Rights Boy - Your Incredible Shrinking Rights

2011-04-29T09:18:00.000-05:00

2009-01-21T10:02:00.002-06:00

2009-01-20T07:50:00.004-06:00

2009-01-19T15:48:00.000-06:00

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2009-01-15T19:41:00.000-06:00

Mr. Clean for President 2012

2008-12-01T19:29:00.006-06:00

Rights Boy's good friend Mr. Clean has announced his candidacy for President of the United States in 2012 - from the Basket party, the new inclusive third party alternative. Mr. Clean wants President Obama to be successful and all. But just in case, he's waiting in the wings and getting in the queue right now.

Rights Boy has thrown his full support behind Mr. Clean and the People of the Basket.

The grassroots campaign is gathering steam on the Des Moines Register website. Read about the campaign at Mr. Clean's page:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=pluckpersona&U=d037b64dcc1f488aa46a4f6a304ebfa1

Also stay tuned to these other bloggers as they write about the campaign.

Mr. Clean's running mate and Co-President on the Basket party ticket is Alphakat, who blogs about the campaign at:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=12156621ec61486fb7bafd825342c813&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a12156621ec61486fb7bafd825342c813Post%3a4a4a563b-1da1-4f15-9791-a724ac19a992&sid=sitelife.desmoinesregister.com

Blogger Kath87 covers the campaign at:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=8c931555ac234ac0ab34514192f7f905&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a8c931555ac234ac0ab34514192f7f905Post%3a1eac4f5a-4a0b-43ae-9cdb-b3882df966ed&sid=sitelife.desmoinesregister.com

Stay tuned for more campaign news as it develops!

Rights Boy and Mr. Clean endorse Barak Obama

2008-10-22T09:50:00.003-05:00

Probably the surprise decision of the day, at least in Rights Boy’s own head…

While I respect the Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, he’s no Ron Paul. The Libertarian platform is 100% right on about 70% of the issues. Some of the other stuff is sort of crazy.

It comes down to my personal litmus test issue of 2008 - foreign policy - coupled with the insane selection of Sarah Palin as McCain’s VP choice.

There are many things I like about Obama. It’s especially refreshing to see an eloquent, intelligent thinker actually willing to take the abuse to run for President.

But he’s a liberal Democrat to the core. Besides Bill Clinton, there hasn’t been a Democratic President since Jack Kennedy that understood supply side economics. He has proposed an additional nearly trillion dollars of domestic spending. That’s above the ongoing $12 Billion monthly for wars and the current misguided trillion dollar bailout of Wall Street. The basic problem with his economic policy is that there aren’t enough rich people to tax in that top 5% to pay for all this. What that means is that the middle class will make up the difference with hidden taxes – fees, licenses – OR we go further into debt, and further beholding to best friends like China.

The thing is, I can live with all that…. If we can actually spend our way out of misery, then Great! I don’t think it will work, but maybe it will. But if it doesn’t, the great thing about America is that you can get rid of the slugs eventually. Vote ‘em out.

But I want someone in charge of foreign policy that believes that peace is better than war, that diplomacy is a tool to use before a bomb, and doesn’t see a radical Islamist terrorist around every corner. I don’t get even a hint that McCain or Palin are against an ongoing war, with practically anybody. I want someone who can look over the horizon and see something besides “enemies.” I want someone that doesn’t think foreign policy experience comes from looking out your window in the morning, or being Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (which provides NO public services. Did you know that?) I want someone who will be the President of the whole USA, not some condescending Hockey-mom-come-lately that thinks pro-America can only mean rural, religion, intolerant and safe from witches.

I believe there are alternatives to occupying Iraq for the next 100 years. McCain and Palin do not. I can’t stand the idea of another four years of “Iraq’s behind 9/11, eminent threat, mission accomplished, their oil will pay for the war, occupation for generations, bla, bla, bla” drumbeating. That’s exactly what we’ll get with a McCain administration.

I simply think there is a better chance with Obama to repair the foreign policy damage of the last 20 years, but particularly accelerated by the neocons in this last administration.

So in the end, I think more goodness is possible from an Obama presidency than McCain. I can live through Obama’s economics. I don’t think the government can take it all away from me fast enough in the next four or eight years. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll change direction once again.

But the thought of an ongoing forever war of choice is too much for me. We’ve already lost too many brave troops, and the thought of losing one of my own sons to this needless occupation is just too much. I can survive Obama’s economics better than I can survive that.

Obama 2008

Comments??

Sarah Palin for Pope !!

2008-09-03T18:38:00.017-05:00

Finally, someone who has my pro-life / moose cleaning / secede Alaska from the union / hockey mom / the pledge of what?/ vote.

Forget about vice president. Sarah Palin for Pope !!

Shootin', smokin', under-age drinkin', and skin. And probably shooting drowning polar bears in that pool of crude oil.

And what a patriotic display of the American flag! I bet that thing gets it's share of salutes.

Flag pin? Who needs a stinkin' flag pin on your lapel when you can identify your state's star right on her crotch.

Family values rules! Sarah Palin for Pope!

Annie get your gun

2008-06-28T10:38:00.007-05:00

TOP 10 REASONS WHY SOME MEN FAVOR HANDGUNS OVER WOMEN

#10 – You can trade an old 44 for a new 22.
#9 – You can keep one handgun at home, and have another for when you’re on the road.
#8 – If you admire a friend’s handgun, and tell him so, he will probably let you try it out a few times.
#7 – Your Primary handgun doesn’t mind if you keep another handgun for a backup.
#6 – Your handgun will stay with you even if you run out of ammo.
#5 – A handgun doesn’t take up a lot of closet space.
#4 – Handguns function normally every day of the month.
#3 – A handgun doesn’t ask, “Do these new grips make me look fat?”
#2 – A handgun doesn’t mind if you go to sleep after you use it.
#1 – You can buy a silencer for a handgun!!

The US Supreme Court issued a landmark decision Thursday on the Second Amendment. It will be the first of many striking down unconstitutional ban on handguns, primarily in large cities.

Rights Boy has previously blogs on this subject here:
http://rightsboy.blogspot.com/2007/10/right-to-keep-and-bear-arms.html

Rights Boy's good friend Mr. Clean commented on the ruling on the Des Moines Register website.

I read this argument a couple of times that this decision 'won't change much.' That's true for this one decision in DC re: federal law only, but this will set up dominoes for NRA lawsuits in Chicago, Detroit and other cities and with unconstitutional bans.

This decision will change A LOT. No more nonsense about self-defense just being privy of militias or other civil authority (or criminals) You as a 'people' have a RIGHT to defend yourself, and the government's only interest should be to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of felons and the gun-challenged.

In a truly free society, there is always the potential of danger lurking about. That's one of the prices of liberty. The government should NEVER infringe on constitutional rights in the name of security. The government is the one you need to be afraid of.

It never seems to get through to some people that the highest crime rates are where the strongest restrictions exist. And while Giuliani takes credit for lowering the crime rate in NY with gun bans, the fact is, violent crime went down statistically in ALL major cities in the 90s, even in cities with no restrictions, for a variety of reasons, and NY was right in the middle of the pack. There were NO extraordinary good results from the NY or DC gun restrictions. Just the opposite.

Here's another good reason to have a gun. Adrenalin-laced cops in paramilitary gear, kicking down doors in the middle of the night with no-knock raids, shooting the dog, shooting anything that moves. And then realize they are in the wrong street. Happens too frequently, and it's accelerating.

You ought to inventory the military gear showered on local police forces in the 15 years. You wouldn't recognize Barney Fife in Mayberry anymore. Dude looks like GI Joe now. And he doesn't need his one little bullet in his pocket anymore. He has an AK-47 and a bazooka.

TOP 10 REASONS WHY SOME WOMEN FAVOR HANDGUNS OVER MEN

#10 – Guns can be traded in.
#9 – You can shot the lazy lump on your couch.
#8 – If you have a rifle, the handgun won’t feel betrayed.
#7 - Handguns can actually compliment that new motorcycle.
#6 – A handgun doesn’t mind if you ask for directions.
#5 – A handgun doesn't smell of beer if you give it a night off.
#4 – No handgun would feel unloved if it had to sleep on the shelf for a week.
#3 – Handguns only cause drama when they are used on accident.
#2 – Handguns stay good looking for many years.
#1 – Handguns don’t hog the remote!!

Neither party reassures voters

2008-06-26T10:31:00.020-05:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher was featured in this morning's From the Editor's Inbox on the Des Moines Register website. You can find his edited letter, along with a lively discussion from other readers, here. The unedited opinion follows.

It’s always interesting to add up and compare the potential cost of various programs proposed by the presidential candidates. It’s often very surprising, sometimes downright depressing.

Barak Obama gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago outlining the Democratic economic platform. It must have been the worst news ever for Wall Street, small business, and even the middle class when you think it through. It included the expected “soak the rich” themes along with repealing Bush’s tax cuts.

Most economists estimate the cost of Obama’s proposals and promises - including $150 billion for green energy, $65B for expanded health insurance, $60B for infrastructure -to total $800 Billion and counting. He says it will be funded by repealing the tax cuts and increasing capital taxes.

The problem is Obama’s math doesn’t work. With everything else the same, repealing the cuts combined with his proposed tax increases won’t pay for his spending. Using his own model on who should pay more, one recent estimate showed his plan would result in up to a 40 percent personal income tax, a 52.2 percent combined income and payroll tax, a 28 percent capital-gains tax, a 40 percent dividends tax, and a 55 percent estate tax.

That’s not going to happen, and that means the middle class is going to get squeezed even further, with taxes disguised as usage fees, access fees, entrance fees, licenses and assessments.

Obama will also have to raise corporate and capital taxes which will styme business production, raise the cost of everything, and will directly affect your your compensation and take-home pay.

Now we look at the other side. What will McCain cost us? He would certainly cost less than Obama domestically, because McCain proposes very little, with almost no economic impact. He does have a new-found religion on global warming, but I don’t think even he knows what he’s proposing yet beyond $300M for new battery technology.

It’s McCain’s foreign policy that jumps out. Another 100 years in Iraq at current costs would be about $2.5 Trillion dollars and the loss of about 80,000 more brave troops.

And you wonder why so many people feel totally disenfranchised by both political parties.

Iowa Flood of '08

2008-06-20T09:46:00.010-05:00

IOWA Flood of '08

Survival Kit

Toilet Paper.......................................................check

Bud Light..........................................................check

Keystone Ice.......................................................check

Budweiser..........................................................check

Red Dog............................................................check

Misc. other bottles of alcohol....................................check

Piece of plywood to float your lady and booze on.....double-check

What role has race and sex played in the election?

2008-06-09T08:29:00.004-05:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opined about the role of race and sex in the election in yesterday morning’s Des Moines Sunday Register. Since the letter was submitted, Hillary Clinton has thrown her support to Barak Obama, so the Register edited the letter to discussing the race issue only.

