Libertarian Commentary on the News, 23 - 29 April 2006 -- Page 2

Stupid Government and People Tricks
A few bizarre and stupid things from this week's news, including more on American internal spying efforts and fusses.

SC: Bill would illegalize sex toy sales
Anderson Independent Mail
"Lucy's Love Shop employee Wanda Gillespie said she was flabbergasted that South Carolina's Legislature is considering outlawing sex toys. But banning the sale of sex toys is actually quite common in some Southern states. The South Carolina bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Ralph Davenport, would make it a felony to sell devices used primarily for sexual stimulation and allow law enforcement to seize sex toys from raided businesses. 'That would be the most terrible thing in the world,' said Ms. Gillespie, an employee the Anderson shop. 'That is just flabbergasting to me. We are supposed to be in a free country, and we're supposed to be adults who can decide what want to do and don't want to do in the privacy of our own homes.'" (04/23/06)

Bizarre, indeed. Instead of making people bear responsibility and accountability for their own actions, these government jokers would rather play tyrant and blame inert objects for the sins of their owners.

Bush orders probe into gas prices
MSNBC
"President Bush is ordering an investigation into whether the price of gasoline has been illegally manipulated, his spokesman said Monday. During the last few days, Bush asked his Energy and Justice departments to open inquiries into possible cheating in the gasoline markets, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Bush planned to announce the action Tuesday during a speech in Washington." (04/24/06)

Pandering to the mob, basically.

Bush to Know-Nothings: Get real
Detroit Free Press
"President Bush had a blunt message Monday for fellow Republicans focusing only on get-tough immigration policies: He said sending all the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants back to their home countries is not the answer. 'Massive deportation of the people here is unrealistic -- it's just not going to work,' Bush said. " (04/24/06)

20 million, anyone? As for deportation, how is it that the same people that say that all 8 million Israelis should be expatriated to allow "Palestinians" to once more have their "homeland" claim that it is wrong to do the same to just 7% of the current population of the US?

Bush's approval ratings slide to new low
CNN
"President Bush's approval ratings have sunk to a personal low, with only a third of Americans saying they approve of the way he is handling his job, a national poll released Monday said. In the telephone poll of 1,012 adult Americans carried out Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, 32 percent of respondents said they approve of Bush's performance, 60 percent said they disapprove and 8 percent said they do not know." (04/24/05)

Bush is able to successfully alienate both the conservatives and the liberals, even if he is able to get only the liberals to hate his guts. Pandering over gasoline prices won't help this any - assuming it is a valid poll.

Romania's registers first witch
Ananova [UK]
"A Romanian woman has become the country's first legally registered witch. Gabriela Ciucur, 31, from Targu Jiu, persuaded authorities to accept witchcraft as a profession after months of negotiations. She told local media: 'The authorities sent me home and told me it was ridiculous at first. But we finally reached a deal and registered my company as dealing with astrology and connections to the spirit world.' ... Witchcraft is extremely popular in Romania where many people in rural areas still believe in vampires. National football chiefs in the country once even considered bringing in a witch to put a spell on an opposing team." (04/24/06)

An example of the serf mentality of much of what passes for Western Civilization today: unless a profession is regulated and taxed by the government, it isn't considered a real profession.

Mama's Note: This one is really hard to believe. The Romanians have many subcultures, and witchcraft is one of them. They are, however, usually what are called "Gypsy" and very, very hard headed independent people. I suspect this is someone from outside the Romany ranks who aspires to be a "witch" and can't get much recognition for it, so hopes to force it this way. Hard to say, but if so I suspect she's in for a disappointment.

Senate panel demands oil companies' tax records
Las Vegas Review-Journal
"Responding to an election-year spike in gasoline prices, Senate Republicans on Wednesday drafted legislation providing $100 rebates for taxpayers as key lawmakers sought access to Big Oil's income tax returns. The rebate legislation also calls for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an intensely controversial proposal that will probably contribute to the defeat of the overall measure." (04/26/06)

How absolutely stupid - and no doubt the poison pill is intentional to make sure that maximum political advantage for Campaign 2006 can be obtained.

