Yearly Archives: 2013

Environmental activist re-jailed after writing blog post about prison conditions

"Environmental activist Daniel McGowan was taken back to prison on Thursday after he wrote a Huffington Post op-ed post while in a halfway house asserting that his fellow inmates were imprisoned for their religious or political beliefs. After publishing his op-ed, McGowan was then sent back to a high-security prison facility Thursday morning. His wife, Jenny Synan, told the Huffington Post, 'If this is indeed a case of retaliation for writing an article about the BOP retaliating against his free speech while he was in prison, it is more than ironic, it is an outrage.'" Continue reading →

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Feds Seize Property; Tell Owner, “Prove It’s Yours!”

"Eight years ago this week, on a sunny, clear, but windy and hence cold day, near a wide spot in the road called Garryowen an hour north of the Wyoming border, vans full of armed, SWAT-geared federal agents sped down I-80. Garryowen is a private town owned by Christopher Kortlander that features, among other structures, a gas station, a convenience store, a fast-food outlet, an arts and crafts store ('The Trading Post'), and the Custer Battlefield Museum. The vans skidded to a stop before the museum and the agents leaped out as they drew weapons, surrounded and stormed into the museum, and held its employees at gun point." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds Seize Property; Tell Owner, “Prove It’s Yours!”

Jim Bovard: Farmers fight for the right to grow raisins

"Marvin Horne, a 67-year-old raisin farmer in Fresno, Calif., was fined almost $700,000 for refusing to surrender control of much of his harvest to the federal committee in 2002. Horne, who has been growing raisins for more than 40 years, has battled the raisin committee for more than a decade and describes its regime as 'involuntary servitude.' His challenge -- which is supported by many California raisin growers -- landed in front of the Supreme Court last month. According to the Obama Administration and USDA, the Raisin Administrative Committee needs vast power to protect farmers from selling too many raisins." Continue reading →

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NYT: Bubble or No, Virtual Bitcoins Show Real Worth

"So why the sudden run-up in value? Some point to the recent crisis over Cypriot banks, which made a currency beyond the control of governments more tempting. And as with a run-up in anything tradable there is also the hypnotic logic that says the price went up today, so that means it will go up tomorrow. Some observers and investors also make the case that bitcoins are in fact undervalued: The total value of the world’s economic activity is enormous. There are certain transactions that are ideal for bitcoins because the currency is relatively anonymous and does not need to be processed by a financial organization or a government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNYT: Bubble or No, Virtual Bitcoins Show Real Worth

Eight month pregnant woman tasered by cops

"In Springfield, Illinois, Lucinda White was tasered by a cop after her boyfriend's dispute with another individual over a fender bender went south. The 29 year-old called the police in an effort to settle the dispute, but later the eight months pregnant woman was brought down and tasered. According to the police report White was yelling, cursing and resisting arrest. RT's Margaret Howell brings us more on the video that has gone viral." Continue reading →

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Will Grigg: Nationalizing Children

"Like many others of her ideological persuasion, Harris-Perry is a stranger to concision. In describing the totalitarian state’s proprietary claim on children, someone who represented a slightly different strain of collectivism – albeit not as different as Harris-Perry would insist – stated the matter much more tidily almost exactly eighty years ago." Continue reading →

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German Family Seeking Asylum to Continue Homeschooling Kids in US Fights Deportation

"On April 23, 2013, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case of Romeike v. Holder, where the family will attempt to have the deportation order made against them set aside. While the Romeikes had originally been granted asylum in the United States, on the grounds Germany prevented them from homeschooling their children, that decision was overturned by a panel of the Board of Immigration Appeals. German parents have not been able to legally homeschool their children since the practice was banned by the Nazis in 1938." Continue reading →

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18 Reasons Why Doctors and Lawyers Homeschool Their Children

"I wanted my kids integrated and socialized. I wanted their eyes opened to the realities of the world. I wanted the values we taught at home put to the test in the real world. But necessity drove me to consider homeschooling for my 2nd and 4th graders, and so I timidly attended a home school parent meeting last spring. Surprisingly it was full of doctors, lawyers, former public school teachers, and other professionals. These were not the stay-at-home-moms in long skirts that I expected. The face of homeschooling is changing. We are not all religious extremists or farmers, and our kids are not all overachieving academic nerds without social skills." Continue reading →

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School forces 25 hungry students to throw away lunches when they couldn’t pay

"A group Massachusetts parents are outraged and at least one worker has been placed on administrative leave after about 25 students Robert J. Coelho Middle School in Attleboro were forced to throw away their lunches over concerns that they could not pay for the food. Parents said that some students cried and went home hungry. School officials told The Sun Chronicle that Whitson’s, the contractor responsible for providing lunches, made the decision to stop students from eating their lunch if there was not enough credit in the student’s pre-paid account or they were not able to provide cash for the meal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSchool forces 25 hungry students to throw away lunches when they couldn’t pay

Q & A with Mark Whitehead Lincoln City Council Candidate

Updated Monday, May 6:  The General Election is Tuesday, May 7. See our Elections page for a SAMPLE BALLOT and a complete list of current articles. Note that there is a new article about candidate Mark Whitehead, published Monday, May 6. Tuesday, April 9, was the Primary Election for several [...]

Continue ReadingQ & A with Mark Whitehead Lincoln City Council Candidate