Libertarian Commentary on The News 
By Nathan A. Barton © 2010

Thanks to Bill and Debby for this one. Their comments: 'And we thought Colorado was in trouble. Gov. Bill Richardson and Diane Dinesh work around the legislative branch to create their own Cap and Tax system. "Guess we didn't need those jobs anyway!"'

Mama's Note: Gosh, I didn't know New Mexico had that many farting cows...
 
Tyrannical Tuesday

Congress in action - Theft by government
Rep. Murtha dies
WWCO.com
Rep. John Murtha, the tall, gruff-mannered former Marine who became the de facto voice of veterans on Capitol Hill and later an outspoken and influential critic of the Iraq War, died Monday. He was 77. The Pennsylvania Democrat had been suffering from complications from gallbladder surgery. He died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., with his family at his bedside, the hospital said. In 1974 Murtha, then an officer in the Marine Reserves, became the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress. Ethical questions often shadowed his congressional service, but he was best known for being among Congress' most hawkish Democrats. He wielded considerable clout for two decades as the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending.

Murtha is a perfect example of a congressman who was seduced by, and embraced, the Dark Side. He KNEW better, but he allowed himself to - indeed, reveled in - turning into the Pork King (something that the media story never really discusses) and betrayed his fundamental principles as a Marine. Indeed, despite his claims to the contrary, he proved that "once a Marine, always a Marine" is NOT true. I (and many others) reject any idea that he was a "voice of veterans" and that he was good for this country. His "outspoken" criticism of the war in Mesopotamia came only AFTER he voted for the preemptive invasion of Iraq, and his ethics rivaled that of a alley cat or a crack dealer. Perhaps his district in Pennsylvania can find someone to better represent them. I hope so.

Stupid Government Tricks
50K SSNs revealed by California Agency
Los Angeles Times
The numbers were printed on the outside of envelopes sent to elderly patients of the Adult Day Health Care program, many of whom are blind or have Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive disabilities. The Department of Health Care Services sent the envelopes, which contained change-of-benefit notices, Feb. 1.Officials have since sent follow-up letters advising recipients to destroy the envelopes and are advising patients to contact credit agencies to put a freeze on new accounts.

Not just stupidity in doing it, but stupidity in their "follow-up" - as if destroying the envelopes will do any good NOW, and forcing the patients to go through the goat rope of notification.

Mama's Note: Nobody is saying the obvious here. Those numbers didn't get printed on the outside of the envelopes by mistake! No sort of government printing job can possibly be done without going through at least a dozen bureaucrats and likely many "meetings." Someone might just wish to review the emails and memos from that office and figure out just WHY this was done. Because it was done deliberately, for some reason - even if that reason is insane.

Stupid People Tricks
Stuck SUV Driver using "Shortcut" to Aspen
Aspen Daily News
SAGUACHE, Colo. — A 31-year-old Indiana man was stuck in his snow-covered SUV for three days, keeping himself hydrated with Mountain Dew and snow while staying warm in his car in southwestern Colorado. Jason Pede was rescued Sunday morning after the gasoline in his car ran out and he walked seven miles to a road and signaled for help with a flashlight. Pede had began driving from Dulce, N.M. to Aspen to deliver an Australian Shepherd rescue dog. Pede, of Chesterton, Ind., says a “local” told him about a shortcut to Aspen and that’s how he became stranded somewhere in the Rio Grande National Forest in snow that went above the hood of his Lincoln Navigator.

I want this guy's e-mail address; I figure with a Navigator and his brains, he'd be really interested in helping me smuggle a bunch of gold out of Ghana or money out of Nigerian banks... and might want to invest in the Golden Gate Bridge upgrade. (Probably a government employee back home in Indiana.)

Mama's Note: What happened to the dog?

New religions: global warming - Stupid government tricks
Obama Announces 3 Steps to Boost Biofuels, Clean Coal
1105newsletters.com
EPA and USDA finalize rules on renewables and biomass, respectively, while agencies lay out commercialization strategy in the new report, "Growing America's Fuel"...

The Administration must, of course, pander to its base - not just the environists (especially the global warming fanatics and clowns) but the multi-nationals as well. This lets them do both, while appearing to appease farm-belt members of Congress. It also, of course, lets the various regulatory agencies expand their power, since it is easier to control an industry that didn't really exist before the regs did. And we all lose the advantages that totally new technologies, like nanotubes, offer. Imagine if we had today's bureaucratic police state in existence when the automobile was still just a rich man's toy, and how it would have stifled the development of the modern automobile and trucking system, and the highway system that supports them. Yet, ironically, it was the bureaucracy that grew to power to build and operate today's highways that led to the bureaucratic superstate of today.

