PAGE NINE — No. 7

by Alan Korwin, Author
Gun Laws of America

Though many of my friends and fans think of me as The Gun Guy (because of all my gun-law books), I'm really a writer, have been for more than 20 years. News accuracy has been on my plate the whole time.

I'm proposing a new page for newspapers ("Page Nine" regardless of the page it runs on), that covers stories as they ought to read, not the way news rooms color things. Like FOX on steroids, but right down the middle, for the print world. It would be the most read page in the paper, a refreshing breath of clean air.

Here's a casual sample. It might make you say, "They'll NEVER run that!" but the page will be built around ad revenues from right thinking mainstream businesses.

Alan Korwin, Author
Gun Laws of America
"The Uninvited Ombudsman"

PAGE NINE
The Uninvited Ombudsman Report, No. 7
by Alan Korwin, July 10, 2006

Page Nine Is Now A Blog!
Sign up for automatic RSS feeds
http://www.pagenine.org

The lamestream media told you:
New Jersey's government shut down for days when an expected new tax did not take effect because of inter-agency squabbling and a reluctant Governor. The penny-per-dollar sales-tax hike, needed to keep government functioning, was not enacted by a deadline, forcing essential government services to close.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Before jubilant libertarians could pop the corks on champagne to celebrate the widely heralded closing of an entire state government, it became immediately apparent that no such closure had taken place.

Nervous that no one would be present to guarantee the government's take from massive New Jersey gambling casinos in Atlantic City, the state mustered enough muscle while reputedly closed to force a dozen huge private facilities to close, and stay closed, until the state could monitor the cash flow to their satisfaction, a few days later.

Hopes that the state was not just another protection racket were dashed when these private businesses were shuttered by state decree, even though the state informed the press it had "closed" for lack of money.

"News" of the closure was then used to force implementation of the new tax on the public, to keep the government "open." Once the tax was passed, the casinos were allowed to operate again, and the state's take from the gambling operation, rumored to exceed $1.5 million a day, began to flow again.

The size of the take from the new tax was not available at press time.

----------

The lamestream media told you:
Dangerous radical isolated North Korea has fired a missile in defiance of every legitimate government on earth. Even though the sovereign nation had been sternly warned, and sanctions were already being prepared, the maverick, outcast, wildcat leader launched seven missiles on the 4th of July. Prior reports asserted only a single missile was scheduled.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Experts scoffed at the idea that communist North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il would use a rudimentary and non-functioning experimental rocket to bomb the United States or one of his neighbors, saying, "Kim and everything he has would disappear from the face of the Earth if he ever attempted such a thing. Apart from the fact that his rockets don't work, it's just not going to happen."

The irony and melodrama of Jong-Il's feeble seven-missile launch on July 4th, when Americans launch thousands of tons of Chinese-made missiles for fun, along with the made-in-America awe-inspiring Space Shuttle, seemed lost on reporters, who breathlessly told tales of saber rattling from Washington and a handful of Asian island countries.

China and Russia, close neighbors to North Korea with extensive communist backgrounds of their own, played down the paltry display of fire and light with a mere wave of the hand. President Bush pressed them for a hand slapping, which they have so far refused.

Despite incessant monolithic media bashing, Jong-Il has supporters among most of America's detractors, who relish his impudence, ability to stand up to the world's only superpower, and fierce independent streak that sticks in America's craw like no other world leader is willing to do. He is secretly praised by many ("an enemy of my enemy is my friend"), a fact the U.S. media does not explore.

News agencies, often starved for anything remotely exciting to report, were still blustering about the failed launch of the Taepodong missile today, five days later. No major "news" agency made fun of the missile's name.

The usual suspects called for massive budget increases for the non-operational, non-deployed anti-missile missile U.S. missile defense system.

----------

The lamestream media told you:
Nothing.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The House Subcommittee on International Terrorism, in a public hearing on July 5 broadcast live on C-SPAN, examined important elements of the "Mexodus" immigration debate that have been ignored or overlooked by "news" media.

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union, confirmed that the Border Patrol captures, and for the most part releases, more than one million illegals trying to slip into America each year.

Front line agents estimate that for every one caught, one to two slip in, he said, in testimony before Congress.

"Coyotes," the smugglers who run the system, are caught and released without prosecution. This is known throughout the ranks of the Border Patrol, and has a bad effect on morale, a fact the committee appeared to not like.

When asked if cooperating closely with Mexico would help, Bonner said wryly, "No," and the audience laughed, forcing the committee chair to bang his gavel. "We trust Mexico as far as we can throw that country," he continued, to more laughs.

