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Bonus miscellany

Stuff I’ve been collecting for use in larger essays that I’ve decided just to toss out here:

  • Found this while researching the history of the Fourth Amendment for a S.W.A.T. magazine article: “In praise of John Wilkes: how a filthy, philandering dead-beat helped secure British–and American–liberty.”
  • Overall freedom rankings by state. To be taken with a grain of salt, of course. Your personal freedom doesn’t depend on your state’s. But it’s interesting. Especially for anybody seeking a new place to live.
  • Ego-boo. Look what I found at #10 on a list of 1214 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Ahem. I don’t usually hang out in company with Strindberg, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and Homer.

12 Comments

  1. dsd
    dsd June 8, 2011 11:14 am
  2. Kent McManigal
    Kent McManigal June 8, 2011 2:40 pm

    I’ll add a bit to your miscellany: First of all, my “vitriolic” commentary on cops – Copsuckers, Mobsters and You the Citizen and then the reaction from some cop deep in denial- The sovereign movement.
    I think they found the essay due to the fact it originally had the word “sovereign” in the title, although I didn’t have anything to do with that title and didn’t even mention the word in the essay.

    And congrats on making the list. I scanned down past #50 and yours was the only book I saw which I have read.

  3. Karen
    Karen June 8, 2011 3:24 pm

    Nice job making the list! I knew you could do it!
    Interesting stats on the states ratings. My “nanny state” actually did quite well. I knew I felt free and safe here for the most part, but try convincing anyone else.

  4. naturegirl
    naturegirl June 8, 2011 8:20 pm

    Number 10 is pretty cool….congrats on that!

    I’m kinda surprised that Wyoming was so far down some of the Freedom lists…..

  5. Standard Mischief (dot) com
    Standard Mischief (dot) com June 9, 2011 8:21 am

    OK, I recognized only two titles in the 2000s, and of those two the one I actually read, I read back in 1999 (after picking it up at a fun show)

  6. Scott
    Scott June 9, 2011 9:17 am

    1,211 books to go for me. I wouldn’t have thought any Northeastern state would’ve made it high on the freedom list-or, for that matter, few east of the Mississippi. As far as Kentucky goes, it really depends on what part of the state you’re in. Same for Florida(or when I lived there).

  7. naturegirl
    naturegirl June 9, 2011 7:04 pm

    dsd ~ have you seen the Miami Beach video yet? (The one where the cop smashed the phone?)

    Can’t get to it right now to get the entire link, it’s on guns.com (I think)……

  8. Jim B.
    Jim B. June 9, 2011 7:29 pm

    You may be interested in this quote by Robert A Heinlein:

    “I also think there are prices too high to pay to save the United States. Conscription is one of them. Conscription is slavery, and I don’t think that any people or nation has a right to save itself at the price of slavery for anyone, no matter what name it is called. We have had the draft for twenty years now; I think this is shameful. If a country can’t save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say: Let the damned thing go down the drain!”
    — Robert A. Heinlein

  9. Jim B.
    Jim B. June 9, 2011 8:52 pm

    Here’s another one:

    “The price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.”
    — Robert A. Heinlein

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