Real Airplane Security
Google - Holiday Logos - a collection of those special top-of-the-page logos that Google uses on special occasions.
From Conversion to Islam's Islamic Jokes and Humor page. The others there are good too, at least to this Mulla Nasruddin fan. [brianf]
A certain conqueror said to Nasruddin:
"Mulla, all the great rulers of the past had honorific titles with the name of God in them: there was, for instance, God-Gifted, and God-Accepted, and so on. How about some such name for me?"
"God Forbid," said Nasruddin.
JRShow.com - Osama bin Dickhead - an artist's conception of what Never-been-Laiden's head looks like under that towel. Warning, likely highly offensive to some. J.R. also has bin Laden toilet paper. Hehe. Plenty more at JRShow.com.
Anonymous Coward at Slashdot - Pre Flight Announcement, 2002 - a fictional & humorous account of real airplane security. [kaba]
In the event of midair terrorism, a panel will open alongside the window seat, containing two lightweight automatic handguns. They are fully loaded, and extra clips are available in velcro straps. As the flight attendants are now demonstrating, to operate the pistol, simply draw back the slide and let it fall forward, then aim by lining up the slot in the rear site with the front site, centered on the middle of your targets torso. Depress the trigger repeatedly to fire. The pistol holds 10 rounds; after the last the slide will lock back. Depress the clip release button located above the grip on the left side, remove the clip and slide a new one into place. Please be careful of your field of fire, and continue firing until your target goes down.
W L Glick (Isa Das) - The Rabbi and I - I received a link to this via unsolicited email. I only read a little, but it looks interesting. It is a series of conversations between a devotee, a Hindu guru, and a Jewish rabbi, showing similarities between Jewish and Hindu spiritual beliefs. Hari Krishna, Hari Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hari Hari. Hari Rama, Hari Rama, Rama Rama, Hari Hari. Oy vay.
JPFO - A Message from Aaron Zelman - Apparently the article from Moshe Feiglin that I linked to yesterday was a test. It did seem a bit odd to me. But then, I deal in odd sentiments. It has been removed from the JPFO web site. [jpfo]
On October 7th, 2001, JPFO tried something new. We sent out an article by an Israeli politician, Moshe Feiglin, that many described as racist, bigoted, and hateful. I tried using unusual wording to evoke a response. Frankly, this kind of creativity was not appreciated and can be best described as a total screw- up. As Executive Director, I accept all responsibility.
Our unstated purpose was to gauge the mood of the public concerning our war against terrorists. Fortunately over 80% disagreed with Mr. Feiglin's political comments. What we did not plan on was that the possibility of a few of our subscribers thought JPFO was abandoning the Bill of Rights or making some radical change in policy.
Jerry Pournelle - Anthrax - a collection of email about Anthrax. Bottom line, it's fatal if inhaled, unless you are inoculated before symptoms appear. It does not spread easily from person to person. This link will move here next week. [pournelle]
Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk - America Retains its Sovereign Right to Respond to Attacks - We don't need to steenking commU.N.ist anti-terrorism treaty, nor do we need their world socialist government.
Oliver Del Signore at Backwoods Home Magazine - Explaining the use of force - Mr. Del Signore gives a good explication of the method that's been going around for convincing pacifists of the error of their ways. I could not use this method since I don't believe in the initiation of force, for any reason, ever. I was never a committed pacifist, but before my children were born I leaned in that direction. Now however, I could not imagine standing idly by while someone hurt one of them. "The most dangerous place in the world is between a mother and her children," applies to fathers too.
I began to move away from pacifism soon after I got married and abandoned the notion completely when my first child was born. I still believed one should avoid confrontation and violence whenever possible, but I realized one night, as I sat in a chair with my infant son sleeping on my shoulder, that if anyone were to try to hurt him, or to hurt my wife, I would not think twice about killing him. It was a sobering moment.
bob lonsberry - What To Do If Osama Stops by the House - Some practical advice for the unlikely event of finding yourself in the neighborhood of a terrorist. Escape and cover. Or attack and maim.
