PerlStalker's Ramblings

What do Mexican Drug Cartels and Brett Kimberlin Have in Common?

2012-05-25T07:12:00.000-06:00

Many media outlets in Mexico are under constant threat from ruthless drug cartels, who are fighting each other for control of various regions of the country. They aim to intimidate and silence their opponents through unspeakable acts of violence and by threatening and or bribing local officials and other influential figures.

The last thing criminals want is for their misdeeds to become public enough that the people push the cops or the government into taking drastic measures.

Fearing one of their own employees could be marked for death, some news organizations have given up the fight and are no longer reporting at all on drug cartels and organized crime in Mexico.

In other words, the cartels told them to shut up or die and the reporters decided to shut up. The cartels are free to operate with impunity.

Mexico isn't the only place where criminals use threats and intimidation to try to get bloggers and journalists to shut up. For her entire blogging life Michelle Malkin as been a target.

Over the past eight years that I’ve been blogging and operating Internet media companies, I’ve witnessed or experienced firsthand some of the most unhinged behavior against conservatives — from individual harassment and intimidation, to e-mail bombs and e-mail hackings, to troll infestations, distributed denial of service attacks, coordinated spam block attacks, and death threats.

Robert Stacy McCain has been forced from his home by convicted bomber Brett Kimberlin.

Convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin on Monday continued his effort to silence those who write about his criminal past by contacting my wife’s employer, claiming that I was “harassing” him. The resulting security concern required immediate relocation if I was to be able to continue writing about the case of Kimberlin, a violent felon, perjurer and admitted tax cheat who is employed as the director of a 501(c)3 non-profit that has collected $1.8 million in contributions since 2005.

Lee Stranahan has organized Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day to bring attention to Kimberlin's criminal behavior. It goes beyond that, though.

Everyday, conservative bloggers face an onslaught threats and harassment from the so-called "tolerant" left. Female conservatives, in particular, are targets of rape fantasies and other sexist attacks. A couple of days ago, Hustler magazine altered a photo of conservative pundit S. E. Cupp to make it look like she was performing a sex act. While some on the left denounced the attack, others, like Roseanne Barr, think its a wonderful thing.

Kimberlin is just one of many on the left who think that the cartel way of dealing with opponents and journalists is the right approach. It's not. It's the behavior of thugs and criminals and needs to be called out as such. The Andrew Breitbart was great at that. He put the frothing hate of the Left on display for the world to see. We must do no less.

Seeing Stars: $5 Trillion

2012-05-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

That's the current Federal deficit if the government were forced to follow the accounting rules they've pushed on business.

On to the links.

Colorado

Colorado joins every other state seeing lower gas tax revenue as people move to more fuel efficient or alternative fuel cars.
The Front Range Airport in Aurora is being eyed as the location of Colorado's first space port.
The Secure Communities immigration-enforcement program has officially started.

Everywhere else

Democrats like to pull out the female pay inequality card to bash businesses and/or Republicans even if it's not deserved. Of course, they don't seem as concerned when it comes to their own staffs.
Looks like Obama can forget about Arizona in November.
Mitt Romney is pretty happy to have Obama attack his very successful record with Bain.
If the Federal government followed the same financial rules that businesses have to follow, we'd be looking at a $5 trillion deficit.
Big Labor's attempts to maintain their stranglehold on Wisconsin is backfiring on them.

We Will Not Be Silenced

2012-05-24T07:07:00.000-06:00

This quote came across my RSS reader this morning.

"Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one." -- A. J. Liebling

The Internet has given a "press" to anyone who wants to use it. Unfortunately, there are those like convicted Speedway bomber Brett Kimberlin who want to forcibly take away the freedom through "Lawfare" and violence. Other's, like Hustler and other less reputable people, do it through attempted public humiliation.

You see that last one all the time. Michelle Malkin will occasionally post some of the comments she receives on a daily basis. It sickening. Nearly all of the conservative women I follow on twitter have had to face some sort of sexual intimidation. Rush Limbaugh (justifiably) got raked over the coals because he called Sandra Fluke a "slut" on air. That's nothing compared to what Malkin, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and others get from the Left on a daily basis.

Well, my friends, we're not going away. The right wing has found their voice and we're going to be here for a long, long time. Every attempt to silence us shows how little the Left cares for freedom and liberty.

Seeing Stars: Android Over Oracle

2012-05-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

I hate software patents. They are a bane to technology development everywhere and greatly increase the costs of nearly every piece of electronics on the market. In this case Oracle was trying to use its recently purchased Java patents to beat Google into submission. They failed.

So much time and money is wasted dealing with software patents. Some fields are almost closed to individual developers (video and audio codecs, for example) because of the patent minefield that has been laid by company after company over the years. The courts have been slowly reversing the trend but it will take a literal act of Congress to free us from the shackles of software patents.

On to the links. It's been slow in Colorado but the rest of the nation made up for it.

Colorado

DPS can do better.

