So, apparently there’s this Boortz guy, who I had never heard of (I get my news and commentary from the web). He has this radio show and apparently has libertarian leanings. I caught about ten minutes of it this morning and, unfortunately, there was some CourtTV person guest hosting. And by guest hosting, she was name-dropping, taking calls from people she shouldn’t take calls from (some guy advocating the 10 commandments as law), and talking about Michael Jackson. I wasn’t impressed. She made one good point about justice for the wealthy, here’s a clue: there is none.

RTB’s own smijer has created an anti-boortz blog (which I hope is not some sort of Bozeman in the making). Apparently, smijer listed me as an example of “libertarian logic.”

It should be noted that I am not a Libertarian but I do like some aspects of Libertarianism. However, Libertarianism can’t work. Clayton Cramer opined that he watched the TV show Cops just to remind him of why Libertarianism cannot work. You will always have the lowest common denominator ruining it for everyone. Face it, not everyone is nice guy like me.

Libertarianism needs to drop the opposition to all social programs (it’s not practical to oppose public education outright); Libertarians need to stop nominating people who get into shootouts with the police (strangely, they’re not on Cops) or nominating people who die themselves blue from taking magic potions designed to keep the orbital mind control lasers from penetrating their brains; and Libertarians need to adopt a moderate libertarian approach first to get their foot in the door on the political scene. As of now, the weirdos have done the Libertarians in.

This is why I refer to myself as a libertarian with a small L. Libertarianism has some good ideals:

Small government
Personal responsibility
Valuing liberty among all else

All good stuff!

But other things that need work:

Opposing all welfare
Opposing public education
Wanting to ban all taxes
Aligning themselves with some of the whacko militia groups

You have to work on this stuff guys to be taken seriously. Yes, welfare, education, taxes and other things need some major work. But we can’t do without them.

LTC West will not face a court martial:

U.S. Army officer who graduated from UT no longer faces prison time for the way he treated an Iraqi prisoner.

Now the army has decided on a punishment much less harsh for Lieutenant Colonel Allen West.

Colonel West fired a gun near an Iraqi to get information on planned attacks on U.S. soldiers.

His actions are said to have saved lives, but went against military rules.

The Army has decided Colonel West will not face court-martial. Instead he faces a letter of reprimand and may have to forfeit some of his pay.

Seems we want to focus more on how the memos were leaked than, ya know, actual content of the memos.

Apparently, Tennessee tops the list of states for bioterrorism preparedness. Makes sense, since we have Oak Ridge. I was surprised that Texas and New Mexico didn’t top the list for similar reasons.

They were allowed to divorce:

Iowa law doesn’t recognize homosexual marriages, but a Woodbury County district judge has approved a divorce for two lesbians who were united in a civil union last year in Vermont.

Judge Jeffrey Neary said he routinely signs divorces without checking the participants’ gender. When he discovered what had happened, he said to Dennis Ringgenberg, attorney for Kimberly Brown: “Dennis, these are two females.”

“He said ‘yes’ and proceeded to explain the situation,” Neary said. “I said this is probably going to be a controversial matter at some point in time, and he smiled and said, ‘You’re right.’

Oops.

I can play that game too. Unelectable.

I just saw on CBS news in a story about the couple that killed the three kids, Some interesting stats (sorry, no link on CBS News website that I can find):

1 in 30 murders are kids getting killed by parents.
1 in 3 child murders are committed by the mother.
450 children are murdered per year.

Sort of shocking to me, actually.

This one is pretty bad. You’ve been warned.

CAGW released their three part critique of H.R. 2673. Here, here, and here.