Stupid government tricks - New religions: environism
EPA Proposes New Use Rule for Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes
1105newsletter.com
Anyone intending to manufacture, import, or process them for an activity that is designated as a significant new use would have to notify EPA at least 90 days in advance, giving the agency time to evaluate the intended use and bar it, if necessary.. Go here to comment on this stupidity.

A nanotube is NOT a chemical, it is a manufactured device, a form of machine, but EPA has used the idea that it is a chemical to extend its power and further slow or deny business and technology. Like so many other things today, the Luddites of the environist groupings fear something that they do not understand, and their understanding is incredibly limited.

Theft by government - government-ruined, theft-funded schools
Administration Again Cuts Funding to Scholarship Program That Helps Low-Income D.C. Kids
CNSNews.com
In his fiscal 2011 budget, President Barack Obama makes further cuts in funding for the Opportunity Scholarship Program, a program for low-income, mostly minority students. Obama ended the program last year but pledged to continue funding for the students already enrolled.

The First Citizen subscribes to the dictum that even a bad public school is preferable to a good private school when it comes to building good sla... excuse me, citizens. Right.

Health Care Panic
Rep. Issa: Was Obama ‘Just Lying to Congress’ on Tort Reform Pledge?
CNSNews.com
In September, President Barack Obama told a joint session of Congress that his administration would look into tort reform as a means of lowering health care costs, but the administration’s Department of Health and Human Services stated in congressional staff report that medical malpractice reform is “not a priority.” As congressional Republicans prepare for a Feb. 25 meeting with Obama, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wonders if the president was lying.

No, of course not! He cannot be doing anything but telling the truth - the First Citizen is, after all, the Messiah! Rep. Issa is either just misunderstanding him - or his frail, fallible human servants in the DHHS are not interpreting him properly. Seriously, this is one of several status reports that indicates that the Administration is having to concentrate on a few areas and put a lot of stuff on the back burner. Blame it on all us obstructionists out here.

Theft by government - Culture wars
U.S. Gives Yale Researcher $3.9-Million in Tax Dollars to Develop ‘Avatar’ Sex-Ed Video Game for Kids
CNSNews.com
A division of the National Institutes of Health is giving Dr. Lynn Fiellin, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine, $3.9 million over five years to develop a video game to teach “sex, drug and alcohol negotiation and refusal skills" to children 9-14 years of age. The game will feature “virtual characters or avatars” that must decide whether to engage in behaviors that put them at risk of being infected with HIV.

Like virtually ALL attempts to suborn the love of computer gaming into the service of the school or the state, this is almost certain to fail - but the real problem here is not the almost $4M squandered by NIH - that is less than 2 minutes of average federal spending. The real problem here is the nanny state - the government that has to do everything, and cannot allow people to do anything without its rules, guidance, and "help." As stories later in the week also point out, this is about the Tranzi need and urge to warp the minds of the young as they seek to "transform" (destroy) our civilization. It is impossible for anyone at any age to "refuse" sex, drugs, and alcohol unless they are taught and hold a moral code and sense of ethics that is more than "do what feels good now." It is not only demonstrated by millenia of history that government is incapable of teaching responsibility and ethics and morals, but it is imperative for its survival that it NOT teach any of those things - that it teach the "morals" of a slave-class, the "ethics" of a one-year-old child, and the "responsibility" of a school of sharks: the government must teach, in some degree, dependence on itself for all aspects of life. Thus the awarding of this grant, to further that cause.

Stupid school tricks
University Stops Circus Ticket Offering after Pressure from PETA
CNSNews.com
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has succeeded in keeping the alumni association of Neumann University from offering discounted circus tickets to its members. “It’s troubling that a university founded in the Franciscan tradition, which ‘emphasizes respect for individuals, concern for the environment, and social responsibility,’ would endorse a business that profits from animal abuse,” wrote PETA’s “circus specialist.”

This canard continues to circulate, like the rest of PETA's lies, about "animal abuse" - while there have been some circuses that abused their animals, that kind of thing pretty much ceased years ago - and the few owner-operators that do NOT treat their animals well deserved to be condemned; but not everyone. PETA is a vicious and evil organization.

Mama's Note: Remember that their definition of "abuse" is vastly different from that of most people. They include the mere possession of animals in agriculture or pets as "abuse," regardless of how they are treated.

