I'll be the first to admit I've never liked twitter. I generally have no interest in opening an account nor following anyone. And I've come to hate Twitter TV. I don't know if it's TV channels jumping on the twitter bandwagon or if twitter is paying for exposure on mainstream programming, but I cannot stand inane twitter popups whilst I'm watching my shows.

I've tuned out from more than one show for showing stupid, vapid comments every five seconds. Maybe I'm becoming an old fuddy duddy.

This is the kind of stuff that happens in Venezuela or Banana Republics...

In a one-two punch at the pay culture of banks and Wall Street firms blamed for the financial crisis, the U.S. government announced plans to aggressively regulate compensation at thousands of lenders and impose steep pay cuts at seven companies that received billions in federal aid.

Below the fold are some images from the Tea Party yesterday in Reston Virginia.

What happens when the President endlessly talks down the economy in order to pass his socialist agenda?

The DJIA is down nearly 3000 points since Obama was elected.

November 4, 2008 Close: $9,625.28
March 2, 2009 Close: $6,763.29

Looking at the graph above, you can clearly see when Obama hit us with his "October Surprise".

Are new jobs worth $333,333.33 per job? Obama thinks so.

Reporting from Washington -- President-elect Barack Obama, pledging to "set a new course" for an ailing economy, will deliver a public appeal for his nearly $1-trillion recovery plan today -- the start of a campaign asking Americans to accept the massive spending as a "reinvestment" in the nation.

With the stimulus plan, he believes, the nation should be able to generate 3 million jobs over the next few years.

A trillion is a million million. That's 1 million dollars to create only 3 jobs.

"Gun free" Washington D.C. is becoming a police state:

Under an executive order expected to be announced today, police Chief Cathy L. Lanier will have the authority to designate "Neighborhood Safety Zones." At least six officers will man cordons around those zones and demand identification from people coming in and out of them. Anyone who doesn't live there, work there or have "legitimate reason" to be there will be sent away or face arrest...

When I bought my car the first thing I did was throw away the tire iron. Having it there might tempt me to try to change the tire myself. Now I am forced to call the auto club and leave it to the real professionals.

I'm much safer now...

Or at least that's the mentality in the UK:

Fire extinguishers could be removed from communal areas in flats throughout the country because they are a safety hazard, it has emerged.

The life-saving devices encourage untrained people to fight a fire rather than leave the building, risk assessors in Bournemouth decided.

California lawmakers apparently think their consitutents aren't smart enough to control their own thermostats. So they plan to implement (via the building codes) remote controled thermostats that would be controlled by the state.

According to a proposed new rule, the state would mandate all new construction have a thermostat that the state can operate in emergencies.

The rule, set to be adopted January 30th, doesn't give you a choice. It's mandatory. In a section on "Programmable Communicating Thermostats" found on page 64 of this document, it states:

"Upon receiving an emergency signal, the PCT (your thermostat) shall respond to commands contained in the emergency signal, including changing the setpoint by any number of degrees or to a specific temperature setpoint. The PCT shall not allow customer changes to thermostat settings during emergency events."

Whaddayaknow, a whole new black market. How long before people are smuggling thermostats in from Arizona and selling them for a premium?

Hillary Clinton continues to show her socialist streak by promising to hand out money in exchange for votes.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who last month suggested giving $5,000 "baby bonds" to every child born in America but later backed away, called yesterday for a new retirement plan that would boost individual savings with federal tax credits.

Clinton's plan would match the first $1,000 of retirement savings for families making up to $60,000 per year. The proposal would provide a 50 percent match for families making between $60,000 and $100,000. . .

Clinton said she would pay for the tax credits by continuing the estate tax, which is due to expire at the end of 2009, for estates worth more than $7 million.

Hillary has suggested program after program that are all paid for the same way. Tax the "rich". Keep in mind that while Bill was a moderate, Hillary is just about as red as can be.

Flouridation of water started in nineteen hundred and forty-six. 1946. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.

Over at Say Uncle, they point out that the .gov is gearing up for a war on bottled water.

Nanny Government isn't happy with bottled water. Good little proletariates drink their water from the tap. They know better than to incur the wrath of the all knowing all seeing Goracle and his dominion over the Church of Gaia Mother Earth.

Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water? Thats why I only drink grain alcohol and rainwater.

From the Free Republic:

An unelected body, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, (NVTA) is set to implement completely unprecedented and controversial taxing powers for road projects, two thirds of which will not be identified until late November or early December.

The NVTA wants more taxing power from the General Assembly in 2008, eminent domain authority to take homes, businesses, and land, and power to relocate utilities.

Proposed Taxes and Fee Increases:

- Tax on home sales will increase an additional 40 cents per $100 bringing the total state and local grantor/recordation taxes to 86.66 cents per $100, up from 46.66 cents per $100 ($3,467 instead of $1865 on a $400,000 home),

- New 5% car repair tax ($50 on a $1,000 repair bill). Collision repair costs will be hit especially hard as will insurance costs.

- Car rental tax will increase addition 2%, from 10% to 12 %

- Hotel tax will increase 2% on top of current 2%-5% tax

- Vehicle safety inspection fee will increase from $15 to $25

- New regional annual vehicle registration fee of $10 added to current registration fee.

- New, first time registration fee of 1% of sales price of newly registered or purchased car (new or used) ($200 for $20,000 vehicle)

The Virginian Pilot reports that these tax hikes were approved July 14th.

A panel of Northern Virginia officials voted Thursday night to authorize $300 million in local tax and fee increases for transportation improvements.

The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority approved a package that includes new taxes on home sales, car repairs, hotels, rental cars and higher motor vehicle registration and inspection fees.

