Titled:   Muslim terrorist sentenced to life in Indonesia

Ismail Fahmi Yamsehu was found guilty of violating the country's anti-terror law during a trial at the District Court in the Maluku provincial capital of Ambon.

The three judges ruled that prosecutors had proven that Yamsehu took part in the attack on a Christian village on Buru Island in May 2004 in which three people died, and in an assault last February on a karaoke bar near Ambon in which two people were killed.

Titled:   As Canada's Slow-Motion Public Health System Falters, Private Medical Care Is Surging

Canada's health system has often been held up as a paragon of success by those interested in instituting a single-payer system south of the border, in the US. It is technically illegal to charge for treatment, resulting in long and incresing waiting lists for basic operations:

The Cambie Surgery Center, Canada's most prominent private hospital, may be considered a rogue enterprise.

Accepting money from patients for operations they would otherwise receive free of charge in a public hospital is technically prohibited in this country, even in cases where patients would wait months or even years in discomfort before receiving treatment.

But no one is about to arrest Dr. Brian Day, who is president and medical director of the center, or any of the 120 doctors who work there. Public hospitals are sending him growing numbers of patients they are too busy to treat, and his center is advertising that patients do not have to wait to replace their aching knees.

The country's publicly financed health insurance system — frequently described as the third rail of its political system and a core value of its national identity — is gradually breaking down. Private clinics are opening around the country by an estimated one a week, and private insurance companies are about to find a gold mine.

Dr. Day, for instance, is planning to open more private hospitals, first in Toronto and Ottawa, then in Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton. Ontario provincial officials are already threatening stiff fines. Dr. Day says he is eager to see them in court.

"We've taken the position that the law is illegal," Dr. Day, 59, says. "This is a country in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years."

...

The median wait time between a referral by a family doctor and an appointment with a specialist has increased to 8.3 weeks last year from 3.7 weeks in 1993, according to a recent study by The Fraser Institute, a conservative research group. Meanwhile the median wait between appointment with a specialist and treatment has increased to 9.4 weeks from 5.6 weeks over the same period.

Average wait times between referral by a family doctor and treatment range from 5.5 weeks for oncology to 40 weeks for orthopedic surgery, according to the study.

Current waiting times in the UK:

• 8 months for cataract surgery
• 11 months for a hip replacement
• 12 months for a knee replacement
• 5 months to repair a slipped disc
• 5 months for a hernia repair

It's the same story across the Western world:

A recent survey of hospital executives in five countries (Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and the United States) found that none of the U.S. executives thought a 65-year-old man would have to wait six months or more for routine hip-replacement surgery. The numbers for other countries, which have greater government control of healthcare, were significantly higher: 81 percent of hospital executives in Britain, for example, thought the wait would be more than six months.

And this is for non-urgent medical care, for just pain. Look at the current times for Ontario:

Hospital wait times for key services. Average wait time in days.

• MRI scan: 55
• CAT scan: 30
• Cancer surgery: 37
• Angiography: 22
• Angioplasty: 11
• Bypass surgery: 22
• Cataract surgery: 142
• Hip replacement: 162
• Knee replacement: 203

The BBC reports of a UK woman being asked to wait for 18 months for an MRI!

There are some benefits to a centralized, one-payer, socialized medical system, but quick access to needed services is clearly not one of them.

Titled:   It's about the Stratergy... Stupid

An excellent round up of information about the Ports kerfuffle, which seeming points towards the democrats shooting themselves in the foot once again.

...the UAE sits astride the Straights of Hormuz, through which flows the world's oil supplies, 50 miles from Iran, hosting the largest American military base outside of the United States...

While the 'ports' they own are right here in America, employing Americans, secured by Americans, and if we want to simply sieze them to punish the UAE it would take about an hour. In fact, for the Marines to take the UAE would take, about an hour.

The unsaid reason we are in Afghanistan and Iraq is because they are alongside Iran and Syria.

The UAE is part of that 'solution'.

Worth the time to read.

Titled:   Scalia says don't link guns only to crime

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia fondly remembers carrying a rifle around New York as a boy and says outdoorsmen should attack the idea that guns are used only for crimes.

