You're NOT the Boss of ME!!!

Been busy the last few days with the dreaded garage clean out. However, when it is done there will be a place for casual meetings of like minded freedom loving individualists. Also, the Celtic princess and I took in a Tannahill Weavers concert to keep the freedom flame alight with properly defiant Celtic music.

In the meantime folks you are in for a treat this weekend. Larken Rose's 4th of July rant is here for your edification and enjoyment.
Carpe Libertas!
Nemo me impune lacessit!!

Why Everything SUCKS!

Damn kids! GET OFF MY GRASS!!!

"Health Reform" Removes Freedom!!!

5 freedoms you'd lose in health care reform

If you read the fine print in the Congressional plans, you'll find that a lot of cherished aspects of the current system would disappear.

By Shawn Tully, editor at large FORTUNE magazine

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- In promoting his health-care agenda, President Obama has repeatedly reassured Americans that they can keep their existing health plans -- and that the benefits and access they prize will be enhanced through reform.

A close reading of the two main bills, one backed by Democrats in the House and the other issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy's Health committee, contradict the President's assurances. To be sure, it isn't easy to comb through their 2,000 pages of tortured legal language. But page by page, the bills reveal a web of restrictions, fines, and mandates that would radically change your health-care coverage.

If you prize choosing your own cardiologist or urologist under your company's Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO), if your employer rewards your non-smoking, healthy lifestyle with reduced premiums, if you love the bargain Health Savings Account (HSA) that insures you just for the essentials, or if you simply take comfort in the freedom to spend your own money for a policy that covers the newest drugs and diagnostic tests -- you may be shocked to learn that you could lose all of those good things under the rules proposed in the two bills that herald a health-care revolution.

In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage -- including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money -- but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can't have. It's a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.

Let's explore the five freedoms that Americans would lose under Obamacare:

MORE HERE

Stereotypes by the Numbers

FROM: The Libertarian Enterprise

Stereotypes by the Numbers
by Don Meinshausen
freedonnow@yahoo.com

One libertarian is a blog
Two libertarians are a transaction not reported to the IRS
Three libertarians are a think tank
Four libertarians are a free market

One green is a tree sitter
Two greens are a gay couple trying to get married
Three greens are a food co-op
Four greens are a salad

One Palestinian is a mullah
Two Palestinians are under surveillance
Three Palestinians will never get on an airplane
Four Palestinians are a refugee camp

One Israeli is putting the two Palestinians under surveillance
Two Israelis are a potential target
Three Israelis are a settlement
Four Israelis are a faction in the Knesset

One communist is an FBI agent
Two communists is a front
Three communists are a potential threat
Four communists are North Korea

One Trotskyite is waiting for an ice pick
Two Trots are a tendency
Three Trots are a faction
Four Trots are the Fourth International

One Nazi is far too many
Two Nazis are actually a gay couple in S&M drag
Three Nazis are actors in a WW2 film
Four Nazis are what you see in a night on A&E

One and a half conservatives is Rush Limbaugh
Two conservatives are NOT a gay couple
Three conservatives are talk show host, a caller and a sponsor
Four conservatives are a vast right wing conspiracy

One liberal is a guilt trip
Two liberals are a shrink and his client
Three liberals are a concerned group
Four liberals are the Upper West Side

One Republican is an angry white guy
Two Republicans are campaign consultants
Three Republicans are a country club
Four Republicans are a $1000 a plate dinner

One Democrat is arguing with the Republican
Two Democrats are a union
Three Democrats are a minority group
Four Democrats are a bureaucracy

One Anarchist is autonomous
Two Anarchists are a literature table
Three Anarchists are squatting a building
Four Anarchists will never agree on anything

One Black Muslim is selling Muhammad Speaks
Two Black Muslims are 2X
Three Black Muslims are the 3 Mosque-eteers
Four Black Muslims are a Million Man March

One Klansman has trouble finding a match
Two Klansmen's combined IQ might qualify for Mensa
Three Klansmaen are 3 sheets to the wind
Four Klansmen are a white sale

One Pagan is a solitary practitioner
Two Pagans are a Great Rite (A sectsual act)
Three Pagans are a witch war
Four Pagans are a gathering

One swinger is lubricated and lonely
Two swingers are an open marriage
Three swingers are a menage a trois
Four swingers are an orgy and you're not invited

One British Royal is a scandal
Two British Royals can attract 50 camera people
Three British Royals are a tabloid
Four British Royals are a family on welfare

One Gold Bug is warning you about inflation
Two Gold Bugs are a newsletter
Three Gold Bugs are a conference
Four Gold Bugs are still trying to recover from the advice from the last conference

