A few posts ago I commented on how Google has been collaborating with the Chinese government to censor certain images and writings from the Chinese population.

DhimmiWatch has spotted how Yahoo is doing something similar right here in the US:

Yahoo! is banning the use of allah in email names - even if the letters are included within another name.

This was uncovered by Reg reader Ed Callahan whose mother Linda Callahan was trying to sign up for a Verizon email address. She could not get it to accept her surname.

Enquiries to Verizon revealed that a partnership with Yahoo! was to blame. Yahoo! will not accept any identies which include the letters "allah".

Nor will Yahoo! accept yahoo, osama or binladen. But it will accept god, messiah, jesus, jehova, buddah, satan and both priest and pedophile.

A commenter added:

Compare:

Yahoo Images: search for "mohammed cartoons"

Google Images: search for "Mohammed cartoons"

The times are indeed troubling.

god_messiah_jesus_jehova_buddah_satan_priest_pedophile@yahoo.com

Hey - a movie about Libertarianism? Maybe not in the way you think:

As SayUncle says:

V for Vendetta’s movie tagline is:

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Based on that, I’ll go see it.

A more in depth review can be found at Libertas, which puts forward a conservative view of movies:

Make no mistake about it (and question all the authorities who tell you otherwise): this film set in the jolly ol’ England of the not-so-distant future is very much about America here and now. Or more accurately: it is a paranoid, left-wing fever dream of what America is here and now. On that level, it can be amusing at times (unintentionally, because this film is oh-so-very self-important…as I’m sure will be the reviews that call it “brave” and “thought-provoking”). It is also educational in that it serves as a psychological study of left-wing projection and paranoia. Needless to say, this is one misguided, naive film that is everything it accuses the government within the film of being: fear mongering, deceitful, hateful, and propagandistic. This irony, unfortunately, seems to be lost on director James McTeigue and writers Andy and Larry Wachowski (who adapted Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s graphic novel).

It seems that Holywood has again taken a noble aim, and twisted it 180 degrees. The right-wing oppressive government is shown using the tools and methods of the left, leaving it a mish-mash of ideologies and wasting an opportunity to tap into the growing awareness of "small-l" libertarianism.

Probably worth a look for the action and neat comic-style imagery.

Titled: Castle Doctrine - Michigan Update!

Senate Bill 1046, introduced by Senator Alan Cropsey is moving into Committee.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear Senate Bill 1046 next Tuesday, Feb 21st.

This bill will clarify:

the rights and duties of self-defense

the defense of others

and provide for criminal and civil immunity under certain circumstances

and regulate the investigation of incidents involving self-defense

More at the Michigan Coalition of Responsible Gun Owners web Site.

Update: Your help is urgently needed to support Michigan's Castle Doctrine Bill

The Senate Judiciary committee will meet Tuesday, February 21st to consider, vote, and make recommendations concerning Michigan's "Castle Doctrine" Bill (SB 1046). This bill will clarify the rights and duties of self-defense and the defense of others and will also provide for criminal and civil immunity under certain circumstances. Please contact your State Senators today and urge them to support this important legislation, especially those legislators that embody the Senate Judiciary committee. More here.

Posted by Asa

Titled: Michigan Senate Bill 1046 (Repeal “duty to retreat” in home self defense)

Introduced by Sen. Alan L. Cropsey on February 15, 2006, to create a new law establishing that a person who uses deadly force for self defense in his or her home, contiguous private property or occupied vehicle need not first flee from a threatening attacker, and that a person who unlawfully and forcibly enters one of these is presumed is to be doing so with the intent to commit an unlawful act involving force or violence, with certain minor exceptions. This would place the “home is my castle” doctrine in statute. Also, to establish that a law-abiding person who is attacked in a place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat, and can “stand his or her ground” and meet force with force, including deadly force if necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm.

Read the text from the bill, analysis, and comments here.

Posted by Asa

Titled:    Poll: Republicans tend to be gun owners

PRINCETON, NJ, United States (UPI) -- A Gallup poll finds that Republicans are more likely to be gun owners and hunters than Democrats.

The poll found that 40 percent of U.S. residents say they live in a household with a gun in the home or on the property. Thirty percent say they own a gun personally while 12 percent say the weapon belongs to another member of the household.

A majority of Republicans, 55 percent, report living in a household with a gun, while only 32 percent of Democrats do.

