The advertising above is just a source of revenue, and sometimes, I don't know what will appear there.
Unique grips and accessories for your 1911!
Relocating to Boise? Use my realtor, neighbor, and friend, Cindy Smith csmith@1realtyone.com.
Magazines for cheap!
PayPal members: to make a contribution
Email me at blogmail at claytoncramer dot com. Sorry to be so indirect, but all spambots must die! But they haven't died yet! Include the word spamIamnot in your subject line to make sure that my spam blocker lets you through.
Labels: child sexual abuse, homosexuality Labels: house project Labels: house project
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).
Sorry, high pressure isn't included.
My nephew Shippy makes very pretty ceramic items. Click here to visit his online studio. Give someone one of these, and you can be sure that they don't already have one!
Click here to find out why the Amazon.com Honor System paybox is no longer here.
RSS feed
Other blogs you may enjoy:
My civilian gun defense use blog
My daughter's blog
Pete Drum's Web Page
Gun Laws Don't Work
instapundit.com
Dissecting Leftism -- By John Ray
A courageous Briton arguing for relaxing Britain's gun control laws
Right Thoughts
Final Protective Fire
Amitai Etzioni's Blog
Scrappleface -- Dangerously Clever Satire
Michael Williams -- Master of None
Another Conservative Blogger
A Group Blog By Iraqis
THE MESOPOTAMIAN: TO BRING ONE MORE IRAQI VOICE OF THE SILENT MAJORITY TO THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD
Specializing in discussions of discrimination and affirmative action
An Iraqi dentist
Promoting children being raised by their own parents
A federal law clerk opines about the law
Michelle Malkin's blog
Impearls: a blog as electic and interesting as mine
Proving that the United States military does more than kill people and break things.
May not agree with this group on everything, but stopping the ACLU is high on my list
A conservative/moderate black blogger.
Another sensible American
Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party
Music, Politics, Motorcycles
Maggie's Farm: Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
A blog dedicated to "Documenting Saddam Hussein's support of Terrorism"
The blog of one of my fellow bloggers on the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog
J. Norman Heath's Blog--a circus rigger and Second Amendment scholar (really!)
Buckeye Firearms Association, for you Ohio gun owners and activists
Click here for a FREE NEWSLETTER on Ohio Gun Rights from Buckeye Firearms Association!
Another conservative.
Neocon Blues
Conservative Oasis
Other Idaho Bloggers
Bubbleheads is a retired submariner
An Idaho State University student. A Democrat. Someday, she'll start paying income taxes and change.
A retired Las Vegas stagehand, of all things.
archives
Search only this site: Click here and enter your search string at the beginning of the search field.
Kansas Supreme Court Revisits Limon Post-Lawrence
Briefly, the Kansas Supreme Court refused to accept the ACLU's argument that minors had a "liberty interest" in having sex with adults, but did rule that the Kansas statute that punished adults having homosexual sex with minors more severely than adults having heterosexual sex with minors violated the equal protection clause. The argument is a bit complex, but there argument really comes down to this: Kansas had no rational basis for treating heterosexual child molesters less harshly than homosexual child molesters: As this review of the legislative history reflects, there is nothing in the legislative record regarding the legislative purpose for adding the opposite sex requirement. The only legislative purposes recorded relate to the general goal of less harsh punishment for those 18 years old and younger who had voluntary sex with another teen who was at least 14 and the goal of adjusting sentence disparities. It was opponents to the legislation who raised public health and moral concerns and none of them related to the difference between heterosexual and homosexual conduct.
I don't dispute this. I see no reason why an adult molesting a minor should be treated lightly--the minor in most cases lacks the capacity to make this decision, and in all cases, the minor lacks the right to make major decisions like this; that's the parents' job. As some of the opponents to this special treatment observed: "2. LEGAL. . . . What is the state interest in making a distinction based on the difference in age? Is the victim less fondled or, in the extreme case, made less pregnant, simply because a defendant is near her own age? . . ." Testimony on S.B. 131 before the House Judiciary Committee, March 16, 1999.
Now, there's one aspect of this decision that bothers me a great deal:
The Reno County Attorney testified that the law "will send a dangerous message to the young men and women of this State . . . that fourteen and fifteen year old girls are entitled to less protection and it is somehow less of an offense if the perpetrator happens to be near them in age." He noted that not all sexual relations between teenagers involve romantic relationships. Testimony on S.B. 131 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, February 11, 1999. Representatives of the Kansas Peace Officers' Association and the Attorney General also opposed the provision, objecting on similar grounds. Kansas Peace Officers' Testimony on S.B. 131 before the House Judiciary Committee, March 16, 1999; Attorney General's Testimony on S.B. 131 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, February 11, 1999. Thus, we are directed in our equal protection analysis by the United States Supreme Court's holding in Lawrence that moral disapproval of a group cannot be a legitimate governmental interest.
Our whole legal system is built on the idea that members of some "groups" are immoral, and should be punished: robbers; burglars; rapists; murderers; confidence men; drunk drivers. Now, you might want to argue that homosexuality isn't in the same category as these "groups," and I would not disagree. But the claim that "moral disapproval of a group cannot be a legitimate governmental interest" would mean scrapping most of our legal system. The U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence really meant, "government isn't allowed to disapprove of this group."
What is rather amusing is that the ACLU wanted the "Romeo and Juliet" provision rewritten to apply to both heterosexual and homosexual molestation, so that Limon could be resentenced with the much lighter provisions: Limon asks this court to: (1) strike the language from the Romeo and Juliet statute that limits its application to members of the opposite sex and (2) reverse and remand this case with instructions that the State initiate any further proceedings under the Romeo and Juliet law within 30 days. The State argues that this court cannot judicially rewrite the statute and contends that, if the court were to declare the challenged classification unconstitutional, it must nullify the statute.
The Kansas Supreme Court spent some time justifying striking the entire age difference provision--so that instead of Limon getting the lighter sentence, heterosexual molesters no longer get a lighter sentence: We hold K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-3522 unconstitutional as violating the equal protection provisions of the United States and Kansas Constitutions and strike from the statute the words "and are members of the opposite sex." We further hold that Limon's conviction and sentence for criminal sodomy pursuant to K.S.A. 21-3505(a)(2) violate his right to equal protection of the laws.
The net result is that molesting kids, regardless of sexual orientation, is now a serious crime in Kansas--as it should well be.
We further grant Limon's requested remedy of imposing a time limit upon further proceedings in this case and order that the State will have 30 days in which to: (1) charge Limon under the provisions of K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-3522 without the words "members of the opposite sex" or (2) take other action.
UPDATE: Several readers have told that I have misread the decision concerning the change to the law. Indeed I did. They didn't remove the Romeo-and-Juliet provision--which would have made sense, considering that they pointed to evidence of legislative concern that heterosexual relationships with a four year age gap can be quite destructive--they removed the exemption for heterosexual relationships. They did give the ACLU what it wanted--equality of treatment for homosexuals not by making heterosexual molestation more severely punished, by making homosexual molestation less severely punished. I am disappointed.
Where Did Al-Qaeda Get Its Money?
