Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-11F: Civilizations and questions for a weekend

Posted on 2014-03-22 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning this weekend.  Have you thought about your own freedom today?  About having and using liberty?  If you don’t use it, you lose it.

Here are a few news stories to remind us to think about how we need to be (and stay or get) free, to live our own lives and be able to choose our destinies.

A NASA-sponsored study has said that Western Civilization is going to collapse because of “unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.”  The study has all the usual attributes: references to Rome, “new” analyses and models, all kinds of “experts” AND how we must change our societies fundamentally to keep this from happening.  Gee, doesn’t all that sound familiar?  Malthus, Gibbons, Swift, Ehrlich, even Hal Lindsey and Herbert W Armstrong have all written similar babble over the past several centuries.  It is a steady diet in Science Fiction from Asimov and Heinlein to our esteemed publisher and Boston T. Party and Don Lobo!  BUT the big difference is that all these people did it on their own: paid for it themselves or got private sponsorship to dish out their doom and gloom and demands for a new order.  This is NSF and NASA – and what does THIS have to do with getting to Mars or BACK to Luna?  Not a single thing: it is all about “science” serving political ends: no different than Hitler-sponsored “racial science” or Stalin-ordered psychology: bogus, fraudulent and as accurate as a stopped clock (analog).  Some libertarian and right-wing blogs have condemned the study as “promoting communism as our salvation,” but more importantly, it is steal money to do whatever it is: I don’t care if it is promoting premillenialism or adding babies to stew, just don’t make me or 300 million of us pay for it

Frankly, Western Civilization is overrated, in my opinion:  when the American West was “uncivilized” we seemed to have a lot more liberty.  Same in other places around the world from Uratu (Ararat and Armenia) to Canaan to Scotland and Ireland.  No massive disconnect and inequality between the Elite and the Commoners, because when the Elite stopped being amusing, the Commoners voluntarily and not necessarily cooperatively took the Elite down.

“We are not going to be getting into [a] military excursion in Ukraine,” the Fuehrer told San Diego’s KNSD-TV “What we are going to do is mobilize all of our diplomatic resources to make sure that we’ve got a strong international correlation that sends a clear message.”  The real question is, why?  If this is so critical, if Putin is irrational and rebuilding the Soviet (or Czarist) empire, if our “friends” in Ukraine need us so bad, if Crimea is a victim of evil invasion and intimidation, then WHY?  Because the US is now too weak?  Because they REALLY believe this garbage about sanctions?  Because it is all a play, a game?  Or because they are all idiots?  (I vote for the last, but it’s been a stressful week.)

In his latest warning against surveillance, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called for the creation of a bipartisan, independent committee to investigate if the CIA and the National Security Agency have violated the Constitution.  I suspect that he already knows the answer (as do I), but must go through the motions; and besides, he gets more publicity this way.  Will it make any difference?  Ha!

The nation’s largest staffing firm released results of a survey showing that 38% of firms paying minimum wage will lay off workers if the minimum wage goes up to $10.10.  54% will reduce hiring, and 65% would raise prices.  Admittedly the survey takers are being self-serving with their answers, but this SHOULD be a wakeup call to even many DP members. The math is simple:  unless you can increase worker productivity – by making and selling more – you can’t afford to pay some people more without (a) raising prices and volume or (b) cutting costs.  And the easiest way is to cut costs:  If minimum wages go from 8 to 10 dollars an hour (20% increase), the fastest way to be able to pay for it is to eliminate one in five minimum wage employees.  That is basic, and doesn’t take into account that everyone that had been making $10 an hour NOW wants to make another $2/hour so that they are not themselves “minimum wage.”  My boys understood that when they were ten years old, Congress and the idiot Fuehrer don’t seem to get it.

A plurality of Democrats supports the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, though support is much lower among wealthier, more liberal and more educated members of the party, according to a new poll. The Pew Research Center poll, as with other polls, shows broad support, which the White House is still reviewing. 61 percent of people (not DP members) favor building it, while just 27 percent oppose it.  Notice the screaming panic of the elites about this.  They have, sadly, still convinced too many AmerInd nations to oppose it:  they make good shills.

Mama’s Note: I would not have any problem with such a project or pipeline except for the use of eminent domain to obtain the “right of way.” That’s a real problem, and I don’t believe I’ve seen any real discussion of it or possible alternatives.

In Minneapolis, city employees “voluntarily” participated in a “Hijab Day” promoted by Somali immigrant employees.  A hijab is an open religious garment, similar to wearing a yarmulke (for Jewish men) or a crucifix or cross necklace: garb which has been prohibited from many (or most) public/government office workplaces in Tranzi states (like Minnesota) because they “promote religion.”  Of course, some religions are more equal or tolerated than others: Islam being the perfect example.  I suspect that for a christian to wear a tee-shirt with a Bible verse on it to work in municipal offices would immediately trigger ACLU and atheist protests and even lawsuits.  So why not THIS?

By the way, that NASA study doesn’t seem to take a good look at OTHER civilizations that wasted their resources and had insane disparities in income and wealth but still hung around for centuries, like Egypt under the Pharaohs and the Muslim empires and their civilizations.  Wonder why?

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-11E: Fuehrerprincip and nasty news

Posted on 2014-03-22 by TPOL Nathan

Good morning!  Or is it?  Lots of nasty news out there today…

First, apparently the ‘messiah’ – now better known as “our beloved Fuehrer” has apparently written/signed a new imperial decree (or is that “Fuehrer-Befehl” instead) that allows him (and his minions the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State (Finanzminister und Assenminister)) to seize the assets: land, money, animals, underage children, etc.) of any American “person” who “undermines” or “threatens” Ukraine, directly or indirectly. Which apparently would include me, since I’ve spoken very badly of the stupid actions of the FedGov regarding Ukraine and the Crimea.  And Mama Liberty, at least indirectly.  I suppose the goons will be coming sooner than later.  Sure, they will claim it doesn’t relate to free speech, but we know how THAT works.

Adding insult and compounding stupidity, the American Fuehrer announced MORE sanctions on Thursday against prominent Russians including close allies of President Vladimir Putin, as Moscow raced to complete its annexation of Crimea and built up its forces in the region. Of course, Moscow retaliated as they geared up for any impact and even an economic downturn.  Is this yet another slip down the slide to war?

