The Militant Libertarian

I'm pissed off and I'm a libertarian. What else you wanna know?

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Socialism Illustrated


From: http://marinalee.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/socialism-illustrated/

But guess what! America is actually headed away from that now. Obama has realized that stealing people’s money isn’t going to help the economy, and is actually now deciding to back down on his campaign promises. I’m so glad he lied to us.

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Surprise: Cops Who Get Tasered Really Don't Like It

This report from the Las Vegas Sun about their police department's experience with tasers is fascinating. (Too bad the Brits didn't read it before deciding to arm their entire police force with these torture devices.) One of the most interesting thing about it is that nearly all the information police receive is from the Taser company itself.

Several cops got on their knees on a rubber gym mat. Kneeling in a line, they linked arms, interlaced hands, and looked up. All they knew of what comes next is this: It's going to smart.

This was called the "daisy chain." It was part of the Metro Police Taser training program, the alternative to hitting a single individual with thousands of volts from the weapon. It was the option officer Lisa Peterson chose, a decision she regrets.

The officers were at a training seminar in November 2003 to learn how to use the newest weapon on their belts, a device the manufacturer claimed would incapacitate a person but not do permanent harm. You can't really comprehend the Taser, students were told, until you're Tasered.

So an instructor attached alligator clips to each end of the daisy chain. Two officers became electrical bookends, strung at the shoulder by wires feeding back into a Taser gun. Pull the trigger and the daisy chain shudders, seizes and pitches forward, the pile of police officers becoming a portrait of Taser's selling point: neuromuscular incapacitation.

In the middle of the chain, hands locked at her sides, Peterson had only her face to absorb the impact. She fell hard on her neck and fast into the rabbit hole - traumatic internal disc disruption, steroid injections, surgical reconstruction, temporomandibular derangement, persistent dizziness, cognitive defects, numbness, vertigo.

Officer Peterson sued Taser International Inc.

So did two other Metro cops who were seriously injured after being shocked with Tasers during other training sessions in 2003. In their lawsuits they say Taser failed to adequately warn the police department of the potential for injury and minimized the risks of being shocked, which officers had been assured was not only safe but advisable.

[...]

Metro's initial approach to Taser instruction can be summed up like this: Almost everything the police knew about Tasers, and taught officers about Tasers, they learned from Taser.

[...]

Today, Taser warns that the device can cause burns. Moreover, the company acknowledges these burns can become infected. It warns that people who are shocked by Tasers can suffer bone fractures, hernias, ruptures and dislocations. Today, Taser suggests students be Tasered while lying facedown on the floor, eliminating falling hazards and stray Taser probes to the eye.


And yet, police use these things indiscriminately.

And nobody seems to think there's anything wrong with the police inflicting horrible pain on people on the thinnest of pretexts. As long as there's no permanent damage, there's no harm in it. Heck, even if there is permanent damage, it's the victim's fault for failing to be properly cooperative --- or agreeing to do it as part of their job.

You can see why waterboarding is now considered perfectly acceptable. The authorities only use it when they believe they need to (and ok, sometimes just because they're in a bad mood) and it doesn't leave any permanent damage either. No harm no foul. What's the problem?

From: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/108404/surprise%3A_cops_who_get_tasered_really_don%27t_like_it/v


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Friday, November 28, 2008

People of Lakota Launch Private Bank for Only Silver and Gold Currencies

In a stunning development, the Free & Independent People of Lakota announced today the introduction of the world’s first non-reserve, non-fractional bank that accepts only silver and gold currencies for deposit.

“We invite people of any creed, faith or heritage to unite in an effort to reclaim control of wealth. It is our hope that other tribal nations and American citizens recognize the importance of silver and gold as currency and decide to mirror our system of honest trade.” Mani, also known as Duane Martin Sr, is a member of the delegation that declared Lakota independence on December 17th, 2007.

For more information, visit the Free Lakota Bank website at http://press.freelakotabank.com

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I’m Shocked, Shocked To Discover Land Use Going On Here

From: http://www.lewrockwell.com/suprynowicz/suprynowicz108.html
by Vin Suprynowicz

Once you’ve passed through the entrance gate to one of America’s magnificent national parks or monuments, what do you see?

Nothin’.

In most cases, mile upon mile of nothin’.

The sweeping grandeur of the Grand Canyon is not visible from any common entrance point to the national park of that name. Expect to drive several miles before you see the first signs directing you to various hotels and overlooks. (Entering from the north, LOTS of miles.)

