Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-30D: Lies and more lies

Posted on 2013-08-02 by TPOL Nathan

Lies and more lies
The Government “Revises” 84 Years Of Economic History This Week
(Zero Hedge) Don’t like how high debt-to-GDP figures are? Revise ’em. Unhappy at the post-‘recovery’ growth rates? Revise ’em. Disappointed at the pace of economic improvement in the last decade or two compared to the rest of the world? Revise ’em. This week “we are essentially rewriting economic history” as the BEA is set to revise GDP data from as far back as 1929. The ‘adjustments’ to account for intangibles (that best known of micro- accounting fudge factors) and as we noted previously in great detail, will increase GDP by around $500 billion. Of course, these changes are defended aggressively (just as the hedonic adjustments to inflation calculations ‘make perfect sense’) as GDP will now reflect spending on research, development, and copyrights as investment – and reflect pension deficits for the first time (think of all that potential future GDP from massive pension deficits now). With Q2 GDP growth estimates set for a dismal 1.1%, expectations are for the short-term economic data to be revised upwards (and with any luck the great recession never happened at all).

Mama’s Note: Just in case you had any lingering trust in government studies, reports, or functions…

Nathan: The growing incompetence of government at ANY level is frighteningly obvious.  They seem to have gotten so arrogant that the various managers and administrators and politicians think that people will believe anything.  L. Frank Baum had it right, with his portrayal of the “Wizard” – or should we say “Forecast” instead?  The next story shows that even with the tinkering with history and facts, they STILL identify this period as an economic disaster.

The “messiah” – Crash of 2009
1%: Average Annual Economic Growth Under Obama
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So?  The “messiah” and anyone else sitting in the White House cannot make the economy GOOD, they can only make it BAD.  Especially when that seems to be the goal: to push us into crisis, to make more and more people dependent on the government for everything, to destroy families and communities and businesses.  I am sure that the Tranzis are as disappointed in this as conservatives are, because the Tranzis would hope (as in Europe) for a decline in the economy. And seriously, I cannot and do not believe this number in any way: the economy has contracted nationally, over the past four-plus years in this “recession” and the administration and government agencies have made up and changed and twisted numbers to try and pretend otherwise.  With VERY few exceptions (like North Dakota), things are MUCH worse off than five years ago.  And it is this administration and the FedGov that deserves blame, immediately followed by the PREVIOUS administration.

Mama’s Note: What most people seem to ignore or fail to see is that no measure of “growth” is necessarily an indication of HEALTH for either a living being or an economy. Cancers GROW, and grow fast, but that does not mean the body is healthy. Government theft, coercion, regulation and control are all serious and obvious signals that the body of our society is suffering from a terrible cancer, and that the condition will be terminal if there is no radical surgery soon.

Stupid politicians – World wide
Japanese Finance Minister angers more people
(The Diplomat) Taro Aso has done it again. This time, the terminally gaffe-prone deputy prime minister has invoked the ire of a New York City-based Jewish human rights group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, after suggesting that Japan could learn a thing or two from Nazi Germany when it comes constitutional reform. “First, mass media started to make noises about Japan’s proposed reforms, and then China and South Korea followed suit,” Aso said in a speech at a right-leaning think tank on Monday. “The German Weimar Constitution changed, without being noticed, to the Nazi German constitution. Why don’t we learn from their tactics?”

Nathan: This is like what he said several months ago, as far as outraging people:

“Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government,” finance minister Taro Aso said during a meeting of the national council on social security reforms. “The problem won’t be solved unless you let them hurry up and die.” (Emphasis added.)

Aso’s remarks constitute a classic gaffe, defined by journalist Michael Kinsley as a mistake that occurs “when a politician tells the truth — some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.” (As befits such a gaffe, Aso was forced to backtrack; outright lying, on the other hand, seldom gets a politician into serious trouble.)

Nathan: Truth accidentally told by a politician, or just callousness?

Mama’s Note: This is an incredibly incoherent statement, unfortunately all too typical of our supposedly highly educated masters. But if I understand what he’s saying, it is the classic error that comes when people believe that if the government doesn’t build the roads, nobody will – or worse, that nobody CAN build them. Same with things like “the poor,” and “national defense,” of course.

Politicians telling the “truth” accidentally? I don’t know about that. They’d have to recognize and understand what was true in order to do that. So far, I’ve seen little sign of that.  Oh, and I wasn’t aware that Vice Pres. Biden had a Japanese brother…

Stupid government
Government Fiddles, Our Nation’s Forests Burn
(TownHall.com) Over the past two decades, timber harvests in the 155 national forests have plunged 80 percent from 12 billion board feet per year in the 1980s to less than 2.4 billion board feet per year, says H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis…

Nathan: The destruction of the nation in a simple and easy-to-understand examination of just a small part.  Timber and lumber come now from Canada and Latin America, because government regulations and the cost of doing business in the US drove domestic producers out of business.  Even in the Black Hills, there are fewer trees cut and fewer and fewer sawmills – from 1990, I’ve seen the industry all but vanish.  It is very difficult for small businesses to get going, and meanwhile, every year, more and more trees burn and are lost completely, except as more air pollution and more damaged areas of our economy.

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Home front: Vicious tyranny and fear

Posted on 2013-08-01 by TPOL Nathan

Three stories came across my desktop in the last 24 hours that share a common theme a lot of people have spoken about.  It is not just the militarization of the police force that we must be aware of and take action against, it is the attitude and the actions of the police and the courts that we must be aware of and change.

That attitude has elements of superiority and paranoia (“us” versus “them”), but increasingly it is an attitude of FEAR on the part of the cops, the court officials, and the politicians for whom they work.  They FEAR the people, each of us from the most elderly to very nearly the youngest.  They fear us individually and they fear us in groups: families, churches, companies, crowds, and mobs.  And their fear drives their actions.  These three stories are perfect examples.

Home front: Vicious tyranny
Arizona Court: Cops can take your guns
(CBS News) A new Arizona court ruling says police can take temporary custody of a person’s gun for officer-safety reasons even if the person’s contact with police was voluntary.

Nathan: “Temporarily” of course.  This in Arizona where they assault the “wrong” house and kill an American Marine defending his family – by letting him bleed to death after they shot him full of lead.  Where cops beat people up because the lights on their bicycle aren’t working.  Where mayors use cops to intimidate their political opponents.  Sure, “temporary.”  Just until you are dead.  Of course, there is a reason that the cops “have” to take your gun, even if you are contacting THEM for “aid” (which is, of course, an increasingly stupid idea): they are afraid that you will hate them and fear them as much as they hate and fear you, and will take advantage of the slightest opportunity to kill them.

