Saturday Sessions: U2

Invisible

Believed to be from the bands upcoming mid-2014 studio album.

Ordinary Love

Ordinary Love preceded the release of Invisible by a few months and was the band's first release in four years.  Written as a tribute to Nelson Mandela it was released just a week before he died.

Some Older U2:

With or Without You - Joshua Tree 1987

 

 Sunday Bloody Sunday - Live at Red Rocks 1983

We Need More Labels!

 

Everyone is familiar with the standard nutrition label.

You'll find them on pretty much everything you eat, you may soon find them on restaurant menus.

Perhaps we need a tax and duties label.

Let's say you buy an Armani suit that is worth $500.  That suit has an import duty of 10% plus $0.386 per kilogram.  I did a little research and found out that the average suit weight 1.6 pounds so our total is now $550.28

Let's say you bought it in Orange County, California. What is everybody's piece of the pie?

Federal: $50.28
State of California: $33.02
Sheriff: $2.75
D.A: $2.75
Orange County: $4.12
City: $4.12
Roads:  $1.38
Health & Welfare: $2.75
State Optional Fund: $1.38
Orange County Transportation: $2.75

Total Tax and Duties: $105.30
Total Price to Consumer: $605.58

So, on top of whatever percent you are paying in income tax, tack on another 21.06% for every suit you buy.

How'd you like to see that label on everything you buy?

We could even get a little more creative and add in the other costs associated with that $500.00 suit.

Fuel Taxes for transport.
Road Taxes for mileage.
Regulatory burdens.

And so on and so forth.

How big of a piece of your pie is the government actually getting?

"I Am An American"

A fabulous remix of the U.S. government-funded "I am a Ukrainian"!  Good video up to 2:50...

And while we are at it, a prescient film from 1946 that hits a little too close to home:  "Despotism".

- Hugh

The Bitter Cup

 

We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude ... we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road ... we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: "Thou are weighed in the balance and found wanting." And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time. ~Winston Churchill in the House of Commons 1938

The Lesson of Munich

The lesson of Munich asserts that adversaries will interpret restraint as indicating a lack of capability or political will or both. 

"appeasement discredits the defenders' willingness to fight, and encourages the aggressor to escalate his demands." Steven Chan - International Relations in Perspective. New York: Macmillan, 1984.

Mourir pour Dantzig? (Why die for Danzig?) 

The policy of collective security ran in parallel with measures to achieve international disarmament and where possible was to be based on economic sanctions against an aggressor. It appeared to be ineffectual when confronted by the aggression of dictators, notably Japan's invasion of Manchuria, Italy's invasion of Abyssinia, Germany's occupation of the Rhineland.

Peace For Our Time

The parallels between Crimea and the Sudetenland are extreme.

"I am asking neither that Germany be allowed to oppress three and a half million Frenchmen, nor am I asking that three and a half million Englishmen be placed at our mercy. Rather I am simply demanding that the oppression of three and a half million Germans in Czechoslovakia cease and that the inalienable right to self-determination take its place." - Adolf Hitler's speech at the NSDAP Congress 1938 

"Unrest in the Ukraine poses a real threat to the lives and health of Russian citizens and the many compatriots who are currently on Ukrainian territory.  Russia retains the right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population of those areas," - Vladimir Putin, 1 March 2014

"I repeat: This is a matter of defending our citizens and our compatriots, of defending the most important human right -- the right to life," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov 

Appeasement

Appeasement in a political context is a diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an enemy power in order to avoid conflict.

During the discussions leading up to the Munich Agreement, ceding the Sudetenland to Germany Neville Chamberlain wrote his sister:

"I asked Hitler about one in the morning while we were waiting for the draftsmen whether he would care to see me for another talk….I had a very friendly and pleasant talk."

While Hitler had a slightly different opinion:
  

"If ever that silly old man comes interfering here again with his umbrella, I'll kick him downstairs and jump on his stomach in front of the photographers."

My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. - Neville Chamberlain 1938

Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.

So, what should we do about Crimea?

What's Wrong with America?

In a spasm of money-frenzied bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats conspired to blow billions in a government scheme known as a "farm bill."

The massive five-years agriculture spending plan, signed earlier this month by President Obama, includes a $3 million plan for Christmas tree taxes. (Daily Mail)

Also in the bill...

