I found this speech, What would a truly libertarian society look like? and thought you might enjoy it. It gives a good look into the mindset of a Libertarian. Views on business, government, drugs and so on, it addresses a lot of subjects and gives a wonderful view of how the world could be.
The bad news is that it is a bit too idyllic. I respect their vision, and I must say it really appeals to the Conservative in me. But a true Libertarian society is about as likely to happen as a true Communist society. Just for the record, even the “Communist” countries, (USSR, China, Cuba, et. al.) are/were only at the Socialist stage, none have ever made that last step into true Communism.
Government is not going anywhere. And even benevolent governments rule through fear. That’s part of their job. It is precisely that fear that keeps people from breaking the law.
Taxes are a necessary evil to run the government. We found out by experience with the Articles of Confederation that you can’t just ask for taxes.
I agree we are going after the “War on Drugs” backasswards, but it is a necessary action. Most of the drugs that are illegal are that way for very good reasons. They called this stuff “junk” back in the 60′s for a reason. I admit that the sentiences for minor offenses are way too harsh and the seizures are just way over the top. Massive reform is needed.
Read it. I don’t think it will ever happen, but it is a rather wonderful ideal to strive for.

I am on multiple message boards, most of which relate to Warhammer 40k. On a lot of these are kids who do not take the effort to spell very well. They use IM and other shorthand which drives me crazy. For me, it casts doubt on them as to how well they can truly spell.
Here is an article, Spelling: A Lost Art, that presents a wonderful, simple way to learn how to spell out the English language.
Teach it to your children, and they will become better spellers and readers.

Well, Air America might be viable after all. A lot of people (including me) predicted that they would fold either after the election or by the end of the year when the venture capital ran out. Well, according to the website, they say that they have 41 stations, plus XM and Sirius.
I am surprised, but pleasantly so. I think it is wrong for only one force to be on the air. I hope they continue. It should be a requirement for every Conservative to listen to them at least one day a week. To listen to only opinions that agree with yours is to turn your mind into a pillow. It is precisely the refusal of Liberals to listen to opinions other than their own that isolates them from reality.
Right now and I am listening to “Unfiltered,” and they have “Ask A Vet.” They are talking to a man who was severely injured in Iraq. He made a statement that “The vast majority of Iraqis want us there.” One of the hosts said, “We have to agree to disagree on that.” Just goes to show you how they are. They take their own opinion over the statement of someone who has been over there and seen what has gone on with his own eyes.
It never stops.

I found this article, The first shot in the war on political correctness and thought you’d like to read it.
It covers the roots of PC, and it’s future should we fail to stop it.

Many have said that we’re in the midst of a culture war, a war between those of liberal beliefs and those of conservative beliefs. This is most likely the case and the 2004 presidential election was evidence of that. While traditionalism, in the form of conservative votes, won out in the presidential, congressional and many state and local elections, political correctness is detached from the will of the voters and is encroaching on the very sovereignty of our nation. It is encroaching through the vehicles of our courts and our schools courtesy of organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Education Association.

These two groups are merely the most visible spear tip of likely dozens of such groups, all bent on changing this into a “social democracy,” a nice word for a Socialist state.
PC goes beyond the hyphenated American labels, it extends into removing God from every vestige of our society and teaching Socialist values over those of Personal Responsibility. And they are correctly starting with our youth. That was how missionaries did their job, they taught the children in the missionaries language, which drove a wedge between the children and the parents with their belief systems and traditions, the missionaries superimposed their beliefs upon the culture that they had invaded.
Well, now it is being done in reverse. They are doing their best to remove God from every last nook and cranny of our society, sterilizing the beliefs of our Founding Fathers and taking another step towards a Godless society.

Who will stand with me in this most noble of endeavors? For if we do not fight this evil, this direct attack upon our nation, her heritage and her principles, we should not be surprised if Khrushchev was correct and our country falls without a shot being fired in her defense.
The time to act is now. [emphasis mine]

Which side are you on?

I post dated a couple of entries for Thanksgiving because I didn’t have the time, I had to go into work early. They have been posted and are now available for consumption (yes, I know it’s a pun).
It is always important to know our history, because without a past we cannot move forward. We have nothing to build on to become greater.

In a related vein from the next story, Is Declaration of Independence unconstitutional?.
This separation of Church and State has gone too far. Just for the record, one more time, the idea of the separation of Church and State was in a personal letter from Thomas Jefferson to a friend. The phrase was scratched out. But activist judges who want to ban God from everything but church hang their hat on it everyday.
If activist judges paid as much attention to the public writings of Jefferson, Adams, Lay, et.al (i.e. The Federalist) they would have entirely different views on every contentious issue today, outside of abortion, which was not even conceived of in those days. But they pay attention to what they like and ignore what they don’t. Like a four-year-old.
I believe it was Jefferson who said, “Our system of government is meant for a moral and just people. It will not work any other way.” And when you look at just about every ruling made by activist judges, you will see those rulings in direct opposition of any morality outside of pure hedonism.
Our moral fiber is being ripped apart stitch by stitch when we are ordered to ignore our morality. To force such change before we are ready is to destroy in some way who we really are. The Right is far more tolerant of Homosexuality and Abortion, for example, than the Left thinks. It does not mean we should be forced to immediately embrace these subjects with open arms. We are willing to accept these and other subjects in some ways, but you will have a fight when they are forced upon us.
All societies change, for change is inevitable. But change can happen while remaining a God-fearing, moral and just people. Perhaps it is our society of instant gratification that makes some of us want everything right now.
All I know is things would go a lot smoother if changes like these were not forced upon us.

You know, I have spent a fair amount of this blog vilifying Liberals. And, the saying goes, the plural of anecdote is data.
So here is another point of data to show just how ‘tolerant’ the self-proclaimed party of tolerance really is. Liberals have a distorted view of tolerance.

Once, about four years ago, I found myself being tailed late at night by a car I didn’t recognize. I was by myself, it was around 11 p.m. in my hometown, a city with enough violent crime to make a person more than a bit wary.
I saw the guy’s headlights in my rearview mirror, noticed he was fairly close to me and had been for a few miles. I was on my way to shoot some pool with friends, and decided to turn off the main road, mostly to convince myself he wasn’t really following me. He followed.
[...]
“Did you guys hear?” one of them laughed. “John tailed some idiot with a Bush-Cheney sticker on his car all the way here.”
The story got a hearty laugh from my whole group of acquaintances, all liberal. It was a good joke, played on some abstract conservative, retold in the utter certainty that there were no such abstract creatures in the room.
I glared straight at John and said something along the lines of “Yeah, that was me, and that was real liberal and accepting of you,” adding a few sailor-approved flourishes worthy of a man who would threaten a young woman with physical harm because of her political beliefs.

The very idea of tolerance is to accept that there will be people who will have opinions that differ from yours and to accept that fact. Villanizing, degrading and despising said different opinions is not part of the tolerance package. Tolerance means the civility to agree to disagree, without hate or malice, something that Liberals lack.
While our loony Right holds the same view of a lack of tolerance for different opinions, that fringe of the Right does not control, nor is representative of the rest of us. Not true of the Left. For the last several years, the Liberals have moved farther and farther Left, thinking they are moving closer and closer to mainstream America, when they are moving farther and farther away. Liberals are becoming more and more divisive, spiteful and hateful. There is no possibility for meaningful or realistic compromise with them.
I don’t like this. I want a Democrat Party that is devoted towards the good of the country, patriotic as all get-out and willing to give a little to get a little. I don’t see that in today’s Blue Party.
It’s a shame. Until they realize what they have been doing and change course, they will get less and less power until they either wise up or end up completely out of power.
I do not rejoice in this. Yes, it is true that with all three branches of government under Republican control, we can implement our agenda with impunity. That’s what bothers me. Democrats are merely a third leg to us now and that is not how it should be.
But then again, Democrats don’t play by the rules either. So I guess it’s a wash overall.
Now is the time for Democrats to begin the introspection, examining their ideals and comparing them to the majority of America. They have to see where things do not fit and to take steps to correct the errors.
Liberals will remain out of power until they do.

While you all are spending time with your families, I am getting to spend time with the people who I work with, the mentally ill. This is for all of those who don’t have a family to go to when the holidays come around.
My time with my family will come later, right now I’ve got people who don’t have anybody to work with right now.
Count your blessings. Some people don’t have any.

From Geoff Metcalf.com, The historically correct version of Thanksgiving.

And so, as beefy gladiators chase a pigskin down the field in Miami or Detroit, we settle into our living rooms, loosen our belts, wave off a second helping of pie, and remind the little ones this is the day we echo the thanks of the Pilgrims, who gathered in the autumn of 1621 to celebrate the first bountiful harvest in a land of plenty.
That first winter in the New World had been a harsh one, of course. Half the colonists had died. But the survivors were hard-working and tenacious, and – with the aid of a little agricultural expertise graciously on loan from the Wampanoag, the Narragansett, and the Mohegan – were able to thank the Creator for an abundant harvest, that second autumn in a new land.
The only problem with the tale, unfortunately, is that it’s not true.
Oh, the part about the Indians graciously showing the new settlers how to raise beans and corn is right enough. But in a November, 1985 article in “The Free Market,” monthly publication of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, author and historian Richard J. Marbury pointed out: “This official story is … a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving’s real meaning.”
The problem with the official story, Mr. Marbury points out, is that “The harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hardworking or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.”
In his “History of Plymouth Plantation,” the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years because they refused to work in the fields, preferring instead to steal. Bradford recalled for posterity that the colony was riddled with “corruption and discontent.” The crops were small because “much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable.”
Although in the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622 “all had their hungry bellies filled,” that relief was short-lived, and deaths from illness due to malnutrition continued.
Then, Mr. Marbury points out, “something changed.” By harvest time, 1623, Gov. Bradford was reporting that “Instead of famine now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God.” Thereafter, the first governor wrote, “Any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day.” Why, by 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists actually began (start ital)exporting(end ital) corn.
What on earth had happened?
After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, “they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop.” And what solution was decided upon? It turned out to be simple enough. In 1623 Gov. Bradford simply “gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit.”
What? Wasn’t that the American way from the start?
Not at all. The Mayflower Compact had required that “all profits & benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means” were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, “all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock.”
A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take out only what he needed – a concept so attractive on its surface that it would be adopted as the equally disastrous ruling philosophy for all of Eastern Europe, some 300 years later.
“This ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his need’ was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving,” Marbury explains.
Gov. Bradford writes that during those terrible first three years “Young men that are most able and fit for labor and service” complained about being forced to “spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children.” Since “the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak,” the strong men simply refused to work, and the amount of food produced was never adequate.
In historian Marbury’s words, Gov. Bradford “abolished socialism” in the colony, “replacing it with a free market, and that was the end of famines.”
In fact, this lesson had to be learned over and over again in early America. “Many early groups of colonists set up socialist states, all with the same terrible results,” Marbury notes. “At Jamestown, established in 1607, out of every shipload of settlers that arrived, less than half would survive their first 12 months in America. Most of the work was being done by only one-fifth of the men, the other four-fifths choosing to be parasites. In the winter of 1609-10, called ‘The Starving Time,’ the population fell from 500 to 60.
“Then the Jamestown colony was converted to a free market, and the results were every bit as dramatic as those at Plymouth. In 1614, Colony Secretary Ralph Hamor wrote that after the switch there was ‘plenty of food, which every man by his own industry may easily and doth procure.’ He said that when the socialist system had prevailed, ‘we reaped not so much corn from the labors of 30 men as three men have done for themselves now.’ ”
They say those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Sadly this was a lesson the people of Russia had to learn all over again – at the pain of equally devastating starvation and penury – in our own century. By the 1980s, when the discredited and bloodstained rulers of Russia finally threw up their hands and allowed farmers to raise private crops and sell them for profit on a mere 10 percent of their lands, once again more crops were produced on that 10 percent of the land than on the 90 percent devoted to “collective agriculture,” the system under which – as the bitter Russian joke would have it – “We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.”
Yes, America is a bounteous land. But the source of that bounty – and the good fortune for which we annually gather to give thanks – lies not merely in the fertility of the soil or the frequency of the rains – for there is hardly a more fertile breadbasket on the face of the earth than the Soviet Ukraine.
No, the source of our bounty was the discovery made by the Pilgrims in 1623, that when men are allowed to hold their own land as private property, to eat what they raise and keep the profits from any surplus they sell, the entire community becomes one of prosperity and plenty.
Whereas, an economic system which grants the lazy and the shiftless some “right” to prosper off the looted fruits of another man’s labor, under the guise of enforced “compassion,” will inevitably descend into envy, theft, squalor, and starvation.
Though many would still incrementally impose on us some new variant of the “noble socialist experiment,” this is still at heart a free country with a bedrock respect for the sanctity of private property – and a land bounteous precisely because it’s free. It’s for that we give thanks – the corn and beans and turkey serving as mere symbols of that true and underlying blessing – on the fourth Thursday of each November.
God bless America – land of the free.

Socialism fails every time it is tried, simply because there is no motivation for anyone to succeed. If we are going to receive a share of the profits without work, we would rather accept a starvation amount than get up and work. But when the profits or losses are our own and if we don’t work we get nothing, then we are the hardest workers on the planet. Such is the wonders of capitalism.

