To: Free-Marketeers <FMNews@free-market.net>
From: Louis James <LJames@free-market.net>
Subject: FMNews: Of war and gold
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Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 18:12:17 -0500 (CDT)
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 F  M  N e w s:  OF WAR AND GOLD
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
 Please forward to anyone who might enjoy FMNews. To join or leave
 this free list, see:  http://free-market.net/features/lists/

   o Post 9/11 thoughts: Terrorism, war, and entangling alliances

   o $526 gold and silver prize

   o And the winner is ... (times two!)

   o Tax havens, medical costs, LifeSharers, Freedom Books o/t Month

   o Notes and events



 POST 911 THOUGHTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------
 Terrorism, war, and entangling alliances, by Louis James

Sometimes, I'm a cold-hearted bastard.

On September 11, 2001, like so many others, I watched my TV in horror 
as the second plane slammed into the second World Trade Center tower. 
But, unlike most people, I kept on working. When Brian, our office 
manager, came into my office and asked if I thought we should go 
home, I told him he could if he wanted to, but I had work to do. 

My immediate concern, other than the things on my to-do list, was 
for people I knew personally in the NYC area (I knew I didn't have 
friends in the Pentagon).

It wasn't until I did go home at six or seven that evening that I
realized how few people had made the same decision I had. The 
normally overflowing streets of Chicago were so empty, I could hear 
my footsteps echo off the buildings. The scheduled commuter train 
had only two coaches open, and those had so few passengers I could 
count them on one hand.

This year, on September 11, I was working again. I was on my way to 
a meeting, listening to the news on the radio, when I heard a montage 
of sounds collected during the 9/11 catastrophe. There were the 
sounds of explosions, falling glass, terrified running people ... and 
the wailing of grief-stricken survivors.

I don't know why those sounds hit me so hard, but a year after they 
died, I finally felt a personal connection to the 9/11 victims, and 
I cried for them.

I can only imagine how emotional the day must have been for people
less cold-hearted than I.

And given that understanding, I don't need to imagine at all why 
George W. Bush made his call for escalated war against Iraq to the 
UN on the very next day.

Not that that's a bad thing, if you favor war.

But somehow, no matter how dastardly Saddam Hussein is made out to 
be -- and I'm easy to convince any head of state has to be dastardly 
to get where he or she is -- I just can't get to feeling in my bones 
that all-out war with Iraq is a good idea.

At the very least, there are some hard questions that should be asked:

1] Even if done under UN colors, won't most people in the Middle 
East see the war as the U.S.' doing and/or fault?

2] Is it at all believable that a full-scale war on Iraq, and the
"collateral damage" (villages full of women and children bombed by 
mistake, disease and starvation spread by the devastation, etc.) it 
will necessarily produce, won't lead to even more anti-American 
sentiment in the Middle East?

3] Is mass-producing even more people who hate Americans enough to 
fly airplanes into our buildings good policy?

4] If Iraq is such a gathering threat, shouldn't its neighbors be 
the ones to undertake neutralization of that threat? (Even if all 
of the President's suspicions prove correct, Iraq is not suspected 
of possessing ICBMs and therefore is not a direct threat to America.)

5] If Iraq is a threat to America because it can leak "weapons of 
mass destruction technology" to terrorists who can bring such weapons 
to the U.S. and unleash them here, can't the same be said of Pakistan 
and others? How many such countries will the U.S. have to destroy 
through war before America is considered safe?

6] Isn't China known to have sold missile technology and other 
weapons systems to terrorists? (Iran comes to mind, which the U.S. 
has called a terrorist-sponsoring nation.) If the same principle 
applies to China, can anyone imagine that starting a war with China 
would be a good idea? 

7] If the U.S. topples only governments it sees as less dangerous,
doesn't that leave the U.S. with a policy of ignoring the most
dangerous suppliers of terrorist tools?

8] Instead of pursuing a self-perpetuating war against the military
tactic adopted by weaker international adversaries, might it not be 
a better idea to get back to "peace, commerce, and honest friendship 
with all nations -- entangling alliances with none," as the U.S. 
founders intended? 

I know Americans are a proud people, and most of us are hurt, angry,
and wanting to DO something. I feel the desire myself. But we're 
talking about WAR here: sanctioned, systematized, wide-spread mass 
murder and mayhem. 

Can it really be such a bad idea, in the face of war, for Americans 
to consider withdrawing our troops from around the world? Might 
minding our own business give fewer people reasons to hate us than
trying to play Global Cop?

Maybe I would feel differently about this if one of my children had 
been killed in the 9/11 attacks, but I hope I would have the presence 
of mind to think more about the living than the dead. 