Northern Virginia has gradually been becoming more and more liberal over the years. If you were thinking of abandoning ship, now may be the time to do it.

And just why does a Transportation Authority have the ability to raise taxes on home sales?

Last time it was a man suing his dry cleaners for $54,000,000 because they lost his pants. This time it's a woman suing Starburst because she dunno know how to chew.

Victoria McArthur, of Romero, Mich., is suing Starbursts' parent company, Mars Inc., for more than $25,000 for "permanent personal injuries" she claims she sustained after biting into one of their yellow candy in 2005.

"I don't know, maybe about 3 chews and it literally locked my jaw ... and it just literally pulled my jaw out of joint," she told MyFoxDetroit.com.

McArthur's lawyer, Brian Muawad, says the candies caused her to develop a condition known as temporal mandibular joint dysfunction. McArthur says she has had trouble chewing, talking and sleeping since the incident.

I've only got two Hillary quotes on the quote page:

"We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society." -- Hillary Clinton

"Many of you are well enough off that . . . the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." -- Hillary Clinton

But reader Mike A points to many more.

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it's time to replace an "on your own" society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity. . .

"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she said. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

That means pairing growth with fairness, she said, to ensure that the middle-class succeeds in the global economy, not just corporate CEOs.

"There is no greater force for economic growth than free markets. But markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed," she said. "Fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies." . . .

Beyond education, Clinton said she would reduce special breaks for corporations, eliminate tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas and open up CEO pay to greater public scrutiny.

Scary indeed.

The UK is developing a real domestic spying program, yet there's no outrage from the left? Government officials plan to build flying camera drones to spy on their subjects.. er.. citizens.

Ian Readhead, deputy chief constable of Hampshire Police, said Britain could face an Orwellian situation with cameras on every street corner. However, senior officers in Merseyside, who are trialling the drone, said they did not believe it was the next phase in creating a Big Brother society.

Assistant chief constable Simon Byrne said: "People clamour for the feeling of safety which cameras give.

There's that "feeling of safety" thing again. The government is always doing things to make you "feel safe" instead of things that actually make you safer. (Virginia Tech officials banned guns claiming their students had the right to feel safe.)

(via SayUncle)

Bitter brings us this tragic story about UK police mistakenly raiding a man's home, then arresting him because he caused the police to mistakenly raid his him.

When police spotted a gun-wielding suspect lurking in the shadows of a suburban front room, their response was swift.

Armed officers burst into the house, shouted at the owner to lie on the floor, and ordered him to surrender his weapon.

But efficiency turned to embarrassment when the "gunman" turned out to be a life-sized model of the video game character Lara Croft, complete with trademark outsized pistols.

Computer shop owner David Williams, 42, had taken the dummy home to put it up for sale on the auction site eBay.

As the source of the confusion dawned on all concerned, it might have been the moment for an apology from the police.

Instead, however, Mr Williams was taken to the cells and held for more than 13 hours before being released.

He is now on bail for a suspected firearms offence, and Lara Croft remains impounded as evidence.

I only had one reaction. Where can I get me one of those?

Democrats are trying to steal the tax issue from Republicans through AMT relief. The Alternative Minimum Tax that originally targeted just 155 people (the so-called uber-rich) now affects millions of taxpaying voters.

Under a proposal presented last week to Democrats on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, families making less than $250,000 a year -- about 98 percent of taxpayers -- would be exempt from the tax. Those earning between $250,000 and about $500,000 would see lower AMT bills, according to Democratic sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan is not final.

To make up the lost revenue, families earning more than $500,000 a year would take a much harder hit from the AMT, as well as other adjustments to the tax code, the sources said. Democrats haven't finalized that part of the proposal. But an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, suggests that the nation's wealthiest families -- less than 1 percent of all taxpayers -- would have to pay 5 to 13 percent more to offset the revenue lost by exempting the middle class from the AMT. . .

At no time did Democrats consider radical ideas like cutting spending or eliminating wasteful and unnecessary pork projects. Then there's this:

"Most middle-class people aren't being hit with it, and they still think of it as a tax for the wealthy," said [pollster Celinda Lake]. . .

To make the AMT work as a campaign issue. . .Democrats recognize that they will have to raise its profile among the approximately 97 percent of families who do not pay it. [Illinois Democrat Rep. Rahm Emanuel] is putting together a strategy.

So not only are they not reducing the impact of the AMT out of fairness, it turns out that if it doesn't buy enough Democrat votes they won't do it at all.

Seattle school children are being taught about how wonderful Communism is:

A [lego] ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. According to an article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private property ownership is evil.

According to the article, the students had been building an elaborate "Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership." According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation."

The children were allegedly incorporating into Legotown "their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys." These assumptions "mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society -- a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive."

They claimed as their role shaping the children's "social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity ... from a perspective of social justice."

It gets worse:

At the end of that time, Legos returned to the classroom after the children agreed to several guiding principles framed by the teachers, including that "All structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes." The teachers quote the children:

"A house is good because it is a community house."

"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes."

"It's important to have the same amount of power as other people over your building."

Next week's lesson is building a big lego wall to keep the students from escaping.

If this were my paper, I'd cancel my subscription:

The tax system in the United States is supposed to mitigate inequality.

It is? That's news to me.

Yesterday, Naples Florida voted to force public and commercial developers to fund "public art" or risk being fined $1 per square foot. The "art" has to be in public view so everyone can enjoy it, and exactly what classifies as "art" will be determined by the Naples Imperial Government.

