Check Out My New Column

You can follow it at Examiner.com. My first article addresses Minnesota's statewide smoking ban.

How Conspiracy Theories Get Started

A top U.N. scientist is saying that the current swine flu virus causing all this panic "possesses certain transmission 'vectors' that suggest that the new flu strain has been genetically-manufactured as a military biological warfare weapon." Just another conspiracy nut, right? Well, even the most outlandish theories have some basis in fact.

Earlier this year it was learned that Baxter International Inc., which has developed a flu vaccine, was responsible for releasing live flu viruses. From the Toronton Sun:

The company that released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses. ...

... The contaminated product, a mix of H3N2 seasonal flu viruses and unlabelled H5N1 viruses, was supplied to an Austrian research company. The Austrian firm, Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, then sent portions of it to sub-contractors in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany.

Was this a simple mistake?

Then came the story of vials containing a "potentially lethal pathogen" that went missing from a U.S. military lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland. This is the same lab, by the way, to which the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings were traced.

Without drawing any conclusions here, one can certainly see how rumors and conspiracy theories get started.

Deja Flu

A Culture of Surveillance

That's what Chuck Baldwin calls it in his latest column. He concludes, "We also have a culture of cowardice by people from both sides of the political aisle who, in the name of partisan politics, are willfully accommodating and facilitating the demise of this constitutional republic."

Ron Paul on Secession

It's a legitimate, constitutional, and necessary option. Dr. Paul writes:

America was born from an act of secession. When King George's rule trampled on the rights of the colonies, we successfully seceded from England. It took a war, but we were well within our rights. We applauded when former soviet states seceded from the USSR and declared their sovereignty. And hopefully the United States will eventually secede from the United Nations. We pay most of the bills of the UN, yet do not have the commensurate votes, so someday we will wake up and realize that membership, for these and other reasons, does not serve our interests.

On a personal level, contracts you enter into can be terminated if one side unilaterally changes the terms. If a credit card company jacks up your interest rate, you have every right to fulfill your obligations and close the account. Imagine if you were forced to stay with a credit card company forever no matter what just because you previously signed up! The principle of self-determination applies to political unions as well. In the cases I mentioned above, governing organizations transformed into much more overbearing entities than originally agreed upon. Several state constitutions originally had clauses explicitly allowing them to opt out of the Union down the road if they so chose. I doubt our country would have ever come together if this were not the case. Just because the north successfully kept the union together by force with the Civil War does not mean that enslaving the states is a legitimate alternative.

Secession is the last resort of states whose sovereignty is over-ridden by an overreaching federal government. The federal government has only itself to blame for this talk. Recently, some states have enacted laws allowing for the medicinal use of marijuana, yet these laws are basically voided by the continuing raids by the DEA, sanctioned by the administration. The federal government is also strong-arming states with stimulus money, forcing them to expand programs they know they will not be able to afford in the future, at a time when many states' budgets are already in the red. This is not a new problem. No Child Left Behind burdened the states' education systems and forced them through many hoops designed by federal bureaucrats in distant Washington DC rather than allowing communities to tailor education to their children's unique needs. There are numerous other examples of the erosion of state sovereignty and many governors are frustrated, not just ours in Texas. Without the right to secede, state's rights are meaningless.

D.C.'s Idea of Private Property

Why do you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Well, in the capital city of the Land of the Free, the question is moot. Residents can't park on a driveway -- even if the driveway is on their own property. From WTOP Radio:

Beverly Anderson is mad as hell. She just started to get tickets for parking in her own driveway.

That's right. The District of Columbia is ticketing people who park their cars in their own driveways.

"This is clearly an attempt by the city to extort money out of property owners," Anderson tells WTOP.

Anderson has received two of the $20 tickets in the past month. Anderson has owned the Capitol Hill house (and the driveway, so she thought) for more than ten years and has never gotten a ticket. And she's not alone.

The law in question states:

"Any area between the property line and the building restriction line shall be considered as private property set aside and treated as public space under the care and maintenance of the property owner."

Basically what that means is most property owners in the District don't own the land between their front door and the sidewalk, but they are responsible for taking care of it. It's why you can get a ticket for drinking beer on your front porch in the Nation's Capital. You're technically on public space. It's also why the city can ticket you for parking in your own driveway if you don't pull your car deep enough into the driveway beyond the facade of your house or building.

