End the War on Freedom

From kaba:

From Joseph Riley, the guy who submits most of the Hafiz poems I print here:

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it... always. -- Mahatma Gandhi

From Quotes of the Day:

Being in the army is like being in the Boy Scouts, except that the Boy Scouts have adult supervision. -- Blake Clark

and:

Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

and:

After twelve years of therapy my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, 'No hablo ingles.' -- Ronnie Shakes

Kevin Tuma - Liberty Wept - Cartoon commentary. Serious. Good.

L. Pitts via Devon Hubbard - To Terrorists - Strong piece. I won't excerpt it. Mirrored here. [picks]

The Liberty Committee is asking people to write to their Congress critters. To do so, enter your zip code in the "Attack on America" box, and compose a message. I sent the following (BTW, my two senators are Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and my representative is John Sweeney):

The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were an unspeakable horror perpetrated by inhuman monsters. I fully support all efforts to find the remaining guilty individuals and swiftly send them to join their comrades in hell.

I will not support the killing of innocent civilians in countries thought to be harboring these individuals. If the United States does that, we are no better than the terrorists.

I also do not support ANY suspension of civil liberties for American citizens. You may not forbid encryption technology, further infringe upon our second amendment rights, institute new police road blocks or "papieren bitte" stops, etc. Doing so will make a mortal enemy of the people you most need on your side: American patriots. We are already angry enough with our government. Believe me, you don't want to make things worse in this department. Just the view from my saddle.

The FAA's new no-knives policy is a joke. Institute real airplane security by being absolutely sure that there are multiple trained people on every airplane who are armed and ready to defend against future attacks. At the very least, the pilots and crew should be armed. Undercover martials are also a good idea; works for Israel. This policy must be advertised. Hijackers must know that the instant they identify themselves, they will die. I personally think that airplanes would be safer if passengers qualified to carry concealed were permitted to carry on board, as long as they use frangible bullets in their ammunition, but I have a feeling that my two senators will have a problem with this, victim disarmers that they are. Maybe it's time for you two to reconsider...

My blessings go out to the families of the victims and to peace-loving people everywhere.

New FAA Rules Post 9/11/2001 is a memo I received via office email from our travel agent. What a crock! Airline carry now!

Dave Winer's DaveNet - Mir Tamim Ansary on Afghanistan - Mr. Ansary has been in America for 35 years, but he still keeps track of events in his motherland. He hates Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. He makes it crystal clear why we should not even consider bombing Afghanistan back to the stone age. It's not just the injustice of killing innocent people, it's the harsh reality that bombs would do nothing to the guilty parties. Only ground troops have a chance of getting Bin Laden. To get to Afghanistan, you have to go through Pakistan, and the Pakistanis are not likely to allow that without a fight. [wood s lot]

But the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think "the people of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration camps." It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would exult if someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their country.

Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban? The answer is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt, incapacitated, suffering. A few years ago, the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan , a country with no economy, no food. There are millions of widows. And the Taliban has been burying these widows alive in mass graves. The soil is littered with land mines, the farms were all destroyed by the Soviets. These are a few of the reasons why the Afghan people have not overthrown the Taliban.

We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it already. Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level their houses? Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done. Eradicate their hospitals? Done. Destroy their infrastructure? Cut them off from medicine and health care? Too late. Someone already did all that.

George Bush via Sierra Times - National Emergency Proclamation - Yesterday, GW declared a national emergency. [sierra]

Now, therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001, and, pursuant to the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), I intend to utilize the following statutes: sections 123, 123a, 527, 2201(c), 12006, and 12302 of title 10, United States Code, and sections 331, 359, and 367 of title 14, United States Code.

Here's a summary with links to the U.S. code at Cornell. The sections Mr. Bush said he intends to utilize all seem to me like reasonable war-time military requirements. I'm no legal researcher, however. I just followed the numbers above and read what I saw and what was directly referenced.

