Announcements

I have long been squirming in my seat, waiting for this day ... and in fact, I thought I’d be on the other side of this post, so to speak—in the reading audience instead of writing it. But this is good news I’ve already been waiting too long to share; and now that I’ve obtained permission to share it, I shall delightedly do so.

Now that I have your attention, may I –ahem– titillate you a bit more, by saying that to find out what I mean, you’ll have to follow me to the second part of this tease ... where the photographic evidence can be found.

My silence has been due to FAPpage again, rather than anything else. But enough about my silly problems—I’m here on behalf of a dear friend, longtime family member, and activist extroardinaire.

Vince Miller is one of the founders of the International Society for Individual Liberty, a great organization which has advanced the freedom philosophy worldwide in numerous ways over the past few decades. Some of you may recall that when Free-Market.Net was in danger of disappearing, ISIL stepped in and kept the organization going. ISIL has also been a big supporter of another project near and dear to me, the Liberty English Camps. They recently bought Laissez Faire Books as well, and have been offering terrific, really pro-freedom books primarily online while they get all the details of reopening the shop ironed out. This is a small sampling of the work Vince has been involved in, so that you grok what I meant when I called him “tireless” and an activist extroardinaire. He has done all this and more, with a cheerful mien and a can-do attitude, no matter what challenges he faced. Despite the various stresses upon Lobo and myself during the FMN/ISIL transition, working with Vince was always a bright spot throughout that time.

As “cls” recounts in his entry titled A chance to do something good, Vince recently contracted pneumonia, which was serious enough to require hospitalization. He is recovering, but remains in the hospital, with no clear timeline on when he’s likely to be released. Like me, Vince does not have health insurance. He intends to pay the bill himself, of course, but he has poured much of his life’s energy into the freedom movement instead of more monetarily profitable ventures; it will be a hard go of it for him.

Lobo and I have already pledged to help with Vince’s medical expenses. I hope that all of you reading will consider doing likewise if you’re able. Contributions can be made via ISIL’s online donation form—be sure to select “general donation”, otherwise the funds won’t be put to this purpose. If you prefer, you can call Jim Elwood at 800-326-0996 to discuss other contribution options.

Vince is not asking for charity, and he certainly isn’t going to allow himself to be bailed out by the state. But this is a perfect opportunity for us in the family to put our voluntaryist principles into action, and show that we aren’t hard-hearted bastards as we’re too frequently depicted by the mainstream media and politicians.

Thank you for whatever you contribute to help my friend and an inspiring family member. If you’re interested in following Vince’s recovery, I recommend you check out Classically Liberal blog, as that’s where news will probably be posted first.

[Note: This "story" has been slightly modified from its original form, as an essay published in Free-Market.Net's FMNews.]

Yes, I know -- I've cribbed my title from Douglas Adams. But it's appropriate, given the subject of this essay and my continuing struggles to find my voice after the Supreme Court's ruling in the Hiibel case. And, unlike the Harvard professor, I'm admitting it freely, so it shouldn't come back to haunt me. ;-)

I am all kinds of pleased to announce that my dear friend Polka—a longtime commenter at this place—has graciously accepted my invitation to join the conspiratorial band here! Like all the conspirators, she’s a busy person, so I’m not sure what her schedule will permit in the way of blogging ... but I am confident that her contributions will be stimulating to many regular readers.

Here’s Polka’s profile, for anyone interested in learning more about her. Witamy, Polka!

Yes, it is at last true: I have begun adding my essay archive back to this place. Lamentations, justifications, prognostications, and probably more –ations are offered on that page, so I shan’t repeat them here ... but if there are requests for certain essays to re-appear, I am happy to consider them. A link to the archive is in the right sidebar, under “Noteworthy Nodes” for easy access.

Thanks to B.W. and P.T. for the kick in the posterior scales on this matter.

I have been delaying this for various reasons, but I really can’t any longer. It’s time for me to get on with life.

For the benefit of my Wisconsin readers: Wendy McElroy will be speaking in Madison on Monday, 2/25. The basics of it:

To learn more about being a responsible voter or nonvoter, you can attend a forum on voting featuring Ms. McElroy and Professor Brighouse Monday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin School of Law, Room 5229. The event is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy.

I don’t think I’ve heard her give a formal talk, but I have met Wendy in person, and read a few of her books, and found her to be a lively, clever, and engaging thinker. Given her writings on the subject of non-voting, this should be an interesting evening!

It’s officially available! B.W. mentioned it as part of his January 16th celebration, saying he thought it’d be available by February first. But I’ve gotten word that The Imaginary Bomb is on sale now, as a downloadable file or paper format. Congratulations, B.W.!

Or maybe more than one victory: that’s up to you esteemed readers.

Hurrah! After a very long time—very little of which had to do with my honed procrastination skills, for once—I am very happy to say that the domain “LRT.ORG” is ours once again, and resolves to the Liberty Round Table web site. So, all your LRT-shirts and Deadly Assault Pens are good again as advertising!

Lest I start getting backslaps, I had very little to do with this ... another KNA was watching the name, and when it came up on auction, let us know that it was for sale. In true lupine form, Lobo pounced, and scored. He has also hired someone to update the site, and add back a lot of content that has been missing far too long. Which reminds me of yet another thing I’ve been procrastinating ...

Does this mean there’ll be a resurgence of interest in the group, and its activities? I would be surprised if that happened; while there is still occasional chatter on the discussion list, most individuals there are doing their own things for freedom, and not often talking about them. I can understand that, and respect it. But some small part of me would also like to be wrong ...

If you’ve been missing my caramels and honey-roasted almonds, wait no longer! Clicking on the pretty green snake will transport you to my current offerings ... I will add more items once I am more caught up on other work. Special orders are always welcome, however; please email me to discuss your needs and ideas.

Thanks very much for your interest in my homemade, HFCS-free, old-fashioned candies and other treats!

The Classically Liberal blog hinted at this a while back, and has now posted some details in Laissez-Faire Books will continue. ISIL has bought LFB. It will be interesting to see how much—or how little—the book list changes.

That title is meant to be warbled to the tune Who Knows Where the Time Goes? ... fortunately, email isn’t as flitting and fleeting as time. I am saddened to report that I am still having problems with the eddress associated with this domain.

Speaking blogistically, that is. Mr. Endervidual has started his own blog, titled Memory, Making, Meaning. Sounds intriguing with or without the commas ...