End the War on Freedom

russmo.com - EPA Study - cartoon commentary on the blinding speed of the ship of state. Russ is on hiatus from his regular job, so he's promised a new cartoon every day for the next two weeks. Yay!

russmo.com - Enron Hearings - cartoon commentary on the absurdity of congress investigating Enron. Hehe.

From samizdata:

The captured Taliban that are now in Cuba are getting one bath towel, they are getting shampoo and toothpaste. The people there are seeing this and asking Castro, "Can we get this stuff?" -- David Letterman

and:

Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburgers. -- Abbie Hoffman

From heart:

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. -- Abraham Lincoln

From kaba:

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. -- George Bernard Shaw

From office email:

A History of Balls

Did you know, in the mighty British Navy at the time of Empire building, every sailing ship had cannon (the plural of cannon) for protection. Cannon of the times required round iron cannonballs. A ship's master wanted to store the cannonballs such that they could be available for instant use when needed, but in a manner that would not let them roll around the gun deck. The solution devised was to stack them up in a square-based pyramid next to the cannon. The top level of the stack had one ball, the next level down had three, the next had nine, the next had sixteen, and so on. Four levels would provide a stack of 30 cannonballs. The only real problem was how to keep the bottom level from sliding out from under the weight of the higher levels. To do this, they devised a small brass plate referred to as a "brass monkey," with one rounded indentation for each cannonball in the bottom layer. Brass was used because the cannonballs wouldn't rust on the brass monkey, but would rust on an iron one. When temperature falls, brass contracts faster than iron. As it got cold on the gun decks, the indentations in the brass monkey would get smaller than the iron cannonballs they were holding. If the temperature got cold enough, the bottom layer of cannonballs would pop out of the indentations, spilling the entire pyramid over the deck. Thus it was, quite literally, "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." And so, another familiar phrase became part of the language.

Harry Browne at WorldNetDaily - What is America? - America was unique in the world because of the Bill of Rights, voluntary association, and the free market. The operative word here is "was". Bill of Rights Enforcement. Now!

If you devote yourself to fighting against the latest political proposal, you may be wasting your time.

The growth of government is inevitable because the major issue has already been decided: there is no longer an America of tiny government, voluntary association, and the free market. So the only arguments now are over how the politicians will run our lives -- the Republican way or the Democratic way.

Our one hope is to persuade our fellow Americans that a return to the Bill of Rights could bring us much smaller government, much greater personal income, access to more low- cost products and services and the freedom to live your own life as you think best -- not as the president or Congress wants.

Ron Paul - The Case for Defending America - a speech given yesterday on the floor of the house. A good reminder of how playing the world's policeman endangers our safety and liberty here at home.

It is just as well that the economy was already in recession for six months prior to the September attacks. Otherwise, the temptation would have been too great to blame the attacks for the weak economy rather than look for the government policies responsible for the recession. Terrorist attacks alone, no matter how disruptive, could never be the sole source of a significant economic downturn.

...

One of the key responsibilities of the federal government in providing for national defense is protection of liberty here at home. Unwisely responding to the attacks could undermine our national defense while threatening our liberties. What we have done so far since last September is not very reassuring. What we do here in the Congress in the coming months may well determine the survival of our republic. Fear and insecurity must not drive our policies. Sacrificing personal liberty should never be an option.

...

Our government's ridiculous policy regarding airline safety and prohibiting guns on airplanes had indoctrinated us all- pilots, passengers and airline owners- to believe we should never resist hijackers. This set up the perfect conditions for terrorists to take over domestic flights, just as they did on September 11th.

...

The most significant and dangerous result of last year's attacks has been the bold expansion of the federal police state and our enhanced international role as the world's policeman.

...

I wonder how many civilians have been killed so far. I know a lot of Members could care less, remembering innocent American civilians who were slaughtered in New York and Washington. But a policy that shows no concern for the innocent will magnify our problems rather than lessen them. The hard part to understand in all of this is that Saudi Arabia probably had more to do with these attacks than did Afghanistan.

But then again, who wants to offend our oil partners?

...

Since Iraq is now less likely to be hit, it looks like another poverty-ridden, rudderless nation, possibly Somalia, will be the next target. No good can come of this process. It will provide more fodder for the radicals' claim that the war is about America against Islam. Somalia poses no threat to the United States, but bombing Somalia as we have Afghanistan- and Iraq for 12 years- will only incite more hatred toward the U.S. and increase the odds of our someday getting hit again by some frustrated, vengeful, radicalized Muslim.

...

The Founders of this country were precise in their beliefs regarding foreign policy. Our Constitution reflects these beliefs, and all of our early presidents endorsed these views. It was not until the 20th Century that our nation went off to far away places looking for dragons to slay. This past century reflects the new and less-traditional American policy of foreign interventionism. Our economic and military power, a result of our domestic freedoms, has permitted us to survive and even thrive while dangerously expanding our worldwide influence.

There's no historic precedent that such a policy can be continued forever. All empires and great nations throughout history have ended when they stretched their commitments overseas too far and abused their financial system at home. The over-commitment of a country's military forces when forced with budgetary constraints can only lead to a lower standard of living for its citizens. That has already started to happen here in the United States. Who today is confident the government and our private retirement systems are sound and the benefits guaranteed?

...

The traditional American foreign policy of the Founders and our presidents for the first 145 years of our history entailed three points:

Friendship with all nations desiring of such

As much free trade and travel with those countries as possible

Avoiding entangling alliances

This is still good advice. The Framers also understood that the important powers for dealing with other countries and the issue of war were to be placed in the hands of the Congress. This principle has essentially been forgotten.

...

I am certain that national security and defense of our own cities can never be adequately provided unless we reconsider our policy of foreign interventionism.

Dave Kopel, Paul Gallant & Joanne Eisen at National Review - Her Own Bodyguard: Gun-packing First Lady - when Eleanor Roosevelt went to Tennessee in 1958 to make a civil rights speech, the KKK put a $25,000 bounty on her head. She went anyway, with her revolver on the seat of her car. Bravo! [kaba]

That determined grandmother, of course, was Eleanor Roosevelt. And it was Eleanor's handgun, not some hired bodyguard, that helped her stay alive in the face of real danger.

What a perfect example of how the Second Amendment is really the cornerstone of our Bill of Rights, the guarantor of all others. It was the exercise of her Second Amendment rights that empowered Eleanor Roosevelt to use her First Amendment rights to crusade for the Fourteenth Amendment rights of blacks.

...

When Theodore Roosevelt visited Harvard University, then- president Charles W. Eliot was chagrined to discover Roosevelt strapping on a holster in his room, ignoring the Massachusetts law restricting concealed handguns.

President Roosevelt concluded his Sixth Annual Message to Congress, on Dec. 6, 1906, with a call for the government to help citizens develop firearms proficiency:

We should establish shooting galleries in all the large public and military schools, should maintain national target ranges in different parts of the country, and should in every way encourage the formation of rifle clubs throughout all parts of the land. The little Republic of Switzerland offers us an excellent example in all matters connected with building up an efficient citizen soldiery.

Joel Spolsky - Rub a dub dub - Joel uses an excercise he performed to clean up the FogBUGZ source code to teach a lesson that refactoring is better than rewriting. [joel]

Did I mention that I don't believe in starting from scratch? I guess I talk about that a lot.

Anyway, instead of starting from scratch, I decided it was worth three weeks of my life to completely scrub the code. Rub a dub dub. In the spirit of refactoring, I set out a few rules for this exercise.

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