15 Billion Americans

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 26 Aug 2003 12:00:00 GMT
KeepAndBearArms.com is back on-line, but they don't have their Newslinks system working yet.

Pete's Discount Firearms almost makes me wish I lived in Rochester. Check out his specials, including a couple of sub-$300 cop trade-in S&W pistols. I'm looking forward to the re-opening of B & J Shooting Supply, slated for mid-September. Gotta get my black rifle fix, doncha know.

Rodney Adams - The First Atomic Age: A Failure of Socialism - how atomic energy could have been much more successful were it not for the state monopoly on its market. Check out the rest of the atomicengines.com site. Mr. Adams plans to build small nuclear engines for power and transport. [smith2004]

John McCarthy - Progress and Its Sustainability - Mr. McCarthy has done pioneering work in LISP and Artificial Intelligence. He believes that the earth can sustain 15 billion humans at or above the current American standard of living. I hope he's right.

Q. Isn't the world running out of energy.

A. No. Nuclear and solar energy are each adequate for the next several billion years. That's right; billion not just million or thousand. See the discussion of Energy Problems for the general discussion and the summary of Bernard Cohen's article justifying a 5 billion year estimate.

Q. Isn't it important to conserve energy?

A. Energy needs to be regarded as just another commodity, to be used in whatever quantity is cost-effective. It is available in whatever amounts may be needed. Treating its conservation as a special goal has been wasteful of human effort. We are the poorer for it."

Rex Curry - Nationwide Burn Party December 1, 2003 - Burn your beast number card on the 67th anniversary of the Social Insecurity System. Click the image below for a higher res version, suitable for printing. [rex]

From Mr. Curry's artwork page, "Heavy soldering wire (from a home depot type store) was bent into letters and glued to a piece of cardboard. The message (e.g. "SEARCHES SUCK" ) was then visible on x-ray machines. They took away 2nd and 4th amendment rights, but maybe there's still the 1st amendment!?"

Kim du Toit - Color Me Surprised - U.S. soldiers in Iraq are discovering what you and I already know, the AK-47 works better than the M-4 in sandy conditions and for up-close combat. Duh?! [kimdutoit]

Charley Reese - Ashcroft's Lack Of Credibility - Mr. Reese on Ashcroft's tyranny tour. It is not possible to trade liberty for security. Yes, you can give away your liberty, but no, it won't make you more secure, likely the opposite. Contact your Congress Critter and demand the complete repeal of the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act. [lew]

Attorney General John Ashcroft has launched a publicity campaign to save the USA Patriot Act, a misnamed piece of legislation if ever there was. It should be called the Anti-Bill of Rights Act.

Ashcroft is out on the hustings because opposition to the Patriot Act, passed hurriedly in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack, is itself coming under attack. More than 134 local governments have passed resolutions denouncing it. The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a portion of it in federal court.

Ashcroft is denying that the federal government has or will abuse the broad authority the bill grants. If you believe that, you are naive...

...

The problem with trusting government not to abuse its power is this: Well-intentioned intellectuals might draft the legislation and issue executive orders, but when actual enforcement comes along, it is done by cops, who, as a rule, are not usually intellectuals or political philosophers or constitutional lawyers. No, just plain cops who, God bless 'em, tend toward tunnel vision and tend to see the world as easily divided into good guys and bad guys. Federal cops in particular have a bad reputation for believing unreliable and dishonest paid informants. They have destroyed many innocent lives because of it.

Mary Lou Seymour at Rational Review - The war on civil liberties road show - Herr Ashcroft again. Lots of links to stories. [smith2004]

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