Libertarian Commentary on the News, 04 to 10 June, 2006 -- Page 2

Our Right to Defend Ourselves
I'll start out with some success stories, as usual, but not all the news is good on the RKBA front this week. The hoploclasts are still strong and getting stronger - despite recent successes, expect the fight to defend ourselves to get harder.

KY: 81-yr old defends himself
Courier-Journal
Three men were hospitalized - including a liquor store owner - after two men tried to rob him outside his store in the Shawnee neighborhood store late Tuesday afternoon, police said. The liquor store owner shot them after they pistol-whipped him, said Officer Dwight Mitchell, a Louisville Metro Police spokesman.

What kind of scum pistol-whip an 81-year-old man? They are in jail, after being released from hospital, but they will sadly live to steal again, no doubt.

Mama's Note: Sounds like the old man needs to train with his weapon, and/or hire a younger and better trained person to mind the store. Gun ownership does NOT equal effective self-defense!

AR: Intruder killed
Jonesboro Sun
"Police are investigating the fatal shooting of an intruder whom witnesses said kicked in a door and apparently confronted the resident inside. ... Sgt. Stephen McDaniel of the Jonesboro Police Department said the call came in at 9:31 p.m. as a 'break-in with shots fired.' He said when officers arrived they found the resident and a 45-year-old white male lying dead inside the home. ... Sources at the scene said the alleged intruder kicked in the door of the home and was shot by Gulley with a handgun. " (06/02/06)

Oh, I suppose that Gulley dragged this guy into his house, tearing down his own door, so he could shoot him? "Alleged" intruder? Please.

AK: Homeowner shoots bear inside house
Anchorage Daily News
"A large black bear broke into an Anchorage home early this morning, rummaged around like a burglar and feasted on a box of chocolates before the homeowner shot him dead with a Glock. ... They were asleep in their bedroom with their Rottweiller, Baby, when the dog started barking wildly, he said. The bedroom door was closed. Outside, the couple could hear things being knocked over. ... 'He opens the (bedroom) door and he's face to face with this big black bear,' he said. 'He slammed the door right away.' Knowlton said his son hollered at the bear to go away and it ran downstairs. The man grabbed a .40-caliber Glock automatic handgun from another bedroom and looked around. ... the bear started back up the stairs toward his son. He shot the animal multiple times and it went back downstairs." (06/02/06)

Excuse me, but shouldn't this say that the bear "allegedly" broke into the house? After all, animals have rights too. And where is PETA? That is another self-appointed watchdog organization protecting us from evil people "defending" themselves against poor innocent (and hungry) animals, right?

More mayors join gun grab conspiracy
Boston Globe
"Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said Sunday that 37 more mayors have signed on to fight illegal guns, joining the 15 who convened in New York in April for the first Mayors Summit on Illegal Guns. At the April 25 summit, the mayors signed a six-point resolution to combat gun violence and said they hoped to put pressure on the federal government and state legislatures to strengthen anti-gun laws. ... New additions to the coalition include Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta, Mayor Martin O'Malley of Baltimore, Mayor Bill White of Houston and Mayor Manuel Diaz of Miami." (06/04/06)

I wish I had time to plot these cities against the 2004 election map: I suspect the pattern would match.

Mama's Note: All these people were "elected," were they not? Just why do we give some people such power over us in the first place?

New Zealand: Slain worker's colleague wants staff armed
Stuff [New Zealand]
"An employee at the Auckland dairy where a worker was shot and killed last year says his colleagues should be allowed to arm themselves in self defense. The call comes a day after a Hamilton dairy owner called for retailers to be allowed guns behind the counter amid growing concerns about robberies in that city. The Auckland dairy employee, who did not wish to be named, said he had been assaulted three times during convenience store robberies in the past five years. He said assaults were increasing and staff were defenseless to protect themselves unless they were armed." (06/04/06)

Even in NZ, it is brave of this man to even say this - but it won't stop the next killer, unless there is more than just talk.

New Orleans: Chief threatens to steal more guns
WWLTV News
"Gun rights activists were up in arms Friday after New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley said he would confiscate weapons should disaster strike. The chief's comments came after a federal lawsuit forced the city to return hundreds of firearms that were seized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In an interview with WWL Radio, Riley said his officers would seize guns from people on the streets if another storm was to hit New Orleans. 'During a circumstance like that, we cannot allow people to walk the street carrying guns . as law enforcement officers we will confiscate the weapon if a person is walking down the street and they may be arrested,' Riley said. ... 'It's shocking, there's nothing about a police chief's opinion that gives them a super sized authority to throw the constitution out the window,' said NRA Executive Vice-president Wayne Lapierre. ... During Katrina, state law gave the chief the authority to take guns during an emergency. Since then lawmakers have rewritten the law, making it a crime, one they said the chief was threatening to commit." (06/05/06)

Hey, if Denver can get away with it, and in essence, NOLA got away with it last year, why not again? How many dead people is it going to take to make them understand what "right" means? And how many disasters where people who are willing to defend themselves and others against criminals, in mufti OR blue, is it going to take to get cities like this to understand just what

Mama's Note: Too bad the fine old art of tar and feathers has gone out of style... Of course we'd need a mountain of each in every state, but there are surely creative alternatives if we just put our mind to it.

FL: Prowlers flee homeowner's bullets
Miami Herald
"A homeowner in Southwest Ranches said he was frightened by two prowlers when he fired the first shot at them through a garage window. About 2:45 a.m., a live-in housekeeper at a home in the 13400 block of Old Sheridan Street heard noises and saw the men in the garage area possibly trying to break into the garage or a 1995 Ferrari F512. She alerted the homeowner. While his wife was on the phone with Broward sheriff's deputies, he got his Walther P99 semiautomatic pistol and entered the garage through an interior door. Deputies dispatched on the call heard from the dispatcher that shots had been fired. They found seven spent shell casings on the front driveway, one inside the garage and a bullet hole in the garage window. The homeowner said he fired seven shots at the men before they jumped a fence into a neighbor's yard." (06/04/06)

Seven shots and not one hit? Yeah, he drove them off, finally, but I don't think the Walther has more than a seven-shot magazine. Did he have another magazine ready? Does he need training? Guns are not magic wands, folks.

