http://manhattanlp.org/

Now that petitioning season is over, it’s time once
again to get busy on another issue of Serf City. All
submissions must be libertarian in outlook, preferably
NYC/NYS-oriented, but we’ll accept articles on
national issues. The deadline is Sept. 8.

Please email any articles, photos or cartoons. And ads
– we especially need ads. Rates and ad dimensions can
be found at http://serfcity.us.
Thanks,

Jim

You can send submissions to me or Jim Lesczynski (editor of SerfCity)

serfcity_vol4_iss1.pdf

Even has an article by our own bosco.

http://wcbstv.com/…

A new report on the NYPD’s firearms training done in the wake of the Sean Bell shooting was drawing fire Monday night.

The report recommends arming the entire department with a controversial weapon.

Police firearms training came under heavy criticism in the aftermath of the Bell shooting when 50 shots were fired at Bell and his friends.

On Monday, a new report had a surprising recommendation to prevent such multi-shot incidents.

The outcomes might have been different if the officers had less than lethal devices other than pepper spray,” said Dr. Bernard Rostker of the Rand Corporation.

The Rand Corp. is a non-profit organization that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. Rand offers its insight to companies and civil services in business, education, health, law and science, according to its official Web site.

Rand experts recommend that the NYPD issue Taser guns to more of its patrol officers so they can stun victims instead of shooting them.

“Tasers reduce injuries to citizens, reduce injuries to police officers and reduce the use of firearms,” Rostker said.

Given that in the Bell murder the men were inside a car the tasers would have been completely useless. Also considering the amount of lead that flew that night it seems obvious to me that the cops were past the point mentally where tasers would have been an option. I think it’s been shown time and time again that the belief that tasers are harmless mixed with police arrogance and aggression leads to misuse and abuse of the tool. Instead of wasting $12m+ on tasers plus the cost of training why not train the officers not to be so rash. How about teach them to shoot to incapacitate instead of kill?

This was cross posted to Serf City.

I don’t believe in any of my posts on my ongoing census ordeal I’ve claimed the census was the official decennial census. However over at the MLP’s blog Serf City I had and was asked how it was I got a 2010 census request in 2008.

It really hadn’t dawned on me to look into how they go about collecting the census and while the law says they can have other surveys the pamphlet they gave me [page 4,5] says “United States Census 2010″ on the front lower right. I figured “The American Community Survey” title was just some fancy thing used to get more people to fill it out. “It’s for the community! To help the children and fix the roads!” type guilt trip. Turns out I was incorrect. The ACS according to Wikipedia:

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a project of the U.S. Census Bureau that replaces the long form in the decennial census. It is an ongoing statistical survey, and thus more current than information obtained by the long form. Many Americans found filling out the long form to be burdensome, intrusive, and its unpopularity was a factor in the declining response rate to the decennial census. In 1995, the Bureau began a process to change the means of demographic, housing, social, and economic information from the census long form to the ACS. Testing began in 1996, and the ACS program began producing test data in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The full program is expected to be implemented by 2010.

Not surprisingly Ron Paul has commented on this:

You may not have heard of the American Community Survey, but you will. The national census, which historically is taken every ten years, has expanded to quench the federal bureaucracy’s ever-growing thirst to govern every aspect of American life. The new survey, unlike the traditional census, is taken each and every year at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. And it’s not brief. It contains 24 pages of intrusive questions concerning matters that simply are none of the government’s business, including your job, your income, your physical and emotional heath, your family status, your dwelling, and your intimate personal habits.

The questions are both ludicrous and insulting. The survey asks, for instance, how many bathrooms you have in your house, how many miles you drive to work, how many days you were sick last year, and whether you have trouble getting up stairs. It goes on and on, mixing inane questions with highly detailed inquiries about your financial affairs. One can only imagine the countless malevolent ways our federal bureaucrats could use this information. At the very least the survey will be used to dole out pork, which is reason enough to oppose it.

Keep in mind the survey is not voluntary, nor is the Census Bureau asking politely. Americans are legally obligated to answer, and can be fined up to $1,000 per question if they refuse!

