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68
THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 68, March 31, 2000
March Madness
Letters To The Editor
by Our Readers
Send Letters to [email protected]
Letter from Jesper Juul Keller
Letter from Rancho Bates ***Bulletin***Red Smoke***Bulletin***Red Smoke***Bulletin
*******!!!THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!*******
Dateline: /0/9/00
Country: Amerika
Origin: Rancho BatesDue to the apology by the Pope in Vatican City for wearing a funny hat and living in a really cool palace and having his own personal stand-up-and-ride-around-in-it-Pope Mobile and; due to the announced intention of the Aetna insurance company to pay extortion benefits to the descendants of slaves whose owners Aetna had the gaul to insure over 150 years ago, it has been determined by the citizens of the town of Last Ditch Attempt that world and national leaders are in the middle of a serious and perhaps terminal shortage of testicles.
Testicles are marble shaped and usually found enclosed in a gross looking little furry sack found hanging between the legs of the male animal.
Due to the apparent theft of said testicles from business and political leaders of all stripes the folks of Last Ditch Attempt are appealing to you and other folks just like you to help them restore testicles to their rightful place between the legs of the aforementioned leaders.
If you know someone who has testicles they are not using, we urge you to urge them to send their testicles to our world leaders TODAY! If YOU have testicles you are not using, clip them off and mail them in TODAY!
Please help the patriotic folks of Last Ditch Attempt in their effort to help the testically challenged.
***Bulletin*****Red Smoke*****Bulletin*****Red Smoke*****Bulletin***
ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT EUNUCHS FROM REMAINING IN POWER!!!
Back to the top Instead of prefacing the table of contents with lengthy editorializing, you might better list "From the Editor" in the table of contents and place the material there.
[*sniff* ... OK. - ed.]
Back to the top The thugs now reign in Massachusetts
Dear Mr. Taylor:
I read TLE and Vin Suprynowicz. His latest column hit a nerve. I'm sending you a copy of what I wrote to him. If you decide to publish any significant part of this in TLE, please, please be careful to edit it. Just throw it out if you don't have the time to sanitize it. I'm a dead man if this gets traced back to me. Thank you.
- - -
Dear Mr. Suprynowicz
I read your columns regularly, and enjoy them immensely. Thank you for speaking the truth. Please accept my heartfelt wishes for a long and happy life and career.
The title of your March 12 column "The thugs now reign in Massachusetts" has a lot more meaning that perhaps even you realize.
Under a 1998 law, I became a felon on my last birthday. I've never had any contact with the law beyond a speeding ticket some years ago, but by the stroke of a pen I am now a felon. I became a felon because I own a gun and I refuse to go to the local police station every 4 years for mug shots and a full set of fingerprints, and I won't immediately notify the state authorities whenever I move. If I had been convicted of murder, the cops would have my fingerprints, and once I finished prison and parole I could live anywhere I wanted without telling any official about it. But because I own a gun, I am treated far worse than convicted murderers.
Understand, I'm not talking about carrying a concealed handgun, or even "assault weapons" (though the new law has many draconian punishments for people who dare to own a semi-auto). Under this law, possession of ANY gun, any cartridge (spent or not), any powder, primers, bullets, wads, or shot, even a can of pepper spray, requires me to be fingerprinted and mug shot. The data is kept by the state's Criminal History Systems Division - the same folks who keep the records on murderers, rapists, and other convicted criminals. The fingerprints and mug shots of lawful gun owners in this state are instantly available to law enforcement agencies nationwide (and probably worldwide) thru the FBI's NCIC system.
It gets even worse. I'm not only a felon for the 25-year old 12-gauge pump shotgun that I keep in the closet, I'm a felon for not keeping it locked (and therefore useless) at all times. Locking my front door doesn't count as "preventing unauthorized persons from gaining access to the firearm." I have no children but the state mandates that I render myself completely defenseless to any criminal who cares to rob or kill me. God only knows what will happen to me if I ever have to use the shotgun to defend myself. I suspect I'd end up in prison, and pay restitution to the criminal whose "rights" I "violated."