Home front: Vicious tyranny
California man claims he was attacked by LA cops for no lights on bike
(CBS Local, Los Angeles) A 34-year-old man is recovering Monday from several injuries he said he sustained from a violent encounter with Los Angeles Police Department officers late last week.

Nathan: The cops came to the scene seemingly loaded for bear: guns drawn, aggressive, hyped with fear and eager to ensure “officer safety” by attacking first.

There may be more to this story, but the photos are pretty gruesome, although we know that LAPD officers are incredibly careful to treat EVERY citizen (and especially EVERY border jumper) with proper respect, courtesy, and kid-gloves. (sarcasm here, folks!)  It appears that the cops aren’t even worrying about offering the slightest justification for viciously attacking anyone; their report was that the contact with this man was a “routine traffic stop” and didn’t even try to claim that he resisted them, talked back to them or anything else.  Of course, the Arizona case above just gives them more of an excuse: everyone knows that people who ride their bikes at night without lights are armed to the teeth (and probably Hells Angels).  And if they hadn’t beat the guy, he might have escaped like the next guy.

Home front: Vicious tyranny
Cops: Escaped Suspect Drives Home With Hands Cuffed Behind Back
(Breitbart, by Jon David Kahn 31 Jul 2013) BURIEN, Wash. – Police say a man in custody on suspicion of driving with a suspended license escaped from Burien District Court on Friday, and the proceeded to drive to his home in Renton with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Mama’s Note: Handcuffed for paperwork? A “suspended license?” Oh brother… I still can’t figure out how he drove that way. But why did he go home? Seems pretty obvious he’s no criminal, but then again, he doesn’t seem too bright either. Clever, I’ll grant you, but not too bright.

What IS it with the handcuffs? The same stupid knee jerk reaction to everything. Tiny children and elderly, even those in a coma… insane. It’s about humiliation and absolute control, not much else.

Nathan: Not only that, but apparently driving with a suspended license (or being suspected of it) now requires that you be taken into CUSTODY?

This ties in with the LAPD brutality.  It IS about control, but I think that humiliation is third because the way that cops are trained/indoctrinated (in POST [“Peace Officer Standards and Training”] and other training) to fear ANYone that they come in contact with.  They are taught and rehearsed to react as though EVERY person that they contact hates them and has both the means and desire to kill or injure them.  Yeah, it doesn’t matter whether it is a “routine traffic” stop or a kid “illegally” selling lemonade or someone whose neighbor complained because their dog pooped in the yard:  in the eyes of a “properly trained” cop, we are ALL vicious, psychopathic would-be homicidal maniacs.  It is the same reason that they want us disarmed.  Yeah, there is a minority (small minority of 49% or so) of cops who get off on humiliating and demeaning anyone that they can get away with humiliating, but the fear justifies the control.

And we are full-circle back to the Arizona case: the judges apparently have the same sort of training and fear that cops do:  every person appearing in front of them, whether accused or witnesses or even plaintiff is assumed to be a vicious evil would-be judge killer. Or cop killer, or both.

In many ways, it is the fear that drives even the militarization of the police:  there is safety in numbers, in the brotherhood of the gang, and of course, armor is a necessary “security blanket.”  They see that (unlike the 1970s) the military are both honored and feared, and therefore, they want the trappings in the hope that they will be honored, and therefore less likely to be targeted by the normal citizens.  Not only that, but they want to and do recruit as many veterans as possible, to get a little of the glow from them – but they also get the instincts honed in Mesopotamia and Afghanistan of treating everyone on the streets as an enemy.  An enemy to be feared.  It feeds on itself.

I don’t know what the solution is – but maybe the Founding Fathers had the answer: a prohibition on standing armies.  What ARE the police today but a standing army?  For every cop that actually does things like protect people and property or solve crimes, there are five or ten that “patrol” – the same thing as in Germany 1945-55 or Mesopotamia 2003-12.  They are an occupation force, and the way occupation forces (usually outnumbered 100 to 1) keep themselves safe is by fearing the population and keeping them under control.

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Free State Wyoming Forum – RIP

Posted on 2013-07-31 by MamaLiberty

[Mama’s Note: The FSW forum is functioning again and the “Mavericks” forum has been taken down permanently.]

The Free State Wyoming forum was “suspended” about a month or more ago, and the members have not been able to contact Boston or discover any reason for the suspension since then.  The original website is still available, but may not be for long.

The Free State Wyoming organization was started some time around 2003 when Boston T Party (Kenneth W. Royce) split from the Free State Project when they elected to go to New Hampshire. Click the link here if you are interested in the back story of the FSW.

After some discussion among the FSW members, it was decided to go ahead and establish another forum, Wyoming Mavericks, independent of FSW and Boston. If the FSW forum is restored at any time, there should be no conflict. We wish Boston well in whatever he’s doing, and hope he finds the very best life has to offer.

The Wyoming Mavericks are not any kind of “organization.” We have no bylaws, meetings, officers, dues or any political agenda for “the country,” though individual members are and have been politically active. We mostly want to live in peace, minding our own business; being good neighbors to all who wish the same. The forum is our meeting place and source for mutual encouragement and assistance, especially for those contemplating moving to a place with greater personal freedom.

The Wyoming Mavericks are very, very grateful to the administrator and members of The Mental Militia for hosting our new forum. We invite you to visit both fora. They are very different, but have similar goals: Individual liberty through voluntary association.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-30C: Martyr to Liberty

Posted on 2013-07-31 by TPOL Nathan

Home front: war on tyranny – Liberty tree
Bradley Manning Cleared Of Aiding Enemy Charge, Still Faces Possible 150 Years In Prison
(Personal Liberty) On Tuesday, a military judge acquitted Pfc. Bradley Manning of the serious charge of aiding the enemy which was levied against the serviceman for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified military reports and diplomatic cables to the website Wikileaks.

Nathan: This bird colonel apparently decided that the American people were NOT the enemy – which is a good thing.  On the other hand, she found Manning guilty on 19 of 21 charges. The tree of liberty requires shedding the blood of tyrants and patriots, and the time of fertilizing that tree is closer yet.

Mama’s Note: For an excellent short review of what the outcome should have been, look at Thomas Knapp’s latest blog entry: Bradley Manning: What a Just Verdict Would Have Looked Like.

But, of course, I don’t think it should even pause there. Every single politician, bureaucrat and military big wig needs the same treatment as the “judge” in this case.

Scummy government – Theft by government
70 Straight Days: Treasury Says Debt Stuck at Exactly $16,699,396,000,000.00
(CNSNews.com) On May 17, the day the debt began its long stay at $16,699,396,000,000.00, Treasury Secretary Lew sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. In the letter, Lew said the Treasury would begin implementing what he called “the standard set of extraordinary measures” that allows the Treasury to continue to borrow and spend money even after it has hit the legal debt limit.

