Liberty Is My Homie

New site!

2010-01-25T12:17:00.004-05:00

Join me on my revamped blog at http://peteeyre.com!

Join me on my revamped blog at http://peteeyre.com!

Now Blogging at MotorhomeDiaries.com and Fr33Agents.com

2009-04-26T14:06:00.003-04:00

If you haven't heard, I left Bureaucrash to pursue the Motorhome Diaries, a project that places three guys in a RV to travel the country in search of freedom. Also, I'm working with Fr33 Agents, which focuses on individuals and organizations involved with the freedom movement.

Now blogging over at Bureaucrash.com

2008-11-22T12:54:00.004-05:00

Since we restructured things at Bureaucrash I'm going to spending less time blogging here at LibertyIsMyHomie and more time blogging on Bureaucrash.com. Only so many hours in a day and I think (hope!) my writing can have a bigger impact there.

I'll still post non-liberty related content here (i.e. metal, bicycling, some books, etc.) but it'll be less-frequent than before.

Greenspan: Proof that Government Corrupts

2008-11-19T08:40:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago I literally shouted out loud in disgust when I read that Alan Greenspan, who was addressing a congressional committee investigating the causes of the mortgage crisis, basically ceded to a that he made a "mistake" during his helm of the Fed, inferring that there was not enough regulation. In fact, Greenspan went so far as to note that "free markets did break down." This, from a guy seen by some as the "High Priest" of capitalism.

Greenspan's recent statements are a far cry from his previous principled stance. For example, in "The Assault on Integrity", an essay included in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal compiled by Ayn Rand, Greenspan penned:

Government regulation is not an alternative means of protecting the consumer. I does not build quality into goods, or accuracy into information. Its sole 'contribution' is to substitute force and fear for incentive as the 'protector' of the consumer. . . The hallmark of collectivists is their deep-rooted distrust of freedom and of the free-market process. . .

It appears as though Greenspan was either corrupted his time spent in government or that he was leaned on to be a fall guy -- to take some heat from those still in office and still at the helm of the programs and agencies responsible for this mess.

To continue: Is our present situation a result of market failure? I think not. To oversimplify just a bit, fiat money and government programs that distorted the market and produced unintended consequences are to blame. Fortunately some smart folks have already done great work explaining why this is the case, such as those over at The Austrian Economists blog. Also, check out this video featuring Peter Shiff who in 2006 made a pretty accurate prediction on this issue (as did others years ago, but they were dismissed by politicians and bureaucrats):

DC Examiner Hypes Bureaucrash

2008-11-19T08:00:00.003-05:00

Last Friday Bureaucrash and I got a little plug in the DC Examiner. It's a solid piece -- the only thing I'd change would be to replace the word "Libertarian" with "libertarian", as the former is about the Libertarian Party (which I am not active with) and the latter is about the political philosophy (which, if you've spent any time around me, you know I live and breathe).

And yes, "Freeman" is actually the authors first name. Pretty badass, I know.

Head over to Bureaucrash.com for more (and be sure to click the "Social" tab).

3 Minute Interview- Peter Eyre

By Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer 11/14/08

Peter Eyre first came to the Washington area as an intern for the Cato Institute, and he’s now the “crasher-in-chief” of Bureaucrash, a Libertarian-minded organization that spreads its political leanings by interrupting protests that favor what the group sees as big government action. Bureaucrash, which is now part of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, runs a social networking site that’s designed to bring together Libertarians from all over the world.

Is being based in Washington important for Bureaucrash?

We’ve been involved in getting our message out at protests internationally, but in the past few years we have become more D.C.-centric, and that was part of why we moved into D.C. It’s the seat of government, and there are plenty of opportunities to crash protests that favor a big government here. But we’re committed to the fact that we’re fighting for the rights of anyone, anywhere. People in some countries can feel isolated, and we want those people to know they have rights, too.

What have you done recently?

On [Nov. 6] we had a rally outside the Egyptian cultural center in D.C. for [an Egyptian] blogger who was thrown in jail for speaking out against the government. Egypt receives a lot of funding from the United States, and we wanted to put a spotlight on the possibility of American taxpayers paying for the Egyptian government to jail this man.

How did you get involved?

I started getting involved with Bureaucrash a few years ago, participating in crashes. It’s fun. We show up to rallies, say one in favor of a bill that would expand the scope of government, and we use things like street theater, T-shirts and signs to inject our outlook into the conversation. We take equal stabs at the left and the right and believe when the government is large, it takes away the freedom in our lives.

UK Schools Teach to the (Holocaust) Test

2008-11-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

The British government has apparently taken the lead on having the most-PC public schools around. Last week it was announced that under a new program, each school will employ a "Holocaust specialist" to oversee uniform teaching of the issue to students. Additionally, the article notes that the specialist "will ask teachers for their definition of 'Holocaust' and whether they think teaching children about it is important."

And though Britain does not have a law against Holocaust denial as of this writing (as do 13 European Union members), they aren't too keen on it, having arrested and extradited individuals for governments of other countries and even getting in the action themselves.

As I've said many times before, I'm not pro-Holocaust denial, but I am pro-free speech and against government-imposed censorship in all its forms. Because it is unpopular speech that must be protected.

But now, the British government is going to steal money from productive members of society to indoctrinate the official stance about the issue into children that they've mandated to be in school. That doesn't sound too free to me.

Surprise! U.S. Military Used "Secret Order" Signed by Rumsfield and Bush

2008-11-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

Funny how the U.S. government disregards nation-state sovereignity when convenient -- brazenly disregarding the U.S. Constitution, which they swore to uphold.

As Jim Bovard might ask, I wonder if the Obama Administration will investigate this and all other violations of the Bush Administration. I bet not, as Obama and his cronies will do much the same. Maybe not in foreign policy, but definitely in Constitution-violating ways.

The problem is not one of actors (i.e. the president or other State actors) but of institutions (i.e. protection from the profit and loss mechanism, the claim to the legitimate use of force and taxation). A better alternative: a voluntary society in which individuals are able to do as they please so long as they don't harm the equal negative rights of another. Or as Thoreau put it: strike the root.

Carnifex: Deathcore Band of the Week

2008-11-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Perhaps the best export from San Diego since As I Lay Dying, deathcore band Carnifex rips it up. Check 'em out if you're so inclined:

American Voters Piss Off DEA

2008-11-13T08:00:00.002-05:00

On November 6th, voters in five states passed 10 of the 11 initiatives that lessened the penalties associated with marijuana possession or allowed for its use for medicinal reasons.

A full run-down has been compiled by the good folks at the Marijuana Policy Project.

Take that DEA!

Hopefully this overwhelming show of support against your rights-restricting, un-winnable policies will cause you to rethink your actions. And if your conscience doesn't cause you to step down, hopefully continued opposition to your mission will cause your funding will dry up (and don't worry, us freedom fighters will continue to speak out against your un-Constitutional money-generating use of asset forfeiture).

Keep Your Mail from Government's Prying Eyes

2008-11-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

By using Earth Class Mail. Basically, instead of having your mail sent to your residence or a P.O. Box, it's sent to Earth Class Mail. This is especially good for folks who are on the road (as you can view your mail after its been scanned by Earth Class Mail reps) or those who wish to stay off government's radar.

According to the company:

No matter where our customers are, they simply log in to their secure Earth Class Mail account to view scanned images of their mail envelopes. They then decide which items to have opened and securely scanned so they can read the contents online, and which items should be recycled, shredded, archived, or forward-shipped to them wherever they're located – all with a few clicks of a mouse.

Thanks to Jason for making me aware of this service.

MA Voters Choose to Allow Government to Continue Stealing From Them

2008-11-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

On December 6th MA voters overwhelmingly voted down a measure that would have phased out the state's income tax. Unsurprisingly, state officials and those fearing a loss of state revenue (i.e. contractors on the government dole) implemented a massive campaign, reportedly outspending advocates of the repeal of the income tax by a 10-to-1 margin, that centered on scare-tactics about the "devastating" effect it would have on government services.

Still, what the hell! Hopefully some of those rationale folks who voted for the repeal of the income tax vote with their feet and move to New Hampshire, an area that not only has no income tax but the lowest tax burden in the lower 48 states.

Bush and Harper Governments Commit Troops in Emergency Situations

2008-11-10T08:00:00.004-05:00

Why haven't we heard of this agreement, which was signed last February, before now?! Reminds me a bit of the book Twilight...

Some claim that this agreement advances the North American Union (NAU) a European Union-like political superstate of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. In the circles I run with the idea of the NAU has placed folks in two distinct camps: total opposition or whole-hearted approval. To oversimplify a bit, the former group argues that it will help the free flow of goods and people across borders while the latter group believes it is a step toward a one-world government rather than decentralization.

On a related note, if the NAU were to be implemented it'd mean a Euro-like currency, which some have dubbed the "amero", would replace the Canadian and American dollars and Mexican peso. That'd be pretty convenient for the governments of the three countries to further hide their fiat currency, adding yet another layer to the thoroughly false foundations.

Below is a video by Hal Turner, who claims to have received ameros printed at the Denver mint. Obviously there's a lot of different thoughts on the accuracy of this and related "evidence" so think for yourself and in the least, just be aware that there are folks out there that strongly believe this is happening behind the scenes:

Zombie Brings the Quote of the Day

2008-11-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

"That Joe Lieberman fucking douche bag was leading that charge."

So said musician and director Rob Zombie, responding to a question asked during an interview with TheGauntlet.com about how politicians routinely blame metal and violent films for incidents like Columbine during elections.

Here's the relevant portion of Lieberman's Wiki overview that supports Zombie's statement, and what I say to Lieberman and all others State actors that would use the force of government to prevent the free expression of individuals:

Free Kareem Rally -- DC

2008-11-06T08:55:00.006-05:00

On November 6th, demonstrators around the world will protest against the continued imprisonment of Egyptian blogger Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, otherwise known as “Kareem Amer,” a 24-year-old student arrested two years ago for criticizing the Egyptian government on his personal website.

If you're in DC. here's the Facebook event and the flyer we put together. If you'd like to learn more about Kareem and his situation, check out the Free Kareem Coalition site. And if you'd like to speak out against government-imposed censorship you may be interested in this month's Crasher Challenge.

Master, Master, Master of Pedding!

2008-11-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that I ride my bike like a fiend, flying down trails and maneuvering in and out of traffic, I've never been inclined to purchase a bike jersey. Partly because I'm a cheap bastard, and either ride shirtless or with normal clothes on, but partly because the designs of many jerseys are pretty awful. Why the hell would I want to sport a jersey with the Wonder Bread logo or even worse, the USPS?

Well, seems at least one of those issues has been rectified as there's now a jersey printed with Metallica's Master of Puppets album, a record that opened with the powerful song "Batter" and included such awesome songs as Sanitarium and Orion. But, I'm still too cheap to buy it.

Government Recognizes Rights Based on Geography

2008-11-04T08:00:00.003-05:00

As reported on the Advocates for Self-Government's last newsletter, the ACLU is spreading the word on what they've deemed the "Constitution Free Zone" -- an area in which individual rights protected by the U.S. Constitution are being violated.

This zone starts at the (arbitrary) political boundary of the U.S. and extends 100 miles inland. It's an area in which a full 2/3 of Americans live. And, based on a 30 year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling which found that law enforcement does not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search" here, the good people at Homeland Security are using it as justification to conduct more and more searches of individuals farther and farther away from the border.

So much for the Fourth Amendment.

The ACLU's Fact Sheet concludes:

If the current generation of Americans does not challenge this creeping (and sometimes galloping) expansion of federal powers over the individual through the rationale of “border protection,” we are not doing our part to keep alive the rights and freedoms that we inherited, and will soon find that we have lost some or all of their right to go about their business, and travel around inside their own country, without interference from the authorities.

Bodybuilding: Self-Discipline and Science United

2008-11-03T08:00:00.012-05:00

A bit over a month ago I left my job working at the front desk of an area tennis facility, which got me gym access at the companies other facilities, as the company was coming under new management and I didn't care to jump through the hoops of filling out more I-9s and W-4s. Being a cheap bastard, I was going to try to get by without a gym membership by utilizing a pair of 50lb dumbbells I had picked up off Craigslist. Fortunately my good bud Dan talked me out of that.

