The American Zone
Would you think it odd if Hafiz said,
"I am in love with every church
And mosque
And temple
And any kind of shrine
Because I know it is there
That people say the different names
Of the One God."
Would you tell your friends
I was a bit strange if I admitted
I am indeed in love with every mind
And heart and body.
O I am sincerely
Plumb crazy
About your every thought and yearning
And limb
Because, my dear,
I know
That it is through these
That you search for Him.
(I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
From Quotes of the Day:
For every action there is an equal and opposite government program. -- Bob Wells
Received via office email:
Here's a moral question for you. This is an imaginary situation, but I think you will find it beneficial to think through this exercise.
The situation: You are in the Middle East, and there is a huge flood in progress. Many homes have been lost, water supplies compromised and structures destroyed.
You're a freelance photographer for a news service, you're traveling alone, looking for particularly poignant scenes that you can shoot.
You come across Osama Bin Laden who has been swept away by the floodwaters.
He is barely hanging on to a tree limb and is about to go under. You have to make a choice. You can either put down your camera and save him, or take a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of him as he loses his grip on the limb. So, here's the question...and think carefully before you answer it:
Which lens would you use??????
L. Neil Smith - The American Zone - the cover art for L. Neil's new book is now on-line along with an essay about its relationship to Bloody Tuesday. It is slated to ship in November. Yay!
My latest novel begins with the second most horrible prediction I've ever made, the destruction of a mile-tall building in Greater LaPorte by those whom many today are inclined to call "terrorists". The death toll is in four figures. (My most horrible prediction, in The Probability Broach, was that to deter the Chinese, Russians used nuclear weapons to put a crack in the Moon visible from Earth.)
Other disasters follow, and "the usual suspects" demand security measures that are completely alien to the North American Confederacy: a strong central government, an end to crossworld immigration and expulsion of recent newcomers, taxation, victim disarmament, even a compulsory identification system.
Sound familiar?
Well it ought to. What won't sound familiar is the way our hero, former homicide detective Win Bear, his wife Clarissa, and their pals Lucy Kropotkin and Will Sanders track down the villains and deal with them, based on the individuality of everyone concerned. And unlike the collectivist methods being proposed against those responsible for what happened at the World Trade Center on September 11, it will work.
Lux Lucre at L. Neil Smith's Webley Page - The Atlanta Declaration - a flash animation (54K) of L. Neil's famous quote from The Atlanta Declaration speech given at WeaponsCon I in September of 1987:
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.
Vin Suprynowicz - We have a volunteer - part of The Libertarian series. The Taliban has followed in the suicidal footsteps of Germany and Italy. In admitting that bin Laden is "in control of their forces", they have volunteered to be first in line for destruction by the U.S. military. Vin has turned into a real hawk. Down boy. Down.
If so, it's time to call their bluff. There are plenty of accounts for America to settle in the months to come, but there's no reason not to start with those who volunteer to step to the front of the line. The rest will have their turn.
Libertarian Party Press Release - Tennessee bus hijacking shows need for 50-state concealed-carry gun laws - More guns = less crime. It's time for government to get out of the way and let citizens protect themselves.
Given all this evidence, Job #1 in the war against terrorism should be to give Americans the right to own and carry a firearm, said [Steve] Dasbach.
"In memory of the victims of the Tennessee bus hijacking, every state should immediately pass a Vermont-style gun law, and make it reciprocal with every other state," he said.
"Politicians need to make it as easy for every American to buy and carry a gun as it is to buy a bus ticket. By doing so, they'll make it easier for the next would-be terrorist to buy a one-way ticket to an early grave."
UK Labour Party - Speech by Tony Blair, Prime Minister, Labour Party conference, Brighton 2001 - a long speech containing lots of socialist rhetoric. Well said, however. [mumble]
Andrew Orlowski at The Register - GNOME version 2.0 officially 'not of use to anyone' - Mr. Orlowski is no Gnome fan. I haven't tried it in a long time. A year or so ago it was too unstable to use. I hope it's gotten better.
