Zero Tolerance Strikes Again
I grow weary of our elected leaders selling our future away for short term immediate gain. If they are going to be whores, they should at least wear the proper attire when they campaign. -- Mark Mulcahy
From smith2004:
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. -- Martin Luther King
breaking news - FedEx Introduces Overnight PeoplePak - hehe. [smith2004]
KeepAndBearArms.com - Rifle Drawing: 500 Chances to Win - KABA is selling $20 raffle tickets for a chance to win a $1500 Springfield M1A Scout Squad Rifle. Yum! [kaba]
Luke Martin at The Coastal Courier - Knife in car leads to arrest - Joseph Matthew, a student at Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Georgia was charged with bringing a concealed weapon, a folding knife, to school. The knife was found in his car during a "plain-view search of the parking lot." Liberty High School's web page is here. Their address and phone number is 3216 E. Oglethorpe Highway, Hinesville, GA 31313, 912-876-4316. The principal's name is Paula Scott. I couldn't find her email address. The email for Dr. Steve Wilmoth, the superintendant of the Liberty County School System, is swilmoth@liberty.k12.ga.us. His address and phone number is listed here: 110 S. Gause Street, Hinesville, GA 31313, 912-876-2161. [unknown]
"The knife was a ordinary folding knife," Chief Deputy Keith Moran of the Liberty County Sheriff's office said.I sent the following email:
If convicted, Wolf faces up to a $10,000 fine and a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The Georgia Law Enforcement handbook defines a weapon, in part, as "bowie knife, switchblade knife, ballistic knife, (or) any other knife."
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 23:26:14 -0500
To: swilmoth@liberty.k12.ga.us (Dr. Steve Wilmoth)
From: "Bill St. Clair" <bill@billstclair.com>
Subject: Joseph Matthew
Cc: courier@clds.net (The Coastal Courier), bill@billstclair.com (Bill St. Clair)
Dr. Wilmoth,
I read in the web version of The Coastal Courier about the arrest of Joseph Matthew at Liberty County High School for the horrible "crime" of having a folding knife in his car. In my day, before America became a fascist state, kids routinely carried knives in their pockets and brought rifles to school for target practice at the school shooting range. I would appreciate it if you stopped cooperating with the jack-booted thugs who are ruining our country.
If you have security problems at your schools, encourage teachers and administrators to learn how to use firearms defensively and to carry them at school. I believe that Front Sight still provides free training for school staff (http://www.frontsight.com/free_tr.htm).
If you intend to proceed with your insane zero-tolerance policy, at least have the grace to change the school's name to something more appropriate. I suggest "Hinesville Correctional High School". And instead of "The Panthers", call the football team "The Slaves".
One of the primary distinctions between a free man and a slave is that the slave has been disarmed. I hope that your intention as a school administrator is to train free men and women, not to condition slaves.
Bill St. Clair
bill@billstclair.com
Ron Paul in the House of Representatives - Economic Concerns, The Dangers We Face, Optimism or Pessimism? - a special order speech that Dr. Paul gave on Thursday, February 7. The solution to our growing economic problems is less government and less interference with credit by the federal reserve. A radically smaller government also solves the campaign finance "problem". Dr. Paul also talks about dangers America faces in our response to 9/11.
Dealing with the slumping economy will prove every bit as challenging to Congress as fighting terrorism.
No one challenges the need to protect American citizens from further terrorist attacks, but there is much debate throughout the country as to how it should be done and whether personal liberty here at home must be sacrificed. Many are convinced that our efforts overseas might escalate the crisis and actually precipitate more violence. A growing number of Americans are becoming concerned that our efforts to preserve our freedoms and security will result in the unnecessary sacrifice of that which we've pledge to protect -- our constitutionally protected liberty.
A similar conflict also exists once government attempts to legislate an end to a recession. In the 1970s, wage and price controls were used to suppress price inflation and to help the economy, without realizing the futility of such a policy. Not only did it not work, the economy was greatly harmed. Legislation, per se, is not necessarily harmful, but if it reflects bad policy, it is. The policy of wage and price controls makes things worse and represents a serious violation of people's rights.
...
There are other policies that will assist in a recovery that the Congress could implement. All taxes ought to be lowered, government spending should be reduced, controls on labor costs should be removed, and onerous regulations should be reduced or eliminated.
We should not expect any of this to happen unless the people and the Congress decide that free-market capitalism and sound money are preferable to a welfare state and fiat money. Whether this downturn is the one that will force that major decision upon us is not known, but eventually we will have to make it. Welfarism and our expanding growing foreign commitments, financed seductively through credit creation by the Fed, are not viable options.
...
A danger exists that the United States is becoming a police state. Just a few decades ago, this would have been unimaginable. As originally designed, in the American republic, police powers were the prerogative of the states and the military was not to be involved. Unfortunately today, most Americans welcome the use of military troops to police our public places, especially the airports. Even before 9-11, more than 80,000 armed federal bureaucrats patrolled the countryside, checking for violations of federal laws and regulations. That number since 9-11 has increased by nearly 50%- and it will not soon shrink. A military takeover of homeland security looks certain. Can freedom and prosperity survive if the police state continues to expand? I doubt it. It never has before in all of history, and this is a threat the Congress should not ignore.
Jim Duensing - American Airlines' Second Response - a while back, I posted a link to a letter that Mr. Duensing wrote to American Airlines. They responded, he responded to them, and this article is their second response. Somehow, the American customer relations drone completely missed point that airplanes populated by armed passengers would be much safer than the planeloads of helpless victims being created by the new "security" regulations.
I guess I was wrong. They are not Nazis. They were just following the orders of the ATSA.
