End the War on Freedom

From samizdata:

There is no problem in the world today that could not be made much worse by a UN conference. - Mark Steyn

Scott Bieser at KeepAndBearArms.com - Fearless FBI - cartoon commentary on recent and past episodes of unpunished murder by dickheads. Not funny. [kaba]

The Professional Ordnance, Inc. Carbon-15 series of Rifles and Pistols looks interesting, though they appear to be a bit behind schedule on their new web site. The new type 97s is a .223 Remington semi-auto with a 16" barrel, 1 in 9 rifling, and it weighs only 4.3 lbs (plus magazine, sling, and compensator). MSRP: $1,850. The type 20 is similar, but weighs only 3.9 lbs. MSRP: $1,550. The type 20 pistol weighs only 40 oz. (2.5 lbs). MSRP: $1,500. They claim that the rifles are usually accurate to 2 MOA, though some people have done better. Added to my Arms Manufacturers page. [shotgunnews]

GunThings.com sells mostly FAL parts and ammo. They recommend gunsmithing by Arizona Response Systems, who assemble parts kits and sell complete FAL rifles. [smith2004]

I do so like loading .30/06 cartridges. Feels like... victory. But I find .223 Remington a lot more pleasant to shoot. Nearly no recoil, don'cha know. Cheaper to load, too.

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk - Steel Tariffs are Taxes on American Consumers - what a sweet world we could create if government would just get out of the way.

It's easy for some lawmakers to make emotional arguments that tariffs are needed to protect the jobs of American steelworkers, but we never hear about the jobs that will be lost or never created when the cost of steel rises 30 percent. Tariffs are taxes, and imposing new tariffs means raising taxes. Apparently no one in the administration has read Henry Hazlitt's classic economics text, Economics in one Lesson. Professor Hazlitt's fundamental lesson was simple: We must examine economic policy by considering the long-term effects of any proposal on all groups. The administration instead chose to focus only on the immediate effects of steel tariffs on one group, the domestic steel industry. This has nothing to do with fairness, and everything to do with political favors. The free market is fair; it alone justly rewards the worthiest competitors. Tariffs reward the strongest Washington lobbies.

United Nations - At Financing for Development Conference, Speakers Press for Implementation of Millennium Development Goals - a press release covering the first day of the U.N. global tax conference, called the "Financing for Development Conference" in newspeak. The word "equitable" appears over and over. The word "tax" appears only twice. It's hard to find much meaning in most of it. The "Monterrey consensus" is mentioned all over the place. Apparently, someone has already decided what the consensus of the meeting will be.

"We stand at a pivotal moment for development", Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Mark Malloch Brown told participants of the Conference, the first devoted exclusively to development financing. He hailed "Monterrey" as an opportunity to forge a new "global deal" built around a partnership of mutual self-interest aimed at building a more equitable world. That was a "big bargain" under which sustained political and economic reform by developing countries was matched by direct support from the rich world in the form of trade, aid and investment and debt relief. The benchmark for that deal was the Millennium Development Goals.

L. Neil Smith at Roadhouse Sierra - Vermont Fudge - on the Center for Disease Control's survey attempting to discover who in Vermont owns a gun. Requires a membership. Get one today! [sierra]

The CDC must die.

Monica Mendoza at The Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Teen expelled for butter knife in pickup - zero-tolerance idiocy strikes again. This time at L.D. Bell High School in Hurst, Texas. I couldn't find any email addresses for anyone but the webmaster, but the principal's name is Jim Short, and their snail mail address is 1601 Brown Trail, Hurst TX 76054. Phone: 817-282-2551. Fax: 817-285-3200. [kaba]

Taylor Hess, 16, was expelled from L.D. Bell High School in this Fort Worth suburb by Principal Jim Short on March 4, after school officials found a bread knife in the back of Hess' pickup, which was parked at the school. Hess is appealing the expulsion. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday. "At no point did I have any idea that knife was in my truck," said Hess, a junior and an award-winning swimmer at L.D. Bell.

I put in an envelope, but have not yet mailed, the following letter:

Mr. Short,

I read on the internet* a story from the March 18 edition of The Forth Worth Star-Telegram concerning the expulsion of Taylor Hess for having a bread knife in his pickup, a knife that he didn't even know was there. This is zero tolerance idiocy at its best.

It's difficult for me to put into words how stupid I think this policy is or how utterly evil is the behavior of everyone involved in enforcing it. Let me put it simply. Free men are armed. Slaves are disarmed. Slavery was supposedly abolished in the United States over one hundred years ago. Why are you working so hard at bringing it back?

The second amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Everywhere. Always. That includes L.D. Bell High School. That includes Mr. Hess. Get used to it.

Sincerely,

William W. St. Clair, Jr.

* http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0318butterknife18-ON.html

I sent a similar letter to the editor of the Star-Telgram using their on-line feedback form:

The March 18 issue contained a story about the expulsion of Taylor Hess from L.D. Bell High School for having a bread knife in his pickup, a knife that he didn't even know was there. This is zero tolerance idiocy at its best.

It's difficult for me to put into words how stupid I think this policy is or how utterly evil is the behavior of everyone involved in enforcing it. Let me put it simply. Free men are armed. Slaves are disarmed. Slavery was supposedly abolished in the United States over one hundred years ago. Why are people working so hard at bringing it back?

The second amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Everywhere. Always. That includes L.D. Bell high school. That includes Mr. Hess. Get used to it.