Nazgul - East Asian front
‘Stop Sending Your Spies Here,’ Judge Tells China
CNSNews.com
With a message to Beijing to “stop sending your spies here,” a U.S. judge on Monday sentenced a Chinese-born former Boeing engineer to more than 15 years in prison for economic espionage and acting as an agent for China. His arrest in 2006 came after federal agents searched his home and found more than 250,000 pages of documents relating to the space shuttle program, Boeing’s Delta IV military rocket and the C-17 strategic airlift plane.

"Economic espionage?" Perhaps it is "industrial espionage?" And if he was just "acting" what was he really? And why did it take 4 years to sentence this joker?

Islamic war - Persian front
Iranian Unity on Anniversary Will Deliver ‘Punch’ to Enemies, Says Supreme Leader
CNSNews.com
As the U.S. and European Union joined Monday in condemning “continuing human rights violations” by the Iranian government, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ratcheted up tensions ahead of Thursday’s anniversary of the Islamic revolution by vowing that the nation would deliver a “punch” to stun its enemies.

It must be quite a punch if his holiness thinks it will stun all of Persia's enemies. Let's see, there is the Great Satan (that's us/US), the Lesser Satan (Israel), the former country of Iraq, the Arabs (especially but not only the Saudis, all those folks in the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and a few others; then all those Russians and Brits and others who took advantage of Persia in the past, and then all those ferengi who haven't converted to Islam, including especially all those Godless (Allahless?) communists... And isn't this supposed to happen in 2012, not 2010?

Islamic war - Persian front
As Sensitive Anniversary Nears, Iran Needles the West on Uranium Enrichment
CNSNews.com
Kicking off what promises to be a significant week in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday ordered the head of the national nuclear agency to begin boosting uranium enrichment to new levels. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in response renewed calls for the international community to unite around sanctions against the regime Tehran, while the British government called the move “a matter of serious concern” saying upping enrichment to 20 percent would breach U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Oh dear, oh dear, I just can't understand how this "democratic" and "peaceloving" and "cooperative" nation could do this kind of thing, twitting the West like this, "pretending" to be warlike and trying to get everyone ticked off at them. This MUST be a complete misunderstanding of the situation and what Mr. Ah-need-a-job said.

New religions: global warming - Congress in action
D.C. snow will continue 'until Al Gore cries uncle'
The Hill
[Sen J. DeMint wrote:] ...amid reports that the area is due to receive another 10 to 20 inches of snow this week: It's going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries "uncle"... Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kansas) said that absence of votes in the House is a plus for taxpayers.

With the storm continuing tomorrow, that will be THREE DAYS without the FedGov - and I bet that the country survives! (PS: Saturday - it did!)

Mama's Note: I just love it! I hope they stay snowed in - or out, as the case may be - for at least another month.

Wicked Wednesday

Politics - California dreaming
In California's time of crisis, Jerry Brown steps back in
Washington Post
OAKLAND, CALIF. -- Thirty-seven states will hold elections for governor in November, but none will have a more intriguing story line than California. Voters here will decide whether to make the youngest California governor of the 20th century the oldest ever elected in the state's history.

Okay. Ugh. It's like deja vu all over again! The hippies are back in charge? Wunderbar! Folks, it is time to stick the fork in California; it's done.

Mama's Note: Trust me, they really are that crazy. I remember those years - well.

Theft by government
Revised student loan practices sought
Washington Post
Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Tuesday urged the Senate to overhaul student lending, asserting that the banking industry has had "a free ride from taxpayers for too long" and that executives with lending giant Sallie Mae have enriched themselves as borrowers rack up college debt.

I am the first to admit that banking has had a free ride - if not from the taxpayers then from the government: fractional banking has that result. But the idea of putting the FedGov in charge of MORE of higher education financing is insane.

Mama's Note: Indeed! How about a quaint, old fashioned idea... Parents and families helping students who really want college badly enough to work a job (or two) to pay for it all. I managed quite nicely, with some basic scholarships, and a lot of hard work. My family wasn't able to help at all.

Islamic war
The boy from the battlefield
Washington Post
Omar Khadr, the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was 15 when he allegedly threw a grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces medic in Afghanistan. Now, more than seven years later, Khadr is drawing the Obama administration into a fierce debate over the propriety of putting a child soldier...

I am sorry, but the modern definition of fifteen or even younger as a "child soldier" is garbage: for centuries the age of adulthood and the age at which young soldiers could volunteer (or be conscripted) was as young as 12 - in fact, the youngest known WW2 US military combatant enlisted at age 12! He chose to fight - there is no evidence or claim that he was drafted to fight for the Taliban - and he committed a WAR CRIME - he murdered an unarmed medic protected by international law, a man who would have treated his wounds as readily as those of the unit or the locals in the area. Meanwhile, the Administration continues to urge more and more women into combat roles, continuing to require tactics and use weapons that kill children and noncombatants all the time, is treating OTHER war criminals as if they were civilian suspects instead of self-admitted war criminals, AND continue to encourage the killing of unborn children, and THIS is "drawing" them into a fierce debate?

