Hi All, Guns. Hmmmm.
I used to be rather neutral on the issue. Thought that perhaps the day was long past when here, in the heartland of "freedom and democracy", the government could somehow be hijacked by a gang of thugs. If we worked on meeting the needs of poverty and oppression and hired 'good cops' to enforce 'good laws', everything would be work toward a peaceful future (and we could all be one big, happy family). Then I went to Liberia. Observing 3 Liberian Army soldiers beating a man, I asked what crime the man committed. "Different tribe" was the answer. "Where are the police", I asked. The reply ... "They were afraid and left." "Why?" "Their guns don't work, and they don't want to be in trouble with the soldiers." "Why doesn't somebody do something?" "We don't have any guns, either." "It's not like this in America", I said. "Yes", a man told me. "It was different before in our country. But now we have no choice." "Why not?" "Because now we have no guns." Perhaps some of the early Americans had a similar scenario in mind when they insisted that each State retain the constitutional guarantee to form and mobilize an armed militia. Several States refused to ratify the Constitution unless it included safeguards to protect the individual rights of its citizens. The result was the original 10 amendments - the Bill of Rights (including the second amendment - the right to keep and bear arms). Like a Kosovar friend once told me, "We knew we were in trouble when the Serbian government passed a law against owning a gun." It's like a prophecy ...what comes next is guaranteed (which is probably why DMCA and TPCA were raised by some as an important issue). And Arachne was reportedly made for a similar reason, so that the "right of the people to the free access of information and communication" could not be infringed upon by the government or corporate powers. The right to peacefully assemble (by email) and freely share ideas - made possible because of a disgruntled hacker from Czech Republic. Michael Polak - American patriot. (In spirit, if not in fact). (Maybe that's why people cannot unsubscribe from the list - secession would break up the union). Butyl Bob, the organic radical - ________________________________________________________________ Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today Only $9.95 per month! Visit www.juno.com
