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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] Dave Barry: Blowing smoke about tobacco
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 09:50:57 -0700
Dave Barry: Blowing smoke about tobacco
In these troubled times, it's nice to know that there is one thing that can always bring a smile to our faces, and maybe even cause us to laugh so hard that we cry. I am referring, of course, to the War on Tobacco. Rarely in the annals of government -- and I do not mean to suggest anything juvenile by the phrase "annals of government'' -- will you find a program so consistently hilarious as the campaign against the Evil Weed. ... So that's your update on the Wacky, Wonderful War on Tobacco. It is now essentially a partnership between politicians and tobacco companies to make money by selling cigarettes. It's only a matter of time before some shrewd state cuts out the middleman and starts funding the War on Tobacco by making cigarettes and selling them directly to the public ("Smoke New Jerseys -- They Taste As Great As Their Name!''). No, wait, that would be completely insane. I give them two years.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/living/4079567.htm
CA: Tax change angers cigarette foes
The old rule was deemed 'unfair,' but critics predict an increase in smoking.
A regulation adopted last week by the state's tax board will lower the cost of some cigarettes and drain millions of dollars from the beleaguered state treasury. Backers of the Board of Equalization regulation say it applies to many items in a grocery store -- not just cigarettes -- and merely corrects a misguided interpretation of tax laws. ... The regulation has been in the making for almost two years. It centers on payments from manufacturers to the stores that sell their products, often called "buy-down rebates." Specifically, it focuses on cases in which a store that bought merchandise from a distributor later gets a rebate from the manufacturer. ... "In the mid-1990s, we saw a new thing going on, a new marketing scheme," said Geoffrey Lyle, supervisor of the policy development section of the board's sales and use tax division. The board's staff interpreted state tax law to say that the rebate paid by a manufacturer to a retailer should be counted as part of the "gros!
!
s receipts" subject to tax, along with the sales price paid by the consumer. This created an odd situation in which consumers were charged gross receipts tax on an amount higher than what they paid, although some retailers responded by covering this portion of the tax themselves. ... The board adopted a regulation Wednesday that limits the gross receipts tax to cases in which the manufacturer's rebate is in the form of a coupon that the consumer redeems as part of the purchase. Many of the rebates are not done through coupons and would no longer be subject to sales tax. ... Hastings said California is the only state to tax buy-down rebates. The policy, he said, contradicts generally accepted accounting principles. The board's staff estimated that the revenue from taxing rebates -- the potential loss to the state treasury -- adds up to $7 million to $12 million a year. That figure would be higher if commodities other than tobacco were also subject to the regulatory change. ... !
!
In many cases, the board's regulation, which won't go into effect until the end of the year,
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4405256p-5432993c.html
CA: School plan proposes new system
'HOME RULE' DISTRICTS COULD RAISE TAXES TO BOOST
Nearly 25 years after a California property tax revolt sparked passage of Proposition 13, a new master plan for education is proposing changes to make it easier for school districts to generate millions. Details are sketchy, but the concept is relatively simple: Voters could create ``home rule'' school districts -- freed from many state mandates -- and could then bolster campus coffers by approving higher property taxes. ... Others say the state should do a better job with the money it spends now -- about $7,000 per student. "We don't believe there's a revenue issue, we believe there's a spending issue,'' said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. ... Recognizing that identical increases in property tax rates -- or sales taxes -- could generate far more money in rich areas than poor ones, the master plan proposes that an "equalization mechanism'' be developed in the future.
[Bend over Calif. taxpayers; here come another 'tax and spend on waste, fraud, and abuse plan' from the state's left-wing educrats and teachers' unions.]
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4079527.htm
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4405257p-5432990c.html
South Africa: Zimbabwe-style land grab in South Africa?
ANC government moves closer to confiscating white-owned farms
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28944
From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] Calif. Court Dismisses Tobacco Ad Suit
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 08:03:05 -0700
Calif. Court Dismisses Tobacco Ad Suit
A California judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed against major U.S. cigarette manufacturers over children's exposure to cigarette advertising during the 1990s, citing freedom-of-speech protections, the companies said on Friday. The San Diego law firm representing the plaintiffs, Blumenthal & Markham, said it would appeal the decision. "This is a common-sense decision recognizing that our advertising is lawful and protected by the First Amendment," Daniel Donahue, deputy general counsel at R.J. Reynolds, the No. 2 tobacco, said in a statement.
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=JJHAMAW4XLFDQCRBAE0CFEY?type=topnews&StoryID=1448030
UK: Scots face birth rate 'disaster'
A LEADING MSP has called on the Scottish Executive to introduce a "population policy" to help to deal with an unprecedented drop in the number of people living and working in Scotland. ... In Scotland, a falling birth rate, combined with low immigration, has seen the population drop every year since 1995. ... Without a dramatic increase in the birth rate or a surge in working age immigration, experts believe taxes will have to rise to unprecedented levels to fund the sick and retired. This could damage prospects for growth. Mr Neil said: "If we don't succeed the consequences are long-term disaster. With an ageing population, it will be very difficult to fund our social services. Taxes will rise, and that will chase away even more people."
[The nanny state Catch-22!]
http://thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1019852002
CA: State expands kid-helmet law
Children under 18 on skateboards, skates and scooters will be covered.
... The new requirements take effect Jan. 1 and will make California's child-helmet law the strictest in the nation. Violators will face fines of $25, most of which will go to local health departments to promote helmet safety education and subsidize helmet purchases for low-income families. ...
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4380289p-5402299c.html
Secret Court Promises Not To Keep Secrets From Congress
A secret court charged with signing warrants for federal surveillance of suspects linked to terrorism and espionage has decided not to keep any secrets from Congress. The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review told the Senate Judiciary Committee that it will apprise the committee of its decision on whether the Justice Department has made a grab for more wiretapping authority under the USA PATRIOT Act. In a letter to committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the court said that it will give the committee the unclassified copy of its decision. The letter came days after senators complained that a FISA court meeting on the Justice Department appeal Monday had been closed and the court's ruling made secret.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63026,00.html
Always Another Outlet for Campaign Spending
As one avenue of spending closes to political parties for the next presidential election, another route may be opening. Federal election officials are considering letting the parties for the first time spend unlimited amounts on behalf of their nominees, even if the candidates accept taxpayer money and the spending limits it brings. Federal Election Commission attorneys raise the possibility in the FEC's proposal to implement spending rules in the nation's new campaign finance law, which is set to take effect after the November election. The commission Thursday began seeking public comment on it.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63017,00.html
Ad With Racial Overtones Pulled
A Republican interest group yanked a radio ad aimed at black voters in Kansas and Missouri and comparing Social Security benefits to slavery reparations -- except paid to whites by blacks. ... "You've heard about reparations, you know, where whites compensate blacks for enslaving us," the ad says. "Well guess what we've got now. Reverse reparations." The commercial says blacks earn thousands of dollars less in retirement benefits than whites because they have shorter life spans. So the next time some Democrat says he won't touch Social Security, ask why he thinks blacks owe reparations to whites," the ad says. ...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,62999,00.html
Going to pot: Nevada plan to legalize marijuana would be first in nation
In Nevada, they love gambling and tolerate prostitution. Now they are talking about legalizing pot. A measure on a Nov. 5 ballot would make Nevada the first state to allow adults to possess marijuana - up to 3 ounces (84 grams), enough for maybe 100 joints. People over 21 would be allowed to smoke it in their homes but not in cars or public places. Pot would be sold in state-licensed smoke shops and taxed like cigarettes. "This initiative will allow the police to spend more time going after murderers, rapists and other violent criminals," said Billy Rogers, leader of the group that is pushing the measure. Whether it could actually take effect is unclear. Federal law bans marijuana possession, and the White House has come out strongly against the idea. Also, Nevada voters would have to approve the proposal again in 2004 before it became law.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020914/ap_wo_en_po/us_nevada_marijuana_1
CA: Why stop at pot? Legalize all drugs
Three cheers for unelected senators! Last week they released a report stating that Canada's marijuana laws waste enormous resources, destroy the lives of drug users, infringe on civil liberties, foster organized crime and do absolutely nothing to stop people from getting high. Inevitably, critics were quick to offer the usual objections in response to the senators' call for legalization. "As a parent," Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper observed, "I simply don't share the view that alcohol is more harmful than marijuana." For their part, The Globe and Mail and National Post published cringing, wishy-washy editorials calling for decriminalization rather than outright legalization.
http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/story.html?id=41762155-1941-42E5-8367-3070CAD79255
Swiss act to keep out 'suicide tourists'
Switzerland, alarmed by growing numbers of "suicide tourists", plans to make it harder for foreigners to kill themselves, officials said yesterday. Tougher rules, which could be in place next year, may prompt a surge in the numbers heading for Switzerland to commit suicide before it becomes harder for them do so. Under a 1942 Swiss law, assisted suicide is legal for those who are terminally ill, in great pain or severely depressed as long as the drugs are self-administered and the patient has made a rational decision to die. Fifty-five foreigners were among the 110 people that Dignitas, the only Swiss voluntary euthanasia society that will assist outsiders, has helped to die since it was founded four years ago.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/09/14/wswis14.xml
Hong Kong media, liberals fear curbs on rights
Under a proposed anti-subversion law, repeated voicing of comments or attacks against Beijing could be a crime
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,1870,143197,00.html?
Senators steal Florida land
... The project was never built. The new Everglades Restoration Plan calls for flooding about half the people in the area. A home-owners group filed suit, and a judge agreed that the Corps did not have authority to flood anyone in the area. Not a problem; Congress will just change the law. The first law was debated thoroughly, and Congress decided that the people should be protected. Did Congress debate the issue again, and change its collective mind? Not a chance. Florida's senators slipped language into the Interior appropriations bill that changed Congress' mind - with absolutely no debate. Here's just how easy it was, from the pages of the Congressional Record, Page: S8237, September 5, 2002: ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28945
Air pollution con game
The United States has achieved large declines in air pollution during the few decades, yet polls show most Americans think air pollution has been getting worse. A misleading new report by the Public Interest Research Group helps explain why. PIRG cooked the pollution books to mislead Americans into thinking air pollution is bad and getting worse, when just the opposite is the case. PIRG's "Danger in the Air" is the latest in a series of recent activist group reports intended to scare Americans into believing they're seriously harmed by current air pollution levels, and that they should support more draconian and expensive regulations. PIRG doesn't want Americans to know that progress on air pollution has been nothing short of spectacular. San Bernardino, Calif., the smoggiest area of the country, exceeded federal health standards for ozone smog on more than 130 days per year during the 1980s. Today, that number is down to around 15 to 30 times per year and dropping. That !
!
success was repeated across the nation. Of the more than 1,000 government ozone-monitoring sites, only 46 percent met federal health standards in the early 1980s. Today, 86 percent meet the standards. Those gains occurred at the same time that Americans increased their automobile use by 75 percent. PIRG didn't want to tell that story. So it artificially inflated pollution levels.
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020913-8667252.htm
Courting Terrorists
Why wars don't stop terrorism.
... Still, the national presumption remains that prosecuting terrorists via standard criminal means has failed us somehow; perhaps because no one trial can pre-empt all future attacks. No one war will pre-empt all future attacks either.
http://slate.msn.com/?id=2070892
Abolish the Fed by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
In the House of Representatives, September 10, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce legislation to restore financial stability to America's economy by abolishing the Federal Reserve. I also ask unanimous consent to insert the attached article by Lew Rockwell, president of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute, which explains the benefits of abolishing the Fed and restoring the gold standard, into the record. Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, middle and working-class Americans have been victimized by a boom-and-bust monetary policy. In addition, most Americans have suffered a steadily eroding purchasing power because of the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies. This represents a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the American people.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul53.html
While the Ruins of the World Trade Center Smoldered, the Bush Administration Launched an Assault on the Constitution
Things We Lost in the Fire
"Liberty is the most precious gift we offer our citizens."
Could Tom Ridge have said anything scarier or more telling as he accepted the post of homeland security czar? Trying to strike the bell of liberty, he sounds its death knell, depicting government not as the agent of the people's will, but as an imperious power with the authority to give us our democratic freedoms. Which means, of course, that it can also take them away.
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0237/solomon.php
Breaking Eggs
Try to picture yourself as a German, French, Russian or Chinese statesman concerned about the state of your nation's economy and its future economic well-being. Factor into their concerns the costs of the energy resources required to keep their economic wheels spinning - in this case the price of oil and, its ready availability. ... Having reached this point, you couldn't be blamed if you stood back and looked at the whole picture and concluded that a U.S. conquest of Iraq might well be the beginning of America's de-facto control of the greatest sources of the world's oil supplies. Given that conclusion, the next step would be to realize that in order to get the oil you need to keep your nation's economy moving along, at a price you can afford, you will henceforth have to approach Uncle Sam with your hat in your hands, becoming, in effect, a supplicant at America's feet, and willing to do whatever the U.S. demands whenever the U.S. makes the demands. Given all of the above!
!
, can you be blamed if you are less than enthusiastic about an American attack on Iraq? Now change roles and think of yourself as a beneficent American statesman perplexed over the fact that no matter how much you try to reform it through multi-lateral international do-gooder outfits like the U.N., or through unilateral U.S. aid programs or American diplomatic maneuvers , the world continues to be a very disorderly place. And disorderly places are unhealthy places when it comes to the orderly conduct of foreign trade which benefits everybody, everywhere. ... Then you might remember Madelyn Albright's question that what's the use of having all that power America possesses as the world's only superpower if you don't use it? From that point on it's only a simple step from going ahead and using that power to make the world a better place and a safer venue for world trade which benefits everybody. ... And in order to create that paradise on earth, all those stubborn peoples who ha!
!
ve refused to listen to your preaching will just have to be made to listen, and obey. Or else. Of course you may have to kill and maim a few thousand, or even a few hundred thousand people while heading towards Nirvana. But as Lenin is said to have observed " You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/13/234615.shtml
CO Rep. Seeks Deportation of Illegal Mexican Student
A congressman was seeking deportation of a Mexican family after he read an article about how one son couldn't afford college because federal law bans financial aid for illegal immigrants. Rep. Tom Tancredo said he contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service and asked that Jesus Apodaca, 18, and any other undocumented relatives be deported. Mike Comfort, director of the Denver INS office, confirmed the agency had been contacted by Tancredo but would not comment on how it will respond. Apodaca, the son of a ranch hand, was featured in an Aug. 11 Denver Post story about the federal law. In the story, Apodaca said he and his family had been in the country illegally for five years. The honor student graduated last spring from a suburban Denver high school. Apodaca's father, mother and four siblings are illegal immigrants, family members have said. Two other siblings are U.S. residents.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63030,00.html
CA: Coastal conflict: Malibu handed a controversial land-use plan
Over Malibu's objections, the [anti-property rights] Coastal Commission on Friday voted for only the second time in its history to impose a land-use plan on a seaside community. The panel ended two days of often-contentious hearings by voting 10-1 to impose on Malibu a Local Coastal Plan that will limit development in the exclusive enclave. Malibu Mayor Jeff Jennings said the plan had "serious shortcomings," but he didn't know whether the city would sue to block it. ... The two-day hearing was the latest skirmish in a 25-year battle to get the Local Coastal Plan required by state's Coastal Act in place in Malibu. Unlike most other coastal communities, Malibu never adopted a land-use and zoning plan that was acceptable to the commission. That forced the Coastal Commission to spend entire days on such mundane Malibu matters as whether actor Stacey Keach could build a new driveway.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4390851p-5417441c.html
Death of a Republic
After the adoption of the Constitution by the Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked what had been wrought. He responded, "A Republic, if you can keep it." He was referring to the form of the new government of the United States and also to the ideal: an agency of the people whose most pressing business was to be guarantor of rights and protector of liberty. We still have the body of the Republic. The government is a strong and growing super-State, a Leviathan that has already begun to strangle itself in its own bureaucracies. But what of the spirit of the Republic? Is Thomas Jefferson's warning that "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground" being borne out? What of liberty? ... Our heritage of freedom rests on an understanding of rights derived from a Creator or as being inherent in human nature. Furthermore, rights are essential to human moral agency, being the yardstick of moral action. These fundamental theories of r!
!
ights have certain essential provisions:
*Rights are universal, applying to everyone. They are constrained only by "limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others," as Jefferson wrote. "I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
*Rights cannot be "reshaped," they can only be infringed. If rights can be changed, limited, or prohibited, then by definition they are not rights, but wants.
*Rights go beyond those listed in the Constitution. They consist of all human action that does not coercively interfere with the actions of others.
*Government is instituted to secure and protect our rights. There is no other justification for that institution that Tom Paine called at best "a necessary evil, and at its worst, an intolerable one."
*Governments have powers; people have rights. The Bill of Rights was demanded by the Anti-Federalists to protect individual rights from abuses of government power, including the excesses of majority rule.
...
http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/Bommarito/bommarito5.html
Schumer's Frenetic Style Rates With Voters
... So what did he get asked about during a recent visit to the New York State Fair? The price of milk. ... Schumer reassured Foote and several other jean-clad farmers at the fair's dairy pavilion that a new milk price support program is coming soon. The program sends federal money to dairy farmers when the price of milk falls below a certain level. Schumer conversed knowledgeably about the support program, which he voted for, then moved on to a milk vending machine where he touted the idea of putting the milk dispensers in public schools instead of soda machines. The moms he encountered thought that was a good idea and Schumer was a good guy, but they were fuzzy on what he's actually done in Washington. ...
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usschu13q2922562sep13.story?coll=ny%2Dnationalnews%2Dheadlines
CA: Report: LAPD probe alleges ex-deputy chief laundered drug money from son's ring
A police investigation found that a retired deputy chief helped launder money from his son's sprawling cocaine ring for several years, a newspaper reported Friday. In a confidential report, police investigators said Deputy Chief Maurice Moore, who retired earlier this year, acted on behalf of his son, who ran the drug operation from federal prison, the Los Angeles Times said. "His misconduct represents the worst in public corruption," said the report, obtained by the
Times.
[Prohibition always results in corruption of law enforcers.]
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0555_BC_OfficerInvestigated&&news&newsflash-national
CA: Feds raid Sebastopol pot farm;6 detained
DEA seizes thousands of plants; Petaluma man accused of assaulting agent
... Robert Schmidt, 51, owner of the Petaluma marijuana buyers club, was held on suspicion of assaulting a Drug Enforcement Administration agent. ...
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/13pot_a1.html
From: apfanning@netzero.net (Alan Fanning)
To: lpaz-repost@yahoogroups.com (LPAZ Repost)
Subject: [lpaz-repost] Check out this Village Voice article
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 02:27:04 -0400 (EDT)
Until 9/11 the typical allies for libertarians were conservatives. Now we will have to search on the left.
--Alan
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Village Voice
amnesty international had there arizona state wide
meeting at ASU today and one of the sessions
was on how to raise cash for your local AI chapter.
this web site
http://cafepress.com
http://www.cafepress.com
its 100% free and they allow you to create a site
that sells stuff (t-shirts, frisbee's, windbreakers,
jackets) with images that you upload such as a copwatch
logo.
when a person buys a t-shirt or whatever they print
the selected image on the t-shirt and sell it to the
person.
they charge the person whatever price that copwatch
wants to charge. and they give copwatch the profit thats
above the wholesale price they charge for the item.
-----------------------------------------------
they also mentioned another site that does more or
less the same thing. it was
http://www.globalexchange.com
but i didnt get all the details. if anyone knows amy chaplin
i think she knows the details on it. amy told me to look
for "freetrade" at the site but i couldnt find it.
mike
ps - maybe i should sell my lady liberty with the AK-47
at the site
From: rsrchsoc@ionet.net (John Wilde)
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [lpaz-discuss] Bob Schulz, We The People, and fraudulent speech
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 12:35:55 -0700
And being personally familiar with the Conklin case, the Court did
not rule on the fifth amendment issue as it was addressed by Bill.
The court's statement of the law is correct. You cannot use a
general assertion of the fifth on a return. However, Bill argued that
under the Fifth Amendment, the goverment could not compel him to provide
the information on a line by line or question by question basis. On
that point several courts have upheld the right to use the fifth
amendment. The courts have done it within the context of a first party
summons where the IRS compels you to come in and give personal testimony
about you tax matters, but it has also been applied in a line by line
basis on the return.
Here some of the cases that have identified how the fifth amendment
must be used in a tax case. United States v. Doe, 465 US 605 (1984) and
Hoffman v. United States, 341 US 479 (1951) U.S. v. Grable, 98 F.3d
251, 257 (6th Cir., 1996); United States v. Rendahl, 746 F.2d 553, 555
(9th Cir., 1984); U.S. v. Troescher, 99 F.3d 933, 935 (9th Cir.,
1996). U.S. v. Drollinger, 80 F.3d 389, 392 (9th Cir., 1996) (quoting
United States v. Neff, 615 F.2d 1235, 1240 (9th Cir., 1980)
You should also know that from the time the case was heard on the
government's motion to dismiss until the district court rendered its
initial decision was nearly 5 years.
Should there be a more detailed discussion of the background of Bill
Conklins case? Absolutely. But that article was written on limited
space and was designed to get your attention so that people would ask
more questions. It did. The problem is that several people who had a
personal grudge with Bill, didn't bother to dig into the background and
details of the case. I knew them, because I was there as the case was
being presented.
Given that background and understanding how Bill argued the case,
the representations made about the case, though not facial obvious, is
still correct.
As I said, for every point you can bring up about some aspect of the
income tax, and in some cases specific cases, I can bring you a counter
point or a greater explanation of the background. That's the advantage
of 20+ years.
Next.
g'day
John Wilde
maywood2008 wrote:
> --- In lpaz-discuss@y..., John Wilde wrote:
> > David,
> >
> > I wouldn't suggest that Bob Schulz is speaking fraudulently on
> > any of the issues.
>
> There are many examples of fraudulent speech in Bob Schulz' work.
> I'll pick just one that is quite easily verifiable.
>
> On July 7, 2000 USAToday ran a full page ad from We The People which
> talked about "Legal Facts & Did you Know". The ad says that the Fifth
> Amendment protection against self-incrimination means that you cannot
> be compelled to file a 1040 return. To support this claim, Schulz
> cites United States v. Conklin, WL 504211 (10th Cir. 1994), and the
> quote says:
>
> "The [5th Amendment] privilege protects against compelled testimonial
> communications..."
>
> This is outright fraud. The quote is pulled completely out of
> context. What the court actually said was:
>
> [BEGIN]
> In granting the IRS's motion for summary judgment, the court found:
> Conklin's argument that his refusal to sign his 1987 Form 1040 was
> proper on the grounds that his signature would violate his Fifth
> Amendment rights was rejected in Betz v. United States, 753 F.2d 834,
> 835 (10th Cir.1985) ("It is well settled that the Fifth Amendment
> general objection [to filing a proper tax return] is not a valid
> claim of the constitutional privilege."); Conklin's contention that
> his classification by the IRS as an illegal tax protestor justifies
> invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege "misunderstands the
> nature of the ... privilege .... [which] protects against compelled
> testimonial communications .... [and] Plaintiff has wholly failed to
> persuade me that truthful completion of the IRS From 1040 or any
> related forms would tend to incriminate him." (R., Vol. II at p. 6).
> **2 On appeal, Conklin posits the following issues: "Whether an
> individual who has been classified as an illegal tax protestor has a
> valid concern about waiving his fifth amendment rights when he signs
> a federal income tax return"; "Whether an individual who has been
> advised by several attorneys that he will waive his fifth amendment
> rights on a federal tax return should be penalized when he relied in
> good faith on the advice of counsel." The government responds that
> the district court correctly held that Conklin was liable for the
> $500.00 frivolous return penalty imposed under 6702. Further, the
> government urges that we should impose sanctions against Conklin for
> bringing this frivolous appeal. We agree.
> We affirm for substantially the reasons set forth in the district
> court's Order and Memorandum of Decision dated May 2, 1994.
> Moreover, "[i]n light of plaintiff's legally frivolous arguments,
> the award of attorney's fees and double costs [are] justified." Betz,
> 753 F.2d at 835. See also: Charczuk v. Commissioner of Internal
> Revenue, 771 F.2d 471, 474- 76 (10th Cir.1985); Martinez v. Internal
> Revenue Service, 744 F.2d 71, 73 (10th Cir.1984).
> Accordingly, attorney fees and double costs are hereby imposed
> against Conklin for the taking of a legally frivolous appeal. The
> matter is REMANDED to the district court to make the appropriate
> determinations.
> The mandate shall issue forthwith.
> [END]
>
> John, if that ain't fraud, I don't know what is. And there are plenty
> more examples like this from the other USAToday full page ads.
>
> David Euchner
>
WesternLibertarian@yahoogroups.com
From: rdestep136@EARTHLINK.NET (RD)
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
Subject: Re: pro gun folks out campaigning?
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 20:48:52 -0700
For those of you who can't bear to campaign *for* candidate, why not campaign
against a really bad one?
Ken Rineer's "Anybody But Richardson" activities spring to mind.
Why not cut up some cardboard boxes, use your printer to make some really big
letters, go to Home Depot and get some 3M #77 spray adhesive, a strong staple
gun, and some 24-inche stakes and make up some "LIBERAL" and "FASCIST"
signs. You can pound them in front of all the Janet Reno, er Napalitano's
campaign signs.
Some fun...
Rick
Gary Sepp wrote:
> Well, once in a while, there are candidates that come close. We should
> help them, if for no other reason than to "tell the antis that we support
> the pro gun folks". \
VIAD Corp, which used to be DIAL Corp,
the Azizona Diamondbacks government baseball team,
and local police agencys
support this police state web site which wants to jail people who smoke pot
http://BattleGroundAZ.com
From: freemanaz@aol.com (unknown)
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Nonprofit provides care to people without insurance
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 23:06:24 EDT
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/news2.shtml
Nonprofit provides care to people without insurance
BY EMMA JOHNSON
TRIBUNE
As early as 5 a.m. every Thursday, dozens — sometimes hundreds — of the East
Valley’s medically uninsured line up to receive free health care at the
Christ the King Community Center in Mesa.
Those in line include people such as Manuel and Belia Sierra of Mesa. Manuel,
65, suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes; Belia, 62, has high blood
pressure and arthritis.
“The clinic has helped us a lot — thank the Lord,” Belia Sierra said. “It’s
because of this we’re doing well.”
The Sierras are among about 22,000 patients who have sought help at one of
the four free clinics operated in the Valley since 1997 by the nonprofit
Mission of Mercy. The clinics operate partially out of a customized medical
van that contains supplies and equipment.
Each year the lines have grown longer.
And there’s no relief in sight, some observers say, as the sluggish economy
and anticipated cuts to state-funded health care are expected to increase the
number of people seeking free medical help. Experts say they believe the rate
of uninsured has climbed since 2000, when the U.S. Census determined
Arizona’s uninsured rate of 16 percent was the ninth-highest in the nation.
“The state squeezes the programs, but people are still getting those services
at the end of the day — and the public pays,” said Dr. Todd Taylor, vice
president of public affairs for the Arizona College of Emergency Physicians
and a Valley emergency room doctor.
“People are either going without health care or further crowding our
emergency departments.”
The squeeze is being felt by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System,
the state’s health insurance program for the poor. AHCCCS must submit plans
by Sept. 23 to cut administrative spending by 10 percent for this fiscal
year, which began July 1. Gov. Jane Hull mandated such plans from all state
agencies to relieve the budget crisis, which is projected to exceed $1
billion next year.
But AHCCCS already has a low administrative margin, and cuts will compromise
services, spokesman Frank Lopez said.
“You can only cut so much from administration,” Lopez said. “We’re going to
go below the bone.”
Meanwhile, AHCCCS is planning to ask next month for a $5 million supplement
to its $687 million budget because of an increase in its enrollment, and next
year plans to ask for $126 million more than this year’s budget, a lawmaker
said.
But Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe, chairwoman of the House Appropriations
Committee, said AHCCCS will have to do without that $5 million and likely
won’t get the request for next year, either. AHCCCS can cut costs by
eliminating programs that are not federally mandated — or getting federal
permission to get around those mandates, she said.
“In a budget crisis you have to change the mode of business you do,” Knaperek
said.
Lopez said the extra money is needed to accommodate projected layoffs. The
Arizona Department of Economic Security estimates a loss of nearly 21,000
jobs by the end of this year.
“That’s the vice the state gets caught in,” Lopez said. “When the economy
goes south, our business goes north. And that means our expenses go up.”
And when uninsured rates go north, people’s health goes south.
Valley emergency room physician and Mission of Mercy medical director Dr.
Bill Schneider said he’s seen firsthand the correlation between health
insurance and health. For years he’s watched uninsured patients rushed to the
ER with heart attacks, high blood pressure or complications from diabetes —
costly conditions that could have been prevented if the patients had had
health care. He decided to do something about it.
“The problem I was seeing in the emergency room was that we were seeing so
many patients come in with serious problems that could have been prevented,”
Schneider said. “I had these ideas of reaching people in the community before
they reached me.”
That is the premise behind Mission of Mercy: Offer free medical care for the
uninsured and relieve the burden that the uninsured place on the health care
system.
But the cost of being uninsured goes beyond those patients and hospitals.
A 2002 study by the Institute of Medicine found that uninsured patients with
colon or breast cancer face up to a 50 percent greater chance of dying from
the disease than patients with private coverage, and those who go uninsured
for only a year appear to be less healthy than those who are insured
continuously.
Instead of receiving regular preventive care, the uninsured wait until
controllable illnesses become life-threatening and head to emergency rooms.
Federal mandates prohibit emergency rooms from turning anyone away. When
people cannot pay the bill, the hospital eats the cost, passing losses on to
paying patients, and adding to the overcrowding and long waits for all
patients.
Uncompensated care costs Arizona hospitals $500 million each year, according
to the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.
To help curb this problem in Arizona, voter-mandated Proposition 204 went
into effect in July 2001, broadening AHCCCS eligibility. Since then, 213,000
more people have enrolled in the insurance program.
But many people still don’t qualify because they don’t meet financial
criteria or because they are illegal residents. And budget cuts threaten to
shrink the number of people currently eligible, Taylor said.
Meanwhile, Mission of Mercy is booming. The mission’s busiest location, in
Mesa, had 3,015 visits in the first six months of the year. Volunteer nurses,
doctors and staff members manage to see as many as 180 people in a single day.
On a recent Thursday, Manuel and Belia Sierra lined up at 6 a.m. and were
patients No. 13 and 14 at the Mesa clinic.
Every two weeks they attend the clinic, where Manuel receives blood pressure
and diabetes medication and gets a checkup. Belia also needs medications and
checkups for high blood pressure and arthritis. Her knuckles ache from years
of making and selling tortillas in Sonora, Mexico, she said.
The couple learned the importance of preventive care in April when Manuel’s
high blood pressure landed him in the emergency room, where the couple waited
hours to get care. Five days later Manuel was discharged with a $15,000 bill.
AHCCCS picked up the bill. But now only Manuel is covered for emergency care.
Any routine medical care — doctor visits, prescriptions — the couple would
have to pay for out of pocket. Belia laughs when asked if she can afford
those services.
— Tribune writer Emma Johnson can be reached by e-mail at ejohnson@aztrib.com
or by calling (480) 898-6373.
From: eudomania@yahoo.com (Joe Duarte)
To: lpaz-pima@yahoogroups.com
Cc: nluft8@cox.net
Subject: [lpaz-Pima] Latest on Iraqi nukes
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 14:11:03 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-417076,00.html
From: ernesthancock@cox.net ("Ernest Hancock")
To: ernesthancock@cox.net ("Ernest Hancock")
Subject: WLA in Glendale fights Stadium
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 10:41:57 -0700
http://www.freeglendale.com
KFYI talk radio just did a piece prompted by the following =
article. The signature gathering effort will be done by next Monday. My =
goal in the article is to make it clear that no matter what is done by =
the city or even if the stadium is built or not the hits will keep =
coming.
As many people as we can educate as possible about the =
creation of a Bidwell City the better. The story that I'm trying to get =
out is the fact that the City of Glendale is creating a new municipal =
corporation that has the power of condemnation, eminent domain and =
taxation without any elected officials and no possibility of initiative, =
referendum or recall. This is very bad bad bad.
The definition of Fascism is when you mix government and =
business to the point that you can't tell the difference between the =
two.=20
=
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0916stadium16.html
Bid to stop stadium pact is under way=20
By Charles Kelly and Adam Klawonn
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 16, 2002 12:00:00
=20
Special report
=95 The stadium debate
=20
Leaders of an effort to convince voters to cancel Glendale's =
agreement to build a stadium for the Arizona Cardinals said they've got =
only an even chance if it gets to a vote, which would take months if it =
happens at all.=20
"I think I've got a 50-50 chance of it being defeated," said =
Glendale resident Tim Weaver, who on Wednesday applied for two =
referendum petitions to pursue the issue.=20
Ernest Hancock, a well-known Libertarian who is working with =
Weaver, said he doesn't know how many voters would rally to their cause. =
"The biggest issue is that we don't know," Hancock said.=20
Even if a court forced a referendum, under state law the =
city couldn't schedule it any earlier than March, and wouldn't have to =
schedule it until May 2004, said Jon Paladini, Glendale's deputy city =
attorney.=20
In creating a Community Facilities District to issue bonds =
to buy and develop the stadium land, the Glendale City Council created a =
new level of government without voter approval, Weaver said. Such a =
district could levy taxes and be very difficult to dissolve.=20
Weaver said he has gotten at least a dozen calls from people =
wanting to help with the effort to overturn the decision.=20
Jay McKim, 31, of Glendale, said he'll work for the effort.=20
"I oppose the way it was handled, without a public vote," =
McKim said.=20
In the past, Weaver and Hancock have sought to change a =
number of Glendale city policies, including those on gun rights, the =
food tax, and ballot counting methods.=20
Though many of their efforts have come to nothing, Hancock, =
41, owner of a Phoenix restaurant called Pizza Belly, said he's =
sometimes satisfied just stirring things up and getting publicity.=20
"It's entertainment," he said. "If you can have =
entertainment going and poking at particularly stupid windmills, then =
poke away. It's recreation."=20
Weaver, 38, a market research analyst, takes a less =
light-hearted view.=20
"I'm dead serious about every issue I go after the city on," =
Weaver said.=20
Paladini said he questions whether Weaver and Hancock are =
acting in good faith, since they preach minimal government but have =
vowed to make it as expensive and difficult as possible for Glendale to =
do its work.=20
"At one point, I thought, well, these guys are sincere in =
their beliefs, but I think right now it's sort of a vendetta," Paladini =
said.=20
Glendale officials said the issue of the city's agreements =
with the state Tourism and Sports Authority can't be put to a referendum =
because they are business contracts, not policy-setting decisions.=20
Weaver agreed the contracts are not referable, but said the =
voters can decide whether the city should have the power to make such =
contracts. Paladini, however, said that power is long established and =
not subject to a referendum challenge.=20
For its part, the sports authority said it's going ahead =
with construction without worrying about the challenge.=20
"We can't speculate on something that looks like it isn't =
going to happen," spokesman Brad Parker said.=20
Hancock said referendum backers will have 1,300 petition =
signatures by Sept. 29 to meet the deadline for forcing a referendum. =
However, both he and Weaver said they believe the city will continue to =
say the issue isn't referable, forcing them to sue in an effort to force =
the city to set an election.=20
If they ever get the issue to a vote, Hancock said, he =
doesn't care how long it takes.=20
"The longer they make it (before an election occurs), the =
more fun I get to have," Hancock said. =20
=20
From: schneier@counterpane.com (Bruce Schneier)
To: crypto-gram@chaparraltree.com
Subject: CRYPTO-GRAM, September 15, 2002
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 16:47:45 -0500
CRYPTO-GRAM
September 15, 2002
by Bruce Schneier
Founder and CTO
Counterpane Internet Security, Inc.
schneier@counterpane.com
http://www.counterpane.com
A free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and
commentaries on computer security and cryptography.
Back issues are available at
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram.html . To subscribe, visit
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram.html or send a blank message
to crypto-gram-subscribe@chaparraltree.com.
Copyright (c) 2002 by Counterpane Internet Security, Inc.
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
In this issue:
AES News
Crypto-Gram Reprints
The Doghouse: Bodacion
Reveal and Me
News
Counterpane News
Microsoft Word 97 Vulnerability
Security Notes from All Over: The Odyssey
Comments from Readers
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
AES News
AES may have been broken. Serpent, too. Or maybe not. In either
case, there's no need to panic. Yet. But there might be soon. Maybe.
Some of the confusion stems from different definitions of "attack." To
a cryptographer, an attack is anything that breaks the algorithm faster
than brute force, even if it is completely impractical. To an
engineer, an attack is something that is practical, or at least might
be practical in a few years. An attack that breaks AES to a
cryptographer might not to an engineer. The rest of the confusion
stems from not being sure the attack actually works.
Let's start from the beginning. A few months ago, Courtois and
Pieprzyk posted a paper outlining a new attack against Rijndael (AES)
and Serpent. The authors used words like "optimistic evaluation" and
"might be able to break" to soften their claims, but the paper
described a better-than-brute-force attack against Serpent, and
possibly one against Rijndael as well.
Basically, the attack works by trying to express the entire algorithm
as multivariate quadratic polynomials, and then using an innovative
technique to treat the terms of those polynomials as individual
variables. This gives you a system of linear equations in a
quadratically large number of variables, which you have to
solve. There are a bunch of minimization techniques, and several other
clever tricks you can use to make the solution easier. (This is a
gross oversimplification of the paper; read it for more detail.)
The attack depends much more critically on the complexity of the
nonlinear components than on the number of rounds. Ciphers with small
S-boxes and simple structures are particularly vulnerable. Serpent has
small S-boxes and a simple structure. AES has larger S-boxes, but a
very simple algebraic description. (Twofish has small S-boxes, too,
but a more complex nonlinear structure. No one has implemented the
attack against Twofish, but I'm not willing to stand up and declare the
cipher immune.)
These are amazing results. Previously, the best attacks worked by
breaking simplified variants of AES using very impractical attack
models (e.g., requiring immense amounts of chosen plaintext). This
paper claimed to break the entire algorithm, and with only one or two
known plaintexts. Moreover, the first cipher broken was Serpent: the
cipher universally considered to be the safest, most conservative choice.
There was some buzz about the paper in the academic community, but it
quickly died down. I believe the problem was that the paper was dense
and hard to understand. The attack technique, something called XSL,
was brand new. (It's based on another technique, called XL, presented
at Eurocrypt 2000.) And the results were so startling -- an attack
against Serpent! -- that they were just discounted.
Meanwhile, Fuller and Millan released a paper showing that AES's
8x8-bit S-box is really an 8x1-bit S-box. There's really only one
piece of nonlinearity going on in the cipher; everything else is
linear. Another paper came from Filiol. He claimed to have detected
some biases in the Boolean functions of AES, which could possibly be
used to break AES. But there are just too few details in the paper to
make sense of this claim yet.
At Crypto 2002, Murply and Robshaw published a surprising result,
allowing all of AES to be expressed in a single field. They postulated
a cipher called BES that treats each AES byte as an 8-byte vector. BES
operates on blocks of 128 bytes; for a special subset of the plaintexts
and keys, BES is isomorphic to AES. This representation has several
nice properties that may make it easier to cryptanalyze.
Most interestingly, the BES representation gives the XSL method a much
more concise representation, and therefor sparser and simpler equations
that are easier to solve. Moreover, there are intermediate versions of
BES -- 2-byte vectors, 4-byte vectors, etc. -- decreasing in complexity
as you head towards BES-8. These representations identified a bunch
more quadratic equations that apply to AES and BES. When you throw
them into the XSL mix, Courtois and Pieprzyk's attack now has a 2^100
complexity, as opposed to the wiffly waffly 2^200-or-so complexity
claimed earlier.