Do you or your family own ivory?  You are now a criminal thanks to the American Fuehrer and his Fueher-Befehl ban on selling even antique ivory (if less than 100 years old) legally obtained. Never mind little archaic concepts like making things crimes AFTER you did them, or outdated ideas like Congress passing laws: he can do whatever he decides is right, because der Volk are “behind him” – or at least somewhere between 30 and 49% are, according to the latest polls. What is next to be banned or made illegal?  Wooden furniture?  The list grows longer with time.

A FedGov study is paying Mexican male prostitutes for not getting STDs while Hawai’i undercover police get paid for having sex with prostitutes.  Who says government isn’t consistent (sometimes?)? It is so GOOD for the USGov to help out poor countries like Mexico who can’t offer this important social safety net. (sarcasm, please.)

The Fueher wants to make sure His daughters don’t have to quit their jobs when they have children, Hmm.  That makes a LOT of assumptions.  First, that these two women will ever need to work a day of their lives after they inherit the fortune that almost all presidents (since Truman, at least) have accumulated during and after they leave office.  Second, that these daughters of Tranzis are going to HAVE children and contribute to destroying the planet.  Third, that IF they do, that the FedGov won’t make all children enroll in creches (ala Brave New World) within months of birth.  (Of course, all bets are off, come the revolution.)

Federal ‘Motor Voter’ forms In Kansas and Arizona must include proof of citizenship, at least until the Fuehrer’s flunkies (especially that Himmler wannabe Holder) close the states’ efforts down.  And of course, ignore the court decisions that say these states CAN do that.  (Like the Fuehrer’s flunkies do so much of.)

There are those who urge Mrs. Obama the Fueher’s consort to speak out against Chinese rights abuses, as her “predecesors” did. I would like to assume that they are suggesting this for the humor value, as it is clear that her ideal of a perfect society is much closer to China than even the accelerating police state conditions in many of the Fifty States.

According to KOAT-TV, four US Forest Service police officers and a drug-sniffing dog recently performed the search at the Taos Ski Valley Resort, and cited several people for possessing marijuana, driving recklessly and having cracked windshields.  New Mexico already looks and smells like a police state much of the time: this just adds to the stench.  We need to have USFS citing people for cracked windshield?  Please.  There is NO justification for this sort of insanity.

Researchers say that Terra got a lucky pass early in 2012, when a massive solar flare missed us and space around us.  They claim it was as bad as the 1859 Carrington event, largest magnetic storm to ever hit the planet, which knocked out the nation’s telegraph system.  Although this is a lot like another “crying wolf” or “Chicken Little” incident, it does remind us that NOTHING human-made is forever, and that things can and do go badly wrong, usually on a less than planetary scale, of course.  It is a good idea to plan for many contingencies, even things like this: can we continue to live without electrical power or electronic communications?  Of course, if we are prepared.

Mama’s Note: “Live without electricity (or an equivalent)?” At least some of us can survive that, but a great many would not. A lot of babies who survive now would die, same for many elderly and disabled. A great deal of modern food preparation and preservation would not be possible. There is almost no substitute for safe and clean lighting of homes and businesses, though I’d love to see far less of outdoor lighting myself. Most home heating requires electricity for some part of its function, even if the actual heat is obtained from other things. And very little widespread communication would be possible without it either. Many human beings could survive without electricity, but they would have to embrace a 19th century lifestyle most likely. I’m prepared to do that for short periods, but I wouldn’t want to live that way for very long.

Apparently Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is an evil, evil man.  No, not because he is a statist, but because he uses his (presumably government-issued) cell phone to text or tweet a Scriptural citation: Philippians 4:13.  (That should be a familiar verse to those readers who read the Bible:  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”)  Our wonderful “non-religionist” atheists are attacking him for – get this – lending governmental and gubernatorial cachet to a religious Book (other than Origin of the Species or any of Carl Sagan’s holy writings, of course).  Do I need to point out that they are therefore “anticonstitutional” since the Wisconsin State Constitution states in part: ““We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, form a more perfect government, insure domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare, do establish this constitution.”  I am not fond of Walker or his quasi-conservative statist agenda, but even he has a right to speak his piece and even quote the Apostle Paul.

As did this man: Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, died on Wednesday.  I use the media term “founder” of course, hopefully in a way which even Mr. Phelps would have objected to.  Phelps could (and did) say whatever he wanted to, whatever he believed, and he believed that all of America’s woes were because of the decay of society and specifically because of so many of the States and people accepting homosexuality as “normal.”  But he chose to do so in a way which angered many people who were as disgusted with the perversions of homosexuality as he was, and in a way which made homosexuality mainstream  at least, easier to accept as such.  In this, he imitated many historical Baptist leaders, dating back to the establishment of the denomination in the 1650s.  (I say “denomination” but there are MANY Baptist denominations, of course: each with their own headquarters and organization and name and particular beliefs.)  Westboro could have adopted almost ANY so-called fundamentalist denominational uniform: Wesleyan, Assemblies, Church of God, whatever, or been “interdenominational” or “multidenominational” or “independent.”  I honestly don’t know how close they were to “standard” Baptist doctrine, because you never heard about what else they preached or did: nothing about benevolence or evangelism or worship or fundamental world view except that by their actions, the first and greatest of great commandments seems to have been “God Hates Fags” [sic].  This is, of course, a perversion of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, but then, much of what “typical” Baptist churches teach is a perversion: they still adhere (despite their history) the concept of the “national church” and an unholy alliance of church and state still seen in the history books, as well as errors in church organization, understanding of the Tanakh (Old Testament), and much else.  BUT IT WAS HIS GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO BE WRONG.  To say what he wanted to. No matter how wrong or distasteful or disgusting it was.  And too many people would use “law” to crush Fred, his fellow church members, and anyone who would speak out for their right to say what they believed.

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-11D: Good news, for once?

Posted on 2014-03-20 by TPOL Nathan

Good morning, and a lovely one again: not much wind and the snow is melting fast where I am.

Let me start out with some good news or ideas, for once.

North Korean Born in a Prison Camp: ‘My Favorite Word is Freedom’ with very good reason, clearly.  The point that too many people miss is that ALL of North Korea is a prison camp, and the same is true of many countries around the world, and even more (like many or all of our own Fifty States) are moving in that direction.

