The Freedom Bulletin

Nine teenagers were indicted on Friday in the death of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide in South Hadley, MA because of bullying. According to prosecutors, the day that Phoebe died, she was harassed in the library, in the halls, and on her way home from school. This torment had gone on for three months leading up to her death. Some of the charges include criminal harassment and violation of civil rights with bodily injury resulting.

I think this is a step in the right direction. The law ought to recognize verbal and emotional assaults on people as violations of their rights just as physical assaults are.

In urelated news, there was a hearing today for alleged Craigslist killer Philip Markoff. He gave a DNA sample to prosecutors, which can only be used in his two Massachusetts cases, not run through national databases. The next (and most likely last) pretrial hearing will be on May 25, when a trial date will be set.

Michael Riley was convicted on Friday of first-degree murder for giving his 4-year-old daughter so much psychiatric medication that she died. He will be sentenced to life in prison without parole, as is mandatory in Massachusetts for first-degree murder.

I wrote about this case earlier, when Rebecca’s mother, Carolyn, was on trial for similar charges. She was convicted of second-degree murder last month.

I completely agree with the first-degree murder conviction. Giving a child mind-altering medication is not acceptable, let alone so much medication that she ends up dead.

In more good news, the psychiatrist who diagnosed Rebecca with various mental disorders and prescribed her several psychiatric drugs, will be investigated by the Board of Registration. She was investigated before but allowed to keep her license. Hopefully the Board will make the right decision this time and she will not be allowed to diagnose any more perfectly okay kids with disorders and fill them with mood-altering medications ever again.

I am proud to announce that this blog has a new name: The Freedom Bulletin. Along with the new name comes a new domain – this blog can now be accessed at TheFreedomBulletin.com.

The content of this blog will not be changing; I was just getting sick of the old name and felt that it was time for a change. For a long time I have considered this blog just a part of my other site, ImperialKingdom.net, and I wanted a name that matched. However, I think it’s time for this blog to have its own identity and its own name which better refects what it’s all about. Although I blog about a variety of topics, from politics to law to entertainment, most of what I write about has to do with freedom in some form or another, be it political freedom, economic freedom, or simply the freedom to be oneself. There is nothing that I believe in more than freedom, and I think of this blog as a way for me to advance that cause.

I hope you like the new name; I know that I do! Welcome to TheFreedomBulletin.com!

These two videos really show the difference between the supporters and opponents of the “health care reform” bill. First is Vice President Joe Biden, who was classy enough to drop an f-bomb during the bill-signing ceremony.

And here is Republican Minority Leader John Boehner, giving a truly remarkable speech against the health legislation. Boehner’s speech was passionate, genuine, and courageous. It is truly one of the best speeches I have ever heard. For the last few years I have felt that the Republican Party has been losing its way. Most of its leaders have been speaking in platitudes, seemingly saying whatever is popular and standing for nothing. But Boehner’s speech changed that. Listening to him made me feel that he really stands for something and made me proud of the Republican Party. So did all of the other Republicans who took the floor on Sunday, and all 211 representatives (Republicans and Democrats) who voted against the health bill. Although the GOP is not perfect, and probably neither is Boehner, he and his party stood up for freedom, and I salute them for it.

So there you go: on one hand, the Democratic VP dropping an f-bomb on one of the most momentous (albeit in a bad way) occasions of Obama’s presidency, and on the other hand, the Republican minority leader bravely speaking out for freedom.

Yesterday the House of Representatives passed the Senate’s health “reform” bill, which will soon be signed by President Obama and become law.

This is a dark day for freedom. The medical system in America (and in much of the world) is terrible. All this legislation does is makes it even more terrible. Almost none of the things that make our medical system terrible (the Durham-Humphrey Amendment, the culture of dependence and paternalism between doctors and their customers, ridiculous prices, insurance companies covering things that are discretionary, et cetera) are even addressed by this legislation. Instead, the legislation leaves this terrible medical system as it is and forces everyone to take part in it.

But people who believe in freedom will not give up. The majority of the American people oppose this bill. I was inspired by the protests by people all across the country and by the brave Republicans who spoke out against the legislation in Congress. I also admire the 34 courageous Democrats who broke with their party to vote against the bill. There will certainly be reprisals at the ballot box against the legislators who assaulted our freedom by voting for this bill. Additionally, Idaho and Virginia have passed laws against the individual mandate to purchase insurance, and there is a good chance other states will, too. At least two state Attorneys General will file lawsuits against the mandate, which will likely make their way to the Supreme Court. Considering that the individual mandate is blatantly unconstitutional, I’d say the Attorneys General have a good chance of winning.

The battle for freedom will never be over, and I will not stop fighting until this legislation is repealed.