One sadist is a dominatrix like Janet Reno or Anne Coulter
Two sadists are a presidential ticket
Three sadists are the staff at Abu Ghraib
Four sadists are the IRS

One masochist is the guy who enjoys reading this
Two masochists are a liberal support group
Three masochists are a televangelist audience
Four masochists are representative of American voters

One neo-con gave a speech at a conference on why Iran should be invaded
Two neo-cons also spoke last night at that conference sponsored by defense contactors
Three neo-cons were there from the Defense Dept. who never served in the military
Four neo-cons then went to an ex-Trotskyite alumnae re-union

One fart is a squeaky chair or so he says
Two farts will clear the room
Three farts will require an environmental impact statement
Four farts are considered to be biological warfare

One unbeliever is the village atheist
Two unbelievers do not believe in each other
Three unbelievers are all going to hell
Four unbelievers are a Unitarian fellowship

One pothead is raiding your refrigerator
Two potheads are doing a deal
Three potheads are sharing a joint
Four potheads are a medical marijuana store

One narc is an argument for abortion
Two narcs are proof of cellular reproduction of bacteria
Three narcs are proof that the swine flu really exists
Four narcs are proof of the existence of Satan

One policeman is giving you a suspicious look
Two policemen have you under surveillance. But don't worry because
Three policemen are usually corrupt. But
Four policemen is a bust

One paranoid is a schizophrenic
Two paranoids are a pair annoyed
Three paranoids is a psychiatrist's practice
Four paranoids are a 911 group

One CIA agent is lying to the press
Two CIA agents are lying to a congressional committee
Three CIA agents planning a coup
Four CIA agents who can't speak the language are running a country (True)

One terrorist car will explode upon hitting a bump
Two terrorists are a shock wave even if they don't stand up
Three terrorists upgraded to1st class with 72 virgin stewardesses and lost their luggage
Four terrorists cannot do the damage done by the Department of Homeland Security

One bureaucrat is thinking up new rules
Two bureaucrats are trying to decipher them
Three bureaucrats see this as a reason to hire more bureaucrats
Four bureaucrats will oversea the expansion ad infinitum

One reporter is actually covering the story
Two reporters are in a bar talking about it
Three reporters are a press conference
Four reporters are the amount who disbelieve what they heard at the press conference

One politician is a liar
Two politicians are an election
Three politicians are supposedly an investigative panel on corruption
Four politicians are involved in the cover-up

One evangelical is thumping his Bible—on your head
Two evangelicals are knocking on your door and they are not into knock/knock jokes
Three evangelicals want to prey with you and want you to help set up a TV ministry
Four evangelicals is a good reason to leave town

(Nice Version) One evangelical is a preacher
Two is a Baptism
Three is a Bible study
Four is a revival

One retreatist is a crank whose source of happiness is bad news
Two retreatists think that they can re-propagate the race but they're sterile
Three retreatists are a militia fantasizing going against the US Army
Four retreatists are an email list now on the FBI's hard drive

Who needs to be numbered or knocked out of their census? libertree@gmail.com

Joe and the Aflac Duck

Click Image to Enlarge

For My Gamer Buds.....

Nutz!

Here's a Cliff Notes version of some of the Health Care bill sitting in the
house.

If you don't think this will affect business, read on......I warn you, it is obscene!
_________

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!


Pg 42 of HC Bill - The "Health Choices Commissioner" will choose your Health Care Benefits for you. You have no choice!

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - Health Care will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access 2 individuals finances & a
National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access to your banks accounts
for electronic funds transfer

PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in
Unions & community organizations (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating a HC exchange to bring private Health Care plans under Govt control.

PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private. Health Care plans in the Exchange

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will
ration your Health care!

PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates "linguistic appropriate services".
Example - Translation for illegal aliens

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to
sign up individual. for Govt HC plan

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Ben Levels 4 Plans. #AARP members - Your
Health Care WILL be rationed

-PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible individuals will be
automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice

pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial
review" against Government Monopoly

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what
you can make. (Sorry, Homer!)

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST automatically enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for Health Care for part time employees AND their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Employer w payroll 400k & above who does not prov. pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll

pg 150 Lines 9-13 Biz w payroll between 251k & 400k who doesn't prov. pub. opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll

Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable Health Care according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of inc

Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from indiv. taxes. (Americans will pay)

Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to
ALL Americans financial/personal records

PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be
treated as tax" Yes, it says that!

