Hate Crime Laws: Criminalizing Free Speech by Steve Watson
On September 14, 2005, the House of Representatives suddenly passed 223-199 the federal “anti-hate” bill, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005. It was inserted as AMDT.2662 into the Children’s Safety Act. Despite all odds, the Senate Judiciary stripped the hate bill S.1145 from the Children's Safety Act on October 20th 2005, thanks in many parts to the loud voices of many broadcasters and talk radio listeners who helped reveal the reality and consequences of the hate bill.


- posted by SARTRE @ 3:12 PM (0) comments

 
Dangerous Moderation by Thomas Sowell
Obstructionist Democrats in the Senate have had their hand strengthened by this episode. Even those who had their knives out for Harriet Miers can now piously lament her withdrawal and claim that, while they might have voted for her confirmation, they must now oppose an "extremist" nominee chosen in response to the conservative groups that forced Ms. Miers' withdrawal. Any judicial nominee who has said that the Constitution means what it says, not what judges would like it to mean, is going to be called an "extremist." That person will be said to be "out of the mainstream." But the mainstream is itself the problem.


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:12 AM (0) comments

 
THOUGHT POLICE THWARTED by James P. Tucker Jr.
An attempt to slip “hate crimes” legislation (S. 1145) into the Children’s Safety Act was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee in a victory for grass-roots America and First Amendment advocates. But Rev. Ted Pike, who spearheaded public opposition to the bill, cautions that the peril remains.


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:04 AM (0) comments

 
What Goes Around, Comes Around by William L. Anderson and Candice Jackson
For decades, both of America’s major political parties have turned a blind eye to insidious deterioration of constitutional protections of individual rights. In fact, both political parties have enthusiastically embraced the whittling away of such protections in order to score cheap and easy political points. Politicians’ willingness to erode constitutional protections has resulted in a federal criminal justice system that endangers the personal freedom of each of us by permitting politically motivated prosecutions of any of us.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:23 AM (0) comments

 
Taking constitutionalism seriously by Steven M. Warshawsky
I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Mulhern that conservative Supreme Court Justices “need strong enough minds to resist the pull of the legal left.” But I strongly disagree that this has anything to do with the Left’s “better legal theories.” Rather, it is a question of human nature. The Supreme Court wields enormous power in American society today, and any Justice, liberal or conservative, will be tempted to use that power to promote the interests and causes that he or she prefers (or which bring praise and prestige from the political, media, and academic establishment). The difference, however, is that liberals endorse a legal philosophy (the “living Constitution”) that justifies such abuses of power, while conservatives endorse a legal philosophy (textualism-originalism) that seeks to restrain such abuses.


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:59 AM (0) comments

 
All US passports to be RFID chipped by Declan McCullagh
All US passports will be implanted with remotely readable computer chips starting in October 2006, the Bush administration has announced.

Sweeping new State Department regulations issued on Tuesday say passports issued after that time will have tiny RFID chips that can transmit personal information including the name, nationality, sex, date of birth, place of birth and digitised photograph of the passport holder. Eventually, the government contemplates adding additional digitised data such as "fingerprints or iris scans".


- posted by SARTRE @ 3:25 PM (0) comments

 
Why I Am Not a Conservative by F. A. Hayek
Conservatism proper is a legitimate, probably necessary, and certainly widespread attitude of opposition to drastic change. It has, since the French Revolution, for a century and a half played an important role in European politics. Until the rise of socialism its opposite was liberalism. There is nothing corresponding to this conflict in the history of the United States, because what in Europe was called "liberalism" was here the common tradition on which the American polity had been built: thus the defender of the American tradition was a liberal in the European sense.
- posted by SARTRE @ 7:42 AM (0) comments

