Freedom Tribe

Bill St. Clair very kindly emailed me this morning, bringing my attention to an addition to one of his web sites that he thought I would particularly appreciate. Even though we’ve not yet met in person, he knows me well.

I expect that many freedom-loving individuals would answer that question in the negative; but some would aver otherwise, pointing to the power of a jury as a (perhaps “the”) remaining check on the state’s dominance. I’ve pondered that issue for some time—wanting to be convinced by the arguments, truth be told, but never making it that far. The primary obstacle is the vanishingly small role juries directly play in most people’s lives. How many adults are tapped for jury duty? Out of those who go, how many actually serve? How many times does an average person sit on a jury? I have no numbers to pin to those questions, but it should be clear that I am skeptical that an activity that at best probably commands only a few hours of a person’s life is going to be seen as enormously important to him.

Another assertion that would likely be offered is that juries can make or break laws—and that does affect many people, as we all live under the burden of the laws of our jurisdiction. But again, I have problems ... Jury nullification depends upon at least one informed, courageous person; and the voir dire process actively seeks to eliminate such individuals from juries. That person must also keep his intentions secret until deliberations, else a mistrial could be called. Even that doesn’t guarantee that a mistrial won’t happen.

But—and here’s the heart of the matter—all the jury power in the world won’t make a bit of difference if the judge plays fast and loose with his power in the courtroom. A judge has a variety of means by which he can skew a trial, including what he allows as evidence, lines of questioning the lawyers are allowed to pursue, and the instructions he gives to the jury before they retire for deliberation.

Some judges have apparently become so brazen that they will not allow the jury access to the actual law(s) under consideration in a case. Pete Hendrickson says that’s what happened to him in his recently-concluded trial with the IRS.

My friend Mike Gogulski apparently learned that lesson back in September, although he just published information about his unfortunate encounter with some Slovak policemen. As happens here in the USSA with disturbing frequency, Mike called them for help, and instead they turned on him.

I’m not sure what Mike intends to do from here, but he has requested support and I am giving it, by helping to publicize his story and archiving a copy of the report in case his web site is yanked. I can’t at present upload it here for sharing, but will happily email the PDF to those who request it. For now, it and other formats are available in Mike’s blog post I linked earlier; my dear friend Tom Ender has also archived Mike’s report.

If anyone wonders whether Mike is worth supporting, in addition to his fine blog I recommend reading my interview of him. Mike walks the walk, and surely is an inspiration to many.

Yesterday evening, I finally cracked. The pressure has been building since ... well, I don’t even remember when Wolfie and I first started talking about it.

My friend Peter and I have discussed the speculation surrounding what may lie ahead for this country, and those who live here, a fair bit. Being a much better multi–tasker than I, he has offered a stimulating perspective in a new essay, American Winter. It’s fairly long, full of cogent observations and asides, and I barely finished skimming it before starting to tell you nine about it—so I don’t have any deep thoughts of my own to offer at present.

That is probably not news to regulars here—after all, my interview of B.W. Richardson displayed my high regard of him; and I’ve pointed to several of his blog posts here. But if you’ve not been by Montag ... lately, take a mosey over there and you should easily see why I’ve titled this ramble thusly. He’s been on a powerful tear lately—and lest you think you can suss out my favorites based on my commenting pattern there, to that I say “Nay!” Of late I’ve been racing the heat as well as very busy, so I often let great bits slip by without comment.

But today’s post is simply too good to let pass, nor to keep to myself. Hie thee over there and bask in his inspiring words. Thank you very much, my friend.

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.

Many people seem to be turning to gardening in anticipation of hard times and/or increasing state interference in what one is permitted to eat. Lila asked about good places to buy seeds the other day, and a friend’s answer was so good that it deserves more attention than it’s likely to get buried as a comment. So, Plug Nickel Outfit’s response is elevated to guest post, with some extra links and commentary added by yours truly. If you have good resources and/or ideas to add, please do.

Given how frequently I’ve been pointing to him of late, it probably comes as no surprise that I’m pointing to another essay by Peter Saint-Andre this morning.

I had been slowly working at cleaning and organizing my desk area [yes, again!] ... but with my computer out of commission I have more time offline than I’m accustomed to. So, over the weekend I started to get serious about organizing my mess—and in the process, rediscovered gold: a disc of music Warren Bluhm gave the snolfs and me some years back, titled The Will to Fly.

This is a very interesting article. I would say that instead of "meaningless," the more accurate word would be highly variable. We do come to agreement on the meaning of words, and often on our observation of reality. That doesn't mean that agreement is perfect, of course, but far from meaningless.

Okay, most of us have probably gotten our April 15 frustrations vented by now. I have a couple of recent stories to tell regarding other ways the state’s agents are coming up with to rob us.

Not just any ol’ month, though. As I mentioned yesterday, we had a farewell feast last night. For the past month we’ve had a Belarusian houseguest. He works with Lobo at Casey Research, and was here primarily to get a lot of hands-on training. That was accomplished; and of course, we tried to give him as rich a sampler of American life and Pacific Northwest beauty as we could. Naturally, woven through our interactions were many threads relating to freedom. He may have provided me as much food for thought as we did him.

Wow. I just finished reading A Declaration of Separation at the (I hope) brand new Free and Unashamed blog (via Wendy McElroy). Wonky formatting aside, there’s little I can quibble about in it. I encourage all to read it, and if it resonates with you, help spread it.

They didn’t exactly happen in that order ... but that’s how they fell into my tangled mental framework.