An avid outdoorsmen who has hunted with Vice President Dick Cheney, Scalia spoke Saturday at the National Wild Turkey Federation's annual convention.

"The attitude of people associating guns with nothing but crime, that is what has to be changed," Scalia told the audience of about 2,000.

"I grew up at a time when people were not afraid of people with firearms," said Scalia, noting that as a youth in New York he was part of a rifle team at the military school he attended.

"I used to travel on the subway from Queens to Manhattan with a rifle," he said. "Could you imagine doing that today in New York City?"

We've some edumucating to do.

Titled:   Rocketry Hobbyists versus the BATFE

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has handed down a stinger of a decision against the BATFE and in favor of small children, science teachers and boys of all ages. Yes, ever since someone woke up in a bad mood and decided to classify model rocket engines as explosives, this hobby has faced increased regulations and costs. The judges had this to say (emphasis mine):

"The problem in this case is that ATFE's explanation for its determination that APCP deflagrates lacks any coherence. We therefore owe no deference to ATFE's purported expertise because we cannot discern it. ATFE has neither laid out a concrete standard for classifying materials along the burn-deflagrate-detonate continuum, nor offered data specific to the burn speed of APCP when used for its 'common or primary purpose.' On this record, the agency's decision cannot withstand judicial review."

It's a pity it wasn't in reference to "sporting purposes" or the current rules regarding US content of imported firearms, but it's a start in the right direction.

Hat-tip to TriggerFinger 

One thing worth keeping an eye on for those interested in the future of the US, the dollar, savings and 401ks is the approaching Iranian Oil Bourse. In real simple terms, oil is sold in dollars only, which forces all other consuming nations to keep buying US currency. Now Iran is opening a Euro-denominated oil bourse in March, just a few weeks away. This will enable it to sell oil to Europe and the rest of the world for euros instead of dollars, meaning that there is a lot less reason for countries to hang onto their stockpiles of dollars. A much more detailed version is found here.

Add to this the rapidly rising inflation rates in the US, which continuously erodes the value of overseas dollar holdings and you have another reason to ditch the dollar.

Remember Iraq tried this just before the second Gulf War, although it was severely shackled by the UN Bribe Oil for Food Program.

If the dollar drops in value, everything we import, especially oil, will become a lot more expensive.

There are some upsides, especially for exports and balance of trade:

A key effect of devaluation is that it makes the domestic currency cheaper relative to other currencies. There are two implications of a devaluation. First, devaluation makes the country's exports relatively less expensive for foreigners. Second, the devaluation makes foreign products relatively more expensive for domestic consumers, thus discouraging imports. This may help to increase the country's exports and decrease imports, and may therefore help to reduce the current account deficit.

And some downsides, including that pesky inflation problem which will eat away at the real value of investments and savings:

A significant danger is that by increasing the price of imports and stimulating greater demand for domestic products, devaluation can aggravate inflation. If this happens, the government may have to raise interest rates to control inflation, but at the cost of slower economic growth.

And the thing about inflation is you can't solve it by printing more money. You have to increase interest rates, restricting the money supply. Which is bad for investment and spending, especially on the now more costly imports.

And VERY bad for the housing market. Mortgage rates would rise, slowing the housing market and lowering house values. On the other hand, house price reductions would be partially offset due to inflation making many homeowners feel a little better even as their assets lose real value.

Interesting Times - Keep your powder dry - Buy Gold!

News comes of the latest setback for the new Bond star, Daniel Craig. Not being content with losing his front teeth in early filming after failing to demonstrate the ability to fight, he has now come up with another problem; he is unable to drive a stick-shift:

James Bond star Daniel Craig has stunned movie bosses on the set of the new 007 movie, by revealing he can't drive the secret agent's hi-tech car.

Craig - who was signed to replace former Bond Pierce Brosnan last October - is only qualified to drive an automatic transmission vehicle, so was useless behind the wheel of Bond's manual Aston Martin DB5.

According to sources, filming has been halted while the actor learns to drive the car, which had been specially shipped to the Bahamas set.

One would think that if you were in serious contention for tough-guy movie roles, then learning advanced driving, fighting, skydiving, motorcycling and other such pastimes would be high on the priority list.