Mama's note: You really have to wonder what these people use for brains. If the price of gas is too high, how does taxing the oil industry more bring the price down? They can't really think the industry can't or shouldn't pass that extra expense down to the consumer? What I don't understand is why more people don't realize the role taxes and regulations play in making the cost so high.

WI: State would outlaw mandatory microchip implants
Live Science
"You're not even safe from being 'chipped when you're dead. But you'll be safe in Wisconsin, if State Representative Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, gets his bill passed. A proposal moving through the Wisconsin Legislature would prohibit anyone from requiring people to have the tiny RFID chips embedded in them or doing so without their knowledge. Violators would face fines of up to $10,000." (04/25/06)

Needed law or just a way of getting publicity? Hard to say, but certainly better than most laws the WI legislature passes.

Mama's Note: Unfortunately, as we've seen so often, the federal law will eventually trump the state and this will be meaningless.

AZ: Unregulated shredding industry raises ID-theft fears
Arizona Republic
"The shredding industry in Arizona is on a tear. Demand for document destruction services in Arizona is at an all-time high, driven by high identity-theft rates and new rules requiring businesses to properly dispose of personal information. Companies large and small, homegrown and from other states, are stepping up to meet the need. But while the shredding blitz has provided an economic boon, it also is causing concern among some longtime operators. Their worries: No state or federal agency regulates the industry. Companies largely police themselves, guided by a nonprofit trade group based in Phoenix called the National Association for Information Destruction Inc., or NAID." [FND editor's note: Translation: "Longtime operators" hate seeing new competition enter the market; they're willing to pay the costs of regulation, believing that those costs will scare off new competitors. The problem is convincing people that it takes a government bureaucracy to ensure that operators can find the "on" button on a paper shredder - TLK] (04/26/06)

Tom has it right: this is an attempt by the established operators to protect their status and business and keep out the competition. Just like taxi-drivers, doctors, lawyers, even (sadly) engineers.

RFID til the cows come home
Wired News
"The national ID system is going to the dogs -- and the pigs, and the sheep and the cows and the chickens. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns this month released a government road map that would see most farmers voluntarily tag their animals with wireless radio chips by 2008 as part of an ambitious electronic disease control system to prevent outbreaks of hoof and mouth disease and avian flu, among other things ... 'This will rake in huge profits for the RFID industry,' said Cheryl J. Allerton, a Pennsylvania attorney who specializes in equine law and a critic of the pending regulations. ... Industry officials say they understand the need for a system to stop the spread of disease, but they show little trust in the federal government's ability to carry out the task without burdensome requirements." (04/24/06)

I didn't realize that RFID chips were vaccines! This is another example of how several long-term problems have been used as an excuse for more tyranny.

Mama's Note: Along with the chips will come requirements to notify government of every single movement of ANY animal - actually getting permission to take an animal to the vet or a show, etc. This will result in both an incredible rise in the cost of raising animals, and probably the death of many fairs, shows and even rodeo. Even if the system worked flawlessly, it could never justify the cost in freedom alone. Unfortunately, it won't work at all and animals owners will join the ranks of criminals.

Rumsfeld sued over recruiting database
Washington Post
"Six New York teen-agers sued Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld on Monday, alleging the U.S. Department of Defense broke the law by keeping an extensive database on potential recruits. The suit in federal court in Manhattan follows a series of allegations last year of misconduct by recruiters, who have experienced difficulty meeting targets because of the war in Iraq. The Pentagon last year acknowledged it had created a database of 12 million Americans, full of personal data such as grades and Social Security numbers, to help find potential military recruits. The Pentagon has defended the practice as critical to the success of the all-volunteer U.S. Military, and said it was sensitive to privacy concerns. But the suit alleges the Pentagon improperly collected data on people as young as 16 and kept it beyond a three-year limit, and said that the law does not allow for keeping records on race, ethnicity, gender or social security numbers." (04/24/06)

If we are foolish enough to entrust the government-ruined, theft-funded schools with our children, we should expect the data to be misused. And the Pentagon is not, by any means, the only agency or the worst agency to use this data: the IRS, Health and Human Services, and DEA all have such files. At a recent health fair, people could not understand why we did not want our SSAN (social security account number) on their forms to "help us not misfile your lab results."

