The power of III

Summum ius summa iniuria--More law, less justice
--Cicero.

26 February 2011

The moral necessity of medical marijuana

I received an email from a visitor to my site the other day, which I would like to answer.  Here is his email:

"I found your blog post about modern schools to be very interesting. I think you raised some good points, many of which after reading your blog I realized I’ve thought about, but never in depth until now. It is strange to consider what things kids were once allowed to do, and now they are somewhat funneled into this one-track only way.

On somewhat of an unrelated note, I thought you would appreciate the story about a child also being able to receive marijuana...for medical reasons. The story is about a 2-year-old who has a brain tumor and his parents are trying everything to help the little guy get better. I was reminded of this story as you spoke about the youth in your blog, and how the schools are more or less policed heavily. Then I wondered if children this young will be banned from getting medical treatment like this if the government steps in. It shall be interesting to see what happens. Nonetheless, here’s the link to the video, and I’d love to hear what your thoughts are about it!"

Take care,

D____

pp

I support the use of medical marijuana.  As with any law or situation, there is potential for abuse.  The important thing is the freedom of choice for the individuals involved.  In this case, the parents have to make the choice based on available information about the potential risks, and weigh that against the potential benefits for the marijuana use.  

In this case, there is no real choice, if the child's life is at stake.  The cancer will be fatal without the chemo.  The chemo's side effects weaken the child to the point where he won't recover.  The substances in the cannibis allow the child to have enough of an appetite to have a fighting chance.  The parents have a moral responsibility to the child to maximize the chances of success of the therapy.  To deny the child the medicine because of its potential side effects or it's potential for abuse is a ridiculous, immoral, and unconstitutional intervention of legislators into private matters.  Laws preventing medical marijuana use say to you: "We (nonexpert) politicians know better than you what is best for you."

One of the worst aspects of modern government (run by Yankees) is the passage of laws and regulations that are based on the exception rather than the rule

One bad incident with publicity (e.g. a mass shooting, an Enron, a Bernie Madoff, a kid using and selling his dad's medical marijuana) and you get a flurry of debate in the mainstream media, and then laws and regulations passed.  The fact that the incident is one in several million does not enter into the calculations of a Yankee's mind. In the modern version of their holier than thou Puritanism, they know better than you, and save you from yourself.  Drug abuse is likely to occur with or without a law.

What is the end result of laws and regulations based on the exception rather than the rule?  
More of YOUR (tax) money spent implementing and enforcing the law, 
less freedom (and more criminals created) for the several million that would never transgress the new law in the first place, and 
the many things associated with the "law of unintended consequences."

Do you think that the outlawing of medical marijuana use prevents people from obtaining and using the marijuana?  You know that it does not.  It just makes criminals out of cancer patients.

How dare the state stand in the way of a citizen's physical and moral imperative?

If you were seriously ill or dying, and the only medicine known was an "outlawed drug" with certain risks, wouldn't you want the option to use it?

Quote of the Day 2/26

"The flag which he [my grandfather, Francis Scott Key] had then so proudly hailed, I saw waving at the same place over the victims of as vulgar and brutal despotism as modern times have witnessed."

Francis Key Howard, a prisoner of Lincoln at Fort McHenry, 1861

The same flag flies there yet, today...

25 February 2011

On TL Davis' "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?"

From TL Davis' recent post "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio:"

 "I don't know what it takes to motivate people. Beyond the Tea Parties, there seems to be no opposition to these actions."

The Tea Party is the just the beginning of the productive class arising from its slumber.

We patriot/constitutional conservative/threepers/tenthers/State's Rights/2A bloggers represent the proactive and hyper-aware.  


The Tea Party folks are just beginning to understand the basic ideas of redistribution of their income and the extra constitutionality of the actions of the Congress and the Executive.  Their faith in government is shaken, but not shattered.  Some only think Progressives are the problem.  Some are beginning to realize that both the Democrats and the Republicans (Statists) are to blame.  Not many of them have grown out of neocon roots;  those are susceptible  for co-option by Statist Republicans.  Some have become libertarian, whether or not they know the label.  

What will motivate people?  

Desperation.  

Some will wake up when it costs them $80 or $100 to fill up their gas tank.  Some will wake up when their benefits are cut, salaries contract, and they start defaulting on their bills, despite working hard.  They know that their situation is through no fault of their own.
Some will wake up when they are really hungry for the first time in their lives.

Even after they "wake up", they still have to go through a thought process that may take a while for them to get to the proactive stage.


Americans, while upset at the actions of their so-called "representatives", are still way too comfortable day to day to be roused in the manner for which you hope.  


Sure, warnings to the public at large have been issued, seeds have been planted for conflict.  The information is out there for anyone who looks.

The productive class, whom I sometimes call the competent class, will eventually fight to keep what is theirs. But they first must realize they are not in a tunnel with a light at the end;  they must realize they are actually falling into a black hole with lava at the bottom.  They need to lose hope that things will take care of themselves, as they have every time since they were born.


This will all happen, and will happen soon, but not imminently.  When inflation or hyperinflation hits in the near future, more and more working Americans will snap away from their Dancing with the Stars and American Idol, and they will be surfing the internet looking for answers. 


The framers and the generation that lived at the time of the founding knew that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."


But people have to raise families, work hard to put bread on the table.  They may or may not be complacent about their government, but within a generation after the American Revolution, Americans became too preoccupied to leave hearth and home to go fight for their rights.  

For most, it takes a "clear and present danger" to get a man to leave his routine to protest or take up arms: 

Only a small percentage of the colonials fought against the king;  the rebellion started in Massachusetts when British soldiers, already blockading Boston, marched to confiscate the arms and ammunition of the Lexington militia. 

Impressment of American citizens on Royal Navy ships, and later a British invasion motivated Americans in 1812.

Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers to invade the Southern states motivated many Southerners to support secession and leave home to fight.  

In other words, an imminent threat has to be perceived by a critical mass of citizens for a real revolutionary rising of the people to occur.

In our day, it will take the combination of decreasing Liberty through enaction of more and more ridiculous unconstitutional laws (and enforcing them) and an ever increasingly desperate economic situation to "raise the Shire".




“‘Raise the Shire!’, said Merry. ‘Now! Wake all our people! They hate all this, you can see: all of them except perhaps one or two rascals, and a few fools that want to be important, but don’t at all understand what is really going on. But Shire-folk have been so comfortable so long they don’t know what to do. They just want a match, though, and they’ll go up in fire. The Chief’s Men must know that. They’ll try to stamp on us and put us out quick. We’ve only got a very short time.’”  -- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

TL, all of your motivations, inclinations, and goals are laudable and correct;  however, you are way ahead of the curve.

Tennesseans! Here's your chance to nullify Obamacare:

From The Tenth Amendment Center Blog:



On Wednesday, the Tennessee Senate passed SB0079, the Tennessee Health Care Freedom Act sponsored by Sen. Mae Beavers.  The bill passed with 21 Ayes, 10 Nays, and one Present Not Voting.  The Tennessee Health Care Freedom Act is essentially the same bill that passed in the Senate but failed in the House during the 2010 legislative session, with a few minor revisions.
Later in the afternoon, the House companion bill, HB0115 sponsored by Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, was recommended for passage by the General Subcommittee of the House Commerce Committee.  It will be forwarded to the full House Commerce Committee.  Contact information for the House Commerce Committee members is listed below.  Please begin contacting them now to express your support.
The Tennessee Health Care Freedom Act seeks to return the choice of health care and health insurance to individual Tennesseans instead of leaving decisions in the hands of the federal government.  While SB0079 does not nullify the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in its entirety, it prohibits Tennesseans from being penalized if they choose not to participate in a federal or federally-approved health care plan. 
The bill states:
“The power to require or regulate a person’s choice in the mode of securing health care services, or to impose a penalty related thereto, is not found in the Constitution of the United States of America, and is therefore a power reserved to the people pursuant to the Ninth Amendment, and to the several states pursuant to the Tenth Amendment. This state hereby exercises its sovereign power to declare the public policy of this state regarding the right of all persons residing in this state in choosing the mode of securing health care services.”
SB0079 goes on to declare the public policy of the state of Tennessee to be one where Tennesseans are free to choose any method of securing health care services or to refuse to do so without threat of penalty.  This is a crucial step forward in the fight to protect Tennesseans from the unconstitutional mandates imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by Congress last year.
The passage of the bill in the Senate is a victory, but we still need to keep up the fight to ensure that it passes through the House and is signed by the Governor.  Please begin today to contact the legislators below to express your support for HB0115.