Sharon Kenny, chairwoman of the Public Art Advisory Committee, had questioned the opposition for a proposal that had met with enthusiasm over five years. Council will consider final approval Nov. 15.

"I am so proud of this council and grateful to them for having a vision to go forward with this program, which will ensure an increase in the quality of life in the city of Naples and for future citizens," Kenny said after the vote.

Since when is the .gov able to force private developers to purchase "public art", and how long will it be before they start forcing the rest of us to buy unmarketable junk from starving artists?

(via Neal)

Former "Apprentice" star and Republican candidate for the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania Raj Peter Bhakta decided to make a point about just how easy it is to slip across the border.

In Brownsville, he witnessed half a dozen men swim under one of the international bridges "with complete immunity" which in turn prompted him to take the immigration issue to the next level.

Bhakta decided to see if he could get an elephant accompanied by a six-piece mariachi band across the river. . .

"To my surprise, the band played on, the elephants splashed away, and nobody showed up," Bhakta said of the stunt. "I'm astounded."

Toeing the party line, the Brownsville Herald chides Bhakta for endangering protected animals.

It never takes very long for some federal bureacrat to mandate technological innovation. This time we have the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requiring that electronic stability control be installed on all new cars beginning in 2012.

Who could be against that? After all, safety devices are good right? Personally, I've got nothing against having the option to purchase safety features. My truck already has ABS, traction control, and anti-roll stability. But I don't like being told by the government that I have to buy it.

Of course it's not being communicated that way.

ESC is currently standard on about 40 percent of 2006 passenger vehicle models and is offered as an option on another 15 percent. On some vehicles, it is only available as part of a more expensive option package.

Adding ESC to vehicles that already have anti-lock brakes will cost car companies about $111 per vehicle, the agency estimates.

Wrong. Adding ESC will cost car purchasers about $111 per vehicle. It won't cost the car companies anything.

Three 12-year olds in England "found themselves hauled into a police station and locked in cells for up to two hours. Their shoes were removed and mugshots, DNA samples and mouth swabs were taken." reports the Daily Mail. Their crime: climbing a tree. The Queen's tree, apparently.

Officers told the children they had been seen damaging the tree which is in a wooded area of public land near their homes.

Questioned by police, the scared friends admitted they had broken some loose branches because they had wanted to build a tree house, but said they did not realise what they had done was wrong.

"Facing the Giants", a movie about an underdog football team, was given a more restrictive rating by the MPAA for being too religious.

"What the MPAA said is that the movie contained strong 'thematic elements' that might disturb some parents," said Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films, which is owned by Sony Pictures. . .

Which "thematic elements" earned this squeaky-clean movie its PG?

"Facing the Giants" is too evangelistic.

The MPAA, noted Fuhr, tends to offer cryptic explanations for its ratings. In this case, she was told that it "decided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions. It's important that they used the word 'proselytizing' when they talked about giving this movie a PG. . ."

The 1956 film, The Ten Commandments, which doesn't even have any football in it, was rated G. Despite the fact that it not only contained overt religious themes, but it included numerous Hebrews who indulged "their most wanton desires in an orgy of sinfulness".

The times, they are a changing.

When I was a kid I had to wear this guy's second hand clothes. When I grew out of them, they were shipped back up so that his little brother could wear them. Mom bought bargain basement cuts of meat and shopped at the day-old bread store. We couldn't even afford real butter, and we were considered middle-class.

Now-a-days, apparently the definition of poor now includes people who can't afford expanded digital cable with HBO, a DVR, and Hi Def.

Democrats also complained that the [telecommunications] bill did not commit providers to spread their services to lower income and minority areas.

[...]

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois, a black lawmaker who represents the South Side of Chicago, said he was co-sponsoring the bill because it would make it easier for minority entrepreneurs to get access to the telecommunications industry.

Rush said his constituents want relief from the high cost of cable. "We pay more for video services, for high premium packages, than any other group in America. And why is that? Because only on cable do we see people who look like us, speak like us, and who understand us. That is why we pay more for cable."

I don't know how it works on the South Side of Chicago, but down here in the South whites and blacks pay the same price for cable.

In the land of evil conservatives (a/k/a Virginia), the Washington Post reports that dental care is "Just a Faint Dream" for the area homeless.

Va. homeless choose between a long trek to the District or doing it themselves with a pair of pliers.

While D.C. sometimes seems a world away, it's actually just across the Potomac from Virginia. For those urban outdoorsmen that live in the burbs, they might try catching a slug ride into the city. Commuters are always looking for that coveted second or third passenger that gets them into the carpool lane.

What country do we live in again?

AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A 14-year-old Ohio girl has been jailed nearly a week after failing to testify against a man accused of molesting her.

Court records show the girl has requested a lawyer. But jail officials say she isn't permitted contact with anyone unless prosecutors approve.

Prosecutors say the teen is a material witness and they want her jailed for her safety. A judge has ordered that she be held indefinitely.

The girl failed to show earlier this month at the trial of a 20-year-old man, who's accused of having unlawful sexual conduct with her. He is free on bond.

The man's attorneys say the girl denied that sexual contact occurred, and would not write a statement for police. Defense lawyers say the state has "effectively kidnapped" the girl. They're asking that the case be dropped.

If I'm reading this right the rapist is out on bond, while the rape victim (a minor child) is being held without bail and without access to a lawyer until she agrees to testify for the prosecution.

Would you consider the installation of monitoring devices into personal property to be a huge invasion of privacy by the government? Well, some members of the Boston City Council don't think so.

Councilor Rob Consalvo wants to put a tracking device into newly manufactured guns and have legal gun owners retrofit their firearms so owners and police can locate and retrieve stolen guns the same way police use a computer chip to locate stolen cars.

