Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-03A Defense and Not – Our Nannies

Posted on 2013-01-14 by TPOL Nathan

NOT Self Defense
Texas: Robbery victim wants to thank Good Samaritans who came to his rescue
(KHOU-TV) Kevin Dorsey says he hadn’t even closed his car door Thursday night when a man wearing all black and a ski mask put a gun to his chest. The man took Dorsey’s wallet, cell phone and car keys. After he was robbed, Dorsey began running down the street and says two men in a Mercedes asked him what had happened. Dorsey told them and they not only caught up with the suspect, but they started shooting at him. The suspect fired back. In the end, the two witnesses turned vigilantes won and took down the bad guy.

Mama’s Note: From this report, the robbery victim was not in danger, he was fleeing when the two idiots intervened. They shot first, becoming the aggressors. While I’m glad the criminal was caught, and the man’s property returned (maybe), this sort of vigilantism is exactly the sort of thing to keep the gun grabbers in an uproar. Maybe they can get away with it in parts of Texas… but probably not anywhere else.

Nathan: For once, TV news correctly uses the word “vigilante” – if the story is accurate. Even in Texas, the robbers could easily find a lawyer to file a suit against the two men.  If the robber had fired at them first, it is a different matter, of course.  Especially in our current climate, it is important that we do not go off and do something that smacks of taking the law into our own hands.  But the other lesson to learn from this is to avoid the stupidity that Dorsey exhibited:  obviously he was NOT aware of his surroundings, he had left his door unlocked so that someone could get in, he fled in obvious panic, and he was himself unarmed.  The “vigilantes” could just as easily have been two MORE robbers, seeking whatever he had left!

Self Defense – Mexican civil war/War on some drugs
Armed vigilante groups policing 2 Mexican towns
(AP) — Several hundred civilians have taken up arms in two towns in a southwestern Mexico state and are arresting people suspected of crimes and imposing a curfew, leading authorities to promise to reinforce security forces in the area.  People wearing ski masks or bandanas and carrying small arms this week began manning checkpoints on roads into the municipalities of Ayutla de los Libres and Teconoapa in Guerrero state’s Costa Chica area about 75miles (120 kilometers) southeast of the Pacific resort of Acapulco. Leaders said they were acting against crime and insecurity.

Mama’s Note: So, of course the government is going to send in more cops and soldiers. What could go wrong?

Nathan: Of course, under Mexican law, every one of these people are criminals, perhaps more so than those they are trying to arrest.  I’ve read predictions that the new Presidente will negotiate out a deal with the cartels that will in essence end most of the violence but make the cartels part of the government, and where will these people end up?  Efforts to legalize gun ownership for self defense, like that at Colonia Le Baron near El Paso, are seemingly doomed to fail, especially with the new gendarmerie -which is a perfect place to put all the cartel’s gunsels, of course.  With so large a number of people involved, you wonder at the politics that keeps the towns from doing anything.  Have the local alcaldes and policia been disbanded, are so corrupt, or simply do not exist?  (Wikipedia states: “Some of the municipalities of Mexico have their own preventive and municipal police forces, which are responsible for handling minor civil disturbances and traffic infractions. Of the 2,395 municipalities, 335 have no police forces. However, some of the municipal forces are large and important.”)

Perverts and stupid people/cops
Saco man accused of peering up skirts using shoe camera
(kjonline.com) A Saco man was arrested Friday night for allegedly using a camera in his shoe to take photographs up women’s skirts and dresses at the Walmart store in Scarborough in July. William Tibbals, 31, of Pepperal Street, was charged with a felony count of visual sexual aggression against a child under 12 and multiple counts of violating privacy.

Mama’s Note: How stupid to call the police. Someone needed to step on the shoe/camera, say,”oh, pardon me,” and walk away. Rinse, repeat if necessary. Why is everything a police matter? I do have to wonder just how many women there wear skirts, especially this time of year. Can’t imagine he was seeing much anyway. Stupid twit.

Nathan:  His activities were in July at the WalMart, according to the story.  That time of year, in most WalMarts, why would he need a shoe camera?  The skirts are so short that there isn’t much hidden – assuming that they are wearing underwear at all.  A couple of months ago when Debby quietly remarked to a young woman acquaintance (no lady, obviously) who bent down to pick something up and revealed her underwear to the people on the public sidewalk that she was giving a free show, the retort was “well, it isn’t anything they haven’t already seen.”  This from a freshman in college. And with modern women’s “popular” underwear (you’ve seen that joke picture about “Proof of Global Warming” with underwear up on a clothesline, haven’t you?), you might be amazed at what could be seen.  Yes, the solution would have been for the mother of the 12-year-old to do just what you suggest.  The appropriate response, to have slapped or punched out the pervert and then smashed the (toe, presumably) of the shoe and lobbed it somewhere in the store, and then announce to the nearest dozen or so people that a pervert has been caught, and then have store security call an ambulance.  But that would have surely given the pervert the opportunity to sue.

Mama’s Note: I didn’t notice the story was that old, actually. But I agree that there are a lot of half dressed females (and males, actually) in any city in warm weather. I’ve not seen nearly as much of that here as I did in So. Calif., but enough. And yes… for some weird reason, people go to WalMart in the most shocking stages of undress or violently inappropriate costume of all kinds.

As for the shoe cameraman… merely smashing the camera “accidentally” would be enough, I think. And calling for the store manager if he was stupid enough to protest.