Please don't read this and then invite Mike or Rights Boy to speak at your KKK rally or the next burn-your-bra bonfire. It's my opinion that charges of racism and sexism in this election serve no purpose but to distract voters with short memories from looking at real issues.

You can find his edited letter, along with comments from other readers, here.The unedited opinion follows.
___________

It was hard to follow the twisted logic in Leonard Pitts’ article “Let’s face up to the ugly Truth,” but I think he was concluding that a black person voting for Obama wasn’t racist, but a white person voting for Hillary probably was.

Pitts’ victim argument - that white and black people aren’t equivalent, the white man always keeps the black man down, blacks are “owed” – is so old and tired. But it somehow leads him to declare that even questioning race-based entitlements is automatically off-topic and not to be taken seriously.

Pitts claims that blacks have never had a choice but to support white candidates and implies that white voters somehow owe black candidates a ‘favor.’ I assume Pitts dismisses the viability of former candidates Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and ironically forgot that when the Clinton camp made a similar gaff it was skewered as racist.

The race in the Democratic Party circus is historic this year. The sideshow includes the wooing of uncommitted super delegates as well as a game of musical chairs by Florida and Michigan. But the big tent includes a historic race between two viable candidates – a white woman and a black man.

What measure shall we use to determine the next leader of the free world? What are the important qualifications? So far, we have examined Hillary’s hair, cleavage, pantsuits, tears and her choice of ice cream. We’ve looked at Obama’s lapel, his family tree, dance moves and his church. Now pundits like Pitts are saying everything comes down to one issue, race, and white people won’t vote for a black man. I guess he’s confused on what happened in Iowa and many other states earlier this year.

People vote for candidates for many reasons. During the Iowa primaries, an 85-year old black woman was quoted in the Register declaring, “I’m voting for Obama no matter what. I want to live to see a black man run the White House.” A white female friend of mine recently made a similar comment about Hillary and living to see a woman running the US government. Another black friend said that he was for Obama because it “just sent the right message to the world.” None of these people are making a decision based on the issues. But I’m not sure they are necessarily racist or sexist. Are they?

Some people are so quick to call anything racist these days and an article like this just perpetuates the tactic.

Money money money by the pound

2008-06-04T10:56:00.005-05:00

Rights Boy received the following email this morning. He has proudly made it to the prestigious mailing lists of the targeted few.

This is a sad story really. But Rights Boy isn't greedy. Does anyone else want to get in on this action?

___________________________

Dear Recipient,

How are you today and business in your country?

I am Shing Li, BankManager of bank of Overseas,Taiwan. I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail.

I contacted you independently of our investigation and no one isinformed of this communication.

A British Oil contractor with the Chinese Solid Minerals Corporation,Mr.Courtney Steven made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit of$30,000,000.00 for twelve calendar months and not too long Mr.CourtneySteven died from an airplane crash.

We have launched an investigation into possible surviving next of kinto alert about the situation and also to claim his estate but in hisbio-data form, he listed no next of kin.

Please reply to my private for more datials Email: mr_shingli000@yahoo.com.twYours

Sincerely,

Mr. Shing Li.

Latest Odd Iowa News

2008-05-14T19:14:00.012-05:00

Iowa is once again making the “News of the Weird” all over the world. Yes, it’s a wonderful place full or wondrous people.

Stretching a penny. A man was hit in the head by a train Saturday afternoon in Davenport as he reportedly tried to put a coin on the railroad tracks. He was struck by a ladder on a railcar near the end of the train.

Now in his young and exuberant childhood, even Rights Boy put a penny or two on the rails just to see what would happen. But the thing is, the trick works much better if you set it up before the train arrives.

Here, have one of mine. A man was arrested this week in Des Moines for throwing candy at a police officer. The cop was conducting a hit-and-run investigation at a convenience store when he noticed several M & M candies falling to the ground nearby. After finishing the investigation, he arrested Sean McGuire and charged him with assaulting a police officer.

McGuire was taken to Polk County Jail only after urinating all over the back of the squad car on the way.

Rights Boy remembers the good old days. If you threw some candy at a cop you would probably get your lights punched out. And if you whizzed in the patrol car, you would never be seen again.

On the other hand, Rights Boy wonders… What if you throw donuts at the cop…?

Third-best Elvis. Michael Reed has followed his dream – to mimic The King — and thought it would lead to a lucrative career. It didn’t. The self-proclaimed “third-best Elvis in the world,” has earned $5,000 annually with his gig, has a credit score of 250, and four credit cards with a total credit line of $24,500. So he decided to borrow $12,000 for plastic surgery in a last-ditch effort to make his dream solvent.

"Plastic surgery is not going to save a failing career," said Eugene Cherny, an Urbandale surgeon who altered Reed's face. "Nobody ever said that he'd look like Elvis. We never said we could make him a star."

Rights Boy is sympathetic. I’m just sure he’s a Hunka’ Hunka’ Burnin’ Love!

Water, water, everywhere. In March, it was reported that a vast array of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in the drinking water supplies. You can find that report here. This sparked a new panic and further switch to bottled water.

But in April, Des Moines was awarded the top spot on the list of Best Cities for Clean Drinking Water by Forbes magazine. “It's got a high-quality product, after all." according to the report.

Rights Boy is so confused. Bottled water is best last month, tap water is best this month. Drink eight glasses per day last year, that’s too much this year… Isn’t science wonderful?

New tourist attraction. Speaking of clean water, operators of Iowa livestock confinements could stockpile manure adjacent to homes and as close as 400 feet to Iowa waterways under a proposal in the Iowa House. The manure piles can be higher than 25 feet tall and half the length of a football field.

Rights Boy thinks it’s a great idea for a new tourist attraction. Come see the piles! Taller than your house and the size of Arena Football! See it! Smell it! Live it or live with it!

Come Join the Ban

2008-04-16T16:51:00.004-05:00

The Iowa legislative session is finally coming to an end and thank goodness. Among the important legislation considered this round were lots of bans. Nanny bans. Stupid bans. Inconsistent bans.

Soda pop and candy were banned in middle and high schools during school hours. We need to limit our kids’ choices after all.

These same kids talk too much, so a ban on text messaging while driving was pushed.

To show our patriotism, Iowa State Representative Ray Zirkelbach introduced a ban on foreign-made flags. Good luck finding ones made in the USA!

We are banned from raising mixed wild/domestic hybrid cats, so keep your pumas and mountain lions to themselves.

We are civilized, so a ban on mixed martial arts, cage-fighting, was introduced.

Witnessing a dog fight or cock fight was banned. "You don't just stumble across a dog fight,” says Josh Colvin with the Animal Rescue League of Iowa. Is that so? I’m looking outside, watching two neighbors’ dogs go at each others’ throat right now. I’m so illegal.

The legislature refused to lift a ban; self-imposed voluntary casino banishment. No Casino for you!

The crowning banning achievement by the legislature is Iowa’s new universal smoking ban. One year ago, they raised taxes on cigarettes by $1.00 per pack. Then the cigarette business went south, literally, and one-third of the tax revenue disappeared.

Now, after weeks of political wrangling, and all ‘for the kids,’ and for greater health of Iowa, we have a new statewide smoking ban. It is banned EVERYWHERE, except a couple of places. Like Casino floors, and hotels and motels, retail tobacco stores, private and semi-private rooms in care facilities, private clubs, limousines, outdoor areas, farm trackers and trucks, the Iowa Veterans Home, and your home.

I’m sure the bar and restaurant owners love this ban… Rural Iowa just dried up even more.

My favorite Iowa ban on the books: The sale of wild turkey bones. Bury those things when you boil off the carcass!

Carping about official state fish

2008-04-04T05:51:00.004-05:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opined about channel catfish in this morning’s Des Moines Register.

You can find his edited letter, along with comments from other readers, here.

The unedited opinion follows.

Another legislative session coming to an end, and no action on crowning my beloved channel catfish as the official state fish! Where is the justice?

The carp lobby has grown strong and become quite vocal this year. Even the walleye crowd, once considered an ally, has become a different kettle of fish.

This is one of the few things the Legislature can do that won’t cost the taxpayers a lot of money along the way. Oh, Brad Zaun, you express such outrage about your dinner; why aren’t you as concerned about mine?

Declare the channel cat as our State Fish!

Zaun, Raecker keep public informed

2008-03-26T09:44:00.005-05:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opined about his State Senator and Representative recently in the Urbandale Community Register. 100% of the reader comments support his opinion.

You can find his edited letter, along with comments from other readers, here.

The unedited opinion follows.

I would like to thank Senator Brad Zaun and Representative Scott Raecker for keeping their constituency so well-informed on the Iowa Legislature. Quite frequently, the Urbandale Community Register includes articles by Zaun and Raecker that discuss the important issues. They are always concise, intelligent and well thought out. They discuss both sides of the issues, and make very clear what Zaun's or Raecker's position is and why.

It’s so much better than receiving a glossy brochure from a Congressman that you never met, parroting phrases that you have heard a hundred times. If you would believe what is written by Congressman Boswell’s handlers, he’s already ended the war, stopped global warming and made it just a perfect place for everybody.

Thank you, Brad and Scott. I don’t always agree with your positions, but I respect them, and each time I read your articles it reminds me of why I proudly voted for both of you.

Now will one of you please consider running for Governor?

I remember 1969

2008-03-24T04:21:00.009-05:00

I remember 1969.

I was a senior at North high school and looking forward to going to Drake University after graduation. We didn’t have any money, but my mother had taken a job at Drake so I could go to college. It was the greatest job benefit in the world; if you had a parent employed at Drake, you got to go there tuition-free.

The San Francisco ‘Summer of Love’ had occurred a couple years earlier, and every kid in Iowa wanted some of that. There were rumors about a big music festival coming to Woodstock, New York and we were all packing our bags getting ready to hitch-hike to the east coast. Rolling Stone was the hot new magazine and we talked about living in communes, growing our own food and saving Mother Earth.

The Viet Nam War was raging on endlessly and anti-war protests were everywhere. Minds were still stinging from the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. Nixon was in the throes of his paranoia; he hated war-protesters, and invented the ‘War on Drugs’ to deflect public opinion away from his bad habit of erasing White House tapes. John and Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt started to wear black arm bands to school. That infuriated the Des Moines school administration and the kids were suspended. The U.S. Supreme Court soon gave the school administrators a lesson on the First Amendment and the meaning of free speech.

Women were burning their bras and men were burning their draft cards. My generation was rejecting everything and just having a tantrum and a screaming fit against American society.

