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Libertarian
War on the News, 30 March - April 05, 2008
This week, let us start with some medical matters:
Medical
front (and culture wars):
UK’s
first hybrid embryos created
BBC News [UK]
“Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal
hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK, the BBC can reveal. The embryos
survived for up to three days and are part of medical research into a
range of illnesses. It comes a month before MPs are to debate the future
of such research. The Catholic Church describes it as ‘monstrous.’
But medical bodies and patient groups say such research is vital for our
understanding of disease.” (04/01/08)
How sick
can these people get? Soulless or not, this seems to me to be purely evil,
no matter what the claims made about it. If this goes on (and in a state
school) it will again be clear that human life means nothing but a form
of raw material for government to use as it sees fit. The next story shows
how this is true.
Medical
Issues:
Government
stakes claim to every newborn's DNA
World Net Daily
An Orwellian plan that has state and federal governments staking claim
to the ownership of every newborn's DNA in perpetuity is advancing under
the radar of most privacy rights activists, but would turn the United
States' citizenry into a huge pool of subjects for involuntary scientific
experimentation, according to one organization alarmed over the issue.
Lawmakers in Minnesota recently endorsed a proposal that would exempt
stockpiles of DNA information already being collected from every newborn
there from any sort of consent requirements, meaning researchers could
utilize the DNA of more than 780,000 Minnesota children for any sort of
research project whatsoever, Brase said. The National Conference of State
Legislatures, in fact, lists for all 50 states as well as the District
of Columbia the various statutes or regulatory provisions under which
newborns' DNA is being collected. Such programs are offered as "screening"
requirements to detect treatable illnesses. They vary as to exactly what
tests are done but the Health Resources and Services Administration has
requested a report that would "include a recommendation for a uniform
panel of conditions." Further, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is on record
proposing a plan that would turn the program into a consolidated nationwide
effort. … "researchers already are looking for genes related
to violence, crime and different behaviors." The Heartland Regional
Genetics and Newborn Screening is one of the organizations that advocates
for more screening and research. It proclaims in its vision statement
a desire to see newborns screened for 200 conditions. It also forecasts
"every student … with an individual program for education based
on confidential interpretation of their family medical history, their
brain imaging, their genetic predictors of best learning methods…"
This is
the eugenics of “Brave New World” and “1984” and Star
Trek’s Kahn, not the benign genetic research and repair of Heinlein’s
“Beyond This Horizon” (although that society had developed out
of a history of just such evil as this and the chimeras now being grown
and killed in the UK).
Medical
matters:
Study: Mobile phones “more dangerous
than smoking”
Independent [UK]
“Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos,
a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people
should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the
mobile phone industry must take ‘immediate steps’ to reduce
exposure to their radiation. … It draws on growing evidence —
exclusively reported in the IoS in October — that using handsets
for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take
at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances
based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used
the phones for that long.” (03/30/08)
How legitimate
is this study? What are his motives? What does this do to increase government
control of our daily lives? I grow more suspicious of these alarmist reports
all the time.
Medical
news:
Low-Level Radon Exposure
May Reduce Lung Cancer Risk
Environmental Protection News
Exposure to levels of radon gas typically found in 90 percent of American
homes appears to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer by as much
as 60 percent, according to a study published in the March issue of the
journal Health Physics. Home exposure to radon, a naturally occurring
radioactive decay product of radium, has been thought to be the second
leading cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking. Chemically inert,
it can percolate out of the ground into basements. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency recommends that homeowners take remediation actions
when household radon exposure levels rise above 4 picoCuries per liter,
based on the belief that radon exposure presents a linearly increasing
lung cancer risk (a view not supported by the new study in the low-dose
region).
Who is
right? For years we’ve had studies claiming the opposite, but now
we are told this. Whom do we believe? Whose ox is being gored? Seeing
as the radon scare encourages more government, I’m inclined to believe
this one.
Afghan
front:
Hundreds more French troops
to Afghanistan?
MSNBC
“France may contribute ’several hundred’ more troops
to reinforce the fight against the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies in
Afghanistan, the prime minister told parliament Tuesday. Francois Fillon,
speaking at the National Assembly amid domestic opposition to a bigger
French deployment, said NATO and its allies must stop Afghanistan from
again becoming a hub of international terrorism.” (04/02/08)
NATO apparently
is serious about getting the membership to work together.
Afghan
front:
Admiral: Iraq has troops, Afghanistan
waits
CNN
“The U.S. military has too many troops tied down in Iraq to send
needed reinforcements to Afghanistan this year, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs said Wednesday. ‘There are force requirements there [in Afghanistan]
that we can’t currently meet,’ Adm. Mike Mullen said.”
(04/02/08)
Well, I’m
sure that the French troops will make up for at least a squad or two.
Seriously, the French can have good soldiers: it is their civilian and
quasi-civilian leadership that stinks. And as for not enough US troops,
even the new 75,000 increase in end strength isn’t enough with everything
Congress has us doing.
American
front:
Homeland Security waives laws vs.
Know-Nothing fence
USA Today
“The Homeland Security Department used its legal authority Tuesday
to waive environmental and land management laws, so it can complete 670
miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexican border. The waivers will allow the
department to move ahead with miles of pedestrian and vehicle fence construction
as well as roads and detection systems.” (04/01/08)
Actually
it was the president that did this, but I’m sure that DHS was heartfelt
in approving it.
