The Liberty Lamp: Libertarian News & Editorials

Another great new essay is being hosted here! This time, our contributing author discusses Homeland Security, its effect on civil liberties and government/citizen interation, and what we can do to take back the rights that are being undermined by this contemporary atmosphere of xenophobia and paranoia. Check it out, and I hope you all enjoy it!

I can't exactly remember where I read this, but I know it was recently:

"If you believe that the common American is too dumb, ignorant, etc., generally unable to govern himself, then how can you logically believe that America should be ruled by a small group of intellectual, financial, or moral elites?"

Just some food for thought...

Recently, I came accross a cool site, PatriotDebate.com, while doing some research about Homeland Security, and how much it actually sucks. To make a long story short, this website features an active discussion board posted to by adherents of various political schools, not just of libertarianism. Besides being just plain interesting, the diversity seen at "PD" can give you a good "petri dish" in order to experiment with other philosophies and develop more persuasive arguments. At the very least, its a good way to understand others.

The community environment is quite congenial, and users don't tend to take things too personally. Definately something to check out!

Well, kiddies, it would appear that Howard Dean's obsessive "anti-war" rhetorical platform was just a front to attempt to be elected. According to the above GNN published article (originally from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune), "Dr. Dean" has aparently reversed his stance and is encouraging Bush and other such neocon scum to continue the conflict "[n]ow that we’re there".

Although I found Dean's campaign to be too one-sided and statist-lefty, I did up until this point give him credit for running what (at least I thought) was a well-meaning and honest campaign. Well, now it appears that I was duped as well, and I feel a bit embarassed!

In related news, the approximately $82 BILLION "Emergency Military Appropriations Bill" has passed Senate from the Hizouse. According to the God-awful New York Times at least, only about 70%-80% of this money (from all of you, of course) is going to military use. The other 20 to 30 percent? Who the hell knows. All I know is that I'm not getting any of it and I bet none of our readers are, either. The best part of this legislation is that Congress believes We The People are so incredibly gullible and brainwashed that they blatantly and without reserve admit that not all of it is being used for its purported purpose! Check your local paper or news site for more details, you'll no doubt find the general breakdown.

Finally, this bill increases the compensation to families of "expended" troops from a bit over $12,000 per year to a full $500,000! I hope this is yet another typographic FUBAR on the NYT's part, or we're really in trouble. a tenth of that ($50,000) I could see perhaps, but half a million! The serviceman/woman's dead for crying out loud, not in the hospital or rehab.

I appologize for any rancor that results from my rubbing of some people the wrong way, but I say what I say not as a personal attack on anyone, but as a way to wake people up to reality.

That said, if you're an LP National member and/or newspaper subscriber, you should be recieiving a letter from Executive Seehusen about a petition to the RNC chairman telling him to pressure his officeholders to cut the crap when it comes to porbarreling. As always, he wants your money, which you can send in if you want to, but I highly encourage to send in your petition at least. I did.

Yesterday, I saw Argentina: Hope in Hard Times, a documentary about the economic collapse of the country in late 2001. While the Big Media in North America and Europe focused on Richard "The Shoebomber" Reid, violence and civil unrest wracked this Latin American country, previously home to the world's fifth largest economy.

After the initial shock died down, many people in the cities began to utilize a bartering system in place of their devalued national currency. Factories began to be operated by their workers, as many owners simply took the cash and ran, as it were, at the onset of the collapse. Self-help and mutual aid groups sprang up in both urban and rural areas, while some farmers started self-sustaining co-ops. As demonstrated by the Argentinians, self-reliance and non-governmental organization can- and does- work. I hope this puts to bed the statist claims that society is lost in today's complex world without government intervention once and for all!

Although some of the people in the film (as well as the producers themselves, whom I met) blame the past and current economic hard times on decentralization and privatization, many Argentinians shown in the film aggree that although the economic and governmental collapse has forced them to become more responsible and involved in more areas of their own life, the freedom one gains from such a setup is well worth the extra time and energy needed to maintain it.

Perhaps these ideas will filter down to people in the United States sometime soon. We can only hope! Argentina: Hope in Hard Times was produced by Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin, and debuted in Seattle early this year. If it hasn't come to your town yet, it (hopefully) will soon.

When reading Slashdot, I came across a very interesting article about a new buisiness model coming out of good old San Diego, home of the greatest LP ever ;)

To make a moderately long story short, this company, SeaCode, will take the whole "IT Outsourcing" thing to a whole new level. What they plan to do is hire all the best cheap foreign IT/coder people out there and set them up on round-the-clock, alternating coding shifts on a used cruise ship three miles off the LA coast in international waters to avoid taxes/red tape, and to not have to deal with the BS visa requirements that would be needed if these foreign workers were based on the mainland full time. The physical security and isolation is purported to increase worker concentration and productivity, while minimizing the ability of corporate spies and door-to-door soliciters to cause trouble.

I give SeaCoders two thumbs up for corporate creativity, and hope they produce good, Open Source software!

It happened a lot faster than I thought it would, but it looks like the cardinals have selected John Paul II's replacement, Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI). The bad news is that neither the Nicaraguan nor the Nigerian candidate won, but whatever... I'm agnostic and I'm sticking to my story! In related news, China's foreign relations people had the audacity to blackmail the Vatican in a cheap attempt to reclaim Taiwan, which, contrary to the Communist Party's claims, is in fact its own soverign nation.

Dang! At least the US State Department tries to bribe people before giving them ultimatums. Seriously, folks...

In another show of elitist hypocracy, the secret and unaccountable powers-that-be in our military's Strategic Command has revealed (though not entirely willingly) that they pledge alegence to the Great Double Standard for Which We Stand. What the helvetica am I talking about? As the title link will soon reveal, the issue I'm refering to is the fact that the US military condones, and even utilizes the use of black-hat crackers to infiltrate, tamper with, or even silence the passive or active communications of entities on the Internet. In any place, at any time, and for any reason, these political hacks (pun intended) are charged officially with "protecting military and intelegence networks", yet are also allowed and encouraged to go on the offensive as well. Check out the Wired.com article to see for yourself!

At least the rumored Project ECHELON was/is passive, at least from what anyone can tell. Welcome to 1984+21, people.

This afternoon, I attended an interesting economics lecture about the FCC, though I did not think it would be so at first. The topic of this discussion was specifically how the FCC began to "auction off" licenses to radio bandwidths via this insane and dysfunctional (for the most part) method that basically just kept certain economists employed, as far as I can tell.

According to the speaker, though, it is relitavely simple to set up a system where everyone can utilize bandwidth, thus making it possible for everyone to be a DJ. From a market perspective, this would be more free market-esque, because though everyone would have an opertunity to compete, only the best content-providers would rise to the top- at least in theory.

According to the Federal Communications Commission's own rhetoric, its reason for living is to regulate the airwaves in order to assure that conflictions do not occur as a result of interference/crosstalk or governmental/corporate monopoly. If this is really the truth, I see absolutely no reason why the FCC shouldn't jump at the chance to provide a new avenue of communication that not only makes their job easier, but that is more accessible to everyone.

Knowing that the reality today is otherwise, one can therefore come to no other conclusion that the FCC doesn't exist to unify and standardize communications, but rather to command an ultimate, total monopoly on all communications, and decide exclusively who gets to talk and who doesn't!

Just something to think about the next time you tune in to your favorite Clear Channel station...

Well, ladies and gentlemen,the time has come to draft and endorse in ink a new Declairation of Independence to remind ourselves, our neighbors, and most importantly the Feds about the limits of government, and how much we've deviated from this goal over the last century or two. Below is an initial draft:

D of Ind. II, v0.2 (4/15/2005 6:14PM) Editor: Phoenix

----------------HISTORY-----------------
0.1- Initial drafting
0.2- Some minor language changes/clarifications
----------------------------------------

A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM TYRANNY
BY THE PEOPLE OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICA

On July 4th, 1776, Fifty-six of our wise and brave Founding Fathers signed the original Declaration of Independence in order to communicate to Great Britain and the entire world that the time for drastic change had arrived. The fifty-six signers of this historic document we so love and cherish today knew well the risks they were taking. Doubtlessly, they also grasped, though perhaps not completely, the social and historical significance and gravity of their actions. In 1776, voicing one's grievances with the British Crown and her Magistrates was considered treasonous. For such a heinous crime, a dissenter could face public chastisement, imprisonment, or even death! Surely, the stakes were very high for our Patriotic ancestors who rebelled against the iron will of Britain, history's most powerful and far-reaching empire in that era.