Everywhere else

Barack Obama's electoral woes continue.
Speaking of his One-ness: Hawaii has verified Obama's birth information for Arizona.
Energy prices have been skyrocketing all over the country. Maybe we need more costly regulations.
Republican Party leaders are still pushing big government candidates despite the lessons the Tea Party has taught them over last couple of years.
Democrats are calling other Democrats racists because they want anyone other than Obama. For these people, race is the only reason to do anything.
Mitt Romney's education plan is well meaning but it also means more Federal control of education.
If this is how Democrats treat women, their whole "war on women" shtick rings hollow. I'm actually surprised any leftists have come out against it but there were a few.
Elizabeth Moon: Barcode everyone at birth. Ask the Jews how well that worked out for them.
Google's Android does not violate Oracle's Java patents.
Graduation rates have remained flat despite huge increases in funding.

Seeing Stars: Ideas for Summer Fun Ripped From the Headlines

2012-05-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

School is rapidly coming to a close and Americans are looking for ways to spend the Summer. Here are a some suggestions from today's links.

Spend the day with your local union beating an effigy of a sitting governor with a baseball bat.
You could count your share of the $20 million HHS is spending on propaganda.
Plan a trip to visit all of the underused Federal property in the state.

Or you could spend your days reading these fabulous links.

Colorado

There are 250 "unused or underused" Federal building in Colorado alone. Yet the waste from those buildings doesn't hold a candle to Medicaid. Guess which one they're trying fix?
The push is on to give illegal immigrants driver's licences.

Everywhere else

Sounds like pay-to-play to me.
ObamaCare's small business tax incentive isn't even close to working as projected.
Democrats should take note. This is what a real "war on women" looks like.
ObamaCare hasn't been well received so HHS will spend $20 million to tell everyone how wonderful it is.
And how is this not an incitement to violence? Typical Big Union thugs at work.
The Supreme Court is strongly hinting that software is not patentable. That's good news for the tech industry if it shakes out that way.
Need to know which guns were used in that Summer blockbuster? The Internet Movie Firearms Database has you covered.

Democrats Coming to Romney's Defense

2012-05-22T22:57:00.000-06:00

The AP has a wonderful hit piece on Mitt Romney's days with Bain Capital. They've cleverly disguised it with the headline "Mitt Romney's playbook on Bain Capital unclear as attacks grow".

The core of his presidential candidacy under attack, Mitt Romney has yet to shape a playbook to defend a quarter-century in the business world that created great riches for him and great hardship, at times, for some American workers.

Perhaps the reason Romney hasn't "shaped a playbook" is because Democrats are doing a pretty good job doing it for him.

Newark Mayor Corey Booker came out with a defense of private equity firms like Bain before issuing a stilted retraction after being contacted by "campaign officials". Obama's campaign spokesman denied that Booker was called by them but his denial came before Booker's admission.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia came out and praised Bain for its success and said they did "what they were supposed to do."

Governor Deval Patrick, who replaced Romney in Massachusetts, is also defending Bain saying that he "[respects] what Bain does and its role in the free market system."

The attacks aren't gaining a lot of traction with regular Americans either. A plurality of voters think Romney's business history is a good reason to vote for him while a majority think private equity does a better job of creating jobs than the government.

It doesn't help that Obama took in more campaign money from private equity than Senator John McCain did in 2008. Of course, attacking a group of people while taking their money is standard operating procedure for Obama.

Private equity firms are out to make money. They do that best when the companies they work with grow and prosper. Yes, sometimes they fail but, more often than not, they succeed. Bain Capital was behind a lot of successful companies. Those companies created a lot of wealth for everyone involved, from the employees up.

Michael Ramirez sums up the comparison well.

This isn't an argument that Obama can win but that's not going to stop him from trying. The problem for him is that it plays right into Romney's message about economic growth. Romney's been there and knows how to make it happen. By attacking Bain, Obama is allowing Romney to focus on Obama's failure to do anything with the economy and Romney's own success.

Seeing Stars: All Quiet in the Rockies

2012-05-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

Now that the Assembly has disassembled, it's gotten pretty quiet in Colorado. There's nothing left to do but ignore the Colorado Rockies and eagerly await Peyton Manning's official debut in August.

On to the links.

Colorado

FASTER is being challenged in court over TABOR violations. We will continue to see fee increases like this as long as they are not considered to be the taxes that they are.

Everywhere else

Congress: You know what would be a great idea? Propaganda! Us: WTF?!
43 Catholic institutions have filed suit over the HHS contraception mandate.
This guy isn't racist because, obviously, blacks can't be racist.
Reason 3,992,938,493 why I home school.
Three different views on funding school choice.
This makes me fee so much better. Who doesn't want China to have a direct link to our bond market?

Seeing Stars: Tax All the Things

2012-05-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

Thanks to having to work, I wasn't able to get Seeing Stars up on Friday so you get twice links to enjoy and/or ignore.

On to the links.

Colorado

One of the bills rescued during the special session would hold back third graders who are unable to read at an acceptable level.
"Benefit corporations" died a merciful death.
It's always bugged me when governments tell me what I may or may not throw away when said trash isn't a health risk.
Seniors have two months to apply for the property tax credit approved by the Assembly.
More corporate welfare has become law.
Speaking of welfare, Colorado's unemployment rate as risen to 7.9 percent.