Perhaps, indirectly, from the U.S. taxpayers, through our "contributions" to the U.N.: NEW YORK — The scandal engulfing the United Nations Procurement Department (search) now appears to be bottomless. It also shows signs of growing more sinister, especially where it involves a mysterious private company called IHC Services (search), which did big business with the procurement department until it was removed from U.N. rosters in June.
Read the whole story; it makes a strong argument for cleaning house at the U.N. (perhaps with flamethrowers).
New details of how dark the scandal could prove to be have emerged from the private sale of IHC on June 3, 2005, just as the procurement scandal was about to break. It now appears that while doing business with the U.N., IHC had links both to Saddam Hussein’s old sanctions-busting networks, and to a Liechtenstein-based businessman, Engelbert Schreiber, Jr., known among other things for his ties to a figure designated by the U.N. itself as a financier of Al Qaeda (search).
Registered in New York State, with offices in New York City and Milan, IHC has been involved in possibly hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of business with the U.N. since the mid-1990s, serving both as a direct supplier and as a go-between for a wide variety of other contractors. This work has included IHC’s signing or helping to broker contracts for supplies ranging from portable generators to rations for U.N. peacekeeping troops in such trouble spots as West Africa and the Middle East.
IHC came under public scrutiny this summer, after FOX News broke the story on June 20 that IHC had maintained especially close ties with Alexander Yakovlev (search), a Russian official in the U.N. procurement department, who while handling an IHC contract with the U.N. had obtained a job for his son with the company, and had also been channeling funds to a secret offshore bank account.
Yakovlev resigned two days after the story broke. On August 8, he was accused by Paul Volcker’s U.N.-authorized probe into the Oil-for-Food scandal of taking more than $950,000 in bribes on $79 million worth of U.N. contracts. Yakovlev pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to charges of corruption, and he became a cooperating witness in the continuing federal investigation that last month led to the indictment of Vladimir Kuznetsov, head of the U.N. budget oversight committee. Kuznetsov says he is innocent.
Amid all this, one of the big mysteries has been: Who were the people who owned IHC? The answer still lies hidden behind a maze of front companies and affiliations that zig-zag from New York to Milan to the financial havens of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. But from documents finalizing the sale of IHC on June 3, 2005, some further details can be gleaned.
Corporate board minutes of IHC, obtained by FOX News, had mentioned a “sole shareholder” of IHC. The sole shareholder, according to the June sales documents on IHC, turns out to have been an even more mysterious company called Torno S.A.H. (search), based in the financial haven of Luxembourg. And Torno, in turn, had two major shareholders who approved the sale of Torno’s 100% interest in IHC. One of these shareholders was a Milan-based businessman, Dario Fischer (search), a director of IHC since at least 1996, who at the time of the sale was chairman of the board.
The other shareholder in Torno S.A.H., who gave his proxy to Fischer to approve the sale, was a man named Engelbert Schreiber, Jr. (search) He has been linked, either directly or through father-son family business, to a number of Liechtenstein enterprises affiliated at various times from the 1970s through at least the year 2000 with Ahmed Idris Nasreddin (search), a man designated as a terrorist financier by the U.S. and U.N. shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.
Interesting Story For What Is Left Unsaid
As you know, along with my co-blogger Pete Drum, I run the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog, where we record with minimal comment excerpts from news stories of civilians engaging in lawful self-defense with guns in the United States. When I started that blog, I expected to find, along with a lot of completely righteous victims fighting back, at least a few criminals who were engaged in otherwise lawful self-defense. Drug dealers get robbed, of course, and are often armed. What has surprised me is how rare this has turned out to be.
I also confess that I expected to find quite a few cases (perhaps 15-20%) that fit the model that gun control advocates claim is common: people that could have safely backed away from a confrontation, but used a gun when they really didn't need to do so. Remember that we are relying on news accounts of these incidents, and the news media, overall, are pretty biased against gun ownership, so I would expect that the news coverage of what I call "legal but unnecessary uses" would not miss the chance to impugn the intelligence or morals of the defenders. While I haven't kept statistics on this, I have been startled at how few situations fit that description. There have been a few--but very few.
It is interesting to read a news account like this one that leaves no question that the authorities consider this to be a legitimate act of self-defense--but there's a lot of implications hidden between the lines: CLARION - The 21-year-old Clarion University student who was shot to death Wednesday night was one of two intruders in an attempted robbery at the South Fifth Avenue residence, authorities announced Friday.
Okay, so far, clear enough--Rusnock sounds like a complete victim in this, giving Mills a chance to not die. Then you see these odd statements in the story:
Clarion County District Attorney Mark Aaron and Trooper Jamie LeVier, a spokesman for the state police, provided more details about the incident at a joint press conference held at the university health and science education center.
Kristopher Mills, a junior at the university, died after he was shot in the back, officials said.
Police say Mills and another university student, Jason T. Vaughn of Pittsburgh, had entered the residence of two other university students - Zachary Snyder and Christopher Rusnock - in what is being termed a home invasion.
Vaughn, 21, has been charged with robbery, burglary, criminal conspiracy (aggravated assault), criminal conspiracy (robbery) and criminal trespass - all felonies. Those were the only charges announced Friday by officials.
Court documents filed with District Judge Dan George said Mills allegedly "broke down the locked bedroom door of Rusnock and drew a handgun and pointed it at Rusnock."
The court papers say Rusnock allegedly shouted "don't do it" to Mills. Rusnock then allegedly drew a handgun of his own and fired it at Mills, striking him once, according to the papers. Aaron and LeVier said the incident is still very much under investigation and additional arrests are possible.
Of who? They have already decided that Rusnock's use of deadly force was legitimate--and the only other invader has been arrested. Ballistics tests are pending, the district attorney said, as are autopsy results.
If they have made a decision not to charge Rusnock with killing Mills, what is being investigated?
Coroner Roland V. "Rollie" Burns said Thursday an autopsy was performed showing Mills had died as a result of a single gunshot wound. He was shot in the back, Burns said.
Aaron and LeVier were asked whether a confession had been made and what led to the charges that were filed in the case.
LeVier said charges are based on information officials have received, and he declined to comment further as it could jeopardize the investigation. Officials also remain tight-lipped about the motivation for the alleged home invasion.
To avoid libeling Rusnock, and also to avoid biasing a jury pool (since you know what an enormous readership I must have in Clarion, Pennsylvania), I won't say anything more, but the intelligent reader can read between the lines on this, I think.
"The motivation is a very important part of our investigation," said Aaron.
There were a number of crimes involved, but the underlying crime is burglary, LeVier added.
They would not say whether Mills and Vaughn knew the residents.
...
Members of Mills' family also were present and questioned Aaron and LeVier about the response to the incident.
They asked why it took so long to notify the family and why the residents did not call police to report the home invasion.
LeVier said it was not their intention to dispute what happened that night.
...
Reporters also asked the district attorney about drug activity in the area and whether the problem is significant.
"Drugs are present," Aaron replied.
However, he said, he doesn't consider it any more of a problem here than in any other community across the state.
He added a county drug task force is being established and "we're attempting to take a more aggressive stance" in that area.
I'm Glad Michael Brown No Longer Runs FEMA
Michelle Malkin has images of the emails back and forth between the FEMA grunts actually trying to save lives, and what it shows about Michael Brown is pretty telling.
