Libertarian Commentary on the News, 03 - 09 February, 2008

Russian front:
Russian groups: Draft curbs opposition
Arizona Republic
“For two years, Oleg Kozlovsky has been a fixture at anti-Kremlin street demonstrations, confronting riot police and just as often getting arrested. One of the leaders of a youth movement called Oborona (Defense), Kozlovsky, a 23-year-old graduate student at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, said his group’s goal is nothing less than the ‘downfall of the authoritarian regime.’ … ‘The police system has not been able to cope with this small yet cohesive and dedicated group,’ Kozlovsky wrote last year on a blog. ‘Oborona has now been transformed into a serious political force.’ But the system, as Kozlovsky calls it, has finally silenced him. Late last month, Kozlovsky was picked up by police, taken to a military-conscription office and quickly shipped to a military base to serve a year in the army. He and friends say his status as a student legally exempts him from service.” (02/03/08)

The government has many ways of dealing with problems and some of them don’t involve direct use of clubs or guns, do they?

So what?
UK: Loan shark charged kids 100% interest, took PlayStation collateral
Daily Mail [UK]
"A barber ripped off schoolchildren by lending them cash and taking their PlayStation consoles as security. Brian Darwent, 37, ran the loan shark scheme from his back street hairdressing salon, a court heard. He also took advantage of housewives who went to him as a last resort. He charged 100 per cent interest on cash loans, keeping games consoles, bank cards and other valuables until debts were paid off." (02/07/08)

Excuse me, but was he FORCING these kids and housewives to borrow from him? Was he threatening them in any way to make them patronize them? Indeed, it was the government which could be claimed to be forcing them to patronize a loan-shark, since the government does not allow underage persons to contract, and since it is pretty much government regs that have made it impossible for “legitimate” banks to loan money to “jobless” housewives.

South Asian front:
Pakistan: Taliban offers truce, Army demurs
Christian Science Monitor
"In a curious development highlighting the confusion in Pakistan's tribal areas, the Taliban announced Wednesday it had declared a cease- fire with Pakistani forces. But Pakistani forces promptly denied it. It appears that the militants in the tribal belt are maneuvering for time and space. Taliban leader Mullah Omar has recently been trying to turn the Taliban's attentions toward Afghanistan, not Pakistan. This cease-fire claim could represent an effort to call off Pakistan operations so that the Taliban can refocus and regroup." (02/07/08)

Clearly the two struggles are related, but Pakistan knows if it accepts a “ceasefire” it will find itself in the same situation as Sri Lanka: a divided “nation” in which more and more warlordism develops. Both sides are basically thugs claiming to be legitimate, and this will not change.

Stupid cop tricks:
UK: Policeman “pressured” to bug MP
BBC News [UK]
“An ex-police officer who allegedly bugged an MP’s visit to a jailed constituent said the Met Police put him under ’significant pressure’ to do so. Former Thames Valley Police officer, Mark Kearney, who faces charges over leaking stories, said he had felt it was not justified to bug MP Sadiq Khan. Shadow home secretary David Davis said it was an ‘extraordinary allegation.’ And it has emerged that officials in the Home Office and Ministry of Justice were told in December of the incident.” (02/04/08)

In other words, he caved and did what was wrong because the cops (“devil”) made him do it? Of course, if you know that the Met Police are going to be on your back if you don’t do what they tell you, it can be pretty bad.

Stupid cop tricks:
Report: Sleeping officers at US monuments
MSNBC
“The Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial are all national icons — potent symbols of American ideals and democracy. And yet these national treasures are often left woefully unprotected — by absent guards, sleeping officers, and a disinterested, under-trained police force, according to a stinging report published today by the Interior Department’s Inspector General. Interior IG Earl Devaney and his staff recently interviewed more than 100 U.S. Park Police staffers, and secretly monitored Park Police security operations at national monuments in New York and Washington. They found ‘deficient security’ at the monuments and ‘an inability to effectively conduct police operations.’” [Editor’s note: The report says that last like it’s a bad thing. Hell, if they’re sleeping it means they’re NOT tyrannizing the populace! - TLK] (02/04/08)

What a stereotypical example!

Mama's Note: Two things... the "national treasures" are obviously not under any attack. Second, there is no evidence that any number of cops - awake or asleep - would be able to protect them if they were.

