Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-15E: Religion and politics

Posted on 2014-04-18 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning.  It will be a short commentary today, as Spring is here and work must be done!

Religious controversies seem to be more in the news this week and last.  For instance, U2 leadman, the Irishman Bono pointed out that Jesus ‘was the Son of God or He was Nuts’ which is nothing that has not been said before, but it is interesting to see Bono saying it.  It turns out that he is religious, but that has not been much known.  Now even HuffPo is talking about it.

Rush Limbaugh attacked the new host of the Late Show, Stephen Colbert, for his failure to accept and follow Catholic teaching (Colbert is a Catholic, Limbaugh is not), comparing him to Pelosi and Biden (as Catholics) and Reid (as LDS).  The Left immediately attacked Limbaugh for “reading Colbert’s mind.”  (Of course, the Left attacks Limbaugh for stating that the sun came up today.)  I think Limbaugh’s comments are valid.  I know that there a lot of people who are overjoyed that Colbert is taking Letterman’s place because he is “libertarian.”  Seems to me the comment that the “network is demonstrating that it is willing to remain in third place” is valid.  He is more liberal than a lover of liberty, certainly.

Mama’s Note: Never heard of him before, and couldn’t care less about his religion or how he practices it. Makes no difference to me.

Even within the “liberty movement,” religious fussing and feuding seems to be up, as illustrated by this article.  I don’t often talk about libertarian internal conflicts, but this is an old one that affects me personally:  too many people who claim to be libertarian are perfectly willing to trash MY religious freedom and that of anyone else who is not atheist or agnostic, by claiming that we are aggressing against them by even practicing our religion and not hiding it in a meeting house or the basement of our home.

Speaking of religious controversy, the “god on earth” of the communist “revolution” on the People’s Republic of Korea has been insulted by having a demeaning picture of him put up in a barber shop.  A BRITISH barbershop in London, visited by some nasty guys from the North Korean embassy and then by London cops.  The picture has disappeared.  It was “voluntarily” removed.  Apparently in the UK free speech (which has been denied for years when the subject is Muslims or Islam) is now “unwelcome” when it applies to Communism.

I do have news about some other things:

Rand Paul says that the US ‘can’t invite the whole world’, at least not with the mess we have today.  With an American nation that was truly free and the home of liberty, we could.

Feds Offer $1.5 Million Grant for Job Creation – in Belize, which is ironic, considering that for decades the biggest engine for job creation in Belize has been the relocation of expatriate Americans to live in retirement in Belize.

Reports AND PHOTOS of the BLM’s and its contractors’ actions in south Nevada are creating some shock but not yet the firestorm they deserve.  Apparently during the few days of the standoff, before BLM withdrew, they killed and began to bury at least forty cows, while destroying wells, pipelines, fences, corrals, and other property on the disputed land.  The exact timing of this is unknown, but the fact that large equipment was on hand to dig the trenches is an indicator that this was not just a temper-tantrum.  I do NOT believe that livestock (or any other animal) should be treated like humans, so I reject those who try to compare this to Serbia or other similar incidents.  But this IS an attack by government thugs on a family’s, a community’s livelihood and way of life.  It DOES warn us that the Bundy-Bunkerville incident is proof that the FedGov’s war on US, the people of the Fifty States, has been escalated.

What is particularly disgusting is the way the mainstream media is attacking the Bundy family and those who stood up for them as garbage – labeling them insultingly as Republicans.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-15D: Politics 2014, Crash of 2009, and Insane Asylums

Posted on 2014-04-17 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

A good morning and top of the day to you.  Lots of things happening behind the scenes these days.  We are getting closer to election day (less than six months) and all kinds of fun things are happening in Democratic, Republican and even Libertarian circles.

It appears that more and more Democrats have been found out to have received political campaign contributions from Satan – excuse me, from the Koch Brothers (much WORSE than Satan to them).  You can find the list, here, of all the tainted people.  I suppose we should all be shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you!  But I see less than $317,000 over 8.5 years:  for the Kochs that is the equivalent of me tossing a penny in the plastic bucket of the guy standing at the top of the exit ramp.  Indeed, maybe the motive was to insult the politicos who got the money.

To change subjects, Jon Carroll had a fun editorial: “I know that pedestrian deaths are up in San Francisco. I give the benefit of the doubt to the pedestrians, who, after all, paid a heavy price for being on the same street as large cars. But I don’t know that all the pedestrians were blameless. I have seen pedestrians move out from between two parked cars and step into traffic. I have seen pedestrians try to cross four lanes of traffic at mid-block. I have seen them talking on phones and thus rendered oblivious to their surroundings. Sometimes a driver is just an innocent bystander. Sometimes the result is tragedy. Too, there are drivers who seem unaware of the weight and power of their machines. Driving is so easy and often so quiet that it lulls them into a false sense of security.” I can sympathize and agree with Jon, from my time in San Fran decades ago, when I lived on the Presidio and had to drive or ride into the city a couple of times a week.  Now, the liberal/tranzi solution (and the typical SF version) is to not just blame the drivers for the peds getting themselves killed or maimed, but to double down on the owners and operators of motor vehicles:  more fees, more fines, implementing tolls (directly and indirectly), and above all public castigation:  drivers who hit pedestrians, even if NOT at fault, to be treated as a bigger pariah than that Mozilla guy.

Hopefully, everyone has heard about the Heartbleed virus and is changing passwords and cleaning up to make sure that they are no longer threatened.  But the really nasty news in this case is NOT another virus, but rather, that NSA has known about it for two years and was using it – using it against you and me and business and whomever.  Rather than defending us against it, which is SUPPOSED to be the mission of the NSA.  They are, theoretically at least, part of the defense of the Fifty States, but of course, we know that they are part of the police state.

Coldwater Creek, a woman’s clothing store chain with 365 stores and 6,000 employees, has declared bankruptcy and every one of its stores will close this summer.  Isn’t it good that the economy is doing so very well?  Isn’t it good that the compassionate liberal/tranzi government is so helpful and works so hard to keep businesses surviving?  I know, this is ONLY six thousand jobs.  A drop in the bucket.

