Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-14E: Congress and other hypocrites

Posted on 2013-04-20 by TPOL Nathan

The “messiah” – War on religion – Waving the bloody flag
Obama, Who Is Forcing Catholics to Act Against Their Faith, Speaks Today at Boston’s Catholic Cathedral
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: IF this were a free nation, the Catholic Archdiocese would have told this man to stay away, stay out of their building, and go find where ever Jeremiah Wright preaches to wave the bloody flag.  They would condemn him and his administration and the way he lets Americans be killed and maimed (to say nothing of all the OTHERS they let be killed and maimed – or do the killing and maiming) the way Nathan condemned David, the way Jeremiah and Isaiah and Daniel condemned the tyrants of their own time.

The “messiah” – Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts
‘Shameful Day’: Furious Obama Blasts Senate Over Gun Vote That Didn’t Go His Way
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Crybaby-bullying.  HE is the victim.  We just get kicked and stepped on.  AND CONGRESS TAKES IT.

Theft by government – Stupidity of “we, the people”
Gallup: 52% Support Heavy Taxes on the Wealthy to Redistribute Wealth
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: You want to know what is wrong with “democracy?”  Here you see it: two wolves and a lamb voting on what’s for lunch.  Morality is NOT a matter of who has the most votes – our nation has, does, and will suffer for this immorality.

Home front – Worldwide war on WHAT?
McCaskill to Napolitano: If Boston Attack is Act of Terror, Why Isn’t Sandy Hook?
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Especially if we believe the conspiracy theories and the cause of both is some conspiracy to steal away more liberty.  But now that we have an idea that the perps are a couple of Muslim Chechen punks (at least one of whom supposedly was an “American”), it means that non-governmental terrorism IS applicable to all of these, including Fort Hood and that nutcase in Aurora.

Mama’s Note: Not to mention the fact that murder and assault are evil, no matter what name is applied to them.

Europe’s collapse
The heart of Europe
(El País) The crisis has accentuated the selfishness of EU countries, triggering the abandonment of cooperative European integration. A Spanish philosopher argues that cohesion and interdependence must be regained before an irrational north-south divide tears the EU apart.

Nathan: Welcome to Europe.  There were MANY reasons that so many Americans’ ancestors left that cesspool, but a major one is that the countries of Europe and their rulers and elites are evil and dangerous not just to other European societies but to the world.  (A friend says that it would have been useful to HAVE Germany win so that the other nations’ elites could have been exterminated, or at least severely pruned.)

Hoplophobes and hoploclasts
Former Reagan Budget Director Attacks Second Amendment ‘From the Right’
(CNSNews.com) “Why would you believe an 18th Century citizen militia equipped with muskets has anything to do with liberty? It doesn’t. The only way that we protect liberty is with the ballot box. And the real shield for liberty in America is the First Amendment: freedom of speech, freedom to organize, freedom to assemble. That’s how we get liberty, not with guns,” he added.

Nathan: MORE GARBAGE.  Watch out.  Notice this “right-winger” is pushing the same memes we hear from the WH and Congress:  “We can’t fight government drones and surveillance and nukes, the Second Amendment is only about muskets and swords and didn’t and doesn’t give or protect liberty.”  As I said yesterday, the fight is FAR from over.

Mama’s Note: The “constitution” and the “bill of rights” were attempts to codify and ensure the natural, normal rights of human beings to own and control their lives and property. They failed in that because far too many people abandoned that self ownership, and trusted others to control their lives – and far too many of them decided to engage in theft, murder and fraud as well.

The coming conflicts will have little or nothing to do with these old documents, and everything to do with people being forced by reality to face their own failure to take full responsibility for themselves and their legitimate dependents. Those who believe that they can, and should, continue to live by vicarious OR direct and personal theft, murder and fraud will not likely survive. They’re just about to run out of other people’s money.

Border jumpers – Home front
Sessions on Immigration Bill: Illegals Won’t Be Stopped ‘And Pretty Soon We’ll Give You Amnesty’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I suspect that events in Boston may also have some impact on this “immigration solution” in Congress.

Mama’s Note: How convenient… for someone.

Stupid government – Congress in action
House Passes CISPA, moves to Senate
(American Vision News) Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, proposed a one-sentence amendment (PDF) that would have required the National Security Agency, the FBI, Homeland Security, and other agencies to secure a “warrant obtained in accordance with the Fourth Amendment” before searching a database for evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Grayson complained this morning on Twitter that House Republicans “wouldn’t even allow debate on requiring a warrant before a search.” . . .

Because Grayson’s amendment was not permitted, CISPA will allow the federal government to compile a database of information shared by private companies and search that information for possible violations of hundreds, if not thousands, of criminal laws.

Nathan: So while the gun control bill distracted them all, this piece of garbage passes, nailing yet another article of the Bill of Rights to the bottom of the dumpster.  Assuming the Senate agrees, the IRS now CAN search your e-mails to figure out if you owe them money or not. And who did this?  The GOP.  “Friends of Freedom” – NOT.  Those heavily armed cops in those photos from Boston can intercept your e-mail and cell calls and anything else.  Police State heaven.

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Domestic Terror as a Response to Foreign Terror

Posted on 2013-04-20 by TPOL Nathan

Islamic war: American front – Home front
1 Chechen Terrorist Killed, the Other Sought: Wild Night of Bombs, Gunfire As a Major U.S. City Now ‘Shelters in Place’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So, now we know – it IS right-wing, fundamentalist, religious and separatist extremists that killed and wounded these people.  A 19- and 20-year-old (or 26-year-old): young and emotional.  AND “white.”  So all the media were right?  Well, gee, they are Chechen – Mulsim Chechnyans. The worldwide Islamic war AGAIN washes ashore, and two young thugs (with or without aid and support) have pushed the United States just another step further into the hideous world of the police state.

Look at The Blaze for some of the hideous pictures of the police state coming out of Boston this morning, as the cops and the feebs and the rest go into an orgy of lockdown and kill-lust.

The Blaze: Boston Lockdown Photos

Nathan: This kind of response MIGHT be appropriate IF there were a death squad – similar to what was done in Bombay a few years ago, or the Breslin Massacre in Russia a few years ago. It is NOT appropriate for a city where there is a SINGLE known fugitive at large after stupidly trying to rob a 7-Eleven.  This is all theatre, as the feds, state, and city governments all try to demonstrate how dangerous this is and how responsive they are to “public safety.”

We see the mailed fist:  the cops stalk the streets in military uniforms and with military equipment, vehicles, and weapons, sighting guns on citizens that can clearly have NOTHING to do with the bombing, the firefights, and the robbery attempt.  The authorities have the excuse they want to HAVE martial law without really declaring it. If “Suspect #2” is not captured soon, it becomes an excuse to expand the zone of martial law more and more. Inevitably, someone – many someones – will get killed by the cops: either in a repeat of the panicked reaction with the rogue cop in Southern California, or because someone reacts in a way that some cop, hyped and panicked and armed to the teeth, thinks is a threat.  Or a dozen other scenario.

But will the government ever get down to the nitty-gritty and see what it did to create this situation?  Don’t hold your breath.  There are many MANY questions that need to be asked and won’t be – that need to be answered.

Meanwhile, if ordinary people had been more vigilant, trained and observant and armed and prepared to take action, and if schools had not been government-ruined and theft-funded, if … if… if…

Get OUT of the cities if you can, get prepared for what you know you should do to protect yourself, your family, your friends, your community.  And prepare for things to get a LOT worse.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-14D: Bombing and death and taxes

Posted on 2013-04-19 by TPOL Nathan

Congratulations: if you are a “typical” or “average” US Citizen, today you have “freedom” from federal taxes for 2013 starting today.  That is, of course, INCOME taxes: you still have to worry about:

  • Social security (FICA) taxes
  • Medicare and Medicaid taxes
  • Excise taxes (on all that evil, wicked stuff: alcohol, tobacco, guns, ammo, and, of course… rubber (as in tires) and gasoline and diesel  EVVVVIIILLLL!
  • Telephone and related taxes
  • Medical device taxes
  • Health insurance taxes
  • …. and all the rest.

Don’t worry, that doesn’t include state and local taxes…  do you feel needed yet?

The “messiah” – Home front
Obama: ‘Any Time Bombs Are Used to Target Civilians It Is an Act of Terror’(CNS.News)

Nathan: Oh, really?  Does that include Pakistan and Afghanistan and Libya and Syria and Mesopotamia?  Does that include flash-bangs (definitely a type of bomb) used in Chicago and other cities in the US?  Or is there some unwritten or hidden “get-out-of-jail-free” card only for big, rich and arrogant governments?

Congress in Action – Hoplophobes and hoploclasts
Background gun check bill defeated – for now (54-46)
(Fox News via JFPO) The Senate on Wednesday defeated a vital background check amendment seen as the linchpin to Democrats’ gun control bill, dealing a major setback to President Obama — who lashed out at opponents in unusually blunt terms during remarks from the Rose Garden. “All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” Obama said, accusing the gun lobby of lying about the bill.

Nathan: One of the favorite tactics of really big-time liars is, of course, to accuse their opponents of lying.  What makes this particularly galling is that what HE claimed that THEY were lying about is what HE was actually lying about.  Did you get that?  Keep in mind, this is at best a temporary reprieve:  if they use the supposed killing of 20 students with a handgun as an excuse to ban “assault weapons” and do an across the board background check with a system proven to be a failure, then having 3 people killed and 150 wounded can surely be used as an excuse to ban ammunition reloading supplies and a good deal of other things, including the guns – this is far from over.

State tyranny – Monopoly
Texas Internet Vet Loses License
(Washington Times via National Policy Digest) A lawsuit filed in early April in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas is challenging the state’s ruling that a veterinarian cannot practice his profession solely through the Internet. The case, which has implications for the future of telemedicine, is being represented by the Institute for Justice, which believes the rule infringes on free speech rights, says the Washington Post.

  • The retired veterinarian, Ronald Hines, operates a website that provides veterinary advice for a flat fee of $58 but refunds any fees if he cannot provide useful advice without an examination.
  • Hines has potential clients, some of whom are overseas with limited access to veterinary services, send him all available medical records, including notes and X-rays.
  • Hines has earned less than $3,000 a year through the website, which differs from a traditional brick-and-mortar practice by allowing him the ability to conduct research when offering advice.

Following state law, the Texas veterinary board suspended Hines’ license after discovering that his practice was strictly Internet-based. According to state law, a vet must have a personal relationship with the client and the animal and that relationship cannot be established solely through the telephone or Internet.

Nathan: Just another example of restraint of trade, racketeering, corruption, and sleazy dealing to protect a profession – while giving the consumer the shaft.

Home front – Death
Drunk Driving not only cause of teen alcohol deaths
(EverydayHealth via AOL) Analyzing 2010 federal government data, the group found that 32 percent of the drinking-related deaths among young people aged 15 to 20 involved traffic crashes, while 68 percent involved incidents such as murder (30 percent), suicide (14 percent), alcohol poisoning (9 percent) and other causes (15 percent).

Nathan: It is still the leading cause of death, just not for the majority of teen “preventable” deaths.  Of course, this type of data is very hard to really take into account: for example, most teen murders (not all) are of gangbangers in urban areas.  And it does NOT talk about WHO dies – is it the one who DIES who was drinking?  Or the one who CAUSED the death (as in both vehicle accidents AND murders).  And the contributing factors are critical as well:  for example, what is the distribution of driving (and murder) deaths among those who are in public (government-run, tax-funded) schools versus private schools versus home schools or in college (or graduated FROM school)?  What is the spread for deaths of alcohol poisoning?  And what about those less than 15?  Too much data to understand, but we know that our beloved protectors from government will glom onto this with glee.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-14C: Other than bombings…

Posted on 2013-04-18 by TPOL Nathan

Two days past the “horrific” Boston Bombing – and that is of course virtually ALL the news media -mainstream or not- has been talking about for the past 48 hours.  And I will talk about it – to a point.  But there is more. Here are some other things to talk about:

1.  More hoplophobic/hoploclastic incidents, including:

a.  A veteran in Texas arrested for “rudely displaying” his AR-15 while with his son on a hike (to earn a merit badge) by a cop who announced his presence by tackling and handcuffing the soldier.

b.  The Senate was supposed to vote on the “compromise” gun registration bill today (Wednesday the 17th) but it was apparently blocked by some Senators that got cold feet after squashing the filibuster.