Stupid cop tricks:
FBI wants palm prints, eye scans, tattoo mapping
CNN
“The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people’s physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists. But it’s an issue that raises major privacy concerns — what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans.” (02/04/08)

One more block to be placed in the wall between Americans and that fading ideal called liberty.

Mama's Note: Read Out of the Gray Zone for some ideas on this. Where there is a will, there is a way to overcome it.

Stupid cop tricks:
UK: Police lose six million hours a year to red tape
Daily Mail [UK]
“Up to six million police hours a year are being wasted on bureaucracy, says a damning review. Officers are ’straitjacketed’ by red tape and reduced to arresting the most minor of offenders to meet crime targets. The withering verdict is passed by Sir Ronnie Flanagan in his bombshell review of the state of the police service.” (02/05/08)

Hey, at least that means that they are not out bullying Her Majesty’s subjects for six million additional hours a year!

Stupid government tricks:
UK: Children’s pancake race axed by health, safety killjoys
Daily Mail [UK]
“A cathedral city’s traditional pancake race has been scrapped because of fears over health and safety. The event was revived 11 years ago and since then crowds have gathered in the centre of Ripon, North Yorkshire, on Shrove Tuesday to watch school children running down a cobbled street flipping pancakes as they go. The start is signalled by the ringing of the cathedral’s ancient ‘pancake bell’ at 11 am on the day. The bell, originally sounded to call worshippers to make their confession before the start of Lent, has been rung at that time for at least 600 years. However, organisers have reluctantly scrapped the popular pancake race this year because of mounting costs and bureaucracy linked to health and safety rules.” (02/04/08)

The nanny-state in action.

Mama's Note: Huh? Last time I looked there were no sharp edges on a pancake...

Stupid government tricks:
UK: Welfare decision benefits polygamists
Fox News
“British men who marry several women in a country where polygamy is allowed can legally claim welfare benefits for all of them, a government review has concluded. Polygamy is illegal in Britain, but the Department for Work and Pensions said Saturday that its yearlong review of welfare regulations dating back to 1987 found that men who marry several women legally in other countries can maintain those relationships here and claim welfare benefits for each one. The ministry estimates that up to 1,000 polygamous relationships exist in Britain, and the ruling is expected to primarily benefit members of the Muslim minority who married elsewhere under Islamic law. But the Department for Work and Pensions said few of Britain’s polygamous families claimed welfare benefits. Concerns were raised in 2006 that a loophole in the income support system might give a financial advantage to people with more than one spouse. But the review found that this was not the case.” (02/03/08)

More of the nanny-state in action: busy undermining all other institutions and promoting evil in the guise of doing good. I think Paul (the Apostle) called it: “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

Stupid government tricks:
US acknowledges use of waterboarding
Canon City Daily Record
“Senate Democrats demanded a criminal investigation into waterboarding by government interrogators Tuesday after the Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that the tactic was used on three terror suspects. In congressional testimony Tuesday, CIA Director Michael Hayden became the first administration official to publicly acknowledge the agency used waterboarding on detainees following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.” (02/05/08)

It is not that Democrats wouldn’t use this tactic when they wanted to (“needed to”) but for now it just gives them a hammer to use against the evil Bush Administration.

Mama's Note: The pot calling the kettle black, and they are both as black as the ace of spades. Yes, the Bush Admin. is about as evil as they come. Whoever wins the throne will continue the legacy of murder. There isn't a dime's worth of difference among them.

Stupid government tricks:
Bush vows to protect co-conspirators
MSNBC
“President Bush will veto terrorist surveillance legislation pushed by Senate Democrats that doesn’t give retroactive legal protections to telecommunication providers who let the government spy on e-mails and phone calls involving people in the U.S., Officials said Tuesday. The veto threat, detailed in a 12-page letter from Attorney General Michael Mukasey and National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, was sent to the Senate as lawmakers grapple with how to update a 1978 surveillance law without violating privacy rights.” (02/05/08)

Just what happened to constitutional bans on “post ex defacto” laws?

Mama's Note: And just where have you been hiding all these years? That's been going on for a very long time, just usually not quite so blatant. They very piously resurrected the idea, however, when the disparate crack/powdered cocaine sentencing was changed... couldn't make THAT retroactive to all the poor schmucks in jail, now could they?