The Will to Resist

Russell Means speaks about the encroachment of government into community and how people have lost the will to educate and self-organize. In so doing, we have lost the ability to resist and continue resisting. Russell Means points toward how to solve these problems in this edition of Weekend Update.
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2009/weekend-update-22-the-will-to-resist/

Weekend Update #22: The Will to Resist from Russell Means on Vimeo.

From Radley Balko's The Agitator - Gene Healy fears the statism of the generation now coming of age politically:

In May, the Center for American Progress released a lengthy survey of polling data on Millennials, concluding that they’re a “Progressive Generation,” eager to increase federal power.

CAP is the leading Democratic think tank, so it has a vested interest in that conclusion. But they’re on to something. In the last election, 18-to-29 year-olds went for Barack Obama by a 34-point margin.

The CAP report shows that Gen Y is substantially more likely to support universal health care, labor unions, and education spending than older voters. And other surveys support CAP’s “Progressive Generation” thesis.

In 2008, the nonpartisan National Election Study asked Americans whether “the free market” or “a strong government” would better handle “today’s complex economic problems.” By a margin of 78 to 22 percent, Millennials opted for “strong government.”

Kids today are a credulous bunch. The 2007 Pew Political Values survey revealed “a generation gap in cynicism.” Where 62 percent of Americans overall view the federal government as wasteful and inefficient, just 42 percent of young people agree.

If there’s an upside to this it’s that the first generation that can’t remember a time before the Internet does seem to at least to care about civil liberties. They tend to be anti-war, anti-drug war, cognizant of and alarmed by police misconduct, and while they put too much trust in government, they do seem to be be genuinely motivated to force government transparency and accountability, two inherent Internet values. And frankly, if that motivation doesn’t fade, what they discover–either through government disclosures or through its refusal to disclose–ought to be enough to shake at least a few of them from their broader faith in the state.

Seems like yesterday......what a great summer!

The Summer of '69: A season that shook the world

From the moon to the Mets, and Vietnam to Woodstock, what a time it was

BY DAVE MARCUS |

By any measure, the summer of 1969 was extraordinary, in the world, across the nation, and on Long Island. It was a summer of remarkable achievement, as the U.S. space program won the race to the moon, with help from Long Island's Grumman engineers, who built the lunar module Eagle.

The Mets marched to a World Series victory that even their most avid fans couldn't have predicted. Theirs followed the championship runs of two other local teams - the Jets and the Knicks.

On a farm in Bethel, N.Y., nearly 500,000 people gathered for the Woodstock music festival that would come to symbolize the hopes for making "love, not war." For some, Woodstock also was an orgy of drugs and overindulgence.

It was a summer of tumult. While students throughout the country marched for civil rights, casualties in the increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam continued to mount. On Long Island, the average age of the war dead was 21. By the time summer began, 89 young people from Nassau and Suffolk had lost their lives that year. MORE HERE

The Real Cavity Creeps

NY man forcibly sedated for cavity search gets $125k settlement

A man who was forcibly injected with sedative drugs by police so a doctor could search for other drugs in his rectum will receive a handsome settlement from Albany County, New York and Albany Medical Center, a local publication reported Saturday.

“The settlement stems from a federal lawsuit filed two years ago by Tunde Clement, an ex-convict arrested by sheriff’s investigators on March 13, 2006, at the Albany bus terminal,” reported The Times Union.

Following Clement’s forced drugging, a doctor put a camera in his rectum, discovering no drugs. “[The] final indignity came when the hospital sent Clement a bill for $6,792,” noted the Associated Press.

“Clement’s suit claimed his civil rights were violated,” The Times-Union continued. “He filed the federal complaint against Albany Med and several doctors and nurses, and also sued Albany County and Sheriff James Campbell, Inspector John Burke, who heads the narcotics squad that arrested Clement, and eight investigators assigned to Burke’s unit.”

‘Cavity epidemic in Albany’?

Clement is not the first to accuse the Albany police of an unwarranted cavity search. New York criminal defense attorney Scott Greenfield, on his blog Simple Justice, exclaimed that a “cavity epidemic” is underway in Albany.

Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley explained the seeming rash of invasive searches on his blog:

Women have accused the police of conducting cavity searches with little or no suspicion of crime acts. Crystal Royal, 22, has sued, alleging that she was strip-searched in January by the Albany Police Department and then forced to undergo a pelvic cavity search at Albany Medical Center Hospital. Nothing was found.

This filing follows another complaint by Lisa Shutter who charged that she was given a cavity search on a public street during a traffic stop in December.

Royal said that was stopped by police on the interstate even though she had valid license and properly registered car. She also alleges that police took her cellphone and inspected her call list. She was then given a strip search and cavity search at the station — nothing was found. She was later charged with a felony drug conspiracy count.

The Times-Union noted: “People under arrest normally cannot be forcibly sedated without a court order unless they are in imminent danger, such as when a bag of drugs bursts inside them and they have a seizure or fall unconscious. The hospital’s records indicate Clement was behaving normally and showed no signs of any medical emergency.”

“There are a bunch of people running around Albany in uniform, with guns and shields, committing crimes against people and collecting public paychecks for their efforts,” wrote Greenfield. “Who stops them? How would you like to be Lisa Shutter explaining why the cops performed a cavity search of you on the street. How would you like to be the doctor drugging Tunde Clement and performing an anoscopy because the cops told you to do it. This is mere inches away from Abner Louima.”

A Bomanation Healthcare

Click on Image to Enlarge

Funnies

The Right to Resist - Advocacy and Change in Federal Indian Law

By Peter d’Errico

July 26, 2009

It’s a bad sign when a Supreme Court justice disrespects a young Indian woman, Nazune Menka, when asked about the Carcieri v. Salazar decision against the Narragansett Nation, and worse when the justice mocks the case itself, calling it “a laugher.” Aside from what CBS News calls Scalia’s “nasty” style, what allows him to show such mockery and disrespect?

There’s a clue in what Scalia apparently said to another Indian questioner. He claimed the U.S. has a right to rule over Indian nations by “conquest” and all federal Indian law is based on that. In other words, Scalia wants to pretend the same thing the U.S. has been pretending since John Marshall first pretended it in 1823 in Johnson v. McIntosh: the “pretension of converting the discovery of an inhabited country into conquest.”

Justice Antonin Scalia, a man who believes ‘conquered’ Indians have no rights.

The actual basis of federal Indian law, as Marshall’s quote shows, is not conquest, but “pretense of conquest,” based on “Christian Discovery” and “ultimate dominion.” This is what Scalia’s comment covers up. Marshall, at least, had the honesty to call it what it was.

Justice John Marshall, who put forth the “pretension of converting the discovery of an inhabited country into conquest.”

An Indian Country Today interviewer (May 6) asked John Echohawk, executive director of the Native American Rights Fund, “Is anyone challenging Congress’ claim to plenary power over the nations?” He replied: “Yes, but of course under the law of this country, the way all that’s been interpreted and the way it’s been litigated is the tribes are domestic dependent nations and that’s just the way things are and you go to court and that’s what they’ll tell you.”

The increasing awareness in Indian country that federal Indian law is not really for Indians is a wake-up call to Indian lawyers and ‘respected authorities’ to dispel the indoctrination of federal Indian law precedents.

NARF’s acceptance of the “pretense of conquest” as “that’s the way it is” is an ominous sign. It means the most widely recognized group of Indian lawyers is not arguing against the basic discrimination in federal Indian law. No wonder Justice Scalia thinks he can get away with his nastiness and pretense. MORE HERE

Swearing really does help!

$#!+ head government (_*_) s!!!!!!!! There, I feel a little bit better.

Swearing really does help

Scientists say people swear when they hurt themselves because it actually reduces the pain.

A study by researchers at Keele University found volunteers were able to withstand pain for longer when they swore.

Dr Richard Stephens, who led the study, believes it may explain why swearing is common in languages all over the world.

"Swearing is quite an emotional form of language and it is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon," he said.

"When my wife was in labour with our daughter she felt the need to f and blind at one point, but was very apologetic afterwards. The midwife said they were used to that kind of language on the delivery ward, so it got me thinking.

"Our research shows one potential reason why swearing has developed and why it persists."

The researchers, whose findings are published in the journal NeuroReport, tested 64 students' tolerance to pain by asking them to submerge their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as they could while repeating a series of swear words of their choice.

They were then asked to carry out the task again while repeating non-offensive words they would use to describe a table.

They found that volunteers who swore were able to keep their hands submerged in the water for an average of 40 seconds longer. They also rated their pain lower.

"Tax Evaders" Guilty of "Plot to Kill Feds"

From Bill St. Clair

Tax Evaders Guilty of Plot to Kill Feds

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 2009-07-14 06:55.

Associated Press via CBSNews.com - Ed and Elaine Brown have been convicted "on all counts of plotting to kill federal agents". It is now a crime to plan to defend yourself from invaders of your own home, if those invaders happen to be wearing fancy uniforms, funny hats, and shiny badges.

I'm only sad that they didn't manage to kill a few of those goons. They're being treated as if they had.

Sentencing scheduled for September 3.

Idiocracy

(Click Image for Larger View)

Why the Libertarian, Republican, Democrat, Green, etc. parties go bad

It could be a garden club or a religious group. We have all seen it and wondered, "How in the hell did this happen?" "How did this group of morons get into decision making positions?"
How does a small group of interlopers take over a group, movement, cause, religion or country and turn it into something other than what it was started for?
(Pay attention Libertarian Party, Campaign for Liberty and "Tea Party" members.)

Now you know.

How to Stage a Revolution

A new mathematical model reveals the tactics that a small number of interlopers can use to seize power.

How is it possible for a small number of newcomers to displace a well-established group of leaders?

That's not just a question for military organizations wanting to overthrow governments; it's a question for political parties controlling national debates, new products displacing well established market leaders, and flocking birds following leaders to new food sources.

Social scientists have studied the nature of effective leadership for centuries with limited success. Physicists, on the other hand, are new to the party, which gives them a chance to nab some low-hanging fruit. Today, Hai-Tao Zhang at the University of Cambridge, in the U.K., and a few buddies say that they have grabbed a particularly juicy piece by revealing a key strategy of effective leadership.

MORE HERE

Economist's View: Money Monopoly

Economist's View: Money Monopoly: "Marshall Auerback says California is challenging the federal monopoly on money creation:

Schwarznegger to Obama: Watch and Learn, by Marshall Auerback: According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Republicans and Democrats alike embraced legislation last Friday that would make California IOUs legal tender for all taxes, fees and other payments owed to the state.

Effectively, California is using its IOUs to create a currency. If this bill passes it would allow California to deficit spend just like the Federal Government and with the IOU's acceptable as payment of state taxes, it instantly imparts value to them. In effect, what you have is a state of the union creating a sovereign currency right under the noses of Treasury, Fed. They are stumbling their way into it... It will be viewed as a stop gap measure at first, and then could very well become entrenched as states realize they have a way to escape balanced budget requirements. ..."

Boycott United Airlines

United Breaks Guitars
...and suitcases, and promises, and most of the Ten Commandments
The Kaptain's Log
by Manuel Miles, aka Kaptain Kanada

Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise

Well shipmates, if you haven't seen the latest "viral video" at YouTube by now, you should do so. It's entitled "United Breaks Guitars" and recounts the sad but true story of a massacre of musical instruments by one of the many incompetent, inhuman commercial airlines.

While Nova Scotian band Dave Carroll and The Sons of Maxwell's horror story could have unfolded had they flown many another airline of the "friendly [sic] skies", they happened to be on United when the O'Hare baggage vandals attacked their expensive, custom guitars. I am sure I don't have to tell you how United's "customer service [sic again!]" responded to Mr Carroll's repeated efforts to be compensated for the cost of repairing his Taylor guitar.

So, after a year of United's indifference, contempt and stone- walling, Dave did the Canadian thing: he told the airline's Ms Irlweg that he would make and post three videos on YouTube. One can imagine the response of the bureaucrats at United; "Well, you do what you gotta do... snicker, snicker" After all, who fears retribution from obscure Canadian bands?

Well, the first video hit YouTube this week. Dave was hoping to get 1 million hits in the first year; in the first four days his video "went viral", garnering over 2 and a quarter million hits! The Sons of Maxwell are now world famous, and United Airlines is teetering on the brink of permanent obscurity.

The question which the owners and (mis)management of UA are no doubt asking themselves is why this video struck a chord not only on Dave Carroll's guitar but with the weary, huddled masses of North American airline passengers. You can be sure that neither United nor any other airlines expected this to happen. After all, they have got away with treating passengers like cattle for decades now. MORE HERE

Active ingredient in marijuana kills brain cancer cells

Thanks to Bill St.Clair for heads up on this one!

THC initiates brain cancer cells to destroy themselves

Posted in Longevity and Age Management, Cancer, Medical Marijuana on Wed May 20, 2009

THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, causes brain cancer cells to undergo a process called autophagy in which cells feed upon themselves, according to a study conducted by Guillermo Velasco and colleagues at Complutense University in Spain. Using mice designed to carry human brain cancer tumors, the researchers found that the growth of the tumors shrank when the animals received THC. The study also involved two patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. Both patients had been enrolled in a clinical trial designed to test THC's potential as a cancer therapy. The researchers used electron microscopes to analyze brain tissue taken before and after a 26- to 30-day THC treatment regimen. They found that THC eliminated the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact. In addition, in what they described as a "novel discovery," the specific signalling route by which the autophagy process unfolds was isolated.

MORE HERE