Today, almost 230 years later, The People of America again find themselves in a position of unjust servitude and oppression by the largest, and most powerful nation-state yet witnessed by mankind. However, this time, this great perversion of power emanates not from a land far beyond the sea, but instead from the grand halls of our own national government. Generations have come and gone since those bygone years of the Revolution, and the rivers of blood, sweat, and tears of the Protectors of Liberty and Equality run wide and deep. Unfortunately, though, every year that stands between us and that first Independence Day puts us, and especially our elected and un elected officials one step farther off the just path that was beaten into being by our fore bearers.

Over the decades and centuries, Americans have become increasingly ignorant of the purpose and place of Government in their daily lives, and have thus knowingly and unknowingly allowed themselves to be as pawns before the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive Branches. Yet, in spite of ineffective public education and misleading policymaking, the People of America are rapidly realizing the true nature of their collective situation. Men, women, and children of every race religion and creed are opening their eyes to the grim reality that the Federal Government no longer considers them Friends, but rather sworn Enemies.

As a result of all this, the American People demand change immediately. Not at some unknown time in the future, or after the next war, or the next election, or the next session of Congress, but now! We the People demand concrete and lasting change in government not tomorrow, but today!

For a second time, the People of these American States declare to our incompetent and despotic overseers, and to the World that we are United in our long-perpetuated discontent and hereby resolve to demand full and immediate recourse of our common grievances.

Prominent amongst these Several Grievances are the following:

[ Big Nasty List of say 15-30 Important, General Points? ]

In support and affirmation of the spirit of this Second Declaration of Independence, the following Citizens and Residents of the Several United States of America put their pens to paper:

[Hopefully, this primary document will then be followed by millions and millions of signatures from American citizens, foreign students, and permanent resident workers from abroad.]

As you may or may not have noticed, the blog has gotten a new layout scheme in place now. I did this to make it not only load faster, but more importantly, to make it more simple to navigate and to make it fit more closely with the design of the main website.

My friends, Bush has delcared this day, April 15, 2005, as National Theft Day. How did he do this you ask? He kept income taxes. He gave unbalanced tax cuts. He had intercourse with the IRS.

As it was pointed out to me, The IRS. TheIRS. Theirs. Our income is being taxed. This is to the equivalence of a life tax as they had in the Bible. None of us can live without income, to the exception of the willing homeless and those that live off of the land. We should be able to enjoy what we make.

People disagree with this point of view often. They state that instead we would just have heavy sales taxes. I disagree though, if you still want your socialist government then sure, but if we made it unconstitutional to tax income (as it was before the 16th amendment), the government could either choose to tax us in other places, or they could simply cut back. But no, that would hurt too much for the government to go on a diet...let's tax the workers instead.

And would it be that bad if we had increased sales taxes? We may only have to just have a luxury tax on items such as cars that are over $50,000 or real estate purchases over $500,000...or even television purchases over $5,000.

But no...let's have the rich class live in their multimillion dollar homes, drive their million dollar cars, and watch their wide screen televisions, and not be affected by any taxes by investing in municipal bonds. After all, we're doing the work, why not fund the government too?

This evening, I'm going to talk to you all about a little problem we've all faced in some way at some point in our lives. That problem is what we here at the Phoenix like to call "racism". "What is racism," you ask? There's a lot of confusion of terms here amongst many people, so I'll try to clear things up.

"Racism", simply put is essentially the same thing as racial supremacy, or putting the importance/status of one race over some or all other races. In contrast, racial hatred and racial prejudice overtly and specifically mandate that one considers one or more ethnicities inherently and immutably inferior in some way or another.

Though racism and racial hatred are both wrong and completely unacceptable, they are different, as demonstrated above. If you're a racist, supremist (in the strict definition at least), you'd not necessarily put down other ethnicities, but rather hold your own above the rest. Think "ethnic pride" here, but pride to a fault. On the other hand, those prejudiced and biggoted about others glorify their own ethnicity, while actively putting down others at the same time.

Truly, both variations of this theme are stupid, and http://www.blogger.com/images/ftp.gif
http://www.blogger.com/images/ftp.gifhave no scientific basis. After all, all humans (except albinos) have brown skin and hair, just different shades. I think it's important, though, to understand the differences between ethnic dividers so that we may better recognize and urge perpetrators to correct their behavior before it causes any more physical or emotional harm to others.

I welcome your comments below.

Today, we're going to look at two famous figures of the Civil Rights Era, "Malcolm X" (aka Malcolm Little), and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After that, stay tuned for a little update about the sunsetting of the USAPATRIOT Act(s).

First, let's take Malcolm X. In his famous 1964 The Ballot or the Bullet speech, the activist approached the problems of racism and segregation in America in a very libertarian way, if I do say so myself. Stripping off the surface rhetoric of "black sepratism/nationalism" and the like, we're left with a clear and pervasive core message, that being that blacks (and everyone!) should stop relying on government hand-outs and instead take action in order to reclaim the independence and equality that everyone wants and deserves. To "X", like today's libertarians, government "gifts" are never honest, and always come with dangerous strings attached.

As an alternative to this, he suggested that the oppressed should carry the load, as it were, and provide for their own community needs. Though providing one's own schools, buisinesses, etc. is more difficult, I would aggree that the short-term difficulties of self-sustained living are overshadowed by the long-term benefits that result.

Although Martin Luther King, Jr. did not seem to aggree with Malcolm Little on self-sufficiency issues, he did advocate that it was not only immoral, but counterproductive to remain silent on issues of grave importance when one has the opertunity to speak out for change. His issue was Vietnam, but this truth remains today.

In a similar vein, you may wish to check out this formatted transcript of a recent edition of the News Hour on PBS, hosted by Gwen Ifill. It's an exclusive interview/dialogue with Nadine Strossen of the ACLU, and Viet Dinh, former Deputy Attorney General and primary draftee of the USA PATRIOT Act(s)*.

*From now on, I shall use the "(s)" symbol to denote the fact that very few people, if any, know the entire extent of this legislation. It contains very little original legalese of itself, but instead makes systematic additions, removals, and re-wordings of dozens and dozens of preexisting articles of legislation.

An associate of mine, Travis, has just begun a new libertarian blog focused on the college student perspective. It's only got a few posts so far, but it promises to be a good resource for the collegiate lover of liberty. He's also one of the driving forces between the College Libertarians at UW at Seattle.

There were some pretty funny ads out there during the 2004 Presidential campaign. Some of the funniest I've run into were some radio ads that you can access by visiting the San Diego Libertarian Party's website, linked to above. The main tactic here appeared to be reverse psychology, but if I were directing it, I'd probably find it a bit too... immature to go public with.

Regardless, the samples are pretty funny. Also, check out this cool music video about President (King?) Bush and his abuse of executive authority. It's pretty good too- and yes, in a more adult (not pornographic, mind you!) way.

It seems that Alberto Gonzales has this week testified before the Senate Judicial Committee about why the USAPATRIOT Act should be renewed in full, and made PERMINANT. I had written this huge, quite good post about the situation, but by the time I hit the submit button, my account had timed out, and now everything's gone. Curse you, Blogger.com!

Regardless, I encourage any and all of our visitors to visit the above link and go over his testimony for yourself. Pay close attention to the ignorant, yet intentionally deceptive language he uses, and take note of Sections 206-216. They as a body constitute much, if not most, of the psudototalitarian (if that's possible!) abilities our law enforcement now has.

Finally, when reading this article, remember what I said about the Rock of Rights below. If you listen closesly, you can almost hear those little stone shards crying out in agony...

As a follow-up to our previous About.com notice, I'd like to present the more "liberal" side of Libertarianism, at least in terms of the popular meaning today. Of course, libertarian ideas are based in the classical sense of 'liberalism', which is what modern American "conservatives" are supposed to be, but let's not get bogged down in that quagmire....

Anyway, check it out, as there are some good political links and resources that are relevant to us.

My next article will focus on the disturbing and rediculous blather that recently came out of torturemeister, or rather Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's mouth about the USAPATRIOT Act, and why Congress should be stupid enough to renew its provisions at the end of 2005.

For right now, though, let me just provide you with a little schematic of sorts about what happens when a nation "temporarily" gives up one or another of its freedoms in order to "protect the rest", as some stupid and/or corrupt members of our national leadership would like you to:

1. First, and foremost, never in history have such rights revocations been "temporary". Only when a government is destroyed or drastically reformed have such freedoms been rerecognized. Take the NAZIs and the Bolsheviks of the 20th century. Both regimes promised their people oh so piously that everything will be restored to normal "sometime", usually in the long and distant future. If you already haven't realized it yet, "sometime" really means "never, as long as we have anything to do with it".

2. With this in mind, visualize your sacred rights as a solid and ephemiral rock, upon which your free society is based upon. Each time even one fundamental right is chipped away, the foundation becomes smaller, weaker, and more unstable. As with real rocks, the Rock of Rights cannot be put back together. The one and ONLY way to restore it is to break it down into dust, taking down the society it once supported as well. The only way to remake and give a new birth to our sacred Rock is to reforge its susbstances in the intense heat and pressure of (probably military) conflict.

If you stop to think about the situation for a minute, you'll soon see that this outcome is nothing if not inevitable. Think back to the French Revolution. To the Mexican Wars of Independence. Even to the American Revolution, which fuelled the creation of our free and independent Republic in the first place. As surely as there has NEVER been a successful peasant uprising, so to is the inescapability of the fact that an oppressed and disgruntled broad middle class will eventually rise up and vanquish its tyrannical masters. Through blood and tears, if necessary.

Surely, no one reading this article wants that kind of world to become a reality, especially here in America. I, for one, know that I don't! But let us not forget the lesson of our Ancestors, both Native American and European. At some time, a threshold will be reached, and a breaking-point will doubtlessly be discovered. Regardless of odds, what side do you wish to be on? The road is long and hard, and many more peaceful avenues of change can be explored and taken up, but at what point must our legal swords of penmanship be exchanged for the corporal lancets of another force?

~The Phoenix.

The Modern American forum is gone. Apparently, because I was cussing a lot. I am almost sure I am the utilateral cause of this.

And what's even worse our own SSL forum is down. Bushwacker is contacting tech support for help.

So...essentially there are no anarchocapitalist/Libertarian forums online as I know of right now. But don't panic. Because then we might be liable for you.

If you want something fun to go do...I'm sure the heroin craze is still up and about...

Freecycle.org is an interesting socioeconomic project. It's a little like eBay, a little like the Good Will, and a little like FoodNotBombs!. What is the Freecycle Project then? A long story short, it's a nationwide human peer-to-peer (P2P) network for sharing... stuf! It began in Tuscon, AZ, but now boasts local groups in many cities and counties across America, and even in other countries.

The purpose of Freecycle is threefold:

1. To help keep potentially useful "junk" out of landfills and roadsides by enabling one to freely give your unwanted items to others who want or need them. Not only does this help individuals do their small part to conserve the environment, but it can help the needy too!
2. To help participants develop new interpersonal relationships through giving that might have gone unmade otherwise.
3. As any libertarian will soon notice, it makes "distributing wealth" a personal, and aggreeable event, without stupid socialism. You can feel good about giving, and find good throw-aways too. Everyone's happy and there's no brutal and incompetent State telling you what to do. It's inherently a one-on-one environment, where you can decide what to give and to whom. On the flip side, more giving equates to more generosity, and thus a potential to find someone nearby who has something you yourself might want.

I'm not usually too keen on such social projects, but this definately seems one to check out.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like the pope has passed on to greener pastures, as it were. See the link above for more details...

As reported by BBC News, His Holiness, Pope John Paul II seems to be taking a turn for the worst. He's been through a lot of medial problems over the years, but has always made amazing comebacks, remaining as active as possible. In fact, John Paul II is the most well-traveled pope in history, and was the first non-Italian pointiff in centuries. Check out the article linked to here and say a prayer for the old man, if you're so inclined. If not, at least recognize that he is an exemplary person (though everyone has a few faults), and has done much for the world, from his time as an underground preacher in Nazi-occupied Poland to his reign as pope during the last quarter century or so.

You're welcomed to post any comments you might have here. Note that this is one of the few religion-related posts that you'll see here, as i am agnostic. However, John Paul has done a lot of good for millions of people, and I was brought up Catholic, so I feel I owe it to them to shed light on the situation.