The Inside Straight

More Thoughts on Immigration

There are two,widely ( if not wildly ) divergent schools of thought on the issue of illegal aliens.

One group - the "open Borders" advocates  - seems to suggest we should welcome illegal aliens with open arms:giving them carte blanche on anything they desire: freedom from taxation, free medical care,free college education , and ( according to a small group of radicals in the Northeast ) the right to vote in our elections - regardless of their non-citizenship (!)

These self- annointed "protectors of the little people" are often clueless students: egged on by folks who sincerely desire the downfall of the United States. Their strident "demands" irritate anyone with half a brain, and hand ammunition to a second group.

This second group - just as vociferous and radical - seems to have adopted the viewpoint that,because illegal aliens are here in violation of the law, they are not entitled to any legal protections whatsoever ; that they should be "fair game", and ; according to certain "ultra-radicals" , we should beat them, shoot them, hang them, poison or destroy desert waterholes, sow anti-personnel mines , etc.

I think you'll find most Americans somewhere in the middle of these two extremes: fed up with the excesses of the Open Borders and La Raza crowd, but alarmed by the open racism of the "Racial Purity" faction.

There have been a number of court cases involving these issues : some of which enrage the Racial Purists.

In one case , two Border Patrol officers were convicted of misconduct , and sentenced to prison terms , after firing a large number of rounds at a fleeing Mexican drug smuggling suspect (eventually hitting him in the butt).

In a second case , a Sheriff's Deputy , tried to halt a car that  had nearly run him over . He "fired at the tires" of the fleeing vehicle : managing to hit the inside of the passenger compartment and wound a woman passenger. He has been charged, at the insistence of the Mexican government,but some here are arguing he was within his rights because the occupants of the vehicle were illegals.

Really ? When did illegal entry to the US become a capital crime ? Isn't it usually a misdemeanor - or, at best, a low-grade felony ?

If we are going to declare open season on everyone committing the crime of being here illegally,why couldn't we begin shooting the hookers and drug dealers working our streets ? They're commiting crimes too , as are underage kids getting drunk, and people who drive recklessly.

Where would we start ? Better still, how would we stop ? 

What the Latest Study on Gun Violence Showed

Prohibitions and stifling restrictions on private ownership of guns have been an unpleasant fact of life for me most of my life. Many of these prohibitions have been enacted as a result of Media pressures,and the loudly-voiced opinions of those who consider any ownership or use of weapons to be a crime against society.

Here is a press release from the Citizens' Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms .

Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
12500 N.E. Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA  98005

PRESS IGNORES FBI STUDY SAYING GUN LAWS IGNORED BY COP KILLERS

For Immediate Release: February 16, 2007

BELLEVUE, WA – For more than two months, a damning report on a five-year study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about how cop-killing criminals ignore gun laws and where they get their guns has languished in the shadows, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms revealed today.

“The public has a right to know the contents of this report, which was revealed to the International Association of Chiefs of Police last year,” said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. “According to the Force Science News, research focused on 40 incidents involving assaults or deadly attacks on police officers, in which all but one of the guns involved had been obtained illegally, and none were obtained from gun shows.”

The study is called “Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers.” Waldron called it a “smoking gun” in terms of revelations about the sources of crime guns. Anti-gun politicians and police chiefs do not want the public to know as they campaign against the so-called “gun show loophole,” he said.

The newsletter quotes Ed Davis, who told the IACP that none of these criminals who attacked police officers was “hindered by any law – federal, sate or local – that has ever been established to prevent gun ownership. They just laughed at gun laws.” The Force Science News is published by the Force Science Research Center, a non-profit institution based at Minnesota State University in Mankato. The newsletter also stated, “In contrast to media myth, none of the firearms in the study was obtained from gun shows.”

“This is a devastating revelation,” Waldron said, “and while Mr. Davis should be applauded for telling the IACP that criminals ignore gun laws, we’re wondering why the IACP has been quiet about this, and why the mainstream press never reported this, and probably never will.