Florida’s Everglades area the same way. Yes, the historic wetlands have been shrunken by unwise water projects further north, but many a child has gazed out upon the sweep of mostly dry grasslands after passing the “now entering” sign, asking, “Where’s the swamp? Where’s the gators?”

The traveler does not come upon these scenic wonders immediately, because those who planned these vast impoundments understood the concept of a “buffer zone.” With few exceptions, the scenic vistas are surrounded by five to 10 miles – or more – of empty space. This was done so that those enjoying the scenery would not have to gaze upon carnivals and trailer parks and used car graveyards teetering at the edge of Bryce Canyon or Yosemite Falls.

Outside the parks and monuments, the federal government may control even vaster acreage. But those lands are turned over to the U.S. Bureau of land Management, which has a different mission, seeing that those less sensitive lands are used in ways that benefit the nation.

Yet listen now to the green extremists, complaining that mining or tree-cutting or grazing is “allowed, only one valley away” or “once ridge line away” from a national park or monument.

On Nov. 4, the BLM announced that on Dec. 19 they will auction off the rights to drill for oil or gas on more than 50,000 acres of BLM land close to or adjoining three national parks in Utah: Arches, Dinosaur, and Canyonlands.

“This is a fire sale,” shrills Stephen Bloch, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, “the Bush administration’s last great gift to the oil and gas industry.”

“We find it shocking and disturbing,” says Cordell Troy, chief National Park Service administrator in Utah. “That’s 40 tracts within four miles of these parks.”

Read it again. Four miles outside the parks’ existing buffer zones.

Read the rest: http://www.lewrockwell.com/suprynowicz/suprynowicz108.html

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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all.
May we all be thankful for what we have, for we may not always have it,
and thankful for what we might receive, for we might not receive it.


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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Christianity and War

Laurence Vance speaks at the Future of Freedom Foundation about Christianity and war (six parts):






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After 7 Years, Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo Kidnap Victims

by Andy Worthington

On Thursday, in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, delivered a major blow to the outgoing administration’s “war on terror” detention policies by ordering the immediate release of five Algerian-born Bosnian prisoners at Guantánamo, after concluding that the government had provided no credible evidence that, as was alleged, the men intended to travel to Afghanistan to take up arms against U.S. forces.

The case of the Bosnian Algerians has long been one of the more surreal episodes in Guantánamo’s long and undistinguished history of wanton cruelty and intelligence failures.

Read the rest here:

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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Look! There’s Another Wolf! No, I Just Saw Him, Behind That Tree!

by Vin Suprynowicz

Even as Detroit’s Big Three automakers teeter on the brink of collapse – General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are seeking $25 billion from the government to get them through the worst sales slump in 25 years, with GM particularly short on cash and reporting an inability to borrow more – United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger announced on Nov. 15 his workers will not make any more concessions.

“The focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract,” Gettelfinger told reporters on a conference call, noting the labor costs now make up 8 percent to 10 percent of the cost of a vehicle.

Other number-crunchers report that for the Big Three, contractual long-term health care obligations, alone, add nearly $5,000 to the cost of each new vehicle.

Mr. Gettelfinger called on Congress to act quickly on a bailout for the industry, saying action is necessary before President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.

He said if one automaker were to file for bankruptcy, the others could follow. The union chief said the automakers would then find it difficult to restructure under bankruptcy laws and instead could end up out of business. “Would you buy a car from a bankrupt automaker?” he asked.

Well, did American commuters buy tickets on the famously “bankrupt New Haven Railroad,” or more recently on airlines which were reorganizing under bankruptcy protection? Yes they did.

Why this bum’s rush for a congressional “bailout,” really? Why this demonizing of the well-established option of bankruptcy protection, when this is precisely the circumstance for which our bankruptcy laws – the envy of the world’s economies – were designed?

If the current bank bailout is a model, the word “bailout” has essentially now come to mean (quite literally, to the denizens of Washington) “the government will purchase shares of your stock as a way to bolster your balance sheets.”

That’s the form of economic central planning made popular by Mussolini and Hitler. Is that really where we want to head?

What was the last thing Congress had to do “urgently – no time to waste”? Oh yeah, they had to hand Shifty Paulson $700 billion, right away before the election, to buy all those “poisoned mortgage-based securities” and get them off the balance sheets of his friends the investment bankers. Remember?

