December 15, 2004

Good morning. I’m starting off with a great piece of news. At least, in my opinion it is (not necessarily anyone else’s opinion). We can be grateful for our Union-federal form of government.

Montana: Legislature to take up Firearms Freedom Act (Actual text of bill)
Although this is not a news story, strictly, it IS definitely news. This bill, if passed, would exempt weapons made and kept in Montana from being subject to federal law, which is justified under the Interstate Commerce Clause. KeepAnd Bear Arms has this to say: Because the Constitution's interstate commerce clause is abused on a daily basis all across America to infringe the rights of Americans, and because the BATF's existence as Gun Confiscating Thugs hinges on blatant abuse of the interstate commerce clause, this bill draft is a welcome sight for sore eyes.

Thanks to Claire and others for this item. Here is hoping that the idea will win through in Montana, and will catch on in other states - each of the several States having a homegrown firearms industry will do much to aid our liberty and to encourage economic development. Yes, it will further divide the “red” and “blue” states - but so what? The more news that comes across my desk every day about people being arrested and convicted in so many eastern states (PA and CT, just recently) is enough to make you sick, and this would begin to turn that around. For more comments and discussion, visit this page.

Ohio: Cobb alleges tampering, false data in vote
The Blue Lemur
"David Cobb, the unsuccessful Green Party presidential candidate, aired startling allegations at the Democratic House Judiciary Committee’s Columbus hearings Monday, alleging that a voting company representative tampered with voting equipment in Columbus last Friday and attempted to plant false information into the Ohio recount. Cobb says that a witness who had requested anonymity watched a representative of Triad Systems enter the Columbus Board of Elections unannounced and tamper with a vote tabulator which then lost all data. The representative then, Cobb said, tried to convince employees to post false information so that it would appear as if the data was valid and had never been lost." (12/13/04)

Cobb’s accusations are not likely to go very far in front of either major party.

Iraq: Christians weigh struggle, exile
Knight Ridder
"Leaders of the ever-dwindling Christian population in Iraq say bombings of their churches and attacks against their communities may force them to take up guns. Two more churches were bombed in Mosul last week, the latest attacks, and some Christians say extremist Muslims are terrorizing them with the intent of ousting them and seizing their houses and belongings. ... Estimates of how many Christians have left Iraq in recent months range from 10,000 to 40,000 people. Christians have lived in the region nearly since the dawn of Christianity. They are believed to number about 800,000, or about 3 percent of Iraq's population." (12/12/04)

Christians have been leaving Mesopotamia for centuries, and this exodus is just another chapter in the long, sad story of the Muslim occupation of the country. For example, the Assyrians (who had been in Mesopotamia for millennia before the Muslim Arabs arrived), who were converted to Christianity almost 2000 years ago, now have virtually no presence in their ancestral homeland - most 21st Century Assyrians live in Chicago!

Lawyer: Saddam, aides on hunger strike
Al-Jazeerah
"Ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and 11 top leaders of his regime awaiting trial for crimes against humanity have gone on hunger strike in their US detention center, one of their lawyers said yesterday. 'We have reliable information that Saddam Hussein and 11 other prisoners began a hunger strike on Friday to protest ill-treatment,' Badiaa Aref Ezzat, the Iraqi lawyer of former Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, said. ... The US military said some of Saddam's jailed lieutenants have been refusing food, but the officer in charge of the detainees denied that Saddam himself was on any form of hunger strike." (12/14/04)

This very much reminds me of the antics of the Third Reich prisoners at Nuremberg in 1945-46. “Ill treatment” is very much in the eye of the beholder, and obviously, not having access to a hundred or so “presidential palaces” (or to a nice cozy hole in the ground) would be considered ill-treatment by Mr. Saddam.

Washington: Libertarian may have helped Rossi, say experts
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"To both Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire, who now trails Rossi by 88 votes in the second recount of the election for governor, an extra 63,000 votes would look awfully nice right now. That's how many ballots were marked for the third candidate, Libertarian Ruth Bennett, and thus how many votes didn't go to Rossi, a Republican, or Gregoire, a Democrat. As Libertarians have been accused of doing a few times in the past, what they may have done again this year was play the spoiler, causing the defeat of a major-party candidate who might have won had a Libertarian not siphoned off votes." [editor's note: Note the assumption that a Libertarain cannot -- must not -- be a viable candidate in her own right. Why no accusation that Rossi and/or Gregoire "spoiled" the victory which Bennett so richly deserved? - TLK] (12/14/04)

My heart bleeds for Rossi and Gregoire, who have only themselves to blame for these votes - if either of them had a decent platform for liberty, they would have had enough votes without Ruth’s. Good job, Ruth!

Canada: MP takes on tampon tax
The Globe and Mail [Canada]
"An NDP MP reintroduced a private members bill Monday that would save women hundreds of dollars in a lifetime on feminine hygiene products. Winnipeg MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis first introduced the bill last February, but it did not make it into law. In the House of Commons Monday, she said that charging GST on products used exclusively by women is 'unfair and discriminatory. It targets women financially, solely because of our reproductive role. It would be of particular value to lower-income women. I urge all members to support this initiative,' Ms. Wasylycia-Leis said." (12/13/04)

I certainly support removing the taxes from everything possible, but this argument seems rather ridiculous - why not remove the GST (value added tax) from other items used only by women (or at least SUPPOSED to be used only by women) - panties, bras, dresses, perfume, wax hair removers, “feminine” shavers, etc.? And what about products used exclusively by men, like boxer shorts, briefs, “regular” shavers and razors, and urinals? Shouldn’t these also have the GST removed to be fair to both sexes? Let’s put them ALL on the “no-tax” list!

Mama's Note: This is a rather pathetic gesture by the radical feminist idiots who give all women a bad name. Taxes force people to pay for things (government "services") they otherwise would not want or need.

Chile: Pinochet to stand trial
San Mateo Daily Journal
"Former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted and placed under house arrest Monday for the kidnapping of nine dissidents and the killing of one of them during his 1973-90 military regime. The indictment marked the third attempt to try Pinochet in Chile for abuses from his 17-year dictatorship, none so far successful. Judge Juan Guzman said he decided to try the 89-year-old retired general -- reversing a previous court decision to exempt Pinochet from trial on health grounds -- after questioning him and examining reports from court-appointed doctors. 'Gen. Pinochet has been declared mentally competent to face a criminal trial in Chile,' Guzman ruled." (12/14/04)

I have to admit, the mental picture of seeing former president William J Clinton brought to trial in 2030 for crimes during his 1993-2001 regime is a tempting one - and may give hope to some people. At the same time, what good does this really do? While not as blatantly stupid as deporting 90-year-old former concentration camp guards or digging up Cromwell’s bones to burn them at the stake, it is pretty foolish to waste valuable time and money beating on an old, sick man.

US officials knew of AIDS drug risks
Seattle Times
"Weeks before President Bush announced a plan to protect African babies from AIDS, top U.S. health officials were warned that research on the key drug was flawed and may have underreported severe reactions including deaths, government documents show. The 2002 warnings about the drug, nevirapine, were serious enough to suspend testing for more than a year, let Uganda's government know of the dangers and prompt the drug's maker to pull its request for permission to use the medicine to protect newborns in the United States." (12/13/04)

Lack of communication, and lack of a politician’s ability to listen to anything he (she) doesn’t want to hear, are endemic problems in government - this is just another example.

Ukraine seeks to control Yushchenko probe
Seattle Times
"Ukraine's outgoing government sought Monday to control the inquiry into the poisoning of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, with officials close to the government taking charge of both investigations into who tried to harm or kill the leader of the 'Orange Revolution.' The head of a new inquiry by lawmakers -- an ally of Yushchenko's opponent in the court-ordered Dec. 26 presidential rematch -- immediately cast doubt on whether deliberate poisoning could be proven. The decision by a parliamentary commission to reopen its probe came a day after a similar move by the country's new top prosecutor." (12/13/04)

Spin, anyone? Someone doesn’t want to find out what really happened, and if they continue to stall, the open civil war they all are trying to avoid (while keeping in, or getting into power) will come anyway. Even if Yushchenko doesn’t want to make an election issue of his poisoning, he is now a martyr to many people.

Bush picks Leavitt for HHS
Richmond Times-Dispatch
"President Bush yesterday nominated Michael O. Leavitt, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, to be secretary of Health and Human Services. Leavitt might have to cut billions of dollars from the government's mammoth health programs for the elderly, poor and disabled to pare the budget deficit. The Medicare and Medicaid programs, consuming nearly $500 billion a year and growing quickly, could be vulnerable in the context of last year's $413 billion budget deficit, the ongoing war in Iraq, costly domestic security commitments and administration plans to revamp Social Security without raising taxes." (12/14/04)

Ten years ago, I would have welcomed Leavitt’s appointment, based on his rhetoric when governor of Utah, but today, it is clear that he has become just another national politician, with no moral commitment to anything except to gain and keep power. Based on his record in recent years, he will seek to INCREASE Medicare and Medicaid spending, to build his empire, instead of doing the right thing. The best thing that could be done to HHS would be to close its doors. There are very, very few things that the federal government is supposed to do in this area, and even fewer that it SHOULD be doing.

Nevada: Inmate earns bail with Christmas cards
Las Vegas Review-Journal
"A man with plenty of time to spare as he awaited trial on drug charges drew and sold Christmas cards to raise enough extra money to post bond and get out of the Boone County jail. Charlie Cook, 34, and his wife Laurie, 19, were arrested Oct. 12 and charged with making methampetamine, drug possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and manufacturing meth in the presence [sic] of children ... Cook's bond was set at $30,000. After visiting with prison missionaries, Cook became inspired to draw winter scenes as Christmas cards. Clarence Yoder, a Mennonite who had visited Cook in jail, liked the cards so much that he took them to his bakery and sold them for $2 each." (12/13/04)

Prison labor usually only benefits the state, either through the products made for outside sale or through the sales of overpriced sundries to the prisoners, so this is good - and might even show this meth addict that he doesn’t need the crutch of homemade meth.

High court: Arrest on "reasonable" grounds acceptable
USA Today
"The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police have authority to arrest suspects on charges that later fall apart, so long as officers had a second, valid reason for the detention. The 8-0 ruling sets aside a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of Jerome Alford. Two Washington State Patrol officers had arrested him for tape recording their conversation during a traffic stop in November 1997. During the traffic stop, Alford told the officers he had case law showing the taping was legal, but police arrested him anyway partly for separate reasons, which they did not tell him, that he appeared to be impersonating a police officer." (12/13/04)

Is it just me that thinks this entire thing is crazy? He “appeared to be impersonating a police officer”? Too many State Patrol people are just thugs in uniform - who would want to impersonate them? And what happened to telling a person of the charges against them?

2004: Murders fall six percent in first six months
Indianapolis Star
"Murders in the United States dropped by nearly 6 percent in the first half of the year after rising for four straight years, the FBI reported Monday. Almost all other crimes declined, too. Overall, violent crime was down 2 percent in the first six months of the year compared with the same period of 2003, according to preliminary figures provided to the FBI by more than 10,700 state and local police agencies. Violent crime includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault." (12/13/04)

As was discussed when the FBI first released the crime statistics several months ago, the “rising for four straight years” really was a decline in violent crime and murders per capita - and thus an overall improvement, just as traffic deaths, seemingly stalled at 42,000 per year, in reality are getting rarer and rarer, as miles driven, numbers of drivers, and numbers of vehicles all continue to increase each year. If the number of police needed was really dictated by crime rate, we’d have a surplus of police officers, so encourage your state to cut the force and save some money.

White House knew Kerik had "colorful past"
MSNBC
"Bush administration lawyers who vetted former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik before President Bush named him to head the Homeland Security Department knew he had a 'colorful past' but concluded that his long record of public service would outweigh questions about his conduct, a senior U.S. official told NBC News on Monday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the lawyers were aware that Kerik had been questioned in a civil lawsuit involving questions about an alleged extramarital affair with a corrections employee; the failure to properly report financial gifts on disclosure forms; and an arrest warrant issued after he failed to pay condo fees." (12/13/04)

This list of “crimes” hardly makes the man a “colorful character” - especially as compared to the list of real crimes that most of NYPD seems prone to do. I wonder how many free donuts Kerik received over the years?

