Archive for November, 2008

For those with children

Posted in Serious Levity by R Lee Wrights on November 30th, 2008

by authour unknown

“It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place.”

- Colette, French novelist (1873-1954)

For those with No children - this is totally hysterical!

For those who already have children past this age, this is hilarious.

For those who have children this age, this is not funny.

For those who have children nearing this age, this is a warning!

For those who have not yet had children, this is birth control.

The following came from an anonymous mother in Austin, Texas.

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Seattle mayor’s plan disregards state law and AG opinion

Posted in Press Releases by R Lee Wrights on November 29th, 2008

from CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, WA – A draft proposal issued Friday by Mayor Greg Nickels outlining his scheme to ignore state statute and state legislative authority over firearms regulation amounts to a slap in the face against more than 250,000 Washington state residents, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said in response.

“We’re going to review this draft proposal line-by-line,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “but even a cursory glance at the document released Friday by Mayor Nickels shows that he has chosen to arrogantly ignore the State Attorney General’s opinion. State statute clearly limits municipal authority, and the Nickels plan suggests he is attempting to be a little too clever in trying an end-run around the law.

“If Nickels pushes ahead with this scheme,” he added, “there will be two kinds of criminals in Seattle, thugs and those who win elections. Both seem to believe it’s just fine to ignore the law by playing the system.

“The outrage here is that the mayor is grossly overreacting to a single event,” Gottlieb stated, “and trying to push his personal anti-gun agenda by administrative rule, rather than submit this proposal to the city council. We believe such a rule is unenforceable and that it intentionally violates not only the letter of the law, but the spirit and intent of the law as passed by the Legislature more than 20 years ago.

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The future of Freedom at the ballot box

Posted in LFA Flashback by R Lee Wrights on November 28th, 2008

by Mike Renzulli

Libertarian PartyDuring my eight years in the libertarian movement I have observed that in many libertarian circles there is a debate not only on whether it is legitimate to vote, but also what is the most effective method needed to bring our ideas to the forefront.

While there is in my view no central LP plan for achieving freedom - aside from “running Libertarians for office” - the most effective way to bring our ideas to be debated, discussed and enacted in the public arena would be through the ballot initiative process.

From 1999 until 2005 I lived in Mesa, Arizona, and had the pleasure of being a member of a political group that has gotten ideas enacted, while remaining mostly on the libertarian side of the economic spectrum. The group I refer to is the Valley Business Owners and Concerned Citizens (a.k.a. V.B.O.). In 1996 Mesa voters approved a city smoking ban. Many people who presently make up the V.B.O. board owned home-based businesses at the time. They attempted to get the ban repealed soon after it was passed, by filing a class action lawsuit aimed at overturning the law based on its infringement on their personal and private property rights.

The suits were only partially successful, since the Mesa City council ended up allowing businesses located in the city to petition the council for variances to the law if they believe it would adversely affect them. While this was not a bad thing, the drawback is that one (unofficial, yet very real) requirement for getting the variance approved is for the business owner to join the Mesa Chamber of Commerce - which, for the most part, is ‘in bed’ with the city council.

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Happy Thanksgiving: An open letter to my parents

Posted in Liberty's Voice by R Lee Wrights on November 27th, 2008

by Della Croft

Della CroftDear Mom and Dad,

On Thanksgiving we should reflect on our good fortune and give thanks for all our blessings.  Naturally I feel that I should be thankful for the two of you, but I began thinking of all the mean things you did to me as a child and felt the time has come for me to expose your cruelty to the world.

Why did you never go in debt to send us to exotic locations complete with tourist traps and plastic momentos?  We were subjected to family vacations in a tent, forced to enjoy the outdoors, campfires, S’mores, games and fishing with you, Dad.  Knee deep in the ocean, raking clams with Pappy, we heard his childhood stories and his take on life.  Honestly, is this any way to have fun?

Every summer vacation my friends were sent to neat sitters who let them watch TV all day and I was sent to spend time with my grandparents!  How could you?  Do you have any idea what they did to me? Mom, your mother taught me to bake bread and play gin rummy.  Did you know Aunt Joanne often came from next door while I was visiting your parents and took me to Bible School and Church?  Dad, your mother did unspeakable things to me!  She taught me how to crochet and do needlework and danced when she mashed potatoes.  I have nothing to tell a therapist.  Thanks a lot.

You never cared enough about me to leave me with a sitter, instead you worked alternate shifts so one of you was always home.  You never put yourself in debt to provide me with designer clothing and shoes, I was made to wear sensible shoes and clothing made to last; even (gasp) hand-me-downs!  You were more concerned that I was neat and warm instead of stylish, some parents you were.

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Liberal Second Amendment

Posted in Tuma's Toons by R Lee Wrights on November 26th, 2008

by Kevin Tuma

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The health care mess: The Flexner Report

Posted in The Freedom Beam by R Lee Wrights on November 25th, 2008

by Roderick T. Beaman

(Author’s note.  I have not read the Flexner Report, having been unable to find the full text in several Internet searches.  I have relied for much of the following on articles about the Report.  Those sources vary from the American Medical Association itself to outright antagonism.)

The pot was still boiling with the treatment disputes that swirled at the turn of the twentieth century when the American Medical Association (AMA) had an unexpected gift dropped into its lap.

Abraham Flexner had owned and had just sold a preparatory school in Kentucky.  He had been graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in education, and not even an advanced degree, while his brother, Simon, had studied pathology there after receiving an M.D. degree from the University of Louisville.  From there, Simon went on to be among the founders of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

At the same time, the AMA’s Council on Medical Education was seeking a way to ’standardize’ medical education in the country.  It turned to The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching which in turn recommended Abraham Flexner to spearhead the drive.  Flexner, for his part, had no medical training, so it’s hard to figure exactly why he was chosen other than for his sibling connection.

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Proof vs. punishment

Posted in Liberty's Friend by R Lee Wrights on November 24th, 2008

by Larken Rose

It never ceases to amaze me how bad Americans are at thinking. Unfortunately, that applies to many in the freedom movement as well as the general public. I’m not just talking about me not liking their conclusions; I’m talking about the complete absence of logic in the way they think.

If you were to suggest that the platypus is warm-blooded, and I slugged you in the nose for suggesting that, does that prove you wrong? No. Does it prove you right? No. Does it prove anything about what you said? Obviously not. Whether you’re right or not depends upon what the evidence shows (e.g., whether the internal temperature of a platypus fluctuates significantly). And it depends upon nothing else.

Yes, that example is a bit silly, but not any more silly than what many people, including both government propagandists and some pro- freedom folk, argue. “You went to jail, so why should I listen to your theories?” If I had claimed to have some risk-free way to not give the IRS any money (which I never have claimed), then me getting into trouble would be relevant. If, however, I said, “Hey, look what the law books say!” and got put in a cage for it, that’s not proof of anything. And if instead the feds had left me alone, that also wouldn’t prove anything. Whether my legal conclusions are correct–whether anyone’s conclusions about anything are correct– depends completely and entirely upon whether evidence and logic supports those conclusions.

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ATF finding new ways to infringe people’s rights

Posted in Back Door Politics by R Lee Wrights on November 23rd, 2008

by GOA staff

Last month, we told you how the ATF was trying to prevent the distribution of an electronic 4473 Form. This software has been developed by a private firm, Coloseum Software Corporation, and is intended to protect dealers against the “mistakes” that have allowed the ATF to prosecute or harass them into giving up their licenses.

GOA issued a grassroots alert in mid-October explaining how the ATF had been dragging its collective feet for months — keeping Coloseum from distributing its software, even while the ATF was developing its own competing software (and possibly, violating the copyright which belonged to Coloseum).

After GOA asked gun owners to contact the Bush Administration, the owner of Coloseum contacted us shortly thereafter to tell us that our alert had been a tremendous success:

After the GOA alert put the spotlight on criminal activity by the BATFE, they quickly provided us (Coloseum Software Corp) with the approval for the new Form 4473 which we had been asking for months.

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Holder nomination signals Obama’s true anti-gun rights agenda

Posted in Dangerous Politics by R Lee Wrights on November 22nd, 2008

by SAF staff

The nomination of Eric Holder for the post of attorney general of the United States sends an “alarming signal” to gun owners about how the Barack Obama administration will view individual gun rights, as affirmed this year by the Supreme Court, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

“Eric Holder signed an amicus brief in the Heller case that supported the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, and also argued that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right,” noted SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “He has supported national handgun licensing and mandatory trigger locks. As deputy attorney general under Janet Reno, he lobbied Congress to pass legislation that would have curtailed legitimate gun shows.

“This is not the record of a man who will come to office as the nation’s top law enforcement officer with the rights and concerns of gun owners in mind,” he observed.

Holder’s nomination, like the appointment of anti-gun Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff, tells American gun owners that Obama’s campaign claims supporting the Second Amendment were “empty rhetoric,” Gottlieb stated.

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Why I Became a Libertarian; or, why didn’t someone tell me my skirt was tucked into my pantyhose?

Posted in LFA Flashback by R Lee Wrights on November 21st, 2008

by Della Croft

Revelations have a funny way of creeping up on you. You spend your life completely content in your own ignorance and out of the blue it hits you - your ideas are incorrect, you have been grossly misinformed. I had my personal revelation at the grocery store as the woman in front of me pulled her Access card out of her Coach handbag and I thought to myself, “Now, where did we go wrong?” These handouts are not helping this woman, they are making her settle for the life she already has, one where you buy Coach handbags and the government buys your food. Without incentive she will stay the course and initiate her children into the world of government handouts.

As she drove off in her BMW, I started to wonder how we got into this mess, but was distracted by the pothole in the government maintained roadway I traversed. The necessary impetus for change had come over me.  Disgust.

I always considered myself to have a social conscience, championing the underdog, volunteering my time at nursing homes, an occasional soup kitchen. It occurred to me that many individuals joined together in their communities could give a helping hand to the unfortunate; this was no job for the government!

If each community had a band of individuals willing to volunteer their time, the government could spend its time with important things, like the five million dollar grant to study the effects of acid rain on an obscure tree mite in Indonesia. If I did not have to give nearly all of my gross income to the IRS, hell, I could fund a soup kitchen for six months out of every year.

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