Nancy Grace and a verdict she hates

I am a deeply flawed human being. I am thrilled that Nancy Grace is infuriated.

In Libertopia, there is the Case of the dead little girl.

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The State: A "Lose/Lose Propostion"

The State is a lose/lose proposition. Plus, the more powerful the government, the worse the situation for all.

The regular people lose immediately by being stolen from to pay for the government and its projects. They lose when their liberties are violated along with their "inalienable" rights. They lose when they are killed for breaking some counterfeit "law".

And eventually those in government, and those Useful Idiots who have supported and advocated a powerful government, lose when the "chickens", which they have so carefully bred and raised, come home to roost. It may even be a law of the Universe.

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Happy Secession Day 2011

Happy "Tell The State to Go ____ Itself" Day!

Isn't it pathetic that governments pretend to have authority to forbid the use of explosives in celebrating a day which enshrines the right of the people to ignore tyrannical governments and to kill government employees who won't back off?

I suppose the real pathetic thing is that governments do this without consequence.

So, since it has all been said so many times already, how about some links to my comments from years past:

The Declaration of Independence vs. the Declaration of Dependence

Independence means secession- then and now

The perversion of Independence Day

Confession: I Don't Really Like Fireworks

Enjoy the day and exercise any freedoms you still can.

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A very different "Libertopia"

I was doing a web search on my other blog, Dispatches From Libertopia, and came across a very different blog entry by that same name. Once again I am stunned and saddened by a person's ignorance.

Wait, not "ignorance"; by that person's stupidity. Sorry, but "ignorance" isn't intentional, and to say things like "Wherever government is meant to be of by and for the people, to be anti-government always means to be against the people.", and to believe it, is willfully stupid, not ignorant. I found 4 major problems with that sentence, not including punctuation. And that was just the first stink-nugget. It goes even further off-course from there. I didn't waste my time reading all of them.

It would be simple, though time-consuming, to answer each of the 46 (Roman-numbered) points and utterly destroy them. But they aren't even worth the effort.

The blogger clearly confuses (or conflates) "libertarian" with "conservative" (and that isn't the only error in facts, logic, and thinking the author makes) and builds a glorious strawman upon that mistake, reveling in his "progressive" political hatefest as he pathetically attempts to tear down his own failed creation. In some cases even his strawman kicks his butt even as he pretends not to notice. It's sad, really.

If you wish to be stunned, click on the link, but you have been warned. Your mind will reel as you see and mentally refute each point error by error- on several levels if it is more than a couple of words long. Just- WOW!

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National debt

The US government is bankrupt (financially as well as ethically and morally). Everyone knows this and has known it for a very long time. There is an obvious solution.

Close the government; let the employees go find honest jobs, turn off the lights, take down the signs, lock the doors, and divide the assets among the creditors.

Since governments, anywhere of any sort, are not legitimate, no assets go to them (sorry, Chinese government) but only to individuals.

The US government has been stealing from you your entire life- promising "services" today and a future payoff in exchange for your cooperation. You are being lied to.

It's your money and you need it NOW (stealing a line from the TV commercial). The only reasonable solution is to stop the irresponsible governing and take away the option to re-offend. And to make the government make good on its debts. Does the government owe you a few machine guns and HumVees? Yes, it does.

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Patriots not deserving of criticism

Patriots not deserving of criticism (My Clovis News Journal from 5-29-2011, about a local group, the High Plains Patriots. As written, not as [briefly] published)

I'm sure the High Plains Patriots would consider themselves "conservative", rather than libertarian, but I'll bet I'd agree with them on about half of their opinions; those that promote and respect liberty for ALL.

I think about this because I have to admit that, although I am not a fan of using the political method for getting things done, greatly preferring the economic method instead, I admire the spunk of the High Plains Patriots and the way they frustrate the plans of local politicians by forcing their tax and spend schemes to a vote. Anything that irritates those who would rule by fiat amuses me.

