Understanding the cult of Christianity.

In protest of government people’s continued aggression against peaceful human beings, I decided to pay the latest Keene property tax bill, over $2700, in all ones. I brought pizza to share with those who were inconvenienced, gave a short speech, and Sam from the Obscured Truth Network brought his video camera. As usual, the bureaucrat aggressors did not like the cameras:
Click here to view the embedded video.

And bust. Article by Doug French.

And all other prisoners not guilty of violent crimes. Article by Jeff Tucker.

Bill Anderson on corrupting the Amish.

Against the Fed.

But what the heck is it doing in economics? Article by Betsy Hansen.

Jacob Hornberger on real change for Cuba.

A Washington Post ditty to the tune of Cole Porter's 'Love for Sale.' Article by Richard Cummings.

The ant empire.

The non-governmental kind, anyway.

To improve male genetic quality.

The Bank of England, like the Fed, is the source of economic trouble, not its cure.

How the right balance of neurotransmitters keeps us alert, optimistic, calm, and resourceful.

"Currently I am between jobs."

I've been job hunting recently and, to varying degrees of success, I've been attending interviews. In addition to this I've also been taking the time to speak to, and get to know, more people - seeing as how my long-term social circle for the past few years vanished recently.

A common question I've been asked in both interviews and social encounters is: "Do you regret leaving University?"

When I was making the decision it felt life alternating, I was so terrified I was going to make a mistake. Sure I hated my degree and didn't really have any friends at University, but it was still a degree and I had always been told that going through life without one was a horrible mistake. Street sweepers and garbage men were what people without degrees became and they were never going to be happy - or so the story went.

"Opportunities lost?"

So far, since leaving my course in Journalism unfinished, I have led a very interesting life. It has only been a year and a half but I have run my own business and been the editor of a globally respected website. I have flown around the world, met incredibly bright and ingenious people, some of whom I've admired since I was a child. On a shallower note: I've been treated with some bizarre respect that a posh sounding job title grants you from strangers and I've eaten in fine Michelin starred restaurants. It was all great fun... but as some of you know my unconscious had different plans.

"Crumbling edifice."

Following the breakdown of my three year relationship at the end of December and my taking up therapy at the end of January, I woke my unconscious up. It was a series of acts which I didn't quite realise the importance of, like knocking over the first domino in a chain that you didn't know existed.

I found myself unable to write, unable to sleep, and often unable to eat. What I was able to do was catch colds, flues, and minor illnesses. While I consciously wanted to continue on in my job my unconscious was staging a revolt. Around this time a series of friendships failed and I felt like my life had stagnated.

And then: I left my job.

I think I'll always be shocked at the rapidity my string of illnesses cleared up after I left. Within 24 hours I was back to being... me. I was happy, healthy and excited about the future. Which in fact seemed more like "me" than my previous experiences of "me" ever were.

"A better education."

Looking back it seems like leaving university was the smartest decision I ever made. I was sitting there, taking a journalism course I hated, wondering if I had made a huge mistake in my life plan.

So what did I do? I threw myself at the career, I gave it my best bloody shot. I started a business, I did work on the side, I volunteered for free writing gigs and then I was picked up by an established publication and put into a position which most people spend decades trying to reach... and I hated it.

I mean that's the long and short of it right? I had everything that was planned for me, by my Dad, by my sister, and by everyone who bangs on about careers and success and puts all that pressure on kids in schools, and it didn't bring me any happiness.

I only felt happiness when I took control again. Even now I'm happier than ever. I'm struggling for work, I'm unsure of my future, and I don't have anyone in my life that I haven't known for more than six months but god help me I feel happier than ever before. Especially as this gave me the impetus to pursue new friendships, rewarding and stronger in their base than anything I've had before.

I swear I think its crazy how I've been trying to avoid this knowledge.

I think a part of me wants to cling to this view that I've been abandoned by my loved ones and have failed in my career because it would keep me small and meek.

And now I feel stuck, I'm very unsure how to end this post - perhaps that's fitting given how I'm nowhere near the end of this journey. I'll keep you all posted :).

Here’s to long weekend containing another BS holiday. Because Ned and I are not religious or statist we don’t feel comfortable celebrating  a lot of the holidays. But we are firm believers in being celebratory! I also think impromptu life celebrations are fantastic, whether it’s celebrating quitting your job or toasting champagne to a new discovery about yourself.