Everywhere else

How much is a person worth? $400,000. There are actually people in the US who want to you believe that this behavior is acceptable.
A Utah High School was fined $15,000 for selling soda during lunch. Long live the nanny-state. ... Morons.
To Democrats, your money belongs to the government first and foremost.
It's (sadly) very common for politicians to buy special interest support for bills with taxpayer money. Those special interests get crabby when the politician breaks their end of the bargain. Also, no one's supposed to talk about it because bribery is frowned upon.
So called "Tea Party" Congressman have a pretty poor record actually voting for Tea Party principles of limited government.
Recording on-duty cops is a form of free speech.
Remember, there's a massive tax hike coming down the pike. For the sake of our fragile economy, we may want to avoid that. Just sayin'.

A Culture of Lies

2012-05-20T21:33:00.001-06:00

There have been a couple of interesting stories running around the last couple of weeks about lies, "mistakes" and fraud.

Let's start with Elizabeth Warren.

Once upon a time, young Elizabeth Warren heard a story that her great-great-great grandmother was Cherokee. If true, that would make Warren 1/32 Cherokee. The problem is the "if true" part. You see, she has no proof other than her family's oral history.

What's the big deal? She used her ancestry to get a job and Harvard Law and Harvard Law was more than happy to talk up their "minority" professor Elizabeth Warren. Below is a picture of supposed Cherokee Elizabeth Warren contrasted with an actual minority. (She's the one on the right.)

Let's leave Warren for a minute and turn to Barack Obama.

There's been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over Obama's birth place. So-called "Birthers" have been trying to dig up proof that Obama was not born in Hawaii as he claims but was instead born in Kenya. A new log was added to the birther fire when Breitbart.com posted a snapshot of the bio from Obama's book, "Dreams of My Father" that says that Obama was born in Kenya.

The publisher claims that it was a "fact checking error". That's especially interesting since authors are required to submit their own bios. The bio was "corrected" two months after he announced his candidacy for President.

What do these cases have in common? They both started with some form of untruth.

In Warren's case, she used a unverifiable claim about her ancestry to help her land a position at Harvard Law. I'm not going to say that she got the job because of her claim but Harvard used it as a basis for a campaign to encourage minority students to study there. For Harvard, Warren's claimed ancestry was more important than her legal knowledge.

Obama's claim in more interesting if we assume, for the sake of argument, that he was born in Hawaii as he claims. (This is your fair warning: I don't want to get into birtherism here. If you want that, head over to World Net Daily.) Melissa Clouthier explained Obama's reasoning for claiming that he was born in Kenya.

Imagine you’re a hippie kid. Your dad is some Kenyan big wig. Your mom is a self-important sociologist doing such important work that you, Barack Obama, must be left home with grandma and grandpa.

You are boring.

You are a mixed race kid on Hawaii in the sixties which is not a big deal because everyone has Hawaiian blood and has mocha skin. You are relatively wealthy and end up at a prep school with other wealthy kids.

You have to justify your existence.

No mom. No dad. Rather provincial, if privileged, Hawaiian life, but lots of questions from peers.

What do you do?

Well, nothing, other than smoke dope, do cocaine (expensive – but no big deal for rich kids), and hang out acting like a badass.

And then, there’s privileged college which you navigate by being mundane and calculated.

You don’t find yourself there. You just find out how you don’t want to self-identify.

Like Elizabeth Warren, it’s really not enough to be a white, privileged kid. Or even a mixed-raced privileged kid.

It takes some resume juicing to be legit in the diversity crowd.

So, you lie.

Read those last couple of sentences again. The "diversity crowd" is so focused on race that any skills or "compelling story" are insufficient. If you're not a minority, you either don't matter or you'll forever be playing second fiddle to those who can "rise above" the white American crowd. So, what do you do if you want to be a mover and shaker in that world? You lie or exaggerate your background.

The entire diversity culture is based on the premise that a person's race is more important than anything else. If you don't fit their mold, you lie until you do. As the good doctor puts it:

You create a whole tapestry of falsehoods about yourself — not only does it make you feel better about being abandoned, it gives you credibility with those who judge not on the content of your character but the color of your skin, the exotic nature of your past, the superficialities of diversity.

In fact, the entire diversity culture is based on a lie. They have based their worldview on the idea that a person's race actually matters. It's not a person's ideas, talents or accomplishments that make a person stand out. It's their race.

I think is one of the reasons why the misunderstand conservatives. Few conservatives actually care anything about race and don't make decisions based on it. Yet, everything the "diversity crowd" does assumes that race is the foremost reason for doing anything.

You want to end wasteful government programs that mostly used by minorities? You're obviously a racist. The idea that the programs don't work and are fraught with fraud doesn't even enter into their reality. Everything is about race. Fraud isn't a racial issue so they toss the idea out as nonsensical. The only thing left, in their worldview, is that you hate minorities.

And so the tapestry of lies grows. Warren and Obama are special because of their ancestry. Sonia Sotomayor is the perfect choice for the Supreme Court because she's Latina. If you want to play in their pool, you must emphasis your racial background even if it's really quite trivial.

The entire diversity culture promotes lying.

TN Official Wants Gov to Decide Who May Have Kids Because Some Guy Can't Keep it in His Pants

2012-05-20T15:33:00.001-06:00

I can't believe this.

A 33-year-old Tennessee man with 30 children has asked the state for a break on his child support payments....

