Month: September 2003

Dazed and Confused. Police in Alaska don’t know quite how to deal with last week’s decision by the state Court of Appeals declaring it every Alaskan’s right to possess up to four ounces of pot in his home. Overturning the conviction of a North Pole man, David S. Noy, who was caught with a few plants, the court said a 1990 voter initiative that ostensibly recriminalized private marijuana possession was invalid because it contradicted a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling.

Anchorage police told the Anchorage Daily News they still planned to refer cases covered by the decision for prosecution. State police said they would not.

“Until things change, the court of appeals ruling is the law,” said Noy’s attorney. “When we cease to recognize the rule of law in this country, then we have some serious problems.” [Hit & Run]

Of course we already have (or rather, the government has) ceased to recognize the rule of law. The statement that the Anchorage police intend to ignore the law is simply one example.

Lee R. Shelton IV at Toogood Reports –

The Best Security Is A Well-Armed Citizenry – Mr. Shelton re-asks
the same question most of us asked right after 9/11. Why bother with
air marshalls and fancy programs to arm and train pilots? Just rely on
the people to take advantage of their second-amendment-guaranteed
right to defend themselves, always and everywhere, including
airplanes, with whatever arms they deem appropriate. [scopeny]
bq.
By refusing to even address the right to keep and bear arms, the feds
are sending the message that ordinary citizens cannot be trusted. “We
will protect you,” they are saying. “Just go about your lives and let
us do the job you are paying us to do. Don’t worry your pretty little
heads about arming yourselves. Only government law enforcement
officers are qualified to carry firearms!”

…

We could have hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in the Middle
East. We could start drafting teenagers for military service and send
them off to die overseas. We could wage war against everyone who dares
to look at us the wrong way, but no matter what we do to help us sleep
better at night, there is no defense against the brand of terrorism we
saw on 9/11 like a well-armed citizenry. The sooner the government
realizes that, the safer all of us will be.
[End the War on Freedom]

Mr. Shelton apparently believes that government does not realize that armed citizens are the best defense against terrorism. I think he’s mistaken there–the government is well aware of that fact, and that is one of the reasons why they object to armed citizens. Ordinary people foiling terrorist attacks without any governmental assistance is the last thing the government wants–if it starts happening at all often, people will begin asking pointed questions about just what they need the government for.

On the other hand, every time helpless citizens are murdered by terrorists, the government can use that as an excuse to stampede the populace towards more oppressive laws that give the government more power over them (such as the “Patriot” Act). From the government’s point of view, a population that is safer without the government is a bad thing, but successful terrorist attacks (so long as they don’t hurt the government) are a good thing. Is it any surprise that the government only acts to encourage terrorism?

Reprinted from a mailing list I subscribe to:

“Revealed: The truth about big-spending Republicans”

Malaysia: Muslim and Prosperous. Prosperous, dynamic Malaysia is a country populated mostly by Muslims, a religion adhered to by a quarter of the world’s population but which is widely seen in the West as wedded to an impoverishing system of economics and law.

Thus does Malaysia defy the stereotype, and underscore the universal effectiveness of market economies. It is now the tenth largest trading nation in the world. Its exports have grown from 1 to 100 billion dollars since 1963. Its economy has grown for 30 years with 7% average annual growth, with very varied agricultural and hi-tech manufactured exports. It has had a nearly 40% internal savings rate. GDP is nearly $10,000 per person for its population of 23 million. It is now also the U.S.’s tenth largest trading partner.

[…]

Many commentators have asked the question of whether the West can really ever be at peace with Islam. Looking at Malaysia, the answer is clearly yes, provided governments permit market exchange and freedom of cultural contact, while avoiding imperial overreach and belligerence. [Ludwig von Mises Institute]

Outing the neocons?. Sam Francis has a very perceptive and illuminating column in the September issue of Chronicles about the alleged “exposes” on the neocons that have been appearing in the mainstream press. I have been making a similar argument on this blog,… [LewRockwell.com Blog]