Annan's son: Probe "a witchhunt"
CNN
"Kojo Annan, the son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, says he had no involvement in the troubled Iraqi oil-for-food program that has drawn both men into multiple investigations. Kojo Annan, in his first public comment on the subject, told CNN in a written statement: 'I have never participated directly or indirectly in any business related to the United Nations.' Annan, 31, who lives in Lagos, once worked for Cotecna, a Switzerland-based company that inspects commercial freight shipments." (12/13/04)

Well, let’s bring him to court and see!

Americans to attend trade talks in Cuba
Detroit Free Press
"Two years ago in December, fewer than 30 U.S. business representatives came to Havana to sign agreements with Cuban officials to export food to the Caribbean island. This week, Cuba expects more than 340 people -- primarily producers of American farm goods -- to attend the latest round of talks, in which communist officials hope to sign deals worth about $100 million. 'This shows a great interest on the part of American businesses,' Pedro Alvarez, chairman of the Cuban food import company Alimport, said Monday. With that growing interest has come increased pressure on the U.S. government by the American companies and even members of Congress to lift trade and travel restrictions against Cuba, Alvarez said." (12/13/04)

I firmly believe that a free market with Cuba will end the Castro regime within months - especially if ALL limits on exports to Cuba of ALL products, and elimination of all limits on imports from Cuba of ALL products is allowed: sugar may be a thing of the past, but Cuba has the potential to produce many products that will very quickly be sold out to Americans, and can absorb billions of dollars of American goods, once the heavy hand of government is gone. The problem is, efforts like this trade talk session just shores up Castro and his toadies, while the poor of the island continue to live in fear and misery.

PA: "Spam rage" leads to reporter quitting
Sydney Morning Herald [Australia]
"A radio reporter in Philadelphia has resigned from her job after an angry message, left by her on the phone of a lobby group whom she believed were spamming her, was sent to her employer and the media. Rachel Buchanan, 27, wrote that she had been receiving unsolicited email at her web mail account from a group known as www.Laptoplobbyist.com. The group makes money by charging $US20 to send faxes to people in power and lobby on selected issues such as minimizing [sic] separation of church and state and preventing the UN from 'brainwashing our kids' into 'despising' America. ... she lost her temper and after calling laptoplobbyist.com again left a voicemail wishing their children ill. She described it as a 'terrible message.'" (12/14/04)

Well, “Laptoplobbyist” certainly accomplished their goal with this woman - and there are dozens like her in the newsrooms of the nation.

Multiple Santas in marijuana bust
Ananova [UK]
"Police in Rio de Janeiro have arrested two drug dealers dressed as Santa. According to UOL Tabloide, the two men were dressed up as Santa near a shanty town and were apparently giving away Christmas gifts. But the police found that the presents had small marijuana bags inside them and the two men were actually selling drugs. The two were arrested." (12/13/04)

Ten points for imagination, minus ten thousand for stupidity.

Pentagon debates using information as weapon
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"The Pentagon is engaged in bitter, high-level debate over how far it can and should go in managing or manipulating information to influence opinion abroad, senior Defense Department civilians and military officers say. Such missions, if approved, could take the deceptive techniques endorsed for battlefield use to confuse an adversary and adopt them for covert propaganda campaigns aimed at neutral and even allied nations. Critics of the proposals say such deceptive missions could shatter the Pentagon's credibility, leaving the American public and a world audience skeptical of anything it says -- a repeat of the credibility gap America faced during the Vietnam War." (12/13/04)

This is a discussion which has been going on in military circles since about World War I, and which was used to great effect by the Soviet military for its entire life. I doubt if it is resolved now during the Iraqi war, but hopefully, it will once more be decided that some tactics are just plain wrong - and this level of maskarova (to use the Russian term) is one of those.

