imposed on treaties by this article.
Section 4. The congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Unfortunately, this legislation failed to be enacted due largely to the opposition of President Eisenhower, his Vice-President Nixon and the liberal establishment.

This legislation is still needed as the United Nations continues to endanger not just the liberties of Americans but all individuals in the world. We must defend individual liberty and American independence enshrined in the US Constitution from the parasites on the Potomac and the Hudson Rivers in Washington and New York City.

Vote for Ron Paul in the Republican primaries and join the Libertarian Party thereafter. Better late than never for the Bricker Amendment, but enact it before it is too late.

Replacing Attorney-General Gonzales

2007-08-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

My suggestions for replacing Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales, entitled "Bill of Rights Supporter Must Replace Attorney-General Gonzales" are to be found at http://www.groundreport.com/ in the Politics and Opinion sections.

Missing Q&A On Health & The 2008 Presidential Race

2007-08-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Missing Q&A On Health & The 2008 Presidential Race

Why don't the news media ask Ron Paul, the only physician running in the major party races for president, for his views on the problems of health care?

Why does Ron Paul not explicitly address the questions of health insurance, affordability of health care and the spiraling costs, especially for Medicare and Medicare? Instead he focuses on relatively minor aspects such as supplements. He could have much to say about how government intervention in health care since the American Medical Association was founded to secure such intervention has severely impacted the availability and affordability of medical care.
His insights on socialized medicine as both an Air Force flight surgeon who worked in a Veterans Administration hospital and as a physician in private practice would be invaluable.

See http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/health-freedom/

Contact Ron Paul and ask him to address the health care issues of affordability.
Contact the news media and ask them for Ron Paul's opinion on ALL health issues.

Ground Report

2007-08-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

I have started posting articles to http://www.groundreport.com/ which seeks to promote "citizen journalism." My most recent article is "A Child's Book of Eminent Domain."

Kenneth Branagh's "As You Like It"

2007-08-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

This HBO presentation of Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" reset the play in 19th century Japan with English adventurers running around at times in Japanese costume including samurai armor.

I liked it not and gave up after 20 excruciating minutes

Ron Paul on Property Rights & Eminent Domain

2007-07-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/property-rights-and-eminent-domain/

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says "We must stop special interests from violating property rights and literally driving families from their homes, farms and ranches.

Today, we face a new threat of widespread eminent domain actions as a result of powerful interests who want to build a NAFTA superhighway through the United States from Mexico to Canada.
We also face another danger in regulatory takings: Through excess regulation, governments deprive property owners of significant value and use of their properties — all without paying “just compensation.”
Property rights are the foundation of all rights in a free society. Without the right to own a printing press, for example, freedom of the press becomes meaningless. The next president must get federal agencies out of these schemes to deny property owners their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.We must stop special interests from violating property rights and literally driving families from their homes, farms and ranches.
Today, we face a new threat of widespread eminent domain actions as a result of powerful interests who want to build a NAFTA superhighway through the United States from Mexico to Canada.
We also face another danger in regulatory takings: Through excess regulation, governments deprive property owners of significant value and use of their properties — all without paying “just compensation.”
Property rights are the foundation of all rights in a free society. Without the right to own a printing press, for example, freedom of the press becomes meaningless. The next president must get federal agencies out of these schemes to deny property owners their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property."

I hope Ron Paul gets the GOP nomination. If not, I hope he will seek the Libertarian Party nomination.

When the Town of North Hempstead was using eminent domain to stomp on Rev. Fred Jenkins and St. Luke's Pentecostal Church in the hamlet of New Cassel next to Westbury, New York, the Nassau and New York Libertarians spoke out in their defense under my leadership. Ron Paul heard our voice and acted. He introduced legislation to bar the use of federal funds to seize houses of worship. His legislation was reintroduced as an amendment which passed the US House of Representatives on a voice vote. However, the housing bill it was attached to failed in the Senate.

A few years later, the groundbreaking was begun for the urban renewal scheme which took the church's land and demolished its building and that of other victims. There to take credit were US Senator and now presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, and Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman, together with other Democrat cronies.

The New Cassel urban renewal scheme handed over the property of the church and others to developers who have seen fit to give Kaiman and the North Hempstead Democrats substantial contributions as reported by Newsday. Of course, there is no connection. The land will supposedly become a bank and a chain drugstore.

One of the properties was built in such a substandard way that the still uncompleted building is already sinking.

When it comes to eminent domain, we know where Ron Paul and Hillary Clinton stand. What about the others?

Richard Cooper, former Chair Libertarian Party of New York

Senator Schumer's New York Disconnect

2007-07-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn http://www.dddb.net/php/latestnews_Linked.php?id=854 reports that Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) takes an inconsistent position on eminent domain. He supports the Atlantic Yards Nets Arena scheme in Brooklyn, while opposing the New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) upstate. The New York Regional Interconnect would impose power lines on property-owners across a swath of central and western New York to provide a power link from upstate to downstate New York. The Libertarian Party of New York http://www.ny.lp.org/ opposes both schemes.

As a Libertarian and property rights activist, I certainly do not support the NYRI eminent domain, but it would be easier to justify as being for the public good than the corporate sports welfare and office/apartment real estate development involved in the Atlantic Yards Nets Arena.

Why would Schumer oppose NYRI and support Atlantic Yards? It should be obvious that private property rights, the market economy and individual liberty are not supported by Schumer and his odious philosophy. Let us summarize Schumerism. "Government will support voting blocs essential to electing Schumer and his allies."

Who opposes Atlantic Yards? Libertarians, Greens and a few thousand Brooklynites. Other than Libertarians and Greens no one outside Brooklyn even realizes that they get to pay for developer Bruce Ratner and his Forest City Ratner Firm. Who supports Atlantic Yards? Mayor Bloomberg, Borough President Marty Markowitz, the labor unions, the city's major dailies, various elected officials and the poverty racketeers of ACORN.

Who opposes New York Regional Interconnect? Property-owners, elected officials, environmentalists, Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, Independents, Libertarians, Greens etc.

By supporting Atlantic Yards, Schumer antagonizes a few thousand Democrats and independents who are unlikely to go Republican. Not that there was a choice. GOP candidates for governor John Faso and William Weld curried favor with Bloomberg by endorsing Atlantic Yards. By opposing NYRI, Schumer deprives the Republicans of an issue to galvanize upstaters.
This is a simple matter of arithmetic. Brooklynites are taken for granted because important Schumer Democrat coalition members are on board with Atlantic Yards and a few defections are insignificant.

Voters need to send a message and vote Libertarian.

Richard Cooper

Atlantic Yards House of Cards To Collapse?

2007-07-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

From the New York Times July 1, 2007Official Sees Possible Risk in Big Project in Brooklyn By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and ANDY NEWMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/nyregion/01yardsxx.html

"Ever since it was proposed, the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn has simultaneously been the borough’s biggest, most controversial and least understood real estate development.
Critics have long suggested that the project is a taxpayer-subsidized bonanza for the developer, the project’s promised jobs and subsidized housing a kind of Trojan horse for the thousands of high-end apartments that come with them. But the developer, Forest City Ratner, and state officials overseeing the project have resisted divulging much information about the project’s financial structure, confining those criticisms to the realm of speculation.

That debate may be revived because of a lawsuit that has wrung free hundreds of pages of internal documents from the Empire State Development Corporation, the state agency overseeing the project. An analysis of the documents suggests that the Atlantic Yards behemoth — 8 million square feet of apartments, offices, stores and an arena planned for 22 acres near Downtown Brooklyn — may in fact be a delicate beast."

Another interesting report from Nicholas Confessore of the Times.

What does anyone really expect to result from eminent domain, corporate welfare, sports welfare and government involvement in economic planning and economic development? Why should this suprise anyone? Where were they when Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard and many other libertarian economists examined these questions?

Millions of dollars of taxpayer's money and acres of private property will be taken from their rightful owners and given to Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards alias the Nets Arena, thanks to the veiled fist of government in New York City and State. Is it really suprising that rosy predictions underly this attempt to gain wealth through government rather than the market? If you substitute government planning for the market, then you distort economic decisionmaking. It is not enough to stop legalized theft such as Atlantic Yards. Let us abandon the failed notions of government planning and subsidy of economic development.

