January 12, 2005

See Dick. See Jane. See-- Argh! Clang! Clang! Clang!
by Bob Wallace

I was considered a not-normal kid. My head was shaped like a light-bulb, for one thing. A Filipina I know once gasped when she saw a picture of me at nine weeks old. "American babies have big heads!" she told me, the implication being she hoped to never squeeze out such a deformed quasi-monster. I think she half-believed me when I told her my parents bought me a little toy wagon so I could roll my noggin around in it, and that there was a well-known American fairy-tale about a village idiot who had a huge potato for a head, which caused him to keep falling out of his father's cart.

There were the problems with the robot and submarine and rocket launcher. Parents used to ban me from their yards. The rocket launcher was what did it. If I had just launched rockets from a pad on the ground, perhaps that would have been acceptable, even if it was in my backyard. Launching them from a tube on my shoulder was not, especially since I figured out the fins were supposed to be angled, which caused the projectile to spin, thereby increasing the distance and sending it across several yards. They're lucky I never figured out how to put an M-80 fire-cracker grenade in the nose. These days, the cops probably would Taser me, followed by the courts sending me to some sort of Brave New World "therapy" that would involve some modern-day Soma, which today is instead called Ritalin. (Read the rest here)

Will the U.S. Senate Endorse Torture?
By Ivan Eland

Despite evasive answers to questions about his role in creating a pervasive policy environment that made the U.S. government’s torture of prisoners just good, clean fun, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales seems poised to win Senate approval as Attorney General. That shocking outcome would reaffirm that the politically minded Congress often takes a distorted view of what this country is supposed to stand for.

In the past, Congress has meted out punishments to presidents or their prospective appointees for far lesser transgressions than culpability in torture. For example, President Bill Clinton was impeached—a rarity in American history—by Congress for having sex with an intern and lying about it. Although Clinton was guilty of bad behavior, this breach of ethics nowhere approached the severity of enabling the brutal treatment of prisoners in the government’s custody. Similarly, Congress denied Judge Robert Bork a seat on the Supreme Court, not because his sentencing of prisoners was too harsh, but because it merely viewed his policy views as out of the mainstream. (Read the rest here)

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

Well, we have a lot today, as the Calif/Nevada area again gets the most snow and rain in decades, the push to the election in Iraq enters the last 20 days, and everyone is upset about something! Well, I think so, and this column is my opinion, not necessarily anyone else’s (but I think our TPoL editor is a gem, and I sure hope a lot of other folks do, too; write her and tell her so, NOW! (Please)).

Oh! Our wonderful courts
Justices decline adoption case
Richmond Times-Dispatch
"The Supreme Court steered clear of a dispute over gay adoptions yesterday, energizing conservatives who want other states to copy Florida's one-of-a-kind ban on gays adopting children. In refusing to review the law, justices averted a second showdown over gay rights in two years. The court barred states in 2003 from criminalizing gay sex, a decision that brought strong criticism from conservative and religious groups. Also yesterday, the court declined to consider dismissing a lawsuit seeking to hold gun manufacturers responsible for the 1999 shooting of a letter carrier by a white supremacist." (01/11/05)

Actually, there are several states that have HAD laws on the books banning adoption by homosexual “couples” - the most recent overturning was (as I recall) in Arkansas. Although the headline and the article don’t state it specifically, this is a victory for those opposed to allowing homosexuals to adopt children. (Read the rest of the Commentary here)

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. .

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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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