Unfree Republic: Thread II

Lewrockwell.com ^ | September 24, 2001 | Jeff Elkins

[Storm Orphan]

The beginning of this repeating pattern has already become public with the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security. It has an ominous sound, that name, almost Germanic. (I can’t wait to see the uniforms.)

No uniforms. Just armbands.

[Aurelius]

BUMP

[Aurelius]

LewRockwell.com is an oasis of sanity in a desert of madness.

[Aurelius]

Which means by no means that I agree with every thought of every poster on that site.

[Inspector Harry Callahan]

LewRockwell.com is an oasis of sanity in a desert of madness.

Headzup! Quote of the day nomination here.

[annalex]

Lew Rockwell, of whom I am a fan, or used to be, doesn't understand his own philosophy, libertarianism.

Defense of Liberty

[gaspar]

Rockwell never recovered from his support for, first, Gene McCarthy and then Spiro Agnew. He is hardly the Libertarian he claims. Truth be told he is an anarchist. Truth really be told he is a gadfly anarchist with the following of 48 students at Auburn University.

[Hoosier Patriot]

The really scary part: NO EXPIRATION DATE.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 01-261

Section 6. This Executive Order shall remain in full force and effect until the earlier of its revocation or June 30, 2003.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 01-262

Section 4. I hereby order the Adjutant General to activate the Florida National Guard for the duration of this emergency, and I hereby place the National Guard under the direction of the State Coordinating Officer for the duration of this emergency.

[Ronin]

Now FReepers need to be honest here. Back during Clinton's Balkins boondoggle (which remains ongoing at this time) a lot of us read, agreed with and posted material from LewRockwell.com. This was because we did not believe we had any business being involved in the Balkin's conflict and felt (in my case, still feel) that it was a total wag-the-dog exercise of Bubba's part.

Now, we also need to admit that there is and has been a great deal of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, jingoistic rhetoric floating around in various posts in the forum these days.

A lot of that is understandable. We all need to vent anger on occassion.

But, while I don't accept and strongly disagree with the characterizations of FReepers made in this article, I think he is pointing out something that is significant. I am also a bit uneasy about how fast some of us have switched from sullen suspicion to lock-step approval of the Federal government here. It wasn't that long ago when FEMA was a bigger boogie-man on the forum than Saddam Hussien.

Yes this is a war. Yes, we need to support our Government and most definitely our Servicemembers as they fight it. But we also need to calm down and remember that we are not slaves or subjects to a crown, and that we have an obligation to keep a close eye on what our government is doing to ensure that it is acting in the best interests of the American republic. This is an obligation of citizenship that cannot be shirked at any time if the nation is to remain free.

[texlok]

>As a conservative, I am naturally wary of concentrations of power and the Homeland Security stuff scares me.

That's what bothers me most out of everything that has been said and done, that some are willing to give up a few more rights to feel safe. They may give up those rights to feel safe from an overseas or terrorist threat, but they become less safe and less protected from the government.

[gargoyle]

...As I see it, FR is not a philosophy, it's politics. Politics, left or right, tend to bring out the sanctimonius. Right or wrong, politics will give us a passionate debate. Listen, read, think, calm down, try to respond with a little bit of philosophic tolerance...

[Fury]

I have a friend whose wife once saw Lew Rockwell's picture right before they went to bed. Told me that he thought they would be "pitching woo", but his wife said she could not get "that creepy guy's face out of her mind"... As a result, they did not engage in "pitching woo"... I laugh every time I see Lew Rockwell's picture. He's a bit over the top and he also causes marital strife...

[annalex]

we also need to admit that there is and has been a great deal of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, jingoistic rhetoric floating around in various posts in the forum these days.

Lew needs to understand that unlike his site, we are a forum. I wonder what would have happened if he opened his site to comments from readers. In fact, I know that, because I posted from him at least once and participated in many threads that followed his articles. Lew is good in staking out some least popular position, usually with a libertarian bend, and making a case for it. On this war, the unpopular does not translate to the right.

[Cultural Jihad]

"LewRockwell.com is a cesspool of madness in meadow of sanity."

Headzup! Quote of the day nomination here.

[Cultural Jihad]

Ideologue

[Fury]

No, no. I did not want to "pitch woo" with my neighbor. It was him and his wife. But I will have a beer, after looking at that mug... LOL

[Jim Robinson]

Damned rights this is war. And the FReepers have a right to be pissed! We were attacked! On our own soil! Thousands of our countrymen were killed by a foreign power. The bombed out buildings of NYC and the Pentagon are war zones. The enemy was aiming to knockout the Whitehouse, Airforce One, Camp David, the Capitol, the Pentagon our financial centers and who knows what else? And they came dangerously close to accomplishing their goal. Had they succeeded and killed our Pres, Vice Pres, leaders of Congress, our military chain of command and our financial centers, the USA would've completely collapsed. This is NOT the Balkins. This is America defending her own soil and her own blood. And we are still under attack. The terrorists can strike anywhere at anytime. No one will know where or when or with what they will attack next. The federal government clearly has the Constitutional responsibility and authority to defend the nation when it is attacked and that's exactly what President Bush and his people are doing. I am beginning to think that if the Libertarians do not have the intestinal fortitude to defend the nation when deliberately attacked by foreign powers, then we should thank God and pray that they will NEVER have sufficient numbers to get elected to any meaningful office.

[gargoyle]

...You and Ronin speak for me, also...