Libertarian fatalism has infected and afflicted the leaders of both political parties, and none of us should take seriously the partisan posturing from either the Republicans or Democrats.
SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- The world's busiest border crossing reopened early Friday following a nine-hour closure that occurred after federal authorities shot and killed the driver of a sport utility vehicle headed for Mexico, officials said.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began following the black SUV after somebody reported seeing it pick up suspected illegal immigrants near the U.S. side of the Otay Mesa border crossing, Lt. Kevin Rooney of San Diego Police Department said.
"Netbanging": Street gangs are now establishing an internet presence, both for recruiting as well as for scheduling fights with other street gangs.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- By a large number, most Americans lack faith in the ability of Democrats or Republicans to solve the nation's problems, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released Wednesday indicates.Sic friatur crustum dulce.
Sixty-eight percent of people surveyed February 9-12 said Democrats had no clear plan for the country, while 67 percent said Republicans lacked one.
Nevertheless, most of the respondents -- 52 percent -- said things are going very or fairly well in the country, a statistically similar response (49 percent) to the last time the question was asked in November.
"There are four boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt
Poll time from my favorite podcasters, FreeTalkLive....how liberty-minded are you, really? Libertarians broken down based on what level of force you think is allowed against others:
...scroll to the 2nd post for the full defs. The "Limited Govt. Libertarians" is how it needs to be sold to Americans to make it palatable, as it's far better than our current system, but I think I'm in with either the Free-Market Retributionists or Minarchists. I need my revenge factor...for example: someone kills your cat, and the Retributionists say that you can only get the monetary value of your cat back. I want his ass beat. but not sure if the option to have it done privately (non-gov't force) is best, which isn't allowed under Minarchism.
...Yahoo! provided Chinese authorities with personally identifying data on yet another of its customers in China. Li Zhi, a 35-year-old resident of Sichuan province, used what he believed to be an anonymous Yahoo account to express his opinions on message boards and chatrooms, and was accused of communicating online with overseas dissidents.
The data Yahoo gave authorities led to his imprisonment for eight years, -- that would be the second such case involving Yahoo in less than a year (Shi Tao, the Chinese journalist jailed for ten years with Yahoo's help).
A new device developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology uses lasers to project "real" 3D images into the ether. A special projector can cast three-dimensional shapes of white light between 2 and 3-meters into the air -- previous devices only tricked the eyes into thinking the image was 3D. The images are created by blasting the nitrogen and oxygen in the air at fixed points resulting in glowing plasma emissions which hang-out just long enough to etch an ephemeral image.
Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan wore a shirt with the message, "2,245 Dead. How many more?" -- a reference to the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq.
Beverly Young, the wife of 18-term Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Young of Florida, wore a shirt that read, "Support the Troops."
Both women's shirts resulted in their owners being ejected from the House chamber before President Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
Maybe that's why "Stand Your Ground" bills are becoming popular in various state houses here in the U.S. Last week I reported on one introduced in Alaska that is under consideration. Naturally there is opposition to it including (besides the usual Brady Bunch) trial lawyers. From the Fairbanks News-Miner:The senator said the law would act as a deterrent to criminals. MelissaWell, as one commenter to my post said, "Because it's my car!"
Fouse, executive director of the Alaska Association of Trial Lawyers, disagreed.
"Nobody has ever proven that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime," Fouse said.
She describes the bill as a "boutique immunity bill" designed to deprive people of their right to sue over wrongdoing.
"We don't think that's right," Fouse said. "Besides, why would you shoot somebody over a car?"
The Bush administration, seeking to revive an online pornography law struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, has subpoenaed Google Inc. for details on
what its users have been looking for through its popular search engine.
Google has refused to comply with the subpoena, issued last year, for a broad range of material from its databases, including a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period
