Interesting Items by Alex Gimarc, November 2007

1. Boulder. In yet another example of the corrupt and unaccountable class of political elites, we had an opinion handed down by a Colorado District Court judge awarding a former judge and mayor about one-third of a lot they decided they wanted. The excuse for this taking? The quaint old notion of adverse possession – the concept that if you trespass or squat on a parcel of land long enough, you end up owning it without having to pay for it. The background comes out of the Denver Post on 11/19 in an article by columnist David Harsanyi. The 4800 square foot parcel was owned by a family in Boulder. They were raising kids and planned on building on the property once the kids were out of the house. The property was in Boulder, a very leftist, pro-environmental town, and had a very nice view of the mountains. One of their neighbors decided that they didn’t want to lose the view. The neighboring couple, whose husband was a former district judge, a mayor, and a politically connected member of a number of land use commissions in the community, and a wife that was a lawyer and an advocate of sm art growth and other nefarious green ways of stealing property, went to their buddies sitting on the local state bench to steal the property. They waited until construction began on a fence and served an injunction against that construction. It took them only two and a half hours to obtain the injunction. It is always good to have friends in high places. They claimed to have trespassed upon the lot for years, mostly to access their back door. Local neighbors disputed that claim. They took the injunction to court in front of yet another former colleague sitting on the bench who promptly awarded the couple about a third of the property, rendering it completely unusable for home or cottage construction. The community has exploded in outrage against the thievery by neighbors and those sitting on the state bench. The notion of adverse possession comes into play when the land is unused, not tended, nothing being done with it and to it by its owners over years and years and years. It allows squatters to demonstrate ownership. It is rarely used these days, as most land is titled, with taxes paid, and other forms of action demonstrating ownership commonly used. The owners of this p articular piece of property paid property taxes throughout the years, paid homeowners association dues on it, controlled weeds yearly, and repaired fencing along it. One would think that simply paying taxes upon a parcel of land is sufficient to demonstrate ownership to the powers that be. None of this demonstrated ownership was sufficient to convince the conniving thief sitting on the bench to throw out the claim from the other two conniving thieves who went to court to steal it. Given the hard leftist political leanings of Boulder and the complete failure of local new coverage to give p arty affiliation for any of the players, I expect the thieving couple and the presiding judges are democrats. What is most heartening in all of this is the visceral, fiery public outcry. There will be political ramifications to this bit of legal thievery – ramifications that will change the political landscape in Boulder and the state judiciary for many years to come. Tar and feathers was used in the past for this sort of politically connected theft. Sadly, we don’t do that much any more. Remember that the Vigilance Committees in California were formed in the mid nineteenth century when the politicians and the judges became so corrupt that property rights meant nothing any more and that cronyism was everything. This event in Boulder will help bring to light yet another group of political scum masquerading as black-robed defenders of liberty and justice. Once uncovered, they will find it difficult to hide, and will deserve everything they are going to get. I do not wish them well.

2. Recess. The latest game out of Harry Reid and the democrats in the senate is to not go into recess for the remaining 15 months of the Bush presidency. Senate democrats have been bottling up presidential nominations for various commissions, the federal judiciary and the Executive branch since January and they are afraid that the president will simply do a series of recess appointments to fill those positions. The little game they are playing now is to have a pair of senate democrats show up in the empty chamber every four days during the recess, gavel in a pro forma session, and leave. They believe that this little charade will be sufficient to keep Bush from filling the positions for the rest of the year. Bush did not appoint anyone (to the best of my knowledge) during the Thanksgiving break, but I expect that he will do so over Christmas, while the democrats are out schmoozing and fundraising with their supporters. It is difficult for an empty room to contain a body that is “in session”, so I expect this little charade not to work.

