Tag: You’re Doing it Right

Ron Paul Remains Principled

Rand Paul and Kurt Bills both ended up endorsing Mitt Romney for president. Rand Paul, as Ron Paul’s son, demonstrated his willingness to betray family in order to make a political gain. Kurt Bills, as one of Ron Paul’s endorsed candidates, proved his principles are easily set aside for a political gain. Thankfully Ron Paul hasn’t followed in their footsteps and refused to endorse Romney:

Mr. Paul, in an interview, said convention planners had offered him an opportunity to speak under two conditions: that he deliver remarks vetted by the Romney campaign, and that he give a full-fledged endorsement of Mr. Romney. He declined.

“It wouldn’t be my speech,” Mr. Paul said. “That would undo everything I’ve done in the last 30 years. I don’t fully endorse him for president.”

Ron Paul’s unwillingness to put politics before principles is why he’s one of the very few politicians I will support (the other person on my short list is Vermin Supreme because I want a free pony damn it). Needless to say I congratulate him on refusing to endorse Romney for political gain. It’s too bad his son and endorsed candidate couldn’t have done the same.

Support Your Friendly Fascist

It appears some good news have finally come in this year’s presidential race. Vermin Supreme, the only serious presidential candidate running this election, has announced his running mate and his new political party:

In an exclusive interview with Sunshine State News early Saturday evening, American performance artist, social anarchist, and satirical political activist Vermin Supreme announced that he will be running for president of the United States under the banner of his newly created Free Pony Party. His vice presidential running mate will be Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party.

Free ponies and cheaper rent, what else could Americans possibly ask for? This may be the election’s winning ticket and if I vote I’ll likely throw my vote in for Vermin Supreme. He’s a friendly fascist and a tyrant we should trust, how could I say no to that?

Lawful Carriers of Firearms can Return to the Front of the Bus

It seems that the University of Colorado Chancellor, Phil DiStefano, wasn’t amused by Professor Jerry Peterson’s attempt to make students lawfully carrying firearms sit at the back of the bus:

University of Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano notified the Boulder campus faculty Tuesday afternoon that professors “do not have the right to shut down a class or refuse to teach” should they learn that one of their students is lawfully carrying a gun under a concealed-carry permit.

And, DiStefano added, any faculty members who do so will be in violation of their contracts and face disciplinary action.

I guess bigotry isn’t as pervasively loved at the University of Colorado Boulder as Peterson’s statement first lead me to belief. Thank you Chancellor DiStefano for having common sense and good judgement. Let me also thank Uncle for this story.

How to Handle Gun Buy Backs

Gun buybacks have always baffled me. First of all the name buyback is deceptive as it implies the person “buying back” the firearm was the original owner. Since the state was never the owner of the firearms it isn’t buying back firearms, it’s simply buying them. It would be more accurate to call these programs gun buys. More and more individuals are beginning to use the state’s “buyback” program against them. Following this proud tradition gun owners in Oregon attended a gun “buyback” and competed with the state by offering more money for firearms:

They were among a group of gun buyers who’d staked out periphery positions as a firearms “turn-in” took place inside the parking lot. The Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation conducted the turn-in for four hours. Gun owners could turn in a weapon to foundation volunteers, who were assisted by Portland police with handling the weapons for eventual destruction. In return for each operable gun, owners received the gift card.

“I believe the majority of people would not show up here today,” said foundation volunteer Liz Julee, “if they did not want their gun removed from circulation.”

Obviously Julee doesn’t understand how markets work. People exchange only when they feel as though they’ll come out better in the end. Many people who turn in firearms at these “buyback” programs value the gift card more than the firearm that they never use. Few, if any, are attending because they want to get guns out of circulation (if that was what they wanted to do they could just destroy the firearms themselves). While Julee’s knowledge on the working of markets is lacking several gun owners used their knowledge of how markets work for fun and profit:

But a minority clearly knew that the price point began at about $80 cash to sell their weapons to West or to a handful of other buyers on the sidewalk. The group did not venture into the parking lot to solicit potential sellers, having been instructed by Portland police at last year’s event to keep their distance.

West, 22, traveled from Medford. One of his first purchases of the day, a Remington Nylon 66 22-caliber rifle, was for $20. He immediately resold it for $100 to another gun buyer, Darren Campbell of Salem, who recognized the firearm as worth potentially triple what he paid.

West and Campbell both said they were purchasing guns largely because of their resale value. Other buyers said they purchased guns on a principle — to prevent the firearms from going out of circulation — but all the buyers interviewed had at some awareness of the firearms’ true resale value.

In the end the seller of the Remington 66 was better off because he or she valued the $20.00 more than the firearm. West was better off because he valued the firearm more than the $20 knowing he could sell the firearm for more than he paid. The final purchaser of the firearm was better off because he valued it more than his $100. In the end everybody was better off, which is why markets are amazing.

It’s great to see the free market working against the state, especially when it comes to gun “buybacks.”

Possible De Facto Carry Coming to McLean County in Illinois

It appears as though de facto carry may be coming to McLean county in Illinois as the McLeon State’s Attorney General has stated he will not prosecute individuals who carry a firearm:

Bloomington, IL (Guns Save Life) – McLean County State’s Attorney Ron Dozier is set to announce publicly today, Monday, August 2o, to the media and residents of McLean County, Illinois, his decision not to prosecute Firearm Owner Identification Card holders who are arrested for merely possessing a concealed weapon in violation of Illinois’ prohibition on law-abiding residents carrying the means with which to protect themselves.

In essence, with Dozier’s decision, gun owners may be able to use their FOID card as a de facto carry permit in that county.

It’s nice to see that there are a few individuals working for the state that have common sense and the backbone to disobey the state’s decrees. Even though this is good news and I commend Dozier for his refusing to enforce an idiotic law the state has many ways to deal with dissidents:

His purpose in making the announcement, he cautions, isn’t to encourage folks to disregard the laws, particular pertaining to firearms, but to send a message to the Governor and legislators “who continue to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court decisions”.

Now, as we mentioned earlier, word of this announcement has been filtering around. Word has it the Illinois State Police is borderline apoplectic. “We can’t have a bunch of untrained people running around with guns!” seems to be their attitude. We know this statement is nothing but a canard as the Illinois State Police does not support private individuals with training above and beyond the average police officer carrying firearms here in Illinois.

Whether or not the Illinois Attorney General can and is willing to prosecute individuals carrying firearms in McLean Country would be interesting to know.

Let Accusations of Me Being a Communist Begin

What I’m about to write is likely to result in accusations of me being a communist. I fully support actions like the following:

The building unveiled today as the Victor Martinez Community Library was part of a Carnegie Foundation endowment of four libraries given to the city of Oakland between 1916 and 1918. Oakland’s librarian at the time, Charles S. Greene, believed that the city’s people would benefit most from libraries placed within their communities.

Despite this vision, the building was one of seven branch casualties of budget cuts in the late seventies, severing vital library life-lines in poor and working communities. Since then, the “Latin American Branch” library building located at the corner of Miller and 15th st. has mostly sat empty, despite the fact that the next nearest library is miles away, and increasingly difficult to access in a city like Oakland with an increasingly expensive transit system. With its eroding chain link fence and decaying, armored exterior, the building is much more than an eyesore; the unused, but inaccessible, space creates a life-draining dark vacuum of stability that serves at best as a convenient place for the unscrupulous to dump their old mattresses, couches and assorted garbage.

This morning, a group of activists opened this building again for use as a library. Inside is the modest seed for a library and community center—hundreds of books donated by people who envision the rebirth of local, community-owned libraries and social and political centers throughout Oakland. We’ve named the building after recently deceased author, Victor Martinez, who overcame a young life of hard agricultural work to become a successful writer in the Bay Area. His semi-autobiographical novel, Parrot in the Oven, has become a seminal work of the Latino experience. Martinez died last year at 56 of an illness caused by his work in the fields.

