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Showing posts from 2014

"Give back..."?

It's always astounded me to hear people - especially financially successful ones - of all walks and stripes get around to saying they are doing something to "give back to society" as a way of thanks for their bodacious success. What a crock.

The Devil's Bargain

Over the years, I've interviewed John Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, multiple times. Our conversations have always ended on the up-note of transferable information for the audience. Here is John's latest piece that puts today's headlines into a practical reality.  BW Whether the mask is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus—the bureaucracy, the police, the military. Not the one facing us across the frontier of the battle lines, which is not so much our enemy as our brothers’ enemy, but the one that calls itself our protector and makes us its slaves.

Private Volunteers Step In Where Police Are AWOL

While I take serious exception to the allegation "the State must always exist to provide a framework of security.", there are credible comments below regarding private organizations, their successes, their impact on State monopolies - and even 'an app for that' free market, voluntary security system already up and running successfully around the country. From  Julian Adorney : In Ferguson, Missouri, when police and national guard failed to protect businesses from rioting protestors, a private organization called Oathkeepers stepped up to fill the gap.

Government Slave? You?!

From my Friend Jim Bovard: Americans must choose between “government-issue liberty” and “self-reliant liberty.” The choice is between a concept of freedom based on government handouts and a concept of freedom based on restraint of government, between a liberty in which people are perpetually treated as children needing to be restrained and a liberty in which they are allowed to experiment, take chances, and pay for their own bloody noses.

You Don't Know What You Don't Know - But Should.

This comprehensive, compelling, factual, informative and disturbing article can - and should - be read here.

The Implosion of American Culture

Pull quote: They will say no one saw it coming.   But there are those of us across the internet, on blogs just like this one, who have seen it coming and have been talking about it for a long time.  The exact details of every point of transition and interception is not easily discerned, but the overall macro trend is clear and there are a few moments of sudden adjustments coming.   The sad reality is that the disorganized masses will remain ignorant to the whole process as they become consumed with television news drama that hides the structural truth behind the engineered cultural implosion of the American identity.    More from Zero Hedge.

The Thin Blue Line: Worthless

Another excellent piece to follow John Whitehead's "The Game is Rigged" (See "Column of the Year -2014"). Below, Brandon Smith summarizes the corroding effects of the growing epidemic of citizen abuse by increasingly militarized police at all levels throughout the country. He even points to a solution worth implementing....BW Police misconduct has a cumulative effect on a culture. We do not forget all of the oversteps of the past; we merely file them away until we finally reach a breaking point. 

Column of the Year - 2014

From Zero Hedge: The Game Is Rigged: Why Americans Keep Losing To The Police State The problem, of course, is that luck will not save us. The people dealing the cards—the politicians, the corporations, the judges, the prosecutors, the police, the bureaucrats, the military, the media, etc.—have only one prevailing concern, and that is to maintain their power and control over the country and us.

Grand Juries

Some people don't realize that a grand jury is not an actual trial....it's the step BEFORE a trial. When a case is dropped by a grand jury and officers acquitted  it is not just saying that they are not guilty but that we don't even need a real trial to determine that. What makes these cases particularly egregious, sometimes in the face of video and other evidence is that the result is often pushed by prosecutors who work for exactly the same government system as the police. In fact, for most criminal cases, the police are part of the prosecution team. So essentially we have cops out raping and killing people, the public saying "Hey, wait this guy looks guilty from the video etc. we should have a trial to find out for sure." And the prosecutors defending their own colleagues by saying "Nah, we don't even need to have a real trial and hear evidence." Can we forget magic blue costumes which allow rampant abuse for a moment and imagine what would

The Fear Filter

Watching the tsunami of sensational news reporting lately reminded me of great revelation in my own soporiphic broadcasting career. You may want to file this “Suspicions Confirmed”. It was 1966 or 67 when I first learned about the Fear Filter. Or course, it wasn’t called that; it was a lesson, of sorts, in reporting news. As a radio dj “in the business” for a couple years and thoroughly untrained in the ways of Journalism, my lessons in reporting all came from classes at Monkey-See U. Back then, by watching my station’s News Director, Jim Erwin, the news was Who, What, When, Where, To What Degree and occasionally Why. Since Jim was the News Dept., he and the AP machine were the first and last words in our news content. Of course, the rest of the air staff helped out, phoning in “news tips” if/when we happened upon them (mostly traffic accidents). Then the Civil Rights movement came to town with its marches, demonstrations and speeches. Through a series of boring events, I got