This reminds me of Jeff Cooper's article on a suitable skill set to help a young man through life:

Before a young man leaves home, there are certain things he should know and certain skills at which he should be adept. We used to kick this around on watch and we covered a lot of ground. What should a young male of 21 know and what should he be able to do? There are no conclusive answers to those questions, but they are certainly worth asking. We agreed upon "civics" or what was called American government. A young man should know how this country is run and how it got that way. He should know the Federalist Papers and de Tocqueville, and he should know recent world history. If he does not know what has been tried in the past, he cannot very well avoid those pitfalls as they come up in the future.

Superficialities, of course, are rife. A young man should be computer literate, and moreover should know Hemingway from James Joyce. He should know how to drive a car well - such as is not covered in "Driver Ed." He should know how to fly a light airplane. He should know how to shoot well. He should know elementary geography, both worldwide and local. He should have a cursory knowledge of both zoology and botany. He should know the fundamentals of agriculture and corporate economy. He should be well qualified in armed combat, boxing, wrestling, judo, or the equivalent. He should know how to manage a motorcycle. He should be comfortable in at least one foreign language, and more if appropriate to his background. He should be familiar with remedial medicine.

And that list is for all young men, not James Bond wanabees.

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.

I know that they sell a lot of goods besides guns, but I still don't understand why they choose to patronize states that chose to restrict the liberties of their customers. Cabela's is a major attraction to any area. Michigan's store has become the state's greatest tourist attraction. Customers come from hundreds of miles around. I can't see many of the longer distance customers willing to drive back to the store after a 24-hour or 72-hour wait to pick up a firearm they could buy locally without a wait. 

I would rather they set up in gun-friendly states and pull the customers, and the sales-tax, out of the more oppressive areas.

Still, its a minor victory for that one small town.

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

Titled:   Facial Armor Rears Its Ugly Head

DefenseTech.org is featuring a new tool to help protect our guys from injury.

The mask weighs 1.3 pounds, is compatible with ballistic eyewear, and will stop a bullet from a .44 magnum.

If you want to see video of it stopping that bullet, click here.

I'm not sure if it will help win the hearts and minds of the natives.

Titled:   Ithaca Gun is back in business

Ithaca Guns is back in business:

Ithaca Gun is back in business, but, for the first time since the company was founded in the 1880s, it is headquartered no where near Ithaca.

It is now Ithaca Guns USA, LLC, and headquarters is Upper Sandusky, Ohio, rather than Ithaca, King Ferry or Auburn. But they are making familiar Ithaca Gun models.

...Using their 30,000 square-foot CNC machinery-equipped plant and Ithaca Gun plans and specs, the new company is already turning out variations of the Model 37 pump that has been the flagship of the troubled Ithaca Gun name for nearly 70 years.

Their website, though still under construction, is up and running.

Titled:   After 150 yrs, Western Union ends telegram service

"Effective January 27, 2006," the company said in a note posted without ceremony on its Web site, "Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage."

James Lileks, as usual, has gathered some long lost art from the bygone days:

Happy Caucasian Patriarch Day! Here you see the variety of boilerplate available to the tongue-tied son. Note the art in the corner – either Dad has ascended in the Rapture, or was the victim of spontaneous human combustion. Note also that one could send a telegram from home and have it charged on your phone bill – something that must have seemed quite modern. Which, I suppose, it was.

Titled:   Think the police will protect you?

TriggerFinger brings us news of San Francisco's lack of success in solving homicides and the difficulties of working with the police department to protect citizens. The original article from December 2005 at sfgate.com reports that 80% of homicide cases from 2005 remain open.

San Francisco supervisors turned their attention to the city's surging homicide rate Monday, holding an inaugural meeting of a new committee on gun and gang violence and receiving a grim briefing on the scale of the mayhem and failure to hold perpetrators accountable.

Words such as "surging", "grim", "mayhem" and "failure" do suggest that all is not well in the pistol-free City of Peace and Love.

Part of the explanation, police said, for the low rate of arrests and prosecutions is the reluctance of witnesses to provide testimony given their exposure to retribution.

The people are scared and don't want to talk.

The 94 homicides so far for 2005 is a 10-year high...