I was talking with someone just the other day about self defense, and it came as a surprise to her to consider that the same tactics apply to all sorts of things besides some deadly encounter. We must protect ourselves, in appropriate ways of course, from every sort of assault and impropriety such as this. The vigilance and assertive behavior needed to ward off an attack is just as important, and probably just as effective, in warding off this sort of garbage. Can you imagine anyone being so blatant with his perversion if half the people in that WalMart had been openly armed? I think not.

Nanny State – War on some drugs
NYC: Bloomberg takes away hospital painkillers
(godfatherpolitics.com) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week that the city is going to sharply restrict supplies of painkillers at the city’s emergency rooms to combat a rampant addiction problem. …“The city hospitals we control,” he said Friday in response to critics, “so … we’re going to do it and we’re urging all of the other hospitals to do it, voluntary guidelines. Somebody said, oh, somebody wrote, ‘Oh then maybe there won’t be enough painkillers for the poor who use the emergency rooms as their primary care doctor.’ “Number one, there’s no evidence of that. Number two, supposing it is really true, so you didn’t get enough painkillers and you did have to suffer a little bit. The other side of the coin is people are dying and there’s nothing perfect. … Come on, this is a very big problem.” This very big problem, according to Bloomberg, is that people with afflictions like broken bones are being prescribed more painkillers than they need, and that leads to them either getting addicted, selling the drugs on the street or giving them to kids to get high….“If you break a leg, you’re going to be in pain, nothing wrong with getting something that reduces the pain. But if you get 20 days’ worth of pills and you only need them three days, there’s 17 days sitting there. Invariably some of the kids are going to find them, or you’re going to take them and get you addicted.”

Nathan:  Bloomberg is the epitome of the nanny-state elected dictator.  Apparently crime is so bad that people are mugged going out of the pharmacy, for their meds?  Maybe Bloomberg should just have everyone’s prescriptions turned over to the nearest police or fire station, so that the people needing their medicine can go and take it so that only the cops and firefighters can put the leftovers into the black market.

Mama’s Note: Bloomberg is simply one of the most arrogant and self deluded people I’ve ever seen in such a position. In any other situation, he’d be laughed off without a thought. It just doesn’t seem possible that enough people in NYC are really THAT gullible. But I guess it speaks for itself. They must be, or he wouldn’t be reelected.

The “messiah’s” minions – Freedom and federalism
White House: “Our States Remain United”
(WhiteHouse.gov)

Nathan: I agree with several commenters: condescending and patronizing. But then, what did we expect?

Mama’s Note: Well, what else could we expect? Sort of like telling the bloody, obviously abused woman that there is no divorce and she’d just better get used to being beaten. Well, when divorce is not “allowed,” there are other remedies. She’d just better not wait until the chains are locked on her wrists and she’s in the basement.

Nathan:  Of course our nannies would not allow any of THEIR states to go out on their own into the big bad world.  We must be protected…

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-02E: Guns and Liberty

Posted on 2013-01-12 by TPOL Nathan

We are going through this incredible, hourly, “guns are evil” business on the news and in the legislatures, and so I’ve dedicated this commentary pretty much to self-defense and other uses of guns, and those who hate and fear them.

Self Defense
Wisconsin: Grandmother halts robbery with her gun
(WISN)  Ernestine Aldana owns a grocery store near the corner of Muskego Avenue and Becher Street in Milwaukee. On Dec. 14, Aldana was working in the store when a man entered the store and pulled a knife on her. “I was really scared,” she said. But as the man reached for cash from the drawer, Aldana pulled a gun from underneath the counter.

Nathan: Reported by Townhall and the WISN television station, with video!  This sort of thing very seldom hits any major news media.  She didn’t have to fire a shot – so no record will be maintained of this by any official agency: one of hundreds of times a day people use (but don’t “use”) weapons to defend themselves, their property, their families and friends and communities.  Even while DC and, no doubt, much of the Wisconsin legislature works feverishly to steal away her tools to defend herself.

Self-defense:
Casper, Wyoming: Gun Carrying Employee Thwarts Attempted Hotel Robbery
(K2, Casper) A hotel clerk with a gun may have thwarted a robbery Friday morning (January 4th). Investigators say just before 1:00 AM, two African American males entered the Quality Inn at the corner of North Poplar and F Streets in Casper, with their faces concealed. One of the suspects told the clerk it was a hold-up, making a gun gesture with his hand. The clerk then pulled a gun from her lunchbox and pointed it at the suspects, who then fled.

Nathan:  Folks, this is CASPER, not some shot-up suburb of Detroit or some drug-ridden neighborhood of Chicago or Denver.  I ASSUME that there were one or two Casper cops and maybe a sheriff’s deputy or two on duty at that time of night and NOT out trolling for drunk drivers heading home from a bar.  But they could not have responded quickly enough to keep the hold-up from taking place and probably not to keep her from getting raped and/or killed as well.  But this mealy-mouthed language of the TV station, even in Wyoming, turns my stomach:  “may have thwarted” and “suspects.”  And why she should have to keep her handgun in her lunchbox and NOT on her person is beyond me.  (I know this is an old story, but worth commenting on with the others today.)

Mama’s Note: Casper has joined Cheyenne in trying to match Jackson Hole for liberal BS… and isn’t it a funny coincidence that these are the three largest cities? Not to mention that  most of the “media” in Wyoming is controlled by people who don’t live here, so it’s pretty much like all the rest of the mainstream “news” garbage.

But yes, I was shocked at the mention of the lunch box. No idea in the world why she would carry like that, but my first thought was that someone needs to do some serious self defense training down there. No reason in the world why she can’t carry on her body as she should.

