My Perfect Christmas

Posted on 2012-12-03 by MamaLiberty

(Originally published on November 24, 2008)

Thanksgiving and Christmas are so interwoven for me that I couldn’t wait to share this true story of my life. This Christmas experience is a big part of the reason I grew up knowing just how much I have to be thankful for each and every day.

1950 was a hard year. My father died and my mother was left with two small children. She was a “housewife” and had no particular marketable skills. She also didn’t have any family who could help her much. She was a recovering alcoholic and suffered from severe depression. Not a pretty picture.

This, of course, was long before the social workers, welfare, food stamps, WIC, or any of the alphabet soup government offices and “programs.” All she had was her faith in God and her children, the few friends who stood with her, and the understanding that it was her responsibility to raise her children and get on with life the best she could.

So, the winter of 1950 found us all staying with a friend’s family in a small Southern California desert town. Not the rich and beautiful part, but the dirt road, snowed in, wood stove outback of the Morongo Valley. There was no telephone or reliable transportation.

I was only four years old, so I have no idea why Mother moved there with no jobs available within fifty miles, any direction. The people we stayed with were living on a small pension and he was dying of lung cancer. Mother had $138. a month in Social Security Survivor’s benefit. Everybody had big troubles, make no mistake.

Some of this I remember myself, and much is remembered because we talked about this period so often, but I didn’t really understand any of it at the time, of course. I knew we were cold much of the time and seldom had enough to eat, but I don’t feel “damaged” or “traumatized” by any of it. Much the opposite is true. I know what it is to be cold, hungry and homeless. I remember that sometimes and thank God for all my blessings. We had each other and lots of love. We didn’t know poverty was supposed to scar us for life.

Christmas Eve came and we put up what decorations we had. (People didn’t ordinarily start to decorate for Christmas after Thanksgiving dinner in those days.) We had a branch of creosote bush for a “tree,” and there was one, small, handmade gift for each child under it. Soon wonderful smells came from the kitchen, and when we gathered for supper we were all surprised to learn that the only thing on the table was a large bowl of bread pudding.

In later years my mother often told us how she and Virginia mixed together the last remaining bread, milk, eggs and sugar with a few raisins and some cinnamon. They put it into the oven with a prayer, and we said our usual prayer of thanks before we ate it. Only the adults knew that those were the last morsels of food left in the house and that none of them had any idea when or how they would be able to get anything else until the next pension check came in on the first. I can only imagine their agony – and their faith.

Christmas morning broke clear and very cold. The snow wasn’t deep, but it stretched unbroken for many miles in every direction. We certainly didn’t anticipate company, but up the road came the county snowplow with a lone blue car behind it. The county never plowed the road by our house, so it was a mystery until the car pulled into our driveway.

Out popped Virginia’s mother! She had shamed the plowman into making a path for her, and he helped her unload boxes of groceries and other things. The children were too busy to notice, however, because we each had a wonderful felt stocking full of nuts, candy and a few small toys. Then, at the very bottom in the toe, was a huge shining orange! Those were worth their weight in gold then and had been very rare in our lives to that point. I can’t begin to tell you what it meant to us as we jealously watched our orange peeled and then savored each drop of the golden fruit.

From that date, Christmas has been a most blessed day. Mother went on to work hard, earning a living for her family. She made sure, by what magic I’ll never know, to have at least one big and beautiful orange in our stockings each year from then on. She told us it was to remind us of the past so that we would appreciate our lives and all the blessings we had. She made sure we never forgot to plan our Holy Day with others in mind.

There was always another place at our table, a few warm clothes to “spare,” a bed on the couch, or just the human touch of hugs and clasped hands for someone in need. She remained active in AA, and sponsored many a man and woman to health and life. Nobody ever left our home hungry, unclothed, uncomforted or unloved unless they wanted it that way.

I have spent my adult life trying to walk in that path. No Christmas passes without oranges, though it’s been years since I made bread pudding. I thank God there was no welfare, food stamps, etc. I would never have had the privilege of that “perfect Christmas.”

God bless and keep you all.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #12-50E – States and guns

Posted on 2012-11-30 by TPOL Nathan

Home Front
Best/worst run states in America
(24/7 Wall Street): Based on several dozen factors, here is the business publication’s listing, in part:

1.  North Dakota
2.  Wyoming
3.  Nebraska
4.  Utah
5.  Iowa
6.  Alaska
7.  South Dakota
….
29.  Colorado
….
46.  New Jersey
47.  Arizona
48.  Illinois
49.  Rhode Island
50.  California

Nathan: The only one that comes as any sort of surprise is Arizona, and the only state in the West to be in the bottom 10. (NO, I do NOT consider California or Oregon or Washington as a whole to be part of the West.)  In the top 10, the only surprise is Iowa:  I work in Iowa now and then, and the state is bureaucratically bloated even more than Colorado.  But apparently they know basic math, unlike Colorado.  Having a passing familiarity with several of the states in the top 10, the scary part of this story is simple:  IF North and South Dakota and Wyoming are among the BEST, seeing how incredibly stupid and inefficient and overbearing and servile to DC THESE states are, the rest of the country is truly and completely well-done.

It is also very interesting that this list pretty much follows a list rating state governments’ positions on a basic human right: that of self-defense.  I talk about that in the next story’s commentary.

Mama’s Note: Personally, I’d rank New Jersey, Illinois, and California a tie for dead last.

Mainstream media – Our right to defend ourselves
Surprise! NY Times Pushes Obama On Gun Control
(NY Times via JPFO E-mail newsletter) President Obama’s fleeting mention of the need for stronger gun controls at a presidential debate last month was hardly the kind of forceful political statement needed to address the scourge of gun violence in this country. Even his tepid remark was considered by the nation’s gun owners as a threat to take away their firearms. In what amounts to a buyers’ panic, they are again ramping up gun and ammunition sales as they did four years ago, convinced that Mr. Obama intends a gun-control crackdown. Mr. Obama talked about starting “a broader conversation” about reducing gun violence. The best place to start is in Congress, which has been grossly negligent toward constituent safety for the past 20 years as it bows to the demands of the gun lobby.

