000725.html

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 28 May 2001 12:19:50 GMT

[lunch-time update at end]

I'm browsing with Opera 4.01 today. Haven't used it enough to tell how stable it is, but no crashes so far. Better than the last beta I tried.

Joel Sposky asks today for feedback from people who are involved in "international software development". Shaker contracts software development to SoftServe in the Ukraine. I wrote this {@Letter to Joel about Shaker and SoftServe}.

Will Ryu at Ars Technica - Honda Insight: Hybrid gasoline-electric car: A review of Honda's new Insight. If they build a 4-door version by the time I'm ready for a new car 14 months from now (when the Odyssey is paid for), I'll get one of these. I've had my eye on it for a while. Nice to see a good review. [newsmaking]

After the first few minutes of test driving my friend's new Honda Insight, I knew that I had to write a review of the car for Ars. Why? The left-brain reason is that the Insight is technologically impressive. It integrates a number of inventive fuel saving technologies - everything from advanced materials and construction to novel engine design - stuff I know will interest many Ars readers. The right-brain reason is that the car is just simply fun to drive. The whole package is so well balanced and so intelligently engineered that its main selling point - the incredible fuel economy - almost becomes an afterthought.

MSNBC - GOP sources: Bush picks Cheney: He's from Wyoming. Can't be all bad. [wnd]

Lots of discussion on one man's proposal to kill drug users over at WorldNetDaily's mail page. They save only a week of mail. Look for July 24 and July 25. Y'all know my opinion on drugs, but I'll repeat it just in case you forgot. I think all drugs should be legal. To quote Vin Suprynowicz: [wnd]

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.

There's a new issue of The Libertarian Enterprise. This one is mostly 3 views on The Patriot.

"Mom" by John Hoffman - Mr. Hoffman discovers that his Mom is not aware of the recent attacks on freedom. If she were, she knows how to respond:
Finally she replied. "Well, when the government starts doing those sorts of things, it'll be time for another revolution."
My jaw dropped, and I decided to drop the topic, also. The government has ALREADY started doing it!

Lindsay Perigo's Politically Incorrect Show - 24 July 2000: Today Mr. Perigo introduces us to a hero, Richard Mitchell, a professor of English at an American university who "has fought for the integrity of the English language against those who have sought to render it unintelligible." Mr. Mitchell's books are available online at The Underground Grammarian. More filler for my copious spare time. Added to my links page.

Dave Winer at Scripting News - Dear Scripting News Readers: Userland is about to deliver the next step in the development of Pike, as yet unnamed. It's a P2P platform, the first application of which is a way to play and share music playlists. Sounds neat. [script]

Richard Foot at The National Post via MarijuanaNews - Drug testing of employees ruled illegal -- Ontario Court of Appeal: A Canadian court has finally legally recognized the fact that a positive urine test for cannabis does not measure impairment. It only says that you've smoked or eaten it sometime in the recent past. [mjn]

Richard Cowan at MarijuanaNews - What Hath Breyer Wrought? The Debate Over the Medical Necessity Ruling: U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer recently ruled that there is a "medical necessity" right for access to cannabis. Mr. Cowan believes this is a big win for freedom. [mjn]

That said, let me also make clear that Breyer did not give us any rights. Our rights do not come from the government. Rather we were endowed by our Creator "with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
...
In short, what really happened here is that -- under the ancient Anglo-Saxon Common Law's provision for rights derived from "necessity" -- we have succeeded in loosening the grip of the tyrant.

Scott Harmon at KeepAndBearArms.com - Make Your Commitment Plain as Day: how Mr. Harmon deals with gun grabbers. If you like this excerpt, read the whole thing. There are lots more good ideas here. [kaba]

Here is my suggestion to you all. Work within the system with all your might as the others suggested. Once violence starts, it will be a terrible thing, and difficult, if not impossible to control. We had better be sure we have the right on our side and the will to prevail.
On the other hand, I suggest now is the time for all of us to start telling our gun control friends that this is an issue we will not compromise on any more. Here is what I have started to do. I do not argue with my liberal friends about gun control. I do not try to change their minds, I do not lecture them about the historical perspectives on the Second or the dangers of the power of the state. I do not mention Lott or a thousand other sources that speak so eloquently of the practical reasons to be armed. I do not try to explain the feeling of freedom that comes from the acceptance of my position as a citizen with the right and obligation to defend myself or our liberty. Instead, I ask them politely and calmly the following question: "Is gun control an issue you are willing to die for? Does this mean so much to you that you would give your life to make it so?"
I then explain that to the us, the Second Amendment is the keystone of the Constitution. It is the most important right to us. It guarantees all of the others. It is to us what the First of the Fifth is to them. I tell them in a cold, sober tone, that we have been backed into a corner by their side, and that is always dangerous to do. I tell them that by never once considering, much less acknowledging, the validity of our views, they have waged a war on our liberty that has forced us to consider an option that none of us would have thought possible just 5 years ago.
I tell them that just as no Black man would ever go back to segregation, just as no American would give up freedom of speech, that just as none of us would stand by and let the government herd the Jews to another holocaust, so will we never, ever give in on the Second. I tell them that we are at fault for never making this clear to them. I explain that while you may think this is something of little importance, it is the one issue that can, and will, lead to a revolution in this country. Not one other issue on the political scene has the power to do this.
I conclude by telling them, as calmly and rationally as I can, that I do not want war, I do not want to kill anyone; I simply want to be left alone to live my life as a free American. However, I know my duty to my ancestors, who fought at Bunker Hill, to my children, who are counting on me to preserve their liberty until it is their turn, and to every American who values our liberty today, and if they persist in attacking a basic human right, they can, and should, expect us to fight back.

N. Stephan Kinsella at LewRockwell.com - Let Kids Smoke: Argues that since the body heals after quitting smoking, that we can't claim that smoking causes serious long-term harm to children. Talk about your politically incorrect essay. Worth a thought. [lew]

But wait, it could be argued, the problem in this theory is that tobacco (nicotine) is addictive. The newly-minted smoking adult cannot simply choose to quit smoking, because of the addiction inflicted on this body when he was a minor. Thus, because tobacco is addictive, the kid is inflicting a long-term, permanent harm on himself, which a child is not competent to do.
Rubbish. Addiction is a myth. It is incompatible with free will. The 18-year old clearly has a choice to continue smoking or not. The fact that his body is chemically addicted to nicotine simply means that there is a cost incurred -- withdrawal symptoms, and the like -- if he chooses to quit smoking. But all choices have opportunity costs, and the choice to stop smoking is no different than any other in this regard.
...
So I say, let's bring back the Joe Camel mascot -- and recruit Barney, Mickey Mouse, and Pokemon while we're at it. Smoking is undeniably cool. Let people enjoy it when they can. Smoking is for the young.

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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