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 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 590, October 3, 2010 "Americans hold Congress members in lower esteem than even drug dealers, child molesters and used car salesmen"
Send Letters to editor@ncc-1776.org
Letter from A.X. Perez with reply from L. Neil Smith and from Neale Osborn Another Letter from A.X. Perez Another Letter from L. Neil Smith Yet Another Letter from A.X. Perez Again a Letter from A.X. Perez Ingenious specialty and miniaturized firearms: www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/02/miniature-spy-guns.html www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/04/miniature-spy-guns-part-2.html Walt Dean
Hoisting the Jolly Roger Since his inauguration Barack Hussein Obama has been carefully neutral on gun control or even mildly pro gun in his actions as president. While I have given him credit for this I have always been aware that he was a supporter of victim disarmament. We were waiting for him to unfurl his true flag. His signature on an order to prevent the return to the US for distribution to civilians some one million M-1 Garand rifles and M-1 carbines is a hell of an unfurling. It is also more insidious than it appears. While effective, the weapons in question are somewhat out of date ("obsolete but not obsolescent" is the description I've read.). If the order is rescinded the weapons will most likely be distributed through Civilian Marksmanship sports shooting programs. In other words this order will do little to keep "fighting guns" off the street but will interfere with people taking up shooting for pleasure in clubs, thus weakening America's "shooting culture" and weakening people's resistance to victim disarmament. This is a stupid order, but at least now the leopard has stopped trying to pass himself off as a kitten. A.X. Perez
To which L. Neil Smith replied: Ladeez and gemmulmans, As much as it pains me to confess it, my worthiest battle rifle is a .30-06 Springfield M1903, manufactured in 1908. I even have a 16 1/8" bayonet for it. I have weapons that today's miniwarriors think are rifles, chambered in .223 Wimpchester, .30 Carbaby, and 7.62x39 Kalashmenot, but no real rifle, shooting a real rifle cartridge. (I do have hunting rifles in real calibers, my favorite being a '98 Mauser redone in .35 Whelen—ka-BOOM!) I long to have an FN-FAL, the best battle rifle, in this gunsmith's opinion, ever conceived. I'd be happy to have an M1A. I have a soft place in my head for the FN-49 (especially in .30-06). But I'd take a grand Garand in a Seoul second. I regard what Obama and his fellow gangrenous garden slugs intend to
do with these guns as absolutely nothing short of treason, and I can
back that up legally, I believe. If he gets away with it right now, I
will see him pursued to the ends of the Earth for decades if
necessary, to be arrested, indicted, tried, and given a traitor's
sentence, as
I wouldn't mind having another M1 Carbine, either, for conversion to
5.7mm MMJ (look it up).
Your kind, friendly, and always moderate
L. Neil Smith
And Neale Osborn noted:
Re: "Obama bans nearly
1 million rifles" by Dudley Brown
Recently, I seeded Dudley Brown's article on Obama's supposed Executive
Order banning the re-importation of 1 million Garands and M1 carbines.
While the weapons HAVE BEEN banned from import, there is NO evidence
of the EO. Because I failed to verify a simple fact (no EO), I looked
like an ass. Because I seeded it from TLE, TLE looked stupid. I seed
articles from TLE to help us raise the Libertarians mindset in the
consciousness of the general populace. I request that you attempt to
get Mr. Brown to either provide the EO# or re-write the article to
reflect the facts that CAN be verified.
The guns WERE banned, and the State Dept or the Trade Dept are the
only verifiable culprits. They WERE banned by the Obama Administration,
but by EO, not verifiable. I hate to weaken our positions by posting
false information, yet I am not good enough at research to make it
simple to verify every article. In the interests of defending our
positions, I ask that you either obtain the verification or the
correction as soon as possible. We can't damage our image this way
and expect to advance our points.