Abolish the Empire State Development Corporation and its local municipal counterparts.

Defend property rights. Support the Institute for Justice (http://www.ij.org/) and Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn (http://www.dddb.net/). Follow the story at http://www.nolandgrab.org/.

Remember that this legalized theft is done at the expense of taxpayers, property owners, and tenants in the name of the people.

Remember, that the New York Times is a partner of Forest City Ratner in the scheme I called Time$cam.

Dump Bloomberg, Markowitz and Spitzer. Vote Libertarian.

Richard Cooper, former Chair of the Libertarian Party of NY (2000-02, 2006-07) www.ny.lp.org

July 4th 2007 Celebration

2007-07-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Declare your independence. Vote Libertarian. Join the Libertarian Party. Contribute to Libertarian parties and candidates. Sign Libertarian candidate petitions.

http://www.lp.org/ and http://www.ny.lp.org/

Richard Cooper, former Chair Libertarian Party of NY

What Job For Tony Blair?

2007-06-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Tony Blair has stepped down as leader of Britain's Labor Party and as Prime Minister.
President Bush suggested that he become a mediator for Mideast peace.

In my view, the best job for Blair would be the next Dr. Who.

A Novel About Slavery

2007-06-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

I just finished the novel A Known World by Edward P. Jones which examines freed blacks who owned slaves in the South before the Civil War. Set in the fictional town and county of Manchester, Virginia it focuses on Henry Townsend, who was redeemed from slavery but remains mentally enthralled by his former master, William Robbins. The richest man in the county, Robbins mentors him in the ways of planters and slaveowners.

There is a scene which would be intensely cinematic. Henry's father, Augustus, bought him out of slavery. Henry visits his parents and mentions that he has purchased his first slave. His father is enraged and bids him depart. Augustus swore that no slaveowner would set foot on his property. Before Henry leaves, Augustus takes one of the ornately carved canes with African influence that he makes for a living. He brings it down on his son's shoulder. "That is what it feels like to be a slave." The son seizes the cane and snaps it in half. "That is what it feels like to be a master."

The novel is interesting and the characters develop naturally. I found somewhat annoying the jumping back and forth in time, although I understand Jones's view that slavery affected the decades and century which followed its demise.

It is worth reading.

Romania's Revolution Against Communism Hits The Screen

2007-06-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

The veteran New York Times foreign correspondent Alan Riding has written a fascinating report "Cameras Were Ready; The Revolution Wasn’t" http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/movies/03ridi.html?_r=1&ref=movies&oref=slogin on Corneliu Porumboiu's new film " “12:08 East of Bucharest,”" which depicts the downfall of Ceaucescu's Communist regime in one provincial town. It shows a fictional commemoration of the revolution on its 16th anniversary in which locals are asked to recount their "own revolution."

Riding asks "So was there a revolution at all? Well, Mr. and Mrs. Ceausescu were certainly dispatched to another place, but what followed was a very slow transition rather than sudden change. Many former Communists, reinventing themselves as democrats, were soon again running Romania. There were also no trials of members of Ceausescu’s infamous Securitate secret police."

The director and screenwriter Corneliu Porumboiu's own assessment addressed my concerns as a libertarian with a history degree from Columbia. “I was interested in dealing with these small histories,” he went on, “how people perceive history because each one tried to prove himself and prove his acts through this moment. And they make their own version of history.”

I am looking forward to seeing this film. It seems comparable to Ismail Kadare's novels about Albania, another former Communist country. I reviewed The Pyramid by Kadare for a number of publications. Have we moved in this blogging, YouTube era to an everyone making their own history of their times? Look at the videos created by survivors of the Madrid and London metro bombings.

We will have to wait for the film about the revolution against Castro's regime.

Fred Thompson Presidential Race?

2007-06-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

It seems that former Senator and current actor Fred Thompson is the GOP's Barack Obama. He is the beneficiary of the hopes of Republicans and their disenchantment with the current frontrunners.

Mythsmasher at the Movies "Pirates of the Prairie"

2007-05-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Recently, I saw on the cable TV network Turner Classic Movies, the 1942 film "Pirates of the Prairie." It starred Tim Holt who appeared in many B grade Westerns.

As a US marshal, he acts undercover as a store owner in a town dominated by a Vigilance committee that deprives people of their firearms and with a more extreme renegade faction of the Vigilance committee forcing people off their land to seize their property. A quick paced introduction to the Second Amendment and the Bill of Rights.

This was interesting for me as a supporter of gun ownership and property rights. Given the year that it was released, I presume that it was also meant as an allusion to the Nazis and fascists. For anyone opposed to gun control or eminent domain it will be instructive entertainment.

Not exactly a Merian Cooper-John Ford production, but pretty good from a Libertarian point of view. Well worth watching.

Herbert Spencer Misrepresented in NY Times Article

2007-05-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Patricia Cohen's article "A Split Emerges As Conservatives Discuss Darwin" New York Times 5/5/07 www.nytimes.com seriously misrepresents the views of Herbert Spencer when she wrote "It is true that political interpretations of Darwinism have turned out to be quite pliable. Victorian-era social Darwinists like Herbert Spencer adopted evolutionary theory to justify colonialism and imperialism, opposition to labor unions and the withdrawal of aid to the sick and needy."

In fact, Spencer was a vociferous opponent of colonialism and imperialism. In SOCIAL STATICS (1851), Spencer not only quotes with approval the American Declaration of Independence, but goes on to say "Great, however, as are the evils entailed by government colonization upon both parent stae and settlers, they look insignificant when compared with those it inflicts upon the aborigines of the conquered countries." He gives examples from the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. The same book has a chapter on "The Rights of Women" in which it is argued that women and men must have the same rights. In THE MAN VERSUS THE STATE (1884), Spencer does not justify colonialism and imperialism, but condemns them in the strongest terms. "Our colonial history, to our shame be it spoken, is full of the injustice and cruelty, to which the original possessors of the soil have been subjected." He refers to the American Indians, the Australian aborigines and the peoples of the East Indies. His objections to imperialism and other state interventions were not based solely on evolutionary theory, but on economic science and an elaborate natural rights based ethics, developed in the books mentioned before and in his book THE PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS.

When I learned of Abu Ghraib, I thought of what Spencer and his American colleague William Graham Sumner wrote. In Sumner's essay "The Conquest of the United States by Spain", he argued that as we emulated Spanish imperialism so too we would emulate its tyrannical methods. Spencer is often referred to by writers who seem not to bother to read him.

Au Revoir, President Jacques Chirac

2007-04-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

As French President Jacques Chirac prepares to depart from power, I thought of how to best sum him up for Americans. The pretense of reform with the reality of cronyism. It is obvious now. Chirac is the French George Pataki.

Under the runoff system, the only choice in the presidential race would be between Sarkozy or Royal.

Don Imus and the Missing “Media Equation” Term

2007-04-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

In the NY Times, “The Media Equation” columnist David Carr examined (4/9/07 “With Imus They Keep Coming Back” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/business/media/09carr.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1176174443-vcAsQDC9sLZOkaPKGPqmBw) why Don Imus of “Imus in the Morning” continues to get passes for his insulting, racist and sexist remarks about people.
Not suprisingly, his bosses keep him because he has a big audience and makes them money.
Carr coyly refers to “But Mr. Imus, who has been given a pass for this sort of comment in the past, also generously provides airtime to those parts of the news media and political apparatus that would generally be expected to bring him to account."

What does that mean? Never does Carr say the L-word “liberal.” But that clearly is what he means. Imus is a liberal and gives liberals generous airtime. No wonder they give him a pass.
Liberal hypocrisy is a many-splendored thing, just like conservative hypocrisy.

