End the FAA Killings

[keyser-soze]

The U.S. has declared war upon terrorists and those countries that support terrorists. 
That means that the U.S. has declared war upon itself. 

This year, the U.S. continued a Clinton-era policy and committed more than $100 
million in foreign aid to Afghanistan — making us the country's largest 
humanitarian donor. In May 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced an 
additional $43 million in relief, which includes 65,000 tons of wheat, vegetable oil, 
blended foods, health programs and shelter. 

When the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, the CIA trained Osama Bin Laden and his 
ilk in how to commit acts of terrorism and the U.S. provided financing and arms. 

http://www.zolatimes.com/V5.39/faa_killings.html

re: [texas-hpr] ATF letter (fwd)

[citizenQ]

BATF planted that post as a troll so then they could peek at the IP of anybody hitting 
that URL, knowing they came from 

[EMAIL PROTECTED]


>To: Jim Choate <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], The Club Inferno <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: [texas-hpr] ATF letter (fwd)
>
>Not Found
>The requested URL was not found on this server.
>Please check the filename requested and/or the link that you followed.

Fwd: FW: there is no Keyser Soze

[Bill Stewart]

> >Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 02:13:47 -0700
> >Subject: there is no Keyser Soze
> >From: Faisal Jawdat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001320012-2001330486,00.html
> >
> > Article too long for me to meaningfully excerpt from.
> > It essentially says that terrorists we've caught are
> > not who we thought they are, and it implies that the
> > deception is apparently much wider and deeper than
> > just some FBI fumbling with mistaken identity.
> >
> > -faisal
> >
>
>
>
>For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/

British SAS in Afghanistan

[Neil Johnson]

A couple of British Newspapers are reporting that a British SAS unit
exchanged fire with Taleban soldiers
in Afghanistan.

The Herlad Sun:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,2919672%255E661,00
.html

>From the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1559000/1559084.stm


Interesting.

-
Neil M. Johnson
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: Democracy is our enemy

[Declan McCullagh]

On Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 03:22:34AM -, Anonymous wrote:
> There was an article the other day about the terrorists, which made the
> point that capitalism and fundamentalism were much alike, in that both
> share a distrust of democracy.  The same can be said for the cypherpunks.

Difference: Cypherpunks distrust democracy, at least unfettered from its
democratic republic roots in the U.S., because it has proven an uncertain
safeguard of liberty. Bin Laden & co distrust democracy because it permits
too much liberty.

-Declan

Re: Democracy is our enemy

[Karsten M. Self]

on Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 03:22:34AM -, Anonymous ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
wrote:
> Thomas Leavitt writes:

> There was an article the other day about the terrorists, which made
> the point that capitalism and fundamentalism were much alike, in that
> both share a distrust of democracy.

I can think of a number of differences as well.

> The same can be said for the cypherpunks.  No wonder that so many here
> have expressed vitriolic criticism of the U.S. government response
> (which has been almost zero), while there has been little mention of
> the horrific evil of the terrorist acts themselves.

As trolls go, about a 6.5.

Terrorists are not in a direct position to deprive us of rights to
privacy, free speech, encryption, and computing platforms.  Should their
cause prevail I've no doubt access to such freedoms would be far starker
than under any regime pledged to the US Constitution, with little
recourse for appeal.

There is little on-charter discussion possible of the terrorists.  There
may be speculation of methods they did (or didn't) use.  Outcomes of
their actions are going to generally be abhorred.

The response of the US and other govnerments worldwide is a different
issue.  These are largely institutions of or answerable to their
peoples.  There's also a long tradition in democratic (both proper
democracies and republican governments) political experience of making
rash decisions, often curtailing the freedoms of democracy.

I see no problem with focussing discussion on these matters.

> The philosophical connection becomes even clearer with the frequent
> statements by cypherpunks that those who disagree "need killing",

IMVAO we're cut from manifold different weaves of cloth.  None of us
speaks for all, self included.

Peace.

--
Karsten M. Self <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?  Home of the brave
  http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/Land of the free
   Free Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA!  http://www.freesklyarov.org
Geek for Hire  http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html

[demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]

Re: [texas-hpr] ATF letter (fwd)

[Declan McCullagh]

Not Found
The requested URL was not found on this server.
Please check the filename requested and/or the link that you followed.


On Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 10:27:45PM -0500, Jim Choate wrote:
> -- Forwarded message --
> Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 01:20:32 -
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [texas-hpr] ATF letter
> 
> May be worth checking this outnot that anyone hasen't already..
> 
> http://www.atf.treas.gov/press/fy01press/09190/notice.htm
> 
> Chuck 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Yahoo! Groups Sponsor -~-->
> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck
> Monitoring Service trial
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/MDsVHB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/PMYolB/TM

Re: [silk] Re: Avoid hard targets tomorrow (fwd)

[jamesd]

--
On 22 Sep 2001, at 19:27, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote:
> hey tim,
>
> maybe you remember me from the early days of
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] just wanted to butt in here and reply
> to your post which i saw forwarded to some other list... it
> beats me why americans and the western media generally 
> likes to get worried about the "most dangerous spot in the
> world" and "next nuclear warzone" that is south asia, given
> that everyone in  india and pakistan knows neither country
> will use any nuclear weapons. the border population density
> is too great in both countries and population centres close
> enough that any major attack by one country on the other
> will have a direct fallout on both (taking delivery range
> into account).

I do not believe that either regime cares about human lives.
Their only concern about nuclear weapons is the potential for
taking out the leadership.

--digsig
 James A. Donald
 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG
 fguc2itVMcGsUj4k64WFUOJ9mvVsmJJSkWpvrcsM
 4HQr/Rx6f8aEOC7LdlXFsFzFx/HQpN3QG0iRsuCpq

Re: RE: Expectation of privacy in public?

[jamesd]

--
On 24 Sep 2001, at 15:33, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> It's not a violation of US law for US agents to spy on 
> people in Australia, but it's almost certainly a violation 
> of Australian law.  Similarly, it's probably not a 
> violation of Australian law for Australian agents to 
> eavsdrop on people in California, but it's clearly a 
> violation of California law.

Cypherpunks are not the first to take advantage of 
jurisdictional arbitrage.

The Australian spys have the American spys perform their 
illegal-in-Australia acts for them, and the American spys
have the Australian spys perform their illegal-in-America
acts for them.

I predict you will have some difficulty extraditing an 
Australian spy for spying on people in California. 

--digsig
 James A. Donald
 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG
 d9TKvFOQiI6PfLbS5xssrICxKXFaqIp0GfM4uOxF
 4YAqO55jeOI2PxqvqPyfaf3wcZlopIZoxG7JqD+hN

Re: Democracy is our enemy

[Steve Furlong]

Anonymous wrote:

> There was an article the other day about the terrorists, which made the
> point that capitalism and fundamentalism were much alike, in that both
> share a distrust of democracy.  The same can be said for the cypherpunks.
> No wonder that so many here have expressed vitriolic criticism of the
> U.S. government response (which has been almost zero), while there has
> been little mention of the horrific evil of the terrorist acts themselves.

Simple reason: the terrorist acts were despicable. The terrorists, their
funders, their sponsors, their hosts, and probably their fellow
travellers should be hunted down and killed. There is no debate on this
point among civilized human beings. The only real question on this is
how many civilian deaths are acceptable in killing the terrorists.

By contrast, there is plenty of room for debate on the measures being
taken and proposed by the Western nations, and on the motivations of the
politicians behind these measures.


> Tim May and Usama bin Laden are now revealed as philosophical cousins.
> It is becoming harder and harder to tell them apart.

Bull. Annoying though Tim sometimes is, there's a big difference between
denigrating someone because you dislike his views or actions, and
killing thousands just to make a point that you don't like some other
people. And Tim's put his effort where his mouth is, writing articles
and code to further his agenda, while Osama Bitch Laden sent others to
die to further his agenda. No comparison at all.

-- 
Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere   Have GNU, Will Travel
  617-670-3793

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly
while bad people will find a way around the laws." -- Plato

Re: Democracy is our enemy

[keyser-soze]

At 03:22 AM 9/25/2001 +, Anonymous wrote:
>>Thomas Leavitt writes:
>> I'm tired of hearing my fellow Americans referred to as cowards, 
>> weaklings, sheep, ignorant, easily mislead - this is a profoundly 
>> undemocratic sentiment, the same kind of crap spewed by totalitarian 
>> and authoritarian types from the far left and the far right as 
>> justification for abandonment of the democratic process and the use of 
>> force to impose their ideology on the rest of us.

>Well said.