Life is not forever and in general I don’t think we celebrate as much as we should. Holidays can bring (or force) a little bit of fun and glitter. So I’d like to share mine and Ned’s own personal alternative holiday calender: holidays for atheists, anarchists or people who just don’t feel comfortable with the violent roots or non-voluntary traditions of so many holidays.

Calendar Images from Meomi

January

January 1,  New Years Day:  The beginning of a new year is a great celebration of life. Buy a new journal and make a fresh entry. Make goals, not resolutions. Order out dim-sum for dinner because it is tradition and possibly because you are hung-over.

January 26, Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day: Pop.

January 22, Scientist’s Day (Francis Bacon’s Birthday): Like presidents day, but with less assholes.

February

February 2,  Philosopher’s Day (Ayn Rand’s Birthday): Celebrate philosophy and/or the birthday or Ayn Rand,  a great mind and a big influence on human freedom.

February 14, Valentine’s Day/Love Day: Celebrate love on this day. Eat rich foods, chocolates and get comfy with someone on the couch.

February 28,  Wedding Anniversary: Always celebrate anniversaries. Relationships are hard work and should be celebrated!

March

March 1, Beer Day: A good alternative to celebrating a murderous Christian Saint on the 17th.

March 9, Barbie’s Birthday/Toy day: You don’t have to celebrate Barbie but why not reminisce about your favorite toys from childhood? This is a great day to go out and buy your inner child the toy you always wanted.

March 20, First Day of Spring/Spring Equinox: This holiday is about renewal, the re-birth after winter. Start new projects and acknowledge self growth. Think about how much you have grown and also make goals for where you’d like to be in the future. Do something earthy or outdoorsy. Eat a picnic of  stuffed deviled eggs, mint chicken salad and chocolate crepes, washed down with sparkling lemonade.

March 22, Inner Child’s Day aka As young as you feel day, International Goof-off day or Spring Fairy Day: An entire day devoted to your inner child. Do whatever the kid inside of you feels like. Ideas: Have a dress up garden tea party, swing on a swing-set, build forts, have a water gun or water balloon fight, decorate your room with glow in the dark stars, wear mouse ears or a cape.

April

April 1, April Fools Day, also Creative Writing and Poetry Day: A day to play jokes/Became annoying online/Count me out of it. Two birds with one stone, a haiku about April Fool’s.

April 12, Licorice Day: Drink Sambuca and Champagne cocktails, Make a beet and fennel salad. Drink absinthe and smoke anise and rose flavored hookah. I could go on forever.

May

May 3, Sears Tower birthday or Architecture day: Admire the phenomenal landscapes created by fellow humans. If you are in Chicago tour the Sears Tower or get dressed up and have a $12 martini on top of the John Hancock.

May 9, Peter Pan Day also  Stay up all Night day: A day to celebrate with your inner child. Build a fort, watch or read Peter Pan and eat nutella banana pancakes for dinner. This could easily turn into celebrating Stay up all Night day. For which I suggest watching movies, painting or making collages,  listening to old records and cooking breakfast at sunrise while listening to Beethoven on full blast.

May 25, Memorial Day  becomes Empathy and Justice Day: This is often a day off from work and a fantastic long weekend. Do something anti-gov during this weekend, remember the democides

May 28, Ned’s Birthday: Always celebrate your life on your birthday! I’m a believer in gift-giving on birthdays no matter how small the gift. Martinis and raspberry angel-food cake are always good too.

May 29, Pink Flamingo Day: I’m taking this as John Waters day. Listen to old soul music, dress up as retro trailer trash or in rockabilly styles and go out to a greasy spoon diner or a soda fountain, remember to act vulgar. Then watch as many of John’s films as you can stomach.

June

June 21,  Summer Solstice: Summer party! Celebrate with bonfires,  s’more making (over the stove if you’re a city dweller) and all night dance partying. If there was ever an event to bring a vodka infused watermelon to, this is it.

June 24, Celebration of the Senses: Omg the possibilities: Perfume shopping for a new signature scent, fresh flowers, cooking aromatic curries or soups. Actually, this reminds me of a game my college roommate and I would play when we were high. One would blindfold the other and then find items around the room to make the blind folded one sniff and guess the smell. Laundry softener, peanut butter, Skol vodka. So you could always do that…or not.

