GUNS: BEST GUN BUYBACK

Friday, July 27, 2007

http://www.clairewolfe.com/wolfesblog/00002633.html

BEST GUN BUYBACK

***Begin Quote***

One member, acting as clueless about guns as the organizers of the event, proceeded to turn this junk in 10 guns at a time to several of the buyback locations. His bags of rusty junk revolvers was, in the course of the morning, turned several thousand dollars worth of prepaid Mastercards. And here’s the best part – the money was then used to help fund a local youth shooting camp. Ha! What cooler thing to do than take the gun-grabbers’ money and use it to introduce youngsters to shooting sports?

***End Quote***

You have to love ingenuity!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Our “wealth” comes from everyone’s liberty

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070724144415.2esww75r&show_article=1

On patrol with Iran’s fashion police
Jul 24 10:44 AM US/Eastern

***Begin Quote***

Many conservatives have applauded the drive, but moderates have publicly questioned whether Iran would be better off tackling poverty and crime rather than slack dressing.

Just before the new crackdown started, popular television host Farzad Hasani grilled Tehran’s police chief Ahmad Reza Radan about the drive on his talk show, accusing the police of “not differentiating between people and thugs.”

An old woman in a black chador in Vanak Qquare echoed the sentiment.

“Our youth have no peace of mind. They are afraid to go out, they are afraid that if they go out they will be taken to the police. Aren’t they saying that there is freedom?”

***End Quote***

Ahh, you just have to laff. When a society is more worried about the length of a headscarf, that’s good for us. They impoverish themselves when they bar more than half their population from productive pursuits and spend some fraction of the rest worrying about trivial matters. That’s great. We should take a lesson. We want every person being productive. The easiest way is to give everyone the freedom to do as they see fit bounded only by their relationship with their neighbors. My rights and your rights constitute the boundary of our respective freedoms. Live and let live. The golden rule. And, in doing this, people will drive themselves to THEIR goals harder than anyone else could possibly herd them. The secret of the American prosperity is liberty. One only becomes rich by satisfying the needs and wants of your fellow man. What a great paradigm!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Ordained by whom to enforce their wisdom?

Thursday, July 19, 2007

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/07/18/economists_on_the_loose

Economists on the Loose
By Walter E. Williams
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

***Begin Quote***

Free markets are simply millions upon millions of individual decision-makers, engaged in peaceable, voluntary exchange pursuing what they see in their best interests. People who denounce the free market and voluntary exchange, and are for control and coercion, believe they have more intelligence and superior wisdom to the masses. What’s more, they believe they’ve been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. Of course, they have what they consider good reasons for doing so, but every tyrant that has ever existed has had what he believed were good reasons for restricting the liberty of others.

***End Quote***

Professor Williams really nails this one single point. Ordained by whom to enforce their wisdom? Love it. You might be right that I “should” do X, Y, or Z. But under what system of morality do you get the right to force me? Ahh yes, you have to love them elites.

# # # # #


LIBERTY: New Hampshire, which has no general income tax, no general sales tax

Monday, July 16, 2007

http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/
ci_6380600?source=sb-digg

Best states for retirees seeking low taxes, costs
By Shannon Buggs
McClatchy-Tribune Services
Article Launched: 07/15/2007 01:47:06 AM PDT

***Begin Quote***

Or join the Free State Project, the Libertarian-influenced movement to recruit 20,000 people to move to New Hampshire because of its low taxes and loose regulations.

Go to www.freestateproject.org to learn more about New Hampshire, which has no general income tax, no general sales tax and the lowest taxes as a percentage of gross income nationwide, according to the project’s analysis.

Finally, to avoid paying state income taxes on retirement fund withdrawals, move to or remain in the seven states without a state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Two others – New Hampshire and Tennessee – tax only dividend and interest income.

***End Quote***

FSP making inroards in the public’s mind?

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Ron Paul’s Google Interview

Sunday, July 15, 2007

http://blog.lewrockwell.com/lewrw/archives/014120.html

Ron Paul’s Google Interview
Posted by David Griffus at July 14, 2007 08:41 PM

***Begin Quote***

One of Ron’s best yet!

***End Quote***

I agree that he came off as an exciting knowledgeable great guy!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: the detainee, torture, tribunal law

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Latest DownsizeDC missive

http://www.downsizedc.org/index.shtml

***Begin Quote***

Please take immediate action to repeal S. 3930, the detainee, torture, tribunal law. It’s un-American.

My personal comment to you:

This is so un-American, I am at a loss as to understand how it got past in the first place. As big “D” democrats, I’d have thought you’d be more sensitive to the civil rights of people. The limitations of the Constitution were placed on Government not just for citizens of the USA. No, those limitations were on the Government on the USA regardless of citizenship. I am shocked and appalled that this abuse continues for a minute longer that it takes for you all to get together and correct it. There’s no excuse for it. Being abusive doesn’t make you tough or safe. It makes you look like a bully. And, bullies always get taken down by the mob of little people. Get to work and fix this now. Or we’ll send people to Washington who can get it fixed.

Mr. Ferdinand Reinke
Kendall park, NJ 08824-1424

***End Quote***

This should be used on the congress critters. Wonder how long it would take before that was repealed? No campaign contributions required to get that moved forward quickly.

Argh!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: tax-funding laws mandating education

Thursday, July 12, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north546.html

Cartels: Economists and Central Bankers
by Gary North

***Begin Quote***

You will search in vain for a chapter on education as an oligopoly within the context of tax-funding, laws mandating education up to age 16, and government licensing of college-accreditation agencies. Somehow, economics textbook authors skip over any analytical discussion of this, the largest sector of the American economy.

***End Quote***

This skewers the blindspot of economists. And, politicians depend upon people to overlook the essential question.