Columbia University Eminent Domain In Harlem Condemned By Alumni

2007-03-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.ny.lp.org/news/2007manhattanville.htm

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK http://www.ny.lp.org/ 516-767-4688 Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com
COLUMBIA EMINENT DOMAIN IN HARLEM CONDEMNED BY ALUMNI
New York City 3/28/07 Columbia University president Lee Bollinger’s plan to use eminent domain to obtain land for a new campus in the Manhattanville section of West Harlem faces new opposition from the Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY) led by Columbia College alumni. State Chair Richard Cooper, Christopher Garvey and Mark Axinn condemn the University’s resort to the Empire State Development Corporation to condemn property-owners who will not sell voluntarily from West 125th to 133rd Streets between Broadway and 12th Avenue. The ESDC designated the area as “blighted.” Cooper responds, “Hands off Harlem!”
Cooper notes that he previously fought SUNY-Stony Brook’s eminent domain grab of Flowerfields in St. James. “Eminent domain is a legalized assault on tenants, taxpayers and property-owners. Moses said to Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” The Libertarian Party says to our modern pharaohs, the politicians and bureaucrats, “Let the people stay.” Bollinger cites our beloved Columbia’s educational mission and the infamous Kelo decision. Is it Columbia’s mission to teach that legalized theft is just and constitutional? Is it to teach that the end justifies the means?”
Mark Axinn, a Manhattan real estate attorney and Manhattan LP treasurer, laments “I am particularly appalled that Columbia University, which already has significant real estate and financial resources far in excess of others is desirous of relying on the thuggery of government to force other real estate owners to relinquish their property rather than simply purchasing any land it desires on the open market. Surely an institution with the power and wealth of Columbia could simply buy property. By seeking to usurp others' legitimate property rights by eminent domain, a university of which I should be proud lowers itself to the level of the street bully simply taking what it wants from those weaker individuals who might also be on the schoolyard.”
Christopher Garvey, a Long Island patent attorney and former LPNY candidate for Governor,is outraged. “On The Brian Lehrer Show (3/8/07), President Bollinger stated his case for expansion into the Manhattanville section of West Harlem. He described the activities of his private university as "public purposes", which justified having the government invoke its powers of eminent domain to steal property from existing owners to give to the University. How arrogant! Declaring one's "purposes" to be "public" is so much easier and cheaper than buying property fairly, from willing sellers on the free market.”
Besides the Columbia University Manhattanville eminent domain, the Libertarians oppose the Brooklyn Nets Arena/Atlantic Yards project. They will hold their State Convention on Saturday, April 28th at the Radisson MacArthur Hotel in Holtsville, New York. –30-
For more information about eminent domain (listing does not imply endorsement of the Libertarian Party):
Castle Coalition www.castlecoalition.org
Institute for Justice www.ij.org
Manhattan Libertarian Party www.manhattanlp.org
No Land Grab www.nolandgrab.org
Property Rights Foundation of America www.prfamerica.org

Barclays Bank Boycott To Protest Eminent Domain Abuse

2007-03-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.ny.lp.org/news/2007barclays.htm
Libertarian Party of NY -- Press Release -- Barclays Bank Boycott To Protest Eminent Domain Abuse

Barclays Bank Boycott To Protest Eminent Domain AbuseLIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK http://www.ny.lp.org/ 516-767-4688 Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com Gary Popkin, Brooklyn-Queens Chair www.Hardfire.net

BARCLAYS BANK BOYCOTT TO PROTEST EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE

Brooklyn, NY 3/19/07 New York Libertarian Party leaders Richard Cooper and Gary Popkin call for a nationwide boycott of Barclays Bank due to its participation in the eminent domain abuse scheme of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards. Barclays, a British bank with branches in America, agreed to pay the developer Forest City Ratner over $305 million for naming rights to the Nets basketball team’s arena over a thirty-year period. Libertarian State Chair Cooper notes that millions of Americans were outraged by 2005's Kelo decision of the Supreme Court upholding eminent domain transfers to private developers. The Libertarians offer an opportunity to demonstrate opposition in a material way.

Brooklyn-Queens Libertarian Party Chair Popkin dubs “…the Barclays participation in eminent domain is an outrage as a private enterprise disrespecting property rights.” Popkin notes that controversy was stirred in Brooklyn because of the sordid past of the British bank in the slave trade. He declares that “The actions of the bankers of centuries past do not taint the arena. It is participation in the eminent domain scheme that taints whoever participates in it.”

Cooper continues, “To Libertarians, corporate sports welfare and eminent domain abuse are legalized theft, stealing from taxpayers and landowners. Barclays chose to become an accomplice of Bruce Ratner. They should both bear the outrage of indignant Americans who favor freedom and justice.”

The Libertarian Party of New York has fought eminent domain that would have dispossessed St. Luke’s Pentecostal Church on Long Island and a neighborhood in New Rochelle to make way for an Ikea Swedish furniture store, besides the NY Times headquarters scheme that Cooper dubbed “Time$cam.” Cooper and Rev. Fred Jenkins of St. Luke’s will speak on the church’s victimization and how the Libertarian Party helped them at the state convention to be held Saturday, April 28th at the Radisson MacArthur in Holtsville, Long Island. –30-

Mythsmasher At The Movies: "Pan's Labyrinth"

2007-03-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

The Spanish language film "Pan's Labyrinth" www.panslabyrinth.com is a political fairy tale and horror story set in the last years of the Second World War in Franco's Spain as the fascists try to exterminate the remaining Republican resistance in the mountains bordering France.

It is an excellent movie with very imaginative art direction and interweaving of the real and fantastic as eleven year old Ofelia seeks escape from the violence and unpleasantness around her.

The film's website is very high caliber in its unique features: the director's sketchbook, behind-the-scenes on the makeup etc.

Go see it.

NEWSDAY column "Libertarians could stir fresh debate" 2/19/07

2007-03-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

"Libertarians could stir fresh debate"
By Raymond J. Keating
February 19, 2007

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opkea195100209feb19,0,1894701.column

Too many Democrats and Republicans on Long Island are indistinguishable on too many issues, from education and the environment to housing and taxes. Call them Democrats and Republicans, or Depublicans and Republicrats; it doesn't matter. They're interchangeable.That's why libertarians can be so refreshing. They're all about individual freedom and free markets - ideas often foreign in local politics. Indeed, can any full-blown libertarians be found on Long Island? ... Long Island will host the state convention of the Libertarian Party of New York on April 28.

The big question is: Can Libertarians ever have a political impact around here? Last week, I spoke with Richard Cooper, a Westbury resident who is the party's state chairman, and asked him for the Libertarian take on some key local issues.Regarding the ever-popular open-space preservation movement, Cooper labeled it "unspeakably arrogant." He noted that land preservation with tax dollars serves "the interests of very wealthy people . . . not the poor." He added: "Let the market decide" what's the highest land use, "not the politicians, not the activists." Libertarians locally and across the nation also have fought for property rights by challenging eminent-domain abuses.On the related topic of housing, Cooper highlighted libertarian trust in the free market. He remarked: "We wouldn't have illegal apartments if people were able to build apartment buildings." Quite true.

As for public education, Cooper pointed out: "The school system is being run for the benefit of the school establishment, rather than for the parents and the children." That's for sure, but what's the libertarian solution? Cooper spoke about the need to "separate school and state." But there is disagreement as to what this means. Hard-core libertarians want government out of education completely, while others support school choice through vouchers or tax credits.

Finally, on taxes, Cooper offered a libertarian challenge to the voters: "The problem is that the public keeps saying they want lower taxes," but then they say "gimme, gimme" in terms of "government favors." Cooper summed up: "The solution to suburban problems lies in liberty and markets. The Libertarian Party stands for individual liberty, free markets and responsibility in order to promote a society that enjoys more justice, abundance and peace." That probably sounds good to lots of people.

