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124
THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 124, June 4, 2001
D-2
Letters to the Editor
Send Letters to [email protected]
From: "Scott Cattanach" <[email protected]>
To: "TLE" <[email protected]>
Subject: Project Exile
Date: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 2:18 PM
Some "Project Exile" tidbits I ran across.
--Scott
--
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/010521/usnews/exile.htm
USN&WR: Is Project Exile's antigun aim off?
...Launched in response to an alarming increase in murders, Project Exile's premise was simple: Make gun crimes a federal offense and punish criminals with swift prosecutions and stiff sentences. "To us," says Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney James Comey, "gun possession itself is a crime of violence."
That kind of red-meat rhetoric made Exile an early hit with conservatives...
--
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3afbfe4a6fa0.htm
Project Exile Promotes Prison Rape
On Wednesday, May 9th, Colorado Project Exile held a private press conference at the Colorado Trust, a grantmaking foundation that is providing the funds for Colorado Project Exile commercials, etc.
Bob Glass and I were both there as press representatives - and to inject a little Tyranny Response Team sentiments into the day's events. It was a combination of both sickening and productive happenings.
First, let me describe the commercials that we saw. They played all of them, and in these commercials they make a deliberate point of suggesting that if you are sent to Federal prison under Project Exile, prison rape will be an expected part of your future.
Both Bob and I were sickened by this approach.
Here's an example. One commercial shows an enormous Federal prison in South Dakota, with the roughest-looking prisoners doing exercises in their cells. Tattoos, cruel looks, and aggressive bar-slamming by the inmates. And the captions read, "Think carrying a 9mm makes you a man?"
"Lots of people in Federal prison find that attractive."
That insinuation was repeated again and again throughout the Colorado Project Exile commercials.
When these statists took questions from the attendees (which included officials in the ATF, DEA, State Police, various district and U.S. attorneys) - it was obvious they weren't prepared for us. Case in point... I asked them the following question:
"The commercials strongly and clearly suggest that prison rape is an expected part of Federal corrections. Does the Colorado Trust support the use of prison rape as an extrajudicial punishment for firearms violation? If not, then why is the Colorado Trust providing nearly a million dollars in funds to produce and show commercials advocating exactly that?"...
From: "TJC" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: SMART GUNS ARE FOR STUPID PEOPLE
Date: Thursday, May 24, 2001 6:16 PM
I'd think that the smart guns should be tested for 10 years (that's how long tax cuts are phased in) while residing in smart holsters (Uncle Mike's has one) worn by all gun toting federal, state, and local employees, to include the president's secret service types and American military. If, after that 10 year period, not one gunowner injury or fatality has resulted from the deployment (or failure to deploy) of those systems, then they should be allowed to be marketed to the general public.
Marketed. Not mandated.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: To Attack in a Perpendicular Manner
Date: Friday, May 25, 2001 4:08 PM
To Attack in a Perpendicular Manner
When writing emails to public officials, forget about flaming them with four-letter profanities - it just pisses them off and makes you look bad. Also, forget about trying to convince them with statistics and figures - most of them already have access to the same data - and couldn't care less. Instead, hit them with a good dose of humor and get "chummy" with them.
It doesn't hurt to make sure that each of the person's political opponents gets the message, as well as the media columnists who are opposed to the official in question.
And above all - SCREAM AND LEAP - go for the throat. The Kzin Patriarch himself should point you out to his cubs (?) and say, "Listen up, Heroes - that hairless monkey is the example to follow."
- Mike Blessing / The Sedition Group
--> http://seditiongroup.homestead.com
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Dear Jimmy-Boy:
I didn't see you at the City Council meeting on Monday night (21 May).
I imagine that soe of my gun-toting comrades thought that you had
chickened out, but I know better. You're too busy trying to get His
Royal Highness Mr. Koldyke a multi-million-dollar welfare check so He
can build His new baseball stadium.
(I'll make you a deal on the stadium: I'll consent to you spending 25
million for Koldyke if you also spend 25 million for ME (and anyone
else who steps forward) You're familiar with the Ladera Golf Course?
What I want is for it to be turned into an indoor shooting range
capable of handling the .50-caliber rifles I hope to get some day.
