December 10, 2004

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author, and not necessarily those of any organized group, including RRND or FND or TPoL.

Bush signs off on $388 billion spending bill
MSNBC
"President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a $388 billion legislative package that covers the spending of every federal agency but the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security. Congress sent the measure, which covers the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, to the president on Tuesday. A temporary spending measure was to expire at midnight. Congress passed the package Nov. 20." (12/08/04)

The amount of pork contained in this omnibus bill (as always with such massive lumps of spending) is phenomenal, and once more reminds us that Congress has lost all self-discipline, regardless of which party and which people are in power. As near as I can figure, every dime of this package is pure debt, and only pushes us closer to the new debt limit just passed a few weeks ago. In addition, this package SHOULD have been passed more than three months ago - another evidence of Congress and its shameful lack of attention to the people’s business in favor of getting reelected, gaining power, and generally behaving like the spoiled children of kings.

Same-sex marriage legal but forced marriages not allowed
Seattle Times
Canada's highest court said today the government can redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, but it added that religious officials cannot be forced to perform unions against their beliefs. The ruling by the court in Ottawa brings to the final stages a long, bitter fight over whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry in Canada.

This ruling is sure to arouse significant criticism, but at least these Supremes did NOT (as many feared) mandate that preachers and priests have to perform such “marriages.” Six provinces and a territory have already established homosexual marriages, so for much of Canada this changes little. But given Canada’s recent judicial record on denying rights of free exercise of religion and free speech, there was a great fear that further rights for homosexuals would result in taking away other people’s freedoms. Parliament is expected to pass new laws easily.

More US soldiers survive war wounds
Las Vegas Review-Journal
"For every American soldier killed in Iraq, nine others have been wounded and survived - the highest rate of any war in U.S. history. It isn't that their injuries were less serious, a new report says. In fact, some young soldiers and Marines have had faces, arms and legs blown off and are now returning home badly maimed. But they have survived thanks, in part, to armor-like vests and fast treatment from doctors on the move with surgical kits in backpacks." (12/08/04)

Technology continues to help our mistakes to be both magnified (“To err is human; to really mess up, use a computer.”) and kept from being made worse - as is the case with this. Similar, if less spectacular, results are seen for Iraqis wounded, and treated by Iraqi and American soldiers - but at the same time, modern warfare is not always kind to those wounded, even when they survive. War is NOT glory, and only the most critical issues should ever resort to the battlefield.

Mama's Note: How insane to congratulate themselves that more people "survive" the maiming! I know that many who "live" wish they had died every day thereafter. How much better it would be if we could all just mind our own business and enjoy our lives in peace. It really wouldn't take much more effort on the part of anyone, just a desire for peace and prosperity that didn't come at someone else's expense. What a thought!

Snow agrees to stay at Treasury; VA Secretary Principi to exit
USA Today
"Treasury Secretary John Snow, an aggressive champion of the administration's economic policies, accepted President Bush's offer Wednesday to remain in the Cabinet. Bush's decision kept an important member of his economic team in place as the president seeks to promote his second-term priorities of simplifying tax laws and overhauling Social Security. At the same time, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi told his staff he was resigning, a senior administration official said. Principi is the ninth member of Bush's 15-person Cabinet to leave. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a decorated Vietnam veteran." (12/08/04)

With almost 2/3 of the first term cabinet gone, this is turning into one of the bigger mid-Administration shuffles in recent history, and even neo-conservative commentators are pointing out that the President is consolidating his power, often in direct opposition to the conservatives that have loyally supported him in two elections. Exactly how these changes will impact on daily government operations is yet to be seen.

Sharpton got $86,715 to campaign for Sen. John Kerry
Dodge City Daily Globe
"All of John Kerry's one-time rivals in the Democratic presidential primary eventually lined up to support him as the nominee, but only one got paid for it - Al Sharpton. The Democratic National Committee paid Sharpton $86,715 in travel and consulting fees to compensate for his campaigning for Kerry and other Democratic candidates, according to reports to the Federal Election Commission. In an interview with The Associated Press, Sharpton said he was paid for travel and he didn't know how much he had been reimbursed." (12/08/04)

For a man who constantly harps on how much discrimination he and his fellow blacks receive, this is a backhanded kind of special treatment indeed. It also appears to be money that the Kerry campaign completely wasted, with more blacks deserting to vote for GOP candidates than ever before.

