December 21, 2004

We’ll jump right into the news - please remember, these views and opinions are the author’s and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of TPoL, RRND, FND, or any other organization!

Social Security rejects marriage papers
Raleigh News & Observer
"The Social Security Administration is rejecting marriage documents issued for heterosexual couples in four communities that performed weddings for gay couples earlier this year. The agency is rejecting all marriage certificates issued in New Paltz, N.Y., after Feb. 27, when the town's mayor began marrying gay couples, according to town officials. Certificates issued during the brief periods when Asbury Park, N.J., Multnomah County, Ore., and Sandoval County, N.M., recognized gay marriages are also being rejected." (12/19/04)

A very curious phenomenon, and apparently based on the credibility of the documents and the agencies in question - what is not mentioned until deep in the article is that the Social Security Administration IS accepting “civil union” documents from Vermont AND “homosexual marriage” documents from Massachusetts, so this is not the blatant discrimination that it appears to be painted as - rather, they are not accepting documents from agencies which have demonstrated that they are not following the applicable state laws. This does NOT, to me, appear to be federal meddling, but rather, a federal agency PROPERLY deferring to state laws and agencies.

Mama's Note: Just what business either state or feds have in anything to do with marriage, or any peaceful activity between consenting adults, is still the question. The "Social Security" scam is another good question. Did you read Ed Henry's latest articles on SS? It's a good place to start if you don't understand how thoroughly we are being robbed and lied to.

Yukos faces demise as Putin fences stolen unit
Bloomberg [Germany]
"Yukos Oil Co., Russia's biggest oil exporter, may cease to exist after the government sold the company's biggest unit for $9.3 billion to an unidentified buyer, prompting concern about disruptions to Russian shipments. ... Baikalfinansgroup, an unknown company that won an auction to buy the confiscated unit from Russia's Federal Property Fund, may be controlled by the state gas company OAO Gazprom, said analysts including Weafer and Steven Dashevsky at Moscow-based stockbroker Aton. The unit, OAO Yuganskneftegaz, controls 11 percent of Russia's oil supply. The sale caps a yearlong conflict between President Vladimir Putin's government and Yukos that left the shares almost worthless, former Chief Executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky in jail and oil near record highs." (12/20/04)

We appear to be entering the final phases of this long-running looting operation - and another step in the revival of Soviet-style communism (state capitalism). Apparently, it is the same thuggish personalities (if not the same faces and uniforms) running Moscow as it was when the nomenclature was the height of aspirations before the collapse of the Empire.

Al Qaeda renews threat to Saudi oil supplies
Financial Times [UK]
"Militants linked to al-Qaeda on Sunday renewed a threat to attack Saudi oil supplies, in a defiant challenge to the intense security put in place to defend the kingdom's production facilities. Security experts said Sunday's statement from the 'Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula' built on a threat issued on Friday by Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader. He called for attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer. Crude futures on Nymex rose almost 5 per cent to $46.28 a barrel on Friday, partly in response to the statement." (12/20/04)

Of course, Russian government greed isn’t the only thing driving oil price fears: Al Qaeda can do it, too. And the stability of the Saudi government is once more weakened - the amazing thing is that they are still clinging to power.

Israel approves release of 170 prisoners
USA Today
"Israel on Sunday approved the release of 170 Palestinian prisoners in a goodwill gesture toward Egypt and the new Palestinian leadership. The release was part of a deal reached with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier this month that brought home an Israeli jailed by Egypt on espionage charges. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Sunday's decision by a ministerial committee a 'goodwill gesture' and spoke of 'deep friendship' for the Egyptian president." (12/19/04)

Such blanket releases of war prisoners or political prisoners (hard to figure out which these are) seldom accomplish the purpose of the release - usually just angering the people they were intended to appease.