Appearing in court this week, Hatchett said he’s struggling to make ends meet on his minimum-wage job. The state takes half his paycheck and divides it up among the mothers — meaning some receive as little as $1.49 a month.

The guy knocked up 11 different women over 14 years yielding 30 kids and now he's whining because he can't support them all. Hatchett is being introduced to a little thing we grown-ups like to call "consequences". Man up, dude. Those 11 women are trying to support the kids you gave them with no useful support from you. Your whining about how hard it is for you isn't going over well.

Besides the guy who can't keep it in his pants, there another part of the story that I find a little scary.

Despite Hatchett’s prolific reproductive capabilities — believed to be a county record — officials say he hasn‘t broken any laws and that there’s nothing they can do to keep him from fathering any more.

“If there’s something out there like that, I’m unaware of it,” Melissa Gibson with the Knox County child support clerk’s office told the Los Angeles Times. “It definitely needs to be.”

Did Gibson just suggest that the government should decide who get to have kids? Yes, I think she did.

I'd Like to Bribe a Cowl

2012-05-18T19:23:00.000-06:00

Reverend Wright has been in the news again, not because of something he said, rather it's because the Senator Obama's cronies tried to bribe him to shut-up before the 2008 election. Such behavior is generally frowned upon by the public and, were Obama a Republican, would be all over the national news. It's not, obviously but is getting a lot of play in the conservative blogosphere. That's cheesing off Obama's supporters.

"But Reverend Wright is old news," says the Straw Man. "Why are we still talking about the good Reverend?" Simply put, it's not what he said that's the problem. (Thought that was pretty bad.) The problem is the Obama campaign, and possible Obama himself, like to resort to bribery to get their way.

Most people consider bribery to be wrong. For a politician like Obama that was cast as the closest thing to perfection in politics, that's a problem. It tarnishes his carefully built image. Now, after three and a half years of seeing the type of man he really is and his absolute failure to turn the economy around, it's one more straw that's driving away voters. I think it was Ace, on twitter, who said that previous Obama voters are looking for an excuse not to vote for him. This may be that excuse or just the straw the broke the camel's back. Either way, Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) are doing everything they can to shut this story down.

Seeing Stars: 0-610

2012-05-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

President Obama's budget proposal died an inglorious, bipartisan death failing to win even a single vote in either the House or the Senate. This is the second year running that Obama has failed to garner a single vote for his budget.

The Senate also killed four different Republican budgets with no Democrats voting for any of them. Again, we see that Senate Democrats would rather ignore the coming fiscal crisis than make hard choices. I find it especially fun to watch my own Sen. Mark Udall vote against every proposal that shows after spending the last couple of years trying to convince Colorado voters that he's a fiscal conservative.

On to the links.

Colorado

More proof that Denver's camping ban was targeted at Occupy Denver: Councilman Charlie Brown: "Occupy never showed interest in the homeless before it started affecting them.... They have worn out their welcome."
Our state's three day ordeal is over. The special session has ended.

Everywhere else

Binge drinking is on the rise in the UK. It's a sad tale but I can't help thinking that it would be less of a problem if these youth had to pay for the medical treatments themselves.
$40,000 and even $62,895 bonuses for Federal employees seems excessive to me, too.
President Obama personally pushed for a $1.6 billion loan guarantee. Who will he blame when this company goes under?
Sen. John McCain is working to destroy free speech.
On the lighter side, here's a brief history of one of the best knives ever made.

Seeing Stars: Obama In History

2012-05-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

Every president in US history has been one more stepping stone to the pinnacle of presidential perfection that is Barack H. Obama. At least, that's what he wants you to believe. The White House website had brief bios of the previous presidents to which Obama has added himself.

Conservatives on twitter began mocking almost immediately with the #ObamaInHistory hash tag. My favorite actually came from the RNC which started obamainhistory.tumblr.com.

On to the links.

Colorado

Colorado politicians have pulled out their blame throwers over the killed civil union bill.
The Doped Driving billed in the Senate. This time it's Democrats who don't believe in science.
The world's largest concentrating photovoltaic solar plant is up and running in Alamosa. The plant is kicking out 30 megawatts.
Speaking of the San Luis Valley, SB 1775 would send money to counties where solar projects are build on Federal land.
The CEA is hiding behind legal loopholes to keep disclosing the amount of "non-itemized" contributions.
Speaking of dishonesty, it looks like at least one school in Denver have been cheating on their TCAP scores.

Everywhere else

The Feds will hit the debt "limit" again at the end of the year. Fortunately, "Turbo Tax" Tim Geithner can make sure that it doesn't happen until after the election.
Voter fraud is a real problem across the country and, as a series of videos points out, in North Carolina. Don't miss the lying professor.
Chris Edwards points out that state are already being bailed out by the Federal government.
Sen. Tom Coburn: Financial meltdown in 2-5 years. Expect Democrats and big government Republicans to ignore this warning.

Seeing Stars: This Session has Special Needs

2012-05-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Day two of the Colorado General Assembly's special session and the signature bill of the session has already died in committee. The rest of the bills were pretty much only there to tie up loose ends and few were controversial. If the session isn't over by the end of the week, I'll be very surprised and more likely, it'll be over even sooner.

On to the links.