 
The New Slavery: Nock on Spencer by Albert Jay Nock
Thus closely has the course of American Statism, from 1932 to 1939, followed the course of British Statism from 1860 to 1884. Considering their professions of Liberalism, it would be quite appropriate and by no means in-urbane, to ask Mr. Roosevelt and his entourage whether they believe that the citizen has any rights which the State is bound to respect. Would they be willing – ex animo, that is, and not for electioneering purposes – to subscribe to the fundamental doctrine of the Declaration?
- posted by SARTRE @ 6:10 AM (0) comments

 
Columnist Fired From Daily Collegian for Expressing Opinion
State College, PA October 18 2005: Daily Collegian opinion columnist Bryan Peach was dismissed yesterday, October 17 2005, for expressing his opinion that The Collegian, like many news outlets, lacks the global viewpoint necessary for an all-encompassing view of the news.

The column expressed concern over the way the Collegian and many other news outlets water down the news to make it more palatable to the interests of the organization and how such a practice shows disregard for the reader.

More than a week after the opinion column was published and nearly two weeks from the time the idea was pitched to Jen Winberry, the editor for the opinion section, Peach was asked to meet privately with Jennette Hannah, Editor-In-Chief of the Daily Collegian. The meeting was not discussed beforehand. Numerous requests via e-mail for Hannah to explain the importance of the meeting were ignored in subsequent replies.

Hannah decided to fire Peach from his position at the paper, citing the column as the reason for his termination. E-mails to Hannah and John Harvey, the staff adviser, for a written explanation concerning why he was required to leave have as yet been unreturned.

Included in the Collegian’s Style Manual and Code of Ethics is the statement that any sort of ethical predicament

“…becomes a real problem when it is hidden or ignored, not when it is handled maturely or with speed.”

According to Peach, nothing he did was in violation of the Code of Ethics despite the fact that

“…the final responsibility for ethical considerations and decisions rests with the editor in chief alone.”

Peach alleges that the Collegian “ironically” fired him from the opinion section due to an opinion he expressed, and in so doing proved the point he pontificated in his column. Because of this, he asserts that the Collegian expresses by and large the opinions of its editors.

He is seeking his position back and demanding an explanation from his editors as to why his rights of free speech were violated.

Attached is a link to the article, and contact information for Peach as well as the staff members of the Collegian involved in his release from the paper. For further information please contact Brandon W. Peach at bwp5003@psu.edu or at (717) 926-2962.

Brandon W. Peach – bwp5003@psu.edu; (717) 926-2962

Bryan D. Peach -- bdp5000@psu.edu

Jennette Hannah, Editor-In-Chief -- (814) 865-1828; jch260@psu.edu
Jen Winberry, Opinion Editor – (814) 865-1828; jenw@psu.edu

John Harvey, Adviser – jlh32@psu.edu

Links to the column:

[NOTE: The original link to the column in HTML format was REMOVED after this story broke. The original URL, http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2005/10/10-07-05tdc/10-07-05dops-column-01.asp, redirects the reader to another page.]

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2005/10/10-07-05tdc/10-07-05dop
- posted by SARTRE @ 7:45 AM (0) comments

 
Name That War by Tom Engelhardt
And yet none of this has a name. Perhaps the namelessness acted as a distancing mechanism, one of a number that, for long periods, have allowed the war to fall out of the headlines as well as American consciousness, while the dead and wounded (unless killed in staggering numbers on any given day) head for the deep middle of the newspaper. As the British in imperial days once dealt at arm's length with endless border wars in distant lands while life continued at home, so perhaps Americans responded to this nameless war once it turned sour.
- posted by SARTRE @ 6:34 AM (0) comments

 
A Natural Inspiration by Ben Knobel
Just for a moment, can we all jump ahead, say one or two years from now, into what could be a very real scenario. The draft has been reinstated. Our sons and daughters are faced with the choice of going to war or jail. Parents are in shock. They can’t believe this has happened to their very own. Shock turns to anger and confusion. Their former lack of concern and awareness of their government’s imperialistic agenda is starting to become the biggest mistake of their lives. They had been reassured that no draft was needed nor wanted and without a deep distrust of all that is the state, there was no reason not to believe the argument. The frustration and anger causes rebellion, even among those who would never have considered such a thing. The rebellion is intense and widespread. Martial law is declared. You either do what you are told or fight.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:32 AM (0) comments

 
Fear, Incivility, and the State by Butler Shaffer
By contrast, politically-minded people believe that societies can only be held together by fear – of punishment, prison, death, or other people. One need only contrast the language of market advertising – with its promises of benefits to be enjoyed – with that of legislative statutes – with threats of “fines, imprisonment or both,” as polar opposite inducements for your response.