As she points out, this doesn't excuse the incompetence of state and city officials, but it sure suggests that Michael Brown was unqualified for his position. Harriet Miers might have been a better choice.
Has Australia Perfected The Robotic Meter Maid?
You might wonder: SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian authorities have apologized to the family of an elderly man who was given a parking ticket while he lay dead in his car in a suburban shopping center.
The 71-year-old man, known to be seriously ill, went missing nine days ago and his body was found in his car in a shopping mall car park in a Melbourne suburb, police said.
A parking ticket had been placed on the car the day before his body was found.
Bizarre Misuses of An Image
One of the more surprising aspects of the movie Blast From the Past which I praised highly a few days ago, was a scene where our hero goes into a nightclub called the "40s Club." At the time the movie came out, swing dancing had come back in a very big way (my daughter was doing a lot of at the time), and of course, our hero, being raised in an underground idealized 1950s America, turns out to be the best dancer in the place.
One startling aspect of this scene was a Humphrey Bogart lookalike delivering the line out of Casablanca about "of all the gin joints" that she could have come in--but altered into a welcoming speech to the guests. I don't know if this was a piece of video magic, or just one of the many excellent Bogie lookalikes that are out there--but it really worked!
Here's a lookalike use that doesn't sound like it should work at all: BEIJING (Reuters) - Late Chairman Mao Zedong is experiencing a revival in northeast China, but in an unlikely role -- as a wedding MC.
There's no picture of him in the article, nor could I find one with Google. I guess Mao hasn't been sufficiently demonized by history in China yet. Somehow, I can't picture weddings MCed by an Adolf Hitler lookalike (except at very odd weddings).
Li Shouxin, an actor in his 50s and dead-ringer for Mao in a trademark blue suit, was in great demand among soon-to-be-weds in Changchun, Jilin province, and played the part at an average five to six weddings a month, the China Daily said Friday.
"At weddings, Li begins with a typical Mao-style wave to guests before greeting people in the strong Hunan brogue of the leader's home province," the report said.
"He then invites the happy couples' parents to speak and tells anecdotes about the newly weds."
Really Good Article About The Nigerian Scammers
You know all that email you get that starts out in very fractured English, "You are probably surprised to be receiving this email, since we have not previously made your acquaintance"? The guy (rarely, girl) has access to tens of millions of dollars--but to get the money, he needs some assistance from you. Respond to the email, and you will soon be asked to provide bank account numbers, perhaps front a few hundred or a few thousand dollars to set up the transaction--and if you are really gullible, they persuade you to fly to Nigeria, where you can be robbed by people claiming to be the police. (This Los Angeles Times article indicates that they may actually be police.)
Anyway, the important quote is this from "Samuel" who has recently stopped doing this line of work: Scammers, he said, "have the belief that white men are stupid and greedy. They say the American guy has a good life. There's this belief that for every dollar they lose, the American government will pay them back in some way."
Just about every email scam like this that I have bothered to read emphasizes that the transaction is somewhat shady--that either the money was stolen from a government ministry, or it belongs to someone else, who died without heirs--something that indicates that you are getting something that you don't deserve, with little or no effort on your part. I can't ever approve of fraud, but the saying, "You can't cheat an honest man" certainly applies to the vast majority of these scams.
This Isn't Just About Fraud
It's also about corporations that need to pull in the reins a bit on what is often euphemistically called "customer development": American Express is suing the CEO of a communications company for payment of $241,000 worth of disputed credit card charges at a Manhattan topless club.
Scores might indeed be dishonest about the charges, but there are a lot of corporations that are turning a blind eye to outrageous amounts of money being spent on prostitution and "adult entertainment." I worked in Marketing for one company some years back, and ended up going to Atlanta for a trade show. I went to the state archives; the rest of the group that I worked in (all married) went to a lap dance place--and I understand that hundreds of dollars categorized as "drinks" ended up on the expense report.
American Express says in papers filed in state court that Savvis Inc. chief executive officer Robert A. McCormick was in the club Scores in October 2003 with at least three other men.
After McCormick got the $241,000 corporate credit card bill, Savvis called American Express and complained that some of the charges were fraudulent, the lawsuit says. The communications company said its chief disputed all but about $20,000, according to the lawsuit.
"We firmly believe that Mr. McCormick was the victim of fraud," said Deena Williamson, Savvis's deputy general counsel. She declined to comment further.
...
The lawsuit filed Wednesday against McCormick and Savvis is at least the third in the past two years involving contested credit card charges at Scores. One patron sued the club after he got a $28,000 bill and another disputed $129,000 in charges.
After a lawsuit last year, Hanover said that "high rollers" visiting Scores' "super elite Presidents' Club" spend thousands of dollars on single bottles of champagne and tip strippers as much as $10,000 for lap dances and for spending time with them.
The district attorney's office has said it is investigating alleged overcharging at Scores.
Even if the morality of this doesn't bother you, the inefficiency should. There comes a certain point where these are not legitimate business expenses. You don't have to eat at fast food burger joints every night (although I did do so on several nights of that trip--to the amusement of our Accounting Department), but neither do you need to be spending money on lap dances marked on receipts as "drinks."
Promoting Genocide
Would you believe it? There's a professor who makes Professor Ward Churchill's statement calling the victims of the 9/11 attacks "little Eichmanns" seem moderate. This guy argues that all members of a particular race on this planet should be exterminated. You thought this had gone out of fashion with the death of Adolf Hitler, didn't you? Well, I'm afraid not. From Carolina Journal Online: RALEIGH — A Raleigh activist and bookstore owner told a panel at Howard University Law School on Oct. 14 that the solution to many of the problems faced by black people is the extermination of “white people off the face of the planet.” Dr. Kamau Kambon, who taught Africana Studies 241 in the Spring 2005 semester at North Carolina State University, also said this needs to be done “because white people want to kill us.”
Professor Mike Adams gives a bit more of the context of the quote, but it doesn't help Kambon:
Addressing a panel on “Hurricane Katrina Media Coverage,” broadcast in its entirety on C-SPAN, Kambon told the audience that white people “have retina scans, they have what they call racial profiling, DNA banks, and they’re monitoring our people to try to prevent the one person from coming up with the one idea. And the one idea is, how we are going to exterminate white people because that in my estimation is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem.”
Kambon’s solution received slight applause in the room, to which he responded, “I don’t care whether you clap or not, but I’m saying to you that we need to solve this problem because they are going to kill us.”And then finally I want to say that we need one idea, and we're not thinking about a solution to the problem. We're thinking about all these other things, but we're not dealing with a solution to the problem. And we have to start to think about a solution to the problem so that these young brothers and sisters who are here now, who are 15, 16 or 17, are not here 25 years later talking about these same problems.
