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Author Topic: Illegal Everything by John Stossel  (Read 1470 times)

Offline Dan W

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Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« on: February 26, 2012, 07:28:13 PM »
Dan W    NFOA Co Founder
Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom.   J. F. K.

Offline NE Bull

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Re: Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2012, 07:39:12 PM »
These are the reasons I have trouble trusting the government and most police forces.
“It is not an issue of being afraid, It's an issue of not being afraid to protect myself.”
 Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert
 "A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that."  Shane

Offline bk09

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Re: Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2012, 08:42:02 PM »
This was the best reporting I have ever seen. Thank you for sharing.

Offline Lorimor

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Re: Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2012, 08:11:33 AM »
Which brings us to one of the most insightful passages I've ever read concerning the true nature of bureaucrats and their regulations. The author is Ayn Rand. These quotes are from page 411 of my edition of Atlas Shrugged. Basically, Value Creator Hank Rearden has been accused of breaking some regulations the bureaucrats have made about Rearden's steel business having to do with how much or little steel he may produce, when, and to whom he may sell or not sell.

    Says the bureaucrat Floyd Ferris: "You honest men are such a problem and such a headache. But we knew you'd slip sooner or later . . . [and break one of our regulations] . . . this is just what we wanted."

    Rearden: "You seem to be pleased about it."

    Bureaucrat Ferris: "Don't I have good reason to be?"

    Rearden: "But, after all, I did break one of your laws."

    Bureaucrat Ferris: "Well, what do you think they're there for?"

    Continues bureaucrat Ferris: "Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed? We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against . . . We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted [Frederick Mann: Obfuscation of meaning is a key element of the con games bureaucrats and politicians play.] - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
"It is better to avoid than to run; better to run than to de-escalate; better to de-escalate than to fight; better to fight than to die. The very essence of self-defense is a thin list of things that might get you out alive when you are already screwed." – Rory Miller

Offline CitizenClark

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Re: Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2012, 10:35:37 AM »
Which brings us to one of the most insightful passages I've ever read concerning the true nature of bureaucrats and their regulations. The author is Ayn Rand...

Well as long as we are quoting our favorite passages about the true nature of bureaucrats and government...

1 Samuel 8:

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

Offline CitizenClark

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Re: Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2012, 10:38:55 AM »
As my old boss Lew Rockwell once wrote, "Let me state this as plainly as possible. The enemy is the state. There are other enemies too, but none so fearsome, destructive, dangerous, or culturally and economically debilitating. No matter what other proximate enemy you can name – big business, unions, victim lobbies, foreign lobbies, medical cartels, religious groups, classes, city dwellers, farmers, left-wing professors, right-wing blue-collar workers, or even bankers and arms merchants – none are as horrible as the hydra known as the leviathan state. If you understand this point – and only this point – you can understand the core of libertarian strategy."

Offline metaldoc

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Re: Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2012, 11:29:01 AM »
CitizenClark, thanks for posting the Samuel passage.  That was on my mind as well.   It is interesting to note God's warning that a king would take the best ten per cent of the nations production.  Our government now takes over half in one form or another.

Offline unfy

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Re: Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2012, 06:48:18 PM »
So...

Out of curiosity.

Why is any agency under the Executive Branch allowed to impose any regulation that also happens to carry a fine or jail time if broken ?

If it carries a fine or jail time, that means there's a punishment.

If there's punishment, that sounds like a law to me.

Who elected these agency members to write our laws ?

Oh wait, Article 1 Section 1 of the Constitution says Congress writes the laws.

So.... how are any of these Federal regulations (let alone from a different branch of the gov't) legal / Constitutional ?
hoppe's #9 is not the end all be all woman catching pheramone people make it out to be ... cause i smell of it 2 or 3 times a week but remain single  >:D

Offline JimP

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Re: Illegal Everything by John Stossel
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2012, 11:52:17 PM »
Quote
He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.

Don't you just wish they only took 10%!!!!!!!

They did not stop at 10%.....

Because no one stopped them.

Why is The Won requiring Catholic Hospitals to provide birth control to their employees, in direct violation of the tenets and teachings of the Catholic Church? 

Because no one is stopping him.

Why are you now required to buy a product you do not want (Health Insurance-Obamacare) on the .gov's sayso? 

Because no-one stopped them.

Why can you be arrested and jailed for YEARS for selling unpastuerized milk or uninspected sea-food or driving a gypsy cab?

BECAUSE NO ONE STOPPED THEM.

They will not stop of their own volition: they are on a mission (from Gaia?) and think they are helping you: there are none so dangerous to Liberty as those who are convinced theyare Righteous and have the Best of Intentions, when they are leading masses of well funded soulless beaureaucrats, who know no other way to survive than to continually create and enforce new regulations ....... it can not continue, for at some point there will be nothing left to regulate.

What can not continue, will not .....

.... and then what will these legions of worthless functionaries and and their broken "service economy" do then?
The Right to Keep and BEAR Arms is enshrined explicitly in both our State and Federal Constitutions, yet most of us are afraid to actually excercise that Right, for very good reason: there is a good chance of being arrested........ and  THAT is a damned shame.  III.