So why isn't this a Libertarian hot spot? ...why not a simple political agenda - a few issues including taxes, property rights and housing - that Libertarians could rally around locally and present to the public? ...It's hard to envision the Libertarian Party winning an election on Long Island. But it lies within reason that Libertarians could inject ideas into the political debate that Depublicans and Republicrats have neglected.If those ideas catch on, major party politicians eventually will get the message. An actual debate over ideas might ensue. That would be a valuable contribution by Libertarians to Long Island politics. "

Ray Keating suggested a local Libertarian equivalent of the Contract With America

Here are some thoughts.
1) No eminent domain abuse.
2) If not complete abolition of zoning, then make zoning countywide instead of by villages and towns.
3) No "open space" sterilization of land from development.
4) Promote school choice
5) Sell the Nassau Coliseum and the Long Island Ducks baseball stadium.
6) Privatize the jails.
7) Cut the staffs of the county legislature,
8) Abolish the taxpayer financed campaign system in Suffolk
9) Term limits
10) Deregulate jitney transportation to provide an alternative to the mega-spending of mass transit systems and the automobile.
11) Abolish the special districts for fire, water, sewers etc.

These are my thoughts, not "official" Libertarian Party positions.
Mythsmasher a/k/a Richard Cooper

NY Libertarian Leader Has Mixed Reaction To Spitzer’s State of the State Speech

2007-01-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK http://www.ny.lp.org/
Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com

Libertarian Leader Has Mixed Reaction To Spitzer’s State of the State Speech

Albany, NY 1/5/07: After reading Gov. Spitzer’s first State of the State speech, Libertarian Party State Chair Richard Cooper had a pleasant surprise. He actually agreed with some of what Spitzer advocated. Not that the Libertarian leader was pleased by everything said or not said.

Spitzer called for political reforms. Cooper liked nonpartisan redistricting and lobbying reform. But Cooper derides Spitzer’s call for "public" financing of elections. Cooper declares "We already have taxpayer financing of elections. We find it in the state budget in general and the so-called member items in particular. Taxpayer financing of elections means they get to pay for the promotion of opinions and people the taxpayers reject. Libertarians see that is unjust and unfair, just as Thomas Jefferson did in connection with a state church." Cooper asks "What about nonpartisan elections? What about easier ballot access for independent and minor party candidates? What about instant runoff voting? What about approval voting? What about initiative and referendum? What about term limits? "

Cooper praises Spitzer’s call for an end to the "culture of spending", reform of the state’s public authorities and consolidation of multiple layers of local government. But Spitzer then moved to propose massive spending on health care, education, infrastructure and economic development. Cooper charges "We will continue to see as we did under Pataki the assault on taxpayers, property owners and tenants represented by eminent domain schemes such as the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project, which Spitzer has already endorsed. We should abolish the Empire State Development Corporation, rather than expanding it as he seems to. His speech was silent on any sort of eminent domain reform. Not a big surprise." Cooper was disappointed about Spitzer’s silence on the Rockefeller drug laws.

Cooper reports that the Libertarian Party of New York State Committee will be meeting this Sunday and he will suggest to them that they endorse a legislative agenda to be outlined later. They will hold their State Convention on Saturday, April 28th in Suffolk County. –30-

Hardfire EMINENT DOMAIN / RICHARD COOPER / JOSEPH DOBRIAN

2007-01-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

Richard Cooper, Chair of the Libertarian Party of New York (http://www.NY.LP.org) talks with Joseph Dobrian, Chair of the Manhattan Libertarian Party (http://www.ManhattanLP.org) about eminent domain. Originally aired November 6, 2006. Taped October 24, 2006. Buy a high-resolution copy of this program at the program's web site above.

Topics include: the infamous Kelo decision; the case of St. Luke's Pentecostal Church in New Cassel, Long Island and their fight with the Town of North Hempstead; the owner and tenants at 99 Orchard Street in Manhattan versus the Lower East Side Tenement Museum; the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards/Nets Arena project to seize land and the New York Times headquarters scheme that Cooper calls Time$cam.

Cooper notes that both GOP gubernatorial candidate Faso and his Democrat rival Spitzer, who was later elected Governor of New York, support the Atlantic Yards/Nets Arena scheme.

Pardon New Yorkers, Governor Pataki

2006-12-28T20:23:00.000-08:00

Gov. Pataki will issue no holiday clemencies before he leaves office. The Libertarian Party of New York urges Pataki to reconsider and to pardon all drug offenders who have not been convicted of crimes against persons or their property. Gov. Pataki can demonstrate that he believes in justice by correcting the error of his predecessors. Real reform would be to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws, but clemency mitigates the injustice and harm they do. If Pataki won't act while he tests the GOP presidential waters, we must hope for better from Governor-elect Spitzer. After all, he endlessly proclaims that on Day One, everything changes. Let him prove it.

I am not terribly optimistic that Spitzer will be any better than Pataki. Spitzer opposes medical marijuana legalization which even the Christian Coalition endorsed. Spitzer spits on the suffering of those who would benefit from using medical marijuana to alleviate their symptoms.

Our 2006 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate John Clifton is a Queens social worker and former drug abuse counselor who advocates drug legalization. We do not advocate drug use. We advocate drug legalization becuase we advocate individual liberty, free markets and personal responsibility.

Richard Cooper, Chair Libertarian Party of New York www.ny.lp.org

Legalize Santa's Dollar Van For Hire

2006-12-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

Libertarian Party of NY -- Press Release -- Legalize Santa's Dollar Van For Hire

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK http://www.ny.lp.org/

“LEGALIZE SANTA’S DOLLAR VAN FOR HIRE TO REDUCE CONGESTION”. LIBERTARIANS ISSUE CALL FOR FREE ENTERPRISE IN TRANSIT

New York City, 12/18/06 “New York City would harass Santa if he carried passengers for hire in his sleigh,” says Libertarian Party of New York Chair Richard Cooper. Queens commuter and the 2006 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate John Clifton challenges the City authorities. “O Municipal Pharaoh, just let thy commuters go.” To reduce congestion, especially bad as Christmas approaches, the Libertarians urge that the City rely on free markets in transportation by abolition of the taxicab medallion system and legalization of the so-called gypsy cabs and dollar vans. These commuter vans, also known as jitneys, ply regular routes, competing with each other and the city-owned buses.

John Clifton is a social worker in Queens who champions free markets in transportation and puts his money where his mouth is. He rides the dollar vans and uses gypsy cabs, like many other minority inner-city residents ill-served by the regulated and tax-supported welfare state transit system. Clifton declares “The City calls it stealing when it loses passengers to the vans. Does Burger King “steal” revenue when it competes with McDonald’s? Busy outer-borough commuters want better service than that provided by the MTA.”

Cooper adds, “Urban, rural or suburban the best solutions and hope for Americans can be found with Libertarians. We stand for individual liberty, free markets and personal responsibility in order to promote a society that enjoys more justice, abundance, and peace.”

Additional information: The Institute for Justice www.ij.org has gone to court to defend commuter vans in New York City from the bureaucrats. The Reason Foundation www.reason.org and Heartland Institute www.heartland.org have published studies on the subject of free enterprise in transit.
-30-

Hardfire TV Takes Aim At Eminent Domain Abuse

2006-10-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK (516) 767-4688 PO BOX 728, Bellport, NY 11713
http://www.ny.lp.org/ Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com; Gary Popkin www.hardfire.net HardfireTV@aol.com

HARDFIRE TV TAKES AIM AT EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE

Brooklyn, NY 10/29/06 The "Hardfire" community access television show presents Libertarian Party of New York State Chair Richard Cooper on the topic of eminent domain abuse in New York. "Hardfire" is a libertarian cable-TV political discussion program, produced in Brooklyn, NY, by Gary Popkin. The show will air the first time on Monday, November 6th but is available now on the show’s website, www.hardfire.net. "Hardfire" appears on Brooklyn cable on Mondays at 10:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Time-Warner channel 35 and Cablevision channel 68. Reruns of "Hardfire" are also seen on Manhattan Neighborhood Network on Tuesday evenings at 8:30, on Time-Warner channel 56 and RNC channel 84.