Now, Mike Adams says that North Carolina State University claims that Kambon is no longer affiliated with them--but at least as of right now, Kambon does continue to appear on their web site:
Now how do I know that the white people know that we are going to come up with a solution to the problem? I know it because they have retina scans, they have what they call racial profiling, DNA banks, and they’re monitoring our people to try to prevent the one person from coming up with the one idea. And the one idea is, how we are going to exterminate white people because that in my estimation is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem. Now I don’t care whether you clap or not, but I’m saying to you that we need to solve this problem because they are going to kill us. And I will leave on that. So we just have to just set up our own system and stop playing and get very serious and not be diverted from coming up with a solution to the problem and the problem on the planet is white people. Other Affiliated Faculty of Instructors
Do you suppose that calling for the extermination of an entire race is protected as "academic freedom"?
Dr. Samuel T. Addo, University of Ghana-Legon, West Africa (Geography)
Dr. Theresa Edwards, Raleigh, North Carolina (Africana Studies)
Dr. Walter Jackson (History)
Dr. Kamau Kambon, Raleigh, North Carolina (Africana Studies)
I am beginning to see why I don't really have any future in academia.
UPDATE: I guess the web page wasn't updated when he wasn't rehired at the end of the spring semester.
Quick! Call The ACLU!
To quote Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and Lawrence v. Texas (2003) quoting Casey: These matters, involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.
The news story is too gross to quote in full: A man was arrested after neighbors reported seeing him sexually assaulting his family's 10-year-old female Rottweiler, police said.
And then it gets really unpleasant.
Ubaldo Vasquez Huizar, 39, was arrested for investigation of two counts of sexual assault on an animal, according to a statement from Ontario police Detective David McBride.
Detectives learned of the alleged crimes after going to Huizar's home to notify him that he was required to register as a sex offender, the statement said. Huizar had been convicted last December of exposing himself to an 11-year-old girl, police said.
He also was wanted on an outstanding $10,000 drug warrant.
He was convicted of exhibitionism last December and the police were just now getting around to arresting him?
Need Large Quantity of Very Small Silicone Gasket Sealant Tubes
The typical size of silicone gasket sealant is 2.8 oz. or 3 oz. I need a source for really, really small tubes--say, 0.5 oz., and at an appropriately reduced price. I will need dozens of them, and on a recurring basis.
I have decided that optimum performance of the ScopeRoller 11 and ScopeRoller Titan caster assemblies will be achieved by including a small tube of gasket sealant. I've discovered that this makes such a tight fit that the slop problems that have troubled some customers just go away if we put a little on the leg inserts. For reasons of cost and shipping weight, I want a really, really tiny quantity of this stuff. I've been out using Froogle, but I haven't found anyone selling smaller tubes than 2.8 oz.
Understanding Multiculturalism
Apparently the Dutch Minister of Integration, Rita Verdonk, has announced that, "The time for cosy tea-drinking with Muslim groups is over.Â? She has made it clear that Muslim immigrants can either integrate into Dutch society, or enjoy their tour of the Netherlands before returning home. She is looking for some way to prohibit the wearing of burkhas in public!
Anyway, in the midst of a discussion of what this gutsy politician is doing, David Warren manages to articulate what I have long hated about multiculturalism: Now, in the multicultural view, anything is okay, so long as it is not traditional. Gay marriage is okay, pornography is okay, public prostitution is okay, abortion and euthanasia are okay, and of course, massive immigration from non-Western societies is more than okay. Indeed, anything that tends to dissolve the traditional order of society is okay. On the other hand, any effort to preserve traditional social and family structures, and their supporting moral order, is marked as Â?oppressiveÂ? under proliferating Â?human rights codesÂ?.
Exactly. Every culture, to a multiculturalist, is equally valuable--except America's culture, because it is Christian, narrow, and conservative.
Traditional doesn't make something okay. In some parts of the country, "traditional" meant racism, separate and crummy schools for blacks, and lynching. In too many parts of the country, "traditional" still means that education is a waste of time, and a woman's place is in the kitchen--not talking about politics with the men.
Multiculturalism's problem is not that it objects to destructive cultural artifacts in America--it is that it refuses to levy equivalent criticism of Middle Eastern clitordectomy, the hip-hop culture that degrades women, and mass murder and rape when committed by thugs in Darfur and Baghdad. There are behaviors that are right and wrong--and the wrong ones are not confined to the United States.
An Interesting Transaction Costs Problem
My stepmother-in-law really can't (or shouldn't) drive anymore. She is now living in Canada--but her 1992 Nissan Sentra can't be driven there. Apparently the automatic seatbelts used on that model year for U.S. cars aren't lawful in Canada, so her sons can't use the car themselves, or sell it in Canada. The car has a few minor dents on the outside, but works well, and has no major problems. (I drove it up from California to Idaho.)
They can take it back to the United States to sell it--but they are far enough from the border that it isn't just a matter of running an ad in the paper, and waiting for people to come and look at it. (They can't legally drive it in Canada, anyway. They will have to have it towed or carried to the U.S.--about $200 or so.)
Car dealers in Bellingham will only give them about $1100 for it--and it is in pretty good shape. The sons offered to give it to either of my kids--but the time and cost of travelling to Vancouver to get it makes this far less attractive than it first appears.
If there was someone in Washington State who had a rig that could tow or carry this Nissan, and spend a little time getting the California title transferred to Washington, they could pick this pretty nice car up for a bargain price.
Why Bush Picked Miers
Dr. John Lott has done a statisical analysis of how long it takes to get a federal judge, or a Supreme Court justice, confirmed--and concludes that the more obviously qualified you are for the job, the longer it takes: According to a study of judicial nominations I recently completed, the less distinguished the nominee--the less intellectually accomplished, the less prolific, the less impressive the record--the more likely it is that he or she will be confirmed. It also helps to be old, white and female.
I really wish that Bush had picked someone like Judge Michael McConnell or Judge Janice Rogers Brown, but I wonder if he picked Miers for exactly this reason: fast confirmation means that Justice O'Connor (a turncoat) gets off the bench that much more quickly.
Both Republicans and Democrats like to carp about the trouble their nominees must endure in the congressional confirmation process. I wondered how much the process had deteriorated and why. So I assembled data on the 1,576 federal judges confirmed from the beginning of Jimmy Carter's Administration in 1977 through the end of George W. Bush's first term. I also looked at 59 Supreme Court confirmations going back a century. To account for changing factors like whether the same party controlled the White House and the Senate and whether the nomination was made in an election year, I used regression analysis when I compiled my findings.
It is indeed taking longer to get judges confirmed these days, but more interesting is which nominees sail through without a hitch and which are stopped dead. My conclusion: The smarter the candidate, the more bruising the confirmation battle and the more likely the nominee will be defeated.
UPDATE: Here's Lott's paper in Journal of Empirical Legal Studies concerning this.
Another Mental Illness Tragedy
I saw this mentioned on Fox News this morning--according to some reports, this woman is schizophrenic, and had stopped taking her medicine: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Coast Guard resumed searching for two missing children Thursday, a day after their mother allegedly threw them into San Francisco Bay near Fishermen's Wharf. The body of a third sibling was recovered.
I don't know if California's insane mental illness laws are a factor in this tragedy or not; I do know that schizophrenia produces enormous grief among family and friends. Early recognition and treatment seems to be more effective, but unless you know what to look for, you won't recognize the need to get a loved one into a doctor. (And no, split personality is not schizophrenia, in spite of the common misunderstanding of the word.) Here's a list of symptoms that should cause you to start looking deeper.