To be clear, we're not talking about people who park in shallow driveways and let the rear of their cars block the sidewalk. The cars are off the road, off the sidewalk and in the driveway -- just not far enough back for the city.

So, when a private individual bullies someone for money, it's called extortion. But when an agent of the state does it, it's called public service. I think I have it figured out now.

Jerk Chicken vs. Government Jerks

In the U.K., the war on obesity has been taken to the next level. The Mail Online has the story:

The hit squad had prepared their raid long in advance.

At 10am eight police officers, some in anti-stab vests, joined three council employees on the doorstep of the Bamboo Joint takeaway.

Their mission? To stamp out the practice of selling jerk chicken within 400 metres of a secondary school. Yesterday, the Jamaican cafe in Leytonstone, East London, became the first takeaway in the country to be given a closure order under guidelines banning the sale of fast food near educational establishments.

Its owners were given three days to shut up shop.

They were informed by Waltham Forest Council that their small premises, on a busy high street, was not only within 400 metres of a secondary school but also within 200 metres of a primary school and 100 metres from a public park.

The action is intended to combat child obesity by reducing the number of shops selling unhealthy fast food near schools and parks.

Co-owner Maureen Farrell, who opened the Bamboo Joint six weeks ago, said she felt she was being victimised by a council which was acting 'completely over the top'.

'They told us that it's because we are too near a school, but this street is full of takeaways selling fish and chips and burgers.

I'm really beginning to wonder if there's any difference at all between fascism and insanity.

How to Tell if Your Neighbor Is a Terrorist

So, if you're outdoors watching birds, taking pictures, sketching a building, or writing in your journal, be advised that you may be exhibiting suspicious, terrorist-like behavior.

"Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You..."

Obama has signed his national service bill into law:

President Obama this afternoon signed the $5.7 billion Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which triples the size of the AmeriCorps program.

Appearing at the SEED school in Washington, the president called the bill "the boldest expansion of opportunities to serve our communities and our country since the creation of AmeriCorps."

"What this legislation does, then, is to help harness this patriotism and connect deeds to needs," he said. "It creates opportunities to serve for students, seniors and everyone in between. It supports innovation and strengthens the nonprofit sector. And it is just the beginning of a sustained, collaborative and focused effort to involve our greatest resource, our citizens, in the work of remaking this nation."

The bill will expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 slots to 250,000 over eight years. It will "focus that service on today's challenges, including clean energy, education, health care, veterans care, and economic opportunity," according to the White House, and "provide new service opportunities for millions of Americans at all stages of their lives." ...

... "We need your service, right now at this moment in history," the president said from the podium. "I'm not going to tell you what your role should be. That's for you to discover. But I'm asking you to stand up and play your part. I'm asking you to help change history's course, put your shoulder up against the wheel."

We've seen these kinds of "voluntary service" programs before...

"Reich Labor Service: We build body and soul."


"No one shall go hungry! No one shall be cold!"


"Health, child protection, fighting poverty, aiding travellers, community, helping mothers: These are the tasks of the National Socialist People's Charity. Become a member!"


"Don't give. Sacrifice."

Do we really want to go there again?

The Lone Star Police State

"Remember the Alamo" may soon be replaced by "Your papers, please."

In the name of safety and national security, the Texas Senate has passed a bill that could have serious ramifications. The bill, SB 1175, amends Section 38.02(a) of the Texas Penal Code so that any person "lawfully detained" (a term which isn't clearly defined) by a "peace officer" (another ambiguous term) must provide his or her name, address, or date of birth on demand.

Naturally, citizens have been assured that there must be a good reason for an agent of the state to request such information, but we all know who gets to decide what constitutes a "good reason." That's right. The guy or gal with the badge, gun, nightstick, pepper spray, and Tazer.

More on this here, here, and here.

Secession Is an American Principle

John Lott Shoots Down ABC's Lies About Guns

ABC attacked the right to keep and bear arms in a report entitled "If I Only Had a Gun." Thankfully, John Lott sets the record straight.

Clean Air Regulations Causing Global Warming?

According to NASA, it's a distinct possibility that the clean air regulations Washington has imposed over the last three decades have actually contributed to global warming:

Since the 1890s, surface temperatures have risen faster in the Arctic than in other regions of the world. In part, these rapid changes could be due to changes in aerosol levels. Clean air regulations passed in the 1970s, for example, have likely accelerated warming by diminishing the cooling effect of sulfates.

