Head Dickhead Steps Down

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 02 May 2001 12:00:00 GMT

I'm at the Raddison hotel in Newport Beach near John Wayne airport. I didn't know there was a John Wayne airport. Did you? My hotel room has a high speed internet connection, but it doesn't work. The guy at CAIS told me last night that the hotel's "switch is broken". So I'm jacking into the net via the company 800 number. That is likely expensive, so my submissions are likely to be short today and tomorrow. At least the hotel isn't charging for the phone call from this end.

Dave Winer is 46 today. Happy birthday, Dave! Thank you once again for creating "Manila" and making it available to us via editthispage.com.

Camille Paglia at Salon - Bush vs. China, and himself - Ms. Paglia comments on the biggest story in gw's reign so far. She was shocked that Cmdr. Scott Waddle won't be court-martialed for crashing his sub into a Japanese fishing boat. Some barbs thrown at queen hitlary. Some kind words for El Rushbo. Applauds Herr Rudy for calling to abolish the New York City Board of Education. Some commentary on the war on freedom, er... some drugs. A couple of short movie reviews.

While it's true (as Salon readers have tartly observed) that my biases as a humanities professor may be showing, I still maintain that basic command of language -- not at all the same thing as eloquence -- should be a minimal requirement for the presidency. When, in his mid-afternoon formal statement after China agreed to release the crew, Bush simply read a prepared text and took no press questions whatever, he undercut his loyal staff's vigorous claims that he had been deeply involved in every aspect of the negotiations. It certainly looked as if he couldn't trust himself to phrase things right at a delicate moment.

Harry Browne at WorldNetDaily - Drugs, Downey, Strawberry, junkies and hypocrites - Robert Downey, Jr. and Daryl Strawberry have a drug problem. But it's their problem, not ours. Even while doing drugs they managed to show up for work and do a good job. Had their drug problem been a problem for their employers, they would have been fired by now. End the war on freedom, er... some drugs.

After all, what kind of role model is George W. Bush? He boozed it up, was arrested for drunk driving, apparently did drugs and became president of the United States. Now he puts people in prison for five or 50 years for doing what he did -- and he gets to call himself "compassionate."

Edward Walsh and David A. Vise at the Washington Post - Louis Freeh To Resign As Director Of the FBI - the head dickhead is stepping down. I'd rejoice, but gw's pick for the next head dickhead won't likely be any better. The only real solution to the problem is to fire all the dickheads, raze all the FBI buildings, and spread salt on the ground where they once stood. [grabbe]

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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