From: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com (roc-digest) To: roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: roc-digest V2 #360 Reply-To: roc-digest Sender: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk roc-digest Wednesday, June 28 2000 Volume 02 : Number 360 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Jun 00 11:13:09 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Free Dumb LawDatabase (fwd) On Jun 27, RJK.Sr. wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] DECRIMINALIZATION DAY, JULY 3RD protests ridiculous state laws WASHINGTON, DC -- If you think the politicians in Washington, DC are bad, you should see what your state legislators are doing! And you can, by visiting our free online database of dumb laws at: http://www.silcom.com/~taxabo Over the past year, states have tried to pass bills that would create the post of Secretary of Barbecue, ban the sale of cat-fur clothing, require horse-and-buggy operators to have a driver's license, make big bottles of beer illegal, and mandate that insurance companies pay for toupees for bald guys. And that's just for openers. "States have been called the laboratories of democracy -- but they're actually Frankenstein's laboratories, churning out a monstrous series of meddling laws, foolish dictates, and preposterous pronouncements." "The worst part is that you -- and your fellow state taxpayers -- have to finance all this legislative malarkey." Over the past year, according to an expose from the National Journal, state legislatures have considered or passed bills that would: * Make it illegal to breastfeed someone else's baby without permission. (Maryland) * Create the official government position of Secretary of Barbecue. (Florida) * Require a driver's license and insurance to operate a horse-and-buggy on public roads. (Virginia) * Make it illegal to sell beer bottles that are larger than 32 ounces. (Florida) * Prohibit the sale of dog-fur or cat-fur clothing. (New Jersey) * Require insurance companies to pay for the cost of toupees for men suffering from alopecia -- the medical term for baldness. (Missouri) * Allow underage cooking school students to taste (but not drink) wine. (Florida) * Honor NFL quarterback Kurt Warner for being named the National Football League's Most Valuable Player. (Missouri) * Scold Late Show host Craig Kilborn for calling Kentucky "Kensucky." (Kentucky) * Prohibit auto dealers from selling cars or trucks on consecutive Saturdays and Sundays. (Utah) * Name the green frog the official "State Amphibian." (Indiana) * Designate the Purple Loosestrife plant a "noxious weed." (Virginia) * Mandate a dress code for teachers. (South Carolina) * Force tow-truck operators to accept at least two major credit cards. (Delaware) * Make it illegal to shine a laser pointer at a law enforcement officer. (Indiana) * Prohibit any mention of non-Christian religions when teaching Colonial history. (Kentucky) What do all these bills have in common? They are simply not necessary. "All these bills are solutions in search of a problem. Has there been an epidemic of crazed, bald horse-and-buggy operators wearing cat-fur and drinking 64 oz. beers, who are shining laser pointers at police while breastfeeding other people's babies? "If not, these state politicians could improve the quality of their legislative output by following the old advice: Don't just do something, stand there." [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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!!!!! - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jun 00 19:18:31 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Private Property Targeted for Immediate Federalization] (fwd) On Jun 27, Margi Crook wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] From: "Circulation@Vigo-Examiner.com" Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 06:52:48 +0000 Subject: Private Property Targeted for Immediate Federalization Reply-to: Editor@Vigo-Examiner.com Private Property Targeted for Immediate Federalization by Rev. CURT TOMLIN ctomlin@vvm.com The Christian Alert Network, Inc. Web Site: http://www.vvm.com/~ctomlin Clinton administration ADVANCES Communist and United Nations philosophy on private property ownership. "American Private Property" is being targeted for immediate federalization and seizure by the Clinton administration. Want PROOF --- read on. "Both communism and democracy accept the fact that the economy is an important center of social power. But free societies believe in a free economy - that is, one in which most decisions affecting production and consumption are made by private individuals rather than by an all-powerful state. By contrast, the Communist approach to economics is to concentrate all ownership, control and management of property in the hands of a totalitarian state. Such economic power tremendously increases the internal authority of a political system that has no constitution or political restraints upon it in the first place." (Source: US Department of Defense Training Manual (DoD GEN- 9) "Two Ways of Life: The