Right Punishment, Wrong Crime

Via breitbart.com:

A Swiss man in Thailand has been jailed, and he should have been jailed – I just don’t like the label the government put on his crime.

"The court has punished him for insulting the king. This is a serious crime," judge Pitsanu Tanbuakli said.

I certainly do not think anyone should be punished for merely insulting a politician. So, why do I think he should be jailed at all? Because in addition to insulting the King, he committed an actual crime: vandalism.

Security cameras videotaped him defacing the king's portraits on December 5, which is the king's birthday and a time of national celebration.

He did not own those portraits. He deserves the ten years.

Liberty Wins in French Muhammad Drawings Case

Via Breitbart.com:

A French court decided not to prosecute a French Satirical Weekly Newspaper on the whim of easily offended people.

PARIS (AP) - A French court cleared a satirical weekly newspaper Thursday in a case brought by Muslims who were angered by its publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

So are things looking up for free speech in Europe? Not so fast. Look at what may happen in Poland.

Socialist Republican warns about the spread of socialism

Via Breitbart.com:

. . . . oh, but only in Latin America.

MIAMI (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain warned on Wednesday against the spread of socialism in Latin America and pledged to give the region renewed U.S. attention if elected.

I wish McCain cared as much about the spread of socialism in the United States. A quick stroll though his voting record proves he does not.

How Pork Looks in Dingmei village

Via news.com.au:

In the United States, politicians bribe their districts to vote for them by funding unconstitutional and often useless products with tax dollars. This is often referred to as “pork barrel spending” and while it is complained about in some circles it works. In Dingmei village in Fujian province, China, the bribes are . . . more direct in nature. Recently, there have been calls to cut down on bribing voters. Not everyone is happy about this.

“You can earn lots of money if you're elected village boss, so what's so bad about dishing some of it out?” complained one old man, whose surname was given as Chen.

“But this election, they went to the temple and all we got was a bowl of rice and bottle of beer after all was said and done,” he said. “It's peanuts.”

I am certainly no fan of bribery but there is something to be said for the openness with which it occurs in this village. In the United States there is the pretense that politicians are “doing something for their districts” when in reality all they are doing is moving about confiscated tax dollars. In Dingmei village there is no veneer so the corruption, the bribery is far more obvious. This, perhaps, is at least slightly more healthy.

“The villagers aren't happy at an election without bribery,” an old woman was quoted as saying in the article, headlined “In combating election bribery, the law is no match for praying to the gods”.

Indeed, the law is quite ineffective because it is the politicians who write the law in the first place.

ANIMAL-RIGHTS activists want baby Polar bear KILLED

Via The Sun (UK):

You could easily be forgiven for thinking that animal rights activists, you know, supported animal rights. They talk a good game - usually. Then sometimes they say a cute little baby polar bear should be killed. Its crime? Being dependent on humans. You see, evil humans have done the job the bears mother SHOULD have done.

“Knut became a superstar after he was rejected by his mother at birth last December.”

These so-called animal rights activists seem upset that the human race has one-upped mother nature in the mothering world.

“Activist Frank Albrecht said last night: “The hand-rearing of Knut is a breach of the animal protection code.

“He’ll rely on humans forever and this cannot be right.”

Charity Dinner = Gilded Age?

Via Yahoo News (and Drudge):

The last time Drudge used the term “Gilded Age” in one of his headlines it was an expensive pizza he was slamming. Now, he is slamming a meal for charity. For anyone not sure of the reference, Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott (2003) defines "Gilded Age" as

"The years between the Civil War and World War I when institutions undertook
financial manipulations that went virtually unchecked by government. This era
produced many infamous activities in the security markets."

Hmmm, with Sarbanes-Oxley and all of the other laws that regulate trading that really doesn't fit. Could it be Drudge is just using the term to refer to the fact people are getting wealthy? Could it be he is simply uncomfortable with success?

I, for one, am not at all uncomfortable with people who have money going to a charity dinner. This is one:

"All profits from the $25,000 dinner are going to two charities — Medecins Sans
Frontieres, which will be sent a check for $15,000, and the Chaipattana
Foundation, a rural development program set up by the king of Thailand, which
will receive $46,000, Ohri said."

Safer Mosquitoes?

Via Yahoo News:

For anyone who fears genetic engineering I have a question. Do you fear malaria more? What is genetic engineering could help prevent malaria? Would that change your mind? This might be a very real question soon.