Interviewed by Manhattan Libertarian Party Chair Joseph Dobrian, Cooper explains what eminent domain abuse is and why libertarians oppose it. He recounts the partial victory of the Libertarians in achieving a better result for St. Luke’s Pentecostal Church in New Cassel (a hamlet adjoining Westbury, Long Island). Cooper takes aim at Bruce Ratner’s Brooklyn Nets Arena and links it to the earlier NY Times eminent domain case that he dubbed "Time$cam." Not all is grim as he recounts the story of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s designs on the neighboring building. Cooper advises that "You can’t buy eminent domain insurance but you can do the next best thing. Vote Libertarian."All of the Libertarian Party’s candidates are opposed to eminent domain abuse. The statewide candidates are Jeffrey Russell for US Senate, John Clifton for Governor, Donald Silberger for Lt. Governor, John Cain for Comptroller, and Christopher Garvey for Attorney-General. The Libertarians are running Dr. Steve Finger in the 11th District and Mike Sylvia in the 24th District for Congress. –30-

LIBERTARIANS SAY DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE IN 2006

2006-07-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK www.ny.lp.org For Immediate Release

LIBERTARIANS SAY DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE IN 2006

Westbury, NY 7/4/06 --Libertarian Party of New York Chair Richard Cooper urges New Yorkers to declare their independence this year from what he calls the "Demopublicans" to vote Libertarian, register Libertarian and get involved with the Libertarian Party. The Westbury, Long Island executive contends that "Only the Libertarians are consistently in favor of individual liberty, free markets and personal responsibility in order to promote a society that enjoys more justice, abundance and peace." Statewide, the Libertarians are runnng Jeffrey Russell (Clifton Park) for US Senate, John Clifton (Jamaica) for Governor, Donald Silberger (New Paltz) for Lt. Governor, John Cain (Congers) for Comptroller and Christopher Garvey (Amityville) for Attorney-General. Libertarians will start fanning out across New York on July 11th to gather petition signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Four congressional candidates are running on the Libertarian line: Dr. Steve Finger in NY-11 (Brooklyn); Eric Sundwall in NY-20 (Columbia County); Warren Redlich in NY-21 (Albany) ; Michael Syliva in NY-24 (Tompkins & Oneida Counties).

State Senate and Assembly candidates have been nominated from the Bronx, New York (Manhattan), Monroe, and Dutchess Counties. -30-

NY Libertarians Nominate Weld Replacement

2006-06-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK (LPNY) www.ny.lp.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 516-767-4688
Richard Cooper

NY LIBERTARIANS NOMINATE WELD REPLACEMENT

Westbury, NY 6/20/06 By nominating John Clifton for Governor and Donald Silberger for Lt. Governor, the Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY) will restart its campaign for statewide ballot status which stalled when William Weld dropped out of the race on June 6th, according to LPNY State Chair Richard Cooper. John Clifton is a Navy submarine veteran, a social worker against the welfare state, and a former drug counselor against the war on drugs. The Jamaica, Queens resident of NYC says he is for freedom both personal and economic across the board. Clifton is expected to emphasize privatized educational options, property rights and marijuana legalization. Clifton, who is African-American, terms big government, eminent domain abuse, gun control and the welfare state forms of "neo-slavery." Clifton endorses Weld's proposal to exempt from NY income tax those who earn $75,000 a year or less. He plans to visit Albany on Monday, June 26th to campaign.

Donald Silberger is a SUNY-New Paltz math professor, whose primary focus is uniting the supporters of gun rights and drug legalization. He is troubled by our rising prison population of those who have done no harm to others. Both Clifton and Silberger have run for US Senate previously.

Weld withdrew his candidacy in a fax to Chair Cooper. "..., I am unable to pursue further the gubernatorial nomination of the Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY).... I am grateful for LPNY's support and look forward to continuing to advance our mutual message of lower taxes and smaller government in the months and years to come." Cooper responded "I thank Mr. Weld for his encouraging words and hope that we will be able to work together again. Now, Libertarians will go forward with the message that what America and New York needs is to remove the Empire State from our lives." -30-.

Hayek's The Road To Serfdom, Graphically

2006-03-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

Now you can see Friedrich Hayek's book, The Road To Serfdom, in cartoon format at http://www.mises.org/TRTS.htm. This is fun! Especially after the revolting series that includes Marx for Beginners. I don't suppose I should expect Hayek in cartoons in my bookstores or on video.

It should be remembered that an important part in the Hayek story was the condensed version that was published when he made his speaking tour of the USA.

I am probably one of the few who read the statist response of Herman Finer, The Road To Reaction.

While important, The Road To Serfdom is probably not the best of Hayek's books that I have read. I liked best the late work, The Denationalization of Money.

Others that I have read were: Prices and Production, Monetary Nationalism and International Stability, Collectivist Economic Planning, Profits, Interest and Investment, Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle.

Bogus Flap Over Dubai Ports World's Deal With P&O

2006-02-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

The hysteria over Dubai Ports World's acquisition disgusts me as an international trade professional. Rep. Peter King (IRA-NY) and Sen. Charles Schumer are shamelessly appealing to fear and prejudice. I wonder if the real motive is to oppose privatization of ports and airports. Overall port security remains with the police, Coast Guard, Customs and FBI. As a port user, I am vitally concerned with the ports. Dubai Ports World operates ports all over the world including Germany and South Korea. The Port of Dubai is part of the Bureau of Customs & Border Protection's plan for securing key foreign ports. Check out www.cbp.gov.

The hysterics make a big deal that two of the hijackers lived in the United Arab Emirates. But they also lived in Germany, New Jersey and Florida too. Prejudice is ugly.

I wonder if the unions are behind this.

John Tierney on the "Party of Pain", the GOP and the war on some drugs

2006-01-24T19:59:00.000-08:00

John Tierney's excellent piece on "Party of Pain" (New York Times www.nytimes.com 1/21/06) rightly condemned the Administration's assault on Oregon's assisted suicide law as disrespecting state's rights and the federal system properly understood. But he failed to point out that the Controlled Substances Act used by Ashcroft as justification was itself unconstitutional as violating the rights reserved to the states and to the people. As the "constitution-in-exile" jurisprudential movement would remind us, the US Constitution is composed of enumerated powers and unenumerated rights. The Oregon assisted suicide case was rightly decided, while the Raich marijuana and Kelo eminent domain cases were wrongly decided. The disrespect for the Constitution and individual rights shown by the Republicans and Democrats causes pain in foreign and domestic policies.

When Federal alcohol prohibition was enacted, its proponents understood that a constitutional amendment was needed as the Federal government lacked authority to prohibit the ownership and production of alcoholic beverages. But something happened along the way to the prohibition of marijuana and other psychoactive drugs--the revolution in jurisprudence wrought by the victory of the New Deal. The New Deal represents nothing less than the betrayal of the American republic and the US consftitution. The war on some drugs represents the same betrayal.

Are your politics hurting someone?

Mythsmasher At The Movies: Sideways

2006-01-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

Sideways tells about two men on the cusp of middle-age who are former college roommates. One is an aging handsome man pursuing an acting career who never quite hit the big time while his friend is a dumpy nobody. The latter is depressed over his divorce. Both like wine. On the eve of his wedding the actor brings his depressive friend with him on a jaunt through the California wine country near Santa Barbara in the hopes of getting wine and sex.

Not a terrible film, but terribly overrated. These two men are obviously alcoholics, which passes without much notice. Drinking in the car while you drive is not a good sign.

The best thing in the film was the remark to the effect "Don't drink and dial" referring to making phone calls while drunk.

Well-acted, scenic and adorned with the beauties Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh "Sideways" is a passing diversion but not the great film it was acclaimed by some.

DC City Council Smokes Out Freedom With Smoking Bans

2006-01-06T22:03:00.000-08:00

The City Council of Washington, DC has voted to ban smoking in bars and restaurants.
More happenings from Aggressor Homeland.

I have always been a nonsmoker and disliked the habit intensely. But today smoking in "public places" is a battleground of freedom.

Bars and restaurants are not public places. They are privately-owned. It should be entirely up to the owner whether or not smoking is permitted. Don't like it? Don't patronize that place. Don't like it? Work somewhere else.

Smoking bans extinguish freedom.

For some gear to express these sentiments check out www.cafepress.com/extinguishbans

The Gutless

2006-01-06T22:01:00.000-08:00

Another year went by that President Bush did not veto a single bill.

