000608.html

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 08 Jun 2000 12:00:00 GMT

[new stuff at the end, twice]

Here's the bumper sticker covered truck I told you about on Monday. Click on it for a slightly cropped high-res version. It doesn't quite fit on a 1024x768 screen, but you can read all the signs (300k, 1108x916).

NicholasTruck640x480: My friend Nicholas has a truck that is plastered with bumper stickers.

Kevin Tuma - Liberals on Father's Rights. Oh my.

And the news about the injustice department's attempted split-up of Microsoft is everywhere. Today's Scripting News has lots of them. Yesterday's, too. Mr. Gates should spend a few billion dollars on defensive weapons, and tell the feds, "Come and get me, a**holes". Only kidding, but it would be great to see someone put the nannies in their place.

David Allison & Bill Gates - Bill Gates Interview: David Allison is from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. This is a transcript of a video history interview he did with Bill Gates in Redmond. It's very long. I haven't read it yet except to skim the headings. Likely interesting. [brianf]

Centers for Cognitive Liberty via Cannabis News - Federal Anti-Ecstasy Bill Extends Zero-Tolerance: just in case the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act doesn't make it past the house, senators Graham, Grassley, Thomas, and Biden have introduced The Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act of 2000 (S. 2612). Same first amendment killing idea, different chemical. It should be a felony to introduce or vote for such a blatantly unconstitutional bill. I'm not kidding. Bill of Rights Enforcement! The bill is not yet available from Thomas, but its house counterpart, H.R. 4553, the Club Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2000, contains the same language, making it a 10-year federal felony

`(A) to teach or demonstrate the manufacture of a controlled substance, or to distribute by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture, acquisition, or use of a controlled substance, with the intent that the teaching, demonstration, or information be used for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a crime; or
`(B) to teach or demonstrate to any person the manufacture of a controlled substance, or to distribute to any person, by any means, information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture, acquisition, or use of a controlled substance, knowing or having reason to know that such person intends to use the teaching, demonstration, or information for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes an offense.

Dan Mindus at National Review - Drug-War Casualties: another screed against the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act: [cn]

The provisions of the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution may soon join those of the Second, Fifth and Tenth as the "neglected rights." They are about to become civilian casualties of the war on drugs.

ChordApp is a Java application for experimenting with chords. You tell it a chord and it tells you which scales work with that chord. Text only. No sounds. [meat]

michael at Slashdot (from the last-straw dept.) - Copyrant: Microsoft will stop allowing its vendors to ship an installation CD with their computers. Instead, you will get a recovery CD that is capable of restoring your machine's disk to its original state. Mucho ranting from michael and others. [cafe]

DaveNet by Dave Winer - What the Web Wants: I agree with Dave as to what I would like Microsoft to do. Why he expects the government to be part of that fix while at the same time realizing that the government is no friend to the web, I don't comprehend. Whacking Microsoft with a government club isn't going to help anyone but the government. And it opens the door for the feds to start whacking other computer industry companies. Don't do it. If you want Microsoft to change, hit them in their pocketbook by buying other products. [script]

Patricia Neill at LewRockwell.com - Teach Them to Read, And Let 'Em Rip! Many of Patty's heroes were self-taught. If we teach children to read and set them loose, they may become geniuses, too. [lew]

But public school children are not even taught to read! At huge taxpayer expense they are taught to look at words and guess what they mean. Can you imagine anything more inane than that? Yo! Public School Teacher - look at this word and guess what it means: STUPID. It isn't that these children are intellectually deficient - but they are kept ignorant, and it sure looks to me like it is entirely deliberate. Or maybe not. From what I've read of the huge numbers of teachers who can barely pass their teacher exams, perhaps they can't read either.

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History

Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

-- L. Neil Smith

Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

-- L. Neil Smith

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair