The  Rocky  View  of
News, Current Events
& Comment
Whatever the evil (poison) is, it must be presented in a mix of something good, or good for you.
Rat poison is like this, 99.5% of the ingredients are tasty and nutritious for the rat
(otherwise, they wouldn't eat it, would they?).  Only .5% (1/2 percent) is deadly.
I am reminded of Dad's special brownies.  It is the same truth.

---

If you want to remain in your ignorance then take this blue pill -

By Joe Kovacs © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Posted: June 21, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern
contributed by D

"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." (Exodus 14:21)

One of the most famous stories of the Bible is God's parting of the Red Sea to save the Israelites from the Egyptian army and the subsequent drowning of soldiers and horses in hot pursuit.

But is there evidence that such an event did in fact happen – and if so, precisely where did it take place?

The issue is surfacing some 3,500 years after the event is said to have taken place with reports of Egyptian chariot wheels found in the Red Sea, photographs to document it and new books by scientists that could lead to a whole remapping of the Exodus route and a fresh look at ancient biblical accounts.

Wheel of fortune

"I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a chariot wheel," Peter Elmer tells WorldNetDaily after two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. "It was covered in coral."
Is this a chariot wheel that chased Moses?

The 38-year-old forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England, traveled to the region with his brother, Mark, after being inspired by videos of explorers Ron Wyatt and Jonathan Gray, who have documented artifacts that in at least one case authorities have confirmed to be a chariot wheel dating to the time of the Exodus.

"I believe I actually sat in an ancient chariot cab," Elmer said, referring to his time exploring a submerged item in what he describes as an underwater scrapyard. "Without question, it is most definitely the remains of the Egyptian army."

But despite all of Elmer's excitement, others who have been to the same location are not so sure what is being viewed underwater are the remnants of the great chase and urge extreme caution regarding the unsubstantiated claims.

"All kinds of people are finding coral and calling it chariot parts," says Richard Rives, president of Wyatt Archaeological Research in Tennessee. "It's most likely coral covered with coral. ... Opportunists are combining false things with the true things that are found. These people are making it up as they go to be TV stars."

Rives was a longtime partner of Ron Wyatt, an anesthetist and amateur archaeologist who died of cancer in 1999. Before passing away, Wyatt devoted years searching for and documenting physical evidence for events mentioned in the Bible. In addition to chariot wheels, Wyatt claimed to have found Noah's Ark on the mountain next to Ararat in Turkey, the "true" Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia and the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments near the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.

Among those who accompanied Wyatt on many of his excursions is his wife, Mary Nell. She's concerned about over-exuberance regarding new claims, but the Spring Hill, Tenn., woman tells WorldNetDaily she's "convinced" there are chariot parts located on a subsurface "land bridge" connecting Egypt to Saudi Arabia through the Gulf of Aqaba.
Submerged 'land bridge' (wyattmuseum.com)

She cites Ron's discovery of a wheel hub that he brought to the surface in the late 1970s as proof.

The hub had the remains of eight spokes radiating outward and was examined by Nassif Mohammed Hassan, director of Antiquities in Cairo. Hassan declared it to be from the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, explaining the eight-spoked wheel was used only during that dynasty around 1400 B.C.

Curiously, no one can account for the precise whereabouts of that eight-spoked wheel today, though Hassan is on videotape stating his conclusion regarding authenticity.

When Mary Nell went diving with Ron, she says it was very easy to assume (wrongly) that every item on the flat bottom had historical significance.

"[At first] I thought everything was a chariot wheel!" Mrs. Wyatt exclaimed, noting how difficult it is for the untrained eye to distinguish an artifact from a piece of coral. "I'm just trying to be cautious about over-identifying too much. ... It is God's truth, and we can't hype it up. We can't add to it."

However, she notes a big problem for explorers and scientists is that the Egyptian government no longer allows items to be removed from the protected region. Thus, someone claiming to find an artifact will have a hard – if not impossible – time verifying its authenticity, a classic catch-22.

The watery grave

"And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them." (Exodus 14:28)

The Bible account makes it clear that once the Israelites had marched through the parted sea on dry ground, that the waters rushed back to completely engulf the doomed army of ancient Egypt.

With that in mind, many of the items being seen in the Gulf of Aqaba have been photographed by divers for comparison to the Exodus story.