I don't want America's sons and daughters -- nor anyone else's, for 
that matter -- caught up in a forever war that only increases the 
chances that more will be taken from us. It sure seems to me that 
almost any alternative to this would be worth thinking about.



 NEW $526 GOLD AND SILVER PRIZE -- THE LIBERTY DOLLAR
 ------------------------------------------------------------
 FMN's monthly free drawing:  http://www.free-market.net/

Letting governments (or their quasi-private henchmen) control money 
supply, transfers, etc. is like letting letting a known kleptomaniac 
(or maybe an Enron executive) keep your bank accounts for you.

Happily, NORFED is sponsoring this month's Free-Market.Net free
drawing to help bring attention to the fact that you don't have 
to let the state define (or defile) your money. You can use the
Liberty Dollar instead.

What is the Liberty Dollar?

I'm so glad you asked ... <grin>

The Liberty Dollar is a simple, fun, and legal alternative to the 
problem of fiat currency backed by nothing. The beautifully 
engraved Liberty Dollar is real money: a warehouse receipt for gold 
or silver that, unlike Federal Reserve Notes, can be redeemed for 
real gold and silver.

Also, unlike e-gold or other digital currencies, the Liberty Dollar
can be exchanged for goods and services from people who do not have
online accounts. You just hand the pizza man your Liberty Dollars 
and enjoy your pizza.

Not sure he'll accept it as readily as federal funny money? 

Well, when people find out they can call the 800 number marked on 
every Liberty Dollar and exchange it for the gold or silver that 
backs it, many are amazingly enthusiastic. Even if the pizza man 
doesn't want to bother redeeming his Liberty Dollars, he can 
exchange them with someone else ... and a lot of education about 
real money happens along the way.

Many happy Liberty Dollar users have found that, once people 
understand that they can actually get the real gold or silver, 
if they want it, most are quite happy to take it -- in convenience 
stores, restaurants, even outlets of national retailers such as 
Pizza Hut, Wal Mart, Blockbusters, and True Value.

And guess what: no account is needed -- it's as anonymous as cash. 

And guess what else: NORFED is working on Liberty Dollar smart cards
and card-sized exchangers that will allow people to swap amounts of
Liberty Dollars in the field, like an anonymous digital currency, 
but without any need to hold on to lots of paper nor to get to a 
computer hooked up to the internet.

I've got one of these in my wallet. If I lose it, it's gone, like 
losing cash, but that's a price I'm willing to pay for privacy.

I find all this tremendously exciting (or, as the LA Times says: 
"Could give U.S. greenbacks a run for their money"), and hope
you're intrigued enough to enter this month's free FMN drawing.

If you do, you could win a heap of Liberty Dollars -- the prize 
includes:

    o $500 Gold Liberty – one ounce of .9999 fine gold

    o $10 Silver Liberty – one ounce of .999 fine silver

    o $10 Silver Certificate – backed by 1 oz. of .999 fine silver

    o $5 Silver Certificate – backed by 1/2 oz. of .999 fine silver

    o $1 Silver Certificate – backed by 1/10 oz. of .999 fine silver

    o $500 Gold Certificate – specimen only (not backed by gold)

    o Additional grab bag of information, video, and T-shirt.

The total spendable value of all this is $526.00 in real money.

The contest is being held this month so the prize can be awarded on 
October 1st, the Liberty Dollar's 4th Anniversary. To find out more,
see:

    http://www.free-market.net/rd/690940688.html

And don't forget to enter the free drawing! It's quick, simple, and 
there's no obligation:

    http://www.free-market.net/



 AND THE WINNER IS ... (TIMES 2!)
 ------------------------------------------------------------
 http://WWW.free-market.net/features/contest/past.html

In a first-time occurrence since I've been with Free-Market.net, the 
winner of our free drawing for July did not claim his prize in the 
allotted 30 days, so we had to draw a new winner:

Mr. Dave Furst of Orlando, Florida. 

Dave won the $300 Laissez Faire Books gift certificate offered by 
the sponsors of the 2002 Freedom Summit. Speaking of which, that's 
looking to be a very interesting event, and time is running out to 
register (I'll be there!). See:

     http://www.free-market.net/rd/354949632.html

And the winner of August's drawing, sponsored by Anarchism.net, was:

Ms. Stacey Bradley, of Hastings, Pennsylvania.

