Author: Redactor

Categories
general freedom

Prosecution Loop

I am coming to despise my computer. But I’m pretty sure my disgust at its various malfunctions pales compared to Julie Amero’s.

Julie Amero teaches middle school and was using the computer to present a lesson to her class. And then her computer began looping vile pornography. She tried pushing buttons, but the porn loop just went faster and furiouser.

So she was prosecuted for four felony charges of “corrupting a minor.”

Now, we’re not supposed to sympathize with Ms. Amero. But how can we be so sure that she isn’t the innocent victim? On a Windows PC, the darndest things happen; and if you haven’t programed your browser correctly, horrible porn can pop up on your Mac’s screen, too.

The “computer expert” for the Norwich Police Department testified that she must have clicked the links that led to the prurient loop. But anyone who knows how computers work knows that this testimony was either woefully ignorant or purposely misleading.

Amero lost her first trial but was granted a second, after people across the country came to her aid, offering their testimony about inadvertent porn viewings. Another victory for citizens speaking up.

Now Ms. Amero’s health has taken a downturn, and the prosecutors have recently agreed to go for lesser charges. But they still press on.

If you ask me, the prosecutors are the ones being indecent.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
ballot access initiative, referendum, and recall

Barring Democracy in Wilkes-Barre

You may have a right to change your government … but that doesn’t mean government won’t fight back.

In Wilkes-​Barre, Pennsylvania, there was disagreement over a firehouse, whether it should be decommissioned, or not. The mayor wanted it gone; citizens wanted it kept. So citizens got active, petitioning to change the town’s home rule charter to allow voters to decide.

The city could have simply gone along with the petition, allowing a vote. That would have been the republican, democratic, and even decent thing. But instead, Mayor Tom Leighton set the town’s attorneys on the petitioners. They even sued the petitioners for $11,056 in attorney fees, for the city’s fight against their petition.

Now, the mayor had an almost-​plausible excuse. It was about the petitioning, and charges of fraud. Those charges amounted to several folks who signed the petition who later said they’d been misled.

To the petitioners, the issue of attorneys fees seemed like nothing other than an attempt to squelch their rights … and to discourage other uppity citizens.

So they fought back, and, in mid-​November, a federal jury ruled against the mayor and the town, and awarded activist Denise Carey $67,000 in her civil rights suit.

Carey’s lawyers had put the case very plainly, saying that “Mayor Leighton may be able to take away a fire station, but don’t let him take away our constitutional rights.”

The jury didn’t.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
tax policy

You Can’t “Give” Me What’s Already Mine

A mooching relative borrows $500 from you, wastes it all in a drunken spending spree, never pays you back.

Eventually, he loftily hands you a fiver.

He says, “I don’t even know why I give you this money, but I’m a nice guy. Use this gift to create jobs or something, okay?”

In response, do you a) Punch him in the nose; b) Punch him in the nose; c) Punch him in the nose; or d) Thank him for the gift.

We all know which three of these four options is the correct answer. Yet, again and again in tax cut discussions, people talk as if reducing the amount of money the IRS grabs from someone is tantamount to “giving” that person something.

Political commentator E.J. Dionne recently repeated this fallacy. “For years,” he wrote, “Republicans have argued that the way to help struggling working people is to give more money to the wealthy.” Dionne adds that Obama “is saying that we should cut out the middleman and help working people directly.” And Dionne thinks this a good idea.

So, why not just grab all the money the wealthiest people earn and divide it amongst the have-​nots? Sure, this would kill the economy. But at least the terrible “middlemen,” the producers who make a complex economy possible, will be cut out of the loop.

An accomplishment we can all cheer as we starve to death.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
free trade & free markets national politics & policies

Voter Intimidation You Can Believe In

Big labor is tired of the private balloting that workers currently enjoy when deciding whether to unionize. The unions want to get rid of such balloting. By law. There’s a bill floating around in Congress that would do this.

Is a President Obama going to sign it?

The unionized share of the work force has shrunk in recent decades. Many employees don’t see the benefit of joining a union. Because voting on whether to certify a union is done by private ballot, one can’t claim that they are scared of retaliation from the boss.

So what would unions gain from a law that bans private balloting?

Well, if union organizers know how people are voting, and people voting know that the organizers know how they are voting, there would be much more opportunity to pressure and even intimidate employees into voting the “right” way.

Unions hope this would help turbo-​charge recruitment efforts. As columnist Donald Lambro puts it, passage of the bill would make it “easier to unionize workplaces without the bother of the private ballot to protect workers in a free and democratic election.”

This anti-​democratic bill has been around for a while. But now the chances of passage have increased dramatically. Candidate Barack Obama, at least when addressing union crowds, often promised he would push to make it happen. Will he do so?

You can bet the unions are watching. So should we.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
free trade & free markets too much government

Wicked Trimmers of Cost

Robberies. Corruption. Furious government-​enabled debt expansion in the name of curing the effects of prior furious government-​enabled debt expansion. Murders. War.

And now, carpooling.

Yes, just when you think maybe it really is time to move to Canada to escape American insanity, you hear about how our neighbors to the north are harassing people for daring to save money on gas.

The alleged villain is an online startup called PickupPal​.com. This is a website enabling people going places to hook up with other people going places. The site actively fosters collusive cooperation among travelers. My blood boils! Grr!

Two problems with this, if you live in Ontario.

First, Ontario strictly regulates ridesharing. Ontario riders can carpool only to and from work; must ride with the same person every day; may pay that person for their trouble only once a week; may not cross municipal boundaries during the ride; etcetera.

Second, Ontario bus companies are huge fans of these regulations. So the bus companies sued PickupPal. And the Ontario courts have just fined PickupPal over $11,000 Canadian dollars for making possible a $60 ride from Toronto to Montreal. PickupPal must also somehow enforce the Toronto regulations on their website.

Finally, the world is safe again for Ontario bus service.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
ballot access general freedom initiative, referendum, and recall

Wheels of Injustice

The wheels of injustice creak along slowly.

Indicted in October last year, the Oklahoma Three — Rick Carpenter, Susan Johnson, and I — have still not had a full preliminary hearing. That first step has now been pushed back to next February.

Our alleged crime? Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Drew Edmondson, argues that we conspired to hire non-​residents to gather signatures on a petition.

Never mind that state officials said the campaign’s hiring practices were perfectly legal. Never mind that the law itself is under constitutional challenge, with similar laws in Arizona and Ohio having been struck down earlier this year.

The real goal? Frighten and intimidate those who would dare petition to do things like cap runaway government spending, provide protection from government’s abuse of eminent domain, or limit the terms of politicians — like, say, Mr. Edmondson.

Opponents of the petition that triggered this prosecution amounted to a who’s who of wealthy, powerful Oklahomans, including entrenched political interests such as the teachers’ and public employees’ unions.

Recently I sent out a news release with a statement declaring our innocence and attacking this politically-​motivated prosecution. Next thing I know, the Citizens in Charge website gets shut down. An email from the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority complained to our hosting service that the news release was spam.

The website was restored, but I tell you: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

That’s Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.