The lists include:

-$50,000,000 added in conference for an indoor rain forrest in Coralville, Iowa;

-$1,000,000 added by the Senate for the Alaska SeaLife Center;

-$653,000 added by the Senate to study rainbow trout at the University of Idaho’s Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station in Aberdeen;

-$500,000 added in conference for the Hawaii Community Foundation for the Samoan/Asian Pacific Job Training Program;

-$500,000 added in conference for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to establish a paper science technology transfer center;

-$300,000 added by the House to assist in creating a database of North Carolina’s agricultural industry to enable a rapid response to acts of terrorism;

-$270,000 added by the House for cotton quality in Clemson, S.C.;

-$200,000 added by the House to the Town of Guadalupe, Ariz. for construction and renovation of the Mercado shopping center;

-$200,000 added in conference for the University of Hawaii, West Oahu Campus, to produce the “Primal Quest” film documentary;

-$150,000 added in conference for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Alaska; and

-$75,000 added by the House for the East Valley YMCA in North Hollywood, Calif. for facilities renovation.

-$18,500,000 added by the House for the International Fund for Ireland;

-$1,000,000 added by the House for the Alabama Supercomputer Education Outreach Program;

-$725,000 added in conference for the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, Pa.;

-$400,000 added in conference for the New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium project in the Bronx;

-$387,000 added in conference for the Whittier Public Library Children’s Area and History Room in the City of Whittier, Calif.;

-$250,000 added in conference for the Cleveland Health Museum in Ohio for exhibits;

-$200,000 added in conference for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland for the Rockin’ the Schools education program;

-$200,000 added in conference for the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh for exhibit and curriculum development for the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center;

-$50,000 added in conference for the Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association in Anchorage to digitize files/photos/videos of Alaskan history; and

-$50,000 added in conference for the Imaginarium Science Center in Anchorage to develop science exhibits and distance discovery modules.

-$2,000,000 added by the Senate for The First Tee Program in St. Augustine, Fla. to provide affordable access to golf for everyone, especially kids;

-$1,800,000 added by the Senate for the Appalachian fruit laboratory in Kearneysville, W.Va.;

-$1,000,000 added by the Senate for the Alaska SeaLife Center;

-$500,000 added by the Senate for Salt Lake City, Utah for the Pete Suazo Business Center to purchase building space;

-$447,000 added by the Senate for halibut data collection in Alaska;

-$270,000 added by the Senate for potato storage in Madison, Wisc.;

-$250,000 added by the Senate for the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser, Wash. for costs associated with construction;

-$200,000 added by the House to the Town of Guadalupe, Ariz. for construction and renovation of the Mercado shopping center;

-$150,000 added in conference for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Alaska; and

-$75,000 added by the House for the East Valley YMCA in North Hollywood, Calif. for facilities renovation.

Grand Total: $82,302,000. Hey, here’s where campaign finance should start. Stop vote buying now!

No, not that Fitty Cent won an entertainer of the year (though that is close) award. But this. Sign of the times.

Does this little Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance apply to the Internet? In October 2004, can I no longer blog things that are critical of politicians?

Nope. No bias here. Keep it moving.

Update: More here, here, here, here, and here.

Big Stupid Tommy is hosting the Volunteer Tailgate Party. And, as usual for Tommy, it’s hysterical.

KNS:

Gov. Phil Bredesen has said he will not let TennCare “be an albatross around my neck,” and that if necessary he would “just shoot the thing” and start from scratch.

Today, Bredesen will get a $2.6 million report expected to be either a blueprint for reform or a bullet with TennCare’s name on it. The privately funded study has been conducted over the last three months by New York-based consulting firm McKensie & Co.

Good. Glad someone is willing to do something about TennCare, other than throw money at it and hope it fixes itself.

There is increasing evidence that global warming, much like economics, is entirely made up.

Update: To make the meaning more clear, here it is worded more accurately to reflect my point:

There is increasing that evidence that the speculative causes of global warming, much like speculative causes of economic trends, are entirely made up.

The AP:

Brad Hackenberger insists he didn’t want to shoot his neighbor’s yellow Labrador retriever when it came onto his farm 3 1/2 years ago, but the dog’s aggressive actions toward him and his own cocker spaniel Luke gave him little choice.

