Month: August 2008

Has Frank Sanns “crossed a line somewhere”?

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Has Frank Sanns “crossed a line somewhere”?

A couple of days ago I wrote a post about retired chemist Victor Deeb, whose private property was seized because he was doing chemistry experiments in his home.

Pamela Wilderman, the code enforcement officer for Marlboro (MA), stated, “I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere. This is not what we would consider to be a customary home occupation.”

I wonder what Ms. Wilderman would think of Frank Sanns, and whether there’s a similar .gov position in Pittsburg with an “enforcement officer” who would object – with similar results – to Mr. Sanns’ non-“customary home occupation.”

Mr. Sanns has an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back*, er, a nuclear fusion reactor in his garage.

And he’s not alone.

I LOVE America! The Pursuit of Happiness!

Via Classical Values.

(* – For those too young to get the reference.)

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

The victorious radicals had proclaimed a theology of Reason in which equality of condition was the natural and true order of creation. In their Genesis, the loss of equality was the ultimate source of mankind’s suffering and evil, just as the arrogant pride of the primal couple had provoked their Fall in the religious myths now discarded. The ownership of private property became a secular version of original sin. Through property, society re-imposed on every generation of human innocence the travails of inequality and injustice. Redemption from worldly suffering was possible only through the Revolution that would abolish property and open the gates to the socialist Eden — to Paradise regained.

The ideas embodied in this theology of liberation became the inspiration for the new political Left, and have remained so ever since. It was half a century later that Marx first articulated the idea of a historical redemption, in the way that became resonant for us:

Communism is the positive abolition of private property, of human self-alienation, and thus the real appropriation of human nature through and for man. It is therefore the return of man himself as a social, i.e., really human, being… – Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

This was our revolutionary vision. By a historical coup we would create the conditions for a return to the state of true humanity whose realization had been blocked by the alienating hierarchies of private property. All the unjust institutions of class history that had distorted, divided, and oppressed mankind would be abolished and human innocence reborn. In the service of this cause, no burden seemed too onerous, no sacrifice too great. We were the Christopher Columbuses of the human future, the avatars of a new world struggling to emerge from the womb of the old. – David Horowitz, The Politics Of Bad Faith: The Radical Assault on America’s Future

(h/t to PhilB)

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Leftist (former or otherwise) put in print why there is such an assault on private property rights today. The Endangered Species Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the multiple various and sundry EPA regulations about “wetlands” and pollution, Eminent Domain abuse, etc., etc. I mean, I’d come to that conclusion myself, given the evidence, but to have it admitted in print. . .

In fact, the entire piece is full of quotable excerpts. Expect the remainder of the Quotes of the Day this week to be from this one link.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

Ideas that have been tried and found wanting; tried and found to be disastrous: the totalitarian temptation in all its many guises; the multifarious utopian schemes for universal beatitude; efforts to curtail freedom in the name of an abstract republic of virtue–all these ideas were thoroughly discredited only yesterday but, like some strange villain out of a science fiction movie, they have suddenly changed shape and are poised to attack again. We have yet to learn–even now, even at this late date–that promises of liberation often turn out to conceal new enchantments and novel forms of bondage. – Roger Kimball, Ideas in Battle, The Weekly Standard, 7/21/08

RTWT. (h/t: Empire of Dirt)

Got the ‘Stang Running

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Got the ‘Stang Running

Fuel tank dropped, flushed, cleaned & reinstalled with a new sending unit, fuel line blown out, and carb rebuilt, she’s back on the road after sitting in my garage for five years:



Anybody want to bid on her? I have a few more things to do before I put her up on eBay, but she’s looking pretty good at the moment.

Edited to add: Reflecting on the Quote of the Day above, I was reminded of this quote, WRT this car:

After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. – Lt. Cmdr Spock, Amok Time

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

For Deyan:

“Common values” and “universal values” are not all that common and universal, and the willingness to defend those values is even rarer. They’ve been sustained over the long haul by a very small group of countries. In the years ahead, America has to take the American moment seriously — in part, to ensure that the allies of tomorrow don’t make the mistakes Western Europe did. That means at the very minimum something beyond cheeseburger imperialism. In the end, the world can do without American rap and American cheeseburgers. American ideas on individual liberty, federalism, capitalism, and freedom of speech would be far more helpful.

In 2004, Goh Chok Tong, the prime minister of Singapore and a man who talks a lot more sense than most Continental prime ministers, visited Washington at the height of the Democrats’ headless-chicken quagmire frenzy. He put it in a nutshell: “The key issue is no longer WMD or even the role of the UN. The central issue is America’s credibility and will to prevail.”

The prime minister of Singapore apparently understands that more clearly than many Americans. – Mark Steyn, America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

And one Bulgarian.

“I Have Power! I Have Power!”