''Let's use that same technology to track weapons so we know where they are when they're stolen or bought illegally," he said. ''I think it's a common-sense idea."

Of course we'd also have to require criminals to keep fresh batteries on hand, so those tracking devices on their guns don't run out of power after a few hours.

The Staff Writers at Ravenwood's Universe are now violating federal law. We post anonymous content that annoys the left under a pseudonym. According to CNet, that's now illegal.

Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.

It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name.

Via Say Uncle.

UPDATE: Then again, maybe it's all overblown.

As if you needed another reason to pull your kid out of government schools, Phyllis Schlafly notes:

Two appellate courts held that parents have no right to stop offensive, privacy-invading interrogation of their own children in public schools. In a third case, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that it is not going to do anything to protect parental rights concerning schools.

Two words: vouchers.

Meanwhile elections have been indefinitely suspended in New Orleans.

Fifty-eight year old Patricia Konie from New Orleans filed a federal lawsuit over excessive force used by police during Hurricane Katrina. She's suing for injuries she sustained at the hands of police officers, for violation of her civil rights in forcing her to evacuate against her will, and for the unlawful confiscation of a firearm.

Konie was greeting a reporter and photographer from a San Francisco TV station and a journalist from the London Times when police unexpectedly entered her home. When she refused to leave as ordered, they confiscated a firearm used for defense and according to Konie, "slammed" her to the ground, both displacing and fracturing her left shoulder.

After remaining in custody for several hours without charges being filed against her by authorities, she was flown alone to South Carolina where she remained for more than a month before returning to her native New Orleans.

Shamelessly stolen from the Bitch Girls:

Now that Congress has taken care of many urgent tasks such as debating the BCS for college football and hearing about steriod use in professional baseball, they can now move on to the other important issues of the day.

The chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is considering legislation to limit the size of carry-on luggage, saying the suitcases he sees going into airplane cabins are far too large.

Say Uncle reports that another hardened criminal has been taken off the dangerous Atlanta streets (er.. subway rails):

Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine. Transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker said Friday that the officer "acted within the law" after he spotted Donald Pirone, 42, selling the token Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station.

Instead of giving Pirone a warning, the officer decided to handcuff him and give him the misdemeanor citation under a 1992 state law that bars passengers from selling Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority tokens, she said.

"What you've got to keep in mind is that fare abuse is a chronic problem," Baker said. "It costs MARTA millions of dollars every year."

Baker acknowledged that Pirone sold the token at face value and did not make a profit. But the law is the law, she said.

"There are customer service phones for people who are having trouble getting tokens out of the machine," Baker said. "The fact is, our officer acted within the law."

As for the handcuffs, Baker said the officer felt they were necessary.

"Our officers do that for their own safety," Baker said.

My guess is that MARTA discounts tokens for "the poor", city employees, and others. They are likely concerned about recipients of subsidized tokens making money on them (the same way they do food stamps, etc.).

RCOB Alert: Atheists are suing to get rid of crosses to honor fallen police officers. Using crosses to memorialize the dead is an unConstitutional establishment of a national religion, the heretics argue:

A Texas-based atheist group has filed a federal lawsuit against the Utah Highway Patrol and the Utah Department of Transportation, demanding that crosses erected in honor of fallen UHP troopers be removed from highways on the principle of separation of church and state.

In the suit filed in U.S. District court Thursday, American Atheists Inc., a nonprofit Texas corporation with main offices based out of New Jersey, says several of the 12-foot steel crosses memorializing troopers killed in the line of duty are located on public land in violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

"It is the government endorsement of religion and of one particular religion," said Mike Rivers, Utah director of American Atheists and one of the plaintiffs. Two other Utah members, Stephen Clark and Richard Andrews, have also joined the suit.

News of the suit spread quickly through the UHP community and among friends and family of fallen troopers. "Generally speaking, the crosses are to memorialize these officers who have given the ultimate sacrifice to the state," UHP spokesman Jeff Nigbur said. Nigbur said a large number of the crosses are located on private property near public highways.

As for the religious symbolism, Nigbur said, the cross symbol was chosen as a general symbol to memorialize the fallen.

"We chose the cross because the cross is the international sign of peace, and it has no religious significance in it," Nigbur said.

"I think that's less than honest," said Salt Lake civil rights attorney Brian Barnard, who represents the atheists.

Who needs a wife to nag you about driving too fast, when the government can install a monitoring device to slow your car down for you. That may just happen to Canadian drivers. The government of Canadia is exploring technology to control driver's cars from the inside.

The system being tested by Transport Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Department of Transportation, uses a global positioning satellite device installed in the car to monitor the car's speed and position. If the car begins to significantly exceed the speed limit for the road on which it's travelling the system responds by making it harder to depress the gas pedal, according to a story posted on the Toronto Globe and Mail's Website.

Bruce over at mASS BACKWARDS is shocked by a suggestion in Boston to randomly search cars looking for guns and other illegal contraband. Via the Boston Herald:

Pointing to the rising number of shootings in Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is calling for a "handgun summit" in New England and raised the possibility of random police searches of cars crossing into the state to intercept illegal weapons.

Even after examining his medical records, prosecutors still can't determine if Rush Limbaugh committed a crime. Now they want to do more fishing by compelling his doctors to break their confidentiality agreement to gather evidence against him.

Assistant State Attorney James Martz said he needs to put basic questions to Limbaugh's doctors to investigate if there was a crime.

"I have no idea if Mr. Limbaugh has completed the elements of any offense yet . . . unless we can ask several pertinent questions," Martz told Circuit Judge David Crow.

