End the War on Freedom

russmo.com - Lottery Winner - cartoon commentary on who always wins the lottery. Hehe.

Roadblock Registry - Encountering A Roadblock (What to expect and how to handle the situation) - the Amerikan Sekurity state has an increasing number of police roadblocks. Some advice on handling them. You can also register a roadblock or peruse known roadblocks by state. Most of this appears to be pre-9/11, so you can probably expect even less recognition of your fourth amendment rights today. [trt-ny]

Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association is dedicated to the repeal of the the (Canadian) Firearms Act of 1995 (Bill C- 68).

Nat Hentoff at The Village Voice - A Citizen Shorn of All Rights - Yaser Esam Hamdi has still not spoken to his lawyer after being declared an "enemy combatant" by Bushnev. [rense]

If unchecked by the courts--and Congress--Bush's parallel legal system will push the Constitution aside and realize James Madison's prediction that when all power is commanded by only one of the three branches of government, those ensnared in that rogue system are powerless.

Yaser Esam Hamdi, born in Louisiana of Saudi parents, was captured by Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan. He was transferred to Camp X-Ray in the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. When his American captors realized Hamdi is an American citizen, he was taken, in April 2002, to a naval station brig in Norfolk, Virginia, where he has since been held without any charges or trial, without access to his public defender, and without being able to see his family or anyone else. This American citizen, incommunicado and stripped of his constitutional rights, has been put in this condition by direct order of the president of the United States.

On October 24, the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and 18 other human rights groups, plus a coalition of 139 law professors, submitted an amicus brief to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals charging that "the detention of American citizen Yaser Esam Hamdi is unconstitutional."

Reading the brief, keep in mind that the Bush administration has plans to set up "enemy combatant" detention facilities for other American citizens (Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2002).

In stark language, the brief goes on to say that "the government's position is that the president has complete discretion to suspend the application of the Bill of Rights and the writ of habeas corpus [which requires the government to prove the legality of a person's imprisonment] to American citizens on American soil, without the authority of Congress or the courts."

Garry Reed, The Loose Cannon Libertarian - Celebrities Don't Do Jail - If you or I are caught doing illegal drugs, we go to jail. Not so celebreties. They get "rehab". So what's the solution? The Celebrity Defense Foundation, of course. Instant celebrity for the masses. Hehe.

When Florida Gov Jeb Bush's darling daughter Noelle got busted yet again for pigging out at the governmentally disapproved substances buffet she did not collect $200, did not pass Go, and certainly did not go directly to jail. Noelle went to rehab. This brought howls of indignation from law-and-order pushers who demanded that Ms. Bush be treated to the same perks as any other citizen's daughter: a bright orange jumpsuit and a cellmate named Big Bertha McGursky.

While libertarians agree with the equal treatment concept, they know the howlers have gotten it all wrong. Equal injustice for all is still injustice. Nobody's kid deserves to be jailed for drug use. Or forcibly rehabbed. We all deserve to be left the hell alone.

Ray Thomas at Sierra Times - Manual for the Falsely Accused - four-part series on how to beat the child "protection" racket, legally and non-violently. [sierra]

It has become a common theme for a spouse to accuse the other spouse of child abuse or child sexual abuse in order to gain an advantage in a divorce case. In fact, attorneys routinely advise them to do so, true or not. In many cases, both spouses are accusing each other of child abuse. In some cases it's: "Lord forgive them for they know not what they do," because once the CPS thugs get their hands on the kids, they just don't want to give them up. They use every lying, deceitful trick in the book to keep them. They've been known, in many cases, to push for adoption for the children, even in cases where abuse cannot be proven. Neither parent then has any rights, even the one whose lies got it all started. False child abuse charges have become a valuable tool to be used in other conflicts, as well -- such as landlord-tenant disputes and even in auto accidents. It has become known as an easy way to hurt your opponent without cost to yourself. The CPS willingly hurts them, and you are completely protected from any but unlawful retaliation. I predict it will become a useful tool in many other areas in the future, as well.

I sent the following feedback:

Date: Wed, 01 Jan 2003 20:26:00 -0500
To: feedback@sierratimes.com
From: "Bill St. Clair" <bill@billstclair.com>
Subject: Manual for the Falsely Accused

Good article on how to protect your kids from the Child "Protective" Services nazis. If they show up at my door one day, I'll take Mr. Thomas' advice and not allow them to enter. Nor will I sign anything.

But if they actually attempt to take my kids, I doubt that I'll manage to stay as peaceful as Mr. Thomas recommends. I consider kidnapping of my children to be a capital offense and believe that it is my right and duty on witnessing such kidnapping to act immediately as judge, jury, and executioner. Nothing makes me angrier. They'll take my kids over my dead body. Should they grab my kids while I'm not there, then Mr. Thomas' advice will once again become useful, since I will be unsure of who the actual kidnappers are, so will be unable to justify direct action. Should I learn where my children are being kept, however, and should I believe that I can rescue them, it will again be my right and duty to do so, with extreme prejudice if necessary.

Lawsuits are not appropriate for these monsters. The penalty for kidnapping is death.

Edwin Meese III at Human Events - John Ashcroft: Man of the Year - I think these folks are serious. Barf! [smith2004]

John Ashcroft, the 79th attorney general of the United States, is Human Events "Man of the Year" for 2002. No finer choice could have been made--for his role in the war on terror; for his adherence to the principles of liberty that animated our founding; and for his dignified stature in the face of unjustified criticism, John Ashcroft deserves this award.

Greg Swann - Getting a grip on the war with Iraq: The 'wrest' of the story... - comments on the "Naked Men for Peace".

For those who can resist the urge to seize upon irrelevancy, no matter how ready to hand, how one feels about the forthcoming war--or what one does to protest it, stitchlessly keeping the world in stitches--is not significant. There will be a war, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, certainly within the next few weeks. To acknowledge this, to have thoughts, opinions and concerns about it is not to endorse it. And to refuse to think about it, or to jerk one's knee or something nearby, is not meaningfully to oppose it.

Why will there be a war? Perpetually put-out protesters have contrived a raft of rationales, all false. We are not going to war for oil or to enrich evil corporate arms-makers. We are not going to war to avenge the President's father, nor to do a make-over on the blemishes left over from the last Iraqi war. We are not going to war because George Bush is a stooge or a dupe or an idiot.

And the 'official' arguments for this war are equally false. We are not going to war to rid Iraq of 'weapons of mass destruction.' Nor to effect 'regime change.' Nor even to rid the world of an evil dictator and liberate, after a fashion, a decent people too long oppressed. All those things will happen as a result of this war, but they are not the reason for it.

Why are we having this war?

In order to scare the shit out of the world, generally, and Islam in particular.

...

The tragedy of this war is not the war itself. It will probably be all but bloodless on our side, and could well be bloodless on theirs--"A rational army would run away." The tragedy is that the 'regime changes' of the years to come, and there are likely to be more than a few, will result in governments that are called democracies, but will have precious little real freedom. 'Democracy' has come to mean the sacred right to vote for your ruthless oppressors.

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