Libertarian Commentary on the News, 10 - 16 February, 2008

Our right to defend ourselves:
CA: Teen robber shot by intended victim
ABC 7 News
“A teenager robber was shot and killed in Watts Saturday morning. According to a police spokesperson, 17-year-old Joe Beck was hiding behind a pole in the 1200 block of East 140th Street, waiting to hold up his intended victim. Moments after approaching the victim, who was in his vehicle, Beck produced a gun and demanded money. The victim — also armed — produced a weapon and shot the suspect in the chest. Beck later died at an area hospital.” (02/10/08)

ANOTHER Darwin Award nominee for 2008!

Mama's Note: Ah! The proper and effective application of the death penalty! Good for him.

Our right to defend ourselves:
IL: Brady Campaign opens DeKalb office
ABC News
“The graduate student who massacred students in Northern Illinois University lecture hall bought three of his four guns on Saturday - indicating that he had been planning his assault for at least six days, ABC News has learned. University sources identified the gunman as Steve Kazmierczak, 27, a onetime undergraduate and award winning sociology graduate student at NIU. Fresh details about the latest campus carnage emerged as a seventh student died this morning from gunshot wounds suffered when the gunman opened fire Thursday afternoon at NIU in DeKalb, Ill. The bloodbath claimed a total of seven lives, including the gunman who also shot himself, and another 16 wounded.” (02/15/08)

And no one else in the entire hall was armed, because it is WRONG to defend yourself on college campuses.

Our right to defend ourselves:
Australia: Homeowner shoots intruder
ABC News [Australia]
“Police say a man was shot while trying to break into a house at Enfield in Adelaide’s inner northern suburbs early this morning. The elderly homeowner fired one shot from a shotgun hitting and injuring the intruder. Police say the incident happened as the intruder broke in through the back door of the Eversley Avenue house. The man is in hospital, but police say his injuries are not life-threatening.” (02/10/08)

Of course, the homeowner, this being hoplophobic Australia, is probably going to spend the rest of his life in court or gaol.

Our right to defend ourselves:
WY: Self-defense bill approved
Billings Gazette
“The Wyoming House of Representatives gave strong initial approval to a bill that would specify that homeowners couldn’t be prosecuted or sued in civil court if they kill anyone who enters their home illegally. The House voted 54-6 Friday to introduce a so-called ‘castle doctrine’ bill. It’s named after the old English common law saying that a man’s home is his castle.” [Stringer’s note: It’s about time - ML] (02/16/08)

It is indeed about time – but until very recently, a Wyoming jury would not have needed this law to keep from finding a homeowner guilty, IF a Wyoming prosecutor or cop had been stupid enough to try and charge them.

Mama's Note: Indeed, but this was good news anyway. While they're on a roll, the Wyoming legislature needs to join Montana in absolute defiance of the Federal Real ID. But I won't hold my breath. Too much Federal money involved.

Our right to defend ourselves:
MA: Boston cops prepare to disarm residents
Boston Globe
“As Boston police prepare to go into some of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods, knock on doors of private houses, and ask if they can search for illegal guns without a warrant, officials are trying to pitch the idea of the plan as friendly cooperation to residents who still see it as a threatening intrusion. A friendly looking logo — a drawing of a house surrounded by the sun — adorns the brochure police have drafted to explain and promote the initiative, ‘Safe Homes.’ Photos of officers playing baseball with children and chatting with teenagers dot the pamphlet. Twice, police have taken calls from listeners on a black radio station in Roxbury.” (02/09/08)

Sadly, in once-free new England, I suspect that 90 out of a 100 will cooperate without any pressure whatsoever. “If you don’t have any illegal guns, you don’t have anything to worry about.” And of course, the cops will abuse this trust by busting people for everything from expired prescriptions to child abuse to fire code violations.

Mama's Note: And I wonder how many of those who might actually refuse this search would then be subject to a SWAT raid or some other pressure tactic later.

Our right to defend ourselves:
FL: Teacher fired for having gun in school parking lot
Central Florida News
“A Polk County teacher is out of the classroom because investigators said he brought a gun with him to school. The school board voted unanimously to fire Phillip Bradley, 51, Tuesday. He taught truck mechanics at the Ridge Career Center in Winter Haven. A 9 mm handgun was found in his truck in the school parking lot last spring. A hearing officer recommended a 90-day suspension. However, school board members said it would set a bad example for students.” (02/13/08)

Zero tolerance strikes again. What business did the school have going through the truck in the first place?

Mama's Note: Indeed! "Found?" As in, possibly, tripped over it? How was it "found" if they didn't do an illegal search? I highly doubt it was left in plain sight.

Our right to defend ourselves:
MI: Homeowner kills robber
Channel 4 News
“A man was shot eight times and killed Monday night as he tried to rob a home on Detroit’s east side, police said. Police said two men were trying to break into a home on the 5200 block of Kensington Avenue when the homeowner inside grabbed his pistol and fired. One of the home invaders was killed and the other fled in a newer-model white Chevrolet Impala. The homeowner’s mother was sleeping in the house at the time and was not harmed. The homeowner is not expected to face charges.” (02/13/08)

Eight times? Shot to doll rags, that evildoer was. Wonder if the other would-be robber took any lead home?

Mama's Note: You keep shooting until the threat stops or you are out of ammo - whichever comes first. Hope he was just a poor shot, not overeager. Also didn't say what caliber he was using. If it takes 8 shots to bring down the bad guy, you might just not have enough gun.