If only we had a Constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

If you live in Illinois, I suggest you move out now. Give up on the Stalinists and relocate to a free state. I hate to be rude, but Say Uncle just set me off with his report that Illinios Gov. Alphabet is crowing about his anti-gun veto not being overturned.

Gov. Blagojevich applauds members of the Illinois House for upholding his veto of dangerous legislation that would undermine local gun laws [bans]...

From the outside looking in, Illinois appears to be nothing more than a third world socialist dictatorship. Let's talk about dangerous. One the one hand you have law abiding citizens who want nothing more than to provide security and safety for their family and loved ones. Respecting their freedom to own, purchase, possess, and carry guns does not deprive anyone else of life, liberty, or property.

Then you've got this bunch of deep blue socialist assholes who pardon or parole a bunch of murderers and rapists, while setting up barriers to (or just plain outlaw) self-defense for the law-abiding citizenry. Then they're shocked, I say, shocked when the crime rate goes up. To them, that's a sign that they aren't doing enough to violate the rights of the law abiding. (Rope, tree, politician, some assembly required.)

I will not live in Illinois, I will not visit Illinois, and at this point I doubt I would even pass through Illinois. If I ever have children, I won't even teach them to spell Illinois. If they'd be fool enough to take it, we should give it to Canada. Freedom lovers need to get out now, while you still can.

The Ninth Circus Court of Appeals ruled this week that parents do not have a 'fundamental right' to control their children's sexual education.

A federal appeals court Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by parents who were outraged that a school district had surveyed their elementary school-age children about sex.

The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the parents' claim that they have the exclusive right to tell their children about sex.

In upholding a lower court ruling against the parents, Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt said "no such specific right can be found in the deep roots of the nation's history and tradition or implied in the concept of ordered liberty."

And isn't that an interesting development. Next time I'm on the Left Coast I think I'll swing by some schools and start surveying the kiddies about sex. I dare not try that in Virginia, where it's "implied in the concept of ordered liberty" that a parent could beat me down with a baseball bat.

Let's talk about sex, baby
Let's talk about you and me
Let's talk about all the good things
And the bad things that may be
Let's talk about sex

Australian police are being advised to easy on Muslim men who beat their wives.

The Australasian Police Multicultural Advisory Bureau has published and distributed 50,000 copies of an 82-page handbook for Australian police officers, directing them on how to deal with people from all the unfamiliar cultures that an Australian policeman may encounter. A Sikh, for example, may receive a three-day reprieve from arrest if the arresting officer happens upon him while he is reading his holy scriptures - a practice that takes fifty hours, and must not be interrupted. And Muslim husbands who beat their wives must be treated differently from other domestic violence cases, as a matter of cultural sensitivity: �In incidents such as domestic violence," says the handbook, "police need to have an understanding of the traditions, ways of life and habits of Muslims."

Democracy isn't for everybody, and apparently neither is civil rights.

Reader mikem asks me why I continue to stress that taxes are seized using the threat of lethal force. Well, I think that it helps bolster the point. When it comes to taxes, a lot of people don't even think about how much we pay to the government. Sales taxes, excise taxes, gas taxes, etc are all rolled into the price of goods so that we no longer see them. Even payroll taxes are seized before your paycheck is even deposited to your account.

That has desensitized people to just how much money is grabbed by the different levels of government. Ask someone how much income tax they paid last year, and they aren't likely to know. Or worse, they'll say something asinine like "I didn't pay anything, I got money back!"

So when discussing taxes, I like to remind people that they aren't voluntary. Whether it be a 10-cent latte tax, or a diaper tax, or the fees they pay when they register their car, taxes are collected using the threat of lethal force.

You may consider them voluntary. You may say, I just wont buy a latte or drive a car if I don't want to pay the tax. But then you've sacrificed your freedom to avoid action taken by the government. That's a form of tyranny. And if you tried to buy a latte or diapers or use your car without paying the proper tribute, the government would come and put you in jail. They are saying to the American taxpayer, that the money you've earned is better spent by politicians than by the person who's earned it. Not only that, but they feel so strongly that they deserve your money more than you, they are prepared to kill you should you try to avoid paying it.

I'm not advocating violence, but it wasn't long ago that the tax man faced being tarred and feathered for unreasonable taxation, or that Americans would rather dump tea into Boston Harbor than pay a tax on it. Now-a-days people just shrug it off, especially when it's a tax on somebody else and not them.

Taxation should be a rare event, reserved to pay for core services that the government has been authorized by the citizenry to provide. What's more, people should not be able to use their vote to take money out of their neighbor's pocket. I'm not promoting anarchy, simply smaller, less intrusive, government.

That 40% of all economic output of the United States is seized by the government should be appalling. Much more so than my rhetorical reminders that they aren't taking it willingly.

UPDATE: See here for more.

UPDATE2: Speaking of collecting taxes at the point of a gun, the IRS raided the Jewish Mother Restaurant in Virginia Beach on the word of a disgruntled employee with a history of embezzlement. Men in black uniforms with machine guns took forks out of people's mouths, arrested the owners, and closed their business for 6 months. The claim turned out to be groundless, and no charges were filed.

Approximately 40% of the nation's income is seized by the government in the form of taxes and fees. That means that nearly half of all the income generated in the United States is forcibly taken and spent by federal, state, and local governments. Most of it goes to vote buying schemes intended to keep the current slate of politicians in power. Politicians spend your money on social programs and services that you may or may not use. Instead of making that decision for yourself, you have it provided "free" by the government whether you like it or not. Its an incumbency protection racket, and it will probably get worse before it gets better. Joseph Bast of the Chicago Sun-Times says that government spending isn't just increasing, it's spiraling out of control.