FBI probing classified data leaks
USA Today
"The FBI is conducting investigations similar to the one that resulted in last week's firing of a senior CIA analyst who acknowledged leaking classified information, director Robert Mueller said Monday. 'We do have investigations going,' Mueller said following a visit to the FBI's Charlotte office, which oversees the agency's operations in North Carolina. 'Leaking of classified materials is a concern for those agencies that have classified materials.' ... Justice Department officials would not comment publicly on the CIA firing or say if the matter had been referred to prosecutors for possible criminal charges. Speaking to the Anti-Defamation League on Monday in Washington, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte did not mention the firing of the CIA officer. A reporter shouted a question to him about the issue as he left, but he did not stop to reply. Negroponte has condemned leaks in the past." (04/24/06)

If even classified data can get out so easily, imagine where the personal data up in the last article gets to!

Tech and Medical Issues
Technology has a way of impacting us all very directly, as well as indirectly.

Eat my dust, eBay
San Francisco Chronicle
"EBay has little hope of capturing a bigger share of the Chinese online auction market despite bankrolling a major expansion there, according to the company's chief Chinese rival. Jack Ma, chief executive of Alibaba.com, China's leading Internet marketplace, said that early mistakes by eBay have made it difficult for the company to gain traction in what is an increasingly important beachhead for e-commerce. 'In China, they are gone,' Ma said during an interview Friday with members of The Chronicle's business staff. 'They have made so many mistakes in China -- we're lucky.'" (04/21/06)

Hmmm. When you put "eBay" at the beginning of a sentence, is it supposed to be capitalized? Any English specialists who are reading, please let me know. This may be bad news for eBay, but at least they won't be tempted like Yahoo to suck up to the ChiComms.

Mama's Note: Good question, but I don't know the answer. I would tend to use a capital. Can't kill them... lol

New group aims to "save the Internet"
ZDNet
"Days before a congressional committee is set to vote on an overhaul of the nation's telecommunications policy, a broad coalition of media, consumer and Internet groups has organized behind a dramatic tagline: 'Save the Internet.' Dozens of organizations ranging from the conservative-to-libertarian Gun Owners of America to the liberal group Moveon.org to the American Library Association, have just launched a Web site under the 'Save the Internet' banner." (04/254/06)

"Save the Internet" but for what? If many of these groups in the coalition get their way, it will be an internet free of "offending" speech or anything which they find in violation of their own standards - even if government doesn't do it. An example is the American Library Association, already taking action to remove the Boy Scouts from their libraries because the BSA believes in God and believes that homosexuality is wrong.

TX: College bans MySpace to free up bandwidth
Arizona Republic
"Del Mar College students now have to use computers outside the school's system if they want to visit the popular Web site MySpace.com. The community college has blocked the site in response to complaints about sluggish Internet speed on campus computers. An investigation found that heavy traffic at MySpace.com was eating up too much bandwidth, said August Alfonso, the school's chief of information and technology. Forty percent of daily Internet traffic at the college involved the site, he said. 'This was more about us being able to offer Web-based instruction, and MySpace.com was slowing everything down,' President Carlos Garcia said. MySpace.com, a social networking hub with more 72 million members, allows users to post searchable profiles that can include photos of themselves and such details as where they live and what music they like." (04/24/06)

If you think this sounds kind of stupid, then you are right! And it is just what you might expect from a GRTF-school. Yeah, "Del Mar College" is the school operated (and presumably owned) by the Del Mar College District of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Mama's Note: The obvious answer - outside of making the college private, of course - is to charge the students a fee for the bandwidth they use for non-instructional Internet time. Then they could upgrade the bandwidth to accommodate all of the students and all of the various uses they have for the internet.