I introduced an amendment last week that would have eliminated funds for this intrusive survey in a spending bill, explaining on the House floor that perhaps the American people don’t appreciate being threatened by Big Brother. The amendment was met by either indifference or hostility, as most members of Congress either don’t care about or actively support government snooping into the private affairs of citizens.

[more]

The Wikipedia entry links to  a World Net Daily article from November, 2007 which reads in part:

Another month is coming, and another 250,000 forms are being mailed out in the U.S. Census Bureau’s perpetual American Community Survey, which demands responses to personal questions about a family’s lifestyle, housing accommodations, work schedules, physical and mental disabilities, income and the like.

That means roughly 250,000 times recipients will see the warning that participation is required by law, and there are penalties including fines for not answering each question. But, in fact, U.S. Census Bureau officials say they’ve never had anyone prosecuted for refusing to provide those intimate details to the government.

“The Census Bureau has never prosecuted anybody,” spokesman Clyve Richmond told WND. “We try to work with people and explain how useful the information is.”

The very next line is:

As WND has reported, the U.S. Census Bureau switched from the surveys once every 10 years, called for in the U.S. Constitution, to annual surveys sent to three million households, to keep the government’s data more up-to-date.

So maybe I wasn’t all that off. They’ve moved the (IMO) unconstitutional long form component from the decennial census to a rolling survey and plan on getting rid of the long form for the 2010 head count census.

• 9:00AM Peymon Mottahedeh’s Live Free off the IRS Lies and Abuse. Not a real lecture. It was really an advertisement for his scam. I’ve read plenty of the arguments from the tax protesters. I’ve read the IRS’s responses to many of them. It’s all bogus. The safest and quickest way to end the federal income tax is to assume it’s all legit and get rid of it by lowering spending, getting rid of the federal income tax and IRS and amending out the 16th Amendment. It disappoints me that those in charge of getting speakers for this Liberty Forum got this guy. I wanted presentations not adverts for possible scams.
• 10:30AM Jim Lark’s Knee-Jerk Libertarianism: A Cure for a Common Disease. It was a well spoken discussion on a common problem in the freedom movement and many other belief systems: poor messenger skills. He was very well spoken and very serious in getting freedom fighters to be better at getting libertarian ideas across. Try not to insult, be empathetic and try to not to convince people your right but give them the info to think about why you are right. Here is the audio from the speech: Jim Lark: Knee-jerk libertarianism
• 1:00PM Barry Cooper of Never Get Busted. He has a bit of that sleazy salesman feel but not like Peymon Mottahedeh. He’s not a full libertarian (though he’s running on the Libertarian ticket in Texas District 31) but he has some good practical instructions on how to deal with traffic cops as a user of marijuana and his new movie Never Get Raided goes further including concealing the growing of marijuana and catalogs police tactics. Sounds interesting but I’m not motivated enough to purchase either movie.
• 2:30PM Jim Babka from Downsize DC. Not sure why I attended this one. I already had met him in the elevator earlier that day. I’m subscribed to the Downsize Dispatch, I very regularly use their services to send messages to my representatives and I donate to them monthly. It was interesting none the less (he’s a good speaker so hearing things over again didn’t feel repetitive) and I got myself a bumper sticker. He presented The Onion’s Bullshit is Most Important Issue for 2008 Voters.
• Glen Jacobs was in attendance at Babka’s presentation. After it was over xyz and I got a photo with him. I briefly talked with him about his contributions to the movement. Acknowledging that given his situation I understood why he was unable to publicly participate in the movement but appreciated his work under his pseudonym and that someone in his position (not to say that professional wrestler is widely looked up to but surely more than I, and he’s got more connections) was very valuable. He seemed genuinely thankful. While I have a guess as to who in the community he is I’ll leave it to you to find out.
• 4:00PM F. Paul Wilson’s Awful Lonely at Times: Being a Libertarian from the 60’s On. Those who know me know I’m not much on reading fiction. I’ve never read any of his books nor did I know who he was till just a few months ago when I started listening to Gardner Goldsmith’s radio show. Gardner is a big fan and was ecstatic to be able to hear him speak and hang out. Mr. Wilson was very well spoken and unfortunately didn’t spend much time on his dealings with libertarianism in the 60’s and 70’s. Many there knew of his work and were fans so it’s understandable that he would also talk about his works and how he integrated libertarian ideas into them. Here is the audio of his speech: F. Paul Wilson
• The dinner was alright. I actually preferred the buffet. xyz and I sat with Mike and Sayh(sp?) from the Manhattan Ron Paul Meetup group and a young freelance writer, Sam, who was at the Liberty Forum to get information on private currencies. He originally just wanted to talk with Bernard von NotHaus but decided that if he was going to make the long trip up from Brooklin he may as well check out the whole Liberty Forum. He’s not a libertarian but was very interested in what he was hearing. If I run across him tomorrow I’ll have to give him a copy of the latest Serf City. The keynote speaker was New Hampshire US Senator John Sununu. A good number of people were not all that thrilled that the Saturday keynote was a federal Republican politician. He was booed when he said we need taxes to pay for needed government. He was called out for voting for the original PATRIOT Act He was heckled to do a Q&A when he finished. Which he didn’t… he grabbed his things and left immediately after his speech was over.