American
front:
Cubans line up for DVD players, bikes
Associated Press
“Cubans snapped up DVD players, motorbikes and pressure cookers
Tuesday as a variety of consumer products went on sale to all of the island’s
people for the first time. Many others lined up just to window shop, lamenting
prices few can afford on government salaries. Until Tuesday, most electronic
goods previously were sold only to foreigners or companies — one
of the many irksome rules that new President Raul Castro has vowed to
lift to improve the lives of his citizens. … Tuesday’s move
came a day after the Tourism Ministry said any Cuban with enough money
can stay in luxury hotels and rent cars, doing away with restrictions
that made ordinary people feel like second-class citizens. And soon Cubans
will be able to get cell phones legally in their own names, a luxury long
reserved for the lucky few.” (04/01/08)
Apparently
Raul Castro is really concerned about unrest, and is seeking to appease
the public. Can he buy them off with “privileges” like this?
I certainly don’t think so, in the long run.
American
front:
Chávez
seeks Shangri-La with “socialist cities”
Christian Science Monitor
“Tucked in the mountains in a patch of land called Camino de los
Indios just outside Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, up a treacherous
dirt road that only a four-wheel-drive vehicle would dare, leftist President
Hugo Chávez is building a new metropolis from scratch. To be called
Caribia, it’s the first of about a dozen ’socialist cities’
that is intended as a utopia of sorts, where all residents will participate
in community affairs and grow crops such as carrots and coffee on patches
of countryside that will surround their homes. But to get there, you must
first pass one of the swankiest shopping malls in Latin America. A Mercedez
Benz SUV zooms by in a gray blur.” [Editor’s note: This
was not labeled as an April Fool’s piece - SAT] (04/01/08)
So far,
Chavez is following the usual pattern of communist rulers, isn’t
he? Which of these new cities will be the Potempkin village to which hundreds
of gullible and deluded American socialists and leftists will be led to
ooh and ah?
American
front:
Mexico: Cartels training recruits
near US
Arizona Republic
“The ranch near this border community is isolated, desolate and
laced by arroyos — an ideal place, experts say, for training drug-cartel
assassins. Mexican drug cartels have conducted military-style training
camps in at least six such locations in northern Tamaulipas and Nuevo
Leon states, some within a few miles of the Texas border, according to
U.S. and Mexican authorities and the printed testimony of five protected
witnesses who were trained in the camps. The camps near the Texas border
and at other locations in Mexico are used to train cartel recruits, ranging
from Mexican army deserters to American teenagers, who then carry out
killings and other cartel assignments on both sides of the border, authorities
say.” (03/30/08)
What, they
don’t want to just contract with Blackwater?
Asian front:
DoD analyst pleads in China spying
case
Philadelphia Inquirer
“A Defense Department analyst pleaded guilty Monday to delivering
classified information about U.S. And Taiwanese military relations to
a New Orleans furniture salesman who turned out to be working with the
Chinese government. Gregg Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, a weapons analyst
at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency who held top secret security
clearances, was arrested last month. Prosecutors alleged he divulged military
secrets to Louisiana businessman Tai Kuo, who turned the information over
to a Chinese foreign agent.” (03/31/08)
Well, this
was quick, wasn’t it? Unfortunately, his no-doubt lengthy prison
term will do nothing to fix the damage he caused, and will continue to
cost the taxpayers $100K or more a year.
Asian front:
North Korea threatens
South with destruction
MSNBC
“North Korea threatened South Korea with destruction Sunday after
Seoul’s top military officer said he would consider attacking the
communist state if it tried to carry out a nuclear attack. The statement
from North Korea’s official news agency marked the third straight
day of bellicose rhetoric from the North, which is angry over the harsher
line the South’s new president has taken against the country since
assuming office last month.” (03/30/08)
Duh! If
the south is subjected to a nuke attack by the north, what else would
they do? An invasion would be an act of self-defense.
Asian front:
Dozens still jailed in China over
1989 protests
International Herald Tribune
“At least 60 people are still jailed in China over 1989 protests
that led to a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations centered
at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, a human rights activist said Saturday.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, John Kamm
urged China to release the 60 to 100 Tiananmen protesters before the Beijing
Summer Olympics in August. ‘China needs to do something at this point
because its international image is really in pretty bad shape,’ said
Kamm, executive director of the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation,
which advocates for political prisoners and conducts research on Chinese
prisons.” (03/29/08)
Nearly
20 years now! No doubt, as their prisoners from the Korean War finally
died off, they had to find someone to fill the spaces.
Asian front:
South
Korea Faces Barrage of Threats from Pyongyang
CNSNews.com
South Korea’s one month-old conservative government is facing
its first important foreign policy test as North Korea steps up its threatening
behavior and belligerent rhetoric in response to Seoul’s shift away
from a “sunshine” policy of active engagement...
This sounds
like the 2-year-old threatening mommy and daddy if they won’t let
him go out in the street to play.
Asian front:
Nepal:
Tibetan exiles postpone protests
Radio Australia [Australia]
“Tibetan exiles have suspended protests in Nepal’s capital
after the government threatened to prolong detentions to prevent unrest
during elections next week. For the past two weeks, exiles have protested
daily outside Chinese diplomatic offices against a crackdown by authorities
following deadly unrest in their homeland last month. On Thursday, China’s
envoy told Nepal to be firmer with the protests. Activists say the Nepalese
home ministry has warned them of prolonged detention if they are arrested.”