Although it is old news, Shell Oil is pulling out of its shale and other operations n Northwestern Colorado, a frontier area (that is, population density of less than 5 persons/square mile).  The reason I bring it up is that a friend mentioned the most recent (unreported) news coming out of there.  I’ve been told that as many as 10,000 jobs have been lost as the drilling and support companies pull up stakes.  That is from an area where there are only 20,000 to 30,000 people total in an area 100 miles on a side.  Some are moving to North Dakota, Montana, and even Wyoming, but many have no place to go.  Wendy McElroy discusses why one alternative for those people and families is unlikely to be a solution.  It is not just there: I know of many firms cutting more and more people, going bankrupt, and of entire communities crushed by losing jobs and companies.

Look, we all know that Chicago is an insane asylum, filled with nutcases, and that the inmates are in charge.  But even for Chicago, this incident is bizarre. A 36-year-old black man blew his top about paying a 22-cent tax on a $1.79 2-liter bottle of Pepsi and threatened everyone in a convenience store with a “submachine gun” (make and model, including whether or not it was really a “submachine gun” not stated) before police arrived and without any reported violence, arrested him for illegal possession by a felon, aggravated assault, and having a fake FOID card.  Now, I’d be upset about (a) paying $1.79 for a 2-liter Pepsi, and (2) 22 cents (12.29% sales tax!!!!) in sales taxes.  In fact, I call that theft on the part of both the various taxing governments AND the store.  But pulling a gun and claiming “I’m exempt?”  That is just plain crazy. The story concludes with this: ” This episode ended without a shot being fired, but at least 36 people in the city of Chicago were reported shot — four fatally — over the weekend in this spring’s first surge in gun violence.” Anyone who is still living voluntarily in Chicago is to be pitied.

Mama’s Note: Well, not quite. I’ll pity any who have zero option but to live there… like children and frail elders, but anyone who actually chooses to live there voluntarily is on their own. No pity from me.

An Illinois indoor garden supply store called out by DEA tracking and attacking their customers has found that the stakeouts and publicity have created a big increase in business for them, rather than driving them out of business. Funny?  Or intentional?  These days, who can tell?

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-15C: Taxes, Thugs, and Blood

Posted on 2014-04-16 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning, all.  Look around and enjoy the day, remember that even when there are bad things going on, there is still a lot of good around: family and friends and neighbors and pets and plants…

Do you pay too much in taxes?  Most folks would agree with you, but some seem to be blind to the problem.

But even the incredibly blind can sometimes see: A record high 60% of Californians say they pay too much in taxes. Really?  And how long did it take them to figure this out?  Despite this, California has heavily swung to the DP in statewide and national elections in recent years: are they still too blind (or stupid) to see that Dems are more likely than GOP to keep raising taxes and keep wasting money (not that the GOP is going to help THAT much). If Californians truly believe they pay too much in taxes, they will vote for Libertarians or just boycott the vote.

The Fuehrer’s chief minion, our loopy Uncle Joe Biden himself went to Kiev as the White House screams about how events in Ukraine are growing ever more dangerous. Except for expanding the size of the “Famous Stupid Quotes of Joe Biden” first edition, what will he accomplish?  (Well, I admit, he might drive the Ukrainians back into the arms of Mother Russia by his actions.)  Of course, some observers note that Putin can take Ukraine without actually invading.

Apparently, we should be glad that Al Sharpton got salvation and repented of his past.  Turns out this disgusting, corrupt thug became an FBI informant because they caught him trying to get a piece of a cocaine deal to make a bunch of money.  You can read all about it here at the New York Post. But of course, since then, he got saved and became a “reverend” so that is all past history… no, wait, that was AFTER he got saved.  Didn’t realize he was a Calvinist.  Gee, do you think we can trust him now?

For Eric Holder, justice is only for Democrats, according to an opinion piece in the New York Post.  It is a great article, full of a summary of the way this senior minion of the Fuehrer is playing the same role in 2014 America as Himmler did for HIS Fuehrer in the 1930s.  But I disagree with the headline: there are a good many Democrats who don’t get justice, either.  It isn’t enough just to have the right letter after your name or the right title on your voter registration, you must also pay (in various ways) to support the Fuehrer and Reid and Pelosi and the rest of the gang.  Not only that, but what those supporters of the Fuehrer get from Holder and company is not JUSTICE but corrupt support and preference and an endless supply of “get-out-of-jail” cards, as the article does point out.

New York can’t find any jurors who don’t hate the Occupy Movement.  I guess that they just don’t have a large enough universe of potential jury members to be able to have a dozen or so children of wealthy families who pretend to be poor and were willing to help others live in the streets and poop in the parks.

Two “competing” stories from Nigeria this weekend, where the weekly tradition of killing a significant number of people in horrific ways, because of religion, was again repeated.  The Islamist jihadist group, Boko Haram killed several hundred students and teachers on their way to a special event in Borno State: apparently all “christians.”  At the same time, Yahoo reports that christian vigilantes trapped 14,000 in some kind of fenced off area – not a concentration camp, but more a reservation, apparently. Without arguing that anyone who would aggress against someone like this could hardly be considered “christian” as defined by the Bible, these point out that violence begets violence, and that government violence – aggressive violence – is used as an excuse.  The two hundred dead were disarmed, by government.  The 14,000 ARE at least somewhat armed, which is probably one reason they are being pushed into a corner but NOT being killed.

The DEA, apparently driven into a panic by Colorado and Washington legalizing marijuana (for certain definitions of “legalization”), is showing its Gestapo roots and terrorizing people who dare buy certain fertilizers and certain home and gardening equipment by raiding their homes or businesses to find the pot that must be growing there.  Even HuffPo is saying this is bad.

Two interesting pieces of military news popped up in the last few days.

