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Clayton Cramer's BLOG |
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Clayton's commentary on news and events of the day. Broadly speaking, I'm a conservative with libertarian sympathies (getting more conservative as my children get older).
 Never forget! I ran for Idaho state senate in 2008--didn't win I've written a number of history books, as well as scholarly and popular articles, (see my web page).
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Friday, April 16, 2004
Making the ACLU Happy With Airport Security: Is It Possible? This article about the use of behavioral screening at airports seems to have a perfectly legitimate idea: hijackers are likely to behave differently than non-criminals: WASHINGTON (AP) - When someone at an airport is sweating, is it because he's running late or trying to hide something? Could hand signals between people in a terminal be part of an inside joke or a terror plot?Yes, but we all know the ACLU's view of common sense--it must be unconstitutional: Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and privacy program, questions whether the program even works. "I haven't seen any studies on it," he said.The ACLU objects to "racial profiling" and thus airport security is doing body searches of little old ladies, rather than give extra scrutiny to the one group most likely to be al-Qaeda operatives: men of Middle Eastern origin. They claim that this is unfair, racist, and besides, this isn't very individual. Now they object to "behavior pattern recognition" approaches--which are as about as individual as you get. The ACLU seems to have lost its way. Hollywood's Propaganda Machine Considerettes has a very thoughtful post about how Hollywood is suddenly against choice: Wal-Mart is selling the world's first DVD player that can seamlessly skip over violence, swearing, nudity and other potentially offensive movie content. The $79 unit features technology by ClearPlay and is manufactured by Thomson Inc. under its RCA brand.The Directors Guild of America is suing ClearPlay in federal court, claiming that allowing consumers to decide whether to skip violence, sex, or offensive language is both illegal and immoral: "Ultimately, it is a violation of law and just wrong to profit from selling software that changes the intent of movies you didn't create and don't own."Hmmm. Considerettes points out that this definition, a lot of you are criminals: Yes, ladies and gentlemen, when you press the "skip ahead" button on your DVD, you're violating the law. And ClearPlay doesn't edit to conform to ClearPlay's vision of a movie, it edits to conform to the user's choices.The entertainment industry is as much in the business of propagandizing as entertaining. The proof of this is that ClearPlay's product has the potential to substantially enlarge for market for Hollywood movies. I've seen plenty of movies over the years where particular scenes were completely gratuitous, and removing them actually improved the film. I used to assume that these sequences were put in to make sure the film received a PG-13 or R rating (so that there would be draw for kids), but I think now that it has more to do with Hollywood's rather conscious decision to desensitize Americans about raunchy sex, violence, and cannibalism. As I pointed out in that article: The new movie Hannibal demonstrates the continuing triumph of special effects,UPDATE: A reader points out that by the definition of the Directors Guild of America, turning off a movie part way through "changes the intent" of the director. Courage in the Face of Death I haven't seen much mention of this in the mainstream media here in America (a group that lives in great fear of death): THE Italian hostage murdered in Iraq used his last words to spit defiance at his killers. As a pistol was pointed at his head, security guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi shouted: 'Now I'll show you how an Italian dies!'No, it's not in the same rhetorical class as, "I regret that I have only one life to give for my country," but it's good enough. No groveling; no begging; he clearly has less to fear from death than the savages who murdered him. Why do they do these things? Murder prisoners, threaten hostages with being burned alive? For one simple reason: in the hopes of provoking an overreaction. That's what bin Laden certainly hoped America would do after 9/11--start an orgy of indiscriminate killing of Muslims. That's what terrorists throughout recent history have done: tried to provoke an overreaction to move people in the middle to their side. Remember this, as you grieve for courageous men like Fabrizio Quattrocchi, and become enraged at the barbarous treatment of the dead in Fallujah. We are fighting savages who kill indiscriminately, and want us to be reduced to their savage level. The Spreading AIDS Problem in the Porn Industry CBS News is reporting a second HIV+ performer: Many major pornographic movie producers, including the