Why do we have the gooferment funding, operating, and regulating so many things best left to the free market?

Education, banking, medicine, drugs, farming, … .. the gooferment has it’s nose in everything!

That needs some debate!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: blogger makes the excellent point “golden rule”

Sunday, July 8, 2007

http://educationconversation.wordpress.com/2007/06/18/dear-dr-walter-williams

***Begin Quote***

I can’t help but wonder if the problem may be our own years of state schooling. We lack the vision and the courage to take back our children and our future and to enable the less fortunate to do the same, to put the state in its place (which is not in our children’s minds and consciences), and to fly into the future. We yell, but not too loudly. We act, but not too boldly.

Free choice is staring us in the face. We still have the liberty to embrace it. My fear is that if we travel much farther down the road of all-state-schooling, we will all end up with no safety net. Our private education community will exist no longer – it will be part of the state system. Eventually, we will not even have the memory of freedom.

Respectfully yours,
Tammy Drennan

***End Quote***

Another Blogger takes on Williams. (As I did!) Since taxes are theft, why are vouchers OK? Even if they are a step on the road to liberty, why is it moral to make me pay for someone else’s choices? And, the blogger makes the excellent point “golden rule”. When the Gooferment provides the gold, it will make the rules. Why exchange one bad system for another bad system?

Unfortunately, the answer is to not pay for services you don’t want. Of course, that means, that the “nice men with guns” will come a steal from you, hurt you, imprison you, or even kill you.

But then we are not kidding anyone about the slaves that we are.

Argh!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Life in an FBI muzzle is no fun.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/06/librarians-desc.html

Librarians Describe Life Under An FBI Gag Order
By Luke O’Brien EmailJune 24, 2007 | 2:22:57 PM

***Begin Quote***

Life in an FBI muzzle is no fun. Two Connecticut librarians on Sunday described what it was like to be slapped with an FBI national security letter and accompanying gag order. It sounded like a spy movie or, gulp, something that happens under a repressive foreign government. Peter Chase and Barbara Bailey, librarians in Plainville, Connecticut, received an NSL to turn over computer records in their library on July 13, 2005. Unlike a suspected thousands of other people around the country, Chase, Bailey and two of their colleagues stood up to the Man and refused to comply, convinced that the feds had no right to intrude on anyone’s privacy without a court order (NSLs don’t require a judge’s approval). That’s when things turned ugly.

***End Quote***

America is supposed to be a free speech zone!

# # # # #


GUNS: backdoor attempt to ban guns

Friday, July 6, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/calderwood/calderwood15.html

OSHA Visits Wonderland
by David Calderwood

***Begin Quote***

Published to cricket-chirping silence in the Federal Register on April 13, 2007 was a rule proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to govern the manufacture, transport, and distribution of explosives.

The Alice-in-Wonderland aspect is that the rule includes small arms ammunition and reloading components like smokeless propellant and small arms primers in its definition of “explosives.” If the rule were implemented as written, it would effectively eliminate the manufacture, transport, wholesaling and retailing of ammunition in the United States.

You read that correctly.

For years anti-private-gun-ownership zealots have wished that another head of the federal regulatory hydra, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, would “ban guns” as articles too dangerous for mere civilian mortals to handle or own. Apparently they are getting their wish, instead, from OSHA under the notion that firearm ammunition cartridges are so unstable and explosive that anyone storing or selling them would have to insure (by search if necessary) that no one carrying matches, a lighter, or any other source of flame or sparks approached within 50 feet in all directions. This is but one of several requirements that would make it impossible to make or sell ammunition.

***End Quote***

http://www.nssf.org/news/PR_idx.cfm?PRloc=common/PR/&PR=BP070207.cfm

has a letter to submit.

*** begin quote ***

Friday, July 06, 2007

OSHA Docket Office
Docket No. OSHA-2007-0032
U.S. Department of Labor
Room N-2625 200
Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20210

RE: Docket No. OSHA-2007-0032
Request to Extend Public Comment Period and Request for Hearing on
“Significant Regulatory Action” as Defined in Executive Order 12866

Dear Secretary Chao:

I am writing to request an extension for public comment set to expire on July 12, 2007 for Preliminary & Initial General Observations on OSHA Explosives Proposed Rule (29 CFR Part 1910) – Published at Federal Register Vo. 72, No. 71, at P. 18792 (April 13, 2007).

After reviewing the proposed regulations it is my belief that the proposed rule is a “significant regulatory action” as defined in Executive Order 12866 (1993) Sec. 1(f)(1) in that it will clearly “adversely affect in a material way” the retail sector of the firearms and ammunition industry, productivity, competition and jobs and that the annual compliance cost for all retailers of ammunition will far exceed $100 million dollars.

Below is a bulleted list of what I am most concerned about:

” Massive Costs: The cost to comply with the proposed rule for the ammunition industry, including manufacturer, wholesale distributors and retailers, will be massive and easily exceed $100 million. For example, ammunition and smokeless propellant manufacturers would have to shut down and evacuate a factory when a thunderstorm approached. The proposal mistakenly states that this is an industry standard practice. A retailer would have to do likewise. Thus retailers, such as Wal-Mart, selling ammunition would have to close down and evacuate customers. This is simply not realistic.

” Unrealistic Assumptions: Portions of the proposed rule are not feasible and cannot realistically be complied with. The concept of evacuation to “a safe remote location” in case of thunderstorms or accident is untenable to manufacturers and retailers and is in disagreement with the DoD Safety Manual for Ammunition and Explosives.

