Looks like the power brokers in DC are squirming in the hot seat today. According to government rules Congress and some of their staffers are required to disclose their financial information publicly. This is an effort to make sure your elected officials and those they employ are not corrupt.

According to this article from The Hill -

Furious senior House aides are demanding committee action against a website that has posted their bank account numbers, signatures, home addresses and children’s names that are included in financial disclosure documents.

Some are demanding legal action against the website LegiStorm, which since February has been posting congressional documents online as a way to increase transparency in government. Aides have brought their complaints to the House Administration Committee and the clerk of the House.

But things don’t appear to be so dire when you read the response from Legistorm -

- The U.S. Congress wrote the law that requires disclosure of personal finances to aid in the fight against public corruption.

- Congressional staffers were the ones who voluntarily filed what they did in their personal financial disclosures. In a handful of disclosures, a tiny fraction of the total, staffers included unnecessary personal details like investment account numbers and children names. Their signature is the only detail that they now most complain about that is required.

- The Congress made these documents public. It did so after a one-month review process that concluded, apparently, that nothing was wrong with their disclosure.

- Neither the House nor the Senate require any form of identification to access this information. Anybody can access it without talking to a single person and by simply entering a fake name into a computer.

- We have voluntarily gone to significant lengths and costs already to scrub the most sensitive of information released due to staffer slipups and ethics committee oversight. This includes investment account numbers and Social Security numbers. We did so without delay.

- We have voluntarily provided various security measures such as user registration and authentication, a legal warning (one that is not present on two other heavily trafficked web sites that have for years provided member of Congress disclosures), and a human response system to make sure that automated bots cannot access the data.

So, instead of simply exposing the government documents to the world (which I would have no problems with) they have gone above and beyond what is required and attempted to clean up some of the mess which the Hill is complaining about.

Every time the government proposes new intrusions into its citizens private lives we hear the supporters repeat the mantra - “If you are innocent then you don’t have anything to hide”. It is high time that we turned the tables on the people who are behind the laws and regulations that infest our daily lives. They certainly seem to be doing alot of squirming and spreading alot of FUD about LegiStorm — I wonder what they are trying to hide from us?

I’ve been meaning to welcome a few new blogs to the GunBloggers Community. Hailing from the middle of the country we have Joe’s Crabby Shack who’s tagline reads - ‘Where 4 out of 5 Freedom Fiends and Second Amendment junkies come to get the skinny on the Nebraska Legislature’. Joe first came to my attention during coverage of the Westroads Mall shooting, with his concise local coverage and posting from a reader who was there.

Next up is The Firearm Blog, who focuses on firearm technology instead of politics. The articles range from gun reviews like this one on a black powder AR-15 to this video of a MG shooting down a RC airplane.

The most recent addition is New Jovian Thunderbolt, I came across this one when this article on using headspace gauges was link to by another GunBlogger member. This is another site with many gun review articles like this one on survival guns.

Joe Huffman’s post on Being treated like cattle has spurred me to collect some recent articles and break my posting silence. I am seriously questioning the direction that this country is taking. In Colorado we have a sleazy lawyer biding his time so he can steal 30% of the vacant lot a couple had bought to build their dream home on.

In Houston we have the cops testing out the use of UAVs for spying on its citizens. Then along comes the article about judges issuing warrants without probable cause for tracking cell phone locations.

We also have the government in Maryland forcing parents to have their kids immunized against their will and with the threat of jail (at the point of a gun). In Omaha a baby was ripped from its mother’s arms in order for the state to give it a blood test. It took them a week to get their child returned to them from the State mandated foster care.

To top this off I am finally convinced that our Democracy experiment in Iraq is doomed to eventual failure. Look at Pakistan, they can’t even hold their government together. Jerry Pournelle is right when he says we could have spent a fraction of the trillions that this war is costing us and had energy independence (Nuclear Reactors don’t need oil from unstable nations, nor does space based solar satellites.)

I feel like we’ve tipped over the edge and are sliding into the abyss. And I don’t see ANY presidential candidates who realize this.

To everyone, including all those serving far from home and protecting our freedoms. We appreciate what you are doing and we are thinking of you!