One of the most spectacular items is what appears to be a wheel with metal exposed. Mary Nell says the wheel is covered with a gold veneer, to which coral has difficulty attaching. She says the gold wheel is still there, wedged so tightly in the bottom that it feels like it's been cemented in.]
wyattmuseum.com

Many other photographs show formations in a circular pattern with projections that could be spokes, but those items remain at the bottom and have not been authenticated.

Another issue is the route of the Exodus, and which body of water the Israelites crossed. Many travel maps and Bibles indicate a crossing point in the Gulf of Suez, the western branch of the Red Sea. But those may have to be updated if the Aqaba location is confirmed as the true location for the miraculous event.

"The truth is, no one really knows where the crossing of the Red Sea took place," says Carl Rasmussen, a biblical geographer and professor of Old Testament at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minn.

Rasmussen compiled the "Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible" and personally thinks the crossing took place somewhere along what is now the Suez Canal.

Yellow highlights possible spot of Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia. Gulf of Aqaba branch of Red Sea is at center, with main Red Sea at bottom-right of photo (wyattmuseum.com)

 Some scientists from Europe say the current maps are wrong, and the Wyatts are right – that the crossing began at the Nuweiba beachhead, went through the Gulf of Aqaba, and then into what is now Saudi Arabia where they claim the "true" Mount Sinai is located.

For years, scholars have speculated as to the location of the actual Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. At least 13 sites have actually been claimed on the Sinai peninsula as being the correct spot.

But Ron Wyatt believed it was in Arabia, even referenced as "mount Sinai in Arabia" by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 4:25.

So he and his sons made their way to "Jebel el Lawz," the mountain of the Law, which is known by the locals as "Jebel Musa" – Moses' mountain.

Unfortunately for the Wyatts, they were arrested and held in prison. His wife says someone had phoned embassy authorities for the Muslim country, claiming that Ron was spying for Israel. They were released after spending 78 days behind bars.

Rasmussen doesn't agree with the Arabian Mount Sinai theory.

"I believe the strongest candidate is Jebel Sin Bisher," he told WorldNetDaily. "The sites in Saudi Arabia have very, very weak scriptural backing, in spite of the hype."

Now, a new book by Cambridge University physicist Colin Humphreys titled "The Miracles of Exodus" supports not only the claim for an Aqaba crossing, but also the location of Mount Sinai in Arabia.

"If my book is correct, and I believe the evidence is very strong," says Humphreys, "then world maps will need to be redrawn to relocate Mount Sinai. History books, travel guides and biblical commentaries will need to be rewritten."

Throughout his work, Humphreys provides scientific explanations to corroborate the accounts of the Old Testament.

"'The waters piled up, the surging waters stood firm like a wall,' is a remarkable description of what the mathematics reveals to be the case for water pushed back by a very strong wind," he writes.

"What I have found is that the events of the Exodus are even more dramatic than is generally believed," Humphreys said. "The Exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt really is one of the greatest true stories ever told."

A Swedish scientist who believes the Red Sea was split says while Humphreys is correct about the Aqaba crossing, there are no natural, scientific explanations for the parting miracle described in Scripture.

"The wind did not separate the water," says Lennart Moller of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "No person could be in that wind and survive. ... If God has created all the Earth, it's no problem for Him to separate the water for a while."
Walls of water as depicted in 'The Ten Commandments' (Paramount Pictures)

Speaking to WorldNetDaily from the isle of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, Moller, the author of "The Exodus Case," says the key in finding the correct route of the Israelites is to understand that the Hebrew reference to "yum suph" does not mean "sea of reeds" as many scholars have claimed.

Moller says it refers specifically to the Gulf of Aqaba, and while he's not formally affiliated with the Wyatts, he agrees with them that a host of other evidence can be found on the Arabian side of the water, including remains of the golden calf, pillars, altars and the even the rock the Bible says Moses split to bring forth water for the Israelites.

Regarding the items found beneath the waters, Moller believes there are remnants not only of chariots and wheels, but also human and animal skeletons.

"There was a disaster [there] a long time ago," he said. "Whatever that is, it's open to interpretation."

He also notes that the downward and upward slope of the Aqaba crossing path actually falls within current U.S. standards for handicapped ramps.

And while Mary Nell Wyatt warns overstating the claims by divers and authors could do more harm than good, she does believe there's a reason why her husband was led to discover what Ron called "God's attention-getters."

"God preserved all these evidences," she said, "[otherwise] there would have been nothing left. ... God has been lost today. Even Christians still can't believe this all happened. ... We need to pray for the Lord to help us get people to see it."

Back in England, Peter Elmer says people have mockingly asked "Why should a forklift mechanic from Keynsham be able to go to the same place Moses was?"

