We're Winning
Stoop and you'll be stepped on; stand tall and you'll be shot at. -- Carlos A. Urbizo
Country Club 010807 is pictures I took at dinner of my parents and the Hugheses, a couple we've known since we first moved to Cheyenne in 1958. Probably not interesting unless you know us or them.
Thomas L. Knapp at poli-sigh.com - Tilting at Windmills - Mr. Knapp has promised us a bi-weekly column on this page. No hint at archives yet.
The libertarian idea is based on things that most of us learned at our parents' knees: Don't take other people's stuff. Don't throw the first punch. Mind your own business. It takes a concerted effort to marginalize these ideas, and all indications are that that effort, as undertaken by Republicans, Democrats and other worshippers of the omnipotent state, is cracking at its foundations.Lyn Bates at Women & Guns - Lessons in Reality: Susan Gonzalez, Anti-Gun Mom Turned Survivor - The story of a formerly anti-gun mom's violent conversion to always carrying a gun. [sas]
A friend of mine is fond of quoting Gandhi: "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Recently, the status quo has begun shifting its stance from the first two approaches to the latter. Pundits and magazines are referring, with no pretense of humor, to "the Libertarian threat."
This reaction demonstrates that the libertarian movement is beginning to capture hearts and minds. Were it not so, the old guard would feel free to go on ignoring us or making jokes at our expense. Victory is by no means assured, but it is attainable, because we have begun to draw the enemy into battle on our own terms: idea versus idea.
Declan McCullagh at Wired - Reporters Scowl at Face Scanners - the press is not happy about the latest Big Brother technology. As well they shouldn't be. [wired]
Libertarian Party Press Release - Your income tax "rebate" check: Will it leave you owing more money in 2002? - Did you, like me, receive a tax "rebate" check in the mail recently? Guess what? It's not really tax savings. Come next April 15, that supposed "rebate" will reduce your refund or increase the amount due. It's rebate and switch tactics from the criminals in DC.
Dave Winer's DaveNet - Dinners on Two Coasts - Dave contrasts his dinner in San Diego to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the PC with his dinner in New York with a bunch of geeks. The geeks win. Of course.