June 28, Gay Pride Day: Celebrate sexuality! If you can’t go to the parade, wear a ridiculous outfit that makes you feel sexy but kinda silly. Have friends over for sangria, play Spin the Bottle and watch Priscilla.

July

July 4, Independence Day/ Freedom Day: Often a day off from work and a hot long weekend. Celebrate your own personal freedom and independence. Contemplate what your freedom means to you. Traditions like watching fireworks and eating barbecue and ice cream are all dandy in my book.

July 13, Geek day: Embrace your inner nerd. Set up a nerd day with a few friends, get together with laptops or whatever you need and do your dorky thing together. For this  I would serve tang and popcorn balls.

July 18, National Hot Dog Day: Whether it’s veggie or foie gras, I take them Chicago style, mustard no ketchup!

August

August 8, National Garage Sale Day: Wake up at the crack of dawn with the little old ladies and hit up the yard sales. Haggle.

August 10, S’mores day/ Slumber Party Day: When I was six years old s’mores were my favorite food. I could devour five in one setting. They were also a common slumber party food, so I say also make this a slumberparty day. Invite friends over, watch movies that remind you of childhood, eat s’mores and play truth or dare. Bonus points for prank calling.

Auust 18, Bad Poetry Day: Read your old notebooks…aloud…with a friend. I think a bottle of wine is also in order.

September

September 7, Labor Day becomes  Courage and Integrity Day: Often a day off from work and a great long weekend. Use it to celebrate your own courage and integrity. Try meditating or taking a relaxing walk in the woods. Take some alone time to connect to the strong center inside of you.

September 22,  Autumn Equinox: Celebrate my favorite season by long walks, enjoying the weather, self reflection and maybe peanut butter cookies.

September 27, Psychologist’s Day (Albert Ellis’ Birthday): The founder of CBT is OKAY with ME. Hat’s off to psychologists! Go to the library and get a book on psychology, look into new therapeutic practices or types of therapy that might help you in your journey towards become the best you that you can be.

October

October 1, World Vegetarian Day: Create a vegetarian feast. Baba ghanoush, rice and lentils, potato stuffed flatbread, sauteed eggplant, crisp cooked asparagus and custard for dessert. Yum.

October 6, Mad Hatter Day: According to this website this day is about”The nonsense we usually have to pretend is sane can be called madness for one day in the year; the superficially crazy things that really make sense can be called sane on MadHatterDay.” I’m not sure what all that means but I think this is a day to celebrate the nonsensical, so that’s okay.

October 31, Halloween: Perhaps the most important holiday of the year Celebrate death and enjoy life with mischief and debauchery.

November

November 4, is apparently National Chicken Lady Day. As this skit terrifies Ned I imagine he would celebrate this day by hiding under the covers and hoping feathered women don’t spontaneously burst into orgasm.  Personally I’d prefer a national Buddy Cole day.

November 26, Thanksgiving: Have a feast and give thanks for relationships and bounty of the year. Hold a potluck Thanksgiving with friends and bring the turkey. Plan enough for two days of giving thanks!

December

December 5, Bathtub Party Day: The bathtub is my sanctuary, I don’t need to be told twice to celebrate baths! Take this day to enjoy a nice long bath with candles, music, a book and some tea or wine. Buy yourself a new bath product.

December 11, Rabbit’s Birthday:  Always celebrate your life on your birthday! I like to take the day to reflect on the year, read old journal entries and take extra care of myself.

December 21, Winter Solstice: Because of work schedules this is often celebrated on the 25th.

December 24, Eve of Winter Solstice Celebration: A pre-party!

December 25, Celebrate Winter Solstice: BIG party! Celebrate peace and the future. Traditionally this is a light festival, so celebrate “light” as a metaphor, whatever it means to you.

December 31, New Year’s Eve: Out with the old and in with the new. Reflect on the past year, what has changed? How have you changed? Write a final journal entry for this year. Then put together a glammy outfit, listening to all the songs you loved this year and pop champagne.

Mailing List!

If you liked this holiday calendar and the ideas, then I am very excited to let you know about the Rabbit Write Holiday Calendar email list. All you need to do is fill out the form below and I’ll send you a reminder before each holiday with ideas, links, stories and maybe recipes that you can enjoy. I promise it will be fun and cute:

Name:

E-mail:

Please send me your questions and ideas or use the comments below.

