Bloomberg Toked
Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people. -- F.M. Hubbard
russmo.com - Dam Building - this is a true story. Don't remember where I read it. Hehe.
There's a new Libertarian Enterprise Issue: "Round Two". I totally forgot to read it on Monday and Tuesday. To quote Gomer Pyle: "Shame, shame, shame", er... "Shy-eem, Shy-eem, Shy-eem." Articles I liked:
- Letter from Mimbreqo Chiricahua - "Rights emanate from the fact of sapience." Fetuses don't have it.
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Letter from Angel Shamaya - Mr. Shamaya has a much more suitable
attire for William Bennett than that described by L. Neil last issue.
Anyone wielding the weight of government power in America to precipitate such social evils into our society would look best when dressed in nothing more than one sturdy piece of ROPE.
As a necktie, Bill. -
Letter from Jim Davidson - a very reasonable view of the abortion
issue.
A woman is the first owner of her womb. If someone or something is trespassing there, it is her freedom to evict that trespasser at her option that is at stake. Even an invited guest can be asked to leave by a property owner; refusal to leave becomes trespass. In defense of private property, up to and including deadly force may be justified. Otherwise, rapists thrive and victims suffer. There is no objective basis for differentiating between an unwanted penis in a woman's womb and any other mass of unwanted human tissue in there. Each woman is absolutely free to put anything in her body she wants, including poison, and to remove anything from her body she doesn't want. Period.
...
If one insists that the embryo or fetus is a separate entity, and not the private property of the mother, then the interests of this entity deserve some consideration. Let those who seek to limit the amount of abortion activity pay for the transplant, artificial womb, care, and upbringing of these unwanted children. The availability of an alternative to killing the embryo or fetus should bring some relief to mothers who are doubtful about their willingness to either bear to term or have an abortion.
As an aside, the limited availability of willing host mothers could be resolved with the use of male hosts. I would be pleased to see many of these male enthusiasts of the anti-abortion position take up the task of carrying a baby to term.
AP via CNN -
Ad features Bloomberg saying he liked pot -
NORML ran a full-page ad in the New York Times (not this image
exactly, but close) with a picture of New York City mayor Michael
Bloomberg saying "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." Their sub-text is
"At Last. An Honest Politician. It's NORML to Smoke Pot."
Mr. Bloomberg promised to continue to arrest pot smokers in the Big
Apple. [charles]
Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk - A Court of No Authority - the International Criminal Court has no authority. The commU.N.ists have no authority to create it.
The more important point, however, is that the ICC clearly has no legitimate authority over American citizens. The US Senate has not ratified the ICC treaty, and constitutionally it cannot- because the Constitution does not permit the judicial function to be surrendered to an international body. Remember, the Constitution guarantees every American various protections- such as due process, jury trials, the right against self-incrimination, and the prohibition against unreasonable searches- and any treaty that denies American citizens those protections by definition is unconstitutional. Furthermore, President Bush thankfully may rescind the US signature to the ICC treaty, undoing the symbolic damage done by Clinton's acquiescence to the idea of a superior international court.
Aaron Zelman and Claire Wolfe at JPFO - Reach Out for the Bill of Rights - support for the Bill or Rights will happen via diverse coalitions of people who aren't normally grouped together. [jpfo]
Keep the message simple. Although the issues we deal with may be complex, when reaching out to others who don't share our assumptions, it's best to frame issues in simple terms and in terms that reach our audience. If Carla were to approach a typical "conservative" gun owner and say, "We need voting reform because Al Gore's loss was unfair," he'd tune her out; he's glad Al Gore lost. When she says, "If you don't have honest voting, you don't have democracy," her message is more powerful. (We'll have more about that word, democracy, in a moment.) Similarly, when a gun owner launches into an account of what the founding fathers intended by the Second Amendment, a "liberal" might yawn; those Dead White Males may not be sacred icons to her. An argument based on the premise, "Guns enable women to protect themselves against violence from bigger, stronger male attackers" is more likely to get a hearing.
...
One thing all sides can agree on: The Bill of Rights is a list of things that an honest government, a government truly of and by the people, cannot do, now or ever. The Bill of Rights is the line in the sand beyond which government dares not tread. It is the barricade that protects the people's liberties against the encroachment of tyranny. The fact that the government is encroaching on the Bill of Rights on so many fronts is a sign of danger - and it is precisely the reason so many diverse groups need to come together and are coming together.
Remember that your ultimate goal is to restore the Bill of Rights -- not to win an argument or an election. To bring back the Bill of Rights, we must change the culture. Along the way, we must win incremental victories. But we must be able to tell a real victory from a false, perhaps even destructive one.
...
Russo adds, "Both sides have to understand that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights have to work regardless of ideology. People on one side have to say, 'I believe in the Constitution even if I don't like guns, so I have to live with that.' The other side has to say, 'I believe in the Constitution even if I don't like marijuana, so I have to recognize that the federal government has no authority to pass drug laws.'"
Charley Reese - Operation Humbug - Suicide bombings or no, Israel's response is way out of proportion to what the Palestinians have done to them.
By the way, these suicide bombers are carrying explosives that are roughly equal to one high-explosive tank round or one missile from a helicopter gunship. So, you can say that the Palestinians, during the Passover week, fired six rounds at the Israelis. How many rockets and tank rounds do you suppose the Israelis have fired at Palestinians? How did the casualties get so lopsided for the Palestinians? And how can a people with no army be said to be "besieging" the Israelis, who have a very large army?
John Q. Newman at Loompanics - Fake ID After 9/11: What to Expect and How to Avoid the New Controls - it's a little harder to obtain fake ID in the brave new world, but with a little care and knowledge, it can still be done.
Richard Pearson of the Illinois State Rifle Association via U.S. Newswire - Illinois Hunters and Sportsmen to Stage Protest Against Gun Control Proposal - Sounds to me like Mr. Daley is in line to receive a 3000 foot-per-second gift from a constituent. [kaba]
City council member Don Smith is sponsoring the proposed Des Plaines gun control ordinance. Smith, an ally of Chicago mayor Richie Daley, is championing the proposal in support of Daley's attempt to establish a 100-mile zone around Chicago where civilians are prohibited from owning firearms. Smith introduced a similar ordinance several years ago, but saw his proposal die in committee.
Charley Reese - Should We Talk Like This? - on the goodness of plain language. Hehe.