Spammers ordered to pay more than $1 billion
Houston Chronicle
"A federal judge has awarded an Internet service provider more than $1 billion in what is believed to be the largest judgment ever against spammers. Robert Kramer, whose company provides e-mail service for about 5,000 subscribers in eastern Iowa, filed suit against 300 spammers after his inbound mail servers received up to 10 million spam e-mails a day in 2000, according to court documents. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Wolle filed default judgments Friday against three of the defendants under the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and the Iowa Ongoing Criminal Conduct Act." (12/19/04)

It is hard to believe that this act, however heinous, could generate over a BILLION dollars in an award for a company that has only 5,000 subscribers. I can’t believe that Kramer will collect much at all, especially not an average of 3 million from each of 300 spammers.

Mama's Note: Of course not. The tactic seems to be to get a "judgment" for absolutely as much as possible. The fact that many or all of the businesses sued may fail because of it is not important to any of them but the targeted business. Since it is almost impossible to predict what one might be sued for next, merit being highly irrelevant, the overall number of those willing and able to remain in business will shrink steadily until we have only the largest and most powerful companies to deal with. The small business isn't being destroyed BY the big business, but by government. No doubt there are some of the mega corporations who actively support this, but mostly they are simply the beneficiaries of the INjustice system and the runaway lawsuit insanity. People who are rabidly against all big business simply feed and nurture this monster.

Republicans hesitant to push Rumsfeld out
Indianapolis Star
"Acknowledging mistakes in Iraq by the Bush administration, leading Republicans expressed reluctance Sunday that the White House replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who has lost the confidence of some GOP lawmakers over the conduct of the war. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said a change at the top of the Pentagon would be too disruptive, given the elections scheduled in Iraq for Jan. 30. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., also said the administration was dealing with the missteps that have occurred in the aftermath of the U.S.-led ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein." (12/19/04)

Tap-dancing after Lott’s remarks - on all the talking head shows.

Time names Bush 2004 "Person of the Year"
MSNBC
"President Bush's bold, uncompromising leadership and his clear-cut election victory [sic] made him Time magazine's 'Person of the Year' for 2004, its managing editor said on Sunday. Time chose Bush 'for sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his 10-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters this time around that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years,' Jim Kelly wrote in the magazine. Bush was also Time's choice to appear on the cover in 2000 after winning the presidential election despite losing the popular vote." (12/19/04)

Public praise - but if I were Bush, I'd look for the knife in the hand patting him on the back. Bush, conservative or not, is no friend or ally of Time or its publishers or sister publications.

Poll: Half of Americans worry about debts
Dodge City Daily Globe
"Shoppers are racing from store to store this holiday season, with credit cards clutched tightly in hand and visions of future bills dancing in their heads. One-half of Americans say they worry about the money they owe, and many say they worry most of the time about their overall debts, an Associated Press poll found. Those debts can come from home and car loans as well as credit cards -- even more so with December buying sprees. Three-fourths in the poll said they have credit cards. Four in 10 of those with credit cards said they will use plastic to help pay for their holiday spending this year, according to the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs." (12/19/04)

I notice the poll did not ask the people about the public debt, at city, county, state, and especially federal level. Their share of those probably dwarfs their personal debts, so we dare not talk about it.

Mama's Note: Nothing was said about making plans to reduce or eliminate any of that debt either. Most people live one paycheck or LESS away from total poverty. The low interest rates, artificially created by government to facilitate their own spendthrift ways, has made borrowing easy and saving almost meaningless, so very few people even bother to manage their money wisely and save anything. Unfortunately, those who HAVE saved are going to lose it all when the economy collapses unless they convert that "money" to something that will have value AFTER the collapse. See the Von Mises web site for more about this and how to protect your savings, if you have any.

