Terrorism

It didn't take long for big government worshippers to condemn "Mark Owen" (nom de plume for US Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette) as a "traitor" for telling his fellow Americans the truth about what actually happened during the Osama bin laden raid in his just-released book, "No Easy Day."

Well, I would like to live in Ireland and even with the bad economy, give it a go, however I'm not sure just how bad it is.

I don't require a lot to be happy. A small town, good fishing, perhaps hunting (optional), quiet green cool hills to relax and read good books, good neighbors, a nice supporting job of repairing or perhaps a little shop on the main street in town to sell goods and talk with the people. All without permission from a government to do so.

In an act of domestic terrorism the FBI and Justice Department have:

"... on their own initiative, shut down megaupload.com, the biggest of thousands of file-sharing sites online, and arrested four of its top officials. The FBI is hunting down three others who seem to be on the lam. They all face extradition and 20 years in prison. As part of the sweep, the feds issued 20 search warrants and arrived at individual houses in helicopters. They cut their way into houses, threatened with guns, confiscated $50 million in assets and outright stole 18 domain names and many servers.

Last week I joined six Republican and three Democrat colleagues to file a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its illegal war against Libya. Now that more than 90 days have passed since the president began bombing Libya, no one can seriously claim that the administration has complied with the clear requirements of the 1974 War Powers Resolution.

In a remarkable act of chutzpah, the administration sent to Congress its response to the growing concern over its abuse of war powers. Its argument, in a nutshell, is that the War Powers Resolution is not relevant because US armed forces are not actually engaged in hostilities because Libya is so militarily weak it cannot fight back! This explanation would be laughable if not so horrific. The administration wants us to believe that there is no real violence because the victim cannot fight back? Imagine if this standard was applied to criminal law in the United States! I am sure Libyans on the receiving end of US and NATO bombs feel hostilities are quite definitely taking place.

"We are trying to motivate Libertarians and anti-war Republicans who participate in the Tea Parties to show up with a message of less war and more freedom. We will never be a free country while we are tied to this debt." – John Jay Myers

I have serious concerns, however, about the president’s decision to add some 30,000 troops and an as yet undisclosed number of civilian personnel to escalate our Afghan operation. This “surge” will bring US troop levels to approximately those of the Soviets when they occupied Afghanistan with disastrous result back in the 1980s. I fear the US military occupation of Afghanistan may end up similarly unsuccessful.

In late 1986 Soviet armed forces commander, Marshal Sergei Akhromeev, told then-Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, "Military actions in Afghanistan will soon be seven years old. There is no single piece of land in this country which has not been occupied by a Soviet soldier. Nonetheless, the majority of the territory remains in the hands of rebels.” Soon Gorbachev began the Soviet withdrawal from its Afghan misadventure. Thousands were dead on both sides, yet the occupation failed to produce a stable national Afghan government.

Medlock said his daughter was at her mother's house when Ozark police Officer Dustin Bradshaw shocked her in the back with a Taser and arrested her.

"If you can't pick the kid up and take her to your car, handcuff her, then I don't think you need to be an officer," Medlock said.

"He had no other choice. He had to get the child under control," said Ozark police Chief Jim Noggle.

Ozark police said it is their policy to use a Taser on someone who is a threat to others, no matter their age.

In the first two lessons on how to play the Shame & Blame Game in America's long running culture war you learned how to slap down the Race Card and the Sexist Card.

Those two cards have been shamelessly played face up and in your face for a very long time. But today's class concerns itself with a more recent addition to the deck: the Terrorist Card.

When you hear that some libertarians who typically call themselves Anarcho-Capitalists, or AnCaps, want to abolish government entirely do you respond with gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair?

“Without government we’ll have nothing but chaos,” you might gasp in dismay.

But think about how much chaos government creates.

This past week there has been a lot of discussion and debate on the continuing war in Afghanistan. Lasting twice as long as World War II and with no end in sight, the war in Afghanistan has been one of the longest conflicts in which our country has ever been involved. The situation has only gotten worse with recent escalations.

What if tomorrow morning you woke up to headlines that yet another Chinese drone bombing on US soil killed several dozen ranchers in a rural community while they were sleeping? That a drone aircraft had come across the Canadian border in the middle of the night and carried out the latest of many attacks? What if it was claimed that many of the victims harbored anti-Chinese sentiments, but most of the dead were innocent women and children? And what if the Chinese administration, in an effort to improve its public image in the US, had approved an aid package to send funds to help with American roads and schools and promote Chinese values here?

Maybe it's time to quit stigmatizing Third World countries by calling them Third World countries.

At least when it comes to the drug war.

While the supposedly advanced and enlightened First World countries, such as The United States of America, still love to gussie up their cop corps with military style guns and gear and gangland arrogance and turn them loose like a pack of hounds on people who are doing nothing more than committing an act of harming no one, the nations of South America are dismantling the War On Some Drugs one law at a time.

Google the phrase, with quotes, "Going Galt" and you'll get "about 215,000" results or so.

Are libertarians witnessing the mainstreaming of John Galt?

This article touches on one of the reasons why the idea of Going Galt is becoming so popular. But it needs to begin with this caveat:

When Obama is not busy appeasing militant Islamists and making timid statements against other terrorist nations or organizations, he is busy encroaching on individual rights and the conditions under which American business must operate. Obama is going “soft” on potential enemies abroad, taking a policy of appeasement that is likely to invite attack. He is riding roughshod on individual rights of citizens at home. He has this back-assward.

The Iranian authorities are flirting with revolution. No American intervention will be needed, until a new regime takes over and finds the partially built bombs.