Happy May Day Except Slimentologists

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 01 May 2002 12:00:00 GMT

From smith2004:

Nominated for quote of the year is the statement made by Texas Republican Member of The House of Representatives, Dick Armey, who was asked: "If you had been in President Clinton's place, would you have resigned?"

He responded:

"If I were in the President's place I would not have gotten a chance to resign. I would be laying in a pool of my own blood, hearing Mrs. Armey standing over me saying, 'How do I reload this damn thing?'"

From samizdata:

The free market is not a panacea. It does not eliminate old age, and it won't guarantee you a date for Saturday night. Private enterprise is fully capable of awful screw-ups. But both theory and practice indicate that its screw-ups are less pervasive and more easily corrected than those of government enterprises, including regulatory ones. -- Paul Krugman

From The Federalist:

To me, July 6, 'Cost of Government Day,' was mostly an abstraction until I realized that that day was about a week into the second half of the year. I then thought that if that were to be translated into the work week, it would mean that for all of Monday, all of Tuesday, and for more than half of Wednesday, my labors would be for others rather than for myself and my family. 'Cost of Government Day,' then, might better be described as Wednesday afternoon.

and:

Is it called a subpoena because some lawyers have smaller poenas than others? -- Norman Liebmann

Well, a little over a year later, the Scientologists discovered a short quote I included on my blog when it was hosted by editthispage.com. They sent an email to Dave Winer's web hosting service "requesting" that they remove the offending material. Here's the message Dave sent me:

From: "Dave Winer"
To: <bill@billstclair.com>
Subject: Copyrighted work?
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 16:20:19 -0700

We've received a complaint from lawyers representing the Church of Scientology, saying that you are publishing their confidential and copyrighted work. Is that true?

Dave

FW: Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Materials

From: Susan Stick
To: Debra Hoff
Cc:

Subject: FW: Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Materials
Sent: 4/29/2002 3:40 PM
Importance: Normal

Hi Debra,

Please see attached copyright complaint, and have your team contact the customer (if ours).

Thanks,
Susan
-----Original Message-----
From: AMPaquette@aol.com [mailto:AMPaquette@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 3:37 PM
To: copyright@exodus.net
Cc: AMPaquette@aol.com
Subject: Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Materials

Dear Gentlepersons:

Our office represents Religious Technology Center ("RTC"), the owner of the confidential Advanced Technology of the Scientology religion and the holder of exclusive rights under the copyrights applicable to the Advanced Technology materials. The Advanced Technology materials are confidential, unpublished, copyrighted works. RTC's works include, among others, the individual works comprising a level known as "OT III". These works are registered with the United States Copyright Office under registration number: TXu 290 496.

Please be advised that one of your subscribers has placed one of RTC's OT III works on his home page on your web site without the authorization of our client.

This copyrighted work can be found in the middle of the web page located under the following URL:
http://wws.editthispage.com/2001/03/17
This subscriber's action in this regard violates United States copyright law.

Accordingly, we request that this copyrighted work be removed immediately.

Our clients have obtained numerous permanent injunctions concerning Internet infringements of this and similar works. For instance, in RTC v. Lerma, Case No. Civil Action No. 95-1107-A, the court ruled in favor of RTC, permanently enjoining the defendant infringer from posting, on the Internet, the same OT III work that is the subject of this notice here. In May 1998, a jury in the United States District Court in San Jose, California assessed damages in the amount of $75,000 against a Mr. Henson for copyright infringement, for posting one of RTC's Advanced Technology works on the Internet. Mr. Henson was also permanently enjoined by the court against further infringements.

Similar results have been reached in Europe. On September 14, 1998, a Swedish court enjoined a defendant who infringed this same work (among others), in addition to finding that his actions in placing our client's copyrighted works on the Internet violated the owner's rights under Swedish copyright law. He was also fined for his illegal actions and ordered to pay $161,000 in litigation costs. Thereafter, this same infringer was separately found guilty of criminal violations of the copyright act with respect to RTC's materials.

I have a good faith belief, and in fact know for certain, that the posting of this work by your subscriber on his web page was not authorized by my client, any agent of my client, or the law.

I declare under penalty of perjury that this information is accurate and that I am authorized to act on behalf of RTC in this matter.

Sincerely,
Ava Paquette
Moxon & Kobrin
3055 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 900
Los Angeles, California 90010
Tel: (213) 487-4468
Fax: (213) 487-5385

Not wanting to waste any of my time on losing Slimentologists, especially on Dave's free server, I removed the referenced quote and replaced it with:

[redacted because the a-hole Scientologists sent Dave Winer a letter]

I have some personal experience with Scientology. In 1975, when I was a froshling at MIT, I met a Scientologist on the street in Central Square. He convinced me to pay $25 for a "Communication Course". The course consisted primarily of me sitting with another person saying, "Do birds fly?" No matter how he responded, I was to counter with, "I'll repeat the auditing question. Do birds fly?" A couple of times, I sat with the chief guy while he asked me ridiculous questions intending to make me laugh. He succeeded. I laughed. "Auditing" was sold as a way to become "clear" of "engrams". I read Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard's book about engrams that is still featured on the Scientology home page. Other than the word "engram", I remember nothing about the book. The course seemed a waste of time, but as soon as I'd done it for a little while, the chief guy went into hard sell mode trying to get me to take the next course, for $300. It became apparent that there was an endless stream of courses that would be presented as long as I continued to pay. Realizing that I was dealing with a used car salesmen, I left the premises and never returned.

Add comment Edit post Add post

Previous Posts:
U.S. out of U.N., U.N. out of U.S.
Democracy, The God That Failed
The Tyranny Advances
Dragon's Fury
vin/020417.html
vin/020419.html
vin/020418-message.html
vin/020315.html
vin/020318.html
vin/020325.html

Navigation

History

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