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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...

Does what happens after really matter ?

My wife and I watch Law & Order: SVU  every week. We love it. As I've morphed into a libertarian, I've found myself more and more drawn toward criminal defendants, and their job making sure the State doesn't abuse it's power (which it abuses by existing, duh). If I ever became an attorney, it would be as a criminal defendant. I really like the latest criminal defendant icon in the series, Bayard Ellis, played by Andre Braugher .

Brought to you by socialist and monopoly law enforcement. I'm proud to say I'm a voluntaryist , which means I want law enforcement provided by entrepreneurs competing in a free market economy, not the State .

I hate sharing this type of stuff , but I can't help it on this one. My son's 6, and NOT in school, thank heavens. Her parents should take the hint, and keep her home indefinitely.

This disgusts me , both that these lawyers would do this, and that they could do this.

This seems like a useful website.

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I've had cause to study the Atonement in a little more depth the last week. My good friend and mentor, Chris Brown, passed along this wonderful essay by Blake Ostler on the Atonement in Mormon thought. I've never thought to think of the Atonement as including a "theory of Atonement," but why not? You'll see what I mean. Here's the essay , and I'm told he goes into this in more detail in Volume 2 of his Exploring Mormon Thought  book series, of which I'm still on Volume 1. Can't wait to get there.

A phrase not found in the Bible. Actually, it's from a 17th century poem by Samuel Butler. However, there are seemingly similar admonishments in the Bible, but one should not be too quick to interpret them in favor of corporal punishment .

I've added a publications page to this site's top navigation bar. Only 1 publication right now, soon to be published. I've got plans for several more. Check it out.

As a Latter-day Saint and as a voluntaryist libertarian, I abhor violence, particularly violence against people and children. But what about violence against animals? Now, I am not of the opinion that animals have "rights". What I mean by this is that I don't believe men have any right to wield violence against other men who do as they please with animals. Be it dog fighting or sport hunting. Men should be politically free to engage in dog or cock fighting or to hunt wild game for sport. I view animals as a form of property, and I've yet to encounter any argument that would persuade me by it's logic to see animals in any other way. Having said that, I do think violence against animals for violence sake is extremely immoral, and a sin against nature and nature's God. I loathe sport hunting and, of course, dog and cock fighting. But that's not to say that I wouldn't hunt or exploit animals for my own needs. I believe this Earth was prepared by God...

I really like this article and it's increasing importance in today's Western society, on raising boys into men.

I have two main customers, one that I sell 40 hours a week of my software testing services to, and the other around 25 hours a week of my cashier services. I'm about to publish a book in which I well sell or give away free to several more customers. I hope to publish more, and find even more customers (and repeat customers) to satisfy. The above is how I see myself, as a business , which is why I find it a bit odd when either of my main customers give me a survey to rate them with. I can't imagine my smaller customers ever doing that, and I can't imagine ever sending surveys to the businesses I patronize in order to gauge my performance as their customer. It seems really odd from my perspective, the perspective of a business owner. Of course, my customers gauge me from time to time, and my two main customers will analyze the performance of my services annually. This makes sense. If they are to continue patronizing me, they must be certain that my value is worth their do...

Rick Miller makes some very good points regarding prepping and the primal lifestyle. I have no hunting or fishing skills, but I think I could find adequate fruits and berries. At the minimum, I learned from Bear Grylls how to test for poisonous or toxic foods in the wild. I don't care for sport hunting , but survival hunting is another story. Methinks I need to learn.

I've read a few unschooling books the last few months, but Rue Kream's Parenting a Free Child  has taken the cake as my absolute favorite. It's a Q&A format, and very well articulated. I slapped my forehead with almost every sensical answer she gave. If you're only going to read one book on unschooling, or just want to know what unschooling is all about, read this one first. And here're some more .

After a 13 year hiatus from fiction, I've return to the land of Xanth , written by my favorite author Piers Anthony . I recently completed his first and second books in the series , and am starting the third. This is his biggest series, with 37 written and more planned. I think after this third book, I'll read his novel adaptation of Total Recall (timely). Anyway, I discovered Xanth when I was 14-ish and fell in love, reading 5 or so books from various places within the series. If you haven't, I highly recommend them, and him. They are excellent!