The National Guard is being disarmed by having its Apache attack helicopters taken away and replaced by observation and utility helicopters.  It smells as though the Fuehrer and his political, bootlicking generals and bureaucrats might be afraid that the states with combat aviation assets might be more able to defend themselves against his new DHS armored units and their mercenary local cops.  Of course, as more and more secession movements pop up, I guess he just wants to make sure that a new General Lee doesn’t have the assets to fight off the new Union invaders.

Mama’s Note: But think of it this way… If Texas and a few other states actually secede, they’ll have a LOT of previously “federal” bases, equipment, airplanes, etc. in their grasp. This could get really nasty… if the other feds have more balls than the BLM in Nevada anyway.

Speaking of secession, apparently that issue will be on the agenda at the 2014 GOP convention in Wisconsin, supposedly forced there by “fringe Republicans.”  This is quite astonishing, unless you know a little history. Wisconsin came close in 1863 and 1864 to joining other nearby states in the “Northwest Confederacy,” seceding from the Union even while the Iron Brigade and thousands of Wisconsin troops were shedding blood for the “sacred cause” of abolition and union and the domination of DC over the States, because they were so sick of it.  That conspiracy failed, but maybe a second try is called for.

Mama’s Note: The real question is whether or not they intend to become self owners or merely appoint a new set of masters to control and rob them.

At the same time, it appears that the Navy is rapidly developing the ability to literally turn seawater into jet (and other) fuels.  It takes twice as much energy as you get in fuel, by breaking sea water into carbon dioxide and hydrogen, then combining them into hydrocarbons, but since most US Navy aircraft carriers are nuclear powered, there is energy to spare.  This could indeed be a game changer and not just for war fleets.

Mama’s Note: Hmmm, excuse me…. but if they already have energy to spare, why do they need sea water as fuel? That’s sort of like figuring out a way to turn butter into margarine. No? Seems like they could park those ships in a likely harbor and provide that “spare” energy to create drinking water instead.

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Bloomberg and MDA To Empower Women?

Posted on 2014-04-16 by MamaLiberty

Bloomberg: I won’t run for president, ‘plain and simple’

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, which is part of Bloomberg’s initiative, said her organization plans to reach out to women and mothers over the next several months leading up to midterm elections.

“In many ways this is about emotion. The gun lobby has done a good job over the last 30 years of making a vocal minority afraid people will take their guns away. As a mother, I’m afraid someone is going to take my children away,” she said.

A friend sent me this link and asked:

I am puzzled how groups that claim to seek to empower women encourage them to embrace the false security of being disarmed and relying on others to defend them.

And I replied:

Unfortunately, these women are very eager to believe that they can live in the land of unicorns and fairy farts. They don’t want – or cannot even conceive of – personal responsibility for anything. They see oppression on every hand when their choices and actions result in pain and loss (when they can actually see and admit it at all)… it’s someone else’s fault, of course – and their lives would be so wonderful if EVERYONE they don’t like were forced to be mewling newborn kittens. They can’t even begin to see the hypocrisy here.

They believe with all their hearts that they can play naked and defenseless among strangers and never have their least whim disappointed. They want a “choice” to murder their babies, and can’t even be bothered to give them away to someone who wants them. Or keep their damned pants on (or take a pill) if they don’t want to be bothered. And we won’t go into the insanity of turtles and fish being vital to the “planet” but babies are disposable garbage.

I could go on, but you get my drift. It is about so much more than who has guns. It’s about control. It’s always about control. And those who do not want to control their own lives by being responsible for their choices and actions freely choose masters like Bloomberg.

Bloomberg appeals to these cretins because he promises that he will fulfill their unicorn dreams and never hold them responsible. He promises what is not, and never will be, of course. And then one day, perhaps, they’ll help put him up against a wall…

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-15B: Holy Week and government

Posted on 2014-04-14 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning!  To many people, this is “Holy Week.”  The 13th was “Palm Sunday,” and at sunset on Monday the 14th begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover.  I lose track of all the different names assigned the days of the week, except “Good Friday” and of course, Easter Sunday at the beginning of next week.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is one of those holy days (holidays) that commemorates liberty: the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt of the children of Israel, their liberation from Egyptian slavery and the beginning of about 280 years of freedom.  God’s gift to them, a gift that they attempted to reject several times and finally did in the time of Samuel the Judge (and Prophet) when they finally rejected God (His words, not mine) and demanded a human king, “like all the nations around us.”  That should sound familiar to us, as the people of the Fifty States have done the same.

Which is why we have messes (and messages) like the mess in Nevada.

Over the weekend, the escalating confrontation at Bunkerville, Nevada, between the Bundy family and several hundred supporters and 200+ BLM, NPS, FBI, and other federal agents, vehicles and aircraft, supposedly ended with the Feds backing down and withdrawing.  There is reason to think that the withdrawal was tactical (NOT “strategic” as so many people wrote, who do not understand the definitions of the words), and that the crisis is not yet over.

Across the border in Utah, there is another crisis coming to a head, between the Iron County government (ironic name, that) and several Federal agencies over wild horses:  2,000 of them in range capable of supporting only about 200 long-term, and eating ranchers out of house and home, as well as being a general nuisance.  This is NOT an unusual problem in the West:  “rats with antlers” (deer) are a nuisance AND a danger in many regions: few natural predators are present except humans and their predation is overly restricted. So hundreds of us hit deer on the highways, byways, and even our own driveways at times, as they eat crops and despoil flowers and much else: even in cities of 50,000 population or more.  Ditto for prairie dogs.  In some areas (Rocky Mountain National Park, for instance), elk are a similar danger and problem: their population outstripping the habitat available and destroying it. Similar problems exist with elk, deer, and “wild” bison populations in and around Yellowstone.  The FedGov’s agencies are destroying the environment.

Anyway, in Iron County, the local government has threatened to, and started, rounding up the feral horses and transport them or do something to get the population down to a sustainable level, and the FedGov (which has in essence decided that its only course of action is to bully and threaten and use violence) says that it will retaliate.  Because of Bunkerville, the possibility of violence has been increased in Utah.  And other places.

