From: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com (roc-digest) To: roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: roc-digest V2 #458 Reply-To: roc-digest Sender: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk roc-digest Thursday, August 2 2001 Volume 02 : Number 458 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 12:18:14 -0700 From: Bill Vance Subject: Students face controversial new lunch-line technology (fwd) From: Rich Martin Subject: SlickMisc: Students face controversial new lunch-line technology Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 23:48:46 -0700 (PDT) >From : "joe6pk" Let's "face it"; George Orwell should have been buried "face down" a long time ago in this country! Citizen "joe 6pk" Amer I CAN/ face voice recognition http://www.eschoolnews.com/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=2839 Students face controversial new lunch-line technology By Cara Branigan, Assistant Editor, eSchool News July 24, 2001 Starting this fall, some students will buy their lunch simply by looking at a web camera in the school cafeteria and saying their name, thanks to a food service company that is tapping face and voice recognition technology. The most prevalent biometric authentication used in schools today is fingerprint scanning, but companies such as Food Service Solutions Inc. say they want to avoid the stigma attached to fingerprinting-especially in schools. "You bring up the word 'fingerprinting,' and there's a connotation," said Mitch Johns, president of Food Service Solutions. In real life and on television, only "bad guys" are fingerprinted after being arrested by the police, Johns said. "We feel like we're a leader in bringing new technology to the market, and we feel the new system is a more acceptable device," he said. Some of Food Service's school clients do use fingerprint technology in the cafeteria, but according to feedback from these schools, fingerprinting is still too slow, Johns said. Even though the students don't have to fumble with change or swipe a card with their personal identification number (PIN), they still have to stop and touch the fingerprint reader. With face and voice recognition, students merely position themselves in front of a web camera attached to computer monitor and say their name or any chosen word. Reportedly, the computer identifies the students instantly and deducts the meals from their accounts. "For our system, it takes less then two seconds for the whole process," said Jeffrey Buechler, director of sales for BioID America Inc., the company that has partnered with Food Service Solutions on the system. BioID's biometric authentication software recognizes a user's face, voice, and lip movement simultaneously. "It measures speed, direction, and flow as you are speaking," Buechler said. "We take lots of points around your face and measure how they move." To enroll, the student looks at the camera and says his or her name three times for verification. "If I'm saying 'Jeffrey,' I say my name the same way every time," Buechler said. The software can be set up to add a new recording daily, weekly, or monthly to compensate for students' growth spurts, Buechler said. Students can opt out if they want to; it's completely voluntary. Like other biometric authentication technologies, face- and voice-recognition technology lets students buy meals at school without cash, passwords, or meal tickets. It also prevents students who participate in the free or reduced-priced lunch program from being identified. "It will definitely reduce the stigma attached to subsidized lunch programs. No one will know," Buechler said. Johns said voice recognition keeps pass cards from being forgotten, stolen, or lost. It also remedies the problem of students giving out their PINs. "Our technology enables kids to get their meals without a password, without PINs, and without cards. There's absolutely nothing for a child to pass to another child," Buechler said. It's also an easier system for young students. "If you have a kindergarten student, you have to teach them and train them to remember and use the number," Johns said. If students fool around or try to beat the system, they just won't get lunch. "You have to want to get authenticated. I could put my hand over my face, but then I wouldn't be identified," Buechler said. "They only have 45 minutes for lunch. I don't think they'll fool around that much." Privacy concerns BioID's face and voice recognition system "is unlike other biometrics systems in that it protects users' privacy," Buechler said. An algorithm built into the software program prevents the data from being used for anything else. "It's taking a photograph and breaking it down into ones and zeroes using a special algorithm, so there's no actual recording kept," Buechler said. But privacy advocates say face- and voice-recognition technologies raise even greater privacy concerns-and the less information you give to others, the better. "Privacy advocates always follow the idea that one should minimize the amount of data about oneself held by other parties," said Chris Hoofnagle, legislative counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). According to Hoofnagle, there's not much schools can do to keep this kind of data from the police. "Undoubtedly, law enforcement will enter and ask the school for the student data as soon as a crime occurs," he said. Earlier this year, at Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, police used face-recognition technology to match mug shots of wanted criminals with people in the crowd. In a nightlife section of Tampa, called Ybor City, police have set up surveillance so they can continually match people's faces to their archive of wanted