A single paragraph in an op-ed in the British paper The Guardian perfectly demonstrates why our political system is the greatest in the world. The article, written by Alexander Chancellor, blames our “uniquely lax gun laws” for the Arizona massacre. He calls it “insane” that Americans respond to mass killings by rushing out to buy even more guns. Chancellor laments the seeming lack of courage by any politician left or right to challenge our 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.

But the following paragraph is the most telling. It’s what separates the US from the rest of the world. It’s the reason America’s founders were such visionaries. It’s also what Obama and his leftist cronies are trying like hell to destroy.

As Arizona has shown, the usual response to a shooting such as this one is for people to rush out and buy themselves guns. The more innocent people are killed by guns, the more determined Americans are to possess them. Legislators do not dare challenge this insanity and, indeed, have shown a tendency to allow further loosening of the gun laws. Arizona, for example, has recently passed laws permitting guns to be carried in bars, and to allow the carrying of concealed weapons without a permit. The trouble with America is that it is too democratic. In Britain, parliament is at least sometimes capable of acting out of principle against the popular will, as it did when it abolished capital punishment, but in the US this is impossible.

That is precisely what our form of government was intended to avoid. Arrogant politicians sitting in Washington deciding what’s best for us simple folk.

It looks like the Soviet Union isn’t dead after all. Vladimir Putin has spent years gutting every democratic institution in Russia. No more free media or free speech. No right to assembly, no independent judiciary, etc. Now, it appears that Putin is putting the icing on his totalitarian cake with a new “Treason bill” that is expected to become law.

New legislation backed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would allow Russian authorities to label any government critic a traitor—a move that rights activists said Wednesday was a chilling throwback to times of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

The bill, which is expected to become law, would expanded the definition of treason to include damaging Russia’s constitutional order, sovereignty or territorial integrity. That, rights activists said, would essentially let authorities interpret any act against state as treason—a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Activists said that would catapult Russia’s justice system back to the times of Stalin’s purges, calling it “legislation in the spirit of Stalin and Hitler.”

“It returns the Russian justice to the times of 1920-1950s,” the activists, which included Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva and Civic Assistance director Svetlana Gannushkina, said in a joint statement.

This is the final death nail for any kind of free speech in Russia. Putin’s grip on the country is now complete. Russia is once again a Soviet dictatorship with a KGB man at its head. Up to this point, Russia hasn’t been able to declare open season on human rights, because victims of the regime could complain to the European Court of Human Rights. These complaints are made through NGO’s and the new law will effectively neuter all NGO’s in Russia.

Putin will be free to re-open the gullogs and be the KGB strongman he’s always wanted to be. America haters love to call president Bush a ‘war criminal’ but somehow miss the fact that Vladimir Putin actually is a war criminal. The atrocities committed in Chechnya by the Russian military make Iraq look like Disneyland.

Col. Ralph Peters has an excellent column in the NY Post today about the disgraceful shoe throwing journalist. Peters makes the point that shoes being thrown at the president in Iraq means we won. There is no other country in the Middle East in where such a free wheeling press conference would be tolerated. If such an act were to occur at a press conference in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, or any other country in the region with the exception of Israel the shoe tosser would almost certainly lose his life –and his family might as well.

Peters goes on to point out that the only reason the so-called ‘journalist’ did what he did was because he knew he would get away with it. So the very democracy he curses and spits upon is what allowed him to disrespect our president and live to tell about it.

It’s also worth noting that the shoe thrower is a supporter of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his family has a poster of Che Guevara on their wall. So democracy is clearly something they don’t get. However, if the shoe throwing journalist would like to throw something at our troops when he gets out of jail I’m sure they can arrange a meeting for him with say — 72 virgins.

-Chris Jones

The St. Petersburg Times has an interesting Op-Ed about how President Putin has built up Russia’s security apparatus to the point that it now it exceeds the power the KGB once held in the Soviet Union.

As a former KGB man himself, Putin has spent his Presidency rebuilding the secret police and intelligence services that former President Yeltsin dismantled. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the KGB was reborn as the FSB as it is called today.

Yeltsin felt that under Soviet rule the KGB had too much power and influence. He liked the U.S. system of spreading power to a number of agencies and sought to remake Russia’s security apparatus in much the same way.

Putin watched his beloved FSB be gutted and much of the organization’s power taken away and split between two other agencies. He privately vowed to change this if his comrades would stand behind him as he sought to become President.

True to his word, the newly appointed President Putin quickly folded the two agencies that Yeltsin created and placed them under the umbrella of the FSB. He didn’t stop there however, he also littered his administration with current and former FSB/KGB agents.

A whopping 78% of the country’s leadership is affiliated with the FSB or KGB and the power of the Russian security services is at an all time high.

Moreover, all big companies in Russia are required to put people from the security services on the board of directors to ensure that the company acts in the interests of the Kremlin.

Current and former FSB officers work in large private companies as well. Another former FSB official said the Kremlin wanted the officers to make sure the companies do not act against Russia’s interests.

“Big companies in Russia consult with the Kremlin before striking any big deal. The officers working for those companies are there to make sure that things are done properly or the way the Kremlin wants,” the official said.

The companies, who pay generous salaries to the officers, feel they get their money’s worth. The officers make sure they do not have problems with the Kremlin.

“All big companies have to put people from the security services on the board of directors,” said a banker with a large private bank. “Many are appointed as directors or deputy directors. They are called ‘active reserve agents,’ and we know that when Lubyanka calls, they have to answer them.”

FSB headquarters is commonly referred to as Lubyanka. There are no estimates for how many officers with links to intelligence work in private companies.

“It works like a pyramid: Big state and private companies hire KGB and FSB big shots, medium-size companies hire medium agents, and small companies employ ordinary officers,” the former FSB official said.

Medium and small companies hire former KGB and FSB agents to protect their businesses from corrupt tax or fire inspectors and to cut through bureaucracy, he said.

“Before, the protection job was done by the mafia, but now its role has been taken over by the agents,” he said.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that Putin has brought a certain level of stability and prosperity to Russia (at least for some) but the question then becomes, at what cost?

Imagine if every business decision had to be first cleared with the CIA and FBI here in America. Putin’s liberal use of the security services really taps into the old Soviet era paranoia that still grips many of the old players in Russia.

The idea that draconian measures are an absolute necessity to “save” Russia from an ever present enemy that wishes to do her harm is something that has been drilled into the Russian psyche for 50 years.

On the other hand, without a strong man like Putin at the reigns it’s quite possible that the whole of Russia might have been swallowed up by organized crime by now.

It will be interesting to see how the situation continues to evolve in Russia as they struggle to find the kind of Democracy that works for them.

-Chris Jones

President Bush said Monday he was “deeply concerned” at a crackdown on opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of elections, and called for their release from detention.

“I am deeply concerned about the detention of numerous human rights activists and political leaders who participated in peaceful rallies in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, and Nazran this weekend.

“I am particularly troubled by the use of force by law enforcement authorities to stop these peaceful activities and to prevent some journalists and human rights activists from covering them,” Bush said in a statement.

About 200 opposition activists were detained by police at another demonstration in Saint Petersburg on Sunday, one week before Russia is to hold parliamentary elections.

“The freedoms of expression, assembly and press, as well as due process, are fundamental to any democratic society,” Bush said in his statement, which followed State Department concerns expressed Sunday over the events in Russia.

“I am hopeful that the government of Russia will honor its international obligations in these areas, investigate allegations of abuses and free those who remain in detention,” the president said.

Russian riot police beat opposition activists on Sunday and detained nearly 200 people at protest rallies against President Vladimir Putin a week before the country’s parliamentary election.

The unrest came a day after a similar event in Moscow ended with the arrest of Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion and opposition leader, whose coalition, Other Russia, has declared that Mr. Putin is turning Russia into a dictatorship. A judge sentenced Mr. Kasparov to five days in jail.

With the economy strong and the nation enjoying stability after the turmoil of the 1990s, Mr. Putin has become widely popular, and Mr. Kasparov’s movement has only a small following. Mr. Putin’s party, United Russia, is expected to win an overwhelming majority in the elections, aided by the Kremlin’s control over government agencies and the news media.

About 500 activists made it to the marches but were vastly outnumbered by riot police. Most of those detained were later released.

-Samantha Giles

Raising the prospect of crucial parliamentary elections being held under de facto martial law, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said the balloting would take place in early January but set no date for lifting an 8-day-old emergency decree.

Sunday’s news conference, marked Musharraf’s first appearance before national and international media since he issued an emergency decree on Nov. 3, suspending the constitution and revoking citizens’ basic freedoms.

During his 90-minute news conference, the Pakistani leader was alternately conciliatory and combative, defending his decision to impose authoritarian measures as a personal sacrifice for the good of the country.

“It was indeed a bitter pill to swallow; it was no doubt the most difficult decision I have ever taken in my life,” said Musharraf, who was clad in a dark blue suit and tie, eschewing his military uniform. “I could have preserved myself, but it would have damaged the nation.”

Musharraf said he had instructed election officials to move as quickly as possible to set a date for the vote, following the dissolution of parliament and regional assemblies in the coming week. Elections are to take place within 60 days of that step, with a caretaker government in place in the meantime.

Left-wing critics of the Bush Administration love to howl about how the President is rolling back our freedoms and trying to create a “fascist” government.

People who are even remotely connected with reality know that’s complete nonsense. However, what’s happening in Putin’s Russia is very real.

Vladimir Putin actually is rolling back freedoms. The Kremlin has near complete control over who can run for office in Russia. The next President of Russia when Putin steps down will be someone he chooses as his replacement. There are opposition candidates running, but it’s really not possible for them to actually win.

Opposition candidates also run the very real risk of being killed by the FSB formerly known as the KGB, as do journalists, businessmen, or anyone else that offends the Putin.

The NY Times is reporting today that Putin’s latest anti-democratic power grab involves clamping down on election observers.

The Kremlin aims to curtail the activities of election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe — just in time for Russia’s December parliamentary elections and March presidential election.

President Vladimir Putin is not trying to bar the observers altogether; that would be too obvious. What he wants is to cut the size of the monitoring missions and stop them from immediately releasing their reports, thus diminishing their impact.

What President Putin is doing is what rolling back Democracy actually looks like, not anything President Bush is doing. As long as liberals can go on TV and call the President a liar and a war criminal and not end up dead, then I think America is still pretty damn free.

-Chris Jones

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma’s ruling junta has revealed.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: “Many more people have been killed in recent days than you’ve heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand.”

Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He has now reached the border with Thailand.

Meanwhile, the United Nations special envoy was in Burma’s new capital today seeking meetings with the ruling military junta.

Ibrahim Gambari met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon yesterday. But he has yet to meet the country’s senior generals as he attempts to halt violence against monks and pro-democracy activists.

It is anticipated the meeting will happen tomorrow.

Heavily-armed troops and police flooded the streets of Rangoon during Mr Ibrahim’s visit to prevent new protests.

Mr Gambari met some of the country’s military leaders in Naypyidaw yesterday and has returned there for further talks. But he did not meet senior general Than Shwe or his deputy Maung Aye – and they have issued no comment.

Reports from exiles along the frontier confirmed that hundreds of monks had simply “disappeared” as 20,000 troops swarmed around Rangoon yesterday to prevent further demonstrations by religious groups and civilians…FULL STORY

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) – The leading Democratic White House hopefuls conceded Wednesday night they cannot guarantee to pull all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of the next presidential term in 2013.

“I think it’s hard to project four years from now,” said Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in the opening moments of a campaign debate in the nation’s first primary state.

“It is very difficult to know what we’re going to be inheriting,” added Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

“I cannot make that commitment,” said former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Sensing an opening, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson provided the assurances the others would not.

“I’ll get the job done,” said Dodd, while Richardson said he would make sure the troops were home by the end of his first year in office.

Foreign policy blended with domestic issues at the debate on a Dartmouth College stage, and several of the contenders endorsed payroll tax increases to assure a stable Social Security system.

Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, as well as Dodd, Obama and Edwards all said they would apply the tax to income now exempted.

Richardson said he wouldn’t and Clinton refused to say. “I’m not putting anything on the proverbial table” unilaterally, she said.

Current law levies a 6.2 percent payroll tax only on an individual’s first $97,500 in annual income.

Biden also said he was willing to consider gradually raising the retirement age, which is now 67.

Kucinich said that while he favors taxing additional income, he wants to return the retirement age to 65, where it stood until the law was changed in 1983.

Health care, and the drive for universal coverage, also figured in the debate…FULL STORY