Libertarian Commentary on the News, 5-11 March 2006-- Page 2

Stupid Government Tricks
Rome, according to legend, only had a single harpist playing as she burned about AD 64 - Nero. The American Union has about 537 or so, a whole symphony orchestra with choir accompaniment. As we watch government squander our money and try bizarre methods of "encouraging" democracy while flushing the republic down the toilet, the rest of the world is gunning for us, figuratively or literally.

VT: Political scores settled instantly in this city
Washington Times
"Runoff elections are typically cumbersome processes, taking weeks and sometimes months to determine a winner. Burlington is going to do it all instantly. In an innovation known as instant-runoff voting, the results of Tuesday's five-candidate election for mayor and whatever runoffs are needed to settle it will all be known soon after polls close. For the first time in a mayoral election in the United States, voters will mark their ballots for their favorite candidate, along with their second, third, fourth and fifth choices. If none of the five gets 50 percent of the vote on the first round, the candidate with the lowest vote total would be eliminated. Then the second choice of the voters who made that candidate their initial pick would be counted, and so on. 'As soon as somebody gets to 50 percent, it stops,' said Jo LaMarche, the city's election director." (03/05/06)

Frankly, I prefer the old-fashioned way - high card wins. Oh, and "NOTA" - none of the above. This little scheme is one of dozens of cutesy ideas proposed by people to make our "democracy" more functional - and to many of us, akin to screen doors on submarines.

Mama's Note: I vote "none of the above" simply by leaving the candidate part of the ballot blank. I have no desire to "elect" anyone to run any part of my life.

Feds assigning 9.5 billion hours of homework
Arizona Republic
"About 9.5 billion hours. That's how much time the public is expected to spend this fiscal year providing information to the federal government for anything from an income-tax return to a report of an injury to a whale. In all, the nation will devote the equivalent of nearly 1.1 million years of round-the-clock work to completing the 8,459 forms, reports, applications, questionnaires, surveys and assorted detritus required under federal regulations. 'Enough!' Congress cried in 1980, when federal collection of information was consuming a little more than 1 billion hours of the public's time. That year, lawmakers passed and President Carter signed a package of would-be restraints known as the Paperwork Reduction Act. Today, with clear evidence that the act and a major overhaul in 1995 aren't working, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Reform will hear ideas for curbing the seemingly insatiable federal appetite for collecting information." (03/08/06)

Don't get me started on this - the article correctly points out that the situation is getting MUCH worse, and the trend is accelerating. And this 9.5 billion is just the Feds - not state or local. Probably ½ my working hours this year have been spent on completing forms and providing information for government agencies so that I could spend the other half doing the things that needed to be done: designing roads and bridges, cleaning up spills, reclaiming land, etc. When will this end? When the federal government, as we know it, grinds to an "Atlas-Shrugged" like halt.

Church needs planning permission for cross
Ananova [UK]
"A church has been told it needs planning permission for a cross. Minister Paul Nzacahayo was told he has to pay £75 for permission to erect a freestanding cross. The local council says the payment is necessary because the cross is an advert reports The Sun. Speaking at Dudley Wood Methodist Church he said: 'This is crazy. All my congregation and I want to sell is the word of the Gospel.'" (03/08/06)

Any excuse for raking in the money and exercising the power. If this is happening in the UK, you can be sure it is happening elsewhere, especially in the US.

UK: Passports go biometric
Kable
"The UK Passport Service has now issued its first biometric e-passport, it announced on 5 March 2006. The new passports will include a chip with the holder's facial biometric and will be introduced gradually over a five month period this year. Home Office minister Andy Burnham said that the government is looking to expand the use of biometrics in passports. 'ePassports are the first step in secure biometric identity documentation,' he said. 'Not only will they improve the integrity and security of British passports, they will also help in the detection of forged or manipulated documents while confirming the identity of the individual." (03/06/06)

What an absolute mess, and what a crazy program.

Mama's Note: Just as locks only serve to keep honest people honest, such documents will only control honest people more, not criminals. In fact, when people trust these documents, the criminals will have an even easier time of it.

Bush asks Congress for line-item veto power
USA Today
"President Bush proposed a new law Monday that would give him the power to control spending by vetoing specific items in spending bills - authority that the Supreme Court struck down nine years ago but which would be structured differently under Bush's plan. 'Forty-three governors have this line-item veto in their states,' Bush said. 'Now it's time to bring this important tool of fiscal discipline to Washington, D.C.'" (03/06/06)

Why bother? He hasn't vetoed anything yet.

