Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Terrorist Tendencies

Oh, oh, I may be considered a terrorist, at least according to the State of Pennsylvania, because I oppose gun control, consider jury nullification as acceptable, and believe that the federal government has no legal authority in requiring licenses, among other things.

You think I’m kidding?  Then check out Pennsylvania’s Terrorism Awareness and Prevention website.

Via Tom G, Palmer’s website.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/15 at 06:04 AM
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The Next Special Interest Group

Special interest groups, with their constant whinings and politico bullyings, are constantly vying for government handouts and societal sympathy.  Unsurprisingly, there are even schools which will teach you the finer arts lobbying.

It appears that the next special interest group which may enroll in the school of lobbying will be those who perceive themselves as treated unfairly, at least judging from the words emanating from the mouth of Nancy Kreiger, who is a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Nancy Krieger, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the study added to a growing field of research linking poor cardiovascular and mental health to racial and gender discrimination — two significant sources of unfair treatment.

Just imagine the size of a special interest group which represents those who perceive themselves as being treated unfairly, the possibilities are endless.  Maybe they’ll be able to spearhead the pharmaceutical development of a fairness pill, you know, it could make one feel predisposed to accepting socialist policies.

People who feel wronged can really take it to heart

Posted by John Venlet on 05/15 at 05:09 AM
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Marking His Territory

In a recent post I titled Massachusetts Dolts, I noted that the state of Massachusetts apparently had a plethora of bad masters, as the state was considering “outlawing” pit bulls, and possibly requiring dog owners to “buckle up” their dogs when the dogs rode along in their cars.

One of the more ridiculous proponents of the above mentioned is Massachusetts State Representative Vincent A. Pedone, who I noted in my previous post as stating,

State Rep. Vincent Pelone (sic) said the state may consider either banning pit bulls outright or requiring owners to get training or a dangerous dog license.

“If you want to own a pit bull, which in my estimation can be the same as owning a weapon, the owner and the dog should receive training,” said the Worcester Democrat.

It’s difficult to imagine anything more ridiculous than the above statement rolling out of Mr. Pedone’s mouth, but, according to the Boston Globe, Mr. Pedone took the following tack during hearings on this supposed issue.

Yesterday he repeatedly asked witnesses whether they would prefer to be bitten by a German shepherd or a pit bull, and he grilled those with veterinary exper tise on the pit bull’s infamous temperament.

Now there’s an astute question.  Sheesh.  Down, Mr. Pedone, down.

Mass. show of support for pit bulls

The subtitle of the article is Specialists put burden on breeders, owners, and it correctly notes where the burden of dog ownership actually lies.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/15 at 04:30 AM
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Monday, May 14, 2007

Inappropriate Dissent on a College Campus

In society today, whenever there is a tragedy, like the Virginia Tech shootings, you can be fairly certain a coterie of counselors will be hustled in to soothe the burdened souls of the affected.

While mass counseling may currently be the panacea of choice; evidently college students do not have extended emotional support from friends and family any longer; what happens if you are a student at a college and find yourself in disagreement with the administrators over whether counseling, or carrying a concealed weapon, would more effectively make students feel safer, and state so in an email to the college administrators?

If you attend Hamline University, you’ll be placed on interim suspension, and forced to undergo a psychiatric examination, at your own expense mind you, and based on the psych findings, participate in any treatment deemed necessary to ensure that you are as docile as a lamb prior to being authorized to attend classes once again.  This is what has happened to a young man by the name of Troy Scheffler, for expressing himself in the following way to Hamline officials.

Scheffler had a different opinion of how the university should react. Using the email handle “Tough Guy Scheffler,” Troy fired off his response: Counseling wouldn’t make students feel safer, he argued. They needed protection. And the best way to provide it would be for the university to lift its recently implemented prohibition against concealed weapons.

