Boy Howdy! DSL Works Good!

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:00:00 GMT

From brad:

The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?" The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?" The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

From survivalarts:

That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression. -- Section 35, Alabama Constitution of 1901

GWBush04.com - Bumper Stickers - Big Brother Ashcroft is Watching You, Freedom of Speech is in Trouble, Bush/Orwell '04, War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength, Osama Bin Forgotten. Hehe. [smith2004]

25 questions about heterosexuality is a list of questions originally asked about homosexuality. One simple change makes it funny, highlighting the absurdity of the original questions. [smith2004]

They fixed my phone line yesterday. I browsed last night with my 802.11b card at hyper-speed. The DSL modem measured a 512K downlink and 256K uplink. The phone company promised me 180K. And I can talk on the phone at the same time. Yay!!!

I bought a Gateway Wireless-B Router, which provides an 802.11b base station and a 4-port 10/100 Base T switch (wired). Taconic.net, my ISP, provided a DQ Technology VisionNet 202ES/R ADSL Ethernet Modem-Router (149K PDF). Now I just need an Axis Office Basic USB, and we'll be able to do wireless printing in addition to wireless surfing.

VPN to my office works from my PC. Both my wife's PowerBook and my Linksys PC card connect fine through the Gateway 802.11b router.

Charley Reese - Compulsory Volunteerism - why the "civilian reserve force" is a really bad idea.

People have become confused because the alternative to a military draft is called an "all-volunteer" force rather than what it is, which is a mercenary force. That is acceptable use of the language. Nevertheless, it is misleading. What one does when one "volunteers" for military service is enlist in and join an organization. The instant you take the oath, you are required to obey orders. Like the sham democracies in some African countries, where people get to vote one time and then live under a dictatorship, you volunteer one time to join and thereafter are subject to compulsion.

What the general is proposing is another military-style organization without uniforms or weapons. The general ought to watch the famous film of the Munich rally of the Nazi party. Adolf Hitler had the same idea. The film shows thousands of civilians standing at attention holding shovels. They were called, I believe, "labor battalions."

Americans need to understand the difference between patriotism and nationalism. A patriot loves his land and his people. A nationalist loves his government. The patriot voluntarily does what is necessary to protect his land and his people. A nationalist blindly obeys his government.

Alan Bock at Antiwar.com - Rushing to See the Bright Side - if Rush Limbaugh hears the story his problem with pain-killers is telling us, and passes it on to his radio listeners, the resulting legalization of drugs (I won't hold my breath) could significantly defund terrorists.

I confess, however, to harboring a fond hope that Rush might have come to understand that the War on Drugs cannot be won through the ongoing arrest and incarceration of users, but had been reluctant to talk about it lest he upset his core listeners. Now he will almost be obligated to talk about it. One may hope, if logic and personal experience have any influence on his opinions, that he will have rather a different take on whether the justice system is the proper institution to deal with the human propensity to seek to alter one's consciousness and the fact that certain substances have a propensity to create addiction (a handy term generally understood but not all that well defined scientifically if you delve into the literature a bit.

The fact that he has checked himself into a rehabilitation program (that might or might not work) rather than a jail, however, suggests that at some rather deep level he believes that for the individual addict addiction is better served by medical or quasi-medical intervention than by the criminal justice system. Once he's through with rehab (if any addict really is ever finished), he might well be ready to say in public what so many of us without that kind of platform have been saying for years -- that dealing with drugs and their consequences for the people who use them unwisely through criminal law is not only ineffective but counterproductive.

KeepAndBearArms.com - Buy a signed copy of "U.S. v. Miller and Short-Barreled Shotguns" - $25 to support Silveira v. Lockyer, or get the PDF version for free (2 megs).

Harry Browne - The Limits of Gun Ownership - why there should be no legal limits placed on ownership of weapons. None. Zero. Nada. [lew]

Like most laws, every gun law quickly turns into a tool to reward the friends of the politically powerful and to harm their enemies. But it doesn't make America safer.

The only valid policy is to have no laws regulating the ownership of guns, but to hold every citizen responsible for whatever harm he initiates against others -- with or without a gun.

People should never be prosecuted for what they own, for what they think, for what they eat, drink, or smoke, or for what they believe. They should be prosecuted only for the physical harm they do to others.

International Asnwer is sponsoring marches against the war on Iraq today in DC and San Francisco.

Digital Photography Review - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1 - ultra slim 5mp - 5 megapixels in a 3.6 x 2.4 x 0.8 inch package. Expected to be available in January for about $550. Takes movies, too. Memory stick storage. [picks]

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25 questions about heterosexuality
Nice Modem, No Dial Tone
High-Speed Internet, Here I Come
Setback for Missouri Concealed Carry
Have You Seen the Title? Where's That Confounded Title?
Second Amendment Clarified
Rick Stanley Arrested in Denver
Rush Limbaugh and Tommy Chong
Taconic DSL
Palm Version of Muzzle Energy Computer

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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