” One Size Fits All Approach: The provisions in this proposal treat all explosives as if they have the same degree of hazard to employees. Retail outlets for small arms ammunition, primers and smokeless propellants, including massive facilities such as Wal-Mart, must maintain a fifty-foot barrier and specifically authorize all customers to enter only after searching them for matches or lighters (c.3.iii.A) and determining that they are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol (c.1.vii). This is despite the fact that small arms ammunition is extremely safe even when subjected to open flame, heat and shock. A customer still wouldn’t be able to purchase the ammunition because under this rule they are not allowed to carry it from the counter to the exit (c.3.iii.C). Even more damaging, the many “mom and pop” firearm outlets located in strip malls would be forced to shutdown as they have neighbor stores fewer than 50-feet away.

” Shipping is Halted: Proposed restrictions on transportation exceed current DOT Regulations. Mandating wood-covered, non-spark-producing material in trailers for small arms ammunition shipments would bring the transportation of ammunition to a near halt. There are simply not enough trailers in existence today that would be able to substitute for traditional, metal covered surfaces. Small package carriers such as UPS and Fed-Ex would be prohibited from carrying ammunition and components which would shut down mail order houses such as Cabalas and Bass Pro shops and many business to business transactions. This section alone, with all it would entail (such as two drivers at all times), is capable of paralyzing our industry.

” National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) Rules Exceeded: Proposed restrictions exceed NFPA regulations and would, for example, reduce commercial establishment displays of smokeless propellant from 50 to 20 lbs with no commensurate increase in safety. This will only add to dramatically increasing the cost to manufacturers and consumers.

It bears noting that scientific testing and safety records clearly illustrate that small arms ammunition is inherently an extremely safe product. I cannot recall a single instance where fire, shock, heat or lightening has resulted in injury from the accidental detonation of small-caliber ammunition. Billions of rounds of ammunition are sold each year in the U.S. and records demonstrate that current production and safety requirements are working.

I urge OSHA to grant an extension to this critical regulatory process. And then kill this nonsense. It’s rule making like this that give the “tin foil hat” crowd reasons to believe that this is a backdoor attempt to ban guns. It isn’t is it? Or is it.

Sincerely,
Ferdinand J. Reinke
3 Tyne Court
Kendall Park, NJ 08824

c.c.: My Federal Senators and Representative

*** end quote ***


LIBERTY: Virginia declares its independence on May 15, 1776

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/gutzman4.html

Myths of the 4th of July
by Kevin R. C. Gutzman

***Begin Quote***

2. The 4th of July was the day that the 13 states established their independence.

No, it was not. In fact, Virginia established its independence on May 15, 1776, when its revolutionary Convention adopted resolutions for a declaration of rights, a permanent republican constitution, and federal and treaty relationships with other states and foreign countries. It was because the Old Dominion had already established its independence – had, in fact, already sworn in the first governor under its permanent republican constitution of 1776, Patrick Henry, on June 29 – that Virginia’s congressmen, uniquely, had been given categorical instructions from their state legislature to declare independence. Virginia was not the only state whose independence was not established by the Declaration on the 4th, as New York’s congressional delegation did not then join in the Declaration. In short, the states became independent in their own good time – some on July 4, some before, some after.

***End Quote***

Yup, the DOWGs made a lot of mistakes that over time have proved to be fatal to the American experiment. The only question is “can it be made right without bloodshed?”. Watch The Browns in New Hampshire. Watch the Vermont Succession movement. Watch the incipient tax revolts like the “redress of grievances” folks. If they get killed, then you’ll have your answer.

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Highway patrolmen cops are highwaymen in the original meaning of the word

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

http://blog.lewrockwell.com/lewrw/archives/013898.html

July 02, 2007
VA’s $3550 traffic ticket
Posted by Wendy McElroy at July 2, 2007 12:40 PM

 

***Begin Quote***

The situation is not limited to Virginia. It is everywhere. For example, Illinois recently passed a new work-zone law for speeding in construction zones on expressways. The enforcement includes cameras. Without ever seeing a cop, you can get a $375 ticket in the mail for driving so much as one mile over the limit even in the middle of the night when no workers are present. A second offense is a $1000.

So be careful whenever you back out of your driveway. Traffic police are nothing so much as roving tax collectors who are looking for any excuse to confiscate the money with which you feed your family and pay the mortgage. Highway patrolmen cops are highwaymen in the original meaning of the word: thefts that roam the highways in search of victims.

***End Quote***

Sigh! I you thought this was the Land of Liberty!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: the gooferment’s drug war

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Where does the gooferment get off sticking its nose into medicine?

Every month, I am reminded of this intrusion. Here’s why. My wife has been a type 1 diabetic for more than THREE DECADES. (Nasty disease, but that’s another topic.) She’s been injecting insulin for those three decades. She uses a syringe. Every month the gooferment sticks its nose in her business. Syringes are regulate. Intelligent Designer forbid that drug addicts might buy clean syringes. So every month, the gooferment regulated pharmacy must check with the gooferment regulated insurance company for approval that she can have them. Every few months, the gooferment regulated pharmacy must check with the gooferment regulated doctor to see if she can have them. Here’s a novel idea. Leave her alone.

Laws, regulations, and diktats can not prevent humans from putting stuff in their bodies. Further, it’s THEIR body. If people want to do dumb things, who are you to tell them they can’t?

The government is not the nanny. End the gooferment’s “drug war” now. Shut down all the regulators. Stop licensing. There’s no gooferment inspection of electric appliances. There is Underwriters Libratory. Think WalMart will sell a non-UL appliance? Don’t get me started on the FDA! And, how it is killing us “for our own good”!

And, while Bush is doing pardons, he should pardon all non-violent drug offenders.

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Feeling “independent”?

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

If you do, how do you justify being forced to give an incalculable amount of you income to the Gooferment of the USA. Don’t forget the hidden tax of inflation, all the taxes you don’t see that are passed along in your purchases, the Social Security Ponzi scheme, and the unavoidable “fees” that are really taxes. Still feel independent?