Mama's Note: "Fiscal discipline?" What a sick joke! Bush, nor most of the rest of the criminals in Washington, has not shown any indication that he knows the meaning of the words, let alone show any tendency to implement such a thing. This is simply more political posturing.

Court upholds campus military recruiting
Indianapolis Star
"The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that the government can force colleges to open their campuses to military recruiters despite university objections to the Pentagon's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on gays. Justices rejected a free-speech challenge from law schools and professors who claimed they should not have to associate with military recruiters or promote their campus appearances. The decision was a setback for universities that had become the latest battleground over the military policy allowing gay men and women to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation to themselves." (03/06/06)

It is indeed the "Golden Rule" - he who gives the money gets to make the rules. If colleges don't like "don't ask, don't tell" I suggest that they adopt a policy of "don't take, don't obey" - refuse the government money. Is it any surprise that the only college in the US that I know of that makes it policy to refuse any government money, Hillsdale College, is also very much opposed to the homosexual agenda and considers homosexuality a sin?

MO: Rep's all-expenses paid vacation to 'foster awareness of the power of love'
Raw Story
"A Missouri Republican and her husband took a two-day, all expenses paid trip for the official purpose of sprucing up her spiritual life, according to today's Roll Call. Holier than a golf junket, Rep. JO Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) and her husband took an all-expenses paid trip to Santa Barbara, Calif., in January for the official business purpose of 'spiritual self-reflection.' The Michigan-based Fetzer Institute, the stated mission of which is to 'foster awareness of the power of love and forgiveness through research and education programs,' paid $1,108.70 to send Emerson and her husband, Ronald Gladney, on the two-night excursion the weekend of Jan. 20. Emerson wrote in a recently filed travel disclosure form that the official purpose of the trip was: 'A time for spiritual self-reflection and an open and honest dialogue.'" (03/06/06)

This kind of bribery goes on all the time, but the more power we give government, the more of a problem it becomes. Cut the power of government, and not only will this kind of thing become more rare, but we will also have to worry about the impact less.

Mama's Note: The same thing happens in most corporations and even churches. The people paying the bills in those organizations "may" have a bit more control over it, but it still goes on all the time.

Feds keeping court cases secret
Fox News
"Despite the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of public trials, nearly all records are being kept secret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through the federal courts over the last three years. Instances of such secrecy more than doubled from 2003 to 2005. An Associated Press investigation found, and court observers agree, that most of these defendants are cooperating government witnesses, but the secrecy surrounding their records prevents the public from knowing details of their plea bargains with the government. Most of these defendants are involved in drug gangs, though lately a very small number come from terrorism cases. Some of these cooperating witnesses are among the most unsavory characters in America's courts -- multiple murderers and drug dealers -- but the public cannot learn whether their testimony against confederates won them drastically reduced prison sentences or even freedom." (03/05/06)

One might suspect that these criminals are being groomed for "better things" much as certain elements of Russian, German, and Chinese society were prepared and used when the time arrived. After all, the kind of people would-be fuehrers need are the ones who casually betray their comrades, even if in crime.

House votes to strip food warning labels
MSNBC
"The House voted Wednesday to strip many warnings from food labels, potentially affecting alerts about arsenic in bottled water, lead in candy and allergy-causing sulfites, among others. Pushed by food companies seeking uniform labels across state lines, the bill would prevent states from adding food warnings that go beyond federal law. States could petition the Food and Drug Administration to add extra warnings, under the bill." (03/08/06)

Once more we see where Congress has illegally taken power away from the states. Constitutionally the states MAY (based on their own constitutions) have power to mandate labels and similar warnings - but Congress has once more stretched the Commerce Clause like silly-putty, not only to mandate such warnings and labels, but even more to take such powers from the several states. When will this kind of nannyism stop? And when will government start paying attention to the jobs it is supposed to have?

Mama's Note: Just what is the job government is "supposed to have?" How does a "state government" have any more right to control our lives than any other? I don't recognize any but self-government as legitimate, for anything.

