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From westernrifleshooters:
"Barack Obama isnt the leader of the free world; hes the front man for the permanent bureaucracy, the smiley-face mask hiding the pitiless yawning maw of total politics." -- Kevin D. Williamson
Nation has arrived at a new libertarian moment, experts say
Dave Helling and Steve Kraske at The Kansas City Star - claims that libertarian ideas are gaining prominence. I hope they're right, but I don't think they understand what "libertarian" really means. I commented:
"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim." -- L. Neil Smith
Non-aggression implies no extortion, i.e. no taxation. Well, unless the extent of tax "enforcement" is a letter saying "pretty please." It also means there may be no statutes whatsoever in any way regulating consensual activity, e.g. drugs, gambling, prostitution. Works for me.
Of course, the highest law of the land, the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights, already says "... the right of the people, to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." My favorite translation:
"Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, ANYTHING -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission." -- L. Neil Smith
If our lords in gummint can't follow that simple restriction, how can we expect them to follow any rules at all?
Abortion is a contentious issue even amongst true libertarians. It all comes down to whether you believe a fetus is sentient. If you do, then abortion is murder. If you don't, then a woman having an abortion has no more import than cutting her toenails; she's doing with her body what she decides, which is nobody's business. That belief is a religious issue, beyond reason, not subject to rational discussion.
Apache Cordova
Apache Cordova is an app building tool for smart phones and tablets. It wraps a single JavaScript & HTML codebase to run as app store distributable apps on iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, and others. It was donated to Apache by PhoneGap, who still distribute their own version. Looks to be a very easy way to create simple mobile apps.
Encryption Works
Micah Lee at The Freedom of the Press Foundation - Government doesn't work, but encryption does. This article contains good directions for using open source encryption software to make your communications much harder for the tyrants to intercept.
The NSA is the biggest, best funded spy agency the world has ever seen. They spend billions upon billions of dollars each year doing everything they can to vacuum up the digital communications of most humans on this planet that have access to the Internet and and the phone network. And as the recent reports in the Guardian and Washington Post show, even domestic American communications are not safe from their net.
Defending yourself against the NSA, or any other government intelligence agency, is not simple, and it's not something that can be solved just by downloading an app. But thanks to the dedicated work of civilian cryptographers and the free and open source software community, it's still possible to have privacy on the Internet, and the software to do it is freely available to everyone. This is especially important for journalists communicating with sources online.
Real Internet Connection
Andrews and Arnold, Ltd, an internet service provider in the UK, responds gloriously to England's internet filtering requirements:
The government wants us to offer filtering as an option, so we offer an active choice when you sign up, you choose one of two options:-
- Unfiltered Internet access - no filtering of any content within the A&A; network - you are responsible for any filtering in your own network, or
- Censored Internet access - restricted access to unpublished government mandated filter list (plus Daily Mail web site) - but still cannot guarantee kids don't access porn.
If you choose censored you are advised: Sorry, for a censored internet you will have to pick a different ISP or move to North Korea. Our services are all unfiltered.
Is that a good enough active choice for you Mr Cameron?
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein
Kelly Criticizes NSA Secrecy
Barry Paddock and Stephen Rex Brown at New York Daily News quote NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly: [westernrifleshooters]
"I don't think it ever should have been made secret. I think the American public can accept the fact if you tell them that every time you pick up the phone it's going to be recorded and goes to the government," Kelly said at an event dedicating two new harbor patrol boats.
"I think the public can understand that."
My comment:
I don't think it should ever be made secret. I think American government agents can accept the fact that any time one of them steps outside his front door, there are 80 million American gun owners, any one of whom could terminate his command. I think government agents can understand that.
GMail tracks UPS packages
I made an Amazon order a couple of days back. I got an email shipment notice, with a button to go to the order page on Amazon, along with the UPS tracking number. I just noticed this morning that GMail put a "Track package" button on the message line in the inbox that goes directly to the UPS tracking page. Cool:
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"Let's call the state's enforcement goons 'black collar workers'." -- Bill St. Clair
Illegitimate
Claire Wolfe pens a major essay on the nature of the national-sekurity state that rules us.
What if you could sit Aunt Lyda and Uncle William and all the other members of the Average family down and point out to them that a government thats ridden with enormous secret agencies operating under secret law interpreted by secret courts is not, cannot be, and will never be, a democracy or a republic or whatever form youve been taught all these years to salute?
This government is a foreign thing. And all those people you think youre electing merely dance at the end of its strings. And it will never be reformed or held accountable because by its very nature it is totalitarian. It exists to rule you, period. And as long as your money and your belief feeds it, rule you it will.