UK: "Arms shops not to blame for violence"
Dorset Echo [UK]
"'Support Law and Order: Buy a Gun.' That is the message on the counter of a Bournemouth shop displaying a frightening-looking array of weaponry in its window. ... '[Former serviceman Gillie Howe] believes that the clampdown on handgun ownership in the wake of the Hungerford and Dunblane incidents did nothing to stem the flow of illegal firearms circulating in the UK although it did interfere with the activities of the law-abiding gun enthusiasts who make up most of his customers. 'We have probably the most stringent gun laws in the world. Unfortunately it's done no good. Everyone handed in their pistols and the government said it had all the guns off the street. From that day on, there have been more shootings than ever before,' said Mr. Howe." (06/05/06)

Truth spoken well. Whitehall, are you listening?

CO: Court upholds Denver gun ban
Rocky Mountain News
"A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Monday upheld Denver's controversial ban on assault weapons, despite arguments that state weapons laws should trump city ordinances. The tie vote means that a lower court ruling upholding Denver's law stands, but the high court gave no clear opinion on what the law of the state should be." (06/06/06)

This is a criminal act in and of itself. Denver has claimed for years that it can ignore the State and Federal Bill of Rights, and these goons in black robes apparently agree with them through lack of action? Impeachment is probably the next step.

SAF files complaint against New Orleans chief
Second Amendment Foundation
"The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is calling upon U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley over his announcement last week that police in his city would once again confiscate privately-owned firearms in the event of another catastrophic storm like Hurricane Katrina. ... 'Last summer, SAF was joined by the National Rifle Association in a federal lawsuit against post-Hurricane Katrina gun seizures. ... We believe Riley's decision is a flagrant disregard of the federal court action, Louisiana state law and both the Louisiana and federal constitutional protections of the right to keep and bear arms,' Gottlieb said in his letter to Gonzales." (06/06/06)

Go for it, SAF.

NC: Man killed after trying to force way into homes
Winston Salem Journal
"A man who tried to force his way into two houses on Friedland Church Road was shot dead this morning, a spokesman for the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said today. ... Sheriff's Capt. Brad Stanley said a man tried to force his way into the front door of 2804 Friedland Church Road, where a woman who may have been his former girlfriend lives. The man shot off the locks of the front door with a shotgun and entered the house, he said. ... The woman ran to a house next door at 2808 Friedland Church Road, where a married couple lives, Stanley said. The man followed her and shot off the lock of a side door of the neighbor's house. A man inside the second house killed the attacker with a shotgun, Stanley said. Authorities have yet to say whether the shooting was in self-defense." [FND Editor's note: If the events are as described, it was self-defense whether the authorities "say" so or not - TLK] (06/06/06)

Can't add much to Tom's comment, except to point out that as is so often the case, the "authorities" are exhibiting their stupidity for all to see.

PA: 77-year-old fends off teen robbers
ABC 6 News
"Police report a 77-year-old man and one of the teens that tried to rob him are both recovering from gunshot wounds this morning. Officers tell Action News that the man was approached by 2 teens in the area of Righter Street and Dawson Street in Manayunk around 12:30 a.m. When two juvenile suspects tried to rob the man at gunpoint, their intended target pulled out his own gun and shot one of the teens in the hand. The 77-year-old victim was also shot [sic] hand. The teen that is in custody will be charged with robbery and other charges. Police say no charges have been filed against the elderly victim." (06/06/06)

A good outcome, if not perfect.

WA: Jurors find soldier not guilty in fight
Olympian
"A Thurston County Superior Court jury ruled Friday that Young acted in self-defense when he wielded a gun to ward off a group of people who accosted him and his girlfriend on Aug. 20, outside of O'Blarney's pub on Martin Way. In cases where a defendant claims self-defense and is acquitted, the jury is allowed to determine whether the defendant is entitled to legal costs. It happens rarely, and several South Sound lawyers and judges recall it happening once or twice in their careers. Not only is he getting his legal bill covered, he also no longer has a potential prison sentence hanging over him, or the prospect of not being allowed to serve with his Army Stryker unit, which is soon heading to Iraq." (06/06/06)

Another success story, and unfortunately, probably one that did need to be decided by a jury. But it should not have taken almost a year to decide, and it should have been a coroner's jury, not a full-fledged trial.

Politicians Push Antigun Trafficking Bill, Bash New Law
CNS News.ocom
On Capitol Hill Tuesday, a news conference promoting the Antigun Trafficking Act of 2006 quickly switched to an attack on a recently enacted law that protects the gun industry from lawsuits stemming from the criminal misuse of guns...

They really don't give up, remember. The hoploclasts will try and try again. We have to outlast them.

Canada: Gun thugs offer "amnesty"
Powell River Peak
"The amnesty gives Powell River residents who have unwanted, unregistered or illegal firearms, which have not been used in a criminal offence, the opportunity to turn them into their local police force without being charged. Powell River RCMP Constable Carl McIntosh said if people have guns they want to turn in, police will go to their homes to pick them up. 'During the amnesty period, police will not be charging anyone,' he said. 'We're encouraging people who have unregistered firearms to let us know. They can do the same thing with ammunition.' Solicitor General John Les described the amnesty as another tool in the fight against gun violence. 'Removing guns from circulation will enhance public safety and reduce the risk of these weapons falling into the hands of criminals,' he said. Police would like all unregistered guns to be turned in, even imitation and pellet weapons. Other dangerous weapons such as registered firearms, pepper spray and knives will also be accepted under the amnesty." (06/07/06)

I hope and pray that they get very, very few turned in.

Mama's Note: Your government: always creating more victims. Isn't it wonderful how they work so hard to "protect" us? Soon these people will not even be allowed to protect themselves with their fingernails - they'll have mandated fingernail cutting sessions on a regular basis, so only the criminals will be armed with ANYTHING. Disgusting. ...and only the total fools will actually "turn in" their defense weapons. I have friends in Canada who continue to insist their country is still free... What a shame.