House Commerce Committee

Rep. Steve McManus, Chair: Republican, District 96
107 WMB, (615) 741-1920, rep.steve.mcmanus@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Jon C. Lundberg, Vice-Chair: Republican, District 1
205 WMB, (615) 741-7623, rep.jon.lundberg@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Pat Marsh, Secretary: Republican, District 62
110 WMB, (615) 741-6824, rep.pat.marsh@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Charles Curtiss: Democrat, District 43
34 LP, (615) 741-1963, rep.charles.curtiss@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Linda Elam: Republican, District 57
215 WMB, (615) 741-7462, rep.linda.elam@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. JoAnne Favors: Democrat, District 29
25 LP, (615) 741-2702, rep.joanne.favors@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Brenda Gilmore: Democrat, District 54
22 LP, (615) 741-1997, rep.brenda.gilmore@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. G. A. Hardaway, Sr.: Democrat, District 92
109 WMB, (615) 741-5625, rep.ga.hardaway@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Bill W. Harmon: Democrat, District 37
24 LP, (615) 741-6849, rep.bill.harmon@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Ryan A. Haynes: Republican, District 14
203 WMB, (615) 741-2264, rep.ryan.haynes@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Curtis Johnson: Republican, District 68
212 WMB, (615) 741-4341, rep.curtis.johnson@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Phillip Johnson: Republican, District 78
104 WMB, (615) 741-7477, rep.phillip.johnson@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Jimmy Matlock: Republican, District 21
219 WMB, (615) 741-3736, rep.jimmy.matlock@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Don Miller: Republican, District 10
37 LP, (615) 741-6877, rep.don.miller@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Richard Montgomery: Republican, District 12
201 WMB, (615) 741-5981, rep.richard.montgomery@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Joe Pitts: Democrat, District 67
34 LP, (615) 741-2043, rep.joe.pitts@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Mark Pody: Republican, District 46
202 WMB, (615) 741-7086, rep.mark.pody@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Dennis Powers: Republican, District 36
G-4 WMB, (615) 741-3335, rep.dennis.powers@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. John D. Ragan: Republican, District 33
32 LP, (615) 741-4400, rep.john.ragan@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Dennis E. Roach: Republican, District 35
217 WMB, (615) 741-2534, rep.dennis.roach@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Charles Michael Sargent, Jr.: Republican, District 61
206 WMB, (615) 741-6808, rep.charles.sargent@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Cameron Sexton: Republican, District 25
17 LP, (615) 741-2343, rep.cameron.sexton@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. David A. Shepard: Democrat, District 69
34 LP, (615) 741-3513, rep.david.shepard@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Janis Baird Sontany: Democrat, District 53
32 LP, (615) 741-6861, rep.janis.sontany@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Art Swann: Republican, District 8
214 WMB, (615) 741-5481, rep.art.swann@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Curry Todd: Republican, District 95
209 WMB, (615) 741-1866, rep.curry.todd@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Joe Towns, Jr.: Democrat, District 84
36 LP, (615) 741-2189, rep.joe.towns@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Kent Williams: Independent, District 4
19 LP, (615) 741-7450, rep.kent.williams@capitol.tn.gov
Rep. Tim Wirgau: Republican, District 75
17 LP, (615) 741-6804, rep.tim.wirgau@capitol.tn.gov
Lesley Swann is the state coordinator for the Tennessee Tenth Amendment Center and founder of the East Tennessee 10th Amendment Group. She is a native of Anderson County, Tennessee.