Scalia to Cadets: Constitution ‘Deserves Your Affection and Your Oath’ so why don’t our senior officers and political leaders have the same concept?  And why don’t the other eight Nazgul seem to think so?  (There are SOME field grade and flag grade officers who DO, but they are powerless or gutless or both, as the corruption of the military gets worse.)

Bill Gates: ‘It Makes Sense to Believe in God’ is NOT one of the things I would have expected this man to say.  Still, a pleasure to hear him say that.  He certainly is not following God’s will in many things, but maybe he is trying.

This next is “good news” but only if you are willing to put aside the rhetoric and propaganda which seems to infect many who claim to be lovers of liberty.

Sounds to me like Putin understands the current regimes in DC, Brussels, and Mons (NATO headquarters) pretty well:  rule of guns and not rule of law.  For once, I find myself almost in full agreement with Steven Lendman, who provides a great synopsis of the entire Ukraine/Crimea business (if you ignore his normal fanatic digs at various and sundry). The FedGov’s hypocrisy is showing big time.  Putin is NOT a nice man, he is a very typical Russian strong man: no one who is a genuinely nice person could ever lead or even guide Russia.  He is no doubt corrupt, as well – same reasons.  But compared to what we have in DC, he is a saint.

Compare Lendman’s column to this one: Crimea Crisis: A Timeline of U.S. Appeals, and Russian Defiance Oh for crying out loud:  these are not “US Appeals” but rather, US demands.  If this was Canada and not Ukraine, and it was Russia “appealing” then the US would be far MORE “defiant” than Russia is being about Crimea and Ukraine.

Tensions Rise Along Israel-Syria Border After Bombing of Israeli Patrol, as well as fighting: Israeli forces attacked Syrian positions.  One more spark in the region.

Tax Revenues Hit Record in First 5 Months of FY14; 5-Month Deficit Still $377B: greed of the kind found in DC cannot be slaked by all the money in the world.

WH: ‘Real Treat’ for Michelle Obama to Take Her Mom and Daughters to China on the taxpayer’s dime (or rather, millions).  Such gratitude shown by the little people to let their royals have such a pleasant excursion.

Obama The ‘messiah’ praises Abbas: ‘Somebody who has consistently renounced violence’ in what?  His family?  His stomach?  Because he hasn’t personally killed someone for “honor?”  Disgusting to watch a video of one incredible hypocrite (the ‘messiah’) praising another accomplished hypocrite.  As many websites have been quick to point out, Abbas and his rabid and loyal gang of thugs has committed a huge number of violent aggressive acts against both Israelis and their own people, including some as recently as last week.  But shucks, the squatter in 1600 Pennsy knows how short the memories of the public are.

The Congressional Homeland Security Chair says the missing plane may be in the hands of terrorists, an idea (as I pointed out earlier this week) that he took straight from a dozen conspiracy websites.  On the other hand, Rep. King babbles about Flight 370: ‘Nothing out there indicating it’s terrorists’, a statement clearly based on his omniscience and secret NSA/CIA/FBI briefings.  Neither of them are willing to admit that they don’t really know anything but speculation.  Meanwhile, the search continues.  You know, the failure to find the plane’s remains using satellite photos points out the major problem with that sort of “mass data collection” intelligence: if you don’t have SOME general idea of what or where something is, it is very difficult to find it.  It is the same problem we have with finding intelligence in the halls of Congress: you just don’t know where to start looking.

Senator Rand Paul states, For GOP to Grow, It Must ‘Agree to Disagree on Social Issues’ Like Gay ‘Marriage’ which will no doubt endear him still more to many Libertarians, who seem to turn off their sensitivity to liberty when anything to do with sexual preferences (I probably shouldn’t use a word like “perversions”) come up.  But does the GOP really need to do this?  Despite all the court cases and all the acts of various legislatures, to say nothing of the White House, a majority of Americans do not favor homosexual “marriage” – some may be willing to tolerate it, but not accept it, and certainly not “affirm or embrace” it.

EPA Administrator apologizes for saying little Alaskan girl’s moose meat gift could ‘gag a maggot’ which is about what the rest of us are thinking when we meet one of the ‘messiah’s’ minions like this woman.  There is something to be said for those commenting that she was chosen more for her sexual preferences than for her brains or skills or experience.

Several States Mulling ‘Free’ Tuition to Community Colleges which is really nothing more than a grand slam: expanding the nanny state, creating another major mess in the market system, destroying the value of education even more, excusing an increase in taxing and spending, and extending “childhood” a few more years.  Community colleges do little or nothing for students that a mere century ago were done by elementary schools (1-6th grade), just as other colleges and universities spend most of their time and money providing knowledge, skills, and discipline once expected of 9th-12th graders in high school.  This will simply accelerate all these poor outcomes, and make an A.S. or A.A. as meaningless as a high school diploma.

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-11C: Crimea, Police State, ObummerCare

Posted on 2014-03-19 by TPOL Nathan

Good morning!  Lots of “nothing happening” in the Crimea, apparently, and the missiles haven’t flown (except that North Korea fired a bunch into the ocean for “training”).  So it is a good day!

Now that the Crimea’s people have “illegally” voted 95.5% in a turnout of 83% to secede from Ukraine and apply to Russia for annexation, we read in the Washington Times that Russia is to embrace Crimea ‘swiftly’; and that a poll shows Putin’s popularity soaring.  At the same time mockery greets the ‘messiah’s’ new sanctions against Russian officials after Crimea action. No, really?  His sanctions basically consist of yanking the visas of a few dozen wealthy or politically-influential Russians, who won’t be able to go to New York City to buy out the big Spring season sales.  (And just who will THAT hurt?)  Oh, and maybe not selling Pepsi to Russians (again, whose bottom line gets hurt?)  Wimp is not a harsh enough word, even if I think that truly taking any REAL action against Russia would be incredibly stupid.  Face it, even a few die-hard ‘messiah’ lovers are having second thoughts about the man, much less his vaunted advisors.

Despite this, some of the “lawmakers” in DC praise sanctions, say Obama must go further to curb Russian aggression.  Never mind the argument over whether what is going on in the Crimea is “Russian aggression” or self-defense by Crimean Russians, this sort of “America, right or wrong” reaction again illustrates how worthless Congress has become.