He takes the criticism in stride, pointing out "Jesus used fishermen, tax collectors and publicans. Why not a forklift mechanic?"

Joe Kovacs is executive news editor for WorldNetDaily.com
 

Some young women who have been sexually active feel compelled by cultural traditions to undergo surgery to return to a "virgin-like" state.

"The hymen's a delicate membrane that separates girls from women," said Dr. Robert Stubbs, who runs the Cosmetic Surgicentre in Toronto, where, in a simple, half-hour operation, he turns sexually experienced women into surgical virgins.

The surgery is called hymen restoration — a relatively simple procedure that stitches back together what a moment of passion might have shattered.
 

a r t i c l e   /   c o m m e n t a r y

Zoning = Gestapo
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/GiveMeABreak/gmab_awnings030620.html

Many of us have had dealings with cops of all sorts.  Some are called police, some are called code enforcers.  The fact is they both are code enforcers.  A report on ABC’s news program “20/20”, of June 20, 2003, John Stossel reported on some harassment's by zoning Gestapo.

According to 20/20, one store owner, Eli, said “I didn't know a law like this exists. … I thought it's a joke. And I laughed in his face "

When he realized it was no joke and was forced to pay 2,500 because his sign, he said “for this, people escaped the Communists?”  [Well said]

The city, with knowing impunity, said they were “just enforcing the law in response to complaints”.   This is such a common explanation by government (like standard procedure) that it keeps them from having to be responsible.  But, those complaints were from special interest “civic“ groups like one represented by Mary Sarro.

Another business owner, Wendy Marsh, said "I kept saying to the man 'What do we do? How do we cure it?'  And his answer was 'I don't know. I just write the tickets. I don't know,'"  This is called TYRANNY.

John Stossel told Wood that she and her colleagues are just control freaks who want to run everybody else's life. She responded, "Well, if everybody minded their own business then what kind of city would we be living in?"

Stossel was so right when he said “A free one”.

These busybodies should mind THEIR own business and leave US alone
 

The Flat Earth Report

A twist on crop circles
...
http://www.countrywhispers.com/amazing/
 

I walked into the grocery store not particularly interested in buying groceries. I wasn't hungry. The pain of losing my husband of 7 years was still too raw. And this grocery store held so many sweet memories.

He often came with me and almost every time he'd pretend to go off and look for something special. I knew what he was up to. I'd always spot him walking down the aisle with the three yellow roses in his hands. He knew I loved yellow roses.

With a heart filled with grief, I only wanted to buy my few items and leave, but even grocery shopping was different since he had passed on. Shopping for one took time, a little more thought than it had for two. Standing by the meat, I searched for the perfect small steak and remembered how he had loved his steak.

Suddenly a woman came beside me. She was blonde, slim and lovely in a soft green pantsuit. I watched as she picked up a large pack of T- bones, dropped them in her basket, hesitated, and then put them back..

She turned to go and once again reached for the pack of steaks. She saw me watching her and she smiled. "My husband loves T-bones, but honestly, at these prices, I don't know." I swallowed the emotion down my throat and met her pale blue eyes. "My husband passed away eight days ago," I told her.

Glancing at the package in her hands, I fought to control the tremble in my voice. "Buy him the steaks. And cherish every moment you have together."

She shook her head and I saw the emotion in her eyes as she placed the package in her basket and wheeled away.

I turned and pushed my cart across the length of the store to the dairy products. There I stood, trying to decide which size milk I should buy.

Quart, I finally decided and moved on to the ice cream. If nothing else, I could always fix myself an ice cream cone. I placed the ice cream in my cart and looked down the aisle toward the front.

I saw first the green suit, then recognized the pretty lady coming towards me. In her arms she carried a package. On her face was the brightest smile I had ever seen. I would swear a soft halo encircled her blonde hair as she kept walking toward me, her eyes holding mine. As she came closer, I saw what she held and tears began misting in my eyes.

"These are for you," she said and placed three beautiful long stemmed yellow roses in my arms. "When you go through the line, they will know these are paid for." She leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, then smiled again.

I wanted to tell her what she'd done, what the roses meant, but still unable to speak, I watched as she walked away as tears clouded my vision.

I looked down at the beautiful roses nestled in the green tissue wrapping and found it almost unreal. How did she know? Suddenly the answer seemed so clear. I wasn't alone. Oh, you haven't forgotten me, have you? I whispered, with tears in my eyes. He was still with me, and she was his angel.

Every day be thankful for what you have and who you are.
 