2.  More government meddling is in the works or getting publicity, including:

a.  A vet (animal doctor) in Texas is having his license taken away (confiscated, sound familiar?) because he is giving animal medical advice over the internet.

b.  At least one piece of work in Congress (and a GOP type at that) has called for merchants to report ANYthing that can be made into a bomb or weapon to the federal government, including beauty products and ball bearings.

3.   The growing immorality of America is showcased by various events, including:

a. Around the world today, Americans (troops and government agents and contractors) continued to kill innocent men, women, and children all in the name of protecting OUR freedom, and very very few people said a thing.

b.  The media coverage of the Gosnell trial in Philly increased, but much of it was the self-serving justification for why they didn’t report on it and  it wasn’t important from such sterling publications as the Huffington Post and New York Times.

c.   Meanwhile, of course, the media was more concerned with reporting which celeb slept with whom, what they wore (or didn’t wear), and where they vacationed: and millions watch advertising for these important stories to fund the immoral actions directly or indirectly.

That out of my bile ducts, on to the news:

Islamic wars: Mesopotamian front – Hypocrisy
Iraq’s Bloody Monday: 75 Killed, 356 Wounded
(Antiwar.com via Freedom’s Phoenix) At least 75 Iraqis were killed and 356 more were wounded in a series of attacks across the country.

Nathan: Even with the hideous event in Boston, it is WRONG to forget that that would have been a relatively calm day in Mesopotamia, Pakistan, or Afghanistan.  For the event in Boston to even compare to what happened on Monday in Iraq, the death toll would need to have been about 900 dead and 4272 wounded, or three hundred times the deaths and twenty-five times the wounded. We do not understand that we are still so incredibly BLESSED by God – or it would be Boston and Los Angeles and Denver and Minneapolis with these kinds of death tolls.

Home front – Self-defense
Home intruder fears owner has gun, calls 911

Gareth (via Nathan):  Actually, the police SHOULD be acting as backup to citizens in a situation like this.

Nathan: This guy is a real nut case! Of course, she SHOULD have had a gun just for situations like this.  Let him stew (or steam!) until the cops get there: after all, isn’t that what they claim they are getting paid for?

Mama’s Note: Oh, that IS funny. I do wonder how he was using a phone if he was in the shower… Maybe jumped out when he heard her. He was lucky she DIDN’T have a gun, actually. I wouldn’t have shot him, obviously, but he might have been in a coma when the sheriff got here… just from looking into the bore of this .45.

Congress in action – Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts
Bill in Congress No Bargain (see links in text)
(JPFO)  When the Manchin-Toomey Amendment first appeared, it was promoted as being pro-gun and essentially benign — it has not however taken long to discover it is anything but. As so often the devil is in the details and sometimes more importantly, what is NOT in there. One particular example is the apparent total lack of an audit trail for databasing operations — leaving records open to any and all use and abuse. Alan Korwin, JPFO advisor, author and owner of GunLaws.com, has written an extensive piece about this amendment and registration issues in general. He leaves very few stones unturned as he looks at numerous important aspects and ramifications. It is an important exposé of things it was hoped you wouldn’t notice as well as blatant infringements, along of course with the inevitable ‘sweeteners’.  Be sure to read Korwin’s detailed article, and share it widely, along with an equally important late addition on the subject from David Kopel — “The “Pro-Gun” Provisions of Manchin-Toomey“.

Nathan: The problem is, we didn’t need to have Korwin’s or Kopel’s analysis to KNOW that ANY law which requires “registration” of firearms or firearms owners is a BAD, ILLEGAL, IMMORAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, ANTI-LIBERTY, ANTI-HUMAN, RACIST, UNAMERICAN, law put together by a bunch of murdering aristocrats who will compromise us all into an even deeper slavery than we are now in.

ANY law that requires registration of ANYTHING that has to do with basic, human rights of ANY kind is VERY BAD because the registration is GOVERNMENT CONTROL and leads, sooner or later, to MORE restrictions, and in most cases, confiscation – indeed, with weapons, it ALWAYS has led ultimately to confiscation.

Mama’s Note: No non-voluntary government has any legitimate authority to impose anything at all.

The “messiah” – Culture wars: killing babies
White House Ignores Racial Aspects Detailed by Gosnell Grand Jury, But Weighed in on Past Legal Controversies
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Look, people (and I am addressing the editors of CNS News as well as too many other people), when are you going to get it through your head:  there is NO SUCH THING as black-on-black racism.  Any more than there is such a thing as black-on-white racism.  For Gosnell to target poor black women is NOT racism, because his skin color means that he has no “power” to treat them unfairly and therefore be a racist.  The poorest, barefoot, illiterate white cracker redneck sharecropper can be a racist if he or she does ANYTHING to a person with skin darker than theirs, because they have POWER because their skin is white.  And their actions are ESPECIALLY racist and sexual discrimination if that sharecropper or his wife or daughter is on their knees in front of an abortion mill praying that the black women walking in the door six or eight months gone to have that “powerless” black doctor with the mansion and the ear of every politician in the state take that black baby out of that black woman’s womb and KILL IT.  Not IT, but her or him.  Because THAT is “empowering” that black woman.  Is this one messed-up land?  Now, just remind me, what color does the “messiah” claim his skin is?

Mama’s Note: Sarcasm alert, for those of you on nerve overload… as I am today.

Now, you know I can’t leave Congress alone, so lets look at bombing and Congress:

Congress in action – Home front – Stupidity (four stories)
Rep. Pete King: Merchants Selling Ball Bearings, Beauty Products ‘Should Notify the Police’
(CNSNews.com) “For instance, merchants, if they’re selling any components that can be used for a bomb, everywhere from ball bearings to beauty products, they can all be used to make bombs. They should notify the police.”

Nathan: A very stupid tyrant – just what we need from a GOP seatwarmer.

Mama’s Note: Oh, I can just see how much fun this would be! Let’s DO IT!! Let’s do it voluntarily. If millions and millions of people suddenly call in like this, the police will all implode – they’ll go NUTS. Do you have any idea how many billions of nails, BBs, etc. are sold in this country in a day’s time? This could be the answer!! Shut down every phone line and 9-1-1 operator, overload every police department and LEO outfit in the country. They’d BEG us to stop! They’d probably pass a law AGAINST it… call it false reporting or something. This could be huge!

Boehner Calls Boston Marathon Explosions ‘A Terrorist Attack of Some Sort’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Once more, the brilliance of this piece of human debris astonishes me.  No wonder the GOP elected him Speaker.  Even in Congress, he brings the IQ down.  It is not only the failure of the GOP to keep their “moral compass” but the abject stupidity of the leadership AND the backbenchers that accelerates the rot.  With people like this, it is a wonder we aren’t in WORSE shape than we are.  But there is more.

Cornyn: ‘Number One Responsibility’ of Federal Government Is to Keep Americans ‘Safe and Secure’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Funny, I can’t find ANYthing at all about that in the Constitution.  This guy must be reading that kid’s homework:  “I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights so I can be safe.”  But stupidity is even more widespread in Congress, as we see in the next story.

Boston Bombing Proof Sequester is Bad, Says Dem
(CNSNews) House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) decided to politicize the bombings that took place at the Boston Marathon on Monday, saying that they were “proof” that some of the sequester cuts were “irrational.”

Nathan: All these startling revelations (sarcasm) make me think that not only are we dealing with the most incredible collection of stupid people in American history, but makes me wonder if the bomb plot actually originated 394 miles to the southwest, so that all these threats to government as we know it could be dealt with as a package.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-14B: More murder and terrorism

Posted on 2013-04-17 by TPOL Nathan

Culture wars: killing babies
Murdering Babies: All child killers are NOT equal
(Jewish World Review)[According to the media] The beheading of babies is a “local crime,” but coverage of a whiny Georgetown student who wanted government-subsidized birth control, a stupid Congressman’s rape theories, and a funding controversy is “policy.” You know what else are “local crimes?” Newtown, Aurora and Virginia Tech. …Make no mistake: the atrocity allegedly perpetrated by Kermit Gosnell is every bit as horrifying as the one committed by Adam Lanza. Innocents had their bodies mutilated, even as their lives were taken from them. Yet for our utterly corrupt media and their progressive allies, the Gosnell story is one atrocity too many, because it could be the same kind of game-changer regarding abortion progressives are desperately hoping Newtown will be regarding gun control.

Nathan: I continue my unintended theme of murder this week, again returning to the unimaginable horror of that place in Philadelphia which seems to be achieving the same body counts as a typical National Socialist death camp:  estimates as high as 56,000 dead children, many killed in the most horrifying and sickening of ways.  Gosnell, monster that he is, did NOT do this alone.  He had tens or dozens of employees, many if not most of which seem to have participated: to have killed the children themselves and to have taken action to dispose and disrespect the corpses, and to have hidden the horror.  But there were also apparently dozens or hundreds of government employees who were conspirators before and after the heinous acts of killing – and the might-have-been and actually-were mothers who participated in this killing of their children for their (the mothers’) own benefit.  How can any Philadelphian, any Pennsylvanian, any American hold up their heads when the sins of the Ba’al and Moloch worshippers of ancient Canaan and Carthage are condemned – how can we hold up our heads when the human sacrifices of the Azteca are condemned?  How ashamed we should be of what has happened in a “clinic” in an urban area, and of the way it is being treated.  I am so disgusted that these people are “Americans” and that I have to recognize them as humans.

Home front – Terrorists
Al-Qaeda Propagandist Called for Attacks on Sports Events
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Duh.  EVERY terrorist that has more than two brain cells to knock together (admittedly, there aren’t THAT many) knows that sporting events – starting with the Coliseum in Rome – is the best place to kill and wound a lot of people, make a big splash, and get the authorities all panicked and hyper. Any one remember Munchen in the 1972 Olympics? This was (fortunately) NOT well-planned or executed – this time.

Home front – Terrorists
Homeland Security Website: ‘Learn How DHS Helps Keep Our Nation Safe’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Government propaganda at its best, of course.  The terrorists, fortunately, are usually more stupid than DHS and DoD, as I’ve said often enough.  Of course, we must also remember that the terrorists ALWAYS say it is for the nation’s (or world’s) own good that they are doing everything they are doing.

Mama’s Note: The DHS, et al. also always say that what they’re doing is for the “national good.” Depends on what one considers “good,” of course.

Home front – Terrorists – the “messiah”
Obama: Boston culprits to feel ‘weight of justice’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Just like Gosnell?  Just like James Holmes?  Just like people in his own cabinet? Just like the DHS thugs that supposedly keeps our nation safe?

Home front – the “messiah” – murderers
WH Won’t Comment on Gosnell, Maintains Obama’s Support for Abortion
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: We MUST understand that 99% of Gosnell’s victims are NOT humans to the “messiah” and his ilk.  According to recent testimony by Planned Parenthood, even the ones that ARE human to them were still only “provisionally so” and Gosnell had the power to decide that their provisional status could be revoked with the snip of a pair of scissors.  Only the woman that they let die MIGHT be a homicide victim by their definition, so of COURSE the White House won’t comment.  We don’t have to worry about the “messiah” waving a bloody flag or parading out dead children for THIS little situation.

Home front – murderers
Former Pa. Gov. on Not Investigating Gosnell’s Clinic: ‘I Guarantee You It Wasn’t Because of Political Pressure’
(CSNNews.com)

Nathan: Which makes it even worse.  I don’t care WHY they didn’t: incompetence, sympathy, agreement with Gosnell’s aims, racism, or whatever.  The fact is, government FAILED to protect TENS of thousands of the most innocent and helpless of humans.  This should be a trial similar to that conducted against National Socialist leaders AND followers in post-war Germany:  everyone who might have participated and might have covered it up should face a jury.  I don’t think that Gosnell will be executed (although Pennsylvania DOES have the death penalty), but even if he is, his death at his advanced age and after living decades in wealth and exercise of his perversions is hardly either preventing him from doing it again or a deterrent to others doing this.

For justice to be served, I suspect that several dozen if not several hundred people should be tried, convicted and executed – probably including both this former governor and several mayors, city councilmen, probably legislators, and whole bunch of cops and “welfare workers” and “child protection workers.”  Not in revenge, but to make it clear that “NEVER AGAIN” will this be permitted to happen.  (If I wanted revenge, I’d probably press for execution by crucifixion, because even drawing and quartering does not provide enough time.)

Home front – Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts
Texas: Soldier arrested on hike for “rudely displaying” weapons
(Fox News via Freedom Outpost) While the police department claims they requested the weapons to inspect them and that Grisham refused, Grisham’s lawyer said, “We believe that SGT Grisham complied with police officers’ request and was still arrested.” But that’s not all. At some point the officer drew his weapon on Grisham and called for backup. Once backup arrived they cuffed Grisham, took his rifle, concealed weapon, which had a valid permit, and hauled him off to jail.

