From: Bill Vance Subject: You've probably seen this before... (fwd) Date: 01 Apr 2002 16:50:57 -0800 (PST) ----------------------- begin forwarded message from Jim Zoes --------------------- But if you haven't... Source: http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/jaspar/myhomepage/writing.html http://www.thefiringline.com/Misc/library/RKBA_handbook.html "The Five-Minute Handbook" FIVE MINUTES TO FREEDOM! A FIVE-MINUTE HANDBOOK FOR GUN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS Copyright C 2000 by JASPAR@aol.com All rights reserved. Reproduction or distribution is permitted so long as this copyright notice is attached; the complete Handbook (including the introduction) is reproduced; no word or words are altered in any way whatsoever, and the web site address <> is attached. Thank you! INTRODUCTION I've been a gun rights activist for nearly 10 years. I wasted a lot of time for the first 5 years because no one gave me the rule book you are now reading. Maybe that's because no one had written it. This is the stuff I wish I had known starting on day one. If you've just arrived at this party, the next 5 minutes you spend reading this might save you 5 years of otherwise wasted time and energy. If you've been in the gun rights game for a while, this handbook will be the fastest refresher course you've ever taken. This past year I've received a lot of mail from jittery gun owners who are finally waking up to what's happening to our right to keep and bear arms (RKBA). This handbook is mostly for them. If the rules I list below scare off a few folks, so be it. I want to tell it like it really is -- to give a quick snapshot of the tips, tricks and tactics that actually work in RKBA activism. The bad news is that this is not a complete list of the rules. The good news is that there will never be a complete list of rules. The rules listed below are based on my own experience from working thousands of hours with down and dirty RKBA activist pros. I am deeply grateful to all of them. They know who they are. Some of these rules have been followed for so long by old-time activists that they have forgotten what the original rules were. It's time to list them again. And sneak in a couple of new ones. So read them and weep, or read them and rejoice. THE HANDBOOK RULES NO ONE IS AS INTERESTED AS YOU ARE. Nowadays everyone's attention span and time are limited. Be grateful if you get anyone's attention on our issue, even for a few seconds. Some wannabe activists come in like a lion, then disappear faster than sh*t through a short dog. Take whatever you get from any volunteer. Praise and thank them. Don't be disappointed when they drift away. They will. But some come back. Keep the light on for them. THE NRA STINKS. So does GOA, SAF, JPFO, and any or all of the rest of the gun rights organizations. At the same time, all of these organizations are the best thing since sliced bread. We won't keep our rights without them. It's normal to love them and hate them at the same time. Be sure your complaints about them go to the person who can do something about your problem. Never give up your membership -- it's much easier to fix things from the inside. Avoid griping in public -- our opponents love it when we do. Always handle our dirty laundry behind closed doors. Always. THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET. There is no single answer, rule, or solution. Never has been, and never will be. None of us will write the single brilliant letter to the editor or internet message that will miraculously turn everything around. Keep steadily busy. Do as much as you can, whenever you can. Anything you do counts, but some things count more than others. Find out what counts. Then do it. THERE IS NO FINAL VICTORY. Preserving RKBA is an ongoing PROCESS. We are winning and losing battles during this process, but the war will never be over. Becoming active to keep your gun rights is a lot like cleaning your house: it's thankless and boring work, but necessary. Like dirt, the antigun crowd will just keep coming back. Forever. Your activism will keep us winning more than losing. Our opponents count on wearing us down. They love it when one of us (not you, of course) gets discouraged and drops out. When you fully understand and accept the reality that RKBA is a never-ending struggle, you're automatically in the top 5 percent of all RKBA defenders. Congratulations. RKBA ACTIVISM IS BORING. It's especially boring when you are doing things that really make a difference. Most of us want drama. We want to be entertained. Phone bank calling, precinct walking, going to RKBA grassroots seminars -- suddenly, even a trip to the dentist for a root canal will start to look better. Sorry, but there is no workaround on this aspect. Freedom is not free. It's a pain in the ass. Get used to it, get over it, and get to work. USE THE POWER OF FEAR AND GUILT. Gun owners are susceptible to these emotions. Awaken sleeping RKBA activists by tapping these powerful emotions. Fear and guilt will move mountains -- and fill the collection plate, and recruit new members. If gun owners won't become active for themselves, ask them to do it for their families. For their children. For their country. And -- this tactic works! -- ask them to do it for YOU. WATCH OUT FOR MISDIRECTED, TIME-WASTING EFFORTS. E-mail to elected people is pretty much worthless -- unless the official already personally knows you. Internet polls are useless. Online polls make some folks think they are actually doing something. They are not. It's a false sense of accomplishment. It's like bringing a doctor to a dead man. Focus on the stuff that works. If you're going to hunt ducks, go where the ducks are. POLITICIANS ONLY CARE ABOUT VOTES AND MONEY. In-person visits, phone calls, and snail-mailed, handwritten letters to elected folks help -- because politicians know that if you take this much trouble, you and your family and friends will also vote. HOT TIP: Make yourself known to politicians for issues other than gun rights. Don't present yourself as a single-issue person. Praise and help politicians on THEIR pet projects. Then, when a new gun control law comes up, your opinion will seem especially credible. Otherwise, you will soon be stereotyped and discounted as a single-issue voter. ANOTHER HOT TIP: Politicians have to explain why they vote Yes or No on proposed laws. Sometimes they really need your help in composing explanations to their constituents. If you want your elected official to vote No on a seemingly popular new gun control law, she might be more willing to vote your way if you give her a "back door" -- a good, common sense explanation that she can give to all of her constituents. GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN OFFICE IN THE FIRST PLACE. If we have the right people in power, antigun laws will not be passed. Period. The laws are what matter. This concept is so simple that many folks can't see it, just like they can't "see" the air they breathe. The anti-rights crowd can hold all the gun control seminars and news conferences they want, but nothing will happen unless they can pass more laws. This fact tells you about the how, what, where, when, why, and with whom you should be spending your time, energy, and money. Politicians pass laws. Therefore, you must get involved in politics to protect your gun rights. There is just no way to get around this. Sorry. I don't like politics either. Bummer! STOP THE SABER RATTLING -- NOW! Avoid those shrill folks who sound threatening or talk about doomsday. It's a waste of your time. These noisy folks remind me of a couple in a failing marriage who only talk about a getting a divorce instead of talking about their real problems. If they don't solve their problems, separation or divorce becomes the inevitable outcome. Some people get pumped up on silly fantasy scenarios. I do not. ARM YOURSELF WITH ACCURATE INFORMATION. Paradoxically, bad information or disinformation is a plague in the so-called Information Age. When you write or talk about firearms issues, use only the facts, the truth, and the provable. Verify any quotes that you use. Back up your generalizations with powerful and specific examples. Get on the internet, and get your like-minded friends online. Join several of the hundreds of net communities