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Learning
from Auto Emissions
Sam Aurelius Milam III A long time ago, I owned a Ford Courier that I called Larapin Truck. I don't remember the exact year of the truck, but it was of the late 70's vintage. It was quite a good little truck, but as time went by, the various anti-emissions devices that had been added to its design failed, one by one. They were all vacuum controlled, and each time one of them failed, I disabled it by inserting a small steel ball into the vacuum line that operated that particular device. Eventually, I re-routed the appropriate vacuum lines in such a way that I re-created the old-fashioned vacuum advance system of years-gone-by. That is, the distributor timing was advanced when the engine was under load. It worked quite well. One year, a new law was passed in California which required a thorough and professional emissions inspection as a prerequisite to renewal of the vehicle registration. The changes that I had made were, of course, invisible. All of the anti-emissions equipment was still there, and all of the hoses were still connected. The only problem was that none of the stuff worked any more. Therefore, it was with some trepidation that I took the truck to be inspected. At the authorized inspection station, the mechanic inserted the probe into the tailpipe, attached various wires to the engine, reved it, and watched his tester. When he was done, he straightened up from under the hood, turned around, and said, "It's runnin' real good! Real Clean!" Well, I don't know. Maybe the test was flawed. Maybe the anti-emissions equipment isn't really necessary, and auto emissions aren't really the problem they're supposed to be. I do know that my Ford Courier passed the authorized emissions test with all of its mandatory anti-emissions devices disabled. It does make me skeptical of the coercive legislative agenda of the anti-emissions activists. Learning from Environmental Pollution Sam Aurelius Milam III I lived for about 20 years at the residence that eventually came to be known as Mere Keep. During the first 10 or so of those years, I did a lot of car repairs on the patio. Eventually, cars got so complicated that I gave up in disgust. It's probably just as well, because cars are now so complicated that I think the designers must be insane. Anyhow, during that period of time I did a lot of car repairs on the patio. There was a narrow strip of soil, about 35 feet long and about 4 inches wide, between the edge of the patio and the fence. It was just about impossible to get in there and cut the grass that grew in that strip of soil. That grass was a real nuisance. It grew across the patio and accumulated dirt and bugs, and just really made a mess. One day, early in my career as a patio mechanic, I decided to solve two problems at once. After that, I dumped all of my used automotive chemicals on that little strip of soil. I dumped dirty gasoline, cleaning solvent, brake fluid, transmission fluid, antifreeze, anything that I couldn't recycle. When I decided to stop doing car repairs on the patio, I stopped dumping chemicals on the little strip of soil. By the time I left Mere Keep, about 10 years after I stopped dumping chemicals on the strip of soil, I couldn't tell that any chemicals had ever been dumped there. The grass was strong and healthy. Just like before, it grew across the patio and accumulated dirt and bugs, and just really made a mess. In retrospect, it occurred to me that during the entire time that I had been dumping chemicals on the strip of soil, I'd never seen them have any visible effect at all on the other side of the fence, just scant inches away. Well, I don't know. Maybe chemical waste isn't the problem that it's supposed to be. The chemicals that I dumped, in heavy concentrations over a considerable period of time, didn't seem to have any lasting effect. It does make me skeptical of the coercive legislative agenda of the anti-pollution activists. Kynes' Warning from Dune, by Frank Herbert Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans in the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.
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National Missile Defense System
Sam Aurelius Milam III Does anybody remember the Distant Early Warning system of the 50's and 60's? My father was highly scornful of it. He used to say, "The only warning we'll ever get from one of those stations is when we suddenly lose all contact with it!" What's the first thing that the NATO thugs do when they want to bomb some little second-rate nation? They destroy its defensive radar installations. The most amazing thing about the proposed National Missile Defense System is that anybody believes that it will actually be useful. I'll echo my father. Maybe I'm not as sure as he was, but I still expect that the first indication of an impending attack that anybody is ever likely to receive from one of those installations is when they suddenly lose all contact with it. Waco Investigation a Whitewash? A reprint from KHouse eNews for The Week of 7/24/2000, http://www.khouse.org, forwarded by Lady Jan the Voluptuous Judicial Watch's Larry Klayman has said that the Waco investigation headed by special council John Danforth amounted to a whitewash of the incident. He predicted this outcome last year when the investigation began. Klayman claims that Danforth released his incomplete investigation in order to be available to be considered as vice-presidential running mate to George W. Bush. According to Judicial Watch, "Danforth was plucked from a huge mega-law firm with huge corporate interests intertwined with the Clinton-Gore Administration through government contracts and other perks." <http://www.judicialwatch.org/media/preleases/2000/072100d.htm> Idaho County Petitions Appeals Court to Rehear Ruby Ridge Manslaughter
Case
Catholic Charities Seek Exemption
Letters to the Editor Frontiersman, In your article, "Jerusalem: An Opportunity", [August Frontiersman, page 3] your first paragraph seems to be the strongest argument against your proposal in the second paragraph. How does introducing another faction help to resolve the situation? — Sir James the Bold; Sacramento, California
I believe that none of the factions involved is willing to surrender control of Jerusalem to any other presently existing faction. My hope is that each faction will be willing to surrender control of Jerusalem to a secular, civil, municipal government. The only other alternatives appear to be perpetual war or the sort of international protectorate that was proposed by the Pope. — editor
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Buck Hunter Shoots Off His Mouth Dear Buck What's self-effacement? — Listening to the Grownups
Dear Listening to the Grownups That's when a woman does her own makeup. Acknowledgments
— editor
Frontiersman Cancellations — If you don't want to keep receiving this newsletter, print REFUSED, RETURN TO SENDER above your name and address, cross out your name and address, and return the newsletter. When I receive it, I'll terminate your subscription. You may also cancel by letter, e-mail, carrier pigeon, or any other method that gets the message to me. Back Issues — Back issues or extra copies of this newsletter are available upon request. Reprint Policy — Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. Please note that I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other publications. For that permission, you must go to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material. Submissions — I solicit letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words, but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece. I give credit for all items printed unless the author specifies otherwise. Payment — This newsletter isn't for sale. If you care to make a voluntary contribution, you may do so. The continued existence of the newsletter will depend, in part, on such contributions. I accept cash and U.S. postage stamps. I will accept checks or money orders only by prior arrangement. I don't accept anything that will smell bad by the time it arrives or anything that requires me to provide ID or a signature to receive it. In case anybody is curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc. I'm sure you get the idea. — Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor
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