Nathan: Is this a lie or just an evasion, or are they so stupid that when the guy who did the programming quit they can’t figure out what to do?  Or so stupid that they can’t add the numbers up to see that they are IN VIOLATION OF THE LAW?  Of course, that doesn’t matter to the minions of the “messiah,” who is above the law.

The “messiah’s” minions
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew: We’ve ‘Already Done a Lot of Deficit Reduction’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Oh?  Is THAT why the debt clock has been unmoving?  Sounds like a big fat lie to me.  Sounds like this man figures that all Americans are idiots.

Stupid Tranzis
Al Sharpton: ‘Some People Exploiting Differences Between Us for Their Own Advantage’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Wow!  Sharpton is looking in the mirror these days, isn‘t he? Can’t imagine he is being so honest, so maybe his eyesight has gone and he thinks he sees someone else.

Stupid government – World wars
No Gay Diplomats: U.S. and British Promotion of LGBT Rights Abroad Sparks Backlash
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Clearly, the Fedgov is out to offend and insult everyone possible these days, instead of appointing people who will be listened to when they present America’s side of things, which was the original intent of having diplomats.  (Of course, today, American diplomats are little more than little gauleiters who deliver the dictates of DC to foreign countries.)  So we have women appointed to be ambassadors to nations who consider women to be barely human (if that), Jews to Muslim countries, anti-monarchists to kingdoms, and of course, people who despise European civilization to ancient European countries.  As the “most powerful nation in the world” we can enjoy being arrogant idiots.

The “messiah” – Shysters and Conmen
Obama Suggests Only Lawyers Understand the Constitution
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This reminds me very much of the attitude of Popes and Primates (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) in the “old days” when the Bible was a forbidden book for the “laity” to read because it led them to ask unwanted questions and learn things that the powers-that-were did not want them to learn.  For this piece of work to make such a claim does indeed show that his attitude is one of superiority and arrogance.  The problem is, too many politicians of all sides think the same thing; they just don’t say it.

Tranzis – Culture wars: war on the family
Pelosi: Day Care Lets Moms Work ‘Without Carrying Burden of Child Care’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Like so much else that this woman says, the idea is perverted from reality and what is needed:  these are not “moms” but simply “bearers of children.”  Mothers, moms, are nurturing and do not shuffle off their responsibility.

Mama’s Note: Not to mention that the tax and regulation burdens from government make “employment” a necessity for many women, not an option.

Culture wars: War against free speech – Scummy government
San Antonio Considers Prohibiting City Workers from Expressing Bias Against Bisexuals
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: The City of San Antonio apparently has repealed the First Amendment, and not just for City workers: ANYone that the City does business with, from an appointment to neighborhood volunteer groups to purchases of goods and services, to allowing participating in “stakeholder” groups must all be vetted and if they have ANY evidence of past or current “bias” against ANY racial or sexual or any other kind of protected group, they are prohibited.  Fun, huh?  Especially when people can be attacked constantly for their religious and moral beliefs.

Islamic wars: South Asian front
Pakistani Taliban Springs Hundreds of Prisoners, Kills Shi’ite Inmates
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Funny, the mainstream media didn’t mention anything about killing Shi’a inmates, just all the jailers killed.  Clearly, Talibani commandos are not the US Special Forces, unless “free the captives” includes killing the captives in order to “free” them.  Also clearly, the US should have nothing to do with this pitiful excuse for a 7th Century society and government and nation.

Scummy local government – Theft by government
19 U.S. Cities Have Proportionately Bigger Workforces than Bankrupted Detroit
(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) One of every 28 of San Francisco’s 800,000 residents is on the city payroll…

Nathan: Stupid people, stupid government, evil intentions. Surely does sound like San Francisco to me.  Imagine – of every hundred people you know in SanFran, at least THREE are CITY government employees.  And keep in mind, that there are scads and scads of feral and state employees, and all those special districts (BART, Golden Gate Transit, etc.).

Economy – Scummy government
Minimum Wage Increases Do More Harm Than Good
(Forbes) More than 10 million young people are either unemployed or underemployed…

Nathan: Of course, it is NOT JUST young people, but all the poor and unskilled who are harmed by minimum wages, and for a “mainstream” magazine like Forbes to be willing to admit  this is a very important step in getting the truth out.  Not that the Tranzis will pay any attention.

Theft by government
GAO Report: USDA Subsidizing Dead Farmers
(Personal Liberty)  The U.S. Department of Agriculture paid out more than $32 million in crop insurance and soil and conservation payments to farmers who are dead between 2008 and 2012, according to the findings of a recent Government Accountability Office Report.

Debby: This sounds like what was reported a few years ago, so what we are hearing is that they still don’t have their act together.

Nathan: Surprise, surprise.  What I want to know is, how many of those are (a) corporations and (b) paid to widows or children/heirs who are still farming?  Crop insurance, for example, generally requires there to be a crop which can be insured and last I checked, dead people don’t plant crops – they get planted.  So what do we see? Is it the GAO that is ALSO incompetent?  (By the way, how many cattle guards did the GAO say that USDA should fire as being excess personnel this year?)

Self defense – Government-run, tax-funded schools
Faculty, Staff At Arkansas School To Carry Firearms
(Personal Liberty) More than 20 teachers and administrators at schools in one small Southern town will be concealed-carrying firearms on campus this fall, after the school district in Clarksville, Arkansas, a family-friendly town of about 9,000 people, agreed to train and license certain employees as armed security guards.

Nathan: Oh the screams and more screams of outrage.  Some afternoon newscast will report that these 20 people all went bizango all at once and shot and killed all the children under their care, I’m sure.

Congress in action – Abominable Act
Cruz: End Obamacare Before President’s Delaying Tactic Makes Repeal Impossible
(Personal Liberty) Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is sounding an alarm over President Barack Obama’s real intentions in delaying the tiered implementation of his signature first-term accomplishment – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Nathan: Congressional stupidity is what makes the Abominable Act impossible to repeal.  If there WAS a serious chance of a vetoproof repeal, you KNOW that enough GOP idiots would jump ship, just as they did on the NSA debacle.  They are NOT our representatives, they are our MASTERS – at least in their eyes.  And they are apparently so afraid of what the “messiah” can do to them or their families that they dare not challenge him openly.  These aren’t just Quislings or any other sort of traitor, they are pukingly weak but power-hungry judases.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-30B: Freedom to and to not

Posted on 2013-07-30 by TPOL Nathan

What is freedom?  What is liberty?  Today, let’s look at just a very few stories and try to remember what it means to be free in this evil modern world.

Tranzis stealing freedom
Dismantling Freedom of Association
(Conservative Action Alerts) During the years before the American Revolution, the British Empire did not allow citizens to assemble in groups in public. The King’s government feared that citizens assembling in groups could lead to the attempt to overthrow the government. William Penn, in 1670, was convicted for public preaching. As the call for independence approached, deeper restrictions on public assembly were enforced, to restrict the colonists from assembling to protest the various Acts passed by Parliament that attempted to tax and control the colonial population….