Self-defense
Casper, Wyoming: Customer Turns the Tables on Nail Salon Robber
Nathan: At least this K2 story is worded better!  Guy’s got to be pretty stupid and pretty desperate to rob a nail salon.  Especially with credit cards.  (Or maybe that is what he was wanting – their credit cards.  Compare this to the nail salon in Seal Beach, California, where only the killer was armed.  And then consider how our beloved rulers in DC are going to protect us and the children…

Mama’s Note: This is an even older one, but it tickled me pink. And yes, it takes a special brand of stupid to even think of trying to rob anyone here in Wyoming. Hard to believe they wouldn’t quickly figure out how well armed we are, even if they have just come from Chicago.

Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts
Lawyer: Banning Assault Weapons A Feel-Good Gesture ‘Unless You’re Prepared to Confiscate’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:   How many dead Americans will we put up with to “stop gun violence?”  Ten thousand?  Fifty thousand?  A hundred thousand?  A million?  Of course, a lot of those will be cops and bureaucrats: wonderful people like code inspectors and firefighters and emergency medical personnel and utilities workers.  And a lot will be the children who live in the homes where the cops and their support personnel are entering to “protect the children” by stealing their parents’ and grandparents’ weapons.

Mama’s Note: Not to mention all of those police, sheriff’s deputies and other officials who might have been protected or assisted by armed individuals… who now will not be willing to risk doing so in the future. That’s already happening, I’m sure, since that’s clearly being discussed on a number of gun owners websites I visit. And that is without any “ban” or “confiscation.”

Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts – The “messiah’s” chief minion
Biden Compares Gun Control to Car Air Bags: ‘We’re Saving Lives’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:  Seems to me that guns save a LOT more lives than they take – it is the gun itself that should be compared to air bags, and NOT “gun control.”  Indeed, why don’t the GOP and NRA types (who are statists) lobby for hard points in all new automobiles and trucks to allow the operator to put a holstered handgun convenient to reach for, as another “safety device” for cars?  Maybe the patrol and cops should just assume that the driver and passengers are armed, rather than asking if they are (a violation of privacy, no?).

Mama’s Note: Let’s not use their distorted language, please. The guns neither save nor take any lives at all. The tool is a lifeless chunk of metal and plastic. Only a person can use a tool, either for good or ill.

Well, that works for most things, but “air bags” don’t depend on a person to use them… they can attack at any time all by themselves! And they can kill as easily as they can save. Statistically relevant… if the one in my car were to deploy, it would most likely kill me because I am five feet tall and must sit quite close to the steering wheel. The bag would go off right into my face, break my glasses and quite easily break my neck.

Our right to self defense
Wyoming legislators propose gun protection legislation
(K2 Radio) Several Wyoming lawmakers are proposing legislation designed to protect gun-owners from any potential federal firearm ban. The “Firearms Protection Act” bill, introduced this week, would make any federal law banning semi-automatic firearms or limiting the size of gun magazines unenforceable within the state’s boundaries. Anyone trying to enforce a federal gun ban could face felony charges under the proposal. It also includes a provision allowing the Wyoming Attorney General’s office to defend any state resident against any federal firearm ban.

Nathan: Assuming that they don’t mess it up, this is a good sign for people of Wyoming and nearby states.  Of course, it might trigger an invasion by Colorado, fearful that Cheyenne and Laramie and Carpenter and Baggs might become centers of infection and smuggling, as the General Assembly and Hickenlooper apparently intend to outlaw “assault weapons” and Swiss Army knives (unless they are used ONLY to cut cured MJ leaves).

Mama’s Note: It’s been interesting just how many people have written to me about this, and are so excited. But as I’ve been explaining, it’s not really likely to pass – and would not likely be enforced if it passed. The state legislature last time almost had a nervous breakdown passing the new law repealing the necessity for CC “permits,” and it still might be reversed.

These are still politicians, mind you, and they do have their own agenda – and our rights are there at the very bottom of the list. Just 10 of the bills being considered:

HB0042: Land use planning: Abolishes state land use commission. Doesn’t abolish government meddling with land use, however.

HB0045: Fireman pension plan A: Limits taxpayers’ growing pension liability. Good, but will probably be defeated.

HB0069: Highway funding: The gas tax grab — need we say more. Very bad.

HB0077: Wyoming lottery: Creates a new lotto bureaucracy in the state. Very bad and super stupid.

HB0078: Budget review process: Would bring the entire Game and Fish and WYDOT budgets under the scope of the governor and legislature. Very bad.

HB0125: Interstate purchase of health insurance: authorizes insurers to offer individual and small employer health insurance policies in Wyoming. Jury is still out on this one. It’s a lame attempt to deal with the Obamacare insanity.

SF0023: Challenge loans for natural gas fueling infrastructure: Gives subsidized loans to businesses. Just what we need, more subsidies.

SF0031: Wyoming Veterinary Medical Practice Act: Require licensing euthanize animals. Stupid and bad.

SF0032: Game and fish license fees: Hikes license fees. Very bad. An almost doubling of the “license” and tag fees.

SF0052: Natural gas state vehicles: Forces state to purchase natural gas vehicles. Really stupid, and very expensive.

Our right to self-defense
Rep. Duncan on U.S. Gun Rights: ‘We Live In a Republic, Not a Dictatorship’(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:  Sorry, Representative Duncan, but it was a republic a century ago (before the Federal Reserve and Direct Election of Senators) but we’ve been a dictatorship with growing power for the last ten decades.  It could be said to have ended before that:  talk to LDS families whose relatives escaped to Mexico, to CSA veteran families in Mexico and Brazil, and to Cuban and Filipino families about 1898-1914.  And then talk to German-American families in the Dakotas about 1917-1918, to Japanese-American families on the West Coast 1941-45, to people who don’t want pasteurized or homogenized milk, to midwives, to the veterans of Athens, TN in 1946, and  a lot more people since then.  There is no true republic here, and democracy is just one step in the direction of more tyranny.

