- You saw the recent, all-too-true cartoon The 24 Types of Libertarians. Embarrassingly funny. Well, here’s the remix: The 24 Types of Authoritarians. Also true. But not so personally embarrassing.
- Yeah. Right. The Obama White House is reaching out to business in a desperate, pre-election attempt to “end tensions.” But you know darned well that, if anything at all comes of the effort, it’ll be nothing more than the usual favors to big business. More competition-killing regulations. More subsidies. More strategically targeted taxes. More you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch yours. Hey, Obama: You want to really do something for business? Get the government the heck out of entrepreneurs’ way.
- Along those lines, David Brooks says in a different way what free-marketeers have been saying all along: That those favors to established big biz hurt the real doers and job creators. The way he puts it is new, though: princes (and princesses) vs grinds. (N.Y. Times link; may require registration.) Amazing to see anybody as mainstreamy as Brooks express that thought.
- Per J.F. once again: The scholarly magazine that published Michael Bellesiles latest suspect claims is belatedly investigating the facts.
- Per Pat: The fedgov is trying to keep the folks whose ancestors invented lacrosse from traveling internationally to play lacrosse. No matter how this issue turns out (and today is apparently the deciding day) it’s a sad & interesting story of nations within nations. And the desire for sovereignty and identity. And the loss of freedom.
- Gary North on unpublished writers asking published ones for critiques. Yup.
- In Arizona, the cameras are finally coming down — or at least being shut off for now. Something most people didn’t know: Arizona was putting private camera-contractors illegally into official law enforcement vehicles. That cost one man his life and now might cost the state millions of dollars. (Via Freedom’s Phoenix.)
- It’s always nice to close with a joke. Question is — is this a joke — or not? Hm. It would certainly help explain why so many TSA thugs you meet are busting the seams of their uniforms.
Greatly as I enjoyed The 24 Types of Authoritarians, I was surprised it missed the only kind of statist that really matters: the plutocrats who run government as a profit-taking enterprise. Who always have, and always will – so long as we tolerate the lie that is external governance.
As for Michael Belleisles, I can understand why he’d lie about early American firearms ownership. But why would he need to lie about the evils of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan? All you need to understand what terrible ideas those are is some knowledge of military history and a smidgen of common sense.
I loved the two 24 Types. I came away feeling a little schizophrenic but that’s fun sometimes too.
The 24 Libertarians were missing a few and I was a little offended at the generalizations, but I guess it was joke, so I should get over it.
In Frith,
Devin
Claire,
I wonder how many readers know that today is BASTILLE DAY – July 14th.
Bastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, which marked the uprising of a modern nation – A french version of our Independence Day
I remember reading Tale of Two Cities when I was in either 8th or 9th grade. It sure made an impression on me about how people CAN stand against tyranny and oppression IF they stand together and *STORM THE BASTILLE*,
We, the American people, who shout to the world that we are FREE are really a People under the cloud of DELUSION. We are no more free than those dogs chained up to a post in the back yard. Like the chained up Pit Bull, we make a lot of noise but we only have a short chain that limits how far we can move about. Is that FREEDOM? Not in my book.
Freedom to me is the way things were when I was a child and could come and go anywhere I pleased. I wasn’t restrained by markers or rules. When my folks had their Western Road Show and traveled all over the South and Midwest – when that ended and we then began the trek out West moving from one job to another (my Daddy became an electrician and worked for the REA) – I would take off in the mornings and walk from farm to farm, playing with the kids, eating lunch with them, and then towards the late afternoon I would head back to the farm my folks were working at. I did that in Minn., Wisc, South Dakota, Idaho and that was FREEDOM!!! I didn’t need a government provided mode of transportation, I had my own two feet.
Yesterday I was talking with my nutritionist about how little most folks today know of how to survive when the electricity goes off. They have moved into places that have no alternative ways to cook or heat. They have no gardens – no canned foods, no wood stoves (and most wouldn’t have a clue how to cook anything on a wood stove much less bake bread , pies, cakes), no oil lamps. I lived with all that – no indoor plumbing, no refrigeration.
