80% of Schools are Failing

via Glenn:

THE SOLUTION, OF COURSE, IS TO CHANGE THE LAW: “Education Secretary Arne Duncan told Congress on Wednesday that 82 percent of the nation’s public schools could be failing by next year under the standards of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law.

NY Times Story

My 2c.

If you were working at some store and your store was failing, you would loose your job, wouldn't you? If a company had 80% of its locations failing, wouldn't investors get out and let it fail?

NCLB is a standard approved thru debate by the wise men of our national congress.
(Ok so I just threw up in my fingers a bit for typing that.) But it is a standard.
To this point there have been stories of students suspended on test days, moved to other schools or even as the TV Show the Simpson's depicted, sent on special field trips on the test days.
But it is a standard.

I have a solution - which does not mean dumbing down the standard.

Stop paying the Principles.
If you school is on the failing list, you no longer get a pay check. You can't quit either - yet - we'll fire you when we want you gone. You owe us - you took the money, we want our results, otherwise it is theft of services.
Stop paying anyone who is an exempt administrator.

Parents need to recall the school boards at the next election.

Remember the starting point
"California, for example, had only 14 percent of students proficient in reading in 2002,..."

That word proficient - does not mean "expert" - it means a basic level to function as adults in our society.


They have been taking the federal money since '02 - where are our results?
Test scores are due later this summer.

About 35% of schools failed with the 2010 tests.

What is the standard?
Among 30 developed countries, USA ranks 25th Math, 21st Science.
In one category, we are number 1 - confidence.


"So you think most of the kids are getting a crappy education..."
"I don't think they are, I know they are.": Michelle Rhee Chancellor, DC Public Schools.


"About 60 thousand people went to the school in 4 years. 40 thousand didn't graduate. This is the damage this school has done to this neighborhood."

Would You Work With Special Needs Children?

Not after reading this ...

• Police in West Bloomfield arrested a man and accused him of raping his autistic daughter
• Julian Wendrow served 80 days in jail and faced life in prison; 
• his wife, Thal Wendrow, faced decades behind bars, accused of allowing assaults to happen. 
• Their 14-year-old daughter, who cannot speak, and their son, 13, were in foster care. 

A physical exam showed no evidence of abuse.


The evidence against them? A statement the girl, who functions as a 2-year-old, reportedly typed with the help of a teacher's aide. The statement claimed her father had raped her since age 7 as her mother stood by.  The claim came from a method known as facilitated communication, in which the aide helped the girl type on a keyboard.


IMO:   The son was tortured by police

• A two-hour interrogation Detective Joseph Brusseau conducted with the 13-year-old boy shortly after his parents' arrest, telling him that they had videos of both the boy and his father sexually assaulting the girl. The boy had no adult representative present for the interview.
• The boy, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, can be seen on video rocking and crying during the interview and insisting that neither he nor his father had assaulted anyone.
• Note - putting a child with autism in foster care is extremely difficult for the child.

The parents have sued, however:
Those defendants are due in federal court in Ann Arbor on Thursday 1/13/11. They have asked the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds of governmental immunity.

Can you defend your life in your home with lethal force?

Not necessarily according to the State of Georgia - they want the death penalty.


Fair v. State, Ga: Supreme Court 2010 - Google Scholar: "This is the second interim appellate review of two related cases in which the State seeks the death penalty. See Fair v. State, 284 Ga. 165 (664 SE2d 227) (2008). Antron Dawayne Fair and Damon Antwon Jolly are co-indictees who were originally charged with one count of malice murder and three counts of felony murder in connection with the shooting death of Bibb County Deputy Joseph Whitehead while he was on assignment as an investigator with the Middle Georgia Drug Task Force. The State contends that both defendants opened fire on Deputy Whitehead as he and other members of the Task Force and the Bibb County Drug Unit were executing a 'no-knock' warrant in the early morning hours of March 23, 2006."

 One to follow ..

via FARK   

	A homeowner who kills someone he reasonably believes is a burglar breaking into his home is eligible for the death penalty if it turns out the person is actually a police officer lawfully entering the home pursuant to a no-knock warrant

I'm From the Government, and I am here to ...

We did not get here because of government deficits, contrary to what Mr. Bowles seemed to suggest at the co-chairs’ press conference today. We got here because of the bursting of an $8 trillion housing bubble. This bubble was fueled by the reckless and possibly unlawful practices of the Wall Street banks, like Morgan Stanley, the bank on whose board Mr. Bowles sits.

This is important background—because the economy’s current problem has nothing, zero, nada to do with deficits. Its problem is a lack of demand. If there were more demand, more people would be employed. The government is the only force capable of creating demand right now, since the housing bubble wealth that had been fueling the economy has largely disappeared. This means that if our commission co-chairs had ever bothered to look at the current deficit in the context of the economic crisis, they would be complaining that the deficit is too small rather than too large. -- Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/79093/deep-six-the-deficit-commission-report

The generals have gone a little soft themselves, or at least have abandoned old American ideals about self-reliance, responsibility, and individual liberty. Instead they invoke the common refrain that America’s extra pounds are the result of systemic external forces that are all but impossible to escape, forces that can only be checked through government intervention. We’re soft because technology, processed food, and our consumerist way of life have made us soft, and only Congress can liberate us from obesity.
-- [The Generals: Mission: Readiness, an advocacy organization led by senior retired military personnel]
http://reason.com/archives/2010/11/12/the-fitness-divide

...
What to do
When to do it
and How to do it
and you'll kiss my feet for it.

Fictitious [Crimes] Can be Prosecuted

Well isn't that interesting. No crime, but ok to prosecute.

We are used to things like attempted murder, attempted robbery. But in these cases there is a victim.

What will be the ruling on things like "child porn" when the image is simply a drawing - no real child. When it is a computer aided drawing - super realistic?

The zeal to prosecute must not get ahead of the reality. Convict on a real crime.

Qualified Immunity

Hmmm, seems problematic. Have to look into this further.

Ashcroft is fighting the lawsuit, arguing that the attorney general has immunity from such legal action.

Government lawyers defending Ashcroft say that even if Kidd’s constitutional rights were violated, those rights were not clearly established at the time Kidd was taken into custody. If they weren’t clearly established, Ashcroft is protected by qualified immunity.

1st thought - wasn't that an argument at Nuremberg?

Wikipedia entry

Government Censorship

I am in favor of censorship. Just not Government censorship. A parent or adult caregiver has a responsibility to censor the material their children have access to. I support the right of a magazine like Hustler to be printed, sold and read. I would never allow that magazine to be read by minor children in my home. Once they are adults, they need to decide for themselves.

This outrages me:

Washington State Ferries (WSF) censored, by banning the sale, a magazine they normally carried, Seattle Weekly. I have never read it. Why - Marta Coursey, WSF Spokesperson, said: "I thought it forwarded a disrespectful attitude toward a public figure."

Disrespectful ?!

What of "Piss Christ," , is that not "Disrespectful of a public figure?" We funded that thru our taxes.

Would a WSF employee prohibit someone from bringing the magazine in question onto a ferry, or into a terminal? Given what occurs in Florida on metro rail platforms, I would not be surprised in the slightest.

Quotes

"...enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter—with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities."

–Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801

One more thing - A wise and frugal Government.

State Secrets

"Obama invokes 'state secrets' claim to dismiss suit against targeting of U.S. citizen al-Aulaqi"

By Obama they mean the DOJ


At issue - can the US conduct assignations?

More so - can the US conduct the assignation of a US citizen?
(This is not code for the death penalty.)


What has me concerned, is not so much the idea of protecting us as we conduct a war, but that we can can decide to kill one of our own and we don't want to explain to anyone why. Not a court - who would be the obvious party to hear the reasoning, nor the Senate.

"The real big issue here is . . . are we only at war in Afghanistan, or can the U.S. government lawfully use war powers in other cases,

As a citizen, are we not extended the protection of the constitution against our own government where ever we might be?


Also see Radley's thoughts:

"There are no mitigating factors, here. Obama is arguing the executive has the power to execute American citizens without a trial, without even so much as an airing of the charges against them, and that it can do so in complete secrecy, with no oversight from any court, and that the families of the executed have no legal recourse."

Constitution Day

On 17 September of every year, we observe Constitution Day in recognition of the anniversary of that venerable document's signing by our nation's Founders.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ... Done...the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our LORD one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven." --George Washington and the delegates

If you are a citizen, it is your duty to defend this Covenant.

4th Amendment

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Please read 2 Articles, 1st:

Classical Values: BECAUSE WE ARE ALL SUSPECTS, WE HAVE "NO REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY"!

"Which means, ultimately, that if the government puts everyone under surveillance, it can then assert that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy, and thus the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" simply disappears.

Sorry, but that shocks me to the core. I think it is truly Orwellian. What could be more Orwellian than using surveillance to justify surveillance?"

Then read:

"... a very thoughtful discussion of theFourth Amendment by Julian Sanchez" -


"...because under the modern understanding of the Fourth Amendment, the Constitution is concerned only government actions that violate a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” which courts have generally understood as limited to the exposure of what was previously secret. When we entrust sensitive records to third parties—be they banks, Internet Service Providers, or other members of our churches or political organizations—we “assume the risk” that they will reveal the information to the government, according to the courts’ logic, and so waive our expectation of privacy."

• The drug war.
  
• The war on Photographers.
  
• The government reading our e-mails, listening to our phone calls.
  
• No warrant needed to get your location (gps data) from your cell phone companies records.
  

Could it be our government has gotten so messed up that we have forgotten our liberty? "So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause"
The posts referred to above are long-ish.

From Tragedy Faith

"What made the difference for Weaver-Balter? A passage of Scripture that she memorized as a child: "God loved the world so very, very much that he gave his only Son. Because he did that, everyone who believes in Him will not lose his life, but will live for ever (John 3:16)."

As a Believer, I note that we are called to forgive. How can you be forgiven if you do not forgive? But forgiving is not forgetting. And, there is a price to be paid. Spiritually, The Messiah paid that price for Believers. On Earth, however, you still have to pay your own way.

---

If you need a refresher on what occurred at Ruby Ridge, ID, as it was 18 years ago, try this search: http://tinyurl.com/232wepx
It will lead to several of Colonel Jeff Coopers newsletters: "Commentaries."

I am sensing from his writings, that Ruby Ridge foreshadowed the issues we have today with the over usage of SWAT teams, no knock raids, puppycide, and Contempt of Cop.

Shooting the boy's pet dog is what started the bloodshed at Ruby Ridge. If you have trouble enforcing the law because of a dog, beat him off with your baton ...

... To us it seems impossible to imagine a case in which a man would shoot a boy's dog ...

... I was recently discussing Horiuchi's shooting at Ruby Ridge, as described in the official reports. I raised the question as to how a man as good as that could have pulled off a shot like that unless he intended to do so. ...
[ This refers to the shooting murdering of the unarmed, stationary, baby holding wife & mother, Vicki Weaver]

...There are people who do not mind the fact that Lon Horiuchi is not only not punished for his atrocity at Ruby Ridge, but he continues on the public payroll. ...

...I thought that we had reached the low point in our history of dishonor at Ruby Ridge, but then came Waco, and now we have decided to throw the Gonzales boy ...
[ Guess who was a designated sniper at Waco ... Lon Horiuchi ]

A Bad Trend

Read some Carlos Miller, who is on top of this trend.

Police and Prosecuters are arresting/charging citizens for recording police officers.

Police should be recorded.  They should record themselves - which protects the officers from false allegations. Citizens should record their encounters will anyone from the Government, just to have a record of what occurred.

I don't believe this would apply to all situations - undercover officers need protection as an example. But these should be the rare exception and to pass the smell test, they need to be easily articulated to the citizenry.   If you cannot do that, then something is rotten in Mayberry.

Violators are typically charged with "Contempt of Cop".  There is no law, of course, covering this ... so they get together while you sit in a jail cell, and think of something.  Judges tend to dismiss these charges, but by then you could have been in jail all weekend, lost your job for failing to attend, had your medicine regiments screwed up and so on. 

Liberty dies from a thousand cuts.

Remember our revolution is fought at the ballot box, not with a powder box.

