End the War on Freedom

Several Times in the Last Week

Ever since Happiness heard your name,
It has been running through the streets
Trying to find you.

And several times in the last week,
God Himself has even come to my door -
Asking me for your address!

Once I said,
"God,
I thought You knew everything.
Why are You asking me
Where Your lovers live?"

And the Beloved replied,

Indeed, Hafiz, I do know Everything -
But it is fun playing dumb once in a while.
And I love intimate chat
And the warmth of your heart's fire.

Maybe we should make this poem into a song -
It think it has potential!

How does this refrain sound,
For I know it is a Truth:

Ever since Happiness heard your name,
It has been running through the streets
Trying to find you.
And several times in the last week,
God Himself has come to my door -
So sweetly asking for your address,
Wanting the beautiful warmth of your heart's fire.

(I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)

From The Federalist:

"I may be old-fashioned, but as the daughter of a small businessman who did not believe in living outside our means and who even paid cash for the house that we lived, I just don't believe we should spend what we don't yet have in the bank. President Bush's extremely large tax plan would spend trillions we don't have, and may never have." -- Sen. Ms. Hillary Rodham-Clinton

Memo to New York: "It is a mistake to underestimate the extent to which Clintonism is based on, informed by, and takes its very shape from the Big Lie. ...This highly credentialed rube, this mere operator, this person who never ponders what is right but only what they'll buy -- this person is not towering and generous but squat and grasping. She is ... too corrupt for New York; she is too cynical for the place that gave birth to Tammany Hall...." -- Peggy Noonan

and:

Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief efforts to trying to prove that the other is unfit to rule -- and both commonly succeed and are right. -- H.L. Mencken

and:

The new laws passed by Congress in the name of fighting terrorism pose a greater danger to the civil liberties of American citizens than to the operations of terrorists. Powers once assumed are never relinquished, just as bureaucracies, once created, never die. -- Charley Reese

From kaba:

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. -- Tacitus

shakeitbabe - cool Shockwave hack! [mah]

Nation of Cowards is incredible! No utilitarian arguments here. Pure ethics. Glorious! For example, a footnote on page 3 is the best description I've seen of the fact that democracy is 3 wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner, and why it cannot work without strict enforcement by the citizenry of a constitution placing hard limits on the domain of the law:

Suppose that two men and a woman who have previously formed a mutual assistance society for various social and economic purposes are, upon motion duly made and seconded by the two men in complete accordance with Roberts Rules of Order, to vote on the decision whether the woman must have sex with the men. Assume that the corporate charter and by-laws creating this society fail to make any specific mention of the woman's "natural" rights. Imagine endeavoring to seriously maintain, now, that the outcome of the vote will be binding on the woman simply because she is entitled to have her views on the subject duly represented, i.e., to debate the merits of the proposal with the other members of the society prior to the vote, and to then vote on the proposal. Imagine, that is, maintaining that even though she votes "no," if the measure passes she will be presumed to have consented to sex with the men and that it will therefore not be rape because of her previous consent to the formation of the society and its ground rules and because she has the addional right to continue petitioning the other members of her society to repeal the law. Suppose that the vote is taken, again in full compliance withe Roberts Rules of Order, and the proposal passes. Try, now, to seriously maintain that because she was outvoted, she must submit. Defend, now, the propisition that if she believes that this new law is beyond the authority granted to the society in its founding documents, she may contest its legitimacy in the courts, but in the mean time she must submit. In sum, imagine trying to seriously argue in this situation that she may say no, but she may not act on the basis of a no by resisting her rape immediately and to the utmost. This perhaps will give you some sense of both the logical and practical necessity of a right to keep and bear arms in a democratic government by consent.

I've used the "two wolves and a sheep" analogy often. Now I'll change it to, "Democracy is two men and a woman voting on who will have sex with whom."

Zola - Introducing The Laissez Faire Electronic Times - J. Orlin Grabbe is parting ways with Rex Rogers, the publisher of the Laissez Faire City Times. So he's starting a new publication. He'll pay $100 to authors for the right to publish their articles on the web site. Payment may be made to a DMT/ALTA account. [grabbe]

H.R.2356, the "Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Bill", passed the house early this morning by a vote of 240 to 189.

Susan Jones at CNSNews.com - House Passes Campaign Finance Bill - some details of the abomination passed by the house last night. As I've said before, the only campaign finance reform we need is to cut the government's budget by a factor of 100. Press me, and I'll up it to 1000. [geneice]

The measure that passed around 2:30 a.m. is close enough to the Senate version that it could go straight to the Senate floor for a vote, in which case Republicans are promising a filibuster; or if the Senate doesn't accept it outright, it could move into a conference committee first.

...

It allows individuals to donate up to $2,000 (from the current $1,000 limit) to political candidates. And it also restricts broadcast advertising in the sixty days before an election.

The latter provision may provide the "meat" for a legal challenge. Opponents - who already are threatening to sue -- say restricting broadcast advertising before an election is tantamount to restricting free speech.

As for the soft-money ban, opponents say it is nothing more than a move to protect political incumbents against challengers who are less well known.

Jeff Johnson at CNSNews.com - NRA Will Take Shays-Meehan Bill To Supreme Court If It Passes - good for them. [geneice]

At the heart of the NRA and other issue groups' contention with the bill is an "electioneering blackout" provision that would ban most third parties from using the name of a federal candidate for 30 days prior to a primary election and 60 days prior to a general election.

