Archive for December, 2008

Why I launched the campaign against ‘Boys are Stupid’ products

Posted in Liberated Musings by R Lee Wrights on December 31st, 2008

by Glenn Sacks

“Dad, why are they always saying things like that about boys?”

This question asked by my 11 year-old son triggered a campaign which in just seven weeks has driven T-shirts, hats, and other merchandise bearing the slogan “Boys are Stupid–Throw Rocks at Them” out of nearly 3,500 retail outlets worldwide. The products depict a little boy running away as several rocks come flying at his head.

The stores dropped the products after being bombarded with thousands of e-mails and phone calls, largely from the listeners and supporters of my radio talk show. Most of those taking action have been fathers who are concerned about the cultural atmosphere surrounding their boys.

However, some of the most passionate and articulate supporters of our campaign have been the mothers and grandmothers of boys. It is mothers who generally supervise their children’s educations on a day-to-day basis, and they more than anybody see boys’ largely ignored struggles.

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Transparency doesn’t cost: It saves

Posted in Power to the People by R Lee Wrights on December 30th, 2008

by Amy Oliver

Two years ago freshman legislator Don Marostica introduced the Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act. Believing everyone would embrace the simple concept that taxpayers have a right to know how and where their money is being spent, Representative Marostica thought his legislation to create an online, searchable database for all state revenues and expenditures - information that is already a matter of public record - would pass easily.

He was wrong. The bill died in committee. Forces bigger than Representative Marostica’s idea to bring transparency to Colorado ended up killing it.

The whopping $2 million fiscal note weighed down the legislation like concrete fins in the Cherry Creek Reservoir. Even when the state is awash in cash, that is a lot of taxpayer dollars just for a database. With the current economic situation, any legislation with that kind of fiscal note will be a tough sell this session.

However Representative Marostica and his legislation will be back this session. This time he is armed with co-sponsors, a coalition of citizens, and a cadre of states and organizations from both ends of the political spectrum supporting transparency.

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What the hell is going on here?

Posted in Of The People by R Lee Wrights on December 29th, 2008

by Ed Lewis

I apologize for the somewhat strong language and yelling but it seems the American people need a great awakening and speaking quietly just doesn’t seem to work.

Maybe I should have titled this, “Being sick and tired of being sick and tired of the State of the Union in 2008″.  Maybe that would catch the attention of the people.  But, then again, maybe nothing will until all homes, guns, and other property, such as rights and free will, are lost forever or at least until a bloody battle envelops the world, drowning it in blood.

What am I sick and tired of?

Well, to start with, there are the officials filling every level of government that haven’t a clue as to human freedom or simply don’t give a damn while they wallow in their perceived importance of undue power and the unlawful taking of people’s property for their own private gain and the gain of those that control them behind the scenes.

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A White House without honor

Posted in Straight Shooter by R Lee Wrights on December 28th, 2008

by Jessi Winchester, author of From Bordello to Ballot Box

“Victory means an exit strategy and it’s important for the president to explain to Americans what that exit strategy is.”

- George W. Bush - 43rd President of the U.S. - Seattle Post-Intelligencer (06/05/99) Bush criticizing President Clinton re: Kosovo

Mr. Bush’s motto seems to be, “Do as I say; not as I do.”  The hypocritical difference between the quote above and his failure to do exactly what he criticized President Clinton for, is blinding.

When President Clinton left office the deficit was in the black for the first time in many years.  The domestic economy was healthy and foreign relations were stable.  The former president is a man who loves people and forged friendships with leaders all over the globe during his term in office.  Despite doing a good job for America, Congress brought impeachment proceedings against him for issues related to sex.

We now have a president who is a pathological liar and has caused a division in this country unparalleled in our history since Abraham Lincoln.  Congress has done precious little to rein in a man who has done more to crush individual freedom and circumvent the Constitution than any president in our history.  It seems impeaching for private sexual transgressions is okay but allowing the nation’s top leader to lie time after time and destroy our open way of life remains unchallenged.

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Big Mother

Posted in Liberty's Lady by R Lee Wrights on December 27th, 2008

by Lady Liberty

I had a nice Thanksgiving this year. I spent the afternoon with friends. We had much too much good food to eat, and we ate too much of it; after dinner, we watched a couple of good movies during which some proved to be too tired to stay awake. Later, I drove home through a light snowfall with a bag of turkey, fruit salad, pie, and other tasty leftovers on the seat beside me. I’m lucky to have such good friends with whom I can spend such a relaxing day, and I’m truly thankful for it.

One friend of mine, however, didn’t have such a good day. She had to split the day between two families: hers and her husband’s. Now, you’d think that that would mean two delicious dinners and twice as much good company. But what it really meant was about ten times the stress, and at least twice the resentment.

Because they were going to a second dinner, they obviously couldn’t stuff themselves at the first. Various cooks were offended when their contributed dishes weren’t sampled. Since they had somewhere else to be, they had to leave while others were still digesting dinner in front of the TV. Some were promptly offended when conversations had to be cut short or discussions delayed. Of course, adding insult to Thanksgiving injury, my friend didn’t get any leftovers either because she had to pack up and leave before the remnants of the meal had been cleaned up (and don’t even start on the idea that she left before she could help with the extensive clean-up).