Our right to defend ourselves:
GA: Jury believes 75-year-old man’s self-defense plea
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
“Jurors found Theodore Gay ‘not guilty by reason of self-defense’ Tuesday morning after resuming deliberations from the previous day. Prosecutors opened their case against Gay on Monday morning, claiming the father tried to kill his son, Michael Gay, on July 14, 2006. …. Assistant District Attorney Jamie Graham told jurors the father shot the son at his 16th Place home over a Cadillac recently put into the younger Gay’s name. The elder Gay, however, testified that his son had repeatedly threatened him over the years and beat him. When he went to get his shotgun that day, it was because he once again felt threatened and wanted Michael Gay off his property. ‘I had told him to leave, and I went to get that gun to make him leave,’ Gay said. ‘I was protecting myself.’ Michael Gay was struck in the arm.” (02/13/08)

I recall when this happened, and I am glad that justice has been done. It should not have taken 18 months, though, and as someone said once, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Why should this 75-year-old man have to have wasted all this time waiting for vindication? What kind of “discovery process” or “investigation” was necessary.

Our right to defend ourselves:
Libertarians file brief in DC gun case
Hawaii Reporter
“The Libertarian Party has filed an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court in the case District of Columbia v. Heller — a case that will decide the future of gun rights in America for decades to come. The amicus brief was filed in support of Heller. As an organization dedicated to constitutional principles, the Libertarian Party has a compelling interest in the outcome of this historic case and therefore decided to file a brief to ensure our position on gun rights is documented.” (02/12/08)

One of hundreds, including 54 senators, a hundred or so representatives, SAF, JPFO, 31 states, and… the Vice President! The problem is, will the Nazgul listen?

Mama's Note: Unfortunately, the question they will consider and most - if not all - of the briefs submitted are irrelevant! See Robert Greenslade's article: The Second Amendment Question before the Supreme Court is Constitutionally Flawed and Dangerous. Greenslade is a serious Constitutional scholar and frequent contributor to The Price of Liberty.

Our right to defend ourselves:
Montana joins states in pro-gun Supreme Court brief
KXMB News
“Montana has joined 30 other states in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling, affirming the individual’s right to bear arms. Attorney General Mike McGrath says the states signed a ‘friend-of-the-court’ brief, that supports a federal appeals court ruling that the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns violates the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” (02/12/08)

Much as I hate to say it, this makes more of an impact than the SAF and JPFO briefs (see next story). What this makes me wonder, though, is if this Supreme Court decision could be another Dred Scott decision, and the forerunner of another War between the States? We are long overdue.

Mama's Note: Dang! That's a great idea! Let's see... Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and maybe even British Columbia and Alberta. Plenty of room for Washington and Oregon, if the folks there kick out their socialist legisgators. This could be the start of something mighty good.

Our right to defend ourselves:
SAF files amicus brief in DC gun ban case before Supreme Court
Liberty For All
“The Second Amendment Foundation has filed an amicus curiae brief in District of Columbia v Heller, the appeal of the landmark case that overturned the district’s handgun ban on the grounds that it unconstitutionally violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Written by attorney Nelson Lund at the George Mason University School of Law, the brief has already earned praise of veteran Second Amendment authority David Kopel, who noted in remarks on a popular Second Amendment website, ‘If you want to read a model Supreme Court brief, this is the brief to read.’” (02/13/08)

Sadly, the Supreme court for decades has been known for making off-the-wall judgments, and this is one of the subjects on which the Supremes have always been really flaky.

Our right to defend ourselves:
Cheney parts with administration on gun case
MSNBC
“Vice President Dick Cheney took the unusual step Friday of joining with lawmakers in signing a Supreme Court brief that goes further in support of gun rights than the one submitted by the Bush administration. The filings were made in a case that challenges the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. It was scheduled to be argued on March 18.” (02/10/08)

Well, good for him. Being from Wyoming, you would HOPE that even a dirtbag like him would figure that enough was enough.

Mama's Note: Yeah, I was sure surprised... but I keep asking myself what the catch is. This bird is so crooked he could spit around corners and never miss.

Our right to defend ourselves:
TX: Armed shopper thwarts robbery
Houston Chronicle
“Authorities have identified a man who was fatally shot while allegedly attempting to rob a man in a southeast Houston parking lot. … The incident occurred around 9:55 p.m. when Stephens and Taylor allegedly attempted to rob Procter in a parking lot, Houston police said. Procter, who has a valid concealed handgun permit, then fatally shot Taylor, authorities said. Procter was not injured. Stephens was charged with aggravated robbery and is currently in Harris County Jail in lieu of $30,000 bail.” (02/08/08)

Stupid criminal trick and Darwin award nominee and honorable mention candidate for 2008.

Our right to defend ourselves:
WA: Bills take different approaches to issue of guns on campus
News Tribune
“Two state lawmakers have offered dramatically different bills dealing with guns on college campuses and the measures touched off spirited debate Thursday at a Senate committee hearing … The bill offered by Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, would ban weapons at colleges that host high school students. That would include community colleges that offer the Running Start program, and universities when high school students are touring. In response to Murray’s bill, Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, introduced her own bill that would prohibit universities from banning concealed weapons. Her argument is that people with permits to carry weapons would make campuses safer. Most universities now ban weapons on campus, but that is not a state law.” (02/08/08)

What, high school kids don’t deserve to be defended, but college kids do? Of course, this sort of age discrimination is exactly what the hoploclasts want: to continue to try and raise a generation that treats tools as intrinsically evil and therefore fears them blindly.

Our right to defend ourselves:
OK: Domestic dispute leads to shooting
NewsOn6
“Officers were called to the scene near 1500 East 51st Place North around 8 a.m. Police say the woman said her ex-boyfriend had come by Monday night, slashed her tires, and then beat her. Police say when he came back on Tuesday, she shot him four times with a .22-caliber handgun. The man drove himself to the hospital and is expected to recover. Police say the woman was also taken to the hospital for her injuries.” (02/12/08)

A sordid tale, perhaps, but a vital reminder that it is the weak and helpless, the powerless and elderly and young and fearful, are the one who need the right to keep and USE firearms to defend themselves against evil actions of others. I am sure that she is glad, deep down, the guy didn’t die, but I am fairly sure that he isn’t going to try and beat her again.