Via Reason Magazine

Quotes

“The most terrifying words in the English langauge are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”

"Man is not free unless government is limited"
"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives."
“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction”

"Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets."
"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them."
“The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.”
“We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much”

- Ronald Reagan

I was in college in a small town when Reagan came through. Typically, every pickup had a rifle in the back window. You could do that there and then. Allegedly, the Secret Service told the President it would be difficult to protect him. His response was- "where else could I be more secure?"

Remember, Reagan didn't get shot because he was hated. He got shot because a man was obsessed with a girl.

Pondering the lies

I went to purchase a handgun. There is a federal form to complete, 4473. One item, number 11e, asks: "Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?" This is a Federal form - and the feds consider pot to be a dangerous drug and always illegal.

I was pondering how to the folks with medical marijuana cards respond?
- if they say no, they just lied on the form = 5 years in the pen.
- if they say yes, would they be permitted to own a gun? is that one question a deal breaker?

Form 4473
Wikipedia 4473
ATF & E

Just Askin'

Faster, please.

Anytime you need a good technology fix.  Go visit the professor and search for "Faster, please."

Quotes

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
- Goering at the Nuremberg Trials

Sounds like the normal communication from our politicians.

Quotes

"When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren."

- Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, 1985

The Teacher's Unions are there to protect teachers - to keep them working (and paying dues.)

Quotes

If you want government to intervene domestically, you are a liberal.
If you want government to intervene overseas, you are a conservative.
If you want government to intervene everywhere, you are a moderate.
If you do not want government to intervene anywhere, you are an extremist.
- Joseph Sobran

I consider myself a Libertarian. I guess that equals being an extremist.

Quotes

"From a libertarian perspective, your generosity is reflected in what you do with your own money, not in what you do with other people’s money.”
- Arnold Kling

Socialists do their charitable giving through the Government.

Quotes

"Moving from the various Conditions into each other is easy to accomplish once it is understood. If you are attacked in White you will lose the fight. In Yellow you will have the advantage of initiative response over your antagonist. In Orange you are pretty safe, provided you are armed, alert and aware. In Red you win. Simple, isn't it? Clearly you cannot go any further than Red because in Red you have already made the lethal decision. Complications are unproductive."

- Jeff Cooper: Color Conditions

Follow the link for a full explanation.

Quotes

"The world scene is not so bright, since the nanny states do not seem to understand that it is the responsibility of the individual to protect himself and his family, in the absence of the state. We remain the last best hope of Earth, which would be a rather bleak prospect if it were not that we are now the one great super power. It is comforting, in a way, to observe the ineptitude of our world enemies. Our optimism is fortified by the understanding that we now alone cultivate the warrior spirit. It is not only permitted, but fashionable, for the individual citizen to possess the means and the skill with which to protect himself, his property, his family, and his political rights. There are cultural losers among us, but as of now they constitute a minority. Thus American shooters stand against the encroachments of those who do not believe in liberty."

- Jeff Cooper

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Quotes

Liberty

"It is an uphill struggle, but I wish that we could distinguish more carefully between freedom and liberty. These conditions are not the same, though they are certainly related. Freedom is the absence of restraint - a physical circumstance. Liberty, on the other hand, is a political situation denoting the lawful capability of the citizen to defend himself and his near and dear without interference from the state. Note that the Declaration of Independence forcibly and particularly establishes the blessings of liberty upon ourselves and our posterity. I like to carry a pocket copy of the Declaration, plus the Constitution, in my travels. It is a good thing to have in hand when discussions arise."

- Jeff Cooper

Find your copy at The Patriot Post

Control the Border First! Then We'll Talk.

RASMUSSEN:69% Now Say Controlling the Border More Important than Legalizing Aliens.

"Not a whole lot to choose from between McCain and Obama here, but this may affect some Congressional races. And isn't it funny that 69% of Americans don't have a Presidential candidate who agrees with them on this issue? Plus this: 'Only 14% think the government is doing enough to secure the borders.'"

- Instapundit.com

2 years later and it is the same. 2 years before it was the same.
This guy, the previous guy, the 3 before him. All traded security for votes.

