Manifest Destination: December 2007

"The forgotten man... He works, he votes, generally he prays, but his chief
business in life is to pay." - William Graham Sumner

So sets the stage of the new book, The Forgotten Man, by Amity Shlaes. Miss Shlaes uses her experience, as a financial columnist and historian, to take a new look at The Great Depression. Specifically, FDR's impact on the economy, and Sumner's forgotten man, during that time. This is history I never learned in school. The focus is on citizens, not programs, and how they fared under the New Deal.

FDR's merciless attacks on "big business."

His attempts to pack the Supreme Court.

The creation of special programs, via Executive Order, with no oversight from Congress.

The Federal Government's entry into the utilities industry.

The second Crash in 1938.

The personal stories, and intriguing facts and detail, keep The Forgotten Man from being a drab read. As a conservative, an interesting observation struck me: In an effort to get more cash in circulation, FDR did not call for tax cuts to put more money in the hands of consumers to spend in the free market. President Roosevelt demanded more government programs.

I highly recommend this book.

From the National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=145182

At first, Joe Horn appears to be doing his neighbourly duty. When he sees two men allegedly breaking into a home on his street in suburban Pasadena, Tex., in the middle of the day, he dials 911.

But the 61-year-old's call quickly takes a decidedly unneighbourly turn.

"I've got a shotgun. Do you want me to stop 'em?" he asks the emergency dispatcher less than 20 seconds into the call.

"Nope, don't do that," the dispatcher replies. "Ain't no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?"

Moments later, Mr. Horn defies the dispatcher and steps outside.

"Move, you're dead!" he can be heard saying on the Nov. 14 audio recording.

Then comes the sound of several shotgun blasts. Mr. Horn returns to the telephone.

"Get the law over here quick," he says. "They came in the front yard with me, man. I had no choice."

Police arrived soon afterward to find two men with gunshot wounds; both died.

That was three weeks ago, but Mr. Horn has not been charged with any crime. Police are waiting for a grand jury to decide whether to indict him. The case has divided Texans into two camps: Those who support the shooter's apparent vigilantism and argue his actions were reasonable under the Second Amendment; and those who say he is a murderer whose actions may have been racially motivated.

Mr. Horn is white. The two dead men -- Miguel Antonio DeJesus, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30 -- were black.

Pasadena Police expect the grand jury to be convened in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, tension is mounting.

The New Black Panther Nation, a black activist group, led nearly 200 protesters to Mr. Horn's otherwise quiet street for a rally on Sunday. They were met by a roughly equivalent number of his supporters; bikers revved their engines to drown out Quanell X, the New Black Panther Nation's leader, when he tried to speak.

"We don't condone anyone breaking into anybody's home and stealing. But we also don't condone a citizen becoming the police, the judge, the jury and the executioner, all at the same time," Quanell X said in a telephone interview.

"We believe that a system of law is in place, that every human being is granted due process in the system of law. Mr. Horn circumvented that, abandoned that and literally threw that whole due-process system away."

Local newspapers and radio talk shows have also been deluged by responses from Mr. Horn's defenders.

"If we had justice like this for all criminals, this would be a much safer country," one supporter wrote on YouTube.

"I believe what Joe did was right and I applaud him for it. And if you're some worthless human being that has to go steal other people's hard-earned possessions, you deserve to die."

On the 911 recording, which is widely available on the Internet, Mr. Horn repeatedly tells the dispatcher he is not going to let the men get away. At least 11 times, the dispatcher advises him not to leave his home or shoot.

An investigation is still under way, but a spokesman for the Pasadena Police said it appears Mr. Horn shot the two men after he turned a corner and found them in his yard.

Police estimate he was two to three metres from the men. One was hit in the chest, another in the side.

The victims began running in opposite directions, but both soon died, said Captain A. H. "Bud" Corbett. He described Mr. Horn as sounding "aggressive" in the recording.

"If Mr. Horn had just walked out and blown away two people walking by on the sidewalk, he'd have been locked up, and he probably would have been charged," Capt. Corbett said. "But that is not the case."

Tom Lambright, Mr. Horn's lawyer, insists his client was simply defending himself because the men "made lunging movements."

"He's trying to protect his own life," Mr. Lambright said recently. "He's scared."

The recording also indicates Mr. Horn keeps up to date on his rights. At one point, he lectures the dispatcher and reminds him he has the right to protect himself, and "the laws have been changed in this country since Sept. 1, and you know it and I know it."

This is thought to refer to a new state law strengthening Texans' right to defend themselves in their homes, vehicles and workplaces. The so-called "castle doctrine" took effect on Sept. 1.

Guns are easy to acquire in Texas and most are unsympathetic to the plight of criminals. The state leads the U.S. in executions: 405 since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s.

"Texas is a frontier state. It has a lot of tradition in terms of people being able to protect themselves," said Fred Moss, a professor of criminal law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"What disappoints me is that the vocal minority gives the image of Texas as being a bunch of gun-toting, chest-thumping, macho types who think you ought to be able to gun burglars down as they run away."

If the grand jury decides not to indict Mr. Horn, Quanell X will lead another march back through the quiet suburban neighbourhood and directly to his door.

He expects it will be necessary. "We live in the deep South," he said. "And in the deep South a white man killing a black men is as common as apple and cherry pie."