Bush wins in Senate on spy issue
Washington Post
"The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted along party lines yesterday to reject a Democratic proposal to investigate the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program and instead approved establishing, with White House approval, a seven-member panel to oversee the effort. Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) told reporters after the closed session that he had asked the committee 'to reject confrontation in favor of accommodation' and that the new subcommittee, which he described as 'an accommodation with the White House,' would 'conduct oversight of the terrorist surveillance program.' The program, which became public in December, has allowed the National Security Agency to monitor phone calls and e-mails between U.S. residents and suspected terrorists abroad without first obtaining warrants from a secret court that handles such matters." (03/08/06)

Politics in Campaign 2006: expect nothing to really be done (i.e., everyone will keep on spying) but tons of ink and trillions of electrons to be wasted moaning about the spying.

Study: Pupils recall ads more than news
Arizona Republic
"Students remember more of the advertising than they do the news stories on Channel One, the daily public affairs program shown in 12,000 U.S. schools, a study has found. Students reported buying, or having their parents buy, teen-oriented products advertised on the show, including fast food and video games, researchers said. Schools that agree to show Channel One on 90 percent of school days receive free televisions and satellite dishes, a deal critics say turns students into a captive audience for advertisers. Nearly 8 million students see the program, according to Primedia, Channel One's parent company. 'The benefits of having Channel One in schools seem to have some real costs that should create an ethical dilemma for schools,' said study co-author Erica Austin of Washington State University. The study appears today in the journal Pediatrics." (03/06/06)

This does not surprise me - how many of us can immediately recognize the tunes from old TV advertising back in the 60s or 70s, or old TV show themes, but can't remember a single song we sang in 3rd grade music class? Or who won what election what year? Good educators know this - bad ones (like so many in GRTF schools) know it too, but that is the way they like it.

CA: Aging friends head back to the commune
San Francisco Chronicle
"They are unlikely revolutionaries. Bearing walkers and canes, a veritable Merck Manual of ailments among them, the 12 old friends -- average age 80 -- looked as though they should have been sitting down to a game of Scrabble, not pioneering a commune for the elderly. Opting for old age on their own terms, they were starting a new chapter in their lives as residents of Glacier Circle, the country's first cooperative housing development for senior citizens -- a community they had planned and designed themselves, right down to its purple gutters. Over the past five years, the residents of Glacier Circle have found and bought land together, hired an architect together, ironed out insurance together, lobbied for a zoning change together and existentially probed togetherness together." (03/08/06)

This really isn't a "stupid" people trick at all, but an example of how people CAN solve problems for themselves without the graces of AARP or government "helpers." More people need to plan for this kind of future.

Mama's Note: "Purple gutters?" How horrible! Too bad they settled for a place that required a "zoning change." I can almost guarantee that the neighbors will cause them problems in the future - or at least make them choose more acceptable colors for their property. The chances they will be left alone to live in peace is pretty slim.

We're living longer -- is that a good thing?
San Francisco Chronicle
"Harry Weinstein used to think of 93 as ancient. Now that he's reached that age -- well beyond today's average life expectancy -- he's looking forward to turning 100. 'I'm full of life and hope,' he said. 'You can't get back what's gone, but you can make the best of what's left.' The retired physician has weathered the loss of his wife, four of his five siblings and many friends. And he's almost always the oldest person wherever he goes. But he enjoys the ballet and the symphony. He has dinner with friends. He finds life rich. People much older than Weinstein could become the norm, said Stanford University biology and demographics Professor Shripad Tuljapurkar. He believes medical advances in anti-aging technologies could increase Americans' average life expectancy in the near future from just under 80 years to 100. Society needs to consider the possibility, Tuljapurkar argues, because the implications for programs like Social Security are mind bending." (03/06/06)

Only the mainstream media would think the headline of this story is a valid question. But given their callous disregard for many forms of human life, this is exactly what we should expect from them. It is attitudes like this that have led to euthanasia in the Netherlands, and many other evils.