Car seats are safe -- if parents use them properly
Tennessean
"Outside the police station, Erica Peterson learned an important lesson recently. During a safety check, the mother discovered a seat belt securing her infant son's carrier to the vehicle seat was too loose. That meant the baby's seat could slide if Peterson's SUV were in a crash. As a result, her child could suffer serious injuries or be killed. 'You see this seat belt? There is too much slack, and so it doesn't secure the baby's seat tight enough,' said Detective Barbara Matthews of the Cocoa (Fla.) Police Department, who often speaks to the public about child passenger safety in vehicles. 'You have to pull the vehicle's seat belt until it locks, then correctly use it to install the infant safety seat into place,' Matthews said as she demonstrated." [Editor's note: Why is this posted here? Maybe as an example of how a little instruction, instead of more regulation, helps people help themselves - SAT] (04/24/06)

So we see another justification for massive police intervention in our daily lives: checkpoints for baby-seats? Mandatory baby-seat training and another sticker on the windshield, perhaps? It should not be cops talking to people about this, but their insurance agents and their friends.

Gov't sued over drug benefit access
USA Today
"The Bush administration was accused in a lawsuit Wednesday of failing to ensure that poor people were enrolled properly in Medicare's new prescription drug benefit. As a result, these beneficiaries cannot get the medicine they need, according to the suit by a group of older people and advocacy groups. They charge that Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt failed to make sure that many of the poorest people eligible for the benefit signed up for private insurance plans as Congress had required." (04/26/06)

What tripe! From Mama: They did everything but drag people in off the streets to sign up for this insanity. (That is probably next...) Outside of going house to house (or bridge to flophouse) there isn't any way to snag EVERYBODY. And lots of these people want nothing to do with all this [garbage] anyway. Some of them are even bright enough not to take chemical medicine to start with!! But the Gestapo are not going to be happy until everyone is nicely "registered" and pinned down so they can begin to REALLY control what everyone takes - or make [darn] well sure they do...for their own good... the doctor said so...! This isn't about medicine, it's about control.

Star Wars Speed Trap
AOL.com
"But what if driving faster than the posted limit became an impossibility?... The Canadians are testing out a system that combines onboard Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology with a digital speed limit map. It works very much like the in-car GPs navigation systems which have become so common on late model cars -- but with a twist. Instead of helping you find a destination, the system, prevents you from driving any faster than the posted speed limit of the road you happen to be on."

AOL is generally not the most liberty-friendly of companies, even though I use them myself. But for once, they are right on the money on this issue of freedom, safety, and high-tech.

Wars on Some Drugs
A few items this week.

CA: Court overturns Rosenthal conviction
Yahoo! News
"A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned the pot-growing conviction of the self-proclaimed 'Guru of Ganja,' a marijuana advocate who has written books on how to grow pot and avoid getting caught. The court cited jury misconduct in overturning Ed Rosenthal's conviction, but it otherwise upheld federal powers to charge marijuana growers. Rosenthal was convicted in 2003 for cultivating hundreds of marijuana plants for a city of Oakland medical marijuana program. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer sentenced him to one day in prison, saying Rosenthal reasonably believed he was immune from prosecution because he was acting on behalf of city officials. The government sought a two-year prison term and appealed. Rosenthal cross-appealed." (04/26/06)

Yet another example of the chaos of the War on Drugs, together with other news this week.

Judges reexamine lethal injections for convicts
Christian Science Monitor
"As the primary form of capital punishment in America, lethal injection is largely viewed as the most humane method yet developed of state-sanctioned execution. It is quick and relatively cheap. Few inmates would prefer to face an alternative, such as the gas chamber or the electric chair. The condemned inmate is widely believed to feel no pain. But such assumptions are increasingly coming under attack. ... A US district judge in California has scheduled a full evidentiary hearing next week in the case of convicted murderer Michael Morales to investigate the protocol used for lethal injection in that state. And lawyers in Tennessee are asking the US Supreme Court to take up the case of Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman. ... In addition, Wednesday the US Supreme Court takes up a Florida case that could make it easier for death-row inmates to launch last-minute challenges to the methods used to carry out executions by lethal injection." (04/26/06)

Strange - pain felt by a convicted criminal is considered reason to stop the killing, but pain felt by an innocent child in the womb is no reason to stop the killing?

