We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Daily Life for Al-Qaeda
MEMORANDUM
Monday, October 22, 2001 @ 8:17am
FROM: Bin Laden, Osama
TO: All Cavemates
RE: The Cave
Hi guys.
We’ve all be putting in long hours lately but we’ve really come together as a group and I love that. Big thanks to Omar for putting up the poster that says “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team'” as well as the one that says “Hang in there baby.” That cat is hilarious.
However, while we are fighting a jihad, we can’t forget to take care of the cave. Frankly, I have a few concerns.
First of all, while it’s good to be concerned about cruise missiles, we should be even more concerned about the scorpions in our cave. Hey, you don’t want to be stung and neither do I, so we need to sweep the cave daily. I’ve posted a sign-up sheet at the main cave opening.
Second, it’s not often I make a video address, but when I do I’m trying to scare the most powerful country on earth, okay? That means that while we’re taping,please don’t ride your razor scooters in the background … just while we’re taping. Thanks.
Third point, and this is a touchy one. As you know, by edict, we’re not supposed to shave our beards. But I need everyone to just think hygiene, especially after mealtime. We’re all in this together.
Fourth, food. I bought a box of Cheez-Its recently and clearly wrote “Osama” on the front and put it on the top shelf. Today my Cheez-Its were gone. Consideration, that’s all I’m saying.
Finally, we’ve heard that there may be American soldiers in disguise trying to infiltrate our ranks. I want to set up patrols to look for them. The first patrol will be Omar, Muhammed, Abdul, Akbar and Richard.
Love you lots.
Osama.
On The Fly Bottle, Will Wilkinson continues to put the boot in to arguments against cloning. It is also an issue that quite exercises Glenn Reynolds on Instapundit.
Twelve British and two Dutch plane-spotters languish in the dismal jails of fellow NATO member Greece, whilst what is probably the most corrupt and ineffective ‘justice’ system in the European ‘Union’ investigates them on charges of espionage. We are told by Greek government spokesmen that “the judicial system must take it’s course” as these harmless geeks sleep on concrete floors surrounded by rapists, thieves and murderers.
Yet over the last 25 years, a Greek Marxist terrorist group called November 17 has, during the course of over 150 terrorist incidents, murdered twenty four people, including a British Army brigadier, a senior CIA officer and three other US national. They have regularly attacked the offices of multinational corporations with bombs, arson and shootings.
And how many of these terrorist have been convicted or killed by the Greek Security Services in the last 25 years?
Er… none.
How many have even been arrested in the last 25 years?
None. Not a single one.
So then would it be fair to say that the Greek Security Services are perhaps the most inept in the western world? Well there is certainly some truth to that, but unfortunately the principal reason is that the November 17 terrorists are all closely linked to the Greek socialist PASOK party and have tendrils deep within the security services themselves, according to people as varied as former CIA chief Jim Wolsey and former Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis.
Jim Wolsey was once quoted as saying:
When you don’t catch a single terrorist after twenty five years, that’s not a mistake… that’s a policy.
It is good to know that we have such wonderful allies within NATO. I guess if those foolish plane-spotters had not been tying up so much police time, November 17 would all be behind bars by now.
Or not.
The hapless Greek people are very ill served by their vile political establishment. Next time the half-wits in Whitehall start muttering about Britain signing up for Europe wide extradition warrants, ponder exactly what sort of judicial systems await in nations of our oh so wonderful ‘allies’.
