The Ballad of Carl Drega [Paperback]

Vin Suprynowicz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2002

In a free country, individuals have almost limitless rights -- to travel as they please, carry private arms, consume any plant or drug, keep what they earn, raise their kids as they see fit ... all without showing any license or permit. Bureaucrats have few powers, specifically listed.

But that hardly describes America today, where the default settings fast approach those of a slave state. Bureaucrats claim expansive power and privilege; the rights of the individual are crushed. Carl Drega fought back ... and died. Peter McWilliams fought back ... and died. Garry Watson fought back ... and died. Donald Scott fought back ... and died. ...

Not all their desperate acts were wise or admirable. But Libertarian columnist Vin Suprynowicz insists we should at least start cataloguing and honoring the names of those who have given their lives in this War on Freedom, being waged against us from the lowliest government classroon and "code-enforcement office" to the loftiest temples of Washington. Because we're next. Eight died on that bridge at Concord, back in 1775. How many will it take this time?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'The Ballad of Carl Drega' is, in my opinion, even better than 'Send in the Waco Killers.'" -- Jon Ford, Editorial Director, Paladin Press, Boulder, Colo.

"Buy this book in bulk and carpet bomb your friends. Do the country and your kids a large favor." -- Bill Branon, author of "Let Us Prey" (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Devil's Hole, Timesong, and Spider Snatch

"I screamed, I cried, and at times I laughed so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes." -- Edward A., Monkton, Maryland

About the Author

Vin Suprynowicz grew up in a nice, Politically Correct Democratic family, fine folks who taught him that it was wrong to steal or hate people for being different from them. He still feels that way, but has since expanded the list of those deserving such tolerance from merely homosexuals and members of racial minorities to also include machine-gun owners; militiamen; folks who choose to vote their conscience in the jury room in defiance of the judge's instructions; who use intoxicants other than those approved by the current government; who decline to vaccinate their children or turn them over for government indoctrination; or who decline to contribute any portion of their earnings to support the welfare/police state.

He landed his first newspaper job at the alternative Hartford Advocate in 1972 after graduating from Wesleyan University. He went on to become the star reporter at the daily Willimantic Chronicle, news editor of the Norwich Bulletin, managing editor of the daily Northern Virginia Sun, and founder and publisher of the weekly Providence Eagle. Suprynowicz was named three times to the Golden Dozen (the top 12 weekly editorial writers in the U.S. and Canada) by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.

A resident of Las Vegas, he's now an editor, editorial writer and weekly columnist at the daily Las Vegas Review-Journal. In wide demand as a dinner speaker at Libertarian and gun-rights gatherings throughout the U.S. and western Canada, he also pens a twice-a-week column appearing in 20 or so newspapers around the country, and publishes the monthly newsletter "Vin Suprynowicz's Privacy Alert."

Product Details

• Paperback: 689 pages
• Publisher: Mountain Media (June 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967025923
• ISBN-13: 978-0967025926
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #750,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > Gun Control

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for those interested in freedom., September 30, 2003

By 

Francis Tully (Sandy, UT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ballad of Carl Drega (Paperback)

An outstanding look at the unending chain of abuses that are heaped on us by our government and the obvious, but tragic results. The Ballad of Carl Drega is a collection of articles and notes from 1994 -2001 by the award-winning Libertarian columnist Vin Suprynowicz. Carl Drega, Gary Watson, Donald Scott, Peter Williams, and the victims of Ruby Ridge and Waco are the martyrs in the raging War Against Freedom. This expose goes where no others dare. Vin exposes the War that has been declared on our rights in his essays on Taxes, Western Land Grabs, Environmentalism, Gun Laws, Vaccinations, and the "Mandatory government youth propaganda camps, still known to most as the 'public schools'".

He challenges you to focus on the victims' plight and leaves you wondering how on earth there are not similar "last stands" on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I fear that there will be many more Carl Drega's before Vin's next book is released.

I have given this book my highest recommendation and consider it a must-read for freedom lovers, patriots, libertarians, journalists, and concerned parents. If you don't like to loan out your favorite books, you might be wise to order more than one copy.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blood Boiling!, December 25, 2002

By 

Curtis M. Howland "Capitalist" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ballad of Carl Drega (Paperback)

While John R. Lott puts the gun control zelots on ice with simple cold numbers, Vin uses the bureaucrats own actions as fuel to build a fire that will boil the blood of even the most jaded pragmatist.

I have read Vin's articles since I first heard of him in 1995, always astounded that the people he featured in his writings could get away with their depridations at every turn. When the same material is presented in one volume, the epic scale of the corruption and evil running rampant over this "free" country is overwhelming.

How can someone read these stories, easily confirmed as true by checking the local news papers, and not be moved? How can the people of New Hampshire tollerate government officials who object to the book as "Glorifying Carl Drega's acts"?

In the play 1776, Ben Franklin says to John Adams, "The people have read Mr. Paine's 'Common Sense', I doubt very much Congress has."

It is long past time for that same to be said of Vin Sprynowicz.

Buy it, read it, and then donate it to your local school library.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real NO SPIN ZONE, May 21, 2003

By 

James G. Miller (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ballad of Carl Drega (Paperback)

When this book arrived from Amazon my seventeen year old son got hold of it first. Two days later he had completed the 600+ pages and I finally got my chance to read it. I'm also having a tough time putting it down, and although but halfway through it, I give it five stars!

Even if you don't agree with the author's viewpoints, you have to be disturbed by his documentation of how our freedoms, or more acccurately, those we have left, are under constant attack by the state. This book is the real "no spin zone." Suprynowicz attacks the enemies of freedom with both facts and wit. May we have a moment of silence for all those endangered desert tortoises which our enlightened EPA decided to have killed. ("We had to destroy the tortoise to save it!")

This book further reinforced my conviction that the Democrats and Republicans are both destroying our freedoms and the economy. The only difference between the two parties is that the Dems are in more of a hurry.