Here in Washington State we have been ‘blessed’ with a very warm summer so far. In addition to the heat this week has been extra busy around the my1911 compound with the early arrival of Jesse Gunnar, who was expected around the end of the month. Instead he put in his appearance on July 3rd. Today the rest of the family was off to the previously scheduled baby shower so I took advantage of the absence of inquisitive little fingers to clean my guns and watch some not so family friendly movies (ok, I started off with some honey-do projects first).

There just seems to be something right about watching The Patriot and cleaning your guns, especially less than a week after Independence Day. I finished off with a salmon dinner while watching Black Hawk Down.

These are the kinds of movies that the movie industry should be making, not this continuous stream of remakes of old films targeted towards baby boomers suffering a mid-life crisis. They remind us of the sacrifices that are needed in order for us to maintian our Liberty. We have a duty to those who have fallen not to forget their sacrifices and to continue to resist efforts to enslave the free.

LibertyNews is now back to using WordPress Blog Software. I’ve taken a bit of a vacation from blogging here, but am committed to bringing you the latest breaking news on freedom around the world on a daily basis.
One item of note, the WTC image archive is disabled until further notice. I will probably open it temporarily for the month of September, but it chews up too much of my bandwidth and there have been a number of ‘liberal’ groups mis-using the images.

If you are interested in becoming a writer for LibertyNews you can email me some examples of your writing and I will consider adding you as a contributor.

I’ve settled on a new theme and logo based on my original LibertyNews logo. T-Shirts are available from cafepress.com

I went out and shot Mr. Completely’s e-Postal Handgun Match #1 - “Fly Swatter” yesterday. I didn’t do great, but I did swat a couple of the little buggers.

Here’s the best with the Kimber .45, I got 2 on the left one and 3 on the right by my count.

Here’s the Taurus .38 special, 5 on the left one and 3 on the right.

Sorry about that! The template I based this on is apparently a piece of junk and I hadn’t even noticed that the login and registration links were broken. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been getting any comments? Doh! Should be all better now. You have to login to post comments, everything is moderated because of the amount of spam.

ed.

Just updating to the latest and greatest software rev. I’ll get a beter theme setup this weekend.

One of the greatest influences on the world has passed on to his reward.

Your work here is done, it is now time to rest in peace.

I have closed access to the WTC archive. I’ve moved the server to a new location and the bandwidth used is effecting other sites that I host. If someone is interested in setting up a mirror of it (preferrably a virtual domain so that wtc.libertynews.org could be pointed there) let me know.

ed.

LA Election workers take a page from Washington State’s recent election debacle. Instead of using black pens they are re-marking their ballots using highlighter pens so that the counting machines could read ones that were too faint. Even though the InkaVote system is supposed to be able to pick up faint marks.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies. “It’s unprecedented. You don’t tamper with the ballots.”

I’m sure that my fellow Washington State voters wish that our election workers had used hilighter pens. Instead they went ahead and filled in the ballots themselves.

Thanks to MichelleMalkin’s Blog for the link to this story

Due to recent (loony) Washington State Supreme Court rulings people who killed children are walking free from their prison sentences. Essentially what the court ruled was that you could not convict someone of ‘felony murder’ in cases where intent to kill was difficult to prove. In many of these cases people beat, shook, kicked and threw children as young as 6 weeks old, actions which resulted in death.

I makes me sick that the system that is responsible for protecting the most innocent among us has now released these monsters back into society. Some of them may be re-tried under other laws, but others have already seved more time than they would have received for convictions such as manslaughter and will probably remain free.

You can read more in this Seattle PI story

I really don’t have much to add to the excellent investigations going on over at Sound Politics other than to add that if you are a WA State resident you should sign the petition at www.revotewa.com (almost 200k signatures in 10 days!), and email your legiscritters to let them know you support a new election. You do, don’t you? Any reasonable person can see that with a margin of 129 and over 300 illegally processed provisional ballots there is no hope for trust in the outcome as it stands now.

If you don’t know who represents you you can use use this page to find them.

I have implemented a no horking policy on the images I host. Too many people just link the image and not the actual website, or no credit to the site. If they’re going to do that I’d rather they just make a copy of the image for themselves instead of using my bandwidth.

If you see the image somewhere on this site you should let me know, it should only appear when images are linked from an external site.

