Month: August 2012

National Night Out in Anaheim Cancelled

Many communities participate in what is called a National Night Out. For those who haven’t heard of National Night Out it’s basically an excuse for community members to get together, party, and… somehow this raises awareness of crime and tells criminals in the community that the people are fighting back (strangely enough these are not promoted as open carry events). Yeah, I don’t get how it’s supposed to work either. What I do understand is why the National Night Out in Anaheim, California was cancelled:

n cities nationwide, people will gather at block parties, cookouts and exhibits Tuesday night for a National Night Out, a way to meet with first responders and learn about local crime-prevention efforts.

But in Anaheim, a city rocked by protests and violence, the event designed to bridge law enforcement and the public had to be canceled.

It seems the community is unable to effective fight the criminals who now possess body armor, machine guns, grenade launchers, and armored vehicles. The community has been devastated by this heavily armed local gang calling themselves the “Police.”

Being Easily Offended

How can you easily offend the mayor of Washington DC? Easy, promote firearm ownership and safety to the denizens of that forsaken city:

A billboard in downtown D.C. promoting gun ownership and gun safety drew criticism from Mayor Vincent Gray.

“I think it’s offensive,” Gray said. “You know we work very hard to be able to enforce our gun control laws.”

[…]

Gray called the billboard irresponsible.

“To promote the use of guns in the city I think really is just anti-safety,” Gray said.

What’s irresponsible about firearm ownership and safety? Oh, that’s right, it’s offensive to the mayor because the Supreme Court told him that he couldn’t prohibit people living in the city from owning firearms. He’s offended because the Supreme Court stepped on his power trip.

The Ensuring Witch Hunts

Since the shooting in Aurora, Colorado it appears as though permit holders in theaters have become the new witches. Three individuals were valid carry permits were asked to leave a theater by police officers in Cookeville, Tennessee and now a permit holder was removed at gunpoint by police in a theater in Milford, Connecticut:

The theater house lights were illuminated as Officers entered. Patrons were told to raise their hands and file from the theater. As they exited they were patted down and escorted outside.

Officers identified the suspect and with weapons drawn, ordered the suspect to put his hands up. He allegedly remained in his seat while using his cell phone.

He allegedly did not comply with the Officers’ commands, and was taken into custody by force. Officers allegedly removed a loaded handgun from the suspect’s waistband at the small of his back.

The armed man, Sung H. Hwang, age 46 of New Haven, was handcuffed and removed from the theater. Hwang possesses a valid State of CT permit to carry a pistol.

If I’m ever in a theater (or anywhere else) and police officers come in demanding I raise my hands and submit to a pat down I’m going to do what Mr. Hwang did, simply ignore them. Nobody should readily comply with police officers acting outside of the law. Unless officers have a warrant or are arresting you there is no reason you should be expected to submit to a pat down.

Furthermore there was no reason for the police to draw their weapons on a man who wasn’t being hostile. If you or I pulled our weapon on somebody playing on their cell phone we would likely find ourselves in jail, the same should apply to the police.

When all was said and done Mr. Hwang was arrested, the charges being Breach of Peace and Interfering with Police. I don’t know how either charge applies as sitting in a theater isn’t breaching peace and simply ignoring the police doesn’t qualify as interfering with them. It’s too bad the same state that employes the police also controls the courts because Mr. Hwang, as far as I’m concerned, was kidnaped by the police officers and is due compensation for the wrong that was committed against him.

I’m already sick of this witch hunt against permit holders in theaters.

Markets Cannot be Suppressed

No matter how tyrannical the state gets, no matter what controls they put into place, they cannot suppress the market. What if you want to order something anonymously? In this day and age that can be very difficult because ordering items online generally requires a credit card that is tied to an account with your name attached to it. To get around this the denizens of the Internet decided to combine Tor and Bitcoin to create The Silk Road.

For those who haven’t heard of The Silk Road it’s a Tor hidden service where people can buy and sell anything (except weapons, they allow the sale of drugs but for some reason draw the line at weapons). Being a Tor hidden service it can only be accessed through the Tor network. If you download the Tor browser bundle you will be able to gain access to The Silk Road by going to http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/ (if you don’t have Tor running that address will lead you nowhere). Once you’re there you can buy anything from homemade cookies to drugs, so long as you have the Bitcoins.

