Guest Column: No Need to Panic about Johnson-Weld

After some mulling, I feel I’ve reached a reasonable analysis of the J-W ticket
by Kathleen Wikstrom [Facebook post here]

Kathleen Jacob Wikstrom's Profile PhotoI’ve been mulling over my best response to the Libertarian Party’s Johnson-Weld ticket, and I think I’ve finally settled on something.

For all the people who think this ticket has the potential to bring large gains for the libertarian movement, I will wish them luck and encourage their efforts. I hope Gary Johnson wins, if our only other choices are Clinton and Trump. But I am looking for more than this ticket will offer, so I will put my efforts elsewhere. Continue reading

Brian’s Column: A Retraction Regarding Johnson-Weld

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

SM16_Buildasign_ProofIt’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

Book Review: Dissolving Illusions (2013)

Disease, Vaccines, and The Forgotten History
by Suzanne Humphries, MD

IllusionsA libertarian friend, who as many of my Baby Boomer peers tends to accept conventional wisdom, academic authority, and mainstream media sources of information, posed these questions (after reading some of my more adamant commentaries regarding the public health nightmare that mass vaccination has become):

“Are you painting all vaccines with the same broad brush?

“How do you explain that small pox has virtually disappeared, or that polio is not the dreaded disease it once was?” Continue reading

Movie Review: The Third Man (1949)

Post World War II film noir w/authentic feel _ 8/10

The Third ManCalloway: Go home Martins, like a sensible chap. You don’t know what you’re mixing in, get the next plane.
Martins: As soon as I get to the bottom of this, I’ll get the next plane.
Calloway: Death’s at the bottom of everything, Martins. Leave death to the professionals.
Martins: Mind if I use that line in my next Western?

Anna Schmidt: A person doesn’t change just because you find out more.

Amazing I’d never seen this highly artful, black and white film, because it actually has a bit of a political message, set as it is in immediate post World War II Vienna, Austria. The city was divided into four separately policed zones—US, Britain, France, Russia—mainly to accommodate the diplomatic niceties extended to the Soviets. Hint: Nobody wanted to be in the Russian zone.[1] It was quite common for Germans to forge their identity papers so that they would appear to live in districts under responsibility of the Western powers. Continue reading

Guest Column: Ali Championed Palestinian Liberation, Who Knew?

Muhammad Ali: “I declare support for the Palestinian liberation struggle”
Dr. Kevin Barrett, c/o Veterans Today [Full VT column here]

AliThe mainstream media doesn’t want you to know one important thing about Muhammad Ali: His all-out, unreserved support for the liberation struggle of the Palestinian people against Zionist genocide.

Samidoun writes:

In 1985, Ali traveled to Israel in an attempt to secure the release of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in occupied Southern Lebanon. This followed on his visits to Palestinian refugee camps in 1974, when he declared in Beirut that “the United States is the stronghold of Zionism and imperialism.” While visiting Palestinian refugee camps in South Lebanon, he declared:

“In my name and the name of all Muslims in America, I declare support for the Palestinian struggle to liberate their homeland and oust the Zionist invaders.”

The mainstream media has no problem celebrating Ali’s heroic resistance to the Vietnam war. We’ve all heard about that.

So why won’t they even mention the Champ’s equally heroic stand on behalf of the Palestinian people? Continue reading

A Presummer’s Night Dream

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

Here’s the dream note from 6/1/16:

Godwithin7Williams [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

Gerry_HermanIt 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

Book Review: Little Pink House (2009)

One woman’s historic battle against eminent domain
A true story of defiance and courage
by Jeff Benedict
Review by Brian Wright

Kelo_Pink_HouseIt’s with the greatest pleasure that I review this epochal action-crime drama of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Little Pink House is the exhilarating literary ride about the Kelo vs. City of New London eminent domain case that shook the country. It’s chock full of heroes (Susette Kelo and her many partners in the freedom fight) and villains (the several local, state, federal, and corporate poobahs who think nothing of bulldozing the poor and handing the vacated land to the looting rich… minus a healthy commission for their thuggery). If you ever entertained doubts about the confiscatory evil of eminent domain (ED), this book will dispel them: ED = Erector-set Dysfunction. The book makes crystal clear that public takings are nothing but expropriation of some persons for connected, well-to-do other persons… and those who participate in the action are the slimiest scum: cowards who steal under protection of law. Continue reading