 |
|
|
 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 369, May 28, 2006 "Data Privacy is a Fundamental Right"
Send Letters to editor@ncc-1776.org
Re: "Ending The Warfare State", by L. Neil Smith http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2006/tle368-20060521-06.html >>[Smith] Very interesting. May we run this as a letter to the editor? > [Un-named Person] I would be pleased if you did, IF you are
For slightly more than ten years, The Libertarian Enterprise has followed a policy of printing names and e-mail addresses along with articles and correspondence because we believe people should bear complete responsibility for everything they do or say. What's more, you are politically sophisticated enough to understand that the Nazis dominated Germany—not to mention the Ku Klux Klan in the American south and hundreds of other tyrannies elsewhere—specificaly because most people were too frightened to stand up and face them. This is not the spirit of Patrick Henry. It is not the spirit of Cindy Sheehan. And it is certainly not the spirit of L. Neil Smith or The Libertarian Enterprise. Therefore we will not only withhold your name and address, we will withhold your letter, as well. Get back to us when you grow a couple. L. Neil Smith
To the Editor: The tragic injury of Barbaro on Saturday night at the Preakness shocked thousands in the stands and millions watching by television. In all the sturm und drang of speculation about inbreeding, breeding stock drain and drugs there is one item no one remembers, or perhaps no one wants to remember. It is quite simple: Two year old horses have no business in racing. Neither, with very few exceptions, do three year olds. The knees of a horse do not close until the age of three, by actual foaling date and not the January 1 fiction forced by The Jockey Club. It is also at that time the mental processes of an adult horse begin to show, which plays a major role in proper training. To put it in terms sports fans can understand, placing Barbaro into the Triple Crown is the equivalent of taking a 15 year old halfback from Nyskauna High School to start first string for the Giants. It just doesn't work and you're likely to ruin the athlete in the process. The reasons why horse racing is the way it is in the United States are long and complicated, dating back to the Civil War when horses were considered war materiel to be used or destroyed as needs must. A tax structure that considers horse racing the equivalent of a dairy farm does not help matters. If The Jockey Club refuses to change their age rules to something based on reality, then at the very least all the Triple Crown races should shift to entries of four year old horses. This would take some of the pressure off breeders and trainers that are trying to race hot-house flowers in an effort to catch the brass ring of a Triple Crown victory. It would also make very bad publicity incidents like Saturday night much less likely. Frank Ney
Re: "The Righteous Stuff: Thoughts on The Da Vinci Code", by L. Neil Smith http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2006/tle368-20060521-02.html "In this case, it's that there's no historical proof Jesus actually existed." Now this is just downright silly—and I'm speaking as someone who doesn't believe there is a god. If we were to apply the same standards of evidence that a historian would use to determine the existence of, say, a Zoroastrian religious figure, the various epistles and gospels of the New Testament, along with the various apocrypha, would in themselves be considered pretty strong evidence that the man existed. Heck, nobody mistakes the Arthurian legends for anything close to accurate history, and yet historians are agreed that "King" Arthur did, in fact exist. The Jewish historian Josephus—born in 37 AD—mentions Jesus and several other New Testament figures. Here are some examples. The crucifixion: "Now there was about this time, a wise man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of th�� e principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day." Execution of James, the brother of Jesus, in 62 AD: "... so he [Ananus, the high priest] assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned" John the Baptist: "Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man..." For a fascinating reconstruction of who the real Jesus may have been, I highly recommend James Tabor's book, The Jesus Dynasty. Among other things, Tabor argues that it was the apostle Paul (who never actually met Jesus) that promoted the idea of a deified Jesus; the original Christians simply viewed John and Jesus as two messiahs, that is, "annointed ones" chosen to do God's work. Kevin Van Horn
[Much of the Josephus text is regarded as a later interpolation (a.k.a. "hoax") since it is written in a different (and much cruder) Greek style than the rest of the document. See, for example, http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jdtabor/josephus-jesus.html and http://www.answers.com/topic/josephus-on-jesus This and other such documents are discussed at http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/scott_oser/hojfaq.html —Editor] This is probably the most-needed-to-be-seen film in America today! Aaron Russo's new film, America: From Freedom to Fascism, is a docudrama that exposes the dark truth behind America's most diabolical government agency (can you guess which one??) and our nation's monetary system. Here is the link to see the trailer—let me know what you think. http://www.freedomtofascism.com/ If you liked it, please pass this along to friends, so that we can Wake The Nation to the dangers of unaccountable federal power. Alex
May 9, 2006 L. Neil Smith
Dear Mr. Smith, On May 7, 2006, The Libertarian Enterprise posted the article "Twilight Zone," by Kathryn A. Graham.� The article contains the following libelous and defamatory statement regarding the PGP®�encryption technology that must be rectified immediately: "PGP, in its commercial and official incarnation, has had a government back door at least since its most recent release." This statement is completely false and is extremely damaging to the brand and reputation of PGP Corporation. PGP software contains no backdoors or deliberate flaws that would enable any government or other third-party to read data encrypted by PGP technology.�This fact is well known in the encryption community and is one of the main reasons that 30,000 enterprises, businesses, and governments worldwide as well as thousands of individuals and cryptography experts rely on PGP encryption. To satisfy even the most skeptical, PGP Corporation publishes its source code for peer review. Using the PGP source code, the cryptographic integrity of the PGP software has been repeatedly validated by third-party experts in the security field throughout the world. The results of these tests have been widely published and should be well known to you as a publisher that addresses security issues. In addition, PGP Corporation has made a public assurance of its products integrity and published it on the PGP website located at: http://www.pgp.com/company/pgpassurance.html. As a further point of reference, the Twilight Zone article speaks very highly of Hushmail. You can validate both the integrity of the PGP code, as well as that of PGP Corporation in general, with Hushmail's Chief Technical Officer, Brian Smith. The topic of security cuts to the core of PGP Corporation. Phil Zimmermann's (note the two "ns" for future reference) creation of the original PGP software was founded on the philosophy that data privacy is a fundamental right. As stated in your article, he went so far as to risk jail to protect this ideal. This dedication to security and privacy continues on as the heartbeat of the PGP Corporation culture and is the reason for the sternness and passion of this letter. The audacity of your publication to make a statement that the PGP code is compromised is at best the reckless disregard for the truth, or at worst an intentional attack against PGP Corporation. Either way, we demand that you take the following actions within the next forty-eight hours:
Failure to correct the statement will force us to take appropriate measures to ensure that you stop promulgating this libelous content. As you may be aware, as the publisher of The Libertarian Enterprise, you may be held liable for defamation to the same extent as the author, Kathryn Graham. Please confirm your intention to comply with this demand and resolve this issue amicably. Best Regards, Brian Draves
TLE AFFILIATE Help Support TLE by patronizing our advertisers and affiliates. We cheerfully accept donations!
|
|
|
|
