December 03, 2004 (Unfortunately, phone line problems in the Mid West prevented the Commentary for Thursday to come in too late for publication yesterday. It is available here. Sorry for the inconvenience.)

Well, a month since the election, and chaos has not yet descended upon the Union or the planet (well, no significant INCREASE in chaos, at least). In my opinion, there is still far too much in the news about elections and that one, in particular, but you may not agree with me - obviously many folks don’t or they’d stop buying papers. Of course, as always it is my views you’ll find here - not necessarily TPoL’s, RRND’s, FND’s, or anyone else’s.

GOP discusses national sales tax
Fox News
"While Republican leaders of the House and Senate are huddling for the next two days in Norfolk, VA, to chart the agenda for the upcoming Congress, White House officials meeting with them on tax reform are likely to debate the idea of a national sales tax. President Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert have both said the idea of a national sales tax deserves a serious look. For many, the idea of a world without the Internal Revenue Service is very seductive. 'We spend about $400 billion a year complying with the tax code. We spend $200 billion a year just filling out IRS paperwork,' said Rep. John Linder [R-GA] who has proposed a bill that would create a national sales tax." (112/01/04)

Wow, what would we do with all the accountants and all those four-month jobs at H&R Block gone? Of course, talking about it is a lot different from doing anything about it - the GOP’s track record for honesty is low - Contract with America, Department of Energy, Department of Education, etc. I expect this to die in the vaunted halls of Congress sometime sooner than later.

Mama's Note: Before anyone gets all excited about this, they might want to think about a few things. Remember that the government makes all the rules, of course, and they are not bound by any measure of logic or intelligence, so we might be jumping from the frying pan into the fire here. Just what would be taxed, and how often? Is there any hope for some way to limit the rate or what is to be taxed? I doubt it.

Government already collects sales tax each time a car, boat, etc. changes hands now, and it is a significant part of the price already. What is to prevent them from collecting tax on used items at yard sales, etc. They already get a cut when you buy something at Goodwill or the Salvation Army, so why not anywhere else? How about things you make or grow and sell to your friends and neighbors? You could easily become a "tax cheat" and criminal if you don't report and pay that tax. Do you really think they wouldn't collect tax on food too?

What about services? This could open the door for a tax on every visit to the doctor, the vet, and the thousands of other services we enjoy each day. I can just see how they could use this tax as an excuse to get even more nosy about our personal affairs, so I'm in no rush to find out.

Of course, if government actually only did its basic job (assuming it even has one), and was totally accountable to the people who form and use it, there would be no need for much of a tax at all. I'm sure nobody in Washington DC loses any sleep worrying about that one. Too bad.

Stocks soar as oil prices drop
Rocky Mountain News
"A steep drop in oil prices gave Wall Street a big rally Wednesday, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 160 points and giving the major indexes one of their best days of 2004. The buying took off immediately after the Energy Department reported an increase in distillate reserves -- heating oil and other derivative products -- of 2.3 million barrels, far higher than Wall Street expected. Gasoline and crude inventories also rose substantially. That triggered the largest single- day decline in crude oil futures in more than three years. The price of a barrel of light crude plummeted $3.64 to settle at $45.49, its lowest level since Sept. 16, on the New York Mercantile Exchange." (12/02/04)

Unfortunately, it will take longer for gasoline prices to follow the decline of crude oil, assuming this is not just a small blip. Retailers have been squeezed and will need to recover some before we see much of a drop, sadly. And while the market is healing itself, the root causes of the explosive price increase still have not been fixed - especially the government meddling.

Voting errors tallied nationwide
Boston Globe
"More than 4,000 votes vanished without a trace into a computer's overloaded memory in one North Carolina county, and about a hundred paper ballots were thrown out by mistake in another. In Texas, a county needed help from a laboratory in Canada to unlock the memory of a touch-screen machine and unearth five dozen votes. In other places, machine undercounting or overcounting of votes was a problem. Several thousand votes were mistakenly double-counted in North Carolina, Ohio, Nebraska, and Washington state. Some votes in other areas were at first credited to the wrong candidates, with one Indiana county, by some quirk, misallocating several hundred votes for Democrats to Libertarians. In Florida, some machines temporarily indicated votes intended for challenger John F. Kerry were for President Bush, and vice versa." (12/01/04)

It is quite a list, and I suspect not much different from any general election. Not that I excuse the loss or miscounting of votes, but it is like e-mail or snail-mail - things just go wrong. The last time we probably saw an election go perfectly was for “Favorite Boy and Girl” in first grade.

