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Never forget!
I ran for Idaho state senate in 2008--didn't win
I've written a number of history books, as well as scholarly and popular articles, (see my web page).
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THE MESOPOTAMIAN: TO BRING ONE MORE IRAQI VOICE OF THE SILENT MAJORITY TO THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD
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Proving that the United States military does more than kill people and break things.
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J. Norman Heath's Blog--a circus rigger and Second Amendment scholar (really!)
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More Slippery Slope Actions From Lawrence
More of the sort of deep emotional commitment that Justice Kennedy was writing about, of course: VIRGINIA BEACH -- An attorney representing a man accused of soliciting sex in a public restroom at Sears in Pembroke Mall is trying to get the charge thrown out based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn sodomy laws in Texas.
If the motion is granted, it could eventually stop Virginia Beach police from setting up ``sting'' investigations in public locations frequented by homosexual males ``cruising'' for anonymous sex.
The motion, filed by Norfolk lawyer Jennifer T. Stanton, may be the first attempt to apply the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas to state sodomy laws, said Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey L. Bryant III.
Bryant said Wednesday that he has sent e-mails to all of the state's prosecutors asking how they are pursuing such cases in light of the high court's ruling in June.
The motion asks that Virginia's law prohibiting solicitation of an illegal sex act be declared unconstitutional, Stanton said.
The Problem of Mental Illness
I received this email from an occasional correspondent: I know you don't know me at all (other than the few emails I've sent you), but I just got a call tonight that one of my childhood friends ran away three weeks ago from the treatment facility she was staying at and has been living on the street. Her mom says that people who have seen her say that she's schizophrenic and incoherent, possibly psychotic, talks to herself, &c. My friend's mom wants to go find her on the street and get her to go with us to a hospital. We'll have to talk her into getting in the van with us, and then she'll have to admit herself to the hospital.
I've done my best to provide good advice, but the biggest problem is that too many self-styled "patient advocates" think that sleeping on a steam grate, defecating in your pants, waiting to die of pneumonia, is somehow more humane and respecting of the individual, than involuntary mental health treatment.
This Is A Network Problem--And An Argument For Wireless Networking At Home
I have been fighting a weird problem when I copy large numbers of files across my network. I suspect that there is something wrong with the Linksys EtherFast 100TX card's device drivers. But while trying to resolve this problem by installing the newest device drivers, I found that one of the computers on the network that I wasn't messing with at all--suddenly had become invisible. Why?
The network problem above, also known as Tater Tot, had mistaken one of the Ethernet cables in the upstairs hall for a mouse tail, and had chewed through it.
More Evidence That Too Many People Are Filthy Rich
Yes, that's the sound of envy. Questar has announced a titanium version of the Questar Seven telescope, reducing the weight by four pounds. It can be yours for only $8599.
"Sovereign Citizen" Fringe Groups Meet Slave Reparations Scamsters
For some years now, there have been people running around making the nonsensical claim that the Fourteenth Amendment only extended U.S. citizenship to freedmen, and therefore, the rest of us weren't obligated to pay taxes to the federal government, or obey any federal courts. (Yes, I've had these conversations, and they are serious.) Here's a really obtuse form of this argument, but I didn't have the patience to try and decode the meaning of capitalizing the word "citizen." Here's a more clear-cut form of the argument, and they only charge you $450 to assert your rights!
Now, I see that someone else is turning this bizarre claim on its head to get black people out of paying federal income tax--or at least, defraud them out of money for the forms:Two men claiming to represent the "Reparations Committee" in Atlanta, Ga., posted a cardboard sign at Saturday's Millions for Reparations rally, stating, "Legally claim your tax exempt status as an African slave descendant. Forms available - $3.00."
Carl L. Davis, one of the men selling the form, said that the 11-page document - "Affidavit of Facts Opposing Venue" - exempts slave descendants from paying taxes because, "We are not citizens and the form proves it."
The form says anyone who can prove "in good faith" that they are African slave descendants, can "disclaim all laws, statutes, rules, [and] regulations" of the state where they live and of the U.S. government.
Those signing the form further attest that they, as a people, have "at all times disclaimed and opposed jurisdiction by the United States, even when captured in Africa, on ships in the Middle Passage, revolting against white and Jew slave masters to get free from slavery and U.S. jurisdiction..."