David Mason, the chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) told CNSNews.com Wednesday that the provision is almost certainly unconstitutional and definitely unenforceable. He says such a "blackout" would only create a window for incumbents to introduce controversial legislation with little fear of criticism.

Angel Shamaya at KeepAndBearArms.com - Gunkit Maker Ordered Detained Until Sentencing - Bob Stewart, who committed only political "crimes", no actual crime against person or property, will spend the time until his sentencing in the federal prison in Florence, Arizona. [kaba]

Mr. Stewart was found guilty by a jury of his something-other-than-peers of being a felon in possession of guns and of possessing unregistered machine guns -- a hundred years ago, he wouldn't have even been a blip on the government's radar as he's never committed a crime against a person. But that was before the BATF Gun and Liberty Thieves started being the raging anti-American hired criminals they are so adept at being -- back when you could buy a 20mm cannon through the mail, and a machinegun at the hardware store without even giving your real name. (If the seller of the machinegun at the hardware store had insisted on your name, he'd have been considered rude and maybe even told to piss off.)

T.S. Eggleston - Something has changed and it's not the guns - Back in the late 1950's and 1960's, kids, young kids, had access to guns, knives, and explosives. But very few of them got hurt, and almost none of them killed anybody. Why? Parents taught their kids about the sanctity of life back then. Very good essay. Don't miss it. [kaba]

House of Representatives of the State of Arizona - HB 2456, "gun-free zones; liability". We need this law in every state. Well, not quite. Private property owners have the right to set whatever rules they want on your presence on their property. If you don't like their rules, don't go there. Government agencies have no such rights. They are bound by the constitution. [kaba]

This state or any agency or political subdivision of this state or any person, organization or entity that establishes a gun-free zone is liable for damages that result from criminal conduct that occurs against an individual in the gun-free zone if a reasonable person would believe that possession of a firearm could have helped the individual defend against the criminal conduct. If the criminal conduct was the result of terrorism or adversely affected a child under sixteen years of age or a person seventy years of age or older, this state or any agency or political subdivision of this state or any person, organization or entity that establishes a gun-free zone is liable for treble damages.

Robert Vroman at anti-state.com - Hard Cash Trumps Hard Time: Anarchist Prisons - some thoughts about possibilities for treating criminals in an anarcho-capitalist society. Restitution wins, of course. [anti-state]

Deterrence works! Well, assume for a moment you and I were completely ignorant of prison and punishment. Would this make us any more likely to up and ignore our core principles and perpetrate mayhem? No? Now assume that you and I are socio-economically disadvantaged products of broken homes and enjoy a good hit of mescaline for breakfast. Lets see, I live in a miserable place I can't escape, where I'm frequently assaulted and can get drugs at will, and if I kill you, disrespectful muthafucka, I could be sent to a hellish place I can't escape, where I'm assaulted frequently and can get drugs easily? I see. Hold still a minute, my aim is pretty shitty before lunch. In summary: those who are deterred, don't need to be, those who need to be deterred, aren't. Therefore deterrence is not a worthwhile motivation for punishment.

...

The other major upside is that the system requires there be a victim to receive restitution, thereby automatically ruling out all victimless crimes as imprisonable offenses.

Joanne Laucius at The Ottawa Citizen - War on drugs can't be won, says U.S. lawman - a piece on San Migeual County (Colorado) Sheriff Bill Masters, the libertarian lawman who believes that drugs should be legalized. I'm tempted to order his book, Drug War Addiction, but haven't done so yet. [market]

Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com - Bizarro World - the topsy-turvy world we live in today where Richard Bizarro can face 20 years for taking a pee. [grabbe market]

For this he's facing 20 years? Ah, but urination without authorization is just the beginning of his crimes: according to one of the witches disguised as flight attendants, Bizarro not only "ignored her orders" but also "stared at her for about a minute before returning to his seat." The Fox News story also ominously adds that Bizarro is "6-foot-2 and 220 pounds" – another crime, along with unauthorized staring, in the Bizarro World we're living in. Goodness gracious me, I'll be surprised if he doesn't get life without possibility of parole!

Harry Brown at World Net Daily - Promises, promises - politicians tell lies, over and over. Why? Because they have too much power. Don't give them any more.

Social Security will be safe only when it's taken completely away from the politicians -- and you're free to spend, save or give away every dollar you earn.

Election campaigns will be clean only when politicians no longer have the power to pass bills that help or hurt companies and special- interest groups.

You will be safe from terrorism only when our politicians quit trying to run the affairs of other countries.

You'll be able to afford a competent, safe school for your child only when government is removed completely from education.

Drugs and crime will stop being major problems only when the Drug War is ended.

Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott at The Philadelphia Enquirer - Bush planning to topple Hussein - the war hawk is at it again. Now he's going to take down Sadam Hussein. World War III? We'll find out soon. [grabbe]

President Bush has decided to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power and ordered the CIA, the Pentagon and other agencies to devise a combination of military, diplomatic and covert steps to achieve that goal, senior U.S. officials said yesterday.

No military strike is imminent, but Bush has concluded that Hussein and his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs are such a threat to U.S. security that the Iraqi dictator must be removed, even if U.S. allies do not help, said the officials, who all spoke on condition of anonymity.

Powers of 10 - very well-done animation from 10 million light years to 1 fermi (face-to-face with a proton). Requires Java. [brad]

JDK 1.4.0 final is available from Sun for Windows, Linux (Intel), and Solaris (SPARC & Intel). The server is slow, but I managed to download the JDK, docs, and Unlimited Strength Cryptography policy files. [wes]

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