I say - if the word "incumbent" appears on the ballet, select someone else.

There Can Be No "Hate" Speech

"The Supreme Court in Pennsylvania has declared the 'hate crimes' laws used to jail the Philadelphia 11 in 2004 violated the state constitution. In a four-line statement this week, the court said the ruling from the lower Commonwealth Court 'is affirmed for the reasons ably set forth in the opinion of the Honorable James Gardner Collins, which opinion is adopted as that of the Supreme Court."

How can you have both 'free' and 'hate' speech? We have some legal limits on speech - libel and slander for example. But what is hateful is nothing but an opinion, and likely to change from person to person, time to time and even in context.

The source is WND.

No No Knock Raids!

"Once again, the larger point here is that these raids are too violent and dangerous, the margin of error to small, and the tips and investigations that lead to them too subject to mistakes and bad information for them to be used on nonviolent drug offenders."

- Radley Balko

The same logic holds for limiting the use of SWAT Teams. No one wants an officer to be harmed. But, bringing violence to a persons home too often ends in tragedy.

Some of my suggestions:

• Any use of SWAT would require a published notification to the States AG / Gov within 24 hours stating the probable cause and the discovered evidence
• Publishing statistics of use on a State basis, with
• Federal publishing of use / results
• Review/Debate of such use by each States House and by the House on an annual basis, with
• Published transcripts, results, findings, legislative changes etc
• Considered removing the protections from wrong doing currently given to judges, prosecutors and law enforcement when things go badly in such raids. That is, not just civil remedies, but loss of careers and trial to face jail time.

Quotes

"Yes, we did produce a near perfect republic, but will they keep it, or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction."
- Thomas Jefferson

Quotes

Group size is unimportant, unless it is very bad. If you can hit a dinner plate, first shot, every time, under all conditions, at 100, that will do."
- Jeff Cooper

I am all in favor of gun control: It comes from the organ between the ears and the mastery of your finger -- not the State.

Quotes

"[D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few. "
- John Adams

via Patriot Post

This is why we must have a Republic.

Quotes

"We are annoyed by the assumption on the part of certain public figures that the citizen should be able to prove the need for the citizen to acquire a means of protecting himself. The citizen's personal needs are no business of the State. Liberty, when in place, grants the right of the citizen to do what he chooses, as long as he does not stamp on the rights of others. Nobody needs caviar, or a pleasure boat, or opera tickets. Whether or not he wants these things is no business of the State. On this side of the prayer rug, the Jihadies do not see it that way. That seems to be the main reason they have declared war upon us."
- Col. Cooper

Freedom -vs- Liberty

Quotes

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
- Cesare Beccaria, the founder of criminology

Sheeple as defined at the end of the 16th Century

Quotes

"We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles. The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed."
- Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Cartwright, 1824)

Via Patriot Post
Reference: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition,

Quotes

As a dissenting justice in the 1958 Baer v. Kolmorgen case, one Judge Gallagher is quoted as having warned that "if the court does not stop talking about the separation of church and state, people are going to start thinking it is part of the Constitution."

No No Knock - View

TheAgitator.com: Sigh: Comments:
"I have come to take the position on these tactics that I now take because I've read case after case after case of innocent people being killed, injured, and terrorized when one of these raids goes wrong. I don't like it when agents of the government kill, injure and terrorize innocent people. That's why I get so 'emotional' about SWAT raids gone wrong. They carry an extremely small margin for error, and therefore simply aren't appropriate for nonviolent offenses. My reactions to these cases aren't rash or ill-considered. They're the result of studying around 1,000 of these raids over the last 18 months, and noticing the same patterns occurring over and over when one goes wrong. "

I haven't studied 1000's of cases as Balko has, but I have come to the same conclusion. See what Cooper was writing back in the Clinton administration - newsletters as it was before the web (was common) and before blogging had been conceived.

I don't want one single officer to be hurt in serving a warrant or arresting a suspect. But they really should not be creating a situation where they are likely to be hurt or to hurt someone.