“Force Science News calls the gun show loophole a ‘media myth’,” Waldron said, “and that’s what gun rights activists have been saying for years. It’s time for the IACP leadership to acknowledge that gun laws don’t stop criminals, that they only restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens, and that gun shows are not the ‘arms bazaars for criminals’ as they have been portrayed.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to [email protected].

-END-

Drums Along the Potomac

Since the 2004 Presidential elections, we've been hearing "warnings" and "insider tips" that the Bush administration is planning to wage war on Iran. Naturally, each time the administration denies such a plan,the howls of protest grow louder.

Now that the howls have been spread across the Internet, some of the mainstream politicians are jumping in. For example,Presidential wannabee Hillary Clinton , and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi took time out from their busy schedules to tell the Media that the President can't wage war on Iran without Congressional approval. (Goll-leee ! What a surprise !! )

Those who suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome seem to have arrived at the conclusion that Iran - if it is a problem to the world at all - is a problem only because President Bush is so mean to them. ( It's a familiar refrain to my old ears. The peace-at-any-price folks used to say the same thing about every American president who refused to join in a rousing chorus of The Communist Internationale.)

Since at least 2005, American and other Coalition troops in Iraq have been running across war materiel of Iranian origin ,which has been used to kill our troops - and they have run across occasional identifiable Iranian Special Forces operatives as well .

The Anti-Bush folks have two answers when evidence is presented:

1. It is all a Neo-Con hoax; and/or :

2. Because we furnished weapons to the mujahadeen in Afghanistan against Russian invaders, the Iranians have a perfect right to do so in Iraq ; and :

3. Iran has a perfect right to pursue the goal of joining the Nuclear Weapons club.

It may surprise some of you, but I have no real objection to Iran becoming a nuclear power.India and Pakistan , which have been at loggerheads from the gitgo , are both burdened with nuclear weapons they dare not use against each other. The harsh realities of Mutual Destruction have forced both nations to restrict their military activities, and to meet across the bargaining table.

I can readily visualize such a scenario developing between Iran and Israel , should both antagonists achieve nuclear parity , and I can visualize Shi'ite Iran becoming a counterbalance to the Sunni -dominated nations. The relationships that would develop would probably be noisy-with much ranting,and much low-grade irregular warfare, but the world would probably be safer for it.

As to any Iranian guerrillas who might turn up in Iraq , the answer is clear: dispose of them, or chase them back to their homeland. Continue to document what they are doing, but let the Iraqis themselves handle them and any problems they may cause.

Let's keep a steady hand on the reins; and above all, let's not let political wannabees stampede us into open conflict just so they can get elected. We have more than enough on our plates right now, thank you !

Global Warming : "Template Science " at its Worst ?

We could have used a bit of "global warming" around here today: snow,sleet, freezing rain, more snow on top of that. A salt truck knocked down an electrical line, and we lost power for an hour or two.

No biggie: just your typical February day in the Northeast - but , according to Al Gore and The Church of Anthropogenic (Human Caused) Climate Change , it is further evidence we (American sinners) are all doomed,doomed, doomed !

As you can see, I have some reservations about "The Church" and its teachings. I believe some of what is being "preached" is based upon "template science" ; ie: research conducted to produce desired results. Having said this, let me qualify my remarks.

My sole relationship with the Petroleum Industry is as follows: They send me a bill every month for the gasoline and oil I put into Gladys,our adopted Honda. (She followed us home from the dealership,so we decided to keep her.)

I am not a gap-toothed, ignorant , drooling redneck. I must confess to having listened to Bluegrass music from time to time, and to occasional picking on guitar, mandolin, etc. in the past-but I like Classical music too ...and have a keen, continuing interest in science.

I am not an Evil Neo-Con. In point of fact, I've probably voted for Democrats a whole lot more than I've voted Republican. If I had to describe myself, I'd say I'm a "Commonsense - itarian".

I mention all these things because it is currently the fashion to launch a no-holds-barred personal attack upon anyone who questions the dogmatically presented opinions of The Church of Anthropogenic Climate Change.

The notion that Humans are responsible for most Global Warming is still just that: a notion. In scientific terms, it is a Hypothesis - for which there is insufficient evidence to elevate it to the status of Theory ...and definitely nowhere near enough evidence to advance it to the status of a Scientific Truth ; but "The Church" insists on calling it  a "proven fact" , and tries to punish anyone in the scientific community who disputes them.

An example of how "The Church" acts is shown here.

The curious career of one of this cult's prime architects-Maurice Strong- was explored by researchers at Fox News (which the cult's devotees refer to as "Faux News" - especially when their reporters hit the nail on the head - as they did in the "Oil for Food" scandal.)

Having told you in advance what some of the response to this entry will consist of, let me throw a few concepts on the table.

1. The earth is warming - much as it has warmed (and cooled) many times before. Most of this warming , I think is due to conventional forces : solar activity, oscillations in the earth's orbit,volcanic activity (especially in the Pacific),methane output from the planet's animal life, etc.

2. Most of this warming is exactly what one might expect as the planet came to the end of a cooling cycle. How cold has it been in the past ? Well ,following the Blizzard of 1888, it was possible to travel on ice skates - across the coastal waters - between Boston and New York City. In fact, many people did so.

3.  The original "template" for much of our now revered "climate science" was a perceived "need" to slow down the United States by reducing its ability to compete with the European Union. (The Fox article suggests China may have been the originator, but I'm more inclined to think they merely jumped aboard an EU concept.)

4. When then-President Bill Clinton signed on to the Kyoto accords , I'm reasonably sure he knew perfectly well Congress would not approve it - but it made a marvelous "worry weight" !

( In table shuffleboard, an astute player will sometimes protect his high value weights from being knocked off the board by shooting a weight about halfway up the board: thus forcing the opponent to shoot around it. )

A. If Al Gore won the 2000 election , he could ignore the Kyoto worry weight ...or use it as leverage to extract large donations from corporations opposed to it. Few would criticize him in either event.

B. If Gore lost , then the winner - Bush - could be (and was ) hammered incessantly for "failure to follow through on Kyoto".

5. Most of the flak about global warming comes from the EU (and is parroted here). It is worth noting the EU , which preaches to us about Global Warming , has never met its own Kyoto Accord goals , and has exaggerated and lied about its own achievements. Germany, for example, has the largest number of highways in Europe, but does not count auto emissions when it discusses greenhouse gas production. Spain meets its goals by "purchasing credits" in other countries - as does China (which happens to be the biggest polluter on the planet).

(Credits are purchased by buying pollution control equipment, and shipping it to "Third World" countries, which, for the most part, don't even take it out of the shipping cartons.)

6. Ironically the one country cast as the villain of the Global Warming drama has met and exceeded the originally proposed Kyoto "goals" year after year, without fuss and fanfare. That country-as you may have guessed- is the United States of America.

ps: Be careful who you share that last tidbit with ! The Church of Anthropogenic Climate Change hates it when anyone says this like that !!

The Great "Save Darfur" Scam (Bill Richardson's Big Adventure)

Save Darfur ! That's one of the new slogans of the Beautiful People.

In case you're wondering where Darfur is, why it needs to be saved, and who it needs to be saved from,let me provide a quick rundown.

Darfur is a region in Sudan that is chock-a-block full of highly desirable,easily refined light sweet crude oil. It has been the home of African natives for ages untold; but, in recent years,Arabs - some of whom are tightly entwined with al-Qaeda and/or the Muslim Brotherhood - have moved in and taken over the government: making removal of the original natives from the oil-rich sands of Darfur their highest priority.

The Chinese (who have no qualms about "blood for oil") are willing to buy all the oil Sudan can sell them,and are willing to supply the neccessary tools (guns,helicopters,etc.) needed to remove the troublesome natives.

The Sudanese government-wishing to keep its hands "clean" in this matter, has funneled almost unlimited money, arms, and supplies to a non-governmental group that calls itself "the janjaweed militia": taking great care to look the other way while this militia clears the oilfields of native Africans with an orgy of murder, arson, rape,looting, and wholesale destruction of homes and villages.

So far, this government-backed Islamist militia has succeeded in killing an estimated 200,000 people,killing livestock, destroying crops, and turning about a million families into homeless refugees ; but it wasn't until the natives started to fight back ,and the flow of oil to the Chinese became jeapordized that the UN (and,some might say,the Beautiful People) became interested.

Here,here !, the UN cried. What's all this....this conflict ?

The UN has long adhered to (or at least practiced )the view that if one group murders and oppresses another,the conflict is best resolved by disarming the victim. It makes the resultant slaughter much less alarming ; much more tidy .

Come, come, the UN coaxed. Let us sit down at the bargaining table and negotiate this ...unpleasantness away !

To no one's great surprise, all parties to the conflict told the UN to butt out.

On July 14,2004 , a truly worthy group - The Save Darfur Coalition was organized. Members, who came from a broad spectrum, signed the following statement:

"The emergency in Sudan’s western region of Darfur presents the starkest challenge to the world since the Rwanda genocide in 1994. A government-backed Arab militia known as Janjaweed has been engaging in campaigns to displace and wipe out communities of African tribal farmers.

Villages have been razed, women and girls are systematically raped and branded, men and boys murdered, and food and water supplies targeted and destroyed. Government aerial bombardments support the Janjaweed by hurling explosives as well as barrels of nails, car chassis and old appliances from planes to crush people and property. Tens of thousands have died. Well over a million people have been driven from their homes, and only in the past few weeks have humanitarian agencies gained limited access to some of the affected region.

Mukesh Kapila, the former United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said on March 19, 2004 that the violence in Darfur is “more than a conflict, it's an organized attempt to do away with one set of people.” The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has issued its first ever genocide emergency. John Prendergast of International Crisis Group warns, “We have not yet hit the apex of the crisis.”

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates that 350,000 people or more could die in the coming months. Ongoing assessments by independent organizations such as Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) suggest that USAID’s estimate may be conservative. If aid is denied or unavailable, as many as a million people could perish.

Lives are hanging in the balance on a massive scale."

(Source: Wikipedia)

The Beautiful People decided to get behind this effort , and a massive fund-raising drive was conducted. When enough cash had been collected , the Save Darfur Coalition decided to send New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to Sudan - not to redress the ongoing genocide, but to negotiate a ceasefire between the oppressors and their victims.

Richardson seemed tailor-made for the assignment: a former US Ambassador to the UN,a former Secretary of Energy (who had proved a good friend indeed to the Chinese), and a good friend of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

On January 10,2007 , Richardson flew to Khartoum, sat down with all the available parties, and negotiated a "60 day ceasefire". Returning in triumph the same day, he gained much-desired "face time" with the Media and the Beautiful People ....just in time to announce his candidacy for President in 2008.

As Bill Richardson basked in momentary glory, life as usual resumed in Darfur. The Janjaweed Militia announced they were  not bound by the decisions of the Sudanese government - no matter how many papers were signed with Unbelievers - and the rattle of weapons began anew.The 60 Day Truce-like the May ceasefire that had preceeded it-was empty words on worthless paper : a pointless gesture, contrived by foreigners for their own ends.

I Don't Know How to Tell You This ,But:

I address this to the "Seymour Hersh Crowd",which infests the Media and the Internet , and which rushes to publish openly provocative,sometimes highly classified information - usually with the intent of badgering or embarrassing the administration currently in power.

I refer to Hersh specifically, because he has a long,long history of publishing information with no apparent regard for whom it will harm, or how it will affect the United States.

During the Cold War, for example, Naval Intelligence had to feed Hersh false information to keep him from revealing  that our submarines were tracking Russian nuclear missile subs all over the world , and that the "patrol box" for the Russian "boomers" extended to a few hundred miles from our coastlines.Hersh (whom I sincerely doubt was a Russian agent) was nonetheless eagerly read by Soviet Military intelligence operatives, as he seemed able to get into the nooks and crannies they couldn't approach.