He is a stubborn man, but essentially gutless. The GOP has been transformed into the Dixiecrat Party.

Rev. Pat Robertson on Sharon's Health

2006-01-06T21:33:00.000-08:00

So, Pat Robertson suggests that Sharon's critical stroke is God's punishment for the Gaza disengagement. Have you noticed that conservative Christians seem more interested in the Old Testament's fulminations and jeremiads while less interested in Christian "love" and turning the other cheek?

The White House condemned Robertson's remarks as offensive. Politically, it seems that Robertson has outlived his political usefulness to Bush & Co.

The Forgotten Meaning Of The Abramoff Affair

2006-01-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

The scandal involving Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff provokes two thoughts. Abramoff set a new low by taking money from both sides in a political conflict of his own creation.

The key point will be missed by nearly everyone. The problem is not campaign contributions or even lobbying. The problem is that nonagressive behaviors like gambling are heavily regulated by governments at all levels. If anybody could gamble or run a gambling establishment or website without licensing or other special privileges, there would be no reason to pay anything to a Jack Abramoff. Regulation means privilege. Privilege means corruption.

There is no place for a Jack Abramoff in a libertarian society based on individual liberty, free markets, and personal responsibility.

Moreover, it shows that the real difference between Republicans and Democrats is who gets on the favored list.

Scary NY Attorney-General Eliot Spitzer

2005-12-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

In The Wall Street Journal of Thursday, 12/22/05 there is an editorial page article by John C. Whitehead, who had an article last April criticizing NY Attorney-General Spitzer's actions against insurer AIG and its then boss Maurice Greenberg.

Whitehead noted that everyone, including Hank Greenberg, is innocent until proven guilty. Spitzer phoned Whitehead in response.

According to Whitehead, Spitzer said "Mr. Whitehead, it's now a war between us and you've fired the first shot. I will be coming after you. You will pay the price. This is only the beginning and you will pay dearly for what you have done. You will wish you had never written that letter."

I have no way of knowing whether such a conversation took place. It will be Spitzer versus Whitehead.

If true, it is quite amazing and frightening. More frightening is the very strong possibility that Eliot Spitzer will be the governor of my beloved New York.

Where is the NY Civil Liberties Union? Where have they been with this prosecution by news release so reminiscent of Rudy Giuliani?

With such evident arrogance and disregard for civil liberties, I am suprised that President Bush didn't put him in the administration of injustice in Washington.

When New York's legislature unanimously passed a tepid reform of the eminent domain law that would require notification to property owners of the eminent domain proceedings against them, Governor George Pataki vetoed it. He did so on the advice of Attorney-General Spitzer. The specious grounds for a veto were that it would give property-owners a false sense of security and that it would cost too much.

What price constitutional freedom?

NYC TRANSIT STRIKE

2005-12-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

Who was the genius that negotiated a contract that expires the cold week before Christmas?

I guess the same genius that negotiated a contract that covers both the subway and bus workers.

Privatize the subway and bus system. Abolish the restrictions hobbling commuter vans and so-called "gypsy" cabs.

The Bush Administration's Politically Correct Stance in Beijing

2005-12-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal of Dec. 7th reports "Untranslatable Word in U.S. Aide's Speech Leaves Beijing Baffled" on the strange impact of the word "stakeholder" used by Robert Zoellick, the US Trade Representative. Originally it was used to make claims on corporate governance by non-shareholders such as employees, the "community", consumer and environmental activists. How strange it is that the Bush Administration has been infected by this politically-corrected, left liberal and loaded expression.

Ideas can spread through a society like a virus with words as vectors.

The Past, Present & Future of Lemberg, Lvov and Lviv

2005-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/30/international/asia/30letter.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print
November 30, 2005
Letter From Ukraine
Modest River, Wide Chasm, With Europe 'Over There'
By RICHARD BERNSTEIN
LVIV, Ukraine - "Beautiful but poor" is a common shorthand description of Lviv, a city of 800,000 people in western Ukraine, and it takes only a few hours here to sense the accuracy of the phrase.
Lviv - which is known as Lvov in Polish, Lemberg in German - was once as European as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and wishes to be part of Europe once again. But it is not in Europe. At least not as defined by the border of the European Union, though that border is a mere 50 or so miles from here, where the Bug River separates Ukraine from Poland.
Lviv is the periphery. Here is where Europe officially ends, even if the end has an arbitrary, technical quality to it, because the plain fact is that there seems no particular coherence to the reality that Chelm, just across the river in Poland, is part of Europe, while Lviv (pronounced luh-VEEV) is not.
Both, after all, were cities in the Austro-Hungarian Galicia Province, with Lviv the bigger and vastly more important one.
Both were part of Poland for something on the order of 500 years, including at least a few decades of the 20th century, before the Nazis invaded and then Stalin moved the territory of Ukraine to the west, and Lviv became just another battered and tragic city in the Soviet Union.
But the problem for Lviv is that its European aspiration defies some of the most important elements of its recent history. During the years of Soviet control, it became a city in a different time zone from the European Union, literally and figuratively: an hour later on the clock than Chelm, Krakow and Madrid, a quarter-century or so behind in other measures.
Now that Ukraine has been free from Soviet control for a nearly a decade and a half, its European aspirations have revived, and it seems reasonable for the acting mayor of the town, Zinovyj Siryk, to confidently predict, "After Poland, we are next," referring to membership in the European Union.
But as Mr. Siryk well knows, Lviv has fallen a long way behind its neighbor, one of Europe's poorer new members.
"It's a real border, not just a line," said Andrij Yurash, a scholar of religion at the university here.
"There's a real difference economically," he continued, offering this statistic as explanation: the city budget of Lviv is about one-tenth that of Krakow, another big, formerly Galician city in Poland, about 190 miles west of here, a city of roughly the same size as Lviv.
"It's the heritage of the Soviet period," he said, "because the whole network of economic relations was destroyed here."
To walk the streets of Lviv, a year after the Orange Revolution gave national expression to Ukraine's preference for the European zone of civilization over the Russian, is something like stepping into a time capsule.
There is much heavy residue of the basic fact of Lviv's recent past: during the time that it was a Soviet city, Lviv was ripped from the European womb, and many things about it - from the airport built in the style of a Stalinist Greek temple, with columns and a cupola, to the generalized dilapidation of its buildings and streets - are emblems of that rupture....

...

But it was not only the economic infrastructure that was destroyed during the Soviet period.
"You have to remember that after World War II, 90 percent of the population of Lviv changed," said a local historian, Vasyl Rasevych. "The Jews were eliminated. The Poles went to Poland. And before World War II, 50 percent of the population was Polish, 30 percent was Jewish."
When Stalin grabbed Western Ukraine for the Soviet empire, Red Army officers helped themselves to the homes and apartments of the city's better-off. Factories and their workers were moved here from farther east to replenish the depleted population.
"Up until the 1960's," Mr. Rasevych said, "Lviv was a Russian-speaking city."
Lviv speaks Ukrainian now, which is an element of revival. In a city where some 200,000 Jews were annihilated by the Nazis, Jewish children now play at the kindergarten at Hesed Arje, a new Jewish community center.
If the heavy hand of the Soviet dictatorship had not left such a powerful imprint on Lviv, where Joseph Roth, the Austrian-Jewish writer, went to college and where Sholom Aleichem, the originator of "Fiddler on the Roof," wrote some of his stories, this city would almost automatically belong to the European club.
Maybe, as Mr. Siryk, the acting mayor, predicted, Ukraine will be the next to join Europe.
If that is the case, for Lviv, history will have been set right.

This was a fascinating article with a personal meaning to me. My grandfather, Abraham Sommer, was captured in 1916 by the Tsarist Russian forces when they took Lemberg. At that time, he was in the Austro-Hungarian army. By the time he came back from Siberia, it had become Polish Lvov. Now it is Ukrainian Lviv with a Russian-speaking population, something I had not learned before.

His birthplace, Buczacz (Buchach in German), was taken by Stalin from Poland and remains part of the Ukraine.