that will keep you informed instantly and completely about our special issues. Information is power! IGNORE MEDIA SPIN AND THE NEWS WAVES. It's far too easy to go bonkers reacting to the latest media-driven crisis. Don't let the media push your buttons. The RKBA grassroots pros I know do not overreact to crises. In fact, most of the ultra-pros that I know do not react at all to media hysteria. Bashing the media about their bias is not productive. Some gun owners use media bias as an excuse to do nothing -- because the situation seems so overwhelming and hopeless. Truth is, if you are a busy activist -- already steadily doing stuff that matters -- you will find the media reacting to YOU. Be friendly and polite with them -- not hostile. Become a reliable source of information for them. And just keep on being ACTIVE. JUST SHOW UP. It's been said that 80 percent of success is showing up. Being there. Showing up to vote. Showing up at an RKBA seminar. At your assemblyman's office. At a city council meeting. My father's favorite motto: "Your actions speak so loud that I can't hear a word you're saying." Your "silent" activism can be a model for others. What will your 3 hunting buddies think when they find out you spent an afternoon handing out brochures door-to-door for a pro-gun politician? DON'T MESS WITH TRUE BELIEVERS. In the time you spend trying to convert one hard core antigun person to our side, you could have gone out and motivated and organized 20 people who already think like you do. Go with the flow. It's easier on your nerves, and much more effective. Personally, I have converted several anti-rights true believers, but never again! Lots of NRA members are not registered voters. A lot of gun owners aren't NRA members. Even more folks have no idea of their elected officials' positions on gun issues. Where is your time most effectively spent? Think about this before you spend an hour writing a clever response to a silly message you found somewhere on the internet. SIMPLICITY STILL MATTERS. The old rule, Keep It Super Simple (KISS), is as important as it ever was. It applies to internet postings, planning, speeches -- everything. And keep it short. And keep it sweet: don't ever ridicule or insult anyone. Did you notice that I did NOT say, "Keep It Simple, STUPID?" YOU ARE ALL ALONE. Well, not quite alone. You do have some help. The NRA has a staff of several hundred. There is no way humanly possible that "the NRA" can put out all the brush fires started by the anti-rights crowd. Pro-gun national organizations give direction and information -- but they cannot save your rights. Only YOU can save YOUR rights. You are 100 percent responsible. When you fully accept this reality, you are automatically in the top one percent of all RKBA activists. THE HIDDEN BONUS OF GUN RIGHTS ACTIVISM. The more involved you get with firearms freedom, the more you will realize that your single issue actually complements and protects other human rights issues. Personally, I am deeply offended by many aspects of today's culture. When I focus my activism on RKBA, I can often sense I am making a measurable difference. All rights -- like all humans -- are connected. WHEN IN DOUBT, JUST DO SOMETHING. Sometimes we don't know what will work. Sometimes the rule is that there are no rules. I once wrote an essay I thought was mediocre at best. Five years later, I'm still receiving mail about it. Don't hesitate to try something new and innovative -- get it out on the table! Often your finest essay or brilliant letter will not be acknowledged, or you will just get a form letter response. But that letter to the editor that you dashed off in a few minutes appears in tomorrow's newspaper! Go figure. Better yet, try not to figure. Trust yourself, trust your instincts -- and just do something. I'll see you in the trenches. Friendly Reminder: Copyright C 2000 by JASPAR@aol.com All rights reserved. Reproduction or distribution is permitted so long as this copyright notice is attached; the complete Handbook (including the introduction) is reproduced; no word or words are altered in any way whatsoever, and the web site address <> is attached. Thank you! ----------------------- end forwarded message from Jim Zoes --------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: VICTORY IN OHIO! (fwd) Date: 10 Apr 2002 11:40:22 -0700 (PDT) -------------------- begin forwarded message from Joe Waldron -----------= -------- The opinion ran 18 pages, and is one of the best I've ever seen written on the gun issue. It's full of sound bite after sound bite affirming the citizens' right of self defense. It should be posted on the SAF web site within a day. Joe W News Release Second Amendment Foundation 12500 NE 10th Place Bellevue, WA 98005 (425) 454-7012 =95 FAX (425) 451-3959 =95 www.saf.org=20 For Immediate Release: 4/10/02 Contact: Dave LaCourse or Dave Workman 425-454-7012=20 SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION HAILS OHIO COURT RULING THAT GUN LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL BELLEVUE, WA =96Wednesday=92s unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of Ohio First District Court of Appeals that the state=92s law against carrying concealed handguns is unconstitutional is =93a total vindication of our position,=94 said Dave LaCourse, public affairs director for the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), a plaintiff in the case. The Appeals panel refused to grant a stay in the case, pending an almost-certain appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. Said the Court: =93...th= e General Assembly has been on notice of the problems with this statute for more than a year. We will not continue to allow the enforcement of an unconstitutional statute. The ruling puts pressure on the legislature to resolve this issue LaCourse stated. Lawmakers have known for a long time there was a problem with the law, but it took a legal challenge by gun owners to put this issue in focus. We=92re delighted the Appeals Court unanimously agreed with our argument that this law, which has penalized honest Ohio gun owners for generations, violates the State Constitution. Defendants in the case, including Hamilton County, Cincinnati and the State of Ohio, had argued that government has the right to regulate the manner in which weapons are carried. That argument had been rejected Jan. 10 by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman, who said the ban could not be enforced in that county. The ruling, written by Presiding Judge Mark P. Painter, declared R.C. 2923.12, and R.C. 2923.16(B) and (C) unconstitutional under the Ohio Constitution, which affirms the citizen=92s the right to possess and to bear arms. It marked the latest victory in a case filed against enforcement of the decades-old ban on concealed carry, and a prohibition on the transport of loaded firearms in a motor vehicle. Under the statute, citizens have had to first be arrested and then defend themselves in court by providing an =93affirmative defense=94 to prove their innocence. Guns or no guns,=94 wrote Judge Painter, =93we know of no other situation where a citizen is guilty until proven innocent. In addition to SAF, plaintiffs in the case include Pat Feely, who was previously arrested and tried under the gun carry ban scheme, plus James Cohen, Vernon Ferrier, Leanne Driscoll and private investigator Chuck Klein. They were joined by Ohioans for Concealed Carry and the People's Rights Organization. The Court=92s 3-0 ruling also deals severe blows to gun control advocates who have long argued that firearms rights are no longer necessary, and that only the police and military should have guns. The Ohio law had allowed only law enforcement officers to carry concealed weapons. We are not a country were power is maintained by people with guns over people without guns,=94 Judge Painter eloquently wrote.=20 LaCourse was in court to hear the decision. He noted, While this ruling still applies only to enforcement of the law in Hamilton County, judges everywhere else around the state will be looking at this and reviewing their cases. The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners. Current projects include several concealed carry lawsuits, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right. Visit our website for more information at http://www.saf.org/Ohio.htm -------------------- end forwarded message from Joe Waldron -------------= ------ -- --- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-= 19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+------------------= --- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath n= o weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand =3D Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy= a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Chr= ist ----------------+----------+--------------------------+------------------= --- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! --- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: Signs Of The Times........Pretty Nice..... (fwd) Date: 14 Apr 2002 11:49:00 -0700 (PDT) Ya _gotta_ check this one out! :-) Bill -------------------- begin forwarded message from BOBWORN@aol.com -------------------- WE WOULD RATHER DO BUSINESS WITH 1000 ARAB TERRORISTS THAN WITH A SINGLE JEW. This sign was prominently displayed in the window of a business in Philadelphia. Most would be outraged at the thought of such an inflammatory statement... One would think that anti-hate groups from all across the country would be marching on this business and that the National Guard might have to be called to keep the angry crowds back... But, perhaps in these stressful times one might be tempted to let the proprietors simply make their statement. We are a society who hold Freedom of Speech as perhaps our greatest liberty and after all it is just a sign... You may be asking what business would dare post such a sign? Goldberg's Funeral Home -------------------- end forwarded message from BOBWORN@aol.com -------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: Confirmation (fwd) Date: 18 Apr 2002 18:28:24 -0700 (PDT) Today I heard it confirmed in the news; the 9/11 impromptu Militiamen who tried to rescue their fellow passengers from the terrorists, died heroes. The cockpit tapes were played for their loved ones. No other details at this time. My on;y question, is what took them so long? Bill -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: The Concord Hymn (fwd) Date: 19 Apr 2002 10:31:13 -0700 (PDT) -------------------- begin forwarded message from BOBWORN@aol.com -------------------- The Concord Hymn=20 Ralph Waldo Emerson 1837 By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled; Here once the embattled farmers stood; And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps, And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream that seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft stream, We place with joy a votive stone, That memory may their deeds redeem, When, like our sires, our sons are gone. O Thou who made those heroes dare To die, and leave their children free, Bid Time and Nature gently spare The shaft we raised to them and Thee. And who knows, you might spot a neighbor doing the same, and the two of you will find you are a new beginning. -------------------- end forwarded message from BOBWORN@aol.com -------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: International Criminal Court is a threat to gun rights!!!!! (fwd) Date: 20 Apr 2002 12:46:22 -0700 (PDT) ----------------------- begin forwarded message from Swftl@aol.com ----------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ALERT FROM CCOPS: CONCERNED CITIZENS OPPOSED TO POLICE STATES By subscription only. You are receiving this Alert because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this Alert. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 19, 2002 ALERT: New Threat to Your Gun Rights Becomes a Reality New Threat to Your Gun Rights Becomes a Reality -- Help Rep. Ron Paul stop the new UN court from grabbing your guns Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org (Friday, April 19, 2002) -- You stand before the judges, accused of failing to register your firearms. You look around the room, and there are no civilians to try your case. Trial by jury is absent in this courtroom. Not only that, there is no presumption of innocence. You look at the judges behind the bench and realize they have been appointed by unelected bureaucrats from hostile and repressive nations around the globe. Is this a scene from a George Orwell book? Unfortunately, this scene could someday happen since a newly established International Criminal Court (ICC) became a reality last week. On his last day in office, former President Clinton signed his name to an agreement which authorized the ICC, a global court which was officially instituted at the United Nations headquarters on April 11, after the 60th nation signed the treaty. Thankfully, the United States Senate has still not ratified this agreement. And to ensure it never does, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) recently introduced legislation (H.R. 4169) that calls on President Bush to revoke his predecessor's signature before the Democrat-controlled Senate can ratify the treaty. Among other things, H.R. 4169 would: * Call on the President to rescind the US approval of the International Criminal Court; * Prohibit federal funds from being used to establish or operate the ICC; and * Establish that any action taken by the ICC against an American serviceman shall be considered an act of aggression against the US. The stakes in this battle are huge. With the advent of the anti-gun ICC, unelected bureaucrats at the UN will be able to override the national sovereignty of the US and to bring us under their thumbprint. The consequences of this will be horrendous. The ICC will be able to second-guess almost any decision our country makes, and will claim it has the authority to haul our Presidents, governors or military leaders into court. Even our war in Afghanistan -- or the execution of Timothy McVeigh -- could be actions that would trigger the arrest and prosecution of American citizens. This is NOT speculation. This is the authority that ICC judges now have. But this treaty could end up doing more than just hauling military or elected officials into court. Gun owners have much to fear from these global tyrants. It is no secret that at several of their recent conventions, UN officials have been actively trying to get the nations of the world to register firearms. In 1997, they supervised the steamrolling of firearms (yes, using actual steamrollers) in the streets of Brazil. And to make their intentions absolutely clear, they have even erected a statute of a gun with a barrel twisted into a knot in front of their New York headquarters. To be sure, the UN has demonstrated its hatred for civilians owning guns in a myriad of ways. So what happens if, somewhere down the road, you don't comply with UN gun registration or a firearms ban? Will the UN be able to prosecute you before the International Criminal Court? Will UN Blue Helmets be able to search your home for evidence? (You can forget about any Fourth Amendment protections that keep your home from being searched without a warrant.) The treaty which establishes the court claims jurisdiction to prosecute gross human abuse. But there's no reason to think that this permanent court is going to limit itself to prosecuting real dictators. The judges on the court could be from Cuba, Iraq, Russia or Red China. Don't expect to read about ICC prosecutions of folks like Fidel Castro or Saddam Hussein. Rather, one can fully expect that, similar to judges in our country, these judges will make law "from the bench" and expand the court's jurisdiction every chance they get. If you think we have a problem in this country with judges making up the law and failing to respect your gun rights, how bad of a problem do you think this will be at the UN level where these tyrants have no concept of what the Second Amendment is? Rep. Paul correctly notes the International Criminal Court is an "illegitimate court" that was established contrary to the provisions of the American Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. The court puts United States citizens in jeopardy of "unlawful and unconstitutional criminal prosecution," he says, "[and] especially at risk of politically motivated arrests, prosecutions, fines, and imprisonments." ACTION: Please ask your Representative to cosponsor Ron Paul's bill (H.R. 4169) which will help keep our