AZ: Court rebuffs appeal in hiker shooting case
KVOA News
"A state court today turned away an appeal asking that a new state law on self-defense be applied retroactively to the second-degree murder trial of a retired Phoenix-area school teacher in a 2004 fatal shooting on a hiking trail in remote southeastern Coconino County. The state Court of Appeals today declined to consider the appeal filed on behalf of Harold Arthur Fish in the May 2004 shooting death of Grant Kuenzli. Fish has said he shot Kuenzli when Kuenzli charged him and ignored warnings to stop after Fish fired a warning shot to keep two dogs away. The new self-defense law passed by the Legislature this spring took effect immediately with Governor Napolitano's signature. The law shifts the burden of proof from a person claiming self-defense to the prosecution and also elevates the level of proof needed." (06/08/06)

I do feel much sympathy for this guy, but I fear his attorney was pursuing a foregone case. It would seem there would be better grounds for appealing this case, or for at least asking for clemency. The jury does seem to have found wrongly, and ignored an inherent right to self-defense that the law only restated.

NY: Court says insurer must pay for wrongful death defense
NewsDay
"An insurance company is being ordered to pay for the legal defense of a man who shot a business associate in self defense, but was then sued by the dead man's estate, the state's highest court ruled Thursday. ... During his trial, Cook testified that Barber, who weighed more than 360 pounds, barged into his home uninvited with two other men, began slamming his fists on tables and demanded money. Cook, who weighed 120 pounds, pulled out a .25-caliber handgun and ordered the men to leave. Barber laughed at the small size of the pistol, prompting Cook to run to his bedroom and retrieve his 12-gauge shotgun. When Barber moved toward Cook and ignored a warning, Cook shot him in the stomach. Cook was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges, but the administrator of Barber's estate filed a wrongful death suit against Cook, accusing him of negligence and with intentionally killing Barber. Cook said he only fired to protect himself." (06/08/06) ]

This is the other side of the coin of the legal system that people cheered about when OJ Simpson was tried: Cook saved his life, but now his attacker's family is making sure that it is ruined anyway.

Stupid Government Tricks
Got some "sexy" ones to start with today. Remember, YOU pay for these people to do all these stupid things. Aren't you proud and pleased?

CA: SF Housing Authority director facing jail
San Francisco Chronicle
"The San Francisco Housing Authority owes $15 million in legal judgments stemming from several lawsuits, and now its director could go to jail for contempt of court because of the agency's failure to pay. Gregg Fortner has been ordered to appear before San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith on June 16. 'Hopefully, he won't put me in jail that day,' Fortner said. The contempt charges were issued May 31 and stem from a 1999 lawsuit filed by housing authority employee Deborah Drummer, who said she was sexually harassed by a supervisor. A judge awarded her $75,000 in damages in 2000, but the housing authority never paid her. With interest, it now owes Drummer $500,000." (06/06/06)

Wow. This guy probably wasn't even the head of the agency in 2000 or when the rest of these took place, but he will (properly) be punished for it - he IS the boss and he should have taken care of this a long time ago. This isn't the only bizarre sex-oriented government problem in California, as the next story relates.

CA: Coroner's sexual antics include "mooning"
San Francisco Chronicle
"A report that alleges sexual harassment at the San Mateo County Coroner's Office -- including an accusation that Coroner Robert Foucrault 'mooned' two employees -- prompted county supervisors Wednesday to announce they will hire a retired judge to investigate. The board is retaining retired Justice Zerne Haning, who served on the state Court of Appeal in San Francisco, to provide an 'independent assessment of the allegations,' said Michael Murphy, chief deputy county counsel. ... A recently released report by the county's Employee and Public Services Department found that coroner staff 'engaged in a pattern of sexual behaviors dating back to at least 2000,' and 'upper management has participated in, initiated and allowed behaviors in violation of county policy.'" (06/08/06)

It would seem that this should be handled by the real court system, and I wonder just what sort of cover-up is being attempted.

CIA papers: US failed to pursue Nazi
CNN
"The United States was told the location and approximate alias of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann more than two years before his capture but did nothing to pursue him, according to CIA documents released Tuesday. The release of the latest set of intelligence records is part of an ongoing effort to declassify documents as part of the Nazi War Criminals Disclosure Act of 1998. Eichmann, mastermind of the 'final solution' to exterminate Jews, was captured by Israel and executed in 1962." (06/06/06)

It still goes on, as the next story reports. We (the US) claim to be moral, but we play dirty politics at home and abroad.

US Knew About Arafat's Key Role in Diplomats' Murders
CNS News.com
The U.S. government was aware from the outset of Yasser Arafat's hand in the 1973 murder of two American diplomats in Sudan, according to a formerly secret document released Monday by the State Department. "The Khartoum operation was planned and carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasser Arafat," said an official U.S. intelligence memorandum dated June 1973...

So why didn't we sanction Arafat? Especially if the Israelis control our foreign policy so completely as many people claim? In part because it is in our elite's interest to keep things just below the boiling point in the Holy Land.

Active GIs' data among those stolen
Arizona Republic
"Personal data on up to 50,000 active Navy and National Guard personnel were among those stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee last month, the government said Saturday in a disclosure that goes beyond what VA initially reported. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said his agency discovered after an internal investigation that the names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth of up to 20,000 National Guard and Reserve personnel who were on at least their second active-duty call-up were 'potentially included.' In addition, the same information on up to 30,000 active-duty Navy personnel who completed their first enlistment term prior to 1991 also were believed to be stored on the laptop and disks stolen from a VA data analyst on May 3. The VA has previously said the stolen data involved up to 26.5 million veterans discharged since 1975, as well as some of their spouses; veterans discharged before 1975 also were deemed at risk if they submitted claims to the agency." (06/04/06)

As later news stories have reported, it seems that virtually everyone of us that have served in the last 40 years are on this list. Wherever it is.

Survey: Men and marriage are a match made in heaven
Boston Herald
"It just got harder for women to blame 'commitment phobia' for their boyfriends' unwillingness to walk down the aisle. A new study found that men are more likely than women to want to get married -- and are just as keen to start a family. 'The world is a tough place and the men understand that if they're going it alone, it makes for a great cowboy movie, but it doesn't make for a great life,' said Dr. Richard Pomerance, a Bay State psychologist specializing in relationship decisions. More than 12,000 men and women took part in a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The interviews were done in person and participants were asked a host of questions on marriage, sex, parenthood and cohabiting. ... Men and women were asked to respond to this statement: 'It is better to get married than go through life single.' Sixty-six percent of men agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, compared with only 51 percent of women." (06/05/06)

Can anyone explain why the government should bother to do this? I suppose if it actually resulted in changing government policy, it MIGHT make sense to waste this money and time. But we all know it won't make a single bit of difference as the government seeks to destroy all other institutions that once made up our society.