After checking out a couple of area gyms I eventually joined Fitness First, due to the locations of their facilities and the cost. And as a bonus I've met some cool folks there that I've been able to pick things up from and the environment has been motivating.

So, despite the fact that Dan lives in Chicagoland we've both been lifting hard. Almost every day we touch base to compare how much weight and how many reps each of us did on a particular exercise, our body weight, caloric intake and ratios, etc. And now Dan is trying to convince me that we should enter a competition next year. We'll see about that.

All I know is that I love lifting. It's a sport in which science, self-discipline, and humility are key. And one that reinforces personal responsibility. (Jamey Jasta would be proud!)

But today I wanted to share a few pics, both to keep a record of where I am now for comparison purposes (as I plan to be bigger and more cut going forward) and so if I start to slack y'all can keep a fire under me. And if you have any feedback -- what muscle group you think needs to be hit harder etc. I'm all ears. And if you're looking to get into lifting and have questions hit me up here or over on the related convo at Bureaucrash Social.

P.S. Dan, if you're reading this, I'm gonna beat ya:)

Your Recommended Daily Dose of Metal

2008-10-29T08:00:00.004-04:00

On a couple previous posts I've mentioned some exceptional bands in the metalcore genre. I wanted to add yet another to the mix -- Whitechapel. According to the band's site:

Whitechapel stands out in today’s overcrowded metal scene due in part to their ability to fuse memorable and even groovy riffs with crushing breakdowns, tremolo picking at neck breaking speeds, and incredibly evil and dissonant sounds.

I guess I'd give 'em that. Cool too to see that the metal scene is "overcrowded" (though I have to agree with some critics that say that some self-described metalcore bands are just crappy, heavier emo). I guess the forecasts of Chuck Schuldiner from Death, Phil Anselmo from Pantera, and Randy Blythe from Lamb of God -- about metal not being dead, were correct. No doubt those three helped make this true.

Here's a Whitechapel song (no video, just a still picture) for your enjoyment:

Other killer bands in the same vein as Whitechapel are Rose Funeral and MyChildren MyBride, the latter of which is Christain metalcore! No diff to me, I don't discriminate between good tunes.

Should Gun Owners Be Nervous?

2008-10-28T07:59:00.004-04:00

With 1,500 stories already written about two crazy guys picked up for supposedly planning to kill Obama and others based on solely on their race (though authorities admit they had outlined no definite plot), this story has garnered lots of media attention.

I fear gun control advocates, partnered with those in the ATF seeking to expand their authority and scope, may use this high-profile incident to justify more restrictions on the private ownership of firearms. And though no shooting actually occurred, I still think William S. Burroughs' quote is applicable and should give pause to those pushing victim-disarmament agendas:

After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.

Radical Group Invades Philly

2008-10-27T10:39:00.007-04:00

Or so some with pro-government views would state if they knew that 30-odd students descended upon UPenn for the Student For Liberty's regional conference held this past weekend. There I reconnected and met new fellow freedom fighters. And though the diverse group advocated different strategies, we were all united by our aim of decreasing the size and scope of government.

Perhaps my favorite part of the conference was not even planned, but was a spontaneous meeting (how fitting!) held during our lunch break when 11 of us got together to discuss anarchy, some related theoretical questions, how it influences our daily actions, and its practical application.

I also had the great opportunity to speak on (A)ctivism and Liberty, which Alexander McCobin, who heads SFL, overviewed here.

Even More Shocking Than the Present Economic Mess...

2008-10-24T14:35:00.003-04:00

...is the scheduled release of Gn'R's long-awaited Chinese De mocracy. And in an interesting related marketing gimmick, it looks like Dr. Pepper now has to give away millions of free soft drinks.

Perhaps it's time for another GnR-themed shin-dig:)

Principled Pics

2008-10-23T08:00:00.002-04:00

Thought I'd share a few pictures with y'all.

The first is of the doormat at my apt., given to me recently by my good buddy John Ross. The theme is great -- sort of a "Don't Tread on Me" message to law enforcement -- but the statement coming back with a warrant denotes that I recognize the legitimacy of such a document and its issuing agents...

This second picture is of a piece of art I bought from my bud Morgan Ashcom. It was included in the show "Bought" he did at MOCA DC Georgetown a couple of years ago and I finally had enough discretionary income to pick it up earlier this year. To me, the piece shows money being transferred from a blue-collar guy, to a white-collar guy, to Uncle Sam (thanks to government policies, rent-seeking, etc). The picture is surrounded by insightful quotes about currency (fiat and commodity-backed), and about the relationship between the individual and the State.

Close-up pic of the piece, showing quotes from Mises and Rothbard. The quotes were found and copied by Morgan as he read relevant works, and the raw nature of them only makes the piece more powerful.

ATF Fails Internal Audit

2008-10-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

A Department of Justice audit called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives oversight of its weapons and laptops "inadequate" after 76 firearms and 418 laptops went unaccounted for. And many of those lost items were never reported as instructed per procedure.

Save for Michael Sullivan, the head of the ATF, stating that the agency was revising its procedures, in typical government fashion, there has been no accountability for these errors.

Maybe we should be thankful that their incompetence didn't result in 76 people dying? I'd wager that in a system of competing protection agencies the ATF would have gone under long ago.

(Image courtesy of Unintended Consequences).

Instability of Mixed System Leads Some to Embrace the "Security" of Totalitarianism

2008-10-21T08:00:00.002-04:00

As politicians and talking heads continue to make a case for further government intervention in the markets, taking us one more step down the road to serfdom, some have begun to apply historical revisionism to life under totalitarianism.

A recent Time article touched on Zur Firma, or "The Firm", a bar in East Berlin modeled after the Stasi, the police of the German Democratic Republic (like the current Democratic Republic of the Congo, a misnomer if there every was one). But the article did a disservice to the ideas of freedom when it tried to counter prevailing thoughts that viewed the Stasi as "an intelligence service like anyother" rather than a "ruthless police state". How can Time distinguish between the two?

Is there an objective metric which allows governments to say, imprison a certain number or certain percentage of those living in an area before it can be classified as "ruthless"? If so, I wonder why the same label was not applied to the government of an area that now has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the greatest number of people behind bars in absolute numbers -- the United States?

Those statistics are not caused by a more crime-prone populace but because the government has criminalized so many activities. This underscores the difference between arbitrary man-made legislation and natural law.

Unsurprisingly, many of those who witnessed the harms of living (or perhaps more accurate would be to say "surviving") under totalitarianism are among its most outspoken critics. It is important that their warnings be heeded by those individuals calling for socialist policies unless we want to regress to a world with lower standards of living, of less innovation and stagnant economies, and massive violations of property rights.

The Voice From the Wilderness on the Bailout

2008-10-20T09:12:00.002-04:00

Thanks to the RLC for bringing this video to my attention.

Ridiculous Items of the Day

2008-10-17T07:13:00.004-04:00

1. The wise bureaucrats in the already-bureaucracy-strangled EU have vowed to continue with their industry-killing "green" plan despite the fact that they readily admit many of the industries targeted are already struggling in the sub-par economic environment (which were created by governments). Their solution? A stimulus package. So basically they're going to steal money from those that produce wealth (aka taxes), keep some for their salaries and the inefficient gears of government, then redistribute the money to offset the loss of money people have due to their economic-stifling legislation. Smart.

2. Ted Stevens.

3. I've been in DC for almost four years now and I'm gradually adjusting to the milder winters (aka getting less-able to tolerate real winters) but I'll be damned if I ever resort to wearing earmuffs when it's 55 degrees (12.8C) as a woman I spied this morning was doing.

The Scary (But Motivating) Implications of Unintended Consequences

2008-10-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

As I recently noted I was re-reading one of my favorite books, Unintended Consequences, by John Ross. I describe it to folks as Atlas Shrugged for gun rights (replacing Objectivism for libertarianism) and, at least for me, it forces one to ask themselves, “How far is too far?” It’s a book that mixes factual events – individuals, legislation, cultural movements, etc. – with fictional characters and plot.

Well, I just finished the 860+ page novel and wanted to share a few points from the book that I thought were worded well or from which I learned something [if you plan to pick it up yourself don’t worry, there are no plot spoilers]:

In the forward Timothy Mullin penned, “Guns are an important element in any truly free society, for a society that does not trust its citizens with individually owned weapons really does not trust its citizens. However, words are also important, and in this book many will no doubt be encouraged to continue the good fight to protect a cultural value that is worth defending vigorously.” (p. 11)
One character makes a plug for Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds that supposedly tells of things people do because everyone else is doing them (which seems to be in polar opposite to the recent best-seller The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki). The example given is that some paid as much for a single tulip bulb in 17^th Century Holland as they did for a house. I’m not sure if Ross wanted parallels to be drawn to democracy but since that’s how my mind works that’s what I got from it – that even if 99.9% of others believe that the right to keep and bear arms is not a right, that doesn’t make that 0.1% of people who believe otherwise any less correct. (p. 163)
When Henry Bowman, one of the main characters is in a political science course in college his discussion with his professor, Arkes, unfolds as follows:

“Professor Arkes, I don’t disagree with the basic principle [Hobbes, rights, etc.], but it’s not enough just to say, ‘Totalitarian regimes are wrong, so don’t let the State enslave you’. That’s like saying, ‘Don’t get sick’. The important question is, when do you know it’s going to become enslavement? When is the proper time to resist with force?”
“Please elaborate, Mr. Bowman.” Henry took a deep breath.
“The end result, which we want to avoid, is the concentration camp. The gulag. The gas chamber. The Spanish Inquisition. All of those things. If you are in a death camp, no one would fault you for resisting. But when you’re being herded towards the gas chamber, naked and seventy pounds below your healthy weight, it’s too late. You have no chance. On the other hand, no one would support you if you started an armed rebellion because the government posts speed limits on open roads and arrests people for speeding. So when was it not too late, but also not too early?”
”Tell us, Mr. Bowman.”
“Professor Arkes, I teach a Personal Protection class off-campus, where most of the students who sign up are women. I’m seeing some strong parallels here, so please indulge me in an analogy.”
“Go ahead.”
“A woman’s confronted by a big, strong, stranger. She doesn’t know what he’s planning, and she’s cautious. Getting away from him is not possible. They’re in a room and he’s standing in front of the only what out, or she’s in a wheelchair—whatever. Leaving the area’s not an option. So now he starts to do things she doesn’t like. He asks her for money. She can try to talk him out of it, just like we argue for lower taxes, and maybe it will work. If it doesn’t, and she gets outvoted, she’ll probably choose to give it to him instead of getting into a fight to the death over ten dollars. You would probably choose to pay your taxes rather than have police arrive to throw you in jail. Maybe this big man demands some other things, other minor assaults on this woman’s dignity. When should she claw at his eyes or shove her ballpoint pen in his throat? When he tries to force her to kiss him? Tries to force her to let him touch her? Tries to force her to have sex with him?” Henry took a deep breath and shrugged. “Those are questions that each woman has to answer for herself. There is one situation, though, where I tell a woman to fight to the death. That’s when the man pulls out a pair of handcuffs and says, ‘Come on, I promise I won’t hurt you, this is just so you won’t flail around and hurt either of us by accident. Come on, I just want to talk, get in the van and let me handcuff you to this eyebolt here, and I promise I won’t touch you’. . . But if she gets in the van and puts her wrists in the handcuffs, she has just given up her future ability to fight, and now it is too late . . . How do you spot the precise point where a society is standing at the back of the van and the State has the handcuffs out? (p. 337-38)