I certainly don't agree with the criticisms that the High Plains Patriots are wasting tax money by insisting that the plans of those in government not be imposed unilaterally upon those who will be forced to pay for them. If you are that worried about saving tax money, then stop proposing ways to spend it that the High Plains Patriots and others will insist be voted on. Not that a vote to take and spend your neighbor's money has any validity anyway. Donate your own money, but keep your hand out of the other guy's pocket.

If you have a system in place you use against people to get your own way, you can't be surprised when people use that same system against you, or at least use it in ways you don't like. That includes playing by the rules when those rules are inconvenient, expensive, or when you are scared of the possible outcome. No one is forced to enter politics and risk having their schemes thwarted. Politicians could simply enter the market and gamble with their own money.

It is part of the price of entering politics that the system politicians decided to become a part of is set up with certain rules- rules that really only apply to those who voluntarily join the game- and those rules are not supposed to make life easier for politicians, but to bind them so that it isn't too easy for them to violate the liberty of those they claim to represent (and those they don't).

For those who believe in politics to say that once a politician has been elected, whatever he does is "the voters' will", is dangerous. There must be a "safety switch". One of the least offensive, to most, has been the "safety switch" of putting things to a vote when the politicians would rather you simply go along with their grand designs. Demonize this rather innocuous safety switch too much and more people may decide the whole thing is a scam and join those like me in working toward real liberty.

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PS note: I feel I sometimes send the paper a peacock, and they publish a turkey. Yeah, a newspaper probably isn't the place to get too hung up on the nuances of language, but I take a lot of care in choosing the words I use. I am very unhappy about the way this one was edited, and I mentioned one particular change to the copy editor (not THE editor), but he wouldn't change it back. Oh well, in a month I will post the undamaged original version.

UPDATE: It seems the article has disappeared from the paper's website. I'm not sure if this is a glitch or something more.

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Your "freedom" is not good enough for me

I see it time after time after time. Some person or group declaring themselves to be "for freedom and liberty" denouncing freedom or liberty when the concepts apply to someone the "freedom lovers" dislike.

It could be "illegal immigrants", or Muslims, or homosexuals, or gun owners, or "drug" users, or business owners, or home schoolers, or whistle-blowers, or licensing refusers, or myriad others.

It is hypocrisy of the most cancerous kind.

If you are not for "liberty and justice for ALL", you are NOT for liberty and justice. If you don't respect the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and property, you are not a friend of liberty. Grow up and take responsibility for your hypocrisy and admit your inconsistency. Admit you are nothing but an authoritarian monster. You might as well, because I see through your mask.

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The Good, The Bad, and The Better

A good person is never made better by associating with government but a bad person is usually made even worse. Maybe the occasional bad person will be made slightly better by association with government, but a lateral shift isn't really an improvement. For people who really have no "good" or "bad" compass, I would guess they will always be made worse by association with government.

I think the only refutations that could be seriously attempted would be based upon disagreements over the definitions of "good", "bad", and "better".

A good person who becomes associated with government and gets a government paycheck, for example, is now benefiting from theft. That is no improvement. A good person who becomes associated with government can't help but violate the rights of other people in some way. That is not an improvement.

A bad person might stop stealing or aggressing on his own, but through his association with government he will now be doing those things with official sanction. The only possibility of "better" is if he is now doing those evil acts less frequently than before.

All in all, it seems clear that the best course of action is to steer clear of associating yourself with The State in any way.

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Love, Money, or Accomplishment

In my life I seek love, money, or accomplishment.

I think love and money are clearly out of reach, so what about "accomplishment"?

What is "accomplishment" to me? Not the end of The State. That would be nice, but if that's what it takes for me to feel accomplished I might as well quit now.

I suppose staying true to my principles is a part of it. As well as spreading the love and understanding of liberty to anyone who is interested. Being able to solve problems through the application of libertarian/anarchist ideals feels pretty good, too. Living life without throwing The State at anyone and without using coercion just feels right.

I'm still mulling this one over.

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Pro-life or anti-sex?

