December 14, 2004

Merry...Whatever
By Lady Liberty

It's that time of year again. The malls are begging for conspicuous consumption. The stores are selling select items at a loss in the hopes of selling other more profitable goods to those who are there for sale prices. Twinkling lights are everywhere. Goodwill and stress alike are rampant. And lawsuits - and threats of lawsuits - abound.

In the last couple of weeks, there have been any number of news stories about alleged First Amendment and "separation clause" violations in connection with the holiday season. In Florida, one city has rewritten its policies concerning religious displays on city property; another is facing a lawsuit of its own concerning the identical issue. A New Jersey school is prohibiting its students from singing or playing any song with any religious connotations; the city of Denver, Colorado is being accused of an anti-Christian bias for refusing to permit any Christmas floats in its annual Parade of Lights. Meanwhile, a Georgia school principal is being castigated for reading a prayer of sorts over the school intercom prior to Thanksgiving. (Read the rest here)

God only knows why I would receive an email from the GOP. I have no more in common with them than I do the democrats. It would seem the folks with the GOP are extremely concerned about the mess that has grown from the interview Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had with military personnel in Kuwait and are bailing like hell to keep the ship of war from sinking.

It would appear old Rummy got his butt nailed to the wall by some GI. The question so stunned The Pentagon’s chief liar that he had to have it repeated. The question, repeated with a little more detail the second time around, was a stunner.

"Our soldiers have been fighting in Iraq for coming up on three years. A lot of us are getting ready to move north relatively soon. Our vehicles are not armored. We're digging pieces of rusted scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass that's already been shot up, dropped, busted, picking the best out of this scrap to put on our vehicles to take into combat. We do not have proper armament vehicles to carry with us north." (Read the rest here)

Next Target: Iran?
By Ivan Eland

Will the newly energized President Bush interpret his narrow election win as public approval for his spaghetti Western –style shoot-’em-up foreign policy? Many neo-conservatives outside the Bush administration have made noise about going after Iran. Could the swaggering sheriff be convinced by these pundits to take on the black-hatted mullahs of Iran? Let’s hope not; attacking Iran would be a bigger folly than invading Iraq.

The Iranians only got serious about getting a nuclear bomb after a U.S. military presence was established on the ground in the nearby Persian Gulf region prior to the first Gulf War. Even Iran’s long, brutal eight-year war with neighboring Iraq during the 1980s was not an impetus toward becoming a nuclear power. (Read the rest here)

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

Bill of Rights Day is Wednesday - count your blessings and tell someone else! Isn’t it about time we started enforcing the law of the land? At least, that’s my opinion, and I think most everyone in RRND, FND, and TPoL will agree that enforcing the Bill of Rights is a good FIRST step.

Ohio: Groups protest vote by state's electors
Indianapolis Star
"As it has done for 200 years, Ohio's delegation to the Electoral College is to meet today to cast ballots for president and vice president -- but this time, there are demands that the electors wait until after a scheduled recount. The Electoral College's vote in the Ohio Senate chamber is expected to be accompanied by demonstrations by groups that don't accept that President Bush won the state by 119,000 votes, guaranteeing his victory over Democrat John Kerry." (12/13/04)

I was shocked to see a newspaper get it right - Ohio was admitted in 1803, so this IS the 200th anniversary of their first presidential election. But they are wrong in the second sentence - many of those protesting are not doing so because they don’t accept that Bush won, but because of concerns about the electronic voting methods used. As the next story points out, there are still some very strange questions to be answered, such as why 92,000 Ohioans did NOT vote for president this year. (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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