Mama's Note: That's all well and good, but I certainly hope someone will help this woman find a more effective gun and get some decent training in self defense. She knows she CAN defend herself. Now she needs the tools to do it better. The scummy boyfriend isn't the only freak in the world.

Our right to defend ourselves:
Database will target illegal [sic] gun traffic
Tallahassee Democrat
“Several East Coast cities are launching a new tactic against urban gun violence by creating a database to pool information on gun-related crimes and firearms trafficking. The program announced Wednesday will combine data from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with material collected by local agencies, including ballistics tests and information gathered in police interrogations.” (02/14/08)

Doesn’t say whether those police interrogations are with or without waterboarding. Nor does it say how this datapool will actually help fight crime – or at least REAL crime. Smoke and mirrors!

Our right to defend ourselves:
TX: WWII vet sends armed burglar suspect to hospital
WFAA News
“Police said one man is in the hospital after an elderly North Texas man took action into his own hands when confronted by two armed brothers inside his home Saturday night. Police said they believe the brothers went to 80-year-old James Pickett’s home with the intent to rob him, and even possibly kill him. However, Pickett — a World War II veteran, former fighter and lifelong John Wayne devotee — wasn’t about to let that happen. It all began Saturday night when Pickett said he opened his door and two men barged inside. … However, Pickett said just before he went to answer the door, he had first placed a pistol into his pocket. ‘And he jumped and turned, and I shot him there,’ he said. The two brothers, Paul and Holden Perry, ran, but didn’t get far before calling an ambulance. One of the bullets just missed Paul Perry’s spine. ‘He’s my hero,’ said one neighbor of Pickett.” (02/13/08)

Turgid prose, but reinforcing the point I made above:

Guns are not for the powerful, the thugs and the criminals; they are for the elderly, the physically weak, the peaceful and honest people to DEFEND themselves and those like them against the immoral predators. The powerful
don't need guns: they have their power and influence and money. Thugs don't need guns: they have their gang pals and their muscles and whatever they can pick up to throw and hit people with. Criminals will skulk and con and break and enter in the shadows. All these evils will continue if guns are banned; only the would-be victims of these evils will be left without an effective way to protect themselves.

A gun does many things, and only one of them is to wound or kill.

First, it empowers the wearer: you KNOW that you are able to protect yourself against almost any threat to you, your family, your home - especially in a car or on the street.

Second, it encourages personal responsibility. Anyone who has seen a .22-cal bullet hit a full one-gallon water jug or a .45-cal slug hit a watermelon KNOWS that they are carrying something that must be carefully handled, because it CAN snuff out a life. (And it can increase politeness, as well, either when worn openly or when it is so ubiquitous that one never knows who is and who is not armed!)

Third (in trained hands, at least) it scares off the wussy criminal type: the bully, the knife-wielding mugger, even the gun-toting stick-up artist who are "weak sisters" will turn and flee if their intended victim pulls out their own weapon and tells them to beat feet.

Fourth (again in trained hands, at least), it often is enough to force even the armed criminal to cease their crime and to surrender or flee - and a fleeing criminal is NOT a suitable target.

Finally, fifth, it can prevent serious harm or even death to you and your loved ones by inflicting serious injury and even death to the idiot who still thinks that YOU are their victim.

Our right to defend ourselves:
MS: Store clerk shoots robber
WJTV News
“A man attempting to rob a Jackson store clerk gets more than he bargained for when the would-be victim decides [sic] to fight back. James Nichols was closing up for the day when the incident happened at the All American Check Exchange on Suncrest Drive in south Jackson. Nichols says an armed man wearing a hood confronted him as was about to get into his truck to head home around 6:30 Friday night. But Nichols was prepared to protect himself. ‘I pulled my gun and he started hollering no don’t, and I tried to knock the gun away so that it wouldn’t be pointed at me and I fired three times.’ Nichols says the suspect then dropped his weapon and ran away.” (02/09/08)

He fired three times and the guy still ran away? Bad shot or a peashooter? Was the guy really giving up by hollering, or just trying to distract Nichols?

Mama's Note: No matter what the attacker said, as long as the gun was pointed at the victim the threat was still very much real and continued shooting was justified. He does need to work on his aim, it would seem. If he was close enough to knock the other gun away, he should have hit him with at least one round! Nobody should miss at such range, and even a .22 should be effective so close.

Our right to defend ourselves:
WI: Fed unpunished for leaving gun in airport bathroom
World Net Daily
Bloggers are raising their voices in unison calling for punishment for a federal agent who left her gun in a restroom inside the secured area at Milwaukee's airport. …"Because it was left in a TSA secured area for anyone to pick up, anyone who found it was a prohibited person due to location," [a blogger] said.

Considering that the BATFE won a conviction recently for a man accused of illegally transferring an automatic weapon because the gun he sold someone misfired and fired three rounds before jamming, a lot of people are livid at the hypocrisy involved.

Mama's Note: Sure wish hypocrisy was the major fault of the BATFEses outfit. For some reason that is still not quite clear, they have declared war on every citizens of this country and will use any and all means to pursue it. They think themselves above the law in every respect, and our "elected representatives" do absolutely nothing to disabuse them of the notion. I suspect this gal made an honest mistake - though a bad one. You can bet she didn't leave it there on purpose!!

