Letters To The Editor
Letters from Sam, Scott Graves, Manuel Miles, Joe Collins, K Jack Chleva, Patrick Martin, and Todd Andrew Barnett:
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The Zero Aggression Institute
by William Stone, III
After becoming a philosopher of the Zero Aggression Principle, I searched for the "authoritative" word on the subject. Of particular interest was the Internet, since almost everything has some kind of representation there. Astonishingly, the ZAP is the one thing that never seemed to have anything devoted exclusively to it. This is particularly strange considering thatthere are a large number of libertarians who are devotees of the philosophy. Some version of the ZAP is entwined with the national Libertarian Party and an overwhelming majority of the State Parties.
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What The Hell Are Gun Owners Coming Too?
by Patrick K Martin
For those of you who are not regular readers of the magazine, last week I wrote an article entitled "Me and Century International Arms". Wherein I discussed my plans to ruin the aforementioned company for selling me a defective rifle and failing to correct the problem. I posted a message similar to this on a number of forums and bulletin-boards as well. While many of the responders supported me (mostly people who had been burned by C.I.A. in the past), I was astounded by the number of people who disagreed with me. I would like to share with you some of the responses;
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Which Two Wars?
by Alan Hutch
Post-Cold War military doctrine, as stated in the 1993 "Bottom-Up Review" and the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review, requires that the United States be prepared to fight two regional conflicts, almost simultaneously, with little or no warning and little or no help from our allies. Some commentators point out that we are uncomfortably close to testing the worth of these plans. A brief examination suggests that we have already progressed far beyond fighting two large-scale wars.
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Massive Outbreak Of Infectious Disease Hits D.C.!
by Manuel Miles
dateline Washington D.C. 25 March 2003: Lost in the concern over SARS (the deadly new strain of viral pneumonia to emerge from Hong Kong) is the news of the endemic crisis of CRS disease. This illness, first reported on by returning Viet Nam War veterans, has been on a 30 year rampage in the American capital.
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Centennial
by Lehr Duquesne
In 2000, running for Congress for the first time as a Hawaiian resident, with neither a web-site nor an e-mail address of my own, I was invited by Ko'olau News to participate in The Level Playing Field. This was an invitation to all qualified candidates for public office to submit written responses to their questions on a variety of topics that were then posted on their site as a public service to their readership on Windward Oahu. The most memorable and enjoyable of their assignments was to write an essay illustrating what the participants imagined might result from their run for office. Editor Shannon Wood stipulated that the candidate should imagine that he or she was elected to office, and that a fictional reporter or essayist in the year 2059 was describing our impact. Letting my imagination run away with me for a while, this was my response.
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Blacklist or bias?
by Fran Van Cleave
I write Libertarian SF, and have been paid for doing so, off and on since 1997. My first sale was to Analog Science Fiction and Fact. I've sold stories only to hard-sf magazines such as Analog, and Artemis Magazine. Of the two novels I've written, one's in final draft, the other's been ignored at a publisher's for close to two and a half years.
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Hail, Columbia!
Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying About Empire, And Start Loving The Shuttle
by Michael C. Tuggle
Think of the space shuttle as a fractal element of the Federal government. Fractals, you'll recall, are those bizarre, intricate structures composed of miniature copies of themselves, such as the famous Mandelbrot Set, or deceptively mundane broccoli. Most fractals are elegant, often beautiful, arrangements that emerge from patterns created from their constituent elements. The post-constitutional Federal government, on the other hand, is a grim kaleidoscope of dubious projects with obscene price tags, of which the space shuttle is but one component.
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Playing The Patriot Card
by Todd Andrew Barnett
The American Empire's war with Iraq — officially christened as Operation: Iraqi Freedom by the Pentagon — continues to dominate the media, as many anti-war protestors in California, Washington, D.C., and New York City proceed with their agenda to speak out against our intervention. While the Bush administration and many hawks at his side ignore the anti-war cries and proceed with their goal to "liberate the people of Iraq" by "ousting" Saddam Hussein and "rebuilding" the nation, a great deal of attention has been placed upon the American public who, in general, supports our invasion of Iraq.
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Operation American Freedom
by Jim Duensing
April 1st, 2003
In a stunning break from precedent, the White House issued the following letter to the American people today. My Fellow Americans,
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Making Hay While The War Shines
by Wendy McElroy
Differences over the war in Iraq are arising in families throughout our society. I know because they are arising within mine. With one relative in Qatar and a nephew at draft age, disagreements -- even debate about nailing down the financial cost of war -- can become emotionally charged.
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