DISCLAIMER: In the article to follow, understand that I hold "prolife" to be a moral position, not a political one (for this reason, this article is posted under "misc" rather than "politics". I would have posted under "religion", but those articles are usually consigned to a slow and painful JU death). I have grave concerns about overlegislating moral views on a public that does not necessarily share them. I am unapologetically, unequivocably, and unchangeably prolife. A prolife view, to ...

Graffiti artists in Sweden are pissed. So much so that they raided the international art exhibit "CowParade" and kidnapped one of the exhibits. Holding power drills to its head, the group, calling themselves "Stockholm's Militant Graffiti Artists", threatened to sacrifice the cow unless the organizers of the exhibit declared the bovines to be "non art" by its noon Aug. 23 deadline. A spokesperson for the cow parade declared that they were "very upset over the matter". The colorful co...

OK, these are originally lyrics to a Clash song, but I thought I'd put 'em in a blog. My memory of the lyrics may not be exact, but it's still a damn cool song....lol "Know your rights....all three of 'em Number One: You have the right not to be killed. Murder is a crime Unless it is done By a policeman Number two: You have the right to free speech As long as You're not dumb enough to actually try it Number three You have the right to food money Provided of course, ...

*Evel Kneivel stunt bikes *colorforms *"Star Wars" before Lucas went nuts *Cindy Brady *The Big Red Machine *Starsky & Hutch *Ironsides *Muhammad Ali *a peanut farmer president *Burt Ward as "Batman" *"Bonanza" *AM Radio (apologies to A. Alexakis) *Air raid drills *Mary Lou Retton *Nadia Comaneci *Those hideous 'Stro's uniforms *O J Simpson before he was a double murderer ....any more?

Another gem from Reuters A German woman called police when she returned to her car to find her dog vomiting and 380 euros ($470) mising from her purse. She feared that her dog may have been drugged and her purse robbed. Turns out the dog was the culprit. The woman took the dog to the vet to ensure its safety, and the vet gave the dog an injection. After 20 minutes, the dog ralphed up 6 of the 50 euro notes. The rest of the money, along with bank statements, soon followed. Euros ap...

OK, one of my other blogs got me to thinking. One of the things I love most about Americana is the way every small town in America has their own festival, something that makes them unique. For instance, Cleo Springs, Oklahoma has an annual "Watermelon Festival", Oshkosh, Wisconsin has its "Sawdust Days" (so named because the city, a former lumber town, used sawdust for fill in much of the formerly swampy downtown area), and so it goes. But the one that elicited the biggest laugh from me...

Every once in awhile, I'm prone to hit a topic that perks the eyebrows of my fellow libertarians. This is one of those. One of the core mistakes we make in our zeal to create a capitalist society is to miss the role that collective bargaining rightly plays in such a society. It is not necessarily inconsistent with capitalism, nor is it necessarily a component of a socialist society. In the following paragraphs I intend to lay out how collective bargaining and capitalism can be not only com...

I was asked on another thread about altruism in a Libertarian society. As I referenced Andrew Carnegie, I thought it only fair to present his treatise, "the Gospel of Wealth" as an explanation of his position, and an example of how altrusim can work within capitalism. I will present this in two parts, with part 2 to follow immediately, for the convenience of the reader: THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH Andrew Carnegie I THE PROBLEM OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF WEALTH THE problem of our age is t...

II THE BEST FIELDS FOR PHILANTHROPY WHILE " The Gospel of Wealth" has met a cordial reception upon this side of the Atlantic, it is natural that in the motherland it should have attracted more attention, because the older civilization is at present brought more clearly face to face with socialistic questions. The contrast between the classes and the masses, between rich and poor, is not yet quite so sharp in this vast, fertile, and developing continent, with less than twenty persons per...

Gilbert Deya, a Kenyan based pastor, is a miracle worker, or so his followers believe. Deya and his wife have prayed over infertile women who have made a poilgrimage to Kenya, and these women have conceived, given birth to their babies in Kenya, and returned home. That's his story, at least. Investigators have begun investigating the claims, and questioning whether Deya is involved in a baby smuggling ring. Police discovered a woman with 11 children between the ages of 5 months and 13 y...

ok, folks. Here's a topic for you. What are your favorite words that sound dirty but actually are not? Here are my submissions: *rectify *masticate *thespian *Lake Titticaca ok, now...let's hear yours signing off, Gideon MacLeish

Jeff woke up in the morning with a horrible hangover. His first conscious thought was to rid himself of any visible evidence of the hangover, as the new prohibition laws were rather strict, and he didn't relish the thought of spending his 35th birthday in the stocks. He grabbed his bible and opened it, reading the requisite passage in Ezekial, logging carefully his notes in case the government questioned his commitment to the government's new Compulsory Religion laws. As he stumbled into the ...

The five and a half years I spent managing group homes for the developmentally disabled were my best time for road trips, as I had to get out and away from the madness and frustration that was my job (and would eventually result in my leaving the field altogether). For months, we had planned to travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to see some friends of ours who performed in a family band in their home state. As I pored over the road atlas, I saw there was more that we could do with that trip. W...

I stated in my earlier blogs about the error of my younger days, and how I spent time in the county jail. During that time, I gained a good deal of insight as to how stereotypes are built up. I have found that ex inmates almost always have some level of prejudice. During my time in the Pierce County Correctional Center in late 1988-early 1989, I found out a good deal why. Inside many of the cell blocks, the blacks tend to mingle with the blacks, the hispanics with the hispanics, and so ...

This "tales from the road" is going to be different than the previous entries, as it describes hiking, one of my favorite activities. We set out to hike the entire Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which follows Lake Superior's southern shoreline in Michigan's upper peninsula. Our guide was experienced to the area, and had the trip plotted out for 43 miles over 5 days. We set out on day one to rain, which continued the entire day and was a delige until two of us reached camp, as breakoffs...