So, here's the current scorecard. Courtois and Pieprzyk claim a
2^100-ish attack against AES. They claim a 2^200-ish attack against
Serpent. This is an enormously big deal.
Assuming that it's real.
We are in the era of completely theoretical cryptanalysis. Cipher key
lengths have gotten so long that attacks simply can't be implemented;
their complexity is just too great. But implementation is critical;
some attacks have hidden problems when you try them out, and other
attacks are more efficient than predicted. You can try the attack on
simplified versions of the cipher -- fewer rounds, smaller block size
-- but you can never be sure the attack scales as
predicted. Differential cryptanalysis was developed this way; the
attack was demonstrated on simpler variants of DES and then
extrapolated to the full DES. (I don't believe that the attack has
ever been implemented on the full DES.) Many of the attacks we use to
break algorithms -- linear, boomerang, slide, mod n, etc. -- are more
often mathematical arguments than computer demonstrations. I don't
believe that we will learn in our lifetimes whether the 2^100 attack on
AES really works or not. And we need a lot more analysis and testing
of the general XSL technique, on weaker algorithms and simplified
variants of real algorithms.
So we're in a quandary. We might have an amazing new cryptanalytic
technique, but we don't know if there's an error in the analysis, and
there's no way to test the technique empirically. We have to wait
until others go over the same work. And to be sure, we have to wait
until someone improves the attack to a practical point before we know
if the algorithm was broken to begin with.
In any case, there's no cause for alarm yet. These attacks can be no
more implemented in the field than they can be tested in a lab. No AES
(or Serpent) traffic can be decrypted using these techniques. No
communications are at risk. No products need to be recalled. There's
so much security margin in these ciphers that the attacks are irrelevant.
But there is call for worry. If the attack really works, it can only
get better. My fear is that we could see optimizations of the XSL
attack breaking AES with a 2^80-ish complexity, in which case things
starts to get dicey about ten years from now. That's the problem with
theoretical cryptanalysis: we learn whether or not an attack works at
the same time we learn whether or not we're at risk.
The work is fascinating. During the AES process, everyone agreed that
Rijndael was the risky choice, Serpent was the conservative choice, and
Twofish was in the middle. To have Serpent be the first to fall
(albeit marginally), and to have Rijndael fall so far so quickly, is
something no one predicted. But it's how cryptography works. The
community develops a series of algorithms for which there are no known
attacks, and then new attack tools come out of the blue and strike a
few of them down. We all scramble, and then the cycle repeats.
We're starting to see the new attack tools that work against some of
the AES finalists. It's an open question as to how long the tools will
remain theoretical. But many cryptographers who previously felt good
about AES are having second thoughts.
Summary of recent AES results:
http://www.cryptosystem.net/aes/
Preliminary version of the Courtois and Pieprzyk paper (final to be
presented at Asiacrypt 2002):
http://eprint.iacr.org/2002/044/
Fuller and Millan Paper
:
http://eprint.iacr.org/2002/111/
Filiol paper:
http://eprint.iacr.org/2002/099/
Murphy and Robshaw paper:
http://www.isg.rhul.ac.uk/~mrobshaw/aes-crypto.pdf
Rijndael analysis by the Twofish team from May 2000:
http://www.counterpane.com/rijndael.html
One effect of theoretical cryptanalysis is inconsistent standards for
papers. Courtois and Pieprzyk submitted their paper to Crypto 2002, as
did Murphy and Robshaw. For some reason, the latter was accepted and
the former wasn't. In any case, the Courtois and Pieprzyk paper will
appear at Asiacrypt later this year.
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
Crypto-Gram Reprints
Crypto-Gram is currently in its fifth year of publication. Back issues
cover a variety of security-related topics, and can all be found on
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram.html . These are a selection
of articles that appeared in this calendar month in other years.
Special issue on 9/11, including articles on airport security,
biometrics, cryptography, steganography, intelligence failures, and
protecting liberty:
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0109a.html
Full Disclosure and the Window of Exposure:
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0009.html#1
Open Source and Security:
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-9909.html#OpenSourceandSecurity
Factoring a 512-bit Number:
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-9909.html#Factoringa512-bitNumber
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
The Doghouse: Bodacion
In case you didn't see it, Bodacion markets the "Hacker Proof" and
"Virus Proof" Hydra, an "Invulnerable Internet Server." The Hydra is
immune to all operating system attacks, because "HYDRA simply has no
operating system to take control of - there is nothing to hack in
to..." Now building a secure OS that has no way to execute arbitrary
code and no command line is a good idea -- we do the same thing with
our Sentry -- but these guys pour the snake oil onto the idea pretty
thickly.
According to their Web site, the basis of Hydra's security is something
called "Bodacions" based on "Biomorphic Technology." I'll let them
describe Biomorphic Technology to you in their own words, because I
don't think I could do it justice"
"At the core of HYDRA's security features is a biomorphic technology
based on a field of mathematics called 'Chaotic Dynamics.' Using Chaos
Theory, HYDRA can generate special groups of characters called
Bodacions. Bodacions are impossible to guess, and never repeat.
"With these unique properties, Bodacions make perfect session ID's,
order numbers, customer ID's, cryptographic one-time pads, or any
number that needs to be unique, non-repeating, and difficult to
guess. HYDRA even uses this technology to scramble TCP sequence
numbers for increased network security."
Visit their Web site and regain your sense of awe; we've come so far in
computer security, yet we still regularly see this stuff.
http://www.bodacion.com
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
Reveal and Me
I am bad for the youth of America. Me, personally.
The AntiChildPorn.org offers a free program called "Reveal." It's
designed for parents to spy on their children. Basically, someone runs
this program on a hard drive and it scans for bad words. In the words
of AntiChildPorn.org: "Reveal works by searching all files found and
comparing each word inside a file against special dictionaries of words
commonly used by pedophiles, child pornographers, cultists, occultists,
drug pushers and purveyors of hate and violence."
Leaving aside discussions about whether or not this constitutes good
parenting, this isn't a half bad idea for a computer program. If
you're faced with a couple of gigabytes of random stuff, it makes sense
to write a computer program that simply scans the stuff. It isn't
perfect, but it's okay for a quick pass.
The problem comes from the fact that the word list for Reveal is
secret. Much like the list of unacceptable URLs blocked by the various
blocking software, it's not available for the user to look at and
modify. Even worse, disassembling the software to look at the list
might be a violation of the DMCA.
Anyway, the word list is on the Web (at least as of this
writing). Along with the sexual words you'd expect -- I won't print
them because too many e-mail filtering programs will block this
newsletter as a result -- are a whole lot of words you wouldn't: ugly,
weapon, shroud, dummy, fat. And in the occult dictionary was my name:
"SCHNEIER". I know my name. It's rare. There aren't any occult
people with my name. There aren't any occult meanings of my name. And
neither are there for the name above mine: Rabbi Schneerson. Though
that leads me to suppose that it might refer to the one other Schneier
I've run across on the Web: Rabbi Arthur Schneier.
So does AntiChildPorn.org not like rabbis, or cryptographers? Or both?
http://www.antichildporn.org/reveal.htm
Reveal's Word List:
http://nymphs.org/RevealDirtyWordList.txt
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
News
A company's own employees are its biggest security threat:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2120738,00.html
Song lyrics: "Bit Commitment Blues"
http://home.datawest.net/staym/commit.html
Good article on the cyberwar/cyberterrorism hype and nonsense:
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2877204,00.html
Essay on the dangers of moving the Computer Security Division of NIST
into the Department of Homeland Security:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/230/business/Cybersecurity_should_be_
kept_in_civilian_hands+.shtml
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S5DF257C1
Possible Palladium patents from Microsoft:
6,330,670 Digital rights management operating system
6,327,652 Loading and identifying a digital rights management operating
system
You can probably find others pending in Europe, where you have to
disclose upon filing.
At a panel on Palladium at the USENIX Security Conference in August,
Microsoft representatives claimed that there was no way Palladium could
be used to enforce Digital Rights Management. In response, Lucky Green
invented a bunch of ways Palladium could be used to enforce DRM and
then filed for a patent.
http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@wasabisystems.com/msg02506.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@wasabisystems.com/msg02554.html
Excellent article on hacking the blackjack tables at Las Vegas. It
seems that while Vegas knew how to spot card counters, they could not
detect counters that worked in teams:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/vegas_pr.html
A new company, PGP Corp., has purchased PGP from Network Associates.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-954346.html
Hackers want boring people to stop encrypting things:
http://www.satirewire.com/news/aug02/encryption.shtml
Read this for the comments at the end where a British intelligence
officer, when faced with the information that his secrets are being
eavesdropped on, suggests that the government should outlaw
scanners. He probably figures it would be easier than actually fixing
the problem.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2065342.stm
Good article on the realistic risks of cyber-terrorism:
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-955293.html
There's a new Twofish C library, written by Niels Ferguson. The main
differences with existing code available is that this one is fully
portable, easy to integrate, well documented, and contains extensive
self-tests. And it's 100% free.
http://niels.ferguson.net/code/TwofishClib.html
Civil liberties after 9/11; EPIC's chronology:
http://www.epic.org/default91102.html
"I'm not proud," [Brian] Valentine [senior vice president in charge of
Microsoft's Windows development team] said, as he spoke to a crowd of
developers here at the company's Windows .Net Server developer
conference. "We really haven't done everything we could to protect our
customers ... Our products just aren't engineered for security."
http://staging.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/09/05/020905hnmssecure.
xml
Microsoft's Craig Mundie on security. My favorite quote: "People
confuse 'security' and Trustworthy Computing."
http://www.microsoft.com/PressPass/features/2002/feb02/02-20mundieqa.asp
RIAA sues Verizon; both sides cite the DMCA:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38034-2002Sep4.html
Good stuff on electronic voting:
http://www.notablesoftware.com/RMstatement.html
http://www.notablesoftware.com/checklists.html
Recently I heard a rumor that I am in favor of electronic voting,
Internet voting, and the like. This couldn't be further than the
truth. Here's my position:
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0102.html#10
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0012.html#1
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
Counterpane News
Schneier is speaking about Counterpane monitoring in Seattle,
Vancouver, Columbus, and Sacramento. For details see:
http://www.counterpane.com/conf.html
Schneier will deliver a keynote address at ISSE 2002, at Disneyland
Paris, on 2 October.
http://www.isse.org/
Schneier is speaking at SMAU 2002 in Milan, Italy, on 25 October.
http://www.smau.it/smau2002/english/docs/flash.html
Schneier is speaking and will be on a panel at the Symposium on Privacy
and Security in Zurich, Switzerland, 30-31 October.
http://www.privacy-security.ch
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
Microsoft Word 97 Vulnerability
Here's the vulnerability. Alice sends Bob a Word document. Bob edits
it and sends it back. Unbeknownst to Bob, the document he sends back
can contain any file on his computer. All Alice has to know is the
file's pathname.
To make the vulnerability work, Alice embeds a particular code in the
Word document she sends Alice. When Bob opens the document, Word
scarfs up the file off his hard drive and embeds it into the Word
document. Bob can't see this happening, and he has no way of knowing
it has happened. If he looks at the document in Notepad, though, he
can see the snooped file. Then, when Bob saves the document, the file
becomes part of the saved document. He sends it back to Alice, and she
has successfully stolen the file.
This attack works with any file on Bob's computer, and any file on
another server that Bob currently has access to. It's not a macro, so
turning off macros doesn't help. It's not a piece of malware that an
antivirus program will catch. It's just a feature of Word 97 being
used in a novel way. And Alice can embed hundreds of these codes into
the Word document she sends Bob, so if she doesn't know the exact
filename she can make lots of guesses.
This is an enormous security hole, and one that the user is simply
unable to close. All Bob can do is 1) refuse to return Word 97
documents he edits, or 2) manually examine them all in Notepad or WordPad.
Another Microsoft vulnerability...so what? There are hundreds of these
a year. Why bother writing about it?
To me, the interesting aspect of this is that Microsoft is no longer
supporting Word 97. This means the company has an interesting choice:
they can patch the vulnerability, or they can demand that users upgrade
to the latest version of Word. Doing the latter is sleazy, but it's in
Microsoft's best interest for people to upgrade. They might think of
this simply as added incentive.
We're seeing more and more of this: vulnerabilities in products that
are no longer supported. When the SNMP vulnerabilities were published
earlier this year, many products with the vulnerability were no longer
supported. Some were made by companies no longer in business.
I first read about this vulnerability in an e-mail newsletter called
"Woody's Office Watch." Alex Gantman reported the Word 97
vulnerability on Bugtraq, and Woody Leonhard claims that he has
discovered similar vulnerabilities in Word 2000 and Word 2002. He's
keeping them quiet for a while, giving Microsoft a chance to fix them.
http://online.securityfocus.com/archive/1/289268
http://www.woodyswatch.com/office/archtemplate.asp?v7-n42
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&ncid=1209&e=4&u=/nm/20020913/wr_
nm/tech_microsoft_word_dc&sid=95573713
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z2C1218C1
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
Security Notes from All Over: The Odyssey
Polyphemus's one eye is a single point of failure; when Odysseus pokes
it out, he is much less able to defend himself. Polyphemus's alarm is
ignored because Odysseus said his name was Nobody, so he winds up
shouting that nobody is trying to kill him (you'd think the other
Cyclopes would come see what's going on, but maybe Polyphemus shouts
random stupid things all the time, like an IDS). Polyphemus finally
has to let the sheep out to graze -- it's a mission-critical function
-- and Odysseus and his men then escape by masquerading as legitimate
traffic (sheep).
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
Comments from Readers
Just a note before printing comments on arming pilots. While I am
increasingly interested in applying computer-security analysis
techniques to non-computer problems, I am not at all interested in the
gun control debate. While the former opens up avenues for informed
debate, the latter is much more analogous to a religious war. I am
continually amazed by how many people -- on both sides of the issue --
argue from their conclusions rather than rationally evaluate the
evidence. The comments below are ones that I think contribute to the
analysis, and have been edited of "theology." And it is unlikely that
I will print comments on these comments next month. There's only so
much of this debate I can tolerate.
From: Blake Leverett bleverett@att.net
Subject: Arming Pilots
Your first and second objections involve the handling of the guns that
the pilots would carry: how do the guns get around, and how do we make
sure that guns aren't left lying around?
There is only one answer to all of these questions: a pilot will carry
his or her own gun on his or her person. There can be no lockers or
any such storage because, as you pointed out, we can't have guns just
lying around. No competent person would ever let his gun out of his
immediate control. The pilot carries the weapon in a close-fitting
holster at all times, even when he leaves the cockpit. Most commercial
airline pilots have military training and are already trained in the
use of handguns. As a side note, it is much easier for an attacker to
seize a policeman's gun, as it is in an open side holster. To seize a
pilot's gun, you first have to guess where it's located (shoulder
holster, back holster, ankle, left or right) and must make personal
contact to wrest the weapon from the pilot.
None of the above is theory. Thousands of people carry concealed
weapons today, both police and private citizens. And there are
hundreds of guns behind the security blockades at airports,
too. Before 9/11 at least, there were lots of people who could carry
weapons into the "secured" area. They could show their law-enforcement
ID and go right past the "security" guards.
Your third point about training the pilots is moot. Most pilots are
already trained by the U.S. military. And this is a voluntary
program. It would be foolish to force a pilot to carry a weapon
against his will. There are training programs available for every
possible use of a handgun, and I would imagine pilots would have to
pass stringent training requirements.
Lastly, guns are more useful as a deterrent than as a tool to subdue
hijackers. By the time you have hijackers on the plane with intent to
overtake the plane, bad things are going to happen with any
solution. I believe emotion is overtaking logic here: people are
willing to allow armed sky marshals, but not willing to arm the
pilots. The pilots already hold your life in their hands. As
professionals trained to act quickly in a crisis in the air, they are
much more qualified to be armed than some Dirty Harry wanna-be they
drag in to be a sky marshal.
From: Ron Lautmann ron_lautmann@pacbell.net
Subject: Arming Pilots
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of guns are safely carried on U.S.
airlines today. Every sworn peace officer who flies from place to
place in the U.S. is armed on the flight. FBI, Secret Service, ATF
agents and others all fly armed and somehow they get their guns through
the airports and on planes with no problem. When they get to the
security gate they present their credentials and easily pass
through. The obvious solution to handling guns by pilots is to let
them carry them at all times just like peace officers. Maybe they
should become sworn peace officers, too.
Many pilots have expressed a keen interest in carrying guns in the
cockpit. Organizations like APSA (see http://www.secure-skies.com )
attest to this fact. One could assume from this that the pilots would
get significant training in how to handle guns safely and how to best
use them in the event of an attack. Pilots who don't want to undergo
such training could voluntarily opt out of the program and not carry a gun.
Hijackers would have no way of knowing which pilots were armed, so they
would have no advantage in knowing that some pilots were not armed.
News reports consistently tell us that even with the tightened security
checks at the airports, there is a one in four chance that a weapon
will pass through the security screening process unnoticed. I believe
that arming pilots will help protect against this unfortunate fact.
By the way, how many policemen get their gun taken away from them, as
you state? I don't think there will be too many hijackers who will
rely on this method to obtain their weapons. Waiting to pounce on the
pilot as he makes his way from the cockpit to the lavatory is just too
iffy a situation for a hijacker.
Finally, if the last line of defense for protecting the country against
a hijacked airliner is being shot down by an F16 fighter, I would
prefer that my pilot be armed rather than risk getting shot down.
From: "Bill Nickless" bill@nonick.org
Subject: Arming Pilots
Thousands of handguns are already on airplanes and in airports. I
routinely see handguns on the hips of security personnel at airport
screening points, and air marshals are already known to be carrying
handguns. Many federal agency employees, including those of the
Smithsonian Institution, can and do routinely carry their handguns when
they travel. State police on official business (such as bodyguards for
state officers) routinely carry handguns. Officers from foreign
countries routinely protect diplomats and government officers on
airlines with handguns.
Airline pilots are already some of the most carefully screened and
trained people in any industry. They routinely operate very complex
machinery. Their primary duty is to protect the lives and health of
their passengers, not just fly airplanes. Today they can only protect
themselves with the "crash axe" in the cockpit.
Having airline pilots carry guns is not a new idea. In fact, for many
years they were required to carry them by federal law, as the airlines
carried U.S. mail. A Houston Chronicle story at
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1087467 is only
one example of a situation where an armed hijacker was successfully
stopped by an armed pilot.
From: "ADP" adp@commspeed.net
Subject: Arming Pilots
As a retired airline captain with over 34 years of service, I agree
with you completely regarding the arming of airline pilots. I think it
is the dumbest idea since the PC Jr.
We are a nation of people with short attention spans and even shorter
memories. A pilot's job is to fly his or her aircraft...period.
Before 911, we pilots were taught to acquiesce to the hijacker's
demands. That system worked for many years. With the advent of
suicidal terrorists, that system must be abandoned. The captain of an
airliner is responsible for his crew, of course, but he is even more
responsible for the safety of his aircraft and passengers. It saddens
me that, under certain circumstances, an airline captain might have to
risk the life of a crew member. It appalls me, however, that airline
pilots are not concentrating on controlling their aircraft. A gunfight
at 30,000 feet involving a pilot means that only one other pilot is
flying the aircraft. (There are very few three-man aircraft left flying).
Make the cockpit doors impregnable. Provide for safe egress of the
pilots in the event of a crash. Let pilots fly while others take care
of security.
From: Norman Yarvin norman.yarvin@snet.net
Subject: Arming Pilots
In the latest Crypto-Gram, you listed a lot of problems with arming
pilots. I think they are sound objections to a plan in which carrying
guns is mandatory. But if instead the plan were to merely give the
pilots the option of carrying guns, many of those problems would be
much lessened. The pilots who would carry guns if it were optional
would mostly be the ones who had given thought to tactics, and who were
decent marksmen. (Note that a large fraction of pilots are
ex-military.) To lessen the possibility of being disarmed, they could
be given freedom to carry concealed, or to leave their guns in the
cockpit when stepping out to visit the lavatory. A terrorist could not
be certain that the pilots had their guns on them, or even that there
were any guns on the plane at all.
As for the protocol for carrying weapons on board, in a
firearms-optional system each pilot would have to be responsible for
his own gun at all times. That way, also, he could choose a gun and
holster that he was comfortable with and could conceal well. This
would be not much different from the way sky marshals carry their guns
on board.
I think such a plan would have more chance of helping than of harming,
though it would be no panacea. But I must admit that it is unlikely to
be implemented: the mentality of control is so strong in this country
that if anything is done at all, it is likely to be a case of "today,
prohibited; tomorrow, mandatory."
From: Allen Gordon a.gordon@cablelabs.com
Subject: Arming Pilots
I asked a friend who has been a pilot for United Airlines for over 35
years. About this he said, "Hmm, lets see, I'm right handed. I sit in
the chair on the left. I pull the gun out with my right hand, but
since I'm strapped into the chair, I can't turn very far, so I'm liable
to wind up shooting the co-pilot!"
From: Ric Woodson cmesoft@data-experts.com
Subject: Arming Pilots
In response to the guns in cockpits debate, I would like to suggest an
alternative to which I have not yet had anyone come up with a better
solution. Mount along the full length of each side wall of the
passenger area, a tube within a tube. Each tube has openings down its
length approximately 1/3 of its diameter. The outer tube is
stationary, the inner tube rotates to an open position only at the
command of the cockpit.
Inside the inner tube, are 1/2 size baseball bats laid end to
end. Once the tubes are open, the window passenger has access to the
bats in the tube. These can be used offensively or defensively. Each
row of seats would then have something like two bats per row. More
than enough to use for re-acquisition of control of the craft. There
would be too many bats to be collected and managed by the "terrorists"
(did you ever try to pick up more than four bats at a time?). No
chance for a misfire. Nothing to take the pilots away from their
jobs. Too small to be used to bash in security doors. Easy for
authorities to inventory and reclaim after the landing.
Cheap and relatively easy to install. After all, who has more
experience with a Louisville slugger than an American passenger? How
about giving the passengers a chance if a revolt is necessary. Send
the marshals home and save the money. Forget the high-tech solutions,
this is not a high tech problem. I know it sounds radical at first but
think about it a while.
From: Jay Ackroyd jayac@dbsinyc.com
Subject: Arming Pilots
All well said, but you've left something out, which applies to both
marshals and pilots. Once you get a gun on a plane, the exploit turns
into getting the gun from the guy who has it, and using it to take the
plane over. Remember that we have to assume terrorists work in teams
of four or five who don't mind dying. The first part of the exploit is
to identify who is armed and where the gun is, which only requires the
sacrifice of one of the team's members. That knowledge can then be
used as part of predesigned plans for getting the gun.
As you say in that very interesting Atlantic article, flight attendants
and passengers cooperating to prevent a hijacking is our most effective
measure for preventing the use of planes as missiles. Guns on planes
don't enhance that measure, and may weaken it.
From: Michael Ortega-Binderberger miki@ics.uci.edu
Subject: Arming Pilots
A complicating factor that you skipped involves other countries. I'm
an international student in the U.S. I'm from Mexico, and can tell you
that guns are a big no-no over there. Likewise, many countries would
not let American pilots carry guns when traveling there (even if they
did, it would be problematic). Likewise, many foreign airlines will
not arm their pilots, even on flights to the U.S. The net result is if
it were easy to see which airplanes on which routes were "armed" and
which were not, that itself would provide a wide-open door for abuse.
From: "Nicholas C. Weaver" nweaver@CS.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Arming Pilots
There are now many new features in place which prevent hijackings
(notably, passengers willing to maim any potential terrorist, among
other factors). There are NO more new features in place to prevent a
rogue pilot from crashing the plane, as appeared to happen in the case
of Egypt Air.
A gun in the cockpit would probably make the latter attack easier, as
the rogue pilot with the gun shoots his counterparts then crashes the
plane, instead of having to fight off the rest of the cockpit crew.
From: Niels Ferguson niels@ferguson.net
Subject: Palladium
Microsoft claims lots of benefits for Pd, some of which are to allow
Digital Rights Management (DRM). However, most of the benefits can
already be achieved by existing hardware. All Intel CPUs since the 286
have had very good hardware separation between tasks. It is only
Microsoft's choice not to use this feature that has led to a single
hunk of inter-dependent code.
Intel CPUs can protect one program from the other. You can create
secure device drivers which can no longer crash you computer. But, the
basic operating system will always have full control of the
computer. So you can protect programs from each other, and the user
from malicious programs, but the user always maintains complete control
over his machine.
What Pd adds is to take control away from the user. It "allows" the
user to give up part of his control over the machine, and give it to a
program. This is of course required for DRM, but I cannot really think
of any other application. They talked about some things like banking
software, but that is just silly. We have perfectly good cryptography
to handle those threats, and using Pd for banking would be very
dangerous. After all, the Pd chip isn't protected against physical
attacks, so you have to trust the owner of the computer anyway.
There was some misdirection about it not being possible to change the
whole Windows operating system, so Pd is needed to create a kind of
micro-kernel under the OS. This is not true. You can do the same on
Intel hardware; VMware is a good example. Microsoft can achieve the
same security features (except for DRM) using existing hardware and the
same amount of software development effort.
My conclusion: The only reason for Pd is DRM. All the rest is just a
smoke-screen, or stupidity. You can never tell the difference.
From: "Nicholas C. Weaver" nweaver@CS.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Palladium
The portions designed to protect the owner/user of the computer do not
require hardware: they rely on the OS doing proper things with regard
to "alien" code. There is nothing which prevents universal code
signing for source authentication, heavy sandboxing, etc, being imposed
on the current systems. The hardware is necessary to prevent the
debugger-style attacks.
QED: The hardware is designed primarily NOT to benefit the owner/user,
but to limit the owner/user's ability to manipulate the system. Is
this a good thing for most people?
From: Fredrik Viklund fredrikv@biotech.kth.se
Subject: Face Recognition
The failures of face recognition as a means of diagnosing terrorists
made me think of parallels in medical diagnosis where the problems are
similar.
The demands of a diagnostic method are quite different depending on:
* Is it the false positives or the false negatives that have to be avoided
* Is the disease widespread or rare?
* Is the diagnostic tool costly in terms of money or pain for the patient?
For a wide-spread disease (such as the non-lethal parasite ascaris)
where treatment is cheap and relatively painless for the patient, a
cheap and simple diagnostic test is suitable. Low cost and no pain for
the test and treatment means no problem if some false negatives or
false positives appear. Lets say that 50% of the population is
infected. Then, a false positive rate of 2% will largely not influence
the results of treatment costs. A false negative rate of 2% will,
however, cause a lot of people (1% of population) still being around,
spreading the disease.
A rare, lethal disease with painful treatment, on the other hand,
requires a diagnostic tool with very few false positives and
negatives. If only 0.1% of the population has the disease, a false
positive rate of 2% will increase the cost and pain for treatment
20-fold. A false negative rate of 2% will "only" leave 0.002% of
population without treatment and 98% of the infected will be
detected. This is the case parallel to terrorism.
This has a tremendous impact on which methods are suitable for
diagnosing diseases (and terrorists), and I certainly wish that the
people responsible for diagnosing terrorism had studied more
epidemiology before issuing the treatment.
From: Martin Spamer martin_spamer@kingston-comms.co.uk
Subject: License to Hack
In regard of your comments "License to Hack," I would like to point
out that the 'counter attacks' as proposed by RIAA/MPAA would remain
illegal in most other countries.
Indeed, this behaviour would be illegal in the UK under Section 1 of
the "The Computer Misuse Act 1990":
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if: (a) he causes a computer to
perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or
data held in any computer; b) the access he intends to secure is
unauthorised; and (c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer
to perform the function that is the case.
(2) The intent a person has to have to commit an offence under this section
need not be directed at: (a) any particular program or data; (b) a
program or data of any particular kind; or (c) a program or data held
in any particular computer.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on
summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months
or to
a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to both.
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/Ukpga_19900018_en_1.htm
Since this UK legislation is a result of European treaty obligations
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/WhatYouWant.asp?NT=185 , similar
legislation exists [or will do] throughout Europe.
If the U.S. proposals are passed as seem likely, we can look forward to
a reverse of the Dmitri Sklyarov situation with RIAA/MPAA officials
being arrested, jailed, and/or extradited around Europe.
From: "David Banes" dbanes@symantec.com
Subject: License to Hack
Part of the bill reads: "a copyright owner shall not be liable in any
criminal or civil action for disabling, interfering with, blocking,
diverting, or otherwise impairing the unauthorized distribution,
display, performance, or reproduction of his or her copyrighted work on
a publicly accessible peer-to-peer file trading network, if such
impairment does not, without authorization, alter, delete, or otherwise
impair the integrity of any computer file or data residing on the
computer of a file trader."
The last part is key to understanding the bill, as U.S. copyright holders
will trip themselves up if they do in fact release viruses that,
"without authorization, alter, delete, or otherwise impair the
integrity of any computer file or data residing on the computer of a
file trader" because files will be altered (log files etc) and
executables changed if a virus is active.
My understanding of the Bill is that it allows for peer-to-peer
networks to be blocked or disabled at the network level, not the
individual file traders computer level.
From: Marty Levy marty@transmeta.com
Subject: Carnival Booth Snakepaper
Loved the last Crypto-Gram, particularly the description of M$ Pd. I
do, however, take issue with "Carnival Booth," which you described as
"really good work." The work was slightly interesting, but it seemed
to be based on at least one assumption that is seriously flawed, and
which seems to nullify the key conclusions of the paper. This false
assumption is so blatant that I have to suspect that the authors have a
political/social agenda, and I'm disappointed that you seemed to
endorse their work given that it does not stand up to even modest scrutiny.
The authors of the paper make the assumption that by querying CAPS and
thus determining the profile of attackers who are unlikely to be
targeted, the terrorist organization can then instead prefer to use
low-profile attackers. I agree that in a world where the terrorists
truly had a random (or extremely large and diverse) population to draw
from, this technique would be viable. The authors try to bolster the
assumption that such a strategy is viable in Section 3.3 by naming five
recent "terrorists" - Lindh, Reid, Helder, Kaczynski and
McVeigh. Their assertion based on the observation that these five
terrorists exist is that "Terrorists clearly have no shortage of
diversity."
First of all, these five all do share at least one (and probably more)
characteristic in common -- they are all males. I don't have age
statistics handy, but I'll guess that most of them were under 40 when
committing their first terroristic acts.
More importantly, the population that significant terrorist
organizations have to draw from of people willing to be arrested and
possibly die is most likely not all that diverse. Certainly, the 9/11
perpetrators had common characteristics which are also relatively low
occurrence in the general population.
Once the terrorists figure out that older women born in the USA with
non-Arabic names are less likely to be targeted by CAPS than young men
born in the Middle East with Arabic names, how will they put that
information to practical use?
The paper did come near the correct conclusion: Any competent terrorist
now knows that certain traits are more likely to garner attention, and
they will try to use and recruit people who do not have those traits
(or use subterfuge to hide those traits). For this reason, random
inspection should be used, but it should not fully supplant targeted
inspection.
I'm surprised that you didn't point out a major logical fallacy in the
paper: If terrorists can detect that ALL inspections are random, they
could then revert to reliance upon the much larger population at their
disposal (who share particular characteristics). This is a
prototypical issue in counterintelligence, and you should have pointed
it out.
This paper would have been much more useful if the authors tried to
determine how to optimize a mix between targeted and random
inspections. I am hopeful that the FAA has enlisted the help of good
statisticians to do so already.
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
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Please feel free to forward CRYPTO-GRAM to colleagues and friends who
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CRYPTO-GRAM is written by Bruce Schneier. Schneier is founder and CTO
of Counterpane Internet Security Inc., the author of "Secrets and Lies"
and "Applied Cryptography," and an inventor of the Blowfish, Twofish,
and Yarrow algorithms. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the
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Counterpane Internet Security, Inc. is the world leader in Managed
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http://www.counterpane.com/
Copyright (c) 2002 by Counterpane Internet Security, Inc.
From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] Securing a bigger government
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 08:13:57 -0700
Securing a bigger government
Like many a president before him, George W. Bush sees an urgent national problem and offers an interior-decorating solution: adding another chair to the Cabinet table. He proposes to create a federal department to protect the homeland from attack -- which apparently is too much to expect from a Defense Department that is supposed to get $369 billion next year. With 170,000 employees, the new Department of Homeland Security would be large enough to have its own NBA franchise. Bush says this change will yield better coordination, more accountability, greater effectiveness and no increase in expenditures. Somehow I don't think Osama bin Laden is sitting in a cave somewhere fretting that if we create a Department of Homeland Security, he may be in a real pickle. And anytime someone from the government tells you this won't cost anything, you're advised to hold on to your wallet with a pair of vise grips. But let's assume that a new department is justified. Let's assume it will !
!
greatly enhance our safety. And let's assume it won't further balloon the budget deficit. Does that mean we need yet another department in the federal government? ... There's a precedent for making reorganization something other than a euphemism for expanding government. Bush says his plan is modeled on Harry Truman's 1947 National Security Act, which united all the military services in a new Department of Defense. But when Truman created a new Cabinet department, he got rid of two old ones -- the Navy Department and the War Department, both of which had been around for more than 150 years. Bush says we need to bring the DHS into being to "secure our homeland" from ruthless enemies. But it wouldn't hurt to also protect the homeland from too much government.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/stevechapman/sc20020916.shtml
Who's spying on my Hotmail?
With new spyware, even your private Yahoo, Hotmail e-mails can be seen
Think using Yahoo or Hotmail e-mail at work protects you from your boss' prying eyes? Think again. New spy software essentially lets employers or parents co-pilot virtually any kind of e-mail account, including private Web-based e-mail accounts like Yahoo and Hotmail. A new version of eBlaster spyware will secretly forward all e-mail coming and going through such Web-based accounts to a spy's e-mail, allowing anyone to "ride-along" even the supposedly private e-mail. ... eBlaster also works on POP3 accounts, used by many Internet Service Providers, AOL e-mail, and Microsoft Exchange e-mail systems. "It works on virtually any kind of email, except for some of the smaller Web-based e-mail services," Fowler said. ...
http://www.msnbc.com/news/800409.asp?cp1=1
PA: Two troopers charged with stealing from drug dealers
Two Pennsylvania State Police troopers were charged by federal authorities yesterday with stealing money from suspected drug dealers in unrelated incidents.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/4070883.htm
TX: Signs point to more questions
Trespassing placards bought on eve of raid
A Houston police officer paid for "no trespassing" signs with his city credit card the day before a weekend of mass arrest, the city controller confirmed Thursday. ... The caller said Capt. Mark Aguirre ordered Patel to get 50 signs. Patel works in the South Central patrol division where Aguirre served as captain before he was suspended in connect with the arrests. Buying the signs is legal, but posting them on private property is not, because city funds cannot be spent for private use, city officials said. "I don't think the city of Houston should purchase `no trespassing' signs to be placed on anything but city of Houston property," Garcia said. "If they went on private property, I would have concerns, and I think the taxpayers would have concerns." Garcia said her office will continue to look into the matter to determine if there was a violation of city policy or procedure. ...
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1572957
TX: Many arrested in raids still waiting to settle cases
Even though charges have been dropped against people who were arrested in police raids last month, many have appeared in court for bail refunds and proof of their dismissal.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1575578
UK: Civic rights
by David Blunkett, Home Secretary
... Privacy is a right, but as in any democratic society, it is not an absolute right. This is explicit in the European Convention of Human Rights, which permits intervention with an individual's privacy, but only in accordance with the law and where necessary to prevent crime. This right must be balanced with the right to safety and to live freely - the most basic function that every citizen looks to the state to perform. Only the most eccentric privacy campaigners are uncomfortable with the state having the right to tackle terrorists, but I still find it surprising that so many people who consider themselves to be on the left of the political spectrum find themselves instinctively aggressive about the role of the state and insist on their absolute protection against it. Those of us on the centre left must remember that the state can be a positive force, empowering and enabling people to shape their lives, a collective vehicle to achieve progressive change. Often intrusio!
!
n is greatest from the private sector. Only Tory libertarians see the state as an entirely negative influence, constantly intruding on the pure freedoms of the people. It was in opposition to this view that the Labour party was founded, and throughout the 20th century the Tory suspicion of the state inspired their opposition to the major progressive changes such as old age pensions, the NHS and the welfare state. I prefer a positive view of freedom, drawing on another tradition of political thinking that goes all the way back to the ancient Greek polis. According to this tradition, we only become fully free when we share, as active citizens, in the government of the affairs of the community. Our identity as members of a collective political community is a positive thing. Democracy is not just an association of individuals determined to protect the private sphere, but a realm of active freedom in which citizens come together to shape the world around them. We contribute and we !
!
become entitled. ...
[Tyrants - past, present, & future -- agree.]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/bigbrother/privacy/statesurveillance/story/0,12382,790138,00.html
Defeated
A little more than one month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, public enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden, predicted that "freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people - and the West in general - into an unbearable hell and a choking life." How right he was. Neither he nor any other terrorist around the world has had to lift a finger against the emerging totalitarian empire state known as the United States. And, no, this does not refer to the United States of America, although it is the people of the many states that feel the repercussions. You see, Bush and company - including his good buddy fellow war mongers, Cheney and Rumsfeld, a chicken Congress, and a led-by-the-nose judiciary - are taking care of everything that terrorists could have accomplished. Fear within the people, forcibly removing rights, stealing property right and left, creating child stealing and slavery rings, pedophilic rings centered around "for the go!
!
od of the children" falsehoods, removal of freedom of speech, removal of the right to assemble, removal of the right to petition government agents, guarantee of a Republican form of government, guarantee of due process, and so on. The current administration has wiped our, supports the wipe out of, or is in the process of wiping out the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 13th Amendments and most provisions of the Constitution proper. The 2nd Amendment will be the next to fall. ... Thus, Osama bin Laden could have went a bit further. He, nor any terrorist or country, needs to worry about destroying the United States of America. It is, after all, being done for them - by the people paid to serve and protect America. So, all that needs to be done by those who might want to conquer the United States Empire is to wait and pick up the pieces. Many thanks to Bush and company for completing the destruction of the U.S. of A. We are - thanks to such traitorous officials i!
!
n command of thousands of trained military and paramilitary forces - the land of the fee and home on the enslaved. Oh, and not to slight you, thanks to you Bush lovers, the nuts that keep on supporting his tyranny and treasons. The lust for power by the few once again defeats the freedom of the many. ...
http://www.libertyforall.net/2002/archive/sept16/defeated.html
IL: Hotel drug sweep surprises drug treatment experts
Evelyn Boyd-Young, a registered nurse who heads a substance abuse program in a Greenwich, Conn., hospital, is used to dealing with drug issues. But she said she'd never been suspected of potentially dealing drugs - until Friday night, when she said a loud knock on her hotel room door awoke her. It wasn't room service. It was two uniformed cops and a big dog. Boyd-Young, who is staying in an Elk Grove Village hotel with some 60 of her colleagues for a drug treatment training convention, found herself on the wrong end of an increasingly common practice in suburban hotels: unannounced police drug sweeps. Boyd-Young and others at the conference say the practice is ugly and intrusive. The manager of the hotel, Best Western Midway Hotel at Elk Grove, said the practice is necessary to keep the establishment safe, and guest complaints are rare. The Elk Grove police Saturday said little about the incident.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=305&e=4&cid=305&u=/cdh/20020915/lo_cdh/hotel_drug_sweep_surprises_drug_treatment_experts
MI: Owners may not get guns back
None of the 36 guns seized in February at a Sodus Township home were illegal, federal authorities say, but the owners still may not get them back. Because police found less than a half-ounce of marijuana, the U.S. Attorney's Office has launched civil forfeiture proceedings to keep the guns and 28,359 rounds of ammunition, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Delaney said from his Grand Rapids office. He said felony criminal charges could follow if prosecutors conclude the owners lied on gun registration forms when answering standard questions about possible drug use. Tricia Carrie-LaVanway Bauer, who owns the guns with her father, David LaVanway, and her husband, Blaine, said the marijuana possession was a fluke, a one-time occurrence. "Just one time, and they're going to take 36 guns away? C'mon ...," she said. She said that the guns are worth between $25,000 and $30,000 and that authorities seized only 8,000 rounds with bullets. The rest were primers. "Eight-thousand rounds isn!