“Ironically, according to a few VA Tech forums, there are plenty of students complaining that this wouldn’t have happened if the school wouldn’t have banned their permits a few months ago,” Scheffler wrote. “I just don’t understand why leftists don’t understand that criminals don’t care about laws; that is why they’re criminals. Maybe this school will reconsider its repression of law-abiding citizens’ rights."

That’s not all Scheffler complained about, though.  In a follow-up email, Scheffler had this to say.

After stewing over the issue for two days, Scheffler sent a second email to University President Linda Hanson, reiterating his condemnation of the concealed carry ban and launching into a flood of complaints about campus diversity initiatives, which he considered reverse discrimination.

“In fact, three out of three students just in my class that are ‘minorities’ are planning on returning to Africa and all three are getting a free education on my dollar,” Scheffler wrote with thinly veiled ire. “Please stop alienating the students who are working hard every day to pay their tuition. Maybe you can instruct your staff on sensitivity towards us ‘privileged white folk.’"

Evidently the lesson, here, for students is docility is the path to enlightment, or possibly death, if a crazed gunman shows up in classes intent on mayhem.  But, don’t fret over it because counselors are standing by.

Story taken from City Pages and is titled Gun Shy. Link to “Gun Shy” via Best of the Web.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/14 at 11:53 AM
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Lack of Superlatives Club

Let’s see, we have the war on terrorism, the Democrats war against anti-military image, the war on drugs, a Conservative Blog Declares ‘War’ on GOP Leaders, the war on poverty, No new cold war, says Rice, thank goodness, because the Global War On Global Warming Heats Up. War, war, war and more wars.

It appears that the newest member of the global war community lack of superlatives club, at least based on the superlatives now being bandied about by George W. Bush, will be U.S dependence on foreign oil, judging from the following headline utilized by Breitbart.com, regarding an upcoming announcement from Bush regarding U.S. gasoline consumption.

Bush to detail plan to curb US ‘addiction’ to foreign oil

The headline I’m looking forward to see is “Ethanol, the New Methadone.”

Posted by John Venlet on 05/14 at 09:47 AM
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Sunday, May 13, 2007

Some Thoughts on Hate Crime Legislation

One of my favorite movie lines comes from the Blues Brothers. Jake and Elwood are driving in their old cop car and come upon a group of Illinois Nazis rallying and promoting their facist propoganda.  Jake and Elwood’s forward progress is impeded by these rallying idiots, and when Elwood explains to Jake, who has just been released from prison, the reason for the Nazi rally, Jake utters this line, "I hate Illinois Nazis," upon which being uttered, Elwood guns the old cop car forward into the rallying goose steppers and sends the Illinois Nazis scattering.

I thought of the above movie scene this morning as I read George Will’s opinion piece on HR 1592, the pending Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.

Will’s piece politely excoriates this foolish piece of legislation, and here are a few of the more pointed barbs Will tosses HR 1592’s way.

Congress does not mind being duplicative—mandate enhanced punishments for crimes committed because of thoughts that government especially disapproves of. That is, crimes committed because of, not merely accompanied by, those thoughts. Mind-reading juries are required to distinguish causation from correlation.

And this.

Hate-crime laws are indignation gestures. Legislators federalize the criminal law in order to use it as a moral pork barrel to express theatrical empathy. They score points in the sentiment competition by conferring special government concern for more and more particular groups.

Laws hold us responsible for controlling our minds, which should control our conduct. But government increasingly wants to inventory and furnish our minds, removing socially undesirable desires. Law has always had the expressive function of stigmatizing particular kinds of conduct, but hate-crime laws treat certain actions as especially wicked because the actors had odious (although not illegal) frames of mind.

Will’s piece also contains some statistical data on hate crimes, a small tally of special interest groups who are lobbying for this, and correctly notes that this legislation is mere Congressional “moral exhibitionism.”

A Bustling Hate-Crime Industry

Posted by John Venlet on 05/13 at 04:56 AM
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Saturday, May 12, 2007

Laugh of the Week and Get Out of Jail Free Card

So, a Dearborn, Michigan cop, by the name of Edward Sanchez, who confiscates recreational drugs from suspects, and then takes the drugs home for his and his wife’s consumption, decides to make some pot brownies.  Mmm, brownies.

