Libertarian War on the News, 06 - 12 January, 2008

Africa is back in the news this week, both for past evils and current ones; but the news was mostly filled (gag) with the news of the 2008 campaign. (I am already completely sick of it.) Nevertheless, there are a few other important stories out there on which I can be blatantly opinionated and express evil (or at least non-PC) views and get people mad at me. Or rather, more people mad at me! Let’s go!

African front:
Taylor war crimes trial resumes
CNN
“Former Liberian President Charles Taylor appeared in court Monday at the resumption of his war crimes trial, six months after boycotting the opening session and calling the trial a ‘charade.’ He did not speak. The first witness Monday was Canadian author Ian Smillie, who is considered an expert in the trade of blood diamonds, so called because funds from their sale fuel African rebel groups.” (01/08/08)

The groups (“governments”) trying Taylor are nothing more than pots calling the kettle black. If Smillie’s testimony were honest, he would be condemning all the groups and not just Taylor’s stupid and bloody regime. Taylor is in custody, but the killing and everything else continues.

Mama's Note: The question that keeps running through my head is, how do these men get such power over the people in the first place? That would seem to be the place to start looking for answers. One would think that somewhere, somehow the people would finally figure out that the promises of politicians and "kings" are always bogus and will always lead to destruction. But that's been going on for many thousands of years with little change. They always believe that THIS time it will be different. I can't help it, but the Ron Paul campaign comes immediately to mind.

African front:
Kenya: Opposition says up to 1,000 killed in protests
Reuters
“Riots and post-election violence in Kenya may have killed up to 1,000 people, the opposition said on Monday as it halted protests and President Mwai Kibaki invited his main rival to talks. The east African country has been hit by a wave of demonstrations and tribal clashes since Kibaki’s disputed win in December 27 polls over opposition challenger Raila Odinga.” (01/08/08)

Like the rest of east Africa, the bloodletting is likely to continue for years, if not decades. Just as this present fighting represents the fruits of murderous feuds from 20 and 40 years ago, so this will result in new struggles and aggression 20 and 40 years from now (if indeed there is anything left of civilization there so far in the future). “Government” has not solved the problems of tribal Africa, but instead intensified them.

American union:
Colombia: Guerrillas free two high-level hostages
Christian Science Monitor
“Colombian leftist guerrillas released two of their most prized hostages Thursday, in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that could pave the way for a broad agreement for the liberation of dozens of others being held in rebel camps. Politicians Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez were whisked from the jungles of southern Colombia where they had been held for six years to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, into the embrace of their families. ‘They are finally safe, they are free,’ Ms. Gonzalez’s daughter Patricia Perdomo told Colombian radio from her hotel room in Caracas, her voice trembling with emotion.” (01/10/08)

I will admit that this is one good thing that Chavez has done, although I have to ask just how he was able to gain such influence over the notorious leftists to persuade them to do this.

Chinese front:
China: Censoring the news
BBC News [UK]
“When journalists at China’s national broadcaster CCTV log on, one of the first things that pops up on screen is a notice about what not to report. These notices are often short and seldom say who has authorised them, but they all contain strict instructions about how to report a story. Journalists were recently warned off a health scandal, told how to report the death of Benazir Bhutto and had to steer clear of a Hollywood film story. Censorship has been an everyday feature of news reporting in China for as long as the Chinese Communist Party has been in power.” (01/06/08)

Gee, and this is a surprise to who? If the ‘crats in Beijing tell the TVs to tell the Chinese people that the US is going to kill them all and eat their babies, that is what they will be told, and anything else.

Mama's Note: Not that it is any different anywhere in the world, of course. The mainstream media has been in the clutches of the governments around the world for a very long time. Those who want it can find the truth, even in China.

Chinese front:
Chinese Disobey ‘One-Child’ Restrictions
CNSNews.com
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese are defying Beijing’s “one-child” policy despite incentives to comply, deterrents that include large fines and sometimes – despite being outlawed – forced abortions...

The entire need for this could be avoided IF the government of China went away, or at least became a free-market economy (mixed society), because then the economic incentive to have children suddenly drops. But of course, that would mean no government control of the family.

Mama's Note: Indeed, and the glorious central planners there still don't seem to have figured out they have a massive problem on their hands. There are millions of Chinese men just now reaching adulthood who will never find a mate because the families have chosen to keep sons instead of daughters as their "one" child. Will this help fuel new wars and invasions? I wonder.

Collapsing Africa:
Kenya’s unrest takes violent toll
Chambersburg Public Opinion
“Armed with bows and arrows and automatic weapons, hundreds of attackers poured through the camp where the terrified had sought refuge Sunday. They fired into the air, sparking a brief gunbattle with police before fleeing into the hills. Hours later, after the bodies of a woman and her baby shot dead were carted away, aid agencies arrived to hand out emergency sacks of food to the hungry masses.” (10/06/08)

Does anyone consider that the aid workers are part of the problem and not part of the solution? Their freebies of food, clothing, and water drive local merchants and producers out of business, adding to the dole-takers, and to the unrest which leads in large part to this murderous lifestyle.

Mama's Note: Famine and disease have always been the close companions of war and tyranny. Unfortunately, it is seldom the producers of the war and tyranny who are affected by the famine and disease, only the poor sheep who follow them and those they go to war with.

Commentary: Baboons
The Federal Department of Toilets and Light Bulbs
Muth’s Truths
How many congressmen does it take to change a light bulb? 400. That’s how many members of Congress recently voted for a bill to force Americans to change the 50-cent incandescent light bulbs they’re currently using and replace them with expensive new, $3 “energy-efficient” light bulbs.

Chuck (thanks!) goes on from there. In particular, he talks about pending legislation to outlaw disposable diapers and top-loading washing machines, while reminding us of 1.6-gallon toilets and how well they work. Maybe some of the out-of-work pot and other drug smugglers (result of our “successful” war on drugs) can find work manufacturing huggies and depends in Mexico and smuggling THEM across the border.

Crooked Cop Tricks:
CT: Drug thug sentenced to 90 days in corruption case
Hartford Courant
“A New Haven police detective was sentenced to 90 days in prison Monday for manipulating evidence and stealing money during drug investigations, part of a pattern of wrongdoing uncovered during a probe of police misconduct in the city. Former Det. Jose R. Silva had been allowed to plead guilty three months ago to one count of deprivation of individual rights as a result of what authorities determined to be his relatively minor role in the police misconduct. … Silva was one of six men caught in a joint state-federal investigation of the city police department’s narcotics unit and the principals in a family-owned, New Haven area bail bond business.” (01/08/08)

Last week, as I recall, it was Chicago, next week it will be some other city. And I suspect that the dirtiest of the cops are hardly ever touched. But the kind of plea bargains found for Silva are rarely found for the everyday nonviolent drug user (unless they are willing to rat out on anyone and everyone they can think of, and thus become part of the corrupt War on Some Drugs themselves).

Mama's Note: Each time one of these stories come up I wonder just why... It's unlikely the corrupt bosses would bother them unless they were being punished for something else. The understanding that most, if not all of the police administration is corrupt to some degree seems apparent to me. It's largely just how you define "corrupt," of course.

Culture wars:
CA: Berkeley preacher calls abortion “the Darfur of America”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Saying they are faced with a civil rights crisis that demands immediate attention, African American antiabortion advocates will hold three events in the Bay Area later this month in an aggressive push to combat the high number of abortions among black women. ‘The abortion issue is huge. It is the Darfur of America,’ and it’s time to educate the public about it, said Walter Hoye, a Berkeley preacher who founded the Issues4Life Foundation, a recently formed Union City-based organization intent on drafting more African Americans into the fight against abortion. Issues4Life has organized the events to coincide with the Jan. 22 anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 18 and Black History Month in February.” (01/07/08)

Except that the butchers of Darfur have not killed as many people as American abortionists have. Or even as many Black people.

