The Iron Web

www.the-iron-web.com

Living the outlaw life

Here is a an oldy and a goody! Claire wrote this several years ago and it is still relevant. Make your choice sheeple! Embrace your inner Outlaw!!!

http://www.backwoodshome.com/columns/wolfe0106.html

To be truly free, you will be an Outlaw.

I don’t mean criminal — although you are probably that, also. I mean a person who thinks “outside the law.” When you are an Outlaw, your body (just like everybody else’s) may be subject to the dictates of bureaucrats, armed enforcers and various elected fixers, controllers, connivers, pork-barrellers, socializers, corporatizers, fear-mongers, cigar-sexers, bribe-takers, old-boy-networkers and global influence peddlers.

But when you are an Outlaw, your heart and mind (unlike most everybody else’s) are your own.

What exactly does that mean, though, in this over-lawed, over-ruled, over-executive-ordered world?

Let’s go back for a moment to the statement that you’re already a criminal. I’ve said it before and it always offends somebody: “YOU may be a criminal, Wolfe. But I’M a law-abiding citizen. Don’t paint me with your black brush.”

Well, sorry. You may not already be an Outlaw. But definitely you are already a criminal. You can’t help but be.

In The Tyranny of Good Intentions, Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M. Stratton write:

“The U.S. Code, which contains all federal statutes, occupies 56,009 single-spaced pages. Its 47 volumes take up nine feet of shelf space. An annotated version, which attempts to bring order out of chaos, is three feet long and has 230 hardcover volumes and 36 paperback supplements. Administrative lawmaking under statutes fill up the 207-volume Code of Federal Regulations, which spans 21 feet of shelf space and contains more than 134,488 pages of regulatory law. … Federal law is further augmented by more than 2,756 volumes of judicial precedent, taking up 160 yards of law library shelving.”

And you’re certain you’re not breaking one of those laws?

During the Clinton years alone, as James Bovard noted in Feeling Your Pain, “Federal agencies issued more than 25,000 new regulations—criminalizing everything from reliable toilets to snuff advertisements on race cars.” And Bovard wrote that before Clinton’s final year in office, when the federal government issued more than 100,000 pages of new regulations.

That’s just federal. Let’s not even mention the states.

Still think you’re not a criminal?

Really. So you’ve never: “forgotten” to report a little extra income on your 1040, built an addition on your house without a permit, driven without a seatbelt (the Supreme Court says cops can throw you in jail for that), given a glass of dinner wine to your 17-year-old, smoked a joint, disconnected a pollution control device on your car, cut a friend’s hair without a license, installed an “outlaw” toilet, carried a pocket knife with a blade longer-than-legal (bet you don’t even know what length is legal, do you?), been in a room where friends were talking about doing something illegal (conspiracy!), put a dollar in a football pool, patronized a prostitute, taken a tax deduction you really weren’t “entitled” to, lied to a bureaucrat, “willfully” failed to file, built a pipe-bomb just to watch it go boom, carried money with traces of cocaine on it (like some 82 percent of the paper money in circulation today), put prescription medicine into one of those little daily dispenser containers, given one of your own prescription pills to a sick friend (search Title 21 of the U.S. Code and just see if you can figure out exactly what you can and can’t do with that itty-bitty bottle of Zoloft or Prozac you depend on to help you survive this modern madness), owned chemicals that might be used in bomb making (like the bleach and ammonia bottles under your kitchen sink), transposed the digits of your Social Security Number on a government form, or driven in a car with someone who might have been transporting contraband. Ever?

Remember, these days you can be convicted of “conspiracy” for crimes you don’t even know about, or for buying legal items that might be used for illegal causes. Some acquaintance gets in trouble and needs to snitch on a friend to get his own sentence reduced — and you’re toast.

You can even be convicted of violating laws that don’t exist — as plenty of “tax criminals” have been. Ask the IRS for copies of the laws you’re allegedly breaking and they’ll respond with legalistic gobbledegook. I have a friend who once testified as an expert witness in a tax case. Her expertise? Grammar. On the stand, she diagrammed a mega-monster sentence from the tax code and proved the alleged regulation couldn’t be obeyed — because it literally had no meaning in the English language. Still, people get arrested for disobeying it.

Those are just a few of the ways individuals can get in trouble. Heaven forbid you should own a business and try to get through the day without committing a crime. For example, while Your Father in Washington still permits you, you lucky little person, to disconnect the crazy-making doodad that goes bingidy-bing-bing when you leave your car keys in the ignition and open the door, it’s a federal crime for your car dealer to disconnect it at your request. Like, whose car do they think it is, anyway? Well, actually, it’s not a federal crime to disconnect only the part that goes bingidy-bing-bing when you open the door and leave your key in the ignition, but it is a federal crime to disconnect the part that goes bingidy-bing-bing when you unhook your seatbelt and leave your key in the ignition, which is all part of the same system but a different set of wires from the other one. (Are you following this? There won’t be a test, but there could be a hefty fine later.) Oh yeah, by the way, before you unhook the thing yourself, you’d better check your state law. You wouldn’t want the state-o-crats’ SWAT team swooping down on you when you’re armed only with a pair of wirecutters.

Bottom line. You are no longer a law-abiding citizen. There are too many laws to abide. And it doesn’t matter whether they call ‘em laws, rules, regulations, or something else altogether. You break them every day.

With laws like these, who even wants to be a law-abiding citizen? When you put yourself at the service of rules and diktats of this nature, you put your life in thrall to the kind of people who make them. Even if you’re a member of the infamous Snopes clan, you’re bound to be better at figuring out how to live your own life than people who sit around all day cooking up stuff like this and figuring out how severely to punish you if you don’t obey.

In the science fiction novel Pallas, one of L. Neil Smith’s characters says, “People—pardon me, journalists and politicians—have often accused me of believing that I’m above the law. And yet, who isn’t? … The law is created by demonstrable criminals, enforced by demonstrable criminals, interpreted by demonstrable criminals, all for demonstrably criminal purposes. Of course I’m above the law. And so are you.”

Amen, bruthah Neil.

So why not enjoy being above the law? Why not embrace it? Why not do it with panache? Flair? Savoir faire? Pride and shining resolution? Why not, in short, free your Inner Outlaw?

For this is what divides the Outlaw—D.B. Cooper, Bonnie and Clyde, Robin Hood, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro—from the mere criminal—the creep who steals your CD player or the furniture out of the White House. Or the person who breaks the same old everyday laws you do, but breaks them in a sniveling, sneaking, guilt-ridden way, rather than with a jaunty shrug.

Attitude. Attitude. Attitude.

Don’t let me give you the wrong idea. You don’t have to start holding up IRS offices and distributing the proceeds to starving taxpayers to be an Outlaw. Whatever crimes you’re already committing will do. The essence of free Outlawry is the way you live in the face of growing tyranny—the Outlaw way you think. Even when it’s the government that’s committing the real crimes, being an Outlaw comes in handy.

Some examples:

• You go into a doctor’s office a year from now and they tell you, “Sorry, Comrade. Thanks to federal privacy protection, you can no longer get medical care unless you accept a unique identifying number and ‘consent’ to have your medical records shared with anyone the government wants to see them.” The good little citizen, sick, vulnerable, overwhelmed and puzzled, submits. The Outlaw? The Outlaw has already prepared for this and, depending on the kind of Outlaw he is, has options. Maybe he meekly submits, also—using one of his five pre-built identities. Maybe he knows an Outlaw doctor who trades services for cash. Maybe he makes such a stink threatening to bring a civil rights suit that the doctor decides she’d rather risk the wrath of U.S. Health and Human Services than the wrath of a mad patient who knows his rights (and a good lawyer).
• You’re driving along minding your own business when you find yourself in the middle of a checkpoint. Who knows what they’re trolling for today? Drugs, booze, seatbelt crimes—or perhaps just “Your papers, please” (an insurance checkpoint). A cop comes to your window and although his words say “please” and “may we?” his tone says, Cross me, muhfuh, and you’ll be on your face in the gravel with my knee jabbing a hole in your kidney. “Where are you going?” he asks. “Where are you traveling from? What’s that in the back seat? Who helped you load your pickup? Do you mind if we search your vehicle?” The good little citizen, once again, submits. The Outlaw, once again, has options. That might mean anything from playing dumb and innocent (“I’m sorry, officer, are you sure it’s okay for you to do this? My high school civics teacher told me they absolutely couldn’t do things like this in America. You seem like a nice young man and I’d hate to see you get in trouble.”) to calmly refusing any consent to search to covertly making note of all officers’ badge numbers, names, and descriptions for possible later use. (You know, like maybe sending them a copy of the Constitution.)

The Outlaw doesn’t always emerge victorious from encounters with authority. Bonnie, Clyde, and John Dillinger ended up with their bullet-riddled bodies on public display, after all. You really might end up with your face in the gravel and your nether portions in a world of hurt if the nice officer is having a Justin Volpe moment and thinks you’re Abner Louima. Refuse to allow a random search of your vehicle, for instance and, as Boston T. Party describes in You and the Police, a drug dog and handler may be brought to the scene. The handler strokes a baggie of marijuana in his pocket then touches the trunk of your car. The dog goes wild and voila!—instant “probable cause.” (Or the dog simply sniffs you, and the almost inevitable traces of cocaine on your federal reserve notes lead to a shake-down and the forfeiture of all the cash you’re carrying.)

Government ruthlessness is a giant purple rhinoceros standing in the path between you and the free enjoyment of Outlawry. It’s a rabid rhino. With a cyanide-tipped horn. It’s rutting season and it thinks you’re competition. It’s got a thorn in its little hoofie. In general, it’s having a really, really, really bad day.

Yes, resistance to arbitrary power is dangerous. Let’s nobody kid herself about that. But resistance is not futile.

In most cases, being an Outlaw doesn’t mean attracting attention to yourself. It simply means living, as much as possible, as you wish. More important, it means having the mindset needed to live that way in a world of adversity. More often than confronting, it means ignoring or evading insane and excessive rules. When confrontation is necessary, it means having the knowledge, preparation, and—once again—attitude to help you get through the situation without either passively submitting or going unproductively postal.

In practice, that means something different for every Outlaw. But in every case, it means you have an attitude of self ownership (or, if you prefer, of belonging to God), not being the natural subject, and easy target, of any bureaucrat or badge-bearer who wishes to push you around.

It means recognizing the pathetic state of law and justice around you, and recognizing its dangers—but resolving to live your life more like a free American than a Stalinist peasant, regardless. It means living by your own highest moral and ethical choices, rather than trying to tippy-toe around every persnicketing regulation in every obscure book in every cubbyhole governmental office.

It means remembering that this is still our America. Not theirs.

It means remembering that you are still a human being with potential beyond anything those who want to put us all into tight little categories and boxes—and prison cells!—could ever conceive.

