Dwarf Tossing Banned in Florida
"Government is armed robbery. That's what governments do. And it's the only thing that all governments have in common." -- Daniel J. Boone
From The Federalist:
"Every state has individuals who are extreme Leftists, but California has more per capita than other states. Because the American people are a tolerant people and believe in 'diversity,' we allow Leftists to wear their sandals and smoke their pipes on campuses, but they remain on the fringe in most states. In California, they get elected to office where they can effectively implement their social change ideas; and the California Legislature is their primary laboratory. In a nutshell, that is the explanation for the fact that California is bleeding red ink in barrels." -- Ward Connerly
Fred on Everything - Dwarf Abuse: The Desperate Search For Oppression - the Puritans are at it again. They can't understand why dwarves would volunteer to be tossed into cushions, and heaven forbid that anyone should have a good time, so they banned dwarf tossing in Florida. [smith2004]
Used to be, crusaders wanted to stop abuses, such as wretched treatment of migrant labor, or the sweating of children in shoe factories. It was a good idea. Mostly it worked. Then the reformers ran out of victims, and needed to find some more. So they started hunting for new and largely imaginary victims, like pigs snuffling for truffles.
Soon fat people were victims. Homosexuals were victims. Women who gave birth like a slot-machine jackpot were victims. The shiftless were victims. The unhappy and bored and rained-on were victims, and people with warts. Their rights had to be protected.
The reformers had discovered predatory moralism. It gave us Prohibition and organized crime. The focus shifted from helping the downtrodden to browbeating everyone else. Virtue is the instinctive weapon of the vaguely angry. They wield it like a cosh.
...
Smoking in bars works the same way. If you don't like smoke, tell the owner. Then go to another bar. If enough people want smokeless bars, somebody will start one, or lots of them. But don't tell me I'm a victim of second-hand smoke, when I didn't ask your opinion in the first place, and then protect me from something I don't mind.
(No, I don't smoke, never have, but I like smoky bars. People who smoke are more interesting than people who don't. And reformers would never come to a smoky bar because they'd be afraid they'd get cancer. I'd be afraid they wouldn't.)
John Ross - Divorce, Sidney Biddle Barrows, and First Principles - the first step to solving any problem is to recognize that it is a problem.
Heather Mallick at The Globe and Mail via Common Dreams - And You Thought the War Was Over - Vietnam that is. Our troops aren't there any more, but the Agent Orange the U.S. dropped 25 years ago is still killing and causing horrendous birth defects. [lew]
Charley Reese - Tragic Conflict - just war? What just war? When? [lew]
I used to believe in the concept of a just war, but now I don't think there is such a thing. Every war is unjust, because so many people who usually have no connection with the conflict end up dying in it. Their deaths are papered over by the guilty political leaders with a lot of patriotic rhetoric. The fact is, however, that life in America following the Iraq War is exactly the same without Saddam in power as it was when he was in power. The only difference is that there are unfillable holes in more than 100 American families. Those who died did not do so to defend American freedom. They died to depose a dictator our president loathed.
It's too bad we can't force political leaders to settle their quarrels personally with pistols or swords. If that were their only choice, then most conflicts would be settled by negotiations. But instead, political leaders have the power to spend the lives of the nation's youth as if these precious lives were just another appropriation in the budget.
Mark Rasch at SecurityFocus - Bad raps for non-hacks - used to be when an obviously honest person pointed out holes in somebody's computer security they were thanked, or even hired to help fix the holes. Not any more. [grabbe]
Did the city award him a medal? A raise? A new contract? No... they promptly contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which searched and seized his computer and arrested him for violating the Georgia computer crime laws. The statue in question made it a felony to use a computer with the intention of "obstructing, interrupting, or in any way interfering with the use of a computer program or data... regardless of how long the alteration, damage, or malfunction persists." Since the port scan infinitesimally slowed the computer, the government supposed, Moulten violated the statute.
Paul Wallich at Popular Science - Geek DIY - tapping the potential of the Java-programmable computer inside your cellphone. [grabbe]
R Lee Wrights at Libery for All - What to do About Terrorism - follow Washington's advice: avoid entangling alliances. Follow Israel's example: arm the potential victims, on the ground and in the air. [sierra]
We cannot allow what we do about terrorism to be determined by our fear of the unknown. We must confront terrorism with the determination to conquer the unknown fear. I know libertarians talk a lot about the founding fathers, but we have quite a bit to learn from the old boys. They taught us what we need to know to avoid extreme acts of violence. It is not all that complicated. Establish commerce with everyone that wishes to trade; do not become entangled in the affairs of foreign powers; establish and maintain a strong system for the common defense of our borders; and, base it all on the firm foundation of a well-armed citizenry by ensuring the right to keep and bear arms is never infringed. If we follow these simple guidelines the "what we do about terrorism" debate could very well become moot
The Legion of the Bouncy Castle is still doing Java encryption. Release 1.19 became available on June 7. [cafe]
ArgoUML is "A UML design tool with cognitive support". BSD license. This is the basis for the commercial product Poseiden for UML. 4.3 meg download. UML is something I've seen here and there and always tell myself I should learn. Maybe this will be the tool to take me over the edge. There is a tutorial. [cafe]
Some see this kind of
Some see this kind of sport as cruel thus, they want it to be stopped. In New York and Florida, legal action was taken and so this practice was outlawed. However, in Florida, the State Rep. Ritch Workman (R-Melbourne) introduce the HB 4063, a bill that would lift the state ban on the bar game called dwarf tossing. This is because he wants to boost his local economy, delivering careers to the small people who are scuffling each day. Not every person is pleased that an elected official would suggest a practice regarded as demeaning in several circles. Article resource: Florida lawmaker seeks to make dwarf tossing legal again.
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