Cannabis Relieves Pain
pretty happy with my self-defense and sport-shooting equipment, modulo
the requirement for lots more ammo. Sadly lacking is an easily
concealable semi-auto pistol, but that will come eventually, either
via completion of New York's arduous licensing process or by moving to
a less socialist state.
My D&W 104W Belt & Clip Holster arrived. Self-portrait of yours truly wearing it below. The two people I've asked about it so far say it doesn't look like a holster. Guess I'll have to get a toy cowboy holster (real ones cost over $100). For Political Carry, as for most everything political, form takes precedence over function.
Vin Suprynowicz at the Las Vegas Review-Journal - Tear down Taliban ... not the Bill of Rights - a few ideas on what to do instead of fighting an impossible-to-win conventional war on Afghanistan.
On the other hand, if invasion and occupation are a daunting prospect -- not least because the assailants of Sept. 11 would love to polarize the rest of the Islamic world against us -- what's the alternative? Lobbing a few dozen cruise missiles at some Afghan "training camp," killing three terrorists and a goat? Dispatching Janet Reno with 98 black-clad BATF agents to pull up in front of Taliban headquarters in a cattle trailer, pump the place full of nerve gas, burn it to the ground, beat up a couple TV cameramen on the way home, and declare victory?
...
Restore the right of all law-abiding Americans to carry firearms whenever and wherever they travel -- I'll personally book a cross-country fare the first day a carrier advertises I can carry my firearm aboard, even if I do have to show my "concealed carry permit" and reload with frangible ammo.
The Libertarian Enterprise has a new issue: "Cliff 'Em All!". If you haven't yet read Vin's A Nation of Primping Fauntleroys Readies For War or Tear Down The Taliban ... Not The Bill of Rights or L. Neil's Columbine and Bloody Tuesday or my Political Carry, there's no time like the present. Other articles I liked:
-
On Attacking Nations That Harbor Terrorists by David M. Brown -
Mr. Brown quotes
Mir Tamim Ansary's article that was all over the web a while back,
and then talks a bit about how the U.S. government should respond to
Black Tuesday's attack.
I think we probably should "clear out the rats' nest" of the Taliban and also go after other countries that support and enable terrorism. I am persuaded that if we just go after individual terrorists, as if we were faced merely with a "criminal justice" matter, we won't be doing much to protect ourselves. What we must do is eliminate or at least cripple terrorist networks and sources of support. If not all of those networks, most of them. If not most, at least some. We're dealing with people willing to throw their lives away from the outset, and there are plenty of desolate young men now being inspired by the same training videos that revved up the hijackers, ready to take their place, just as eager to get to heaven by deliberating targeting and snuffing innocent human beings who pose no physical threat to them whatever. The governments that support and harbor and empower these terrorist networks are also the enemy.
-
America's Back In Business by Vin Suprynowicz - Vin wrote this
last Monday evening, after the DOW dropped almost 618 points. It took
only a week for America to get back to business after an attack
causing the most casualties in its history.
The markets did not "perform poorly" Monday. They did just what they were supposed to do. With a far more sweeping efficiency than any bureaucratic central planners could ever hope to muster, they began the process of reallocating resources to fit the world's new economic and political realities.
There could have been no selling Monday without willing buyers. If buyers "speculated" that they could make money by buying stock on the downturn, does that mean those buyers have given up hope in America? Just the opposite -- they figure the emotionally driven downgrade has gone too far, that the underlying value of the firms in question is higher than is reflected in current prices. They are in fact "betting" on America, or there would have been no buying Monday at any price. -
A Libertarian Response to Terrorism by William Stone, III -
Mr. Stone outlines the contents of his new website
deadterrorists.wrstone.com. He is devoting it to this story's
title. He thinks we should place a large bounty on bin Laden's head,
defile his body so that Muslims will believe he has no chance for an
afterlife in Paradise, then return America's government to strict
enforcement of the Bill of Rights.
A strict enforcement of the Bill of Rights will completely remove Federal foreign policy as it exists today. It will remove any reason for terrorists to want to commit such atrocities against Americans.
Further, it will enable Americans to defend themselves from the few individuals left who might commit terrorist acts WITHOUT incitiation by the FedGov. As pointed out previously, Bloody Tuesday would have been preventable were it not for the 20,000 illegal and immoral gun laws in the United States. -
Reflections in the Aftermath by James J Odle - Mr. Odle marvels
that Bloody Tuesday didn't happen earlier, proves that nothing short
of leg irons and handcuffs will prevent a hijacker from practicing his
art, reminds us of Washinton's admonition to avoid entangling
alliances, and wonders if we could learn something from Switzerland,
at peace with the world for over 700 years.
What I find most disturbing, coming from our politicians, are the cries of astonishment that acts of terrorism could happen here, on American soil. Friends, these acts are utterly predictable to anyone with anything resembling a brain. How do politicians expect to succeed in their 'profession' if they lack even the slightest understanding of human nature? Here, I'll make it very simple for you:
When you go through the world, taking sides, acting like a bully, thinking that everything under the sun is your freakin' business, sooner or later the bullied fight back. It's no more complicated than that. Period. End of discussion.
...
