End the War on Freedom

National Park Service Statue Of Liberty National Monument - "DUE TO THE TRAGIC EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 11TH, THE STATUE OF LIBERTY AND ELLIS ISLAND WILL BE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE." Brian says: [brianf]

Sadly, this may also be true of the statutes of liberty.

Pistolsmith.com has lots of useful looking forums.

Gwen Shaffer at Philadelphia citipaper.net - Novel Security Measures - United Airlines did not allow Neil Godfrey to board a flight from Philadelphia to Phoenix, twice. Why? The first time he attempted to fly, he was carrying a book with a picture of dynamite on the cover. Welcome to the Amerikan security state. [politech]

Red Thomas at Sierra Times - Words of Wisdom About Gas, Germs, and Nukes - a retired military weapons, munitions, and training expert gives practical advice on responding to chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. [sierra]

Dragon's Fury is a series of books by Jeff Head about the coming Third World War. The first volume, Breath of Fire is available now from this web page. He plans to release the other four in April and October of 2002 and 2003. There are some excerpts available. You can buy Breath of Fire as an EBook for $7.99, an illustrated EBook for $9.99, or as a trade paperback for $20 (including shipping). I got the illustrated EBook. It is in HTML form, packaged up as a Windows executable by the Activ E-Book compiler. Mac and Linux users are SOL. It's nice packaging except for one thing, there's no "Next chapter" link. You have to go back to the contents page. I'm up to chapter 4, fully engrossed.

Fox News - House Clears Last Hurdle on Anti-Terror Legislation - A House/Senate committee agreed Wednesday on a compromise version of the USA Act. Our liberties will be signed away by GW soon, possibly next week. [market]

Ron Paul - Paul's Medical Privacy and Prescription Drug Measures Passed by Congress - Dr. Paul delayed implementation of the medical I.D. for another year by adding an amendment to the appropriations bill that would have otherwise funded its implementation. Thank you, Dr. Paul! The Liberty Committee is now recommending that you ask your representative to support H.R.2615, Dr. Paul's "Patient Privacy Act of 2001", which would permanently get rid of the idea of a federal medical ID.

JPFO - Unpopular Speech - JPFO has brought back the article by Moshe Feiglen that they pulled the day after releasing it. And a lot more. Folks reminded them that an organization that pushes the Bill of Rights shouldn't be afraid of the first amendment. It protects unpopular speech, too. Especially. Bravo, JPFO! [jpfo]

Vin Suprynowicz - Time to lead by example - part of The Libertarian series. A reminder to keep your cool in the midst of the latest low-grade terrorism.

So, what does our House of Representatives do while advising the common American to buck up, stand tall, show a stiff upper lip and continue heir daily tasks undaunted? They squawk in terror at news that a few dozen mailroom employees have apparently been exposed to anthrax spores from a single envelope, gather up their briefcases, throw their interns over their shoulders, and head for the hills, giving more than 5,000 employees a two-day paid holiday while their building is disinfected.

Did I mention that the mailroom where the spores were discovered was the Senate mailroom, and that the Senate remains in session, while the lower house gallops out of town like Ichabod Crane, or the damsels with their parasols careening back across the Potomac after First Bull Run?

Robert Vroman at anti-state.com - Run Red Lights - sometimes, running a red light makes perfect sense. Mr. Vroman obviously never lived in Germany. I tell this story often, but I don't think I've told it here. I lived in Germany for 6 months, from April to November of 1983. On my way home, I visited for about five days with some fellow meditators in Munich. One night I was walking down the sidewalk when I came to a red light at an intersection. There were no cars or other pedestrians in sight. Still, I waited for the light to change before walking across the road. I would never have done this in America, but in Germany, that was the correct thing to do. Maybe there's hope for us after all. America is not Germany. Not even close. [anti-state]

I'm not talking about zipping through stale yellows or laying on the horn from half a block away and slugging down a flask of Smirnoff as you barrel in front of screeching school busses. Treat the red as a Stop/Yield combination, in which you do not take the benefit of the doubt if visibility is limited. In other words: act rationally.

Zero Politics - Gun Lunacy from Jim Scanlon's Reader - Damien Robinson, free safety for the New York Jets, was arrested at Giant's stadium for having an "assault rifle" in his vehicle, a Bushmaster .223, three 30-round magazines, and two boxes of ammo. If convicted, he could go to prison for five years. My opinion: if Mr. Robinson is imprisoned, everyone involved in that imprisonment should be hanged for treason. [zero]

Brad King at Wired - Apple's New Toy: Portable Music - On Tuesday, Apple will introduce the iPod, a portable digital music player. Whoop-de-doo. [newsforge]