Nathan: As JPFO’s folks pointed out, Congress SHOULD be negligent about ignoring or getting rid of that “pesky First Amendment.”  The thing is, the NYT is growing more and more bizarre as their panic seeps in: we knew that they were a bunch of scum bags, but the degree of their cluelessness continues to surprise a lot of us.  I can’t beat what the JPFO folks said:

The Times worries about the “30,000 lives lost to gun violence every year.” What they don’t tell you is that around half of those are suicides. Of the remaining, in 2010 (the latest year for data), 8775 were from crime, the rest accidental. That’s with over 270 million privately owned guns. I wonder how many crimes were prevented because someone owns a gun? Hmmm, an estimated 2.5 million ? And women are the most likely to be saved by owning a gun? And most shootings involved criminals killing other criminals? Oh, and women are the biggest recipients of being able to show a gun to someone who is looking to harm them?

When you look at WHERE the crime is – including those 8775 dead from guns – you see that most of those are in those badly-run states listed above.  And no surprise: those states are FAR more concerned about such critical items as preventing state endorsement of religion (by having Christmas trees), equal rights (by twisting the definition of marriage to allow homosexuals to “marry” each other), properly teaching human sexuality (to kindergartners), how badly people’s self-esteem is bruised by requiring an ID to vote (or get welfare), and of course, ensuring that “women have rights” by making sure that babies (of any sex) do NOT.  Which leads to the JPFO’s last comment.

Perhaps the Times should be concerned with the 1 million plus abortions this year.

Onward Forward!!!

Meanwhile, other people keep having to defend themselves, some without guns, thanks to groups like the Times.

Self-defense
Florida: Valrico store clerk grabs gun, fights off robber
(Plant City Courier) “A gas station clerk in Valrico thwarted a robbery by grabbing the  barrel of an armed robber’s gun and pushing him out of the store,  according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. About 7:10 a.m.  Thursday, the gunman entered the Mobil Mart at 2510 Highway 60 E. in  Valrico, east of Miller Road, and demanded money from the store clerk,  according to the sheriff’s office. That’s when the clerk grabbed the  barrel of the revolver and wrestled with him, eventually pushing him out  of the store. The suspect ran south from the store without getting any  money.” (11/28/12)

Mama’s Note: That’s doing things the hard way! Glad he didn’t get shot.

Nathan: I wonder what the regulations of the company and the laws of Valrico are to keep the clerk from being able to protect himself without such risk.  What if the clerk had been handicapped; say, in a wheelchair?

Home front – Our right to self defense
FBI crime stats: You are more likely to be killed by hands and  feet than by a shotgun or rifle
(Daily Caller) “The FBI has released their 2007-2011 ‘Murder Victims by Weapon’  report. The results are contradictory to anti-gun industry claims that  relaxing the ban on assault weapons will cause more crime. The report  indicates you are more likely to be killed by hands or feet than by a  rifle or shotgun.” (11/27/12)

Okay, so of COURSE the MSM (like the NYT) and the Tranzis will immediately recant, and the First Citizen will move to change their act – and ban hands and feet.

Home front – War on some drugs
Indiana State Police chief to lawmakers: Legalize and tax pot
(The Raw Story) “The top cop for the Indiana State Police on Tuesday advised a group  of state lawmakers that marijuana be legalized and taxed. Speaking at  a budget committee meeting, Superintendent Paul Whitesell noted that  both Colorado and Washington had decriminalized small amounts of the  drug for recreational use. ‘It’s here, it’s going to stay, there’s an  awful lot of victimization that goes with it,’ Whitesell said,  according to radio station WFPL. ‘If it were up to me, I do believe I  would legalize it and tax it, particularly in light of the fact that  several other states have now come to that part of their legal system  as well.'” (11/28/12)

Oh, my, now that Colorado and Washington have done it, the facade is starting to crack all over the place.  Wonder if he is figuring just how much money they can suck out of those two bastions of state control of every aspect of life, Illinois (particularly Chicago) and Ohio.  I can picture block after block of cannabis supermarkets all along Gary’s border with Illinois. (And Raum Emmanuel building the Chicago Wall to prevent the traffic!)  What fun!

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-50C: Military and more

Posted on 2012-11-30 by TPOL Nathan

Military – Stupid government tricks
Breaking Private Manning
(CounterPunch by Michael Ratner) “By the time the 23-year-old soldier’s court martial starts on February 4, 2013, Bradley Manning will have spent 983 days in prison, including nine months in solitary confinement, without having been convicted of a single crime. This week, in pre-trail hearings, a military court is reviewing evidence that the conditions under which he has been held constitute torture. These conditions include the nine-month period spent 23 hours a day in a six-by-eight-foot cell where he was forbidden to lie down or even lean against a wall when he was not sleeping — and when he was allowed to sleep at night, officers woke him every five minutes — and where he was subjected to daily strip searches and forced nudity. The UN Special Rapporteur for Torture has already found this amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and possibly torture.” (11/27/12)

Nathan:  The next stage of the drama is underway, but for the first time in a small local newspaper today, I saw a story about Bradley Manning.  I may not totally agree with HOW Manning did what he did, and WHAT he did, but I am confident that he did so in the firm belief that he was obeying his oath to uphold the Constitution and was (and probably still is) willing to accept the consequences of his actions.  The words “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” are NOT just words but a statement that the cause of liberty – of freedom AND liberty – was so important that they were willing to not just lose their lives and fortunes in that cause, but that they would give up their very honor – to do things that would dishonor them – for that cause.  Manning almost certainly disobeyed what will be considered “lawful orders” in order to fight what he viewed as a far greater evil and in support of a far greater cause – upholding the Constitution by acting against some people who were domestic enemies because THEY had betrayed their oath to the Constitution and betrayed the trust of their fellow citizens.

Stupid nation tricks
France announces “yes” vote to recognize Palestinian Arab state at UN
(Palm Beach Post) “France announced Tuesday that it plans to vote in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly this week. With the announcement, France becomes the first major European country to come out in favor, dealing a setback to Israel. The timing of the announcement appears aimed at swaying other European nations.” (11/27/12)

Nathan:  France knows (or thinks it does) which side of the bread is buttered:  the term “Eurabia” has never rung more truly than with this announcement.  I am sure others will point out the intense anti-Semitism which has been so common in France for centuries, and cropped up in the early Twentieth Century as well as the Vichy era; in many ways worse than that in Germany.  But I am sure that they may rue the day.  If “Palestinians” deserve their own country, and there is a NATION named Palestine, then France can expect Brittany, the Basque, even the Languedoc and Alsace and Corsica all to claim to be independent nations, gutting France.  On Thursday, the General Assembly approved the “recognition” of a nation-state called “Palestine” – but then, for most of a half-century, the UN General Assembly included representatives from the imaginary (at the time) nations of the Ukraine and Byelorussia.

