December 09, 2004

Christian Compassion That Kills
By Doug Newman

To hear a lot of Christians tell it, the re-election of George W. Bush constituted a “mandate” for Christian values and compassionate conservatism.

Meanwhile, out in the real world, Mr. Dana May of Aurora, Colorado – where this essay originates – surely has much to say about our president's Christian values and compassion. I have never met Mr. May, but I recently read of him in the Denver Rocky Mountain News. He suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a disease so painful that it drives some people to suicide. He likens the pain he feels to having his “feet … in a deep fryer.” He had spent seven years trying numerous remedies, including synthetic marijuana, but none of them worked. As a last resort, he tried medical marijuana. Upon his physician’s advice, he obtained permission from the State of Colorado to grow and use marijuana to alleviate his pain. It worked. (Read the rest here)

Kofi's Resignation Won't Cure The AIDS Epidemic
By Carey Roberts

A band of House Republicans has done the once-unthinkable and called for the resignation of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But giving Annan the boot is only the first step. Because the entire United Nations bureaucracy has become a haven to aging do-gooders who care more about ideology than results.

Take the report, Women and AIDS, which was released by the UNAIDS two weeks ago. UNAIDS is the United Nations program charged with stopping the HIV threat.

The past 20 years I have held a front row seat in the unfolding AIDS drama. I have seen people being handed the death sentence that they had contracted the HIV virus. I have witnessed the terrified look of AIDS patients coming in to check their plummeting CD counts. (Read the rest here)

Bad Fantasies to Worse Realities
by Bob Wallace

My last year in college a leutenant colonel from the Army spoke to one of my larger classes. He wanted us to join. We'd be made officers, he said. We'd be "taken care of," he told us. As for the others (he meant the front-line grunts who did the fighting), he smiled as he commented, "we don't care what they want."

In a flash--pow, just like that--I understood what was going on. There had been riots over Vietnam. People had fled the country. The military had learned its lesson: you don't draft the smarter and the well-to-do and turn them into cannon fodder. Instead, you turn them into officers who don't have to fight, and put those of average, or less than average, intelligence in the front lines.

As I heard an Army sergeant say, "Sorry people in front, good people in back." The less-intelligent, the military has decided, are expendable. They're thow-aways. The military does not care about them. (Read the rest here)

Libertarian Commentary on The News
By Nathan A. Barton © 2004

We’ll start with two news items of particular interest, brought to my attention by friends who are also friends of liberty. Their views (and my own) are not necessarily those of TPoL, RRND, FND, or anyone else! But they are worth an infinity more than what you’re paying for them!

Bad News/Good News: The commentary today starts with two items, which strangely juxtapose with each other.

House passes intelligence overhaul bill
Yahoo
"The House voted Tuesday to overhaul a national intelligence network that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, combining under one official control of 15 spy agencies, intensifying aviation and border security and allowing more wiretaps of suspected terrorists. .... The House voted 336-75 to send the Senate legislation to create a new national intelligence director, establish a counterterrorism center, set priorities for intelligence gathering and tighten U.S. borders .... The bill includes a host of anti-terrorism provisions, such as allowing officials to wiretap "lone wolf" terrorists and improving airline baggage screening procedures. It increases the number of full- time border patrol agents by 2,000 per year for five years and imposes new federal standards on information that driver's licenses must contain."

This is THE big liberty story of the week, to my way of thinking. And it smells to high heaven. The more I’ve heard about this bill (and I commented on the original commission results as being absolute ludicrous and certain NOT to have a significant impact on “fighting terrorism”) the worse it has sounded. More and more conservative groups have come out against it, but it has been steamrollered on by the Administration for their own ends and glory. It is, I am told, about 3,000 pages long, and the full version approved today hadn’t even been printed out for review by the 336 congrus-critturs that voted for it. (For those interested, go to this web site for Bill text ) It not only centralizes intelligence control (a dangerous idea for either a republic OR a tyranny), not only further tinkers with the stupid provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act (making them even more stupid), not only ignores much of the illegal immigration problems (while raising the equivalent of another DIVISION of border agents), but it has these absolutely insane NID (national ID) card requirements. As one person pointed out, Israel has had biometric ID cards for a long time, and look how terror bombings have been completely eliminated in Israeli-controlled areas! (Read the rest here)

Non Custodial Parent's Action Planned for DECEMBER 17th, 2004 (in New Orleans, LA ); and your city?. Fathers 4 Justice will hold their Christmas Protest Action in London on Saturday December 18th. in typical F4J style ;o) (Read the rest here)

The American Jury Hour with
Iloilo Marguerite Jones and guests

FICAA.com Presents: The American Jury Hour with Iloilo Marguerite Jones and guests. Heard on The American Voice Radio Network , Thursday Afternoons, Noon Pacific, 1PM Mountain. The weekend rebroadcast of this week's program is at Sunday at 9:00 PM. .

Heard on The American Voice Radio Network American Voice Radio Network can be heard on:

C-Band Satellite at Galaxy 11 (formerly G-7), Transponder 12, Audio 8.1 Internet Streaming Audio (MP3 16kbps) C-Band and Internet Audio feeds are free with no subscription fee or sign up required whatsoever. (Read the rest here)

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