Got a quibble

with Robert Ringer. He says:

Presidential candidates love to talk about freedom, even while telling us how they intend to further enslave us. They do this by manufacturing “rights” out of thin air. This year’s crop of candidates has been especially bold in this respect, babbling endlessly about our nonexistent rights and how they intend to fulfill them.

The problem is that all artificially created rights are anti-freedom, because in order to fulfill one person’s rights (read, desires), another person’s rights must be violated. That is precisely what is meant by Madam Obama’s infamous statement “Someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so someone else can have more.”

At the heart of such thinking are three converging afflictions: guiltism, envyism, and villainism. (More on all these in future articles.) People suffering from such afflictions do not want a free society. They are usually individuals who are unable to achieve success in a free society, thus they yearn for an external force (government) to “level the playing field” and equalize results.

I hear a lot of that at work. Usually I just let 'em blather their bullcrap. One reason I intend to be an entrepreneur is so that when I speak, people will listen.

My quibble with Ringer is with this statement "They are usually individuals who are unable to achieve success in a free society." What did they do, immigrate from Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Bahama, Bermuda...? Those countries beat us all to crap on the Economic Freedom Index. For personal freedoms, you can't beat America, Canada, Western Europe, NZ and Australia, but there's not much money to be made pursuing them.

We haven't seen a free society since the territories were all made states. And at that time, the opportunities you find with high population and modern technology didn't exist.

In a free market, you don't have to be first to be a winner (in a corporatist state, you do, because the government decides who's "too big to fail"). You just have to entice a sufficient number of customers to buy your stuff. You don't need to be WalMart. But, there may come a time when you need to ask the question, how did WalMart get to be WalMart?

But, of course, most authorities are better

than these.

That da** LibertyBob's

beat me to another great solution to our problems!

Somebody get the word to Ron Paul! It may not be too late.

BTW, if you really care about LibertyBob, you need to look here.

My dear friend, Probligo

and all the rest of you, too, probably, should check out what Jim Straw has to say.

He sets those of us straight, who are worried by the question, "If you're so smart, how come you ain't rich?"

Don't worry, he's got a lot of free stuff and I've only bought the cheap stuff. In fact, if you're worried about it, I've posted an article of his here, with permission, but without links, except for the header.

Ya gotta love Lew Rockwell

He says, "the wish for socialism is a wish for unparalleled human evil. If we really understood this, no one would express casual support for it in polite company. It would be like saying, you know, there is really something to be said for malaria and typhoid and dropping atom bombs on millions of innocents."

Check out Bruce Benson's

Where Does Law Come From?

Looks like El Neil

argrees with me about Dr. Ruwart.

Pretty sure my local Republicans won't, though.

Of course, I said I'd vote for Barr or WAR if that were the best I could do.

Here's a pretty good argument for Mr. Smith's case.

And this guy's even more adamant than Mr. Smith.

This guy beat me to a point I've been mulling for a while

This guy, I mean:

Those who favor national health care schemes should take a good, hard look at our veterans’ hospitals. There is your national health care. Those institutions are a national disgrace. If this is the care the government dispenses to those it honors as its most heroic and admirable citizens, why should anyone else expect to be treated any better?

If our "liberals" gave a rats ass about convincing conservatives of the value of "socialized" medicine, they might consider making more of a showcase of our veterans hospitals. I'm sure Roosevelt hadn't imagined them ever becoming the disgrace that they are.

That's a peripheral point to the one the...is it The Nihilist in Gold Pants?...was making against Ron Paul, but it struck me as about the most important thing he had to say.

Look, Ron Paul was just the greatest of the mainstream party members running for president to me. He was an inadequate Libertarian, but there was no way we were going to do better any time soon.

For mainstream appeal, I'm willing to support a Bob Barr or a Wayne Allen Root if the Libertarian Party chooses one of them, but the best choice for humanity is Mary Ruwart - who actually provides us with the real solutions to our ills, and has extensive personal experience dealing with America's bureaucracy.

Is the bureaucracy ready for her? No.

I'm afraid they'd moderate her power as President, but if she returned America to the state it was in in Grover Cleveland's second term (politically, not technologically or economically) the world would be improved to an astounding degree.

Update: was that Glenn Reynolds? Kick A!

The discussion there really kicks butt. I wasn't expecting that.

Speaking of fun arguments,

the LP nomination race is getting downright nasty between Wayne Allen Root and my beloved Dr. Mary Ruwart.

I seem to have all my good ideas in the morning.

Ain't got none now.

They're having a fun argument over on the Mises Blog. You'll want to read the article, Does Money Taint Everything? before you delve into it, though.

What?! No jokes about me sellin' fertilizer?

What the hell's wrong with you people?!

Hey! I'm still pushing Lutheran Austrian Objectivism after all and wondering what to do about the contradictions there. Don't you think I deserve a load of s#(!?

Hell, I do!

Nobody loves me enough to give me any crap?

Now I'm really sad.

Well, that's all right, then!

The younger boy came by today and showed me what he wants me to do for spare cash on the side. The basics, anyway. I'm not quite clear on where and how to aquire the stuff, though, I've been "reinventing the wheel", since he told me what he had in mind. He doesn't seem to want to go into compost tea, but that is absolutely the route to go if you want to go organic and don't want to pay somebody like me to do it all for you.

The big fear there is e-coli. The process doesn't affect it one way or the other. If you're going to go with compost tea, you need to learn to recognize e-coli under a microscope. (And, if you see unacceptable levels in your brew, send it on to the sanitation department.) I haven't yet, but I was expecting to have to.

Since the boy was bragging that up to me, he's discovered sources of commercially available products [bad writing alert] who make it economically feasible for us to service your needs. Of course, if you're a maniacal Do-It-Yourselfer, you can get your stuff from the same sources and DIY it, but...well, there is some specialized equipment we've got (and I'm glorying in that "we".... He's giving it to us!) that a DIYer is not going to want to buy, and the work-arounds will be a b---h. Cheaper in time and money to hire the guy who's already got the stuff.

Kick back and enjoy life and let me make your lawn, trees and shrubs greener without those worries about wrecking the environment downstream.

I'm drunk on the Kool-Aid.

Busy, busy, busy! As Bokonon would say.

I much prefer Bokonon to Bakunin, don't you? Vonnegut's character to the real guy?

Anyway, I've been dealing with my day job, my avocation of trying to expand human liberty, and this little family reunion we're having. As well as being involved in my stepson's business expansion.

At present, I'm rather irritated that I haven't seen the expanding stepson since Monday night. If I were a business man, I wouldn't leave the principle character required for my expansion hanging for damn near a week. When I get the chance, I'm going to have to impose some order in this organisation.

I mean, it's early in this young company, but I'm accustomed to dealing with a high degree of professionalism. The salesboy talks a hell of a game, but where the hell is he when it's time for business?

I'm seein' a need for a big dose of Daddy!