McCain has a picked his VP and it was a shocker to me. Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, is the running mate for John McCain. The first thing I thought was, “he picked a woman”. Strategically, I think this is a pretty good move for the Republicans. I initially thought McCain wouldn’t stand a snowflake in hell of a chance against Obama. As the political process went on, they got more and more similar. Now our choice is between young minority and experienced politician or experienced politician and young minitory.

See the similarities? I don’t like McCain or Obama and their VP choices doesn’t change my opinion. McCain’s pick will certainly make things interesting in the whirlwind of nonsense political coverage to ensue from now until November.

The great civil protectors in Denver saved its citizens from the incredibly dangerous ABC News producer for taking pictures of Senators and VIP donors. From the article:

A cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant, accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on Eslocker’s neck, then twisted the producers arm behind him to put on handcuffs.

A police official later told lawyers for ABC News that Eslocker is being charged with trespass, interference, and failure to follow a lawful order. He also said the arrest followed a signed complaint from the Brown Palace Hotel.

Eslock was on a public sidewalk and he was doing nothing violent–unless taking pictures is an act of violence these days. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time the police made up charges to support their abuse of power. With the Democratic Convention being held in Denver and Barack Obama talking about “change”, the only change evident is a change into more police state measures.

Regardless of how you feel about the two anointed candidates, they are both going to lead us to hell–if we aren’t there already. Who is going to stand up for liberty? Certainly not the elephant or the jackass.

Had I been around for the Civil War, I would certainly not have been in favor of it. It was not a war to end slavery–it coincidentally led to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It was not a war started by the South–the North attacked the South. The Civil War was highly unnecessary and everyone would likely be better off if it was never fought. Slavery was ended in all Western nations without the death of half a million people. The still lingering racial tensions and atrocity of Jim Crow is more a reaction of the South’s resentment towards Lincoln’s aggression.

Russia and Georgia had a brief war–or what was Russia whooping Georgia’s ass. I’ve talked about this war before and I am not on Georgia’s side. Georgia was the aggressor. Georgia attacked an independent state. One that has been independent from Georgia since the 1990s. After Russia cast a vote to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, President Bush and the majority of the U.S. media is crying foul.

Our government has vowed to support the people of Georgia to ensure their sovereignty and territorial integrity. I’m not sure if the Georgian people really care too much about these two breakaway territories. They have been independent for over a decade and the people haven’t made much noise. To pretend that our government cares about the people of Georgia is absurd–they barely care about us. Raping our Constitution as they please, wasting our tax dollars, and, of course, mortgaging our futures.

There is nothing wrong with these two territories claiming independence. We had done this once upon a time in the year 1776. Our Declaration of Independence is a document of secession. We were a part of the English empire and wanted no more to do with them so we declared our independence. The English didn’t like that so that attacked us and we teach this history with the English as the bad guys. Obviously, history is a little more complex than that and the English version of our independence is a little different but, we put fault on the English for attacking us when we decided to secede.

The situation with Georgia is no different. Two territories declared independence and that’s it. The fact that Georgia decide to reconquer them by force is a fault of Georgia. In the exact same light, the South wanted to leave and they should have been allowed to. The fact that Lincoln started a war to forcibly conquer the Confederacy is a fault of Lincoln.

The Founding Fathers would have pointed to Georgia as the agressor and villian. In our bizzaro America, we think Georgia is the victim. The fact is, Russia came to the aid of small independent state from the aggressions of Georgia. Russia is no angel but, they aren’t the devil in this situation. Lincoln is the one to blame for this love of big government and idea that you can use force of arms to enslave others in the name of “national unity” or what Bush calls “territorial integrity.”

The Olympics have ended and in the score that matters, China handed us our backsides. The media can report the medal count as if we were in the Cold War but, the fact of the matter is that China took the most Gold medals–had the most winners. As fantastic as the Olympics was, everything wasn’t sunshines and lollipops.

China’s embrace of capitalism is throughly impressive but, we shouldn’t forget that all governments are inherently evil. In order for China to have built all the facilities necessary for the Olympics, eminent domain was used to take away people’s homes. Two of those victims are Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying. They applied for permits to protest in the government designated “protest zones”–much like our “free speech zones”. Because of “repeated attempts” to protest, these two elderly women could be spending the next year in a RTL–Re-education Through Labor–camp.

It isn’t hard to see that these “protest zones” or “free speech zones” are ridiculous. People have the right to demonstrate anywhere they please so long as they don’t interfere with the coming and goings of others. It is an absurd idea that government can control where and when we are allowed to speak freely. In fact, applying for a permit to protest is an even worse idea. Why would you give your information to the government of which you intend to make things difficult for by demonstrating? That is the definition of walking into a trap.

It is no surprise that red-light cameras don’t work. When does any government policy do what it was intend to do? I had heard about and seen these red-light cameras long ago but, it appears to be sprouting up in more and more cities lately. In fact, I came face to face with one just recently.

I was driving to Shop Rite and stopped at a red light while on the opposite side, a pick-up truck appeared to have ran past a yellow. The yellows here–New York City–are so short that its hard to tell. I had stopped at this light countless times going to this same supermarket but on this trip, a flash followed the light change. It was a red-light camera and it was definitely new.

I don’t how useful this light is or how accident prone this area is but, I’ve never noticed any problems. The idea behind these cameras is that if drivers know they are being watched, they will be less likely to run reds and therefore everyone will be safer.

Ironically, comprehensive studies have shown that these cameras have increased the number of accidents as drivers make abrupt stops at yellows instead of going through them. I have been in an accident due to a yellow light so I would say that longer yellows would make us safer than these cameras. Cities have also been known to remove red-light cameras once drivers wise up the fact that they are there and less ticket revenue is being produced. Clearly, the city is not looking out for our safety. They are looking to steal as much from us as they can.