Had Hersh succeeded in publishing his "scoop", American sub crews would have been in even graver danger than the hair-raising level at which they operated. We are pretty sure now the Soviets would not have engaged in a use-them-or-lose-them pre-emptive strike , but at the time, such a conclusion was by no means "a given".

We all know of Hersh's award winning reports on the Mai Lai massacre during the Vietnam war,and of his Abu Ghraib reports. That his stories had a devastating effect on US morale and prestige, and may have endangered American lives did not seem to bother him a bit. He had his stories, by heaven, and he was going to run with them !

One of his more recent efforts was a detailed report-published 4/17/06 in The New Yorker-claiming precise knowledge of a planned US attack on Iran. His report-supposedly straight from the horse's mouth-turned out to be from quite another portion of the beast's anatomy; but it has been published,re-published, and embellished-upon in countless Internet screeds, by folks who apparently share Hersh's "I know what's best for America" worldview.

I don't know how to tell you Hersh-ites this, but the people you probably dismiss contemptuously as "bloody wogs" do know how to read. They do read the garbage you write , and they tend to react - sometimes violently.

People in places like Iran know how to do a lot of things: train and support terrorists , build long-range rockets,produce and maintain stores of bioweapons and chemical weapons,fly airplanes by remote control, use Google Satellite Mapping to get up-to-date reports of enemy positions, store information on laptops, enrich Uranium , build nuclear weapons , communicate by encrypted cellphone, and other useful things. I'm told many can even count up to 20 without having to use their toes.

In the case of Iran, the immediate response to Hersh's story could easily have been an attack on shipping in the Gulf of Hormuz, a multi-national response to that attack, and escalation into a no-holds-barred global conflict : the sort of "self-fulfilling prophecy" nobody cares to imagine - and the sort of conflict Hersh-ites point to ( after triggering ) and snarl : "I told you so !"

Freedom of the Press is one of our most important and most cherished rights ; but - like all rights,it carries with it a burden of responsibility : a concept the Hersh-ites and their enablers have never seemed to grasp. Some of them claim "true loyalty lies in being disloyal" - but - if they are unwilling to be loyal to their own country, who can they be trusted to be loyal to ?

I'm almost afraid to ask !

Socialized Medicine: a Preview ?

I'm not exactly adamant about "socialized medicine" : my wife and I are enrolled in one of the combination plans - Medicare plus Blue Cross/Blue Shield ; which, in our area goes under the name of "Horizon Medicare Blue" -(if I'm up-to-date on the name changes.)

As nearly as I can figure out the nuts and bolts of the program,a significant percentage of our coverage is funded by my wife's former employer, with Medicare picking up the slack. The whole cobbled-together thing is administered by Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield - the former employer's health insurance carrier. The way it works is a pretty fair analog for a "socialized medicine" plan.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield (to use the old name) is a "carrier of last choice" by law. It can't refuse to accept someone who has a pre-existing health condition , or any group of individuals apt to incur higher-than-normal healthcare costs. (That last description fits retirees and other senior citizens to a tee. Boy ,do we run up healthcare costs !)

The "private carriers" - Aetna, etc. - are permitted to exercise much more selection in their choice of whom to insure ,and, as a consequence , try to avoid retirees altogether, or charge much higher premiums to cover them. Most large employers look at the cost projections, shudder, and opt for "good old Blue" - at least for their rank and file workers.

I can't speak for other states, but in NJ, Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield is almost universally detested by  healthcare providers - some of whom suggest dealing with them is like being nibbled to death by ducks. Payments are denied in what seems an arbitrary and capricious fashion -and the name of the game seems to be to delay payment as long as legally possible...while assuring all concerned "the check is in the mail".

For instance, when my wife was hospitalized in 2005, there was an unexplained balance left unpaid to the hospital. We explored this issue with the hospital and with Horizon for several months, and were told by the latter all invoices presented had been paid in full. In 2007, while my wife was in intensive care fighting for her life, I received a notice from a collection agency. The hospital had NOT been paid the balance, had given up trying to collect it from Horizon, and had finally invoked the little clause on the Admission documents that says the patient is responsible if the insurance carrier refuses to pay.