Congress passes historic spy agencies bill
Detroit Free Press
"Congress on Wednesday ordered the biggest overhaul of U.S. intelligence in a half-century, replacing a network geared to the Cold War fight against communism with a post-Sept. 11 structure requiring military and civilian spy agencies to work together against terrorists intent on holy war. The Senate overwhelmingly passed the legislation 89-2, one day after the House easily pushed through the compromise strongly endorsed by President Bush." (12/08/04)

The Senate vote was an anticlimax to the fight (not “easily pushed” as the DFP claims) in the House. I’ve commented against various provisions in this bill, now law, extensively, as being both unwise and dangerous to liberty. The final version left most of these in place, and once more showed the weakness of traditional conservatives in Congress. They delayed, but did not stop the legislation.

Congressman denounces National ID card
Sierra Times
"Congressman Ron Paul Wednesday denounced the national ID card provisions contained in the intelligence bill being voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives, while urging his colleagues to reject the bill and its new layers of needless bureaucracy. 'National ID cards are not proper in a free society,' Paul stated. 'This is America, not Soviet Russia. The federal government should never be allowed to demand papers from American citizens, and it certainly has no constitutional authority to do so. A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American. History shows that governments inevitably use such power in harmful ways. ... Domestic travel restrictions are the hallmark of authoritarian states, not free nations.'" (12/08/04)

Obviously closely related to the previous article - Rep. Paul’s comments are as usual concise and to the point, and his warnings are timely, and ignored.

California: Battle over God in U.S. History class
San Francisco Chronicle
"Stephen Williams wants to teach his fifth-graders at a Cupertino public school all about Christianity's role in America's founding -- an effort that has opened a blue state-red state divide smack in the middle of the blue Bay Area. Williams, a self-described 'orthodox Christian,' ran afoul of school administrators -- and several parents of his students at Stevens Creek Elementary School -- when he backed up his contention that religion was central to the Founding Fathers by passing out historical documents to supplement the district-approved curriculum. Williams complained that state-approved textbooks contain scant mention of how much Christianity meant to early America. So he handed out William Penn's Frame of Government of Pennsylvania, in which Penn wrote, 'Government seems to me a part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end.' ... Then there was George Washington's prayer journal." (12/08/04)

I’ve been following this issue for several days, and it seems to be getting more attention than expected in the mainstream media - there seems to be a growing backlash against the various panicked school administrators and school boards, as well as parents who are offended by anything that they can possibly find to be offended about. But many teachers I’ve spoken with, in the public schools, also are rooting for Williams, citing both academic freedom and ethics.

Arizona: Suit targets fed cash for faith-based kids group
Arizona Republic
"A Christian group that mentors children of Phoenix prisoners is the first target of a new effort challenging President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiatives as unconstitutional. MentorKids USA stands to lose more than $225,000 in federal grants under a lawsuit claiming that the federal government violated rules separating church and state by funding a program that is nothing more than indoctrination disguised as social service. The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Wisconsin against Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. It seeks to punch a hole in a presidential plan that has funneled millions of public dollars through churches and religious organizations. It is one of the first lawsuits to target specific Cabinet-level programs and could ultimately lead to new rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court on federal funding of religious entities." (12/08/04)

Federal attitudes towards religious organizations and activities have always been very confused and mixed, and although Bush has attempted to reconcile and sort out some of the contradictions (resulting in these kinds of suits), the confusion is still there. It dates back well over 120 years - post-Civil War, Congress made states seeking admission to the Union put “no support of sectarian education” into their new constitutions, while at the same time, giving land and other support to such sectarian institutions, and even churches directly, and partitioning out Indian reservations to various denominations. This suit will no more end the war than the last fifty have. What WOULD end this entire issue would be getting the federal government out of the welfare business all together, an ever more needed action.

Congress asked to fund Ukraine monitors
Washington Times
"The Bush administration yesterday asked Congress for $3 million to pay for monitors at the Dec. 26 rerun of Ukraine's fraud-ridden presidential vote, as Russia and the United States sparred over the political crisis in Kiev. The U.S. package would help underwrite observers from the 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a 100-member team from East and Central European countries and more than 1,000 monitors from nongovernmental organizations. 'We are trying very hard to fund and field as many, if not more, observers for the December 26th round as we had the last time,' John Tefft, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told the House International Relations Committee." (12/08/04)

How nice it would be to wake up one morning to hear that an American administration had endorsed a voluntary fund-raising campaign to get $3 million (or whatever) to allow volunteers to travel to Ukraine to monitor elections, with a comment from the president that no matter how good the cause, no one should be forced to pay for such an effort, and therefore, use of tax money for this work is wrong.

Mama's Note: How nice it would be to hear any president say that all US troops were coming home immediately, or that all "foreign aid" was hereby canceled, or even less likely, that from now on nobody would be forced to pay for anything they didn't agree with. Just think how strong and prosperous our country would be then. It's so hard to understand why almost nobody can see that.