Worse, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) urged the ‘messiah’ on Monday to install anti-ballistic missiles in Eastern Europe as a counter to Russian actions in Ukraine, calling the administration’s newly announced sanctions an insufficient response to the crisis.  Of course, the WaPo and others crowed about this “support” for the insane excuse for foreign policy.  Cruz just proves he would be no different than any of the last half-dozen or so presidents, if elected: the problem and NOT a solution.  (I wonder, did Cruz ever stop to contemplate the similarities between Texas and the Crimea, and between 2014 and 1836?)

On to some local, stateside news:

Are cops getting even MORE arrogant and desperate?  It would seem so, based on an incident in Maryland a few days ago, when heavily armed police stalked down the highway between hundreds of cars in a roadblock on I-270, looking for bank robbers.   They found them, but only by again proving that more and more of the Fifty States are pure and simple police states.  Sadly, I fear too many people are willing to support the cops in this sort of terrorism because they were successful.  Mama’s thoughts: Of course, the ideal solution would have been for the bank folks to pull a gun on the robber, and have half a dozen or more customers backing them up. Don’t think there’d be too many bank robberies if that were the norm -or even happened occasionally. [Referring to another story: Pizza delivery woman thwarts armed robbery by pulling her own gun] How many other pizza delivery people in that part of NC will be held up any time soon? I wonder. And no, the “end” does not justify the means.

The administration announced Monday that more than 5 million people have signed up for new ObummerCare insurance plans under the health-care law, suggesting new momentum for the program as the deadline to get covered this year approaches, or so the WaPo says.  Right.  Five out of thirty, while millions have LOST coverage due to this criminal Abominable Act.  When will we totally reject this unconstitutional, immoral, and illegal “act” as the piece of garbage that it is?

Mama’s Note: The sad part is that so much damage has already been done to what was even minimally functional in the medical and insurance industry that a repeal tomorrow would not solve the problems. It would take years to straighten out the mess, even if everyone involved had the best intentions and no further government nonsense was introduced.

No, whatever happens to “Obummercare,” legislatively, there is no going back. People will be forced to rely more and more on themselves and their families, communities. The free lunch is about over, and some are already suffering from the food poisoning that came with it.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Monday that the missing Malaysia Airlines plane could be parked somewhere unknown and potentially used as a giant bomb.  Gee, you might think that this guy was smart, but this idea was first floated midway last week, so all he is doing is copying someone else’s ideas.  (Of course, that DOES demonstrate above average intelligence for a Texan politician.)  I just get a kick out of reading all the conspiracy theories about what REALLY happened, knowing that there are so many political factions and so many groups of nutcases out there and knowing how many holes there are on this planet.  And I am not even talking about the really far-out theories.  I don’t mean to sound flippant about the lives of 200+ people, but their fate is almost certainly already decided, and like the people who died in the last few weeks in avalanches, recovery of the cast-offs (bodies) is about all we can hope for.

According to Eagle Rising, a group of New Yorkers gathered this weekend and burned about a thousand gun registration forms, or gun registration cards: the article is not clear, nor are the photos.  I applaud their courage to do so publicly, and to take a stand.  But I wonder if this really is an effective protest?  And I wish that alternative media would not confuse accuracy for enthusiasm.

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-11B: Stupid is as stupid does

Posted on 2014-03-18 by TPOL Nathan

Good morning!  This week is filled with examples of how stupid government, and the people IN government can be.  More and more cutting off their own noses to spite their faces, they are driving people towards rebellion at an ever faster rate.

Nanny state laws and regulations do NOT exist “to protect the public” as is generally claimed, but instead to protect a variety of monopolies and cartels and the political power of legislatures and the appointed boards which control who may and who may not provide services, ranging from taxi cabs in virtually every city to hairdressers and barbers to medical personnel.

Some states are considering interstate compacts that would allow participating states’ doctors to practice across borders, and would provide both doctors and patients legal protections, unlike architects and engineers and surveyors who must obtain licenses – government permission – from each state in which they work.  This would allow telemedicine which is now illegal, even for veterinarians. Of course, NO one considers the simple solution of letting patients choose the doctors (or other persons) that they wish to have treat them (or their animals): the political influence MUST be kept at all costs.

In the same way, government agencies must be able to dictate everything possible.  For example, U.S. Food and Drug Administration procedures are incredibly time-intensive, and new drugs take 10 to 15 years to finally reach the market at a cost of $800 million, on average, so even a website like the Daily Beast is calling to kill the FDA before it kills again…

One of the problems with letting government do all this is that too many people in government are so incredibly stupid, or appear that way. An aide of the ‘messiah’ blames his massa’s slide in political polls on Gov’t shutdown and Healthcare.gov rollout because everyone knows that the stupidity in Libya, Syria, and now Ukraine makes him beloved of ALL Americans.  Politically, one of the biggest factors in the squatter at 1600 Pennsy not having a lower approval rating is the hard work of the GOP to appear more stupid, more disconnected, and more tyrannical than the DP.

It is this sort of government employee stupidity that worries me about the announcement that the Navy is deploying its first laser-armed warship this summer.  With the poor track record, and quality of the modern sailor in serious doubt, I hope that they have safeguards against burning a hole in their own hull, or crisping the wrong ships or the wrong city or port.

That stupidity starts at the top, of course, as the next story illustrates.

For the past 20+ years, American military personnel and their families have enjoyed a benefit which cost the taxpayer nada: having traditional fast food restaurants on base.  This has been great since many bases are rather remote from suburbia, and because of various regulations.  Now, that is changing, because the Imperial Decree about raising minimum wage for federal employees and contractors is driving various fast food outlets on base out of business, and at the same time, eliminating employment opportunities for military family members.  Unintended  consequences?  Really?  I see it as yet another sly way that the ‘messiah’ can dis the military; an added benefit to the economic damage minimum wages cause.  Again, stupid when it is more and more likely that the ‘messiah’s’ regime will have to rely on the guns and bodies of military and police to survive.

HHS: medical insurance plans offering spousal coverage must include legally married “gays” expanding the government-mandated slavery of more and more businesses, just as they have done to Hobby Lobby and hundreds of other businesses, and without ANY legal or constitutional authority to do so.  The hypocrisy of the so-called liberals who support the right to free speech, free association, and self-determination and all the rest grows exponentially.

Karzai says Afghanistan doesn’t need US troops and I for one think we should take him at his word and bring EVERYone home.  Now.  Including every private contractor.