[Editor’s note: Hopefully China’s envoy was subsequently
invited to go elsewhere for surgery to have a Nepalese boot removed from
his *** - TLK] (04/03/08)
It seems
to me like there need to be more retired Ghurka soldiers in the Nepalese
government, willing to tell China and their own authorities that freedom
trumps bogus threats from Beijing.
Baboon
tricks:
House OKs $50 billion to fight global
diseases
USA Today
“The House voted Wednesday to triple to more than $10 billion
a year U.S. humanitarian spending on fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis
in Africa and other stricken areas of the world. About $41 billion of
the $50 billion over five years would be devoted to AIDS, significantly
expanding a program credited with saving more than 1 million lives in
Africa alone in the largest U.S. investment ever against a single disease.”
(04/02/08)
Let us
do some quick calcs: a million lives over five years, and 41 billion bucks:
that is $41,000 or about $8,000 a year in a continent with a per capita
income somewhere around $500/year. Huh? Why do I suspect that most of
this money isn’t getting spent in Africa?
Baboons:
Pelosi urges Bush to boycott Olympic
ceremony
Times Online [UK]
“President Bush has been urged by the Speaker of the House of
Representatives to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic
Games because of the way that China has handled the political unrest in
Tibet. Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said that she was not calling
for a US boycott of the Games themselves, just the opening ceremony on
August 8. Mr. Bush has already said that he would attend the Olympics
and raise his concerns about China’s human rights record in private
talks with President Hu Jintao.” (04/01/08)
Gee, we
haven’t heard much from our baboons in Congress assembled, recently.
Funny how Pelosi seems to think that the US needs to be more like China,
but a bit of political pressure and she wants to have Bush (not herself)
boycott eh Olympics.
Baboons:
Oil chiefs: High prices not our fault
New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung
“Don’t blame us, oil industry chiefs told a skeptical Congress.
Top executives of the country’s five biggest oil companies said Tuesday
they know record fuel prices are hurting people, but they argued it’s
not their fault and their huge profits are in line with other industries.
Appearing before a House committee, the executives were pressed to explain
why they should continue to get billions of dollars in tax breaks when
they made $123 billion last year and motorists are paying record gasoline
prices at the pump.” (04/01/08)
Nobody
spoke up for the oil companies who were racking up record deficits back
in the late 80s and early 90s, did they?
Mama's
Note: The whole picture would change incredibly if all the government
subsidies, insane regulations and so forth were to vanish. In a real free
market, we might be paying quite a bit more for gas - and then again,
we might be paying a whole lot less. It's certainly not a simple matter
of oil company profit and loss. Few people think about the incredible
amount of taxes being collected from every aspect of this business, and
increasing as the price goes up. Now, just who has the greatest benefit
from high prices? The oil companies who answer to their customers, or
the government that can plunder without limit while their victims blame
the oil company!!
Baboons:
Senate
to debate housing “stimulus” plan
CNN
“A bipartisan housing stimulus bill could be debated in the Senate
as early as Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. The move
comes as experts say that lawmakers must act swiftly if they hope to prevent
a substantial number of foreclosures this year. … The parties in
the Senate have ‘agreed in principle’ on measures to be included
in the bill, said Reid, a Nevada Democrat. Those measures have not been
made public.” (04/03/08)
Let me
try and figure this out. These people got in trouble because they are
too stupid or too greedy to figure out that they were making deals too
good to be true, and now we MUST act immediately to protect them from
their own stupidity, while at the same time all of us are getting dragged
down because our stinking government keeps on printing money to be squandered
on ne’er-do-wells and that doesn’t merit any high priority.
Oh, and they don’t have time to vote on getting us out of two-thirds
of the countries in the world…
Baboons:
AZ: State hopes to end-run voters
on budget
Arizona Republic
“Staring down a deficit abyss of about $3 billion for this year
and next, Arizona lawmakers complain that their efforts to cut spending
and balance the budget are stymied by voters. Healthcare for the poor.
Spending on schools. Money for clean elections and land conservation.
Early-education and health programs for kids, funded by tobacco taxes.
Major state programs and big bucks — all off-limits because they
are protected by voter-approved initiatives. A measure passed by the House
of Representatives would give voters a chance to change that. It would
free lawmakers from spending restraints mandated by initiatives whenever
the state faces a budget deficit. If approved by the state Senate, the
referendum would go on the November ballot and, if passed, could have
a dramatic effect on how the state balances future budgets.”
[Editor’s note: Defying federal unfunded mandates would show backbone,
but that would be expecting too much of the “elected ones” -
SAT] (04/02/08)
Steve,
you are right, but many of these federal mandates are reinforced by voter
mandates in a community where we expect government to be the FIRST resort
on virtually anything to do with health care, education, and the environment.
Baboons:
2008
PigBook: Republicans are top porkers
Citizens Against Government Waste
“Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the 2008
Congressional Pig Book, the latest installment in an 18-year exposé
of pork-barrel spending. … In fiscal year 2008, Congress stuffed
11,610 projects (the second highest total ever) worth $17.2 billion into
the 12 appropriations bills. That is a 337 percent increase over the 2,658
projects in fiscal year 2007, and a 30 percent increase over the $13.2
billion total in fiscal year 2007. … For the first time, the names
of members of Congress were added to the projects. The top three porkers
were members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, beginning with Ranking
Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with $892 million; Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
with $469 million; and Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) With $465 million.”