Space and economy:
Titan: Oil and coal capital of the Solar System
World Net Daily
Saturn's moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to a team of Johns Hopkins University scientists, adding to evidence that oil is not biological in origin. The scientists at the Laurel, Md., institution were reporting this week on data collected from NASA's Cassini probe. "Several hundred lakes or seas have been discovered, of which dozens are estimated to contain more hydrocarbon liquid than the entire known oil and gas reserves on Earth," wrote lead scientist Ralph Lorenz of the university's Applied Physics Laboratory in the Jan. 29 issue of the Geophysical Research Letters. Lorenz also reported dark dunes running along the equator cover 20 percent of Titan's surface, comprising a volume of hydrocarbon material several hundred times larger than Earth's coal reserves.

It is highly likely that this is the death knell of the biotic theory of coal and oil formation (i.e., that it comes only from dead swamp plants and dinosaurs or whatever). More important, it means that “Peak Oil” is just another environist myth, like “The Population Bomb” and the Alar scare. It gives a clear goal to the free-enterprise space program that needs to now explode: just as the tankers that ply Earth’s oceans dwarf the largest warships (nuclear carriers), so the tankers that carry back the precious black gold that fuels and maintains massive chemical plants in Earth orbit will reduce government toys like the ISS to insignificance, IF the environists do not pollute the Solar System with their presence.

Space wars:
Russia, China challenge US with proposal to ban space weapons
Raw Story
“China and Russia challenged the United States at a disarmament debate Tuesday by formally presenting a plan to ban weapons in space — a proposal that Washington has called a diplomatic ploy by the two nations to gain a military advantage. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament that ‘weapons deployment in space by one state’ — a reference to the U.S. — could cause a ‘new spiral in the arms race both in space and on Earth.’ Lavrov’s call came with an implied threat, noting that the Soviet Union caught up with the U.S. after World War II by developing its own nuclear weapons.” (02/12/08)

Russia (and the Soviet Union) have had weapons in space for decades, and the Chinese have recently used weapons in space: admittedly for the purpose of testing them on their own satellites, but still, they are doing what they claim to want to ban. Hypocritical as the US is, these two countries seem to win in that category.

Space:
Officials: US to try to shoot down errant satellite
CNN
“The U.S. military may try within days to shoot down a failed satellite using a missile launched from a Navy ship, officials announced Thursday. Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that the window to accomplish the mission could begin in three to four days, and remain open for seven to eight.” (02/14/08)

Typically, the Russians have accused the US of using this “excuse” to test space weapons, as if DoD needed an excuse to test anything. Instead, this is typical government panicked over-response to a hyped and overblown threat.

Stupid cop tricks:
NM: Cop served potburger upset over cooks’ sentences
KRQE News
“A Pueblo police officer already mad at being served a burger spiked with marijuana is even more upset that the two men responsible got probation instead of jail sentences. Henry Gabaldon and a fellow Isleta Pueblo officer ate those burgers while on duty. Both got high and could have hurt themselves or someone else that night, he said. Gabaldon called the crime a personal attack that had no consequences for the attackers. ‘The message was it’s OK to hurt an officer,’ Gabaldon said.” [Editor’s note: The marijuana was probably less harmful than the stuff that fast food burgers are NORMALLY made of. A stupid trick, yes. Maybe even fraud since the guy ordered and paid for cow and got cannabis instead. But please, get real — Gabaldon wasn’t “hurt” - TLK] (02/13/08)

Please! High on eating cannabis? Cooked into a meat patty? The cook might have gotten high, but the eater? Even tribal cops can be stuuuupid.

Mama's Note: I just wonder why anyone would waste good herb on this kind of foolishness.

Stupid government tricks:
AZ: Voters may have final say on speed cameras
Arizona Republic
“Don’t like speed cameras? You may get a chance to vote on it. A state Senate panel approved three measures Tuesday, including two for the November ballot, which would limit or outright ban the camera-based system that Scottsdale was first to use on its portion of Loop 101 in early 2006. Now, Gov. Janet Napolitano would like to take the technology statewide with as many as 170 mobile, stationary and red-light cameras over the next five years. The measures apply only to state roads, so they don’t affect municipal photo enforcement on local streets. But the stakes are still high considering the more than 1 million paid citations that are expected to initially result under Napolitano’s speed-camera expansion.” (02/13/08)

Ufda! How can the legislature figure out a way around getting the voters involved and possibly preventing all the revenue from rolling into their pockets? Oh, I know! Make it “emergency legislation” by deciding that scofflaws of speeding are a critical danger to the motoring public.

Stupid government tricks:
UK: £25 “congestion fee” gets go-ahead
Autocar
“The Mayor of London’s office has just confirmed changes to the city’s congestion charge that will sting owners of cars emitting more than 225g/km of carbon dioxide to the tune of £25-a-day. The new congestion charge will come into force on October 27 2008. It is described by the London authority as ‘the world’s most ambitious scheme to reduce the contribution of urban traffic to greenhouse gasses,’ and ‘a key part of the Mayor’s Climate Change Action Plan which aims to reduce London’s CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.’” (02/12/08)

How nice. I hope they choke on it: that is a fine of about $50 per day.

Mama's Note: Wouldn't it be nice if it was more like lighting a match behind a gassy elephant? <G> The folks who knock out the cameras have not all gone away. Maybe this will stimulate their efforts.

Stupid government tricks:
States note failure of “stem cell stimulus” plans
Boston Globe
“The same day that President Bush won a second term, California voters approved a bold plan to pour $3 billion of taxpayers’ money into stem cell research over the next decade. Supporters argued the investment would save millions of lives through new medical therapies, generate millions of dollars in added tax revenue, cut healthcare costs by billions, and create thousands of high-paying jobs. Three years later, Californians are still waiting for some results. Until recently, most of the money was tied up in lawsuits. And even now that the tap is flowing, proponents acknowledge it could take years, if not decades, for the grants to pay off. … The slow rate of progress serves as a reality check for Massachusetts and other states that have followed California’s lead by placing big bets on medical research.” (02/11/08)

Government-welfare program for biotech firms bombs big time.

