Libertarian Commentary on the News for 22-25 November, 2006 --Page 2

Special After Thanksgiving Page!
Dear Readers:
Just a few more stories and comments, for the rest of T-week. Sounds like Mama Liberty and her guests had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did also, and I hope that you did your part to prevent the overpopulation of turkeys in the United States… (Oh, by the way, here’s a hint – you CAN eat turkey in months that don’t start with N or D. And it tastes even better then.)

Canaanite Front:
Leaders condemn Lebanese minister's slaying
CNN
"World leaders condemned the killing on Tuesday of a Lebanese Christian Cabinet minister as Western powers vowed to try to prevent the collapse of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's unsteady government. Pierre Gemayel, shot dead near Beirut, was the fourth outspoken anti-Syrian critic to be killed in Lebanon since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri sparked a period of political upheaval in the country." (11/21/06)

Bizarrely, the Israelis have already been blamed for this – it is as if some people cannot understand either history or culture and understand that Syria considers Lebanon (as well as Jordan and those portions of Canaan occupied by Israel and the Palestinians) to be a “temporarily misplaced” province (much as Beijing sees Taiwan) and consider Lebanese government to be an abomination and insult to the Prophet and Allah. On the other hand the Israelis’ best hope for one less front to fight on is that the “Christians” have at least some power in Lebanon. I suppose this could be a case of Douglas Adamsism: “Kill your brother and blame it on your enemy.” But what does Israel really gain?

Freedom Fighters:
CA: Fight over gov't oppression of tearoom heats up
Yahoo! News
"A fight over what constitutes government oppression and religious freedom is brewing in a cozy tearoom and cinnamon-scented quilt-and-craft shop operated in violation of local health codes. Three members of the small Piecemakers religious sect were convicted this week of multiple misdemeanor counts for refusing to let health inspectors into their kitchen. The group, led by a feisty, 85-year-old, camouflage-clad grandmother, has battled the county for years over a laundry list of code violations, claiming the law of God is greater than the law of man .... Since the early 1990s, the Piecemakers have resisted health inspectors who accuse them of selling unpackaged foods like homemade sandwiches and soup without a permit..... Deputy District Attorney Scott Steiner, who prosecuted the case, doesn't believe the Piecemakers were resisting because of their religious beliefs..... "They put one face to the public as being this innocent, gentle group and then they have a truly ugly side ... that is contemptuous of law, is disrespectful and has absolutely no regard for the preservation of public health," he said..... Kolasinski said her tearoom and candy shop haven't sickened anyone in 20 years. After trying to comply with the county, she says she realized its food codes were part of an oppressive bureaucracy designed to drive legitimate businesses "to the communist countries." (11/24/06)

Hurrah for these folks – although by most leftist standards (and that, sadly, of too many people who claim to be libertarian) this is an example of a theonomist cult. People like this need to be supported, and more of us need the courage to resist as they are doing.

Mama's Note: Indeed! When I was a child, nobody worried about those who sold raw milk or peddled home made foods on the street. Customers who were smart took great care to patronize those who were clean and careful. I guess some of the not-so-smart might have gotten sick, but only the really stupid would get sick twice. The recent spinach insanity seems to indicate that all the "public health" nonsense isn't helping anyone, but sure can destroy businesses right and left.

GRTF:
CA: Teachers emphasize Indians' side
Yahoo! News
"Teacher Bill Morgan walks into his third-grade class wearing a black Pilgrim hat made of construction paper and begins snatching up pencils, backpacks and glue sticks from his pupils. He tells them the items now belong to him because he 'discovered' them. The reaction is exactly what Morgan expects: The kids get angry and want their things back. Morgan is among elementary school teachers who have ditched the traditional Thanksgiving lesson, in which children dress up like Indians and Pilgrims and act out a romanticized version of their first meetings. He has replaced it with a more realistic look at the complex relationship between Indians and white settlers." (11/21/06)

“Realistic?” The guy doesn’t understand or read history, does he? Anyone reading the diaries of Governor Bradford or dozens of other people of that era will understand that, yes, complex, but not the simple-minded acting out that Morgan and his ilk do. Instead of trying to rewrite history, he ought to read some. The Indians of New England were often generous and kind to a fault, but also cruel and brutal – just like their descendants and those of the “settlers” are today. It was not all bad, NOR all good. Meanwhile, the real lessons of the settlement of New England are ignored: the triumph of capitalism over socialism, of freedom of expression over repression, and of the need to defend yourselves and cooperate against a common enemy, among others.