San Francisco: Bid for handgun ban faces hurdles
San Francisco Chronicle
"San Francisco supervisors want to make the city the second in the nation to ban the ownership of handguns, but whether such a law would prove to be more than symbolic remains to be seen. First, legal challenges are being readied by those who see the proposed law -- set to go to voters next fall -- as bucking state law, which says law-abiding citizens do not need permits or licenses to keep handguns in their homes. Then there are practical hurdles: How do you enforce a ban in the absence of a public registry of gun owners in California? And of what value is such a measure for police, who already have the authority to take guns from criminal suspects? Supporters of a ban say it would curb gun violence in the city by reducing the number of weapons available. Bill Barnes, spokesman for the campaign, said many guns used in crimes were purchased legally -- and later stolen." (12/17/04)

As I hoped and expected, the fighters are coming out to do battle, and it will give the City a well-deserved black eye. Some things shouldn’t be voted on, given our state and national constitutions.

Texas: Strippers will have to wear permits
San Francisco Chronicle
"Strippers in [San Antonio] will soon have to put on something they can't take off -- a business license. The City Council on Friday approved a measure requiring exotic dancers to apply for permits and wear them while performing. Law enforcement authorities said the rule, which was unanimously approved by the 11-member council and goes into effect in 10 days, will allow them to quickly identify those dancers who are breaking nudity ordinances. (Among other things, full nudity and contact with customers are not allowed in San Antonio strip clubs.) ... The permit -- expected to be roughly half the size of a credit card -- would include the dancer's stage name and a photo. Police would be able to check that information against club records to determine her real name and other personal data." (12/17/04)

Oh, now I see - this is being passed to give the cops on-duty (not just off-duty) a “legal” chance to ogle the goods.

Mama's Note: Little by little... we'll all soon be wearing our dog tags and the electronic collar around our necks so they can perform instant "attitude adjustment" if we get the least out of line. Welcome to the stage after the police state - the plantation.

Tennessee: Substitute teacher fired, cites pledge refusal
Tennessean
"One nation, under God. Or is it? A substitute teacher in Hickman County claims he lost his job yesterday for raising that question. Chris Warren is not an atheist objecting to the religion in Pledge of Allegiance. Instead, he says he wishes the planks of the pledge were upheld. Because they're not, he said, he refused to say the pledge in class. He doesn't believe phrases like 'one nation under God' and 'indivisible' and 'liberty and justice for all' are true anymore. School officials say the pledge has nothing to do with their decision not to use him as a sub anymore -- although they would not specify what the reason was. Warren said he opted not to say the pledge in class because it's not true that there's 'liberty' for all. He says he doesn't have the liberty as a Christian to profess his beliefs openly in public schools." (12/17/04)

Here we see the other side of the coin in mandatory pledge-taking, and an argument not often heard since the Vietnam era.

North Carolina: Second-graders busted for gun in school
Fox News
"Two North Carolina second-graders are facing charges after one of them brought a pistol to school. The two were caught when one student told a teacher that a boy had brought the 22-caliber gun to school and let another boy handle it. The gun wasn't loaded. The boys were charged with possessing a firearm on school property -- a felony. They also were suspended from school for ten days. Police in Mount Airy say they don't know who owns the gun but that the parents of both children are cooperating." (12/18/04)

Only ten days? Children are getting worse for bringing TOY guns to school. Of course, these boys are probably going to end up in juvenile detention until they turn 18, so what’s ten days suspension? One of the problems with school zero-tolerance is that it is trying to buck human nature: boys just naturally are drawn to guns and sharp objects, and the more you keep such things as shunned and without opportunity to learn about them, the greater the pressure is. A good set of NRA or GOA gun-safety and familiarization courses, IN THE SCHOOLS and in the home, would do much to relieve this pressure. But of course, we can’t have that!