It means knowing every day that, despite the chains and travails of too much government, and their very real threats to your security, your heart and mind remain free.

It means you belong to yourself. That you think for yourself. That you have higher values than any do-gooder, lobbyist, congressthing, corrupt cop, or midnight raider will ever give you credit for.

But that’s okay. Because it’s not their approval you’re looking for. Freedom is what you’re looking for. And you’re only going to find that by being determined to live it.

Gandhi said it: “We must be the change we wish to see.”

Amen to you, too, bruthah Mohandas, fellow Outlaw.

Special Post - Jekyll Island May 2009 - Summary:

By Ernest Hancock

Individuals are motivated by their own experiences and interests, and the quest for freedom brings many diverse interests together, but any attempt to have an individual set aside their goals for the goals of another individual or a collective of individuals has more often than not resulted in a loss of interest.

The idea that we must all focus on a single goal in order to accomplish “a victory” has distracted us from the power of individuals motivated to strike deep into the marrow of abusive collectives and leave a mind freeing infection that spreads rapidly.

As time passes and events unfold it becomes clear that advocates for humanity’s evolution into an autonomous creature, that benefits from voluntary relationships with others, will become the dominant philosophy. I am of the opinion that the only way we are to be diverted from a path of peace and liberty is to change human beings at a fundamental level. History is full of attempts to accomplish that very end. Religion, Nationalism, Patriotism, Fear, Chemicals, Propaganda, Lies and ultimately FORCE have all been the tools of those hoping to get ‘voluntary’ compliance from a species destined to be unfettered in their individual pursuit of their own happiness.

The meeting at Jekyll Island this May 2009 reaffirmed several things for me. The most important is a philosophical gap that many may confuse as ‘generational’. The young were generally unrepresented in the effort to restore a respect for the documents that have become culturally associated with the principles of liberty. The more mature activists looked to the romanticized version of the past for inspiration, while the young have come to look to each other in the contemporary fight for freedom that is far more relevant and personal to them.

An effort to link past efforts and successes to a divine intervention takes away from the divinity expressed in the individuals that were the vehicle for the successes. Any spiritual strength an individual might acknowledge is labeled and packaged into a specific religious package that is expected of everyone with similar goals. As a supporter of Christ’s message of voluntary persuasion (witness, parable, testimony, example,… without the advocacy of using Caesar’s legions to make another be his brother’s keeper) I was comfortable raising my young family as ‘Christians’ and sending my 4 children to 6 years of private Christian school from 7th to 12th grade. But what I learned was that you can never be ‘Christian’ enough and that political force (which was commonly avoided by many denominations until the birth of the ‘Christian Right’ in the early ‘80s) was ‘God’s will’ and the chosen method for bringing the USA within his favor.

The claim that there are Individuals, Organizations, Nations and/or various collectives with God’s “Power of Attorney” on Earth is a sure sign of individual rights being set aside for the benefit of a collective that is trumpeted to be under constant threat.

Fear is the mind killer and has been a favorite tool to keep humanity under control,… ‘Because if you are not in control, you are Out of Control’,… but something happened on the way to a total Police State.

Technology allowed an entire generation to directly communicate directly with one another in many variations of ‘Peer to Peer’ sharing of all sorts of information.

What was highlighted at Jekyll Island were the differing opinions regarding the need for “Leaders”. The r3VOLution of the past 2 years demonstrated just how out dated the notion is that we need ‘leaders’ to show the coming generation how to be their own sovereign. This ‘Generation Gap’ results from differing perspectives on the methods needed to combat collectives used to enslave populations for he benefit of those wielding the power at the top.

Many decades of liberty advocacy has conditioned mature freedom fighters with the belief that only a bigger and more dedicated ‘collective force’ can hope to deter and/or defeat the beast that is devouring us. But if successful we are then left with an even more powerful collective to contend with.

What the r3VOLution’s experience has reinforced in the minds of the young is the inefficiency of paperwork and records and meetings and titles and individuals with ‘shiny badges’ that want to direct the energies and talents of self motivated activists away from the projects and interests that started them on their path to freedom in the first place.

More than two centuries of experience has provided more than enough evidence of the accuracy of the Anti-Federalist’s predictions, ‘Concentrated power and Central Planning never produce desired results.’ In almost no time at all the interests of the collective become more important than the reason for its creation. Decentralization of power, down to the individual, is the ‘secret’ to effective opposition of tyranny.

Predetermined goals of maintaining the “Union” or ‘Rebooting the Republic’ detailed in the US Constitution eliminates the possibility of creating something better. 200+ years of philosophical evolution, the technical ability of instantaneous communication, the ability to travel anywhere on Earth in less than a day and the ability to live a modern life totally ‘off grid’ will be combined with the imaginations of youth to find an improved future of human interactions,… guaranteed.

For the Continental Congress of 2009 to have any chance of success, it must include the representation of those that will inherit this planet and are now on the front lines demanding to be left alone to thrive in a new culture that demands the liberty to pursue their own happiness,… because they already know that they’ll be successful. In the end, Freedom Always Wins,… it just might get a little messy first.

“Freedom’s the Answer,… What’s the Question?”

Special Update: Jekyll Island – May 22nd 2009

By Ernest Hancock
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Feature-Article.htm?Info=0057661

The event has been made very pleasant by Bob Schultz and supporters of his group ‘We the People’. Every gathering features costumed actors that recreate events and speeches of the revolution that are part of an over all effort to create an atmosphere of patriotism, nationalism and nostalgia. While soothing to many, I am not alone in the concern that critical thinking and examination of what is possible today has been ignored or avoided with the overwhelming distraction of what was.

New technologies and the hundreds of years of experience from the great ‘American experiment’ has yet to be a subject of discussion. Each speech and presentation is in support of a predetermined outcome to push the ‘reset’ button on the Republic.

The constant linking of the Declaration of Independence and the united States Constitution is tolerated by most in the spirit of the gathering of 60-70 people.

One event ended with the signing of a “Dedication Scroll” to “dedicate and consecrate our lives” to the defense of the US Constitution. The document was not long, but it as is often the case, it linked the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights into one document while “reaffirming our devotion to the Love of God and Country, the Cause of Liberty and the Brotherhood of Man, and to the Union.” This particular event encapsulated what I feared most about this week’s gathering. The outcome was predetermined. Any discussion about a better Constitution or none at all would not be an option for a future Continental Congress.

“Give me Liberty or Give me Death” by Patrick Henry was well delivered by a costumed gentleman, but the mention of Patrick Henry’s opposition to the US Constitution, and his reasoning (that lead to the adoption of the Bill of Rights) was avoided. The Anti-Federalist (libertarians of the day) were very accurate in their predictions of how the Washington, D.C. collective would be used to trample the rights of the people and have it ruled “constitutional”.

Just before time ran out for the day it was my turn to address the gathering for a few minutes. I’m sure the video will eventually be posted here as it becomes available. You’ll find that my comments were well received and prompted a great deal of discussion that would continue through the night but did not have a negative effect on the enjoyment of the rest of the dinner activities. I kept it light and enjoyable, but I did make it clear that the next generation of r3VOLutionaries might like a say in how they and their children would like to be governed,… or even not ‘governed’ at all.

Bob Schultz knew my mind, as did many others in attendance, and to their credit I was welcome to speak my mind.

Oh,… No, I did not sign the ‘Dedication Scroll’ or participate in that particular Photo Opportunity (several others didn’t sign either).

I look forward to another day with old and new friends and what questions and comments I might have inspired with an alternative perspective.

I’ll do my best to load and post some short video clips with commentary after returning to the train on our way back to our homes.

Peace,
Ernie

Others to be Remembered on "Memorial Day!"

Wounded Knee ‘73: Full Video On-Line

May 22, 2009

Click below to watch the 80 minute documentary, “Wounded Knee ‘73″, a documentary about the 71 day standoff at Wounded Knee on-line. The in-depth documentary retraces the history and cause of the siege, including the destruction of Indian Culture and the abuse of peoples that occurred in Indian Boarding Schools.

Link to PBS Site to view “Wounded Knee ‘73″

MEMORIAL DAY is Special!

Freedom Shenanigans is on hiatus until 5/27/2009! Have a great Memorial Day!

Not all wars were just. Not all causes were right. Many lives were lost for the wrong reasons.

However, many lives have been saved for right and just causes.

Regardless of the hidden manipulations and unseen motivations, those who were willing to lay down their lives, even in a misguided venture, deserve at the very least the respect and remembrance by those who couldn't, wouldn't and didn't.

Remember those who died for your freedoms and live today in their honor so their lives will not have been wasted on the altar of slavery.

Resist tyranny with all that you can! Carpe Libertas!

Battle kicks off over huge energy bill in House panel

From Minnesotans For Global Warming

By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Democratic supporters of legislation to slash greenhouse gas emissions clashed with Republicans on Monday as the House Energy Committee opened debate on a sweeping energy bill that would cap emissions and mandate the use of renewable energy.

The 932-page bill has the backing of President Barack Obama, but is drawing the intense ire of Republicans and even some Democrats who worry the bill’s cap on emissions would punish industries and result in job losses.

Rep. Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who chairs the panel, said the bill is an entirely new energy policy for America.

“The legislation will create millions of new clean energy jobs, save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, enhance America’s energy independence and cut global warming pollution,” Waxman said in an opening statement Monday afternoon.

Committee members plan to reconvene Tuesday morning for a second day of debate on the bill.

Continue reading Battle kicks off over huge energy bill in House panel.

Wow Only 30 Years Ago!

I remember this vividly. Married 11 months, and baby due in November. 30 years already? Remember the old guy Harry Truman who lived on the lake? I don't think they ever found the body. Time to Tax volcanoes for their CO2 greenhouse gas contribution.

Ernie Hancock on the Continental Congress

Ernie tells it like it is! He is right on about this!

Tuesday Links

The Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, in a welcome display of common sense, that cops can't get around the requirement for a search warrant by sending SWAT officers to accompany ordinary regulatory inspections. The Agitator

Don Siegelman, the former Alabama Governor railroaded into prison by the Bush-Cheney administration's corrupt Justice Department, has had his appeal denied by the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals. And federal prosecutors — in other words, the Obama administration — has recommended that Siegelman's sentence be nearly tripled, to twenty years.

While he was Secretary of Defense under Bush-Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld routinely added inspirational Bible verses to the cover sheets of daily war briefings delivered to the White House. How frickin' creepy is that? This is why religion in government is dangerous, especially with a frantic "born again" like Bush.

You've no doubt heard about the Bible quotes by now, but there's more, much more in this belated but invaluable coverage of Rumsfeld's tenure that paints the fellow as an extraordinary jackass. What stands out the most to me, is that one of Rumsfeld's key accomplishments was actively working to block rescue efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Gentlemen's Quarterly How to Federalize all States: US to establish a federal backstop for all Municipal bonds and muni insurance An Anarchist's Declaration

Rise!

From The Libertarian Enterprise

by Jim Davidson
planetaryjim@yahoo.com

Special to the Libertarian Enterprise

They were slaughtering civilians in the countries they occupied. Their soldiers were raping civilians and torturing prisoners to death. They were committing war crimes abroad. They were slaughtering civilians at home, too, and silencing dissent through brutal repression. Children and adults were being spirited out of their homes by gangs of thugs to be imprisoned, tortured, and abused without any legal process at all. Families lost contact with the disappeared, and there was no way to provide legal counsel or any help at all.

The government leaders pretended they didn't know, that they had not been told, or that what they were doing was "necessary" to defend freedom. But how is murder, rape, and torture involved in defending freedom? What does the slaughter of men, women, and children in a church have to do with the rights, liberty, and property that make a free society prosperous?

Instead of revealing information, the government was withholding information. Instead of a commission of inquiry to reveal the truth, those in power continued to insist on secrecy, equivocation, and lies. Instead of resisting them, many of the people were prostrate, silent, and complicit. The news media instead of asking the difficult questions and demanding answers, was silent and complicit. Instead of applauding protests, the news media were mocking and deriding them.

Nazi Germany? Yes. Militarist Japan? Yes. Soviet Russia? Yes. Communist China? Yes. The United States of America? Yes.

Is anyone surprised? Does anyone, at this point, doubt the facts? Then let facts be submitted candidly. (I found it surprisingly easy to find links on these topics, and often hundreds of thousands of results. If you don't like my links, search for your own. See how easy? Can you read each of these pages, please, and tell me that you aren't disturbed? Why not? What's wrong with you?!)

MORE HERE!!!

Weekend Update #15 - Land for Sale: USA

Russell Means discusses The G20 Meeting in London, the rising debt load and the coming impacts for the world populace.

Free Lunch Project

Thanks to Bill St. Clair for the "heads up" on this one and YES (you witless sheeple,) the Free Lunch Project is a parody of the Free State Project. Their mascot is a raccoon, and they call themselves "bandits".

Are you frustrated at the loss of a free-ride and sense of entitlement in America, while the growth of government involvement and distribution of wealth stalls? Do you want to live in communities where your right to three meals a day and universal healthcare are respected? Do you want others to fund welfare by forcing them to redistribute, by force if necessary, the earnings they have worked hard for? Are you looking for freedom without responsibility?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, then the Free Lunch Project has a solution for you.

What the Free Lunch Project is... The Free Lunch Project is an effort to recruit 20,000 dependence-loving people to move to Massachusetts or perhaps California, Venezuela, Illinois or Wisconsin. We are looking for progressive reformers, communitarian activists, and folks from all walks of life, of all ages, creeds, and colors who agree to the political philosophy expressed in our Statement of Intent, that government exists to provide jobs, and should punish those who interfere with the redistribution of wealth.

Shhhhhhh! Secret encoded message follows

Loonies remember if you don't want B&C the Harsh Mistress says TANSTAAFL!

Alex Stone Blind Man Extradition Strory.

Another case of the misuse of "Terrorism Laws!!!" Hey stupids, this is a practice run for charging Americans with this BS!!



YouTube - Alex Stone Blind Man Extradition Strory.

Friday Links

Obama mulls 'indefinite detention' without trial of 'terror' suspects

Much of 9/11 Commission’s findings cite intelligence garnered by Torture

Beware the Hate Crimes Bill

Banks Brace for Credit Card Crash

The Bankers’ Bank - A Government Organized Protectionist Cartel

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From the "Internets"

A little long, but well worth the time to read and understand...

This just about says it all. Now I won't have to explain my guns and the use of them...

PEOPLE ASK WHY? Why I Carry a Gun My old grandpa said to me son,' there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin'. I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed. I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place. I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world. I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world. I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government. I don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared. I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon. I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy. I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love. I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate. I don't carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me. Police Protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves. Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess. Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass whoopin'. ......author unknown (but obviously brilliant)

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A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. >From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
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In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
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Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
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China established gun control in 1935. >From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated
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Guatemala established gun control in 1964. >From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
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Uganda established gun control in 1970. >From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
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Cambodia established gun control in 1956. >From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
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Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
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To Be Black & Head of the U.S Empire: A Contradiction in Terms

I can't add a thing. Read it and weep! Cry out for repentance! It is time for a new America, an America that admits the truth of science and genetics. An America that does not not rely upon the mutterings of a primitive desert nomadic people whose "god" taught genocide. An America that truly believes in the sovereignty of the individual. An America that supports self-ownership. An America that eschews the hypocrisy of the past centuries and embraces the truth of hunanhood for all.

From my kinsmen, Mitakuye Oyasin, We Are All Related

To Be Black and Head of the U.S.Empire: A Contradiction in Terms
by Larry Pinkney

The inescapable but deliberately ignored irony about Barack Obama being installed as this nation’s first so-called black president is that being Black in ‘America’ has in reality always meant so much more than mere color pigmentation.

To be the head of the most aggressive, violent, and hypocritical empire on this planet is not to be Black. It is to be opportunistically and cynically hypocritical while serving the interests of continued U.S. Empire. Those who choose to wrap themselves in the security blanket of the supposed wonderfulness of Obama’s so-called Blackness while ignoring the ongoing horrors that this person supports, are deeply complicitous in perpetrating the misery that this empire is heaping upon Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow peoples both inside and outside of its physical borders.

In April of 2007, this writer unapologetically wrote that: “Beyond mere color, being Black is first and foremost a conscious political, social, and economic commitment to the struggle for the collective betterment of the descendants of the Black slavery holocaust in what has now become the United States of America, in conjunction with other people of color and humanity as a whole.” (Reference The Black Commentator, April 19, 2007, issue 226, article entitled, To Be Black In America: An Unflinching Necessity.) In that same aforementioned article, your writer further wrote: “Blackness is, in fact, not only a rainbow of color but also a rainbow of active consciousness and commitment.”

Negrodian misleaders and their so-called “progressive” and “liberal” white counterparts have put forth and pontificated virtually every imaginable sorry excuse as to why Barack Obama and his current regime of the U.S. Empire should be supported. It is a truly pathetic for all conscious people of conscience of all colors to witness.

As the bloody U.S. wars of aggression rage on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as the war drums of U.S. Empire intensify and deepen into Pakistan under the Obama regime; the peace movement in the United States has been castrated (i.e. made null and void), roaring overwhelmingly with a deafening silence.

As the bankers, the insurance companies, and the other gluttonous barons of Wall Street gorge themselves with trillions of dollars of the people’s money; as more and more people lose their jobs; and as every conceivable action is engaged in to crush the labor movement and the economic and political rights of working people in this nation; the Barack Obama regime, like clever rhetorical sorcerers of the system, keep pouring and passing around the poisonous Kool-Aid of rhetoric for the masses to gulp and ultimately die upon.

Be we Black, Brown, White, Red, or Yellow there is absolutely no legitimate excuse for wrapping ourselves in the hypocrisy of U.S. Empire. We all know, or certainly should know, that the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan are wrong and unacceptable.

Had George W. Bush boycotted and attempted to sabotage the recent United Nations Conference on Racism (in Durban) as did the Barack Obama administration, there would have been enormous outcry from the so-called Black and White left in the U.S. Had George W. Bush continued and even expanded upon the so-called “extraordinary rendition” program (i.e. the illegal kidnapping of persons in other nations by the U.S. Government) as has Barack Obama, there would have been unquenchable outrage! Why the virtual silence and hypocrisy now? It’s time to stop being hypocrites and apologists for yet another administration of U.S. Empire and hegemony.

To be Black has increasingly become clearly less and less about mere color and increasingly about the commitment to political, economic, and social justice.

Onward…

Criminalizing Criticism of Israel

The End of Free Speech?

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

On October 16, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Israel Lobby’s bill, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. This legislation requires the US Department of State to monitor anti-semitism world wide.

To monitor anti-semitism, it has to be defined. What is the definition? Basically, as defined by the Israel Lobby and Abe Foxman, it boils down to any criticism of Israel or Jews.

Rahm Israel Emanuel hasn’t been mopping floors at the White House.
As soon as he gets the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 passed, it will become a crime for any American to tell the truth about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and theft of their lands.

It will be a crime for Christians to acknowledge the New Testament’s account of Jews demanding the crucifixion of Jesus.

It will be a crime to report the extraordinary influence of the Israel Lobby on the White House and Congress, such as the AIPAC-written resolutions praising Israel for its war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza that were endorsed by 100 per cent of the US Senate and 99 per cent of the House of Representatives, while the rest of the world condemned Israel for its barbarity.

It will be a crime to doubt the Holocaust.

It will become a crime to note the disproportionate representation of Jews in the media, finance, and foreign policy.

In other words, it means the end of free speech, free inquiry, and the First Amendment to the Constitution. Any facts or truths that cast aspersion upon Israel will simply be banned.

MORE HERE

How Sweet It Is!!!

With the Feds wanting to tax Soda Pop because of the "health risks" associated with obesity producing high-fructose corn syrup, maybe they should just consider a "sugar" tax on everything. Check out how sweet some of these items are. From Sugar Stacks

Thursday Links & More

U.S. Foreign Policy Caused the Taliban Problem

How the US Empire Contributed to the Economic Crisis

Spice Gold, herbal high as strong as some skunk cannabis (Bummer man, I guess its back to the real thing)

The Founders put the contracts clause in the Constitution for a reason.

Bush's 'Smoking Gun' Witness Found Dead

The $33,000,000,000,000 Question

Blind Interpreter Detained at Philadelphia Airport

Government as a PROTECTION RACKET

Diving into military theory (again).

A core dynamic behind the emergence of the nation-state was it's ability to run a successful protection business (aka racket). A system that has been growing since the treaties of Westphalia in the 1600s. The protection business is relatively simple:

1. It is a monopoly. It has exclusive ownership over the use of violence. As a monopoly, it must crush all internal competitors.
2. It defends its monopoly from outside interests -- as in warfare with nation-state and non-state competitors.
3. It charges the customers (individuals and businesses) within its geographical areas of control for this service. This isn't optional. Customers presumably benefit from this protection.

Historically Successful Protection Rackets

So what made the nation-state formula for protection so superior to its competitors during its ascent over the last 400 years? It's simple. It delivered value to its customers. Let's dive into this with a paper by Charles Tilly (War Making and State Making as Organized Crime). He cites the economic historian Frederic Lane's simple formula for success:

• The protection monopoly must generate tributes in excess of the costs necessary to maintain it's monopoly.
• The protection monopoly must generate protection rents for its customers. The amount the customers benefit gain from the protection of their interests less the amount they pay for it.
• Both tributes and protection rents must be positive for long term success. Further, the nation-state that minimized protection tributes in favor of maximizing protection rents grew the fastest (historically, that was partly accomplished through economies of scale).

The Status of Modern Protection Rackets

The protection formula broke down in the latter half of the 20th Century as the nation-state became more complex. Key elements of this breakdown include:

• First, the advent of nuclear weapons made full scale war impossible (van Creveld).
• Second, the emergence of a global marketplace with global property rights meant that the commercial interests of the nation-state's remaining customers became more powerful than nation-state's interests. This restricted/limited warfare even more.
• The result has been a slow unraveling of the nation-state's ability to maintain it's monopoly over violence (and much more) within and outside its geographical borders. This has created a gap in protection at the local level into which small violent groups are now quickly converging. Finally, there is additional evidence that the economies of scale that drove the growth of earlier protection monopolies has broken down.

What this Means

It's likely that small groups that emerge to seize local control (as in, create a TAZ), will eventually converge on the successful protection model (delineated above). In fact, we have already seen this shift with groups as diverse in origin as the Sendero Luminoso to the Taliban to the Zetas to MEND. These groups will be successful in so far as they:

• Stay decentralized and cooperative (re: opposition to the state) to ensure protection efficiency. There are few economies of scale in this environment given the leverage offered by globalization and the presence of legacy nation-states as barriers to growth.
• Generate positive protection rents for their customers. Deliver value. Protection monopolies that expand into the core businesses of its customers will become vulnerable and inefficient. Expand the business interests of customers by eliminating competition when possible and ensuring market access. Charge competitive rates and not monopoly rents (sufficient tribute but not excessive).
• Diversify. To maximize potential tributes while still delivering accelerating protection rents to customers, a protection racket should expand its customer list. This means extending protection from drug smuggling to generic smuggling (across the entire range of potential goods) to generic commercial activity (standard corporate and small business interests). Create a vibrant local commercial environment across the entire spectrum of potential activity.

NOTE: I think this is a nice expansion of the theoretical groundwork laid down in Brave New War, with the goal of laying out the entirely new framework for how 21st Century warfare will work. Of course, since I don't work for anybody exclusively, it is available to everybody. Use as you see fit.

Yet Another Soda Tax

Here we go again with the food nazis. Or is it the eco freaks and the "Global Warming is caused by people" scammers? They claim that since CO2 is a "greehouse gas," then it should be taxed. You've seen all that "reduce your carbon footprint" drivel. Maybe the two should get together and tax CO2 in any form. Not just pop but also anything that releases or produces CO2.
Beverages (beer, pop, Alke-Seltzer,) dry ice, and everyone who is breathing out CO2. They could even tax extra, all sports participants (including animals since people induced them to breathe harder), all manual laborers, bicyclists (you save on gas but pay for every extra breath!) Yeah that's the ticket! Hey, a little clue for you carbonationaholics out there. Make your own pop. Seltzer water and any non-highfructose corn syrup sweetened juice concentrate. The fizz without the fattener. Its just juice and water with fizz. Better than pop! Need caffine? Add a 5 Hour Energy drink.

First it was the governor of New York, wanting to raise more money for his dwindling coffers. Now it's the current regime and Obama who want to impose yet another tax on people and their carbonated beverages in order to help him fund his socialized medicine scheme.
Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks to help pay for an overhaul of the nation's health-care system.

The taxes would pay for only a fraction of the cost to expand health-insurance coverage to all Americans and would face strong opposition from the beverage industry. They also could spark a backlash from consumers who would have to pay several cents more for a soft drink.

MORE HERE

Of ATMs, iPhones… and 9/11?

Here is a young man that deserves kudos and support. He answered the questions correctly. However the only thing he should not have done is sign that form that was pushed on him. Or better yet sign it "without prejudice" as an explicit reservation of rights per UCC1-207

Of ATMs, iPhones… and 9/11?

Today I was shopping at the downtown Seattle REI. I was about to buy a Thule hitch mount bike rack. They were out of the piece that locks the bike rack into the hitch. So I was in the customer service line to special order one. It was a long line and while I was waiting, I saw two of guys (employees of Loomis, as I later learned) refilling the ATM.

I walked over and took a picture with my iPhone of them and more interestingly of the open ATM. I took the picture because I’m fascinated by the insides of things that we don’t normally get to see. I did not take the picture to case the joint. I did not take the picture to threaten the safety of the two Loomis fake cops with their bulletproof vests, hip side pistols and very fragile egos. I did not take the picture to make it easier for anyone else to rob this or any other ATM. I just like to see things that I don’t normally get to see. (Just like when I was in Vancouver, BC with Fall Out Boy, I got to see the stage being constructed… and took pictures of it.)

They saw me take the picture. After they were done filling the machine with money, the one with the shaved head came over to me in line and said:

Him

When you’re done over here, come talk to me.

Me

No, thanks.

Him

Don’t try to leave. I will tackle you.

Me

No, you won’t.

Him

I’ll call the cops.

Me

I can’t stop you.

He went back to the ATM and conferred with his partner who was then making a call on his cell phone. My turn came up in line. I went to the counter. While ordering my part hitch lock at the desk, the real story started.

The Loomis guys wanted me to give them my ID so they could write a report about me for their bosses because I took the picture of them and the open ATM. The REI security people that had been called in by now wanted the same thing. I told them plainly that I’m not in the habit of giving my ID to people just because they want it, especially fake cops who put money in box and get to play at being real cops.

