Go West, Middle-Aged Man

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 28 May 2008 09:56:38 GMT <== Personal ==>

I spent the last two weeks in Montana and Wyoming.

Flew from Hartford, Connecticut to Bozeman, Montana, and from Denver back to Hartford. Took my Cold Steel African Walking stick with me on the airplane. Canes are allowed by the Taking Scissors Away goons. Traveling with a cane has some benefits. I asked the TSA guy in Hartford whether my wife could accompany me to the gate. On seeing my cane, he said that we could ask the airline for a pass to allow that. The airline lady said that usually TSA gives them grief for passes. She was surprised that one of them had recommended it. They looked hard at my plastic cane, trying to take it apart to reveal an imagined sword inside, but let it through. And they let my wife through with her pass.

Went to Montana to meet in the flesh some formerly cyberspace-only friends. Met Elias Alias, the owner of The Mental Militia Forums, Iloilo Jones (pronounced: ee-low ee-low), the director of FIJA, Doug Buchanan, the mind behind think.ws, Kirsten, the owner of Get Your Hands Dirty!, and a number of others. Ate red meat and drank real wine for the first time in twenty-five years, and took a liking to Backwoods Wild 'n Mild Cigars, the "sweet aromatic" flavor.

Learned that Montana has very nearly Alaska carry. Outside the cities, you can carry any way you please. No permit required. Many of the cities require permits to carry concealed, but "concealed" is defined as "covered by clothing". It's OK to carry in a fanny pack without a permit, or to open carry, though most city dwellers carry concealed with a permit. I didn't see any open carry there, or in Wyoming, except by police.

I drove the 600 miles from Bozeman to Cheyenne, where I grew up, and where my mother still lives, in a rental car, which was cheaper, and not a lot slower, than flying. Drove I-90 east, which heads south after passing through Billings. The mountains dropped away and I found myself, though still in Montana, in country very similar to my Cheyenne home. I wept tears of joy, while driving and drinking in the scenery. Wyoming is truly my home. "Like no place on Earth". I hope to return there permanently one day.

Went to the Libertarian Party's national convention in Denver last Friday to meet L. Neil Smith and Scott Bieser, who were there to sell books. Sat with Scott for a couple of hours while Neil was upstairs nursing a cold. Interjected a few comments in a video interview of Scott by V Magazine. Thirty seconds of fame? Maybe. Went to lunch with Neil and Scott at a nice burger joint. Neil's cold made it hard for him to talk. Snapped the photo below of Neil with my iPhone. Forgot to get one of Scott. Duh.

L. Neil Smith

Before going to Denver, I called the hotel where the conference was held, said I had a question about hotel policy, and asked whether the wearing of sidearms was allowed in the hotel. The lady who answered the phone said that she thought not, but wasn't sure, so she connected me to the front desk. The lady who answered there assured me that it was OK, even when I asked whether Denver had a "law" prohibiting it. Well, Denver DOES have such a "law", and their override of state law allowing open carry everywhere, and forbidding local override, was approved on 5 November, 2004 by the District Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, whose decision was affirmed (PDF) on June 5, 2006, by the Colorado Supreme Court, in a vote of three to three with one justice not participating. I guess some animals really ARE more equal than others, at least the pigs in Denver.

Did some shooting, both in Montana, on a state-owned parcel with a hill as a backstop, and in Wyoming, at the Pine Bluffs Sportsman's Club, about 30 miles east of Cheyenne, on the Nebraska border. Their pistol range has steel targets at 25 yards that you can knock down and pull back up with a rope from the firing line. Good fun!

Watched "The Chronicles of Narnia: Price Caspian" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" with my mother. Enjoyed both.

No problems getting through security on the way home, except they wouldn't let me take a bottle of water. Sheesh. Yes, you too can fly on Sheep-Are-Us Airlines.

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prince caspian

Submitted by patrick on Thu, 29 May 2008 16:09:27 GMT

the makers of Prince Caspian kept to the original story surprisingly well... i heard they were going to make it into a silly pure-action flick, but thankfully this was not the case

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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