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Those are the words reported to have been shouted by a Stasi TSA agent in Chicago when a passenger, forced to drop his trousers in full view of other passengers, asked to see her supervisor.

More and more, this seems to be the attitude of those who draw .gov paychecks.

A couple of days ago a reader (thanks, Russ) emailed me a link to this story along those same lines:

Home science under attack

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that Victor Deeb, a retired chemist who lives in Marlboro, has finally been allowed to return to his Fremont Street home, after Massachusetts authorities spent three days ransacking his basement lab and making off with its contents.

Deeb is not accused of making methamphetamine or other illegal drugs. He’s not accused of aiding terrorists, synthesizing explosives, nor even of making illegal fireworks. Deeb fell afoul of the Massachusetts authorities for … doing experiments.

Authorities concede that the chemicals found in Deeb’s basement lab were no more hazardous than typical household cleaning products. Despite that, authorities confiscated “all potentially hazardous chemicals” (which is to say the chemicals in Deeb’s lab) from his home, and called in a hazardous waste cleanup company to test the chemicals and clean up the lab.

Pamela Wilderman, the code enforcement officer for Marlboro, stated, “I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere. This is not what we would consider to be a customary home occupation.”

Allow me to translate Ms. Wilderman’s words into plain English: “Mr. Deeb hasn’t actually violated any law or regulation that I can find, but I don’t like what he’s doing because I’m ignorant and irrationally afraid of chemicals, so I’ll abuse my power to steal his property and shut him down.”

In effect, the Massachusetts authorities have invaded Deeb’s lab, apparently without a warrant, and stolen his property. Deeb, presumably under at least the implied threat of further action, has not objected to the warrantless search and the confiscation of his property. Or perhaps he’s just biding his time. It appears that Deeb has grounds for a nice juicy lawsuit here.

There’s a lesson here for all of us who do science at home, whether we’re home schoolers or DIY science enthusiasts. The government is not our friend. Massachusetts is the prototypical nanny state, of course, but the other 49 aren’t far behind. Any of us could one day find the police at the door, demanding to search our home labs. If that day comes, I will demand a warrant and waste no time getting my attorney on the phone.

There’s a word for what just happened in Massachusetts. Tyranny. And it’s something none of us should tolerate.

Ms. Pamela Wilderman, “code enforcement officer” for Marlboro, has power, and she’s not afraid to abuse it! At the end of the news piece she added:

“He’s been very cooperative,” Ms. Wilderman said. “I won’t be citing him for anything right at this moment.”

Remember the Ayn Rand quote. He broke some law or laws. All he has to do is provide any resistance at all, and they’ll find some to cite him with.

There’s far more tyranny in government than just the BATFE.

And by all means, read the comment thread.

UPDATE: From the newspaper comment thread:

I am the daughter of Victor Deeb and what they did and took from my father is not only unfair but devastating to an old man whose life for the last 40 years has been chemistry. They not only took all of his chemicals (which he used in his research for non-toxic sealants for baby food jars) but 20 years of notes that were valuable only to him. Now his research notes have magically disappeared into thin air. Can someone tell me where the justice is in that?

-m deeb

Where indeed?

I’m Shocked, SHOCKED I Say!

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I’m Shocked, SHOCKED I Say!

Well, now that the dust has settled over yesterday’s shooting of Arkansas Democratic State chairman Bill Gwatney, I thought I’d comment. The AP reports (no link, on purpose):

The man who fatally shot the chairman of the state Democratic Party had a Post-It note at home with the victim’s last name and phone number along with 14 guns, antidepressants and a last will and testament, according to court documents.

I’m shocked to discover that the killer was taking antidepressants. The 14 guns? Not so much. We’re talking about Arkansas here.

The one thing that lefty blogger Markadelphia and I agreed on (aside from the individual right to arms issue) was that it appeared that mind-altering chemicals seemed to be the one thing that the overwhelming majority of “rampage shootings” had in common. The shooters were on Selective Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc. As I’ve said before, if these medications affect 1/100 of 1% (.001%, literally one in 100,000) in such a way as to reduce or remove the inhibition to suicidal violence, it would be too small a population to statistically determine. But there are literally millions of people on these drugs.

So every time I hear about a “rampage shooter,” the first question I want an answer to is “Were they on antidepressants?”

And this one was.

OK, What’s This?

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OK, What’s This?

A screencap from a Reuter’s video story of a Georgian TV reporter getting shot on camera (she took what appears to be a minor wound to an arm, so I don’t think she was actually shot, but might very well have been shot at:


That looks like a scoped, suppressed AK-47? Note that he’s carrying something else across his back. Nice ninja-disguise, too. I suppose Russian Army troops really need to conceal their identities because this is an undercover invasion, right?

Answer in the comments: It’s a VSS Vintorez. Chambered for 9×39 subsonic. I’d never heard of it.