The U.S. will spend $1 billion per year loaning money to sugar barons so they can keep prices stable and avoid overseas competition

Another $100 million will go to study how to get Americans to buy more maple syrup

$1 million will buy weather radios for rural Americans, despite plunging hundreds of weather apps for smartphones and plunging access rates


And it continues a $200 million 'market access’ program that has paid companies like Fruit of the Loom and McDonalds to run commercials.

One grant from that fund even funded a reality TV show in India aimed at promoting cotton. Another paid Welch's $844,000 to hawk grape juice outside the U.S.

The rest of the Farm Bill, all $200 billion of it, includes some subsidy payments to members of Congress and their families who are engaged in agriculture.

Sadder Still...

One in five American households receive food stamps today. More than 1 million people were added to the rolls in 2013, including residents who live in the country illegally.

In the year 2000 the entire food stamp program cost $17 billion. Last year that figure was $78 billion.
(Daily Mail)

Government policy has screwed our economy.  We're the ones being harvested.

"You Have No Rights."

Got Freedom?

From CBS Baltimore:

“I have my rights,” the man said.
“You have no rights,” the officer said.
[...]
“Do you see the police presence here? Do you see us all? We’re not [expletive] around. Do you understand? Do not disrespect us and do not not listen to us,” the officer said. “Now walk away and shut your [expletive] mouth or you’re going to jail, do you understand?”
[...]
“I thought I had freedom of speech here,” the man said.
“You don’t. You just lost it,” the officer replied

Amazingly...

The man who was filming was not arrested and has not filed a complaint in this case.

Why not? 
Not because the man's liberty is sacrosanct, but because a Cyclops of the state decided not to arrest him. Those of you who foolishly claim man has no natural rights, or that our rights come from the state, have no intellectual standing to criticize such behavior.

The cop was wrong, you say?
Why?
What’s to stop him?
Someone bigger in government saying he’s wrong?
What if the president and the entire federal government say he’s right?
Then what?
What if it’s a rightwing jackboot shutting down an LGBT group protesting outside a Christian bakery?
And what if a rightwing president says it’s OK, and a rightwing government backs him up?
Then what?

ACLU - You have every right to photograph that cop

Flash'd all their sabres bare

Richard Caton Woodville: Charge of the Light Brigade

The Crimea

The Crimea has had a long and convoluted history, a convoluted history that continues to this day. 

Yesterday's post was at the time it was written was intended to be a rather tongue in cheek warning about Russia and the Ukrainian situation.  It was, however, overcome by events prior to publishing, events that culminated in the Russian invasion of the Crimea.  An invasion that took place, at least according to the Russian foreign minister, on the pretext of an attack on the Crimean Interior Ministry.

"unidentified armed people who were sent from Kiev tried to take control of Crimea's Interior Ministry headquarters early Saturday in a treacherous provocation that induced casualties"

Now I call it a pretext simply because there is no corroborating evidence that such an attack ever took place.

Vladimir Krashevsky, a top official at the Simferopol-based division of the local berkut, or riot police, said there was no such attack by Kiev-allied gunmen on the Ministry of Internal Affairs building, where he gave an impromptu press conference Saturday afternoon. "There was no attack here and there won't be one," he said.

 Five people who live in the buildings next to the Interior Ministry in Simferopol that was allegedly attacked said everything was peaceful Friday night and they heard nothing.

There were no signs of struggle at the building complex—all the windows and gates remained intact—and pro-Russia activist militiamen stood outside with riot shields painted as a Russian flag. Alexander Shuvalov, the commander of the militia, which has been watching over the building complex, also said there had been no such attack. - WSJ 

In fact, nothing much was going on in Crimea at all that wasn't Russian or pro-Russian.

Impotence and Ineptitude

By all appearances, we've had another major intelligence failure as a Senate aide has reported that this past Friday's intelligence assessment was “Vladimir Putin’s military would not invade Ukraine”.

Obama's threats go unheeded and may have even backfired according to Yuri L. Vorobyov Deputy Speaker of Russia's Upper House, the Federation Council said Mr. Obama’s warning on Friday was a cause for Russia to act.

By saying that Russia would face “costs” for its policy with regard to Ukraine, U.S. President Barack Obama “crossed the red line and insulted the Russian people,”

Indeed, the best the administration can muster at this point is the  childish threat not to go to Putin's G8 party.

