Should religion be illegal- like 'drugs'?

Should religion be illegal- like 'drugs'?

Should religion be illegal? From a purely rational point of view, based upon actual harm done, criminalizing religion makes more sense than does criminalizing "drugs". Religion is more likely to be forced upon an unwilling person than "drugs" are, despite the "drug warrior" propaganda to the contrary. However, I do not advocate criminalizing either one. That would just be wrong. It is not within the authority of any person (or group of people) to decide what any other person does with his own body or mind as long as no innocents are being harmed by the actions. No matter how strongly you disagree or how reasonable your disagreements are.

Drugs and religions have a lot in common (and in some cases are literally one and the same). Both have the effect of making their users feel good- and both can make their users feel really bad, especially when abused or when an addiction occurs. Both are often belittled and demonized by people who do not use them, and who therefore do not understand the pleasures that their users feel. Perhaps there is something in the wiring of the human brain that makes a person more susceptible or more resistant to such effects. It wouldn't surprise me.

Any honest accounting would show that religions have hurt and/or killed more people than drugs have. Yet, neither one must inevitably cause harm. Only through misuse or obsession does the harm follow.

As long as you don't hold me down and force me to ingest a drug, or work to get your religious ideals enshrined in "law" in an attempt to force me to behave as though I agree with you, what you do to your own body and mind are none of my business. No matter how wonderful or self-destructive your behavior may be. You are the rightful owner of your own body and life, and ownership means you have the right to use, and even destroy, that which you own.
___________________________

The Albuquerque Water cops are overworked. Poor little Jackboots. Yet, the real tragedy in the story is that they find their victims because of tips from "neighbors". No good person would ever report someone for using "too much water". As I have said before, if water is being wasted, it is a sign it is under priced. Market forces, including scarcity, should determine the "proper price" and eliminate waste. End the government monopoly on the Albuquerque water supply and watch the problem evaporate.

Girl kills attackers, but statists miss the point

I got an email that I would like to share. Along with my commentary. First, the email:

BUTTE, MONTANA

Shotgun preteen vs. Home Invaders : Illegal alien Butte,
Montana, November 5 , 2009

Two illegal aliens, Ralphel Resindez, 23, and Enrico Garza, 26,
probably believed they would easily overpower home-alone 11 year old
Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two-story home.

It seems the two crooks never learned two things:
they were in Montana and Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since
she was nine. Patricia was in her upstairs room when the two men
broke through the front door of the house. She quickly ran to her father's
room and grabbed his 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun.

Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor
only to be the first to catch a near point blank blast of buckshot from
the 11-year-old's knee crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his
abdomen and genitals. When Garza ran to the foot of the
stairs, he took a blast to the left shoulder and staggered out into the
street where he bled to death before medical help could arrive. It
was found out later that Resindez was armed with a stolen 45 caliber
handgun he took from another home invasion robbery. That
victim, 50-year-old David O'Burien, was not so lucky. He died from
stab wounds to the chest.

Ever wonder why good stuff never makes NBC ,
CBS , PBS , MSNBC , CNN, or ABC
news........an 11 year old girl, properly trained, defended her home, and
herself......against two murderous, illegal immigrants......and she
wins, She is still alive.

Now that is Gun Control !

Thought for the day: Calling an illegal alien an
'undocumented immigrant' is like calling a drug dealer an
'unlicensed pharmacist'
This is a good e-mail message.
American citizens defending themselves and their homes.

HAVE A GREAT DAY !

Now the commentary.

Good for her! I love it when the good guys win by killing the bad guys. I wish all such attacks ended so nicely. But... How in the bloody blazes could it possibly matter in the slightest where the attackers came from?

Would it be better to be murdered or raped by a person from your home town or your own "state"? It is ignorant and stupid to pretend that the origins of a bad guy are even part of the equation. This is just an attempt to distract people from the real issue: aggression. It is a lie. It is evil.

A cop killed during a drug raid is just as much a parasitical vermin as an "illegal immigrant" killed during an attempted rape/murder is. His death is just as much a cause for celebration. The actions and the intentions make the only difference that exists.

An "illegal immigrant" IS an independent migrant, and a "drug dealer" IS an unlicensed pharmacist. Only statists, who falsely believe "The State" is more important than the individual, would see it any other way. Disgusting!