Medical and Tech Issues:
EU, six others sign fusion accord
USA Today
"Physicists have dreamt about it for decades: harnessing the fusion process that powers the sun to make clean, safe and limitless energy. A multinational pact signed Tuesday may bring that dream a step closer to reality. Seven partners representing half the world's population have agreed to build an experimental fusion reactor in southern France that could revolutionize global energy use for future generations. Yet it is also just an experiment -- a bold, long-awaited, $12.8 billion experiment -- and it will be decades before scientists are even sure that it works." (11/21/06)

Too important to let government mess with. And hardly bold – but what does USA Today know? You remember the way to define the IQ of a committee: take the IQ of the smartest person in the committee and divide by the number of fingers in the committee. That applies to a “committee” of seven nations – and don’t get me started on the wisdom of putting the thing in southern France…

Mama's Note: Aw, why not? Tell us what you really think about France... <G>

Mesopotamian Front
Appeals court hears rare Iraq [sic] war [sic] objector case
MSNBC
"An Army medic who fled rather than serve a second tour in Iraq because he believes war is immoral had his case heard Tuesday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. This is believed to be the first military conscientious objector case of the Iraq war. It is the first case to come before this court since 1971, during the Vietnam War. Army Spec. Agustin Aguayo, a U.S. citizen who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, has said he was not antiwar when he enlisted in the Army in 2002." (11/21/06)

Exactly how does a medic claim “conscientious objector” status, since US military medics don’t carry weapons in the first place?

Mesopotamian Front:
Attack on Baghdad Shiite slum kills hundreds
Alexandria Town Talk
"Sunni Muslim insurgents blew up five car bombs and fired mortars into Baghdad's largest Shiite district Thursday, killing at least 161 [sic – later reports were over 200] people and wounding 257 in a dramatic attack that sent the U.S. ambassador racing to meet with Iraqi leaders in an effort to contain the growing sectarian war. Shiite mortar teams quickly retaliated, firing 10 shells at Sunni Islam's most important shrine in Baghdad, badly damaging the Abu Hanifa mosque and killing one person." (11/23/06)

This was followed by the deaths of dozens in the Sunni community: this may be enough to meet the neutral definition of civil war in Mesopotamia. However, this is not really a war, per say, as much as it is the latest campaign in a violent confrontation that has lasted more than 1300 years – since not long after the murder of Mohammed (pbuh) – over who is the rightful heir of the Prophet and therefore, who gets to be boss of all bosses. Millions of Shi’a and Sunni have been killed by the opposite side over the centuries: a record that vastly overshadows the Hatfields and McCoys, the Regulators and the Moderators, the Catholics versus the Protestants in Northern Ireland, or the Crusades.

Mesopotamian Front:
UN: Iraqi [sic] civilian deaths at new high
Houston Chronicle
"The United Nations said Wednesday that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest monthly toll since the March 2003 U.S. invasion and another sign of the severity of Iraq's sectarian bloodbath. The U.N. tally was more than three times higher than the total The Associated Press had tabulated for the month, and far more than the 2,866 U.S. service members who have died during all of the war. The report on civilian casualties, handed out at a U.N. news conference in Baghdad, said the influence of militias was growing and torture continued to be rampant, despite the Iraqi government's vow to address human rights abuses." (11/22/06)

Although there are disputes over this number, it is nevertheless very high and likely to grow higher. 90-95 percent of these are locals killing other locals: Sunni killing Shi’a and vice versa, Marsh Arabs, a few Kurds, a lot of Arabs from various places, a few Iranians, and even a few Assyrians (those that haven’t emigrated to the US). Keep in mind the “militias” talked about resemble true militias about as much as the Soviet-era cops (called militia in the standard English translation) resemble true militias: voluntary soldiers and units organized on a local basis to provide DEFENSE and not subscribing to that old hoary “the best defense is a good offense.” Until these denizens of that poor benighted land learn the meaning of liberty and freedom and personal responsibility, we could have US and other Western troops in every house and on every street corner and they would still keep killing each other.

