Rule of Law? What Rule of Law?
Ted Rall - World in Crisis - The commU.N.ist security council deals with the latest nuclear rogue state. Hehe.
Chris Floyd at The Moscow Times -
Render Unto Caesar -
The rule of law is dead. Murdered by GW's minions in the country where
it used to be most cherished and protected. Also published
here at CounterPunch. [safeskies]
That's the world the "defenders of civilization" have given us. They strut out in their thousand-dollar suits and preach to us about "civilized values" and "enduring freedom" while they pay their murderers and wave their cattle prods and "expand their nuclear attack options," plotting the death of millions. They're teaching every budding terrorist, every aspiring dictator, every mafia goon that violence, death and dominance are the truest human values, the way to wealth and glory.
So forget law. Law is dead. There is no law. There is only the reality of power. They can take you tonight, anywhere in the world, beat you and drug you and ship you to a dungeon in Jakarta if they want to. They can ram their cattle prods up your anus and slap their electrodes on your genitals and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. No one will hear you scream; no one will even know where you are. You don't exist anymore. You're not a person, you have no standing under the law. There is no law.
The Hunter at Sierra Times - Gun Control: Opinion; or Treason? - Treason. [safeskies]
Dozens of legal, constitutional, historical, moral, ethical, and even grammatical scholars have examined the simple text of the Second Amendment with open, skeptical minds over the past 30 years or so. Some of them began with the stated intention of proving the pro-gun advocates wrong. Nearly without exception, they have come to publicly concede that these immortal words protect an individual right. So prevalent has this individual rights interpretation become that it is referred to in academic circles as the 'standard model'. Even the courts are (finally) beginning to notice, as exemplified by the Emerson decision.
Honest differences of opinion may still exist whether this is a good or wise policy, but the fact must be faced that it is the highest law of the land. The clear prohibition charging that right "shall not be infringed" is an absolute barrier to legislation of any sort. The only peaceful and reasonable option left open for loyal Americans who disagree is to work for a Constitutional amendment, as is their legal right. Agree with them or not, at least I could respect those pursuing such a course.
But that is not how the hoplophobes among us choose to proceed. They openly advocate ignoring that highest law of the land as if it does not exist, and using lethal force paid for by taxpayers against those who believe otherwise. This during a time of war when fanatical terrorists move among us at will, and the protection offered by firearms may be needed badly indeed. There is a word for aid to the enemy in a time of war, an ugly word: TREASON.
Dorothy Anne Seese at Sierra Times - The People VS. Vaccines - vaccinations are often harmful. Hence, the state has no business mandating them. But you knew that. [sierra]
Those who still want vaccinations should be able to obtain them. Those who do not should not be forced to have the injections.
Lethal injections are for criminals. We need to keep it that way.
Philip Webster at The Times - Thatcher: Britain must start to quit EU - now that would be welcome news! [sierra]
KeepAndBearArms.com -
Supreme Court & the Right to Keep and Bear Arms -
a review of Supreme Court decisions supporting the second
amendment. [kaba]
We The People - The Next Steps - outlines a plan of action for the next month. They've backed down from a D.C. protest in which people trash their tax forms. Instead, they're presenting recordings of the 2/27-28 Truth-in-Taxation Hearing to congress critters. Like that'll do any good. [kaba]
Richard A. Bowen at Armed Females of America - I've Folded My Flag: Gun-control laws cause me to fear for America's historic freedoms - one retired Marine Lt. Colonel tells why he's put away his stars and stripes and replaced it with the Culpepper flag. [kaba]
Mira L. Boland at The Weekly Standard - Sheikh Gilani's American Disciples - a possible American connection to the murder of Daniel Pearl.
WALL STREET JOURNAL reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped when he went looking for the leader of a group called Jamaat al-Fuqra in the terrorist bazaar of Pakistan. At the time he disappeared, Pearl was tracking reports that Fuqra had hosted would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid at its walled compound in Lahore. In the end, it was agents of another group that spirited Pearl off to his death, but Fuqra remains a subject of interest, and not only because of its activities in Pakistan. For Fuqra has had a disturbing U.S. presence for more than 20 years. Today, half a dozen Fuqra residential compounds in rural hamlets across the country shelter hundreds of members, some of whom, according to intelligence sources, have been trained in the use of weapons and explosives in Pakistan.
...
There is no ironclad evidence that Fuqra's American members today are part of the international conspiracy that threatens us. Rather, the ties are circumstantial and suggestive. What should be made, for example, of the fact that several weekend residents of Fuqra's headquarters compound at Hancock work during the week as toll collectors at New York City bridges and tunnels--considering that the 1993 World Trade Center bombers had plans to blow up the George Washington Bridge and Hudson River tunnels? We also know that in the early 1990s Gilani's U.S. recruits signed an oath saying, "I shall always hear and obey, and whenever given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah's sake." At the least, it is clear that Daniel Pearl was digging into a very interesting story.
Rod Allee at The Record (West Paterson, NJ) - When a loaded gun enters the equation - another good argument for women being armed. Bizarre case, but reality.
L. Neil Smith at Project: Safe Skies - A new presidential question - L. Neil gives Alex Hope's opinion about the proper U.S. response to September 11. [smith2004]
September 11 was a _criminal_ act, carried out by identifiable individuals, not another nation state. To any extent they can be trusted to do an honest, competent job (a big, big question, really), I'd have assigned to the FBI and CIA the very limited tasks of identifying and locating the surviving criminals responsible, and to Delta Force or somebody like them the task of rounding them up.
Yes, I know there are extradition issues here. For what it's worth, the Saudi leaders are clearly more responsible for what happened than anyone in Afghanistan. I'd sooner see federal marshals do all of this, but they're not equipped right now. The suspects (if in fact there are any) would then have been given a fair and open public trial, with the best defense available, televised and broadcast on the radio and by Internet.
All of that is very simple, straightforward, and Constitutional, although it leaves no juicy opportunity for the President to become the next incarnation of Adolf Hitler, as he has today. I believe that was already in the cards, and, given the most charitable interpretation of events, September 11 only served as an energizing excuse for what was going to happen anyway.
L Neil Smith at Project: Safe Skies - Views on abortion and other pro-life subjects - Neil responds to an email question from a disgruntled Republican. Abortion, capital punishment, stem cell research, cloning. [smith2004]
Now let me make a suggestion to you. Do you like what's happening to America right now, or do you wish it was still a free country? Libertarians have hundreds of positions on issues, all of them having to do with the individual liberties this country was founded on. Would you really lend your support to the socialists and fascists in the two-headed Boot On Your Neck party because you disagree with us on one or two issues? Why doesn't anybody ever subject the BONY party to that level of perfection?
Ty Phillips at the Modesto Bee - Medical pot posing dilemma for officers - DAs in California are often choosing not to prosecute marijuana cases because juries are refusing to convict. Nice to see that even though the cops don't respect the law (Prop. 215), the people do. [market]
Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com - Big Bill Is Watching You - Bill Bennett, former drug czar, has started a group called Americans for Victory Over Terrorism (AVOT), to counter the growing anti-war movement. Nice to see this quote from Lew Rockwell again. It gave Mr. Bennett conniptions. Good. [market]
Let's say that Washington really was incinerated. As difficult and alarming as this sounds, we live in times when horrible realities confront us every day. It is time that we deal frankly and honestly with the ugly prospect. The first thing that would happen is that your personal income would rise equal to the 40 percent you currently pay Washington in taxes. Because there would be nowhere to actually send the checks -- excise taxes, income taxes, and payroll taxes would be meaningless. Instead of having to wait for politicians to give us "private accounts" for some portion of Social Security, we'd get real privatization with no FICA at all. The country would be immediately vulnerable to attack by terrorists! On the other hand, there would be no one to enforce sanctions against Iraq, pay the troops in Saudi Arabia, or fund the settlements on the Gaza Strip, so the terrorists would lose their rationale for suicide bombings and the like. They might just choose to go home to their wives and kids.
L. Neil Smith at smith2004 - Re: [smith2004-discuss] A new presidential question - I'll buy one.
I had planned, were I to receive a serious nomination, to fund the campaign, in part, by raffling off the right to put the first RPG round into the tall UN building.