Crash of 2009 - Stupid government tricks
RASH OF RETIREMENTS PUSHES SOCIAL SECURITY TO BRINK
USA TODAY
Social Security took in only $3 billion more in taxes last year than it paid out in benefits -- a $60 billion decline from 2008, according to federal data... 

By the way, have there not been a WHOLE LOT of people who have warned us that this day would come? Oh, twenty years ago? And did not a whole bunch of politicians poo-poo their doomsaying and tapdance over and around and beside the "third rail of American politics?" And did not we stick our heads in the sand?

Mama's Note: Only 3 billion in the black? Gosh... And, as much as I think Social Security needs to die, the fact is that there would be no real problem if that "excess" was not regularly stolen and used for other things. See this great article from 2007 by Ed Henry: The Hypocrisy Of Social Security Debates

Terrified Thursday

Culture wars - World wars
Poll: US voters say openly gay service members won’t hurt military
Business Week
“Almost two-thirds of U.S. voters say allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the U.S. armed forces wouldn’t hurt the military’s ability to fight effectively, a new poll found. In the survey by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, 65 percent said ending the current policy of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ that lets gays serve as long as they don’t reveal their sexual orientation, wouldn’t be divisive or hurt combat effectiveness. Disagreeing were 30 percent.” (02/10/10)

Nathan's thoughts: You notice, of course, that they don't bother to ask the members of the military what THEY think - the thing about "democracy" is that people get the idea that voting solves moral and scientific and engineering issues - and especially issues of liberty. This reminds me of the legislature of that great Nordic-German State of Wisconsin, which about 20 years ago passed laws that did not allow ground water to migrate more than 10 feet downward. Unfortunately, like King Alfred, they didn't go out and stand where they didn't want the water to go. And these "voters" won't (for the vast majority of them) go and serve in a military which is rendered even more useless by their social-engineering. Oh! But they MIGHT have to depend on the flawed tool that they created to defend themselves from something or someone.

Mama's Note: Well then, let's just vote on everything! How about if everyone decided that lack of food didn't cause hunger, or lack of water didn't cause dehydration? That would fix up a lot of things that harm people... "Democracy," the real opiate of the people.

Armed self-defense
CA: Armed woman fends off burglar
Self-Defense Examiner
“A Modesto, California woman reportedly used her gun to fend off a burglar. Police say the woman walked into her home, and found a burglar. She reportedly feared for her safety, grabbed her gun, and fired a shot at the burglar, causing him to flee. The burglar, who was apparently not hit, fled the scene, leaving the woman unharmed, police say.” (02/09/10)

Mama's Note: I always wonder just how and from where these people "grab their gun." Did she have it on her body... as she should have? Somehow I doubt that. So, where was it and how did she get to it if an intruder was already in the house. The lady needs more training, and obviously more range time. :)

Nathan's thoughts: I suppose that she could have grabbed it from her purse or belt... I suspect that sometimes people don't want to admit to police that they were actually carrying, and get rather vague about where the weapon was. This is not surprising, since I know from personal experience how positively cranky so many cops get when they see you or know you are carrying - concealed or openly. And of course, I doubt she'd be carrying openly in Modesto. I love the way the report (which I assume the Examiner was quoting from a mainstream news source) keeps saying "reportedly" - I suppose that is better than "allegedly" but still, what rational person would NOT fear for their safety when they come home and find a stranger in it? What does the media think to doubt that would be the normal human reaction? They don't seem to use these weasel words when the story is about someone who calls 9-1-1 instead of defending themselves.

New religions - environism
Asian carp hearings divide Great Lakes states
Heartland Institute by E. J. Donovan
“Invasive Asian carp are poised to enter the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River system through two Chicago-area locks, aquatic experts warned at a House subcommittee hearing yesterday. While Great Lakes states such as Michigan and Wisconsin have been pressing for a closure of the locks, the Obama administration continues to side with officials from his home state of Illinois, who claim closing the locks would hurt Illinois’ shipping industry.” (02/10/10)

Mama's Note: I don't understand the problem. Are the carp edible? Can they be netted and used for fertilizer even? Or is this more envirowhining?

Nathan's thoughts: Oh, environmental whining, definitely. There are problems with the Asian carp, but closing the locks isn't going to prevent it - and other methods could. But it proves that even for an ideologue like the First Citizen, that political affiliations and ties (of power, if not of blood) are dominant. This is another equivalent of Al Gore's carbon footprint - do as I say, not as I do.