Communist Challenge to Democracy, page 332, paragraph 3) The land policy of the United Nations was first officially articulated at the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat I), held in Vancouver, May 31 - June 11, 1976. Agenda Item 10 of the Conference Report sets forth the UN's official policy on land. The Preamble says: "Land...cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes. The provision of decent dwellings and healthy conditions for the people can only be achieved if land is used in the interests of society as a whole. Public control of land use is therefore indispensable -----" For more detail information on the United Nations plan pertaining to nationalization of all private property please visit the following TCAN web site: http://www.vvm.com/~ctomlin/a90.htm For your information and IMMEDIATE ACTION....... TCAN is please to forward the following URGENT information provided by Tom DeWeese, President, American Policy Center ***************************************** Desperate CARA Forces Turning to Dirty Tricks... your Immediate Action Needed! The future of private property will be decided on June 27 and 28 when S. 25, The Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA), comes before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for mark-up. In an obvious effort to divide and confuse you, Senators are busy introducing "sleeper" CARA bills. All of these bills will then be combined into one; probably under a different number (got the strategy?) and then rushed to the Senate floor for a vote. This is a typical tactic of Congress when our elected officials are determined to pass an unpopular bill. Do not, repeat, DO NOT let them get away with it! Two of the "sleeper" CARA bills that we know of are S. 2123 and S. 2181. Both are slightly altered versions of the original S.25, but the impact is the same in every respect. You should be outraged that these sort of devious tactics would be used to force a bill on the American citizens that is not only unwanted, but also could be used to coerce you off of your private property! If passed, CARA will result in a massive, permanent $3 billion per year trust fund for the Federal government to invade rural America, shut down farms, close ranches and seal off billions of acres of private and public property from human use. This is easily the most destructive piece of legislation to come down the pike in years as CARA will result in the BIGGEST Federal land grabbing spree ever! Send Sen. Murkowski and the Senate Energy Committee a strong message: "NO on CARA!" Do it today! Monday 26 June ACTION TO TAKE ACTION # 1. Listed below are the members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. If your Senator is on this list, you MUST call and tell him to oppose S. 25, S. 2123, and S. 2181. Call early and often! Every environmental extremist organization is using their massive war chest to push CARA through. Your repeated calls are vital! ACTION # 2. IMPORTANT: Even if your Senators are not on the list below, call them anyway. If CARA is not defeated in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee next Tuesday and Wednesday, your Senators will be voting on this monster come July! Capitol Hill Senate Switchboard: (202)224-3121 simply call and ask for your Senator by name. 1. Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK): Phone--(202) 224-6665 and Fax--(202) 224-5301 2. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM): Phone--(202) 224-6621 and Fax--(202) 224-7371 3. Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK): Phone--(202) 224-5754 and Fax--(202) 224-6008 4. Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID): Phone--(202) 224-2752 and Fax--(202) 228-1067 5. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO): Phone--(202) 224-5852 and Fax--(202) 224-1933 6. Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY): Phone--(202) 224-6441 and Fax--(202) 224-1727 7. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR): Phone--(202) 224-3753 and Fax--(202)228-3997 8. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY): Phone--(202) 224-4343 and Fax--(202) 228-1373 9. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL): Phone--(202) 224-2854 and Fax--(202) 228-1372 10. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA): Phone--(202) 224-3441 and Fax--(202) 224-9393 11.Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT): Phone--(202) 224-2644 and Fax--(202) 224-8594 12. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) Phone--(202) 224-5521 and Fax--(202) 224-2852 13. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI): Phone--(202) 224-6361 and Fax--(202) 224-2126 14. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND): Phone--(202) 224-2551 and Fax--(202) 224-1193 15. Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL): Phone--(202) 224-3041 and Fax--(202) 224-2237 16. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): Phone--(202) 224-5244 and Fax--(202) 228-2717 17. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD): Phone--(202) 224-5842 and Fax--(202) 228-5765 18. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA): Phone--(202) 224-5824 and Fax--(202) 224-9735 19. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN): Phone--(202) 224-5623 and Fax--(202) 228-1377 20. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR): Phone--(202) 224-4843 and Fax--(202) 228-1371 ACTION # 3. Call Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Frank Murkowski (202-224-6665) and voice your strong opposition to CARA (S.25; S.2123, and S.2181). Everyone must make this call. Sen. Murkowski needs to know that underhanded attempts to diminish American private property rights WILL NOT BE TOLERATED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! TCAN Respectfully request that all readers FORWARD this alert to the maximum extent possible. - --------------------------------------------- Enjoy a 90 day free trial subscription to the E-mail edition of the Vigo Examiner. You will receive up to three of our top stories, editorials or letters each day. Send your trial subscription request to Circulation@Vigo-Examiner.com. [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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!!!!! - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jun 00 13:41:05 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: SuperPower troopers versus irregulars - 4 lessons from history (fwd) On Jun 28, Jurist wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] RKBA Defenders, Leftists sneer at the concept that armed citizens could in any way challenge a standing military, and, based on this erroneous assumption, make the logical contortion that 'if resistance is futile, then the Second Amendment is obsolete -- outdated. We might as well put it out of its misery.' Well, as can be expected from the Left, it is simply a lie. With proper tactics, weapons and determination, ragged, irregular troops have taken a serious toll on established armies from the King George III, the Arab League, the French in Indo-China and Algeria, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, and so on... Key to all these successes were the availability of arms. The rebellions in 1950's Eastern Europe were brutally suppressed, the civilians not having their own weapons. And so it has been with all disarmed populations. Every tyrant has feared a well-armed populace. Many on these lists are veterans, some served in Vietnam. And among this subset, some served in the field. They know the crude effectiveness of AK's, RPGs and booby traps. Four engagements of SuperPower Troopers versus irregular troops: Chechnya, Afghanistan, Somalia and the English retreat from Concord. In Liberty, Rick V. Keyboard Commando ;-) Chechnya Chechnya's separatist wars against Moscow - in particular, since 1994 - have been extensively studied by the Marines, who see Chechnya as the prototype of all future separatist wars, particularly in urban areas. And the brutal lesson of Chechnya is simple - that ill-armed and undermanned- but-determined factions can either defeat superpowers in such warfare or inflict such hellish losses on them as to destabilize the superpower itself politically." http://www.alamanceind.com/intern/intern_1.html - - The Black Tulip - Flying the Mi-24 Hind over Afghanistan "Infantry close aboard, twelve o'clock, firing now!" Belyanov snapped his head around to see tracers all around the canopy, arcing up into the night. They had missed this group entirely, and they were almost on top of them -- Belyanov added collective and slammed the helicopter into a fifty degree bank, tailed by sparkling tracers. He jammed the trigger back and felt the turret gun's chattering, firing aimless bursts at the unseen enemy below. Back to the left, Rukhin called a target -- Belyanov rolled back out to bring the turret gun to bear, and three of the shadowy figures collapsed beneath the pounding, glowing rounds. Then he pushed the helicopter into an ascending circle, scanning the landscape below. He could feel panic now. As long as the enemy was in front of you, you didn't worry too much; your weapons generally outranged his, and what you could see you could shoot. But when he disappeared under the nose into that fatal zone beneath your belly, he could kill you without your knowing it." http://webcom.com/~amraam/tiw23.html - - Blackhawk Down - US Army Rangers - Disaster in Somalia Fire was getting heavier. To officers watching on screens in the command center, it was as if their men had poked a stick into a hornet's nest. It was an amazing and unnerving thing to view a battle in real time. Cameras on the surveillance aircraft circling high over the fight captured crowds of Somalis erecting barricades and lighting tires to summon help. People were pouring into the streets, many with weapons. They were racing from all directions toward the spot where orbiting helicopters marked the fight. There wasn't much the Joint Operating Command could do but watch. . . . They started taking fire. A Ranger in Blackburn's humvee shot down two Somali gunmen who ran right up to the rear of the vehicle as they moved past an alley. At every intersection came a hail of rounds. People were shooting from rooftops and from windows and from all directions. http://www.nightstalkers.com/tfranger/blackhawkdown/Default.html Retreat from Concord Brigadier General Hugh Percy led the British campaign. In his report to British General Gage the next day, he wrote: "In obedience to your Excellency's orders, I marched yesterday morning at 9 o'clock with the 1st brigade and two field pieces in order to cover the retreat of the grenadiers and light infantry in their return from their expedition to Concord. "As all the houses were shut up, and there was not the appearance of a single inhabitant, I could get no intelligence concerning them till I had passed Menotomy when I was informed that the rebels had attacked his Majesty's troops who were retiring, overpowered by numbers, greatly exhausted and fatigued, and having expended almost all their ammunition - - and at about 2 o'clock I met them retiring rough the town of Lexington - - I immediately ordered the 2 field pieces to fire at the rebels, and drew up the brigade on a height. "The shot from the cannon had the desired effect, and stopped the rebels for a little time, who immediately dispersed, and endeavored to surround us being very numerous. As it began now to grow pretty late and we had 15 miles to retire, and only 36 rounds, I ordered the grenadiers and light infantry to move of first; and covered them with my brigade sending out very strong flanking parties which were absolutely very necessary, as there was not a stone wall, or house, though before in appearance evacuated, from whence the rebels did not fire upon us. As soon as they saw us begin to retire, they pressed very much upon our rear guard, which for that reason, I relieved every now and then. "In this manner we retired for 15 miles under incessant fire all round us, till we arrived at Charlestown, between 7 and 8 in the evening and having expended almost all our ammunition. We had the misfortune of losing a good many men in the retreat, though nothing like the number which from many circumstances I have reason to believe were killed of the rebels. His Majesty's troops during the whole of the affair behaved with their usual intrepidity and spirit nor were they a little exasperated at the cruelty and barbarity of the rebels, who scalped and cut off the ears of some of the wounded men who fell into their hands." There is no evidence that the colonist rebels scalped or cut off the ears of any wounded British soldier. So you must wonder how much of Brigadier General Percy's report is accurate. Most accounts say that there were 73 British killed and and 247 wounded or missing at the end of the day. The Minutemen lost 93 soldiers in the fighting. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/9198/revwar/concord.htm - -- Guns Are Tyranny Control http://www.freeyellow.com/members8/iurist - ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Right to Self Defense is a Fundamental Human Right - RKBA [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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!!!!! - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jun 00 13:44:04 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: [Fratrum] [Fwd: Secret Freedom Fighter: Intro] (fwd) On Jun 28, Mark Aiello wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 10:05:18 -0400 From: Patricia Neill Subject: Secret Freedom Fighter: Intro I first scanned and sent out these chapters back in 1998. In honor of our Independence Day, I'm sending it again. More and more people come on the net--so these wonderful excerpts could be seen by someone new. Go and read the Declaration of Independence this week. And then declare your own independence from our enemy, the State. Patty From: Patricia Neill Subject: Secret Freedom Fighter: Intro Reply-To: Patricia Neill (Available from www.amazon.com--Paladin reports that the book is out of print, but apparently, Amazon can get copies. Amazon sells for $15.95 plus a few bucks for shipping. I highly recommend that you secret and not so secret freedom fighters out there get a copy. And get it soon. It was written 12 years ago, so Mack's view of current political realities in America are dated. Things have definitely gotten worse since then. The book has a lot of ideas on how to make it better again. Some of these ideas are violent, and more extreme than I am willing to recommend [in public--Hi all you alphabet guys, quit reading my email and get a real job, would ya?] some are pure monkeywrenching, many of them are simply excellent. Use your own judgment. Most emphatically do not rely on mine. That would be just plain dumb. Patty) Introduction >From The Secret Freedom Fighter: Fighting Tyranny without Terrorizing the Innocent by Jefferson Mack Paladin Press, 1986 ISBN 0-87364-392-5 I love America, but not just the geography, the land, and the people. America is more than that. It's an idea, and it's the idea that I love, the idea that human beings can be free, not because some king or lord gives them freedom, but because they insist on living that way. Even though I love