Whom do we believe? And when?

Posted on 2017-03-02 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Every day, we see or read or hear news stories, from locally, our region, the Fifty States, and around the world.

Sometimes, especially for local stories, we see something that is just not right: sometimes not quite right, and sometimes totally wrong.  Is this an error or a lie?

Sometimes, it is both.

It isn’t just the mainstream media.  And certainly not just the “alt-media” or the blogosphere or web- or urban-legends.

In the past few years, I have attended many hearings, and public meetings, and even been in court, and then a few hours or days later, read a report or heard a news story about what was said and done in those gatherings.  And I have been involved in bad situations: accidents, spills, fires, and such; seen for myself what was going on.  And then, again, read or heard something.  And asked myself what meeting or event was the media reporting on?  It didn’t sound or read very much like what I saw and heard (or did) at the the time. Continue reading →

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Oh, you evil, EVIL polluters!

Posted on 2017-03-02 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

We’ve all been there or heard about it.  The family member who grew up on snail-mail and has to print out every e-mail (and would probably print out every text message from their phone, and every Twitter, if they could).  And we’ve all read that warning (or request) that we save resources by not printing “this message.”

But now, according to the WaPo (assuming we can believe IT) reports that French regulators are telling businesses to help protect the environment by sending less e-mail!  They cite the government website, but since I don’t read French, I can’t tell for sure. Apparently, the authorities’ effort is both instigated by, and supported by, the various liberal, progressive, environmental, and allied groups that have so seriously damaged French and European society.

Let’s look at this a bit more.  Is it really a problem?  And what is the motive? Continue reading →

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Private Property?

Posted on 2017-03-01 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

What is private property? What defines it as private? Why is that important?

Just another “food for thought” item. Your comments are welcome!

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Food for Thought #3

Posted on 2017-02-27 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

Interesting discussion of the first two items, so maybe these questions will ring a few more bells.

Is theft and extortion ever justified? When, if ever, is a tax not theft? Does it make any difference what tax loot is used for?

Your comments are most welcome.

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In Case You are Curious

Posted on 2017-02-25 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

The picture at the top of the page was taken in the spring a few years ago. That is the view from my back deck, a breathtaking expanse of the grasslands to the west. The rainbow was a wonderful bonus that day, and had actually been a lot more spectacular earlier… which sent me fumbling to put the batteries in my camera. One of these days, I’ll buy a better camera!

Today, of course, that view is very different. It snowed all day yesterday.

deckview800

But spring is coming! The wild rabbits are doing their mating dance, and there will be lots and lots of baby rabbits in another month or so. The deer have all dropped their fawns by now, carefully hidden until they get a bit stronger, and I look forward to seeing them romp and run over the new grass. The antelope fawns will drop in April and May, but they are quite shy and I don’t expect to see many of them before full summer.

Counting the days…

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Food for Thought #2

Posted on 2017-02-25 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

Yesterday, I asked readers to contemplate who actually owns their lives, and who has legitimate authority over them. That is a very deep and complex subject, especially if you’ve never actually considered it before. That question, and whatever answer a person comes up with, is a vital foundation to understanding themselves and the world around them.

Today’s question is similar.

If you don’t accept complete ownership of your own life, and recognize the authority you have over yourself, your choices and actions, to what or to whom do you give that authority and ownership?

And yes, kudos to those who instantly recognize the trick question here. How can you give power and authority over yourself to someone/something else if you didn’t originally have it yourself? If you believe you never owned yourself, or never had authority over your life… how does that work? Who/what does own you?

Your comments are most welcome, as always.

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Food For Thought #1

Posted on 2017-02-24 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

I won’t argue with anyone much these days. Over the years, I’ve found it pretty much a waste of time. Most of us get defensive if our ideas or way of life is challenged, so in the last few years I tend to ask simple questions, and leave people alone after that to answer them in their own mind… if they want to. So, I’m going to post a few of those questions, one at a time, here in my blog. I urge you to give them some serious thought, give your answer in comments if you wish, and ask them in your own conversations about life and liberty.

Who owns your life? Who has legitimate authority over your life?

Remember… I’m not here to argue. Your answer is your answer. But I’d be interested to learn what that means to you and how you carry it out in the “real world.”

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Movies, society, and liberty

Posted on 2017-02-21 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Movies are an important part of American culture and society, and have been for a century. It is hard to imagine that at once time (and as late as the 1940s), many religious Americans believed that the movies, even more than the live theatre before them, were a sinful and corrupting product which damaged society. In part this was based on the idea that actors are “lying” – that they are pretending to be what they are not, that they are telling a story which is fictional, and that much of what they say is lies. (Yeah, things haven’t changed much as far as actors, writers, and producers are concerned, eh?) Another reason was that actors and the other crew seems to be as immoral as the “legitimate” actors who preceded them. Indeed, Lucas didn’t have to go far to find a model for Mos Eisley Spaceport as “the most wretched hive of scum and villainy” in the galaxy. Continue reading →

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Do people “deserve” liberty?

Posted on 2017-02-15 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Do people “deserve” liberty? I have just been embroiled in a heartbreaking situation, one of a series. Without going into detail and thereby creating problems of privacy and decency, bear with me a minute.

An older married couple (late 50s) have three children: two are adult, married and with children – away from home. The third, a son, is sixteen and in all kinds of trouble: dealing in drugs and associating with gangs, and on parole for stealing and wrecking a car (owned by other members of the family). He is increasingly defiant and troublesome.

The family has been both very conservative politically and religiously. But the couple is in despair regarding their youngest. And just made the decision to surrender the care and control of this teenager… to the State. In what seems to be a complete betrayal of all their beliefs, which they have at least tried to adhere to in word and deed, for their entire lives, they intend to file for the abrogation of their “parental rights” (which are, of course, really parental powers) and allow the State and all its institutions and thugs to suck their child into the belly of the beast. A child who is already very troubled, has already been subjected to 11 or so years of “public school,” and needs love, help, and care – the very things which the State and its minions are totally unable to provide. Continue reading →

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Oh dear! Theocracy is just around the corner

Posted on 2017-02-14 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Restating a campaign promise, the new Massa recently announced – at a PRAYER BREAKFAST, of all things – that he intends to “destroy” the Johnson Amendment.

USA Today “reports” on this in a commentary-laced “news story” which carries (to me, at least) the undertone that the demise of democracy is now assured (if Trump gets his way) and that theocracy (or theonomy or something similar and equally sinister) is going to swallow America and the world.

The Johnson Amendment is the legacy of the late and unlamented Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, along with the current state of affairs in Southeast Asia and the South China Sea, and many other examples of really bad government and the nanny state: the Great Society (Medicare and Medicaid), and much else.  The Amendment states that the IRS will take away the tax-exempt status of any religious group which dares to say something against (or in favor) of any political candidate, whether from the pulpit or in the church bulletin or anything else.  It is seldom invoked by the IRS, but is a sword hanging over the head of most churches, synagogues, and even mosque’s congregations.

And Trump wants to get rid of it – indeed, made a campaign promise to do so, which he repeated in this horrible church-and-state assembly. Continue reading →

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