Tennessee: Girl must be taught at school, not home
Tennessean
"In a rare case of alleged education neglect, a homeschooled Franklin teen will no longer be taught by her parents after tests showed that she was years behind her peers academically. This week, the family of the 16-year-old girl agreed to enroll her in a private school. It was part of an agreement with state officials, who investigated the family. The high school girl tested at the elementary level in math, science and social studies, but her reading skills were on track. ... The name of the family and the girl are not being released because of privacy concerns. It isn't clear how long the homeschooled teen struggled academically nor why it wasn't discovered earlier. ... Kay Brooks, founder of a statewide information clearinghouse for home schools, said this appears to be a personal issue that spilled over into home schooling. She said her heart goes out to the family, but she hopes this incident doesn't cast a long shadow over home schooling statewide." (12/08/04)

As the paper points out, this is a “rare case,” and should not discredit home schooling in TN or elsewhere - but homeschoolers can expect to have this thrown in their face for a long time. Of course, there is a dual standard here - my wife and I know far too many public school high-school diploma-holders whose skills in math, science, social studies, AND reading are all “elementary level.” Isn’t it time some administrators and teachers were punished for this, like these parents are?

Opium production up in Afghanistan
Fox News
"An alarming uptick in poppy production has Afghan and international officials worried about the impact the opium trade will have on the emerging democracy, but all sides agree that interdiction efforts must be led by the Afghans themselves. While President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated Tuesday with great fanfare, a U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime report released last month shows that poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was up 64 percent from 2003 to 2004. The percent of agricultural land used for poppy cultivation has risen from 1.6 percent to 2.9 percent during that time, or 51,000 hectares to 131,000 hectares." (12/08/04)

It is certainly not demand within Afghanistan that is the cause for this - so the UN is being hypocritical in saying that it is an Afghan problem. In fact, from Karzai’s point of view, this is a positive economic development - people are gainfully employed, cash is flowing into the country, and valuable farmland is being put into production. And morally, is there any REAL difference between Afghani poppies, French (or Californian) grapes, English hops, Kentucky rye, or Virginia tobacco?

Mama's Note: Just think about this too: A single long acting morphine tablet can cost several dollars! This is a serious obstacle to anyone who needs significant pain relief, even if they can get the proper "permission slips" to buy it!

The cost of the raw materials would be just pennies if it were not for all of the layers of government and this insane "war" on just about everything. Remember an item yesterday where the Supreme court had to decide if people could buy wine out of state? Just how long will it take before we begin to read horror stories about black market vitamin C and the midnight raids to round up the "pushers" selling "illegal" food supplements? Don't look now, but it's almost here. Government making sure you are "safe", you know.

Massachusetts: Unmarried gay couples lose health benefits
Boston Globe
"Many of the state's largest employers are dropping health benefits for unmarried gay couples, seven months after Massachusetts became the only state to legalize same-sex marriage. Massachusetts companies, some of which pioneered so-called domestic-partner benefits for unmarried, same-sex partners, said they are now withdrawing them for reasons of fairness: If gays and lesbians can now marry, they should no longer receive special treatment in the form of health benefits that were not made available to unmarried, opposite-sex couples. ... 'We're saying if you're a same-sex domestic partner, you now have the same option heterosexuals have, so we have to apply the same rules to you,' said Larry Emerson, Baystate Health Systems' vice president of human resources." (12/08/04)

Unintended consequences indeed! This is certainly NOT what the homosexual activists had in mind as they’ve pushed Mass to create same-sex marriage. Of course, business’s lawyers do tend to be a bit more creative than the activist lawyers, because there is a lot of money involved. But I fully expect the homosexuals to scream loudly over this new form of discrimination.

Spin, scaremongering and the facts about burglary
Independent [UK]
"Tony Blair announced yesterday that the Government will consider changing the law to protect householders from prosecution if they tackle burglars. Mr. Blair clashed with the Tory leader, Michael Howard, in the Commons over an issue creating alarm across Britain: the fear of being attacked in one's own home. Mr. Blair said it was important to send a 'very, very clear signal to people' that the Government was on the side of the victim, not the offender." (12/09/04)

Far too many cops and bureaucrats are chiming in “on the side of the offender” however, and this battle, created largely by a campaign started by the Daily Telegraph, is far from over. It is just one battle in a war over the future of freedom in the United Kingdom, which has gone from monarchy to apparent mobocracy in just two or three generations.

