000913.html

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 13 Sep 2000 12:00:00 GMT

From a co-worker:

One of my pet peeves is women who don't put the toilet seat back up when they're finished.

I have a wicked flu. Spent the entire day in bed yesterday, attempting to move around in such a way as to minimize the dull ache in my back. Crazy tape-loops in the brain. Thinking is a bit improved today, and the back pain is reduced in favor of a sore throat. Standing is difficult. Sitting not much easier. I'm only typing because I'm slightly bored with constant sleep. Ugh.

Recent photographs (46K) reveal new evidence concerning crash of recent Concorde flight! LOL!

Dave Polaschek - Governing by Unanimous Consent: in response to my quote from L. Neil's novels, Dave has written an account of a real trial of this idea in the Polish republic. Interesting.

I slept a lot, even ate and read a little bit. Still sick, though.

Dr. David S. Touretzky at CMU - Gallery of CSS Descramblers: Judge Lewis Kaplan has ruled that executable source code is not protected by the first amendment. Dr. Touretzky created this gallery to explore where the line could be drawn between executable source code and other algorithm descriptions.

Damien Cave at Salon - A bug in the legal code?: Discussion of how Dr. Touretzky and others are working around the letter of Judge Kaplan's ruling. Where this is all headed, specifically it's application to the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act. [/.]

In the long run, what the motion-picture and music industries want to do is take control of your hardware. They want everything encrypted: the disk drive, the monitor, even the wires that run between them. What they're doing gradually is outlawing all forms of reverse engineering. Eventually they'll decide what things you'll be allowed to watch, and under what circumstances. This is a battle for control of the PC. These are just the opening shots.
I think we're headed toward a dangerous time. There aren't going to be telephones, radio and televisions -- it will be one device. Unless the right kind of people take up arms, the government is going to say that you can't just hook up any computer to the Net. Only trusted machines can be hooked up. You could be running an approved version of Windows, or if you're using Linux, you would have to run a specific version of TCP/IP.
...
Kaplan not only banned publishing the DeCSS code, he also banned linking to it, on the grounds that links were too convenient -- they made it too easy for people to get their hands on what he wished to suppress. Note that he did not ban publishing the URLs as plain text; just linking.
Now, the implications of this are as follows. If the government has a compelling interest in suppressing DeCSS, doesn't it have a far more compelling interest in protecting our innocent young children from the hideous scourge of illegal drugs? And therefore, shouldn't our wise leaders be allowed to suppress speech that might serve to facilitate the manufacture or use of these drugs? Up until Kaplan, the answer was "Hell no! You can't suppress speech simply because you don't like the information it conveys."

Joseph R. Stromberg at AntiWar.com - War Is Dead, Hooray, Hooray: Ain't Gonna Study War No More: An entertaining exploration of the modern "peace-keeping" roll of the UN. War by any other name still kills. [lew]

Yet the bombs still fall, people are killed by armed forces, and everything under the sun can be brought in under Uncle Sam’s definition of legitimate military target. What can this mean?
I think it means that "peace-keeping" as a new name for war is the grossest imperialist imposture of our times. As Tacitus said of the Romans, they make a desert and call it peace. It's always good to be in charge of the definitions.
...
This is the psychology and language of empire. Warfare conducted within this framework corresponds nicely to the liberals' favorite overseas activity: the one-sided ideologically motivated massacre.

Charley Reese at the Orlando Sentinal - Scrap public education altogether: Hey! Charley has seen the light. My compliments to John Taylor Gatto. [lew]

Suzanne Gamboa of AP via the Tampa Bay Online Network - Sen. Gramm Says U.S. Currency 'crummy,' Wants New Designs: Mr. Gramm is tired of the old designs on our coins. He wants them to be more beautiful. I'll tell you how to make them more beautiful, Mr. Gramm. Start making them out of silver again. [lew]

Camille Paglia at Salon The true voice of the Amazon returns! Camille is back! Camille is back! She's not fond of either major party presidential candidate. Thinks that Christine Todd Whitman should have been our first female president. She is currently planning to vote for Ralph Nader. Camille. Camille. Two words. Harry Browne. She also shares her opinions of the VP candidates and their wives. Her favorite woman in the conventions was Condoleezza Rice, the likely head of the National Security Council in a Bush administration. Presidential material says Camille.

Of course I cheered when George W. Bush recently called a New York Times reporter a "major league asshole," and I immediately began a mental list of major and minor league assholes not only at the Times but at the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the New Yorker, the Nation, the Village Voice, etc. After a decade as a controversial public figure, I've seen them all! Their flatulence may be a major factor in global warming.

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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