Day: February 18, 2013

  • Countering Statist False Fronts

    Earlier today, I shared a post from the Libertarian Party’s Facebook page –


    Click the picture to see the original posting on Facebook.

    One of the Libertarian Party’s goals at this year’s Students for Liberty conference was to help students tell the difference between real liberty groups and false fronts whose goal is to trick libertarians into voting for statist candidates.

     

    It turned out that was completely unnecessary. They already knew as much as we did on the topic, if not more.

    Some pointed out that when the National Rifle Association endorsed Mitt Romney, the NRA basically told every Republican governor in the country that they could pass “assault” weapons bans, and still count on an NRA endorsement if they ran for president.

    Others pointed out that when the NRA called for more government, instead of ending “gun free school zones” which literally advertise a large group of disarmed victims, the NRA made itself irrelevant to the Liberty movement. Many had become supporters of the Gun Owners of America or another group out of disgust with NRA’s support of statism.

    As experts in marketing, the NRA had done the classic trade show trick of having attractive representatives hand out tote bags to every incoming person. The idea is, obviously, that then people put flyers, etc. in the bag, carry around the bag, and that tricks everyone at the conference into believing that the organization has a ton of support.

    Unfortunately for the NRA, Libertarians, libertarians, minarchists, anarcho-capitalists, r3volutionaries, and voluntarists are not that easy to manipulate. In this picture, a student activist has stuffed his NRA tote bag into a Libertarian Party tote bag. Note that the LP didn’t hand them out to every incoming person, only to people who requested them at our table.


    Copyright © 2013 Libertarian Party of New Mexico and Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
    Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises.This blog entry created with Notepad++.

  • “From My Cold Dead Hands” — A Coward’s Call

    “From My Cold, Dead Hands” – A Cowards Call
    The gun grabbers won’t grab, but you’ll still hand them over.
    by Jim Object

     

    “Molon Labe!” Roughly translates to ‘come take them’ or ‘come and get them.’ These are the supposed words of the Spartan King Leonidas when the Persian Emperor Xerxes demanded he lay down arms and surrender at Thermopylae.

    In the wake of the movie “300,” this has become the alternate war cry of the NRA rank and file as well as many other gun enthusiasts. Alternate to, “You can have my guns when you take them from my cold, dead hands,” of course.

    Nightmare scenarios are imagined wherein the entire gun-owing population is subject to armed door-to-door gun searches and confiscation by the National Guard, ATF, or some other law enforcement agency. When these fears are expressed online, you’ll almost invariably see a link to the video of the National Guard doing just such a thing in the run-up to Hurricane Katrina.

    That is never going to happen. The federal government will never do such a thing. They don’t have to. Because gun-owners are largely law abiding cowards.

    Gun owners worship a false god called the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. They claim that this text enumerates, defines, grants, and protects their right to keep and bear arms.

    The Second Amendment doesn’t grant anything. No law does. My ‘right’ to keep and bear arms begins and ends at my willingness to keep and bear arms, period. No document or government grants me this, or any other right.

    Gun owners are the first to tell you government cant be trusted, and must be put in check. They’re also the flag-wavingest ‘patriots’ around. This is a contradiction that cannot be resolved. “I love my country, I fear my government” is no more than a platitude. You love your government. Especially when it makes laws you like that compel other people to live the way you think is best. Your drug laws, sexuality laws, prostitution laws, etc. – those are all precedent setting examples of you giving too much authority to your beloved government.

    It is by the inverse of the same philosophy that they will come for you.

    People in fear of a gun grab are looking at the wrong boogeyman. Feds are not going to park a Bradley at the end of your street and go door to door. They know where your guns are. They know because you told them. When you bought the gun, you registered it. When you got a concealed carry permit, you registered them. When you filled out your range application, bought guns, ammo, or accessories on a credit card, or joined the NRA, you registered your guns. You might not think you registered them, but you did.

    They know who and where you are.

    They’re still not going to come for your guns. Not yet, at least. They’re going to demand that you re-register, this time in a more detailed and complete way. If you refuse, they are not coming to your house. They are going to fine you. If you fight the fine in court, or don’t pay it, they’re still not coming to your house. They’re going to garnish your wages, garnish your tax returns, put a lien on your house, refuse to renew your drivers licence, and disallow you from renewing any sort of occupational licences you might hold.

    You will register your weapons in the face of this economic pressure.

    Later, they will ban most, but not all of the weapons. They will use these same economic techniques to get you to bring them in. They will allow you to save face by taking your guns in the form of a buyback. They’ll pay you for the guns. Hell, the might even pay you handsomely.

    You will comply.

    For those who don’t comply, they will start to enact other pressures and start jailing people for failure to pay the increasingly huge fines. Nobody will ever be jailed for refusing to turn over the guns. No. Jail-time will come in the form of convictions for fine defiance, or failure to appear for hearings related to the fines.

    You will comply.

    They will then offer plea bargains for information leading them illegal weapons. People will rat you out. The NRA will turn over all of your addresses, day 1. You’ll deny you have the guns, and they will say, “We don’t believe you.” Many people who already turned in their guns will be subject to the catch-22 of being called a liar with nothing left to turn in. They’ll have to find and buy guns from family, friends, or the black market – just to turn them in and stay out of jail.

    Your range buddy, former platoon mate, or your cousin will turn you over in exchange for debt forgiveness on the five-figure levies hanging over their head. You might turn around and do the same to the next guy. I bet you will.

    You will comply.

    When everyone is sitting around with .22s and 20g side-by-sides to the exclusion of all other weapons – they might start coming for the guns. Most people will turn them over in exchange for a plea deal. By this time, your guns will be felonies, and you don’t want to go to prison and lose everything, do you? If you force it, they might just bring huge force to bear, you will look at it, see the hopelessness of your situation, and you will comply.

    Your local police force has a Bearcat street-tank and military grade personal equipment. If they show up at your house, you will come out with your hands up.

    You will comply.

    Around this time, there will be another Waco. Then another. Then another. And it will be a Waco, very definitively. They’re going to go after some group or person whose lifestyle is abnormal or uncommon. They will kill them. They’re going to refer to them as domestic terrorists and extremist radicals. They’ll vilify these weirdos, and people will support the disarmament. When the kooks, racists, and religious whackos fight back, the game is over.

    Every subsequent decent holdout will be painted as a terrorist, whacko, racist, or religious extremist. After the first two or three standoffs or shootouts, people wont even pay attention anymore. The news won’t cover it anymore.

    My guess is that 99% of gun owners won’t make it to the ‘come and get them stage,’ and most of those who do – will be killed.

    You complied with government all the way to this point. You will continue to do so. You sit defiantly and say, “Not me. I know what you mean, but I won’t be one of those cowards.” I believe that you believe that. But when it happens, when it’s real, we’ll see what you’re made of.

    I will not comply.


    Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises.
    This blog entry created with Notepad++.

  • What Kind of Psychic Am I?

    The What Kind of Psychic Are You? Test

    Written by SoftPurple

    My result for The What Kind of Psychic Are You? Test . . .

    Shaman

    You scored 5 Empath, 7 Channeler, 7 Medium, and 8 Shaman!

    You are a SHAMAN

    As you are vividly aware of nature and the spirit in animals, plants, and trees, your style of psychism is shamanistic. You derive a highly tuned sense of danger from your instinctive link with wild animals; this is a great asset – your intuition literally saves lives. You can sense impending danger in all situations, whether it’s on the sidewalk, in traffic situations, or in the workplace. You may also have natural healing ability – an innate sense of what will harm or help someone who is ill.

    Your Analysis (Vertical line = Average)

    Empath Distribution Channeler Distribution Medium Distribution Shaman Distribution
    You scored 5% on Empath, higher
    than 15% of your peers.
    You scored 7% on Channeler,
    higher than 35% of your peers.
    You scored 7% on Medium, higher
    than 45% of your peers.
    You scored 8% on Shaman, higher
    than 56% of your peers.

    NOTES

    1. Original article

    2. Reposted –
      1. Personal micro-blogs, blogs, etc – Facebook / Google Plus / MeetMe / Twitter / WordPress

    Copyright © 2013 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
    Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises.
    This blog entry created with Notepad++.

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