..."I'm a little stunned," said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who represents District 5, which includes the Western Addition, a hot spot for the killings. "I'm just trying to figure out what the body count has to be in terms of what lessons are learned."

And the people in charge aren't sure what to do.

Mirkarimi said he wants to see a regular flow of reliable statistics on how San Francisco's Police Department is performing. Suggesting police officials are reluctant to submit to closer oversight, he characterized getting good information out of the department as a "cat-and-mouse game."

And don't seem willing to help...

Get out while you can.

Titled:   Glue gun will mean police can stick to fleeing drivers

The Times Online tells us of a new plan that will enable LA police to avoid chasing and catching criminals. The concept is to shoot a trackable GPS unit at the fleeing driver's car so that they can find it later. Assuming that word of this will spread around the criminal community, especially after the press coverage, this means that crimes that risk a police chase have now got much safer for the criminals.

“Rather than pushing them because they are going 70-80 mph and we are attempting to keep up with them, we will just basically monitor where they are going,” said William Bratton, the police commissioner.

“Let them run. We will just basically track them to where they dump the car. We do that now with helicopters.”

No more televised chases across town through traffic, ramming, shoot-outs and foot chases. Now the stolen getaway vehicle will be free to roll across town, drop off the crims at a convenient pick-up point near their other vehicles, with the police just having to pull up later and tow the original vehicle away.

“Banning pursuit is probably a good idea if all you care about is public safety, because if you ban pursuit there won’t be any chases or any risk to the public,” said Geoff Alpert, the head of the criminology department at the University of South Carolina, who has endorsed the new technology.

Way to go, LA! 

“This is incredible technology,” said Commissioner Bratton. “We are going to test it out. We are really optimistic that this may be one of the next big ideas in American policing.”

It will keep police in jobs forever, simply by letting criminals go free each time, free to steal another car and escape over and over. And the police will win too! Their record for recovery of stolen cars will skyrocket. Pity about their record of captured thieves.

Titled:      Going postal in gun-free zones

We'll start the new week with a well-put together piece on TownHall which describes the effect on mass murder suicides, which points out that the most popular places for multiple murders are places that ban concealed weapons and don't provide armed security. Schools, churches and postal depots are typical of this arrangement, unlike airports which at least have have uniformed armed security.

Suicidal murders may be deranged, but they are not dim-witted.

They do seem to actively seek out east targets.

Society needs to disregard the baseless calls for more restrictions on honest gun merchants and citizens. Their guns are not a significant source of criminal weapons.

Some will always have gun phobias, and this is unfortunate. Education helps. A personal encounter with an armed assailant helps even more.

Well worth the time to read.

Titled:    Downtown Detroit

Yesterday, I got to go wander about in downtown Detroit and take some photos, just as things are building up for the SuperBowl. One of the events underway was Winter Blast, a winter festival in Campus Martius, a new downtown park. The unseasonably good weather did put a bit of a crimp in proceedings, but people made the most of it, and seemed to be having fun. The winter storm warning for Detroit should make for an interesting game this weekend.

This is one of the sled-dogs, awaiting the return of the snow:

 

Keeping warm around the marshmallow roasters:



Ice skaters took to the rink:



Others had their fun in a different way:

Titled:      N. Zealand filmmaker arrested in drag in US prostitution sting

As Hollywood continues to sink to new depths of depravity, reflected in recent Oscar nominations, Lee Tamahori, who directed last year's action adventure "XXX: State of the Union", has been doing a little sinking of his own.

It seems he was arrested when he allegedly sought sex with an undercover policeman while clad in women's clothes.

These are turbulent times for the film industry. The recent moves to sell DVDs at the same time as their theatrical releases, the spread of piracy and the politicization of the industry are all putting pressure on Hollywood.

Other countries are finding their feet too - note Turkey, which is releasing anti-American movies to popular acclaim. 

In the most expensive Turkish movie ever made, American soldiers in Iraq crash a wedding and pump a little boy full of lead in front of his mother.

They kill dozens of innocent people with random machine gun fire, shoot the groom in the head, and drag those left alive to Abu Ghraib prison - where a Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv.

Hollywood has a huge influence overseas, providing an image of America to the World. It is a pity that its fixation with the seamier and depraved side of US culture has to be the dominant theme.

