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My latest column is now online. Check it out ; the introduction: Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ during the holiday season, but Christmastime has become more than just a Christian holiday. I know many atheists and agnostics that observe Christmas and the "spirit of giving". I think that's wonderful. Giving to the less fortunate is good for society and good for the soul. I do not lament the fact that in some quarters Christ is "missing" in Christmas. Technically, Christ wasn't even born in early winter, but in springtime. That aside, what I wanted to examine this week is our propensity as parents, especially religious parents, though by no means are we alone, to use God or Santa Claus, to manipulate and gain power over the minds of our children.

My latest column is now online . The introduction: I thought I would take this week's column to explore some thoughts and ideas that have been strewing around my mind over the last few months. These thoughts, while seemingly complete, are in constant reflection and refinement. They concern the concepts of "liberty," "freedom," and "power." While liberty and freedom are often used synonymously, I believe there is an important and significant difference. Likewise, power has important significance when contrasted with both liberty and freedom. Let us begin with liberty.

Connor Boyack reminds us about one of the main purposes of the Book of Mormon. Our own governments are surely not excluded from this warning.

Here's an update on this post on my Faith blog: I've been pondering lately the historical meanings of the words "increase," "gain," and "surplus" and am finding it very difficult not to conclude that they mean "income after all paid expenses." It's very likely that tradition has developed in a way that most Saints pay too much in tithing and not enough fast offerings and private giving. I have decided to experiment with the amount I give officially and unofficially in the coming year and to gauge accordingly the consequences.

Christ, the Prince of Peace, taught his disciples to " love thy neighbor "... a virtual impossibility in the statist world  in which we find ourselves. Sure we can offer our neighbors Christian service, but that's just the seen. The unseen is the gun we're pointing at their heads, ready to fire should they choose to dishonor  our  political priorities. My plea: to each his own. Literally.

My kids (3 and 7) know full well that Santa is just pretend. They love him anyway and have fun talking about him (as they do Dora and Spiderman). They know he's the guy who gives them one present at a family party, and that's it. He's still awesome in their minds. Here's a look at the dangerous side of the Santa myth, however.

As of the end of November 2012, 124 libertarian and economics books have been made available in large print at LargePrintLiberty.com . LPL ended the month of October 2012 with 123 offerings. Through the end of November, 358 books sold in the US, Europe, and Great Britain. Murray Rothbard's  For a New Liberty   sold the most at 53 copies; followed by Albert Jay Nock's  Our Enemy, the State  at 29 copies, and Carl Menger's Principles of Economics  at 18 copies. Of the 358 books that have sold, 253 copies went to the US (dollars), 70 copies went to Great Britain (pounds), and 35 copies went to mainland Europe (euros). By far my best month to date. I decided to take another break in November, but by the end of the month I had begun working on regular and large print editions of complete volumes of The Journal of Libertarian Studies . These volumes will represent the first time this journal has ever been published as complete volumes in both regula...

I've begun publishing full volumes of the Journal of Libertarian Studies in regular and large print. Volume 1 now available .

The latest edition of my "One Improved Unit" column is now online . It starts: The last year has been, and continues to be, my greatest challenge. Increasing activity in my church, learning economics, and committing to the fight for liberty over the last 9 years were easy in comparison to the challenges I've faced this year. Those were all mostly intellectual endeavors. I got interested in various things, and followed the logic. Deciding to officially "keep the commandments" was easy because I was already keeping them. My church encourages (and for some privileges requires) abstaining from alcohol and tobacco consumption. I wasn't in the habit of either. I've had challenges with sin, and still do (don't we all?), but for the most part my choosing to have faith in God was no difficult thing. Likewise, my learning economics and the philosophy of liberty were a matter of choice, of choosing to go where they were taking me. I wasn't a thief or a mu...

My Thanksgiving column at EVC can be found here . It starts: As a voluntaryist, there's much about our world to make me feel angry and bitter. The state is continually at war with its enemies, and its enemies include both other states and the voluntaryist ideals of freedom and free enterprise. Its wars are mostly directed toward peaceful people, camouflaged with seemingly innocent names like the "war on drugs" and the "war on poverty". But wars they are, and fought just as violently as wars against a foreign enemy. War is everywhere and all around us, though at any given moment it's virtually invisible. Make a wrong move, and the state's war will reveal itself in all its blood and horror. So just what is there for the voluntaryist to be grateful for? What is there to keep up our spirits and embolden us to continue our fight for freedom?