The federal budget grew 14 percent in President Bush's first three years, with discretionary spending growing nearly 50 percent. The 2006 Bush budget would increase the Department of Education budget by 40 percent since 2001 and the Department of Commerce budget by 85 percent. Bush's 2006 budget was supposed to be an "austerity" budget that finally would rein in spending, but it started with a proposed 3.6 percent increase in federal spending and has taken wing from there. The energy and transportation bills signed by the president are budget busters, and the just-announced spending to "rebuild New Orleans" is likely to make 2006 another record-breaker.

If government is too big, as Republicans love to chant, why is it growing larger and at a record pace with a Republican president and Republicans in control of both houses of Congress? Why did it grow at a slower rate when Bill Clinton was in the White House?

Meanwhile, state governments have been indulging in their own spending orgy. Between 1990 and 2000, total state spending grew by a staggering $512 billion, or 89 percent. All of that new built-in spending is moving through today's budgets like a pig through a python, causing state politicians to cry about "budget cuts" even as they reap record revenue increases due to the reviving national economy.

At all levels of government, it would seem as though partisanship is largely to blame. The party that has power wants to hold onto it, while the party that's out of power is trying to regain it. That means that both political parties are spending large bundles of money on their constituency. They're trying to solve all the world's problems before the problems are even identified. In some instances, such as gas prices, they are creating the very problem they claim to be able to solve.

Government spending is such a touchy subject among lawmakers that they won't even consider tacking the Boortz Addendum onto spending bills.

"The undersigned sponsors of the foregoing legislation do hereby state and affirm their belief that it is more important for the federal government to spend the funds necessary for the implementation of this legislation than it would be for the taxpayer who actually worked for and earned these funds to retain them for use in caring for and investing in the future of their own families."

Keep in mind too that taxes are seized using the threat of lethal force. If you don't believe me, try not paying your taxes and see what happens.

"This is inevitable. This is long overdue. This is a fundamental right." -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, on his plan to offer "free" wifi access to city residents.

That's right, the Mayor of the city that wants to ban pit bulls and handguns is calling wireless high speed internet access a "fundamental right".

Reader Mike A. sends this alarming story which he calls "simply frightening". It seems as though localities are moving from seizing property from homeowners to give to private developers, to seizing money from private developers to give to other private developers who just happen to be big time campaign donors.

On May 21, Albert G. Mauti Jr. and his cousin Joseph hosted a fundraiser for Assemblyman Joseph Cryan at the Westmount Country Club in Passaic County. The two developers and family members picked up the $10,400 dinner tab, donated another $8,000 and raised more than $70,000 that night for the powerful Union County Democrat, according to state election records.

Three days later, the governing body in Cryan's hometown of Union Township -- all Democrats -- introduced an ordinance paving the way for the Mautis to build 90 or so townhouses on six acres of abandoned industrial land along the Conrail line in town.

There is just one problem: Union Township doesn't own the land.

It is owned by Carol Segal, a 65-year-old retired electrical engineer. Over the past 10 years, the Union Township resident says, he has spent about $1.5 million to acquire the property, and he, too, wants to build townhouses there.

Segal said he met with Cryan, who is head of the township's Democratic Party, and other local officials "scores of times" over the past five years to discuss the project. He claims the talks turned adversarial after he rejected proposals to work with various developers they proposed.

On May 24, the five-member township committee voted unanimously to authorize the municipality to seize Segal's land through eminent domain and name its own developer.

"They want to steal my land," Segal said. "What right do they have when I intend to do the exact same thing they want to do with my property?"

Welcome to post-Kelo America. All your property are belong to us!

Cryan, 44, a rising star in state Democratic politics, denied any connection between the fundraiser and the committee's vote. He described the Mautis as "good friends," but said he played no role in shaping the township's redevelopment plan.

"My involvement is zero," Cryan said...

While Cryan holds no official position in Union Township government, he has been chairman of the local Democratic Party since 1995. When he took that job, Democrats were the minority on the township committee; now they control all five seats. As Democratic chairman, Cryan runs the candidates' campaigns and their fundraising.

Segal is fighting to stop the seizure, but in the face of Kelo, how far can he get?

After the May vote, Segal sued the township, and on Sept. 7 a Superior Court judge in Union County issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the township from hiring its own developer. Six days later, the township committee unanimously voted to start negotiating -- but not sign a contract -- with the Mautis' company, AMJM Development.

Segal, meanwhile, signed a contract last week to sell his property to Centex Homes for about $13 million, contingent upon local approval. Centex, a nationally known developer with projects in Middlesex, Morris and Monmouth counties, would then build 100 townhouses on Segal's property, with a potential for profits of $15 million to $20 million, Segal said. Township Mayor Joseph Florio and Deputy Mayor Peter Capodice, both members of the township committee, said they were unaware of Segal's involvement with Centex when they voted Sept. 13 to negotiate with the Mautis.

But a proposal Centex submitted to the township committee on Sept. 1 said the company "has been in negotiations with (Segal) for quite some time." When the item came up at the Sept. 13 meeting, the committee did not allow Segal's attorney to speak before the vote was taken.

Florio and Capodice said they preferred AMJM because it is a local company.

"I've never heard of Centex," Capodice said. "They're not Union County people."

No conflict of interest here:

Under the contract terms, Redflex would receive 85 percent of all revenue generated each month, up to $4,500 from each intersection. Any more monthly revenues from a particular site would be split 50-50 between the vendor and the city.

Redflex, which was chosen by a city-appointed committee from among six companies� proposals, also would be entitled to 20 percent of all late fees received for delinquent fines.

