A Rifle in Every Home
From brad:
Monday's UW Practice Halted
( Laramie, Wyoming-AP) -- The University of Wyoming's football practice was delayed this morning for nearly two hours. One of the players, while on the way to the locker room happened to look down and notice a suspicious looking, unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head Coach Vic Koenning immediately suspended practice while the FBI was called in to investigate.
After a complete field analysis, the FBI determined that the white substance unknown to the players was actually the goal line. Practice resumed when FBI Special Agents decided that the team was not likely to encounter the substance again.
Scott Bieser at KeepAndBearArms.com - Goldilocks Gungrabber Tours a Gun Shop - Cartoon commentary on the Brady Bunch. Hehe. [kaba]
I digitized my copy of Leonard Cohen's album Various Positions. Now I can listen to Hallelujah or Dance Me To the End of Love at the click of a mouse. It's available at CDNOW for $8.97. Hi, Amber!
Al Martin at Online Journal - Watch out for jackboots - More on the coming Amerikan gestapo. [unknown]
This new agency will also operate "with extralegal authority." It will then be able to act under suspension of habeas corpus and under suspension of the right against self- incrimination, the Fifth Amendment privilege, and also the Fourth Amendment privilege.
That power will be in its charter--it can act in an extra-legal authority, in certain cases, where the security of the "homeland" is "threatened."
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Ridge will most likely be a political figurehead. He was probably given this job as political payback for Bush. It hasn't been decided yet, but one of the names that has been mentioned (and I certainly hope it doesn't happen) is Barry McCaffrey. If they put that old Nazi in charge, watch out!
Russell Madden at Laissez Faire City Times - American Fascism Revisited - In 1962, Ayn Rand gave a speech telling of Adolf Hitler's proposed social programs. Amerika has implemented all of them.
Remind me again: who exactly won World War II?
Despite the hesitancy of Mr. Cerf in acknowledging the fact, most, if not all, presidents of the past eighty years subscribed in part or in whole to these fascist ideas. "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country" is hardly an example of viewing the State as a tool and servant of the individual, of subordinating government to its citizens.
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As Rand defined the term in her speech: "Under fascism, men retain the semblance or pretense of private property, but the government holds total power over its use and disposal . . . .
"Under fascism, citizens retain the responsibilities of owning property, without freedom to act and without any of the advantages of ownership . . . .the government officials hold the economic, political and legal power of life or death over the citizens." (The Ayn Rand Column, revised edition, p. 98.)
Freedom and property rights no longer exist in any fundamental sense in this country. They haven't for a long time.
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Is the American slide deeper into fascism inevitable? No. No human directed action is "inevitable."
Is it likely?
You be the judge. But if you support the kinds of political programs promoted by the Nazis in 1920s and 30s, you, my friend, are a fascist, whether you want to be or not.
Kristen Philipkoski at Wired - Healthy Hemp in Hot Peril - the d.e.a.'s new THC ban is already affecting the hemp food industry. Fortunately, it appears that most hemp-seed based foods already have undetectable amounts of THC. This could change, however, with better detection technology. [wired]
Farhad Manjoo at Wired - Victory for DVD Code Cracking - Computer code used to descramble DVDs has been ruled protected by the first amendment by a California appeals court. The war isn't over, but this is a significant battle won. [grabbe]
Times of India - 'Each Afghan has a rifle in his home' - Afghanistan has very little infrastructure for Amerikan bombers to destroy. Its population is, however, well armed. No wonder noone has ever been able to defeat them. [grabbe]
Each Afghan has rifle in his home and each Afghan's home is his bunker," [Taliban education minister Amir Khan] Muttaqi said.