Wishing to extend appropriate seasonal or holiday greetings, but
desiring not to violate any existing laws, ordinances, or implied
societal policies regarding diversity and/or sensitivity, I wish to
offer the following:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes
for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress,
non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice
holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the
religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your
choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or
traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or
secular traditions at all … and a fiscally successful, personally
fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset
of the generally accepted USA calendar year of 2005, but not without
due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures (Incan,
Myan, Hindu, and more) whose contributions to society have helped make
America great (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than
any other country or area of choice or any other such distinction that
is mutually agreeable to be discussed), and without regard to the
race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual
orientation of the wisher or wishee.

This wish is limited to the customary and usual good tidings for a
period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday
greetings, whichever comes first. “Holiday” is not intended to, nor
shall it be considered, limited to the usual Judeo-Christian
celebrations or observances, or to such activities of any organized or
ad hoc religious community, group, individual, or belief (or lack
thereof).

Note: By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This
greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal, and is revocable
at the sole discretion of the wisher at any time, for any reason or
for no reason at all. This greeting is freely transferable with no
alteration to the original greeting. This greeting implies no promise
by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for the wisher
her/himself or others, or responsibility for the consequences which
may arise from the implementation or non-implementation of same. This
greeting is void where prohibited by law or by age limitations. Not
responsible for any overconsumption of beverages or food substances.

Oh what the heck, let me get in trouble … have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and
a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Apparently the all-knowing nanny state city fathers of Bellingham have decided that Tasers are just too dangerous to allow in their perfectly safe city. Actually that’s just fine. People shouldn’t be placing their lives in the hands of tasers anyway. Tests have proven than an agressive, determined attacker (or one dressed in winter clothes, it is December in most parts of the northern hemisphere).

Instead I think that the citizens of Bellingham ought to be encouraged to get their CPL (Concealed Pistol License) and arms themselves with a deterrent that works when you need it — a gun. I even hear that Speer has a new ammunition for .38 spl that has almost as much stopping power as a real gun. Another benefit to having a CPL (not that you should need one, etc.) is that in Washington the local governments cannot ban them from their cities or counties.

You can read the full article here

Here in Washington State we are still in the midst of an election. We have counted the votes for governor twice and Dino Rossi has won both times, despite the inclusion of suspect ballots in the second count. That isn’t good enough for his Democratic opponent, Christine Gregoire, or the state Democratic party. They have scraped together the money for a full-state hand recount with the help of a large donation from former Presidential candidate John Kerry. But that still isn’t good enough for them — they are now in the process of suing to allow more questionable ballots to be counted during this hand recount.

The State Supreme Court should be hearing this case just as quickly as they can don their black robes and weave their way to the courthouse. Instead some of them are participating in a mock trial of Chief Leschi, and won’t be able to make a ruling until Monday. Chief Leschi was a local Indian Chief who was hung over 140 years ago for ambushing a group of local settlers.

What seems more important to you? Making a key decision in an election that has already taken a month longer than it should have to decide, or participating in a meaningless show that doesn’t even have the authority to overturn Leschi’s conviction?

Clinton is cashing in on his China connections again. He ‘helped launch’ a new search engine company that is backed in large part by the Chinese government. They claim that they are going to be using artificial intelligence to provide better links, but I would find it more likely that they are using thousands of underpaid, opressed, communist chinese citizens.

Another good question is why is Bill Clinton helping with the launch? He presided over the dot-com bust and recession that affected the IT sector more than any other part of the economy. I certainly wouldn’t want him associated with any hi-tech venture I am involved in.

Apparently our congress-critters didn’t have enough on their agenda with terrorism, taxes, and social security. They are now setting their sights on steriod abuse in major league baseball according to this article. I’m no fan of drugs (or baseball for that matter), but I really don’t see any reason for the Federal Government to waste any time at all on this subject. It appears to me to be another symptom of the ‘do something disease’ that all politicians, from either side of the fence, suffer from. They never seem to go chasing after the issues that matter, instead focusing on things that most people can’t really argue against; but that really are none of the Federal Government’s business.

Baseball is perfectly capable of policing their own. And if they don’t then the fans will let them know when they can no longer stomach the multi-million dollar contracts, incessant whining for new taxpayer funded stadiums, and abusive behavior.

ed.