Overall, equal numbers of gun owners use the weapons for protection, hunting and target shooting. But these numbers also have a partisan tinge, with Republicans more likely to give hunting and target shooting as reasons for owning a weapon.

The poll says that gun ownership has gone up and down over the years. In October, when the Gallup Organization conducted its most recent crime poll, it found that a smaller percentage of people own guns now than from 1959 to 1968 and 1989 to 1993. In 1999, only one in three households had a gun.

So over the last seven years, the percentage of households with a gun has risen from 33% to 40%.

There are an estimated 250 million firearms in the US. Between 300 million people and just over 100 million households. If only 40% of these have a gun, that makes for over six guns per gun-owning household.

Just six? It's nice to be above average...

Titled:    Civil liberties fear as US terror suspect list rises to 325,000

Now that 325,000 names appear on the US terror suspect list, I'm beginning to wonder where this will end. The numbers have increased four-fold in the last two-and-a-half years. At this rate, in twelve years we will all be on it.

Maybe we could speed things up - If every suspect could provide just a couple of new names each year, we could cut that down to eight years. That would reduce the demand for flying somewhat.

Thousands of Americans have only discovered their name, or a similar one, is on the list when they have been prevented from taking a commercial flight. Senator Edward Kennedy found himself in that position in 2004.

Senator Kennedy has, however, found himself in many positions we wouldn't like to be in either.

And so far, booking a commercial flight, has been the only proven way of finding out if you're on the list.

Titled:    Cheney, in First Intervew, Gets it Exactly Right

WizBang nails the Cheney story right first time too:

If there are 2 stories the media are guaranteed to screw up, it is a story involving a gun or an airplane. (and they're not too good at hurricanes either) There is basically zero institutional knowledge about either guns or planes in the big media. Add the complication that it was a structured hunting trip and the big media had no chance of getting it right in a timely fashion.

And Cheney gets to the bottom of why the media is having such a cow over not being told sooner.

"I had a bit of the feeling that the press corps was upset because, to some extent, it was about them - they didn't like the idea that we called the Corpus Christi Caller-Times instead of The New York Times," he said. "But it strikes me that the Corpus Christi Caller-Times is just as valid a news outlet as The New York Times is, especially for covering a major story in south Texas."

Well worth the time to read.

Titled: U.S. Rep Joe Schwarz ( R-Battle Creek) cosponsors H.R. 4547

U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-Battle Creek) has agreed to cosponsor a bill that would create a national standard in accordance with which states would recognize other states’ conceal and carry weapon (CCW) laws.

H.R. 4547 (Bill Text) would mandate that when a CCW permit holder visits another state with a CCW law, that person’s CCW rights must be respected, so long as they adhere to the restrictions prescribed by the state they are visiting. If a CCW permit holder were to visit another state that does not have a CCW statute, that person would be allowed to carry a concealed weapon everywhere except for a police station, public detention facility, courthouse, public polling place, at a meeting of a state, county, or municipal governing body, in a school, at a professional or school athletic event not related to firearms, in a portion of an establishment licensed by the State to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, or inside the sterile or passenger area of an airport.

“I have always been a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, and I believe strongly in the right to protect one’s self and one’s family,” said Dr. Schwarz. “This bill ensures that all states respect a person’s right to carry a concealed weapon for personal protection.”

Dr. Schwarz is currently a cosponsor of H.R. 800, a bill that protects gun manufacturers from liability for injuries due to unlawful use of firearms and H.R. 1288, "The District of Columbia Personal Protection Act, a bill that would restore Second Amendment rights to the District of Columbia.

U.S. Rep. JOE SCHWARZ represents the 7th Congressional District of Michigan, which includes parts of Calhoun and Washtenaw counties and all of Branch, Eaton, Jackson, Hillsdale and Lenawee counties. A practicing physician for over 30 years, he previously served in the U.S. Navy, the Central Intelligence Agency, and in local and state government. He currently sits on the House Agriculture, Armed Services and Science committees.

Lifted from the MCRO (Michigan Coalition of Responsible Gun Owners) site.

Posted by Asa.

