DoT exploring technology that would disable cell phones in cars

(The Hill) - The Transportation Department is looking into technology to disable cell phones in vehicles, according to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

"There's a lot of technology out there that can disable phones and we're looking at that," LaHood said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"A number of those people came to our distracted driving meeting here in Washington and that's one way," he said.

LaHood seemed to suggest that this technology has a good chance of making its way into cars.

(Full story)

The right to travel pre-dates the TSA

Writes Michael S. Rozeff on the LewRockwell.com blog:

According to a UCLA Law Review source dating from 1975 and written by Stewart Abercrombie Baker, Magna Carta (ch. 42, 1215) "guaranteed free passage into and out of the realm." "Blackstone's Commentaries proclaims a right to travel which includes 'the power of loco-motion, of changing situation, or removing one's person to whatsoever place one's own inclination may direct; without imprisonment or restraint, unless by due process of law.'" (volume 1, *134). "The right to travel was declared ‘natural and inherent' by the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776″ (ch. 1, para. XV (1776)). Article IV of the Articles of Confederation protected "free ingress and regress to and from any other State…" The Constitution dropped that language and instead incorporated the right to travel under the privileges and immunities clause of article IV, section 2. "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States." Baker writes: "The change was made not to disparage the right to travel, but because specific protection for the right would be redundant. Free travel was considered to be a necessary corollary to the 'more perfect Union' which the Constitution created." The Supreme Court has recognized this right in numerous cases.

I do not claim that the right to travel as interpreted by a Supreme Court of 2010 would allow the traveler unimpeded travel or prevent placing such a burden on the traveler that it would effectively foreclose travel by air. The Court would probably back the TSA and provide some sort of balancing test. I assert that such a test would be unconstitutional and would destroy the right to travel. I assert that the TSA's search procedures place a burden on the right to travel that destroys that right for millions of protesting Americans.

The TSA and other government agencies, however, are quick to remind us that traveling is merely a privilege.

Freer is better

(by John Stossel) - The 2010 Index of Economic Freedom lowers the ranking of the United States to eighth out of 179 nations -- behind Canada! A year ago, it ranked sixth, ahead of Canada.

Don't say it's Barack Obama's fault. Half the data used in the index is from George W. Bush's final six months in office. This is a bipartisan problem.

For the past 16 years, the index has ranked the world's countries on the basis of their economic freedom -- or lack thereof. Ten criteria are used: freedoms related to business, trade, fiscal matters, monetary matters, investment, finance, labor, government spending, property rights and freedom from corruption.

(Full article)

U.K. proposes all paychecks go to the state first

(CNBC) - The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.

The proposal by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) stresses the need for employers to provide real-time information to the government so that it can monitor all payments and make a better assessment of whether the correct tax is being paid.

(Full story)

Is "compulsory voting" the answer?

(NPR) - William Galston thinks the key to less polarization in the electorate is compulsory voting. It's the disaffected, the angry, who vote. The Howard Beales of the world. If everyone — including those in the less intense middle — voted, you would get fewer ideologues in office.

The Brookings Institution scholar is among those who are dismayed at the turnout in this country. Those in the wide middle of the spectrum are the ones who abstain from voting, and Galston thinks that's not good. Get more people in the process by making it easier to vote through things like liberalized absentee voting.

(Full story)

Tea Party "racism"

Alabama Senate votes to criminalize use of herb

MONTGOMERY (Huntsville Times) - The Alabama Senate Thursday approved a bill that would classify a herb known as Salvia divinorum as a Schedule I controlled substance in the same category as drugs such as heroin, LSD and morphine.

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, who sponsored the bill, credited Deborah Soule of Huntsville, director of The Partnership for a Drug-Free Community, with keeping the issue in front of lawmakers.

(Full story)

Ron Paul's speech at the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference

Welcome to Liberty Sentry

The purpose of this blog, plain and simple, is to help safeguard liberty by keeping a watchful eye on government. In order to do that, we must remain actively informed.

While you will find among these pages the occasional original essay or commentary, this site will mostly feature links to news stories that document the immediate dangers posed to freedom-loving citizens. Among these are the ever-increasing encroachment on civil liberties and the abuses of power on the part of those who refer to themselves as "public servants."

We, the people, must be vigilant and hold our government accountable. As Irish statesman John Philpot Curran once said, "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."