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Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 14 Aug 2000 12:00:00 GMT
[lunch time updates at end]

Happy Birthday, Angus! [latte]

Hal B. Rager of blivet fame has discovered Virtual PC for his Macintosh. I haven't run it in a while, and it was pretty slow on my PowerMac 9500, but it's still a mighty nice bit of work.

John Markoff at the New York Times - Developers of Linux Software Planning Assault on Microsoft BugMeNot: I.B.M., Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and several other major computer vendors are starting the Gnome Foundation to create a standardized office suite for Linux. [/.]

Dave Duffy at Backwoods Home Magazine - The real gun criminals: I made this same point about the drug warriors a little while back. [sierra]

If a person robbed a bank and murdered someone, and you drove the getaway car, would you be guilty of accessory to robbery and murder? If a man raped a woman after you intentionally provided him the key to her home knowing his intentions, would you be guilty of accessory to rape?

The answer to both questions, as we all know, is yes, because you knowingly facilitated the commission of the crime.

Why then are not the likes of President Clinton, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), or Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) guilty of accessory to murder and rape for their support of laws that restrict the use of firearms, since study after study clearly show that the personal possession of firearms dramatically lowers the incidence of murder and rape in America?

Reuters via excite news - Cincinnati can't sue gunmakers for damages, court rules: a little sanity from the court. [market]

"Manufacturers have no duty to give warnings about the obvious dangers of handguns," the court's majority opinion said.

"Were we to decide otherwise, we would open a Pandora's box. The city could sue the manufacturers of matches for arson, or automobile manufacturers for traffic accidents, or breweries for drunken driving."

Thomas L. Knapp at tlknapp.net - The Corruption of the Law: Follow the money... [market]

Let's be clear on this:

When a political candidate promises a more vigorous prosecution of the War on Drugs, he or she is promising to do everything in his or her power to jail your children.

He is promising that real crimes won't be investigated on his watch so long as there's a chance to pull down a crack ring.

She is swearing that the corruption of law enforcement will not be impeded in any way, shape or form if her vote counts for anything.

He is vowing to drain the treasury, discard the Constitution, ruin the lives of untold millions, sponsor violent crime, increase addiction, ignore legitimate priorities, and conduct a disrespectful burlesque on the sacrifices of those who have given their lives , fortunes and sacred honors to secure and defend our rights for over two centuries.

Remember this -- and keep it in mind when considering whether such a candidate deserves your vote in the Congressional elections next month. Chances are that the Libertarian will be the only candidate who isn't holding that club over your head.

Thomas L. Knapp at tlknapp.net - Crawling Through the Minds of Monsters: good commentary on the Littleton massacre.

Psychology and psychiatry are not - at this time - competent to crawl inside the individual mind and ferret out the Bad Things. Personally, I hope they never will be. I don't want to live in a world of robots. I'd prefer a world in which each individual deals with his or her own Bad Things; and I'd prefer to live in a world where, when someone decides that their Bad Things are sufficient cause to justify homicide, I am free to defend myself and my loved ones.

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