(04/02/08)
Republicans
may be the worst, but you notice that the Democrats and “Independents”
aren’t far behind. And this is only the things that CAGW considers
pork: my own definition is much MUCH looser.
Mama's
Note: Of course, anything congress does that is outside of their strict
limits in the constitution really qualifies here. And then, there are
those of us who don't think anyone, anywhere has any legitimate business
taking and spending our property for any purpose whatsoever. My definition
of "pork" is much broader than Nathan's.
Canaanite
front:
Researchers:
Asteroid destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah
Fox News
“Researchers who cracked the cuneiform symbols on the Planisphere
tablet believe that it recorded an asteroid thought to have been more
than half a mile across. The tablet, found by Henry Layard in the remains
of the library in the royal place at Nineveh in the mid-19th century,
is thought to be a 700 B.C. copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer
watching the night sky. He referred to the asteroid as a ‘white stone
bowl approaching’ and recorded it as it ‘vigorously swept along.’
Using computers to recreate the night sky thousands of years ago, scientists
have pinpointed his sighting to shortly before dawn on June 29 in the
year 3123 BC” [Editor’s note: Of course, at the time it
was easier to blame it on a “vengeful God,” thereby providing
many generations to come with hatespeech-fodder - SAT] (03/31/08)
Steve,
your atheism is showing, and it ain’t pretty. Just because it is
a “natural event” does not mean that it was not the finger of
God that pushed it into the proper trajectory instead of plunging into
the Med a few miles away, or the desert a few miles to the east. But I
seriously doubt a lot of this story, including the claim that an ancient
astrologer could record enough detail to pinpoint such an exact date and
time. This reminds me very much of the old “church-bulletin”
(now Internet) urban legend that NASA scientists had calculated the exact
impact of the sun standing still during Joshua’s battle and King
Hezekiah’s illness on our calendar. I find it interesting that this
supposed date is more than 600 years earlier than the earliest date usually
assigned to the life of Abraham, and that this precise written record
was done using semi-pictographic Sumarian writing when most authorities
claim that such writing was invented and in its most primitive “semi-picture”
form sometime between 3100 and 2900 BC.
Canaanite
front:
US: Israel to remove 50 West Bank
roadblocks
USA Today
“Israel and the Palestinians on Sunday agreed to a series of ‘concrete
steps’ aimed at paving the way for a final peace agreement later
this year, beginning with an Israeli pledge to remove some 50 roadblocks
in the West Bank, U.S. officials said. The officials, traveling with U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also said the Palestinians had agreed
to step up their efforts to ‘prevent terror’ in the West Bank.”
(03/30/08)
I fear
that all this does is removed barriers on high speed avenues of attack
for the next series of bloody battles.
Canaanite
front:
Israeli
Attack on Syria Unlikely Right Now, Analyst Says
CNSNews.com
Jerusalem – Syria has called up reserve forces and is conducting
large-scale military maneuvers in preparation for an anticipated Israeli
attack against Syria and Hizballah, a London-based Arabic newspaper reported
on Wednesday. Syria denied the report, but according to one analyst, it
may be a “test balloon” to see how Israel will react...
Let me
see: I kill my brother but make it look like YOU killed my brother so
that I can attack you and say that you attacked me… But if you really
DO attack me, then I can scream bloody murder and make it seem like it
is all your fault… I think my head hurts.
Canaanite
front:
Israel
Taking ‘Calculated Risks’ in Goodwill Gestures to Palestinians
CNSNews.com
Jerusalem – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up a short
visit here on Monday, after prodding Israel and the Palestinians to agree
to “goodwill gestures” toward each other. The Bush administration
insists that a peace deal can be worked out by the end of President Bush’s
term, and the goodwill gestures are intended to ease the way. For Israel,
the gestures -- aimed at easing life for the Palestinians in the West
Bank -- are calculated risks...
Why is
it that the last year of most US Administrations always seems to be a
desperate, last-minute scramble for peace in Canaan? And why do they always
fail?
Mama's
Note: Most likely because they have no idea what "peace" really
is, no idea what it would actually take to promote peace, and no real
incentive to find out either. If the world was truly at peace, there would
be no perceived need for military might, or any other modern government
function.
Canaanite
front:
Palestinian
Terrorism Created Need for Roadblocks, Expert Says
CNSNews.com
Jerusalem – Palestinian terrorism that developed along with the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process created the need for Israel to construct
roadblocks in the West Bank, a former Israeli military commander said
on Monday...
Seems to
me that if they were really practicing self-defense, roadblocks are the
last thing they would want or need.
Criminals
in government:
HUD Secretary Jackson resigns amid
Federal probe
Bloomberg News
“U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson
quit following calls by lawmakers for him to step down amid a federal
criminal probe into contracts the agency awarded. ‘There comes a
time when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters,’
Jackson, reading from a statement, told reporters in Washington today.
‘Now is such a time for me.’ His resignation takes effect April
18. His departure, without an immediate replacement, comes as the Bush
administration is working on measures to ease the housing crisis. Jackson
was an advocate for an industry-led program to encourage lenders to voluntarily
refinance troubled loans rather than using federal funds to tackle the
mortgage crisis.” (03/31/08)
Whatever
good he thought he was doing is ruined (in his eyes) by his corruption.
How foolish some people are.