In South Dakota, various Lakota nations and organizations have begun creating camps to protest against and prevent the construction of the Keystone XL across lands that were once part of their reservations:  ironically against not just the pipeline and its supposed environmental nightmares, but against the man-camps.

In many other places, such as the northern San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado, and portions of the huge Navajo Nation homeland (reservation) of NW New Mexico and NE Arizona, new federal rule making and creation of “management plans” are being opposed by both sides: the environist “preservationists” on one side, and the multi-use proponents (and users: snowmobiling, fourwheeling, hunting, grazing) on the other.  Again, if we had the government we are supposed to have, these things would not even be issues: the land would be privately owned and while not perfectly-managed, certainly better than the government is able (or willing) to do.

The Washington Times tells us that the Nevada ranch standoff could leave dirt on Harry Reid’s reputation .  Mama Liberty asks, reasonably, ” How do you wet a river?”   No fooling.  Was discussing this with some friends after worship yesterday.  Nevada politics is like Pigpen, the Peanuts character.

Both Mama Liberty and I appreciated Karen Kwiatkowski’s commentary, “Early Lessons of Bunkerville”
As with the British Army in 1775, the state’s institutions sow the seeds
of their own destruction. Inflation, crushing debt, and rats leaving the
sinking ship will conspire towards ultimate collapse.  As Bunkerville
publicly demonstrated, we the people can peaceably help this process
along.  The state will call it reform, transformation, or even
rehabilitation, even as politicians begin to scramble to “lead” the
leaders of this liberty and justice movement.   The state will shrink,
in influence at first, as we have seen, then in physical presence,
cohesiveness, and consumption.  We will call it victory, and tell our
children instructive fables of evil statist monsters.  God bless the
Bundys and their friends, and all of us.  It has started!

Over at TMM someone said:  I’m curious how many wealthy ranchers are going to come to the rescue of some IIIper that had his door kicked in, dogs shot, and guns confiscated?

Mama Liberty replied:

We might be surprised. 🙂 But I hope we never need to find out.  As for
“rich,” I don’t know why it matters by itself, but I suspect that
Bundy’s bottom line is very complicated with taxes, regulations and
probably a shit load of debt as well. I suspect he’s more “land poor”
than rich – and I’m also sure that the governments, both fed and state,
will leave no stone unturned to strip him of both money and land – even
if they don’t arrange for his death before doing so. All of the other
“rich” ranchers had already been driven out, one way or another.

But I’m really encouraged that at least this phase of the “war” turned
out well. It could so easily have turned into a holocaust… one
momentary slip of trigger discipline, one overeager drone operator
seeing the rifles on the bridge as an attack on the feds… a hundred
other things that MIGHT have happened – didn’t. The rag tag, leaderless
and completely self governing people who gathered there managed to
maintain non-aggression, regardless of their personal background,
opinions, attitudes and so forth.

Even the “jack booted thugs” managed to mostly behave themselves and not
start shooting at people…  they had the brains to understand that it
could not end well for them. They knew right away they didn’t have the
overwhelming advantage they always need and try to create. What “works”
in Boston, doesn’t accomplish much in Nevada…  hope some of them
learned that lesson.

THAT is the victory here, and I hope it continues.

As do I, milady, as do I.

On to one last item of news, again tied to the season in strange ways:

Three people have been killed in a pair of shootings at a Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas, by a elderly man who admits he is anti-Semitic and appears to be just filled with hate.  Bizarrely two of the people he killed were christians and not Jews, but apparently he didn’t ask for a membership card first  But the real story here is that NO one was ARMED and able to defend against this madman.  The idiot, excuse me, the Fuehrer’s comments were (as is so often the case) stupid: the three people were not “killed at their prayers” but rather putting on a play and other things.  But I suspect that he is angling to keep the ban (in too many places) on people being armed in church and synagogue meeting houses.  I find THAT rather odd, that a Jewish congregation would decide putting a play on was appropriate during the High Holy Days, when people are supposed to be remembering and celebrating their rescue from slavery in Egypt.  What a world we live in.

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April: Liberty Month?

Posted on 2014-04-14 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Yes, I know the month is half-over, but I’ve been mulling this over a while.  Humans are weird (as if you didn’t know that) and we get all hyper over dates and anniversaries and seasons and feasts and the like.  Virtually every government on the planet, from those idiots on the bank of the East River in NYC to the local weed and pest control district, delight in declaring the “month of this” and the “week of that” and more days than their are days in the year.  That is just the way we are:  dates and anniversaries and commemorations are important to us.  They can remind us of good and bad things and encourage us to do things – to prepare for trouble and to deal with disaster and victory and defeat.

We are where we are today, good AND bad, because of past events and how people responded to them.  We can (and should) learn from history: just as important, we should be encouraged from history while we are fighting for liberty today.

Over the next couple of weeks, we are entering the “Liberty Days” or “Patriot’s Days” period.  There are many things to remember, including these:

13 April: 1743 Thomas Jefferson is born.

19 April: 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord begin American War of Independence.

1861  Baltimore riots against Union troops passing through city to invade the Confederate State of Virginia.

1892  Charles Duryea makes the first automobile drive in the US (liberty! in transportation).

1943  Beginning of the (unsuccessful) Warsaw Uprising by Polish Jews against the Third Reich.  Like the folks in Baltimore, at least they tried.

1985  FBI/ATF raid on the Farm and The Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord (CSA) in Arkansas (little-known and mostly non-violent prequel to the Waco Massacre).

1993  End of the Branch Davidian Siege with FBI et al. assault on the Waco compound and deaths of many in compound.  (And of course, the 1995 bombing of the federal office building in Oklahoma City, supposedly in retribution for Waco).

20 April: 1655  Oliver Cromwell dissolved the insanely corrupt “Rump Parliament” in England, thus ending the mockery of “republican” government and cleaning house for future reforms.  Oh that the next king of England would study and emulate Cromwell more than his namesakes.

1657  The Jews of New Amsterdam (New York) win religious freedom.  In the long run, it couldn’t compete with Jerusalem but was whole lot better for Jews than Berlin or Moscow or Old Amsterdam – or even Hollywood.

1914  The Ludlow Massacre of Colorado: 19 men, women and children die when troops and private detectives end the miners’ strike.  Like the Baltimore riots and the Warsaw Ghetto, this isn’t a good thing to remember, but a lesson to be learned:  government and crony capitalists are not lovers of liberty OR life.

1961  The US-supported attempt to overthrow the Castro Communist regime fails at the Bay of Pigs, leading to 53 years of Communism and evil in Cuba. Again, not something to celebrate, but important to remember that Camelot was not really all that great.

And ironically, this was Adolf Hitler’s birthday in 1889.  Even evil people can be cute babies.  And some of the most evil people of history were likable, loved by the masses, and were great at kissing babies, hugging cats and dogs, and making women swoon and men stand tall.

21 April: 753 BC  The traditional date of the founding of Rome.  We want to remember that Rome was not always an evil empire, but was in fact one of the better ancient republics, and solved many problems and sustained considerably more liberty for much longer than most all other ancient societies – or for that matter, this one.

1836  Texas wins its independence by defeating Mexican Army at San Jacinto, just a few short weeks after the bloody fracases at the Alamo and Goliad: sometimes it IS darkest before the dawn.  (And a reminder both that sometimes an afternoon siesta is a bad thing, and that the best route to victory, especially against long odds, is to know and exploit the weaknesses of your enemy.)

1989  The Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing, China.  Again, not something good to remember, but important to recall that even after 40 years of bloody suppression, a desire for liberty still existed even in that most ancient and bureaucratic/tyrannical of cultures.  As it does even today.  It has been twenty-five years, but even in China liberty is possible in the future.

Obviously, not all of these events were GOOD (successful) outcomes for liberty, but enough to make us aware of what people have done and suffered for their freedom and those of others.  Each of these could justify a column; please let me know your thoughts.

With events now in Nevada, in Syria, in Ukraine, and elsewhere, we need to ask what new events related to liberty and the fight against tyranny can we expect to add to the calender in April, Anno Domini 2014 and Anno Libertatus  238?

Mama’s Note: Seems to me that the most important lesson to be learned from history is that no non-voluntary government or ruling class has any legitimate authority to control (own) the people or their property. And this is true no matter how benevolent they claim to be, how “good” their intentions are, or how well it seems to function in the beginning. When some people are given power over other people, against their will, tyranny, slavery, death is the inevitable result.

Each individual owns his/her life and is individually responsible for that life and their actions. They can rationally delegate some of that, but retain the responsibility unless, like infants and the senile, they are incapable of such responsibility. Rational self owners can form all sorts of voluntary associations and cooperatives, but they retain responsibility for their individual actions and choices. If people cannot opt out, under pain of capture or death, they remain slaves no matter what the system is called.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-15A: You gotta be kidding me!

Posted on 2014-04-13 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

An extra commentary this week: good morning on a weekend.  Sunday is here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its fiscal year (FY) 2014 to 2018 Strategic Plan today, which provides a blueprint for advancing EPA’s mission to protect public health and the environment across the country.  For “advancing… mission” read “expanding… power and control.”  The EPA is perhaps the most feral of all federal agencies (except maybe the IRS): running wild not just over states and local and tribal governments and private businesses, but over other federal agencies!  Its “Five-Year-Plan” is more of the same: more moralizing, more demonizing, more political science, more lies, more control, more power.

Heartland Institute has released a very comprehensive report prepared by 27 scientists from 12 countries that really is not needed except for political purposes, that draws on hundreds of studies (and literally thousands of years of research) to show that CO2 is NOT a pollutant but a beneficial and necessary part of the planet and its atmosphere.  This is not news to most of us, but seems to have been abandoned by the Tranzis and the environists who seek to control us more and more each day.

The Fuehrer tells us that Kathleen Sebelius has “earned” the right to retire, and you may be surprised to find that I agree.  She has the right to retire in a nice comfortable west-facing cell in Leavenworth Federal Correctional Facility in Kansas, where she is relatively centrally located so that we can see that she is getting the appropriate retirement for her misdeeds, and where it will be easy to find her and put her up against a brick wall (Leavenworth has many) when the time comes.

Sebelius’s retirement, just a week after she said she was “sticking around” comes as a surprise, and many suspect that she was ordered to resign (the Fuehrer and his toadies are no longer politely “asking” anything: it is all Fuehrerbefehl now).  She clearly is an embarrassment to the powers that be because of the spectacular and growing failure of ObummerCare’s health insurance scam.  And perhaps there are more scandals just days away from popping out.  We must not forgot that she is the scion of a political dynasty in Kansas and her “retirement” might not even be for that long: look at Hillary, who is the founder of a political dynasty (well, she hopes to be).

When I was a child, I actually admired Hank Aaron just a little bit.  But now, it is clear that he is just one more feet-shuffling, mumbling field hand on the Tranzi plantation, calling anyone who doesn’t bow down and worship the Fuehrer a racist.  Just like Reid, just like Biden, just like the Clintons, just like Powell (a much bigger disappointment to me than Aaron, I admit).  Lie and exaggerate and trash people are the way to power and wealth for them.  It wasn’t that way when Aaron was a young man, of course: he gained fame and wealth through sheer guts and skill.  Imagine if his career was today.  Assuming he’d even made it out of high school (I think fewer black males graduate today than did back in the bad old days of segregation, and that is not counting those who are killed or lamed in gang violence), he might have gotten a college baseball gig based not on skill but on affirmative action, and never been challenged enough to hone his skills to the level he achieved by going out into the pro baseball world at age 19 or 20.  Of course, it might be tacky to point out that the desegregation of MLB which began near the start of his career in 1954 was done withOUT a massive series of laws and court decisions and under what was (supposedly) a Republican, conservative Administration (Ike).

Congress in action: Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) says he’s tired of extreme Democratic rhetoric because it is slowing down the political process.  If he is right, I have to look at this extreme rhetoric differently.  We need to drag the “political process” to a halt because for 80 years, all it has led to is LESS liberty and MORE government and MORE tyranny.

And speaking of that, a video from Bunkerville shows the BLM types heavily armed, with K-9 dogs, specially marked vehicles (to identify them from the air?), and moving in fire teams. But they DID seem to be a whole lot more self-controlled than the men and women whom they were confronting.  On the whole, the protesters (many of whom were NOT armed) were a foul-mouthed bunch who represent their cause poorly.  People, this is the way to LOSE.  These people may be the enemy, but they don’t have to be:  the idea is to make THEM lose their temper and lash out, not for the people pushing for liberty to do so.  Not ALL cops are thugs, even though they all act like thugs at least some of the time (I’m sure that there are exceptions); but they CAN and SHOULD be won over.  Be sure to read my separate article on the Bunkerville Follies.

Mama’s Note: This is a fair statement of the real story behind the Nevada standoff. I agree that the protesters should and could have behaved better while stating their case, but we need to remember that everyone has a right to express themselves, and it isn’t only the “nice” people who have a right to defend themselves and their neighbors. We have to even accept the fact that free speech and action of any kind belong to everyone, not just those who practice non-aggression. Let each person choose for themselves, and bear the consequences of their actions.

My greatest fear is that this will be another flash point, that someone – whether a true protester or some agent provocateur – will start the shooting and people will die. It could still happen, of course. I suspect the BLM is just going to wait until everyone goes home and the media spotlight moves on. Mr. Bundy or his whole family might then suffer some sort of “accident,” and that would be that. I hope I’m wrong.

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Bunkerville Follies

Posted on 2014-04-12 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Things continue to heat up in Clark County, Nevada, as more and more federal agents and Sagebrush Rebellion type folks show up and confront each other in and around Bunkerville, just off I-15 northeast of Las Vegas.  The hype continues about a “second” American revolution, a new Ruby Ridge, or even another Waco (are they all waiting for 19 April before they start shooting?), there are claims of tazing and bumper bumping and K-9 attacks, and video of screaming matches.

It has the potential to be both a civil war and a war between the states, as more and more Utahns move to help, and Utah County commissioners warn and respond to threats.  Supposedly the rancher and allies are supported by the state government in Carson City and by one of the state’s senators, and more information comes out that the other senator (some guy named Reid) is actually the reason (or one of the reasons) that a 21-year-old fuss has escalated. Reid is apparently both an investor and backer of a big solar farm project in the area, which is supposedly incompatible with the rancher’s “feral” cattle. Some say HE is behind this.  I say civil war because apparently both the Clark County Sheriff and at least one of the Commissioners (Tom Collins) are supporting the Feds.  Collins is at least partly responsible for the potential war between the states, with his remarks about Utahns (1) being a bunch of “inbred b***ds” and (2) telling them that any Utahns coming to support the rancher (Bundy) “better have funeral plans.”

Collins is (no surprise) a Democrat and apparently liberal/Tranzi, big buddies with the Reid clan and other associates, a “Pelosi-style” hoploclast (against guns for everyone but themselves), a heavy drinker, brawler, product of a dysfunctional family, and a union man (though he had a hard time holding a job until he got into appointed and elected political office), and a scofflaw of the first degree, on various (usually dropped) charges over the years.  Reminds me of several of the Unionist (Black Republican) thugs (and a few CSA types) in 1860-1862.

Several people have pointed out that the Bundy family have not exactly been model citizens, and have not obeyed the law, as they have failed to pay grazing fees to the BLM since 1993 (21 years) which now (with interest) amounts to millions of dollars owed to the FedGov.  Others point to the various claims that the Bundy cattle have wandered into and eaten people’s gardens, caused a traffic accident by wandering onto a highway, and apparently eaten turtles out of house and home, as evidence of the Bundy evil in resisting government.  This argument appears to be bogus.  Nevada is an “open-range state” (sometimes called a “fence-out state”) in which the law clearly states that livestock owners are NOT liable for damage caused by their animals to someone else’s property UNLESS there is a legal fence maintained by that other person that will keep livestock out.  If you leave a gate open (itself a misdemeanor in Nevada) and a cow comes in and eats your flowers, the owner of the cow does not have to pay you a DIME.  If the highway is on open range (the right of way is not fenced) and you hit a cow or horse or even a chicken, YOU (the driver) are liable to the rancher or farmer for the dead or injured animal.  He is not responsible for any damage to your car, your body, or your sanity.  That is the way MOST western states are, and if easterners and such don’t like it, they don’t have to come out here (and I wish they wouldn’t!).  Even people like Glenn Beck’s crew, now located in Texas, do NOT understand the basic facts of Western life:  it takes more than 4 acres to support a cow (or cow-calf pair), a “big farm” is not 40 acres, and a rancher is NOT a farmer, even if he has crops.   And if you don’t like cowpies on your driveway, build a fence and install a gate AND KEEP IT CLOSED!

The issue regarding grazing fees on “public land” is much thornier.  The entire idea of grazing leases, grazing rights, land fees, and the whole array of laws for BLM, USFS, and even NPS lands is the result of 150 years of insane actions and stupid decisions by Congress and Executive agencies (such as BLM and its predecessor US Land Office).  These include the 1862 Homestead Act which allowed a person (or family) to claim only 160 acres – plenty for a farm in Ohio or Alabama but insanely small for even a pre-mechanized farm, much less a ranch, in the Western States.  And to claim that land, you had to build and live in a house for a certain period of time to “prove up” the claim.  So ranchers (some of which actually bought land from local tribes) filed claims and built houses (or at least line cabins) on the most valuable 160 acres (on creeks or around a pond or spring) and grazed on the public range.  Over the years, additional family and hired hands could establish and prove up other claims, gradually liberating the land (generally stolen from tribes by the FedGov) to private use.  This was fine, but the “conservation movement” (part of the Progressive Movement of Teddy Roosevelt and others) ultimately ended homesteading, as the “commons” (government land) must be preserved and conserved “for future generations” (always the NEXT generation).

More government greed made the decision that the land must also generate revenue to pay for all the various “government services” provided to the users: those ranch owners (mostly families) that had by then raised cattle and horses and sheep on the land for multiple generations.  Thus the government meddled with the economy, by imposing additional costs (and requirements) on the ranchers: within a few decades, those fees and requirements have driven thousands of ranchers off the land, while the private lands (the homesteads and later grazing claims, as well as proved up mining claims) have been the major areas of expansion of urban areas.  So high land prices and resulting high state/local property taxes are added to the federal burden.  The Bundys are one family that has decided to take a stand.  A foul-mouthed, irritable, and obnoxious stand, perhaps, but STILL a stand for their liberty and that of their family and neighbors and county and state.  Is it any wonder they are hated?

Again, keeping watch.

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-14E: Soviet-style FedGov control

Posted on 2014-04-11 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning, and welcome to the end of the week.  Fun and games in DC, while lack of self-defense results in more and more injuries under very odd circumstances, and polls that show our modern political problems are NOT just a 21st Century phenomenon, but go back decades (as if we didn’t know that already).

On to news commentary:

The FedGov and the state governments seem to have learned a “valuable” lesson from the Soviet Union of the 1940s-1980s: the use of “mental illness” and related problems as an excuse to control and imprison people – even before they become “dissidents.” While there are several ways the FedGov is using this, perhaps the most hideous is the “epidemic” of ADD and ADHD in American school children. It seems to be, indeed, a effort to eradicate masculinity; and what is worse, it seems to be succeeding.  The Centers for Disease Control first attempted to tally ADHD cases in 1997 and found that about 3 percent of American schoolchildren had received the diagnosis, a number that seemed roughly in line with past estimates. But after that year, the number of diagnosed cases began to increase by at least 3 percent every year. Then, between 2003 and 2007, cases increased at a rate of 5.5 percent each year. In 2013, the CDC released data revealing that 11 percent of American schoolchildren had been diagnosed with ADHD, which amounts to 6.4 million children between the ages of four and seventeen—a 16 percent increase since 2007 and a 42 percent increase since 2003. Boys are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed as girls—15.1 percent to 6.7 percent. By high school, even more boys are diagnosed—nearly one in five.  It appears that it is a disease to be a boy, to be masculine, and thus tendencies to be that way MUST be rooted out and banished by use of drugs and other punishment.  This fits right in with “he’s making gun motions” and finger guns and eating Poptarts to look like guns and being charged with sexual harassment for pulling a girl’s pigtails or (shocking) kissing her.  Or telling a teacher she looks pretty (now, a boy telling a male teacher he looks pretty is apparently okay).  So, do we add “war on male childhood” to “war on some drugs” and “war on those who don’t believe in evolution” and “war on those who don’t believe in global warming” and all the others?

A similar technique of controlling the masses (or rather, those who try to do go) is found in Alabama, where a new law intended to protect  brick-and-mortar food service places (restaurants, cafes, imbisses, kiosks, etc. against the evils of mobile food vendors and push-cart types is keeping Good Samaritans from providing food to the needy and homeless.  The fixed food places decided that the only way that they could “compete” with the mobile places is to cheat and have government be bullies.  And now a lot more people suffer.  Supposedly this is an unintended consequence, but I wonder (as do several of the people commenting on it).

I’ve been watching as the rhetoric ramped up on both sides on the latest standoff in extreme southeastern Nevada. A cattleman is challenging what he describes as an overbearing federal government… and the government, claiming that they have been patient for twenty years with his trespassing and lawbreaking, has responded by sending out a small army to deal with him. Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is watching his cattle being rounded up and sold (all supposed to be paid for by him from prison, apparently).  Some onlookers are worried that they may be watching another Ruby Ridge, and actually encouraging hundreds of “militia” to show up to face off with the BLM and other agencies. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) and Governor Brian Sandoval (R-NV) have both been very critical of what they say has been an overreaching federal government.  The Clark County Sheriff seems to be siding with the feds.  Name calling and worse, including insanely stupid “First Amendment Zone” actions, seem to be riling everyone still more, and the claims of a “new American revolution” are bouncing around.  I’m watching and listening.

In the government-run, tax-funded “public schools” the threats keep ramping up, as 22 (or more) people were injured in a Chinese-style  mass stabbing rampage in Murraysville, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh) yesterday.  The same day, another man went wild with a knife in gun-safe Toronto, Ontario. I’ve been told that already, at least one prominent Tranzi black leader has called for a ban on knives, but couldn’t find this reported.  Certainly we can expect even MORE panic over the occasional forgotten pocket knife or multi-tool, even though this “blank-faced” boy was using kitchen knives.  The fact that not even the school “police resource officer” was armed once again shows the horrors of gun-free zones: there appear to have been several heroes during the horror, but none armed and able to do anything more than the disarmed soldiers at Fort Hood did a few days ago.

These folks weren’t the only ones disarmed, apparently: protesters at a speech by Mrs. Clinton in Las Vegas at a metal recycling conference had only a shoe to throw at the would-be tyrant.  The woman was arrested and charged; clearly not a Muslim.  I want to know why the recycling industry is wasting money paying Clinton to speak.  Of course, she usually demonstrates a lot of brass, so maybe they are hoping…

Investors Business Daily has released an interesting poll that shows that single women are much more liberal than married women.  Meanwhile the WaPo tells us that a new study reports that US policy has slanted in the direction of liberalism for the last 70 years, with only 10 percent of the major government policy shifts being “conservative.”  Is it safe to say in the last CENTURY that nearly 100 percent of major government policy decisions have been opposed to personal freedom and liberty?  (I can’t think of any that are really on the side of liberty, even things like the Heller decision or all the “civil rights” legislation. Maybe readers can?)

In DC, the long-raucous dispute over the IRS targeting of Republican and “conservative” political groups took a new turn, with Congressman Elijah Cummings (who last summer sought release of documents to “prove” that there was no IRS conspiracy) being accused of conspiring with the IRS against specific groups, while Holder (“Don’t go there, buddy.”) was also involved: yet the GOP thinks that Holder is willing to prosecute the former IRS chief?

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-14D: more evil things we aren’t supposed to do

Posted on 2014-04-10 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning, everyone.

Remember when all these municipal and other local governments were constantly pushing carpooling?  You can still see signs encouraging it.  But the larger American cities are being pressured by taxi companies (and unions) and other “concerned parties” to discourage or even outlaw carpooling, now that it is ridesharing with connections on internet to help.  Farfetched?  Never underestimate the power of unions and companies that enjoy a monopoly or near monopoly: that is exactly WHY we have licensing and franchises for things like taxis, hairdressing, and barbering.

Well, it seems Americans spend more on taxes than food, clothing and housing COMBINED.  Which, according to the Tranzis, is the way it should be.  And is incredibly stupid.  Of course, there are those trying to fix this situation:  new FDA and other FedGov rules are driving the price of food up quickly (together with some new pig virus and harsh winter weather), and I just read an article a few days ago whinging about how horrible it is that clothing only costs Americans 2-3% of their income and that this is evil on multiple levels, so we MUST start paying more.

China wants the FedGov to know that we (the USA) should think very carefully before we start messing with them.  It has come to this, that our “enemies” are more worried about the stupid things “our” government (the FedGov) will do than we are.

Russia is agitating in Ukraine, seemingly doing their best to cause unrest throughout the nation, or so it is claimed: you can also interpret that as ethnic Russians doing this all on their own, without any prompting (but probably not any dissuasion either) from Moscow. Understandably, the FedGov and NATO are not happy with the way Russia is handling things… but Russia just doesn’t care. And why should they?  They are completely unafraid that we will do anything worse than deprive them of Pepsi.

78% of the Fifty States have been cooler than normal since October 1st. Despite this, NOAA currently has (on their website, weather.gov) a piece of propaganda about how the spring thaw started on 21 March (gee, what an odd date) in the Arctic and that the ice coverage is at its lowest since 1979 FOR THIS DATE.  Is it any wonder that more and more of us believe government less and less.

One of the Fuehrer’s minions, good old SecState John Kerry knows just how to win friends and influence people – so he’s blaming Israel for the failure of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, thus satisfying our “Arab friends.”  This is the, what, the fifty-fifth failure of those talks in sixty-seven years?  Compared to all of maybe ten “successes” and then a couple of years where everyone was too busy fighting to talk?  Which brings up the next point about the Fuehrer and his underlings.

It’s been very, very funny watching the Fuehrer and his minions squirm as even the mainstream media begins noticing the hypocrisy in their double-talk. CBS noted the hypocrisy and that the administration was getting “roughed up” for it. CNN calls the administration’s stance on gender equality in pay a case of “do as I say not as I do.” Shucks, most of us just call it hypocrisy.  And point out that it has been going on for at least five years with the Fuehrer, not to go back to earlier regimes.

More double-talk: The Fuehrer’s shill, Jay Carney says that Republicans can ‘Take politics out of it’ by passing the Democrats’ bill.  Well, he is right.  Abject surrender always simplifies things.  “Our enemies,” thunders the dictator, “are the ones causing this war.  They could end the fighting and the killing immediately by just surrendering.”  How simple life can be!

There are a lot of different stories out today about Holder’s remarks on “gun bracelets” as people respond differently.  One says: Holder: DOJ Considering Forcing Gun Owners to Wear Electronic Bracelets while another says: Holder: We want to explore gun tracking bracelets. I’ve looked at these and several other stories, and I think that the writers are reading in a whole lot more into Holder than they should be:.  We HAVE to be very careful with anything this man does, but he is a criminal and a tyrant and liar, but NOT a fool.  This is nothing new: he and others have been advocating “smart-guns” for a long time, and a couple of states actually had bills introduced to require that.  (As stupid as the microstamping of bullets.)    Holder’s comments here may be intended to do just what it has done, rile up a lot of people (and distract from other things).  His demeanor in front of another congressional committee is obviously that of an arrogant thug who believes he can intimidate anyone he wants to, and fool everyone at least some of the time.  But this bracelet idea is nothing new and should not distract us from other things he (and the other minions of the Fuehrer) are doing.

As Mama Liberty points out, even if this sort of stupidity becomes law, IT WILL NOT WORK: not to stop murders and homicides, AND not to stop Americans from being able to defend ourselves against abusive bureaucrats, politicians, and other criminals.  She figures they couldn’t enforce it in the district of criminals, much less Wyoming or other western states.

On to some other news:
Veterans make up only 3% of Congressional staff–in offices that responded, which makes me feel proud of veterans; at least those who refuse to stomach joining the ranks of the minions of Congress, even if they are too often clientèle of Congress.

Americans on Medicaid exceed the population of the UK, which makes sense when you consider that the population of the Fifty States is five times that of the UK, and both the aging of the population AND the way the governments have been pushing people to join Medicaid.  The advertising in the past several years is pure propaganda, and serves to increase the power and number of workers (and thus, power and money) administering the program.  It is one of many things that have bankrupted the US, yet it is never enough for the Tranzis.

DeMint warns people that ‘Big Business is no friend of conservatism’ nor of any kind of Libertarianism, minarchist or anarchist.  This SHOULD NOT come as news to anyone, but sadly, there are millions of people who confuse free markets and capitalism with Big Business and capitalist-dominated economies (and polities).  Big Business has FAR more in common with Big Government than with either small business or private consumers and producers.  This has been the case since the days of British and Dutch mercantilism, and has really changed very little in the last 400 years.

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