industry's largest, have agreed to shut down sets for 60 days because two stars tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS.Duh. I really wish that all the libertarian bloggers who are think it is so uncool to talk about monogamy, self-control, and reducing your number of sexual partners would wake up and smell the virii. There are some very, very good reasons to change sexual partners less often than you change houses, and this is one of the really obvious ones. A Heartbreaking Story Pete Drum blogged this over at the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog, and while it is clearly a legitimate use of a gun in self-defense by a civilian, it is also a very, very sad story for what it says about the shooter's circumstances: Every month, a frail, elderly woman paid her $70 for the tiny concrete closet she rented at a local storage facility. Inside the 5-foot by 10-foot unit, she kept clothing, a shopping cart and often herself and a beloved dog, police say.Torres's choice of attire and his past criminal history seem to nail this one down as a legitimate shooting. But this is so sad--an 80 year old woman living in a storage locker. The article seems to imply that she was mentally ill. How miserable to reach that stage of life without a place to live. Faux Bar Mitzvahs This is a very bizarre story by David Bernstein about how bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs have become so separated from their original religious significance that they are becoming the in thing for 13 year olds: If the leaders of the Jewish Community needed an impetus to try to discourage the ridiculously excessive bar and bat mitvzah parties that have become the norm in many large cities, this story in the April 26 People Magazine (not online) should be it:Yup. Something is desperately wrong here. It is, however, a pretty good sign of how profoundly peer pressure controls the lives of most teens. I suppose we should be glad that Jews circumcise their boys shortly after birth; I shudder to think of the consequences of traditional Muslim circumcision (done ages 10 to 12) becoming fashionable.She's got the deejay blasting Beyonce and a computerized light show. She has nearly 100 friends crammed into Manhattan's ritzy Bryant Park Grill. She's got the gift table groaning with Tiffany bags and guests greeting her dad at the door with "Mazel tov!" Everything is perfectly poised for 13-year-old Kimya to have a world- class bat mitzvah, except for one tiny detail: UPDATE: A Muslim reader tells me that he was circumcised shortly after birth in Egypt, and doesn't think circumcision at puberty is traditional at all. I would suspect that there are different traditions on this in different Islamic countries. Thursday, April 15, 2004
Alcohol: Taking The Top 30,000 Years Of Social Progress Clean Away It's just amazing how many people turn into idiots with enough booze on board: MIAMI -- Five passengers wrestled a drunken man off a jet after he threatened before takeoff to kill someone, and another intoxicated man on a different flight was arrested after tearing up his seat, according to federal charges filed Wednesday. More Dumb Criminals Here's a hint: if your gun has no barrel, it may not scare anyone: Covington police said a man chased a burglar out of his home Tuesday afternoon after noticing that the gun the burglar was using to threaten him had no barrel. Promiscuity & AIDS: But This Is About Heterosexuals Certainly not work-safe, this article is from the porn industry's news site: VAN NUYS, Calif. - Veteran performer Darren James was diagnosed as HIV-positive today, and Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM) went immediately into motion to make sure that the virus is contained, quarantining 12 women who have been identified as first-generation performers, women who have slept with James since his last negative HIV result.Sorry, but the more sexual partners you have, the more risk you are at. I thought that I had read that the porn industry had gone to using condoms while shooting films because of a similar scare several years ago. Tax Increase Proposed: Left Outraged Ah, but this is a tax on newspapers--which have been exempt from a tax that applies to many other businesses: JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) The Missouri House has voted to raise taxes on the state's two largest newspapers after an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch branded the Republican-led chamber the "House of Hypocrites."Revenge? Oh no. This is simply a matter of closing corporate tax loopholes to raise the money that they will need to provide the health coverage for those thousands of poor Missourians. Surely the left can't object to that. Seriously, taking revenge--if that is what happened--is really not okay. But I see no reason for newspapers to be treated "special." The left is constantly whining for increases in taxes--as long as those taxes don't affect rich people, but only affect those trying to become rich. Materialism As A Guiding Philosophy This kid clearly has his priorities straight: MIAMI, April 15 (Reuters) - A Florida teen charged with hiring an undercover policeman to shoot and kill his mother instructed the purported hitman not to damage the family television during the attack, police said on Thursday.Oh yes, the article ends with one of the great understatements: Police spokeswoman Kara Winton said the motive was related to domestic problems within the family, but declined to elaborate.Domestic problems? Yeah, that describes it. John Kerry, War Criminal? Columnist Armstrong Williams says that John Kerry claimed, on his return from Vietnam, that serious violations of both the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war, and the Hague Conventions on land warfare, were routinely violated in Vietnam by soldiers--including himself: Appearing on the Dick Cavett show in 1971, Kerry leaned toward the camera and offered this rousing confessional: ["I] did take part in free-fire zones, I did take part in harassment and interdiction fire, I did take part in search-and-destroy missions in which the houses of noncombatants were burned to the ground. And all of these acts, I find out later on, are contrary to the Hague and Geneva conventions and to the laws of warfare. So in that sense, anybody who took part in those, if you carry out the application of the Nuremberg Principles, is in fact guilty."If so, Kerry broke the law, both in his own actions, and failing to prevent other soldiers from doing so. "I was only following orders" has not been a legitimate defense since Nuremburg. And why should Kerry be President, when he clearly has no concept of right and wrong? Thanks to SondraK for the link. Racial Inferiority, Now and Forever Can you imagine it? Someone gave a speech recently in which they said that racial quotas are going to be needed for a long, long time--at least 25 years, and almost certainly much beyond that period of time--because minorities just aren't prepared for college. No, that's not a Klansman or a conservative saying that--it's a liberal, defending affirmative action programs: Racial disparities remain the most daunting challenge to equity in American education, according William G. Bowen, the 2004 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Distinguished Lecturer, who concluded his three-part lecture series on equity and excellence in American higher education yesterday in Ruffner Hall.How about pursuing policies that teach minorities to read? Bowen has to know that racial preferences are viewed with contempt by not only a majority of whites, but even a majority of blacks. They are a very questionable practice from a Constitutional standpoint, and by his own admission, he thinks it likely that they will still be needed in 25 years. Yet he seems to prefer such a dubious (I'm being charitable) approach to solving the underlying problem. Bowen clearly thinks that racial quotas are more defensible and politically acceptable than solving the underlying problem of inadequate preparation in the lower grades. There is nothing that more clearly typifies liberalism's bankruptcy than this--justifying racial discrimination and admitting inadequately prepared minorities to college, rather than demanding the changes to our educational system. What does it say when black Americans--whose ancestors have been speaking English for three centuries--are less competent to read than Hispanics, most of whom are first, second, or third generation Americans? Thanks to Discriminations for the link. Bin Laden On The Ropes? This last tape from bin Laden offers a "truce" to European nations if they withdraw forces from Iraq and Afghanistan. I think this is a pretty clear sign that bin Laden is in trouble. He is no longer engaged in a campaign against the entire West, but is trying to break up the Western coalition against terror by blackmailing the Europeans. For those Europeans that might be tempted: He is offering a "truce"--not peace. Bin Laden clearly does not see this as anything but a temporary measure--defeat America, then resume hostilities against what he clearly see as "Crusader" Europe. Of course, bin Laden is playing the Leftist card for all he can, claiming that U.S. intervention in Iraq was driven by commercial interests--even though U.S. commercial interests would have been best served by dropping the sanctions when Bush took office. It is no coincidence that the Left and bin Laden say the same things: they share the same values, including contempt for individual freedoms, contempt for Christianity, and contempt for the notion of liberal (in the broad sense of the word) democracy. As Instapundit likes to say: these guys aren't anti-war--they're on the other side. Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Treasury Yields Continuing To Climb I almost wrote "soar" but 5.2% yield on 30 year Treasury bonds as of 10:00 AM--that's barely getting off the ground. I can't really call it soaring. I'm so glad that just about everything in my bond portfolio is short-term. When 30 year Treasury bonds hit 6.5%, A-rated corporate bonds will be 7.5% to 9%, and I can go into semiretirement, and do this all day. Avoid Premature Statements of Victory No, I am not talking about "Mission Accomplished." My co-blogger Pete Drum found this gem in the Detroit Free Press: Woman kills attacker Class Action Lawsuit Abuse? I had mentioned a few weeks ago my misgivings about class action lawsuits where most of the money ends up with the lawyers, and relatively little with the injured parties. Overlawyered.com gives an example involving cosmetics: Critics warn the settlement would enrich class-action lawyers with up to $24 million in fees but could leave individual department-store customers with either nothing or little more than a tube of lipstick -- maybe even in an unpopular color."Let me again reiterate: I know that class action lawsuits serve two different purposes: 1. To assist injured parties with compensation. 2. To discourage improper behavior. Class action lawsuits that make the lawyers far more money than the injured parties might still be defensible based on the way in which they discourage improper behavior--but you might almost get the impression from cases like this that the primary purpose of some class action lawsuits is to enrich the lawyers. That should always be a side effect of either #1 or #2. Manufacturing Jobs Coming Back! This is doubtless the result of the fall in the value of the dollar: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in February as a combination of the weak U.S. dollar and stronger economic growth propelled both exports and imports to record levels, a government report showed on Wednesday.This stuff doesn't make itself; there are American workers (okay, American workers and illegals from all over the globe) making this stuff. Heavy Drinking & Brain Damage--And An Unexpected Set of Corrections to the Story! The story is, by itself, pretty important: WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - Heavy social drinkers show the same pattern of brain damage as hospitalized alcoholics -- enough to impair day-to-day functioning, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.But amusingly enough, the story itself has a list of corrections that makes you wonder what the writer's favorite beverage might include: brain damage - US study," please read in third paragraph ... the researchers at the University of California San Francisco wrote in their report ... instead of ... the researchers, at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and the University of California San Francisco. Why Can't John Kerry Read The Constitution? Kerry was busy raising money from his fellow limousine liberals, and delivered this stunning line: There's nothing conservative about blatantly violating that beautiful line drawn by our Founding Fathers that separates church and state in the United States of America.Huh? Where did they do that? Not in the text of the Constitution. There is a letter by Thomas Jefferson that uses that expression, but reading this article at the Library of Congress about the letter shows that Jefferson's position was one that was consciously contrary to the views held by many at the time: That Jefferson consulted two New England politicians about his messages indicated that he regarded his reply to the Danbury Baptists as a political letter, not as a dispassionate theoretical pronouncement on the relations between government and religion. His letter, he told Lincoln in his New Year's Day note, was meant to gratify public opinion in Republican strongholds like Virginia, "being seasoned to the Southern taste only."Interestingly enough, this letter went into obscurity almost immediately: During his lifetime, Jefferson could not have predicted that the language in his Danbury Baptist letter would have endured as long as some of his other arresting phrases. The letter was published in a Massachusetts newspaper a month after Jefferson wrote it and then was more or less forgotten for half a century. It was put back into circulation in an edition of Jefferson's writings, published in 1853, and reprinted in 1868 and 1871.Hmmm. That doesn't seem to match what Jefferson wrote at the time: "being seasoned to the Southern taste only." The other ironic touch to this is what Reynolds decided: the federal government had the authority to criminalize polygamy. In spite of Reynolds justification of the anti-polygamy law because polygamy promoted "patriarchy," the actual reason was simple, but the Court seemed reluctant to admit it: polygamy was contrary to the values of Christian America. The irony of liberal advocates of "separation of church and State" quoting a letter that first appeared in U.S. case law as a justification for suppressing a minority's strange notions of marriage is just too delicious. Oh yes, Jefferson's phrase notwithstanding, President Jefferson and President Madison (author of the Bill of Rights) both attended church services that were held regularly