Afghan Mountains Surrender

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 09 Nov 2001 13:00:00 GMT

I'm sick. Sore throat. Sniffles. Cough developing. Still have enough energy to sit up, but it's going down. For some reason I couldn't sleep, so I'm up at two in the morning typing this. When I get up before light, I usually operate in the dark, which I usually do OK. Poured myself a glass of grape juice by the light of the refrigerator, put it on my desk, got the laptop out of it's case, and spilled the grape juice all over the desk and floor. @#$%^&*!! Lights on.

It appears that I haven't stopped doing weblog updates, but I have slowed down. Feeling better emotionally. Hopefully this cold will clean out the physical remnants of the emotional storm. My family is going to Boston for the weekend, so it'll be just me and the menagerie, in sha' allah.

From kaba:

The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth. -- H. L. Mencken

SatireWire - Afghan Mountains Surrender! Those Who Said Bombs Wasted on Mountains Proved Wrong - Hahahahahahahaha! [brianf]

John Bergstrom's Attack Cartoons - The president wants child proof locks on all guns - a re-run of a 1997 classic. Heeheeheeheehee.

The Gun Guy - You Might Be a Gun Nut If... - a long list of attributes of gun nuts. My favorites: [kaba]

...you read that "Brady II" would outlaw possession of more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and think, "I have more than that rolling around loose in the trunk of my car!"
...you have your own BATF agent (mounted any suitable way).
...your girl friend thinks that aura of Hoppes #9 is your favorite after shave.
A friend shows up with a pistol that was last made 50 years ago and only 10 were ever made, and you have the correct holster for it.
You took wife to Europe for a month and the ammo companies had to lay off workers.
...you list your local FFL dealer as a dependent on your tax return.
You stop shooting sporting clays for six months and the price of lead drops on the world market due to oversupply.

Sierra Times - Tax Protestor Raided by Internal Revenue Service - Dan Hansen was raided by jack-booted thugs from the i.r.s. He treated them with gusto. [sierra]

Dan Hansen reported[ly] took the matter in stride. Upon returning to his office, Hansen stepped out of his car with a smile on his face and asked the agents if they were all waiting for him. They demanded to know if he was armed. He informed them that he was indeed armed. Hansen then paused and said: "..With the Constitution of the United States of America."

As the mention of such 'anti-government documentation' (the Constitution) causes alarm amongst federal constablatory these days, they insisted after their raid that they would see Hansen go to jail in short order. "My brother told him that he could try but that he was armed with the Constitution and looked forward to court," said Christopher.

After they realized that they could not intimidate Hansen they headed out the office door. Hansen went out to wave good bye with a nice loud "Zieg Heil! Zieg Heil! to all of them.

"What a wonderful opportunity this is. What a great Gift our God has given to us to be able to sacrifice and suffer in His name." Said Christopher Hansen.

Vin Suprynowicz - House blocks vast new airport bureaucracy - part of The Libertarian series. Airline carry now!

The House of Representatives voted 286-139 on Nov. 1 to give the federal government a more direct role in airport security -- while blocking by a narrower 218-214 vote a Democratic Senate initiative which seeks to eliminate private security contractors entirely, replacing them with an estimated 28,000 unionized federal employees. That would have "created the biggest bureaucracy in the history of a generation," in the words of Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.

Care to figure out how easy it would be to reform or replace this system once powerful government employee unions are installed at the X-ray machines? Just try to fight the teachers unions for any reform of our current, dumbed-down public schools, or to take on the prison guards' unions with proposals to thin out prison populations by decriminalizing various forms of non-violent consensual commerce.

Vin Suprynowicz - Congressmen in Wonderland: Committee vows to ban Internet gaming, then orders tide not to rise - part of The Libertarian series. Once again, politicos attempt to protect the public from themselves, and aim to destroy legitimate businesses in the process. Gambling isn't mentioned anywhere in the constitution. Hence, the feds have no business making any laws about it.

Gil Guillory at anti-state.com - Libertarians or Anarchists? or, Understanding Cato - a long-winded rant on the dictionary meaning of anarchism. I wish Mr. Guillory luck in convincing folk that it doesn't mean chaos. I agree with him, but most people don't. The second half of the article is worthwhile. Don't miss it because of boredom over semantic issues in the first.

The federal government will continue to grow in size and scope until a particular geographic district decides that secession is a viable and preferable alternative. The size of the geographic unit that secedes, whether and to what extent it has a government, and the disposition of its sub-regions will depend on the very heart of the minarchist-anarchist debate (hold that thought). Other units will also secede, perhaps in unison, so that they have a greater chance of success.

...

Now, what of the minarchist-anarchist debate? If, at the time of secession, non-coercive social institutions are in place to handle segments of the production of defense, law, charity for the poor, and other real and perceived social problems, there will be less likelihood that coercive regimes will succeed in foisting themselves upon the geographical unit or its sub-regions. And, so, positive work on the production of defense, policing, and law are an important front on which to fight. I hold out hopes for my own hometown, The Woodlands, Texas, as a potential geographical unit or sub-region in such a secession. I have just launched an effort to found a private policing and insurance/restitution company along a Bensonian model to that end. Such secession might be 50 to 100 years away, but putting institutions in place now will do two things: halt or retard the encroachment of government into that sector, and prepare for complete ejection of government from that sphere in the future.

CNN - Transcript of Bush speech in Atlanta - I crashed early last night, so I missed GW's latest missive. His speech writers did a good job again, though he didn't really say much. Another pep talk.

LimeWire 1.8 is released. I tried an earlier version. It appears to be a pretty good Gnutella client implemented in Java. They added better searching, an MP3 player, and the "ability to add category-specific information to your files." The "Windows" link on the download page goes to version 1.7. The "Alternate site" link gets you 1.8. Most unusual. A 3.9 meg download got me an installer that does another 1.5 meg download. Apparently I didn't have some part of the InstallShield installer on my machine, so it fetched it. Last time I ended up building from source, as I remember. There is now an ad on the bottom of the window. Yuck. But it works. [meat]

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Previous Posts:
Congressmen in Wonderland
House blocks vast new airport bureaucracy
Take a Break
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

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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