Poll: Americans educated in pop culture, not civil liberties
Concord Monitor
"If life were a university, Americans would do better majoring in popular culture than in history, a survey released this week shows. The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum poll found that Americans' knowledge of television shows such as The Simpsons and American Idol far surpasses their familiarity with the First Amendment. Only one of the 1,000 adults polled in the telephone survey could name all five freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment. Yet more than one in five (22 percent) could identify all five major characters in Matt Groening's cartoon family. Similarly, only 8 people in 100 could name at least three First Amendment freedoms. Four in 10 surveyed (40 percent) could name two of the three judges on the star-making show American Idol, and one in four (25 percent) could name all three. "These survey results clearly demonstrate that many Americans don't have an understanding of the freedoms they regularly enjoy,"Dave Anderson, the Chicago museum's executive director, said in a written statement. " (03/03/06)

This goes along with the article above on advertising versus news - people don't WANT to be informed, which is one reason that democracies are such abject failures.

Mama's Note: That's only one reason "democracy" doesn't work, of course, any more than communism does. The more important thing to remember is that there ARE a significant number of people who do understand their God given rights and are teaching them to their children. As always, it's a small percentage of the population, but so was that which carried out the American Revolution. Even fewer were involved in or approved of the subsequent Constitution and central government that was formed. Most of the people simply wanted to be left alone to live their lives in voluntary communities, trading and working to make their lives better - which took all their time and efforts...

Theft by Government
While eminent domain is indeed most easily explained for what it is - theft; sadly, many people do not understand that taxation is also theft - especially such things as property taxes. This week, I look at an example or two of each kind of theft. (Not that there aren't many other types.)

High property taxes driving a new revolt
Christian Science Monitor
"In Orford, N.H., a tin-roofed hunting cabin worth $10,000 was recently assessed at $200,000, just for its mountain view. Taxes on the cabin and its outhouse skyrocketed. Around Lake Tahoe, along the California-Nevada border, property taxes have shot up 135 percent in the past four years. Residents of Beaufort, S.C., pay $17 million more in property taxes today than in 2000. Welcome to the flip side of the real estate boom. Years of rising home values have boosted property taxes steadily. Now, homeowners across the United States are fighting back. 'Real estate growth and real estate boom seem to be happening all over the country and [property-tax revolt] is an inevitable consequence,' says Roger Sherman, a property tax expert in Boise, Idaho. This year, legislative proposals, citizen initiatives, and lawsuits are on the agenda in at least 20 states." (03/08/06)

A constantly boiling pot, clearly - but one that never seems to boil over, although many of us hope that THIS will be the year that it does, year after year. Minor victories are all too often overturned immediately by major losses, and even states with "less than absolutely poor" records are getting worse (there are no states with even a fair or good record - for it is my strong belief that property taxes are, on their face, immoral: if you own something, you should not have to pay rent on it: otherwise, as with eminent domain, you are just running it for the "sovereign").

City to seize church [sic] by eminent domain
WorldNetDaily.com
The city of Long Beach, Calif., is using the power of eminent domain bolstered by last summer's U.S. Supreme Court ruling to condemn a Baptist congregation's church building. The city wants to remove the Filipino Baptist Fellowship's building to make way for condominiums, the Baptist Press reported. The city will hold a hearing March 13 and vote on a resolution authorizing the city attorney to begin condemnation proceedings. Baptist Press noted there are eight other active cases of eminent domain abuse against churches across the country, according to the Institute for Justice, a civil liberties law firm in Arlington, Va.

Of course, it isn't the "church" it is where the church assembles that they want - a fine point perhaps, but an important one. Here is a clear case, but I am increasingly of the opinion that ANY use of this outmoded, archaic power is an "abuse."

Unrest grows in rural China over land grabs
Independent [UK]
"Si Xiaoyan weeps as she tells how her husband, Liu Huirong, was sentenced to five years in jail for taking part in riots last year in the eastern Chinese town of Huaxi over the illegal granting of land rights to 13 chemical plants. 'I miss him,' says Ms Si, 31, tears streaming from behind her glasses as we sit in a brick farmhouse in the town in Zhejiang province. Her sorrow is in contrast to the jubilation in the village in April last year, when 30,000 farmers stopped 1,500 police from entering Huaxi and the farmers won the battle. Huaxi became famous among activists in China, one of the first of many disturbances as rampant industrialisation led to clashes between the authorities and those left behind by development - the farmers and migrant workers who make up two-thirds of China's 1.3 billion people. Around the stout square table sit Ms Si's father-in-law and other families of the nine people sentenced for rioting in Huaxi when the authorities came to destroy roadblocks erected by villagers to block deliveries to and from the factories. Villagers said the factories were poisoning their crops, causing miscarriages and making their children sick. Of the nine villagers sentenced, four received suspended sentences, which are not often served in China. All nine said they were tortured in custody." (03/07/06)

Torture is standard, of course. So is theft by the government, especially by a communist government where the fiction of private ownership of land practiced by western governments has been done away with, and replaced by "People's ownership."