Quote of the Day 2/25

Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods.

H.L. Mencken

24 February 2011

ATF Project Gunwalker scandal picked up by mainstream media--CBS News

CBS News' Sheryl Atkisson's report on Project Gunwalker ATF scandal, a story broken by patriot III percenter and 2A bloggers Mike Vanderbeogh and David Codrea:

Someone at the Fed has been reading LewRockwell.com!

...probably not.  But it does sound like (too late) the most internally critical Fed Bank President has taken an Austrian economic stance on Fed policy:

"A top Federal Reserve official Wednesday said the U.S. central bank was risking a new financial crisis with its easy-money policies and urged regulators to break up the biggest banks.
Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig, one of the Fed's most outspoken internal critics, warned monetary policy should be tailored "so you don't overshoot and cause the next crisis."


Same story as reported at ZeroHedge.com:




  • HOENIG SAYS U.S. HAS `DEEPLY' UNDERMINED FREE-MARKET CAPITALISM







  • HOENIG WARNS OF ESCALATING SERIES OF CRISES WITH RISING COSTS







  • HOENIG: LARGE FINANCIAL FIRMS CAN EXPECT BAILOUTS IN FUTURE







  • HOENIG SAYS BIG FINANCIAL FIRMS MUST NOT HOLD ECONOMY `HOSTAGE'







  • HOENIG:BIG FIRMS `HAVE SIGNIFICANT INCENTIVES' TO INCREASE RISK







  • HOENIG: TOO-BIG-TO-FAIL FIRMS POSE `GREATEST RISK' TO ECONOMY







  • HOENIG: LARGE FIRMS WERE `GAMING' CAPITAL STANDARDS PRE-CRISIS







  • HOENIG SAYS BIG FINANCIAL FIRMS ENJOY `HUGE' FUNDING ADVANTAGE




  • UPDATE:  Yesterday I got one hit from the Federal Reserve in Kansas City;  so now I can legitimately claim: 

    "Someone at the Fed has been reading the Bonnie Blue Blog."

    Quote of the Day 2/24

    The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape, finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

    Marcus Aurelius, 120-181 A.D. 

    OK. I'm there. -- HM

    Mike Church interviews Dr. Kevin Gutzman on George Washington

    Dr. Gutzman had said in a previous discussion [with Mike Church] in regards to George Washington, ...that he's the most important man in the last 500 years. From here Dr. Gutzman brings to light the fact that unlike any other military leader George Washington was a republican and was determined that military in America would be subordinate to civilian leadership and that's the way it still stands today.

    23 February 2011

    Keep your feet on the ground, but never be complacent.

    This may seem like a non-sequitur from the title above, but this is a classic comedy sketch that helps me to remember an important life concept:


    "...Well, I'll do everything humanly possible. Unfortunately, we barbers aren't gods. You know, medicine is not an exact science, but we are learning all the time.

    Why, just fifty years ago, they thought a disease like your daughter's was caused by demonic possession or witchcraft. But nowadays we know that Isabelle is suffering from an imbalance of bodily humors, perhaps caused by a toad or a small dwarf living in her stomach."

    Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber, as played by Steve Martin, Saturday Night Live, 1977

    -------------------------------------------

    I put this quote under my photo in my college yearbook.  Lots of people did that to be amusing or profound.

    I put it in to remind myself that my knowledge base is limited, and probably always will be.  In other words, I should be humble.  Someone always knows more than you. 