Economic news:
Bank of America to buy Countrywide Financial
MarketWatch
“Bank of America Corp. said on Friday it’s purchasing Countrywide Financial Corp. for $4 billion, effectively doubling down on a previous investment in the troubled firm and catapulting the buyer into the top spot among mortgage lenders and loan servicers in the U.S. The stock-swap deal will put an end to the independence of the troubled California lender headed by Angelo Mozilo, and represents an increase from the Charlotte, N.C., bank’s August investment of about $2 billion.” (01/08/08)

More concentration, thanks to (and necessary because of) government regulations and “oversight” that mocks the idea of personal and corporate financial responsibility.

Mama's Note: I just wonder what's really going on here. Why would any business buy another that was seriously in debt and failing? That just doesn't make an economic sense. The only incentive I can think of is the anticipation of a government bail out with taxpayer money, such as happened with the old savings and loan disaster. This time, however, the cupboard is just about bare.

Election 2008:
Voter ID case could affect election laws
USA Today
“The League of Women Voters has tried to put names and faces on the people who could be hurt by a strict Indiana voter-identification law that the Supreme Court will take up Wednesday. The league, in a court filing, refers to Mary Wayne Montgomery Eble, 92, who had no driver’s license or ready access to the birth certificate she needed to get an alternative ID.” (01/06/08)

As always, you can find a poster child to push your agenda: letting as many non-citizens vote as possible, and making it easier for people to vote multiple times. To me, provided that there is flexibility in the proof allowed, you SHOULD be made to prove who you are when you vote, just as you do when you use a credit card or write a check. Voting on who runs your water system, who says what roads get fixed, and other things that STILL depend on voting and where a vote DOES make a difference are as important as a $50 credit-card charge or a $20 check for “cash.” Yeah, votes at the state and federal level are probably increasingly worthless, but many other things and people are voted on besides Congressional baboons and the tyrant-in-chief.

Mama's Note: Unfortunately, this is just another way to force people to use the new "REAL ID" eventually. Those who refuse to accept it will be left to the fringe of society and certainly won't be allowed to vote. The idea that this is the "mark of the beast" is not too far afield, since one day it will be required to buy, sell or do much of anything but hide and starve. I really hope all hell breaks out before that.

Euro-Front:
Thousands protest Georgia vote
Associated Press
“Thousands of people on Sunday protested early election results that indicated Mikhail Saakashvili would narrowly win a second term as Georgia’s president despite criticism he’d backtracked on his commitment to democracy. The influential election observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe gave the election a mixed assessment, saying that it was generally in line with democratic commitments but revealed ’significant challenges.’ … Protesters, many of whom filled a square in the capital, charged the vote was rigged. Opposition leaders said the campaign was held under unfair conditions and claimed widespread violations during the vote.” (01/06/08)

“If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal” seems an accurate assessment here.

Government ruined, tax funded schools and privacy:
RI: ACLU rips plan to track students
Yahoo! News
“A tech company with ties to a school district plans to test a tracking system by putting computer chips on grade-schoolers’ backpacks, an experiment the ACLU ripped Monday as invasive and unnecessary. The pilot program set to start next week in the Middletown school district would have about 80 children put tags containing radio frequency identification chips, or RFID chips, on their schoolbags. It would also equip two buses with global positioning systems, or GPS devices. The school and parents will be able to track students on the bus, and the district hopes the program will improve busing efficiency, Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger said. The devices are intended to record only when students enter and exit the bus, and the GPs would show where the bus was on its route.” (01/07/08)

Parents doing this is one thing; schools doing it is entirely different. I’d object just as strongly if it were PRIVATE schools, but these are government schools. Buses and GPs is an entirely different matter, and is something that should be implemented for ANY sort of transportation business. And don’t believe Kraeger when she says the only time the RFID will be used is when they enter and exit the bus: the readers will show up in hallways, school entrances and exits, and probably in local convenience stores.

Mama's Note: Very simple answer, of course, for those who care. Get your children away from these monsters now and homeschool or form your own co-op schools. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Home front economics:
Unemployment Rises to Clinton-Era Levels, Still Historically Low
CNSNews.com
Unemployment grew to 5 percent in December, a number that politicians are using to gain support in this year’s elections. Some observers note that 5 percent is still a relatively low rate historically, in an overall strong economy, while others say it indicates a longer and deeper downturn...

While this will obviously be used as ammo by both old parties’ contenders for massa-ship, it shows that the American economy is unbelievably strong: so strong that it can flourish, after a fashion, despite ever-more-massive government “fixes” that damage the free market. Imagine what an economy that had only HALF the current degree of government control and tax levels would do! Dare we dream of what an economy completely liberated from the parasite called government would and could do?

Home front:
SWAT officers invade home, take 11-year-old at gunpoint
World Net Daily
Police demand boy go to doctor because of fall during horseplay. Nearly a dozen members of a police SWAT team in western Colorado punched a hole in the front door and invaded a family's home with guns drawn, demanding that an 11-year-old boy who had had an accidental fall accompany them to the hospital, on the order of Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak.

Later stories this week describe an even more sick scenario: a homeschooling family with a father branded by the local Sheriff as a “constitutionalist” who is apparently targeted by the local ambulance service, a neighbor, social services, the courts, and the cops. The SWAT attack came TWO DAYS after the injury and after several in-house inspections, including entry without family approval by ambulance crews and social services. This stinks and needs to stink until the rot is cleaned up.

Mama’s Note: Just how much of this c*** are people going to stand for? I hope his case gets national attention. Wonder what could be done to push that idea???  

Home front:
New Big Brother security rules for drivers’ licenses
Yahoo! News
“Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver’s licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Friday by federal officials. The Homeland Security Department has spent years crafting the final regulations for the REAL ID Act, a law designed to make it harder for terrorists, illegal immigrants and con artists to get government-issued identification. The effort once envisioned to take effect in 2008 has been pushed back in the hopes of winning over skeptical state officials. Even with more time, more federal help and technical advances, REAL ID still faces stiff opposition from civil liberties groups. To address some of those concerns, the government now plans to phase in a secure ID initiative that Congress passed into law in 2005. Now, DHS plans a key deadline in 2011, and then further measures to be enacted three years later.” (01/10/08)

A lot of discussion about this, in the web this week. Yet, the longer it is pushed off, the more hope I have that the entire thing will ultimately die of its own inertia. The thing to remember is this does not INTRODUCE a police state: we already have that. It only aids the further development of the existing menace to liberty.

Mama's Note: I hope you are right, Nathan, but I don't have a good feeling about it. Overall surveillance is growing by leaps and bounds, and this is just a small part of it. My little rural town in NE Wyoming just got spy cameras paid for by "Homeland Security." They will, no doubt, be mounted all over to keep track of us. We have almost zero crime of any kind here, and most certainly no threat from foreign terrorists, but that hardly matters when federal loot is being handed out or "big brother" wants to monitor every move.

Islamic imperialists:
UK Bishop Sparks Row With Comments on Islam, Multiculturalism
CNSNews.com
The only Asian-born bishop in the Church of England is under fire for saying Islamic radicals have turned parts of Britain into “no-go” areas for non-Muslims...

Gee, one of their own cultural and ethnic background is speaking the truth, and they really don’t like it. Nor do the nanny-state one-world types, nor the High Commissioner’s own brand of thugs.

Land rights upheld:
Judge rules against candy billionaire in fight over drilling
Butte Montana Standard
“The Mars candy billions proved not enough in state court Tuesday, as a judge said a Wyoming company has the right to drill for natural gas beneath Forrest Mars’ sprawling southeastern Montana ranch. Drilling is expected to begin within days. Mars had sought to block Pinnacle Gas Resources from drilling on a 10,300-acre mineral lease it holds beneath his Diamond Cross cattle ranch. But Montana law gives oil and gas companies the right to drill on private land as long as they hold valid mineral leases and meet basic notification requirements.” (01/10/08)

For once, a judge seems to understand private property rights.