H U M O R

The Shepherd & The Contractor
contributed by Michael

A Shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a  brand-new BMW advanced out of the dust cloud towards him.

The Driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses  and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the Shepherd, "If I tell You  exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"

The Shepherd looked at the man, obviously a Yuppie, then looked at his  peacefully grazing flock and calmly answered, "Sure."

The Yuppie parked his car, whipped out his lap top and connected it to a  cell phone, then he surfed to a NASA page on the internet where he called up  a GPS satellite navigation system, scanned the area, and then opened up a  database and an Excel spreadsheet with complex formulas.

He sent an E-mail on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, received a  response.

Finally, he prints out a 150 page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized  printer then turns to the Shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep."

"That is correct, you may take one of the sheep," says the Shepherd, and  watches the young man select one of the animals and bundle it into his car.

Then the Shepherd says: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is,  will you give me back my sheep?"

"OK, why not." answered the young man.

"Clearly, You are a Consultant, a Temp., a Jobbie of some sort." says the  Shepherd.

"Why, that's correct," says the Yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required," answers the Shepherd.

"You turned up here although nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never  asked; and you don't know crap about my business.

"Now give me back my DOG!"
 

[I recall reading "Miracle on Main Street" by Tupper Sausey.  On one of the first few pages before the text begins he had a statement about how that single greatest bad person in this nation was the one holding the book and reading that page.  Larken Rose makes a similar assertion here]

The following article by Larken Rose (some can be found at http://www.taxableincome.net/ - ed), forwarded by Robert Beale of Florida, frames a lament common throughout the ages. The tyrant is for all practical purposes powerless unless he has someone to do his bidding; rank and file are invariably populated by common folk, countrymen & kin.

In the wake of World War II, German Protestant leaders lamented that they were responsible for Nazi atrocities because they did nothing. They silently watched, and thereby accommodated, Hitler's henchmen. Even in the Declaration of Independence, American founders acknowledged the tendency to endure despotism so long as it is endurable, and after the revolution, Thomas Jefferson was bitter toward the 38 colonial newspapers, none of which reported the revolution in a favorable light. His bitterness prompted Jefferson to say that people who don't read newspapers are probably better off than those who do as it is better to be uninformed than misinformed.

Larken's discourse, written several months ago, is an interesting perspective on the same subject Immanuel Kant wrote about in his Preface to the Metaphysics of Morals. Common folks, as a general rule, aren't so noble as we would like to believe.

Dan Meador

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Robert
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 10:44 AM
Subject: The Nice Guys that Work for the Government are the Greatest Evil on Earth

This story motivates me to file criminal charges against those nice guys.

 The Devil's Right Hand by Larken Rose (2/6/03)

What does the Devil's right hand look like? I don't mean this to be particularly religious or biblical; I just want to know, whatever "evil" is, what is the main mechanism by which it is served?

Adolph Hitler? Stalin? Charles Manson? Jeffrey Dahmer? The Columbine shooters? Nope. Not even close. Let's get out the score card.

How many people did Manson, Dahmer, and the Columbine shooters kill? A few dozen, at most. I don't mean to downplay the horrible nature of their atrocities, but on a purely statistical level, they hardly register on the big scheme of things.

"Oooo, oooo, I know! Stalin, Mao, and Hitler!"

Actually, no. How many people actually died at the hands of those individuals? Not very many (again, in the big scheme of things). "Well, maybe they didn't do the actual killing, but they orchestrated mass murder!" True. And what was their primary tool?

The true threat to humanity are not the Hitlers, the Dahmers, and the Mansons. Those who have a view of reality that twisted--those who have no regard for human life, or even delight in the suffering or death of others--are few and far between. They are outnumbered (and perhaps more importantly, out-gunned) at least a million to one.

No, as disturbing as the occasional psychotic, sadistic murderer is, that is NOT what society needs to worry about. Let's look at the other column on the score card. The grand total is in the hundreds of millions of human beings tortured and murdered. And who is responsible? Who accomplished atrocities way beyond what the famous mass-murders accomplished?

Average, generally decent human beings, who did the wrong thing BECAUSE SOMEONE IN "AUTHORITY" TOLD THEM TO. They are the Devil's Right Hand. Remove that blind obedience to imagined "authority"--just getting those people to use their OWN judgment instead of following someone else's--and you remove 99% of murder from the earth.

Unfortunately, that's easier said than done.

(Check out "Death by Government," by Mr. Rummel.)