    On the other hand, I shouldn't be complacent in what I do know at present, but should always strive to increase my knowledge base.  

    Indeed, I believe that the Judeo-Christian ethic of self improvement is obligatory for every person, if we are to be favorably judged by G-d.  Even for atheists, striving for self-improvement gives life real meaning.

    I am profoundly(that is, hit over the head) reminded of these concepts from time to time, although they are never far from my consciousness.  

    In my profession, I rose to several positions of authority over the past 17 years, and got very positive feedback from peers and colleagues.  Despite my record and my personal conceit that I was an indispensable member of my team, last July I was laid off.  

    My sense of security and complacency (professionally and with regard to providing for my wife and kids) was completely shattered. I ended up working for someone who came from a similar background to myself, but has about 12 years more experience than I do.  I have learned so much from my new boss since coming to work for him;  it has been a very humbling experience.  I hope the wisdom of this perspective will stay with me, and I won't ever return to complacency or feel full of myself.

    I see every aspect of my life through the same lens: keep your feet on the ground, but never be complacent. For instance:

    1. I can never know or learn enough history.  As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 
    I read both sides of an issue to gain insight, or "know [my] enemy."  I never know where my insight may come from: someone on the left, a neocon, or a libertarian. Same for knowledge of economics, same for religious knowledge.


    2. Far far from perfect, I can always be a better dad and husband than I was yesterday.
    3. I know how to operate an AR and a .308 MBR, but I know I will never win a National Rifle Championship.  That won't stop me from practising to gain muscle memory and tighten my groups, though...;-)


    4. In my lifetime, I can never do enough to limit the size of government.

    To some of you, this post may seem silly or preachy, so forgive me for that.  I write this blog as much for my kids to read someday as for anyone interested in my posts.



    Hey Yankees! How come you don't protect THIS endangered species?



    I came across this gem on Youtube the other night.  
    My kin in Western NC are an endangered species.

    Quote of the Day 2/23

    The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. 

    Put it in his hand and it's good-bye to the Bill of Rights.

    H.L. Mencken 

    22 February 2011

    Modern public schools have become microcosms of the police state

    <Russian accent>...Like leetle gulags...

    What the heck is being in a school like this doing to our kids' minds?  The constant fear of severe punishment will program them for passivity as adults. Is that what the state wants?

    I remember well rhymes and songs like the one at the end of Lew Rockwell's post below, and I never felt fear singing them.  That kind of song (or what the kid drew in the 2nd story link below) isn't about real violence;  that kind of song is a kid's way of venting the feeling of being stuck in an institution, under someone else's power.  Being stuck in school all day goes against the grain of any kid that isn't a human version of sheep or a lemming. They have to vent.

     

    Parents: Public Schools Own Your Children

    In Fairfax VA, a 15-year-old boy was accused of having bought a legal mock-marijuana substance, though it was not found on his person. He was then forced into signing a confession, before his parents were even phoned, suspended and banned for seven weeks, and told he would be forced to attend a public school for “criminal” kids. His parents, on the advice of a PS commissar, did not take a lawyer to his disciplinary hearing. The boy took his own life a month later.
    If parents are going to sentence their children to the yellow buses, they should at least teach them never to talk to any school official without being able to call their parents first, and parents should bring a lawyer to any hearing. Far better, of course, to take advantage of one of our remaining freedoms and secede from the public schools for private school or homeschooling.
    In Arvada, CA, upon the instructions of public school officials, the police arrested and handcuffed an 11-year-old boy with a disability for “inappropriate drawing.” Good thing he wasn’t singing that ancient student anthem, The Burning of the School:
    Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school
    We have tortured all the teachers – we have broken all the rules
    We cheated [principal's name] in a dirty game of pool
    And our troops go marching on!
    Glory, glory, hallelujah
    My teacher hit me with a ruler
    I hid behind her door with a loaded .44
    And the teacher don’t teach no more!