• 50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq. - I assume that "et seq." means the rest of chapter 34: "National Emergencies". It could mean the rest of title 50. This has details about how the president should announce and end an emergency, gives Congress the right to end the emergency with a joint resolution, and requires Congress to consider such a resolution every six months. Most importantly, Sec. 1631 requires the president to specify the sections under which he will act. I.e. he can't invoke any emergency powers other than the ones listed here until he announces that intention.
• Title 10, Sec. 123: Authority to suspend officer personnel laws during war or national emergency. No biggy.
• Title 10, Sec. 123a: Suspension of end-strength limitations in time of war or national emergency. I have no idea what an "end-strength limitation" is, so I don't understand this. That's all it talks about, however.
• Title 10, Sec. 527: Authority to suspend sections 523, 525, and 526. That's all it says. You have to read those sections to know what it means.
• Title 10, Sec. 523 - Authorized strengths: commissioned officers on active duty in grades of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel and Navy grades of lieutenant commander, commander, and captain. Suspending this means that there is no limit on the number of commissioned officers.
• Title 10, Sec. 525 - Distribution of commissioned officers on active duty in general officer and flag officer grades. Similar to 523.
• Title 10, Sec. 526: Authorized strength: general and flag officers on active duty . More of the same.
• Title 10, Sec. 2201: Apportionment of funds: authority for exemption; excepted expenses. Elminates spending limits for active duty military forces.
• Title 10, Sec. 12006: Strength limitations: authority to waive in time of war or national emergency. Says the president can suspend sections 12003, 12004, & 12005. More authority to ignore armed forces size limitations.
• Title 10, Sec. 12302: Ready Reserve. He can call members of the "Ready Reserve" to active duty. I think this means that the various Guard units (Army National Guard, Air National Guard, are there more?) can be sent to fight.
• Title 14, Sec. 331: Recall to active duty during war or national emergency. Retired Coast Guard officers may be reactivated.
• Title 14, Sec. 359: Recall to active duty during war or national emergency. Retired Coast Guard enlisted members may be reactivated.
• Title 14, Sec. 367: Detention beyond term of enlistment. Enlisted Coast Guard members may be retained beyond the end of their enlistment up to 6 months after the end of the war.

Jerry Pournelle - What Must Be Done? - Mr. Pournelle wants monuments in Nablus, Gaza, Baghdad, Damascus, Kabul, Libya, maybe other places. A million square feet. Done peacefully after the residents have left if possible, or violently if necessary. I have no immediate response to his idea. Nothing in me says, "Yeah! Right on!", and nothing says, "That would be wrong." [pournelle]

We must do something.

For a start: we know the places where they rejoiced and danced in the streets in celebration of the falling of the towers. Those streets and all their buildings should become monuments: not one stone stands upon another. Level the rubble so that a troop of cavalry could ride across where they stood and not one horse stumble. Then sow salt on those grounds. They will be left as monuments, visible from the air, visible from space: monuments to dead Americans.

"But we did not do it! We only -- we only rejoiced that you would see what it is like."

"You chose the wrong friends. Next time make better friends. You may take what you can carry. You have five minutes, then the bulldozers will flatten this area. Get out of here. And of course if anyone is stupid enough to fire on us, the Marines are eager. Aren't you, Sergeant?"

"Sir. Yes, sir."

Jerry Pournelle - War Mail - Some of the email Mr. Pournelle has received about the tragedy and his idea above. [pournelle]

Jerry Pournelle - The Black September War - Jerry is creating a series of pages on the 9/11 atrocities. So far there's only a link to the two pages above. [pournelle]

John McCabe at loony.org - Small Moves - Mr. McCabe reveals part of what's in his heart today. [loony]

bob lonsberry - Would We Do the Same? - good account of the story of the heroes in the airplane that went down outside of Pittsburgh.

J.J. Johnson at Sierra Times - Rules of Engagement: Don't disarm Soldiers on the Battlefield - America is now a country at war. We are the warriors. We must be armed. Some down-to-earth suggestions for what must be done right away. [kaba]

Front Sight - Free Gun Training for Commercial Pilots - Front Sight does it again. After the Columbine shootings they offerred free training to school security monitors. Now they're offerring free training for pilots and copilots. Bravo! [kaba]

Liz Michael at KeepAndBearArms.com - September 11 - How Could This Happen - What Must Be Done - a long article with many good points. The excerpt below is only a fragment of her thesis, but I liked it. [kaba]

Moreover, if the United States government, as an answer to this tragedy, decides to institute a police state, ostensibly for the protection of the American people, then it has ANOTHER problem. A much bigger problem than Osama Bin Laden. Namely, American patriots. American patriots are not going to tolerate a police state. And American patriots, more than any other set of people, best know every single point of weakness of the various standing governments. And they constitute a much greater number of people than any official figures could ever account for.