Three months after the Keene city council voted to steal 4 homes for not paying property taxes in 2005, they’re at it again; this time, preparing to steal 12 homes for unpaid property taxes from 2006. According to a memo in tonight’s city council meeting agenda, “the City would take deed to properties with unpaid taxes for the 2006 tax year or earlier” on November 12, 2009.

The city can choose to not steal a property if “taking deed to the property would for any other reason be contrary to the public interest”, according to the memo. Do you think it’s in the public interest to steal the liberty and property of peaceful people?

The memo is on page 43 of tonight’s city council agenda. We’re discussing the issue on the Free Keene forum here.

It’s funny; the enforcement agency of the City of Keene says this in its statement of ethics:

We will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do.

If the police choose to enforce the City of Keene’s home thefts, I for one will be reporting an ethics violation.

It was suggested that I be more tactful in my criticism of minarchy, so I took it into consideration… for about 4 and a half seconds.

In the Porcfest closing speech I discussed my recent arrest and imprisonment. along with the journey that lead up to this adventure:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The speech is 35 minutes long, followed by a Q&A Session that lasted the remainder of the hour. .

There is great courage in telling the truth.

He'd fit right in, says Bill Bonner.

Talk about a false choice! Article by Ron Paul.

The degree system, not higher learning.

Does that mean Ron Paul in 2012?

It's slowly crumbling, says Jack Douglas.

Enough victimology. It's time for a statute of limitations on historic wrongs.

Will audit the state. Article by George Smith.

Retailers dump summer.

Come on, people, says Garrison Keillor, do you really think we can't tell the difference?

China, like the US, restricts them.

The amazing benefits of skin brushing.

America's highest-earning athletes.

It was suggested that I be more tactful in my criticism of minarchy, so I took it into consideration… for about 4 and a half seconds.

Many of you reading this are government employees yourselves. Are you aware of wrongdoing within your agency or department? Have you tried to report it through established channels such as an inspector general and gotten absolutely nowhere — or gotten fired, or worse? Now a new option is open to you.

The Raleigh, N.C.-based Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, which officially opened in May, says it will investigate tips sent to it, anonymously or not, and provide reports of government corruption at federal, state and local levels, to appropriate investigative journalists.

According to its executive director, former North Carolina state auditor Les Merritt, the foundation will also provide training and other education programs to government and the general public.

The foundation’s top investigator is Frank Perry, a 22-year FBI veteran who has worked on some of the agency’s most high level and sensitive public corruption, internal affairs and national security cases.

The Associated Press reported Monday that the Report Public Corruption web site has received over 20 tips since it launched June 13. Since that report, tips have begun coming in from across the country, according to a blog posting at the Project on Government Oversight, which focuses on the federal government.

“We’re going to be heavier on the investigative side and less on the reporting side,” Merritt said in an interview. “We don’t want to be a think tank. We want to be a ‘to-do’ tank.”

Merritt, who served one four-year term as auditor before losing to Democrat Beth Wood last November, said the foundation boards include Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters. Perry used to be the agent in charge of the FBI’s Raleigh office before working for the State Ethics Commission and later as Merritt’s top investigator at the auditor’s office.

While the group has received donations from the conservative-leaning John William Pope Foundation in Raleigh among others, Merritt said it’s looking actively for donations from both sides of the political spectrum.

“We’re going to be nonpartisan and nonbiased,” said Merritt. “We hope to be balanced with our fundraising.” — Associated Press

Indeed. Putting a stop to government corruption is something we should all be able to agree on, regardless of our political leanings.

I for one welcome Report Public Corruption. This is an idea that was suggested to me by a Free State Project participant here in New Hampshire well over a year ago but has been on the back burner ever since.

Looking through the roster of people behind the organization, I can see that it’s put together much better than I would have been able to do. They’ve also paid attention to the little details, such as not using an 800 number for their tip line, showing me that they’re serious about making this work. (You cannot block the phone number you are calling from when you dial a toll-free number.)

I’m also happy whenever I get the chance to report good news, and having more people working at keeping the government honest is always good news.

I’m getting asked a certain question a lot lately. Why pick on minarchists? We’re on the same side! Why aren’t you picking on socialists more? I’m glad I was asked because it made me put some thought into best how to express this with words. What is it about the philosophy of minarchism that really gets up in my craw?