Both FEE.org and FFF.org have updated their websites. They're beautiful, check them out. Both have been very influential to me these last 7 years.

Disgusting tyrants, all of 'em:

Connor Boyack nails the analysis on the state's war on the family in his latest essay .

So one of my favorite LDS websites is finally back online: ldsphilosopher.com . Check out their latest post , sure to get the juices between your ears flowing.

My latest column at Everything-Voluntary.com : Late tomorrow night will mark the end of the latest show of the political circus here in the United States (pending another hanging-chad-like controversy). Millions will go to the polls to vote on Federal, State, and local politicians and issues. The "changing of the guard" will commence, and unpopular rulers will be replaced by new ones. If the media is any indication, most Americans participate, thereby consenting to the entire political process no matter the outcome. It is true, that "most" Americans do participate, but in actuality "most" hovers around 55%. Of all elections, roughly half vote for Democrats and the other half Republicans. That means that of everyone of voting age in the United States, 25%~ give their consent to Democrats, 25%~ give their consent to Republicans, 5%~ give their consent to a third party, and a whopping 45% keep their consent for themselves. An interesting statistic, and the ...

As of the end of October 2012, 123 libertarian and economics books have been made available in large print at LargePrintLiberty.com . LPL ended the month of September 2012 with 116 offerings. Through the end of October, 241 books sold in the US, Europe, and Great Britain. Albert Jay Nock's Our Enemy, the State  sold the most at 39 copies; followed by Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty  at 36 copies, and Ralph Raico's  Great Wars and Great Leaders  at 19 copies. Of the 241 books that have sold, 182 copies went to the US (dollars), 37 copies went to Great Britain (pounds), and 22 copies went to mainland Europe (euros). I decided to take a break in October and published only 7 more books. I may or may not pick it back up in November. I have plenty more to get to, but they are not as popular as what I've already made available.

I analyze electoral politics from a voluntaryist perspective at Everything-Voluntary.com. Check it out .

This listing is pretty amazing (and horrible). Check it out.

Person A throws water, statist cop throws a fist at Person B, and then arrests Person B. She'll probably be charged for obstruction of cop's-fist-by-her-face. Water for fists... stop right there. And it's the wrong person? And then she's arrested? Welcome to 'Merica:

As of the end of September 2012, 116 libertarian and economics books have been made available in large print at LargePrintLiberty.com . LPL ended the month of August 2012 with 31 offerings. Through the end of September, 230 books sold in the US, Europe, and Great Britain. Albert Jay Nock's Our Enemy, the State  sold the most at 30 copies; followed by Ralph Raico's Great Wars and Great Leaders  at 27 copies and Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty  at 26 copies. Of the 230 books that have sold, 184 copies went to the US (dollars), 32 copies went to Great Britain (pounds), and 20 copies went to mainland Europe (euros). I shattered my August numbers, but September also had far more titles available and was a complete month. I'll be continuing my development efforts and hope to have an even better October. This has certainly been a worthwhile project.

Mind blowing. The US has a serious problem. Much more serious than our friends across the pond.

Cognitive Dissonance is explained here on Wikipedia . And here's what it looks like:

I like this work out... I should give it a try... No, really... I should...

Godwin's Law alert.. the US is just about on the level of Hitler and the Nazi's in striking fear into the hearts and minds of innocent people . I am ashamed to be living under this government.

Great talk. Enlightening.

See the bottom of this post for the latest on the evictionism/abortion debate among libertarians.

I've loved Skip Oliva's sports commentary that's appeared on the Mises blog and elsewhere. He now has his own blog dedicated to sports from a libertarian and Austrian economics perspective. It's been excellent this far. Check it out .

The US the 18th freest country in the world according to this report . Enough with the propaganda that's only served to take away our freedoms by blinding us to the growing horrors of the US empire. 18th doesn't include our anti-property and draconian intellectual property laws . It should be worse .

Silly evolutionists, dinosaurs were around for the Civil War. Click to enlarge.

Great interview of Connor Boyack, author of Latter-day Liberty .

A friend and fellow Latter-day Saint is on his way from constitutionalism to voluntaryism (market anarchism). After a long conversation talking about it, he wanted me to send him reference links to our conversation. Here's what I sent: Anarchists/voluntaryists supporting the Constitution. This essay was pivotal for me on anarchism and the Constitution. Ezra Taft Benson as anarchist. Hoppe on private law societies (this will be in my next book). Connor Boyack on anarchism. The Constitution as a socialist document. Rothbard's switch from minarchism to anarchism. Tom Woods (with anarchist Doug Casey) as anarchist, within the first 6 minutes. Judge Napolitano as anarchist. Ron Paul as voluntaryist. When one approaches the voluntaryist arguments honestly, one can't help but move in that direction. For some it takes years, others months. It took me a few years. I went from being a liberal democrat to a free market conservative, then free market libertarian and constitu...

