Ever Vigilant: Keeping a watchful eye on government

The Case for Bigger Government

In an interview with Lew Rockwell, Dr. Mark Thornton explains that we need more representation in Washnington by increasing the number of representatives in the House to match population growth. He argues that this would make our elected officials more accessible and more accountable.

I have to agree. 435 individuals cannot possibly faithfully represent 300 million people.

More on this at Thirty-Thousand.org.

Labels: Constitution, Government Corruption

Death Certificates for Christmas

This is a new low, even for the pro-death racists at Planned Parenthood:

Indiana residents in need of a quick stocking stuffer this holiday season have an unusual option: Planned Parenthood gift certificates.

The group's Hoosier State chapter on Wednesday began selling gift certificates redeemable at any of its 35 facilities for any service provided -- from basic health screenings to birth control to abortions.

Betty Cockrum, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said the program was initiated in response to the state's ailing economy.

It seems some people just aren't satisfied with the current abortion rate among poor minorities in Indiana.

Labels: Abortion, Culture/Society

D.C. Elitism

The attitude of the ruling elite in Washington, D.C., is perhaps best summed up by the recent remarks made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: "My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true."

Labels: Government Incompetence

U.S. Torture Policy Kills Americans

That's what one interrogator found out:

I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The large majority of suicide bombings in Iraq are still carried out by these foreigners. They are also involved in most of the attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans.

Labels: War

Pass� Comitatus Act

The Washington Post is reporting that the Pentagon plans to deploy up to 20,000 troops here within our own borders in an effort to "train" state and local officials to better respond to a nuclear attack or other catastrophe:

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.

But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said.

The Pentagon's plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces to be ready for emergency response by September 2011. The first 4,700-person unit, built around an active-duty combat brigade based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was available as of Oct. 1, said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of the U.S. Northern Command.

What would be next? Quartering troops in our homes? You know, as long as we patriotic Americans could still have our hot dogs and fireworks on the Fourth of July, I'm sure most of us would probably be OK with that.

Labels: Homeland Security, Military, Police State

International Environmental Court Looming

Some sanctimonious judge is proposing a world court to go after those who violate arbitrary environmental regulations. From the Telegraph:

Stephen Hockman QC is proposing a body similar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to be the supreme legal authority on issues regarding the environment.

The first role of the new body would be to enforce international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions set to be agreed next year.

But the court would also fine countries or companies that fail to protect endangered species or degrade the natural environment and enforce the "right to a healthy environment".

The innovative idea is being presented to an audience of politicians, scientists and public figures for the first time at a symposium at the British Library.

Come on. You knew it was only a matter of time.

Labels: Environment, Tyranny

Bush the Liberator

It took about 600,000 lives or so for Abraham Lincoln to earn the title of "Great Emancipator." When all is said and done, George W. Bush will be responsible for at least twice that, so I'm sure he'll get his wish of being remembered as a liberator.

Labels: War

Obama Supporters Now Without Direction or Purpose

Labels: Elections, Just for Fun

No Such Thing as Free Enterprise in America

Yet another privately owned and operated business has fallen victim to our grand socialist experiment:

Online dating service eHarmony has agreed to create a new website for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement with a gay man in New Jersey, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said on Wednesday.

The website will provide a dating service with "male seeking a male" or "female seeking a female" options, the Attorney General's office said in a statement.

eHarmony said it will launch the new same-sex dating site, named "Compatible Partners," by March 31.

The settlement was the result of a discrimination complaint filed by Eric McKinley against eHarmony in 2005, which will be dismissed under the settlement agreement.

eHarmony was founded in 2000 by evangelical Christian Dr. Neil Clark Warren and had ties with the influential religious conservative group Focus on the Family.

If you sincerely believe that free enterprise exists in America, you're more than a little out of touch with reality.

Labels: Culture/Society, Free Market, Stupidity

Huckabee Hates Libertarianism

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has written a book entitled Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America. In it he lashes out at libertarians within the GOP:

In a chapter titled "Faux-Cons: Worse than Liberalism," Huckabee identifies what he calls the "real threat" to the Republican Party: "libertarianism masked as conservatism." He is not so much concerned with the libertarian candidate Ron Paul's Republican supporters as he is with a strain of mainstream fiscal-conservative thought that demands ideological purity, seeing any tax increase as apostasy and leaving little room for government-driven solutions to people's problems. "I don't take issue with what they believe, but the smugness with which they believe it," writes Huckabee, who raised some taxes as governor and cut deals with his state's Democratic legislature. "Faux-Cons aren't interested in spirited or thoughtful debate, because such an endeavor requires accountability for the logical conclusion of their argument."

But who cares what Mike Huckabee thinks? He has zero credibility.

Labels: Party Politics

End the Fed

Help end the fed on 11/22/2008. Click here for more details.

Labels: Economics, Free Market

Finally!

Yep, it's unofficially official:

By every measure, The United States and coalition forces have conclusively defeated all enemies in Iraq, pacified the country, deposed the previous regime, successfully helped to establish a new functioning democratic government, and suppressed any lingering insurgencies. The war has come to an end. And we won.

And here I thought we won when President Bush said we won...

Labels: War

Not-So-Gay Old Time

What happens when a group of gay rights activists feel threatened by a lone, heterosexual elderly woman? Well, exactly what you'd expect:

"Tolerance" in action.

Labels: Culture/Society, Free Speech

Hobbyist or Terrorist?

If you like to build and fly model airplanes, be aware that purchasing supplies for your hobby might make you a terrorist suspect. From the South Florida Business Journal:

As part of its mission to fight terrorism, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security spin-off Businessafe has warned hobby shops that buying gyro systems with digital readouts for remote-control planes is a suspicious activity.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement in May launched Businessafe from its Tallahassee headquarters to prompt all businesses to alert police about patterns that could be indicators of terrorist activity. The program covers the entire state, but has a particular importance to South Florida, which has the state's largest concentration of residents and infrastructure like ports terrorists might target, said Scott McAllister, FDLE's assistant special agent in charge of domestic security.

Oh, yeah. I feel safe.

Labels: Homeland Security, Police State