Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-2A: Congress and other criminals

Posted on 2013-01-11 by TPOL Nathan

Congress in action – Frustration
More Than 30,000 Sign WH Petition Calling for Cut in Congressional Salaries
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I am sure that most of those signing it realize that it makes not one bit of difference, that Congress AND the White House will come up with some bogus reason it can’t be done – or just ignore it the way they did the secession petitions.  But it is an indication of the anger and frustration, as is this e-mail I received from several people:

Subject: SOAP BOX
Salary of retired US Presidents ………….$180,000 FOR LIFE
Salary of House/Senate …………………..$174,000 FOR LIFE This is stupid
Salary of Speaker of the House ………….$223,500 FOR LIFE This is really stupid
Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders ……. $193,400 FOR LIFE Ditto last line
Average Salary of a teacher ………….. $40,065
Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN ……. $38,000

I think we found where the cuts should be made! If you agree ….. pass it on, I just did.

Nathan:  These numbers (per About.com) are actually NOT “For Life” as the e-mail claims, but are their annual salaries.  (FYI, the serving president (occupant of 1600 PA) gets $400,000 a year).  It still is stupid, and since more and more (examples: Byrd, Kennedy, Inouye) DO die in office, it is pretty much for life as long as people are STUPID enough to keep them in office. Now, I for one don’t see any reason to have ANYone deployed in Afghanistan any more, at $38K a year or not, and the salary of teachers should be the decision of the teacher and the students (or the parents of the students), but to say that we should be paying G.H.W.Bush (an independently wealthy man) this for all of four years in the White House, or his son (also independently wealthy) this for eight years in DC, or Bill Clinton (rich on the profits of corruption and more) this for 8 years in DC is just encouraging the worst of government.  Of course, I’ve grown more and more radical over the years about what Senators and Representatives should NOT be paid.  Seems to me that as far as retirement goes, a straight 401k plan is the ONLY logical way of doing it.  And NO match from “government” for whatever their contributions are.  However, this illustrates that people are getting fed up.

Mama’s Note: Indeed… but the amount paid for the rope that hangs you is hardly the most important issue. The fact that you are forced to pay for that rope is only a little more relevant. Unfortunately, the discussion often diverts gullible people into forgetting that they get HUNG in either case! Compared to all government spending, and ALL of it actively destroying both the culture of liberty and the economy, the amounts paid to the head thieves is probably really low on the list of things to worry about.

War on some drugs
Study: Fewer AZ teens smoking marijuana since medical legalization
(The Raw Story) “Fewer Arizona teens are trying marijuana since the state legalized the drug for medical uses, a study published recently by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission revealed. In all, the study (PDF) found that 28.7 percent of students surveyed by the commission admitted to using marijuana at least once. The figure represents a minor drop from 29.9 percent in 2010. Medical marijuana legalization took effect in Arizona in 2011. The study goes on to note that about one in nine students who admitted to using the drug said they obtained it from a medical marijuana patient or caregiver who received the drug legally.” (01/03/13)

Nathan: What?  Is it no longer cool because of all the old fogies in the 40s and 50s taking it for their chemo-induced nausea?  Now 1/2 % isn’t much of a drop, but it IS a drop.  And remember that one of the strongest arguments used most frequently by the prohibitionists is that MMJ would ENCOURAGE and CAUSE an increase in juvenile consumption!

Congress in action – Theft by government
Pelosi, Van Hollen, Durbin: Americans Still Not Taxed Enough
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, until they have it all – and pay out an allowance – then it will NOT be enough.  This is the more and more the common attitude: government LETS us keep some of the money we earn.  Profit is evil, and people are too stupid to spend their money wisely.

Congress in action – Self defense
Democratic Senator: WH Gun-Control Plans ‘Way in Extreme’
(CNSNews.com) Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) appeared on ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos and said that while she believes everything should be on the table in talks about gun control, what she hears coming from the Obama White House is nothing less than “extreme.” See also.

Nathan: Unfortunately, this is a Democratic senator from North Dakota, which means much the same as a Republican ex-Senator from Nebraska:  who knows where they fall on what issue?  She thinks he is extreme, and he will try to “cut spending” by forcing North and South Dakota to merge, thus eliminating two senators and probably a congressman.  Smell that really raunchy stench?  That’s DC.

First Citizen’s minion-to-be – Congress in action
Hagel Nomination May Have Some Democrats Opposing Obama
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Apparently this Republican ex-Senator from Nebraska, despite being a combat (Nam era) vet is more in favor of Hamas than Israel (and has made it clear that he was NOT the “Senator from Israel” and is not beholden to the “Jewish Lobby.”)  So both some Dems and some GOP types oppose him.  Of course, other people who are equally fixated on the problem in Canaan and nearby areas are willing to overlook ANY of his faults because he appears to be Anti-Israeli or Anti-Jewish.  I figure that, like Bush, anyone nominated to ANYTHING by the present incumbent of 1600 PA is automatically demonstrated to be incompetent for the job and a danger to liberty, freedom, good public hygiene and your little sister’s virginity.  At least there is no chance of Barney Frank being appointed to replace his unfinished term in the Senate, as with John Kerry.

Theft by government – Welfare queens
Federal Food Stamp Program Spent Record $80.4B in FY 2012
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Supposedly there are about 50 million people on SNAP, so 80,400,000,000/ 50,000,000 means that each one of those starving, poor, disadvantaged people is getting supposedly $1,608 a year in free food from Uncle Sugar.  Except, of course, they are NOT – because there are a LOT of bureaucrats in charge of passing out those food stamps and doing all the paperwork that are getting $50K a year in salaries plus a bunch more in expenses (rent, utilities, government pens, computers and big flat-monitor screens and all the rest): they are the true welfare queens.  So the average food stamp recipient gets about $135.  Not even 1/10 of the cost of the program.  Guess who gets the money?

Crash of 2009 – Congress in action
Pelosi: Unemployment at 7.8% Shows ‘Good Pace, Going in the Right Direction’(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: But it DIDN’T CHANGE!  Even with all the manipulation the White House is doing, the “official” number didn’t change!  This isn’t the right direction – even IF the numbers were the truth, this is stagnation.

No self-defense
Police: Four women found dead in Tulsa, Okla., apartment
(NBC News)

San Francisco woman set on fire by her boyfriend, police say
(NBC News)

Mama’s Note: No indication any of them had the ability or made an effort to defend themselves.

Nathan:  Today, in our “feminist age” women (or is that womyn?) are supposed to be fully empowered and self-actualized and do everything for themselves – except, of course, protect themselves from violence and understand and deal with dependence on scumbags. Those things are wrong for ALL people, especially for women, or so our Tranzi would-be masters teach.  YES, we need to deal with violence, and the best way to deal with violence is to be prepared to deal with it – not pass laws that disarm victims and not promote mindsets that let victims BE victims.

Mama’s Note: Amen! Through what I write, and the self defense classes I teach, I’m doing my best to help people, women especially, understand that they are responsible for themselves, and to empower them to do something real about it.

