Bushnev Speaks
"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first." -- Thomas Jefferson
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BugMeNot -
Registration - I hadn't read the
Terms of Use page before. An intentionally invasive registration
page. Well done! I wrote a BlogMax macro today that makes it easy
for me to link to the BugMeNot page for a site. For example, here's a
link for the New York Times' info: 
. I'll
start including these when I remember, though you can find extensions
for FireFox and Internet Explorer on the
BugMeNot home page that will auto-paste the information into login
forms. I use the FireFox version. Works good.
To help us create a "better online experience" for our visitors we require certain types of users to register.
If you are an employee, partner, affiliate or legal representative of any site which enforces compulsory user registration then we require you to complete our registration process. It costs nothing to register and will only take a moment.
Registration must be completed prior to using any resource of bugmenot.com including viewing pages or emailing the site operators. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of our Terms of Use and non-authorization to use this site. Server logs don't lie.
...
Time to fight fire with fire- if you run a website then please consider placing the following snippet in your Terms Of Use:
Any subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, or employees of any site employing compulsory user registration mechanisms are not authorized to access the content or services of this site.
Pass it on.
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Claire Wolfe at Backwoods Home Magazine -
The Hardy Awards for excellence in freedom
filmmaking. Braveheart, The Lord of the Rings,
Spartacus, Death Wish, Enemy of the State,
Rabbit-Proof Fence, Secondhand Lions, A Home of Our
Own, Pelle the Conqueror, Fahrenheit 451,
Tremors. Links in the article that will send a few pennies
Claire's way. [claire]
# Edgar J. Steele - The Real Racists - people who think that the rules should be different for different races or because of membership in any group. There are differences, on average, between the races. But ignoring race and judging every individual on his or her personal merits is the only way to properly handle those differences. I was called by a woman taking a poll the other day. She asked me my race. I told the her that I was a member of the human race and that I refused to answer her question any other way.
# Wendy McElroy - The Thin Blue Lie - why Ms. McElroy would rather take her chances with criminals than with the police. Claire Files discussion here. [clairefiles]
The example I use to argue that a few well-intention officers will not reduce brutality is Sgt. Michael Bellomo. He is one of the other four defendants in the Louima matter and the only one not charged with some form of assault. Bellomo went on trial for lying to the FBI about Louima. He is, more credibly, the typical policeman. He protected the unbelievable brutality of a fellow-officer rather than tell the truth. I believe Bellomo is the norm that good intentions will not overcome.
Many, if not most policemen lie. They lie all the time. I remember when my husband lost all faith in the average policeman. At meeting him, I was surprised to learn that he, a civil rights zealot, had preserved a positive image of the 'cop on the beat.' About two months later, he contested a rather trivial speeding ticket in court. The officer involved repeatedly lied under oath. "If the police lie about something that matters so little," he asked me, "how can I believe what they say about anything important?" From that moment, he has never accepted a policeman's statement at face value.
# Downsize DC - This radio ad will be illegal after September 3rd - to be broadcast today on many radio stations. Since it mentions Kush and Berry by name, it will become illegal tomorrow, within 60 days of the election, because of the blatantly unconstitutional campaign finance "reform" legislation voted for by Kerry and signed by Bush.
# Tom Regan at The Christian Science Monitor - Notebook: At the Conventions - some interesting notes from Manhattan. The two stories linked below are part of this notebook. [warblogging]
# Tom Regan at The Christian Science Monitor - An old debt repaid, again and again - good anti-war and anti-NYC-cop-behavior piece outside Madison Square Garden last night.
That's when I saw her crossing the street. It was the picture that she carried that captured my attention. It was a picture of a handsome young man in uniform. Underneath the picture were the numbers "1944 - 1967."
"He was my first love," Clare Englandr told me. We were walking and talking together, since the police had told Clare that she wasn't allowed to stand still. "As if I might do something dangerous," she laughed.
The young man in the picture was Dick Allen. In 1967 he and Clare were dating. Dick received his notice to go to Vietnam.
"We weren't sure what to do. Back then we tended to do what we were told. He didn't want to, but Dick went. Two months after he got there he was shot through the eye."