MA: State owes $86.6m to the US, audit says
Boston Globe
"State Medicaid officials repeatedly violated federal laws and regulations and must return $86.6 million to the US government, a new federal audit has found. The audit, by the inspector general for the US Department of Health and Human Services, found that from 2001 to the first quarter of 2004, state Medicaid officials overcharged the federal government for services provided by the state Department of Social Services. The audit found that the violations did not involve willful misconduct, but resulted instead from lax oversight. In all of the reported violations, state Medicaid officials billed the federal government for care that was not directly related to arranging medical services. The audit documented hundreds of thousands of instances of those improper claims over the period studied, times when the state overcharged Medicaid by amounts ranging from $209 to $295. State Medicaid officials labeled the audit 'seriously flawed and erroneous' and said they would contest the findings in a reply to the federal government that they plan to submit at the end of the month." (06/05/06)

Gee, how much would have to be given back by every government in the country, from the Feds on down, if they had to make amends for repeatedly violating the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Constitution?

Mama's Note: A lot of people like to take this kind of story and scream about "fraud," but they've never seen or tried to live with the bizarre tangle of contradictory rules, regulations and forms that make up the "medicaid" world. It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to bill correctly, no matter how hard you work at it. It comes down to some bureaucrat's interpretation in the end, and there is no way to predict that! The time is soon coming when good medical professionals will simply not accept either Medicare of Medicaid as payment at all. The won't be able to afford the risk.

Medical privacy law "essentially meaningless"
Washington Post
"In the three years since Americans gained federal protection for their private medical information, the Bush administration has received thousands of complaints alleging violations but has not imposed a single civil fine and has prosecuted just two criminal cases. Of the 19,420 grievances lodged so far ... The government has 'closed' more than 73 percent of the cases -- more than 14,000 -- either ruling that there was no violation, or allowing health plans, hospitals, doctors' offices or other entities simply to promise to fix whatever they had done wrong, escaping any penalty. ... 'The law was put in place to give people some confidence that when they talk to their doctor or file a claim with their insurance company, that information isn't going to be used against them,' said Janlori Goldman, a health-care privacy expert at Columbia University. 'They have done almost nothing to enforce the law or make sure people are taking it seriously. I think we're dangerously close to having a law that is essentially meaningless.'" (06/05/06)

Sad as this is, this is typical for any new government regulatory program, no matter how much sense it makes. And believe me, HIPAA doesn't make much sense. Of course, "meaningless" describes about 95% of the laws and regulations on the books, except for those who want power over others and wealth beyond anything else.

Mama's Note: Well, do tell! I'm sure all of us knew it was meaningless from the first moment we were exposed to it. All those very expensive, mandated "in-services" so we'd know all about it... What a waste.

Australia: The naked and the dead
Reuters
"There's a time and place for everything, local Australian governments have ruled as they move to stop brothels opening near cemeteries. Local governments in the northern state of Queensland have called on state authorities to establish an exclusion zone banning brothels opening within 200 metres (220 yards) of cemeteries. It follows a decision by a council in Ipswich, just outside the Queensland capital Brisbane, to reject a proposal for a brothel to be built across the road from the local cemetery. Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Tuesday that cemeteries were places for quiet reflection by families who should not have to put up with 'a brothel going on next door.' 'It's totally inappropriate. There's a place for brothels and a place for cemeteries and we don't believe the two mix,' he said." (06/06/06)

Soundproofing, anyone? Apparently a foreign concept to Ipswich.

Mama's Note: Stop me if I've missed something, but it would seem the peak activity time of a cemetery and of a brothel are separated by at least 6 or 8 hours. The sounds from the brothel at night would hardly disturb those remaining in the cemetery then. Anybody hear of time sharing?

Congressional Boondoggles Said to Total $50 Million
CNS News.com
Despite calling for a ban on privately funded congressional travel, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) And members of his staff have accepted more travel from special interests than any other congressional office, according to the Center for Public Integrity and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University...

Of course, $50 M is a drop in the bucket to the total of all the money that Congress wastes and sucks out of our economy, just directly.

Free Scottish Water from state to avoid surge in bills, ministers told
The Scotsman
SCOTTISH Water should be freed from state ownership and converted into a mutual company or cooperative, the utility's powerful regulator has urged. Working with Alan Sutherland, the Commission's chief executive, Sir Ian has set out a detailed blueprint for turning Scottish Water into a not-for-profit mutual company, similar to Welsh Water, or possibly a cooperative

Wow! The REGULATOR said this. Government, he says, can't be counted on, and has been bad for water supply and for consumers. I hope we see bumper stickers soon on Scottish roads: "Free Scottish Water Now." The unions, of course, and the local authorities, are NOT happy with Sir Ian. Imagine!

House passes telecom bill, but no "net neutrality"
San Francisco Chronicle
"The House passed the most extensive telecommunications legislation in a decade Thursday, opening the cable TV market to more competition but rejecting efforts to prevent telephone and cable companies from creating toll lanes on the Internet. The bill, passed by a lopsided 321-101 vote, would give telephone companies a national license to deliver television through their wires to compete with the cable industry. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who heads the telecommunications subcommittee, estimated that people could save $30 to $40 each month if given a choice in video services. The vote came shortly after the House rejected by a 269-152 tally an amendment by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., that would have given the Federal Communications Commission broad powers to regulate network neutrality, the principle that all Internet traffic should be delivered on a first-come, first-served basis." (06/09/06)

To me, this is a very confusing issue. On the one hand, we have the people preaching about evil corporations dominating the Internet and not letting us send and get things from it - but some of those preaching are those very corporations (like Amazon, Google, and Yahoo). On the other hand we have people warning that attempts to enforce "neutrality" will lead inexorably to more and more government regulation and to the kind of rules that make electrical power "deregulation" and airline "deregulation" such nightmares.