TN: Christian TV empire savors a tax blessing
Tennessean
"A ruling that means Sumner County and the city must refund the theme park-like Trinity Broadcasting Network complex here more than $300,000 in taxes ends an 11-year skirmish and gives the colorful owners much of what they've wanted -- status as a church. Under an administrative judge's decision approved by a state commission last month, televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch have the state's blessing to stop paying property taxes on their auditorium. It is familiar to millions of TBN viewers worldwide as one location of the Praise the Lord show, a glitz-filled mix of prayer, musical entertainment and requests for money. Their land also includes the home of the late country music great Conway Twitty and his Twitty City spread. The Crouches didn't get a wholesale property tax exemption. TBN must continue to pay on several other parcels found past the ribbon-like entrance banner proclaiming 'Trinity Music City USA,' including the Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh Gift Shop, Solid Rock Bistro and the Twitty mansion." (03/05/06)

As I have said before, property tax is nothing but a form of theft itself, no matter how they try to tie it to public services. Since the major use of the property tax in this nation is to fund education, the excuse wears thin, quickly, as in the case of the TBN campus, which is itself an educational facility - but one that obviously the state does not want to have educating people.

Technology and Science Issues
This, too, like the section on our right to defend ourselves, is frequently a place to find some good or even great news, or something to remind us of how good we really do have things - countering the dismal political news that we see so much of. Enjoy with me some reminders of how things really have gotten better in some ways.

AT&T to buy BellSouth
Tennessean
"One by one, Ma Bell is calling her children home. In a deal announced yesterday, AT&T plans to purchase BellSouth for $67 billion, creating what would be the largest telecommunications company in the country, passing Verizon. But more than anything, yesterday's news signifies an industry trying to cope with a new era of competition, several people watching the deal said. Few saw it as a threat to consumers. ... In 1984, the telecom giant AT&T was forced to break up into seven regional companies - nicknamed Baby Bells - as a way to foster greater competition for phone service. AT&T continued to offer long-distance service and became a major player in wireless phone service. In November, one of the Baby Bells, SBC Communications, purchased AT&T for $16 billion. ... The deal to buy Atlanta-based BellSouth would represent the fifth Baby Bell to return to the AT&T name." (03/06/06)

The point is, what had been a govmint-enforced and approved monopoly was turned into a bustling and cost-saving competitive sector of the economy, that has produced things we never imagined then. Remember what it cost to make a long-distance call then? I remember twenty-five cent a minute calls from California to Colorado - today I pay just under five cents a minute, 1-minute minimum, same rate day or night, weekends or holidays - and at least a penny of that is taxes; and I pay with inflated 2006 dollars worth less than half that '84 dollar, so in '84 money it is costing me about 2 cents - and I'm probably not getting the best rate I could from AT&T, via a calling card, either. And we really DO have videophones, not quite as small as Dick Tracey's (yet) but ones that call up weather maps and a lot more - and conference calling and a whole lot more - as if a faucet was turned on by ending the monopoly on a national basis. We are seeing the same thing locally, with cellular competing with landlines and cable competing with resellers. Imagine what would happen if the USPS just had to break up into seven regions and allow open competition!

Alaska hit by "massive" oil spill
BBC
An oil spill discovered at Prudhoe Bay field is the largest ever on Alaska's North Slope region, US officials say. They estimate that up to 267,000 gallons (one million litres) of crude leaked from a corroded transit pipeline at the state's northern tip. The spill was detected on 2 March and plugged. Local environmentalists have described it as "a catastrophe".

Can you spell "panic" and "overreaction"? A quarter-million gallons would hurt my budget, sure, but it amounts to less than 6400 barrels of oil, or perhaps 1/10,000 of the annual flow through the pipeline. Two acres is a lot if it happens at my house or most of the sites I work in, but is 1/210,056,000 of the state of Alaska, and is probably less than 5% of the average petroleum-contaminated land found in a "small" American city of 100,000, after about 100 years of using, storing, and selling petroleum projects. For environists to call it an "unequaled catastrophe" is sheer nonsense, and shows a complete lack of a sense of proportion.