http://www.usadaily.com/…

At a Ron Paul rally in Ft. Lee today several dozen supporters braved the cold air and held campaign signs and American flags for motorists approaching the George Washington Bridge and traveling on Lemoine Avenue. (Ron Paul was not present at the rally).

After the rally, Ron Paul supporters headed to Monument Park on Palisade Avenue where in November 1776 General George Washington began his famous retreat which culminated on Christmas day crossing the Delaware River. Monument Park is the only park in the United States dedicated to the soldiers of the American Revolution.

Dr. Murray Sabrin emceed the Monument Park rally on this anniversary of the Bill of Rights (1791). New Jersey was the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights on November 20, 1789.

Assemblyman Mike Doherty who has endorsed Ron Paul for President and introduced him at the Philadelphia rally last month gave an impassioned talk about why Ron is the best candidate for president. Ron Paul, Doherty pointed out, will protect U.S. borders, abolish the income tax, cut unnecessary and unconstitutional spending, defend the U.S. dollar, and protect U.S. sovereignty.

High school student and LewRockwell.com blogger Max Raskin told the gathering why all young people should rally behind Ron Paul. “Its simple”, said Max, “The welfare-warfare state is unsustainable and his generation will have to pay an enormous amount of taxes to foot the bills.” Max urged everyone to help get Ron Paul’s message out to all young people in New Jersey so he can win the February 5th primary.

xyz and I were two of those several dozen. First I’d like to say it was damn cold yesterday. My tea turned to iced tea in less than 10 minutes and of course it had to be breezy and there was ice everywhere. But that didn’t stop the 40+ of us (as I counted while we rallied on the Route 95 overpass). We spent an hour waving signs and flags and xyz and I handed out copies of the Manhattan LP’s Serf City. The one thing not reported by USADaily was how Doherty also talked a good minute on how he doesn’t want a candidate who wears dresses and how Ron Paul would never wear a dress.

As for the NYC Ron Paul HQ party: It went well. Not as many people showed up as we expected but it was respectable. Given that it was below freezing and sleeting I’m a bit surprised we had the turnout we did. It was a special night though. We had a projector connected up and displaying RonPaul2008.com when it broke $12 million. The video below captured the excitement.

There were two camera crews there from the news media. One was NY1 and I was told the other was CNN. A quick search of NY1.com however doesn’t produce anything at the time of posting. xyz and I left at 2:30AM to catch the 2:50AM bus home. When I purchased a bus ticket for xyz with a $5 bill I received my change for the $3.40 ticket. Appropriately the one dollar coin it gave me was from the new president series, Thomas Jefferson.

UPDATE:

Here are some photos from the party… including xyz getting a backrub and another video.