North American Union
S. American 12 cut travel red tape
BBC News
The governments of 12 countries in South America have signed an agreement to allow their citizens to travel between them without passports. The countries covered by the new agreement are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Sigh. Here the US is in the process of ENDING centuries of free travel between us, Canada, Mexico, and most of the Carib, while at the same time our “backwards” neighbors to the south have realized that free travel promotes prosperity and a better life for all. It was the US example that led to the same thing across several dozen nations in Europe, to boot – and now we have turned our back on it, out of fear.

North American Union:
PM says Quebec 'nation in Canada'
BBC News
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has told a debate in parliament that he regards the province of Quebec as a "nation within Canada". Mr. Harper was responding to a motion by Quebec separatists that MPs should "recognise Quebeckers form a nation".

And he is the “Conservative” just elected this year to replace 12 years of Liberals – not that there is much of anyone in power in Canada’s hoploclastic, kakocratic government than can be truly considered Conservative by any standard except maybe that of Mao and Lenin; or Liberal by the traditional western definition.

Our British Cousins
UK legalizes CBs and MP3 Transmitters
BBC News
The use of devices, such as Griffin's "iTrip", was banned in the UK as their transmissions can interfere with broadcasts by legal radio stations. Now certain FM transmitters, which can be tuned to spare frequencies, will be legal from 8 December. Ofcom will also remove the need for a licence to use Citizens' Band radio.

Only 30 years after the US dropped an equally foolish requirement for CB licenses!

Our British Cousins:
Motorists to give fingerprints
BBC
Drivers who get stopped by the police could have their fingerprints taken at the roadside, under a new plan to help officers check people's identities. A handheld device being tested by 10 forces in England and Wales is linked to a database of 6.5m prints. If a vehicle is stopped, police will be able to identify the driver and passengers. At present about 60% of drivers stopped do not give their true identity.

Just a quick reading of this sends shivers up my spine, and it is obvious that it is bogus. For one thing, as I recall, there are about 50 million subjects in Britain, and their database apparently includes just a bit more than 10% of them – so 9 out of every 10 won’t be on the database (at first, at least). And did they ever stop to think WHY 60% lie about who they are? Britain doesn’t have that many criminals, does it?

Mama's Note: Something just doesn't make sense here. All European countries require a driver's license, far as I know. So, if someone is stopped, the first thing they have to show is that license - just as it is here. The police would then immediately know exactly who the person is. There can't be that many people who go to the expense and bother of getting a false DL. I suspect even most common criminals aren't going to bother with that. I can't imagine that only 10% of the issued driver's license information is in the police data bank, so that figure must refer to a database of fingerprints. Given the new information on how unreliable fingerprinting is, this is another total waste of money and time on everyone's part... But, when did that ever stop government from buying toys and increasing oppression?

Our Imperial Courts:
CA: Homeless prevail in ruling on camps
Boston Globe
"When city workers tore down her hillside encampment, Charlene Clay lost her asthma medicine, sleeping bags, and her only photos of her dead granddaughter. ... The American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights are suing the city on behalf of Clay and five others, saying police and sanitation workers violated the rights of the homeless for the last three years by defining their property as trash and bulldozing their encampments. This week, they won a major victory. US District Judge Oliver W. Wanger, calling the city's policy regarding homeless people's property 'dishonest and demeaning,' granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday that ordered the city to stop seizing and destroying homeless people's property without warning. The injunction will be in effect while the civil rights lawsuit winds through the courts." (11/24/06)

Sorry as I feel for these people who have their possessions destroyed, I see this as a result of their theft of land from others for their squatter encampments – a property owner is morally under no obligation to protect or return the property of someone who has illegally and immorally invaded their property and in essence stolen it from them, or to make good on damages caused by their attempts to reclaim their property – even physical injuries when you get right down to it. But clearly the courts no longer see it that way.