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Dear Mr. Security Agent,

Posted on 2013-01-07 by MamaLiberty

I was going to write something profound and serious and, maybe even snarky… but Matt Bracken beat me to it. So, instead of pounding the keys myself, here’s Matt at the Western Rifle Shooters website. Damned good… damned right!

The Yellow Line:

The yellow warning line will be crossed with national gun registration laws, including laws forbidding private gun sales without government permission. When that law passes, millions of Americans will feel that they have been pushed directly to the edge of the abyss above the mass graves of history. Defenders of the Second Amendment know what happened in Turkey, the USSR, Germany, China, and other nations that fell under totalitarian rule: in every case a necessary preliminary step on the road to genocide was national gun registration, followed by confiscation. The Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust say, “Never again!” And so do we.

The Red Line:   READ IT!

For widespread distribution, more cutting-edge commentary from Matt Bracken, former SEAL and author of the Enemies Foreign and Domestic trilogy, along with his most recent novel, Castigo Cay.

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Death Threats and Human Liberty

Posted on 2013-01-06 by TPOL Nathan

I am sure that most readers by now have heard of a Des Moines Register columnist (Donald Kaul) who urged the nation to Repeal 2nd Amendment, Kill Gun Owners a few days ago.  I’ve seen a dozen different articles on this, but since some of the sources are not always that accurate in checking their stories and a bit enthusiastic about reading between the lines, I decided I should check for myself.

Please keep in mind that I am an Army Reserve officer, I may (or may not) own certain weapons, and that I am often in Iowa on business;  if the major newspaper of the state is publishing calls for my death, the deaths of my family, and many others, it might have some impact on me personally and directly or indirectly.  (After all, people who just used “military” terminology in political campaigns were blamed for the attempt to kill Rep. Gifford and the deaths of all those people at that Safeway.)

All I need is to be driving down the roads of rural Iowa checking on plant sites and have some hoplophobic hoploclast (gun-fearing gun-hater) decide to act on the words of his favorite political commentator and use the front corner of his combine or semi to send another gun nut to Judgment.  (After all, he wouldn’t use a gun to kill me, would he?  Boots, fists, or a giant harvester, maybe.)

But maybe the Register (its publisher, editor, and owners) had denounced Kaul’s words as hate speech and death threats, or maybe these other folks had just exaggerated what he said, being such thin-skinned folks that they are.  I want to see it for myself!

So I found the URL for the Des Moines Register column (thanks, Google, and thanks, Examiner!) and clicked on it.  Sure enough, there was the headline and picture and byline and the story – for all of five seconds.  Then a black screen hid everything and a sort of drop-down appeared, saying something like “We hope you enjoyed your complementary view of our newspaper website” and telling me ten different ways to pay for the privilege of viewing this and all the other content of the Register.  I tried it three times, and actually, the column was up for less than five seconds:  I’m a speed reader, but please!

So I looked up and called the Register’s customer service line, an 800 number listed on a page that did NOT require a subscription to view.  After a lengthy wait, I spoke to a pleasant young lady named Heather.

Heather sympathized with me on the problems with the website and promised she would forward that to someone who would see what was wrong.  She also confirmed that the quotes from the column I’d read were accurate and in context.  I told her I was sorry to hear that, but was sure that the Register’s management and owners had quickly repudiated Mr. Kaul’s threats and demands.  But, apparently, they had not.  But, she said, Mr. Kaul was “a retired columnist.”  Of course, that makes it all much better: apparently the newspaper does not avow anything a “retired” columnist writes, so they don’t need to disavow anything.  Nice!

I asked her to pass my request, anyway, on to the Register’s management, and again assured her I was not mad or upset at her for it.  She said she didn’t work for the Register or in Des Moines, and I (assuming she worked for a call center) told her I hoped that her company could find better clients to work for.  Then she told me that she worked for the company which OWNED the Register, Gannett.  Now, Gannett is a familiar name – it was one of their papers that published the names and addresses of all the gun owners in several counties outside NYC a few days ago.  Realizing what I faced, I told Heather I hoped that Gannett would take action to get its newspapers to stop printing death threats.  She agreed that if she or I did something like that, the cops would come knocking.  But maybe Gannett has a permanent “Stay Out of Jail” card or something.

Apparently, the Gannett paper that published the list of gun owners went out and hired a security company to provide armed guards to protect their offices and staff against people angry because they are now known to the public as having guns in their homes or businesses.  (Anti-Gun Newspaper Hires Armed Security) If Gannett is willing to do that, it seems that they ought to be willing to fire or at least discipline their own employees who publish death threats against innocent gun owners. But, it could be that Kaul’s writing has the tacit endorsement of the Register’s management and Gannett.  In which case…

When does someone’s exercise of First Amendment rights of free speech turn into a credible and serious threat of threatening and initiating violence against an innocent person?  Or persons?  And what is an appropriate response to such a credible and serious threat?

Hmmm.  Maybe I need to see just what other papers Gannett owns, and take appropriate precautions when traveling or working near them.  Maybe it isn’t the brainwashed, psychoactive-medicated liberal Iowa farmer or truck driver I need to worry about as anxious to get rid of a gun nut when the opportunity avails itself.  Maybe I (and others) need to worry about one of Gannett’s armed security company thugs “protecting” a delivery driver or a newspaper office, eager to demonstrate that they are not only protecting Gannett but furthering Gannett’s agenda.

After all, if a retired Gannett employee is willing to threaten well-known politicians, including a man within heartbeats of the Oval Office, with tying them to a pickup and driving around with them in tow, then why would killing a gunowner here or there bother them?  They must REALLY have a “Stay Out of Jail” card.

Funny, eh?  It is all us people that own guns that they claim are threatening people’s lives.  But who is it making the threats?  Who wants to steal our liberty?  Who is the real danger to the people of our land and society?

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Baker’s Dozen™ Reasons why the Republican Party Fails

Posted on 2013-01-06 by TPOL Nathan

This makes the assumption that the stated purpose and philosophy of the GOP is indeed what they really believe and are trying to do, and that the party really is trying to be “conservative.” Frankly, that is a BIG assumption, but read on:

1.  Its origins: the GOP originated with a weird (and scary) alliance of socialists escaped from their failed Revolutions of 1848 in Europe, freesoilers who wanted slavery banned in “their” territories and states so that blacks and other undesirables could be kept out, Chicago politicians, and followers of Alexander Hamilton. Since then (1854), it has given us the tyranny of Honest Abe, the corruption of Grant, the progressivism of T. Roosevelt, the do-everything-wrong policies of Hoover, a spineless Congress from about 1931 on, the corruption of Nixon, the big-government neo-conservativism of the Bushes, and more.

2. Its track record: particularly the less-than-stellar nominations of such lightweight members of the good-old-boy network of Gerald Ford, George H W Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, and now Mitt Romney.

3. Its insane actions while in power: the tariff schemes of 1861, the military occupation of the South (the Reconstruction), the Indian policy, the Spanish American War, direct election of Senators, the Federal Reserve, the Income Tax (both in the 1860s and the 1910s), tariffs AGAIN (in 1929-30), gun control (1968), trashing the dollar (Nixon 1973), inflation (1970s), Bush’s new taxes, creation of DHS, and more.