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor– and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be– That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually–to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed–to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord–To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us–and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
George Washington

It seems that there are only two articles that I want to comment on today, and they both concern mental health. I am also having trouble today, so if I seem a bit incoherent, that’s why.
This article, Homeless on the Range, brings up a sore spot in my psyche.
The homeless are homeless for one reason: They are unable to support themselves, either financially or physically. A homeless person suffers from mental illness, a drug habit, or even both. Cases where mentally ill people have “self-medicated” by using illegal drugs are too numerous to mention.
In most cases, you can’t keep these people in care homes. They are too out of control in their behavior to be housed with other people.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of mentally ill people who are able to live on their own, and even be able to support themselves in some way. But there are many who are not. The lucky ones live in good, clean care homes. The unlucky ones don’t. The really unlucky ones are the people who live on the streets.
It is impracticable to forceably house these people, and that is the only way to keep a roof over their heads. These people cannot or will not take the medications necessary to stabilize their condition so that they approach normalcy.
There are no easy answers to this problem. The money and facilities to house these people are limited, and the people who would use these resources are certainly greater than any we could provide. And short of forceably imprisoning those who don’t want to go, there is not a lot we can do to help those who do not want to help themselves.
I have lived like that, been part of the mentally ill homeless. During the first couple of years of my illness, I spent more time on the streets than I spent at home. I would have a psychotic episode, and either leave or get thrown out, and live on the streets for 4-5 days before I could come home again. Then 2-3 days later the process would repeat. I have slept under bridges in the cold of winter, on the steps of the library when the mosquitoes were in full bloom, wandered the streets wondering where I would be or sleep next.
The only solution for me was to move away from my family. I am still in contact with them, but only as a visitor, not as a husband and a father. But until things external to me change, this is the best I can ever hope to be.

This story, Texas Cuts Mental-Health Services, talks about how Texas is using triage to better preserve what little mental health resources it has.
The only mistake in the story that I see is they listed Bipolar Disorder and Manic Depression separately, when in fact they are the same illness, just under old and newer names.
I do not like this, but you have to admit that someone with Obsessive-Compulsive disorder or other similar mental health issues are not the same potential danger to society as someone with schizophrenia. A line must be drawn somewhere, and Texas has drawn it. You can either give the right people the right amount of care, or everybody a substandard amount of care.
I am a danger to society if I am not monitored closely. People like me need first priority in monitoring and psychological care if the general public is to remain safe. I wish I didn’t, but I do.
I am truly sorry that everybody can’t get the level of care that they need.

From Candorville, by Darrin Bell. Enjoy.

Here’s an interesting article: Liberals’ Racism Exposed.
This article brings to light what most Blacks don’t want to know.

The majority of African-Americans oppose same-sex marriage, Democrats support it. Democrats preach higher taxes, while African-Americans benefit from lower taxes. African-Americans support smaller government and states’ rights, while the Democratic Party has whittled away at local government and urged the surrender of the most basic aspects of our lives to the federal government for decades.
So, then, if the Democratic Party opposes African-Americans on almost every issue, then why does the black vote continue to be the cornerstone of the party? The answer is affirmative action.

Affirmative Action is just a way to use Blacks as tokens. By counting Blacks as numbers instead of qualified people, they are reduced from being qualified people to a showcase of how “diversified” the company is racially.
Condi Rice is hated for a variety of reasons. One, she has her own mind instead of toeing the Democrat party line. Two, she got to where she is because she worked at it and never took an affirmative action quota. She is her own person, beholden to no one except who she wants to. She should be the culmination of the Black dream, how far you can get without the crutches of affirmative action. But because she isn’t a Democrat (who would never have allowed her this spot in the first place) she isn’t ‘Black’ and never knew what it was like to be poor and Black.
Well, I’ve got some news for you folks. She grew up poor in the South in the 50′s and she knew the little girls killed in the Birmingham Church Bombing. The only thing that kept her family from getting hung or burned out of their home by the KKK was Daddy’s shotgun. She’s had more of the “Black experience” than most of you could stand.
Condi for Prez in 2008.

This will kill TiVO. Is ‘Fair Use’ in Peril?
I think the opening paragraph says it all:

Do you like fast-forwarding through commercials on a television program you’ve recorded? How much do you like it? Enough to go to jail if you’re caught doing it? If a new copyright and intellectual property omnibus bill sitting on Congress’s desk passes, that may be the choice you’ll face.

You can be sure with cable companies offering Internet service through their cable system, that someone won’t come up with a VCR that will send an email to the appropriate people should you FF through the commercials.
The technology is already here, they just have to put it together.