Given the conditions at the location (permafrost, soil conditions, lack of receptors at risk, etc.) this is a minor problem which in a rational world would wait to be dealt with in the Spring. As it is, the panicked response demanded by the environists and the regulators will cause far, far more damage than leaving the stuff where it is for a few months, and then cleaning it up in a responsible measure. But in our world filled with emotional and often rabid oil-haters, this will be used as yet another excuse not to drill in the Arctic, and you will see impassioned appeals to end production that now exists, and close the line, which is essential both to the US and to Japan.

LOGITECH CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY WITH NEW PRODUCTS
InfoWorld Daily
Logitech introduced a host of new consumer products at Cebit Wednesday, including new offerings for digital music listeners and the company's first mouse designed specifically for left-handed users.

Forget the "music listeners" (what a bizarre abuse of English) - it is the mouse this lefty likes! Logitech is one of the many second-tier companies that makes computing a bit more bearable, whether it is cheap USB-powered desk lamps or numeric keypads, or keyboard shelves, or a dozen other neat little gadgets.

Mama's Note: I went through a whole herd of "mice" before I found my Logitech track ball. I'll never use a "mouse" again! Now, if they'd just build the trackball into the keyboard just below the space bar - as they are on a laptop - I'd be one happy camper! Gee! Maybe it's time to go shopping for a new keyboard?

Google to settle in click fraud case
PC Magazine
"Google says it has nearly settled a class action lawsuit alleging that the search engine charges inflated advertising rates because of rampant click fraud. The search engine Ask, formerly known as Ask Jeeves, believes it, too, is covered under the proposed settlement, a spokesperson said. Lawsuit defendant Yahoo plans to continue battling the accusations." (03/09/06)

Corruption can creep into any organization, and any business - but all too often settling outside court means that the real truth is never known. This may be such a case.

Study: Humans still rapidly evolving
Fox News/Live Science
"A comprehensive scan of the human genome finds that hundreds of our genes have undergone positive natural selection during the past 10,000 years of human evolution. Genes are the instructions organisms use to make proteins. They are encoded in genetic material, usually DNA, and some come in different versions, called 'alleles.' Positive natural selection occurs when one allele is favored over another due to changes in the environment. Researchers from the University of Chicago analyzed the genomes of 209 unrelated individuals from three distinct human populations: East Asians from Beijing and Tokyo, Utah residents of European descent and Yorubans from Nigeria." (03/08/06)

So, if we are so rapidly "evolving" why aren't we a new species as yet? Or several? And why, in reading this, do I get the idea that the Mainstream Media once more is demonstrating its own lack of knowledge of basic science - even considering this really new? People, like animals, adapt over time (and often, relatively quickly - look at Ohio Valley man in the 1700s and early 1800s) but adaptation does NOT equal Darwinian evolution, no matter how much the textbooks and MSM seem to try to make it do so.

World's nations shoot for the moon
San Francisco Chronicle
"In the 'space race' of the early 1960s, when reporters asked U.S. rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun what he expected to find on the moon, he jokingly replied: 'Russians.' Nowadays, his answer might be: 'Indians, Chinese, Japanese and Europeans.' India, China, Japan and Europe are busy launching, or planning to launch, robotic spaceships to the moon and points beyond. Their goals will include tasks ranging from mapping minerals to seeking ice from which future astronauts might extract drinking water. More distant goals include looking for a mineral called ilmenite that some experts think is rich in an isotope called helium-3. In theory, that isotope could be shipped to Earth and burned in futuristic nuclear fusion reactors." (03/05/06)

In the sixties, we had enough surplus wealth, and government was still small enough, that we could afford to use inefficient government means to get to the Moon, but the mere fact that the Soviets could even hope to beat or meet us shows just HOW inefficient the entire enterprise (I use the term loosely) was - but today, with the insatiable maw of government consuming everything it can, and with its explosion in power and growth in regulations and bureaucratic obstacles, to dream of much is a joke - until private enterprise is once more freed.

If the current environmental policies and procedures had existed in the early 1960s, we'd probably still be going through appeals on the siting and size of Kennedy Space Center, to say nothing of Huntsville, Vandenburg, or Houston. And with the fear of avian flu and other diseases today, the quarantine procedures used in 1969 seem laughable - and probably worthy of screaming matches in Congress. To many people my age, the moon seems more distant today than it did to us as teens or preteens. Thanks to a government that is lousing things up.