Then seemingly from out of nowhere came the Drake University basketball team, tromping on everybody in the Missouri Valley Conference and almost every team in the NCAA Tournament. They made it to the Final Four that year, barely losing to UCLA by three points in a semi-final game. While they lost, they completely shut down legendary player Lew Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul-Jabber. Purdue beat North Carolina in the other semi-final and then Drake clobbered Carolina by 20 points in the consolation game to finish third. We couldn’t say we were number one, but we always felt that we were number one and one-half.

That team had some great ones - Al Williams, Dolph Pulliam, Willie McCarter, Don Draper, Gary Zeller, Willie Wise, Garry Odom, Rick Wanamaker and Ron Gwin. They were so fast and so much fun and exciting to watch! Coach Maury John was the very definition of basketball defense; it became known as the ‘belly-button’ defense. Several of the players were drafted by the NBA and McCarter and Wise went on to great careers. Dolph Pulliam is still a local hero after all these years, calling the Drake games and wearing that now famous blue leather jacket. The Drake program remained great for several years.

Many people attribute the demise of Drake basketball to the departure of Coach John, who left for Iowa State to coach his son John John. The Drake team had its last NCAA top-25 ranking 33 years ago, always lost to the Iowa state schools, and was a perpetual cellar-dweller in the MVC.

But this year was payback time. Drake beat down every Iowa team and every team in the MVC. After being picked to finish ninth out of ten teams, they won the MVC Conference and the Tournament. They had a 21-game winning streak, and set more records and firsts than any basketball team in Drake history.

These kids play with such skill and heart. And they are smart too! You don’t get to play sports at Drake and act like a bozo in the classroom. The combined GPA of the Drake team is one of the highest in the nation. Drake has higher ethical and academic standards for sports participation than most schools, and others would do well to emulate the Bulldogs in this area.

Dr. Tom Davis set this program back on a path to its old winning ways. Now Keno has taken it to new heights, named MVC Coach of the year in his first season, with a good shot to be the national NCAA Coach of the Year. I just loved watching Dr. Tom sitting in the stands this year, beaming with pride for his son and this team.

I never thought I’d see anything like this again in my life.

The Bulldogd lost in their first game in the NCAA tournament. A typical Drake game, they were down by 16 points in the second half, came back to force overtime, and lost by a devistating basket at the buzzer.

No matter what, this team has made all of us proud: Des Moines, the state of Iowa, and the whole Drake Nation. Here we go, Bulldogs, here we go!

Life, Liberty & Intellectual Property apparently Forever!

2008-03-14T09:41:00.037-05:00

It’s no secret that Rights Boy believes in strong property rights. A recent opinion by his good friend Mike Burgher in the Des Moines Register drew a lot of discussion by online readers. You can read that article here:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080306/OPINION04/803060354

There is clearly a huge misunderstanding by a few people on real property rights in America, the concept of Eminent Domain, and what ownership means. One young reader went so far as to proclaim, “The government owns all the land, it ‘grants’ who can occupy it, and it can take it ‘back’ whenever and for whatever purpose is deemed necessary.”

That idea isn’t capitalism or even socialism; it is a clear, succinct definition of Communism. It makes Rights Boy just shake his head, beat it against the wall, and wonder what kind of drivel is being taught in civics class today. John Locke, who coined the phrase “life, liberty and property,” would have pulled out his sword and poked our young reader pretty hard. Fortunately, many people do understand, and did poke him with their comments, some not very politely.

But today, Rights Boy wants to talk about intellectual property – who owns an idea, a concept, a process or a song. There is a huge difference between real property and intellectual property. But due to an ongoing campaign - by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA,) book publishers, and the major movie studios in Hollywood (MPAA,) particularly Disney - this is also misunderstood by many people.

America’s Founders drew a clear distinction between real property and intellectual property. Real property was owned and could only be taken away through Eminent Domain. Intellectual property included no such protection. If someone came up with a good idea, he or she was granted a short time period to exclusively use, control and copy the idea. This is the definition of copyright. The person with the idea got a head start to make some money and profit from his or her concept and the intention was to spur on capitalism. After that short period, ideas went into the ‘public domain,’ after which anyone could use, copy or modify it however he or she wished.

The original period set by the founders was 14 years; 28 years in some limited cases. Today, copyright is granted for over 100 years, due to a lobbying effort and some large contributions from the RIAA to the back pocket of selected U.S. legislators. The length of a copyright has been increased over 20 times in the last 30 years. It is virtually perpetual now and soon nothing will ever again go into the public domain.

The RIAA has whined and cried for years that it has lost market share because its customers ‘steal’ the product. It has managed to convince its customers and the courts that theft of real property and copyright infringement is the same thing. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA,) originally intended to punish satellite dish customers from decrypting copyrighted broadcast material, has been abused and turned upside down onto its head.

The RIAA and MPAA have become nothing more than a litigation machine, lashing out and harassing and bullying their own customer base. Disney sends out thugs to daycare centers that have a hand-drawn picture of Mickey Mouse on the wall, threatening to sue somebody if it’s not removed or painted over. The Girl Scouts of America are harassed when a child dances the Macarena. Cab drivers can no longer play the radio because, God forbid, someone in the back seat will hear the music and not pay the RIAA a fee.

Today, the RIAA’s position is that one can be sued to the tune of several hundreds of thousands of dollars for taking music YOU OWN and simply copying it to your MP3 player or computer. It always settles for $3,000 to ‘teach us a lesson.’ It doesn’t want things to go to court because it becomes publically obvious how many innocent people get caught up in its John Doe, shot gun style of litigation.

The RIAA likens a CD to a piece of Waterford Chrystal, and has no respect for making a backup copy or any fair use. If your CD breaks, too bad; buy another one. The RIAA has kicked and screamed with every advancement of technology. It would prefer that you purchase the exact same music over and over; first on a vinyl record, then on eight-track, then on cassette, then on a CD. And now you get to pay to download a digital version of a song that you already own and paid for several times; complete with embedded ‘digital rights management’ that restricts what you can do with it.

Isn’t it sort of odd that the companies that make MP-3 players are the same ones that want to sue you for loading your music onto them?

The RIAA doesn’t discriminate who it rips-off. It takes advantage of the artists that turn over their copyrights to the industry as well as the customers that attempt to listen to the music.

The artist once known as “Prince” - then renamed an unpronounceable androgynous symbol, then “the artist formerly known as Prince,” and now “Prince” once again - in the midst of his identity crisis, puts it well. When he was part of the RIAA, his records had to go platinum before he saw a dime. Now that he is independent, his breakeven point is about 1,500 CDs and he starts making some money much earlier. This is as it should be. The RIAA adds very little value anymore.

Back in the day, when everyone listened to analog radio, the RIAA paid off radio stations with cash and drugs to influence the playlists. Now it punishes and sues those radio stations for playing the same music and not paying homage to the industry association.
As vinyl records became popular, there were often two outstanding songs on the record and the rest were crap. There was no way to sample music and simply purchase the cuts that you liked. Eventually, along comes Steve Jobs who negotiated with the RIAA to allow purchase and download of individual songs. But what a price! A $1.49 for a song is outrageous! Rights Boy believes in the free market and all, but there is NO competition in the record industry and they have us all by the gonads. It’s no wonder that kids download music and don’t care if it’s legal or not.

So what can you do about it?

Rights Boys does NOT encourage anyone to download copyrighted material that that you don’t already own on a CD or DVD. That is clearly illegal. There is no anonymity on the Internet anymore and you will eventually get caught and pay the consequences. Is it really worth the risk of paying $3,000 to listen to Madonna sing about being a Material Girl?

Don’t support the Record Industry by buying CDs with the RIAA symbol. Buy CDs from independent labels. Go to local concerts and buy CDs directly from the artists.

Rights Boy will never buy a CD again, nor purchase a song from iTunes. In his opinion, all the good music ended in the late 1970s anyway, when the disco era got us all bumping and grinding and shaking our grove thing.

Rights Boy has amassed a modest collection of music over the years, and a good friend left his CD collection at the Fortress of Rightitude while he’s taking a sabbatical on the west coast.

Guess what Rights Boy is doing with all that music? ;-)

He bought the fattest hard drive he could find and has spent the last three years ripping all of it to the drive. He has more unrestricted MP3 music than he can possibly listen to for the rest of time. Life is good. …And the RIAA sucks. …Someday it will be looked upon like a dinosaur hit by the meteor.

Until that day comes, just remember that a string of 1s and 0s has greater property rights protection than your own backyard. It is a crazy mixed up world…

What do think about the RIAA? Vote on the survey to the right, send me an email, or click on the little underlined comment thingy below.

AT&T. Your World. Delivered. …to the NSA.

2008-03-12T11:42:00.009-05:00

The Democratic Congress finally had the gumption to stand up to President Bush on one of his pet projects; reading your emails and listening in on your phone conversations.

Well, a little gumption anyway. The President wanted complete amnesty for telecom companies for illegally delivering your private data to the White House. He’s been ranting about this for weeks; that we’re tying his hands on fighting terrorists if he can’t read your emails. Congress refused to comply with the amnesty, but then gave in somewhat. They are waffling on granting immunity, but will allow innocent people to defend themselves with classified data that the government already illegally collected.

Whoopee! But, I still smell a veto coming.

Does anyone even care about privacy laws anymore? Do you care that, yet once again, the Decider ignores a long-standing law? The privacy laws in the 1930’s were put into place precisely for this reason; to prevent a knee-jerk reaction and excuse by the government to invade your private communications.

And don’t think they just look at call records ‘if one party is outside the United States.’ Without actually listening to the conversation, it’s impossible to determine the origination and termination points based on phone numbers. So you’ve got to scan them all.

It’s a documented fact that the government has installed a server farm with a fiber-optic cable at the large AT&T installation in San Francisco. All calls, emails and text messages going over the Internet can be diverted, and perused later by the NSA.

I’ve no doubt that Dick Cheney is thinking about Rights Boy right now, what to do about his spilling the beans; disclosing national security secrets and all that.

You can read the report on the recent Congressional action at:
http://saveaccess.org/node/1865

As well as the position of Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the few friends you have left on this issue, at:
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/03/11

You can read about the government installation at AT&T at:
http://www.eff.org/cases/hepting

We are all about two steps away from getting water-boarded for keeping a secret.

What a Duffus!

2008-03-11T10:22:00.016-05:00

The idiots are running the asylum, and we hardly ever notice.

Elliot Spitzer has proven once and for all that there are an endless number of dolts on both sides of the aisle.

Is there anything more hypocritical than prosecuting prostitution rings, then getting caught up in the same scheme?

Some people are already excusing his actions, victimless crime and all that. But he is Governor of New York and a former Attorney General, and he happened to break several federal laws.

And then trying to launder money through a bank? Even Rights Boy knows not to move his vast wealth around the banks, because somebody’s going to notice.