And then it occurred to me. Anarchists and minarchists in one key respect are polar opposites. I’ve said before that there is an ocean between an anarchist and a minarchist, but only a creek between a minarchist and a socialist and I can finally nail it down succinctly. An anarchist believes that a monopoly government is the source of our enslavement. A minarchist believes a monopoly government is crucial to protecting our liberties. Exact opposites! So why do people keep saying we’re on the same side? Presumably it’s because we have similar preferences. We both love liberty.

(Read On…)

I’m getting asked a certain question a lot lately. Why pick on minarchists? We’re on the same side! Why aren’t you picking on socialists more? I’m glad I was asked because it made me put some thought into best how to express this with words. What is it about the philosophy of minarchism that really gets up in my craw?

And then it occurred to me. Anarchists and minarchists in one key respect are polar opposites. I’ve said before that there is an ocean between an anarchist and a minarchist, but only a creek between a minarchist and a socialist and I can finally nail it down succinctly. An anarchist believes that a monopoly government is the source of our enslavement. A minarchist believes a monopoly government is crucial to protecting our liberties. Exact opposites! So why do people keep saying we’re on the same side? Presumably it’s because we have similar preferences. We both love liberty.

Now let’s compare minarchists to socialists. A socialist will justify aggression on the basis of need. Food, shelter, and medical care are all essential needs and a socialist feels justified in using aggressive violence to satisfy those needs. On that same basis, a socialist will also absolve individuals of responsibility and pass that responsibility onto “society” which is a very abstract and subjective thing, a calamity of collectivism, which of course is why it’s such a disaster in implementation. It’s why individuals fail to develop a sense of their own responsibility and become incredibly dependent on their governments, remaining in a childlike state with governments assuming the role of their parents.

So now let’s compare minarchists to socialists. A minarchist loves liberty a lot. A minarchist also believes aggressive violence against innocent people is justified due to a critical need, but only for that which suits their personal preference, i.e. providing for the protection of liberty. This is commonly defended in the same manner that socialists use for justifying aggressive violence, i.e. on the basis of need*. The minarchist claim is that we are responsible for providing for all of our own needs whether it be food, shelter, health care, or educating our children, but when it comes to the most crucial thing that’s at the foundation of all the others, they absolve the individual of responsibility and pass that crucial task on to a murky subjective thing, that calamity of collectivism known as “society”.

It’s for this reason that I believe the minarchist approach to liberty is such an utter failure. I don’t argue against minarchism to pick nits or because I’m a purist. I’m a long way from being a purist. If I were, I’d stop making calculated decisions regarding my activism. I’d drive without a license and I wouldn’t pay a single penny in taxes no matter what, even if it meant pointlessly rotting in a jail cell or living as a hermit in a booger hut.

No, I argue against minarchism because I believe principles are pragmatic and that the promotion of minarchism is a big part of the problem. They’re arguing against socialism out of one side of their mouths while proposing a slight variation on socialism out of the other side. It’s an incredibly weak argument and makes an easy target for our opponents to poke holes in. I love them because we have a common interest, but I feel a need to exercise great care in how I team up with them because the act can make me an easy target right along with them. It can be quite a liability from a completely utilitarian and pragmatic point of view. The irony that they’ve often felt the same way about me has not escaped me.

In the process of defending minarchy, one is also inevitably defending socialism. It is for that reason that I am so skeptical of whether minarchy is even possible. Governments, like a cancer, don’t stay small as long as they have legitimacy and they don’t get smaller as long as they have near 100% compliance with their demands and massive moral support. Can we have much smaller government? I hope so and I’m an optimist. I think we can. I’m sure we can make governments smaller, which I would be thrilled to do, but it will require anarchism to get on the right track.

Minarchists, I love you like I love a pet that just won’t potty-train. I know you’re trying your darnedest, but it sure is frustrating. I’m going to keep making fun of you, but just remember that it’s playful ribbing from a friend; an incredibly condescending and tactless friend, but a friend nonetheless.

* Here’s a little thought game for objectivists. Grab a highlighting pen and go through some of your blog posts against anarchism. Now highlight everywhere you say the word “need”. Can I get an “Oh, SNAP!” from some of my gay fans?

