By Nathan Barton
Can government preserve itself in space? Can the “new frontier” be more reliably controlled than the frontier of the Old West or the Seven Seas for centuries?
Among other things, it is a matter of scope. Which is one reason that liberty, freedom, survived as long as it did in the American West and a few other places (like the Gobi and Sahara and the Outback and Amazonia). (Open space is not an absolute guarantee of freedom, as Siberia and the Northwest Territories demonstrates, but that is another discussion.) The vastness of space even just here in the Solar System is a daunting challenge to government control. (You might not be able to hide in space, but it can be pretty hard to get to you.)
Indeed, governments have always had a difficult time keeping control of wilderness and frontier areas – with or without technology. For millennia, governments could not “keep the peace” even a few miles out to sea. You could see the ships of smugglers, pirates, rebels, and just ordinary folks for leagues and leagues, but… Catching them was a very different matter. Continue reading

A taste of his own medicine
By Nathan Barton
It seems that the media, Tranzis, “libertarians,” and a whole host of folks are attacking Veep Mike Pence. His behavior and his ideas are inexcusable, and suitable for making fun of, criticizing, and using to show what a worthless and despicable piece of scum he is.
What could possibly cause this reaction? Is it his playing second fiddle to The Donald? Is it the new administration’s carrying on the terrorist war on terror in the Middle East? Is it the evil of approving the Keystone XL pipeline application? His casting a deciding vote to consent to appointing that eater-of-children Betsy deVos to the Secretary of Education job?
No, none of these evils are enough to raise the ire of the people screaming (and texting and tweeting and twittering and snapchatting) about Mike Pence of Indiana right now.
It is because he has some ideas (very decidedly strange ideas for 2017) about the obligations he has to his wife. And tries to live up to them.
First off, it is bad enough that all he has is a wife – and has only had just the one. Not a husband, not a dog, not TWO wives (preferably at the same time, but even sequentially would be better than THIS!), no paramours, lemans, mistresses, pretty-boys, or anything else.
But! Continue reading →