Ron Paul: Killing Osama Bin Laden Not Necessary

Rather than war and assassinations, Ron Paul believes that U.S. foreign interests can be better achieved through a policy of 1. international cooperation, and 2. the rule of law.

Writing for Politico.com (5/12/11), Juana Summers reports:

Ron Paul says he would not have authorized the mission that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, and that President Barack Obama should have worked with the Pakistani government instead of authorizing a raid.

"I think things could have been done somewhat differently," Paul said this week. "I would suggest the way they got Khalid [Sheikh] Mohammed. We went and cooperated with Pakistan. They arrested him, actually, and turned him over to us, and he's been in prison. Why can't we work with the government?"

Asked by WHO Radio's Simon Conway whether he would have given the go-ahead to kill bin Laden if it meant entering another country, Paul shot back that it "absolutely was not necessary."

"I don't think it was necessary, no. It absolutely was not necessary," Paul said during his Tuesday comments. "I think respect for the rule of law and world law and international law. What if he'd been in a hotel in London? We wanted to keep it secret, so would we have sent the airplane, you know the helicopters into London, because they were afraid the information would get out?"

Miral -- A Film About Palestinians Resisting Israeli Statism

Resisting the State is generally celebrated among libertarians -- in which case, consistent libertarians should celebrate director Julian Schnabel's (Basquait, The Diving Bell) new film, Miral, based on the novel by his Palestinian wife, Rula Jebreal.

Miral has already stirred controversy in the Jewish community. Some Jewish leaders are slamming the film for being "one-sided." Schnabel admits that Miral shows Palestinian experiences from a Palestinian perspective. (Why is such "one-sidedness" never a problem when only the Israeli perspective is shown?)



Miral is not yet released on DVD in the United States, but it will likely happen. It is currently available as a PAL DVD import, which can be viewed on any region-free DVD player

You can read an interview with Rula Jebreal at Alternet.org, and read more about the controversy here.

Among other controversies, Miral depicts the torture of Palestinian women by the Israeli State, something that Jabreal says she suffered and which continues today to other Palestinians.

Demopublicans, Hollywood, Pushing for Internet Censorship

DemandProgress.org reports:

We stole it right out from under them: This week, the special interests pushing the Internet Blacklist Bill called a big press conference with their allies in Congress, trying to create the illusion of broad support for Internet censorship. But our team caught wind of it and scrambled to make sure you were heard. Teaming up with conservative bloggers who also oppose the bill, we stole the story right out from under them:

* POLITICO: Groups blast Leahy piracy bill

* THE HILL: Groups slam online piracy effort

It was a great success, but we need your help now more than ever. Hollywood is dead set on passing a bill this year. Their lead sponsor has pledged to ram it through: "inaction is not an option, and we must pass online infringement legislation in this Congress." That's why an anonymous activist has agreed to match the donations of anybody who becomes a monthly sustainer, but only if you donate this week.

Become a sustainer today and help us defeat COICA and anything else the Hollywood executives throw at us. Your first two months' donations will be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis. (You can cancel your monthly contributions at any time.)

Will you become a monthly sustainer of Demand Progress?

* Yes, I'll click here to become a monthly sustainer and have my first two contributions matched.

* Sorry, I can't, but I'll donate $5 or $10 today.

Check out some of this week's press coverage of our opposition to Internet censorship:

"In their attempts to reign in online file sharing, Hollywood moguls are once again willing to risk massive censorship," said Aaron Swartz, executive director of Demand Progress, a liberal-leaning group. (Congressional Quarterly)

And:

But the progressive activist organization Demand Progress and a group of conservative bloggers lead by Republican National Committee Internet Director Patrick Ruffini are staunchly opposed to the bill and the administration's recent moves to seize and shut down domains linking to pirated content. (The Hill)
We won the press war this week and made sure Washington knows we strongly oppose these noxious bills. But as Hollywood ramps up their attacks, we need your support so we can keep fighting for Internet freedom.

Thanks so much for your help: We're a 100% membership-funded organization and need your support to keep up our work.

-- The Demand Progress Team

Peace Rallies Against Obama's Lybia War, April 9, 10

Kevin Zeese, of Voters for Peace, sends "an announcement of antiwar rallies in New York on April 9 and San Francisco on April 10 which Voters for Peace has endorsed."

