I’m thinking today about the next “big” piece I want to write (either for this blog or for the print edition of Backwoods Home). So I won’t have too much to say until my brain works that out. The piece will be based on Albert Jay Nock’s concept of freedom lovers as something like the biblical “remnant,” expounded in his essay “Isaiah’s Job.” If you follow that link, you’ll see that the copy of “Isaiah’s Job” I chose (there are copies all over the ‘Net) is on the site of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons — a damnfine…
Author: Claire
Declan McCullagh reveals everything we need to know — with links upon links upon links — about the alleged privacy of the census. Heck, and I thought my zip-lining experience was spectacular! Okay, so this is how these kids get to school. Now, how do they get back? Will wonders never cease? An on-duty cop is caught driving drunk — and gets treated like you or I would! And, if you can stomach it, the Wall Street Journal sums up the political deals Pelosi and the Obamistas made in the last few days before the health care vote. So much…
“Tonight’s vote is not a victory for any one party [Obama said] … It’s a victory for the American people, and it’s a victory for common sense.” In a reference to his 2008 campaign slogan, Obama added, “This is what change looks like.” Scary. —– In addition: The magnificently astute Glenn Greenwald has a spot-on take on the new power of special-interest groups in the Obama establishment. Why the largest health-care labor union so desperately lobbied for the Dreaded Law. (Hint: It had nothing to do with health. Or care.) Finally, here’s the former director of the Congressional Budget Office…
Monday’s coming a little early. Posting this Sunday night, just after learning the Dreadful Bill has been inflicted upon us. No-brainer Nostradamus: The Rs will sweep to victory in November promising to repeal the ghastly law. Then they won’t. How is it possible that Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are the only three people in the world who can’t see that the Dems have toasted themselves by doing this thing to us? Along those lines, here’s an unusually good article from a usually not-so-good source, the Weekly Standard: “Dead Congress Walking.” Post-passage PR. Obama plans a three-part, multi-year blitz to persuade…
Reading editorials like this one (which are coming from even some mainstream, left-leaning news sources as the health-care abortion comes closer to being performed upon the American population) inspires me to a new political slogan: Democrats: The only party that can make Republicans look good. Only problem is, which party should use it? Oh, the choices … —– While on the subject of the odious health-care bill and dirty tactics, here’s a pretty good whupping from Peggy Noonan, too. I sure do like her style.
Wow. 50 “wrong house raids” — on the same house! Really surprised the old couple who lives there hasn’t died of fright yet. Of course, the cops aren’t to blame. (Oh, never that!) It’s the computers, you know. —– CORRECTION: My original post said “150 raids.” Either I misread or the original article was later corrected. Mea culpa. Only 50 wrong raids. Well … that’s okay then …
Okay, I’ve missed a few “Monday Miscellany” posts. So here’s some Thursday Miscellany to make up for that. We already know that even mild pressure from authority figures can make most people commit evil acts. And we know that placing ordinary people in authority over helpless others can be just as disastrous. (Although some skeptics question specifics of that experiment). Now, a French documentarian shows us that the power of TV can do the same. Humans are scary critters. On the other hand, it’s amazingly good news when the most mainstreamy of mainstream media suddenly gives respectful treatment to the…
Panama. That’s where I was for most of the last month, as several people astutely guessed. I went because it’s freezing here and warm there. That was nice. I went to recharge my batteries, as Kevin Wilmeth put it. I went to play tourist. I went … just to go. And I went to answer the question, “Can I be more free outside the U.S.?” A lot of Americans have expatriated or retired to Panama, including a few I know. Some have urged me to head down that way and have a look, saying they found the place much freer,…
Got a bitterly amusing voice mail last night. It was forwarded to me as an MP3 file by Rich Lucibella, publisher of S.W.A.T. magazine (for which, oddly enough, I write; Rich and editor Denny Hansen are terrific people). Anyhow, my latest S.W.A.T. article is called “Proudly Redneck.” It points out that in this veddy, veddy PC age, the one group it’s still socially acceptable to stereotype is “rednecks” — crackers, rubes, hayseeds. You know, us country folk. The article opens with eight bad old racial or ethnic slurs that no polite person uses these days and goes on to ask…
HOME! Waking up in the tropics, then struggling home through a blinding snowstorm 26 hours later is not fair! Not fair at all! But thank heaven for heroically dedicated friends; I didn’t have to drive myself that last crazy six hours. Why is every mainstream media article about the census a propaganda piece that could have been written by flacks at the Census Bureau? And why does every one of them repeat the lie about “just 10 questions”? Sure, there are merely 10 questions for people who live alone, but there are seven additional questions for each other resident —…