!
't much when it's divided by (36) guns," she said. All 36 guns were fully registered and were often used in gun safety training, LaVanway Bauer said. The Bauers say they are gun instructors, with certifications from the National Rifle Association and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. LaVanway Bauer said the couple cannot teach gun safety without firearms.
http://heraldpalladium.com/display/inn_news/news2.txt
CA: Campus diversity's new math
California boosts racial mix without affirmative action.
As courts and conservatives chip away at affirmative action, educators seeking to ensure diversity have increasingly turned to new social and economic criteria - from where students live to what language is spoken at home - to decide who goes to which school. ... ut to many Asian-Americans, the diversity index - like comprehensive review - seems specifically designed to limit their numbers in the best schools. Although the program tries to keep students at the nearest school, the diversity index sometimes sends them across town. With many of the best schools located in Asian-American communities, a revolt has risen. A computer glitch worsened the problem, and the local supervisor in San Francisco's heavily Asian Sunset neighborhood threatened to break off from the district entirely. Yet above the din, there are voices of promise. Some 94 percent of children were placed at one of the schools their parents listed as a preference, and the index "is doing what it is saying it !
!
will do," says Sandra Halladey of the local activist group, Parents for Public Schools. It's just weighted too heavily toward diversity, she says, with not enough emphasis on parents' choice.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0916/p01s01-ussc.html
CA: Editorial: Eastin's home-school invasion
California's Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin apparently believes that the thousands of California parents who home-school their children should be given a stark choice: Send their kids to public schools or to state-approved private schools, or face charges and, at worst, maybe even have their children placed in protective custody. Home-schooled students win spelling bees, get accepted to the best universities and generally score well above their public-school counterparts on standardized tests. Nevertheless, Eastin and the state Department of Education believe that home-schooled kids are truants and their parents should be treated as criminals. ... The more people who home-school the less per-capita funding the schools receive, even though home-school parents pay taxes for schools they don't use. The success of low-cost home-schooling is an affront to the poor-performing and overfunded monopoly school system, which follows the centrally planned, totalit!
!
arian model, in which government officials make all the choices, and parents and students must follow along or face punishments. That may be the real reason state educators are so eager to crack down on the home-schooling "menace." Even though only a fraction of the state's children will ever be home-schooled, state education officials cannot tolerate any flower blooming on the barren landscape. "Home schools do a wonderful job. I don't perceive them as a threat to the public school system," said Gloria Matta Tuchman, the Santa Ana school teacher who received 48 percent of the vote in 1998 when she ran against Eastin for state superintendent. Tuchman says it's ironic that Eastin insists that home-school parents have a teaching credential. Tuchman sued Eastin, who lacks a teaching credential, after Eastin called herself a teacher on the ballot. And a large percentage of teachers in California's public school systems are not credentialed. Perhaps those classrooms should be shut !
!
down also. The issue simply is about power. State officials are looking to increase their funds and their control over people who buck the system and who have had it with public schools that indoctrinate children into the prevailing, smelly little orthodoxies. This melee also is an outgrowth of a steady centralization of state power over the education system of the last few years, whereby funding and decisions are made at the state rather than local level. ...
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=2579
CA: Dan Walters: When politicians change election laws, their own interests prevail
When politicians change the rules of elections, it's a fair assumption that they are probably trying to serve their own interests in winning and holding office. There may be exceptions, but none immediately comes to mind. The every-10-years business of redrawing legislative district lines is a case in point. It's a blatantly self-serving process, aimed at tilting the playing field to ensure that particular politicians will win particular seats, reducing competition and voter preference to the absolute minimum. Other instances come to mind, such as periodic changes in voter registration rules, or those governing the viability of minority parties. When it comes to election law changes, nothing happens in a vacuum. That's why one should view skeptically the latest shift in the date of the state's primary elections, which the Legislature enacted last month.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4420950p-5445025c.html
CA: Political parties, agencies reach out to Latinos
A sign at the Placer County Democratic Party booth was printed in Spanish inviting people to register to vote, but none of the volunteers spoke Spanish and all the voter registration cards were printed in English. The booth at the Hispanic Heritage Festival in Roseville attracted few people compared to the one a few feet away belonging to the Republicans. John Madriz, chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Sacramento, was picking up a few voters for his party and handing out campaign statements for Republican candidates, some of which he translated himself into Spanish.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4421345p-5445123c.html
From: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com (unknown)
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] New file uploaded to lpaz-discuss
Date: 16 Sep 2002 00:53:25 -0000
Hello,
This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the lpaz-discuss
group.
File : /GAO Survey Page 1.tif
Uploaded by : auvenj <auvenj@mailcity.com>
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You can access this file at the URL
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lpaz-discuss/files/GAO%20Survey%20Page%201.tif
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Regards,
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From: freemanaz@aol.com (unknown)
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Nonprofit provides care to people without insurance
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 23:06:24 EDT
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/news2.shtml
Nonprofit provides care to people without insurance
BY EMMA JOHNSON
TRIBUNE
As early as 5 a.m. every Thursday, dozens — sometimes hundreds — of the East
Valley’s medically uninsured line up to receive free health care at the
Christ the King Community Center in Mesa.
Those in line include people such as Manuel and Belia Sierra of Mesa. Manuel,
65, suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes; Belia, 62, has high blood
pressure and arthritis.
“The clinic has helped us a lot — thank the Lord,” Belia Sierra said. “It’s
because of this we’re doing well.”
The Sierras are among about 22,000 patients who have sought help at one of
the four free clinics operated in the Valley since 1997 by the nonprofit
Mission of Mercy. The clinics operate partially out of a customized medical
van that contains supplies and equipment.
Each year the lines have grown longer.
And there’s no relief in sight, some observers say, as the sluggish economy
and anticipated cuts to state-funded health care are expected to increase the
number of people seeking free medical help. Experts say they believe the rate
of uninsured has climbed since 2000, when the U.S. Census determined
Arizona’s uninsured rate of 16 percent was the ninth-highest in the nation.
“The state squeezes the programs, but people are still getting those services
at the end of the day — and the public pays,” said Dr. Todd Taylor, vice
president of public affairs for the Arizona College of Emergency Physicians
and a Valley emergency room doctor.
“People are either going without health care or further crowding our
emergency departments.”
The squeeze is being felt by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System,
the state’s health insurance program for the poor. AHCCCS must submit plans
by Sept. 23 to cut administrative spending by 10 percent for this fiscal
year, which began July 1. Gov. Jane Hull mandated such plans from all state
agencies to relieve the budget crisis, which is projected to exceed $1
billion next year.
But AHCCCS already has a low administrative margin, and cuts will compromise
services, spokesman Frank Lopez said.
“You can only cut so much from administration,” Lopez said. “We’re going to
go below the bone.”
Meanwhile, AHCCCS is planning to ask next month for a $5 million supplement
to its $687 million budget because of an increase in its enrollment, and next
year plans to ask for $126 million more than this year’s budget, a lawmaker
said.
But Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe, chairwoman of the House Appropriations
Committee, said AHCCCS will have to do without that $5 million and likely
won’t get the request for next year, either. AHCCCS can cut costs by
eliminating programs that are not federally mandated — or getting federal
permission to get around those mandates, she said.
“In a budget crisis you have to change the mode of business you do,” Knaperek
said.
Lopez said the extra money is needed to accommodate projected layoffs. The
Arizona Department of Economic Security estimates a loss of nearly 21,000
jobs by the end of this year.
“That’s the vice the state gets caught in,” Lopez said. “When the economy
goes south, our business goes north. And that means our expenses go up.”
And when uninsured rates go north, people’s health goes south.
Valley emergency room physician and Mission of Mercy medical director Dr.
Bill Schneider said he’s seen firsthand the correlation between health
insurance and health. For years he’s watched uninsured patients rushed to the
ER with heart attacks, high blood pressure or complications from diabetes —
costly conditions that could have been prevented if the patients had had
health care. He decided to do something about it.
“The problem I was seeing in the emergency room was that we were seeing so
many patients come in with serious problems that could have been prevented,”
Schneider said. “I had these ideas of reaching people in the community before
they reached me.”
That is the premise behind Mission of Mercy: Offer free medical care for the
uninsured and relieve the burden that the uninsured place on the health care
system.
But the cost of being uninsured goes beyond those patients and hospitals.
A 2002 study by the Institute of Medicine found that uninsured patients with
colon or breast cancer face up to a 50 percent greater chance of dying from
the disease than patients with private coverage, and those who go uninsured
for only a year appear to be less healthy than those who are insured
continuously.
Instead of receiving regular preventive care, the uninsured wait until
controllable illnesses become life-threatening and head to emergency rooms.
Federal mandates prohibit emergency rooms from turning anyone away. When
people cannot pay the bill, the hospital eats the cost, passing losses on to
paying patients, and adding to the overcrowding and long waits for all
patients.
Uncompensated care costs Arizona hospitals $500 million each year, according
to the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.
To help curb this problem in Arizona, voter-mandated Proposition 204 went
into effect in July 2001, broadening AHCCCS eligibility. Since then, 213,000
more people have enrolled in the insurance program.
But many people still don’t qualify because they don’t meet financial
criteria or because they are illegal residents. And budget cuts threaten to
shrink the number of people currently eligible, Taylor said.
Meanwhile, Mission of Mercy is booming. The mission’s busiest location, in
Mesa, had 3,015 visits in the first six months of the year. Volunteer nurses,
doctors and staff members manage to see as many as 180 people in a single day.
On a recent Thursday, Manuel and Belia Sierra lined up at 6 a.m. and were
patients No. 13 and 14 at the Mesa clinic.
Every two weeks they attend the clinic, where Manuel receives blood pressure
and diabetes medication and gets a checkup. Belia also needs medications and
checkups for high blood pressure and arthritis. Her knuckles ache from years
of making and selling tortillas in Sonora, Mexico, she said.
The couple learned the importance of preventive care in April when Manuel’s
high blood pressure landed him in the emergency room, where the couple waited
hours to get care. Five days later Manuel was discharged with a $15,000 bill.
AHCCCS picked up the bill. But now only Manuel is covered for emergency care.
Any routine medical care — doctor visits, prescriptions — the couple would
have to pay for out of pocket. Belia laughs when asked if she can afford
those services.
— Tribune writer Emma Johnson can be reached by e-mail at ejohnson@aztrib.com
or by calling (480) 898-6373.
From: isher@SPRYNET.COM (Dean Weingarten)
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
Subject: Canadian data sharing. Instant check?
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 19:01:58 -0700
http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/homeland/19943-1.html
<http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/homeland/19943-1.html>
The above link is to an article about Canadian and U.S. cooperation. I
wonder if the records being sent to the RCMP include the latest 24 hrs of
instant check data. I have had more than one person say that they were
subjected to more than an ordinary search at the border, and that they
thought it was because their was a database that identified them as gun
owners. The below paragraph is the last sentence in the article.
"Additionally, the two countries agreed to share passenger information and
records concerning high-risk travelers. The data-sharing program will begin
next spring. Meanwhile, the FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police will
implement a system for exchanging criminal records. "
Anyone have any ideas on how to find out? Ashcroft told the FBI they could
only keep the data for 24 hours. Maybe we could get him on record saying
that this information will not be turned over to the Canadians. Thoughts??
When you disarm your subjects, however, you offend them by showing that
either from cowardliness or lack of faith, you distrust them; and either
conclusion will induce them to hate you. Niccolo Machiavelli "The Prince"
From: sherry01@covad.net ("Sherry Bohlen")
To: aapjannouncements@yahoogroups.com ("aapjannouncements")
Subject: [aapjannouncements] Saturday Evening Pot-Luck
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 13:02:47 -0700
Please join the AAPJ community in hosting a Saturday evening pot-luck for t=
he AAPJ'ers and the out-of-towners who are participating in the Nonviolent =
Direct Action Training this week-end.
The pot-luck is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, September 21, at =
the Friends Meeting House in Tempe (318 E. 15th St.). AAPJ community membe=
rs are encouraged to come with a pot-luck dish to share with those particip=
ating in the training. We have a large garden salad and a big pot of beans=
already committed! (Plates, utensils, cups and drinks will be provided).
We have invited elders from the activist community to join us to share thei=
r experiences and stories.=20=20
Please come and share the camaraderie of fellow activists and support our o=
ut-of-town guests. Please email us at sherry@oraclearchitecture.com and le=
t us know if you'll be coming and what you will be bringing.=20=20
Thanks for helping to make our out-of-town guests feel at home!
in peace
sherry bohlen
learn these tools to build websites
front page - microsoft
dream weaver
fund raising
http://www.freeglendale.com
paypal examples
http://www.spidel.net
at bottom is a spining icon. use it for
fund raising examples
http://aizrizona.org/aigear
they sell t-shirts. examples on how to
sell stuff
http://cafepress.com
you upload images and they sell t-shirts,
frisbees and other stuff that they print
the image on. you set your prices and they
give you the difference over the wholesale
princ they charge
http://globalexchange.com
same thing
look for fair trade
amy told me about this one
supreme court death penalty case.
RING V. ARIZONA
this supreme court case makes the
death penalty in arizona unconstitutional
look up and put on web page
lists email addresses of letters to th editor
http://www.50states.com/news/arizona.htm
http://www.50states.com
http://www.azcentral.com/help/contact.html
AI
http://aiarizona.org
http://aiusa.org
http://amnestyarizona.org
http://amnestyusa.org
http://www.west.asu.edu/asasu/clubs/amnesty
Bill to eliminate the Fed introduced
Rep. Paul: Legislation seeks to 'restore financial stability' to U.S.
A Republican lawmaker has introduced legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve as a way to "restore financial stability" to the country and re-establish the once-used gold standard. "Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, middle and working-class Americans have been victimized by a boom-and-bust monetary policy," said Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, in a speech to colleagues on the House floor. "In addition, most Americans have suffered a steadily eroding purchasing power because of the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies. This represents a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the American people," he said last week while introducing the bill. The Texas Republican went on to blame each economic downturn from the Great Depression of the 1930s to 2001's "dot-com bubble" on Fed policies. "The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and an artificial 'boom' followed by a recession or depression when the !
!
Fed-created bubble bursts," said Paul. On the gold standard, however, which the congressman described as "stable currency," U.S. "exporters will no longer be held hostage to an erratic monetary policy. "Stabilizing the currency will also give Americans new incentives to save as they will no longer have to fear inflation eroding their savings," he added.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28964
Eco-Terror Ties Put PETA Funding at Risk
Eco-terrorists blamed for a Vail ski resort building fire and other extremist acts of violence are getting their money from a variety of places, including PETA, prompting two activist groups to seek an end to the animal rights group's tax-exempt status. ... PETA payouts to radicals willing to carry out such crimes include: ...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63246,00.html
Dirty Dealings Kill Men's Panel
On May 18 of this year, New Hampshire established the first state-level commission on the status of men in the United States. Nearly every state has a commission on women; the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Men was to be a unique, perhaps precedent-setting panel. The apparent sabotage of the commission, however, offers a harsh lesson in strategy. It reveals the behind-the-scenes maneuvering at which the Left unfortunately excels. There are two ways to impose a political agenda. First, by determining the text of laws or policies. This is a relatively open process. The commission on men was legally established as a result of years of public debate that led to an equally public procedure: a legislative act. Those who spoke for men's rights won the debate fairly. The result: a commission "to address issues of cultural bias and stereotyping." Rep. David Bickford, R-Strafford, who championed the commission for five years, expressed particular concern over fatherlessne!
!
ss and anti-male bias in education. ... The second way to impose a political agenda is through the application of the law. For example, laws can be applied selectively to favor a category of people, such as women. Or the intention of the law can be killed by bureaucratic impediments. This happens largely behind closed doors. The commission on men may well die on the vine from being stacked with members who are antagonistic to, or ignorant of, men's issues.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63247,00.html
MN: Smoking ban debate heats up in Eden Prairie
One of Eden Prairie's largest private employers has threatened to relocate many of its 600 jobs if the city passes a novel antismoking ordinance, joining a growing number of businesses rebelling against the proposal. Douglas Corp., a manufacturer of car logo emblems and other product-identification items, joins metallic balloon manufacturer Anagram International and other businesses and business groups lining up against a proposal, the first in the state that would ban smoking in industrial businesses as well as bars and restaurants.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/3236234.html
Non-teachers suggested for U.S. shortage
Secretary of Education Rod Paige says a shortage of public school teachers could be ended if states put qualified non-teachers in classrooms, but he says the National Education Association, the biggest teachers union, is standing in the way. "There are still some guardians of mediocrity out there fighting to keep the status quo," Paige said Monday in an interview with USA TODAY and Gannett News Service reporters. "I have been very troubled by the positions the NEA has taken and in general consider them to be guardians of the status quo." ... NEA President Reg Weaver rejects Paige's claim. "My message is not about protecting the status quo," he says. "My message is about making sure that all children have access to a quality school. ... A qualified teacher in every classroom, from my perspective, doesn't mean that you open up the profession to allow any and everybody to come in."
[NEA's definition of qualified is one who pays full union dues, toes the NEA line, and programed with a NEA approved curriculumn.]
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2002-09-16-education_x.htm
Brainwashing 101
First of all, let's get this out of the way in the first paragraph. They are not "public schools." They are government schools. They are owned and operated by government. Every employee, from the superintendent to the dishwasher in the cafeteria, is a government employee. So, let's call them what they are. Government schools. Being government employees, you would expect those who work in government schools to have the same behavioral characteristics as other government employees. You would be right. They react to the threat of privatization with the ferocity of a cornered bobcat and to the threat of accountability with the evasiveness of cockroaches. The truth, though, is that these are not so much schools as they are indoctrination centers. If your child is attending a Catholic school, you should expect that your child would be taught that the Catholics pretty well have this religion thing down cold. Ditto for a Jewish school, or one operated by a Christian fundamentalist!
!
church. Question: Will a government school be any different? Why would you expect a government employee in a government institution to tell your children that government is not necessarily the answer to every problem or critter that goes bump in the night? The new school year has been underway for several weeks now. Maybe it's time to give you a hint of what your child has been through.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28957
CA: Dan Walters: Pressed by enrollment and politics, state is killing vocational ed
... The imminent demise of vocational education is still another example of political shortsightedness. What happened at Hiram Johnson is happening throughout California. Beset by enrollment-driven demands for classroom space and political pressure to meet tougher academic standards, local school officials are whacking metalworking, auto mechanics, woodworking and other vocational instruction. And we are letting it happen even though the demand for auto mechanics, carpenters and other craft workers is higher than ever, even though roughly a third of California's teenagers will drop out of high school before graduating, and even though only a tiny percentage of those who do complete high school will obtain four-year college degrees. Most head into the job market. ...
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4435448p-5456584c.html
Elections In America - Assume Crooks Are In Control
Don't blame the poll workers in Florida. The facts, supported by voting machine experts and numerous newspaper articles, have made it clear. Computerized voting machines that were certified by the state of Florida, caused most of the problems in Florida's primary election. In the absence of paper ballots, the damage is now irreversible. This was no accident. It's not new. And Florida is not alone. "The concept is clear, simple, and it works. Computerized voting gives the power of selection, without fear of discovery, to whomever controls the computer," wrote the authors of VoteScam (1992), James & Kenneth Collier (both now deceased). It's a 'must read' book about how elections have been electronically and mechanically rigged in the United States for decades, and with the knowing and sometimes unknowing support of media giants and government officials, including... ironically... Janet Reno.
[Highly recommend reading _VoteScam_.]
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
Property rights battle heats up in rural county
A pickup truck driving along Highway 49 near the Nevada County border last week sported numerous American flags and a bumper sticker declaring: "I love my country, it's the government I'm afraid of." This sentiment has many adherents in the foothills and mountains of rural Nevada County, a local hotbed of the nationwide property rights movement. ... when a new Board of Supervisors started telling people they couldn't build next to streams, on steep slopes or in oak groves, it didn't sit well with those who think such regulations amount to confiscating land without compensation -- something forbidden by the U.S. Constitution. ... Property rights advocates now are taking their battle to the voters. They qualified an initiative for the November ballot, Measure D, that would require the county to establish a process through which landowners could go to court and ask for compensation if a county regulation restricted use of their property. The measure applies only to the uninco!
!
rporated area, not incorporated entities such as Grass Valley, Nevada City and Truckee. "What we're saying is that if people can come along and zone us out of the use of our property, then someone should pay for it," said Norm Sayler, owner of Donner Ski Ranch near Lake Tahoe. "The green people, the tree people; everybody is trying to put demands on your property," Sayler complained. ...
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4435445p-5456585c.html
CA: The stealth utility land grab
Bad laws tend to get passed when Congress nears adjournment. This year is no different. California energy interests are trying to sneak a provision into pending legislation allowing the seizure of hundreds of homes and businesses for new transmission lines even though empty government land sits available just a few miles away. ... One of the most egregious assaults on the public is the attempt by a California utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy Corporation, to use the government's eminent domain power to take some 31 miles of private land near the cities of Murrieta and Temecula in the Golden State. Nearly 100,000 residents in Riverside County would be harmed. ... SDG&E wants to run the line through a heavily populated section of Riverside County, requiring the condemnation of 100 homes, three schools, and a number of small businesses. The project also would disrupt a new housing development of 461 homes and affect a dozen wineries. Moreover, t!
!
he line would run through historically significant Native American lands and environmentally fragile areas of the Aqua Tibia Wilderness. Finally, SDG&E would foreclose use of some of Southern California's most desirable undeveloped land. In fact, the plan was developed more than a decade ago, before enormous population growth throughout the proposed corridor. The condemnations alone "would increase the cost dramatically" beyond the projected $350 million, warns one federal official. ... Backed by other congressmen from the area, Rep. Issa supports the transmission line, but not SDG&E's route. He has proposed an alternate path, through Cleveland National Forest to the west. It would dramatically reduce the hardship on local residents, with 97 percent of the transmission line being placed on uninhabited federal lands. ... Eminent domain should never be a first resort, especially when there are obvious alternatives, as in this case. Special interests have long proved ready to sac!
!
rifice private landowners whenever convenient. As would SDG&E in its drive to run a new transmission line through neighborhoods and communities in Southern California. But just as the courts have finally rediscovered constitutional safeguards to property ownership, so should Congress. There's no excuse for seizing private homes when the government could use nearby forest land that is supposed to benefit the public.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dougbandow/db20020917.shtml
NJ: Four New Jersey school districts testing for drug residue
Four New Jersey school districts have been conducting drug residue tests at some of their schools for several months, but one has discontinued the practice because it found the testing kits to be unreliable. The Toms River Regional and Southern Regional districts in Ocean County began testing in January without notifying the public. The tests also were implemented in the East Windsor Regional and Mercer County Vocational districts, and also are used in other states. The testing is part of a federally funded pilot program that examines the effectiveness of the kits -- long used by law enforcement agencies -- within a school setting. At a cost of less than $1 each, the kit almost instantaneously detects trace amounts of marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine on a variety of surfaces.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?j0114_BC_NJ--DrugTesting-Schoo&&news&newsflash-newjersey
Australia: 'Huge increase' in phone taps
... elease of figures by the Federal Opposition which showed Australia's rate of phone interception was 20 times higher than in the US. ... The statistics did not include telephone bugs used by ASIO and the Defence Signals Directorate, ...
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5105840%255E1702,00.html
Geoff Metcalf: Hidden threats -- Part I
For several years now I have been getting all sorts of wild reports about "Government Internment Camps." I have generally dismissed these rumblings as classic right-wing paranoia, extrapolation of facts not yet in evidence, or creative writing. However, recently, additional information has been revealed which lends credibility to the myriad concerns which have been expressed. Hey, even paranoids get chased. The U.S. Army director of resource management has confirmed the validity of a memorandum relating to the establishment of a civilian inmate labor program under development by the Department of Army. The document states, "Enclosed for your review and comment is the draft Army regulation on civilian inmate labor utilization" and the procedure to "establish civilian prison camps on installations." Civilian internment camps or prison camps, often referred to as concentration camps, have been the subject of much rumor and speculation during the past several years in this cou!
!
ntry. Various publications, Internet threads and some radio talk programs have focused on the issue. However, I found it significant when Rep. Henry Gonzalez, D-TX, clarified the question of the existence of these civilian detention camps. In an interview Hank said, "the truth is yes -- you do have these standby provisions, and the plans are here ... whereby you could, in the name of stopping terrorism ... evoke the military and arrest Americans and put them in detention camps."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=19492
Pre-Emptive Self Defense (Just Don't Call It War)
Gonna kick Saddam's butt. Gonna root out terrorists. Gonna make the world safe for democracy. Whoa, you say. Starting a war is illegal under both the UN Charter and the US Constitution? No problem. We just call it self defense! Yeah, that's it! We're just defending ourselves. Don't need to bother with them pesky congresscritters, either.
http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=3968
Living the outlaw life: Are you ready for liberty in your lifetime?
By Claire Wolfe
... But if you knew of an intelligent plan to restore liberty in one state, would you take the risk, relocate there, and help make the dream a reality? If so, the Free State Project wants you. ... The Free State Project (FSP) aims to get 20,000 freedom activists to move to a single state in a short period of time. The plan: to use political clout to reduce the scope and impact of government by at least two thirds. To read the details of how a mere 20,000 individuals (that's 20,000 activists, remember) could take over a state government, read "What Can 20,000 Liberty Activists Accomplish?" by the project's founder, Yale Ph.D. candidate in political science, Jason P. Sorens. You'll find it on the FSP Web site at http://www.freestateproject.org/strategies.htm. But the rationale behind the Free State Project is simple: Trying to get Washington, D.C. to move toward freedom is a loser. The government gets bigger and more controlling whether the people in office call themselves!
!
Republicans, Democrats, or Little Green Men from Mars. Joseph P. Littlejohn, FSP board member and designer of the project's porcupine logo, puts it well: "With the majority of the U.S. population now 'dumbed down' and dependent on some form of public subsidy, movements like the FSP may be the best hope for liberty." ...
http://www.backwoodshome.com/columns/wolfe0207.html
NH: Fernald: choice is income tax or higher property taxes
... Fernald, 43, is betting voters are ready to swap an income tax for property tax relief. ... A state senator from Sharon, Fernald has been campaigning for an income tax for four years to make the tax structure fairer. He co-sponsored the income tax bill that passed the House and Senate in different versions in 1999 before it died.
[How about less gov't spending?]
http://www4.fosters.com/news2002/sept_02/sept15_02/news/nh0915a.asp
See the discussion of this very important Guardian Unlimited article at
http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=3D&Board=3Dnews_constitution&Nu=
mber=3D219489
Leon
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thursday September 5, 2002 4:50 PM
Some of the fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights by the Bush=
administration and the USA Patriot Act following the terror attacks:
- FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political=
institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror=
investigation.
- FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-public immigration=
hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and=
has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records requests.
- FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any=
other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed=
information related to a terror investigation.
- RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison=
jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to=
Americans accused of crimes.
- FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize=
Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror=
investigation.
- RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans=
indefinitely without a trial.
- RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being=
able to confront witnesses against them.
From the Associated Press
Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
From: editor@telecom-digest.org (unknown)
To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu
Subject: [telecom] TELECOM Digest V22 #36
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 20:58:26 -0400 (EDT)
TELECOM Digest Fri, 13 Sep 2002 20:59:00 EDT Volume 22 : Issue 36
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
ATT System 85 Telephone System and Phones Available (Mark)
Is This A Sprint Scam and What do I do About It? (Al Dykes)
Cordless Phone: No Sound From Earpiece Speaker (Nataraj Dasgupta)
Routing "Unknown Number" & LD Calls to Voice Mail/Ans Machine (PapaBear)
Re: Straight or Twisted Telephone Cables (kadokev@chicagotribune.com)
Telephone Directories on the Web (Robert Hoare) (Jeff S. Pickett)
News Headlines of Interest (Monty Solomon)
Avaya Cajun 880 (jabriol)
Re: Looking For Prepaid Billing Softeware & IP Minutes (Joy Telecom)
Re: And Now For Something Completely Different (Barry Margolin)
Re: And Now For Something Completely Different (Ed Ellers)
Re: FA: Turn Your Answering Machine Into a TeleZapper!! (John Higdon)
Re: Dealing With SWB Business Office (Carl Moore)
Re: How Can Someone Receive a Call From 555-XXXX? (Richard Haendel)
Last Laugh! was Re: Know Your Alpha Bravo Charlies (David Wolff)
All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the
individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other
journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest
are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email
address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to
an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the
recipients of the email. WE DO NOT PERMIT NAME/EMAIL ADDRESS
HARVESTING FROM THIS JOURNAL. 'SALTED' EMAIL ADDRESSES APPEAR
HEREIN TO VERIFY THIS. YOU GET SUED IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT IF YOU
GET CAUGHT SPAMMING OR SENDING VIRUSES. DON'T DO IT.
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mark@beethoven.com (Mark)
Subject: ATT System 85 Telephone System and Phones Available
Date: 12 Sep 2002 05:33:48 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com/
The City of Fort Lauderdale will be auctioning its System 85 switch,
remote and many telephones. For detailed information go to the City's
Web site at www.ci.fort-lauderdale.fl.us and visit the purchasing
department's page or contact me directly.
------------------------------
From: adykes@panix.com (Al Dykes)
Subject: Is This A Sprint Scam and What do I do About It?
Date: 12 Sep 2002 11:42:02 -0400
Organization: PANIX -- Public Access Networks Corp.
I just got a smail mailing from Sprint thanking me for selecting
Sprint PCS service with all the account number, start date, monthly
cost and everything. I got a second letter asking me to authorize a
credit check.
I HAVE NEVER TALKED TO SPRINT AND AM VERY AWARE
OF EVERYTHING I SIGN, AND SAY YES (OR NO TO).
I never asked for this and I am not happy to see it. I can't figure
out what to do about it.
(FWIW I'm in New York City, have one old verizon POTS line in the
house and am a happy Voicestream wireless customer. )
Any suggestions.
Al Dykes
adykes@panix.com
------------------------------
From: ndasgupt@bridgeport.edu (Nataraj Dasgupta)
Subject: Cordless Phone: No Sound From Earpiece Speaker
Date: 12 Sep 2002 09:06:01 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com/
Hi all,
Writing in as a last resort to find out how I can fix this phone. It's
a Panasonic Cordless Speakerphone with both a base and handset dialing
keypad. Has been working great until yesterday, when the handset fell
and hit hard on the ground. When I press the 'TALK' button on the
handset, all the LEDs on the phone light up as if it's working, I can
even dial a number on the handset and turn on the speakerphone and
it'll be working fine -- all the features on the handset works
absolutely ok except the sound from the earpiece. There is NO dialtone
on the earpiece. The mouthpiece works great too -- I put the handset
on intercom, and you can hear anything you say over the mouthpiece
over the base speaker.
I opened the handset unit, and there are absolutely no broken parts,
the LEDs light up fine, even the handset on-screen display works
great, you can program and all -- just as if nothing happened, but
there wouldn't be 'any' noise from the earpiece unit.
Seems unfair to junk this phone just because the earpiece speaker part
isn't working -- and every last programmable options, dialing, etc
works fine, plus cost about a couple of hundred bucks.
Any suggestions will be most helpful,
Thanks in advance,
Nataraj Dasgupta.
------------------------------
From: PapaBear
Subject: Routing "Unknown Number" & LD to Voice Mail/Answering Machine?
Organization: WEBUSENET.com
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 17:28:44 -0400
I would like to have an answering machine answer all "Unknown Number",
"Private Number" and long distance calls. Is there any PC software
that would do this? Thanks.
------------------------------
From: kadokev@chicagotribune.com
Subject: Re: Straight or Twisted Telephone Cables
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 23:10:55 UTC
In article ,
Tom Schmidt wrote:
> xeondavis wrote in message
> news:telecom22.31.1@telecom-digest.org:
>> I have a basic question. I was just setting up the telephone system
>> for my friend's office, and I discovered that almost all RJ11
>> telephone cables were wired twisted, not straight-thru. I know for
>> CAT5 (RJ45), you can have a straight-thru or cross-over cable. But for
>> telephone cables, why didn't they use a straight-thru cable? Any pros
>> or cons?
> Straight-thru vs crossover refers to something else. TIA 568 Category
> rated cable is optimized for one-to-one wiring. That means the same
> wire uses the same connector pin all the way through the network.
Actually, telephone RJ11 cables are not "crossover" and are not twisted
pair.
They are usually flat straight (parallel, not twisted pair) cables, with
the end connections wired as "rollover":
1 ==================== 4
2 ==================== 3
3 ==================== 2
4 ==================== 1
There is no CAT5 equivalent to a rollover cable, as "rolling" the cable
violates the TIA 568 spec. Cisco does ship a pale blue flat "rollover"
cable with RJ45 ends for use with the serial console connection on
their equipment, but this cable is not CAT5, and only carries RS-232 signals.
Kevin Kadow
------------------------------
From: Jeff S. Pickett
Subject: Telephone Directories on the Web (Robert Hoare)
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 23:00:42 -0700
The link for: "Telephone Directories on the Web (Robert Hoare) in the
"Other Links" section on your website has changed from
www.contractjobs.com to http://www.teldir.com/
Jeff S. Pickett
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I will change this entry sometime soon
and readers may also wish to make note of the new address/location.
PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 17:08:56 -0400
From: Monty Solomon
Subject: News Headlines of Interest 9/13/02
Posted on Wed, Sep. 11, 2002
Details of new Comcast deal demanded
By Akweli Parker
Inquirer Staff Writer
Consumer advocates and at least one large Internet provider, fearing
Comcast Corp.'s growing influence over the Internet, are demanding
that the Philadelphia-based company divulge details of a complex
agreement it reached last month with AT&T Corp. and AOL Time Warner
Inc.
The Federal Communications Commission has made public reams of
documents related to Comcast's pending $53.1 billion purchase of
AT&T's cable division, AT&T Broadband. But Comcast so far has kept
secret parts of last month's related three-way deal with AT&T and AOL
Time Warner.
The consumer advocates are up in arms because they say the agreement
could shut competitors out of the high-speed Internet market,
reducing consumers' choices, and limiting Internet content. And they
say it shows the kind of anticompetitive muscle Comcast could flex
once it buys AT&T Broadband and becomes the undisputed king of cable,
with 22 million subscribers nationwide.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/4046780.htm
Where art thou Stuckists? Intel reveals share denial PC scheme
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 11/09/2002 at 09:02 GMT
It was a schizophrenic Intel that faced the world at its Developer
Conference in San Jose yesterday. In the morning keynote it touted
its new multimedia "adaptor" platform, with glossy lifestyle videos
explaining how our "digital media experience" would become "more
convenient".
In the afternoon it explained why it was embedding digital
certificates into the hardware - and a spokesman from VeriSign Inc.,
which is partnering with Intel in this great adventure, could hardly
believe his luck.
On Thursday, when most of the press will have departed, it will host
a session discussing a variety of share-denial technologies being
funded by, or developed in, Intel's labs. These include our old
favorite CPRM - incorporated into DVD-Audio players from Panasonic
(DMR-E20) and Pioneer (DVR-3000) - along with DTCP (Digital
Transmission Content Protection, which encrypts air to ground, or
cable transmissions over FireWire) and HDCP (High Bandwith Digital
Content Protection), which encrypts the display transmissions from
your computer to your monitor.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27065.html
------------------------------
From: jabriol@navegalia.com (jabriol)
Subject: Avaya Cajun 880
Date: 13 Sep 2002 09:52:02 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com/
All,
I've been working with the following equipment, The Avaya P/880
multiservice switch. And what I have been trying to do is have the
supervisor board test the ports of my module boards. Any ideas or
suggestions?
I know I can do this with software. But I also know that software is
not accurate with a hardware failure. Therefore What I normally do,
is set up my PC NIC card and ping each port to locate any problems . I
have no problem when I check for problems with stack switches like the
cajun P3XXX series.
------------------------------
From: Joy Telecom
Subject: Re: Looking For Prepaid Billing Software & IP Minutes
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 14:06:58 -0300
Organization: Bell Sympatico
Let me know if you can provide or help.
Best regards,
Mahbub Hussain
Joy Telecom Canada Ltd.
881 Jane Street #204 A (Jane Park Plaza)
Toronto,Ontario
M6N 4Y8/Canada
Tel:416-762-0094 Fax:416-762-9586
E-mail: mahbub@on.aibn.com or joytelecom@msn.com
------------------------------
From: Barry Margolin
Subject: Re: And Now For Something Completely Different
Organization: Genuity, Woburn, MA
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 19:33:13 GMT
In article , Joey Lindstrom
wrote:
> I've seen several worthwhile things advertised in spam. Lately it's
> Norton Systemworks - ok, some of you might not like it but a lot of
> people do, and it's hard to argue that it's not a "legitimate" product
> (as opposed to the make money fast, viagra, and Nigerian scam emails
> that litter our inboxes). But regardless of how worthwhile the
> product, be it Norton Systemworks or educational courses, the fact
> remains: it's spam. We didn't ask for it, it's commercial, and it's
> email.
This is strictly true. However, if UCE were of the quality and
quantity of advertising that's sent by bulk snail mail e.g. catalogs),
I suspect that it wouldn't be considered a serious problem. People
are most bothered by the facts that they get so much of it (so it's
hard to ignore) and it's almost all advertising stuff that's either
illegal, immoral, or just utter crap. If I got 1 or 2 spams a day and
they were mostly for worthwhile things, I'd consider it analogous to
TV commercials -- it would be nice if they didn't interrupt the real
programs, but they're not so bad that they need to be outlawed.
Barry Margolin, barmar@genuity.net
Genuity, Woburn, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume
it wasn't posted to the group.
------------------------------
From: Ed Ellers
Subject: Re: And Now For Something Completely Different
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 17:10:37 -0400
Joey Lindstrom wrote:
> BTW, for what it's worth, I've sent several copies of these Norton
> Systemworks spams to the good folks at Symantec, informing them of what's
> going on and suggesting they crack down on the sellers. I haven't had so
> much as an acknowledgement, never mind a thank-you, and the spams keep
> coming. Given Symantec's silence, I am left with no choice but to assume
> Symantec is either in league with the spammers or has at least given them
> their tacit approval.
Or, alternatively, the spammers have bought SystemWorks from
distributors (as retail stores do), leaving Symantec no way to control
how they advertise the product. (Of course, some of the spammers
could be selling pirate copies, too.)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Let's address Joey's comment 'Given
Symantec's silence, I am left with no choice ....' the dear folks at
Proctor and Gamble are not and never have been involved in devil
worship, despite the sun and moon symbols on their packages. Despite
that, P&G thinks enough of popular opinion that they spend almost a
million dollars each year sending out hundreds of thousands of denial
letters (paying for postage and the staff to address the letters) to
the folks (mostly very ignorant unsophisticated Christians) who write
them all the time to complain about their 'devil worship'. Symantec/
Norton is quite well esteemed; you would *think* they might answer a
letter from Joey explaining the truth on this matter (no control over
pirates and spammers, etc).