Mama's Note: Just what we've been saying for years, of course. We knew that...

Stupid government tricks:
Australia apology to Aborigines: How helpful?
Christian Science Monitor
“Aborigines who were taken from their families as children in a policy of forced racial assimilation will receive a historic apology from Australia’s new government Wednesday. In what will be the first parliamentary act of his government, center-left prime minister Kevin Rudd will fulfill an election campaign promise when he stands up in parliament in Canberra, the capital, and says sorry to the so-called Stolen Generation. The Labor leader said the apology would remove a ‘blight on the nation’s soul’ and had the overwhelming support of Australians. Supporters say it is of similar magnitude to America’s apology in 1988 for interning Japanese citizens during World War II.” (02/12/08)

Stupid that people would give the power to government to do this to Abo children in the first place. Stupid that people today who had nothing to do with it should be blamed for it and be required to accept penalties for it. Even more stupid to think that standing up in parliament to apologize is going to make any difference at all.

Stupid government tricks:
Bush signs “stimulus” bill
CNN
“President Bush on Wednesday signed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, calling it a ‘booster shot’ for the American economy. ‘The bill I’m signing today is large enough to have an impact, amounting to more than $152 million [or billion?] this year, or about 1 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product),’ the president said in the brief ceremony in the East Room of the White House.” (02/13/08)

The virtual printing presses are already running overtime, on high-speed; and those cute little USG checks with Lady Liberty on them (what an insult) will be churning out soon. This almost guarantees that the world will give up the dollar for the Euro or the Pound Sterling (which isn’t), and that gold will scream over $1000 an ounce. Just today (Sunday, 17 FEB 08), I heard a speaker condemn “Tricky Dick” back in 1971 for taking the US off the gold standard and turning the US dollar from “money” into “currency.” He spoke truly that we are now finally suffering the end result of that stupid action, and that like Greeks and Romans and French, we would see our economy go through unbelievable convulsions in which savers and employees in particular will be punished again and again. “Gold is God’s money; currency is man’s folly.” Bush and the Baboons have just pushed us that much deeper into the quicksand.

Stupid government tricks:
Canada: Olympics security to allow for peaceful protests
CTV News [Canada]
“Protesters will be given an opportunity to peacefully make their point during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, says an RCMP official. Cpl. Manon Chouinard of the force’s Integrated Security Unit told Canada AM on Tuesday that the 2002 G-8 Summit in Kananaskis will be a template. … The Kananaskis summit went off without a hitch. Protests were peaceful, unlike the clashes that marred the 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. There were free speech areas [sic] in Kananaskis, and Chouinard said there would be similar zones in Vancouver.” (02/12/08)

How generous of them: free-speech ghettos.

Mama's Note: Sure, why bother to protest if nobody will ever hear or see you? Of course, I can think of lots of better ways to protest almost anything, but the principle is the same.

Stupid government tricks:
Privacy advocates slam EU fingerprinting plans
Foster's Daily Democrat
“Rights advocates called on European Union officials to reconsider proposals to be released Wednesday that foresee fingerprinting and electronically recording all foreigners who visit the EU. Franco Frattini, the EU’s justice and interior affairs commissioner is scheduled to present plans for an overhaul of security at the union’s borders that would replicate many U.S. border checks. Some civil rights groups called Tuesday for the European Union to scrap similar ideas, saying they would do little to fight crime or terrorism. ‘You dehumanize foreigners and you collect their personal and sensitive information with no clear personal gains whatsoever,’ said Gus Hosein, from Privacy International. He likened the EU plans to building a ‘fortress Europe’ to keep foreigners out. Hosein said he expected complaints from many visitors if EU governments adopt a U.S.-style fingerprinting system. In the United States, the program has not affected U.S. citizens, who do not have to have their fingers scanned when leaving or entering the country.” (02/12/08)

Where have we gotten the idea that a massive database is the solution to every problem, to every issue, to every ill of society? These things just cause trouble, it seems, and create opportunities for mischief where none existed before.

Mama's Note: If they'd had all these databases and technology, the Berlin Wall would not have been necessary. The result, however, will eventually be the same. What can keep certain people OUT can be used just as easily to keep them IN. Watch for this fingerprinting and so forth to spread to everyone who crosses a border... and eventually to those who merely wish to travel anywhere. The police state can survive only by constant growth toward total control.

Stupid government tricks:
Federal contract fraud crackdown has loophole
MSNBC
“A Bush administration plan to crack down on contract fraud has a multibillion-dollar loophole: The proposal to force companies to report abuse of taxpayer money will not apply to work overseas, including projects to secure and rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. For decades, contractors have been asked to report internal fraud or overpayment on government-funded projects.” (02/12/08)

Forcing them to report? And exactly how is this to be done? Looks like more smoke and mirrors to me.

Mama's Note: Oh sure! After the way they've always treated any sort of whistle blowers? Not a chance.

Stupid government tricks:
Indonesia: Train roof riders to be sprayed
Yahoo! News
“Indonesian commuters riding on the roofs of trains will be sprayed with colored liquid so that security officers can identify and arrest them, a report said Saturday. Electric trains linking the Indonesian capital and its neighboring towns are packed with passengers during rush hours, with many sitting on the roofs due to a lack of space inside or to avoid paying. After several failed attempts to discourage roof riders over years, the state owned railway company PT Kereta Api will from next week douse them with a colored liquid so that officers can identify them when they get off the train.” (02/11/08)

Yeah, right.

Mama's Note: Why doesn't someone just build more trains?

