I’ve written four Center for a Stateless Society commentaries since I updated the blog.

Egypt in the Next Stage of Revolution discusses ongoing protests and repression in Egypt.

In What Does Democracy Look Like, Actually? I examine what people mean when they say they are in favor of democracy, and why they should consider anarchism.

A Fast and Furious String of Government Failures takes a look at the not-so-surprising development that BATFE was trying to lobby for more power by citing guns it allowed to go to drug cartels .

A Year of Upheaval, A Year of Upping the Stakes is the first ever year in review article I’ve done, which apparently wasn’t so popular judging by the Facebook like statistics. But Facebook is lame anyway.

Calvin and Hobbes fans and people who should be Calvin and Hobbes fans will enjoy this video:

You can still reach me by email: darianworden(at)gmail(dot)com Also, Center for a Stateless Society articles have comment functions on c4ss.org.

(Event Website)

I’ll be the closing speaker at the Manhattan Libertarian Party’s convention this Saturday (1/15). James Babb and Jim Ostrowski will also be speaking, and I look forward to hearing both of them.

Saturday, January 15, 2011 @ 11:00 a.m.
Ukrainian East Restaurant
140 Second Avenue @ 9th Street

11:00 a.m. Business Meeting—No Charge
(annual membership to vote is $15)
12:30-4:30 p.m. Luncheon and Speakers:
$40 in advance or $50 at the door
Students: $25 in advance or $35 at the door

More details are on the event website.

Dear Amazon,

I am greatly disappointed in the recent decision to terminate services to WikiLeaks. I intend to take my business elsewhere unless this issue is resolved.

The work of WikiLeaks is critical to the pursuit of liberty and justice in the face of massive opaque power structures. It is widely known that the US government repeatedly mislead the public to start wars, covered up the killing of civilians, escalated traveler search procedures following intense lobbying by the makers of security equipment, and took money from those small enough to fail in order to cement current economic and social inequality. Access to information intended for privileged rulers is too important for compromise.

In your public statement, you state that “It’s clear that WikiLeaks doesn’t own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content.” What right does a lawless state have to secrecy? You say that data stored by WikiLeaks “isn’t rightfully theirs,” as if government had the right to keep its works secret from the people who will suffer under them.

You also say “it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy. Human rights organizations have in fact written to WikiLeaks asking them to exercise caution and not release the names or identities of human rights defenders who might be persecuted by their governments.”

If human rights organizations have asked WikiLeaks to “exercise caution,” that is not evidence that the specifically-named document release will harm anyone, and “human rights organizations” are only mentioned for emotional effect. Further, it is believed that Bradley Manning, who has been in prison since May, is responsible for providing the diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. It is entirely plausible that WikiLeaks staff could have time to review the documents and redact information that could put individuals at risk.

Amazon companies could face economic consequences for doing the wrong thing. The over 500,000 people on the WikiLeaks Facebook page show that standing for truth and justice is popular. As a graduate student who has relied on Amazon.com almost exclusively for books, I am willing to undertake great inconvenience to patronize companies who have not taken a stand against freedom. I am also a self-published author considering not renewing my Amazon Advantage account.

I will be sure to explain my actions to my friends and to followers of my syndicated podcast and blog. I consider this very unfortunate, as Amazon has been an excellent company to do business with until now. I would be very likely to use Amazon services in the future if this issue was resolved.

Regards,

Darian Worden

PS: This letter can be viewed at http://darianworden.com/blog/2010/12/letter-to-amazon. I will be sure to post any response I receive from you.

TSA is engaged in a massive propaganda campaign to discredit opposition to new the new security theater corporate welfare. Suffice to say they have plenty of your money to spend on public relations consultants. A few points in response:

1) If the name We Won’t Fly didn’t tip you off, the number one course of action advocated by a large number of activists was to boycott flying altogether. Certainly police state irritations will make people less enthusiastic to fly. Opting out of scanners was Plan B.

2) It was the government, not liberty activists, who promised chaos at the airports yesterday. A post on We Won’t Fly noted that Opt Out Day Could Make Airport Lines Move Faster.

3) Multiple news reports showed that TSA took many scanners out of service. So TSA decided to opt out of scanning, while passengers who did not face the new security features had no opportunity to opt out. This was deceitfully presented by the TSA as evidence that most passengers had no problem with new “security” measures.

4) Some people who disapprove of new measures but decided to fly anyway may have made the decision that scanners were less-bad than the enhanced pat-down, which isn’t surprising since enhanced pat-downs are meant to pressure people into opting for scanners.

Julian Heicklen’s account of the Newark action is quoted below.

A group of six of us arrived at Terminal B of the Newark Airport (EWR) at 6:00 on Wednesday, November 24, 2010, to demonstrate against the introduction of body scanners by the Transportation Security Authority. Two tables had been prepared for us by the terminal management at the entrance to the airplane gates in Terminal B. One table was on the second floor and one on the third floor. We split into two groups at 6:30 pm, posted our posters, and started distributing literature entitled “You have the right to say NO!” In addition we distributed a Bill of Rights pamphlet.

Five police officers were assigned to monitor us on the 3rd floor, but there was no interaction or objection to our being there. No untoward incidents occurred with passersby, though a few made snide remarks. In general we were well received and we distributed at least 50 pieces of literature. Four people joined us and helped distribute literature. They also enrolled in Tyranny Fighters.

Three news organizations were present. At 7:15 pm Jay Edgar, Chair of the Libertarian Party of New Jersey, who organized the demonstration, was interviewed and videotaped by Channel 9 and News 12 TV. Shortly thereafter, Shawn Berger of News 12 videotaped me holding a sign which read Tyranny Sexual Assault. A short time later Tyson Trish of the Bergen Record took pictures of the 3rd floor group and interviewed me.

I also understand that the 2nd floor group was interviewed by the press, but I have no details. We disbanded at 8:30 pm.

You can look at some blurry pictures on my website.

Thanks to everyone who came out and everyone turning back the police state wherever they can.

But here’s some metal to keep things awesome.

You Are Not Permitted To Speak comments on the draconian bail restrictions on Alex Hundert.

The authorities are clearly trying to marginalize Hundert. Unlike power-mad politicians or mouthpieces for corporate criminals, he is forbidden to persuade or influence people on any political issue. Any interaction he has, no matter how informal, can lead to his arrest if his persecutors label it “political.”

Since the commentary was posted, Hundert was indeed again arrested.

Last week’s commentary, Burning the Wrong Effigy in Mexico, comments on recent developments in the Drug War.

Mexican authorities recently burned 134 tons of marijuana in a display of Drug War success. The flames of the burning goods were a visible statist spectacle casting marijuana and the people who use it as villains, while the smoke from state propaganda conceals the real villain, which is authority.

I’ve also submitted some exclusive articles on behalf of Center for a Stateless Society. We’ll see what happens to them.

It hasn’t been all writing for me either. I had the pleasure of representing Center for a Stateless Society with a vendor table and literature at the New York Students for Liberty conference. A lot of attendees were unfamiliar with the Center, but most were interested and responded favorably. The conference itself was put together very well and presented a fantastic opportunity to network with liberty-minded people in academia.

Who comes up with this shit?