in the House of Representatives, and allowed executive branch buildings to be used for church services. The Role of Religion There are a lot of people out there who think that religion is a superstition at best, and a tool of social control at worst. Some of this crowd have the illusion that human beings aren't really fundamentally sinful in their nature. Then again, we get news stories like this that remind us that there are people that need a bit of social control--and perhaps living in post-Christian America (as this country seems to have become) isn't so wonderful: GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- A teen who wrote about wanting to do "horrible things" was sentenced to 50 years in prison for trying to kill a woman by driving up onto a sidewalk to hit her with his sport utility vehicle.To the credit of Robbins' teacher: At a hearing last year, the police officer assigned to C.M. Russell High School testified that school officials had met with Robbins and his parents several times after his teacher alerted them to the boy's "resolutions."UPDATE: Then again, there are news items like this: ROSE HILL, Va. -- The minister of a church in far southwest Virginia has died after being bitten by a snake during church services.Then again, this part of the story does fit into the multicultural mantra: The sheriff says he doubts any charges will be filed, because, in his words, "it's their belief." Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Precedents? Precedents? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Precedents! Overlawyered.com reports that U.S. Judge Weinstein of New York has chosen to ignore New York appellate court ruling that lawsuits against gun makers based on "public nuisance" theory--allowing a suit to proceed based on the same theory. The gun prohibitionists have been pursuing a really novel theory--one so novel that even most judges have refused to buy into it. Essentially, gun makers are to be held responsible because they sell guns to distributors, who sell them to wholesalers, who sell them to retail dealers--all of whom are licensed by the federal government (and in many cases, by state governments and city governments). Somewhere after the retail dealer makes a sale, a gun changes hands, perhaps by a sale lawful in that state, perhaps unlawfully, perhaps by burglary. The gunrunner then violates federal law by taking the gun to New York City, where the gun is transferred in violation of New York State law, where it is used to commit a felony. The manufacturer is therefore to be held responsible for violations of law that take place months to years after they sell it, to persons that they do not know, with whom they not only have no contractural relationship, but who may have no contractural relationship with any lawful buyer. I wish that I could build up the energy to be outraged, but Weinstein's history of blatant advocacy in such suits demonstrates that he is not only too partial to sit as a judge in such a case, but also that Congress should consider impeachment hearings. Weinstein's history on these suits is essentially, "What do you mean? Six strikes and I'm out?" The Right To Define Your Own Species What? This article by Kevin Drum makes fun of those benighted sorts in Westminster, California, who refused to obey a state law: In a series of votes over recent months, the three-trustee majority on the five-member board has made the Westminster School District the only one of 1,056 in California to resist a state law that lets students and staff define their own gender. Such a policy, the trustees say, could lead to promotion of a transsexual agenda in the classroom, cross-dressing on campus and boys and girls mixing in school bathrooms.Let's see: the Mayor of San Francisco thinks he has the right to ignore state law because it defines marriage as between man and wife, and that makes him a cool, compassionate, and courageous sort, but a school district decided that it won't let students and employees "define their own gender" and that makes them knuckle-draggers? So what is this "define their own gender" thing? On Planet Earth, there are males and females--and a very few unlucky hermaphrodites. But in the Brave New World of Planet California, everyone gets to define their own gender. Perhaps we can use all those lovely, irrational, and arbitrary words for mesons such as spin, charm, strangeness, and beauty. But why narrow ourselves to defining one's own gender? Why not your own species? Why should the government be allowed to define us as human beings? Why can't I define myself as species homo claytonesis, and free myself from the obligations to obey laws that I don't like? Wow! I Had No Idea The Right Wing Controlled Every Major Institution in America... With the exception of the universities! But it says it right here: Catherine Lutz, a former UNC professor of anthropology who received death threats for organizing campus teach-ins during the run-up to the war in Afghanistan, is even more