Russian Apologists

I've been amazed at the progressives, socialists, and liberals coming out in defense of Russian action in the Crimea.  It simply illustrates how out of touch they really are.  Who is Vladimir Putin? He certainly isn't a communist, nor is he a socialist.

Russia needs to develop a free market economy based on industry and middle size business as the growth potential of a resource based economy is exhausted.  Russia Today

But what is he? Nationalistic and authoritarian are two of the adjectives used to describe him.  The Russian propaganda line that the Euromaiden protestors are "neo-fascists"  is rather ironic, as Putin has been called that himself.  US economist Richard Rahn in the Brussels Journal called Putinism

“a Russian nationalistic authoritarian form of government that pretends to be a free market democracy”, which “owes more of its lineage to fascism than communism;”

Putin introduced a flat tax rate of 13%, reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 24%, and small businesses can choose between a 6% tax on gross revenue or a 15% tax on profits. 

He has also been accused of being both a cronyist and a corporatist.  In essence, Putin is everything the left has accused Republicans of being for years. 

The reality

Russia is in the Crimea and there is little we can do about it.  Putin has judged us perfectly, neither NATO, the EU, nor the United States will go to war for the Ukraine.  We have no leverage, globally we need Russia more than it needs us.  We may make a lot of noise but our bark is worse than our bite. 

Make no mistakes, Russia is in the Ukraine for Russia, not for the Ukrainians, the Crimeans, or the ethnic Russians.

As libertarians, we here at Western Hero, stand with both the Ukrainians and the Crimeans for their right to self-determination.  Without doubt, the Russian occupation of Crimea is conducive to neither.  

For our brothers in the Crimea

Meanwhile, back in the USSR...

 

Pussy Riot

"Putin Lights Up The Fires"

This state may be stronger than time in jail.
The more arrests, the happier it is.
Every arrest is carried out with love for the sexist
Who botoxed his cheeks and pumped his chest and abs.
But you can't nail us in the coffin.
Throw off the yoke of former KGB!
Putin is lighting the fires of revolution
He's bored and scared of sharing silence with the people
With every execution: the stench of rotten ash
With every long sentence: a wet dream
The country is going, the country is going into the streets boldly
The country is going, the country is going to bid farewell to the regime
The country is going, the country is going, like a feminist wedge
And Putin is going, Putin is going to say goodbye like a sheep
Arrest the whole city for May 6th
Seven years isn't enough, give us 18!
Forbid us to scream, walk and curse!
Go and marry Father Lukashenko

The Western Hero stands with freedom loving people everywhere

Trollz

John Bauer - 1915

AMAZING SCIENTIFIC BREAKTRHOUGH

Those dark denizens of the internet really are horrible people.  

The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).

Slate

Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior.

Science Direct

Administration vs. Legislation

We all know how annoying trolls can be and some in outrage or offense would like to see an end to internet anonymity.  Last year Huffington Post began requiring visitors to identify themselves by name, that is certainly within the prerogative of the owners and administrators of Huffington Post... their site, their rules. I may disagree with Arianna when she says:

"Freedom of expression is given to people who stand up for what they're saying and who are not hiding behind anonymity,"

 And may point to Thomas Paine publishing Common Sense as "written by an Englishman", but as I said, her site, her rules.

More dangerous are those that propose legislating away the possibility of internet anonymity.  First, internet anonymity is superficial at best, none of us have real anonymity.  Your ISP know who you are, leaving the proverbial trail of breadcrumbs straight to your door, back here behind the curtain at Western Hero, I have seen how easy it is to track a commenter back to his lair.   

Internet anonymity provides us not anonymity from our ISP or from the government, it provides us anonymity, for the most part, from each other.  While that anonymity can be abused it also provides a level of comfort or a relatively effective level of non-attribution.  

The best argument for anonymity I have heard is what I'll call the John Smith argument.  The John Smiths of the world are relatively safe, there are 46,000 John Smiths in the United States.  There are 81 other people in the US that share my name... there is one Aloysius Guggenheim.  Do you think Aloysius Guggenheim wants to post comments on an Irritable Bowel Syndrome forum?  It doesn't take a degree from the University of the Obvious to figure that one out.

Suffer the Little Trolls...

and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the Kingdom of Internet.

GOP: The Anti-Dale Carnege

It's a battle of ideas, and the GOP has lost. Every time they talk about issues they supposedly believe in (morality, capitalism) they worsen their case, most often through their contradictory actions. Even when they say the right things, they manage to say them in the worst possible way. The best thing they could do to help themselves would be to shut up.