Details of where and when to show up at: NationalPeaceConference.org.

This seems like a mostly Left coalition. It's noteworthy that the Left is opposing Obama's war. It would be nice if many antiwar libertarians and conservatives also showed up, so it becomes a more broad-based protest.

Online Agora Conference

From Carol Moore:

George Donnelly and friends have organized this fantastic free online liberty conference for the coming weekend (March 25-27th). It includes dozens of libertarian speakers on philosophy, strategy, media and entrepreneurship.

I'm speaking on Libertarian Decentralism and Secessionist Strategy on Saturday March 26th at 10 AM Est. I would love for you to join me and participate.

You'll have an opportunity during these three days to see dozens of speakers. My favorites: Patri Friedman, Angela Keaton, Corey Moore, Karen Kwiatkowski, Scott Horton, Gary Chartier, Mary Ruwart, Pete Eyre, J. Neil Schulman, Brad Spangler.

Agora I/O is easy to use. Just click here. Pick talks you want to view, watch them, participate through chat.

If you can't afford to go to all the big freedom festivals around the country and if you want to get new insights into libertarian and agorist ideas, this is your opportunity to see and communicate with great libertarians nationwide.

This will be just the first of many such online conferences to advance liberty, so participate to help make this experiment work. To help out with organizing or sponsorship, see the main page.

PS: Have you see the new book, Why Liberty? Edited by Libertarian Marc Guttman, it is a collection of 54 personal stories by many well known figures about how they became libertarians.

California Internet Sales Tax Threatens Amazon Affiliates

The California state legislature is threatening the livelihoods of over 10,000 Californians who earn money as Amazon Associates for online retailer, Amazon.com.

These Californians place links on their websites to Amazon. When someone clicks through to Amazon and makes a purchase, the Associate earns a commission.

Amazon is not required to collect sales taxes on purchases made to Californians because there is no "business nexus." But now California is considering a law to classify Amazon Associates as a "business nexus".

Other states have done likewise. In all such instances, Amazon ended its Associates program rather than be forced to collect the sales tax. Amazon has even ended its Associates program in big states such as New York and Illinois.

History shows Amazon is not bluffing. If California declares Amazon Associates a “business nexus,” Amazon will end its Associates program in the state.

This will hurt over 10,000 Californians' earnings -- and will lower California's income tax revenue.

This loss in state revenue will not be made up in sales taxes, because by ending the Associates program, Amazon will once more not be required to collect sales taxes.

"Bricks and mortar" retailers complain that Amazon has an "unfair advantage" because online buyers don't pay sales taxes. But they ignore that: 1. their buyers don't pay for shipping, and 2. this legislation will NOT compel Amazon to collect sales taxes -- it will only hurt 10,000 Californians trying to earn money and thus further hurt the state's revenue.

Californians, please contact your state senate and assembly representatives and tell them to oppose any attempt to force Amazon to collect sales taxes, or to declare Amazon's Associates a "business nexus."

Linking to YouTube Is Copyright Infringement

From DemandProgress.org:

Ever sent someone a link to a copyrighted YouTube video? Of course: Everybody has. And now the US Government seems to think that means it can put us in prison.

Bryan McCarthy ran a website that linked to various websites where you could watch online streams of TV shows and sports networks. A couple months ago, the government seized his domain name and on Friday they arrested him for criminal copyright infringement.

Tell the government that this is crazy: There's nothing wrong or illegal about sharing a link.

The government doesn't even allege that McCarthy made a copy of anything! Just that his site linked to various sites with copyrighted material. Under that sort of thinking, everyone who's sent around a link to a copyrighted YouTube video is a criminal.

This is another shocking overreach by the department of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- a steamship-era department that's proving once again it doesn't understand the Internet.

We need to push back -- and fast -- before they try to lock up all Americans.
Click here to tell ICE to drop its charges.

Thanks for taking a stand.

-- The Demand Progress team

P.S. We need to convince ICE to back down, and the first step is making sure they know that Americans are watching, and are disgusted by their behavior. Will you help shine light on ICE's abuses by forwarding this to your friends?

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Also read how hypocritical Big Media companies are threatening YOUR copyrights.