Mama's Note: It gets even more complicated when the land "invaded" is supposedly "public" land. It obviously doesn't belong to "all of us," only to government. Without government, most of these people probably would not be homeless in the first place, of course, and private property owners would be able to defend it without this court nonsense. Government isn't the answer... it's the problem.

Persian Front:
UN: Iran agrees to open nuclear books
CNN
"Iran has agreed to crack open the books on its uranium enrichment activities, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday -- a move that could give experts a better grasp of a program the Security Council fears could be misused to produce atomic bombs. The concession appeared timed in hopes of heading off a rejection by the International Atomic Energy Agency of Iran's request for technical help in building its Arak plutonium-producing reactor. Unmoved, the IAEA's 35-nation board denied the aid for at least two years." (11/23/06)

More bluff and checking and rechecking of the hands they hold and the bets being placed, it seems.

Our Right to Defend Ourselves:
Antigun Mayor Pleads Guilty to Firearms Charges
CNSNews.com
A Mississippi mayor has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor weapons charges after carrying a handgun on church and school property, and a gun rights group thinks now would be a good time for him to step down from an antigun group. 

Melton belongs to NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s conspiracy, “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” – which has consistently demonstrated it’s definition of “illegal” means any gun not carried by a cop or a government leader. Even the ACLU has investigated this black mayor of Jackson, MS, for racial profiling, police brutality, and numerous other violations of civil liberties and has called Jackson a “police state.” Obviously, a hypocritical police state.

Mama's Note: Isn't this just too rich!?? I'd say it was past time for this jerk to retire from politics completely.

Our Right to Defend Ourselves:
AK: School fits gun education into curriculum
Casper Star-Tribune
"Tom Milliron figures Juneau school children are going to encounter guns one way or another, whether venturing armed into nearby wilderness or visiting the home of a friend. 'Better they learn how to handle a firearm safely than to hurt themselves through ignorance, he says.' Milliron is principal of one of Juneau's two middle schools. Sixth-graders under his care last month completed an outdoor education course that included instruction in safe handling of guns and firing rounds from .22-caliber rifles. For some children, it was the first time they'd touched a gun. 'In gun-happy Alaska, teaching children how to safely handle firearms is just common sense,' Milliron said." (11/21/06)

Gasp! Can you imagine the horror this would (and probably IS) promoting down in the Lower 48? It reminds me of how alarmed and horrified a group of women from Metro Denver were, once, when I sent my 14-year-old son on an errand in a small city in South Dakota which required him to drive a car on the street BY HIMSELF. They thought it was positively sinful to allow a 14-y.o. to drive ANYwhere, and acted as if I was telling him to whip right on down Valley Highway (I-25) during Denver rush-hour. Milliron’s right: it is just “common sense” but where is that, anymore?

Mama's Note: And yet, even Milliron is falling into the trap of the victim disarmers by calling the folks in AK "gun-happy." Even if he means it in the best way, it is a negative stereotype to most people. He needs to choose his words more carefully.

Our Right to Defend Ourselves:
OR: Camper cleared in shooting of ATV driver
KGW News
"An Idaho man acted in self-defense when he shot a man who was headed toward him in an all-terrain vehicle, a Baker County grand jury decided. Marvin Sauer, 52, of Boise shot Everett Durst, 38, of Vancouver, Wash., in the left leg following a Labor Day dispute near Phillips Reservoir. The incident started when Sauer and his wife arrived to camp in an area where Durst and his party were riding. The sides had a disagreement and Durst later drove a quad runner to Sauer's campsite. Durst began spinning the vehicle in circles, stirring up dust and throwing rocks on Sauer's wife, said Matt Shirtcliff, the Baker County district attorney. Shirtcliff said Sauer fired a warning a shot into the air. Durst stopped spinning the vehicle in circles and started driving in Sauer's direction. 'Once Mr. Durst drove the quad runner straight at Mr. Sauer, Sauer was entitled at that point to fire his gun at Mr. Durst to defend himself,' Shirtcliff said." (11/21/06)

Seems to me like a pretty straightforward case of self-defense, and a man with more patience than a lot of us (who might have dispensed with the warning shot – rocks can kill, too, and in this case would certainly qualify as deadly force).