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:46 AM (0) comments

 
AN ILLEGAL GOVERNMENT - Mike Rivera
No magazine puff-piece, no comic book, no movie can make America look great if, when the time calls for it, Americans fail to be a great people. Great people are willing to stand up to a government gone wrong, to force their government to be truthful and honest and moral. Great people know that freedom is impossible under a government that lies because lies are tools of enslavement, and that chains built of false beliefs hold slaves tighter than chains made of steel. Slaves will cower before a government they know lies to them, bless the face that lies to them, and ask for more. And now the world watches to see if Americans are a great people, or just slaves living under the delusion they are a free people.


- posted by SARTRE @ 8:01 AM (0) comments

 
A nation of sheeple by Dr. Walter E. Williams
We've accepted federal intrusion in our financial privacy through the Bank Secrecy Act. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, says, "More than 99.999 percent of those [who] had their privacy invaded were law-abiding citizens going about their own personal financial business." Most recently, there's the U.S. Supreme Court Kelo decision, where the court held that local governments can take a private person's house and turn it over to another private person. Politicians have learned and become comfortable with the fact that today's Americans will docilely accept just about any legalized restraint on their behavior.
- posted by SARTRE @ 7:40 AM (0) comments

 
Conservatism: The False “Triumph” by Joseph Sobran
I spoke to Kirk, author of the classic The Conservative Mind, late in his life, and having devoted his career to keeping Burke’s flame alive, he viewed what was happening to American conservatism with dismay and disgust. Conservatism had become a mere label for a mass movement, its principles forgotten, its content diluted, its purposes baffled.

- posted by SARTRE @ 6:17 AM (0) comments

 
The World is Ending...Maybe Tomorrow! by Edgar J. Steele
The conclusion is inescapable. The criminal part is that George W. Bush has known about this, yet never has he warned us that our time almost is up.

Consider all the following and see if you don't agree:


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:29 AM (0) comments

 
Church is not the enemy by Michael Coren
In fact the entire separation idea was based on allowing religious influence by excluding one specific church denomination from dominating an entire culture. It was never supposed to protect the state from religion, in particular Christianity, because the founders of the United States did not believe that any such protection was necessary.
- posted by SARTRE @ 8:32 AM (0) comments

 
An Authentic American Radical by Gary Galles
This year is also the 70th anniversary of the publication of Our Enemy the State, which grew out of lectures given at Columbia University’s Bard College. Since it has been described as "perhaps the most encompassing record of Nock’s political thought," it is worthwhile remembering some of its core insights in celebration of his birthday, and in hopes of inspiring further examination of his works and ideas.
- posted by SARTRE @ 10:03 AM (0) comments

 
The ACLU's enthusiasm for death by Alan Sears
On matters of life and death, the ACLU has married itself to an agenda that undermines both the rights and defenders of the weak, the vulnerable, the voiceless … the unborn, the aged, the ill – in short, the very types of people the ACLU professes to protect but doesn't.


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:44 AM (0) comments

 
Please Don�t Support My Troop by Michael Gaddy
Rush Limbaugh was actually right for a change: there can be no support for the troops without supporting the war and the government that sent them there. Your misplaced support for the troops is actually support for a criminal enterprise in which the military serves as the enforcement arm of that enterprise. If you want to support the troops, do not allow the State to send them to their deaths for corporate profits in wars sired by lies!


