Serpico's Lamplighters

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 01 Mar 2002 13:00:00 GMT

From "Sunbeams" in the March 2002 issue of The Sun:

School is an institution built on the axiom that learning is the result of teaching. And institutional wisdom continues to accept this axiom, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary -- Ivan Illich

and:

The true definition of science is this: the study of the beauty of the world. -- Simone Weil

and:

In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments -- there are consequences. -- R.D. Ingersoll

and:

The sun, each second, transforms 4 million tons of itself into light... Human generosity is possible only because at the center of the solar system a magnificent stellar generosity pours forth free energy day and night without stop and without complaint and without the slightest hesitation. -- Brian Swimme

Rich Del Favero at the Albany (New York) Times Union - Handgun permit should be valid in all 50 states - Mr. Del Favero is correct if you assume that concealed carry permits may be required at all.

If my marriage, driver's, pilot's and I'm sure other licenses are valid in all 50 states once issued by New York, why isn't my handgun permit? I've found four people to vouch for me, received training and instructions for safety and completed (and paid for) state and federal background and fingerprint checks. The process may not be stringent enough for some, but add in a de facto two-to-three week waiting period (at least in Albany County) between handgun purchase and final acquisition, and I'm sure most agree handgun ownership doesn't come easy.

I submitted the following letter to the editor:

I agree with Rich Del Favero's 2/28 letter that, like a driving license, a handgun permit from one state should be valid in all fifty states. I disagree with him on one important point, however.
We already have a concealed carry permit that is valid in all fifty states. It requires no background check, no fingerprints, no safety training, no fee, and no wait. It's called the second amendment to the United States constitution: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
This means, in the words of L. Neil Smith, that "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." Any law to the contrary is unconstitutional, hence null and void.

Donna Wentworth at Harvard Law School via Politech - How to respond to cease-and-desist nastygrams - an announcement of chillingeffects.org, a new web site to help people deal with copyright, trademark, and patent infringement claims. [politech]

New American - Western Property Rights Victory - victory in a very old fight for grazing rights in Nevada. [unknown]

Garry Reed, The Loose Cannon Libertarian - Smoke a Joint, Feed a Baby? - concerning the o.n.d.c.p.'s super bowl ads claiming that drug users support terrorism. Mr. Reed has his own commercial. Hehe.

But telling one side of a story is not information, it's propaganda. When the government does the telling with our tax dollars, it's brainwashing. If the commercials are true, so is this: If I sidle down a dark alley to score a baggie of pot from a shady-looking dude named Guido who then gives my money to his old lady who buys a quart of milk for their kid, we ought to be seeing Super Bowl ads next year that say Smoke a Joint, Feed a Baby. Even better, the more you smoke, snort, huff, swallow and shoot dope the more you help to feed starving third world children!

...

Title: Drug Wars Kill

Tight close-ups -- rapid cuts:
Senator: I helped kill your kid
Judge: I'm violating your Constitutional rights
Cop: I'm destroying your life
Montage of drug war violence:
Armed federal agents bashing in doors, raiding houses, kicking ass, beating faces, cracking heads, ramming cars, gunning down fleeing people ...

Frank Serpico at The Project on Government Oversight - The Paul Revere Forum: National Security Whistleblowers Speak - speech given at a February 27 meeting at the Cannon Office Building by a legendary retired New York City Police Detective. First off, Mr. Serpico coins a new name for "whistleblower": "lamplighter". I like it. Then he says a little about the difficulty of lighting lamps through history, starting with Paul Revere, proceeding through the McCarthy era, and culminating with the USA PATRIOT act. [lew]

But it took David just one well placed stone to take down the giant. On 9/11, the most powerful nation in the world, equipped with the most sophisticated spying technology available and a $396 billion defense budget was brought to its' knees by a handful of rouges with 99 cent box cutters. In my opinion, there is something very foul smelling about that. I believe that in time, the truth will come out. The mayor of New York, Time Magazine's man of the year, ordered thousands of tons of WTC steel sold and melted down before a proper investigation of the greatest crime scene the country has ever witnessed could be conducted. Much of it was sent to South Korea where Bush/Bin Laden's Carlyle Group has a massive investment. Something foul smelling about that too. In my opinion, an 85% approval rating only proves one thing. Einstein was correct when he said: "Two things are infinite, human stupidity and the universe, and I am not sure of the latter."

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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