It's easier for us to imagine a nasty, malicious, "insane" villain as our enemy. How many Hollywood movies spend all the movie making the top bad guy so evil that you can't wait until he dies at the end (in the most gruesome manner that special effects can buy)?

Trouble is, those are NOT the implementers of evil in the real world. Your neighbor is the implementer of evil. Yeah, that nice guy who helped you jump-start your car last week. Yeah, the one with the three kids, who is such a great dad. That's the one. That's the Devil's right hand.

What that "nice guy" would have been doing at this age, had he been born in 1910 in Germany, would be driving the truck that delivers the cyanide pellets to the camps where the gas chambers are. Mind you, he doesn't make the gas, or set up the gas chambers, or push the people in, or open the valve, or burn the bodies. No, he just drives the truck. That's all. He's just doing his job, and serving his country.

Well, that's what the "nice guy" WOULD have been doing, had he been born in Germany in 1910. But he wasn't. He was born in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, in 1960. He now works as a Revenue Agent for the Internal Revenue Service. Mind you, he doesn't arrest anyone, or seize anyone's property. He just does the paperwork the way his bosses tell him to. That's all. He's just doing his job, and serving his country.

Know your enemy. Your enemy is not Darth Vader, or Sauron, or Dr. Evil. Your enemy is that "nice guy" next door. If you want to see just how scary he really is, I highly recommend a book titled "Obedience to Authority," which is a detailed psychological study by Stanley Milgram (done back in the 1960's). I'll let the book give you all the gruesome details, but the punch line is this: the vast majority of your neighbors will KNOWINGLY INFLICT PAIN AND SUFFERING ON YOU, if someone they perceive as "authority" tells them to. If that were not the case, there would be no IRS.

For any who have tried to reason with an IRS agent, tried to show them the law, tried to get "justice" out of a judge, or tried to get the IRS to not rob them, you have all the evidence you need. Yes, the IRS certainly has its share of sadistic, power-happy fruitcakes (Steward Stich in Sarasota, Florida comes to mind). But mostly the IRS is populated by average folk, who are "just following orders." They take no responsibility for their actions, they avoid original thought like the plague, and they are immune to any evidence or logic which goes against what their bosses are telling them to do. In short, they are the Devil's right hand.

It's easy to cheer for the super-villain in any movie to be subject to some horrible death. How about the 20-year-old German kid on the front lines in WW II, who doesn't know what he's doing there, is just trying to do what he is told, and thinks he is somehow nobly serving the Fatherland? It's not as easy to hate him, or to wish death upon him.

Unfortunately, as revolting as it is that generally decent folk do horrible things under the direction of some perceived "authority," it gets worse. You have a choice: kill the misguided kid, and thousands like him, or let Hitler rule the world.

Reality bites, doesn't it?

In the fight to end the "income tax" deception, thankfully it has been (at least for the most part) non-violent. However, that uncomfortable choice is still there. You must either intentionally inflict stress and discomfort on that "nice guy," or let him continue to rob your friends and neighbors. There is no other choice. So which is it going to be?

Many of you have already felt the frustration and anger that comes from dealing with the faceless, responsibility-free bureaucracy called the IRS. You can't wait for Darth Vader to show up, so you can lop his head off with your light saber. But he doesn't show. Instead, you're faced with some ignorant paper-pusher whose vast knowledge of law and procedure consists of being able to read "the courts have ruled that to be frivolous" off a form letter that his bosses sent him. He, and 90,000 others like him, are what you are up against. You are not fighting arch-villains; you are fighting cowardly "obeyers."

You have a choice: hurt them or be hurt by them. Which will it be?

No, I don't mean smashing their kneecaps. I mean making their jobs absolutely miserable, in every legal way you can think of, as long as they refuse to obey their own regulations. If you won't do it, you can rest assured that they WILL make your friends' and neighbors' lives miserable.

If you examine history, and read "Obedience to Authority," it should be clear what your options are. To be nice, appeal to their reason and rationale once, on the off chance that they are one of the very few capable of thinking and acting on their own, CONTRARY to what "authority" tells them to do. After that, resort to their aversion to discomfort. Train them as you would train a pit bull: "if you hurt me, I will hurt you worse." Unfortunately, as many millions have learned throughout history, there is only one other choice: submit to absolute tyranny.

