L. Neil Smith's
THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 304, January 30, 2005

"How free are you...."

Disturbing News
by Ron Beatty
ronbeatty@sbcglobal.net

Exclusive to TLE

This week has brought some very disturbing news items to my attention.

The first concerns two children in a special education class in Ocala, Florida, aged 9 and 10, who were arrested and charged with a second degree felony for drawing violent stick figure drawings. The two children had drawn figures representing a classmate being hung and stabbed. Supposedly, the children were charged because the classmate was 'in fear for his life'. Now, even adults have their mental state taken into account when charges are being brought against them. So why in the name of all that is good would mentally challenged children be charged with a felony, when they can have no conception of the seriousness of their action? For that matter, why wasn't the matter handled by school officials?

I don't know abou't you, but when I was a kid, almost everyone drew pictures of guns, or war planes, or tanks, or any number of other things that would be considered by the politically correct crowd to be forbidden, anti-social, or just plain evil. Given that the drawings were threatening to a specific person, should the boys be punished? Absolutely! But felony charges? Isn't that over-reacting just a little? Counseling, sure! Suspension? Certainly! Expulsion? Possibly, depending on the records of the two boys and if they made direct threats against the other student.

What has happened to the mentality of those responsible for dealing with children? Why can't they use their common sense? Why do they have to depend on "zero tolerance" policies? How have we come to this?

I know my opinion on this, but will keep that to myself, for now. It would probably destroy my comp if I put it on the screen!

The second article and report that upset me was today, Wednesday the 26th. During a news conference, the person who holds the Oval Office seemed to imply that it was perfectly all right to kill people in Iraq now, since in the long run, the country would be safer. Hmmm, safer for whom? The people who are killed? The families of those who are murdered? The children of those who die in bombings or as part of the 'collateral damage' of a military action?

There is an old saying: The end justifies the means. This was used as justification by the torturers of the Inquisition, the Nazi scum who murdered millions in death camps, the cursaders who killed millions in the various crusades, from the Middle East to the Albigensian Crusade. This is the same justification used for the internment camps for Japanese citizens in WWII, the same for almost every crime committed by government throughout history. Is the person occupying the Oval Office trying to become the new Hitler? the next Attila? The latest version of Nero or Caligula or Vlad Tepys?

Am I saying that the person who holds power in the US is evil? No, not yet. What I am saying is that his behavior and actions are disturbingly similar to those of genuinely evil men who have held power throughout history. I am saying that some things have been said and done that are reminiscent of the actions of the NAZI party in the 1930s. I am saying that we, as free men and women, need to be careful, to be prepared. Who knows when the orders to 'relocate' those who are disruptive elements of the population will come? Think it can't happen here? It already has, time after time. Read your history, people!

As always, I urge each and every one of you, do the research, get the facts for yourself! Never, ever take my unsupported word for anything, and still less the word of any media or government official! You, and only you, are responsible for your own safety and freedom. Don't wait too long to take action to preserve both.


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