Anyway, the cop whips up the brownies and decides to chow down on them.  No word if he had them ala mode.  After downing the brownies, this happens.

The department’s investigation began with a bizarre 911 call from Sanchez’s home in Dearborn Heights. On the night of April 21, 2006, a panicky Sanchez told an emergency dispatcher he thought he and his wife were overdosing on marijuana.

“I think we’re dying,” he said in the 5-minute tape, obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

“We made brownies and I think we’re dead, I really do,” Sanchez continued.

I don’t know about you, but my experience with marijuana over the years never led me to believe I was dying.  It sounds to me like the brownies had more than just pot in them.

So, what happens to the cop and his wife after playing little Miss Suzy baker?  Nothing.

Then-Cpl. Edward Sanchez was allowed to resign from the department, but he was not charged with a crime.

And what would have happened if you or I, as common individuals, mere citizens, under the cognizance of the state’s powers, would have made such a call?  Well, I doubt very much you or I would have been able to flash a get out of jail free card.

Dearborn lets cop quit without a drug charge in marijuana brownie case

Posted by John Venlet on 05/12 at 09:13 AM
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Over Reaching - DUI by Consent

It’s not unusual for the state to over reach its supposed bounds, unfortunately, and here’s an recent instance of just such an over reach.

Ravens quarterback Steve McNair was arrested late Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn., on a charge of driving under the influence, even though he wasn’t the one driving.

How can this be, one might wonder?  Here’s how.

Under Tennessee law, it doesn’t matter if McNair was drinking, only if the driver was impaired. If convicted, McNair faces a maximum sentence of 11 months, 29 days in jail.

This aspect of Tennessee’s law is also a stretch.

The law can be applied to the owner of a vehicle whether the owner is in the vehicle or not during the DUI stop. It also can be applied to a passenger who does not own the car. The penalties for “DUI by consent” are as severe as those for DUI.

Though I would not ride as a passenger in a car with an individual who is overly under the influence, I think Tennessee’s “DUI by consent” law is an over reach of the state’s powers, especially when you consider that the law could be applied to you whether your in the vehicle or not, if it’s your vehicle the cops have pulled over with an alleged drunk behind the wheel.

Passenger McNair charged under DUI law

Posted by John Venlet on 05/12 at 04:49 AM
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Friday, May 11, 2007

"Big Oil", or Bigots?

This morning, the Washington Post headlines a story about gasoline and oil price concerns As Gas Prices Rise Again, Democrats Blame Big Oil.

Hoping to maximize their exposure, and their attempts to ingratiate themselves with the poor suffering fools we individual Americans supposedly are, at the mercy of “Big Oil” ya know, the Democrats took their act of incredulousness over gasoline pricing to the streets.

Standing in front of an Exxon station near the Capitol on Wednesday with the posted $3.05-a-gallon price for unleaded regular in the background, half a dozen senators railed against the oil industry.

The Democrats mentioned in the story - Pelosi, Cantwell, Schumer, Sanders, Stupak - all have their individual pet peeve about the oil industry, mostly that they earn money, and I think their raileries against the oil and gas industry are summed up rather well in this statement uttered by Representative Joe L. Barton of Texas.

"I think it shows that they’re either unbelievably naive about how markets work or unbelievably cynical.

Here’s a more sound idea for the Democrats, and the Republicans for that matter, on both the national and state level, to pursue.  Lower the amount of taxes Americans have to pay for a gallon of gas.

The currrent per gallon gasoline tax, nationally, averages 45.8 cents.  So the “near record high” quoted in the Times story of $3.05 a gallon effectually is only $2.60 per gallon, because both state and federal coffers are profiting to the tune of approximately 45 cents with each gallon pumped into your car.

