December 2004 Archives

This article, Unchanged by Welfare Reform documents what can be done with Welfare reform.

MILWAUKEE -- Angela Jobe, 38, is a grandmother who has lived most of her adult life at ground zero of the struggle to "end welfare as we know it." At about the time candidate Bill Clinton was promising to do that -- in autumn 1991 -- she boarded a bus in Chicago, heading for Milwaukee, lured by Wisconsin's larger benefits and lower rents. Unmarried, uneducated and unemployed, she already had three children and eight years on welfare.

Today she is in her ninth year of employment in a nursing home, earning $10.50 an hour. How she left welfare, and how her life did and did not change, is one of the entwined stories in Jason DeParle's riveting new book, "American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare," the fruit of DeParle's seven years of immersion in Jobe's world.

A grandmother at 38 should tell you something. That both her and her child gave birth around 16 years old. That is the first thing what we must take care of, teenage pregnancy. It cites in the story that today, 70 percent of the mothers giving birth on Welfare are unmarried. That's because Welfare (at least used to) punished women for trying to get off Welfare (by getting married or get a job) and rewarded them with more money when they had more kids.

Now this lady is off Welfare and she has a job. It's not much, but she is now a tax producer instead of a tax consumer. She's never going to have a $50,000 a year job, but then again since my illness I'm never going to have one again either.

There will always be a left side of the bell curve. You can't do away with it as long as people are individuals. Turn us into ants and we might have a chance. The only thing we can do is move the curve in its entirety right, but there will always be someone on the bottom. You can't help it.

So don't worry about "helping" the person on the bottom of the curve. Let them earn a life with dignity and you won't have to fret over them. Give them something like Welfare and you ruin them as far as their self-worth goes. Teach a man to fish and all that.

This article, Americans Are Tired documents what is wrong with our country.

From the evening news to Liberal Hollywood, from the UN to the homeless problem, Americans ARE tired.

This is the only point I have a contention with:

Americans are tired of hearing about the homeless or as the Liberals that print the newspapers refer to them, the less fortunate. Most of these people choose to live this way. Most are drug addicts, drunks and the like. The stories we read in the papers, (only since 2000 by they way because when there is a Democrat in office there are no homeless stories in the papers of record because there are no homeless), are written to make the public feel guilty for getting ahead in life. Things like getting up sober, going to work without doing drugs and putting in a good days work is never mentioned in the stories. We are treated to the "they live in the woods" stories each time. Why do they live in the woods, because these people do not like living by societies rules. If you go to a shelter you have to live by their rules. If you live in the woods or in an alley, in a box you can do as you please. Back in my parent's days these people were called what they are, Bums.

While I agree that there were no homeless during Democrat administrations, that is not what I disagree with.

Many of our homeless suffer from mental illness, and turn to illegal drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. They are, for one reason or another, untreatable by the mental health system. Either their illness doesn't allow them to seek treatment, or they won't face the fact that they have a problem. Either way, they can't be helped because they don't want the help. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink the old saying goes.

But yes, us "slope headed, single brow, knuckle dragging, Conservatives and Blue Dog Democrats" are tired and one day we are going to get fed up with all of the childish whining by the Left and we are going to take back this country. The process is starting, but there are many things in the way (like the ACLU) that must be gotten rid of before we can pick up some steam.

Conservatives, arise! Take back the country and restore some common sense to the country.

Here's more of the total BS that "global warming causes earthquakes." Environmentalists Surf Tsunami Tragedy.

These idiotic, tree-hugging idiots will try to hang their hat on anything to "prove" what their "religion" tells them is the "truth."

And the insurance companies are getting into it as well.

Exploitation of tragedy is a sport played not only by environmentalists. Insurer Munich Re used the event as an opportunity to renew its call for action to fight global warming, which the insurance industry has recently started to blame for natural disasters.

Concerned about large payouts for natural disaster claims, insurance companies are very eager to establish global warming (search) as a contributing factor to those disasters, so they can sue deep-pocket businesses supposedly responsible for that global warming. Efforts to invoke supposed global warming as the culprit for this week's death and destruction are patently absurd as the multiple tsunamis were not a "weather event" in the slightest. The tsunamis were caused by an earthquake, which, by the way, is a real, not a "so-called," natural disaster.

The truth is plain to see, unless you are filtering everything you see and hear through your "global warming" paradigm.

Earthquakes aren't caused by the weather or greenhouse gas emissions; they're caused by tectonics — that is naturally moving geological faults. While tectonics may cause climate changes, the reverse is not true.

Despite the fictional tsunami that hit New York in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow," there is no realistic climate change scenario that could possibly cause a tsunami-spawning earthquake.

There you go. That's the truth of the matter.

Environmentalists are also looking to blame economic development for the devastation wreaked by the tsunamis in hopes of slowing down progress in the third world.

Ah. So there IS an agenda behind the Environmentalists yelling and screaming. It's been proven that technologically advanced nations are cleaner than those who aren't advanced. In fact, did you see the headline that said "Air pollution reduced by 10% over last four years"? No you didn't, because that would have meant that President Bush did something right, and that will not do for environmentalists and the MSM. It's out there somewhere, I saw it but I lost the link.

Anyway, the tree-huggers would rather let the third world wallow in filth, undeveloped, dirty, disease ridden lives, because it is more "natural." Feh. Have them visit there for a while and see what kind of lives they have. Not much.

Don't believe that Man can affect the climate. One volcano can cause more pollution on a wider scale than 100 years of smoke stacks.