A report titled “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms” complied by the Committee of the Judiciary in the U.S. Senate during the 97^th Congress, which they released in February of 1982. According to the characters in the book (I have yet to get my hands on the 175 page report) it basically chronicles the inefficiency and rights-violating nature of federal law enforcement as related to firearms legislation, which one character claims is the reason why, after the initial printing of the report, it was basically shelved. (p. 396)
The bombing of a house in residential Philadelphia in 1985 is touched on. Seems a group of black nationalists calling themselves MOVE barricaded themselves in their house and begun to pile garbage outside their house. Mayor Goode, frustrated at the inability to end the situation, tasked Police Commissioner Sambor with developing a plan to extricate the MOVE folks. Goode later signed off on a plan in which 10lbs of C-4 were dropped from a police helicopter on the house, which killed 11 inside (including four children) and started a larger neighborhood fire. (p. 403-06)
The Ruby Ridge incident that happened in late 1992 is chronicled (that went down after over 18mo of federal surveillance, which, according to Ross, cost more than the surveillance that was conducted prior to the US invasion of Haiti). Ross emphasized how the murders of Vicki Weaver (while holding her baby), son Sammy, and serious injury to family friend Kevin Harris had begun due to an accusation that the overall length of a firearm Randy Weaver sold was 3/8” too short—that people ended up being shot and killed by FBI sniper Lou Horiuchi based on some arbitrary law. And on top of that, those federal agents that were involved were not held accountable. (p. 466-)
Ross understandable devotes a number of pages to the Waco raid, which was started by a bumbling BATFE (underscored by the fact that a full 2/3 of ATF casualties were caused by friendly-fire) in early 1993 and compounded by the FBI. For more on this incident I strongly recommend the documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement. (p. 495-)
Not content to take issue with the feds claimed authority in the area of firearms, Ross (or more accurately the characters in his book) take aim at the DEA, FAA, and other agencies that today have the “authority” to carry firearms.
The book Gateway to Tyranny is mentioned as having printed and compared the text of the 1938 Nazi gun legislation to the 1968 US Gun Control Act, and that they wordage is almost “verbatim.” (p. 563)
Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building is analyzed, and the characters express doubt about the official version of the story, noting that the tactics supposedly employed by McVeigh – the use of an ammonium nitrate bomb – were about as believable as the magic bullet shot by Oswald in Dallas. (p. 581)
Ross details factual events of government incompetence and corruption, such as the kickbacks received by politicians and bureaucrats by firms they hire to build bridges. As residents of Chicago found out in the 1930s, a bridge collapsed since there was only a quarter as much steel in the bridge as was shown in the blueprints. Seemed the firm saved money by not building the bridge to spec and gave a kickback to the politicians and bureaucrats so that they’d look the other way. Similarly, Ross mentions the story surrounding Bob Sanders, who left the BATFE as the acting head of its Chicago office in 1982 because of the culture of planting of evidence and perjury of those in his agency. (p. 675)
Another historical event that Ross brought to my attention was the “Battle of Athens” that happened in Tennessee in 1946. Seems the residents got fed up with the blatant corruption of those seeking office and eventually laid siege to the jail where the dirty politicians were hiding out. (p. 764-65)

So, as you can see, Ross used lots of factual support in Unintended Consequences, which to me, makes the underlying theme of the book – that politicians and bureaucrats have and continue to violate our rights – all the more powerful. And all the more scary.

A Conversation about Crashers, Bureaucrash Social, and What Makes us Tick

2008-10-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I went with a couple of colleagues to Americans For Prosperity's Defending the American Dream Summit to represent Bureaucrash/CEI. It was a great success -- we sold a ton of Contraband (and rightly so as it kicks ass!), got on the radar for a lot of new people, networked, and did a couple interviews, one of which is below.

Thanks to Dave Nalle from RepublicofDave.com for inviting me to speak about Bureaucrash. It's always a pleasure to hype up the actions of crashers:)

For more, check out Bureaucrash Social.

Collectivism Embraced by Indie Movie Scene

2008-10-03T08:00:00.001-04:00

Over the last couple of weeks I've seen The Battle in Seattle and FLOW: For the Love of Water.

I saw The Battle in Seattle primarily because it has been cited by one of the co-founders of Bureaucrash as a key motivation for his belief that the organization should utilize activism as a medium to fulfill our mission. Definitely not activism that destroys property or violates the rights of others, but activism that introduces people to the ideas of freedom. And since I had not been in Seattle during the 1999 WTO protests, I thought it'd be interesting to get one person's (the director) view of the incident.

The movie, which interweaved the personal stories of protesters, cops, and government officials, kept my interest and based on reviews I've since read, it did a decent job of being pretty balanced (with the glaring exception being at the beginning of the film when anti-globalization and anti-free market ideas were displayed via graphics). But my main qualm came from what was not said.

Most people will walk away from The Battle aligned with one of the two sides presented -- either with the government/establishment/law and order or with the protesters/idealism/anti-crony capitalism. But there is another perspective -- that which advocates a maximum of freedom. Personally, I agree with the protesters that international institutions such as the WTO cause or exacerbate problems, but the remedy is not to tweak them but to abolish them. The protesters did not grasp that the problems they cited were systemic due to the bureaucratic nature of such an organization. The farther removed the decision-making process is removed from the individual -- from the county level, to the state, to the nation, to an international organization -- the greater the errors.

Also, while Seattle's mayor was shown to want to allow protesters the ability to voice their concerns peacefully, the fact that they were originally constrained to public property meant there was little oversight for their actions. If, for example, certain private property owners sympathized with the protesters, they could voluntarily reach an agreement on what actions would be permissible on their property (perhaps requiring the protesters to pay an up-front deposit on property damaged, having insurance, or have a certain number of medics on-site). If the protesters violated their agreement (i.e. vandalize), then they can be held accountable.

I saw Flow because some of my colleagues at CEI have recently picked up and carried the torch against government intervention in the bottled water market -- an area that is attacked by the makers of the documentary. I also saw it because I actively strive to be exposed to those who advocate for the centralization of power (aka Statism).

Honestly, it was very difficult for me to sit though this film. And not just due to the perspective being presented, but due to the films poor quality. Think about it this way: It isn't too hard to sit through a one-minute YouTube video that is sub-par, but to sit through a 80min film that has very-little semblance of a plot is much more difficult. And obviously I did take issue with the content itself, much of which was purposefully misleading.

First off, for the the film used scare tactics without pointing to actual science. Without having an objective standard with which to base their statements on, their arguments were much weaker. And the profit motive to help provide access to water was built up as a strawman by the filmmakers. Also, the filmmakers bashed governments (stating that the World Bank forced countries to privatize their water supply, noting that money given as government-to-government aid often never helps those it intends to, etc.) but ended calling for further trust in government bodies, by asking folks to sign a petition asking the U.N. to add water access to the Declaration of Human Rights.

My main takeaway after seeing these two movies, that bad ideas can be packaged in glitz and warm feelings but that won't help create wealth. It shows just what a challenge those of us advocating voluntary interactions have ahead of us, motivation enough to continue the fight.

Iced Earth: A Five-Piece Metal Band of Skill, Passion, and Freedom

2008-10-02T08:00:00.007-04:00

Last Thursday I went with my bud Nate to the 9:30 Club to see Iced Earth. Though it was the first show I've been to in years in which there were no mosh pits and not a single guy (or gal) was shirtless, it was awesome.

For those of you unfamiliar with Iced Earth, I encourage you to check them out. They're definitely not as heavy as most of the stuff I listen to or hype up on this blog, but for their genre, they're unbeatable.

The tightness of their live performance was on-par with that of Tool (which years ago set the benchmark for me). And their lyrics, many of which talk about individual rights, are inspiring. In fact, at the concert last week, singer Matt Barlow spent a full two-minutes prefacing Come What May, telling the crowd that they have the power to make choices that affect their lives. He coupled this freedom with the need to be responsible. This message acts as the backbone for many of their songs.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, metalheads tend to be of the "live and let live" mindset. Unfortunately, while they may personally believe in and live such a credo, most do not seek to introduce others to the ideas (In fact, at a previous metal show, after telling someone what I do for my job, their first reaction was "Someone pays you to do that?!") That's why it's so great to see that a band of Iced Earth's caliber is helping to spread these ideas.

Another frequent go-to for lyrics is the War Between the States and other military engagements, due to songwriter, guitarist, back-up vocalist, founder, and only remaining original member Jon Schaffer's interest in history.

This fountainhead of knowledge and passion has resulted in such tracks as Declaration Day (which was being played when I snapped the pic above -- note Schaffer's guitar had the Stars and Bars while Troy Steele (Iced Earth's other guitarist) played on a guitar with the Stars and Stripes), an instrumental titled 1776, Valley Forge, and The Reckoning: Don't Tread on Me. Other Iced Earth favs of mine include A Question of Heaven, Ten Thousand Strong, and Frankenstein.

I could go on and on but I'll finish with a recommendation: Check them out!

Bureaucrash Social Debut

2008-10-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

Today is the formal launch of Bureaucrash Social. According to Bureaucrash:

Bureaucrash Social is a powerful platform with resources that will empower you to promote freedom and connect you to other freedom activists from around the world. Think of Bureaucrash Social as your online home for sharing ideas and collaborating with others to spread the ideas of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and free markets. Become active today to bring about a freer world tomorrow.

And check out Bureaucrash's newest video:

Aggression Taken by a State No Different than That Taken by Individuals

2008-09-30T13:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the New York Times had a story on its front page titled "To Smother Chechen Rebels, Arson Campaign in Chechnya". The article basically documented how agents of the State, unable to stop Chechens from joining the "rebels" (those who advocate for Moscow to leave them alone), are targeting the families of rebels. By burning their houses.

The simple, and most rights-respecting solution seems to me to be for the State apparatus of Russia should let them secede, as they attempted to do 15 years ago. When I express this stance the most common response I get from folks is that it sounds good in theory, but that the U.S. (meaning the State apparatus of the U.S.) would not support such an event as it would strain its relationship with the Russian government. But this point just helps to underscore the problem that stems from recognizing that a particular group of people have a monopoly over an arbitrary boundary.

So instead, the State apparatus of the U.S. and other nation-states just look the other way, because they know they too have committed violations of rights on a mass scale. In a sense, it's nothing more than a good 'ol boys club, albeit a good 'ol boys club supported by military hardware, using the veil of being a "government" for legitimacy.

Freedom Fighting Goes Mainstream

2008-09-30T08:00:00.002-04:00

The last couple of times I filed my federal income taxes I listed "Freedom Fighter" as my occupation. You may remember my discourse with a TSA Agent and MA State Patrol officer at Logan Airport when I shared this tidbit of info in July of 2007.

Well, apparently fighting freedom has since gone mainstream, as evident by Blackberry ads placed at DC bus and Metro stops.

Is this small pro-freedom statement reason for celebration? Particularly because (with the possible exception of San Francisco) they're in the city most orientated toward centralization and collectivism? Regardless, I know they're better than the typical "contractors, here's how to get government grants"-type ads.

Finland's Pending Firearm Fiasco

2008-09-29T08:00:00.001-04:00

Last week a nutjob in Finland opened fire on classmates in sleepy Kauhajoki, a town of 15.000. Word on the street is that Finland's Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen is going to try to ban private ownership of handguns.

But if subjects, er, I mean, private citizens, cannot be trusted to legally keep and bear arms because a fraction of a percent of others misuse them, can the same logic be applied to agents of the State as well (such as the the shooting of an LAPD cop by a Long Beach cop or of innocent civilians by military personnel)? Or to other items (such as cars, kitchen knives, hammers, rope, etc.) simply because a few people don't fully grasp the idea of personal responsibility?

Interpol's head has stated that Finish police cannot be blamed for the deaths of eight students and one teacher. I agree. But if the State disarms law-abiding citizens and deems schools "gun-free zones" (aka victim disarmament zones) and there is no expectation that police can protect them, then what exists to stop another such incident? To say nothing of response times, cops can't be everywhere at once (nor do I think, would most people want that). Instead of disarming people, Vanhanen should allow law-abiding folks to carry if they so choose, so they can protect themselves against such violence (and hopefully act as a deterrent so it never even happens).

Gore Seeks Not Only to Misinform People's Minds, But to Misuse Their Bodies as Well

2008-09-26T08:00:00.001-04:00

Seems nothing is more mainstream these days that Gore and his doom-and-gloom environmentalism. Why, just a couple of days ago when speaking to the Clinton Global Initiative, he stated that it's "time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration."

Maybe Gore finally realized that all the policies he and his ilk have been advocating will wreck the economy to such an extent that one side effect will be higher unemployment. So, rather that have folks sitting around, maybe realizing their state of affairs was caused in large part by the State, they'd stay occupied like good subjects (and unaware that his mansion in TN uses over 10 times the amount of energy as the average home in America).

Breast Milk for the Masses?