“Researchers have developed a malaria-resistant mosquito, a step that might one
day help block the spread of an illness that has claimed millions of lives
around the world.”

It is important to remember this was not the human type of malaria.

“Working with the mouse form of malaria — not the human type — Rasgon's team was able to genetically engineer mosquitoes that were resistant to malaria."

And they do need more time.

"We're not anywhere near a field release," he said. Now they need to turn their
attention to working with human malaria and trying to engineer a mosquito
resistant to that.

But if GM luddites have their way, they won't get that time.

If You Think Gas Prices are Bad ...

Via Sydney Morning Herald:

Be glad your car doesn't run on uranium.

The spot uranium price, having already risen nearly tenfold during the past four
years, is expected to break through the $US100 ($125)-a-pound barrier for
the first time, possibly as early as this week.

But what does this mean for the electric car . . .

pidiendo botella: Hitchhiking In Cuba

Via Breitbart.com:

Cuba is the North Korea of North America. The combination of an insanely centralized command economy and an economic embargo by the United States have left the country without a reliable transportation system. As Result, hitchhiking is how many Cubans get to work.

Hitchhiking is a way of life in communist Cuba, where cars are scarce, a gallon of gas costs a third of a civil servant's monthly salary, and public transportation is unreliable and overcrowded. Lately things have worsened, with even acting President Raul Castro admitting in December that public transport was "practically on the point of collapse."

The Cuban government has recognized this problem. But rather than let in a little bit of the free market to help alleviate the needs of Cubans, they decided to take a different approach.

On the capital's outskirts, government inspectors wave down government vehicles. Those with empty seats must take hitchhikers, a law that results in 68 million free rides a year, according to the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

They decided to use authoritarianism to solve problems caused by authoritarianism. Your car is not your own, it belongs to whoever needs a ride at the moment.

You would think that Cuba would want to encourage more people to have cars of their own to help alleviate these problems. Apparently not.

Buying a new car and most used ones requires state permission, which is hard to get. But Cubans can own vehicles built before the 1959 revolution, including the classic, if weather-beaten, Mercedes, Hudsons, Mercurys and Buicks still cruising the streets, running on diesel to beat the $4 price of a gallon of regular gas.

Tokelau's dot-TK is "unusually risky"

Via the Sydney Morning Herald:

If you don't want your computer to get viruses or spyware you might want to be very carefull about any message or URL with the .tk TLD.

"McAfee said they had surveyed 8.1 million of the most trafficked websites in the world that account for more than 95 per cent of web traffic. They were tested for a variety of "unwanted behaviours" and rated by red and yellow flags.

They found that 4.1 per cent of all the sites had red or yellow warnings but it ranged from a low 0.1 per cent for Finland and 0.6 per cent for New Zealand to 10.1 per cent for Tokelau.

It warned that Tokelau was ideal for scammers who use phishing which is designed to create shadow bank websites to collect log-ons and passwords."

The article also mentions Niue's site which has "become infamous for hardcore pornography."

And Now Some Good News

Via The Times Online (UK):

Despite all of the violence, despite what most of the American and European press may say, despite the politicians who are now in hot water – most Iraqis themselves say life is better now than it was under Saddam. And are they not the ones who are best able to judge?

“MOST Iraqis believe life is better for them now than it was under Saddam Hussein, according to a British opinion poll published today.

The survey of more than 5,000 Iraqis found the majority optimistic despite their suffering in sectarian violence since the American-led invasion four years ago this week.”

But – but – but - isn't there is civil war going on there? Not according to most Iraqis, you know, the people who actually live there.

“Only 27% think there is a civil war in Iraq, compared with 61% who do not, according to the survey carried out last month.”

It is uplifting to read good news once in a while.

Shock and Disbelief (Kim Jong-il breaks a promise)

Via Yonhap News:

If your country was Communist, living in poverty and surrounded by countries that were either already quite wealthy or becoming wealthier through market reforms, you might want to change your ways. But this is Kim Jong-il, the Dear Leader. He is more interested in saber rattling than becoming wealthy through the manufacture of cheap electronics or plastic toys. His game is holding the world hostage.

Here is the latest from North Korea’s Dear Leader:

North Korea will not shut down its nuclear facilities despite agreeing to do so last month until the United States unfreezes all of its funds held at a Macau bank, the communist state's top nuclear negotiator said Saturday.

