Take a Break

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 06 Nov 2001 13:00:00 GMT

I'm stressed out. I've been feeling violent, well... more violent than usual. I'm wondering if my marriage is going to survive and if I really want it to. I need a break. Updates may be sporadic or non-existent for a while. I'll probably keep posting Vin's articles in The Libertarian series, but I'm going to focus on my work for a while and try to calm down. Yeah. Right. Last time I said I was taking a break it didn't last long. We'll see what happens this time.

Liz Michael at Sierra Times - The American Empire On Its Deathbed - Strong stuff! [sierra]

These people are not only afraid of foreign terrorists. These people are afraid of you and me. They are afraid of the press. They are afraid of the political activists. They are afraid of the pacifists. They are afraid of their own shadows. They are not in control of anything.

...

Whether the United States survives as an entity, whether we see it resurrected under the original intent of the founders, whether we see a fragmentation into several states and regions, whether we see a reassertion of former nations such as the Confederate States of America or the Indian nations, I do not know. But of one thing I am sure: the Imperial World Superpower of the United States is finished. It could survive perhaps slightly beyond the Bush Presidency, but probably not long after that.

I just pray that most of the American people are not killed along with their government.

The Libertarian Enterprise's new issue is a good one. I recommend the following:

Liberty's One Percent -- or -- Pushing the Buttons of Liberty by L. Neil Smith - Bill of Rights Enforcement. Now.
Okay, so what can we do now?

A few years ago, I designed and Scott Bieser drew a graphic logo representing the concept of Bill of Rights enforcement. It consists of a European-style "forbidden" sign, with the diagonal center bar broken out by the emergence of a scroll on which the Bill of Rights is inscribed.

You can see a some very nice renderings, in a couple of different sizes, starting at http://webleyweb.com/lneil/bor_enforcement.html

What I propose now is that thousands upon thousands of pin-backed buttons be made up on that design, and those of us who value freedom and oppose the police state wear them wherever we go, as one might wear the button of a favored political candidate, or those of us wore buttons in the 1960s with slogans opposing the draft and the war in Vietnam.

Those who wish to help, with money or manufacturing, contact me at the e-mail address above. Then wear your button wherever you go, at home, in church, or on the street. Wear it to work or to school until "they" demand that you take it off -- and then make them explain why in public. Wear it especially if you're compelled to fly commercially, make them force you to take it off, and, once again, to explain why publicly.

Make them explain exactly how the Bill of Rights endangers public safety.

The all-important difference is that each of these buttons will be accompanied by a card, three by five inches, containing an annotated copy of the Bill of Rights, a brief explanation of how Bill of Rights enforcement might have prevented the hideous events of September 11, and how, even now, it might restore America to peace, freedom, and prosperity. I'll start to work on that as soon as I mail this to the world.
Americans Need Assault Rifles for Homeland Security! by Ken L. Holder - we the people are America's homeland defense. We need to be armed. Well armed.
A Foolish War - Part Two: Time For a New Covenant by Keith Shugarts - A reminder of some of the arguments of the Anti-Federalists. Bill of Rights Enforcement is exactly what the fascists in Washington think they're doing. They're just interpreting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights differently. Way differently. Mr. Shugarts proposes using L. Neil's Covenant of Unanimous Consent instead.
The Anti-Federalists realized that the interpretability of the Constitution would cause problems for the preservation of freedom and liberty. Again I will quote Aristocrotis writing in Anti-Federalist #51 when he writes, "for the convention has so happily worded themselves that every part of this constitution either bears double meaning, or no means at all; and if any concessions are made to the people in one place, it is eventually cancelled in another - so that in fact his constitution is much better and gives more scope to the rulers than they durst safely take if there was no constitution at all."
The Return of the Second Amendment by Charles Novins, Esq. - Mr. Novins believes that U.S. v. Emerson is good news.
With respect to gun rights, I live in New Jersey, where there aren't any. Where I live, walking out past my front porch with my gun, unloaded, in my pocket, even broken so it can't fire, carries three to five years in state prison.

...

Should the Supreme Court decide to reaffirm the all-important Constitutional right to bear arms, I will personally walk down to my local precinct packing a gun and attempt to get myself arrested and charged. Apart from the fact that it would give me great personal pleasure and pride, it would also be a necessary step in getting rid of New Jersey's laws. The Supreme Court ruling, by itself, would not automatically rid any state of the pestilence called gun control.

Anthony Browne at The Observer - Cannabis a medical miracle - it's official - Hey, don't bother me with facts. Smoking cannabis is harmful. It causes d.e.a. agents to shoot you. [unknown]

Until now claims of the benefits of the drug for certain conditions have been anecdotal. But the preliminary results of the UK government trial, started last year, suggest that 80 per cent of those taking part have derived more benefit from cannabis than from any other drug, with many describing it as 'miraculous'.

The results make it almost inevitable that the Government will bow to public pressure and legalise the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes by 2002. Scientists now predict that cannabis - first used for medicinal reasons 5,000 years ago - will follow aspirin and penicillin and become a 'wonder drug' prescribed for a wide range of conditions.

Friends of Liberty - Bend Over, America - more on the coming Fascist New World Order. [unknown]

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Previous Posts:
No Time Today
Meet the new boss ... same as the old boss
Los Angeles Policeman of the World
'Students' of death
Free Market Solves Airline Security Problem
Trick or Treat
The End of Due Process in Amerika
USA "Patriot" Act Passes House, TRT Recruiting
Habeas Corpus
Still Daylight Saving Time

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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