Bloodshed is the price of empire and when you station troops in more than 100 countries around the world, where they don't belong, you have an empire. Whether it is intended to be that or not. -
The Spirit of '93 by Jeff Elkins - a salute to the heroes on
Flight 93 and a clarion call for airline carry (and post office carry
and elementary school carry and courthouse carry...).
In the face of this display of raw courage, have we heard a clarion call for Americans to arm themselves? Of course not. Our government has decided that all pocket knives should be banned during air travel. Even the pitiful plastic knives used at airport concession stands and those issued with in-flight meals. There are now calls for members of the Delta Force to 'protect' us.
How disgustingly typical.
Federal Aviation Administration - Tell the FAA - "Share your thoughts, recommendations, and suggestions about aviation safety and security". Go to it, folks. [kaba]
Mark Helprin at the Wall Street Journal via Bob Barr in Congress via Washington Weekly - Thoughts on the War Against Terrorism - Rep. Barr read Mr. Helprin's 9/12 WSJ article to the House on 9/14. It is a call to a massive war. [ww]
The enemy we face today, though barbaric and ingenious, is hardly comparable to the masters of the Third Reich, whose doubts about our ability to persevere we chose to dissuade in a Berlin that we had reduced to rubble. Nor is he comparable to the commanders of the Japanese Empire, whose doubts about our ability to persevere we chose to dissuade in a Tokyo we had reduced to rubble. Nor to the Soviet Empire that we faced down patiently over half a century, nor to the great British Empire from which we broke free in a long and taxing struggle that affords a better picture of our kith and kin than any the world may have today of who we are and of what we are capable.
Howard H. Huggins at Washington Weekly - A New Start With "W" - Mr. Huggins continues his Dear Cousin W series. He asks GW to make up with algore, and then kick terrorist butt. But he says it in a much more entertaining fashion. [ww]
When we were children we had our parents and teachers to stand us up and bring us together with the other guy and insist we say we're sorry, promise not to do it again and get back to being friends. Generally that is accomplished by going back to playing together and learning to respect the other guy after all. Sometimes those jerks become our friends -- after we learn to work together.
Lets play ball. It is our best secular metaphor for how we should behave. We'll play football with the terrorists. In fact, let's play old time Eddie Shore hockey with Bin Laden and company. From time to time we may even have to lock the ref in the dressing room.
Joel Skousen at CentrExNews.com - The Bush Speech to America: A Critical Analysis - reads between the lines of the rhetoric GW spewed on Thursday last. [grabbe]
"Why do they hate us?" Bush asks rhetorically. "They hate what we see right here in this chamber, a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote." This is NOT why the radical Muslims hate us. If this were the real reason, terrorists would be attacking other democratic nations like Switzerland or Japan. The real reason they hate the US because it has become the bully of the world, intervening under globalist pretenses into every nation on earth. The proclaimed motive is always to "protect human rights," but the real purpose is to establish global hegemony over every nation on earth and reduce national sovereignty to a euphemistic label. Muslims and Arabs hate the West because the West has betrayed them for centuries and betrayed every agreements they have made. Finally, they hate the West because they are allied with Russia, who has faithfully supplied them with weapons and explosives (for its own hegemonic ambitions), and who is inexorably leading Islam into a future war with the West of horrific proportions. The globalist insiders who call the shots for Bush also want war to bring about their vaunted NWO purposes, and I believe that the true hidden agenda behind this proclaimed war on terrorism is to further antagonize and polarize the world prior to the coming war on the West. However it is probable that the young Bush doesn't know the ulterior motives behind his bold war of agitation. His father probably knows, but I think Dubya is just reading a script.
...
...The primary nations supporting terrorism are RUSSIA, followed by CHINA. Any bets about whether Bush is going to attack these two monsters? The new Bush war will be highly selective. That is why this statement is both true and a lie.
Steve Vaus - There's an Eagle - a new song by Mr. Vaus. The LoFi MP3 version is only 1.7 megs. Nice. He's sending free CD versions to radio & TV stations and asking for donations to cover the cost. [sierra]
NORML - Medical Pot Spray Shows 80 Percent Success Rate in Clinical Trials - Cannabis is an effective treatment for pain in multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury patients. I'm waiting for the o.n.d.c.p. lies, er... spin on this one. [market]
GlobalSecurity.org - Afghanistan - Darunta Camp Complex - Satellite photos of bin Ladin's bases near Jalalabad, about 100 kilometers east of Kabul. [script]
Dave Winer's Scripting News - John Perry Barlow pushes back, and I return the respect - a somewhat-interesting exchange between Mr. Winer and Mr. Barlow. [script]
Bob Murphy at anti-state.com - Private Law III - more on how a free-market justice system would be better in every way than the current coercive government one. Focuses on how this system would persuade companies to avoid selling bad products, eliminate the need for professional licensing, and handle dangerous criminals. [anti-state]
Kevin Poulsen at Security Focus - Yahoo! News hacked - Somebody got into Yahoo's web-based editing system via an insecure proxy server and changed the text of a few old articles. Don't believe everything you read. It may be hacked, misguided, or the result of lies to an interviewer. This URL does wierd thing to my browser. The first time I went to it, it moved to wws.editthispage.com. Where it got that address, I don't know. On reloading, it said "Transmission Stopped" for a few seconds, then finally went to the right place. Is this webmaster playing with my head? [Mrs K, Jim]