Nathan: And people wonder why so many people have their hackles rise on seeing a cop.  This is TEXAS – right outside Fort Hood.  And yet the scum on local police forces think that THEY are our masters.

Nazgul
MI: Judge holds self in contempt for smartphone
(San Francisco Chronicle) “A Michigan judge whose smartphone disrupted a hearing in his own courtroom has held himself in contempt and paid $25 for the infraction.
Judge Raymond Voet has a posted policy at Ionia County 64A District Court stating that electronic devices causing a disturbance during court sessions will result in the owner being cited with contempt, the Sentinel-Standard of Ionia and MLive.com reported. On Friday afternoon, during a prosecutor’s closing argument as part of a jury trial, Voet’s new smartphone began to emit sounds requesting phone voice commands. Voet said he thinks he bumped the phone, and the embarrassment likely left his face red.” [editor’s note: Nice to see someone who believes his rules are for everyone? – SAT] (04/15/13)

Mama’s Note: Now, that’s a pretty nice surprise.

Nathan: Saw this late last night, Debby and I both thought it was pretty cool.  Only ten thousand more judges to go.

Gen. Hayden: Boston-Style Attacks Could Be ‘New Normal’
(NewsMax.com)

Nathan: General, with all due respect, sir, IEDs have been “normal” in most of the world for a couple of decades now, and it was just a matter of time before they actually worked.  Fortunately, junior officers and NCOs (and a few cops on the beat and a detective here and there) are SMARTER than the average tango and the average tango is NOT much smarter than the politicians which infest this land of ours.  Not that IEDs are the ONLY weapons that “official” tangos use:  but then, that five-sided building has its head so far up its rear end that it won’t even recognize that a traitorous military officer committed terrorism in killing soldiers’ families in Fort Hood.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-14A: Bombings and other murders

Posted on 2013-04-16 by TPOL Nathan

The terrorist bombing of the Boston Marathon on the “official” observance of Patriot’s Day is a horrific act and most likely involved multiple people of unknown affiliations.  Indeed, in any unprovoked and evil attack like this, it is very likely that the real perpetrators are attempting to hide their true allegiance (other than their clear allegiance to evil).  My heart goes out to those who are wounded and to the families of those killed, but even more to those whose lives will almost certainly be destroyed by misguided and panicked responses to this attack. My prayers and that of my family on their behalf are heartfelt and we include those who inevitably will have their names and their words and motives attacked and blackened.

Death is in the news this week.  Too much, and for reasons often still unknown.

Home front – Urban gang warfare
Gunfire in Pomona: Two teens killed, third person wounded
(NBC News)  A makeshift memorial continued to grow Saturday evening for the slain boys, who friends said were “always together” and not in a gang.

Mama’s Note: I used to have to see patients in Pomona, along with much of the rest of eastern Los Angeles, and it was always a bad area. I was always very cautious once I got off the freeway- anywhere down there. It’s surprising we don’t hear about much, much more murder and mayhem from that part of the state… twenty years ago it was wall to wall gangs, deteriorating buildings and infrastructure, homelessness, poverty and all the rest. I can only imagine what a hell hole it must be now downtown. Of course, there are the ritzy homes in the hills, but even that area was already deteriorating when I worked there. Pasadena is the same way now, along with Whittier and a lot of other sub-sets of Los Angeles on the eastern edge. We’re only starting to hear about it, I think.

And yeah, sure… these poor innocent boys were not in a gang… I guess. It’s a remote possibility, but I wouldn’t want to bet my life on it.

Nathan: Like Mama Liberty, I find it hard to believe that teens in Pomona, especially the “bad parts of town” are not affiliated in some way with a gang, out of self-defense if for no other reason.  And because that is the way teenage boys think and act: peer groups and running in packs is part of the way humans behave: the reason for Boy Scouts and 4-H and other organizations to exist.

Congress in action – Hoplophobes and hoploclasts
Broadening background checks may be bonanza for gun stores
(NBC News) A Senate proposal to expand criminal background checks to people who buy firearms at gun shows and online would increase sales at traditional gunstores, many retailers agree — and perhaps even hand licensed dealers a “sweetheart” boon that amounts to “an Obama tax,” according to one industry leader.

Mama’s Note: Gun and ammo manufacturers are not the only ones who will merit boycotts at some point, it would seem. I hadn’t even thought about this angle. The hard part might be how to tell friend from foe…

Nathan: We must remember that like ALL licensing schemes, BATFE federal firearms licenses (FFL) are by their very nature a form of trade restraint, just like NYC taxi medallions, PE licenses, medical licensing, admission to the Bar, and requiring certification of hairdressers and barbers.  This would be perhaps compared to passing a law saying that no one can cut or wash anyone else’s hair, whether they charge anything for it or not.  Or that no one in NYC can give a ride to anyone else in their automobile.

Mama’s Note: After reading other things and talking with people about this, it would seem this is a serious two edged sword for the gun dealers… Remember how very eager the BATFE goons are to jump on any microscopic mistake or misunderstanding in the paperwork… and how much more easily some could be targeted with this large increase in the paper shuffle. I don’t think the dealers could possibly charge enough more to make THAT worth their while.

Home front – Stupid government
Louisiana Disabled Vet denied gun purchase for bogus reasons
(Freedom Outpost) Disabled Vietnam Veteran, award winning author and contributor to Freedom Outpost Leon Puissegur was turned down for the purchase of a weapon he was going to use for hog hunting by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The peculiar thing about the denial was that it was based on an incident that never happened, but since the denial more fabricated charges have come up in the NICS system against Mr. Puissegur.

Nathan: Those who think that background checks are either moral or constitutional or will do anything to keep criminals from owning guns while NOT preventing people from getting the means of self defense they need are sure to try to ignore incidents like this.  The reality is that government is incompetent in virtually EVERYTHING that it tries to do, and that includes any kind of effort to restrict purchase of guns: a power that the Founding Fathers never gave the FedGov.

Mama’s Note: And thank GOD that government is incompetent, really! A truly “competent” and efficient government would be a terror indeed.

The fact is that these background checks could not stop criminals from obtaining weapons, no matter how competent or thorough government was or who was in charge of the system.