Mama's Note: The pain of the victim that led to the death penalty doesn't seem to matter either. "Cruel and unusual punishment doesn't include ANY pain or discomfort. The question of whether or not the death penalty is right and moral at all is a separate question. In the meantime, of course they should be anaesthetized completely before the injection. I don't know why that's even remotely a problem. The other issue is trying to force doctors to participate in this process. That is obviously a matter of choice for doctors, and they shouldn't be forced to do anything.

World Wars
Around the world, we see a whole series of wars: sometimes it appears that it is the US versus everyone else, but that really isn't the case. The real war that is everywhere is the war against tyranny.

US Strategic Foothold in Central Asia at Risk
CNSNews.com
Nine months after an Asian bloc dominated by Russia and China moved to set a time limit on the U.S. Military presence in Central Asia, the last American airbase in the highly strategic region may be at risk. If agreement is not reached by June 1 on a demand for a substantial increase in rent, the U.S. presence at Kyrgyzstan's Manas airbase will be terminated, the country's president warned...

This may be nothing more than negotiation hype, as the rent gets jacked up, for these nations benefit significantly from the US presence to balance off both Russia and China in the latest phase of the "great game" of Central Asia plays out in the 21st Century.

Solomons: Parliament convenes under foreign occupiers' watch
ABC News
"The Solomon Islands parliament was sworn in on Monday under heavy security, as foreign peacekeepers arrested another opposition politician after violent protests against the election of Prime Minister Snyder Rini. Hundreds of foreign peacekeepers and police cordoned off the building for the swearing-in ceremony as a helicopter hovered overhead, amid fears of further violent protests against Rini. ... Solomons voters ousted half their parliament in a national election in early April, but it wasn't enough to unseat the government, with Rini being elevated to the top job and naming 11 members of the previous government in his 21-member cabinet. Political corruption was the major election issue. An Australian-led peacekeeping force which landed in the Solomons in 2003 to stop ethnic fighting has been reinforced following the latest unrest, bringing the number to almost 900." (04/24/06)

A reminder - the US isn't the only "policeman" wandering around the world. And a reminder that "tropical paradises" usually aren't.

Bin Laden accuses US of "war on Islam"
Las Vegas Review-Journal
"Osama bin Laden issued new threats in an audiotape broadcast on Arab television Sunday and accused the United States and Europe of supporting a 'Zionist' war on Islam by cutting off funds to the Hamas-led Palestinian government. He also urged followers to go to Sudan, his former base, to fight a proposed U.N. peacekeeping force. His words, the first new message by the al-Qaida leader in three months, seemed designed to justify potential attacks on civilians -- something al-Qaida has been criticized for even by its Arab supporters." (04/23/06)

First, the man appears relatively healthy and sane. Second, he is trying to ally al-Qaida with the more popular Palestinian cause (which Hamas does not seem to like). Third, he (as usual) ignores facts: the Darfur region is a bloody mess not because of the West but because Muslims are busy being Muslims and conducting a jihad against the remnants of Christians in the region - by murder and enslavement. Fourth, he seems to be working on his long-term plan of pushing this current wave of Islamic expansion to the utmost.

Report: US pact on Okinawa exit
CNN
"Japan and the United States agreed Monday on a plan to partially move U.S. Marines from the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam, with Tokyo shouldering US$6.1 billion of the cost, Kyodo News agency reported Monday. The deal was reached at talks in Washington between Japanese defense chief Fukushiro Nukaga and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Kyodo said." (04/23/06)

Many will hail this as a long overdue move, and it may calm the periodic upsets in US-JE relations, but it may also further distance the allies from each other, because they won't have to work together so much. It also complicates the key US-Taiwan and US-ROK alliances, but does give the US more central lanes for striking power anywhere in East Asia - including Japan, if that is ever again needed. From a libertarian view, like the gradual withdrawal from Europe, this is a step of disengagement from entangling alliances that is certainly concrete, but probably NOT significant - as it does not hale a change in attitude or philosophy, just practical accommodation.