3. Push Polling. Interesting event took place in Iowa last week, with the news from several Romney supporters that they had responded to a telephonic survey asking what they thought about Romney’s Mormonism. The initial finger of blame pointed at the McCain campaign, which denied it emphatically. The political bloggers st arted digging in and found some connections between the polling firm and the Romney campaign. Both denied any connection to the Romney campaign and a push poll. Best I can figure out from this story is that there is some concern over Romney topping out in polling and someone in the campaign wanted to ask some polling questions if it was related to him being a Mormon. Some of his supporters got the calls, decided it was a push poll and went to the media with complaints – no harm, no foul.

4. Gays. As another Clinton approaches the White House, we have yet another Clinton going to change the military policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and allow open gays into the military. Hillary was asked last week what she thought about the notion of gays in the military. She responded that she thought the current policy – directed by congress - was wrong and needed to be changed. Remember that gays in the military were among the first things that Bill did as he took office. There was a firestorm of opposition to this proposal – not discussed by the campaign at a national level – as one of his most important first acts in office. He had to back down in the face of withering criticism and looked weak doing so. Hillary has taken that lesson to he art and will not make the same mistake should she be elected. She will change the policy and defy anyone to overturn it – which they will do immediately in congress.

5. War Funding. Surrendercrats in the senate announced that the military had sufficient money to make it through February and wouldn’t be sending a supplemental appropriation to the president for signature. The announcement follows failure of the senate to pass a $50 billion supplemental appropriation (out of $200 billion requested) that has a hard exit date of mid December for troops deployed in Iraq. Senate Republicans filibustered the date. In yet another fit of pique, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) announced that the pentagon had enough money on hand to make it through the Christmas season and that there would be no legislation. The Pentagon disagreed, noting that congressional mandates so limited their ability to move money from one account to another that they could only move about a billion dollars around during the period. The Pentagon also started preparing layoff and furlough notices for several hundred civilians and contractors that are scheduled to be mailed the week following Thanksgiving. They also released a report that said any funding cuts would make the troops in the field less safe by keeping specially modified trucks out of theater. These vehicles are armored underneath with “V”-shaped undersides to deflect IED blasts. They work pretty well, but if you can’t purchase any or get them into the shipping pipeline, they won’t be in country when scheduled to be there. By week’s end, Carl Levin (D, MI) announced that there would be no funding cut and that the troops in the field would get the requested funding. It remains to be seen exactly how this all plays out. But it does seem incredibly cowardly for congress to defund the war without standing up in front of the entire nation and saying they are going to defund the war – just as we are annihilating the jihadis and destroying all their credibility in the eyes of their brethren in the Middle East. Congressional democrats are trying to do what they did in the mid-1970s, when they shut off all money to South Viet Nam after the war there was won. There was an ensuing bloodbath – you can ask the remaining Cambodians. If successful, there will be a worse bloodbath in the Middle East. I, for one, am going to do everything possible to ensure this does not happen again.

1. Taxes. The Alaska Legislature at the end of a month-long special session passed an increase in the state tax on oil production from the Alaska North Slope (Prudhoe, Kuparuk and related fields). The legislation moved the tax from 22.5% to 25%, with an additional ratchet upwards based on high prices per barrel. They also limited what the oil companies could deduct for maintenance and upkeep of the production infrastructure. Finally, the legislation made the new taxes retroactive to June 2007. The original legislation was pushed by Governor Palin (R) as a way to solve the perception of corruption associated with last year’s tax increase on the producers. She got more than she wanted, as minority democrats p artnered with scared Republicans to slam the oil companies. During the entire affair, we were treated to ads about getting our fair share of money from the producers on the slope. I cannot be more disgusted with all of them. I cannot be more disappointed. There is little if anything encouraging new production. Nowhere is there anything encouraging new exploration. There is no provision in the legislation for that will do anything toward getting more oil into the pipeline. Alaska becomes nearly the highest tax, most business unfriendly location for oil exploration and production. I expect the producers to st art their pullout from the state very soon unless this travesty is undone. We may very well have killed the golden goose by jacking up taxes on them. There is at least one local talk show guy that believes that the oil companies triggered this response by refusing to enter into an agreement to build a natural gas pipeline and produce the natural gas from the slope. Interesting thought, for had we now been engaged in building a natural gas pipeline and figuring out how to bring that stuff to market, we would not be diddling with oil tax increases. The producers made oil the only game in town by foot dragging – and got whacked by the democrats. Time goes by, and other massive sources of natural gas for the United States are being developed – sources that are closer to the natural gas distribution grid in the lower 48 than Prudhoe Bay. Pedro Van Meurs, who did the fiscal analysis for the Murkowski administration has publicly stated that the window of opportunity for Alaskan natural gas as a viable product on the worldwide market is no longer open. We may be on our way to Plan B – setting up a number of gas to liquid plants on the North Slope, eventually filing the pipeline with white crude (essentially diesel), a low temperature wax created out of natural gas. We are on the verge of some interesting times up here. Hang on.