The mother, Lashaun Harris, 23, of Oakland, was booked on three counts of murder, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday. Her children were identified as Trayshaun Harris, 6, Travante Greely, 3, and Joshua Harris, 1.
...
Lashaun Harris told authorities that voices had told her to throw her children into the water, the Chronicle reported. It was not immediately known whether she had an attorney.
Harris had been staying with her children at a Salvation Army shelter in Oakland, the Chronicle reported.
"I just talked to her yesterday," Mary Ann Ramirez, the shelter's social services manager, told the newspaper Wednesday. "We had our usual how are you doing, how's the kids. I would never have guessed in a million years that today she would do that."
A Victory in Congress
Both houses have now passed a bill protecting the gun industry from the negligent marketing suits that the gun control groups have been using to try and shut down the industry: WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress gave the gun lobby its top legislative priority Thursday, passing a bill that would protect the firearms industry from massive lawsuits brought by crime victims. The White House says President Bush will sign it into law.
Unregulated? If someone with no knowledge of the subject made this statement, it would be simple ignorance. But Kristen Rand can't possibly think the gun industry is "unregulated."
The House voted 283-144 to send the bill to the president after supporters, led by the National Rifle Association, proclaimed it vital to protect the industry from being bankrupted by huge jury awards. Opponents, waging a tough battle against growing public support for the legislation, called it proof of the gun lobby's power over the Republican-controlled Congress.
"This legislation will make the unregulated gun industry the most pampered industry in America," said Kristen Rand, director of the Violence Policy Center.
Manufacturers are restricted on the caliber of weapons that they can sell without being classified as "destructive devices."
They can't make rifles with barrels shorter than 16" or shotguns shorter than 18" without being classified as NFA weapons (with complex restrictions on sale, including fingerprinting and background checks).
They can't make handguns with shoulder stocks without the same NFA restrictions, or guns that don't look like guns.
Machine guns? They haven't be able to make those for private ownership since 1986.
Every gun manufactured must have a serial number.
Guns may not be sold or transferred across state lines except through a licensed dealer (with a couple of exceptions for inheritances).
Gun dealers must keep detailed records of all guns bought and sold, and must run a background check for all purchases.
Dealers may not sell handguns to anyone under the age of 21, or long guns to anyone under the age of 18. Many states have additional regulatory measures to control gun sales.
Gun manufacturers are still responsible for injuries caused by guns that malfunction. Manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers can still be held responsible for injuries caused by unlawful and knowing transfers of guns without the proper background check or license.
This is an unregulated industry?
UPDATE: I think this is a permanent link to the text of the bill as passed by both houses.
UPDATE 2: If you want to find out how "unregulated" the firearms industry is, click here for ATF P 5300.5 State Laws and Published Ordinances - Firearms
(2005 - 26th Edition) and here for ATF P 5300.4 - Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide 2000 (1/00).
Yeah, unregulated.
Adventures in Machining
I won an auction on eBay for a Sherline 5000 vertical mill, including a mill vise and some tooling: $325 plus $23 shipping.
The House Project: Door Frames
Ever wondered how door frames work? Neither did I, but someone out there must be curious. First of all, there's the door frame itself, to which the door hinges attach. At least most of the time there's also some bric-a-brac that hides the ugliness of how the door frame attaches to the studs, and hides where floors meet walls. These moldings are called base (floor meets wall), case (along the right and left side of interior doors), and header (at the top of interior doors).
Okay, I'm a typical guy; I never look at these things when I buy a house. I don't particularly care, as long as they aren't incredibly obstrusive or grab my sleeve as walk in the door. My wife cares about these things (as wives often do), so we spent a lot of time at the moldings store, picking out exactly the right combination.
Anyway, our builder scratched his head when he started putting the case and headers onto doors and asking, "Is this right?" His fashion sense is ultratraditional, and so I had to run up to take some pictures and make sure that the molding store delivered the right stuff. They did--but you get a chance to see how all of this fits together in the building of a house.
Here you can see that there is a bit of space between the frame itself and the studs into which the frame is nailed--which the case and header moldings conceal.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Here's a door with the case and header in place.
Click to enlarge
Here's a closeup.
Click to enlarge
We're going to have the case and header painted to match the doors, not the walls.
Here's one of the carpenters cutting the moldings to size on a miter saw.
Click to enlarge
Oh yeah, I couldn't get away without a picture of the view from the family room! It's a little dark because of the brightness contrast, and that black out of focus object is a bug of some sort on the inside of the sliding door.
Click to enlarge
Previous house entry.
Thermocouple Generators (Part 2)
Thanks for all the responses. No, this isn't for the new house. The temperature differentials just aren't there. In winter, it may be 10 degrees at night and 65 inside the house; in summer, the water coming from the well might be 55, and the outside air temperature about 85 degrees in the late afternoon. These are not sufficient differentials to produce any significant electric power.
I am not at liberty to explain exactly what my interest is--except that I have identified a source of absolutely free heat energy on public lands--and there's a lot of it. I am working the math to see if there's economic potential.
While I wasn't thinking of it for the house, this article from the August/September 1993 Home Power reviews a commercial thermoelectric generator, the Teledyne 2T4P, which burns propane gas for the heat source, and generates about 750 watt-hours per day. The author pointed out that used strictly as an electricity source, it isn't cheap--but if you use the heat generated by burning the propane to warm the cabin, it is suddenly very economical--producing most space heat and electricity. Several of these might make sense as a winter alternative for those of us in cold climates where winter days are too short for photovoltaics to make much power.
Global Thermoelectric is a Canadian company that offers thermocouple electricity generators: Global Thermoelectric is the world's largest supplier of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) and one of the world’s leading suppliers of remote power systems since 1975.
Here's the website of the Icelandic company that I mentioned:
Global’s TEGs are:Varmaraf ehf was founded in 2000 around applications of thermoelectricity in harnessing geothermal power, which is abundant in Iceland, where the company is based. Varmaraf has recently introduced globally unique thermoelectric generators as a result of an extensive product development effort. Their economic construction and means of achieving the world's highest available power density through innovative heat exchanger design are protected by patent applications. These devices are substantially more economical than solar generators when a stable excess heat source is available. The marketing effort is focused on off-grid applications until more efficient solid state means of converting thermal energy to electricity replace thermoelectrics.
Here's a company in New Mexico that builds thermocouple electricity generators designed to sit on exhaust stacks and other high heat source components of industrial processes, so they are a cogenerator.
This company FerroTec has bought the Teledyne power generation thermocouple product line--and they haven't finished updating their webpages to reflect this yet.
Hi-Z is a consumer-oriented maker of thermocouple generators. Their HZ-20 product can produce 19 watts of power with a 200 degree Celsius differential. There's a nice graph on the HZ-20 product page showing how power output increases as the temperature differential increases. In addition, as the cold side gets colder, the power output goes up as well. The HZ-20 costs $154 for one unit.
Outrageous Claims By Pat Robertson and Patrick Kennedy
I mentioned two outrageous statements earlier today, one by Pat Robertson, one by Patrick Kennedy. It turns out that one of those outrageous came from a source that is not correct. Click here to find out which. You may be surprised.
House Bans Obesity Lawsuits Against Food Industry
Throughout most of human history, if you had said, "There will come a day when food will be so cheap and so available that most of the population will get grossly fat" almost everyone would have laughed, because the prospect of food ever getting that cheap would have seemed implausible.
I thought the lawsuits against gun makers for "negligent marketing" were outrageous, but lawsuits against McDonald's because some of their customers lacked the self-control to stop eating really made my blood boil: House lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill banning obesity-related lawsuits against restaurants and food manufacturers. More than 20 states already have such laws on the books.
I could stand to lose a few pounds myself, but I know where the fault lies--not with Jack-in-the-Box, or Wendy's, or Pizza Hut, but with myself. I like to eat--and if I fail to exercise sufficient self-discipline on this, it is my fault, not theirs.
Supporters said the bill was intended to prioritize personal responsibility among an increasingly obese American population.
“The bill seeks to block lawsuits by people because they ate too much and got fat,” says Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, one of the bill’s sponsors.
“We should not encourage lawsuits that blame others for our own choices and could bankrupt an entire industry,” notes Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas.
For anyone who finds such lawsuits sensible, here's a scenario that should make you realize how absurd these claims are. Lots of Americans spend too much time on the couch, watching the idiot box. One consequence is a generation that doesn't read, with poor health from lack of exercise. Should they have a right to sue the television networks and cable channels for putting too many interesting programs on the air?
My Cat The Gang Member
I've mentioned previously that as cute as Tater Tot is, he has delusions of being a lion, or at least a mountain lion. 
Now he has another irritating quality.
As you are doubtless aware, male cats (and less frequently, female cats) will mark their territory, usually by urinating on it, which leaves a distinctive scent marker. The human equivalent is when gang members "tag" territory with spray paint. (At least Tater Tot doesn't wield a pistol.)
If you get a male cat fixed young enough, they usually don't start doing this, and Tater Tot wasn't a problem until...the sporran. A sporran is a traditional Scottish type of purse, worn with a kilt, often made of fur or leather. My wife is a member of a Scottish pipe and drum band, and so she borrowed a sporran from a friend.
What was this sporran made of? It seemed to be fur. But what kind of fur? I think I can now guess. You see, shortly after Rhonda brought this furry bag into the house, Tater Tot went a bit crazy. First, he was on top of the sporran, demonstrating dominance. Then he started to mark territory--as if to tell this sporran (or at least the cat I suspect it was made from) whose territory this was.
Anyway, the sporran immediately left the house, and my wife went on a cleaning rampage. But Tater Tot hasn't stopped. Anything that resembles his soft little bed--including my backpack, and a laundry basket--now must be given a gang-tag. Spraying him in the face with water isn't working. Suggestions?
ID To Vote Law Struck Down in Georgia
I happen to think there's some merit to requiring ID to vote--especially because of my experiences running for Santa Monica City Council in 1981. There was at least one that were still registered to vote, apparently having voted in the 1980 general election--but the manager of the building assured me this voter had been dead for at least four years.
Nonetheless, this report indicates that a federal judge ruled that Georgia's law requiring ID effectively was a poll tax (which is contrary to the 24th Amendment prohibiting poll taxes in federal elections), because you had to pay $20 to get an ID card if you didn't have a driver's license. Worse, there wasn't a single place in the city of Atlanta to get an alternative ID card.
I think the ID card requirement is a good one. Georgia needs to make the ID cards free, and make sure that they are a bit more accessible.
Nice Column by John Stossel About Gun Control
Stossel is an ABC reporter who often challenges liberal assumptions--in spite of who he works for. While this column isn't going to be news to anyone that has studied the issue, it is nice to see this news potentially getting out to the masses. I like this little touch: What if it were legal in America for adults to carry concealed weapons? I put that question to gun-control advocate Rev. Al Sharpton. His eyes opened wide, and he said, "We'd be living in a state of terror!"
In fact, it was a trick question. Most states now have "right to carry" laws. And their people are not living in a state of terror. Not one of those states reported an upsurge in crime.
Blaming God, Blaming Republicans
Pat Robertson says that: Hurricane Katrina was God’s way of expressing its anger at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for its selection of Ellen Degeneres to host this year’s Emmy Awards. “By choosing an avowed lesbian for this national event, these Hollywood elites have clearly invited God’s wrath,” Robertson said on “The 700 Club” on Sunday. “Is it any surprise that the Almighty chose to strike at Miss Degeneres’ hometown?”
Silly? Sure. But there's a secular equivalent: Meanwhile, environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suggested that Katrina's devastation might be karmic payback for "the central role that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol" — prompting one New York newspaper to mock: "The left now believes it can control the weather."
Notice the similarity? Both groups are looking for someone to blame, and while the secularists won't call it "sin," you can certainly see that they regard pollution with the same horror and revulsion that Pat Robertson regards Ellen DeGeneres.
UPDATE: One of the "news stories" above turns out not to be true. Care to guess which one? The one quoting Pat Robertson. It turns out that datelinehollywood.com is a satire site: Good satire neatly straddles the divide between the believable and the incredible, and the Dateline Hollywood article quoted above achieved that balance so well that many readers mistook it for a straight news article. ... Those not quite convinced that the Dateline Hollywood article really was intended as satire are invited to read that web publication's explanation of their history, starting with their founding in 360 BC as Gladiators Weekly.
Thermocouple Generators
It is possible to generate electricity from heat difference across two dissimilar metals. This is called the Seebeck effect, and radioactive heat sources have been used to provide electricity for space probes that are headed far from the Sun, and a few isolated places here on Earth. The energy produced is not terribly substantial until the temperature differential is quite large--typically a couple hundred degrees.
Still, thermocouple generators have some great advantages: no moving parts to wear out; effectively maintenance free; quiet. If you use base metals you often sacrifice some power output, but at the advantage of reduced capital investment.
I started hunting for commercial thermocouple generator makers, and I found one--in Iceland. No surprise, that is the nation of fire and ice--and one of their production units provides electricity to a volcano observatory there. One end goes into the burning hot ground, the other into the glacier. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced the web page address for the company, and I haven't been able to figure out what the google string was that I used to find it.
Are you aware of any thermocouple generator makers?
Planning A Bit Too Far Ahead
Instapundit is all ga-ga over a National Academy of Sciences event: Space Settlement: Homesteading on the Moon?
Now, I'm a firm believer in forward thinking, but isn't this just a bit too far in the future? Disputes about real estate ownership--like disputes about other forms of ownership--usually involve something that is in scarce supply. The surface area of the Moon (like any other sphere) is pi * diameter squared--or 14,657,402 square miles. That's 9,380,737,474 acres. Even if, say, one million people manage to migrate and stake out their claims (which I find rather unlikely), that's still more than 14 square miles of Moon per person.
The degree to which land on the moon may be owned has been the subject of debate and international treaties since the start of the Cold War. This seminar will address the relationship of existing treaties to lunar property rights and the role of such ownership as an incentive for commercial space settlement. Panelists will address the following questions:
Now, it is true that not all land is equally valuable. The proof is the comparative price of land in central Nevada and coastal California. But at this point, the only significant difference between different parts of the Moon is that the south polar region probably has ice--but there's a lot of the south polar region--and I would imagine that the 59% of the Moon that has an Earth view is going to be quite a bit more valuable than the dark side. (As much as I want a dark sky for observing--and that would be a very dark sky--not having a view of the green hills of Earth might be a bit too depressing.)