For instance, right now, the phone is out here so I have no DSL or phone service. I can survive nicely without either – it is nice to have but it isn’t a necessity of my life. Granted I don’t have the wood stove here or a running stream to cool things in but I always had those when I had my own property. It is something that I always looked at when I would be purchasing a newer place to live. It used to be a joke when I lived in Washington that if power and such is lost for any time at all (we did have lengthy power outages up there in the winter) just get to Jackie’s house because she will have heat – warm food – and things to do. I actually found a peace when the power would go out. It would be QUIET. Like how I love the ‘Silence of Snow’ in winter.
So, what are you doing this Bastille Day? Will you give some thought to FREEDOM? Pick a number from one to ten – Ten being the MOST FREE, One the least. What’s your number of Freedom today in this OCCUPIED NATION we are living in? Be honest. Think HARD – name ONE thing you can do that isn’t regulated in some way by government? No, dying isn’t one as even in death there are rules and regulations and fees placed on your death. Breathing? nope – EPA and all the other environmental rules affect that too. You are still free to THINK but be careful of what you THINK and who you tell it to as that may well put you on the government terrorist list and NO-FLY list. And let us not forget the new RACIST LIST that this administration is pushing HARD.
During my discussion yesterday with my nutritionist, she suggested that I write a piece on my dreams and my vision. We always get into the most interesting conversations and she has long encouraged me to write such things, just as many others have wanted me to write my memoirs. Not sure why as my life was just an ordinary life to me, filled with lots of learning of things, people and places all over America. Not just visiting but living close to the soil – learning how farm families really lived because we would be there for a few weeks and then move on to the next place to learn more. I saw an America that was far more free and loving and RESPONSIBLE than what is out there today.
My folks were poor – really poor according to todays standards but I never felt poor in all my life. I grew up with a love and appreciation for the things that God gave for us to enjoy. I still to this day truly love to sit and watch the animals, the birds, the plant life, and I do miss those mountains in the Pacific Northwest. Those are the things that GOD set before me to enjoy and they don’t cost one cent. I never had any desire to keep up with or get ahead of *The Joneses*. I never enjoyed *shopping*. I am not a *shopper* except for those things I NEED – read that NEED and not WANT. I do not need fancy clothes or houses or cars or furniture. I am more than satisfied with those items that are practical and usable – not just to look pretty for others but off limits to the family to really ‘use’. I do not and haven’t lived *beyond my means* – just not my nature to do so.
When I take a trip I am not inclined to stop at the man made tourist spots – they really do not interest me at all. I enjoy the scenery that God made for me to use and admire. I guess that is because I am content in who I am. For the most part I have been that way all my life… a small exception here and there but overall it is true.
So, again I ask – What are you doing this BASTILLE DAY?
Many of you know that I spent my first 15 years riding and loving my Daddy’s horse, Rex. Rex was an Arabian Stallion that Daddy got as a colt and trained him to do hundreds of tricks. He was a featured part of the Western Road show my folks had. (www.jackcase.com) Arabians are a very loving and protective horse and Rex seemed to take me as his personal kid to care for since I was the child of his master. I’ve heard stories of when I was first crawling around and Rex would be staked out at some location I could be found sound asleep on the ground with Rex standing guard over me. No one except my folks could get near me at those times. Later Daddy taught me some trick riding and also rope tricks and due the talent of Rex I got to do quite a few tricks pretty good. I loved riding bareback (that World Round championship, silver mounted saddle Daddy won was too heavy for me to lift so I only used it when Daddy would put it on Rex for me. I really preferred to ride bareback as I could slide off and on, Indian style, and when the other kids who had horses and we would RIDE the dirt streets of Hawaiian Gardens, I would ride under the pepper trees and grab a limb and swing up into the tree and Rex would go like the wind to lead my chasers on a false trail.. then he would come back and stand under the tree for me to drop down on his back and off we would go – FREE.
That is being FREE – living FREE – THINKING FREE. Today, even though I do not have my own dream property – a few hundred acres with livestock, chickens, gardens and fruit trees – I live on it in my mind. I am not bound by slave thoughts – I am a free thinker and I live as free as I always did. I do not bow down to Gog and Magog. My Spirit is FREE and only God has any authority over my Spirit.
So, WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS BASTILLE DAY????? Counting your FREEDOMS or the links in your CHAINS?
Jackie Juntti
WGEN idzrus@earthlink.net
http://www.grassrootsgranny.com