    Also, read Will Grigg's take: here

    February 22, 1732: Happy Birthday to his Excellency

    His contemporaries called him "Excellency".  After victory in the Revolution, he diffused a near revolt (and potential military coup de etat of his army in Newburgh NY in 1783. He relinquished control of the military to the Confederation Congress and enabled a constitutional republic to arise out of the ashes of war. He is a son of Virginia, a son of the South.


    Our Cincinnatus: Omnia relinquit servare Republicam
    • Lucius (Titus) Quinctius Cincinnatus

      (b. c.519 BC)
      In 458 BCE (according to tradition), Cincinnatus, who had been consul in 460 BCE, was plowing his fields when messengers arrived to tell him he had been named dictator to defend the city against the Aequi and the Volscians. He took up the supreme command, defeated Rome's enemies, freed the beseiged consul Minucius, and returned to his farm, all within 16 days. Further, he refused the honors that came with his military victories. Legend says he was named dictator a second time in 439 BCE, but there is no foundation for this story.
      George Washington was sometimes called an American Cincinnatus because he too held his command only until the defeat of the British and, at a time when he could have chosen to exercise great political power, instead returned as soon as he could to cultivating his lands. After the end of the Revolutionary War, a group of former officers in the (now) American army formed The Society of the Cincinnati, taking the name from the Roman general. The city of Cincinnati was named after this organization, and a statue of Cincinnatus stands there today.
      [The symbol of the] Order of Cincinnatus [is] in the shape of an eagle with the image of Cincinnatus on its breast. The motto of the Order reads: Omnia relinquit servare Republicam (He gave up everything to preserve the Republic.)

     -------------------------------------------

    Contrast Washington to Bonaparte:

    Bonaparte robs a nation of its independence: deposed as emperor, he is sent into exile, where the world’s anxiety still does not think him safely enough imprisoned, guarded by the Ocean. He dies: the news proclaimed on the door of the palace in front of which the conqueror had announced so many funerals, neither detains nor astonishes the passer-by: what have the citizens to mourn?
    Washington's Republic lives on; Bonaparte’s empire is destroyed. Washington and Bonaparte emerged from the womb of democracy: both of them born to liberty, the former remained faithful to her, the latter betrayed her.


    February 22, 1862

    Fellow-Citizens:

    On this the birthday of the man most identified with the establishment of American independence, and beneath the monument erected to commemorate his heroic virtues and those of his compatriots, we have assembled to usher into existence the Permanent Government of the Confederate States. Through this instrumentality, under the favor of Divine Providence, we hope to perpetuate the principles of our revolutionary fathers. The day, the memory, and the purpose fitly associated...

    Jefferson Davis, beginning of 2nd Inaugural address

                         

        Jefferson Davis on Slavery and the right of the Federal government to intervene

        The reader ... might naturally enough be led to the conclusion that the controversies which arose between the States, and the war in which they culminated, were caused by efforts on the one side to extend and perpetuate human slavery, and on the other to resist it and establish human liberty.

        The Southern States and Southern people have been sedulously represented as "propagandists" of slavery, and the Northern as the defenders and champions of universal freedom, and this view has been so arrogantly assumed, so dogmatically asserted, and so persistently reiterated, that its authors have, in many cases, perhaps, succeeded in bringing themselves to believe it, as well as in impressing it widely upon the world.

        The attentive reader of the preceding chapters—especially if he has compared their statements with contemporaneous records and other original sources of information—will already have found evidence enough to enable him to discern the falsehood of these representations, and to perceive that, to whatever extent the question of slavery may have served as an occasion, it was far from being the cause of the conflict.

        I have not attempted, and shall not permit myself to be drawn into any discussion of the merits or demerits of slavery as an ethical or even as a political question. It would be foreign to my purpose, irrelevant to my subject, and would only serve—as it has invariably served, in the hands of its agitators—to "darken counsel" and divert attention from the genuine issues involved...