Take a look at this pdf formatted chart of gasoline taxes, published by energy API, and see how much you’re paying the state and federal coffers, not “Big Oil,” each time you plug that gas spout in your tank, and think about how much of the price you are paying is actually NOT going to “Big Oil.”

Posted by John Venlet on 05/11 at 05:34 AM
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PC Mission Creep

Smoking, already driven outdoors in many cities, may possibly be driven underground.  You see, the Motion Picture Association of America, under pressure from various and sundry anti-smoking groups, has acquiesced to demands made upon them to consider smoking when rating a movie, utilizing the following subjective cues.

In deciding whether a tougher rating is appropriate, board members will be expected to consider whether smoking is pervasive, whether it tends to be glamorized and whether the context or historical fact mitigates the portrayal.

Expect the movies, very soon, to portray only the “bad” guys smoking.

But, it’s for the children, so it must be the left PC thing to do.  I think I’ll go have a smoke and a cup of coffee.

Puffing Away That PG Rating

Posted by John Venlet on 05/11 at 04:57 AM
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Is the U.S. Patent System in Trouble?

My knowledge of the U.S. patent system is relatively neglible, but I am well aware of how to utilize a gas pedal.  Though these two subjects seem rather incongruous, they are currently intertwined within a Supreme Court case, KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc.

According to a Boston Globe story titled Patently obvious, the U.S. patent system is being “jolted” by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the above mentioned case, and the ruling’s jolt factor hinges on the word “obvious.”

Obviously, due to my relatively negligible knowledge of the U.S. patent system, I do not have enough information to opine, one or the other, on the soundness of the court’s decision, but I will note that the court at least understood one obvious factor in the granting of a patent.

If an invention proves especially successful commercially, the court ruled in 1976, that suggests the invention must not have been obvious, or market pressures would have driven someone to come up with it earlier.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/11 at 04:40 AM
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Thursday, May 10, 2007

Shouldn't You Return Stolen Property?

I may have written about this before, but when I was a kid, back in the 1960’s, I stole a pack of baseball cards.  You know the ones, they had a crappy piece of gum in the pack and maybe five or ten baseball cards, too.

My dad found out about my nefariousness, and after cajoling out my confession, sent me back to the store with the stolen merchandise, sans the gum which had been chewed and spit out after a short time.

Humbling experience to say the least.

Well, in Montana, the politicos seem to have an extra $1 billion dollars of individuals’ money in their possession.  Call the money stolen, or overcharges, or what-have-you, but shouldn’t that money be returned to the individuals who it was stolen from in the first place?

After arguing for four months over how to spend the budget surplus windfall - equal to more than $2,500 per taxpayer - the politically divided Legislature adjourned for the first time anyone can recall without adopting a state budget.

Additionally, if that money was returned to its rightful owners, wouldn’t it create an additional economic boom, in a state of that population size, which would enable additional monies to be misappropriated for the state’s coffers?  Or, are the Montana politicos too proud to admit their wrong doing?

I’m just asking.

Montana Lawmakers Squabble Over Surplus

Posted by John Venlet on 05/10 at 02:12 PM
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Carnival Barking

When’s the last time you wandered around a carnival?  If you’re like me, it may have been awhile.  It wasn’t the rides, the ring toss, or the livestock exhibitions I went to the carnival to experience, but the carnival barkers, now there’s a show.

Today, our best opportunity to experience a semblance to carnival barking is the whole presidential primary schedule whirlygig, with states all around the country barking out that the date of their show is earlier, flashier, and more you won’t believe your eyes spectacular.  What fun!

Writing in the Washington Post, David S. Broder opines that the carnival barking of earlier and earlier primary dates is leading to “madness.”

Let’s take a look at his spiraling kaleidoscope of concerns.

Instead of there being a steady progression of contests, challenging and whittling the field of contenders in the wide-open races to select a successor to George W. Bush, it is going to be a herky-jerky, feast-or-famine exercise that looks more like Russian roulette than anything that tests who can best fill the most powerful secular office on Earth.