Update:

From Glenn
"Congress clearly has the power to pass laws, under Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, to prevent states depriving citizens of life, liberty or property without due process of law. When cops bust down your door and shoot you without -- very -- good reason for being there, that's a deprivation of liberty and property, and often life, without due process, the very kind of thing Congress was empowered to address. ... What's more, the no-knock problem stems from federal policies -- the "war on drugs" and the free distribution of military equipment to local SWAT teams -- and thus further justifies a federal corrective. Under federalism, one role of the federal government is to protect citizens' rights against unconstitutional encroachment by the states. That's what the 14th Amendment is about. And the doctrines of official immunity that make lawsuits difficult in such cases are found nowhere in the Constitution, but are the creation of activist judges, reading their policy preferences into the law. They are worthy of no particular deference."
Also
"Once you’ve got a cool tool, you kind of want to use it. That’s true whether it’s a pneumatic drill, a laser level or an armored fighting vehicle. SWAT teams, designed to deal with rare events, wound up doing routine police work, like serving drug warrants."

Quotes

"Note that democracy is no guarantee of political liberty. The ancient Athenians are said to have invented democracy, and what they produced was a totally repulsive place to live. They developed into a nation of snitches in which everyone was invited to tattle on his neighbor. All such personal matters as how you dressed, ate, drank and slept could be regulated by a quick and simple majority vote. Believe me, you would not want to live there."
- Jeff Cooper

A Republic is the place for me.

No No Knock Raids

"These no-knock raids are a pet peeve of mine, and I'm glad to see some hefty damage awards. In light of the facts, in fact, this seems quite minimal. Such 'dynamic entries' should be limited to cases where there's solid reason to believe that someone's life may be in danger, which was clearly not the case here."
- Glenn Reynolds

4 Rules

Jeff Cooper's Commentaries: Vol. 6, No. 2:

"RULE 1
ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED
The only exception to this occurs when one has a weapon in his hands and he has personally unloaded it for checking. As soon as he puts it down, Rule 1 applies again.

RULE 2
NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY
You may not wish to destroy it, but you must be clear in your mind that you are quite ready to if you let that muzzle cover the target. To allow a firearm to point at another human being is a deadly threat, and should always be treated as such.

RULE 3
KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER TIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET
This we call the Golden Rule because its violation is responsible for about 80 percent of the firearms disasters we read about.

RULE 4
BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET
You never shoot at anything until you have positively identified it. You never fire at a shadow, or a sound, or a suspected presence. You shoot only when you know absolutely what you are shooting at and what is beyond it."

Quotes

"Considering the fact that, according to our Founding Fathers, all able bodied adult males are members of the militia, all able bodied adult males should be technically qualified with the personal arms selected by our Department of Defense."
- Col. Jeff Cooper

a Well Regulated Militia

Quotes

"We recently enjoyed a delightful semantic discussion among the wise at which we were challenged to differentiate between 'liberty' and 'freedom.' Dictionaries consulted came up with nothing very much, maintaining that the two words were synonyms. I do not think they are. To me, freedom is a personal thing, involving absence of restraint. You are free when you break out of jail. On the other hand, liberty is a political condition, and is defined most correctly as the right to do anything which does not prevent or inhibit the free actions of your neighbor. These are just opinions, of course, but they are worth discussion, as I think precision in communication is one of our worthiest social goals."
- Col. Jeff Cooper

Freedom, Free -vs- Liberty

Quotes

"I am by no means sure that legalizing drugs would be a good policy, though there are some very good thinkers in the country who hold just that view. However, in view of the fact that the so-called drug war is used to justify the excesses of the federal ninja, it might be proposed that if we abolish the drug war, we could abolish the ninja too. The thing that keeps the drug trade going is the enormous amount of money involved. We must remember that both narcotics and stimulants were readily available over the counter during the Victorian period. We had very few junkies, and as far as I can tell, we had no ninja. One cannot turn the clock back, but we might give serious thought to some feasible means of turning it forward."
- Col. Jeff Cooper

I would have to agree. For adults: People of a certain age, who do not suffer from mental incapacity, and who are not convicted felons.

Quotes

"Remember there are no rules in war. The side which imposes the most rules on itself loses. We lost in Vietnam because of self-imposed rules."
- Curt Rich

The more we read about our Afghanistan involvement, the more the ROE seem to be at issue - to the determent of our sons and daughters.