Well, every recent reader knows I'm into Warhammer 40k. If you don't, you should be reading my archives. =)

I'm also into MechWarrior:Dark Age as well. It's another futuristic war game, this one centered around 40 foot tall humanoid man-controlled robots bristling with weapons. I went to my first tournament in months yesterday. It's been months because either I have been running the events, no one shows up or they hold them on days where I work. =(

Well, we had an amazing three participants yesterday, and a fourth showed up, but too late to compete. I took first place, easily winning all three Victory Conditions in both battles. If you want to learn more, you can do a search on "MechWarrior" in my archives. I won't bother you with the details every time I post on it.

I just wanted to say that I emerged victorious and it has helped me cope with not having any heat in the apartment. Nothing like a little feel good time to brighten up your day.

There is a call being made to our Liberal judges. It's the sound of "doing the right thing." The Siren Song Of Judicial Activism.

I think the article pretty much says it all:

Just as the Sirens’ song was supposed to lure sailors to their death, thus is the effect Judicial Activism will have on our Constitution. No matter what form it takes, legislating from the bench violates the intentional separation of the three branches of government and threatens the integrity of the rule of law.

[...]

That the judiciary branch of government has found a means to disregard their clearly defined role is something that should be addressed by those in power. One only needs to contemplate the damage that can be done by egotistic judges who purport to know the best use of taxpayer dollars to understand the urgency;...

Judges are making decisions that they are not supposed to. Just as the citizens on a jury should not go out on their way home from the courthouse to do a little investigating on their own, Judges should stick to interpreting the document that gives them their power and the laws enacted by the Legislative branch.

To mandate more spending in a school district without demanding an accounting of the monies already spent is a massive waste and fraud of tax dollars.

These activist judges are making up case law out of blue smoke and mirrors, and our Republic is suffering because of it.

Because the glass ceiling has been broken, more and more judges act in what they feel are in the best interests of their constituents and aren’t bound by their office –with very few exceptions;...

This is exactly what I mean. They don't have any constituents. There is no accountability to their "constituents" like there is for an elected official. The only thing a judge has to fear is their ruling might be overturned by a higher court.

This has to stop. Luckily we have a Republican majority in the Senate and President Bush in the White House. Let's hope the president can push through all of the judges he can that are those exceptions, willing to rule on the law instead of their activism.

Like I've always said, you have to keep things in perspective. Doctors Kill More People Than Guns Do.

Back before the November election, many mainstream media pundits – trying desperately to get John Kerry elected – began to harp on President Bush's unwillingness to stop certain federal gun control laws from expiring as scheduled. But their propaganda efforts came to naught because this issue was a non-starter with the American people.

The fact is, in this day of post-9/11 increased security consciousness, most average Americans simply don’t want more gun control. They want more guns on hand to defend themselves and their loved ones in the face of possible life-threatening danger. Soccer moms are now taking handgun proficiency courses down at the local firing range.

Then the article brings up some numbers to show just how deadly Doctors and guns are.

Doctors: (A) There are 700,000 physicians in the U.S. (B) Accidental deaths caused by physicians total 120,000 per year. (C) Accidental death percentage per physician is 0.171.

Guns: (A) There are 80 million gun owners in the U.S. (B) There are 1,500 accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups. (C) The percentage of accidental deaths per gun owner is 0.0000188.

Statistically, then, doctors are 9,000 times more dangerous to the public health than gun owners are.

You could even factor in the 50,000 murders per year by firearms and still have a lower death rate, both in the (A) and (C) numbers.

And you can't argue that "Well, Doctors save lives and guns don't." Armed citizens prevent an estimated 2,500,000 crimes a year, which accounts for up to 400,000 lives saved, according to the article. I can't say guns prevent all of these crimes because guns are an inanimate object, incapable of independent action. They must be wielded by a person in order to be effective.

Guns are wondrous things. They are used 99% of the time to bring enjoyment to peoples lives, and 1% of the time to bring tragedy. But then again I can say the same thing about cars as well.

Well, well, well. It looks like there has been a change of the old guard. A New Conversation on Civil Rights.

When Mary Frances Berry left the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in early December, after 25 years as either vice-chairman or chairman, she did so without the anticipated bruising public fight. (The Bush administration apparently changed the locks on the Commission offices and reassigned the bank accounts.) Berry, whom new vice-chairman Abigail Thernstrom characterizes as "a remarkably divisive person," had a history of picking fights, and in fact took pride in it. The fights tended to devolve to a single issue: that Berry, representing all African Americans, had been discriminated against, and was going to get hers (and theirs) back.

The story goes on to say that the commission now has a Conservative majority. Now maybe we will see a commission focused on improving the lot of Blacks who live in the poor sections of our country, instead of screaming rhetoric and wanting it all now.

Too long we have focused on giving handouts instead of a hand up. Our Welfare system is designed to keep young single mothers on Welfare perpetually, cranking out as many babies as possible. There exists no way to get off of the system without large penalties. At least there are places where reform has taken over and the change has been to get people off Welfare instead of trapping them in it.

Let's hope the Commission will change the paradigm of Blacks all over the country who believe that the government owes them something.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am in this apartment away from my family for a very good reason. I cannot deal with change very well. My life here is meant to be as static as possible. This problem with the furnace being broken presents a major obstacle to my emotional stability. Then there is the fact that I ordered some DVDs three weeks ago and they haven't gotten here. The radio shows that I listen to are in either "best of" or guest hosts. Put on top of that this is still the holiday season and my schedule is disrupted. This Christmas sucked for me and all in all, not a good situation for the home team.

You may think these are minor annoyances, but they are creating uncertainty in my life and that provides to be a major distraction.

I am sorry I am not my usual Conservative self, but I cannot get into the mood I need to be in when bringing up my commentary. I am unable to clear myself and put my semi-brilliant mind to work for the Conservative cause.

We'll try again this afternoon or tomorrow. See you then.

Well, my birds and I survived the night. I closed us up in my bedroom and kept us warm for the night. The rest of the apartment got down to about 50 degrees, and I'm warming the living room up to a more reasonable temperature right now.