Why?

"If the United States does not remove all of its restrictions on our funds at Banco Delta Asia, we cannot shut down our nuclear facilities at Yongbyon," Kim Kye-gwan told reporters upon arrival here.

So then why was the United States doing that?

Washington announced Wednesday that it has barred U.S. financial institutions from dealing with the Macau bank because of its links to the North's alleged illicit financial activities, such as counterfeiting and money laundering.

Ahh, so North Korea will not honor its agreement because the United States caught its hand in the counterfeiting/ money laundering cookie jar and decided to slap it.

While the People’s Republic of China and Vietnam are successfully improving the lives of their citizens through market reforms and closer ties with foreign nations, North Korea continues to isolate itself from the rest of the world and alienate its neighbors.

Ironic Lawsuit (if it weren’t real it would be funny)

From Reuters:

Comedian Carol Burnett is suing over what? A Parody?

'Family Guy,' like the 'Carol Burnett Show,' is famous for its pop culture parodies and satirical jabs at celebrities," the studio said in a statement. "We are surprised that Ms. Burnett, who has made a career of spoofing others on television, would go so far as to sue 'Family Guy' for a simple bit of comedy."

I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I won’t try to. I’m certainly in support of intellectual property rights and I actually pay for my music. This is different though. No one watching the cartoon Family Guy is going to suddenly be confused and believe he or she is now watching Carol Burnett. Burnett is not using this lawsuit to protect her intellectual property; she is using it as a weapon. Another irony is that teenagers who may have never even heard of Carol Burnett might have been exposed to her name for the first time through Family Guy. She could have reached a whole new audience.

Home Invader Bites off Reporter’s Ear

Via The New Zealand Herald:

In a truly bizarre crime, a man invaded newspaper journalist Doug Laing’s home, attacked him and bit his ear.

"Laing was at his home soon after midnight yesterday when a man smashed his way in and attacked him, biting part of his ear off."

Fortunately, the ear part was found in time to be sown back on.

"Police found the piece of Laing's ear on a blood-spattered duvet and rushed it to Hawke's Bay Hospital, where a surgeon sewed it back on."

Just a reminder, this is not the first time someone’s ear was bitten off by a criminal.

Court: free speech ban applies to international operations

Via Market Watch:

Tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris USA Inc. won't be able to sell "light" or "low-tar" cigarettes anywhere in the world, a federal appeals court judge said Friday.

First of all, let me be clear, I am no fan of smoking or the tobacco industry. But I am a fan of free speech; I am a fan of the First Amendment. To tell a company they cannot put a label on their cigarettes that indicates they are lower tar than their other cigarettes is a clear violation of the First Amendment.

Phillip Morris calls terms like "low tar" and "light" descriptors. To get their take on the meanings of these terms click here.

Put Your Hands Up and Step Away From the Milk

From Time:

Forget the war on drugs, there is a new scourge spreading across the land. Raw milk pushers are hading out jugs of the white stuff from the backs of their trucks. New schemes are popping up that allow people to buy a “share” in a cow. Some are questioning why, when there are so many other problems in the world, people are being prosecuted for selling raw milk:

What raw milk fans most resent is stepped-up efforts to crack down on a personal choice that wasn't doing anyone else any harm. "There are 65,000 child-porn websites," asks indignant co-op member Nancy Sanders, a pediatric nurse and mother of five from Des Plaines, Ill. "Why doesn't the government go after those?”

If you are interested in the perspective of a pro-raw milk organization you can find it here.

"We feel vindicated by this decision."

Via The Register:

In news from New Zealand, the Waitakere City Council decided to go to court after “it failed to get consents to move six houses.” The council "brought the charges after learning it had contracted out and approved the removal of the homes from a flood plain - without ensuring that building consents had been obtained before removal".

So who exactly is it suing? Itself – and it won:

Waitakere District Court duly fined the council and ordered it to pay $780 court costs. It will pay itself the fine, minus the court's 10 per cent cut. It has already stumped up $3,000 for pre-trial "outside legal opinion".

But objectively, this is not quite as crazy as the U.S. Government subsidizing the tobacco industry and then paying (with tax money) for commercials to discourage people from smoking.

Pork Flavored Peanuts.

Via The Examiner: No shock here, pork is alive and well in Washington D.C.

The emergency supplemental bill for the Iraq War includes:

"Money for peanut storage in Georgia, spinach growers in California, menhaden in the Atlantic Ocean and even more office space for the lawmakers themselves is included in what has ballooned into a $124 billion war bill."

Not that I Trust Xinhua . . .

Not that I Trust Xinhua . . .

I am very skeptical about what I read in the PRC's state-run Xinhua but still . . . I sometimes read it because I am fascinated by what they want the outside world to believe. Today, Xinhua is reporting that:

"A more open and pragmatic image is what this year's annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have impressed most the media and people at home and abroad."

Pragmatic perhaps, but open? I'll believe that when the Tienanmen Square Protesters are all released and people are not arrested for exercising in public – oh and the PRC's Citizens can read what they want on the Internet.

The article continues:

“In the meantime, the general public have been actively involved in the sessions by making suggestions via various media organizations, especially websites. The distance between inside and outside the session venue is so short, and the atmosphere of participating in discussing state affairs is so strong that the concept of seeking common development and jointly building a harmonious society has been turned into concrete actions, thanks to the concerted efforts of all social sectors.”

And how many of those suggestions are taken seriously? Are citizens allowed to make truly anonymous suggestions so they do not fear jackbooted thugs in the middle of the night? I recall one time when Saddam Hussein asked for suggestions some of them were not taken well.

The article concludes:

“Jointly discussing state affairs in a democratic way will make China strong. The democratic and pragmatic annual sessions will certainly provide a stronger democratic and political guarantee for the building of a relatively prosperous society and enable China to perfect its socialist political civilization with Chinese characteristics.”

A “socialist political civilization.” Interesting way of putting it. That the “civilization” is intricately tied to socialism. This thinking is not unique to China but in China they can be more blatant.

Nannyware is spreading ...

Via The Financial Times:

"OpenNet Initiative, a project by Harvard Law School and the universities of Toronto, Cambridge and Oxford, repeatedly tried to call up specific websites from 1,000 international news and other sites in the countries concerned, and a selection of local-language sites."

"Ronald Deibert, associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto, said 10 countries had become “pervasive blockers”, regularly preventing their citizens seeing a range of online material. These included China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Burma and Uzbekistan."

If you are interested in learning how to circumvent censors, Citizen Lab has a wonderful program called Psiphon.

But Does it Contain Trans fats?

Via WCBSTV (CBS Broadcasting):

If you are in the mood for gourmet pizza and have money to burn – lots of it, stop by Nino's Bellisima for their luxury $1,000 pizza. Yes, $1,000. Drudge had this story linked (at 5:55 PM EST) with the obnoxious headline “GILDED AGE: $1,000 PIZZA AT NYC RESTAURANT.” I see nothing inherently wrong with someone who has that kind of money spending it on a slice of pie. In fact, it has been people with extra money to spend who have long funded innovations most of us now take for granted. The book was once the privilege of the upper class, so were the television and the computer. I have not personally tasted this pizza, but if it is worth $1,000 to people with lots of money it might be damned good pizza. And it might have a recipe that will eventually filter down to those of us with less extravagant incomes.

This is Your State on Drugs (legal ones)

Via The Chattanoogan.com: Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson of Tennessee has introduced a bill that would require restaurants to identify foods with artificial trans-fats in them and warn customers of the risks associated with them. His justification?

"We're all concerned about reducing health care costs in Tennessee. The most effective way to do this is to promote healthy diets. This information is essential to making informed choices and maintaining healthy lifestyles."

Of course he would be. Under TennCare, health is a POLITICAL matter rather than just a personal one or scientific one. When the government gets involved in health, health becomes politics. When the government gets involved in French fries, French fries become a political matter. This, to me, is one of the greatest arguments against socialized medicine. I do not mean this law specifically but that, if I ever have to go under the knife, I want the doctors incision to be based on medical science and not political science.

Germans Stand up for Freedom (to speed)

Via The Washington Times:

An EU official called on Germany to impose speed limits on its autobahns to fight global warming, drawing angry responses yesterday in a country that cherishes what it calls "free driving for free citizens."

Ahh, the global warming excuse again. We must be herded by the state to prevent global warming. We must drive the right cars, use the right light bulbs and drive the right speed for the sake of a theory questioned by many scientists.

But fortunately for the German spirit of farfegnugen some Germans are standing up to the EU's speed police.