Red light cameras are about revenue, not safety. The easiest way to increase safety at traffic lights is to increase the yellow time. But that doesn't generate any revenue.

(Via Say Uncle)

A whopping 20% of California public high school seniors cannot pass the graduation exam. Despite making it all the way to the 12th grade, 1 in 5 students may not get a diploma, reports the LA Times.

Students in the class of 2006, the first group to face the graduation requirement, must pass both the English and math sections of the test by June.

The exit exam � which has come under criticism by some educators, legislators and civil rights advocates � is geared to an eighth-grade level in math and to ninth- and 10th-grade levels in English.

They only need to be proficient in 8th grade math and 9th or 10th grade English. But don't worry, they may end up receiving rubber diplomas.

"Clearly, we need to have some options for these students," said Lauress L. Wise, [President of Human Resources Research Organization], in a telephone interview with reporters.

The state, for example, could allow seniors to submit portfolios of work that demonstrate mastery of English and math, the report's authors suggested.

The report also proposed that schools allow students to spend an extra year in high school or earn diplomas by completing special summer school programs in lieu of the exam.

Additionally, the state could establish alternate diplomas or graduation certificates for students who pass part of the exit exam, the group said.

Students are allowed to take the exam multiple times, and only need to answer a little more than half of the questions correctly to pass.

A Florida town is planning to use emminent domain to force the eviction of about 6,000 residents from a waterfront area. The Washington Times reports that Riviera Beach hopes to revitalize the waterfront area by turning it over to private developers.

"This is a community that's in dire need of jobs, which has a median income of less than $19,000 a year," said Riviera Beach Mayor Michael Brown.

He defends the use of eminent domain by saying the city is "using tools that have been available to governments for years to bring communities like ours out of the economic doldrums and the trauma centers."

Mr. Brown said Riviera Beach is doing what the city of New London, Conn., is trying to do and what the U.S. Supreme Court said is proper in its ruling June 23 in Kelo v. City of New London. That decision upheld the right of government to seize private properties for use by private developers for projects designed to generate jobs and increase the tax base.

What makes these emminent domain seizures so astonishing is that they are able to displace poor people, so that the property can be used by the rich (formerly the evil, hated, rich).

Viking spokesman Peter Frederiksen said the plan "is to create a working waterfront," adding that the project could take 15 years and that "we would only use condemnation as a last resort."

Viking has said it will pay at least the assessed values of homes and businesses it buys.

Other plans for the project include creation of a basin for megayachts with high-end housing, retail and office space, a multilevel garage for boats, a 96,000-square-foot aquarium and a manmade lagoon.

Mr. Brown said Riviera Beach wants to highlight its waterfront.

"We have the best beach and the most attractive redevelopment property anywhere in the United States," he said.

Mr. Frederiksen said people with yachts need a place to keep and service them. "And we want to develop a charter school for development of marine trades."

Jeff Mankoff is a sixth year PhD student in Yale's History Department. Yesterday Mankoff exercised his Constitutionally protected First Amendment freedoms to espouse his opinion on the worthlessness of the Constitution.

Be warned. Remove all heavy objects from within arm's reach. What you're about to read could be very disturbing.

[Constitution Day] is another ridiculous example of the "sanctimonious reverence," as Thomas Jefferson termed it, in which many Americans hold the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Both documents no doubt played important roles in the American colonies' struggle to free themselves from British rule and establish a new nation. Recognizing them as crucial pieces of American history is one thing, but worshiping them like sacred texts goes too far.

The Constitution in particular needs to be stripped of much of the mystic awe surrounding it, since it continues to shape American political life, yet suffers from serious flaws. Many of these flaws could be corrected by wise legislation, if only legislators, and the public, were not so deeply attached to the Constitution that they cringe before any attempt to substantively alter it.

Just then men in black jackets from three letter government agencies showed up and whisked Mr. Mankoff off for political re-education. Oh, wait... they didn't really do that. I wonder what prevented that?

Here's more:

The Constitution, while laying the foundation for the creation of a great American nation, was also very much a product of its time. Though it has mostly aged well, the Constitution has also given us a rigid 18th-century political system not always well suited to the modern world. Even with its amendments, the document is fraught with problems too rarely acknowledged by politicians or the public.

As Yale political scientist Robert Dahl has pointed out, the Constitution is grossly undemocratic.

That's on purpose. I guess Yale doesn't teach kids what the tyranny of majority rule is.

Since Wyoming, with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, has the same clout in the Senate as California, with almost 34 million, each Wyomingite counts 68 times as much as each Californian.

Um.. no. I guess they've also never heard of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES! The Constitution set up the House to represent the people, and the Senate to represent the states. That all went out the window with the dreaded Seventeenth Amendment.

The Constitution is also responsible for burdening us with the Electoral College, a body designed to purposely undermine popular sovereignty. The 2000 election, when Al Gore outpolled George Bush but was denied the presidency by the Electoral College (with an assist by the Supreme Court), is the most recent example of 18th-century oligarchy trampling 21st-century democracy.

This guy is a doctoral candidate in History! The Electoral College didn't prevent anything. They elected a President, just like they've been tasked with electing a President for more than 200 years. Al Gore lost the presidency because he didn't garner enough electoral votes, and those are the votes that count. A baseball team can win the World Series 4 games to 3 and still have less overall runs than their competitor. Only a sore loser would argue that their team should have won because they scored more runs while losing more games.

Something tells me that Mankoff would not have supported Bush, had Kerry won Ohio and ended up with more electoral votes.