Colorado

The proposed civil union bill died in committee Monday evening. No one honestly expected otherwise.
Rep. Scott Tipton breaks with Colorado Republicans over postal "reforms". I don't think the proposed plan with solve anything.
Colorado's 3rd grade reading scores are out and there are some good signs.
Denver has banned homeless camping in the city. I think Occupy Denver was the reason behind this bill.

Everywhere else

It's about time that conservative groups starting going after young voters.
Rep. Ron Paul has officially stopped actively campaigning. Paul is still aiming to cause havoc at the GOP Convention.
DHS wants to collect DNA from kids.
Isn't it great that welfare money is being spent on trips to Six Flags and liquor stores? It gives me a warm glow that we're helping so many people rise out of poverty. </sarcasm>
The black community was the one that was totally committed to Obama and he's succeeded is driving them away.

Seeing Stars: 3 Trillion Barrels

2012-05-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

That's how much oil is sitting under Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Obama's EPA will be sure we never see it. Also unseen is the end of the legislative session in Colorado as the Assembly spins up for Hickenlooper's special session. I'm sure it will be "special."

On to the links.

Colorado

Rep. Scott Tipton is trying to turn Chimney Rock into a National Monument.
The definition of terrorism has been expanded to include high school pranks.
Rural elementary schools in the San Luis Valley are improving. I thought that wasn't possible because a lack of funding.
Speaking of the SLV, US Fish and Wildlife is looking at locking up 5.2 million acres if land land in "conservation areas". That would prevent that area, which is mostly desert, from being used for solar development.

Everywhere else

After the drubbing Barack Obama's been getting in coal heavy West Virginia, he's decided to "support" clean coal.
The rest of the world knows Obama is a failure, too.
Call me a prude if you want but I think 9, 10 and 11 years old is a little young to be showing films about sex slavery.
180,000 non-citizen voters in Florida? Obviously, this isn't a problem.
Energy facts! Get yer energy facts here. I should also mention that a new oil share deposit gives the US more oil than the entire world's prove reserves.
The EPA has released a cap and trade game that proves that implementing such a system would kill energy production.

Defining Marriage

2012-05-13T22:14:00.000-06:00

The debate over gay marriage is often a contentious one. Much of that contention comes from a difference of semantics. (No, not all of it. I'll get into that later.) The term "marriage" is being used with different meanings by different people and that's leading to confusion. It's rather like Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass.

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

I'm going to go, briefly, into history and then define a couple of terms related to the gay marriage debate in the hopes of clarifying some of this mess.

As everyone should know, American law and culture is based on the Christian cultures of Europe, primarily English but others as well. Each of those countries had a state religion which was tied fairly closely to the government. When a couple wanted to get married, they went to the local priest, parson or other holy man to get it done. While the government may have made laws based on those marriages, there was no way to get married without going through the church.

The came the American Experiment. With the ratification of the Constitution, America became the first nation without a state religion. That didn't change how marriage was handled, at least, not right away. American couples who wanted to marry still had to find a preacher of some sort to perform the ordinance.

It wasn't until some point in the near past that that couples were able to be married by a Justice of the Peace. No longer was a veneer of religion required. At last, couples could have completely secular weddings with none of the religious restrictions.

Almost.

America has always been a religious nation but the growth of secularism has gradually increased the separation between secular government and religious (Judeo-Christian, primarily) tradition. Regarding marriage, two restrictions have remained: polygamy and same-sex marriage. (Technically, there are others like marrying children but let's limit this to consenting adults.)

That brings us up to today. We have two systems operating mostly in parallel to uniting two people: the church and the state. The unions created by both have been called "marriage" but, despite the common name, they are, in fact, different and this is where the confusion comes in.

Let's start where they are the same. Religious and secular unions are seen to give sanction to lovers living together. They are both seen by society as expressions of love between partners. That's where the similarities end.

Before we get into the differences, want to point out the lie that nearly everyone accepts. Love and marriage are not the same thing. Anyone who has gone through a divorce is now saying "Well, duh!" This is important to keep in mind as we go through this discussion. There are gay rights supporters who will try to make you believe that love and marriage are the same thing because people want to believe it but it's not true. This is, of course, the opposite argument made by those who promote "shacking up", i.e. lovers living together without getting married, as a valid way of life. Have you unlearned the lie? Let's move on.

Definition: Marriage - A union between two people in a religious ceremony. Spiritual blessings and benefits are granted to each member of the union as long as they follow given covenants and spiritual laws. Churches may refuse to unite couples that do not follow the church's religious doctrine.

Definition: Civil union - A union between two people by civil contract. Secular benefits are granted each member including automatic inheritance, medical power of attorney, etc. Those benefits are granted to each member of the union as long as they follow given covenants and civil laws. Because the government may not treat different classes of adult citizens differently, the government may not refuse to unite adult couples who consent to the union.

I've now cheesed off a lot of people but hang in there for a minute. There is a separation between secular government and the church. Each has its own version of a union. To keep the two types of unions distinct, they have to have different names. I've granted the term "marriage" to religious unions because they got there first and that is still what people tend to think of.

Back to the topic, you'll notice that marriage and civil unions do not overlap. A couple can enter into either individually or into both. Today, anyone who gets married in a church still has to register their union with the state for it to be recognized. They have, in effect, entered into both a marriage and a civil union.