DC: Playing for keeps in stadium fight
Washington Times
"She's either the hero of D.C. taxpayers or the Grinch who wants to steal baseball. It depends on whom you ask about the deal-breaking move by D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp to force more private funding, and less taxpayer liability, for bringing baseball back to Washington. [She] should be applauded for 'standing up to Major League Baseball's bullying of the District of Columbia,' national consumer advocate Ralph Nader wrote her in a fan letter. 'To the people who hate baseball and don't want it to happen, I guess [she] will be great,' council member Harold Brazil said. 'But I think there is some underestimation about the depth of the emotion on the pro-baseball side, and that is not going to be a positive thing.'" (12/19/04)

To Brazil and his kind, you can’t love baseball and still love taxpayers, I guess. How much was he getting under the table from MLB?

Mama's Note: The basic problem here is really that most people simply do not have any concept of personal responsibility for the things they want. They see no problem in forcing many others to pay for their "wants", let alone their necessities.

For whom the tag tolls: Bridge to go cashless
Sydney Morning Herald [Australia]
"Motorists will soon be banned from using cash on the Sydney toll road network as the State Government seeks to entrench the use of electronic tags. Even the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where tolls have been collected manually for 72 years, will have its cash booths removed as part of the motoring revolution aimed at forcing more than 85 per cent of motorists to use electronic devices." (12/20/04)

An odd example of getting carried away: they want to force 85 percent to use electronic devices, but now no one can use real (well, government-dictated real) money? What are the other 15% doing, swimming? Many of us have problems with such electronic devices. I'd love to be able to use an electronic device, for instance, when sneaking around Denver on the new toll E-470, which can save an hour or more of bumper-to-bumper traffic on Valley Highway. But the way they have their purchase program set up, not only do I have to give out tons of personal information, and obtain a different device (with deposit and minimum amount in the account) for each vehicle, but if I don’t use it at least twice a month, I will lose money big-time: great for them, but bad for me. It all comes back to private business free enterprise versus government mandates - just because government PRETENDS to be free enterprise doesn’t make them so.

Civil servants are ordered to delete millions of emails
Independent [UK]
"Tony Blair was savaged over his commitment to new freedom of information laws yesterday as it emerged that civil servants are being ordered to destroy millions of emails less than a fortnight before they will become publicly accessible. The Cabinet Office has told officials to delete any email more than three months old tomorrow, just 11 days before the new freedom of information legislation comes into force. Although civil servants working in what is effectively Mr. Blair's own department have been told to keep 'important' electronic mail, there will be no monitoring of what is deleted." (12/19/04)

Oh, the hypocrisy of politicians. This kind of panic is generally only seen when the revolting peasants have broken through the gates of the compound - but sadly, I don’t think that the lampposts of Whitehall are going to see fruit hanging from them anytime soon - although actions like this are just speeding that day.

National Guardsman convicted in sex killing of Iraqi
News Observer
"A North Carolina National Guard member thought to be the first U.S. soldier convicted of murdering an Iraqi said he 'snapped' and shot the 17-year-old boy after they had consensual sex, according to court-martial records released this week. Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, of Biscoe, a tiny town south of Asheboro, pleaded guilty during a court-martial in Iraq to shooting the Iraqi national guard private, whose name the Army withheld. Merida was sentenced Sept. 25 to 25 years in prison and reduced in rank. He will be dishonorably discharged." (12/19/04)

While I normally don’t comment on Iraq news, this is an important item - it shows that we HAVE to clean out the scum in our military services ourselves, and do it quickly. Frankly, I don’t know if the sentence is severe enough, but I hope the word gets out quickly to both troops (which it will, thanks to Army Times and other papers) AND to Iraqis - they are NOT fair game to any sicko in an American uniform.