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.” —Samuel Adams

Was he talking to us?

# # # # #


LIBERTY: No one thought to thank the taxpayers

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

FROM A LETTER TO THE SOUTH BRUNSWICK POST

***Begin Quote***

Too bad in all the graduation speeches, no one thought to thank the taxpayers, who were robbed of their wealth to “educate” these people.

Amusing that everyone congratulated everyone for a great job. It was like having a party on some one else’s tab. When you think of the thousands of dollars that went into this effort, one has to ask if it was money well spent.

  • If “education” is such a vital service that “everyone” wants, why can’t it be funded voluntarily?
  • If it’s such an important thing, why leave it to the gooferment, that doesn’t do anything right?
  • If we divide 131 M$ school budget over ~700 students, then each education cost about 185k. Was that well spent? IMHO no. If I sent everyone to the Peddie School in Princeton it would be about 30k$ per year. So I’d have 60k to pay for the school bus. Anyone think the educations are similar?

Any one think that the taxpayer got anything but hosed tot he tune of 131M$?

Sigh!

Independence Day reminds us that the Dead Old White Guys fought and died over a 1% tax. They must be rolling over at what we are putting up with! It’s sad.

***End Quote***

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Independence Day “celebration”

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

EDITORIAL: July 4th – Put Away The Flags, by Howard Zinn
God bless the “Untied States” – Let 50 (or 1,000) flags fly…
Put Away The Flags
by Howard Zinn

***Begin Quote***

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

Is not nationalism — that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder — one of the great evils of our time, alongwith racism, along with religious hatred?

These ways of thinking — cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on — have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.

National spirit can be benign in a country that is small and lacking both in military power and a hunger for expansion (Switzerland, Norway, Costa Rica and many more). But in a nation like ours — huge, possessing thousands of weapons of mass destruction — what might have been harmless pride becomesan arrogant nationalism dangerous to others and to ourselves.

***End Quote***

Howard Zinn, a World War II bombardier, is the author of the best-
selling “A People’s History of the United States” (Perennial Classics, 2003,
latest edition).

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Boot the BATF

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

ucabolish


LIBERTY: God not allowed

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18519215&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=532622&rfi=6

God not allowed
Valedictorian pulls speech rather than remove prayer
By Al Sullivan
Reporter senior staff writer
06/26/2007

*** begin quote ***

The Bayonne High School graduation ceremonies on July 20 were marred by a controversy over the inclusion of a prayer in this year’s Valedictory Address.

Traditionally, the top student of the graduating class speaks during the ceremonies, often expressing feelings about the past and hopes for the future.

But a few days before the June 20 ceremonies, Jeremy Jerschina – this year’s valedictorian – was asked to submit his speech for review.

The speech ended with a prayer to God, which was deemed unacceptable by school officials.

{Extraneous Deleted}

*** end quote ***

See the problem is the gooferment operating the skoolz. Only the gooferment can be praised!

Since the site is copyrighted, I’ve only took a fair use quote.

The Valedictorian probably would mind sharing his speech that he couldn’t give.

*** begin quote ***

Text of Jeremy Jerschina’s Valedictory Address

Welcome faculty, parents, friends, students, graduates, Core Four, and other honored guests.

You all know tonight is a special night. You all know that it took us four years of hard work to finally get up on this stage to accept our diplomas. And you all know we are excited to graduate and spend some time with our friends and families. And so, tonight, to keep this relatively brief, I would just like to speak about one of the most striking and unique elements of our high school experience – the great significance of one’s background – namely their ethnicity.

At the beginning of the past century reigned the harkening towards cultural assimilation – America was, as Israel Zangwill called it, “God’s Crucible, the great melting pot.” In that century, America itself was melted and reformed by countless conflicts and movements, as well as a somewhat-unwilling emergence from beneath a protective shroud of isolationism. In fact, these changes were so dramatic, that in the latter portion of the bygone 20th century, former President Jimmy Carter declared of America, “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic.”

The magnificent shift in perspective is one that we cannot help but realize, especially in this highly diversified metropolitan area, in which we daily live the mosaic. Indeed, each one of us is an infinitesimal element of this brilliant intricacy.

Thus our individual ethnicity impacts us and those around us. Every facet of our fragment of the whole was sculpted, directly or indirectly, by our race, culture and family, and accordingly, so was our contribution to the totality of the magnificent work which is our world.

This connectivity through diversity is something that we ought to appreciate, something we ought to value.

We should, first of all, realize this on a personal level. We should acknowledge, as individuals, what particular traits were most shaped by our ethnicities. Whether it be a strong work ethic or outspokenness, determination or an inclination [to] objectivity, a strong moral foundation or creativity, we should be grateful and aware of the positive influence our cultures had, and continue to have, on us.

Moreover, we should realize and appreciate this whole mosaic formation concept on an interpersonal and universal level. The strength that emanates from multiplicity is one of the greatest elements of the vigor of America, and, ultimately, of the vitality of humanity.

Honor this diversity, but do not be strangled by political correctness, which tends to insult diversity more than it intends to support it; appreciate your own background, understand its history, learn from it, and thus let the roots of your life penetrate deep into the wellsprings of human understanding.

I’d like to end in prayer:

Dear God,

I am to You forever grateful for Your Creation. You placed Your eternal Hand upon the Earth and created Man. You have created him of every tongue and race, and gave him the capacity to grasp at least some of the vast multiplicity which You precisely engineered.
Thank You, Lord, for bringing us together tonight to celebrate both our achievements and those individuals who have helped lead us to this level of accomplishment.

Also, lest we forget about You in the midst of our individual successes, I ask You impart in us an understanding and remembrance of Your omnipresent power and might.

Lord, I pray that You guide, protect and bless us.

I give You all praise and honor for Your Creation, for Your love, for Your mercy, and for the life that You proffer to us daily. In Jesus Christ’s Name, Amen.

***End Quote***

Yup. In the article the family asks “Is this censorship?”. Of course it is.

So much for the First Amendment.

# # # # #


LIBERTY: to create peace in the world

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

FROM AN EMAIL TO MLPF

***Begin Quote***

>Military paradigms in business (Re:The War for Talent)
>Posted by: “Scott Allen”
>Tue Jul 3, 2007 10:00 am (PST)
>Do you want to create more peace in the world? I do.
{Extraneous Deleted}
>If you want to create peace in the world, you must first create peace within
>yourself, your home, your community and, I believe, your business.
{Extraneous Deleted}
>Is it any wonder our current political leaders don’t seem to really
>understand how to create peace through any other means than superior
>firepower, or at least the threat of it?

***End Quote***

Interesting that this comes up on (around) Independence Day which, like most “facts” taught in gooferment skoolz, is wrong. But that’s a topic for another day.

I usually try to make people smarted by laughter. However, this is a “deadly” topic. So I’ll be “deadly serious”.

It’s hard to conceive of a peaceful world. Humans have paradigms and memes.

(Paradigm is consultant speak for how you see things; like an optical illusion.) (Meme is like the concept of gene applied to ideas; a fad is a meme that sweeps thru humanity like a virus while “democracy” is the specific meme of majority rule.)

It’s our paradigms and memes that may help us survive or kill us. We didn’t become a dominant species by virtue of anything but out brains.

So how can we have “peace” (a meme that implies either “the lambs and lions lie down together” or “we stop using force on our fellow humans”)?

Well, more and more, it appears that the meme of government kills us, prevents “peace”, and generally makes our lives more miserable. It’s inefficient, ineffective, and some times immoral.

As a little L libertarian, I disavow the use of force to achieve political or social goals. I also vote (a meaningless exercise) small government every time. And, I try as best I can to “respect the rights of others”, but as the good Nuns in grammar school graded me, I’m a sinner there. But, I try. Gooferment isn’t really even trying!

So “democracy” is a flawed meme (i.e., two wolves and sheep deciding what’s for dinner). “Government” may be a very flawed meme (i.e., consult the works of Lysander Spooner). And, “genocide” is how governments can go “rogue”. “Political leaders” are usually a disaster (i.e., power attracts the people who want to use it to enforce their own vision). And the meme of “scarcity” ensures that we see the world in a “dog eat dog” view.

What works?

  • A republic (i.e., the two wolves are voting about dinner with one well-armed sheep — everyone has certain Lockian “negative” rights) with minimal power to use against the people appears to have worked for a few decades from the American Revolution until Lincoln.
  • The free market (think no regulation, no law, no gooferment) seems to peacefully allow humans to integrate their respective needs and wants in a complex calculation that satisfies everyone to as great an extent as possible. It enforces peacefully (a contradiction in terms) a balancing or matching of inputs and outputs. As the input, it’s the quantity and quality of your contributions to satisfy the needs of your fellow humans. As the output, it how your specific needs are satisfied.
  • The meme of “money” is used to facilitate these transactions. Money allows the division of labor to take place (i.e., the shoe maker does NOT have to find a baker who needs shoes. The marketplace buys the shoe maker’s shoes and sells him bread. It does this by locating the candlestick maker who wants shoes and had a candlestick that the baker wants. For simplicity, lets leave out the butcher, the farmer, and the fisherman for now. See Milton Freedman’s excellent video on the pencil and how countless greedy people cooperate to give him a cheap pencil. Money makes the world go round. It itself has to be created by a free market to prevent government inflation (i.e., the silent tax). When the gooferment has to overtly tax people (i.e., steal their money for services they don’t want) for wars and social programs, people tend to get testy. Printing money without backing it with something is a fraud on the people and the marketplace.

We NEED honest money to allow the division of labor. We NEED a meme that values peaceful coexistence with our fellow humans to prevent all the bad isms that will enslave us. We MAY NEED a tiny republic to prevent force or fraud upon the people and the marketplace. We NEED smarter human beings to learn from our past blunders (i.e., genocides) to avoid them in the future. We NEED political institutions that minimize the power of one person, tribe (i.e., Democrats; Republicans; even Libertarians), clan (Kennedy’s, Bush’s, Clinton’s) or gang (i.e., Hells Angels; the Crips ‘n’ Bloods; the DC politicians) can acquire.

I think that is how we create peace. Not with “political leaders”, but with the right paradigms, memes, and “moral leaders”. We need to end the DOLE (i.e., welfare for people and companies), end intrusive Big Gooferment, free people from the Gooferment Propaganda and Reeducation Camps, and return to honest money (i.e., not fiat paper but backed by gold and silver.

Sigh, I don’t feel very “independent” today.

Funnier is more fun,
fjohn

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Withdraw your consent

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

If governments draw their power from the consent of the governed, then here’s one who does NOT consent.

Dont-Tread-300

If you don’t agree, then you are saying that you support:

(1) the theft, by taxes, inflation, and regulation, of wealth from others;

(2) the endless unconstitutional wars by the gooferment;

(3) the enslavement by the gooferment of people by the unconstitutional dole for individuals and companies;

(4) the Ponzi scheme of intergenerational racist theft of “social security insurance”;

(5) the dumbing down of future voters with the gooferment running “education”.

I don’t consent. Alone, I am weak. There’s no obligation from anyone to throw themselves under the proverbial train. But, let’s not pretend that I comply for any other reason than the fear of their superior arms.

There will come a day when the “little people” will throw off their chains AGAIN. Maybe then we will be wiser.