Mama’s Note: A “gutted” French state would be a serious blessing to both the people of the newly independent areas, and to Europe in general. I don’t see this as any kind of problem, but a blessed ray of hope for freedom everywhere. Are there problems? Of course. Are the people in Palestine pure and perfect? Of course not. But they should be free to live as they see fit, just as much as anyone else. I sincerely hope that the Basque, Brittany, and all the rest are soon free of their central “masters” as well. If they choose new masters and descend into tyranny again, so be it.

Space – Future
SpaceX founder wants to build a colony on Mars
(CBS News) “Elon Musk, the billionaire founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, wants to help establish a Mars colony of up to 80,000 people by ferrying explorers to the Red Planet for perhaps $500,000 a trip. In Musk’s vision, the ambitious Mars settlement program would start with a pioneering group of fewer than 10 people, who would journey to the Red Planet aboard a huge reusable rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane.” (11/27/12)

Nathan: A good view and vision, and one that governments will not and cannot allow.  The only way this will happen is if there is a rebirth of liberty on this planet and in this nation.

Mama’s Note: I don’t agree at all that liberty on this planet is necessary for mankind to colonize in space. In fact, I suspect that the continued tyranny and war on earth will spur those who would make this leap to greater efforts. I only wish I was young enough to go along.

Islamic wars: Mesopotamian Front
Iraq: 42 killed, 191 wounded
(Antiwar.com) “Relatively peaceful Ashoura observances over the weekend were followed a spate of violence today. Shi’ite mosques were hit in Baghdad, while a Kurdish political office was targeted in Kirkuk. When significant attacks occur, many smaller attacks also get reported. Today was no different. Overall, at least 42 people were killed and 191 more were wounded.” (11/27/12)

Nathan:  There are no occupation troops there now to blame this on; it is just the usual Muslim-on-Muslim violence, Arab-on-Arab, and Arab-on-NonArab violence.  If the US were the violent place Tranzis and Europeans make us out to be, we would have to have more than 500 killed and more than 2200 wounded in a day – by bombs and other similar attacks – to be at the same levels of violence.  (In 2010, last date I could find data for, less than 15,000 Americans were murdered in the US, or an average of 41 a day:  comparable numbers would be 3-4 Iraqis. Notice the numbers from Monday did not include any “regular” murders or accidents: just political killings.)

Self-defense
Washington: Neighbor pulls gun on angry armed man
(Central District News) “A woman told police the suspect, who she had never seen before, started pounding on her door shortly before 2:30 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. She looked out the window and saw the suspect and the woman’s neighbor arguing, according to police. She then saw the suspect pull a gun on her neighbor. She then went and got her legal handgun and went outside to confront the suspect.” (11/26/12)

Nathan:  Good neighbor. Not self defense on her part, but still a legitimate and honorable use of a gun and her time.

Mama’s Note: And thank GOD her gun was “legal!” If not, her only choice would have been to stand by and watch her neighbor injured or killed, I guess. And I do hope she didn’t have to go far or look too long to find her gun. If the man had been attacking her, she probably would not have had time or opportunity to go get it. If you actually expect to defend yourself, that weapon belongs on your body… or darn close at hand.

Local tyranny – Cops and other thugs
Texas: Maniac cop knees kid in head, more
(Freedom’s Phoenix) Video

Nathan:  What gives?  This is some cheap little town in Texas with cops with this attitude?  They don’t think these kids are going to grow up and be hoodlums that will either (a) become “outlaws” and eventually pay back these cops or some others, or (b) become thugs in blue uniforms, too?

New religions: global warming
Global temperatures falling
(Freedom’s Phoenix) The most recent global temperature record, released this week, shows the average global temperature fell last year for the second year. There is now general agreement that the rising trend has stalled. This is the background against which governments will meet in Doha to negotiate a globally binding agreement to cut carbon emissions…

Nathan: More lies exposed: but never mind the truth, the Tranzis know what they want and will get it anyway they can.

Mama’s Note: For all of the latest news and discussion about the REAL science of climate and world weather, visit Watts Up With That every day.

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Military: women in combat (Libertarian Commentary on the News, #12-50D)

Posted on 2012-11-30 by TPOL Nathan

Military – Stupid people tricks
ACLU sues over policy barring women from ground combat
(Reuters) “The American Civil Liberties Union sued on Tuesday on behalf of four U.S. servicewomen to challenge a longstanding policy barring women from thousands of ground combat positions, citing the changing nature of warfare and fairness for career soldiers. The civil rights group argued in a legal complaint filed in federal court in Northern California that a military policy to bar women from combat roles on the basis of gender was unconstitutional.” (11/27/12)

Nathan:  To the typical Tranzi, military forces are NOT about defense or even empire, but about ways of changing society and excuses for stealing money from taxpayers and giving money to influence and “engineer” society.  The military becomes nothing more than a pawn in daily politics, and its original and ONLY legitimate purpose is forgotten.  Thus we have this sort of stupidity.

Now I will write some things that many people will condemn me for.

There is NO justification, whether you are an evolutionary humanist OR a devout believer in God, for women to be in combat:  is it not enough that millions of women are killed as civilians and in auxiliary roles?  How have the mass bloodlettings and the generations of impact of the killing fields of the War Between the States, World Wars One and Two, the Russian Civil War and others NOT taught us the lesson of the dangers of killing our brightest and best men – so that we now think it okay to subject women to the same risks?

I am NOT demeaning women by saying that they cannot fight.  But the kitten can and WILL fight against the adult pitbull.  And will die.

First, we must recognize that not all MEN have the physical qualifications to be a combat infantryman, tanker, cannon-cocker (field artillery soldier), or combat engineer.    But it is not a political matter when a new male recruit fails to have good enough physical abilities to be assigned to one of these MOSs.

We must speak of the physical abilities and the role of these in combat: these are NOT political decisions, but realities, with or without technology: in fact, modern military technology has made the difference GREATER.

Women apparently have the same (or better) ability to deal with high-G and significant motion impacts than men on average.  Women have good (or better) reflexes, and the ability to become good marksmen. Women do NOT have the average upper body strength of men, and do not have the ability to sustain very-short-term, high-energy/high-tempo physical activities (they have greater endurance and the ability to pay more attention to detail in repetitive tasks) compared to men.  (I am not saying that there are not SOME women who have these primarily male skills/abilities/physical attributes, but overall they do not – any more than males have the ability to carry a baby for nine months and then endure childbirth (with or without drugs).

For air crew, including fighter pilots and crew, this means that women can match men’s performance – or even better it in some ways.  And the pool of women for fighter pilots is about the same as that of men (maybe a bit less: there are not, I understand, as many ADHD girls as boys).  Ground crew is not much worse, thanks to the ready availability of machinery.  Even the modern navy might not be too badly degraded by the overall average strength of women versus men, again due to machinery.  But at the same time, technology is part of the problem, even in the Navy:  a six-pounder cannon of 1783 fired a six-pound round shot:  lifting and loading it was within the physical capacity of a typical woman, if not all the tasks were.  The weight of an 8-inch shell was NOT; nor is the weight of a 203-mm missile.  Yes, there is machinery to help, but machinery does not always work, and does not always totally replace sheer physical human strength.

But what this translates to in combat is failure.  Women can and DO make good light infantrymen (especially in the fixed-position defense role) – provided that the idiots in charge do not try to load them with the 80-100 pounds to the modern light infantryman, and common from 1900-2012.  If troops can be limited to 30-40 pounds of gear, it is possible.  But women (and weaker men) do NOT make good vehicle crewmen, field artillery gunners, the black-gang on a warship, or combat engineers because they do not have sufficient upper body strength to do the basic duties required: NOT the combat duties (beyond carrying the horrific “basic load” of modern troops outside vehicles, but the ability to replace tracks, change tires, unload and load weapons, ammo, and equipment, and all the other tasks.

Mixed crews of men and women will result in the men being worked to death – or killed because the tasks needed to maintain, load, operate, and repair these behemoths would of necessity fall on the men – not all of whom are even average – or just would not get done!  IF exoskeletons were real and usable and deployed, it might be different.  But when land warriors are dependent on not just their brains, not just their reflexes, not just their marksmanship, but on actual, physical brute strength and the ability to exert themselves at incredibly high levels of endurance for very short times, an army including equal numbers of men and women, evenly divided and spread out, will DIE.  As will any society dependent upon it.  I am not talking about REMFs or fortress troops or even home defense troops, but line infantry, marching or riding or jumping out of the skies to close with and engage the enemy, whether it is in open combat or “low-intensity” or “stabilization operations.”

The ACLU wants the military to FAIL; these women see only the benefits of their own advancement and benefits and fail to understand the purpose behind the oath of enlistment or the very reason that armies exist (as far as free people AND imperialists and statists are concerned).

This does not even address the psychological aspect and differences between men and women, or the impact of mixing male and female troops in field conditions with all its issues from being able to carry a wounded comrade to being able to ensure the rigors of capture by forces to whom the terms “Geneva Convention” are meaningless.  Of course, some of that is a moot point since homosexuals are now “fully integrated” and supposedly “out of the closet” even in combat units.  That alone is enough to seriously degrade the capabilities and survivability of combat units and the military as a whole, without massive societal AND organizational changes.  Adding women into the mix is just speeding up the disaster.

This is a moot point for European Armies, which have been totally feminized anyway, and serve (at best) as auxiliaries or tripwires for British and American forces.  (I do not consider the British Army to be a European one.)  The possible exception to this is the French Foreign Legion, which still does not accept women in any assignment.

For those wishing for the United States of America to go away, this is a great step in the right direction.  Take that as you will.

Mama’s Note: I seriously doubt there will be any great number of women who even wish to enter these positions. This has come up with things like electric linemen and loggers… to date, there are very few women engaged in these fields because, as you say, most just don’t have the physical strength to do the job. The few who do have blended into the woodwork and nobody much even notices.

And if the young men don’t want to die, I suspect they need to make it plain to any women assigned to their units that they are ON THEIR OWN if they can’t pull the freight. The would be lady warriors must be free to fail if they insist… just like the men if they can’t cut it.

 

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Rats! Free E book that could save your life

Posted on 2012-11-28 by MamaLiberty

Rats! Your guide to protecting yourself against snitches, informers, informants,
agents provocateurs, narcs, finks, and similar vermin
By Claire Wolfe
with the Commentariat of the Living Freedom blog

These days, law enforcement at all levels — from the local cop shop to obscure federal agencies — uses snitches to trap ordinary people. Snitches tell lies that send their friends to jail. Paid agents provocateurs talk or trick otherwise harmless people into committing crimes. In many places, Snitch culture has virtually replaced real investigation of real crimes.

Don’t think you’re exempt if you’re a “law-abiding citizen.” The most trusting, naive, innocent people often make the easiest targets for these weaselly, lying, opportunistic vermin. Snitches specialize in targeting the vulnerable.

You may be in danger if you are:

  • A political activist
  • A recreational drug user
  • A hobbyist or business person who works with “sensitive” materials
  • A member of an unpopular religion
  • A gun owner or dealer
  • A participant in the underground economy
  • A photographer or videographer
  • A controversial thinker or writer
  • Or you just happen to hang out with the wrong people

Snitches are everywhere and they’re hard to detect. This brief, FREE ebook, Rats, can help you:

  • Identify a snitch
  • Protect yourself against snitches and agents provocateurs
  • Protect your friends or colleagues
  • Know how to handle yourself if you get arrested

It could even help you avoid being pressured into becoming a snitch, yourself.

Mama’s Note: Download the free book in one or more of several formats.

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The Man I Might Have Killed

Posted on 2012-11-27 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

The dedication page of my new book reads: To the man I had to shoot to save my life.

Yes, you read it right. I’ve already had to shoot a man in self defense. Here’s the story.

In 1982 I was living alone at the edge of a small desert town in Southern California. It wasn’t the best of neighborhoods and I was moving the very next day to a better area. Sometimes your luck just runs out.

I woke up about midnight, hearing angry voices outside at the back of the house. There was no fence and people often wandered around at night, but their argument seemed to be escalating and getting closer so I got up and put on a robe. My little dog was barking up a storm.

Looking out the front window, I saw a man standing by the front door of my car on the street, obviously trying to get into it and well illuminated by the full moon.

I got the shotgun and opened the door a crack, then shouted at the man to get away from my car and go away. He just looked at me and went on trying to get into the car.

Then I made a big mistake.

I walked out onto the sidewalk, closing the door behind me to keep the little dog from getting out.

At that point the man started to walk toward me, in a few words telling me just how he would hurt me. I raised the shotgun, but he just sneered and said confidently, “you won’t shoot me” and kept coming.

He was still too close to my car, so I aimed the .410 shotgun just over his head and pulled the trigger.

I saw the shocked look, just before I saw the blood on his face and chest where the tiny #6 birdshot had hit him. He turned and ran away, destroying a low ornamental fence in the process, but never even slowing to untangle it from his legs.

Elapsed time? Probably not more than half a minute from the time I walked out the door until he fled. The time between his sneering comment and pulling the trigger? Probably a few seconds. The car was no more than 20 – 25 feet from the door.

Emergencies happen fast. I basically had a choice between shooting at him or being killed, with not much time to make up my mind. I was lucky to have the gun, to have taken it to the door with me, and lucky to know something about firing it. Some miracle had made me keep it loaded the two years since I’d left the farm where it had been used on squirrels and other varmints.

Shaking and almost sick to my stomach, I went back into the house and locked the door… made sure every window was locked and took a long hot shower. I had no phone, so could call nobody. Since the sheriff’s office was 32 miles distant, calling them would have been a joke anyway. Everyone in that town just had to live with that fact. I never did report it, not being at all sure what their reaction would be. He obviously didn’t die, and didn’t report it either.

Eventually I went back to bed and tried hard not to think about any of it. As with most things we don’t want to face, I mostly succeeded.

It was almost 25 years, and a few self defense classes later when I realized all of the mistakes I’d made and how close I came to death or terrible injury that night. I was very, very lucky things turned out as they did. And he was very lucky I hadn‘t aimed that gun straight at him.

What were my mistakes?

1. I went from a relatively secure position in the house to a seriously exposed position on the front walk. I basically cut off my only avenue of retreat when I shut the door.

Since there had been others arguing with him only minutes before, there was every reason to suspect he was not alone and that others could have attacked me from behind. It just never crossed my mind… Actually, I was sure he would run away as soon as I shouted, or at least as soon as he saw the gun.

Once I was under attack, understanding my peril and scared to death, I suffered from “tunnel vision.” I was completely unable to see or hear anything but the threat in front of me. I probably no longer even heard the dog barking furiously in the house. This is very common under such stress and can only be overcome with serious training and practice.

2. My gun held only one shell at a time, and I had no others with me. If he had continued to attack after I’d foolishly shot over his head, he would probably have killed me. It is highly unlikely I’d have had time to reload anyway.

3. My major mistake was in confronting him, without knowing what to do and especially without an adequate weapon.

So, should we all just cower in the house or allow ourselves to be attacked and robbed? Only you can answer that for yourself. I did what I thought I had to do at the time, and I would again. If there is a next time, however, I won’t make the same mistakes.

In the course of my training I’ve given this all a great deal of thought. I was amazed and unhappy to discover that many of the handgun and self defense classes seem to ignore or gloss over one of the most important parts of helping people prepare for just such an encounter: practice on your own.

Skills take time to develop and a class or two for a few hours can begin the process, but can’t provide the ongoing practice required to cement those skills into the reflexes and muscle memory needed for fast, effective action under stress. If you understand how the mind and body works under this kind of stress, you’ll understand why you must be prepared to react instead of trying to remember what it is you’re supposed to be doing or agonizing over a decision when you may have only seconds to live if you don’t ACT immediately.

This book of practical exercises grew out of that perceived lack. These are the exercises I do myself on a regular basis, and teach to all of my classes. I believe that these exercises could make the difference between a successful defense and death or serious injury. It’s too important not to at least consider.

A man (or anyone) who attacked me today would face a calm, confident, prepared and VERY well armed woman – any time of the day or night. I would hope that he was able to perceive his disadvantage and just go away.

Some would, and some would not.

His choice.

I’ve already made mine.

[The book, “I Am NOT A Victim” is no longer available.]

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-50B: Culture wars and more

Posted on 2012-11-27 by TPOL Nathan

A medley of news this morning!

Nazgul-in-chief? – Culture wars|Justice Ginsburg: We Need An All-Female Supreme Court
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan et al: Stupid!  My younger son agrees with her; he says that is great, so that the country can tear itself apart even faster.  (He points out that one reason females tend to end up in the lower parts of society is because they act so stupid when in authority!)  Debby points out we need a fair and honest court, and that isn’t going to happen, whatever sex they pretend to be.  Do Nazgul have sexes?  Ah, for self-governing instead of having these blackrobes and all their ilk.

Mama’s Note: Tell younger son that it is the exercise of power over other people that generates stupidity, regardless of gender. Nobody should have that power, of course.

Congress in action – Theft by government
Read Sen. Levin’s Lips: Republicans Must Break Their Tax Pledge
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: As do several other GOP types: they are more greedy for power and wealth than for honor and ethical behavior.  They seem to think that people are even more stupid than we are.

Culture wars: No Xmas – Europe’s Fall
Sweden’s Dreaming of a Gender-Neutral Christmas
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Must be friends with that idiot of an governor of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.  He ticked everyone off last year by renaming a Christmas Tree a “Holiday Tree” (supposedly to be “inclusive in honor of Rhode Island’s traditions” but THIS year, he just gave up on the tree-lighting ceremony entirely.  Now, I recall from elementary school that Sweden’s big contribution to Euro-American Christmas traditions was Santa Lucia – who just happens to be one of the relatively few female characters involved with Northern European Christmas.  (Of course, I have always understood that the entire idea about Christmas was that a virgin FEMALE gave birth to a Son – so what is there that needs to be made “gender neutral?”  This is another example of the Tranzi mindset: majoring in minors and minoring in majors.

Mama’s Note: Seems to me that the people of the world have one or two problems that do not involve the gender of their holiday figures, but far too many people are thus easily distracted.

Stupid government – First Citizen’s minions
Republican Critics of Susan Rice Ease Opposition to Naming Her Secretary of State
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Ah so – I think the GOP is trying to see just how many different ways they can wimp out:  it appears that the GOP is going to finally and officially roll over and do anything the White House and their “opponents” want – instead of just sneaking around and doing it.

Mama’s Note: Well, I’m sure that will be a big relief to all of those politicians who just hate sneaking around…  Oh, wait!

Nah… I doubt there will be any real reduction in sneaking, just perhaps some new sneaky agendas.

Theft by government -Government-ruined, Theft-funded schools
One Third of Schools Receiving Stimulus-Funded ‘Student Improvement Grants’ Showed Declines
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Duh!  You get more of what you subsidize.  You subsidize school failures and guess what!  You get MORE school failures.  For too many teachers, not just the union goons, it is all about the money.  How do you maximize the money you get to control (not just your salary and benefits)?  By FAILING so that the politicians (backed by a stupid electorate) throw MORE money at you.

East Asian Front – Stupid government
S. Korean Defense Minister on N. Korea: ‘Confront Them with a Club and Defeat Them’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Do I hear a wee bit of frustration in this?  Imagine if it were North and South Dakota divided by a DMZ with families split on both sides: family members in the North starving to death or nearly, and freezing in the winter because the elite take all the wood and coal, while in the South we are comfortable and prospering: the night lights up only on the south side of the border.  The temptation to end the suffering in the North would be very great.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party did not understand that The Onion is a satirical publication and was making fun when they declared Kim Jong Un the “sexiest man alive” and put out a special 50-page photo spread of the poor geek (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239121/China-newspaper-The-Peoples-Daily-accidentally-declares-Kim-Jong-Un-sexiest-man-alive.html) What fun!  Communist apparatchiks have NO sense of humor.

Mama’s Note: Oh, this is hysterical. I’ll bet, however, that some Chinese editor somewhere is seriously contemplating the afterlife. These folks don’t seem to have much of a sense of humor.

Home Front
Gun Violence Rising in Media not in Reality
(Political Outcast) An increase in reportings by the media of gun-related violence does not mean that there has been an actual increase in incidents. In fact, violent crime in the U.S. (murder, rape, robbery and assault) actually went down four percent in 2011 compared with the previous year. It’s been going down for the past six years, and last year was the lowest it had been since 2006. It’s dropped twelve  percent since then. Naturally, since the Left will never concede intellectually on the gun control debate, the one thing they can do is just report more incidents to give the impression that more guns equals more crime.

The other side of the coin is that gun ownership is up. Forbes pointed out that call-ins to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) have steadily increased over the past decade:  ”Over the last 10 years (from 2002 to 2011) there has been a 54.1 percent rise in the number of NICS checks and the increase hasn’t all taken place since 2008. In 2005 there were 8,952,945 NICS checks. In 2006 the number topped 10 million. In 2007 NICS checks pushed passed 11 million. In 2008 NICS checks passed 12 million, and then hit the 14 million mark in 2009. They increased slightly (4 percent) through 2011.” We’ve all seen these familiar statistics that have shown consistently that as gun sales rise, crime rates drop. These are no surprise to us since we understand that an armed society is a polite society.

Nathan: Amen!  Assuming this is really the case, and that the reason for the official numbers going down is not either (a) people have given up even reporting or (b) the cops are lying even to themselves, this is obvious to libertarians and even conservatives.  But people are really willing to be blind to the obvious: GUNS SAVE LIVES.  GUNS STOP CRIME – IF IN THE HANDS OF PRIVATE CITIZENS.

Medical
Study: Smoking tobacco “rots” the brain
(The Raw Story)  “In a study published Sunday in the scientific journal Age and Aging, researchers discovered that regular exposure to tobacco smoke caused significant declines in cognitive performance among older people who had elevated cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure. Researchers asked 8,800 people over age 50 to take a series of memory tests, which were repeated four years later, and again eight years later. They found that any risk factor which elevates the chance of stroke or heart attack causes mental degradation.” (11/26/12)

Nathan: Personal opinion?  The rot starts a LONG time before “old age” – and there is a certain degree of “mental degradation” that gets someone to do more than light up that first cancer stick, too.  I have seen the declines in a fair number of people who continue to smoke as they get older.  However, tobacco is one of the many substances that man abuses, ignoring the many good purposes that tobacco and its ingredients can be used for.  Government, of course, will use this as an excuse to hammer something that they have decided is evil.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-50A: This and That

Posted on 2012-11-26 by TPOL Nathan

As I type this in one window, I’m skimming down the list of headlines and blurbs on Freedom’s Phoenix.com on a quiet Sunday evening, when I should be working on the books or projects or taking a nap so I can be rested up to go to bed in a few hours.

Here are some of the headlines (no links), which are, to say the least, alarming.  Some are also “duh, I knew that.”

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity:  Well, duh.  I knew that when I was IN school, and when my parents taught school, mummbly-mummbly years ago.  One reason I kept my two very creative (dangerously so) sons out of the public schools as much as we could afford to.  And it’s the reason they aren’t taking any “organized” college curriculum courses right now.

Marijuana’s top lobbyist tells us where there will be several viable legalization bills next year:  Of course, who defines “viable?”  Now that two states have legalized it, as well as several cities and counties, and now that the supposedly-drug-liberal White House’s minions have all but flat-out stated that they will continue to kick down doors and rip out car linings to find every last cannabis seed, will this be enough to get any more passed?  Or just one more excuse to cut off the privates of state and local governments?  While I don’t think MJ legalization will be enough to get people to rebel against the Feds, it may be part of the mix, unless it is just one more example of standing docilely in line as the executioners move down the line with their pistols. (Another story reports that bills for legalizing “recreational marijuana” will be introduced in Rhode Island and Maine.  I suspect that the people doing and promoting this are the kind that believe if they say the right magic words, laws and more will magically get right.)

Outdoor survival: Your better half: a force multiplier: Duh, why do you think I married her?  Why does both nature and the revealed Word indicate that matrimony, a pair, husband and wife, makes the most sense for humans, whether in a survival situation or not?

These next generation drones will do even more with no human input: Yeah, I guess this is scary.  But!  We are, after all, talking human technology and innovation: what did we expect?  But how many people are working on ways to hack and crash these things?  Or better yet, to disappear and “repurpose” (one of the current buzz words so popular today) to use the UAV against those who would make it a tool of tyranny?

Both Benghazi and the Petraeus Scandal suggest US Media is way too cozy with the State: Gee, whatEVER gave them THAT idea.  This is another Duh: we’ve seen that in this administration more than ever, but it has been the case all the way back to the first Progressive Era in T. Roosevelt’s time.  BUT the mainstream media is dying, and will continue to wither unless someone can take control of this porn-filled media you are on right now.  Did you know that one of the excuses for press censorship in the first century after Gutenberg invented printing was to prevent widespread distribution of porn?  Those statist excuses work well, time and time again.