World Wars - the Threats
I have long had a section called "World Wars" but now I will sometimes break it into parts - news from the various threats to liberty on our planet (and for that matter, off our planet) OUTSIDE the United States: of which I view the three major ones as being (1) the Dar al'Islam (House of Islam), also known as the "Ummah;" (2) the rump of Communism as led by China and practiced by Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, possibly Venezuela, and a host of little splinters all over the place; and (3) Euro-liberalism, the nanny-state philosophy and religion of the European Union.

Why these? The first two are both the raw face of tyranny: one from "traditional" religious-state ties of the kind found in Mesopotamia and Egypt since a generation or two after the Flood (and recreated post-Christ by Constantine and promoted by a long line of popes and kings) and one from the "anti-religion" of communism in which the state is not just the visible face of the god, but IS god.

Islam to rule the world soon-Iranian president
Itar-Tass
KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 (Itar-Tass) - Islam will soon be the domineering force in the world, placing first in the number of its followers among all other religions. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed this confidence here at the end of his state visit to Malaysia. Following a meeting with Sultan Jamalullail I, the supreme head of the federation of nine states where Islam was proclaimed the state religion, he pontificated: "The world will be in the hands of Islam over the next few years."

Yeah, it's TASS, but why would they make this up? And they are used to reporting this sort of stuff, too: it could have been just using an old template from Stalin or Khrushchev, really. I think the word is probably "dominating" not "domineering" but Ahmadinejad has already demonstrated that he (1) hates the West, (2) runs off at the mouth, and (3) is willing to bait the West and Iran's enemies in Islam as well. So maybe he did use the Farsi word for "domineering."

Hamas Website Encourages Kids to Become Martyrs
CNSNews.com
A new Hamas website for children encourages them to become suicide bombers. The homepage shows a cartoon of a girl using a slingshot to throw rocks, it also offers stories about "martyrs," said Palestinian Media Watch, an independent Israeli media watchdog...

One might point out that Hamas seems to be fitting in quite well as a "government" in many ways. Remember, these are the kids or the parents of the kids that will wade ashore on Galveston Island, Fire Island, and Kitty Hawk when the green flag flies over Europe and the Americas are ripe for raping. Assuming that they don't just assemble in convenient parks near their mosques in Greenville, Alexandria, Richland Hills, and other places, to march out to greet their brothers from the Old Country and welcome them as they welcome the US into the Ummah.

Islamic websites carry al-Qaida's 'last warning'
World Net Daily
Islamic websites yesterday posted a "last warning" warning by Rakan Ben Williams, who describes himself as an "al-Qaida undercover soldier" in the U.S., threatening two major operations designed to bring Americans "to your knees." The spokesman claims the operations are inevitable - even if the specific plans are uncovered by authorities. The statement also appears to be an attempt to divide Americans by region. Williams calls the statement "the last warning you will receive from us. Consequently, if you ignore it, we regret to inform you that we will carry out devastating operations against the states of America and we will not show mercy whatsoever."

So, Allah has spoken? Whatever this is, the message is clear that no compromise is possible - this is no demand for withdrawal from Iraq or Afghanistan or even Israel, but a demand for total surrender, for "submission." Fourth generation war as predicted, striking for the hearts and minds and homes of the enemy.

China Downplays Fears Over Military Spending
SpaceWar.Com
Beijing (AFP) Mar 07, 2006 - China sought Tuesday to ease fears over its rising military budget as Taiwan claimed the threat from the mainland's armed forces was growing much stronger. "Our defense policy is transparent and our defense is entirely defensive in nature," Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told a press conference.

Gee, you think he sounds a little defensive? Maybe when we are looking at threats, our hope (to say nothing of Europe's) is that China and Islam may decide on a death match.

Mama's Note: Too bad they can't be provoked into some kind of PEACE and trading match instead.