An excerpt from On Truth: The Tyranny of Illusion by Stefan Molyneux (get a free pdf version of the book here) If we were only ever exposed to English, we would not think of it as “English,” just as “language.” The need to differentiate English as a language only arises when we come into contact with other [...]

Toby and Nick interview several guests live at this past weekend’s Free State Project’s Porcupine Freedom Festival 2009. A few of the guests are Free Keene’s bloggers!
Click here to view the embedded video.

Follow my blog with bloglovin´Follow my blog with bloglovin´Follow my blog with bloglovin´Artists: on left: Kelly Thompson, top right: Pierre Dal Corso and bottom right Kill Pixie

• Check out this trailer for the Canadian documentary Cat Ladies. It’s not exactly uplifting but it is intriguing.
• Agyness Deyn and Kate Moss paperdolls. I loved paperdolls as a kid, two dimensions did the pretty ladies justice!
• This might be the cutest blog ever. The adventures of Ickle and Lardee, two mischievous baby teeth
• A helpful article about staying in the moment and identifying emotions.
• Two smoldering make-up tutorials by the lovely Hannah of Hannah and Landon
• Stellar: a 1974 short documentary about the disco scene

Click here to view the embedded video.

New haunting video from Fever Ray aka Karin Dreijer Andersson of heartwrenching electronic duo The Knife.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With this video, my crush on Sebastian is full blown and official. Le sigh.

Here’s your chance to sell me on the notion so make it good. Bare in mind, however, that I’m a critical thinker and I’m looking for logical arguments without the usual presumptions like “It’s always been done this way.” If we invented really efficient and clean-running hovercrafts, it would be silly to cling to the idea of wheels just because that’s how it’s been done for thousands of years. I’m also tired of arguments from need which are irrelevant. It doesn’t matter how much we need unicorns if they don’t exist or voodoo spells if they don’t work. There’s no point in having a discussion about the benefits of unicorns and their healing and purifying magical powers until someone convinces me they exist or they can create them.
(Read On…)

Here’s your chance to sell me on the notion so make it good. Bare in mind, however, that I’m a critical thinker and I’m looking for logical arguments without the usual presumptions like “It’s always been done this way.” If we invented really efficient and clean-running hovercrafts, it would be silly to cling to the idea of wheels just because that’s how it’s been done for thousands of years. I’m also tired of arguments from need which are irrelevant. It doesn’t matter how much we need unicorns if they don’t exist or voodoo spells if they don’t work. There’s no point in having a discussion about the benefits of unicorns and their healing and purifying magical powers until someone convinces me they exist or they can create them.

And of course, there is the ever common presumption that minarchy “works”, but that would be circular because that’s the point of this post. I don’t believe it can work and in fact I think it’s counter-intuitive to think that it would. I see no historical evidence that societies are better off thanks to the existence of monopoly governments and I see no evidence that such things can stay small, and that’s what I mean by “work”. I think the record for a semi-smallish monopoly government is about 8 and a half minutes for the American version before the tyrannical power grab known as the Constitution, give or take a few years.

So please make an effort to abandon the common presumptions. Pretend I’ve not been to the government indoctrination centers known as public schools and that I haven’t spent my developing years immersed in a society that takes it as a given that the way to less violence is through violence. I would also appreciate if you will have your discussion with me and not just continue some discussion you’ve had with other anarchists. I am not proposing an alternative to your minarchist system. I’m sure that may seem convenient, but it’s the only way I can be intellectually honest. I suggest this post of mine for clarification, but I will put it another way. As a minarchist, you are the one suggesting one magic pill that cures all ills. I am not suggesting that such a thing exists or can be created. I am not aiming to replace your blanket system with some other. I do not have to know a cure for cancer to demand proof that voodoo spells are anything other than a complete waste of time and resources or that certain voodoo rituals may even be harmful to the intended recipient.

So to be clear on semantics, what I am referring to is an authoritarian style monopoly on violence being presented as a means to achieving a more civilized society than we could have if we withdrew our support from such things and began to individually but cooperatively oppose tyranny and mystical claims to authority in all its forms whenever it pops up its ugly head. Please attempt to disregard previous discussions with other anarchists and whatever straw-men arguments they have conveniently provided you to knock down. You are not arguing against something. You are arguing for something. There are many problems that societies face in their attempts to work out the differences among themselves and I posit that there are many solutions to those problems and I see every reason to allow people to try whatever they think might work as long as they aren’t violating anyone’s rights in the process, the one thing that minarchists insist must be done for their magic pill to work.

Here’s a tip. When you inevitably ignore my request against arguments of need and argue that we need authority figures because humans are inherently incapable of civilized behavior without them, please explain where that authority will come from that will cause those particular flawed humans to be morally superior to the others. For instance, if it originates from some god who is presumably superior morally to us flawed humans, you’re going to first have to take a few steps back and convince me of its existence. You will then need to convince me that this god has in fact granted its authority to some particular mortal agents causing them to overcome this otherwise tragic flaw in human nature. If you have a magic piece of paper, a magic badge, a magic title, or a magic black robe that corrects this inherent flaw of moral imperfection in human beings, you’ll need to explain to me how the ritual works that creates these talismans. And I’m afraid “majority support” is epic fail as an answer so can we please keep the discussion moving forward? Majorities have been violently exploiting minorities for all of recorded history.

Are you beginning to get a sense of why I am skeptical of Utopian magic pill solutions? Humans are as varied in personalities and motivations as snowflakes which makes for some complicated problems when we try to get along in a civilized manner. It will likely take us a lot of trial and error in a free market to find good solutions for these many problems. Monopoly governments have been doing more harm than good for thousands of years. All I suggest is that we finally abandon our fantasies so we can begin to get to work on real solutions. But if you actually have the snake oil elixir that fixes everything and it really works, I will gleefully burn all my anarchist and voluntaryist t-shirts and stand in line to buy some from your booth at the next Porcfest! Until then, I hope you will understand why I find the notion thoroughly worthy of ridicule in comic strip form.

In closing, I have a crazy notion for you to consider. Let’s change individuals. With each individual who learns what it really means to behave morally and to co-exist in a civilized manner with his or her neighbors, society gets a little bit better. That’s one more person who will contribute his ingenuity and brotherly love to humanity’s many problems. That’s one more person who will appreciate the value of peace and tolerance for others and their differences and pass on that value to his children; teach that value to his neighbors. It’s a realistic and gradualist approach. It’s not an attempt to suddenly and violently overthrow governments. It’s not Utopian. Blanket solutions for all of society are mystical. Individual changes are realistic and possible and those changes can ripple out to other individuals and have an exponential positive impact and make quantifiable steady progress toward peace and prosperity. Those of us who have chosen to be civilized will be better equipped than any slave for working together voluntary to protect our rights and provide for our mutual benefit. Anarchy is not a violent system that we attempt to impose on millions of people with or without their consent. Simply choose right now to consistently reject arbitrary and mystical claims to rulership of one man over another. Such designs are inherently exploitative and harmful. Anarchy is possible. Anarchy is in your head and in your heart the instant you are ready to embrace it.

All children are born atheists.

Thanks to Jeremy Couch, here’s the brand new Free Keene Facebook page - be sure to click “become a fan”!

For roughly the past decade, I’ve owned two filing cabinets which I’ve filled up every year or two with a bunch of paperwork, including utility bills, bank statements, insurance documents, etc.

In a conversation with Mrs. O last night, we stumbled upon an interesting question: do I really need all of these documents? Why do I carry them all with me? After all, I am 30 years old, do I really need, for example, cable bills from 2001?

So tonight I started emptying them. Roughly 75% of it I was able to throw away immediately, but there wasn’t just “business” stuff in there. There was also some memorabilia from my trip to Europe and birthday/Christmas cards that I had saved and forgotten about.

As I flipped through these cards, I began to feel sadness… and for a little while I thought I missed these people–my family, some friends… but as I went through, it felt less like missing them and more it felt like complete loneliness… and back during the years I was revisiting–1997 through 2001–I did feel completely and utterly alone. What I might have missed–if it can even be called that–was the care and love of my family and friends who at best did nothing to help and at worst kept me in that place of loneliness and despair.

The primary reason I know it wasn’t because I missed them was because my feelings didn’t dissipate but instead grew more intense. When I realized I was feeling despair, the feeling diminished.

What is the difference between irritation and anger?

Phoenix Children's Hospital reports on the effects of physical abuse.

A conversation with Peter Mac and Larken Rose about the true roots of statism.