Knowing how my wife would react to this impossible situation (probable cardiac arrest) , I paid the bill : reasoning it would be a few bucks cheaper than paying for her funeral.

This month, we received two letters from Horizon: one claiming, although the treating physician had clearly authorized it, an X-ray was "not authorized" , and a small "co-payment" was due to the provider. The second letter was even more alarming !

This was, again, an X-ray, and Horizon had inexplicably decided my wife was " not a member of the group" at the time the service was performed.

WHOA !  Given the plan's reputation, it was easy to see what such a decision could lead to, so I called the phone number provided on the correspondence. It took just under an hour to reach someone at that number (and to learn the wrong number had been provided). Finally I was transferred to the Claims dept., where a pleasant gentleman assured me his records showed my wife had definitely been covered at the time of the claim....but he had no authority to make the neccessary change. He transferred me to someone in Enrollment , who he believed did have the authority.

The young woman in Enrollment confirmed coverage was in place and that it had never been interrupted...but, when she attempted to adjust the claim on the spot, she was denied permission to do so, as it had to go to somebody further up the Food Chain. We should get,she assured me, corrective correspondence in 10-14 working days. ( Dang ! Where have I heard that one before ?)

I think I've provided enough "personal examples" to give you the flavor of this huge,sprawling bureaucracy. Did I mention it provides warm welcomes to politicians who have been eased out of office by the electorate; that - for a very long time , its operations were being "outsourced" to India and other countries ?

I think of it as a foretaste of what a national socialized medicine program would become , and I would urge Americans to think : long and carefully before approving such a program !

Did Mossad Murder Iranian Physicist ?

There is a story - just now starting to "snowball" on the web. (Oooh-ooh-ooh ! Oh. Never mind !)

"Intelligence source says Mossad agents assassinated 44 year old Iranian nuclear physicist Ardeshire Hassenpour to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons." So says The Times (UK) Online-followed by Fox News.

Wow ! I wonder who their intelligence source was ?

A little quick research suggests the story was copied - virtually word-for-word from a World Net Daily story - which quotes STRATFOR as its source. The realationship between World Net Daily (WND) and STRATFOR might best be summarized by this quotation from WND.

"Editor's note: In partnership with STRATFOR, the global intelligence company, WorldNetDaily publishes daily updates on international affairs provided by the respected private research and analysis firm. Look for fresh updates each afternoon, Monday through Friday. In addition, WorldNetDaily invites you to consider STRATFOR membership, entitling you to a wealth of international intelligence reports usually available only to top executives, scholars, academic institutions and press agencies. "

I don't want to sound picky, but so far, have not seen anything from WND or STRATFOR I would care to lay out good money for; so I decided to do my own homework.

I learned the Iranian government announced the Dr. Hassenpour's death on January 21,2007 - some 6 days after his death. The Iranians note the death was apparently caused by "gas poisoning".

Dr. Hassenpour, the Iranians say, had been working at a plant in Isfahan-where Uranium Hexaflouride is manufactured (for use in the Natanz enrichment facility).

Uranium Hexaflouride is very nasty stuff : inhale/ingest the slightest amount,and the moisture in your body will convert it to Flourine: an element that makes Chlorine look positively beneficial. One can just about promise a prolonged and hideously agonizing death .

If one is working in a Mullah-driven "crash program" , the dangers of working with such materials are multiplied. (For example, during Stalin's drive to produce a workable atomic bomb, it is said thousands of low-ranking workers "gave" their lives.)

Setting that aside for the moment, I find myself wondering how Mossad could manage to get through the intense security screen surrounding anyone involved in Iran's enrichment program. It is possible - just - but things seldom work out like that in real life for any intelligence agency !

So: much as Mossad might enjoy the publicity, I suspect this story - like so many others I've seen - belongs in the trash basket !

ps: I wonder if "the world's leading private intelligence firm" would care to calculate the effect of stories like this on "the world's largest tinderbox" ?