Stupid people tricks:
FL: Firm handshake = assault charge
Arizona Republic
“A lawyer has been charged with assault for shaking a federal prosecutor’s hand so hard that it injured her shoulder, authorities said. Kathy Brewer Rentas, 49, was arrested Thursday after attending a court hearing for her husband, who was accused of violating the terms of his probation for a cocaine distribution case. The husband, Anthony Rentas, was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest. After the hearing, Brewer Rentas asked to shake hands with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Keene. A court security officer reported that Brewer Rentas shook Keene’s hand so forcefully that the prosecutor’s arm was nearly ripped out of its socket.” (02/10/08)

Bizarre. Acting like children. Let’s see, if presidential candidates are pre-schoolers and baboons (Congress-type) are two-year-old, that must mean that these attorneys must be acting like first-graders, at best. Two bullies facing each other.

Stupid people tricks:
UK: Fire Crew attacks on the rise
BBC News
The number of violent attacks on fire crews in England and Wales is going up despite official claims to the contrary, the Fire Brigades Union says. Assaults increased by 15% last year but government statistics showed a fall of 68%, according to the union.

Attacks on firefighters, frankly, baffles me: they are there trying to help, and unless the mob doesn’t want that particular family or business to be helped, for some reason, interfering with the attempts to fight a fire makes no sense: except to show that the barbarians are always with us.

Stupid people tricks:
GM offers buyouts to all US hourly workers
CNN
“General Motors posted better-than-expected fourth quarter financial results, but indicated that its efforts to shave costs are not behind it as the automaker offered lucrative buyouts to 74,000 employees — its entire U.S. hourly workforce. The company reported improved results from its overseas auto operations, which helped to balance out continued losses at its North American plants. But problems at finance unit GMAC, of which it still owns 49%, coupled with large charges taken in the third quarter related to tax credits, left GM with a company record $38.7 billion net loss for the full year.” (02/12/08)

Ouch. I have to say that GM is not entirely to blame, and they won’t be the last big company to be in severe trouble. Government “economic policy” (that is an euphemism for “really big list of stupid actions”) has driven industry and business alike to their knees.

Stupid people tricks:
NY: Naked Cowboy sues for $6 million over “naked” M&M
Fox News
“Times Square’s Naked Cowboy is trying to take a $6 million bite out of a giant candy corporation, charging it stole his identity by dressing an animated blue M&M in his skimpy trademark outfit. The nearly nude street performer, whose real name is Robert Burck, has his tighty whities in such a bunch over a massive video billboard showing the candy in a white hat, boots, guitar and underwear that he’s filed suit against the mighty Mars candy corporation. The case of Naked Cowboy vs. The Men From Mars will be heard in Manhattan federal court.” (02/13/08)

He isn’t directly harming anyone, at least, but look, the man belongs in a mental ward, not hassling a company that happened to duplicate his schtick. Of course, frankly, the ad is enough to turn me off on M&M: no taste at all.

Stupid people tricks:
Yahoo rebuff sets up tense battle with Microsoft
MSNBC
“Yahoo Inc.’s rejection of Microsoft Corp.’s unsolicited takeover bid left investors guessing the next move in a tense mating dance that may hatch a more imposing challenger to Google Inc. or disintegrate into a bruising brawl. The rebuff, formally announced early Monday, wasn’t a surprise because Yahoo had leaked its intention over the weekend.” (02/11/08)

Maybe a duel at sixty paces between the two company CEOs, or perhaps two randomly selected stockholders, winner takes all?

Stupid people tricks:
Canada: Man arrested trying to sell Bell phone list
National Post [Canada]
“Montreal police yesterday arrested a man they allege stole and then tried to sell customer information of about 3.4 million Bell Canada subscribers in Quebec and Ontario. The customer information includes names, addresses, telephone numbers and lists of the Bell services the customers use, the Montreal-based company said in a statement. About 5% of the data includes unlisted telephone numbers.” (02/13/08)

Privacy at risk, definitely. More so for those with unlisted numbers.

Stupid people tricks:
Egypt: US peace activist protests military trials
Reuters
“U.S. peace activist Cindy Sheehan pressed Egypt on Wednesday to free members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood who are on trial in a military court, urging leniency for the sake of their families. Egypt sent 40 members of the Brotherhood including its No. 3, Khairat el-Shater, to a military court a year ago. The men, six of whom are being tried in absentia, are the first Brotherhood members to face military trials since 2001. Most of the serious charges, including terrorism and money laundering, were dropped in December, but the men are still charged with belonging to a banned group.” (02/13/08)

She obviously is pathologically afraid of the military.

Mama's Note: I'm still trying to figure out just who in heck she thinks she is. This whole thing has really gone to her head. Trying to support Egyptian terrorists is a long, long way from protesting the US invasion in Iraq in any case.

Stupid people tricks:
Tiger attack survivors back in court
San Francisco Chronicle
“Attorneys for the two brothers who survived a Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo said today they intend to seek the personnel records of San Jose officers who arrested the men Sept. 7 in a separate incident in which they allegedly scuffled with police. Kulbir Dhaliwal, 24, and his brother Paul, 19, said nothing during their brief appearance in a San Jose courtroom on misdemeanor charges of public intoxication and resisting arrest. Paul Dhaliwal is also charged with misdemeanor battery on a police officer. The brothers were arrested after they allegedly refused to cooperate with officers who reported seeing them chasing two men down the street, according to police reports. Authorities have never located the men.” (02/13/08)

It is now against the law to chase someone down the street in San Francisco? There must be a lot of sexually-frustrated but law-abiding types in Babylon-by-the-Bay.

