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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