Neale Osborn
Re: "Vox Radio, Vox Dei" by L. Neil Smith In his speech before the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on 15 September 2003, the late anthropogenic global warming "denier" (and therefore heretic) Michael Crichton said:
In every subject area, so much in today's disputes—online, in the various dying "mainstream" media, over coffee in a Dunkin' Donuts (for those of us in Red State America) or Starbucks (among the cyanotically Blue State types, and the color fits, 'cause they'll hold their breaths 'till they turn blue if you say anything that contravenes their heartfelt bigotries)—is predicated not on confirmed observation of factual reality and reasoned analysis relying thereupon, but on codified systems of belief that simply do not admit of refutation. The hallmark of scientific integrity is that a theory will be readily abandoned if an objectively more robust and reliable explanation for the phenomena under examination can be developed. It isn't how much you like that new theory. It's whether the damned thing works better than the one it supplants. In order to be capable of handling objective reality with scientific method, the mind in question must be without crippling emotional attachment to any theory. No "belief" allowed. When you find yourself saying or writing something like:
...you should immediately think of a flashing red light in the upper right-hand corner of your visual field, warning that you have just fucked up by the numbers. Random numbers, of course. Richard Bartucci
RE: Thomas DiLorenzo's recent excellent article This article is a must read for all who want to break down the indoctrination all of us have received from government schools and from popular culture (primarily Hollywood). I have a soft spot for old John Wayne movies such as "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" where he played an Army officer sympathetic to the Indians; but the reality is that the Army was an instrument of evil, and Sherman and Sheridan were monsters, whom our ancestors have honored by naming towns and cities after (when will we get around to renaming our "Stalingrads"?). Paul Bonneau
Dear Mr. Bell, I just read about your coloring book about the Tea Parties on the FoxNews site ... ...and wish to congratulate you for having published it. I also want to encourage you to ignore those who hate the very idea of free speech and are willing to threaten violence over it. As the author of over 30 books on individual liberty, I've run into a couple of those, myself. I will be running a brief piece about your coloring book in the next issue of The Libertarian Enterprise, a weekly online opinion journal now in its 15th year, and sincerely hope it helps you to sell more of your ingenious coloring book. I'll send my readers to you at: Best regards, L. Neil Smith
Bullying Recently there has been a spate of well publicized suicides by young people. The reason they committed suicide was because they were being bullied, several for being homosexual. A society that permits this level of bullying, regardless of reason, is already training the SA for the next fuhrer. There is a difference between the normal "hazing" kids inflict on eachother to test courage and fitness to be part of the group or to let him know he isn't and pushing people over the edge. It is up to adults to help the intended victims of bullying learn not submit to bullying. Our young people need to learn to stand for themselves, but they also need to know someone's got their backs. The following is cribbed, corrected and expanded, from my Facebook wall in reaction to a video by Ellen Degeneres sent by a friend. Every kid needs to know he is free to be who he is in his heart (unless it's in his heart to be a ritual cannibalistic murderer). He needs to know that he has friends and kin (by blood or choice) who will back his right to be himself, even if they don't always agree with him or his actions. And he needs to trust his courage to fight for his right to be himself. Better to get physically ass kicked than to think yourself a coward. Besides, you might win. (the bullies will kick your ass anyhow if you submit or fight back, so choose to go down fighting.) OK so this is a guy attitude. Works good for women also. Even turning the other cheek must be an act of courage and resistance, not submission to bullies. Every kid must learn to stand up for himself and stand alone. But he also needs to know he will be sided. And those who would be bullies, the next generation of storm troopers, have to face resistance from the get go. Might cure them afore someone has to kill them. Teach this to the kids in your family. Be the person covering your kids' backs. A.X. Perez
