000215.html

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 15 Feb 2000 13:00:00 GMT
Another article in The Libertarian series by Vin Suprynowicz:
  • {@Bonus 2nd Amendment Dialog, part 2} concludes the exchange of part 1. "T.P.: Laws, however, are designed to protect the populace. If the populace decides that background checks and limited access to certain weapons are needed in order to afford that protection, that should be the law. V.S.: And do you also hold that 'If the populace decides that Jews shall be required to wear yellow stars on their sleeves, that they be made to live in certain specified neighborhoods, and that they shall be forbidden from owning businesses or attending universities, in order to protect the populace, then that should be the law?'... the stated purpose of our government is to 'secure our unalienable rights' ... not to 'protect the populace'..." <flame>Here is the crux of the entire political argument. Government exists to secure individual liberty. Period. Any other purpose guarantees tyranny. And I believe more and more each day that the preservation of liberty is also done better without government.</flame>

And there's a new issue of The Libertarian Enterprise:

  • The State of the Union, 2005: David Roberson reports on President Al Gore's first state of the union address. "No, our country's freedoms are not being lessened. Indeed not! Our freedom to have our government protect us as our leaders see fit, our freedom to let our guiding elite make the hard choices, and our freedom to follow laws crafted by the most qualified government officials -- these important freedoms have never been greater than they are today."

  • "Apple"'s letter about attending a gun show ends, "As I stood there watching this scene I felt proud of Americans for the first time in a long time. Seriously I almost felt high from it. And I realize that for a few hours I glimpsed what the world could be absent the state."

  • Vic Milan asks the operative question about Elian Gonzalez: "Has anybody asked the goddam kid what he wants?"

  • Jon Haupt comments on responses he got from his article in the last TLE issue. "I would suggest that whenever and wherever we encounter antigun metaphors, we must stop and clearly identify them for exactly what they are: rhetorical propaganda tools designed to persuade the listener to give up his or her fundamental human rights. GUNS ARE RIGHTS. GUNS ARE FREEDOM. Let's let our opponents defend against *our* metaphors! And the moment they begin defending, it will reveal that their 'reasonable' and 'common sense' gun control is nothing but rights and freedom control."

  • And of course a Vin Suprynowicz reprint, but still no article from L. Neil Smith. Guess he's too busy with his new books.

LinuxPPC - LinuxPPC Inc. unveils LinuxPPC 2000 at Tokyo Macworld Expo: Lots of new features. Partitioning is now much easier. Mac on Linux, so I won't have to shut down Linux to run my Mac sosftware. Yay! Can boot directly into Linux.

Wired - A Patchy Start; Apache's Strong A Patchy web server now serves over half the web.

Suck - IP, Freely: claims that the recent DoS attacks are made very easy by IP, the protocol of the net. Laws can't fix it, only "Moving to a more robust, more secure protocol" will control these attacks. I'm undecided on whether a more secure IP is a good idea. It's sorta nice that on the net noone knows your identity unless you decide to tell them.

Linux Demo Day is February 17. "On this date, Microsoft will be releasing Windows 2000, their eagerly anticipated 'new' operating system. While I am not a Microsoft hater, I think this is a good opportunity for Linux users to let end users know that there is a viable alternative. In this case, a very viable alternative." The Register has this article about it.

Simson Garfinkel at The Nation - Privacy and the New Technology: A good survery of the territory, but he wants more laws, even a new government agency. Please, no more laws. There are millions too many already.

Joe Farrah at WorldNetDaily - More money for IRS audits? As if the commander in briefs hasn't initiated enough political audits, now he wants to increase the reach of the Infernal Rabid Scum. "I think a reasonable expectation for every [congress] person voting for this plan would be to submit themselves for a 'voluntary' IRS audit. I mean it. Not just a simple review, either. It needs to be the full proctological exam."

InfoWorld Virginia House Passes UCITA Bill: and unanimously at that. Where's my handbasket?

The Register - Internet security firm RSA's Web site hacked: How embarrassing.

Central Europe Online - Hungarian MP Calls Cyanide Spill Worst Accident Since Chernobyl: A gold mine in Romania spilled 3.5 million cubic feet of cyanide. It is "killing off all life in the largest Danube tributary the Tisza in Hungary and the damage is spreading to Yugoslavia, experts said Sunday." Ouch.

Add comment Edit post Add post