The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

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 !

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…

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?

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

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 ??

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.

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

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?