“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” said Peter Finch as newscaster Howard Beale in the 1976 movie “Network.” Are you that mad? You should be. Thirty-two years ago “Network” documented many of the outrages and dangers we’re still facing

In the past month we have seen the biggest slide down the road to serfdom in history. Never have such massive lies and half-truths been sold to the American people. Never have the perpetrators been so open and unrepentant in saying that what they’re doing to our country is for our own good.

Republican and Democrat presidential candidates both voted for the bailout. We now know that nationalizing our banking industry is one of the unstated goals of this program. Nationalizing banks happens in socialistic, third-world countries run by dictators.

But it’s different here, you say, we have free enterprise and capitalism. Not anymore. Not when Treasury Minister, half-billionaire Henry Paulson calls in the CEOs of nine major banks and tells them they WILL sell shares of their banks to the US Government or be on Treasury’s banking blacklist. Funny thing is, a short time ago Paulson, as CEO of Goldman Sachs, was helping create the massive financial problem he now tells us can only be solved with tax dollars that he controls. He’s wrong.

Our forefathers fought and died in the American Revolution over far less than this.

But, from our couch, as we watch our televisions in digital widescreen, high definition, everything is resolved by the end of the hour-long program. Howard Beale accused his viewers of relying on only the TV for their information and he said they were crazy for doing so. Howard was right.

A key component in this drama is the mistaken notion that government can actually do anything productive. Government can only tax, control, and destroy. The bailout and most of what Congress and the President do to us today are so far beyond constitutional boundaries that it’s accurate to say our Constitution is given only lip service and is seen as an annoying roadblock to “getting things done.”

Conventional wisdom says all citizens need do is “vote the scoundrels out” and we can retake our country. Libertarians have offered a peaceful path back to our roots for over 30 years if you’d elect their candidates. How well has voting for one of the two old parties worked for you these past 75 years? Talk about wasted votes.

Economists now recognize that FDR extended the Recession of 1929 into the Great Depression through government bailout programs. It was wrong then and it’s wrong today. Politicians and bureaucrats must not force us down a bailout path that will insure our destruction from within through fraud and greed.

We desperately need citizen-statesmen, not career politicians, to represent us. Voting for Libertarian candidates still offeres what may be the last hope for a peaceful return to the roots of our constitutional republic. When will you take a principled stand?

When it comes to expressing my opinion to my elected representatives, I believe in sharing the love.

Dear Senator Craig,
I saw on the news last night you want us, Idahoans, to tell you what we want.

Well. You asked for it.

First I’ll tell you what I don’t want. I don’t want the banks, lenders, wall street, etc. baild out with my money. Period.

I don’t want them bailed out with a slap on the wrist, or a wink and a nod, or a wing and a prayer. Under no circumstance can I be convinced to bail them out.

Oh, but it’s more complicated than that, isn’t it? Wasn’t it all the government incentives to give credit to non-creditworthy people, all the incentives that promoted the ridiculous idea that EVERYONE should own a home that made the banks feel “safe” with bad lending practices? Hey, Uncle Sam said it would be cool–so let’s do it! So here’s a suggestion. Don’t do that again. Don’t let D.C. engineer the economy directly or indirectly anymore. Quit it!!

Since when is owning a home something that everyone should do? Should everyone get to own a Mercedes? Should everyone get to go to Hawaii? How about we give incentives to banks willing to finance a Mercedes in every American’s garage and a tropical vacation for every man, woman, and child?

Okay, so it doesn’t work that way. Not everyone is in a position in their life to have everything they want. Individuals get to work and eventually they will (or won’t) get to a place where they can responsibly own their own home. That’s how life works. And when given the opportunity the free market will work. But D.C. doesn’t really want to give the free market the opportunity.

Lately we, the American People, have been threatened with a specter–The Great Depression. We’ve been told it’s coming to get us like the Boogie Monster hiding under our bed–the Boogie Monster of American history. That monster was the beginning of some pretty scary social programs which exist to this day. These social programs have helped strip away the personal and financial liberty of the people under that horrible catch phrase “the Greater Good.”