Pennsylvania: Gun suspect uses "tight jeans" defense
WCCO 4 News
"Sean Eldon Duvall, 36, was arrested Tuesday on charges including aggravated assault and reckless endangerment for the June 18 incident. Southwest Regional Police Detective Sgt. James Rega said in court papers that Duvall left his car with the .38-caliber revolver hidden under papers and aimed it at him when he stopped to see if Duvall needed help. Duvall told The Associated Press that he didn't need help; he said he was just stepping out of his car to go to a friend's house to play chess. Duvall acknowledged he had his gun with him, but said he has a permit to carry it, which he tried to show Rega. By law, the gun must be concealed, but Duvall said he couldn't conceal it under his pants while sitting in his car because his jeans were too tight." (12/01/04)

Well, it is an interesting twist. What Sgt. Rega hasn’t said is what reason on earth Duvall would have for pointing a gun at him if (1) he was only stopping to help, and (2) Duvall had a valid permit to carry, so no fear of being found with the weapon, even in antigun Pennsylvania.

Two networks spurn church ad
Raleigh News & Observer
"A 30-second television ad welcoming people to the United Church of Christ has been rejected by CBS and NBC because it was deemed too controversial. ... The ad shows two muscular bouncers standing outside a large stone church picking and choosing who can go in. A statement follows: 'Jesus didn't turn people away; neither do we.' But network executives decided the ad touched on the sensitive issue of gay and lesbian inclusion and pointed to a policy of not taking positions on hot-button issues." (12/02/04)

How interesting - the ad apparently only IMPLIES the homosexual issue - just as thousands of ads each year, using sex to sell, make various implications and innuendoes, but religious ones (unlike sexual ones) are too hot to touch? Certain, the UCC has to be one of the most liberal religious groups around, so it is ironic that they are the first to suffer such blatant nationwide discrimination.

Sharon's future cloudy as Israeli budget fails
Bradenton Herald
"Israel's parliament voted against the state budget Wednesday, triggering a political crisis that could topple Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government and stall his plan to pull out of Gaza and part of the West Bank next year. In another key Middle East development Wednesday, jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti reversed an earlier decision and filed official papers to run for the presidency to succeed the late Yasser Arafat, throwing Palestinian politics into disarray. ... Shortly after Wednesday's vote in Israel, Sharon dismissed Shinui, his main coalition partner, from the government for voting against the budget. At the parliament, Shinui ministers showed reporters their one-sentence dismissal notices. They take effect Saturday evening." (12/02/04)

This cabinet crisis points out one of the problems with parliamentary government (although it is also touted as one of its strengths) - the fragile condition of the government unless it has an overwhelming majority and iron party discipline (both of which have their own problems, of course). For Israel right now, this may weaken the chances of taking the opportunity offered by Arafat’s departure, if the Israeli politicians are more worried about their own personal power than the nation’s survival and prosperity.

Florida: Bush asks Supreme Court to prevent Schiavo killing
Indianapolis Star
"Gov. Jeb Bush went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in a bid to keep a severely brain-damaged woman alive over her husband's objections. At issue is whether Bush overstepped his authority when he pushed through the Legislature a law in 2003 that allowed him to have Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted. Six days earlier, her husband had the tube removed with a judge's approval." (12/02/04)

Although this is portrayed as government taking away the “rights” of the husband, he seems to be more interested in disposing of an inconveniently ill wife than anything else. And the Florida Supreme Court did not seem to be too interested in protecting a citizen’s life.