Mormons (and other Christians) advocating for anything less than peace, ie. a golden rule in foreign policy , should be labeled for the hypocrites they are. Latter-day Pharisees, is more like it.

You don't say ?

I just started following this website, The Survival Mom , and this post caught my interest, and will be remembered.

I second Doug Casey's issues with the US Constitution, both as it was drafted and as it stands now.

"There is no state or political power involved in the Lord's program of economics . Instead, it is centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ and is dependent upon man's responsiveness to the enlightening powers of God's Holy Spirit for its successful operation... "While socialism is founded upon the state and its power, the law of consecration and stewardship is based upon mature individualism , where free and mature men covenant with God and with each other to support an economic program that develops the individual while promoting brotherhood and economic well-being among men. Compulsion is not to be exercised within the system ." - from " Liberalism, Conservatism, Mormonism " by Hyrum L. Andrus (emphasis added)

If you think any other candidate even comes close to drawing the size of crowds or amount of enthusiasm that Ron Paul does, or that he's in any way not a player in this campaign, you are deluded. He'll take his support third party and upset the Establishment if need be. I'm only a political observer, but it's a very exciting time in the history of these United States.

Wise words by Thomas Knapp on this Martin/Zimmerman episode. It's important to keep things in perspective.

A new bill would restrict delinquent tax "payers" from leaving the US . In other words, if you follow the admonishments of your true-believing Americans to "like it or leave", you no longer can if you've ever resisted being robbed. That's just grand. Good thing it's so easy to get across the border, at least for now .

Christ said children are holy , do we believe him ?

...who was driving his own car to his own home (in an affluent "white" neighborhood, mind you) after searching the wrong plate number. You see, you could be completely harmless, minding your own business, driving your own car, to your own home, and still get shot. And to make things worse, the cop is back on the job, infraction-free. Welcome to America!

You have grandma  banned from her surgical center because it's not the closest one to her home.

I'm intrigued!

The real offense of fiat money is not money-printing, ie. inflation, but legal tender laws. Inflation destroys value, but value is subjective. It can't be destroyed by anything external to the one doing the valuation (other than the physical paper being ripped up or burned, real destruction, in other words). Therefore, inflation is not a "hidden tax" as so many are wont to claim, including Ron Paul and other notables. Forcing us to use inflated money, ie., legal tender laws, is where the damage to our liberties and property happens. So stop saying that inflation is a hidden tax! And go after legal tender laws ! That is all.

It's looking more and more likely with every feathery-dino discovery . Cool!

Verbal abuse must be a feature of such arrangements. Do the kid a favor, and bring him home !

After responding to its owner's 9-11 burglary call . That'll teach her to call 9-11!

While trying to shoot a dog. *facepalm*

Not only should they have walked-out , but they should now stay-out .

Daniel Peterson's reasons for remaining loyal to a "racist" church are every bit my own, though I wasn't even alive at the time the priesthood ban was in effect. Great read.

Or when the half-white guy said his hypothetical son would like like the black guy that was shot by the latino. Don't know that story? I wonder why .

Great short video on the difference between the Austrian School and mainstream economics by FEE.tv:

This is juicy, or bloody, or, is blood juice? Anyway . Is it worth it? I wonder what he would say.

This documentary on coercivist power structures , from the ghetto to the government, looks very interesting.

Here's a  detailed analysis . It gave me shivers.

I really like this real-life parable .

As a socialist : We also have always understood that we wouldn't win the race for new jobs and businesses, and middle class security if we were just applying some 'you're on your own economics'.It's been tried in our history and it hasn't worked," Obama said. "It didn't work when we tried it in the decade before the Great Depression. It didn't work when we tried it in the last decade. We just tried this. What they're peddling has been tried -- it did not work. What, and he thinks socialism will work ? Obama's grossly ignorant on the laws of economics. If he thinks what we " tried " was free enterprise, I've got a bridge to sell him.

Then neither was Paul .