Libertarian War on the News, 04 - 10 May, 2008

This week, a smaller number of stories than usual, as I was not able to get to the news for one day. However, I have LOTS to share regarding our wonderful Congress-critturs, and start in on the baboons first!

Baboon tricks:
CA: Bill targets drivers with pets on lap
San Jose Mercury News
“Californians who drive with pets on their lap may soon face more than a tail wagged in their face: They’ll also see a $35 ticket from a cop. The Assembly on Monday approved a bill to ban people from driving as they hold dogs or cats, saying pets can be distracting no matter how well-behaved. It covers ‘live animals,’ so there’s no free ride for birds, hamsters or iguanas either. … Despite GOP opposition, majority Democrats, who agree with Maze’s concerns, could put the measure on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk. The governor routinely takes no position on bills until they reach him. Schwarzenegger signed a driver-distraction bill that beginning July 1 bans driving while talking on cell phones without a hands-free device.” (05/06/08)

A stupid law that is not needed, even less than the cellphone law was needed.

Baboons:
LA: Democrats pick up US House seat in GOP district
Reuters
“A Louisiana Democrat won a special congressional election in a district held by Republicans for more than two decades, increasing her party’s majority in the House of Representatives, results from the state showed on Sunday. State Rep. Don Cazayoux narrowly defeated Republican Woody Jenkins for the seat in Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District, which includes part of the capital city of Baton Rouge.” (05/04/08)

Oh, we shall continue to see cat-fights in the halls of the Capitol. This has everyone aquiver, just SURE that the Democrats will have a veto-proof majority come November.

Baboons:
FL: Trucks avoid castration
NBC 6 News
“A provision in a highway safety bill that would have banned drivers from attaching replica bull testicles to their rear bumpers was snipped from the legislation. The bill will now go to Governor Crist’s desk. Republican Senator Carey Baker had sponsored the amendment that would have allowed police to give drivers a 60 dollar ticket for displaying the dangling decorations. The House did not have the amendment in its version of the bill.” (05/01/08)

When shall we get so completely and sufficiently disgusted with the behavior of our baboons at the state AND federal level to get rid of the whole lot of them. What a stupid waste of time on the taxpayers’ dime!

Baboons:
Committee chairman accuses VA of criminal negligence
Miami Herald
“The Department of Veterans Affairs’ top mental health official said Tuesday he made a poor choice of words when he sent his colleagues an e-mail about suicide data that started out with ‘Shh!’ Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s mental health director, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the e-mail was in poor tone - even though the body contained ‘appropriate, healthy dialogue’ about the data.” (05/06/08)

This hardly constitutes “criminal negligence” but this man won’t be tried in any court but a kangaroo court called a House Committee. Once more let me state frankly, the situation at the VA is 95% the fault of the Congress.

Baboons:
Bush set to veto $300 million ag welfare bill
San Francisco Chronicle
“Administration officials have dashed hopes among farm-state lawmakers from both parties that President Bush will sign a nearly $300 billion farm bill that they finished Thursday. The veto warning sets up an effort by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, joined by many farm-state Republicans, to override a veto and defend government payments to farmers earning record incomes even as food prices soar. Administration officials said the bill, which would set U.S. food policy for the next five years, is loaded with budget gimmicks that disguise a $20 billion increase in spending. ‘At a time of record farm income, Congress decided to further increase farm subsidy rates, qualify more people for taxpayer support, and move programs toward more government control,’ Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said.” (05/09/08)

Obviously a late convert to fiscal conservatism, it is hard to argue with this veto, whether we are talking farm income highs or not. Clearly, the Congress still has its head in the sand regarding the collapse of the dollar and their insane spending ways.

Mama's Note: Too bad Bush doesn't apply this logic to all the other insane policies he does support. At least we can say he's done SOMETHING right, though congress will probably over ride this veto.

Baboons:
House passes mortgage bailout bill despite veto threat
CNN
“A bill that would allow the government to guarantee new mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure passed the House on Thursday, but it faces a veto threat from the White House and an uncertain fate in the Senate. The bill was approved by a vote of 266-154. A companion bill that would send $15 billion to states to buy and fix up foreclosed properties also passed the House by a vote of 239-188.” (05/08/08)

Congress created the mess with stupid laws, and now we get to suffer from their “fix.” Anyone remember the Savings and Loan scandal and the Keating Five? Another example this week of Congressional stupidity, and indeed, criminality.

Baboons:
Senator: Ban torture but give CIA leeway
MSNBC
“Seeking to referee a stalemate over how the CIA can interrogate prisoners, a top Senate Republican says Congress should ban waterboarding and seven other abusive methods of interrogation but allow the spy agency some leeway in how it questions detainees. Missouri Sen. Kit Bond, the senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, outlined his proposal in nonbinding language accompanying a bill that sets out the intelligence community’s policies, programs and spending for 2009. An unclassified summary was released Thursday.” (05/08/08)

Why not just appoint congressional political officers to tell the intel spooks (and for that matter, the soldiers) exactly how to do what Congress wants done this week? This pusillanimous pipsqueaks are worse than useless. Congress is supposed to TELL the Executive Branch what and how to do things.

Business news:
Microsoft walks away from deal with Yahoo
San Francisco Chronicle
“Unable to agree on a price, Microsoft Corp. withdrew its bid for Yahoo Inc. Saturday, putting an end to the three-month merger saga between the two technology titans. The decision, conveyed by Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer in a telephone call and letter to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, was a surprising twist to the high-profile acquisition effort, which had been marked by a tense standoff and a brief period of heated negotiations after the Redmond, Wash., software company sweetened its initial $44.6 billion offer last week.” (05/04/08)

Gee, what a waste of time! But at least it is NOT on the taxpayers’ dime, unlike the idiotic baboons.

Business news:
Wal-Mart expands prescription drug program
Reuters
“Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Monday said it has expanded its low-priced drug program, and will now offer certain 90-day generic prescriptions for $10 and sell more than 1,000 over-the-counter medicines for $4 or less. Starting on Monday, the world’s largest retailer said that pharmacies at its discount stores, its Neighborhood Markets, and its Sam’s Club warehouse locations will fill prescriptions for up to 350 generic medications for $10 for a 90-day supply.” (05/05/08)

Perhaps this is another proof of the superiority of private enterprise over government. The vast expansion of Medicare into the prescription drug arena is proving less beneficial to millions of drug users than private business in competition: in addition to Wally World, many other retailers are trying to get their share, including (to my personal knowledge): the Krogers chain of supermarkets, Albertsons/Sav-on drugs, Walgreens, and Safeway all are offering $4 to $10 prescriptions. Indeed, they are selling them for less than the VA and TriCare co-pay on many of the drugs.

Business news:
Shell firms shielded US contractor from taxes
Boston Globe
“In March 2005, one of the Pentagon’s most trusted contractors — Virginia-based MPRI, founded by retired senior military leaders — won a $400 million contract to train police in Iraq and other hotspots. Two months later, MPRI set up a company in Bermuda to which it subcontracted much of the work. It was not the first time that MPRI executives had used a shell company in an offshore tax haven to perform government-funded work. A year earlier, MPRI headed a joint venture that won a $1.6 billion contract to provide US peacekeeping forces in Kosovo and elsewhere. Three months later, MPRI set up a company in the Cayman Islands to do the work. Like MPRI’s Bermuda subsidiary, the Cayman Islands company appears to have no phone number, website, or staff of its own there.” (05/04/08)

I don’t blame MPRI one bit for avoiding the taxation if they can! Best of luck to them. If the baboons are so stupid as to tax our companies to death, then we should expect good businessmen, accountable to their owners, to try and prevent that if at all possible.

