Please Help Russ and Linda
If everybody who reads this would send just $5, we would get back on our feet and start paying off all the legal bills....
Linda Hamilton
PO Box 484
Charlemont, MA 01339-0484
Lew Rockwell at LewRockwell.com - Transformation of American Opinion: a speech given on February 2 at a seminar on Liberty and Public Life given by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, of which Mr. Rockwell is the president. Long, but worth the time. An upbeat piece. Though there is much despotism in America today, Mr. Rockwell believes that freedom is gaining ground. [lew]
We live in times that are both despotic and revolutionary. We know what despotism means. Never before has any people lived under a government this well-funded, this technologically sophisticated, this well-armed, which daily undertakes activities that would have been inconceivable to governments of ages past. The great tax and political revolts in history occurred under regimes that mostly look like paradises of liberty by comparison....
In 1969, when the New Left was proclaiming its desire for revolution, Murray N. Rothbard wrote a short but extremely powerful essay on the subject, one that penetrates to the essence of the issue. In those days, the word revolution still had an edge. It still caused people to sit up and listen. It was not used to describe a new line of toiletries or a new Congressional spending bill. It meant a wholesale turning over of political affairs marked by direct acts against the State, some nonviolent, some not. Often revolutions led to war. But they certainly ended in an entirely new state of affairs.
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Today, if a free-market economist makes an argument against taxes, he is called a tool of the rich. If he argues against race and sex quotas, he is called a racist and a sexist. If he argues against trade sanctions, he is called a tool of Saddam or Castro. If he argues against disability or environmental regulations, he is called an enemy of the disabled and clean air. These are not arguments but attempts to shut people up, which is just about all the Left can come up with. This is Marxism at work, throwing out rationality in favor of identity demonization.
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An amusing exchange occurred the other during the hearings on John Ashcroft, who once correctly wrote that the most important reasons for private gun ownership was to protect against tyranny. Ted Kennedy exploded in a tyrannical rage at Ashcroft for suggesting that the United States system of government could ever be tyrannical -- this coming from an architect of the tyranny.
Ashcroft, in keeping with the instructions he received from the Bush transition team, didn't respond to Kennedy's harangue. But wouldn't it have been nice to actually hear him explain what he meant? He could have quoted the founders on the issue of gun ownership. He could have upbraided Kennedy's strange arrogance in thinking that the US government is somehow, unlike any government in the history of the world, incapable of tyrannical acts. How glorious to have heard Ashcroft say what we hope he believes: that the Kennedys of this nation are personally responsible for the present tyranny, and that Ted stands as the living embodiment of why it is so important that the citizens be armed.
From the "How stupid can you get?" department. Colorado Freedom Report via Sierra Times: [sierra]
A man built his own home. In Logan County, at the time, the only inspection done was the state electrical inspection (about four years ago). The neighbor had used all plastic pipe for his water and sewer. The UBC said that the electrical must be grounded to the water pipe. The neighbor had grounded it in another way. Before passing the house, this inspector required the man to attach a ground wire to the plastic pipe! How stupid is that? But not unusual at all for the bureaucratic mind. The "rules must be followed to the letter, no matter how stupid."
Kent Snyder at The Liberty Committee - The Washington "Game": Yesterday Colin Powell visited the House International Relations Committee. His "time was up" just before Ron Paul's turn to question him.
Was this a coincidence? I truly don't believe it was. There are two reasons:1. Congressman Ron Paul is a well-known quantity. He was denied a seat on the House International Relations Committee when he first requested it in 1997, after a well-known, foreign-interest lobby sabotaged his bid. Why? Dr. Paul strictly follows U.S. constitutional guidelines against foreign entanglements and unconstitutional interventions -- and that includes all foreign aid.
2. Immediately after the adjournment was announced, just one turn before Congressman Paul's time to ask questions, a fellow member sitting beside him, leaned over to Congressman Paul and said, "Hmm..had a tough question for them, didn't you." (He knows how the system works.)
Tony Blankley at The Washington Times - Freedom under seige: In a few weeks, John McCain's campaign "finance reform" bill will come up for a vote. Mr. Blankley properly characterizes this bill as a gross infringement of the right of free speech. [zero]
Mr. McCain and Sen. Russell Feingold, in their currently pending campaign-finance legislation, believe that our First Amendment freedom of speech does not include the right of a political party — a free association of citizens banded together for political activity — to spend as much money as it can raise to express its beliefs regarding federal elections. Nor do they believe that within 60 days of a federal election certain groups of people (corporations and unions) may advertise on television and radio their views on the fitness of candidates for the offices to which they aspire. Others whom Messrs. McCain and Feingold would permit voice may do so only if in compliance with entangling federal regulations....
Take away the dollars, and you take away our right to meaningful speech. Disempower the public's right to organize and speak during elections, and you further empower and entrench the existing political and media elite, which will never rock its own boat. Do you love the status quo that much?
Reuters via CNN - New Mexico drug reform bill passes first hurdle: a bill that decriminalizes possession of an ounce or less of cannabis and legalizes its use for medical purposes has passed the New Mexico House's committee on public affairs. It has more committees, the full house, and the senate to go through before it becomes law. Governor Gary Johnson will almost certainly sign it, should he get the chance. I hope he does. [zero]
Bob Smith at LewRockwell.com - Another Shooting in the Public Prison System: A good explanation for the rash of shootings in government schools. Warning, homosexual (I resent the theft of the word "gay") contempt spoken here. [lew]
Liberal America is upset again. There has been a shooting in the prison system.This prison system, of course, goes by the name "public school district." This time it happened near San Diego. Prisoners in jails and penitentiaries get killed regularly. It is just that the majority of the American public has yet to realize that their public school systems are really nothing more than jails. They say libertarians and capitalists are deluded about the past. But they are the ones clinging to a outdated view of public schools, one that has not existed since educational ethnic and gender cleansing and union ownership of the schools. How else can we explain why they get so upset when an inmate grabs a weapon and kills some fellow inmates or guards?
Hands Off My .org is a web site spearheading an effort to prevent ICANN from spinning off .org to someone who will disallow anyone but a "non-profit corporation". This Letter from Verisign makes that intention a little more obvious than the ICANN proposal I linked to recently. [eden]
Andrew Orlowski at The Register - The open PC is dead - start praying, says HD guru: Hale Landis predicts a pessimistic future for the personal computer in the light of CPRM and its ilk. [wes]
So have fun fighting the battle against CPRM and alike but please do not be surprised when you fail, after all the war has been lost, long live the new world order: proprietary devices, proprietary interfaces, copy protection, limited functionality, and prepare you credit card accounts for all those monthly rental and service charges you will be paying for every "computer controller consumer electronics device" you use.
Apple Computer - Rip, Mix, Burn: Apple's new ad for their new custom CD making system. Very nice. Since I rarely watch commercial TV, I hadn't seen this yet. Took about 10 minutes to download over my 40K modem connection. Requires QuickTime. [script]
