The Kindergarten Rules is the first installment of a series of seven that describe and advocate the Sacred Nonaggression Principle (SNaP)—my book advocating that we hold the nonaggression principle (banning the initiation of physical force) as the highest standard in social systems. Continue reading
One of my most visited Coffee Coaster pages is the book review I wrote on Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. In that review I criticize Dr. Diamond for failing to note major Western ideas:
… Diamond does not properly attend to the above political achievements [reason and the concept of individual rights], nor to the concept of individual rights within the framework of large communities with common understanding. The effectiveness of the Founding Fathers’ creation of liberty within community, especially with the federal concept, is relevant to guns, germs, and steel… not to mention production, trade, peace, and benevolence. Continue reading
Many don’t realize that in early 1800s America, commercial whaling was a multimillion-dollar business. Millions of gallons of whale oil were used in America and Europe for lamp fuel and lubrication, in addition to dozens of other uses: It was a fundamental element of paint, varnish, and soap. Perhaps the main center of the whaling industry in North America was Nantucket, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts inhabited mainly by Quakers. Continue reading
The definitive Zane Grey work of Western fiction, Riders of the Purple Sage, differs from other Westerns you’ll read. For one thing the times of the writing are long ago in the rear view mirror. Zane Grey (1872-1939) wrote as the 20th century was just beginning (Riders is copyrighted in 1912). It’s my understanding from reading statements by Ayn Rand (1905-1982) that the new century was greeted with immense hope and optimism by virtually everyone in the West (Western Civilization). Little were they aware of what was to come. Continue reading
When I first heard of this book I was thinking, all right, some German dude is trying to horn in on the Mitch Albom franchise. Albom is a former sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press and renowned author of best selling book Tuesdays with Morrie—which was made into a movie starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. His celebrity now transcends the metro Detroit area, where I believe he continues to write, host a radio program, and generally perform good deeds. Continue reading
This is a very good book that deserves to be read… by people inside the freedom movement and out. It’s crisply well-written and the thinking flows strongly and comfortably. Those who are neophytes in economics or who, like me, have little affinity for it, will love the clarity with which it presents solutions to economic problems and subproblems. Poverty is after all an economic issue: not having enough useful stuff to meet one’s needs. The author, through substantial and relevant research, gives us common-sense public policies, that unfortunately are still uncommon. Continue reading
Jim Garrison: Could the Mob change the parade route, Bill, or eliminate the protection for the President? Could the Mob send Oswald to Russia and get him back? Could the Mob get the FBI, the CIA, and the Dallas Police to make a mess of the investigation? Could the Mob appoint the Warren Commission to cover it up? Could the Mob wreck the autopsy? Could the Mob influence the national media to go to sleep? And since when has the Mob used anything but .38’s for hits, up close. The Mob wouldn’t have the guts or the power for something of this magnitude. Assassins need payrolls, orders, times, schedules. This was a military-style ambush from start to finish… a coup d’etat with Lyndon Johnson waiting in the wings. Continue reading