I would expect that if my "Staci's Abortion" post gets much traffic it may well serve to expose the anti-sex people who have been masquerading as "pro-life". Since pro-life people should welcome such a development, but anti-sex people will not. Just a guess.

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"Bubble Theory" in Science News?

In the June 18, 2011 issue of Science News, on page 17, (Here's the online link) I read something that bolsters my idea of the Bubble Theory of personal property rights.

"Rather than being learned from parents, a concept of property rights may automatically grow out of 2- to 3-year-olds' ideas about bodily rights, such as assuming that another person can't touch or control one's body for no reason, Friedman proposed." (Emphasis mine)

Yes, it does say "may", but I think it is clear, and not only from this, that property rights grow out of bodily rights and therefore can't be superior to bodily rights.

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Liberty Lines 6-23-2011

(Published in the State Line Tribune)

In case you haven't noticed, the Farwell park needs toilets. If you are like me and have spent much time there, you too have probably seen kids relieving themselves under the picnic tables, or on trees, or behind bushes. Not really an optimal situation.

However, if the only way to get toilets at the park is to use "tax" money, then forget I mentioned it. Nothing is so important it needs to be financed by robbing my neighbors. Any facilities could and should be provided and maintained strictly with private funding.

For that matter, it would be nice if some civic group could completely take over ownership of the park so that it would be entirely privately managed and maintained. I think it could be kept much nicer that way. In other towns I have seen parks owned by private organizations, such as the Lions Club, and they are almost always nicer than government-owned parks in the same towns. Who decided parks should be a government function in the first place?

But, I digress, so back to the subject at hand.

I'm sure there would be some problems if toilets were built. Vandalism? Probably. "Unapproved uses", such as sex, drugs, and "underage" smoking? Probably. Do you think those things don't go on anyway? I pick up garbage at the park for "fun"; I know more about what goes on there than you might imagine. However, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, if it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg it really is none of my business.

If you let private owners exercise their rights of ownership, I'm certain they could provide facilities and find non-governmental solutions to any behaviors they had a problem with. I know I could and surely they would be smarter than me.

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Taking without consent stealing

Taking without consent stealing (Originally published 5-20-2011- As written; not as published.)

Once again I got through another week without feeling the need to attack anyone with physical force. And I survived anyway. Nor did I find it necessary to steal from anyone in order to survive another week. No, really!

Is that surprising? It shouldn't be.

Sure, some people were attacked and stolen from, supposedly on my behalf, but, as always, it was without my consent and it was completely unnecessary. I even witnessed some of these acts from afar as I went about my business.

Also, while no one attacked me or stole from me directly, there are always concealed violations that are said to be socially acceptable to the majority. These are done for "the good of society", by those who have been voted into positions, or by those hired by them, which permit them to get away with acts that would be illegal if you or I decided to go freelance and do them without official permission. These acts are wrong regardless.

Taking a person's private property, including his money, when he would rather keep it for his own purposes, is theft no matter what you call it. Whether it is done in a dark alley, beside the highway, or in a brightly lit office makes no difference to the foundational facts of the act.

The same goes for violating any of his other property rights. As long as a person is not stealing, attacking, or damaging other people's private property, no one has a right to interfere with him. Not by force or by law. Not even because you believe society as a collective would be better off if he were prevented from doing what he is doing, or to prevent him from harming himself. If you don't own yourself and your own life, to do with as you please as long as you harm no other individual, you own nothing.

Sure, I probably expressed some opinions in the past week that offended other people; just as other people expressed some opinions that I found horrific. However, I don't have a right to not be offended, and as long as their opinions don't "break my leg or pick my pocket", to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, then I am unscathed. As are those who interacted with me.

Dispatches From Libertopia

I have begun a new blog: Dispatches From Libertopia.

If you want an upbeat blog from the future, after the fall of The State, give it a visit.

Spelling fun-fail

I constantly text myself notes while I am out and about so that I don't forget spectacular blog ideas while I am out living my life. I've forgotten great (?) stuff before and it really, really, really sucks!