Quotes

"An armed society is a polite society." - Heinlein

"I have over the past thirty years been one hundred percent in favor of Gun Control - achieved through proper stance, controlled breathing, and smooth trigger squeeze; applied repeatedly until the threat is neutralized." -- Fred D. Haggard, Kansas City

"Only criminals, dictators and democrats fear armed citizens."

"In this country we have no place for hyphenated Americans." -- Theodore Roosevelt

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and a religious people, it is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." -- John Adams

2nd Amendment: a militia is constituted of all the people, except for a few public servants -- The Founding Fathers.

"...the least the Government can do is allow us to defend ourselves." -- Auberon Waugh

"Most of us could get along better with much less government than we have; there are others though who seem to require lifelong shepherding from pre-natal care to the electric chair. It makes no sense to talk of self-government to a man who cannot even govern his own behavior." -- Paul Kirchner

"A beautiful woman is evidence of the existence of God" -- Arab proverb

No No Knock Raids

"This is wrong. It's not only a reason why no-knock raids should be banned except in life-or-death situations, but it's also an example of how unfettered prosecutorial discretion is unfair and dangerous. In cases like this, there should be much more accountability for decisions to prosecute, or not to prosecute."

"I do not know who can speak for the "American People" - certainly not I - but street crime I can handle, whereas if I resist the ninja I will almost certainly perish. No reasonably competent man need be afraid of crumby little punks in big cities, but those people in black masks breaking down your doors in the small hours of the morning and backed up by armored vehicles and helicopters are too much for the householder, even if they do tend to be overweight and bad shots."
- Jeff Cooper

"I thought it was fully understood by now that when making an arrest you do not tell the suspect to do anything - such as raise his hands, drop his gun, or turn around. You tell him not to do anything - to remain absolutely stationary. When the sheriff who killed Donald Scott told Scott to drop his gun, Scott moved his hand, whereupon he was killed. That may have been exactly what the sheriff wanted, but Scott was guilty of no crime and only appeared with a pistol in his hand when people broke into his house without warning, which is a perfectly natural reaction.

I note with some dismay that the deputy in question has been exonerated of all suspicion in this occasion."
- Jeff Cooper

Kelo

In many ways, Long Branch is the perfect storm of the Kelo era: a misleading master plan, an unprecedented exception from state environmental regulation, shifting redevelopment zones, a developer jailed for corruption, a lawyer working both sides of the deal. New Jersey residents are particularly vulnerable to this kind of forced redevelopment. As the Institute for Justice's Scott Bullock explains, the prime targets for developers are typically low to middle-income communities with waterfront homes within commuting distance of a major city. New Jersey is essentially two giant suburbs--of New York and Philadelphia--with an enormous coastline, as well as numerous interior rivers. That's why there are redevelopment clashes shaping up all along Ocean Avenue--in Belmar, Neptune, Asbury Park, and other towns. Currently 64 municipalities in New Jersey are pursuing redevelopment through the power of eminent domain, with developers trying to seize homes everywhere from Camden to Stanhope.

Big Government = Bad Government

"It's these numbers and this growth that accounts for the budget crisis we face, but the root cause is a growing belief in America that government should deliver all services and provide a completely risk-free environment to its constituents. This leads to a simple yet unanswered question: who pays? "

Rules for Government
1. Do things at the lowest possible level.
2. If it can be done by private industry, do it with private industry.
3. Make certain it is needed, not just wanted.
4. Are you certain it must be done by government? What would happen if the government took no action
5. Less government is better government

Quotes

via:
Rudyard Kipling

"When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said 'Stick to the Devil you Know.'"

"In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: 'If you don't work you die.'"

No more Leave it to Beaver?!

The European Union's employment and social affairs directorate has proposed a sweeping rash of rules aimed at battling discrimination against women. ... The rules also would bar TV programs that depict sexual stereotypes and ban topless "Page Three" girls ...

Via Reason
So how does this impact Leave it to Beaver? Because, June Cleaver is a stay at home mom. An entirely harmfully stereotype.