Check out this awesome summary of the key concepts of primal/paleo diet and exercise.

In New Hampshire, juries can now be told about jury nullification by defense attorneys and use it to acquit the accused on the basis of bad law. Here's the latest example of this happening, for the WIN!

I just ordered this bad boy . Can't wait to receive it! It came highly recommended. Read about the health benefits here .

Silly corporations, profits are for people!

Connor Boyack wrote a piece criticizing Block's theory of evictionism last week. Nic Hooton rejoins . Both are fellow libertarians and Latter-day Saints. Here's what I emailed to a private email group after reading Connor's article: I think the problem with Connor's rebuttal to Block's "evictionism" (he coined the term, not Rothbard, mind you), is that you can't contract (implicit or not) with someone that doesn't yet exist. The baby does not exist until intercourse is done, until the seed has broken into the egg. Sure, you could contract with the father (Block concedes this but it's inconsequential), but not the non-existent baby (considering also the nature of contracts, the validity in forcing someone to remain party or to break and return their benefits, etc, Rothbard goes into this in "Ethics of Liberty". Can you force someone to remain party to a contract? Or merely force them to return/give up their benefits? How far can ...

My good friend, intellectual compatriot, and fellow Latter-day Saint Nic Hooton talks about the 12th Article of Faith and how we should approach government, here , taking a page from the rhetoric of atheists.

As of the end of August 2012, 31 books have been made available in Large Print. LPL first launched just over 2 weeks into August with 3 offerings. Through the end of the month, 38 books have sold in the US, Europe, and Great Britain. Rothbard's For a New Liberty  sold the most at 11 copies; followed by Ralph Raico's Great Wars and Great Leaders  at 6 and Albert Jay Nock's Our Enemy, the State  at 5. I am very excited for the future and am humbled by the demand there seems to be for large print, affordable, libertarian and economics books. A special thanks goes out to the Ludwig von Mises Institute for making available so many great works free of charge and copyright-free .

This is pretty cool:

Great video on Apple, and their propensity to copy and innovate.

Here's a great interview that will shatter your misconception of Masonry and Mormonism, from MormonStories.org.

This music video of TDKR is better film-making than TDKR:

The below "bell curve" of political positions is fairly accurate, I'd say. Voluntaryists are anarcho-capitalists outside the home and anti-authoritarian classical anarchists inside. Imagine this going around a cylindrical shape, lake a can, with the blacks touching and merging together. And here's the explanation . Click to enlarge.

Check out my latest project , offering libertarian and economics books in large print for the visually impaired.

Ahhh, thank you, thank you! I noticed several of these myself. As I said, horrible film-making.

Perhaps it's relative. From where I'm sitting, both the left and the right are tyrannical despots. Jeffrey Tucker feels the same way, and helped me finally realize why I was so bored during the latest Batman flick. Despite the poor film-making, the story was bland and dull to a libertarian. See for yourself.

I'm really digging this list of policy priorities at Utah-based Libertas Institute.

I loved the first one, then it went down hill. Nolan's story telling is fractured and choppy. And this latest had a main character who I understood about 5% of what he was saying. It was just plain 'ole bad movie making. I actually feel really bad for this Batman because I like him. I really like this batman, and Christian Bale's portrayal. I loved Batman Begins. The worst part about this latest is that it contains about 5% Batman. I couldn't even tell it was a Batman movie until half-way through. Put plainly, I wasn't entertained. I was bored and frustrated with Bane's voice and the choppy story-telling. It was just a bad movie, worse in these respects than the second. The second had far more Batman, but it still suffered from choppiness. Ugghh Read the rest on my Life blog.

Very interesting . I love where innovation is taking education.

Great advice, for everyone to heed.

Wendy McElroy gives an interesting perspective on the American Revolutionary war, especially the parts about forcing independence onto those who remained loyal to the Crown, and the cancelling of legitimate debts held by British individuals.

This is super cool! I've always wanted to attend the week-long experience in person. This is the next best thing.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, as the saying goes. From the person who brought us a list of 100 ways that Barack Obama is like his predecessor, W, comes this list of 100 ways that Mitt Romney is like Barack Obama. If anybody still believes that electoral politics gives us any real choice , they've been living under a rock. As I said, Romney is Obama is Bush. 3 peas in a statist pod. It is what it is.

And what it's made of .

You be the judge:

My wife and I returned from Las Vegas late last night after attending FreedomFest 2012 , a (mostly) libertarian conference organized by libertarian economist Mark Skousen . I say "mostly" because there were a few sessions that were clearly partisan, pro-Mitt Romney, pro-Republicans, but these were exceptions. Here're some thoughts on the panels that I enjoyed, and pictures of some people I met. Day 1, Wednesday, Pre-Conference Mark Skousen did a presentation on the Austrian School of economics , talking about Menger , Bohm-Bawerk , Mises , and Rothbard . Giving his opinion of each of their contributions to the tradition, recommending different books of theirs, etc. Skousen is definitely in Austrian himself, though he mentioned that his new textbook, Economic Logic , is not "pure" enough to Gary North . I forgot to ask him exactly why North would think this. We were at the conference because Skousen personally invited my wife and I. I included an essay o...

Signed. You can too.

Oh yes, I like this. Very good post on Jesus being an unschooler.

Now that the pagan worship is past (although the noise'll continue until the 24th in Utah), let us reflect with a quote and an article .

Wouldn't you know it... very interesting research .

Here's a video podcast on my paleo/primal dieting :

Bravo New Hampshire for giving juries some real power over the state. I hope this spreads like wildfire.

A new libertarian think-tank was just launched in Utah, for Utahns. Check it out.

Some more interesting insight on the SCOTUS ruling on ObamaCare. This one looks at what the ruling says about different constitution-related things like state-sovereignty.

It will be interesting to see where this goes. I hope somebody will challenge it on these grounds, and then John Robert's will be estopped from claiming it isn't a tax, since he just said it was, and will be forced to rule ObamaCare as invalid (that is if he were to follow the Constitution): FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather

I've added my Youtube channel to the right-side of this blog. Check it out, and the Youtube page here .

That will be ObamaCare. Here's 15 reasons why.

This essay explains how voluntaryists (anarchists) can approach the Constitution, keeping in mind D&C 98:6 that states that we are "justified" [before God] in "befriending" the constitutional law of the land. Remember the saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend ? The Constitution is the enemy of the current Federal leviathan, therefore, we may (and arguably, should, according to D&C 98:6 ) befriend it in order to use it as a weapon against growing statism in the US. This has been my approach since becoming a principled voluntaryist. Of course, we should never take our eye off the ball of a completely voluntary and free society .

If you're a cop, please be familiar with the law under "your" jurisdiction.

"And once one concedes that a single world government is NOT necessary, then where does one logically stop at the permissibility of separate states? If Canada and the United States can be separate nations without being denounced as being in a state of impermissible "anarchy," why may not the South secede from the United States? New York State from the Union? New York City from the state? Why may not Manhattan secede? Each neighborhood? Each block? Each house? Each PERSON? But, of course, if each person may secede from government, we have virtually arrived at the purely free society." - Murray Rothbard, Power & Market

I decided to try my hand at video podcasting. I've got a 10 minute commute and a window mount for my smartphone. The sounds a bit low, but that's because I had my A/C on just behind the camera. I'll have to move it down when I do this. I'll also try setting the frame horizontally. Here it is, just over 5 minutes:

This is useful.

Much hot-air is being expended on the topic of the recently upheld individual mandate. Under Roberts' justification , the Federal government may now tax you for these various abstentions (and so much more): Not attending rock concerts. Not buying sporting event tickets. Not buying GMO food. Not buying a new car every # years. etc. etc. It's a clear violation of our rights, but so is the government enforcing it's monopoly on force . I, for one, am not surprised that this was upheld. I don't hold the Supreme Court as an impartial third party. It's a branch of the Federal Government. It's ruling on this case violates basic ethics of jurisprudence . For what it's worth, this may spark bigger and better nullification and/or secessionist efforts among the States and the people. I hope it does. UPDATE:  This is an interesting perspective . I'll leave it at that.

Here's my appearance on the Peter Mac Show with guest-host Vahram Diehl , talking about my new book, Everything Voluntary - From Politics to Parenting .