criminals. Hoofnagle worries that by using this technology in school, children will become accustomed to it and will give out this kind of personal information without thinking twice. If they grow up using this technology, perhaps they won't question why the grocery store and government offices use it as well. "With the use of biometrics, you begin to breed children that are used to the system," Hoofnagle said. "Especially when you start with young people, you can easily begin to [develop] a surveillance state." Johns doesn't consider this to be an issue in a school setting, because students choose to use the system and are aware that the scanning is taking place. "In my opinion, giving over [your social security number] can cause far more damage than being in a school lunch line," Johns said. "This type of technology is already here, and its use is going to be more prevalent." Eventually, Johns said, Food Service Solutions will expand the use of voice- and face-recognition technology to the library and for taking attendance. Before that happens, the company will see how students respond to the technology. "We will be looking for acceptance from the students, because they are going to have to use it," Johns said. Links: BioID America Inc. http://www.bioid.com Food Service Solutions Inc. http://www.foodserve.com Electronic Privacy Information Center http://www.epic.org - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, 31 Jul 2001 11:56:17 -0500 (CDT) From: Paul Watson Subject: FRN Cruise invitation to OA (fwd) - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 10:50:36 -0500 From: me To: me Subject: FRN Cruise invitation to OA Rock The Boat! Free Republic Network Cruise to the Bahamas The Free Republic Network is sponsoring a cruise to the Bahamas October 15-19 2001. The cruise will include workshops and seminars featuring David Horowitz, author of Radical Son. The purpose of the cruise it to "Light the Fires" of Conservatism - to educate, motivate and activate. For more information and registration, go to this website: http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/frcruise/ Be sure to state that you are with Free Republic to get the best deal possible and to help promote the Free Republic Network. The Free Republic Network - What Is It? (by Bob J - President of the FRN) The Free Republic Forum has always been an ad hoc community of loose knit groups interested in education, discussion and debate on significant social and policy issues in America. Out of this group has arisen those who wish to move their involvement a step further and take positive action to change the social fabric of America. This is evidenced not only by organizations that have been born largely out of the Forum, like SAS and Operation America, but also the formation of dozens of FR Chapters to organize our human potential to address change on a local and state, as well as national level. It became obvious that we needed a centralizing organization, not to dictate to groups and chapters what their goals should be, but to assist them in developing into into successful and effective organizations. Out of this need the Free republic Network was created. The mission of the FRN is to provide operational, legal, communication and networking services to our chapters and groups to assist them in accomplishing their goals. Although it is in it's embryonic stage right now, so far we have been able to provide a website and bulletin board where individual groups can privately meet, discuss issues and organize...far from the glare of the Forum. To date, the FRN has approximately 60 Chapters and special interest groups and about 2000 members. - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 10:27:44 -0700 From: Bill Vance Subject: Is The Game Over? Then Let's Start Shooting..... (fwd) Of course snail mail does tend to be more effective. Of course we should send to our Democrat critters as well, saying, "Ok, _proce_ that you're now Pro-Gun!" From: BOBWORN@aol.com Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 00:25:03 EDT Subject: Is The Game Over? Then Let's Start Shooting..... Subj: Is The Game Over? Date: 7/30/01 5:38:26 PM Central Daylight Time From: therepublican@ideasign.com (The Republican) Either Turn Bush Around on Second Amendment, or the Game is Over. https://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID3D2283 by Brian Puckett President, Citizens of America The unconstitutional law banning import and manufacture of certain militia rifles (so-called "assault weapons") and magazines holding over 10 cartridges, passed by the Democrats and a few worthless Republicans in 1994, will expire in 2004. Incredibly, George W. Bush says he is in favor of continuing it, and incredibly, John Ashcroft says he will enforce this unconstitutional law. While George Bush and John Ashcroft occasionally support the Second Amendment, and are certainly better than Bill Clinton and most Democrats, their practice of helping gun owners in one area while seriously hurting them in another is unacceptable. It was GUN OWNERS who put Mr. Bush in office, and he is stabbing them in the back with his support of the '94 militia rifle/magazine ban. I doubt the current NRA management will raise an outcry over this betrayal, seeing that they have taken that organization from trying to prevent or repeal unconstitutional gun laws to calling for their strict enforcement, thereby joining hands with Handgun Control Incorporated, or whatever they're called this week. It is an absolute OUTRAGE that the federal government -- which is basically nothing more than a temporary collection of our employees, including George Bush -- is enforcing an edict banning the very firearms that the Second Amendment implies, via the