In Fayetteville, North Carolina, A pizza delivery woman thwarted an armed robbery attempt at a house by producing a weapon of her own, while the would-be robber had his gun’s muzzle in the back of her head.  As Mama Liberty pointed out, it was a brave act and is sure to have a definite influence on other would-be armed robbers in the state, even if no shots were fired.  Hoploclastic activists will ignore it, of course: they are more stupid than the average independent thug.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences.” — C. S. Lewis

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-11A: Crimea and America

Posted on 2014-03-17 by TPOL Nathan

Good morning!  Well, the Crimea has voted to secede and join Russia.  War hasn’t broken out in Ukraine and the Crimea yet, and the ‘messiah’ hasn’t bombed Moscow yet, or even told Pepsi to stop selling to the Russians.  The “vigor” of the condemnation of that evil man Putin and all his ilk is obvious in the blogosphere AND on the mainstream media.  As it is on a few other things this week.

On Saturday, one of the ‘messiah’s’ minions, John Kerry, has given Russia an ultimatum to get OUT of the Crimea by Monday “or else.”  Of course, the “or else” is that tired old, unenforceable list of sanctions and hand-slapping that doesn’t work for North Korea or Iran, and is not going to work for Russia – even if Russia doesn’t seem to have international law on its side.  Funny how secession is just fine for the other 14 republics of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, or for Kosovo or Slovakia, but NOT for the Crimea?  And that popular votes are fine for electing presidents or joining the EU or all these other things but NOT democracy for the Crimea to decide what they want to do?  Of course, those who are screaming about this conveniently seem to forget that “democracy” is not allowed to apply to giving special rights to homosexuals, nor to redefining marriage, nor to legalizing either medical or recreational cannabis, so who is being the hypocrite here?  It is a very broad brush, indeed.

On further thought, a friend reminded me that the ‘messiah’ is just returning to standard FedGov policy of 150+ years: secession is not just illegal but evil, immoral, and causes bad breath.  It is sure that DC will not dare to allow any of the Fifty States to HOLD an election on the subject, so the question as to whether it would be recognized is a moot point.  The business with cannabis is point of fact:

Supposedly, “the House GOP” passed a law to force the ‘messiah’ to “crack down on Colorado and Washington flaunting federal anti-marijuana laws” by “forcing” the White House to enforce drug laws.  But when I read the bill passed (which still has to go to the Senate) it seems to apply to any law – for the White House to do its job to carry out the laws passed by Congress and signed into law by past presidents.  And it appears that it was passed by the House of Representatives – whether it was a partyline vote or not.  While we can argue the merits of that idea (passing a law to enforce enforcing laws, and the wisdom of the laws in the first place) it is the way this is being spun that is baffling and noteworthy:  why have I read in a half-dozen places this is aimed at drug laws and not immigration laws or marriage laws or education?  I fall back on an old position: neither GOP nor DP can be trusted with ANY authority, and will do stupid things that don’t make sense and just cause more trouble.  And apparently they are also trying to pass a law to let Congress sue the executive branch – another baffling act considering that such a suit is an implied power of the Legislative Branch already in the Constitution.

The EPA is rotten to its slimy little core, as the second study in five years shows.  Zero Hedge reports on an IG report on FY2012 credit card purchases: in a sample of 80 (out of 67,000), 92% were suspicious and probably fraudulent.  What is worse, the 2012 information is about the same as a study in 2008.  DP administration is no better than GOP administration.  If EPA employees are willing to use government money to buy gym memberships for family members and dozens of gift cards, they are no doubt willing to lie and accept bribes and “inducements” to falsify reports: allowing people to either let pollution go unchallenged OR (more likely) to unjustly attack businesses and individuals (like the recent threats against a Wyoming family for digging a pond on their property).

Speaking of slimy government agencies, BATFE just raided a Southern California gun parts store (Ares Armor) for selling lower AR-15 receivers (80% complete, as allowed by law) and stole their customer list, despite a federal judge issuing a restraining order to prevent just that very thing from happening.  Several things are disturbing about that: the first being that the store was so incredibly stupid as to NOT ether delete the list or move it to someplace with SOME reasonable expectation of security, and apparently unwilling or unable to encrypt the list, either.  Secondly, that customers who buy this kind of part are so stupid as to not pay cash and not keep their information private.  Third, of course, that the store’s owners and lawyers would trust a federal judge to do anything but side with the government.  How many more people are going to get stung?  And how long are we going to keep putting up with this?

I think more and more people are agreeing with the strong tone of Dr. Ben Carson, recently comparing the ‘messiah’s’ America to Hitler’s Germany in using intimidation to shut up the regime’s opponents.  The good burghers of Germany MIGHT be excused for letting their nation slide into horror and abject totalitarian tyranny, do WE have that excuse? Imagine if Hitler’s Wehrmacht had the advantages of 2014’s American military in the beginning of his effort to dominate Europe and the world.  We may disagree with Dr. Carson’s specific thoughts (the GOP is NOT innocent), but it is easy to understand his argument.  Yet, no one is willing to do something about it.

Conflicting news is coming out of Houston regarding a double murder on Friday of a lesbian couple.  Some stories are claiming that this was an “honor killing” by the father of one of the two, a Muslim with an extensive criminal and sex offender record.  This is typical for the Islamic nations, as I’ve commented on repeatedly, and has happened in Canada: now we find it here in the States.  Of interest is that the mainstream media (television and newspapers) does NOT report the religious affiliation, although both right- and left-wing sources (Huffington Post and “God-bless-Texas.com, for example) are reporting it – and the accusation made by the daughter’s mother.  It is getting increasingly difficult to trust ANY media to accurately report: their agenda trumps the truth.  Again, what are we going to do about it?  “You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  You have to FIND the truth: yet all we are getting are lies.

Oklahoma is a much vaunted “red state” but this week, when 41 sheriffs went to the Statehouse for their annual get-together with the legislators, they were asked to disarm or leave.  They left.  Do you suppose the legislators had some reason to be very, very afraid of these 41 elected officials?  Our legislatures, like the Parliament of the late 1700s and early 1800s, have become corrupt, rotten with greed for power and lust for wealth.  And their arrogance is matched only by their fear that someone will treat them as they deserve to be treated: put up against the wall or hung from lampposts.

On that chipper note, I leave you for the day!

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-10D: Hype and Fear

Posted on 2014-03-15 by TPOL Nathan

Good afternoon!  Another week is nearly done, and we can rest up for the next one, right?  Meanwhile, some thoughts worth sharing (I hope and think) about news the last several days.

One thing in the news that is getting more and more tiresome is the ever-increasing hype about “we’re all gonna die” in the next (take your choice: six months, twelve months, by 2016, etc.) and that the conspiracies are in progress and we can do NOTHING (well, nothing except by THEIR book or subscribe to THEIR magazine or buy THEIR brand of overpriced, hyped, bulky food).  Of course, the various private enterprises that do this learned from the “best:” the media and the government.  Saw lots of that in the news and the ads this week.  I don’t need to give you websites – easy to find online.

In a case I’ve been watching for some time, a Saudi cleric has been released from prison after he paid blood money to the mother of the daughter he killed. The popular “TV imam” admitted he had beaten his five-year-old daughter because he suspected she had lost her virginity.  Yes, read that again, that is really what happened.  She hung on for ten months before she died: he was sentenced to eight years (you read THAT right too) in prison for this “lawful deed” [sic AND sick] (according to Shari’a) but was allowed to paid compensation of $270,000 (50% of what he’d had to pay if it had been a son) to the mother (his divorced ex-wife) and get out of jail four months early.  Islam IS a death cult: this sort of thing is written into their holy books, unlike Christianity in which the inquisition, the religious wars, and the auto-de-fe are contrary to the New Testament scriptures.  Yet, the Saudi criminal gang lords are our friends… far better to have Mexican drug lords or Italian capos.  Is it any wonder that just a few short years after the Spanish overran the last Muslim-ruled territories in Iberia (in 1492, SEVEN HUNDRED years after the Muslim invasion and “submission”), when they discovered the murderous Azteca religious rites, that they decided to wipe the Aztec out? But today, we invite this venomous snake into our homeland.  In this case, we aren’t all “gonna die” and it is unlikely that too many Americans will die in this sort of honor killing anytime soon.  Of course, the more Islamist Muslims move into the country, the more this kind of thing will happen here.

As the Malaysia airliner mystery deepens, it seems that no debris has been found after all; and supposedly the plane flew for 4 hours after losing contact? Four hours would be about 2,000 miles: a big area.  The conspiracy types are just freaking out over this: the latest theory is that this was a “digital hijacking” using the unique electronics of the aircraft, and that the airliner, with or without its passengers and crew, could be someplace in India or Pakistan, being prepared for another Bloody Tuesday.  As usual, the US is identified as the evil mastermind of the plot…  And the result?  We are all gonna die…

As Kerry is involved in a last-minute effort to stop Crimea from voting to join Russia, it appears that the Crimea’s are going to exercise the same “democratic rights” that people in places like Kosovo and Slovakia – and even Catalonia and Scotland – are willing to, despite the fact that the much-vaunted “leader of the free world” (the ‘messiah’) has said that the Crimeans should not be allowed to do so.  Unfortunately, here at home, the FedGov’s propaganda effort seems to be working as we find a new poll released Friday shows, the highest percentage of Americans since the break-up of the Soviet Union believe Russia is a threat. Sixty-nine percent say Russia presents a “very” or “moderately” serious threat to America — up 25 percentage points since April 2012, according to the CNN/ORC International poll. The percentage who say Russia is a “very” serious threat (29 percent) has nearly tripled since then (11 percent).  This is exactly what the ‘messiah’ and all his allies and puppetmasters want, as the Islamic terror threat no longer seems to motivate Americans enough.  Again, the horrormongers are running wild: the major theme seems to be that a century later, Crimea is the new Serbia and all Europe will be drawn into a massive “accidental” war as happened in the Great War of 1914-1918.  Except, of course, the United States will be involved from the gitgo.

The Nanny State metastases still more, as the DNC defends ObamaCare: ‘You have to take your medicine’ no matter what.  To add insult to injury, one of the “messiah’s” thugettes said, “There will be no delay in the penalty most Americans face under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law if they fail to obtain health coverage this year.” Sebelius also said there would be no postponement of this month’s deadline for enrolling in coverage through new private health insurance marketplaces or the Medicaid program for the poor.  There seems to be an intent to force more and more people into dire straits, perhaps to “encourage” them to join their side as being the least painful way to survive.  Once more, the Chicken Littles are screaming about White House plots to set up a national health service (single-payer system); but others are pointing out that the whole house of cards may come tumbling down.

Here are some items from around the various States:

In Wyoming, a family is being persecuted for having a stock pond on their eight acres, by the EPA (threatening $75,000/day fines), despite having state permits.  The congressional delegation is begging the EPA to stop.  Right.  This is an example either of total hypocrisy (the two senators and representative are playing both sides of the street) or proof that Congress is a worthless collection of wealthy babblers with no real power.

Mama’s Note: You forgot a third possibility… both are true.

In Colorado, a state-employed public defender (a lawyer) has been fired for having sex with one of her clients in the Denver County Sheriff’s Office building.  But apparently, no legal action is contemplated: we must of course protect the members of the bar.

In Connecticut, a hockey referee has been arrested at instigation of the parents of a teen hockey player he ejected from a game, because he “physically” escorted the boy off the ice.  Sounds like a lot of parents in that state need to get a life.  Or maybe they should ban hockey?  Where were the REAL adults?

In Mississippi, a Baptist preacher was badly injured in an accident.  That wasn’t the government’s fault, but the ObummerCare provisions that caused his medical insurance to be jacked up by 15% and therefore unaffordable IS.  It took them months to find an alternative through the dysfunctional “health care exchanges” but the insurance didn’t go into effect until next month: result, NO insurance and a hundred thousand in medical bills.  To add insult to injury, they could have kept their original, lower-cost plan thanks to the new post-de-facto extension the FedGov so generously gave.  At least this man and his family have a family of faith to try and help.

In Texas, mainstream media used an innocent picture of a Trail Life USA troop to blacken the alternative to BSA as being neo-Nazis.  The media has for the most part refused to correct the outright lie – but then, what do we expect?  Trail Life USA was established as a breakaway movement from the Boy Scouts of America after open homosexuality (boys and leaders) was accepted by the 104-year-old group, which continues to be attacked both by the atheist and homosexual activists because their abject surrender did not go far enough.

Have a good weekend.  On the road and so there may be another extended weekend!