The penalties for all these new crimes is 10 years in prison. Since I could get charged with a separate count for each round of ammo, that brick of .22 cartridges I bought for my grandfather's single-shot match rifle could get me 50,000 years. This is not a theoretical calculation: a Wayland man is facing 70 years for "unsafe storage" of his firearms: 7 counts of 10 years each. (Contact goal.org for corroboration and details of this case and my statements about the new laws).
It's bad being a felon and living in fear. I go to sleep every night wondering if the door will be smashed in by ninja-suited, armored, machine-gun toting thugs that will kill me where I stand if I so much as reach for that shotgun. It won't really matter much to me then if they were free-lance crooks or professional, government-paid murders. I suppose I should move out of state, but my family has been here for generations, my job is here, and I won't be run off my own property by a bunch of bullies, legal or otherwise.
I'm feeling quit alone here. The ACLU has abandoned Massachusetts gun owners on the left, and the NRA just betrayed them on the right. The ACLU just pursued a case to the US Supreme Court on whether or not certain violent convicted criminals must surrender DNA samples for a databank. (The Supremes declined to hear the case.) The ACLU spent enormous effort on behalf of 10,000 (by their own count) criminals. The ACLU says that it opposes the suspicionless collection and dissemination of fingerprints, and fought the Georgia fingerprint-on-your-drivers-license law vigorously. But a million gunowners are forced, under penalty of fines and imprisonment, to give up their fingerprints, and the ACLU won't even answer my letters on the subject, much less make a statement, a press release, or file a court case, like they do for murderers.
On the right, the NRA now stands with HCI in vowing to put people like me behind bars. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't hear and see the video recordings on the NRA website. "You touch a gun in Colorado, and you're gonna have five years in a state or federal penitentiary." says Wayne LaPierre, standing on the stage with Wellington Webb and HCI spokesmen. Under their Project Exile, anyone caught with an illegal gun gets tried in federal court. What the NRA doesn't seem to understand, or perhaps just doesn't care about, is that here in Massachusetts, my guns were made illegal by the stroke of a pen. If I ever get caught with them, I could very well end up being tried in both Federal and State courts, in a Kafka-like race to see who can come up with the longest mandatory sentence.
I'm scared Mr. Suprynowicz, I'm angry, and I feel terribly alone. The ACLU turns a blind eye on massive violations of its own principles, the NRA has betrayed all gun owners, GOAL, JPFO, SAF, and all the others I send money to can't help me, and my own so-called representative co-sponsored this new law. This must be something akin to what the Jews in Germany felt in the late 1930's. Gunowner's have been cut out of the herd, demonized, ostracized, and blamed for everything wrong with society. We have much better technology today for tracking and finding people that the Nazis did, so when the final solution comes, I don't hold out much hope for running, hiding, or fighting. My only hope is that I die a peaceful death before that day comes.
The thugs now reign in Massachusetts. They reign in the statehouse, in the courts, in the media, and in the police. One million obedient sheeple have meekly surrendered their fingerprints and now carry state-mandated papers for having the temerity to exercise their inalienable right to self-defense. They might as well make them wear special arm bands. I don't know how many there are like me out there, but I doubt that we'll be around for much longer.
Please excuse my using an anonymous email. I'm not paranoid, they are truly out to get me. Feel free to use any of my whining as you see fit: I only ask that you change the style a bit if you use very much of it, as I've been published on other topics, and it is very possible that the FBI or some other agency could match the style of those documents with this one.
Thank you, and keep up the good work.
[We at TLE have always stated that submitters must provide a name and e-mail address to get a letter published. Therefore, in compliance with that one hard-and-fast rule, this letter is signed:
John Taylor <[email protected]>
-- ed.]
Back to the top [in re: the previous letter]
I think it may be high time for gun owners to make at least a symbolic gesture of defiance. How difficult would it be for various local grass roots gun rights groups to launch a simultaneous campaign. What I have in mind is to simply head the Nazis off at the pass. We need to acquire, distribute and wear large stars on our chest with a big "G" on them. And we need to hope that people and, God forbid, the press ask us why.
We could do more group-oriented things in conjunction as well. Like organize marches of gun owners dressed like death camp inmates. If this be the role into which we'll be cast, lets acknowledge it and make the most of it while we can still do so by the light of day.
-- Mike Dugger <[email protected]>
Back to the top I almost choked when I read that Al Gore and The-Bill-Of-No-Rights felt shocked at the NRA chairman's comments, stating that they seem to need a certain level of killings to further their Victim Disarmament policies. Okay, the big sell-out didn't say "Victim Disarmament", and in the case of the NRA, I would think of it as a lot of hot air....
Anyway, Gore even had the bad taste of saying that, "as one who has spent a lot of time in the company of the victims' families, he would like to see la Pierre look those people in the eye, and repeat his comments".
Well, I'd like to see Bill, Al or Jackboot Reno look the survivors (if they can find any!) and relatives of the victims of Waco, Ruby Ridge, etc. in the eye, and claim that it was THE GUNS that made the government thugs commit their atrocities, and not their fascist masters.
There's only one way to reduce "Gun Violence" - Disarm the Feral Government!
- - -
Best regards - Med venlig hilsen
Jesper Juul Keller <[email protected]>
http://kyotaku.tripod.com/libertarian.html
Tornevej 9 - DK-3200 Helsinge - Denmark
"Guns don't kill people - Governments with guns kill people!"Back to the top The following is from TLE, Issue 67, 15 March 2000
Smashing The State
by Bruce Elmore <[email protected]>
Special to TLEThe right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.......
Has something changed since I went to sleep? Last time I read the 10 Amendments this was number 4. Oh! I know what this is, "A stroke of the pen, law of the land. Kinda cool!"
An otherwise good article. Keep up the good work.
Jack <[email protected]>
Back to the top On the 21st of March, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners that when the liberties of one are threatened, all liberties are threatened. He then went on to speak of how the current administration is using the tactic of going after small groups who exercise certain freedoms, such as gun owners or cigarette smokers. He even went so far as to say that Conservatives are the defenders of the Constitution.
This is what I sent to him.
Die Hard Dittos Rush,
When I heard your morning update on the 21st of March my first response was "Welcome to the party, pal." We Libertarians have spent over twenty years warning people about the gradual encroachment into the liberty of Americans by the government.
Unfortunately your solution to the problem is more of the same medicine. After all, the Republicans, or the Lesser Hamiltonian Party as my friends and I call them, have done their share of subverting the Constitution in the name of their own dreams of tyranny.
When you spoke of loss of property rights, the Conservatives favorite war, the War on Some Drugs, has done more to undermine private property through Asset Forfeiture laws than the rest of the Alphabet Soup of agencies have done. Not to mention the Conservative obsession with criminalizing abortion strikes at the most precious of property rights, the right of a woman to own her body.
This problem has been in existence longer than this current administration. The only new element added by the White Houses current occupants is the speed of encroachment. Since Abe Lincoln used the might of the Federal Government to repress the Southern States right of self determination the Republicans have done their part along with the Democrats to deprive Americans of their liberty.
So, I will say here again, welcome to the party, I hope you will look deep into your heart and decide which is more important, your team or your country.
Enjoy,
Scott Graves <[email protected]>
Back to the top Greetings,
I was just at your website and thought you'd be interested to know about a program we've developed in partnership with ABC News Correspondent John Stossel. I'd also like to cordially invite you to join our list of organizations who support this project.
We are the Palmer R. Chitester Fund, a not for profit organization which develops media programs that illuminate the prerequisites of a free society. (Perhaps you are familiar with the Free to Choose television series that we produced.)