Stupid government tricks:
Racial harassment cases rise sharply
USA Today
“Cases of racial harassment filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission increased 24% last year, a time of racial turmoil that included the Jena Six controversy and an outbreak of noose displays. At the same time, state and city lawmakers have stepped up efforts to make it a crime to intimidate someone with a noose. And the Justice Department, which set up a network to link investigators reviewing noose incidents, has indicted a Louisiana teen on hate crime charges for dangling a noose from his pickup and driving past demonstrators after a protest in Jena, La., in September.” (02/05/08)

It is, of course, in the interest of the EEOC and its employees, as well as the Justice Department, to see such a increase in order to justify both their continued existence and their ever-increasing budgets.

Stupid government tricks:
Mexico: No shaving while driving
Yahoo! News
“Motorists in northern Mexico who are caught dabbing on lipstick, shaving or carrying a pet at the wheel will now face hefty fines as authorities try to cut down on traffic accidents. Putting on make-up or shaving with an electric razor will land drivers fines of up to 346 pesos ($32) in the northern Mexican city of Torreon from this month, Mexican media reported on Saturday. Along with a slew of higher fines for common traffic offenses such as driving while intoxicated, speeding, and talking on a telephone without a headset, Torreon city hall said new misdemeanors included throwing trash out of a car window, and driving with another person or an animal on a motorist’s lap.” (02/04/08)

You might think this is a joke, but apparently not only do the cops in northern Mexico get disarmed (see above story) but they also have to take time off from battling corruption in their own ranks and druglords to fine people for shaving or putting on lipstick. Which, of course, brings more opportunities for graft and abuse of civilians.

Mama's Note: Agreed, but what puzzles me is why anyone would want to do those things while they drove in the first place. Driving, even on wide and uncrowded roads here in Wyoming, is a full time job and there is no real reason to be doing anything else if one wishes to get where they are going in one piece. Anyone who can't see that is merely stupid, not criminal.

Stupid government tricks:
Serbia: Hospitals to ban gossiping
Yahoo! News
"A ban on grumpiness, gossiping, mini-skirts and rudeness is what the doctor orders to improve patient care in Serbia's hospitals, according to new rules issued by the country's Health Ministry. The rules, posted on the ministry's Web site, say staff are not allowed to criticize their hospital or their superiors, and should not accept gifts for their services. Hospital staff are often bribed with cash or gifts for attention or better treatment. 'There needs to be ground rules for decency,' a ministry spokesman said." (02/07/08)

Actually, this makes a kind of sense, except that government has no business dictating to doctors and nurses: it should be an internal management matter.

Mama's Note: Makes a lot of difference if the government is running the hospitals, of course. As a retired nursing supervisor, I can tell you that a bad attitude of any kind, unprofessional dress or insubordination of any kind was not tolerated. There were proper channels to voice problems or concerns about the hospital policies and staff, and spouting off to patients was not one of them. But it all has to be a matter of work ethic and intelligent management. A mere "ban" by government isn't going to change a thing, except possibly for the worse.

Stupid government tricks:
MA: Subsidized healthcare plan cost to double
Boston Globe
“The subsidized insurance program at the heart of the state’s healthcare initiative is expected to roughly double in size and expense over the next three years — an unexpected level of growth that could cost state taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars or force the state to scale back its ambitions. State projections obtained by the Globe show the program reaching 342,000 people and $1.35 billion in annual expenses by June 2011. Those figures would far outstrip the original plans for the Commonwealth Care program, largely because state officials underestimated the number of uninsured residents. The state has asked the federal government to shoulder roughly half of the program’s cost from 2009 through 2011, but there is no guarantee of that funding. Commonwealth Care provides free or subsidized insurance for low- and moderate-income residents.” (02/03/08)

And exactly how many warnings were given by various people and organizations that this was exactly what was going to happen?

Mama's Note: Duh!! There is NO such thing as a free lunch.

Stupid people tricks:
Cyber-savvy town gets rich on eBay frauds
Times [UK]
“Hundreds of people in the poor Romanian town of Dragasani have grown rich by conning eBay online auction customers with deals that seem too good to be true — and often are. The scammers have even put the new town hall up for sale on eBay, the mayor admitted last week. ‘I mean, who would want it?’ he asked. Despite growing concern about online frauds, the European Union has poured £150,000 into computer training courses in Dragasani over the past three years in ’special recognition’ of its IT skills. ‘I heard about another offer on eBay selling a MiG fighter jet. There was a photo and a very good price as the customer was only being asked to pay for the fuel to fly it. One guy paid $2,000!’ the mayor, Gheorghe Iordache, exclaimed.” (02/03/08)

Of course, the EU is the REALLY stupid act in this case.