Stupid people tricks:
TN: Nashville couple sues blog, claiming defamation
Tennessean
“A Nashville couple is suing a local blog they say invaded their privacy and libeled them. The lawsuit, filed in Davidson County Circuit Court on Monday, alleges that three John Doe defendants libeled Don and Terry Swartz of Old Hickory on a blog titled ‘Stop Swartz’ (stopswartz.blogspot.com). The anonymous blog, which lists its first post in September 2007, levies several accusations against the Swartzes, who live in Old Hickory Village. The lawsuit details an October post linking the Swartzes to fires set throughout the neighborhood last year. ‘I believe in the First Amendment, but there are limits,’ said Goodlettsville lawyer Charlie Sizemore, who represents the Swartzes.” (02/12/08)

How do these guys know that there are three John Does? And exactly how does this harm the Swartz family?

Stupid people tricks:
HM Minister warns of inbreeding
Times of London (UK)
A government minister has warned that inbreeding among immigrants is causing a surge in birth defects - comments likely to spark a new row over the place of Muslims in British society. Phil Woolas, an environment minister, [and] a former race relations minister, said: “If you have a child with your cousin the likelihood is there’ll be a genetic problem.” …up to half of all marriages within these communities are estimated to involve first cousins. … Medical research suggests that while British Pakistanis are responsible for 3% of all births, they account for one in three British children born with genetic illnesses.

We joke about there being communities like this in the Ozarks or Appalachians: family trees with just one root and the trunk, no branches. Many States (of the US) ban first-cousin marriages, the UK does not. Nor according to other stories, does the UK ban polygamist families, as long as the marriages were done outside the UK: the four-wives/one-husband families can collect all the welfare they “need.”

Mama's Note: Actually, it's not that simple. First cousins will only produce damaged children if they share a bad gene. Seems to me that the "welfare" is the sole problem here. If people want to inbreed, they need to take care of the results. Stupidity is self limiting, eventually.

The Collapse of Africa:
Darfur refugees must leave, Chad leader says
MSNBC
“Chad’s prime minister on Monday blamed the influx of some 300,000 refugees from the neighboring Darfur region for his country’s worsening tensions with Sudan and he demanded the international community move them out. Prime Minister Nouradin Koumakoye warned that if the refugees are not transferred elsewhere, Chad’s government would expel them on its own.” (02/11/08)

Isn’t this like having the in-laws come and overstay their welcome, so much that you call the cops on them? Or the mayor’s office? Huh?

The Collapse of Africa:
UN peacekeepers forced out of Eritrea
Tucson Citizen
“The United Nations has begun pulling out troops from Eritrea and relocating them across the Ethiopian border, the U.N. chief said Thursday, in a setback to its peacekeeping effort. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office said Thursday that the ‘temporary relocation’ had begun with some of the U.N.’s advance units moving across the border by road earlier this week.” (02/14/08)

Good for Eritrea! Remember this in the future: Eritrea did what the US has so far failed to do: kick the UN out.

Theft by government:
AZ: Valuations drop, but property tax may not
Arizona Republic
“Most homeowners won’t be surprised when they open their property notices from the Maricopa County assessor this weekend. Values on most Valley homes have dropped. But homeowners hoping for an immediate property-tax reduction will be disappointed. Property-tax statements lag valuations by 18 months in Arizona, so homeowners won’t see a drop in their taxes until late 2009. And if Valley municipalities raise taxes to offset budget shortfalls, there won’t be a drop even then. The overall median value of homes in metropolitan Phoenix fell 13 percent, to $199,800 from $229,500, according to the assessor’s latest report, which covers the market from mid-2006 through the fall of 2007. About 94 percent of all Valley homes fell in value.” [Editor’s note: In banking terms, it’s called the “float” but it only lasts a week or less, not a whole frickin’ year - SAT] (02/14/08)

So their “rent” isn’t going down, and they are surprised? Arizona, unlike some neighbor states, is seeing the impacts of the national decline. Those politicians need every penny they can get to pay for everyone else.

Theft by government:
UK: Chancellor waters down “non-dom” tax
Daily Mail [UK]
“Alistair Darling was accused of a climbdown last night over proposals to increase taxes on foreign businessmen. The Treasury moved to ‘clarify’ its plans which included a £30,000 annual levy on so-called ‘non-domiciles.’ Critics of the tax grab have warned it would prompt an exodus of talent and wealth from Britain. Claiming draft legislation had simply been badly worded, ministers insisted they did not wish to ’snoop’ on the financial affairs of wealthy foreigners living here.” (02/12/08)

Watch the money slip through their fingers.

Theft by government:
TX: City increases corporate welfare / land theft settlement
Dallas Morning News
“The [Arlington] City Council agreed Tuesday to pay an additional $868,250 to settle more than two dozen pending eminent domain court cases related to the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. The six owners of the 26 properties — most of them rental houses — had already received a combined $1.8 million from the city. But they appealed that amount and had requested a jury trial.” (02/12/08)

A new stadium – sports is more important than people having an affordable place to live.

Mama's Note: Seems the owners of that property are merely asking for more money, so "affordable" homes are not in question. I suspect few of those people would want to live that close to a stadium anyway. It's a question of private property rights, nothing else.

Theft by government:
NY: Eminent domain proposed to grab Pfizer plant
The Day
“Affordable-housing activists in Brooklyn, N.Y., are proposing eminent domain be used to seize a prime piece of New York real estate from Pfizer Inc. Pfizer is the same company that inspired economic-development plans in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood of New London [Connecticut] after the pharmaceutical giant started building its Global Research & Development headquarters there nearly a decade ago. ‘Ah, irony,’ says Scott Bullock, senior attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice, the group that defended Fort Trumbull resident Susette Kelo as the lead plaintiff in Kelo v. City of New London — the property-rights case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The city won the case three years ago. ‘It shows that once the power goes to government to take properties on behalf of private parties, the tables can easily be turned on you … if you’re out of favor with the powers that be,’ Bullock said.” (02/08/08)

Sounds like another tit-for-tat revenge scheme to me.

