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.