Titled:    I am not being censored by the Chinese government

TriggerFinger notices he is not being censored by the Chinese and publishes a picture to help the cause:

We note that Liberty1st is not censored either 

Titled:   The threat of ID cards gets closer

Samizdata brings us news of the UKs decision to make ID cards voluntary compulsory. Yes, despite the promises of a voluntary system, mentioned before here, MPs made it compulsory for people to be given cards - and put on a register - when they apply for passports.

The BBC reports that even investigation of the costs of the system should be ignored:

Home Secretary Charles Clarke had said a stand-alone ID card would cost £30, while one linked to a passport would cost £93.

But that figure has been disputed, most notably by a London School of Economics report estimating the cards could cost up to £300 each.

Of course the cards are still called voluntary, but:

"The only way in which people will be able to opt out of the system is by giving up their right to travel abroad.

Now is the time for me to decide. I still have British citizenship and a current passport alongside my US one. I use it to get in the short line through customs when visiting family in the UK. When renewal comes due, and that is pretty soon, I will probably not renew it. The cost in terms of liberty and money is just too great.

The Brits will lose my $400 and I will have to wait a little longer at Gatwick Airport. I'll pay that price.

Posted by Dave the still-hyphenated American

Titled:    Anders Fogh Rasmussen reveals his dhimmi side

Dhimmi Watch notes the irony of the current situation in Denmark. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister recently had an interview in Der Spiegel, where he describes how his country has spent the past few years sending money to the Palestinians to appease the arabs:

SPIEGEL: Your government launched an ambitious program two years ago to strengthen the dialogue and ties with Arab countries that has now failed. How are you going to revive this program?

Fogh Rasmussen: It is a paradox: we were one of the first countries to start such a partnership program and we are among the largest net contributors to, for example, the Palestinians. And now we have to watch as the Danish flag is burned and violent demonstrations against us are organized. The Arab initiative was supposed to accelerate economic and social reforms in the region so it's now a shock to be so severely criticized. At the time, we felt we were at the forefront of modernization.

SPIEGEL: Now some are calling for a drastic reduction in economic support to, for example, the Palestinian Authority.

Fogh Rasmussen: We won't change our policies. It's now time to calm the waters, not cut funds. In the long-term, it would be in our own best interest to rebuild our good relationship with the Arab world.

They paid the Danegeld, then got attacked anyway. And with all that understood, they have decided to continue to pay.

Fools.

Posted by Dave the hyphenated American

Titled:   When all else fails, crack down on the law-abiding folks

Wizbang brings us news of micro-stamping of ammo rearing its ugly head again. This time it's Boston's turn to penalize the law-abiding and avoid doing anything sensible to crack down on crime.

When problems refuse to be solved by the old methods, new ones are often required. Politicians need to look at new, novel approaches that might curb the crisis.

Unfortunately, the leaders in Boston can't quite grasp that. Instead, they are "stuck on stupid" and returning to variations on the classic liberal themes: don't single out the bad guys, blame everyone.

So, to keep criminals from shooting people, they're cracking down on those who buy bullets.

Their ideas so far are rather visionary, such as requiring guns to "micro-stamp" their serial numbers on the shell casings they fire. Other notions are restricting how much ammunition someone can buy at once and recording who buys bullets.

The irony is, there is a simple solution to their problem, one readily visible just across the border here in New Hampshire: it's called "punishing the guilty." We don't believe in punishing everyone just because a few act irresponsibly; we make examples of them, partly to encourage others to not follow their lead.

He references Boston.com News:

Police and city officials acknowledge that criminals could buy ammunition on the black market and out of state, but they say they have noticed an apparent shortage of ammunition on the streets. They also say that youths, who are both suspects and victims in many shootings, might be deterred if ammunition is more difficult to get.

I guess in the theoretical world of idealism, in which these folk live, it could really work, as long as you ignore criminal activity, ammunition theft, casings left at gun ranges, filing down of parts, reloading, black markets, insanity and the existing 300 million firearms floating around the country. 

It would certainly increase the market for revolvers, which leave no casings behind anyway.

Titled:      The War on the Free Press

Michelle Malkin has been making a principled stand against the Cartoon Jihadists. The news though isn't good.

Malaysia:  Gov't shuts down newspaper the published cartoons.

Yemen: Gov't shuts down newspaper the published cartoons. Arrest warrant issued for Editor.

South Africa:  Johannesburg High Court which prevents the publishing of cartoons found offensive by the Muslim community.

