Half Past Claire Wolfe

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 10 Aug 2004 12:00:00 GMT

# I removed the Blogads box from the right column. In two months, nobody offered to pay me for posting an ad. And my traffic has gone down noticeably of late, likely due to less energy put in by me. My loyal readers should notice that this page loads a little faster. It will load faster still if you click the "toggle comments" link at the top of the right-hand column to turn off the comment counts. But then you won't be able to see if anyone has commented. That tradeoff is yours to choose.

# Walter Cronkite at CentreDaily.com - Prisons needlessly overpopulated with drug offenders - my local paper, the Albany (NY) Times Union (TU) ran this yesterday, titled "Mandated Injustice", but I couldn't find it on their web site. I didn't know Mr. Cronkite felt this way about the war on (some) drugs. Far out! But even more unusual is to see an anti drug-war screed in the TU. Farther out! He doesn't say that drugs should be legalized, but he does rant well about mandatory minimum sentences. [google]

In the midst of the soaring rhetoric of last week's Democratic Convention, more than one speaker quoted Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address, invoking "the better angels of our nature." Well, there is an especially appropriate task awaiting those heavenly creatures: a long-overdue reform of our disastrous "war on drugs."

We should begin by recognizing its costly and inhumane dimensions.

Much of the nation, in one way or another, is victimized by this failure, including, most notably, the innocents, whose exposure to drugs is greater than ever.

I sent the following letter to the editor of the TU:

End the War on Freedom

Bravo to the TU's editors for the August 9 printing of Walter Cronkite's editorial against mandatory minimum sentences imposed by the war on some drugs! It's about time this crime against humanity, a crime that the drugged warriors continue to commit every day, got the attention it deserves.

I noticed that Mr. Cronkite threw the war-mongers a bone in saying that no punishment could be too severe for drug "kingpins". Actually, the best punishment for those immoral crooks would be to kill their cash cow by legalizing drugs.

Bill St. Clair

# Claire Wolfe - "People Have Started Using the Expressions 'Claire Wolfe Time' and 'half past Claire Wolfe' to talk about how bad our loss of freedom is becoming." Guilty as charged. Claire comments on how sad it is that we've come to the place where normally peace-loving folks can be driven to the realization that they may have to personally shoot the bastards. I hate it too. I just want to be left alone to raise my family. Really. Hey! You! Dickhead! Leave me alone and I'll return the favor. Try to take away my liberty, and I'll stop you. Hard. [claire]

Why must anyone be squeezed into making that choice in America, of all places? Nothing is more heartbreaking. Why the hell can't government's just get out of our way and let ordinary people go about their business unmolested?

# nimble at The Claire Files - Half Past Claire Wolfe - lyrics in need of a tune. [clairefiles]

Half Past Claire Wolfe

She said, "Our country's at that awkward stage..."
The little froggies don't feel the heat
It's too late to work within the system
but too soon to take our guns to the streets.

When they come to take your guns away
It's time
When they monitor every word you say
It's time
When they give you a number and an RFID,
When they stop you and search you whenever they please,
When jackboots arrest you for freedom of speech,
It's time --
Half past Claire Wolfe.

Each day we see our freedoms disappearin'
in the name of national security
And every threat's like the Reichstag burnin'
The sheeple don't know who's the real enemy.

So how much longer do we wait and see?
We watch what we say and what we do
Just what do we think they're gonna change?
Or is the change gonna be in me and you?

# Anthony Gregory at Strike the Root - The Meaning of Nagasaki - Yesterday was the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Mr. Gregory reflects on Harry Truman's horrific crime against humanity. [root]

And if individuals can be wiped out -- if their dreams, families, homes and life savings can be completely disintegrated in an act later rationalized as "necessary" by the power elite -- what limitations are there on how government behaves toward people? None, really.

We don't have a "limited government" by any true meaning. If a government can kill entire cities full of people, no "limits" are truly in place, at least in the constitutional or legal sense.

Of course, the US government would probably not murder so many of its own subjects so instantaneously. The US government needs its subjects to exist and to drain off every tax dollar possible.

That's how we're seen: vessels from which revenue can be squeezed, sponges that soak up wealth to be squeezed dry to fund the building of prisons, bombs, and social "services" so as to keep us all passive and compliant.

Make no mistake about it. It is government's nature to exercise as much power over people as possible.

...

The meaning of Nagasaki is that governments will do to human beings what they can get away with, as long as it is in the interest of the state, and will only stop when people make them stop, or when they run out of the necessary tools to continue treating human beings as worse than garbage.

# Bob Wallace at Strike the Root - Bill the Galactic Hero - commentary on Harry Harrison's war satire, which I haven't read since high school. I vaguely remember enjoying it. Must be time for a reread. [root]

# Charley Hardman - Order Without Law - commentary on John Sneed's Where Will the Anarchist Keep the Madmen. I posted the following comment: [saltypig]

You're probably right. But the state isn't the solution either, since it too inevitably devolves into tyrannical socialism, as evidenced by the United States. The U.S. Constitution staved off this inevitability for a blessed long time, but that time is over. I guess Thomas Jefferson was correct about periodically refreshing the tree of liberty.

Bottom line from my perspective is that I'm glad I have a limited life time. No matter what happens, I ain't gonna have to watch it for long.

As for what we do with people who refuse to buy into the insurance scheme, that's easy. We kill them, in cold blood. In an anarchist society, the only "police" are those that you've contracted to protect you. No contract, no protection, and you are easy meat.

Personally, I consider that to be a much better solution than prisons in our current constitutional republic. If you enter someone's property without his permission, hurt him, or steal his stuff, your life should be forfeit, to your intended victim. It should be up to him whether you walk out or are dragged. Of course this brings up the problem of killing someone and claiming, fraudulently, that he stole your stuff. If he's in your house, it's pretty simple. Elsewhere not.

The only real solution to the problem is the recognition that people are mostly good, mostly sheep-like. When the wolves get out of hand, the sheep dogs have to kill them or chase them away, but since there aren't many wolves, it can be made to work pretty well no matter which system you use. Once the wolf population gets too high, you're screwed, no matter which system you use.

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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