We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
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I’ve just read this Opinion Journal review of a new Mel Gibson movie and it sounds like a “must see”.
I do find myself of two minds on the tenor of the article. It says some things which I fervently agree with:
“Black Hawk Down” is a true story. But it differs from “We Were Soldiers” in that nearly everyone admits the shootout in Somalia was the bad consequence of aimless foreign policy–many just don’t want to admit it was Bill Clinton who didn’t have a clear sense of what he was doing and thus his policy hung those men out to dry.
There is no reason why one cannot simultaneously respect the valour and ability of the men who fought in Somalia against incredible odds while simultaneously disagreeing they should have been sent there in the first place.
Where I part ways from the reviewer is on Vietnam. Where I see no difference betwixt the two – honourable men doing the best they can at the behest of dishonourable and incompetent politicians – the reviewer apparently believes Vietnam served some sort of purpose. I lived through the time. I saw no point to it then and 30 years on I still don’t.
This is a dichotomy never to be bridged in this life. But perhaps we can all make peace amongst ourselves by settling on something we can agree on. Those who fought in Vietnam were decent, brave and honourable men who deserved more respect than they received.
I’ll take up Dodgson’s gauntlet. Let’s look at the young girl in the article. What are her choices in life and what do various systems of thought say about which are preferable? She may face a starving future versus being the well treated slave of a rich man. Given the culture, she might eventually become an influential member of the harem.
How does this differ from what socialism offers all of us? Instead of a rich, dirty old man, we get the State. It takes care of us, feeds us, gives us our medicine, tells us what we may do and when we may do it, and punishes us for disobedience or for showing it insufficient love and respect. Slaves, whether State or private are usually treated well because they are valuable property.
As for myself and other Libertarians, we prefer the Patrick Henry route; “Give me Liberty, or give me Death.”
I have no more problem with “private” slaves revolting and killing their masters than I did with the fall of Communism… when the slaves revolted and killed their masters.
We neither confirm nor deny our spies have determined Stephanie is a pseudonym for one of Brian’s many young starlets in waiting.
This quiz on what firearm you resemble most certainly fits our ethos better than some of the other tests I’ve seen recently.
I think I could do worse than be compared with the H&K, although I’m more familiar with the Beretta:
# 1 H&K PDW
# 2 Glock 17
# 3 H&K PSG-1
# 4 Dragunov Sniper Rifle
# 5 Desert Eagle
# 6 Alliant Techsystems OICW
# 7 FN P90
# 8 Beretta M92
# 9 H&K MP-5
# 10 Steyr AMR
# 11 IMI UZI
# 12 Vektor CP1
# 13 Franchi SPAS-12
# 14 Taurus Raging Bull
# 15 H&K CAWS
# 16 Colt M1911A1
# 17 H&K G11
# 18 M4A1 w/M203 Grenade Launcher
# 19 MAC-10
# 20 H&K SOCOM
# 21 Kalashnikov AK-47
# 22 Ruger Super Redhawk
# 23 H&K HK69A1
# 24 FA-MAS
# 25 GE XM214 Minigun
I was on the phone this afternoon with an old Manhattan customer of mine. As long time readers of Samizdata know, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time working in Midtown and lived in the Lower East Side while on the job. I even did jobs in the WTC, and in fact just heard today one of the hotel staff I dealt with on a cybercast was last seen making certain people were evacuated.
In any event… my consultancy customer base in New York went down the crapper along with the DotCrash so I’ve not had any jobs there since summer 2000.
The call lasted nearly an hour. We discussed the possibilities, some of which would require I once again spend considerable time on the left shore of the Atlantic. I suggested further negotiations go through my Financial Director – her family is from Cavan so she knows how to bargain. Afterwards I was in quite good form, thinking about getting back to my old haunts, looking up the friends in the trad scene there… and then I read this.
The 10kt weapon which the Drudge Report mentions is in the size range of the missing Russian ones I discussed earlier today. If al Qaeda do have one, and if they do use it… may Almighty God have mercy on their souls.
Because we will not.
The Drudge link looks rather generic, so if the content should change, this is the info to search for: Sun March 03, 2002 09:22:37 ET, October Bulletin Said Terrorists Thought To Have 10 Kiloton Nuclear Weapon To Be Smuggled Into New York City
I remember laughing to myself about mediots (media idiots) who castigated President Bush for not immediately flying back to Washington DC after the attack. I simply could not understand how anyone could concievably make it into US national media without knowing about the well oiled but never before used procedures which bind the President and other top federal officials during an attack.
Of course under most of the scenarios for which these procedures were created… most of the media, along with everyone else would have been too dead or occupied trying to stay alive to bitch that the President was carrying out his assigned wartime duty. Which is to stay alive and in communications… and issue those terrible orders which only the acting President may issue, using the codes available only to him.
Similarly, I find the bruhaha over the “shadow” government inane and a result of willful ignorance. There are very real fears of attacks on the continental USA by weapons of mass destruction. While on the face of it some might think losing Washington and all the federal government a positive good… I suggest you think again. I, for one, prefer civil over military government, however benign.
The Amygdala blog did a nice bit of research on the policies and procedures involved in Continuity Of Government. He referred to a web publication written by John Pike at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). I’ll personally vet the source. I know John quite well and although we have very different politics and don’t agree on much of anything, he’s a good guy. He’s done me some seriously good turns in the past.
The purpose of Continuity of Government is to ensure that even under the direst of circumstances the United States remains under civilian control as mandated in the Constitution and does not ever fall under military governance by failure of the leadership to stay alive and in communication.
To put it bluntly, if you don’t like the dispersal of senior officials to not-so-secret locations, it is tantamount to saying you prefer the US Military keep order after we lose Washington.
And before this war is over… we just might.
There is an interesting article “Nuke Nerves” over at Jeff Jarvis’ blog today. Unfortuneately he doesn’t seem to have easily extractable links so you’ll just have to search. What grabbed my attention was this “Sum of All (my) Fears” line from the Washington Post:
…the intelligence community, they said, believes that al Qaeda could already control a stolen Soviet-era tactical nuclear warhead…
I mentioned once before, perhaps as far back as October, my worries about several Russian tactical nukes reported missing by a UK newspaper feature article in the early ’90’s. It may have been the Telegraph but it is so long ago I simply do not remember. I do remember discussing it with General Daniel O. Graham of the High Frontier Society at an International Space Development Conference in Washington DC in May 1992. Anyone who has access to the appropriate archives can thus limit their search to the period between September 1989 and May 1992.
The point of the article was that 2-3 advanced low yield Russian tactical nuclear weapons, artillery shells I believe, were unaccounted for. Iran was believed to have acquired them. I have heard not a peep about this story in the last 10 years.
Some weeks ago Glenn Reynolds commented on an article in Nanotechnology Magazine. The author claims there is a nanobacteria so small it slips past our defenses. It creates Calcium deposits in virtually every organ of the body when it encysts itself for further protection. It reproduces very, very slowly due the inefficiency of its’ tiny molecular machinery, takes about 40 years to do noticeable damage… and is the cause of virtually all degenerative diseases. He claims it is cureable and his organization is running trials already, using FDA approved drugs in special prescriptions.
Glenn readily admitted passing judging on these claims was out of his area of expertise. Had it been a lesser claim, I’m just enough of a know-it-all to have judged it within mine. But given the earthshaking nature of what was on the table… I decided to hold back and wait for reinforcements. I really don’t like to make a complete fool of myself if I can help it. I am a firm believer that when something seems too good to be true… it probably is.
I contacted Christine Peterson and Eric Drexler at the Foresight Institute and ran it by them.
While Eric did not entirely dismiss it, he did point out a very troubling issue which would require explanation before one could take the paper seriously:
I wouldn’t be in the least surprised to find that the medicos have overlooked a class of small, unusual bacteria. Evidence for such things has been trickling out for a while now.
On the other hand, any nanobacterial researcher who claims to have found a bacterium only 20 nm in diameter has no idea what a bacterium is. (It helps to have room for both a ribosome and a cell membrane, and maybe even some DNA and enzymes just to round things out.)
I wouldn’t suggest you throw away your “remedies” just yet.
If you are a registered Independant or Libertarian, or are willing to be so registered (or re-registered if you are a Demopublican), please contact the Carla Howell For Governor organization and sign her ballot petition. Just follow the quick and easy instructions I’ve excerpted from her campaign mailing:
Who can sign?
1. You must be registered to vote in Massachusetts.
2. You must be registered as an “Unenrolled” (Independent) or “Libertarian” voter.
3. If you are registered as a “Democrat” or “Republican” voter, we can re-register you as “Unenrolled” or “Libertarian”, so that you may legally sign our petitions. (Democrats and Republicans are legally forbidden from signing our petitions.)
4. If you’re a Massachusetts resident and you’re NOT registered to vote, we can register you as an “Unenrolled” (Independent) or “Libertarian”. Then you can sign our petitions.
What do you do next – if you meet these requirements?
5. Send us your name, home address, city, zip code, and phone number at petition@carlahowell.org
6. If you are registered “Democrat” or “Republican”, or if you are NOT registered to vote, please tell us in your email message, and whether you want to be registered “Unenrolled” or “Libertarian”. We’ll send you a voter re-registration form.
Here’s what we do: we mail you the petitions with quick and easy instructions.
Here’s all you have to do:
7. Sign the petitions the way the instructions tell you to. (If your signature or petitions are filled out wrong, the government will disqualify your signature.)
8. Put your signed petitions in the return envelope we provide, put a first-class stamp on the envelope, and mail it in.
Less than 60 seconds to sign. Quick and easy. Saves our campaigns money. And you will be part of the biggest Tax Revolt in Massachusetts since the Boston Tea Party.
Please send us your name, home address, city, zip code, and phone number immediately at petition@carlahowell.org . And if you are enrolled “Democrat” or “Republican”, or if you are NOT registered to vote, please include the information requested in #6 above.