Mama's Note: I've read quite a bit about this and it's one of the most horrible cases I've ever seen. The "hospice" involved in her care has demonstrated a level of ethical poverty that is hard to imagine. It's even harder to understand how they can continue to deprive this patient of even basic comfort and visits by her family, let alone participate in the spouse's repeated attempts to kill her outright. There is simply no moral or legal reason for this woman to be tortured this way, and quite a few people have a great deal to answer for, especially if they succeed in killing her. .

New Mexico: Court blocks church from using hallucinogenic tea
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
"The Bush administration on Wednesday won a Supreme Court stay that blocks a New Mexico church from using hallucinogenic tea that the government contends is illegal and potentially dangerous. The government has been in a long-running legal fight with the Brazil-based O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal over hoasca tea, brewed from plants found in the Amazon River Basin. ... The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver found that the church probably has a religious-freedom right to use the tea. The Bush administration plans to appeal, but wants the church barred from using the tea in the meantime." (12/01/04)

If THIS is an example of a Supreme Court concerned for the rights of the people of the United States, I am at a complete loss as to how to convince people (who believe this) that the sky is blue and the sun comes up in the east. But it shows the state that we have gotten into, thanks both to the war on drugs and the increasing nanny-state: anything is illegal unless it has been permitted by the government. There appears to be no law making hoasca tea contraband, but that doesn’t bother the enforcers. As for being dangerous - well, like I said, the nanny-state’s power to protect her “children” is being questioned - of COURSE they will claim it is dangerous. In a state where Penitentes still hold their rituals, and various shamans do strange things with snakes, a little tea seems hardly worth the effort for the feds. Of course, it gives them an excuse to ignore the steady stream of coke, meth, and other things that make money for those with money and power.

Georgia: State uses a new carrot to collect child support
Christian Science Monitor
"Pay up now and avoid arrest. That's the preholiday message officials in Georgia are sending to parents who owe child support. Beginning Dec. 1 and continuing for 10 days, a statewide amnesty program allows noncustodial fathers and mothers to catch up on back payments without punishment of fines or jail. Those struggling with financial problems can work out a payment plan. 'We think it would be a good thing if the money that's owed to many children in the state gets to them at this time of year,' says Barbara Joye of the state's Office of Child Support Enforcement. Encouraged by the success of a pilot amnesty program in Columbus, Ga., last month that yielded $32,000, officials have sent letters to 6,000 of the state's most delinquent parents." (12/02/04)

Unpaid child support has become one of the big excuses (third only to the war on drugs and the war on terrorism, perhaps) for abridging of our liberties - “its for the chillun.” So while it is a welcome situation to see a carrot and not a stick used, the stick has grown very large in the past couple of decades. What is sickening about this situation is that the entire mess is, in large part, the fault of the government - constant fiddling with divorce laws and the tacit encouragement of out-of-wedlock births, both big government items for decades, are very much a major contributing factor to this current situation.

Mama's Note: It's far worse than most people understand. The "child support" is almost always based on some mythical idea of the parent's income, and totally disregards the fact that the parent must also support himself! It totally ignores the realities of life that come with unemployment or other reduction of income. If the family were intact, the wife and children would have to live with the changes, but somehow after divorce, the changes just don't count! Add to that the fact that the courts often confiscate houses, vehicles and tools, making it almost impossible for the paying parent to make anything at all - then throw him in jail when he doesn't pay! It's all insane. Lots of information about that at Ed Ward's web site about Non-custodial Parents and many of his articles.

Government lawyers assert broad right to kidna ... er, detain
Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Under detailed questioning by a federal judge, government lawyers asserted yesterday that the U.S. military can hold foreigners indefinitely as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, even if they aided terrorists unintentionally and never fought the United States. Could a 'little old lady in Switzerland' who sent a check to an orphanage in Afghanistan be taken into custody if unbeknownst to her, some of her donation was passed to al-Qaida terrorists? asked U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green." (12/02/04)

Ah, a power worthy of the Senate and People of Rome - which this Justice Department apparently thinks they are working for. Our “leaders” appear to be regressing to a time when anyone not “people” (that is, our clan or tribe or nation) has nothing - so much for “All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator…” opps, that’s right: the Declaration of Independence is now no longer “politically-correct” or allowed to be taught in “public schools.” Oh, well, it doesn’t sound like it sunk in very deep in the law schools, anyway.