Of course I still think this man-made global warming scare is a crock, but seeing those who think the fate of the world rests in their hands contradicting themselves is always good for a laugh.

I Hate to Be a Tea Party Pooper...

...but I just couldn't get all that excited about the nationwide "tea party" protests that took place on Tax Day. And I couldn't exactly articulate why -- until Jeff Deist summed it up perfectly:

It seems to me the Tea Parties failed to deliver any coherent or consistent message; therefore, it was easy for the Left and the pro-state media to marginalize and denounce the protestors. Unless and until people renounce and repudiate Bush and the Republican party utterly and entirely, it's easy to dismiss them as kooks, racists, religious zealots, etc.

After all, what is the protesters' message? We want to go back to Bush? We want less spending but agitate to expand insanely expensive wars? We want a "fair" tax? We're against bailouts of Wall Street, even though the public (correctly) perceives the political right as bought and paid for by Wall Street? We're for states rights and the Constitution? Laughable. We're pro-life? Laughable -- even ignoring the pro-war killing mentality, the GOP has done zero to stop abortion.

Read the rest of his comments here.

Anthony Gregory also weighs in:

The grassroots spirit at the tea parties was great, but it seems many were hijacked by organized conservatives, Republican partisans, and Fox News-style corporate interests. I hear that at many the speakers were exclusively of the red-state fascist persuasion, thanks to the sectarian organizers.

So, it appears the majority of tea party participants are frauds. If they really believed in reducing spending and shrinking government, they would have spoken up when their own party was in charge.

Tax-Supporters Hold Their Own Rallies

While hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans attend "tea parties" all across the country to protest burdensome taxes and out-of-control government spending, others are responding with what can only be described as "Kool-Aid parties." The Star-Tribune has the story:

Normally, the annual arrival of tax day isn't considered a cause for celebration.

But this year, a group of liberal organizations in Minnesota and nationwide are staging "thank you taxes" events today.

Organizers of the Alliance for a Better Minnesota planned to hold a midday press conference as part of its ongoing campaign to highlight the need for tax revenue to sustain public services.

The event, among others sponsored by Americans United for Change and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, is an attempt to piggyback on publicity recently garnered by anti-tax activists who are holding "tea parties" across the nation today.

Yes, It's That Time of Year Again...

Tax Day. And we can't celebrate Tax Day without this classic quote from Fox Mulder...

How to Deal with the Pirate Problem

Forget military force and nation-building. Bring back marque and reprisal.

The D.C. Reality Tour

Take a brief "Truth in Government" tour of our nation's capital, courtesy of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. See buildings, monuments, and memorials like you're never seen them before.

Ultimately One Hope for Our Country

As much time as I spend drawing attention to the loss of liberty in our land and the corruption in our government, I never lose sight of the fact that there is ultimately one hope for our country: Jesus Christ. No, I'm not talking about imposing a theocracy. I'm simply talking about the gospel of Christ and its power to change the hearts and minds of men.

While trying to stay as active in politics as I can -- we Christians, after all, may not be of the world, but we are in it -- I don't ever want to forget that my mission, first and foremost, is to help spread the gospel. That is where our hope lies.

Just what is the gospel? Nothing more than the good news that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, died for sinners, taking upon himself the wrath reserved for us. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23, ESV), but "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

The gospel is the hope for those already condemned. Simply repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation; we must trust in the finished work of Christ, the only one who lived a sinless life and bore our punishment. The moment we believe, his righteousness is imputed to us. We become new creations, and God now sees us through the lens of what happened on Calvary.

There's more. Christ's resurrection, which we celebrate today, was his triumph over death: "Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

My prayer is that our nation will turn and embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the only true freedom we will ever know.

Is Candy the Next Target in the War on Drugs?

The ever vigilant mainstream media is warning us of a new threat to our children: candy abuse. No, it doesn't have anything to do with obesity. It seems kids are snorting and smoking the stuff. CBS reports:

It sounds bizarre -- even impossible. But kids grind up pieces of candy -- like "Smarties" -- and they actually inhale the fine candy powder then blow it out like cigarette smoke.

"Eventually, as I got better at it, you know, it was just a cool thing to do," Froncek said.

And that's what has parents and drug counselors so concerned. A quick search on YouTube shows dozens of how-to videos created by children of all ages. Some clips even show children snorting the sweet stuff.

"Before I was sent the YouTube videos, I had never heard of smoking and snorting Smarties," drug safety expert Peggy Sapp said.

Sapp was alarmed that kids are mimicking such dangerous and illegal habits, but said kids often do what's "in" to fit in.

OK, wait for it...wait for it...:

Experts also worry that this trend could spark interest in real cigarettes or illegal drugs.

Yes! There you have it, folks. Looks like the DEA is going to have its hands full.

Pelosi on Guns: "We Want Them Registered"

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi admitted this in a recent interview on ABC's Good Morning America:

ROBIN ROBERTS: Under the Bush administration, you pretty much said the ball was in their court when it came to reinstating the [assault weapons] ban. Now, it's a Democratic President, a Democratic House. So, is the ball in your court where this is concerned?

NANCY PELOSI: Yes, it is. And we are just going to have to work together to come to some resolution because the court, in the meantime, in recent months, the Supreme Court has ruled in a very -- in a direction that gives more opportunity for people to have guns. We never denied that right. We don't want to take their guns away. We want them registered. We don't want them crossing state lines as this legislation would do in the District of Columbia. We wouldn't tell any other state what to do. But Congress wants to tell the District of Columbia. So, in any event, there's tremendous work ahead on this. And we have to rid the debate of the misconceptions that people have about what gun safety means.

(See video of the interview here.)

Note that Pelosi wasn't talking about the assault weapons ban in particular. She brought up the D.C. case, which dealt with handguns.

Here's my question: Why bother registering guns if the government has no desire to confiscate them in the future? It simply doesn't make sense. Sure, there currently may be no "official" plan for confiscation, but if it ever came to that, you and I both know that it's the registered guns (i.e. those belonging to law-abiding citizens) that will be targeted first.

To Each His Own

President Bush holding hands with Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2005.


President Obama bowing to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2009.

Shrouded in Secrecy

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The Obama administration is again invoking government secrecy in defending the Bush administration's wiretapping program, this time against a lawsuit by AT&T customers who claim federal agents illegally intercepted their phone calls and gained access to their records.

Disclosure of the information sought by the customers, "which concerns how the United States seeks to detect and prevent terrorist attacks, would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security," Justice Department lawyers said in papers filed Friday in San Francisco.

Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a lawyer for the customers, said Monday the filing was disappointing in light of the Obama presidential campaign's "unceasing criticism of Bush-era secrecy and promise for more transparency."

Obama's Broken Promise

From the AP:

One of President Barack Obama's campaign pledges on taxes went up in puffs of smoke Wednesday.

The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama's promise not to raise taxes of any kind on families earning under $250,000 or individuals under $200,000.

This is one tax that disproportionately affects the poor, who are more likely to smoke than the rich.

To be sure, Obama's tax promises in last year's campaign were most often made in the context of income taxes. Not always.

"I can make a firm pledge," he said in Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12. "Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

He repeatedly vowed "you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime."

Now in office, Obama, who stopped smoking but has admitted he slips now and then, signed a law raising the tobacco tax nearly 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes, to $1.01. Other tobacco products saw similarly steep increases.

He continues to validate the axiom "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Man Detained by the TSA for Carrying Cash

Full, uncensored, 24-minute audio of Steve Bierfeldt's harassment here.

Atlas Shrugged Finally Headed for the Silver Screen?

It seems so. From Risky Biz Blog:

After decades in development hell, Ayn Rand's capitalism-minded "Atlas Shrugged" is taking new steps toward the big screen -- with one of the film world's most prominent money men potentially at its center.

Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media is circling the Baldwin Entertainment project and could come aboard to finance with Lionsgate, which got involved several years ago.

Rand's popular but polarizing book -- it's derided by many literary critics but has a huge public following -- tells the story of Dagny Taggart, a railroad executive trying to keep her corporation competitive in the face of what she perceives as a lack of innovation and individual responsibility. ...

... "This couldn't be more timely," said Karen Baldwin, who along with husband Howard is producing, with film industry consultant John Logigian advising on the project. "It's uncanny what Rand was able to predict -- about the only things she didn't anticipate are cell phones and the Internet." Baldwin may be on to something -- love it or hate it, "Shrugged" is seeing a resurgence, with book sales spiking as debates rage in Washington and around the country about the government's role in a faltering free-market economy.