End the War on Freedom

From kaba:

Fear of death will not prevent dying, but it may prevent living. -- Anonymous

A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders. -- Larry Elder

Kevin Tuma - Information - cartoon commentary on government responsiveness to inquiries about their atrocities.

Rachel Konrad at cnet - Trouble ahead, trouble behind - an interview with John Perry Barlow. The big news to me is the band he's writing for these days: String Cheese Incident. So far I've only listened to "Wake Up" & "Texas" from their Sound page, but I downloaded the rest. Great stuff! [unknown]

The Grateful Dead invented viral marketing without really meaning to...We gave our music away. At the time, we did it because we felt there was no way to stop Deadheads from taping it, and besides, we weren't in it for the money, because we weren't making any. But those tapes became the androgen of our success. They spread that virus all over the damn place, and by the time we died, we were the largest-grossing entertainment act in the business because of performances, but not exclusively.

...

I'm writing now for String Cheese Incident, which is like Grateful Dead 2.0, and they're getting big very fast. Their audience has quadrupled in the past year...They've been making their board tapes available online for some time. At the same time, they have a system where they'll ship you CDs of the concert. People are buying them--in spite of the fact that they can download the music.

Al Martin Raw - The Bushonian Agenda: Citizen Profiling & Internal Security - more chilling "news". Reminder: I consider Mr. Martin's columns to be largely works of fiction. This one, however, sounds credible, unfortunately. [grabbe]

They will also establish "containment" methods. In other words, you can't just go out and liquidate people who have continuing access to information and who have the ability to disseminate it. They have to be "contained." In the FBI's definition, to "contain" is to surveil, harass, pressure, attempt to impede someone's ability to earn a living, discredit wherever possible, including the formulation of bogus criminal charges, and to sic other agencies like the IRS on them or, in other words, to try to bury them. This is all done under the notion that if you can prevent someone from earning a living, eventually they will become so desperate, they will do something to cross the line and you won't have to do anything to trump up charges against them. That is the key point in how you get people to discredit themselves - by impeding their ability to earn money.

What I found dangerous is the look on Bush's face. I think he actually believes what he's saying, and that's where it gets dangerous. It's not just politics anymore. He's intoxicated with the power. It's gone beyond the long- term Bushonian agendas into a state of intoxication with power. You can seen it in his face, in his eyes, the way he pounds his fists on the table all the time. We'll defeat terrorism no matter how much of other people's money we have to spend and no matter how many rights the American people have to sacrifice.

When a Bush starts to believe what he's saying - watch out.

David Codrea at KeepAndBearArms.com - It's Time to Show the Servants Who's in Charge - asks pilots to strike until Mineta (Clinton-era leftover Transportation Secretary) sees the light and stops forbidding them to fly armed. [kaba]

Kevin J. Tull at Rational Review - If Being Secure is Wrong, Then I Don't Wanna Have Rights - Mr. Tull (no relation to Jethro) has his own local security checks. Amazing how people will see the logic of your argument if you're resting the muzzle of your shotgun against their Adam's apple. Tongue planted firmly in teeth. I think. Hehe.

R. Lee Wrights at Rational Review - Can You Fight City Hall? - Mr. Wrights maintains that you can fight city hall. "Government goes to those that show up."

My experience has taught me that individuals can and do make a difference when they become involved at the local level. Here we find the essential key to throwing off chains created by an overbearing Nanny State. We must learn to reassert ourselves as true independent citizens and reclaim our stolen birthright, which is control of government. You should never miss the city/county council or commission meetings in your local area. If you have children, and even if you do not, you should never miss a school board meeting. Anywhere the State meets you should be there to witness it first hand and use your presence and voice to oppose each new link in the chain of our bondage as it is forged. You must be willing to speak in public before endless boards in the fight to close down the foundry that produces the shackles of regulation. You must be willing to call for and support the repeal of useless laws to help preserve your freedom and that of generations that will follow. Show up, you can fight City Hall.

Nat Hentoff at The Village Voice - Disorderly Conduct by Whom? Judge Ross vs. Free Speech - it appears that the first amendment is dead in the Big Apple. [unknown]

Pat Owens - WI: Mandated Vaccinations Bill Passes House - take your state-mandated poison or face $10,000 fine and nine months in prison. Not my kids they don't. Try it and die. [sierra]

Danny Brown at This Is London - Welcome to gun city 2002 - it's easy to get a gun in London, laws against ownership notwithstanding. [kaba]

Chris, who has agreed to be my guide to this area of the underworld, describes the terrifying efficiency of an average gun purchase in South London. 'I'm known in here so there's no problem with people trusting me. That's why it's going to be so quick. If you came here on your own as a new face, you would be under suspicion, but that just means it would take a bit more time and a few more calls. But at the end of the day, there are people out there who would much rather have the money than the gun, so they're always willing to sell. To get in touch, all you have to do is get friendly with the barmaid or a bouncer and, sooner or later, you'll been put in touch with someone,' he says cheerfully, as if he's talking about the possibility of buying a secondhand Volkswagen.

amoon at Slashdot - Java RMI - a review of the book Java RMI by William Grosso. If you don't know what RMI is, you probably won't be interested in this article. [cafe]

Bottom line is that Grosso simply covers the topics and does so with solid conceptual and code coherence -- even by O'Reilly standards (over 40 animals grace my shelves). His prose and explanatory patterns make it clear that he has actually gotten into the real-world of RMI, and doesn't hesitate to highlight both good and bad parts. You cannot be dozing off when you read this (at least not if you expect to understand it) -- this is written by someone with solid analytic thinking skills and it shows. After too many years of "there are no caveats" journalism and publishing, this is a nice reversion. Further, I can only imagine that his current employment is a testament to his real-world knowledge of RMI.

Add comment Edit post Add post