militia clause, are the most important. That is, rifles suitable for military (militia) use. Gun owners absolutely must grasp the political reality clearly expressed by "Morgan", who runs http://www.CitizenSpokane.com, which is: There is no such thing as gun control, only incremental gun prohibition. Gun owners absolutely must grasp another political reality, which is: Allowing the government to get away with dictating the features of SOME guns sets the judicial, legislative, and psychological precedent for allowing them to dictate the features of ALL guns. It is an absolute OUTRAGE that the government (including George Bush) is telling you and me, as though we were idiot children playing with toys, that our ammunition feeding devices cannot hold more than 10 cartridges. Where did this number come from? Answer: Nowhere. It's arbitrary. What's to prevent it from being arbitrarily reduced to 8? Or 4? Answer: Nothing. The semi-automatic rifles currently banned by the federal government are no different in basic form and function from all other semi-automatic rifles. So if these banned semi-automatic rifles are bad for society (as the ban clearly implies), then wouldn't it be best if all semi-automatic and/or high-capacity rifles and shotguns were banned? Think it can't happen? Ask gun owners in Australia, where they can't even own a pump shotgun these days. It happened. The Democrats are pushing now to ban .50 BMG caliber rifles, which have been legal to own and shoot for about 80 years. You don't care? You will care when precisely the same rationale for banning it (too big, too powerful, no one real needs a caliber/cartridge/bullet that big) is used to ban all .50+ caliber cartridges and bullets, including black powder. You will care when precisely the same rationale is extended to ban your .458 Winchester Magnum, and then your .375 Weatherby Magnum, and then your .30-'06. Think it can't happen? Take a look at wretched England. It happened. And the ban on normal capacity magazines? If magazines holding 11 rounds are bad for society (as the ban clearly implies) then wouldn't it be better if we reduced the capacity to 5 rounds instead of 10? Think it couldn't happen here? Let me ask you something -- did you ever imagine that the federal government would prohibit you, an adult American citizen, from buying, selling, or manufacturing a new firearm magazine holding 11 rounds or more? It happened. Just a reminder: George Bush thinks that's a good idea, let's keep that ban. John Ashcroft says fine, he'll enforce that ban. So much for the Constitution as the "supreme law of the land," so much for the Second Amendment, so much for "infringed". We must start right now in pressuring Bush to let that 1994 ban on our rights DIE, and we must keep up the pressure. We must let Bush and the Republican party know that if they don't support our rights we will either refuse to go to the polls or we will vote for a third party. If that idea terrifies you, then you don't understand politicians. They understand one thing -- votes. If you give them your vote even when they sell you out, they'll keep selling you out. You cannot send a more powerful message to a politician or a political party than either refusing to vote--and telling them why--or voting for someone else--and telling them why. Don't believe me? Then why has the Republican party folded on principle after principle, becoming the "Democrat Lite" party? It's because you kept voting for them even when they worked against you. If we had stopped doing that ten or fifteen years ago, the Republican party would be working for you, instead of letting you know the terms of their latest sellout to the Democrats. Let's not keep repeating this same mistake, hoping for a different result. There are real, but narrow, windows of opportunity to change government policy by raising hell, but you must act during those times, not complain to your friends. For example, the Bush administration recently floated a "trial balloon" regarding giving amnesty for illegal immigrants. A storm of email, letters and phone calls to the president and Congress shot the idea down for the foreseeable future. That is exactly what gun owners need to do -- starting right now and continuing during the coming months -- regarding the insulting, outrageous 1994 Clinton/Democrat ban on militia rifles, on ergonomic features such as flash hiders and pistol grips, and on normal-capacity magazines. Here's your starter kit. Don't use this information once and forget it. Write it on a piece of paper, keep it visibly posted, and use it repeatedly until 2004 when Mr. Bush wants us gun owners to put him back in the White House. Sure, we'll do that, Mr. Bush -- providing you don't agree with the Democrats that we aren't allowed to have more that 10 rounds in our gun's magazine. Email President George Bush: president@whitehouse.gov Write President George Bush: President George Bush 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20500 To email your congressman or senator, use this link: https://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/capitolwiz/ If you want another look at this situation, read "We May literally Have to Fight". Brian Puckett currently serves as president of Citizens Of America, which is running a national pro-gun rights advertising campaign supported by people like YOU. Go to: http://www.citizensofamerica.org. [Forwarded For Information Purposes Only - Not Necessarily Endorsed By The Sender - A.K. Pritchard] - ------------------------------ A.K. Pritchard http://www.ideasign.com/chiliast/ To subscribe to "The Republican" email list - just ask! therepublican@ideasign.com "Oh, my countrymen! What will our children say, when they read the history of these times? Should they find we tamely gave away without one noble struggle, the most invaluable of earthly blessings? As they drag the galling chain, will they not execrate us? If we have any respect for things sacred; any regard to the dearest treasures on earth; if we have one tender sentiment for posterity; if we would not be despised by the whole world - let us in the most open, solemn manner, and with determined fortitude, swear we will die, if we cannot live free men!" Josiah Quincy, Jr., 1788 published in the Boston Gazette - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, 31 Jul 2001 11:23:01 -0700 From: Bill Vance Subject: URGENT! Klamath Falls Convoys (fwd) Citizens, patriots, please route and help the Klamath Falls bankrupt farmers and citizens. Join the convoys from your state and bring them food, clothing etc. See locations below! Bring your families, and help save our American farm families, land and water. Send this to your local press, radio and tv stations in your cities. Char Carter, Monterey, CA Citizens, patriots, please route and help the Klamath Falls bankrupt farmers and citizens.  Join the convoys from your state and bring them food, clothing etc. See locations below! Bring your families, and help save our American farm families,  land and water.  Send this to your local press, radio and tv stations in your cities. Carter, Monterey, CA From: HEFinSD@aol.com Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 19:51:55 EDT Subject: Fwd: PROP: Klamath Falls Convoy To: Audreymlj@bigvalley.net Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 09:47:40 -0700 To: idzrus@earthlink.net From: "W.G.E.N." Subject: PROP: Klamath Falls Convoy There are several posts this morning regarding property and how it is being taken from us. I am posting this out to the list and will post the rest to the message board in order to save on the Email volume. Please check the board for new postings and for regular updates on the Klamath Falls situation check out the following web pages: http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/ http://www.sierratimes.com/ http://klamath.50megs.com/ Jackie Juntti WGEN idzrus@earthlink.net From: "Steve Washam" To: W.G.E.N. Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 23:25:38 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Klamath relief convoys Message-ID: <4CFDA6F626F@localhost> Per your request Jackie, here are three articles concerning the upcoming convoys to Klamath. As more information is available it will be posted to the following site: Klamath Relief http://klamath.50megs.com The Montana convoy will be coming through Clarkston and Walla Walla on its way to The Dalles. Anyone else from Washington should probably plan to join up at The Dalles. Steve Washam ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS Another Brigade July 26, 2001 By JEFFRY MULLINS Shovel Brigade members and other volunteers are planning to help farmers in the Klamath Basin by holding a traveling auction and constructing a giant steel bucket for the Bucket Brigade. "They flew over and asked us if we'd help coordinate it," Elko attorney Grant Gerber said. "They liked what we did at Jarbidge," he said, and they wanted a similar campaign for their battle against the federal government. Gerber called the government's decision to cut off their irrigation water "the greatest tragedy created so far by the radical environmental bureaucrats." He invited interested volunteers to attend an organizational meeting Friday at 7 p.m. at the Stockmen's Casino and Hotel. Auction items already are starting to roll in, including the gift of two bull calves from Dr. Cal Lewis. Other items being sought include horses, cattle, hay, gasoline, antiques, tractors, cars, pickups, guns, snowmobiles, professional services, boats, art, or anything else of value. Gerber said Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, and the rest of the group "brainstormed" and came up with the idea to build a giant bucket based on Elko's giant shovel. Elko Blacksmith Shop owner Jess Lopategui will again put his welding skills to work on the project. Gerber said Bucket Brigade organizer Joe Bair visited Elko Tuesday with some members of his group and said Elko was the most successful community they knew to confront the environmentalists. In return, "The Shovel Brigade has volunteered to help with the relief effort for the farm families, farm workers and others dependent on the farms at Klamath," said Shovel Brigade President Bob St. Louis. Interior Secretary Gale Norton's announcement this week that some water would be released to the farmers was "way too little, too late," Gerber said. "You've got to commend her for trying, though." It was the bold actions of the Klamath protesters cutting open the headgates that got Norton's attention, he said. The farmers are not going to be appeased by her gesture to release a small amount of water this late in the growing season. "This approach at appeasement is not going to work," Gerber said. "They're going to get their water." With no cash crops planted in their fields, farmers still face economic hardships this year and the prospect of no water next year. Instead, fish species listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act have been given priority for the water supply in Upper Klamath Lake. *** http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news_lo3.stm Convoy to leave Kalispell Aug. 18 for Oregon The Daily Inter Lake A relief convoy to farmers in Klamath Falls, Ore., will leave Kalispell at 9 a.m. on Aug. 18, organizers announced Thursday. Vehicles carrying supplies will travel through Lewiston, Idaho, arriving at a staging area in The Dalles, Ore., by Aug. 20, where they'll be joined by a convoy from the