The Republic of Lakotah – Wrong? (Part 2)

Posted on 2012-10-15 by TPOL Nathan

In part 1, I addressed the first part of Lendman’s article about Russell Means’ fresh proclamation of the independence of the “Republic of Lakotah” on 29 SEP 2012.  This continues my discussion of Stephen Lendman’s article.

I have omitted Lendman’s exhaustive (and biased) discussion of “genocide,” with the sole comment that the word is stretched far out of its original or standard meaning.  The definitions he uses could be established as a basis for saying that telling someone you hate them and their family and tribe and culture is genocidal in nature.

To read that, go to: Freedom’s Phoenix (No, I don’t have the foggiest idea why they use the picture of the girl waving at the sky.  I suppose it is better than the other picture I’ve seen associated, of an “Indian brave” that is more suitable for the cover of a romance novel than for a modern political article.)

Based on Lendman’s definition, the war against Hitler’s Germany was a war of genocide, as was the war against Imperial Japan, and even the war against Mussolini’s Italy.  Indeed, I cannot think of a single nation on earth that has not, at one time or another, practiced genocide against some distinct group of people.  Examples would include the French Revolution (genocide against the royal family (the Bourbon Clan), the nobility, the clergy, and the monastic orders), Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries, and of course, the Spanish-Portuguese Reconquista of Iberia.  Picking up at the end of the “genocide” discussion, we see this:

“Constitutional provisions don’t let government abuse people or deny them their rights. They don’t authorize genocide, either within or outside the country. They don’t permit theft and occupation of their lands or any others.”

Bold claims, indeed.  I’ve yet to hear of a nation on this planet which has a constitution that EFFECTIVELY prevents government from doing these things.  Indeed, many constitutional provisions in various nations are designed (and used) to empower government to do this.  Just legally!

“Nonetheless, binding principles are spurned. America, Israel, and rogue NATO partners violate them with impunity. Crimes of war, against humanity, and genocide are official policy. Millions of corpses bear testimony.”

Lendman’s words, almost certainly.  I do not think that Russell Means cares much one way or another about Israel or NATO.

“On December 17, 2007, a delegation of Lakota people went to Washington. They declared independence. They called it “the latest step in the longest running legal battle” in history.”

A delegation representing whom?  Themselves, certainly, but who else?  How many tens of thousands of Lakota men and women signed petitions for them, nominated them, elected them, or gave them powers of attorney to represent them?  As near as I can find, virtually NONE.

“It’s not a cessation, they said. It’s a lawful “unilateral withdrawal” from treaty obligations permitted under the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.”

Wait for it.

At the time, American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Russell Means said:

“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us.”

“We offer citizenship to anyone provided they renounce their US citizenship.”

Nothing but rhetoric: there is no process that I can find on the Republic of Lakotah website or anywhere else for a single non-Lakota (as defined by them) to declare for the republic, or renounce US citizenship.  Meanwhile, remember that “unilateral withdrawal” bit?  Just wait for it.

“United States colonial rule is at an end.”

I am sure that is a great relief and encouragement to millions of Southerners, more millions of Texans, quite a few Alaskans, to say nothing of Puerto Ricans, Afghanis, and Okinawans.  Oh, and did I mention Latter-Day Saints (not just “fundamentalist Mormons”) and Scientologists?

“Signed documents were delivered to the State Department. Sovereignty was declared. The Republic of Lakota was established. It’s based on the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. It created the Great Lakota (Sioux) Nation.”

Indeed?  Signed by whom?  The people that delivered it?  They claim only a quarter of a million survivors: how about just a measly five percent of those: 12,500 people?  Many states require that just to get a political party on the ballot.

Here is what I’ve asked you to wait for:  That 1851 Treaty supposedly is one of the several treaties from which they are unilaterally withdrawing.  Yet, they admit (or claim) that the Great Sioux Nation (the term used in the treaty) was founded by the very treaty that they are now rejecting!

You see, there WAS no “Great Sioux Nation” as defined by international standards, until that evil US government MADE ONE UP.

There was a people – actually, many peoples, who had a common language (relatively common – slight variations called “Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota” (with or without the h’s and substituting a “c” for a “k” or not) because the dialects swapped a L for a D for a N.  But each of those groups of common language speakers (which didn’t even share a common economy, ecology, or society) was made up of various independent, self-governing bands.  These bands sometimes preyed on each other.  But mostly they preyed on speakers of other languages or relatives whose language departed enough from the basic Ahkota that they were hard to understand (“These people talk funny, they are not really human and they are not related to us; we must kill or enslave them!”)

There were no chiefs of even the Seven Council Fires who were elected or acclaimed: no one had ANY authority to speak for the Sicangu or the Oglala or the Sicasapa as a group.  “Oyate” (now usually translated as “nation”) meant only “a group of related people that share a lot of things and get together now and then.”  They were less of a nation than Germany was prior to 1871 or Italy before 1861 or Ireland before the Five Kingdoms.  These various groups were as much a nation because they shared a common language as the Americans and the British, or Swiss German-speakers and Austrians and Germans.

It took the US government to appoint some of the chiefs of those bands to be Chiefs of the Great Sioux Nation.  And they didn’t even get the name right: most of the real “Dahcotah” (those who used D instead of L) lived EAST of the Missouri and even in Minnesota: it was not for another dozen years that they would be driven west – and even then, most didn’t make it to the Missouri.  So the boundaries include ONLY the general area where the Lakota wandered.

It states in part:

“The territory of the Sioux or Dahcotah Nation, commencing the mouth of the White Earth River, on the Missouri River; thence in a southwesterly direction to the forks of the Platte River; thence up the north fork of the Platte River to a point known as the Red Buts, or where the road leaves the river; thence along the range of mountains known as the Black Hills, to the head-waters of Heart River; thence down Heart River to its mouth; and thence down the Missouri River to the place of beginning.”

It gave Lakota people portions of northern Nebraska, half of South Dakota, one-fourth of North Dakota, one-fifth of Montana, and another 20% of Wyoming.

It “gave Lakota people” something that was not Uncle Sam’s to give.

But the maps that the Republic of Lakota has used actually claim ALL of Nebraska north of the Platte River clear to the Missouri, south of Omaha, and so claim Omaha and most of the state.  Some claim all the way to the Solomon River in Kansas.  There are more problems: little ones like the fact that the US government agents who negotiated this did not understand (or care) that much of this chunk of territory was also claimed as the hunting and living territory of a good many other tribes, such as the Ponca, the Cheyenne, the Crow, and the Arikara and the Pawnee.  Nor did they seem to note or care that the Lakota themselves had only fairly recently (in historic terms) come into control of most of their territory. They did not steal the Black Hills from the Cheyenne until 1776, and had not even discovered the Black Hills until three decades after French explorers did (1642 versus 1678 or so). (And yes, I use the term “steal” deliberately and intentionally and specifically. The Lakota took the Black Hills from the Cheyenne in precisely the same way that the Americans took the Black Hills from the Lakota – by invasion, conquest, and a “treaty.”  That the Lakota and Cheyenne then became allies is as inconsequential as the fact that tens of thousands of Lakota men and women have served in American armies in the last century.)

This map is one of many on the web showing what the Republic of Lakotah claims.

However, here is a map showing the area described in the treaty which they claim established to “Great Sioux Nation” as a political entity.  The differences are significant, and the land “recognized” by the US government still included a LOT of land claimed by other tribes – and in which other tribes lived!

For those who are interested, the “White Earth River” in the treaty is today known as the White River, in South Central South Dakota including both the Sicangu and Oglala country (the Rosebud and Pine Ridge).  For an interesting discussion, see

David Bernstein: Current Projects: Geography

Not only did the US government make up the “Great Sioux Nation” out of several dozen different bands of Lakota (and didn’t even understand their name correctly), but the US also created their boundaries out of whole cloth – subject for a separate article.  They gave the new Lakota nation a bunch of other folks’ territory.  Nice, huh?  But it is the very treaty that Means wishes to unilaterally withdraw from that established the boundaries that he claims.

“Unilateral withdrawal from all treaties and agreements became policy. America never honored its own. More on that below.”

The exact logic here escapes me.  But there is certainly a lot of exaggeration in these statements.

“Earlier events led to the 2007 declaration. In 1974, 5,000 International Indian Treaty Council delegates, representing 97 North and South American Indigenous People, signed a Declaration of Continuing Independence.”

Just as the numbers here baffle me.  5,000 delegates represented 97 people?  Or 97 groups of people?  Out of how many separate tribes?  There are more than 200 federally-recognized tribes in the US alone – many more in Canada, and certainly hundreds more in MesoAmerica and South America.  It sounds neither VERY “democratic” and/or “republican” in nature.  It DOES sound like something that the Bolsheviks (or modern Transnational Progressives/Socialists) would do.

“It was a ‘Manifesto representing the wisdom of thousands of people, the Ancestors, and the Great Mystery supports the rights of Indigenous Nations to live free and to take whatever actions are necessary for sovereignty.’ ”

Apparently, it is only “Indigenous Nations” that have these rights: not individuals, and not “non-native” individuals or groups.  To people like Lendman and Means, despite their “libertarian” protestations, there is no individual sovereignty, there is no individual liberty and no personal responsibility: there is only the GROUP.  For the Group, of the Group, by the Group.  The GROUP may be the state, or the tribe, or the “proletariat” or the clan or whatever.

In Part 3, I will look at the idea of just who can claim to represent the Lakota people, and for that matter, the entire Seven Council Fires (Great Sioux Nation), and at the various claims made by Means and Lendman.

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Mama’s New Dog, Laddie

Posted on 2012-10-14 by MamaLiberty

Laddie and his toy box

My previous dog lived to be 19 years old. In June of 2011, he became ill and had to be put down. Losing a long time companion like that was hard, and I didn’t even really look for a new dog for a long time.

When I was ready, I went looking for a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. I had a mixed breed Corgi many years ago, and knew I’d enjoy having another. They are lively and vocal without a hint of aggression, though they are usually territorial and protective – mostly expressing this in vigorous barking. Oh, and they LIVE to herd things… anything and everything!

His first encounter with the deer was funny, and I’m very glad there was a fence between them. He would have given anything to be able to run out and start herding them, which I doubt they would have appreciated.

Laddie is a joy to train, and already a very loving and precious companion. Now I need to figure out some way to safely allow him to chase a rabbit… it’s only fair.

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The Republic of Lakotah – Right? (Part 1)

Posted on 2012-10-14 by TPOL Nathan

This is my analysis of a particularly strange piece of “non-news” that cropped up a few weeks ago.  I noted it first in Freedom’s Phoenix.  Because of my professional work, and because of my historical research and ancestry, and interest in the West, I look at these things with great interest.

I think many other folks will be interested as well.  This is part 1 of 4 parts.

WARNING:  I consider Stephen Lendman to be an evil, vicious, hateful, and spiteful individual who taints any cause he supports by his blindness, arrogance, and ability to twist any innocent thing into what he considers to be evil.  At the same time, I force myself to read his screeds because too many people think like him and it is important that we understand his kind of evil.  I’m grateful that Freedom’s Phoenix posts his columns: they are good about posting ravings like this one we are going to look at.

In this case, Lendman’s espousal of a cause and a person does damage to that cause and purpose, but I find it hard to be sympathetic to either.

I was unable to find Dennis Means’ pronouncement directly on-line: Lendman’s link is to a video from 2007 or 2008.  He apparently made this latest statement on Saturday, 29 September 2012, and at first it was picked up by CNSNews.com from la Voz de Aztlan but was removed before I found it (it was not on their usual daily digest).  I suspect that one reason is that his announcement was not news as it was virtually identical to the original proclamation made on 17 December 2007 – nearly a half-decade ago.  In other words, it was not news: it was a stunt by someone.

The reasons for the declaration are not new, either, but the claims made are not all true: many have been exaggerated for whatever reason, and many are political statements with no real meaning, or ad hominem attacks and use of the typical swear words found in politics:  “genocide,” and “fascist” and “racist” and “hater” and “bigoted” are all so very common and twisted beyond meaning.

Lakota Sioux Nation Leaves America
by Stephen Lendman
First off, this “Lakota Sioux Nation” (actually, Means proclaimed the “Republic of Lakotah” and not the LSN or anything like it) hasn’t left America.  I suspect there are not more than a few hundred adherents to this cause: you can find more people who claim to be citizens of the Republic of Texas.  Russell is still here in the USA, and I suspect virtually every one of his supporters are as well.  There is no border fence around the area he claims (more on that, later), and there are no border signs or customs checkpoints, or anything else to indicate that you have crossed from a part of South Dakota or Wyoming that is still part of the Union, to one that is not.  And the area is inhabited by around a million people, of which only about 1/10 have any AmerInd blood, much less Lakota blood.

“America betrayed them and all Native Peoples. Throughout US history and earlier, genocide was policy.”

This is a favorite theme of Lendman’s – but I’ll go along with him with this proviso: it was not just “Native Peoples” but ALL people that have ever dealt with the US that have been betrayed time and again, from indentured servants in 1783 and American merchant seamen in 1803 to Texan frontiersmen in 1849 and Oregon emigrants in 1850 and LDS settlers in 1854 and Southern yeoman farmers in 1860 and coal miners in 1900 and Hutterites and German emigrants in 1917 and Japanese emigrants in 1942 right down to business owners and medical patients in 2012.  As for genocide, yes, at one time that was the de facto policy, but it has not been the legal policy for more than 130 years, and not the actual policy for a century.  But it happened, and we don’t have a time machine, and we cannot undo the past.

“Historian Ward Churchill explained four centuries of systematic slaughter. It went on from 1492 – 1892. It continues today against Native culture.”

Anytime you hear Ward Churchill cited as a reference or an authority, pull your pants up and get on your wading boots; it is gonna get deep quick.  To call it “systematic slaughter” is patently absurd: there is not a single government – not even Massachusetts or Virginia, that can really honestly trace its existence back 400 years.  And the “slaughter” – effective though it may have been – was not systematic: it was sporadic, driven by many reasons, and hardly to be equated to even the Soviet campaign against the kulaks, or the Holocaust.  To compare the actual killing of people with the destruction of culture is not only false and demeaning to both, but incredibly stupid.