I think that the proponents of "net neutrality" are crying wolf a little too loudly, though, and in my confusion, think of these words from a wise lady: "The net is currently a good example of free association and voluntary cooperation. No matter WHAT the government does, it will tend to screw that up. From what I've read elsewhere, however, there are plenty of people who are dedicated to keeping the free association and voluntary cooperation going, even if it means setting up a whole new net or inventing all new technology that government can't dominate. Necessity is the mother of invention, and I suspect that's exactly what will happen. It will always be in a state of flux, however. The only thing that doesn't change is that everything changes..." (Mama Liberty)

GOP leaders agree on funds for Iraq, Katrina
MSNBC
"House and Senate Republican leaders Thursday finalized agreement on a long-sought $94.5 billion bill to pay for the war in Iraq and deliver a much-needed infusion of relief to Louisiana and other hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast states. The bill won't clear Congress for President Bush's desk until next week, but the official submission of the deal eases Pentagon worries of a money crunch caused by weeks of delays in creating a compromise bill." (06/08/06)

The big news, buried far down in this and many other articles, was that $15 billion of the pork originally squeezed into this sausage skin was finally left out, thanks to efforts of Tom Coburn (who might, just might, grow up to be a Ron Paul one of these days). Still, the rest of this money is very much a big helping of pork sausage, anyway.

TN: Court weighs notice component on anti-marriage amendment
Nashville City Paper
"Arguments before the Tennessee Supreme Court on a fall referendum for a constitutional ban of gay marriage in the state may boil down to the definition of what constitutes a public notice in Tennessee. The Tennessee Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday regarding whether or not a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage would be on November's ballot. The Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union contended that the Marriage Protection Amendment is unconstitutional, citing a state constitutional requirement requiring potential amendments be passed by the General Assembly and published six months prior to the election of the next General Assembly. The five-justice high court agreed to hear the case after the ACLU lost to the state in Davidson County Chancery Court." (06/08/06)

Normally I wouldn't include this, but the story points out a growing problem across the nation - a series of legal hoops and requirements that resemble a child's game that people who want to change their state's constitution or even initiate a law or challenge one with a referendum have to go through. I am used to South Dakota's rather straightforward system of petitions and elections, but found out that Colorado has made such things extremely difficult in recent years: for example, you cannot sign a copy of the petition "section" that you circulate; you cannot copy the "section" (which has a serial number assigned by the state, apparently), and you must collect an astonishing number of signatures in a very short time: all actions intended to make it difficult to initiate or refer a law, and to initiate a constitutional amendment.

Mama's Note: If people insist on binding themselves to government, it would seem only sane that "laws" should be extremely difficult to institute, and very easy to abolish - with nothing in between. The idea of piggybacking endless crap and pork onto unrelated bills is a big part of how all this got so insane to start with. A simple majority of the people in any jurisdiction ought to be able to abolish a "law" at any time. How many of these referendums and petitions are currently presented to eliminate a law or tax? Very few. Most want more government and more taxpayer money.

Stupid People Tricks
Since governments are made up of people, it's no surprise that the stupid tricks seem to be very similar. My patience is growing shorter, like my hair, as I grow older.

Man caught trying to jump White House fence
Fox News
"The Secret Service apprehended a man who was trying to jump the fence on the south side of the White House Sunday. Secret Service spokesman Tom Mazur identified the man as Roger Witmer, 44, of Washington, who faces charges of unlawful entry and disorderly conduct. Mazur said members of the uniformed division captured Witmer before he got over the fence. But he threw over plastic bags, and officials shut down traffic on the south side of the White House so they could be examined for explosives. None was found. President George W. Bush was out on bike ride in suburban Beltsville, Maryland, when Witmer was taken into custody. The Secret Service was examining the package when Bush returned, so his motorcade came detoured to an alternate entrance on the north side." (06/04/06)

Witmer is clearly a nutcase, but the SS isn't much better. Pavlovian response - someone throws something, it must be a bomb?

In "docu-ganda" films, balance is not the objective
Christian Science Monitor
"In An Inconvenient Truth, now playing in theaters, former Vice President Al Gore asserts that global warming may soon eliminate one of the world's great natural vistas: the snows of Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro. In the forthcoming film Who Killed the Electric Car? celebrities such as Mel Gibson and Ed Begley Jr. lament the 'murder' of General Motor's EV1 electric car and the loss of California's 'most radical smog-fighting mandate since the catalytic converter.' These two follow in the footsteps of other recent movies in the same nonfiction genre: last year's Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Sir! No Sir! (about the G.I. antiwar movement during Vietnam), Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and 2003's Super Size Me (about obesity and fast food). All deliver on the promise to tell an 'untold' story, but is theirs the full story? Or even the true story?" [editor's note: Hell, no! And blame Michael "never met a fact I didn't distort" Moore for most of it. Will any of these idiots ever figure out that when you have a solid story, and a target clearly defined, you don't HAVE to mess with the truth -- just shoot the footage and edit to the proper length? Fred Wiseman, despite a very clear agenda in all his work, always knows where the line was, and his work continues to show it! - SAT] (06/03/06)

Frankly it takes a publication with the track record and brains of the CSM to recognize that 99.9% of all "documentaries" are nothing but various forms of propaganda for whoever bankrolled them? It is just that Moore and his ilk have so deluded themselves that they don't bother to conceal it very well anymore. For that matter, it isn't limited to "documentaries" - the same thing can be seen in the standard Hollywood fare clear back to WW2 and before.

UK: Cake banned
Ananova [UK]
"A pensioner was not allowed to give her friend a homemade birthday cake because it broke a centre's health and safety rules. Elaine Richards made the cake for her friend's 96th birthday party at their local Age Concern day centre. But when she arrived she was told the cake broke hygiene regulations and the OAP's were only allowed to eat cakes bought from shops. According to The Sun Elaine, of Braunton, Devon, said: 'It's nonsensical. I couldn't believe it. I have a family of four who will vouch for my cooking. The worst anyone has had is indigestion! My cakes are healthy. The rules are completely daft.'" (06/02/06)

OAP are "old-age pensioners," by the way. And Elaine is right, but it's been that way for years, as any fan of "Waiting for God" - a hilarious BBC comedy set in an old-age home - can tell you. These homes aren't just refuges for the elderly - they are also favored refuges for petty-Castros and junior-Saddams: the Harveys and Janes of the TV series.

