T
H
E

L
I
B
E
R
T
A
R
I
A
N

E
N
T
E
R
P
R
I
S
E


I
s
s
u
e

64

L. Neil Smith's
THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 64, January 31, 2000
Stupor Bowel Hangover

Miscellany

Reply to John Taylor
[email protected]

Special to TLE


THEY COULD CALL THE REGISTRATION PROGRAM "INSTANT CHECHEN"

The Russians are nominally allied with a local militia in Argun -- clans as well as prominent or wealthy Chechens usually possess private armies. But such is the level of mistrust that the Russians collected their allies' rifles and machine guns, leaving them only pistols to defend themselves.

"They said they were only taking the arms to register them. But that was weeks ago, and I haven't seen my automatic since," said Ayub, a young Chechen who aspires to learn German and emigrate.

- - - - - - - - - - -
SAIGON ON THE TEREK

Downtown [Argun, Chechnya], where Moscow's representative to Chechnya, Nikolai Koshman, was giving residents a pep talk, women berated him for the artillery barrage that drove the rebels out. "Kill the terrorists, not us," they shouted.

The Russian soldiers looked on impassively. "These women show up every time we have visitors," one murmured. "Who can tell the terrorists from anyone else? I can't."
- - - - - - - - - - -

Source (for both): www.washingtonpost.com/wp%2Ddyn/articles/A43704%2D2000Jan13.html

REVISED STATIST VERSION

January 17, 2000
Giving Honor to Treason
by Glenn C. Loury (director of the Institute on Race and Social Division at Boston University)
[...]
Fortunately, the right to equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment won out over the purported right of states to practice segregation. As a result, a century after the end of the Civil War, Americans of all races in every region finally came to enjoy the full benefits of citizenship. There is no question that the right side prevailed in that struggle of the early 1960's, just as the right side had prevailed 100 years before.
[...]
Let us stipulate that the senator's forefathers thought that bearing arms for the Confederacy was honorable. This does not change the fact that they were wrong to have thought so.
[...]
Although my African-American forefathers were persecuted under the battle flag of the Confederacy, I take no offense when I see it in the back window of a pickup truck, or sewn on a denim jacket, or draped across a dormitory window.
[...]
But as an American citizen I am disgusted by the spectacle of civil authorities in South Carolina officially and publicly embracing a symbol of illegal rebellion against legitimate national authority.
[...]
The fundamental issue here is not racism, slavery or respect for the Southern way of life. Ultimately, what is at stake is national unity and loyalty to the collective civic enterprise that we call the United States of America.

In retrospect, we can now see that those who fought under the Confederate flag were treasonous rebels bent on the destruction of our union. And those who hoisted that flag over their state's capitol during the height of the civil-rights struggle were obstructing social justice.
[...]
- - - - - - - - - - -
[emphasis added -- ed.]

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/17lour.html

[REASON #38] WHY I FLED MARYLAND (JUST AHEAD OF NEAL KNOX)

Glendening Assails Gun Manufacturers
By Daniel LeDuc and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 20, 2000; Page B1

Gov. Parris N. Glendening declared yesterday that gun manufacturers' claims that they cannot make a childproof handgun were "nonsense" and told Maryland legislators that "we can make them do it."

In some of his sharpest language on the subject yet, Glendening (D) dismissed gunmakers' claims that the technology is not yet reliable or affordable to make guns so that they can be fired only by authorized users.

"Absolute nonsense," Glendening told legislators during his State of the State address. "Whether it is air bags or childproof aspirin bottles, we know the industry will not do what is right until we make them do what is right. And we can make them do it."
[...]
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp%2Ddyn/metro/A1924%2D2000Jan19.html

NEXT THING YOU KNOW, THEY'LL BE REJECTING VICTIM DISARMAMENT

Japanese Panel Advises a Move to the West
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday , January 20, 2000 ; A01

TOKYO, Jan. 19 -- Are the Japanese too, well ... Japanese?

For decades, the very traits that have defined Japanese society -- conformity, decision-making by consensus, a follow-the-rule orderliness -- have been nurtured and praised here as the glue that keeps this nation together.

But now a government-appointed panel has concluded Japanese society must change. The Japanese should become more independent, the commission said. More tolerant of people who veer from the norm. Less preoccupied with rules, peer pressure and school tests. There should be more immigrants. And more lawyers.
[...]
The report laments an "ossified" society in which an allegiance to rules and conformity have "leached Japan's vitality." For Japan to succeed, the group noted, there must be "a spirit of self-reliance and the spirit of tolerance, neither of which has been given sufficient latitude so far."

It recommends a Japan "where people's vitality is not inhibited by precedents, regulations and established interests." In a society where group consensus is preferred over individual initiative, the report recommends "empowerment of the individual" and more support for risk takers.

[And now the predictable statist reaction; I see Japan has already adopted the US' government lapdance media -- ed.]

"The report stresses individuality too much," protested the daily Sankei newspaper. "We already have too-shallow national unity, and too much respect for personal rights."

There will be opposition, "a contrary wind to reform," warned the Nikkei newspaper. "A lot of people would like to stay where we are and do not want to change."

"We already are being criticized for putting too much emphasis on the individual, for forgetting the critical importance of 'community' and 'Japanese-ness,' acknowledged commission member Yoichi Funabashi, diplomatic columnist for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
[...]
[But, a small ray of hope from two commission members. -- ed.]

"The 21st century will be the era of individuals. Individuals have become more important through globalization, the Internet, networking," [commission executive director Tadashi] Yamamoto said.

During years of poverty following World War II, Japanese looked to the government for all decisions. Now, individuals must take the lead, said [member of the commission and political science professor Makoto] Iokibe.
[...]

"I don't think dynamism is an American monopoly. In a sense, democracy is not necessarily an American thing," [Yamamoto] said. "It's a universal value."

'LIE DOWN WITH DOGS' DEPARTMENT

Gun makers halt settlement talks with cities
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Settlement talks between gun makers and municipalities that are suing them have broken off because the gun makers objected to White House intervention in negotiations that had been scheduled for tomorrow in Las Vegas.

Gun manufacturers are blaming White House meddling for the cancellation of tomorrow's talks, saying President Clinton injected politics into the negotiations.

But administration officials said the gun industry is playing politics and blamed the "hard-line" stance of some gun representatives for the breakdown. [...]
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://208.246.212.80/national/news3%2D01202000.htm

[Let's see ... the parents try to negotiate with the kidnappers/rapists, and are actually _surprised_ that the lead hostage-taker doesn't play fair, or keep his word?]

[Better yet ... after the industry kow-tows to the feral government, practically breaks its back bowing down to the crooks with briefcases, the government takes the first opportunity to label them "hard-liners" (read "extremists"). Gee -- that sounds a lot like the infamous NRA "jack-booted thugs" incident, wherein the nation's largest gun control organization revealed inadvertently that, while boot-licking, they had actually identified the government's Bruno Malis -- ed.]

THE FIRST THING THEY DO IS SHOOT YOUR MICE

Clinton Favors Computer Snooping
by Declan McCullagh
6:00 p.m. 19.Jan.2000 PST

The Clinton administration wants to be able to send federal agents armed with search warrants into homes to copy encryption keys and implant secret back doors onto computers.

"When criminals like drug dealers and terrorists use encryption to conceal their communications, law enforcement must be able to respond in a manner that will not thwart an investigation or tip off a suspect," Attorney General Janet Reno and Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre wrote in a seven-page letter to Congress. [...]
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0%2C1367%2C33779%2C00.html

ALL PARTIES DISCRIMINATE INDISCRIMINATELY

Group Calls Lee Banner Burning a Hate Crime
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2000; 12:40 PM

RICHMOND - The Sons of Confederate Veterans are demanding that yesterday's torching of a banner of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on a holiday in his honor be treated by police and prosecutors as a hate crime against Southerners.

"The city should not treat this as a normal crime. They should treat it as a hate crime," said Brag Bowling, central Virginia commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "The heritage of a lot of Southerners has really been violated."

Richmond police said the fire was started by a Molotov cocktail, typically a bottle filled with an inflammatory [sic -- ed.] liquid. While investigators reported this morning that they had a suspect and were nearing an arrest, police now say they no longer believe they have a suspect. Interviews with potential witnesses are continuing, they said.

Police spokeswoman Jennifer Reilly said investigators will determine later if the burning, which destroyed the Lee banner, qualifies as a hate crime. "Right now it's not being treated that way," she said.
[...]
"I promise you if that was the Arthur Ashe statue [also on Monument Avenue], there'd be some action," [Bowling] said.

WHICH GIVES ME AN IDEA ...

Buyers have to show they can use handgun to buy one
Thursday, January 20, 2000
Breaking News Sections

(01-20) 11:33 PST SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Anyone buying a handgun would have to show the dealer he or she knows how to use the weapon under a bill moving through the California Legislature.

The bill would require the buyer to show "basic proficiency," including how to load and unload the gun, operate safety devices and determine whether it is loaded.

The bill is aimed at "the small population of buyers that don't know what they're doing," said the author, Assemblyman Mike Honda, D-San Jose. [...]
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2000/01/20/state1433EST0031.DTL

[I think we ought to insist that anyone running for office would have to show the voters that he or she knows and understands the Constitution of the United States, especially the Bill of Rights. This initiative is aimed at the large population of office-seekers who don't know what they're doing. -- ed.]