4. Its hypocrisy in virtually everything: supposedly supporting a republican form of government, free markets and free enterprise, socially conservative values, liberty itself, and less government, while doing and saying everything that is diametrically opposed to these things – as it has done since Fremont and company first got it started in 1854.

5. Its stupidity: As demonstrated in its behavior in Congress, its nominating process, its refusal to tackle issues face on, and its 160-year history of failure.

6. Its love for big business and big government: While openly boasting of the one (big business) and lying about the other (big government).

7. Its constant refusal or failure to turn back ANY progressive expansion of government, starting with the Wilsonian WW1 expansion, followed quickly by the Roosevelt-Truman New Deal/Fair Deal, the LBJ Great Society, Clinton’s folly, and now the last four years of rapidly expanding debt, spending, government, regulations, and tyranny.

8. Its highhanded treatment of its own members and other groups: not just Ron Paul supporters and Hispanics and blacks and AmerInd, but ANYone who does not support the secret party line and tries to do something different, including the tea party movement.

9. Its constant compromising on anything and everything: not just in Congress (though it is most noticeable there) but in virtually EVERY Statehouse and most counties and cities and towns: claiming it is following its principles while selling those supposed principles off right and left.

10. Its confusion of the military-industrial complex with true defense: using “national defense” as a tablecloth to hide its lavish and slavish support for big business at home and abroad, and making the United States an empire, starting in 1865, and doing it again in 1899, 1918, 1945, and 2001, with no end in sight.

11. Its reputation as a lapdog of Wall Street: like hiding the ninth-month of pregnancy under a layer of tee-shirts and down parkas, time and time again, it seems to support garbage that benefits crony capitalism and lets the Democratic Party trash small business and Main Street, and steal truly conservative black and Hispanic voters.

12. Its pitiful marketing: lame ads, lame mailings, lame talk show appearances, lame news stories, and failure to use modern technology in much of anything.

13. Its refusal to face facts: Regarding such things as basic math (not just basic economics) and refusing to deal with Ponzi schemes like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, inflation, debt, and all the rest.  The stupid compromise to avoid the bogus “fiscal cliff” is just the latest example of this.

BOTTOM LINE:  There are a lot of good people in the GOP (at least in the lower ranks) who have allowed themselves to be deluded or who have allowed irrational hope to let them stay in this evil organization: it is time for you to flee the evil, like Lot and his family fleeing from Sodom.  Go to a true conservative party, or realize that government is an even greater evil and become a true lover of liberty (a free-market anarchist) – shucks, we’ll even be nice to you and you’ll get more done (and be able to face yourself in a mirror) if you just become a minarchist and joint the Constitutionalists or the Libertarians.

Mama’s note: This last would seem to defeat the purpose of all the rest. You cannot be just a little bit pregnant… and there is no such thing as “limited government.” You  either own yourself or you don’t… and THAT’s the true bottom line.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-01D: Volunteer Thugs and the “messiah”

Posted on 2013-01-05 by TPOL Nathan

Local Thuggery – Nazgul
Denver:85-year-old accused of felony assault with cane
(9News.com, Denver)

Nathan: Debby found this story yesterday evening on 9News Investigates (Denver Station), but it turned out to be even MORE outrageous than the original story, as reported by Political Outcast in more detail: 85-year-old jailed

(1)  the “volunteer” un-uniformed “officer” actually reached into an occupied vehicle and stole the placard out of the car.

(2)  the “volunteer” un-uniformed “officer” supposedly slammed the car door on the man, making the use of the cane self-defense – especially under Colorado law about defending yourself and since the officer may not have identified himself.

(3)  this all occurred on PRIVATE PROPERTY.

Nathan: Obviously the Nazgul knows who butters his bread, and intends to put even MORE of a “fear of cop” into the general population of Denver.  But it sounds to us like the family will collect a whole lot more than $50,000 (the bond amount) from the City of Denver.  DPD is infamous for having to buy off people who have been abused by their officers.

Nathan:  Just what we need in places like Denver, “volunteer thugs.” It makes me wonder just how many cities are using volunteers who are as bad as (or worse) than the full-time cops.

Mama’s Note: The problem isn’t really who… cops, volunteers, rent-a-cops, or any other variety of thug… it’s the very idea that anyone like that should have anything to say about the peaceful actions of others… and their “immunity” when they aggress. Anyone treating people, especially an elderly person, that way pretty much deserves to be shot – and it’s too bad the guy only had a cane…

Debby: I agree.  Interesting how the news station left out so much of the story. Denver is going to be a laughingstock; they deserve to be.

Nathan:  And Denver courts just gave a man accused of hit-and-run a bail of $100,000 – yet this man was left in jail with a $50,000 bond.  Priorities, of course: even volunteer thugs have to be treated as sacrosanct.

Of course, Denver area police forces are in the news a lot, like in this latest “mass shooting spree:”

Home Front – Stupid cop tricks
Colorado: Four dead in Aurora standoff
(The Blaze) Four people, including an armed suspect, died after an hours-long police standoff Saturday at a[n Aurora,] Colorado townhome, authorities said. Police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson said a SWAT team was called after gunshots were heard at the Aurora, Colo., home at about 3 a.m. Investigators said three victims, all of them adults, appeared to have been killed before officers arrived. Carlson said the suspect shot at officers at about 8:15 a.m. and was killed during a gunfight about 45 minutes later when police entered the home. It remained unclear if officers shot the suspect or if he shot himself.

My first question, like that of several people commenting in TheBlaze.com, is “were these people really all dead BEFORE the SWAT stormed the house?  And was storming the house, Fallujah style, really the appropriate response?  Even rural communities in Colorado tend to overuse their stormtroopers – excuse me, SWAT.  And Aurora is big-time gangdom: all of the street gangs including the Blue Gang, seek to protect their turf.

Liberty
White House Petition: Bill of Rights Enforcement
(WhiteHouse.gov, The Libertarian Enterprise)

Nathan: L. Neil Smith and others started this so-far slow-posting petition.  I’ve no doubt that many of us are reluctant to sign up and register with WhiteHouse.gov.  I suggest the Eric Russell method (as done in his wonderful novel “Wasp”) if you really want to sign.  As Neil points out (Put Long Jaggedy Teeth in the Bill of Rights) he doesn’t expect this to be a miraculous resolution, but views it as a way to gain attention.  I suspect folks like my son and Boston T. Party would point out that there was a REASON no teeth are put into the BOR and why there has never been a true BORE (Bill of Rights Enforcement Law) passed, even though we have all sorts of other enforcement laws and rules.  (And the reason isn’t a good one, of course: See Boston’s “Hologram of Liberty”.)

The “Messiah” – Nazgul
John Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor Chosen to Swear-In Obama and Biden
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:  This ties to the preceding story – I had (when younger) assumed that the reason for the Chief Justice to swear in the President was part of a balance of powers and checks and protections: that a Justice would NOT agree to swear in someone who clearly did not meet the requirements – or about which there was some doubt.  But now, this is just a formality, or proof that the courts are in cahoots with the Congress and White House over the abomination and mockery of liberty our nation has become.  They won’t even hold the oath-taking in public.  Is that because they fear that it will be too easy for someone to try and prevent it?  This reminds me of a video that Marsh sent to me.