Ukraine:  Editor-in-chief of popular Ukrainian newspaper "Today" apologizes before Muslims for publishing cartoons.

Poland:  Editor of Polish newspaper apologizes for reprinting cartoons.

Canada: Student newspaper that reprinted cartoons has issue destroyed.

Sweden:  "Sweden is reportedly shutting down websites that show the dread Mohammed cartoons."

U.N.:  Kofi Annan criticizes reprinting of controversial cartoons.

Europe:  The European Union may try to draw up a media code of conduct to avoid a repeat of the furore.

Denmark:  At the Jyllands-Posten, Flemming Rose, the culture editor who commissioned the Muhammad cartoons, has been put on indefinite leave

France:  Well, maybe the less said, the better.

Yes folks, they're winning. Just the Great Satan left now to defend free speech and liberty.

Titled:      In wooing Cabela's, village suspends local gun rules

With no public discussion, the Hoffman Estates Village Board on Monday voted unanimously to eliminate parts of the village's local firearms ordinance.

The changes mean that gun purchases will not have to be reported to the Hoffman Estates Police Department. It also means that the police department will no longer run its own background checks on gun buyers and it will not issue permits.

Firearms retailers and consumers, however, must still comply with state and federal gun laws, which require buyers to obtain an Illinois Firearms Owner Identification (FOID) card, submit to a background check and comply with the standard 24- or 72-hour waiting period, depending on what type of gun is being bought.

The new ordinance was tailored on behalf of Cabela's, a national camping and hunting outfitter which is planning to open a 200,000-square-foot store in Hoffman Estates in 2007. Cabela's will sell shotguns, long rifles and handguns in addition to second-hand firearms. The retailer is expected to generate annual sales tax revenues of about $2 million.

Titled:   Don't mention the walk

With Europe still trying to work out exactly what it believes in concerning when cartoons and Freedom of Speech collide, Germany is making restrictive policy of its own. English fans visiting Germany for the soccer World Cup are banned from certain traditional activities, namely walking in a funny way and making jokes about the war. Not the War on Terror, mind, but WWs I and II - yes, those of over 60 years ago.

The Sun Online reports:

GERMAN cops will use sweeping powers to collar England fans doing Basil Fawlty-style Hitler impressions at the World Cup.

Yobs will be instantly banged up for TWO WEEKS if they goose-step like John Cleese in his most famous Fawlty Towers scene.

And hard core louts who give Nazi salutes — like the one jokingly made by Michael Barrymore in Celebrity Big Brother — could be hauled before a judge within 24 hours.

If convicted of inciting hatred they will face jail terms of up to THREE YEARS.

Wearing joke German helmets or any offensive insignia will also result in a stretch behind bars.

Given the British penchant for anti-German humor, I would expect a large portion of the crowd to be herded off into pens to await the end of hostilities the competition.

I guess that imprisonment for alcohol-induced insensitivity is a step more civilized than burning down embassies, but it is time that the so-called developed countries decide that free speech, in all its forms, is worth protecting.

Titled:   Does the Census Bureau go too far?

SayUncle brings up the American Community Survey. Every year, one in forty households are asked to answer a long series of questions, concering a myriad of topics as diverse as "What time do you leave for work in the morning" to the amount you pay for your mortgage each month. 

You can see the 2005 survey here.

The law, Title 13, Sections 141, 193, and 221 of the U.S. Code, authorizing the American Community Survey, also provides that your answers are confidential. No one except Census Bureau employees may see your completed form and they can be fined and imprisoned for any disclosure of your answers.

The same law that protects the confidentiality of your answers requires that you provide the information asked in this survey to the best of your knowledge.

The GAO published a paper investigating the Legal Authority for the ACS and finds in the conclusion:

For the reasons set forth above, the Bureau has authority under 13 U.S.C. §§ 141 and 193 to conduct the American Community Survey.  The Bureau also has authority to require responses from the public to this survey.  

It does however note the following:

While Census clearly has authority to conduct the ACS, we found no public laws, committee reports, or other congressional actions in which Congress has required the Bureau to develop and implement the ACS. 

So this would seem to be an example of unneccesary prying, though legal, at the behest of unelected and unanswerable bureaucrats. Please note that refusing to answer carries a fine of $100 and that for pretending to be an Eskimo and other false information is $500.

Titled:   Bush urges end to cartoon violence