Mama's Note: Every time someone starts to yammer at me about these "tax cheats" I ask them if they take all of the allowed deductions from their own income tax... Nobody yet has told me they volunteer to pay more tax than they are forced to.

Canaanite front:
Lebanon: Beirut unrest kills ten
Bloomberg
“Gun battles raged across western and southern Beirut, leaving 10 people dead, as fighters from the Shiite group Hezbollah pressed their party’s challenge to Lebanon’s pro-Western government. Masked bands of Shiite gunmen were shown by television networks as they roamed neighborhoods dominated by Sunni Muslims, who largely back Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s administration. The army was deployed in parts of the capital to control the unrest. In addition to the deaths in Beirut in three days of violence, five civilians were hurt as fighting erupted in the Bekaa Valley, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.” (05/09/08)

My first thought, on reading this, is that with politics corroding the way it is in the US today, we are not that far from this level of politicking right here in the US.

Freedom of information:
CA: Web salary charts tell all, and we love it
San Francisco Chronicle
“Struggling Giants pitcher Barry Zito will make $14.5 million this year. Mark Yudof, the new head of the University of California, earns $591,000 plus perks. Hillary and Bill Clinton grossed an estimated $20.4 million in 2007, while Barack Obama’s family took in $4.2 million. A fire captain in the financially stressed town of Vallejo earns $250,000. And the head of a street maintenance crew filling potholes on your block may be making $107,000. A flood of newly available information about the paychecks of everyone from street cleaners to corporate chief executive officers to athletes is turning up on the Internet and elsewhere and that, in turn, has turned up the heat on an age-old debate: How much pay is too much?” (05/05/08)

Well, now we know why she can lend her own failing campaign $6.4 million. Vallejo is small enough that a fire captain should probably be a volunteer or part-time position, except that they have a union. A modest proposal: assuming that these need to be government positions (or welfare-supported positions like Zito), let us require that the MEDIAN income for a government employee in a give jurisdiction is exactly equal to the MEDIAN income for private sector jobs in that jurisdiction. And volunteers don’t count.

Mama's Note: The SOURCE of the money is the only valid criteria. If they earned that amount or more from those willing to pay them, out of their own pockets, it wouldn't matter. When they are paid from stolen goods, no amount is legitimate.

Freedom of information:
Study: Few tuition dollars used for instruction
Arizona Republic
“As college tuitions continue to outpace inflation, a new study finds that students are a growing source of revenue for colleges but little of that money is going into classroom instruction. And, it says, while enrollments, revenue and total spending have increased over the years, the percentage of students who complete a degree hasn’t grown nearly as dramatically. The findings fuel rising concerns about whether the investment in higher education by families and taxpayers translates into better results. Higher education leaders typically argue that spending increases are necessary to maintain educational quality, but ‘what we see across a broad range of indicators is that states and institutions are spending money in areas that may not be in line with the public priority of preparing more graduates,’ said report author Jane Wellman, director of the Delta Cost Project, a Washington-based non-profit.” (05/05/08)

Well, info at colleges sure ain’t free, now is it? Make the state university program just another welfare program – indeed, for many an extension of the K-12 (or now, HS/PS-12) system as babysitters for the 18-22 crowd.

Home front:
CA: Bomb damages San Diego courthouse
Associated Press
“A suspected pipe bomb exploded at a federal courthouse in downtown San Diego early Sunday, damaging the front entrance and blowing out a window, authorities said. No injuries were reported. Few people were around the building, which is a block from nightclubs in the Gaslamp Quarter, when the powerful blast also damaged the lobby area of the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse about 1:40 a.m., said FBI spokeswoman April Langwell.” (05/04/08)

TERRORISM! How horrible: the Nazguli will be quivering in terror now, and demanding better protection from the Marshal’s Service and other federal and local goons! Perhaps if people could vote to fire or keep federal judges, they might not be as willing to express their opinions in this manner?

Home front:
GA: Killer executed after lethal injection moratorium
CNN
“A Georgia man convicted of kidnapping and killing his girlfriend was executed Tuesday. William Earl Lynd was the first inmate to die by injection since September, when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the three-drug combination represented cruel and unusual punishment.” (05/06/08)

One thing that we can be assured of is that Lynd won’t kill any more women. The second thing we can know is that his victim is still dead, and killing him did not bring her back to life.

Massa-wannabes:
Obama, Clinton spar over Iran, gas tax
MSNBC
“In separate interviews on dueling Sunday morning political news shows, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama sparred about the gas tax holiday proposal and foreign policy. Two days before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries crucial to their presidential fortunes, Obama appeared on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ while Clinton was on ABC’s ‘This Week.’ On both broadcasts, the candidates discussed Clinton’s proposal for a gas tax holiday this summer, which Obama opposes. … The Democratic hopefuls also discussed Clinton’s previous statements on Iran. On April 22, in an ABC interview, Clinton said, ‘I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran (if it attacks Israel). In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.’” (05/04/08)

It was not until this that I realized what a sham and con-job Clinton’s “tax holiday” was: the buyers of fuel wouldn’t pay the federal gas tax directly, but the revenue would be made up by a “windfall profits” tax levied on the oil producers: in other words, the tax will STILL be passed on to the fuel buyers, just indirectly. A shell game indeed. Meanwhile, Clinton’s shrillness, and Obama’s Teflon attitude, grow more intolerable by the day.

Mesopotamian front:
Iraq: Caught between US and Iran
Christian Science Monitor
“Iran says it will back Iraq in its ongoing fight against its Shiite militias. That pledge came after a delegation from Iraq’s ruling Shiite bloc pressed its neighbor on what it called fresh ‘evidence’ it was arming and training militants. The five-member group sent by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returned to Baghdad Saturday, saying it had received a ‘positive’ response after confronting officials with US and Iraqi intelligence on Iranian weapons caches that US officials say included weaponry manufactured in 2008. ‘The delegation saw a positive stance from the brothers in Iran to support the government’s efforts in extending the sovereignty of the state and to fight outlaws,’ Iraq’s deputy parliament speaker Khalid al-Attiya, who visited Iran, said Saturday.” (05/05/08)

Liars talking to liars for the benefit of still more liars. Reminds me of the West and the Sov-Bloc during the Cold War.

Mesopotamian front:
Iraq: Fighting continues across country
Reuters
“Gunmen killed Ayad Hamza, the deputy director of Nahrain University in charge of sciences, and wounded his two sons in a drive-by shooting on Sunday …. Iraqi special forces and U.S. troops killed seven militiamen and detained two others in two battles in Baghdad on Monday and Tuesday …. Iraqi and U.S. forces detained 15 militants in operations against al Qaeda in different parts of the country …. Three people were killed, including a female college student, and nine wounded in clashes between police and militants in Abu Dsheer district …. A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded seven others on Monday in Kirkuk …. Two mortar bombs killed three people and wounded 10 others, including four officers from the Facility Protection Services …. A Katyusha missile wounded five people, some of them students, when it landed near the privately owned Al-Mansour University College …” (05/06/08)

More murdering, and more murdering in response to the murdering – we only WISH violence didn’t solve anything!

Mama's Note: Recently had a conversation where I tried to point out the vast difference between aggressive violence and defensive violence. The idea of TOTAL nonviolence, as in pacifism and not resisting evil is completely repugnant to anyone who truly wants to live in peace or liberty in this world. Pacifism gives you only the peace of the grave - if you are lucky.

Mesopotamian front:
Iran: No talks until US stops Iraq attacks
CNN
“An Iranian official says the government wants the United States to stop its ’savage attacks’ in Iraq before its envoys hold more talks with U.S. and Iraqi officials, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported. ‘Under the current circumstances and given the U.S. widespread attacks against Iraqi people in different cities, Iran does not feel these negotiations are necessary,’ an unnamed official told Fars. The official — described as a senior member of Iran’s negotiating team — delivered the remarks as U.S. And Iraqi troops have been fighting Shiite militants in Baghdad and in Basra. The Bush administration says many of these fighters have backing from Iranian agents.” (05/05/08)

And what about Iranian-sponsored “savage attacks?” As I said, liars and liars and more liars.

Nazgul and government-run, tax-funded schools:
Germany: Court says Muslim girl can’t skip swimming
The Local [Germany]
“A Muslim girl in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia cannot skip co-ed swimming lessons because of religious prohibitions against wearing formfitting clothing, a German court ruled on Wednesday. The administrative court in Dusseldorf ruled that the state’s responsibility to educate the girl outweighed the potential infringement on her religious freedom. The 12-year-old girl’s parents sued her school in the northern German city of Remscheid after the school refused to allow the girl to skip swimming class. Citing religious reasons, the parents said they did not want their daughter to participate because her body would not be covered. The ruling means the girl must participate in swimming lessons starting next week, Sabine Ernst of the Alexander von Humboldt School told German news agency DDP. Ernst declined to state what the consequences could be if the girl declines to attend.” (05/08/08)

Exactly WHY is swimming such a “mandatory” part of the educational program that it treads on freedom this way? I guess once more we are forced to admit how inferior American education is, that swimming is not a part of compulsory public education! We should not forget that it is not just Muslims who believe that mixed-swimming is wrong, too. This damages everyone’s freedom.

New religions: Environism:
EPA wants tougher lead rules
Baltimore Sun
“The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a major tightening Thursday of the health standard for airborne lead, saying that current allowable concentrations do not adequately protect public health, especially children. The lead health standard has not been changed since the initial requirement was enacted 30 years ago. Since then, lead pollution has dropped substantially, largely because it was banned for use in gasoline. Lead emissions still are an air quality problem, largely from industrial sources, the agency said.” (05/01/08)

There is NEVER enough reduction in emissions to satisfy the environists (“environmentalists” with the “mental” part removed: mindless Luddites). That is, unless there is NO emission whatsoever. I just read a local paper’s story about the evil natural gas industry which exposes people in the area of its operations to the deadly carcinogen “silica” – yeah, the same stuff in your kids’ sandbox and on every street, lot, and alley in America. But because it is “gas industry” silica, it is evil and more dangerous. Same thing with “industrial” lead.

Mama's Note: Indeed, and the Luddite attitude has been around for a long time, actually. While I'm the first to want any business to keep a clean operation and minimize true hazard, the only real arbitrators of that are the customers and property owners in the area, not poodle head do-gooders or a bunch of "elected" tyrants - local or otherwise.

New religions: food crisis:
Somalia: Hundreds turn out for second day of food protests
Associated Press
“Hundreds of youths hurled stones and blocked roads with blazing tires Tuesday in a second day of protests over soaring food prices that has frustrated residents already living in one of the world’s most dangerous war zones. Meanwhile, an international rights group accused Ethiopian troops of torturing and killing civilians in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Ethiopia, whose troops are supporting Somalia’s shaky U.N.-backed government, denied the allegations. And Islamist fighters said a U.S. airstrike overnight blasted a remote area of central Somalia hours after armed civilians met there. The U.S. military denied the claim. The food protests were sparked by shopkeepers’ refusal to accept some bank notes, apparently over fears of counterfeiters.” (05/06/08)

As usual, the mainstream media twists the facts: the “food riots” are caused by counterfeiting countermeasures, the Somali “government” is basically an occupation agency of Ethiopia (even more so than the current “Iraqi” government is a US agency), and murdering thugs act like – good golly! Murdering thugs!

New religions: global warming:
Growing ocean dead zones leave fish gasping
ABC News
“‘Dead zones’ containing too little oxygen for fish to breathe are growing as global temperatures increase. Warmer water dissolves less oxygen, so as temperatures rise, oxygen vanishes from oceans. Marine biologists are warning that if dead zones continue expanding, oceanic ‘deserts’ could massively deplete marine life and fish stocks.” (05/03/08)

It seems like we have a “threat of the week” publicized by the mainstream media to sell us on the bogus fear of global warming, doesn’t it?

Mama's Note: As with most of this, no hard proof was even offered. We're supposed to believe this tripe on the non-evidence of some computer models or the say so of some journalist? I don't think so.

New religions: global warming:
Study: Tropical insects “face extinction”
BBC News [UK]
“Many tropical insects face extinction by the end of this century unless they adapt to the rising global temperatures predicted, US scientists have said. Researchers led by the University of Washington said insects in the tropics were much more sensitive to temperature changes than those elsewhere. In contrast, higher latitudes could experience an insect population boom. The scientists said changes in insect numbers could have secondary effects on plant pollination and food supplies.” (05/06/08)

Another “the sky is falling” scream from Chicken Little.

Mama's Note: I can think of a number of insect types I'd LOVE to see become extinct. Cockroaches anyone? The truth is that species come and go all the time. They adapt to changing conditions, or they perish... just like all the rest of life on this mud ball. That's the way it has always been, and it's the way it will always be, regardless of the screamers.

New religions: global warming:
It’s either too hot or too cold
The American Spectator
“It was 1943. We were in the middle of a global conflict that was caused by the predilection of evil men for power. Predictions of doom and gloom abounded. How would the world survive? What could mankind do about it? Into all this angst and depression strode Bette Davis in a gorgeous beaded suit, to deliver her own personal lament about the lack of eligible men on the home-front called, ‘They’re Either Too Young or Too Old.’ Today, the global-warming folks are hot and bothered about another threat to Mother Earth. But this time it’s about man’s predilection to breathe. However, given recent reports on cooling trends, they’ve changed their tack to purport that whatever the temperature may be, it’s still all our fault.” (05/07/08)

Maybe it is “threat of the day” and not “threat of the week” that we are getting. Ah, and these environists (many but not all atheists or at best agnostic) complain so bitterly about Calvinists and Roman Catholics who talk about the inherent evil nature of man… even while claiming that it is all our fault. Of course, there is a reason I call environism one of the “new religions,” of which the “global warming” crowd is a major sect.