Down With Power

Narrated by talk show host, Brian Wilson,  "Down With Power" , a Libertarian Manifesto, by L. Neil Smith now downloadable as an audiobook Hard-line, long-time Libertarians know the name L. Neil Smith. Along with his labors in the vineyard for the Freedom and Liberty movement, L. Neil is also internationally known for his award-winning "library" of science fiction novels, each with strong libertarian plots. His comparatively few non-fiction works on matters of Libertarian principles have been as popular as his novels. Second Amendment fans will enjoy his short, simple and pragmatic  Why Did It Have To Be Guns? . His opus, a "Libertarian Manifesto",  "Down With Power"  contains 27 chapters, each focused on an element of Freedom. From the "Zero Aggression Principle" to "TSA", each is given a thorough examination from the Libertarian perspective.   It was my pleasure to have narrated this work for LNS. Brian Wilson

The Case for Optimism

"If you believe the state is harmful rather than benevolent; if you believe that the state threatens individual rights and property rights, rather than protects them; if you believe that the state decreases our chances for peace and prosperity; if you believe, in sum, that the state is an overwhelming force for ill in our society, a force that makes all of us far worse off, why in the world is it unrealistic to work toward its elimination?" Taken from an excellent Jeff Deist speech given at the Mises Institute's recently concluded events in Costa Mesa, CA.

The Coming Democratic Wave

Arguably Obama was never a real Democrat. He became a Democrat to achieve a vehicle to pursue his own objectives. His early success emboldened the lunatic fringe of the Party to move to positions they could not have without him. Obama was not a Democrat; he was a MEocrat. It was (and still is) all about him, not the party.He is a self-focused opportunist where everything must be about him. The early political success has now turned into a disaster for the Democrat Party. Arguably he has destroyed the Party and he does not care. What once was manna from heaven for Democrats is now excrement from hell. They have a serious problem and seemingly no way to solve it. Their once-Messiah has become an existential Albatross. His ideology and personality disorders threaten to destroy the entire Party. It is important for Republicans to stick to their principles (if they still have any) and remember that the mandate they received was about ABOP. They have their own problems, but they are minor co

The Next Big Thing

If you missed the Big Announcement, avoided the direct mail campaign, skipped the Facebook discussion or ignored the general buzz, your luck has just run out....unless you childishly refuse to click here for The Next Big Thing....

Forebearance

Here is an excerpt from "The 7 Deadly Virtues"  . While I am currently waiting for the book to arrive (Kindle makes my eyeballs itch), if the following (written by Sonny Bunch) is any indication, it should exceed the usual "great read" rating casually tossed out by those who, generally, didn't read it all - or never made it past the cover notes. Just the relief in knowing your free-floating malcontentiousness, subcutaneous irritation and overall uncomfortable "tingly feeling" has a source. And a cure. BW Forebearance What’s the politicized life? It’s the growing, pernicious trend in American society where politics are injected into every moment of one’s existence.

The MSM - An Inside Look From An Insider

For as long as long as I have been "in the media" (9/6/65), radio, TV or print , the charge of "bias", specifically "liberal bias", has bounced off the walls of control rooms, studios, management offices and conventions. Serious interviews from serious outlets never let the question pass. So when former CBS veteran reporter Sharyl Attkission speaks - or writes an entire book about it - Stonewalled - it is compelling content beyond newsworthy which is why you likely won't read/hear much about it...with the possible exception of Talk Radio. Hopefully, "her people" will respond positively to my invitation for a "chat".... Here are some interesting reads you may have missed from the NY Post and ZeroHedge:

Good idea!

Friend and prolific author L. Neil Smith comes up with some great ideas. Sadly, too many are impractical, unworkable, politically impossible or - like this one - slightly hypocritical to Libertarian principles. Still...it's damn good idea! Maybe something good could be made from it. A MATTER OF PRINCELY PULL L.Neil Smith The Libertarian Enterprise

Is Martial Law Imminent?

                                       In a recent appearance (10/6) on CBS “60 Minutes”, FBI Director James Comey was asked about the 12 American citizens fighting alongside the ISIS(L) terrorists: “With American passports, how do you keep them from coming home and attacking the Homeland?” Comey’s response:”Ultimately, an American citizen – unless their passport’s revoked – is entitled to come back…so if someone who has fought with ISIS(L)  wants to come back…uh…we will track them very carefully.” (FBI Agent sometime in the near future: “Sssshhh….we must be vewy quiet…we’re twacking AmericanswithpassportswhohavebeenfightinwithISISL Teworrorists!”)

Chaos

There is a law of inverse political thermodynamics. Above a certain threshold necessary to free a social system from chaos, over time the more energy expended to maintain order by a governing body, the less order there will be. Government efforts to promote order often cause disorder, and in extreme cases, chaos. If the spending of governments around the world is a proxy for the energy spent maintaining “order,” then never has so much been expended in pursuit of that elusive goal, to such little effect. One would be hard-pressed to find a spot on the globe where order is not beating a full retreat. The Middle East and parts of Africa are engulfed in religious war, the ultimate chaos. Twice in the last thirteen years the US has tried militarily to impose its version of order and twice it has failed. Now it is trying a third time. Our goals are ill defined and contradictory and should we, by whatever definition we adopt, “win,” the political ordering we leave behind will no more li

Government Always Lies

My friend, Monty Pelerin, focuses on the current and increasing state of desperation consuming the Logic Free Zone, Washington DC. This is solid analysis (complete with examples) which leads the reader (or should) to a better informed state of awareness of our national condition. To what Monty writes: "Government always benefits from making conditions look better than they are."  I offer  its corollary:  Government always benefits from making conditions look worse than they are. Read the entire piece   Government Always Lies Read more on the immorality of Government at  The Pragmatic Anarchist

The "WTF?" Moment

In a recent “newsletter”, one of many that crash-land in my InBox each day, were the following observations: President Barack Obama said, in a speech at Northwestern University: "I am not on the ballot this fall … But make no mistake: [My] policies are on the ballot - every single one of them." The primary thrust of the newsletter was that this latest “Me My Mine” from the Narcissist-in-Chief was a big deal. Quoting a WaPo weekend piece from Dan Balz: "This is an election that is … very much about how people view President Obama."

Education in just 6:48

If you haven't seen it:  The Tiny Dot If you have seen it:  Share

When War Erupts Patriots Will Be Accused Of Aiding "The Enemy"

In modern times, war is never what it seems.  Mainstream historians preach endlessly about grand conflicts over territory, resources, political impasse, and revenge, but the cold hard reality is that all of these “motivations” are actually secondary, if they are relevant at all. As I and many analysts have covered in great detail in the past, most wars are engineered wars. International elites have long seen advantages in pitting two seemingly opposed societies or ideologies against each other while playing both sides of the chessboard to direct events towards a predetermined and desired outcome. This is undeniable historical fact . If you really want to understand the past, or the intricacies of war, you will be lost unless you accept that most conflicts are designed; they are not random or natural. They are not extensions of man's mere greed or ignorance. They are not products of resource scarcity (a common and overly simplistic misconception used to mislead activists). They a

Yet Another Facebook Encounter

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Jeff Boles August 31 at 12:02am  ·  Sheffield, AL  ·  Since the danger to kind, loving, and peaceful people by whatever the en-vogue term is this week has become so obvious, I no longer agree with the libertarian view regarding security in the U.S. or elsewhere. If all people were kind and loving, like we all want, we could all be free. I like the idea of total freedom,

What if the sky IS falling...?

Peter:  What really is compelling about the story and what people should really take to heart is the attitude that pervades is that, well, it’s not going to happen here. It can’t happen here. People don’t want to think about that worst-case scenario.  They want to assume that things are going to be okay, and if somebody is warning about this potential doomsday, that is the person whom they ridicule, who they say, oh, you’re crazy, that’s never going to happen, and, it happens in places like Zimbabwe.  But expand on it, because it’s happening in America.

"Consent"? Of the "governed"?

Look at it this way... There are 2 basic ways in which people can interact: by mutual agreement or by one person using threats or violence to force his will upon another. The first can be labeled “consent” – both sides willingly and voluntarily agreeing to what is to be done. The second can be labeled “governing” – one person controlling another. Since these two – consent and governing – are opposites, the concept of “consent of the governed” is a contradiction. If there is mutual consent, it is not “government”; if there is governing, there is no consent.

(Still) Stuck on Stupid

Note: This is a  LRC piece  that ran in June 2012. Thanks to some FB correspondence with fellow (and more prolific) contributor Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers, it might not suffer from review... Gazing at the heady world of International Finance, damn near every country is spending more than it takes in. Those countries whose national debt does not exceed their annual GDP are well down the road of reversing that. The BDMs (Big Decision Makers) believe insolvent nations can be bailed out by printing money.

Another Facebook encounter

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The latest in an occasional series of Facebook post encounters.... In an on-line discussion, I suggested "Greed" was merely an emotive attack word used to compromise pro-capitalism/free market arguments; that it is impossible to define without imposing subjective opinion, resulting in the following exchange...

The Individual Is Rising

An excerpt:  History has shown, repeatedly, that the human spirit cannot be conquered.  You may be able to suppress the human spirit for one hundred years or so, but never forever.  The human spirit will always rise. History has also shown that the collectivist tyrants will do everything in their power to suppress the human spirit and maintain power, and the present day situation is no different.  There are now cameras on every stop light and federal taps on every cell phone for this reason. 

The Most Important Lesson - Ever

A learned friend tipped me off to this video, The Accelerated Crash Course.   Simply put, it is the most important, compelling, instructive, possibly even life-saving video you may ever see. Regardless of your level of education, you will come to learn and understand the perilously fragile status of our economy, society, our world and our future wherever you live, whoever you are, whatever your standing in life. Ben Franklin said "Lost time is never found again". As you will see, there isn't much of it  left.  Do yourself and your family the most responsible thing you will do today:   click here...

Prescience and Paranoia

Here's a recent post from a popular buzz board: "Does anyone else feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with the daily deluge of crap this man [Obama] is doing to our country? I assume everyone here is awake and paying attention and it’s still hard to keep up. The low information folks out there are really going to be screwed when the crap hits the fan. At least we’ll see it coming. I wouldn't want to write the history books pertaining

Another FB Encounter

The latest in an occasional series of Facebook post encounters.... In this exchange, "JT" is responding to my posting of a link to John Whitehead's comprehensive article "Has the Dept of Homeland Security Become America's Standing Army?" ... JT:    You think the USA is a police state? I might suggest you travel to a few police states. Like Sudan, where they amputate your tongue if you criticize

How a Country Dies

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A country dies slowly. Those living during the decline of Rome were likely unaware that anything was happening. The decline took over a couple of hundred years. Anyone living during the decline only saw a small part of what was happening and likely never noticed it as anything other than ordinary. Countries don’t have genetically determined life spans. Nor do they die quickly, unless the cataclysm of some great war

Thought for the Weekend...

The apathy and ignorance that set us up to willfully convert our brains to cream cheese has lead us down the wider path, the broad way, to the place where we accept that Feelings trump Thought, as sure as Rock Breaks Scissors. Now see how easy it is to accept the implementation of Force to insure these Feelings - what used to be called Rights - are protected and sheltered from the rigors of Thought and exposure by the light of objective, logical inquiry and analysis... Remember the 3 Magic Words: Frogs, Feelings, and Force. All of today's current events, social evolution and political nitwittery can be defined by these three words - and to the destruction for which they stand...

A Different Take - Review

Monty Pelerin, pseudonym of a friend of mine and occasional guest at the Libertas Media Project , hosts the web site "Economic Noise".  Recently, Monty reviewed " A Different Take " with an analysis and commentary you can read here... .

A Different Take

From the Internet to the blog-o-sphere to E-zines to TV and radio chat shows, there is no shortage of opinions criticizing, ridiculing, psychoanalyzing our Fearless Leader. While taking different routes of reason, within acceptable boundaries one could conclude all of them accurate inasmuch as they share synonymous conclusions: Obama is a stumbling, bumbling fool, in over his head but with such a colossal ego or other psychologically dysfunctional handicaps is unable or unwilling to see the folly of his ways, much less accept the disastrous reality that he has created.

Dumming Dumber

Reading the Comments Sections is often more enlightening than whatever intel the article may contain. While the rhetoric rapidly degenerates into redundant screeds employing the same old same old cute cliches, one still gets the sense (or lack thereof) of one's fellow citizens - and their most tenuous grasp on reason, logic, reflection and reality.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Now that everyone is sufficiently distracted by the new House Select Committee on Benghazi, featuring Trey Gowdy...300 kidnapped girls in Africa, featuring Michelle O's #"I'm Concerned And Pissed" Face...and the drama of the NFL draft...comes this little item, buried in the daily Drudge avalanche of relevant (and not) stories.... FBI Investigating Bundy Supporters  

But...

This is the 2nd in what is turning into a "series" on libertarians and libertarianism and Libertarians and Libertarianism.,, If you're late to the party, read this first...then this ...then this  and you'll be prepared for the "But"...                                                                       But.... Many thanks to Lawrence Vance for his comprehensive yet succinct definition of “libertarian”. I couldn’t agree any more – but I can agree a little less.

Worth 14 minutes...

"Josie Outlaw" is a series of  vids focusing on the principles of freedom, liberty, history from a perspective you may have never confronted.... Watch here

No Room in the Tent

Adding to the Libertarian tent in Scott Lazarowitz’s excellent LRC piece   and “… because the “libertarianism” argument seems to be such a hot-button issue at this time, I instead want to add my two-cents worth on that issue.”…. I’ll see those two cents and raise ya two! Among the many worthy statements made, this paragraph crystallizes the essential element missing from the “Me,Too”-ism currently buzzing around all around Libertarianism-ville.

What's going on here?

Can't remember the first time I interviewed Paul Craig Roberts; best guess circa 1993 on WWRC/DC when he was with the Cato Institute. While imprecise on the date, my memory of the conversation is clear: difficult. Very smart guys who have an inkling they're very smart can be very difficult to interview when you are not a regular resident of their intellectual stratosphere.

Moral Courage Considered

The piece below was forwarded by a friend with whom I share many parallel beliefs. While you may not agree with the conclusions - many don't - the subject and worth of "moral courage" is not something often discussed, much less contemplated. For those reasons, please consider the following. BW Last Thursday Chris Hedges opened a team debate at the Oxford Union at Oxford University with this speech arguing in favor of the proposition “This house would call Edward Snowden a hero.” The others on the Hedges team, which won the debate by an audience vote of 212 to 171, were William E. Binney, a former National Security Agency official and a whistle-blower; Chris Huhne, a former member of the British Parliament; and Annie Machon, a former intelligence officer for the United Kingdom.

Most Remarkable!

I've come to learn ZeroHedge is a unique place for info generally ingnored everywhere else. With an emphasis on things financial and/or impacting financial, it's not like Drudge or similar "general news" web sites; ZeroHedge doesn't post the Latest News on Whatever. That leaves space for articles that might not find a home or readership elsewhere. "George Washington" has submitted some of the best, most comprehensive stories on the site. If he doen't work withing "the machine", he has contacts to die for (maybe literally one day) and research that's spot on. Connecting the dots for a compelling read is his most outstanding talent. It's a tad long for ADD types - but the intel is well worth the read ... "In other words, the intelligence agencies are rogue...." BW

Thought for the Day

"“What’s unique about Socialism is the readiness of the State to deploy coercive force.” Daniel Hannan Of course, we have seen none of that here in our lifetime.  Here's a 10 minute short course worth every second... Socialism Does NOT Work - Daniel Hannan

Tanner, the Tea Party and You

Michael Tanner’s recent New Republic piece,  Why the Tea Party's Waning Not Winning  ,was posted recently on Facebook and immediately drew the fire and brimstone from the TP Faithful.  After mentioning my professional relationship with Mr. Tanner and our years of talk show conversations, some took the time to re-read his comments and lower the temperature of the rhetoric.

