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Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 13 Oct 2000 12:00:00 GMT

Friday the thirteenth with a full moon. Ow--ow-ow--ow-owwwwwwwwww!

wu-wei, " in Chinese Taoism, the principle of yielding to others as the most effective response to the problems of human existence." [brianf]

Robert Fisk at Independent News - Lies, hatred and the language of force: Mr. Fisk understands why there is violence in the Middle East, and why it was directed at the U.S. via the USS Cole. [lew]

I suppose it's the same old story. The Israelis only want peace. The unruly, riotous, murderous Palestinians -- totally to blame for 95 of their own deaths -- understand only violence.
That's what Israel's military spokesman said last night. Force, he said, "will be the only language they understand". Which is about as near to a declaration of war as you can get.

J.J. Johnson at Sierra Times - Dog Wagging in the Persian Gulf?: J.J. analyzes the hole in the side of the USS Cole. [sierra]

It's been said that whenever this administration gets in trouble, something blows up. After the last presidential debate, Gore is now in trouble. Hence, something blew up shortly thereafter.
In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, columnist Mark Helprin made mention of "third world submarines" that the U.S. military had failed to address. If these subs from the Soviet "fire sale" exist, perhaps they have now "addressed" US Naval forces in the Gulf. It may sound crazy, but a lot less crazy than suicide in a rubber boat attack on an American Destroyer in broad daylight.

Patrick Goodenough at CNS - Militant Yemeni Group Claims Responsibility for Warship Attack: more likely, IMNSHO. [sierra]

bob lonsberry - War of Hatred Takes Sailors' Lives: Mr. Lonsberry's take on the attack on the USS Cole.

T.L. Knapp - "Bumbo Direct" Raises Political Ire: Commentary on VoteAuction.Com, a place where you can auction off your vote in the election. Considered illegal by the socialists, it's really just the free market in action. It's been around since before the constitution, under the name of "bumbo", "after the rum punch that colonial candidates used to get the voters to sway." How to get rid of it?

The way to get bumbo out of our elections isn't to outlaw it -- that will just drive it underground. The way to get bumbo out of our elections is to rein in the power of politicians to hand out favors. Our representatives should be protecting our rights, not redistributing other peoples' money into their own bank accounts and the pockets of favored constitutencies.
Holding office in a government that substantially conformed to the constitution wouldn't be an opportunity for graft, it would be an opportunity for service. Politicians bound by the Bill of Rights wouldn't need to buy your vote, and they wouldn't have anybody to sell their vote to, because they would operate a minimal state that offered only a few services and offered them under unbreakable constraints.

The Misanthropic Bitch - Election 2000 Guide: The bitch promises that "this link will stay at the top of the page until we learn which candidate will maintain the status quo for another four years." Just about all the reasons she supports each candidate are exactly the reason whe opposes them. Hehe.

George W. Bush
Pro: He supports stronger penalties for first time cocaine possession. Unless one's last name is "Bush." I'm applying to change my name.
...
So, who am I voting for? As usual, I'm voting Libertarian. A wasted vote, you say? Probably. But so is voting for Deadwood or Shrub. Harry Browne is the closest a misanthrope can come to a perfect candidate.

Arianna Huffington - Crucible For The Drug War: tells the story of the arrest and conviction of 43 residents of Tulia, Texas due to a sting operation by one man. The evidence? His word. The sentences? Up to 435 years in prison. Race? 40 were black, 17% of the black population of the town.

On Friday, Bush called the drug war "one of the worst public-policy failures of the '90s." This was supposed to be an indictment of the Clinton/Gore administration for not being tough enough. But as Tulia -- in the governor's own backyard -- chillingly proves, the problem is not that we are fighting the drug war, as he put it, "without urgency, without energy." It's that we are fighting it without logic, common sense, morality, fairness, justice -- and compassion.
"People were being torn apart, their loyalty to one another crushed and ... common human decency was going down the drain." That was Miller about Salem and the witch trials. But it could have been about Tulia and the tragic consequences of the drug war.

The source for Star Office is avaialble at www.openoffice.org. Well, it will be after the thousands of slash-dotters get their copies. [/.]

There's a new article in The Libertarian series by Vin Suprynowicz, actually a reprint of a classic 1992 column:

Thoughts on the occasion of the October moon - an apt comparison of the modern day "war on drugs" with the witch burnings of yore. A few jibes at holloween costumes. How the herbal cures practiced by the "witches" were as scientific as any modern day medication.
But witches are not mythological creatures, of course. They were the very real practitioners of a religion which pre-dated Christianity in Europe, and which had coexisted quite peaceably with the new Christian church for more than 1,000 years, from the Council of Nicaea until the fateful year 1484 A.D., under the quite sensible rule of the Canon Episcopi, which instructed Christian clerics through all those years that -- in cases where sorcery or commerce with the devil was charged but could not be proven -- it was the accuser, not the accused, who was to suffer the penalty for those crimes.
Needless to say, this held false charges to a minimum.
All that changed after 1484, when an ambitious but ethically challenged Dominican friar and embezzler by the name of Heinrich Kramer managed to convince Pope Innocent VIII to set the Holy Office of the Inquisition onto the witches, using torture to extract confessions, authorizing anonymous accusations without any right for the accused to face her accuser, and granting the soon-busy witch-hunters the rights to seize and divide the estates of the accused (who were always found guilty), an invitation to systematic legal looting so foul that it was never allowed again in Western history ... until our current War on Drugs, of course.

Lindsay Perigo's Politically Incorrect Show - 11 October 2000: Libertarianz leader Peter Cresswell talks about taxes, armed robbery that due to gummint brain-washing the sheeple actually support.

The money for these vermin comes from the blood of good people. We must never forget that.

NHTSA via Cryptome - Drowsy Driver Detection Device Laboratory Validation: the DOT is seeking to develop a device which will watch a driver's eyelids and determine when (s)he is getting drowsy. Big Brother lives.

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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