Britannic misery
Everybody out!
Adam Smith Institute by Dr. Madsen Pirie
“The latest Times poll on life in Britain makes grim reading. Some 70 percent think that Britain is ‘broken,’ while 68 percent say that people who play by the rules get a raw deal. Not surprisingly, 82 percent think that it’s time for a change. The figure that leaps out, however, is that 42 percent of people in Britain would emigrate if they could.” (02/10/10)

Mama's Note: Question is, of course, just where they would go that would be much better? Say, I've got an idea... let's import that 42% and send them as many of our slavery loving drones as possible. Might be a good trade.

Nathan's thoughts: Debby's and my question, exactly. But all said, bad as things are here in the Western US, it is STILL far, far better than England, Scotland, and Wales. Even the Prairie Provinces and some of Australia's states are better than life under the High Chancellor. Of course, as the next story relates, Brits aren't the only ones who are desperately displeased with things as they are.

Home front - Politics 2010
Most Americans are dissatisfied with government
Washington Post
Two-thirds of Americans are "dissatisfied" or downright "angry" about the way the federal government is working, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. On average, the public estimates that 53 cents of every tax dollar they send to Washington is "wasted."

And where can we go? Yes, the bloom is off the First Citizen, who has proven that he is just as much a politician as his predecessors, and if more ideological and Tranzi (at least, OPENLY Tranzi) than his immediate predecessors, just as corrupt and inept - or more so. Unlike Brits, who can join millions of their cousins and go to the US, or Canada, or Botany Bay and environs, Amis don't have much choice - Antarctica is closed (at least for now) and the First Citizen is making sure that Luna Free State's founding is delayed still more (next story). Secession seems to be more and more likely the only reasonable avenue, barring Union-wide rebellion, and Ron Holland does discuss this option.

Space - Stupid(?) government tricks
A detour from the moon, but to where?
Washington Post
Nearly half a century ago, President John F. Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon. Earlier this month, by killing NASA's Constellation program, President Obama essentially challenged the space agency to do something other than put a man back on the moon.

The death of dreams? Or the opportunity to explore and settle space WITHOUT government involvement? (Except, of course, for permits and licenses and all the other garbage that we put up with here on Earth - and if you think "papers, please" is a hassle for flying from Denver to Dallas, wait until you see what is going to be required to go a mere 200 miles up into NEO!)

World wars
U.S. pushes E.U. for access to bank data in anti-terrorism efforts
Washington Post
The outcome of the Obama administration's intense lobbying to continue a global terrorist finance tracking program begun under George W. Bush probably will be decided by a hotly contested vote of the European Parliament on Thursday.

The First Citizen wants the US to expand its role as the Global Nanny - but apparently can't be seen to be lobbying directly for it, so he doesn't want to go to Strasbourg to lick ... excuse me, to shake hands. Hopefully, this will result in resentment on the part of the Tranzi parliamentarians of Europe and they will tell the US to go climb a tree or something. We don't NEED this kind of "global tracking" - which just lets the REAL financiers of the War on the West sneak by, and instead punishes everyone else.

Home front - Natural disasters
Treading carefully to avoid political slipups
Washington Post
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty spoke in the shadow of the District's towering salt dome. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley urged patience from the same control center where emergency workers tracked the impact of this week's dual storms. And Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell conducted phone conferences with...

This week, with three days of essentially no government in DC, we have learned a whole lot that we need to rub peoples' faces into:
1. We don't NEED 24-hour-a-day steenking government in DC.
2. Government is so incompetent and corrupt that they can't deal with bad weather - so how are they going to fare fighting inflation, depression, and all those nasty people that hate us and want to kill us?
3. Even when warned about what is going to happen, too many people have gotten so dependent on government that they might as well be mushrooms and live in the dark and all that - they can't survive by themselves, and frankly, they probably don't DESERVE to.
4. It appears that much of the population of the East Coast, and the politicians and the bureaucrats and the media, are nothing but a bunch of loser whiners who can't deal with something that even people in far southern Colorado deal with five or six times a winter and don't require massive subsidies or states of emergency.
5. Excuse me, global what? When? The incompetents who inhabit the once-free lands of Virginia and Maryland can only hope.

