Brian’s Column: A Retraction Regarding Johnson-Weld

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Brian Wright

We simply do not have the time… for being preoccupied and distracted

It’s been how many years? And how old am I? But as most of us who want to believe the best (and who know how hard the struggle has been to achieve true liberty in our time), I was sucked in by imaginings that the J-W ticket heralded a sea change toward uncharacteristic competence and effectiveness in the Libertarian Party at the national level. Please take a moment to review my earlier column: “The LP 2016 National Convention.”

Interestingly, the only part of that previous column that I have to retract is under the level 3 heading ‘This Time the Veep Candidacy was the Potential Foot Shot’. That is where I suggest that even though we have to keep an eye on Mr. Weld, the points in his favor are solid: 1) he’s VP, not P, 2) he brings lots of ATMM (access to money and media) to the table, 3) he speaks succinctly and incisively, with wit and humor, 4) his US attorney record of going after corrupt establishment Republicans (and Democrats) is solid, and 5) he wants the job.
Continue reading →

A Presummer’s Night Dream

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Brian Wright

A plush memorial-garden setting sets off a barrage of heavenly imagery

Here’s the dream note from 6/1/16:

Williams [an engineering firm I worked for 35 years ago] has a memorial garden measuring 1/2 mile by 1/2 mile inside a full square mile grounds including the Michigan design and production facility. And I run into some of my engineering buddies nearby. Men whom I only knew remotely are speaking of my work for the company as splendid and caring, showing integrity. I feel poorly that I haven’t been more friendly to these men who obviously think exceptionally highly of me; though when we worked together, I was always courteous and complimentary. The garden is this amazing natural retreat, complete with a raging river with rapids into the corner of it, all so beautiful and full of life. It reminds me of heaven—a living heaven. There’s a spirit to it, yes of Sam [Sam Williams, the company founder], but also of everyone who chose to take part in his journey. I feel fulfilled and worth something far more than I customarily regard myself. I want Rose [former wife] to share this with me, and I also see on reflection just how beautiful my own soul is, how utterly amazing—despite the rough edges and early addictions—my creative work has been.

Synchronicity

It happens that one of the finer persons I ever met at Williams was a tall, bright Kansan[1] named Gerry. When I first arrived at Williams back in 1977, I went to work for the accessories group—lube pumps, fuel controls, start cartridges, electronics. There were only four of us at the outset; Gerry was the head ramrod of the electronics… and anything else that required more than simple arithmetic. He was, shall we say, the brains of the outfit… and without peer in that quality for most of his career at the company. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: The 2016 LP National Convention

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Brian Wright

Libertarians nominate presidential ticket Gary Johnson/William Weld,
now actually standing a chance of winning the 2016 election… IF…

… they continue to avoid shooting themselves in the foot (as was ever their wont) and rise to the challenge of The Truman Prophecy… by committing themselves to the Snowden-Manning political program. [In a phrase, the Libertarians “have to bring real truth and real justice to real people.”]

Note: From Shane Trejo’s column here, I realize that Weld, with some disturbing specifics to his background, could be a colossal mistake. But I don’t think so. As I try to point out in this column, what matters isn’t who our candidates are but the political program they will effect. And WE, the truth-justice-liberty warriors, will be—or certainly can be—the driver of what they do. They represent us; we have to insist they embrace the Snowden-Manning program, or else! ALL parties and ALL candidates.

It was a cliffhanger from what my Rose—watching CSPAN—was telling me with regular updates this afternoon. Gary Johnson won the presidential nod this morning on a second ballot, handily. But his preferred vice-presidential candidate, William Weld—another former two-term Republican governor in a largely Democratic state (Massachusetts 1991-1997)—had to duke it out with a handful of presumably fine individuals yet having the political notability of the dogcatcher in Enid, Oklahoma. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Open Letter to the US Political System 2016

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Brian Wright

Embrace the Snowden-Manning 2016 10-Point Political Program…

… as if our lives depended on it… because they do. The SM16 political program consists of 10 steps for fulfilling the Truman Prophecy and bringing truth, justice, and liberty to the country we love.

Special Note to Libertarians at the Orlando 2016 National Convention

Whoever you select for the presidential ticket this year, the party MUST proceed with a radical (government-)crime fighting agenda—if there is to be any hope of our liberty and, actually, our physical survival. The rogue global-junta forces running the United States government are embarked on a program of full-spectrum dominance in a succession of high-crime assaults on the people.