Marsh: This video is from all the way back to the Reagan Presidency. He is sitting alongside of Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil [and Sen. Baker] enjoying an evening together at the Ford theater. A very funny act takes place on stage. With all the security that take place around any of our Presidents today, nothing the performer does could ever take place.

Nathan: Absolutely right, Marsh.  Even the water might have gotten him two or three slugs from a Secret Service sniper, and of course, the bulletproof glass around their seats would have prevented a lot.  I expect any day now we will hear of some innocent person “accidentally killed” because of something involving “presidential security” or even a threat to Pelosi or Boxer or Feinstein or Reid. (Obviously not Boehner or any other GOP type, RINO or not: based on the fact that Kaul of Gannett has not yet even been questioned about calling for their torture.)

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-01C: New Year’s Blues

Posted on 2013-01-05 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid Cop Tricks
Former Utah Patrolwoman Accused of Faking DUIs
(Yahoo) A class-action lawsuit has been filed against a former Utah Highway Patrol trooper and her superiors alleging that she filed false DUI charges during her career. The department fired Lisa Steed in November for alleged misconduct related to her duties. Attorney Michael Studebaker, who is one of the lawyers leading the class-action lawsuit, says he has been contacted by at least 40 people claiming Steed wrongfully arrested them on DUI or drug charges.

Nathan: The problem is far more than this one person.  We find corrupt cops doing stupid things constantly, and creating misery for a LOT of people.  Especially in remote rural areas, Utah patrolmen have a bad reputation for abuse and arrogance.

Stupid Politician Tricks
Judicial Watch: Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians
(CAA) The [Judicial Watch’s] top ten list, in alphabetical order, includes two Republican lawmakers, three Democrat lawmakers, the President of the United States and five members of the Obama administration:

•Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.)

•Secretary of Energy Steven Chu

•Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice

•Attorney General Eric Holder

•Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.)

•Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)

•President Barack Obama

•Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

•Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.)

•Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

Nathan: Yes, that is actually eleven:  according to the best reports, Rice and Clinton are NOT joined at the hip.  Some of these names I don’t recognize, but most are household-famous (or notorious).  Holder, Chu, Clinton, and Sebelius are shills for the First Citizen, of course: I think the names were selected for balance as far as branch.  Those in Congress are exempt from many criminal proceedings, but the minions of the First Citizen are not: an honest and courageous jury and judge would find these people (and most of their colleagues) guilty of capital treason and corruption.

Crash of 2009 – Lying government
Unemployment Rises for Women, African-Americans in December
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Never mind the 165,000 new jobs or the freeze in the (bogus) unemployment level, the depression is still with us, and the situation is getting worse.

Mama’s Note: The numbers would be astronomical if all the bogus government “jobs” were eliminated from the stats. If people really saw how few honest, productive jobs are left in this country, I truly think heads would roll. But OF COURSE that’s why such numbers will never be published.

Stupid government tricks
Chicago’s Cardinal: Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Like Repealing Law of Gravity
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Obviously, the good cardinal has not paid as much attention to the national Congress or state legislatures (including some near and maybe even IN his bailiwick) which HAVE passed laws in effect trying to repeal the law of gravity.  I recall one in Wisconsin years ago, where the legislature passed a law stating that water flowing through wood waste would not go more than ten feet into the soil.  Since infiltration of water into the ground works because of gravity, this was an attempt to repeal gravity.  But then, remember the way to determine the IQ of a committee (which includes congresses and legislatures):  take the IQ of the smartest person in the group and divide by the total number of feet (or hands) in the group.

Hoploclasts and Hoplophobes
FBI: Hammers and Clubs kill more than Rifles do
(Breitbart.com) In 2005, the number of murders committed with a rifle was 445, while the number of murders committed with hammers and clubs was 605. In 2006, the number of murders committed with a rifle was 438, while the number of murders committed with hammers and clubs was 618.  … For example, in 2011, there was (sic) 323 murders committed with a rifle but 496 murders committed with hammers and clubs.

Gun control isn’t about guns, it is about control.  Seeing the progress of “human rights” in the UK, where knives (KITCHEN knives) are likely to be banned in a matter of months, we can expect something similar here, at least to have people push for it.  (No wonder one Salt Lake area gun shop offers a free rock with every gun sale!)  As more and more evidence is found that points to some real serious doubts about the public story concerning the Sandy Hook killings (similar to questions raised about the Aurora theatre and several other mass killings), the entire idea behind WHY longarms are being targeted is clear:  they are more suited (despite L. Neil Smith’s claims in some stories! <grin>) to defense against organized gangs, and therefore more valuable for protection against government-gone-wild (or ANY government).

Pelosi: ‘Many Members of the Republican Caucus Don’t Believe in Government’(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: IF ONLY this were true.

Billy Graham Named to Gallup ‘Top 10 Most Admired Men’ List — for 56th Time
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I am (as always) surprised about this for several reasons.  First, professional religious people are NOT a very admirable lot, and Graham is the most successful of that category in a century.  His hypocrisy is not as blatant as many of his competitors, but he still is a hypocrite in many areas and a lover of the state.  Second, supposedly religion is unwelcome in the public sphere, and the public wants no religion in public life – yet Graham has frequently dabbled in politics.  Third, why does Gallup (given the idea that religion is bad in public life) allow people to include any preacher or cleric in their list?  Speaking of hypocritical…

Mama’s Note: Sure… but such lists are about as relevant as the winners of “American Idol” to any rational person. If ugly people want to hold a “beauty contest,” why should that upset me? I might laugh myself silly but… Who cares?

Stupid government – New religions: environists killing people
EPA Human Experiments could violate Nuremburg Code
(Washington Times) Environmental Protection Agency says no law empowers any judge to stop it from conducting illegal scientific experiments on seniors, children and the sick. That astounding assertion will be tested Friday, when a federal district court in Alexandria decides whether it has jurisdiction to hear claims made by the American Tradition Institute that EPA researchers are exposing unwary and genetically susceptible senior citizens to air pollutants the agency says can cause a variety of serious cardiac and respiratory problems, including sudden death.

Nathan: Well, this certainly warrants the appellation of “Enviro-Nazis” favored by Rush Limbaugh, doesn’t it?  Of course, if the Nuremburg Trials had been held in, say, Richmond, by a tribunal made up of German, Japanese, and Italian jurists, would the Tuskegee experiments and the internment camps have been reason to send American officials to the gallows?  Government is evil – more evil at times than other times, but evil.  Anything that is “for the common good” means that some eggs must be broken for the omelets on which the “leaders” and the bureaucrats and their loyal supporters (the majority, supposedly, in a “democracy”) get fat.