Florida: Teachers who fail
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
"More than half a million Florida students sat in classrooms last year in front of teachers who failed the state's basic skills tests for teachers. Many of those students got teachers who struggled to solve high school math problems or whose English skills were so poor, they flunked reading tests designed to measure the very same skills students must master before they can graduate. These aren't isolated instances of a few teachers whose test-taking skills don't match their expertise and training. A Herald-Tribune investigation has found that fully a third of teachers, teachers' aides and substitutes failed their certification tests at least once." (12/13/04)

A strong condemnation of GRTF-schools and teachers’ unions both - I would love to see this compared to a similar test for private schools. However, this test misses an important point - you don’t HAVE to necessarily be a math genius at calculus or even high school algebra to be a good teacher of numbers and basic arithmetic for 1st and 2nd Graders, any more than you need to be a published author to teach children how to write. The certification tests themselves should be considered suspect, at the least.

DEA ruling makes FDA approval of medical marijuana impossible
Marijuana Policy Project
"In a blow to those who have urged medical marijuana advocates to seek FDA approval of marijuana as a prescription drug, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has acted to block the only proposed research project that could lead to marijuana's FDA approval. In its letter to Lyle Craker, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the DEA appeared to slam the door completely shut on the FDA approval process. Barring favorable action by the U.S. Supreme Court, the decision leaves medical marijuana patients with no hope for protection from arrest for the foreseeable future except through state and federal legislation. ... Currently, all marijuana for research in the U.S. must come from a National Institute on Drug Abuse-contracted farm in Mississippi. ... This makes FDA approval of marijuana effectively impossible unless an alternative source is made available, since testing would need to be done on the same product that is sold to patients." (12/13/04)

Typical DEA tactics - like their fellow regulatory agencies, it is regular practice to do everything possible to make sure that data does not exist that conflicts with their preconceived ideas; and of course, if the data does exist, then the policy is to ignore it and demean it, lest they be forced to pay attention to it.

Mama's Note: Unfortunately, the FDA is no champion of truth and liberty either. They are both in the same business: expanding their own power and budgets, not patient safety or comfort.

TN: Nashville Sounds get stadium, but smaller welfare check
Nashville City Paper
"The Nashville Sounds, the city's oldest professional sports team, will build a new minor league baseball stadium in downtown Nashville on 16 acres of city-owned property at the site of the former Thermal plant at the end of Demonbreun Street. Mayor Bill Purcell, while speaking to the Rotary Club of Nashville today, said the Sounds and bankers involved in the project had come to an agreement and a formal announcement should be made later this week. Purcell met with Sounds General Manager Glen Yaeger earlier today about the proposed $80 million mixed-use development on the property, which has been amended to add private financing to the $38.5 million stadium. ... Yaeger approached local banks in October and reworked his financing plan to reduce the city's fiscal involvement." (12/13/04)

The welfare check may be smaller, but any amount greater than 0 is TOO MUCH. The increased government involvement in sports is expensive, illegal, and foolish. Is this why Tennessee needs an income tax? To pay more sports welfare?

New York: "Chimp" painting of Bush yanked from exhibit
Fox News
"A portrait of President Bush, made up of small pictures of chimpanzees, was removed from an art exhibition in Chelsea Market after the market's managers complained about it. The painting by Christopher Savido appears to be the president from far away. But close up, and the tiny chimpanzee images can be seen clearly. Bucky Turco, the show's organizer, said he had the work cleared for display with Irwin Cohen, a Chelsea Market director. But the management was still displeased with the picture. 'When we hung the show on Wednesday, we were asked to take down the Bush piece,' Turco told The New York Times in Monday editions. 'I agreed but said I thought it makes a strong addition and I would re-hang it for the opening.'" (12/13/04)

It sounds cute, but apparently, the Chelsea Market is a private business, and can decide for themselves - I wouldn’t hang a picture of Michael Badnarik made up of tiny chimps in my business, no matter how avant-garde this might be considered!

Nathan Barton is a libertarian writing from the sunny 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.

(Use feedback form below to contact Nathan. If you want an answer, please include an email address. Only serious questions and comments will be considered. Please note: Information about readers is never given or sold to anyone for any purpose. Remember, however, that many people can read and recover anything posted to web sites or email, unless carefully encrypted. MamaLiberty)

Visit the Rational Review News Digest

Previous
Commentaries are on the front page for each day. Check the archives page.

[Some Post articles require registration, or use login "info@news-digests.com/ news-digests"] (or use this link)