Month: August 2003

Recall Referenda: California or Venezuela, all powerful fools are the same..

It is interesting to see that reactions to a recall referenda are much the same whether you are here or in California. People react strongly to the idea of recalling a mandate, independent of geography or ideology. To me the question needs to be separated into two parts: i) Should referenda be available to the electorate? and ii) When and how often should they be made available to the electorate?

On the first question I remember thinking that the new Venezuelan Constitution, as proposed by Chavez himself, was a little bit naïve about when and how often you could have a referendum. I remember Chavez himself arguing vehemently that power resided ultimately on the people and he did not believe in a representative democracy, but a participatory one. By this he meant that every important issue should be brought to the electorate and have the people decide using referenda. While this sounds perfectly democratic in theory, this participatory democracy is in reality quite impractical. Basically, if one sets the limit of signatures too low for a referendum, then the opposition parties will spend all their time taking advantage of the weaknesses of the Government, whether local or national, to call for referenda on any subject or candidate. Interestingly enough, while Chavez had originally proposed that 10% of the electorate should be able to initiate a recall referendum against a President

Joe Mahr at The Toledo Blade –

One man’s lonely fight to bear arms – Francis Warin, I salute
you! [scopeny]
bq.
Francis Warin had a nagging habit.

Nearly 30 years ago, he toted a submachine gun into Toledo’s
federal courthouse and made a simple demand: Arrest me.

He got his wish.

Two months ago, the Ottawa County man mailed a homemade gun and
silencer to an assistant U.S. attorney. To ensure there was no
confusion, he sent the package by certified mail, complete with his
return address.

Warin again got his wish: He was arrested once more.

Now the 72-year-old gun-rights advocate is fighting to get out of the
Lucas County Jail – staging a hunger strike to try to force
authorities’ hands.
[End the War on Freedom]

The article is blatantly biased, but even so it’s obvious that Mr. Warin, a French immigrant, is a much better American than nearly everyone born here.

Pilot held over air ‘joke’. An Air France pilot is arrested in New York after making an “inappropriate” remark during a security check. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

bq. Airport police detained him and he is due to appear before a judge, as early as Sunday, on charges which could result in a jail term of up to 11 years, the agency said.

I think it’s safe to say that the First Amendment is very, very dead. If the United States of America still existed as anything but an empty name, the police responsible would be the ones facing charges, for kidnapping and probably assault.

From kaba:
bq.
“The difference between Congress as envisioned by the Founding Fathers
and the Congress we have today is one of them inspires patriots to
support it, and the other inspires patriots to buy extra ammo.” —
Angel Shamaya
[End the War on Freedom]

Car bomb in Baghdad. Today’s car bomb in Baghdad outside the Jordanian embassy which killed 11 people is obviously disturbing in its savagery. But what’s more ominous is the question of whether this marks a long-anticipated change in tactics by guerilla resistors to more deadly, less focused attacks on “soft” targets such as markets, apartment buildings and lightly protected official buildings? Or does it mark the arrival of a new member of the anti-U.S. resistance? [Back In Iraq 2.0]

It doesn’t seem like the work of the guerillas. So far they’ve been attacking sensible targets–if they were shifting to soft targets, why on earth would they attack the Jordanian embassy?

Learning a Trick from the Ba’athists. The military is curtailing its embedded journalist program in the wake of news stories reporting on troop dissatisfaction with longer-than-expected tours of duty. The move effectively puts journalists on notice that preferential access depends on reporting through rose-colored glasses. Families of soldiers are also being warned not to talk to journalists “in a negative manner regarding the military and this deployment.” [Hit & Run]

That’s one way to deal with discontent in the ranks–pretend it doesn’t exist. Incidentally, although officers can order their troops not to talk to the media, they certainly have no legitimate authority over the families of soldiers. Anyone sending a warning like that should certainly be thrown out of the service, if not court-martialed.

Civilian deaths stoke Iraqis’ resentment
Bitterness may widen resistance. The boy held two blankets, so he and his identical twin brother, Moustafa, could curl up together for the night, one of their favorite summer habits. Mohammed had just reached the top, when he turned to watch the military maneuvers on the street below: American soldiers patrolling with rifles. One soldier looked up in the darkness and saw a figure on the roof, watching him.

A single shot exploded into the air, slamming into Mohammed’s chest.

In the chaos that followed, Mohammed’s mother, Wafa Abdul Latif, recalls dragging her son inside and holding the screaming boy as his blood poured onto the floor. She says Mohammed was struggling to breathe when a group of American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division slammed through the front door and pushed her aside to search the house for hostile gunmen.

[…]

Some of the bereaved Iraqis say they are pained that U.S. soldiers have not offered apologies or compensation, or even attempted to comfort them. Iraqi traditions generally call for monetary compensation when a murder occurs, and among several tribes, a retaliatory killing is expected. [San Francisco Chronicle]

I suspect the reporter wasn’t aware of it, but pretty much any size US military unit, even a rifle squad, would have a medic either on the spot or just seconds away. If the soldiers had wanted to, they certainly could have at the very least made a very good effort to save the boy. Instead, as the article relates, a neighbor tried to drive Mohammed to the hospital, only to be turned back at a US checkpoint.

Fed up with crime, 67-year-old man fires on 3 engaged in shootout in his front yard. The last time police came by his Tripe Street home to investigate complaints about drug dealing in the West Ashley neighborhood, William Gates made it clear to them that he had had enough.

‘I told the police, ‘Bring the coroner and body bags the next time you come out here,’ ‘ he said. ‘Nobody is going to run me out of my home.’

The coroner and body bags weren’t needed Friday morning because when Gates made good on his statement, he only wounded the men he shot. But it wasn’t for lack of trying.

‘I shot to kill,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to lie to you.’ [FirearmNews.com]

bq. “We have no plans to arrest him,” Charleston Police Chief Reuben Greenberg said. “We can’t see from where we sit where a crime’s been committed. People have the right to provide for their safety, and we believe that is what he was doing.”

Mr. Gates is fortunate that he lives in the South–in LA he’d certainly be charged. It’s very nice to see that there are still people willing to stand up to thugs.