Substitutes for substance

Substitutes for substance

"Patriotism" and "citizenship" are often used as substitutes for principles, like religion and "morality" are used as substitutes for living an ethical life. In either case, ritual is relied upon rather than doing what is right.

Waving a flag or worshiping the Constitution is no substitute for standing up for the principle of respecting the rights of all people in all situations. The Constitution is OK in some ways, but it still authorizes evil in others. The US flag (notice that it is most assuredly NOT "the American flag") has been co-opted by the federal government, and flying it is normally seen as an endorsement of that government. This "federal flag" stands against everything America should be, and has done so since before the "Civil War". Let the statists have their symbol.

Most advocates of "good citizenship" are advocating that you and I obey the Constitution and support the "Constitutional actions" of the US government- at least as long as it does what they think it should be doing- whether those actions are right or wrong. A "good citizen" is expected to waste effort by working "within the system" when bad things are done by those in that "system". It doesn't work, and if it did it would be made "illegal".

Giving up your own conscience and letting the State dictate your principles may be easy, but it will not lead you where you need to be. The destination will shift with each new crisis the State invents. That crisis may be "illegal immigrants" or "drugs" or "crime". It may be your religion or your guns. It will always be about someone's liberty. As long as you stand up for liberty for all in every situation, you will never be led astray.

I always try to put thought into where I place my support. I don't do what I am told, unless what I am told is in line with my principles. It means I may have to think more, and consider things more deeply. That's OK. Thinking is good exercise. Accepting as truth what you are told, by those who are holding you at gunpoint and have a vested interest in deceiving you, is not smart. But, as in all things, don't take my word for it. Think for yourself.
______________________

The bad "immigration law" from Arizona is already causing an influx of immigrants into the Albuquerque area. I'd be willing to bet it is not only "illegal immigrants"- or even necessarily immigrants at all. If I were Hispanic-appearing, and I lived in Arizona, I'd probably want out before the "law" went into effect, too. Let Arizona's loss be Albuquerque's gain. And, as always, if aggressive individuals follow the crowd to New Mexico, as the fear-mongers claim is happening, let people use justified self-defense and eliminate them from the population. It's the civilized thing to do. Remember, New Mexico is a "Gold Star" open-carry state. So do it.

Who kills your freedom?

Who kills your freedom?

Do you know why I am not obsessed over government and its war on liberty? Because government can't force you to do, or not do, anything unless one of its agents is holding a gun on you right now. And government does not have enough thugs or guns to control us all. It relies on "governing" you in most cases. Only you can consent to be governed- or not.

Government is not stopping you from being free. Only you can do that to yourself. Government may raise the costs, and may put every stumbling block possible in your way. It will threaten you if you dare take responsibility for your own life, against its wishes and "laws". You can choose to express your liberty anyway. Do it in secret today in order to become more skilled for tomorrow. Remember: you and I are already federal "felons", whether we intended to be or not; we might as well make the most of our outlawry.

If you are not willing to live free, within your rights, with a meddling government looking over your shoulder today, how do you expect to live free when the crow-picked corpses of those petty officials are decorating lampposts everywhere, but freelance thugs have replaced them?
Someone will always want to prevent you from enjoying your liberty. Bad people like these will always exist. Get used to dealing with them.

If you can't get away with "open carry", carry concealed and do your best to not get caught- or grovel for a permit and allow some thug to act as though your right is a privilege. If you feel you "must" have licenses and permits for driving, building, conducting business, or whatever right the State decides to violate tomorrow, get a little dyslexia or dyscalculia when filling out forms begging government to allow you to live within your rights. If you wish to enjoy prohibited pleasures, learn how to not "look guilty", because you are doing nothing wrong and have no cause to feel guilty. And learn to avoid or ignore those tools of the State, wherever you find them, who would gleefully throw you to the wolves.
Start today. There will never be a better time.
____________________________

Federal anti-gun agents in Albuquerque are looking for a nineteen year-old suspect who eluded them after they completed their scam. "Firearms" and "drugs" are not under the authority of any government control, according to the Constitution and, more importantly, the principles of liberty. Yet, these are about the only "crimes" mentioned as justification for the planned kidnapping. Actually, some of the guns the Feds "purchased" are said to have been stolen, and those guns should be returned to their proper owners immediately. However, the Feds, by putting out the word they were in the market for the guns, are accomplices in the thefts and they should be held individually accountable. I'm not holding my breath. But, I will remember.