"Stossel in the Classroom" is the name of our current project. We develop classroom materials (teacher and student guides) that correspond to Stossel's popular one-hour television specials. We package the guides and videos into stand-alone 'Video Kits' and promote them as supplemental materials for use in America's high schools and colleges.
We've already developed and are presently marketing the Video Kits for Stossel's specials 'GREED,' 'FREELOADERS,' and 'ARE WE SCARING OURSELVES TO DEATH?' and we are now developing the materials for the very popular "IS AMERICA # ONE?," which Milton Friedman told us "is like a present-day Free To Choose packed into one hour."
We have created an entity called the "Friends of Stossel in the Classroom." This is a group of individuals and organizations that are helping us 'get the word out' about our project. See www.prcfund.org/Stossel/friends/index.html for the state-by-state listing. Some organizations mention us in their direct mailings, email newsletters, or on their web site. Others have lent us mailing lists or have enclosed our flyers in their mailings.
If you'd like to join, simply let me know how you'd like to help out or if you just simply like what we are doing! Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Rick Platt, Director of Sales and Marketing
Stossel in the Classroom via http://www.prcfund.org/a project of:
The Palmer R. Chitester Fund
9008 Main Place Suite #3
McKean, PA 16426
phone: 814.476.1751or 888.242.0563, fax: 814.476.1283
email: [email protected]Other Related Projects:
The Idea Channel at http://www.ideachannel.com
Free To Choose at http://www.ideachannel.com/freetochoose.htm
Back to School with David Robinson at http://www.heritagechannel.com
Issues USA at http://www.heritagechannel.comBack to the top Dear Editor:
I don't want 14 year old girls to have "shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles"! First of all, they would just be wasting their parents money. Second, by making them depend on heat seeking gizmos you prevent them from learning proper marksmanship. Let young girls buy RPG-7's with their allowance, instead of spoiling them with expensive arms. Think how proud they would be if they know they can blow a bradley full of killers with their own skill instead of it being the result of micro-chips.
Honestly, that Vin Suprynowicz needs to remember that parents can't just buy every weapon that catches a child's eye.
Or a adult's eye either!
Kevin Douthit <[email protected]>
La Puente, CABack to the top Urban Writer Contributes Chapter On Ayn Rand and New York
SAN FRANCISCO--Urban Writer and Pennsylvania native Eric Miller has contributed an essay to a new book about famous authors and the places they knew.
"On Top of the World In New York" tells the story of writer Ayn Rand and the city she loved in Literary Trips: Following In The Footsteps of Fame, available now in Canada and this fall in the United States.
Published by GreatestEscapes.com, where Miller contributes frequent articles as an "urban traveler", the book is being marketed by Sandhill Book Marketing Company of British Columbia, Canada.
Miller has read most of Ayn Rand�s works and appreciates New York's influence on her novels. He is a self-described "urbanist", has a Masters in Urban Studies from the University of Akron and undergraduate degrees from Robert Morris College and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Rand, the founder of a philosophy called Objectivism, wrote best-selling titles including Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. She lived in New York off and on throughout her life after emigrating from Russia as a child. Her books still appear on best-seller lists and her influence on American political thought continues to grow.
Miller worked with the Ayn Rand Institute, Rand's associate Dr. Harry Binswanger and New York photographer Hoyen Tsang to complete the chapter.
"Both Ayn Rand and New York have made incomparable impressions on me and will surely influence my work in the future", Miller said. "I am glad to have had the opportunity to write about two of my favorite subjects and have them be a part of this landmark travel book."
Currently, Miller lives in San Francisco where he works as a writer for a trade association and frequently contributes articles to magazines and newspapers including San Francisco Downtown, InPittsburgh and Neighborhood America.
Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame can be ordered at the Literary Trips web site at www.LiteraryTrips.com. The soft-cover book sells for $29.95 in Canada and will sell for $19.95 in the United States.
More information about Eric Miller is available at home.earthlink.net/~urbancentury.
Eric Miller <[email protected]>
Back to the top
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