Category Archives: Freedom

For the good of the people

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Socialism is for the good of the people, right? It’s not right for the rich industrialists to own the means to production. So the enlightened thing to do is for the people to own it. At least that is the way I understand it is supposed to work. So now we get this from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who is nationalizing the oil, banking, communications, and electricity:

In his speech, he said he will ask the Venezuelan congress to allow him to rule by decree, a power he enjoyed for a year in 2000-2001. Last month, the 52-year-old president said he would seek to change the constitution to end presidential term limits.

So in this case it’s for the good of Chavez instead of “the people”.

Socialism–The Road to Serfdom. In this case they are becoming the serfs of Hugo Chavez.

Quote of the day–Lord Acton

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And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Lord Acton
Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton
1887

Packages to Tehran

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Say Uncle has an interesting suggestion:

I think I’m going to start mailing highlighted copies of the fourth amendment to addresses in Tehran.

At GRPC 2000 I hinted at an alternative to this general idea in terms of email instead of snail mail. Now I present this idea with a little more detail.

You can send 1000 encrypted emails a day for less money than one letter to Tehran per week. And you probably don’t need to send it to Tehran to get the attention of the spooks. Just sending encrypted email to Europe with interesting subject lines would probably be sufficient. From your own home here in the states you can set up a computer account in Europe pretty easily. You install program on that computer which automatically accepts email messages and replies back a few random minutes later with another encrypted email. You do the same with a few computers at home and the homes of your friends (or perhaps your enemies). Basically you have a bunch of bots talking about “interesting subjects” to each other with the contents encrypted.

There are some twists on this such as doing it in such a way you can find out if the snoops were successful in decrypting the mail and reading it. Another twist is to make it impossible for them to read it. Yes, there are unbreakable encryption methods–in general you have a terrible key distribution problem but in this case you don’t have to actually open the email on the receiving side. Your bot just replies with another unbreakable email message with an interesting subject line. Hence the decryption key doesn’t have to actually be delivered to the bot that receives it.

Of course this might result in you becoming acquainted with your local FBI agents on a first name basis no matter how innocuous the decrypted messages and no matter how much effort you put into hiding your identity. It just depends on the number of hours of laughter required to compensate you for the hours of laying naked on a concrete floor in the dark with buckets of cold water being thrown at you every few minutes.

Just a Reminder

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From our friend in Israel:

Friends:
The terrorists have begun killing each other.  The U.S. is racing to infuse millions of dollars into the Fatah terrorist group.  So whats new?
 
Have a good weekend.
Howard

The U.S. has been supporting Jihadist organizations in the name of “Middle East Peace” for decades, as has Israel, by the way.  Can there be any doubt as to why this problem goes on and on, with no end in sight?  What would have been the result if the Allies had adopted this same policy toward the Nazis, or the Imperial Japs?  Does anyone doubt what needs to be done to secure peace over there, or are we still trying as hard as we can to convince ourselves that the Jihadists just want to get along?

Quote of the day–Ayman al-Zawahiri

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You must ambush, mine, raid and (carry out) martyrdom campaigns so that you can wipe them out. As happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, when the world’s strongest power was defeated by the campaigns of the mujahideen, troops going to heaven, so its slaves shall be defeated on the Muslim lands of Somalia.

Ayman al-Zawahiri
Osama bin Laden’s deputy in Al Qaeda
Islamists dig in by the sea as Somalia requests world’s help
January 5, 2006
[The Muslim consider any land which they have ever controlled to be “their” land. Even if they took it from someone else. For example they believe Spain and at least a large share of India is rightfully theirs as well as Somalia. Now these Islamic extremists have been pushed up against the sea by Ethiopian troops. American warships are patrolling the coastline preventing them from escaping via the water. I hope they start dropping artillery shells on them. Let them carry out their martyrdom campaigns against incoming high explosives.–Joe]

Wow! What is their definition of moral?

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Of all the people to be given the death penalty there probably aren’t more than a few dozen in the last hundred years that were more clearly deserving than Saddam Hussein. Not only as punishment for his crimes but to prevent him from ever coming to power again. As long as he was alive their was the risk that he would be free and restored to power and take an incredibly bloody revenge.

Yet according to this report our European “allies” condemned the execution:

The United Nations, the Vatican and Washington’s European allies all condemned Saddam’s execution on moral grounds.

In my view the United Nations has no moral ground to stand on and should just shut their mouth and hide in the corner like they usually do. Or shall we talk about the sex scandals and/or allowing the genocides in Rwanda and the Darfur region of Sudan?

I’ll give the Vatican a pass–partly because it’s the Christmas season.