Mama's Note: Buyer beware. I bought two things via eBay and both were quite substandard (brand new, not used). It costs more to send things back than they are worth, so I just take it as an object lesson and won't bother to look at eBay again.

Stupid people tricks:
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 19xx- 2008
Culpeper Star-Exponent
“Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died Tuesday at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was thought to be 91 years old. ‘He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.,’ said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation movement that Maharishi founded.” (02/05/08)

I, for one, won’t miss him.

Stupid people tricks:
CA: Extensive child care scam alleged
Philadelphia Inquirer
"More than 50 people have been charged in a child care fraud ring operated in part by a federal prison inmate and his wife that bilked taxpayers out of at least $3 million and preyed on welfare recipients, prosecutors said Thursday. Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles County district attorney, identified the ringleader as Demetrius Eugene, 36, of Palmdale, an employee of the California Department of Corporations, who is accused of establishing six bogus child care facilities under the name Home Sweet Home Daycare Inc." [editor's note: Actually, the government had already bilked the taxpayers out of that money before getting conned itself - TLK] (02/07/08)

Tom, you are right but that doesn’t excuse the theft by the inmate and his wife.

Mama's Note: This story was a bit confusing. Is this guy an "inmate" or an "employee?" Of course, the line may be quite thin these days, I wouldn't know. If he was an inmate, I'd like to know how he managed all this. The mail, phone calls and visits of inmates are carefully monitored, so the only way he could get away with this would be with help from the prison employees.

Stupid people tricks:
Lawsuit alleges $1 billion a year in ORU money laundering
Buffalo News
"More than $1 billion a year was inappropriately funneled through Oral Roberts University, a lawsuit by a former senior accountant at the scandal-plagued school alleges. Trent Huddleston claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Tulsa County District Court that he discovered an 'unrestricted' account used to funnel 'unusually large' sums of money through the university each month -- which would exceed $1 billion on an annual basis -- that wasn't used for any legitimate university purpose. He says he was discharged because school officials feared he would reveal that the account existed." (02/07/08)

If true, and so far all we have is the statement of the person filing suit, this is exactly a problem how? This is not a government institution; it is apparently not taxpayer money, it is private money and no one else’s business. Who defines “legitimate university purpose?”

The Collapse of Africa:
Chad: Heavy fighting resumes in capital
USA Today
“Chadian rebels renewed their assault on the capital of this oil-rich central African country Monday, and tens of thousands of people fled as gunfire crackled and artillery shells exploded across the city. The third day of fighting in N’Djamena threatened to further destabilize an already violent swath of Africa that is home to hundreds of thousands of refugees and borders Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region.” (02/04/08)

Yet another fracture in Africa that is racing out of control: add this to Sudan itself (see next story), Kenya, Zimbabwe, Congo, Zambia, and probably other places, and it is obvious that the West can’t keep things from boiling over. It makes Somalia seem peaceful.

The Collapse of Africa:
If Chad coup succeeds, Darfur crisis could deepen
Christian Science Monitor
“With rebels in the heart of Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, surrounding the presidential palace, the complex Darfur conflict is set to take a dramatic and unexpected turn. If President Idriss Déby’s government falls by military coup, humanitarian aid operations feeding nearly 400,000 Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians will be thrown into disarray, and half a dozen Darfur rebel movements taking refuge in Chad may be forced to move their bases back into the troubled Sudanese region. Coming just days before the expected arrival of a European Union (EU) humanitarian protection force in eastern Chad, called EUFOR, the coup attempt is almost certain to delay that deployment until it is clear which government is in charge — the rebels or Déby — and whether EUFOR’s presence will still be welcome.” (02/4/08)

This and the next three stories all deal with the sudden explosion of civil war in Chad, and this commentary addresses them all. First, we see that new crises make old crises get worse. Of course, if the old crisis had been resolved in the direction of freedom and liberty, there is less likelihood of new crises arising. Frankly, I wonder why the EU bothers to care about who is in charge or whether they are welcome or not: is it more important to be welcome or to save lives? As the week progressed, hundreds of people died as the “legitimate” government put down the “illegitimate” attempt to overthrow the government, and then conducted a witchhunt to purify the country, while demanding that the West come in and bail out the country.