        ...As for the institution of negro servitude, it was a matter entirely subject to the control of the States.


        No power was ever given to the General Government to interfere with it, but an [Constitutional] obligation was imposed to protect it...

        Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, 1881

        Napolitano hits Lincoln with both barrels: Woods and DiLorenzo!



        21 February 2011

        Alaska State Representative refuses T&A patdown, has to return to AK via sea

        SEATTLE -- "An Alaskan state lawmaker is returning home by sea after refusing a pat-down search at a Seattle airport, a spokeswoman said..
        Rep. Sharon Cissna underwent a body scan as she was preparing to leave Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Sunday and was then required to undergo the pat-down by Transportation Safety Administration officials, said Michelle Scannell, her chief of staff.
        Scannell said that TSA called for the pat-down because the scan showed Cissna had had a mastectomy. But it wasn't immediately clear from statements by the lawmaker's office and TSA why that would necessitate the further search."

        Link

        ---------------------------------

        She already went through the pornoscanner, but that wasnt enough for the ever-alert Federal employees.  

        Everyone knows if a woman has had a mastectomy, she definitely needs a pat-down...I mean feel-up.  

        Remember well:  Federal T&A employees are the first line of defense in the detection of breast cancer recurrence, and recognizing the use of C4 in breast implants.  Also, statistically speaking, the most common type of suicide bomber in the United States are older white women who serve in State Legislatures. 

        Fits the profile: 68 year old white female from Alaska, serving in her State Legislature;  frisk her, boys!
        ---------------------------


        Update: Rep. Cissna's statement on the incident:



        “The evening of the 20th of February 2011 started with relief, as I was anxious to get back to the important work of the Alaskan Legislature.  Heading into security after time with the line of passengers, I felt upbeat.  I’d blocked out the horror of three months earlier, but after the pleasant TSA agent checked the ticket and ID, I suddenly found myself directed into scanning by the Seattle Airport’s full-body imaging scan.  The horror began again.  A female agent placed herself blocking my passage.  Scan results would again display that my breast cancer and the resulting scars pointed a TSA finger of irregularity at my chest.  I would require invasive, probing hands of a stranger over my body. Memories of violation would consume my thoughts again.”
        “Being a public servant and elected representative momentarily disappeared. Facing the agent I began to remember what my husband and I’d decided after the previous intensive physical search.  That I never had to submit to that horror again!  It would be difficult, we agreed, but I had the choice to say no, this twisted policy did not have to be the price of flying to Juneau!”
        “So last night, as more and more TSA, airline, airport and police gathered, I became stronger in remembering to fight the submission to a physical hand exam. I repeatedly said that I would not allow the feeling-up and I would not use the transportation mode that required it.”
        “For nearly fifty years I’ve fought for the rights of assault victims, population in which my wonderful Alaska sadly ranks number one, both for men and women who have been abused.  The very last thing an assault victim or molested person can deal with is yet more trauma and the groping of strangers, the hands of government ‘safety’ policy.”
        “For these people, as well as myself, I refused to submit.”
        “The trip to Juneau is one of adventure in working to restore dignity to government policies designed to build the well-being of our people. All of them. The trip to the Capitol has been by car, small plane and the Alaska Marine Highway.  It feels like a trip of pride as well.”
        “The TSA threat of “Do you want to fly?” means something very different to Alaskans. Flying in Alaska is not a choice, but a necessity.  The freedom to travel should never come at the price of basic human dignity and pride.”