# # # # #


GUNS: Reevaluating Gun Control Laws

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

http://www.prometheusinstitute.net/opinion/joe61807.htm

Reevaluating Gun Control Laws
Support 50’s right to bear arms
Joe Holmes

 

***Begin Quote***

Reasonable restrictions are necessary. Waiting periods, though a minor inconvenience, allow for background checks and should help deter the possibility of committing a gun-crime in the heat of the moment. People with criminal records or histories of psychological problems should be prevented from owning a gun. Automatic weapons serve no reasonable purpose other than to kill mass numbers of people. These are reasonable laws to me. However, preventing me from carrying a gun in my car or on my person seems too restrictive. Believe me, I have no desire to kill someone…indeed, I desire no situation less. However, if some thug threatens my life, my family’s life, or any innocent person’s life, I believe I should have the right to protect myself and others. To restrict this ability is to take away my fundamental right to self protection and self preservation. When did this become such a crazy position?

***End Quote***

Sorry, but “reasonable restrictions” are NOT necessary. We have seen all to often of the “slippery slope”. Our rights are abridged and infringed in the name of “reasonableness”, “the children”, or some other clap trap. Why is that this non sense always winds up giving the gooferment more power? The gooferment is never given “less power”. Power is never taken back from the gooferment except in a bloody revolution.

Let’s take some of the “reasonable restrictions”:

(1) Waiting periods guarantee that you can’t react to a threat. You’re a woman. You’re threatened by a stalker, a would be rapist, or abusive partner. Waiting period? You wait; you die. Restraining order? Don’t make me laff!

(2) Background checks of records maintained by the gooferment. You think they are right or complete? And, for what purpose? Even ex-cons should have right to defend themselves. Beside where do criminals buy their guns. Clue: Not legally; not at a gun store.

(3) Automatic weapons, other than being fun, are a good way to even up the sides with biker gangs or an intrusive Federal gooferment. If their side has them, then our side should as well.

(4) Car can be carjacked. Talk to that NJ teacher who had a tape recorder in her pocket when she was kidnapped by an nutty student. Oh yeah, that’s right, you can’t, she’s dead! Guess if that recorder was a small, but illegal, 380, then she could be alive and he’d be eliminated from the gene pool.

(5) “should have the right” is wrong. You always have rights! They are inalienable. You can’t give them up. You have that right at all times. Regardless what any number of politicians or people say.

It became nuts when people forgot that the best way to protect a flock of sheep is to sprinkle in a few “sheepdogs with big teeth”.

Remember: A democracy is two wolves and sheep deciding what’s for dinner. A republic is one well-armed sheep disputing the election.

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Ron Paul Speech and selected quotes

Monday, July 2, 2007

http://blog.lewrockwell.com/lewrw/archives/013892.html

July 01, 2007
Ron Paul Speech in its entirety
Posted by Nick Bradley at July 1, 2007 11:57 PM

***Begin Quote***

Uploading it to Google Video degraded the video quality a bit, but the sound is good.

***End Quote***

Ron Paul nails a bunch of the political sacred cows.

Nick Bradley blogged the following quotes.

*** begin quote ***

“You cannot have liberty without life, and you cannot have a decent life without liberty.”

“Government’s only function is to protect life and liberty…that the genius of the Constitution. But today we have a monolithic system, when we should solve our problems at the local level.”

“A fetus has legal rights; how can you allow a woman to kill her child a minute before birth, but throw her in jail for killing her baby minute after?”

“The welfare-warfare state introduces the notion that we do not own ourselves — it undermines the entire principle of liberty and the right to life. The worst part of our system is the notion that the Federal Government owns 100% of our government and merely chooses to allow us to keep part of it — let’s get rid of the income tax! (applause).”

“we don’t even own our own property — you have to get 25 permits to do anything on your own property; the concept of private property has been seriously undermined.”

“Get rid of the selective service! (applause)”

“We are facing an economic crisis — the government tells us everything is wonderful: deficits don’t matter, inflation is low, etc. etc. But if you look at your own financial situation, we are not nearly as wealthy as we think we are or foreigners see us as.”

“We are beyond our means. We China stops loaning us money, prices will go up. When our baker cuts us off, our interest rates will shoot up like in the 1970s.”

“We have accepted the notion of perpetually increasing welfarism.”

“If we do not soon get rid of this notion, we will go bankrupt.”

“We need to get rid of the Federal Reserve System (massive standing ovation).”

“You know what? The idea of paper money is so silly and dangerous — that the people allow the government that the do not trust to print funny money; and we wonder why we have problems. The Founders knew what was wrong with fiat money – they were very familiar with the collapse of the Continental; they declared that only gold and silver can be used as legal tender. There as never been a paper currency that lasted for a long time.”

“When they debase our currency, they are stealing our money!”

“Who suffers the most when the price is going up? Government — no. The middle class and the poor pay the inflation tax. Somebody is literally stealing 10% (10% real inflation) of our real income every year. Inflation wipes out the middle class. Just look at Mexico. Maybe if Mexico had a sound currency we wouldn’t have an illegal immigration problem.”

“The Federal Reserve causes the Business Cycle. We have no savings, yet interest rates are low. In a free market, if savings rates are low, interest rates are high.”

“The booms and the busts, the Great Depression, etc. all this cannot happed without the Federal Reserve System. We have to get rid of it.”

“The Fed enhances the growth of government.”

“Banks create credit our of thin air. Special interests who benefit from this want to preserve the Federal Reserve System. As president, we will not have this system.”

“We are set up for hyperinflation. We are not immune. We need more people like you when our system collapses so we can get back to the basics of a sound monetary system.”

“War is the health of the state. Up in a debate with ‘that mayor from New York City’ (hisses from the crowd), I said that they are over here because we are over there. (applause).

“We need to realize why these attacks happen, because when there is a Pearl Harbor or 9/11, we have to retaliate.”

“I was against the war 15 years before it started (the Gulf War.”

“It was in 1998 when I really started opposing the war, when Congress voted for regime change.”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t persuade a lot of people. I did my best, but it was not enough. I told the international relations committee that if they thing that going to war is such a good idea, they should declare war (massive applause).”

“One member of Congress told me that the declaration of war section of a Constitution is an anachronism. It falls on Congress to go to war. They delivered this responsibility to the President — they were amending the Constitution. They are now squirming over their stance a few years ago.”

“There is a strong history of non-interventionism in the Republican Party — let’s remind them of that (applause).”

“The Party is now stuck in the position of having to defend the indefensible. There is now way to continue to do well without resolving this.”

“In 2000, I thought ‘a humble foreign policy sounds good’, but that is not what we got.”

“Life is precious. But many in the right-to-life movement agitate for selective service and foreign wars. I told them that ‘you care more about your guns than you care about your kids’. We should never forget about the Christian Church’s teaching about ‘Just War.’ I do not have to accept passivism, and the second amendment protects me on that (applause). And under the constitution, we have a right to protect ourselves against threats. The problem is when we go to far and spread ourselves thin, we undermine our national security.”

“We need to bring the troops home to protect the border (massive applause).”

“In Just War theory, we have to follow a set of reasonable standards. It must only be in defense, it must be proportional, and it must be declared by the proper authority. But now we send our boys over there to enforce UN Resolutions. The best thing for us is to get out of the United Nations (standing ovation).

“We are in worse shape than when Woodrow Wilson was president. Today we are told that the war is endless. The war on terrorism is not a war — it is a tactic. Once we are told by our gov’t that the war is perpetual, they say that we must be willing to send our children anywhere in the world — that must end now! (applause)”

“After 9/11, they immediately started planning a war in Iraq. Talk about an interventionist foreign policy backfiring — we had Iran in check with their arch-enemies, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein and we get rid of them. What if they come to the conclusion that we inadvertently helped the Iranians. We need to quit.”

“There is preparation going on for a war on Iran. We don’t have enough troops to invade, so it will be different. Other candidates in our party are willing to launch a nuclear first-strike on Iran. We need to come back to our senses.”

“We are capable of defending ourselves. We have a policy designed that literally rewards those with nuclear weapons. Pakistan gets a nuke, and Musharraf overthrows a democratic government, and now they’re our friends. Pakistan is harboring bin Laden, and we send them money — and Pakistan sends nuclear technology to North Korea too. Let’s stop subsidizing them.”

“It’s not like WWII, where these measures can be repealed after the war — this war is perpetual!”

“Today, the president can declare an insurrection — only congress has the right to declare martial law. Americans can be held as enemy combatants without due process, without habeas corpus. These laws are designed to protect the state, when the state is designed to protect you! (applause)”

“Our country was founded as a republic. Natural Rights are not up for majority vote. Empire contradicts the notion of a Republic.”

“Down in Arizona, my supporters were talking about a Revolution. And I like Revolution, but a non-violent one. I want to go back to the Constitution, and today that IS Revolutionary. Historically, Revolutions are started by a select few, and are ignored by the mainstream for a long time — until they can no longer be ignored. That point has passed, and they can ignore us no longer.”

“They try to ridicule us for standing up for principle. We are moving gently over into the next stage, when they directly fight us — a philosophic fight of course.”

“They want to silence us — but they now fail to invite us to their little parties, so we now have our own, bigger parties (massive applause). Those same individuals who undermine our democratic process at home are the same who send your money and your kids overseas to build democracy in the middle east.”

“In the end, you win (revolution).”

“The purpose of politics should be simple — the promotion of liberty. All I have to do is fulfill my office, and obey the Constitution.”

“The exciting about the campaign is all the young people, they’ve been tipped off that they’re getting the bad end of this deal — massive debt, loss of liberty, invasion of privacy. They know this!”

“Maybe, just maybe, will be the ones who are on our side for the preservation of liberty — and that is exciting!”

“True principles are outdated. You know what is outdated? Tyranny! Authoritarianism! (massive applause).”

*** end quote ***

# # # # #


GUNS: Immigration Bill Dead For Now

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Immigration Bill Dead For Now
— Gun owners unheralded in media, but played a huge role in the defeat of bill

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org

*** begin quote ***

Friday, July 29, 2007

Well, the American public has spoken.

If you ever wondered whether your activism pays off, then look no further than the immigration debate. The bill went down in flames yesterday by a vote of 53-46.

And good thing too, because this bill was packing more than just immigration stuff — it also contained anti-gun language as well.

But what else would you expect from a Ted Kennedy bill?

In addition to denying many law-abiding gun owners their right to find a job or buy a gun, the bill could have put every major gun shop out of business, something which the anti-gun left has been trying to do for years.

*** end quote ***

# # # # #


LIBERTY: universal carding mandatory

Sunday, July 1, 2007

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?
id=2007-06-30_D8Q3A26O0&show_article=1&
cat=breaking

http://tinyurl.com/2ur726

Everyone Shows ID for Beer in Tenn.
Jun 30 02:28 PM US/Eastern
By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II
Associated Press Writer

***Begin Quote***

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Comer Wilson hasn’t had to show his ID to buy beer in a while. Maybe it’s the 66-year-old man’s long white beard.

Starting Sunday, gray hair won’t be good enough. Wilson and everyone else will be required to show identification before buying beer in Tennessee stores—no matter how old the buyer appears.

“It’s the stupidest law I ever heard of,” Wilson said. “You can see I’m over 21.”

Tennessee is the first state to make universal carding mandatory, says the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. However, the law does not apply to beer sales in bars and restaurants, and it does not cover wine and liquor.

***End Quote***

Well, I think that it is a GREAT idea!