“Churchill estimated around 100 million Native People throughout the Americas ‘hacked apart with axes and swords, burned alive and trampled under horses, hunted as game and fed to dogs, shot, beaten, stabbed, scalped for bounty, hanged on meathooks and thrown over the sides of ships at sea, worked to death as slave laborers, intentionally starved and frozen to death during a multitude of forced marches and internments, and, in an unknown number of instances, deliberately infected with epidemic diseases.’ ”

So too were hundreds of millions of others, of every race and skin color and ethnicity and nationality and age and sex – for the entire history of the human race since Cain spilled Abel’s blood.  The AmerInd – and especially the Lakota – are pretty lucky as these things go:  how many Azteca or Dumonii or Etruscans or Montanards or real Moors are still around?

“Destruction of their culture continues in new forms. ‘The American holocaust was and remains unparalleled, in terms of its scope, ferocity, and continuance over time.’ ”

This is Churchill’s stock in trade.  Churchill, like Lendman, makes his preferences clear.  Russian Soviets can kill 50 million, Mao’s Communists can kill 100 million, but American efforts are “unparalleled.”

“Silence and denial suppress what happened and goes on today. Try finding coverage anywhere by America’s major media. Virtually nothing is said, let alone explained.”

You won’t find me supporting the mainstream media, of course.  But there is a LOT of coverage – notice nothing is said about Barbara Walters’ recent crybaby “expose” of Pine Ridge.  Of course, that happened in October 2011, long after this initial “declaration of independence.”

“Survivors represent a tiny fraction of original numbers. They also symbolize a longstanding US tradition of butchery and viciousness.”

“After centuries of systematic slaughter, Census Bureau data estimated around a quarter-million US survivors. Those living struggle to get by.”

Note, of course, that “survivors” are defined as “full-blooded, original language speakers who believe only in the ancestral religion” – and of course this ignores the tens of millions of Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans whose genes come from a mix of “native American” and Euro-Asian-African blood, but didn’t have ancestors that let them get trapped on the reservations.  Never mind that much of the killing and other actions were NOT the “US” but various imperial and royal governments, from Spanish and Russian to French and English.

After centuries of systematic slaughter, Census Bureau data estimated around a quarter-million US survivors. Those living struggle to get by.

Like I said, unless you use Means’/Lendman’s secret definition of “survivors,” you can’t come up with this.  Quarter-million?  There are twice that many Navajo (and that is the enrolled, half-blood or better kind); there are that many Ahkota (Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota) in the Dakotas and Minnesota alone!  And there are hundreds of thousands, though enrolled members of various tribes, who are ARE doing well as private businessmen and women, professionals, military personnel, and (sadly) government employees: federal, tribal, state, and county – even local.  Even on the Rosebud or Pine Ridge, there are still a significant percentage of the population that are well-off, even by American standards.  And that does not include those of us whose ancestors were smart enough to NOT get on the government rolls and “protected” but assimilated to our nation’s culture, just as did tens of millions of Campbells and O’Rourkes and Goldsteins and Lees and Gonzalezes and Spinellis and all the rest.  But we aren’t “real Native Americans” because we cut our hair short and don’t worship Wakan Tanka and spend a day a week in a sweat lodge or go to fancy-dance competitions or have the right shade of skin or hair.  Not for Means or Lendman.

In part 2, I will look at the bogus land claims and the odd contradiction in how they address these treaties.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #12-43F: Police state and winter in America

Posted on 2012-10-13 by TPOL Nathan

A cold, damp morning in the Four Corners, after a day of thunderstorms with rain and a little hail: not so nice in the Black Hills and West River: no moisture at all, though warm enough for mid-October.

But the political and social climate are wintery:  the two idiots rush down the last three weeks or so of campaigning. The “messiah’s” campaign has now raised (and presumably is spending) more than a billion dollars in an increasingly-desperate attempt to not have to pay rent or lease a place and have four more years of never-ending golf games and jaunts around the world for him and his family.  And Romney is doing what most GOP candidates at national level seem to do: missing opportunities and floundering and being beat up by the mainstream media.

Meanwhile, Gary Johnson and Jim Gray are drawing bigger and bigger crowds and more signs and bumper-stickers are popping up.  Their supporters (even the fringe-lunatic crew that the LP shares with the GOP and Dems) know it is a forlorn hope, but I understand why they feel they have to try.  Who wants to face God and say, “I didn’t really do anything to stop the Collapse?”  (Or for those who don’t want to believe – Who wants their grandkids to curse their memory because of the messed-up world they got left?

One example of the wintery conditions hails from Billings.  Montana is supposed to be one of the freer states left in this defunct Union, but you wouldn’t think so from THIS story:

Local Tyranny
Grenade burns sleeping girl in SWAT attack on wrong house
(Billings Gazette) …[The mother] questioned why police would take such actions with children in the home and why it needed a SWAT team.

“A simple knock on the door and I would’ve let them in,” she said. “They said their intel told them there was a meth lab at our house. If they would’ve checked, they would’ve known there’s not.”

She and her two daughters and her husband were home at the time of the raid. She said her husband, who suffers from congenital heart disease and liver failure, told officers he would open the front door as the raid began and was opening it as they knocked it down.

When the grenade went off in the room, it left a large bowl-shaped dent in the wall and “blew the nails out of the drywall,” Fasching said.

[Billings Police Chief] St. John said investigators did plenty of homework on the residence before deciding to launch the raid but didn’t know children were inside.

“The information that we had did not have any juveniles in the house and did not have any juveniles in the room,” he said. “We generally do not introduce these disorienting devices when they’re present.”

Nathan:  THIS is heartbreaking on so many levels.  Check out William Grigg’s column at LewRockwell.com for an excellent analysis. I might point out that William’s column was posted hours before the local newspaper (the Billings Gazette) published anything: he took his information from the Missoula Missoulan, a newspaper based 350 miles away and which perhaps considers itself safe from retribution by St. John and the Billings City and Yellowstone County fathers. (The Gazette did have a brief article posted Wednesday about the raid, almost certainly taken from a police press release and a drive-by reporter: nothing at all about the actual raid or wounds or damage.)

It is worth reading both the comments to the Missoulan and the Gazette stories. In a total of 107 comments, only SIX were supporting the cops. Six: about 1 in 20. And one of the comments told readers about LEAP. That is the good response. Another couple of good responses point out that this sort of action is nothing but terrorism – state-sponsored terrorism.  Montanans should be proud of people willing to respond like this, even if safely doing so through essentially anonymous postings.

But what dismays me the most is that this is MONTANA. Yellowstone County has all of 140,000 people. What need is there for this sort of Gestapo? What excuse is there for this sort of tactics? But worse: where are the tens of thousands of Montanans who claim to be lovers of liberty and freedom and haters of tyranny and injustice? It has been three days now, and there are not (that I can see) any widespread, much less formal, calls for investigations, suspensions, filing of charges, or any of the other dozen PEACEFUL things that would be the response of a truly free (and peaceful) population. And not ONE protest?  Not even one LONE person willing to carry a sign in front of the police headquarters or the Sheriff’s office saying “JUSTICE FOR THE FASCHING GIRL” or something like that?

And this is MONTANA. Why has not someone (even the usual nutcases, to be honest) called for the elimination of the danger of this City-County Special Investigations Unit (CCIU) by whatever means necessary? Where are the Montanans who CLAIM to be Libertarians?  Where are the people of Billings who CLAIM to be Libertarians, or even the ACLU types?  Where is the Sheriff? First, in breaking off all cooperation and participation in the CCIU, and second, in investigating the BPD to protect the citizens of his county? And no indication at ALL of special meetings of the Billings city council or the Yellowstone County commissioners to deal with – or even make a statement about it!!!

Face it, Montana is as worthless and dangerous a state to freedom as California or Illinois or New York: it is as filled with gutless people who pay lip service to liberty and American ideals as the pieces of trash that live and work in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and across the Potomac in the Pentagon.

The Russia Today story reports in its last line that three days later, NO charges have been filed against the Fasching family.  But no charges have been filed against the negligent and imcompetent cop that set off the flash-bang (inside a building which was supposed to have a meth lab!), nor the incompetent investigators that did not know children were present, nor the incompetent interrogators who determined the false fink was lying about a meth lab.  As one of the RT commenters noted: “The STUPID Americans don’t realize that their so called “free” and “democratic” republic is the most despotic and totalitarian police state that exists on this planet. Its even worse than 1984. And they still think they are free… LOL”

Winter in America.

Home front:  Bizarre case: Texas
Parker County Teen Kills Mother and Sister
“Parker County officials said that both Jake Evans and his younger sister were home schooled.”

Mama’s Note: Bizarre indeed. I fully expected this youngster to be filled to the gills with the drugs forced on kids by the “schools.”

In any event, I wonder if he was taking anti-depressants or any of the rest of it. They are involved in MOST such crimes, at least in this country. Of course, we’ll probably never know. Sigh.

Nathan: It is bizarre and heartbreaking.  There HAS to be something – as you say, we’ll never know – that triggered this:  medication, pressures, something.  Hormones alone certainly would not seem to account for it.  But I am sure the home-school aspect will be played up big time, especially in Dallas-Fort Worth.

This sort of thing is NOT new or even that uncommon: Lizzie Borden and her little ax are part of American folklore.  Indeed, this sort of thing seems to be increasing:  mothers killing their own children, children killing parents (and each other), sometimes with years of plotting, sometimes with “reason” and sometimes without.  And always, “why?”

Parker County is named for one of my ancestors, a Texian family established the first settlement (Parker’s Fort) in the region before the Revolution. A lot of people died in the early years:  they killed each other over cattle and horses and water and even politics; they killed each other because they were invaders and the people who had controlled the land for more than a century and made their living by raiding and stealing and kidnapping as much as hunting.  Sometimes they killed over jealousy or because they got drunk and angry.  The killings, for the most part, had a reason.

But Parker County is no longer a frontier settlement: it is twisted and warped by the world around it and in this case, it seems that a young man snapped.  It didn’t have to be a .22-cal pistol: it could have been another ax, or a kitchen knife, or a piece of wood or a piece of rope or wire.  It might be medication or hormones or even (according to some people) demonic possession.  The cops, the courts, the county, the parents, did not stop it, could not stop it.  And will not stop it.  No doubt, this young man will be sentenced to life in prison, maybe even executed:  he and his father are both very likely to kill themselves in relatively short order.  And life will go on for the rest of us, wondering why.

But today, with winter in my heart and on my mind, it is just another way in which we are indeed enduring “Winter in America.”  Perhaps it is because we have all been so damaged by the stresses of government and its destruction of our lives and families and society and economy that such stresses cause anyone to crack and lash out.  Perhaps we are like two (or two million) scorpions in a bottle, like rats crammed into a cage with no room to stretch.  Perhaps we are so influenced and corrupted by modern media and attitudes that we have turned our backs completely on God, and this is part of the self-inflicted punishment:  God does not need to push to punish us here on earth: we do it to ourselves so well.

For fifteen hundred years, Israel and Judah rebelled against and returned to God, time and time again, but ultimately, He left them to die and be scattered.  With America, the process  is much faster, because of course we are NOT the chosen people.  But winter is here, and the days grow shorter and colder and the dark night is approaching.

Winter in America.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-43E: Politics’ Stench

Posted on 2012-10-13 by TPOL Nathan

Well, it really is Friday, but it feels like another Monday.  New and old projects all jumbled, and further behind on work and projects, like everyone else in the family.  And just in case people WANT to hear about that silly debate last night (59 seconds was too much), I found this great review at Godfather Politics:

Joe Biden: ill-mannered, rude, lying, and condescending
(Godfather Politics)  Joe Biden consistently interrupted and did his best to prevent Paul Ryan from being able to get his point across.  He would sit and laugh with an air of disdain and mockery.  Biden also consistently called everything Ryan said a lie and inaccurate when in fact much of what Biden was saying was inaccurate and lies.

Biden also consistently put words and policies in Ryan’s mouth that he’s been told time and time again that those things are NOT what they have said or propose.  Every time Ryan tried to explain what their policies were, Biden interrupted and tried to again put lies in Ryan’s mouth.

Gee, I didn’t realize that the “messiah’s” First Minion was so talented: all those Amtrak rides back and forth would be such fun?!  He can do all this at once?  Wow.

Theft by government
GOP Senator to USDA: Stop Promoting Food Stamps
(CNSNews.com) As well ask a snake to stop being a snake, or a scorpion a nasty little vicious monster that lurks in your boots and sting you multiple time?  Except that FedGov bureaucrats, nice though many of them are in person, and no matter how dedicated and helpful, are STILL government bureaucrats, and in mass, a good substitute for Heinlein’s stobor: I’ll take snakes and scorpions anytime.  Of course, maybe this senator is thinking of reorganizing and moving SNAP over to DHHS.  The original concept of food stamps was inventive, at least: here we are paying all these farmers either NOT to grow food OR buying a lot of the food they DO produce to increase demand and thus keep prices up, so why not turn around and use that to feed all these poor – not just the AmerInd or military personnel.  But like EVERY other government program, this metamorphosed into the present monster: virtual bread lines.  A monster beloved by grocery stores and convenience stores and local wardheelers across the nation.

Fun, huh?

WORST STATES FOR RETIREMENT OR BEST?
(BANKRATE.COM) Yeah, most of us don’t figure on being able to retire, but these numbers are interesting to say the least.

Louisiana: crime 4,196.5 per 100,000, 11.5 % of retirees live below poverty level, life expectancy 75.4 years.

Georgia: crime 3,043.8, poverty 10.7%, life expectancy 77.1

New Mexico: crime 4,024.3, poverty 12%, life expectancy 78.2

Texas:  crime 4,233.3, poverty 10.7%, life expectancy 78.3

Arkansas: crime 4,064.2, poverty 10.2%, life expectancy 76.1

Tennessee: crime 4,271.2, poverty 9.7%, life expectancy 76.2

South Carolina: crime 4,498.1, poverty 9.8%, life expectancy 76.6

Mississippi: crime 3,254.7, poverty 11.9%, life expectancy 74.8

Alabama: crime 3,894.6, poverty 10.7%, life expectancy 75.2

Kentucky: crime 2,793.9, poverty 11.2%, life expectancy 76.2

Now, aren’t those some fascinating statistics? Notice some obvious things: these are ALL southern states.  In fact, EVERY one of the Southern states EXCEPT Oklahoma, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia.  Of course, Florida IS retirement-central, and its native AmerInd and cracker population overwhelmed by the retirees from the Rust Belt and the Roach Belt (excuse me, Northeast).  Virginia has Northern Virginia “inside the Beltway” or near enough: I suspect that if we were dealing with the REAL Virginia, it would be right up there.  North Carolina and Oklahoma are puzzles to me, but perhaps it is large numbers of military retirees that pulls up the data. (And yes, New Mexico IS a Southern State, as well as a Hispanic state (together with TX, AZ, FL, and CA).)

Why these ten?  Contrast them to the “10 best” (at InvestmentNews.com) They used a different metric: (*Ranking based on seven factors: Income tax, taxation of Social Security, taxation of pensions, property taxes, cost of living, health care insurance, and climate.)

Here is their list (no raw data) (and HONEST, folks, I just picked these two lists as the first up on Google):

10. Nevada

9. Georgia

8. Oklahoma

7. Florida

6. Arkansas

2. (tie) Alabama

2. (tie) Mississippi

2. (tie) Louisiana

2. (tie) Texas

1.  Tennessee

What did I say?  Amazing? Bizarre?  These two lists each share EIGHT states in common:  of course, they chose totally DIFFERENT metrics:  you can’t live as long in those states as you might in, say California or Minnesota, but you’ll pay less and enjoy it more.

Now, contrast it with THIS list: Worst States to Retire 2012.
(TopRetirements.com) The factors for 2012 are: Fiscal health, property taxes, income taxes, cost of living, and climate. … Three new states made our list this year: Vermont, Minnesota, and Maine. That means that 3 states were lucky enough to leave the list: Ohio (low property and income taxes), Nevada (in terrible financial shape but no income tax and low property taxes), California (bad financial shape and high property taxes, but almost no income tax on our prototypical couple, plus a great climate).

1.   (Worst) Connecticut
2.   Illinois
3.   Rhode Island
4.   Vermont
5.   Massachusetts
6.   New Jersey
7.   Minnesota
8.   New York
9.   Maine
10. Wisconsin

What do we make of this?  First, obviously, different people place a different emphasis on what makes a state good or bad.   Secondly, these are obviously averages for the states:  taxes as well as climate can vary quite a bit in a state – like Texas.  Third, it is obvious that government at the state and local level has a VERY big impact on these things, both in taxes and in services.

As for the original list, which slammed the Southern States, it comes as no surprise that Southern States are again portrayed as horrible places full of evil people and evil habits and attitudes, centuries behind the progressive states of the West Coast and the Northeast.  But in things like this, our friends in DC have MUCH to answer for:  much of the squalor of the South is due to its treatment since 1860.  I see no reason why these pieces of data should not be thrown back in the FedGov’s face.

New religions: Envrionism
Should Cities Ban Plastic Bags?
(Wall Street Journal) Consumers would have to use a cotton bag 173 times before they match the energy savings of one plastic bag, assuming 40 percent of bags are reused…

We see this -straightforward science shows that plastic bags are NOT a detriment, but are a net improvement to the environment AND to human health and food safety.  But as usual, the religious fanatics that worship Mother Gaia are perfectly willing to lie to themselves as well as us.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-43D

Posted on 2012-10-12 by TPOL Nathan

Somehow, I’ve lost a day this week – shouldn’t it be Thursday?  Of course, I had three people yesterday (ON Thursday, really) remark to me, totally unknowing of the others, that this month has had about 15 MONDAYS already.

Are we all tired of election ads and debates that include viable (and qualified persons) occupants of the Oval Office?  I admit, the 60 seconds or so I saw of the Biden-Ryan debate last night were entertaining, but more proof that neither of them is worth trusting with anything, much less trillions of dollars (that is, thousands of ounces Au) of toys.  Which reminds me, has anyone ever toted up exactly how much the FedGov actually owns?  Land, buildings, vehicles, weapons, equipment, gold, diamonds…  Which reminds of the most recent story to cross my desktop, from our esteemed publisher-editor:

Astronomers find planet ’55 Cancri e’ made out of diamond
(Digital Journal)  Astronomers say they have found a planet “55 Cancri e,” twice the size
of Earth, orbiting a star much like our Sun and visible to the naked eye in the constellation of Cancer. They say the planet is made largely out of diamond.

Mama’s Note: Would certainly depress the diamond market on earth, but maybe by the time we can get there, it could be used as a star drive or something. Makes me wonder what other planets out there might be “made of.” 🙂

Nathan: Diamonds are like gold – never too much: never mind their value for coin or trinkets, it is the industrial use of both of them that has us engineers all dancing!  Of course diamonds are desirable not just because they are rare, but because they are beautiful, like sunsets and trees changing color. This does sound like something out of Doc Smith, though.  Much fun.

Anyway, here is some of yesterday’s news:

Islamic wars: Arab Street Front – American stupid government tricks
U.S. Embassy in Libya Sought Bodyguards With ‘Limited’ English; Preference Given to ‘Same-Sex Domestic Partners’ of U.S. Gov’t Employees
(CNSNews.com) Stupid indeed.  What is the difference between this and giving preference to Jews or christians?  The clear intent was to rub homosexuality into the face of the new Libyan government and the Arab on the street.  And it clearly worked! Which makes you wonder about the statement in the next story.

State Dept. Security Chief: ‘We Had Correct Number of Assets in Benghazi at Time of 9/11 For What Had Been Agreed Upon’
(CNSNews.com)  Just “what HAD been agreed upon” is my question.  Was this a sacrifice on purpose?  How incredibly stupid we have become:  Not “we had what we needed,” but “we had what we agreed to have.”  The quality of “leadership” is missing here.  And the Administration and bureaucracy stole it.

Of course, we have to wonder if it isn’t just in Libya that we have to interpret the words of those people over there in the corner behind the curtain:

Stupid government
Transportation Secretary to Stimulus Critics: ‘Baloney! The Stimulus Worked’
(CNSNews.com)  Call this the quack’s excuse:  “We cured the cancer, our treatment worked even if the patient died of pneumonia.”  OR ask the obvious: “the Stimulus worked” to do WHAT?  Further damage the economy and society?  Or what?  Who knows what evil lurked in the hearts of those who created these things?

Theft by government
GOP Senator to USDA: Stop Promoting Food Stamps
(CNSNews.com) As well ask a snake to stop being a snake, or a scorpion – a nasty little vicious monster that lurks in your boots and stings you multiple times?  Except that FedGov bureaucrats, nice though many of them are in person, and no matter how dedicated and helpful, are STILL government bureaucrats, and in mass, a good substitute for Heinlein’s stobor: I’ll take snakes and scorpions anytime.  Of course, maybe this senator is thinking of reorganizing and moving SNAP over to DHHS.  The original concept of food stamps was inventive, at least: here we are paying all these farmers either NOT to grow food OR buying a lot of the food they DO produce to increase demand and thus keep prices up, so why not turn around and use that to feed all these poor – not just the AmerInd or military personnel.  But like EVERY other government program, this metamorphosed into the present monster: virtual bread lines.  A monster beloved by grocery stores and convenience stores and local wardheelers across the nation.

Well, that is it for this edition:  time to figure out how to work around some of the regulations that are put in place to protect us from us.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-43C: Religion and culture wars

Posted on 2012-10-11 by TPOL Nathan

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Religion
Pew: 6% Percent of Atheists and Agnostics Pray Every Day
The question is, how many people who claim to be religious and believe in God pray every day? And another question: to whom are they praying?  I am reminded of the story told by Viktor Suvorov about the trick Soviet school teachers used to wean children from God:  having them all first pray out loud at their desks with their eyes closed for God to give them candy, only to open their eyes and find nothing, THEN do the same thing but pray to the government (Soviet).  The teacher or aides put candy on the desks while the children’s eyes are closed, and then! Voila!

Theft by government
Westward Ho! Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska Have Best Tax Climates
(CNSNews.com) Which does NOT mean that they are “good” tax climates: just better than the other forty-six states because they steal less and don’t have as much paperwork.  Still, with operations in several states, I can tell you that South Dakota (home and tax base for me) is much better than the surrounding states not just for individuals but for businesses.  Sadly, these states don’t seem to have a lot of atheists (praying or otherwise) as compared to their more socially-advanced brethren on the Coasts; and three of the four are “flyover country.”

Stupid government – Nanny state tyranny – the “messiah’s” consort
Rhode Island: ‘Let’s Move!’ Praises Daycare Center That Serve Hummus and Homemade Oatmeal
(CNSNews.com) “The program added new healthy snacks and meals to their menu like hummus, homemade oatmeal with cinnamon and apples, and yogurt with granola and bananas. They also only offer kids healthy drinks, such as water and low-fat or non-fat milk,” according to an October 10th “Let’s Move!” press release. The “Let’s Move!” website advises day care centers to “opt for healthier alternatives” in snacks for kids. For example, instead of cupcakes, a day care center can provide “zucchini or carrot mini-muffins.” Instead of cheese puffs, it should opt for “thinly sliced vegetables and low-fat ranch dip.” “Toddlers and preschoolers love dipping, so try serving veggies with yogurt, hummus, low-fat dressing, or low-fat melted cheese,” according to the website’s goals for “healthy eating.”

Now THAT is sick.  It is disgusting that government agencies are wasting tax money (or STOLEN money) to promote this sort of garbage (literally). What IS hummus? Middle Eastern and Arabic food dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic (according to Wikipedia): It seems to have some sort of religious significance to the “messiah’s” consort.  It is apparently part of the Arabanization or Islamization of the Union, under the benevolent rule of the “messiah” and his consort.  Better haggis than hummus, frankly.  And what EXACTLY is homemade oatmeal? (Which, by the way, is a key ingredient of haggis but NOT of hummus.)  Here is how you manufacture oatmeal: “Oatmeal manufacture involves harvesting, washing, steaming, and hulling the oats. Standard oats are steel-cut, whereas quick-cooking oats are rolled between cylinders to produce a flatter flake. Once flaked, the oats are roasted and packaged.” ( How oatmeal is made) Kiddies, don’t try that at home.  Face it folks, there is NO SUCH THING as “homemade oatmeal,” and given the laws these days, these idiots in Rhode Island are NOT providing “home-cooked oatmeal!”  And I will bet you that (1) they are using quick-cooking oats (1 hour regular stove, 1-2 minutes microwave) and NOT regular 2-3 hour regular stove and “who knows how long microwave – you really want to clean up that mess and endure that smell”?  And of course, I’m sure the microwave gets a workout.  Apparently, “homemade” is in contrast to those silly little wax paper packages that you rip open and add boiling water to. (I would generally rather eat the wax paper.  By the way, I am still not sure why oatmeal is so “healthy” because it has never seemed to do anything for my cholesterol, although I do like it:  I am eating some right now as I type this:  1/3 cup of oatmeal, 2/3 cup of water, a tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of honey, a small handful of chocolate chips, a tablespoon of cinnamon and a minute in the microwave!  Ah, wonderful!  But healthy?  I hope so.)

Mama’s Note: Steel cut oats do take longer to cook, and I don’t much care for them, but rolled oats come as both “old fashioned” and “quick,” which is simply rolled oats flaked and cut fine. Neither of the rolled oat forms take more than a few minutes to cook, either stove top or microwave. Cooking either for an hour would be a serious food crime in my book. 🙂 “Instant” anything is denatured, often with essential elements removed, and doesn’t qualify as “food” at all to me.

Those who like “hummus” are certainly welcome to it. I can’t stand it myself. 🙂 But the question here isn’t WHAT is being given to these children, really, but the whole idea that government of any kind, at any level, has anything to say about it.

Stupid government – Culture wars: destroying families
DELAWARE: You are a felon if you spank your child:
(Freedom Outpost)  Actually, the conviction ranges from a significant felony to a pretty serious misdemeanor, with jail time from one month to two years.

Nathan: One more sign of the impending collapse.  No surprise that Joe Biden’s son was a strong supporter of this.

Mama’s Note: One more good reason not to live there anymore. Just talked with a man who recently moved from there… unfortunately, he went to Florida!  He’s finding out he didn’t really improve his situation any. Going to get much worse before it gets any better. 😦

Nathan’s response: Yes, and the only real hope left is South Dakota, Wyoming, MAYBE North Dakota and Montana and Idaho, and maybe-maybe WESTERN Nebraska or Kansas.  About it.  (Funny, several of those benighted places also have weird, outdated ideas about taxes and budgets. Must be a religious thing.)  Stay away even from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona.  (A friend in Florida says the only sane part of the state is the Panhandle, west of Panama City. The rest is toast.)

Stupid government tricks – Nanny-state tyranny
“Genetically Engineered” In California: A Food Label We Don’t Need
(forbes.com) Ironically, Proposition 37 would also impose huge costs on producers who try to avoid GE. Those committed to using GE ingredients can slap a “Genetically Engineered” label on their products and be done. But producers who want to sell non-GE foods must bear the costs of tracing the source of every ingredient they use and getting sworn guarantees that they “are not knowingly or intentionally” engineered.

A single slip-up – for example, in the form of a missing link in the paper trail — could result in criminal prosecution or a private lawsuit filed by anyone who has ever bought a “mislabeled” product in a grocery store, food stand, or farmer’s market. The initiative is a trial lawyer’s dream, which is not surprising given that it was written by a trial lawyer who has spent his career suing small food producers in California.

Mama’s Note: We all know the FDA is not the right way to deal with this subject, but this article has some excellent points.  The “organic” crowd, and those specifically wishing to market non-GMO products would be the most likely to be damaged by this silly legislation.