America, I've spent most of my life living someplace else. That's where the money and the adventure were for a man with my special kinds of talents. But an American never really leaves home. He always takes that idea with him, the idea that he is free because he insists on being free, that no one has the right to dictate his thoughts, his desires, his will, or his actions. The longer I have lived in other countries, the more I have learned to love the idea of America and the people that live that idea. Americans are different from the rest of the world. Whether our families came over on the Mayflower or with the latest boatload of refugees from the newest commie hell, we all love that same idea,, the idea of freedom. Americans are good people and kind people. We love to cooperate, to work together. We invented the idea of teamwork, the idea that by giving a bit of one's self, we not only work for the common good, but we make our own lives better too. We donate more to charity, we give more to our churches, and we do more voluntary work than any other nation in the world. Because Americans are good people, most Americans obey most of the laws most of the time. We like to get along with the neighbors, we like the peaceful life, and we would rather bargain and compromise than fight. Most of us don't steal, rape, pillage, or kill. We have no tolerance for the violent criminal, the thug, or the thief. But we are not lawabiding citizens. We are a nation of lawbreakers. Americans break morelaws more often than any other group of people in the world. We break laws any time it suits us because we Americans insist on making our own decisions on what good behavior is. We don't let politicians, do-gooders, religious cranks, or puritan bluenoses tell us what is good and what is bad. We decide that ourselves. If we don't like what they tell us to do, even if they pass a law, we don't do it. We want the cop on the beat, but we want him protecting us from the violent criminals, not telling us how to run our own lives. When he starts trying to do that, we thumb our nose at him, make him the butt of our jokesi and keep right on doing what we want to do. We are the only country in the world where a businessman can make millions of dollars selling a device - a radar device - whose sole purpose is to help us break the law. Some of us don't like the traffic laws and we don't like the way they are enforced. We buy radar detectors so we won't get caught when we break the law. We think it's smart, and we brag to our friends about how we do it. We don't just break the law ourselves. We help other people, even strangers, do it, too. That's the real reason most of you bought that CB unit for your car, so strangers could warn you and you could warn them when the highway patrol was on the prowl. Even without the CB, we'll flash our lights three times and gratefully slow down when some other stranger returns us the favor on another day. When the policeman stops protecting us, we do it ourselves, even if we have to break the law. We made a hero out of a nervous, little man who broke the laws of New York and started carrying an illegal pistol on the subway, then used it on four thugs waving sharpened screwdrivers. The main criticism we hear of his action is that he turned himself in. We wanted him to get away scot-free. Thousands of Americans buy semiautomatic weapons and then convert them to full-automatic fire, and never bother to tell the Feds or pay the fee for the conversion. If you are not sure how to do that, some fellow American will sell you a book explaining the operation in detail. If necessary, he'll disguise his purpose, claiming the book will teach you how to repair guns. In the process, he'll also teach you how to make a silencer to go with your illegal weapon. But why would any law-abiding American want a silenced MAC-10? He's not buying it so he can rob a bank the next time he loses his job or hire himself out to protect shipments of cocaine. He's buying that weapon because he doesn't trust authority, even the authority he helped elect. He knows that he is his only ultimate guarantee of his own freedom and he wants a weapon he can use if he has to prove it. We take pride in being U.S. citizens, and most of us pay our taxes, not because it's the law, but because we want to do our share. But a lot of Americans have decided the tax system is no longer fair. They have started breaking the law, and the IRS can't do much about it. The small businessman running a bar or a restaurant slips a twenty-dollar bill into his pocket instead of the cash register every day. That's over $7,000 in tax-free income every year, and that doesn't include the leftover food he takes home to feed his family, but writes off as spoilage. A carpenter builds a sun deck for the dentist that fixed the carpenter's kid's teeth. It's a bargain for both of them, but each such act breaks the law because neither person reported the equivalent income on his tax return. (Imagine, the IRS really does insist that the government should get paid a share of that deal.) I spent a couple of years working in Washington, D.C., one time. A lot of my friends lived in the suburbs of Northern Virginia. Virginia puts a high tax on liquor. Not one of my friends ever served me a drink out of a bottle with a Virginia State tax stamp on it. They all bought their booze in liquor stores in the District of Columbia at 25 to 50 percent less than what the same bottle costs on the Virginia side of the Potomac. That was against Virginia State law, but who cared? The Virginia authorities would run stories in the newspapers once in a while listing the punishments for illegally bringing untaxed liquor into the state, and a rumor once even made the rounds that Virginia tax men were sitting in the parking lots of District of Columbia liquor stores jotting down license plate numbers. That didn't stop all those lawbreakers, but some of them did start parking down the street or taking a D.C. cab over to the liquor store. I have another friend who lives on a forested ridge line in a rural area of one of our western states. Somewhere around a hundred deer live there, too. The state game laws allow him and his wife to shoot two deer apiece during a three-week period every year if they buy the proper licenses and deer tags. They buy the licenses and tags, but if they and the few other families on the same ridge obeyed the part of the law which limits the take to two deer per hunter during a short season, a minimum of twenty deer a year would starve to death each winter. By not adhering to this limit, no deer starve, and the few families on the ridge eat venison from November to April. They're breaking the law and they know it. But they think it's a stupid law, at least as it applies to their little part of the world. They don't brag about it, and they go to a great deal of trouble disposing of the extra hides, antlers, hooves, bones, and innards. They eat well, and the deer herd stays stabilized at just the right size for the available winter forage. I've worked from inside our government and I've seen the authoritarian mentality at work from close at hand: people who think they're smarter and more clever than the rest of us and that they therefore have the right to decide what's best for us, without ever bothering to let us know about it. People who love authority love secrecy. If we don't know what they are doing to us, we can't complain and we can't fight it. That kind of authoritarian mind quickly discovers it's pretty damn hard to keep a secret in America, I'm not talking about military secrets. Nothing is lower than the little shit who sells a code system to the Russians. l'm talking about the kind of secret some government official is trying to hide because he doesn't want American citizens to know what he is planning to do to them. They keep trying to keep those kinds of vicious little secrets, and it never works. It never works because there is always some guy in the bureaucracy that breaks the law. He picks up the phone and calls the local newspaper and leaks the story. Dick Nixon would have gotten clear away if people like "Deep Throat" hadn't broken the laws against exposing government information. Americans don't like people in authority, and we love to get away with something that proves we are still living free. Once a day, or once a week, or maybe only once a year, we all claim the right to break a law. We all say the hell with authority; we all do something that makes those who think they run the system mad at us. I know one fellow who does his bit once every ten years. He refuses to fill out his census form. He says the people in Washington have no business knowing how many bathrooms he has in his house, and if they ever find out, they will probably use the information against him. So he throws the form in the trash can. He doesn't make a big deal about it. He doesn't confront the census taker. If he is asked where his form is, he says he misplaced it, accepts another, promises to fill it out and send it in immediately, and then throws it into the same trash can where he threw the first form. That's not a revolution. His single act in a decade isn't going to destroy the Bureau of the Census. But that's the way he proves to himself he is still a free man, that he still makes his own voluntary decision about what commands he will obey and what commands he will ignore. Thousands of Americans every day break laws they don't like. They play a game of poker for money in their own front room, they buy a number from a runner, they smoke pot, they snort coke, they skip town to avoid alimony payments, they take their kids out of a public school and educate them at home, they don't register for the draft when they turn eighteen, or they smuggle a watch into the country coming back from a trip to Hong Kong. Not one of those lawbreakers is doing anything that hurts you and me. They are not what is wrong with America. They are what is right with America. They are the spirit of freedom in action. I have lived in countries where people don't have that spirit of freedom. Sometimes life hasn't been all that bad for those people living without freedom. They have food on the table, a roof over their heads, a job, movies, TV-most of the things the average American has. But they don't have their own lives. Their lives belong to the men on top, the men with authority. Not all my fellow Americans feel as strongly about freedom as I do. Sometimes I'm afraid that more of them don't than do. But every time I go back home, I find the freedom lovers are still out there, still making up their own minds, still giving authority the finger any time authority starts getting in the way of free living. Freedom lovers don't have to be in a majority. But as long as they are out there, insisting on living free, ignoring those who try to tell them they must conform, freedom will last. I have seen the unfree world. I can't imagine it happening here, not without the total destruction of our country through a nuclear holocaust. There are too many of us that love freedom too much to give it up as long as we live. They may try to take our freedom away. Somebody is out there planning it right now. But there is a surprise waiting for them, a spirit they don't understand. Every man with a radar detector in his car, anyone who ever cheated on an income-tax form, every seventeen-year-old who has figured out how to buy a bottle of beer, everyone who knows the taste of out-of-season trout, every driver who ignored a parking ticket, anyone who ever made some wine in the cellar but neglected to fill out the federal form the the law requires, every woman who needed and got an abortion back when they were illegal, every man that's made an illegal bet on a football game, every bureaucrat that blew a whistle and embarrassed the guy at the top-all these people are already secret freedom fighters. You are out there waiting, waiting for the day when things get serious, when the people in charge stop trying to limit freedom and start trying to take it away altogether. You will be free, because you will insist on it. [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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!!!!! - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jun 00 13:39:58 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Toy guns promote gentle play (fwd) On Jun 28, C. D. Tavares wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] I read about this in Gun Week, and then looked up the original report on the web. It's from England, no less. http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=003024828660687&rtmo=V6JD8rSK&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/5/22/ntoy22.html (watch the wrap) It's from the London Daily Telegraph, which (of course) brackets it with links to scare stories ("Toy guns are not all fun and games - -Familyeducation.com" and the original Dunblane article from all the way back in 1996!) Nonetheless, the article makes a strong case that an armed society IS a more polite society. Even more instructive is the first link at the end of the story, which shows that Britons are now so spineless as to be successfully held up while in their own cars by a THREE-YEAR-OLD on the sidewalk with a TOY GUN who demands CANDY, after which they snivel off to report the robbery to police. Since the original article itself is very short, I will reproduce it below: Guns return to the nursery school toy chest By Liz Lightfoot, Education Correspondent A BAN on toy guns in nurseries is being relaxed as new research suggests that they reduce aggression. Far from encouraging violence, they lead to more imaginative and calmer play, says Penny Holland, of the University of North London, a lecturer in childhood studies. Over the past two decades guns have been removed from nurseries and playgroups for fear of turning small boys into potential killers. After the shootings at Hungerford and Dunblane, shops such as Hamleys and The Early Learning Centre introduced weapons bans and parents were advised not to allow their children to use them at home. But Miss Holland said that they had been reintroduced at a number of nurseries and others were thinking of following suit. She said she was surprised by the behaviour of children in nurseries that now allowed them. When the ban was lifted at Konstam nursery in Camden, north London, for example, the level of aggression dropped. Allowing the use of toy guns in a controlled environment provided "an imaginative doorway through which boys' play was enriched", she said. After an initial enthusiasm, the children's interest in weapons, war and super-hero play declined, leading to a more relaxed environment. Miss Holland said: "Having given these boys permission to pursue their initial interests, the world of the imagination has become their oyster and they are diving for pearls." - -- Tavares@alum.mit.edu | http://home.earthlink.net/~cdtavares | RKBA! Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. -- H.L. MENCKEN [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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!!!!! - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - ------------------------------ End of roc-digest V2 #360 *************************