2008-09-25T14:23:00.005-04:00

If PETA got their way that'd be the case. A couple of days ago the organization sent Ben & Jerry's a letter asking them to replace cow's milk with human breast milk. However, B&J's, not usually opposed to all things "progressive", balked at the suggestion.

What's next? PETA suggesting that we eat dead fetuses rather than animals?

The NRA Demonstrates its Uselessness. Again.

2008-09-24T08:00:00.001-04:00

"No politician is going to take away my guns and ammo" -- so says an actor in the latest NRA video (entitled "Hunter) as he dons his bright orange hunting cap. The video is posted on an NRA-created site dedicated specifically to informing folks of Obama's supposed anti-gun stance, going so far as to claim that he'll be the most "anti-gun president in US history." But not once in the video does the NRA cite as rationale their fear of Obama's potential victory will strip individuals of their right to defend themselves.

What ever happened to the NRA that sent an open letter to former President Bush after he resigned his life membership (which he had only recently gotten to appeal to gun owners as a voting block) due to what Bush believed were slanderous comments made against those rights-violating flunkies at the BATFE?

Also, does the NRA's silence on McCain's stance imply a tacit endorsement of his beliefs? I have yet to hear McCain note that he believes the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, nor has he called for the 1934 National Firearms Act, 1968 Gun Control Act, 1986 Firearms Owners Protection Act (a misnomer if there ever were one), or any other of the tens of thousands of firearms-related laws to be repealed.

In fact, according to the Gun Owners of America (one of the few principled organizations around that proffer the most compelling arguments against victim disarmament, another being the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms), McCain is terrible on firearms -- the GOA has given him a C-, C-, F-, and F- for each of the last two years based on his voting record.

But, I doubt the NRA will call him out. I know I won't be holding my breath for the organization to churn out an anti-McCain video anytime soon. But, that shouldn't be too surprising, considering it is the NRA.

TX Attorney General To Use Force Against Galveston Residents

2008-09-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

Hurricane Ike hit Galveston head-on. Residents are eager to start the clean-up efforts and get life back to normal, but State officials claim those efforts will be slowed by the 250 people who chose not to flee Ike's pending landfall.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas was quoted as saying, "We are not going to go into somebody's house and drag them out." But Judge Jim Yarbrough of Galveston County noted that the TX Attorney General's office is looking into legal options available to force the residents to leave.

That doesn't sound too non-coercive to me and it ignores the idea of self-ownership -- that each individual be free to make decision that impact their own lives, no matter if others think those decisions dangerous.

A separate issue further demonstrates the State's disregard for rights as government officials in TX have noted that they may seize the land of those looking to rebuild using the Texas Open Beaches Act.

Unfortunately this wasn't the first time (think gun confiscation during Katrina in 2005) and won't be the last that the State uses natural disasters to usurp natural rights from people.

Not Content with Its Level of Damage Caused Thus Far, the Bush Administration Seeks to Intervene Further in the Market

2008-09-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

Despite the fact that the free market has lifted billions of people out of poverty the very simple idea on which it is based -- voluntary interactions -- is railed against (whether out of ignorance or self-interest) by politicians, unions, and increasingly (thanks to government schools), Joe Sixpack.

Entrepreneurs and businesspeople with billions in assets are berated for their greed, yet, in a truly free market, individuals with deep pockets get that way only through non-coercive means - by providing others with a good or service that they value. As John Stossel often points out, this is illustrated by the double "thank you" that happens when you purchase a pack of gum, a cup of coffee, or a car. Both you and the cashier believe you came out on the better end of the deal. Wealth is created, thanks to the free market.

Yet now the Bush Administration -- the same administration that has acted with such swagger in its violation of privacy through illegal wiretaps; that has blood on its hands from waging unjust wars; that violates the natural rights of individuals by restricting their freedom of movement; that has expanded the centralization of schooling, the drug war, and health care -- wants to spend $700 billion to bailout struggling companies (which, like any government program, is sure to grow).

There are many problems with this, not least of which is that in a truly free market, companies need to be allowed to fail. It's called creative destruction, and it allows malinvested capital to be put to better uses elsewhere. Any restriction in the ability for individuals to voluntarily interact harms those worst off (i.e. those who loose an entry-level job because some bureaucrat sets a minimum wage at a level higher than the value they create, farmers in developing countries whose markets are saturated with subsidized food from the US, Europe, or Japan, entrepreneurs that are unable to launch a business due to burdensome regulations, etc.).

Also, as Ron Paul recently noted:

[Y]ou can't solve the problem of inflation, which is the creation of money and credit out of thin air, by more money and credit out of thin air, and not changing policy. We have to change basic policy.

For historical proof just look at how FDR's unconstitutional policies only deepened and lengthened the Great Depression, which too was caused by a surplus amount of capital printed by the Fed.

We lovers of liberty cannot afford to sit idly by while this and other illegitimate acts are proposed and implemented by State actors. If we hope to strike the root, we must reach out to others and introduce them to the ideas of freedom, because people's lives really do hang in the balance.

Firearm Ownership in Switzerland Misses the Target

2008-09-19T08:50:00.003-04:00

Most folks that know anything about firearm possession, particular those who believe that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, know and cite the fact that, per capita, Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownership rates and one of the lowest rates of gun violence. More guns equal less crime, they claim.

Makes sense to me.

As a BBC story noted a few years back,

Instead of a standing, full-time army, the country requires every man to undergo some form of military training for a few days or weeks a year throughout most of their lives. . . Despite the lack of rigid gun laws, firearms are strictly connected to a sense of collective responsibility.

Obviously I'm not a fan of mandated service to the State, which denotes that each individual is subservient to the State; a slave, in other words. But, even more than that, I was surprised to learn recently from someone that had been to Switzerland that though it's true that adult males keep a State-issued machine gun in their house, they are limited on when they can shoot it. In fact, the most severe penalties seem to revolve around the use of the ammo, which is provided to residents in a sealed container, and which, if inspectors discover that it has been tampered with, can land the owner in serious trouble.

Maybe the BBC's use of the word "collective" wasn't too far off. Because, thought the Swiss State relies on its residents to aid in the defense of the nation-state, those same residents aren't trusted enough to practice and hone their shooting skills as they see fit, thus stripping them of their personal responsibility.

Multi-Billion Dollar Companies Take a Cue from Survivalists

2008-09-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Recently Hurricane Ike ravaged Houston. Yet, in the global economy, businesses cannot afford to take a day off due to mother nature. That's why Houston-based Continental Airlines developed an off-site command center -- in an underground bunker -- where they were able to weather the storm just fine.

More here.

After Centuries of Controlling Individuals, the Catholic Church Still Has Much to Learn

2008-09-17T08:00:00.004-04:00

It's well-known that back in the day the catholic church, often in conjunction with monarchs, controlled virtually every aspect of the lives of individuals who happened to be born under its sphere of influence. Last weekend, when speaking to a crowd in France, the current head of the church, pope Benedict XVI, asked:

Have not money, the thirst for possessions, for power and even knowledge, diverted man from his true destiny?

The pope's statement is loaded with many inaccurate points and thus is analyzed in more detail below.

First off, that the "thirst" for possessions, for a better standard of living, is bad? Are we supposed to tell those without access to clean water too bad? Or those without adequate nutrition that it's "gods will"? Maybe after a bit of reflection the pope would recall that his predecessors enjoyed the highest standards of living at the time (which today, thanks to the wealth created by free markets, is lower than that of the least-well-off in developed countries) simply because the church brainwashed people into believing that it was deserving of their labor and property? Or that when the churches rhetoric didn't work it sponsored bloody wars (aka the Crusades) to try to force their views on people? Not too christian-like...

Secondly, that the desire to continue learning is something that should be vilified? What the hell is that? But, I guess that makes sense from the churches perspective -- by keeping people indoctrinated, advising them not use reason but mysticism so that they won't think for themselves but will turn to the church for guidance, only supports their claim to authority. Remember too, that just like man-made legislation that can be changed at a whim (contrary to natural law) popes throughout history have changed the churches "official" stance on particular issues. Just like no president or group of experts can hope to know everything (i.e. tacit knowledge, subjective values), something tells me the pope and the church don't either.

The pope later underscored his belief that individuals be subservient to the church and its belief system when he railed against euthanasia. As individuals, we own ourselves -- to put it another way -- we have property in ourselves. Since we are free to do what we wish with our property so long as it does not violate the rights of another, it holds true that each individual then has the right to decide if they want to terminate their life. It is their choice, not someone claiming to be speaking "for their own good", whether it be an elected official or religious leader. And I'll be damned if someone claiming a connection to a "higher power", or anyone else for that matter, can tell me otherwise.

Centralized Planning Rears Its Ugly Head in NC

2008-09-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

To protect consumers from " gouging". As my colleague Ryan Radia noted, "Who'd have thought lead to shortages..." Exactly.

Just another example of government intervention rife with unintended consequences that cause real harm to individuals.

Arrest Related to Guns N' Roses -- But This Time, Not of Band Member

2008-09-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Recently the "Show" section of the Washington Times listed the top reasons they identified for the arrest of Kevin Cogill, who posted nine tracks from the long-awaited Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy, online. Since I'm a huge GnR fan I couldn't let this pass with at least a mention, especially as one reason given was:

Once again, an online commando does an end run around the traditional channels of the music industry. We in the newspaper business still aren't amused.

Startling honest for an old media outlet to admit that they're loosing their power as the gatekeepers of information, but they'd better get used to it. As for Chinese Democracy, despite how good the album will be, it'll be tough for it to live up to the hype accumulated over all these years. Especially because the line-up Axl chooses -- despite their talent -- can never have the chemistry present in the original band. But, you can bet I'll still get my copy. Via the Internet:)

Westward Ho!

2008-09-10T08:00:00.003-04:00

Today I'm flying to Phoenix for my first time. Not to catch a the Diamondbacks or to golf, but to attend the State Policy Network's Annual Meeting. Should be fun!

In checking the Wiki entry on Phoenix, I came across these interesting (for their own reasons) stories:

The Papago Park Prisoner of War Camp was established for captured Axis troops located just east of the city. Only a few of its former buildings remain today. In 1944, dozens of POWs had devised a plan to escape from the camp and use boats to go down the Salt and Gila Rivers to reach Mexico. They were apparently unaware that the Salt River had been dry for decades and were thus easily apprehended near the camp.
. . .on Thanksgiving night of 1942, when a large number of US troops stationed near Phoenix rioted while resisting arrest by military police due to engaging in a fight. The military police surrounded and blocked off a predominantly African American part of the city that the troops had escaped to in order to hide. They then dispersed armored personnel carriers[citation needed] and used 50-caliber machine guns on civilian homes. Several fatalities resulted. The Colonel of Luke Field soon declared Army personnel banned from Phoenix, which pressured civic leaders to reform local government by firing a number of corrupt officials . . .

Austrian Economics Review

2008-09-09T08:00:00.002-04:00

As I recently mentioned, I had the opportunity to attend my first seminar, Austrian Economics, at the Foundation for Economic Education.

I was joined by 100 others, who ranged from astute recent high school graduates to undergrad and grad students to free market friendly professors who hailed from such diverse places as Kyrgyzstan, Guatemala, Hong Kong, and a French-speaking place called Montreal.

There was even a self-described "agent of the State", who seized people's property for the State of New York, though he qualified his actions by noting that he always tries to get "fair market value" for them. He was a nice guy, but obviously his profession caused more than a few discussions.

In the opening session we were told that the faculty had been asked to prepare their lectures for consumption for PhD students. Having never taken an econ class in college I was excited to see how I did. Though I believe I have a decent grasp on econ concepts I don't claim to be able to do complicated experiments, nor do I want to as I know that's not my comparative advantage.

As promised, the faculty were pretty damn interesting and challenging. And they had to be, as we had some long days. I likened it to a marathon for the mind. Fortunately, we were able to hash out lingering questions during the Q&A and back at the hotel over an adult beverage or two.

And, except for hitting traffic in/around NYC, the ride there/back on my motorcycle was great. I was even a bit surprised when I got back to Arlington ticket-free:)

Want more? Get yourself to a FEE seminar or support their work!