But because Hackenberger used a “deadly weapon” _ in his case, a .22 rifle kept around the Juniata County grain farm to shoot groundhogs and squirrels _ Hackenberger received a sentence of six months to two years for cruelty to animals, an offense that did not normally involve jail time.

The judge imposed the deadly weapons enhancement, which calls for increased penalties, despite Hackenberger’s lawyer’s insistence it should only apply to cases with human victims. Hackenberger appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, which on Nov. 19 upheld the sentence in a 5-2 decision.

So, he shot a dog on his property and it is a crime? Good God, New Jersey sucks. I am amazed that they mentioned the breed in this article. It’s usually rare, unless it’s a pit bull.

But Juniata County District Attorney Andrew L. Winder disputes Hackenberger’s self-defense claim.

“The jury didn’t buy it,” Winder said.

Attorney David Barron, who handled Hackenberger’s appeal, said the decision sets a precedent that could be applied to a number of other crimes where guns or even knives are involved.

First, I don’t think there was a crime here. Second, if the dog he shot happened to be a pit bull, I bet the jury would have been convinced pretty quickly.

Bill O’Reilly claims to be big on facts but he apparently buys the assault weapons ban lie:

I watched Bill O’Reilly on “The O’Reilly Factor” lie to his viewers last night over what the Clinton “Assault Weapons Ban” (AWB) says. Mr. O’Reilly claimed that the public supports the AWB because it “keeps your neighbors from owning bazookas and machineguns in their homes”. But those type weapons have been illegal for almost 3/4 of a century. And the AWB has nothing to do that that. The Clinton AWB only makes guns that “LOOK” like military assault weapons illegal and has had no impact on preventing or reducing crime in the ten years of its existence.

Hell, even supposed conservatives don’t get gun control any more.

Regarding the Supreme Court’s ruling on campaign finance reform, referred to as the incumbent protection act by AlphaPatriot, the gist is that:

Parties can’t have unfettered access to some money.

Special interest groups have to limit their political ads depending on how far away the election is.

Some special interest groups can do whatever they want as long as they oppose something (like MoveOn.org). But some special interest can’t do anything because they oppose something (like the NRA).

And the court sees no problem with this? I realize that the desired effect is to have the appearance that congress is doing something about campaign finance reform (note: I didn’t say that the desired effect was to actually do something about campaign finance reform. Trust me, the money will find its way to them no matter what laws they pass) but this means that during election times, it’s all about press coverage.

As one who believes that all politicians are bought and paid for by someone, I am all for limiting money contributions. But the rest seems entirely inconsistent, entirely unconstitutional, and generally stupid.

Spoons has a quick guide to the Bill of Rights. I think Jeff’s summary from a while back had it right, too.

Via CJ comes the SelectSmart.com 2004 Presidential Candidate Selector:

TheState.com:

Seventeen Stratford High School students are suing the city of Goose Creek and the Berkeley County school district in federal court, alleging police and school officials terrorized them in a drug raid last month.

Individuals named as defendants in the suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Charleston, include: Stratford High School principal George McCrackin; Berkeley County school superintendent Chester Floyd; Goose Creek police Chief Harvey Becker; and Goose Creek police Lt. Dave Aarons.

The suit also names the city of Goose Creek, its police department and the Berkeley County School District as defendants.

School officials declined to comment on the details of the lawsuit but expressed regret about the incident.

The Nov. 5 raid by police and school officials has created a national firestorm, in part because it was caught on videotape by the school and made available to a local television reporter.

Good!

Update: I failed to make a goose step reference. So there it is.

Unless it’s convenient. I wonder if the Bush Recession will be renamed?

The U.S. economy shrank in the third quarter of 2000, the government said on Wednesday in revisions to official figures that showed America was on the brink of recession months earlier than previously thought.

The sweeping changes by the Commerce Department also downgraded the expansion that followed the 2001 slump, albeit only slightly.