Fraidy Friday

Culture wars - free speech
TN: Bill would ban "Girls Gone Wild" ads
Tennessean
"A proposal that would ban late-night TV ads showing half-naked young women is advancing in the Senate -- again. The measure sponsored by Democratic Sen. Doug Jackson of Dickson failed the last two legislative sessions. But it passed the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday 8-0, with one abstention. The companion bill is scheduled to be heard by the Criminal Practice and Procedure Subcommittee next week. The measure unanimously passed the Senate about two years ago, but died in a House subcommittee that same year and the one after. Jackson has said he got the idea for the proposal after seeing partially censored commercials for 'Girls Gone Wild' videos that show young women disrobing and acting out other sexual situations." (02/11/10)

These politicians just do not get it - I have NEVER seen a television set in the United States that did not have an off-switch or a plug that could be pulled out of the wall. But I suspect, knowing a tiny bit about the Tennessee legislature (more here), this is probably all play acting and will once again get squashed because it is so foolish and so dangerous to the income of many of the legislature's financial backers.

Home front - slavery
OH: Hundreds forced into labor, sex, report says
ABC News
"About 1,000 American-born children are forced into the sex trade in Ohio every year and about 800 immigrants are sexually exploited and pushed into sweatshop-type jobs, a new report on human trafficking in the state said Wednesday. Ohio's weak laws on human trafficking, its growing demand for cheap labor and its proximity to the Canadian border are key contributors to the illegal activity, according to a report by the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission." (02/11/10)

So Ohio is now officially a slave state, 145 years after Ohio participated in the DC war on the South which was supposedly to end slavery in the entire nation. Of course, according to the Tranzis (and no doubt many conservatives and other flavors of statists) this isn't "real slavery" (like what that one actor-director did to the 14 year old wasn't "rape rape"). This is just "human trafficking" - at least in part specifically the import of slaves across the Canadian border: which implies that Ontario is a "slave province" where slaves are brought or captured to be sent to Ohio; an odd circumstance considering that Ontario was once the goal of escaped slaves being sent north on the Underground Railroad as they followed the Drinking Gourd. Of course, we know that neither Ohio nor Ontario have good records regarding basic human rights such as the right of self-defense, so maybe this should not be a surprise.

Election follies - Politics 2010
One in ten House Republicans calling it quits
Raw Story
“With Thursday’s announcement that Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) will not seek re-election in his Miami-area district, the number of Republicans not running for re-election to the House now amounts to more than 10 percent of the House Republican caucus, compared to less than five percent for Democrats. Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post notes that the total number of House Republicans set to retire or seek other office is now 18, or slightly more than 10 percent of the 178 seats the GOP holds in the House. By comparison, Roll Call’s list of departing lawmakers shows that only 12 House Democrats are retiring, or slightly less than five percent of the Democrats’ 255 seats.” (02/11/10)

See comments after next story.
Poll: Independents break for generic GOP 2012 Nominee over Obama
Fox News
“While it’s unknown who the GOP nominee will be in 2012, a new poll shows whoever it is has a fair chance of defeating President Obama. According a Gallup poll taken between Feb.1 -3, independents, whose support was critical to Obama’s electoral success in the last presidential race, prefer the Republican candidate to Obama by 45 to 31 percent. Overall in the poll, 44 percent of registered voters say they are more likely to vote for Obama while 42 percent said they would vote for the Republican candidate. The remaining 14 percent are undecided or would vote for another candidate. Obama is tied among all voters because a greater proportion of registered voters identify themselves as Democrat in the poll. Most Republican poll respondents, 42 percent, said they had not decided who they would like to see as the party’s 2012 presidential nominee.” [Editor’s note: And so the “anybody but [fill in the blank]” mentality continues, as we fall deeper into the pit each time - SAT] (02/11/10)

The first article appears to be an intentional effort to dishearten the various groups (GOP grassroots, tea party activists, etc.) that are trying to end Pelosi's reign and Reid's reign in Congress - the second article doesn't seem to be making news anywhere but Fox - it MUST be bogus "Faux News." I notice by the RRND comment that our friends over there are taking a different tack than they did in 2007-2008, when they strongly supported the "Anybody but Bush" mind-set, as I recall.

Mama's Note: I suspect we're REALLY not going to enjoy this election cycle. Of course, they've not actually stopped campaigning for years.

Home front - silly people tricks
Americans Most Satisfied in Cold Northern States, Least Satisfied in Nevada
CNSNews.com
Americans are most satisfied with their standard of living in cold northern states—including North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Alaska -- and least satisfied in Nevada, which is represented in the Senate by Majority Leader Harry Reid, according to a new Gallup poll.

Of course, if I lived somewhere in which I'd have to hear and think about Reid (and his SON, the would-be governor) more than I do, I'd be more than "dissatisfied," I'd be outright depressed. But there are a lot of other reasons to be dissatisfied with Nevada: 87% of it is owned by the Feds, what the Feds don't own the unions and the gangsters seem to (Vegas, Reno, Carson City), the First Citizen keeps attacking one of the major economic foundations of the state, and the state is stuck between Temple Square to the East and the nut-and-fruit farms of the Golden State to the West. Yuck!