Stand up for your enemy's rights to protect your own

Stand up for your enemy's rights to protect your own

A person can not "lose" his rights as long as he is alive. Not by becoming an attacker nor through any other action. A privilege can be lost; a right is part of the fundamental makeup of a human being. You can no more lose a right than you can become a ostrich.

This is something that didn't occur to me for a very long time, but once I realized it (just in the past couple of years), I wondered why it was so difficult to see. Perhaps because it is inconvenient. It is so much easier to excuse certain abuses if you can pretend that by his wrong actions a person has lost certain rights. But this is dishonest and leads to destructive "laws" and faulty justifications.

In the case of an aggressor- he has no right to attack the innocent, but both he and his victim have a right to defend themselves from the other. In more personal terms: a person attacking me has an absolute human right to defend his own life from my self-defense. In fact, although I hope he fails, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that outcome, I have no respect for thugs who simply submit rather than fight back.

Obviously, I would prefer that all aggressors lose the battle every time. However, it is not possible to claim that I have the right to judge whether another person has "lost" his rights without handing that same authority over my own rights to someone else. Just handle the attack.

If the person who attacked is the survivor he is subject to restitution, shunning, and whatever else sovereign individuals in a free society might do, but his choice to defend himself shouldn't be part of the equation. This is why I think "criminals" have an obligation to resist arrest and to attempt to escape from custody, and why I despise the dishonest practice of adding that natural response to their list of offenses.

This is also one reason why I oppose "laws" that prohibit "criminals" from possessing guns. The other part of that reason is that I see who is allowed to define "criminal", and I don't agree with their agenda nor do I recognize their authority, even in the case of "my enemy". There is no way to violate some other person's rights without damaging your own. I need no nanny.
___________________________

In Albuquerque news- A young cyclist who was riding cross-country to raise money for breast cancer (research, I'm hoping, although the story doesn't actually say that) died after being hit by a car. This is a tragic end to a proper response to a problem. Charity, not government subsidies. Voluntarily is always better than coerced.

Another very disturbing thing to me is how many commenters on that story are calling for the car's driver to be punished. Not every tragedy or accident "needs" to be criminalized. Yet, the facts are not even public and people are out for blood. That is wrong and sad.

Entitled to your money: Day care protests

Entitled to your money: Day care protests

Did you know that you are responsible for paying to take care of other people's children? A group of families in Albuquerque want you to know that they believe you are, and they are protesting to make their point.

Budget problems have caused the state to reduce the income eligibility for state-subsidized day care by half, and some parents are upset.

This isn't about "day care"; it's about day care that is paid for by someone else. When did this become any business of the government at any level? "Never" is when. Either these parents forget, or never understood, that nothing from government is "free". If government gives it to you, government stole it from someone else.

If you hand your* children over to the government, which is what this amounts to, then don't be shocked when that government acts as though it owns them in other circumstances. This "free day care" has strings attached, as do all government "hand-outs". It costs you your self-ownership, your dignity, and your liberty. It would surprise me if it didn't cost you every last scrap of your self-respect, too.

I'm sorry that some people don't feel they are able to care for their kids (and yet have them regardless). I make "sacrifices" and stay home to raise my daughter. No one can love her or care for her better than me. Sometimes, because of my choice, I can't afford things I think I "need". I would like the luxury of having more money, but I am not under the mistaken impression that it is your responsibility to pay for day care for my daughter so that I can hold a job outside my home. Of course, if you have a job offer for me that fits with my "talents" and circumstances, please let me know. I could definitely use the money.
_______________________________

*"your" and other words like it, in this case, do not denote ownership, but relationship. Such as "your friend" or "my sister" or "her daughter". Some people get a little twitchy about that distinction.

Rodent fun.

Here is a video I made today of a thirteen-lined ground squirrel at a park in Clovis NM. Posted for no particular reason, other than I enjoyed watching it.