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a r t i c l e   /   c o m m e n t a r y

Right to Carry or Privilege to Conceal
contributed by D

The following article is a news report on how Alaska has expressed some sense in the matter of weapons.  Many people, in their non-learned (or is it UN-learned - being that "UN" is to remove something) condition are not aware they have the natural Right to carry weapons and do not need a privilege to carry (concealed or not).  The distinction is that we are born with the Right (no permission needed) to carry a weapon openly or concealed.  We are also free to trade our Right for privilege.  Many people today, not first knowing they have the Right are eagerly requesting the privilege.   It is interesting to observe that we have the Right to carry openly, but the privilege most people are seekking is to carry concealed.  This makes it seem that we need permission to be secretive about having a gun (weapon).

Alaska: No permit needed to carry concealed guns
Associated Press
http://www.sierratimes.com/03/06/12/ap_ak_guns.htm

JUNEAU -- Alaskans will no longer need a permit to carry a concealed weapon under a bill signed into law Wednesday.

In signing the bill, Gov. Frank Murkowski lauded the work of the Legislature and the National Rifle Association in protecting the Second Amendment rights of Alaskans.

The bill would adopt the so-called "Vermont Carry" law that allows residents to carry a concealed weapon without a special permit. Vermont has no laws against carrying concealed weapons, the governor's office said.

In Alaska, someone who applies for a concealed handgun permit is required to take a handgun course certified by the state Department of Public Safety.

Rep. Eric Croft, D-Anchorage, said he sponsored the bill out of frustration with continually fine-tuning the state's gun laws.

"I object to the government putting a precondition on that constitutional right (to carry a weapon). I'm presumed to be a responsible citizen until proven otherwise," Croft said.

House Bill 102 does not eliminate the state's concealed handgun permit program. The governor's office said Alaskans could still apply for a permit in order to carry a concealed weapon in other states or to be exempt from background checks when purchasing firearms.

But the bill, which takes effect in 90 days, would allow Alaskans who can legally carry a firearm to carry it concealed without such a permit.

It does not change prohibitions against carrying firearms into courthouses, school yards, bars and domestic violence shelters.

About 17,000 concealed handgun permits have been issued in Alaska, said Greg Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Alaska State Troopers.

The measure will aid gun owners particularly in rural areas where handgun safety courses may not be readily available, Croft said.

While the measure won broad support among lawmakers -- more than half in the 60-member Legislature signed on as co-sponsors -- it did have its detractors.

Sen. Con Bunde, R-Anchorage, was among 10 lawmakers voting against the bill. Bunde said current Alaska law requires someone to understand their legal obligations and demonstrate proficiency before receiving a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

He said people often misuse handguns because of a lack of firearm education and training.

"I am a strong gun advocate and very concerned that every time someone misuses a gun, particularly a handgun, we lose in the court of public opinion," Bunde said.

Also signed into law was a bill to require the state Department of Public Safety to recognize all concealed carry permits issued in other states.

The gun bills were among nearly a dozen new laws signed by Murkowski during a ceremony in Wasilla. Some of the highlights:

• Senate Bill 41 would create a new law crafted specifically to target Medicaid fraud. Overpayments and fraud are estimated to cost the state between $70 million and $170 million each year.

• House Bill 267 expands the bonding power of the Alaska Railroad Corp. to allow it to issue up to $17 billion in tax-exempt bonds for a natural gas pipeline.

• Senate Bill 26 allows state employees called to active military service to continue receiving pay and benefits. It is retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001.

• Senate Bill 177 also allows retired state employees to continue to receive a 10 percent Alaska cost of living allowance if called to active duty.

• And Senate Bill 148 allows eligible Alaskans on active duty to be gone from the state longer and still receive a Permanent Fund dividend check. It lengthens the time they and their spouses are allowed to be gone from the state to 180 days, in addition to their time on active duty. The current restriction is 45 days.

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An original reason, and present day common mind set of the reason, for a fine is to be in lieu of incarceration as an effective deterrent for an alleged crime.  But, in practice and modern acceptance the fines are, without defense, simply an additional way for collecting revenue for the government.

A cop could do his part to curb the tribute collection by simply not issuing tickets/citations, except for truly bad acts.  A cop is the revenue assessor and the court is the collector.  A ticket for an alleged act of which there is no victim or no witness could easily be handled by a cop merely politely approaching a “suspect” and by virtue of the contact make “suspect” aware of the cops presence.  In cases like Brown v Texas, Terry v Ohio, Kolander v Lawson, and many more the courts declared this very thing.