The Europeans are going to be learning their own lessons soon enough. The Islamic extremists who are taking over their don’t have any qualms about executions and the “moral objections” of the Europeans to them being given the option to convert or die will probably result in some of their positions on morality being revised.

Just another day at the range

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With machine guns and flame throwers.

All perfectly legal and a good time was had by everyone. Except maybe the anti-freedom bigots reading about it at home.

Via Kevin.

One of the ways the anti-freedom people make progress is by asserting people like us are extremists, dangerous, and a “threat to society”. While in fact just the opposite is true. Even if you don’t want to take the time to assert (and/or prove) the anti-freedom bigots are a threat to society you can easily demonstrate the gun nuts (like me, Kevin, and his friends) are just ordinary people, are not extremists, and are only a threat to a tyrannical government. People, in general, want to be “in the middle” and “moderate”. By pushing the envelope in the freedom direction you make it easier for the “moderates” to be further from the anti-freedom bigots.

Do your part and don’t hide in the closet about it.

One Tyrant Down, Many to Go…

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Watching the Saddam hanging, I experienced Three things:  First, a little bit of empathy for the idiot, which soon passed and is nothing to be ashamed about because its just human.  Second, a lot of empathy for his untold thousands of innocent victims– men women and children.  Third, the conclusion that they went awfully easy on him.  Had the table been turned and Saddam been the executioner, the condemned would have been beaten with rebar until he shit himself, had his ears cut off and fed to him, had his tongue ripped out, his knee caps shot, his face kicked in and covered with feces, then he’d be dragged through the dirt, spat on and hanged slowly in front of his wife and kids, all while Saddam watched, smoking a Cuban cigar with a great big giddy grin on his face.  But civilized people are better than that, I suppose.

IRS wants pipe bomb information

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I just got a (virtual) visit from the IRS:

Domain Name   (Unknown) 
IP Address   152.216.11.# (INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE)
ISP   INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
Location  
Continent  :  North America
Country  :  United States  (Facts)
State  :  District of Columbia
City  :  Washington
Lat/Long  :  38.8933, -77.0146 (Map)
Distance  :  2,072 miles
Language   English (United States)
en-us
Operating System   Microsoft WinXP
Browser   Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; InfoPath.1)
Javascript   version 1.3
Monitor  

Resolution  :  800 x 600
Color Depth  :  32 bits

Time of Visit   Dec 28 2006 7:20:28 am
Last Page View   Dec 28 2006 7:20:28 am
Visit Length   0 seconds
Page Views   1
Referring URL http://www.google.co…q=blattner pipe bomb
Search Engine google.com
Search Words blattner pipe bomb
Visit Entry Page   http://blog.joehuffm…mbmaking Expert.aspx
Visit Exit Page   http://blog.joehuffm…mbmaking Expert.aspx
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC-5:00
Visitor’s Time   Dec 28 2006 10:20:28 am
Visit Number   123,064

They did a search on Google for information on a pipe bomb case and found this post where I commented about being quoted by a newspaper on the case in question.

I wonder why the IRS is interested. It’s possible some folks at the ATF show up as within the IRS on because they share the same block of IP addresses or something (the ATF used to be entirely within the Department of the Treasury). But I find it more amusing to believe the IRS thinks there is money to be collected from people involved in the manufacture and sale of pipe bombs.

Quote of the day–Adolf Hitler

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All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those towards whom it is directed will understand it.  Therefore, the intellectual level of the propaganda must be lower the larger the number of people who are to be influenced by it.

Adolf Hitler
[This is part of the reason why we have trouble getting our message across to the public. Freedom, whether it is gun rights, right to privacy, or economic rights is more difficult to explain than, “The government will take care of you.” But just because something is simple to explain and appealing to the masses doesn’t mean it’s right. Hitler’s message was simple, appealing to the masses, and totally wrong. Just like the message of the anti-freedom bigots of our country today.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Lord Acton

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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

Lord Acton
February 26, 1877

Quote of the day–Cal Thomas

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People who relieve others of their money with guns are called robbers. It does not alter the immorality of the act when the income transfer is carried out by government.

Cal Thomas
A taxing time
Jewish World Review April 17, 2000

Nanny state stupidity

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Yes, I know, “nanny state stupidity” is redundant. Get over it. I want to rub the nanny noses in it when they come visiting.

In southern Idaho there is a fireworks supply company, Firefox Enterprises, being sued (a civil lawsuit, not criminal) by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Here is a copy of their complaint.

Basically they told Firefox they had determined that certain fireworks are banned hazardous substances. Furthermore CPSC regulations specify that “components” that are “intended to produce” banned fireworks are also banned hazardous substances. They want an injunction against Firefox directing them to:

  • not sell, give away, or otherwise distribute any chlorate compound, magnesium metal, permanganate compound, peroxide compound, zirconium metal, or any chemical listed at 16 C.F.R. § 1507.2 to any recipient who does not possess a valid manufacturing license for explosives issued by the ATF;
  • not sell, give away, or otherwise distribute any of the following chemical for which the particle size is finer than 100 mesh (or particles less than 150 microns in size) to any recipient who does not possess a valid manufacturing license for explosives issued by the ATF: aluminum and aluminum alloys, magnalium metal, magnesium/aluminum alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, or zinc metal;
  • not sell, give away, or otherwise distribute any of the following chemicals in any amount greater than one pound per year per recipient to any recipient who does not possess a valid manufacturing license for explosives issued by the ATF: antimony and antimony compounds, benzoate compounds, nitrate compounds, perchlorate compounds, salicylate compounds, or sulfur;
  • not sell, give away, or otherwise distribute any fuse in an amount greater than twenty-five feet per year to any recipient who does not possess a valid manufacturing license for explosives issued by the ATF;

For those of you not familiar with the chemistry of common household and barnyard substances:

  • Matches are a chlorate compound
  • Matches contain sulfur
  • Hair bleach is a peroxide compound
  • Magnesium metal is found in many cars, motorcycles, and other common objects in your house and garage
  • Starting with aluminized mylar balloon and other common objects it’s not difficult to make particles of aluminum smaller that 150 microns
  • Cow/chicken/pig/etc. manure is a nitrate compound and can be, and has been for hundreds of years, a component for fireworks and explosives
  • Many lawn and garden fertilizers are nitrate compounds
  • Ordinary string as well as cigarettes and cigarette paper (it’s specially treated) can be used as a fuse

And those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head.

The more basic problem is they are trying to prevent crime. This is prior restraint and is like duct taping people’s mouths shut when they go into a crowded theater so they can’t falsely yell, “FIRE!!!” As I said back in 1998

Crime “prevention” is a very hot button for me.  There is no limit to the evil that can be justified and/or enabled once you accept the premise that it is acceptable to prevent crime by restricting liberty.

December 3, 1998 6:53 PM
Microsoft Gun Club Public Folder

This started in 2004 and I have sort of been following along. It doesn’t directly affect me in the foreseeable future because I have the required ATF license and I no longer buy my potassium chlorate from Firefox. I buy in quantities about 10 times larger than what they think is a large order and hence get it much cheaper from a different source. Today I received an email from another fireworks supplier that I have also utilized which said in part, “THE FIREFOX CASE HAS BEEN LOST”. The judge has told the CPSC and Firefox to negotiate a mutually acceptable plan or else he, the judge, will make the decision.

So to those pinheaded jerks at the CPSC: I just want you to know you are one stupid set of nannies when you are trying to ban people from selling cow manure. Why don’t you go get a real job instead of being professional assholes?

Another case of government creating criminals

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The following article was actually the motivation to write my post last night, How government creates crime. From New Zealand:

Green Party MP Keith Locke has called for greater controls on the owners of military style weapons, in the wake of the Police seizure of hundreds of military style weapons during raids on 55 gun collectors and dealers.

“When even the Police express surprise at the extent of the seizures, this indicates serious flaws exist within the gun control system they administer,” Mr Locke says.

“The raids are very welcome, and hopefully indicate a fresh determination by Police to tackle this problem. The Police vetting system has become far too loose, and it has become too easy to register and trade as a ‘collector.’

“The profits possible from on-selling these weapons are clearly proving too much for some of these registered gun collectors to resist.

“While one can sympathise with genuine collectors, it is not acceptable that the ‘collectors’ market is being used as a cover for a black market trade in guns, some of which ultimately end up in the hands of gangs and criminals.

“The initial looseness in the control system is that gun owners must be registered, but not their guns. In future, guns need to be registered.”

Who are the victims in the “crime” mentioned above? If you said the gun collectors and dealers you are correct. They engaged in victimless crimes. Any further restrictions, as suggested above, on the free market will only create still more “criminals” and victims.

How government creates crime

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One of my pet peeves is how government creates crime and gets away with it. Not even a whisper of it in the press when some new crime creating law is being debated. “Government creates crime?”, you ask. Yes, beyond any doubt. Alcohol prohibition is one example that most people can agree on without much effort. By banning most types of alcohol consumption they created a black market for a product that was in high demand. Turf wars, corruption of the police and public officials, and enforcement of business contracts via violence were the inevitable result.

Most people can also see a similar result has occurred with recreational drug prohibition.

Firearm prohibition has the same result but, probably because demand isn’t as great, to a limited extent.