Stupid Media Tricks:
US to require passports for nearly all
Lufkin Daily News
"Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere. The date was disclosed Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an interview with The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department plans to announce the change on Wednesday." (11/21/06)

This is NOT really news: this has been known (including the date) for at least two years. But since the Mainstream Media doesn’t bother to understand or read history (or even their back issues) they treat this as some new revelation and so it was splattered all over the place on Wednesday.

Stupid Media Tricks:
Selective Service: Ready for a draft
CNN
"Although Congress is unlikely to follow calls from a top Democrat to bring back the military draft, the United States does have a plan, if necessary, aimed at inducting millions of young men for service. The Selective Service System, an agency independent of the Defense Department, says it's ready to respond quickly to any crisis that would threaten to overwhelm the current all-volunteer military." (11/20/06)

Another piece of NON-news – don’t these people ever listen to their own PSA (public service announcement ads)? But still, my chance to make a point of again showing how foolish the SSS is, how foolish and immoral conscription is, and to tout a couple of suggestions to show how silly the entire thing is: The Strategic Studies Institute, in a briefing explaining exactly how stupid that Honorable-Thug Charlie Rangel is, suggested that the draft include people from age 20 to 60, and be targeted based on the skills of the potential draftees based on military needs: replacing expensive contractors with 40, 50, and 60 year old guys who are expert mechanics, electricians, financial managers, personnel managers, and such. The other idea was from some local radio commentator, who suggested that the first draftees be the nearest family members possible to anyone in Congress, the top levels of the Judiciary and the Executive branches, and their counterparts in the states. THAT ought to provide the “balance” that Rangel claims to want.

Stupid People Tricks:
ME: Wild turkeys ruffle residents
Morning Sentinel
"Cindy Kaiser was driving on Mackworth Island last spring when she ran into trouble: a tom turkey blocking the road and guarding a dozen hens. Kaiser, 58, threw her car into reverse, but the turkey ran behind it. She steered the car down a side road, but the 20-pound gobbler stopped her there as well. The bird darted at the silver station wagon and began pecking it from all sides. Kaiser ducked under the dashboard and hid. After 20 minutes, she peaked [sic] through the windshield. 'He was still standing right there,' said Kaiser, who works as a cook on the island at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf. 'It was very intimidating.'" [FND editor's note: It's one thing to accommodate the wildlife a little. It's another thing entirely to hide in your own car FROM A BIRD. Please, PLEASE, someone tell me she ran that thing down and had turkey tettrazini for dinner that night! - TLK] (11/23/06)

Goodness, what more can I add to what Tom says? Twenty pounds might do some damage if you hit it doing sixty, but if the bird is too stupid to move out of your way at ten, all you risk is a slight possibility of a flat tire from a sharp bone fragment! (And turkeys are seemingly not as stupid as deer, at least in my part of the country: I see a lot more dead deer than dead turkeys on the road. My neighborhood has a flock of perhaps 50-100 turkeys (depending on how the mountain lions, the coyotes, the wild dogs, the neighborhood cats, and the poachers do) and I’ve NEVER heard of someone intimidated by a turkey!

Stupid People Tricks:
Mums begin "L'activism" after airline bans breastfeeding
The Australian [Australia]
"It's ironic that since a lot of US airlines -- airlines everywhere, actually -- treat you like cattle that they also might get a bit squeamish over the thought of a dairy. But last month a nursing mother was ejected from a plane about to take off in Vermont because she was trying to breastfeed her baby. The extraordinary tale has sparked a discrimination complaint from the mother, Emily Gillette, and a huge embarrassment for the airline, Delta. The brouhaha here has also sparked a form of protest being dubbed 'lactivism.' Over the past week there's been rolling breastfeeding sit-ins where dozens of nursing mothers position themselves in front of the Delta airline counters in protest and, like maternal gunslingers, unleash their bosoms and latch on their babies." (11/23/06)

This really isn’t news, but I like the Australian’s approach to this story! I don’t know who is more foolish here – Delta for making a fuss in the first place, or these women for doing this and wasting their time doing it when so many more important things need to be corrected – what about some sit-ins over having airlines confiscate their baby’s milk IN bottles, or stealing toothpaste and mouthwash from their carryon bags?