Mama's
Note: We can't ever know for sure, of course, but I have no doubt that
anyone who rocks the boat will have this kind of accusation made, real
or contrived by the powers that be. And those in a weak position because
of wrong doing, even serious efforts to "play the game" at some
point, will most certainly be destroyed if they annoy their masters. One
of the most remarkable things about the Ron Paul campaign was the incredibly
small number of accusations of any kind.
Culture
wars:
Blaine on trial
National Catholic Register
“Blaine’s example inspired numerous state legislatures to
do what the Congress did not: put the Blaine amendment into law. According
to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a civil rights organization
devoted to protecting religious liberty, about 37 states — more than
half the nation — have enacted such laws. Most of these laws are
still on the books, despite their clear origin in bigotry. Unlike Jim
Crow laws, which were removed from the books in the face of the civil
rights movement’s struggles for racial equality, the Blaine amendments
have largely escaped scrutiny until recently.” (04/02/08)
This evil
little incident in Baboon history haunts us today, in more ways than just
the way that the Register and the Becket Fund point out. I first discovered
this back in my less anarcho-capitalist days when researching state constitutions
and the history of patented land. The constitutions of most states admitted
to the Union during the Reconstruction era and immediately afterwards
have these nasty little “compacts with the United States” placed
in them by order of Congress. These compacts state that the state is an
“indissoluble” part of the Union, that the state will not take
federal land inside their boundaries, and that the state will not support
“sectarian” institutions (the “Blaine Amendment’ –
and give the impression that these obligations cannot be removed by amendment
to the constitution.
Culture
wars: global warming:
States sue EPA over global warming
Utica Observer-Dispatch
“Officials of 18 states are taking the EPA back to court to try
to force it to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that rebuked the Bush
administration for inaction on global warming. In a petition filed Wednesday,
the plaintiffs said the 5-4 ruling in April 2007 required the Environmental
Protection Agency to decide whether to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,
including carbon dioxide, from motor vehicles.” (04/02/08)
Sorry,
but 18 of 50 isn’t a majority, and besides, science isn’t a
matter for “democracy” any more than it is for “fascism.”
Even if a constitutional majority (38) of the states decided that global
warming is real, that is no more “real” and binding than a 5-4
vote by the black robed Nazgul or a 51 or 60 or 75% majority vote by the
Baboons in Congress Assembled.
Mama's
Note: I just keep reminding folks that a "majority" of the people
in Europe at one point were so sure the sun (and the rest of the universe)
revolved around the earth that they enthusiastically murdered people who
thought otherwise. Their belief that the earth was in the center certainly
didn't affect the reality.
Culture
wars: no religion in public:
Supreme Court: Ten Commandments vs.
“Seven Aphorisms”
Los Angeles Times
“If a city allows a monument with the Ten Commandments to be erected
in a public park, must it also allow other religions and groups to display
monuments of their choosing? The Supreme Court agreed Monday to take up
that question in an unusual dispute over the reach of the 1st Amendment
and freedom of speech. In the past, the court has said the free-speech
rule applies in parks and officials may not discriminate against speakers
or groups because of their message. In this context, freedom of speech
means a freedom from government restrictions. But last year, the U.S.
appeals court in Denver extended this free-speech rule to cover the monuments,
statues and displays in a public park. It ruled in favor of a religious
group called Summum, which says it wants to erect its ‘Seven Aphorisms
of Summum’ next to the Ten Commandments in Pioneer Park in Pleasant
Grove, Utah.” (04/01/08)
This does
not seem to be a hard case to decide, except for the emotional overtones.
Either there is free speech or there is not.
Mama's
Note: As we've mentioned many times, the problem here isn't really free
speech as much as it is the destructive idea of "public property."
There would be no questions about who controlled speech or monuments on
truly private property. Ownership requires control. If "everyone"
owns something, it is impossible for anyone to actually control it since
there is never going to be unanimous agreement.
Culture
wars: unisex churches:
Wales:
Church rejects women bishops bill
BBC News [UK]
“The Church in Wales’ governing body has narrowly rejected
proposals to allow women priests to become bishops …. Its defeat
leaves Wales and England as the only UK regions in the Anglican Church
that do not allow women bishops. The Anglican Church in Scotland, Ireland,
New Zealand, Canada and the United States already allows women to be ordained
as bishops.” (04/02/08)
And the
vast bulk of Anglicans (in Africa and India, and the dissident elements
in the US (at least)) DON’T believe that it is right. Many of those
people in the other areas (Scotland, Ireland, etc.) have voted with their
feet by leaving the denomination. Those who believed that even women priests
were wrong have already left, long ago. (I don’t have a dog in the
fight: the Bible teaches that ALL Christians are a “holy priesthood”
and able to go directly to God without any human intermediary; but there
are clearly different roles established for men and women in the church
– which does NOT (according to the Bible) have a division between
“clergy” and “laity.”)
Economic
front:
US jobless claims jump to highest
since 2005
Reuters
“The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits
soared by 38,000 last week, posting the highest reading since September
2005 and reinforcing fears that the U.S. economy has stalled, government
data on Thursday showed. A Labor Department official said there were no
special factors to explain the increase in initial claims to 407,000 in
the week ended March 29, but he said seasonal adjustments to the data
owing to the early timing of the Easter public holiday this year may have
influenced the reading. … Analysts fear a housing slump and credit
crunch may have tipped the U.S. Economy into recession and are scrutinizing
the labor market for evidence of slackening jobs that could chill consumer
spending.” (04/03/08)
What can
we say? The West is apparently keeping the rest of the country from sliding
into a recession that the Fed and the Feds can’t ignore. There are
job listings out the gazoo in many western states, and far too many jobs
being filled by informal immigrants who can’t and won’t speak
English.