>There was an article the other day about the terrorists, which made the
point that capitalism and fundamentalism were much alike, in that both
share a distrust of democracy.  The same can be said for the cypherpunks.

The same can be said for the framers.  That's why we don't have a democracy butthead.

>Is it possible that certain cypherpunks find themselves on the same side
as bin Laden and his fundamentalist killers?  Do they secretly support
this murderous attacks on innocent civilians?  We now face biological and
chemical attacks, which are supposed to be even more "cruel and shocking"
than the WTC attacks.  Are these cypherpunks in favor of seeing more
Americans killed by terrorist actions?

I can't speak for others but I don't want to see any more Americans killed by 
terrorists than have been killed by U.S.-supported right-wing regimes in the past 50 
years.  Its only when the chickens come home to roost that the true price of our 
global hegenomy and "victory" against others with different idiologies will be driven 
home and our foreign policy adjusted accordingly.

>The philosophical connection becomes even clearer with the frequent
statements by cypherpunks that those who disagree "need killing", that
blood must be shed by those of different political views.  

Not views, actions which impinge on our liberties.

>In effect
this is a call for a Cypherpunk Jihad (the word is often translated as
"holy war", but "justified struggle" is as valid a translation).  It is
no different for Tim May to call for the extinction of his enemies than
for Usama bin Laden to do so.

>Cypherpunks need to take a hard look at themselves.  Anyone who feels
horror and disgust at the terrorist acts should recognize that the same
sentiments are found here, just below the surface.  The thinly veiled
threats of bloodshed are based on the same philosophy of violent hatred
and contempt for others which motivates the terrorists.

One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.  Asymetrical warfare is here to 
stay.  Get used to it!  

U.S. citizens feel their hands are clean because our leaders made sure Americans 
weren't holding the guns which slaughtered tens of thousands.  They can't understand 
why so many now want us dead.  What did we do to deserve this?

Many of our mid-east puppets have used the U.S. as their whipping boy to deflect 
criticism from their own oppressive regimes and our tolerance of this over the past 
decades will now haunt our foreign policy for many years to come.  If we want to stop 
terrorism we need to fix our foreign policy.

ACTION: Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001

[Matthew Gaylor]

URGENT ACTION ALERT

The Administration's proposed Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 is currently 
scheduled for mark-up by the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow 
(Tuesday) morning. It is critical that consideration of the 
legislation be delayed until the Committee holds comprehensive public 
hearings on the serious civil liberties issues the proposal 
implicates. The Committee is currently planning to proceed to mark-up 
after testimony only from the Attorney General and a short, informal 
"briefing" on the issues that raise constitutional concerns.

There is an urgent need for concerned organizations and individuals 
to contact members of the Judiciary Committee and urge them to delay 
consideration of the bill until its impact on civil liberties can be 
carefully and fully considered. These contacts need to be made 
IMMEDIATELY to delay tomorrow morning's scheduled mark-up.

Committee members and their contact information follows. It would be 
particularly useful if constituents of these members express their 
concern. Please forward this alert to your members, affiliated 
organizations and appropriate mailing lists.

Judiciary Committee List

Name, party, state, phone, fax, e-mail:

James Sensenbrenner, Chair, R-WI, (202) 225-5101, (202) 225-3190, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Henry Hyde, R-IL, (202) 225-4561, (202) 225-1166.

John Conyers Jr., D-MI, (202) 225-5126, (202) 225-0072, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

George Gekas, R-PA, (202) 225-4315, (202) 225-8440, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Barney Frank, D-MA, (202) 225-5931, (202) 225-0182

Howard Coble, R-NC, (202) 225-3065, (202) 225-8611, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Howard Berman, D-CA, (202) 225-4695, (202) 225-3196, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Lamar Smith, R-TX, (202) 225-4236, (202) 225-8628

Rick Boucher, D-VA, (202) 225-3861, (202) 225-0442, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Elton Gallegly, R-CA, (202) 225-5811, (202) 225-1100

Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, (202) 225-5635, (202) 225-6923, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Bob Goodlatte, R-VA, (202) 225-5431, (202) 225-9681, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Bobby Scott, D-VA, (202) 225-8351, (202) 225-8354

Steve Chabot, R-OH, (202) 225-2216, (202) 225-3012

Mel Watt, D-NC, (202) 225-1510, (202) 225-1512, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Bob Barr, R-GA, (202) 225-2931, (202) 225-2944, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Zoe Lofgren, D-CA, (202) 225-3072, (202) 225-3336, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

William Jenkins, R-TN, (202) 225-6356, (202) 225-5714

Sheila Jackson Lee, D-TX, (202) 225-3816, (202) 225-3317, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Christopher Cannon, R-UT, (202) 225-7751, (202) 225-5629, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Maxine Waters, D-CA, (202) 225-2201, (202) 225-7854

Lindsey Graham, R-SC, (202) 225-5301, (202) 225-3216

Marty Meehan, D-MA, (202) 225-3411, (202) 226-0771, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Spencer Bachus, R-AL, (202) 225-4921, (202) 225-2082

William Delahunt, D-MA, (202) 225-3111, (202) 225-5658, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

John Hostettler, R-IN, (202) 225-4636, (202) 225-3284, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Robert Wexler, D-FL, (202) 225-3001, (202) 225-5974

Mark Green, R-WI, (202) 225-5665, (202) 225-5729, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Tammy Baldwin, D-W, (202) 225-2906, (202) 225-6942, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Ric Keller, R-FL, (202) 225-2176, (202) 225-0999

Anthony David Weiner, D-NY, (202) 225-6616, (202) 226-7253

Darrell Issa, R-CA, (202) 225-3906, (202) 225-3303

Adam Schiff, D-CA, (202) 225-4176, (202) 225-5828

Melissa Hart, R-PA, (202) 225-2565, (202) 226-2274, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Jeff Flake, R-AZ, (202) 225-2635, (202) 226-4386

**
Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues
Send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words subscribe FA
on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week)
Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722  ICQ: 106212065   Archived at 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/
**

Re: FC: Sen. Hollings plans to introduce DMCA sequel:

[keyser-soze]

At 04:58 PM 9/24/2001 -0700, Tim May wrote:
On Monday, September 24, 2001, at 03:08 PM, Thomas Leavitt wrote:
>>I'm tired of hearing my fellow Americans referred to as cowards, weaklings, sheep, 
>ignorant, easily mislead - this is a profoundly undemocratic sentiment, the same kind 
>of crap spewed by totalitarian and authoritarian types from the far left and the far 
>right as justification for abandonment of the democratic process and the use of force 
>to impose their ideology on the rest of us.

>We are not for "democracy." Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for 
>dinner.

We are not a democracy, but a repubic (pun intended). The primary responsibility of 
our elected officials is to protect the minorities from the majority and to preserve 
protect and defend the constitution.  Many representatives clearly show they have at 
best a poor understanding of the Constitution, the words and intentions of the 
framers.  Some even show disdain for it.  How many Congressmen do you think ever read 
Thomas Paine's works?


>Crypto anarchy is about undermining democracy, causing the house of cards to collapse.


>>I refuse to give up on our way of life, my fellow citizens, or to write off my 
>government as completely and irredemably lost.

>You are welcome to "refuse to give up on our way of life." Many others over the 
>centuries have similarly refused to give up on royalism...I hear there are even clubs 
>where people pretend to be various archdukes and viscounts, and even fan clubs for 
>the grandchildren of royals deposed 75 years ago.

>Maybe there will be fan clubs for "democracy supporters." Maybe they will even launch 
>little wars agains the royalists.

>Democracy will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.

I hope representative government is not.

Re: ACTION: SUCCESS! Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001

[Declan McCullagh]

On Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 10:04:09AM -0700, Black Unicorn wrote:
> The hearing for markup of the Anti Terrorism Act of 2001 has been cancelled by
> direction of the Chairman and has not been rescheduled at this time.

Try next week...

-Declan

Re: ACTION: SUCCESS! Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001

[Black Unicorn]

Since the only goal in the first place was to delay I repeat:

SUCCESS!

- Original Message -
From: "Declan McCullagh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Black Unicorn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: ACTION: SUCCESS! Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001


> On Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 10:04:09AM -0700, Black Unicorn wrote:
> > The hearing for markup of the Anti Terrorism Act of 2001 has been
cancelled by
> > direction of the Chairman and has not been rescheduled at this time.
>
> Try next week...
>
> -Declan
>

Re: ACTION: SUCCESS! Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001

[Declan McCullagh]

At 08:47 PM 9/25/01 -0700, Alan wrote:
>Until they wait until people look the other way and then sneak it past.
>(Like every other privacy-rapeing bill over the last ten years.)