Committee member and Arizona Democrat Raul Grijalva mentioned that Arizona gubernatorial hopeful Don Goldwater wanted to arrest illegal aliens and put them in border-area tent-city "jails," similar to those used by Sheriff Joe Arpaio to house non-violent overflow inmates in Maricopa County. Mistakenly calling Goldwater the grandson of Barry Goldwater (Don is actually a great-nephew), Grijalva referred to the proposed detentions as concentration camps, and was booed, forcing more gavel pounding from the chair. The media even in Arizona failed to mention this.

In other testimony, the committee was told that radiological samples were brought in across U.S. borders by agents testing the system, they were detected by radiation sensors, but that the carriers could simply talk their way past the "guards." Ranking Democrat Sherman asked if the agents who conducted the test had tried to sneak in the radiological supplies shielded so they could not be detected. I am not making this up.

----------

The lamestream media told you:
The latest government-funded mass transit system being built in a central city, the Phoenix light-rail surface-mounted train, sharing road space with passenger cars, busses and trucks, had fallen 91 days behind schedule in March and April.

Following withering criticism, the government now reports that the project is on schedule again. Exercising routine media fondness for word play, the story ran as Light Rail Back On Track.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The hubris of having a government project fall 91 days behind in just 61 days seemed beyond ridiculous, though legitimate arguments were raised that, when certain deadlines are missed, a program can fall further behind than the number of days it has been running.

Now, through the miracle of "overhauling its construction plan," (Arizona Republic, 6/30/06), the new schedule, submitted to the federal government, is back on time.

"Slips in the schedule that were starting to pile up" and milestones that could have been missed by 173 days, have been "resequenced to catch up," and are no longer a problem, "news" reports report.

See the correction in the corrections section of this Page Nine report for further illumination.

----------

The lamestream media told you:
The Mexican election is too close to call, but Calderon has won by .58 percent, but Obrador is behind by a razor thin margin and claims election fraud, but Calderon is preparing to take office and issuing policies, but election officials are struggling to reconcile hand-written voting irregularities in numerous districts across this primitive third-world backwater nation, but President Bush has called and congratulated Calderon on his victory, but Obrador has staged gigantic rallies in Mexico City, with more planned.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
This election will never be resolved in many people's minds, regardless of any official declaration, which could take months unless brute force or behind-the-scenes influence is brought into play. Brute force currently seems unlikely.

President Bush however, and local papers are already siding with Felipe Calderon, whose ½ percent lead is virtually statistically insignificant, and denounced by his chief opponent, Lopez Obrador. The official results will not be certified until September 6th.

Taking a cue from the recent American elections, people will likely believe what they want to believe, and the losers, virtually 50% of the electorate, will verbally, vociferously and vitriolically insist that the election was stolen, whether by the "left" (socialists, an arch-enemy of the American Way, candidate Obrador), or the "right" (fascists, an arch-enemy of the American Way, candidate Calderon).

Stolen elections were the norm in Mexico until recent times, when President Zorro (Spanish for "Fox") took office, overturning 70 years of one-party rule.

Arizona libertarian activist Ernie Hancock, who has documented grotesque election violations that cast doubt on the entire process in the U.S., holds with old socialist wisdom that says, the people who vote don't matter. Only the people who count the votes matter, a perspective frankly too crass and realpolitik for the Uninvited Ombudsman.

----------

The lamestream media told you:
Doctors do not diagnose most cases of flu in children, according to Stephanie Nano of the Associated Press (7/6/06). Doctors fail to diagnose most cases, "depriving them of medicines" that could help them. Four out of five children are victims of such poor diagnoses.

Many of the children did not even have a diagnostic test, according to a federally funded doctor at Vanderbilt U. who ran the study. About a third of the children would have been candidates for a medicine that eases symptoms if given early, the researchers said.

Two of the researchers acknowledge getting support and fees from the medicine makers.

Although only one per thousand young children are hospitalized with the flu, the researchers calculated that 56 per thousand, and as many as 122 per thousand, could be hospitalized in a mild flu season.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
I'm getting tired of pointing out that self-serving medical advice, that recommends research at great public expense, drugging, hospitalizing, and treating people for simple or common ailments that routinely heal themselves, deserves greater scrutiny than it is getting from the "news" media.

If the doctors numbers are taken seriously, drug company sales in this area will increase by at least 56 times. That's a lot of money even by government standards.

"News" media everywhere, complaining mightily about a slip in its credibility, could look at its predilection for reporting anything the medical industry reports, without any healthy skepticism, criticism, logic, common sense, independent research, contradictory opinion, contrary medical studies, financial assessments, concerns for self evident silliness, or the vast army of critics the medical community has unwittingly mobilized.