But we still have to get through today and tonight before we know when we'll get our furnace fixed. It should be tomorrow, but then they'll probably raise my rent to help pay for it, and that I can't afford any more. The utility bill for the month will be a killer with all of the extra gas and electricity I'm using to keep us warm.

Warm thoughts are always appreciated.

I can't say it any better: Pinkos Getting Nuttier.

The article starts off with a good accounting of the history of Socialism:

You'd think today's socialists would be a little more cautious when it comes to preaching about the merits of centralized planning, a bit more wary about putting the state in charge of every nook and cranny of daily life, given the way things have turned out over the past century.

It wasn't just the bad economics, the sight of people queuing up in the Soviet Union each morning to stand in line for hours for bread before the shelves went bare, or the decade-long waits for drab apartments. Worse was the price of pounding every doubter and straggler into line, the slaughter by the bodyguards of collectivism of the millions who failed to proclaim the nonexistent virtue of a failed system, the elimination of millions who failed to buy the idea that a man's mind was nothing compared to the collective wisdom of the state.

The final tally, the grand total of those killed in the Marxist-Leninist war of class genocide against private property, individuality, profit and the market, is variously estimated at between 80 million and 110 million, with as many as 65 million in China, 25 million in the former Soviet Union, 1.7 million in Cambodia, and on and on.

80,000,000+ lives sacrificed for collectivism. Killed because they would not conform. Because they dared speak out or hold ideas that were a threat to the Socialists. No wonder it was a failed system. You can't keep freedom down. No matter how you enslave people, there will always be those who want to breathe free.

Such, however, is not the case, as evidenced by the call for grandiose state intrusion in the most private of matters in the November-December 2004 issue of the Internationalist Socialist Review. The crisis described in America is that of an escalating "class attack" by the bourgeoisie in which "more and more responsibility for children's welfare has been placed on individual families."

Actually, it has been the exact opposite, with more and more of the parental rights and responsibilities being taken away. You read here about how a mother couldn't monitor her daughters phone conversations. And more of that is occurring all of the time.

Not only isn't the state being given "more and more responsibility for children's welfare," but back home at the stove and washing machines we're seeing exactly no progress toward the unionization of wives and mothers. In a system that thrives on capitalism, hierarchy and sexism, it's still "primarily women who are expected to perform the unpaid domestic labor of raising children, cooking, housework, and primary health care."

So now they want to collectivize Motherhood. They want us to start down that path by Unionizing mothers. After all, they sweat and toil and raise kids for free, right? Cooking, laundry, housework, it's all the mothers job. They should get some kind of pay for doing the work.

I will tell you this, it's a system that has worked since time immemorial. The husband works to bring the food home, puts the roof over the head of the family, and the wife takes care of the rest. It works out to be an even distribution of labor.

Of course, with the systematic destruction of the nuclear family, many wives having to take a job to help support the family and so on, things have become blurred. But many stay-at-home moms like it that way and wouldn't change it for the world.

Don't swallow their bullshit. Look at what they represent, look at their history and see what they've done as far as perpetuating human misery across the world and reject them and their ideas.

Global Warming is responsible for everything, can't you get that? Media Linking Killer Tsunami to Global Warming.

Wow. It seems that Global Warming (of which it is ALL the United States' fault) seems to be responsible for the 9.0 earthquake the other day.

Yeah, right. There was a caller to Rush Limbaughs show on Monday that said by cutting roads into the Earth (you know, cut into hills and fill into valleys so the road is flat) affects the tensile strength of the crust and is a contributing factor in earthquakes. If that ain't bullshit, what is?

It's absolutely terrible when science is used in a political agenda, especially when there is no science behind the "science."

In a related vein, National Geographic has just taken a nosedive in my book. Bogus Science News in 2004.

Science is thinking up something, then trying to prove or disprove that theory. When multiple people can consistently prove or disprove the theory, then we know if it works or it doesn't. That's called peer review and it works.

Looking back over 2004, National Geographic announced its ten top news stories. They are revealing if for no other reason than the way they demonstrate how much “junk” or bogus science passes for news. It is a disturbing trend.

One one event was truly newsworthy, and that was SpaceShip One winning the X-Prize. Unfortunately it came in at number 10 on the list.

Here's one that shows just how bullshit they are.

Number six was also based on a movie that, by definition, is pure fiction. “Day After Tomorrow Movie: Could Ice Age Occur Overnight?” National Geographic said, “To environmentalists, there is more than a kernel of truth in the catastrophic scenarios depicted…” in the movie and expressed that hope that it would “spark debate about the environmental damage the Earth is suffering.” This isn’t journalism. It is pure advocacy for a bogus theory that has been disputed by thousands of scientists around the world and now is widely viewed as junk science of no merit. It, too, is based on “computer models” and they are regarded as badly flawed.

[...]

Number two, “Warming to Cause Catastrophic Rise in Sea Level?” states that “Most scientists agree that global warming presents the greatest threat to the environment.” This is false. Most scientists do not support the global warming theory advanced by environmental organizations to justify the United Nations Kyoto Protocol on climate. “If our planet’s ice caps and glaciers continue to melt, the sea level will rise and submerge vast territories, from entire countries to large parts of the United States.” This is absurd.

Antarctica is getting colder and, since 1970, Iceland’s glaciers have been getting thicker. Sea levels rise at an extremely low rate. The melting cited is the same that began 10,000 years ago at the beginning of the current interglacial period. The [Kyoto] UN Protocol has a purely political agenda intended to harm the economies of industrialized nations while exempting others such as India, China, and more than a hundred Third World nations. [emphasis mine]

As you can see, National Geographic seems to be turning into something akin to a tabloid. I still have hanging in my shed a blow-up of the Weekly World News that proclaims everything will crash on 1/1/00. Either it didn't happen or I must have slept in that day.

Feh.

Well, the maintenance guys have been here and they tell me that the furnace is dead and needs to be replaced. Looks like Wednesday before I can get the new one in due to paperwork and etc., so I have to head over to Wally-World to get an electric heater.

Oh, Joy. More money that I don't have.

I've been babysitting my furnace at night for the past five nights, so I'm a little tired. For some reason, it likes going out right about midnight. So when I wake up around 2AM, it's 60 degrees in the apartment and I have to relight the damned thing. Then I lay awake for at least two hours listening to it kick on and off every minute or so. As of this moment, I've used about 77 CCF and my bill just for gas is about $60 and I've got just under three weeks left before the meter is read again. I'm glad I save up through the summer months to pay bills like this.

That's one long paragraph to say I'm not in the mood this morning and I couldn't find anything newsworthy to comment on. Sorry. I'll comment later on this afternoon if I can find something.

"A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story?

No. This uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived -- all put together. How do we explain that?

...Unless he really was what he said he was." --Ronald Reagan

Track Santa on his journey at NORAD.

May you all have a Merry Christmas. Be thankful for those in your life.

See you on Monday.

In a display that shows she is still upset that President Bush was elected in 2000, Senator Diane Feinstein called today for the abolition of the Electoral College. Feinstein: Get rid of Electoral College

"The Electoral College is an anachronism, and the time has come to bring our democracy into the 21st century," Feinstein said in a statement. "During the founding years of the republic, the Electoral College may have been a suitable system, but today it is flawed and amounts to national elections being decided in several battleground states."

So she says.

We are a Representative Republic, not a Democracy. A true Democracy is mob rule. If she wants a Democracy so badly, she's going to work herself out of a job, because then we wouldn't use her. Just let everyone vote on every thing and do away with Congressmen and Senators entirely.

Feh.

The stay against Arizona Proposition 200, Protect Arizona Now (PAN), has been lifted and allowed to become law. Anti-Immigration Initiative Takes Effect in Arizona

This proposition "...cuts off undocumented aliens from public benefits, requires state workers to report anyone they suspect of trying to obtain those benefits illegally and requires anyone registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship. Voters also have to show government-issued photo identification at the polls."

Of course, the 9th Circus will overturn the law, forcing SCOTUS to rule on the matter. Hopefully the SCOTUS will rule towards the US and against illegals. Too much of our resources meant for citizens are being spent on undocumented aliens who have no business being in this country.

This is one Proposition that must be enforced to the letter of the law and the idea should spread to the other States.

Yesterday I reported on how the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) sponsored a field trip of Second Graders to JP Morgan Chase Bank.

In this story, Children's Efforts for Green Group 'Not A Field Trip', the facts come out even more, and they are quite disturbing.

It turns out that the teacher who took the students on their "field trip" was their teacher for 1st grade. She took a personal day and the students were marked absent for that day as well. The school quickly clarified that this was not done by the school, nor did the school condone it.

The bank acted graciously by welcoming the students and offering milk and cookies for them after they presented the posters. I'm quite sure they will have other words with RAN now that the kids are out of the way.

These kids were exploited, plain and simple. The kids were told that this was a bad group of people doing bad things to the planet, and we must "protect the planet." They don't know anything other than what the teacher told them, and by her position of power (which she abused) she put those kids in that position.

RAN also exploited these kids, issuing a press release all about the event, shamelessly using these kids as cannon fodder.

This should not be allowed to happen. Pseudo-scientific hokum is being used as a religion to tout this bullshit and it must be stopped. By letting them slide without having to provide data that holds up to scientific scrutiny is a crime against the planet and all of the people who live here.

Well, my handy-dandy thermometer says it's 19 degrees outside right now, and it's a chilly 62 degrees inside my apartment as well. It actually got down to 55 this morning, the pilot light went out on my furnace twice during the night.

I'm off to the Landlord's office, just a wee bit down the road, to tell them about the problem. I've left messages but no one's called back.

I think it was the fourth Crusade, the once comprised of children. It was supposedly Divine Will that caused these children and young adults to rise up and march toward the Holy Land. It ended with most being killed, lost along the way or captured and sold into slavery. Very few ever returned.

Now we have a new Pied Piper leading a new group of children on a Crusade, the one for the rainforests. Green Group's Recruitment of Grade Schoolers Called Shameless'

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN), along with it's Liberal friends in the educational system, is sponsoring a Crusade against corporations. In this case, a massive field trip to JP Morgan Chase Bank. A Group of Second Graders.

This is the kind of mush that our children are having to have forced down their throats. Stuff that they don't comprehend, but chewed up into bite sized lumps of logic that they can understand. Too bad it's a bunch of horse droppings.

When you look at a Liberal group like this, look at what they do, not at what their press releases say. RAN is anti-everything the modern world is founded upon. They want us (but not themselves) to go back a couple of centuries before industrialization. That would include a tremendously high mortality rate for children, no medicines, everybody has to farm for what they eat and die at 45 from overwork.

Let's cut this Crusade off at its knees.

Literally. In this case, 50k volts worth.

This article, 50,000 Volts for Your Thoughts, decries the possibly excessive use of stun guns.

Since Pinellas County [Florida] police have gotten Tasers their use-of-force reports have jumped 34 percent. In at least 14 of the 121 reported episodes, suspects were already handcuffed when they were zapped. Likewise, the Clearwater [Florida] Police Department's use-of-force has increased 58 percent, with 49 handcuffed suspects getting the electric treatment.

Having a Less than Lethal option seems to be used as a panacea to instantly solving the problems of the police. Instead of waiting out the person, the police get impatient and decide to hurry the process along by zapping the person.

The story includes a couple of anecdotes that made the national news, but by no means does it mean a trend one way or the other.

