Earlier this month, a little-discussed headline read "Muted Ceremony Marks End Of Iraq War."[1] Of course, neither the war in Iraq nor the occupation are really ending. Thousands of private security contractors remain in the country (as do the fifteen thousand employees of the Baghdad embassy).[2] The end of conventional military operations reflects the changing usefulness of the soldier to the state.

Generally speaking, the soldier’s role as provider of security is secondary to his role in propaganda. Regardless of an individual soldier’s motivation in joining the military, his primary function is to serve as a rallying cry for the fellow subjects of his state.

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Rejoice at how safe you’ve become! Because now, finally, you live in a country where you can be detained indefinitely, without trial, on the mere suspicion of terrorism.

This is because the National Defense Authorization Act, yet another bill to provide funds for war and nation-building, has been passed by both houses of Congress. Within this gem of a bill is buried language that mandates that anyone suspected of terrorism be handed over to the military for indefinite detention — and this specifically includes US citizens — at the discretion of the executive branch.

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Maybe the “99%” are right. Maybe we should take all the money from the richest 1%.

Perhaps, however, the protesters don’t go far enough. We should then find the most beautiful 1% and scar their faces with box cutters. Then we should find the smartest 1% and damage their brains. We should find the most athletic 1% and break their legs. We should find the healthiest 1% and feed them poison.

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The thousands of protesters in New York and cities around the world are likely to achieve nothing if they continue down their current course. Instead of calling themselves “the other 99%,” they should adopt the tagline  “the odds are 99-to-1.”

The protesters have not realized that all of the issues they want to address are only symptoms of a deeper problem. The singular objective should be the abolition of the state.

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American student Amanda Knox was released from custody in Italy this week, where she has been held since 2007 on suspicion of the murder and sexual assault of her former roommate, Melissa Kercher. Knox was originally convicted, but that was overturned on appeal because of flawed and circumstantial evidence, shoddy detective work, and a coerced confession.

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I think it’s safe to say that Stefan Molyneux is recasting the term “talking-head” into something positive. In fact, his analysis of current events is usually so spot on that I am often guilty of intellectual sloth. Instead of giving folks my own write up on certain topics I find it’s easier to simply defer to Stefan.

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BBC News – Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden is dead, according to US media reports citing officials.

The US is in possession of Bin Laden’s body, the reports say. President Barack Obama is due to make a statement shortly.

Mr Bin Laden is top of the US most wanted list.

He is accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676

I’m happy to see that Ron Paul is running for President again. There was never any doubt in my mind that he would. Now, that’s not to say I am rooting for him to win. Frankly, I am neutral as to which gangster gets elected to the head of the largest criminal organization the world has ever seen. I didn’t always feel that way, though. When I was still a minarchist I desperately wanted to see Dr. Paul become President and I was even naive enough to believe it could happen.

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