The Price of Liberty

I have a lot of conversations with folks who understand the growing problems and potential for disaster. Many of them are already well down the road to preparations for survival, many have just started, and most are somewhere between. Unfortunately, a few still cling to the idea that - if "we" ALL just would pay attention and DO SOMETHING - the old US Constitution could be resurrected, we could elect the "right people," and the police state would be gone.

I saw this article this morning and thought we might continue our discussion of the agora and its importance in our struggle for liberty. Kyle is a good friend, and a member of my FSW family - as well as a contributor to The Price of Liberty.

Finally getting to the long promised story of my trip to California. You were warned. [grin]

It all started months ago when my sister sent me tickets for the airfare. She'd always wanted to do that, but I'd never before agreed to fly... but I had a 2 1/2 year old grandson I'd never seen, and wanted badly to reconnect with my two sons, so I bit the proverbial bullet and accepted.

This is a semi announcement and brag... :)

Hunter has sent his archives to The Price of Liberty for republication, as well as sending a new article that will go up for this week. Canaries in the Coal Mine

Take a look and spread the word if you like.

Wendy McElroy writes "An aspect of the free market -- the real free market, sans government, not the wretched State capitalism of today -- that receives scant attention from libertarians is the vital role played by activist consumers and consumer advocacy groups. They are part of the feedback mechanism that makes the marketplace function well. Just as unions ((again sans government) act as a brake on bad labor practices ..." Stephan Kinsella says that corporations are valid entities, and that the problem is really the legal structure, i.e. the state.

Did you go through the "red meat is bad" scare and eat nothing but chicken until you were sick to death of it? I sure did. The budget wouldn't stretch to buy fish very often, and there's only so much tuna I'm willing to eat under any circumstances, so I was pretty much stuck with chicken and cheese of one sort or another. And no, I don't eat soy anything either.

The other major drawback to this time frame was the idea that ALL fats were bad, so the chicken was skinless and as fat free as possible. Cubed sawdust comes to mind...

Even though I've made bread most of my life, I had a challenge learning how to adapt to a much higher elevation than I was used to. I was having consistent problems with over rising, rising too fast, and large airholes in the bread because of it. I tried lots of things, from reducing the yeast to reducing the temperature, but I couldn't get the slow, steady rise that makes for smooth texture and easy slicing... until now.

I decided to alphabetize by category after all, just to be different. :)

First, let me say that most of my recipes are very simple and plain. I believe strongly in whole foods and natural ingredients, but I do not worry about any particular school of thought as to what foods are "good" or "bad" other than that, and I don't do "organic." If you want to consider that, you just need to find "organic" ingredients or make substitutions where necessary.

Please note that I use the term "libertarian" both for lack of another and because it is what others use. I realize that it has been greatly abused.

Kevin Carson says that "...hierarchies are repugnant to libertarian values...". Jim Davidson says "...that if you are a racist, you are not a libertarian, if you are a sexist, you are not a libertarian, if you are against equal freedom for gays, the transgendered, the polyamorous, you are not a libertarian, if you discriminate against people because of their choice of religion, you are not a libertarian, if you think people from other countries should be rejected because of their choices in clothing, culture, religion, or behavior, you are not a libertarian..." A while ago there was a troll who said that if you believed in a deity you could not be a libertarian. I know someone personally who holds that position. I am sure there are many other things (X) that someone, somewhere, considers anathema to their personal values and therefore has decided that those who believe (X) are not libertarian.

I view this as incorrect. I view libertarian values as very narrow. A libertarian is someone who does not violate the rights of others. Those rights are narrowly defined as Life, Liberty, justly acquired Property.

Sometimes a seemingly simple question - or a misunderstanding - can create great rifts between people and challenge deeply held ideas... I may have lost a very long time friend - and he's an incredible champion of freedom - over this. I really don't understand why and he, strangely, is not at all clear why he disagrees with me. I would really appreciate any feedback.

Sunni's turkey roasting account spurred me to share my own methods and recipes here. Cooking is certainly one shining example of the idea that there is more than one "right" way to do things! I'll have to try her method one of these days, and thought some of you might enjoy reading about mine.

This method is good for any size turkey, and for any wild game birds. There are some extra tricks for the wild birds, however, so ask me if you want those too.

If you do, the first bit of information is now online. Mama Liberty published my essay titled Fanning the Flames of Freedom Abroad at The Price of Liberty today. As it’s a fairly detached and focused accounting, I will be filling it out with more personal observations served up here.

If I survive the tomatoes, that is. Every time I go outside, I seem to see more ripe ones beckon- taunting me. Today’s canning adventure is vegetable juice cocktail (or hobbit blood, as the snolfs call it) ... and back to it I go!

Independence Day (I refuse to say "4th of July") has become a difficult time for me in the last decade or so. To say that I'm ambivalent - or even downright cynical - is an awful understatement sometimes.

And yet, I can't help but remember history, the fine and lofty hopes and dreams of so many people - past and present. I can't help but be moved when I read the declaration, or consider the incredible sacrifice so many have made to make that declaration live... regardless of the rightness or wrongness of the outcome.

Truth is not something one knows: at best one has freedom to pursue it, like happiness; at worst one smugly assumes possession of it, and interacts with the world accordingly.

Truth isn't taught and isn't learned, because it's not knowledge: If one desires a teacher of truth, the most qualified to be found is nature herself, who requires keen observation and thoughtful contemplation, as well as cautious experimentation, on the part of the student.

Truth is Tao: more than a rock, it's an infinite number of shifting grains of sand in myriad sizes and shapes -- some keeping pace with the seconds, others with ages or eternities. ....

Truth is the great reconciler of facts that at first glance can seem contradictory: the astute seeker sees that while it's wise to build his house upon solid rock, it's probably unwise to chain himself or tether his dreams to a rock because he's built a house there.

Truth is beyond being a sun: it's a perpetual procession of rays moving in all directions as well; rays that are capable of being reflected, repeatedly redirected, and finally absorbed; rays which when examined individually may display all the gorgeous hues of a rainbow. Some may insist on seeing truth always as a matter of black and white, and even dispute the allowance of shades of gray: does that entitle them to paint the world black and white for others who truly see it -- or who'd experience their lives -- in full, glorious color?

Truth may be both a starting point for the seeker as well as his intended destination, and a traveling companion along the way -- or it may seem continually elusive. It may be like a glass in his hand that always seems half-empty, or a lens through which he strives to keep his eyes focused because without it he's aware of how inevitably poor his vision is.

Truth isn't an ocean, but a countless array of freely flowing and continually combining water particles comprising a vast network of seas, rivers, lakes, puddles, clouds, etc.

If you like this snippet, there’s more just like it, by Cat. It’s over at The Price of Liberty, titled Meditations on Truth. As always, good to hear from her.

No open carry in WalMart February 20, 2007. Is the next mass murder by a madman going to happen in a crowded WalMart near you?

After nearly five months open carrying all over Wyoming and western SD, I had my first really negative experience. I've carried in a SD Walmart for three plus months, with only friendly questions from both customers and clerks on occasion.