Mr. Rogers at Dartmouth
That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there. -- George Orwell
From Quotes of the Day:
Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. -- Isaac Asimovand:
The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer. -- Victor Borge
A Chaos Manor Special Report - are you a professional? Take this short quiz to find out. Hehe. [pournelle]
Fred McFeely Rogers at Dartmouth College - 2002 Commencement Address - Mr. Rogers speaks to students in New Hampshire. And does it very well. [heart]
I have a lot of framed things in my office which people have given to me through the years and on my walls are Greek, and Hebrew, and Russian, and Chinese, and beside my chair is a French sentence from Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. It reads, "L'essential...l'invisibles pour les yeux." What is essential is invisible to the eye.
...
I'd like to give you all an invisible gift. A gift of a silent minute to think about those who have helped you become who you are today. Some of them may be here right now. Some may be far away. Some, like my astronomy professor, may even be in Heaven. But wherever they are, if they've loved you and encouraged you and wanted what was best in life for you, they're right inside yourself. And I feel that you deserve quiet time on this special occasion to devote some thought to them. So let's just take a minute in honor of those who have cared about us all along the way. One silent minute.
Troy Tiscareno and Tatjana von E. - AR15.com Ammunition FAQ - good info about 223 Remington/5.56mm Nato (M16/AR-15) ammo. [ar15.com]
The Tyranny Response Team - Orange County NY is an interesting site. Their links page includes End the War on Freedom. Thanks, Joe.
William Lolli at CalNRA - It's the Terrorists, Stupid - Why the U.S. should follow Israel's example to prevent hijackings. [kaba]
Has anyone heard of any Israeli domestic flight being hijacked lately? Of course not. Why? Because Israel allows passengers (yes, passengers!!) who are qualified to be armed.
Ari Armstrong at Liberty for All - An Open Letter to All Favoring Gun Restrictions - a longish article with some good points. [firearmnews]
Are there any possible unintended bad consequences of mandated firearms storage? Yes. Women and fathers who keep a gun to protect themselves and their families against violent rapists, murderers, and other criminals need quick access to that firearm. If the gun is locked away in a safe or has a trigger lock on it, the gun is basically useless for self-defense. As criminal gangster Sammy "The Bull" Gravano once put it, "You will pull the trigger with the lock on it, and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins."
Arkady at kuro5hin - America: Broken As Designed - an attempt to compare America's design goals (Declaration of Independence and Federalist Papers), design specification (constitution), and implementation (the state as it exists). I only skimmed it, but it looks interesting. [kuro5hin]
The current American State is clearly not operating by to its own specification, much less according to its stated principles. Those of us who support the principles asserted in the Declaration of Independence, those of us who don't but just despise the hypocrisy of a State such as America claiming to while doing whatever its rulers please, or even those of us who just dislike seeing a project botched so badly, may wonder how we should solve this problem.
There is ample precedent for a body of concerned individuals declaring themselves to be a Constitutional Convention , writing a new Constitution and even adopting it without the consent of the majority of the people affected by it. This has already happened twice in America's history; indeed, it is the way in which both of America's Constitutions have been adopted, so it would be equally just to say that there's no precedent for any other manner of adoption.
It seems clear that America is long overdue for a comprehensive redesign. It is time to either recreate the American State to follow its existing design principles, or to find new and better principles on which to base a new design (those who approve of the current State could perhaps begin by attempting to deduce the principles on which it actually operates and proposing that we follow those).
Nicki Fellenzer at Armed Females of America - Would you shoot the bastard? - definitely. [firearmnews]
Harry Browne at World Net Daily - Let's just scrap the Bill of Rights - it's war-time, so we have to scrap the bill of rights, right? No. Never. [smith2004]
Libertarian Party - Should We Re-Legalize Drugs? - certainly! [anodyne]
Today's illegal drugs were legal before 1914. Cocaine was even found in the original Coca-Cola recipe. Americans had few problems with cocaine, opium, heroin or marijuana. Drugs were inexpensive; crime was low. Most users handled their drug of choice and lived normal, productive lives. Addicts out of control were a tiny minority.
The first laws prohibiting drugs were racist in origin -- to prevent Chinese laborers from using opium and to prevent blacks and Hispanics from using cocaine and marijuana. That was unjust and unfair, just as it is unjust and unfair to make criminals of peaceful drug users today.
Michael Ware Kandahar at Time - 'We Were Better Off Under the Russians' - the hassling and killing of innocents in Afghanistan continues. [unknown]