Senator Ted Cruz says that we are on the doorstep of the government going after preachers for hate-speech if they dare preach in opposition to homosexuality. What if you have a history of attending churches that preach the same? Will you be penalized for daring to associate with such defiant churches? The San Antonio City Council in the State of Texas is working on a proposed change to its nondiscrimination ordinances that will target those who take the Bible at its word and follow it. Any past association with people, groups, or churches that teaches the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality will be punished with a permanent ban on participation in city government, business or employment – because such an association exhibits a “bias” not acceptable to the local government. …

Nathan: The article is alarmist, and well it should be.  The British government did not restrict its controls on assembly and association to the American colonials.  The history of such goes back nearly 400 years before that.  It was aimed at those who did not subscribe first to Roman Catholicism, then from the early 1500s on to those who did not accept Anglicanism and the Monarchy and then Parliament (starting about 1640).  Those who met illegally were hunted, arrested, jailed, tortured, and often killed: burned at the stake or drawn and quartered. The same thing can and will happen in America.  Indeed, it is again happening in the UK and other Commonwealth nations, as long-standing and hard-won constitutional rights are thrown away by the elected dictators in the Houses of Commons.

Like the King’s and Queen’s Officers of old, the new bureaucrats and their parliamentary masters in the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere, and the thugs, cops and bureaucrats and more, who work for the “messiah” and Congress and General Assemblies and County Commissions and City Councils have no mercy for those who do not grovel before them.  Although their techniques are different, they all boil down to the same thing: the fist, the boot, the sword, the gun: power and violence and legalized robbery of some and then all:  if not the actual taking of dissenters’ and protestors’ lives, then destroying those lives and those of their families, friends, and communities.

Are YOU prepared?  Am I prepared?  Not just to defend against the physical violence, but against the innuendo and slander and theft large and small, the spying (not just drones, but the “humint” (Human Intelligence) of traitors and snitches, provocateurs and infiltrators?

Stupid government stealing freedom
Syria: Fatwa against eating crescent rolls
(Personal Liberty)  A new fatwa in the Syrian city of Aleppo targets people who dare to eat croissants.[ Story in Sina news website:] “Al-Nusra Front fighters come up every day with a new unimaginable fatwa, or religious edict,” such as the fatwa against croissants, said the Syrian, identified only as “Ahmed.” The fundamentalists claim croissants are particularly relished by European infidels as a celebratory food (because of their “symbolic” crescent shape), which they allegedly tear into with gusto to commemorate historic victories over the Muslims.

Nathan: I know that this sounds ridiculous, and just what we would think that these vicious, evil, Islamists would come up with.  So let us talk about Nanny Bloomberg and 24-ounce sodas, or Miz “messiah” Consort’s attacks on sodas and candy bars in vending machines in schools, or prohibitions on butchering and selling horse meat, or selling raw (non-pasteurized) milk.  All things being done right here in the United States.  How is this different?  “Scientific” proof that such is bad for you?  Elected officials instead of religious leaders making the decision?  ALL of these things are wrong: they are EVIL.

Home front – Scummy government stealing freedom of speech and thought and more
Sitting Senator Warns About Smartphone Surveillance
(Personal Liberty) U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden warns. “The government will not state clearly what the rules are with respect to tracking Americans on their cellphones, and I have asked this repeatedly at public hearings in the Intelligence Committee,” the Oregon Democrat and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee told the C-SPAN program “Newsmakers.” “I can’t get into the details of any specific operation, or whether it’s being conducted, but … having that computer in your pocket increases the potential that certainly people could be tracked 24/7,” he told the program, which aired Sunday. “Under the Patriot Act, the government’s authority to collect is essentially limitless.”

Nathan: NO senator of the US can be trusted to be on the side of liberty – no, not even the semi-deified Rand Paul.  So do we believe Wyden or not?  It is obvious that the Republican Party has no real concern about whether Americans can be spied on continuously by the FedGov (NSA) or anyone else.  Indeed, their almost unanimous condemnation of Snowden as “traitor” and “spy” indicates exactly the opposite: the Senate and House of Representatives AS A WHOLE and including virtually ALL members thereof, believe that it is the American people: the people of the Fifty States, who are their enemies – enemies of the state, and must be treated as enemies.

Now it is just spying and denying the truth, for the vast majority of us.  But more and more of us are being killed, arrested and imprisoned, made homeless or jobless or penniless for the convenience of the federal and state and local governments, a web of evil and deceit and tyranny which seeks to control the entire world.  Even Wyden’s words indicate that HE is part of the powers-that-be: he considers that the USA PATRIOT Act is authority – NOT that it is claimed to be “authority” but is on its face unconstitutional and immoral.  And he blames US for “having that computer in your pocket” and NOT the government for being the tyrants.  It is OUR fault that we are targets of government spying, according to him.

Liberty and money: freedom to do or NOT to do
The Greatest Food in Human History
(New York Post, by Kyle Smith) What is “the cheapest, most nutritious and bountiful food that has ever existed in human history” Hint: It has 390 calories. It contains 23g, or half a daily serving, of protein, plus 7% of daily fiber, 20% of daily calcium and so on. Also, you can get it in 14,000 locations in the US and it usually costs $1. Presenting one of the unsung wonders of modern life, the McDonald’s McDouble cheeseburger.

Nathan: Freedom is just that: you are free to eat and drink and smoke and live what you want.  Tranzis don’t want you to have your freedom: they want to tell you what to do.  You MUST eat this, you can NOT eat that.  This was sorta written tongue in cheek, but it is the truth: what can you live on when you HAVE to?  I’m not (and Smith is not) saying a steady diet of McDoubles is the best way to go, but consider the alternatives.

Mama’s Note: This is a hard one for even some who at least seem to understand individual liberty most of the time. A recent discussion left me scratching my head when these “freedom folk” insisted that the government should “ban,” or at the least mandate the labeling of anything remotely possibly connected to “genetically modified” plants, foods or substances. This seems to be one of the new religions, and the faithful so often are completely uninterested in any sort of facts or logic about it.

The idea that they can and should simply NOT buy or use anything they consider to be contaminated with “GMO” genes – by labeling “GMO Free” or whatever means – is not nearly good enough. They demand the “freedom” to buy anything they want and be assured, by government or SOMEBODY, that it is free of modified genes. They fall into the same trap as those who insist that things like health care and a “living wage” are part of the natural rights of human beings, unwilling to admit that these things can only be provided by theft and force.