Home front – Our right to self-defense
Gun Rights Advocates: ‘There Will Be Resistance’ to Gun Control
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Apparently there is already:  I am reading and hearing more and more flat-out statements that war is inevitable: that of the 100 million or so of us who own weapons (300 million +++) there might be a couple million who will “resist” by doing more than writing a letter to their Congressman.  Funny, isn’t it?  These hoploclasts pooh-pooh the idea that the Second Amendment “authorizes” (recognizes) bearing arms as a defense against government tyranny, and thus push the very government tyranny that weapons are needed to counter.

Killing babies
CDC: 784,507 Reported Abortions in Obama’s First Year – Lowest Number in Nine Years
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:  “ONLY” 3/4 of a million dead:  but people panic over less than 500 rifle deaths a year…

First Citizen mark 1.2
Obama’s Second Inauguration Begins With Another Call to Community Service
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:  Not bad, if “community service” is what he might get after he has enough time on good behavior at the SuperMax outside Canon City.  Unfortunately, that is NOT what he has in mind.  It occurs to me, if we really DO get MJ decriminalized, all those prison spaces used by the POWs of the War on Some Drugs are going to be empty, and just sitting there all ready for those who are objectors to the “messiah’s” war on liberty:  the gun owners and the people who resist the ObummerCare mandates and all the rest.  Unintended consequences?

Self defense – Congress in action
New Congress: Ten Gun Bills introduced on day one
(Freedom Outpost) [Eight anti-self-defense bills were introduced by the usual suspects.] …In addition, Republican congressmen Steve Stockman (R-TX) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) put forth HR 35 and HR 133 which would end the federal law requires areas around schools to be designated as “gun free zones.” Their bills are based in reality with data that demonstrates that violence both in and around schools increased when the federal law took effect in 1990.

Nathan: As other stories report, resistance is growing – and I think this raft of bills in the House (in the Senate, they aren’t supposed to introduce any bills until the 22nd) will spark MORE resistance.  When you combine that with state-level efforts in Illinois and New York, the real question seems to be not IF there is a spark that erupts into open and actual warfare, but WHEN the spark will be struck.

I had a very sane and rational and patient person ask if New York will be the place that the “shot heard round the world” is fired THIS time.  Elderly people being told that a possible majority in Congress are planning on making their prized possessions (like WW2 vintage M1 Carbines) illegal, troops home from and sick of the mess we’ve made across the world who are now being told they can’t be trusted, and lots of other people are getting angry.

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There’s an FBI in my soup

Posted on 2013-01-04 by MamaLiberty

[I had a nightmare the other day, and in trying to describe it to someone, this short story came to be. It’s not prophesy, and it’s not history… yet. MamaLiberty]

Someone was banging on the door upstairs, hard. Mostly deaf, Molly usually had to trust the dog to bark to know someone was at the back door facing the driveway, but this time there was no question about it. And it didn’t sound good at all.

Taking the time to put the little dog in his crate, just so he would remain safe, she grabbed the 20 gauge shotgun from beside the bed and started upstairs. The steel core door was making an awful racket with their pounding, so she didn’t bother asking who they were or what they wanted.

She had a pretty good idea already.

Picking up the phone, she wasn’t surprised to find the line dead. They would cut that first. The only hope would be if her neighbor saw the commotion, but he was probably sound asleep in bed himself, as she had been.

Now she had to decide what to do about this. If she fired at the men about to break in, she would have little chance of survival. Was there some further purpose to her life after 66 years? Would allowing these goons to arrest her produce anything good? How could she know… and how long did she have to consider it?

The banging had started on the front door, meaning they’d cut the lock on the gate. She was glad she hadn’t tried putting the wee dog out there. He would surely have been killed.

Both doors crashed in at the same time, and black clad strangers made fools of themselves trying to rush in all at once, screaming obscenities and with guns drawn. She was just waiting for one of them to start shooting, hoping they wouldn’t hit her or each other.

Molly had stashed the shotgun in the office and was calmly sitting on the couch in her coat and warm, tall slippers. She had no desire to be dragged through the snow in her nightgown, but she’d not had any opportunity to change. She hopped they’d leave her coat on anyway.

The screaming continued as the goons untangled themselves from the crush at the door, but the ones in front of the crowd seemed to look puzzled behind their masks… well, Molly thought their eyes showed the beginning of it anyway – and they stopped yelling.

In a few seconds, they were all standing around pointing their rifles at her, some making nasty or snide remarks to a companion, but they were strangely still otherwise. Molly sat quietly, relaxed as much as she could manage with guns pointed at her, and waited for what came next.

The cold was coming in fast through the open doors, and Molly wished she’d thought to turn off the heater. Her electric bill next time was going to be a monster…

Then another man entered, dressed very differently from the goons and obviously their superior. His uniform was black, but he had no mask or armor, and only a simple sidearm on his belt. Molly was surprised a big brass hat like that would carry a lowly 9mm, but figured that might be all he could qualify with… as if that made any difference, of course. It was obviously only symbolic anyway.

He waved the goons aside and most of them dropped their gun muzzles to the floor as he advanced and stood with his arms crossed as if he were confronting some recalcitrant underling. “What is your name?” he demanded in a gruff and very bluff voice.

Molly could tell that he was very much impressed with himself, and was used to everyone being terrified of his pronouncements. She smiled at him and said, “I suspect that’s a rhetorical question. What do you want besides answers you already have?” The funny thing was, she thought, that she really could not have told him anything he didn’t already know – at least anything he was interested in hearing.

“Let’s go,” he said, pointing at two of the goons, and then at Molly.

She didn’t resist, and she didn’t waste any time or breath asking about being detained, what the charges were, or anything else. They were all just rhetorical questions these days. The goons, and especially their bosses, did just exactly what they wanted to do and there was zero recourse… at least officially.

They were rough, and the handcuffs hurt abominably, but at least the big SUV was warm inside, and they had let her keep her coat after going through it carefully, even cutting the seams on the collar and the cuffs. She wondered how long it would take until they cut up her slippers and only hopped there would be no body cavity search. But she figured she’d bought into all of it when she decided not to shoot, so she just gritted her teeth and said nothing.

The ride to the local police department only took a few moments, though she did wish they’d slow down on the icy roads. The young man at the wheel seemed completely flummoxed about how to drive on the ice. Molly figured he must have come from somewhere down south… way down south.

Molly had visited the building the city police shared with the sheriff’s department a good number of times in the past. As a certified firearms instructor, she had done the CCW classes for the county sheriff for years, and had become friends with him, as she had his predecessor. The current sheriff had vowed that he was an “Oathkeeper” and would most certainly maintain the constitutional rights of the people who were in his jurisdiction. She wondered how that was going to work out now.

Going through the back door of the city police area was a new and disagreeable experience for her. The smell alone told her that it hadn’t been cleaned good back there for some time. Not that anyone actually expects a jail to smell nice, of course, but clean should be possible. They had to carry her from the SUV because the rough treatment and handcuffs had made it almost impossible for her to stand alone, but they were certainly not nice about it, stuffing her into a cracked plastic chair in what appeared to be an interrogation room. No windows, no clock, no features except the scarred table and rickety chairs. The chair she was in was too far from the table for her to lean on it, so she did her best to sit quietly where she was in spite of the pain in her arms and back. At least the handcuffs had been removed.

Mr. big shot boss swaggered into the room and stood before her, legs spread and arms crossed against his chest as before. “What is your name?” he demanded again, eyes hot and mouth grim.

“I have nothing to say to you or anyone else here,” Molly said quietly. Then, closing her mouth, she vowed not to speak again until they let her go… or she died, whichever came first.

She had no idea after that how long the “interrogation” lasted. She did ask to use the bathroom, and then eventually had to let her urine go into the chair through her clothing when she couldn’t hold it any longer. She was only slightly amused to see that some of the young men were at least a little embarrassed then, and glad that the smell seemed to keep “big shot” a few feet farther back than before. Thirsty, hungry and very tired, she gritted her teeth again at the pain in her arms and, increasingly in her back and rear end… while the men alternately threatened and cajoled her with their foolish questions.

She had no idea how long all this had gone on, and the slow tears had seeped out for so long that her eyes were red and irritated. She couldn’t blow her nose properly with no tissues, and that was a torment almost as bad as the pain. Her back ached miserably and she knew that she would eventually fall to the floor when she could no longer maintain her balance on the old chair.

The door opened then, and she saw the sheriff look in. His face was a study of horror and something like fear, but she had to ask him. “Are you still an oathkeeper?”

He looked around, almost in a panic, and backed out quickly, banging the door shut.

That seemed to answer the question, but she was puzzled at the distress in his eyes. “What’s up with that?” she thought.

Ignoring everything said and done to her got harder and harder, but sheer exhaustion finally won and she fell out of the chair onto the hard floor, rolling to her her side and falling asleep almost immediately.

A new and very annoying sound woke her, and Molly was too disoriented to understand where she was when she first opened her eyes. The sound struck a chord of old memory, and she realized it was the siren of an ambulance. Looking around, she saw that she was actually riding in one, strapped to a gurney and covered with a wonderfully warm blanket. She didn’t like the look of the IV stuck in her arm, but the face of the EMT that drifted into range just then was reassuring. He was someone she knew…

“Don’t try to talk, Molly,” he said, patting her shoulder. “You are going to be ok. Bill and some of the guys got your doors fixed and Jerry took the dog home. He’s going to be spoiled rotten after a day or two with his kids. Lulu is staying at your house to clean up and keep the heat going so things don’t freeze. You don’t need to worry about anything. Oh, and the sheriff got your guns and computer back too. He’ll bring them – says he needs to talk to you.”

“But, but… how did I get here and were are all the goons?” she sputtered.

“You’ll know all about it soon enough, I suspect. Fifteen western states finally seceded from the union yesterday after all these months of talking about it, and the ‘goons’ here are now all under arrest.  No telling what that will mean in the long run, of course.

We do live in “interesting times,” Molly said, and drifted off to sleep again.

Posted in Mama's Rants | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

No Guarantees

Posted on 2013-01-03 by MamaLiberty

By Susan Callaway, Editor

From the PoL archives, July 23, 2012
(The whole subject, and the questions asked here are even more relevant now than they were after the Aurora theater incident.)

The “news,” blogosphere, and almost every forum on the internet is ablaze with speculations and pontifications regarding the latest mass murder in Aurora, Colorado. The sheer volume of statist and self serving posturing, jumps to conclusions absent facts, and plain old stupidity are almost as staggering as the actual death toll.

I don’t know exactly what happened there. Until a careful and impartial investigation is completed, nobody is likely to know any more about it than I do. And that includes all of the people who were actually there. Whether or not there can BE any impartial and honest investigation remains to be seen, of course, but the lack of it has not stopped the speculation and hype in the least.

One thing I do know…

There are no real guarantees in life. There is no place on the planet where safety is 100% guaranteed, except maybe in the graveyards. Those are the only folks who can no longer be harmed by anything.

For the rest of us, life is risky. ALL life is risky, no matter where you are or what you do. Some places and situations are simply more risky than others. It would seem wise to spend some time actually thinking about that and doing what is possible to mitigate that risk by our own reasoned actions and choices, rather than foolishly thinking any and all risk can successfully be legislated into oblivion.

The theater in Aurora might have been set on fire, killing as many or more than died by gunfire. Would all of those now loudly calling for ever more victim disarmament (otherwise known as “gun control”) be calling for background checks and “waiting periods” for match purchases? Would they think arson could be prevented if they could just force everyone to “register” and “license” their BBQ lighers and Bics? Would they campaign to make campfires, BBQ grills, and home fireplaces “illegal?” Would they really think there was any hope of stopping the next arson with those “laws?”

I doubt it, because only the most completely deluded or dishonest person believes it is possible to legislate safety, morality, intelligence or anything else that causes people to act – by controlling (or attempting to control) the tools they use. The tool is not the cause of the action. All of the tools in the world, guns included, are inanimate objects and incapable of acting on their own.

The “laws” can certainly be used after the fact to punish people, legitimately or not, but they play little or no part in preventing actual crime. Why is that? Because the criminal is already happy to violate the laws against murder and everything else, so a prohibition on buying (or owning) a box of matches, or a gun, is immaterial to them. As always, criminals are quite happy to steal the tools they wish to use – and there are already plenty of laws against theft.

I’m told that there were obvious “no gun” signs in place, as well as laws that prohibited carrying guns into the theater in Aurora. [Update: no laws against CC with “permit,” only theater policy and public opinion barriers.] Why do you suppose the shooter ignored all those signs and laws? Did Aurora or Colorado simply need to legislate larger signs or more ponderous laws?

Disarming the rest of the population, even if it were possible in America today (a different essay), only creates more and more relatively helpless victims for criminals to kill – both freelance and those hired by governments around the globe. The horrible and inescapable fact of the Aurora incident is that the place was filled with unarmed, helpless victims – and the signs at the door advertised this fact clearly. The shooter knew he would face no real resistance at all.

Think about that.

Others have written about the horrific history of disarmament over just the last century, but if you doubt the importance or relevance of that, I urge you to see Innocents Betrayed, a video put out by the Jews for The Preservation of Firearms Ownership.

Innocents Betrayed

Sit and watch for just 58 minutes. You’ll see the photos, the footage, the people, the faces. You’ll read the laws and hear the proclamations. You’ll witness just enough horror to understand how easy it is for armed killers to slaughter the disarmed, the powerless, the innocents.

Genocide examples from all over the world: Russia, China, Germany, Cambodia, Guatemala, Uganda, Rwanda and more. Examples showing how disarmed people in America have suffered persecution, mass murder, slavery, and terrorist attacks.

A fast-moving, modern production, Innocents Betrayed presents the entirely true accounts of how civilian disarmament made possible the killing of millions.

Will the people of America allow this and similar incidents to stampede them into even more insanity – accepting political lies of safety instead of taking responsibility for themselves? Will the massacre at Aurora become the new 9-11 horror that robs people of their common sense and brings on the destruction of what remains of individual liberty and justice? Will the BATFE become an even greater monster than it already is? Will a new “TSA” arise to tuck us all into our imaginary bubble wrap each night – after being suitably molested and humiliated, of course?