It is no surprise that some of the states with the least intrusive and most (relatively) free governments and even have (some) Democrats that sound moderate, are hotbeds of satisfaction - again, relatively. It is true that in ND and SD, at least, you can sometimes go for hours without seeing a federal employee, after all. (I don't know why Minnesota is on that list, but then, we are talking about Minnesota: Lena and Ole probably thought the poll-taker was asking them if they liked their fish fried.)

First Citizen's ministers
Construction Industry Opposes Obama Pro-Union Order
CNSNews.com
A federal commission has not yet enacted a year-old executive order that President Barack Obama thinks will avoid labor unrest. Critics, including the construction industry, say the executive order discriminates against non-union companies and non-union workers in federal contracting.

So why haven't some people in Congress taken up the effort and squashed this thing?

Islamic War - Persian front
Amid Turmoil at Home, Iran Eyes Seat on Top U.N. Human Rights Body
CNSNews.com
As Iran’s continuing crackdown on opposition supporters roils the country and makes headlines around the world, the Islamic republic is seeking support for a fresh bid to join the U.N. Human Rights Council. In May, Iran will be one of five contenders for four available Asia seats.

You see, it is a prerequisite for this board to have practical experience with human rights violations - committing them, that is. So Ah-made-a-jihad figures that they've burnished their resume.

Mama's Note: All this BS makes my head hurt. Such raving lunatics and hypocrites... all of them - including the US.

Administration ‘Just Not Responding’ to Questions on Fort Hood, Said Vice Chair of Senate Intel Committee
CNSNews.com
Sen. Kit Bond (R.-Mo.), the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, told bloggers on a conference call on Wednesday, Feb. 3, that the Obama administration still had not provided his committee with all the information it had requested on the November terrorist attack at Fort Hood in Texas.

Well, since it is a "criminal matter" and not a military or national security matter, of COURSE the First Citizen's ministers aren't going to tell the Senate a thing. They'll have to wait until the trial, like the rest of us. After all, we don't want to jeopardize the prosecution's case, or let the "accused" get off on a technicality so that he can fly to Yemen or Pakistan or Gaza to get more training. Of course, this does give the ex-Major an opportunity to heal up, study law, and get ready (groomed) to be the American equivalent of Pres. Ah-made-a-jihad but for the American Islamic Republic and not the Iranian one. What better figurehead for the Ayatollahs?

Islamic war
Airport Body Scanners Violate the Teachings of Islam, Says Muslim Group
CNSNews.com
A group of Muslim scholars says it supports airline safety, but it is "deeply concerned" about the use of airport scanners that show nude images of the human body. FCNA is asking for changes in scanner software so the machines will produce only body outlines.

This should be good news - given that we live in a police state, this should mean that the radical Islamists will not be able to fly anywhere, which should reduce the need for other, even more intrusive and freedom-crushing tactics. But of course, we know that the Al-qaedas and Hezbollahs will believe that Allah will forgive them such minor sins if they can die martyr's deaths and take all the infidels with them, so this is only eyewash - and of course, the understanding by these Muslim scholars that the Western governments are so weak-spined that they might drop the idea. Of course, I'm in favor of dropping the idea, too, but to replace it with one that has some merit: have ALL passengers go through a armored device in which devices will trigger anything that would be a detonator or initiator of an explosive or incendiary device. Make sure that passengers and employees in the airport are protected from the explosion or fire, provide for convenient automatic cleaning and sterilization, together with bagging of the remains, and for the identification of the ashes by way of the ticket. We save freedom of others to travel, freedom from illicit searches and invasion of privacy, modesty, and a whole lot of money for jails and courts and all. And time, too! Air Marshals, serving soldiers (maybe even serving police), veterans, and anyone holding a CCW will of course not run their weapons and ammo through the device, but give to the attendant, who can make sure that they are carrying frangible ammo to protect portholes and such.

Politics 2010
Reagan PAC Supports Candidates Who Are 'Responsible to the People'
CNSNews.com
Michael Reagan is the spokesman for a new conservative political action committee that bears his father's name. Reagan PAC says it is dedicated to supporting Republican candidates who recognize the "contemporary conservative principles" of President Ronald Reagan and are “committed to their realization."

The mealy-mouthed phrasing makes me sick. What about a GOP PAC (or a Democrat one) that supports candidates who recognize and understand liberty, freedom, and economics, and are committed to the Constitution. I know that the Constitution is far from perfect, but that would be better than what we get from the GOP today.

