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Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 28 May 2001 12:20:04 GMT

Top of the page quote from Unknown News, original is here.

"When I was a child, I often wondered what America would look like in the year 2000. Wednesday, when I turned on my television news, I found out. The image in the corner of the screen clearly stated 'America 2000,' yet what I saw was nothing like I had envisioned. I saw black clad, helmeted, body-armored troops, marching down city streets, in formation, with clubs and tear gas canisters. I saw protesters being denied their right to protest. I saw people fleeing for their lives. I saw politicians being coddled and pampered, as if some elite class, to be insulated from the bothersome voices of their very own constituents. I saw a 20-minute news report on the police department's high-tech ability to crush protesters in their tracks and not one minute on what the protesters actually had to say. I saw a government that fears its own citizens." -Mark McCrocklin, San Francisco Chronicle

Online Journal - ACLU to sue LAPD for attacks on the press: After shutting down the concert last Mondy, the LAPD attacked members of the press who were documenting their tyranny. [unknown]

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 16 -- The ACLU of Southern California announced it was filing suit in federal court today against the Los Angeles Police Department for its attacks Monday night on members of the media. After shutting down the concert in the protest zone across from the Staples Center, police attacked the frightened crowd with batons, pepper spray, and nonlethal bullets. Members of the media reported that police officers singled them out for attack.

ACLU Press Release - ACLU Challenge Ends Student Drug Testing in Maryland Schools: Good work, ACLU! As I've said before, my opionion of the ACLU is complicated. They vigourously and successfully defend free speech, but conveniently ignore the second amendment. They work hard to remove the concept of God from all public venues, which I find abhorent. Yes, the establishment of religion by government must be fought tooth and nail, but the expression of religious sentiment by individuals must be defended in all places. [unknown]

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk - Help for Those with Terminal Illnesses: Dr. Paul invents a non-socialist way to give people who need it more money. Bravo, Dr. Paul!

I have introduced the "Cancer and Terminal Illness Patient Health Care Act" (H.R. 4265). This legislation would exempt all persons diagnosed with terminal illnesses (or any form of cancer) from the employee portion of payroll taxes for as long as they continue to suffer with their illness or incur significant health care costs resulting from the illness. Compassion and common sense require that we adopt a policy that stops taking needed resources away from those suffering from terrible health problems. This legislation is a realistic approach to helping people pay for quality health care when they need it most.

I totally forgot to read last Monday's issue of The Libertarian Enterprise. Having too much fun at work I guess.

Why Compromise Will Never Work by Jonathan Taylor - Mr. Taylor reminds us of why the Libertarian party must stick to its principles. He also concurs with me that if Harry Browne or any truly libertarian person were to get even close to winning the presidency, they would suffer "a sudden and unexplainable brain hemorrhage that left a .40 inch hole in the center of their forehead."
It does not matter how honest your intentions are, compromise will never work with people who are dishonorable and have the destruction of everything you hold dear at heart. After all, what possible good are you to them? The Libertarian Party needs to remain strong, to remain principled, not out of any hope of changing the system, but based on the same logic as attempting to gain one million signatures on a petition to convince you to run for president - to show that there is a principled constituency that will not and can not be ignored. The party of principle must never surrender the one thing we have, that other parties do not, assuming it is not already too late for us as well.
Plenty of Frosting, Not Enough Cake by Minority Mike - Mike takes aim at voter registration drives and the war on freedom (er... drugs).
One of the facts of life is: Drugs are a fact of life! No culture known to man has ever been without them and all the laws on earth won't stop them. Waging "war" on drug users is nothing more than a government mandated scam for stealing money and property from private citizens who choose to escape reality with something other than alcohol. The chief casualty in this war is personal liberty and the perpetrators are a federal government gone mad with greed for this cash cow. The feds know very well that every time they take controlled substances off the street in the name of protecting us the demand -- as well as the price for them -- increases.
The Parable of the Good Cop by Mark Penman: A short account of the likely duties of a "good cop" in the near future. Or is it already that way?

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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