Elko, Nev., area. The convoy will arrive in Klamath Falls the evening of Aug. 20, where activities are planned all day Aug. 21 at the fairgrounds. The staging area in Kalispell will be at the Outlaw Inn. Area residents will carry livestock, feed, canned food and other supplies to Klamath Falls farmers and ranchers whose irrigation water has been shut off by the federal government to preserve sucker fish and coho salmon. More than 240,000 acres of ranch and crop land were cut off from irrigation water in April by the Bureau of Reclamation, which opted to reserve the water for the fish. About 20 percent of the normal water flow was released earlier this week, but farmers say it's too late to save their crops. Seven states are now involved in the relief effort, including Montana, California, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming. Locally, Tidyman's and Albertson's grocery stores in Kalispell will accept food and cash donations between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4. Volunteers are needed to man donation tables for two-hour intervals and sell raffle tickets; anyone interested can call Jayne Strash at 756- 7426. For more information about the convoy, a list of drop-off sites for supplies, addresses for cash donations, map of the convoy route, call Strash or e-mail her at: jaynewhitney@yahoo.com; Cathy Aastrom at 257-6914 (e-mail: jmpnfish@hotmail.com) or check the KGEZ Web site at www.z600.com. *** From: Donald C. Amador, 112531,1311 TO: "Amador", INTERNET:brdon_a@sharetrails.org DATE: 7/27/01 3:48 PM RE: Copy of: News Release-BRC Joins Farm Aid Convoy BLUERIBBON COALITION, INC. NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Don Amador - 925.625.6287 - BlueRibbon Coalition, Inc. - Email:brdon_a@sharetrails.org Grant Gerber - 775.738.2009 - Shovel/Bucket Brigade - Convoy/Auction Coordinator Date: July 27, 2001 (Photo from Klamath headgate is avail. upon request) RECREATION GROUP JOINS KLAMATH FARM AID CONVOY -- SAYS ESA NEEDS OVERHAUL OAKLEY, CA -- The BlueRibbon Coalition is joining a growing effort to help farmers in the Klamath Basin who are being put out of business by the Endangered Species Act. Many recreation and multiple-use activities have also been banned or restricted because extreme anti-access groups are misusing the ESA to enact a political agenda that has little to do with science or protecting the environment. Dune-buggy and 4 wheel-drive riding areas in the desert Southwest have been closed to recreational users because of eco-lawsuits filed by preservationist groups to "protect" the Peirson's Milk-vetch. Beach access has been eliminated in California and Oregon because of the Western Snowy Plover. Cabin owners cannot gather downed trees for firewood in late successional reserves because of the Northern Spotted Owl. East Bay Regional Parks in the San Francisco Bay Area is just one lawsuit away from having to close camping areas because the California Red- Legged Frog was listed as an endangered species. Over 4 million acres have been listed as critical frog habitat because of a suit filed by the Center for Biodiversity. Don Amador, the western representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition, said, "I think it is important for the recreation community to lend support to the farmers who have been put out of work by a flawed ESA. The ESA needs a serious overhaul to bring some balance to the land-use equation. When 4th generation farmers are bankrupted because of an eco-lawsuit...something is terribly wrong." "All of us interested in responsible use of public and private lands should work together to protect access and property rights," Amador stated. "I would urge the Bush administration and Congress to take a hard look at the current ESA to see where corrections can be made so that 'people factors' can be included in the environmental equation. Balance must be found," Amador concludes. The Jarbidge Shovel Brigade is planning to help farmers in the Klamath Basin by staging three traveling auctions that will feature a giant steel bucket for the Bucket Brigade. On August 15, one convoy will leave Elko, Nevada and swing through the Pacific Northwest. The other group will start in the LA area and journey through the California Central Valley. A third caravan is leaving from Montana. All convoys are expected to arrive at Klamath Falls on August 21. # # # The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national recreation group that champions responsible use of public and private lands. It represents over 1,100 organizations and businesses with approximately 650,000 members. - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, 1 Aug 2001 23:15:38 -0700 From: Bill Vance Subject: on nuclear weapons and the well-regulated militia (fwd) From: Swftl@aol.com Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 19:41:50 EDT Subject: {slick-d} on nuclear weapons and the well-regulated militia August 1, 2001 ALERT: On nuclear weapons and the 'well-regulated militia' by Vin Suprynowicz Special to JPFO, for release Aug. 1 Signing himself, "M.D., Ph.D.," a reader I'll call by the initials D.H. wrote in recently: "Dear Vin, I have just finished reading your book 'Send in the Waco Killers'. Congratulations on writing such an interesting and provocative book. I also enjoy your columns, especially those on U.S. drug policy. You were right on to castigate the oblivious public for its complicity in shooting down the missionary and her daughter. The whole drug policy travesty/ scandal is a major reason why I've moved to Canada. "I have a couple of questions. In your book, you seemed to sidestep the question of what the Founding Fathers (may they stop spinning in their graves) meant by "well-regulated" in relation