THE DEATH OF "ADVICE AND CONSENT"

"So let me be clear," [US Ambassador to the UN Madeline Albright] continued, "only the president and the executive branch can speak for the United States." -- in a speech to th UN Security Council,
01/24/00
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000124/pl/un_helms_fallout_2.html

WELL THERE YOU HAVE IT ... DEMOCRACY IN ACTION

"I like him [Bill Clinton], he's raising your check every month," said Wilma Peetles, a retiree from Olar, S.C.

- - - - - - - - - - -

ALL ABOUT EVE

"I think he's made a good president. He's done a lot for this country. If women hadn't gotten ahold of him, he'd have been all right." -- George Hill, a 78-year-old retired masonry worker from Hamer, S.C.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source (for both): http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000126/pl/clinton_mood_of_union_1.html

THE EMPEROR BILL

"If I had my way there would be laws restricting cigarettes and handguns. But Congress won't even pass halfway measures. ... Almost makes you lose faith in democracy, doesn't it? Apparently that's exactly what's happened to the Clinton administration. Fed up with trying to move legislation, the White House is launching lawsuits to succeed where legislation has failed. The strategy may work, but at the cost of making our frail democracy even weaker." --Robert Reich, in the Wall Street Journal, 01/12/00, as reported in The New American.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/2000/02-14-2000/vo16no04_dictator.htm

SPORTING PURPOSES ... OR ... THE GREEK ROOTS OF GUN CONTROL

"Athens -- A funny thing happened on my way to an Athenian forum last week. On an Olympic Airways flight to the Greek capital, some of my countrymen asked the cabin attendant whether they could smoke. Not if other people object, was his Solomonic answer. The plane was almost empty, everyone was in a good mood, so we all lit up and enjoyed ourselves. The attendant nodded his approval and pretended nothing had happened. This is what civilized travel is all about. There were one or two grumbles from a couple of Americans, but we politely told them to get lost. After all, this is also what democracy is about, and to hell with the whims of an unsporting few." -- "Taki"
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://www.nypress.com/frame.cfm?author_id=7&site_id=1

[emphasis added -- ed.]

"Let us consider, my lords, that arbitrary power has seldom or never been introduced into a country at once. It must be introduced by slow degrees, and, as it were, step by step, lest the people should see it approach. The barriers and fences of the people's liberty must be plucked up one by one, and some plausible pretense must be found for removing or hoodwinking, one after another, those sentries who are posted by the constitution of a free country, for warning the people of their danger. When these - preparatory steps are once made, the people may then, indeed, with regret, see slavery and arbitrary power making long strides over their land; but it will be too late to think of preventing or avoiding the impending ruin." -- Lord Erskine, defending Thomas Paine in London, 1792

"The essence of all slavery consists in taking the produce of another's labor by force. It is immaterial whether this force be founded on ownership of the slave or ownership of the money that he must get to live on." -- Leo Tolstoy, 1891

THEY'RE ALSO THINKING OF CHANGING THEIR REGIONAL NICKNAME IN PROTEST

"With some members comparing the symbol to the Nazi swastika, the [Los Angeles] City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, to condemn the display of the Confederate flag over the Capitol in Columbia, S.C.
[...]
The council also voted to bar city employees from visiting South Carolina on official business unless the flag is taken down. [...]
- - - - - - - - - - - Source: http://www.msnbc.com/local/knbc/352647.asp

TANSTAAFB!

"The government thinks fewer middle-class children would skip breakfast if schools provided it to all students free, and it is looking for some schools willing to try the idea at federal expense.
[...] "Legislation has been introduced in Congress to offer free breakfasts to all students at an estimated cost to taxpayers of about $400 million a year."
[...]
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://www.hotcoco.com/timeout/food/stories/dan49293.htm

ONE MORE HARD YEAR

"I think that we have, given what we could have accomplished within the framework of possibility that was there and the job that was there before us, I think we've done pretty well. But all I can tell you is I've worked every day and I did the best I could, and I'm going to let the historians make their judgement after I give it one more hard year." -- Bill Clinton
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000126/pl/clinton_history_1.html

SOTU, BRUTE?

"Every state in this country already requires hunters and automobile drivers to have a license. I think they ought to do the same thing for handgun purchases. Now, specifically, I propose a plan to ensure that all new handgun buyers must first have a photo license from their state showing they passed the Brady background check and a gun safety course, before they get the gun. I hope you'll help me pass that in this Congress." -- William the Concupiscent, State of the Union, 1/27/00

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

[Loyola law professor Laurie] Levenson also noted that many of those wrongly accused [in the latest LAPD corruption scandal] were self-described gang members who, although innocent of the crimes they were convicted of, were "not exactly productive members of society" and therefore were less likely to receive a great deal of sympathy from juries.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Source: http://news.excite.com/news/r/000127/19/crime%2Dpolice

Previous to return to the previous article, or
Table of Contents to return to The Libertarian Enterprise, Number 64, January 31, 2000.