Only the Snowden-Manning 10-Point Political Program will end these high-crime assaults. If you are a delegate to the LP national convention, please insist that every candidate read and commit to implement the SM16 program immediately. And for heaven sakes’ now is the time to spread the word everywhere with an attractive Snowden-Manning 2016 bumper sticker to adorn your wheels… or living room picture window. 🙂

To take the meme viral, simply go to the Snowden-Manning site, buy and post a bumper sticker or other signage, then bear witness further. The simplest and most powerful method is to enter a statement in replying to any of a number of comments in the social media… in the following form:

“It’s not the <candidates, budget, Party, etc.>, it’s the political program: http://snowden-manning.org.”

Here are the 10 points of the program (I’ll expand each in a later update): Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Going on the Offensive with Virtual Grand Juries

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Brian Wright

Some thoughts how ‘we the people’ can eliminate[1] corrupt public officials…
and those complicit in their crimes

My first thoughts—especially having attended on May 11 a judge’s peremptory dismissal of Dr. Georgetta Livingstone’s countersuit vs. the homeowners’ association that is driving Georgetta out of her Clarkston home (for working around DTE’s outrageous shutoff of her electrical power)—were “Aren’t they all?” Corrupt, that is.

No, I can name ~half a dozen current or former state legislators—say, like state rep Tom McMillin from the Rochester area (who was ironically term-limited out)… and reps Gary Glenn, Jim Runestad, Martin Howrylak, Sen. Patrick Colbeck (all maybe 90% proliberty record from what I can tell)… and I’m sure there’s another one or two that just don’t come to mind—and perhaps a couple of dozen honest and mainly libertarian local officials. Can you say drop in the bucket?

As I left the courthouse, chatting with a few of Georgetta’s supporters from the anti ‘Fry & Spy’ meter cause (also here, and here), it dawned on me once more, strikingly, how the system is antihuman. [Just walking into the courthouse, as when I go to the state capitol, I feel I’m walking into some Medieval torture chamber administered by priests high and low, who mainly just go through the motions, follow a domination script set in stone by some unapproachable, ancient deity. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Elated Educated Filer, Victory #1

Posted on May 8, 2016 by Brian Wright

Michigan responds with complete refund of income tax incorrectly withheld

Note: This is a followup column to my original column two weeks ago, “The Elation of a First-Time Educated Filer,” attesting to the liberating power of the so-called Hendrickson Discovery (ref. Pete Hendrickson’s book, Cracking the Code)—simply on the occasion of filing! Now, I have a ‘victory’ to report.

First, the start of the good luck story

It was a strange day, yet a day any gambling man would have bought a lottery ticket…

Doing errands then winding up at the Novi post office, Thursday, May 5. Buying Media Mail stamps to send out my latest book to potential reviewers of stature… then returned to my car, an 1997 Mercury Villager that I’ve been holding onto for sentimental reasons, but I tell people it’s an investment. Turned the key. Click, click, click. Dead battery, snow cone sized load of corrosion on the posts. First good luck: it’s a day out of paradise: clear blue, cool breeze, no trace of toxic atmospheric aerosol spraying, 65 degrees.

Now more good luck: Right next door is my place of work, where I have a part time job as a med tech driver, also my manager is in. So he offers to come over there to jumper the car, using my cables. In the meantime, in a nearby parking spot, a nice fellow exits his car and asks if I need a jump, says he has a portable battery booster/jump starter. I say sure. Nobody has a wire brush, but I clean the goop off the terminals with paper towels as best I can, and the key turns it right over. Vrooom. Starts right up. Good Samaritan Guy points out that the gauge says my alternator is successfully charging, too. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Why Do We Care Who’s President?

Posted on May 1, 2016 by Brian Wright

Observations from a recent Foundation for Economic Education Column

A few weeks ago, Jeffrey Tucker, writing for the longtime Freedom Philosophy organization, F.E.E., posed the question, “Why should it matter who the president is?” Then described the administrations of presidents Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881), James Garfield (1881), Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885), and Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893). Remarking that these presidents are often cited—especially by leftists and progressives—as poor ones because they didn’t do anything really BIG or ambitious, Mr. Tucker states:

“These were not the presidents who “made history,” and good for them. Hardly anyone remembers them, which is to their credit. They are usually listed among the “worst” presidents, which is to say they didn’t cause giant upheavals. They inhabited the office at a time when the private sector was growing at incredible rates while the government was playing a relatively diminished role.”

Tucker’s well-taken point being that even if they had all been scoundrels, the federal government vis a vis the ‘private sector’ was like a grain of sand in one’s shoe—it had insignificant resources and Constitutionally proscribed (virtually no) legal power or authority. IOW, the average fellow could ignore the Washington mob with impunity. Not like today, when unconstitutional power-spewing chief executives have become a boulder in our footwear and a sledge hammer over our collective heads. Continue reading →