Government Has No Use At All
"The personal qualities necessary for attaining office are practically the opposite of those demanded by the office itself. The trouble with the damn system is that it selects for the skills needed to get elected, and nothing else. A test that you can only pass by cheating can't possibly select honest people." -- James P. Hoganand:
"The State is not only not your friend, it is not only your enemy, but unless stopped, it is, like gangrene, an infection that will ultimately kill you." -- Bob Wallace
From smith2004:
Haggis
by Anon
Much to his Mum and Dad's dismay
Horace ate himself one day
He didn't stop to say his grace
He just sat down and ate his face
"We can't have this!" his dad declared
"If that lad's ate, he should be shared"
But even as he spoke they saw
Horace eating more and more :
First his legs and then his thighs,
His arms, his nose, his hair his eyes
"Stop him someone!" Mother cried
"Those eyeballs would be better fried!"
But all too late for they were gone,
And he had started on his dong....
"Oh foolish child!" the father mourns
"You could have deep fried those with prawns,
some parsley and some tartar sauce ..."
But H. was on his second course ;
His liver and his lights and lung,
His ears, his neck, his chin, his tongue
"To think I raised him from the cot
And now he's going to scoff the lot!"
His mother cried "what shall we do?
What's left won't even make a stew..."
And as she wept, her son was seen
To eat his head, his heart, his spleen
And there he lay, a boy no more
Just a stomach on the floor...
None the less since it was his
They ate it - that's what haggis is.
John de Rosier at The Albany (NY) Times Union - Acceptance Speech - cartoon commentary on Bushnev's acceptance of the GOP nomination for president. Subtle.
Kevin Tuma - Self-Inflicted - cartoon commentary on Kerry tripping over the Swift Boat veterans and shooting himself in the foot. Hehe.
# I made double sure that I'll remember the bugmenot links in the future (there's one after "this New York Times story" below). BlogMax now automatically inserts bugmenot links for domains known to need registration (though I haven't yet updated the zip file or the BlogMax weblog). I just have to add sites to my list as I reference them, and my blogging software will do the right thing forevermore. Emacs rocks!
# I removed the Free Hunter icon from the left-hand pane. He's free! Moved "Badnarik for President" up into its place. Go Michael!
# Bear at The Claire Files Board - TSHTF? - response in a shit-hits-the-fan thread. A story of proper jury nullification in northern California. [clairefiles]
#
George Paine at Warblogging -
Judge to City: You're in Contempt - comments on
this New York Times story 
concerning Judge Cataldo's holding of
New York City in contempt for refusing to arraign in a timely manner
protesters who were arrested at the RNC. [warblogging]
Norman Siegel of the New York Civil Liberties Union complained to the judge that it was only protesters who were being disadvantaged by the city. He noted that actual criminals were being arraigned within the 24 hour window the law provides. "The only people being disadvantaged here are the protesters. We're arraigning robbers who have only been in 10 hours."
Finally, hours later, the city began releasing detainees. They were met by hundreds of well-wishers, including friends and family, who cheered their release.
The reason that so many protesters were held so long without charges is obvious. Charges against most protesters would simply not stick. They were caught up in police nets -- literally -- and the victims of arbitrary arrest. They were charged with minor transgressions such as "blocking the sidewalk".
# Bob Wallace at Strike the Root - A Gangrene of Politicians - after reasoning his way to "gangrene" as the proper name for a group of p********ns, Mr. Wallace says, "Down, Boy!" [root]
Gangrene has no use at all. It's an infection that eats away at a healthy body. And that certainly describes politicians and politics, which eat away at society and civilization. People who truly understand the nature of the State (which excludes 80% of the people who post at Free Republic ) know that it is, as Tom Ender wrote, "Like a leaking septic tank the insidious effect of the State's aggression is similar to a bacterial infection -- sepsis. The State's aggression seeps throughout society like sewage infecting formerly healthy voluntary contractual regions and communicating the disease of coercion."
Yep, that certainly describes politicians, politics and the State--an infection, like gangrene.
# Bill Whittle - Flight Safety - no more essays until Mr. Whittle passes his instrument test. [whittle]
I have spent months now asking myself, as honestly and deeply as I can: what if we're wrong? What if we've made a mistake? What if the other side is right, and we are misguided?He's not thinking of hanging up the writing, but one of his nay-sayers posted a comment recommending that. I said:
Bill,
Most certainly do NOT hang up your writing. You have a wonderful way of expressing the spirit of America. I think you miss that the American government, both major parties and most of the minor ones, has gone sour in a big way, but we need reminders of that spirit.
The world isn't as simple as your essays make it look. Where governments are involved, there aren't any good guys. But many many individuals are mostly good.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "the other side". There ain't no "other" side. There are over six billion "sides" on the planet. Liberty and property, preserved by the zero aggression principle, allow us to get along.