A cop need not unnecessarily accost a person.  Just by making their (cops) presence known is enough to deter any possibly casual or transient criminal activity.  Whereas, if a person is wholly bent to do a crime, they will persist in spite of knowing a cop is nearby, and the cop will then be able to catch the person in the act, whereby eliminating questionable contact.  This is kind of like saying locks (cops) keep honest people (casual/transient acts) honest but a lock will not stop a criminal (wholly bent).

Circa 1990 a town in Arkansas called Jacksonville, during a city counsel meeting, the mayor (Swaim) expressed irritation that the cops and courts had not collected as much as the counsel had planned they would collect.  The mayor promised to look into the matter.  The evidence is clear that the police and courts are being used as revenue generating organizisms of government.

Remember - A cop is the revenue assessor and the court is the collector.

Here are some recent news reports to illustrate this issue, and the cops are whining that we should not blame them.  Do not forget they VOLUNTEERED for the job.]

Don't blame us for pricey tickets, say New York cops
Fri May 30, 8:27 PM ET
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030531/od_afp/us_newyork_offbeat_030531002756

NEW YORK (AFP) - Sick of being the butt of dirty looks and comments for the recent sharp increase in ticket writing, the New York police took out a full-page newspaper ad imploring citizens, "Don't blame the cop."

The ad in The New York Post, paid for by the police union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA), features a photograph of an irate motorist brandishing a 105-dollar parking ticket under the nose of a policeman.

The order nearly doubling fines for parking and other minor infractions, from 55 to 105 dollars, came straight from the office of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg seeking to balance a city budget gone wild, says the ad.

"We just want New York City's citizens to know that, although it will often be a police officer's face you see when that 105-dollar parking ticket comes your way, the cops are not to blame," says the ad.

"They are as unhappy as you, maybe more so."

The PBA claims the mayor's office has imposed ticket-writing quotas on patrolmen, which is illegal and which the mayor's office denies.

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Cops on Silly Summons Blitz
Fri Jun 6,11:06 AM ET
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030606/od_nm/life_tickets_dc_1

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's the city where anything goes. Just don't sit on a milk crate, take up two subway seats or have a loud conversation.

The Big Apple is hard up and the city's cops are writing tickets to beat the band. Among the myriad offenses to be avoided: carrying an open bottle of water onto a bus or being a man in a playground without a child.

"This city has become a summons machine intent upon picking the pockets it is supposed to serve," Patrolmen's Benevolent Association spokesman Al O'Leary said in an interview.

The so-called ticketing blitz has kept the city's tabloids busy. The Daily News has made it an almost daily routine to highlight the preposterous ticketing policies of the city's men and women in blue.

Among the gems lately are the man fined for sitting on a milk crate, enforcing a transit rule forbidding riders to use more than one seat on a bus or subway and a Queens woman who was ticketed for talking loudly to her neighbor.

"I couldn't leave the food on the stove," Noris Lopez, the criminally loud talker, told the newspaper. "So I opened my door and my friend opened her door and we stood in front of our apartments talking."

The result? A $25 ticket from a cop who had just responded to a nearby disturbance.

"Is there a ticket blitz?" Jordan Barowitz, a City Hall spokesman asked rhetorically. "There are millions of summonses given out by the city every year. This year, compared to last year, fewer tickets are being given out."

That may be the case, but with the city facing a massive budget crunch, all manner of fines have skyrocketed, most notably parking fines, which now often run at more than $100 a pop. Even free Sunday parking has been outlawed in most of Manhattan in an effort to fill dwindling city coffers.

Even if there is a ticketing blitz, city officials insist quality of life summonses are nothing new. In 1996, an amusement park was fined $250 for having a coin operated game three feet (one meter) onto the sidewalk, Barowitz said, citing several other wacky examples of yesteryear.

Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he has not ordered police to go on a ticketing tear, even in the face of a multibillion dollar budget deficit.

"There is no ticketing blitz," he said in a radio interview on Friday. "Maybe there should be, but there is none.

"If you want to have great quality of life, the way to have it is giving tickets to people when they break the law," he said.

"We don't make money on these things," he added. "Quite the contrary. It costs more to write the summons than we get in revenue. The purpose is to get people to comply with the law."

But one police advocacy group has run full page advertisements in local papers insisting that cops are also unhappy about the high number of quality of life tickets.

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New York cops in silly summons season
Fri Jun 6,11:34 AM ET
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030606/od_uk_nm/oukoe_life_tickets_1

By Jeanne King

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's the city where anything goes. Just don't sit on a milk crate, take up two subway seats or have a loud conversation.

The Big Apple is hard up and the city's cops are writing tickets to beat the band. Among the myriad offences to be avoided: carrying an open bottle of water onto a bus or being a man in a playground without a child.