Clare told me that Dick's death was devastating. She admits she fell apart for a long time. She believes that Dick's mother died of grief at the death of her only son.
"I kept thinking, why didn't I tell him to go to Canada or to do something else? I just couldn't forgive myself for not doing something."
So for the past 30 years, this soft-spoken woman from California had been protesting war. And now she was in New York to protest the war in Iraq.
"I really believe that Bush and Cheney are masters of deception," she told me. "I can't really believe that President Bush believes that God wants him to do this. I really can't. I'm a Quaker. The Bible says blessed are the peacemakers
"I know that Saddam Hussein was not a good person, and I'm not defending him. But war is not the answer."
# Tom Regan at the Christian Science Monitor - Police cross a line - a report on police misbehavior last Sunday.
I just have to pause here for a moment to make an observation. How many times have I seen an interview with an arrested protester who claimed he or she had done nothing to provoke the police. Almost always my reaction has been, "Yeah, sure." Only now I was seeing this very situation unfold in front of my eyes. These protesters, while certainly noisy, had obeyed police instructions down the entire length of the street. Now they were being treated as if they had gotten wildly out of control, but they hadn't. I know, because I was there.
I saw scenes like this repeated throughout Tuesday night. There would be an uneasy equilibrium between the police and the protesters, and then for some reason, the police would start arresting people. I saw it happen at Herald Square, and near 6th Ave and 29th St. In each case, the police seemed to lose control of the situation, often in ways that they were responsible for themselves.
For instance, there were so many police on so many streets in the midtown and downtown area that enormous crowds were created at the intersections. Often these crowds of tourists, delegates and locals were forced to stand for long periods of time on street corners as they waited to cross the street, as the police tried to control traffic. Protesters, seeing these big crowds, would move to join them. In turn, the police would start pushing people back, often people who had nothing to do with any protest. The mood at these corners was intense and uneasy. No wonder incidents were popping up all over the downtown area.
At some point the police would just start picking people out of the crowd and arresting them. From what I saw, there was often no rhyme or reason behind who they picked to arrest. While the arrests often seemed arbitrary and done in an overly aggressive fashion, I saw no overt acts of police brutality. While Tuesday night was chaotic, it wasn't Chicago 1968.
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George W. Bush at The Washington Post -
Text: President Bush's Acceptance Speech to the Republican National
Convention - I watched some of this last night. Couldn't take the
whole hour, so I looked for protest coverage on the web. Here are a
few excerpts and what I said while watching them. [Washington Post ]
AUDIENCE: Four more years. Four more years. Four more years.Block that kick! Block that kick!
Mr. Chairman, delegates, fellow citizens, I'm honored by your support, and I accept your nomination for president of the United States.If only he'd had the decency to turn down the nomination and announce that he was leaving for his war crimes tribunal at the Hague.
We have seen a shaken economy rise to its feet. And we have seen Americans in uniform storming mountain strongholds and charging through sandstorms and liberating millions with acts of valor that would make the men of Normandy proud.How can he compare a turkey shoot with the beach at Normandy?
I believe in the energy and innovative spirit of America's workers, entrepreneurs, farmers and ranchers, so we unleashed that energy with the largest tax relief in a generation.Just because nobody else has lowered taxes at all recently, you can use that name for your pittance of a tax break.
The story of America is the story of expanding liberty, an ever-widening circle, constantly growing to reach further and include more.How can he say that without his head exploding?
Our nation's founding commitment is still our deepest commitment: In our world, and here at home, we will extend the frontiers of freedom.
Many of our most fundamental systems -- the tax code, health coverage, pension plans, worker training -- were created for the world of yesterday, not tomorrow. We will transform these systems so that all citizens are equipped, prepared, and thus truly free to make your own choices and pursue your own dreams.Good idea (about the tax code, the rest of it isn't government's business). I'll believe it when I see it.
In an ownership society, more people will own their health plans and have the confidence of owning a piece of their retirement.Avoided the third rail, I see.
We'll always keep the promise of Social Security for our older workers.
With the huge baby boom generation approaching retirement, many of our children and grandchildren understandably worry whether Social Security will be there when they need it.
We must strengthen Social Security by allowing younger workers to save some of their taxes in a personal account, a nest egg you can call your own and government can never take away.