Oh well, Spitzer will join a long list of mug shots of corrupt government officials. Maybe he can share a jail cell with Larry Craig, Brad Olson, Mona Cunningham, Brian Gilbert and Archie Brooks. Oh, yea, that’s right. Brian walked and Archie is on his way.

Aren't we supposed to hold government officials to a higher standard?

Yea, I know; Rights Boy must live in a dream world.

Sex Hormones in the Drinking Water!

2008-03-10T10:12:00.004-05:00

An AP report this morning talked about the all the medicines found in our drinking water, including sex hormones. You can read it at http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080310/D8VAJB480.html

I wondered what was happening to me, chasing the Rights Wife around all the time. And I'm not talking about one of your incredible shrinking rights here!

Well, I say, 'Bring it On!' Put sex hormones in the water like flouride! Might keep some of us away from the keyboard occasionally.

Friday Funnies

2008-03-07T09:55:00.018-06:00

To heck with the Drake Bulldogs! Let’s talk about the true heroes today.

The pale-face four of the CIETC scandal managed to get their trial moved to Davenport, trying to get far enough away to find a jury that won’t convict then.

I don’t think it will work. I still have faith in Iowans that we’ll eventually throw these crooks in jail and throw away the key. Come on, where are the smiles in that picture?

And where is Archie Brooks? After receiving all those sexual favors from Mona, and writing all those check, he’s going to walk. He’s turning State’s evidence and squealing like a pig. But he’s not a pig. He’s a weasel.

Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales seem to be in a race to be the highest-paid speaker after leaving this administration. Rove gets $40,000 for each engagement. Gonzales gets $30,000.

I’ve got to give it to ol’ Karl. He has a mind like Darth Vader and is smarter than most people in Congress or the White House. Rove is going to speaking in Iowa City soon, and I understand that there is quite a welcome planned. Watch for fireworks.

But Alberto Gonzales? He made John Ashcroft look like a man of the people. And John Ashcroft made Janet Reno look like a man of the people. Literally. But Alberto Gonzales was a complete disaster. He never understood anything about the law, he was a crappy manager, never took responsibility for anything, blamed everyone else for his ignorance and missteps, and made a nice lap dog for the President.

And that brings me to the Man!

I’m really starting to warm up to President Bush in his last year in office. He has lightened up, and seems to be looking forward to retirement. He’s making jokes daily. Like he’s never heard that gas is headed to $4 per gallon. That’s funny! I think he is counting the days just like the rest of us.

And I really love it when he shakes his groove thing!

What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know YOUR opinion. And click on a …bla, bla, bla.

Have a great weekend everybody! Root for the Bulldogs when they take on Indiana State today at noon in the MVC tournament.

Keep Private Property Private

2008-03-06T06:48:00.004-06:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opined about Eminent Domain in this morning’s Des Moines Register. I don’t think he likes the concept very much!

You can find his edited letter, along with comments from other readers, here.

The unedited opinion follows.

The recent report ‘Eminent domain bills take aim at loopholes' demonstrates that the Iowa Legislature can, in fact, work on important legislation in between trying to solve non-issues in the state.

The Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London should have sent shivers down the spines of all property owners. Private property is not something loaned to you by the government until it decides to take it back and give it to someone else. It is a fundamental right in America; private property is the foundation upon which many other rights are built and justified.

There is simply no excuse for government to condemn a taxpayer’s private property and turn it over to their favorite real estate developer or lobbyist to build a lake or river front shopping center.

And take note, Des Moines City Council, it's also no excuse to lean on a property owner in the East Village because you don't like the color of his building.

Way to go Legislature! Tighten up the loopholes. You got this one right!

A Personal Tribute

2008-03-04T13:47:00.030-06:00

Today, Rights Boy wants to talk about men’s college basketball; specifically the Drake University Bulldogs.

Every once in a while something takes Right Boy’s mind away from watchin’ out for you, and makes him just sit back and marvel at an amazing, uplifting story. This year, the Bulldogs are such a story. They have had the greatest basketball season in Rights Boy’s adult life. They have won the Missouri Valley Conference for the first time since 1971; after being picked in the pre-season by so-called experts to finish ninth out of ten teams. They won it all!

With a conference record of 15-3, an overall record of 25-4, a win streak of 21 games, and ranked in the NCAA top 25 for the first time in 33 years, they were simply a pleasure to watch.

At the end of the last conference game against Wichita State, the three seniors were recognized for their outstanding contribution to the team.

Leonard Houston, whose father is in prison, was an inspirational story: overcame all odds against him, became an A student as a high school senior, sat on the bench at Drake for three season, and just exploded this year. You can read a great story on Houston at:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080301/SPORTS020403/803010324/1097

Klayton Korver, from Pella, IA, has been a star on the team for four years and was second in 3-pointers, behind Josh Young. As part of ‘Iowa’s First Family of Basketball,’ Klayton is destined to follow his older brother, Kyle, to the NBA.

Adam Emmenecker, a walk-on (!) led the MVC conference in assists, was the NCAA Academic All-American Player of the Year, and has a good shot to be the MVC Player of the Year. He carries a 3.97 GPA and has four majors! That dude is going to walk into any Fortune 500 company he chooses.

Drake University does NOT mess around with academics; you can’t play sports at Drake and be a bozo in the classroom. The collective GPA of this team is one of the highest in the nation.

Finally, what can you say about Keno Davis? Wins it all in his first coaching season! He is a shoo-in to be the MVC Coach of the Year and has a good shot at the NCAA National Coach of the Year. The genes must run strong in the Davis Family! Dr. Tom turned the team over to son Keno this year, after coaching Drake last year to its first winning season since 1986. It was so great to watch Dr. Tom in the stands this year, just beaming with pride about the team and son Keno.

No matter what happens in the MVC tournament or the NCAA tournament, Drake has had the greatest basketball season since Rights Boy attended, way back in the day. Never thought I’d see it again in my lifetime.

The Rights Wife, not exactly a rabid sports fan, really got into it this year too!

Go Bulldogs! You have made the Drake Nation so proud once again!

Update: Today, Adam Emmenecker was named MVC Player of the Year, joining the likes of Larry Bird and Xavier McDaniel. Emmenecker received 25 out of 40 first-place votes.

On Thursday, Keno Davis was named the MVC Coach of the Year.

1 in 100

2008-02-29T10:20:00.009-06:00

There was a great report in the New York Times yesterday about how 1 out of every 100 U.S.adults is now behind bars. You can read it at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/28cnd-prison.html?hp

We incarcerate 1% of our adults now, a higher percentage than any other country in the world.

How have we possibly gotten to this point?

I'm not talking about 'prisoner's rights' here, where the government is being sued for a not serving vegetarian meals, by some bozo who doesn't have the fortitude to move his meat away from the peas. I'm talking about how they get there in the first place.

Here in central Iowa we are spending millions on a new jail because the criminal population is overflowing our capacity to incarcerate everybody.

We throw people in jail for years in this country for stunningly trivial offenses. There were originally three ways to go to jail at the federal level - now there are over 4,500.

Is it the Federal sentencing guidelines? Because they have NOT resulted in what they were intended for, and now we are stuck with them. The U.S. Supreme Court has to rule on the fairness of these over and over again.

Is it ‘three strikes you’re out?’ There are people in jail now for most of the rest of their life because they were hungry and metaphorically stole some bread three times, Sort of like Les Miserables.

Is it because people don’t take any personal responsibility anymore? A lot of people in jail were never taken to church as a child, never taught good manners, and there were never any consequences for their bad behavior as they were growing up.

Is it the lack of gun control?

Or, is it because our society is simply fed up with crime, and it’s easier to throw people in jail forever, out of sight, out of mind, and let’s just forget about rehabilitation?

Because folks, it costs you and I a lot of money; almost $24,000 per year per person behind bars. Last year, we spent $49 billion dollars nationally keeping people in jail, and it just goes up every year.

What do you think? There is a survey to the right. Please vote and let me know your opinion. If you have any other ideas, leave me a comment by clicking on that little underlined comments thingy below, and I’ll add it to the survey.

Have a great weekend! And don’t do anything bad, because your butt will get hauled to jail!

I woke up!

2008-02-27T14:06:00.011-06:00

Rights Boy has finally woken up from a long winter’s nap. And there is still eight inches of snow on the ground outside! When is this global warming thing going to kick in around here?

Today, Rights Boy wants to talk about a couple of his good friends.

First, I’d like to introduce you to Gul DuCurry – pride of the Cardassian Empire.

Don’t mess with Gul DuCurry; if you run into her in a dark alley, slowly turn the other way and run, because she will kick your ass!

Her nickname is Golda Curry, and you can see her demonstrating martial arts and coordinating competitions at celebrAsian, Iowa’s 6th Annual Asian Heritage Festival, on May 17th at the State Capitol East Complex. For more information, check out the site http://www.celebrasian.org/.

Second, please meet Mr. Clean. Mr. Clean hangs out on the Des Moines Register’s web site, http://www.desmoinesregister.com/, commenting on news stories and blogs. He’s sort of a Will Rogers, Mark Twain kind of guy; he can’t come up with anything original himself, but he likes to write short zingers at others.

He is often featured in the ‘Reader Comment’ sidebars in the printed version of the Register, recently on topics including the Drake Men’s basketball team, the endless Iowa winter, Urbandale pool situation, bike trails, and Erin Crawford’s garden.

So, summarizing me and my friends:

Rights Boy blogs here,

Mike Burgher writes letters to Editors, Congress, and anyone else who still accepts his mail,

Mr. Clean writes commentary on the Register’s website,

Gul DuCurry kicks your ass.

Any questions?

Click on the little underlined comment thingy below, and leave me a comment!

In 2008, a 100 Percent Chance of Alarm

2008-01-09T09:03:00.000-06:00

Oh, my. You know your cause may be in trouble when the New York Times goes after it.

The Times has a nice article on global warming and the “availability entrepreneurs;” activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels. This group has started an “availability cascade,” a self-perpetuating process: the more attention a danger gets, the more worried people become, leading to more news coverage and more fear.

From the article:

A year ago, British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would help make 2007 the hottest year on record. At year’s end, global temperature average was actually lower than any year since 2001; little news coverage.

When the Arctic sea ice last year hit the lowest level ever, it was big news and heralded as a sign that the whole planet was warming. Meanwhile, a large part of Antarctica has been cooling, but that was pretty much ignored.

Hurricane Katrina was supposed to be a harbinger of the stormier world predicted by some climate modelers. When the next two hurricane seasons were the calmest in three decades, the availability entrepreneurs changed the subject. Droughts in California and Australia became the new harbingers of climate change (never mind that a warmer planet is projected to have more, not less, precipitation over all).

In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Mr. Gore didn’t dwell on the complexities of the hurricane debate, nor did he mention how calm the hurricane season had been. Instead, he alluded somewhat mysteriously to “stronger storms in the Atlantic
and Pacific.”

So, I guess the lesson is, no matter what the weather in 2008, be afraid – be very afraid…

A Look Back at 2007 - Part 1

2008-01-03T11:06:00.000-06:00

"There are good days and there are bad days, and this is one of them."
-- Lawrence Welk

For the next few days, Rights Boys takes a look back at the assaults on our rights in 2007 from our nanny state, surveillance state, police state and of course the state of government stupidity.

NSA Spying

By the end of 2007 there were forty pending lawsuits against AT&T, Verizon, MCI, Sprint and other telephone companies, accusing them of violating the law and the privacy of their customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive, illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications. This has included the records and full content of the private domestic communications of millions of ordinary Americans. The President and the phone companies hid this information from Congress and the American people for at least six years.

These actions violate at least four major privacy laws that have protected Americans' privacy for over 30 years. The laws deliberately and specifically require telephone companies to safeguard the privacy of their customers’ communications, especially when the government seeks to access them.

Congress is currently considering legislation that would grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies for the illegal actions

PATRIOT Act

Many provisions of the PATRIOT Act were scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2006, but were renewed and strengthened in March 2007. This increased the ability of the government to search telephone, email communications, medical, financial and other records and enhanced the discretion of law enforcement to detain anyone as a terrorism suspect.

RIAA vs. the People

By the end of 2007, the RIAA had sued over 20,000 of its customers for downloading music. Sending threatening ‘John Doe’ letters that contend hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, the RIAA settles for $3000 with mostly frightened teenagers, thus avoiding court and any chance for due process. Not one penny goes to any artist.

In December, the RIAA’s latest position is that simply copying a CD that you own to your computer or iPod is illegal.

We are approaching an age of perpetual copyright where nothing will even again go into the public domain.

And now, your government at work… funny and sad

TSA watch list, Airport Security

Airport officials in Albany, N.Y., were red-faced because a fake bomb planted by U.S. government inspectors slipped through their security system. The fake bomb was included with carry-on luggage that also contained a bottle of water. Airport officials did, however, seize the bottle of water.

Political Correctness

A production of The Vagina Monologues in Tallahassee, Fla., was retitled The Hoohaa Monologues, after a woman complained the title was offensive. Meanwhile in Cross River, N.Y., a suburb of New York City , three honors students were kicked out of their high school for saying the word "vagina" during their own reading of The Vagina Monologues.

Saginaw State University in Michigan now forbids the telling of any jokes that may involve "race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital or familial status, color, height, weight, handicap or disability," reports the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. That place must be a laugh riot.

Don’t Mess with Texas

The State of Texas argued before the Supreme Court that a murderer who had been treated for schizophrenia – and defended himself at his trial wearing a purple cowboy suit and issuing subpoenas to Pope John Paul II, President John F. Kennedy and Jesus Christ -- is sane and should be executed.

Fiscal Responsibility

The State of Iowa sure got its money's worth when it hired a consulting firm to give advice on how to budget properly. The suggestions made by the firm A.T. Kearney ultimately saved the state government close to $3.1 million. The cost of the consultant? Well, $3.9 million.

In September, the Pentagon paid $998,798 US to a small South Carolina parts supplier for sending two 19-cent washers to Cape Canaveral.

The Ig Nobel Peace Prize, not to be confused with the bauble won by Al Gore, was awarded to the Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio. The lab was recognized for researching a chemical weapon, the so-called "gay bomb,” which “will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other.”

Low Impact Crime

2007-11-29T16:57:00.000-06:00

Crime is pretty hard on the environment. Creating, transporting and maintaining a weapon, shooting a handgun or exploding a bomb - these causes a lot of pollution.

So it’s nice to see our local Des Moines metro criminals think about sustainability and go low impact as they do their green crime thing.

A kid armed with a sharp pencil held off authorities for a half-hour at the Polk County juvenile facility today. It was a brilliant move, waving his weapon around and exploiting the rampant fear of getting poked with a pencil lead.

A thug pulled a stick from his sleeve and whacked a man in the face last night, after the man was told to move and refused.

Des Moines police stopped a man who had attempted suicide with his sword. Police confiscated the sword and a spear and battle ax.

An inmate at the Polk County jail has vowed to starve himself unless he is given a vegetarian diet. That’ll teach ‘em.

Rights Boy loves the Earth

2007-11-26T10:51:00.000-06:00

Rights Boy sometimes cracks wise at the dire predictions of climate change and the motives of our global prophets. Downright cynical.

But he does believe in conservation, recycling and consuming less instead of more; especially if he can save some money. So he will occasionally give advice on important green issues or solutions.

Rights Boy loves the Earth. Our planet is so-o-o hot.

The core is molten iron around 1,800 degrees F. The crust is mostly silicate rock with a wonderful ability to store vast amounts of heat. The greenhouse effect is the best of all; it keeps the atmosphere and surface warm enough to support human life.

Rights Boy was recently talking to his good friend Andy, who has decided to exploit the Earth’s hotness through geothermal.

Geothermal is a new green technology, used since the time of ancient Rome, which takes advantage of the heat stored in the ground. A steady supply of energy is captured and moved from the Earth to and through the home. Once installed, it uses much less energy, saves ongoing money and reduces pollution compared to conventional furnaces and air conditioners. Andy estimates the pollution reduction equivalent to taking four cars off the road (!!)

This morning I marveled at Andy’s wisdom and selfless act to reduce pollution and save money. So Rights Boy went to the gas station, filled up, dedicated this latest tank to his friend, and turned the thermostat up three degrees when he got home.

Seriously though, Rights Boy thinks geothermal is a good thing. Does anyone else use geothermal and what do you think?

No promotion for you !!

2007-11-23T11:31:00.000-06:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opined again this week in the Des Moines Register; this time ripping into sitting Senators and Representatives who spend all their time running for president and ignoring their day job. You can view the opinion here with comments from other DMR readers. Following is the original unedited version.

I was always taught that voting is an important privilege and responsibility not to be taken lightly. You should be informed and you should vote; if you don’t vote then you don’t have much justification to criticize the outcome. I was thinking about this when Barak Obama came out swinging at Hillary Clinton recently for her vote on an Iran resolution, a vote which he didn’t bother to make at all.

For Senators and Representatives voting is not just a privilege, it is actually their job; to represent the citizens who elected them and pay their salary and endless perks. If they don’t show up for important votes, then they are representing no one, and they are stealing time and money from the taxpayers.

For the third time in this administration, the Senate was required to confirm a new U.S. Attorney General. After the fiasco that was Alberto Gonzales, and with Congress teetering around 15% approval, you would think that every Senator would want to be on record with his or her constituency as participating and voting.

Senators Biden, Clinton, Dodd, McCain and Obama skipped this vote, no doubt because of higher priorities somewhere in Iowa or New Hampshire. All four Democrats said that they opposed the nomination of Mukasey for Attorney General; but apparently not enough to show up and vote against it.

More and more, it seems like the daily operation of the federal government is interfering with the presidential campaigns. Several of the presidential hopefuls collect, but do not earn, a check for a daytime job in Washington and their own State. Chris Dodd is certainly the most transparent; he appears to be settling down in Iowa and has enrolled his daughter in school. A warm welcome to Mr. Dodd and family, but I do wonder what the citizens of Connecticut think about it.

These days, the duration of a presidential campaign is sometime between two and four years, and there are several sitting Senators and Representatives spending all their time and effort in Iowa with presidential aspirations as their only priority. Why we should reward any of these Senators a promotion to U.S. President, when they don’t even do their current jobs?

Ethanol Redux

2007-11-19T21:25:00.000-06:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opined in the Des Moines Sunday Register on ethanol; “A Crime against Humanity,” according to one United Nations official.

Rights Boy had previously posted the unedited version here. His favorite reader, Anonymous, ripped Rights Boy a new one for the opinion.

You can never please Anonymous!

What does privacy mean to you?

2007-11-13T14:59:00.000-06:00

The definitive source for all human information, Wikipedia, defined privacy as “the ability of an individual or group to control the flow of information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively…Privacy may be voluntarily sacrificed, normally in exchange for perceived benefits and very often with specific dangers and losses.”

Merriam-Webster is more succinct. Privacy is “the quality or state of being apart from company or observation…freedom from unauthorized intrusion, as in one's right to privacy.”

Not anymore…

Donald Kerr, principal deputy director of national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Americans can't expect to have privacy, because people give up so much information online already.

Kerr declared, "Protecting anonymity isn't a fight that can be won,” and privacy now means that “government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information.”

I guess Kerr cannot see the difference between someone choosing to type info into a Google search query, verses the government sifting through one's private records and listening in on phone conversations without the proper warrants.

Our privacy rights are disappearing before our eyes. Between fears of terrorism, cameras and web cams everywhere, shared medical records, or Internet search engines that keep history for two years, there is no privacy. So just give up. And trust the government.

We are frogs in the cooking pot; the water is starting to boil and we don’t even notice.

Meanwhile, A US federal judge has ordered the White House to preserve computer backups of all its e-mail due to pending litigation over missing messages. Apparently the Bush administration has been deleting as much of its electronic history as possible. Some bureaucrat in the White House basement, bless his heart, still believes in privacy!

A crime against humanity

2007-11-11T09:14:00.000-06:00

Rights Boy was amused that the Register issued a thistle to United Nations official Jean Ziegler, chiding his grammar, expertise and conclusions for likening ethanol production to a "crime against humanity."

The corporate welfare and subsidies for ethanol production in the United States is probably a crime against taxpayers, but it’s hardly a crime against humanity.

Perhaps now the Register and others will begin to recognize that the United Nations is an organization of politicians - not scientists, not global environmental prophets, not even lobbyists for the Iowa Farm Bureau.

Every UN diplomat and official has his own country’s self-interest, agenda, and product to sell to the rest of us.

So the next time someone from the UN, or the Vatican, or even a Hollywood Academy Award winner tells you that climate change is somehow a crime against the planet caused by human existence, think about it. If he tells you it’s the end of civilization as we know it, we can’t possibly adapt, we should be riddled with guilt and start purchasing carbon offsets, think about his motive and what he is really selling.

Sometimes it’s snake oil.

Irony on Parade

2007-11-07T18:09:00.000-06:00

White House spokesperson Dana Perino said that the administration is deeply disappointed with the measures in Pakistan, and agreed in a press conference this week that “it is never reasonable to restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism.”

Rights Boys wonders if Perino knows the definition of irony.

If you care anything about your constitutional rights you are probably ROTFLMAO.

Rights Boy must be so old. He has fond memories of the good old days when the U.S. Justice Departments protected and upheld rights, instead of trampling on them - before the Patriot Act, wiretapping without warrants, suspension of habeas corpus and unlawful search and seizure – just to name a few.

At least General Muschariff is honest that he has suspended citizens’ rights instead of acting like the people never had them.

First in the Nation in Weird

2007-11-05T14:56:00.000-06:00

Most of the time, Iowans are normal, boring, middle-of-the-road farmers, bankers and insurance agents.

But when that special time comes around for Iowa’s ‘first in the nation’ presidential candidate selection, when the spotlight is on, Iowa proves that it is also first in the nation in weirdness. Odd news from Iowa has been so plentiful lately that we have been a regular feature on Fark.com and apparently under consideration for our own coveted weird ‘Iowa’ logo. We have finally made it.

The great pumpkin tax – Just in time for Halloween, Iowa started taxing pumpkins, deciding that they were decorations and not food. Forms were available at grocery stores and pumpkin patches where you could swear to the State that you were going to eat that pumpkin instead of making a Jack-o-Lantern and thus avoid the sales tax.

Boys with toys – A man was arrested in Cedar Rapids after a government agent allegedly found him in an office building restroom with his pants down lying next to an inflatable, anatomically correct doll. Everyone hoped that the doll was of legal age and didn’t have any communicable diseases.

Propping up the mammary industry – $200 or the best offer; a woman who doesn't want her breast milk to go to waste has taken out a newspaper ad in hopes of selling it.

Man’s best friend – Apparently deciding he’d had enough, a dog on a hunting trip pulled a Dick Cheney and blasted a man with a shotgun at close range. ‘Wufff! You go chase that damn duck!’

Stay tuned for more...

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

2007-10-29T09:46:00.000-05:00

No one can read our Constitution without concluding that the people who wrote it wanted their government severely limited; the words "no" and "not" employed in restraint of government power occur 24 times in the first seven articles of the Constitution and 22 more times in the Bill of Rights.
– Edmund A. Opitz

A recent letter to the DM Register by associate professor Kevin Gannon (“Civics quiz leans sharply to the right”) left Rights Boy wondering about his qualifications to teach history. See his letter at :

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071023/OPINION04/710230360/1035/OPINION

I agree with Gannon on the need for more civic literacy in our country. It is a sad fact that immigrants who have studied to become American citizens tend to have a better understanding of U.S. history than a typical high school graduate.

But Gannon’s assertion that teaching the principles of “limited government” and a “free-market economy” is part of a vast right-wing conspiracy against academic freedom is absurd and shockingly ignorant coming from a college professor.

America was not founded on the principles of big government and socialist economics. Our Founding Fathers preached that “less is best” regarding government, and its citizens are owed little more than common protection and the opportunity to succeed through hard work.

Unfortunately, through a number of so-called populist or progressive moves, clearly unconstitutional, by both liberals and conservatives, we now have a massive federal government that domestically does very little other than redistributes wealth. The government provides welfare to every special group that you can think of: corporations, farmers, illegal immigrants, even the so-called “poor” that own a house and two cars yet cannot afford health insurance.

Gannon’s contention that right-wing groups are against academic freedom doesn’t match reality. Rights Boy's observation is that conservatives simply want a more comprehensive curriculum than the narrow, cookie-cutter, politically correct socialist nonsense that Gannon teaches.

More Scary Stuff !

2007-10-26T10:26:00.000-05:00

Rights Boy loves Halloween !! You might expect that from someone who lives behind a mask.

Rights Boy used to go overboard at Halloween and scare the neighborhood kids on Beggar's Night with spooky music, candles, severed heads and other body parts. Sometimes little kids would run away from the door crying as their parents laughed in the background. Good times...

For some reason the kids don't come around anymore. I don't get it.

These are a few pictures of Rights Boy's yard art from a recent Halloween.

What do you do for Halloween? Do you dress up? Click on 'comment' below and let me know.

Be scared. Be very scared…

2007-10-24T20:30:00.000-05:00

Which of these three is the scariest?

A Hillary Jack-O-Lantern?

A Spiral Compact Florescent Light bulb?

Or Mike Gravel?

The correct answer is the Compact Florescent Light bulb!

Compact Florescent Light bulbs (CFLs) use about 75 percent less energy and are supposed to last up to 10 times longer than standard incandescent bulbs, with a savings of $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb's lifetime.

CFLs are often touted as ‘saving the environment’ and the product is pushed extensively by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA.)

Ironically CFLs are one of the most environmentally unfriendly products you can use. If you improperly dispose of a CFL or break the bulb, they may release mercury and vapors which are harmful to human and ecological health. You do NOT want to meet a thug in the back alley wielding a Compact Florescent Light bulb (CFL) as a weapon.

And woe unto you if you happen to break one in your house! I think if Rights Boy breaks one of these at home, he’ll just sell the house rather than clean up the environment.

Following is a summary of instructions from the EPA if this happens:

1. Have the following items ready for the cleanup:

ziplock bags (4-5)
trash bags (2 to 6 mm thick)
rubber, nitrile or latex gloves
paper towels
cardboard or squeegee
eyedropper
duct tape
shaving cream and small paint brush
flashlight
powdered sulfur (optional)

2. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

3. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag. Use disposable gloves - do not use bare hands.

4. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

5. Place all cleanup materials in a second plastic bag and seal it.

6. Check to see if your state prohibits trash disposal of CLFs. (If your state prohibits, you are SOL…)

7. Place the sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal.
8. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

9. If a fluorescent bulb breaks on a rug or carpet, first remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner. Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.

10 .If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag or vacuum debris in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.

11. CFLs contain mercury sealed within the glass tubing. If the broken CFL releases mercury, have everyone else leave the area; don't let anyone walk through the mercury on their way out. Make sure all pets are removed from the area. Open all windows and doors to the outside; shut all doors to other parts of the house. DO NOT allow children to help you clean up the spill.

12. If a mercury spill occurs on carpet, curtains, upholstery or other absorbent surfaces, these contaminated items should be thrown away in accordance with the disposal means outlined below. Only cut and remove the affected portion of the contaminated carpet for disposal.

13. Locate visible mercury beads. Use a squeegee or cardboard to gather mercury beads. Use slow sweeping motions to keep mercury from becoming uncontrollable. Take a flashlight, hold it at a low angle close to the floor in a darkened room and look for additional glistening beads of mercury that may be sticking to the surface or in small cracked areas of the surface. Note: Mercury can move surprising distances on hard-flat surfaces, so be sure to inspect the entire room when "searching."

14. Use the eyedropper to collect or draw up the mercury beads. Slowly and carefully squeeze mercury onto a damp paper towel. Place the paper towel in a zip lock bag and secure. Make sure to label the bag as directed by your local health or fire department.

15. After you remove larger beads, put shaving cream on top of small paint brush and gently "dot" the affected area to pick up smaller hard-to-see beads. Alternatively, use duct tape to collect smaller hard-to-see beads. Place the paint brush or duct tape in a zip lock bag and secure. Make sure to label the bag as directed by your local health or fire department.

16. OPTIONAL STEP: It is OPTIONAL to use commercially available powdered sulfur to absorb the beads that are too small to see. The sulfur does two things: (1) it makes the mercury easier to see since there may be a color change from yellow to brown and (2) it binds the mercury so that it can be easily removed and suppresses the vapor of any missing mercury. Where to get commercialized sulfur? It may be supplied as mercury vapor absorbent in mercury spill kits, which can be purchased from laboratory, chemical supply and hazardous materials response supply manufacturers. Note: Powdered sulfur may stain fabrics a dark color. When using powdered sulfur, do not breathe in the powder as it can be moderately toxic. Additionally, users should read and understand product information before use.

17. If you choose not to use this option, you may want to request the services of a contractor who has monitoring equipment to screen for mercury vapors. Consult your local environmental or health agency to inquire about contractors in your area. Place all materials used with the cleanup, including gloves, in a trash bag. Place all mercury beads and objects into the trash bag. Secure trash bag and label it as directed by your local health or fire department.

18. Contact your local health department, municipal waste authority or your local fire department for proper disposal in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

19. Remember to keep the area well ventilated to the outside (i.e., windows open and fans in exterior windows running) for at least 24 hours after your successful cleanup. Continue to keep pets and children out of cleanup area. If sickness occurs, seek medical attention immediately.

Pretty scary…

Who is your candidate?

2007-10-09T09:19:00.000-05:00

Having a hard time choosing a candidate? That wouldn’t be too surprising given the flip-flopping and pandering that goes on every day in Iowa.

Here is a website that asks about various issues and their importance to you and then matches your answers with ALL of the candidates. It takes into consideration the history and record of the candidate, not necessarily what they are saying this week.

Rights Boy found this to be very interesting. It did NOT select Ron Paul as Rights Boy’s candidate. (He came in third.)

It only takes a couple of minutes. Who is YOUR candidate?

http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

A tip of the hat to Bill Scott for the link.

Your Papers, Old Man ?? Part 2

2007-10-08T11:13:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opined about a recent traffic safety checkpoint in the Urbandale Register. He lamented about the chipping away at privacy, due process and protection from unreasonable search, all in the name of education or security. He also questioned the purpose and goal of this event as well as the cost, suggesting that it was a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.

Several Register readers agreed with Mike; you can read the letter online with comments by other Des Moines Register readers here.

By some strange coincidence, at 2:30 Friday afternoon, the Central Iowa Traffic Safety Task Force released the results of the checkpoint. You can find a summary of the results here.

After advertising this event as “more about education than enforcement,” the results showed the true purpose - 192 vehicles were stopped and 179 citations were issued. Some of the citations were stunningly trivial, such as not enough air in a tire. If this had been truly about education, they would have issued more warnings instead of citations.

This whole thing has demonstrated to Rights Boy that we are one step closer to a Police State, right here in little ol’ Iowa. What kind of priority is it to pull 40 officers off the street, keep them from doing something useful, dress them up in SWAT gear, and without any probable cause, pull vehicles over and intimidate drivers. Many Register readers weighed in after the results were published. Read those comments here.

What a country! I feel so much safer now.

Where are your papers, old man ??

2007-10-05T07:19:00.000-05:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opines about a recent traffic safety checkpoint in the Urbandale Register this morning. You can read the letter below and online with comments by other Des Moines Register readers here.

On Sept. 21, eastbound traffic on Hickman Road was subjected to a "traffic safety checkpoint" with traffic reduced to one lane, drivers randomly stopped, vehicles inspected, and licenses and registrations examined.

It was pretty high-profile, too - collaboration between the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau, Central Iowa Traffic Safety Task Force and Urbandale, Clive and Windsor Heights police departments.

While it is quite legal in Iowa to set up a checkpoint and stop citizens without cause, request their papers and inspect and search their cars, it still bothers me. It reminds me how easily today we accept without question the chipping away at privacy, due process, protection from unreasonable search to name a few - all in the name of education or security or terrorists or whatever.What was the purpose or goal of this event and how much did the whole thing cost? What were the expected outcomes and did the event achieve its objectives? Because from my perspective watching, it looked like a huge waste of taxpayer money and took valuable public safety personnel off the streets.