They won't wait that long. Folks in Congress mostly seem to be making the 
right noises so they won't be accused of being anti-civil liberties. But 
there's a big difference, as I say in Wednesday's Wired article on the 
topic, between raising criticisms in committee and voting against it whilst 
live on CNN.

-Declan

No Regrets About Shamelessly Exploiting National Tragedy For My Own PerQ Gain.

[Frog2]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

C'punks,

Phil Zimmermann did not ask me to post this.  He would not like it
freely disseminated, so feel free to post it wherever you wish.

l a i n

No Regrets About Shamelessly Exploiting National Tragedy For My Own
Personal Gain.

This Friday September 21st Washington Post carried an article by
Ariana Cha that I feel misrepresents my views on the role I
personally had in the September 11th terrorists attacks.  She
interviewed me on Monday September 17th, and we talked about how I
felt about the possibility that the event might be a perfect
opportunity for me to get some free press and get back some of the
attention I lost since I was effectively kicked out of Network
Associates and had to move to that cheesy webmail provider.  The
article states that as the inventor of PGP, I was "overwhelmed with
feelings of guilt".  I never implied that in the interview unless it
seemed like it would increase my chances of getting in print, and I
specifically went out of my way to try to pull other heart strings
too just to assure that it would all see the light of day and put my
name in lights again.  I even made her repeat all this back so she
would not get it wrong in the article.  After all I am The Phil
Zimmermann so I should have editorial control over these kinds of
things, don't you think?  This misrepresentation is serious.  I
expect the press to pull only those heart strings that will get me
sympathy and allow me to grandstand publicly atop the bodies of the
dead and dying in New York and elsewhere without attracting criticism
of a substantial nature.  The article implies that under the duress
of terrorism I have changed my principles on the importance of my own
vanity and ego and that I have pandered to the anti-crypto crowd in
my endless quest to rediscover my former glory.  You see, civil
liberties and cryptography used to be a good platform for my
self-promotion but with the acquisition of PGP and the closing of the
source code I am now relegated to the unenviable stature of a
"has-been" and a "one trick pony".  You can probably understand why I
jumped at the chance to indulge in a little self-promotion when those
tall boxy things collapsed in New York this month.

Because I am The Phil Zimmermann and my views are so important, Ms.
Cha read to me most of the article by phone before she went about
ignoring the express instructions of my PR agent not to print
anything about me crying more than once or twice.  It didn't seem
very manly, they said.  I miss Kelly Blough.  She used to keep me out
of trouble when I stuck my foot in my mouth in public.  The article
that appeared in the Post was significantly shorter than the
original.  I had so much important stuff to say that I cannot believe
they took out my discussions on foreign affairs, international
monetary policy, the national debt and Kevin Bacon's chances to
capture a senate seat in an off year.  I can only speculate that her
editors must have decided their paper was not a forum for my own
self-aggrandizement and taken some inappropriate liberties in
removing all the work I put into composing my public image for that
article.  What the hell?

In the interview six days after the attack, just after my PR rep
called me and said that I might get in the paper if I played my cards
right and this could be a huge boost for my career, we talked about
the fact that I had cried over the heartbreaking tragedy, as everyone
else did.  In fact the tears were not because of guilt, but a highly
concentrated formula of lemon juice that I applied to my eyelids
before going out in public.  When that stopped working I hit my thumb
with a hammer for good measure.  Let me tell you, nothing gets me
teary eyed like a good thumb-whacking.  I also told her about some
hate mail I received that blamed me for developing a technology that
could be used by terrorists.  I didn't tell her that this email came
from my PR rep.  I told her I felt bad about the possibility of
terrorists using PGP, but that I also felt that this was outweighed
by the fact that I now had a personal stake in the tragedy with which
to bootstrap my flagging ego and public image in a national
publication.  I also weaved some bullshit about human rights and
crap, the kind of stuff I used to believe when I actually coded stuff
rather than just babbling on about it like I mostly do now.  Ah, I
was so young and stupid.  It appears that this nuance was not lost on
the Washington Post since they made me look like the little sissy I
always feared people saw me as.  I imagine this was caused by my PR
staff being stretched to their limits in an effort to keep me out of
trouble and from saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the
wrong people.  God, why do I always do that?

In these emotional times, we in the crypto community find ourselves
sidelined and ignored because our technology is so universal that no
one thinks we are anything novel anymore.  I do not want to 

Re: ACTION: SUCCESS! Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001

[Reese]

At 10:04 AM 9/25/01 -0700, Black Unicorn wrote:
 >The hearing for markup of the Anti Terrorism Act of 2001 has been
 >cancelled by direction of the Chairman and has not been rescheduled
 >at this time.

That's the best news I've heard since 9-11.  Your source for this,
if you don't mind?

Reese

RE: ACTION: SUCCESS! Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001

[Black Unicorn]

> -Original Message-
> From: Reese [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 11:31 PM
> To: Black Unicorn; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: ACTION: SUCCESS! Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001
> 
> 
> At 10:04 AM 9/25/01 -0700, Black Unicorn wrote:
>  >The hearing for markup of the Anti Terrorism Act of 2001 has been
>  >cancelled by direction of the Chairman and has not been rescheduled
>  >at this time.
> 
> That's the best news I've heard since 9-11.  Your source for this,
> if you don't mind?

I spoke directly with Rep. Sensenbrenner at some length.

RE: Reflections on "High Concept, Low Tech," Martial Law, the new Paper Gauntlet and the changing meaning of 911.

[Blanc]

Intelligence vs stupidity, knowledge vs ignorance - some slightly random,
paradoxically related ruminations:

--
Someone I read made the observation that the risk and danger posed to
civilization by scientific/technological advances increases proportional to
their speed and the inability of humans to manage them.

--
The human mind requires knowledge and preparation in order to act
intelligently.  Without some acquaintanceship with an environment, with a
circumstance, with the character or the measure or the nature of things -
with reality - responding to an event or circumstance is almost impossible
because the mind doesn't "know where to go", which direction to turn or what
steps to take that will be successful or get you out of harm's way.

--
Einstein quote:  "Imagination is more important than knowledge."  The
powers-that-be in high places think they should have all the information -
or aim to possess all your base - and thereby control it and everyone and
all events, for the common good.  They overlook the resourceful imagination.

I don't think the terrorists were all that smart; I think they exploited all
the loopholes made available from the limited imagination of those who are
expecting only complicity to enforced standardization of behavior, who are
expecting to identify danger only from stereotypical images.  As is plainly
and painfully apparent, they don't know how to distinguish a dangerous nail
clipper from sharp fingernail.

--
The blades of a fan when it is running seem to going in one direction, but
when it slows down you can see they have actually been going the other way.
In life it can be confusing to identify which is the cause or the effect,
the antecedent or the consequence, and what to expect from events based on
their apparent intent.

The free world seems to be teeter-tottering, gyrating, seemingly going now
one way, now the other, on how much "civil liberty" will be allowed to
individuals, fearing the liberty of criminals.  There are many lessons from
history which some can still remember about what happens when things go one
way - into totalitarianism - but there is much influence against going the
other way, toward "individualism".  It could just spin faster and faster
"out of control".

--
The means to achieving privacy are but one aspect of living a normal life
amidst a growing ability to be too close together, to be too much in view by
others.  Privacy is a way to achieve or maintain separateness in the milieu,
but not simply distance - a separateness  that one can control at one's own
discretion, regardless of who would vote for allowances to intrude upon it,
regardless of where one is residing or who has been elected to make official
decisions on the matter.

It is a control which could be engaged regardless of who might be "out" of
control, as well, for it is the case that one lives not only with
controllers, but with the controlled, who also can make a free and moral
existence impossible, and against whom one must also protect oneself.

--
There used to be a lot of discussions on the cpunks and elsewhere about
autonomous zones, the cyberspace existing nowhere and everywhere,
individuals, strangers, far away yet always near in the immediacy of their
contacts, a nation existing only by its connectivities, using cash managed
independently, outside "the law";  the cyberanarchy independent of
nation-states which would retard civilization, contrary to the purpose of
their creation.  Living like cyber-nomads, traveling over the globe, while
yet physically going nowhere.

Isn't it interesting that OB-L and his supposed followers actually have been
living that kind of life, yet not in total dependence on all the high-tech
gear.  They, in contrast to the high-techies in the upperspace underground,
have been surviving as low-lifes on the mountainous ground, true nomads
expanding over the globe, while planning on sending everyone to the
Netherworld.

--

Try to get back to normal.  Don't worry your pretty little head about it.
And leave your butter knife at home.
  ..
Blanc