The French Riots

2005-11-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

Does this mean that French politicians and intellectuals will stop disparaging the United States for its racial conflicts?

Don't be on it.

CSI Las Vegas

2005-11-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

CSI Las Vegas is one of the better and more intelligent shows on TV. But it has its strange aspects.

1) The Vegas crime lab seems to have a budget larger than the CIA and Pentagon combined.

2) Their occupational safety leaves something to be desired. In one episode, the hipster character Greg opened a car trunk with decomposing bodies and was splashed without any facial or eye protection.

3) Their medical protocol leaves something to be desired. In another recent episode, Greg went to get evidence from a burn victim with third-degree burns over 80% of her body. He wore no mask so he was breathing over someone in a compromised immune condition.

Still this is a very high-caliber show

Libertarians Call NY Budget Amendment A Scary Trick

2005-11-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK (516) 767-4688
PO Box 728, Bellport, NY 11713 http://www.ny.lp.org/

LIBERTARIANS CALL NEW YORK BUDGET AMENDMENT A SCARY TRICK

Bellport, NY 11/1/05 New Yorkers considering their Election Day choices should take a pass on the proposed constitutional amendment changing the budget process, according to the Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY). The amendment would shift budgetary power in the event of a late budget to the legislature from the Governor. The Libertarians say the real budget problem is that New York State and the local governments borrow, spend and tax too much. Libertarians also fault both the state and federal governments for mandating spending. "Any budget amendment that does not remove the institutional bias towards spending by state and local governments is an exercise in futility and a trick," said former LPNY Chair Richard Cooper, who studied public finance at Columbia University.

The Libertarians note that the contingency budget does not cut spending at all. "Given the lack of competition for most legislative seats and the compulsive vote-buying with taxpayers money the legislators do, it is optimistic to look to the legislators for restraint," observes Cooper. While the Libertarians aren’t too keen on Pataki or Spitzer, they feel that it is easier to hold one person accountable than scads of legislators. Currently, legislators have their pay docked if the budget is late. The amendment would eliminate that penalty.

The current LPNY chair John Clifton, a Queens social worker and drug counselor, contends that "The legislature is supposed to be the closest to the public and thus the most accountable. But in New York politics, it’s upside down as only the Governor’s race is consistently competitive. Most pork-barrel plundering Assembly members and Senators are insulated from losing their cushy jobs. Under no circumstances should these cash-sucking vampires be given the credit card to spend and borrow even more."

Simon Wiesenthal, Landsmann

2005-10-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal came from Buczacz, the same town in Galicia, Poland as my grandfather. Now it is part of the Ukraine thanks to Stalin's aggression.

"Landsmann" means countryman in Yiddish.

Activist Calls For Pledge Against Eminent Domain Abuse

2005-10-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

RICHARD COOPER www.mythsmasher.blogspot.com

ACTIVIST CALLS FOR PLEDGE AGAINST EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE

Westbury, NY 10/9/05: Richard Cooper, a Westbury, New York activist against eminent domain abuse, is calling upon candidates to pledge their opposition to taking private property in the name of "public benefit" and transferring it to other private parties. Cooper calls upon voters to ask every candidate about eminent domain abuse. Cooper says "Let’s make ending eminent domain abuse the top issue of the 2005 election." Cooper explains that "In its Kelo versus New London decision this June, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the abuse of eminent domain to transfer property from private owners to other private parties. As 2005 Election Day approaches on November 8th, voters should ask every candidate for office where they stand on eminent domain abuse and pledge to oppose it. In Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia, they will be able to call upon candidates for state government office to pledge to end eminent domain abuse."

Cooper endorses model legislation for state and local governments put forth by the Reason Foundation (www.reason.org). Cooper’s activism against eminent domain abuse began with St. Luke’s Pentecostal Church in New Cassel, Long Island condemned by the Town of North Hempstead. Cooper fought against Ikea’s plan for a furniture store in New Rochelle, the NY TIMES plan for a new headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, a museum’s plan to seize an apartment building in order to have real tenants replaced by actors portraying tenants of the past in Lower Manhattan and the Nets basketball arena in Brooklyn.

Cooper served as chair of the Libertarian Party of New York. He believes that ending eminent domain abuse can unite Americans of all political persuasions. –30-

For more information:
Institute for Justice www.ij.org
Libertarian Party of New York www.ny.lp.org and Libertarian National Committee www.lp.org
No Land Grab www.nolandgrab.org
Property Rights Foundation of America www.prfamerica.org
Reason Foundation www.reason.org

"Memory of A Killer"

2005-10-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

"Memory of A Killer" is an excellent thriller about a hit man with two problems: Alzheimers and a moral conscience. Enlisted to kill a victim and witness of child prostitution, he proceeds to kill the pedophile ring while dangling clues before the police he teases as "Ten Trag" (too slow).

I understand that an American studio has bought the rights to remake it in English

State of Fear Elicits Fear

2005-10-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

Michael Crichton's novel State of Fear debunks "global warming" as a hoax that serves the power designs of self-styled environmentalists. Some of Crichton's novels have been successful movies, such as The Andromeda Strain. Not suprisingly, State of Fear has not even been optioned by Hollywood.

Pope Benedict XVI

2005-10-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

The new pope isn't just the first German pope in centuries. He is the first pope to come from a predominantly Protestant or irreligious country.

Post-Katrina Predictions

2005-10-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

I expect that Mayor Nagin and the New Orleans city establishment will use the flood as a pretext to condemn vast areas and turn them over to politically-connected developers. I would call this the "Second Louisiana Purchase"

Meanwhile, President Bush proposed a federal reconstruction authority. Where exactly in the US Constitution is this authorized? Let's call this the "Third Louisiana Purchase."

Stop the West Side Stadium!

2005-04-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

If you are a New Yorker, please write Governor Pataki, State Senate Majority Leader Bruno, Assembly Speaker Silver as well as your own State Senator and State Assembly representative to urge them to oppose NYC Mayor Bloomberg's West Side Stadium for the New York Jets. The Public Authorities Control Board, a state agency, must approve the plan which will relieve taxpayers of their money and give it to the Jets.

Corporate sports welfare is legalized theft and is the antithesis of free markets, private property and individual liberty.

Check out www.cafepress.com/sportsnotstate

Let these be our watchwords: Separate sports and state.

LibertyMove.org

2005-04-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

An exciting new website has been started by libertarians. www.libertymove.org is a non-partisan libertarian political action vehicle. I will probably get involved with it.

John Paul, II R.I.P.

2005-04-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

Pope John Paul II's life showed that one person can make a difference in history, while great historical forces are set in motion by individuals, institutions and nature.

He helped bring about the end of communism while he misunderstood the liberating nature of capitalism. He falsely equated capitalism with consumerism and materialism.

He reached out to Jews and apologized for the sorry record of the Roman Catholic Church towards Jews while showing a tin ear at times towards them.

In short, he was a gifted human being who could not transcend the limitations of his ideological, institutional and philosophical starting points.

He will be missed.

India Versus Pakistan Cricket Matches Promote Peace

2005-03-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

Are peace and harmony breaking out in South Asia? Maybe if a report in the Sunday, March 13th, NEW YORK TIMES fully reflects the situation. More than one person expressed the thought that Indians and Pakistanis are one people with different religions. This is something that I noticed from reports on immigrants in New York City. Indians and Pakistanis ate in the same restaurants and shopped in the same stores. There was more harmony here than there.

Bush's Social Security Proposal

2005-03-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

Why do only younger workers get to opt out partially from Social Security? Why only partially to 15%? Why not all workers with all their income at their own disposal.

I am pro-choice on Social Security.

Presidente Putin

2004-10-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

In the wake of the Beslan massacre, we can see that President Putin is accumulating more power and that the security forces are ineffectual in dealing with terrorists and gangsters but brutally efficient in dealing with dissidents and political rivals.

Post-communist Russia resembles Mexico under the rule of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Insitucional=Institutional Revolutionary Party).