The Collapse of Africa:
Chad: Ceasefire as thousands flee capital
CNN
“Fighting has stopped in the Chadian capital of N’Djamena, French and Chadian officials said Tuesday, after a rebel uprising that has forced more than 20,000 people from their homes in the past few days. Chad’s army has driven the rebels out of the capital and the rebels are now on the run, Chadian Foreign Minister Amad Allam-Mi said in Paris after talks with his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner.” (02/05/08)

The Collapse of Africa:
Chad: Nighttime curfew declared
Miami Herald
"The government imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew Thursday across Chad and said it was scouring the capital for coup plotters and their accomplices who were in hiding after days of fighting killed hundreds and caused thousands to flee. President Idriss Deby called for the swift deployment of a European peacekeeping force whose arrival was delayed by the fighting." (02/07/08)

Mama's Note: In large part, at least, it is the constant presence and interference of Europeans for the last several hundred years that is responsible for all this bloodshed and political strife. More of the same will hardly help the cause of freedom for these poor people.

The Collapse of Africa:
US may bar Kenyans who aided post-election bloodshed
CNN
"Washington is threatening to bar Kenyan politicians and businessmen alleged to have played a role in weeks of post-election bloodshed from visiting the United States, a move that has 'hit a nerve,' the U.S. ambassador said Thursday. Among the 10 people from either side of Kenya's political divide being targeted are those suspected of financing the violence." (02/07/08)

It would seem to be reasonable to do this – although I suspect it is only a minor inconvenience to these people not to be able to come to the US, unless they have a severe illness or injury.

Mama's Note: And just how is anyone to know for sure who has done or aided what? Were these people going to be charged with a crime, tried before a jury and sentenced? Or is it the mere charge of such activity by people with an ax to grind? More political posturing.

Theft by government:
MI: Development project arouses land theft fears
Lansing State Journal
“The [East Lansing] City Council next week is slated to take up a resident’s proposal to ban use of eminent domain on projects related to private development. The proposal is a response to city efforts to acquire several properties along Evergreen Avenue to build a city-owned parking structure as part of the $115 million private City Center II development. The project by East Lansing-based Strathmore Development Co. is slated to include five new buildings with residential and commercial space …. At least one property owner said he fears the city could use eminent domain law to force a sale of his property. East Lansing officials say they continue to negotiate to buy the needed land and that the city has never used eminent domain. The issue led Phil Bellfy, who lives nearby in the Oak Hill neighborhood, to propose a measure to take eminent domain off the table in such projects. ‘If the city is serious that ‘we will not take land by eminent domain,’ I’m saying put it in writing,’ said Bellfy, a Michigan State University professor who has lived in the neighborhood for about five years.” (02/05/08)

Mr. Bellfy has reason to fear that the city will change its past policy.

Theft by government:
Courts grant Exxon freeze on Venezuela assets
MarketWatch
"Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday it has won court orders in three nations freezing at least $36 billion in Venezuelan assets, part of a legal battle that the world's biggest oil company is waging to recover what it argues is the true value of oilfield assets expropriated last year by Hugo Chavez's government. Exxon said a U.K. court granted its affiliate, Mobil Cerro Negro, an order that freezes $12 billion in assets belonging to Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDSVA. ... Courts in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles also issued orders prohibiting PDSVA from disposing of assets in their jurisdictions worth up to $12 billion .... In addition, a U.S. Court in December froze more than $300 million of assets." (02/07/08)

Would a new Democratic administration in the US try to follow the Chavez lead? There is reason to think so.

War on some drugs:
CA: Dispensaries closing under fed threats
San Francisco Chronicle
"Medical marijuana in San Francisco may be going up in smoke. In late December, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sent letters to landlords of buildings that housed medical cannabis dispensaries in the city, telling them they face the loss of their property and possibly prison if the businesses stay open. Now, less than two months later, seven of the city's 28 dispensaries have closed or are on the verge of closing, according to medical marijuana supporters and activists. They fear more will follow. 'It's like a dagger in the heart,' said Wayne Justmann, a medical marijuana advocate. 'We're barely holding on right now.'" (02/07/08)

This is, of course, just another form of theft by government.

Mama's Note: Theft and murder. Many of those people, deprived of their medicine, will die faster and in misery.

War on some drugs:
Mukasey wants to block crack cocaine releases
MSNBC
"Attorney General Michael Mukasey wants Congress to act within weeks to prevent the release of thousands of violent criminals from federal prison under new crack cocaine sentencing rules. In testimony prepared for a House hearing Thursday, Mukasey indicates a willingness to go along with new sentencing guidelines that reduce federal prison time for crack cocaine convicts -- but only for first-time, nonviolent offenders." (02/06/08)

His reaction could probably be predicted, and I can sympathize with the violent part, but the first-time business makes little sense, even given the fact that the drug laws themselves are what causes a lot of the violence.

World wars:
Ruptures call safety of Internet cables into question
International Herald Tribune
“Four undersea communication cables have been cut in the past week, raising questions about the safety of the oceanic network that handles the bulk of the world’s Internet and telephone traffic. Most telecommunications experts and cable operators say that sabotage seems unlikely, but no one knows what damaged the cables or whether the incidents were related. One theory — that a wayward ship traveling off course because of bad weather was responsible for cutting the first two cables last week — was dismissed by the Egyptian government over the weekend. No ships passed the area in the Mediterranean where the cables were located, the country’s Ministry of Communications said Sunday.” (02/05/08)

A recent article in a trade journal placed the probability of avoiding a serious, multi-day, failure of the internet in the next ten years as 20% or less. This might be sabotage, accident, or just plain bad luck, but we will all pay for it.

World wars:
CIA boss: Waterboarding may be illegal
Belleville News-Democrat
"Debate over waterboarding flared Thursday on Capitol Hill, with the CIA director raising doubts about whether it's currently legal and the attorney general refusing to investigate U.S. interrogators who have used the technique on terror detainees. Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, said 'it's a good thing' that top al-Qaida leaders who underwent the harsh interrogation tactic in 2002 and 2003 were forced to give up information that helped protect the country." (02/07/08)

As readers have probably figured out, I am torn as to the status of water-boarding. Yes, in the past, water-boarding was deemed to be “torture” (and at one time, called the “Chinese water cure”, and people were condemned (by the US government) for using it. But we cannot be locked in by errors of the past; we don’t try to interpret energy calculations using the philostogen theory of combustion, for example. We don’t consider blood transfusions to be either eating blood or practicing vampirism. Yet one of the arguments used by rights groups (indeed, often the major one) is that the US once condemned the practice. Waterboarding is used as a training technique for Marines, SEALs, and even Rangers: is it really torture, or is it just a form of physical-psychological persuasion? It does not kill, it does not permanently or even temporarily disable, it does not cause pain (except “mental” pain). It does scare the spit-wadding out of you, just as it does when you are swimming and your little brother grabs your leg and pulls you under for a few seconds. You think you are drowning, even when you are not. So, is it torture or mind games? If the latter, should it be illegal? And is it actually illegal? Everyone seems to have their own interpretation.

The common sense approach would be to debate it in Congress, pass a law to either make it legal or illegal after open debate, and then have the president veto or sign it, then enforce it. Of course, we could NEVER do something common-sense like that, and this continues to be a way in which the Administration and Congress can beat on each other. (I realize that I may offend readers and fellow lovers of liberty even questioning the assumption by various libertarians that water-boarding is automatically torture, but so be it. I am more and more convinced that it is not, any more than paddling a child or threatening someone with a gun if they don’t stop beating up or robbing someone is.)

Mama's Note: I can only see this (as with everything) in the light of the non-aggression principle. There is simply no moral purpose for this procedure - perhaps except some voluntary training exercise. It is pure aggression and has nothing at all to do with self defense. Look at who is doing it and why... and ask yourself if any ordinary citizen could ever do this to another person "legally" or without aggression. The government can have no different laws than the citizens. If it is aggression for an ordinary person to do this, how can it be otherwise for government?

As for it being "legal," remember that many immoral aggressions are perfectly legal... abortion being the prime example.