country from placing itself under the jurisdiction of the anti-gun International Criminal Court. You can use the pre-written letter below to help direct your comments to Capitol Hill and call your Representative at 1-877-762-8762 (toll free) or at 202-225-3121. To identify your Representative, as well as to send a message via e-mail, see the Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm on the GOA website. - ----- Pre-written message ----- Dear Representative: I am concerned about the anti-gun International Criminal Court which was recently instituted on April 11, 2002. This body threatens our national sovereignty and could one day haul American citizens into its courtroom-a courtroom which contravenes the principles of national sovereignty, due process, consent of the governed, and trial by jury. The treaty establishing this court was signed by President Clinton, but it has yet to be ratified by the Senate. Thus, Rep. Ron Paul has introduced H.R. 4169 to call on the President to rescind the US approval of the International Criminal Court, prohibit federal funds from being used to establish or operate the ICC, and establish that any action taken by the ICC against an American serviceman shall be considered an act of aggression against the United States. I hope that you will cosponsor H.R. 4169. Please let me know what you intend to do. Sincerely, **************************** Please do not reply directly to this message, as your reply will bounce back as undeliverable. To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm on the web. Change of e-mail address may also be made at that location. To unsubscribe send a message to gunowners_list@capwiz.mailmanager.net with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. Problems, questions or comments? The main GOA e-mail address goamail@gunowners.org is at your disposal. Please do not add that address to distribution lists sending more than ten messages per week or lists associated with issues other than gun rights. *************** Forwarded FYI by the Liberty Crew Need more ammunition? Read our books: _The State vs The People_ -- http://www.jpfo.org/tsvtp.htm _Death by "Gun Control"_ -- http://www.jpfo.org/deathgc.htm _Hope_ --http://www.jpfo.org/hope.htm * * * When contacting CCOPS, if you want to praise us or condem us, please let us know if you are a dues-paying member, and if not, why not? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ARE YOU A DUES PAYING MEMBER? DO YOU BUY OUR PRO-FREEDOM MATERIALS? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Help spread the word about CCOPS by putting in your ".sig file" something like the following: Member (or Supporter) of CCOPS http://www.ccops.org/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Original Material in CCOPS ALERTS are Copyright 2001 CCOPS, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce this alert in full, so long as the following contact information is included: CCOPS: Concerned Citizens Opposed to Police States P.O. Box 270205 Hartford, WI 53027 Phone: (262) 670-9920 Fax: (262) 670-9921 Web: http://www.ccops.org/ e-mail: webmaster@ccops.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CCOPS ALERTS is provided as a free service to the Internet Community. 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Reply to the confirmation message. ----------------------- end forwarded message from Swftl@aol.com ----------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: The Thin Yellow Line that "Protects" Us (fwd) Date: 20 Apr 2002 12:46:52 -0700 (PDT) This is not my opinion of _all_ Police Officers/FBI et al, but we know that this is happening every day all over the Country, so how many bad apples does it take? Maybe you know someone who needs to see this and learn some shame.... Bill ----------------------- begin forwarded message from Swftl@aol.com ----------------------- THE THIN YELLOW LINE THAT "PROTECTS" US The Thin Yellow Line that Protects Us by Carl Worden wolfeyes@cdsnet.net With the increased use of "dynamic entry" for even the most ordinary, non-violent white collar crimes, it occurs to me we are not witnessing an increase in Nazi-type police operations as much as we are a dramatic increase in cowardice among our police officers and their leaders. A job in law enforcement always came with a known and accepted risk, and those who tended to gravitate toward law enforcement jobs more often than not, reveled in that risk. These were real men and women who took crime head on. They placed themselves between us and the bad guys, and we all looked up to them as heroes when we were children. We considered each officer to be an upstanding, participating member of the community. Some of us even dreamed of growing up to be just like the people portrayed in the television series The FBI. Of course, that was before the FBI murdered Vickie Weaver and incinerated the congregation at the church in Waco. Now cut to the present day... Police officers today are quite different from those I knew when I was growing up. The emphasis is more on college degrees today and less on traditional, face-to-face law enforcement. One major difference is that these new police officers want the job and the benefits, but they don't want to accept the risk traditional police officers did. The risk is still there, but they have shifted that risk over to the population they have sworn to protect. Here are a few examples: In the days of yore, cops would develop a case against a known suspect, wait for the right moment when he was vulnerable, and then arrest him. It usually only took two cops to do the job. Nowadays, cops will obtain a no-knock search warrant based on nothing more than an anonymous tip from an anonymous source. (And the judges who issue those search warrants on such flimsy evidence have a lot of explaining to do.) Anyway, rather than develop any kind of hard evidence against the criminal beforehand, they use the no-knock search itself to make or break their case. It's a fishing expedition. The typical scenario involves up to twenty police officers dressed in black paramilitary combat gear who break down your door at around 3 AM, drag you and your loved ones out of bed screaming in terror, handcuff you and stick a fully automatic MP-5 submachine gun in your face. You get to lay there naked, or nearly so, while these police officers search (destroy) your premises for the evidence they didn't bother to develop before this eventful morning. There is a rule to estimate how long you're going to be left terrified on the floor like this: If your clean, your going to be on the floor for a very long time, because the cop who obtained that baseless no-knock warrant is feeling a lot of heat, and he's going to tear your house to shreds looking for any evidence of any crime whatsoever to make him look better. If they find evidence of criminal activity involving a completely different kind of trespass, they simply leave you hog-tied on the floor while they obtain a search ! warrant to look for what they've already found. The cop is not going to be the loser, even if he did make a mistake: You are. In another scenario, you hear them breaking down your door, you grab your weapon in self defense as they burst into your bedroom and ... oops, you're dead! Or worse, you're up taking a leak when you realize something is going on outside. You grab your semi-auto AR-15 with it's 30 round clip and head downstairs to find out what's going on. As you approach the door, it is kicked in and you open fire, killing two police officers and seriously wounding two more before the others retreat to safety. Like the Branch Davidians, you allow the cops to drag their dead and wounded away while they, unbeknownst to you, plot how they are going to make you look like Charlie Manson to the whole world just before they get around to killing you. And make no mistake about it, killing you is the immediate goal in a case like this, and if you're innocent of any wrongdoing, killing you becomes even more expedient. But what led to all this? It is cowardice, ladies and gentlemen; pure unadulterated cowardice on the part of our "new" police generation. Let's face it, what kind of real, manly courage does it take to join 19 other heavily armed men to break into a soft target like the average house or apartment and subdue the sleeping residents? You see, the police have changed department policy of days gone by to virtually exclude the normal risk that comes with the territory of police work. The intended consequence of that policy change has been to shift all the risk to the criminal, which is an acceptable motive. However, with the relaxed standards for obtaining no-knock search warrants based upon pure hearsay, and when you combine simple human error with a no-knock attack, that risk has also been transferred to innocent, law-abiding citizens, and that is not acceptable. We pay our police officers to take risk, and they are expected to accept that risk while protecting us against the criminal element in our society. But that's not happening. Look back at the Los Angeles riots for a moment. Here you had an entire police department that refused to enter certain hot areas of L.A. for reasons of personal safety, knowing there were law-abiding citizens trapped in those areas immediately subject to serious injury or death! Is that acceptable to you? I'll tell you something. If I were the mayor of that city, I'd have fired every one of those gutless, yellow-bellied cowards as fast as I could replace them. Oh sure, they're real tough looking when you see them grouped up in their battle gear, or when they're deliberately intimidating you, knowing that you are unarmed and completely defenseless against them. That doesn't take courage or bravery, and it doesn't say much about their manhood either. The NRA had it all wrong: These aren't jack-booted, government thugs, these are just everyday cowards with a strong yellow streak down their backs that shows every time they run into someone with the guts to hit back. Take another look at Waco, The Rules of Engagement, and watch how those BATF agents went slinking back down the road with their tails between their legs after they'd been shot up and repelled from the premises. Look at their demeanor: The second someone fired back with any kind of effect, those agents lost their stomachs and their will to fight, just like any schoolyard bully does. So let's not call them Jack-booted government thugs anymore, because they take too much pride in that. Let's call them what they really are: Yellow-Bellied Cowards with no stomach for a fair fight. These are fearful -- little fractions of men -- who are willing to place the lives of innocent, law-abiding citizens at risk in return for a modicum of their own safety. My heroes! Carl F. Worden Liaison & Intelligence Officer Southern Oregon Militia ----------------------- end forwarded message from Swftl@aol.com ----------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: linzellr@datastar.net (Robert Linzell) Subject: Congressman's Response to my ICC Letter Date: 23 Apr 2002 07:49:21 -0500 I recently sent a letter to my congressman, Gene Taylor (D-MS5), regarding the transnational/extra-legal International Criminal Court (ICC). Below is his response. Or non-response, I should say. He didn't state whether he supports Ron Paul's H.R. 4169, but he sure supports "the rights of our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen." Not surprising, since he also supported the government actions at Waco. He also vociferously supported the recently enacted incumbent protection bill. ---------- Begin Included Text ---------- Mr. Bob Linzell My Street Mytown, Mississippi XXXXX Dear Bob: Thank you for contacting me and sharing your thoughts regarding the International Criminal Court (ICC) and H.R. 4169. The ICC was recently created to serve as a permanent international court to bring to justice those guilty of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. While President Clinton signed the treaty in 2000, it was never sent to the Senate for ratification. President Bush is considering withdrawing our nation's signature to the treaty. I share the President's concern over the potential of the ICC being used to pursue politically motivated prosecutions of U.S. troops stationed overseas or to infringe upon our nation's sovereignty. Our nation's military would be vulnerable to frivolous or ideologically inspired prosecutions should the ICC claim jurisdiction. Congressman Ron Paul introduced the American Service Member and Citizen Protection Act, H.R. 4169, on April 11, 2002. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on International Relations. This legislation seeks to safeguard American civilians and our military personnel from being falsely brought to trail [sic] by the ICC. While I am not member of the House International Relations Committee, I will keep a close watch how the ICC affects our nation's armed forces. You can count on me to stand up for the rights of our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen. Again, thank you for contacting me. If I may be of further assistance, please feel free to get in touch with me. Sincerely, (signed) GENE TAYLOR Member of Congress ---------- End Included Text ---------- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: a good gun issues site (fwd) Date: 24 Apr 2002 09:42:56 -0700 (PDT) ----------------------- begin forwarded message from Swftl@aol.com ----------------------- The Journalist's Guide to Gun Policy Scholars and Second Amendment Scholars This site is a KEEPER for anyone interested in gun issues. http://www.gunscholar.com/ ----------------------- end forwarded message from Swftl@aol.com ----------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: Cindy Richard's April 17th Column in the Chicago Sun-Times (fwd) Date: 26 Apr 2002 08:14:09 -0700 (PDT) ----------------------- begin forwarded message from Jim Zoes --------------------- Dear Cindy, I read your column where you advocate using the power of a metro daily to destroy a non-profit organization (Concealed Carry, Inc.) that you despise. I am going to be uncharacteristically blunt. Your blatant attempt to strangle the voice of this organization is called "mail bombing." It is not just "slimy," it is an attempt to censor and destroy this organization. How very left wing of you.... There are 85 million gun owners in America, 1.2 million FOID holders who live in Illinois. Every place where law abiding citizens have been allowed to carry their own firearms, crime has gone dramatically down. On the other hand, in places where your mindset rules, violent crime is always higher. So it is not an accident, that Mayor Daley's "Gun Free Chicago" is once again, the "Murder Capital of the United States." Author and Libertarian L. Neil Smith wrote an essay a while back, titled "Murder by Gun Control." (http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe68-20000331-07.html) Mr. Smith opens with: "Why is everybody being so damned polite." It's time to stop being polite with the likes of you. Smith is right when he says that people who favor gun control are stupid, insane, or evil. Stupid because they fall for the baloney you gun controllers prattle on about: that only government should own guns, that gun owners are future criminals that just haven't committed a crime yet, that touchy-feely "reasonable" prohibition of guns will lower violent crime, or that violent criminals would obey this law and refrain from using guns to murder, rape, and rob. Insane because it is an act of insanity to repeat a failed policy in the hope that *this time* the results will be different. As the Brits and the Aussies are finding out, "banning guns" means more violent crime, not less. And as we all know, Chicago has been the US "Murder Capital" on more than one occasion, thanks to Chicago's ban on handguns. Evil because people like you want the people to be defenseless. Genocide is only possible when the people are defenseless. Armed people don't get marched into German gas chambers or sent to Siberian Gulags. Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in "The Gulag Archipelago:" "And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling in terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? [...] The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!" [Chapter 1 "Arrest"] In the 20th Century, "Government" killed over 100 million of their own people. From Lenin and Stalin, through Hitler, and Pol Pot, and beyond, unarmed and helpless people were murdered by their own governments, for "the good of the state." As L. Neil Smith wrote: "What kind of mind would sacrifice millions for the sake of a few thousands, especially when it's been demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that victim disarmament can't save even those thousands? What kind of mind wants a return to mean streets and ever-soaring crime rates? What kind of mind collaborates with agents of mass murder and genocide? Make no mistake: you victim disarmament types are sick, sick people, in the words of T.D. Melrose, who'd rather see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose than see her with a gun in her hand. You're people, down deep in your blackened, shriveled souls, who wait like vultures, secretly delighted whenever atrocities like the Columbine shootings occur -- atrocities whose only significance to you is their usefulness in advancing your political agenda. Dancing in the blood of innocents, just like the lying, thieving, murdering rapist you've sent to the White House twice in a row. You're people who, like German voters in the 1930s, have empowered and unleashed on your decent and unsuspecting neighbors the most evil and violent terrorist bureaucracy in American history. You're people, in short, who must be stupid, insane, or evil to continue arguing -- in the face of indisputable facts and irrefutable logic -- that others must be forced into a state of helplessness and victimized by individual criminals or the state. Stupid, insane, or evil." Go to hell, Ms. Richards. Jim Zoes Woodstock, IL Note to fellow gun owners cc-ed in this message: The article written by Ms. Richards is located at: http://www.suntimes.com/output/richards/cst-edt-cindy24.html Her email address is: cindyrichards@ameritech.net Ms. Richards advocates (in her own words): "If enough of us apply for this ridiculous program, we can bury John [Birch of Concealed Carry, Inc.] in applications. In the best case scenario, one of us might win this gun lottery. Then, we can take the weapon to the nearest police station, turn it in and take one gun off the streets (while simultaneously draining Concealed Carry members of the $300 they spent in an attempt to increase the numbers of guns in circulation). At worst, John will be so overwhelmed by applications that he won't be able to sift through them looking for the legitimate ones... ... OK, so it's a little slimy to urge readers to lie, to use the power of a major metropolitan newspaper to overwhelm a small, nonprofit organization. But my sliminess pales in comparison to this organization's efforts to increase the number of guns in circulation." Please feel free to write to her and advise her of your strong disagreement with her public attempt censor and destroy a gun rights organization. And feel free to forward this memo to your fellow gun owning friends and neighbors. ----------------------- end forwarded message from Jim Zoes --------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: Reality Theory The World of the Passionately Ignorant (fwd) Date: 27 Apr 2002 12:41:39 -0700 (PDT) ----------------------- begin forwarded message from Steve Moser ----------------------- http://www.newnetizen.com/online/realitytheory.htm Reality Theory: The World of the Passionately Ignorant By Bob Lee Conspiracy. It is a fact of life. You conspire. You conspire with your co-workers, your spouse, your children, and your friends. No, you probably don't call it conspiracy; you call it "office politics," or "a family matter," or you say "don't tell daddy." Nevertheless, conspiracy is a fact of life. It is an American tradition, and a world enigma. It is to be found at the foundation of our national monuments, and within the cloistered halls of our institutions. To believe other wise is pure illusion. However, when the subject is studied in earnest, those who do so are often maligned, chided, belittled, and ignored. They are considered kooks and extremists. But, what is the opposite of conspiracy theory? Reality theory. Like so many brainless spiders, they create their web of comfort and safety. They spin their web and connect to only those things that seem stable and "real." They conditionally interpret life based on a set of tangibility's that are spoon fed and reinforced by society and the corporate media shills. They never dig deeper nor do they ask fundamental questions of those who "feed" them. They create their own reality. They engage themselves in "reality theory." Some of us do dig deeper, however. Some of us ask questions - lots of them. Unfortunately, we seldom get complete answers, and often we must question the validity of the answers we get. And often the question is answered by another question. Unlike the reality theorists, however, we continue to ask, and ask, and ask again. We are never satisfied until we reach the point where the answers begin to make sense. Or at least, until the questions themselves become revealing enough to satisfy the larger question at hand. This process of inquisition produces a number of benefits. The most obvious of which is the accumulation of knowledge and the ability to ascertain truth from fiction, and wrong from right. The less obvious benefit of such inquisitiveness is the humbling effect upon the questioner. We begin to realize just how much we don't know, which of course, leads to more questions. There was once a word for this: it was called "wisdom." The reality theorist, on the other hand, does not inquire. They superficial ly analyze the information fed to them and find a tidy little corner where it might fit into their make-pretend world. And once accepted as "fact," they broadcast. Like myriads of parrots the information is propagated throughout society at lightening speed. It is this efficiency of communication that seems to lend a certain measure of credence to the message. One could not possibly question this information because "everyone knows its true." "Get real," they say. Yet the facts are often never revealed, or worse, never explored. There is a word for this also: it is called "ignorance." In this environment of ignorance and high-speed communication, there lies a fertile soil wherein the seeds of disinformation and deceit may find purchase. Here, in this cozy and safe world we construct, we allow ourselves to believe those things that perpetuate our comfort, feeling of security, and political agendas. We embrace those thoughts and ideas that guarantee our ongoing fantasy, and we abhor any statement that would serve to question the foundation of our dream- state world. At one time, this would have been identified as the result of a propaganda campaign. Today it is championed as "awareness" and "political correctness." But, the question remains: are we the victims of a prolonged, well-develo ped propaganda campaign? Consider the following quote from a communist training manual on psychopolitics: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7006/psychopolitics.html "In order to be conquered, a nation must be degraded, either by acts of war, by being overrun, by being forced into humiliating treaties of peace, or by the treatment of her populace under the armies of the conqueror. However, degradation can be accomplished much more insidiously and much more effectively by consistent and continual defamation. Defamation is the best and foremost weapon of Psychopolitics on the broad field. Continual and constant degradation of national leaders, national institutions, national practices, and national heroes must be systematically carried out, but this is the chief function of the Communist Party Members, in general, not the psychopolitician. The realm of defamation and degradation, of the psychopolitician, is Man himself. By attacking the character and morals of Man himself, and by bringing about through contamination of youth, a general degraded feeling, command of the populace is facilitated to a very marked degree." Those who practice "reality theory" never really get it. They often say "life is what you make it," but the truth is reality is what THEY make it. And who are "THEY?" Academia, the media, the politicians, and those who would like to forward their own political agenda. But we ask. And we continue to ask because we do not fear the truth, or reality. We embrace reality, and we will never run from the truth. The reality theorists, on the other hand, become downright indignant when their precious "reality" is questioned. There is a way to define this as well: it is called passionate ignorance. When one is passionately ignorant, he cannot possibly accept, let alone int erpret, anything other then what he believes. He cannot question his "reality," nor can he accept any answer that doesn't fit into his carefully constructed world. This is perhaps the most dangerous phenomenon to be found within our "postmodern" society. How can we, at the beginning of the 21st century, be so completely ignorant and stubborn? How have we arrived at such a state that we profess high levels of intelligence, yet exhibit such high levels of outright stupidity? The passionately ignorant will fight any fight, argue any position, and refute any claim that impinges upon there own particular flavor of the "real and tangible." Truth has no value and facts only get in the way of these people- unless of course you are speaking "their" truth and stating "their" facts. The Hegelian Dialectic is in full swing. Alternative viewpoints and explanations, however grounded in the real and t angible, are not acceptable in the world of the passionately ignorant. Evid ence of a contrary explanation are never examined honestly and objectively, but rather the method of collection or handling is questioned as an indica tion that perhaps the evidence was not "properly" collected or researched. Or, the ballots were not "properly" counted. Remember O.J.? Is this any indication of intelligence? Is this how America will enter the 21st century? Is this not dangerous for our country and its survival? At this moment in our history our very foundations are under attack. The passionately ignorant, many of which who have probably never even read the constitution or the Federalist Papers, are willing to abolish important mechanisms devised by our forefathers as somehow inadequate in the modern era, or perhaps dysfunctional from the start. They are willing to rewrite the constitution, never contemplating the consequences of such an undertaking, and never considering the reasons why our system was devised the way it was in the first place. As Ben Franklin replied when asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention gave us: "A republic, if you can keep it." The question of today is: Can we? In fact, I would like to know how many of these people can actually read and interpret the constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers, or the individual writings of our forefathers. As I have said before, interpretation requires comprehension, and I believe it is this skill that is woefully lacking within the population and our elected and appointed government officials. After all, they have all but admitted that they could not read and interpret a ballot, how can they interpret anything else? Still don't believe me? Go talk to a recently graduated High School student and try to ascertain how much they understand our government, its structure, and its history. I think your findings will shock you. The fact is, one need not be a legal scholar to read and comprehend the constitution. On the contrary, the American people need to read and comprehend the process by which it was constructed, and the reasons behind its design. There is much information available that was written by the founders them selves which explains the meaning of our founding documents, and it does not take any academic scion of constitutional interpretation to explain it to us. In fact, academia need not attend the activity. The constitution was intended for us, because it was written by us. It is ours to read, understand, interpret, and enforce by demanding its proper application from our government officials. It is written in plain language, and it is forceful in its directness. However, as we are now witnessing, the judiciary has become the parliamentary authority over all things constitutional, and the arbitrators of our "enfranchisement" with the federal government, as if we ever needed such a thing. If this is allowed to continue for too much longer, we will find ourselves in a new America, and our constitution will no longer protect us from a federal government operating completely out of its rightful bounds. Those who practice reality theory, the passionately ignorant (and I accuse members of both parties of being so), have become the very tool of our enemies. They no longer ask the questions, they no longer demand accountability, they no longer require honesty and integrity from their representatives, and they no longer wish to take responsibility for themselves or their country. Of course, this is the result when you live a reality that has been engineered for you by those who wish to control you. This is the result when we are dependent upon the "scholars" to do the interpreting of our constitution because of our ignorance, apathy, and the "training" we have received by educators who fail to produce citizens capable of basic comprehension skills. This is the result when you are led by that ring in your nose called "enfra nchisement" by demagogues who control you as a mob and usurp your divine rights as free individuals. And, perhaps most importantly, this is the result when the passionately ign orant must protect their source of sustenance: big government providing socialist programs which further "empower" the passionately ignorant. Still think conspiracy is a theory? You live your theory, and I'll live mine. Bob Lee Chief Editor AwareAmerica.com http://www.awareamerica.com ----------------------- end forwarded message from Steve Moser ----------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: IMMIGRATION... Better than Ebola (fwd) Date: 29 Apr 2002 18:28:18 -0700 (PDT) ----------------------- begin forwarded message from David J Lindstedt --= --------------------- =20 From: "List Administrator" Immigration=20 Better Than Ebola. About A Draw With Smallpox.=20 =20 =20 What if we are wrong? What if different kinds of people just plain don=92= t want to live together? What if federal bullying, stamping our feet, and holding our breath and turning blue won=92t change things?=20 A powerful current in today=92s compulsorily appropriate thought is that hostility between groups is anomalous and remediable, an exception to natural law =96 that it results from poor socialization, defective character, or conservative politics. If only we understood each other we would then love one another. Such is the theory.=20 But we don=92t love each other.=20 When the desired affections fail to develop, which is the usual outcome, we try compulsion. People must love each other, under penalty of law. Any expression of displeasure with another group is punished. We brainwash our children with an almost North Korean intensity to persuade them that groups should cuddle and value one another.=20 And still it doesn=92t work. Might it not be just a bad idea?=20 If one looked around the world, one might reasonably conclude that different groups should be separated, not coerced into proximity. Note that most of the internal violence that afflicts nations occurs between ethnic, racial, and religious groups =96 not between rich and poor, betwe= en those who bowl and those who golf, or between capitalists and socialists. Would it not make sense, when possible, to separate disparate populations?=20 In the United States, serious violence =96 riots, burning of cities, not = to mention a heavy (and carefully disguised) element of interracial targeting in crime =96 takes place along the black/white/Latino fault lines, with occasional black/Jewish fighting in New York. Again, race, religion, ethnicity. Different kinds of people don=92t get along. Why do = we not recognize this?=20 The pattern is universal. In France, horrified fluttering recently arose when Jean-Marie Le Pen, a very anti-immigration sort of fellow, got 17% of the vote in presidential elections. How surprised should we be? France has some five million North African Mohammedans. Antagonism is predictable. When the French were in North Africa, the North Africans didn=92t like it. Now that the North Africans are in France, the French don=92t like it. Is there a pattern here?=20 Tension is high in Germany between Germans and Turks. In India, Mussulmans and Hindus riot bloodily. In Ceylon, Tamils and Sinhalese; in Iraq, Kurds and Iraqis; in Ireland, Protestants and Catholics, in Yugoslavia=85in Burundi=85. Canadians and Quebecois are not killing each other, but they think about it.=20 Given that the mixing of disparate peoples leads with remarkable consistency to trouble, and that the price of the trouble can be high, might it not be reasonable to take this into account when making policy? Might it not be wiser to permit, or even to encourage, people to live with their own? In particular, might it not be desirable to discourage immigration from anywhere to anywhere instead of encouraging it in the name of fuzz-headed adolescent enthusiasm, and thus preparing the way for conflagration?=20 For some it is too late. The United States has lost control of its borders and lacks the political will to do=85well, anything. We amount to= a dead whale decaying on the beach of civilization. Other countries may yet have time.=20 We are, of course, unendingly told that to favor separation is to be racist, hateful, and reactionary. It is always easier to call one=92s questioners names than to answer their questions. But=85need one be a racist to favor a comfortable distancing? Or is to do so just cultural good manners and wise politics?=20 Originally, racism meant a belief that one race was inferior to another, usually one=92s own. The street definition is a dislike of another becaus= e of his race.=20 I do not regard myself as racially superior to, say, the Japanese. I certainly don=92t dislike them for neglecting to be white. I=92ve spent t= ime in the Japanese hinterland, crawled the mountains, eaten in remote noodle stands. I like the culture and the people. Passing through Tokyo last week, I reflected (as always) at their superior efficiency and civility. I have no racist notions, by either definition, of the Japanese.=20 But do I think we should encourage heavy immigration of Japanese (assuming they wanted to come), or they of Americans? No. A very bad idea. Antagonism would result. The differences are too great.=20 It works this way. Suppose that you are a considerate traveler, American, and go to a foreign town =96 pick your country -- unaccustomed to outsiders. The likelihood is that you will be treated with courtesy and some degree of curiosity. Should you attempt to learn the language and take an apartment, the people will be flattered by the former and unconcerned by the latter.=20 Should other Americans come (or Germans, or Chinese), the locals will be unconcerned =96 at first. The early arrivals will per force adapt to the local culture However, as the numbers reach a certain point, visitors will begin to be seen as invaders. They will cluster together, come to constitute an alien enclave and then, without intending it, to impose themselves on the natives. The ways of the immigrants will inevitably conflict with the ways of the natives.=20 As an example, American are noisier than most Orientals, prefer informal camaraderie to formal courtesy, and have different notions of proper manners in public. Behavior that is informal and friendly in one society is oafish in another. It isn=92t a question of right or wrong, but of expectations.=20 Soon interests will diverge, hostility appear, incidents occur, and retaliation follow. Us-agin-them thinking is natural to people.=20 Note that in the United States, when blacks move into white neighborhoods, nothing happens =96 at first. When the proportion of black= s reaches a certain point =96 thirty percent is a figure I=92ve often seen = =96 the remaining whites flee. The same happens in reverse. When white gentrifiers move into the black city, they clump together. When they become conspicuous by their plenitude, resentment arises among the black population.=20 By contrast, when groups have their own territory and do not too much come into contact, feelings improve. Neither side feels in danger of being dominated by the other. Thus homogeneous countries tend to be happier countries.=20 All of this is obvious. And yet we follow policies sure to cause unending trouble, certainly cultural suicide, perhaps catastrophe, because of bullheaded insistence that things be as we wish, not as they are. The spirit of Marxism is much in evidence here =96 the view that people are amorphous, anonymous, barely sentient putty to be shaped by soulless theoreticians. (Can there be a more contemptuous word for humanity than =93the masses=94?) For all of this, I think, we will pay a price.=20 Note: Fred is diving in the Caribbean this week and temporarily can't be screamed at.=20 =A9Fred Reed 2002=20 ----------------------- end forwarded message from David J Lindstedt ----= ------------------- -- --- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-= 19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+------------------= --- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath n= o weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand =3D Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy= a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Chr= ist ----------------+----------+--------------------------+------------------= --- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! --- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Vance Subject: A note from GW.. (fwd) Date: 29 Apr 2002 18:28:50 -0700 (PDT) ----------------------- begin forwarded message from Bruce Chesley ----------------------- FYI. Bruce Chesley Truth is a terrible cross to bear. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.". Thomas Paine Treason for $$$: ALL "pro 2A" orgs. --------- Forwarded message ---------- (A Letter from the White House) The White House Washington, DC Dear Friend: Thank you for your recent letter criticizing the treatment of the Taliban and El Qaeda detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. My administration takes these matters seriously, and your opinion was heard loud and clear here in Washington. As part of the Administration's Retraining Program, you'll be pleased to learn that we have decided to place one detainee under your exclusive care ! Your detainee is scheduled to be delivered to your personal residence on Monday, April 29, 2002.. The detainee is to be cared for pursuant to the standards you strongly recommended in your letter of admonishment. It will be necessary that you hire your own caretakers. We will also conduct weekly inspections, of course, to assure that your detainee is actually being cared for in the manner you personally prescribed. His meal requirements are simple, but we strongly suggest using menus that do not require utensils, particularly knives and forks. While he does bite, the rabies test was negative, so not to worry. However, your adopted detainee does have a bad case of body lice that we haven't completely remedied. Although he is sociopath and extremely violent, we are confident that your sensitivity to what you described as his "attitudinal problem" will help him overcome these character flaws. Perhaps you are correct in describing these difficulties as mere cultural differences. We understand that you plan to offer counseling and home schooling. Your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat and can extinguish human life with such simple items as a pencil or light bulb. We do not suggest that you ask him to demonstrate these proficiencies at your next bridge party. He also has the ability to make a variety of lethal bombs from common household products, so you may wish to keep those items locked up, unless this action appears paranoid and offensive to your detainee. Please heed the large orange notice attached to your detainee's cage. "Does not play well with others." Your detainee generally bathes quarterly, with the change of seasons, assuming that it rains, and he washes his clothes simultaneously. That should help with your water bill. Be assured, your detainee absolutely loves pets of all kinds, and is especially fond of cats and dogs. He prefers them roasted. You take good care of our detainee. We'll be watching. Cordially, George W. Bush ----------------------- end forwarded message from Bruce Chesley ----------------------- -- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** 4-19! ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- Constitutional Government is dead, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!! -