End the War on Freedom

I Am So Glad

Start seeing everything as God,
But keep it a secret.

Become like a man who Awestruck
And Nourished

Listening to a Golden Nightingale
Sing in a beautiful foreign language
While God invisibly nests
Upon its tongue.

Hafiz,
Who can you tell in this world
That when a dog runs up to you
Wagging its ecstatic tail,
You lean down and whisper in its ear,

"Beloved,
I am so glad You are happy to see me.

Beloved,
I am so glad,
So very glad You have come."

(I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)

From smith2004:

Adam and Eve pointed the middle-finger of freedom at Ultimate Authority. Authoritarians have trouble seeing that as a good thing. -- Ken L. Holder

From kaba:

I am a retired policeman and firearms instructor, and I believe in gun control. Responsible gun owners should be able to hit where they are aiming. -- Donald E. Clem

My copy of Jeff Snyder's Nation of Cowards arrived. Yay! The two essays I've read so far were stellar.

DrugSense FOCUS Alert - The DEA and Hemp Hysteria - a request to write a letter to the editor of Time magazine about their article entitled "This Bud's Not for You" in which they skewer the d.e.a. for attempting to criminalize the sale and ingestion of foodstuffs containing hemp. I wrote the following letter:

Cannabis, aka marijuana, has never caused a death in recorded history. It an effective treatment for sufferers of glaucoma, some kinds of pain, and for anyone who takes nausea-inducing drugs, e.g. AIDS or cancer drugs. Yet because it makes people feel good, the DEA assaults and kidnaps those who use it. But now they're attempting, by fiat, to make it illegal to eat foods containing industrial hemp, which is not psychoactive, and which our very own government paid farmers to grow during World War II. Sterile hemp seeds, the raw material used in hemp foodstuffs, were explicitly exempted from the Controlled Substances Act. Yet the DEA has "reinterpreted" that part of the law out of existence. The war on freedom, er... some vegetables, er... drugs, marches on.

Bill St. Clair
bill@billstclair.com

The Gun Deacon at Kentucky Coaltion to Carry Concealed - My Home Defense - the Deacon has a low-tech home defense system that works very well. [kaba]

My home has probably the safest, most reliable, and manageable home defense programs ever invented. It has never gone off due to error, loss of power, or any other reason unless needed. It is not connected to phone lines, databases, or warning systems outside of my home.

It is simply a VERY large Chow dog, three 12 gauge shotguns, two 15 year old boys (twins) that know how to use them (much to the horror of the local school system), two automatic handguns (45s) for me, and a revolver for my wife. All are loaded (including the dog with a set of VERY BIG TEETH) and ready. Coupled with neighbors that depend on each other and watch out for the properties around us it is more than enough to defend our homes.

Troy Wolverton at CNET - La. asks PayPal to halt service in state - PayPal, about to go public, is being accused of operating as an unlicensed bank. Very bad news. As far as I'm concerned, their loyal customers are all the license they need, but that won't stop the nazis from descending on them. [grabbe]

Libertarian Party Press Release - Unbelievable! Woman is handcuffed and arrested for a late video rental - in a gross abuse of the "unauthorized use of rental property" law, intended to protect the property of car rental companies, a New Hampshire woman was arrested cuffed, and had her car impounded because she forgot to return a rented video tape. She faces a fine of up to $1,200. Of course this is chump change compared to the asset forfeiture and RICO laws.

Cohen said she had no memory of renting the video, and said she had never received any notice from the store that the video was overdue. The arrest, she said, "seems like a lot of trouble over a tape that probably cost $10."

Vin Suprynowicz - The new Five-Year Plan - part of The Libertarian series. A 1996 law was just about to start weaning America's farmers from federal subsidies. Not anymore. Message to congress: let the free market work its magic. Your subsidies to factory farms are driving the little guys out of business.

Overall, the new socialist agricultural Five-Year Plan will increase federal spending on agricultural subsidies, price-supports ... even payments to grow nothing at all ... by $45 billion over five years.

(Good thing there's no recession ... and no deficit.)

Cannabis Culture - Border patrols and sky marshalls - a report on the growing police state from the perspective of pot smokers. Some advice for travelers.

Last night I downloaded GNU Emacs for Mac OS X. This morning I tried it out. The Command (Apple) key is meta! Yay!