Dear Willie, Please forgive the formality of this message. I just want to make it fit to be passed along, which I invite you to do. I've always been more inclined to solve problems than to complain about them, and an idea has just occurred to me about the increasingly practice—which must seem especially revolting to you, since you both chose to be an American, and served your adopted country in the Navy—of flag desecration. Sometimes it's less than pleasant, standing up for the rights of people like the ones in the photo you sent me, who are thoroughly despicable. That's why, although other people are welcome to, I never do it, myself. I stand up for my own rights, and those of people like me (and you) who are concerned with returning this country to its proper state of peace, freedom, progress, and prosperity. As repulsive as it may be, please try this experiment with me. Imagine another flag, the white globe and olive branches on a light blue field of the United Nations. Now recall the sculpture just outside their headquarters, of a Colt Python revolver with its barrel tied in a knot. And remember that, under the guise of "small arms control", the thugs and gangsters of the UN—including Hillary Clinton—have sworn to strip Americans of their best protection against the kind of democidal state that marched two million people to their deaths in Cambodia. The UN wants you dead. It wants your children and grandchildren, especially the young, pretty ones, for its slaves. Read what they, themselves, say about their "Agenda 21" program, and, guided by your knowledge of history and human nature, do a little reading between the lines. It doesn't take very much. So there is the flag of the United Nations, lying on the ground in front of you. Would it be wrong to spit on it? To burn it with a cigarette? To spray paint your opinions on it? To burn it? Hey, not until I have a chance to unzip, here, and express my opinion, first. Now understand that as obnoxious as it may be, the legal right to do those things to the American flag actually protects our right to do it to the UN flag. Outlaw the one, and I guarantee the enemies of liberty will find a way to outlaw the other. Believe it or not, once a country has formally adopted their hideously misnamed "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" it becomes illegal to criticize the UN. So here's what I propose, a strategy I'll call "Burn Another Flag". Whenever you see or hear of an incident like the one you've pictured here, go find another flag, that of Mexico or Venezuela, or the UN and burn it (after you do other things to it) publicly. Make sure you take plenty of pictures and get them on the Internet. I guarantee that the "guerrilla theater" of burning the only flag in the world that stands for freedom (no matter how badly these days, or how inconsistently) will gradually disappear from our culture forever. Your old friend, L. Neil Smith
Among libertarians it is common for discussions about religion to include the phrase "Believe what you want, Just don't try to force me to believe the same." This is a commendable atttitude. Of course it would help if you actually knew what you believed in. According to a recent survey (see msnbc.com files for 28 September 2010.) most Americans are ignorant of what their faith teaches and what other faiths teach. This is dangerous. Any two bit punk can get away with claiming that whatever authoritarian utter nonsense they spout is Divinely mandated, that it is God's will that people murder said punk's enemies and enslave everyone else to the service of said punk. People will not know better than to believe him. It is use of this selective quotation of religious literature that Radical Islamists use to recruit the ignorant into their Jihad, why shouid Christians or others be exempt from falling for the same trick? If you don't know what other religions call for it is real easy to be swayed into accepting the most bigoted pronouncements against them. So if it is in your heart to follow a religion fine. But make sure what it is you believe in, make sure you at least are aware of what your neighbors of other faiths really believe in. Otheerewise you may lose your freedom, even your freedom to pray as you feel God expects from you. A.X. Perez
Dear Editor, I gather that some of the state supremacists who have read my recent essay on the topic of a sick economy have expressed doubt as to the substance of my complaints about a list of American citizens to be executed without trial, Americans torturing prisoners to death, and Americans and others held indefinitely with no recourse. So it seemed like it might be useful to offer a few links on these topics. If you don't mind indulging me a little bit, what follows is the product of fifteen minutes of cursory research. There are currently, for me, 3.1 million links to articles on "american tortured to death" on Google. Of these, approximately 356 found are current news stories at news.google. Let's go see! [LINK] Here's a 2005 story about Americans torturing people to death in contravention of the 8th amendment, violating their oath to defend and uphold it. "The documents released today include 44 autopsies and death reports as well as a summary of autopsy reports of individuals apprehended in Iraq and Afghanistan. The documents show that detainees died during or after interrogations by Navy Seals, Military Intelligence and ""OGA"" (Other Governmental Agency)—a term, according to the ACLU, that is commonly used to refer to the