Joke of the Day

Enjoy.

[Blank] until proven [Blank]. Mad libs anyone?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4109291.html

EDIT: The original link died; the story can be found here.

Suspicious circumstances a charge make. Believe it or not, I'm not against the actions of the government representatives here. Nor am I even against the bias of the author of this article.

I'm counting this one -- loosely -- in the 'good news' category. The reasoning behind that might surprise a few. What we have here is a case of domestically born and raised Arab-Americans being charged with aiding terrorism because they have in the last few months bought some 600 pre-paid cellphones, and were pulled over for speeding with 12 of them *and* flight-ticket receipts.

Here's why I'm counting it as a good thing. The journalism itself is what I'm commenting on. There is zero pre-judgment within it. It was deemed newsworthy, but whomever this Sarah Kurush of the AP is, I tip my hat to thee. Now -- let's all hope (against hope) that the jury in this case is able to remember that you have to have proof of a crime for a conviction to occur.

UPDATE: This case was dropped; it never went to trial.

Either way; kudos to Kurush! In this age of yellow journalism, a balanced report... who knew?

This is NOT News...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2304923,00.html

And that fact sickens me to my core.

I read recently about Paris Hilton's vow of chastity scoring more hits by leaps and bounds than information about these goings on. I have to ask myself; what the hell is this country I love doing? Why is it that America -- a word once synonymous with freedom and reason -- is now the sponsor of such needless destruction? I am reminded of the crusades; the wars of aggression by christianity against Islam. Usually, more christians wound up being killed by christians (when they were winning) than muslims. All in the name of the two following words: "Deus Vult!" (Sometimes: "Deus Invictus!"). They translate: "God Commands It!"

This is not a rhetoric for secularism. This is just one man wondering (knowing better, mind you), "How the hell did we get here?" Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, and that is an absolute truth. But I'm sorry -- Israel is a terrorist nation.

I ask you this; why is it that there is no USA-based petition to end the war in Israel or create a ceasefire that shows up on search engines? This gives me thoughts. What I do on them? Who knows?


Update: Anyone who thinks this is Israel just going after Hezbollah and terroristic fundamental islamists MUST read the following:
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L11459020

Deus Vult indeed. Why is Israel conquering the command center it used during the 18 years of occupation that is now a largely *CHRISTIAN* city/town? (That's Marjayoun, folks.)

Joke of the Day

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,207462,00.html

Enjoy.

A Diatribe on Personal Responsibility

In recent conversations on another blog (http://hammeroftruth.com -- I schill like the worst!) , I have spoken with another individual with my name, partially: Ian Bernard . He is the primary host of Free Talk Live.(http://www.freetalklive.com)

And as such, he can be said to be a voice of liberty.

To summarize this; he like many others I have seen make the argument that if we dislike the State, then it has no authority over us. This troubles me to say the least. If we are to promote freedom, real freedom, then it behooves us to also promote the other aspect of true libertarian 'culture' -- taking responsibility for one's own actions. Our debates have spanned the actions of one Russel Kanning, a 'freedom fighter' if you will up in the lands of the Free State Project. Mr. Kanning crossed a couple of lines; one, he acted to commit violence to property not his own. Two, he acted to disregard the responsibility for his actions society as a whole deemed fit.

That is to say, he disregarded the court, and considers himself "immune" to the legislations of the state. (Obviously this has worked out wonderfully for the man.) It is to be noted that he is not a member of the Libertarian party and does not consider himself fit material for it. However, this I believe has more to do with Mr. Kanning's beliefs that the state -- much like Ian Bernard -- cannot exist because it has no legitimacy in doing so (mainly because Mr. Bernard did not himself sign nor knows of anyone whom has signed a contract granting government its authority.)

Now, do not misunderstand me here; our current government, our current leaders, is and are evil. Strong rhetoric that. However, simply because we disagree with how things are does not give us the authority to disregard our responsibility to pay for the things we do. Rather, that the things which are necessary (fighting the IRS, drug laws, police abuse, etcetera) are at times criminal only heightens the importance of them.

Which is more noble? The tax objector, or the tax resistor? Which holds more cultural resonance: The man who states, "I must break this law, and not pay into the system, because our government is evil! I gladly face what penalties I must to follow my conscience, that my brothers might one day be free." Or... "I am keeping my money because you don't have the right to take it from me!"

It's as simple as that. Anyone who thinks that the latter is the more principled of the two stances is fooling themselves. A quote I've been tinkering with; 'principles are born in sacrifice.' The latter stance -- denying the very existance of the state -- is the less principled. For he intrinsically does not recognize the propriety (if not justice) of his acts... and when things are taken from him, these are not sacrifices, but rather additional thefts.

But I digress. What troubles me is that the voice of liberty so frequently seems to agree with this line of thinking. We talk about personal responsibility, but where is the example? I know -- I am no better. This, my first blogging post, is nothing more than me complaining about the actions of others within the movement. (How stereotypical can you get?) We'll see if I can't find something more... constructive to come up with next time 'round.