Dear Editor. Bill Quick over at the Daily Pundit likes to feature letters to the editor from his local newspapers that are written by leftists who achieve a higher order of whine. Since he hails from the San Francisco area, there's no shortage of quality material. Around here, we only have a weekly newspaper and while it's filled with down home goodness and an occasional local controversy, it doesn't offer much blogfodder (TM) unless you are interested in what happened when the visiting bank robbers thought it would be slick to try robbing a bank next door to the town police station. But I digress.

I like the idea, but being thus deprived, I have decided to occasionally feature some letters from papers around the country. Today's comes from the Raleigh (NC) News and Observer:

Planning a war crime?

The writer of the July 4 People's Forum letter headlined "A danger to travel" stated that his human rights are endangered by the recently empowered International Criminal Court, a body which the Bush administration deplorably rejects.

The writer should know that he has nothing to fear from the international tribunal unless in his travel to the European Union, for example, he engages in programs of genocide, the overthrow of governments or other equally egregious transgressions.

On the other hand, perhaps the writer ought to stay put right here in Raleigh so that he will not contribute to the already well established opinion in Europe of the Stupid American.

Maria G. Rouphail, Ph.D.

Raleigh

A little research shows that Maria G. Rouphail, Ph.D is employed by the state at NC State University in Raleigh where she is

Visiting Lecturer in English (Ph.D. Ohio State University), teaches courses in the Western literary canon from antiquity to the early Renaissance and the modern period. Her interests include nineteenth-century American literature, Latin American literature, the poetry of Dante, and the literature of Western mysticism. She is Executive Director of the Summer Institute in World Literature, and she maintains the World Literature web site.

She is apparently a "twofer" with her husband, Nagui, who is a native of Egypt and holds a real job as an NCSU Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Institute for Transportation Research and Education.

You'd think with all that book learning in the family, Maria would recognize that the problem with the ICC is that bogus accusations of "war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide" are a dime a dozen, particularly from people with "refined sensibilities" like the knuckle dragging left, the Euroweenies, and the Islamofascist brigade. Engaging "in programs of genocide, the overthrow of governments or other equally egregious transgressions" is what these folks immediately claim if you do anything to defend yourself or your country. Somehow I suspect Maria knew all that and her naivete is a pretense. Whatever the reason, Maria should consider renting a clue so that she will not contribute to the already well established opinion in the USA of an effete, America-hating, left wing academic elite.

And so she won't continue to look as stupid as a bag of hammers.

A Glorious Independence Day to All from the Country Store!

Avast, me hearties! John Borland reports on CNET News.com that Pirate Radio is coming to the Internet. While the Librarian of Congress has reduced the royalty rates for Web broadcasters considerably below what the recording industry wanted, it is still too much for small webcasters. As a result some stations are giving up and there are developers creating software for running up a pirate flag.

While the technology discussed in this article would make it harder to track down the broadcasters, the Internet isn't like radio: they will get caught if the recording industry cares enough to catch them. Why not try talk radio?

Just Desserts: The Arizona Republic reports that

An accused child molester who fled Chandler three years ago was found beaten into a coma and impaled on cactus in Mexico.

Mark Adam Younglove, 35, disappeared on July 4, 1999, after neighbors confronted him with allegations of molesting their children. On Sept. 23, 1999, a Maricopa County grand jury indicted Younglove on 11 counts of sex crimes with children, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Sonora police found Younglove on June 23, unconscious and lying in cactus in Empalme, Mexico. He remains hospitalized in Hermosillo with severe head injuries and might not survive, according to Chandler police.

The U.S. Consulate in Hermosillo found Younglove listed on the America's Most Wanted Web site and contacted Chandler police.

In a massive understatement:

Officer Emma Bribiescas, a Chandler police spokeswoman, said there is no evidence that Younglove molested children while in Mexico, or that angry parents are responsible for the beating.

"People can obviously assume that could be a possibility," Bribiescas said.

You think?

ICC again: Zev Chafets gives the International Criminal Court (sic) both barrels of 00 buck in the New York Daily News.

On the other hand, the hand wringers on the Boston Globe editorial board are sobbing that "When President Bush decided in May to unsign the Treaty of Rome creating an International Criminal Court in The Hague to try individuals for war crimes, he chose to point the world's sole superpower right at a craggy protuberance marked Isolation Reef. " They apparently haven't noticed that China, India, Russia, and Japan have the same misgivings about the kangaroo court. Perhaps the Globites should worry about their own protuberances.

And pride of place goes to Kenneth Nichols for the first Press Release providing notice of intention to charge the USA with "War Crimes" before the court. Mr. Nichols also apparently intends to burn his passport and give up his US citizenship to become a stateless person. Ken, don't let the door slap you on the ass on your way out.

And Ken, since you're planning to be stateless, why don't you move in with the court itself? They're building a 300,000 sq. foot palace in the Hague and I am sure they can allocate a closet to you while you work on your briefs.

Euroweenie Alert! In the Guardian (natch) something called Will Hutton is peddling its new book by retailing the the thesis that "behind the crisis in corporate America is a combination of pernicious Southern conservatism and unadulterated greed." Will hopes fervently that Europe will not be contaminated and that America will come to its senses. America hopes Will will pick up the clue phone when it rings.

Durn! I knew all along it was the climate of excess inspired by the Southern Sinkmeister, Bubba Clinton. Those Southerners, they're everywhere!

Gotta a light? Having once long ago lived in New York and observed the curious way that people would visit my barber to buy cartons of cigarettes, I am well aware that high cigarette taxes lead to "alternate channels of distribution". So I wasn't surprised to read the NY Post article on the effects of the latest NYC taxes that have raised the price to $7 per pack. Beyond the usual interstate smuggling, it seems that the Internet has swung into action with a host of web sites selling smokes. There is even a meta-site, Cigarette Yellow Pages, that compares prices among all the online sources.

It would be nice if politicians and bureaucrats were forced to take some sort of practical economics course (like a job in the productive economy) before ascending to their thrones. We might have less foolishness of all sorts. And certainly less toilet smuggling.

What'll they think of next? The Pennsylvania House (barely) passed a bill that would require voters to show their voter registration card or some sort of photo ID (driver's license, non driver's ID card, passport, or identification cards from schools, the military or a workplace). The whiners were out in force decrying this threat to democracy including one knuckle dragger who compared it to Jim Crow laws.

Hot dang! The next thing you know they will require voters to be citizens!

Tin Foil Beanie Time! Reuters reveals the musings of Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) who claims the waves from cell phones give her headaches.

Brundtland, the WHO director-general, does not own a mobile phone and forbids anyone to use one in her Geneva office, saying this is to protect herself from the electromagnetic waves. "If you enter my office, you are invited by me. No one who is invited would like to give me headaches," Brundtland said at a news conference in Oslo, Norway, where she attended an international conference on cancer.

Perhaps Dr. Brundtland should surf over to the AFDB web site.

Cell phone users often give me headaches too, Gro. But it isn't the electromagnetic waves.

Dubya! Cleanup on aisle 7! William Safire hits the Voice of America which has been infiltrated by the worst of Clinton-era relativists. They love to provide free air time for terrorists but seem more than a little hesitant in their support for America. Prime example:

Andre de Nesnera was given an award by the American Foreign Service Association for "constructive dissent" in refusing to follow the suggestion from State last September to deny terrorists U.S. airtime. Champagne corks popped, Secretary Powell's presence was taken to be an official apology, and de Nesnera was hailed by foreign service officers for "the courage to challenge the system from within."

How about letting Andre challenge the system from without?