CIA." Since the nationality of every victim is not indicated, there is no reason to suppose that none of these people are American citizens. I suggest that Passive Profits spend some of her money to demand that the government reveal the identity and nationality of everyone that has ever been in custody, as well as their current condition and whereabouts. [LINK] Here is a 2009 story about prisoners tortured to death. "[An] investigation of two deaths at Bagram. Both detainees were determined to have been killed by pulmonary embolism caused as a result of standing chained in place, sleep depravation and dozens of beatings by guards and possibly interrogators. (Also reveals the use of torture at Gitmo and American-Afghani prisons in Kabul). "[An] investigation into the homicide or involuntary manslaughter of detainee Dilar Dababa by U.S. forces in 2003 in Iraq. "[An] investigation launched after allegations that an Iraqi prisoner was subjected to torture and abuse at 'The Disco' (located in the Special Operations Force Compound in Mosul Airfield, Mosul, Iraq). The abuse consisted of filling his jumpsuit with ice, then hosing him down and making him stand for long periods of time, sometimes in front of an air conditioner; forcing him to lay down and drink water until he gagged, vomited or choked, having his head banged against a hot steel plate while hooded and interrogated; being forced to do leg lifts with bags of ice placed on his ankles, and being kicked when he could not do more. "[An] investigation of allegations of torture and abuse that took place in 2003 at Abu Ghraib. "[And an] investigation that established probable cause to believe that U.S. forces committed homicide in 2003 when they participated in the binding of detainee Abed Mowhoush in a sleeping bag during an interrogation, causing him to die of asphyxiation." [LINK] Here's another 2005 story on the topic. "Since August 2002, nearly 100 detainees have died while in the hands of U.S. officials in the global "war on terror." According to the U.S. military's own classifications, 34 of these cases are suspected or confirmed homicides; Human Rights First has identified another 11 in which the facts suggest death as a result of physical abuse or harsh conditions of detention. In close to half the deaths Human Rights First surveyed, the cause of death remains officially undetermined or unannounced. Overall, eight people in U.S. custody were tortured to death. Despite these numbers, four years since the first known death in U.S. custody, only 12 detainee deaths have resulted in punishment of any kind for any U.S. official. Of the 34 homicide cases so far identified by the military, investigators recommended criminal charges in fewer than two thirds, and charges were actually brought (based on decisions made by command) in less than half. While the CIA has been implicated in several deaths, not one CIA agent has faced a criminal charge. Crucially, among the worst cases in this list— those of detainees tortured to death—only half have resulted in punishment; the steepest sentence for anyone involved in a torture-related death: five months in jail." [LINK] Glenn Greenwald writing in 2009: "The interrogation and detention regime implemented by the U.S. resulted in the deaths of over 100 detainees in U.S. custody—at least. While some of those deaths were the result of "rogue" interrogators and agents, many were caused by the methods authorized at the highest levels of the Bush White House, including extreme stress positions, hypothermia, sleep deprivation and others. Aside from the fact that they cause immense pain, that's one reason we've always considered those tactics to be "torture" when used by others —because they inflict serious harm, and can even kill people. Those arguing against investigations and prosecutions—that we Look to the Future, not the Past—are thus literally advocating that numerous people get away with murder." [LINK] Here is Obama on his enemies list. "What a difference two years makes. In January, the Washington Post reported that the Joint Special Operations Command of the U.S. military maintains a list of targets for assassination (all of whom are suspected of direct involvement in terrorism) that includes American citizens. In April, The New York Times confirmed the existence of the hit list. "Barack Obama has. In doing so, he has become the first American president to order the extrajudicial assassination of one of our own citizens. "Last week, the Obama administration filed a brief in federal court arguing that the parents of Anwar al-Aulaqi, an American-born cleric believed to be living in Yemen and suspected of providing support for the failed Times Square bombing, cannot challenge their son's placement on the assassination list. Allowing any such challenge to go to court, they argued, would reveal state secrets." [LINK] extraordinary rendition Whee! [LINK] "An American who was captured by Kenyan forces in January 2007 filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington on Tuesday, arguing that FBI agents allegedly involved in his interrogation and transfer to other