American patriots are the LAST enemy the federal government wants to have. Because they are the very people most capable of taking down the standing government. Of course, such a confrontation, which would make the War Between the States look like a picnic, need never happen. American patriots WANT to be friends with the federal government. All the government needs to do to be the friend of American patriots is to do their constitutional duty. It's really that simple.

J. Neil Schulman at KeepAndBearArms.com - Rubble Without A Cause - J. Neil jumps on the bandwagon of replacing airport non-security with real airplane security. [kaba]

I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!

I've been saying it as loudly as I could for over ten years. I've written books and articles, spoke on radio and TV, gave speeches.

If you disarm the people -- if you make them give up their guns when they get on a plane, go into a post office, get taken out to the ball game -- then there will never be enough police officers to go around when the bad guys decide to strike, without warning, at a time and place of their own choosing.

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership - Only In Decency and Justice Will America Remain Free - condemns attacks on American Muslims and warns against reduction of civil liberties by government. I got this via email. The URL wasn't up at the time, so I guessed it. [jpfo]

JPFO calls upon all Americans to uphold the highest standards of decency toward all innocent persons on our soil. It's vital that America remains both a decent and just nation, and also a free nation.

We remain free when we hold dear the words and the principles of the Bill of Rights ... and not trade those rights for temporary security ... and not deny those rights to anyone in America.

Concerned Citizens Opposed to Police States - Black Tuesday and the Passive American: A Bill of Rights Culture Is the Only Answer - Why increasing Big Brother's power at the expense of our rights is not a solution to the terrorist problem. Strengthening our bill of rights is the solution. We must be able to defend ourselves. [jpfo]

Eric Pianin and Thomas B. Edsall at The Washington Post - Terrorism Bills Revive Civil Liberties Debate - Predictably, some our Congress critters are talking about eroding our civil liberties. But there are some rational voices in the storm. [ccops]

"We're in a new world where we have to rebalance freedom and security," House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said yesterday. "We can't take away people's civil liberties . . . but we're not going to have all the openness and freedom we have had."

...

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) took a hard line earlier this week, telling reporters that "when you're in this type of conflict, when you're at war, civil liberties are treated differently."

"We've been having an academic discussion and holding our breath in this area for several years," Lott added. "We can't do that anymore."

...

Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he feared that with anti-Muslim feelings running high in the country because of the highjackings, Congress might respond with action that would diminish the rights of Muslim Americans.

"We're getting reports every day of beatings, harassment, shots fired at mosques," Hooper said. "We know people's emotions run high, but our rights are not subject to circumstances, but are inalienable."

J.D. Tuccille at Free-Market.Net - Responding to terror with justice, not revenge - 9/11 happenned because the U.S. has been entangling itself in other people's business. We should not curtail civil liberties because of it.

In pointing to the obvious connection between adventures overseas and violent attacks on Americans, we need not take a position on whether or not the U.S. government is on the side of the angels or the devils in the conflicts in which it intervenes. No matter which side one takes, the losers will hate the intruders -- and will likely seek bloody vengeance against outside interference. An activist foreign policy has consequences that can be measured in human lives.

Vin Suprynowicz at Sierra Times - The Passengers Were All Disarmed - Vin joins the chorus for airline carry in his inimitable style. [sierra]

Will the Powers That Be conclude, "Well, we tried disarming law-abiding Americans and running the metal detectors and scanning the bags; that obviously didn't work. So, we might as well try the Archie Bunker plan"?

(Decades ago, leftist series creator Norman Lear had Carroll O'Connor's lead character in the TV show "All in the Family" propose the best way to prevent airline hijackings was to issue loaded firearms to the passengers upon boarding, collecting them again as the travelers disembarked. "Norman Lear obviously thought the notion represented the very height of right-wing absurdity," my friend, novelist L. Neil Smith, wrote to me last week. "But somebody tell me -- now -- how an aircraft full of well-armed people could be hijacked and used against civilization the way four were today.")

No, there will be no restoration of the Second Amendment in once free and fearless America. Instead, fulfilling a pretty good definition of insanity, what they'll do is a whole lot more of what already hasn't worked.

Thanks to Mike Gunderloy of LarkFarm.com for including BlogMax on his Weblog Madness: Roll Your Own page.

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