Nathan: This should be a comment on my article on Washing Machines… yesterday: same sort of thing.  New regulations kill jobs and businesses.  I just saw that happen in the last two hours.  A project to build and operate a largish RV park (100+ spaces, about a million dollar investment) got deep-sixed because the local sanitation district (a government entity) wanted to charge a “tap fee” of over a quarter-million dollars (one fee for each of the 100+ units), even though the developer would build and install and connect all the sewer lines. The tap fee is in addition to the actual monthly fee for sewage!  It explains why no new motels or hotels or RV parks have been built in this town in the past 12+ years!

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Turning Washing Machines into Washington Machines

Posted on 2012-10-09 by TPOL Nathan

Jeffrey Tucker over at Laissez Faire Books (Agora Financial) has posted a wonderful tirade today about a new set of government regulations which, as he put it, is “Regulators Destroying Your Home Appliances.”  I liked his thought about turning washing machines into Washington machines, later in his article, so I kipped it for this commentary.

While you are there, you may enjoy reading Wendy McElroy’s latest, “Paper Money = Despotism.”)

He hit it dead on, but it is MORE than just appliances.  This is done in the name of a bewildering array of causes, including:

  • Consumer safety
  • Energy conservation
  • Water conservation
  • Water quality (not the same as “conservation”)
  • Fighting “manmade global warming” by limiting “greenhouse gases”
  • Fighting the war on (some) drugs
  • Fighting the war on obesity
  • Fighting the war on terrorism

I am sure I could add many more.  What have they done?  (They being both the duly-elected and overly-paid congressmen and women, and the unelected and VERY overpaid bureaucrats, in cahoots with a veritable phylanx of special interest lobbying groups from Greenpeace and the Sierra Club to the various manufacturers’ associations.)

  • Banning of incandescent light bulbs
  • Limiting the amount of water you can use to flush a tank or urinal
  • Banning of phosphates (and other enhancing additives) in detergents and other products
  • Banning certain kinds of refrigerant in air conditioners, especially in motor vehicles (Freon and others)
  • Reducing energy consumption of refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions, computer monitors, computers, washing machines, driers, and many more: the dishwasher fiasco Jeff mentions is just the latest and far from the last.
  • Banning of certain pesticides
  • Banning of certain food products or sizes (at least in certain places)

Again, the list can go on and on and DOES.  Proving the old adage, “a government big enough to give you everything you ask for is powerful enough to take away everything you have.”  One at a time, perhaps, and suitably phased in and with lots of opportunity for “stakeholder participation,” including community comment and all the rest of the bureaucratic and politician playbook.  But sooner or later, EVERYTHING is at least considered for being modified, restricted, limited or outright banned.  And for every item on the list above, you can be certain that there are a dozen more on someone’s legislative or regulatory waiting or to-do list.

Besides the obvious loss of our liberties: our ability to choose between the Edsel-Chevy Ecomizer 1.5-liter engine with 60 mpg and max two occupants, and the Ram-Benz MonsterMasher with the 8.9-liter engine and 10 mpg that can pull a small mountain of gravel; these actions damage us in many other ways.

  • They NEVER cost less
  • They make life harder
  • They open the door for MORE regulation
  • There is almost always a loophole to let the well-connected or wealthy or hermit work around
  • They NEVER work to do what they are claimed to do: that first list of things.

Jeff points this out:  we can’t count on a dishwasher to wash dishes any more.  Or a washing  to clean clothes any more.  Or a lamp to work when we need it.  And sadly, the ingenuity of inventors and manufacturers can’t seem to keep up with the inventiveness of the bureaucrats and the state-worshipers that conspire with them to fix just one more little thing.  We invent the LED, and THEY come up with new regulations to make life still harder, despite the advantages.  We invent the sonic cleaner and THEY prohibit its use around pets and children.  We invent little orange plastic shovels to do our business when hiking through the wilderness and THEY prohibit us from doing that business unless we haul it out in a baggie.  We invent cellular phones with 20 mile range and THEY limit the placement of the towers to ONLY locations with no more than a five-mile line of sight.

Twenty-six years ago, my wife and I moved back to the States from Germany and bought a washing machine and matching drier from one more company drummed out of business by regulation as much as competition (Montgomery Wards).  We used those appliances (not high-end ones, by any means) for twenty-five years:  the drier is still putting out the ergs but the washing machine finally died from lack of replacement parts.  We were lucky and found a ten-year-old (more high-end) machine that was built before the last two go-arounds of regulations swept away more and more civilization;  but we have little if any hope that machine will last more than another ten years.  We KNOW we have the technology to build (here or in Korea) a washing machine that could have a warranty for thirty years and probably last for fifty, BUT…  the Great Father in DC and all the lesser Great Fathers – and all too often the local City and County Fathers – won’t let us make or buy such a thing, due to several tens of thousands of regulations and interpretations and worse.

For a century or more, government has been the grit in the gears of our national economic machine, once the most productive and efficient and capable economy in the world and in history.  That grit has worn down all the gears, smoothed all the teeth, scraped all the fittings down to bare metal and into the metal, and finally, all the TLC, all the lube, all the preventive maintenance in the world cannot deal with the conditions:  the machine is grinding to a halt.

Not only does it appear that the next generation will be poorer, less educated, and above all, less free than past generations, it will be again burdened by having to do things that three or four generations now have NOT had to do:  not just washing clothes and dishes by hand, not just peering blindly at a page until the light is bright enough to read the fine print, not just having to have a dozen different forms or cards or paper to be able to travel and do business, but the horror of knowing that there WAS a “brief, shining moment” that they and their children never shall see – because we let government destroy it.

We got into this mess because we shirked responsibility and failed to value and use our liberty as we should and could, and so let government take over our responsibility and use our liberty to enslave us.  It was gradual, insidious, and buttressed by every good intention.  None of us are opposed to clean water or clean air or a safe home or business or protection from those who use drugs and alcohol.  But I like to think that the average human is smart enough to see, if it were all laid out, that it is NOT a good bargain to trade safety and security for liberty and freedom.

Jeffrey says that these regulations never go away, they just get more onerous and harder to understand and apply.  But that is not ALWAYS the case, as Rome, France, and Russia have shown.  All things come to an end – good AND bad.  And this too shall pass.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-43B – This and that

Posted on 2012-10-09 by TPOL Nathan

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Self defense
Delaware: Business owner who thwarted robbery says he’s no hero
(Middletown Transcript)
“According to state police, Aaron R. Jefferson, a 27-year-old Millsboro resident, pointed a handgun in the woman’s face while demanding cash. She then began to scream, prompting Jefferson to tuck the gun into his waistband before attempting to flee, police said. ‘I have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, so when I heard what was going on, I ran to my truck to grab my gun,’ Hitchens said. There was only one problem. ‘She had taken my truck to the bank earlier that day and locked it when she came back,’ he said. ‘She still had the keys in her purse, so I looked around and the only thing I could find was a 3-foot long piece of galvanized pipe, so I grabbed that and ran around to the front door.’ As Jefferson exited the front door, Hitchens grabbed him, threw him to the ground and held him there until police arrived.” (10/08/12)

Mama’s Note: Maybe he’ll reconsider actually carrying his gun…  Thank goodness he had the guts and the opportunity to do what he did anyway. One does wonder why he didn’t have his own set of keys, however.