Taking Orders is No Excuse

2008-09-08T08:00:00.001-04:00

Recently I watched the movie Patton. It'd be a number of years since I last watched it and during that time my view on the role (and legitimacy) of the State has changed. I also recently started re-reading one of my favorite books, Unintended Consequences, an exhaustive novel mainly about gun rights that interweaves fictional characters with factual events over more than a century and across multiple countries. One factual event it touched on was the Bonus Army.

A quick recap on the Bonus Army for those unfamiliar with it -- in the early 1920s Americans who had served in WWI were given Service Certificates by the federal government to compensate them for the money they could have earned were they not in the military. The certificates were set to be redeemed for cash two decades later. Yet, due to the hard times many servicemen felt during the Great Depression a push was made to collect their money in the early 1930s. Many vets, their families, and supporters, traveled to Washington, D.C. and set up camp in Anacostia (just southeast of the Capital). After a bill to pay the vets early was halted by the Senate the feds eventually sent the military in to oust the vets and their supporters. In the end, after employing tanks, fire, and firearms, the Bonus Army was forced out, pockets empty.

Why do I bring up the Bonus Army? Because Patton, then a Major, led a half-dozen tanks against the vets. Not too heroic.

I've yet to determine if Patton believed his actions just or if he felt he was following orders, but in both cases it shows a serious flaw. If he believed his actions just, his moral character comes into question. If he knew his actions were wrong but followed orders anyway, well, history has shown that that allows bad men with bad ideas to do some pretty terrible things.

Survey Says: I'm a Hard-Core Libertarian

2008-09-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Or so I'm told by a survey called Vote Match the folks over at SpeakOut.com created. I know this is only one of many such surveys that have been created in the circus that is our political process, but after my friend Judy shared her results with me (which included a 65% match with a Green Party nominee, 60% match with a Socialist Party nominee, followed by Nader, Clinton, and Obama) I had to see where I fell based on their metrics.

Well, not too surprising my top two were Baldwin (Constitutional Party, backed now by lots of Ron Paul supporters) and Barr (Libertarian Party), with 43% and 40% respectively. However, what irked me about this quiz was that, like politics, I was often forced between two choices I did not like.

For example, I was asked if I supported or opposed:

Parents choose schools via vouchers - well, while I do think vouchers are a good first step, ideally the money distributed under this system would not even be stolen from parents and redistributed to them in the first place
Drug use is immoral: enforce laws against it - the way the question is worded someone who believes drug use is immoral (which I do not) then has to say the support State-enforced laws when they may instead advocate education and civil society solutions
Illegal immigrants earn citizenship - this question has two fundamental problems -- it categorizes a group of people as "illegal" based on an arbitrary political boundary and it further legitimizes the State by ascribing it the authority to legislate someones status. In reality, this issue is linked directly to private property rights.
Replace US troops with UN in Iraq - either selection still entails a presence of outsiders, whether they are acting under the guise of "soldiers" or "peacekeepers", stripping those residents of their autonomy and self-determination.
Replace coal & oil with alternatives - obviously couched in this question is the billions of dollars of federally-allocated funds and regulations for fossil or alternative energy, but reading the question as it's written (without taking that State-imposed coercion into consideration), I'd say to leave it to the market.

But, I digress, this survey is likely not meant to be exhaustive. And it was not too surprising that the survey concluded that I was a "Hard-Core Libertarian", I only wish the "L" in "Libertarian was lower-case....

Ever Had a Gun Pointed at You at 4:30AM?

2008-09-04T08:00:00.004-04:00

This past weekend I had a gun drawn on me. Then my property was taken from me and I was ordered around. Then an acquaintance of the person who drew down on me arrived on the scene. No, I didn't walk into the "wrong" neighborhood. In fact, I was in my own neighborhood. And the individuals who stopped me were members of the gang in blue -- cops.

After stopping by a get-together to see my friend Chad off (he's heading to the London School of Economics for a year) and visiting with my buds Jason and Yabo for a while, I hopped on my motorcycle and cruised home. After waiting for minutes at the last red light about 1/4mi from my apartment complex (the light's sensor was not registering my bike) I decided to go.

I got about halfway across the intersection and noticed headlights coming over the crest of the hill to my west. Sure enough, it was a cop. I started to pull over even before he flipped on his lights. He parked behind me and I gave him my DL and insurance as requested. He returned to his car. Then he noticed my firearm.

As he drew down on me I was ordered to turn around, lay on the ground, and place my hands behind my back. I did so, and he cautiously approached and removed my firearm. My property.

Soon after another officer was on the scene. He kept me company while the first officer (Pierce) checked my status. The second officer asked me what my license plate (NEG RT) meant. I explained my belief in negative rights, as opposed to positive rights. I was asked if I was in the military or law enforcement based on my build and questions, then was asked why I chose to open carry. I noted the following reasons:

because a right not exercised is lost (I emphasized individual rights and even touched on Public Choice Theory)
for defensive purposes/as a deterrent
for education/to get other folks to internalize the idea of personal responsibility

After my record came back clear, I was allowed to stand up and the cuffs were taken off. Officer Pierce noted that he was a conservative and in general agreement with me -- that folks should be able to carry firearms (though he did note not all of his fellow-officers believed the same) -- but that, when I do open carry, I should proactively tell any officer who stops me that that's the case. I noted that I saw where he's coming from but pointed out that it's not required per law. Officer Pierce started to say something to the effect of cops liking to "have one up" on civilians (hence their desire to know who is carrying). I said that I don't differentiate between cops and civilians but between those who harm others and those who do not. Seemed like that statement caused Pierce and his colleague to think for a moment. And though they didn't say it, it seemed like they agreed.

I left, a bit shaken, ticket in hand for the red light (which is now paid). In total, I had been stopped for about 15min. And in all honesty, the cops I interacted with were professional and did not act outside the legislated law (especially when compared to my run-in with them last year) But, (to to stir the pot) I wonder -- would this of even happened if the streets and police forces were privatized?? Concluding on a positive note -- I know of a few people in NoVA that have expressed interest in starting to open carry themselves, which should help make the cops and average Joe Sixpack more aware of our rights, not to mention the deterrent effect on would-be criminals.

Capitalism Fostering Civil Society

2008-09-02T08:00:00.002-04:00

This past weekend my girl and I went to the Lost Dog Cafe. It was only my second time there (her first) and its unique background make it worthy of a blog post.

The restaurant was named not to appeal to lonely, hungry masochists, but to our four-legged friends looking for permanent homes. Revenue from the restaurant has helped its owners start the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation, which has placed 10,000 animals in homes since its founding in 2001. The Foundation has a very easy-to-navigate presence online, showcasing animals up for adoption, success stories, and their "ranch" in Sumerduck, VA. And if you can't make it all the way to Sumerduck, you can check out the pooches and cats in NoVA.

Pretty cool -- entrepreneurship and civil society all rolled into one business plan. Now if we could just get the government out of the way so more of this would happen...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Warming Up?

2008-09-01T08:00:00.001-04:00

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), no immigration laws will be enforced during the hurricane evacuation in Louisiana. Is ICE, which happens to be the federal law enforcement agency with the highest turnover rate and lowest morale (perhaps due to the rights-violating nature of their work?) warming to the idea of immigration?

The fact that a federal law enforcement agency can choose to suspend the laws its tasked with enforcing speaks volumes about just how legitimate those laws actually are. For example, would the FBI ever publically announce that for the next week it would look the other way for those it believed committed homicides?

Universal Healthcare Boondoggle

2008-08-29T09:41:00.008-04:00

On July 19th I was riding Chicago's infamous L heading from Wrigleyville (having just hung out with my boy Dan) to Loyola (to attend the the Institute for Humane Studies' Liberty, Communication & Change seminar) when I spotted this ad:

WTF!

I'll be the first to admit that America's health care industry is not ideal. But that's due to too much government intervention, not too little. Almost everyone would prefer more affordable health care that is of higher quality, to have more personal choice and increased transparency.

Contrary to what Michael Moore (see video below for more) and Obama may claim, these are all attributes that accompany voluntary transactions, not a one-size-fits-all government mandate. When the consumer is removed (which is what happens when the State claims a monopoly on the provision of any good or service) the profit and loss signals that are crucial to the creative destruction and entrepreneurship of the market are distorted or crushed entirely. Not to mention that it severely hampers the discovery of new medicines and cures. And it allows the State to decide who can and should get particular care, which folks in the UK, Canada, and elsewhere, finds often means they are denied coverage entirely.

Fortunately there are lots of good folks fighting this onslaught of pro-government hysteria. Stand with them and fight for your rights.

What Can Carry Four Times Its Weight Over Difficult Terrain?

2008-08-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

The BigDog, dubbed "The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth":

More over at Wiki (who would have guessed?). Even I had to remind myself after seeing such cool technology that the money used to pay for it was stolen from folks and that the rationale for its development is war. Not exactly the coolest things.

Thanks to my Old Man for passing this my way.

Biden Deems Himself a Statist. . .

2008-08-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

. . . by declaring himself a Zionist.

As I stated in an earlier post, Zionism is an ideology that by its very nature violates the rights of others. This is because Zionists believe they legitimately have a right to an area (the arbitrary political boundaries of Israel) and are therefore justified in using force to remove others or denying them equal standing. It just floors me that someone can self-describe as a Zionist and it's considered perfectly ok. It's like calling oneself a Nazi or an advocate of manifest destiny.

If a group of people, whether they be communists, anarcho-capitalists, white separatists, or Zionists want to segregate themselves by living in their "own" area, the only rights-respecting way to go about this is to buy the land from those who live there.

Learn Your Econ Fellas

2008-08-26T08:00:00.006-04:00

Last Thursday I noted the release of the documentary I.O.U.S.A. That night, joined by my buds Matt and Jason, I caught the flick at a nearby theater. I liken the film to Ron Paul -- a solid messenger but not without its inconsistent and illogical claims (i.e. immigration stance for the latter and the Lou Dobbish view of trade for the former).

The film, which one reviewer noted is "essentially a glorified PowerPoint presentation", was divided into four chapters -- budget, savings, trade, and leadership. Rather than give an overview of each point I'll just focus your attention on where the film falls short:

First, the glaring omission by the filmmakers to hold accountable the institution of government, which is responsible for creating and/or exacerbating all the problems covered. Not once was the role of the State, or its legitimacy, questioned.
Second, the belief that "better" political leadership could help fix the problems they identified, which completely negates the contributions made by Public Choice folks.
Third, as I hinted at above, the utter lack of understanding of trade. Wealth is created when two individuals enter into a voluntary transaction, no matter if they live 5, 50, or 5,000 miles from each other. Instead, (whether out of ignorance or calculated action) the filmmakers choose to add to the anti-China (and in a lesser sense, anti-globalization) mantra.
And fourth, the ramifications of fiat money was almost completely ignored (save for an interview with Ron Paul).

Overall, I'm glad I.O.U.S.A. was created and is being shown as it'll help get folks to start questioning the status quo but it was not without its serious flaws.

Weightlifting Wonders

2008-08-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

The past couple of weeks many folks have been watching the top athletes from around the world compete at the Olympics. Though many of us are familiar with track and field, gymnastics, and swimming, I wanted to take a second to highlight an under-represented sport -- weightlifting.

Case in point, 20-year old Andrei Aramnau, who stands 172cm and comes in at 105kg (or for our American readers -- 5'8" and 231lbs). This year Aramna, representing his native Belarus, not only took home the gold in the 105kg class but he set world records for his in both lifts -- a massive 200kg/440lb snatch and 236kg/519lb clean and jerk. Here's a clip of him in action at a competition last year:

While we're on the subject of weightlifting, I'd like to throw some props to Mario Pudzianowski as well, since he's dominated strongman competitions since he came on the scene. Check out the video below to see him in action (apologies for the crappy music).

Obviously genetics (and in the latter case, admitted use of substances deemed illicit by some governments) play a large part for both Aramna and Pudzianowski. But so does their discipline in their training, diet, and sleep. Inspirational, to say the least.

RIP Aaron "Freedom Fighter" Russo

2008-08-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today is the one-year anniversary of Aaron Russo's death. Though I don't see eye to eye with everything Russo wrote or said, he was definitely a freedom fighter and was one of the early adopters of using film to communicate these ideas to others. In the circles I run with he's best known for his last documentary, America: From Freedom to Fascism, which, if you didn't watch it last time I plugged it, you can watch in its entirety here.