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Crimes of government: daily harm, daily death (Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-10C)

Posted on 2014-03-14 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning.  Every day, I see a dozen or more news stories which describe how government, at some level, for some reason, has harmed people.  Sometimes a government agent has killed or maimed yet another innocent person, or a person involved in something which might be morally wrong but did NOT justify their death or permanent disability.  Sometimes the government employee has simply refused to do something they claim to have authority to do, and this inaction results in someone’s death or injury.  Sometimes, the government does or refuses to do something that results in great financial cost to one person, a family, a few people, or thousands or millions of people.  These are not rare cases: this sort of harm takes place every day, right here in one of the Fifty States, perhaps in EVERY one of the Fifty States.  Some states are more prone to see it than others: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and California all come to mind.  But EVERY state has this happening AND reported in the media daily.  How many more are NOT being reported?

Even if only 10 – TEN – persons were harmed each day, on average, in each state, that would be 182,500 people a year.  But it is certainly much higher than that.  Here are some very recent examples from the Fifty States:

  • A (presumably off-duty) cop in Connecticut used Facebook to threaten another man (“kick your door in and take your guns”) because of comments made about the new gun laws. (I commented on this previously.)
  • Tens of thousands of shareholders and business-owners in Herbalife, a network nutrition company, lost millions of dollars in investments and sales because the FCC sided with a billionaire opposed to the company and began “investigating.”
  • In California, a teen was found unresponsive, supposedly after overdosing on a “new street drug,” a problem due in VERY large part to the war on some drugs making far less harmful drugs very difficult and expensive to get: a process now happening with tobacco.
  • Like the DC Council, the New Hampshire lower House again voted to “decriminalize” marijuana, so that the state’s revenue sources are protected and the war on some drugs is somewhat reduced.  But it still is a “crime,” when the only victim is the person themselves.
  • In upstate New York, a high school student was suspended for wearing an NRA T-shirt (apparently because the NRA logo has two rifles in it), after he refused to turn the shirt inside out or put tape on it.  Once more, we see that basic human freedoms are not allowed in government-run, tax-funded schools.
  • In Nevada, an elected sheriff defended his deputies acting like Robin Hood and his merry men, stealing money and guns from travelers on I-80 even when no arrests were made or drugs found. Or maybe I should compare Kilgore to the robber barons along the Rhein in medieval times?
  • In DC, that piece of garbage Sebelius made it clear her thug-boss will not delay going after individuals who do not pay blackmail to insurance companies and will make them pay the blackmail to the government instead.
  • In Ohio, still more regulations will harm internet-cafe operators and their customers, as new regs are proposed to “crack down” on illegal internet games and gambling.

I may look at the same kind of thing worldwide another time, but this is enough for today.  How sick a nation, a society, a people we have become, to tolerate this kind of evil, day in and day out in our nation.

On to some other news.

White House Examining Ways to Ease ‘Family Burdens’ on Working Women? Simple, get rid of government so that it doesn’t require two incomes to support a family, and so that all of people’s paychecks are available to buy the goods and services they need at a price which does not have to support the parasites of government and everything else!

This story is almost too painful to read, about how a young man was singled out for his political views and had his life destroyed: a situation made possible because he was training as an Emergency Medical Technician, and who now is not even allowed to visit his dying grandfather.  This is what a police state some states of the Fifty have become.  Who is next, my friends, who is next?

Study: Income Inequality Greater, Growing Faster in Blue States which makes me suspect that a big cause of that is increasingly expensive, intrusive government keeping more people from making a living.  ANYthing that government does to interfere in the economy: in people voluntarily buying and selling ANYTHING, is damaging to that, and results in greater misery.

US Commander Warns: Al Qaeda reclaiming Afghanistan would be ‘Huge Moral Factor’ as well, of course, as a serious moral issue.  This is why for years I argued in support of keeping US and NATO troops in Afghanistan (keeping in mind we live and operate in an imperfect world): that the US had destroyed a nation and had a moral obligation to try and repair that damage.  Of course, one reason I have given this up is that the FedGov has demonstrated over and over its complete inability to repair the damage, and has proven that it has no other desire than to INCREASE the damage wrought both in Afghanistan and everyplace else on this planet, including the homes of those it claims to serve and protect: the people of the Fifty States.  Those people in “charge” of the FedGov have shown themselves to be totally morally bankrupt, hypocritically so in the case of those who claim to be conservative or lean towards minarchism, because they constantly take actions that are not a matter of compromise but rather serving no end but their own gluttony.

That same US Commander went on to say Al Qaeda could see ‘Great Victory’ in Afghanistan after a U.S. withdrawal, and I think that is almost a certainty.  As in Mesopotamia, the US won the war and lost the occupation: it is as if in 1956, the National Socialist German Workers Party again took over the reins of government in both East and West Germany, or as if the British came back and reoccupied the Eastern Seaboard in 1793.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-10B: Economy and hatred

Posted on 2014-03-13 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good afternoon.  Cold weather again in the news today, at least in the Northeast.  Another excuse, maybe, for our beloved masters in DC to have a day off work.

Driving across country this morning, I heard the latest outrage from our ‘messiah.’  Our beloved emperor has issued a new decree, mandating that all salaried persons making $50,000 a year or less MUST receive time-and-a-half pay for overtime, to combat “income inequality.”  Not because it is the law, but because that is what HE wants, and after all, who IS the master?  Once again, expect Congress to do nothing: lapdogs – whinging lapdogs, maybe, but as toothless and worthless as the Senate in Augustus’ time.  Meanwhile, it appears that the ‘messiah’ is trying to buy votes – but for whom?

Meanwhile, in Florida, various legislators are trying to gut self-defense to prevent “abuse.”  And in Missouri, a cabal of lying legislators try to outlaw common weapons in major urban areas. Calling it a “second amendment protection act.”  And in DC, a seemingly highly qualified (through very young) appointee to Surgeon General turns out to be a political lickboot of the ‘messiah’ who is rabidly anti-gun.  Let the NRA and some others proclaim how much better off we are as far as arms and self-defense, but it seems to me to be getting worse, not better.  As we see in Connecticut.

It appears that things are truly going nuts in Connecticut as the arguments and threats over enforcing a clearly unenforceable gun law continues.  Indeed, the guy one police officer threatened on Facebook has now been asked by the cop’s boss to work to cool things down: and the Facebook cop is under 24-hour protective detail and suspended (with pay, of course).  Meanwhile, no one is trying to see how many of the cars, trucks, planes, and boats leaving Connecticut are heavily loaded down with the 300,000 “assault weapons” and twice that many overcapacity magazines that have not been reported or surrendered.  My remarks last week stand: enough is enough: ANY attempt to steal weapons from free people MUST be met with enough force to prevent the attempt from succeeding.  Of course, secession WOULD be an option.