Against our right of self-defense
Anti-Gun Groups At White House: Question Isn’t Whether New Gun Laws Would Have Prevented Newtown
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course not, the question is whether or not they can use Newtown (Sandy Hook) and the latest school shootings (no killings, at least) in California to come up with more laws to disarm more people and blacken anyone who isn’t in a uniform (or plainclothes) from having a gun (and only when actually on duty).  It isn’t about “guns” it is about “control.”

Commentary
The Real Root of School Violence – by Tom DeWeese
(FREEDOM’S PHOENIX)

Thanks to MamaLiberty for this:  Some of her thoughts: [DeWeese was a gung ho supporter of Bush and the various “wars on terror” then and I just didn’t want any. No idea if he’s changed much. Don’t see his stuff published often. Anyway, he pretty well hits this one out of the ballpark.

Nathan:  DeWeese has put together some very interesting data and history and come up with 2+2+4 here.  This is certainly in line with a lot of the questions about drug prescriptions for various “syndromes” raised in the past few weeks.  But I think it is MORE than just this:  a whole lot of different factors have led to this current situation, including declining responsibility, morality, and increasing government control in far more than just psychology and ADHD.  Keep in mind, we are on the THIRD GENERATION of children educated by the system DeWeese describes.

Mama’s Note: Oh, absolutely! There is much more than the drugs involved here, but they all sort of feed into and require each other. And one of the most terrible things to come out of it, regardless of whether or not these kids ever “go postal,” is the fact that the men come out of the “schools” seriously emasculated as well. The people of this country will have a terrible price to pay for this – or at least the survivors.

Self Defense?
CA: Teacher talks student out of high school shooting
(BBC News) “A teacher at a high school in California has been praised by police for averting a serious shooting incident. The teacher and a campus supervisor talked a gunman into putting down his weapon after he had shot and injured one pupil at Taft Union High School. Police said the gunman had enough ammunition to kill many people. The injured student was taken to hospital in an air ambulance and is in a critical condition.” (01/10/13)

Mama’s Note: I can hear it now… Oh, we can just talk these people into not shooting… This teacher is very, very lucky to be alive.

Nathan:  That actually is already being said: that teachers should be trained in this and NOT in self-defense using a weapon.  This would-be killer used a shotgun, how convenient to add it to the list of forbidden weapons for the Chief Minion’s committee.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-2D, Theft and Rumors and More

Posted on 2013-01-12 by TPOL Nathan

Theft by government
IRS Warns Employers: Do Not Try to Avoid ObamaCare Insurance Mandate
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:  Hobby Lobby, Chick-fil-A and various Catholic charities are the first order of business;  expect the IRS to use armed agents and have FBI, DEA, BATFE, and state police and local sheriffs or police – usually SWAT teams in full gear – to demonstrate “for the encouragement of the others” just how nasty it will be.  Consider these examples:

SWAT tries to take down Internet meanie; raids grandma instead
SWAT team throws flashbangs, raids wrong home due to open WiFi network
The IRS Paramilitary Raid of Mountain Pure Water in Arkansas
Small business paramilitary raids by IRS, DOJ documentary released
UPDATED: Feds indict local business owners

Mama’s Note: Since none of those items involve anyone – EXCEPT the “cops” – committing aggression, theft or harming another person in any way… there is simply no justification for any of it.

Crash of 2009 – EVIL CORPORATIONS’ minions
Chamber of Commerce CEO: New Taxes Will ‘Hurt Job Creation’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: No, really?  We have any idea just HOW?  Next thing you know, these greedy businessmen will be saying that taxes hurt the children, too.  And you know what?  THEY’RE RIGHT!

Seriously, we are now in the second or third phase of the Crash, just as the Great Depression went through several phases.  Every person earning a paycheck (at least, a legal paycheck) in the US took a cut on 1 January with the FICA back up, and then we add all the ObummerCare taxes and these “fiscal-cliff-rescue” taxes and it all flows down hill.  If Mr. and Mrs. Rich Snob, making $250,000 a year suddenly have an additional $10,000 in taxes to pay (amounting to something like 0.00002 percent of daily federal spending) and have to cut back, it is very likely Miz Cinderella, their housekeeper who works 2 days a week for $10/hour who gets to go find some other work (if she can).  Who wins?  The politicians and bureaucrats, of course.

EVIL CORPORATIONS’ minions
Chamber CEO Calls for Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Who ‘Meet Reasonable Conditions’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: All they want is SLAVES.  Peons to do all the grunt work and get paid minimum wage, to lay off more and more good American workers.  Actually, Mr. and Mrs. Rich Snob (commentary above) will not do their own housecleaning, they’ll go hire Constanza Guzmann, the 14-year-old daughter of a pair of border-jumpers, to do the work after school.  And since she is “undocumented,” they will only pay her $5/hour.  And leftovers.

In a previous commentary, I discussed a case where a border jumper was convicted and imprisoned for stealing an American citizen’s identity for more than a decade.  As far as the crime she committed, it doesn’t matter whether the criminal was a border jumper or born next door to the person whose identity she stole.  What DOES matter is (a) if the thief had been an American citizen, she likely would not have been tempted to steal the identity in the first place (not that it doesn’t happen all the time, I know).  But (b) if the thief had been an American citizen, the local and federal authorities would have taken the crime more seriously, been much more likely to prosecute more quickly, would likely have demanded some kind of restitution, and pushed for a more severe punishment.  An American would have been far less likely to have suffered only 18 months in jail and a “get-out-of-jail-free” card together with a free trip back to her original hometown.  This is similar to the situation in San Francisco, a “sanctuary city” in which a border jumper receives little or no punishment for traffic violations if they don’t have a drivers license, whereas an American will end up with thousands in fines and probably jail time if we DARE run a stop sign or do 5 miles over the speed limit and don’t have a driving permission slip.