2. Spitzer. NY Governor Elliot Spitzer had quite a week. On Monday, his administration announced that they were going to st art taxing internet sales to the tune of 8.375% for all purchases made by NY residents. By Wednesday, following no small screams of outrage from New Yorkers whom he had promised during the election campaign not to raise taxes upon, he announced that he had changed his mind. Interestingly enough Wednesday was also the day that Spitzer dropped his democrat voter fraud plan of giving drivers licenses to illegals. NY residents celebrated the momentary return to reason by Spitzer for a couple days. By week’s end, he got back into the swing of things an announced an effort to legalize gay marriage in NY via legislation st arting early next year. Nothing like an out of control, grasping, self-righteous, tone deaf leftist sitting in the Governor’s mansion to reinvigorate a vestigial Republican p arty in NY.

3. Congress. Budget wars continued in congress last week with a Presidential veto of bloated spending in the Labor / HHS funding bill. The $606 billion dollar bill was $10 billion over the president’s request and contained over 2,000 earmarks, mostly inserted in conference. Pelosi’s House was unable to override the veto as of midweek. The second piece of legislation came out of the House midweek, as the surrendercrats cut a supplemental appropriation for Iraq from a $200 billion request to $50 billion passed. The measure that passed also had new timetables for complete withdrawal of troops from Iraq by mid-December. Reid’s senate majority attempted to shove it thru the senate but was stymied by Republican filibuster. Reid yanked the bill from consideration, noting that the Pentagon had enough money to make it until February. Layoff and furlough notices for Pentagon civilians and contractors are scheduled to go out in the next week or so. Merry Christmas from your friendly neighborhood democrat majority in congress – surrendering to Al Qaida just at the point where we have annihilated them as a fighting force. Finally, senate work on a revision of FISA legislation came out of committee last week without the requested hold harmless provisions for the TELCOs who have cooperated with the Bush administration on wiretaps against Islamists and their supporters worldwide. Democrats want their trial lawyer buddies to destroy anyone who is cooperating in winning the war. All in all, I can think of no better way to enter the holiday season – with a knock down, drag out budget fight, yet another attempt by the democrats to defund the war with troops overseas, in the field, in harm’s way, and furloughs / layoffs over the holidays. Bush will win the vast majority of these vetoes and will help the surrendercrats paint themselves into a very, very uncomfortable position regarding surrender, the war, spending and taxation. Finally, an interesting thing out of InstaPundit toward the end of the week: Note that congressional approval sits at roughly 11%. Given all of the above shenanigans, expect those polling numbers to dip into the single digits. Reynolds noted that Bush has near record low popularity at 24%. The only two presidents lower were Truman following his firing of MacArthur and Nixon right before his resignation, both at 23%. OJ Simpson polled at 16% in 1995. This congress is less popular than known murder and accused armed robber OJ Simpson. That can’t be good for their continued existence as a majority come election day next year.