Stacey won a 1/2 oz. gold coin and other prizes, including an 
engraved lighter and flask offered by Anarchism.net. This is an 
energetic group doing some great educational work online, well 
worth the visit:

    http://www.free-market.net/partners/a/anarchism.html

If you'd like to win a prize like these folks, just enter this 
month's free drawing:

    http://WWW.free-market.net/



 FMN FEATURES AND HIGHLIGHTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------
 Tax havens, medical costs, LifeSharers, Freedom Books of the Month

FMN Spotlight:
http://www.free-market.net/spotlight/
(Sign up for email version at bottom of page linked above.)
Edited by J.D. Tuccille

 Tax havens provide refuge for the oppressed
 http://www.free-market.net/spotlight/taxhavens/
     We're told that tax havens help people evade responsibility,
     but why shouldn't they seek refuge from abusive tax laws?

 Medical costs a bitter pill to swallow 
 http://www.free-market.net/spotlight/prescription/
     If we're to address the "problem" of expensive prescription
     drugs, shouldn't the cure be better than the disease?


FMN Mailbag:
http://www.free-market.net/features/mailbag/
(Sign up for email version at bottom of page linked above.)
Edited by Thomas L. Knapp

 Party of 501(c)(3)
     "Distilled to their essence, these messages come down to one 
     question: 'Which political party does Free-Market.Net support?' 
     The answer is 'none of them.' Some of us who work with 
     Free-Market.Net are extremely active in politics (I've run for 
     office four times in the last six years myself). Others eschew 
     electoral politics altogether ('don't vote -- it only encourages 
     them'). The best word for describing Free-Market.Net's relation 
     to politics may be 'ecumenical.'"


Freedom Page of the Week:
http://www.free-market.net/features/pageoftheweek/
(Sign up for email version at top of page linked above.)

 LifeSharers
 http://www.free-market.net/rd/823926419.html
     "Organs are abundant. _Everybody_ has them, after all --  and 
     enough people die, of one cause or another, to provide organs 
     for those who _will_ die without a transplant. Unfortunately, 
     getting hearts, lungs and livers from their late donors to 
     living recipients has proven to be a difficult process. Last 
     year, more than 6,000 Americans died while waiting for organs 
     that never came. The waiting list grows five times as fast as 
     the rate of organ donation, and about half of the patients 
     awaiting transplant die before an organ becomes available.
     Why? Well, in a word, 'government.'"


Freedom Book(s) of the Month for September, 2002:
http://www.free-market.net/features/bookofthemonth/
(Sign up for email version at bottom of page linked above.)
Edited by Sunni Maravillosa

 "Out of Bounds, Out of Control: Regulatory Enforcement at the EPA"
 by James V. DeLong, and:
 "Lead Astray: Inside an EPA Superfund Disaster"
 by Peter Samuel
     "The Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development is over.
     According to many in the environmental movement, government and
     corporations 'won.' I'm not sure about that, but assuming that 
     it's true, we're in big trouble, at least when it comes to 
     government-led environmentalism in the U.S. This month's Freedom 
     Book of the Month co-winners explain why, delivering solid 
     indictments of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."



 NOTES AND EVENTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------
 Reminders about upcoming pro-freedom events
 ------------------------------------------------------------

NOTES:

Since the last update, Free-Market.Net -- The Freedom Network
has been joined by three new partner organizations:

     Taxableincome.net
     United States
     http://www.free-market.net/partners/t/taxableincome.html

     Marijuana Policy Project
     United States
     http://www.free-market.net/partners/m/marijuanapolicy.html

     LifeSharers
     United States
     http://www.free-market.net/partners/l/lifesharers.html

Check 'em out!


EVENTS:

The latest on some high-profile pro-freedom events where
free-marketeers can get together and talk about freedom, life,
the universe, and everything:

   o 2002 Freedom Summit, October 12 and 13, in Phoenix, Arizona.
     http://www.free-market.net/rd/354949632.html

   o Cato Institute 20th Annual Monetary Conference, October 17,
     2002, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, NY.
     http://www.free-market.net/rd/951240620.html

   o State Policy Network 10th Annual Meeting, Friday, October 18,
     2002 - Saturday, October 19, 2002, Indianapolis, IN.
     http://www.free-market.net/rd/993390887.html

FYI: I will be speaking at the Freedom Summit and am planning to
attend the SPN meeting in Indianapolis. For more events, see a
complete listing at:

     http://www.free-market.net/directorybycategory/events/


And this brings us the the end of another issue of FMNews. Please
forward this to anyone you know who would be interested in reading 
it. Forwarding FMNews, or any of our publications, is a useful,
inexpensive way to really help Free-Market.Net pursue its educational
mission. Thanks!

    For liberty,

    Louis
____________________________
Louis James
President
The Henry Hazlitt Foundation


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