The new "You"

Comes now a new paradigm based on the old saw:  “All politics is local”. In my business, programmers and talk show hosts were forever admonished to stick to local issues in order to attract and keep the audience: the closer to home the scandal or event, the more naturally inclined to listen would be those in closest proximity.  Makes sense.  A mugging down your street will more likely grab your attention than a drone strike in Yemen or riots in Ukraine.

What is this?

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"This" is a succinct and excellent piece defining Objectivism and worthy of an attentive reading. BW What is Objectivism? ©2007 Michael Greene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Objectivist1.jpg It is widely believed today that our moral, cultural, and political alternatives are limited either to the ideas of the secular, relativistic left—or to those of the religious, absolutist right—or to some compromised mixture of the two. In other words, one’s ideas are supposedly either extremely “liberal” or extremely “conservative” or somewhere in-between.  Ayn Rand ’s philosophy, Objectivism, rejects this false alternative and offers an entirely different view of the world.

Some Random Thoughts in Quotes

"Since knowledge, thinking, and rational action are properties of the individual, since the   choice to exercise his rational faculty or not depends on the individual, man’s survival  requires that those who think be free of the interference of those who don’t. Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment.  Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man’s mind." —Ayn Rand And this...

Your Lying Eyes

Not the Eagles hit song. “Who are you gonna believe…me or your lying eyes?” That’s the punch line to a mildly ribald joke about a poor schlub getting caught   flagrante delicto . Since incontrovertible evidence proves Liberty and Freedom are being screwed in plain sight, why the incredulity when the obvious is mentioned? Or, in the case of the Media, why is the assault so  strenuously ignored, denied and defended?

Cold Dead Fingers

I nteresting read. Especially the Comments section.... Pull quote--- " How do you know if you are a potential target for immediate elimination once martial law is declared? The short answer is that you cannot be certain. Former NSA agent, the late A.C. Griffith, once stated that we are all assigned a threat matrix score and categorized on the NSA’s ability to track your movements, rate your web surfing habits, track your proximity to other known dissidents through cell phone movement matching and quantitatively and qualitatively monitor your electronic communications. Every one of us has a threat matrix score which is assigned by the NSA." One observation: Since the No Such  Agency is monitoring everything everywhere all time (".. . track your movements, rate your web surfing habits, track your proximity to other known dissidents through cell phone movement matching and quantitatively and qualitatively monitor your electronic communications .")  how bright

Back By Unpopular Demand

And now, in response to a diminishing number of requests, your humble scribbler takes dubious delight in presenting once again…“Pop Quiz: The ‘What If’ Game” ** Ready? Begin… Part A: (51 points) Based on irrefutable, empirical data, what if you knew a government agency was spying – really spying - on you ? What if that agency had a bottomless budget? What if that agency had at its disposal, technology so advanced it made “state of the art” instantly obsolete? What if that agency, utilizing that technology funded by those infinite dollars could turn on your cell phone, record and store every conversation? What if this agency

Guest Column - Walter Williams

( Note: I have enjoyed Walter Williams' company at my home and on my shows around the country for 20 years. He and his late wife, Connie, shared some great and fun times. Possibly Walter's greatest talent is making complicated issues "bite size" and easy to comprehend. One of his best examples follows...BW ) Parting Company Here's a question that I've asked in the past that needs to be revisited. Unless one wishes to obfuscate, it has a simple yes or no answer. If one group of people prefers strong government control and management of people's lives while another group prefers liberty and desires to be left alone, should they be required to enter into conflict with one another and risk bloodshed and loss of life in order to impose their preferences on the other group? Yes or no. My answer is no; they should be able to peaceably part company and go their separate ways.