Euro-front:
Get
your German interior minister’s fingerprint here
The Register [UK]
“A hacker club has published what it says is the fingerprint of
Wolfgang Schauble, Germany’s interior minister and a staunch supporter
of the collection of citizens’ unique physical characteristics as
a means of preventing terrorism. In the most recent issue of Die Datenschleuder,
the Chaos Computer Club printed the image on a plastic foil that leaves
fingerprints when it is pressed against biometric readers. No-one from
the Germany-based group has been able to test the foil to see if it can
fool a computer into believing it came from Schauble. But the technique
has been shown to work with a variety of other people’s prints on
almost two-dozen readers, according to a colleague of the hacker who pulled
off the demonstration.” (03/30/08)
How delightful!
Euro-front:
Bush: US supports Ukraine’s
bid to join NATO
MSNBC
“President Bush said Tuesday he will work ‘as hard as I can’
to help Ukraine join NATO and declared that Russia will not be able to
veto former Soviet states joining the transatlantic military alliance.
‘Your nation has made a bold decision and the United States strongly
supports your request,’ Bush told Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
after talks at the Presidential Secretariat here.” (04/01/08)
His support
apparently doomed the attempt: the rest of the NATO nations decided “not
yet.” It will probably pacify Russia a bit, which is no doubt what
some of the European members had in mind.
Euro-front:
NATO backs missile shield, stalls
Georgia, Ukraine
The Australian [Australia]
“NATO leaders have agreed to endorse US plans to build a missile
defence system in eastern Europe and to urge Russia to drop its objections
to the shield, American officials said last night. The endorsement is
contained in a communiqué that the leaders of the 26-nation military
alliance were due to adopt overnight. … NATO’s endorsement of
the missile defence system came as the alliance kept Georgia and Ukraine
waiting for membership, a major setback for Mr. Bush at his last summit
of the transatlantic alliance.” (04/03/08)
Methinks
the fix is in: Russia, let the missiles go ahead and we won’t annex
Georgia, the Ukraine, and the hotel on Kremlin Square… It may be
a setback, but for Bush it is a win-win: the Georgians and Ukrainians
love him for sticking up for them and hate the old European countries
for not going along, AND get some protection from a revaunchist Russia
thinking that a “democratic” empire might be even better than
a Czarist or Soviet one.
Free state
projects:
WA: Town
for sale 5 years, still no buyer
Fox News
“Juli Doty had big plans for the little ghost town of Monse, just
north of Brewster. A Wenatchee Realtor, Doty listed the entire town for
sale five years ago. She knew the town’s owners Donna and Fritz Van
Doren and they asked her to sell it for them when they moved from Monse
to East Wenatchee. It was a sweet deal: $575,000 for 60 acres that included
seven houses, an old schoolhouse, a general store and post office, all
platted into 100 parcels for anyone who wanted to remake their own little
town. And Doty was the perfect person to sell it. She grew up in Brewster,
but often visited Monse as a child, and remembered it as a bustling farm
community.” (03/29/08)
Any takers?
Got to be better than New Hampshire. (But not as good as Wyoming!)
Mama's
Note: Right! I wouldn't trade Wyoming for anywhere else on earth. There's
got to be some good reason nobody's bought this thing, however... wonder
what the rest of the story is.
Government-run,
theft-funded schools:
ACLU
sues over failed privately-run alternative school
EdNews.org
“In a case with national implications, the American Civil Liberties
Union and ACLU of Georgia filed a class action lawsuit today against the
Atlanta Independent School System (AISS) and Community Education Partners
(CEP) for violating students’ constitutional right to an adequate
public education. CEP is a for-profit corporation paid nearly $7 million
a year by the city to run its alternative school, which is among the most
dangerous and lowest performing schools in Georgia. ‘The appalling
performance of Community Education Partners is matched by the dereliction
of the city of Atlanta in its duty to provide students with an adequate
public education,’ said Emily Chiang, a staff attorney with the ACLU
Racial Justice Program.” (04/01/08)
The constitutional
right is found in state, and not the Federal, constitution. But most states
have this evil doctrine which seeks to justify state control of schools.
Government-run,
theft-funded schools:
WI: Student
sues school for giving him a zero
Fox News
“A Tomah High School student has filed a federal lawsuit alleging
his art teacher censored his drawing because it featured a cross and a
biblical reference. The lawsuit alleges other students were allowed to
draw ‘demonic’ images and asks a judge to declare a class policy
prohibiting religion in art unconstitutional. ‘We hear so much today
about tolerance,’ said David Cortman, an attorney with the Alliance
Defense Fund, a Christian legal advocacy group representing the student.
‘But where is the tolerance for religious beliefs? The whole purpose
of art is to reflect your own personal experience. To tell a student his
religious beliefs can legally be censored sends the wrong message.’
Tomah School District Business Manager Greg Gaarder said the district
hadn’t seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.” (04/01/08)
One more
example of the culture wars – people are no longer meekly accepting
limits as they once did. This young man could (and should) leave the public
schools and free himself from this tyranny, but it is easy to understand
his desire to defend his rights.