Iraq: Puppet "president" backs elections, US to up troop level
Las Vegas Review-Journal
"Iraq's president [Ghazi al-Yawer], an influential Sunni Muslim, threw his support Wednesday behind holding the Jan. 30 election on time despite insurgent [sic] threats he said have paralyzed voter registration voter registration in some Sunni areas of the country. Moving to bolster security ahead of the vote, the United States said it was expanding its military force in Iraq by 12,000 to about 150,000 by year's end -- the highest [sic] level of the war. The previous high was 148,000 on May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations were over." (12/01/04)

Is al-Yawer a puppet? Opinions vary - but he is an important Sunni, and he certainly is doing as good a job as anyone could be expected right now, whether he is a mouthpiece FOR or TO the Coalition. The increase of troop strength, apparently intended to be temporary for the next 60-90 days, seems a reasonable precaution - for months many voices on all sides have said that violence would escalate drastically as the elections near (as happened in Afghanistan), and so far, those predictions are panning out. Whether it will let the elections take place “successfully” (and for this the definitions of “success” are also all over the place) is yet to be seen.

Powell condemns Haiti political violence
Indianapolis Star
"Heavy gunfire rang out near Haiti's presidential palace Wednesday as Secretary of State Colin Powell met with the country's interim leaders. Powell said international peacekeeping troops need to come down hard on street toughs and those who carry out political violence in Haiti. 'They have to forcefully take on those armed individuals of the kind who were firing this morning,' Powell said after meetings at the National Palace with President Boniface Alexandre, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and other political leaders." (12/01/04)

Our own little Lebanon and Iraq in the Western Hemisphere, all rolled up into a mess - proof that not just Islam is necessary for a peaceful society under covenant or at least some degree of law to be impossible to achieve. The mix of French culture, post-slavery collapse, and modern international nannying and meddling have created a situation worse than that portrayed even in Somalia, and no sign of any significant improvements. Haiti would, actually, be the perfect place to show that private, voluntary, and non-governmental intervention might be preferable to doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result.

State Department backs UN probe
MSNBC
"The State Department endorsed a Senate investigation Wednesday into possible fraud in the U.N. oil-for-food program while sidestepping a senator's demand that Secretary-General Kofi Annan resign. 'That is not something, frankly, that is in front of us,' deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. 'What is in front of us is ensuring that if there is wrongdoing it is fully understood and that appropriate action be taken.'" (12/01/04)

The President again seems to be intentionally going out of his way to tick off his conservative backers, apparently now convinced that they have no where else to go. On this, the Administration appears to be taking an attitude of supporting Annan right or wrong, rather than urging that he accept responsibility for what his subordinates have done.

Attorneys: Prisoner abuse admission "coerced"
The Age [Australia]
"Lynndie England's lawyers say the US Army Private was coerced into admitting she and other soldiers were just 'joking around, having some fun' when they posed for photos with naked Iraqi prisoners. Lawyer Rick Hernandez told a judge today that Private First Class England was pulled out of bed in the middle of the night, denied food, and was not fully aware of how her statements would be used when US Army investigators questioned her in January and May about abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. ... He also seemed to suggest England lacked the mental capacity to fully understand what she was doing. At one point, he asked Special Agent Paul Arthur if he was trained to recognize whether someone with 'developmental disabilities,' even if 'high functioning,' could understand the rights he was describing to England." (12/01/04)

Legal tactics make me sick, and this shyster appears to be using some vile ones - presenting England as a “victim” is, at best, a tactic that is likely to backfire, and seeks to distract the Courts Martial board from the real issue: did she (and others, including NCOs and officers) do what is taught in both civilian life and the military to be wrong?