Mama’s Note: Sounds like ANOTHER good reason to stay out of San Francisco. 🙂

Stupid government tricks
FDA Seeking Hard-to-Abuse Painkillers
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Ah, in the way that the EPA seeks detergents that can’t harm any part of the environment.  Is there ANYthing which is useful which cannot be abused?  Water?  How about water torture?  And you can die from too much of it.  Food?  Obesity, anyone?  You know there is not.

Mama’s Note: Just a thought… they might start by not creating and perpetuating quite as much pain as they do… But, once again, the fact that people might harm themselves with these things has nothing to do with it – except to serve as an excuse. Their only concern is gaining and keeping control, of people and everything else.

Her Majesty’s Subjects: War against religion
British Christians Await Top Court Ruling on Wearing a Cross at Work
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Who died and made Parliament king and god and everything else?  (Remember, in the UK, the supreme courts are all part of Parliament: the House of Lords.)  And IF these people are really christians, should they really care what the court decides if they sincerely believe that they must wear an external symbol of their faith?  Perhaps in knowing that they can make that reservation for dinner next month or will have to cancel it because they are locked up in the Tower of London awaiting burning at the stake?  The British dig their own grave deeper and deeper.  One man has predicted that the UK will have a pocket civil war in which Scotland, Wales AND Northern Ireland will all attempt to secede from England (not necessarily from the Crown, just Parliament) THIS year.  Things like this contribute to that possibility.

Mama’s Note: Again, it isn’t the symbol itself… it’s the need to control what people think and do. I sincerely hope the people of Scotland, etc. secede… but I can’t figure out how they’d do that from Parliament and not from the Crown. What any of them wants with a high maintenance old lady and her family helping to suck them dry… I’ll never understand.

Culture Wars: Homosexual “Marriage”
Marine Corps Orders Full Embrace of Same-Sex Couples
(CNSNews.com) The memo noted that spouses clubs and various other private institutions are allowed to operate on bases only if they adhere to a non-discrimination policy encompassing race, religion, gender, age, disability and national origin. “We would interpret a spouses club’s decision to exclude a same-sex spouse as sexual discrimination because the exclusion was based upon the spouse’s sex,” the memo said.

Nathan: REAL married couples are not supposed to do any PDA (Public Display of Affection) but the homos in their bogus “marriages” can.  Marines, there are many, many communities who can use your skills and dedication when you abandon the rotting stinking corpse that the White House and Congress has turned your service into.  Based on this logic, Boy Scouts must now be removed from bases because only boys can be Boy Scouts (Debby tells me that boys can now officially be Girl Scouts so there is no problem with THAT “fine” organization.  And Masonic Lodges, too, are out – simply having women’s auxiliaries is apparently no longer acceptable.  And for high schools operating on base, at least private ones (not sure about “public”ones) there will no longer be girls’ and boys’ basketball, volleyball, or even football: one-sex fits all.  I assume the signs on the toilets and the shower rooms will be coming down next.

EVIL CORPORATIONS
Shell may have moved Alaska offshore drilling rig to AVOID taxes
(Yahoo.com)

Nathan: I am SHOCKED.  Deeply SHOCKED that a massive multinational corporation would have used the fact that it MIGHT save money on TAXES as part of its decision in when and where to move an oil rig.  Why… this is even worse than if a former vice president of the United States would chose to sell his TV network to a bunch of Arabs in a hurry to avoid a change in tax law!  Why, of course no former (or present) VP of the US would ever THINK of such a thing.

Mama’s Note: Indeed… That billionaire who accepted Russian citizenship just recently said that it was not all about French Taxes… sure, sure… What I want to know is, why not? And not that I think he made a particularly wise bargain there either.

Chicago Teachers Union President: ‘Off With Their Heads!’
(CNSNews.com) Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said union opponents “think nothing about killing us” and that “wealth disparity” in America today mirrors the 19th century when labor leaders then used to be “ready to kill,” to chop people’s heads off.

Nathan:  So because I (or you) oppose teachers’ unions (and all the rest of the government-run, tax-funded school system), we just want to kill them.  So they will be preparing to do an Iraq and preemptively kill US because the wealth is being concentrated in the 1%: government and its corporatist, elitist and technocratic allies.

Tyranny – Stupid government tricks – New Religions: Environists
EPA Levied a Record $252 Million in Fines in 2012
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And this does not include state or local fines.  One article lists US EPA as the 10th most dangerous federal agency: I think I’d actually rate them higher: those goons who are “doing it for your own good” are always more dangerous than others, and the EPA is increasingly filled with true believers, not just do-gooders.

Stupid people tricks
Clinton: Father of the Year
(Politico) The group selected Clinton for his “profound generosity, leadership and tireless dedication to both his public office and many philanthropic organizations,” Dan Orwig, chairman of the National Father’s Day Committee, said in the announcement.

Nathan: HAAAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAA. I canNOT stop laughing at this – and based on the picture, he figures he snookered everyone.  What a JOKE.

Mama’s Note: Well, a very sick joke anyway. “Profound leadership?” Nauseating, but then I never paid much attention to these things anyway.

