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Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 05 Feb 2002 13:35:40 GMT

A new article in The Libertarian series by Vin Suprynowicz:

Gun-grabbers: masters of the New Plantation: Reminds us of the legal history of the second amendment. The right to keep and bear arms is not just for the militia, it is for all citizens. It is equivalent to the right to life. For without the right to self-defense, with extreme prejudice if necessary, there is no right to life. The gun laws were originally a racist ploy to deny blacks the right to keep and bear arms. This is one of the main points of Aaron Zelman at Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (jpfo.org). Now these laws been co-opted and amplified by statists in an attempt to disarm the populace so that we'll be helpless against tyranny.

Ariana Eunjung Cha at the Washington Post - Your PC Is Watching : Keith Little scans people's computers for "spyware". He finds lots of it. Bits of downloaded shareware that report back, via the internet, to corporate central. [unknown]

Claire Cooper and Denny Walsh of Scripps-McClatchy Western Service via Knox News - Medicinal pot ruling may have far-reaching implications: U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer may rule on Monday to allow medical necessity as a defense in federal cannabis possession cases. Too late for Peter McWilliams, but in time to save many other lives. [unknown]

David Wastell and Tom Gross at the electronic Telegraph - Clinton set to foot bill for Mideast settlement: Looks like Patty Neill hit the nail on the head in yesterday's essay. Klinton is trying to buy himself a place in the history books with $10 to $100 billion of our money. Your Slickness, you already have a place in the history books, as a treasonous communist rapist. Nothing you can do will change that. [wnd]

[5 February, 2002: Mr. Bushey wrote me the following email about the entry below]:

Bill,

That particular diatribe I wrote is probably taken out of context more than anything else I've written. It is, in fact, satirical. I wrote it from the perspective of the average anti-Microsoft slashdot reader. I am nothing of the sort. Could you please remove those quotes, or at least, preface them with the former?

Thanks,

J. Scott Bushey

J. Scott Bushey - Microsoft Professional Developers Conference Journal: one man's notes on Microsoft's PDC. Mr. Bushey rants on the adventure of renting a car in Orlando and getting to his hotel, lighting up a cigar in the non-smoking room he got when they wouldn't give him a smoking room. He liked a few things at the conference, but the only part of his trip to get an A+ rating was the Kennedy Space Center. A very entertaining article. It will likely move here when next Mr. Bushey pens a diatribe. [/.]

I have a healthy respect for any executive who evaluates me based on my thoughts and conversation rather than my appearance(check out the fudd-cam)...I intentionally dress down, especially at these things...just to see who the symbolism over substance folks are.
...
As per usual, embrace, extend, and extinguish was in full force. No mention of Java anywhere. In fact, the coffee booths didn't even have Java mentioned anywhere on their menus...and these were Starbucks booths... In fact, I learned later that presenters were barred from even mentioning Java...
...
When the COBOL guy got up to talk about COBOL support in the Common Language Runtime the hall emptied. It was like the stench of death was in the air, gathering around this poor slob in his "Got Cobol?" t-shirt.
Word to the Orange County Convention Center: You do not close bathrooms at the start of breaks to clean them, you close them during the sessions you idiots, I should have pissed in the middle of the escalator.
...
MS is holding their heavy use of XML-the MS way as proof they are open, while at the same time engaging in this anti-competitive Java crap.
...
Coworker and I went to Fish and Bones and had surf and turf. I had never seen a 24oz lobster tail before, it was awesome. Wanted to order the waitress to go, she did everything but sit down with us, it was a flirt-fest.
...
The sessions were mostly disturbing, with a little good news for web developers, but this time MS has taken embrace, entend, extinguish to the OS level. Hopefully a last final anti-competitive gasp before they are broken up. I really think this PDC has signalled the MS death knell. In 10 years, they'll be right up there with Kaypro and Visicalc. Its just gonna take longer. There was a banned list of topics, an insistance that there was excitement dispite none, and a general rumbling in a crowd of developers that are tired of being told that was isn't good for MS isn't good for them, when they know its not always true.
C# will die a slow death, and take a lot of saps with it, individuals hoping to adopt .NET technologies will have to learn it, and waste time doing it. XML is not a panacea, and SOAP will not convince the world that Microsoft is open, or on the cutting edge.

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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