It is certainly true that land nearest the spaceports is going to be most valuable--but there not being any spaceports on the Moon yet, I think it is a bit premature to be worrying about that.
I think the time to start worrying about property rights on the Moon will be when the first permanent settlement happens.
Too Stupid To Stay Out Of Prison
Normally, you pass large counterfeit bills one a time, in the hopes that the clerk who accepts the fake money won't remember you. As a general rule, you don't buy a stick of gum with a fake $100 bill; it is just too obvious that you are making change. It is even smarter not to counterfeit big bills, because they do tend to draw attention.
This guy takes the cake for really, really stupid. Note the denomination of the bills. Then look at how he tried to use them, and where: Police in Twin Falls, Idaho, have almost $1 billion in fake money locked up in their evidence room — but it's not taking up that much space because the face value of every bill is $1 million, according to The Times-News.
The article goes on to say that they are actually pretty good counterfeits, better than average. But I don't believe that one million dollar notes were ever printed, or at least, if they were, they were strictly used as exchange between Federal Reserve Banks. Nothing larger than the $10,000 bill was ever in circulation--and to try to hand them to a bank as collateral for a loan? Oh my, too stupid to stay out of prison.
Baffled and bemused cops seized 999 bills — one short of $1 billion — after a man from Buhl attempted to deposit them at a bank as collateral for a loan.
"It would have been remarkable if anyone would have accepted them as legitimate," interim Police Chief Jim Munn told The Times-News. "This is just absolutely comical."
Detective Sgt. David Heidemann said the counterfeit cash, printed to resemble the "horse blanket" silver certificate notes issued in 1923, was made in the United Kingdom, Canada or Nigeria.
Hinrichs Suicide: Someone Is Not Playing Straight
I mentioned a few days ago that the Wall Street Journal decided that there was nothing to the claims made by local media and repeated by a number of blogs that Hinrichs was a Muslim convert, and there was reason to suspect some terrorist intentions when he blew himself up (and apart) 100 yards from a crowded stadium.
So explain why the next game to be played in that stadium has new security precautions in effect? Apparently, University of Oklahoma President David Boren described it as to handle severe weather or other emergencies. Here's a local newspaper article about the enhanced security measures--which are clearly intended to deal with a terrorist attack: They include bomb X-ray devices, many security cameras placed throughout the stadium and concrete barriers to block off streets or sidewalks.
Is Boren worried that someone is going to smuggle a tornado into the stadium in a backpack?
Attention on stadium security and what to do in the event of an emergency will be increased prior to this Saturday’s game, scheduled to kick off shortly after 6 p.m.
“At the next home game, all fans will be given safety instructions when they enter the stadium,” Boren wrote. “I wanted to share with you, our season ticket holders, the enclosed safety instructions (the flier) in advance so that you may have time to think about them before coming to the game. I would also advise coming to the game a little earlier since searches at gates will be particularly thorough.”
Hinrichs as a lone suicide with no terrorist connections doesn't make much sense when you look at these enhanced security measures.
Encouraging Retaliation
I mentioned a few weeks back that an initiative is being circulated in Massachusetts to define marriage as "one man, one woman." Homosexuals have set up a web site where those who sign will have their home addresses listed. The clear intent is intimidation.
Here's a homosexual who has stated his intent to discriminate in employment based on who signs it: Well, think about it for a moment: by signing the petition, you are indicating that you believe there should be a second class of citizens with fewer civil rights than everyone else in the United States. I think that's fundamentally UnAmerican: this country is supposed to offer equal protection under the law. Why should I ever welcome you into my home? Or into my business? Indeed, why shouldn't I lead a protest rally against you in front of your home?
Except that homosexuals insist that it should be unlawful for businesses to discriminate based on sexual orientation--hence, the ACLU's lawsuit against a printer who refused to print gay wedding announcements.
You do realize, I hope, that the names and addresses of all the signatories will be posted on the web, since it's a matter of public record... if you signed, don't be surprised if it has reprocussions in your future. I, for example, am professionally a manager, and from time to time I do hiring. I will most certainly be vetting all applicants against the list of petitioners in the future to ensure I don't hire anyone who signed, because I wouldn't be able to trust them to behave professionally toward gay coworkers if they believe that it's okay to treat gay people as second class citizens.
Animal Cruelty! Call PETA! Whoops, It Is PETA!
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is tremendously self-righteous--but look who has just been charged: WINTON, N.C. — The cats and dogs two PETA employees have been charged with euthanizing and dumping in an Ahoskie garbage bin were killed by injections of pentobarbital, a barbiturate commonly used to put down animals, according to new warrants issued and served on Friday.
Additionally, the two employees were charged with three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. The charges allege that they euthanized three cats from an Ahoskie veterinarian after promising to find the animals new homes, according to the new warrants.
PETA employees Andrew B. Cook, 24, of Virginia Beach, and Adria J. Hinkle, 27, of Norfolk, were served with warrants on 22 felony charges of animal cruelty and the three felony charges of obtaining property by false pretense in court on Friday.
A grand jury is expected to consider formal indictments Oct. 31, Assistant District Attorney Donnie Taylor said.
The new animal cruelty charges replaced 31 previous animal cruelty charges, which were dismissed.
Anyone Remember The Valerie Plame Affair?
For all the talk about how the revealing of Plame's identity as an undercover CIA operative was going to bring down either Bush, or Cheney, or Karl Rove, or Scooter Libby (one of Cheney's aides) it is astonishing how little meat there has been to this story. Judith Miller, recently having testified before the grand jury for the fourth time, discusses what she told the grand jury, here.
The short story is that if Scooter Libby intentionally "outed" Valerie Plame, he did it so carefully that it left no footprints in Judith Miller's memory or notes. Nor, it appears, did any other reporter get this information from any administration official.
Progressive Reimagining of Constitutional History
When I was teaching Constitutional History a couple of years back at Boise State, I pointed out that the "nine old men" who struck down so much of the New Deal legislation were not quite the reactionary conservatives that some would like to imagine. I pointed out that these "conservatives" decided Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), which struck down an Oregon law that was effectively a ban on parochial schools. This was based on Meyer v. Nebraska (1923), which struck down a Nebraska law against teaching foreign languages to elementary school students. These are definitely part of the same laissez-faire approach that motivated Lochner v. New York (1905) (everyone boo and hiss!)
Similarly, in Powell v. Alabama (1932), the Supreme Court decided that the Fourteenth Amendment imposed on the states a right to not simply counsel, but adequate and competent counsel. (This is the Scottsboro boys case: a bunch of black teenagers and young men accused of raping a white woman--which charge she later recanted--and sentenced to death.)
Stromberg v. California (1931) is another example of that "reactionary" Supreme Court striking down a California law that banned the display of red flags and other symbols of Communism and anarchism.