I don’t know know about you, but a “herky-jerky,” “feast-or-famine,” “Russian roulette” test sounds highly entertaining.  Maybe the candidates could even all compete in the Hi Striker test of strength, swinging that hammer for all their worth and whoever rings the bell, walks away with the prize.  Heck, even I’d buy a ticket to see that.

Another of Broder’s concerns is this.

Most of those voters will never have had an opportunity to get even a glance at the candidates. All they will know is what the ads tell them—and what the media can supply, when reporters are exhausting themselves dashing after the race from state to state.

Well, if the voters will only get a glance at the candidates, the hand’s down winner will be John Edwards, whose primping and powdering will provide a glance that will make hearts throb.

As for the reporters who are “exhausting themselves dashing after the race from state to state,” couldn’t we assign all of them a number, which they could display prominently on their chests and backs, like NYC marathon runners, and then setup a Vegas betting pool so wagers could be made on who would win the race to the next state?  That might be more fun than the Kentucky Derby.

Additionally, Mr. Broder states this concern.

This crazy calendar sets up one of two scenarios—both scary. If one candidate in each party wraps up the nomination by gaining momentum in the January contests and amassing delegates on Feb. 5, we will be looking at the longest, most-dragged-out general election ever. The conventions are late in 2008; the Democrats’ the last week in August, the Republicans’ the first week in September. The time from February to Labor Day will be boring beyond belief.

I’d say we’re already looking at the “longest, most-dragged-out general election ever.” Ever.  And as for it being “boring beyond belief,” well, I’m feeling in need of a nap already, and it’s only 8:26 A.M.

David S. Broder’s piece is titled No Way to Choose a President. Step right up and see the show!

Posted by John Venlet on 05/10 at 04:41 AM
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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

50th Anniversay

Ayn Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged, was published in the USA for the first time in 1957.  It is a fine work, and I recommend it to anyone.

FrontPageMagazine.com has a piece up noting this, titled Atlas Shrugged, at 50, which was written by Onkar Ghate.  From Ghate’s piece.

To give a taste of its radicalness, consider that today it’s bromidic that the person of virtue is akin to Mother Teresa; he selflessly lives to serve others and demands that you do the same. Likewise, the person of vice is selfish; he pursues his own interests and demands that his actions bring him a profit. Whenever a television show or movie needs a stock villain, one whose evil motivation will require no setup, you can be sure a businessman erecting an office building on a patch of green land or a corporation testing an experimental drug will be penciled in. Simply to point out that they are pursuing profit is sufficient to damn them. More murders on television are committed by businessmen than by mobsters and gang members.

This entire viewpoint, entrenched for centuries by religious and secular thinkers alike, Atlas challenges. What emerges from its pages is that the moral person is, in fact, truly selfish: He chooses to embrace his own life by choosing to purposefully, systematically and unwaveringly do the thinking and take the actions necessary for happiness.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/09 at 02:33 PM
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Is It a Private Business, or a State (Socialist) Enterprise?

A service station that offered discounted gas to senior citizens and people supporting youth sports has been ordered by the state to raise its prices.

The above, is taking place in the United Socialist State of Wisconsin.

I refer you to the words of Ludwig von Mises:

Prices are a market phenomenon.  They are generated by the market process and are the pith of the market economy.  There is no such thing as prices outside the market.  Prices cannot be constructed synthetically, as it were.  They are the resultant of a certain constellation of market data, of actions and reactions of the members of a market society.  It is vain to mediate what prices would have been if some of their determinants had been different.  Such fantastic designs are no more sensible than whimsical speculations about the course of history would have been if Napoleon had been killed in the battle of Arcole or if Lincoln had ordered Major Anderson to withdraw from Fort Sumter.

von Mises quote taken from Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, Part Four, Catallactics or Economics of the Market Society, Chapter XVI, 15. The Chimera of Nonmarket Prices

Gas station owner told to raise prices

Posted by John Venlet on 05/09 at 07:14 AM
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