We have a great police department in Urbandale as I'm sure there are in the surrounding communities. But I think it has more important things to do. As far as the Traffic Safety Bureau and Traffic Safety Task Force - if this is what these groups spend their time dreaming up, they should be dismantled and save the taxpayers some money.

Roundup on Domestic Spying – It’s for your own good. Really, it is.

2007-10-04T10:23:00.000-05:00

Fourth Amendment, U.S. Constitution – Search and Seizure

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The assault on our Fourth Amendment rights by the federal government continues. Oversight of domestic spying by FISA is being gutted, the large telcos are jockeying for legal protection from customers, and now, Big Brother is in your pocket – even if you never make a call.

The new Protect America Act as described by various officials including the President and former Attorney General “permits the collection of foreign-to-foreign calls and doesn’t implicate Americans.”

What they don’t emphasize is that the law also allows the government to collect foreign to domestic calls and domestic to domestic calls – any communications that are “directed at” or even “concerning” someone overseas may be collected, even when one party to the communication is an American. How can they help but sweep up American calls and emails? (The ACLU FISA fact sheet is here.)

Meanwhile, a federal court in Massachusetts has ruled that an individual's past movements were not protected under the Fourth Amendment. The government doesn't need probable cause to obtain a warrant allowing it to use a person's cell phone to track his past movements.

Jennifer Granick of the Electronic Frontier Foundation reflects, "The idea is that the government is using this information, that most people don't know their cell phone transmits, in order to track you, and they are arguing for an extremely low standard under this complicated statutory regime," Granick said. "Most people probably consider this information to be very private -- where you travel and where you've been."

Not anymore…

And your poor cell phone company and Internet Service Provider – they are breaking the law, breaking their contract with customers and violating your privacy. Will they stand up for the rights of their customers? Of course not. Their lobbyists are descending on Washington to demand amnesty from all future liabilities, as well as al legal liability for past complicity in spying on ordinary Americans.

Aziz Haq of the Nation puts it well.

Granting amnesty to telecoms would signal Congressional acquiescence in an illegal course of conduct. It would send a loud message to other businesses and individuals: Don't worry if the executive branch comes to you secretly and demands that you violate the law or impinge on basic liberties. We'll bail you out. And it would stymie lawsuits that not only serve accountability, but also provide paths to illuminate what harm has been done to our rights.

What do you think?

Is the Fourth Amendment’s “probable cause” just another quaint concept?

Is it worth throwing out the Fourth Amendment to feel secure in the 21st Century?

Is Rights Boy just paranoid in his old age?

The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms

2007-10-01T11:08:00.000-05:00

Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Supreme Court is back from spring/summer vacation. Among the many interesting cases that it should review this fall is Parker v. District of Columbia, an appeal of a lower court ruling striking down Washington, D.C.’s ban on handguns.

The District of Columbia’s city council began banning handguns in 1976 and today bans ALL functional firearms. The lawsuit brought by six D.C. residents overturned the ban on appeal as a violation of the Second Amendment’s “right of the people to keep and bear arms.”

D.C., of course, is not a state. It is part of the federal government. The Constitution expressly grants to the U.S. Congress plenary legislative power over all matters whatsoever in the Nation's Capital. It is hard to see how a Second Amendment that binds the Congress would not apply to the District.

This is the first time the Supreme Court will be revisiting the Second Amendment since 1939. The Court has the opportunity to finally answer the central question: Does the right to keep and bear arms belong to us as individuals, or does the Constitution merely recognize the collective right of states to arm the members of their militias?

What do you think? Should your city council be able to restrict you from keeping a handgun, loaded or empty, in your home for the protection of yourself and loved ones?

Or do gun bans work, decrease violent crime, and this should override any consideration for individual rights?

Global Warming: How long can you tread water?

2007-09-24T10:24:00.000-05:00

This week’s global warming predictions included oceans rising by one meter (about 39 inches) in the next 50 to 150 years, regardless of any future actions to curb greenhouse gases.

Thankfully, down from earlier predictions of 30 feet and more!!

The article is accompanied by this picture. (If not with the article anymore, go here and look for the article Rising Sea Waters To Wash Away US History.)

Apparently the rise of one meter will drown the Statue of Liberty and New York City will fight some sort of Armageddon lightning storm.

Between the global warming, terrorists, illegal aliens, obesity and "the gays," Rights Boy is getting scared shitless.

What else should we be scared of?

When onions are outlawed, only outlaws will have Onions

2007-09-21T05:48:00.000-05:00

A Des Moines man, James Izzolena, went to jail this week for throwing an onion and beaning his wife, Nicole, in the back of the head.

“It made my head hurt,” Nicole told police.

Izzolena admitted throwing the onion and was charged with domestic assault causing injury. He is being held without bond.

This reminded Rights Boy of an incident many years ago when he was suspected of something similar. He had just returned from the market and was unloading groceries. The Rights Wife was napping on a couch and their son, Lil’ Mike, three years old at the time, decided to start playing with a bedroom telephone. Within minutes, three policemen were pounding at the door and Rights Boy rushed to answer it.

“We got a 911 call from here that went silent,” they stated demandingly.

Rights Boy laughed and said it must have been Lil’ Mike playing with the phone; 911 was speed-dial 1. But Rights Boy answered the door with a bag of onions in his hand, so the police had to come in, check around, wake up the Rights Wife and make sure he wasn’t in there bludgeoning everybody with the onions.

Back to Mr. Izzolena, because of this charge, he will no longer be able to own a gun! (The Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, 1996) That’s quite a right to give up for throwing an onion.

Oh, well. The Chicago Cubs need a closer. Maybe Izzolena could apply.

Happy Constitution Day!

2007-09-17T09:45:00.000-05:00

Put 220 candles on the U.S. Constitution’s birthday cake. Our great political experiment in freedom and democracy is alive and well in the 21st century.

It is important for everyone to occasionally review this great document. My favorite online reference is the U.S. National Archives here in a great series called the Charters for Freedom.

Another great resource is the USConstitution.net which includes background information on our government and age-appropriate teaching materials.

Our founding fathers were pretty inspired. Read the Constitution today!

Monday is Constitution Day

2007-09-13T10:05:00.000-05:00

This coming Monday September 17 is Constitution Day, a great day to think about the rights and freedoms we enjoy in America. Next week, public schools all over the country are legally required to teach something, anything, about the U.S. Constitution.

The recent survey by the First Amendment Center illustrates how Americans view the Constitution and our rights. Among the results:

- 55% believe the Constitution established a Christian nation. (75% among Republicans and evangelicals)

- 50% support using the Bible as a text in history class.

- 28% say constitutional protection of religion does not extend to extreme or fringe groups

- 74% would ban students from wearing a T-shirt with a message or picture that might be offensive

- 42% would ban musicians from singing lyrics with an offensive message

- 34% say the press has too much freedom

- 37% believe the press should not be allowed to freely criticize the U.S military about its strategy and performance

Gene Policinski, vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center commented, “To me the results of this year’s survey endorse the idea of more and better education for young people — our nation’s future leaders — about our basic freedoms.”

Rights Boy couldn’t agree more.

PATRIOT Act Smackdown

2007-09-10T09:51:00.000-05:00

Just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, giving the government the power to access your medical records, tax records, information about the books you buy or borrow without probable cause, and the power to break into your home and conduct secret searches without telling you for weeks, months, or indefinitely.

On Thursday, a federal judge declared a key part of the USA Patriot unconstitutional sighting the need for more judicial oversight. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero stated, “The Constitution was designed so that the dangers of any given moment could never justify discarding fundamental individual liberties,” adding that the PATRIOT Act made possible “far-reaching invasions of liberty.”

Judge Marrero immediately stayed the effect of his ruling, allowing the government time to appeal.

Oh, well.

Speedy Gonzales Takes Off

2007-08-27T09:50:00.000-05:00

It is a rare person that can make John Ashcroft look good, but Alberto Gonzales has been up for the challenge since day one.

Now, as Gonzales - the Attorney General of the United States, the head of the Justice Department, the chief law enforcer of the land – resigns, let us humbly summarize the Alberto Gonzales Record:

Expanded secret domestic spying over the Justice Department’s protest
Expanded executive powers to conduct unconstitutional warrantless wiretaps of U.S. citizens
Thought the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war was ‘quaint’
Stated that pornography is a greater threat to the U.S. than terrorism
Turned U.S. Justice Department from a legal into a political organization
Lied to Congress under oath on numerous topics

All in just two short years. President Bush’s bench is getting pretty weak… Who should be the next AG?

Can you think of any other Alberto achievements?

Ron Paul is Gaining in Las Vegas

2007-08-06T10:09:00.000-05:00

The Huffington Post offers some interesting statistics on the presidential candidates - how many Cyberspace friends and buddies they have, the Las Vegas odds of winning his/her party’s nomination and more. Here.

Good News! Ron Paul has skyrocketed at the gambling windows. He is now up to 3.1% ! This puts him ahead of Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, Tommy Thompson, Duncan Hunter, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel and Christopher Dodd.

Go Ron Paul!

HuffPo also has a fun database that allows you to peek at your neighbors' political contributions here.

Hurray for the Free Market - Special Poop Edition

2007-08-02T10:03:00.000-05:00

Rights Boy has been at his Fortress of Rightitude on a vacation vision quest. So much happened while he was gone. So today Rights Boy pays tribute to capitalism and the free market, locally and around the world, with a Special Poop Edition.

Advertising is everything on RAGBRAI. “See Cuddles Poop” beckoned the sign. "You may have to stay here awhile to actually see that, but it's guaranteed to happen." said owner Elizabeth Bixby.

And free enterprise is alive and well in China, where panda poop is made into souvenir bookmarks, picture frames and statues. "They don't smell too bad because 70 percent of the dung is just remains of the bamboo that the pandas are unable to digest," reports an official of the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base.

Environmentalists are getting in on the action. The Earth Times reports on Kopi luwak, an Indonesian coffee delicacy, $600 per pound, which comes from the poop of wild civets.

With mottos like “We will remove the DOO for You!” Pet Butler provides franchises across Iowa and the USA to pick up and dispose poop. The mission statement just about says it all.

Do you have a good story on any aspect of the poop market? New poop technology? A Green use?

Please leave a comment. No one has ever accused Rights Boy of being mature.

It was the upper thigh ! !

2007-07-15T07:28:00.000-05:00

A fun weekend, indeed.

The running of the Bulls in Pamplona was fantastic this year. Brothers Michael and Laurence Lenahan are simultaneously gored in the ass by one very efficient bull.

In Chongqing China, a public restroom with four stories and more than 1,000 toilets debuted. Rights Boys has been staring at this picture for hours and is still unsure how these toilets are used.