Aggression by proxy

Aggression by proxy

I was recently told of a situation that illustrates a few different points I try to make. I got this third-hand, so reality may differ significantly from how it was told to me. In any case, this is the situation as it was related to me:

Someone sold a section of land adjacent to their home. The buyer then set
up a meth lab in the middle of that property. When the previous owners
found out they called the cops. For whatever reason the cops did
nothing. Then the new owner came to the previous owner and threatened to
kill him for reporting him to the cops.

Now, once you sell a piece of property, as long as the buyer hasn't defaulted on the sale, what he is doing there is none of your business as long as he is not harming you. His meth lab, while you may not like it, is not an actual threat or harm. Unless you buy into the silly propaganda that it is some sort of "nuclear threat" that the "brave" drug warriors want to pretend it is in order to scare you into compliance with their "laws". So, in my opinion, in this case calling the LEOs was wrong, and a violation of the Zero Aggression Principle.

Plus, it didn't even "work" since the cops did not follow through with the desired act of aggression.

Actions have consequences. If you attempt to attack someone, in person or "by proxy"- by sending government against them, they have a right to use violence or the threat of violence in their own defense. Both against the agents of government, and against the person who uses government as a weapon against them. Just because in this case the weapon suffered a "misfire" doesn't alter the fact that a deadly weapon was aimed and the trigger was pulled.
Did the new owner of the property over-react? Possibly. Was the threat credible and immediate enough to warrant an act of self-defense? I'm not certain since I wasn't there. Is the accused meth manufacturer an otherwise delightful and honorable person? Probably not, since prohibition ensures that only people who are willing to take certain risks and use certain methods to protect themselves and their market will get into the business.

All I know for certain is that if this became a court case, the previous owners of the property would not want me sitting on a jury since I consider using government, in violation of the ZAP, a "wrong", and the mere production of governmentally-prohibited chemicals to be an ethically neutral act. As it stands now, I'd consider the two sides "even".
_________________________

An Albuquerque woman talks about her abduction and how lucky she was that it ended when a LEO shot her kidnapper. Yes, she was lucky. A whole series of fortunate events had to occur for her to come out alive.

I hope she learned from this that she is responsible for her own safety and will never again allow herself to be helpless in the face of evil. Regardless of "laws" or "society's" expectations. When you realize you need a tool with which to defend yourself it is already too late. You can't always count on your attacker having a screwdriver within your reach or on someone else who has a proper self-defense tool showing up in time. Lucky last time; smart next time?

Who is 'Utopian'?

Who is 'Utopian'?

"Idealistic"- "Utopian"- These are words intended to insult or discredit those of us who do not believe that aggression and theft are "the only way" you can form a working society.

At some point, in any discussion with a statist, these words (or something similar) will make an appearance. Now when they do I just smile to myself. I have realized that these words are the indicators that a person has run out of other arguments against liberty. They are the last grasp at a flimsy straw when all else has been attempted. It is the intellectual equivalent of throwing the gun at your opponent when you are out of ammunition.

Of all the "ideas" out there, statism has shown itself to be the ultimate "idealistic" and "Utopian" dream. It has been tried, in every imaginable permutation, for thousands of years and it always fails. Always. Why think "next time we'll get it right" against all evidence?
______________________

Albuquerque Public Schools (sic) and some city councilors are playing tug-of-war with your money yet again. It's like watching hyenas fight over a carcass that they stole from a leopard. The APS wants to build a "magnet school" on the property and the city councilors want an arena. It must be nice to spend other people's money. If an arena is "so critical for the future of tourism in the city and region", then people would be willing to invest in it without being forced to do so. Government need not get involved in any way.

Call to action in defense of liberty

Call to action in defense of liberty

I ran across a comment on a blog that shows the narrowness, or complete lack, of thought that goes into the statist religion. It is as though they wear blinders and refuse to really think about what they write. It is scary that some people apparently really believe there is not any way to "provide" certain things without coercion, force, and murder. It isn't true, of course. However, as I have pointed out before, this is "what we are up against".

I have submitted my comment there, but as it contains several links it is languishing in "Moderationland" at the time I write this.

I ask that you read the comment and put in your two-cents' worth (adjusted for FRN-devalued "dollars"; maybe you could contribute more value than that).

I felt this was important enough to post even without my obligatory Albuquerque content. Really, it is important that sensible people respond to things of this sort as quickly as possible, before the virus spreads to unsuspecting minds. More zombies- not what we need.