Stocks plunge on inflation fears
Buffalo News
"Inflation fears sent stocks plunging Monday as jitters over high oil prices exacerbated signals that the Federal Reserve will keep lifting interest rates to contain price increases. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told an international monetary conference that while rising energy costs have helped slow the pace of economic growth, core inflation -- excluding energy and food -- was near the central bank's tolerance level and could warrant further rate tightening. The news stunned investors who had grown hopeful that the Fed was almost done raising rates after recent data showed signs that the economy was beginning to cool off." (06/06/06)

Another example of people responding in panicked lack of understanding to government intervention that shouldn't have even taken place.

Theft by Government
We're following up today on some old, familiar stories. The theft doesn't seem to be getting any better, folks.

CT: New London land thieves proceed
San Antonio Express-News
"City officials voted Monday night to evict residents who refused to leave their riverfront homes, signaling that the end may be near in an eminent domain dispute that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The City Council approved the action 5-2. The city attorney will now go to court to seek removal of the remaining two families and obtain the properties in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, a process that could take three months. A lawyer for the families said they are considering continuing their battle." (06/05/06)

All the efforts nationwide have done nothing to help these people. Perhaps it is time to make it a real battle, not just a legal one.

Mama's Note: One of the real shocks I've had since moving to Wyoming is learning about the way the state can basically give away use of your private property any time it pleases if some corporation finds valuable minerals under your land! It is happening all over the state, especially now that energy sources are suddenly more valuable than ever, and there is simply no recourse and very little - if any - compensation to the land owner! This mostly affects farm and ranch land, but it can happen to anyone.

Zimbabwe: Army takes over black farms
Yahoo! News
"The soldiers rolled past Lot Dube's land, and set up camp nearby. They stopped just long enough to give him a blunt message: Your fields are ours. 'They told us, 'We are taking away your fields from you,'' says Mr. Dube, who farms a 10-acre plot south of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second biggest city. The soldiers, who arrived last November, proceeded to plow under his tomatoes, onions, and sweet potatoes. Since 1982, these were the crops Dube had grown to pay for his children's food and school fees. Now, for the good of the nation, he was ordered to plant maize. The Mugabe regime is looking for ways to ease a food and economic crisis so severe that inflation is running at more than 1,000 percent. But as pressure builds on the president to step down, Robert Mugabe is instead strengthening his grip. He has ordered Zimbabwe's military to fan out across several rural areas to ensure that the government's grain silos are full." (06/05/06)

All those apologists for the po' black government redressing the evils of apartheid have just gotten a black eye, haven't they? Tyranny uses race and color as an excuse, but is really colorblind: equal-opportunity tyrants and thugs are the vast majority of such people.

Medical and Technical Items
Several stories of interest this week. I'm also asking readers for anything they care to share about backyard bio-diesel production. If you know anything (or know someone who does) please let me know!

Mama's Note: I have a dog that puts out incredible amounts of methane, but I've never figured out a way to bottle it... sure wish I could!

Troops risk undetected brain injury
USA Today
"Thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may be risking permanent brain damage by returning to combat with relatively minor but undiagnosed concussions, often caused by bomb blasts, military researchers say. Doctors say they are only now understanding the scope of the problem. Researchers screening returning soldiers and Marines at four military bases found that about 10% suffered at least a minor brain injury during combat. About 20% of troops in front-line infantry units suffered such injuries." (06/06/06)

This is one of those areas in which research is finally catching up with conditions. If this is happening now, then you can be sure that it happened in WW1 trenches, in WW2 beach assaults, and in Korean rice paddies and RVN jungles. Clearly, most people recovered from it over the years, but now we might be able to treat it. I fail to understand exactly how permanent brain damage can be avoided by NOT returning to combat, though, if the damage has already been done. As the victim of a few concussions myself, I know that it takes a while to heal, and some are worse than others, but the kind of work and stress I did afterwards seemed to make little difference in how I healed or how quickly I healed from this type of injury: in fact, work and stress might have even speeded up the process or at least reduced my awareness of the injury - like being able to ignore the itch of a healing wound when working and active but not when trying to go asleep. (And no, I had these strange libertarian tendencies and inability to spell well long before I received any head injuries thank you.)

Mama's Note: The greatest danger to brain cells and cognitive process is inactivity and lack of challenge. Those who consistently poison their systems with toxic chemicals do just as much damage, and the combination is deadly. Keep your mind active and find challenging work or play every day. Eat right and drink plenty of water. You will have a long and productive life only if you provide your body and mind with what it needs to remain healthy and agile.

New Airships Nearing Reality
Athens News
"The prototype is called the High Altitude Airship, or HAA. Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors in Akron won the $40 million contract from the Missile Defense Agency to build HAA in 2003. It is essentially another blimp. A giant one. Seventeen times the size of the Goodyear dirigible. It's designed to float 12 miles above the earth, far above planes and weather systems. It will be powered by solar energy, and will stay in a geocentric orbit for up to a year, undetectable by ground-based radar. You can't see it from the ground. But it can see you. 'The possibilities are endless for homeland security,' says Kate Dunlap, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson. 'It could house cameras, and other surveillance equipment. It would be an eye in the sky.'" (06/05/06)

My libertarian friends immediately (like the LM spokesman) saw this in terms of "Big Brother" but the homeland security uses are minor compared to the benefits this will offer for all of us: real-time photo coverage of entire urban areas for traffic reports and news (ground AND air), observation of spills and releases of hazardous chemicals, improved cellphone coverage, improved television broadcast coverage (well, maybe not a total blessing), better FM signal reception, WIFI potential, less need for ground-based microwave relay, etc. I see one of these floating over the top of Harney Peak providing better communications and real-time wildlife detection than ever before, or one over the Four Corners for the same thing, and monitoring of approaching gust fronts with their dust and lightning strikes, at a fraction of the cost and many times the availability and resolution of geosynchronous satellites. Forget Big Brother, think Big WeatherCam, Big Videophones, and fewer homes and timber burned.

Mama's Note: Maybe... if it was being built and operated by private industry, it could certainly do all that and more perhaps. And, if it would, why isn't private enterprise straining at the traces to create it? The mere fact that it is being proposed and built by government means that it will cost far more and produce far less than it should. It will also be used to track us and control our lives eventually, trust me.