COPS, the only reality show I watch, recently had a "tased and confused" episode. It featured three perps, one all ready in handcuffs, getting the electric treatment.

I understand how dangerous the job of a police officer is. I applaud any new tool that brings the perp in and nobody gets hurt. However, excessive use can be a problem, and the day may very well come when they just zap you to start off with, just to make it easy for them to get you into custody.

That's the day everybody loses.

Here is a partial list of what is on the plate of the Supreme Court for next year. Thanks to The Las Vegas Sun

PRISON SENTENCES: Are federal sentencing guidelines constitutional? (United States v. Booker, 04-104 and United States v. Fanfan, 04-105.) Argument heard Oct. 4.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Can the government prosecute sick people who grow marijuana and use it on the advice of a doctor? (Ashcroft v. Raich, 03-1454.) Argument heard Nov. 29.

DEATH PENALTY: Is it unconstitutionally cruel to execute juvenile killers? (Roper v. Simmons, 03-633.) Argument heard Oct. 13. And may the United States try and sentence to death foreign nationals without notifying their government, in violation of international law? (Medellin v. Dretke, 04-5928.) Argument not yet scheduled.

LAND RIGHTS: When can local governments seize people's homes and businesses to be used for tax-producing projects like shopping malls? (Kelo v. City of New London, 04-108.) Argument scheduled for Feb. 22.

IMMIGRATION: Can immigration officials deport someone to a country that has no government to accept them? (Jama v. INS, 03-674.) Argument heard Oct. 12. And may authorities indefinitely imprison hundreds of Cuban immigrant criminals and other illegal foreigners with no country to accept them? (Clark v. Martinez, 03-878, and Benitez v. Wallis, 03-7434.) Argument heard Oct. 13.

FREE SPEECH: May the government require beef producers to pay fees that are used to promote the industry, even if the producers disagree with some of the marketing campaigns? (Veneman v. Livestock Marketing Association, 03-1164, and Nebraska Cattlemen v. Livestock Marketing Association, 03-1165.) Argument heard Dec. 8.

WINE SHIPMENTS: May states prevent consumers from buying wine by mail from out-of-state wineries? (Granholm v. Heald, 03-1116; Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association v. Heald, 03-1120 and Swedenburg v. Kelly, 03-1274.) Argument heard Dec. 7.

PRISON SEGREGATION: Can state prison officials separate inmates based on the prisoners' skin color? (Johnson v. California, 03-636.) Argument heard Nov. 2.

TITLE IX: Whether the federal law best known for promoting women's athletics protects people who are punished after they complain about unlawful sex discrimination. (Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, 02-1672.) Argument heard Nov. 30.

POLICE SEARCHES: Can police use drug-sniffing dogs to check stopped cars whose drivers have given police no particular reason to suspect illegal activity? (Illinois v. Caballes, 03-923.) Argument heard Nov. 10.

TEN COMMANDMENTS: Do government displays of the Ten Commandments at public buildings violate the First Amendment's ban on an "establishment" of religion? (Van Orden v. Perry, 03-1500, and McCreary County v. ACLU, 03-1693.) Arguments scheduled for March 2.

FILE-SHARING: Should Internet file-sharing services be held responsible for their customers' illegal swapping of copyrighted songs and movies? (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, 04-480.) Argument not yet scheduled.

CABLE INTERNET ACCESS: Is cable-based broadband a "telecommunications service" under FCC rules that would require cable companies to open their lines to Internet competition? (National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services, 04-277; FCC v. Brand X Internet Services, 04-281.) Argument not yet scheduled.

Let's hope we get a lot of good results from these cases.

From the Washington Times:

It seems that our reporters who like making news (instead of just observing and reporting it) don't necessarily have their facts straight.

Rest of the story

"The reporter who managed to get a National Guardsman serving in Iraq to question Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld about why his unit's vehicles lacked sufficient armor coached the soldier using
false information," NewsMax.com reports.

"In fact, by the time Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts rehearsed Spc. Thomas 'Jerry' Wilson on what to say to Rumsfeld, the Pentagon had already up-armored 97 percent of the vehicles in Thomas' 278th Regimental Combat Team, senior members of the Army's combat systems development and acquisition team said Thursday.

"Further undermining the premise of Pitts' question, orders to up-armor the last 20 of the 278th's 830 vehicles were already in the pipeline when he engineered the bogus inquiry," NewsMax said.

"According to the Maryville, Tenn., Daily Times - a rival to Pitts' paper - Army Maj. Gen. Stephen Speakes and Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson said during last week's Pentagon briefing that routine pre-deployment preparations before proceeding to Iraq included adding protective armor plates to the last 20 vehicles of the Tennessee-based 278th Regimental Combat Team's 830 vehicles.

" 'When the question was asked, 20 vehicles remained to be up-armored at that point,' Gen. Speakes said, in comments completely ignored by the major media.

" 'We completed those 20 vehicles in the next day,' he said. 'In other words, we completed all the armoring within 24 hours of the time the question was asked,' Gen. Speakes added.

"The eye-opening revelations by Gen. Speakes and Gen. Sorenson first gained national exposure on FreeRepublic.com late Friday."

Open pad, insert foot.

At least that's what my PDA says when I turn it on. If you know what's special about the number 42, then you'll want to read this, a review of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The film is currently in post-production, so things are moving forward and almost done. I look forward to seeing this movie.

Just don't forget your towel and babelfish.

It is happening, every day another step towards the final result. It Can't Happen Here.

The article talks about how we are incrementally working our way towards a police state. We may not have an armed soldier on every street corner, but a camera will be.

We have asked for this, you and I. By asking for the government to "protect" us, we must give certain rights to them. But rights, freely given, can never be reclaimed. In the name of security, we have bound ourselves into a Gordian knot.

Unfortunately, the new intelligence bill passed by Congress two weeks ago moves us closer to an encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to a full-fledged national ID card. Within two years, every American will need a “conforming” ID to deal with any federal agency-- including TSA at the airport.

Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress don’t believe America is becoming a police state, which is reasonable enough. They associate the phrase with highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we ought to be concerned that we have laid the foundation for tyranny by making the public more docile, more accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting of arbitrary authority- all in the name of security. Our love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism. American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don’t like being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal government and its agents to run our lives.

Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve complacency and obedience, especially when citizens are deluded into believing they are still a free people. The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal, short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that once the war on terror is over, restrictions on their liberties will be reversed. But this war is undeclared and open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated completely; does this mean future presidents will assert extraordinary war powers indefinitely?

Yes.

We have been conditioned, you and I, over the past 40 years to accept the Government as a benevolent Big Brother. "Here, let me help you" are the starting words. Once you get used to the idea that he can help you, then you start accepting the idea that he can protect you. Then the time comes for him to control you, for your own good, of course.

Don't think it can't happen here, it already has.

It may be true that average Americans do not feel intimidated by the encroachment of the police state. Americans remain tolerant of what they see as mere nuisances because they have been deluded into believing total government supervision is necessary and helpful, and because they still enjoy a high level of material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however, as our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt, endless deficit spending at home and abroad, a declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest rates, and failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes toward omnipotent government may change, but the trend toward authoritarianism will be difficult to reverse.

It will be damn near impossible. And without the reincarnations of Washington, Jefferson and the rest of them, it will be impossible to rebuild us as we were.

The DOJ has finally expressed a position on the Second Amendment, and it's the proper one. DOJ Memo: 2nd Amendment is Individual Right.

This is the same position that the Founding Fathers have had for over 200 years. I'm glad somebody in Government (in this Collectivist period) recognizes that fact.

Now all we need is for the SCOTUS to say it and the matter should be settled for at least 50 years.

In a related story, here shows the folly of "gun free zones," The Threat of Gun-Free Zones.

It documents how in several of the well known massacres in America, there was a citizen who had a handgun carry permit, but for some reason they had to leave it in their car, out of reach when they needed it the most.

It is a sad state of affairs when you declare an area "gun free," because you are actually creating the potential for a massacre.

Sad, sad, sad.

This article shows just how much the Christians in this country are under attack. Free the Philadelphia 4.

The Administration of Philadelphia (Police, DA, Mayor, etc.) have charged four peaceful Christians of high crimes and misdemeanors, all for calmly walking and trying to preach the Gospel.

I'll let the story explain:

That's right. Four Christians are facing 47 years in prison for peacefully quoting the Bible, an action an unglued local prosecutor determined to be "fighting words" when cited among homosexual activists.

It all started Oct. 10, when a total of 11 members of Repent America attended a homosexual street festival called "Outfest."

The group, ranging in age from 17 to 72, was surrounded at times by the organizers' security force, known as the "Pink Angels."

Videotapes and still photos taken at the event show the Pink Angels blocking the path of the Repent America members, shouting at them, blowing whistles and so forth. The Christians remain peaceful and calm at all times, despite what appears to be extraordinary provocation, intimidation and harassment.

Guess who was arrested?

That's right. The Christians.

And they've been charged with a long list of felonies and hate crimes that would make the Founding Fathers spin in their graves.

Absolutely horrific. Read the article. It gets worse when you see the list of crimes they are charged with.

Please follow this link, The right tool for the right job, but please be sure to stop drinking or eating before doing so. I refuse to be held responsible for hot coffee or spaghetti coming out your nose.

Well, I had a fun time. It was a great three battles. I would give you my force structure, but unless you play 40K it would just go over your head, so I won't bore you with all of my inventiveness. =)

My first battle was against Josh and his Tyranids (Think bugs from Starship Troopers)on the desert table, playing a Cleanse II scenario. I stood on the mesa and played like it was the Alamo. The power weapons came in handy as they killed the Hive tyrant. I managed to just about wipe him out. With my Land Speeders, I was able to claim 3 table quarters and easily win the game.

Second battle was against my friend Tyler and his Space Marine Grey Knights, playing The Hunted scenario and staying on the desert table. He wiped me out, but it took him all six turns to do it. Considering he had me by 10 points a model (mine 15, his 25) I managed to play extremely well. He plays an extremely optimized list, which means high point cost per model, and they are very tough to kill. I managed to wipe out a unit or two, but again he wiped me out completely. The guy Tyler played in the third round was wiped out in four turns, and he only managed to kill three of Tylers models.

The third battle was against another friend John, and his Ork Speed Freaks. The scenario was Unplanned Assault and this was on the True Grit board, the trench warfare one. I managed to get my reserves on before Grim did, even though his rules allowed for reserve rolls on turn one. Chief Librarian Tigurius managed to do the job I wanted him to do, which was to play his Fear of the Darkness psyker power. This causes you to take a Leadership test with a -2 modifier and if you lose the test you start running off the board yelling like a frightened schoolgirl. I managed to scare a couple of his units off the board. The trenches really held John up and helped me destroy him piece meal. The mission turned out to be hold the terrain feature, and since we didn't pick any before the battle, we asked a neutral staff member and he pointed one out for us to take. I easily held it with three tactical squads and a Dreadnought, and again, his inability to traverse the board easily defeated him more than I did.

I ended up with my usual 2-1 record, but someone made a mistake in counting the points and I was 10 points short on my total, so I ended up 18th out of 20 instead of around 12th or so.

This was my son's first RTT, and he ended up with a 1-2 record, winning against a Marine army that I don't recall, but losing to old school Necrons (think Terminators) and Josh's Tyranids I played in the first round. He placed 16th out of 20, not bad for his first try.

The next tournaments are in April, one at MidSouthCon and the 2nd Annual Opening tournament for the Memphis World of Battle. Much fun has been promised.