There's nothing that requires a married couple to enter into a civil union, however. Just as a couple can enter into a civil union without a marriage (by going to a Justice of the Peace), so, too, can a couple get married without entering into a civil union. If they do, they forfeit the civil benefits granted by the state.

Choosing one form of union over another says nothing about how much a couple loves each other. A couple doesn't love each other less because they chose not to have a religious union (or no union at all).

Now, I said I get into the other reason for the contention. Most people opposed to homosexual unions do so because they are opposed to homosexual behavior in general. That may come from a religious conviction, a sociological belief or because it's unnatural. It makes little difference, really. In the end, it's a personal belief that homosexuality is "wrong". That's okay.

Before you start screaming "Bigot!" hear me out. I don't believe homosexuality should be encouraged. Neither do I think that alcohol use should be encouraged. I believe that both behaviors are ultimately destructive to the individual and society but it's not my place to tell a person that they may not do those things; only that they should not. It's none of my business who a person chooses to have sexual relations with. Just because I don't agree with it; that doesn't mean that I have the right to forbid it.

In the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is a scripture that I think more people, especially those of us on the right, would do well to live by.

We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied. (D&C 134:9)

Church leaders have every right to decide who may or may not participate in their ordinances, including marriage. They may not dictate to the government (or another church, for that matter) who may or may not do something just because it's contrary to their doctrine.

This works both ways. Just as I cannot tell a homosexual couple that they can't join in a civil or religious union, they do not have the right to force me to participate in the ceremony. This is where, I think, the courts have got it wrong. Homosexual couples have been trying to force photographers to attend and photograph their unions contrary to the dictates of their own conscience. Homosexual couples are welcome to unite but they cannot force others to participate. That's not to say the photographer the right to be a jerk but neither does it give homosexuals (or heterosexual Nazi Satanists, to pick a random example) the right to force the photographer to do something against his or her conscience.

Both sides would get along much better if they would quite trying to push their beliefs on each other.

Alright. I've said my piece. Quit using the same word to describe two different things and both sides need to quit forcing their beliefs on others.

Seeing Stars: "Civil Union" Session Starts Monday

2012-05-11T06:00:00.000-06:00

The special "civil union" edition of the General Assembly is set to debut on Monday. That's not the only thing on the menu, however. There are seven things on Gov. Hickenlooper's wish list. Remember, the Assembly can only work on items on this list and they have to hit all of them. They have 14-15 days worth of money saved to pay for the session. After that, they'll start taking it from some where else.

Colorado

Education funding is always contentions but there are things that could change the model for the better.
Colorado Day of Prayer has been ruled unconstitutional.

Everywhere else

The Wisconsin reforms are working.
House Republicans missed a chance to cut the size of government. My own Representative, Scott Tipton, voted against cutting the government.
The TSA is a stereotypical government agency fraught with wasteful spending and cover-ups.
Obama used his heretofore unknown power of time travel to get a guy a job before he asked for it.
After failing to cut the size of government, Speaker John Boehner is working a plan to prevent Taxmageddon.
Don't you just love being punished for buying a DVD?

Seeing Stars: 11.1 Percent

2012-05-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

For more details, see the link below.

Colorado

Among the bills that died with the civil union bill is one that would have set "stoned driving" limits for marijuana users.
Yeah, about that civil union bill. It's not dead yet.
Mitt Romney was in Colorado yesterday speaking about the nation's energy policy. The staging was clever.

Everywhere else

11.1 percent
Scytl is not a big scary monster.
You know that political correctness has gone too far when the cops are afraid to investigate a string of child rapes for fear of being called racists.
The SEIU is paying rent for offices for Occupiers.

'Tis the Season for Gay Marriage

2012-05-09T23:14:00.001-06:00

Fa la la la laaa la la la laa.

Republican leadership in the Colorado House thought they had killed off a bill as time ran out that would have allowed civil unions in Colorado. Then Governor Hickenlooper pulled out his magic wand called a special session of the Assembly to finish working through it. Hick has to give the Assembly a specific list of things he wants done. That will probably show up soon. (There's a convenient FAQ on the state site.) As I write this, that list hasn't been posted on the Governor's web site. There will probably be a few other bills -- perhaps all 30-some that were waiting for the end of the session -- that will be included in the session's mandate.

Okay, so the House will probably take up the civil union bill when the session starts up on Friday or Monday. The House has an amended version of the bill that passed the Senate earlier. The Democrats will try to strip the amendments while other representatives will try to add more. The goal will be, for the Republican leadership anyway, to make the bill as incompatible with the Senate version as possible. That way, even if it passes, it will be difficult to reconcile in such a way that will pass both Houses.

Of course, that wasn't the only action today. Just before Hickenlooper made his big speech, President Obama publicly flopped back to supporting gay marriage. Interestingly, Obama added a Tenth Amendment caveat.

The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. But he said he’s confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters’ comfort with the concept.

It's the right call but I think Obama's doing it for a couple of reasons. First, he doesn't want to tick off North Carolina any more than he has to given that they killed a gay marriage bill a couple of days ago. Second, he's sending a message to Congressional Democrats that he doesn't want to see gay marriage legislation coming from them that would force him to take a harder stance.

GOProud issued this statement:

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, President Obama signaled his support for marriage equality in an interview with ABC News. In response, Christopher R. Barron, Chief Strategist and Co-Founder of GOProud – a national organization of gay and straight Americans seeking to promote freedom by supporting free markets, limited government, and a respect for individual rights, issued the following statement:

“It is good to see that after intense political pressure that President Obama has finally come around to the Dick Cheney position on marriage equality. I am sure, however, the President’s newly discovered support for marriage is cold comfort to the gay couples in North Carolina. The President waited until after North Carolina passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.”

“This is hardly a profile in courage by President Obama. For years now, President Obama has tried his hardest to have it both ways on this issue.

“The real kudos here goes to LGBT activists and their allies who finally forced the President into yielding on this issue.”

I like the reference to Chaney. It just rubs a little salt in the wound of Democrats who have convinced themselves that Chaney is second only to Darth Vader in evil.

I've stated my views previously. In short, I think that the state should only do civil unions and that they should be available for any consenting adults. Leave marriage in the church where it belongs. I'm going to add one additional condition that I want to see in any legislation.

My added condition is really simple. No person should be required to participate in any event that is contrary to their religious views and no church should be required to marry anyone contrary to their doctrine. The first is for photographers and the like who don't want to be forced into attending homosexual weddings. The second, obviously, protects the sanctity of religious institutions.

Now, Leftists will claim that those restrictions codify prejudice. What they choose to forget is that homosexual couples aren't the only ones with rights. No one should be forced into attending anything contrary to their beliefs. Atheists use the same argument when they complain about prayer and public events. A homosexual's "right" to a civil union does not mean that they get to force someone opposed to such things to participate. Rights work both ways.

Anyway, this will all play in the news for a while. Nationally, Obama sees it as a great way of trying to get people to forget that real unemployment is at 11.1 percent with the lowest number of jobs since the 1980s. Both nationally and in Colorado, Democrats will try to use this as a wedge. What they've missed is that there's been a libertarian uprising within the Republican ranks and more and more Republicans are taking the libertarian stance of legalize but don't, necessarily, endorse.

Seeing Stars: Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve

2012-05-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

The big news is Colorado is the fate of a civil union bill in the House. It passed out of the Appropriations Committee with amendments and made it to the House floor ... and that's where it's still sitting. The House quit for the night at about 10pm without voting on the bill. Democrats are accusing Republicans of stalling (and they're right) but are willfully ignoring the fact that they controlled both chambers and the Governor's office for four years and did nothing.

The way I see it playing out is that House Republicans will draw things out but will actually vote on it and even pass it with the amendments intact but leave too little time for the conference committee to work things out with the Senate. Or they could just let it die on the vine. In either case, I don't see House Republicans letting this pass into law this term.

It's a shame really. Republicans need to grow a pair and actually take a stand on the issue. If they support it, fine. If not, fine. Their constituents will let their approval or disapproval be known but, darn it, stand up for your beliefs. Don't piddle, twiddle and resolve until the clock runs out.

Update 2012-05-09 07:10: My mistake. The civil union bill is dead.

On to the links.

Colorado

It's not really surprising that the People's Republic of Boulder has banned oil and gas drilling. In their little utopia, no one struggles with filling their gas tank to get to work.

Everywhere else

TSA full body scanners are "invasive, unlawful, and ineffective."
House Democrats want to make sure that more women are victims of violent crime. Talk about a war on women. (via @pir8gold)
Massachusetts is implementing price controls on health care. (via @DrewMTips)
Rep. Paul Ryan makes a really good point. If social programs don't produce the desired outcomes, are they really "compassionate"?
An industry that depends on government money is upset that the government isn't giving them more money. I'm shocked.
How long before all government data collection is "incidental"?
Progressive Republican Dick Lugar was lost in the Indiana Senate primary and there was much rejoicing.
Read this. Really.
The Democrat plan to hike taxes on small businesses to pay for keeping student loan interest rates down failed in the Senate.

Seeing Stars: Be On the Lookout for Contraband Cookies

2012-05-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

There are only a couple of days left in the Colorado legislative session. Then we can all go back to ignoring our state legislators and ramp up for the Presidential race. Hey, at least Colorado schools are still allowed to hold bake sales.

On to the links.

Colorado

Mitt Romney's Super PAC has out raised Barack Obama's by two orders of magnitude in Colorado. Democrat complaints about out-of-state money and evil Super PACs start in 3 .. 2 .. Oops, they jumped the gun.
I think Republicans are going to run out the clock on the civil union bill. It's a little cowardly but, then again, Democrats have been sitting on it all session.
The back-to-school sales tax "holiday" died a glorious death in the Senate.
Colorado officially has a budget. Perhaps our Senators could look to Colorado's example and work to pass the first budget the Senate has passed in three years.
Democrat registration in Colorado is falling fast.

Everywhere else

Barack Obama is more than happy to run on his record as long as you forget ObamaCare.
Massachusetts has banned school bake sales. At last, students are free from the horror of homemade baked goods.
President Obama doesn't want new French (Socialist) President Francois Hollande to implement the same programs that Obama wants to implement because it would hurt the world economy.
The New York Times is misleading people? You don't say!
If the head of a corporation was meeting with the President or a member of his staff "everyday", do you think that Democrats would be bit peeved? It's a union guy, though, so it's okay.
It is pretty gutsy to set someone else up to take the blame if your decision fails.
TSA: Four years is timely, right?
I have no love for the DailyKos, but Rush's behavior is an example of how bad laws can be abused to censor speech online.

Seeing Stars: Feds: You Don't Need Privacy

2012-05-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

The Federal government seems to think that your rights don't exist online. They are wrong.

On to the links.

Colorado

Colorado schools have no qualms about spending your money on frivolities.
Governor Hickenlooper has vetoed the recently passed Regional Tourism Act. The more corporate subsidies get killed off, the better.
The Senate killed HB 1333 which would have provided teachers more transparency into union finances and allowed them to leave the union with 30 days notice rather than waiting for a specific two week window.

Everywhere else

On Friday, I wrote about the cops' desire to track your every move via your cell phone. That's bad enough but the FBI is pressuring companies to let them eavesdrop on all electronic communication.
Even liberal TV talkers are mocking Julia.
The Export-Import bank is another Federal agency that needs to go away forever.
What will be President Obama's excuse for blocking the Keystone XL pipeline this time?
No, we don't need to buy a cell phone for every Tom, Dick and Harry who doesn't have a phone.

A Third of the Assembly Out Due to Term Limits?! Nope

2012-05-06T19:47:00.001-06:00

Lynn Bartels wrote a sob story over the record number of lawmakers leaving at the end of this session (33) and then spends most of the time blaming term limits. It isn't until the 17th paragraph that this little gem crops up.

Term limits are forcing out 14 lawmakers this year, although three of them are running for the Senate.

For those playing the home game, that means that less than half of the legislators who are leaving are doing so because of term limits. Come on, Lynn. You're better than that.

FBI Wants Backdoors in Everything

2012-05-06T19:00:00.000-06:00

We already know that your privacy means nothing to the Federal government. Now, the FBI is wants Facebook, Skype and others in install backdoors to make snooping on you even easier.

The Bureau has been quietly meeting with representatives of these companies, as well as Microsoft (which owns Hotmail and Skype), Facebook and others to argue for a legislative proposal, drafted by the FBI, that would require social-networking sites and VoIP, instant messaging and e-mail providers to alter their code to make their products wiretap-friendly.

Open source software is essential to maintaining liberty online especially when it comes to encryption and communication systems. Can you trust that Microsoft hasn't put a backdoor into Windows? How about Apple and their iOS devices? You can't. They might "promise" you that there Android is open source. It's possible to wipe the default install off your phone and put your own version, compiled from software you've inspected. (That also keeps your cell provider from tracking much of your web usage.) SSL is an open standard that can be implemented in open source to ensure that your encrypted communications are, in fact, private.

One way to ensure this is to use decentralized products using open standards and open source software. For example, the XMPP protocol, which underlies Google Talk, is an open standard with server software that can be installed by anyone and encrypted with SSL to prevent eavesdropping on IM conversations. Even better, XMPP allows users on different servers to talk to each other. You don't have to worry about using the same provider.

The Diaspora project has built up a Facebook-like social network that can be installed on your own servers to allow you to share exactly what you want with other services and nothing else. Like XMPP, users on different systems can talk to each other.

There are also open source VoIP servers which underpin many commercial office VoIP products. Again, there's no need to use a specific provider. I have setup VoIP servers in the past and it's possible to stand up your own VoIP server in minutes by booting to a live CD.

The key for all of these services is that they are open source. That means that any knowledgeable programmer can look at the code and ensure that there are no backdoors or remove any that have been put in. That's essential to keep the government (or anyone else) from trying to snoop on everything you do.

If you aren't encouraging the use of open standards and open source on the Internet, you are helping to enable power grabs just like this one by the FBI. Promote Liberty online. Promote open source.

DOJ: Protecting Individual Privacy Would "Cripple" Law Enforcement

2012-05-04T20:07:00.001-06:00

Your privacy doesn't matter to the Department of Justice.

Jason Weinstein, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's criminal division, told a panel at the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee's "State of the Mobile Net" conference yesterday that requiring a search warrant to obtain location tracking information from cell phones would "cripple" prosecutors and law enforcement officials. We couldn't disagree more.

There's always a balance between individual liberty and the government as they try to catch criminals. New tools and new technologies allow law enforcement more options for tracking the doings of the citizenry but often does so at the expense of individual privacy and liberty. A person is not free if they have to worry about the government eaves dropping on them and swooping in if something "unwanted" is said. Constant location tracking just as much an encroachment of one's liberty.

Let's take a look at an example of location tracking from the comic XKCD. (Click to enlarge)

What did we learn about Megan just from tracking her location? Okay, the government probably doesn't care that she used a bit too much power during "play time" but you can see how location tracking can give away a lot about a person. Does the government really need to know that you visited a couple of gun stores, a bank and a preschool today? The cops might say "Yes!" In general, I disagree. There are specific cases where it might make sense and that's why we have judges.

The cops have to be able to convince a judge there's a good reason to track a person's every move. Yes, it limits the cops but it also provides protect for innocent people. If they can convince a judge that the tracking is warranted, they can still go about it but they have to get permission first. The cops don't get to go around tracking people willy-nilly.

It needs to stay that way.