One recent opinion poll revealed the depth of the hostility in Turkey toward Americans: 53 percent of Turks who responded to the 2005 Pew Global Attitudes survey associated Americans with the word "rude"; 70 percent with "violent"; 68 percent with "greedy"; and 57 percent with "immoral."

I am sure this has not all been through meeting Americans in person.

Maybe I'm just being too predictable:

Cantcha just see red-staters licking their lips to give Hollywood a verbal ass whooping after looking at Tuesday’s Oscar nominations? “Boy hidey, those show-biz folk are just a homo-promotin’, liberal-media-embracin’, minority-lovin’, devil-worshippin’, pimp-hustlin’, terrorist-protectin’ bunch of pansies, commies and traitors.” Or hollering “We was robbed!” when Walk the Line was blown off as a Best Picture contender.

Titled:   U.S. clash with militia leaves Iraqi woman dead

According to CNN.com, US forces attacked a crowded civilian area and killed an Iraqi woman with rockets and gunfire from a helicopter.

The woman's death is likely to inflame anti-U.S. sentiment. She was killed when U.S. soldiers battled early Thursday in Sadr City with the militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
...

Baghdad police said the woman was killed and five civilians were wounded during the fighting.

Another view of the incident is given by Middle East Online:

"Ater[sic] conducting the raid one of the helicopters of the coalition forces came under fire from some men on a nearby rooftop following which another helicopter of the coalition forces returned fire to eliminate the threat in which four individuals were killed."

He did not say whether the four were members of the Mehdi Army, though an interior ministry official said the fight was between US forces and the Mehdi Army.

The official added that a woman was killed in the fighting.

If you only follow CNN's story, it sounds like just another day of brutal imperial oppression resulting in the unneccesary death of an innocent civilian. If you read other sources, it becomes apparent that this was an unfortunate result of enemy forces fighting from civilian areas in which the US forces got their men. 

Maybe I'm missing something here, but if armed men climb onto your roof to take on helicopters armed to the teeth with modern ordinance, it may be a good time to go visit some relatives or go shopping for a few hours. The same goes for when that pick-up truck with the .50 cal mounted on the back parks outside your front door. You would think that they would have learned from the Afghans that inviting known terrorists to dinner might result in a significantly more exciting evening than you had otherwise planned.

Titled:   More cartoons and protests in Mohammad blasphemy row

The cartoon row mentioned in an earlier article continues to reveal the character of modern Europe.

The Danes and Norwegians rolled over pretty quickly in the face of Muslim complaining. Then France and Germany waded in, republishing the cartoons, followed by Spain and Italy. This was quite surprising for the French, especially after their talk of nuclear weapon use last week. It seemed for a moment that the French had found some backbone.

This morning we see that the French were merely dipping their toes in the water of controversy:

The owner of France Soir, a Paris daily that reprinted them on Wednesday along with one German and two Spanish papers, sacked its managing editor to show "a strong sign of respect for the beliefs and intimate convictions of every individual".

With France resuming its white flag-waving character, what of the rest of Europe?

Switzerland's Le Temps and La Tribune de Geneve ran some of them on Thursday, as did Magyar Hirlap in Budapest. Some European dailies ran cartoons making fun of the controversy.

I thought the Swiss were traditionally neutral? I mean, who would bother to invade a country where every household has to keep a military rifle and ammunition by law? Mind, for all their years of sitting on the sidelines watching the world fight around them, they don't have a lot to show for it. Money, maybe, but what have the Swiss done for you lately? Sure, they have made some fine watches, some lovely clocks and their chocolate is pretty tasty. But hardly world changing innovation and paradigm-busting thought.

Of course the Muslims continue to behave as stereotyped:

In Beirut, the leader of Lebanon's Shi'ite Hizbollah said the row would never had occurred if a 17-year-old death edict against British writer Salman Rushdie been carried out.

"Had a Muslim carried out Imam Khomeini's fatwa against the apostate Salman Rushdie, then those lowlifers would not have dared discredit the Prophet, not in Denmark, Norway or France," Hizbollah head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday night.

Such nice people. So tolerant. So peaceful. Right...