Yawn

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 02 Jul 2003 12:00:00 GMT

John Bergstrom's Attack Cartoons - Human Shields - Cartoon commentary on the human shields in Iraq. Hehe.

Xeni Jardin at Wired - Bloggers Gain Libel Protection - The infamous ninth circuit court has ruled that "Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can't be held responsible for libel for information they republish, extending crucial First Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online publishers." [grabbe]

Edgar J. Steele - In Defense of Racism: Part 1 - Overview - first of a planned six part series. How race is more than just skin color, in Mr. Steele's opinion. Personally, I see marked differences in the behavior of different races. Whether this is due to nature or nurture, or a combination of the two, I don't know. But vive la difference!

A popular current myth is that there is no intellectual difference between races, despite contrary results derived in virtually every study of intellect ever done by anybody. This myth also flies in the face of the personal experience of nearly every human being alive.

If one can inherit a superior muscle structure, as can readily be confirmed by the barest of glances at the racial makeup of pro sports rosters, then why is it such a stretch for so many to believe that superior intellect is genetically encoded, as well? Because those same myth purveyors believe that superior intellect makes for superiority, period, that's why. The good news is that they are wrong about the superiority thing. The bad news is that they are wrong about the lack of racial intellectual differences. The worse news is that they are in charge.

Mary Lou Seymour at Rational Review - Liberty Action of the Week: July 1, 2003: Don't just mourn, organize! - some ideas for celebrating Independence Day, this coming Friday. [smith2004]

Bill Walker at Laissez Faire Electronic Times - Arm the Chicks - to reduce violence we've got basically two options: kill all the carriers of the violence gene, i.e. all the bearers of the Y chromosome, men, or arm the women. For some reason I prefer the second alternative. [grabbe]

Russell Madden at Laissez Faire Electronic Times - Anti-Privacy Privacy - Mr. Madden read the new "privacy policy" when he went to take his annual eye exam and discovered that thanks to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, "privacy" has been completely redefined to mean anti-privacy. [grabbe]

As for any "ownership" you supposedly have to your medical information, the UIHC tells me that they are not "legally required to accept" any request for restrictions on that information. Beyond that, I "may not limit the uses and disclosures that [they] are legally required or allowed to make."

"Ownership" without control. The hallmark of a fascist society. The trademark of our own.

The strategy is always the same: enact good or at least good-sounding policies then bury the destructive time bomb that is the actual rationale for the sham deep beneath the pleasant exterior.

Privacy laws that are anti-privacy. Keep out the coyotes while letting in the lions.

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Extraneous Brains
The Revolution Has Already Begun
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Losing the Peace in Iraq
Phoenix Acquired

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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