Now, that’s some valedictorian. High school girl uses her moment at the podium to slam the philosophy and practice of government schooling — and even cites John Taylor Gatto. And Mencken. Maybe there’s hope yet.
Category: Privacy and self ownership
Owning our own information and telling Big Brother to get lost
Having already posted my whoo-hoo news, I’ll keep today’s miscellany short. More on the ringing declaration on the failure of the drug war from those most authoritative medical and public-health sources. Some insights into why such a vital statement is being resoundingly ignored. Still … there’s progress. For the first time, a federal agency is condoning medical cannabis. Well. Kinda, sorta. (Via Freedom’s Phoenix.) Speaking of progress … Over how many years and how many times has somebody announced that encrypting our phone calls would soon be as easy and cheap as encrypting our emails? Maybe it’s finally happening. “Thinking…
In the great movie The Shawshank Redemption, Brooks Hatlen, the prison librarian (James Whitmore), is the totally institutionalized man. He’s carved out his safe little niche. He no longer knows how to survive outside the walls — and he realizes he’s unfit for the real world. Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), on the other hand, is always and emphatically his own man. He is never owned by the prison, even as he’s subject to the prison system’s every whim. No matter what’s done to him, his inner strength holds him steady. “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman) stands between them. He’s the guy…
Oh yes. Having centralized, government-managed online ID would be a great way to end Identity theft. You betcha. And it would give such a boost to e-commerce because everybody knows the fedgov is far more trustworthy and more concerned for your privacy than Amazon.com or eBay could ever be. And — of course! — your government-managed online ID would be voluntary. Strictly and always voluntary. And you can believe that with all your heart. Because “We’re from the government and we’re here to help you escape your dangerously ‘outdated’ decentralized logins.” Biggest load of codswallop I’ve read all week. And…
Today in 1943, “pay-as-you-go” income-tax withholding began. (Oh thank you, Milton Friedman.) Today in 2004, Marlon Brando died, age 80. There was probably no connection between the two, but I have friends who could spin conspiracies proving me wrong. Today is also the day the Battle of Gettysburg began (1863). I had a Confederate cavalry re-enactor friend who, with his comrades, almost won that battle once. It was very embarrassing for the event organizers. Not to mention the Union troops. —– The wind has been howling more than usual lately. Making me crazy. Makes me dream of northwest forests. But…
Can our Dear Leaders actually put a “kill switch” on the Internet? No doubt, they’d love to. No doubt, if uber-authoritarian Joe Lieberman has his way, they’ll set up a plan to do exactly that. But is it possible? Or is this just more wishful thinking from powermad damnfools who believe the Internet is “a series of tubes”? Denny Hansen, my editor at S.W.A.T. magazine, has asked me to write an article on that subject. I have opinions. But they’re of the “everybody has one” variety. I have a little bit of knowledge. But I know this blog is read…
Y’all may know that I have a friend named Debra. Some of you know her. She used to be an officer in the Free State Project. She was a founding member of The Claire Files Forums (now the Mental Militia Forums). Today, instead, she has a life. If you know Debra, you know that she’s definitely Debra. Or Deb. Never, ever Debbie. But she told me a story the other day that surprised me. It’s a simple story about a name. But it speaks more volumes than the Encyclopedia Britannica (since Wikipedia, though much bigger, doesn’t have volumes). She gave…
I know this is last week’s news and it’s already gotten a fair bit of circulation. But I think it’s worth a second read. Or a third: “Warning: Crash dead ahead. Sell. Get liquid. Now.” Paul B. Ferrell. I know that much doom-gloom needs to be taken with a healthy sprinkling of salt. But you do gotta wonder when we’re finally going to teeter over this brink we’ve been wobbling on. “The part of me the Watchers couldn’t see.” Encouraging. And apropos of nothing except a coincidence of wording (and some evils of government), I’m currently re-reading one of my…
Total follies: How wonderful! The federal government is going to pay for Medicaid expansion so we won’t have to. Seriously. If allegedly astute commentators spew stuff like that, it’s no wonder that 24 percent of Americans believe the fedgov has its own money supply, completely independent of taxpayers. (And we’re not talking about the famous printing press here.) And hey, while we’re still partying along on other people’s money, how about lifetime mortgages in which the principal is never paid? In the old days, I do believe we’d have called that “rent.” But Aussies are apparently up for it. And…
Okay, we all knew the Wall Street regulatory bill wasn’t really going to regulate Wall Street. And we could be sure that the new “consumer protection” bureaucracy the bill proposes wasn’t going to protect consumers, right? But there was still a shoe that hadn’t dropped. We hadn’t yet heard about the inevitable something in the bill, the teeny, tiny little let’s-not-mention-this provision that would turn out to be the real purpose of the upcoming new law. The shoe has struck. Via LRC.com, here it is: The bill, if it becomes law, would create the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and…