to militias. Also, if you permit private citizens to possess heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles as part of their 2ndA rights, as you suggest, why not nuclear bombs? Isn't it all a matter of degree? Or do nuclear bombs fit under the 2ndA as well? "Keep up the great work." # # # I replied: Hi, D.H. -- If you take a double rifle to a British gunsmith -- to this day -- and ask him to "regulate" it, he will ask not about government restrictions, but rather for what charge and weight of ball you want those two barrels "regulated." Those barrels are said to be "regulated" for a .45 caliber ball ahead of 70 grains of black powder if they will both hit the same target at a predetermined range (often, 60 yards) with that loading. A "well-regulated" militia is one which is well enough practiced in the use of their weapons -- and accustomed to operating together in the field -- to be an effective fighting force. Far from "sidestepping this question" (the victim disarmament gang only keep SAYING we ignore it -- it's a rhetorical trick, you see) I define the term directly at the bottom of page 424: "Well-regulated means well-trained ... in firing volleys, reloading quickly, and blowing things up. What do you think George Mason and George Washington were up to when they organized meetings of the Fairfax Country Militia in the mid-1770s -- trading ginger cookie recipes?" Nor would the other Founders have told George and George, "You're only free to exercise your 'collective right' to bear arms by joining the uniformed mercenaries retained by the crown governor." Quite to the contrary, such "special militias" -- the 18th century equivalent of today's "National Guard" -- were a form of armed security the Founders specifically warned us AGAINST, insisting that the only guarantor of freedom was that "every man be armed; everyone who is able must have a gun." (Patrick Henry, who called this "the great object.") No, George and George did not seek the crown's permission to take up arms and form their Committees of Correspondence. More importantly, I continually ask, both in my first book and in my subsequent writings, "If the other side wants to insist on the relevance of the non-binding introductory phrase, 'A well- regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state ...' let Janet Reno and company explain to me when and how and where I and my hunting buddies are SUPPOSED to go to practice our small-unit tactics with M-16s and a Model 58 or Model 60 Squad Automatic Weapon, the better to BECOME a 'well- regulated militia,' better prepared to shoot and kill the next tyrant to dispatch tanks against harmless civilians on American soil. We'll drive as far out into the desert or the woods as they like; just let them explain to us how we're supposed to legally practice such drills without being jailed for "conspiracy to violate the National Firearms Act of 1934." The answer is that these scum are lying. For us to form "well- regulated militias," well able to resist federal tyranny or usurpation, is the LAST thing they want. Are they pestering Congress, asking the delegates to set sensible performance and readiness standards for the Michigan Militia and the Ohio Unorganized Militia and Arizona's Viper Militia -- standards which, once met, will allow these citizen militias to receive cargo planes full of free surplus Stingers and pack Howitzers from Washington, thus discharging Congress' duty to "provide for ... arming .. the militia" (Article I Section 8)? They would shriek in horror at any such proposal. This "You forgot the militia clause, nyah nyah" mantra is nothing but a totally insincere Jesuitical posturing designed to get their chorus of bed-wetters nodding in unison as they were taught in their government youth propaganda camps, chanting "Right, no guns unless they're part of the militia, which really means the National Guard" -- that National Guard which the Founders warned us AGAINST, their warning term at the time being a "special militia," comprised of uniformed mercenaries paid by and loyal only to the seat of power. Do those who insist "Now we have a National Guard so we no longer need a citizen militia" actually contend the National Guard is there to protect us FROM the government? Did the Texas National Guard race to the defense of the harmless and innocent Branch Davidians at Waco ... or did it loan its military helicopters to the federal killers, happily topping off their tanks and cheering them on their way? # # # As for nuclear weapons, language is important. Look at your own words: "If you permit private citizens to possess ..." It is not the business or authority of Vin Suprynowicz to "permit" private citizens to possess or not possess anything ... and I certainly wouldn't FORBID them the ownership of anything except stolen property. So, for starters, you probably mean: "If the federal government permits private citizens to possess ..." But here we run into the same problem. All federal lawmaking authority is vested in the Congress, and is the Congress authorized to permit or ban or allow or infringe the private ownership of arms? Actually, two provisions apply: In Article I Section 8, as mentioned, Congress is given power to "provide for ... arming .. the militia." It may give us arms. But may it TAKE away those arms, or any other arms? No. The Second Amendment bars any INFRINGEMENT of the right to keep and bear arms. A "power to allow or not allow"? Not there. Nor anywhere else. Is it appropriate for the federal government to own nuclear weapons? That is to say, has any federal official in the military chain of command -- from Harry Truman on down -- ever been put on trial for merely having control over nuclear weapons? No. Therefore, shall