Isilion

John Locke says: “[T] he earth and all inferior creatures be common to all men.” I don’t know how much weight I or anyone else would or should put on his contention “[I]it is very clear that God, as King David says (Psalm 115. 16), ‘has given the earth to the children of men,’ given it to mankind in common,” and I’d argue about whether or not living things, at least those with central nervous systems, can be owned, but insofar as the concept of property is acknowleged, I accept that it was all originally “in common” and that its division and appropriation as individual or private is the core question of economics.

For me, an aging hippie boomer, to ever think I would be admiring a Republican congressman from Texas would have been, well, unthinkable.

The requirement that law enforcement demonstrate probable cause before a judge preserves the Founders’ system of checks and balances that protects against one branch gathering too much power. The Founders recognized that one of the chief dangers to liberty was the concentration of power in a few hands, which is why they carefully divided power among the three branches. I would remind those of my colleagues who claim that we must set aside the constitutional requirements during war that the founders were especially concerned about the consolidation of power during times of war and national emergences.

www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul264.html

The United States and Great Britain used hundreds of tons of Depleted Uranium in the first Gulf War, and they have used thousands of tons in this current war. (A dose the size of an M&M is potentially fatal.) During the first war they were used primarily in the desert, now they are used in the cities. In the area around Basrah where DU was used extensively in the first war, the incidence of childhood leukemia has increased by 700 percent, overall cancers by 1000 percent, birth deformities by 2000 percent. People also experience immunodeficiency disorders, AIDS-like syndromes, kidney and liver dysfunction, neurological problems, rashes, vision degradation, sexual dysfunction, and psychological disorders – to name a few of the problems. In effect, the people of Iraq are suffering as though they are the victims of a nuclear war. They are. The United States has inflicted a low level, slow motion nuclear war on the people and country of Iraq.

www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/shetterly3.html

I sent a message to one of the authors of this article and said:

I just read your article about DU on LewRockwell.com. You have written a damning indictment of the cabal who have hijacked our government. I suppose I should have asked first, but I sent a copy of your article to the same list of folks as my aunt who since the beginning of the war has been sending the most mindless neocon rants in support of every fantasy in the twisted mind of President George W. Bush to me and a couple of hundred poor souls who happen to be in her address book. I hope you don’t mind.

Somewhere in here, www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer-arch.html, Butler Shaffer talks about straws and camel’s backs. Well, as I read your article my camel’s back broke. I’m ready to start tossing tea into the harbor. History is going to judge us harshly. I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say that both what we did to the natives of this continent and our shame in ever allowing the institution of slavery in the country pale in insignificance to what we are doing right now not only Iraq but to the entire world. I am ashamed to be an American and feel impotent rage against something that seems totally beyond my ability to fight. I am on the verge of giving up hope for us as a people and a nation.

Sorry to be dumping this all on you, but you struck something deep in me and I wanted you to know it. Your conscience is heartening.

As I said in that message I am ready to start throwing tea into the harbor. If anyone reads this and feels the way I feel I’d love to hear from you. I’m feeling very alone these days.