Or will the people of America see through this latest act by statists and socialists, dancing in the blood of innocents, as a calculated and, perhaps, deliberate new attempt to gain ever more control over the lives and property of everyone.

And, more important, what would they do about it?

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-01B – Stupid government = stupid laws

Posted on 2013-01-03 by TPOL Nathan

Home Front – Stupid Government
Massachusetts: Concord first US city to ban plastic water bottles
(USNews)

Thanks to Jeffrey for pointing out this story.  Here are his comments:

“The town that witnessed the first live rounds fired during the American Revolution now has the distinction of being the first city in the country to… (drumroll)… ban single-serving plastic water bottles. As such, they top a sampling of things you’re no longer allowed to do in 2013.”

He provided more detail worth noting: Effective yesterday, the sale of plain drinking water in plastic bottles of one liter or less is banned in Concord, Mass. An environmental menace, supporters of the ban argued — an argument that, uh, carried water with a slender majority at a town meeting last year, 403-364. “Local government and special interest groups should not be dictating to residents what they can eat, drink and buy,” objects Concord resident Adriana Cohen. “Those are core civil liberties that should not be encroached. Especially in a free-market economy driven by consumer choice.” Jeffrey added:  “Free market? Consumer choice? How quaint.”

Nathan:  Indeed.  I have noted for nearly 40 years that New England – yes, even that vaunted Porcupine “Free State” – is more like OLD England than it was like America.  Everything that those patriots of 1774-1783 fought and died for – and killed Brit soldiers and Loyalists and AmerInds and mercenaries for – has in essence been thrown away.  George III and the Parliament of 1775 never DREAMED of exercising the kind of power that the masses in Massachusetts and the other five states of New England have given to their local town meetings and government officials at the town, state, and federal level.  It disgusts me, it turns my stomach, and it makes me want to have NOTHING to do with them.  But every other town in this land is on the same track to total slavery.

Home Front – Stupid Government
California: Sales taxes go up, long guns are barred in public
(LA Times) In all, more than 750 new laws take ef­fect Jan.1.

Thanks to MamaLiberty for this one; her comments: They’ll get it right any year now. Once there are enough “laws,” California will be a utopia. No?

Nathan:  As I’ve discussed on-line with several folks, the nut cases (like the next one, also courtesy Lady Susan) may be exactly the same sort of behavior that develops when there are too many rats in a cage.  In our case, the confinement is as much psychological as physical:  we are all becoming psychotic to some degree, but some of us are more nuts than is “normal” in a land where tens of thousands of laws exist and thousands more are put into place every year.  California (and Concord, Mass) are just the tip of the iceberg.  But the nut cases are running wild in both California AND Florida.

Home Front – Stupid Government
California: Naked man with sword confronts San Jose police
(CBS News)

Mama’s Note: So, of course the first words are about the “assault rifle” and related hysteria from all the usual idiots.

Nathan:  The more new laws and rules and other confinement and restrictions and everything else, the more people go stark raving mad.  And then you start putting the psycho-drugs in the mix and we really start to see the insanity hit.  If it hadn’t been an “AR-15 style weapon” (I don’t think those are illegal yet even in California, are they?) it would have been the sword, or maybe a rubber-band wind-up airplane labeled as a Predator or a cruise missile that would have caused some do-gooder (or someone scared out of their wits by all the propaganda) to call the cops.  Of course, keep in mind that nudity is NOT a public offense most places in California any more.  But it may still be in Florida:

Home Front – Self Defense
Florida: Naked Man Who Was Choking Dog Shot by Homeowner in Miami:
(NBC News) Homeowner opens fire on naked intruder in Miami: …Police said the suspect, who refused to give his identity, will be charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault, animal cruelty, resisting arrest with violence and lewd and lascivious behavior.

Mama’s Note: Look at the picture at the end of the first story. He was shot in the leg, but is now on a respirator? Something else major going on here. He was trying to bite the dogs and the people… sounds like the guy who ate the face off someone a while back.  And he was trying to choke and bite a Rottweiler? He MUST have been crazy.

Nathan:  Or perhaps another example of someone who is under “medical treatment” and on some weird drug regimen?  Or another case of someone who has flipped out in the rat cage?  A drug reaction would explain the respirator.

Mama’s Note: Serious drug reaction would very likely be part of the story. That’s what I meant. No mention of that, just the gunshot wound to the leg.

Swiss Home Front – Self Defense
Switzerland: three murdered two wounded in Valais Canton
(Foxcrawl.com) Three people were murdered and two others injured in Switzerland after a gunman opened fire Wednesday night.Local news outlets reported that more people were seen lying on the ground after the deadly gunshots sparked. The shooting rampage took place in the village of Daillon, in immediate proximity to Valais canton’s capital of Sion and about 60 kilometers southeast of Lausanne. Authorities in Valais revealed that “3 victims died on the spot and 2 others were taken to hospital”. Law forces managed to arrest the alleged killer who was shot during a standoff, said Swiss media RTS cited by BBC. The suspect, whose name has not been released yet, is reported to be a Daillon villager, aged 30.

News reports are spotty and contradictory: this is rare in Switzerland and it is very likely that some local person (not the cops) shot him so that they could arrest him; similar to what happened in that Oregon mall and in a San Antonio theatre here in the last few weeks: something the mainstream media prefers NOT to report, since it interferes with the memes they are implanting.  But this is a lot to ask: is Switzerland also suffering “rat cage syndrome” perhaps?  What is the nationality and ethnic origin and religion of the killer?  We know this will be used to try and disarm the Swiss people.

Mama’s Note: Just WOW!

Quote of the day:

“The scientific name for an animal that doesn’t either run from or fight its enemies is lunch.” – Michael Friedman

Smart parent – Modern technology
‘No porn, no dirty texts and no ignoring our calls’: Mom makes son, 13, sign 18 terms and conditions before giving him an iPhone for Christmas
(Daily Mail)’

I have to reprint the entire agreement – I like it very much:

‘WITH THE ACCEPTANCE OF THIS GIFT COMES RULES’: THE AGREEMENT

1. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren’t I the greatest?

2. I will always know the password.

3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Do not ever ignore a phone call if the screen reads “Mom” or “Dad”. Not ever.

4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30pm every school night & every weekend night at 9:00pm. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30am. If you would not make a call to someone’s land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected.

5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It’s a life skill. *Half days, field trips and after school activities will require special consideration.

6. If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, you are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs. Mow a lawn, babysit, stash some birthday money. It will happen, you should be prepared.

7. Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire.

8. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person.

9. Do not text, email, or say anything to someone that you would not say out loud with their parents in the room. Censor yourself.

10. No porn. Search the web for information you would openly share with me. If you have a question about anything, ask a person – preferably me or your father.

11. Turn it off, silence it, put it away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that.

12. Do not send or receive pictures of your private parts or anyone else’s private parts. Don’t laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you. And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear — including a bad reputation.

