End the War on Freedom

Voting is "merely a labor-saving device for ascertaining on which side force lies and bowing to the inevitable... It is neither more nor less than a paper representative of the bayonet, the bully, and the bullet." -- Benjamin R. Tucker

From The Federalist:

"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost." -- Rev. Billy Graham

From lrtdiscuss:

"A drug is neither moral nor immoral - it's a chemical compound. The compound itself is not a menace to society until a human being treats it as if consumption bestowed a temporary license to act like an asshole." -- Frank Zappa

From Freedom Headquarters Shop:

# Sunni Maravillosa is starting a blog. Far out!

If you've been by in the last couple of days, you can see that I'm doing some redesigning, in order to make the entire site's look more consistent with my forthcoming blog. I've almost got the blog looking presentable -- which is not to say complete (I've a huge list of links to sort out in the blogroll). With any luck it'll go live today! [10/4] Check back ... and be prepared for a few surprises.

# Lester Haines at The Register - SpaceShipOne claims X-Prize - this was the first story I found via Google after 11:30 yesterday. Yesterday's flight was piloted by Brian Binnie, not Mike Melvill, who piloted last week's flight. Jerry Pournelle was there and has posted story and pictures. The image below was Google's commentary on the flight: [google]

# wasteyourvote.com - Waste Your Vote - what could happen if all the people who don't vote and all the people who vote R or D were to choose a third party. We'd have real elections in which people debated real issues. If you vote, help make it happen by choosing a party other than the two major ones. If you're worried about "wasting" your vote, find a republican/democrat if you're a democrat/republican, and both of you switch. [claire]

# Gun Owners of America - House 9/11 Bill Will Set Up A Database On All Americans, Create National ID Card - HR 10, "To provide for reform of the intelligence community, terrorism prevention and prosecution, border security, and international cooperation and coordination, and for other purposes," is the newest nazi proposal from the goons in d.c. 657K of text. That's over 100 pages of freedom-robbing excrement. It's currently in 13 House committees each with "an extension for further consideration ending not later than Oct. 5, 2004." Sponsored by Dennis Hastert. 23 cosponsors. I'm making assumptions in my opinion of this bill. I haven't read it yet. And probably won't until the "amendment in the nature of a substitute" mentioned on the bill's Summary & Status page is available. [militant]

(1) The government database is created by section 2173 of HR 10, a bill introduced by House Speaker Dennis Hastert. It would allow airline passengers to be screened against lists containing "all appropriate records." What would be "appropriate" would be within the exclusive discretion of the bureaucrats, but could include medical records, confidential financial records, library records, and gun records.

(2) The driver's license standards are in section 3052. They would allow the federal government to set standards as high as desired to determine who may or may not obtain a driver's license. Please note that you need a driver's license (or similarly regulated state-issued photo ID) to purchase a gun from a dealer. But, increasingly, you also need it to travel on any form of transportation (airplane, bus, train, car), to get a job, to open a checking account, to cash a check, to check into a hotel, to rent a car, or to purchase cigarettes or alcohol. If the federal government can set standards so high as to deny you a driver's license or photo ID, it has effectively turned you into a non-person.

(3) Section 2142 would allow the U.S. attorney general to promulgate any regulations he desires concerning (a) what employers must submit the names and fingerprints of all employment applicants to the FBI, (b) what standards the government will use in approving or disapproving the employment applicants, and (c) whether or not the government's "disapproval" will prevent the applicant from being hired.

There is nothing in section 2142 which would prohibit an anti-gun attorney general from (a) requiring the resumes and fingerprints of every employment applicant in the country, (b) disapproving them on the basis of gun ownership or, for that matter, any factor he viewed as not being politically correct, and (c) prohibiting any employer from hiring an applicant thus blacklisted.