No self-defense – Home front
Virginia: 2 victims in Christiansburg mall shootings in stable condition
(Times-Dispatch) Neil Allan MacInnis, an 18-year-old student at the college, has been charged with two counts each of malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Authorities said Friday that they do not know what motivated the shootings and have not said what type of gun was used.

Mama’s Note: I can’t remember one of these incidents where there was not at least speculation on the type of gun used. And if it had been a rifle of any kind, every paragraph would be shouting “assault rifle,” of course.  Some reports said he left a social media post telling about his plans, and that he was taking a shotgun – with which he was not familiar. I suspect the injuries would be much, much more serious if he’d used a shotgun… and very obvious. So, I wonder what really happened here.

Nathan: Mama Liberty asks if they may have overmedicated him into incompetence.  Reports are it was a shotgun, and that the would-be killer sent text messages saying what he was doing…  Who knows?  This will drop off the radar with the Boston bombing, except as yet another reason to disarm potential victims in the future.

Home front – Murderers and more
Grand Jury: Abortionist Murdered ‘Hundreds’ of Children; M.E.: Adam Lanza Murdered 20
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: (And the killers in the Boston Marathon bombings killed just three and wounded just a hundred or so.)

I read a detailed story on this just minutes before the bombings in Boston.  This bloody-handed killer of innocents was allowed by the city, state, and federal agencies that supposedly exist to prevent such things.  Hundreds of people – including dozens of employees – were involved and knew what was going on.  Nazi Germany has NOTHING on Philadelphia, the “city of brotherly love.”  It now stinks as badly as Dachau or Bergen-Belsen and  should for all of time.

Hoploclasts
Bloomberg: If You Sell a Gun to Your Son, ‘There’s Something Wrong in Your Family’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Ah, the attitude of the elite:  to him, a hundred bucks is something to use like toilet paper, so of course a family of HIS rarified rank and class wouldn’t worry about a measly $100 for a son to pay his father for a pistol or rifle.

New religions: global warming – Stupid government
‘Anthropogenic’ Climate Change Is Kerry’s Priority in Asia
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Forget North Korea, forget China’s buying gold and more gold, forget bird flu, forget that little dust-up between China and Japan over some islands, or the simmering-for-decades China-Vietnam land claims, forget the again growing Islamist menace in the Philippines, or the tug of war between “democracy” and “dictatorship” in Burma and Thailand.  Our priority is dealing with myths and legends and fiction.

The “messiah” – Theft by government
Charity ‘Loophole’ Lowers Obama’s Effective Tax Rate to 18.4%
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: When “charity” is a loophole, you know that the government is desperate to steal EVERYTHING.  Confiscation of not just 2% or 5% or 10% of bank accounts and land and other property is a growing possibility – and not just at the federal level.  I was pleasantly surprised that the family living at 1600 PA gave 20-25% of their fabulous income to charity, though I suspect I might not be so pleasantly surprised to see WHICH charities they gave to.  Compared to a few years ago, clearly they’ve learned something.  Of course, this isn’t really their total income, since they get so many “employee expenses” and normal household expenses paid for.  If your company or your employer provided you a palatal residence rent-free, YOU would be paying income tax on that “income in-kind” – ditto for company cars, free helicopter rides, and everything else.  To say nothing of the money you would pay to hire the chef when you ARE NOT holding business dinners.  I suspect that when you put all those perks together, only people like Bloomberg and Buffett and Gates get paid anything close to what the “messiah” actually gets paid; and that therefore, the effective tax rate is probably nearer 1% than 18%.

Home front – Persecution
Amish prosecuted because scissors ‘crossed state lines’
(WND ) What does the federal hate crimes law inspired by the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. have to do with an internal dispute among the Amish in which the beards of men and the hair of women were forcibly sheared? “The scissors used to cut the hair were manufactured in one state and used in another,” explained Edward Bryan, defense lawyer for Amish bishop Samuel Mullet Sr., who was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

Nathan: So why isn’t GOSNELL being charged with federal hate crimes?  You KNOW Pennsylvania didn’t manufacture all (if ANY) of the knives and scapels and scissors he used to kill hundreds (more likely thousands) of innocent babies.  I agree that what these people did was wrong, but the sentence does NOT fit the crime, and the involvement of the FedGov in this prosecution/persecution is not just immoral and unconstitutional, but a warning that increasingly, faith of ANY sort (except that espoused by Islamists and the radical atheists) is a target of the government.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-13D: Congress and Such Stuff

Posted on 2013-04-14 by TPOL Nathan

End of the week – several more nails in the coffin of the old Republic and our last, residual freedoms and liberty.

Congress in action – Self-defense rights dead
Senate Filibuster Dead; Gun Law Debates to Begin
(CNN) Because of the bipartisan [Manchin-Toomey] deal, Senate Democrats backing the legislation received support from enough Republicans to approve the cloture motion, 68-31, setting up debate on the proposals and amendments expected to last for two weeks. …A new national survey showed that 86% of Americans support some expansion of background checks. At the same time, the CNN/ORC International poll released Wednesday also showed a majority of respondents fear that increased background checks would lead to a federal registry of gun owners that could allow the government to take away legally owned weapons.

Nathan: Here are the 16 Republicans that voted to bring yet another unconstitutional gun control bill to the senate floor for a vote without even reading what was in it:

I’m sure they’d also love to hear from you. (sarcasm)

These sixteen people have once again betrayed not only their supposed “principles” and the supposed principles of their party, but have betrayed their oaths to the Constitution and betrayed their states to even more federal tyranny than we have had to this point.  With people like these, the Democrats do not need to have a majority or super-majority in the Senate:  these people are all “honorary” liberals and transnational progressives no matter how they proclaim their “conservatism” or how much they claim to defend freedom.

While theoretically, it is impossible to recall any of these “Conscript Fathers” and “Conscript Mothers,”  symbolic efforts to do so would perhaps publicize their betrayal and their hatred of liberty and fear of ordinary Americans.  Nor, of course, are they subject to anything so crass and mundane as impeachment and trial.  And with the tremendous advantage of incumbency and the ability to raise millions and millions of dollars to buy votes, they are virtually invulnerable to anything except death, or some sort of hideous revelation of personal wrongdoing that would boggle the mind.  (And even then, considering John McCain’s personal history, you wonder.)

PS:  CNN – that paragon of objective and truthful reporting – has reportedly stated that they will conduct a campaign for several days next week to support the Congressional passage of these criminal “laws.”  I can hardly wait.

