Come visit us at our new web site: www.interestingitems.org Leave your thoughts, comments and opinions. We look forward to hearing from you. Interesting Items Alex Gimarc [email protected] Interesting Items 6/18 - In this issue: 1. Indiana 2. LOST 3. Gay Pride 4. Destruction 5. Delphi 6. Molestation 7. Zimmerman 1. Indiana. The state of Indiana passed a law last week that allowed citizens to use force against police when the police enter their homes illegally. The legislation came out of a domestic dispute when the cops showed up at the front door; the husband / boyfriend would not give them permission to enter; and the woman who apparently had called the cops no longer wanted them to help. She reportedly also had marks on her face. The cops entered without probable cause, without being invited in, and without a warrant, and the fight immediately ensued. The husband was charged with all the usual stuff – resisting arrest, use of force against police, etc. In a truly awful opinion, the Indiana Supreme Court found that police could enter any home they wanted to and that citizens could not legally do anything about it. This legislation was the response to the awful opinion. Most interesting was the discussion on the political blogs afterwards. PJ Media had an article up by a guy that calls himself Jack Dunphy who claims to be an LA cop. He railed against the new legislation with the excuse that it made the life of police that much less safe. There were over 300 comments, nearly all in strong, vigorous opposition to Dunphy’s view of the world. Note that PJ Media is a relatively mainstream conservative – not libertarian – blog. It appears that there is strong concern in the conservative world about the increasing militarization of local law enforcement – weapons, training, SWAT teams, no-knock raids, etc. And the support we have all given law enforcement for years and years is quickly disappearing. All it takes to remove public support is a single no-knock raid in the middle of the night where the cops shoot the dog, shoot the gun-carrying husband who is protecting his home from armed intruders, bust up the place and terrorize the family for hours, all in the name drug or crime control. The first mayor, governor and / or president that shuts down the war on drugs immediately and demilitarizes law enforcement at all levels of government will be a very, very popular politician – and deservedly so. The police do not want to be viewed in the same light as TSA agents. And they are getting pretty close. 2. LOST. The US Senate is well on its way to committing yet another act of lunacy. This one is the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) first brought forward during the Reagan administration. President Reagan refused to back it and it was not submitted to congress for ratification. It is back again and the Alaska congressional delegation is foolishly backing it passage on the grounds that it will codify the rights of nations sharing the Arctic Ocean . While this is an accurate statement, it defies reality. For if the Alaska congressional delegation is interested in Arctic issues, then it needs to only negotiate with the nations that share the Arctic – Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. You don’t need a worldwide treaty negotiated under the auspices of the corruptocrats infesting the United Nations to protect our interests as a nation. Indeed, the LOST sets up a wealth transfer regime between developed and undeveloped nations. It also requires environmental legislation to be passed by signatories to protect the seas. Some of the NewSpace people are worried that this treaty would also apply to the exploitation of non-terrestrial objects by entrepreneurs in the not so distant future. Bottom line is that if it is a bad idea, it will come out of the United Nations. And unfortunately it will also be supported by the current Alaska Congressional delegation. The National Center for Public Policy has a fairly comprehensive web site on the LOST that you can find at the link that follows: http://www.unlawoftheseatreaty.org/ 3. Gay Pride. Just when you thought that nothing worse could come out of the Obama administration’s Pentagon, comes the announcement last week that the Department of Defense will now start observing Gay Pride month. So much for executing the assigned mission of defending the Constitution. One of the stories I have heard out of the military is that gay military members who are HIV positive are no longer on the list for worldwide deployment, meaning they get to remain stateside while their fellow soldiers get to visit the Sandbox ( Middle East ) in their stead. This does not improve morale among the troops. 4. Destruction. To call the Reid – Pelosi congress and the Obama administration destroyers of wealth is not an epithet. Rather it is an accurate description of what they have managed to do since seizing the reins of power in January 2007 for congress and 2009 for Obama. The Federal Reserve published an analysis of median household wealth between 2007 – 2010 and found that median net worth declined by 40% nationwide over that period, destroying 18 years of saving and investment for the average family. There is no better way to create a dependent nation than by intentionally destroying wealth of the middle class here in the United States . And the democrats are the ones that actively seek to do it. They have done their job well. It is up to us to make sure they never get to do it again. 5. Delphi . In 2009, the Obama administration destroyed the retirement of non-union employees of the Delphi Corporation which produced parts for General Motors. At the same time, they protected the retirement of all United Auto Workers union members working for Delphi . The Delphi non-represented employees have been working their way through the courts fighting this government backed theft of their investments. That slog finally managed to turn over some rocks with the release of 62,000 pages of documents, associated e-mails that documented the illegal termination of the pension plan for Delphi non-represented employees. VP Joe Biden crowed about the $50 billion given to General Motors was able to protect the pensions of UAW members at the time. The Delphi non-reps are charging discriminatory treatment during the bailout and restructure of GM by the Obama administration. This was payback by the UAW against their managers. I don’t think the Obama administration or the UAW are going to do very well in court. But it will take a while. 6. Molestation. A story out of Shiner, Texas , last week had a father beating a man who was molesting his 4-year old daughter to death. The man was hired to help at the ranch with horses. The local District Attorney has not yet decided whether or not to indict. Will be way interesting to see if they can even seat a jury on this one. 7. Zimmerman. More on the arrest of George Zimmerman’s wife by Florida District Attorney Angela Corey last week and it is not a pretty story. It appears that Corey selectively edited the transcript of phone calls between the Zimmerman’s so as to show malfeasance and collusion between the two. Zimmerman’s wife was asked on the stand how much she had in the web account. She said she did not know and offered to find out for the Court. The Judge told her not to bother and moves on with the rest of her testimony. If saying “I don’t know” is grounds for a perjury indictment, there are about 97 members of the Clinton administration up for the same thing, as it was their standard answer during their time in office. Corey is painting this as perjury. I think the Zimmermans are going to make a LOT of money off the State of Florida following this trial. And I think Angela Corey is the next Mike Nifong (Duke Lacrosse rape case). More later - - AG Note: Interesting Items can be found at the following locations: Our Home Page http://interestingitems.org/ Archives can be found at http://home.gci.net/~agimarc Anchorage Daily Planet http://www.anchoragedailyplanet.com/ MatSu Valley News http://matsuvalleynews.blogspot.com/ Subscriber and supporter Elbert Collins at http://thatselbert.wordpress.com/ Rod Martin's The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column: http://www.thevanguard.org/ Ray Stevens - Obama Budget Plan http://www.patriotactionnetwork.com/video/video/show?id=2600775: Video:4018994&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_video In addition to Hatch and Bond, the other 17 Senate Republicans who helped put Holder in place at the Justice Department were: Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Bob Bennett, R-Utah, Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Richard Lugar, R-Ind., John McCain, R-Ariz., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio. . . -- To join RichsRants, send email to: [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/richsrants?hl=en