13. Don’t take a zillion pictures and videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory for eternity.

14. Leave your phone home sometimes and feel safe and secure in that decision. It is not alive or an extension of you. Learn to live without it. Be bigger and more powerful than FOMO — fear of missing out.

15. Download music that is new or classic or different than the millions of your peers that listen to the same exact stuff. Your generation has access to music like never before in history. Take advantage of that gift. Expand your horizons.

16. Play a game with words or puzzles or brain teasers every now and then.

17. Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. Stare out a window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk to a stranger. Wonder without googling.

18. You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You & I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together.

Source: Janell Hofman’s blog

Nathan: As I said, I like it very much.  New technology CAN be controlled by basic human interaction and thoughtfulness.  New technology and new stresses do change our children into monsters: inadequate parenting and insufficient love do.

Mama’s Note: What I don’t see is why any child – including teens – would have any real need for such a device in the first place. A simple “tracphone” would be adequate if he was going out somewhere on his own and might need to call for help or to let Mom know he’d be late… if there were to be no regular phones available … and that’s even a stretch.

These things are built to enable all sorts of dangerous behavior, to enable and actively encourage ALL of the objectionable behaviors the contract lists. I don’t see any real positive functions for it – at least not any that can’t be done in other ways. But then, that’s just me… I wouldn’t have one as a gift.

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Flip Wilson’s Defense and Personal Responsibility

Posted on 2013-01-02 by TPOL Nathan

Liberty and Accountability

Lew Rockwell in a recent article made this statement: “If something is wrong for you or me, it is also wrong for the cop, the soldier, the mayor, the governor, the general, the Fed chairman, the president. Theft does not become acceptable when they call it taxation, counterfeiting when they call it monetary policy, kidnapping when they call it the draft, mass murder when they call it foreign policy. We understand that it is never acceptable to wield violence nor the threat of violence against the innocent, whether by the mugger or the politician.”

Nathan:  This attitude and philosophy which Lew correctly rails against is precisely the problem we have seen through history:  one group (a “priesthood” or a “king and his nobles” or one tribe or one clan or one dynasty or any other sort of elite) says that THEY are special and that the normal rules do not apply to them, just to everyone else.  (And the opposite side of the coin is that these elites designate certain other people or groups of people as being LESS than human, and therefore the normal rules do not apply to those creatures and so they can be treated as animals or dirt.)  We find this in Mesopotamia and Egypt and China 4,000 years ago, and in Mesopotamia and Egypt and China and America and Europe in AD 2012:  it is a constant evil that must be battled against.

Sometimes these “elites” are seen for what they are: a bunch of thugs with egos and delusions of grandeur:  a street gang, a courthouse cabal, a revolutionary conspiracy, a political boss and his cronies.  But too often, throughout history, enough people have been willing (or forced) to accept their claims that they have gained power.  No longer “thugs” or “rebels” or “outlaws,” they have become “leaders:”  mayors, barons, dukes, dictators, kings, queens, presidents, premiers, chairmen, chiefs, and so forth.

And the people who are willing or forced to accept them then go around and say “We must follow our leaders.  If they lead us wrong, they will have to answer for our mistakes.”

And so we end up with the god-kings of Akkad and Sumaria, the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Senate of Rome, the kings of France and England, the Emperors of Germany and Russia, and the Congress and President of the United States – right down to the local mayor and chairman of the board of the sanitation district and the secretary of the cemetery board, all an “elite” and able to do things that are recognized as wrong (evil) for normal people.  Because they were appointed, or inherited or were elected or whatever.

We end up with the evil:  aggression, theft, slavery, killing not in self-defense, and all the rest of the ills of society: not just modern but through the ages.  We could call it the “Flip Wilson” defense:  “The Devil made me do it.”  Or at least “a devil” – a leader of a party or a organization or a committee or a government.  And the rest of the people proclaim “we aren’t responsible: we are just doing what our leaders told us to do.  Blame them.”

Enough.

It matters NOT whether our leaders are “elected” or “self-appointed” or take over at gunpoint, WE INDIVIDUALS are responsible for our own actions.  Whether you believe in a “higher power” (that is, God, or the Alien lifeseeders or “karma”) or just in history and justice, it should be obvious that each of us must answer for our actions or inaction, and individually.  We cannot cede our accountability to someone else, no matter how charismatic or how many battalions or how many dollars he or they have.  Nor can we expect to get away, in the long term, without some sort of judgment – even if just the judgment of the future’s historians – when we try to blame someone else for our own personal actions.

“Befehl ist befehl” (An order is an order) was not accepted by the victors at Nuremberg, but today, the descendents (actual or “political”) of those victors are using the same argument.  It did not work in 1945 and ultimately it will not work in 2012.  It is ironic.  Today, a few last (very junior) German personnel – guards at camps and collection points -are still being hunted down for “following orders.”   At the same time, more and more people in the very nations that defeated and tried and executed men and women for their “legal” actions between 1933 and 1945 are using the same excuse.  And as in the Third Reich, and Ottoman Turkey, and Nova Roma, and Uganda and India and Cambodia, and Alexander’s Greece and Xerxes’ Persia, from the top of the heap right down to the dogcatcher, the welfare specialist, the code enforcement officer, and the township clerk, they all pass the buck.  Today, the highest of the high can claim it is “for the people” and thus make it even more disgusting.

Many libertarians have correctly pointed out that loyalty to a person or a group, even a nation or society, is not inherently wrong. What makes loyalty evil – and dangerous politically and socioeconomically – is loyalty which is – to some degree, at least – blind.  Either it is “my loyalty is to my leader/family/tribe/clan/city/state/nation/company/union and they can do no wrong,” or “because I am loyal to them, they can do things which would be wrong if I or other people did it, but are right because my leader/etc. is doing it.

The most common example of this misplaced or blind loyalty is found in taxation.  Almost all libertarians have addressed the difference between theft and taxation. Who does not recognize that ANY taking of money (or any other property) by use of force or the threat of force is theft, no matter whether a gauleiter or ward boss or king or president or congress or legislature or junta or townhall meeting votes to make it legal or not?  Only those who ultimately, support the state and all its activities.  It is like being a little bit pregnant.

Now, let this apply to the tax collector.  If taxation is theft, and you are told to collect the tax (property tax, excise tax, sales tax, etc.) and you do so, YOU are in effect claiming “befehl ist befehl.”  Your only justification for doing so is being forced to do so on some severe penalty.

But it is not just to taxes that this principle applies:  it applies to ANY evil done in the name of a leader or a messiah or a philosophy or a religion or a cause. It applies to ANY action which is evil if one person does it. There is NOTHING which we do for which WE are not accountable.

God gives us liberty and we are responsible, to Him, to one another, to history, to “society” or “family”  or whatever entity we wish to invoke, for how we use that liberty.  Ultimately, we must answer to ourselves.  As the old spiritual goes, “not my brother nor my sister but it’s me, O Lord… not the pastor nor the preacher, but it’s me, O Lord…”  Liberty, freedom, responsibility, accountability – these do not belong to groups or organizations but to people: to individuals.  Until we learn this lesson, we will NEVER be free.

You can find another of my original articles here, if you are interested.

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