The same people, no doubt who flood P&G with complaints about their
'devil worship' are probably the same poor misguided fools who also
keep the FCC busy all the time answering the false claims that the
late Madalyn Murray O'hare is petitioning the FCC to revoke all
religious broadcasters' licenses. The poor things don't even know she
has been dead for several years and never tried to do that anyway, so
they keep writing and the FCC keeps answering; many thousands of
letters every year. You'd think Symantec/Norton might do the same. Or
at least put a few general announcements about the topic in well-placed
newsgroups. Maybe Joey is right; his choices are getting few and far
between. I know I feel about the same way with regards agents/resellers
of DISH network who constantly pound on my email box with fantastic
offers for 'new' subscribers without bothering to check any sort of
master list to sort out existing subscribers. PAT]
------------------------------
From: John Higdon
Subject: Re: FA: Turn Your Answering Machine Into a TeleZapper!!
Organization: Green Hills and Cows
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 12:47:46 -0700
In article , Karla
wrote:
> You can also find these tones all over the net, as well as their
> specifications. Just search for < sit tones >. Good sound quality
> helps, but most likely it will be limited by a typical answering
> machine's (lack of) fidelity anyway. Unfortunately, it seems that
> telemarketers are beginning to disregard these tones, so their
> lifetime of usefulness may be limited. Hope this helps!
The predictive dialers that I have written lately ignore SIT after
supervision. If the call supervises, it completely successfully. After
supervision, the only thing the dialer cares about is voice pattern
processing ("hello?") or DTMF detection.
So if you can figure out a way to play SIT over your phone for an
incoming call without actually answering the call, you MIGHT be able to
fool one of my systems.
In any event, audio quality is irrelevant on SIT. What matters is the
cadence of the tones, not the precise frequency or the quality.
John Higdon | Email Address Valid | SF: +1 415 428-COWS
+1 408 264 4115 | Anytown, USA | FAX: +1 408 264 4407
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 16:01:10 EDT
From: Carl Moore
Subject: Re: Dealing With SWB Business Office
TELECOM Digest Editor noted:
> My mother said it first: "I sure liked it a lot when the service rep
> (all one of them - PAT) was there in the telephone exchange building
> on Maple and 6th Street downtown. You could get in and out of there
> in a hurry, and you always got things done correctly the first
> time."
I see further down that that is Junction City, Kansas -- right? (I
was going to ask where the address was.)
In sending this last message to you, I noticed a letter
missing from your email address in the message copy appearing
in the TELECOM Digest (this is in issue 30). I am forwarding
an excerpt of that message with the headers intact; the missing
letter is the "u" at the end of ".edu". Is that done deliberately
to prevent people from "harvesting" the address and sending "spam"
to it?
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No to both your inquiries. I lived
in Junction City for about a year while I had employment designing
some web pages for the Fort Riley US Army base there. The telephone
exchange there was United Telephone (in the last few years, Sprint)
and by coincidence their public office was at Sixth Street (an east/
west main street) and Washington Street (north/south) in the downtown
business area. I was living in civilian quarters on the base when my
brain exploded November 29, 1999. In this latest context I am talking
about Independence, Kansas (Southwestern Bell territory) where the
telephone exchange is again located on Sixth Street (in this case a
north/south street) downtown and Maple Street (east/west).
Regards the use of '.ed' instead of '.edu' in that message you saw,
I'd like to take the credit for it and say that's my latest spam
fighting technique (leave an obvious letter out of an email address).
But in fact, I screwed up in my typing and did not catch it in time
to correct it. Sorry about that. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Richard Haendel
Subject: Re: How Can Someone Receive a Call From 555-XXXX?
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 20:43:56 GMT
Organization: AT&T Worldnet
Now that I know what's happening and if it happens again, I will certainly
report it.
Thanks to all,
Richard
Fritz Whittington wrote in message
news:telecom22.35.10@telecom-digest.org:
> Richard Haendel wrote:
>> Recently, I got a call from some telemarketer for which the number
>> displayed as "614-555-5555" on my caller id.
> Of course, this is in violation of FCC rules. But, if you don't
> report it, they will continue to do it. See:
> <http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tcpa.html> for how-to.
> Fritz Whittington
> TI Alum - http://www.tialumni.org
------------------------------
From: dwolffxx@panix.com (David Wolff)
Subject: Last Laugh! was Re: Know Your Alpha Bravo Charlies
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 18:40:51 UTC
Organization: Public Access Networks Corp.
In article ,
George Mitchell wrote:
> Joey Lindstrom wrote:
>> Like many things in the telecommunications field, this practice, too,
>> is standardized, as follows:
>> Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliet Kilo
>> (KEE-loh) Lima (LEE-muh) Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra
>> Tango Uniform Victor Whistkey X-Ray Yankee Zulu.
>> Also, when saying numbers, "five" and "nine" can sound the same, so
>> "nine" should be stretched to two syllables, to sound like "niner".
> In the days of yore when John Campbell was editing Analog, he proposed
> a phonetic alphabet for obfuscation. For example, using "phthisic"
> (pronounced "tisik") for the letter "p". I haven't been able to find
> the rest of his alphabet online. Does anyone else remember this?
I don't know if this is it ...
The Fanatic Alphabet
Aisle
Bdelium
Czar
Djakarta
Eulogy
Fanatic
Gnat
Hour
Iwo Jima
Juanita
Knob
Llama
Mnemonic
Ngwee
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networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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* Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing *
* views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. *
*************************************************************************
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Only subscribers or registered users of ICB Toll Free News web site
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LEGAL STUFF: TELECOM Digest (sm) is owned by Patrick Townson.
Copyright 2002 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.
In addition, gifts from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
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All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
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End of TELECOM Digest V22 #36
From: editor@telecom-digest.org (unknown)
To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu
Subject: [telecom] TELECOM Digest V22 #39
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 20:52:09 -0400 (EDT)
TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Sep 2002 20:32:00 EDT Volume 22 : Issue 39
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Telecom Update (Canada) #349, September 16, 2002 (Angus TeleManagement)
Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors (obsidian)
Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors (John R. Levine)
Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors (Reed)
Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors (Phil McKerracher)
Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors (Owain)
Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors (Rich Greenberg)
Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors (Joseph Singer)
Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors (jt)
All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the
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and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 10:26:17 -0400
From: Angus TeleManagement
Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #349, September 16, 2002
************************************************************
TELECOM UPDATE
************************************************************
published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group
http://www.angustel.ca
Number 349: September 16, 2002
Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous
financial support from:
** BELL CANADA: http://www.bell.ca
** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: http://www.cisco.com/ca/letstalk
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************************************************************
IN THIS ISSUE:
** BCE Sells Directory Business
** AT&T Skips Bond Payments
** GT Bankruptcy Protection Extended
** CRTC Sets Rules for Expanded Local Calling
** Bell Buys Out Lycos
** Rogers Intros GPRS Upgrade for Treo
** Roth Sells Nortel Stake
** Telus Prepares Equity Offering
** Rogers Opens Moncton Call Centre
** Alcatel to Sell Canadian Wireless LAN
** Telus Extends Cope's Contract
** SaskTel Launches TV Service
** Lucent Expects 20% Revenue Decline
** Gender Gap Narrows in Communications
** Internet Registry Officers Named
** IP-PBX Reliability Poses New Challenge
============================================================
BCE SELLS DIRECTORY BUSINESS: The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board
and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. of New York have agreed to buy BCE's
directory publishing business for $3 billion cash. The purchasers will
acquire 209 White and Yellow Pages books, and BCE's Web-based
directories, with combined revenue of $590 million a year. The
proceeds of the sale will help to finance BCE's buyback of SBC's 20%
stake in Bell Canada.
AT&T SKIPS BOND PAYMENTS: In what appears to be a manoeuver to aid
negotiations with creditors, AT&T Canada has elected not make bond
interest payments of US$47.8 million due September 15, and C$5.4
million due September 23. The company has a 30-day grace period before
creditors can take action to force payment.
GT BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION EXTENDED: Group Telecom's protection under
the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act has been extended to September
19, and a related U.S. injunction has been extended to September
25. The company expects to seek a further extension.
** GT says it has sufficient cash to carry on operations,
serve customers, and pay its employees during the
protection period.
CRTC SETS RULES FOR EXPANDED LOCAL CALLING: In Telecom Decision
2002-56, the CRTC sets out new rules for expanding local calling
areas. Local or regional governments may request the expansion. Long
distance providers will be compensated for lost toll revenues for
three years, through a surcharge on customers' bills. If the expected
residential surcharge is more than $1, a plebiscite must be held.
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2002/dt2002-56.htm
BELL BUYS OUT LYCOS: Bell Globemedia has purchased the 29% share in
Sympatico Lycos owned by Lycos Inc, and now owns 100% of the
company. The joint venture was created in January 2000, when Bell
agreed to pay $60 million to license software and Web content from
Lycos.
ROGERS INTROS GPRS UPGRADE FOR TREO: A free software upgrade now
allows Handspring Treo 180 users to access the Internet through
Rogers' GPRS network, and to use Treo Mail, a service that connects
the handheld units to POP3 and Microsoft Exchange-based corporate
e-mail.
www.rogers.com/treo
ROTH SELLS NORTEL STAKE: Former Nortel CEO John Roth has sold his
remaining 750,000 Nortel shares for $1.16 million.
TELUS PREPARES EQUITY OFFERING: Telus plans to raise $337 million by
issuing 34 million non-voting shares. The money will be used to pay
down debt.
ROGERS OPENS MONCTON CALL CENTRE: Rogers Communications has opened a
Moncton call centre to serve its wireless and cable customers across
Canada. The centre employs 200 service representatives now; Rogers
says that will expand to 700 over five years.
ALCATEL TO SELL CANADIAN WIRELESS LAN: Alcatel says it will offer
Wi-Fi products from Laval-based Colubris Networks to customers
worldwide. The companies are "currently partnering in several
opportunities in Europe and Asia."
TELUS EXTENDS COPE'S CONTRACT: Telus has renewed the employment
agreement of George Cope, President and CEO of Telus Mobility, for an
additional two years. Cope headed Clearnet until it was bought by
Telus in 2000.
SASKTEL LAUNCHES TV SERVICE: On September 12, SaskTel began offering
Max Interactive Services, a suite of DSL-based TV and Internet
services, to customers in Regina. The Basic package provides
high-speed Internet, 20 TV channels, 30 music channels, and
Saskatchewan radio stations for $59.95/month.
** SaskTel says Max will be deployed this fall in Saskatoon
and seven other communities.
LUCENT EXPECTS 20% REVENUE DECLINE: Lucent Technologies says it
expects revenue of US$2.2-$2.35 for the quarter ending September 30,
down 20%-25% from the previous quarter and down 55%-58% from the same
period last year.
GENDER GAP NARROWS IN COMMUNICATIONS: A four-year study commissioned
by Canadian Women in Communications says that women now hold 43% of
middle management positions in the communications sector, almost equal
to their proportion (46%) of total employment. A large disparity still
exists in senior management, where women hold only 19% of positions
and are paid significantly less than men.
http://www.cwc-afc.com/show-content.cfm?section=new-pre
INTERNET REGISTRY OFFICERS NAMED: The Canadian Internet Registration
Authority (CIRA) has named new officers for 2002-2003: Chair: Maureen
Cubberley, Senior Partner, ASM Advanced Strategic Management
Consultants Vice-Chair: Ron Kawchuk, President, RKA Inc. Treasurer:
John Demco, Manager of Computing Facilities, UBC Department of
Computer Science. Secretary: Paul Andersen, Vice-President of
Technology, E-Gate Communications Inc.
IP-PBX RELIABILITY POSES NEW CHALLENGE: In the September issue of
Telemanagement, John Riddell examines the techniques needed to keep
IP-based PBXs running all the time. Also in Telemanagement #198:
** "Wireless Survivor Targets Urban Business Market"
** "10 Steps to a Customer Contact Technology Strategy"
** "Deconstructing the PBX: Cisco's IP Telephony System"
Until October 30, new subscribers to Telemanagement will save $50 on
the price of a one-year subscription, with a money-back guarantee. Go
to http://www.angustel.ca/teleman/Telemanagement_Special_Offer.pdf.
============================================================
HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE
E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca
FAX: 905-686-2655
MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE
Angus TeleManagement Group
8 Old Kingston Road
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===========================================================
TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There
are two formats available:
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===========================================================
COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2002 Angus
TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further
information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please
e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500.
The information and data included has been obtained from sources which
we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no
warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy,
completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on
interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If
expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a
competent professional should be obtained.
------------------------------
From: obsidian
Subject: Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 08:42:22 +0200
Organization: -= Skynet Usenet Service =-
The RJ-11 connector is so pervasive that in each country adaptors are
always locally available.
You could, of course, also ship an RJ-11 socket.
jk wrote in message
news:telecom22.38.4@telecom-digest.org:
> I just have a brief question that I'm sure the Telecom experts in
> this group will have no trouble with, so here goes ...
> The RJ-11 connectors and jacks which we use here in Canada and the
> U.S., are they universally used around the world, or do different
> countries use different types of connectors? Specifically I'm
> interested in knowing whether or not the standard 4-wire RJ-11 design
> is used in Romania, or do they have their own standards there?
> I need to send someone in Romania an internal 56Kbps modem, but before
> I do so, I need to know if they'll be able to use it at all with
> their phone lines, or will they have to go and purchase a modem
> designed for use in that country? Replies directed to my e-mail
> would be greatly appreciated.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Sep 2002 02:45:08 -0400
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine)
Subject: Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA
> The RJ-11 connectors and jacks which we use here in Canada and the
> U.S., are they universally used around the world, or do different
> countries use different types of connectors? Specifically I'm
> interested in knowing whether or not the standard 4-wire RJ-11 design
> is used in Romania, or do they have their own standards there?
Connectors vary like crazy. Visit http://www.teleadaptusa.com for a
wide variety of adapters.
Actually, I wouldn't worry about it. All modems are made with RJ-11
plugs and people all use RJ11-to-local adapters. Whatever plug they
use in Romania (Teleadapt says they use an RJ11, but I don't believe
it), the adapter will be available locally.
John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869
johnl@iecc.com Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner http://iecc.com/johnl
Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail
------------------------------
From: Reed
Subject: Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 23:19:47 -0600
Organization: None Whatsoever
According to http://kropla.com/phones2.htm Romania uses the RJ-11.
reed
------------------------------
From: Phil McKerracher
Subject: Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 11:07:48 GMT
Organization: blueyonder (post doesn't reflect views of blueyonder)
I don't know about Romania in particular, but in general every country uses
a different phone plug and adapter kits such as this
http://www.synchrotech.com/product-misc/phone-adapter-kit_01.html
are sold that do the conversion. Wonderful, isn't it?
Another problem is that transmit and receive levels are different in
the US from most other countries by around 10dB - you shout louder and
are a bit deaf. :-)
Not to mention the legal problems - it's still illegal to connect
unapproved modems in many countries, although I've never heard of
anyone being prosecuted.
Having said all that, there is a fair chance you will be able to plug
it in and it will work. If not, a pair of crocodile clips and some
trial-and-error configuration might well succeed.
Phil McKerracher
www.mckerracher.org
------------------------------
From: spuorgelgoog@gowanhill.com (Owain)
Subject: Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors
Date: 16 Sep 2002 14:09:53 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com/
rbsfct@yahoo.com (jk) wrote
> The RJ-11 connectors and jacks which we use here in Canada and the
> U.S., are they universally used around the world, or do different
> countries use different types of connectors?
Many countries have different connectors. In the UK, RJ11 'style'
plugs are used on phones and modems (not wall sockets), but wired
differently.
> Specifically I'm interested in knowing whether or not the standard
> 4-wire RJ-11 design is used in Romania, or do they have their own
> standards there?
http://kropla.com/phones.htm and http://kropla.com/phones2.htm
indicates that Romania uses RJ11.
I doubt that Romania has the most stringent telecoms regulation in the
world, but note most countries have their own telecom equipment
approval procedures with varying penalties for connection of
unapproved equipment. US modems may also not recognise other countries
dial/engaged tones and US software may not handle local number formats
correctly.
> Replies directed to my e-mail would be greatly appreciated.
It's here so that everyone can read it.
Owain
------------------------------
From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors
Date: 16 Sep 2002 08:11:08 -0400
Organization: Organized? Me?
In article , jk
wrote:
> I just have a brief question that I'm sure the Telecom experts in this
> group will have no trouble with, so here goes ...
> The RJ-11 connectors and jacks which we use here in Canada and the
> U.S., are they universally used around the world, or do different
> countries use different types of connectors? Specifically I'm
> interested in knowing whether or not the standard 4-wire RJ-11 design
> is used in Romania, or do they have their own standards there?
> I need to send someone in Romania an internal 56Kbps modem, but before
> I do so, I need to know if they'll be able to use it at all with their
> phone lines, or will they have to go and purchase a modem designed for
> use in that country?
I can't speak for the jacks being standard but if not, I am sure
adapters will be available locally. What you should be more concerned
with is that the dial tone and ring will be different, and a US modem
is not likely to recognize them.
> Replies directed to my e-mail would be greatly appreciated.
Post it here, read it here.
Rich Greenberg Work: Rich.Greenberg atsign worldspan.com +1 770-563-6656
N6LRT Marietta, GA, USA Play: richgr atsign panix.com +1 770-321-6507
Eastern time zone. I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val(Chinook,CGC,TT), Red & Shasta(Husky,(RIP)) Owner:Chinook-L
Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L
------------------------------
From: Joseph Singer
Subject: Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 08:28:14 -0700
Organization: Drizzle
Reply-To: joeofseattle@yahoo.com
On 14 Sep 2002 02:10:50 -0700, rbsfct@yahoo.com (jk) wrote:
> The RJ-11 connectors and jacks which we use here in Canada and the
> U.S., are they universally used around the world, or do different
> countries use different types of connectors? Specifically I'm
> interested in knowing whether or not the standard 4-wire RJ-11 design
> is used in Romania, or do they have their own standards there?
The "RJ-11" standard that is used in North America generally is
"partially" used elsewhere in the world. Generally handset connectors
are the same as are used in North America. Base cord connectors
however are generally not the standard used in North America. Many
countries are using their version of a modular connection. As an
example in the UK they use a "pinch" plug similar, but not the same as
is used in North America. Same for Israel. Many countries have had
different plug arrangements for making phones portable. Most places
up til the last twenty years or so generally had phones hard wired
into some sort of connecting block. Like power/mains connections
there seems to be a different sort of plug arrangement in most
countries. Generally I've found that you can go into a hardware store
in major cities/towns and find an adapter plug that will convert from
North American standard to the standard of that particular country.
Also to be technical there is no "RJ-11" plug, but rather RJ-11
standard. The only difference between RJ-11 and RJ-14 for instance is
how the jack is wired RJ-11/RJ-11W (wall) for standard single line and
RJ-14/RJ-14W (wall) for two line service.
Personal replies most likely will not be read. Please reply in the newsgroup
------------------------------
From: jt
Subject: Re: Question on RJ-11 Phone Connectors
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 11:31:22 -0400
Organization: WorldCom Canada Ltd. News Reader Service
jk wrote in message
news:telecom22.38.4@telecom-digest.org:
> I just have a brief question that I'm sure the Telecom experts in this
> group will have no trouble with, so here goes ...
> The RJ-11 connectors and jacks which we use here in Canada and the
> U.S., are they universally used around the world, or do different
> countries use different types of connectors? Specifically I'm
> interested in knowing whether or not the standard 4-wire RJ-11 design
> is used in Romania, or do they have their own standards there?
I know in the UK they use the same things -- except that installers
will break off the little tab that lets you take the plug out if you
wish to undo what they did.
Buggers.
------------------------------
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums.
It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.
TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational
service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents
of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.
Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
Post Office Box 50
Independence, KS 67301
Phone: 620-870-9697
Fax 1: 775-255-9970
Fax 2: 775-306-8390
Fax 3: 530-309-7234
Email: editor@telecom-digest.org
Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then. Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/
mailing list on the internet in any category!
URL information: http://telecom-digest.org
Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives
(or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)
Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org
Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for
a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system
for archives files. You can get desired files in email.
*************************************************************************
* TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from *
* Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate *
* 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. *
* http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com *
* Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing *
* views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. *
*************************************************************************
ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased.
Access to Premium (P) links requires upgrade to a paid subscription.
One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com
Only subscribers or registered users of ICB Toll Free News web site
will be able to access all or some of the full text of URLs provided.
LEGAL STUFF: TELECOM Digest (sm) is owned by Patrick Townson.
Copyright 2000 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.
In addition, gifts from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert
have enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and
enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order
telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has
been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very
inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request
a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com
---------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as
yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars
per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.
Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing
your name to the mailing list.
All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
End of TELECOM Digest V22 #39
*****************************
From: sfdreamer@earthlink.net (Starchild)
To: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
Cc: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Subject: [ca-liberty] Re: More trouble in the hood
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 20:18:56 -0700
Johann,
The saga continues... ;)
At 7:22 PM -0700 9/15/02, you shared:
>At 21:20 -0700 09/14/02, Starchild wrote:
>
>> If you're like most people, you seek to pay as little taxes as
>>possible. Even if you manage to minimize your tax burden, however, it's
>>quite likely that the services you get back from government in exchange
>>won't be worth the money you were forced to pay. In such a circumstance,
>>using the services to your maximum advantage is simply recouping some of
>>the value that was taken from you.
>
>Just because a service is totally or partial tax supported isn't
>justification for trying to take more than what the services were meant to
>be. The pickup of yard waste from one's own yards was suppose to be just
>that -- ethics says trying to use such o also subsidize one's business is
>wrong. This wasn't a case of taking a very small advantage of the system
>-- not when each of the two businesses put out each week the amount each
>neighbors did in a year -- this wasn't "simply recouping some of the value
>that was taken" -- this was outright gross abuse and taking far more value
>than what was paid for.
I'm not sure what "supposed to be" means in this context. You seem
to be arguing several different positions simultaneously. First you say
that there is no justification for exploiting a government service even if
the government has still taken more money from you than what you are using.
Then you say that ethics dictates that it's wrong to exploit a
government service for the purpose of subsidizing one's business (you
ignored my question about whether it is more acceptable for government to
subsidize a hobby than to subsidize a business.)
Finally you say that this case involved not just recouping value
from the government, but "taking far more value than what was paid for." If
by "what was paid for" you are counting only the taxes or fees paid for the
trash pick-up service, I'm sure you are right. However I was talking about
*all* the fees and taxes paid to government. If the families are forced to
pay other taxes and fees without getting anything of equivalent value in
return, than getting more back from the trash pick-up service than they
paid into it probably still represents a recouping of some of the value
that was taken from them.
>>>There are three sizes of recycleable containers, all with the same rate,
>>>and the city heavily subsidizes that program. In that case there would be
>>>a subsidy -- but that program overall is very wrong as setup.
>>
>> Would you condemn anyone using the program, or using it to a
>>greater extent then their neighbors, as you condemn the immigrant neighbors
>>with their yard clippings?
>
>As mentioned -- the entire recycling programmed is flawed -- so everyone,
>regardless of how much they use it, as long as they are using it they are
>a burden on the taxpayers. While the city hasn't yet gone to the extreme
>of fining people for not being 100% religious about using it (as some
>other local gov'ts have) -- I suspect that edict will eventually come and
>eliminate the option of putting it all (except oil, that's not an option
>now) into the regular trash. And a larger household is more likely to
>generate more recycleables while not as likely to pay an equivalent amount
>more into the tax fund subsidizing the program.
Yes, I know you've said the entire recycling program is flawed -- I
agree. However you didn't answer my question about whether others who use
the service to a greater extent than their neighbors are also at fault.
Without such an acknowledgement, it looks like you are once again singling
out immigrants for condemnation.
>> Yeah, but if the government is providing the water at below market
>>cost, the more you use of it, the greater the subsidy. Then it's like you
>>described for everyone leaving lots of yard clippings -- either the city
>>hikes the water rates or it comes out of taxes. Right?
>
>The larger one family is the more the subsidy would be, too.
Yes. So are those who have large families and use the service
blameworthy in your book as are those who have businesses and use the
service?
>I just don't buy your 'two wrongs make a right' arguments. The morally
>correct solution is to totally privatize these services -- just because
>they aren't doesn't make it morally right to scam other taxpayers for
>one's own benefit.
I haven't argued that "two wrongs make a right." You're the one who
said the neighbors in question did something wrong. If forgoing the use of
a particular government service will not result in any savings to the
taxpayers, I don't see using it as wrong. Advocating that such a service be
continued or expanded would be wrong, but not using it to the extent it
exists.
To give an analogy, driving on the streets makes them wear down
sooner and hasten the day that government will spend more tax money to fix
them, but I don't see such use as wrong. To advocate a tax increase for the
purpose of fixing the streets *would* be wrong, however.
And of course you're right that the correct solution is to
privatize government services like trash pick-up that fall outside the
scope of its proper role in protecting life, liberty, justly acquired
property, and the pursuit of happiness. This is something I (like many
libertarians) have been advocating for a long time.
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
From: rdestep136@EARTHLINK.NET (RD)
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
Subject: Re: FIJA instructions
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 18:52:49 -0700
http://www.state.in.us/legislative/ic/code/const/art1.html
Section 19. In all criminal cases whatever, the jury shall have the right to
determine the law and the facts.
Ya don't suppose Indiana's Supreme Court managed to screw this one up, did ya?
Check out Maryland:
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/m...html/00dec.html
quote:
Art. 5. (a) That the Inhabitants of Maryland are entitled to the
Common Law of England, and the trial by Jury, according to the
course of that Law, and to the benefit of such of the English
statutes as existed on the Fourth day of July, seventeen hundred
and seventy-six
(c) That notwithstanding the Common Law of England, nothing in this
Constitution prohibits trial by jury of less than 12 jurors in any civil
proceeding in which the right to a jury trial is preserved (amended by
Chapters 203, 204, Acts of 1992, ratified Nov. 3, 1992).
Art. 23. In the trial of all criminal cases, the Jury shall be the
Judges of Law, as well as of fact, except that the Court may pass
upon the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction.
Rick
John Wilde wrote:
> there are two indiana and maryland. It is in their constitutions.
>
> g'day
> John Wilde
>
> RD wrote:
>
> > Jay and John,
> >
> > I am told that there is at least one state which requires judges to give
> > the jury a FIJA-style instruction.
> >
> > Is this true, and where is it? I couldn't find it with my searches.
> >
> > Rick
From: freemanaz@aol.com (unknown)
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [lpaz-discuss] Fw: Goldwater - State Addicted to Tobacco Taxes.html
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 16:11:34 EDT
I would recommend that WLA do a press release coming out against Props 303 &
302 and in favor of Prop 203. Taking it on a statewide level would be a good
idea and undermine Schmerl's trying to do the opposite in terms of
influencing elections. At least the WLA would undercut Schmerl's coming out
in favor of them similar how he came out in favor of the compromise
preemption bill.
Mike
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From: ernesthancock@cox.net ("Ernest Hancock")
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [lpaz-discuss] Re: Athist Writers WANTED
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 11:19:28 -0700
http://www.thephilosophe.com/
George H. Smith
----- Original Message -----
From: "atheistrevolution" <webmaster@authorzone.com>
To: <lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 11:17 AM
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Re: Athist Writers WANTED
> Cool. Thank you.
> What is his website?
>
> --- In lpaz-discuss@y..., "Ernest Hancock" <ernesthancock@c...>
> wrote:
> > From: "atheistrevolution" <webmaster@a...>
> > > Athist Writers WANTED
> > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Atheist-Writers/
> >
> > The Freedom Summit will have one of the best speaking,.... twice.
> George
> > Smith. See you there.
> >
> > George H. Smith
> >
> > George Smith publishes a monthly e-zine, The Philosophe, which
> contains
> > substantial articles of interest to independent intellectuals such
> as
> > libertarians, freethinkers, Objectivists, humanists, and others.
> >
> > George has served as the Director of the Forum for Philosophical
> Studies,
> > Los Angeles; a lecturer on American History at the Cato Institute;
> and a
> > Senior Research Fellow and lecturer on political philosophy and
> intellectual
> > history at George Mason University's Institute for Humane Studies.
> >
> > George is the author of Atheism: The Case Against God, and
> Atheism, Ayn
> > Rand, and Other Heresies.
>
>
>
> Community Web Page:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/community/lpaz-discuss
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
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From: webmaster@authorzone.com ("atheistrevolution")
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Special Question for ALL Atheists and Godless.
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 18:17:54 -0000
Special Question for ALL Atheists and Godless.
I have just registered the domains AtheistWorld.Com and.Org
My question is this:
If you wanted there to be an ideal website for Atheists and all
freethinkers, agnostics and all godless people,
what would you like the website to be like? What features should it
have?
Please post your response in the Atheist Revolution Forum here:
http://www.atheistrevolution.com/forum/
Kind regards,
Max
http://www.AtheistRevolution.Com
webmaster@atheistrevolution.com
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This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
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[:::95:::]
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go to
http://www.greystaples.com/mike.htm
for a page with 4 gifs, 2 animated. The
aninew.gif says "registered version on order ... 1996" and the joinanim.gif
says "GifBuilder ..."
From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] Taxpayers United Challenges "Wasteful" Michigan Government
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 07:43:56 -0700
MI: Taxpayers United Challenges "Wasteful" Michigan Government Spending
Believes Corporate Welfare is Placed Ahead of Homeland Security
The "Homeland Security" of Michigan's 9.3 million citizens will be impacted by what eight state senators and eight state representatives decide on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2002, when the Joint Senate-House Capital Outlay Committee meets at 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the State Capitol. Committee Chairman Sen. Harry Gast (R-St. Joseph) has announced he will ask committee members to vote on the Engler Administration's "secret plan" to build a new $135 million high rise office headquarters for the State Police, Michigan National Guard, and the Michigan Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on the curb of a busy downtown Lansing street near Michigan's state capitol, and on a site clearly designated a "flood plain" by federal and state officials. Taxpayers United, Michigan's largest statewide grassroots watchdog group, is mustering opposition to what the Michigan Department of Management and Budget (DMB), the Mayor of Lansing, and a swarm of lobbyists for the politically appointed no-bid develo!
per for the project, are calling "a done deal."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020920/202281_1.html
CAGW's Washington Waste Wire
Rounding Up the Latest News Items on Government Waste
The Waste Wire is a bi-monthly compendium from Citizens Against Government Waste of the costly ways in which government spends public money.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020920/dcf025_1.html
Montana Mulls Buying Up Hydro Dams
Each time farmer Bill Williams turns on his big electric irrigation pumps, he hears the sound of his meager profits trickling away. His electricity bill has gone up 30 percent since earlier this summer, when a rate freeze that was one of the last vestiges of electricity regulation in Montana expired. Like many in Montana, Williams believes deregulation was a mistake. And like others, he welcomes a populist proposal on Montana's November ballot that would allow the state to buy a dozen hydroelectric dams and go into the electricity business for itself. The measure represents one of the most audacious attempts in the nation to take back control of electricity since the deregulation debacle in California.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=530&e=8&cid=530&u=/ap/20020920/ap_on_bi_ge/buying_the_dams
Judge OKs Tobacco Class Action Suit
In an unprecedented move, a federal district court judge has certified a nationwide, punitive-damage class-action suit against the tobacco industry.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=530&e=7&cid=530&u=/ap/20020920/ap_on_bi_ge/tobacco_suit
New Bush Strategy: America As World's Cop
America's new policy defining its role in the world as announced today by the White House presents the U.S. as anxious to preserve peace and democracy, but on closer reading it becomes clear that the real role is that of the U.S. is to be the World's beat cop. "We will not hesitate to act alone, to exercise our right to self-defense by acting pre-emptively" against terrorists," President Bush warned in a new document issued at the very moment where U.N. member states such as Russia are showing serious reluctance to back U.S. calls for a new resolution that would authorize an attack on Iraq. The lengthy, 33-page document, "The National Security Strategy of the United States," is a report that the president must, under law, submit to Congress, but this report goes far beyond any other presidential strategy report issued in the past. Observers say Bush's announced strategic policy is the most aggressive since the Reagan administration, if not before. In it, the White House ca!
lls it a value-oriented strategy, encompassing the idea that it is up to the United States not only to make the world safer, but better.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/20/215753.shtml
Governors Fail Fiscal Restraint Test
Only two of the nations' governors -- Republicans Jeb Bush of Florida and Bill Owens of Colorado -- received an "A" for fiscal conservatism in an annual report card released Friday by the Washington-based CATO Institute. Spending has surged in nearly all states in the past decade, even in states with supposedly conservative governors, the report by the conservative think tank found. While Republican governors cut taxes and state budgets more often than Democrats, neither group showed much fiscal discipline this year, the report said. The average grade for Republican governors was "C-," compared to the average grade of "D+" for the Democrats. "The ethic of fiscal restraint and tax reduction among the G.O.P. governors has waned in recent years," wrote authors Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski. "Most Republican governors have fiscal records more closely resembling that of Nelson Rockefeller than that of Ronald Reagan."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/20/205241.shtml
U.S. to Rethink Clean Water Rules
Administration Accused of Using Ruling to Weaken Safeguards
The Bush administration announced yesterday that it will consider new rules for enforcing the Clean Water Act, prompting concern among environmentalists that the government may sharply scale back protection for hundreds of thousands of miles of small streams, tributaries and wetlands. During a congressional hearing, officials of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revealed plans to reconsider the extent to which the government can prevent unlawful industrial pollution in non-navigable waterways and wetlands. Rep. Doug Ose (R-Calif.), chairman of a House Government Reform subcommittee on natural resources, and other lawmakers have pressed the administration to redefine protected and unprotected waterways and wetlands since the Supreme Court put new limits on the scope of the act in a January 2001 ruling.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41768-2002Sep19.html
Justice Rules on Secret Court Gets Thumbs Down From Rights Groups
A secret appeals court should turn aside the Bush administration's effort to expand surveillance powers in the war on terror, civil liberties groups said Friday. In court papers, the groups said expansion would jeopardize the rights to privacy and to engage in lawful public dissent and the warrant, notice and judicial review rights guaranteed by the Constitution's Fourth and Fifth Amendments. "The government should not be permitted to turn the quest for foreign intelligence into a 'pro forma justification for any degree of intrusion into zones of privacy,"' the court papers, stated quoting a 1973 case on Fourth Amendment rights.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63713,00.html
Record fines in '96 Democrats' case
Commission faults participants in foreign fundraising
The Federal Election Commission disclosed yesterday it has imposed a record-setting $719,000 in fines against participants in the 1996 Democratic Party fundraising scandals involving contributions from China, Korea and other foreign sources. ... Those penalized included the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton-Gore campaign, the Buddhist temple and nearly two dozen people and corporations acting as conduits for illegal contributions. All have agreed to pay, according to the documents. The total in fines would have been significantly higher except that some of the corporations have folded and others were dummy operations, with no assets, set up as conduits for money from China, Venezuela, Canada and other countries. ...
http://www.msnbc.com/news/810892.asp
Land 'takings' is for the birds
Which is more important, habitat for a seaside sparrow, or habitat for human beings? The answer, of course, is for the birds. ... Avocados have been a major crop in South Florida. The trees grow to about 12 feet high and sink roots into the ground 24 to 36 inches. When the water table rises to saturate avocado roots for more than a day or two, the trees suffer, or die. ... To ensure habitat for the bird, manipulators of the water table simply turn a few valves, which changes the course of water through a maze of government-built canals, and dumps excess water into the Everglades. Avocado groves five miles East of the Everglades begin to wilt, and die, as the water table rises. ... Sparrows and other critters are entitled to whatever habitat they can find. Humans have no less entitlement. We simply cannot allow our government to be taken over by zealots who believe that habitat for sparrows is more important than habitat for humans.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29024
CA: Davis shuns donor event
The fund-raiser's canceled as Simon shows up to protest.
With political rival Bill Simon promising to show up on the doorstep, Gov. Gray Davis took the unusual step Friday of canceling a fund-raiser that sought cash from people who stand to benefit from a high-speed rail project he's backing. Davis' campaign said he would return any money already received in connection with the fund-raiser, scheduled to be held at the Santa Clara home of Ron Diridon, chairman of the state High Speed Rail Authority. ... And Diridon had sent out e-mail invitations that made it sound as if policy and fund raising would be mixed. ... The GOP candidate showed up outside Diridon's house at 4 p.m. with a dozen noisy supporters and one of the biggest media contingencies he's drawn in days. "I think this behavior and lack of respect for the people of California is reprehensible and outrageous and appalling," Simon said. "It is now time for the press and law enforcement to undertake a comprehensive review of all the governor's past and current fund-raisin!
g activities." Not all the invited guests were told the event was canceled, and several were coming or leaving as Simon spoke to reporters, shielding their faces from television news cameras. ... Although Salazar said the event violated Davis' rules about not mixing policy with fund-raisers, using a member of a powerful state commission to raise money for his campaign is a common practice for Davis. The Bee reported in August that at least a dozen Davis appointees have hosted or organized fund-raising events for the Democratic governor, occasionally inviting contributors whose business interests are regulated by the commission. ...
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4488818p-5509391c.html
U.S. takes clumsy bioterror inventory
In a rushed attempt to inventory the nation's stock of pathogens that could be used for bioterrorism, the federal government mailed forms to researchers nationwide, some of them dead, others retired, and sometimes repeatedly to the same person, while missing others until after the filing deadline.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4488819p-5509388c.html
Judge rules against law on slate mailings
The FPPC is barred from enforcing Proposition 34 over free-speech concerns.
With little more than six weeks to go until the general election, a Sacramento federal judge has stripped California's political police of their power to enforce the state's laws governing slate mailings and their publishers. U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton ruled Friday that a campaign reform measure passed two years ago goes beyond First Amendment bounds by imposing disclosure requirements on slate mail organizations. The ruling precludes the Fair Political Practices Commission, the state's campaign watchdog, from penalizing slate mailers who omit the positions of political parties when those positions are contrary to the endorsements on the mailers' material.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4488823p-5509381c.html
Sacagawea dollar coin? Californians just aren't buying the idea
Today's installment of your-government-at-work features the U.S. Mint and the nearly $70 million spent so far trying to get the rest of us to like the dollar coin. Remember that one? That gold-tinted, Sacagawea coin rolled out three years ago amid Herculean hype? This is not be be confused with its predecessor, the Susan B. Anthony dud that everyone mixed up with their quarters. No, this is the redo that got a royal send-off in a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float and then in Wal-Mart stores. It picked up PR boosts from promotional partners like Cheerios, the Los Angeles Dodgers, International House of Pancakes and Wheel of Fortune. Except now comes a new General Accounting Office report that concludes -- guess what? Americans aren't warming to this dollar coin either, and the feds should probably stop frittering away our money trying to persuade us otherwise.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4488825p-5509377c.html
Germany: No Sex Please, We're Soldiers
Germans mulling joining the army may think twice now thanks to a new regulation banning soldiers from having sex while in active service. The Defense Ministry said on Friday it had issued a decree stating that sleeping with fellow soldiers of either sex, or indeed their partners, would be bad for morale, threatening "mutual trust and soldiers' willingness to help each other." ... Women soldiers will also have to take down their favorite pin-ups, as one clause, expressly formulated to include both men and women, prohibits them from hanging up pornographic images that might offend others.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20020920/od_nm/sex_dc&e=3
UK: Why the countryside is angry
Rural people say they want "liberty and livelihood" from the government. They can't have both
... If the government is guilty of depriving the countryside of its liberties, is it equally guilty of taking away its livelihood? Well, in a way, but it isn't quite as simple as that. First, things are not as bad in the countryside as the protestors would have the townies believe (see article). Second, that interfering government is also the source of the livelihood of the most vocal bunch of protestors. The farmers get around £3 billion a year from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, which comes, indirectly, from the British exchequer. "Liberty and subsidy" doesn't sound quite as catchy, does it? Which is not to say that the farmers' economic pain is not real. They are going through the same difficult process of adjustment as heavy industry went through in the 1980s, when the government decided that enough taxpayers' money had gone down that particular drain. But the process has been made more, not less, painful by subsidy. Subsidy has allowed farmers to avoid thinking !
about how they might make a real living, and persuaded them to invest in land at inflated prices, thus burdening them with debts that they struggle to service. The countryside is angry with the government for arguing that the Common Agricultural Policy should shrink, and for refusing to fatten subsidies further at national level. But the government is right, and not just because the CAP keeps foreign produce out and prices up. Subsidies have done farmers no good in the long run, and perpetuating them is not in their interests. Most of the countryside already looks elsewhere for its living, and farmers should do the same. Liberty from government, yes; livelihood from government, no.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1337315
--
Johann Opitz <johannp@earthlink.net> RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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================= Begin forwarded message =================
From: webmaster@authorzone.com ("atheistrevolution")
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Athist Writers WANTED
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 12:06:34 -0000
Athist Writers WANTED
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Atheist-Writers/
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From: rdestep136@EARTHLINK.NET (RD)
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
Subject: UAVZ pic
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 21:15:22 -0700
Please check out http://www.unarmedvictimzone.com
There is a new armed pilot pic you might wish to download.