I'm not a big baseball fan. I don't know much about it's current swathe of players, nor it's history, but I think Roger Clemens is my new hero. Anyone who can get away with lying to Congress is a hero in my book. For starters, I don't care what he does with his body. It's his. Not mine. If he took drugs to enhance his game, then that's between him, the league, and the fans. Since I am none of those, it doesn't concern me one whit. What does concern me, however, is Congress. They're a bunch of liars and thieves. That's literally what they are . And because I hold no ethical or moral concerns against lying to criminals, why would I hold any against lying to Congress? On the contrary, I consider it a virtue, albeit one that comes with great risk. Roger Clemens successfully abated that risk and got a way with lying to the biggest criminal organization in the world. Bravo, Mr. Clemens, I tip my hat to you.

I second David Mason's thoughts in this New York Times  column . Well written and very thought provoking. I have a Mormon colleague that calls himself a "Kolob Christian". That's his answer to the entire silly debate. I like it, but I like Mormon better. Let them have "Christian".

Since I started the paleo/primal " diet " 3 months ago , I've lost 25 pounds. I've gone from 215, where I've been the last 4 years, to 190. Now, the purpose of the new diet wasn't weight loss, but I now see how unavoidable that was. I just wanted to eat healthier and more in line with how human beings are supposed to eat. I have less body aches and pains, less illness, and more energy. And I hope to avoid any chronic illnesses, cancers, diabetes, etc. What do I do every day? I eat one piece of fruit in the morning, either an apple or a banana, on the way to work. On the weekends we'll prepare a fruit and greens smoothie in the big blender, for everyone. My lunch is either a grilled chicken salad (yes, with ranch and shredded cheese, not primal), or left-overs from dinner the night before. All our grocery shopping is done at either Whole Foods or Harmon's now. Dinner is usually meat and veggies, and some or the other combination. Once in a while my...

Mises gives us the number one difference between how the Austrian School approaches the study of economics, verses every other tradition, "Economics, like logic and mathematics, is a display of abstract reasoning. Economics can never be experimental and empirical. The economist does not need an expensive apparatus for the conduct of his studies. What he needs is the power to think clearly and to discern in the wilderness of events what is essential from what is merely accidental."

w00t! Check out the love, here .

‎"Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children." (D&C 98:16) This sounds like an admonishment to end violence in the home. Stop hitting or yelling at your kids. Here're some guides: Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn: http://amzn.to/I999PK Playing Parenting by Lawrence Cohen: http://amzn.to/I99eCY Connection Parenting by Pam Leo: http://amzn.to/HR35IX

Witness the difference:

So will they finally stop poisoning our tap water ? We'll see, but I hope so. In the mean time, we're enjoying our pure water cooler.

Check out my Amazon author page .

I just purchased two Mormon-based texts that come highly recommended. The first is Connor Boyack's Latter-day Liberty , which I've been meaning to buy since it's release. Very excited for this one. And the other is Royal Skousen's The Book of Mormon - The Earliest Text . Daniel Peterson writes about this one here . Very cool.

BREAKING NEWS! Everything Voluntary - From Politics to Parenting is now available for purchase or download! Go to the book's project site for links! From the Introduction: The mainstream political, education, and parenting philosophies all have one thing in common: promoting the domination of one group of people over another. In politics, this is the ruling class, i.e., politicians and bureaucrats, over the ruled. In education and parenting, this is teachers or parents over their children. Someone’s interest prevails over someone else’s, and in these arenas, violent solutions prevail over peaceful ones.  The purpose of this book is to question the “virtues” of human relations based on violent coercion, and to promote instead human relations based on mutual consent. For it is under one type or the other that human interaction in all arenas of life necessarily fall.  From large-scale social organization and maintenance to the small-scale family unit, it is the position of ...

I like when playing by their rules benefits you, and hurts them:

I feel weird calling my change in diet "dieting". Just some food for thought, but because I'm now eating how humans are supposed to eat , am I the one "dieting", or is everyone else? I think the latter. Just sayin'.

If the Rodney King beating had happened a year ago, would anyone notice? asks Anthony Gregory.

This website allows you to sell or buy a service, any service it seems, for $5.

This is interesting.

Stronger than in the US?

Check out my thoughts on liberty and personal power on my Truth blog .

How long before it becomes illegal contraband? Can't have anything challenging the Medical-Industrial Complex now.

Sheldon Richman makes a not-made-enough point regarding government intervention and exploitation in the economy. Spoiler: businesses can't exploit their customers without the government's help .

Skip Oliva is dead-on that there's much for the libertarian to despise about the NFL. But all of that aside, I love the game of football, and will continue enjoying it as much as I can. Would I like the statist elements to go away? Absolutely, but I don't see that happening anytime soon, so I'll continue rooting for my 'Boys.

Bravo, Robert Wenzel! A much needed dose of medicine.

I've been trying to go barefoot as much as possible since adopting the Primal Blueprint  lifestyle. Here's an interesting article on another reason why this may be beneficial.

Or something like that.

And religion... Those are the only differences between Romney and Obama. Proof:

Check out this great article on annoying and weird homeschooled kids.

At the San Diego airport. Maybe we should strap our cash to your bodies, with tape, of course.

My grandfather passed away this morning, 3 days after his 92nd birthday. My family and I have visited him every month for the last 4 years. His wife passed away 3 years ago. I love him very much and believe that he has been reunited with his eternal companion. There were many aspects of him that I hope to emulate as a man, a father, and a grandfather. As well, he was an avid reader and book collector. That has certainly rubbed off on me. My family will miss him deeply. My wife grew very close to him, and is the humble owner of my grandmother's wedding ring, a gift from my grandfather to her after the birth of our daughter. He loved her very much and told her all the time. Our reunion won't be for some time, but will be very sweet I know. Rest in peace, Grandpa Collins!

Go ahead, try it. But watch this first: Lotte Time Lapse: Birth to 12 years in 2 min. 45. from Frans Hofmeester on Vimeo .

An interesting ponderable by Justin at LDSAnarchy on the concept of race in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"The power elites give both sides money so there is a good fight. Then the candidates beat each others brains out to get a winner. To the power elites, it makes no difference who wins. The candidates lie, cheat, and steal to win. The best liar, cheater, robber wins. The populace sees one hell of a fight. They don't realize that not an idea was discussed but who slept with whom. The voting goes on but to no avail. Then we wonder what is wrong with our system." - Wayne Fazio

Ex-diabetic blogs about and encourages others to adopt the paleo/primal diet that saved his life, and now North Carolina wants to shut him up and cage him . Domestic terrorists, the NC Board of Dietetics/Nutrition, if you ask me.

I thought I'd share. The last couple of weeks, my son(6.5) has been asking me all sorts of questions about how the shows he or I am watching are made. I have to admit, it took me in stealth. A simple question here or there, but the last few days he's been asking deeper questions. Like how they make the Star Trek spaceship fly around the planet, or how they make the holographic doctor disappear and reappear. We've previously talked about how Barney would transform from a doll to the full thing, as in stopping the camera, replacing the doll with the actor, adding some flashes with computer animation, etc... and he connected this with the holographic doctor. When he asked, before I could answer, he brought up Barney and merely sought confirmation that he knew how it worked. He's also asked about the aliens and their makeup, and about how they make bigger monsters. These days it's all CG, which I've explained to his satisfaction, and we've talked about stop-moti...

Dan Peterson shares my feelings toward the Book of Mormon and everything that followed. Great read.

Powerful essay by one of my favorite columnists, Anthony Gregory.

"The Father of the Country was a centralizing slaveowner. Old Hickory talked up freedom as he threatened war on South Carolina and forced the Cherokee to flee from their ancestral land on a barbarously murderous walk of shame. The Great Emancipator turned America into a military dictatorship and abolished the revolutionary right of secession. Wilson’s New Freedom was cover for a Prussianized war machine generating revenue for his profiteering buddies on Wall Street. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms failed to include the freedom not to be drafted or interned in a concentration camp. Ronald Reagan threw the word freedom around as he trained Latin American torturers and raped the Bill of Rights in the name of fighting drugs. The United States has never lived up to its rhetoric." - Anthony Gregory

I can vouch for numero uno .

Very interesting.

May we not be so blind to the reality that is the war between governments and their people, even here in the good 'ole U, S, of A, pleads Spencer Morgan .

Let's keep this in mind (literally): A neuroimaging team might study a patient who reports that he is “seeing” an apple. The team could demonstrate that certain areas in the occipital cortex light up in a predictable pattern whenever the patient reports “seeing” an apple. The skeptics would have us believe that because this reported sensation can be detected on a PET scan, there is no such thing as literal vision and no literal apple! This is counterintuitive at best. Without knowing whether an apple was, in fact, in front of the patient’s open eyes during the scan, there would be no way to tell from the radiology data whether the apple existed or not. For spiritual matters, it is impossible to crack open the scanner and spot the apple (or its absence). Put simply, all cognition must cause brain level changes. Everything we think, feel, experience, or sense must induce a change at the level of the neurons. Is it any surprise that similar experiences will provoke similar areas of...