And these same people have no problem condemning the USDA guidelines for nutrition as the cause of American obesity and poor health. Not their free choice to eat what they please and can afford… oh no… it’s the fault of the same government they want to have even more control of the food supply – as long as it is done the way they wish.

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Assessing the Threat

Posted on 2013-07-28 by MamaLiberty

After talking to some people over the weekend about the “dry fire” article, “Too Hot To Shoot,” I realized that I need to back up a bit and write more about self defense and why the exercises make that more effective. All of the dry fire exercises will make much more sense and be far more useful with that information.

Preparing to defend ourselves usually means starting with some serious self assessment and changing the way we do some things. Without this, a gun is apt to be of little more use than a paperweight. And, if you are counting on the gun to make the difference, more or less alone, you may wind up in worse danger than ever.

Vulnerability to violent attack or home invasion has a lot to do with where you live and where you work, play and shop. But statistics can only tell you so much, usually not more than how many such attacks are reported per 100,000 or so population in any given area.

That’s not nearly enough information, unless you are content to ignore reality and rely on your “luck.” And that would be true even if the statistics were complete and accurate, of course. Did you know that a large number of non-fatal attacks, usually without significant injury, and a great many thefts are never reported at all? Yet any one of those incidents might well have resulted in the death or serious injury of the victims. Add in those who are, increasingly, afraid to call the police under any circumstances, and you can see that trusting to either luck or statistics is probably not a good idea.

Very few people actually go looking for trouble, or are in a position to prevent crime committed against others, but everyone can do a lot to avoid victimization for themselves and their families. And each person who conscientiously works to decrease their own vulnerability actually increases the peace and safety of their whole community. (This is an important subject for a future article, but I don’t want to digress too far now.)

First, let’s consider what criminals look for. How do they decide whom to attack and why? Most, rather obviously, don’t want to take any chance of being hurt themselves, or being captured and prosecuted. They prey on the elderly, children, women and the disabled. Criminals, especially these days, have demonstrated that they prefer weak, frightened, victims who are unable or unwilling to defend themselves.

Most people are woefully unaware of the signals they send with their body language, posture, walk, and even their talk. The old adage is quite true: If you look like food, you will be eaten. If you are elderly, disabled, or generally fearful at any age, you may be sending clear signals to criminals that you would be an easy victim. If you stand, walk, and talk “tall,” demonstrating by all of your actions that you are aware and confident in yourself, the criminal is most apt to pass you by and look for an easier victim – even if you are young, old, small, female or in a wheelchair.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are psychotic killers who don’t really care whether or not they are hurt or killed. There are always going to be a few who target people at random, regardless of anything the victims might do or not do. There is no place on earth that will ever be 100% risk free, but such psychopaths are rare in this country. The goal is to decrease one’s every day vulnerability and make sound choices to improve overall safety for oneself and family.

So, how can you stop sending those weak, crime inviting signals? How do you become less vulnerable? I’m glad you asked.

Several serious studies have revealed that incarcerated criminals fear ordinary people who are armed much more than they fear the police. That is very encouraging, but far too many people don’t understand that there is a great deal more to effective self defense and reduced vulnerability than owning or even carrying a gun. And that is true no matter how well you shoot. Remember that the best possible “gunfight” is the one that never happens.

First, you must become aware of your surroundings. You must train yourself to be alert and anticipate danger early enough to avoid it or mount a defense. If your attacker gets his hands on you (or a knife into you) before you are even aware of his presence, you won’t have much chance to save yourself even if you are well armed.

Think about your “personal space.” How close do people come to you before you get uncomfortable? People who live in a crowded city are often less sensitive to people inside this “space,” and some people are disturbed long before anyone gets close enough to touch them. Most human beings have a natural, built in aversion to anyone or anything that they see as too close, out of place, or not perceived as “normal.”  Yet a great many people have desensitized themselves to this and/or indulge in things that dull the perception or distract them from noticing it. How many people drive or walk down the street talking on the phone, daydreaming, ignoring everything else? Who is able to pay full attention to their surroundings if they are very sick, exhausted or under the influence of a drug?

So, the first requirement for effective self defense is to become aware of your surroundings, identify the people and things in your environment that do not “belong” or which might be a threat. This is called “situational awareness.” Read about this and the drills outlined on the linked page and begin to practice it. It may take some time and real effort to be comfortable with this all the time, but you should begin to reap the benefits immediately.

This description of situational awareness and the drills are taken from my book, “I Am NOT A Victim.” Look at this link if you are not familiar with it. The first chapter is the story of the man I had to shoot to save my life.

As always, your comments and suggestions are most welcome.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-30A: Scummy government

Posted on 2013-07-26 by TPOL Nathan

Scummy government
Even Before Memorial Defacement, Nat’l Park Service Was $11.5B Short for Maintenance
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This refers to the spray painting of the Lincoln Memorial, obviously a protest against the Lincoln administration for failing to have a SINGLE Islamic political appointee AND refusing to give ANY foreign aid to any Islamic-majority nation.  (Although I do recall someone claiming it  was an environmental group protesting that the Lincoln administration refused to do anything to force Grant and other Union generals to take ANY action to protect the environment in any of the battles or campaigns of the War against the South.

Seriously, the NPS and every other government agency out there claims that they are short billions and billions of dollars “necessary” to carry out their “missions, while at the same time, the fedgov’s spending goes up and up and up – and no, it isn’t accounted for by military spending, which is dropping like a rock, supposedly, with the Afghan withdrawal and major manpower cuts.  So where is the money going?  We would all like to know.

Scummy government
Sue and Settle Disrupts U.S. Checks and Balances
(Capital Research Center) Daily Policy Digest) Sue-and-settle has resulted in numerous regulations being passed without congressional approval…

Nathan: This putrid little scheme has been going on for decades, especially in the EPA, Department of Labor, and other regulatory agencies:  a “friendly” lawsuit allows the Judicial Branch and the Executive Branch (with their environist or labor-unionist and other supporters) to sneak around the Congress (I know, it isn’t hard to do) and implement “regulations” by court order to do what Congress refuses to let them do blatantly.  Of course, Congress REALLY does know about this – but they don’t care; not really.  So MORE tyranny, MORE  theft, and MORE abuse goes on and on and on.

Home front – Government-run, tax-funded schools
Groups Opposed to Chicago School Closures Seek U.N. Intervention, Claiming Human Rights Violations
(CNSNews.com) In the latest in a number of appeals by U.S. civic organizations to the world body, the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights this week submitted a letter to the U.N. human rights apparatus in Geneva, asking that it “investigate and take preventative measures to address the potential domestic and international human rights violations that may result from these school closings.”

Nathan: What a grand idea?  UN Peacekeepers keeping the peace in Chicago: preventing the gangsters and gangbangers from gunning each other down – usually by doing it themselves, I admit.  Investigations about how the evil United States has colonized Chicago and made it into a festering third-world pesthole, and how decolonization would end this state of horror.  UN blue helmets escorting poor defenseless black children through the mobs of gun-clutching KKK terrorists to and from schools fully the equal of schools in sub-Saharan Africa, teaching the glories of black culture and anti-racism.  All paid for by American taxpayers supporting the UN because they are ashamed of what their nation has done to the world, especially ethnic enclaves in places like Chicago.  What a wonderful future!

Congress in action – Slimy TRANZIs
Pelosi Advises Private Therapy for Democrats Caught in Sex Scandals
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Why should Democrats need therapy at all for these things: this is, after all, what the Tranzis, including the Democrats want, right?  Total sexual freedom for all ages for all acts for all time.  They should be CELEBRATING the likes of Weiner and Filner and HONORING them and DEFENDING them for fondling women and sexting and encouraging the opposite sex to loosen up.  Instead of attacking them.  IF they are true to their ideals, that is.

Environists – Stupid government
Hydraulic Fracturing Doesn’t Contaminate Water Supplies
(CBS News via Daily Policy Digest) A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers…

Nathan: The only reason to believe the fedgov in this is because the study totally undermines the rationale for federal regulation and/or prohibition of fracking – which several states have now implemented.  Of course, I don’t think that the fedgov will pay any attention to its own study, because it has not paid attention to the last dozen or so studies over two decades.  As with man made global warming, the effort will be to produce data that contradicts it, or excuses for why this study is wrong.

Self defense
Georgia: Waffle House customer  opens fire on robber
UNION CITY, Ga. (AP) — Authorities say a customer at a Waffle House outside Atlanta shot and wounded a suspect who was trying to rob the restaurant. Police say the shooting happened early Monday, when a gunman tried to hold up a Waffle House in south Fulton County.

Nathan: Waffle House aficionados tend to take the place seriously, and defend it against all sorts of attacks, but usually NOT robberies: good for him!

Congress in action
House Refuses to Fund ‘Atheist Chaplins’ at Defense Department
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: How politically incorrect can you get?  This is clearly violating separation of church and state, and attacking peaceful and passive religions like atheism and humanism and the like.  And this is Congress that is doing it, just like it was Congress that prohibited homosexuals from serving in the military and homosexuals from marrying other homosexuals and didn’t provide for a natural outlet for men like Filner and Weiner for their deep-seated sexual needs.

World culture wars:
Pope in Brazilian Slum: Life and Family Are ‘Fundamental Pillars That Govern a Nation’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: What a slap in the face to the NorteAmericanos, who know that life is only a privilege to be granted by Congress and the courts when appropriate, and that family is defined by the state in terms of maximizing campaign contributions and justifying state control of every aspect of life.  Where does this guy get off?  People would accuse him of claiming to speak for God, but everyone knows that is just a myth: the dirty old man staring down from a cloud and making threats if you don’t do what he wants.  Everyone knows that the “fundamental pillars” of governing a nation are (1) democracy: the voice of the people IS the voice of God (when suitably led and influenced and directed by the elite, of course), and (2) force:  only government can and must use force and the threat of force to make people do what government decides is good for them to do (except, of course, for the elite who control that force).

Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
Boehner: Arm the ‘Right Set of Rebels in Syria’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And just WHICH is the “right set?”

Mama’s Note: I still say the best would be an air drop of care packages for the ordinary people. A simple gun, instructions, and some ammunition would go a long way toward helping the common person reclaim their lives. It is insane to further arm any group that merely wants to control everyone else.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-29B: Stupid government theft and more

Posted on 2013-07-26 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid government
No more mailman at the door under US Snail plan
(Chicago Tribune) “Under a cost-saving plan by the U.S. Postal Service, millions of Americans accustomed to getting their mail delivered to their doors will have to trek to the curb and residents of new homes will use neighborhood mailbox clusters, the agency said Tuesday. The Postal Service has been quietly phasing in the change with some aspects starting in April, and it has given no timeline for the shift. It’s unclear if delivery to the door will be eliminated entirely.” (07/23/13)

Nathan: This is NOT all that big a deal:  MOST neighborhoods (especially those in Flyover Country) have centralized mailboxes or (if they are lucky) mailboxes at the curb or end of the driveway.  I and my neighbors in SD have our mailbox at the main road, a quarter of a mile or more away.  New neighborhoods have been forced to go farther and farther.  Of course, most small towns in America – the REAL America and not the Jersey or LA suburbs, don’t HAVE in-town house-to-house mail delivery:  we have to PAY for the privilege of having a post office box and have to go in to get our mail – and if we have a package, we better do it during THEIR hours. That said, it is clear that the USPS is on a downward spiral and the end is near.  Very near.

Mama’s Note: I wouldn’t have an unsecured box on the street for anything. They are ripe targets for thieves and vandals. The locked “community” boxes at the end of the road are much better, though the mail does get wet if the wind is from the wrong quarter. There has to be a better way… and just as soon as the USPS finally chokes to death on it’s own idiocy, I’m sure someone will figure it out and open up for business… many someones, with competing and locally adapted ideas. I can hardly wait.

Self-defense – Mainstream media
Florida: Two suspects shot after home invasion
(WTSP News) “Pasco Sheriff’s deputies are currently investigating a shooting that may be the result of a foiled home invasion and robbery attempt. … The two men suspected of the break in were the ones shot. They have since been taken to a local hospital.” (07/19/13)

Nathan: Oh, don’t you love the weasel words?  And the stilted delivery?  News readers’ education and skill levels are dropping.  As are the break-in artists.  This is Florida, and yet they are invading homes…. stupid indeed.

Border Jumper Criminals
U.S. Border Patrol Deporting Illegal Alien with 37 Criminal Convictions in USA
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Are we not being mean to the country that has to take this thug back?  More American arrogance, what? <grin>

Mama’s Note: How ridiculous. Why send him back? He really should have been dead the first time he attacked someone.

The “messiah” – Licking boots
Obama on Winning Coach: ‘He Didn’t Do Any of This Alone’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course not: bet he got free student grants and cheap loans from the government to go with his college scholarships, and bet he had a help line to the White House to get good, solid advice.  And imagine: he was coaching a TEAM.

The “messiah’s” consort – Nanny state?
Michelle: ‘While Food Might be Love, the Truth is We Are Loving Ourselves and Our Kids to Death’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Is this nothing but a justification for the government to become the parents of ALL of us?  No, you can’t eat that, No you can’t eat that much, No, you can’t fix it like that…  Not the Nanny State, but the Nanny-GOD state.

Mama’s Note: Unfortunately, she has a lot of company. So many people with passionate opinions, trying hard to make it into “law.”

Government-run, theft-funded schools – Would-be nazgul
Obama Judicial Nominee Calls Abstinence Education ‘Unconstitutional’(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is a bizarre twist: what the NSA is doing is “constitutional” but for a “public school” to teach that an alternative to life as usual is abstinence is “unconstitutional” – not even Cracker Jacks would give this guy a law license, and the “messiah” wants to put the guy on the bench?

Mama’s Note: Not to mention that the “constitution” is one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated on earth. I couldn’t care less what any of them think.

The “messiah’s” minions – Tranzis – Self-defense
Van Jones: ‘Silent Majority’ of Conservatives ‘Heartbroken’ about Chicago Killings
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I am a self-governor and NOT a conservative, though many people think I am.  And Jones is right: many conservatives and libertarians ARE heartbroken about the Chicago killings, for the following reasons:  (1) Many of those killings could be prevented if (a) the victims or their families or friends were ARMED, (b) there was no War on Some Drugs, (c) Chicago cops were anything but blue (or black-)clad gangsters themselves, and (d) Chicago wasn’t such a rat cage.  (2)  The wrong people are being killed, all too often. Yeah, I know a lot of the deaths are of gangsters (or gangbangers) but not the ones at the top of the chain, including City Hall and the various other “public” administration offices and agencies.

The “messiah” and his boot-licking sycophants
Cornel West: Obama ‘A Global George Zimmerman’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Is this supposed to be a GOOD thing or a BAD thing?  I don’t have the foggiest how West feels about Zimmerman, but I certainly can’t picture the “messiah” going out and risking his life to help someone in an accident.

Mama’s Note: I’d say an awful lot of people are making pretty incredible (and downright silly/stupid) comparisons over all this, including the president. The thing to remember is that if both those young men had been one color, NOBODY would ever have heard of the incident. And that’s partly because it’s so common… it happens all the time, but someone decided to turn this one into a media circus.

Theft by government
Republicans Open to $600-Billion in ‘Revenue’ to Reach ‘Big Fiscal Deal’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Who is stealing from us?  Not JUST the Democrats, obviously.  Who is lying to us?  Not JUST the Tranzis and Progressives and Democrats, clearly.  Who needs to be retired?  You know who.

Stupid Government tricks
U.S. Assures Russia Snowden Will Not Face Death Penalty
(New York TImes By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and STEVEN LEE MYERS)  WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a letter sent to the Russian minister of justice this week that the United States would not seek the death penalty against Edward J. Snowden, and would issue him a passport immediately so he could travel back to the United States.

Nathan: Such generosity on the part of this thug?

Mama’s Note: Well, alrighty then, I’m sure that’s all Snowden was worried about. And, of course, we all know what a paragon of virtue and truth Holder is… would he lie? Nahhh…

Debby: They are signaling that the Feds ARE treating this as a capital crime.  Of course we can believe Holder; when did he ever seek the death penalty on anything?

Nathan: This smells like a last gasp attempt to get Putin to give him up.  When will the American people wake up to the fact that Holder and his “boss” and their apparat are more our enemies than Putin’s Russia?  And that Snowden deserves honor and praise for standing up for liberty?

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Your Groceries are Shrinking!

Posted on 2013-07-25 by MamaLiberty

Food Inflation Kept Hidden in Tinier Bags
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD and CATHERINE RAMPELL
(New York Times)

Chips are disappearing from bags, candy from boxes and vegetables from can. As an expected increase in the cost of raw materials looms for late summer, consumers are beginning to encounter shrinking food packages.

With unemployment still high, companies in recent months have tried to camouflage price increases by selling their products in tiny and tinier packages. So far, the changes are most visible at the grocery store, where shoppers are paying the same amount, but getting less.

Mama’s Note: This rather light hearted article from early 2011 was very hard to find, so there evidently wasn’t much written about this phenomenon at the time. I couldn’t find anything newer either.

Remember six ounce cans of tuna? One pound cans of coffee? Even most canned vegetables used to be in sixteen ounce cans. I can’t even remember when they shrank to fifteen ounces, but it was long ago. Now some of them hold as little as eleven ounces.

The last time you bought macaroni, crackers, or other staples, did you look at the amount in the package, or just the price? The manufacturers are really hoping that the price is all you will notice. Of course, Stephanie and Catherine above are truly naive about the price. It certainly has not remained the same.

So, what’s happening? Are those big, mean old manufacturers just being thieves? Don’t they care that five ounces of tuna won’t produce the same two nice sandwiches as six ounces did? Did you ever use a can of something in a recipe and find it just didn’t work out the way it used to? Look at the label. Who’s fault is that?

There are a lot of things going on here, and I’d have to say that manufacturer’s “greed” is very low on the list, if present at all. They are struggling to stay in business and solvent, for the most part, just like everyone else. They need to make a profit to do that, just as you need to bring home a paycheck and spend it wisely.

So, what are, at least, some of the factors involved here?

Taxes and regulations. The direct costs of these two items is somewhere around 50% of the combined productivity of everyone who is working or producing something. The additional costs imposed by the efforts of individuals and businesses to comply, and especially to AVOID the crippling, often contradictory regulations, is staggering though difficult to measure. Nobody answers that sort of survey willingly.

And, of course, social engineering is a big part of the reason for the taxes and regulations anyway. They are the bludgeons used to control our lives and property without actually holding a gun to our head… at least very often. Of course, the guns are coming out more and more often now that at least some people seem to be figuring out what is going on. The “war on drugs” and the “war on raw milk” are only two of the many thousands of possible examples.

So, what does that have to do with the size of the tuna can? Everything, and more.

The manufacturers pay billions to satisfy government demands for taxes and regulations. The cost of complying with those, both related to the product itself and the employees who produce it, is staggering. And, of course, this applies equally to those who supply the raw materials to make the products, as well as the entire system of packaging and transport.

But, of course, the only way they can pay those taxes and foot the cost of those regulations is to charge their customers more for the product! And, just as you work hard to take every possible deduction and avoid going to jail by getting all the demanded “licenses,” inspections, ad nausea… they must hire lawyers and clerks to do the same thing. Of course they also hire lobbyists and give campaign donations to politicians, all in an effort to find the most favorable climate to continue in business. And yes, the whole rotten system gives them every incentive to lie, cheat and manipulate others whenever they have the opportunity. A lot of ordinary people find themselves in the same bind.

Then there is the serious problem with the shrinking fiat dollar and the insanity of a whole economy based on debt, both of which are far beyond the scope of this article or my expertise. I’d suggest you do some serious reading here, if you would like to understand more about that part of it.

It’s just too darn easy to blame the farmers, manufacturers and business in general, however seriously they’ve been compromised by all this. Next time you notice your  groceries shrinking, take a good look at the people in politics (and their minions) who will do anything they think necessary to control you, perfectly willing and able to put you in a cage or KILL you if you don’t obey. They produce absolutely nothing except force, theft and lies.