Annoy people with enough stupid laws so even the most dense can see the stupidity.

More laws to correct more problems that the laws created in the first place.

When do we realize that laws don’t prevent underage drinking, they encourage it. Prohibition demonstrated it. Being illegal, it’s kool. Being illegal, when they turn 18 or 21 or one of their friends do, it’s drunken city.

Same as all drugs. You can’t prevent it with a law. All you can do is raise the price!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: the Senate phone system crashed yesterday

Saturday, June 30, 2007

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/2007/jun/28/victory

***Begin Quote***

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
—————————————————————–
Subject: Victory!

The immigration bill is dead. It fell short by 14 votes. Better yet, the whole issue has become so controversial, in so many different ways, that no further action on immigration is expected any time soon.

Fox News has reported that the Senate phone system crashed yesterday, from so many calls coming in.

We call this overwhelming, inescapable, resistance numbing pressure!

But the media, as usual, is getting the story wrong. The professional reporting class seems unable to contain more than one idea or fact in their heads at any given time, so they’re all reporting that the bill’s defeat was due to its supposed amnesty provisions.

It is to laugh.

The truth is that nearly everyone, on all sides of the issue, opposed this bill, for every reason imaginable.

The truth is that hundreds of groups like DownsizeDC.org were organizing opposition to this legislation for many different reasons. And one of the biggest objections was the REAL ID provisions.

Congratulations to you for the role you played in killing this horrible bill. Now, we have a prediction to make . . .

THIS IS THE FUTURE.

Increasingly, this is how the United States is going to be governed. Congress will propose, but the people will dispose, by exerting overwhelming, inescapable, resistance numbing pressure.

The Internet has made this possible, just as printing made the Reformation and the Enlightenment possible, and TV enabled the civil rights movement.

This Big Change will mostly mean that Congress will do less, because there will usually be vast interlocking groups of opposition ready to fight, often for conflicting reasons, but usually with the same result — to say and impose a giant NO on Congressional schemes.

The pressure of the people will become the ultimate check and balance on state expansionism.

This is the future.

And we have another prediction to make . . .

The era of partisan politics and over-sized political personalities is coming to an end. Parties and personalities will matter less and less, while public opinion on individual issues and bills will matter more and more.

Many people will continue to have partisan loyalties, and many more will root for one candidate or another, for the same reason people love sports. But this contest of labels and names will matter less and less. It will increasingly become a “sound and fury signifying nothing.”

Groups like DownsizeDC,org are the future. Our strategy is the main chance.

Do you want to win? Then this is the way to do it. And frankly, we see zero evidence that there is any other way to do it.

But there’s something else involved here. If you look deeply at the public opinion polls on various issues you will see that most people want smaller government on most issues most of the time. We call this the Great Downsize DC Consensus. But . . .

You wouldn’t know about this Consensus from watching the news, because the journalistic obsession with the sports reporting of partisan politics ignores this point.

Likewise, the rigged partisan division into two Big Government parties, and two Big Government philosophical groupings, leaves the small government consensus disenfranchised, un-represented, and completely invisible.

Partisan politics isn’t the solution. Partisan politics is the problem!

DownsizeDC.org isn’t a political party. It’s a way to recruit and organize the Downsize DC Consensus free from the barriers of primitive partisan tribalism. It can also be, as our recruiting and organizing gains critical mass, a way to make the smaller government consensus VISIBLE for the first time.

We don’t think it is a matter of “if this will happen,” we think it is a matter of “when?”

After all, DownsizeDC.org is the future.

Yet part of the answer to the “when” question is up to you.

June has been one of our best months so far. We’ve recruited more than 800 new Downsizers, and sent more than 40,000 messages to Congress, plus countless phone calls. Now all we have to do is pay for it. Please help us make budget for June. We are very close.

A generous anonymous donor has pledged $1,500 for this purpose. But in order to get that $1,500 we must raise another $1,500 from other donors. We are oh so close. If you can contribute today your contribution will be WORTH TWICE AS MUCH. Plus . . .

We’ll mail a “9/11: Press for Truth” DVD to your home. Here’s how . . .

If you’re an existing monthly credit card pledger in good standing as of June 15, 2007, all you have to do is increase your monthly pledge by at least $1, and we’ll send one to you.

If you’re NOT an EXISTING monthly credit card pledger then you can start a monthly credit card pledge of at least $6, or make a one-time credit card donation of $35 or more, and we’ll send you the DVD. (Sorry, for technical reasons we cannot make this offer for PayPal pledges or donations).

Please help us make budget. You can make your contribution here.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

CONTRIBUTE to the Electronic Lobbyist project

http://www.DownsizeDC.org is sponsored by DownsizeDC.org, Inc. — a non-profit educational organization promoting the ideas of individual liberty, personal responsibility, free markets, and small government.

***End Quote***

Disclaimer: Financial contributor to this group.


LIBERTY: verdict wrong in one of six cases

Thursday, June 28, 2007

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?
id=070628135531.31cukrus&show_
article=1&catnum=-1

http://tinyurl.com/2hpup7

US juries get verdict wrong in one of six cases
Jun 28 09:55 AM US/Eastern

***Begin Quote***

So much for US justice: juries get the verdict wrong in one out of six criminal cases and judges don’t do much better, a new study has found.

And when they make those mistakes, both judges and juries are far more likely to send an innocent person to jail than to let a guilty person go free, according to an upcoming study out of Northwestern University.

*** AND ***

Finding a solution will be much harder to do than quantifying the problem, Heinz warned.

“The sources of the errors are quite resilient to correction,” he said.

“They have to do with all sorts of biases and the strong presumption of guilt when someone is arrested and brought to trial.”

***End Quote***

End you trust these people, the gooferment, and your fellow citizens to protect you?

# # # # #