----------

The lamestream media told you:
The tortured and mutilated bodies of two U.S. soldiers, captured days ago by enemy combatants operating in Iraq, were recovered by coalition forces, and will be returned home for burial.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Faced with genuine horrific physical abuse and cold-blooded murder of captured human beings by Muslim jihadis in Iraq, Amnesty International was strangely silent, prompting some observers to question their neutrality.

Joining in the lack of response were typically outspoken Jimmy Carter and the International Red Cross. Joint statements from Arab defense leagues and Muslim anti-defamation groups were not made. The United Nations has scheduled no hearings, and has thus far proposed no sanctions.

In stark contrast, U.S. use of humiliation tactics similar to college-fraternity pranks, to get prisoners to reveal information, were broadly denounced as grotesque affronts to humanity, barbarous criminal abuse and violations of human rights, by the now silent critics.

The U.S. procedures involved putting underwear on a person's head, leading a prisoner around on a leash, and taking sexually explicit photographs, none of which lead to physical harm or death.

U.S. authorities, bowing to world opinion, court martialed and imprisoned some of the prison guards involved in the college-prank styled interrogations. A search for the Islamist insurgent perpetrators of the horrific murders has not yielded any suspects.

----------

The lamestream media told you:
The Republican-controlled Senate defeated an amendment to gradually raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25, as Democrats vowed to keep pressing for what they call a long-overdue increase, according to Sue Kirchoff, writing in USA Today, with help from the Associated Press.

"Today's minimum wage is not a just wage," said Ted Kennedy, a Democrat Senator from Massachusetts.

Kirchoff went on at length to detail the particulars of the vote, and how low the minimum wage actually is, compared to individual states and inflation rates. Businesses reportedly oppose the minimum wage efforts, saying a mandatory 41% wage increase would hurt them.

Republicans, sometimes viewed as supporters of business, offered minimum wage plans with smaller increases than Democrats proposed, and this was defeated in favor of the larger increases.

Democrats, who see the minimum wage as a top election-year issue, were able in committee to amend their plan to an education-funding bill.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Congress has no constitutional authority of any kind whatsoever to place controls on what one person can pay another person for voluntarily working. Only specifically delegated powers may legally be exercised by the legislative body. The "news" media failed to make this clear.

Congressional rules also strictly forbid bills that mix unrelated subject matter together, like education funding and wage controls. The rule is abjectly ignored by both parties, and watchdog "news" reports did not bring up the point.

Multi-millionaire Senator Ted Kennedy, one of the most socialist ("left-leaning") officials in Congress said workers are "being exploited," a rallying cry typical of Marxists pushing for "worker reforms" and an end to free-market capitalism.

Economists widely recognize that free markets are more effective, more productive, and serve society better than the failed central planning approach of communists, socialists, and other leftists who seek government-enforced guarantees for prices and wages. The stunning prosperity and abundance found in America is a direct result of free people being left to their own initiative to create wealth.

Many of the politicians seeking to establish and enforce wages and prices on free markets have never been in business themselves, or even worked in the private sector, for their entire lives.

When unfettered, free markets naturally and easily arrive at rates the people involved will accept. Mandated wage controls, arbitrarily set by central planners who believe they know best, encourage illegal immigration by people willing to work for less, and employers eager to hire them at a savings.

----------

The lamestream media told you:
The Senate bill to ban flag desecration failed by one vote.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The Senate bill would have amended the Constitution to allow Congress to ban flag desecration, something it lacks the power to do, ubder the current reading of the First Amendment.

How Congress might exercise such new power is unknown.

Despite scores of infringements on the right to say whatever you damn well please, legislators believe they lack the power to stop flag burners. It's the height of hypocrisy to watch Congress trample the Constitution at nearly every turn, and then hold itself back in one simple arena.

So much speech is currently banned that the Uninvited Ombudsman is writing a new book called "186 Things You're Not Allowed to Say." From jokes at the airport to asking job applicants if they're married, free speech is becoming a disappearing right.

If Congress does indeed ban flag desecration, the authorities may have to arrest anyone wearing a flag bikini, flag do rags, flag boxing trunks, and every other inappropriate application of the U.S. flag, right down to a child's discarded crayon drawing of a flag, an obvious destruction of our national symbol.

The law of unintended consequences suggests that, as soon as the amendment is enacted, flag burners will thumb their noses and start burning copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, red-white-and-blue star-and-stripe flag lookalikes, and whatever else can rile up the populace to voice extreme displeasure.

On the other hand, if flag burners are simply allowed to continue to play with matches, we find out just who they are. Which is a good thing.