PA: Man's gun permit fight hits a snag
Times Leader
"A Sugarloaf Township man's 7-year battle to regain his right to carry a concealed weapon suffered a major setback Monday when the state's Commonwealth Court reversed a ruling that granted him the permit. The decision is the latest in a long, complex legal battle Michael S. Pecora has waged with the Pennsylvania State Police and the Luzerne County Sheriff's Office. Pecora had held a concealed weapons permit for about 35 years, but the sheriff's office denied him renewal in 1996 after a state police records check showed Pecora pleaded no contest in 1978 to federal income tax evasion." (12/07/04)

This is a small tag pointing to a major tactic of the gun-haters: reducing the access to guns in general, by making more and more people ineligible to exercise what they consider a “privilege” and not a G-d-given right.

MA: Gas station clerk guns down thug
Boston Herald
"A pistol-packing gas station clerk unloaded on a pair of would-be robbers in Medford last night, leaving one of the stickup men riddled with bullets and the other fleeing into the night. Police said both masked suspects fled onto Mystic Avenue when the clerk, who had been held up before, opened fire about 9:30 p.m. Two bullet holes were visible in the glass door to the convenience store at Fred's Gas Auto Service. The robbers' apparently fake gun lay on the concrete. ... The area has seen a rash of armed robberies in the last six months involving two black men in masks and dark clothes with a gun. Fred's had been robbed three times." (12/08/04)

Just as we are seeing all the warnings in the UK about kids and fake guns, we see that real crooks aren’t paying attention - attempting a robbery with a fake gun. Still, there is a bit of difference between kids playing cops and robbers with each other and two thugs trying to hold up a convenience store - this man was justified in shooting.

US Marine claims unit killed Iraqi civilians
ABC News Online [AU]
"A former US Marine said his unit killed more than 30 innocent Iraqi civilians in just two days, in graphic testimony to a Canadian tribunal probing an asylum claim by a US Army deserter. Former Marine Sergeant Jimmy Massey appeared as a witness to bolster claims by fugitive paratrooper Jeremy Hinzman that he walked out on the 82nd Airborne Division to avoid being ordered to commit war crimes in Iraq."

Former Marine details civilians' deaths at trial
Houston Chronicle
"A former U.S. Marine staff sergeant testified at a hearing Tuesday that his unit killed at least 30 unarmed civilians in Iraq during the war in 2003 and that Marines routinely shot wounded Iraqis and killed them. Jimmy Massey, a 12-year veteran, said he left Iraq in May 2003 after a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he and his men shot and killed four Iraqis staging a demonstration and a man with his hands up trying to surrender, as well as women and children at roadblocks. Massey said he had complained to his superiors about the 'killing of innocent civilians,' but that nothing was done." (12/08/04)

I normally don’t comment on Iraqi war-related news, but these two need commentary - there is some significant doubt that this man Massey is actually a Marine veteran at all, or a veteran of a unit and combat in Iraq, and by his own admission (if true) is himself a war criminal. In addition, many of the claims of wholesale killing of civilians seem to be slightly modified versions of events from Iraq already reported extensively in the media, in which civilians were forced by Iraqi military and paramilitary forces to front for them in crossing checkpoints and assaulting Coalition positions. As usual, courtrooms have been turned into propaganda platforms. Sadly, a libertarian news digest has seen fit to repeat this twice (two slightly different reports from different media outlets) in their daily digest, adding strength to the propaganda.

CIA memo paints bleak picture of Iraq's future
Houston Chronicle
"A classified cable sent by the CIA's station chief in Baghdad has warned that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and may not rebound any time soon, according to government officials. The cable, sent late last month as the officer ended a yearlong tour, presented a bleak assessment on matters of politics, economics and security, the officials said. They said its basic conclusions had been echoed in briefings presented by a senior CIA official who recently visited Iraq." (12/07/04)

Intelligence agents are often viewed (and rightly so) as doom-and-gloom chaps, and this certainly fits the mold - it is just what is needed: here is how bad things are, so that warnings are heeded and decisions are made that protect their clients’ interests. And it is hard to argue with them, just as it would be easy to argue with an optimistic assessment. I expect that a similar report would have been made by the CIA in 1783, after the Treaty of Paris was signed and the official war with Britain had ended.

Mama's Note: It doesn't take an agent's report to know that things are not going well for US forces in Iraq. The very fact that the dead and injured are being hidden from public view, and that the remaining troops face such problems as poor supplies and an all time low morale indicates serious problems that are not being addressed satisfactorily, no matter what anybody says.

Nathan Barton is a libertarian writing from the Black Hills. See Nathan's own blog, Liberty's Outpost.

To Read previous Commentaries, go to the archives page and click onto the day link. The commentaries are linked from the daily front pages.

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