World Wars
Even though this is usually at the end of the column, it is NOT a general "miscellaneous" section, but deals with the various conflicts that are going on around the world that aren't either our "Home Front" or part of the "Middle East Tarbabies." However, many of these things are related to problems at home here in the US or going on in the Dar Al'Islam, so you will see some familiar things.

Canada police use sting in terror arrests
New Braunfels (TX) Herald-Zeitung
"The Royal Canadian Mounted Police itself delivered three tons of potential bomb-making material to a group that authorities said wanted to launch a string of attacks inspired by al-Qaida, according to a news report Sunday. The Toronto Star said the sting unfolded when investigators delivered the ammonium nitrate to the group of Muslim Canadians, then moved in quickly on what officials called a homegrown terror ring." (06/04/06)

Homegrown? Sounds more Mountie-grown to me. Cultivating terrorists, sadly, is good business for police agencies, come budget time. But it is also interesting to note that many of the major news outlets are ignoring the Islamic connection, which does appear to be valid. Police agencies frequently take advantage of existing enmities to create this kind of mess - enticing people to go beyond bar talk.

Canada plot allegedly involved PM attack
New London Day
"Some of the 17 Muslim men accused of plotting terror bombings in Canada also planned to storm Parliament, take hostages and behead the prime minister and other leaders, according to accusations revealed Tuesday by the lawyer for one of the suspects. Authorities further allege that the suspect, Steven Vikash Chand, plotted to take over media outlets, including Canadian Broadcasting Corp., his attorney said after a brief hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice. Specifics of the charges against the other suspects were not released, but Chand's lawyer, Gary Batasar, asked that the allegations against his client be read in court." (06/06/06)

How much of this is real, how much is fevered daydreaming, and how much of this was invented by the cops and fed to the "conspirators"? We will probably never know. IF true, these people are as bad as terrorists around the world, except that they actually didn't get around to doing any of it.

Mama's Note: All you freedom fighters who occasionally mention the need to refresh the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants should beware. You could get hauled in for plotting "terrorist" activity. Don't laugh... Remember that by our government's definition, all of the Americans at Lexington and Concord were "terrorists."

Number of Gitmo hunger strikers declines
Woonsocket Call
"Dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees have abandoned a hunger strike, lowering the number of inmates refusing food to 18, the U.S. military said Sunday. The strike had jumped from three participants in late May to 89 on Thursday. It was the biggest hunger strike of the year at the U.S. prison in Cuba, where about 460 men are being held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban." (06/04/06)

Can anyone explain to me how intravenous feeding of men who are certifiably insane is torture? Yet that is what I am hearing - but then, if their keepers were letting them starve themselves to death and did nothing about it, they'd be condemned as heartless butchers. So they can't win. The holding power has an obligation (right or wrong) under international law to keep these de-facto prisoners of war safe, as long as the war in which they were engaged before capture continues. Letting them kill themselves or each other would be as wrong as killing them or treating them as criminals by charging them with crimes that would otherwise be combat actions.

Mama's Note: From what I've been able to find, these men are not being fed with IV solutions (a very poor answer anyway over time - and it can't be done without central lines), but are being fed by having nasogastric tubes forced down their throats so they can be given regular tube feedings.

Are they insane? Depends on your definition, of course, but I highly doubt it. I've not heard of any such "hunger strike" actually resulting in death, especially if food is offered and the opportunity for publicity and manipulation is eliminated. Why make such a fuss over it? That just gives them more incentive to continue.

But I have seen the elderly and the brain damaged force fed when it is clearly against their best interest, and occasionally against their own stated wishes. There is a time to perform heroic measures, and a time to let nature take its course. That will never be an easy decision to make, but this doesn't even come close. These men own their lives, nobody else.

China attacks protesters on Tiananmen anniversary
Yahoo! News
Chinese police tore up a protester's poster and detained at least two people on Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sunday as the country marked 17 years since local troops crushed a pro-democracy demonstration in the public space. An elderly woman tried to pull out a poster with apparently political material written on it, but police ripped it up and then took her away in a van. A farmer tried to stage a protest apparently unrelated to the 1989 crackdown, but he also was taken away in a van. After dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them to put the nonpolitical material away. They were not detained. Discussion of the crackdown is still taboo in China outside of the semiautonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese television news and major newspapers did not mention the anniversary." (06/04/06)

Clearly the emphasis is on "SEMI-autonomous" when it comes to Macao and Hong Kong. And clearly seventeen years haven't mellowed the current mandarin dynasty. Communism isn't dead, folks, and we are drawn closer to it every year.

Mama's Note: The people of China have never been free that I've ever been able to discover, so the mere fact that there are still those who are willing to fight for liberty is very encouraging! Just think about it! What would we do if we were up against such overwhelming odds? God bless them.

Sri Lanka: Rebel attacks kill two, injure four
Scotsman [UK]
"Sri Lanka's military accused Tamil Tiger rebels of carrying out a fragmentation mine attack on a civilian bus that wounded two people early on Tuesday, the first such attack near the capital since a 2002 truce. Claymore mine blasts aimed at military targets have become increasingly common as violence has risen in recent months. A separate such attack in north central Sri Lanka on Tuesday killed two police and injured two as the death toll steadily climbs." (06/06/06)

I suppose even the most optimistic observer will now have to agree that the "truce" is definitely over.

How to train for an enemy troops can't discern?
MSNBC
"Allegations that Marines killed unarmed men, women and children in Haditha are prompting questions about whether U.S. troops get proper training for a war against insurgents who walk freely among Iraqi civilians. The military has adapted its training, but troops say no one arrives in Iraq completely ready for the complexity and stress of a guerrilla war in which insurgents are loosely organized and fight with hit-and-run tactics on the streets of cities crowded with innocent bystanders." (06/05/06)

It is very difficult to train for such things, whether in-country or not, and a lot of people die (on both sides) as it finally shakes out. It is another reason to avoid war if at all possible. We faced similar problems in Vietnam, and it was very hard to solve it then (if we did). When you are fighting people who think of anyone but themselves as objects to be used, with no moral compulsion, or with the idea that they are fighting for a cause so holy that the ends justify ANY means, you end up with bombs in the bottom of baby's cradles and prams, with toddlers carrying live grenades, with mothers who use their child to conceal the IED strapped to their waist, and with situations where no one has any compunction about murdering an innocent family and then claiming that the evil Great Satan Americans did it.