In other news, Tucson protester Roy Warden is burning Mexican flags, on U.S. soil, and getting the cold shoulder from the national "news" media. Now in serious trouble with law enforcement and with pending court dates, he has made points that have infuriated the Mexican consulate, in front of which he conducts his exercises in free expression.

----------

Corrections and Clarifications:

1. It's Stephen Hawking, not Hawkings. About his conjecture on humanity's need to get into space to survive as a species, a reader validly notes that: Spending money on federal programs is probably the least efficient and least effective way to get there.

2. Regarding extraordinarily slow and drawn out trials, a reader validly points out that: A speedy and public trial is a right of the accused, not a right of the victim's family or anybody else. If the accused decides to waive it, discussion is closed. No officials have violated the Bill of Rights unless the accused demanded a speedy trial.

3. A project can indeed fall way behind schedule in a matter of days, if suppliers and other dependent operators are thrown off by schedule problems. A reader validly notes however that: Everyone knows that as soon as the government spends more than $1MM on any project it immediately and automatically falls at least 90 days behind schedule, and goes over budget. Just ask Stephen Hawking... it's probably one of the constants of the universe.

4. "Central planners perception of need" should have had an apostrophe.

5. Belittling Ann Coulter's phenomenal publicity for her new book, "Godless," to promote two of our own books, was sarcasm and wry humor, which some people missed. OK, it was commercialism, and I confess to being a capitalist, free market advocate and entrepreneur. Plus, it did help sell Jeff Cooper's new release of Principles of Personal Defense, and You And The Police, by Boston T. Party, which you can see on our website linked below.

----------

See the official Journalist's Code of Ethics here:
https://www.gunlaws.com/NewsAccuracy.htm
Compare it to the news you see every day.

Do NOT donate money to help us --
Buy a book or two and get something for your hard earned dollars... and help us that way.
https://www.gunlaws.com

Thanks for reading!
Alan Korwin
The Uninvited Ombudsman

Page Nine Is Now A Blog!
Sign up for automatic RSS feeds
http://www.pagenine.org

Now carrying or planning to carry Page Nine!

Mens News Daily
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com

Shotgun Sports http://www.shotgunsportsmagazine.com

The Ryter Report
http://www.jonchristianryter.com/RyterReport/headlines.html

Wilson County News, Floresville, TX
http://www.wilsoncountynews.com

The Libertarian Enterprise
http://www.ncc-1776.org/

The SanTan Sun (Phoenix Metro)

Ed Phillips' Arizona Almanac (Radio)

NYS Rifle & Pistol Association Newsletter "The Bullet"

Western Missouri Shooters Alliance
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/article3157.html

Gun List
in Charlie Cutshaw's monthly column

Buckeye Firearms Association
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/

Contact:
Alan Korwin
BLOOMFIELD PRESS
"We publish the gun laws."
4848 E. Cactus, #505-440
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
602-996-4020 Phone
602-494-0679 FAX
1-800-707-4020 Orders
https://www.gunlaws.com
alan@gunlaws.com
Call, write, fax or click for a free full-color catalog.

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran.

====================

Just want you to know that a chain was started with your first page 9 and the response has been overwhelming. The cry is for MORE. Hope you have picked up many new readers on your website. Keep it coming. - Vic Quilici

PAGE NINE IS GREAT! What a breath of fresh air! Please sign me up. Best regards, Charlie Cutshaw, Small arms editor, Jane's International Defence Review; Contributing editor, American Rifleman Magazine; Contributing editor, Guns and Weapons for Law Enforcement Magazine; Technical editor, Tactical Response Magazine; Contributing editor, Gun List Magazine; Contributing editor, Small Arms Review Magazine

Maybe it's because I'm a sarcastic SOB myself, or maybe you're just a great writer, but I hope you keep writing Page Nine. I love it. I simply can't take watching the lamestream media anymore, so I don't. I catch some news from NRANews.com, but mostly I just don't know what happens. Your Page Nine allows me to catch up on all the important news, both what others have been told, and what they missed, so that I may have intelligent conversations with people about current events again. Thanks.

I put mention of Page Nine on our website because I figured some of them might like it too, and selfishly hope by getting more people interested it will encourage you to keep writing something I benefit from. Buckeye Firearms Assoc.

Contact:
Alan Korwin
BLOOMFIELD PRESS
"We publish the gun laws."
4848 E. Cactus, #505-440
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
602-996-4020 Phone
602-494-0679 FAX
1-800-707-4020 Orders
https://www.gunlaws.com
alan@gunlaws.com
Call, write, fax or click for a free full-color catalog.

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran.