Brian's Column-Article
Libertarian in MIGOP's Court
Big Doin’s in Lansing, Michigan, State Republican Convention 2015

So from a social aspect, this uprising in the Republican Party via the liberty-oriented grassroots is quite positive for me. I’m naturally gregarious, but with so few of us in the Libertarian Party (of which I’m a member) lately, it’s like one hand clapping there. I fit in with this rising Republican group quite nicely and naturally, and as I point out in the footnotes, so long as I bite my tongue about lacking religious sentimentality—I can do without so many invocations and pledges of allegiance to ‘the flag’ that Republicans, establishment or not, inflict at the drop of a hat—we can hang well. [Full Column]

Book Review
Mayflower (2006)
A story of courage, community, and war
by Nathaniel Philbrick

The Pilgrims were Puritan Separatists, whose austere beliefs were as bizarre as other Christian sects of the time. They had to stage their departure to the New World from Holland, because of persecution by the Church of England.

What is remarkable about the Pilgrims and the Puritans who came later—the English who came to New England were predominantly Puritan in official belief system—is how they lightened up as a consequence mixing with the Indians and others coming over… not to mention having to deal with issues of base survival. Remember, four or five generations after Mr. Philbrick’s narrative ends, nearby Boston and New England towns in general became the cradle of liberty. So some freethinking had to be falling through the chapel rafters.[Full Column]

Movie Review
Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)
Awesome testament of an American holocaust
combined with deep truths of human nature

Midpoint in the movie, the Japanese-American Internment is underway in a small Northwestern farming and fishing island in the Seattle, Washington, area. The Miyamoto family is visited by officials enforcing the expropriation and relocation of American citizens of Japanese ancestry. The officials rummage through the family’s entire home and grounds, turning up every manner of personal items, especially anything of sentimental value such as personal letters or keepsakes (which supposedly suggest Japanese-cultural sympathies)—all boxed and taken away before their tearful eyes. [Full Column]

Guest Column
I Miss America
From the February 16, 2015,
post of Mike Adams of Natural News

This just expresses with common sense eloquence how real Americans feel and function… and what they wish for: Yet, I’m not so wistful about it. I believe we’re on the threshold of ‘authentic swing’ consciousness world wide and the best of America will be restored thereby. Will excerpt most of it, but you should go to the original for the full whammy:

[Full Column]

Quote of the Week

"We deal in illusions, man. None of it is true! But you people sit there day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds. We're all you know. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you....You even think like the tube. This is mass madness. You maniacs. In God's name, you people are the real thing. We are the illusion..." — Howard Beale, Network (1976)