No More Rules! No More Taxes! Ever!

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sat, 17 Aug 2002 12:00:00 GMT
Kevin Tuma - Iraq - Cartoon commentary on the Republican Party's predicament. Hehehehehe.

At the super-market last night I was reminded of New York State's new rule about purchasing cigarettes and alcohol. Vendors are now required to card everyone. Signs have popped up everywhere. I haven't bought cigarettes or alcohol in years, so they haven't carded me, but it still sticks in my craw. I said to the cashier, "It won't be long before we'll have to show ID to buy a candy bar." He concurred. Something snapped in me (what, something left to snap?) and the following slogan emerged:

NO MORE RULES!
NO MORE TAXES!
EVER!

The CRKT Steve Ryan Model Seven knife now comes in black ($47 at KnifeCenter.com) as do a number of other CRKT knives for those who serve.

Bruce Schneier - Crypto-Gram Newsletter, August 15, 2002 - Commentary on Microsoft's Palladium (Pd), what little is known of it. The impossibility of encrypted HTML. "Implementation of Chosen-Ciphertext Attacks against PGP and GnuPG", a research paper. Bottom line, if you get an encrypted message that decrypts to gibberish, don't send the gibberish to anyone or they may be able to decode future messages encrypted with your public key. Why it's a really bad idea to allow digital content companies to hack into the computers of people who supposedly stole their content. Mr. Schneier doesn't think airline pilots should be armed. He presents a risk analysis. What his analysis proves to me is that everyone on the airplane should be allowed to be armed, not just the pilots. As you know, that's no change in my opinion.

There's a lot of good stuff in Pd, and a lot I like about it. There's also a lot I don't like, and am scared of. My fear is that Pd will lead us down a road where our computers are no longer our computers, but are instead owned by a variety of factions and companies all looking for a piece of our wallet. To the extent that Pd facilitates that reality, it's bad for society. I don't mind companies selling, renting, or licensing things to me, but the loss of the power, reach, and flexibility of the computer is too great a price to pay.

...

To me, it's another example of the insane lengths the entertainment companies are willing to go to preserve their business models. They're willing to destroy your privacy, have general- purpose computers declared illegal, and exercise special vigilante police powers that no one else has...just to make sure that no one watches "The Little Mermaid" without paying for it. They're trying to invent a new crime: interference with a business model.

Harry Browne at World Net Daily - How to destroy America in one easy lesson - invade Iraq.

So the one situation in which Hussein would use weapons of mass destruction against us would be if George Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq.

If Mr. Bush doesn't realize this, he's a fool. If he does realize it, he's acting with reckless disregard for the safety of the American people and he should be prosecuted.

Either way, his bellicose talk of invading Iraq and deposing Hussein is evidence that George Bush is unfit to be president of the United States.

Blake Morrison at USA Today - Air marshal program in disarray, insiders say Dozens of top agents have quit the service - What used to be the best of the best is turning into a bevy of mall ninjas. The good guys are jumping ship. [kaba]

Mark Ferran at We the People - Law, a Revolutionary Idea for Peace - how government is getting away with stealing property, liberty, and life, with the excuse that people can sue for recompense. Part II of this long essay is available by email from Mr. Ferran. [trt-ny]

"No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without Due Process of Law." -- U.S. Constitution, Amendment 5, Law Clause.

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