Had to do it right away, remember? Otherwise the economy would collapse. That was a month ago. How many “poisoned assets” has the Treasury Secretary now bought? None. Changed his mind.

But look! There’s another wolf! No, I just saw him, behind that tree! You’ve got to believe me!

The best thing Congress could do to “bail out” Detroit – at no financial cost to taxpayers, and at a considerable benefit in highway safety – would be to repeal all “fleet fuel economy” standards (the imposition of which exceeds Washington’s constitutional powers, anyway), allowing auto makers to build exclusively the safer, more attractive, more solid cars and trucks U.S. consumers want, without the artificially imposed mandate to crank out low-powered, easily-crushed little wind-up toys on which the Big Three lose money on each unit.

But that’s never going to happen if Washington becomes MORE directly involved in auto plant management, rather than less.

There are plenty of U.S. auto plants with addresses considerably south of Detroit that still manage to turn out fine cars at a profit, because they pay only about $48 per hour in wages and benefits to their mostly non-union workers (hardly a starvation wage), as opposed to a number approaching $75 in Detroit.

For More: http://www.lewrockwell.com/suprynowicz/suprynowicz106.html

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THE CHILD RETURNED FROM HIS TRAVELS

THE CHILD RETURNED FROM HIS TRAVELS - AND FINAL BATTLE WAS JOINED

An epic pilgrimage and miraculous signs were not enough to convince all doubters of the anointed one, who would soon be forced to face his demons


BY GERARD BAKER

‘He ventured forth’: read the first chapter

Despite the great wonders he had worked, the peace he had poured on the troubled waters, and the signs he had performed in Babylon and Jerusalem, there were some, yea even among his own countrymen, who refused to believe that he was the Anointed One.

Even when he joined hands with the Great Preacher Joseph of Biden, called the Blowhard, a wise man of many, many words, who had served in the Senate of the People for more than five generations, his enemies still strove to undo him.

In the summer, he travelled with his new friend Joseph to the Mile High City to speak to his followers. Four score thousand came to hear the word and their hearts were filled with joy and their spirits were lifted by his voice.

But despite the multitudes, there were still some among the Pharisees who secretly despised him. The followers of Queen Hillary muttered among themselves that he had defiled them with his disrespect. The people began to look for another leader.

And lo, in the west there appeared a rival, John, the Son of Cain. Now McCain was a great warrior. He was rich in wisdom and great of age, being, it was said, 936 years old. He had suffered sorely many years before in a war against the Asians. Eight years earlier he had bravely challenged the Evil Pharaoh Bush, but had been castrated by Bush’s feared henchman, Rove. He was straight of talk and, mounted on his trusty steed, a maverick, he began to find followers.

Being advanced in years, McCain needed a mate, a loyal follower who would succeed him when the time came for him to return to the Lord.

He had first considered Joe the Lieber-Man, but he was not of the same tribe as himself, but of the tribe of the Donkey. The tribesmen of the Elephant forbade him to make common cause with this renegade and so McCain sent his men far and wide to find another mate.

And they found him a woman, Sarah, from the North Country. She had dwelled long among the nomads of Wasilla and the North Slope. She was fair of face but unknown throughout the whole land, except among the Moose and the Caribou, who had grown to fear her. At first the scribes scoffed at Sarah. They mocked the way she spake and the vast family she had borne – her children were more numerous than the grains of sand in the desert or the stars in the sky.

But the people followed her and saw that she was good. Great crowds went out to meet her when she travelled with John. The word began to spread among the men of Gallup and Ipsos and Zog-Bee that they, and not the Child, might be the Chosen Ones.

And the Lord saw all this and fell into a righteous wrath at the people’s blasphemy. Did I not lead you out of slavery? he cried. Have I not shown you that it is the Child who is to save you from your exile in the House of Bush?

And he resolved to send down a great plague among the people of the Promised Land so they would understand their error.

The plague began in the valley of the subprime, smiting houses that had been purchased with money lent at unusually low interest rates, made possible by the foolish procurator Greenspan. The plague spread quickly across the land; and lenders and borrowers alike were laid low.

And it came to pass that a group of brothers, Lehman by name, an old and revered family, fell upon hard times because of the plague and they resolved to take themselves off to the Treasury. The Lehman brothers journeyed to the Treasury and fell on their knees and begged for help, even offering up in penance their asses. But the Treasury refused to heed their pleas, sent them away and told them to take their sorry asses with them. And with that, terrible signs appeared in the sky: Overnight Libor was elevated before the money changers’ eyes. Spreads on commercial paper widened as though in an earthquake, and all over the world the rivers of credit ran dry.