The “messiah” – Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
Sean Smith’s Mom: Obama Didn’t Follow-Up on Personal Promise; Asks Congress: ‘Please, Please Help Me Find Out Who is Responsible’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This woman needs to understand who she is dealing with:  a “world leader” whose death count, while not at the rarified (or sewer) levels of a Stalin or Hitler or Mao, is certainly counted in the hundreds of thousands – directly.  What is one more, or four more, Americans’ blood on his hands?  And of course, this “personal promise” comes from a man who seems to be vying with Satan to become “Prince of Lies.”  A lawyer, a politician, a “community organizer,” a Tranzi (socialist/communist), and a man who is a co-conspirator of the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Raum Emmanuel, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton.  Ma’am, deep in your heart, you KNOW who is responsible: you were TALKING to him.

East Asian front
North Korea states ‘nuclear war is unavoidable’ as it declares first target will be Japan
(Freedom’s Phoenix) In a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the communist country lashed out at Tokyo’s standing orders to destroy any missile heading toward Japan, threatening such actions will result in a nuclear attack against the island.

Nathan: Of course, people like Lendman will accuse Japan as taunting North Korea and trying to provoke them into an attack.  The truth is, this is the childish behavior of a nation of immature leaders and followers who are constantly bought off by the West, and who are treated seriously instead of as a toddler (as the next story helps explain).

East Asian front – Stupid US government
U.S. Intelligence Sends Mixed Messages on North Korea’s Nuclear, Missile Capabilities
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Normal SOP for our intelligence agencies, of course.  But I’d rather that they send mixed messages than all of them agree that North Korea poses no danger to anyone with their nukes and their missiles.  A child having a temper tantrum cannot be left alone, even if ignored: they are too likely to grab or do something that is really stupid and might kill themselves or harm others as well.

Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – Mainstream Media
Bozell: ABC, CBS, NBC ‘Deliberately Censoring’ Bad News on Obamacare
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:  No, really?  I cannot imagine WHY – after all, don’t all news and television folks and their retirees have health care anyway?

Stupid government tricks – Attack on the family
Obama’s Budget Orders States to Promote Parental Engagement in Children’s Lives
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, parental engagement is important, and good (to a point: helicopter parenting is as bad as the real thing was in Vietnam).  But it is NOT something (a) that is the fedgov’s business, (b) that the fedgov can order states to promote, or (c) that we could trust government to do, anyway.  For this administration, I am sure it is another wedge to promote so-called “homosexual marriage.”

Mama’s Note: And, actually, that’s quite a switch – if he really meant what the words say, of course. Government policy and government “schools” have been working diligently for nearly 100 years to destroy the family and, therefore, any real involvement by parents in the lives and upbringing of their children.

This is just further meddling in the lives of broken families, creating more false “rights” without doing anything to promote individual responsibility or parental authority to care for their children as they thing best (or actually damaging it more). More and more government control over every aspect of people’s lives.

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The American Media and Killing Babies

Posted on 2013-04-13 by TPOL Nathan

The killing of babies is one major area in which I strongly disagree with far too many who are (or claim to be) lovers of liberty, and who subscribe to the “non-aggression principle.”  But most (not all, of course) of those who disagree with me on when a child is a human, and whether abortion is an immoral action which DOES constitute aggression against another and innocent human, DO agree with me that infanticide IS immoral aggression, and that what this murdering thug did was evil.  But the “liberals” and Tranzis of the world, especially the vicious kind in control here in North America, do not see any problem.  So when Mama Liberty brought this to my attention, it is indeed suitable for a rant.

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (Thomas Jefferson)

Culture wars: Killing babies
Philadelphia Abortion Clinic Horror – What Belongs on the Front Page
(USA Today)

Mama’s Note:  Unbelievable: I don’t usually look at USAToday, but I might start doing so.

(Note: On Saturday, apparently the Washington Post had a front-page news story – I’ve not read it, but doubt if it will change my conclusions discussed below.  Still…)

Nathan: This USAToday article is, of course, opinion, but you should read it – if you can stomach the horror of it.  This is no slasher movie – this is a politically powerful and connected mass murderer in the heart of one of America’s formerly-greatest cities.  My first response was like that of MamaLiberty:  why on earth would the Tranzi thugs that own and operate USA Today publish something like this?  Then I realized the term to remember is “scapegoat.”  THIS is the natural progression of abortion-on-demand and the amorality growing today, but unless the pro-abortionists (forGET “pro-choice” – they’ve made it obvious that the ONLY acceptable choice 9 out of 10 times is the kill the baby – inside or out of the womb) can show that somehow this sort of “in your face” murder of CHILDREN is both hidden but  “punished” then the backlash will see the killers of children themselves AND their supporters destroyed politically and probably financially.  And perhaps personally.

By hiding it from the front pages, the truth of this evil Gosnell and his power will be far less likely to come out: that municipal and state – and probably even federal “law enforcement” and other agencies KNEW what was going on – KNEW that thousands of children were killed IN and OUTSIDE the womb, and the killing was both premeditated AND in a way more cruel than is allowed for pets or food animals. By burying it in the opinion section, the USA Today cabal can have its baby and eat it too: claim that “abuses have been punished and prevented.”  Of course, that is bogus – pure lies, even while at state and national level the abortionists and pro-abortionists promote and fund their religion with money stolen from taxpayers by government and speak openly about allowing women and their “caregivers” to quickly decide whether a baby born by accident is to live or be killed.

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Gold and the Dollar

Posted on 2013-04-13 by TPOL Nathan

In the past day, the price of gold has dropped about 120 an ounce, to under $1500 (now just above $1500).

But the real news is NOT that gold is now at its lowest price in dollars in two years, or has dropped nearly 400 dollars in just 18 months from a high of $1895 in September 2011.  The real news for the future, as seen in the table at the URL above, is that in 10 years, the price of gold is five times what it was in 2003.

The chart is the inverse of the final destruction of the American dollar, and with it, the American economy.  Something will, MAY, rise from the ashes, but it is obvious that the dollar and the economy is as dead as liberty and the Republic.

We can worry all we want about Islam and Korea and border jumpers, but the truth is, liberty and American society and prosperity are dead, and if we do not recognize that, we will likely join them.

The causes are many, and the death of the Republic and much of our freedom and liberty can be traced back a century and beyond.  But the process accelerated in the past ten years.  We are not just in decline, but in the final stages of decline.  The consequences are and will be severe – and many of us will not survive long enough to see what rises to replace these losses.