Theft by government:
Witness: Boulder land evidence fabricated
World Net Daily
A witness has surfaced in the Boulder, Colo., case in which a former judge and his wife used a little-known state law concerning "adverse possession" to gain ownership of a significant portion of their neighbor's valuable building lot in a pricy subdivision. It seems one of the neighbors now reports seeing a woman who looked like Edie Stevens, the judge's wife, "tromping, stomping and kicking the ground, causing vegetation and dirt to rise from the ground in the area where the dirt path … later appeared." That statement comes from neighbor Josephine Touchton, whose affidavit, along with other photographic and sworn evidence, was submitted to the court in Boulder by Don and Susie Kirlin. They had been ordered by a Boulder judge to give nearly one-third of their building lot in the Boulder residential development to a neighbor, former judge Richard McLean, and his wife. McLean and Stevens alleged they used the land belonging to the Kirlins' "adversely" for more than 18 years, during that course of time building a path to cross the land.

The fact that they fabricated the evidence should not distract from the fact that they have committed the sin of King Ahab – they have abused their positions and influence and power for the sake of stealing their neighbor’s land.

World wars:
DoD charges six 9/11 suspects with murder
Chicago Sun-Times
“The Pentagon has charged six detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and officials said Monday the United States will seek the death penalty. Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann said the charges lay out a long-term sophisticated plan by the al-Qaida terrorist network to attack the United States of America. The attack over six years ago killed nearly 3,000 people.” (02/11/08)

How much of this is made up out of whole cloth is hard to see at this point. Charging enemy POWs (defacto or dejure) with murder is stupid, in my opinion, although the “war crimes” charges may be legitimate. What is baffling is why the Pentagon has waited this long. Although these trials will be done in the so-called “military tribunals” (unless the new Administration changes that), the appeals process will almost certainly bring it to an appeals court of some kind.

World wars:
Russian bomber buzzes US aircraft carrier
CNN
“American fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers, one of which buzzed a U.S. aircraft carrier in the western Pacific over the weekend, U.S. Military officials told CNN Monday. One of them twice flew about 2,000 feet over the deck of the USS Nimitz Saturday while another flew about 50 miles away, officials said. Two others were at least 100 miles away, the military reported.” (02/11/08)

More childish antics, flown and watched by people who know better.

World wars:
EU officials furious as DC demands extra data on passengers
Guardian [UK]
“The US administration is pressing the 27 governments of the European Union to sign up for a range of new security measures for transatlantic travel, including allowing armed guards on all flights from Europe to America by US airlines. The demand to put armed air marshals on to the flights is part of a travel clampdown by the Bush administration that officials in Brussels described as ‘blackmail’ and ‘troublesome,’ and could see west Europeans and Britons required to have US visas if their governments balk at Washington’s requirements.” (02/11/08)

Heaven forbid that the EU think that having armed people on aircraft might prevent attacks!

Mama's Note: Indeed, but they should be armed PASSENGERS, not federal goons.

World wars:
Executions may be carried out at Gitmo
Knoxville News Sentinel
“If six suspected terrorists are sentenced to death at Guantanamo Bay for the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. Army regulations that were quietly amended two years ago open the possibility of execution by lethal injection at the military base in Cuba, experts said Tuesday. Any executions would probably add to international outrage over Guantanamo, since capital punishment is banned in 130 countries, including the 27-nation European Union.” (02/12/08)

Unless the injections are “cruel and unusual?” At least according to the Supreme? We shall see.

World wars:
East Timor declares state of emergency
Modesto Bee
“East Timor declared a state of emergency Tuesday after attacks on the country’s top leaders in a failed coup left the president in ‘extremely serious’ condition with gunshot wounds. The assassination attempt Monday against President Jose Ramos-Horta and the failed attack on Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao — East Timor’s independence icons — thrust the desperately poor country into a fresh crisis amid fears of more unrest and political turmoil.” (02/11/08)

When you are already in a state of emergency, does it make sense to declare another one on top of the first one? East Timor may be the first failed Asian/Oceana nation.

World wars:
DoJ: Waterboarding no longer legal
MSNBC
“A senior Justice Department official told Congress on Thursday that laws and other limits enacted since three terrorism suspects were waterboarded have eliminated the technique from what is now legally allowed. ‘The program as it is authorized today does not include waterboarding,’ Steven G. Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, told the House subcommittee on the Constitution.” [Editor’s note: The US has treated waterboarding as illegal for at LEAST 60 years, per our insistence that it be treated as a war crime when practiced by the Japanese. It didn’t suddenly become legal. It has NEVER been legal during the current administration, so if it was used the law was broken, period - TLK] (02/14/08)

What Tom does not take into account is the hypocrisy of our grand and glorious baboons in Congress assembled, who believe that the US can do things that other nations must not.

World wars:
US: No permanent bases anywhere in the world
Raw Story
“Amid a bitter dispute over US bases in Iraq, the White House signaled Wednesday it does not view any US military installations overseas — except perhaps Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — as permanent. ‘The United States, where we are, where we have bases, we are there at the invitation of those countries. I’m not aware of any place in the world — where we have a base — that they are asking us to leave. And if they did, we would probably leave,’ said spokeswoman Dana Perino. Asked about Guantanamo Bay, Perino replied: ‘I’m going to say that one doesn’t count.’ The United States and Cuba disagree about the validity and the terms of the 1903 treaty that originally carved out the area for the base.” [Editor’s note: So what this says is, the way to bring our troops home is to get the people in all the foreign nations to march in protest of our occupation of their lands, and … No wait, they’ve already tried that - SAT] (02/13/08)

Of course, they don’t really mean those “countries,” that is, the people, but the governments that claim to have the sole power of decision in those countries, and a monopoly of the use of force. Frankly, US bases overseas are often more “permanent” than stateside military installations, considering that hundreds of bases are being closed here. Just what country are the armed services supposed to be protecting, anyway?

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