Veterans I've talked to recognize the difficulties but think that they avoided this kind of thing, even while recognizing that the stress might cause some units to snap, and working hard to make sure it was not their unit. I've had an NCO tell me what he did to keep his young troops (he's all of 25) from losing their tempers and taking it out on innocent people when a comrade bought the farm in a roadside bomb or a shooting - but he, at least, succeeded in keeping them on the straight and narrow. It CAN be done and American troops can do it again as they did in Italy and Germany and Japan and Korea, and yes, 99.99 percent of the time in Vietnam, and in Panama and Grenada; just as Brit troops did for decades in Northern Ireland and Hong Kong and the Raj (India and Pakistan). Congress and the President make stupid mistakes and send troops where they have no business going, and the troops, time after time, do their best to turn lemons into lemonade, and learn to love and help even in the midst of terrible, hideous, horrible things and people and places.

Army manual to skip Geneva detainee rule
Los Angeles Times
"The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans 'humiliating and degrading treatment,' according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards. The decision could culminate a lengthy debate within the Defense Department but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department fiercely opposes the military's decision to exclude Geneva Convention protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the Defense Department officials acknowledged. For more than a year, the Pentagon has been redrawing its policies on detainees, and intends to issue a new Army Field Manual on interrogation, which, along with accompanying directives, represents core instructions to U.S. soldiers worldwide." (06/05/06)

This entire article sounds completely bogus to me - an outside look by the mainstream media at an internal military process that is far from complete, and that will NOT turn American soldiers into ravening wolves. Training on observance of Geneva Convention requirements by troops has been INCREASED and not decreased over the past decade, and in fact, since 1990. The article itself admits that the decision really has not been made, even though the lead sentence says that it has. And remember, soldiers don't learn and train in a vacuum: virtually every US service man and woman knows that humiliating and degrading treatment is illegal and wrong - and nearly every one believes that Ms. England and her ilk need to be punished for what they did. As a recent Iraq vet told me, when his unit changed duties from field operations to manning a detention camp, they spent a lot of time "twisting their minds around" from the role of fighting insurgents to guarding and protecting insurgents - even from other Americans if necessary. They took it seriously, and that is as it should be. If only the media would.

Garcia win in Peru a loss for Venezuela's Chavez
Christian Science Monitor
"Peruvian voters elected leftist leader Alan Garcaa to a five-year term on Sunday, returning the former president to office 16 years after his first stint. It is a tough defeat for Ollanta Humala, the populist candidate who won the first round less than two months ago. But it is also a blow to Venezuelan leader and US nemesis Hugo Chavez, who openly backed Mr. Humala. In his election-night address, Mr. Garcaa said the result is 'a defeat for the expansionist efforts of [Mr. Chavez]. Peru's democracy said 'no' to him.' Garcia's 'rhetorical challenges to Hugo Chavez are very welcome to a US government that would very much like allies in the region against Chavez,' says Cynthia McClintock, a professor at George Washington University in Washington and specialist on Peru." (06/05/06)

Strange, isn't it? If the US president dared to express an opinion on who should be elected to run ANY other country on the planet, we'd be condemned as imperialists and more evil Americans. But no one, especially not the CSM, questions Chevez's "right" to urge his neighbors (or near neighbors) to vote for another socialist-communist.

Mama's Note: Too bad they - and we - don't have the option to vote for "none of the above." Wouldn't it be interesting to see just how fast these tyrants were voted OUT of office, with none to replace them? Of course, that would depend on honest elections and politicians who really followed through on the voice of the people. Since that's not going to happen, I wonder why anyone votes at all. If it made any real difference, it would be illegal.

Chavez's Likely Political Foe Will Exploit Enemies List
CNS News.com
If Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is reelected in December, it will likely be at the expense of the one candidate most opposed to the Chavez brand of government...

Tyrants get elected to office, too, remember. Look at Hitler, or Napoleon Bonaparte or his nephew Napoleon III. Or. well, you get the idea. Fighters for liberty do lose, a lot, but don't give up. Of course, this all assumes that there IS an election in December - the November US elections could be used as an excuse for Chavez to stay in power "just for the duration of the emergency" - since he is emphasizing American lust for invading Venezuela so much.

Islamists Claim Control of War-Ravaged Mogadishu
CNS News.com
Islamists committed to implementing shari'a law in Somalia claim to have defeated warlords in Mogadishu after months of fighting in a country wracked by anarchy since 1991. The development poses a new challenge to attempts to bring peace to the impoverished country in the Horn of Africa...

If we would just arm people who want to be left alone and raise their families and earn a living.

Mama's Note: If we just quit arming and supporting the tyrants, we'd be doing them a big favor.

Islamist Triumph in Mogadishu Worries Security Experts
CNS News.ocom
Thirteen years after U.S. Troops were withdrawn under fire from Mogadishu, security and political analysts worry that the emergence of a victorious Islamist militia in the Somali capital may set the scene for a new, dangerous phase in the war against Islamic terrorists...

The terrorists (Islamists) are gloating right now, certainly. But the war still isn't over, folks, just a new phase begun.

Indonesia's Commitment to Anti-Terror Fight Faces Test
CNS News.ocom
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has welcomed the restoration of U.S.-Indonesia military ties, but the Southeast Asian country's commitment to combating terrorism will be under new scrutiny when a leading terrorist is due to be freed from prison next Wednesday...

This "restoration" is just as wrong as the US military ties with the Noriega regime in Panama, or the ties with Franco in Spain: nothing good will come out of it. Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country, is a paper democracy and the cause of more terrorism than it fights.

Asian Security Bloc on the Defensive Over Iran
CNS News.ocom
Ahead of a major summit next week, a China-Russia-Central Asia security bloc is sending out mixed messages about the likelihood of Iran being admitted as a full member. Iran currently is an observer, along with Pakistan, India and Mongolia...

The idea of an Iranian-Chinese-Russian coalition should scare everyone almost as badly as Iran leading a united dar'al Islam.