North American union:
Mexico: Top police official assassinated
USA Today
“The acting chief of Mexico’s federal police was gunned down outside his home early Thursday, marking a serious escalation of Mexico’s drug war. Edgar Millan Gómez, 41, was the highest-ranking officer among four senior policemen to be killed across Mexico in the last week. He was ambushed about 2:30 a.m. in the carport of his home near the center of Mexico City, the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) said in a statement.” (05/08/08)

The war on some drugs is getting really serious in Mexico; or maybe it is actually a war against a police state: the “Federal Preventive Police” name says it all.

Our British Cousins:
UK: Johnson starts job as new London mayor
Agence France-Presse
“Mop-haired Boris Johnson started his first day as London mayor Monday, vowing to ‘crack on’ with the job as Prime Minister Gordon Brown reeled from a voter backlash. Johnson, the eccentric Tory MP who ousted former Labour mayor Ken Livingstone after eight years, began a series interviews to pick his policy advisers. The 43-year-old officially received the seals of office at midnight. Aides said he would use the next few days to work on delivering key campaign pledges. Brown’s governing Labour Party was thrashed by the main opposition Conservatives on Thursday in polls across England and Wales, in what was their worst local election performance in 40 years.” (05/05/08)

Good-bye and good riddance to Red Ken, not that Johnson is going to be much better for the Londoners.

Our British Cousins:
UK: Children being dumped at school
BBC News [UK]
“The leader of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has said some parents ‘dump’ their children on schools for up to 10 hours a day. Mick Brookes, at the union’s conference in Liverpool, said some parents were ‘abdicating their responsibility.’ But Children’s Minister Beverly Hughes, who was jeered when the issue of league tables and tests were raised, said his remarks were untrue and unhelpful.” (05/04/08)

Wow, I wonder where the parents got the idea that they could dump their kids? Sounds like either “Brave New World” or “1984” style society to me!

Our British cousins:
UK: The ultimate dress down Friday
Ananova [UK]
“A new BBC TV show will ask people to go to work naked. The plan is first for cameras to follow fully clothed employees at work and gauge their views on nudity, reports The Sun. Some will be asked to pose for life-drawing classes to see how comfortable they feel in the buff in public. After several weeks, the firm’s staff will all be asked to come to work starkers for an event called Naked Friday.” (05/06/08)

Good grief, this sounds like the cheesy plot of a porn novel. It sounds completely disgusting, too, looking at the staff of most businesses when clothed. Of course, it will be as bogus “reality” as anything offered by American networks.

Our British cousins:
Scotland: Independence row rages on both sides of border
Independent [UK]
“Gordon Brown and Wendy Alexander, Labour’s leader in Scotland, have been taunted by political opponents over their split on whether Scotland should hold an early referendum on securing independence from the United Kingdom. Ms Alexander was involved in fiery exchanges in the Scottish Parliament with Alex Salmond, First Minister in the Scottish National Party administration north of the border, who ridiculed the public rift between her and the Prime Minister. Mr. Brown has declined to endorse her call for an early vote, which could lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom.” (05/09/08)

Sadly, the socialists (whether they call themselves Labour or Scottish Nationalists) will NOT do Scotland any good if they can wander off from Westminister by themselves. Scotland CAN be a wealthy nation: its people are perhaps the most inventive and business-oriented on earth, but if they are drained dry by government, it will not help.

Mama's Note: As I've said before, I suspect that most of the freedom minded Scots came to America a hundred or more years ago, leaving mostly those who were willing to live under the English domination. I'd dearly love to visit Scotland and talk to people all over... then I could learn the truth for myself. In the meantime, I'm very grateful that my grandparents pioneered in the Black Hills in the 1870s... else I would not be here either.

Persian front:
US agrees to EU’s Iran nuclear plan
CNN
“The United States has signed off on a European plan that would offer increased incentives for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, senior State Department officials said Thursday. Leaders from Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany are expected to join European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana — the EU’s normal contact with Iran — at a meeting with Iranian officials to present the offer.” (05/08/08)

While Iran is playing word games in Iraq with the US and Mesopotamian groups and leaders, they continue to toy with the EU as well. Iran WANTS to be a martyr to “Western Imperialism” so that it can become the leader of Islamic Imperial designs on annexing the entire world into the Dar Al-Islam.

Right to keep and bear arms:
LA: Committee approves guns on campus bill
Advocate
“Legalizing permitted handguns on college campuses took its first major step toward approval Thursday after three hours of debate in a legislative committee. Gun advocates, faculty, students and college police chiefs lined up on all sides of the controversial issue that has arisen in the wake of campus shootings nationwide, including at LSU and Baton Rouge’s Louisiana Technical College. House Bill 199 by Rep. Ernest Wooten, R-Belle Chasse, was approved in an 11-3 vote in the House Criminal Justice Committee. HB199 next moves to debate in the full House. Wooten said allowing more responsible people to legally carry guns would serve as a deterrent to killers and not create the ‘wild, wild west.’” (05/02/08)

A good move, but unneeded if people would just read the US and LA constitutions. But I will not count on this making it all the way through the statehouse until it actually happens.

Right to keep and bear arms:
MN: Suspect in break-in caught by homeowner
Star Tribune
“Jon Sokol wasn’t trying to be a hero when he confronted a burglary suspect who had brazenly broken through the front door of his home in St. Paul. Sokol, 49, said his adrenaline was flowing as he crept up the stairs, revolver in hand, from the basement bedroom he shares with his wife. … Sokol said he’d gotten to the second step when he saw somebody cross the room upstairs. ‘Oh my, there is somebody in our house,’ he thought. ‘I grabbed our gun, which we keep for protection,’ he said. ‘As I stepped around the corner, he hit me … right between the eyes,’ Sokol said. ‘And I fired the gun.’ ‘Down on the ground he went and I insisted, in a not very nice way, that he not move,’ he said. ‘I held him at gunpoint until the police arrived.’” (05/01/08)

Well, I don’t know if this homeowner was exactly smart: getting close enough to the invader to let him hit him – but missing the guy when he shot at point blank range?

Mama's Note: I couldn't tell if the shooter missed or not. And yes, the homeowner was VERY lucky the intruder didn't hit him with a club or a gun, or shoot him. Really stupid to go upstairs that way. He needs some major training with his gun, and in home defense.

Right to keep and bear arms:
AZ: Store clerk shoots would-be robber
East Valley Tribune
“A man’s attempted armed robbery of a central Mesa store was foiled Sunday when the clerk fought back with a Taser, his fists and a handgun, police said. The 30-year-old suspect, shot several times by a clerk at Mesa Mart, 1510 S. Country Club Drive, was listed in critical condition at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn, police spokeswoman Detective Chris Arvayo said. Although the 55-year-old clerk had been assaulted with a pipe, he did not require extensive medical attention. … The incident began about 8 a.m., when the suspect entered the store near U.S. 60. He then demanded money while striking the clerk with a pipe. The clerk first used a Taser, but it did not stop the robber. Police said the clerk then shot the suspect.” (05/05/08)

It was rather stupid to waste time on the Taser, I think.