I hate to ask, but my papasan chair collapsed last night. The only chair I have left is my computer chair. Please consider the season and help out a poor guy like me. =)

Anything will help. I promise to get a better chair next time.

From Neal Boortz, Hartsfield Ordeal.

Our sympathies go out to anyone caught in the incredible mess at Hartsfield International Airport on Saturday. I'm told that literally thousands missed flights because there weren't enough TSA screeners on duty to get the job done. Here is just one of the email we've received about Saturday's Hartsfield Hell:

I took my 77 year old parents to Hartsf-Jack airport Saturday. we got there over 2 hrs. ahead of time (you know how old people have to be early) flight was 3:20 and we arrived outside the Airtran counter at 1:20. thank goodness we were early since the cops there had traffic blocked past the parking lots. parents picked for random screening. both have heart problems and dad has diabetes as well as a hip problem. screening took 1.5 hours and they missed their flight. they just got on a flight now (11:00 pm) after 10 hours. both parents are Irish German with an American name. not Muhammad. I am so pissed. what are the odds that they will come to visit my family again after this ordeal? (Donna C.)

Like the Israeli security expert said; Americans have it all wrong. We look for terrorists. They look for weapons. There is no way these 77-year-olds should have been singled out like this, but political correctness being the rule these TSA types can't spend their time actually looking for those who really would present a threat.

There's another way to look at this. When a passenger walks up to an Israeli security checkpoint the Israeli security personnel are actually trained to observe the passenger, talk to the passenger, ask pertinent questions and make a judgment as to whether or not this particular person would constitute a threat. Now that I think about it, maybe were better off with our security agents strip-searching each passenger rather than actually trying to use their heads to make an individual judgment. [emphasis mine]

Hm. What a novel idea. LOOK FOR THE TERRORISTS INSTEAD OF HASSLING LITTLE OLD LADIES FOR THEIR KNITTING NEEDLES.

And you wonder why common sense is in such short supply.

Here's a two parter. This first part talks about the man who created Kwanzaa, the second part talks about the actual precepts of the holiday. Here we go: an archived article from 2002. Did you have a happy Kwanzaa?

The article starts out with a praise of President Bush starting Kwanzaa early. He mentions who created the holiday and when. I'll let the article pick it up from there.

[President] Bush was correct in pointing out that this new high holy day is a very recent invention. There are few holidays we can actually attribute to one man's vision. Kwanzaa is such a holiday – coined by Ron Karenga in 1966.

Who was Ron Karenga?

Glad you asked.

He is a convicted felon – sentenced five years after inventing Kwanzaa for torturing two black women by whipping them with electrical cords and beating them with a karate baton after stripping them naked. He placed in the mouth of one of the victims a hot soldering iron, also scarring her face with the device. He put one of her big toes in a vise, and detergent and running water in both of their mouths.

Oh, but wait. It gets better from there.

Let's look at what he was doing in 1966.

Just about the time he was dreaming up this new holiday, he was also inventing a new political movement on the campus of UCLA. That movement was called "black cultural nationalism." His group was called United Slaves. And it was defined mainly by violent confrontations with the Black Panthers at UCLA. Two of his followers shot dead two members of the Panthers in 1969.

And that's not the best of it. He was proclaimed "Saint Karenga" after his release.

...Four years later, he was running the Black Studies Department at California State University in Long Beach.

How did he get that job in academia with his record?

Glad you asked again.

Paul Mulshine, who has done an admirable job of chronicling Karenga's history for FrontPagemag.com, has a theory.

Karenga had a jailhouse conversion.

No, he did not become a born-again Christian. He did not renounce violence. He did not even repudiate his past. But he did become a Marxist. [emphasis mine]

Actually, after reading the foundations of Kwanzaa, he was already a Marxist. How else would he have had the idea of "cooperative economics, and collective work and responsibility"? Those are Marxist ideas, not born of a free economy.

Read the next entry and you'll see that the entire concept of Kwanzaa is nothing but blue smoke and mirrors.

After revealing who the creator of Kwanzaa is, let's look at what he created. An old monologue from Tony Snow:

BLACKS IN AMERICA have suffered an endless series of insults and degradations, the latest of which goes by the name of Kwanzaa.

Ron Karenga (aka Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga) invented the seven-day feast (Dec. 26-Jan. 1) in 1966, branding it a black alternative to Christmas. The idea was to celebrate the end of what he considered the Christmas-season exploitation of African Americans.

According to the official Kwanzaa Web site -- as opposed, say, to the Hallmark Cards Kwanzaa site -- the celebration was designed to foster "conditions that would enhance the revolutionary social change for the masses of Black Americans" and provide a "reassessment, reclaiming, recommitment, remembrance, retrieval, resumption, resurrection and rejuvenation of those principles (Way of Life) utilized by Black Americans' ancestors."

Karenga postulated seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith, each of which gets its day during Kwanzaa week. He and his votaries also crafted a flag of black nationalism and a pledge: "We pledge allegiance to the red, black, and green, our flag, the symbol of our eternal struggle, and to the land we must obtain; one nation of black people, with one G-d of us all, totally united in the struggle, for black love, black freedom, and black self-determination."

Now, the point: There is no part of Kwanzaa that is not fraudulent. Begin with the name. The celebration comes from the Swahili term "matunda yakwanza," or "first fruit," and the festival's trappings have Swahili names --such as "ujima" for "collective work and responsibility" or "muhindi," which are ears of corn celebrants set aside for each child in a family.

Unfortunately, Swahili has little relevance for American blacks. Most slaves were ripped from the shores of West Africa. Swahili is an East African tongue. To put that in perspective, the cultural gap between Senegal and Kenya is as dramatic as the chasm that separates, say, London and Tehran. Imagine singing "G-d Save the Queen" in Farsi, and you grasp the enormity of the gaffe.