The smaller size can and the reduced volume of the product is just one small way the manufacturers use to keep going, hoping nobody will notice much. Unfortunately, just as with the fiat money and the debt, it simply can’t go on forever.

And why in the world would we want it to go on?

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-29A: This and that

Posted on 2013-07-24 by TPOL Nathan

Slow start to the week on commentary, too much happening in Colorado and South Dakota that isn’t newsworthy to anyone but me!

Mexican civil war
Mexico: Five killed, seven wounded in attack on non-state police
(ABC News) “At least five people were killed and seven were wounded when gunmen opened fire on a group of community self-defense members gathered Monday on a plaza in the western state of Michoacan, authorities said. Michoacan state prosecutors’ spokesman Alejandro Arellano said about 300 masked community vigilantes wearing similar T-shirts arrived at city hall in the town of Los Reyes and announced they would take over policing the town.” (07/23/13)

Nathan: My oh my, did we think this Mexican civil war was slowing down?  Of course, the question is, WHO really opened fire?  Was it some drug cartel’s enforcers, or was it the regime’s enforcers?  The article does not say, and also does not indicate how many (if any) of the “vigilantes” were armed.  We can expect THIS sort of thing to spill over into the States soon.

Islamic wars: Mesopotamia Front
Iraq[sic AND sick]: Hundreds escape in coordinated prison attacks(CBS) “Hundreds of Iraqi inmates escaped after insurgents armed with mortars and machines guns launched coordinated late-night assaults on two high-security prisons, sparking gun battles that left dozens of people dead, officials said Monday. In a separate attack in northern Iraq, a suicide car bomber targeted an army convoy on Monday, killing 13 people, officials said. The jailbreaks targeted prisons in Taji and Abu Ghraib, which are home to thousands of prisoners including convicted al Qaeda militants.” (07/22/13)

Nathan: Oh, dear, I was even wondering if “Iraq” might actually be a country (or two or three) again.  Obviously not.  What a joke: deadly, admittedly, but still a joke.

Islamic wars:  South Asian front – Stupid US tricks
Pakistan: Leaked records say at least one in five drone victims confirmed civilian
(Russia Today) “Leaked internal data produced by Pakistani officials documenting drone strikes on the ground reveal a high civilian death toll, countering US claims that the targeted assassination campaign results in ‘exceedingly rare’ fatalities. … A 12-page report, titled ‘Details of Attacks by NATO Forces/Predators in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas)’ describes 75 CIA drone attacks between 2006 and 2009 …. The numbers show a death toll of 746 people, 147 of whom were confirmed as civilians. Of those civilian deaths, 94 are children.” (07/22/13)

Nathan: This is what happens when you not only let politicians DICTATE war, but let them RUN the war: direct the minutia of combat from the other side of the planet, and turn combat into a video game for psychotic little monsters. This makes the Paki rulers out to be less villainous than the West, and makes the Islamic nightmare worse.

Home front – Self defense
Indiana Woman tells police she shot man defending herself, son
(Indianapolis Star) “A 30-year-old woman who shot a 54-year-old man Tuesday at her Eastside home told police she fired in self-defense after the man hit her child in the mouth and then attacked her. … The shooting victim walked to the ambulance, Lt. Chris Bailey of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Tuesday, and was initially listed in serious condition at Wishard Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to his hip.” (07/17/13)

Nathan: No idea why they were attacked, but THIS is why women (especially mothers) need to be armed.  This newspaper story uses the word “victim” for the wrong person.  “The attacker, though shot, walked to the ….”

Mama’s Note: The lady obviously needs some range time, but good for her.

Stupid people – stupid government
New Mexico: “Environmental” bureaucrats block horse slaughter
(USA Today) “The New Mexico Environment Department on Monday dealt a new blow to a Roswell company’s hard-fought attempts to begin slaughtering horses next month, declining a request to renew Valley Meat Co.’s wastewater discharge permit. … The NMED says it won’t renew the permit without a public hearing, noting it has received more than 450 comments against letting the former cattle slaughterhouse open as a horse slaughter plant.” (07/22/13)

Nathan: The arrogance of state regulators coupled with the self-righteousness of “animal lovers” and people who know how to use laws and regulations as hammers against anything they disagree with is again shown.   These “comments” are not about whether or not the plant meets environmental regulations (preventing pollution that is not permitted from being discharged into waters of the state, but about political thugs sticking their nose into other people’s business, and regulators who gleefully go along.

Culture wars – Nazgul
North Dakota: Federal judge delays state abortion law
(Fox News) “A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked a new North Dakota law that bans abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected — as early as six weeks into pregnancy, calling the law ‘clearly invalid and unconstitutional.’ U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland in Bismarck granted a temporary injunction that blocks the law from taking effect on Aug. 1.” (07/22/13)

Nathan: This was expected, of course.  But North Dakotans, like many other Americans, are sick and tired of the fedgov – especially the courts – telling them what to do.  And of the arrogance of the sleazy men and women in black robes who make the Nazgul look tame.

Self Defense?
Texas: Rifle-toting woman shoots, kills man outside gas station
(KHOU News) “Surveillance video shows the shooter, described as a 23-year-old woman, retrieving a rifle from the trunk of her car and pointing it toward the ground near a man armed with an umbrella and a pocket knife. Then it shows the man swinging at the woman as she steps back and fires the weapon. … According to police, the shooter claimed the man had made unwanted sexual advances and refused to leave her alone. She also told police she feared for her life.” (07/22/13)

Nathan: This is why we have juries.

Mama’s Note: Of course I wasn’t there, but the video I saw makes it very clear that he attacked her – some accounts said he had a knife – and that she did everything she could to discourage him before she fired. The only thing I can see she did that wasn’t smart was drive away before the police got there. And that’s probably all she would be charged with, if anything.

Her majesty’s subjects – Tyranny
We shouldn’t subsidise the new political class
(Adam Smith Institute by James Lawson) “In 1911 MPs began receiving a salary. By paying MPs it was hoped the general population could independently enter politics, rather than simply leaving it dominated by a wealthy elite. MPs compensation has since betrayed this vision. The system now supports a new political class. In the 1970s MPs’ salaries were comparable with average UK income, today they seek triple the average, putting them in the top 2% of earners. Not to mention the abuse of expenses or even illegal activities by some of this political class.” (07/22/13)

Nathan: This “new” political class is not really all that new – a continuation of the squirarchy and the rotten boroughs system of more than a century ago:  even as they lost some of those privileges, they made sure that they created replacements, and then ran and pushed to the current situation.  Blame the monarchy, especially the current monarch for at least much of this: if she had been as zealous for her subject’s liberties as her ancestors, this would be less likely to have happened.

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