Muktada Al Sadr and the Mahdi Army

2004-08-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

The Iraqi Shiite rebel leader Muktada Al Sadr reminds me of the Rev. Al Sharpton--if he had a an army of killers to lead

"The Last Samurai" movie review

2004-08-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

I just saw last year's Tom Cruise movie "The Last Samurai" directed by Ed Zwick. It is a well-done farrago of nonsense. It is beautifully photographed with excellent sets, costumes and outdoor locations. But is still nonsense.

It idolizes the samurai of old Japan, rebelling against the Meiji Restoration's Imperial Westernizing and modernizing reforms. Against all evidence to the contrary, the film puts forward the notion that this was contrary to the Emperor's wishes.

It treats as if true the notion that samurai served the people rather than dominated them. Recently, I saw a documentary on old Japan and an excellent movie covering the period just before the Meiji Restoration called "Twilight Samurai." The samurai class was no more than 10% of the population and they lived off the backs of the 90%.

This is no different than idolizing the knights of medieval Europe and taking seriously the code of chivalry as nothing more than window-dressing.

However, this is an amusing way to pass the time. See it with a cartload of salt.

Kerry's Secret Plan For Iraq

2004-08-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

What does Sen. Kerry's plan amount to but fooling the Europeans into taking on the mess we blundered into? Why would they want to? What would the advantage be for them?

Truth and falsehood in history: My review of THE PYRAMID by Ismail Kadare

2004-08-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

This review and the book itself were written some years ago but Kadare's work remains insightful and rewarding today. In different forms my review appeared in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty and Midstream: A Monthly Jewish Review.

Copyright, Richard A. Cooper, 1996

Kadare, Ismail. The Pyramid. New York: Arcade Publishing (1996) 161 pages. $21.95.
Reviewed by Richard A. Cooper

Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare unveils the mystery behind structures of statist tyranny in his perceptive fable The Pyramid. On the surface, it is a reconstruction of the pyramid-building Pharaoh Cheops of Egypt. But, like the real pyramids, it has its own secrets to be revealed. It is a tale of tyranny of all times and places, wherever and whenever those who hold power seek to enshrine their power and their ideas on the lives and backs of the ruled. I think The Pyramid will rank amongst the greatest literary depictions of tyranny and its methods thus far written.

The new pharaoh Cheops dismays his courtiers by letting drop hints that he may not construct his own pyramid. They fret, but know not why they worry and why they think it should be built except that it is traditional. Eventually, they find the answer in their ancient texts as a magic prescription for the health of the state. "To launch works colossal beyond imagining, the better to debilitate its inhabitants, to suck them dry. In a word, something exhausting, something that would destroy body and soul, and without any possible utility. Or to put it more precisely, a project as useless to its subjects as it would be indispensable to the State."

Why is the pyramid indispensable to the State? The pyramid is not just a physical construction, but a psychological structure that compels submission. Kadare from Stalinist Albania zeroes in on his target. "In the first place, Majesty, a pyramid is power. It is repression, force, and wealth. But it is just as much domination of the rabble; the narrowing of its mind; the weakening of its will; monotony; and waste. O my Pharaoh, it is your most reliable guardian. Your secret police. Your army. Your fleet. Your harem. The higher it is, the tinier your subjects will seem. And the smaller your subjects, the more you rise, O Majesty, to your full height."

Kadare gives us the myriad details which would accompany such a project, but with a peculiar resonance for the survivor of the twentieth century, our age of the total war and the total state. The conscription of labor and other resources, the reports of police and the plans of the master-planners all give us a sense of eerie recognition in our more enlightened age of Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot.

The pyramid project drags the nation from one reported conspiracy to another. Arrests, tortures and executions construct the pyramid just as much as granite, basalt and alabaster. "Every morning people learned with a shudder of terror the names of arrested during the previous night." This is an Egypt as police state, with its inhabitants to be molded to the whims of their rulers. But Egypt, of course is a stand-in for its predecessors and successors in the sorry spectacle of State building.

Despotism robs not just the wealth of the ruled but their spirit as well. The excitement of fear and the tedium of coerced labor combine to deaden them. Honesty and memory fall victim to State power, its instruments and effects. "Grumbling, and conversation in general, became less frequent. And not only words, but also the ideas that prompted them, tended to dry up. That was how great droughts announced themselves: each day the winch would haul up less water, proving that the well was running dry. A dry wind blew or rather pressed on people's temples and served to clean out misleading memories."

Like the totalitarian states of our times, Kadare's Egypt has foreign sympathizers to distort truth and applaud the tyrants to lengths which are ridiculous. They praise the "balancing role of the pyramids." The Egyptian weather is praised and attributed to the pyramids! Even the hostile foreign states are concerned that Cheops would forgo a pyramid, and thus be destabilizing. Change, unless ordained from above, is a great threat to States everywhere. They try to stand athwart the motion of change.

What is the cover for the nakedness of State power? The lie cloaks State power and shields it from suspicion, resentment and rebellion. Thus, the State must control ideas in the present and the past. The pyramid is a tangible symbol of State power for the past, present, and future. The lie is to be spread relentlessly by, and for, State power. "He would not force them to love the pyramid, though that would not have been very difficult....He would get them to spin out paeans of praise for the pyramid in exact proportion to their hatred of it. He would thus degrade them remorselessly, humiliate them in each other's eyes, in the eyes of their wives and children as well, and in their own consciences."

Kadare is both constrained and liberated by setting his parable in the distant past of Egypt. He is constrained by being in the ancient world and liberated by being far from contemporary partisanship. Thus his Pharaoh seeks to control the spoken word of the market-place and speaks through official criers while controlling the written world of official history. He did not have newspapers, television, radios and loudspeakers. But, the principles are the same. The official lies repeated over and over.

Kadare cleverly shows us how official, court history is challenged and revised by the bold historian. He makes it a police story of tomb-robbers. "It had all begun in a very ordinary way. For some time already the police had been in possession of a file on a group of scribes who were putting about new and rather bizarre ideas about the history of the State, not in accordance with official thinking...."

Court history tends to the conservative, to ossifying the past and sucking the life from it, just as the State sucks the life from the present. Revisionist history is a challenge to the lie. "History would thus be rewritten into something radically different, and people said that in searching the prisoners' papers the detectives had come across phrases that might have been intended as book. titles or as slogans, such as "History as Revised and Corrected by the Mummies," "Mummo-History," or simply "The New History." Once unleashed, the spirit of inquiry into the past threatens to stampede over the restraints of the State in the present.

From the Egypt of the Pharaoh Cheops, Kadare takes us on a strange excursion in time and place to the empire of Central Asian conqueror Timur the Lame (Tamerlaine), who erects yet another pyramid. This Central Asian pyramid is constructed of skulls of the conquered. From the distant past he transports us again to Communist Albania's capital of Tirana for another state building exercise. Here again the pattern of State power underlies the "modern" structure.

"...the old pyramid spawned not thousands, but hundreds of little ones. They were called bunkers, and each of them, however tiny it may have been in comparison, transmitted all the terror that the mother of all pyramids had inspired, and all the madness too. Steel rods were planted in the concrete, following the principle invented long before by Kara Houleg. The word Unity was often inscribed on their loins, showing that these bunkers were indeed related both to the mother-pyramid and to the skullstacks, and that the old dream of connecting all brains to each other by a single idea could only be achieved by such rods of iron running through people's heads and making of them a united entity."

From Enver Hoxha's Communist Albania, Kadare transports the reader to our own time. With the poet's insight and richness of image, Ismail Kadare exposes how the structures of Statism cannot shake off their true nature if we but look. The Pyramid will no doubt be compared to George Orwell's 1984. I think it a superior book, with its combination of everyday realistic details and the voice of historical experience underneath the crushing burden of the structure. The details of the structure of domination differs. The cause invoked differs. But the blueprints are telling in their similarities.

Smashing Myths & Exposing Truths

2004-08-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

What this blog is about is smashing myths, exposing truths, and having fun doing so. Postings may be very local or global in scope. They may address the issues of day or explore culture.

I am objective but not non-partisan. My viewpoint is libertarian and my approach is skeptical of every sort of party line.