Finally, a politician admits that winning the Drug War is “impossible.” President Calderon is hardly the first politician to admit that, but I agree that he is probably the highest ranking one to do it.  And how many dead Mexicans did it take him to admit that?  Will it take that many (relatively) for a US president to admit it?  I suspect that it will take a death toll far more than 5 times that of Mexico’s to get ANY politician with ANY significant chance of making it into the White House (legitimately or not) to agree with Calderon.

GE is so stoked about 3D printing, they’re using it to make parts for jet engines: Well, so am I – not that I’m making jet engines with it yet.  But seeing a new 3-D printer for the incredibly low price of $1,299 (and free shipping!) and reading about what everyone is producing using these is a big boost to my hopes that we can survive the coming collapse of Western Civilization.  That $1300 beastie probably cost $100,000 a year ago, and didn’t even exist two years ago.  And no, I don’t want it to make cute little Android figurines to sell to tourists or give as gifts, or even to make protective cases for my smartphone.  Weapons, surgical tools, crowns for teeth, dental implants, bone implants, replacement parts for pre-1985 vehicles (IE, pre-computer/fuel-injection) and thousands of other uses come to mind.

Top Republican senator ditching Norquist anti-tax pledge: And sure, and it didn’t come sooner: the man (and the other GOP scum) is a politician – betrayal of principle is right up there along with “greed” and “power” and “get laid” as major motivations.  “Stab in the back” is a product feature, not a defect in our political system.

4 young people in Africa design generator that runs on urine: More human ingenuity at work.  We better learn how to do that here, too. (Actually, the FP links are all broken and the story is almost 3 weeks old: you can find it here.  Four Nigerian teen girls have put together an simple system to break down urea to free and capture (and purify) hydrogen as a gas to run a genset.  One liter produces one hour of electricity: voltage and wattage unknown (the pictures show what could be a pretty standard 500-watt genset, so that would mean 1/2 a KWhr – about 15 cents worth of power in normal times but invaluable in times of crisis).  But you can also buy (on-line, where else!) at least two different versions of pots that you can either sit on a fire or burn virtually anything in, that will produce 5 watts of power for as long as you have stuff to burn to charge your cellphone or your pacemaker or any other USB-powered/charged device.  That with solar and wind and a few other gadgets helps even BEFORE the collapse.

That is my “this and that” for this weekend.  There is a lot more out there, and we are going to find that the closer we get to collapse, the more volume of news will be there to distract us and often, to terrorize us.

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Guest Commentary: We can all starve together.

Posted on 2012-11-26 by TPOL Nathan

This was published both in the Rapid City Journal and Dusty’s own Fall River Reader of Hot Springs, Fall River County, Paha Sapa. She’s graciously given our esteemed publisher and me permission to republish it.  I’ve added my other thoughts at the end.

We can all starve together.
by Dusty Pence

I wish that in the cold light of a new day I could tell you that I am hopeful for our country in spite of last week’s election, but that would be a lie. I know that many of you think this transition to a bigger, more powerful federal government is a good path. You think that through government, society will somehow care for the least of us, that the poor will be fed and the greedy punished.

History says that this simply isn’t true, that the approach for which you voted does not work. It never has. It never will. Government is not compassionate. Only people are compassionate and compassion cannot be legislated. Take every dime from every wealthy person on earth—you will not have enough to fund the nation you envision, and once you have confiscated that wealth, no one will have an incentive to create new wealth. Food will be rationed, along with every other vital good, along with our very lives.

Success doesn’t happen by government dictate; it happens when people have the drive and desire to make it happen. Money can’t be endlessly printed—it must be earned, or its value is diminished. A wheelbarrow full of paper dollars might buy you a mouthful of food, but perhaps you think this will make you happy—after all, no one else will have enough to fill their stomachs, either.

We can all starve together. Won’t that be lovely?

I fear for our nation, for myself and most of all for the children in my life. What sort of world will they face? Will they lose every semblance of freedom? Will they be forced to fight to regain their freedom? Will they live in poverty with no hope for escape? Will they have to scrounge and battle for every morsel of food?

Today, we drive our cars and go to work, shop and play, as if nothing has changed. But everything has changed.

Our nation has voted to progress toward a society made up of weak, dependent victims. I do not see a path that will allow us to turn the tide, unless that path is one of revolution.

Dusty Pence is a writer, editor and the editor of the Fall River Forum. She is a native South Dakotan and fourteen-year resident of Fall River County. Pence edited local author Mary Ellen Goulet’s Cascade of Flames and A (not so) Simple Life.

Here my own thoughts on first reading Dusty’s editorial:
Dusty, thanks for speaking boldly in this editorial. And not sugar-coating the truth.

We can avoid the “starving together” only if we are prepared to not do so, and make some sacrifices now. But too many of us, as you point out, don’t want to see that things have changed. Which is one reason that those who do see and are willing to take action and prepare for what is coming must deal not just with the usual gaggle of parasites but to defend themselves, their families, and their community against those who refused to prepare until it was too late.

None of us should want to initiate any violence, but must be prepared to protect ourselves against force used immorally against us: that may indeed be “revolution,” in part because what we have seen the last two elections are fresh victories from the counterrevolutionary forces we have let sweep away so much of our liberty.

To that, let me add:  “Freedom” and “Liberty” which we inherit is worth exactly what we paid for it: that is, nothing.  We each have to work and fight for liberty for ourselves, our family, and our neighbors, daily.  And that doesn’t mean going off to some foreign country, even if there is a legitimate argument that we are helping free others from tyranny.  It has to be at home.  “Use it or lose it.”  When we stop exercising, whether it is running or weight-lifting or riding a bike, after a while, we just can’t do it.  Same thing with throwing lead down range: skills are easily (and too quickly) lost.  So it is with liberty: we can let it slip away, and before we know it, there is NO way to get it back that does not involve paying a large price: in convenience, security, treasure… and blood.  We are well past that point.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-49E: Thanksgiving & Lost Liberty

Posted on 2012-11-24 by TPOL Nathan

Thanksgiving is a time to remember what we are thankful for, and there are many things for which I am thankful, even though those tend to get crowded out by the week’s and day’s worries and frustrations.  But here is a brief listing:

(1)  My physical family: wife and sons

(2)  My godly family: brothers and sisters in Christ across the world and nation

(3)  My political family: allies who are lovers of liberty – even those who sometimes do not seem to love it as much as I wish they would, or see their own blindness

(4)  Those who have fought and died for liberty – from Hebrews to Scots to AmerInd to Confederates to Americans (even if so often misguided) to rebels and all those who value liberty and willing to pledge it and life and property and honor

(5)  For modern technology, which lets me stay in contact with those I love and helps me make a living and fight against tyranny

(6)  For my family and teachers ad professors and officers and NCOs and employees and employers who taught me values and skills and a love for liberty and freedom and God

(7)  For safe journeys and what freedoms we do have left to be able to work and live and enjoy this wonderful land of the West

I suppose I could go on to a “Baker’s Dozen” but seven is a perfect number, so I leave this with you all: I am thankful to God and to all those who have given me so much over the years.  May we continue to remember and count our blessings and share them with others.