The current Great Credit Crisis is being used in the same evil way. It will lead us to turn private business into government entities. It will lead us inexorably closer to huge Socialist government. Please don’t do that. Please, don’t turn the U.S. of A into Europe. We’re close enough as it is.

Now IF D.C. really does have billions of dollars burning a hole in their pocket, how about they give every American over the age of 18 another tax bonus? I’m sure you’ve seen that email circulating, “The Birk Economic Recovery Plan.” It outlines a plan to give all that “bail out” money directly to the people–and tax it to boot. I can’t say I’m really for that either, honestly. But, IF money has to be given away then at least it will go directly back into the hands of the people. Not credit machines. It doesn’t even have to be a full 700 billion dollar tax return to the American people. I think most of us would be happy with just a five to ten thousand dollar boost. Peanuts, right? The people can pour that money back into the economy. They can make good on their debts, they can save their homes and their cars, and yeah, some can buy a vacation to Hawaii and put a Mercedes in their garage.

Ultimately, this crisis has been caused by D.C. and in regular fashion, D.C. is using the crisis it created to scare the people into accepting more government tyranny. Please don’t do this to us. You may be a senator and I know for many many years you have been a cog in the D.C. machine and that probably makes one’s vision quite cloudy and confused. But on this, please see clearly for yourself and for all the liberty-loving individuals here in Idaho you represent.

Yours in Liberty,
Ginny Eggleston

Jury duty is one of the obligations we each share living in our free society. Representative government works because it’s a government of the people and people are involved. Juries play a crucial role in our republic. They provide one of the checks that balance the application of government power. The jury is the last line of peaceful defense against a government run amok.

Under our constitution, the jury is charged with both judging whether or not the person did the crime, but also judging whether or not the specific law makes sense under the constitution. This time-honored principle of both English and American law is called jury nullification. The jury can rule that the law violates the plain language of the constitution and, therefore, is not a law at all and no crime was committed.

Over the years judges have assumed more and more power unto themselves by instructing juries that they may only rule on facts using the instructions provided by the judge. Yet complete silence from judges about the jury’s right and obligation to also consider the validity of the law itself. This is a cover-up of such monumental proportions that it easily qualifies as a judicial conspiracy to hide our rights and duties from average citizens.

How could this apply to me? What if, for instance, you were preparing to board a flight in Boise and overlooked removing your revolver from your carry-on bag? TSA would call Boise Police and you would likely receive a ticket and might even end up in jail. You plead not guilty and request a jury trial. At your trial the jury might find that you, in fact, had the revolver with you. And they could also find that the law you violated was not a valid law at all under our constitution, therefore you did nothing wrong. Your case would be dismissed. The jury’s decision to nullify the unconstitutional law would essentially veto that law and protect others from its inappropriate enforcement.

The legal system is usually considered a non-partisan part of our government. Why then, do you only hear educational information about jury nullification from the libertarians? Please feel free to ask any and all republicans and democrats why Idaho does not yet support having fully informed juries. The founding libertarians who created our representative government certainly supported informed juries. So should we. For more information visit the Fully Informed Jury Association website at www.fija.org.

The problem with this choice is the same as most of the choices Americans are given. Either you are a Republican and will side with them, or you are a Democrat and will side with them. Are there really only two choices? Is there never any other option available?

Washington D.C. bureaucrats would have us all believe that every issue can be answered simply by falling into party lines. With immigration, either you are a bleeding-heart liberal and want “undocumented” workers to stay in this country for nothing, or you are a hard-nosed conservative who wants to throw any “illegal” immigrant in prison or worse.

One good question that is, perhaps, too complex to trot out on an opinion ballot is: how did our country get into this kind of trouble in the first place? How is it our economy is collapsing under the weight of national debt and numerous other failing systems?

What rubs most people the wrong way about illegal workers coming across the border is the access they get to our numerous welfare programs such as government education, food stamps, emergency room access, Medicaid use, and other health care accesses at hospitals and walk-in clinics. The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that in 2002 households headed by illegal aliens imposed over $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 while only paying $16 billion in taxes, creating a net deficit of nearly $10.4 billion on the federal government.

Some say making it more difficult to access these programs is the answer. Hire more border agents, send out the police, and force agencies to research the legal status of welfare recipients more thoroughly. Unfortunately, the viability of stiffer enforcement is not really viable at all. Already law enforcement is stretched too thin dealing with more violent law-breakers, to take police off the immediate problem of violent crime as it is related to other factors would be a mistake. Forcing other government agencies to research legal status more thoroughly would ultimately result in higher tax dollars paid to these agencies in order to hire more people to cover fraudulent claims.

The true root of the U.S. government’s deficit problem is not the drain from illegal workers. It is the drain of our huge socialized system in general. If this country had less social programs, or at least, made these social programs more efficient possibly by work force training and limits on benefits (time or other), our country would automatically become a lot less attractive to illegal aliens.

Though welfare programs geared toward individuals are a big drain on the national economy, they certainly aren’t the only type of government hand-outs currently given in this country. Corporate welfare and farm subsidies are also crushing our country.

In Idaho, Micron Technology has been one of the largest recipients of corporate welfare in the form of huge state tax breaks. In 2005, Micron was given a state tax break with the idea of “helping’ the company to build a new billion dollar computer facility in Boise, Idaho. Unfortunately Micron took that money and is now building a facility in China where labor is cheaper. This Micron welfare program caused individual property taxes to go up while Micron’s property taxes went down. And, locally, taxpayers are not even going to get the benefits of a “new” facility. In fact, Micron is in a hiring freeze right now and laying off hundreds of its current Idaho employees as it hires Chinese workers to fill its second Asian facility.

No less guilty are recipients of farm subsidies. As much as we have a warm place for our local “family” farmers, they too receive their fair share of welfare and—to add insult to injury—they are also one of the largest employers of illegal workers. A majority of Idaho’s farm subsidies go to farms with average incomes of $200,000 per year and owners with a net worth of nearly $2 million. I suppose a $200,000 income is “needy” now.

The point is, as the U.S. has become more and more socialist, our economy has gotten worse and worse. Sending illegal workers back home, or to prison, or to wherever Joe Bureaucrat thinks our country will be safe from them will not fix the economy. In fact, it’ll just make the economy worse—one more thing for the government to spend money on.

How do you think America’s immigration crisis should be solved? Join the discussion here.

Put the seat down, put the seat down. I have a bladder problem and have to go about every other hour day and night. I’m sorry, but my wife can put the seat down the few times a day she needs it.

As a matter of fact, if the seat was down when I needed to go, I probably wouldn’t have time to lift it up, then where would we be?

By the way, I also clean up the toilet so my wife doesn’t have to. In my house the seat stays up.

Signed,
SS in Kuna

Does Mom’s advice hit you wrong? Air your grievences! Reply to any “Ask Mom” advice column via askmom@kunachronicle.com. Be sure to sign with an appropriate moniker or nick-name and reference the article in your subject line.

I just wanted to thank everyone who came out and voted for the cannabis initiatives in Hailey. We had a tremendous victory with three out of the four initiatives passing. Here’s a quick run-down of the results:

• Medical Marijuana Act: YES 687, NO 581 — Passed
• Lowest Police Priority Act: YES 637, NO 601 — Passed
• Industrial Hemp Act: YES 683, NO 565 — Passed
• Cannabis Regulation & Revenue Ordinance — YES 573, NO 674 — Failed

The results definitely show a tight election. The fact that “tax and regulate” only lost by 101 votes certainly leads me to believe that with a little more education and funding, a similar initiative could be passed in the future. For now, Hailey will join numerous other cities, such as Missoula and Denver, that have made marijuana use by adults the lowest law-enforcement priority of the city.

Hailey also joins many other cities and at least 11 states in taking a stand for patients’ rights by protecting access to medical marijuana.

And of course, let’s not forget about industrial hemp, a miracle crop that could save many of our struggling family farmers. Even the conservative Idaho Farm Bureau has endorsed its legalization.

As it stands, the City of Hailey is now required to form a community oversight committee to help implement the initiatives. This may be the first government sanctioned drug committee in Idaho whose mission will be to make legalization work, as opposed to every other committee, which tries to make prohibition work. I will keep everyone posted as to when the council intends to start forming this committee.

Thanks again to everyone who supported us!
Ryan Davidson, Chairman
The Liberty Lobby of Idaho

This article reprinted by permission from Sun Valley Online

Kuna Chronicle wants to hear from you! Send all letters to the editor, guest opinions, and news tips/press releases via news@kunachronicle.com.

As a current member of the Idaho Army National Guard’s Honor Guard and 25th Army Band I assisted with the Veteran’s Day ceremonies held on campus. I served as the live bugler for the flag raising ceremony held in BSU’s “Quad” and also provided live music for the evening program along with four other 25th Army Band members.

I commend the efforts of the organizers of this event. They were asked to pull off an important day of ceremony with very little time to plan (I was told four weeks). Not only did they have very little time to prepare–they also had to work against an administration that was less than supportive.

Kustra’s fear that the gun salute would scare students was unfounded and silly. Are Boise State students so squirrelly that they can’t handle the sound of ceremonial rifle fire? Having the salute in the stadium was totally ineffective. The volleys were barely audible at the Quad, a fact I can attest to since I was there listening intently for the shots after playing the bugle call.

It would have been easy for Kustra to put out a campus-wide announcement warning professors and students of the salute. Campus police also could have been notified so if they got panicky calls from students fearing the shots, they would know it was just part of the Veteran’s Day ceremony and nothing to worry about. When weapon salutes are used at funerals in urban areas the surrounding community and local law enforcement are told so they can be prepared for it and not waste time responding to gun fire calls that are just part of a funeral. It’s not that tricky.

Finally, the weapons are not fired using live ammunition. The firing party uses blanks and aims the weapons at an angle, into the sky. Perhaps Kustra is not aware of this. Perhaps he thought the military is completely without good sense. A case of the pot calling the kettle black?

What do you think? We’d like to hear it! The forum is open for comments on this story here.

I love Halloween. I’ve loved it ever since I was old enough to understand the concept of “Halloween.” I love to dress-up, I love candy, I love parties, and I love that it doesn’t center around gift-giving.

Halloween is just fun. It appeals to the kid in all of us and the desire that most of us have to masquerade as someone–or something–else.

This year we had a costume party at our house the weekend before Halloween to celebrate with adults and we decorated the exterior of the house for the benefit of trick-or-treaters coming door-to-door on Halloween night. We bought the “good” candy, not the cheap stuff, because we really wanted to share the joy of the holiday with everyone.

Last night we were armed and ready with yummy candy for all the little masqueraders. We lit our carved pumpkins, played the “Scary Sounds” CD and joyfully turned on our porch lights welcoming all.

For the most part, those little masqueraders behaved well. They said “trick or treat” and “happy Halloween”; they said thank you after receiving the candy. But, just like a barrel full of apples and water for bobbing, there were a few bad ones floating around.

More than once I nearly dropped the bowl of candy because of grabby, greedy children. Since when is it okay to forcefully grab something from someone who is nice enough to offer you a gift of candy or otherwise? A couple children in particular got a stern talking to from me while their parents stood silently by waiting at the end of my drive-way. I found it shocking that children would behave that way and especially that they would behave that way in plain view of their parents. Makes me wonder how they behave at home.

More than once, I wondered about the age of the trick-or-treaters. Perhaps the kids were just tall–but still. I think children of all ages should have fun on Halloween, but perhaps at a certain age a young adult should consider a different way to celebrate the holiday. When I was in high school I had friends who, although they were too old for trick-or-treating, built a neighborhood haunted house in their front yard for trick-or-treaters to enjoy.

After considering my experience with the grabby greedy children and the senior citizen candy lovers I’ve come up with a solution to my problem: good, quality candy for teh nice trick-or-treaters and shrink-wrapped brussel sprouts for the questionable ones. We’ve got a problem with childhood obesity in this country anyway.

How did your trick-or-treaters behave?

My family takes this opportunity to put up vegetables for the winter. I’ve already put up over forty pints of green beans and am looking to the next project: freezing sweet corn. Much to my dismay, this year I am finding corn prices to be a little less than satisfactory.

Since the late 1990s corn maintained a price of around $2 a bushel. This year, however, corn rose to $4 dollars a bushel. Like most market trends there are several expert opinions that vary regarding the significance of such a price jump. Equally varied are opinions on the impact of this price jump. What is not in dispute is the cause: the push for ethanol-based fuels.

Ethanol, touted by many as teh answer to all our energy problems, is the current darling in the media spotlight. Locally Stinker Stations can’t advertise enough about their cheap, miracle corn fuel. But, those who have spoken with a mechanic or two often choose to bypass feeding their engine the damaging mix of corn and oil-based fuel. Depending on the car, corn fuel can damage seals, drastically reduce mileage per gallon and decrease performance. Plus, with a price difference of only 10 to 15 cents, it’s nearly the same to buy 100 percent oil-based fuel, rather than the 85 percent corn fuel Stinker offers.

Economically, $4-dollar-a-bushel corn has a ripple effect on the entire agricultural market. Corn is used not just for human consumption, but also in feeding commercial liveztock. Milk and beef cows, commercial foul (chickens, turkeys, etc.), hogs–you name it–all are corn-fed to some extent. The increase in corn prices will and currently does affect the cost of other grocery products. And, like so many agricu8ltural businesses, corn grown for ethanol production is being subsidized by the federal government using tax-payer dollars.

But what about how clean it is? The “clean burning” ethanol is, of course, also in dispute. The corn growers, local and national government officials, and ethanol fuel sellers stick by the claim of a cleaner-burning fuel. Not all the science supports this claim, however. To create ethanol in the first place, energy must be used. Farming operations use diesel-based equipment to plant, clutivate, and harvest corn. Producers also use large amounts of nitrogen fertilizers–not manure–and pesticides in order to grow crops successfully. After the harvest the corn must be processed in ethanol factories often using coal for an energy source during the process. If the farmers all switched to bio-diesel in their equipment and used more natural fertilizer and weed control, perhaps the effect on the environment could be less. As of now, however, they are not. It also remains to be seen if the ethanol-producing factories could and would use alternatives to fossil fuels in producing “green” gas.

It is also unclear how much of a difference ethanol makes in greenhouse emissions when used in passenger vehicles. Though the emissions are less, right now because of reduced gas mileage, it takes a gallon and a half of 85 percent ethanol to do the work of one gallon of oil-based fuel. Not to mention that it takes one acre of corn to produce 300 gallons of fuel and the current U.S. consumption of gas is about 174 million gallons a year.

Those are the numerical reasons of why ethanol may not be the answer to the energy crisis. Personally, my reasons for distaste are less about numbers and more about personal feelings.

I don’t like the idea of using food as fuel. Every time I hear Stinker’s radio ad “just like vegetables are good for you, they are good for your car!”–my stomach turns. Please, don’t treat me like an idiot. I’ll crunch the numbers on my own.

What do you think? Letters to the Editor and guest opinions are always welcome. They may be sent via news@kunachronicle.com.

In the valley we have seen farmers selling out to developers over and over again. But, there are those that are hanging on. Small “hobby” farmers, organic farmers, farmers I see peddling their products at the Kuna Farmers Market every week that continue to run operations despite fiscal difficulties.

I love these farmers, the ones who are doing it because it is a lifestyle, not because they are making much of a profit or recieving big government subsidies. I commend them in their efforts to keep kuna’s “farming community” heritage alive. But now a new threat looms on the horizon, with the power to destroy even the most tenacious family farm owner…the National Animal Identification System.

NAIS is a brain-child of the United States Department of Agriculture. Like all USDA programs it was invented for the consumer’s “safety.” But, as often is the case, the USDA’s good intentions pave the road to hell.

Simply put, NAIS is a program developed to identify and track the movements of U.S. agricultural animals. The USDA (o.e. the farming community’s “Big Brother”) wants to register every property and every animal involved in animal agriculture. The draft form of NAIS was released by the USDA in 2006. What drives NAIS is corporate welfare, the drive for corporate farm profits and the public’s fear of disease.

NAIS is–right now–voluntary. This voluntary implementation of the NAIS is laid out in three stages.

The first stage–premises registration–is currently in operation. States are responsible for setting up a process to collect information about each site in their borders where commercial animals may be found. As of March 2006, 235,000 premises had been registered in 50 states, five tribes, and two territories–about 10 percent of the estimated total.

The second stage is animal identification. Each animal would be required to have a unique 15-digit indentifying number attached or implanted. The number would be generated when the animal entered commerce and would end when the animal is slaughtered. As with most Big Brother programs, there is a lack of clarity about exactly which animals would need tags, what tags would be required and the associated costs. Livestock associations are meeting at the national level to develop identification methods that would work best for their animals and industry. According to the USDA, “…species working groups comprised of industry and government representatives are developing plans for cattle, sheep, goats, bison, swine, poultry, horses, deer, elk, llamas, alpacas, and other animals.”

Stage three involves tracking the movement of agricultural animals. The focus for disease management is where animals commingle with others. County fairs, breed shows and auction houses would all need to be able to determine if each animal was identified. The USDA, thus far, has released very few details on this stage. On April 6, 2006, a USDA news release announced “the issuance of guidelines for the manufacture and distribution of animal identification numbers…” and “…the general technical standards for animal tracking databases that will enable integration of private systems with the NAIS.” According to the NAIS implementation strategies, “If the marketplace, along with State and Federal identification programs, does not provide adequate incentives for achieving complete participation, the USDA may be required to implement regulations…If participation rates are not adequate, the development of regulations through normal rulemaking procedures will be considered to require participation in certain aspects of the program. The public would have the opportunity to comment on any proposed regulations.” So, one wonders how “voluntary” any of this really is–especially when the USDA’s stated goal is 100% compliance by January 2009.

The NAIS is not only about consumer safety and disease control. There has also been mentioned the possibility of using animal ID tags that could be tracked by satellite–effectively putting all farming operatins on near constant surveillance. Yet another “legal” way for your government to spy on you.

There are groups opposed to the NAIS. The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance based out of Austin, Texas has been a vocal force against the NAIS. According to FARFA’s mission statement their purpose is to give independent farmers and ranchers a voice at the national level. “For too long, our elected officials have listened to the huge industrial-agriculture companies, and made the laws and regulations to benefit them. Independent farmers and ranchers were forgotten or, worse, targeted for ever-more burdensome regulations. [FARFA] is dedicated to representing non-corporate agriculture and animal owners, from homesteaders to horse owners to full-time ranchers. FARFA’s work also serves those who are local foods consumers, people who care about protecting our traditional way of life.”

On March 2 FARFA marched on the capitol building in Austin, Texas with horses, cattle, llamas and their owners for “Texas Independence Day.” Farmers in their tractors escorted the marchers as they paraded up the center of downtown Austin to the capitol building.

Here in Idaho, the opposition comes from small farmers, people with only a few head of livestock like 4-H mom, Maria Brown who lives in Burley, Idaho. Brown said she opposes the system because it puts too much government in peoples’ lives and implementation is a very high cost for small farmers like herself. “It is another layer of regulation we can do without,” she said. “Disease trace back can be accomplished with the brand system and health certifications - things that are already in place.”

Unfortunately, Idaho farmers may be getting to the game late. The Idaho Dairymen’s Association have already jumped on-board the NAIS steam engine. 100% of Idaho dairy farmers are in compliance with the first step of NAIS–premises registration–and IDA’s president, Mike Quesnell, said the dairy industry is prepared to be part of the comprehensive state and national program.

So is it already too late for small-acreage farmers? In my estimation it is not. As lons as there are groups opposing NAIS, there is a chance to keep the current “voluntary” program from becoming mandatory. Vigilance is the key to this and all other fights when it comes to the rights of the individual–whether the individual keeps a few head of hormone-free animals or the individual consumes the hormone-free meat–we still have a chance to keep the NAIS specter at bay.

What do you think? Letters to the Editor and guest opinions are always welcome. These may be sent via news@kunachronicle.com.