And speaking of getting snookered:

Abominable Act – Stupid government – Hoploclasts
Thank Goodness for ObamaCare: Hidden Amendment Prevents Gun and Ammo Registry
(Freedom’s Phoenix)

Nathan: Sorry, folks, but actually reading through that part of the Abominable Act, the restrictions ONLY apply to the Department of Health and Human Services and medical care providers – nothing to prevent DOJ or EPA or DHS or DoD from doing it.  And of course, it could be amended in a heartbeat to let the new “Surgeon General’s Corps of Health Protection Enforcers” do it instead – or as well.

Actually, two friends sent this to me 12 and 8 hours before Freedom’s Phoenix posted it, and one of them saved me the trouble of looking for this in the full copy of the bill/law I have kept on hand since it was passed.  One of them realized this very same thing (which is why he sent it).  This is therefore just a distraction.  And honestly, folks, tell me exactly how it would matter more than a wart on the end of Bill Clinton’s nose if this “law” DID have a prohibition.  The White House and its minions (and controllers) are already ignoring hundreds (if not thousands) of provisions of laws and bills Congress passed – this would just be one more.  Dictators don’t have to pay attention to legislators, whether they are called the Senate or Congress or Parliament or the House of Commons or Delegates or Burgesses or Lords, or the King’s Council or the Politburo.  As long as they pay LIP SERVICE to them and all the trappings of bogus democracy and republics, they can do anything.

Mama’s Note: Increasingly, they don’t even bother to pay lip service to anything that might restrain them. And that’s not going to stop until they run into a brick wall. It’s up to us to build one.

Theft by government
The Great Robbery of Wage Earners
(Laissez Faire)

Nathan: One more example of getting snookered:  most of us (unless we got a raise of more than 2% last year) have SMALLER paychecks in 2013 than in 2012, and this story details both the why and the response to it.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-2C, the “messiah” and goons

Posted on 2013-01-11 by TPOL Nathan

Home front – Liberty
A Thoroughly American Tactic against Tyranny
(Freedom Outpost)

Nathan:  This article is welcome, because most pro-liberty/pro-freedom sites that are more “conservative” than “libertarian” seem to consciously ignore fully-informed jury “rights” (powers) in the tools available.  This is possibly because so many perceive it (wrongly) as being associated just with draft-dodging and against the war on drugs, and because too many were brought up to almost worship the black robed judges.  The more widely information about the powers of juries is spread, the better.  But we must remember that jury nullification is at best a weapon of self-defense with very limited strength and applicability.  Someone wrongly killed by cops, or someone tried and “convicted” by an administrative-law judge or a summary court (that is, without a jury) benefits in no way at all.  And even when juries nullify a law, it is all too easy to get overturned on appeal, or to have other charges filed.  So Freedom Outpost correctly identifies it as a “tactic” and not a “strategy.”

Home Front
FBI: US 20 Most Dangerous Cities
(Bossip)

Nathan:  The list is – interesting (assuming you believe the FBI, or even if we don’t).  The rates range from 1,166 crimes per 100,000 people to a staggering 2,337 crimes per 100,000.  Surprising, too, that the BIG cities (LA, Chicago, New York, Houston) are NOT on the list.  In fact, there are NO Western cities and NO Texan cities.  And only TWO Pacific Coast cities.  Southern cities seem to be fairly proportional to the population of the South (Nashville, Miami, Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis) Old South, at least), but what about Connecticut?  What a cesspool!  The point is, most violent crime, like most unlawful killings, take place in big urban areas: and even there, according to reports, most violent crime and killings take place in “select” neighborhoods:  21st Century ghettos, barrios, and slums.  Why?  In part because of racial issues and economic issues, but ALSO in large part because those areas are where cops (government) have concentrated on disarmament of the peaceful and innocent.  True, criminals tend to kill and be killed by criminals, and those deaths (and injuries) often are not widely reported.  But criminals prey on the weak and innocent – and stupid.

Mama’s Note: That’s a terrible website, each city noted has to be loaded separately. If you want to see the whole list, this is an excellent article at “Shot 97,” a radio site, of all things.

Technology and Finance
Immortality breakthrough
(AgoraFinancial.com)

Nathan: I assume that most of my readers are familiar with Agora Financial, a libertarian-owned/operated investment publisher which owns Laissez Faire Books and publishes a bewildering array of publications all promised to help you make yourself rich.  This is their latest: they have been beating the drum on a gene therapy which throws a “switch” in your DNA to keep cells from aging and dying, and thereby allows direct and personal immortality.  Let me know if this makes sense and if the claims may be valid or not.

Mama’s Note: I think that some people can make progress in that direction, absolutely. It would take serious self ownership, etc. I can’t see it as a “pill” or something that can cause just anyone and everyone to live forever… And the very thought makes my hair stand on end. I think there is a very natural and rational reason why people age and deteriorate as they do, and there is no simple answer to stopping that, though I have no doubt that some will try.

But just imagine Nancy Pelosi or Janet Reno living forever…

Stupid government tricks
How Government Makes Us Fatter
(Jenna Robinson, “The Freeman, December 28, 2012.)

Nathan: I would love to publish the entire article, which proves Harry Browne’s statement: “The government is good at one thing. It knows how to break your legs, and then hand you a crutch and say, ‘See if it weren’t for the government, you wouldn’t be able to walk.’”  It talks about how government interference and intrusion into the marketplace and its “expert knowledge” have created the very crisis that Michelle (the “messiah’s” consort) is now using to increase government power still more.

The “messiah’s” minions-to-be
Sec. of State? Kerry’s Criticism of U.S. Foreign Policy Goes Back 42 Years
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Wow, we’ve got someone with THAT much experience?  We are soooo lucky!

