The Zeroth Amendment

What has been tried before did not prevent recurrence of tragic events like the one in Sandy Hook yesterday, December 15, 2012. The police response was very fast and effective. The shooting ended when the shooter heard the police coming and shot himself to prevent being captured alive to face the consequences of his cowardly act. They and the school had practiced and prepared for such an event. No doubt that prevented the death of many more. At least two adults died trying to subdue the shooter even though they apparently had no weapons more powerful than a blunt nose pair of scissors, not even a knife. They were denied the right to defend themselves, which is what I am calling the "Zeroth Amendment" to the USA Constitution.

The right to defend one's self was so obvious and natural that the founders saw no need to state it in the constitution. Perhaps they thought it was implicit in "The Bill of Rights". I certainly think it is. Don't you?

What could have prevented this tragedy?
The police response could not have been better.  But it was not enough.
Profiling and locking up all potential attackers would probably still miss some and wrongfully violate the rights of many who never would have hurt anyone. It would not be enough.
How about banning the sale of all guns and ammunition and collecting all of the registered guns in the entire country? It would not be enough.
Collect all of the guns and all of the ammunition in the entire country. Welcome to the police state, it still would not be enough.
Encouraging responsible adults to have the training and tools to defend themselves might not have prevented it either but probably could have stopped it sooner.


 

Radiation Hormesis

My memory of the study that showed that very low levels of gamma radiation could be beneficial was flawed. It happened in Taiwan rather than Japan. When I finally did a search without "Japan" it popped right up. This link to Wikipedia can lead you to a lot of information on the subject of radiation hormesis.
High levels of radiation are obviously harmful, even fatal, and the correlation between amount of exposure and harm is high. However, it is not obvious that a given dose of radiation given in a very short time is equally harmful as exactly the same dose given over a lifetime. It may be analogous to losing all of the blood I have donated over the years all at once. On the other hand, it is quite conceivable that a single gamma "ray" of exactly right energy could hit and break exatly the right bond of exactly the right DNA molecule in exactly the right cell at exactly the right time to trigger a cancer that defeats all the repair mechanisms to start.

Is Demography Destiny?

Is Demography Destiny?
Thomas Sowell is very thought provoking. What do you think about what he says?

"Hindsight IS better than foresight, but not nearly as useful." Virgil Fenn

Libertarian Party Platform

Here are the few points where I don't agree with the Libertarian Party Platform.

None in the Preamble. Doesn't it sound good to you?

The STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES is pretty close to perfect, too.
 
When it comes to the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes, I have to wish for some way to require medical supervision.
Section 2.2 on property rights is a bit too sweeping for me. We need a starting point for land ownership, as I suppose that most of it was stolen from somebody sometime. I suggest the year 1900 for this country as a reasonable starting point.
 
There is a form of  "compulsory national service" (the draft)  that I would  support. To be fair, it should be required of everyone and consist of  military and personal defense traing.

As for the rest, I could not have said it better myself.
Read Libertarian Party Platform. It is only seven pages.

Whoever Pays Holds the Power to Decide

This is an accurate observation of how things work.
For example consider how it works in Health and Medical Care:
Look at this: www.teapartypatriots.org/thedeterminators

Kids Voting Mesa County Interviews

"Students from elementary and high school interviewed the three candidates running for CO House District 55. Their names are: Virgil Fenn, Dan Robinson, and Ray Scott. Each of the candidates were asked questions created by the students."

Check it out at http://www.kidsvotingmc.org"

Pot proposal ignites attention at debate

To clarify my position as mentioned in the article: 

From the Daily Sentinel 

" By Gary Harmon
Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The measure on the November ballot to legalize marijuana possession won the support of many of the Congressional and legislative challengers — most of them second-tier candidates…    "    continues at:
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/pot-proposal-ignites8232-attention-at-debate

The current laws against marijuana are ineffective, even harmful just like alcohol prohibition was nearly a century ago. Legalization of alcohol left strong criminal organizations which merely shifted their source of income to other drugs and vices. I am sure that legalization of marijuana in the same model will have similarly negative unintended consequences, so I oppose Amendment 64. There is a better way.

I propose "medicalization" of marijuana instead. I just made up the word so I had better define it for you. Marijuana should be a legal drug and treated like a drug. Doctors should be able to prescribe it on their own judgment, even for experimental or recreational purposes. The patient should be able to fill the prescription at a regular pharmacy, getting uncontaminated marijuana of known strength and purity.  -- just like other drugs.

Of course, the federal government will have to get out of the way. But that is a killing point for the legalization route as well. Even with full legalization by the state government, the DEA could seize my property, prosecute me under federal law, etc. and the state would be powerless to protect me or my Forth Amendment rights.

Repealing the 17th Amendment would be a good place to start.

Institute For Justice

"Through strategic litigation, training, communication, activism and research, the Institute for Justice advances a rule of law under which individuals can control their destinies as free and responsible members of society. IJ litigates to secure economic liberty, school choice, private property rights, freedom of speech and other vital individual liberties, and to restore constitutional limits on the power of government. In addition, IJ trains law students, lawyers and policy activists in the tactics of public interest litigation.

Through these activities, IJ challenges the ideology of the welfare state and illustrates and extends the benefits of freedom to those whose full enjoyment of liberty is denied by government."

Website    http://www.ij.org
                http://www.youtube.com/instituteforjustice
                http://www.twitter.com/ij

Why repeal the 17th Amendment?

From http://repeal17now.org/

"The founders created the Senate to be the legislative body that represented the states, while the House of Representatives represented the people.  These two bodies were designed to provide checks and balances between the  legislative branch and the executive branch while also providing checks and balances between the federal government and the states." 

The limits of tolerance

“Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society... then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them... We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.”
― Karl R. Popper

To everyone:

I do respect your right to your religion. I do NOT have to respect your religion. Nor do I have to respect you for choosing your religion. I do respect your rights and insist that you also respect my rights.

-- Virgil Fenn

 

Begin Blog

Time travel is so dangerous to the entire universe that the discovery of how to travel in time had to be prevented. It seems that some Time Scout has successfully accomplished that  mission. As the timeline is healing, my memories of life as a Time Scout is fading rapidly. Already it feels like a fantasy. All I remember for sure is that the prime mission of the Time Scouts is to guide and assist Earth to a long future supporting life, especially intelligent life. I will try to continue with that mission. Any help toward that goal will be appreciated.

Virgil, Time Scout