Mama's Note: Indeed! I talk to people all the time about self defense, and this taser thing comes up a lot. First I make sure that they understand the tasers THEY can buy are not anything like the lethal weapons used by police on all those dangerous people in wheelchairs, etc... and that a civilian taser is highly unlikely to stop a determined criminal. My last question is usually: "if it didn't work and the guy kept coming, then what would you do?"

Right to keep and bear arms:
IA: Bar owner shoots, kills robber
Radio Iowa
“Des Moines police say a would-be robber was shot to death by the owner of a tavern early this morning, and a second robber was seriously injured. Police Sergeant Vince Valdez says officers were called to El Zacatecas Club before three A.M. where a brawl was underway outside a video store next door. Valdez says: ‘When the officers arrived they found two men down on the ground struggling in the parking lot of the video store. Both were injured.’ He says officers had to determine who was who in the situation very quickly. Valdez says the bar’s owner, Martin Ramirez, was holding down the second man, claiming that man had tried to rob him along with another man who was still in the bar. Officers went inside and found a badly wounded man who had been shot. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.” (05/01/08)

I had to check to make sure this was Des Moines and not San Antonio or Tucson, to tell you the truth. There is more and more violence even in the Heartland, and it is good this owner was able to defend himself.

Right to keep and bear arms:
Scotland: Government hosts victim disarmament summit
BBC News [UK]
“Measures to control the use of airguns and other weapons are to be discussed at a firearms summit hosted by the Scottish Government. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has refused to attend the meeting, saying firearms legislation is reserved to Westminster. But Holyrood ministers said Scotland has distinct problem, particularly in relation to airguns.” (05/06/08)

Airguns are hardly a suitable choice for self-defense (excuse me, defence) except in very rare occasions, of course. But Scotland’s strong Laborite (socialist) government is hoplophobic and surely toy swords and sticks, rubber-band guns and slingshots are next.

Mama's Note: ARGGG! Have you ever even seen a PICTURE of a Scottish claymore (broadsword)? They have certainly sold their souls now.

Right to keep and bear arms:
IL: Gun rights group seeking support from area counties
Beacon News
“A measure supporting residents’ right to own guns is under consideration in some area counties. A group of gun-rights advocates is bringing the non-binding resolution before county boards across the state. The measure would affirm citizens’ Second Amendment protections in order to send a message to state lawmakers. ‘It merely asks the legislators that if they’re going to propose a new law, they uphold their sworn oath by not passing any laws that would infringe on the rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution,’ Oswego Township Trustee Tom Yackley said Tuesday. … The force behind the measure is Illinois Pro 2A Resolution.” (05/07/08)

Good grassroots action. This strikes me as a good idea.

Mama's Note: The real question is just WHY anyone should need to beg, or even "ask" to be allowed to exercise their rights?

Right to keep and bear arms:
FL: Jeweler shoots robber
Miami Herald
“After Leon Rozio got robbed, he vowed never to let it happen again. Three or four years ago, the 64-year-old owner of Miami-based H&L Wholesale Jewelry Inc. lost some $300,000 in gold and jewelry in a holdup, said his half-brother, Fernando Mirabal. Soon after, Rozio started bringing a gun on his sales runs, which took him and his priceless jewelry to shops across South Florida. About 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, not long after Rozio parked his red Ford Explorer outside St. Moritz Jewelers on Boca Raton’s west side, four men screamed up behind him in a silver car, boxing him in. They surrounded the Explorer, smashing out all four windows to get at the jewelry inside, witnesses said.’ ‘He opened up like I have never seen,’ said Greg Sanderson, manager of a nearby Omaha Steaks shop, who watched the shooting through the store’s plate-glass windows. ‘I couldn’t believe it. It sounded like the Wild West out there.”’ (05/08/08)

Haven’t had a shooting involving a jewelry store for several weeks, now, but this is an example of how even “smart” crooks are usually no match for a prepared store owner.

Russian front:
Georgia says “very close” to war with Russia
Reuters
“Russia’s deployment of extra troops in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia has brought the prospect of war ‘very close,’ a minister of ex-Soviet Georgia said on Tuesday. Separately, in comments certain to fan rising tension between Moscow and Tbilisi, the ‘foreign minister’ of the breakaway Black Sea region was quoted as saying it was ready to hand over military control to Russia. ‘We literally have to avert war,’ Temur Iakobashvili, a Georgian State Minister, told reporters in Brussels. Asked how close to such a war the situation was, he replied: ‘Very close, because we know Russians very well.’” (05/06/08)

So, what will the new president of All the Russias do about this? Obviously, whatever Prime Minister Putin tells him to, as the next story indicates. This might be the start of territorial reconquest by Moscow as the cycle of Russian history continues.

Russian front:
Putin signals he intends to stay in charge of Russia
Columbus Telegram
“When Boris Yeltsin left the Kremlin eight years ago, he gave Vladimir Putin the pen he had used to sign important documents and decrees, a gesture symbolizing the transfer of power to Russia’s new president. When Putin left the Kremlin, he took the pen with him. Putin, who became prime minister Thursday, has signaled that he intends to remain Russia’s principal leader, at least in the short term — and possibly much longer. He is keeping the trappings of his presidency and many of its powers as well.” (05/08/08)

We are, I suspect, seeing an acceleration of the restoration of Russian autocracy. As an empire and as a “socialist republic,” Russia was still ruled by an autocratic government: only the trappings and the method of selection changed. Russians have this thing for men on white horses (shared with Latin cultures, I might add)…

South Asian front:
Pakistan: Lawyers in fresh protests
The Australian [Australia]
“Pakistan’s powerful lawyers’ movement was preparing to return to the streets overnight in a drive to thwart a bizarre plan to solve the country’s political crisis by reinstating judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf while retaining the ‘toadies’he appointed to replace them. The plan — which could see the country end up with two chief justices and a Supreme Court swollen from the constitutional limit of 17 to 27 — was disclosed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif after days of horse-trading with Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, the major party in the new ruling coalition.” (05/05/08)

Ever see a fight where you really don’t want EITHER side to win? This is one. Sorry, but lawyers just bring out a complete lack of sympathy in me.

Mama's Note: Indeed! The presidential elections come to mind. A pox on all their houses.

South Asian front:
Myanmar [Burma]: UN agency suspends aid flights
Agence France-Presse
“The UN food agency on Friday suspended all aid flights into Myanmar over ‘unacceptable’ restrictions by the junta, which has refused to allow foreign relief workers to help desperate cyclone survivors. The World Food Programme’s decision cast new doubt on the regime’s claim to be doing all it can to save the 1.5 million people at risk of starvation and disease after last week’s devastating storm. The situation on the ground is one of horror almost beyond imagining — with starving survivors picking for food in waterways littered with the bodies of the dead — and aid groups agree time is running out. But the military, deeply suspicious of any outside influence that could dilute the tight control it has kept on the nation for 46 years, insists that it will welcome supplies from abroad, but must distribute them itself.” (05/08/08)

Burma’s dictators are literally ensuring their regime’s survival on the dead and dying bodies of their own people.