Nathan: the business with the keys makes more sense than not having his gun readily available, but I suppose absent-mindedness accounts for both.  However, too many of us treat both that CC permit and the gun itself as talismans and NOT as tools.  Fortunately, this Jefferson was pretty stupid himself.

Islamic wars
Iraq: Turkish jets strike PKK bases
(Fox News) “Turkish jets have struck suspected Kurdish rebel targets in two separate cross-border raids in northern Iraq, a Turkish news agency reported Monday, prompting Iraq to vow to take ‘diplomatic’ steps against Ankara for violating its sovereignty. Turkey has frequently struck targets of the autonomy-seeking Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq. But with relations between Turkey and Iraq deteriorating, Baghdad recently warned Turkey against military operations on its territory.” (10/08/12)

Nathan: Together with Syrian-Turkish fighting, this has all the classic signs of a major conflagration triggered by a series of ad-hoc alliances (“the enemy of my enemy is my friend”) similar to the First World War, which could easily plunge most of the region into a war, possibly with three sides:  Turkey and Iran against Syria and Iraq (probably aided by Saudi Arabia) with Israel and the US and the Syrian rebels in a third grouping.  Or, with NATO siding with Turkey, an accommodation and restoration of relations between Turkey and Israel, pushing Iran to side with Iraq and Syria.  There are too many complications, but it is safe to say that the various Muslims will continue to kill each other.  It would be best for the West to stay out of it all, and work to see that no one side or power becomes dominant.

New Religions: Global Warming – Theft by government
Carbon Tax Will Double U.K. Electricity Bills|
(Daily Telegraph (UK)) A new tax in the United Kingdom will impose a £16 (almost $26) floor on every ton of carbon dioxide emitted by British industry, rising to £30 (about $48) a ton in 2020 and £70 (about $112) a ton by 2030…

Nathan: Ah, the wonders of government taxation (theft) and of the environists.  This is a win-win-win for government, the environist fanatics, and all the parasites that feed on government revenues, and a big-time loss for ratepayers and even businesses, who cannot recoup all the costs associated.  Windpower and other “sustainable” power providers will of course feast as well – and the UK will slide back into preindustrial darkness.

Stupid government – the “messiah’s” consort
Mrs. Obama: ‘Indian Country’ Fights Obesity by Adding ‘Buffalo Meat into School Lunches’
(CNSNews.com) Nathan: And what does she know about it?  The problem with obesity on the Rez is not the children and it is not “lowfat” buffalo versus “highfat” beef.  It has to do with generations of breeding and experience and the diet that commodity foods provide to people whose ancestors lived on a high-meat diet for centuries.  And we should not forget that only a VERY small part of the total AmerInd population had buffalo as part of their diet: talk to the people in New England or the South or the California coast ranges or Northwest.  No buffalo there, thank you.  But the consort, any excuse to promote her agenda.

Politics 2012
Romney Says He Will Work to Organize and Arm Syrian Rebels ‘Who Share Our Values’
(CNSNews.com) Nathan: Here we go again?  Or is this caveat very carefully chosen: I would suspect that Syrian rebels share fewer values with Americans than Egyptian protesters (and voters) and Libyan rebels (and now voters) do.

Political correctness – Politics 2012
Reading Rainbow Host: Romney ‘Targeting America’s Children’ By Vowing to Cut PBS
(CNSNews.com) Nathan: And for once, targeting children in a GOOD way: American children are served very evilly by PBS programming, from infancy on.  But NOT as poorly served as they are by the parents who use PBS as a babysitter.

The “messiah”
Obama: Columbus Day a Time to ‘Reflect on Tragic Burdens Tribal Communities Bore’
(CNSNews.com) Nathan: Well, if he feels this way, why didn’t he just stay in Kenya or Indonesia?  HE is part of the “tragic burdens” that the tribes now bear, and the system he heads up is much to blame for what they have borne in the past.

Political correctness
Obese Drivers Boosting Fuel Consumption, Insurance Blog Says
(CNSNews.com) Nathan: Oh, please.  A 300-lb driver instead of a 200-lb driver makes very little difference in a 2500-lb car.  But anything to blame the users, instead of the government.  Figure out how much added weight all the pollution control equipment and safety equipment (all mandated by government) and see which causes gas consumption to go up more!

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-43A – Politics and War!

Posted on 2012-10-08 by TPOL Nathan

Monday, October 08, 2012

Politics 2012
Gallup Polling in Post-Debate Period: Romney 47%, Obama 47%
(CNSNews.com) Well, the real results must be pretty bad if this is the best Gallup can do to support the “messiah.”  As noted, even CNN last week gave him a low score, and the media is therefore questioning if Romney can continue to be the well-spoken, decisive, and knowledgeable person who showed up in Denver. Sadly (though as more people have pointed out) electing Romney is NOT going to do anything for the future of the nation or to restore liberty.  As even Ron Paul is starting to admit, with the hint that he might vote for Gary Johnson.

American front: Liberty in retreat
Venezuela: Chavez’ Election Victory Paves Way for 20 Years in Power
(CNSNews.com) I am sure this is no surprise to anyone, despite the disinformation regarding how some Chavez supporters feared retaliation from neighbors and the new government if he lost.  More than one person has pointed out that this election victory is an encouragement for the American “messiah” – and I have seen people talking about how this 2012 election might be the last one – assuming that even this one means anything.

New religions: environists
EPA Celebrates ‘Children Health Month,’ Encourages Recruiting Students for ‘Energy Patrols’ at School|
(CNSNews.com) The EPA – New Age Gestapo?

Home Front
Chicago Sees Increase in Coyote Population; Wolves and Bears Next?
(CNSNews.com) It seems to me that Chicago has ALWAYS had more than enough wolves – oh, we aren’t talking about the two-legged kind here?  I know that the number of coyotes (no matter what definition you use for the human kind) is increasing in Chicago.  Can we expect MORE bears or are people just blind to the perilous state of the economy and will continue to be bullish?

Islamic wars
Turkey, Syria trade fire; border tensions mount
(MSNBC) “Turkey and Syria fired artillery and mortars across their volatile border for a fifth consecutive day on Sunday, in one of the most serious and prolonged flare-ups of violence along the frontier. The exchange of fire stoked fears that Syria’s civil war will escalate into a regional conflagration drawing in NATO member Turkey, once an
ally of President Bashar Assad but now a key supporter of the rebels fighting to topple him.” (10/07/12)

Well now, these two peace-loving Muslim nations are again going to do what Islamic nations have done for centuries: kill each other’s soldiers and civilians over really meaningless events and issues.

Philippines, Muslim rebels agree on peace pact
(Palm Beach Post) “The Philippine government and the country’s largest Muslim rebel group have reached a preliminary peace deal that is a major breakthrough toward ending a decades-long insurgency that killed tens of thousands and held back development in the south.” (10/07/12)

Decades?  Try centuries:  the christian Philippines (as a colony of Spain) fought the Moros in the 16th Century when the Moros moved into the southern islands, and when the US won the islands from Spain in the 1890s, it was the Moro Rebellion that made quelling the Philippine Insurrection such a bloodbath.  But it appears that the “peace” of being part of the Ummah is not YET to overwhelm the Philippines.

 

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