So, recently in one of my self-texts I tried to write the word "comparison". However, when I read what I had written later, I noticed it said "comaprison". What? Coma prison?

Well, if you gotta be imprisoned, I suppose being comatose would make it less dreadful.

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Freedom, caged

Just in case you can't read the sign, it says (in part):

"BALD EAGLE

The Symbol of American freedom

This cage donated by..."

I'm thinking that is more truthful than most Americans would like to admit. Our freedom is caged.

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Liberty is BEAUTIFUL

As I drive from Farwell, Texas to Texico, New Mexico and cross the railroad tracks that intersect the state line between the two, I am struck by something. There is a subtle change as I cross the tracks.

Farwell is nice, in a controlled, subdued white-bread sort of way, but Texico often seems more vibrant and alive. As if it is more free.

As soon as New Mexico is entered (even in this area) you see "colorful" roadside vendors selling fruit, vegetables, Mexican hats, chihuahuas, clothing, pottery, etc. The yards of the residents have chickens and ducks. The artwork and crafts are more brightly colored. There is an air of more liberty and it really hits me: Liberty is beautiful. It is exciting. it is colorful. It is unpredictable and sometimes a tad inconvenient. I LOVE IT!

Maybe it isn't for people who have a dull, gray, out of focus personality. The living dead (or the dying alive) don't care for freedom. They fear it as "chaos". They are pathetic.

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Another reason I could never be a "conservative"

I was talking to a family member this evening and got another look at why I could NEVER be a "conservative".

I had given him my copy of Reason Magazine- the newest issue which is focused on the prison industry; the abuses, the innocent victims, and the harm it is doing. He is a teacher in a prison.

He said he believes Reason looked at a few unfortunate "extreme" cases and ignored the vast majority of cases where the prisoners really are bad people.

He said 200 people out of everyone in prison isn't "too bad". I pointed out that these aren't isolated cases, but that the resources don't exist to really make certain that every prisoner really even did the "crime" [sic] he or she is imprisoned for. I said that even one imprisoned innocent person is too many, and that I'd rather 100 bad guys were set free than see one innocent person sent to jail. He disagreed. He said even if there were 10,000 innocents among all those in prison, that still isn't too bad.

So I said that considering the fact that America imprisons a higher percentage of its population that any other country, does he really think that Americans are the worst people in the world? He said that considering the past few years of his experience, he thinks they might just be.

Makes me wonder how he justifies (and supports) the US military making unending war on Muslim countries based upon the claim that they are bad and we are good if Americans really are "the worst people in the world". In that case, shouldn't we hope the US military loses every war it fights?

(In case you think I focus on "conservatives" too much and give "liberals" a pass, it is just that I know so very few "liberals" in person and so many "conservatives". And the "liberals" I do know around here are too outnumbered by the "conservatives" to make much noise.)

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A Wolfe in need...

Claire Wolfe needs money, so I'm asking anyone who can help her to please do so. Details here.

No kind word goes unhated

Some people. I admit I looked at my second ex-wife's facebook wall. No matter what has happened, I can't stop caring about people I once cared about. It's a weakness.

Anyway, she wrote some things on her "wall" that made me understand that she was talking to the guy she has always been in love with. It seemed to me as if maybe she thought they now had a chance, after all these years, to try again.

I sent her a message expressing my hope that it works out for her this time and that she finds the happiness she deserves. Actually, here is the precise message I sent:

"Hey. I hope it all works out like you hope it does. You deserve a chance at happiness. Good luck!"

Really mean and nasty of me, right?

So, instead of replying, she then posted this: "Think my exhusband may have lost his f***ing mind. I didnt have shit to say to him 9yrs ago. What would make him think i have something to say now. SMH"

Yes, Angel. I know you had nothing to say to me back then. You removed yourself from my life and then sought to hurt me, and succeeded wildly, when I accepted your rejection and went on with my life.

But you know what- I STILL hope things work out for you and you find happiness. You can't make me hate you. So there.

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