John Ashcroft: Jackbooted Thug of the Month
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. -- Aesopand:
The scientific name for an animal that doesn't either run from or fight its enemies is lunch. -- Michael Friedman
From unknown:
This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer. -- Will Rogers
Kevin Tuma - Risks - cartoon commentary on fedgov logic on arming pilots.
Someone asked for refuation of gun-grabber statistics over at trt-ny (invitation only mailing list). I responded:
Though it is certainly nice to be able to respond in kind showing that anti-gunners statistics are bogus, that has the problem that it reduces the argument to one of harm or benefit to society.
It doesn't matter how many bozos in Harlem kill each other with handguns. I still have the right to protect myself and my family and my countrymen. It doesn't matter how many idiot children find their idiot fathers' guns and blow away their friends. I still have the right to protect myself and my family and my countrymen. It doesn't matter how many depressed lunatics use a gun to snuff it. I still have the right to protect myself and my family and my countrymen.
Rights are not subject to arguments of utility. Rights may not be legislated away. Majority opinion is not relevant.
The right to keep and bear arms is absolute. It may not be infringed.
The Teppo Jutsu .458 SOCOM Weapons System fires a 250-600 grain .458 caliber projectile at velocities as high as 2100 fps. It is designed to be useable with a standard AR-15 lower & magazines and a custom upper, which they sell for $865. CorBon manufactures ammo. Brass and dies are available. [pistolsmith]
Joel Miller at World Net Daily - Guns: The great equalizer - why the city of Chicago should be helping John Birch of Concealed Carry Inc. instead of whining. [firearmnews]
Consider the case of Polly Pryzbyl. After separating from her husband, Polly took her children to her mother's house. When her husband showed up and threatened her, Polly answered by producing a gun. He stood down, but when the police arrived, they took Polly's weapon. A week later, while going to her husband's house to pick up clothes for the kids, she and her mother were gunned down by her husband.
Tranportation Security Administration - Working with TSA: Travelers & Consumers - Do's and Don'ts - the Gestapo speaks. Listen up or be shot.
Brad Edmonds at LewRockwell.com - Liberty and Security: False Paradox - liberty and security are not at odds with each other. Security is not possible without liberty. [safeskies]
The evidence that makes the case that liberty is security with regard to personal and community safety is so overwhelming that the only possible reason politicians have for opposing liberty in this regard is a fear for their own power. It has been shown everywhere in the United States, and through most of the world, that as more citizens are allowed to carry guns their safety is increased. At the same time criminals become more timid, peaceful citizens continue to demonstrate that they do not behave dangerously when armed. Armed civilians, in fact, are safer and more law-abiding than police officers in the US.
Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk - Gold, Dollars, and Federal Reserve Mischief - governments continue to debase currency. Back to the gold standard!
Gold is history's oldest and most stable currency. Central bankers and politicians don't want a gold-backed currency system, because it denies them the power to create money out of thin air. Governments by their very nature want to expand, whether to finance military intervention abroad or a welfare state at home. This expansion costs money, and the big-government politicians don't want spending limited to the amounts they can tax or borrow. This is precisely why central banks now produce all of the world's major currencies.
Scott Graves at The Libertarian Enterprise - Why I Hate Gunnies - Mr. Graves thinks that druggies make better libertarians than gun owners. Wish it weren't so, but he may be right. [tle]
Michael W. Gallagher at The Libertarian Enterprise - A Brief Legislative Review - a good reminder of the tyrannies promulgated by "Reichsmarshall Ashcroft and Co." in the name of fighting terrorism. [tle]
Carl Bussjaeger at The Libertarian Enterprise - Jackbooted Thug of the Month for June 2002: US Attorney General John Ashcroft - take a bow, Herr Ashcroft. [tle]
Mr. Ashcroft won his position at the top of this month's JBT list through his diligent and ceaseless efforts to stifle freedom across America, and to make the people of America pay for the dubious privilege of being enslaved.
Cathy Cuthbert at LewRockwell.com - Of Spelling Bees and Homeschool Demagoguery - education is worthless if it is used to imprison the mind. That's why homeschooling is a really good idea, no matter how well homeschooled kids score on standard metrics like spelling bees or college admissions. [trt-ny]
Leaving aside the valid arguments against these being true indicators of academic prowess, let me help the pundits with their confusion: education is not the measurable acquisition of massive amounts of facts. Rather, education is the lifelong search for truth, wisdom and virtue. Clearly, government bureaucratic agencies geared to the indoctrination of other people's children cannot possibly satisfy this definition of education. To the contrary, they are education's antithesis. Once this definition and its implications are understood, the confusion about the nature of homeschooling magically disappears, and any attempt to equate winning a contest with being educated becomes plainly absurd.