Dumbing down a smart watch
Wired News
"Human memory is imperfect, so an RFID-enabled smartwatch that keeps track of the easily lost items in your world could be a boon. The tricky part is making sure the watch doesn't remember everything. At his lab in Seattle, Gaetano Borriello and his University of Washington team have built a working prototype of a smartwatch that operates using radio frequency identification tags to help people keep track of their stuff. The device is destined to become an application for the memory-challenged but is being designed with privacy rights in mind." (11/29/04)

Well, I’m certainly one person who could benefit from this! Start with keys, wallet, that spare hard drive, and continue from there. But as the inventors point out, using it to remember where you put that spare ammo or that emergency hoard of gold coins MAY not be a good idea.

Oklahoma: Ban on gun pits state against big firms
Wall Street Journal
"In late summer of 2002, Steve Bastible put three bullets into a dying cow at his ranch, threw the emptied rifle behind the seat of his pickup and forgot about it. A few weeks later, the rifle cost him his job of 23 years. That Oct. 1, in a surprise search, Weyerhaeuser Co. sent gun-sniffing dogs into the parking lot of its paper mill here. Mr. Bastible and 11 other workers were fired after guns were found in their vehicles. The timber company said the weapons violated a new company policy that extended a longtime workplace gun ban to the parking area. The fired workers said they knew nothing of the new rule. The firings outraged many in this wooded community in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. In rural Oklahoma, carrying a firearm in one's car is commonplace. 'In Oklahoma, gun control is when you hit what you shoot at,' says Jerry Ellis, a member of the state legislature." (11/26/04)

Oklahoma’s dilemma is tricky, and pits the rights of owners (even if they are “evil” corporations”) against everyone else’s rights. Oklahoma has made its choice on the side of everyone else (if the various courts will let them). But it seems to me that the problem here could be solved by the company being able to demonstrate exactly HOW their rights were violated by their employees having weapons in their PRIVATE vehicles, even if they were on company land. (I don’t think that they can, personally.) It also seems that there should be an obligation to properly notify everyone of changes in policy - perhaps, contrary to usual OK practice, what the workers here at Weyerhaeuser need is a union to be able to negotiate such things with the company, since the company apparently believes it does not need to do so.

Massachusetts: First electronic fingerprinting for gun licensing
Times Daily
"With a quick electronic scan of a fingerprint, gun shop owners in Massachusetts will know immediately if a customer is eligible to buy a weapon, using a system that officials say is the first of its kind in the nation. The Massachusetts Instant Record Check System, developed over the past six years with nearly $7 million in information technology grant money, will be in place in all police departments and gun shops across the state by next summer." (12/01/04)

Sorry, but I don’t believe that the technology works - too many false positives with something like this. And the entire system makes it easier to keep illegal records of who bought what.

Shocked ... shocked! Tour-bus driver let people gamble
Tennessean
"A Nashville tour-bus operator could face felony charges after he was accused of allowing passengers to gamble while riding to bingo halls in Kentucky, Metro police said. The passengers were buying $1 'pull-tab' tickets on buses chartered by Love That Tours Inc. while en route to Kentucky, according to police officials. 'That gambling takes place almost as soon as these buses leave the parking lot,' Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said. What's worse, police said, the company also gave most of the winning tickets to planted passengers to trick ordinary passengers into thinking they could win." (12/01/04)

It seems to me that they are not charging the guy with the right crime - is he “allowing them” or is he participating in it - as the retailer of these silly pull-tabs? I think also, that we have two different issues here. First is whether the company is breaking the law in Nashville and Tennessee by selling chances (whether the law is a stinker or not is another issue, of course). Second, and a more serious one, is whether the games are honest or not - is this a “valid method of promotion” for their gaming, or simply the equivalent of a shill and a crooked gambler with cards up his sleeve? Of course, if gambling really is illegal in TN and Nashville, then aren’t there laws against what this bus company is doing - isn’t there something about transporting people for an immoral purpose?

Mama's Note: What "crime"? I didn't read anywhere that these people were forced onto the bus or forced to buy the pull-tabs. Crooked or not - and that is a matter for the customers to pursue if they want - the responsibility for everything rests on the customers. You notice that they were already going somewhere to gamble, so the state doesn't really care about any moral issue in it. They just want to get their "piece of the action" and resent anyone who would dare to leave them out of the loot.