Stupid cop tricks:
UT: Police chief shoots self at gun training session
Fox News
“The police chief in Riverdale accidentally shot himself in an ankle while demonstrating how to dislodge a jammed handgun. Chief Dave Hansen was taken to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden for surgery. The 54-year-old chief accidentally fired a gun during a training exercise inside a conference room at Riverdale police headquarters. A fire captain and Riverdale Mayor Bruce Burrows confirmed the chief shot himself Saturday in an ankle bone. They said he was trying to fix a gun with a jammed round when the bullet fired. Riverdale police officers carry .40-caliber pistols. Hospital supervisor Rohn Larsen said Hansen was in stable condition Sunday. Larsen said he couldn’t reveal which ankle — left or right — the chief shot.” (05/05/08)

Ah professional! This does sound like the kind of police chief that Archie and Jughead would have, doesn’t it? Poetic justice, no doubt, for shooting his mouth off about safety.

Mama's Note: The newest novice in my handgun classes knows better than to demonstrate with a loaded gun. This is plain stupidity and arrogance, nothing else.

Stupid cop tricks:
Scotland: Councils “fail” on youth drinking
BBC News [UK]
“More than a third of councils in Scotland have not suspended a single shop license in the past five years for sales of alcohol to underage drinkers. BBC Scotland has learned that this is despite one in seven off-licenses being guilty of selling to under-18s in the most recent police testing scheme. There are now calls for the current laws to be enforced as rigorously as they are in the United States.” (05/05/08)

How many free pints to keep from getting reported, eh?

Stupid cop tricks:
FBI officials raid special counsel’s office, seize evidence
USA Today
“Federal agents raided the office and home of U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch on Tuesday while investigating whether the nation’s top protector of whistle-blowers destroyed evidence potentially showing he retaliated against his own staff. Computers and documents were seized during the raid on the special counsel’s downtown office, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry.” (05/06/08)

Indeed, who will watch the watchers?

Stupid cop tricks:
UK: CCTV boom has failed to slash crime, say police
Guardian [UK]
“Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe. The warning comes from the head of the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) at New Scotland Yard as the force launches a series of initiatives to try to boost conviction rates using CCTV evidence” (05/06/08)

Hmmm. Where are Mr. Holmes, Mssr. Periot, and Mrs. Marple when you need them? Sigh. Maybe they could pay lifers (and give them a brief furlough) to go out and commit crimes on camera to be convicted off, and thus demonstrate its success. Sadly, Alan Funt is dead – he’d get the goods on the blighters.

Mama's Note: How typical! Instead of admitting what the rest of us knew all along, they're going to spend more time and money trying to make a failed program work as promised. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. They're obviously insane.

Stupid cop tricks:
GA: Ex-cop testifies that officers routinely lied for warrants
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“A former Atlanta police officer testified Thursday that narcotics officers routinely lied under oath when seeking search warrants — a practice that led to police killing a 92-year-old woman. Former Detective Gregg Junnier told a Fulton County jury that detectives would tell judges that they had verified their informants had bought cocaine from dealers by searching them for drugs before the buy took place. … Junnier testified at the Superior Court trial of one of his former partners, Arthur Tesler, who was guarding the back of [Kathryn] Johnston’s Neal Street home on that day, Nov. 21, 2006. Junnier and Smith pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and face up to 10 and 12 years in prison, respectively, depending on their cooperation. Tesler faces 15 years on charges of lying in an official investigation, violating his oath as an officer and false imprisonment, a charge stemming from illegally surrounding Johnston’s house.” (05/09/08)

One area perhaps does not get emphasized enough when talking about the evils of the war on some drugs. Cops are naturally exposed to corruption – after all, they deal with criminals a lot (and not all are elected to office). The drug war ups the ante and this is an example of how evil and corrupt these people have become.

Stupid cop tricks:
China: Safety in numbers for speeding drivers
Yahoo! News
“Speeding drivers in south China are getting clear away thanks to machines which switch the numbers on their licence plates in seconds, state media said on Tuesday. ‘More than 50 percent of cars caught on camera for speeding and other offences either cover up their plates or use a fake licence plate,’ a traffic policeman in the Guangdong city of Yangjiang was quoted by the Beijing Youth Daily as saying. ‘Our chances of capturing them is next to nil.’ The price of the remote-control device starts at around 800 yuan ($115), while a more advanced apparatus with the ability to flip over the numbers in less than three seconds costs more than double.” (05/07/08)

These ought to sell like hotcakes in the UK!

Stupid cop tricks:
PA: More cops pulled from streets over taped beating
Newark Advocate
“Seven more police officers were taken off street duty Thursday as investigators look into the videotaped police beating of three shooting suspects during a traffic stop. Thirteen of the estimated 15 officers on hand during the Monday incident have been taken off the streets as investigators pore over the television news footage, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told a news conference Thursday.” (05/08/08)

Another example of how what was once able to be hidden away now is frequently brought to light by brave citizens using modern technology.

Stupid cop tricks:
FBI targets Internet Archive, loses
Wired
“The Internet Archive, a project to create a digital library of the web for posterity, successfully fought a secret government Patriot Act order for records about one of its patrons and won the right to make the order public, civil liberties groups announced Wednesday morning. On November 26, 2007, the FBI served a controversial National Security Letter on the Internet Archive’s founder Brewster Kahle, asking for records about one of the library’s registered users, asking for the user’s name, address and activity on the site. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Internet Archive’s lawyers, fought the NSL, challenging its constitutionality in a December 14 complaint to a federal court in San Francisco. The FBI agreed on April 21 to withdraw the letter and unseal the court case, making some of the documents available to the public.” (05/07/08)

National Security Letters are the modern version of the “carte blanche” – the blank card of the Ancient Regime’s secret police in pre-Revolutionary France. I am glad that these folks have won this vital battle against a stupid cop trick.

Stupid government tricks:
OH: Attorney general faces impeachment
Associated Press
“The political battle over whether state Attorney General Marc Dann should leave office has taken on the feel of a standoff. Dann, 46, refuses to surrender to demands by an army of his own Democratic leaders that he step aside following an admitted affair and a sexual harassment scandal at his office. Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland said Monday that Dann’s refusal to submit to the pressure — including a threat by the Ohio Democratic Party to revoke its endorsement — means Democrats will move forward to impeach him. … A sexual harassment investigation uncovered an atmosphere in Dann’s office rife with inappropriate supervisor-subordinate relationships, heavy drinking and harassing and threatening behavior by a supervisor. At a Friday news conference, Dann admitted to an extramarital affair with a subordinate after the investigation threatened to reveal the relationship.” (05/06/08)

As with “global warming” threats and “stupid cop tricks” we seem to be having a “political sex-scandal of the week” contest this year, also. Sadly, these politicos keep getting replaced by more who can’t keep it in their pants (or keep their pants on, as the case may be).