- posted by SARTRE @ 5:16 AM (0) comments

 
Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID): New World Order Spy Chips Technology
As you can see, it could soon be virtually impossible for a consumer to know whether a product or package contains an RFID spychip. For this reason, CASPIAN (the creator of this web site) is proposing federal labeling legislation, the RFID Right to Know Act, which would require complete disclosures on any consumer products containing RFID devices.

- posted by SARTRE @ 7:33 AM (0) comments

 
HATE BILL WILL PASS SENATE JUDICIARY!! by Rev. Ted Pike
Senate Judiciary members who support the federal “anti-hate bill” S.1145 outnumber opponents by at least 12 to 10. Two Republicans, Senator Arlen Specter (R., Pennsylvania) and Mike DeWine (R., Ohio), have declared their support for the bill.

Unless there is a miracle of Divine intervention or a senatorial change of mind, S.1145 will soon be on the floor of the Senate, voted upon by a Senate overwhelmingly inclined to pass it quickly. Such passage already occurred on June 15, 2004, with a vote of 65 to 33, although it was later overturned in conference.
- posted by SARTRE @ 5:57 AM (0) comments

 
Our Political Federal Courts by Ron Paul
The Constitution above all is a document that limits the power of the federal government. The fundamental point that has been lost in our national discourse is this: the Constitution prohibits the federal government, including the federal judiciary, from doing all kind of things. Until we have federal judges who understand this, it matters little what political stripes or experience they bring to the bench. The Constitution does not empower government and grant rights, it restricts government in order to safeguard preexisting rights. When federal courts disregard this principle, acting as legislatures or failing to enforce constitutional limitations, we get the worst kind of unaccountable government.

- posted by SARTRE @ 5:49 AM (0) comments

 
The Police State is Closer Than You Think by Paul Craig Roberts
Americans may be unaware of what it means to be stripped of the protection of habeas corpus, or they may think police authorities would never make a mistake or ever use their unbridled power against the innocent. Americans might think that the police state will only use its powers against terrorists or "enemy combatants".


- posted by SARTRE @ 2:39 PM (0) comments

 
The Darkling Plain by Charley Reese
World War I shattered the existing world order. Empires collapsed or entered their death throes. Faith in religion was shattered. Aristocracies became meaningless. The world economy soon collapsed. Communism and fascism rose from the war's ashes and for a while contended with the West for supremacy. Politics was militarized. It gave us the tank, the first bombings of civilian cities, chemical weapons, the machine gun, aerial warfare and mass murder on a genocidal scale – all of those things that continue to consume blood and treasure like a vast, dark hole.
- posted by SARTRE @ 8:33 AM (0) comments

 
Bringing the War Home by Justin Raimondo
Our foreign policy of global intervention undermines the defense of the United States in every conceivable way: it disarms us ideologically, and leaves us vulnerable to the depredations of suicide bombers set loose in the crowded mazes of our inner cities. Yes, we lord it over a mighty Empire – but the irony is that it isn't defensible, not even at its core. To our world-conquering leaders, however, this hardly seems to matter: they are globally minded, and are quite capable of trading off terrorist attacks in a few American cities in exchange for holding on to Iraq.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:22 AM (0) comments

 
Where Is Jefferson's Spirit Of Resistance? by Chuck Baldwin
One of the uniquely American attributes upon which this great country was founded is the spirit of independence, or as Thomas Jefferson phrased it, "the spirit of resistance." Throughout America's history, our people, especially our Christian leaders, were noted for bold and courageous confrontation. This was especially true in the area of politics.
- posted by SARTRE @ 8:04 AM (0) comments

 
"National Service" and Involuntary Servitude by Joseph Sobran
If the Federal Government violates the Constitution, there is an obvious remedy: The people should be free to defend themselves by declaring that it has forfeited its lawful authority and refusing to obey it. This simple solution is called “secession.”

But of course this is forbidden. The government claims an unconditional right to our obedience, no matter what it does or demands. In principle, we are its slaves. Yet it tells us not only that we’re free, but also that it’s defending our freedom when it wages wars and drafts us to fight those wars.