In great distress the people looked to McCain for help but he was confounded and had no answer to their pleas except for assurances that their fundamentals were sound, which the people did not want to hear.

All along, the Child smiled warmly and said little but promised salvation, and the people listened.
And it was about this time too that Sarah from the North Country was transformed. She began speaking in tongues. Sitting down with the Scribes of the media she was asked questions but replied in the language of Gobble-de-Gook and the people said among themselves: “What on earth is she talking about?” She no longer wore her simple sackcloth and parkas but appeared before the crowds in the finest robes from the stalls of Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

The plague quickly smote the enemies of the Child and sowed confusion among the people. The House of McCain began to spring leaks and not even the handiwork of the great Joe the Plumber could make it whole.

And so the final battle was joined and the Child prevailed easily, in fulfilment of the Scriptures. From the mountains of the west to the great plains, to the piedmont and to the orange groves of the Gulf, a great wave lifted him up and propelled him to the threshold of the Executive Mansion. Only the poor, bitter people of Appalachia, clinging to their guns and their faith, refused to listen to his word.
At last, when the scale of his great victory became clear, the rulers of all the world fell to their knees in unison and praised God, singing.

“Obama in The Highest”.

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Tax Revolt Convoy

http://blog.jimostrowski.com/?p=2033

At 6am on December 3rd, a tax revolt convoy will leave from Buffalo and travel to Albany for a rally on the Capitol steps to urge an end to corporate welfare and outright repeal of the state gas tax of 32.4 cents per gallon.

Read the rest and watch an explanatory video here: http://blog.jimostrowski.com/?p=2033

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Jefferson Quotes

Here's some quotes that were sent to me, all things written by Thomas Jefferson. Most are eerily prophetic:
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson


No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

and
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
Thomas Jefferson

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Florida Boy Arrested For Farting

12-year-old charged after deliberately "breaking wind" in class

NOVEMBER 21--A 12-year-old Florida student was arrested earlier this month after he "deliberately passed gas to disrupt the class," according to police. The child, who was also accused of shutting off the computers of classmates at Stuart's Spectrum Jr./Sr. High School, was busted November 4 for disruption of a school function. A Martin County Sheriff's Office report, a copy of which you'll find [at this link], notes that the 4' 11" offender admitted that he "continually disrupted his classroom environment by breaking wind and shutting off several computers." The boy, whose name was redacted from the police report released today, was turned over to his mother following the arrest. The young perp turned 13 on November 15.

Mili-Lib Note: I'm sure he'll be tried as an adult and given some kind of felony conviction for it too. This is what happens when you let a bunch of mambies who can't enforce any discipline run the publik skewls. Pranks become felonies.

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Keynesian Commies

From: Ilana Mercer http://barelyablog.com/?p=2290

The American economy is being socialized. The government has nationalized the mortgage market and a good chunk of the investment banks. No principled argument is offered against the government acquiring a share of the auto industry. The debate hinges only on whether the government’s growing “investment” portfolio will solve the “problem” or not.

Government intervention in the economy invariably results in a complete takeover. Consequently, once it was agreed that this one industry, GM, was too vital to fail, the government went on to specify the conditions of the baleful bailout. The political ponces—the people who do nothing but sap the productive economy—want to see a viable business plan, no less.

The public and the experts think nothing of questioning the State’s financial savvy–its ability to “plan” a viable industry. Where is the money coming from—this is never asked. The soundness of borrowing or printing funny money out of thin air to implement the grand plans—this is never doubted. (Except by Ron Paul.)

Public works and big-time spending by government are planned as ways to get the economy going. Even Lou Dobbs, The Independent, fails to question Paul Krugman, the Keynesian commie, as to why more credit expansion and spending is key to recovery.

Note: Every economist touting the Keynesian twaddle of spending ourselves out of the recession is speaking the language of politics, not economics. The laws of economics are natural, immutable laws. Just as the average Joe and Jane can’t spend themselves out of bankruptcy—try suggesting that to your banker, won’t you?—neither can the government.

With its capacity to inflate the economy with worthless fiat money, all the state does is pacify some politically powerful debtor sectors, to the detriment of politically powerless creditor sectors and other solvent citizens. We hope: The difference between Generic Joe’s insolvency and the government’s is that the first will not bring down the entire country.

A good guide to the perplexed is Mises.org’s “Bail Out Reader.”

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