Their whole reason for freaking out at me is that they didn’t know who I am or what I planned on doing with that picture. I told them I didn’t particularly care what they did or did not about me or my intentions. All I did was take a picture of two people working with a machine out in the open in front of dozens of people. And besides, I’m sure if you spent a couple minutes searching Google, you could find pictures much higher quality, schematics, hacks… any number of things about ATMs. And again, this was being done in broad day light in front of dozens of people. Hardly trade secrets.

So… back to the Loomis guys, REI loss prevention officers and cops.

We go back and forth about why I took it and don’t see it as a problem versus why they think it’s somehow threatening their personal safety and their property’s safety. They’re trying to convince me to give my ID to the Loomis guys to write their report. I’m trying to convince them to go fuck themselves that I didn’t do anything illegal or otherwise wrong and that Loomis doesn’t have any jurisdiction to compel me to give them my ID. Round and round, over and over. Until…

Officer Debra Pelich (#5976)

Remember 9/11? I saw pictures of those buildings. One time when I was in Florida I was wandering around taking pictures. A security team came up and told me it was a high security restricted area. I wasn’t supposed to be taking pictures there. I explained that I didn’t know that, was a police officer, showed them my ID and complied with them. We cleared it up and I left.

Me (totally baffled)

Since you managed to pull the 9/11 card somehow, does that mean that everyone that took a picture of those buildings—

That was when Officer GE Abed (#6270) spun me around and put handcuffs on me. They took me out the back door to the loading garage, put me in the back of Seattle Police car #805. We sat there for a few minutes then they took me down to Seattle Police Department West Precinct. I sat in a holding cell for about 30 minutes still in cuffs.

After they were done filing their reports or whatever behind their two-way mirrored wall, Sergeant William Robertson came into the holding cell. He said basically all the same things that the Loomis duo, REI head loss prevention officer (Paula), Officer Debra Pelich and Officer GE Abed already said several times. We danced back and forth until I said I didn’t feel like talking around in circles again and asked if we were done.

He took me out of the cell and took off the cuffs, had me sign a “You have been trespassed by REI and can’t go back for a year” form then Officer Abed walked me out the door. And that was that.

A few things that happened that I thought were especially ironical were:

1. As I was being cuffed another, REI customer took a picture of me and the cops with his iPhone (the same act that started this whole chain of events).
2. After being worried about me taking a picture of the inside of an ATM, Officer Debra Pelich typed in the code to open the garage door to the police station right in front of me without hiding the keypad at all. Classic.
3. They never wanted to see the picture or wanted me to delete it. (To me, that says this was never about sensitive information or whatever. It was all about power and exerting it.)

That was my day. How was yours?

By the way, if you’re the guy who took my photo as I was being cuffed, I would love to get a copy of that picture.

Update: I spent a minute googling around a minute this morning and found no shortage of pictures of ATM insides.

Monicomp who sells and services computer related peripherals and tools as well as those related to the banking industry include in their gallery not only the inside of an ATM, but also a printer and a monitor.

Nexus Connection have a picture of the inside of an “ATM” that dispenses gift cards.

CGI Direct ATM who’s been selling ATMs since 1995 has a picture of the inside of an ATM as part of their sales material. (They also provide technical information like how many of what kinds of ports they have, what operating system their running, what processor, etc)

Westfield provides maps with the locations of ATMs in its malls.

Outdoor ATM also has pictures of the insides of ATMs as part of their sales materials for: the Tranax MBS5000, the Qualtex Weathermaster Outdoor ATM, the Triton FT5000 and the Triton FT7000.

Even the manufacturers provide pictures of some of their ATM’s insides: Qualtex’s WeatherMaster insides and more inside slideout tray. Tranax’s Card Dispenser, Ticket Printer, Cencon Lock and Tranax MCDU Cash Dispenser. Triton’s cash dispensers, FT7000 (click the photos tab, then the 7th picture; stupid Flash gallery) and FT5000XP (also a Flash photo gallery, click photos then the 7th picture).

Update 2:

• Loomis & Fargo is located at 26 S Dawson St, Seattle, WA which is just off of Marginal Way S. Their phone number is (206) 762-2141.
• City of Seattle Police Department: West Precinct‎is located at 810 Virginia St, Seattle, WA which looks like this. Their phone number is (206) 684-8917.
• The downtown Seattle REI is located at 222 Yale Ave N, Seattle, WA which looks like this. Their phone number is (206) 223-1944).

Update 3: My point being in the whole post, but especially the previous two updates, is that there is much more much higher quality data about everything that this was about already freely available… even from the manufacturers. So again, I don’t think this had to do with safety, security or trade secrets, but merely the exertion of power and the protection of its image.

Update 4: The commments have spiraled out of control, of course. So, I’ve switched it to requiring a wordpress.com login (which is totally free). Keep it classy, internet.

Update 5: I wrote an update that hopefully answers most the looming questions that commenters have.

Update 6: Lots of people have been asking if there’s any way to be supportive to me through this. First off, thank you so much for caring enough to care. Second, there are two very different things one could do to me help me out.

1. Keep an eye on my blog and twitter account for future updates about the incident and where it’s going. Later on I might need a barrage of phone calls made or emails sent. I’m not sure yet.
2. The other thing sounds really lame saying it out loud in front of other people, but… If you want to help me financially, I design and make shirts with my friend (Bookis). We sell them for $15 each. That would help me out quite a bit. (Sorry for the commercial break.)