Needless to say unhindered trade is big business. The Silk Road netted an estimated $22 million in annual sales:

In the year since Senator Joe Manchin called for the “audacious” drug-selling website Silk Road to be “shut down immediately,” the world’s most high-profile underground pharmacy hasn’t just survived. With $22 million in annual sales and around double the commission for the site’s owners compared with just six months ago, its black market business is booming.

In a research paper (PDF here) released earlier this month, Carnegie Mellon computer security professor Nicolas Christin has taken a crack at measuring the sales activity on Silk Road’s underground online marketplace, which runs as a “hidden service” on the Tor network and uses tough-to-trace digital Bitcoins as currency, two measures that have helped to obscure its sellers, buyers and operators from law enforcement.

When the state attempts to make the trade of a good or service illegal they don’t make it go away, they just make it go underground. Prohibitions are pointless, an exercise in futility.

Ensuring Romney’s Presidential Candidacy

More evidence is leaking out that the Republican Party is entirely rigging their presidential nominee. Let’s run down the current list of shenanigans the Republican Party has pulled to prevent Ron Paul’s nomination. First the Republican National Committee said they may not allowed Nevada to seat any delegates of the state sent “too many” Ron Paul delegates. Then Paul delegates in Louisiana were forcefully removed from a convention by the police acting on orders from the Old Guard. If that wasn’t enough the state party in Massachusetts invalidated 17 Ron Paul delegates because they refused to sign an oath of loyalty.

What else could the Old Guard do to further guarantee Romney’s nomination? How about threaten to invalidate the 20 Ron Paul delegates from Maine if they refuse to sign an oath to Romney:

In the state of Maine, it is well documented that 21 of the 24 delegates are strong supporters of Congressman Ron Paul.

Those 21 delegates plan to go to Tampa later this month and cast a vote for Dr. Paul to receive the nomination.

A little over a week ago, 20 of those 21 delegates were told that their credentials were being challenged by Mr. Peter Cianchette (who headed the Romney campaign in Maine).

[…]

This weekend, the RNC, via Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster offered a “compromise”… take a look:

1. A majority of the delegates sign a statement agreeing that, if Ron Paul is not on the ballot, they will vote at the Convention for Mitt Romney.

2. Instead of Brent Tweed, Charlie Webster or Paul LePage would serve as the spokesperson for the delegation and announce the votes cast for president. That spokesperson would also handle all media on behalf of the Maine delegation.

3. There will be nothing negative said about Mitt Romney or positive said about Obama (especially to media).

4. The Delegation will be admitted to the Convention, and to all committee assignments, without barrier.

5. The Contest brought by Jan Staples and Peter Cianchette will be withdrawn.

I emphasized point one because it is the most incriminating point. Notice the wording, if Ron Paul isn’t on the ballot the delegates will vote for Mitt Romney, not any other potential presidential nominee. On top of that the delegates must agree to be good little slaves and let their masters do all the talking during the convention.

I’m sure the people who concocted the idea of hijacking the Republican Party had the best of intentions. They weren’t stupid, just naive. They made a common mistake, they believed that the Republican Party was a political organization run by the members. Instead they found out that the party is run by a handful of elites who will pull every trick in the book to ensure their desires are fulfilled. If it appears as though things won’t go their way they merely rig it. As soon as it appeared like Paul would stand an actual chance against Romney the elites made their move, ensuring there wouldn’t be enough Paul delegates to threaten Romney’s ascension.

This is why I want the Paul delegates who make it to the convention to turn it into a circus. Why should Paul’s delegates act professional when the Republican Party hasn’t? Why should anybody be expected to treat the Republican National Convention (RNC) as anything other than a parody? It’s a sham, the entire thing is rigged.

If you want to continue down the political road abandon the Republican Party and move to the Libertarian Party. It’s unfortunate that the presidential election is just as rigged against third parties as the RNC is rigged against Ron Paul otherwise the Libertarian Party may stand some kind of chance. Even though they stand no chance your time would be better served working for them than working for a party that flat out rigs their nominations.

Making the Rules and Determining if They’re Legal

Being the state has it benefits. Not only does it get to pass legislation but it also has a monopoly on determining whether or not that legislation is even legal. Case in point, the state passed legislation granting itself the power to wiretap Americans without a warrant. When Americans challenge the law the state said, “Naw man, it’s all good.” and ruled such powers were not only legal but also that the serfs couldn’t sue the federal government for exercising them:

The federal government may spy on Americans’ communications without warrants and without fear of being sued, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in a decision reversing the first and only case that successfully challenged President George W. Bush’s once-secret Terrorist Surveillance Program.

“This case effectively brings to an end the plaintiffs’ ongoing attempts to hold the executive branch responsible for intercepting telephone conversations without judicial authorization,” a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote. (.pdf)

One cannot achieve liberty when the entity that infringes on liberties is allowed to hold all of the cards. When an individual attempts to challenge a state’s decree they must beg the state itself. How much sense would it make to enter into a contract that stated the other party has the right to make any change to the contract at any point and then gets to determine if those changes are valid? That’s what social contract theory states and the ruling on warrantless wiretapping demonstrates why it’s a dumb idea.

The Illusion of Dissidence to be Maintain at the RNC

While Ron Paul wasn’t granted a speaking position at the Republican National Convention (RNC) his son will be allowed to speak:

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul will be among the top Republicans giving speeches at the Party’s National Convention in August, GOP officials announced Tuesday.

You see, Rand is willing to play the game. When he endorsed Mitt Romney, and proved his neocon tendencies, he was given a higher position within the party:

[Rand] Paul — unlike his father, who ran for president this year — endorsed Romney after he won the primary and is said to have higher political ambitions in carrying the Paul family mantle forward.

This is the catch-22 of politics, in order to get something one must be free of principles. Ron Paul is a man of principle, he was unwilling to give the Republican Party an inch and was thusly punished. The Republican Party maneuvered to ensure Paul wouldn’t be given a fair chance at the presidential nomination. Rand, being more concerned about power than principle, was more than happy to endorse Mitt as it would improve his position within the Republican Party and increase his chances of being granted a future presidential nomination (and I hope he negotiated an ironclad guarantee of a future presidential nomination, it would be such a shame to see his betrayal go unrewarded by the Republican Party).

Obviously this is a smart move on behalf of the Republican Party. The party doesn’t want to see Ron Paul’s supporters flee the sinking ship after their man was thrown under a bus. In the hopes of keeping Paul’s supporters onboard they are offering them Rand, who many of Ron’s supporters still support and is willing to play the political game. I find it unfortunate that this offering may actually be enough to prevent Ron Paul’s supporters from making a complete mockery of the RNC (but I still hold out hope).

The Pen Guides the Sword

Why has socialism become so prevalent in the world? If you ascribe to Marx you probably believe it’s because socialism is inevitable, it’s the next stage of human evolution. If you ascribe to material written by people of intelligence you likely believe there is another reason afoot. Part of the reason is the fact libertarians are rather poor at explaining their positions. The socialists know how to use language to their advantage and language is the weapon of choice in any ideological battle:

A wag in my high school said “Words are the tools of the English language.”

It was supposed to be a parody of deep-sounding but vacuous pronouncements. But the joke turns out to be on him: since words *are* the tools of language, they are the tools of thought. That means you must resist unto death using the terminology of your enemy. The side that controls language controls thought.

Anti-capitalists are onto this fact. Pro-capitalists need to catch up–especially since the mainstream media are dominated by anti-capitalists, who insinuate their distorted terms into what would otherwise seem to be open debate.

As libertarians we have a major task at hand. Not only do we have to explain our views but we must also reverse a century of collectivist dogma. We must use our pens to direct the swords away from individualism. This doesn’t mean screaming “Taxation is theft!” This means explaining why taxation is theft. We must also explain why collectivism is incorrect, which requires knowing the enemy as well as we know ourselves.

Again I urge my readers to study up on libertarian philosophy and socialist philosophy. Read works by Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin. Without understanding the philosophies of collectivism you can’t hope to relate to collectivists and a majority of people in the world currently subscribe to collectivist ideals because that’s what they’ve been taught almost exclusively.

No single swordsman can hope to stand up to an army of swordsmen. Learn to use the pen and with it you can guide the army of swordsmen.