Rebels attack security bases in Nepal
Cincinnati Enquirer
"Communist rebels attacked security bases and government buildings overnight in Nepal's mountainous north-central region, officials said Monday. Details were sketchy about the overnight attack at Chautara, about 75 miles northeast of Katmandu, but officials reached at neighboring districts confirmed the attack. The attackers knocked down the telecommunication tower around midnight cutting off all communications." (04/23/06)

Are we seeing a clash between two competing tyrannies (Communism and Monarchism) or just good propaganda on the part of the Communists while China once more begins an assault on the spine that keeps the Indian subcontinent from being submerged in the vast Hegemony? Perhaps the key question no one has yet asked is if India is likely to intervene, out of fear of just that?

Nepal: King restores government
Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Nepal's embattled king appeared to defuse weeks of mass protests that have pushed this Himalayan country near the brink of anarchy, reinstating the lower house of parliament Monday as his opponents had demanded. With few choices left and hoping to avoid a bloody showdown between demonstrators and his security forces, Gyanendra's announcement cleared the way for the creation of a new constitution that could leave him largely powerless or even eliminate the monarchy." (04/25/06)

Or at least that is how it is being sold, and the opponents are hoping for.

Sri Lanka: Eight killed in suicide blast
Adelaide Advertiser [Australia]
"A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber disguised as a pregnant woman blew herself up inside Sri Lanka's army headquarters today, critically wounding the army commander and killing at least eight. The blast came as peace envoys from Norway tried to coax the Tamil rebels to return to peace talks in Switzerland, seen as the best chance of halting a wave of attacks that are straining a 2002 ceasefire to breaking point." (04/25/06)

Sounds more like the Middle East every day. And it sounds like the ceasefire is well PAST the breaking point.

Friend: CIA officer not source on prisons
Indianapolis Star
"The CIA officer fired last week for unauthorized contacts with the media denies allegations that she provided information leading to The Washington Post's award-winning story on secret CIA detention centers, according to a friend speaking on her behalf. 'She was not the source for that story,' said Rand Beers, who has talked with his former colleague, Mary McCarthy, a veteran intelligence analyst. Beers headed intelligence programs at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration." (04/24/06)

This woman has a history that has to be studied to be believed, and she apparently is just as much politically motivated as anyone else in DC. I would believe her no more than I believe the administration on this subject.

Western pressure irks average Iranians
Christian Science Monitor
"Kaveh Ahmadi, a taxi driver and veteran of the 1980-88 war with Iraq, was quivering with indignation as he wove his aging Iranian-made Paykan at high speed through the heavy evening traffic of Iran's capital, Tehran. An ad on the side of the road read 'Nuclear energy is our indisputable right,' a slogan now seen frequently on television and at public events. 'I've got two Iraqi bullets in my leg,' he says. 'It was Western countries that supported [Saddam Hussein] when he used chemical weapons against us. Now they destroy Iraq and lecture us on human rights. America killed more than a hundred thousand people when it dropped atomic bombs on Japan, but they won't even let us have nuclear energy.'" (04/24/06)

Iranians seem to be about as mind-conditioned as Americans.

Now Saudi Arabia Wants Seat on UN Rights Body
CNSNews.com
Saudi Arabia has become the latest undemocratic state with a poor human rights record to seek a seat on the U.N.'s new Human Rights Council. With elections for the body just two weeks away, the number of controversial would-be members is slowly climbing, even as human rights campaigners step up efforts to ensure the best membership possible...

Once again showing what a farce, an absolute joke this organization and all its branches are. Islamistic views of "human rights" are rather like the butcher's view of "animal rights" - a way to keep the meat quiet until it is butchered.

Beijing Strengthens Ties With Africa
CNSNews.com
Chinese President Hu Jintao is visiting three countries in Africa this week. The trip highlights a key element in Beijing's foreign policy - building alliances with developing nations that offer both political and economic benefits...

I wonder if he'll get a better reception than he did in DC?