Prohibitions are just one of the areas however. Taxes are another. Anytime the taxes become “too high” on a product a black market is created. It’s simply a light version of a ban on a product. I’ve heard it said that “too high” is greater than about 15%. When the taxes on a product are below 15% of the free market retail price a black market isn’t viable. Above 15% and the government created a black market and all the crime that comes with that black market.

And what most people don’t realize is that taxes on income helps create crime too. If someone steals $100 do you think they are going to report that as income and pay taxes on it? $100 of illegal income, assuming you don’t get caught, is worth more than $100 of legal income you report and pay taxes on. The higher the income tax rate the more incentive there is to obtain your income from illegal sources. Hence government taxes on income are a crime incentive.

In general it boils down to this: Any government restriction on the free market is an incentive for people to “go illegal” to bypass that restriction. Anytime someone “goes illegal” they no longer have the court system available to them to resolve disputes and enforce contracts. The result is not only the crime of bypassing the government restriction but the crimes of police and political corruption and contract resolution via violence.

I’m not saying that all government restrictions on the free market are to be abolished. I’m just saying that any restrictions increase the price such that it exceeds some threshold, perhaps in the range of 15% of the unrestricted price, and a very careful cost/benefit analysis is required. And of course as we know from the gun control debates people seldom bring up the downside of a government restriction. They seem to be only able to see the potential upside.

And before someone else points it out (Lyle, I’m thinking of you) most government in the U.S. is already criminal. Where do they get the authority in their constitutions to do even one tenth their normal “business”? So it’s not surprising they wouldn’t be concerned about creating crime–criminals are their idealogical brothers.

Quote of the day–Thomas Jefferson

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A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on Earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

Thomas Jefferson
Letter to James Madison
Dec. 20, 1787
[It’s as true today as it was 219 years ago. And keep in mind that the bill of rights is a list of things the government must not do. It is not a list of what it should or must do. There is no “right” to health care, education, or employment. There is a right to due process, freedom of speech, freedom from unreasonable search and seziure, and the right of the individual to keep and bear arms.–Joe]

Quote of the day–William O. Douglas

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The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people.

William O. Douglas
US Supreme Court Justice

Honeymoons and Just One Question

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One of my favorite Boomershoot stories is that Paul and Tammy celebrated their honeymoon by attending Boomershoot 2001. As popular as Boomershoot is it just doesn’t draw that many honeymooners. But as rare as that is I suspect that a Honeymoon in Iraq is even more rare. In addition to the admiration I have for them performing dangerous work to help secure world peace and stability I’m honored for Chris to claim he reads my blog almost every day and he made a very favorable post about my Just One Question.

Thank you Chris and Desert Lizard. Please make it back safely.

Quote of the day–George H. Smith

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Cases of persecution similar to Galileo’s (which are also found in Protestantism) are a significant indicator of the extent to which Christians themselves have been aware of the conflict between reason and faith.  The issue is not whether Galileo was right or wrong.  The issue is:  Why has Christianity found it necessary and desirable to suppress free inquiry with the threat of force?  If reason will only lend support to the dogmas of religion, why have those countries with a strong Church-State alliance displayed such an eagerness to enforce religious dogmas and eliminate dissent through the power of the State?  Why has Christianity refused, whenever possible, to allow its beliefs to compete in a free marketplace of ideas?  The answer is obvious – and revealing.  Christianity is peddling an inferior product, one that cannot withstand critical investigation.  Unable to compete favorably with other theories, it has sought to gain a monopoly through a state franchise, which means: through the use of force.

George H. Smith
From Atheism the Case Against God
[This same argument can be used to even greater effect with Islamic extremists. They have been “converting by the sword” for centuries. Frequently murdering everyone in an entire town. I’m listening to Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism and the picture it paints about the history of Islam is worse than I thought it was. Which was already extraordinarily negative.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Dr. Harrison H. Schmidt

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What does it take for Americans to do great things; to go to the moon, to win wars, to dig canals linking oceans, to build railroads across a continent? In independent thought about this question, Neil Armstrong and I concluded that it takes a coincidence of four conditions, or in Neil’s view, the simultaneous peaking of four of the many cycles of American life. First, a base of technology must exist from which to do the thing to be done. Second, a period of national uneasiness about America’s place in the scheme of human activities must exist. Third, some catalytic event must occur that focuses the national attention upon the direction to proceed. Finally, an articulate and wise leader must sense these first three conditions and put forth with words and action the great thing to be accomplished. The motivation of young Americans to do what needs to be done flows from such a coincidence of conditions…. The Thomas Jeffersons, The Teddy Roosevelts, The John Kennedys appear. We must begin to create the tools of leadership which they, and their young frontiersmen, will require to lead us onward and upward.

Dr. Harrison H. Schmidt
Sen., New Mexico
[To win wars? Hmmm… If Schmidt is right what are we missing?–Joe]