Mama's Note: In a backhanded way... Of course, the whole idea of private property is moot if someone can come and take it over to drill for oil, etc. The Mars folks should have considered that when they bought the place, naturally. If they bought it knowing about the mineral leases and the "shared" property rights, then they shouldn't complain. In reality, nobody owns private property at all anymore. With all the "environmental" and "endangered species" BS, taxes and eminent domain, it can be taken from anyone at any time. Ownership equals control. If you don't control it, you don't own it.

Local tyrants:
CA: Dellums behaving exactly as he said he would
San Francisco Chronicle
“If people had listened closely to Ron Dellums when he announced he was running for mayor of Oakland, they wouldn’t be surprised by his first year in office. ‘Potholes are important, but that’s not why people asked Ron Dellums to run,’ he said after making his surprise announcement more than two years ago. After 12 months on the job, the mayor is hearing grumbling from residents unhappy not only with pothole repairs but also with the slow pace of change in the city and Dellums’ apparent unwillingness to take bold measures to deal with crime and other city problems.” [Editor’s note: Now if he were truly just being an administrator, and rolling back local government and cutting taxes … he’d he a hero - SAT] (01/06/08)

Dellums is no hero, just another politician who has decided that total local power is as good as sharing power with 535 members of Congress – and makes a perfect tyrant for this poor, benighted city.

Massa-wannabes:
NH: Towns vote early for Obama, McCain
Associated Press
“Residents of two tiny towns stayed up late to give Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain early victories in the New Hampshire presidential primary. In Hart’s Location, Obama received 9 votes, Hillary Rodham Clinton 3 and John Edwards 1. On the Republican side, McCain received 6 votes, Mike Huckabee 5, Ron Paul 4 and Mitt Romney 1. In Dixville Notch, Obama got 7 votes, Edwards 2 and Bill Richardson 1. Among Republicans, McCain got 4 votes, Romney 2 and Rudy Giuliani 1. Although this year’s results were in line with the latest pre-election polls, neither town is known for foreshadowing the winners statewide on any consistent basis.” (01/08/08)

As later news would relate, both party winners turned out to be “surprises” and further muddled the contest. The real news is not who won the votes in NH, but what kind of last minute and post-vote fighting occurred, and the immediate cry of election misdeeds. As the next several stories relate, in some areas of public policy and liberty, there are few real choices, and most of the likely winners in both old parties are bad, really, really bad.

Massa-wannabes:
McCain’s Support for GOP Pro-life Plank Questioned
CNSNews.com
As a resurgent John McCain campaigned in New Hampshire Friday, some pro-life Republicans questioned the Arizona senator’s commitment to the pro-life plank of the Republican Party...

And of course, abortion is not the only part of public policy in which McCain is anything but good news.

Massa-wannabes:
Huckabee’s Populist Message Slams ‘Nanny State’
CNSNews.com
Windham, N.H. Though economic populism and small-government conservatism don’t seem to go together, Mike Huckabee is trying to make the two a logical combination. The Republican presidential candidate has swept through New Hampshire for the last several days, explaining why big government is a burden on working-class Americans...

Well, he is good at lying and hiding his agenda, a trait he shares with the last president from Arkansas (and truthfully, most Arkansawyer politicians).

Massa-wannabes:
Giuliani Pushes Small Government in Live-Free-or-Die State
CNSNews.com
Nashua, NH It’s a state he doesn’t plan on winning, and he’s currently running fourth in the polls. Still, Rudy Giuliani is spending time in New Hampshire in the final days of the campaign in hopes of a presentable showing that could strengthen his national front-runner’s status in other states...

This sort of façade is as much a joke as anything that McCain, Huckabee, or Romney are doing. But with Giuliani, it is even more a case of the Emperor’s new clothes.

Mama's Note: This is known as a "lie." You can tell when politicians are lying... their mouths move.

Massa-wannabes:
NH: Snubbed by Fox, Paul holds his own forum
Houston Chronicle
“Shut out of a GOP presidential candidate forum sponsored by Fox News, Ron Paul staged his own televised town hall meeting today in which he fielded questions from undecided voters two days before the key primary election here. The Lake Jackson Republican congressman faced a range of questions from the audience of about 100 people in the public access television station several miles from where four other presidential contenders were to later participate in the Fox debate. … Fox had invited Republican candidates Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain, Romney, Huckabee and Fred Thompson to the forum, but excluded Paul as well as California congressman Duncan Hunter.” (01/07/08)

Even with this snug, Paul got 9%: enough to remain viable as others drop out. There are multiple claims that voter fraud has again been perpetrated, but how much is sour grapes and how much is valid is unknown, at this time. We need a smoking gun, folks.

Mama's Note: That's going to be tough to find when the bureaucrats hold all the cards. It is possible that someone will "blow the whistle" and expose this fraud, but I don't think it's likely. In the meantime, there is no good reason to believe that these votes are being counted honestly or there would not be such hysteria denying any need for a paper trail... and even that can be manipulated, of course. It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes.

Massa-wannabes:
WY: Romney wins insider “caucus”
Yahoo! News
“Mitt Romney captured his first win of the Republican presidential race on Saturday, prevailing in Wyoming caucuses for a much-needed boost to his candidacy three days before the New Hampshire primary. ‘This is just the beginning,’ he declared. The former Massachusetts governor won eight delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got three and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one.” [Stringer’s note: Nothing good can come from a gun grabber like Romney. This is unbelievable in Wyoming - ML] [Editor’s note: Not as unbelievable as it sounds, Mama. The “caucus” was actually just a log roll between local party bosses, not a vote of real Wyoming voters - TLK] (01/06/08)

The state-level GOP in Wyoming is well-managed and able to engineer this. As usual, the GOP is able to convince people that he really doesn’t mean it (and get backed up by the NRA), and point out how critical all his stands on other issues are.

Mama's Note: And, as I pointed out to Tom, just who elects the local party bosses? Do they come from New York, or are they from Wyoming? I'm also getting reports from reliable friends in the western part of the state telling me of bus loads of Mormons brought in for the caucuses - folks who didn't seem to have a clue what the issues were, just did as they were told by their leaders. These were "real Wyoming voters," you can bet.

Massa-wannabes:
Bloomberg makes buzz at “centrist” confab
The Politico
“As a steady stream of centrist ex-politicos made their way into a white mansion on the grounds of Oklahoma University, one of the organizers of this confab of moderates tried to pour water on the burning question heating up the night. ‘This meeting doesn’t have anything to do with that,’ said former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.). ‘That,’ of course, is the rabid speculation about whether New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will launch a third-party bid for president. Bloomberg is one of about 15 former Republican and Democratic moderates who have gathered for a one-day bipartisan forum at Oklahoma University, hosted by former Democratic Sen. David Boren, who held a private dinner at his historic home on the campus.” [Editor’s note: The fact that anyone finds Bloomberg even remotely interesting, worthy or qualified says a lot, none of it good, about the current state of US politics - TLK] (01/06/08)

We know the current state of politics is very, very bad; this provides some potential for another 1860 election, in which a four-way race saw an obvious minority candidate win (Lincoln didn’t even get 40% of the popular vote, and carried several states with less than 40% of the vote in those states) and led almost immediately to the fracturing of the weakened Union.

Mama's Note: The more "fractured" the better. Too bad it didn't happen in 1860.

Massa-wannabes:
Obama’s Abortion Stance Hurts Blacks, Say Pro-Life Experts
CNSNews.com
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) may be riding what seems a perfect wave toward the Democratic presidential nomination, but some African-Americans say his pro-abortion stance make him a danger to the black community...

I agree – what more can I say? Too many black babies (and too many babies of ALL races) are being killed.

Massa-wannabes:
Romney Health Plan Linked to Abortion, Critics Claim
CNSNews.com
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney recently found himself defending the near-universal health insurance plan he succeeded in implementing in 2006 as Massachusetts governor. It is a program, however, that some pro-life leaders claim has advanced abortion and Planned Parenthood...

As with Obama for the Dems, so is Romney for the GOP: another facilitator of baby-killing who speaks one thing and does another.