Jack-booted thugs
Piedmont officer is fired over public urination ticket
(Freedom’s Phoenix)
Piedmont city officials have fired a police officer who wrote a public urination citation to the mother of a 3-year-old who dropped his pants in the family’s front yard.

Well, that is ONE gone – and how many million more?  Of course, he’ll go on the gypsy circuit and find a job somewhere else soon enough.  Maybe in YOUR county.

Home front – Stupid government
Just When You Thought the New York City Food Nazis Couldn’t Get Any Worse
(Lew Rockwell blog c/o Freedom’s Phoenix)
A blogger reveals that not only is it now illegal for “Nazi York City” cigar stores that have smoking areas for their customers to serve coffee to their customers, but that using names of food for tobacco blends is ALSO illegal (Wild Cherry pipe tobacco now must be called “Jubilee.”)

This kind of petty tyranny escapes a lot of public scrutiny, in part because the Mainstream Media SUPPORTS such bans and because there are so many, it is impossible to keep track of them.  Everyone of these stupid little incidents is like a grain of sand blasting against your windshield: sooner or later it is pitted beyond use.  So to with what tatters are left of our freedoms.

Home front – TSA Thuggery
TSA reportedly exposed breasts of Rep. Ralph Hall’s teen grandniece, called it ‘accidental’
11-21-2012  •  http://twitchy.com, by Twitchy Staff
TSA reportedly exposed breasts of Rep. Ralph Hall’s teen grandniece, called it ‘accidental’; Update: TSA internal report released, blames girl’s ‘loose fitting’ dress…

Debby: It is “Puppet Masters” – no one can wear a dress on an aircraft without being molested by the TSA, we might as well go naked!

Nathan:  One of Oleg Volk’s more recent posters, showing an 1880s Sheriff or Marshall with a pistol and noose, makes the solution obvious.

Congress in action – Abominable Act
Bi-Partisan Bill Adds Religion Exemption to PPACA
(Vision to America) A bipartisan bill in the House would expand the religious exemption to the insurance mandate in Obamacare, allowing those with a religious objection to absolve themselves of the mandate’s health insurance requirement with an affidavit. Introduced by Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), the bill has drawn co-sponsors from both sides of the political aisle, including Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Todd Akin (R-Mo.) Ron Paul (R-Texas), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).The bill would allow anyone to be exempt from the individual mandate so long as they filed an affidavit along with their tax returns that “sincerely held religious beliefs” would cause them “to object to the medical health care that would be covered under such coverage.”

Lipstick on a pig.  Even with the list of co-sponsors (Lee?  Frank?), they might be sincere about thinking this will help.  They are WRONG.  This smells to high Heaven.  The government (Congress) would give us PERMISSION to claim our First Amendment Rights?  This looks like the medical version of Concealed Carry Permits and Gun Licenses.  What is next?  Safeguarding OTHER parts of our religious freedom by setting up a system where we can submit applications to worship together on Sundays?  This may be seen by some as a stop-gap measure to plug a hole in the dike: I see it as just another expansion of government tyranny.

Mama’s Note: And why, pray tell, only “religious” objections? If this thing is so wonderful for the people, why would anyone be “allowed” to exempt themselves? I don’t have any “religion,” and won’t pretend that I do, but I have no intention of participating in this fraud anyway.

And then, a pretty nasty idea came to me. We’ve said for a long time that the “licenses” for guns and carrying were de facto registration – and we all know where that leads. Why wouldn’t the parasites in government think it was a great idea to have a “registration” of religious people (and others) who object to their slave status?

Home front – Our lost rights
Privacy Lost
(personalliberty.com) Last week, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) proposed a bill that would have removed the 4thAmendment’s life support and sent it off to the hereafter, like most of the rest of the Constitution. It would have allowed more than 22 government entities to access Americans’ email, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts and Twitter messages without a search warrant. It would also have given the FBI and Department of Homeland Security more authority to gain full access to Internet accounts without informing the owner or a judge. … After CNET News published an article Tuesday exposing the bill, the outcry became so great that Leahy announced that night on Twitter that he was dropping support of warrantless access.

Nathan: Well, that is great.  BUT it doesn’t mean that the Feebs and everyone else will not have that power given to them by Imperial Decree (excuse me, Executive Order).  Nor does it not mean that this scumbag Leahy won’t sneak it into this year’s National Defense Appropriations Act (like he and his fellow District of Criminals inmates did with so much last year) or won’t reintroduce it as an amendment to a bill designating the second week in January as “National Love Your Aunts and Uncles Week.”  Bill Livingston points out in the full article, that he considers the Fourth Amendment on life support since the passage of the USA PATRIOT ACT in 2001:  I rather think of it more like a zombie, arms and legs cut off, rotting somewhere while people pretend that it is still alive.  Along with the rest of the 4,400 words of the US Constitution.

Mama’s Note: I always shudder when people amend their objections to this insanity with something like, “except with a search warrant” or “the permission of a judge.” Why would anyone allow their privacy to be violated on those terms? The “search warrant” has no more validity than any of this legislation, and most “judges” are not fit to chair a PTA meeting, let alone have this kind of power over the lives of other people. The SAME people who propose and support such invasion of privacy are the very ones who appoint and elect these “judges.”

If you truly want privacy, stay away from things like facebook or twitter. Encrypt your email and don’t post anything on the web that you wouldn’t want the goons to read. Yes, that will seriously limit your ability to interact with others via the computer, but it is the only choice remaining if you value privacy.

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