Thanks to Eric N. for reminding me of the anniversary.

War Is the Health of the State

2008-08-22T08:00:00.004-04:00

Randolph Borne once quipped that "War is the health of the State." How true he was, and is.

The recent conflict between the State apparatuses of Georgia and Russia is but the latest example, one that has ignited fears that Russia may return to its expansionist ways (in fact the latest cover of Time is "How to Stop the Next Cold War"). But what was the conflict really about? Each State apparatus claimed that it had a legitimate monopoly on the peoples of South Ossetia -- an area that folks seem to forget declared its independence from both countries. So, rather than side with the Georgian or Russian State, it seems that true advocates of freedom would support the right of folks in South Ossetia to be sovereign. To get one step closer to self-governance.

Yet, spurred by State-sponsored propaganda and the refusal of governments to acknowledge secessionist movements in other parts of the world (fearful that it could bolster such movements in "their" country), people are pushed to side with one government against another, which instills an "us" v. "them" mentality, and makes war, and all the horror that accompany it, all the more palatable.

Below are some of more powerful pics of the Russia/Georgia conflict, of which you can see more here. Note that the forum on which they're posted is in Cyrillic, but as they say, a picture is worth a million words.

Hopefully some of those million include "peace", "free markets", and "individual liberty".

Metal, Back to the Future and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Style

2008-08-21T08:00:00.002-04:00

I love his fellow band members getting down.

Thanks to Ben W. for passing this along.

And thanks to Xaq F. for the recommendation above. Even better than the first.

I.O.U.S.A. Showcases the States Inept Spending

2008-08-20T08:00:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, I.O.U.S.A., a documentary which seeks to sound the alarm about the massive American national debt, will open across the country. The official site for the documentary notes that:

We're on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its
spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.

Earlier this year I.O.U.S.A. received a standing ovation at Sundance. Earlier this month, it garnered a favorable write-up in the Washington Post, which noted that Wiggin, one of the writers, got the idea for turning his book, Empire of Debt, into a documentary after watching the excellent Commanding Heights -- three times.

Should be worth seeing. And interesting to see if it ignites a movement to stop the State from spending us to poverty.

Governments Default to Failure

2008-08-19T09:06:00.012-04:00

At the FEE seminar I attended a couple of weeks ago, Professor Pete Leeson told us that more than half of all governments are classified as "weak" or "failing" (by the Fund for Peace and Foreign Politics). That may come as a surprise to those of us living in developed countries, but it's the brutal reality for billions of people elsewhere.

When Leeson made this comment, Zimbabwe -- a place with a terrible government led by the corrupt tyrannical regime of Mugabe and his henchmen, immediately sprung to my mind. That's why I was a bit surprised to read today that the World Bank ranked Zimbabwe as the 152 easiest country to do business in out of 178 countries surveyed. Sure, that ranking is abysmal, but it means that there are still 26 countries in which it's more difficult to do business transactions. This, in a place with 11 million percent inflation, no real regard for property rights, and State sanctioned violence against opposition.

Milton Friedman once said:

Fundamentally, there are only two ways of coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion – the technique of the army and of the modern totalitarian state. The other is voluntary cooperation of individuals – the technique of the marketplace.

Only when individuals demand (whether via the soap box, ballet box, or cartridge box) their rights to act freely so long as they do no harm to others will they break the shackles of the State and allow the latter to emerge.

Freedom of Movement & Property Rights

2008-08-18T08:59:00.007-04:00

Over the last weekend of July I road-tripped up to Ontario with some friends to attend the Liberty Summer Seminar, hosted by the Institute for Liberal Studies. En route we passed an area that had massive fortifications, where privacy and other rights were suspended, and where men were heavily armed. It was the arbitrary political boundary between the nation-states of the US and Canada.

Earlier this year I ventured into the cold, unknown wilderness called "Canada" when I left motor city Detroit (perhaps a more relevant descriptor is "one of the best case studies of how burdensome and corrupt government causes the abandonment of a city") to attend the Windsor Liberty Seminar. There too, I was struck by the ridiculousness of the border situation.

Shouldn't property owners have the final say of if someone is welcome? Why is it that a group that deems itself a "government" has the authority to prevent say, a contract between a factory manager in Los Angeles and a worker from El Salvador? Obviously both the manager and worker see the relationship (which is free from coercion) as beneficial, otherwise they would not have entered into it.

Think about it this way -- You'd agree that no one, including the government, has the right to bar someone from being able to work or move freely due to their skin color (though whether a business owner chooses to employ them or let them on their property is their choice). This logic should extend to another factor outside an individuals control -- where they happen to be born, which then raises questions about the whole concept of political boundaries in the first place.

For more, check out Bureaucrash's aptly-named view on this issue: ImmiGREAT and show others how you feel by donning one of their killer tees.

Lone Juror Questions Legitimacy of Drug Prohibition and Gets Dismissed

2008-08-15T11:11:00.004-04:00

Read Tim Lynch's devastating critique of the judges actions, published on Cato at Liberty.

For more on jury nullification, head over to Fully Informed Jury Association.

OpenCarry.org Gets a Facelift

2008-08-14T08:00:00.004-04:00

OpenCarry.org, quite possibly the best site for communicating state-by-state legislation related to the carrying, transportation, or sale of firearms, just got an upgrade.

The revamped layout even has video channels that showcase news clips by jurisdiction. But most importantly, the site will serve as a resource by those who currently conceal/open carry due to the constantly changing man-made legislation (as opposed to natural law) as well as those who are considering carrying.

Perhaps the most startling thing for me was the map above, which shows that in a number of states it is illegal for a private party (i.e. me) to sell a firearm to another private party (i.e. you). Something tells me this legislation may be ignored from time to time...

Bedding Down with Technology

2008-08-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

Last week I rode my bike up the road (I-95) to NY for a FEE seminar on Austrian Economics (which was excellent). Like the other participants, I was housed at the beautiful Doubletree a couple miles up the road from FEE.

I was told by another seminar-goer that they saw someone put a note on my bike, which was parked out front. Curious, I paid a visit to my bike and found a business card for the Motorcycle Travel Network, which operates much like CouchSurfing.com for motorcyclists (except it requires a membership card and a small "gratuity fee" when staying with each host).

Just another example of how technology such as the Internet is helping to lower transaction costs.

A Constitution of Compromise

2008-08-12T08:00:00.008-04:00

I often hear folks hearken back to the days when the scope of the State was less invasive (admittedly, this may be due to the crowd I run with), specifically highlighting the "glory days" after the Constitution was ratified. But, as Sheldon Richman notes in his essay The Goal is Freedom, "The Constitution, let us not forget, was the product of compromise". It was set to fail from the start -- a view supported by history and by the contributions of Public Choice theorists.

Contrary to what many believe, our Founders did not take up arms against taxation per se, but against taxation without representation. They still saw the need for a government and they created one via the Constitution. So why is that that individuals are so surprised to see where we're at today?

Perhaps a better question for those seeking a freer society is: Why did the Founders seek to replace one government with another, knowing full-well the harms that stem from them?

Thanks to Bob E. for passing this my way.

Eureka! California Allows for Homeschooling

2008-08-11T08:00:00.007-04:00

Last week California's Second District Court of Appeals reversed its ban on homeschooling, a significant victory for freedom, especially with the saying, "As California goes, so goes the nation" in mind. The previous ruling, handed down in Feburary, effectively made it illegal for parents to teach their own children in their own home.

Unsurprisingly, the courts earlier decision was supported by the powerful California Teacher's Union. So brazen are these bastards in their attempt to monopolize the education of children (though without competition it's fallacious to dub their sub-par instruction as "education") that their lawyer wrote: "Parents do not have an unfettered right to dictate the terms of their children's education".

Along with our monetary policy, our education system is the linchpin that most allows the State to grow. It is an indoctrination factory that continues to march goose-step toward even further centralization, where the individual spirit is crushed and where children are told that the government is the solution for any and all problems, including those that it created and exacerbated.

For more on this, check out the Separating School and State by Sheldon Richman. And as I've found that many homeschoolers only care about this one issue, if you know any homeschoolers, encourage them to draw parallels from their belief in their right to educate their children free from State oversight to all other issues.

Fenty is the State

2008-08-05T08:00:00.002-04:00

"I am DC" -- so claims Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Kinda reminds me of another person who was elected to the highest post in his jurisdiction -- Germany, from 1933-1945.

Fortunately Fenty does not have a million-man army at his beck and call to implement his policies "for your own good".

Foundation of Freedom: LSS

2008-08-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

In case you missed it, last week Bureaucrash released its newest video, Foundation of Freedom: LSS. The accompanying description:

Government attempts to usurp your freedom. Fight back by becoming a knowledgeable, principled, passionate advocate of liberty. As Bureaucrash shows in this video, one place to get versed on these ideas is the Liberty Summer Seminar, hosted by the Institute for Liberal Studies.

Austrian Econ Bound

2008-08-03T10:00:00.001-04:00

Today is the start of the Austrian Economics seminar at the Foundation for Economic Education and I'm fortunate to be among the participants.

Though I'm well aware of FEE and their immense contribution to furthering the ideas of liberty, this is my first formal participation in one of their programs (unless you count the happy hour they hosted at the Students for Liberty conference last February).

The faculty line-up is impressive, including many of the top minds in Austrian Economics today. And the other participants that I know of -- some very bright and hardcore folks from GMU's econ department -- will help contribute to a challenging, fun week.

Homeland Security Claims Authority to Seize Laptops Without Suspicion

2008-08-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

Government-Run Monetary Policy Causes Instability

2008-08-01T08:46:00.007-04:00

Imagine if investors trashed the New York Stock Exchange due to the devaluation of stocks. This scene unfolded recently at the Karachi Stock Exchange in Pakistan when investors, upset at the continued decline -- the worst in a generation -- of their investments , took to the streets.

The decline was due to their government's failed monetary policy (which kind of goes without saying) and massive meddling in the economy. Sound familiar? Also, according to the Financial Times, part of Pakistan's recent sub-par market is due in part to concerns that the U.S. may put more troops along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Why people continue to have faith in the State, which is beyond me.

For more, check out the NYT's take.

Thanks to L-Dizzle for passing this story my way.

Free Market Response to Homicide

2008-07-31T08:16:00.006-04:00

Antigua travel agents have pooled their money to offer £65,000 for information about an attack against . Antiguan businessmen know the importance of a reputation. If those responsible are not held accountable, or even worse, if more tourists are targeted, tourists and their expenditures, which according to the CIA accounts for over 50% of their GDP, will go elsewhere.

Unfortunately, Antigua's police commissioner Gary Nelson -- whose ineptitude resulted in the reward being offered by businessmen -- has "backed calls for civilians to train as auxiliary officers to tackle a chronic shortage of manpower." Nothing like growing an inefficient bureaucracy...

Heller Fires Back at Washington, DC Politicians

2008-07-28T16:31:00.002-04:00

For those of you who haven't stayed abreast at the after-effects of the gun ban case, DC's mayor and the city counsel have dragged their feet since the ruling. Fortunately for us rights-respecting folks, Heller and his backers aren't sitting idly by. I just received the following via an email:

DC FOR HELLER

July 28, 2008

HELLER PRESSES CITY TO FOLLOW SUPREME COURT RULING

Plaintiffs Continue to Stand Up for Citizens' Rights

Dick Heller, et al., filed a complaint (For Declaratory Judgment, Injunctive Relief, and Writ of Mandamus) against the city today to force them to comply with the US Supreme Court ruling in the District of Columbia v. Heller and to protect our individual rights such as the right to defend ourselves in our own homes. The current regulations violate our rights in several ways such as the unconstitutional ban on semiautomatic firearms, the discretionary fee-imposition power of the police chief, the undue burden on the right to a lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense, and in other ways.

On June 26, 2008, the United States Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 2821-22 (2008), that "the District's ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense."

The District's ban on semiautomatic handguns amounts to a prohibition of an entire class of arms that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for the lawful purpose of self-defense in the home. Semiautomatic pistols are issued to and commonly possessed by officers of the Metropolitan Police Department for self-defense and other lawful purposes.

Dane von Breichenruchardt of the US Bill of Rights Foundation will be available for questions tomorrow, Tuesday, July 28th, at 9 A.M. at the lower steps of the US Supreme Court Building. Dane can be reached at the US Bill of Rights Foundation at 202-546-7079.

Plaintiffs are Dick Anthony Heller, Absalom F. Jordan, Jr., and Amy McVey.

-- 30 --

Attorneys for Plaintiffs are

Stephen P. Halbrook (D.C. Bar No. 379799) and Richard E. Gardiner (D.C. Bar No. 386915)

10560 Main St., Suite 404

Fairfax, VA 22030

(703) 352-7276

Liberty Hiatious Explained

2008-07-24T14:50:00.004-04:00

Just a quick note about my blogging hiatus -- last week I was in Chicago, where I visited my good bud Dan for a bit then attended the Institute for Humane Studies' Liberty, Communication & Change seminar, which was excellent. Tomorrow I'm jumping in a minivan with five others and ten hours later we'll arrive in Orono, Ontario for the Institute for Liberal Studies' Liberty Summer Seminar.

In other news, check out this noise: A new poll indicates that one in five Americans believe in seccession, including a full 40% of those aged 18-24.

Obama: The Next Colonel Sanders?

2008-07-17T09:00:00.001-04:00

The image below, from Mandeville, LA, was sent my way from my Uncle Pat and is just too good to pass up sharing with y'all.

Don't infer that because I posted this pic that I support McCain, Barr, or anyone else, because I don't. Politics is force. And because I don't believe that I have the right to force my views on your or anyone else I do not participate in electoral politics.

For more on this, check out voluntaryism the book I Must Speak Out: The Best of the Voluntaryist, and the Bureaucrash meme Politics Hurt.

The DOJ Plays Favorites to Killers

2008-07-16T08:23:00.010-04:00

Yesterday it was reported that Peter Egner, a Bellevue, WA man who gained American citizenship in '65, had previously worked in an Einsatzgruppen unit in the early '40s. Now the D.O.J. is seeking to revoke Egner's citizenship and deport him by claiming that he lied on his application, because he noted that he had instead been part of the Wehrmacht. One government official noted,

By bringing this action today, we again declare our unwavering commitment to the principle that participants in Nazi crimes should not be afforded the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship.

Let's not mince words here, the men in the Einsatzgruppen killed thousands of others based on their religious or ethnic backgrounds and in many ways (i.e. technology and personnel) served as the precursor to the Final Solution. But why does the DOJ target Egner and his cohorts but not others who have committed similar atrocities?

For example, Egner was granted U.S. citizenship despite noting that he had served in the Wehrmacht, but that arm of Hitler's military apparatus also killed innocent civilians, especially as the war progressed. So why then, using DOJ's metric, should someone who served in the Wehrmacht be free from deportation? What about the folks who sent millions to their deaths in gulags or purposefully starved millions through their violations of property rights and intervention into the market in the USSR? Surely many are still alive and residing in the States. Further, what about American pilots and their crews who carpet- and fire-bombed German and Japanese cities? Or the politicians and special interests who got us into the war?

The arbitrariness of these sorts of prosecutions are a sham and only serve to further entrench the same criminals -- State actors -- who are responsible for these wars which destroy individual rights. By continuing to demonize only certain parties involved the State is able to continue to instill an "us" v. "them" notion and cast its actions as "just", further building support for its existence and setting the stage for future violations of rights.

Internalized Ideas Expressed in Ink

2008-07-15T08:00:00.001-04:00

A while back I blogged that my bud Dan and I planned to get new ink. We'll we did. You can see them along with a short description over at Gadsden.info, an excellent site run by my friend and long-time advocate of liberty Chris.

Revolution In the Air in DC

2008-07-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday thousands of individuals from around the country hit the streets in DC to call for freedom. Organizers encouraged folks to meet at the Washington Monument at 9:30AM then depart an hour later for the Capital for a rally that included many speakers.

My girl Amanda, my colleague Drew and I arrived just before 11AM. We joined the column of marchers for the last block then turned around to get some good footage and interviews (look for a video soon). Seeing the steady stream of liberty-oriented folks demanding to be free from the shackles of the State made me a bit teary-eyed.

We were soon joined by 20 others (including some awesome Koch Fellows and French-based Tocqueville Fellows) who helped distribute Bureaucrash lit and stickers, and later, my colleague Janet and her bf Matt represented Bureaucrash at a book signing.

Though over 15.000 signed the pledge to appear the crowd likely numbered only a few thousand. And though not everyone present was on the same page on all issues the unifying thread was clear: the size and scope of the State is far far too large and invasive.

For more, check out the overview at The Orvetti Factor.

Freedom Was the Call He Was Dreaming Of...

2008-07-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

...his name was Mikhail Gorbachev. See for yourself:

Thanks to Ben P. for passing this re-dic video my way.

Skyline Drive on 91 Octane

2008-07-09T17:40:00.000-04:00

I just stumbled across some pics I took from my first jaunt through Skyline Drive on my motorcycle a few months ago. I'll let them do the talking for me.

Canada Day Hits DC

2008-07-08T08:00:00.005-04:00

One week ago I accompanied a couple of my (Canadian) colleagues to the Canadian Embassy to celebrate Canada Day. To be honest, I went along mostly for the food. Upon entry (just before going through a metal detector) we were each given little Canadian flags to wave -- how patriotic.

My first remark upon arriving was about the lengthy lines and how everyone was so patient. My friend said that's because everyone in Canada is used to waiting in lines and someone else in line noted that it was good I didn't need a hip replacement (due to their socialized health care system -- just think about how efficient, personable, and transparent your interactions with our government bureaucrats are at the DMV and apply those qualities to something potentially life-threatening).

About a half-hour later after I'd finished by burger it was time to hit it. But not before an 80-year-old in a wheelchair half-jokingly told me that "China owns America" and that if I was such an advocate of free trade I should move to China. Nice.

For whatever reason I had South Park's "Blame Canada" in my head the entire time. Maybe I'll just replace "Canada" with "the State".

South Park - Blame Canada - Click here for the most popular videos

Behind the Curtain at the DEA

2008-07-07T08:00:00.003-04:00

Last week I toured the DEA Museum, housed in one of the four camera-laden 12-story buildings in Arlington, VA that make up its HQ. As expected, it was a showcase of government propaganda and misinformation.

After going through a metal detector and being escorted by an armed agent to the museum, I entered. Immediately I saw a quote by Nancy Reagan, which cites drug use as a "moral" issue and that she is staunchly against it "for the children". Apparently Nancy Reagan believes it's moral to use force to prevent people from ingesting a substance simply because she or other State actors deem it illicit.

One exhibit was dedicated to the harms that stem from prescription drugs. The DEA tauted the fact that their actions had resulted in additional regulations that prevented the abuse of prescription drugs. They curiously neglected to mention the chilling effect their actions have had on doctors trying to help law-abiding patients seeking relief from their conditions.

Just one example of misinformation is the plaque about Gingsberg and Leary, which noted that the latter was "dismissed". Obviously no where in the Museum were the Feds own experiments with drugs like LSD mentioned.

The place even had a damn gift shop! I suppose they think they have a good shot at getting you to part with your money, what with the billions they've spent to brainwash you.

In one corner of the museum was a binder and plaque marked as the Lost Promise. In it, family and friends of deceased individuals wrote their story about the loss of a loved one. Only they singled out drugs and "evil" drug dealers as the cause. Obviously the DEA loves this not-accepting-personal-responsibility angle as well as not acknowledging that their actions continuing the war on (some) drugs actually creates and exacerbates problems with drug use. Shame on them.

The war on (some) drugs has real consequences for individuals (and not just a fat salary for some trigger-happy State agents). It's time to end this unjust usurpation of rights.

Break Down Illegal Institutions!

2008-07-05T21:43:00.003-04:00

Every revolution needs a song, right? Check out this find, which I first saw over at Liberty Is For Me.

Declaration Day Revisited

2008-07-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today Americans celebrate the Fourth of July, also called Independence Day and Declaration Day. With such a massive State, which has grown far beyond even the more-expansive Federalists' aims, it's important to reflect what it was that spurned folks to pick up arms over two hundred years ago.

It was the desire to be free from coercion, free from the whims of a far-off monarch. While noble, most of those who fought only got it partly correct. The general cry was not for no government, but representative government. Folks were angry that they could not vote. But history (not just American history but the history of any government) has proven folks like Bob Higgs and adherents of the Public Choice Theory correct. No matter the limited scope a government is tasked with, those boundaries, and with them our natural rights, are soon trodden over.

Below is Declaration Day by Iced Earth. As Jon Schaffer ends the song with, Give me liberty or give me death. Thanks to my bud Dan for introducing them to me years ago.

A desperate situation
Forced to retaliation
The task ahead a burden
Men will suffer, that's for certain
We'll charging to the fire
The cause, we must inspire
We raise our fist to tyranny
A high price, freedom is not free

The odds are stacked against us
But with our resolve relentless
An arrogance their weakness
Our cause is just, we won't be beaten
Upon this decleration
Will come a grand new nation
Where men are seen as equal
Goverened by and for the people

[Chorus:]
So we make our stand and pray
On this Declaration Day
For independence I will fight
With liberty I will defy
So we make our stand and pray
On this Declaration Day
Give me liberty or give me death
I'll fight 'till my last breath

With virtue as our beacon
Our cause is charged as treason
Battle worn and starving
Through the hell of war we'll keep marching
The birth of our new nation
An act of desperation
We'll force King George down to his knees
Capitulation

[Chorus:]
So we make our stand and pray
On this Declaration Day
For independence I will fight
With liberty, I will defy
So we make our stand and pray
On this Declaration Day
Give me liberty or give me death
I'll fight 'till my last breath

Imagination Captured via Civil Engineering

2008-07-03T08:00:00.001-04:00

Geologist Cheng Horng Lin published a paper that purports that Taipei 101, currently the world's tallest building, weighs so much that it has activated a dormant fault. However, other engineers are not so sure, due to the short time window Lin considered. Yet, that didn't stop building owners from installing a massive dampener to counter-act any earthquakes.

Thousand miles away in Dubai, an Italian firm has gained approval (insert witty anti-zoning/licensing comment) to build an 80-story apartment building in which tenants can revolve their floor via verbal command. Dubbed the Dynamic Tower, the designers claim the "building never looks the same, not once in a lifetime" Plus, to power the building between each floor are back-scratcher-shaped arms that catch the wind. In light of another Dubai/skyscraper post earlier this year perhaps it's worth a visit in person...

Closer to home construction has begun in Rosslyn on what will be the tallest building in NoVA. However, not before the developer committed to dropping $25MM for affordable housing and letting the county utilize the building for 10 years rent free due to special interests. Talk about strong-arm tactics...

Thanks to Sean for passing the first story my way.

I'll Never Use UPS Again

2008-07-02T08:58:00.007-04:00

On Monday I was to ship out two packages so that they would arrive at their respective destinations (LA and NY) by Friday. Below is a review of what brought me to conclude that I'm not going to patron UPS anymore:

On Monday at 10AM I filled out an online form for the packages to be picked up.
By 5:30PM the packages were still sitting in our office lobby. I called UPS and was told someone would call me back by 7PM. I explained that I feared the packages would not arrive at their destination in time so I inquired about having the shipping expedited. I was told someone would call me to discuss my request and that they'd send a driver by. I worked late into the night by I did not receive any contact from UPS.
On Tuesday I called UPS again. I voiced my concern that the packages may not arrive on-time to their destination and suggested that instead of waiting for them to be picked up I carry the packages to the nearest UPS location. I was advised against such action as I was told they'd then only be shipped ground. Instead, I was to wait to talk to someone who had the authority to expedite the shipping. I was told I'd be called back within the hour. That never happened.
On Tuesday afternoon I called UPS back. Again, I was told that I would be called within an hour. Again, that never happened.
By Tuesday late afternoon I was about to call UPS again when I was told by my colleague that UPS had just come and taken the packages. Great! I thought. But I wondered, was the shipping expedited?
This morning, I called UPS back to see if the shipping was expedited. It was not. I voiced my dissatisfaction with the process thus far, detailing the failed communication between UPS and myself, and was told by the operator that he will "an urgent message" to have the shipping upgraded. He also told me to expect a call back within the hour confirming this. I'm still waiting...

Fortunately competition exists in this sector. I am free to take my business elsewhere and I plan to do just that. From now on, it's FedEx for me. Especially because its head, Fred Smith, donates to libertarian causes.

Update: I finally got a call from UPS. Two hours later. I was told I should call their 800 number and request that the package be "intercepted" and put onto a plane. For whatever reason she was unable to transfer my call. I called and was told that no intercept was possible. Figures.

Government Attacks Free Speech

2008-07-01T16:38:00.003-04:00

Check out Bureaucrash's latest video offering:

If you care to help Stagliano stand up to State-imposed censorship, you can do so at DefendOurPorn.org.

Anarchy Hour

2008-07-01T08:00:00.005-04:00

After work a few weeks ago a couple of friends and I met over drinks to discuss political philosophy and to strategize on how to best sell the freedin message in the world of ideas. It was the first Anarchy Hour.

The purpose of the Anarchy Hour is to facilitate discussion and networking between self-described anarcho-capitalists/voluntaryists/market anarchists/indivdiual anarchists/agorists and those with affinity for such perspectives. Additionally, to identify and leverage potential synergies and ideas that come to fruition through such meetings.

One week from today, Tuesday, July 8th, will be the second Anarchy Hour. If you live in this area, join us at the Capital City Brewery at 8:08PM. Here's the Facebook event. If you live in another region or country, I encourage you to get a monthly group off the ground in your area. If you don't know of others in your area that you can discuss such views with I suggest you join the Anarcho-Capitalist (global) Facebook group -- you may be surprised at just how many of us are out there:)

Fredricksburg Frustration

2008-06-30T08:00:00.002-04:00

Last Thursday I cruised an hour south of DC to Fredericksburg, VA to catch a metalcore show. Slated to play were a couple of my favs -- All Shall Perish and The Acacia Strain (thanks to Ryan P. for putting this on my radar). Unfortunately, when I arrived to the sparsely attended KC's Music Alley (pictured) I learned from another concert-goer that the the Fredericksburg stop was dropped from the tour at the last minute. Grrr.

Fortunately, I was able to go home and rock out for a bit but still, I need a good metal fix. I just checked Pollstar but, save for a few bands on the Warped Tour, didn't see anything too appealing. If you have suggestions of bands I should check out or shows within a couple hours of DC, let me know.

Here's one for you, which comes by way of Ryan L., our IT intern at CEI: Apocalyptica, described by Wiki as a "Finnish cello metal band".

USSC Rules DC Gun Ban Unconstitutional

2008-06-27T08:35:00.005-04:00

As you've undoubtedly heard, yesterday the USSC ruled the DC gun ban unconstitutional. Heller yeah! The decision was expected by virtually everyone. Hell, even the victim disarmament folks were doing damage control months ago.

This morning as I locked my bike outside my office (in DC) a cop stopped to talked. I asked how he viewed the ruling but he was pretty nonchalant. Yet, I'm sure his superiors and DC elected officials are scrambling to update related laws and statues, though as narrowly as possible. So too is the case in Chicago (the city with the second-most-strict firearms laws after DC), where my buddy Dan told me that Mayor Daley "is in a frenzy".

But what I said a few days ago and what I'll say again is that our rights are not granted to us by the State or a piece of parchment. As Spooner noted, "The Constitution has no inherent authority or obligation." Even if the USSC would have ruled against Heller it would have not lessened our right to keep and bear arms.

The Pittsburgh Diaries

2008-06-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday morn my girl Amanda and I hopped on my motorcycle in Arlington, VA. Four hours later we pulled into the parking garage at the Westin in Pittsburgh. There, we met my folks who had trekked four hours east from NW OH for a long weekend.

Over the next few days, based on the advice of friends, we saw what the Steel City had to offer, including:

Ft. Pitt, where I learned that it was the biggest fort the British built in what is now America. The volunteers there were personable and provided lots of info (i.e. that in 1780 trappers and Native Americans brought a staggering 280K deer skins, along with lesser quantities of other animal pelts, there to be traded).
the South Side, where we scored a couple of drinks, got yelled at for walking too slowly across the street, saw lots of ink, and checked out a music and hippy store.
the Heinz History Center, which was ok, but the beginning was a bit repetitive from (the less-spendy) Ft. Pitt and it randomly had a 9.11 exhibit. Save yourself the trouble and read Pittsburgh's Wiki entry and you'll get a more exhaustive overview.
PNC Park, for a Pirates game (and win over the Bluejays). A pretty stellar view from the surprisingly full stadium -- I say "surprisingly" as the Pirates haven't had a winning season since '92.
the Monongahela Incline, from which we were able to get some pretty sweet views of Pittsburgh.
some good grub. Perhaps the best eats were at an Italian place on Liberty Ave near the Heinz Museum that I can't recall the name of now..., though for much less coin and more filling I preferred the de-lish pizza at Cafe Milano on 6th St. Also good was Kassab's Lebanese on Carsen in South Side. We also tried a Pitts-Burgher Cheese Steak sandwich from Primanti Brothers, which claims to have "Pittsburgh's most famous sandwiches" though we were all disappointed.
a cruise through Oakland by the Cathedral of Learning and other neighborhoods.

Also worth noting was the healthy appreciation for liberty in Pittsburgh (though my old man did comment that the city seems too reliant on the State for jobs, which I pointed out is the case in every jurisdiction). For example, when rocking my Enjoy Capitalism shirt I received props from a couple of folks (including one hyper lady who insisted that we incorporate blue into the design and another guy that I shared my business card with). Also, one of the guys who shared the Incline with us rocked a Ron Paul bracelet (he too received my business card), and there was a gay oriented block party called Pride, which had the subtitle "Live, Love, and Liberty".

Further, Pittsburgh has been ranked Most Livable Metropolitian Area a few times in recent years and I never felt unsafe. However, Pittsburgh didn't scream "vitality" to me. It had a good dose of "cultural" outlets, including the Three Rivers Art Festival we strolled through, but I couldn't help but wonder about State-provided subsidizes. All in all, a pretty badass weekend, due mostly to sharing the experience with some stellar folks.

Elected Official Calls Taxpayers Naive

2008-06-25T08:00:00.004-04:00

Are individuals "naive", "trite", and "simplistic" to think that they can spend their money more wisely than government? That's what Minnesota State Senator Lawrence Pogemiller, who happens to sit on the Taxes Committee, believes.

Check out the video below to hear for yourself. And though the narrator emphasizes the false dichotomy of Republican v. Democratic (rather than individualism v. Statism), the video does end on an accurate note by calling Pogemiller what he is: a socialist.

Thanks to Xaq for sharing the video.

Keep Your Eyes on the Target

2008-06-24T08:00:00.001-04:00

The word on the street is that the Heller decision will come down this Thursday or Friday. It'll no-doubt make national news when that happens, but to find out first you may want to stay tuned to SCOTUS, the Supreme Court's blog. Another clutch resource is this page from Cato that compiles a ton of related information.

As I sit here typing in my favorite gun-rights-related t-shirt, it pains me to acknowledge that though I believe DC's gun ban will be ruled unconstitutional, the Justices will still allow for significant hurdles -- the invasion of privacy (i.e. fingerprints, registration, etc.), financial (i.e. fees), and time (i.e. paperwork, waiting periods) -- to be imposed on individuals who wish to legally own a firearm, similar to what is done in NYC.

But, hopefully I'm proved wrong and the ruling is more sweeping. If not, one could always join voluntaryists/anarcho-capitalists in believing that the USSC has no authority over them and act freely so long as they do not harm the equal rights of others, including the keeping and bearing of firearms.

Video for the People

2008-06-23T07:00:00.003-04:00

Over the next two days my colleague Drew Tidwell (one of our newest hires at CEI) and I will be devoting two eight-hour days to learning Final Cut Pro. Though we're dropping a decent amount of coin for the class it will provide us with expert instruction on using the medium of video, or more accurately, the editing of said video, to communicate the ideas of freedom. I can't wait.

Click here to see the work of our predecessors in this realm.

The last time I felt reasonably competent in this area was when I was active with a news magazine show called The Flash as a senior in high school. As you can see, we received a lot of relevant instruction and discretion on show topics, which we showcased weekly to the rest of the school body. My fav shows were #38 and #59.

Spencer's Ideas for Hire

2008-06-20T08:00:00.001-04:00

A while back I finished Social Statistics first published in 1851 by Herbert Spencer. Though I have touched on him a couple of times here, I thought his book and his ideas deserved a bit more attention. I don't claim to be an expert on Spencer, but from what I've read of his work and the subsequent accolades and criticism of it, I fear the insightfulness of his work is too-easily overlooked by those wearing glasses with PC lenses.

Let me share a couple of quotes from the book to support my point:

If every man has freedom to do all that he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man, then he is free to drop connection with the state—to relinquish its protection and to refuse paying toward its support. It is self-evident that in so behaving he in no way trenches upon the liberty of others, for his position is a passive one, and while passive he cannot become an aggressor.

Is not our government as busy still as though the work of law-making commenced but yesterday? Has it made any apparent progress toward a final settlement of social arrangements? Does it not rather each year entangle itself still further in the web of legislation, confounding the already heterogeneous mass of enactments into still greater confusion?

If you're thirsty for more choice quotes, check out this document I assembled. Then, let me know your thoughts. Are his ideas given adequate attention? Is his place in history justified?

Steel City Bound

2008-06-19T08:00:00.004-04:00

If you're reading this today between 10AM and 2PM, chances are I'm cruising west toward Pittsburgh on my motorcycle with my girl Amanda. There, we'll hang a bit with my folks (in town to help celebrate my bday) and do our own thing. Unfortunately I have yet to pick up a fuzz buster, but hopefully with two folks on cop watch we'll be alright.

Thanks to all y'all Pittsburgh natives that have shared tips on what to check out while we're in town!

Open Carry Visibility

2008-06-18T10:25:00.007-04:00

As this Chicago Tribune article noted, more folks are exercising their right to open carry. It should be clear to anyone who reads this blog where I stand on this issue. Despite the fact that myself and the folks quoted in the Tribune article have broken no law -- man-made or otherwise -- some continue to demonize the practice, evoking fear tactics to scare others into going along with their rights-restricting goals.

For example, the Tribune article cites Jon Greiner, police chief of Ogden, UT, who told a story about a crazy dude that opened fire on police when they questioned him about open carrying a shotgun. Isn't that all the more reason to allow law-abiding folks to carry? What if the police had not shown up and this dude started picking off unarmed folks? Anyone remember the Luby's massacre in TX?

A recent op-ed in the Boston Globe attempted to extinguish support for open carrying by using deflection, including the "what about the children!?" card and scapegoating the movement by linking it to the "all-powerful" NRA. Well, the NRA, and other lobbying outfits would not be "all-powerful" if the State was not so damn big and able to grant favors at a whim. Also, the NRA does not speak for me because they compromise on principles.

The solution is not more restrictions on individual liberty, which by their nature then reduces personal responsibility, but more freedom. Including the freedom (and responsibility) to open carry if one so chooses.

Recreational Drug Users Flock to Argentina

2008-06-17T07:48:00.003-04:00

It could happen, especially as courts there have chosen not to criminalize the use of illicit drugs. If drug tourists do make Argentina a destination it could help rejuvenate the economy, currently crippled by regulations and taxes implemented by Fernandez's socialist government.

Road Tripping to the Live Free or Die State

2008-06-12T07:47:00.006-04:00

Today my colleague Rachel and I are heading up to NH for the 2008 Porcupine Freedom Festival. There, we will pimp Bureaucrash, our Contraband, and more importantly the message of freedom. We'll also interact with lovers-of-liberty from around the country and world, many of whom have already voted with their feet to obtain liberty in their lifetime.

This will be my fifth trip to the 'Shire and my second visit to the PorcFest (aptly-named for the porcupine, the mascot of the Free State Project, which by nature is non-aggressive but will defend itself if provoked). The pic above, of me and my buds John Ross and Kevin Scobey was taken in 2005, the same weekend I first met Jason Talley and the other cool folks representing Bureaucrash.

Hopefully I'll catch some of you up there! Just look for the guy with a Bureaucrash shit on that's open carrying. Wait, that's likely not descriptive enough for the crowd up there -- pretty cool:)

Amanda, thanks for letting us use your tent! Wish you were here too:)