Mama's Note: I don't know about that. Freedom is freedom, and the freedom to feed one's baby is at least as important as toothpaste and mouthwash! Those who breast feed don't need bottles of milk either. I am glad that at least some people have the guts to protest this kind of treatment, and this issue is simply something they are passionate enough about to defend. Go for it ladies...

Stupid People Tricks:
TN: MTSU wants Forrest name taken off hall
Tennessean
"Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's name should be removed from MTSU's ROTC building, the Student Government Association says. The SGA voted 19-5 to ask Middle Tennessee State University administrators to remove the name from Forrest Hall after a student, Amber Perkins, presented a petition with 205 names seeking the change, said Josh McKinzie, SGA vice president. The university administration will next consider the resolution. Forrest is a controversial figure. Some boast about the success of the cavalry general from Tennessee. For others, he conjures negative memories of the Old South because he was a slave dealer before the war and helped form the original Ku Klux Klan after the war." (11/21/06)

How often do we have to go through this kind of sickness? I’ve seen it a lot: the first woman to start a school (private, I might add) and teach in the Black Hills had her name removed from an elementary school because she referred to AmerInds (who attacked her family) as “savages – in 1876. Others demand that a university with consent from the tribes whose name their sports teams wear, and which has a large percentage of enrolled tribal members on its faculty and student body stop using the name. Others demand that historic crosses be removed from the seal and flag of a city named “Las Cruces.” Stupid.

Mama's Note: I've got a suggestion for these people: Remove ALL the "names" from the buildings and just give them numbers or letters. That would solve the whole controversy as long as the state runs these things - literally or through the courts.

Schools of all kinds should be private institutions, of course, and they should call their sports teams (and everything else) whatever they want. Then, those who pay the tuition can decide if they like the name of the buildings or sports teams or whatever before they plunk down their money.

Thugs:
LA: FBI probes state office tied to Jefferson
MSNBC
"A Louisiana state office that once had oversight authority on a series of controversial charities tied to Rep. William Jefferson (D-La) is being investigated by the FBI. Jefferson, according to court documents, is also being investigated concerning allegations that he solicited and accepted bribes to help promote a cable television and Internet business in West Africa." (11/22/06)

Jefferson’s little moneymaking scheme seems to have been quite a bit more ambitious than originally thought, eh? I suspect that compared to many, he was pretty much a small fry – and clearly pretty stupid as well. You’d think the training they give freshmen congressmen would have more content related to how to properly manage graft, bribes, and general corruption and money-laundering, including where NOT to store the cold cash.

War on Some Drugs:
GA: Woman, 92, Dies in Shoot-out With Police
Breitbart.com
A 92-year-old woman was shot to death Tuesday after she fired at three narcotics officers trying to serve a warrant at her house, officials said. Neighbors and relatives said it must have been a case of mistaken identity. Police said they had the right address. Police said the woman, whose name was not released, was the only person home at the time, and had lived there for about 17 years. As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe Cobb, a police spokesman. One was hit in the arm, another in a thigh and the third in a shoulder. The officers were taken to a hospital for treatment, and all three were conscious and alert, police said. Sarah Dozier, identified as a niece of the woman, told WAGA-TV that there were never any drugs at the house. "My aunt was in good health. I'm sure she panicked when they kicked that door down," Dozier said. "There was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her down like a dog."

Sadly, sometimes even the ability to defend yourself isn’t enough. I really am very sorry that she didn’t take these three hoodlums with her, though. How long will we allow these murdering goons to roam our streets and kill innocent people? We all know how “plainclothes” narcotics officers are trained to serve warrants these days – shucks, even the local constable delivering papers to someone on child custody or child support is more often than not willing to use a little shoulder striking to “knock” on the door and deliver their papers. The location of the wounds makes me think that they weren’t walking up on the porch or the sidewalk – they were probably all putting their weight on a battering ram. We’ll probably never find out the truth, but remember, this has happened before, and it WILL happen again, until power is taken from the judges, the legislators, the bosses, and the cops.