The results are staggering.  In my childhood, the dollar was already in decline: it had been 30 years before that FDR committed one of the biggest thefts in known history: forcing most Americans to sell their ounces of gold for twenty dollars in silver, and then reducing the value of their silver and paper dollars by 40% or so in one fell swoop: from $20 to $35 per ounce.  That one ounce of silver (then worth just 1/35 of an ounce of gold) in 1965 bought 10 10-ounce Cokes or 10 12-ounce Pepsis in a vending machine, and generally 20 of each in a grocery store.  Or ten Superman or Spiderman or Archie comic books at the drug store.  It also bought four to five gallons of gasoline (including state and federal excise tax).  Five-six hundred of them bought a low-end NEW automobile.  (That would have been about 14-18 ounces of gold: $500-$600 1965 dollars.)

Today, that same silver dollar (valued in current US dollars at about $28), will actually buy about 12 or 14 of the current 16-ounce Cokes or Pepsi in a vending machine.  For 500 of them (2013 $14-$17,000), you can’t FIND a new car, no matter how low end you want.  But for 18 ounces of gold ($27,000 in 2013 dollars) you can still probably get a pretty good automobile better than “low-end.”  The problem is that salaries and wages haven’t kept up, as the economy has finally crashed and burned under the weight of government.

In 1969, I made $1.10 an hour as a newspaper typesetter and printer.  That was 1.1 ounces of silver or 0.03 ounces of gold: today that would be $30.80/hour if paid in silver, $47.14/hour if paid in gold, for a subprofessional, if skilled job.  Today, as a licensed and experienced professional, I didn’t even make that wage in gold OR silver.  By standards of four decades ago, we are a poor nation.  Only the fact that technology and productivity have exploded in that forty years makes it possible to live today.

What can we do?  Not much to change the value of the dollar.  Or restore gold or silver as real money.  What we CAN do is prepare for the point in time when a lot of people wake up to the fact that the dollar and economy are simply corpses that haven’t stopped twitching, and prepare to make it on our own and survive.  To that end, don’t waste your time writing to your Congressman or Senator or even your local legislator: buy ammo and guns and seeds and tools that will survive the inevitable collapse of infrastructure and networks of all kinds  that follows the collapse of fantasies that still linger on after the collapse of money and economies.

It is time to cut bait or fish – if you want to survive.

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Risk

Posted on 2013-04-12 by MamaLiberty

How do you determine what level of risk is acceptable, and what can you do about it? Good question?

Think about lightning. Do you normally spend a lot of time thinking about the risk of being struck by lightning? Looking at the statistics, I was actually quite surprised at the number of people killed and injured by lightning over the years. But even if it was as unlikely as one in a million, most people wouldn’t think about it too much unless they hear and see a thunderstorm, in which case most folks go indoors or find a safe place to wait until the lightning stops.

Most people I know understand, from early childhood, that hearing thunder in the distance means that the picnic is over, it’s time to get out of the swimming pool, and Daddy will be home early from his golf game. I used to ride my horses long distances in the woods and canyons, and when thunder began I looked right away for a rock overhang on the trail or a sheltered spot off the skyline and away from trees.

The key to avoiding injury is to recognize the threat, have a good understanding of what is needed to avoid or deal with it, and the proper tools to work with.

The people who are injured or killed by lightning are, by and large, those who don’t know or ignore the warning signs, and/or don’t know what to do to increase their safety. Seems to me that not staying in a swimming pool or out in the open would be almost instinctive, but I guess there really are people that dumb – or arrogant. But hey, if they are willing to take the risk… it’s none of my business.

Even more rare are the incidents where people were injured by lightning after taking all reasonable precautions. I used to laugh at those who said you should stay off the telephone (land line) during a thunderstorm, but I’m not laughing anymore.

Myth: If you are in a house, you are 100% safe from lightning.
Fact: A house is a safe place to be during a thunderstorm as long as you avoid anything that conducts electricity. This means staying off corded phones, electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, computers, plumbing, metal doors and windows. Windows are hazardous for two reasons: wind generated during a thunderstorm can blow objects into the window, breaking it and causing glass to shatter and second, in older homes, in rare instances, lightning can come in cracks in the sides of windows.

So, where am I going with all this? Glad you asked…

First, we can all agree that thunderstorms and lightning are seriously dangerous to some of us, no matter where we live. They can be dangerous to us even if we take all reasonable precautions to protect children and avoid injury.

Second, there will always be some people who ignore the warnings and neglect or refuse to take even minimal precautions. And sometimes, rarely but inevitably, some will be injured anyway.

That is simply a given of life! Life itself is risky. At any moment, a very large number of things MIGHT harm us one way or another. Just look around you and think about the things nearby or in your home that would injure or kill you if used carelessly or in the wrong way, left within reach of those not competent to handle them, or just because they exist!

I can name at least a dozen or more such things in my kitchen alone. Did you ever have a glass break in the dishwater? Did you think about that glass as a deadly danger before it shattered? Did you handle all the glasses more carefully ever after that? Most likely.

Did you know that one of the most potentially lethal things you can leave around for toddlers to find is water?

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4. The majority of drownings and near-drownings occur in residential swimming pools and in open water sites.  However, children can drown in as little as one inch of water.

So, what can we do about it? Pass laws against lightning or drinking glasses? Send out armed guards to round up people off the golf course or out of swimming pools? Confiscate all of the steak and kitchen knives in the country and melt them down to make ugly “art” for the UN building? Require a “license” and training courses for people who wish to mop their floors? Must we throw everyone in a cage if they show the slightest tendency to misuse a tool?

Or do we go on living our individual lives, taking stock of our surroundings and assessing the risks we face for ourselves? Wouldn’t it be better if we prepare, the best we can, to defend ourselves against every sort of danger?

Might not people learn better and faster how to provide for their own safety and comfort if they must face the consequences of their every action and choice? Treated as rational human beings, might not more folks tend to grow into that in every area of their lives?

Will that bring perfect safety to everyone? Will no more children die? Don’t we wish…

That is an impossible expectation, and the false promise of it can only result in ever more injury and death, regardless of the intentions or desires of those who insist that one more “law, ” one more restriction, device, “permit,” or list will finally give us that nirvana.

Life is dangerous. Risk is a part of living. Utopia is not an option.

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