Book Review: No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority (1870)

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Brian Wright

The Constitution of No Authority
by Lysander Spooner
Review by Brian Wright first posted July 20, 2009

…”on principles of law and reason”

In No Treason, Lysander Spooner uses the above expression on practically every page. On those foundations, he makes his case that the US Constitution—and by universal extension, any other formal written document that aims to set up a compulsory central government—cannot be morally or legally justified. Primarily Spooner focuses on the weaknesses of the “social contract” argument. He puts the Constitution to the test of contracts, as prevailed in his time and place, and concludes that it does not meet the basic criteria for a contract at all… hence is not valid or binding on anyone. Continue reading →

Book Review: Crimes against Nature (2004)

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Brian Wright

Son of Bobby nails the Plunder Elite for destruction of the environment
by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

What’s so exciting about this expose is that Mr. Kennedy—senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper, and president of Waterkeeper Alliance—advocates an extreme “free-market” position:

“You show me a polluter and I’ll show you a subsidy. I’ll show you a fat cat using political clout to escape the discipline of the free market and load his production costs onto the backs of the public.”
— pg. 190 Continue reading →

Book Review: Natural Cures (2004)

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Brian Wright

“They” don’t want you to know about
by Kevin Trudeau

Kevin Trudeau is one of those guys you either love him or you hate him. So I buck the trend by really liking him for the essential things and questioning his judgment on some less consequential matters, e.g. of various claims or assertions on health items. On balance, I feel the thumbs should point substantially up for this energetic, courageous individual… who, no doubt, at least borders on hucksterism in some areas. [Remember caveat emptor?]

Let’s put it this way. The federales, particularly the FDA and the FTC, would like to ban his books and throw him in jail forever. So he may not be Mohandas Gandhi, but he can’t be all bad. Continue reading →

Book Review: Left, Right, and Prospects for Liberty (1965)

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Brian Wright

Fresh look at the political spectrum
by Murray Rothbard
Review by Brian Wright

For an eternity now, the pundits and editorialists, not to mention the academics, have insisted on a misleading interpretation of political positions. As I write in Module #2 of the Sacred Nonaggression Principle:

Most of us are familiar with the terms left and right, and have some conception of the different political ideas along the left-right spectrum. The figure below shows a conventional scheme. Continue reading →

Book Review: Requiem for Humanity (2011)

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Brian Wright

Human exposition: Last remaining homo sapiens…
by Alan Hoshor
Review by Brian Wright

This review comes about from a unique set of circumstances: The author, Alan Hoshor, approached me via my email at the Coffee Coaster with an invitation to read and comment on his short ebook—it is available currently as a Kindle file, and he is in the process of publishing a conventional book via Createspace. The topic is one in which I have a fair interest, namely, ‘transhumanism’ and what we may expect as biological humankind moves toward the Singularity[1] and beyond. Mr. Hoshor’s focus is on the nearer-term ramifications of the transition. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Hombre (1967)

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Brian Wright

The best small Western of all time? ___ 9/10
Review by Brian Wright

John Russell: Lady, up there in those mountains, there’s a whole people who’ve lost everything. They don’t have a place left to spread their blankets. They’ve been insulted, diseased, made drunk and foolish. And you call the men who did that Christians and you trust ‘em; I know ‘em as white men and I don’t….
Jessie: Russell, if nobody ever lifted a finger until people were deserving the whole world would go to hell. We’d better deal with each other out of need and forget merit. Because none of us have too much of that, not me, not you, not anybody.[1] Continue reading →

Book Review: Our Enemy the State (1935)

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Brian Wright

Our Enemy the State
by Albert Jay Nock
Review by Brian Wright

“Taking the state wherever found, striking into its history at any point, one sees no way to differentiate the activities of its founders, administrators, and beneficiaries from those of a professional criminal class.” — page 22

Everything is perfect about this work of private-scholarship art and high opinion, including the title: It doesn’t pussyfoot around, goes right for the jugular, the political-economic CMS (center of maximum sleaze). Can’t get more succinct: Continue reading →