If you can, please use your favorite search engine to do a search on
"Mark Killian" and "Elliot Hibbs" add the words +gun and +rape. If
www.unarmedvictimzone.com is shown or a page with it linked to that
page, please click on it.
Thanks,
Rick
--
IRA, CIA, FBI, KILL, TERRORIST, BOMB, TARGET, TERMINATE, JIHAD,
CEASEFIRE, ATHEIST, ALLAH, FREEDOM, TRUTH, JUSTICE, MARIJUANA,
POT, COKE, BREW, DOPE, SEX, DRUGS, TNT, C4, CORDITE, GUNPOWDER,
REBELS, OVERTHROW, I love it when the government reads my email.
From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] CA: State to pay up to $3.3 million in suit
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 05:51:37 -0700
CA: State to pay up to $3.3 million in suit
The California Department of Education has agreed to pay the federal government up to $3.3 million to resolve allegations that it disbursed grant funds to grass-roots groups knowing the money was being misused. The five-year federal probe stemmed from a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a top department official who alleged his bosses ordered millions of dollars disbursed to politically connected community groups even though they knew the money was being misappropriated. U.S. Attorney John Vincent announced Thursday that the state will pay $2.5 million and guarantee another $800,000, which may come from a related lawsuit. Should the federal government obtain less than $800,000 in the latter case, the state Department of Education is obligated to pay the difference. ... The U.S. Department of Justice joined Cervantes in prosecuting the suit, which was unsealed Thursday. Cervantes, 61, charges that more than $23 million was fraudulently obtained by the California Department of!
!
Education and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin from the U.S. Department of Education between 1994 and 1996. He charges that Eastin, who leaves office at the end of the year, covered up the improper diversion of money by community-based organizations that were supposed to be training immigrants in citizenship and English as a second language. ...
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4474104p-5494694c.html
Medication use soars among youths
Study: Prescription drug use rising faster in kids than seniors
... USE OF PRESCRIPTION drugs is growing faster among children than it is among senior citizens and baby boomers, the two traditionally high consumer groups, according to a new study. Spending on prescription drugs for those under 19 grew 28 percent last year ... Meanwhile, spending per patient rose 23 percent for those between the ages of 35 and 49 and less than 10 percent for those above 65. Children are also spending 34 percent more time on medication than they were five years ago, the study found. ... Among children, the most prescribed drugs were for allergies, asthma and infections. Prescriptions for Ritalin and other medicines for neurological and psychological disorders were also substantial - a finding that renewed concern among some experts who worry that such drugs may be over-prescribed for children. ...
http://www.msnbc.com/news/809817.asp
Schumer Admits Political Bias in Judicial Confirmations
One of the most outspoken opponents of President Bush's judicial nominees said Thursday senators regularly vote against each other's nominees for purely political reasons, instead of looking for the best nominee. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans and Democrats regularly vote against each other's nominees for ideological reasons, instead of putting politics aside. "It doesn't make a difference whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, votes against judicial nominees are almost always driven by judicial ideology," Schumer said Thursday.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63606,00.html
VA: Davis' Campaign Fund Wizardry the Stuff of Legends
Gov. Gray Davis has built a decades-long career in elected office, owing much of his success to an epic ability to raise money. By doggedly accepting checks from donors across the political spectrum, Davis has collected $56 million for his re-election bid against Republican financier Bill Simon, averaging more than $1.2 million a month since taking office in 1999. "He has taken it to an art form,'' said Joe Cerrell, a longtime Democratic consultant who ran Davis' first California political campaign, a failed run for state treasurer in 1974. Spending for the governor's race could break California's own national spending record for a statewide campaign. In Davis' 1998 race, four candidates shelled out a combined $120 million, including $35 million from Davis.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63624,00.html
Bush Announces Drought Aid for Western States
The Bush administration is announcing a relief package worth some $700 million for states hit by the West's worst drought in a century, aid that could be an election-season boon to Republican candidates.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63608,00.html
Why we must invade Iraq RIGHT NOW! - Pass it on!
http://www.markfiore.com/animation/corrections.swf
Worker Sues Teamsters for Accounting Rifts
A prominent labor union has been slapped with a class-action lawsuit that accuses it of using a firm that cooked its accounting books to help hide union dues spending. Mark Simpson, an employee of Shenango Presbyterian Seniorcare, filed an unfair labor practice claim with the National Labor Relations Board against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Thursday. Simpson alleges that the labor union used Thomas Havey LLP, a top union accounting firm, to help justify its forced union dues. "We believe this case is, of course, going to open up and a lot of people are going to join this," said Dan Cronin, the legal director for the National Right To Work Foundation, which is offering free legal aid to Simpson. "We believe as more workers hear about what's going on, they're going to demand there be some action."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63635,00.html
CA: Governor signs bond bill to boost high-speed rail
With antique train cars as a backdrop, Gov. Gray Davis signed a $9.95 billion bond measure Thursday that would clear the way for a high-speed rail system linking California's major cities. "This launches a new era of transportation in this state," Davis said at a ceremony at the state's railroad museum. ... Most of the money, $9 billion, would help pay for construction of the first leg of the system, which would connect Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno and San Francisco. Later links would stretch to Sacramento and San Diego. The rest of the $9.95 billion would be used to pay for improvements to light rail and inner-city passenger systems. ... The total cost of the first leg is estimated to be $13.7 billion. Supporters hope to get federal funding to cover the rest of the cost.
[Also, launches a new era of higher taxes! Time for those in CA with any brains to pack up, leave the state, and leave the tax bill with those stupid enough to continue voting for socialism.]
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4460633p-5481390c.html
Privacy Villain of the Week: Your driver's license!
Take your driver's license out of your wallet and flip it over. Does it have a magnetic strip on the back, like a credit card? A bar code, like you might find on a supermarket product? About 40 states now have one or the other, and it won't be long before the rest do. ... A number of products, from companies such as Logix Co., Intelli-check, can read the information off of the back of the card with a simple swipe. And it's not just state troopers at raffic stops buying the scanners -- bars, liquor stores, convenience stores and night clubs are getting in on the act more and more. Often the information gleaned from the digital government ID is stored for future use. ... One hint of how much might be on your license was in a New York Times report back in March wherein we learned, "Police departments have called bars to see if certain names and Social Security numbers show up on their customer lists." Some police apparently prefer to go the real time route -- DC police have h!
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andheld units they take into bars to scan IDs they compel patrons to produce on demand. ...
http://nccprivacy.org/handv/020919villain.htm
Liberty: a unified field theory
Nat Hentoff, whose columns the Register sometimes runs, titled his 1980 book on the history of free speech in America "The First Freedom." In one sense the title is straightforward, referring to the individual rights protected by the First Amendment. But it carries just the hint of an implication that those freedoms - speech, press, religion, assembly, petitioning for redress of grievances - are the important freedoms, the ones essential to a political system that works for the people. Many would argue that political and social rights, especially freedom of speech and press, are the most important of liberties, the rights that most directly keep despotism at bay. And a strong case can be made that it is virtually impossible to have a functioning democracy or republic without such rights being effectively protected and freely exercised. For the libertarian, however, it is virtually impossible to construct a hierarchy of rights and freedoms. Where libertarians depart from co!
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nventional (at least in modern American terms) liberals and conservatives is that they believe economic, social, political and civil rights and freedoms are all equally important - and furthermore that they are so tightly intertwined that it is virtually impossible to have one without the others.
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=2578
LET'S STOP BEING MANIPULATED! THE DELPHI TECHNIQUE (Must Read)
More and more, we are seeing citizens being invited to "participate" in various forms of meetings, councils, or boards to "help determine" public policy in one field or another. They are supposedly being included to get "input" from the public to help officials make final decisions on taxes, education, community growth or whatever the particular subject matter might be. Sounds great, doesn't it? Unfortunately, surface appearances are often deceiving. You, Mr. or Mrs. Citizen, decide to take part in one of these meetings. Generally, you will find that there is already someone designated to lead or "facilitate" the meeting. Supposedly the job of the facilitator is to be a neutral, non-directing helper to see that the meeting flows smoothly. Actually, he or she is there for exactly the opposite reason: to see that the conclusions reached during the meeting are in accord with a plan already decided upon by those who called the meeting. The process used to "facilitate" the meet!
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ing is called the Delphi Technique. This Delphi Technique was developed by the RAND Corporation for the U.S. Department of Defense back in the 1950s. It was originally intended for use as a psychological weapon during the cold war. However, it was soon recognized that the steps of Delphi could be very valuable in manipulating ANY meeting toward a pre-determined end.
http://www.etherzone.com/2002/burn092302.shtml
OK: Student disciplined for pointing finger
An elementary school student who pointed his finger like a gun at classmates has been given five days of in-school suspension. The incident appears to be the first time that the behavior has been addressed by a school in Oklahoma, said Muskogee School Superintendent Dr. Eldon Gleichman. ... State and local school officials said increased sensitivity in the wake of school shootings has changed attitudes about what was once considered an innocent game. Gleichman said that pointing a finger like a gun is not specifically addressed in the district handbook for elementary students. But he said it could be construed as threatening and would be covered under the district's anti-bullying rules. ... "They even put the metal detector on him and wouldn't let him eat breakfast with everyone else," Donaldson said. Donaldson also accused the predominantly white school of racial discrimination against her African-American son and said she plans to file a complaint with the NAACP. Hoos, p!
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rincipal at Creek Elementary for eight years, said the school has a policy against any games involving guns. ...
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=919944&TP=getarticle
Lawmakers Agree to Trim SUV Gasoline Use
Senate and House negotiators working on a final energy bill agreed on Thursday to modestly trim the amount of gasoline burned by sport utility vehicles and light trucks by 5 billion gallons over 7 years. But critics countered that such an amount would little to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The proposed 5 billion gallon reduction would have the effect of the raising the average fuel economy by less than 1 mile per gallon, according to Democrats who wanted much tougher standards. The new standard would affect sport utility vehicles and light trucks built in 2006 through 2012.
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=EHX55PROEIVIGCRBAEZSFFA?type=topnews&StoryID=1471669
EMULATING CHINA
North Korea opens special trade zone
North Korea has designated its north-western city of Sinuiju as a special administrative region, the official state news agency said yesterday, allowing free trade across the border with China. Analysts said it was the first step of its kind by the communist North and would involve market-opening measures in a trade zone centred on the city.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,1870,144266,00.html?
Students sue over 'biased' exam
From correspondents in Springfield, Massachusetts
LAWYERS for six students who failed a US exam required for high school graduation are suing the state of Massachusetts, saying the test discriminates against minorities and the poor. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Springfield, also claims the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System is unreliable and unfair. The six students are in the Class of 2003, the first required to pass the exam's English and math portions to graduate. Students have five chances to pass, beginning in their sophomore year. Half of Hispanic and 44 per cent of black high school seniors had not passed after three tries, compared with an overall failure rate of 19 per cent according to the state Education Department. "Instead of fixing struggling schools, the state instead opted to enact a high-stakes exam that effectively has punished, sacrificed and abandoned the students that were really the ones that needed the education the most," plaintiffs' attorney Tom Frongillo said.
[Besides the public school system being a known failure, is it possible that some of these students have parents who are failures or place no value on an education? Not PC to blame the parents, right?]
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5134158%255E401,00.html
Canada: Waiting lists are longest ever: report
Average time from referral to treatment is 16.5 weeks -- increase of 77% since 1993
Canadians are waiting longer than ever for medical treatment, a new national study concludes. In its 12th annual survey assessing total hospital wait times across Canada, the Fraser Institute found that the total waiting time for patients between receiving a referral from a general practitioner to undergoing treatment averaged 16.5 weeks in 2001-2002. The time is an average measured across a spectrum of 12 specialties in all 10 provinces. The report says an estimated 1,094,264 Canadians waited for treatment in 2001-2002, up from 878,088 patients the year before. While the increase is marginal over 2000-2001's average wait of 16.2 weeks, hospital waiting times are up 77% since 1993, the research notes.
[News you won't find reported by the "unbiased" U.S. news media.]
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id={FFC02C13-ECCE-49DB-88AF-EBB8901046CC}
French writer faces jail for calling Islam 'stupid'
Best-selling French writer Michel Houellebecq appeared in court this week facing the threat of a year in jail and a $51,000 fine because he said in an interview last year that Islam was a "stupid" religion. During a raucous hearing, marked by a protest inside the courtroom by free-speech activists and the shouts of demonstrators outside, Mr. Houellebecq refused to apologize to the Muslim groups who accused him of inciting religious hatred. "I have never shown the slightest contempt for Muslims, but I have always held Islam in contempt," Mr. Houellebecq told the court Tuesday. ... He also said in the interview that he rejected all monotheistic religions and that "the stupidest religion of all is Islam."
[Obviously, there is no freedom of speech in socialist France.]
http://washingtontimes.com/world/20020919-87056545.htm
Leftists at the gates
Last week, MSNBC.com columnist Eric Alterman profiled a leftist Internet-based grassroots campaign website called MoveOn.Org, describing its "awfully intelligent" work as an invaluable tool we can all use to save our republic from - you guessed it - constitutional traditionalists. Alterman, who also keyboards a column for the ultra-leftist magazine, The Nation, said the site "is emerging as one of America's premier grassroots organizations," while engaging "more than 600,000 people in the U.S. (and nearly a million worldwide) in campaigns on key public issues."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29011
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] Airlines ask for war subsidy
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 08:44:55 -0700
Airlines ask for war subsidy
Airline executives are seeking assurances of financial support from Congress to protect them from the financial ruin they say would befall the industry during another war with Iraq. The airlines are seeking tax breaks, insurance backstops or other government support. The executives say a war would drive up fuel and insurance prices and drive down the number of passengers with fears that al Qaeda and Iraqi military operatives might seek reprisal, just as the industry is beginning to regain financial footing after the September 11 attacks.
http://www.washtimes.com/business/20020919-1146937.htm
Sordid Steel Shenanigans
Bureaucratic and hypocritical aptly describe the latest U.S. proposal to reduce global steel production capacity. Efforts to tackle worldwide overcapacity--the scapegoat for the domestic industry's woes--resumed in Paris this week under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Feeling that it has now purchased redemption by granting a series of tariff exclusions, the Bush administration stands ready to resume its role as facilitator of a new world order in steel. But it truly lacks the credentials. Indeed, the U.S. steel industry needs to clean its own house first. The U.S. proposal on overcapacity ... foreshadows the advent of some monolithic organization that could eventually set world steel prices. One can't help but wonder whether the U.S. is hinting in favor for an "OPECization" of the international steel industry. Does the U.S. want to join the phantom international cartel about which domestic steel executives have been spooking the !
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government for years? Rather than jump off that bridge, a sober assessment of the facts is advisable. ...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63440,00.html
U.S. war on drugs a flop, governor admits
The U.S. war on drugs is a miserable failure, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson said Wednesday. "Where I sit as governor of the state of New Mexico . . . half of what we spend on law enforcement, half of what we spend on the courts, half of what we spend in the prisons is drug-related," Mr. Johnson told a news conference. ... The United States arrests 1.6 million people a year for drug-related crimes, 90 per cent of those for possession only. ... The Republican governor said the United States should move away from its current policy by recognizing illegal drugs are a health problem, not a criminal justice problem. Mr. Johnson said the United States can't continue to arrest and incarcerate its way out of the situation. "When you start talking about harm reduction strategies, when you start talking about legalization, I think there are going to be a lot of problems and mistakes made in that process," he said. "But I'm somebody that believes that 90 per cent of the drug proble!
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m is prohibition-related, not use-related, and that's not to discount the problems with use." He said the strategy should be to reduce death, disease and crime, noting that a needle exchange program in New Mexico had stopped the rise in HIV and hepatitis C infection rates. ...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20020918/wdrug918/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
Businesses not feeling so charitable toward schools
Many businesses and corporate foundations say they have grown so frustrated with the pace of public education reform that they are ready to cut back on contributions to public schools.
These businesses saw themselves as the cavalry in the 1990s, riding to the rescue and injecting public schools with business practices of standards and accountability. Now those companies, after giving billions of dollars to public schools over the last decade, are falling back on perhaps the first rule of business: Don't throw good money after bad. Corporate dissatisfaction with public school education has been building, but this summer may have marked a turning point: ... State Farm Insurance CEO Edward Rust, an outspoken executive on education for years, says more money won't solve the problem. Throwing money at the worst schools only rewards poor performance, he says, and the focus must be shifted from "inputs to outcomes." ... Sharp is among a growing contingent of executives who say corporate and foundation money should be pulled from education and redirected at implementing vouchers and other forms of competition. "There are an enormous number of talented and dedica!
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ted people in the public school system, but the system itself is broken," Sharp says. Those opposing competition are protecting the system, he says. "It's about the children, not the system." ... One idea with traction among corporate interests is the Children's Scholarship Fund, a philanthropy established in 1998 by New York publisher Ted Forstmann and John Walton of the Wal-Mart family. It gives partial scholarships to low-income children to attend private schools, a program that has been expanded nationwide from tests in Chicago, Jersey City, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. Demand has far outstripped supply. The fund has awarded 38,000 scholarships to 7,000 schools. A lottery system must be employed because there have been 1.3 million applicants for the scholarships, even though poor families are required to commit some of their own money and supply transportation for their children to the private schools. While only a percentage of families who want the scholars!
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hips get them, the long line has forced public schools to recognize they must improve, Sharp says. Just as breaking up the AT&T monopoly resulted in countless innovations in telecommunications, breaking up the public school monopoly is the best hope for K-12 education, he says. "We have a mandate to publicly fund education, but that doesn't mean we have to have a public education monopoly," says Sharp, who points to the public money that pours into highly competitive universities. ... Some companies became so deeply involved in fixing education that they got a close look at what they see as the biggest obstacle: the 90,000 school board members in 15,000 often-dysfunctional school districts, boards with members who are philosophically split and bicker among themselves and with superintendents while problems go unresolved. The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce says it is confronting that criticism by giving the Atlanta School District lessons in how to act like a corporate board!
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The board is told that it is there to make strategic decisions only. More authority is given to the superintendent, the CEO of schools, to put out the day-to-day fires without board interference. When parents complain to their elected board members about a teacher or principal, the board member must pass that complaint on to the superintendent's office. The superintendent's office must get back to the board member within 48 hours so that he or she can call the parents with a progress report. ... If principals are to be held accountable for the results of their schools, they must be able to hire and fire teachers, says John Ahmann, senior vice president of public policy at the Chamber. ... The California Department of Education requires sizable gifts be made to an entire district. The rule is intended to make sure rich schools don't get richer, but the consequence is that public schools don't receive a lot of money because donors want to see something concrete come of their !
generosity, Draper says. Moore said people have targeted donations for such projects as school landscaping, but the ultimate decision rests with the school board. If someone were to offer the school $500,000 to start a ballet program, "We'd say, 'We'd love to have your money, but that's not on our plate right now,' " Moore said. Draper says he plans to make the gift to one of three private schools his three children attend, to make a point. "The education establishment retains a monopoly of the most despicable type," says Draper, who two years ago funded a voucher initiative in California, which lost. "Until there is a free market for education, it will be difficult to justify donating to a system that rewards failure."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/bcovwed.htm
Bill O'Reilly: The death of outrage
After a summer of horrendous attacks on children in the United States, the kids are back to school, but we adults remain out to lunch. In Florida, there are still no arrests in the disappearance of 4-year-old Rilya Wilson, a little girl under state supervision. The authorities in the Sunshine State continue to investigate, we are told, but the caseworker assigned to assure Rilya's safety remains uncharged. So does Rilya's "godmother," who apparently cashed assistance checks for months after Rilya missing and told no one about her disappearance. Surely neglect and child endangerment charges are being considered, especially since the state caseworker allegedly filed false reports on Rilya while working at another job the state apparently didn't know about. Surely, the Florida authorities are close to doing something - after all, it's been two years since she disappeared. ... Avila's lawyer says he just did what the law demands - he put on an aggressive defense. But that argu!
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ment is bogus. What is happening now is that many defense lawyers are creating scenarios based purely on imagination and the judges are allowing them to get away with it. All Americans should be mad as hell about this, but the silence is deafening. Just consider one final thing. You have a baby daughter. She is murdered. Her alleged killer is on trial and his attorney is portraying you as an irresponsible parent - someone whose actions may have led to the killing. But the attorney knows this is a lie, just as you know it is. So what do you think about this attorney? There is no justice in America when the authorities in Florida refuse to track down those responsible for the disappearance of Rilya Wilson. And there is no justice in this country when attorneys are allowed to brutalize a grieving family and tell lies in an attempt to free a child killer. Two little girls are dead and another is probably gone as well. And dying right along with them is the American system of justi!
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ce.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28996
Steamed over global warming
I'm steamed over global warming. It's not because the earth is heating up. Quite the contrary. Just last week, U.S. scientists based at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station announced that, finally, they have been able to measure the temperature of the atmosphere 18 to 68 miles over the pole. They found it to be 68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit colder than those computer models used to predict global warming showed. ... Myron Ebell, a climate expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, reports that, before the industrial revolution, the atmosphere contained 270 PPM. Today, the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is about 380 PPM. There is a debate among scientists over how much carbon dioxide in our atmosphere would be too much. However, if the level of carbon dioxide rose to the high end in the current climate models, around 800 PPM, there is consensus on this one thing: There will be more plant growth and an overall greening of the planet. ... Ebell is also the chairman of t!
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he Cooler Heads Coalition - a group dedicated to separating fact from fiction in the global-warming debate. He said that, during the Clinton-Gore administration, more than a dozen government scientists privately contacted him and expressed support for his work. However, when he asked them to join, they told him that they had been told bluntly that it would be unhealthy for their careers to be associated with any person or group that was skeptical of this theory. Now that is what I call censorship! Since, 1988, when global warming first was introduced as a potential problem, we the taxpayers have spent some $18 billion for researchers to study this theory. The preponderance of the evidence show that there has been no appreciable warming since 1940 - before the widespread use of the internal combustion engine - which indicates that we humans have had very little, if any, effect on the climate at all. Global warming is just the latest weapon to be used by the global police who wa!
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nt to ban the burning of fossil fuel. Prior to 1988, it was global cooling and resource depletion. Now that this theory has been examined, they simply are unwilling to admit defeat. ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28991
Harry Browne: America, meet your leaders
... In his quest to go to war, the president is supported by writers and commentators who never saw a war they didn't like. That may be because they never have to go to war themselves - they just send others to their deaths. To these people, the object isn't a democratic Iraq or U.S. security. The object is war. The goal isn't peace in the Middle East or removing dangerous weapons. The goal is war. The warmongers demonstrate that war is the purpose of it all by the way they promote it. If you try to deal with any of their claims, they change the subject. ... If any of these claims were a truly serious concern, the war-mongers wouldn't be jumping around from one contention to another. ... After every war, the historians dig through the archives and discover that a great deal of what our government claimed as the reason for going to war was untrue. ... And so it goes. The politicians get us all whipped up, and only later do we discover that what we knew about the war and the!
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enemy was a lie. ... But, of course, it isn't just war that politicians lie about. They lie about their loyalty to the Constitution, they lie about their voting records, they lie about the contents of the bills they pass, they lie about the non-existent "budget surpluses." And as though that weren't enough, they vote for bills they haven't read and don't understand. They browbeat committee witnesses on subjects the politicians know nothing about. They seize on any imaginable event as an excuse to arrogate more power to themselves and to take more liberty away from us. ... I love America, not its government. I am loyal to the Constitution, not to the politicians. I love the traditional American way of life, not the 1984 version we're living today. And I don't understand why it is so great to live in a country that's constantly at war with someone somewhere in the world.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28992
A Crack House Divided
I feel nothing but sympathy and concern for Noelle Bush. Her latest stumble on the rocky road to recovery -- being caught with crack cocaine at a drug rehab center -- shows that she is in desperate need of help. As a parent, I can also easily empathize with the anguish Noelle's father, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, must be experiencing. And I'm in total agreement with his insistence that his daughter's substance abuse problem is "a private issue." But when I think about the heartless stance the Governor has taken toward the drug problems of those less-fortunate and well-connected than his daughter, my empathy turns to outrage. While Noelle has been given every break in the book -- and then some -- her father has made it harder for others in her position to get the help they need by cutting the budgets of drug treatment and drug court programs in his state. He has also actively opposed a proposed ballot initiative that would send an estimated 10,000 non-violent drug offenders !
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into treatment instead of jail. I guess what's good for the goose, gets the gander locked away. Of course, Jeb's wildly inconsistent attitude on the issue -- treatment and privacy for his daughter, incarceration and public humiliation for everyone else -- is part and parcel of the galling hypocrisy that infects America's insane drug war on every level. ... If America's drug laws were applied consistently, Jeb Bush and his family would be evicted from their publicly-funded digs, just as people living in public housing can be thrown out of their homes if any household member or guest is found using drugs -- even if the drug use happened someplace other than in the housing project. And Noelle could find herself joining the tens of thousands of young people unable to get a college education because of a provision in the Higher Education Act that denies financial aid to students convicted of possessing illegal drugs. But the rich and powerful are judged by a very different set of r!
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ules. That's why the staff at Noelle's rehab center tore up a sworn statement incriminating Noelle even though the facility's standard policy is to turn all such matters over to the police. ...
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/091602.html
WND readers want pot legalized
WorldNetDaily's poll last Saturday concerned whether pot should be legalized. The final tally of respondents was 56 percent pro and 43 percent con with variation among those answers. An unqualified yes hit the charts at 32 percent. One percent answered "other." While not scientific and prone to problems, the response didn't surprise me much. ...
Christianity
There is nothing in Scripture, for instance, that particularly plugs prohibition. While it says nothing specific about narcotics, Holy Writ is adamantly against drunkenness and dissipative abuse of alcohol. If we want a biblical approach to drugs, we must apply Scripture's cautions about booze to other brain-meddlers, as alcohol is but one of many psychoactive substances around. If we do this, we will see that the Bible distinguishes between sin and crime here. While strongly condemning drunkenness and dissipation, God doesn't provide a lot of support in Scripture for criminalizing them. Like lying, jealousy, refusing to help widows and orphans, these are sins, yes, but not crimes. If the concern is about some of the ill effects stemming from some drug abuse (property theft, abusive behavior, etc.), legislation actually sanctioned by Scripture already has those bases covered.
Conservative
The American right seems very confused on this one at times. Conservatives are opposed to big government, are in favor of states' rights, and laud the Constitution. But perhaps no single set of policies since the New Deal have so totally undermined these things as the drug war. Antidrug legislation has drastically inflated federal police powers. Federal drug laws - for which there is no provision in the Constitution - have run roughshod over the rights of states to set their own policies regarding matters left unspecified in the Constitution. And drug-war tactics have brutalized the Bill of Rights' protections of life, home and property. Further, by its constant escalation, the drug war has pushed drug traffickers to trump police in firepower, the resultant gun crime providing ammunition in the ongoing liberal war on the Second Amendment.
Intelligence
Besides being a low blow, any charge that holding a position unfriendly to drug prohibition is a sign of unintelligence is simply stupid. Thomas Sowell, Charles Murray, Milton Friedman, Walter Williams - these men aren't "reasonably intelligent"? Ponder instead how support of the drug war measures a man's intelligence: ... Supporting such a policy seems a much better mark of the lack of reasonable intelligence, rather than vice versa. Unless, of course, all those things are the actual intent of drug warriors. If so, they're not unintelligent - just evil.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28979
The Drug Czar Must Abdicate
According to survey data released this month, past-month use of illegal drugs increased from 6.3 percent in 2001 to 7.1 percent last year. These numbers can mean only one thing: It's payback time. "Drug use has gone up significantly during the first full year of the Bush Administration," crows Bob Weiner, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for most of the Clinton years. The headline over the press release reads, "Survey: Bush Reversing Drug Use Reductions." Weiner says "the new administration needs to quit laying blame and start supporting successful Clinton era bipartisan drug programs such as the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign." ... Weiner can be faulted for the lameness of his proposals: more money for anti-drug ads that demonstrably don't work, along with everything else the government is already doing to stop people from ingesting politically incorrect substances. But in his eagerness to blame George W. Bush for an upward blip in!
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drug use that almost certainly had nothing to do with the president's policies, Weiner is simply aping the behavior of Republicans who accused Clinton of being soft on drugs. ... Walters and Bennett claimed "the results of the administration's indifference are now in. And they are not good." Specifically, they cited an increase in drug use by teenagers between 1993 and 1994, which they described as "the dangerous resurgence of drugs that has occurred during President Clinton's watch" The latest survey results indicate that drug use by teenagers has risen by 12 percent during President Bush's watch. Isn't it time for John Walters to resign in disgust?
http://reason.com/links/links091802.shtml
Medical Record Rule Faces Challenge
A Washington law firm and at least one U.S. senator are preparing to join forces to block a pending rule that would allow doctors to hand over to insurance companies a patient's entire medical history without that patient's consent. The rule in question was issued last month by the Department of Health and Human Services and is set to go into effect next April. Jim Pyles, an attorney with Powers, Pyles, Sutter and Verville, told United Press International that his firm might challenge the rule in court on behalf of the American Psychoanalytic Association on the grounds that it violates a patient's right to privacy. "We haven't made the decision yet," he said, "but we're talking to a number of constitutional scholars around the country." Pyles said that the more he looks into the issue, "the more convinced I am that this is a pretty serious breach of constitutionally protected rights."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/19/65808.shtml
Government seeks voluntary steps for cybersecurity
The Bush administration formally introduced the first national strategy for Internet security Wednesday, calling for businesses, consumers and government agencies to voluntarily step up their computer security efforts. Unlike other government initiatives that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the cybersecurity plan stops short of mandating new regulations -- a testament to the fact that control of the Internet is essentially out of the federal government's hands.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/news/0902/19cybersecurity.html
Keeping Secrets
Does the Government Need to Make a Case for Secrecy in Terror Cases?
A federal appeals court is considering a judge's order to open the immigration hearings of scores of people rounded up in Sept. 11 investigations, unless the government can make a case-by-case showing for secrecy - something the Justice Department says will threaten national security. The case, heard Tuesday by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, is the latest involving what many legal experts say is an unprecedented attempt to limit access to government proceedings. At issue is a Sept. 21, 2001, directive from U.S. Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy that ordered cases designated as "special interest" by the Justice Department to be closed to the press and public. In March, two New Jersey media organizations sued, contending their First Amendment rights were violated. A federal district judge in New Jersey sided with the news organizations in May and issued an order forbidding any further exclusion of the press and public without a showing of cause.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/detainees020918.html
The Case for Space Cowboys
British astronomer Sir Martin Rees doesn't want to see merchant adventurers in outer space: "If they were governmental or international (expeditions), Antarctic-style restraint might be feasible. On the other hand, if the explorers were privately funded adventurers of free-enterprise, even anarchic disposition, the Wild West model would be more likely to prevail," he said. ... Anti-capitalists in the Third World did attempt to block private enterprise in outer space via the 1979 Moon Treaty, but that treaty was a dismal failure, with essentially every spacefaring nation declining to join it. And it's the view of nearly all scholars of space law that private enterprise, and private property rights in outer space, neither of which require national sovereignty, are legal under international law. ... The question is, will our model be Antarctica? Or the "wild west?" I think we've already seen the answer. And I think that's a good thing, not a bad one. Contrary to the images t!
!
hrown about by Euro-critics, the American West was a place in which crimes against person and property were comparatively rare, consensual combat excepted. It was a place that was open to all sorts of new projects that made a lot of people rich, gave a lot of people broader horizons, and loosened the grip of bureaucrats, authority figures, and professional tastemakers on society as a whole. Hmm. Maybe that's what bothers Sir Martin.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63477,00.html
CA: Plumbers flood Davis with campaign dollars
An obscure battle over what sort of pipes can be used in California homes has become a cash cow for Gov. Gray Davis. Plumbers unions, whose members stand to lose pay if copper water pipes are replaced by a less-expensive plastic known as PEX, have donated at least $384,000 to the Democratic governor's re-election campaign in a post-Labor Day wave. That brings the industry's support for Davis to more than $2 million since his run for office four years ago, according to campaign finance records, making plumbers one of the governor's largest backers. The latest contributions also come as the state Building Standards Commission, an independent board whose members are appointed by the governor, gears up for a new review of what materials should be included in the state plumbing code. A bid by manufacturers to include PEX in the code failed in May. Commissioners agreed with unions and other critics who said the material could have negative environmental effects and needs further!
!
study. After the commission's vote, plumbers contributed $280,000 to Davis.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4460211p-5480955c.html
DE: Rally supports police effort targeting drugs
Jump-out squads' photos have been criticized
Community leaders from Wilmington rallied Tuesday in Rodney Square to support the city police department's controversial practice of taking photographs of people they do not arrest. The half-hour rally, attended by about 20 residents, 20 police officers and several elected officials, came a few weeks after the department was criticized by some attorneys and residents for putting the photographs into a database for use in future investigations. The issue garnered national media attention. Columbus Linville, vice president of the Browntown Civic Association, said he organized the rally with hopes that it would spur Mayor James M. Baker and the police to continue their efforts to rid the city's notorious drug corners of dealers. The police "jump-out squads" were created in June to combat outdoor drug sales and loitering. Police said Tuesday the squads have arrested 546 people and photographed 112 who were not charged. Critics said taking the photographs is unconstitutional. B!
!
aker said he has no plans to stop the practice.
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2002/09/18rallysupportspo.html
GA: Education Department says Savannah State improperly spent federal money
Savannah State University has been accused of misspending thousands of federal dollars by bringing an African king and his entourage to campus and flying nine students to China. Savannah State paid a $21,657 reimbursement to the U.S. Education Department on July 12 and acknowledged some fault for misspending Title III funds, which have been given to historically black colleges to make up for decades of inadequate and unfair state funding. The money was meant to be used to create educational opportunities for as many students as possible, but the school used it for a variety of other purposes, the department said Tuesday. University President Carlton Brown said he believed there was educational value in bringing King Asante Hene, leader of the Ashanti Nation, to the school. About $20,000 was spent to fly Hene and his 16-person delegation to a campus symposium in 2001. The Education Department questioned what role a king plays in international education. The costs included a!
!
caravan of limousines, rooms at an inn and an honorarium for the king. The Education Department also cited a July 2000 trip to China that cost $15,912 for nine students. The Education Department denied a request to fund the trip, but an auditor found the university used Title III money for it anyway.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0509_BC_SavannahState-Spendin&&news&newsflash-national
--
Johann Opitz <johannp@earthlink.net> RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Subject: [ca-liberty] Libertarian Party women release pin-up calendar
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 05:06:59 -0700
Libertarian Party women release pin-up calendar
GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina's Libertarian Party has found a way to expose its platform.
A Libertarian candidate for the state House of Representatives has put together a pin-up calendar featuring herself and 11 other Libertarian women, including five other candidates. The candidates plan to sell the calendar to raise money for their campaigns.
Rachel Mills, who's running in House District 31 against incumbent Mickey Michaux, D-Durham, said she got the idea after a call from Playboy magazine.
Mills, 27, works for MCI-WorldCom, the scandal-plagued telecommunications company.
...
Sean Haugh, a Libertarian running for the U.S. Senate, suggested a calendar.
None of the Libertarian women appears wearing less than lingerie, said Jennifer Schulz Medlock, a candidate for House District 61 who appears in the calendar in tank top, shorts and boxing gloves.
...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/4099765.htm
--
Johann Opitz <johannp@earthlink.net> RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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From: webmaster@authorzone.com ("atheistrevolution")
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Join the AtheistRevolution.Com
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 04:34:09 -0000
Join the AtheistRevolution.Com
Please join the REVOLUTION!
http://www.AtheistRevolution.Com
Kind regards,
Max
Community Web Page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/community/lpaz-discuss
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From: bobhunt@erols.com (unknown)
To: Individual-Sovereignty@yahoogroups.com, lpaz-repost@yahoogroups.com, MDLP-NEWS@onelist.com
Subject: [lpaz-repost] LP "death spiral"??
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 20:22:32 -0400
LP "death spiral"??
http://archive.lp.org/lnc/ec/20020821.html
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From: carol@carolmoore.net (Carol Moore)
To: lpus-misc@dehnbase.org (Lpus-misc)
Subject: [libs4peace] Why Dasbach Resigned (non-definitive)
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 18:51:06 -0400
For insights into why see the Executive Committee minutes posted at:
http://archive.lp.org/lnc/ec/20020821.html
I'll let someone else read more carefully and summarize the minutes,
which include a couple points below as well as others. I'll just list
a few insights a little bird told me which I wrote down (subjectivity
levels noted).
1. The party is bankrupt and may still be after cashes in last
certificate--or til a whole bunch of money comes in the mail.
2. The staff has build up more than $100,000 (including taxes) of
very generous leave, vacation time, etc that is owed, without
authorization by or notice to the LNC.
3. The staff was moving money around from the Convention Account to
pay operating expenses which it really should not have been doing.
4. The Natl Director doesn't want to fire any staff and doesn't
seem interested in being clear on who is doing what and how many hours
they are working and what they are getting paid. (More clarification
needed on this.)
5. It's clear a forensic audit is going to have to be done to dig
through 5-6 years of accounts. (Subjective comment.)
6. The current staff is mostly people who don't really know how to
sell liberty so they are happy to get and keep members by compromising
principles and tolerating those who support statist abuses. (Very
subjective comment.)
Just hope whoever is working on getting LP out of those $9,000 a month
offices is busy looking.
Carol in dc...
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From: campaign@electmedlock.org ("Jennifer Medlock")
To: atheist_libertarians@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [atheist_libertarians] CNN, Crossfire-NC Libertarians!!!
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 20:20:32 -0000
Rachel Mills http://www.rachelmills.com (calendar girl, candidate)
will be on Crossfire tonight. Rachel and I
http://www.electmedlock.org will be on CNN at 8:30 tomorrow morning
talking about the 2003 NC Ladies of Liberty calendar. -Jennifer
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] Ron Paul: [35] Questions That Won't Be Asked About Iraq
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 06:52:05 -0700
Ron Paul: [35] Questions That Won't Be Asked About Iraq
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/09/14/ronpaul.htm
Ron Paul: Entangling Alliances
... I'm disappointed that the President has chosen to further entangle the American people with the United Nations by rejoining UNESCO. For decades UNESCO has promoted its anti-American "education" agenda with our tax dollars. President Reagan was right to withdraw America from the politicized and corrupt UNESCO, especially since American taxpayers funded a whopping 25% of its budget. Our new promised financial commitment to UNESCO is at least $60 million annually. ... Meanwhile, Russia and France have made it known that they might be persuaded to support our war effort if the American government guarantees payment for commercial debts owed them by Iraq. This amounts to nothing less than buying allies. Incredibly, the U.S. Treasury may make good on Saddam Hussein's bad debts, with American taxpayers settling his unpaid bills! ... The root of the problem is our insistence on accepting the concept of one-world globalist government while pursuing unilateralist goals. We parti!
!
cipate in globalist institutions like the UN, sign globalist treaties, and send our sons and daughters to fight in globalist wars that have nothing to do with our national interest. Yet we also demand the right to act unilaterally when it suits us, to set all policy in the global arena, and to exclude ourselves from many of the international rules. ... What is badly needed today is a coherent foreign policy based on American national security and self-defense, free trade, a rejection of entangling political and military alliances, and a wholesale removal of the U.S. from the clutches of global government.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul54.html
Paul Craig Roberts: Before invading, consider the risks
Wars have unintended consequences even for those who win them. Before the United States invades Iraq, let us give careful consideration to unintended consequences. The possibility is real that a U.S. invasion would stir up 1 billion Muslims at a time when the United States has run out of both money and belief. Government edifices in the Middle East are built on a political fissure. Secular rulers lack the support of large and fervent percentages of populations that are influenced by mullahs and Muslim schools. An American attack on Iraq could further compromise the Pakistani, Egyptian and Saudi Arabian governments, leading to their eventual overthrow. Saddam Hussein is bad news. But is removing him worth the risk of delivering large populations and Pakistani nuclear missiles into the hands of hostile Islamic governments? Before invading Iraq, the United States should be certain that an invasion will not play into radical hands and unite the Middle East against us. ... Amer!
!
ica faces a terrorist threat for two reasons: immigration and the security arrangement with Israel. Before risking stirring up the Middle East by invading Iraq, the United States should hold an unemotional debate on immigration and on the commitment to Israel. If the United States is to maintain its security commitment to Israel, and if no political and economic accommodation can be made with Arabs that would reduce their hostility to Israel, the United States must close its borders and prepare for war with the Middle East.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/paulcraigroberts/pcr20020918.shtml
Judge Holds Gale Norton in Contempt
A federal judge has found Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt of court for failing to fix the Indian trust fund system which handles millions of dollars in Indian royalty payments. U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth called Interior's handling of Indian money and the action of government attorneys in the case disgraceful. Lamberth also made it known that he has the authority to take management of the funds away from the department. ... Norton is the third Cabinet officer that Lamberth has held in contempt over the trust fund. Former President Clinton's Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, and Interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt, were held in contempt on the case in 1999. They were fined $600,000 for failing to turn over documents in the five-year-old class-action lawsuit. ... The government has acknowledged major problems with the trust fund. Interior has spent more than $600 million since 1996 to comply with instructions from both Congress and Lamberth, but accoun!
!
ting problems persist. Norton inherited many of the problems with the trust fund. During a 29-day trial that ended in late February, she asked Lamberth for more time to make fixes. Lamberth was unmoved and has scolded Interior officials for foot-dragging. In a 267-page opinion, Lamberth said Interior not only failed to comply with his orders but also had lied to him about its progress in repairing the trust. "The agency has indisputably proven to the court, Congress, and the individual Indian beneficiaries that it is either unwilling or unable to administer competently the (Indian) trust," Lamberth wrote. "Worse yet, the department has now undeniably shown that it can no longer be trusted to state accurately the status of its trust reform efforts. In short, there is no longer any doubt that the secretary of Interior has been and continues to be an unfit trustee-delegate for the United States." ... Interior thus far has been opposed to independent oversight of the system. ... F!
!
or more than a century, an untold amount of money meant for some of the nation's poorest residents was lost, stolen or never collected. ...
[And Democans and Republicrats want the rest of us to believe even more big gov't is very good for us?]
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63325,00.html
Interior Secretary May Appeal Ruling
Interior Secretary Gale Norton said she may appeal a judge's decision holding her in contempt of court for failing to fix her department's mismanagement of hundreds of millions of dollars of royalties from Indian land. ... "In my 15 years on the bench, I have never seen a litigant make such a concerted effort to subvert the truth-seeking function of the judicial process," Lamberth wrote. "The Department of Interior is truly an embarrassment to the federal government in general and the executive branch in particular." ... Norton said the ruling deals mostly with events that occurred before the Bush administration, and she has devoted more energy to fixing the management of Indian money than any other project. ... He set a deadline of Jan. 6, 2003, for the department to submit plans for an accounting and overhaul of the trust fund and scheduled a trial for May 2003 to determine what other actions the court should take. Lamberth also ordered the government to pay the plaintif!
!
fs' attorneys fees. ...
[The largest case of gov't corruption and gross incompetence in the history of the USA and the media, Dems, & Repubs keep trying to sweep it under the carpet.]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=536&e=4&cid=536&u=/ap/20020918/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/norton_contempt
CA: City Leaders Help in Marijuana Giveaway at City Hall
Calling Santa Cruz a sanctuary from federal authorities, medical marijuana advocates -- joined by city leaders -- passed out pot to about a dozen sick people at City Hall.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63381,00.html
Gov. Jeb Bush has moral obligation to pardon every drug offender, Libertarians say!
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has a moral obligation to pardon every nonviolent drug offender, Libertarians say, after insisting on Tuesday that his daughter's latest drug episode should be treated as a "family matter" rather than as a criminal matter. "Why is Noelle Bush sitting in a rehab center while other drug-law violators are rotting in prison?" asked Ron Crickenberger, Libertarian Party political director. "The answer is obvious: Because her father happens to be a hypocritical governor who believes in one standard of justice for his family and another standard for yours."
http://www.libertyforall.net/2002/archive/sept16/jeb.html
Western Lawmakers Attack Power Plan
Western lawmakers assailed a proposal Tuesday for nationwide rules on the operation of electricity grids, fearing it would raise power prices in the Northwest and in rural areas elsewhere across the country. ... But the proposed 630-page regulation, which Wood acknowledged is still a "work in progress'' and will not be made final until next spring, came under attack from Northwest lawmakers as well as a number of state officials who complained it would take away states' authority to deal with power grid issues. Some critics complained it would force states to adopt a market-based power system. ... The promise did not impress Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who along with other GOP senators as well as a number of state officials, view the FERC regulation as an attempt to usurp states' authority over how electricity is distributed and sold. ... Illinois and Pennsylvania are two state that have moved aggressively to deregulate their power markets and welcome attempts by FERC to establ!
!
ish broad, regionally controlled transmissions systems. ...
[So much for the myth that Repubs are pro-free market!]
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63358,00.html
The End of an Era?
The Kennedy magic may be fading. Last Tuesday, in Maryland's gubernatorial primary, 21 percent of voters, offered a choice between Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and a retired grocery store clerk, named Robert Raymond Fustero, chose Fustero. ... The curtain may be starting to close on Camelot. Some observers say the Kennedy "mystique" isn't translating well to a new generation of voters. ... "The current generation has a mixed memory of the Kennedys--they see the public service, but also the public problems." ... "There is the mystification [of the Kennedys] that wins some folks, but that is balanced by the resentment of perceived carpetbaggery." ... In another Maryland primary last Tuesday, Mark Kennedy Shriver found that his good looks and celebrity status were not enough as he lost to Christopher Van Hollen in the U.S. House of Representatives primary, 43 percent to 41 percent. The loss makes him only the second Kennedy ever to lose an election. ...
{And lovers of liberty everywhere have a few tears of JOY.]
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63337,00.html
Lay Low the Rich
Earlier this year, a series of news reports revealed that the government's tax enforcers were applying disproportionate pressure on the working class and the working poor. It turns out, extensive audits showed , that quite a few backyard auto mechanics, diner waitresses, and clock punchers of all sorts weren't reporting all their income. Well, how can our illustrious political class expect to serve us but by squeezing every last dime out of these working folks? So they were looted even more, to some degree of public skepticism. Well, responding to the criticism, and sensing a change in public mood, the tax authorities now have a new tactic: they will disproportionately target the rich. Do we hear loud cheers? Could be, in this age of envy, but that would still be strange. It would be the equivalent of celebrating when a crime wave moves from the inner city to the suburbs. With taxes at historic highs and government spending increasing at rates not seen since the 1960s, it !
!
is hardly surprising that the Republicans are looking for ways out. Some bright light with the Bush administration realized that the rich are the people who have the most money, so if money is what they want, they should go after those who have it first. In any case, it is the rich who have the resources to employ fancy tactics to reduce tax liability.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/laylow.html
CA: Davis fund-raising to get 'review'
State AG Lockyer replies to a challenge by his election rival.
[Sure, just like trusting the fox to guard the hen house.]
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4447838p-5468852c.html
CA: L.A. secession poll
By a two-to-one margin, California voters believe the San Fernando Valley's proposed secession from Los Angeles would be a good thing for valley residents and a bad deal for others in the city, according to a new Field Poll. City residents will face the secession question on the Nov. 5 ballot. About a third of state residents had no opinion on the matter, but 43 percent said valley residents would benefit from a split. In a separate question, 46 percent said a breakup would be a "bad thing" for residents remaining in Los Angeles. Again, about a third had no opinion. More than half of state voters had no opinion on whether the split would be good or bad for the state as a whole.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4447840p-5468854c.html
Hillary and the Clitoridectomy hoax
Being a feminist means never having to say you're sorry. Witness The Great Clitoridectomy Hoax -- brought to you by the unapologetic, estrogen-fueled brigade of Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts and Hillary Clinton. In 1997, a West African woman calling herself "Adelaide Abankwah" entered the U.S. illegally. She was a perfect, politically correct poster child for the American feminist cause. Too perfect. "Abankwah" landed on our shores from Ghana. She told immigration authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City that she was the daughter of the dead "Queen Mother" of a Ghanaian tribe, the "Nkumssa," which allegedly practiced female genital mutilation. The young "Princess Abankwah" said she feared she would be involuntarily subjected to a cutting ritual, known as a clitoridectomy, if tribal members discovered she had engaged in premarital sex. ... But INS investigators had gathered overwhelming evidence that this royal highness was a royal joker. "Adela!
!
ide Abankwah" was actually Regina Norman Danson, a Ghanaian hotel worker whom the INS concluded had stolen the real Abankwah's identity and cooked up her persecution story to increase her chances of gaining asylum. According to sworn INS affidavits and evidence, Danson's mother was alive and well when Danson made her asylum claim; she and her mom had never been members of the Nkumssa tribe; and there was no tradition of female genital mutilation in the region where Danson had lived and worked in Ghana. Although The Washington Post exposed the hoax in 2000 and Danson admitted falsifying her identity, no effort was made to deport Danson or charge her with fraud -- reportedly because of pressure from Hillary Clinton, who "was very helpful" to Danson's cause, according to the bogus royal's feminist cheerleaders. The Danson case languished until last week, when federal prosecutors filed fraud charges against her in the last days before the statute of limitations expired. ... Meanwh!
!
ile, the feminist groups who championed Danson have now disappeared. A spokesperson for Hillary Clinton would only comment that it would be "upsetting" if the fraud charges stand. ... "Everybody -- Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, Chuck Schumer -- got sucked in. They saw a good story and it didn't matter whether it was true." Female truth mutilation is, of course, nothing new. The outrage is that we continue to allow our asylum policies to be exploited by liars, cheats, terrorists and political opportunists at the expense of the truly oppressed.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20020918.shtml
NC: Funding worries lawmen
Area police chiefs and sheriffs say they are worried that their needs will have the least priority for federal homeland security money. They say they also are concerned that federal programs that fund community policing efforts are in jeopardy.
[Local gov't addicted to federal gov't handouts.]
http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=local&Story=5153714
SUVs unsafe at all times, author says [promoting SUV hatred]
Builders and buyers are in for a bashing
Detroit's top auto executives, plus legions of Explorer, Grand Cherokee, Durango, Navigator and Tahoe owners, will be squirming -- and probably fuming -- over publication today of a provocative book, "High and Mighty: SUVs, the World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way." This book assaults sport-utility vehicles with a gusto recalling Ralph Nader's 1965 broadside against the Corvair in "Unsafe at Any Speed." Written by New York Times correspondent Keith Bradsher, "High and Mighty" (Public Affairs, $28) bashes auto companies, auto buyers, the government and even Sierra Club tree huggers for the sport-utility vehicle craze that Bradsher claims is killing thousands of people and wrecking the environment. Do you drive an SUV? If so, don't read the next quote with food in your mouth. Here's what Bradsher writes about SUV buyers: "They tend to be people who are insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood!
!
They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors or communities." ... I figure if Bradsher wants to write a book, he ought to have a point of view and not pussyfoot around with it. And if the barbs sting a bit, that's OK -- Detroit can handle a little spirited sniping. But it's a bit much, even for me, to read that Chrysler executives wanted to use tinted rear windows to give a "more menacing image" to the PT Cruiser. Yep, even the cuddly Cruiser can be menacing in "High and Mighty."
http://www.auto.com/industry/walsh17_20020917.htm
NY: Suffolk County proposes ban on smoking in public places
Lawmakers on eastern Long Island on Tuesday joined their counterparts in the New York metropolitan area in proposing a ban on smoking in public places. Suffolk County legislators announced a bill that would allow smoking only in private homes and in private, enclosed offices occupied exclusively by smokers. The only place smoking would be permitted would be in outdoor seating areas at bars and restaurants. State and federal property would be exempt from the restrictions.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?j0160_BC_NY--SuffolkSmoking&&news&newsflash-newjersey
Mother of God, is this the Trend of RICO?
A number of years back, there was an article on The Sunday New York Times about the effect of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. One authority was quoted as saying that the only limit to the application of the act was the imagination of the prosecutor. You have to think about that for a few minutes. This was an act that supposed to be intended for organized crime figures but the only limit to its application is the imagination of a prosecutor. ... An interesting application of the Act could be to declare Bush, Ashcroft, Daschle, Gephardt, Lott, Armey, Rehquist et al a RICO for their joint ventures in violation of the Constitution. I think they certainly qualify as conspirators. The ill-gotten gains of the federal government then would be subject to forfeiture and given back to the taxpayers. Then, they'd all have to provide for their own legal defenses. That is unless, we could seize that part of their estates that came from government employ!
!
ment. Now that could be a hoot. ...
http://www.libertyforall.net/2002/archive/sept16/rico.html
--
Johann Opitz <johannp@earthlink.net> RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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From: wizard@VAN-KOPP.COM (Dave Kopp)
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
Subject: Re: A Good Snicker...
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 13:27:27 -0700
Hey,
> Found this quite humorous.
>
> http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=4046
That was priceless! I smell another activist action plan in the making ...
--
L8R.
Dave
Personal:
Email: wizard@van-kopp.com
Web site: http://www.van-kopp.com
Business:
Email: Dave@spol.com
Web Site: http://www.spol.com
PGP fingerprint = A8 75 C1 C0 78 67 B3 E9 F7 14 02 49 70 1E C4 2F
Public key available at http://www.van-kopp.com/elecpriv.html#pgpkey
or http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~bal/pks-toplev.html
--
"The sacred rights of property are to be guarded at every point. I call them
sacred, because, if they are unprotected, all other rights become worthless
or visionary. What is personal liberty, if it does not draw after it the
right to enjoy the fruits of our own industry? What is political liberty, if
it imparts only perpetual poverty to us and all our posterity? What is the
privilege of a vote, if the majority of the hour may sweep away the earnings
of our whole lives, to gratify the rapacity of the indolent, the cunning, or
the profligate, who are borne into power upon the tide of a temporary
popularity?"
-- Justice Joseph Story, 1852
--
IRA, CIA, FBI, KILL, TERRORIST, BOMB, TARGET, TERMINATE, JIHAD,
CEASEFIRE, ATHEIST, ALLAH, FREEDOM, TRUTH, JUSTICE, MARIJUANA,
POT, COKE, BREW, DOPE, SEX, DRUGS, TNT, C4, CORDITE, GUNPOWDER,
REBELS, OVERTHROW, I love it when the government reads my email.
From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: FirearmsUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] CA: Calif. Enacts Paid Family Leave Bill
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 07:26:09 -0700
CA: Calif. Enacts Paid Family Leave Bill
Gov. Gray Davis signed a law Monday that makes California the first state to offer workers paid family leave. The law - financed by an employee payroll tax - allows workers to take six weeks off to care for a newborn, a newly adopted child or ill family member. Employees will be eligible to receive 55 percent of their wages during their absence, up to a maximum of $728 a week. "I don't want Californians to choose between being good parents and good employees," said Davis, a Democrat running for re-election in November. Supporters hope the bill will serve as a nationwide model, while business groups denounced it as too costly for employers. Federal law grants up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers at businesses with more than 50 employees. The paid-leave law is the latest of several groundbreaking social and environmental laws passed in California this year. Earlier, California became the first state to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. ...
[Komrade Davis continues to show his true colors of being a neo-Marxist. If business in CA had any chutzpah they would leave the state and leave the far left in CA hanging high and dry.]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=514&e=6&cid=514&u=/ap/20020924/ap_on_re_us/california_paid_leave
CA: Legislators quietly try to aid staff
A bill on Gov. Gray Davis' desk -- passed in the final days of the legislative session last month without public hearings -- would give employees of the Legislature a new pension benefit not enjoyed by other state workers. The measure, AB 2004, would let approximately 2,300 legislative employees purchase up to five additional years of pension credit in the lucrative Public Employees' Retirement System for time not spent on the public payroll. The opportunity would not be available to thousands of other state employees, although those in the State Teachers Retirement System already have a similar provision in law. ... Correa's bill originally extended a similar benefit to a handful of counties among those that participate in PERS. It cleared the Legislature and landed on Davis' desk Aug. 22. But in an unusual maneuver, it was pulled from his desk four days later, and the provisions affecting legislative employees were added in the Senate. No hearings were held on the revise!
!
d bill, which retains benefits for the counties, and lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to send it back to the Democratic governor on Aug. 30 -- the next-to-last day of the legislative session. im Knox, executive director of California Common Cause, said the bill's last-minute odyssey through the Legislature is "one of the worst" examples of secretive lawmaking he's seen. ... Attempting last-minute changes to the PERS system -- usually to add benefits to specific people or classes of people -- is nothing new to lawmakers. In 2000, Davis vetoed a bill that would have improved public pensions for a handful of ex-lawmakers and other specific state employees, including several people on the governor's staff and the head of his gubernatorial transition team. Lawmakers tried twice to quietly give a golden handshake to the Legislature's chief lawyer, Legislative Counsel Bion Gregory, by officially adding four years to his age and length of state service. Both efforts fizzled, and Gregory!
!
retired from the post late last year at age 61.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4528620p-5548115c.html
Feds Seize Cattle of Nev. Ranchers
As more than 30 armed federal agents stood by, Bureau of Land Management officials seized 227 head of cattle they say two Western Shoshone sisters were grazing illegally on public land. Mary and Carrie Dann, who have been at odds with federal authorities for nearly three decades over grazing and land ownership, sharply criticized the operation Sunday in Pine Valley in northeast Nevada. They maintain the Western Shoshone tribe still owns much of Nevada under an 1863 treaty and the BLM has no jurisdiction over their ranching operation. ... But BLM spokeswoman Jo Simpson said the courts have ruled the land in question is owned by the public, not the tribe. "The courts have extinguished the treaty and directed BLM to manage those lands as public lands," she said. ... Simpson warned that the BLM would seize about 800 horses in the same area in the future if the Danns fail to remove them. In May, the BLM seized and sold 157 head of cattle it says rancher Raymond Yowell and the T!
!
e-Moak Band of Western Shoshone were grazing illegally on public land in Elko County. ...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020923/ap_on_re_us/cattle_seized_1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55304-2002Sep23.html
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA8HBWKG6D.html
Reparations lawyers eye Fla. decision
Lawyers now in the final stages of preparing to sue the federal government for wrongs done by slavery say their cause has been bolstered by a new court ruling that could overcome legal obstacles that could block their claims at the outset. A team of lawyers working on the slavery reparations issue is now adapting their plans for lawsuits to take advantage of what one of them, Harvard professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr., calls a groundbreaking decision by a federal judge in Miami last month. The ruling was made, not in a case about slavery, but about the Holocaust. That lawsuit was filed by Hungarian Jews against the US government for its alleged role in taking their property after it was seized from them by Nazis in Hungary during World War II. Their case is the only one among a variety of Holocaust lawsuits to target the US government, a factor that leads some legal analysts to believe that the ruling could be applied to slave reparations claims.
http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/265/nation/Reparations_lawyers_eye_Fla_decision+.shtml
Sunshine Laws
Exposing Anti-Freedom Illegality And Stupidity For Fun And Profit
"Sunshine laws" are rules that allow public inquiry into government affairs. "Open meeting laws" such as California's "Brown Act" force public access to the decision-making processes of government bodies, both on paper and in person, while the Federal "Freedom Of Information Act" (FOIA) and it's state-level relatives (Public Records Act in California (1)) force most government documents to be "public record" and available for inspection or copying by any citizen or legal resident alien who asks (2). We're going to focus on the use and tactics of public document access. Meeting minutes and transcripts under "open meeting laws" can also be a rich source of information at times, and can be asked for just like any other government document under the FOIA or similar. A third source of data revolves around campaign contribution records.
http://www.doingfreedom.com/gen/0902/sunshine.html
Bush Seeks to Overturn Suicide Law
The Bush administration asked a federal appeals court Monday to strike down Oregon's assisted-suicide law as counter to U.S. drug law. Attorney General John Ashcroft is seeking to sanction and perhaps hold Oregon doctors criminally liable if they prescribe lethal doses of medication under the Oregon measure, the only such law in the nation. The Oregon law, approved by voters in 1994 and 1997, allows the terminally ill to obtain a lethal dose of drugs if they have less than six months to live and are mentally competent to make the request. Patients must take the fatal dose by themselves. The dispute between Washington and Oregon is a classic states' rights battle. In papers filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice Department argued that the Controlled Substance Act - the federal law declaring what drugs doctors may prescribe - prohibits doctors from prescribing controlled substances except for "legitimate medical purposes." And "the attorney general has!
!
permissibly concluded that suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose," the Justice Department said.
[What about the individual's right to decide about their own life and what is a legitimate medical purpose? The 9th and 10th Admendments continue to be forgotten by the very gov't which is suppose to abid by them.]
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Assisted%20Suicide
The Taxpayer's Addendum
... I'm not here to bash either the Republicans or the Democrats on spending. They both spend too much to fund their various vote-buying schemes, and they do so without any real accountability to the American taxpayers. It's time for "The Taxpayer's Addendum." ... "The Taxpayer's Addendum" is a simple, written acknowledgement from a politician that he recognizes and appreciates the source of the funds he is spending. The idea is simple. Every time any legislation is introduced at the local or federal level which calls for the expenditure of taxpayer funds the following addendum, "The Taxpayer's Addendum," shall be affixed to the end of the bill and signed by all sponsors. "The Taxpayer's Addendum" would read: ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29037
Rockefeller-sponsored socialism
There's a quiet movement building for international peace and economic justice centered on a document that would reorganize humanity around a sacred earth-worshipping mission. This Saturday, for instance, the University of Vermont will host a program called "We the People: Summit for Peace." The keynote speaker and, shall we say, the purse strings behind this movement is Steven C. Rockefeller. Rockefeller is chairman of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and a trustee of the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica. From 1997 through 2000, he chaired the international Earth Charter drafting committee and is Earth Charter commissioner for North America. The Earth Charter, in case you haven't guessed, is the globalists' version of the Constitution. This is the founding document of a new world order. Most people just shrug this stuff off - laugh it off. And maybe that's what it deserves. But I'd like you to consider that this Earth Charter nonsense is taken very seriously!
!
at the United Nations.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29034
Billions needed to fight al Qaeda
The commander of U.S. special-operation forces says he needs billions of dollars more in spending and thousands more personnel to carry out an order to accelerate the global war on al Qaeda and other terror groups. Bush administration officials say Air Force Gen. Charles Holland, who heads U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., has told Pentagon officials that he needs $23 billion in added spending during the next five years beginning with the budget that starts Oct. 1, 2004, nearly a doubling of his allocation. He also has requested that the "special ops" community of 47,000 personnel be increased by 9,000. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in July ordered Gen. Holland's command to play a larger role in hunting and killing al Qaeda followers.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020924-1717864.htm
Catholic Bishop Arrested as China Tightens Noose on the Church
Chinese police arrested the ranking Roman Catholic bishop of the underground Church, signaling a harsher crackdown on Catholics loyal to the Pope
Bishop Wei Jingyi, 44, the former secretary of the conference of Chinese bishops loyal to the Vatican, was picked up by police in the city of Qiqihar on September 9th, the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation told Reuters. The Foundation told Reuters the bishop's arrest is a sign that China is tightening its noose on the spiritual leaders of eight million Chinese Catholics the Vatican estimates are loyal to the Pope, compared to only five million in the state-backed Catholic Church.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/9/24/00254
British dossier on Iraq
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/international/iraqdossier.pdf
Blair Makes Case for Action Against Iraq
... The dossier provided a highly detailed history of Iraq's efforts to build weapons of mass destruction, and an assessment of its current capabilities based on British and allied intelligence. However, there appeared to be little new information in the report. Analysts have been warning for years that Saddam has continued to develop chemical and biological weapons and has also tried to develop nuclear weapons, although with little sign of success. Maj. Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, said the report "does not produce any convincing evidence, or any killer fact, that says that Saddam Hussein has to be taken out straight away." "What it does do is produce very convincing evidence that the weapons inspectors have to be pushed back into Iraq very quickly," Heyman said. ...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63915,00.html
Plan Helps Guide States Should There Be Need for Mass Smallpox Vaccinations
Federal officials sent states detailed guidelines Monday for rapidly vaccinating their entire populations against smallpox should the deadly disease return through an act of terrorism. ... The plan sent Monday offers specific suggestions for a community that must vaccinate 1 million people in 10 days, but officials said Monday that the timing and the scope of vaccinations will depend on the situation. ...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63893,00.html
U.S. Should Stay Out of UNESCO
A statement went almost unnoticed in President Bush's Sept. 12 address to the United Nations General Assembly on Iraq. The president pledged to rejoin UNESCO -- the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -- from which the U.S. had withdrawn in protest in 1984. Rejoining is a mistake. The U.N. and its alphabet-soup agencies are committed to spreading a politically correct agenda on issues such as gender around the globe. The U.N. is a corrupt, mismanaged and power-hungry organization that has contempt for the U.S. and for individual rights. UNESCO is not the benign agency it is sometimes painted as, as President Reagan discovered. In the early '80s, American tax dollars were funding about 25 percent of UNESCO's bloated budget which -- it was discovered -- went largely to fund leftist causes or into the pockets of then Director-General Mahtar M'Bow and his cronies. The rest of the American tax money went into producing proposals such as UNESCO's "Ne!
!
w World Information Order," approved by the U.N. General Assembly in 1974. The policy required journalists around the world to be licensed to practice so that cultural bias in reporting could be prevented through the threat of revocation or non-issuance. Translation: Western journalists and their values would no longer be allowed to "dominate." In exiting UNESCO with congressional support, Reagan declared the agency "extraneously politicized virtually every subject it deals with. It has exhibited a hostility toward the basic institutions of a free society, especially a free market and a free press."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63892,00.html
CA: For Assembly, dithering had its rewards
As Assembly Democrats and Republicans haggled over the state budget during what was supposed to be a summer recess, there was one point both sides could embrace: They were still entitled to $121 a day for living expenses. More than three-quarters of lawmakers took the so-called "per diem" from July 5 to Aug. 5. For members who weren't absent and qualified the whole time, it added up to $3,751 each. A handful of legislators waived their living expenses during part or all of that time. Some wrote in letters to Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, that it would be wrong to take taxpayer money when the Legislature had failed to fulfill its constitutional duty to pass a budget by June 15.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4528621p-5548119c.html
CA: Dan Walters: Mother's milk of politics may be turning sour for fund-raiser Davis
Money is," as the late Jesse Unruh famously observed, "the mother's milk of politics." And no one in contemporary California politics suckles more successfully than Gray Davis. As he seeks re-election as governor this year, however, Davis is finding that the $50 million-plus he has raised so methodically is a two-edged sword. While his fat treasury allows Davis to saturate the airwaves with ads, mostly ad hominem assaults on political rivals, it also is providing critics with ammunition to contend that Davis is a pay-to-play governor and thus is driving his already low standing among voters downward.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4528625p-5548114c.html
Ashcroft's edicts raise alerts on left and right
Civil liberties could be lost to the war on terror, critics warn.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, whom the religious right backed as a presidential candidate and later championed to be the nation's top law-enforcement officer, has become a target of an unlikely coalition of conservatives and liberals that warns the administration's war on terrorism may be won at the cost of constitutional liberties. Paul Weyrich, a veteran of the religious right and president of the Free Congress Foundation, gathered signatures of the leaders of 26 conservative groups this month -- as well as the support of the American Civil Liberties Union -- in petitioning the administration to be cautious about legislation that restricts "the personal freedoms and civil liberties of all Americans." Noting that conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill had joined the Christian Coalition, Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum and Americans For Tax Reform in sharing his concerns, Weyrich said, "I haven't seen this kind of split in the conservative movement in 40 years."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4528626p-5548113c.html
Envy and income taxes
When George Bush's tax cuts of last year expire in 2010 -- those cuts that top Democrats insist should die rather than live past the cutoff date -- 36 million taxpayers will be paying the "alternative minimum tax," a levy contrived in 1986 to make sure everybody pays something. Likely a distinct minority of Americans is aware such a tax exists. Ahem -- brace for the knowledge that bites. This joyful forecast comes from a new study by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, neither one known as a constituent member of the vast right-wing conspiracy. ... A decade or so ago, post-Ronald Reagan, there seemed some prospect of overhauling the tax code and eliminating its distortions. Reformers batted back and forth two ideas: a flat tax and a consumption tax. Either was clearly preferable to the progressive income tax, whereby we pretend to be allotting everyone his fair share of taxes, except that the system is ventilated with loopholes, "incentives," deductions, cre!
!
dits and such like. Nobody understands the tax code. Were there no tax code, half the certified public accountants in America would be working in teller cages or studying the viola. The progressive income tax, whatever the intentions of its original proponents, works to excite envy. Envy means wishing you had something that rich guy across town owns or wishing, alternatively, that fortune would take him down several pegs. Envy is ugly. It is also exquisitely human. This is why the progressive income tax won't go away. Its ugliness makes humans smile. And if they are slow to smile, a certain kind of "populist" politician is at hand to remind the underprivileged how privileged are those folk with large cars and jewels, paid for out of checking accounts. And how crooked and selfish most of them are! All those stock options! Those mega-houses! Democrats, who like to pose as the champions of the downtrodden (remembering how many downtrodden votes are out there) are especially adept!
!
at tax-code demagoguery. ...
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/billmurchison/wm20020924.shtml
A high price for free speech
The Supreme Court will be convening soon, and it will immediately have to make a decision whether to hear a case on free speech. The case involves target practice. Now, I suppose you thought speech had something to do with verbal communication or writing. If only it were so. In Massachusetts, it is against the law to shoot at pictures of human images at gun club shooting ranges. This includes the likenesses of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, even though the government is busy trying to kill both of them. I can understand how some politicians would get nervous watching gun owners take pot shots at human silhouettes, but I cannot understand how such an endeavor falls into the category of free speech. If you look in the dictionary, you would be hard pressed to stretch the definition of speech to flag waving and target practice. Of course, poor Mr. Webster didn't have the wisdom of the Supremes. The business of the Supreme Court is to tell us what our Founding Fathers rea!
!
lly meant when they drafted to Constitution. There is a concern that allowing firearm owners to practice shooting at the human form might lead to the killing of real people. So far as I know, there is no one interested in shooting me. However, I would just as soon see those who are interested in committing mayhem be proficient in hitting their target rather than taking down innocent bystanders such as myself. It looks like the Puritans are still in control in Massachusetts, despite the Kennedys.
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020921-29671522.htm
CO: Self-Defense Groups Subject of Denver Police Files
At least I'm in good company. The Denver Police kept files on me and the Colorado Freedom Report, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, the Tyranny Response Team, and the Libertarian Party (see http://www.co-freedom.com/2002/09/spyfiles.html and http://www.co-freedom.com/2002/09/lpfiles.html). What do these groups have in common? They all advocate the right to keep and bear arms, a fundamental human right guaranteed by the U.S. and Colorado constitutions. While the LP is involved in many other issues, the Denver police were interested in the fact that it is "pro gun rights." Similarly, while the TRT has supported the entire Bill of Rights, it was monitored by Denver police because it's a "pro-gun group." While the Denver police kept files on activists from many groups, the DPD seems to have a special interest in those who advocate the Second Amendment. Even though I have attended rallies and demonstrations for all kinds of other issues in Denver, the "spy files" about me pertain only!
!
to my activities in support of the right to bear arms.
http://www.co-freedom.com/2002/09/cofreefile.html
--
Johann Opitz RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Subject: [ca-liberty] Airlines Lobby Government for More Aid
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 07:07:01 -0700
Airlines Lobby Government for More Aid
The nation's big airlines are preparing to ask the federal government for a new round of emergency financial help, as the industry deteriorates further amid weak passenger traffic and rising fuel costs, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=808&ncid=808&e=2&u=/dowjones/20020923/bs_dowjones/200209230036000029
D.C.: Whoa, Big Brother
The speed camera "experiment" begun a few months ago could be about to expand into a city-wide grid of cameras - and a flurry of tickets for D.C. motorists. The Washington Times has learned that the city has the option of modifying the contract it originally signed with Lockheed Martin IMS, the supplier of the photo-radar units, to erect a much more comprehensive "Automated Traffic Enforcement Program" that would make it possible to ticket literally millions of motorists every year, at almost any time and place in the city. ... How much is all this worth to the city? According to estimates provided by Lockheed Martin IMS, the District could mulct motorists to the tune of $10,988,588 annually - after it pays off the private contractor, who gets a big chunk of each $29 ticket issued by the photo-radar and speed-on-green units. Lockheed Martin IMS stated in the original contract with the city that it "anticipated over 80,000 payments per month." ...
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020922-507153.htm
How Much Will Iraq War Cost?
The Bush administration estimate of what an invasion of Iraq will cost - around $40 billion - doesn't satisfy congressional Democrats - they want the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to come up with what they think the real price will be. According to the Washington Post, members of both parties on the Hill are unhappy with the refusal of the White House to take a cold, hard look at the cost of opening a brand new front in the war on terrorism, which some estimates peg at as much as $200 billion, the Post reports. Military experts and Capitol Hill staff both say the estimates are based more on guesses than on realistic analysis. "It goes back to the entire philosophy that if you go to war, you worry about the bills later, James W. Dyer, Republican staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, told the Post.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/9/22/223501
PA: Ribbon cutting gets new twist at airport
When it was time to cut the ribbon on a new exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport, there were no scissors to be found. The reason? Security. A replica of a Tyrannosaurus rex was dedicated at the terminal Thursday, but security measures prevented Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey and others from using scissors to cut the ribbon. They had to tear the ribbon instead. Scissors and other objects that could be used as weapons were banned from the airport after last year's terrorist attacks.
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=920636&pic=none&TP=getarticle
SD: South Dakota to Vote on Extending Jury Rights
In November, voters in South Dakota will decide whether to give tax protesters, medical marijuana users and other criminal defendants a new right. A proposed constitutional amendment would allow defendants there to concede their guilt but nonetheless argue for acquittal on the grounds that the law under which they were charged is misguided or draconian. The South Dakota initiative, known as Amendment A, is the next step in a centuries-old debate about the role of juries in deciding not just the facts of a case but also the wisdom of the law in question. The shorthand term for the complex subject is jury nullification. Proponents of the amendment say it is a necessary countermeasure. "I'm concerned with the increasing criminalization of more and more behavior, of things that merely annoy other people," said Bob Newland, the Libertarian candidate for attorney general of South Dakota and the chief proponent of Amendment A. Among recent misguided prosecutions in South Dakota, !
!
Mr. Newland said, were those of a man convicted of cruelty to animals for using his cane to fend off an attacking dog, and parents convicted of child pornography after taking pictures of their toddler in the tub. He said these people were guilty under the letter of the law but should have been able to argue to the jury that the laws in question made no sense.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/22/national/22JURY.html?ex=1033963200&en=b0a429736e3c2442&ei=5004&partner=UNTD
--
Johann Opitz RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Subject: [ca-liberty] Airlines Lobby Government for More Aid
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 07:07:01 -0700
Airlines Lobby Government for More Aid
The nation's big airlines are preparing to ask the federal government for a new round of emergency financial help, as the industry deteriorates further amid weak passenger traffic and rising fuel costs, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=808&ncid=808&e=2&u=/dowjones/20020923/bs_dowjones/200209230036000029
D.C.: Whoa, Big Brother
The speed camera "experiment" begun a few months ago could be about to expand into a city-wide grid of cameras - and a flurry of tickets for D.C. motorists. The Washington Times has learned that the city has the option of modifying the contract it originally signed with Lockheed Martin IMS, the supplier of the photo-radar units, to erect a much more comprehensive "Automated Traffic Enforcement Program" that would make it possible to ticket literally millions of motorists every year, at almost any time and place in the city. ... How much is all this worth to the city? According to estimates provided by Lockheed Martin IMS, the District could mulct motorists to the tune of $10,988,588 annually - after it pays off the private contractor, who gets a big chunk of each $29 ticket issued by the photo-radar and speed-on-green units. Lockheed Martin IMS stated in the original contract with the city that it "anticipated over 80,000 payments per month." ...
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020922-507153.htm
How Much Will Iraq War Cost?
The Bush administration estimate of what an invasion of Iraq will cost - around $40 billion - doesn't satisfy congressional Democrats - they want the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to come up with what they think the real price will be. According to the Washington Post, members of both parties on the Hill are unhappy with the refusal of the White House to take a cold, hard look at the cost of opening a brand new front in the war on terrorism, which some estimates peg at as much as $200 billion, the Post reports. Military experts and Capitol Hill staff both say the estimates are based more on guesses than on realistic analysis. "It goes back to the entire philosophy that if you go to war, you worry about the bills later, James W. Dyer, Republican staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, told the Post.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/9/22/223501
PA: Ribbon cutting gets new twist at airport
When it was time to cut the ribbon on a new exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport, there were no scissors to be found. The reason? Security. A replica of a Tyrannosaurus rex was dedicated at the terminal Thursday, but security measures prevented Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey and others from using scissors to cut the ribbon. They had to tear the ribbon instead. Scissors and other objects that could be used as weapons were banned from the airport after last year's terrorist attacks.
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=920636&pic=none&TP=getarticle
SD: South Dakota to Vote on Extending Jury Rights
In November, voters in South Dakota will decide whether to give tax protesters, medical marijuana users and other criminal defendants a new right. A proposed constitutional amendment would allow defendants there to concede their guilt but nonetheless argue for acquittal on the grounds that the law under which they were charged is misguided or draconian. The South Dakota initiative, known as Amendment A, is the next step in a centuries-old debate about the role of juries in deciding not just the facts of a case but also the wisdom of the law in question. The shorthand term for the complex subject is jury nullification. Proponents of the amendment say it is a necessary countermeasure. "I'm concerned with the increasing criminalization of more and more behavior, of things that merely annoy other people," said Bob Newland, the Libertarian candidate for attorney general of South Dakota and the chief proponent of Amendment A. Among recent misguided prosecutions in South Dakota, !