Romania: Entrepreneur to start taxi service for gypsies
Ananova [UK]
"A Romanian businessman plans to set up a taxi service just for gypsies after finding out that no-one else will offer them a lift. Aurel Molodovan, from Roman in eastern Romania who runs his own taxi firm, said: 'There is a big gypsy community here that would like to take taxis from time to time but at the moment all other companies avoid them. Taxi drivers think members of the gypsy community are going to cause trouble or run off without paying. That's why I want to set up a service just for them with drivers who know exactly what to expect from their clients and how to deal with them.' Local politicians are outraged at the idea and say the move is discriminatory and are threatening to lodge a complaint with the European Court for Human Rights." (12/17/04)

Let me get this straight - a private attempt to correct a problem with discriminatory business practices (instead of running whining to the government) is being accused of being discriminatory by the politicians (who are running and whining to “big-Daddy” government)? The Romany have gotten a raw deal for centuries (and, I admit, have given it back with interest), but for such blatant abuse to even be discussed is amazing.

Mama's Note: You can't really expect anything like LOGIC from government, or much of anything else in the UK these days. Save yourself an ulcer and accept the fact that what we used to call "common sense" has now become very rare.

Missouri: State Fair pols pass victim disarmament rule
Sedalia Democrat
"The State Fair Commission Thursday approved a ban on concealed firearms on the fairgrounds during the fair. Commissioners met in a conference call to discuss and vote on the issue again. At a meeting Dec. 9, commissioners approved the ban during a closed session. On Dec. 10, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon advised the commission that its vote was void because it was done in closed session, in violation of the Sunshine Law. ... Commission members discussed extending the ban beyond the State Fair." (12/17/04)

Not only do gun-haters seek every possible way, but they got so hot and bothered they can’t be concerned about whether they can give their illegal actions any cloak of respectability. Surely they realize that to criminals and predators, this is just another law to ignore?

Mama's Note: I sincerely hope that everyone with a lick of sense will boycott this and every other such event that would leave them helpless victims. Why do we put up with it in things like this where we have a real choice? .

Bureaucrats stall efforts to arm pilots
Human Events Online
"Members of Congress are becoming frustrated with bureaucrats who have put roadblocks in the way of a program to arm airline pilots that Congress first authorized months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Three years later, only an estimated 4,000 of the more than 95,000 commercial pilots have participated in the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program. But this lack of participation does not indicate a lack of pilot interest, proponents say. They claim the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has intentionally stymied the program." (12/17/04)

It is interesting that even with this small number (5%) of pilots armed, they still outnumber the federal air marshals riding the skies to “protect and serve” the flying public. TSA, in this as in much else, is proving to have the efficiency of the USPS and the compassion of the FDA. No wonder more and more cities and airports are opting to return to private contractors and get rid of the TSA goons and clowns.

Four More Years
Commentary by Dr. Charles Kesler
The following is a post-election revision of a speech delivered on October 20, 2004, on the Hillsdale campus during a Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar on the topic, “Ronald Reagan and the Sesquicentennial of the Republican Party.”

As we look ahead to four more years under President Bush, we would do well to assess the last four with this question in mind: Could the Bush administration have done better - from a conservative and constitutional viewpoint? Let us look first at foreign and then domestic policy.

This is a very good article. Dr. Kesler makes a long series of excellent points, even though (obviously) I don't agree with him on some minor things. With a journal with the reputation of Imprimus, I hope that there are many people in the Bush administration that read and think about this article. Dr. Kesler does not, I think, go far enough in connecting the drive to spread freedom with the less-noble drive to create and sustain empire: a situation which has happened numerous times in history, from Judea and Athens and Rome to the British and now, us. I appreciate his comments that national freedom requires individual liberty, but wish he would have expanded on that a bit more, also. I really thought his comments about the difficulty of civilizing Iraq and Afghanistan are right on the money, and his "fifth C" is an excellent way of pointing what to me is the current administration's greatest failing (and perhaps, the greatest reason I cannot support Bush). But you know, Dr. Kesler really does not EXPLICITLY answer the question he poses at the beginning - although the implication is that, yes, the Bush administration could have and should have done MUCH better from a conservative and constitutional point of view.

Nathan Barton is a libertarian trouble-maker writing from somewhere in the West, where he is busy plotting more trouble, no doubt. 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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