Arizona: Proposition 200 put on hold
Arizona Republic
"A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the implementation of Proposition 200, saying attorneys raised serious questions about its constitutionality and its potential conflicts with federal law. U.S. District Judge David C. Bury granted a temporary restraining order late Tuesday and set a Dec. 22 hearing on evidence for and against the anti-illegal immigration measure. His action came several hours after a prominent Hispanic organization filed a lawsuit challenging the popular initiative and less than a day before Gov. Janet Napolitano was to proclaim it law. The order, in effect through Dec. 22, will stop the scheduled implementation of the measure, which requires state and local government employees to verify the immigration status of people applying for public benefits and report violators to immigration authorities." (12/01/04)

Is anyone surprised? After all the court-ordered suspension of constitutional amendments and other laws in virtually every state in the Union, lots of us predicted this would happen - It is just a surprise that it took a month for this to happen. I still cannot understand HOW the judicial activists can claim it is unconstitutional - or that federal law takes priority over how Arizona spends its money.

Arizona: "E-Court" eases pain of divorce
Arizona Republic
"Call it Turbo-Divorce: starting Wednesday, couples seeking a divorce or legal separation in Maricopa County can log on to a Superior Court Internet site, fill out a questionnaire modeled on the popular TurboTax software for preparing income-tax returns, and print out legal documents. It's a handy resource for couples who already have their divorce issues worked out but can't afford, or just don't want to deal with, an attorney or a document preparer. E-Court, as it's called, eliminates many of the errors that average people make when they try to write their own legal documents. 'In excess of 80 percent of our family court litigants are self-represented,' said Family Court Judge Norman J. Davis. 'They don't have an attorney. It's the first time they've done it, usually, and they're confused on how to do it.'" (11/30/04)

Ah, another Arizona initiative - see my discussion earlier about unintended consequences of government tinkering (interfering) with the institution of marriage in the first place. Why don’t they do this with the marriage in the first place? Oh, yeah - revenue from fees.

Intelligence reform already in gear
Christian Science Monitor
"In the months ahead, the Central Intelligence Agency will almost certainly undergo its most extensive shakeup in nearly 30 years. Whether the intelligence reform bill now stuck in Congress becomes law might almost be beside the point. A new director, personality conflicts, and orders from the White House have already combined to produce turmoil at Langley unmatched since the Carter era, when Stansfield Turner cut spies overseas in favor of advanced electronic snooping. Considering the dangers the US faces, now might seem a bad time for CIA reinvention. Better to have top officials focusing on the internal politics of Al Qaeda than those of their own bureaucracy, after all." (12/01/04)

CSM once more seems not to get it - the CIA is broken, and has been for decades. Not that the current crop of “reforms” is going to fix it - that is nothing more than putting frosting on the cake that already fell while baking. But the best time to fix something important (making the assumption that the CIA is - which I know people will argue with me about) is when it breaks, not “when it is convenient.”

13. Gender bias case due hearing
Richmond Times-Dispatch
"A landmark gender-equity law should protect people who report complaints of discrimination, the Supreme Court was told yesterday. The court heard arguments in the case of an Alabama coach fired when he protested the unequal treatment of his girls' high school basketball team. 'This is vital to promoting the purposes of the act,' said government attorney Irving L. Gornstein, referring to the Title IX law best known for promoting women's athletics." (12/01/04)

Sexual equity (gender applies to words and electronic parts) law is a hot item these days - but matters like this would just go away if such sports programs weren’t sponsored (i.e. run and paid for) by governments using stolen tax money and seeking not to help the students/players, but rather to further whatever ends the government has. And it is hard to feel sympathetic with someone who is so brainwashed that he believes in the lies of Title IX.