Build a monument to Liberty

Build a monument to Liberty

A lot of people seem to like big monuments. But most big monuments celebrate Statism, since it is much easier to afford to build them if you can steal the money to do so.

Victims and accomplices of government's main business, war, are a popular subject for these monuments. This way you can celebrate the State and mourn its victims at the same time. How very efficient and emotionally fulfilling. For some.

One big monument, "Liberty Enlightening the World", or "The Statue of Liberty", was built without theft, to celebrate something actually worth celebrating. Of course, it was then stolen by government and turned into a parody of itself. Unfortunately, it is now a "liberty-free zone" all its own, due to the policies of the government that confiscated it. The same could be said about The Liberty Bell, which is held hostage in the statist "paradise" of Philadelphia. (This is what often happens to things which have no definite owner- the tragedy of the commons in a slightly different manifestation.)

So, how to satisfy the apparent human hunger for big monuments without building altars to death? The best monument to liberty is your own life and the liberated legacy you leave. It takes no theft or coercion, and you can make certain it is not conscripted for the glorification of the State. It is also the biggest monument there is.
_________________________

In Albuquerque news: Once again, Tasers are shown to not be "non-lethal". An Albuquerque man died after being electro-tortured by LEOs. If the cops are being truthful about the events leading to the man's death, the man did need to be stopped from doing what he was doing. I am not disputing that. However, people need to stop viewing Tasers as a "safe alternative" to shooting an aggressor, and need to stop viewing Tasers as a "compliance device" of any sort.

Never Taser someone you are not willing to kill. A Taser and a badge are as bad a combination as a gun and a badge.

Justice- the definition

"Justice" is the attempt to take an individual who has been harmed and correct the damage; to return a victim to as close to the "pre-victimized condition" as is possible. Restitution can be part of this. Punishment-- revenge-- can't be.

Punishment-- revenge-- is anti-justice.

.

Don't wait for the 'law'

Don't wait for the 'law'

Don't wait for the law to prompt you to do the right thing nor let the law prevent you from doing the right thing. Do the right thing regardless of the law.

I enjoyed reading some of the things readers said they would do if they woke up in a free society. I would love to live in a society where those types of activities were common. Think how much more colorful and interesting the countryside would be. I also enjoyed Claire Wolfe's thoughts on the subject.

Truthfully, I don't really know what I would do since I have never known what it is that I want to do. I'm sure I would wear a gun on my hip all the time. I'd drive without a "license". I'd probably grow some cannabis "just because" (the way I sometimes grow tobacco now, even though I don't smoke). Most of the "what I'd do"s I have already done at some point of my life.
As for the big questions, I have no clue what I'd end up doing. I'll continue to give it thought.
_________________________

You know what the government calls liberty, don't you? It calls it a "loophole". It's just a freedom that the government overlooked destroying- for now. The Albuquerque City Council is concerned over a loophole it wants to stitch closed in their cell phone ordinance. The way the counterfeit cell phone "law" is written complicates matters for Rulers wanting to "fine" (steal money from) drivers who legally use their cell phones while stopped at a traffic light. That can't be allowed! Can it?

Statists: constantly whining against liberty

Statists: constantly whining against liberty

Statists do not like the flaws in their thinking and in their "system" to be discussed or examined. If you don't believe me you haven't spent much time talking about liberty.

Discuss liberty very much and some statist will eventually accuse you of "whining about government". It doesn't matter if you are discussing the problems with achieving liberty in the presence of a government, just warning others of pitfalls to be aware of, or just talking about living free in spite of "how things are". Just mentioning liberty is enough to upset the statists and cause them to jump in to blindly defend their precious (and empty) religion.

There was a time when I did whine about government. That was a waste of effort. I used to worry about the government but now it is just irrelevant to me. Obviously, I am careful when I run into a representative or agent of the government but otherwise I don't think about it. Cops and other manifestations of the State are eyed with suspicion just as a dog with a foaming mouth would be. There's nothing mystical or omnipotent about either one, but both should be watched and avoided. To do otherwise would be suicidal.

However, to most statists- the most religiously dedicated ones anyway- any criticism or suggestions of ways to work around their cherished "system" is seen as whining. They would prefer those of us who see behind the curtain be quiet and stop exposing their lies. Probably because they have no real answers to the criticisms. When your bag of tricks is empty it is hard to pull something real out of it. So, they are forced to fall back on their magic incantations, which only work on others who suffer from the same delusions. They are sad cases, really.
________________________

An employee of Albuquerque's Metro Detention Center has been arrested for doing things his masters didn't like. He is said to have taken bribes to make sure certain prisoners got on the "home detention" program, which he was the coordinator of. Imagine that- an employee of the imprisonment industry being corrupt! Wonders never cease.

Wake up in liberty... What would YOU do?

Wake up in liberty... What would YOU do?

What would you do with your life if you were suddenly free? Say you wake up tomorrow and liberty is the reality of life. You are fully free to live within all your rights, as is everyone else. No one will be asking for permits, licenses, or any other sort of bureaucratic paperwork. None of your property will be stolen through "taxation" or any other form of theft-by-government. There are no longer any "laws" telling you how to live as long as you are not attacking anyone, nor robbing or defrauding anyone. Just let that soak in for a minute. Now, really: What would you do?

We'll assume for this exercise that your "job" doesn't depend on any of those liberty-killing activities that have vanished in this new reality.

Have you always wanted to operate a little shop out of your spare room? Have you wished to grow plants that the former Rulers would have killed you for growing? Do you want to raise dairy cows and sell raw milk to those who want to buy it? Have you always dreamed of being the next John Moses Browning and invent the next generation of "self-defense engines"? Or, maybe, do you have a dream of starting your own software company, but start-up costs, inflated by competition-crushing red tape, have kept your ideas from moving out of your head and into the market?

Consider doing it anyway. Today. In our imperfect world. Without official permission, if that is your style. Yes, you will need to be secretive for now; maybe always. And, yes, the risks if you get caught are a tragic reality you must take into consideration. Yet, is your life so perfect now that there is no benefit in taking the risks? Never forget that there are costs associated with not doing what you should be doing, too. Which, for you-right now in this real world where you live- are the greater risks?

So, what is it you would do? Why not go ahead?

(Oops. According to some people, all libertarians do is "whine about government". I forget to do that too often! I had better get right on that.)
______________________

The Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Utility Authority threatens to "fine" (read "steal extra from") anyone who "wastes water" by watering at the wrong time of day.

This illuminates a reality. If water is being wasted, the price is obviously too low. If it is priced according to its relative value in Albuquerque, it will not be wasted. People who can afford the higher price will use what they want, and others will conserve to save money. No theft or threats necessary. And government should not have a monopoly on the local water supply.

I do tend to wonder (without really caring) if ABQ has silly "laws" about keeping a nice appearance to your lawn which encourage waste for lawn care. I have seen places with this sort of catch-22 "law" designed to rake in the money one way or another. Me, I'd be perfectly happy with a yard of dirt, mesquite, and cactus that I never watered. Or "needed" to mow.

'Government force' is redundant

'Government force' is redundant

Many times when you hear a libertarian talking about others sending government into a situation you will hear him use the phrase "government force". The phrase is redundant. Government is nothing but force and coercion (which is often a threat of force). Without force or coercion there is no government.

All government (except self-government, which is not even on most people's conceptual radar) is imposed by force. Even if you agree to some facets of your own governing, there are other people who are having that particular facet imposed on them against their will, while they approve of something else that you are having imposed on you. By force or threat of force.

If you doubt this, just look at the ongoing example of Julian Heicklen. His only "crime" is trying to get government to live within its Constitutional limits. And for this he has been attacked, kidnapped, and held hostage by agents of the government. Government has been applied to his life and liberty. The very act of governing is an act of extreme aggression, even if it is not obvious at first. Yet, the penalty for violating the smallest of the government's silly little rules is always death.

The force is not always initiated force, at least on the face of it. When a cop shoots a mugger in the act of mugging (reaching wildly into the realm of the theoretical here), he does not initiate force in that particular instance, at that specific moment. Yet, where did he get the money for his gun and bullets? Where did he get the money for his fancy uniform and badge? And where does the money come from that finances his career? It comes from theft- just like the mugger he shot. If cops are "necessary", they will be able to be financed without relying on force and coercion. If not... well, they vastly overestimate their importance anyway.

By force you can turn a perfectly good and noble idea into pure evil. Protecting the environment is good. Imposing your idea of "protecting the environment" on someone else is bad. Eating a healthy diet and refraining from abusing substances is good. Forcing everyone to eat the same diet regardless of their tastes and preferences is wrong, and killing people for using (and not even necessarily abusing) certain substances is completely evil. Helping the poor is good. Forcing your neighbors to give up their own property to a government bureaucracy that then claims to "help the poor" is really bad. Exposing dishonest business practices is good. Setting up a government bureaucracy that punishes innovation and puts barriers in the way of new competitors, while "taxing" businesses to death, all in the name of "consumer protection", of course, is bad. Free trade is good. Corporatism, which only exists because of government interference with the market, and which guarantees disasters like the BP "oilcano", is bad.

In each case, the true results of using government is the opposite of the justification used. Government is not the right way to do any of these good things. Government- force- turns a good idea upside down and destroys any good that could have come from it in the process. And statists call libertarians "Utopian".
_______________________

Goobernut Bill Richardson announced, during a stop in Albuquerque, that he has given away $200,000 of YOUR money to the New Mexico Filmmakers Program. He claims this will guarantee more jobs and business for New Mexico, but what's the point if the new employees will be robbed so more of their money can be given away to other special interests? Someone is "giving us the business" alright.

Is this pay-off just because the entertainment industry is sexy, while more useful, productive industries are not? Probably.

But, that leads to a better idea. If you want to get involved in the movie industry, there is a project in the works you could help voluntarily, that would actually benefit the cause of liberty. Check it out!

State Supreme Court does right thing; overturns nonsensical DWI conviction

State Supreme Court does right thing; overturns nonsensical DWI conviction


Sometimes, rarely, courts do get it right. This is one of those cases.

A man who was passed out in his car, with the keys in the passenger seat, had his drunk driving conviction overturned by the state Supreme Court.

Seeing as how he was NOT "driving" at the time of his kidnapping by Albuquerque police, anyone with an IQ above that of a cockroach should have known the man was not legally "guilty" of driving while ... anything.

That this case even had to go to the State Supreme Court makes me wonder about the intelligence of the jurors who threw him to the wolves.

I have already given up on hoping for intelligence from the LEOs, who also should have known better. Obviously, their job as the highwaymen, collecting loot at gunpoint for the Rulers, gives them a severe conflict of interest that overrides any sense.

The man in this case seems even more clearly innocent of any "driving" than the passed-out drunk LEO in the case we have discussed before, since this man was in a parking lot, rather than on the side of the road. Which one would you suspect might have actually been sober when he parked his car?

__________________________

Sad news: J.D. Tuccille is dropping his Civil Liberties Examiner column. I understand the "why", I'm just going to miss him there. It is Examiner's loss. I intend to keep dropping by his Disloyal Opposition blog, which it sounds like he plans to continue.
____________________________

Don't forget Project LTE - Drop by and support the writers of pro-liberty letters-to-editors, and pile on anti-liberty letters-to-editors that need to be refuted and ridiculed. It will make you happy.

Think 'voluntarily'

Think 'voluntarily'

A comment on a recent column, where I suggested that the Albuquerque man "arrested" for being naked in the thrift store "probably needs treatment", made me realize something. I think "voluntarily" while most of "society" thinks "coercively".

When you hear a neighbor saying some person should do "X", what they are usually really saying is that they should be forced to do "X", not that they should be asked to do "X", and then left alone if they refuse.

It is obvious why a person in our society would just assume when "treatment" is proposed it is forced "treatment"; that is what most people would mean. We have come to assume that anything suggested is really being imposed, and it is often a safe assumption. I suppose I need to be more clear from now on when I state things of that sort, and I appreciate the commenter bringing it to my attention..

Are we really so weak, and our faith in our opinions so flimsy, that we don't feel there is good enough reason backing our ideas to win agreement with logic and principles? Are we so pathetic we must resort to coercion? No, we are not. That is where statists find themselves.