4. Watada. Big Lizards Monday described yet another assault on the military justice system, this time by a federal judge appointed by President Bush (43) himself. Lt. Watada was an Army officer that refused his posting to Iraq, citing objections to the mission. He went public and wrapped himself around the anti-war, Bush lied movement while still in uniform. He was summarily courts martialed. The presiding military judge ordered a mistrial on the third day of the trial in February when he believed that Watada did not understand the stipulation he had signed. The military attempted to re-try him on all counts. Watada’s lawyers took the case to federal court, citing double jeopardy. In a novel reading of current law, the judge agreed that a mistrial now constituted double jeopardy. Remember that double jeopardy attaches itself only when a trial has run to completion with a verdict or the prosecution withdraws. He went on to find that He also went on to find that civilian courts have jurisdiction to intrude into military courts which are trying military members for violations of the UCMJ. This is yet another awful precedent, with the federal courts expanding their scope of authority yet again into what are constitutionally and rightfully military matters. They are neither equipped nor chartered to do so. I hope the pentagon appeals this unwarranted usurpation of their authority all the way to the SCOTUS. Should they fail, get legislation out of congress specifically restricting federal court review of military matters, then retry this little vermin and bury him in Leavenworth for a few decades.

5. Anti Mining. Green ballot initiatives are in the mill up here, with their backers gathering signatures for November 2008. Both initiatives are intended to make it all but impossible for large mines to obtain discharge permits for water, waste rock, or anything else they may remove from the surface of the earth. Once you completely control discharge, you make it impossible to mine from an open pit, which is what the green advocates are looking for. There will be many millions of dollars spent pushing these destructive initiatives forward. Hopefully, the negative economic consequences of the oil tax discussed in Item 1 of this issue will be well underway so that voters will be able to properly reflect on the difference between wishful thinking and businesses that are actually good stewards of the environment.

1. Charlee. Ed Markey (D, MA), Chairman of a House committee looking into environmental issues trotted out an 18-year old Yup’ik from a small, western village in Alaska called St. Michael, to testify on the ravages of global warming on her village. This poor woman was distraught, in tears, bewailing the loss of her way of life, changes in her village, all due to manmade global warming. The hearing was a typical leftist environmentalist theater, where the so-called decision makers in congress were hiding behind the tears of a crying woman to make their point. Limbaugh picked up an audio track of the incoherent ravings of this young woman and blasted the congressional vermin that were hiding behind her tears and using her angst to further their efforts to push ridiculous legislation that will take our liberty, our property and our money. The greens and the Anchorage Daily News picked up on Limbaugh’s attack on the leftists in congress and portrayed it as a personal attack on the young woman herself. Nothing could have been f arther from the truth. For far too long, the left has had a free hand in trotting out crying, crippled, dying victims to tell emotional stories that will further the political aims and goals of the leftists orchestrating the events. In this event, they got a young, native woman in full tears about physical changes to her world. They set her up for congressional testimony. And now they are upset that someone has called them on it, attacking the people who filled this young woman with a pile of garbage and set her in front of the microphones and video cameras. Limbaugh is taking the left on frontally and not letting this sort of thing pass. Perhaps our elected officials will st art doing the same thing sometime soon.

2. Wind. Ran across an interesting analysis out of a blog out of Vermont entitled “out of Kirby Mountain” dated April 2006 analyzing wind power and the difference between what was promised and what it is actually capable of producing. Can’t speak to the accuracy of the analysis, but the blog does provide URLs of source documents. The blogger appears to have taken up the cause of popping the wind power balloon in Vermont, and there is a lot of data and analysis. The bottom line here is that wind farms produce at best a third less energy than promised. In his example, the writer shows how a wind farm with 53 megawatts of installed capacity produces around 13 megawatts on average. This in turn ends up putting just over 4 megawatts of constant power onto the electric grid – mostly due to problems with wind speed and maintenance of the individual towers. In the real world of power generation, a 53 megawatt installed plant will produce continuous power at whatever output level it is being run. If it running at 90% capacity, it produces just under 48 megawatts; 80% capacity produces just over 42 megawatts. Contrast this with the wind energy numbers listed above. The writer used data from Great Britain, Scotland, Denmark and Germany. He found that the narrow range of electrical output from wind towers which cut in at 9 mph and put out their max energy at 30 mph is not nearly as productive as the advocates have claimed, so wind farms cannot physically replace constant generation of electricity as they provide inconstant power. Remember that electricity is like water and sewer, it bloody well ought to be there every single time when you want it there. When you build and install wind generation, you cannot retire or remove baseline generation or use wind farms to replace baseline generation, which is what they were intended to do. So wind becomes a luxury, a nice to have, and an expensive trinket that is installed based upon a lot of sunshine being pumped into the body politic. It ends up being an economic disaster for the ratepayers. Here’s the URL for some fun reading: http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/