forthright.No, seriously, these loons seriously think this--and worse, they think that expecting anthropology professors to actually teach anthropology, instead of whining about politics to their students during lectures, is some form of oppression: The Anthropology 10 class began meeting just as the United States was invading Iraq, and Greene decided she couldn't ignore the intersection of current events and course materials--which included a book on a Shiite village in southern Iraq.Oh yes, this definitely sounds like it is part of what students (and taxpayers) are paying Professor Greene to do. There are definitely times when a current event fits into the subject matter. There are classes where I don't see how you could avoid it, such as history, or political science. But even then, I expect a professor to be somewhat careful not to turn a classroom into a political indoctrination session. Last semester, I didn't shy away from discussions of current events in Constitutional History, but I was also careful to make sure that I did not let questions from students turn into a chance to rant and rave. That simply isn't appropriate; the class was Constitutional History, not Clayton Cramer's Political Opinions. Thanks to Discriminations for alerting me to this. Rising Long Term Treasury Yields: A Sign of Recovering Economy As of 10:00 AM this morning, the bid/ask yield range for 30 year Treasury bonds is 5.134-5.136%. Well, yes, it is also a sign of the deficits the government is going to be running for several years, but those deficits have been visible for a couple of years. Rising yields now means that a lot of people with serious money believe that the economy is going to be running on all cylinders for a couple of years, creating some inflationary pressures. I just bought some GM bonds due 6/15/2004 with a 1.41% annualized yield, and some California State bonds due 6/23/2004 with a 1% annualized yield. (Remember that munis are exempt from federal income tax.) Consider how low the risk is, these are pretty decent returns. Thomas Sowell On The 9/11 Commission He points out that some members of the commission seem to be engaged more in political grandstanding than in finding the cause of the intelligence failure. He also points out that Bush (and Clinton, for that matter) were between a rock and a hard place as to what to do about al-Qaeda before 9/11: Commission member and former Senator Bob Kerrey argued that President Bush had enough information on the terrorist networks before September 11th to ask Congress for a declaration of war on them.Yup. The left would have insisted (as they insist now) that 9/11 was our fault. How Did I Miss This Q&A Involving Richard Clarke? Charles Krauthammer: The most telling remark Clarke made in the entire hearing was one that did not make the cover of Newsweek. The Democratic Party Gives Up The Moral High Ground On Poverty Charles Krauthammer has an intriguing column about how the Democratic Party has given up the high moral ground on eliminating poverty--and the way that he phrases the argument may startle you: "This is the first generation in all of recorded history that can do something about the scourge of poverty. We have the means to do it. We can banish hunger from the face of the Earth."I can't claim that I am surprised. The Democratic Party's supposed concern for the little guy, at least throughout most of my life, has been a method of gathering votes for the poorly informed while redistributing wealth from middle class and working poor people to con men (like Jesse Jackson) and large corporations. Monday, April 12, 2004
This Is Rude I have been updating my list of publishers that I have queried about my book. Of 43 publishers or literary agents that I queried more than four months ago, 19 did not even bother to send a postcard saying, "Thanks, but we don't have space for it." Are Guns Necessary? I have had a rather interesting conversation with a history professor recently who, while he supports restrictive gun control, appreciated my efforts in exposing Bellesiles's fraud. In the course of that conversation, this history professor suggested that there is really little need for Americans to own guns--while complaining about the enormous number of bystanders who are killed by law-abiding citizens who miss attackers. When I asked him to give me a list of five such incidents (other than the Hattori death in Baton Rouge), he did not respond. There are bystanders getting killed, but almost always because gang members are shooting at their enemies. I (well, mostly my co-blogger Pete Drum) have been gathering up incidents from web-published newspapers for many months listing civilian uses of guns in self-defense--we have no problem finding at least one such incident per day that was reported, and that we came across. Not every incident is spectacularly wonderful; a few involve low-lifes engaged in lawful acts of self-defense; some show less than perfect wisdom or common sense. Many, however, are incidents where only a raving lunatic would argue against the morality of using a gun. Then there are incidents like this one, where the homeowner didn't have a gun--but should have: A Summit County man used a barbell, two golf clubs and a fireplace poker to drive a persistent intruder out of his Keystone home early Sunday morning.This is a very determined criminal--someone that broke two golf clubs with his face. Vicious Stereotyping From Liberals Make sure that you read this column about the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh. Next weekend should prove to be one of much hilarity and light-hearted shenanigans for the 50,000 firearms enthusiasts who will pour into the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown, for the National Rifle Association's 133rd annual convention. How Not To Flunk A Class I just received a very nasty note from a student from last semester, very upset with me because he received an F. (What? It's been almost four months since the grades came out?) There are no guarantees, but not turning in a term paper, and not taking the final exam--well, those are generally considered effective ways to get an F. In fact, I believe the only students who received Fs were the ones that didn't turn in a term paper and didn't take the final exam. I guess I'm not just mean and cranky. Another Sign of How Successful Gun Control Has Been in Chicago From the Chicago Sun-Times: Gunshot detection technology -- capable of "triangulating within 20 feet" the location of a shooting -- is being added to 30 surveillance cameras already in place on high-crime corners and to 50 new cameras expected to be installed by late summer at undisclosed locations.Pretty obviously, it makes lots of Americans nervous to have cameras everywhere on public streets--a little too reminiscient of the telescreens in 1984. But there has never been an expectation of privacy in public places. There is no difference between a camera watching a street and a police officer watching a street. Of course, Mayor Daley manages to put his foot in his mouth defending the cameras and gunshot listening devices: If there were enough dirty money to go around, Mayor Daley said he would love to see cameras installed on every street corner in Chicago.A little bit more usefully stated is this comment from someone living in one of the neighborhoods under the eye of the cameras: During the first seven months of "Operation Disruption," calls for service in the areas surrounding the 30 cameras dropped by 44 percent. Narcotics calls for service are down 76 percent. Serious crime is down 17 percent and other crimes are down 46 percent.Of course, the cameras may just be moving criminals to other neighborhoods. I would be curious to know what the change in crime rates has been for the whole city. Kansas Concealed Weapon Permit Law on the Governor's Desk Here's the legislative history. I understand that the governor isn't particularly supportive. Time to call! Contact the GovernorAnd click here to send email. Bar Owner Gets Robbed; Takes Down "No Guns" Sign In downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, after Minnesota adopted a shall-issue concealed weapon permit law, a number of businesses put up "no guns" signs. This account tells about a bar that changed its tune after being robbed. (I guess the robbers had the nerve to ignore the sign.) It's what I'd call a quirky neighborhood bar; if you want to call it a dive, I wouldn't argue, as long as you smiled when you said that. Fun place, although definitely quirky, and decorated with a lot of handmade signs, some of which I can't quote and keep my self-established PG rating on this blog.A person capable of learning! Ephedra Ban: A Personal Account The FDA is considering banning sales of ephedra: The manufacturer of a popular diet supplement containing ephedra urged a judge to block a nationwide ban on the herbal stimulant that was taking effect Monday, arguing that there is no proof it is dangerous if used properly.Ah, but it's "natural," some of you may be saying. How bad can it be? Back about twenty years now, one of my sisters, who was the last of the beatniks and the first of the hippies, told me that this natural herbal tea, called "Breath Easy" would help my sinus congestion problems. What the heck, I decided to give it a try. I have had a problem with migraine headaches, occasionally, since junior high. Within an hour of drinking a cup of "Breath Easy," which contained ephedra, I had my first migraine headache with visual disturbances: patches of color; zones of darkness; all in all, quite frightening. Ever since then, migraine headaches, when I have them, often have these visual disturbances. Perhaps it is just a coincidence that ever since that day, I have had these dramatic visual disturbances with migraines, where I never had them before. I am more inclined to suspect that the ephedra altered how my nervous system responds to migraines. (You can read a quick explanation of migraine headaches here.) Ephedra is on my "don't touch" list. |