A few last words from George Harrison…this seemed appropriate
Song: Taxman
Duration: 2.37
Track No.: 1
Composer: Harrison
Vocals: George Harrison
Year: 1966
I thought this was an interesting article in Government Executive Magaine (being a typical libertarian governmentophobe, this not my usual reading I must confess). It is essentially a US Army lamentation and paean to the USMC:
The fact that the Marine Corps was needed to extend into what most Army officers consider their service’s territory had some of them wondering where Army leaders were when the mission planning decisions were being made. “If this doesn’t raise questions about Army relevance then I don’t know what would,” said one infantry captain who says he is beginning to think he might feel more at home in the Marine Corps than in the Army.
and
“You’ve got to give the Marine Corps credit for trying to make themselves useful,” said Thomas Donnelly, deputy executive director of the Project for a New American Century and a former staffer on the House Armed Services Committee. “At least they’re making some attempt to respond to what the country needs to have done. The Army just seems to be spending most of its intellectual effort trying to find ways to stay out of it.”
Ah, I love the smell of inter-service rivalry in the morning. It smells of…victory.
With thanks to Graham V. for pointing the Samizdata at Government Executive Magaine.
My respects to Mr. Bainter, but he is overlooking the fact that air superiority includes knocking out air defense sites. This is not something bombers excel at: the shorter range fighters and attack planes are used for SEAD (suppression enemy air defense) missions.
It usually takes a combination of assets to win. For some operations, such as Grenada, all the necessary assets were contained within the Marines, but the other services insisted on playing too. So, we had 50 SEALS drown in rough seas and 7,000 Rangers shooting at each other across their horseshoe-shaped front lines while a Marine battalion took the island.
In Afganistan, as in Kuwait/Iraq, it is taking combined assets from all the services to manage the war effort effectively. I think that Mr. de Havilland’s point was that if the Navy/Marine Corps mix had been different, the Navy/Marine Corps team probably wouldn’t have been able to participate.
And it is seldom obvious to outsiders, but someone is always trying to reduce or do away with the Marine Corps. This has been true ever since WW II.
Chris Pastel
LTCOL USMCR (RET)
J. Baxter writes:
I am a conservative moving quickly into the libertarian camp. Libertarians are the last bastion of defense for the Constitution, I do believe, and watching the hysterical, knee-jerk reactions of both government and the social movers and shakers these last weeks since 11 September is alarming. The reactions of government beyond the military mode should leave little doubt in the rational mind that we long ago crossed over into socialism and so far away from the Constitution and the First Amendment, that little argument to the contrary remains.
That being said, the First Amendment as written…
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
…should not be merely the whip by which the “religious right” are the ones flogged, but also in order, every time: Congress for screwing around with the free exercise of religion, or the freedom of speech (add and read that “internet”), and of the press (as they parrot the governmental line they should be severely chastised); the peaceable assembly of citizens who are just damn sick and tired of not being counted anymore unless redistricting or a new tax hike is in the works; and yet again the government for using every means possible to shut down the response of the citizenry, if even by demagoguery and the use of the press to further governmental schemes.
There exists an all out assault on the First Amendment, and even those who would defend it to the death deal with the assault piecemeal, rather than exposing the whole battle plan of whatever opposition. The first two amendments, and the 10th, are the targets, and as long as most Americans can live with their take-home pay and ignore the deductions, talk their faith only at church and not criticize any governmental official at any level (try it at the most local level and see the reaction), most Americans are as happy as clams.
Of course the American ire was aroused on 11 September. Home invasion causes such a reaction. But now I watch us being lulled back to sleep by the same governmental agencies responsible for this whole flipping mess anyway.
The blame is being shifted; every American is now a suspect (try getting on a plane these days), and it is little wonder that the prophet par excellence of our time is no one other than Charlie Daniels, who had the temerity to put to music the words:
I ain’t asking nobody for nothing,
if I can’t git it on my own
If you don’t like the way I’m living,
you just leave this long-haired country boy alone
Amen, Charlie… hope your recovery is going well.
By J. Baxter
When bad men combine, the good must associate else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle
– Edmund Burke
Eric L. Bainter takes a shot at starting an inter-service exchange of fire views
In referece to Perry de Havilland and his Samizdata post of 28 Nov entitled The USMC and Aircraft Carriers… don’t leave home without ’em , I can’t help but note the following:
- It is probably not terribly hard to establish air superiority over a handful of helicopters and some aged Antonov transports…
- Analysis of true cause-and-effect will take some time, but I note that it seems the things didn’t really seem to start breaking loose until the heavy bombers – i.e. the USAF – started hammering things.
- There might have been secret efforts at present unknown, but at least by press accounts, the Marines were largely out of the war until their recent arrival in the Kandahar neighborhood. Aside from the recovery of the downed helicopter, Army and Air Force special forces, and CIA types, seem to have been the primary ground forces that aided the Northern Alliance, set ambushes in the south, and guided the bombing strikes.
- During the transformation debate prior to this war(at least as recorded in the press), I don’t recall anyone really trying the eliminate either carriers or Marines, but there was consideration of how many carriers/marines/fighters/army divisions/everything else are required – and what is the best mix. The transformationalists (is that a word) were big on information fusion, UAVs, remote attacks, and all that – all of which have been successfully employed in this war so far.
So, I wish the best to the Marines (shoot, I’ve even informally recruited for them), and I hope they get their chance to clobber the terrorists, and I am glad the Navy had some carriers. But, I do not think the war in Afghanistan supports the general tone of Mr. de Havilland’s post, which I read as a blanket defense of the current Department of the Navy force structure.
Eric L. Bainter
Yeah, you…Dawson of Dawson.com…
Your e-mail address link is phucked. Fix it or we will send Natalie Solent and her well armed husband around to sort you out.
I have to agree with the majority of Perry’s comments on both the 40 cal. and the SIG 229. Excellent choice of caliber and weapon. The 229, like most weapons chambered for the 40 S&W, also has the advantage of being readily converted via a simple barrel change to the .357 SIG, a caliber that has garnered rave reviews in both civilian and government circles. As for leaving home without it, however, depending on dress and circumstance the somewhat smaller SIG 239 might be more appropriate.
Unfortunately for Perry, he lives in the UK where the great experiment in civilian disarmament continues unabated despite all the evidence proving it is simply a bad idea. So until he makes the move back to the US, his desire will remain a futile, unfulfilled dream.
Pity, old chum.
When I read about people like the hilarious American Center for Law and Justice and Family Research Council calling for on-line censorship, I am not sure if I should laugh or snarl… perhaps both. In an article in Charisma News Service, they say things like:
This is an important opportunity for the Supreme Court to protect children in the ongoing battle against online porn,” said Jay Sekulow, of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). “This measure…represents a proper and constitutional protection to ensure that pornographers don’t commercially profit from making pornography available to children,” Sekulow said. “The First Amendment protects free speech — but was never intended to permit the sale or distribution of porn to children on the Internet or anywhere else.
Hmmm. Although as a libertarian I do not usually argue matters on constitutional grounds but rather moral ones (a constitution is just a statement of rights, not the source of them), let us look at the First Amendment of the US Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Now perhaps my copy of the US Constitution is an abridged version but no matter how many times I read it, I cannot see the bit that says:
However freedom of speech, and of the press, can have the crap abridged out of it if computers and the Internet are involved.
Will some legal scholar who reads the Samizdata please take pity and e-mail me and point out in which section of the US Constitution’s apocrypha is that passage to be found?
Now even if these authoritarian statist clowns got their way (unlikely), exactly how do they think a US law is going to prevent 15 year old Hank from Peoria taking a peek at a nice pair of titties on a web server in Amsterdam? These people are not just control freaks, they are pretty damn stupid
Have you ever noticed that groups calling themselves Pro-Family are often the ones who actually want the state to pass laws which remove responsibility from the family and make it a matter of criminal law? If little Hank from Peoria wants to look at porn on-line, why is that not a matter for the family to sort out? I suspect if these people think a US law will have the slightest effect on the global proliferation of on-line porn, then perhaps they are also sufficiently obtuse not to realise that the computer they purchased for little Hank also has an off switch. Doh!
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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