New religions: environists
Oil Industry Says It’s Spent Billions to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Much of which has been in an attempt to meet stupid and useless government regulations, and at least some of the rest attempting to sell themselves to consumers as something that they are not.  Ironic, isn’t it, that much of the price we pay for fuel goes immediately to government and to stupid things which fuel government and environist power and demands?

The “messiah’s” new coronation
Obama Chooses Cuban-American Gay Man As Inaugural Poet
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Wow, a twofer!  Of course, since the Cuban-American community is primarily a conservative one, it isn’t going to get many Demo votes as a result.

Culture wars: Homosexual “marriage”
National Cathedral to perform same-sex weddings
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So?  This “National Cathedral” may have been some people’s church meeting house or temple or whatever, but I never saw it as being anything but another monument to the state, challenging belief in and obedience to God.  This homosexual “marriage” is just one more of many, many abominations conducted in this building which are a violation of basic doctrines of Biblical Christianity.  The sooner people realize that “God does not dwell in structures made by human hands” but in the hearts of those who are voluntarily and freely obedient to Him, the better.

Mama’s Note: And it would be really nice if everyone just gave up the idea that they can dictate someone else’s sexual preference or activity, marriage arrangements or anything else that doesn’t involve aggression against another person.

Theft by government – welfare
Town Official Votes to Refuse ‘Free Federal Money’ for Souped-Up ‘Command Vehicle’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And what a tiny minority this man is.

What we all knew – New Religions: Environism
Humanity Unbound: How Fossil Fuels Saved Humanity from Nature and Nature from Humanity
Indur M. Goklany,  ” Cato Institute, December 20, 2012.

Nathan: Just reading the very brief summary of this article will make you realize the importance of this:  explaining detail by detail, case by case WHY “fossil fuels” are literally a gift from God and PROTECT the environment and preserve and improve human life in so many ways.  It therefore makes it clear that the “environist” position is essentially ANTI-humanity and ANTI-environmental protectionist.

Mama’s Note: Wonderful… bookmarked and I’ll be spreading the link around.

Hoploclasts
Biden: Obama Will Act on Guns, Can Use Executive Orders
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: As expected, it is obvious that the current occupants of 1600 PA and their immediate minions do NOT see themselves bound in ANY way by the Constitution.  And if they will take “executive action” against the liberties protected by the Second Amendment, there is NO part of the Constitution that binds them – even if it were still in effect.  If “executive action” can be used to steal guns (or ammunition) then it can be used to extend terms of office indefinitely, get rid of juries, get rid of habeas corpus, allow double jeopardy, prevent free speech, and everything else.  The media tries to continue to claim that no one is talking about “overturning the Second Amendment” or “confiscating guns.” (Yet every day we hear another politician who has announced they seek to do just those things.)

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-2B: Border Jumpers, Hoploclasts and Theft

Posted on 2013-01-11 by TPOL Nathan

Everyone seems to want to steal:  border jumpers steal identities and money from taxpayers, legislators what to steal our guns, Congress (or some of them) want to steal more money (together with the White House).  And of course, a lot of folks want to make it EASIER to steal.

Border jumpers – Home front
Mexican women pleads guilty in total identity-theft case
(AP) Benita Cardona-Gonzalez, a Mexican national living in Topeka, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of possessing fraudulent identification documents in a deal with prosecutors that calls for an 18-month prison term.  The 32-year-old was accused of completely assuming the persona of Houston elementary school teacher Candida Gutierrez, who first went public in a story by The Associated Press. Gutierrez recounted how the thief not only opened bank and credit accounts, but assumed her entire persona — using it to get a job, a driver’s license, a mortgage, food stamps and even medical care for the birth of two children. All the while, the crook claimed the real Gutierrez was the one who had stolen her identity.

Nathan:  I realize that this is only one women out of millions of border jumpers, but her theft (and the federal government’s pitiful actions to deal with it after finally failing to continue to sweep it under the rug) are a strong argument to be used by those who demand a government crackdown on border-jumping.  This resonates especially with those of us who have suffered significant financial losses from identity theft in the past, or have friends and family to which that has happened.  This woman lived well – often at taxpayer expense – for well over a decade while helping make life miserable for the woman whose identity she took, and her punishment will be a grand total of maybe 558 days in jail (at MORE taxpayer expense) and getting sent back to her home country: not a single dime of restitution to her victim, not a single penny paid back to the taxpayers.  And she is just one of thousands or hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of border jumpers who steal like this.

Mama’s Note: I’m wondering just what her nationality or immigration status has to do with it. The woman was a thief and a liar, enabled by the system, and there are many thousands of people just like her that were born in the US.

“Friends of liberty” we really don’t need
Alex Jones on Piers Morgan Show: Weapons and Revolution
(Freedom Outpost) Internet radio host Alex Jones of InfoWars.com went on CNN to take on host Piers Morgan. Now social media is a buzz with talk about the interview, in which Jones exclaimed, “1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms!”

Nathan: I have stated my opinion of Alex Jones in the past, and his histrionic performance on the Morgan show will be used to justify the sobriquet “gun nut” for years.  This man and his “news” website are a danger to the cause of liberty, and he just elevated the threat by his behavior on a national news show.  I do not doubt that much of the information he publishes on PrisonPlanet.com and InfoWars.com is correct and accurate, but enough has NOT been accurate over the years that I rate it no differently than I would any “mainstream media” site or publication.  I also do not doubt that Morgan is more bonkers than Jones, but that is like saying that Stalin was worse than Hitler: it should not be taken to imply that Hitler should be considered a good guy.  Jones is no friend of liberty, as demonstrated by his actions, no matter what he claims.