The German Association of the Automotive Industry, which represents an industry that includes such famous names as Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche and DaimlerChrysler, said Germany needed "no coaching" from Brussels on how to protect the climate -- "above all when the proposals are only symbolic."

85 Year Old Woman Travels to Antarctica

From The Belleville News-Democrat:

An 85 year old woman travels to Antarctica - a human no less.

White was the oldest traveler on a 103-person tour that sailed to the Antarctica Peninsula, the Falkland Islands and South America. The trip, coordinated by Tauck World Discovery, began Jan. 31 and ended Feb. 17.

No Comment Needed

From The Times-Picayune:

A new study by a Tulane University professor puts New Orleans' murder rate as the highest in the country.

D.C. Residents get One Tenth of their Rights Under the Bill of Rights Back

D.C. Residents get One Tenth of their Rights Under the Bill of Rights Back

Now watch the crime rates in D.C. go down (if this ruling stands). When people can defend themselves criminals are more likely to think twice before they commit crimes against innocent people.

This is the oddest line from the article

Judge Karen Henderson dissented, writing that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because it is not a state.

Just a reminder, the Second Amendment reads:

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

That is the entire amendment. Nowhere is the phrase "Except in the District of Columbia." Even if you accept the argument that "state" did not mean "country" but meant Virginia or New Hampshire, it still makes the blanket statement "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

GM Luddites VS Developing Nations.

Via the UK’s Daily Mail: California-based Ventria Bioscience wants to develop a crop of rice that contains proteins found in human breast milk and saliva. The hope is that the rice could be used as a low-cost method of treating diarrhea suffering children in developing nations.

Predictably, the genetic-engineering-luddites weighed in:

GeneWatch UK, which monitors new GM foods, described it as "very disturbing". Researcher Becky Price warned: "There are huge, huge health risks and people should rightly be concerned about this."

What risks? Has anyone actually died from eating GM food? It would have made news by now if someone has. If fact it is kind of humorous to read the diatribes of GM crop critics, they list horrible predictions qualified by “may” because none of their predications has come true even though many people have already eaten GM crops.

A Stopped Clock is Right Twice a Day

Bill Dedman of MSNBC examines Hillary Clinton's (then Hillary D. Rodham's) senior thesis paper from Wellesley College. Dedman writes:

In her paper, she accepted Alinsky's view that the problem of the poor isn't so much a lack of money as a lack of power, as well as his view of federal anti-poverty programs as ineffective. (To Alinsky, the War on Poverty was a “prize piece of political pornography,” even though some of its funds flowed through his organizations.) “A cycle of dependency has been created,” she wrote, “which ensnares its victims into resignation and apathy."

I would LOVE for someone to ask her is she still thinks that federal antipoverty programs "ensnare victims into resignation and apathy." This is simply proof that the old saying is true that a stopped clock is right twice a day.

When Racism and Anticapitalism meet

Guess who is quoted as saying:

"You have these stores run by the Asians staying up until 2 in the morning," he said. "I'm going to shut them down by 9 o'clock... . What business do you have if you're not selling drugs?"

This quote comes from Philadelphia's Mayor Street, quoted in Philadelphia Daily News.

U.S. House votes against secret ballots

Via the Houston Chronicle:
The United States House of Representatives passed a bill that, among other things would

". . . take away the right of employers to demand secret-ballot elections by workers before unions could be recognized."

So, if you want employees who would vote against unions to be beaten to a pulp, you should cheer. If you want more factories to move overseas as unions make it difficult for them to remain in the United States, you should cheer. Otherwise, hope that the Senate votes this down or that President Bush vetoes it.

The Fall of Rap

There was a time when I used to like Rap and Hip Hop, back when it first became popular; the lyrics were tongue in cheek and funny. I used to enjoy artists like Sir Mix a Lot, Cypress Hill, and even NWA. Later on, the rap ceased being lighthearted for the most part and became – simply vile. Even then, I would sometimes discover an artist whose brilliance transcended the vile of his lyrics and the vile was as much a commentary on contemporary society as it was to appeal to the lowest common denominator (this is the case with Eminem for example). but lately, even that has been difficult to find. The only rap artist has come out with an album I have enjoyed in the last five years has been Oxmo Puccino whose album Le Cactus de Sibérie is simply brilliant.

So it was no surprise to me that, according to WABC “For the first time in 12 years, the top ten best-selling albums of the year did not include a rap album."