Coming Soon to America: Thomas Paine II
by Mark Nepo
If you have one hour of air
and many hours to go,
you must breathe slowly.
If you have one arm's length
and many things to care for,
you must give freely.
If you have one chance to know God
and many doubts,
you must set your heart on fire.
We are blessed.
Each day is a chance.
We have two arms.
Fear wastes air.
Quoted in Essential Sufism by Fadiman/Frager [rumi-hafiz]
James G. Lakely at The Washington Times - Bush, NRA at odds on weapons ban - as I wrote on Saturday, Feinstein introduced S. 1034 in the Senate. Carolyn McCarthy and John Conyers introduced in the House H.R. 2038, "to reauthorize the assault weapons ban, and for other purposes." It has 68 cosponsors. The bill text is not yet available. House majority leader Tom DeLay says that no assault weapons ban reauthorization will pass the House. Good. [kaba]
"The House in the past has taken a dim view of the assault-weapons ban," said Stuart Roy, spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican. "I would say that the majority leader is pretty skeptical of reauthorizing it, as is the House as a whole."
House Republicans made voting to repeal the assault-weapons ban one of the first orders of business upon ascending to the majority in 1995. While the repeal passed the House 239-173, the Senate never took up the matter and the issue died.
Now it's likely that the law itself will be allowed to expire.
"It has zero chance," Mr. Roy said, adding that the Senate might try to fold the ban's reauthorization into a bill that the House supports, but that such a strategy is bound to fail.
William Stone, III at The Libertarian Enterprise - Keelhaul Enterprise! - why Mr. Stone will no longer watch any Star Trek knock-offs. [tle]
Jay P Hailey at The Libertarian Enterprise - Why I Took Down "Old Glory" - why one patriot has traded the stars and stripes for the Gadsden rattle snake. [tle]
Except this ain't the super bowl. 400+ of our people would are gone and so are tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those aren't touchdowns. Those are dead human beings.
I support our troops. Let's bring them home, feed them cookies and buy them drinks! Sending them out to die for the cause of Halliburton's bottom line is not supporting them by any definition I can call sane.
Any of the promises or principles that I used to feel were attach to that red, white and blue rag have been obliterated. It's just the gang colors of the meanest batch of monkeys on some random patch of dirt.
I had to take it down. I looked at Stars and Stripes but instead I saw Swastikas, Hammers-and-Sickles, red flags, Jolly Rogers and maybe a crusader's cross or two.
Jim Davidson at The Libertarian Enterprise - The Morpheus Proposal - an ode to The Matrix. [tle]
I submit that there is no government. "The government" is an illusion, sometimes consensual. In fact, there are only individuals. Individuals in "the government" get away with murder, theft, lies, deceit, fraud, violence, viciousness, and betrayal. Were those individuals without governmental sanction, they would be merely bullies, killers, and thieves. They would deserve no greater respect and no swifter punishment. As "the government" however, they are understood to be immune from prosecution, immune from lawsuits, immune from criticism. Even their own treason against the constitution is considered acceptable, whereas it is considered treasonous to accuse them of treason.
...
Neo continues, "I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible."
Indeed, that is the opportunity before us. We have the opportunity to break free from the matrix of control, from the system. We have the opportunity to live in a world without government, without rulers. We have the opportunity to have no borders, no boundaries, no rule except self-rule, no control except self-control, where anything is possible. Which world would you rather have?
George F. Smith at Laissez Faire Electronic Times - Thomas Paine, Revolutionary - a short biography of one of the men responsible for the spirit of the first American revolution. [grabbe]
Elizabeth Bromstein at The Globe and Mail - A long, strange trip - Richard Alpert is still kicking at 72, though speaking is still difficult for him after his stroke of six years ago. [grabbe]
The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
One time I had the opportunity to visit a mental asylum. I met a patient there who told me he was God. I said to him: 'So am I.' He was quite upset because he wanted to be the only one.
You see, we all want to be God. But the fact is we all are God.
If you think you're free, there's no escape possible.
