Various House and Senate substitutes/amendments to Michigan's Castle Doctrine package were voted on and passed today. Each House Bill was given immediate effect; bills ordered enrolled for printing and presentation to the Governor.

HB 5143 Self-defense and defense of others.
HB 5142 Criminal forcibly entering or intruding into home or vehicle.
HB 5153 Flight requirement; eliminate.
HB 5548 Civil action against person who uses force in self-defense act.
SB 1046 Passed in the House and returned to Senate.
SB 1185 Passed in the House and returned to Senate.

Source: Michigan Castle Doctrine Update!

Organizing the hijacking of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took significant sums of money. The cost of these plots suggests that putting Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists out of business will require more than diplomatic coalitions and military action. Washington and its allies must also disable the financial networks used by terrorists. The Bush administration is preparing new laws to help track terrorists through their money-laundering activity and is readying an executive order freezing the assets of known terrorists. Much more is needed, including stricter regulations, the recruitment of specialized investigators and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities.

There must also must be closer coordination among America´s law enforcement, national security and financial regulatory agencies. Osama bin Laden originally rose to prominence because his inherited fortune allowed him to bankroll Arab volunteers fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Since then, he has acquired funds from a panoply of Islamic charities and illegal and legal businesses, including export-import and commodity trading firms, and is estimated to have as much as $300 million at his disposal.Some of these businesses move funds through major commercial banks that lack the procedures to monitor such transactions properly. Locally, terrorists can utilize tiny unregulated storefront financial centers, including what are known as hawala banks, which people in South Asian immigrant communities in the United States and other Western countries use to transfer money abroad. Though some smaller financial transactions are likely to slip through undetected even after new rules are in place, much of the financing needed for major attacks could dry up.

Washington should revive international efforts begun during the Clinton administration to pressure countries with dangerously loose banking regulations to adopt and enforce stricter rules. These need to be accompanied by strong sanctions against doing business with financial institutions based in these nations. The Bush administration initially opposed such measures. But after the events of Sept. 11, it appears ready to embrace them. The Treasury Department also needs new domestic legal weapons to crack down on money laundering by terrorists. The new laws should mandate the identification of all account owners, prohibit transactions with "shell banks" that have no physical premises and require closer monitoring of accounts coming from countries with lax banking laws. Prosecutors, meanwhile, should be able to freeze more easily the assets of suspected terrorists.

The Senate Banking Committee plans to hold hearings this week on a bill providing for such measures. It should be approved and signed into law by President Bush. New regulations requiring money service businesses like the hawala banks to register and imposing criminal penalties on those that do not are scheduled to come into force late next year. The effective date should be moved up to this fall, and rules should be strictly enforced the moment they take effect. If America is going to wage a new kind of war against terrorism, it must act on all fronts, including the financial one.

The New York Times, September 24, 2001

Hat-tip to Free Republic

Titled:   Early human bird flu death uncovered in China

A man died of H5N1 flu in Beijing in November 2003 - two full years before China admitted any human cases of H5N1. The death of the 24-year-old from bird flu came months before China even admitted H5N1 was circulating in its poultry.

Reminds me of a similar approach to the SARS outbreaks:

"THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT has not covered up. There is no need," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said last Tuesday in regard to the country's outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). "We have nothing to hide," assured Jianchao. But shortly afterwards, CNN's satellite feed to a Beijing block of expatriate apartments was cut off during a report on the disease.

What China claimed it was not covering up is a much higher incidence of SARS--a virus causing high fever, shortness of breath, and an estimated 4 percent death rate--than it had previously admitted. Two days after Jianchao's statement, Chinese authorities made a rapid about-face, revising numbers upward and admitting cases in provinces where they had previously denied any incidence of the disease. They also increased their cooperation with the World Health Organization, to which China belongs. As a result, a WHO team has finally been allowed access to Guangdong, where the disease apparently started.

Chinese President Hu Jintao travelled to the United States in April, largely to build trust:

"China believes mutual trust is lacking and that is at the root of tensions between the two countries, be it trade, military spending or human rights," said Tsinghua University analyst He Maochun.

I wonder why that mutual trust is lacking?

No, not from Iraq. John "I have the hat" Kerry's resolution to cut-and-run from Iraq was soundly defeated 86-13. He did however characterize it as a great victory:

Feingold and Kerry declared the vote a victory, since their bid last week to mandate a pullout by December 31 got six votes.

"It was terrific," Kerry said. "Several votes more than we anticipated."

Which is like Germany claiming it won the Second World War because it involved more people that their first attempt.

The withdrawal mentioned in the title is instead from Germany itself, the US having lost a pitched battle against superpower Ghana in the World Cup.

Yes - Ghana! Noted mainly for colorful cloth:

Perhaps the most visible (and most marketable) cultural contribution from modern Ghana is Kente cloth, which is widely recognized and valued for its colors and symbolism.

And now known for keeping #5 ranked USA out of the World Cup finals.

Titled:   Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq

The United States has found 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003, and more weapons of mass destruction are likely to be uncovered, two Republican lawmakers said Wednesday.

"We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons," Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said in a quickly called press conference late Wednesday afternoon.

Reading from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, Santorum said: "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."

So two possibilities exist: That there are none at all, and this is just a big whopper from the evil empire, or that they do actually exist and the basis for all the arguements from the left is reduced to a smoking wreck.

In the case of the latter, I find it particularly interesting that the left have been allowed to continue for so long, building their case on an erroneous assumption, only to have it collapsed just prior to the November elections.

Maybe the morons in power are indeed a clever bunch after all?

I would like to expand the Blogging pool here at Liberty1st so if you are a conservative / libertarian wanting to get a start in Blogging email me at "blog at liberty1st.org". Since Dave and I are both from the Great Lakes area it would be nice to keep a theme going but not necessary. Just let me know what part of the country you are from.

All that is necessary is a libertarian perspective with a Conservative / Right of Center slant. However, there is no political line you have to toe or political party you have to support. Any politician or act from a politician that infringes on liberty is fair game.

And my rules are very simple:

1. No making or spreading wild conspiracy theories.
2. No personal attacks on anyone ever.
3. Be prepared to back up everything you say.
4. Keep it clean.
5. 90% or more of the content should focus on Liberty, Freedom, Politics, etc.

So if you like what Dave and I do here and are interested in contributing just send and email to "blog at liberty1st.org"

More self defense goodness from the 2006 Michigan Congress.

First there is Senate Bill 1185, which bans lawsuits in cases of legitimate self defense and then on the CPL side of Self Defense there is House Bill 5217, which makes CPL applicant information confidential.

It seems as though the Michigan congress is on the verge of recognizing the People's absolute right to self defense. I wonder if Governor Grandholm will agree?

Titled:   UK TIMES SMEARS OUR MARINES (UPDATED WITH RESPONSE)

Michelle Malkin is doing a good job keeping on top of the latest press outrage.

Posted on June 1st in the UK Times:

Posted in the same paper, April 2005:

Yup, same picture - different story.

Using pictures of a terrorist execution to smear the Marines.

Shameless.

Titled:   For Heart Health, Liquor Is Quicker for Women and Slower for Men

An alcoholic drink a day can significantly reduce the risk for heart disease in men, a new study finds, but women get almost the same benefit with only one drink a week.

For men, the more they drank, the lower the risk. One drink a week lowered the risk by about 7 percent, two to four drinks by 22 percent and five or six drinks a week by 29 percent. Those who drank every day had a 41 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who did not drink at all. Even among men who had up to 35 drinks per week, the protection persisted.

With women, the trend was different. One drink a week lowered the risk by 36 percent, but daily drinking lowered it by 35 percent. In other words, for women, alcohol consumption had a significant protective effect, but the frequency of drinking had none.

Dr. Morten Gronbaek of the Danish National Institute of Public Health, the study's senior author, said he would not hesitate to recommend a drink a day to certain patients. "If I were talking to a patient, about 50 with a high coronary risk profile, who I knew wasn't at risk for alcohol abuse, and who didn't drink at all, I wouldn't hesitate to tell him that a glass of wine a day might be a good idea," he said. "But people who are light drinkers should certainly not be advised to drink more."

There is a caveat though:

"You shouldn't avoid exercise," he said, "and then try to compensate by drinking."

Apparently drinking is not exercise for more than your right arm...

Cheers!

Michigan's repeal of the Duty to Retreat is making its way though congress.

Senate Bill 1046

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.

Text and Analysis here.

House Bill 5142

Introduced by Rep. Tom Casperson on September 7, 2005, to establish in law that a person who uses deadly force for self defense in his or her home or contiguous private property need not first flee from a threatening attacker.

Text and Analysis here.

In an article a few months back, I wrote about colored guns.

I would imagine enterprising bank robbers will soon be sporting orange-tipped weapons to give them a few seconds edge on the police and concealed license holders. If they're willing to rob a bank armed, what makes you think they won't apply some orange paint?

Well, it seems that New York's Mayor Bloomberg must have been reading. He unveiled new legislation yesterday taking direct aim at "coloration kits" that can make guns look like toys. So now not only are black rifles like the AR-15 "evil" in the gun-grabbers' eyes, but now guns of color are too. So far, no-one seems to have noticed that most SKS and AK-47 types come in wooden stocks. I guess it is only a matter of time that wood is "evil" too, what with its extra design feature of making the rifle a very effective club, somrthing that the composite firearms generally suck at.

"Just think about how sick it is," Bloomberg said. "What possible reason can you give to want to paint a gun so it looks like a child's toy gun, other than to put a police officer in one of those impossible positions?"

Er... because I like unique firearms? Because I can? Because it negates the "black is evil" argument that our rabid opponents like to spout?

Walmart includes this beginner's rifle in their catalog:




An the AR15 can sport a wide range of colors, before we even look at paint:




The NYT has another and final snippet:

Although no painted guns have been recovered in connection with crimes, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said, the proposed law is a pre-emptive move, intended to stop criminals from potentially tricking police officers with candy-colored weapons.

You can have it when you prise it from my cold, dead, paint-stained fingers...