David Gross posted this intriguing announcement at the Living Freedom Forums. I reprint it here with his permission and add a couple of comments below. —– Summary: The Society of the Free and Easy is a self-directed, peer-supported process for becoming a more flourishing and effective person while enriching the culture around you. You’re invited to join. Benjamin Franklin is famed for his remarkable scientific and technological discoveries, his many diplomatic and political achievements, his publishing and journalism, his practical philosophical acumen, and his many contributions to the public good. How did he do it? When he was young, he…
14 CommentsMonth: July 2019
Happy post-Independence Day. Never mind that post-independence might be all to apt a description. —– I’ve been thinking about religion more than politics these days and contemplating my possible irrelevance. This post begins with religion, but it’s about the larger picture. And freedom; as usual, everything’s about freedom. Inspired by books like Barrie Wilson’s How Jesus Became Christian, Stephen Stoeller’s comprehensive insider’s look at gnosticism, and the works of Karen King, Bart Ehrman, Elaine Pagels, and too many others to name, my mind has been in the past — and not the past of rousing revolutions or ringing statements of…
11 CommentsThese quotes came in this morning via email from the outstanding LibertyTree.ca. I don’t agree with all the sentiments, and alas I don’t believe the speakers or writers of the words always agreed with themselves, either. Two of them were, after all, politicians and one of them made government bigger and meaner than it already was. Still … Happy Independence (what’s left of it) Day. —– “No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding…
11 CommentsI’m a few days late with the news, but Justin Raimondo has died — and that’s one heck of an obituary for one heck of an activist life. Today’s most unsurprising news: NYPD joins the ranks of police outfits planting evidence to meet arrest quotas. Humboldt County, California, issues peremptory fines to people who might be growing pot — even if they’re actually growing peaches or tomatoes. “The Boomers Ruined Everything.” The title is inflammatory. The article has a point — and a damned good one — but most of the problems it cites preceded us boomers. Our generation only…
6 CommentsMy guest departed Sunday morning after a week’s stay. He was a courteous and easy guest (who, contrary to the “fish and guests” rule, became easier as time went on). But … well, I’m a hermit. If I wasn’t born one, time and solitude have made me one — and a contented one, indeed. I’d be reveling in having homespace to myself again, were it not for a sudden second dental emergency urgency that not only hurts but may mean my summer construction plans all get swallowed by my misbehaving mouth. This is no mere cavity, but a potential major…
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