Massa-wannabes:
GOP debate: Clones game Iran incident, Paul talks sense
Fox News
“The Republican candidates returned to their respective outposts on the campaign trail Friday, hours after appearing in a vigorous debate that focused on national security and America’s role in the world. The conversation began when the candidates evaluated the U.S. response during a recent incident in the Strait of Hormuz between a U.S. Navy ship and five Iranian speed boats. Five of the six candidates on stage at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in South Carolina applauded the commanding officers for responding with restraint …. Of the six candidates, only Ron Paul said he thought the incident was being blown out of proportion.” [Editor’s note: Whatever else can be said about Paul, he’s solid when it comes to making his fellow Republicans look like the belligerent idiots they are - TLK] (01/11/08)

Post-NH, life (if that word should be abused by applying it to this campaign) continues. Have I mentioned recently how tired I am of the 2008 election campaign?

Mesopotamian front:
Army tosses Abu Ghraib conviction
USA Today
“The Army has thrown out the conviction of the only officer court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib scandal, bringing an end to the four-year investigation and drawing complaints from human rights activists of a Pentagon whitewash. Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan was cleared this week of any criminal wrongdoing by Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, commander of the Military District of Washington. Jordan was instead given an administrative reprimand, a blot on his record.” (01/10/08)

Funny, isn’t it? When a convicted civilian wins on appeal, it is often looked at favorably. When a convicted soldier wins on appeal, it is usually considered another Army “whitewash.” I guess soldiers just don’t deserve the rights that civilians take for granted.

Mama's Note: Seems like SOMEONE needs to be held accountable for the torture and so forth... The Army has just eliminated almost everyone from the pool of available candidates. Did all those pictures just come out of thin air? And, just as with the police, SWAT raids, etc., the government isn't really too good about telling the truth or disciplining their own to start with. I think there is plenty of reason to be skeptical of this verdict.

Mesopotamian front:
Ex-Blackwater employees sentenced
MSNBC
“Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide, the beleaguered contractor whose practices in Iraq are under federal scrutiny, were sentenced to probation Thursday on gunrunning charges. Blackwater, the largest private security firm in Iraq, has been under scrutiny as a federal grand jury in Washington investigates the company’s involvement in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians. The firm is also under investigation for possible weapons smuggling allegations — which the firm strongly denies.” (01/10/08)

Gunrunning seems a bit serious to result in only probation, at least to governments. Of course, gunrunning is, to my way of thinking, not much of a crime: it is a matter of a free market. But of course, mercenaries should obey the law, even if civilians can be excused for not doing so.

Nazgul:
VT: Jury conscription lives
Yahoo.com
Judge Harold Eaton Jr., discouraged when a 34-person pool of potential jurors for a sex case was reduced to 20 people, sent sheriff's deputies into the street Wednesday to summon people to join them. Caledonia County Sheriff Michael Bergeron and three uniformed deputies stopped people on a sidewalk in front of the post office, asking if they lived in the county. Those who did and were 18 or older were given a summons to report to the courthouse.

A wonderful example of local tyranny, isn’t it? Bringing to life the old term “conscript fathers” (as the Senate of Rome was called), this shows one of the ironic problems with the jury-based court system. I admit that this is serious dilemma for a free society’s justice system. Trial by jury is the only alternative that makes sense. Someone who likes trials enough to volunteer to work on them full-time is too insane to trust their judgment. But at the same time, is it right to force people to serve? Of course, the dilemma has several ways to go around it: all of which involve getting rid of coercive government. Citizens are encouraged, not forced, to sign up for a jury list which ISN’T tied to voter lists or tax lists or driver lists or anything like that; the jury selection process is as close to random as possible, with only immediate and former (divorced) relatives of the defendant and victim (including stockholders of a defendant or victim) prohibited from serving, and trials under the control of those juries, not lawyers in robes or suits. And pay jurors exactly what they would make in their normal jobs or to hire someone to replace them in their normal occupations. These simple reforms would mean that a jury would be easily seated and more justice would be done.

Nazgul:
Justices to weigh what’s a humane execution
MSNBC
“A quarter-century has elapsed since the U.S. experienced as long a pause in executions as the one the Supreme Court has occasioned with its current examination of lethal injections. No one has been put to death since Sept. 25 and the earliest that executions are likely to resume is in the summer. Forty-two people were executed in 2007, the lowest total in 13 years.” (10/06/08)

No matter how this is handled, the one thing we can be certain of is that they will mess it up.

Mama's Note: Amen!

Nazgul:
SC: Appeals court upholds nasty note ruling
Yahoo! News
“Note to defendants: Don’t tell the judge to kiss the body part you sit on. The South Carolina Court of Appeals has upheld a judge’s contempt order against a St. Matthews woman who signed a court document with just such an instruction and told a probation officer to return the document to the judge. Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein found Judith Law in contempt and ordered her to serve 90 extra days. Law challenged the ruling, saying the contemptuous behavior happened outside the judge’s view. ‘No matter where Law signed the revocation order, her conduct was in the presence of the judge,’ the Appeals Court wrote in its decision last month.” (01/06/08)

Stupid Nazgul, too. What happened to free speech? Yeah, she probably pushed it, but the judge proved exactly what kind of a sick joke she is.

Nazgul:
AR: Court nixes mortgage holders recovering from land thieves
Springdale Morning News
“A Crawford County couple should not have been awarded attorney’s fees in an eminent domain lawsuit because the couple did not own the land that was the subject of the lawsuit, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The Supreme Court reversed a circuit court ruling that granted attorney’s fees to Lee and Patricia Hackler in a lawsuit over the city of Fort Smith’s acquisition of land near Lake Fort Smith in Crawford County. Although the Hacklers held a mortgage on the land, they did not meet the definition of landowners, the state’s highest court ruled.” (01/10/08)

Is the land being any less stolen from them just because they only hold a mortgage on it? Seems to me like this is just one of many problems with “eminent domain.” Time to end it.

Mama's Note: And just what IS the definition of "a landowner" in AR? The folks I know there pay property taxes AND have a mortgage. Maybe my friends could tell the mortgage HOLDERS that they should pay the taxes if they are the actual owners... I'll bet that wouldn't fly far.

Nazgul:
SCOTUS: Judges dissect challenge to voter ID law
Boston Globe
“The Supreme Court appeared unmoved yesterday by arguments that an Indiana law requiring voters to present photo identification imposes an unconstitutional burden. Some justices, however, appeared to search for a middle ground on the divisive and partisan political issue. The issue goes far beyond Indiana, as states with Republican-majority legislatures are pushing similar laws, saying they combat fraud. Voting rights specialists see the legal battle over Indiana’s toughest-in-the-nation voter identification law as the most starkly partisan case to reach the court since Bush v. Gore decided the presidential election in 2000. And the court’s questioning during an hour-long oral argument broke quickly along its own ideological divide. But the justice most often in recent years to play the decisive role — Anthony Kennedy — made it clear that he did not share the challengers’ view of the burden that producing a photo ID imposes.” (01/10/08)

Still undecided, of course.

Mama's Note: Seems simple enough to me. Anyone who wants to play the rigged game of voting shouldn't have any problem with playing the government ID game as well. Those who wish to maintain their privacy would just stay at home... pretty much like they do now. Can't have it both ways.

Nazgul:
Judge orders halt to Bible distribution in school
MSNBC
“A federal judge has ruled that it’s unconstitutional for a school district to allow the distribution of Bibles to grade school students. For more than three decades, the South Iron School District in Annapolis, Mo., allowed representatives of Gideons International to give away Bibles in fifth-grade classrooms. Eight parents sued two years ago and won a temporary injunction against the handouts.” (01/09/08)

Funny what can and can’t be distributed on school grounds, isn’t it? And what bans get more enforcement, too.

Mama's Note: Last I knew, Bibles were still available in book stores and lots of other places. The Gideons could offer to distribute Bibles to homeschoolers and private schools, of course. The real answer to this problem is to eliminate the government schools.

