The Case of the Missing Terrorists
Paul Craig Roberts at The Freedom School - if America were really threatened by terrorists, there would be lots of dead terrorist-hunters by now. Since Jose Rodriguez, John Yoo, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, William Kristol, Max Boot, Condi Rice, Colin Powell, and Dick Cheney are all still breathing, Mr. Roberts concludes that the terrorist threat is a hoax. He's probably right.
The “War on Terror” is a hoax, one that has been successfully used to destroy the US Constitution and to complete the transformation of law from a shield of the people into a weapon in the hands of the state. By destroying habeas corpus, due process, and the presumption of innocence, the “War on Terror” has destroyed our security.
To Hell With Public Schools
L. Neil Smith at The Libertarian Enterprise - Old idea, but good to see a new statement of it. I don't remember if it was Neil or Vin Suprynowicz who originated the idea in the last paragraph quoted below.
It is time to end the public schools.
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While we're here, exactly what's wrong with bringing an AK-47 to school? Within living memory, kids used to bring their rifles so they could hunt rabbits on the way home. (I'm not sure my dad ever did this, himself, as a little kid in Walden, Colorado, but there's a photo around here somewhere showing him cuddling his "kitty"—a bobcat with enormous tufts on its ears.) In crumbling concrete jungles like "progressives" have made of, say, Detroit or the South Bronx, it might even be necessary for survival. Last time I looked there wasn't any qualifying age on the Bill of Rights, and that includes the Second Amendment.
There's an extremely good reason for that. The Bill of Rights isn't about us, it's about them. It isn't a list of things we're permitted to do, it's a list of things they aren't allowed even to consider.
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Be that as it may, it is time—and past time—to put these public torture and indoctrination centers out of our misery. It is time to let the kids go home, empty the criminals out of the buildings and raze them to the ground, so that not one stone is left standing on another, and to sow salt on the ruins. And if you can tell me where that idea comes from you were clearly not educated in the public schools.
Stacey Litz
I've been following the Stacy Litz debacle. Ms. Litz is a liberty activist who was entrapped and arrested for drugs, and who turned informant in an attempt to keep herself out of jail. Very sad tale, but I'm not posting to talk about her case in particular.
I've become accustomed to the drug war, after years of following it. The war on some drugs is the "War on Freedom" about which I was talking when I started this blog over ten years ago. I still want to crucify all the narcs, and their congressional overlords, every time I read about them destroying someone's life, for harming nobody. And I mean literal crucifixion: scourge first, as graphically portrayed in Mel Gibson's movie (Mark 15:15 describes that 40 minutes of torture as "when he had scourged him"), build a cross, tie the narc to it, drive large nails through its wrists and ankles, plant it in a hole, and watch it writhe in agony and die of thirst over three days. Maybe even give it water to prolong the torture.
I'm not proud of that fantasy, but there it is.
The Jones Plantation
Larken Rose at YouTube - great 12-minute video making a point that words proclaiming your freedom are not the same as freedom. Your chains? Break them.
Mongoose Rocks!
A few weeks ago, I told you about my spare-time project, jsMaze. Well, I'm still working on it. It now has a "War" mode, with bullet images that spin away and towards you, sounds, and I just finished a scrolling div for the chat. Now I'm focusing on user accounts, so that users can upload their player images, create mazes, and add wall images to those mazes. I had prototyped the account creation and login code in Amazon's SimpleDB and in Redis. Both worked, but were somewhat of a pain. This morning, I converted that code to Mongoose, a MongoDB object modeling tool. Yow! The new code is clear and simple. Mongoose, FTW!
Waking Up to the Drones
Physicians Mobilize for Reform Alternative to AMA-backed ObamaCare
Rick Amato at Breitbart - on the useless expense of the AMA's medical "coding" monopoly, and what some doctors are going to do about it in San Diego on May 5-6. [claire]
Dr. Jane Orient, the Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons explains why it is that doctors now feel the need to be proactive,
“Physicians can't wait around for Congress to 'fix' the damage politicians have done to American medicine. At least 40% of the money poured into the system buys no actual care for patients but is bled off by the third-party payment system. Patients and physicians must take back control. Most medical transactions have no need of a bureaucrat overseer, either from government or the managed-care system.”
President Obama has tried to sell the American public on the merits of his plan based upon the fact that it has been endorsed by the AMA (American Medical Association). But as Dr. Dorin tells me,
“What people don’t realize and what Obama didn’t say is that the AMA only represents about 15% of practicing physicians in America. In other words 85% of the doctor’s were shut out of the discussion. Our blueprint will include the 85%.”
A Sweet Lesson on Patience
A NYC Taxi driver wrote:
I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.
By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.
There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard
box filled with photos and glassware.
'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.
She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.'
'Oh, you're such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive
through downtown?'
'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly..
'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice.
I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued in a soft voice..'The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.
'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.
We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired.Let's go now'.
We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.
Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move.
They must have been expecting her.
I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.
'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse.
'Nothing,' I said
'You have to make a living,' she answered.
'There are other passengers,' I responded.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug.She held onto me tightly.
'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.'
I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut.It was the sound of the closing of a life..
I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day,I could hardly talk.What if that woman had gotten an angry driver,or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.
But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.
We Need To Drastically Simplify Payments Online
Thomas Baekdal - great idea for simplifying online payments, while increasing security. The only thing he missed was a unique symbol from the payment processor that you choose and that allows you to recognize that you're really seeing the payment processor's embedded web site, and not a forgery.
I'm definitely going to investigate doing something like this for Truledger.
If I wanted America to fail
FreeMarketAmerica at YouTube - good, if slightly overplayed, video on how the enviro-whackos would do exactly what they've done if their intention were to destroy America.