countries violated his constitutional rights. "The suit, brought on behalf of Amir Meshal by the American Civil Liberties Union, is the first by a U.S. citizen seeking damages for the practice of "rendition," the extrajudicial transfer of terrorist suspects between countries. "Meshal, who is now back in his home state of New Jersey, has never been charged with a crime." [LINK] "During the next four months, Meshal says, he was detained and interrogated in three different African countries without charge, denied the right to speak to a lawyer or family member, and refused the right to even appear before a judicial officer. Although a lifelong U.S. citizen with two U.S. citizen parents, Meshal was repeatedly threatened with torture, rendition to another country where he would be tortured, and forced disappearance. And he believes that U.S. officials, who interrogated him more than 30 times during this process, directed his arrest and treatment. "Those claims are the subject of a new lawsuit being filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington. Although it's not the first lawsuit against U.S. officials seeking damages for torture and other mistreatment abroad, Meshal is only the second U.S. citizen to sue for U.S.-sponsored torture. That and a few other distinctive facts in this case may give him some advantages over those that have been dismissed." Regards, Jim Davidson
Extended Childhood Recently the founder of Facebook was described as "only a kid of 26." Admittedly to a 56 year old man, 26 is a kid. Obamacare extends to 26 the age that insurance companies must allow parents to keep their kids on their health insurance, Given the reality of modern education this appears reasonable. At 26 my daughter had barely completed med school (her graduation ceremony was on her 27th birthday, paternal brag.) for example. However, we are not talking about completing extended education and training for specialized jobs. We are talking about holding people in a state of extended childhood. I was paying a mortgage and my wife was pregnant with our second child when I was 26 (Laurie was born a couple of months after my 27th birthday). Most people reading this were dealing with similar and/or greater responsibility at the same age or younger. In most civilian jobs a person can be an established professional before 26. While I am not a veteran, I know a person can enroll in the military and complete a hitch, to include time in the reserve, by the age of 26 or younger. Ensigns and Second Lieutenants graduate the Academies at somewhere between 21 and 23. You can run for Congress at 25, if you can hold your nose long enough. Regardless of a libertarian distaste for legal restrictions, I have to point out that statists recognize ages from about 16 (to work without special permission) to 21 to qualify as an adult for the purpose of exercising all rights and being bound by responsibilities. For example, 18 is old enough to vote or buy a long gun. Twenty one is the legal drinking age in almost all states and to buy a handgun or Title II weapons where legal. With all this there is a push to perceive people 26 and under and actually more like 30 and under as incompetent minors and restrict them to that role in society. Again, we are not talking about people in specialized professions which require extended education and apprenticeships. We are talking about young people generally functioning as children until the age of between 25 and 30. Maybe with people living longer and the need for more education this makes a little sense. However, consider that one quality of domestic dogs and cats is that they live in a state of extended adolescence. Are we creating the cultural circumstances that protect and encourage the genes to domesticate humans? A.X. Perez
Space Frontier Foundation for NASA Dear Editor, I see where the evil nationalist socialists at the Space Frontier Foundation have lobbied for a $19 billion budget for NASA, so Boeing can at last build a big manned space system to monopolise commercial passenger space travel. It seems there is no end to perfidy. Regards, Jim Davidson
Sick green-psycho-stars want to kill your children I saw this video at the blog of Jo Nova, an Australian science writer/speaker. I simply cannot imagine the mindset of someone who would think this is funny. The idea that blowing up people, or, worse yet, the children of people who disagree with your policy goals should be abhorrent to all decent people. I guess that, in some we-are-all-part-of-Gaia-and-hurting-Gaia-hurts-us-all way, these 10:10 folks justify this kind of thought in their own minds. My opinion is that this does not pass muster as a "joke" or anything resembling humor, except for those who got their jollies in elementary school by pulling the wings off of flies and pushing around the weird-looking kids. Sick green-psycho-stars want to kill your children What's even more sad is that I know a (very) few people who would make an attempt to defend this. I will be even more careful around such in the future. Chris Claypoole
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