Besides being undemocratic, the Constitution is also, in places, just poorly written. Take the Second Amendment, which mentions the need for a well-regulated militia and conferring (sic) the right to bear arms. Because of the Framers' unclear wording, no one has been able to establish definitively whether this right belongs only to the militia or to individuals.

The Second Amendment is quite clear. It "mentions the need for a well-regulated militia and conferring (sic) the right to bear arms". That is, it is because of the need for a well-regulated militia, that the people have the right to keep and bear arms. Mankoff doesn't understand that because he ain't got no good grammars.

The easiest and fairest solution would be to just rewrite the Second Amendment, but because the Constitution has taken on the aura of sanctity in our political culture, there is little likelihood of that happening.

Yeah, that's much easier than teaching English and educating students as to what the word "militia" means.

Adhering to the Framers' "original intent," as many conservatives would have us do, is a recipe for oligarchy (which was, after all, what the Framers wanted). Creating the Electoral College and denying the vote to women, blacks and poor people were both part of the Framers' desire to keep power in the hands of people like themselves (and I have a sneaking suspicion many "strict constructionalists" would prefer things that way).

And there it is, the veiled reference to racism. What, no nazi reference?

The main alternative -- seeing the Constitution as a "living document" subject to constant reinterpretation -- is also anti-democratic, since it allows the judiciary to usurp power from the elected legislative branch. The Constitution needs changing, but it should not be up to the courts to change it.

No shit sherlock. It's illegal for the courts to change it.

Some of the Constitution's worst features have, it is true, been corrected by amendment -- though in the case of ending slavery and giving blacks the vote, the price was civil war. The Framers deliberately made changing the Constitution difficult, but at the price of a rigidity that has made the U.S. political system ossified and anachronistic.

No, it's what has given America the most stable form of government in the world.

Jefferson argued that each generation should modify the Constitution to fit its own times, since "each generation has the same right of self-government [as] the past one." Jefferson's modest regard of the Constitution as an edifice in need of constant repair is a much better way of think of our nation's most important document than the sanctimony that has given us "Constitution Day."

And that's what the Constitution does is set up a system of self-government. The Constitution doesn't give people anything, it limits the power of government. What Almost-a-Dr. Mankoff is suggesting is giving more power to the government to rule over her subjects. Jefferson would not be pleased.

What's more, the Constitution has served to level the playing field for all individuals. Without it, people would be subject to social whims du jour. Would Mankoff like it if we all took a vote and decided what he ate for dinner, who he married, or where he attends school? After all, as long as majority rules it must be okay.

I've written about this before, and sometimes it stirs up quite a few people. But with all the class warfare being stirred up over spending, taxation, and Hurricane Katrina, I think it's time to take another look at the Pillars of Communism, and see how far (if at all) we've treaded down that road.

1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rent to public purpose. - Drive drunk and they can take your car. Get caught with drugs and they can take your house. With the Kelo decision, they can now take your land and give it to someone else just to get more property tax revenue.


2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. - We have progressive income tax brackets and progressive estate taxes to soak the rich. On the other end, we have ever-increasing progressive income tax credits that give breaks to "the poor". Currently about 50% of American workers have been systematically removed from the tax rolls, and the top 50% of wage earners pay 96% of all taxes.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. - People who face estate taxes currently face seizure of nearly 50% of their inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. - Stop paying your taxes or befoul the law, and watch the government wade in and seize your property. Guns can be seized from anyone who has been involuntarily committed, faces a restraining order, or has been convicted of any crime where the punishment could have been more than one year in jail (regardless of the actual punishment). There have been cases where the government involuntarily committed people, then when they were released, seized their property because they were involuntarily committed.



5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. - The Fed prints all the money and controls all the interest rates. What's more currency is no longer backed by tangible assets like gold and silver. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, is constantly tinkering with the nation's interest rate to control economic growth and inflation.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the State. - The FCC heavily regulates communication. They regulate telephone service, internet service, and even what you watch on TV. Then there's the FEC, who regulates what you can say about politicians leading up to a national election. Throw the postal system in there too. The Federal Highway System, cars, and gasoline are all heavily regulated at the federal level. When the Fed needs the states to pass regulation (ie: DUI, seatbelts, etc), they simply resort to extortion by threatening to withhold highway funding to get their way.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. - Corporations are heavily regulated and coerced into doing things they would not ordinarily do under a free-market. The Department of the Interior, Department of Commerce, and IRS are all complicit.
8. Equal liablity of all to labor. Establishment of Industrial armies, especially for agriculture. - We are headed down this road via Social Security, labor unions, minimum wages, and affirmative action quotas.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. - This is called zoning and planned communities. People who already own their own homes and live in certain communities willfully create a barrier of entry for others to drive up their own housing prices.
10. Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. - This is called the Public School System.

Fulton County (GA) is attempting to seize land from a school to build... a school. The AJC reports that the county is threatening imminent domain seizure if the property owners refuse to sell.

The Fulton County school system wants to buy the Weber School site and use the land to build a new elementary school. In a strongly worded letter sent earlier this month, the school district indicated that unless Weber sold the property by today, the school board would use eminent domain to obtain the land.

Fulton school officials offered $18.7 million for the site, at Abernathy and Roswell roads, but Weber school leaders say they have no desire to sell.

"We are not going to back down," said Steve Berman, the president of the school's board. "We are building here."

Parents and students said they were shocked to learn of Fulton's interest in their property at such a late date. Construction is set to begin in a few weeks.

If county officials were smart, they'd have waiting until the private school was complete. With the classrooms already in place, the public school kids could have moved in right away.

UPDATE: What a difference 24 hours makes. After all the uproar, the Fulton County School Board is backing down.