Exclusive to TLE

---

A reader writes:

"I've been going through the back issues, and realize just how short a memory I have. A Google search did me no good, either. Either I missed it, or it was never covered in the 'free press' - where is Sam Zhadanov now?" [Stephan Jerde <[email protected]]

I couldn't help Stephan, but I did pass along his question to several folks who had written about him in the past. As far as I know, no one has yet responded. How about it, readers? Anybody know Zhadanov's status?

References:
http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/le960408.html
http://mir.drugtext.org/FEAR/victims/gulag.html
http://reason.com/9505/JACOB.may.shtml

---

Back in March, the Feral Gummint loudly announced that they were getting out of the North Carolina mountains, and turning over the search for fugitive Eric Rudolph to local elements of the Southeast Bomb Task Force. Well, that may well be "government truth", but I have a hunch that the search continues at a pretty expensive rate, regardless of which office calls the shots.

A recent trip to the Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock Wilderness Area produced these observations:

1. If the Rudolph search has been scaled back, then someone is going to have to explain to me the very frequent, low-altitude low-speed "flyovers" by small aircraft all through the night over the wilderness areas. Granted, there are regular commercial flyovers as well, but the difference is easily discernable. Who on Earth would want to fly small fixed-wing aircraft over an area rife with hazards to navigation, over extremely variable terrain, in unpredictable weather, at low altitude, at low speed, in the middle of the night? Probably just sightseeing tourists. Speaking of which ...

2. If you are a short-haired, middle-aged, cellphone-using white male stranger to the small towns in the area, people look at you differently - differently even than they look at the other "touristas", of whom there are plenty (the rafting is excellent in the many gorges of the Nantahala). This is probably because ...

3. Folks in the mountains have no love for big government, especially the remote, ignorant, unremitting power it wields. Stop by the roadside, talk to anybody - even the civil servants. This dislike runs core deep. Somehow, I find this extremely encouraging, since ...

4. If Eric Rudolph is hiding in the Nantahala wilderness, the only way he's going to be "found" is if someone rats him out for the $1 million reward. (Note to FEEBS: if you still have high expectations in that regard, re-read 3. above.)

The Feds couldn't find their Ashcroft with both hands, unless someone guided them in.

---

There's a awful lot of talk about whether or not "libertarianism" is "moral". (See, for example, this article

I don't hear a lot of similar questions about "Democratism" or "Republicanism" (more on those foreign terms later) or "socialism" or "fascism" or "communism". Now maybe it's just because "everybody knows" that none of those "philosophies" have a moral component.
*snort*

I think it more likely that the thought of individual liberty (however diluted, perverted, and politicized it may be (http://www.lp.org/) scares the granny-panties off the statists, especially those who think of themselves as advocates of freedom.

---

On the other claw, we don't do ourselves any favors by unthinkingly or unconsciously representing ourselves as advocates of a "libertarian State", regardless of what we may call it. Enough said (and those who are thinking about it, I'm not talking at you).

---

HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR CHILDREN COOKED?

"I've got dreams. I know what I want to fight for. But I don't want to mislead people in terms of promising them more than I can deliver."
-Janet Reno

---

AS I RECALL, THIS WAS THE NRA'S CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT?

"The Senate overwhelmingly backed a measure on [September 5th] that would arm airline pilots on a voluntary basis in a dramatic security step aimed at preventing a repeat of last year's Sept. 11 attacks.
[...]
"The Bush administration had been flatly opposed to arming pilots, but on the eve of Thursday's debate it signaled that it would consider arming a limited number of pilots."

source

Speaking in opposition to the bill, the Curmudgeon Taylor pointed out that the passage of such a measure was "a gross arrogation of power, and a direct violation of the US Constitution's Articles I (Section 8) and VI, and Amendments 2, 9, and 10". As usual, such opposition went unnoticed almost everywhere.

ADVERTISEMENT