Hoploclasts and Hoplophobes
Iowa Legislator calls for government gun ban, confiscation
(Daily Caller) In an interview with the Daily Times Herald in Caroll, Iowa, state Rep. Dan Muhlbauer said governments should start confiscating semi-automatic rifles and other firearms.  “We should ban those in Iowa,” he said, adding that such a ban should be applied retroactively. “We need to get them off the streets — illegally — and even if you have them, I think we need to start taking them,” Muhlbauer told the Daily Times Herald. “We can’t have those out there. Because if they’re out there they’re just going to get circulated around to the wrong people. Those guns should not be in the public’s hands. There are just too many guns.”

Nathan: Like Kelly and Giffords (next story), this Democrat makes a big deal of his ownership of a couple of .22-cal weapons and a shotgun and his being a “western” Iowa farmer.  Westerners!  How many neighbors like him do you have, who will HELP government goons break into your homes and businesses and steal your weapons and ammo and at the drop of a hat (or any other excuse) gun you down in cold blood?

Hoploclasts and Hoplophobes
Giffords and Kelly Launch Their Own Anti-Gun Lobby
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Touting their own gun ownership, these two people are the epitome of the elitists who believe that virtually ALL Americans cannot be trusted with weapons, and use their own notoriety to steal away our liberty.  I can understand their horror and anger, but instead of dealing with the real reasons that Giffords was attacked and so badly wounded, they lash out and try to blame millions of Americans for their ordeal.  Sadly, it is people like them that could lead to a REAL reform of gun and self-defense laws that would deal with unwarranted “gun violence” by encouraging self-defense preparedness, responsible ownership and use, and ending the anti-gun culture of too many companies and communities.  Although these two are not doing that, a few groups are, as the next story relates.

Our right of self-defense
27 Pro-gun organizations unite to fight federal gun bans
(Daily Caller) A collaborative effort of 27 pro-gun state and national organizations has formed to fight against any federal gun bans. The group is referring to themselves as the “National Coalition to Stop the Gun Ban” and has announced the formation of the coalition January 3, 1013. The Nebraska Firearms Owners Association website states: “The objective of the coalition is to kill the proposals. Period. It is not to “compromise” by saddling gun owners with restrictions and whining “It was the best we could get.”  Nothing less than the complete defeat of the Obama/Biden/Feinstein proposals will suffice;…”

Nathan:  Such a cooperative effort is a good start.  It will be even better if they throw their effort behind actions to get rid of many current gun laws, such as the Gun-Free Schools Act which seems to have been a turning point in the number of school attacks and killings in the past two decades.

Culture wars: killing children
Planned Parenthood’s New Annual Report: We Did 333,964 Abortions; 1 Every 94 Seconds
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: When we speak of mass murderers, everyone is shocked and outspoken about some drug-related, hate- and fear-related killing of 5 people here, 10 there, and 20 elsewhere, but the media and most Americans are willing to ignore those people who routinely – as part of their “profession” – kill dozens or hundreds of children; to say nothing of ignoring the millions of people who support PP and other killers with their voices, votes, and money.  Indeed, to me this is about the same as the alleged Aurora killer, James Holmes, publishing a book or even an advertisement boasting of his success in killing people.

The “messiah’s” minions
Panetta to Return to His Walnut Farm, ‘Dealing With a Different Set of Nuts’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I don’t like the man, but this gave me a chuckle.  How true it is.

Theft by government – Congress in action
White House: ‘Nobody Forced Congress to Rack Up the Bills That it Incurred’(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: True, true – which gives the White House a track record of about 1/10 of 1 percent of truthful statements.  BUT certainly the White House is one of the many enablers and instigators of the mad spending spree that Congress has been on for fifty years.  In England and the United Kingdom, including the first British Empire, it was the Executive (then the King) that spent wildly on foreign wars and elaborate government (courts) and the like, and it was the Legislature (Parliament: both Lords and Commons) that reined in that spending and kept careful control of the purse-strings.  Thus the Constitution was engineered based on that idea and designed to buttress the power of Congress to keep the President from going wild.  But as always, such checks and balances inevitably have loopholes and workarounds.  Pork barrel spending (earmarks and the like) were not a problem in 18th Century Great Britain or the original Thirteen nations which joined together to form these United States, but today, Congress has gone even more wild than the White House.

Mama’s Note: An awful lot of people were stuck with “Continentals,” the fiat money printed by the new government to finance the war. Fiat money and theft by government have been going on for a very long time. Interesting short article: Continental Scripts and The Whiskey Rebellion

Home Front
Commuter ferry crash in New York injures 57, 2 critical
(Yahoo) “About 327 people were aboard the boat on Wednesday, said Tom Wynne, spokesman for Seastreak, which boasts on its website that its “fast passenger catamarans provide the fastest commute to New York City!”

Thanks to Bear for this one.  His comments: Ban those high speed, high capacity ferries. Who needs to move a short battalion into NYC for “sporting purposes”? We do not need these military-style landing craft on our waters. Calling it “commuting” is just an attempt by the pro-ferry lobby to obscure their deadly agenda.

Nathan: Great thought, Bear.  Hoploclasts are at their most hypocritical and irrational, not to say inconsistent, when they refuse to address anything BUT guns as being “dangerous threats.”  Despite decades of more and more laws, about 40,000 people still die each year on US highways, many times more than die due to someone (or even themselves) shooting them with a gun.  There are more attacks, and more deaths in those attacks, from clubs and knives and bats.  People die from raising golf clubs over their heads and getting hit by lightning.  Every year, hundreds of children drown in swimming pools, which are still NOT outlawed and generally do not require permits or licenses.  Yet guns have this weird fascination and generate this strange fear…


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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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