David Dieteman at LewRockwell.com - Paradoxes of Revenge - whole countries are not responsible for the actions of a few citizens. Nor are citizens responsible for the atrocities committed by their governments. [lew]
Many foreigners, then, like Americans as individuals, and perhaps like their American business partners, but they hate the American government. And, to repeat myself, there are many Americans who hate the American government, specifically, because it has shredded its constitutional limits and been transformed into the worst sort of unlimited democracy, when compared to the constitutional design.
What is the path to peace? Freedom. More particularly, freedom exercised in the marketplace. Free trade. By interacting peacefully and for mutual gain, human beings come to understand one another, and to recognize that others are needed to combat scarcity and achieve prosperity.
James Ostrowski at LewRockwell.com - Now I Understand - Mr. Ostrowski finally understands why the government has insisted on maintaining a huge standing army during times of peace. [market]
Since America faces no realistic threat of invasion from a foreign army bent on taking over the country, or bent on anything else, I previously failed to see the need for this gigantic military bureaucracy. Now, I know. We needed the Department of Defense to create the need for the Department of Homeland Security!
Tristan Petersen at anti-state.com Terror+ism - Guess what? Terrorism can't exist without help from the government. Illustrated very nicely with a down-to-earth example. [market]
The concept of terror can only exist in the minds of people whose natural rights to defend themselves have been taken away. "Terrorists" don't actually cause terror to occur. It occurs when the government says you can't defend yourself.
Massachusetts News - Second Amendment Rights Under Attack in Massachusetts - I discovered and reported here a while back that only residents with a license obtained from the chief of police in their town of residence may purchase guns and ammo in Massachusetts. In the light of Bloody Tuesday, many Massachusetts residents are discovering the ramifications of this newish (since 1998) law. Not only that, but it's hard to buy any handgun, license or not, since the dealers can't tell which handguns are legal to sell and the bureaucrats won't tell them. Ptui. [kaba]
In the days after the terrorist attack on America, quite a few law-abiding Massachusetts citizens realized that it might be a good time to buy a gun for self-defense. They then found out -- quite to their surprise -- that they could not just walk into a gun dealership and legally purchase a gun.
Ed Lewis at KeepAndBearArms.com - Silent Conquest - How the American nobility, namely BAR attorneys, have slowly taken away our sovereignty. I don't pretend to understand most of this (warning, legalese inside), but it looks interesting. [kaba]
We must once again understand and teach our children that the people of the many States are sovereign, that government is only an established tool to protect rights either secured or protected by the Constitution. We must also understand and teach our children that any official who supports unconstitutional laws is guilty of treason, that he has misplaced his allegiance to other than the sovereign. By his act of treason, he should be promptly impeached, convicted, and duly punished for his transgressions against the people.
...
We don't have a new war -- it is just an extension of the same old war against the rights of the American people. Actions against other nations will be thrown in as revenge for acts likely caused by the US Government's unconstitutional interference in the lives of the people of other nations. But, this isn't new -- it's just redirection of the same old techniques, the never-ending war of the Middle East. And, it appears we will once again let government get by with it. The result will be further erosion of our rights, what few we have left, including our right to not interfere with other people.
So, wonder no more about where your rights have gone. They have gone away legislatively at the whim of BAR attorneys in our legislative bodies, our executive bodies, and our courts. It has been accomplished and will continue being accomplished by our own ignorance concerning this nation as a Republic and what it means to be "sovereign", both as people and as a nation.
Guy Smith - Three Goals And Three Actions For Gun Owners - Mr. Smith thinks that now is a good time to reverse the trampling of our right to keep and bear arms. He presents three goals: Concealed carry in all 50 states, Reverse assault weapons bans, Export the 2nd Amendment, and three strategies: Talk freely about gun ownership, Take a reporter shooting, Donate monthly to pro-gun organizations. [kaba]
I'll be blunt. You will win or lose the guns wars. We cannot wait for the NRA to work miracles. We cannot pray that politicians remain frightened of recent changes in public sentiment. We must push forward to bring the public and the press to our side of the debate.
To do this, adopt these three tactics in your daily lives.
Declan McCullagh at Lycos News - New Weapons for a New War - a report on high-tech weaponry introduced since the Gulf Turkey Shoot (I won't glorify it with the name "war"). [politech]
Patrick Mannion at EE Times - Optical DSPs promise tera-ops performance - Lenslet Labs offers FFTs and other transformations at the speed of light. Very cool. Slashdot comments here. [/.]