Stupid government tricks:
OH: “Green farmer” a model for legislators
Christian Science Monitor
“When he was laid up recovering from knee surgery, farmer Ralph Dull picked up a notebook dropped off by a friend that detailed how wind generators produce electricity. ‘I had plenty of time to read it,’ Mr. Dull recalls. ‘And I said, ‘That’s something we could do.” Dull has since become an Ohio pioneer in green farming and renewable energy, and his efforts have garnered the attention of Ohio legislators, who turn to him for creative ideas on agriculture’s role in environmental protection. ‘He is demonstrating through his farming practices that you can have a profitable farming operation while caring for the earth,’ says Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who wants the state to rely more on alternative energy and is pushing a stimulus package that would earmark $150 million for advanced energy sources such as solar power, wind, and clean coal.” (05/09/08)

The problem is not with Mr. Dull, the problem is that government’s fingers in the pie will turn it into a burned, blackened inedible mess. Notice the CSM’s words here, by the way: “advanced energy sources” are the so-called enviro-friendly types, and suddenly ethanol is not discussed. Remember that farmers once depended on such “advanced” sources as wind (windmills for pumping water) and solar (greenhouses and such); they gave them up for some pretty obvious problems like reliability.

Stupid government tricks:
MA: Broker to return $37 million to towns
Boston Globe
“A major Wall Street firm agreed to return $37 million to 17 cities and towns in the state, as well as to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, after it allegedly misled them into buying investments they thought were as safe as cash. UBS Financial Services Inc. reached an agreement with Attorney General Martha Coakley after she found that the brokerage had not fully disclosed the risks of the investments, known as auction-rate securities. Cities were unable to get their hands on their money when the market for these investments evaporated almost overnight. Winchester, which had invested more than any other town, will receive $6.8 million in the settlement. The turnpike will receive $4.4 million, and the city of Holyoke and its retirement system will get $3.2 million.” [Editor’s note: Fascinating, how if someone bilks consumers, all it is a reason to slap their hands, but if they bilk a government entity … it’s payback time? - SAT] [Editor’s note: Even more fascinating is that these wise and all-knowing pols would believe that securities are “safe as cash.” Any investment that’s as safe as cash will be as “profitable” as stuffing that cash in your mattress to inflate. Profit comes from RISK - TLK] (05/08/08)

Do you REALLY believe that UBS led these gov-goons to believe that this was “safe as cash?” And do you really believe that these politicians were so incredibly stupid – well, yeah, I can believe that. The best mark for a con artist is another con artist, many times. Tom’s point is great: we have entered another period (like the mid 1970s) in which inflation is galloping away with everything we’ve saved or thought we’d saved. And indeed, profit comes from taking risks.

Stupid people and cop tricks:
Cat, mouse game for those who panhandle
Boston Globe
“The call went out: ‘Yo, po-po!’ and within seconds, the panhandlers who meander with regularity through the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard near Boston Medical Center scattered to parts unknown. A police wagon with lights flashing but no sirens rolled slowly through the crossing, and officers warned stragglers to move on. No one was arrested. Within an hour, it was business as usual for the street beggars trolling with cups outstretched. While city police say they are working on a new policy to handle homelessness and panhandling, the issue remains a cat-and-mouse game. Although panhandling is not illegal, aggressively asking people for money is. If people complain about aggressive panhandling, as they did yesterday, police take notice.” (05/05/08)

Seems like a waste of time on everyone’s part.

Stupid people tricks:
Cardinal says, “Respect atheists”
BBC News [UK]
“The Archbishop of Westminster has urged Christians to treat atheists and agnostics with ‘deep esteem.’ Believers may be partly responsible for the decline in faith by losing sense of the mystery and treating God as a ‘fact in the world,’ he said in a lecture. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor called for more understanding and appreciation between believers and nonbelievers. The leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales said that a ‘hidden God’ was active in everyone’s life. The Cardinal’s lecture at Westminster Cathedral comes after a spate of public clashes over issues such as stem-cell research, gay adoption and faith schools.” (05/08/08)

I really don’t know what to make of this. The senior RC churchman in the UK is correct to say that ALL people, regardless of belief, should be treated like the creations of God that they are. But his bizarre accusation about believers makes no sense, and certainly not any reason to do anything but stand up against evil, however politically incorrect it may be.

Mama's Note: Compassion for all as fellow human beings, yes. I respect the equal rights of all people, but respect for individuals must be earned. I reserve respect for those who demonstrate that they live with integrity and non-aggression, nobody else.

Stupid people tricks:
Study: US consumers worst at being green
Arizona Republic
“Americans rank last in a new National Geographic-sponsored survey released Wednesday that compares environmental-consumption habits in 14 countries. Americans were least likely to choose the greener option in three out of four categories — housing, transportation and consumer goods, according to the assessment. In the fourth category, food, Americans ranked ahead of Japanese consumers, who eat more meat and seafood. The rankings, called ‘Greendex,’ are the first to compare the lifestyles and behaviors of consumers in multiple countries, according to the National Geographic Society. It plans to conduct the 100-plus-question survey annually and considers trends more important than yearly scores, said Terry Garcia, executive vice president of National Geographic’s mission programs.” (05/08/08)

Should we be surprised that NGS has found another reason to slam Americans? Just this brief extract of the article shows how biased the “green survey” is – eating meat is considered “un-green.” Of course, since far too many environists consider that the definition of “environmental evil” is “anything done by Americans,” this is just a way to “prove” how bad we are.

Stupid people tricks:
Code Pink protesters try witchcraft at anti-Marine rallies
Fox News
“Code Pink is now resorting to witchcraft to beef up the number of its supporters protesting Berkeley’s controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center. The women’s anti-war group has told ralliers to come equipped with spells and pointy hats Friday for ‘Witches, clowns and sirens day,’ the last of the group’s weeklong homage to Mother’s Day. ‘Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we’re going to end war,’ Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com. The group’s week of themed protests, which included days to galvanize grannies and bring-your-daughter-to-protest, appears to have done little to boost its flagging numbers.” (05/08/08)

Diversity in any cause is a good thing: highlighting such “diversity” as this group did makes the entire movement into a joke. And somehow, I don’t think lumping Wiccans with clowns and sirens is exactly showing respect for them. Once again, the so-called “antiwar” movement proves to be its own worse enemy.

Mama's Note: I've gotten some email from this "Code Pink" outfit, and they were quite upset because I didn't want anything to do with them. It's a lot of radical feminist hooy, for the most part. The "antiwar" seems to be mostly an excuse to get in people's face.

Technology:
Report: Robobugs maybe next wartime tool
Fox News
“It looks like something out of the latest science-fiction movie, but it could be the next line of defense for U.S. soldiers fighting on the front lines. The British defense and aerospace company BAE Systems is creating small electronic insects, spiders and snakes that have the ability to enter places before combat soldiers and electronically report back what’s inside, the U.K.’s Daily Mail newspaper reported. BAE just signed a multi-million dollar contract to develop the robots for the U.S. Army, the newspaper reported. Some of the insect-like robots will have small cameras, while others will have sensors able to detect chemical, biological or radioactive weapons.” [Editor’s note: Quick now, read this story without thinking of either Terminator or Matrix! - SAT] [additional Editor’s note: Actually, I thought of Minority Report - TLK] (05/04/08)

Military journals have been discussing the advantages (and disadvantages) of such systems for years. Science fiction stories have been showing how these can be used (and abused) for decades. Although designed for military use, commercial uses for this kind of thing are even more exciting.

Mama's Note: Me too! I can think of some exciting home uses. A robobug that would go around, find and destroy flies, ants and spiders in the home! Now that would be worth a pretty penny. Maybe I could take it out to the garden on a leash? LOL

Technology:
US signs civilian nuclear pact with Russia
MSNBC
“Russia and the U.S. signed a key agreement on civilian nuclear power Tuesday that will give Washington access to Moscow’s nuclear technology and potentially hand Russia lucrative deals on storing spent nuclear fuel. U.S. Ambassador William Burns and Russia’s top nuclear official, Sergei Kiriyenko, signed the deal the day before Dmitry Medvedev succeeds Vladimir Putin as president.” (05/06/08)

Is this a good or bad thing? Right now, it is really hard to tell. It is, however, a sad situation when the US has closed its nuclear power industry down so severely that we can get better technology from Russia.

The Afghan front:
Report: 7,000 more GIs may join Afghan war
MSNBC
“The Pentagon is considering sending up to 7,000 more U.S. Troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from NATO allies, the New York Times reported on Saturday. The increase would likely result in ‘the re-Americanization’ of the war, one U.S. official said, according to the Times. U.S. Forces would then account for two-thirds of foreign troops in Afghanistan, it said.” (05/06/08)

Most American troops are willing to go do this, fearing that a shortfall will result in loss of all the work done to keep the Taleban under control.

The African Collapse:
Zimbabwe: Poll results released
AfricaNews [Netherlands]
“Zimbabwe Electoral Commission(ZEC) has announced the much awaited presidential poll results with Morgan Tsvangirai winning by 47.9 percent and Robert Mugabe with 43.2 percent. None of the four presidential candidates got the required 51 percent even though previous results from forms posted outside each polling station showed that Tsvangirai had won the presidential poll with 50.3 percent. … Tsvangirai also said he will not contest a runoff election, unless international observers were allowed to monitor the runoff election because the Zanu PF party had embarked on torture exercise against the opposition supporters in the rural areas resulting in 1500 MDC supporters being displaced while a total of 22 people have been killed.” (05/05/08)

A runoff election is one more opportunity for this murderous autocrat Mugabe to remain in power, and in the meantime, to have his goons kill or harm thousands more of “his” people.

The African collapse:
Ethiopia: African food aid model now in trouble
Christian Science Monitor
“Farmers in Ethiopia are better off now than they were four years ago, in part due to better-than-average rains and rising grain prices globally. But there’s another reason: Africa’s largest beneficiary of foreign aid has shifted from food aid to cash assistance. Ethiopia is seen by aid organizations as a model of how to best help hungry nations. But in an effort to prevent food riots in cities, the government here is again relying on foreign food aid and now prohibits foreign aid groups from buying grains from local farmers. In effect, it may be undermining its own success story.” (05/06/08)

In other words, the “aid bureaucrats” are going to wreck the success of the farm sector for their own benefit, coupled with the power-hunger and panic of a bogus and corrupt government.

The African collapse:
Somalia: “Insurgents” seize “police” headquarters
MSNBC
“Firing rocket-propelled grenades and heavy submachine guns, Islamist fighters seized the police [sic] headquarters at the heart of the government’s [sic] stronghold in Mogadishu on Thursday in a bold attack that witnesses said killed two soldiers and two policemen. The insurgents have tried many times to attack the heavily guarded K4 district but Thursday’s raid was their first major success. The ambush could not be immediately be verified by Somali officials.” (05/08/08)

I suspect that we are unable to see any real difference between the “Islamist fighters” and the “soldiers” and “policemen.” They are all thugs, feeding off other people’s problems.

Theft by government:
Amazon sues New York over sales tax
Seattle Times
“Amazon.com has filed a lawsuit challenging New York state’s new law forcing online retailers to collect sales tax on shipments to state residents. On Friday, Amazon filed a complaint in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan objecting to the law, which was approved last week. The law is expected to raise about $50 million. The issue is not whether people should pay tax when they buy goods from out-of-state sellers like Amazon. For decades, the state has required them to pay sales or use tax. The question is whether the vendors must collect that tax on behalf of the state.” (05/03/08)

I have always considered sales tax collection to be adding insult to injury, especially for out-of-state sales.

Theft by government:
Judge claims “I was right”
World Net Daily
A district judge in Boulder, Colo., who earlier awarded a former judge and his wife a substantial portion of a neighbor's nearly million dollar parcel of land, has reviewed the case and concluded he was right. The decision … sets the stage for an appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals by the couple whose land was taken under the order from Klein and awarded to retired Judge Richard McLean and his wife, Edith Stevens…. But Klein was unconvinced he should change his decision, especially since he went to the land in question and investigated for himself.

To quote an unnamed comment from Boulder, “what a crock.” Government will now contrive to steal whatever it or one of its members wants.

War on some drugs:
CA: 75 students arrested in drug bust
Lincoln Courier
“Dozens of San Diego State University students were arrested and six fraternities were suspended after a sweeping drug investigation found that some fraternity members openly dealt drugs and one even sent a mass text message advertising cocaine, authorities said Tuesday. A five-month investigation prompted by a cocaine overdose death last year led to the arrests of 96 people, 75 of them San Diego State students.” (05/06/08)

Can anyone tell me if there is a connection between this and the spiral upward of college tuition rates?

War on some drugs:
UK: Reefer madness
Independent [UK]
“Defying the weight of medical and scientific opinion, Gordon Brown is to order tougher new laws today on cannabis possession. The Prime Minister has decided to overrule his own expert advisers and reverse the downgrading four years ago of Britain’s favourite illegal drug from a class B to a class C substance, threatening cannabis smokers with five-year prison terms. His announcement comes amid fears that Britain is in the grip of an epidemic of cannabis-induced psychosis. This is based on the conviction that the cannabis sold on the streets is stronger than it was a generation ago and is tipping increasing numbers of vulnerable people into metal illness, including schizophrenia.” (05/07/08)

While I might agree that the UK is in the grip of a “cannabis-induced psychosis” it is clear that it is the High Chancellor and his minions who are bearing the brunt of the psychosis.

World wars:
Myanmar [Burma]: Cyclone death toll soars past 22,000
Boston Herald
“Myanmar state radio says the cyclone death toll has risen above 22,000. A news broadcast on government-run radio said Tuesday that 22,464 people have now been confirmed dead and thousands more are missing. Cyclone Nargis tore through the country’s heartland and largest city, Yangon, early Saturday. Relief efforts have been difficult, in large part because the storm destroyed roads and communications outlets. The first assistance from overseas arrived Tuesday from neighboring Thailand.” (05/06/08)

Totalitarian systems (and Burma definitely approaches that) have little ability to respond to natural disasters like this, and as usual, more free nations will respond and bale them out.

Mama's Note: We may never know the true toll of death and suffering from this incident. The latest reports I've seen say there may be as many as 100,000 dead, with many more still missing. It is a part of human tragedy that has been going on since the dawn of time. What a shame that a world capable of space flight can't do more to devise systems to help people in these situations better. Of course, the answer is only going to be found among individuals working voluntarily for their mutual good, and private charity.

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

Don't forget to send in your local news stories about SWAT activity. See the new page dedicated to this timely subject.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THANK YOU for your continuing support!

Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review

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

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

[Some article sources require registration, use this link)

Subscribe to Rational Review News Digest

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