Right next to said range, I want an Icehouse-style nudie bar. While
you, Pat Bryan and Mike Koldyke are enjoying baseball games at MY
expense, I'll be able to do likewise - blowing off a few hundred
rounds through my "assault weapons" and then looking at naked women
all night - at YOURS. (You *DO* realize that I'm being facetious
here - I don't want anyone being taxed to support EITHER project - but
I'll buy a share in a privately-funded stadium if you buy a share in a
privately-funded version of what I want....))
Well, since you weren't there, I'll give you what I had written down
for my 120 seconds of public comment time. (I ad-libbed a phrase or
two, but so what? It wasn't much and it's not important.)
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Mike Blessing, and I'm
here to represent the Libertarian Party of New Mexico and the Tyranny
Response Team of New Mexico. I'm a resident of Albuquerque's District
1 and I'm 100% against the proposed ban on concealed weapons.
Forget that citizens carrying guns give the criminal element a reason
to go away. OR that criminals won't obey the ban anyway. OR that
private citizens have a better safety record than the police, APD
included. Dial 911? The last time I did that, no one answered - that's
right, ANSWERED - until 50 minutes after I first called.
The MAIN reason that some want to take guns away from others is
simple. They don't want "those people" carrying weapons for
self-defense. Put quotes around "those people."
In the pre-1960's South, "those people" were blacks. In 1930's Nazi
Germany, "those people" were the Jews. In present-day America, it's
anyone those charged with enforcing or making the laws find to be
inconvenient - such as - the people assembled here before you?
Final note - I look forward to the person next to me at the movies
having a gun - carried openly or concealed.
At any rate -
Toodie-doo, Sweetums! See ya on the campaign trail!
- Mike Blessing,
Sponsored by The Sedition Group
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 13:51:49 -0700 (MDT)
Subject: Missed you on Monday, Darling!
From: [email protected]
To: Jim Baca
Cc: Alan B. Armijo
LPNM / TRT-NM
--> http://seditiongroup.homestead.com
From: "E.J. Totty" <[email protected]>
To: "John Taylor" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: TLE #121
Date: Sunday, May 27, 2001 11:18 PM
Quote:
From: "William Stone, III" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: The Commie Rat Anti-Free Software Act of 2001
Date: Monday, May 07, 2001 10:17 AM
John:
I ran across another one of those great articles about government intervention in the high-tech world that I find so funny. The URL to the article is: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-05-06-002-21-OP-LF-MS
In case you're unaware of it, last week Microsoft stepped up its
anti-Linux FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) campaign. Linux is
sometimes criticized for being rather unlike other computer products
because of its approach to "intellectual property." I would point
out that Eric S. Raymond -- the leading figure in what's known as
the "Open-Source Movement" -- is an unabashed libertarian and gun
owner. I'm looking forward to meeting him at one of his "Geeks With
Guns" bashes that he puts on whenever he finds enough of us in one
place.
--rest snip--
Geeks with guns I have no bother with.
It's when some geeks think that 'open source' is the only way to go, that I get really up-tight.
Who the hell is anybody to think that they have the right to lay claim to another's blood, sweat, and tears?
This 'open source' crap is the very same as thing as communism.
Get this: if any programmer or company wants to engage in <voluntarily> sharing the merits of their intellectual property, fine.
But to lambast another, merely that they wish to maintain control over their intellectual property, is in essence the practice of communism: You seek for free what isn't yours.
The bottom line here is that the 'open source' movement is nothing less than what we used to refer to in the US Navy, as a 'weasel dick': finely pointed to gain access to even the tightest sphincter.
Or, more mundanely, yet another camel's nose under the tent.
In Liberty,
ET
From: "Tom Wright" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Saf-t-Hammer, S&W
Date: Monday, May 28, 2001 8:12 PM
Mr. Taylor,
Regarding the recent handoff of Smith&Wesson from British socialists to Nevada and Arizona socialists, I think I have a way to put a burr under their strap on, before they get a chance to use it on us.
Take a page from the progressives little red book. By a share and show up at the annual meeting.
Since, as of 19:33 on 28-May-2001 CE, it trades at the lofty price of $1.00 per share, this is actually not a difficult thing to do.
Saf-T-Hammer is a publicly listed and traded corporation, a creature of the government, that needs to obey the dictates of its' masters. But as a publicly traded creature of the state, the question of who is the master is somewhat up for grabs.
Saf-T-Hammer trades on NASDQ over the counter under the symbol SAFH. This means that we all have a chance to buy up a bit of stock and attend the annual meeting when it is held.