War on Some Drugs:
TN: Cops bust alleged drugs-for-sex scheme
Nashville City Paper
"Approximately 20 women got themselves caught up in a sex-for-painkillers scheme being run out of a downtown Nashville pharmacy, Metro Police said Monday as they took into custody the pharmacist allegedly responsible for masterminding the operation. Metro Police, along with TennCare representatives and officials with the state pharmacy board descended upon the Clinic Pharmacy at 1 Hermitage Avenue Monday afternoon and arrested the pharmacist, 61-year-old William Milton of Brentwood on one felony charge of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. Milton was taken into custody directly from the pharmacy, which remained closed for the afternoon. But police, who first began investigating the pharmacist in October, said Milton admitted to much more than the one felony. He implicated himself, police said, in a long-running scheme of exchanging the prescription painkiller Hydrocodone for sex." (11/21/06)

A stupid guy, too – essentially blackmailing people. I just wonder how many others were involved. As you might expect, I blame government for this – if the controlled substances laws weren’t so harsh (and getting worse), this idiot wouldn’t have been able to force himself on the women, would he?

Mama's Note: "Harsh?" Compared to what? If these "cops" didn't have such power over people at all, these women would have been able to defend themselves if they wished, and certainly wouldn't need to trade sex for painkillers - unless they wanted to.

World Wars:
Former Russian spy dies in London hospital
USA Today
"A former Russian spy who said he had been poisoned died Thursday night at a London hospital, following a mysterious and rapid decline that left doctors puzzled over the cause of death, officials said. Alexander Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, had suffered heart failure and was heavily sedated as medical staff struggled to pinpoint what had made the 43-year-old critically ill." (11/23/06)

Since this report, tests seem to indicate that he was poisoned with polonium-210, a radioactive element which (like many of the heavier elements) is poisonous. This almost certainly proves that it was deliberate, and the fingers point to the Putin regime.

World Wars:
Sri Lanka: Violence escalates, 14 reported killed
USA Today
"The Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tigers battled for control of territory in the east amid escalating violence in the country's undeclared civil war. The rebels claimed 14 soldiers were killed in separate attacks. Maj. Upali Rajapakse, a Sri Lankan military spokesman, said the rebels 'launched a classic, conventional attack on our troops' at dawn Thursday in Batticaloa district. He said the military responded and called in tanks and air support to bomb the rebels' long-range gun positions." (11/23/06)

The nastiness in Ceylon is all too often ignored by the press, and appears to have entered a new phase. Unlike civil wars (and exactly how often is a “civil war” declared?) in other parts of the world like the Balkans or Mesopotamia, Sir Lanka and southern India are not considered particularly critical or sensitive, so the major nations and the UN pretty much ignore them too.

Mama's Note: Control, turf and loot... that's what it's all about, no matter where it is going on. The ordinary people are, of course, pretty much disarmed (Thanks to British colonialism), so they are not in a position to do much about this unless the vast majority of them decide to rise up and eliminate the goons with their pitchforks and shovels. Not likely to happen, but I'm afraid that's the only long term answer.

World Wars:
Gitmo prisoner says procedures botched
Gainesville Sun
"A detainee at Guantanamo Bay who needs a medical procedure on his heart said Tuesday he doesn't want it performed there because operations on other detainees have been botched -- an accusation the base commander denied. Saifullah Paracha, a multimillionaire Pakistani businessman held at Guantanamo, 'believes that two prisoners have lost their vocal cords after routine tonsillectomies, that a prisoner lost part of his leg because of a surgical sponge left in him which became infected, and that a prisoner lost a testicle from similar neglect,' said Gaillard T. Hunt, his attorney." (11/21/06)

Well <grin> they ARE government doctors, after all. Remember when Hillary-care was being touted: “All the efficiency of the Post Office, all the compassion of the IRS, and all the knowledge of a DOT construction site flagger.” Seems to fit. Of course, that is probably still better medical care than anyone EXCEPT millionaires in Pakistan gets.