Massachusetts state law forbids us from accepting petitions printed directly off the internet. The law requires us to use Secretary of State Certified hard copies printed from flaw-free templates.
By supporting Carla’s candidacy you are also assuring a high profile for the ballot initiative to end the state income tax.
Are we at Libertarian Samizdata partisan? What on Earth would ever make you think that?
The name Hollings rang some bells, but I just couldn’t place it. I Googled him and nearly drew a blank… except I found his name is Ernest “Fritz” Hollings. That clicked. I dug back into my old email queues and notes from the days when I ran Pittsburgh L5 and found a cryptic lead. I had angrily called Hollings office on February 21st, 1986. All I could tell from the phone log was Hollings had done something I’d considered utterly despicable at the time and that it had to do with the Challenger disaster.
What else to do but call on friends like Glenn Reynolds to do a quick Lexus search? And now I’ve got it.
Senator Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (D, Times-Warner) tried to grandstand on the corpses of 7 dead astronauts. While submarines were still looking for key bits of debris on the ocean floor and the Rogers Commission was starting the long difficult job of sifting the evidence, Hollings was trying to grab headlines by calling for Senate Investigation. As reported in the MacNeil Lehrer Report transcript of that day:
LEHRER: Key members of the U.S. Senate went to war today over the shuttle Challenger investigation. Democrat Ernest Hollings fired the first round, holding a news conference to call for the resignation of NASA chief William Graham and for a Senate investigation of the Challenger accident. Hollings also had critical words for the presidential commission which is already investigating.
Within that context the log entry for my phone conversation with Gary Oleson (head of the Washington DC-L5 chapter) makes it clear why I was ticked off enough to call a Senator in another state:
Gary Oleson: looks like a setup. Jesse Moore is from S. Carolina, knows Hollings, and just moved to JSC [Johnson Space Center] post, puts him in line for running NASA if Graham gets the boot. Graham is evidently being fed incorrect info and the commission is being told that he’s going to give them incorrect info. Hollings, with GHR [Gramm-Hollings-Rudman] amendment under his belt is headline grabbing and has nothing to do with investigation. We have already notified chapters in SC. We’ll try to nail Hollings.
So this isn’t my first run in with this…. person.
And by the way… there’s a new Hollingsgate article over at Instapundit.
Like many who walk the cutting edge, I have friends in the cryonics field and have my little Alcor freezer dogtag hanging about my neck. Well, to be honest, it’s void at the moment as entrepreneuring in Belfast is a better way to end up in the poor house than the cryostat but that is another story. A lot of stories actually.
Needless to say, I found this bit of eurofascism both troubling and astounding:
“A French couple who were frozen when they died in the hope that medical advances would one day revive them are facing a thaw at the hands of local authorities,” the BBC reports. When Monique Martinot died in 1984, her husband, Raymond, put her on ice. Last week he died, and his son stuck him in the same fridge. “What has been done is outlawed in France,” a prosecutor tells the BBC. “In this country, bodies must either be cremated or buried.”
The BBC notes that “many European countries have legislation in place restricting the preservation of dead bodies in such a way.”
In my book the prosecutor will be guilty of a double, premeditated homicide if he goes through with this. Some of you are now thinking: “Huh? But they’re already dead!”
To paraphrase a former American president (and beat you with a dead cliche): it depends on what you mean by “dead”. Cryonics exists on the premise that so long as the brain and memories are intact, a technology will exist at some arbitrary time in the future capable of both undoing the cause of death and repairing the damage caused by freezing. I think most would agree there is at least a possibility of resuscitation.
What we have here are Schroedinger’s People, neither alive nor dead, suspended in a quantum world of chance. So our French prosecutor will be a quantum murderer if he opens the box. He will intentionally kill two people and extinguish their chance to once again walk a Riviera beach side by side.
Note: I was led to this story by the Opinion Journal e-mail news.
I was aware Donald Rumsfeld was in the Pentagon at the time the Al Qaeda kamikazi’s struck, but I did not realize he had experienced the full glories of middle eastern hospitality. He said the following in an interview with Sir John Keegan of the Telegraph, who had shared some of those same “glorious” times in Beirut:
DONALD RUMSFELD: The fellow who finally got me out of there was Brigadier General Carl Steiner, who was then head of our special forces and was travelling with me for a period.
He is quite well known today as a terrific person. But we ended up, we’d been trapped in there for three or four days where they were shelling the house we were in. And we got in the car and there was all this crazy driving. My wife took some Dramamine. She was in there with me that whole time.
We ended up in your Embassy on those wooden pews that are in the front, where all the people come in to get visas? And she had taken two or three Dramamine and fell completely asleep in a flak jacket. And I can still picture her, just out cold from the Dramamine, waiting for a helicopter to come in, and the only place we could go was your Embassy, before we got out of there.
Secretary Rumsfeld’s CV for his current job is even better than I had ever imagined. No wonder he understands there is no safety in any form of engagement with al Qaeda and their ilk that does not leave them laid in rows on the ground.
The interview is in the online Telegraph and well worth a read.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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