I should not take much to rock the boat. They were basically handed S&W on a platter after Tompkins failed to con a bus company owner into buying their dead racehorse, and they decided the corpse was a little too ripe for their refined British sensibilities. But they do not really have the cash on hand to make it work.
Maybe someone with more knowledge of securities can analyze this situation and come up with more ideas to either rescue S&W or put it finally and permanently out of our misery.
Tom Wright
Your friendly local Libertarian Atheist
From: Bruce Eldredge <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: "smart Guns"
Date: Tuesday, May 29, 2001 4:54 PM
Mr. Smith,I need to bring up a problem with a ring or jewelry controled gun. A lot of people should not were any jewely while working. I am an auto mechanic and have been taught that rings are dangerous to wear while working. They can easily be crushed in an accident, or cause severe burns during an electrical accident. I have heard stories where a construction worker has lost a finger due to a ring getting snagged on a nail while they were trying to save themself from falling. I witnessed, a few years ago, a fellow worker burn his finger to the bone. He was wearing his wedding band and shorted it on the battery terminals of the vehicle he was working on. My point is that a jewelry activated "safe gun" is not safe for me or blue collar workers in general. I am licensed for concealed carry in my state. I take that to mean that the powers that be believe I am smart enough to carry and use a "dumb gun".
Yours truly,
Bruce Eldredge
Delray Beach,FL
From: "Shugarts, Keith" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Hurrah for Idaho
Date: Friday, June 01, 2001 3:11 PM
Dear Libertarian Enterprise,
In Sandpoint, Idaho six children armed with guns are holding off sheriff's deputies. The deputies are seeking to place the children in state custody following the arrest of the children's mother - an arrest of dubious quality. The children, home schooled and trained how to use the firearms, have been caring for themselves for nearly a year according to Sheriff Phil Jarvis.
Some media account not coming from Washington, DC, New York City, or Los Angeles say that the children have little chance of survival, while a local paper states that the children do have outdoor survival skills. These six children have shown a greater degree of independence and individual sovereignty than a whole high school of mind-numbed state cared for children yet the state had to interfere. Yet there are those that would argue the state not only has a right to step in, but must step in to provide for these helpless children.
Notice that in most cases those who want the state to step in and help are those who would argue that these children cannot possibly know what is best for them and must have the assistance and help of the state. Again, one of the most disturbing parts of this issue is the response of the public to it. Cheering on the benevolent state stepping in to help the ragged, malnurished, neglected children. Decrying the children for to daring to refuse the compassionate embrace of the government. Believing that the only way the children could be cared for if their parents were incapacitated is the government. Proclaiming that a 15 and 16-year old cannot make decisions for themselves because they have not reached an arbitrary age set forth by the government (or that a 19-year old is not old enough to decide whether or not they can purchase and consume alcohol).
Already the national propaganda machine is whirling into operation and twisting and spinning facts into those all to familiar "news stories". The Washington Post characterizes the situation like this, "the McGuckin siblings, apparently distraught by their mother's arrest and the death of their father, Michael, from an illness last month, are holed up in their house and may be armed." Quoting the local sheriff's spokesman "These are just scared, confused children."
The national propaganda machine whirls and perverts this stand into an action by six frightened children saddened by the demise of their family. The 19-year old daughter has already voted with her feet and chose to leave her brothers and sisters behind, the decision rests then with the remaining six. The Washington Post just ran another article regarding 15-year old Benjamin being taken into custody by authorities but avoid mentioning the particulars and details of him being taken into custody. The article states that Benjamin, responding to an offer of help from a neighbor, met with a sheriff's deputy, a social worker, two doctors, and a pediatrician and then was taken into custody. The article then goes on to say that Benjamin was staying at the juvenile facility but conveniently does not say if he had gone willingly or was forced.
The mother, originally portrayed as mentally incompetant and neglectful, through her defense attorney is claiming that she never neglected the children and did not, as propaganda early suggested, spend all the money on alcohol. Earlier reports put out by the sheriff's office said that the residence was without electricity but Northern Lights, the regional electrical supplier, said that the electricity was still on inside the house.
Should this story continue to unwind the great American propaganda machine, bringing Abert Speer's chilling words from Nurmberg about the power of propaganda growing through the new mediums available to the state into yet sharper focus, will twist this into a Mathusian tragedy. For now though, hurrah for those six (now five) children in Idaho.
Yours in Liberty,
Keith Shugarts
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