Government-run,
theft-funded schools:
GA: Third-graders sought to hurt teacher
San Francisco Chronicle
“A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing
a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job
and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning
up afterward, police said Tuesday. The plot by as many as nine boys and
girls at Center Elementary School in south Georgia was a serious threat,
Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said. ‘We did not hear anybody
say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed
her? Absolutely,’ Tanner said. ‘We feel like if they weren’t
interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful?
We don’t know.’ The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently
mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on
a chair, Tanner said. A prosecutor said they are too young to be charged
with a crime under Georgia law.” (04/01/08)
If what
they did was being accurately reported, of course), it WAS a crime –
but the punishment should be up to the parents and not to the government.
Frankly, the teacher has a problem if she so mishandled a situation of
a student standing on a chair that it triggered this plot: there must
be more to the story.
Government-run,
theft-funded schools:
“Bullying” Aussie high school
stops fingerprinting kids
The Register [UK]
“An Australian high school has stopped fingerprinting its children,
on receiving a caning from the country’s press. Ku-ring-gai High,
in Sydney’s prosperous North Shore, is accused of bullying its charges
into scanning their fingerprints for an attendance monitoring system it
is trialing. Under New South Wales rules, parents must be told in advance
if their children are to be fingerprinted. Also, schools must not ID children
whose parents object by way of a letter of exemption. But Ku-ring-gai
interpreted the rules liberally: one parent told The Australian that his
daughter ‘could not leave an exam room until she provided her fingerprint.’”
(04/03/08)
And why
do these people have their kids still in that school? For that matter,
why is the school still standing?
Home front:
UK:
The evidence against 42-day detention
Independent [UK]
“A young Muslim woman has spoken about the appalling conditions
she had to endure when she was held for 12 days without charge by police
using existing powers to detain suspects in terrorist cases. Farrah* was
eventually released without charge but her experience has left her angry
and bewildered. After arrest, it was almost 24 hours before she was allowed
to see a solicitor. She has protested to Liberty, the civil liberties
group who claim there will be more such cases, if the Counter-Terrorism
Bill before Parliament today extends detention without charge from 28
days to 42 days. Liberty is highlighting her case in an attempt to persuade
MPs to reject the extension of pre-charge detention in the Commons. ”
(03/31/08)
The problem
is, this is the wrong approach and the wrong problem. I don’t care
if the detention is served in the penthouse suite of a Hilton with an
unlimited room-service tab, it is still illegal detention – illegal,
immoral, and even in Britain’s unwritten Constitution, unconstitutional.
Home front:
States fight
as REAL ID deadline nears
Christian Science Monitor
“Frustrated by unfunded federal mandates, a number of states are
revolting. The latest case in point: stiff resistance to REAL ID, a controversial
post-9/11 law that aims to make driver’s licenses more secure [sic].
The Department of Homeland Security set Monday as the deadline for states
to get an extension for implementing REAL ID. Miss this deadline, DHS
warned resistant states, and come May, your residents won’t be allowed
to board planes with their current driver’s licenses. Montana is
one state that’s been opposed to the DHS requirements. Rather than
request an extension, it sent DHS a letter explaining what it’s already
doing to strengthen licenses. Still, DHS responded on March 21 by granting
an extension. New Hampshire, another REAL ID holdout, took a similar path
with DHS and also got an unasked-for extension last week.” [Editor’s
note: If this were truly about “making driver’s licenses more
secure,” it would not be receiving nearly the opposition it is getting
from us civil libertarians - SAT] (03/31/08)
The fighting
is too little, too late. The states should have ordered their senators
to vote against this piece of garbage when it came up for a vote, as the
people should have done the same to their representatives. Even now, the
fighting is over “unfunded” mandates and not over the real serious
issues of liberty. And as Steve points out, the Real ID garbage is NOT
about making the licenses more secure: all the normal ways of obtaining
bogus cards will still exist: it just turns them into more of an internal
passport and revealer of personal information.
Home front:
TX: ICE
thugs abduct Latino security personnel
Houston Chronicle
“A task force led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
arrested nearly 50 illegal immigrants in weekend raids of mostly Latino
night clubs in Dallas, officials said Sunday. Authorities raided 26 businesses,
including night clubs, restaurants and pool halls. They were targeting
employees working as security guards for two security companies, which
officials declined to identify.” (03/31/08)
I do have
to ask why these clubs are hiring foreigners to be security guards –
it is probably NOT the low pay and poor working conditions: these are
not the kind of jobs that Pres. Bush claims “Americans won’t
take.” I suspect that these clubs and the security companies might
have more sinister ties to the sort of mercenary outfits being trained
in northern Mexico for the drug operations. So the ICE raids are thugs
hitting on thugs… not a pleasant situation to consider.
Home front:
Scientist: CDC ignored warnings to
Katrina victims on trailers
Tennessean
“A federal scientist said Tuesday his bosses ignored pleas to
alert Gulf Coast hurricane victims earlier about severe health risks from
formaldehyde in government-issued trailers and once told him not to write
e-mails about his concerns. Exposure to the chemical has become a concern
with a new disaster as FEMA has begun delivering some affected mobile
homes to victims of February’s fatal storms in Arkansas and Tennessee.
Christopher De Rosa, who until recently was one of the government’s
top toxicologists, told a congressional panel that he repeatedly raised
concerns early last year that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
was not adequately informing the public of the hazard, even as symptoms
of dangerous exposure were surfacing. As a result, tens of thousands of
families displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita remained in the trailers
without full knowledge of the risks, he said.” (04/01/08)te
So why
didn’t he blow the whistle then? He obviously cared more for his
job than for the safety of tens of thousands of people – thus betraying
the very trust given him in hiring him to do his job.