"This city has become a summons machine intent upon picking the pockets it is supposed to serve," Patrolmen's Benevolent Association spokesman Al O'Leary said in an interview.

The so-called ticketing blitz has kept the city's tabloids busy. The Daily News has made it an almost daily routine to highlight the preposterous ticketing policies of the city's men and women in blue.

Among the gems lately are the man fined for sitting on a milk crate, enforcing a transit rule forbidding riders to use more than one seat on a bus or subway and a Queens woman who was ticketed for talking loudly to her neighbour.

"I couldn't leave the food on the stove," Noris Lopez, the criminally loud talker, told the newspaper. "So I opened my door and my friend opened her door and we stood in front of our apartments talking."

The result? A $25 (15.68 pounds) ticket from a cop who had just responded to a nearby disturbance.

"Is there a ticket blitz?" Jordan Barowitz, a City Hall spokesman asked rhetorically. "There are millions of summonses given out by the city every year. This year, compared to last year, fewer tickets are being given out."

That may be the case, but with the city facing a massive budget crunch, all manner of fines have skyrocketed, most notably parking fines, which now often run at more than $100 a pop. Even free Sunday parking has been outlawed in most of Manhattan in an effort to fill dwindling city coffers.

Even if there is a ticketing blitz, city officials insist quality of life summonses are nothing new. In 1996, an amusement park was fined $250 for having a coin operated game three feet (one metre) onto the sidewalk, Barowitz said, citing several other wacky examples of yesteryear.

Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he has not ordered police to go on a ticketing tear, even in the face of a multibillion dollar budget deficit.

"There is no ticketing blitz," he said in a radio interview on Friday. "Maybe there should be, but there is none.

"If you want to have great quality of life, the way to have it is giving tickets to people when they break the law," he said.

"We don't make money on these things," he added. "Quite the contrary. It costs more to write the summons than we get in revenue. The purpose is to get people to comply with the law."

But one police advocacy group has run full page advertisements in local papers insisting that cops are also unhappy about the high number of quality of life tickets.

More

NY Cops Writing Tickets
For Bizarre 'Offenses'
6-6-3
http://www.rense.com/general38/biz.htm

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's the city where anything goes. Just don't sit on a milk crate, take up two subway seats or have a loud conversation.

The Big Apple is hard up and the city's cops are writing tickets to beat the band. Among the myriad offenses to be avoided: carrying an open bottle of water onto a bus or being a man in a playground without a child.

"This city has become a summons machine intent upon picking the pockets it is supposed to serve," Patrolmen's Benevolent Association spokesman Al O'Leary said in an interview.

The so-called ticketing blitz has kept the city's tabloids busy. The Daily News has made it an almost daily routine to highlight the preposterous ticketing policies of the city's men and women in blue.

Among the gems lately are the man fined for sitting on a milk crate, enforcing a transit rule forbidding riders to use more than one seat on a bus or subway and a Queens woman who was ticketed for talking loudly to her neighbor.

"I couldn't leave the food on the stove," Noris Lopez, the criminally loud talker, told the newspaper. "So I opened my door and my friend opened her door and we stood in front of our apartments talking."

The result? A $25 ticket from a cop who had just responded to a nearby disturbance.

"Is there a ticket blitz?" Jordan Barowitz, a City Hall spokesman asked rhetorically. "There are millions of summonses given out by the city every year. This year, compared to last year, fewer tickets are being given out."

That may be the case, but with the city facing a massive budget crunch, all manner of fines have skyrocketed, most notably parking fines, which now often run at more than $100 a pop. Even free Sunday parking has been outlawed in most of Manhattan in an effort to fill dwindling city coffers.

Even if there is a ticketing blitz, city officials insist quality of life summonses are nothing new. In 1996, an amusement park was fined $250 for having a coin operated game three feet (one meter) onto the sidewalk, Barowitz said, citing several other wacky examples of yesteryear.

Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he has not ordered police to go on a ticketing tear, even in the face of a multibillion dollar budget deficit.

"There is no ticketing blitz," he said in a radio interview on Friday. "Maybe there should be, but there is none.

"If you want to have great quality of life, the way to have it is giving tickets to people when they break the law," he said.

"We don't make money on these things," he added. "Quite the contrary. It costs more to write the summons than we get in revenue. The purpose is to get people to comply with the law."

but one police advocacy group has run full page advertisements in local papers insisting that cops are also unhappy about the high number of quality of life tickets.

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