3. Pakistan. Pakistani President and military leader Pervez Musharraf announced a national emergency. The emergency appears to be a response to an impending decision by the Pakistani Supreme Court that is expected to rule him ineligible to run for reelection in the nationwide election he recently won. Musharraf struck before the lawyers did. He has a problem in Pakistan, with moderately out of control Islamist-friendly tribal heads in the Northwestern p art of Pakistan, where Bin Laden, Al Zawahiri and Mullah Omar are reportedly hiding out. He has an Islamist friendly movement in his nation. His nation has 10-12 nukes. And now he has the activist lawyers who were appointed to sit on the Pakistani Supreme Court are determined to remove him from office after a convincing win at the ballot box. The State Dep artment has been pushing him to accept a coalition government with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, which has further destabilized his control of the military and the government. Last week, he was busily suppressing all dissent in the streets, and (happily) rounding up the lawyers. What ought we to do about this mess? The best thing would be to insist on a constitutional government, one that is elected, democratic and stable. We can no longer support dictators anywhere in the world because they are “our tyrants.” Reason? If we are truly the Good Guys, we must trust the people of each nation we deal with out there to do the right thing, regardless of how ugly that “right thing” may appear. When we support a tyrant because he is our guy, we undermine ourselves as the beacons of liberty for the world. I expect the Bush administration will encourage Musharraf to relent, do the right thing, and support what the people of Pakistan choose to do. Should that path be one of radical Islam rather than liberty, I expect we will eventually destroy them.

4. Turkey. It appears that the Bush administration has managed to head off full-scale Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq. Over the last few weeks, since Nancy Pelosi’s (D, SF) abortive effort to stir up a shooting war between Turkey and the Kurds in northern Iraq, we have managed to convince the Turks that both the US and the Kurds will control Kurdish separatist movement (PKK) incursions into southern Turkey. AJ Strata reported last Tuesday that tensions have rolled back to the point where both sides are in “trust but verify” mode. Congratulations to the Kurds, the Iraqi government and the Bush administration for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat on this effort to undermine the war effort by Pelosi, Assad and the PKK.

5. Farm Pork. It is an interesting world when the greens and USA today go after sitting congresscritters who have been suckling at the federal teat. This took place in Tuesday’s USA Today which had an extensive article on farm subsidies. The data was gathered, massaged and released by the Environmental Working Group. They looked at eight US senators and four congressmen. John Tester (D, MT) who was elected as a conservative democrat last year received $232,000 in farm subsidies on 1,800 acres from 1995 – 2005. Blanche Lincoln (D, AR), who is up for reelection in 2010, and her family members received $715,000 over the same period. Chuck Grassley (R, IA) got $225,000 over the same period, and his son took in $654,000. Max Bauccus (D, MT) took in $230,000. Rep. Marion Berry (D, AR) took in $2,357,000, paid to corporations co-owned by him and employing his wife. Family members of Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D, SC) took in $790,000. The greens included Dick Lugar (R, IN) and Rep. Denny Hastert (R, IL) who have taken in $126,000 and $25,000 respectively. Clearly, it is time to shut down the entire farm subsidy program, and reintroduce the owners and operators to the world of the free market. All these people listed above profit directly from their votes in congress to pass agriculture legislation. All are essentially thieves, profiting from the hard work of the American taxpayer. Grassley and Lugar have proposed capping the subsidies paid to individuals at various amounts. The only reasonable cap is zero – as in complete and total repeal of this program, as it has clearly become a vehicle for transferring the wealth of one politically unconnected American to those that are politically well connected. Any time you hear advocates of ethanol, you also are hearing calls for the transfer of wealth. If pork is bad, then so are farm subsidies. Both ought to be at first controlled, and eventually eliminated altogether. I always wonder why the greens are releasing these numbers – especially about their friends the democrats in congress. At this point, haven’t a clue, speculating that they may be going after those democrats that are not sufficiently supportive of their environmental claptrap.

1. Young. Well, the greens have finally st arted running ads targeting Don Young (R, AK) for destruction next year. The ads st art off with several words decrying his lack of concern with the impending destruction of all of Alaska via the vehicle of global warming. They then go on to mention his connection to disgraced oil services company here in Anchorage, the former Veco Corporation. Young, who may or may not have some legal problems, has been an active foe of the environmentalists that have been trying to turn Alaska into a National Park for decades. They don’t like him a lot – mostly because he has been effective. He doesn’t like them at all because they traffic in lies, fraud, scaremongering and are actively harming the future of his state. This year, they see a potential opening up here and want to exploit it, much like they did with Richard Pombo (R, CA) last year, who was on track to pass a rewrite of the Endangered Species Act before he was defeated by a democrat advocate of wind power in California. Whatever ethical problems Young may have, I think the attacks by the greens may be a mistake, as they will remind everyone in the entire state of their anti-development zeal and obstructionism over the years. Should Young be sufficiently combative, and take these clowns on and publicly humiliate them, he will win a resounding victory next year. Sadly, that is the problem, for though he has a history of being a strong advocate for Alaskans and a feisty, combative opponent of the greens over his decades in the House, he is st arting to run out of gas, and may not be sufficiently fired up, or have sufficient energy to take them on at the level they need to be taken on.

2. Water. Once again, we are seeing the lunacy behind the current enforcement of the Endangered Species Act. This time, it is the reaction to a pretty severe drought in the South – Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida. As the water gets low, local authorities st art rationing its use, usually via restrictions on exterior use such as watering lawns. Things in Georgia have gotten bad enough that Atlanta is st arting to worry about the availability of water from the reservoir that supplies water for its three million residents. What would you normally do to a manmade reservoir that supplies all your water and is running low? You would normally shut off the downstream outflow and conserve what you have. Problem here arises when the greens downstream in Florida are demanding via actions in the federal courts and regulatory agencies that sufficient water be released upstream for downstream water flow to cover a species of an endangered freshwater mussel with fresh flowing water. Atlanta says no more water. The greens in Florida’s Dep artment of Environmental Conservation (or equivalent) say that the needs of the mollusks override the needs of the humans. This is setting up a real knock-down, drag out fight between those that want to drink water to survive and the advocates of the endangered species. Interestingly enough, there are a number of so-called Blue Dog democrats in all the states involved. Most have been elected by pretending to be conservatives, and most have gotten significant union and green money to elect them in 2006. I don’t think the general pubic will understand, appreciate or forgive the legislative niceties involved with refusing to reform a law that places the needs of mollusks above those of humans. 2008 will be an interesting year, indeed. PhysOrg, Mon.

3. Hilly. Hillary Clinton (D) had a rough week last week – something that is not all that upsetting to those of us that view her as an absolute danger to the future of this Republic. She got a few questions that she was not prepared to answer. The mask slipped a bit and she dep arted from her pre-recorded, prepared, focus grouped, stage managed responses during the debate midweek, and she didn’t sound or look very good at all. Hillary was asked what she thought of NY Governor Elliot Spitzer’s effort to give drivers licenses to illegals. Hillary goes into these debates with the express purpose of not saying anything about anything. This time, she was asked a real live, honest to God question with an Yes or No answer. She gave both answers in the space of two minutes and all the other candidates jumped right in and called her on it. She did not respond well, ratcheting up the waffling and the volume a bit. Tim Russert, who was moderating the debate, pressed her on the question and her lack of coherent response. This was a gold mine for her opposition, as it painted her precisely as the sort of waffling, afraid to tell anyone what she really thinks, politician that is universally despised in current politics. Expect to see numerous You-Tube videos of her response (and lack thereof) to the questions from the Republican campaign against her next year. The dirty little secret behind giving drivers licenses to illegals – an action opposed by 70-80% of the electorate, is that when combined with the federal Motor Voter Act of 1993 (the first piece of legislation signed by Bill Clinton), makes it breathtakingly easy for illegals to register to vote – and vote for democrats. Drivers’ licenses for illegals are a thinly veiled attempt to execute massive voter fraud on a state by state basis all with the simple goal of electing more democrats. Hopefully someone on the Republican side of the argument – or the law abiding side of the argument – will have this public discussion next year and out it for the fraud that it is. The second piece of this little drama was Hilly’s reaction to it. She essentially used the same thing she used against Rick Lazio in 2002, and donned the mantle of unfortunate female victim. Hillary campaign staffers and media sycophants / lackeys accused the other candidates of piling on, beating up on the girl. It’s going to be pretty darned difficult dealing with Al Qaida, Ahmadinejad, the Iranian Mullahs, Assad, Kim Jung Il, or any of a hundred other nasties if you whine about getting hit. So Hillary, what’s it going to be? Are you the Baddest Lady (and I use the Lady term loosely) out there? Or are you a shrinking violet, needing protection from the tempestuous world of national and international politics? Are you the mythical Nurse Ratchet and have possession of Limbaugh’s proverbial testicle lockbox or do you have a white lace umbrella? When hit, are you going to hit back or are you going to snivel and whine? You can’t have it both ways, Madam. Either you are tough enough to be President of these United States or you aren’t. If it is the latter, you really need to retire back to the Clinton Library and Massage Parlor in Little Rock, for this world is simply too mean. Hillary’s problem is that she has been playing the victim for so long that she doesn’t know how to do otherwise. Too bad for her.

4. Madrid. Yet another example of what happens when lawyers get involved in military matters last week, this one from Madrid. The trial of the vermin that perpetrated the train bombings in Madrid ended badly last week, with four of the vermin being convicted on all counts. Unfortunately, even though they murdered 191 people, none of these guys will serve more than 40 years in jail, which ends up being about 76 days in prison per life taken. The organizer of the plot was acquitted on all charges and set free. This is the guy who was actually recorded planning the event and taped conversations played in court. 14 others who were involved in the plot were convicted of lesser charges. Seven others who were connected with the plot were acquitted. Captain Ed in Captain’s Qu arters noted that apparently the very words of a plotter no longer carry weight in civilian courts, for the plot organizer was set free. This demonstrates yet again that the civilian courts of any nation are not set up nor prepared to deal with acts of war against that nation. These trials ought to have been held in military tribunals, and the vermin that murdered hundreds of innocents dealt with like anybody else that takes up arms against a nation while not wearing a uniform of their home nation – shot on sight.

5. Protestors. There is a gang of misguided Baptists from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka that have been showing up at funerals of fallen military members and making real asses of themselves. As I understand it, they are upset with the inclusion of homosexuals in a military funeral in 2003 , and are making their feelings on the subject known by attempting to turn the solemn funerals of our fallen into media circuses. This hasn’t gone down real well with the military, the military families, or most anyone that has seen a film clip of their protest. A family in PA finally took these clowns to a civil court, citing invasion of privacy, emotional damages and conspiracy. The jury awarded over two million in compensatory damages with the punitive damages to be decided. This case is a difficult one, for how do you balance the needs of the families of the fallen with the rights of the general public to protest things that they believe is wrong or incorrect. Perhaps this verdict provides a clue. If you don’t like what the military is doing, go after the politicians that supposedly are in charge rather than going after the families seeking closure in their time of grief. I don’t have a problem with this verdict, as it is a civil trial that simply says to protestors: Don’t screw around with funerals. CQ, Weds.

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

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