The Pledge of Allegiance is un-American

Shouldn't the government pledge allegiance to the people rather than the other way around?
Here's the author's ( Michael Lind) version:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. And for the support of these principles, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Farewell to Norman Jay Levitt (1943–2009)

We've lost a terrific mind. I hope you'll read his review essay entitled “Science: A Four Hundred Page Hissy-Fit,” a review of Science: A Four Thousand Year History by Patricia Fara.

REALIZING FREEDOM: LIBERTARIAN THEORY, HISTORY, AND PRACTICE

For more than 25 years, my friend Tom Palmer has lived his life according to a very simple ideal: Liberty is for everyone. Realizing Freedom is a testament to that ideal. Written from his perspective as scholar, journalist, and activist, Tom Palmer's incisive articles range in subject from the theory of justice, multiculturalism, and democracy, to limited government, globalization, property rights, censorship, individual liberty, and more.

Using Twitter to Confront an Anti-Semitic Attack in Chile’s Paper of Record

A superb and alarming post on anti-Semitism in Chile.

Sign the Petition against Protectionism

Some friends are starting an international campaign to protect and expand free trade and the free movement of people. The Atlas Economic Research Foundation, the International Policy Network, and the Atlas Global Initiative for Free Trade, Peace, and Prosperity are sponsoring a global Freedom to Trade Petition to be released just before the upcoming G-20 meeting in London. Please sign the petition.

Video Raises Serious Questions About Death Row Conviction

I urge you to get this into the hands of as many people as possible.

In 1993, 23-month-old Haley Oliveaux drowned in her bathtub in West Monroe, Louisiana. Bite mark identification and analysis performed by forensic experts Steven Hayne and Michael West tied Jimmie Duncan to Oliveaux’s death. Duncan was convicted of murdering the baby girl and sentenced to death. He has been on death row for 10 years. But an autopsy videotape obtained by Reason magazine’s Radley Balko shows the bite marks were not on Oliveaux’s body at the time of her death. You can see the video, and still photos from it, here. Balko asked Michael Bowers, a deputy medical examiner for Ventura County, California, and a past chairman of the American Board of Forensic Odontology’s Exam and Credentialing Committee, to review the tape. When asked how abrasions on Oliveaux's cheek that were not present when the video begins could later appear, Bowers said, "Because Dr. West created them. It was intentional. He's creating artificial abrasions in that video, and he's tampering with the evidence. It's criminal, regardless of what excuse he may come up with about his methods." Balko's Reporting on Mississippi's Criminal Forensics System

Arts and the Enlightenment

This article offers an interesting insight into the debate between negative and positive rights.

Should scientists study race and IQ?

What always gets overlooked in such a discussion as posited by this article is that in this instance the findings really don't matter because they apply to a group and have nothing to say about any particular individual.

Before the law it is the individual who is equal. It is individuals who are accountable and responsible. It is individuals who achieve and who fail. It is with other individuals that we form relationships.

This is why it so dangerous for any public policy to be formulated around the concerns or perceived needs of a special group.

Beacon of Liberty

Everything old is new again. From the essay in question:

The wider context was the challenge to liberalism and the free market posed by
the rise of a generalised state interventionism in the form of planning,
corporatism and socialism. Capitalism seemed on the brink of systemic failure
and for many it was capitalism itself that was to blame. Its decline and its end
appeared inevitable.

Read the whole thing.

Pitt on tyranny

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
William Pitt

Beethoven on The Essential Individual

“What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.”
Ludwig van Beethoven

Time to Forcefully Oust Mugabe

I'd like to recommend this excellent op-ed from John Prendergast. Go here.

Human Rights Foundation

I'd like to call your attention to this press release which I am including in full.

CARACAS, Venezuela (January 16, 2009)-- The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) published a report today detailing the arrest and torture of Jose Humberto Quintero, a lieutenant colonel of the Venezuelan National Guard. Quintero was detained in January 2005, by the Venezuelan government for allegedly capturing terrorist leader Ricardo Gonzalez, popularly known as Rodrigo Granda, of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).“The case of Humberto Quintero exemplifies numerous violations of human rights, including violations of international law--specifically, provisions that prohibit arbitrary detention and the use of torture, inhumane, and other degrading treatment. Colonel Quintero’s imprisonment also appears to be politically motivated, as his arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between the governments of Colombia and Venezuela over Granda’s capture,” said Sarah Wasserman of HRF.
As Commander of the Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Unit, Quintero led successful counterterrorism operations. The Venezuelan government charged him with high treason, abuse of authority, violation of military decorum, and illegitimate deprivation of liberty for purportedly capturing Granda in December of 2004, and delivering him to the Colombian authorities in return for a cash payment.

Quintero was arrested, taken to a dungeon at the military intelligence division, and tortured by members of Venezuela’s military intelligence and civilian police for seven days. At the time, Granda, a senior leader of the FARC, served as foreign secretary of the terrorist group and lived in Venezuela under the protection of the Venezuelan government. Granda was on INTERPOL’s list of wanted guerilla members in Colombia. The Paraguayan government claims that in September 2004, while he was in Venezuela, Granda planned the kidnapping and eventual murder of Cecilia Cubas, daughter of former Paraguayan President Raúl Cubas. An arrest order for Granda from a Paraguayan court is still outstanding.

“During an interview with HRF inside Ramo Verde prison, Quintero told us that he was subjected to asphyxiation, beatings, and threats to kidnap his wife and daughter and hand them over to the FARC. He suffered internal bleeding and back pain, which continued for at least another year after the beatings. We were able to verify the damage to his thorax during a visit in November 2006,” added Wasserman.

“The FARC is a terrorist group with demonstrable yet unaddressed and unacknowledged ties to the Venezuelan government since the early years of President Hugo Chávez’s administration. These suspicions were recently confirmed by computers recovered by Colombian security forces from a FARC encampment, which contained messages describing meetings in which Venezuelan officials offered assistance to the Colombian guerrillas, including safe havens and weapons procurement,” continued Wasserman.

According to Quintero, the reason for his torture was three fold: to coerce him to accept his alleged responsibility for Granda’s capture; to force a confession that he had received a significant monetary reward for the capture; and to make him declare that members of the Colombian and US Special Forces had been part of the operation. His forced confession was videotaped and for seven days he was denied access to legal counsel. He was not allowed to see a doctor for several weeks after the beatings. He remains incarcerated at Ramo Verde while he undergoes a second trial for the same charges.

To date, the Venezuelan government’s response to the concerns of the human rights community has been unsatisfactory; it has failed to launch an independent inquiry, despite numerous complaints filed by Quintero’s lawyers and by human rights groups.

The Caracas Nine campaign promotes awareness of human rights abuses and seeks legal protection for individuals persecuted and endangered by the Venezuelan government. The nine cases featured in the campaign are emblematic of the widespread human rights abuses directed against those who openly criticize Venezuela’s government. Francisco Usón, whose case was the first taken up by HRF, was freed from prison on conditional release on December 24, 2007.