A leaderless nation learns to adapt
Boston Globe
"When Abdirahman Farah, who is blind, returned to his native Somalia two years ago, his friends in Britain worried about him because of the country's lawlessness. But Farah was not deterred by the peril, or by the lack of a functioning government to provide services or security. He started a school for the blind in Mogadishu, the capital, by raising tens of thousands of dollars from local businesses and enrolling 22 students, with 100 more currently on a waiting list. Farah is among the thousands of Somalis who have adapted and plunged ahead with businesses, schools, and service organizations despite the continuing violence and leadership void. As Somalia this week took another important step to resurrect its national government after 15 years without one, many Somalis say they would welcome even a minimalist government, one that would guarantee their security but also allow their recent initiatives to flourish. They worry about a return to a dictatorial government that would quash many freedoms, including a free-market system." [FND editor's note: As a good anarchist myself, I'm a bit bemused by the "horror" in this writer's tone, over the lack of a strong central gummint ... as well as his surprised admission that things without one have been so successful - SAT] (03/08/06)

In other words, you CAN survive without government, and even prosper. And as usual, most people will try to show the "horror" of the situation and ignore the fact that the rest of Africa is MUCH worse off in so very many areas. For example, Somalia continues to have high unemployment, but when you look at that rate as compared to the rate of unemployment in other nations in Africa PLUS the number of parasites (government workers) in those countries, you see that Somalia is actually doing pretty good: few people laying about, AND less blood-sucking on those who are not (and foreign donors, as well).

Mama's Note: Obvious to anyone with eyes to see is the fact that Somalia suffers most from lack of opportunity to trade freely with their neighbors, simply because of the strong central government of those neighbors. They would all prosper and grow wonderfully in a mutual free market environment.

Iran warns US on sanction threats
Indianapolis Star
"Iran threatened the United States with 'harm and pain' Wednesday if the U.S. tries to use the U.N. Security Council -- which has the power to impose sanctions -- as a lever to punish Tehran for its suspect nuclear program. Washington warned that Tehran has enough nuclear material for up to 10 atomic bombs. Hours after the Iranian and U.S. exchange, the some members of the Security Council took up the issue for the first time, with the five permanent nations holding consultations in New York." (03/08/06)

Gets old after a while, doesn't it? IF I believed that preemptive war were justified, an H-bomb over Tehran would be called for, about now. How long do we have to listen to these threats, when they really seem to be capable of carrying them out?

Kenya launches fierce media crackdown
Christian Science Monitor
"Masked, armed police Thursday stormed the offices of a leading Kenyan media company in a raid seen as punishment for reports criticizing the government's dismal record on corruption. Dozens of officers carrying AK-47 assault rifles ransacked the Nairobi editorial headquarters of Kenya Television Network (KTN) and the downtown printing press of The Standard, Kenya's oldest newspaper. The country's interior minister, John Michuki, says the clampdown is necessary to assert the state's authority in the face of repeated verbal attacks on the administration. 'If you rattle a snake, you must be prepared to be bitten by it,' he told journalists Thursday." (03/05/06)

Can't happen today? Watch. Today in Nairobi and Gaza and Port Said, tomorrow in Copenhagen and Rotterdam and Düsseldorf, and the day after tomorrow in Chicago and Saint Louis and San Bernardino (I do admit that I think Michuki's simile is apt - government IS a viper, waiting to strike whenever and at whatever it can.)

Testimony at Moussaoui trial set to begin
Tampa Tribune
"Zacarias Moussaoui may be the defendant, but it's the FBI that will likely be on trial once testimony begins Monday in the confessed al-Qaida conspirator's death penalty trial. Both prosecutors and defense lawyers have indicated that FBI agents will provide key testimony at Moussaoui's sentencing trial, which will determine whether the 37-year-old Frenchman is sentenced to life in prison or death." (03/05/06)

Moussaoui doesn't sound French, does it? It is not, of course - he is an immigrant from the Ummah to its first line of bases in France (where they were soundly thrashed in 732, nearly 1300 years ago) and from there to the advance bases in the US. And we are more worried about trying the FBI for how they treated him, than the fact that he voluntarily has admitted he helped kill 3000 people on Bloody Tuesday?

Mama's Note: The way he is treated is a direct reflection on how the rest of us will be treated. No matter what he is guilty of or what he's admitted, he's still a human being who should be treated as we would all wish to be treated under similar circumstances. We do reap what we sow... I'd be happy to pull the switch on him myself, if he was found guilty by a real jury in a real trial, but I would not be willing to participate in any kind of ill treatment. There is a big difference.