By Nathan Barton
Is there some national or worldwide contest to see who can tell the biggest lies? If so, we have a lot of entries this week. Here are just a few.
The bogus debate rages, with more bizarre claims (lies by another name) on both sides. Stars & Stripes reports that a “senior lecturer” and a female colonel in charge of totally integrating male-female troops in combat units are condemning the USMC “women in combat” study as flawed for various reasons, including “not establishing standards” and “not properly screening” women for physical condition. Never mind that in combat, the standard is a simple one: pass-fail. Either you accomplish the mission or you do not. It isn’t like combat is graded on a curve. And we know that whatever physical standards are established, they will be waived in the “interests” of creating a mixed-sex, emasculated combat force that is successful judged only by the correct ratios and promotion rates, NOT how well they defend the Constitution and protect the life, liberty, and property of the free people they are supposed to serve. But the opponents of this sexual mishmash refuse to state (and may not understand) the REAL reasons for keeping women out of combat except on a case-by-case, person-by-person basis, reasons stated by Heinlein and others decades ago; survival of the race, of the people, and key physiological and psychological differences between the sexes. That is, after all, sexist! So we destroy ourselves. Continue reading →
The Price of Liberty 
Libertarian Commentary on the News, 07 November 2015, #15-44E: Dictators, cops, and nazgul
By Nathan Barton
The dictator (the squatter at 1600 PA) has spoken: all bow down. The WaPo reports that the Keystone XL project has been rejected,citing climate concerns. NOT whether the pipeline construction and operation is going to be done in an environmentally safe manner, but because that much “dirty oil” is bad for Gaea; that global warming must be “ended” or “prevented.” The decision brings an end, at least for now, to a seven-year fight over a project that came to symbolize what this thug could do unilaterally to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Trans-Canada is NOT an innocent victim in this. Their willingness to use eminent domain proves that, but they and millions of people ARE victims of the vicious nature of the current FedGov regime and its thug in charge.
Mama’s Note: For an excellent overview of this topic, look at this “Watts Up With That” article. Far more information and balanced than WaPo. It shows that there are millions of miles of pipelines already in place. Many of those are elderly and failing. Perhaps those should be replaced first. I’m sure that eminent domain has been used on these and so much more, for a very long time. That, seems to me, to be a separate issue which only the free market can hope to address. Reading that article, pay attention to the comments below. Most of these people are experts in the oil business or alternative energy sources. It’s a big subject, and the XL project is just a tiny part of it. Continue reading →