Worse, Kwanzaa ceremonies have no discernible African roots. No culture on earth celebrates a harvesting ritual in December, for instance, and the implicit pledges about human dignity don't necessarily jibe with such still-common practices as female circumcision and polygamy. The inventors of Kwanzaa weren't promoting a return to roots; they were shilling for Marxism. They even appropriated the term "ujima," which Julius Nyrere cited when he uprooted tens of thousands of Tanzanians and shipped them forcibly to collective farms, where they proved more adept at cultivating misery than banishing hunger.

Even the rituals using corn don't fit. Corn isn't indigenous to Africa. Mexican Indians developed it, and the crop was carried worldwide by white colonialists.

The fact is, there is no Ur-African culture. The continent remains stubbornly tribal. Hutus and Tutsis still slaughter one another for sport.

Go to Kenya, where I taught briefly as a young man, and you'll see endless hostility between Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya and Masai. Even South African politics these days have more to do with tribal animosities than ideological differences.

Moreover, chaos too often prevails over order. Warlords hold sway in Somalia, Eritrea, Liberia and Zaire. Genocidal maniacs have wiped out millions in Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia. The once-shining hopes for Kenya have vanished.

Detroit native Keith Richburg writes in his extraordinary book, "Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa," that "this strange place defies even the staunchest of optimists; it drains you of hope ..."

Richburg, who served for three years as the African bureau chief for The Washington Post, offers a challenge for the likes of Karenga: "Talk to me about Africa and my black roots and my kinship with my African brothers and I'll throw it back in your face, and then I'll rub your nose in the images of rotting flesh."

His book concludes: "I have been here, and I have seen -- and frankly, I want no part of it. .... By an accident of birth, I am a black man born in America, and everything I am today -- my culture and my attitudes, my sensibilities, loves and desires -- derives from that one simple and irrefutable fact."

Nobody ever ennobled a people with a lie or restored stolen dignity through fraud. Kwanzaa is the ultimate chump holiday -- Jim Crow with a false and festive wardrobe. It praises practices -- "cooperative economics, and collective work and responsibility" -- that have succeeded nowhere on earth and would mire American blacks in endless backwardness.

Our treatment of Kwanzaa provides a revealing sign of how far we have yet to travel on the road to reconciliation. The white establishment has thrown in with it, not just to cash in on the business, but to patronize black activists and shut them up.

This year, President Clinton signed his fourth Kwanzaa proclamation. He crooned: "The symbols and ceremony of Kwanzaa, evoking the rich history and heritage of African Americans, remind us that our nation draws much of its strength from our diversity."

But our strength, as Richburg points out, comes from real principles: tolerance, brotherhood, hard work, personal responsibility, equality before the law. If Americans really cared about racial healing, they would focus on those ideas -- and not on a made-up rite that mistakes segregationism for spirituality and fiction for history.

After reading this, would YOU celebrate Kwanzaa?

My son and I are heading out soon to the tournament. I spent about 5 hours last night painting up my sons borrowed army to tournament standards. We each face three battles today, I hope both of us go 3-0. I've had a 2-1 record in each of my tournaments so far. This is my sons first tournament.

Cover us. We're going in.

I have a Rogue Trader Tournament coming up tomorrow, and I still have pieces to paint for it.

I have to complete my upgraded sergeants, plus the army my son is borrowing needs to be completed.

You see, part of your point total for the matches is how well your army is painted, and you must have at least three colors on your models even to use them in the tournament.

So I have only this morning and this evening to finish about 30-35 models. No time, no time.

I'll post a battle report either Sunday or Monday. See you then.

Here's a followup to Another blow to parenthood. This is exactly what the ACLU wants to happen: Your kids are not your kids.

I think this sums up the entire sentiment quite nicely:

This group is toxic. This group is lethal to a free society. This group hates self-government. This group wants the state to reach deep inside every home and interfere between family members. This group is anathema to common sense and decency and parental rights. This group would lead America one place and one place only – to a Soviet-style police state in which parents can't trust kids and kids can't trust parents.

A system where the children are trained to spy on their parents for "unpatriotic" actions or words. Where you have to watch every word you say, everything you do, around your kids. That's no way to live, but that's what the ACLU wants. Make no mistake about it, they are a Marxist (read:Communist) bent organization and they will do anything to achieve their goals.

From Boortz.com: Another Attack on Private Property.

Those of you who listen to my show and read my ramblings know that I have a passionate belief in property rights. There has never been a "free" society that survived past the point that it started to ignore the private property rights of its citizens. One of the greatest threats to private property rights in this country is the newfound love that so many local governments have for the concept of eminent domain. It's as if politicians have just recently found out that they can use their governments monopoly on the use of deadly force to seize property from private individuals and then dispose of that property in a way that will be beneficial to the politician.

We have quite a little eminent domain saga going on in my home state of Georgia. Hall County lies north of Atlanta at the base of North Georgia foothills. In Hall County you will find $10 million homes on the shores of Lake Lanier, one of the busiest resort lakes in the nation.

Our story involves Eleanor Brazell. Eleanor is a widow. She owns 323 acres in Hall County. She has a contract to sell 311 of those acres to a developer who has plans for a "Sun City" type retirement community. Eleanor will keep the 12 acres on which she lives in a house built by her now-dead husband.

Our story also involves a Hall County Commissioner named Deborah Lynn. Commissioner Lynn wants Eleanor Brazell's property, all 323 acres of it. Lynn wants the property for a community center, a park and various other little goodies. It's interesting that Lynn says that the county needs the property for a park. A county-appointed citizen's park board says that they don't want that property for a park.

Well .. right now the Hall County commission is fighting like hell to get the condemnation of Brazell's property as fast as possible. They're in a hurry because two of the commissioners who are in favor of the seizure will be leaving office at the end