Also from China, the world's tallest man meets the world's shortest man.

Finally, Rights Boy is starting to get infatuated with the new Edna Turnblad...

Live Earth – Attacking Climate Change One Gyration at a Time

2007-07-10T09:20:00.000-05:00

Five favorite moments from Live Earth, the seven-continent, 24-hour aging-rocker orgy to raise awareness on global warming:

1. Madonna yelling, 'If you want to save the planet, I want you to start jumping up and down. Come on, mother-[bleepers]! Let me see you jump!" (Madonna owns nine homes and has a "carbon footprint" nearly 100 times larger than the norm.)

2. The demonstration on how to wrap gifts in old potato-chip bags

3. The hundreds of iPhone advertisements

4. Supermodel Petra Nemcova blaming earthquakes on global warming

5. The many public service announcements that buying digital music is more environment friendly than CDs. (Al Gore is on the Board at Apple, the largest digital music retailer…)

The most conservative assessment of the flights taken by the superstars is 222,623.63 miles between them - nearly nine times the circumference of the world. The true environmental cost, as they transported their technicians, dancers and support staff, is likely to be far higher.

The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists’ and spectators’ travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tons of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com. Throw in the television audience and it comes to a staggering 74,500 tons. The concert will also generate some 1,025 tons of waste at the concert stadiums - much of which will go directly into landfill sites.

Next time, let’s have a multi-continent, 24-hour event, featuring large empty stadiums, no performers, no spectators, no SUVs or big limos, and fly nobody anywhere. No carbon footprint, no new crap for landfills.

Des Moines – It’s a Good Thing

2007-07-09T09:51:00.000-05:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Paul Chastain visited central Iowa over the Independence Day holiday. Paul grew up in Des Moines but has lived in Texas for a number of years. After a few days here, he reflected on how Des Moines had changed over the last 30 years.

“The downtown is really built up, although the Ruan Center is still the same old rusty building,” he remarked. “The new walking bridges over the freeway are really cool and the bike trails are everywhere and are just world class.”

On Friday night we went to an I-Cubs game in one of the best minor league ballparks in the country. The I-Cubs won and there was a great fireworks show afterward.

What Paul said is so true; and it took someone that had been away for awhile to remind Rights Boy what a good thing we have here. Central Iowa is a wonderful place to live and a great place to grow up, work or retire.

Which brings me to Project Destiny; the tax scheme that raises sales tax by 17%, promises to reduce property taxes, and invest in all of the “cultural amenities” that we are missing here in central Iowa. The latest arguments I heard from the “Yes to Destiny” crowd were 1) People leave Iowa and move to the west coast because of the bike trails, and 2) How will we ever be like Denver without more investment?

These people are getting desperate with their arguments. I don’t want Des Moines to be Denver or Los Angeles. I love the way the Metro area is right now. I want to enjoy it the way it is for awhile without an additional tax burden.

Rights Boy will be voting NO new tax. However you feel, don’t forget to vote tomorrow. Don’t assume your vote is not important.

Scooter est libre !

2007-07-03T09:48:00.000-05:00

Convicted of perjury, obstructing a federal investigation and lying to FBI agents, Scooter Libby breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when his sentence was commuted by President Bush.

No real surprise here. Cheney was never going to let his designated fall guy go to jail. Bush had promised before “not to intervene until Libby had exhausted his appeals.”

"With the denial of bail being upheld and incarceration imminent," Bush said, "I believe it is now important to react to that decision…I respect the jury's verdict, but…"

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who prosecuted Libby, reacted, “It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals. "

The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be used when he deems it to be warranted.

Lots happened this last weekend!

2007-07-02T10:45:00.000-05:00

Your government at work. President Bush stuck his fishing boat against the rocks this weekend. Luckily, divers from the Secret Service where there to free the Command Guy.

Beautiful! Patriotic! An artist turns a 700-pound block of Land O' Lakes cheddar cheese into a replica of Mount Rushmore.

Not the CornCobs. Des Moines' new NBA-affiliated minor-league basketball franchise will be known as the Iowa Energy.

No to Destiny. Opponents of a proposal to raise the sales tax in Dallas, Polk and Warren counties outnumber supporters nearly 2 to 1 among likely voters in a special election on July 10.

Paris est libre!

2007-06-28T07:56:00.000-05:00

Rights Boy invites everyone to take pause and remember the day Paris was freed.

“The news that made the whole free world catch its breath last week was the news that Paris was free. It was one of the great days of all time.” -- Time Magazine

Read the whole article here.

Ron Paul – Iowa Rally on Saturday, June 30

2007-06-26T08:20:00.000-05:00

Congressman Ron Paul is coming to Des Moines, Iowa Saturday, June 30th to hold a rally, where he will share his message of freedom, peace and prosperity. Rights Boy will be there too! Come out to show your support.

Details about the event can be found here.

RSVP for the Rally today!

Ten reasons to vote for Ron Paul in 2008:

He has never voted to raise taxes.

He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.

He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.

He has never voted to raise congressional pay.

He has never taken a government-paid junket.

He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.

He voted against the Patriot Act.

He voted against regulating the Internet.

He voted against the Iraq war.

He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.

He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

OK, that was 11 reasons; all pretty good ones.

What does sales tax mean to Register?

2007-06-25T09:13:00.000-05:00

Rights Boy’s good friend Mike Burgher opined on the Destiny sales tax in the DM Register on Saturday. You can read the opinion and comments by other Register readers here.

The unedited version follows.

Practically on a daily basis, The Des Moines Register prints yet another article supporting the Yes to Destiny tax scheme. You people need to move this stuff to the opinion page because it’s not news and by now everyone certainly understands your position on the issue.

I will give the Register credit though for continuing to push Destiny so publicly. Seems like the rest of the Greater Des Moines Tax Partnership has disappeared; sort of like a bunch of weasels hunkered down in their holes. I think they know what’s going to happen on July 10 when Destiny is brutally defeated, and they don’t want to be so publicly associated with it.

It would be interesting to see specifically what the Register gets out of Destiny. How much property tax relief does the newspaper and the others in the Partnership anticipate for themselves? On the other side, it looks like you and the partners are at most marginally affected by a 17% sales tax increase, since none of you make any significant retail purchases.

I know the Register is a private business, but as much as it preaches about open records and transparency and everybody’s right to know, you should set the example - lay your cards on the table and disclose financially what you have to gain from this new tax.

Vote NO to Destiny. Demand more accountability from government.

Melting Pot or Salad Bar?

2007-06-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

Recently, Rights Wife pointed out an interested study on cultural diversity in the world from Catherine Love, associate vice provost at UConn. Love describes what the earth population would look like if it were reduced proportionally to 100 people,

Of the 100, there would be 61 Asians, 12 Europeans, 14 North and South Americans, 13 Africans and one from Australia and its environs. Half of the population would be males, half females, and 67 percent would be something other than Christian. Ten homosexuals would be scattered among the 100. Seventy percent would have no bank account; 75 percent would not have a roof over their heads or a bed to sleep in; and 41 percent would have no basic sanitation. “The miniature earth study is a powerful tool to help people understand that here in the United States, we’re only a small slice of the planet,” Love said.

According to the U.S. Census, if we reduced Iowa to 100 people, there would be 49 males and 51 females, 94 would be white, 3 Hispanic, 2 black, 1 Asian. 57 percent would be Christian, 42 non-religious , and 1 very confused combination Quaker - Jew - Mormon - Unitarian.

We would all do well in Iowa and America to remember this occasionally.

Wherefore art thou, Rights Boy?

2007-06-21T17:03:00.000-05:00

Over the last few months there have been many rumors about Rights Boy. Some think he was picked up by the FBI and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. Others say he was taken to a secret CIA prison in Eastern Europe and subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. Yet others ponder if he was on an extended vacation.

The good news is Rights Boy is back! With a vengeance, a new focus, and new website!

I encourage you to get into the habit of visiting the Rights Boy site daily. Perhaps you can visit after your morning meditation or in the evening before vespers. But please visit.

Rights Boy will continue to write about national issues as well as the Iowa scene. He will also introduce guest bloggers on the site. The newsletter will soon be revamped and reintroduced. Please tell all of your friends about the new site. Rights Boy is really the only one looking out for you.

Lookin' Good!

2007-06-19T10:25:00.001-05:00

Rights Boy can't wait for the release of Hairspray this summer. He might actually break down and go to the theater and feed the beast.

All I can say is: John Travolta - Lookin' Good!

Oh, Crap!

2007-06-19T09:14:00.000-05:00

I just noticed that I received a call from “WEST BANK” this morning and there was no audio message. I really hate that.

I’m afraid now that some bureaucrat in the Department of Homeland Security, as he reviews my call records, will wonder who is calling me from Palestine and what that blank message means. I will probably be wiretapped and added to several watch lists!

I love the PATRIOT Act. I feel so safe and secure.

A Radical Activist. With Signage!

2007-06-15T12:16:00.000-05:00

Rights Boy says "YES to 'Vote NO Tax' Yard Signs!" Here's mine. Looks good.

Vote NO on Destiny. Demand more accountability from government.

NO to Destiny

2007-06-14T10:19:00.000-05:00

Interesting article in the DM Register this morning about a flyer mailed by a consultant of the Greater Des Moines Partnership stating that “Yes to Destiny” will “cut our taxes and send the message to the politicians you have had enough of spiraling property taxes." It leaves out the fact that "Yes to Destiny" is a proposed 16.7 percent sales-tax increase.

I ordered my “Vote NO” yard sign yesterday. Go to http://www.nolocaloption.com to get one for your yard.

Vote NO on Destiny. Demand more accountability from government.

Resistance is Futile - It is your Destiny

2007-06-13T18:17:00.000-05:00

Destiny is defined as a course of events that is unchangeable and will inevitably happen in the future. What hubris to name a proposed tax increase Project Destiny; as if it is the unwavering fate of local taxpayers is to shell out $750 million dollars for this latest government spending slight-of-hand.

Raising taxes should require a compelling need and a clear benefit to the public. Project Destiny fails this and in fact represents government at its worst. First identify how much can be raised and then start the haggling over how to spend it. If we are not careful, it will end up funding more corporate welfare, loans to county supervisors, and bonuses to other CIETCs.

The Greater Des Moines Partnership, a private economic development group, not even a part of the government, is largely behind this push for this new tax. Its "Yes to Destiny" marketing campaign actually makes the Orwellian claim that this is a way to lower the tax burden. What nonsense. The only way to lower the tax burden is to lower government spending.

The public trust in government's stewardship of our money and our assets is at an all time low. Why should taxpayers say yes to an additional $750 million when local government cannot figure out how to shut down the spending at CIETC to this day?

Vote no on Destiny. Demand more accountability from government.