Culture Wars: Children
International Planned Parenthood Pushes Sex Ed for 10–Year-Olds, Claims Religious-Based Abstinence Ed Ineffective
CNSNews.com
A new report from the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) says comprehensive sex education should be provided to children as young as 10 years old but abstinence-based sex education as promoted by religious groups, such as the Catholic Church and Islamic schools, is ineffective and should not be utilized. The IPPF’s analysis and recommendations have been denounced by some Catholic and pro-family organizations.

I have no doubt that the ABSE _is_ ineffective - at accomplishing what the IPPF wants to happen; to promote their agenda of eugenics and cultural deformation and transformation of society. And they know, as the RC Church has for centuries, that the key is early childhood: this proposal for 10-year-olds is only one step.

First Citizen - Economy
Obama Advocates Green Energy Transition: Can’t ‘Convert to All Solar, All Wind Economy’ Overnight
CNSNews.com
President Barack Obama and Republican leaders apparently have found common ground on energy proposals that both sides think would spur job growth. Obama – whose political base in the environmental movement largely favors a transition to alternative energy -- has proposed putting more emphasis on traditional fuel sources. He said he is still committed to alternative fuels, but thinks there has to be a practical transition.

It appears that the First Citizen is having to prioritize his various transformation efforts - in energy, economy, society, government, etc. I don't know whether he simply thought that he could ram through everything relatively quickly, or was having to pay off political debts by doing everything, but now he's decided to adopt (at least partially) the GOP tactic of pressing on with various small steps to the complete destruction ("transformation") of our civilization. What none of them will accept is that "green energy" does not create jobs - it destroys jobs (and lives). They all believe that government can rewrite basic laws of economics and, for that matter, basic laws of physics and chemistry and biology that dictate those economic laws. And he is already trying to weasel out of his "commitment" to accept nuclear energy (still not a "traditional fuel source") which has so angered the extremists in his base.

Congress in action - First Citizen
Republicans Seek to ‘Start Over’ on Health Care Legislation
CNSNews.com
While a bipartisan meeting on health care is scheduled for Feb. 25, it appears that Republican leaders and President Barack Obama already have hit a snag: whether to start over with entirely new legislation, as Republicans insist on doing.

Of course, I have a better idea - just drop all of the existing federal legislation on health care entirely! What a tremendous change, what hope would be made available, and what a tremendous cost savings!

First Citizen
First Lady Links Childhood Obesity to National Security in Launch of ‘Let’s Move’ Campaign
CNSNews.com
At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, a costly epidemic she called a threat to national security. "We know the cure for this," Mrs. Obama said. The cure includes several government solutions.

Right, like the government HAS any solutions! Reagan: "Government isn't the solution to our problems; government IS the problem." Watch child obesity explode!

Scary Saturday

Congress in action
Democrats' plan: Force GOP to go on the record
Washington Post
President Obama has reached out to Republicans in recent weeks, acknowledging that he needs bipartisan support to effectively govern the country. But the White House and congressional Democrats are also hedging their bets with a plan to make a campaign issue of what they say is Republican...

Are not THESE the people who, together with their partisan supporters, scream and moan and complain about how those awful conservatives and GOP types try to make everything political and partisan and all nasty?

Congress in Action - Crash of 2009
Democrats race to regroup after GOP rejects jobs bill
Washington Post
Senate Democrats scrambled Friday to reassemble a bipartisan coalition for a jobs bill after Republicans defected over Majority Leader Harry M. Reid's decision to scale back the legislation to appease rank-and-file liberals.

Mr. Reid appears to have further degraded his already weak leadership skills as he lets everyone drag him back and forth. Of course, he is more willing to be dragged by some groups than others, and I am sure it wasn't hard for him to comply with the "rank-and-file" Tranzi (liberal) types.

Islamic war - National defense
Plan calls for intelligence consultations before reading of rights
Washington Post
The Justice Department and the FBI will consult with the intelligence community on information about terrorism suspects arrested in the United States before deciding whether to read them their Miranda rights under a plan now under review in the White House, according to senior administration...

Half-baked attempts like this (to have your cake and eat it, too) often result in having nothing at all worth anything ("Hmmm, can we just eat that gunk there in the mixing bowl?") Although no such thing as "Miranda rights" existed in WW2, my mind boggles at the idea of German, Italian and Japanese prisoners being "evaluated" after being captured, and then probably read their rights... Of course, the US may NOT have the legal power to do anything BUT treat them as criminals, since Congress has never bothered to declare war against Al Qaeda or anyone else.