The journey from there to here
Gideon MacLeish's Articles » Page 26
November 28, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
A funny thing happened on our way out of town. We were ready to find a place up the road, to move out like dogs with our tail tucked between our legs and settle down elsewhere. Whoops. Ok, here's the backstory: I've told you about the city's junk and weeds ordinance, right? The one that's being used to target certain citizens. Well, keep that in the back of your mind as I tell my little tale of greed and corruption in small town America. On November 15, the city marshall pulled me ov...
November 27, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
This will be one of the more personal blog articles I've written in awhile. So, if you're wanting to pollute it, please don't. The truth is, as I've written about our current round against the town, I've left out an important detail. I did it because it's a detail that I frankly do not want to face. See, over the past couple years I've not been well. I know it. I'm a little more in tune to my body than most, and, well, my ticker's not functioning the way it ought to. It's been the last six...
November 25, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
On a recent blog, the following comment was made: Feeding your own children is good, but not as good as feeding the same number of children who aren't related to you. While this may, on the surface, sound like a truism, I'd like to address this from the point of view of one whose father lived out that philosophy. At 16 years old, my childhood journey of being shuttled about between divorced parents and foster homes was through. I would spend the remainder of my childhood years in a fo...
November 20, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
I demand a recount! Recent news reported that the Ohio anti-smoking amendment passed by 75% of the popular vote. But news reports, and politicians, will not tell the TRUE story here. And the truth, in this case, could set smokers free. You see, there are 7.85 million registered voters in the state of Ohio. of those 7.85 million voters, the anti-smoking amendment got about 75% of the votes cast. But since voter turnout hovered just below 50%, that means that in reality, the antismoking amen...
November 20, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
I demand a recount! Recent news reported that the Ohio anti-smoking amendment passed by 75% of the popular vote. But news reports, and politicians, will not tell the TRUE story here. And the truth, in this case, could set smokers free. You see, there are 7.85 million registered voters in the state of Ohio. of those 7.85 million voters, the anti-smoking amendment got about 75% of the votes cast. But since voter turnout hovered just below 50%, that means that in reality, the antismoking amen...
November 20, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
Now that the Holidays are upon us, I feel that I need to bring back the article I was unable to post until after llast year's holidays were over. As we contemplate regifting, it is important to know to whom we can regift, and how. In response to last year's nagging questions, I wrote "the six degreees of regifting separation". This year, it's time to bring back this article so that you can be prepared to regift for the holidays without the nagging embarrassing results that can happen if these ru...
November 19, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
Good...now that I have your attention... In the wake of our latest struggles against the good townsfolk in this community who are dedicated to removing us from their municipality, I have had to think about the labels I've long self applied. To a person, the individuals dedicated to ridding the town of our nuisance claim to be Christian. Because my understanding of what a Christian is and their understanding are so radically different, it cannot logically follow that we are both Christians....
November 16, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
Democracy, like communism, like capitalism, and like many other theories that seem so sound, seem so solid, is a paper standard, and cannot exist in its purest form. The theory of democracy is, of course, one man, one vote. The idea that you have the control over your political destiny. And it sounds good in theory, and in fact, may work in small groups where the goals are common and the group fairly cohesive. But it does not work well on a larger plane because of the reality of politics. ...
November 12, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
Link I ain't makin' this up, folks. A Florida voter sent in an absentee ballot with what one of the most well known collectible stamps as postage. In a snafu worthy of a "Simpsons" episode, the voter, who unfortunately sent in his ballot sans identifying information (thus invalidating the ballot, which is in itself not an unusual occurence in this particular state) with some older stamps worth a face value of about 87 cents as postage. One of those stamps was the famous 1918 "Inverted Jenn...
November 11, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
As of November 13, 2006, the small town of Lefors, Texas will be one step closer to making poverty criminal and enforcing actions of those who dare to make insufficient income to meet the town's standards. In their City Council meeting, they are scheduled to discuss an ordinance "establishing a minimum standard of living and prohibiting scavenging from dumpsters". These ordinances are being specifically written to target families who do not live to the town's expected standard of living, and ...
November 9, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
The following is the news release from the Libertarian Party of Texas. Good news about the direction of our party, at least in TX. While we have a ways to go, it's fair to say we're making quite a bit of headway for political "outsiders":     Texas Libertarians make major gains, break records AUSTIN - November 8, 2006 - The Libertarian Party of Texas (LPT) showed major improvement in the 2006 general election, relative to its performance in previous years. The party h...
November 9, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
As we have been debating the issues of whether or not policies such as universal health care are or are not Libertarian in philosophy, an interesting subject came up, one that is not unique to the individual advancing the argument, and should not be ascribed solely to that individual, but rather to a flaw in the thinking of many Americans. The argument was that he didn't trust the private sector to provide health care...but he DID trust the government. This statist attitude is as common as it...
November 6, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
As the discussion has raged on about what is or is not a Libertarian, I feel it necessary to rehash some Libertarian platform issues. Although no member of the LP is bound in any way to adhere to these platform issues, these issues are pretty much in line with the LP philosophy of smaller government. Of particular concern to me are the questions that have been raised about Social Security and Universal Health Care. I'll list the party platform position along with my personal comments to ...
October 30, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
As I observe those around me, I cannot help but make the assertion that most Americans are happy, or at least content with the status quo. I have no statistics, no hard data or commissioned polls to back me up, just plain old fashioned horse sense. And as arrogant and presumptuous as my thesis statement is, it is also entirely right. You see, history bears me out on this. When people truly desire to make a change, they make it. We have made remarkable, incredible changes when we truly felt...
October 15, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
Recent GOP scandals have left many liberals dancing on the grave of the GOP. But while the scandals seem to be coming fast and furious, it's fair to say the dancing is premature. The old maxin "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" has never been proven truer than in the realm of American politics, especially in the most recent era. The power that our leaders are too freely given becomes a corrupting influence once they obtain it, and the chips seem to fall on the left and t...