The responses to yesterday’s post on Terry and the checkpoint goons — about evenly divided between “Good man, Terry!” and “He really didn’t win” (Or “Good man, Terry! But he really didn’t win”) got me thinking once again about the different styles among Freedom Outlaws. I suspect that this blog tends to attract a big share of Ghosts — people who’d rather quietly — but determinedly — go around Authoritah than confront it. But clearly there are plenty of Agitators hereabouts, also. I’m curious. Which type of Freedom Outlaw best fits you? Ghost? Agitator? Mole? Or Cockapoo? And what actions…
Category: Mind and Spirit
Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.
Click for Part II Three thousand four hundred and fifty-one days after being dragged out of his vehicle & arrested at an illegal roadblock conducted by Tohono O’odham tribal police (with the assistance of U.S. Customs agents and the U.S. Border Patrol), Terry Bressi settled his lawsuit. He received a $210,000 check. From the moment he filed his suit, he fought for exactly 3,087 days — all the while driving in the same area and becoming a target of enforcer rage. It wasn’t a complete victory. No individual officer paid a penalty. No principle of law was changed. Nevertheless, he…
Down the street in a dilapidated little house lives a somber, bedraggled boy. Call him Davy. He recently told me he’s 12 years old; I had figured nine or 10. The house, whose windows are covered with plastic and duct tape and are never opened, holds Davy, Davy’s fat, unprepossessing siblings, and Davy’s harried and vaguely slutty mother. No father of course. Davy has an air of refinement that doesn’t fit. My gut tells me that within a year or two he might be struggling with his sexual identity. But for now one of his biggest problems is that he…
[rant] I was just finishing up a head-banger of an assignment, watching my flat-fee dip to within a few dollars of minimum wage and thinking, “I can’t do this any more. This whole political thing.” Then the email came in. The first thing I noticed was that it was a forward of a forward of a forward, and — standard with these things — my address was one of about 35 on an open cc list. I didn’t know the sender; he and I are merely involved in the same group and some of the others’ names were among those…
Last week you no doubt heard news about the highly successful scam: The Obama administration will pay your utility bills! Just give us your social security number … First thought is what kind of moron would fall for that? Second thought is: a whole nation of morons. Isn’t that exactly how the welfare state works, anyhow? —– Speaking of dumb stuff to fall for, Microsoft is revamping its Office suite. One of the big changes is that it will now store all documents and settings in the cloud by default. (H/T PT for the link.) Nothing against the cloud. I…
I guess there’s always hope. Man recovers sports car that was stolen from him 42 years ago. “The notion of leaving money in private pockets is never considered — perhaps because it would be an unnatural act.” The return of SOPA. Just starve the beast. Bravo, Judy Morris! Now mind you, if you intend (for heaven knows what reason) to link to any page belonging the London 2012 Olympics organization, you’re only allowed to do it if you’re not being mean to them. So, since I know what nice folk you all are, here the link to their terms-of-use page.…
Last night I watched Woman in Black, mostly to see Daniel Radcliffe playing a grownup (which he did well). The movie was powerfully atmospheric and so genuinely scary that a couple of times a chill ran down my spine — which I always thought was only a metaphor. Nevertheless, at bottom it was, like all ghost stories, pretty silly. That, and the much-less-good ghost movie The Innkeepers, got me thinking. Ghost stories are always all about atmosphere — ivy-choked Victorian mansions, Olde New England inns, mossy graveyards, mists and fogs and shadows — all the usual stuff. Which usually serves…
What John Venlet says. Joel over at The Ultimate Answer to Kings (now at its own domain name, joelsgulch.com) is in dire need of a new prosthetic leg — which the good old U.S. health-care system has priced way, way out of his reach. I know Joel. I know how long he’s suffered with his old leg, despite benefactors having bought a much better foot for him a few years back. I’ve seen the sores on his stump with my own eyes. I know how the manual labor that brings in his small living is hurting the hell out of…
Chortle! Pro-gunners use gun buyback program to fund a shooting camp. (Tip o’ hat to PT.) Best explanation yet of the LIBOR scandal and its implications. Or are we suffering too much scandal fatigue to care? Here’s James Howard Kunstler’s take: “All this points to a dangerous new period of political history, a deadly Hobbesian scramble to evade the falling timber in a burning house as the rudiments of a worldwide social contract go up in flames.” Agree or not, the man writes like a demon. Yet another reason to avoid airports. I am not delusional enough. Talk about local…
Summer comes suddenly in these parts, often turning up (as it did this year) after a relentlessly cold, wet spring. I once heard an explanation about it — something to do with a high-pressure ridge offshore that has to build up a certain amount of … oh, something or another. But once it does … whatever it has to do … man, it’s glorious. It might only be glorious for a week, but it’s a brilliant week. That’s this week. So along with everyone else in the neighborhood, I’ve been outside hammering and painting. When I’m not out “working” on…