I know, I know, only a dirty communist would support a group of activists opening up an abandoned building for public use. Bear with me for a moment. The building that the activists opened was a sealed up public library. As I’ve stated before I don’t believe the state has any legitimate claim to property ownership and therefore I don’t believe they have a right to take a building paid for by tax victims and seal it up. Why let such a building lie vacant? Why not put it to use? Just because the state doesn’t want to use it doesn’t mean members of the community don’t want to use it.

Hopefully activists in Oakland will spend more time on actions like this and less time on bitching about the nebulous “one percent.”

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.

Roger Pion, a True American Hero

I never heard the name Roger Pion before but the stunt he pulled in Vermont should make him world famous:

Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff’s deputies didn’t know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbor called 911.

A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles — five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van.

By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road.

With their vehicles crushed, “We had nothing to pursue him with,” said Chief Deputy Philip Brooks.

This is why I love farmers, if anybody in this country has fighting spirit it’s them. Not only do they have fighting spirit but the way they seek revenge is usually quite comical. In this case nobody was hurt and laughs were had by all (except the police, but they don’t count because they arrested a man for a victimless “crime”).

I know the police are going to force Roger to pay for their cars again (he already paid once through taxation) and likely will hold the farmer in a cage for some time. If there is a relief fund or somewhere to send letters of congratulations I’d very much like to know.

UN Arms Treaty Failed to Achieve Consensus

It’s funny, every state in the world seems to be preoccupied with disarming their serfs citizens but they can’t come together and agree on how best to disarm their citizens:

The US, followed by Russia and China, said they needed more time to consider the issues.

The BBC’s Barbara Plett at the UN said it was a disheartening end to a month of intense negotiations.

However, the conference chairman said he was confident a treaty could be agreed by the end of the year.

Some delegates accused the US of bowing to domestic pressure from the powerful gun lobby in the run up to presidential elections, our correspondent says.

On Thursday, a bipartisan group of 51 US senators threatened to oppose any agreement that infringed on the constitutional right to bear arms.

This is good news for us serfs, it means that we have a little longer under the United Nations (UN) comes to an agreement on how we’re going to be disarmed. Unfortunately I don’t think we’re going to enjoy this gridlock forever:

Despite the setback, conference chairman Roberto Garcia Moritan said the eventual adoption of an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was inevitable.

The UN is nothing more than a big group of states coming together to better tyrannize use lowly individuals. States have a vested interest in disarming their people because states exist solely off of expropriating from their people. Eventually the people get sick of having all of this shit taken from them and decide to hold a good old fashion armed rebellion, which ends with a new government being put into place that either starts off as or eventually becomes tyrannical and must be overthrown (it’s such a vicious cycle, you would think we’d learn to stop creating states to steal from us). With all of that said there is some hope as the United States, China, and Russia make great deals of money on exporting arms. All three states have a vested interest in preventing this treaty from passing.

The Proper Reaction to Terrorism

After 9/11 the United States government reacted by turning this county into more of a police state than it already was. The PATRIOT Act was hurried into law, National Security Letters commanded companies to hand over customer information and threatened prison time for even revealing that the letter was received, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) turned flying into a fiasco, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan began because those countries had oil and lithium respectively been accused of assisting Al Qaeda. How did Norway react to last year’s terrorist attack on their country? As Bruce Schneier points out, sensibly:

“The Norwegian response to violence is more democracy, more openness and greater political participation,” he said.

A year later it seems the prime minister has kept his word.

There have been no changes to the law to increase the powers of the police and security services, terrorism legislation remains the same and there have been no special provisions made for the trial of suspected terrorists.

On the streets of Oslo, CCTV cameras are still a comparatively rare sight and the police can only carry weapons after getting special permission.

Even the gate leading to the parliament building in the heart of Oslo remains open and unguarded.

“It is still easy to get access to parliament and we hope it will stay that way, ” said Lise Christoffersen, a Labour party MP.

She is convinced people do not want laws passed which would curtail their basic rights and impinge on their privacy despite the relative ease with which Breivik was able to plan and carry out his attacks.

If only the United States government had reacted the same way. Instead of sinking trillions of dollars into security theater and war we may have actually been able to redirect those squandered resources into something productive.