:: walterindenver ::

:: Thursday, February 06, 2003 ::

Drug War Victims

When the drug warriors aren't helping create a black market in illegal drugs, wasting tax money, diverting police resources from real criminals, or sending innocent people to prison in large numbers, they can occasionally be found killing innocent bystanders.

Who's an innocent bystander, you ask? Baptist missionaries in Peru mistaken for drug runners. Ismael Mena, a Denver resident at home one day when police mistakenly raided his house - they had the wrong address. Or these people here, and even more here. Total casualties listed at the links above :

16 Dead, four wounded. I didn't count the ones where the victims had some drugs, just the ones clearly uninvolved with the drug trade.

Inspired by Kim du Toit's goblin count.

:: Walter 8:08 PM [+] ::
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The Government You Deserve

The Manhattan Libertarian Party today protested a proposed toy gun ban by distributing toy guns to children as school let out. They may have made a tactical mistake picking a Harlem school. Parents showed up to confront the protesters, and even accused them of being (groan) racist. These people deserve the government they get. Read the story and see the sickening video here. I have have to admit that I chuckled on seeing the befuddled look on the Libertarians' faces when they were confronted by an angry mob - the people they were trying to help.

:: Walter 6:40 PM [+] ::
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That's a Hoot

Some readers may remember a little tiff between Jen and Wilde a few months ago. The second chapter of the story can be found at The World Wider Ant. It just keeps getting funnier.

:: Walter 8:20 PM [+] ::
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'Compassionate Conservatism' and Fascism

Arthur Silber has been writing about the underlying principles of 'compassionate conservatism,' and finds they are similar to the principles of fascism. He concludes:

And I have to emphasize again: it is long past time for people to think about political issues in terms of the fundamental principles involved. Does this government program acknowledge man's rights and protect them -- or does it attack and erode those rights? Does this new set of regulations, imposing even more restrictions on yet another industry, respect and encourage freedom -- or does it hamper man's productive ability, and deny man certain essential aspects of his freedom?
It will only be when a significant number of men learn to think in terms of principles in this manner that we might begin to be safe from the encroachments of an ever-growing, ever-more-powerful centralized government. Until that day comes, we will continue to drift toward a fascist-socialist state. That has been the slow trend of the last 50 years -- and these "compassionate conservatives" are doing all they can to speed up that trend, and to destroy what remains of your freedom. And do not forget that a number of these conservatives support a mandatory draft, and proclaim the virtues of censorship. If either of those measures were to come to pass, the future of freedom would be bleak, indeed.
But I will fight these trends in every way I can, and I know that there are a number of people also concerned with man's rights, and with liberty, who will join me in that fight -- and that a significant number of them have been fighting for this particular cause for many, many years.

Note how he describes our course as a 'drift toward a fascist-socialist state.' I think this supports my contention that the struggle isn't the false left vs right dichotomy, but a fight between those of us who understand and support freedom, and those who either don't understand or don't care about it.
A perfect example of the latter category is found in the comments section of Arthur's blog, asking:

Devoting more money to slowing the spread of AIDS in Africa is the leading edge of Nazism? Care for the aged, public education of gifted children, and the prevention of child labor are social evils simply because the Nazi party paid lip service to those goals?

As Arthur notes, it's not the German Nazis specifically but all fascist movements who believe that the rights of individuals are subservient to the greater needs of society. I won't pretend to do Arthur's argument justice, it's best to go read his entire article.

:: Walter 5:05 PM [+] ::
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Meet Steve Kubby

A drug war refugee.

:: Walter 7:34 AM [+] ::
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