Monitoring the livestock- DWI bracelets

Monitoring the livestock- DWI bracelets

A reader brought to my attention a news story about "DWI bracelets" which are being used in Texas. They monitor the alcohol that is perspired through the skin of people who have been court-ordered to not drink at all. Some people, in order to make themselves "look good" to their masters in government choose to wear, and pay for the "privilege" of wearing, the bracelets before they are ordered to do so. While I would never interfere with their right to make such a choice, I find the idea a bit disgusting.

I guess the violation of privacy is slightly better than having a government-assigned guardian to live with you on a day-and-night basis. But not much better. Guardians can be bought-off or may develop a conscience.

However, technology can always be defeated or tricked. Someone will always find a way if the desire and motivation is strong enough. This is good news for liberty.

If you drink and drive and then hurt an innocent person, you owe restitution. However, until someone is hurt no aggression has occurred. And drinking and driving is no "worse" than driving while sleepy, distracted, angry, or depressed. There is no such thing as a perfect driver; there are only people who take responsibility for themselves and those who do not.
__________________________

Politicians and bureaucrats really need a different hobby. One Albuquerque city councilor has decided that electronic billboards look trashy and distract drivers. He wants them banned (at least temporarily) and "studied". I'm pretty sure I heard this same nonsense a while back.

Look in the mirror councilcritter Benton, if you are looking for things that clutter and endanger Albuquerque. Law pollution makes a place trashier than any of those pretty billboards ever could. And, yes, they are pretty, in a city environment. The wilderness would not be enhanced by them, but a city can't be harmed by them, either. I'll bet he thinks Christmas decorations are trashy and distracting too. Just another sign that if you give a thug power, he will constantly look for excuses to abuse it. He needs to get a life. Not every freedom "needs" a law restricting it.

The sight of a naked man almost kills woman. Oh, wait...

The sight of a naked man almost kills woman. Oh, wait...

Offensensitivity. It is a crippling condition where the sufferer seeks to be offended by almost anything. Words, sights, thoughts, opinions... almost anything other than actual aggression. In fact, aggression is the tool of preference for those who suffer from offensensitivity; to be used enthusiastically against all who dare offend them in some way.


I'm sorry if this offends someone, but seeing something, "even" a naked human body "doing lewd things", can not hurt anyone. Yet this is what the bizarre Puritan/State coalition would have us believe, and it has landed a man with purported mental problems in some hot water. The fact that he had government-unapproved or regulated medications in his possession only adds to his trouble.


A man at an Albuquerque thrift store decided to change into his "new" clothes inside the store instead of in a "portable bathroom" which was offered for the purpose. Now, I could be mistaken, but I'll bet that "bathroom" is not air-conditioned. I have been inside portable outhouses many, many times, and can vouch for the fact that in hot weather, even less severe than we are having now, those "bathrooms" are like ovens and are intolerable for all but the most desperate, and even if you are desperate you want to get in and out as fast as humanly possible. I would not want to change clothes in one. Combined with the claim that he is mentally ill, it doesn't surprise me at all that he chose to not change clothes there.


If the woman and her daughter didn't want to watch, they were free to turn away. If you see a "flasher", stare or point and laugh, if you want, but the photons bouncing off him will not harm you if they travel to your eyes. Only your reaction can harm you. I see the mother claimed that he behaved "in a lewd manner". How long did she need to watch him to decide he was being "lewd". The owners of the store are obviously free to ask him, in his "lewdness", to leave and not come back, but to attack him with the bludgeon of government is wrong. I see no claim that he harmed anyone in any way. "Feeling threatened" is a cop-out. In the absence of a clear and credible threat to cause harm- to attack- it is the coward's excuse for throwing someone to the wolves.


This man probably needs treatment*. He probably needs more of the same sort of medications he was self-medicating with, in order to function. Treatment and holding him hostage ("imprisonment") are not the same thing. Punishment, in this case, is the opposite of what he needs.


Of course, the State is anxious to collect as many of us in its "criminal justice" net as possible, so it will crawl under the covers and use some strange bedfellows for that purpose. And Puritans want to make sure everyone is subjected to their own unfounded beliefs about skin and sexuality, so they gladly use the State to force their pseudo-religious ideas on those who do not share them. It's a dangerous marriage that produces cruel offspring who delight in spreading pain and misery.


*Of a strictly voluntary nature. If he doesn't want treatment, no one has the right to coerce him to be treated as long as he does not harm any innocent person through aggression or fraud.