Homeland
defense:
Military
Report: Secretly ‘Recruit or Hire Bloggers’
Wired
“A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested
“clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers.” ….
This 2006 report for the Joint Special Operations University, “Blogs
and Military Information Strategy,” offers a third approach —
co-opting bloggers, or even putting them on the payroll. “Hiring
a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a
specific message may be worth considering,” write the report’s
co-authors, James Kinniburgh and Dororthy Denning. …. The report
introduces the military audience to the “blogging phenomenon,”
and lays out a number of ways in which the armed forces — specifically,
the military’s public affairs, information operations, and psychological
operations units — might use the sites to their advantage.”
(03/31/08)
This seems
to be a reasonable method of fighting a war, given today’s situation.
While I am sure that this worries many people (after all, who is doing
the most blogging these days – it isn’t Islamic imperialists
or Communist thug-states), it is another method to be used for good or
bad, but a legitimate form of psychological operations against an enemy.
And frankly, it is already being used as such – by people who ARE
fighting against domestic enemies of our freedoms and liberties as embodied
in the Constitutions. It is certainly too valuable a weapon to be limited
to military organizations.
Islamic
imperialists:
Indonesia
bans “anti-Islam” film
BBC News [UK]
“Indonesia has banned a controversial film made by a Dutch MP
which accuses Islam of inspiring violence. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
said Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch right-wing Freedom Party (PVV),
would be barred from the archipelago. The 17-minute film Fitna, which
means strife in Arabic, shows terrorist attacks and links them to the
Koran.” (04/01/08)
“Claim”?
I suppose that is a neutral word, just like mathematics texts “claim”
that 2+2=4. But Indonesia is’ not stopping with this, as the next
story explains.
Islamic
imperialists:
YouTube
Warned to Remove Koran Film
CNSNews.com
The government of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic
state, says YouTube has two days to take down a Dutch lawmaker’s
provocative film on the Koran or it will block access to the popular video-sharing
Web site. The warning came as the U.N.’s primary human rights watchdog
ended a month-long session amid allegations that Islamic nations
are working to curtail free speech...
Expect
a fatwa or an outright death sentence on YouTube employees and their families,
assuming YouTube doesn’t cave in to this threat.
Islamic
imperialists:
Pakistan:
Taliban stones couple to death for “adultery”
Fox News
“A couple found guilty of adultery by an Islamic ‘qazi’
court was stoned to death by Taliban militants in Pakistan’s northwest
border region, according to a report in Dawn, Pakistan’s English-language
newspaper. The execution, which reportedly took place Monday, is the first
by stoning reported in the region, which borders Afghanistan. ‘Qazi’
courts, which are allowed to administer Islamic law outside the Pakistani
judicial system, traditionally have ordered execution by firing squad
in cases of adultery. The married woman, identified as Shano, had allegedly
eloped on March 15 with Daulat Khan Malikdeenkhel. A spokesman for the
Taliban said a complaint had been received from the woman’s family
that she had been abducted by Daulat Khan. They later changed the report
to say she had run away with him.” [Editor’s note: “quasi”
court is right, although it compares to some forms of “justice”
administered in this land! - SAT] (04/02/08)
Steve,
I haven’t heard of any American courts ordering anyone stoned to
death for adultery or any other crime, so your comparison isn’t a
good one. However, this is typical for so-called Islamic justice, which
is much much worse than even our own degraded judicial system.
Islamic
imperialists:
Muslim reformer:
The Islamic state is a dead end
Christian Science Monitor
“Abdullahi Ahmed an-Naim has seen what can happen to an Islamic
reformer: His mentor was executed in 1985 in Sudan; he himself had to
flee the country. Still, the self-described ‘Muslim heretic’
has no trouble traveling the Islamic world spreading his controversial
message: There is no such thing as an Islamic state. A secular state and
human rights are essential for all societies so that Muslims and others
can practice their faith freely, he tells his co-religionists. ‘My
motivation is in fact about being an honest, true-to-myself Muslim, rather
than someone complying with state dictates,’ says Mr. Naim, a professor
of law at Emory University in Atlanta since 1999. ‘I need the state
to be neutral about religious doctrine so that I can be the Muslim I choose
to be.’ So committed is this scholar to opening the door to free
debate within his faith that he helped organize the first ‘Muslim
Heretics Conference’ in Atlanta over the weekend.” (04/02/08)
He is right:
forced religion is no religion. But his life isn’t worth a plugged
nickel in the wrong place at the wrong time. He represents maybe 1-2%
of Muslims worldwide (outside of the US – we corrupt EVERYbody).
Islamic
imperialists:
Egypt
criminalises protests in places of worship
Reuters
“Egypt’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that criminalises
holding protests in places of worship, a move opponents said was a bid
to place further limits on free expression. The law mandates jail sentences
of up to one year and fines as punishment for anyone found guilty of inciting,
participating or organising such a protest.” (04/02/08)
Does anyone
recall Heinlein’s “Sixth Column” in which the new American
revolution is launched in church meeting houses?
Mama's
Note: That is one of my all time favorite stories. Of course, it story
ends with the defeat of the "PanAsians" and tells nothing about
what the people of the US did with their new freedom.
Click
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