Mind and Spirit – Page 42

These are the times that try men’s souls

Published June 24, 2016 11:00 am by Claire

Thomas Paine wrote those words after the shooting had already begun at Lexington and Concord, after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a fact that always surprises me. We tend to think that by that time, the game was on, lines were irrevocably crossed, and everybody who was going to take a side and get involved was already committed. But not quite so.

—–

We of course haven’t even had our Lexington moment yet and frankly I pray we never do. Even in the best cases (and the American Revolution was certainly one of those), shooting wars ultimately play into the hands of the most wily statists. Who shoots first, shoots straightest, has the biggest weaponry, or has “God on their side” doesn’t always determine how free people are once the smoke has cleared.

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A little good news

Published June 13, 2016 9:43 am by Claire

Because the MSM (and of course most of the gunblogosphere) is currently “all murder, all the time,” I thought a bit of good news was in order (courtesy of MJR). Seems recently the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife “requested” access to a creekside property to survey for some frog you’ve never heard of. The homeowners said yes. That is, they said yes … BUT. I think their response will cheer you. —– (And if you need a laugh booster shot later in the day, come back to the blog after noon. Got another funny queued up for you.)

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Friday Freedom Question: Risks taken, risks not taken

Published June 10, 2016 10:15 am by Claire

I was thinking this morning about risks — about the chances we take … or don’t take. Not so much risks like whether to shoot for that Xtreme skateboard move or play it safe. But the big, potentially life-changing risks. Oh, sure, the skateboard move or the jump out of the plane or whatever can also be life-changing. It could squish your ribcage or your pelvis, not to mention your brain. Or it could tell you you have more courage than you knew, courage you could use for good in the rest of your life. But I’m thinking more of…

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Tuesday links

Published June 7, 2016 11:12 am by Claire

Sigh. It had to happen. One faction in the cannabis legalization movement sics the cops on another faction that it perceives as cutting into its profits. Piggery all around. “But we’re different, right?” asks Y.B. ben Avraham, on the subject of hating Jews. Well, yes, that’s almost exactly how it is being a writer. Except they forgot to add smoking three packs a day* and finding clever strategems (like counting the perforations on the acoustic tiles in the ceiling) to avoid actual, you know, work. (H/T jed in comments) Seventeen movies that bombed at the box office then went on…

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Dear Universe: Please take your “gifts” elsewhere

Published June 3, 2016 2:03 am by Claire

I awoke a few days ago to a project list longer than any I’ve had since before JPFO got sold off to Gottlieb.

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You can fool enough of the people all the time

Published May 25, 2016 10:56 am by Claire

It was the premise of the Politico article that drew me in. It was the claim that politics of 2030 would be shaped by the ghastly presidential election of 2016. There would be big changes to come.

Given the tumult of the times, I don’t doubt that one bit. The contest between The Hillary and The Donald, and all the odd and shifting v*ter alignments and policy preferences around it, is bound to reverberate into the future. It’s something I’ve thought a lot about. I wondered if others were coming to similar conclusions. So I read.

And read. It’s quite a long article.

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Friday links

Published May 20, 2016 11:02 am by Claire

The barefoot one didn’t manage to freeze Mama. Reading this article, I’m not sure whether Colton Harris-Moore is a naive young kid or a crass hustler who’s going to head right straight for trouble again when they release him from prison this summer. “This Bud’s for you, America.” Another one to read mainly because it’s by George Will, who writes like a barbed angel. The whole business with Budweiser’s temporary name change is as pathetic as it is cynical. Why are house prices soaring across this Great Land of Budweiser? One guess. When headlines lie: “American Airlines is fed up…

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The Trust Conundrum

Published May 17, 2016 10:54 am by Claire

Deciding when and whether to give trust is one of those endless dilemmas of the freedom movement. Well, of life, too, of course. But the decision to trust — or not — becomes a lot more vital when you might be doing something Authoritah disapproves of.

On the Internet, you’ll find a lot of pat advice about how to bestow trust — or not. Tell people only what they need to know. Isolate suspected informers. Etc. I’ve written some of that advice myself and read more of it. Some of the advice is sound, some stupid.

Ahem, mine of course is always of the sound variety. But speaking of stupid …

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Kid etiquette (and a good neighborhood)

Published May 14, 2016 10:57 am by Claire

I love my neighborhood. In many ways, it’s like what we think neighborhoods were in the olden days (but probably really weren’t). I had an “olden days” moment yesterday. Not in the idyllic sense, but in the sense that anybody in the neighborhood can give a troublesome kid what-for and parents will back that up. I was sitting in the sun room, enjoying the respite after a day of painting and ripping down old siding when — whap! — something thumped the wall next to me. I knew immediately what it was and who did it. Sure enough, I went…

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Wendy’s new book: “Rape Culture” is only the beginning

Published May 11, 2016 2:16 am by Claire

I saw a week or so ago that Wendy McElroy has published a new book. Rape Culture Hysteria.

I admit that, because I’m sick unto death of social-justice pecksniffs, ivory-tower radicals, elitists who sneer down their noses at the rest of us while unable to navigate the real world for themselves, and the thuggish Melissa Click types who now personify academia (academia being the major home of rape-culture hysteria), my first reaction was to tune the book out even though everything Wendy writes is always worthwhile. Then I noticed the much more hopeful subtitle: “Fixing the damage done to men and women.”

Yeah, that needs doing. And Wendy is just the person to analyze the problem and suggest sensibly individualist solutions. Turns out the scope of this new book is wider than the title implies.

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Category: Mind and Spirit