Russia Warns Europe It Could Divert Energy Supplies to Asia Instead
CNSNews.com
Russia begins construction of a major oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to the Pacific on Friday, a project that signals a shift toward Asia and away from Europe. President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Russia should look to the East for energy partnerships because Russian companies were facing discrimination and unfair competition elsewhere...

With gasoline already at nearly $11.00 a gallon in northern Europe, this should make the EU put pressure on the US to allow drilling in ANWR and elsewhere, and think about whether it is time to send the seismic prospecting trucks onto the grounds in Versailles.

Bulgaria: Nationalists protest US bases, Rice visit
Reuters
"Some 2,000 Bulgarian nationalists rallied in central Sofia on Thursday, protesting against planned U.S. Military bases in Bulgaria during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Protesters from the ultranationalist Attack party, a key opposition group which unexpectedly entered parliament in last year's elections, hoisted banners saying 'Condi, we don't want your bombs' and 'No to the U.S. bases in Bulgaria.' Rice, who arrived in Sofia on Thursday for a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers, is due to sign a deal with NATO newcomer Bulgaria to establish three military bases on the Balkan state's territory. Several dozen police with shields and helmets deployed as the protesters held up hundreds of Bulgarian flags, chanted 'USA out!' and demanded Sofia hold a referendum on the bases." ()4/27/06)

However much I regret this new set of bases in former Communist countries, it should be pointed out that 15 years ago and for a half-century before that, these people would not have been able to protest at all like this - and the presence of the US bases is probably going to be a factor in them keeping that freedom. However, that by itself is NOT a justification for these US bases and the continuing spread of a US military presence around the world.

Belarus: Opposition leader jailed
Reuters
"A court in ex-Soviet Belarus on Thursday sentenced main opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich to 15 days in prison for taking part in a big rally the previous day that police said was unlawful. Milinkevich has become a focus for opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko, who is accused in the West of crushing dissent in his tightly controlled state. Looking calm as the judge read out the sentence, the bearded Milinkevich denied he was guilty of any crime. ... Other leading opposition activists were also given short prison sentences in an apparent crackdown by authorities after about 7,000 demonstrators took part in a rally on Wednesday." (04/27/06)

Sadly, the freedom of Bulgarian protesters does not exist in nearby Belarus, where Uncle Joe is apparently still a role model.

EU lawmakers allege numerous CIA flights
Cincinnati Enquirer
"The CIA has conducted more than 1,000 clandestine flights in Europe since 2001, and some of them secretly took away terror suspects to countries where they could face torture, European Union lawmakers said Wednesday. Legislators selected to look into allegations of questionable CIA activities in Europe said flight data showed a pattern of hidden operations by American agents, and they accused some European governments of knowing about it but remaining silent." (04/26/06)

Anything coming out of the European Parliament is even more to be taken with large bags of salt than what comes out of the US Congress.

After 299 years, nothing's certain about the state of the Union
The Scotsman
FOR almost three centuries, Scotland and England have stuck together through thick and thin, but the form is changing, writes TOM DEVINE

Is Scotland finally ready to end its unequal and often abusive marriage with England? Sadly, if it does, it would seem to be ready to become even more statist and "liberal" than the rump of the Empire.

NATO Eyes Partnerships in the East
CNSNews.com
Prodded by the United States, NATO is actively seeking formal partnerships with countries in the Pacific Rim, a move reflecting changing priorities for the security alliance in the 21st century...

It seems as though NATO is becoming the thing that Roosevelt and Truman hoped that the UN would become, sixty years ago: a global "government" run by the "right" nations and keeping the rest in line, either as allies, aligned nations, or occupied protectorates. It isn't a new form of empire, though: Athens used its League in a similar way 2500 years ago.

UK Gov't May Stop Citizen-Initiated War Crimes Cases
CNSNews.com
The British government may bar private citizens from obtaining arrest warrants for alleged war criminals who visit the country...

It ain't about terrorism or homeland security, it's all about control. And removing one more right from Her Majesty's subjects is part of this control-enhancement business. Could I suggest that the "criminals" that need to have warrants obtained for might be front-benchers in the current government?