we surmise the federal government and its agents have some proper and duly delegated right, power, or authority to possess such things? If so, where did it or they get that right, power, or authority? Fortunately, under our system of government, we know what the answer must be: The government can acquire no right, power or authority except those which are delegated to it by the people. Can you delegate a right, power or authority which you do not already possess? No. Therefore: The American people, both individually and as a group, have the right, power and authority to own nuclear weapons. No other condition can apply, unless you submit that we now live under a form of government where all rights and powers start with the GOVERNMENT MASTERS, who then bestow upon us (their peasants and slaves) only those lesser and included rights which our masters wish US to have. On page 414 of "Send in the Waco Killers," I cite noted federalist and friend of Madison Tench Coxe to the effect that "Their swords, and every other terrible instrument of the soldier, are the birth right of an American. ... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or the state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people." It was only upon the receipt of such solemn, written promises as this that Madison's proposed Constitution was ever ratified. What does "unlimited power" mean? If I possess "the unlimited power of the sword," who shall limit it? Is the nuclear bomb one of the "terrible instruments of the soldier"? # # # How seductive is the old siren song: "Come on, prove you're REASONABLE; admit you don't have any NEED for a nuclear warhead." But once we start down that road, won't they also wheedle and cajole and nag us into stipulating that we don't really "need" a tank ... a howitzer ... a shoulder-launched missile ... a machine gun ... a semi-automatic rifle ... anything, finally, beyond an unloaded black-powder ceremonial flintlock with a plugged barrel that we're allowed to take out of the police locker only long enough to carry in the Fourth of July parade? How would we respond if asked to prove we "need" to go to church or temple as much as twice a week? Surely once a week is enough, isn't it? How about every OTHER week? Can you prove you "need" to speak to your God in prayer more than twice a month? The only way to win that debate is to refuse to enter into it: Freedom of religion is my RIGHT, and a right exists without any requirement that I prove to your satisfaction my pragmatic "need" to exercise it. In even ATTEMPTING to prove to you that I "need" to be able to go to church when I please, or to publish any column I care to write ... or to own a nuclear bomb ... I lose the argument at the outset. "Need" simply doesn't come into it. "The right of self-defense is founded in the law of nature, and is not, nor can be, superseded by any law of society," sayeth Sir Michael Foster, judge of the Court of King's Bench, in the late 18th century. If your enemy or oppressor has a bomb, then get yourself a bomb. "And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one," sayeth Jesus the Nazarene (Luke 22:36.) Have you really read my chapter on "Demonizing the militias"? All those founding fathers -- re-read pp 412-418, for starters -- reassuring us that "The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States" (Noah Webster)? Is that the situation that prevails today? Government officials cowering in fear that if they try to enforce "unjust laws" they'll be shot down by a civilian populace that's got them thoroughly outgunned? Then why did medical marijuana patient (and former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate) Steve Kubby have to flee to Canada with his family just last week to avoid being jailed -- doctors say his adrenal cancer will quickly kill him if he's deprived of his "illicit" medicine -- YEARS after a clear majority of Californians voted to OK medical marijuana? That facts and rights and truths are inconvenient or "inconceivable" means no more than to say that to a prisoner of some dank cell on Devil's Island, running 100 yards in a sunlit field is "inconceivable." It defines the limits of your perception and your expectations -- your ability to VISUALIZE LIBERTY -- not the limits of the world. Plenty of nuclear weapons ARE possessed by all kinds of people, including the kind that wear turbans. Government "safeguards" are a joke. Think no hijacker could get past the Fred & Ethel Mertz Security System down at the local airport if they really tried? It took Capt. Marcinko only a matter of minutes to penetrate the supposedly ironclad "security" at the American embassy in London -- right through to its ultra-secure "code room." He simply sent a man in a Marine uniform, carrying a clipboard, walking boldly in the side "smokers' door." Last week, the Justice Department revealed that the FBI has lost 449 sidearms and submachine guns -- one of which was even used in a homicide. But we're supposed to believe they've NEVER lost enough plutonium to make a bomb? Noooo. After all, they're not mere fallible mortals. They're "the government." We can "trust" them. The only reason the Soviets didn't nuke Washington is that Washington would have nuked them back. What is the only reason Washington wouldn't nuke US? Because they're "really nice guys" who "wouldn't go THAT far" to hold onto power? # # # I've said my right to bear arms is not DEPENDENT on demonstrating any "need." But I'll tell you one group of people that desperately "needed" a nuclear weapon: The innocent women and children of the Mount Carmel Church of Waco, Texas. If Uncle Sam spent most of the past 50 years negotiating with Soviet Russia rather than attacking them in cattle cars, don't you think Janet Reno's approach to a nuclear-armed David Koresh might have been a little more calm and polite? Ditto the Florida relatives of little Cuban refugee Elian Gonzales. Imagine it: Citizens well enough armed that our federal government would feel obliged to approach us with respect, ASKING whether we might be willing to help them out in a spirit of cooperation ... rather than busting down our doors, shoving German MP-5s up our nostrils, and asking questions later. That facts and rights and truths are inconvenient is no excuse for turning our eyes away from them. If I have the skills to build or the money to buy one, I have a right to own a nuclear weapon, and so do you. How could it be otherwise? To say otherwise is to say I have no right to make myself a straw hat just because I have the straw, because the government has declared a monopoly for itself on hat manufacture, and I must first pay a tax for the privilege. This is like telling Mr. Gandhi that "making salt" was a British government monopoly. We all know where that got them. And of any government which will not trust its own people with these weapons we need ask, "Then why should we trust YOU with them? Because you promise never to use them to cow us into servitude ... as you once promised, before Waco, never to use military tanks and armed helicopters against American civilians -- women and children -- on American soil? To enforce a mere $200 tax?" Has the government in Washington City ever show any reluctance to use weapons of mass destruction against a civilian populace when it seemed necessary to get its way? Forget Nagasaki for a moment; Did Grant shell the civilian population of Vicksburg? Was he punished for wantonly killing those civilians ... or rewarded with his government's highest office? No, D.H., it is not "all a matter of degree." Quite the opposite. Providing only that I don't use them to threaten, intimidate, rob, or murder other sovereign individuals, in terms of the right of government to infringe them, my liberties are not subject to being "weighed against the government's compelling interest in keeping people from smoking marijuana," or "weighed against the government's compelling interest in preserving the endangered sucker fish," or "weighed against the government's compelling interest in making sure little girls can go to bed at night without being frightened by the sound of gunfire," or ANYTHING ELSE. They are ABSOLUTE. And the sound of rifles being sighted in on the 200-yard range is the sound of freedom. It does not say "shall not be infringed, unless the weapon in question is really scary." They're SUPPOSED to be scary. The occupants of Washington City are supposed to go to bed every night, wondering if anything they've done today will get them what it got Charles the First in 1649, or Louis XVI in 1793. To their oaths of office -- unless we decide to sweep those offices away entirely, as is our right at any time -- should be added, "And if this day you usurp the rights or liberties of the very least American, be afraid ... be very afraid." Somehow, I doubt they're losing much sleep over my deer rifle. Do you think? -- V.S. Vin Suprynowicz, assistant editorial page editor of the 180,000- circulation daily Las Vegas Review-Journal, is the only member of the "mainstream" media who uncompromisingly champions the absolute human right of individuals to defend themselves and their loved ones against all aggressors and predators -- uniformed or otherwise -- and to keep and bear the means to get it done. Vin has been a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist for the past nine years. He authored the book "Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998" (the 1999 "Freedom Book of the Year.") Now, he's launched his latest weapon in the fight for individual freedom, the monthly newsletter "Privacy Alert" -- a sharp-edged tool that everyone can use to increase their own freedom, while reaching out to help friends and loved ones "get on board," as well. More than just the hardest-hitting newsletter you'll find covering virtually everything related to protecting your personal and financial privacy (or, as Vin likes to put it, "Your guns, your gold, your freedom,") "Privacy Alert" also gives you the benefit of Vin's 25 years as a professional investigative journalist. You get the low-down on the uses and misuses of SSNs, alternate IDs, confidential banking facilities, onshore and offshore privacy havens, anonymous credit cards ... But that's only the half of it. With "Privacy Alert" you also get the best of Vin Suprynowicz: longer pieces that are likely to run in any daily newspaper -- in-depth reports fresh out of today's news on a wide range of issues that graphically and with heart-rending poignancy demonstrate the reasons WHY it has become so important for us all to learn how to protect ourselves from snoops, con artists, vindictive ex-spouses, unscrupulous business people, ambulance chasers, intrusive government child-snatchers, and regulators and taxmen of every stripe. All with the credibility of a reliable, trained, experienced American newsman with an anti-establishment bent. For complete information on Vin's newsletter, "Privacy Alert" -- how to subscribe; how to order his world-changing book -- send e-mail to privacyalert@thespiritof76.com, or call 775-348-8591. Call by Aug. 14 and mention JPFO: You'll be eligible for an extra bonus if you subscribe -- 13 months for the price of 12, on top of all other current bonuses. - - -30- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. If you wish to help support this service, consider joining CCOPS: $25/year. http://www.ccops.org/ - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 #458 *************************