New Jersey: School's carol rule for the Grinch?
Fox News
"There won't be any herald angels singing or little drummer boys drumming at schools in Maplewood this holiday season. Last year, when students in the chorus sang Christmas songs at holiday concerts, a few people complained that lyrics about the baby Jesus or angels made non-Christians feel left out. So, the music director for the New Jersey district issued an edict that all songs representing any religion were to be avoided. But at a school board meeting this month, many parents argued the ruling is more Grinch than goodwill. Those that read the actual school policy say it's being misinterpreted since the policy permits 'the inclusion of religious literature, music, drama, (etc.) provided ... it neither inhibits nor advances any religious point of view.'" (11/30/04)

Ah, one of the first post-turkey-day entries in the usual pre-Christmas educational follies. “Public schools” are just asking for it - but parents should have some say-so, no? At the same time, I have my suspicions about people who “complain” that the lyrics make them feel left out. I’m a christian, as is my family, but we don’t believe in Christmas as a religious holiday or as “Jesus’ birthday” - and so for decades, I guess we should have felt “left out” because we, too, were forced to listen to these lyrics that we don’t believe in. But we felt it was important enough to other people to be put up with - I don’t suppose these complainers can get a life?

Colorado: Wal-Mart workers make effort to unionize
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"In a move that has been unsuccessful elsewhere in the United States, 17 workers at a Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express have taken the first step to unionize at the world's largest retailer. ... In the United States, the closest a U.S. union ever came to representing Wal-Mart workers happened in 2000. Eleven members of the store's meatpacking department at Jacksonville, Texas, store voted to be represented by the UFCW. In a move it said was unrelated to the union vote, Wal-Mart eliminated the job of meatcutter company-wide, and announced it would only sell precut, pre-wrapped meat." (11/30/04)

It might be harder to outsource tire and lube workers than it was the meatpackers, but such “negotiations” should be a part of the entire process - true give and take on a voluntary basis, without force being used by either side.

Mama's Note: But unions don't work that way. Once they get in, they take over and individuals no longer have anything to say about their working conditions or wages or much of anything else. I don't know of any place the union has come in where those who do not wish to belong to the union are left alone. It's all or nothing. I've left a number of good jobs because the union came in and destroyed everything, making all relationships with management a battle and "us against them" with no chance for cooperation. Unions represent themselves first, practicing extortion and intimidation with very little accountability. It's a true lose/lose situation for the workers and the business, the exact opposite of the free market.

Montana: Key House race remains undecided
Billings Gazette
"The outcome of a Western Montana legislative race and the balance of power in the state House remained unresolved Monday after a daylong recount by Lake County officials. ... Before calling it quits for the day, the board's recount tentatively showed Rick Jore of Ronan, the Constitution Party candidate, with 1,560 votes and Democrat Jeanne Windham of Polson with 1,559 votes. The initial count, certified in the statewide canvass last week, had Jore winning 1,559 votes to 1,557. ... Windham said Monday she plans to challenge in court the recount board's decision to count five disputed ballots for Jore. Those ballots had markings for both him and the Republican candidate, Jack Cross, who finished a distant third. Windham said state law requires ballots to be discarded if a voter's intent is unclear and counted for no candidate." (11/30/04)

This is interesting because it would (so far as I know) be the first time (since at least the Populist movement of the early 1900s) that a third-party candidate has been elected to the Montana Legislature, or even coming close. As the balance in the Legislature, this guy COULD have an impact on the various free-state activities going on. Let’s keep an eye on this one!

New Hampshire: Gun rights hot topic at arms show
Valley News
"To many in the room at the Lebanon Gun Show yesterday, gun control laws are unnecessary and not useful. 'It's illegal, anticonstitutional and unconstitutional,' said Ed Reddish, a gun enthusiast from Waterboro, Maine, who was at the show helping his friend, gun dealer Gene Rochette, man a table full of handguns and shotguns. Martin Strosser, the vice president of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, was equally succinct. 'It's not the gun -- it's the person,' he said. 'Almost all of the gun laws in the country are superfluous.'" (11/29/04)

Always nice to read a local news story about gun shows - and all the discussion going on there. Even in the socialist East, there are a lot of people who know what is right and aren’t afraid to say it, even when they KNOW the “wrong” people will be listening, or when they are preaching to the choir.

Nathan Barton is a libertarian gun-owner and user writing from the high, cold country of the Four Corners.
See Nathan's own blog, Liberty's Outpost.

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