The War on Freedom Marches Ahead

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 11 Oct 2001 12:00:00 GMT

John Bergstrom's Attack Cartoons - Fanatics - Contrasts public reactions to terrorist attacks in 1993 and 2001.

Muslim Student Association at Oregon State University - Ever Wonder? - a Flash presentation contrasting public opinion of activities when performed by Muslims and non-Muslims. Good points. My take: the difference is that when non-Muslims do these things, they do them voluntarily, whereas in some Muslim countries the law mandates them. [Ismael]

redhat - LEGISLATIVE ALERT: SSSCA - Security Systems Standards and Certification Act - redhat is collecting comments on Senator Hollings' proposed Security Systems Standards and Certification Act. As I said a while back, this act will create pre-ban and post-ban computers, much as the so-called "assault weapons ban" created pre-ban and post-ban guns and magazines. Basically, Disney has bought senator Hollings. Slashdot comments here. [/.]

Declan McCullagh at Wired - Snoop Bill Heads to Final Vote - the fascists continue their war on freedom. [cafe]

The Onion - Freedoms Curtailed in Defense of Liberty - as usual, The Onion hits the nail on the head. In case you've forgotten, The Onion is all fiction, though it tells the truth behind the news better than much of the mainstream media. [unknown]

"In this time of national crisis, a time when our most cherished freedoms are threatened, all Americans--not just outspoken talk-show hosts like Bill Maher--must watch what they say," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters. "Now more than ever, if we want to protect democracy for future generations, it is vital that nobody speak out about the issues of the day."

Gunowners of America - Legislative Action Center - GOA is highlighting legislation by Ron Paul in the House and Bob Smith in the senate that would allow airlines to arm their pilots. You can easily send email here to the FAA administrator, your senators, and your representative.

Robert Fisk at Independent Argument - Lost in the rhetorical fog of war - ain't it amazing how few western journalists give any air time whatsoever to the possibility that bin Laden actually has a reason to be angry? Of course this doesn't justify the killing of innocents, but do you think that our bombs and missiles are somehow distinguishing the innocent from the guilty in Afghanistan? "Collateral damage" my ass. Cold blooded murder. Kuro5hin discussion here. [kuro5hin]

President Bush says this is a war between good and evil. You are either with us or against us. But that's exactly what bin Laden says. Isn't it worth pointing this out and asking where it leads?

The Week Online with DRCNet - Politicians Exploiting Drug-Terror Link - instead of putting the blame on the war on freedom, er... some drugs, where it belongs, the drug warriors are blaming the users for giving money to terrorists. When will these guys get a clue? [anodyne]

H.R.3026, the "Office of Homeland Security Act of 2001", officially establishes Amerika's gestapo. The bill is currently in 6 different committees. [cryptome]

SEC. 8. REVIEW OF LEGAL AUTHORITIES.

(a) REVIEW- The Director of the Office of Homeland Security shall conduct a review of the legal authorities needed but not currently provided to prevent and respond effectively to terrorist threats, including legal authorities regarding the role of the Department of Defense in homeland security and the imposition of regulations on civilian populations and private entities during a state of emergency.
(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS- The Director shall submit to Congress a report of the results of the review under subsection (a). The report shall be submitted not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall include recommendations for addressing shortcomings in current legal authority.

GW at Cryptome - Executive Order 13228 of October 8, 2001 - The house may not need to pass its bill. Here's an EO establishing the gestapo. Summary: do anything and everything to prevent and recover from terrorist attacks.

[[Page 51815]]...
k) Review of Legal Authorities and Development of Legislative Proposals. The Office shall coordinate a periodic review and assessment of the legal authorities available to executive departments and agencies to permit them to perform the functions described in this order. When the Office determines that such legal authorities are inadequate, the Office shall develop, in consultation with executive departments and agencies, proposals for presidential action and legislative proposals for submission to the Office of Management and Budget to enhance the ability of executive departments and agencies to perform those functions. The Office shall work with State and local governments in assessing the adequacy of their legal authorities to permit them to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, and recover from terrorist threats and attacks.

Jude Wanniski at SupplySideInvestor.Com - Israel and the Terrorist Attack - A letter to J.J. Goldberg, the editor of the Forward. Mr. Goldberg's editorial is currently on the front page there. Mr. Wannaski says that Israel's relationship with the Palestinians is central to bin Laden's hatred of the U.S. [lew]

If you get right down to it, the only reason U.S. troops are in Saudi Arabia is to protect Israel. And the reason the embargo has been kept on Iraq for the last decade has been the insistence of the Israeli Lobby in Washington. If the Israeli government this afternoon quietly passed the word to the American-Israel Political Action Committee that it would like the Iraq embargo lifted, you would see Senator Joe Lieberman [D-CT] announcing tomorrow afternoon that he thinks the Iraq embargo should be lifted. We know Saddam Hussein does not have any nukes and if he had bio-chem weapons he would only use them if threatened by Israel's nukes. If Israel were at peace with a friendly, neighborly Palestinian state, all of the reasons Osama bin Laden gives for his war against America and the West would be dissolved.

Carol A. Valentine at Laissez Faire City Times - Operation 911: Did Military Software Control the "Hijacked" Planes? - Ms. Valentine tries to convince us that the 9/11 airplane bombs were flown to their destinations by wire, controlled from the ground. Yep. And I've got a bridge to sell you. [grabbe]

Dave Winer at newhome.weblogs.com - RFC: Timeline for transition - weblogs.com will soon cease trolling weblogs and reporting updates. If you want to tell it about an update, you'll have to sent it an XML-RPC or SOAP message or visit a notification web site. Changes will be reported via an XML form, which will be displayed raw by a web page. The report page disappears on October 23. The crawler goes down on November 2. Hmm... I suppose I should modify BlogMax to send the XML-RPC message. Somehow this doesn't feel urgent. [script]

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Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

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.

-- L. Neil Smith

Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

-- L. Neil Smith

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair