Reinke Faces Life

http://www.survivalblog.com/2007/06/
reverse_the_public_school_brai.html

Reverse the Public School Brainwashing and Keep Your Kids Safe
by Captain Dave

***Begin Quote***

This politically correct emphasis on non-violence is really a drive to non-confrontation that teaches kids to be victims at an early age. Violence not only still exists in our schools, it is worse than ever because the system does not allow kids to counter force with force. This means that kids cannot fight back when they are harassed on the school bus, spit on in the lunch room, assaulted in the hallway, or beaten in the locker room. Teachers routinely do not intervene in bullying or one-way assaults. This bullying behavior is allowed until the target decides to fight back, at which point school rules treat both the attacker and defender the same way. I am afraid that these days, the only place bullies and their victims really meet after school to settle their differences is on television or in the movies.

***End Quote***

Gooferment skoolz are my pet peeve. Here’s another reason NOT to like them! The unintended consequences of them are just bad to all the poor children imprisoned in them.

# # # # #

http://www.mises.org/story/2586

What If Social Security Were Completely Scrapped?
By D.W. MacKenzie
Posted on 6/18/2007

***Begin Quote***

Social Security transfers income between generations. It does nothing to promote capital accumulation through saving, because it does not involve saving. It is true that some American, especially the earliest recipients of benefits, have gained a low positive rate of return on Social Security. However, this is only possible because other Americans, especially those presently under 30, can expect a negative rate of return. In other words, Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, contrary to what its defenders claim.

Yet Social Security is an odd type of Ponzi scheme. In the original Ponzi scheme, those who got in early enough made a high rate of return.

***End Quote***

Where no one wins!

It is supposed to protect the poor, yet it’s well documented that it discriminates against the poor. It transfers wealth from poor black men to rich white women.

But, worst of all, it robs wealth from all of us.

Only the gooferment, the politicians, and its workers gain.

Sigh, how stupid are we?

# # # # #

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese371.html

Goodbye and Good Luck
by Charley Reese

***Begin Quote***

What the knuckleheads in Washington have created is an empire of delusions and illusions. It’s time for the nation to wake up and adopt a realistic foreign policy, which is trade and friendly relations with anybody who wants it. As for those who don’t, we simply ignore them. We don’t need to be anybody’s enemy.

As for defense, defending our space is easy and cheap. As another mark of imperial stupidity, the rulers of the empire can’t even do that while they fail overseas.

***End Quote***

Only a a tank gunner could recap the DOWG’s (dead old white guy’s) wisdom so well.

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/49.htm

FAREWELL ADDRESS (1796)
George Washington

*** begin quote ***

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.

*** end quote ***

Just stop!

# # # # #

http://www.lewrockwell.com/alston/alston23.html

The (Postal) Empire Strikes Back
by Wilton D. Alston

***Begin Quote***

With kudos to Marc Stevens for originally using this metaphor, delivering any service at the barrel of a gun – which is how all government services are delivered – is immoral. (It doesn’t matter if the service is delivered directly by a government agency, or by an agency that operates under government authority and/or heavy regulation.) This issue is morally clear no matter how much anyone likes that service, or how many people ostensibly benefit from that service, or how widespread that service is, or how long that service has existed.

The bottom line is: If your service is so great, you should be willing to deliver it voluntarily, without government protection or legal requirement. Furthermore, the fact that something “good” comes of your initial act of aggression is irrelevant.

***End Quote***

I like this formulation!

# # # # #

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/
2007/06/20/the_law_versus_orders

http://tinyurl.com/3ctwr3

The Law Versus Orders
By Walter E. Williams
Wednesday, June 20, 2007

***Begin Quote***

Twenty-five years ago, during a dinner conversation with Nobel Laureate economist/philosopher Friedrich A. Hayek, I asked him if he could propose one law that would restore, promote and preserve liberty in our country, what would that law be? Hayek answered that the law he’d propose would read: Congress shall enact no law that does not apply equally to all Americans. Hayek’s suggestion for full equality before the law was both simple and profound and would do untold wonders in fostering the liberties envisioned by our Founders. But I’m betting that most Americans would greet Hayek’s proposal with contempt after they realized that it would mean Congress wouldn’t be able enact orders and play favorites with different Americans.

***End Quote***

Well, I’m glad to see Professor Williams resume his winning ways.

He’s now redeemed himself from that last comment that could have implied he supported taxation for education. Since taxes are theft, it appeared that he was advocating something he knew was immoral. Many called him on it. (me2) He responded that one can’t get from gooferment education in one ump. He was proposing a two step. Separate operation from funding. Kill the gooferment operation. Then, kill the gooferment funding. One can legitimately question if even that can be accomplished without bloodshed.

Here, he is citing Hayek, the great economist in the Austrian style of Economics, who wrote the Road to Serfdom. And, pointing out how far the USA has strayed from it’s founding.

Sigh!

# # # # #

http://www.jpfo.org/alert20070618.htm

June 18, 2007
More Dirt Shoveled on Second Amendment

***Begin Quote***

On April 24th, we alerted folks to HR 297, the disastrous “Mental Health” bill being pushed through the House ( www.jpfo.org/alert20070424.htm ). With the NRA’s assistance, the bill was modified and introduced for vote last Wednesday as HR 2640. The cowardly parasites in Congress chose to pass it via voice vote, ensuring that no one could be held responsible for their vote by their constituents.

***End Quote***

Will there come a time when Americans stand up for their rights?

# # # # #

http://www.lewrockwell.com/suprynowicz/suprynowicz67.html

Learning From Henry V
by Vin Suprynowicz

***Begin Quote***

What do they say about those who wish to trim back the size and intrusiveness of government at least to, say, the levels prevailing under dastardly child-hating conservative John F. Kennedy in 1962? (I might settle for 1911, myself – small schools with mixed-grade classrooms under local control; no income tax; dollar bills still “payable in silver” or in gold; no War on Drugs.) Why, we “hate the teachers!” these zealots insist. We want old people to “starve in the streets!” We’re willing to tolerate “social services ranked at the very bottom, like some Central American hellhole!”

***End Quote***

How can one tell if tax rates reach 90 percent, or 95 percent, or 102 percent?

The gooferment has done an EXCELLENT job of hiding the true level of taxation form us.

Consider all the federal, state, county, town, and heaven knows what other geographical entities that tax you?

Consider property taxes?

Consider the inflation tax on your savings?

Consider the Social Security Insurance tax?

Consider all the taxes on business that are passed along to you hidden from view?

Consider the gasoline tax that gets factored into everything?

Consider the things called “fees” that are unavoidable, or for all intents and purposes unavoidable?

How would you know WHAT you are paying?

Argh!

Time for the pitchforks and torches. Tar ‘n’ feather every taxing politician!

# # # # #

*** begin quote ***

http://atheism.about.com/b/a/132060.htm

{Extraneous Deleted}

There is one thing that is conspicuous by its absence in all of Burke’s perfervid rhetoric: actual examples of how she has lost her freedom or what liberties have been stolen from her.

{Extraneous Deleted}

*** end quote ***

May I step in for the “defense”?

Ms. Burke might point out that “she” lost her freedom when she is forced at gunpoint to pay for gooferment skoolz. Actually, that freedom was lost a while ago when the gooferment took over the funding and operation of “schooling”.

She can’t teach her children her moral values in today’s environment where the children are taken to gooferment reeducation camps and feed propaganda. Unless she’s rich, she can’t afford to pay the taxes and then forgo the “service” of education. So, she, and others, are hit with a triple whammy. They are force to pay for a shoddy service they don’t want or doesn’t meet their needs. They have their values they are trying to teach their children denigrated in this “service”. AND, they are insulted when they object to the violence and loss of liberty.

This is not just a religious issue. But a racial one. Walter Williams’ has a great quip, “if the grand wizard of the KKK wanted to destroy black children, he could not have come up with a better way than government education”.

It’s a liberty issue. It’s immoral to force people to do things they don’t want to do. If you have to force some one to do something, then you have a “bad idea”. If it’s such a great idea, then you should be able to persuade me with logic, evidence, and testimony. Otherwise, MYOB! When you use force, not only is it immoral, it’s usually ineffective and inefficient as well.

As the risk of being labeled “choleric”: I don’t want to pay to educate other people’s children. I don’t feed them (in most cases). I don’t clothe them. I don’t tuck them in a night. They are not “mine”. Nor are they my responsibility. I don’t what you stealing from me to do it. I do NOT consent!

I do CHOOSE to support certain charities that do those things, but that’s my self-assumed choice. It’s immoral for the ACLU to insist that I do it to favor their agenda. Just as it would be immoral for Ms. Burke to force me to pay for her agenda.

The defense rests,
fjohn

# # # # #

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/
WalterEWilliams/2007/06/13/
competition_or_monopoly

Competition or Monopoly
By Walter E. Williams
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

*** begin quote ***

What’s wrong with parents having the right, along with the means, to
enroll their children in schools of their choice?

*** end quote ***

Now I read WEW every Wednesday as soon as I get a chance. I was very upset for his backing down on the libertarian principle that “taxes are theft with violence”. (Don’t believe it just don’t pay a tax and see what happens. You could get killed!)

So I warmed up the poison keyboard and shot off a response.

*** begin quote ***

Forcing others to pay for it. They aren’t my children. I didn’t decide
to have them. I didn’t get any choices. Other than to pay my “fair share”!

Argh!

Ferdinand J. Reinke
Kendall Park, NJ 08824

*** end quote ***

AND was I ever SURPRISED to find this in my email box!

From: Walter E. Williams
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 7:32 AM
To: ReinkeFJ
Subject: Re: Townhall.com Columnist Mail for Walter E. Williams: Re:
Competition or Monopoly

You’re absolutely right but we can’t get from here to there in one fell swoop.

Cheers.

Professor Walter E. Williams
George Mason University
Department of Economics
4400 University Dr., MSN 3G4
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew

==

WOW! An email from the man! Impressive. He actually read my rant!

# # # # #

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/
south-florida-sun-sentinel/
T17EGVL0UIKD9U1RI/p8#lastPost

***Begin Quote***

[QUOTE who=”Nanci”]Just proves that all we care about in this country is the MONEY/revenues and we’ll give up our freedom for the almighty dollar. [/QUOTE]

***End Quote***

May I humbly suggest that “spending money” is really at its heart an “election” in the marketplace. While everyone thinks “money is the root of all evil”, I’d dare to suggest that it’s about making choices, having needs met, and being “heard”.

We don’t have a national election about is Ford versus Chevy. We have a marketplace where some people buy Ford and some Chevy. In the marketplace it’s not winner take all. AND, one can only have money by serving your fellow humans. So you “earn” the right to vote in “marketplace elections”.

I hope this in some small way turns you away from the gooferment as a way to get our fellow humans what they need to be satisfied. Money is not the root of the problem; it’s the “lubricating oil” that allows everyone in society to have there perceived needs met peacefully. You can TRY to force people to do things OR you can offer them CHOICES.

Yes, I’m a libertarian, that wants the freedom to make the choices that I see fit. For me to have that, I have to allow everyone else the same freedom. See the hallmark of a bad idea is when I have to force people to do something, anything. If it’s such a great idea, then I should be able to convince you.

So let’s recap. Rush is on because people want to listen and patronize his advertisers. You are free not to listen. Neither do I, because to a certain extent, I think he’s anti-liberty. You are free to try to convince others not to listen. You are not free to FORCE him off by gooferment action.

I disagree that all we care about is money. We are, despite the HUGE tax burden of gooferment, very charitable people. Look at NOLA, the Tsunami, the WTC Fund. It’s our gooferment that holds us as a people back imho. And, our thinking that the use of force is somehow OK when the gooferment does it. “It’s for our own good!” Not.

Peace,
fjohn

# # # # #

http://www.lawrencian.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=448&Itemid=45

Guns and Anarchy in Greensburg
Written by Amber Fraley
Jun 01, 2007 at 02:40 PM

***Begin Quote***

NRA officials are about as tight-lipped about the gun incident in Greensburg as the Lawrence Police are about the anarchists, but they seem to be satisfied that the folks in Greensburg are at least having their firearms returned to them. When asked if they thought resident’s guns had been handled improperly, they declined to say.

But they did issue this press release, which is posted on their Web site:

Last week, NRA reported that we were investigating allegations of gun confiscation in the aftermath of the tornado that ravaged Greensburg, Kan. NRA received a number of phone calls from troubled NRA members in Greensburg who were concerned that law enforcement had inappropriately removed firearms from their homes after the deadly tornadoes. In response, NRA sent representatives to Greensburg to gather as much information as possible, spoke with area law enforcement and local elected officials to determine what had transpired.

After investigating these complaints, there was no evidence of any illegal gun confiscations or seizures. However, there were firearms recovered by law enforcement that are now in the process of being returned.

Gun owners whose firearms were recovered by area law enforcement may claim them at the ‘gun trailer,’ located east of Davis Park on the north side of US 54. Please bring proper identification. The trailer is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday until all firearms are returned.

NRA will continue to monitor the situation in Greensburg, and we will remain vigilant in investigating any future complaints of illegal gun confiscation wherever it may happen. If your firearms were recovered by law enforcement following the tornado in Greensburg and you have any trouble retrieving your firearms, please call us at 1-800-392-8683.

An NRA official did say that if it became necessary to release the film they took while in the small Kansas town they would, but that right now they didn’t think that was the case.

***End Quote***

Well, I have no first hand knowledge, nor do I know the source of this report, nor do I entirely trust the NRA, all that being said, I’d say we MAY have another example for the gooferment at work.

# # # # #

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=3265151

Lawsuit: Katrina Pets Executed
Investigations, Two Criminal Indictments and a Lawsuit Put the Heat on St. Bernard Parish’s Sheriff’s Office
By JIM AVILA, ELIZABETH TRIBOLET and CHRIS FRANCESCANI
ABC News Law & Justice Unit
June 11, 2007

***Begin Quote***

For nearly two years, pet owners from the low-lying Louisiana parish of St. Bernard have accused sheriff’s deputies of having wantonly killed dozens of dogs they forced evacuees to leave behind during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, without regard to the dogs’ size or the potential threat they might pose.

One owner said her family was forced at gunpoint to leave its dog behind. Another owner said residents became frantic when, they said, they overheard one deputy claim that “once everybody’s gone, we’re going to have target practice tonight.” They claim in court papers that deputies were under ” authorization…of their superiors and employers.
Related Stories

Two deputies have already been indicted by a grand jury in New Orleans on charges of felony, aggravated cruelty to animals. The Louisiana attorney general’s office is investigating and this morning lawyers for a group of owners will file a comprehensive complaint in federal court in Louisiana seeking class action status for their clients.

For the first time, the St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s office has acknowledged to ABC News’ Law & Justice Unit that an internal investigation has been launched.

***End Quote***

And you thought the “nice” policeman was your friend?

You were lucky they only shot your dog. If you were an inconvenience, then they might have. Gooferment is raw force.

No, we need a radical change to reverse the USA back into America.

These were probably the same jerks, or their moronic kindred spirits, that during NOLA: would NOT let the minorities cross the bridge to safety; turned back the WalMart trucks; and, wouldn’t let the Navy doc help people because his paperwork wasn’t right.

And, you depend on these people for your security?

If a child tortures and kills animals, don’t the psychs say it portends badly. What is it when adults do it? Standard Police Procedure. Sorry, it’s just an armed gang, who’s veneer of legitimacy is being ripped away day by day.

# # # # #

FROM THE NRA

One-Gun-a-Month passes New Jersey General Assembly

***Begin Quote***

On Monday, June 11 the New Jersey General Assembly passed A3511 , legislation that will restrict law-abiding citizens from purchasing more than one handgun in a calendar month by a vote of 51-25 with 4 members choosing to abstain. Once the individual vote count has been posted we will notify you of your legislators vote. Thank you for all the phone calls and emails voicing your opposition to this bill.

***End Quote***

More lipstick on the pig.

What is this diktat supposed to do?

Do they think that criminals will obey it?

Well, if you can’t do anything important, do something.

Sigh!

# # # # #

http://www.reviewjournal.com/columnists/suprynowicz.html

Jun. 10, 2007
In fact, illegals are taking the jobs skilled Americans used to do
VIN SUPRYNOWICZ
Las Vegas Review-Journal

***Begin Quote***

Steve voices quite articulately the plight of many whose costs of operation were driven up by government interventions as he struggled to “do things right” and “play by the rules.” And what was his reward, from our proud politicians of the Neville Chamberlain School of Immigration Studies?

***AND***

quoting Steve the Ceramic contractor

I spent my entire adult life in the ceramic tile business, the last 11 years in Las Vegas. I was licensed by the state Contractors Board as a tile contractor, paying license fees as well as bonding and insurance. This was a small business I ran alone, primarily installing tile.

{Extraneous Deleted}

Being the naive idiot I am I turned to the government for help. I called the state Contractors Board and was told that if I did all the investigating and could come up with a signed contract that my ILLEGAL friends had entered into with a customer, that would be actionable. Why the Board could not go to the businesses that were selling tile and recommending the LAWBREAKERS to do the installation I don’t know. Too much hassle when you’re being paid with taxpayer money, I suppose.

Then there are our elected government representatives. I approached (Rep.) Shelley Berkley at the Summerlin July 4th parade two years ago and told her my livelihood was being destroyed by ILLEGAL immigration. She never quit smiling and waving to her faithful minions in the crowd as out of the corner of her mouth she said, “Call my office.”

Well, I told you I was naive, so I spent almost a year calling her staff with absolutely no reply. I guess they thought if they ignored me long enough I would be put out of business by her “real constituents.” Finally after nearly a year I received a letter from Ms. Berkley stating she was against illegal immigration but because of humanitarian reasons she thought they should be allowed to stay. Not only that, she went on to explain “how much they have contributed to our country.”

***End Quote***

My take on it?

The fellow, who believed in gooferment, got screwed. He thought he was buy “protection” from the gooferment with licensing, regulation, and taxes.

What a joke.

At least when you bought “protection from the mob”, someone crossing the line would get their legs broken. (Real protection!) As a country, we’d be all better off without the “gooferment’s protection”!

imho, fjohn from nujerzee

# # # # #

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/
article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5580343,00.html

http://tinyurl.com/2rgbxq

Denver targets global warming
Goal is equivalent of taking 500,000 vehicles off road
By Stuart Steers, Rocky Mountain News
June 11, 2007

***Begin Quote***

Denver is gearing up to fight global warming, and residents may soon be asked to make personal sacrifices to help save the planet.

***End Quote***

I read the article and I didn’t see a lot of “asking”. I did see a lot of “telling”.

IMHO the hallmark of a bad idea is when you have to force people to do it.

I read about increased regulation that is a hidden form of taxation. Fifth Amendment issues when I have to bring my house to code to sell it? They have just “stolen” value from me. No court order; no compensation. Just theft!

This is the gooferment at it’s best. Denver will be better than others because they care more. Note no one is saying that it will make an iotas difference.

Sigh!

I gotta get to the Free State.

# # # # #

http://www.lewrockwell.com/decoster/decoster122.html

Ron Paul’s American Education
by Karen De Coster

*** begin quote ***

I do believe that Ron Paul has a chance to win this election. Is that too optimistic?

***End Quote***

Well, if the anti-war democrats really want to end the war and if the anti-war wing of the republicans really are anti-war, he’s a lock.

If the Americans, who could could vote, are 100%. Then there is an estimated 20% anti-war d’s and 20% anti-war r’s, that’s 40%. Hard to imagine that at least some of the 60% who never vote wouldn’t come out to say “no war”.

So I can see how he might swamp McRomeialnni or Hila-bama.

It’s a long time until the election. I hope the heat doesn’t melt him like it did Perot.

I’m voting for him. As if that mattered.

# # # # #

http://www.freestateproject.org

***Begin Quote***

What color would a free state be?

***End Quote***

If dems are blue and red are repubs, the …

… a free state would be …

GOLD!

The color of honest money!

imho

# # # # #

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=3047

THEORY OF GUN CONTROL MEETS REALITY OF CRIME

*** begin quote ***

A May 15 story in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) serves as a good reminder of how a person’s support for gun control often changes after a personal experience with crime. State Representative Michael DeBose (D-12) of Cleveland was an opponent of Right-to-Carry, having voted against the measure twice. All that changed on the night of May 1, when he was confronted by two men, one of whom was wielding a gun. On that night, Rep. DeBose’s sense of security in his neighborhood changed, as did his view on lawful citizens being able to defend themselves.

*** end quote ***

Now it’s like the old jokes we hear. “I’m assertive; she’s pushy.”

“I can defend myself; you are a victim”.

# # # # #

http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer157.html

Whither the Remnant?
by Butler Shaffer

***Begin Quote***

Our modern world is grounded in the illusion that social order can only be maintained through institutionally-structured, vertically-imposed regulatory systems. But the pyramidal hierarchies to which we have been trained to look for such management are in a state of decline. The vertical is collapsing into the horizontal, and the political establishment is fighting for its very existence by intensifying the use of the methodology that defines its nature: the use of violence.

***End Quote***

I think this is a very astute observation.

Command and control always loses to peer to peer. The internet is a great model for the future of America. It’s why the USA “Third Generation Army” is getting its collective butt kicked by a “Fifth Generation” militia in Iraq. (Actually, it’s gobs of little militias in Iraq. They don’t have a unified leadership, just unity of purpose, which is their strength.) If we, the foreign invader weren’t there, they could go back to fighting with each other.

America was a grand experiment in Liberty until derailed by Lincoln with the Civil War. Our way out of the current muck is to recognize that Big Government causes Big Problems. Everyone wants something for nothing and the politicians are willing to pander to get power.

The Dead Old White Guys were really on to something when they wanted an army to exist for only two years. (Check your Constitution!) Armies begged to be used. We need to get back to Original Intent.

The Communists tried and failed. The Socialists, here and abroad, are form the same ilk. So we have to: end the dole, go back to honest money, stop gooferment education, and pull all our troops home. Be more like Switzerland and less like the Roman Empire.

Take the plastic bag off the Statue of Liberty. It’s the immigrants that made this country great. Besides (border) walls are what characterizes a prison; not a free country.

# # # # #

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?id=3061

Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons Signs NRA-Backed “Emergency Powers Protection Act”

***Begin Quote***

This week, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons (R) signed into law NRA-backed Assembly Bill 95 (AB95)–the “Emergency Powers Firearms Protection Act.” This new law will prevent a governmental entity or law enforcement agency from confiscating firearms from law-abiding citizens during a declared state of emergency.

***End Quote***

Laws prevent nothing. They mere indicate what the legislators hope will happen. Only law abiding people obey laws.

Wonder if the BATF is reading Nevada laws?

Silly state, the USA doesn’t have to obey your laws. Look at the medical Marijuana stores in California. States’ Rights … what rights. We’ll give you your rites. Last rites!

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

What part of “… shall not be infringed.” does the gooferment NOT understand?

# # # # #

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese364.html

Not for Freedom
by Charley Reese

***Begin Quote***

The fact is, war is started by old men who never go near the war, and wars are always fought by the young. The king of Belgium once noted that it takes 20 years of peace to produce a man and 20 seconds of war to destroy him. Think about that. All that a young human being is – intelligence, health, youth, education, knowledge, potential accomplishments – reduced to a bloody pile of broken bones and guts in an instant. They are strangers killing and being killed by strangers.

***End Quote***

War is the opposite of “liberty”.

# # # # #

http://vtcommons.org/node/769

ORAL ARGUMENT: 10th Grade Vermont High School Student Speaks To Nonviolent Secession in an English Class
Submitted by Rob Williams on Fri, 06/01/2007 – 9:19am.

***Begin Quote***

All empires fall, few with grace. Although it is debated whether or not The United States is an empire, it shares two key characteristics: it is huge and highly centralized, which is highly unsustainable.

***End Quote***

So obvious, it’s apparent to a Tenth Grader, Ari Erlbaum. Wish I had that realization when I was in that grade. We have TV shows like “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader”; we need a show “Do You Understand Political Philosophy as well as a Tenth Grader”.

# # # # #

http://vtcommons.org/node/763

Donald Livingston: The New England Secession Tradition, Part 1
Submitted by Rob Williams on Wed, 05/30/2007 – 11:31am.
The New England Secession Tradition
(Part One of a Three-Part Series)
By Donald W. Livingston

***Begin Quote***

Everywhere the vast nation-states created since the French Revolution are fracturing. Allegiances are shifting to supranational or sub-national organizations. The Second Vermont Republic is possible because we live in interesting times. George Kennan, one of the 20th century’s great geopolitical strategists and architect of the United States’ Cold War containment policy, argued in his autobiography, Around the Cragged Hill, that the public corporation known as the United States has become simply too large for the purposes of self government. When any corporation becomes so large that it is on the verge of collapsing under its own unwieldy bulk, the only remedy, Kennan concluded, is to downsize it. And he suggested that we begin a public debate on how to divide the U.S. empire into a number of independent unions of states associated under a commonwealth model. George Kennan, who ended his career at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Studies, endorsed the idea of a Second Vermont Republic a few years before his death as a worthy effort to begin a debate about how such division should proceed.

***End Quote***

Maybe the Free State Project isn’t such a wacky idea.

# # # # #

FROM LINKEDIN_BLOGGERS

Is A Blogger A Journalist, A Citizen, Or Both?
Posted by: “Martin Bosworth”
Tue May 29, 2007 11:40 am (PST)

*** begin quote ***

Greetings!

For those who don’t know, one of my gigs is writing for
ConsumerAffairs.Com, a fairly popular Web news site that focuses on
consumer issues. One of our reporters, Joseph Enoch, was recently
kicked out of the Senate press gallery on grounds that he wasn’t a
“real” reporter:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/05/senate_press03.html

*** end quote ***

Restricting access to the People’s Palace is not the purview of a “palace guard”, komisars, or petty dictators. We pay the taxes for it, and imho, we set the rules for it. Bloggers are the people’s journalists! Self-appointed and self-credentialed is fine with me. What is the “U.S. Senate Press Gallery” anyway and why do they have “officials”? I sure hope my taxes aren’t paying for them as well.

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http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/
tle419-20070527-02.html

http://tinyurl.com/35capb

Liberation
by L. Neil Smith

***Begin Quote***

I had grown up all my life hearing that the Liberators got duly dropped, some were used, the rest vanishing deep into barns and cellars, hidden from the mostly communist governments that came to replace the Nazis.

***AND***

I don’t believe it. I think the whole project became an historical embarrassment for an increasingly anti-gun US government. It couldn’t have made us terribly popular with various totalitarian bosses in east Europe for whom it would have been a constant thorn in their sides.

***End Quote***

When I heard about the liberator story, it was after doing some reading as a youth after watching an Errol Flynn movie about the French Resistance. So I’m not sure what to believe. If Churchill was involved, I bet they were dropped. He didn’t strike me as the type to hold anything back. LNS’ disbelief of “official stories” is absolutely correct. No one in gooferment tells the whole truth; certainly not if a lie would serve the agenda.

So, I’ll suspect that they were dropped, were effective, and suppressed for political reasons.

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http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/tle419-20070527-05.html

http://tinyurl.com/2wyw6p

Why Is Democracy Such A Bad Thing?
by Doug Newman

***Begin Quote***

It has often been said that, in a democracy two wolves and a sheep take a majority vote on what’s for supper, while in a constitutional republic the wolves are forbidden on voting on what’s for supper and the sheep are well armed.

***End Quote***

Love it!

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