Support Our Troops: Bring Them Home
"I never let my schooling interfere with my education." -- Mark Twain
From smith2004:
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Ben Franklin
From Chuck Muth's News & Views:
"The dawgs of war are about to be unleashed. Thousands will die, billions will be spent and most of us will have to do with less. These are the wages of following a leader who is strong but wrong. He's the man; we're his bitches." -- Richard Goldsteinand:
"Quite probably the worst thing about the inevitable and totally unjustifiable war with Iraq is that there's no chance the United States might lose it. . . . America...has been exhibiting all the characteristics of an adolescent bully, a pubescent punk who's too big for his britches and too strong for his age. Someday, perhaps, we may grow out of our mindless, pimple-faced arrogance, but in the meantime, it might do us a ton of good to have our butts kicked." -- Tom Robbins
The Libertarian Enterprise - Letters from Caleb Paul, William "Bill" Goosby, and Curt Howland - three "education" experiences. I especially liked Curt Howland's letter. [tle]
L. Neil Smith at The Libertarian Entperprise - Under the Thumb of Municipal Socialism - an invitation to provide written evidence that municipal government should be abolished. [tle]
In a general way, my view is that, partly owing to our history, and partly to our technology, our species is in the gradual process of outgrowing government. We've outgrown many another institution and unsentimentally let it fall away. There aren't many flintknappers or stagecoach companies or buggy whip makers any more. The only reason we haven't sloughed off government, as well, is that too many thieves and parasites--pardon me, politicians and bureaucrats--(those, in short, who are furthest behind on the growth curve) can't find honest work in the market system, and somehow believe they have a right to carve themselves a nice, thick, juicy slice of the Productive Class instead.
I also believe that the whole disgusting War on Terror Homeland Security Patriot Act mess we find ourselves wading through with the Bush-Clinton-Bush Administration today is a direct result of their correct--if hysterical--perception that their time is very nearly done. Before this century is over, human society will be organized as differently from society today as today's is from that of the Middle Ages.
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So here's the deal. Editor John Taylor and I are hereby soliciting articles, demonstrating that city government is obsolete as a form of human organization and--if only from the standpoint of public health--should be abolished. As always, it's for the children. Don't bother trying to be fair or evenhanded. The other side has had its way for 8000 years. Like the man says, we are equal time. If we get enough items, and they're good enough, we'll put a book together and look for publishers.
William Stone, III at The Libertarian Enterprise - The Phantom Menace - why the entire terrorist threat is a government fabrication. I especially like the trademark symbol on "Weapons of Mass Destruction™". [tle]
"Don't you UNDERSTAND?!" they opine, their tone approaching that of fingernails being dragged across a blackboard. "Mass DESTRUCTION!! He'll kill us all, don't you see?! MASS DESTRUCTION!!"
Relax. Breathe. Think. Use the Force. You have nothing to fear from Saddam Hussein nor terrorists in the United States. They're a phantom menace manufactured by the true villains in this story.
Governments lie constantly, over successive generations and Presidencies. Almost nothing governments tell us is true. The United States FedGov's "reality" is some kind of strange, twisted, alternate universe. It's rather like the original "Star Trek" episode, "Mirror, Mirror": in the FedGov's universe, Spock has a beard and Kirk keeps a stunning brunette in his quarters.
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In general, terrorists don't like Weapons of Mass Destruction™. They're too expensive, complicated, prone to failure, and subject to health hazards totally absent in chemical explosives. Terrorists prefer car bombs, home-made grenades, and conventional weapons. What did the September 11 terrorists have for weapons? Box cutters. Such are the preferred weapons of terrorists worldwide: cheap, easy, and effective.
The fact that no terrorist attempts to use cheap, easy, and effective weapons in modern America is indicative that such terrorists are phantoms. In order to prove this, allow me offer some specific examples of things terrorists could do if they had a mind to.
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Potential terrorists aren't stupid. If my own limited meandering can uncover three potential targets in only a few minutes, someone wishing to really cause damage could do far worse. Indeed, the ability of a few lame-brains to destroy two of the tallest buildings in the world armed only with box-cutters shows that terrorists can analyze weak points in the American infrastructure as well as anyone. The United States has all kinds of such vulnerabilities--it's impossible to avoid them without putting an end to anything remotely resembling freedom.
If there were massive, credible terrorist organizations within the United States, attacks such as these would have occurred on September 11, within hours of the WTC tower collapses. If the terrorists had anything like organization, it would have occurred simultaneous with the WTC tower impact.
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The FedGov's propaganda is mutually exclusive. One of the two items (perhaps both) is a lie. Either Saddam is sane and understands that an attack on the United States would mean his death, or he's insane and simply doesn't have the weapons to carry out his mad plans.
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If the FedGov actually wishes to combat terrorism, only one policy is necessary:
Enforce the Bill of Rights. Specifically, immediately declare all victim disarmament laws in violation of the Second Amendment and actively destructive to national security.
Airport security rapists can be immediately replaced with an effective deterrent that costs absolutely nothing: unrestricted access and thousands of air travelers--each armed with the privately-purchased, untraceable, unregistered knife, revolver, pistol, rifle, shotgun, or even slingshot of their choice.
This is the only step that need be taken to secure the United States from terrorism. The fact that this isn't even CONSIDERED is proof positive that security is the farthest thing from the Bush Administration's mind.
Chris Claypoole at The Libetarian Enterprise - Public Schools: They Really Work! - everyone claims about how bad the government schools are, but if you understand their true purpose, they are incredibly successful. [tle]
People that claim that public schools aren't doing a good job have made the error of assuming that the schools' stated goals (education, in short) are the real ones. When public schools were first proposed in the 1800s, the debate in many state and local legislatures centered on the need to inculcate the ideals of good American citizenship in the children of immigrants. The fear of being overwhelmed by a tide of foreigners, different from "us" in their language, customs, religion, etc., is as old as the Republic. The mission of education was being carried out by a variety of private schooling choices, from individual tutors to schools set up by churches. But the immigrants often could not afford these choices, and the self-proclaimed "protectors of the American ideal" felt that these children would grow up to be disruptive to the common good. They might even vote for someone other than the aforementioned gentlemen.
Michael Baxter at The Libertarian Enterprise - How Public Schools Have Destroyed America - another response to Neil's request last week. [tle]
The error most of us fall into is assuming that the purpose of the public school system is to educate the young people of this country. Nothing could be further from the truth. The entire philosophy behind the organization and development of the public school system is to create a submissive underclass that will be malleable for the purposes of those who would control American society. The elite classes in the country to not want our young people to be able to think for themselves. They do not want our young people to be inspired by the great thoughts on liberty espoused by the Founding Fathers. Heaven forbid our children should be taught anything about economics. Everyone who cares about the public school system in this country should read The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto. Mr. Gatto examines many of the prime movers behind the development of compulsory public education in this country and reveals that their true motivation was the development of a subordinate, submissive workforce. The last thing they wanted was masses of intelligent, freethinking young adults let loose in American society.
Alexander Daube at The Libertarian Enterprise - Gun Freedom Now! - part 3 of Mr. Daube's series on jury nullification. One way to restore our gun rights is to nullify every indictment for committing a paper gun "crime". In order to do that in today's perverted courts, you need to lie to get on the jury, and then hang the it. [tle]
GunVault's Long Gun Vault, advertised this month in some of the gun mags, now has a web page. $200. Available May 15.
San Jose Mercury News - Paris, Moscow and Berlin issue declaration against Iraq war - a little rationality to counter the Bushevik's war fever. Not that it will do any good. "Read my dipstick. We want that oil." [whatreallyhappened]
Toronto Star - 200,000 march against war in Montreal - there were protests in other Canadian cities, but not nearly as large. The Star guesses that the Montreal demonstrations were in solidarity with France. [whatreallyhappened]
Kip Attaway at DC Indymedia - Great Sign Quotes from Yesterday's DC Demo - plenty more, but these were my favorites.
Go Solar, Not Ballistic
Bush + Dick = We're Screwed
Take the Toys away from Junior
Are Jenna and Barbara part of the Coalition of the Willing?
Three Reichs and You're Out.
Drop Bush Not Bombs
Out with the BushShit
Buck Fush!
What Would Jesus Bomb?
Peace is Patriotic (over and over again)
From trt-ny: The most common sign at yesterday's anti-war protest at West Point:
Support our Troops - Bring Them Home
Vin Suprynowicz at The Las Vegas Review-Journal - Furtive movements toward his waistband - another unarmed man killed by cops because he moved in a way they didn't like.