Davis said that while the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution freed black people from slavery, those individuals are not legally bound to the provisions of the 14th Amendment, which, according to Davis, "appointed" newly released slaves as citizens.
"The law in this country and in international law is that you can't appoint a person citizen," Davis said. "You can't make a citizen; a person has to agree to be a citizen."
And I'm Going There Tomorrow?
Man arrested for driving a stolen, motorized bar stool in Reno. Read it here, and wonder what sort of person motorizes a bar stool. Someone who wants to get arrested for drunk driving without having to find his keys?RENO, Nev. - Police pulled over a man on a bar stool — after a slow-speed pursuit on one of Reno's busier streets.
It started Monday when an officer saw a man riding the motorized bar stool at 35 mph. He was being followed closely by a woman in a Mustang.
Both driver and rider were pulled over.
The woman told police she had been on the phone with a dispatcher reporting the bar stool stolen.
You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks
Police have arrested a 91 year old for bank robbery in Texas, a year after he was released from a Florida prison for bank robbery. J.L. Hunter Rountree, who goes by the nickname "Red," was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of stealing about $2,000, Abilene police said.
They said they had no records to prove it, but they thought Rountree was the oldest person ever to rob a bank in the country.
Police said Rountree, who was not armed, asked a teller to stuff money into a large envelop with the word "robbery" written on it.
A witness took down the license number of his vehicle and he was arrested on a highway about 15 miles outside Abilene. He did not resist, police said.
If convicted, Rountree faces from two to 20 years in prison. He told police he needed the money and he had a grudge against banks, said Abilene police Sgt. Mike Perry.
Rountree left a prison in Florida, where he was the oldest prisoner in the state, about a year ago after serving a three-year sentence imposed on him for a 1999 bank robbery in Pensacola.
Signs of Intelligence in the Town Where I Was Born
The Everett, Washington City Council has decided to support keeping a Ten Commandments monument at the old city hall: After hearing repeated history lessons and a call to turn back the tide of intolerance, the Snohomish County Council unanimously adopted a resolution supporting the city of Everett's controversial Ten Commandments monument.
There is a pretty major effort underway by atheists to rewrite American history. On Monday, our local paper, the Idaho Statesman, carried an opinion piece that claimed that none of the first seven Presidents of the United States were Christians, nor were Christians much involved in the founding of our government:
The monument, located outside Everett's old city hall, is the subject of a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Last month, Everett atheist Jesse Card filed suit in hopes that the court would order the removal of the 6-foot-tall granite slab, something Card says is a sectarian religious display that violates the U.S. and state constitutions.
On a 5-0 vote Wednesday morning, county council members passed a resolution supporting Everett's efforts to keep the monument.
"I have seen the other side of the coin so to speak," said County Councilman Kirke Sievers, recalling a recent trade trip to China. "And I wouldn't want to live there."
"There's no religion in China. I didn't see one cross, one church," Sievers said.
And at his hotel, "I didn't see Bibles in the drawers." Many of the founders, along with the first seven presidents and Abraham Lincoln, were Deists. That is, they believed in natural religion and morality. They were freethinkers who formed their opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. None of them believed that Yeshua (“Jesus”) was the divine son of YHWH (“god”). For that “heresy” none of them could get elected today — its sad how far we have slipped from the enlightened early days of the Republic.
That's what passes for liberal intellectualism these days. Of course, troublemakers would point to the abundant evidence here.
Solar Variablity and Global Warming
Here's one of those articles that didn't get much press attention when it appeared on BBC, and you can see why: it doesn't support the environmentalist desire to take control: Scientists at Armagh Observatory claim a unique weather record could show that the Sun has been the main contributor to global warming over the past two centuries.
When I was researching my book Concealed Weapon Laws of the Early Republic, one of the questions that I found myself asking was, "What influence might temperature have had on violent crime rates, and hence, on the adoption of the first laws regulating concealed carrying of weapons?" Remember that temperature plays a significant role in violent crimes. Unfortunately, I discovered that there really wasn't any long-term collection of weather data in the United States in that period. There are weather statistics from U.S. Army hospitals, but these are all frontier forts, and so the runs of data were never for more than 10-15 years in the same location. The data from Armagh Observatory has some real merit for that reason.
The weather observations, made almost daily since 1795, comprise the longest climate archive available for a single site in Ireland.
Dr John Butler, the astronomer in charge of the project, told BBC News Online: "We can see global warming taking place over the past two centuries that suggests that changes in the Sun are at least partially responsible."
It is so typical of the environmentalists that they do their best to ignore the most obvious source of rising temperatures: the sun. It also fits with the melting ice cap on Mars.
Pakistanis on the No-Fly List. One-Way Tickets. Paid Cash. Busted!
I figure that anything that upsets the left is potentially good, and you'll recall the left whining endlessly about the government's "no fly" list a while back. Hence, this story about the "no fly" list working: SEATTLE -- Two Pakistani men are being held in Seattle after an airline employee at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport found one of their names on a terrorism-related no-fly list Saturday night.
Another news story tells us that one of these guys has come to the government's attention before:
One of the men, carrying a Canadian driver's license, paid cash for a one-way ticket to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. After the airline employee called 911, the man left the counter, abandoning his ticket.
The other man, who had a New York driver's license, also paid cash for a one-way ticket to Kennedy Airport on a different airline, police reports show.One, a 29-year-old with a New York driver's license, had been detained and released at an unnamed airport once before and had been under scrutiny as a possible terrorist by the CIA, which had listed him on the no-fly list, several federal sources said yesterday.
I would love to see the attorneys explain this as just coincidence.
One source said that incident occurred the day before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Two other sources said it occurred close to that date but could not be specific.
...
The two men, whose names were not released, both were using Pakistani passports and were seen together at the airport earlier in the evening, police said. After their arrests, the men told investigators they paid to be smuggled into the United States from Canada last month.
Unabomber Wants The Government to Return His Bomb and Rifle
The story sounds whacky, but not quite as whacky when you read it carefully: Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski wants the U.S. government to return a pipe bomb and other items seized from his Montana cabin so that they can be used for "research," according to court papers made public on Monday.
Kaczynski is one of those sad stories--a very, very bright young man who taught at Berkeley before suffering what appears to have been a mental illness breakdown. The breakdown was not too severe: he managed to build bombs, killing and maiming people for more than a decade without being caught, and write a manifesto that is hard to distinguish from the writings of Al Gore. Or does that say something about Al Gore?
Kaczynski, serving a life sentence for killing three people and injuring 23 others in a 17-year bombing campaign, also asked for his books, personal papers and chemicals used in making bombs.
He wanted most of the material sent to the University of Michigan where it could be studied by "serious researchers," the court documents, filed a week ago with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento, showed.
I Don't Think You'll Be Happy to Read This Article...
Unless you think this is a sign of teenagers showing entrepreneurial spirit, in which case, you may not understand why I'm upset: NEW YORK, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the last year, local and federal law-enforcement officials say they have noted a marked increase in teen prostitution in cities across the country, reports Assistant Editor Suzanne Smalley in the August 18 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, August 11). Law-enforcement agencies and advocacy groups that work with teen prostitutes say they are increasingly alarmed by the trend lines: the kids are getting younger; according to the FBI, the average age of a new recruit is just 13; some are as young as 9. And, while the vast majority of teen prostitutes today are runaways, illegal immigrants and children of poor urban areas, experts say a growing number now come from middle-class homes.
On the other hand, this article does suggest that the article doesn't really do a very good job of making a persuasive case.
One reader suggests that the goal was just sensationalism to sell magazines, or to promote a conservative political or social agenda. The first I can believe. The second would make sense in, say, Focus on the Family publications. But in Newsweek?
Another Blonde Joke--But The Blondes Get Revenge
From a correspondent: Q: Do you know why there are so many blonde jokes?
A: It's very understandable. Most redheads and brunettes have incredible amounts of free time, home alone on the weekends, to create all those jokes about their social competitors. :)
The Future of Outsourcing
Don't worry about low-cost Third World software engineering. Worry about other species.
Is This What It Seems?
I was forwarded this email about what sounds (at first glance) like a gross miscarriage of justice, apparently to cover up clumsy bribery solicitation attempts by Russian customs officials. It's fairly long, and sounds fairly overwrought at first glance. If you have any knowledge of this case, please let me know. I have some additional comments at the end about possible reasons for such a prosecution: Barring a miracle, an innocent U.S. citizen is going to spend five years in a Russian prison for a crime he did not commit. Andrew Okhotin's four months under house arrest and upcoming show trial should outrage anyone who believes in justice. It should also move them to do whatever they can to help.
So here's some questions that come to mind after reading this:
According to the ASSIST News Service (assistnews.net), "Andrew Okhotin, a 28-year-old American humanitarian and Harvard divinity student, has spent most of his adult life trying to help the Russian people -- especially those in financial need and those facing persecution for their beliefs. Now, Andrew is experiencing the same persecution suffered by so many of the people he has supported over the years through charitable donations of food, clothing, and money. Okhotin's compassion and lifelong commitment to help those in need led him to fly to Moscow on March 29th to deliver $47,500 in charitable contributions to more than 100 needy Russian families. And for his humanitarian efforts, he is facing five years in a foreign prison."
When Andrew Okhotin arrived in Moscow on March 29th, he was detained while going through customs and subjected to 12 hours of interrogation -- during which time he was denied food, water and the right to call the American Embassy. Okhotin was confronted by customs officials with the choice of either paying up to $15,000 in bribes or being charged with smuggling contraband currency.
Andrew refused to succumb to extortion, and he has been paying for his refusal with his freedom for four months under house arrest in Moscow. Unless the U.S. State Department quickly comes to his aid, Andrew will spend the next five years in a Russian prison for trying to help poverty-stricken families buy food and clothing... clearly a "heinous crime" that should strike at the heart of humanitarians around the world.
CNSNews.com has reported, "A U.S. Embassy official familiar with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, [regarding the demands for bribes Andrew experienced during 12 hours of interrogation, stated] that such tactics were 'fairly typical' under the customs rules used by the former Soviet Union."
Andrew Okhotin did not break any Russian Federation laws. t is perfectly legal to bring unlimited charitable funds into the country and Article 52 of the Russian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. In reality, however, Christians, Jews, and people of other faiths are harassed, put in prison and regularly fired from their jobs for the crime of living their beliefs. Innocent people are regularly left destitute when their homes and possessions are confiscated by the State and their churches are bull-dozed into the ground. All in a country hit hard by a difficult economy and rife with corruption. Instead of welcoming aid like Okhotin's, many authorities are bent on stamping out all non-State-controlled churches and continue to persecute their own citizens as well as individuals like Andrew, who was only delivering funds to feed and clothe the needy.
In spite of the interest and intervention by members of Congress -- led by Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.) -- as well as groups like Amnesty International, Persecution Watch, Voice of the Martyrs and Russian Evangelistic Ministries, to name just a few, Russian authorities have made it clear that they plan on putting Andrew Okhotin in prison for five years. Letters and petitions, international radio broadcasts including the Voice of America as well as newspaper articles from The Boston Globe to the San Diego Union-Tribune, have had no visible effect on the Russian authorities who, after four months of investigation, seem determined to sentence Andrew Okhotin to five years in prison for supposedly trying to smuggle contraband currency -- a crime he obviously did not commit.
Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), who has known the Okhotin family for more than a decade, has also spearheaded an effort among other members of Congress to send a letter to President Putin. In a CNSNews.com article, Rep. Pitts explained in part why he is actively involved in trying to get Andrew Okhotin released and the charitable funds returned. "'I know this family,' Pitts said, noting that he has been tracking the Okhotin case 'all along' and stating that he 'had been hung up on several times' by Russian officials. 'I think it's a scam,' Pitts said. 'They're being very bureaucratic. The old communists, basically, are still in charge. I think it's a matter of corrupt officials.'"
The letter Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) sent to President Putin was also signed by Reps. Henry Hyde (R-IL), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Dave Weldon (R-FL), stated that they were "concerned about the harassment, detention and confiscation of funds from Mr. Okhotin and what it might indicate regarding the ability of charitable organizations to operate in Russia and serve the needs of the Russian people."
This is something we should ALL be concerned about. Now, we have the chance to send the same letter to Russian President Putin and other officials, joining our voices with tens of thousands of others around the country and around the world, demanding justice for Andrew Okhotin and others like him.
ACTION ITEM: Justice is a right guaranteed to citizens of the United States and most other civilized countries... a right that many of us take for granted except when faced with an egregious situation like the one Andrew Okhotin has been living through for the past four months. In the former Soviet Union, however, the word "justice" apparently holds no meaning for many corrupt Russian officials who openly demand bribes from foreigners and regularly harass and imprison their own citizens -- especially those who profess a belief in God. They repeatedly and blatantly disregard both their own laws and the rights of foreigners to even contact their own embassies when arrested.
According to the ASSIST News Service, "in a recent letter, Andrew stated that, 'The U.S. Embassy has tried to assure me that they will be in court to ensure justice under the Russian law. Knowing how blatantly rules were violated during the investigation, such promises by the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. State Department -- however well-intentioned -- are not very reassuring.'"
The original investigator in the case, Olga Pugacheva, told Okhotin and his attorney that she found no evidence of wrong-doing in the case. She has since reported being pressured by unnamed authorities to change her views. In addition, in spite of the fact that Deputy Prosecutor Lunev was not even aware of all of the facts of the case when he met with Okhotin and his attorney, Deputy Prosecutor Lunev kept insisting that Andrew was guilty. All subsequent meetings between Okhotin, his attorney, and Russian officials have reportedly been very discouraging. The Russian authorities are apparently intent on putting Andrew in prison for five years and only a concerted effort from people around the world will save him at this point.
Andrew Okhotin is urgently requesting any help he can get from religious groups, concerned citizens, humanitarian groups, and the media. He firmly believes that without the help of our government and the press, they will convict him and send him to prison. We need to help Andrew Okhotin quickly -- go to our site below to send a FREE message to Russian President Putin and other officials, asking them to see to it that the case against Okhotin is dismissed immediately:
http://www.conservativealerts.com/081203.htm
NOTE: You can also send letters via fax to:
Ambassador Yuri Ushakov - Fax: 202-298-5735
President George W. Bush - Fax: 202-456-2461
Secretary Colin Powell - Fax: 202-261-8577
Foreign Affairs Minister Igor Ivanov - Fax: 011-7-095-244-4112
Amnesty International - Fax: 212-463-9193
Be sure to forward this e-mail to everyone you know who wants to help see justice done in this outrageous case in Russia. Thank you!
1. Terrorist and organized crime smuggling of money has become a real problem, and all governments are much more sensitive to this problem than they used to be--and Russia especially has reason to be concerned. Is there something here that we aren't being told?
2. Is it possible that the Russian prosecutors are going after this guy out of a genuinely mistaken belief that the money he was bringing into the country was intended for criminal purposes?
3. Is it possible that the Russian prosecutors are vigorously enforcing a law that was intended for terrorists and Russian mafia, but that was poorly worded to apply to people with innocent motives?
I really don't know. I would like to think that the old days of Communist persecution of Christians trying to bring Bibles into the Soviet Union are dead, but perhaps they are not.
UPDATE: I received the following email: I have no knowledge of the Okhotin case, but I have considerable knowledge of Russian bureaucracy (having lived in the country for eight years), and I can assure you that, cynical though you may think you are, your cynicism is totally inadequate to the reality of Russian corruption, which is omnipresent. The story is almost surely every bit as horrible as it seems. However, past experience suggests that the American authorities will be able cut a deal and have the innocent victim released, probably after a "guilty" verdict.
Day Care
Rich Lowry has a column at National Review Online about Brian C. Robertson's new book Day Care Deception. One of the interesting quotes: The drum roll of day care's negative effects on kids includes higher rates of illness, including acute respiratory illness, ear infections and diarrhea; insecure attachment to their mothers; more aggressive behavior; and in the case of children of well-educated mothers placed in poor-quality care, slowed cognitive development.
Burton White, former director of the Harvard Preschool Project, writes, "After more than 30 years of research on how children develop well, I would not think of putting an infant or toddler of my own into any substitute-care program on a full-time basis, especially a center-based program."