        Alaska governor exercises direct executive nullification of Obamacare


        While 11 state consider versions of the Health Care Nullification Act (recently passed in the Idaho House and the North Dakota Senate) and other states are looking at rejecting health care mandates alone, Alaska might bypass the entire legislative process – and still nullify the law.
        Citing Judge Roger Vinson’s decision voiding the whole of last year’s health care overhaul after finding the law’s health insurance mandate unconstitutional, Alaska’s Republican Governor Sean Parnell has said that the state will not pursue the development of health insurance exchanges. From Bloomberg:
        Alaska Governor Sean Parnell, saying he’s bound by law, won’t apply for federal grants needed to implement President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul after a federal judge in Florida ruled it unconstitutional.
        The Republican’s decision means the state will skip today’s deadline to apply for a grant that federal officials say is needed to develop exchanges where residents would be able to buy medical insurance under the new health-care law.
        The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by Obama in March requires citizens over 18 to obtain health coverage beginning in 2014. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola, Florida, ruled that requiring such coverage exceeded Congress’s power and invalidated the law last month. The decision came in a challenge brought by 26 states, including Alaska.
        “We will not proceed down an unlawful course to implement this law,” Parnell said yesterday in Juneau, the capital. “The court’s declaratory judgment that the federal health-care law is unconstitutional is the law of the land as it applies to Alaska.”
        It will certainly be interesting to see if other governors will do the same, effectively stopping the federal act dead in its tracks. What they really need to do, though, is the same thing even if the federal courts don’t give them permission to do so.
        Michael Boldin, blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com, 2/20/2011

        Quote of the Day 2/21

        "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them." 






        John Wayne as John Bernard Books, The Shootist

        20 February 2011

        What is a Yankee? Why are Yankees the enemy of Liberty?

        The Yankee Problem in America...


        "...one of the most important and most neglected subjects in United States history — the Yankee problem.

        By Yankee I do not mean everybody from north of the Potomac and Ohio. Lots of them have always been good folks. 

        The firemen who died in the World Trade Center on September 11 were Americans


        The politicians and TV personalities who stood around telling us what we are to think about it are Yankees


        I am using the term historically to designate that peculiar ethnic group descended from New Englanders, who can be easily recognized by their arrogance, hypocrisy, greed, lack of congeniality, and penchant for ordering other people around. Puritans long ago abandoned anything that might be good in their religion but have never given up the notion that they are the chosen saints whose mission is to make America, and the world, into the perfection of their own image.

        Hillary Rodham Clinton, raised a Northern Methodist in Chicago, is a museum-quality specimen of the Yankee — self-righteous, ruthless, and self-aggrandizing. Northern Methodism and Chicago were both, in their formative periods, hotbeds of abolitionist, high tariff Black Republicanism. The Yankee temperament, it should be noted, makes a neat fit with the Stalinism that was brought into the Deep North by later immigrants.



        The ethnic division between Yankees and other Americans goes back to earliest colonial times. Up until the War for Southern Independence, Southerners were considered to be the American mainstream and Yankees were considered to be the "peculiar" people. [No different today -- HM] 

        Because of a long campaign of cultural imperialism and the successful military imperialism engineered by the Yankees, the South, since the war, has been considered the problem, the deviation from the true American norm. Historians have made an industry of explaining why the South is different (and evil, for that which defies the "American" as now established, is by definition evil). Is the South different because of slavery? white supremacy? the climate? pellagra? illiteracy? poverty? guilt? defeat? Celtic wildness rather than Anglo-Saxon sobriety?"


        -------------------------------

        The great defender of Southern heritage and biographer of John C. Calhoun, Dr. Clyde Wilson, wrote this essay in 2003.


        Like bedbugs, Yankees insinuate themselves into every nook and cranny of your existence.  While you are asleep, they suck your blood.


        Careful.  You are getting more and more anemic for lack of blood...

        Quote of the Day 2/20

        "If the provisions of the Constitution can be set aside by an Act of Congress, where is the course of usurpation to end? 


        The present assault upon capital is but the beginning. 


        It will be but the stepping-stone to others, larger and more sweeping, till our political contests will become a war of the poor against the rich; a war growing in intensity and bitterness."


        Justice Stephen J. Field, majority opinion, Pollack v. Farmers Loan and Trust Co., 1898

        Cool -- Earl Scruggs jams with The Byrds in '69