How Did We Survive?

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 01 Oct 2002 12:00:00 GMT

From trt-ny:

How Did We Survive?

Looking back,it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors,or cabinets,and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to the ski area as an 11 year old girl!)

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter,and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight.... we were always outside playing.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.....

That generation produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

And you're one of them, congratulations!

The Libertarian Enterprise - Letter from Scott "Shu'al" Campanaro - if you follow only one link today, make it this one. Examples from one man who has decided to live free. [tle]

PS -- here is a copy of the document that I DO have posted on my gate and front door. Also at Patriot/Libertarian meetings I use this modified Pledge (thanks to Aaron Zelman and all at JPFO for the basic pledge) instead of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Feel free to duplicate as needed and USE 'em. Enjoy and remember today is no rehearsal for tomorrow it is TODAY... live it! Here you go:

* * *
BILL OF RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT ZONE

ALL AGENTS OF THE "STATE" NOTE: THIS PROPERTY AND ITS RESIDENTS ARE UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE...
BILL of RIGHTS

YOUR PARTICULAR ATTENTION IS CALLED TO Amendments II, IV, IX, & X. (ATTACHED)

ALL AGENTS OF THE STATE WILL CLEARLY IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AND BE DRESSED IN BUSINESS ATTIRE. THEY WILL APROACH SLOWLY AND WITH THEIR HANDS IN PLAIN VIEW.

WARRANTS WILL BE REVIEWED BY MY LAWYER AND I WILL THEN DECIDE IF YOU MAY PROCEED, YOU WILL WAIT POLITELY AT MY GATE UNTIL THIS DETERMINATION IS MADE.

ANY DEVIANCE FROM THIS PROCEDURE AND I WILL ASSUME THAT YOU ARE NOT LAWFUL VISTORS BUT RATHER AGGRESSORS AND YOU WILL BE DEALT WITH SUMMARILY.

official-documents.co.uk - Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government - the British government has released some work by their Joint Intelligence Committee claiming that Iraq has and is continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction. Sort of like the U.S. and the U.K., eh? I'm linking to this one because it has an HTML copy. There are links to the PDF copy on this 10 Downing Street Newsroom page, which I found in my referral log.

Garry Reed, The Loose Cannon Libertarian - Pot Shots: the War on Weed - some stories from the "Jihad on Joints".

The Crusade against Cannabis keeps keeping on, but the skirmish lines are slowly shifting. From California to Canada, pot proponents are pushing back. But don't expect legalization any time soon. As libertarians are acutely aware, prohibition guarantees plunder and power for gangsters and governments alike, while the sick and the peaceful puffer serve only as prison fodder.

Free Republic - "One man packs, another attacks" - account of assault on pro-rights/TRT member - In Boulder, CO, a gun-toting activist was attacked by a peace protester. The gun owner did his best to avoid a fight. [trt-ny]

"The gun was loaded, with a round in the chamber," Officer Lowry wrote in his report.

Which doesn't seem to alarm CU police. Right away, after police intervened, Ghalam told them he had a concealed weapon and a permit to carry it. Police thanked him for his professional demeanor. Boulder County Sheriff George Epp has suspended the permit until the case is resolved. Although police clearly viewed Howell as the aggressor, both men were ticketed for brawling-a standard procedure when police break up fights.

Ghalam's actions teach us that concealed weapons permits are a sound form of gun control. Here's a man so responsible that he wouldn't think of breaking a gun law, so he went through a rigorous process to obtain special permission from the sheriff to carry his weapon responsibly. Ghalam is so oriented toward peace that he chooses not to defend himself, and not to fight, unless it's a matter of life or death.

The peace protester, by contrast, bloodied another man, chased him down, and later struggled with police.

Add comment Edit post Add post

Previous Posts:
Christopher's New Favorite Rifle
Not in Our Name
Vin in NH
Better Off Dead
Spontaneous Order
The Last Peaceful Demonstration
Can Bush Read?
America's Saddam
Autumnal Equinox, 2002
The Window War

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