- posted by SARTRE @ 6:09 AM (0) comments

 
Martial Law and the advent of the Supreme Executive by Mike Whitney
The main obstacle to Bush's militarization-scheme is the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. The Act bans the military from participating in policing activities on US soil. It does not, however, prevent the military from helping out in national disasters. This is what is so troubling about Bush's request to change the law; it shows a clear intention to assert military authority wherever the troops are deployed. It is clearly not an attempt simply to help out.

- posted by SARTRE @ 7:56 PM (0) comments

 
Inside The Patriot Act by Nigel Deans
In general, section 505 allows the government to search through your records without judicial supervision. Judicial supervision is important because the government agencies that are doing the searching are usually under the executive branch, the judicial check upholds the check and balance designed in the Constitution to make our government tyranny resistant and this is where my perspective differs from those who say... "if you aren't doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to worry about." It's not me that I'm worried about and it's not necessarily the current government that is still at least to some extent, bridled to decency by the Constitution either. What I'm worried about is the future government that finds enough space between power and decency to redefine what "wrong" is.

- posted by SARTRE @ 4:24 PM (0) comments

 
Pretext for more martial law: bird flu by Larry Chin
The Bush administration must now reach even deeper, more often, into its criminal trick bag, for new pretexts and justifications for its deepening criminal actions and "extraordinary Draconian measures." More fake "terrorism." More force (in response to resistance and opposition). More Supreme Court appointments ready to erase what is left of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
- posted by SARTRE @ 6:19 AM (0) comments

 
The Federal Hate Crimes Bill: Federalizing Criminal Law While Threatening Civil Liberties by Robert H. Knight
“The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act,” the bill is now under review in the U.S. Senate (S. 1145). This bill:

* Lays the groundwork for a severe threat to religious freedom.

* Expands federal power enormously into cases traditionally handled by the states.

* Creates “thought crime,” which has no place in American law.

* Violates the concept of equal protection under the law.

* Tempts law enforcement agencies into giving some crime victims’ cases more priority than others.

* Brings hate crime politics into the schools.

* Is unnecessary, given 1) there is no evidence that such cases are not receiving proper prosecution and sentencing, and that 2) hate crimes have been decreasing over the past three years, not increasing.





- posted by SARTRE @ 4:03 PM (0) comments

 
Here Come the UN Army & Police by Thomas R. Eddlem
The real concern for the American people should be that President George Bush already has gone even further in pushing for a world army and police force than did the UN in its World Summit Outcomes report. As we have reported here previously, the Bush administration publicly proposed the creation of an immense UN military force in April 2004. The Bush proposal, named the Global Peace Operations Initiative, pledged some $600 million -- mostly from the cash-strapped U.S. Defense budget -- to train and equip roughly 75,000 foreign military personnel in peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations over five years.* In other words, our own president is on record in favor of stripping resources from our own military in order to use them to build a military force for the United Nations, an organization composed largely of regimes run by terrorists, criminals, deadbeats, and dictators who despise us.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:42 AM (0) comments

 
After pollsters say they won't raise impeachment, group to pay for poll
Pollster John Zogby, who found that 42 percent of Americans would support impeaching the President were it proven he did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to go to war in Iraq, recently told RAW STORY he did not plan future polls.
- posted by SARTRE @ 12:40 PM (0) comments

 
The Toxicity of Environmentalism by George Reisman
This is an essay, as topical today as when it was first written, which lays bare the hidden agenda of the movement and skewers its every aspect, especially the notion that global warming, real or imagined, is an excuse for collectivist control of the economic system.


- posted by SARTRE @ 7:12 AM (0) comments

 
ARMY TO TAKE CONTROL DURING NATIONAL CRISES by James P. Tucker Jr.
But, ominously, the federal government has had the military practicing for occupying localities for years. On grounds that much of modern combat is in urban areas, the Army has been conducting street-by-street drills, complete with overhead helicopters, for at least a decade.

- posted by SARTRE @ 6:52 AM (0) comments