The cop-killers continue to prosper:  Will Grigg picked up this story: A North Vegas Police Officer shot and killed a 38-year-old man for the supposed crime of walking away from a cop.  What gives?  How long are we going to allow a uniform and a badge to trump human rights and decency and steal people’s lives for little or no reason?

The WaPo says that Democrats are pinning the Florida special election loss on dismal turnout effort, which is a convenient excuse to try and hide their failure: the “solution” is more money.  Mmmm.  That sounds like their solution for the economy, for education, and for health: spend more more – yours and mine, not theirs, of course.

Forbes has an article picked up by various and sundry and embellished on by many, about a BitCoin wannabe popping up in Indian Country.  The article and those commenting on it clearly do not understand what they are dealing with, in any way.  The guy smells like a con-artist, and con-artists pop up on Pine Ridge (home of the Oglala Sioux Tribe) like weeds after a wet spring.  The writers do not understand how the Lakota (and the rest of the Sioux) are organized, how their society and culture work, or even the restrictions and limitations on government and banks.  They apparently think that the Oglala’s Office of Economic Development speaks for every Lakota in a minimum of FIVE tribal governments, when in reality, the office can’t speak for the Oglala Tribal Council, or any of the nine districts.  And they seem to believe every word of this con-man.  In other words, the media in this case are behaving even worse than the governments normally do.  Is there any hope for economic understanding, much less cultural knowledge that does NOT create problems?

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-10A: Congress and other thugs

Posted on 2014-03-12 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning, after a long weekend hiatus from my column, dealing with all kinds of fun things.  Almost as much “fun” as in DC this week.

Incredibly, Diane Feinstein, in an act of incredible hypocrisy, denounced the CIA for spying on Senate staff.  To me, this is nothing more than a falling out among thieves (crooks); an internal squabble to see who can count coup on whom, and stick it to the rest of us more.  Now, notice, she hasn’t done this to the NSA, which shows even more that this little temper tantrum of hers is nothing but a turf fight.  Like the Bloods and the Crips, except that we are ALL collateral damage.

Of course, this isn’t the only hypocrisy in the Senate, and the GOP has their share.  Inhofe has complained that the “messiah” wasted $120 Billion on global warming, which could have bought 1400 F-35s so that the money would have been wasted on OTHER stupidity.  Do we need 1400 F-35s?  Hardly, not when we are mothballing or scrapping out A-10s – which are fine for defending the US.   Of course, doesn’t Inhofe need to go back to school and learn basic civics, that the Congress supposedly holds the purse strings and that therefore it took Congressional complicity for the “messiah” to ‘waste’ all those billions stolen from people.

Back to the CIA brouhaha, the WaPo says that the Senators rally around Feinstein, demand answers from CIA; that is, Senators of both parties voiced support Tuesday for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) decision to publicly accuse the CIA of violating federal law and interfering with a committee investigation into the agency’s interrogation practices.  At least, some Republicans on the panel suggested that Democrats might also be at fault.  But once more, it points out this is falling out among crooks who are more concerned about their vaunted Omerta than their supposedly-legitimate oaths to uphold the Constitution.  The idea is sickening.

And still more hyprocrisy: Sen. Rand Paul says that he had lunch a week ago with Holder, which not only turns my stomach, but makes me wonder just what kind of a hypocrite Paul is, too.  Could YOU have eaten with Himmler or another of Uncle Adolph’s minions in 1938 or 1939?  I don’t think that I could, no matter what was possible.  The ONLY time a senator should be willing to talk to Holder (odd: Holder, Himmler… similar in name AND evil) is across the table in the Senate chambers during Holder’s impeachment trial.

On to other things:

On top of information from Georgia last week about the constant, continuing killing of black babies there, we learn that in NYC: 80% of abortions are minority babies, which ought to make people like the intellectual heirs of Margaret Sanger and Henry Ford all happy and excited.  We KNOW it makes the “messiah” and his minions tickled pink: they really aren’t “minority” babies as much as they are “lower class” babies, and “destroying” the environment.

Speaking of destroying the environment, according to a new report from the Environmental Policy Alliance, buildings that received the LEED “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” certification use more energy than the buildings that did not. So-called “Green” buildings are judged by LEED standards, which are one-size-fits-all and might work in the big urban areas, but when set in remote, rural, or even exburb areas, are expensive worship of “Mother Gaea” and the cult of environism.  (And therefore prove the value of that name: environists are people who claim to love and value the environment (environmentalists) but are brain-dead or just plain stupid, thus taking the “mental” part away and leaving us with “environist.”)  A green LEED building can cost 50% more than a non-LEED building, which makes it very hard to be cost effective OR environmentally sustainable, when they use more energy for their entire life.

The Blaze tells the heartwarming story of a man (no spring chicken himself) saving his 83-year-old mother from a knife- and shovel-wielding home invader after hearing the attack over the phone and racing two minutes to respond with his pistol.  No shots fired, although there was a physical fight.

At the beginning of this week, I had to travel deep into New Mexico for the first time in several years (quick sneaks across the border to Farmington or Shiprock don’t count: like visiting Dunkirk or Lille in France), to meet several groups in Albuquerque.  One thing I was surprised to see in myself is how all those “New Mexico State Police” vehicles patrolling the highways and lurking at good observation points upset me.  It is no doubt because of the recent news about the jack-boot thuggery of the Connecticut State Police and the Pennsylvania State Police.  As I have stated earlier in commentary, NO American state should have a “State Police.”  A “highway patrol” or “state patrol” (like Colorado or South Dakota has) is barely tolerable, when ALL law enforcement should be built on the Anglo common law bedrock of voluntary efforts and elected Sheriffs directly responsible to the people.  State Police, whether they are “Secret” State Police or just “plain” are an affront to liberty, even if they were reined in for a few decades.

New Mexico is indeed a land of contrasts, with Albuquerque one of the cleanest and quietest major cities in North America today, but with the disgusting tradition of Iberian government and the hideous powers given to any police by both law and tradition.  The same holds true in the pueblos, wealthy in so many ways with their glittering casinos and massive public works projects, but holding back the desert and pretending that this “good life” will go on forever.

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