World wars:
Bush: US "may" torture [sic] again
BBC News [UK]
"US President George Bush might consider authorising the controversial interrogation method of waterboarding in future, the White House has said. Belief that an attack was imminent and legal advice would be major factors in the decision, his spokesman said. On Tuesday the CIA admitted for the first time that it had used the method, which simulates drowning and has been condemned as torture by rights groups. ... White House spokesman Tony Fratto maintained that the practice -- which the CIA said it had carried out on three high- profile al-Qaeda detainees -- was legal." (02/06/08)

Again, we see that it is a matter of interpretation, and again I maintain, it should be resolved in open debate. Let those who do not believe it is torture (even myself, since I’m leaning that way) undergo the method themselves to demonstrate that it is not. Have the opponents of it provide some definite proof of it causing real pain, real damage to the body, or other ways in which it compares to the infliction of pain by injury that torture is normally defined.

Mama's Note: Psychological torture is just as much aggression as any other kind.

Mesopotamian front:
Iraq [sic]: Turks bomb Kurdish rebel hideouts
MSNBC
“Turkish warplanes bombed 70 Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Monday, the military said. Turkey, which is planning operations against the rebels with the help of U.S. intelligence, has reported five aerial attacks against the PKK guerrilla group in northern Iraq in the past two months. The PKK, which is led by Turkish Kurds who seek autonomy in southeastern Turkey, has launched attacks over the frontier into Turkey from safe havens in Iraq.” (02/04/08)

That is right: US intelligence is being forced to work AGAINST a people’s natural desire for freedom and liberty, and in favor of an increasingly unfree and tyrannical government with a history of blood on their hands.

Mesopotamian front:
Gates discusses Iraq [sic] pact
Los Angeles Times
"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied Wednesday that the Bush administration was seeking a treaty with Iraq that would require long- term security commitments forcing future U.S. presidents to continue sending troops. Instead, Gates told lawmakers, a new agreement with Baghdad would give the U.S. Military continuing legal authority to operate in Iraq, much like current United Nations resolutions, which expire at the end of the year. Gates' statements, made at two congressional hearings, were the most definitive from the administration on an issue that has become a point of partisan rancor over Iraq. Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has made the proposed agreement an issue in her presidential campaign, accusing the administration of seeking to tie the hands of the next president by committing to Iraq's protection with U.S. forces." (02/07/08)

All of this sounds like a bogus agreement with a phony government. At least in Germany and Japan, there really was a government to deal with in 1955.

Islamic imperialists:
Turkey: Women protest end of headscarf ban
Press Association
“Some 125,000 flag-waving Turks, mostly women, denounced the Islamic-rooted government over its plans to lift a decades-old ban on Islamic headscarves in universities — a move the foreign minister said would expand Turkish freedoms. The government has defended its plan as a reform needed to bring Turkey in line with European Union human rights guidelines, but many including the country’s influential military establishment see the move as a serious threat to the country’s secular traditions.” (02/02/08)

This is a true mess: the immediate response of a lover of liberty would be, “of course, the government shouldn’t ban wearing headscarves.” But the problem is, wearing the scarf is a key feature of daily life under Shari’a (Islamic law) and barring outside intervention, wearing headscarves (or veils, or worse) is an enforced “voluntary” act – enforced by the imams, clan elders, and others, to the point of shedding of blood of women who do not “voluntarily” don them. Secularized European populations cannot see or understand the religious pressure involved, and cannot understand the religious significance of headwear.

Islamic imperialists:
Saudi Arabia : Religious police arrest mother for sitting with a man
The Times [UK]
"A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh. Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's 'Mutaween' police. Her story offers a rare firsthand glimpse of the discrimination faced by women living in Saudi Arabia. In her first interview with the foreign press, Yara told The Times that she would remain in Saudi Arabia to challenge its harsh enforcement of conservative Islam rather than return to America." (02/07/08)

This is what many in Turkey fear will be the result of the slippery slope started by allowing the “voluntary” wearing of headscarves.

Islamic imperialists:
US: Al Qaeda video shows armed boys in training
CNN
"The U.S. military said disturbing video that shows masked boys brandishing guns was an al Qaeda in Iraq training and recruiting tool. 'Al Qaeda in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis,' said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith during a Baghdad news conference about the release of the tape." (02/06/08)

I have no reason to think that this tape is faked, since the same training has been used in Canaan for decades – as indeed it is common throughout Islamic areas of Africa and South Asia.

Mama's Note: The Junior ROTC comes to mind... not to mention the indoctrination going on in every government school. Just how is this so much more terrible when others engage in it? The US needs to look in a mirror.

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