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Mr. Newland said, were those of a man convicted of cruelty to animals for using his cane to fend off an attacking dog, and parents convicted of child pornography after taking pictures of their toddler in the tub. He said these people were guilty under the letter of the law but should have been able to argue to the jury that the laws in question made no sense.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/22/national/22JURY.html?ex=1033963200&en=b0a429736e3c2442&ei=5004&partner=UNTD
--
Johann Opitz RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] Walter Williams: Rights vs. wishes
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 08:59:41 -0700
Walter Williams: Rights vs. wishes
We hear so much about "rights" - a right to this and a right to that. People say they have a right to decent housing, a right to adequate health care, food and a decent job, and more recently, senior citizens have a right to prescription drugs. In a free society, do people have these rights? Let's look at it. At least in the standard historical usage of the term, a right is something that exists simultaneously among people. A right confers no obligation on another. For example, the right to free speech is something we all possess. My right to free speech imposes no obligation upon another except that of non-interference. Similarly, I have a right to travel freely. That right imposes no obligation upon another except that of non-interference. Contrast those rights to the supposed right to decent housing or medical care. Those supposed rights do confer obligations upon others. There is no Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy. If you don't have money to pay for decent housing or medica!
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l services, and the government gives you a right to those services, where do you think the money comes from?
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29046
IRS Chief Says Agency Losing War Against Tax Evasion
The Internal Revenue Service is losing the war on tax evasion because the methods of cheating grow increasingly sophisticated while the IRS has barely enough resources to keep pace, the agency chief said in a report Tuesday. The conflict between a declining work force and complex avoidance schemes has created "a huge gap between the number of taxpayers whom the IRS knows are not filing, not reporting or not paying what they owe, and our capacity to require them to comply," said Charles Rossotti in a report to the IRS Oversight Board. "We are winning the battle but losing the war," said Rossotti, whose five-year term as IRS commissioner ends Nov. 12. Since 1997, Rossotti said the number of income tax returns filed has risen by 12 million, with tax collections increasing $527 billion and refunds growing by $121 billion. At the same time, the IRS has struggled to implement a series of new reform and tax laws, and its number of full-time personnel dropped by 16 percent from !
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1992 to 2001. "The IRS is simply outnumbered when it comes to dealing with the compliance risks," Rossotti said. To illustrate the point, Rossotti said it would take an additional 34,664 full-time workers to keep up with increasing demand by 2010.
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGABJEBDI6D.html
The poor IRS
... The press is supposed to hold government accountable for constitutional excesses, for outright fraud, for abuse of individual rights, for institutional waste and for systematic corruption. Instead, as I have pointed out frequently, the establishment news media in America far too often apologizes for Big Government when it runs roughshod over the people. It excuses such behavior. It encourages it. I can think of no better example than this official opinion of the Rocky Mountain News. While the IRS is abusing its authority, conducting armed raids on taxpayers, rendering citizens virtual serfs of the state and even allowing itself under current leadership to be used as a weapon of political retribution, the Big Media are portraying the agency as a victim. Incredible.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29044
Senators Tell Interior to Get Its Act Together
After nearly a decade of spoiled records, lost money and three Cabinet secretaries cited for contempt of court, lawmakers are saying the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Department of Interior has lost its credibility with Native Americans. "This borders on a national scandal," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who told Deputy Secretary of the Interior James Casson on Tuesday that "there is a lack credibility on the part of the bureau to carry out its responsibilities."
[Sen. McCain: a) Don't sugar coat the criticism, and b) When are you going to realize that the entire federal gov't (legislative, executive, & judicial branches) are -- and have been for at least a century - a national scandal.]
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63983,00.html
Welfare Success in the States
With welfare reform legislation set to expire by the end of the month, Congress is preparing to revisit the issue. Earlier in the year the House and Senate finance committees each passed separate welfare reform bills. The two bills differed on work requirements, Medicare coverage and funding for abstinence programs. ... In particular, strong work requirements have been a key component in the success of welfare reform. However, in the future the most important debates about welfare policy will take place not in Congress, but at the state level. In fact, it is innovative state level policies that are primarily responsible for the dramatic decline in welfare caseloads during the last five years. Indeed, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act signed into law in 1996 differed from prior reform bills partly because it gave states more responsibility for both structuring and implementing welfare reform. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that so!
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me states have enjoyed more success than others in moving people from welfare to work. ... Many critics have argued that the economy is largely responsible for the welfare caseload declines. However, a recent study by the Cato Institute refutes that notion. The study examines the magnitude of welfare caseload declines in all 50 states between 1996 and 2000. It finds that the strength of the economy has only had a marginal effect on the number of individuals receiving welfare. ... Additionally, historical evidence also shows that the economy has only had a limited impact on the number of people receiving welfare. ... If the strong economy is not responsible for the decline in welfare caseloads, then what is? The Cato study provides some insights. ... The results of the Cato study indicate that sanctioning policies played a major role in explaining state caseload declines. Holding other factors constant, a state that adopted a strict sanctioning policy for four years would exper!
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ience a welfare caseload decline that is over 20 percentage points greater than a state that implemented a weak sanction for four years. Additionally, the Cato study also examines the effect of welfare-benefit levels. Regrettably, benefit levels have been neglected in many of the current debates over welfare policy. This is unfortunate because there is evidence that benefit levels are playing a large role in caseload fluctuations. In his groundbreaking book Losing Ground, Charles Murray convincingly argues that increases in welfare benefits during the Great Society fostered greater dependence on welfare. When welfare benefits began to exceed the minimum wage, collecting welfare suddenly became economically advantageous for many women. Not surprisingly, this led to increases in both welfare caseloads and the number of single-parent families. Indeed, the results of the Cato study are consistent with Murray's arguments. The results show that states with low benefits enjoyed large!
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r caseload reductions than states with high benefits. ...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63991,00.html
CA: $100M case of the butterflies
A butterfly that lives for just eight weeks threatens a $100 million investment by Australia's biggest tollway owner. Just three weeks after buying a Californian toll project, Macquarie Bank has found itself in the middle of a legal fight over the rare insect. Californian environmentalists claim the bank ignored a year-long court case they predict will scuttle the 18km San Diego link. They say that if the road goes ahead it could wipe out the endangered Quino Checkerspot butterfly. The San Diego fairy shrimp and Californian gnatcatcher bird would also be endangered, the groups say in court documents. In response to Macquarie's deal, five groups led by the Audubon Society last week stepped up their fight by seeking an order from the US District Court to stop work starting.
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,5162953%255E912,00.html
A lawyer's obligation when client is guilty
The popular sport of lawyer-bashing got a huge boost last week when news reports revealed that attorneys for David Westerfield, the convicted killer of 7-year-old Danielle Van Dam, were apparently fully aware of his guilt when they urged the jury to find him not guilty. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, in February, after Westerfield had been detained as a suspect in Danielle's disappearance, lawyers Steven Feldman and Robert Boyce were negotiating a plea bargain under which he would lead the authorities to the girl's body in exchange for a guarantee that he would not get a death sentence. The deal, it seems, was minutes away from being concluded when it fell through because volunteers found the body with no help from the killer. Under the law, such plea negotiations cannot be mentioned to the jury. Westerfield's lawyers then went on not only to challenge the prosecution's evidence but to present their alternate theory of the case-that Danielle was murdered by some!
!
one who had gained access to the Van Dam home due to the parents' swinging lifestyle. For a while now, Bill O'Reilly, the combative host of the Fox News show The O'Reilly Factor, has been on a warpath against defense attorneys who twist the truth when they knowingly defend guilty clients. With the Westerfield case, O'Reilly has hit the mother lode. He is filing an ethics complaint against Feldman and Boyce with the California State Bar, charging that they violated the bar code's prohibition on intentionally misleading the jury. O'Reilly's railing against wily defense lawyers sometimes skirts dangerously close to a presumption of guilt, particularly for alleged crimes against children. But in this instance, his indictment-whether or not it will stand up legally-certainly strikes a powerful moral chord.
http://www.reason.com/cy/cy092402.shtml
China's Military Planners Took Credit for 9/11
Soon after the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, two high-ranking Chinese military planners took credit for the 9/11 attacks - and were even hailed as national heroes in China. In fact, three years before 9/11, the Chinese colonels had proposed the attacks and cited Osama bin Laden by name in their book "Unrestricted Warfare." The authors of "Unrestricted Warfare" are Senior Cols. Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, and in 1999 they wrote that an attack by bin Laden on the World Trade Center would be just the type of "unrestricted warfare" that could bring down America. The book was published by China's People's Liberation Army and had the endorsement of the Chinese government. "Unrestricted Warfare" makes clear its purpose: offering China and other "weak" countries a strategy to destroy the U.S. without a full-scale invasion, using unusual or "asymmetrical" warfare. NewsMax has recently obtained the CIA translation of this astounding book and has made it !
!
available with an introduction by Al Santoli, editor of the prestigious China Reform Monitor. (http://www.newsmaxstore.com/nms/showdetl.cfm?&DID=6&Product_ID=886&CATID=9&GroupID=12) ... Qiao and Wang offer in "Unrestricted Warfare" several new methods for destroying the U.S. - from manipulating U.S. media, to homicide-suicide bombing, to using immigrants as a fifth column, and even employing cyber attacks to destroy America's critical infrastructure. ... "The 9/11 attacks may just be the beginning. Many terrorist nations and groups will try to imitate this operation," Gen. Singlaub said, noting "China's war book 'Unrestricted Warfare' will be their text."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/24/143618.shtml
Senate Rejects Ban On Tribe Recognition
Colleagues Crush Dodd-Lieberman Effort
Facing growing pressure from state leaders who feel the process is out of control, Connecticut's two senators tried Monday to halt the federal recognition of Indian tribes - even though they knew their measure before the Senate would fail. ... Alarmed by the accelerating pace of casino expansion, Dodd and Lieberman acted in response to the precedent-setting recognition of the Eastern Pequots this summer. Investigators have said the recognition process is marred by inconsistency, long delays and allegations of outside interference. "For Connecticut, it is unquestionably a defeat," said state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who has led the opposition to tribal recognition and casino expansion in Connecticut. ... Because the decision on the Eastern Pequots relied heavily on their long history of state recognition, opponents say the Golden Hill Paugussetts and the Schaghticokes also may win federal recognition. In Connecticut, tribes that win federal acknowledgement are e!
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ligible to run a casino.
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-tribal0924.artsep24(0,7658575).story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dhome
The Anatomy of Ignorance
This article is the first in a series that will discuss the horrifying state of American education. We will focus on what is being taught and what is not being taught. We will delve into who the teachers are and who trains them. What is the intellectual level of those who become teachers? What are their SAT scores and educational accomplishments or lack thereof? After all, in order to impart knowledge you have to have knowledge. Is your child's teacher an intellect or someone scraped from the bottom of the academic barrel? We will explore whether there is a scientifically validated disease known as ADD/ or is it a fraud perpetrated on children and parents to increase funding and profit for the education and drug industries. It's time for the American people to take their heads out of the sand and act like citizens of a republic instead of lemmings going over a cliff. Most parents realize that the American educational system is replete with incompetent teachers and illitera!
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te students. However, the incompetents are never their kids' teachers and the illiterates are never their kids. Well, guess what; the literacy challenged are your kids. Even Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation of Teachers, estimated that only 5 percent of college graduates can read at an advanced level. Of course, few notice this because the SATs have been renormed to make scores higher and standards have been lowered across the board. After all, if you lower the rim enough, even a dwarf can dunk. ... The bureaucrats, educrats, politicians and media mandarins jabber on about the urgent need to further bilk taxpayers in order to help educate "our children." I have a brief response to them all; it's the curriculum, stupid! ... The reason why Americans are poor readers is quite simple; they were trained to be poor readers. ...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/24/185642.shtml
Caveat Bellum
What will morally justify a U.S. attack on a hostile nation? Is evidence that the nation's leader is involved in all kinds of activities inimical to the interests of the United States sufficient to justify America going to war against that nation and its leader? When you look into the facts surrounding the leader you learn that he is a brutal dictator who has scorned the human rights of his people, abets international terrorism, has operated a clandestine biological and chemical warfare research and development program, interferes with the internal affairs of neighboring nations thereby posing a clear threat to the security of the U.S., including endangering our supply of oil, participates in drug smuggling operations, uses an embargo against his nation as a weapon to subjugate his own people, and shows nothing but contempt for America and our democratic principles. Given that record, would an immediate invasion of that outlaw regime be justified? If your answer is yes, th!
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en get ready for a war to remove Fidel Castro from power.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/24/194513.shtml
Snowfall May Be Accompanied by Fall in Federal Bailout Money
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is "raising the bar" on snow emergency declarations, which could make it harder for states to get money for snow emergencies this winter. FEMA, which currently only requires a record or near-record snowfall to declare an emergency, last week officially proposed adding new qualifiers like road and office closures. "We should treat snow declarations as other disasters," said James Walke, the public assistance branch chief in the recovery division of FEMA. "We need to treat them the same as a tornado or hurricane, not just another meteorological event."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63974,00.html
Litigation: The death of democracy
America's constitutional representative democracy is under attack. This plot is not being carried out by terrorists or an opposing army, but by greedy and power hungry lawyers who seek to over throw our constitutional representative democracy and install in its place a system governance by litigation in which lawyers rule supreme. With the assistance and backing of trial lawyers, small and extreme groups are finding it increasingly easy to bypass and subvert the democratic process and impose their agenda on the rest of society by abusing litigation and manipulating the courts.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/malcolmwallop/mw20020925.shtml
Racist admissions at UCLA
It's back to the galleys for me -- the University of California at Los Angeles starts fall-quarter classes this week. I'm expecting to see one big change when I go to classes this Friday: a more "diverse student body," at least in terms of skin color. The campus population will be more diverse in terms of intellectual attainment as well: According to a July 12 Wall Street Journal article, UCLA is closing the gap between the haves and have-nots by admitting have-no-qualifications minorities over meritorious students. The new University of California admissions criteria include "comprehensive review." The "comprehensive review" considers "life challenges" -- obstacles students have overcome. Being black or Hispanic is an automatic admissions slip -- you've faced racism and discrimination. Being white, Asian or Jewish means you're going to community college. ... Therefore, it becomes the job of the UC system to remedy the wrongs of the primary educational system. And the UC s!
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ystem thus continues its descent down the toilet because -- to the powers that be -- the intellectual quality of the student body is less critical than how diverse the student body looks in UC brochures. The best way to gauge the new admissions system is to look at some of the new UC students admitted under it -- and those excluded by it. As The Wall Street Journal reported, Stanley Park, a Korean applicant to UCLA and UC Berkeley, scored 1,500 out of 1,600 on his SATs; Park's mother had breast cancer, and Park is poor. Blanca Martinez, a Latina, faced identical "life challenges" but scored only 1,110 on her SATs. Park was rejected from UCLA, while Martinez will become a Bruin. Another new UCLA Bruin is Susana Pena, who scored a dismal 940 on the SAT. (You get 400 points on the SAT for merely writing your name and Social Security number on the test.) The UC board must feel that blacks and Hispanics are incapable of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. They must think tha!
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t Asians and Jews have some genetic predisposition to success, considering that both are minorities and have experienced racism, yet neither group gains any advantage from their "life challenges." It's not as if the UC system is doing unqualified students any favors, either. If it insists on throwing bad students into the deep end of the academic pool, it should be no surprise when the students drown. And drown they do. According to statistics quoted by black talk show host Larry Elder, the UC dropout rate for students admitted under affirmative action from 1983 to 1987 was nearly 50 percent; for competing students admitted on merit alone, the dropout rate was only 23 percent. ...
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20020925.shtml
Pat Buchanan: America's new 'sucker punch' strategy
... Inherent in the Natural Law right of self-defense is the right to strike first if one's life is in peril. If a criminal demands your money at gunpoint, you have no moral obligation to inquire if he also intends to kill you before shooting him. People have an innate sense of this right. Americans thus rallied to the side of Bernie Goetz, the "Subway Vigilante," who, threatened by thugs with screwdrivers demanding five dollars, dropped all four in that subway car in the style of Wyatt Earp. Nor is a nation obligated to wait and ride out a first strike by a hostile regime, which could bring death to thousands of citizens, the protection of whose lives is the first business of government. ... To justify a pre-emptive war, two conditions should first be met. The threat should be imminent and grave, and other avenues should have been exhausted. Have these conditions been met with Iraq? To be honest, no. Not only has Saddam neither threatened us nor attacked us -- though we s!
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mashed his country, decimated his army and tried to kill him -- there is no evidence he even plans an attack. By broadcasting to the world this new imperial doctrine -- i.e., we will allow no nation to acquire the power we possess, and we reserve the right to strike hostile nations that build the kind of weapons we possess -- President Bush has drawn a line in the sand for every anti-American regime on earth and dared them to cross it. Either he is bluffing, or we are headed for endless confrontations and constant wars.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/pb20020925.shtml
MA: Debate exclusion sparks protest
Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for governor, will go to Western New England College in Springfield tonight for the first televised debate of the general election. But not to participate. She and her supporters will stand outside to protest her exclusion. Stein and Libertarian Carla Howell will appear on the Nov. 5 general election ballot but were not invited to appear at either of the two scheduled debates with Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Shannon O'Brien. ''We think a full and fair debate is a critical part of the election process,'' said Stein. ''We were excluded early on with the excuse that the focus was on the contested Democratic primary.'' Now, she said, some debate sponsors are telling her she is not invited because polls show that she is nowhere near the 15 percent of voter support that they often use as a guide. The latest poll in the Boston Herald showed that together Stein and Howell garnered less than 1 percent support. ''How are we going to get !
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the 15 percent if we were shut out from coverage for the first nine months of the campaign?'' she asked.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/267/metro/Debate_exclusion_sparks_protest+.shtml
NY: NEW LAW PROTECTS FLAG WEARERS
A new state law prohibits companies from taking action against employees showing their patriotism by displaying the American flag. The Legislature deemed the bill necessary after Cablevision-owned News 12 on Long Island prohibited its on-air staff from wearing flag pins following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/57646.htm
FL: Golden Gate group trumpets property rights at park rally
Democrats have a donkey. Republicans have an elephant. And a local Property Rights Action Committee now has a goat. During a rally Sunday to support property rights, Bama the goat sported a white plastic hat with red, white and blue trim while chewing on grass and being admired by children. The point of Bama's appearance at Max Hasse Park wasn't to get attention from boys and girls. The point was to poke fun at the Collier County Commissioners. "Our elected officials are doing nothing for us with the property rights issues," Karol Montalto, a founding member of the Golden Gate-based PRAC, said. "They always have a scapegoat for why things aren't being done. Well, we've found the goat, and she's not standing for it." What the PRAC desperately wants to change are laws that limit a property owner's rights and use of his property. Some people proudly wore buttons, stickers and T-shirts with the words "vote goat" above Bama's picture. PRAC members bought a white dress shirt, ja!
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cket, tie and hat at the Salvation Army and dressed Bama for the picture, PRAC member Mark Gerstel said. "We bought a real nice county commissioner's outfit," Gerstel said with a smile, while pointing to the goat. "He might be the best candidate running for property rights."
http://www.naplesnews.com/02/09/naples/d800813a.htm
FL: No ruling on zero tolerance
Story of expulsion causing national stir
Teresa Elenz had her day before a hearing officer; now, all she can do is wait while her academic future hangs in the balance. Teresa, 15, is an honor student at Pensacola High School. But she faces expulsion after finding a bag of pills on campus. She said she was afraid to turn them in, believing school administrators would claim they belonged to her. She wanted to get rid of them but was caught before she could. The Pensacola police officer called to the school believed her and refused to press charges. Meanwhile, Teresa's story is causing a stir nationwide, particularly after the School District lost a legal battle to fire a teacher who showed up to work high on cocaine. ... Teresa's mother, Nancy Skaggs, has fielded calls from several media outlets as well as an Alexandria, Va.-based advocacy group, the Center For Individual Freedom, which has offered its support to the high school sophomore. Escambia County School District officials recommended Teresa be expelled, bu!
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t she opted for a formal hearing before an independent officer on Monday. If he does not rule in her favor, Teresa plans to appeal to the School Board - her last resort within the school system. ... Renee Giachino, general counsel for the Center for Individual Freedom, said zero tolerance policies violate students' constitutional rights, and her organization is up for the fight.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/092402/Local/ST002.shtml
MI: Poor opinion of police is now a punishable offense
Truth hurts for potential juror
Lori Blumke thought she was doing her civic duty last week when she told a judge her recent hard feelings toward police officers might taint her ability to serve as an impartial juror. She was stunned when David Buter, chief judge of Grand
Rapids District Court, declined to excuse her from jury duty.
Instead, he ordered her to perform 24 hours of community service. ...
Buter insists he did not punish Blumke but offered her a choice between community service or changing her mind about police. The judge said he offered the same option to four jurors in similar situations during his eight years on the bench -- including a woman last week who complained in writing to him that religious principles prevent her from
sitting in judgment. ... Michigan court rules allow a judge to hold a potential juror in contempt for answering falsely on questionnaires. In this case, area judges said they respect Buter but sided with Blumke. "You can't punish someone for an answer unless you can prove it is a deliberate attempt to get out of jury duty," Rockford District Judge Steven Servaas said. "You'd need statements from others who said they heard him, saying he was going to deceive the court. Otherwise, you have to just excuse them and get them out of there as quickly as you can." Another judge said he fears Buter's sanctions sent the wrong message to the other jurors. "The whole purpose of questioning jurors is we are trying to find someone who is going to be fair and impartial," Kentwood District Judge William Kelly said. "I fear the message to the rest of the jurors is, 'I'd better lie or face punishment.' Then, you have people who weren't truthful about their prejudices going back to the jury !
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room and they raise cane over their hidden issues." ... Blumke, who said she spoke with a lawyer, could challenge Buter's order by asking a Kent County Circuit judge to overturn the lower-court decision and stay the order of community
service. ...
[Clearly, Judge Buter is NOT impartial and, thus, must be immediately and permanently removed from the bench.]
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-4/103253313638550.xml
MT: FBI tells Montana offices of threats to Forest Service
An environmental terrorist group that claimed responsibility for an arson fire last month in Pennsylvania has now threatened U.S. Forest Service administrative and research facilities nationwide. In a letter faxed to a newspaper in Warren, Pa., the Earth Liberation Front said the agency's facilities "will be targeted for complete destruction." The FBI alerted Missoula authorities to the arson fire and ensuing threats this week because of the number of Forest Service offices in the area. ... "If they persist in their crimes against life, they will be met with maximum retaliation." Earth Liberation Front members warned that future protests could be violent. "While innocent life will never be harmed in any action we undertake, where it is necessary, we will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice and provide the needed protection for our planet that decades of legal battles, pleading, protest and economic sabotage have failed so drastically to achieve," the!
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group wrote. ...
[What's wrong with the picture? The Bush administration declares war against terrorists in far distant foreign lands but only offers $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of domestic (but politically correct leftist) terrorists responsible for setting a fire? Had the fire been set by some "right-wing extremist militia" group the leftists in this country would be demanding violent gov't action (e.g., Waco and Ruby Ridge) be immediately taken - so why are they deathly silent when terrorism is done by eco-nuts?]
http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2002/09/23/build/forests/elf.php?nnn=3
--
Johann Opitz RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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From: Director@KEEPANDBEARARMS.COM (Angel Shamaya)
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
Subject: Los Angeles bans .50 caliber rifles
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 20:55:05 -0700
Los Angeles First City in Nation to Vote to Ban 50 Caliber Sniper Rifles
http://www.vpc.org/press/0209snip.htm
WASHINGTON, DC—The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today applauded the Los
Angeles City Council for passing a ban on the sale and possession of 50 caliber sniper
rifles. This marks the first time that a legislative body has voted to ban these weapons of
war. The groundbreaking measure was sponsored by Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas
and passed unanimously.
The legislative effort, which received strong support from the LA Police Department, was
spearheaded by the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles, aided by the
Pacific Center for Violence Prevention, and based on research by the Violence Policy
Center (VPC).
"With today's unanimous vote to ban 50 caliber sniper rifles, the City of Los Angeles has
sent a very strong and clear message to California and the rest of the nation: We must
bring these weapons of death and destruction under control," Tom Diaz, VPC senior
policy analyst states.
The Council instructed the City Attorney to model the new measure regulating 50 caliber
sniper weapons on the city ordinance restricting the sale and possession of assault
weapons. The VPC was the first organization in the country to alert the American public
to the dangers of 50 caliber sniper rifles on the civilian market with its landmark 1999
study, One Shot, One Kill: Civilian Sales of Military Sniper Rifles.
The 50 caliber sniper rifle is an extremely powerful weapon which uses high-caliber
ammunition at distances averaging between 400 and 1,700 yards. These same military
armaments—designed and sold for the express purpose of killing people and disabling key
command and control outposts—are now freely available across America's gun shop
counters. As a result, this ideal tool for assassination and destruction is now easily
accessible to terrorists, criminals, and the mentally unstable. The VPC continued to warn
lawmakers and the public of the dangers of 50 calibers in its 2001 study Voting from the
Rooftops: How the Gun Industry Armed Osama bin Laden, Other Foreign and Domestic
Terrorists, and Common Criminals with 50 Caliber Sniper Rifles, which explains the
enormous range of 50 caliber sniper rifles, the explosive power of special armor-piercing
and armor-piercing incendiary ammunition easily available in the United States, and why
this war-fighting power in the hands of Al Qaeda and other terrorists creates a grave threat
to all Americans. The study also details: How 50 caliber sniper rifles can create disaster at
industrial facilities handling explosive, toxic, or volatile chemicals—the kind of threat
terrorism analysts already warn transforms a target into a weapon; a report for the Air
Force which warns that 50 caliber sniper rifles endanger aircraft, bulk fuel tanks, fuel
trucks, and other airport targets; and, the rash of 50 caliber sniper rifles found in the
arsenals of domestic terrorist and extremist groups, including one that plotted to kill a
state governor, U.S. Senator, and federal judges.
"We have made extensive research available to Attorney General John Ashcroft, the FBI,
and key officials throughout the U.S.," Diaz adds. "We call on them to support the
pending legislation sponsored by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Henry
Waxman."
--
IRA, CIA, FBI, KILL, TERRORIST, BOMB, TARGET, TERMINATE, JIHAD,
CEASEFIRE, ATHEIST, ALLAH, FREEDOM, TRUTH, JUSTICE, MARIJUANA,
POT, COKE, BREW, DOPE, SEX, DRUGS, TNT, C4, CORDITE, GUNPOWDER,
REBELS, OVERTHROW, I love it when the government reads my email.
From: auvenj@mailcity.com ("auvenj")
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Don't you feel safer now?
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 22:52:38 -0000
http://www.darpa.mil/iao/
--Jason Auvenshine
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] WA: Filming up women's skirts is ruled legal
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 09:04:39 -0700
WA: Filming up women's skirts is ruled legal
Law doesn't ban voyeurism in public, Supreme Court says
Jolene Jang was standing at an ice-cream booth at the Bite of Seattle festival two summers ago, unaware that a man had secretly lowered his video camera so he could film up her dress. When she found out, she felt violated and hoped he'd go to prison. She became more leery of others. Now she's appalled that Richard Sorrells, the man found guilty of voyeurism for doing it, is no longer guilty of anything. On Thursday, the state Supreme Court ruled that filming up women's skirts, though "disgusting and reprehensible," isn't actually against the law. ... The high court unanimously agreed the state's voyeurism law "does not apply to actions taken in purely public places." It overturned the convictions of Sorrells and another man, Sean Glas, who was accused of taking photographs under women's skirts at a Yakima County shopping mall. ... The state's voyeurism law protects people who are in a place where they "would have a reasonable expectation of privacy" -- meaning the person c!
ould expect to be able to undress in seclusion or "be safe from hostile intrusion or surveillance." But the court found the law doesn't apply to filming people in a public place, even if it's underneath their clothes. "It is the physical location of the person that is ultimately at issue, not the part of the person's body," Judge Bobbe Bridge wrote. ...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/87863_voyeur20.shtml
Transportation ID Could Be on Horizon
Airports in Los Angeles and Philadelphia are among proposed test sites for transportation ID cards that could be issued to travelers, allowing them to pass easily through security checks. Transportation Security Administration chief James Loy said Tuesday that the cards also would be tested at the ports of Long Beach, Calif., and Wilmington, Del. Loy said transportation workers would first get the IDs at the ports and at Los Angeles International and Philadelphia International airports. If the cards prove successful, they could be extended to passengers. "We want to establish those prototypes almost immediately," Loy said, adding that the proposed testing is awaiting congressional approval. Loy said the ID card technology would form the basis for what he calls a "registered traveler program." He recently told the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee that people who register for the program would have to submit to detailed background checks. "We will know more about!
them from a security standpoint than anonymous passengers who present themselves to our screeners at the airport," he said.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64028,00.html
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/washington/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0469_BC_TransportationID&&news&newsflash-washington
States bet on gambling to fill their budget gaps
"It is the duty of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not to skin them." -- Tiberius Caesar, first-century Roman emperor Faced with the twin dilemmas of gaping budget deficits and tax-wary voters, legislative shepherds across the country are taking a long look at another way of shearing revenue from their constituents: gambling. From Maine to Arizona, lawmakers tantalized by the lure of raising money through what amounts to indirect levies on gamblers are considering the creation of casinos, lotteries and racetrack slot machines as sources of government income. "Politicians are extremely narrow-minded," said William Thompson, a professor of public administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a nationally recognized expert on the gambling industry. "They think only in terms of taxes, and alternatives to taxes ... and gambling money is seen as money that falls out of the sky."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4549781p-5569093c.html
The Left-Wing Billionaire Collectivist Pigs
Corporatism Weds Transnational Progressivism
Do you stay up nights trying to figure out why so-called capitalists fund leftist causes or promote a collectivist agenda? Think of Stephen Rockefeller or the entire Rockefeller family, Ted Turner, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Maurice Strong, Enron, Ford Foundation, Pew Charitable Trust, the Nature Conservancy, the American Bar Association and the AMA. Why did billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett come out against ending or reducing the death tax? Why do multimillionaire Stephen Rockefeller and the entire clan promote the most outrageous leftist globalist causes and malicious and inhumane programs in history? Why does the Rockefeller family actively promote a collectivist nightmare like the Earth Charter? Why did they fund the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in pre-War Nazi Germany? Why are successful entrepreneurs such as Martha Stewart or Michael Bloomberg supporters of every leftist cause? Why do the trial lawyers of America or a financial guru such as Robert!
Rubin typically promote Democrats? Do all these left-wing capitalists consider leftist/"progressive" ideas regarding life, death and taxes as being more meritorious for people and society and the world? Or is there actually something else going on here?
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/25/191020.shtml
McCain Jumping GOP Ship?
Perhaps it's not Hillary Clinton who will woo Arizona Senator John McCain away from the Republican Party after all. To set the stage: According to the New York Post's Page Six, McCain's chief political adviser, John Weaver, has become a Democrat and is now working for Dick Gephardt. McCain's new legislative director, Christine Dodd, last worked for a Democrat. Now, Page Six hears that Senator Kerry, who will be running for Prez in 2004, is scheduled to meet with McCain at his retreat in Sedona, Ariz., next month.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/9/25/150854
Coalition Takes Aim at Union Violence
A coalition of business interests and tax cutting groups is calling on federal lawmakers to put up strict penalties against unions whose workers commit acts of violence against fellow employees on opposite ends of labor disputes. The Coalition to End Union Violence wants Congress to make sure big labor groups are held accountable for their members' actions.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64095,00.html
Drug War Terrorism
On the heels of the "I Helped Š" commercials that began last January, the Drug Enforcement Administration has again engaged in a propaganda campaign aimed at likening drug-using Americans to the most notorious financiers of terrorism. This time, it's a traveling museum exhibit entitled "Target America: Traffickers, Terrorists and You." The exhibit harmonizes chunks of World Trade Center rubble and pictures of the scarred Pentagon with paraphernalia seized in international drug busts, and offers a "history" of the links between the drug trade and terrorism. The aim? Stain the hands of the growing decriminalization movement with the blood of Sept. 11 victims. It's shameless, exploitative and not even remotely accurate. It's also hypocritical. Because it is the actions of the U.S. government in its tedious drug war -- not drug users -- that has supported international terrorists, rained domestic terror down on U.S. citizens and created the black market that proves to be so lu!
crative for shady international villains.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64092,00.html
CA: Gov. Davis signs laws removing protections for gun industry
Gov. Gray Davis cleared the way Wednesday for people to sue gun manufacturers if they believe the company has been negligent in its advertising or production of firearms. The package of bills Davis signed removes the shield granted to gun makers regarding negligence lawsuits. Previously, gun manufacturers could not be sued if their products were used in the commission of a crime. ... Davis, who voted against the legal shield for gun companies when he was in the state Assembly in 1983, also voiced opposition to a bill currently before Congress that would forbid imposing commerce restrictions on gun manufacturers and distributors following harm caused through unlawful use of their products. The measure would ultimately overturn California's new laws. ... Critics of the bills, however, argue that they could open the door to frivolous lawsuits. And, Chuck Michel, a spokesman for the California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc., says the legislation is an attempt by gun-ban ad!
vocates to swamp gun manufacturers with lawsuits to bankrupt them. "They will use this to file multiple lawsuits based on their mistaken belief that firearms have no social utility," Michel said. "They want a legitimate industry to pay for the inability of law enforcement and local authorities to control violent crimes."
http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/4541079p-5560571c.html
California adds to reputation as nation's trailblazer for laws
California has enacted first-in-the-nation laws this year on family leave, auto emissions and stem-cell research, lending credence to the saying that wherever America is going, California will get there first. ... Lawmakers elsewhere look at California laws for direction. "If it works in California, it is likely to work in states throughout the country," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics in Charlottesville, Va. "The states are the laboratories for democracy, and California is the chief laboratory." When the state passed the nation's first "lemon law" in 1982 to protect consumers who buy cars with serious defects, the measure became the model for similar laws in all 50 states. California enacted the nation's first ban on assault weapons in 1989; it was quickly adopted in six other states and led to a federal ban in 1994. California's 1970 Clean Air Act is still the toughest in the nation. National firsts in California this year in!
clude a law explicitly allowing embryonic stem cell research, the country's toughest auto emissions laws and a requirement that 20 percent of the state's power come from renewable energy sources by 2017. Earlier this week, Gov. Gray Davis signed the nation's first comprehensive paid family leave law, which allows workers to leave their job for up to six weeks at 55 percent pay to care for a newborn, newly adopted child or sick family member. Also, the gun control movement successfully pushed a measure this year making California the first state to repeal gun manufacturers' special immunity against lawsuits. Davis signed the bill Wednesday.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/269/nation/California_adds_to_reputation_:.shtml
In US, a rise of violent environmental tactics
Arson and death threats have followed ecoterrorists' call for more use of force.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0926/p01s01-ussc.html
Pot invasion stuns park officials
600% jump in Sequoia plants may be tied to tight borders.
A new species is appearing more frequently in Sequoia National Park: marijuana.
During the past month, park rangers and law enforcement officials have uprooted 19 marijuana gardens from the Mineral King and South Fork areas of the park. Officials disposed of more than 35,000 plants -- with an estimated street value of more than $140 million -- in an undisclosed Tulare County site. "This is a whole new onslaught on the parks," said park spokeswoman Kris Fister, who added that the amount of marijuana found in the park this year is more than a 600% increase over previous years. "The level of cultivation is far greater than anything we've ever seen before." ... The problem extends beyond park boundaries into the surrounding forest, said a National Park Service special agent working on the raids. The agent, who declined to be named for safety reasons, said more intense patrol of the U.S.-Mexico border after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks may have forced marijuana production into the United States. Even with the risk of discovery, it may be easier to!
grow it in the United States instead of trying to smuggle it across the border. ...
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/4540630p-5560042c.html
Slightly up from slavery
To eliminate any misunderstanding as to what taxes are, it's helpful to define the word "theft." One good definition is "the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another." The definition does not go on to say "unless you're the government." There is no difference, in principle, between the state taking property and a street gang doing so, except that the State's theft is "legal" and its agents are immune from prosecution. Many people do not accept that analogy, because the government is widely viewed as being of, for and by the people - even though it's also acknowledged as acting badly from time to time. Suppose a mugger demanded your wallet - perhaps because he needed money to buy a new car - and threatened you with violence if you weren't forthcoming. Everyone would call that a criminal act. Suppose, however, the mugger said he wanted the money to buy himself food. Would it still be theft? Suppose now that he said he wanted your wallet to feed anot!
her hungry person, not himself. Would it still be theft? Now let's suppose that this mugger convinces most of his friends that it's OK for him to relieve you of your wallet. Would it still be theft? What if he convinces a majority of citizens? Principles stand on their own. Even if a criminal act is committed for good purpose, or with the complicity of bystanders, (even if those people call themselves the government), it is still an act of criminal aggression.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29068
Harry Browne: 'What can I do?'
Recently a conservative fundamentalist preacher said on television that he opposes the campaign of homosexuals to be included in the Civil Rights Act. He said this would give them special privileges - allowing them to sue people whenever rejected for such things as jobs or home loans, a right not available to ordinary citizens. Wow, what a novel concept! A special-interest group getting privileges not available to other people. I wonder if the preacher has noticed that farmers get special government subsidies to "stabilize" their income. Is he aware that corporations use the government to keep competitors - foreign or domestic - out of their markets? Teachers' unions push for federal programs that pad the salaries of teachers. Military contractors get paid to produce weapons long after the weapons are considered obsolete. Are any of these privileges available to you? Even policemen want special status. They push for greater penalties for killing a policeman than for killin!
g an ordinary citizen. And let's not forget the preacher's own special privilege: His church, no matter how wealthy or poor, is exempt from the income and property taxes paid by you. That means he can push for all sorts of government programs, knowing that his enterprise won't be taxed to pay for them. Special privileges, indeed! ... f you don't like big government, there's an obvious first step to take: Quit supporting the people who are promoting big government. When you vote for the "lesser of two evils," you're voting for evil - and you shouldn't be amazed when government continues to grow at your expense. The person you vote for isn't going to see your vote as a reluctant attempt to prevent some "worse evil." He'll treat it as encouragement for every big-government scheme he's promoting. If you vote for a Republican to keep a Democrat out of office, or vice versa, you're voting for big government - no matter how you try to convince yourself otherwise. ... If you can't br!
ing yourself to vote Libertarian, you can at least do the right thing
stering support for all the special privileges, subsidies, intrusions and war-making that the Republicans and Democrats have come to proclaim as "the American way."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29067
IS FREEDOM JUST AN EMPTY WORD?
Every day for the past 12 years, I have heard "patriots" declare how fed up they are with the criminal element out in Washington, DC and their own state legislatures. These patriots call talk radio. The attend various functions where they bluster about what should be done to restore America to a Constitutional Republic. Then they go home. What do you suppose would have happened if people like Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale or Benjamin Franklin did nothing more than talk the talk instead of walk the talk? Would we have a U.S. Constitution? Or Thom Jefferson, who penned the Declaration of Independence? The fire for freedom burned in the belly of Jefferson and he risked everything to stand up for the new Republic. Patrick Henry was only 31 years old when he gave his 'Liberty or Death' speech. ... Do we the American people live for freedom, or for bondage and slavery at the hands of the global masters? Is freedom just an empty word? Are we less than our Founding Fathers? Have our !
material possessions or fear become more important than going right to the source of America's misery and tell the power brokers that we've had enough? If we live for bondage and slavery, not only will we die cowards, we will die without honor. Are you willing to stand for principle instead of compromise? Freedom Drive 2002 is a very important mission and I hope every American reading this piece will become involved (www.givemeliberty.org).
http://www.newswithviews.com/news_worthy/news_worthy39.htm
MT: School Bans Dreadlocked Student
A student with dreadlocks can't come back to class until she gets rid of her "outlandish" hairstyle, Whitefish High School officials say. ... At the end of last school year, school officials told Lanegan to get rid of the dreadlocks over the summer break. House said that gave her enough time to comply with a new policy banning dreadlocks and mohawks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4849-2002Sep26.html
Congress Missing Deadline on Spending Bills
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64070,00.html
CA: Jones seeks federal probe of governor
But Democrats dismiss the secretary of state's complaint as a Republican election tactic.
Secretary of State Bill Jones on Wednesday accused Gov. Gray Davis of "blatant and aggressive abuse of public office" and asked the federal government to investigate his fund raising for any evidence of bribery and racketeering. "The governor's standard refrain is that campaign contributions do not affect his policy decisions," Jones wrote in his complaint to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, a fellow Republican. "All evidence points precisely to the contrary."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4549827p-5569117c.html
Cal Thomas: First amendment troubles
What do you know about the First Amendment? That it protects freedom of religion and speech? What else? That it protects freedom of the press and the right of the people to peacefully demonstrate when they object to something their government is doing, or trying to do? If you know all of these things about the First Amendment, you are more knowledgeable than most of your fellow citizens. According to an annual poll conducted by the First Amendment Center and American Journalism Review (AJR), in conjunction with the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut, just 14 percent know that freedom of the press is guaranteed by the Constitution, 18 percent are aware that freedom of religion is protected, 10 percent know they have a constitutional right to peaceably assemble and a minuscule 2 percent think they can petition their government to redress grievances. Perhaps this ignorance is what accounts for the shockingly high number of people (41 perc!
ent according to the poll) who "strongly agree" that the First Amendment" goes too far in the rights it guarantees." Eight percent "mildly agree" with that statement. These numbers, already high when the first poll was taken in 1997, have been trending upward over the last five years.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20020926.shtml
The impotency of monetary policy
One of the most puzzling aspects of the economy today is the apparent impotency of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve has been lowering interest rates and increasing the money supply at a healthy clip for almost 2 years. Under normal circumstances, economists would have expected this added liquidity to significantly stimulate growth by now. Yet there is no evidence that this is the case. Increases in the money supply stimulate growth by putting upward pressure on prices. Higher prices for goods and services raise corporate profits, leading to increased investment and employment. Carried too far, the result is inflation. But at present, the economy's fundamental problem appears to be deflation -- falling prices -- not inflation. ... Although the Federal Reserve has yet to acknowledge the existence of deflation, it is clearly giving thought to the possibility. An internal Fed study in June looked at the problem of deflation in Japan, where interest rates have fallen close !
to zero without stimulating growth. The study concluded that deflation undermines the effectiveness of monetary policy, making it harder for central banks to stimulate growth Bush administration officials continue to talk about putting forward some new tax initiatives to jumpstart growth and investment. However, if the problem is a credit crunch that is short-circuiting monetary policy, then tax cuts may be ineffective. The administration needs to look into this possibility and see whether federal policies can reverse it.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/brucebartlett/bb20020926.shtml
NJ: Torricelli files motion to block release of Chang
letter
Attorneys for U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to block the immediate release of a memo that describes how a now-imprisoned man made illegal campaign contributions to the senator. Several media organizations are seeking the memo's release. The document outlines businessman David Chang's cooperation with the government. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled Friday that the document should be made public, but court rules could keep it sealed for at least 45 days -- putting it at Nov. 4, the day before the election. A lawyer for the media group asked a federal appeals court on Monday to immediately release the document, arguing that it should not remain secret until after election.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?j0208_BC_NJ--Torricelli-Chang&&news&newsflash-newjersey
3 agents arrested in death of Houston man injured in immigration raid
Three federal agents were arrested today and charged with violating the civil rights of a Houston man who died from the injuries he suffered during an immigration raid. Serafin Olvera, a father of five and illegal immigrant, was paralyzed during an Immigration and Naturalization Service raid of a home in Bryan in March of 2001. He died in a Houston hospital nearly a year later. The indictment accuses three San Antonio-based deportation officers with violating Olvera's rights. Officer Carlos Reyna, 42, is accused of beating Olvera, and Officer Richard Henry Gonzales, 36, is accused of spraying him with pepper spray. Reyna, Gonzales and a third deportation officer, Louis Rey Gomez, 36, were all accused of denying Olvera medical care after his spinal cord injury. The officers were charged under Section 242 of the federal civil rights code, which prohibits law officers from depriving people of basic rights based on their immigration status or race. The charges follow a yearlon!
g investigation into the case.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory/1588943
MD: System to track police conduct
Computer base to identify officers for counseling; Change 'culture of department'; Union says plan inhibits officers, creates quotas
Baltimore police officials are designing a powerful computer database that will monitor the performance of the city's 3,200 officers in areas such as arrests, car stops and citizens' complaints, and identify those who might be headed for trouble. Although the system is in the early stages of development, it is drawing sharp criticism from police union officials, who worry it will inhibit officers and cause them to be less aggressive, or, in other cases, prompt them to aim for perceived quotas for arrests. Police officials say the database will ultimately help officers by finding those who would benefit from counseling before they commit serious offenses that require strict discipline. Many of the 50 police officers who were fired or forced to resign in the last two years had histories of such complaints, officials said.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.monitor25sep25,0,6380064story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
Failsafe
On September 11, passengers armed only with cellphones and courage succeeded where a multibillion-dollar military failed. Does their achievement mean that 50 years of American defense policy is all wrong?
FOR THE PAST YEAR, we have spoken unceasingly about the events of Sept. 11. But one aspect of that day has not yet been the topic of open discussion: the difficulty we had as a country defending ourselves. As it happened, the only successful defense was carried out not by our professional defense apparatus but by the passengers on Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania. The purpose of this essay is to examine the failures of Sept. 11, and the one success, and ask if they suggest that something in our defense arrangements needs to be changed. ... United Airlines Flight 93 was a small piece of American territory that was lost to the country for approximately 40 minutes when terrorists seized control. It was restored to the country when civilian passengers who became citizen-soldiers regained control of the ground - in the process losing their own lives. Why were the passengers able to act? On Sept. 11, United Flight 93 was like a small legislative assembly or town meeting.!
In approximately23 minutes, the passengers were able collectively to move through the following sequence of steps: ... It may be worth taking note of the fact that the hijackers themselves correctly foresaw that the threat to their mission would come from the passengers and not from a military source external to the plane. The terrorists left behind them multiple copies of a manual, five pages in Arabic. The manual does not tell the terrorists what to do if an F-15 or F-16 approaches the planes they have seized. It instead gives elaborate instruction on what to do if passengers offer resistance. We should not ordinarily let ourselves be schooled by terrorists. But terrorists who seek to carry out a mission successfully have to know what the greatest threat to their mission will be.
A citizens' defense? When the plane that hit the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania are looked at side by side, they reveal two different conceptions of national defense: one model is authoritarian, centralized, top down; the other is distributed and egalitarian and accords with what the Framers of the Constitution expected of the citizenry. When the US Constitution was completed it had two provisions for ensuring that decisions about war-making were distributed rather than concentrated. The first was the provision for a congressional declaration of war - following an open debate in both the House and the Senate involving what would today be 535 men and women. The second was a major clause of the Bill of Rights - the Second Amendment right to bear arms - that rejected a standing executive army (an army at the personal disposal of president or king) in favor of a well-regulated militia, a citizens' army distributed across all ages, geography, and social cl!
ass of men. Democracy, it was argued, was impossible without a distributed militia: self-governance was perceived to be logically impossible without self-defense (exactly what do you ''self-govern'' if you have ceded the governing of your own body and life to someone else?). ... It is with good reason that we have worked to prevent nuclear proliferation throughout the world, along with the spread of biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. But in the long run other countries will only agree to abstain from acquiring nuclear weapons, or to give them up, when and if the United States agrees to give them up. The real process of persuading Iraq, China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, as well as our immediate allies, to give them up will commence on the day we agree to restore within our own country a democratic form of self-defense.
[citizen-soldiers = the militia]
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/265/focus/Failsafe+.shtml
Hong Kong Law Proposal Alarms Critics
A proposed anti-subversion law that would grant the government broader police powers and establish life sentences for serious crimes against the state has alarmed critics who say it would erode Hong Kong's freedoms. Officials insisted Tuesday that the law would be used only in rare cases and would not violate international human rights treaties or civil liberties promised to residents when the former British colony was returned to China five years ago. "Our proposals would not undermine in any way the existing human rights and civil liberties enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong," said Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. The proposal released Tuesday for three months of public consultation calls for granting police emergency "entry and search powers" to investigate suspected treason, secession, sedition and subversion. Existing law limits authorities to entering premises without a warrant only to stop a crime. The new statute proposes a sentence of life imprisonment for those con!
victed of such crimes against the state. The proposal also tightens rules on state secrets, although disclosures of such information would have to be proved to have caused damage -- not just embarrassment to the government -- for a conviction, Security Secretary Regina Ip said.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-hong-kong-subversion0924sep24,0,876313.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnationworld%2Dheadlines
--
Johann Opitz RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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From: villagechoice@manhattanlp.org (Manhattan Libertarian Party)
To: villagechoice@topica.com
Subject: THE VILLAGE CHOICE - Volume 1, Issue 21
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 16:09:23 +0000
THE VILLAGE CHOICE
A Weekly Rundown of News, Views and Events Affecting Freedom in NYC
Volume 1, Issue 21 * September 27, 2002
THE VILLAGE CHOICE is brought to you by the Manhattan Libertarian Party.
http://www.manhattanlp.org
In this issue:
* Bloomberg’s war on smokes invades private clubs!
* More Harlem moms just say no to government schools!
* NYPD spies at your next political meeting!
* Your calendar of upcoming pro-freedom events!
* Much more!
==============
* News Bites *
Public Space or Private Place, No Smokes for You
Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to ban smoking in city bars and restaurants
will also include private clubs - those smoke-filled bastions the mayor
once suggested would not be covered under his toughest-in-the-nation
ban. Bars, restaurants and all workplaces - including private offices -
will be off-limits under Bloomberg's proposal. The decision will likely
draw a whole new set of players to the debate, among them veterans who
find comfort in local fraternal halls. They will likely be people like
Nino Fulgoni, 66, who was enjoying his usual cigar at the Our Lady of
Fatima Catholic War Veterans post in East Elmhurst, Queens, when told of
the mayor's proposed ban. "We have veterans here who made it onto Omaha
Beach on D-Day," Fulgoni said. "You going to tell them that they can't
smoke?" What did you expect when you returned from the war, Mr. Fulgoni
– freedom from tyranny?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/21400p-20309c.html
Hurray for Harlem Moms
More parents are rebelling against Harlem's troubled school district. A
group of five is threatening to file a federal lawsuit against the city
because, they claim, they're being held "hostage" by rotten local
schools. The latest mutiny comes after The Post reported on a Harlem mom
who boycotted the local schools - and won her daughter a free seat at an
elite East Side private school, courtesy of the principal. Mom Eunice
Greene said, "I'm getting out of District 5. I refused to have my son go
from one failing school into another failing school." Greene's
12-year-old son, Christopher, was told to attend IS 172 - where 99
percent of eighth-graders flunked the state's math exam. She said she
has applied to home-school him instead.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/57643.htm
Cops Yearn for Bad Old Days of Political Surveillance
The New York Police Department has asked a judge in Federal District
Court to lift restrictions that curtail police monitoring of political
activity, contending that the restrictions now significantly threaten to
hamper its counterterrorism efforts. The restrictions, contained in a
consent decree signed by the city in 1985, limit the ability of the
police to investigate political activities by individuals or groups
unless investigators have specific information that a crime will be
committed or is being planned. Probable cause is apparently too high a
hurdle for the men and women in blue. We can only hope that if the law
won’t keep New York’s Finest away from our political meetings, the food
at Kennedy’s will.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/26/nyregion/26YORK.html
No Term Limits of Endearment
Defying Mayor Bloomberg – not to mention the will of the people – the
City Council Wednesday enacted legislation allowing Speaker Gifford
Miller and seven other members to stay in office for an additional two
years under the term-limits law. Overriding an earlier Bloomberg veto,
the legislative body voted 47-2 to alter the two-term limit law enacted
in 1993 by voter referendum so that Council members may serve a maximum
of eight or 10 years. Can a vote making themselves council members for
life be far away?
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-term0926,0,7979295.story?
====================
* Rant of the Week *
Truth is Stranger Than Fiction
by Noah Masterson, editor of rashmagazine.com
In August I published a fictional story on my website about having my
apartment raided by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms for
illegally selling cigarettes in New York City, and later falling madly
in love with one of the ATF agents. It was intended to be funny—an
absurdist satire of New York's wrongheaded cigarette tax. But then the
e-mails rolled in:
"Noah, I'm really worried, man. Is everything okay?"
"Noah, did you really get busted?"
"I have been following the tobacco wars in NYC…and was appalled to read
your story."
Despite the fact that I have no demonstrable track record of
homosexuality (or business savvy), my own parents were hoodwinked by
this gestapo love story. I couldn't believe it. Don't my friends and
family know me better than this?
But upon further reflection, it's easy to see why they were fooled. We
live in paranoid times and our government is demonstrating prodigious
skill at stripping away our civil rights. The problem is so bad, in
fact, that it's become cliché to say "stripping away our civil rights."
The ATF busting a guy selling black-market smokes is no worse than, say,
having your phone tapped or your e-mails snooped by the Feds. Or being
imprisoned for mere _suspicion_ of a crime. Or being held at gunpoint by
an air marshal for having brown skin. There's nothing "satirical" about
any of this.
I'm still puzzled about the gay thing, though.
===================
* Upcoming Events *
Sunday, September 29, 2:00 p.m.
Surveillance Camera Outdoor Walking Tour of Times Square
Intro to emerging surveillance society & selection of cameras surveying
public space.
Meet at the south side of Duffy Square, 46th Street between Broadway &
7th Avenue
http://www.notbored.org/the-scp.html
Wednesday, October 2, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Demonstration to Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws
Governor Pataki's office, 3rd Avenue & 40th Street
http://www.droptherock.org
Sunday, October 6, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Not In our Name Peace Rally
Take the "Pledge of Resistance" and visit the Manhattan Libertarian
Party's Operation Politically Homeless booth.
East Meadow, Central Park (enter at 5th Avenue and 96th Street)
http://www.notinourname.net/Oct_6_2002_NewYorkCity.html
Wednesday, October 9, 7:00 p.m.
Manhattan Libertarian Party monthly meeting
Guest speaker: Kyle Hence, co-founder of UnansweredQuestions.org
Free admission; optional buffet and cash bar
Kennedy's Restaurant, 327 West 57th Street
(Note: We may change our meeting place this month; see next week’s issue
of THE VILLAGE CHOICE for updates.)
http://www.manhattanlp.org
Sunday, October 20, 12:00 p.m - 1:00 p.m.
New York Times Eminent Domain Demonstration
Protest the state's abuse of eminent domain in stealing private property
on behalf of the Gray Lady.
Major guest speakers to be announced.
229 West 43rd Street
http://www.manhattanlp.org
================================
* News tips, rants and events wanted! *
Help us improve THE VILLAGE CHOICE. Send news bites, rants and event
announcements to villagechoice@manhattanlp.org. Please include a web
link whenever possible. We will occasionally consider broader topics,
but our strong preference is for items pertaining to freedom (or the
lack thereof) in New York City.
THE VILLAGE CHOICE is edited by Jim Lesczynski.
To subscribe to THE VILLAGE CHOICE, simply send a BLANK email to:
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If you like THE VILLAGE CHOICE, please FORWARD it to your friends and
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If you're offended by anything in this newsletter, you're obviously a
humorless socialist of either the right-wing or left-wing variety.
See you next week!
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] FIVE NEW TRANSLATIONS OF THE BoR
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 12:54:44 -0700
ALERT FROM JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP
America's Aggressive Civil Rights Organization
September 25, 2002
ALERT: JPFO ANNOUNCES FIVE NEW TRANSLATIONS OF THE BoR
*** IN ANY LANGUAGE, IT'S THE BILL OF RIGHTS! ***
JPFO ANNOUNCES FIVE NEW TRANSLATIONS OF THE BoR
Wouldn't it be great to travel across international borders
with your self-protection tools at your side?
Or to go anywhere without having government agents steal your
stuff?
Or to know that your son could roam in a far-off land without
risk of being thrown in jail for years on trumped-up or
undisclosed charges?
Or to breathe a sigh of relief that citizens of other countries
were keeping dictators in check, so that American governments
(or the U.N.) wouldn't try to be the policemen of the world?
All these hopes -- and many more -- would come true if the
Bill of Rights were known, adopted, and _enforced_ throughout
the world.
We admit this is a big, and seemingly distant, dream --
especially in this time when America, the very home of freedom,
is abandoning the protections of the Bill of Rights. But as
they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single
step.
And here's an _easy_ step you can take, along with JPFO, to
spread freedom around the world. Go to
http://www.jpfo.org/bor.htm
and check out the five new translations of the Bill of Rights
we've just posted on the Web site.
The new languages are:
Hebrew
Arabic
Japanese
Korean
Chinese
These join the English, French, Spanish, German, and Russian
versions of the Bill already posted. Each translation contains
the full BoR. Most also contain the preamble and a simple
modern-language explanation of the protection each article
gives to individuals. (Soon all of our BoR translations will
be revised to include these features.)
HOW *YOU* CAN USE THESE TRANSLATIONS TO INCREASE FREEDOM
Maybe you speak only English. But we'll bet you have friends,
in the U.S. or in other countries, who speak one of the other
nine languages. Or you know of foreign-language Web sites,
newspapers, or magazines whose readers really need to get the
universal message of the Bill of Rights.
Just take a few minutes. Do one or more of the following:
* Send the URL to a foreign-language political Web site and
encourage them to link to it or post the documents to their
own pages.
* E-mail the URL or a copy of one of the translations to a
friend in another country.
* Print out the applicable translation and take or send it to
the foreign-language newspaper in your community.
* Tell the language teachers and students at your local high
school or college about this new resource. (Help them learn
both a new language and a new set of principles at the same
time.)
* Use the documents as teaching aids for your own homeschooled
children.
* Print them as flyers and leave them at community centers or
businesses patronized by speakers of one of the nine languages.
* Distribute them before or during your local Bill of Rights
Day celebration.
Even if we can't change the world overnight by creating an
instant Bill of Rights culture, think about some of the
impacts we _can_ have by spreading these translations of this
great document:
* You'll encourage "multicultural-Americans" to value the
traditions on which this country was based. This will help
end the "balkanization" of the U.S. and curb the spread of
the bogus belief that "all philosophies are equal." You may
inspire immigrants to learn English so they can explore even
more of the historic documents of liberty.
* You'll spread the "meme" (the "memory gene") of freedom
around the world, where it may help begin freedom movements
a year, 10 years, or 100 years from now.
* By raising Bill of Rights awareness in your community,
you'll have better, more effective Bill of Rights Day
celebrations.
* And by raising consciousness about the simple, fundamental
principles of freedom everywhere, you'll give yourself and
your children _that_ much more of a chance to live free.
In the long term, if the Bill of Rights were known and
respected the world over (even if it wasn't enacted into law),
horrors like the World Trade Center attacks or the genocides
in Germany or Rwanda or Cambodia would be far less likely to
be planned or tolerated.
The Bill of Rights is an embodiment of the truth that ALL men
and women are endowed with certain inalienable rights. Americans
are the ones who fought the hardest to keep those rights from
being abused. The rights are a gift -- but a gift we have to
earn the right to enjoy. The best thing we can do now -- aside
from enforcing the great Bill in our own country -- is inspire
the rest of the world to value, fight for, and live by, those
words of freedom.
Do it now. The more freedom we can spread, the better off
we'll be.
- -----
For another simple -- and highly enjoyable! -- way of spreading
the Bill of Rights message, listen to the new CD, "I Will Live
Free." This compilation of freedom songs, created just for JPFO
by noted songwriter Dan Starr, can help you win hearts and minds
and will give you hours of pleasure and inspiration. Check it
out and hear song samples at http://www.jpfo.org/livefree.htm
- -----
All Bill of Rights translations are copyright © 2002 by Jews
for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. But we urge you to
distribute them as widely as you wish, as long as you don't make
any changes to them.
Go to http://www.jpfo.org/bor.htm
The Liberty Crew
================================================================
ARE YOU A DUES-PAYING MEMBER?
DO YOU BUY JPFO PRO-FREEDOM MATERIALS?
================================================================
JPFO's website was given the "Heritage of Freedom Award for
Internet Excellence" from Students for the Second Amendment for
July 2002. See the award logo at http://www.jpfo.org/ bottom of
the page.
================================================================
Original Material in JPFO ALERTS is Copyright 2002 JPFO, Inc.
Permission is granted to reproduce this alert in full, so long
as the following JPFO contact information is included:
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
PO Box 270143
Hartford, Wisconsin 53027
Phone: 1-262-673-9745
Order line: 1-800-869-1884 (toll-free!)
Fax: 1-262-673-9746
Web: http://www.jpfo.org/
================================================================
JPFO ALERTS is provided as a free service to the Internet
Community. If you wish to help support this service, consider
joining JPFO! $20/year (no, you don't have to be Jewish!)
Join for 2 years and receive a free JPFO lapel pin!
Life Membership: $500 or $41.67/month for 12 months.
To SUBSCRIBE to JPFO Alerts: send a blank e-mail to:
jpfo_alerts-subscribe@topica.com
To CHANGE your subscription address:
OLD e-mail address,
and send a SUBSCRIBE message from the NEW e-mail address.
For SUBSCRIBE messages, respond to the confirmation message you
will get back from Topica.com.
================================================================
JPFO has no control over which ads are attached by Topica.com!
================================================================
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From: johannp@earthlink.net (Johann Opitz)
To: ca-liberty@yahoogroups.com (ca-liberty)
Cc: LibertyUS:;
Subject: [ca-liberty] Clean-Up Confusion
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 07:24:38 -0700
Clean-Up Confusion
A rocket fuel component has been detected in drinking water sources in 18 states. It's a limited problem the Environmental Protection Agency's junk science is about to make much worse. U.S. missile and space programs used perchlorate as an oxidizer in solid rocket propellants for decades. At some facilities where it was disposed, perchlorate seeped into groundwater. Some nearby drinking water wells were closed. State and federal officials knew for years perchlorate was in some drinking water. They didn't worry, though, because the perchlorate was generally below worrisome levels. Now the EPA wants to set the "safe" level of perchlorate in drinking water at effectively one part per billion (ppb). That standard would subject more groundwater to expensive cleanup -- estimated at $6 billion for Department of Defense facilities alone. Lake Mead, serving Las Vegas and Southern California, has perchlorate levels from eight ppb to 16 ppb. That water would need to be diluted with !
other water at an estimated cost to local water districts of up to $2 billion. Before taxpayers bear billions in costs, a closer look at the situation is warranted.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64198,00.html
Ban on Genetically Modified Crops Causing Starvation, Food Experts Say
The opposition to genetically modified (GM) food has no scientific basis, is causing continued starvation in the developing world and harming the environment, according to a panel of food policy experts that assembled Wednesday. Genetically modified crops are the result of altered seeds designed to increase yields and withstand drought with the use of fewer pesticides. "No one has gotten so much as a sniffle from consuming GM enhanced crops," said Ronald Bailey, an adjunct scholar at the CATO Institute, the Washington think tank that sponsored the forum, titled Food Fight. "Scientific panel after scientific panel has concluded that current biotech crops are safe," Bailey added.
Europe Victimizes Africa Again
Bailey blames the continued famine of millions of people in Africa on the opposition to GM food led by the European Union (EU). Many African nations, including Zambia, have cited potential EU trade retaliation as the key reason for rejecting GM food aid, despite the threat from famine. According to Bailey, the "precautionary principle" is the key reason Europeans justify banning GM foods. The principle allows regulators to ban GM crops without evidence that they are scientifically unsafe. Regulators need only to show that the crops have not been proved harmless, according to Bailey. The EU imposed a moratorium on GM food from the U.S., the world's leading producer, in 1998. Bailey said the EU's actions amount to a strategy of "regulate first and ask questions later." He said it translated into a "never do anything for the first time" attitude. "The EU is using the precautionary principle as a political tool," Bailey said.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/26/185816.shtml
Prince Charles Blasts Political Correctness
The heir to the British throne is getting roundly criticized for expressing his politically incorrect opinions in a spate of letters to government officials. In one letter leaked to the media, Prince Charles sided with tens of thousands of protestors from rural England who opposed a ban on fox hunting and were attacked by Britain's leftist establishment. In a letter allegedly written to Prime Minister Tony Blair, Charles is said to have written that British farmers would face less discrimination if they were gay or black.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/9/26/150641
Doctors Blast Feds' Smallpox Plan
The federal government's plan to withhold the smallpox vaccine until after an outbreak is woefully inadequate and would most likely lead to chaos and thousands of preventable deaths, according to a prominent organization of physicians. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has released a five-prong defense plan calling for voluntary advance immunizations.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/9/26/164221
Court Unseals Memo on Sen. Torricelli Probe
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020926/pl_nm/crime_torricelli_dc_1
Survey 'Explodes' Liberal Myths About Senior Voters
A survey of older, likely voters released Wednesday "explodes" the liberal myths that most senior citizens don't have prescription drug coverage and that they want a one-size-fits-all, government-run prescription drug plan. ... Findings in the survey include:
Fifty-nine percent of senior voters who currently have prescription drug benefits would not trade their present plan for a government program;
Of self-identified Medicare recipients, 67 percent would not trade their present plan for a government program;
Seventy percent of senior voters think it is unfair that members of Congress and federal employees have choices in their health insurance and drug coverage not available to older Americans through Medicare;
Ninety percent of respondents believe they be able to choose between different health care plans with different benefits "just like members of Congress and federal employees."
The telephone survey, conducted by McLaughlin and Associates, queried 800 random "likely voters" age 50 and older. The poll's sample was controlled to statistically correlate with the actual census data for voters over age 50, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent and a confidence factor of 95 percent.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/26/62717.shtml
Migrant care cost El Paso $30 million
Undocumented immigrants in El Paso rang up more than $30 million in unpaid medical bills in 2000 -- the second-highest amount for a border county, after San Diego -- according to a study being released today. The U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition, a group of elected officials from 24 border counties in four states, commissioned the study to put pressure on Congress to reimburse border hospitals for providing emergency medical services to undocumented immigrants. "We've said all along that the federal government should pay for this because it's a federal mandate for hospitals to treat everyone regardless of nationality," said Pete Duarte, Thomason Hospital's chief executive officer. ... Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who obtained federal money to pay for the study, is scheduled to join coalition members today in Washington to propose legislation to alleviate the financial burden on border hospitals. Thomason Hospital had $32 million worth of uncompensated medical care in fiscal!
year 2001, which ended last Sept. 30. That was in addition to $49.7 million worth of charity care for patients the hospital knew upfront could not pay their bills, hospital officials said. To help offset some of the costs, Thomason is seeking a 12.5 percent property tax increase for the new fiscal year that will begin next month. Property taxes now generate $35 million in revenue for the hospital. Doña Ana County incurred about $5.5 million in unreimbursed medical care for treating undocumented immigrants in 2000, and Luna County incurred $563,000 for the same period. ... Memorial Hospital's total uncompensated medical-care bill for 2001 was $32.8 million, which included $11.4 million for charity care. ... The study by MPT of America ... found that the cost of treating undocumented immigrants in emergency rooms totaled about $190 million in 2000, and was especially high in El Paso, San Diego and Pima County, Ariz. The amount does not include the cost of ambulance services, em!
ergency room physician fees or follow-up care. Including them would ha
rding to the study.
[Additional cost figures in sidebar on the web page.]
http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20020926-25705.shtml
Border town's residents want more protection from Mexican gangs
The mostly-Hispanic residents of a suburb of this Texas city say they don't care how U.S. authorities catch thieves who cross the border to rob trains, mug locals "and even steal our laundry from the line," they only want to see more such arrests. Townspeople in Sunland Park, New Mexico, submitted a petition demanding better policing after 16 people from the Mexican side of the border were arrested while attempting to rob a train on Sept. 12. ... "This incident results from slack policing in the area, which, because it is inhabited mostly by Hispanics, receives very little attention," said resident Ruben Holague, describing the situation as one more instance of discrimination on the part of authorities. "Unfortunately, the Mexican immigrants who come through here are from the Anapra and Lomas de Poleo communities, notorious for sheltering dangerous gangs that only cross the border to rob," Holague said. Residents said that despite the possible irregularities involved in th!
e Sept. 12 arrests, they were pleased by the detentions. "They are truly dangerous and should be in jail," said Ana Cifuentes, a housewife who had bicycles and other items stolen from her porch. "They even stole our laundry from the line," added Rebeca Hernandez, another area resident. Neighbors said, however, that thefts were on the wane since the U.S. Border Patrol erected a fence south of the railroad tracks.
http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=36005
Drug War's Weapons Aimed At Corporate Crooks
Justice Department Urges Get-Tough Tactics In Fight Against Fraud
The Justice Department will encourage federal prosecutors to use tactics often employed against drug traffickers to strip corporate wrongdoers of illegally obtained assets. Two months after President Bush established a "financial crimes swat team" to fight corporate fraud, federal officials will hold a conference today and Friday to instruct prosecutors on how to seize accounts and other proceeds traceable to corporate wrongdoing.
http://www.ctnow.com/business/hc-prosecutecorporate.artsep26,0,6305738.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dbusiness
Three men indicted in probe of UAW
One current and two former UAW officials in Pontiac, Mich., forced a costly General Motors strike and would only settle it in return for tens of thousands of dollars in bogus overtime pay and jobs for friends and family, the U.S. Justice Department charged Wednesday. The indictments cap a 4-year federal investigation notable because union members themselves blew the whistle on their own people. The strike also led to a $550-million lawsuit by 140-plus UAW members against their union. Grand jury indictments were unsealed in Detroit against Donny G. Douglas, UAW International servicing representative, former UAW Local 594 Chairman Jay D. Campbell and retired Local 594 skilled trades committeeman William J. Coffey.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/4150756.htm
Arm-to-Arm Against Bioterrorism
by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/miller6.html
Ashcroft: U.S. Spy Court Exceeded Authority in Rejecting Terrorism Rules
The Justice Department aggressively urged an appeals panel for the nation's secretive spy court to reconsider limits on special wiretaps for terrorists and spies. The legal filings, made public Thursday, are part of an unprecedented fight within the government to balance new surveillance powers against citizen rights. In the documents signed by Attorney General John Ashcroft, the government said the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court raised "significant constitutional questions" when it rejected some of Ashcroft's post-Sept. 11 guidelines for terrorism and espionage investigations.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64212,00.html
CA: Valley nears smog-check victory
Davis is expected to sign a bill that targets Bay Area autos.
In a victory for pollution watchdogs in the Central Valley, Gov. Gray Davis is expected to sign legislation today that will force Bay Area motorists to pass the same tough smog checks that most Sacramento-area motorists have faced since 1998. Approval by the governor means that up to 4.5 million vehicles in the Bay Area will be subject to Smog Check II inspections in coming years. ... Under the Smog Check II legislation, most Bay Area motorists must have their tailpipes tested on treadmills by 2004. The tests will cost $10 to $15 on average. Flunked vehicles will face repairs that average $144 statewide. Officials, however, disagree on how many vehicles will be subject to the legislation, which exempts autos that are 6 years old or newer. Sacramento officials say that 4.5 million vehicles will face tests; Bay Area officials say the numbers are lower.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/4566238p-5585408c.html
Thomas Sowell: Latest version of old ploy
California's Governor Gray Davis has gotten himself some front-page headlines, not only in California but across the country, by signing into law the first mandated provision for paid leave from work (at half pay) for people who say that they have family problems to deal with. In one sense, this is something new but, in a deeper sense, it is something that is many centuries old. Over a period of thousands of years, those with political power have used that power to confiscate part of the wealth of those who were not likely to support them and transfer it to those who were. This has happened in monarchies, democracies, and dictatorships, all around the world. It is a very old story. Those who wrote the Constitution of the United States were well aware of this history, so they included in the Bill of Rights a provision that the government cannot take the property of private individuals without compensation. For more than a century, this made the kind of game that Governor Da!
vis is playing harder to get away with. But, especially within the past half century or so, judges have allowed this provision of the Constitution to be eroded away until property rights now seem almost quaint. What this means is that politicians can play Robin Hood with impunity. And Robin Hood has always been more popular than Adam Smith. What Gray Davis has done is impose costs on private companies, to carry out a policy that the state government wants -- but is unwilling to pay for. He has confiscated private property without compensation, transferring it to those more likely to vote for him.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20020927.shtml
NYC: UNCUFF NYPD POLITICAL SNOOPS: CITY
Seventeen-year-old restrictions on NYPD political investigations must be lifted to aid the war against terrorism, city officials said yesterday. The Corporation Counsel's office filed papers in federal court seeking to ease the so-called Handschu Agreement, which requires police surveillance of political groups to be monitored by a secret, three-member authority. Under the city proposal, the authority - established in 1985 in the settlement of a lawsuit filed against the police - would deal with complaints about police political investigations, but would no longer regulate or veto such probes. The NYPD "had no conception of the challenge it would face in protecting the city and its people from international terrorism," the papers argue. The Handschu Agreement evolved from a 1971 lawsuit over police surveillance of Black Panther Party members.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/57945.htm
MD: SEC told top pension official Chapman's deals were illegal
Manager used state funds to invest in his own firms
The Securities and Exchange Commission told a top Maryland pension official that Nathan A. Chapman Jr. violated federal law when he permitted money managers he supervised to invest state pension funds in his own companies, newly released documents show.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-te.md.chapman26sep26,0,6350205.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
MD: Sheriff's deputies under probe
Five accused in beating of man at city market; Case of mistaken identity
An investigation by the Baltimore Sheriff's Department is focusing on five of its deputies who have been accused of beating and using electric stun guns on a man they mistook for a bank robber in Lexington Market. Rolando Sanchez, 26, alleges in a complaint filed with the Sheriff's Department that he was taking a lunch break at the market Sept. 18 when deputies attacked and humiliated him, then left him injured on the ground without calling an ambulance.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.deputies26sep26,0,7805789.story?coll=bal%2Dlocal%2Dheadlines
CO: Tancredo Turns on Term Limits
Citing an ongoing "threat" to the nation, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) said today he will no longer be bound by his pledge to limit himself to three terms. ... Tancredo was a leader in Colorado's term limits movement before his election in 1998. He indicated in January he had concluded term limits do not work.
[Another polikritter decides the perks, money, and power of office are too nice to give up.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2858-2002Sep25.html
Military seeks ways to use drugs on rioters
The U.S. military is exploring ways to use drugs such as Valium to calm people without killing them during riots or other crowd control situations when lethal weapons are inappropriate. Some critics say the effort violates international treaties and federal laws against chemical weapons, an allegation the military denies. The Pentagon has long tried to develop nonlethal weapons that would incapacitate or repel people with little risk of killing them. The effort intensified during the 1990s after hostile mobs confronted U.S. troops during peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in places including Somalia, Bosnia and Haiti. One hurdle for using such drugs for riot control, Pentagon researchers wrote, is finding a way to deliver the substances to large groups, such as in a spray or mist. Another problem would be figuring out how to prevent other injuries, such as those caused by people falling down if they are knocked unconscious.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/4154404.htm
UK: Charles laments passing of fox hunting
Prince Charles' private anger over government plans to ban fox hunting has become public, with newspapers obtaining letters in which he complains of political correctness run amok. "I and countless others dread the very real and growing prospect of an American-style, personal injury culture becoming ever more prevalent in country," Prince Charles wrote in a letter sent to Lord Chancellor Irvine, head of the judiciary in England and Wales. "Such a culture can only lead ultimately to an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion, let alone the real fear of taking decisions that might lead to legal action," the 53-year-old prince wrote. In the letter, the prince also criticizes the "absurd degree of politically correct interference" infecting British society. The latest disclosure by Britain's Daily Mail tabloid follows reports over the weekend that Prince Charles had also written Prime Minister Tony Blair expressing his anger over the pending ban on fox hunting.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020926-93835090.htm
Why Government Employees are Becoming Libertarians
One measure of success in any group is when people from all walks of life are joining it. One thing the Libertarian Party is (finally, thank God) starting to do well is to get someone, anyone, other than white male anarcho-bookworms to do something for Liberty. Even so, you may be surprised to know one of the LPNC's biggest growth demographics: government employees. You heard me right. We have soldiers, teachers, community college administrators, social services counselors, boards of elections staff, and even prison guards. One of our members even runs a publicly funded community theater. The military personnel are easiest to understand. NC is home to several major and minor military bases representing all the services. The way I see it, if members of our armed forces were actually paying attention when they swore their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, then they're natural Libertarians. It only takes them a few weeks after that ceremony to realize just how far A!
merica's military establishment has lost its way.
http://www.libertyforall.net/2002/archive/sept16/employees.html
Public Sector Competition and Interference Hurts Free Markets
When city governments go into competition with the private sector, as the City of Durango recently did by building a new community recreation center, businesses that provided jobs and paid taxes vanish. When town councils try to interfere with the natural progress of free market competition, such as the Greeley City Council's current consideration of using downzoning to prevent the building of a Wal-Mart Store in north Greeley, they send a clear message to businesses and shoppers alike: "Go somewhere else." These are classic cases of biting the hand that feeds you. ... If this trend continues, one has to wonder what will be left of the private sector to generate taxes to support the public sector.
http://www.libertyforall.net/2002/archive/sept16/public-comp.html
Senators to Offer Medicare Givebacks
Senators gridlocked over a Medicare prescription drug benefit are now advancing a bill that would send billions of dollars to hospitals, doctors and other health providers that care for Medicare patients. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the top Republican on the panel, issued a statement Thursday announcing the $44 billion proposal. "These provisions will improve the quality of, and access to, health care for millions of Americans," the statement said. "We call on Congress and the president to act swiftly." Congress agreed to cut billions of dollars from Medicare in 1997 when it balanced the federal budget. But lawmakers restored some of the money after health providers complained the reductions were too deep. Those "givebacks" are now expiring.
[There must be an election coming up.]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=536&e=4&cid=536&u=/ap/20020927/ap_on_go_co/congress_medicare
--
Johann Opitz RKBA!
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime,
suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
-- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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From: rdestep136@EARTHLINK.NET (RD)
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
Subject: Reporter cites VPC and BATF only
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 19:27:57 -0700
http://www.detnews.com/2002/metro/0209/26/d01-597623.htm
This needs your attention. The author's e-mail addy is supplied at the
end.
Rick
--
IRA, CIA, FBI, KILL, TERRORIST, BOMB, TARGET, TERMINATE, JIHAD,
CEASEFIRE, ATHEIST, ALLAH, FREEDOM, TRUTH, JUSTICE, MARIJUANA,
POT, COKE, BREW, DOPE, SEX, DRUGS, TNT, C4, CORDITE, GUNPOWDER,
REBELS, OVERTHROW, I love it when the government reads my email.
From: ernesthancock@cox.net ("Ernest Hancock")
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [lpaz-discuss] A Libertarian View of all of the Propositions in Arizona
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 20:26:50 -0700
I dont think it would be
realistic to take away bail inelligibilty for all crimes, but for crimes
like
this, rape and murder, I am leaning towards approving this. If government's
job is to protect citizens from force and fraud, I would guess initiatives
like this would fall under this criteria.
Mike
Mike,
What do you think judges are for man. Hell, why don't we just use an ATM to
dispense justice. Is just the accusation enough to keep you in jail? This is
a big bubba proposal.
Ernie
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Sheriff Joe Arpaio latest nonsense and civil rights violations
People who say Sheriff Joe sucks
Eleanor Eisenberg - ACLU
Amnesty International
Middle Ground Prison Reform
Latest news is in dos.html, not uno.html
Latest news is in dos.html, not uno.html