New religions: bogus science:
Decision on listing polar bear as endangered postponed
Associated Press
“Federal officials said Monday that they will need a few more weeks to decide whether polar bears need protection under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming. The deadline was Wednesday, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it now hopes to provide a recommendation to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in time for a decision by him within the next month. The department has never declared a species threatened or endangered because of climate change, Hall said.” (01/07/08)

There is no justification in the ESA to claim that so-called “global warming” is going to directly threaten the existence of the species of polar bears.

Mama's Note: The whole point of the exercise seems to be to send humans back to the stone age. None of these people are in the least interested in facts, logic or anything but their agenda - which they consider all the justification they need.

Our British cousins:
UK: Muslim anger at bishop’s “ghettos” attack
Independent [UK]
“Muslim leaders reacted angrily yesterday to a claim by the Bishop of Rochester that Islamic extremists have created ‘no-go’ areas in many cities and a plea for mosques to desist from using amplifiers to broadcast calls to prayer. The Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church of England’s only Asian-born bishop, sparked anger after writing in an article that in many predominantly Muslims areas of Britain’s cities people of a different faith face ‘hostility’ from the Muslim community who create ‘no-go’ areas. Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused Dr. Nazir-Ali of scaremongering.” (01/06/08)

From what I am hearing and seeing, I think he is understating the problem. The attack reaction is typical, and is an illustration of the very problem he is talking about.

Our right to travel:
Privacy advocates balk at new passport card technology
Chicago Sun-Times
“Passport cards for Americans who travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean will be equipped with technology that allows information on the card to be read from a distance. The technology was approved last week by the State Department and privacy advocates were quick to criticize the department for not doing more to protect information on the card, which can be used by U.S. citizens instead of a passport when traveling to other countries in the Western Hemisphere.” (01/06/08)

Privacy rights is just a small part of the “your papers, please” attitude that is now a fact of everyday life.

Mama's Note: Indeed! It's actually a little surprising that there is much objection to this at all from anyone but the die hard anarchists. We've had to present our state ID at the bank, post office, stores (to cash a check or use a credit card), and many other places for a long time now. Most people don't think anything of it. These places might well require an ID to transact business. The problem is allowing the state to monopolize any of it.

Past heroes:
Edmund Hillary, 1919-2008
Guardian [UK]
“Sir Edmund Hillary, the beekeeper from Auckland who conquered Mount Everest and went on to become one of the greatest adventurers of the 20th century, has died aged 88. … Hillary had been unwell for some time and died in hospital at about 9am Friday in New Zealand (8pm GMT Thursday) from a heart attack, local health officials said. It is understood he had not been well since April after he suffered a fall while on a climb in Nepal.” [Editor’s note: Still climbing in the Himalayas at 88 years old … wow! - TLK] (01/08/08)

A brave and nice man who will be missed, even by those of us born long after he made his historic assent.

Persian front:
Iran: Pentagon reports Iranian provocation
Bucyrus Telegraph Forum
“An Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters, then vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, the top U.S. Navy commander in the area said Monday. No shots were fired an an Iranian official in Tehran said the incident amounted to ’something normal.’” (01/08/08)

A day later, the same Iranian official was declaring the video tapes showing the incident to be fabrications, apparently claiming that nothing happened. A lot of people are claiming that this is an attempt to repeat a “Gulf of Tonkin” incident or another “Polish Border Incident” but there is no reason to do something like that on the part of the Bush Administration. If they wanted to go to war against Iran right now, there are at least a dozen better ways of providing “justification.” Iran, too, sees no need to significantly elevate tensions, but this is perfect for them: a quick and somewhat easily-misconstrued fake raid that reminds the US (and the West) how easily the Persian Gulf can become a ship graveyard and end ALL oil shipments for a very long time.

Mama's Note: The US government has seldom worried itself much about logic. The most recent reports tend to prove that this whole thing was a hoax. Same old, same old.

Right to keep and bear arms:
MI: Michigan sees fewer gun deaths — with more permits
Detroit Free Press
“Six years after new rules made it much easier to get a license to carry concealed weapons, the number of Michiganders legally packing heat has increased more than six-fold. But dire predictions about increased violence and bloodshed have largely gone unfulfilled, according to law enforcement officials and, to the extent they can be measured, crime statistics. The incidence of violent crime in Michigan in the six years since the law went into effect has been, on average, below the rate of the previous six years.” (01/06/08)

Once more demonstrating a fact that few in authority and most hoplophobes and hoploclasts refuse to understand: an armed society is not just a polite society, but a safer society.

Mama's Note: I just wonder at what point this overwhelming evidence will become, eh, overwhelming? But we need to separate out the "permit" BS from the rest of it. The permit isn't what makes the difference.

Right to keep and bear arms:
SC: Man won’t face charges for shooting roommate
WIS TV News
“Prosecutors have decided not to charge a man who shot his roommate three times. Authorities say 25-year-old Joseph Harriott threw 24-year-old Brian Sessoms out of his Summerville home New Year’s Day after Sessoms hit his 16-year-old girlfriend, then warned him he would shoot if he broke back in the home. Police say Sessoms climbed back into the house through a window on the second floor, and Harriott shot him as he came down the stairs. Prosecutors say Harriott then tried to treat Sessoms’ wound to the stomach, but Sessoms kept fighting. Harriott shot his roommate two more times. Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson says she decided not to charge Harriott because state law for self-defense says if the first shot is justified, a person can keep shooting until a threat is eliminated.” (01/04/08)

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be willing to treat the person you just had to shoot. It is important to make sure that they are no longer a serious threat before you do try to treat them.

Mama's Note: Yikes! This is really crazy. There is no way to "treat" an abdominal wound outside a hospital. Joseph wasted his time and endangered both of them doing anything but call for police backup. (In the absence of a better option, of course.)

Right to keep and bear arms:
TX: Home intruder shot, killed
Waco Tribune Herald
“A homeowner shot and killed a man as he forced his way into a home in Copperas Cove on Friday afternoon, police said. Police were called to 2204 Boland St. after shots were fired inside the home. They discovered a man who had been shot several times in the upper torso, Copperas Cove police said in a statement. Through the investigation, police learned the man was an intruder who had ‘entered the residence unlawfully and apparently used physical force against the homeowner,’ police said.” (01/04/08)

Gee, a clear statement and endorsement of self-defense!

Mama's Note: My goodness, those Texas crooks are stupid. Just imagine how low crime would be if Texas ever got rid of their antigun "laws" and everyone was decently armed. The crooks would all move to Louisiana...

Right to keep and bear arms:
PA: Man ignores warning shot
Centre Daily Times
“A College Township man faces criminal charges after he ignored an apparent warning shot while entering a State College home early Saturday morning. According to State College police, Nathan Wagner, 21, of 709 W. Cherry Lane, had broken a door window of a North Atherton Street residence about 2:30 a.m. and was trying to come inside when the homeowner confronted him with a shotgun and told him to leave. Wagner persisted, police said, and the homeowner fired a shot into an interior wall. Police, called by the homeowner’s wife before the shot, said they arrived to find Wagner still trying to open the door. As Wagner was taken into custody, police said, he appeared intoxicated, registered a blood-alcohol content of .22 and told officers he thought he was at a friend’s house for a party.” (01/06/08)

As mama asked, what did he have against the wall? The drunk was clearly too drunk to recognize the danger.

Mama's Note: Exactly, which means there was no justification to shoot at all since the drunk did not represent any real threat. Knowing when and when not to shoot is every bit as important as knowing HOW to shoot, and maybe more.

Right to keep and bear arms:
MI: Elderly man shoots intruder
WDIV News
“An 82-year-old man on Detroit’s northwest side shot and severely wounded an intruder who walked into his Collingwood Street home Sunday afternoon. Police said that the intruder, a 44-year-old man from Redford, was visiting friends in the neighborhood when he entered the home of Thomas Jackson, 82, and his wife. Jackson grabbed his gun and shot the intruder. Police are investigating why the man had entered the home, but a friend told Local 4 that the intruder has a history of mental illness.” (01/06/08)

Excuse me, but the friends should have made sure that he was being watched, in an unfamiliar neighborhood. As Mama pointed out, this might be used as an attempt to water down home-defense laws. We already know that thanks to a pack of baboons and a gutless president that “mental illness” has now become the latest way to disarm Americans – especially former veterans.