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Yesterday’s Christmas

Posted in LFA Flashback by R Lee Wrights on December 26th, 2008

by Jessi Winchester, author of From Bordello to Ballot Box

The NativityA blanket of snow covered the ground and crunched under the weight of small feet running and laughing in the protection and shelter of a time long past. 

Mother bundled us up in warm leggings and galoshes for the traditional Christmas hayride.  A tractor pulled a flatbed filled with hay and happy families and my father held my tiny hand on one side and my sister’s on the other as our short legs struggled to climb up onto the hay with the rest of our friends and neighbors.  The sound of Christmas carols filled the air as we carefully made our way down the road to the hot apple cider waiting at the Yeager farm.  A large bonfire welcomed us beside the pond as children ice-skated and the sound of laughter rang in the crisp clear air.  We huddled around the warmth of the fire, thankful for the friendship of our neighbors, friends, and families.  The evening always ended with a potluck dinner that created memories of yet another special Christmas.

Christmas in America’s Heartland was magical during a time when things were innocent and safe, when we couldn’t even imagine life as we know it today.  It was an age of simplicity America will never experience again; one our children and grandchildren can’t even comprehend.  People cared about each other.  No one realized money was scarce because we were so rich in things that mattered.  Neighbors waved as they passed each other on the gravel road heading for town.  Ranchers banded together to harvest each other’s crops or round up cattle.  If a fire burned down a neighboring barn, folks for miles around came to rebuild it and bring food for the family.  Children rode their bikes for miles in safety with no thought of predators.  Teenagers hung out in the town square just to talk, with no thought of vandalism.  Thirty-somethings held doors open for their elders rather than walk through and let them slam shut in their faces.  People and traditions meant everything in the close-knit communities of rural Iowa.

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Merry Christmas

Posted in Tuma's Toons by R Lee Wrights on December 25th, 2008

by Kevin Tuma

Kevin Tuma

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Santa baby, just slip some world peace under the tree for me

Posted in LFA Flashback by R Lee Wrights on December 24th, 2008

by Della Croft

Della CroftI have absolutely no idea where this past year went. 

It seems as if we were just toasting the New Year and here we are again stuffing ourselves with Holiday Cheer.  Remember when you were a kid and the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed like an eternity?   Now it seems just when you have eaten the last turkey sandwich, it is time to make the Egg Nog. 

Not having children, I thankfully can avoid the full-contact toy shopping.  I never understood the concept of celebrating the birth of one’s Savior by beating the snot out of someone for a $24.00 toy that will be long forgotten by Valentine’s Day.  It must be one of those mysteries of parenting that I’ve heard about. 

The holidays can be a bit of a chore, I admit, but it is also a wonderful time.  Just for a few days we can all be kids again and believe in a little magic.   Did you make your list for Santa?   I did:

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The health care mess: Functioning in the belly of the beast

Posted in The Freedom Beam by R Lee Wrights on December 23rd, 2008

by Roderick T. Beaman

With Barack Obama’s presidency, the clamor for some type of universal medical coverage system is on a crescendo. The cry today is for a ’single payer system’. That type of system is a monopsony, where there is but one buyer for a good or a service, as opposed to a monopoly where there is but one seller.

It was Pres. Harry Truman who first proposed government-funded health care service for Social Security recipients. It was a corner piece of John F. Kennedy’s presidential platform in 1960.

He proposed it to Congress where, like so any other of his programs, it languished in committee. Lyndon B. Johnson, the consummate deal maker, after his succession to the presidency upon Kennedy’s assassination, rammed it through Congress with the Medicaid program for welfare recipients.

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Free press? Hardly.

Posted in Liberty Rant by R Lee Wrights on December 22nd, 2008

by Larken Rose 

In my last message, I mentioned some of the things the governor of Illinois has been accused of doing. I’ve now read the actual criminal complaint against him. And you can too, right here.

After reading it, I noticed that the stories I’ve seen in the media have downplayed, or even omitted entirely, the issue which I find most disturbing: government propaganda and censorship. The criminal complaint lays out quite plainly how Governor Blagojevich wanted to trade a deal worth over a hundred million dollars to the owners of the Chicago Tribune (involving Wrigley Field), in exchange for them FIRING people who had written articles critical of him.

In the governor’s eloquent words, “our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get ‘em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support.” The message he wanted sent to the newspaper owners was, “we sure would like to get some editorial support from your paper, okay?” And, in speaking of the deal, he told them that it was ready to happen, but “there is a risk that all of this is going to get derailed by your own editorial page.”

Again, I don’t for one second believe that such happenings are at all unique. The governor was stupid enough to get caught, but such propaganda-via-”influence” happens on a daily basis across the entire country. What the governor got caught doing is nothing unique, and it is nothing new. Check out the following, a quote from over a hundred years ago, by a former editor of the New York Times. This was said in front of a bunch of other media folk, after someone had offered a toast to the “independent press”:

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