On 12 Jul 2000, at 14:58, Stan Sieler wrote:

> BTW, I'm not pro-armament...I'd like to see world-wide bans on
> most types of weapons: if the bans are *total* (including
> government possession!).

Does the term "jaw-bone of an ass" ring any bells?  The
problem with being a tool using animal is that we can use any
variety of "things" to kill each other.  The means to one man's
livelihood is another's weapon of choice.

Two thousand years ago it was a capital offence (by
crucifixion) to carry arms within the walls of Rome, hence the
stiletto.  A thousand years ago the right to carry a sword was
reserved for the hereditary aristocracy and a commoner that
presumed as much was maimed, hanged, or burnt as the
fancy of the local nobility dictated, hence the longbow.  500
years ago, a commoner could not own a war-horse, hence the
pike.

Now the firearm is under the same scrutiny as those
ancestors, and for the same reasons; the fear of those in
power of that of the masses.  It is a disarmed populace that
can be treated as slaves with impunity. If one looks at the
historical record, including that of the USA, the average
person has MUCH more to fear from their own government
than from any foreign power or domestic criminal organization.

This observation is made from the vantage point of a
Canadian, a former naval officer. A citizen of a country whose
constitution guarantees neither freedom nor liberty, just
"peace, order, and good government". A country whose "bill of
rights" is subject to the "not-withstanding" clause of that same
constitution. A bolt-hole that permits individual provinces, or
the federal government itself, to exempt themselves from
specific provisions of either document.  A country whose laws
to not even recognize the right to own property by a citizen. A
country that does nor even have to observe the habitual
application of of habeas corpus.

People in power truly wish only two things; to stay in power
themselves, and to see that their children and friends benefit
from their position.  Those that framed the Canadian
constitution did so not to give liberty or rights to the
commoners. They only acted to provide a mealy-mouthed sop
to the illusion of both while at the same time increasing their
grasp of perpetuating self-interest.

By all measures, the arrangement of government in the USA
is sloppy, inefficient, and contradictory.  It is set up so that
three separate and indestructible bodies are pitted against
each other in perpetual conflict.  It is a brilliant arrangement,
for while the titans struggle endlessly for domination over one
another, the weak are truly free.  Your founders obviously
benefited from their experience of war.

sincerely,
Jim
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James B. Byrne                Harte & Lyne Limited
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