And all of this takes place before Roosevelt has a chance to put any progressive or liberal justices on the Court. Professor David Bernstein has published a review in American Historical Review, which he has also put on the Volokh Conspiracy blog, of Ken Kersch's new book, Constructing Civil Liberties. It is worth reading Bernstein's review in full, but he makes the point that progressives have often been in opposition to civil liberties, and that they have reimagined constitutional history to make themselves look good: The whiggish narrative also asserts that a defining characteristic of American progressivism has been solicitude for the rights of oppressed minorities, especially African Americans. In fact, however, before the New Deal era most progressives were at best indifferent to African Americans’ plight. Indeed, some were openly hostile to African American, and launched such progressive schemes as the wave of residential segregation laws that swept through the United States in the 1910s. These laws were invalidated by a unanimous decision of the “conservative” Supreme Court in Buchanan v. Warley in 1917, to a chorus of criticism by progressive legal scholars.
Organized labor, not civil rights, was the favored cause of progressives in the early twentieth century, and labor unions, especially AFL and railroad unions, were themselves hostile to African Americans. African Americans, in turn, for the most part fiercely opposed labor unionism. In alliance with the businesses that often provided them with work over white workers’ objections, African Americans supported such “reactionary” policies as labor injunctions, strikebreaking, and the legality of yellow dog contracts. Kens argues that progressives only embraced the cause of civil rights when African Americans dropped their prior attachment to pre-New Deal individualistic conceptions of rights, and, modeling themselves on the successful model of organized labor, organized themselves as a constitutional class entitled to group rights in a statist legal and economic superstructure.
Finally, progressive conceptions of appropriate education policy were for the most part driven far more by a vision of imposing a centralized, statist school system on the American people than on any principled conception of civil liberties and separation of church and state. Progressive intellectuals strongly opposed the Meyer, Pierce, and Tokushige Supreme Court opinions of the 1920s, which protected local school board prerogatives and private schooling against progressive demands for homogenization and centralization of education. Progressives, in fact, were overtly hostile to the very existence of Catholic parochial schools; the constitutionality of banning such schools was at the heart of the Pierce case. By the 1960s, progressives and their allies on the scholarly community reinterpreted the quintessentially conservative Supreme Court cases—which their roots in the “reactionary” Lochner v. New York tradition—as civil libertarian cases protecting individual autonomy from conservative religious forces (see Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade). However, progressive hostility to traditional Catholicism continued, as the history of both of these cases makes clear.
The Trees Are Turning
Okay, it's not Vermont or New Hampshire, but the trees are beginning to turn--and the range of colors is quite stunning, especialy to those of us from Northern California, where a very harsh winter means that it gets just below freezing. These are some sights from our property, and in the adjacent foothills.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Local fauna. Another of these grasshopper vomited on the windshield of my wife's car. Perhaps it was motion sick. This one was starting to turn color from fear.
Click to enlarge
Lots of trees--birches? If so, it tells you how much water is flowing through this area, even after a long hot summer.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Rhonda thinks these flowers are called bachelor's buttons:
Click to enlarge
The wind was whistling through these trees, and yes, the sky really was that blue. (Elevation is a bit more than 4000 feet here.)
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
House Project: Roof On; Landscaping Getting There
The roof is on! Here's the front and rear of the house:
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Rhonda noticed that the vents, which had been aluminum color, were now painted a black that matches the roof. I don't if this is a code requirement or not to have them painted, but it certainly looks better.
Click to enlarge
They are pretty much done sculpting and terracing the hill behind the garage.
Click to enlarge
There's our front door (upside down) in the garage.
Click to enlarge
The interior walls and ceilings are all textured.
Click to enlarge
All the tile work is covered with a protective material while they prepare for painting.
Click to enlarge
Ever wondered what the door and frame look like before they are installed?
Click to enlarge
I guess they have repaired the damaged valve on the LP gas tank, because the two big ugly cylinders above ground are gone.
Click to enlarge
I spoke to my oldest sister last night, and she mentioned that she had attended a FEMA emergency preparedness class that mentioned that LP gas tanks are a major hazard in the event of a brushfire. (This should not be a surprise.) I am thinking that the fire suppression sprinklers need to have an oscillating head that is aimed at the spot where the tank is buried.
The pictures of where they have brought more topsoil at the front and rear didn't come out too well because of overexposure, but there's a lot more there for the grass to grow.
It is so quiet up there. The birds chirping; wind blowing through trees. At one point, Rhonda thought she heard someone talking at the house that is roughly 1/4 mile away.
The last water test showed .031 mg/liter of lead--twice the EPA action level. The 25 micron particulate filter didn't pull it out (and I was grasping at straws to think that it might). The builder located a whole house filter that is supposed to pull out lead--and he appears to have installed it. I need to check with him before running another lead test.
Last house project entry.
Hitler's Unpublished Second Book
History Channel had an interesting documentary Friday night about an unpublished Hitler manuscript, written about 1928--and makes the argument that the reason it was never published was because it exposed too clearly his war plans for when he became Chancellor of Germany. I have an interest in modern German history, but I don't claim to have any more expertise in it than any other History MA whose specialization wasn't in European history. I am not really in a position to evaluate the accuracy of the program's claims. (I find History Channel's treatment of history to be pretty good, although a bit farther from perfect than I prefer.)
Anyway, this unpublished manuscript appears at the end of World War II. A variety of statements by Hitler's publisher, by people that were aware that he wrote another book after Mein Kampf, and analysis of the paper, the typeface, and some peculiarities of the manuscript, suggest that this was indeed Hitler writing a second book.
In it, Hitler explains that Germany would have to defeat Britain and France before going to war with America. At least at this early stage (before having to come face to face with Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics), Hitler apparently believed that America was predominately an "Aryan nation," and this was the reason for America's enormous technical prowess and economic development--and of course, our success at making our own Lebensraum by driving the American Indians onto reservations.
More interesting, Hitler believed that the 1924 immigration law that reserved most immigration for Northwestern Europeans, would make the United States an increasingly "Aryan" country, and more effective at resisting Germany taking over the world. Hitler apparently also believed that because so many of the immigrants to America in preceeding centuries were the boldest and most courageous, that we had received the best of the Aryan population of Europe--and the more timid had stayed behind. It almost sounds like Hitler believed that "Aryan America" might be more of a master race than Germany!
In any case, this unpublished manuscript indicates that war with America would only come after defeating France, and either defeating or co-opting Britain (in exchange for Britain keeping its Empire) and that Hitler scheduled the development of weapon systems specific to a transatlantic war based on this assumption. The great battleships required to attack the U.S. were scheduled for 1944 completion, and similarly, the development of the Amerika bomber was similarly scheduled after the assumed defeat of France and England.
All very interesting--and it has a rather important point. There were lots of people in the 1930s who refused to see Hitler's pretty obvious statements in Mein Kampf as an indicator of world domination plans. I've read the argument by defenders of the libertarian, non-interventionism school to the effect that the U.S. should not have fought World War II. Their claim was that the U.S. didn't have a dog in that fight, and had we not gone out of our way to antagonize the Japanese, we wouldn't have had a war with Japan. This unpublished Hitler book suggests that we did not have the option of avoiding war with Germany--that the only question was whether we were going to fight them with the British Empire as a powerful ally, or fight them with only the other Western Hemisphere nations beside us.