Mama's Note: And I do wonder if these people had their door locked. Probably not! Someone who is mentally confused like that would not be apt to kick the door down, and thus would not have been an "intruder" in the first place.

Right to keep and bear arms:
‘Antique Firearms’ Targeted in New York State Measure
CNSNews.com
New York has some of the toughest gun control laws on the books, and now a new measure being debated in the state assembly would mandate that people who want to buy muzzle-loading pistols or muskets get a permit for “antique firearms.”

Nothing more than an illegal tightening down the screws on the police state. IF the legislature’s baboons pass this, it IS time for an open revolution to restore the liberty New Yorkers have given so much blood to keep in the past, because it is an indication that the politicians and “leaders” are planning to do such evil things that they cannot trust even a black-powder weapon-owner to keep their toys..

Right to keep and bear arms:
80-year-old woman shoots mountain lion in her yard
Rapid City Journal
Eighty-year-old Martha Smith admits she was a little nervous when she walked out of her house to shoot a mountain lion snarling at her in her ranch house yard. It was about 4:30 p.m. last Thursday and the light was already fading when she heard her dog barking outside her house south of Fairburn. Smith looked outside and saw a mountain lion in her garden. Worried about the dog’s safety, she grabbed her .22 rifle, walked outside and took a shot at the lion but missed.

Very brave but whoo… a .22? As Mama said, “Brave, or really, really ignorant.” Being a ranchwoman at Fairburn (on the edge of the Black Hills, I suspect she is brave and knows how to use a rifle. Still…” The problem of big cats and other non-human threats is returning, and not just to the west. This second story from the Journal is interesting. Protect yourself and your family: go armed.

Right to keep and bear arms:
MD: Judge returns man’s revoked gun permit
Your4State News
“A Chambersburg man who had his gun permit taken away after bringing his weapon into a voting precinct was in court Tuesday. Greg Rotz says he did nothing illegal when he brought his openly carried firearm to a voting precinct on election night in November. According to state law, he’s right. That’s why after a very short hearing Tuesday afternoon, a judge decided Rotz’s permit should be returned. A number of gun-carriers came out in support of Rotz, many of whom he had never met.” (01/08/08)

All right! Great news. But expect the legisgators to try and change this law ASAP, especially in Maryland.

Right to keep and bear arms:
IN: 911 tape catches act of self-defense
NBC 5 News
“Police in Northwest Indiana have released the audio tape of an emergency call for help. A woman was reportedly watching TV when she heard a window breaking in her home and called 911. She then hid in a closet, armed with a gun. The tape captures the woman struggling with a man, repeatedly saying, ‘Stop it. Stop it.’ The woman eventually shot and killed the intruder. Police said she will not face charges, because she acted in self defense.” (01/10/08)

Good. Why does the news story sound so down on her? Because she hid? Of course not – that is what a victim is SUPPOSED to do. But she changed the rules on the rapist: she hid with a gun.

Mama's Note: I don't know why she waited so long to fire. Once he had his hands on her, the odds were in his favor, no matter how well she was armed. She was very lucky to come out of it alive. I keep saying this: having a gun is not enough. You must also know how and when to use it, and train as if your life depended on it... because it does.

Right to keep and bear arms:
CA: Court nixes San Francisco gun ban
Hawaii Reporter
“The California State Court of Appeals announced today their decision to overturn one of the most restrictive gun bans in the country, following a legal battle by attorneys for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a previous court order against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. ‘Today’s decision by the California State Court of Appeals is a big win for the law-abiding citizens and NRA Members of San Francisco,’ declared Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist.” (01/10/08)

More great news, but notice that the folks at RRND had to go to Hawaii to find a story that covered the whole thing. The Chron is hardly likely to be happy about a court appeal that overturns what that paper and many others worked so hard to get: a disarmed populace in one of the worst cities in North America.

South Asian front:
Peace brokers killed in Pakistan
CNN
“Suspected Islamic militants fatally shot eight tribal leaders involved in efforts to broker a cease-fire between security forces and insurgents in Pakistan’s volatile northwest, authorities said Monday. The men were killed in separate attacks late Sunday and early Monday in South Waziristan, a mountainous region close to Afghanistan where al Qaeda and Taliban militants are known to operate, a security official and the military said in a statement.” (10/07/08)

Clearly, Islam has no beatitude (although they claim to honor the teachings of Him they call “Issa”) “Blessed are the peacemakers.” They kill them instead. Can Islam and the rest of the world coexist? Not in the present forms, that is clear.

South Asian Front:
Cambodia: Dengue fever killed 407 in 2007
Yahoo! News
“Dengue fever killed 407 people in Cambodia last year, the highest number of fatalities in nearly a decade, a health official said Friday. Most of those who died from the disease were children, said Ngan Chantha, director of the National Anti-Dengue Fever Program. Most of dengue’s victims are children. There is no vaccine or cure for the mosquito-borne virus, which causes rashes, blistering headaches, nausea and excruciating joint aches. The most serious form of the disease can cause internal bleeding, liver enlargement and circulatory shut down.” [Stringer’s note: More “unintended consequences” of the DDT ban, which has killed millions of people all over the world because of a vague and unproved fear of cancer - ML] (01/04/08)

Mama Liberty (in her new role as Stringer for RRND/FND) has it right. Unlike so much of Cambodia’s woes (which come from its Communist occupation), the DDT ban is purely a western environist trick which kills hundreds of thousands a year, and leaves millions malnourished because insects consume such massive amounts of food.

South Asian front:
Pakistanis Believe US Greater Threat Than al Qaeda
CNSNews.com
Pakistanis think the U.S. military presence in Asia and Afghanistan is a far greater threat to Pakistan than the terrorist group al Qaeda, according to a new survey...

Obviously, the respective (or perceived) religions might have something to do with this. And clearly, if the US is really engaged in any sort of propaganda effort, this is an indication that it is failing.

Stupid government tricks:
Bush defends NCLB
USA Today
“President Bush said Monday that if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the No Child Left Behind education law, he’ll make as many changes as he can on his own. Bush also said that if Congress does renew the law but weakens it in the process, he’d ’strongly oppose it and veto it.’” (01/07/08)

How sad that this man seeks to preserve his “legacy” by continuing to violate the Constitution on a matter such as this, and sees it necessary to threaten a veto that he has refused to use on thousands of pieces of legislation that were not so bad as this.

Stupid government tricks:
FBI wiretaps dropped due to unpaid bills
Fox News
“Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau’s repeated failures to pay phone bills on time. A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI’s lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said. In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation ‘was halted due to untimely payment,’ the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government’s most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies. ‘We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence,’ according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows.” (01/10/08)

Great news, eh? Nice to know, too, just how little it takes to corrupt an FBI agent, given inflation and prices these days.

Mama's Note: This bit went through most of the message boards I visit like corn through a goose... and I didn't even know the government even made any pretense of paying for this.

Stupid government tricks:
Flaw leads to US fighter jet groundings
CNN
“An Air Force investigation of the crash last fall of an F-15C Eagle concluded that a defective metal beam in the frame cracked, causing it to disintegrate during flight. In a report being released Thursday, obtained in advance by The Associated Press, Air Force investigators said they had found the sole reason for the accident was the faulty support beam, called a longeron, which failed to meet the manufacturer’s specifications.” (01/10/08)

These aircraft are getting pretty long in the tooth, and all the defects of their method of procurement and all the other government tricks involved in getting them, from Congress on down, are finally catching up with them. As are the effects of 18 years of combat operations: even the most carefully maintained equipment will start to fail, and when you continuously raid maintenance budgets for more money to support yet another humanitarian mission or combat mission in yet another country, this is what happens.

Stupid government tricks:
Hazing prevention among topics at NCAA convention
Tennessean
“One of the highlighted discussions at the opening of the five-day NCAA convention on Thursday was about athlete hazing. Some of the most compelling information was presented by Alfred University’s Dr. Norm Pollard, who was involved in a research study on hazing after a freshman rookie football party resulted in five football players being taken to the hospital for severe alcohol poising in 1998. In that case, players were leashed to furniture in a plastic-covered room and made to stay there until they consumed enough alcohol (or water) that they threw up. ‘When we were first involved in hazing, we felt we were the only school affected,’ Pollard said. ‘But what happened at Alfred is not unique.’” (01/10/08)

You would think that an organization like this would have more important things to worry about.

Mama's Note: Indeed. It's not like there's a snowball's chance of stamping out stupidity in college frats...

Stupid government tricks:
UK: NHS dentistry crisis
Independent [UK]
“The crisis in NHS dentistry is rapidly worsening because dentists are switching thousands of patients to private treatment, figures show. … Patients’ organisations said the decline in NHS dentistry was alarming and could lead to the eventual collapse of the NHS dental service. Surveys show patients are having increasing difficulty in finding an NHS dentist and the Government admitted last year that two million patients who wanted access to an NHS dentist had failed to get it.” [Editor’s note: There seems to be a cause/effect error here: Dentists are switching patients to private service because socialized care is a failure, not the other way around - TLK] (01/11/08)

And we want this in the US, according to all the Democrats and some Republicans like Huckabee and Romney?

Stupid people tricks:
Mexico: Boy glues hand to bed to avoid school
Yahoo! News
“A 10-year-old Mexican boy dreaded returning to school after Christmas break so much that he glued his hand to his bed. Sandra Palacios spent nearly two hours Monday morning trying to free her son Diego’s hand with water, oil and nail polish remover before calling authorities, police chief Jorge Camacho told The Associated Press from outside the northern city of Monterrey.” (01/07/08)

What could generate such fear? Obviously, if the parents saw no problem in calling the authorities, they saw no problem in forcing their child to be incarcerated for most of each day in a government-run school. How sad.

Stupid people tricks:
UK: Deported to the Philippines for breaching Asbo
Independent [UK]
“A young man has been deported to the Philippines, a country he left as a four-year-old, for breaching an antisocial behaviour order. John Garcia, 20, is faced with building a new life in a country where he has no close relatives and does not speak a word of the language. He is thought to be the first person to have been removed from Britain for failing to abide by the terms of his Asbo.” (01/07/08)

Apparently we are to feel sympathy for this young hoodlum, but it is very hard to: he obviously knew what he was doing and is now paying a price he was warned he would have to pay.

Mama's Note: Perhaps so, but I didn't see any real indication for it. Remember that these Asbo "laws" are made by the same people who make the gun "laws" and forbid people to defend themselves in any way! They want social nirvana, and those who don't play the game according to all the nanny rules would certainly not be acceptable in any case.

Stupid people tricks:
Woman booted from Army for breast implants
Fox News
“A woman has been kicked out of army training because she has silicone breast implants. Alessija Dorfmann, 23, said: ‘I am devastated. It has always been my dream to be a soldier and have a great figure. Now my fake boobs have cost me my job.’ She has appealed against the ruling by top brass in Hamburg, Germany, who said implants increased risk of injury.” (01/05/08)

Frankly, I think she is incredibly stupid, and that alone should have gotten her thrown out.

Mama's Note: Frankly, I don't see how they could have been so stupid as to let her join in the first place. Maybe they deserved each other. <G>

Stupid people tricks:
MA: Cheating on fire exam is alleged
Boston Globe
“State officials are investigating whether a group of Boston firefighters cheated during a civil service promotional exam in November, taking turns going to the men’s room, tapping out answers on their cellphones, and sending text messages to their colleagues in the testing room. The state Human Resources Division confirmed that it received an anonymous complaint about cheating during a lieutenant exam taken by 186 firefighters and felt it credible enough to launch an investigation. If proved true, the allegations could force the agency to scrap the test results and administer a new test.” (01/06/08)

One more piece of evidence that governments shouldn’t be providing fire protection and prevention services.

Tech and stupid people tricks:
GM researching driverless cars
Raw Story
“Cars that drive themselves — even parking at their destination — could be ready for sale within a decade, General Motors Corp. executives say. GM, parts suppliers, university engineers and other automakers all are working on vehicles that could revolutionize short- and long-distance travel. And Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner will devote part of his speech to the driverless vehicles. ‘This is not science fiction,’ Larry Burns, GM’s vice president for research and development, said in a recent interview. The most significant obstacles facing the vehicles could be human rather than technical: government regulation, liability laws, privacy concerns and people’s passion for the automobile and the control it gives them.” [Editor’s note: If they simply mean being able to program the auto to “go home” after a party, this might not be a bad thing - SAT] (01/06/08)

Of course, other private business has already provided that service: in Rapid City, SD, “Scooters” provides a “drive-you-home” service: one of their drivers shows up on a little fold-up motor scooter at your favorite watering hole, puts the scooter in a gasoline/waterproof bag that fits into your truck or back seat, pours you into the passenger seat and drives you home; leaves the car there and unfolds his motorcycle to go to his next assignment. For about $25 in most places. Meanwhile, in France, truck drivers are watching TV and playing video games as they drive “by ear” – using the rumble strips on the side to guide their steering. I suspect even a 386 might be smarter than those clowns.

Mama's Note: Well, there could be logical applications, but I really want one that can go to the grocery store with a list and come home with what I need, drop stuff off at the post office, and other such errands. Then I wouldn't have to go anywhere much but to church once a week. I suspect that's asking too much until Heinlein's robots become a reality. Did I mention that I hate shopping? (Except gun stores and shows, of course. <G>)

Tech news:
Wikipedia founder launches search engine
MSNBC
“An internet search engine that draws on human recommendations is due to make its first public appearance on Monday, although even its founder warns that it will take some time to tell if the experiment can yield useful results. Created by Jimmy Wales, the man behind online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the search service will let users rate the relevance of results on a five-star system, then apply that information to shape future search results shown to others. It will also draw on ideas from online social networking to try to establish reputations for its users and decide whose ratings should carry the most weight.” [Editor’s note: It’s up, at alpha.search.wikia.com - TLK] (01/07/08)

Feedback is good, so I hope that they got the engine to work right.

Mama's Note: It's working now. Here's the link.

Theft by government (American union front):
Apaches to Homeland Security: No land for border fence
Atlantic Free Press
“Apache land owners on the Rio Grande told Homeland Security to halt the seizure of their lands for the US/Mexico border wall, during a national media conference call Monday. It was the same day that a 30-day notice from Homeland Security expired with the threat of land seizures by eminent domain to build the US/Mexico border wall. … Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez, Lipan Apache professor living in the Lower Rio Grande, described how US officials attempted to pressure her into allowing them onto her private land to survey for the US/Mexico borderwall. When Tamez refused, she was told that she would be taken to court and her lands seized by eminent domain’ ‘I have told them that it is not for sale and they cannot come onto my land.’ Tamez is among the land owners where the Department of Homeland Security plans to erect 70 miles of intermittent, double-layered fencing in the Rio Grande Valley.” (01/08/08)

A bogus news story, indeed: the lady (whose claim to membership in the Lipan tribe seems to be undocumented, as well as that of most of the people cited in the article) owns the land not as a tribal member but like any other Texan. However, the issue is real: federal agencies are attempting to use eminent domain to take private land to build a fence on the border, even on the Rio Grande itself. How horrible? But who gave these agencies (mostly DHS) this authority? Why, the US Congress, of course. Power given them long before the Bush administration, in fact. Yep, the baboons. Heaven forbid that normal citizens should be shown as examples of government theft: it is only the so-called “Native Americans” (most of us really, really dislike that phrase) who claim some sort of mystical, hyper-spiritual tie to the land and to “bridges, not walls” that can be used as reasons to deny the Feds their thievery. Well, the Lipans were not as bad as my own ancestors (a distant relative of mine was also quoted in the story), but most of the tribes whose members were quoted in the story used those “bridges” and those ties between Mexico and the US to facilitate raids to steal horses, children, wives (slaves), and whatever else they could ride off with. Beware of the hogwash.

Theft by government (American union front):
Feds: 102 lawsuits to build one border fence
Arizona Republic
“The government is readying 102 court cases against landowners in Arizona, California and Texas for blocking efforts to selected sites for a fence along the Mexican border, a Homeland Security Department official said Wednesday. With the lawsuits expected soon, the legal action would mark an escalation in the clash between the government and the property owners. The Bush administration wants to build 370 miles of fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers by the end of the year. A number of property owners have granted the government access to their land, but others have refused. The agency sent letters to 135 of hem last month, warning they had 30 days to comply. Thirty-three did so. The deadline for many passed on Monday or should expire this week for others. Resistance is most intense in Texas, which accounts for 71 cases; there are 20 in California and 11 in Arizona, said Russ Knocke, a Homeland Security spokesman.” (01/10/08)

A continuation of the above story, but one with more data and less feelings and propaganda. As I have stated elsewhere, eminent domain is evil. If these people want these travelers from Mexico to tramp all over their land – if they are WILLING to allow trespass, then build the wall around them! Don’t force them to accept a service that they don’t want, but protect their neighbors from their stupidity.

Mama's Note: Elimination of the barriers that now prevent those people from defending their property would seem to be a far more intelligent answer than some "wall." Those who trespass on private land should not be ignored, certainly, but government answers to such things are usually both futile and expensive - in both stolen loot and liberty for anyone. This fence thing is no more about liberty or justice than the REAL ID card thing.

Theft by government employees:
MA: Boston firemen getting enhanced pensions
Boston Globe
“In the last six years, 102 Boston firefighters have substantially enhanced their tax-free disability pensions by claiming career-ending injuries while they were filling in for superiors at higher pay grades, according to a Globe review of city retirement and payroll records. By making their injury claims while on temporary assignment, the firefighters were able to boost their pensions an average of $10,300 a year, to $61,737 apiece. The average lifetime increase for the 102 firefighters works out to $248,000, according to actuarial tables. The supplements, made possible by a provision in the firefighters contract, will cost the city $25 million over time.” (01/07/08)

Triggered of course, by the original theft by government of privatized firefighting, supported it with stolen (tax) money, and manage it with all the skill of a piranha school stripping a cow trapped in the mud. It ain’t the “city” that is going to have to pay out $25 M, it is the rate-payers of that city that the money is stolen from so that the city has “its” money.

Theft by government:
NH: Corporate welfare deal stirs fears
Manchester Union Leader
“Two residents and their attorneys argue that part of [Claremont]’s recent eminent domain agreement with the Wheelabrator trash-burning plant could threaten the city’s authority to object to future expansion of the facility. ‘The city agrees to grant to Wheelabrator any and all licenses, permits and other authorizations necessary or reasonably desirable to continue to operate the facility so long as Wheelabrator operates the facility in compliance with said licenses, permits and authorizations,’ the agreement states. … Backed by two attorneys, Claremont residents Nelia Sargent and Rebecca MacKenzie say the language in the settlement agreement could limit the city’s rights to protect the health and welfare of Claremont citizens in the future.” (01/07/08)

It is not the part about the permits that bothers me on this scheme: it is the use of the evil power of eminent domain, and in a situation where there was not any “need” to steal land!

World tyranny:
Energy organization to be proposed
Arizona Republic
“Japan, the United States and European countries will jointly propose at this year’s Group of Eight summit meeting that an international organization be established to study and evaluate the energy-saving measures of countries including China and India. The launch of the organization is part of international efforts to provide emerging large consumers of energy with the advanced energy-saving know-how of developed countries, and to study the effectiveness of such measures. The new organization would be funded by Japan, the United States and European countries, with the International Energy Agency in Paris being considered as a possible location for the new body’s headquarters.” (01/07/08)

Another supra-national organization to control yet another part of life – another and worse evil from those that have brought us the IAEA, WTO, and LOST.

Mama's Note: One of the most valuable things my mother taught me was this: When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging!! Why in the world do people insist on digging ever faster and deeper, never once admitting that their frantic activity is exactly what is causing the problems! Remember the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

World wars:
Private security contractors look to Africa for recruits
Christian Science Monitor
“Human rights activist Phil ya Nangolo started hearing rumors in the fall about an American security group opening shop here, with plans to recruit thousands of former Namibian soldiers to work in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many ex-fighters, he recalls, were excited about the arrival of the Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group (SOC-SMG), an ‘international force protection’ company with clients that include the US Army and Marine Corps. After all, this sparsely populated country in southwest Africa struggles with a 35 percent unemployment rate, and thousands of the country’s former independence fighters are jobless. But Mr. Nangolo, the director of Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights, was concerned.” (01/07/08)

The dilemma when it comes to “privatizing” military forces is always with us: who controls them – obviously their paymasters, but who do the paymasters report to? In this case, we have a bunch of people being recruited who were nothing more than members of a semi-organized gang of murderers, rapists, robbers, and bullies, who very well may bring their bad habits (evils) with them. At the same time, what can poor, impoverished countries do? For centuries Ireland and Scotland exported hundreds of thousands of mercenaries to the rest of the world, and no doubt some of those were as bad as these Namibians.

World wars:
Missile Defense Plans Face New Hurdles
CNSNews.com
Kicking off a series of diplomatic initiatives that could decide the fate of the Pentagon’s vision for ballistic missile defense in Europe, Poland’s new prime minister will visit the Czech Republic this week to discuss the plan...

No matter how evil we want to think the US is, it is clear that for the people who had the Soviet boot on their necks for 50 years, the US and its missile shield are a far preferable choice to either a new Soviet Union (or Russian Empire, if you prefer) or living under threat of an Islamic Imperialist power armed with missiles and either nukes or chemicals.

Finally, the mailbag is back! We want your feedback. Your comments are welcome! Please copy/paste the items you comment on into your email. Then we'll know what you are talking about!!

Nathan Barton is writing this from a wonderful place in the West, which might be in the Black Hills of South Dakota or Wyoming, or might be in one of the Four Corners States. Exactly where it is, the breezes blow with the scent of liberty, and the sound of the pines or the pinions is the sound of freedom. For thousands of years, people have fought and died for the liberty that Americans in the great spaces of the West enjoy, and he writes these commentaries in the hopes that continued generations will be able to do so, until the end of Time.

Be sure to visit my blog, Liberty's Outpost.

Special Feature! Add your signature to the NEW Declaration of Independence
By Robert Greenslade

Several people have asked about buying Gadsden Flags (the rattlesnake "Don't Tread on Me flags used by the June 23d Movement and other Property Rights Organizations: you can get them for $10.00 plus shipping here.

To Read previous Commentaries, go to the archives page and click onto the link for the week. The commentaries are linked from the weekly front pages.

Please note: Information about readers is never given or sold to anyone for any purpose. Remember, however, that many people can read and recover anything posted to web sites or email unless it is carefully encrypted. Please take personal responsibility for what you post anywhere. MamaLiberty)

Visit the Rational Review News Digest - Subscribe to the daily email edition

To contribute to RRND using PayPal or e-gold, see the sidebar of any page at rationalreview.com.

If you prefer tax deductibility, support ISIL and "earmark" your contribution for the support of Freedom News Daily.

And if you'd like to physically ship us checks, money orders, wampum, bullion, Federal Reserve Notes, used bottles that can be returned for deposit refunds, or pieces of toast with images of the Virgin Mary on them that we can auction on eBay, just drop me a line for instructions on how to do that. (Seriously: We're always looking for computer hardware -- if you've got a reasonably recent desktop or laptop that you're looking to unload, let me know).

THANK YOU for your continuing support!

Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review

[Please note: The Price of Liberty is a non-commercial website and does not derive any income from the support of RRND or anything else. ]

Links to Previous
Commentaries are on the front page for each week. Check the archives page.

[Some article sources require registration, use this link)

Subscribe to Rational Review News Digest

To contribute to RRND using PayPal or e-gold, see the sidebar of any page at rational
review.