However, the revisions were not applied to third-quarter 2003 data — leaving the most recent measure of growth unchanged at a swift annual clip of 8.2 percent. The next reading of third-quarter growth is scheduled for later in December.

Until now, statisticians at Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis believed the economy did not start shrinking until early 2001. But extensive revisions dating back to 1929, incorporating both improved statistics and changes to definitions, revealed a contraction in gross domestic product, or GDP, in the July-to-September quarter of 2000.

I doubt it. It’s no more Bush’s fault than it is Clinton’s. The government has very, very limited economic controls and they don’t impact the economy as much as people like to think.

I know this because the local radio station is playing Shirley Liquor’s Twelve Days of Kwanza. A couple years back, this radio station (who coincidentally has the ugliest website on the planet) came under fire for playing it. They did the right thing and still play it.

Sure, it’s offensive to someone but it’s funny.

Catherine at DogReader has a follow up to the story of Steve Wells, whose insurance company dropped him after seeing he had what may have been a pit bull.

“Steve says that the Virginia State Corporation Commission has written a letter to that insurance company about the situation. The company has written to Steve saying that if his veterinarian will sign a letter stating that the dog is not a Pit Bull or mixed with certain other breeds, they will not cancel his insurance.

A somewhat happy ending. The company still uses breed as a factor and just wants a letter stating the dog is not a pit bull. As readers of this site know, there is no scientific way to determine what breed a particular dog is. For example, here’s a picture of my Chihuahua:

Apparently, the NRA wants to buy some media outlet (ala liberals) to get its message out. Bill Hobbs offers the NRA some decent advice, which is to get a blog. The NRA won’t do this because of their history of stifling other pro gun folks. The NRA only went along with Silviera v. Lockyer after they got bad press for not supporting it.

The NRA has been kowtowing for too long. About the only thing that they have done in a while that I’ve cared for is opposition to the Assault Weapons Ban, and they lost that fight.

The NRA has been a spineless, compromising entity for a while now. The real gun lobby needs to step in.

The Rant has a point and counterpoint regarding the Ohio shootings, DC snipers, the West Virginia sniper and the potential link.

Yahoo News:

A father and son angered by a state plan to seize some of their land for a highway killed two officers who went to their home, setting off a 13-hour standoff and a “horrendous gunfight,” authorities and neighbors said.

The Bixby family had decided that they would defend their land to the death, authorities say.

“This was planned,” State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said.

The gunfight was so fierce that police at one point had to bring in extra ammunition, Stewart said. Agents found suicide notes, anti-American material and items that may relate to militias, Stewart said.

Arthur Bixby and his son, Steven Bixby, 36, were charged with murder in the deaths of the two officers, authorities said Tuesday. Steven Bixby was to be arraigned Tuesday; Arthur Bixby, was still being treated for gunshot wounds.

Arthur Bixby’s wife, Rita, was charged with being an accessory to murder, and all three also are charged with conspiracy, officials said.

Neighbors said the Bixbys were angry over the road widening project, even though it would take only a portion of their land.

It does occur to me, that if people actually had an effective means of petitioning the government for redress of grievances this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. It also doesn’t lend to the credibility of the case against the Bixby’s that the authorities are just throwing a bunch of charges at the Bixby’s hoping that as many as possible will stick.

This is why I, even though I think the proposed bill protecting gun manufacturers is stupid, I don’t oppose it. This is clearly the parent’s fault.

Gun manufacturer’s need special protection because they are under special attack.

The Democrat beat the Green in San Francisco. 53% to 47%. Good to see a third party doing something, even if it is the Greens.

So, recently I began listening to NPR on my drive home (after Bjorn convinced me not to boycott it). Yesterday, while covering the $373B omnibus spending bill, NPR actually listed some pork projects, like federal money for building a city pool and some other big projects. Strangely, NPR didn’t list federal grants to NPR. Odd.