Here's how to argue your point:

why go wandering into the psychology of female sexuality in the first place? It’s ridiculous. This is politics. Stick to policy. And there’s a good policy question to be asked about the contraceptive mandate (even apart from its challenge to religious freedom).

It’s about priorities. By what moral logic does the state provide one woman with co-pay-free contraceptives while denying the same subvention to another woman when she urgently needs antibiotics for her sick child? (WaPo - Krauthammer)

Also from Krauthammer:

Yet there is a very simple, straightforward strategy for seizing the high ground on abortion in a way that transcends the normal divisions and commands wide popular support: Focus on the horror of late-term abortion — and get it banned.  (WaPo - Krauthammer)

Here is the sublime statement that all ideological factions, eager to swing the power of the state like Thor swinging a hammer and smiting his enemies, should adhere to concerning any issue near and dear to them, including 'free' government healthcare...

But regarding early abortions, the objective should be persuasion — creating some future majority — rather than legislative coercion in the absence of a current majority. These are the constraints of a democratic system.  (WaPo - Krauthammer)

Victor Davis Hanson on immigration:

So how hard is it for a Republican simply to say, “I oppose illegal immigration because (1) it is illegal. It undermines the sanctity of the law and discriminates against the law-abiding waiting in line to enter the U.S. legally. (2) It benefits corporate grandees at the expense of working people. (3) It is driven by self-serving elites of the ethnic-grievance industry to enhance their own advantage, rather than to help poor folks struggling to find decent wages and schools. 

 Illegal immigration, in short, is the most illiberal issue of our time. (PJ Media - VDH)

My prediction

The GOP will become a minor party, and the democrat party, in its decadent dominance, will split in two: The rich progressive, and the workaday populists. Obama can talk out of both sides of his mouth, but most politicians are not so gifted. Leftwing progressives were onto his game from the start: Spout OWS rhetoric, but keep the fatcats happy while collecting their campaign contributions. It takes great skill to pull that off, and I predict at some point the jig will be up for the Democrats.

You Can't Fix Stupid

“we are entering an era where American dominance on the seas, in the skies, and in space can no longer be taken for granted,” Chuck Hagel

In order to ensure that, we will be cutting the Armed Forces down to levels not seen since before World War II.

“While this smaller capacity entails some added risk if we execute extended or simultaneous ground operations our analysis showed that this force would be capable of decisively defeating aggression in one major combat theater, as it must be, while also defending the homeland and supporting air and naval forces engaged in another theater against an adversary,”  

How many of you think we can "decisively defeat aggression in one major combat theater" like Iraq and Afghanistan now?

Lessons not learned

If we have learned anything from our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan it is that you can't win wars with high-tech weaponry.  Sure you can blow shit up, but it takes boots on the ground to take advantage of it, otherwise it's nothing more than a very expensive fireworks show.  High tech weaponry is a lot like a ribbed condom, it is a force multiplier and force protection, but it's useless unless you're willing to go in the bush.  The defense cuts proposed are, in my opinion, backasswards.  No one in the field is saying "You know... we're really at a significant technological disadvantage here!" No, they're asking for more boots on the ground.

Size Matters

When looking at the total force structure (Active, Reserve, and Paramilitary) there are eight nations with a larger armed forces component than the United States. They are in order from largest to smallest the North Korea, China, Vietnam, South Korea, India, Bangladesh, Russia, and Iran. As far as risk goes, we probably only need concern ourselves with North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran.

The US military is 1/3 the size of China's and 2/3 the size of Russia's, and about the same size as Iran's.  Iran, I think, we can dismiss as little more effective than Iraq.  Which leaves China and Russia.

People like to point out that China spends much less than the US does on its military.  The 2013 'published' Chinese budget was roughly 120 billion dollars (720 billion yuon) compared to the US spending 672 billion.  But there is a reason you find practically everything marked "Made in China"... it's called purchasing power parity.  120 billion in China is worth much more than 120 billion in the US, you get more bang for your buck, so to speak.  SIPRI, RAND, CIA, and DIA put that purchasing power disparity at anywhere from 4:1 to as high as 6:1.  In effective purchasing power China is spending effective the equivalent of anywhere from 480 to 720, or roughly...parity. Slave prison labor anyone?

You Can't Fix Stupid

Hagel's proposal is too tech centric at the expense of boot centric, fancy toys for fancy boys.  We maintain a distinct military technical advantage over most adversaries, remember that Force Multiplier bit, although China is rapidly catching up.  Chinese military related patents have increased 35% over the past decade. China can put three times the boots on the ground than the US can, do you think we have better than a 3:1 tech advantage?

The US has had great difficulty maintaining the necessary boots on the ground especially with high-demand, low-density capabilities.  If Iraq and Afghanistan (third-world) has taught us anything, it is that short of a nuclear exchange, we are ill prepared to engage a first world power.

Remember that Selective Service Administration card you filled out when you turned eighteen?  Hang on to it.

Good Riddance!

Photo: Dr GL Johnson

“Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it,”

He's got that right, at least he is aware of his shortcomings.

The New York Times pegged it with this description:

Mr. Morgan’s approach to gun regulation was more akin to King George III, peering down his nose at the unruly colonies and wondering how to bring the savages to heel.  

 

Al Gore is an ass, and idiot, and a liar

Global Warming:

Perhaps it's due to all the hot air you're spewing.

In Kansas City

To those attending the Folk Alliance International conference, he noted examples of flooding in locations both remote and closer to home, such as in Manitou Springs, Colo., where high water barreled down mountain highways last year, carrying cars along with it.

“They had never seen anything like this in Manitou Springs,” Gore said.

Kansas City Star

They had never seen anything like this, except for...

1864, 1882, 1885, 1886, 1921, 1929, 1935, 1965, and 1999

In 1864 the level of Fountain creek, which runs through Manitou Springs, rose 20-30 feet.

In 1882 a flood swept out of Williams Canyon following a storm, destroying bridges and railroad tracks.

In 1885 a storm dumped 16 inches of rain, washed away homes, people, and livestock, destroying the railroad bridge in Manitou Springs.

In 1886 was a virtual repeat of the 1885 storm.

In 1921 Fountain Creek crested at over 15 feet.

([Manitou Springs Flood] by Harry L. Standley, ca 1921. Courtesy of Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. Image Number: 001-143.)

In 1929 a fifteen foot wall of water washed down Waldo Canyon, wiping out the nearby town of Crystola and the Midland Railroad tracks. The storm also washed Emma Crawford out of her grave on Red Mountain, casket and all, an event now commemorated annually in Manitou Springs in the Emma Crawford Casket Race and Sidewalk Estate Sale. 

In 1935 was what is classified as a 500-year event, meaning you can expect to have a flood of this magnitude once every 500 years.  Where I-25 now lies, near America the Beautiful Park, Monument Creek became a raging river, 32 feet deep. The Fountain Creek channel can handle a flow of 1000 CFS, in 1935 it peaked at over 50,000 CFS.

The Colorado Avenue Bridge was wiped out by the Memorial Day flood of 1935.

In 1965 following 9 inches of rain, 10 bridges were washed away

In 1999 following 12 inches of rain a 20 ton boulder swept out of Williams Canyon crushing a Manitou Springs home.  US 24 was closed at 21st Street for three weeks as the bridge over Fountain Creek was repaired.  1999 was classified as 10-year event.

 Where's Waldo?

In 2012 on the mountain slopes above Manitou Springs, Colorado was the start of the Waldo Canyon fire. Fire baked soils are water repellant, and the fire charred more than 18,000 acres of heavily forested mountain terrain above the city. Restoration work has been underway for months, but wildfires create hydrophobic soils, almost impervious to water. Imagine the effects of paving 30 square miles of mountain backdrop, and it’s easy to understand how flood events can threaten Manitou Springs.  

CSBJ

Manitou Springs 2013

In the event referenced by Mr. Gore  an inch and a half of rain fell quickly across hillsides scorched by last year's Waldo Canyon fire. With few trees or plants to absorb the moisture or slow the runoff, an avalanche of water, mud and grinding rocks came crashing into town from the hills.

 

 

LA Times

And Warmist wonder why people don't believe them...

It's because you constantly lie out your ass in an effort to further your own agenda without any basis in fact or reality. 

The flooding in Manitou Springs in 2013 was a direct result of a normal North American Monsoon rainfall event on an area that was burned by a human caused fire. Nothing to see here, move along.

Denver Post

Those who fail to study history are doomed..

...to believe folks like Al Gore, and Al Gore is obviously talking out his ass.

The Selfie

Robert Cornelius

The photo above is presumed to be the first "Selfie" taken in 1839 by Robert Cornelius.  With the advent of the Kodak box camera, Selfies moved from the realm of the professional to the amateur.

Unknown

It wasn't until the advent of the internet and the camera phone that things really started to go downhill.

Child Pornography

A sixteen year old girl in Virginia takes a nude selfie of herself and shares it with her friends on Twitter.  Someone notifies a school resource officer who talks to the girl, her parents, and then notifies the authorities.  The authorities then charge the girl with one felony count of possession, reproduction, distribution, solicitation, and facilitation of child pornography.  The minimum sentence associated with the charge is five years.  Had any of her friends retweeted the image, they would also be guilty.

CBS News 

Rare but increasing

Involvement of the authorities is a rare but increasing phenomena.  Two teens in Los Angeles have been charged after swapping nude photos, two teens in Florida have also been charged.  In the worst case among the many I stumbled across browsing news stories was that of the State of Tennessee stamping out a "child pornography ring"... 24 teens who were swapping nude selfies amongst themselves.

Misapplication of the Law?

Laws that were written and implemented to protect children from adult predators are being used to prosecute, some say persecute, the children themselves.  Not confined solely to the United States there have been similar cases in Canada and Australia, as far as Europe goes I found one case in Malta (although that was a case of reposting by a third party).  

Of Questionable Taste

Other selfie phenomena that have manifested in our digital age are funeral selfies, including selfies with the deceased, homeless selfies in which one intentionally captures a homeless person in the background, and accident selfies in which one captures oneself in the aftermath of tragedy. One woman even captured a selfie with a man attempting to commit suicide off the Brooklyn Bridge.

J.N.L

Olympic Music

Olympic Fanfare & Theme

Pretty much all of us are familiar with John William's Olympic Fanfare and Theme composed and arranged for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles

 

Bugler's Dream

What many don't know is that John William's composition is based on an earlier one by Leo Arnaud from The Charge Suite used first by ABC in the1968 Olympics.

Salut aux étendards

Fewer still know that Arnaud based his work on a composition by Joseph-David Buhl composed in 1829.

But officially...

This is the anthem of the olympics, The Olympic Hymn, it is what you will hear as they raise and lower the Olympic flag.

Right-of-Way and Eminent Domain

(C) Finntann

 

The West

is a patchwork of public and private, state and federal land.  Here in Colorado the Forest Service controls 22% of the land and the Bureau of Land Management controls another 15%.  

When it comes to the forests of Colorado 68% are in federal ownership; the USFS controls 47%,  the BLM controls 17%, and the National Park Service 2%, the other 2% is controlled by various other federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  The Colorado State Land Board owns another 2% and the remaining 30% is in private hands.  

Throughout Colorado are thousands of properties that are known as enclaves or inholdings, that is property completely surrounded by public land ranging from single private property holdings, developments and communities, to entire cities and towns.

Colorado State University

The Barrie's

In 2011 the Barrie's purchased the Hunter Mine Parcel south of Breckenridge, 10.3 acres with a cabin surrounded by USFS land in the White River National Forest and an adjacent home in a subdivision below the property, the two properties came with an ATV and were connected by an old mining road dating back to the 1890's.  In 2012 the Barrie's were informed that they could no longer use the ATV to access their property under the White River National Forest Traffic Management Plan.

The Barrie's countered that the road, built under the 1866 Revised Statute 2477 constituted a legal right of way.  R.S. 2477 was a simple law from a simpler time:

 "the right-of-way for the construction of highways across public lands not otherwise reserved for public purposes is hereby granted."  

While RS 2477 was repealed in 1976 by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, it was repealed subject to valid existing rights.  

"Nothing in this Act, or in any amendment made by this Act, shall be construed as terminating any valid lease, permit, patent, right-of-way, or other land use right or authorization existing on the date of approval of this Act"

When it appeared that the Barrie's might have a case for access Summit County switched tactics, claimed the previous owner made unpermitted modifications and threatened to seize the property through eminent domain, offering them first $30,000 and then $50,000 for their 10.3 acre parcel.  If you're not familiar with the area I can assure you, $50,000 an acre outside of Breckenridge is a steal, $5,000 an acre is downright robbery.

A Matter close at heart 

The photo above isn't the Barrie's cabin, it's mine and while I don't live in a private inholding, the town I live in and even the one next to it are enclaves within a national forest.  You cannot get to or from where I live without driving through national forest, national monument, or state park.  It is ridiculous that Summit County would strip the right of access from a property well over 125 years old.

AP

Summit Daily

Summit County Eminent Domain Claim  

Because 2.3 million acres just isn't enough 

You're all a bunch of Microracists

Microaggression, Microassaults, Microinsults, and Microinvalidation

 

Would you ask an Asian student: "Can you help me with this calculus problem? I just can't figure it out." (You're a racist: Implies Asians are good at math.)

Is your office decorated in Danish Modern? (You're a racist: One’s racial identity can be minimized or made insignificant through the sheer exclusion of decorations.)

Would you make this statement? “I believe the most qualified person should get the job.” (You're a racist: Implies minorities receive an unfair benefit.)

Do you believe we are all human beings and skin color is unimportant? (You're a racist: You deny  the racial and experiential reality of people of color.) 

Would you correct spelling and grammar errors on a submitted college paper? (You're a racist: Creating a hostile campus climate by "correcting perceived grammatical choices that in actuality reflect ideologies".)

Would you correct the use of capitalization of the word "indigenous" in a term paper? (You're a racist: Disregarding the writer's scholarly advocacy and ignoring other ideological implications.)

Want to have a discussion? (You're a racist: Creating a hostile climate by questioning and allowing classmates to question the epistemological and methodological commitments of other students.)

Wait... It gets better; in the Catch-22 department:

Microaggressive acts can usually be explained away by seemingly nonbiased and valid reasons... but they're still microaggresive acts.   No matter what your thoughts, feelings, or underlying motivations, conservative or liberal... if you're white, you're a racist.

It appears that modern and symbolic racism are most closely associated with political conservatives, who disclaim personal bigotry by strong and rigid adherence to traditional American values (individualism, self-reliance, hard work, etc.), whereas aversive racism is more characteristic of White liberals (Dovidio & Gaertner, 1996, 2000).  Aversive racists, are strongly motivated by egalitarian values as well as antiminority feelings. Their egalitarian values operate on a conscious level, while their antiminority feelings are less conscious and generally covert (DeVos & Banaji, 2005)

Somehow, I can't shake the feeling that this entire concept is racist.

 

Seriously, I can't make this shit up:

Psychology Today 

CFP 

National Review 

Fordham University

UCLA

or of the Press

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Reporters without Borders is a non-profit NGO that promotes and defends freedom of information and freedom of the press.  Every year they publish the Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking of countries  based upon the organization's assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom.

The United States

While the US has been consistently exceeded by the Nordic and Low Countries in freedom of the press rankings, we were 17th in 2002, this year we have fallen to 46th.  This puts us behind countries such as Romania, South Africa, Slovenia, Uruguay, and Namibia.  Makes you proud, don't it?

Countries that pride themselves on being democracies and respecting the rule of law have not set an example, far from it. Freedom of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national security needs, marking a disturbing retreat from democratic practices.

Five Eyes - Burglars and Spies

applysense

Sorry, I couldn't resist that pun

Recent disclosures have illustrated the vastness of the surveillance network of the UKUSA agreement, a joint comprehensive electronic intelligence agreement, amid the fallout from Edward Snowden's revelations.  How does an attorney maintain attorney-client privilege amidst the writhing tentacles of the all-knowing Oz?  (I know, another bad pun).

Many of you in comments here, have expressed acceptance of surveillance in the pursuit of that holy grail; Counter-terrorism.  The question now is where do you draw the line?  Is blanket surveillance acceptable in the pursuit of trade negotiations?  Criminal proceedings?  More importantly, can you have one without the other?

I must reaffirm Ben Franklin's sentiment that "They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."  How about you, how far are you willing to go?

Presidents Day... Isn't

Gilbert Stuart - 1797

It's George Washington's Birthday

and has been since 1879.  A draft of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that renamed the holiday Presidents Day never made it out of committee and the Act as passed kept the federal holiday as Washington's Birthday which it remains as to this day on the Federal Calendar.  Lincoln's Birthday has never been a federal holiday.

Washington's Farewell Address

Since 1862 there has been a tradition in the US Senate of reading Washington's Farewell Address on or near his birthday.  I suggest that perhaps this year instead of just reading it, they listen, here are some highlights:

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests. 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations.