George H. Smith was formerly Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for Humane Studies, a lecturer on American History for Cato Summer Seminars, and Executive Editor of Knowledge Products. Smith’s fourth book, Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press, and he is also a regular blogger and essayist at Libertarianism.org. In this video from a 1985 Libertarian Party of California conference Smith lectures on the success of the public school system. He claims that state schooling is successful insofar as it accomplishes it’s true goal: not to educate children per se but to turn them into civic-minded…
Category: news Libertarianism
The Government Will Never End the Fed but the Fed is Destined to Die Anyway
Although the Republican controlled House of Representatives recently passed Audit the Fed, HR 459, Audit the Fed will never pass nor will the Fed ever be abolished legislatively. Republicans really do support the Federal Reserve because it funds their wars and empire. Furthermore, all the Republican YEA’s to Audit the Fed were nothing more than an act of political expediency because Republicans in Congress absolutely do understand that Audit the Fed stands no chance of ever getting out of the Senate where it only has 30 co-sponsors and could never survive a presidential veto.The Federal Reserve is the mother’s milk of empire, tyranny and statism. Big government and central banks exist for no purpose except to massive concentrate wealth and power. Moreover…
Pasties, Chocolate Oranges, Chicken, And Now Sugar Puffs
by Dick Puddlecote https://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DickPuddlecote/~3/GsecV2UL3lg/pasties-chocolate-oranges-chicken-and.html Pasties, Chocolate Oranges, Chicken, And Now Sugar Puffs A week is a long time in politics? Ha! Try a few hours, Harold. The title above didn’t include any cereals when I penned it as a draft last night, but then this turned up on the BBC early today. Labour has urged the government to consider introducing legal limits on sugar, salt and fat content in food. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said current voluntary agreements with the food industry were not working and the obesity problem was worsening, First of all, it’s not worsening, dickhead, try reading the ONS stats we…
Climate change action: "The Science" gives way to "The Physics"…
Article by Libertarian Blog Place. Read entire story here.
Stuff From The Web: It’s About Controlling People Not Guns
Turns out that hammers and clubs kill more people than rifles in the US. We do not have to imagine a world without guns. Humanity already lived through it during the middle ages.
Garrison: If they come for your guns, do you have a responsibility to fight?
Blogger Dean Garrison provides a well-reasoned and impassioned argument for defending the liberty of this Republic with all necessary lethal force against those who would undermine both the Constitution and natural rights. We are a constitutional republic, not a democracy, and we do not bow to mob rule, even if the mob are wearing $1,000
Earthship boom in Canada ? $55 k for 2900 sq ft
Earthships in Canada : “Jacobsen, the education director at Earthship Biotecture, said the homes are defined by six guiding principles: building with natural and recycled materials; thermal solar heating and cooling; solar and wind electricity; water harvesting; contained sewage treatment; and on-site food production. On paper, it brings to mind a dirt hovel, like the place Yoda called home. But when you walk through the Cooks’ front door and take in the spacious main floor and glass wall, it’s proof that earthship-type homes have serious aesthetic potential. And with the lower costs of building and maintaining such a house, along with their green benefits, it’s no wonder they are…
Going off the grid this week and living in a Sukkah …. chag sukkot sameach !
Sukkot (Hebrew: ?????? or ??????? sukk?t or sukkos, Feast of Booths, Feast of Tabernacles) is a biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei (late September to late October). It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. It follows the solemn holiday of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. The holiday lasts seven days (eight in the diaspora). The first day (and second in the diaspora) is a sabbath-like yom tov when work is forbidden, followed by the intermediate Chol Hamoed and Shemini Atzeret. The Hebrew word sukk?t is the plural of sukkah, “booth or tabernacle”, which is a walled structure covered with…
Realize ….. Oneness with the universe …
“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes from within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the centre of the universe, dwells the Great Spirit, and that this centre is really everywhere, it is within each of us.” – Black Elk
Earth’s crammed with Heaven, And every common bush afire with God.
Earth’s crammed with Heaven, And every common bush afire with God. – Elizabet Barrett Browning.
Prepping on a Budget, part 4 – Water
Water, it IS necessary for life. For drinking, cooking and cleaning, it’s more than handy to have around, it’s a matter of life and death. In my previous water article, I discussed how my hubby and I deal with water in our off grid life. Chances are if you are reading this, you live in a more traditional setting with city water on tap, all you have to do is turn on the faucet and clean water comes out. Hopefully that situation never changes for you, but it’s always a good idea to be prepared for the eventuality that it might not flow out as readily as it always has, and if it does, perhaps it will not be clean and sanitary as you would…
The Origami Kayak. Your Kayak 2Go …. $750
THE ORU KAYAK The Oru Kayak is an incredible, high-performance boat that folds out of a compact case. Inspired by origami, this innovative kayak transform quickly, easily— and almost magically. Stash it in a trunk, check it on a plane, stow it aboard a sailboat, or hike it in to remote waters. It’s full size (12′ long), super light (25 lbs), and quick to assemble (5 min). On the water it’s fast, stable, and handles incredibly well. The Oru Kayak makes the wonder and discovery of the great outdoors accessible: easy foldability transforms boating from a special occasion to anytime, anywhere. HelpFund this Project on Kickstarter
All you need is within you …
The greatest wisdom is in simplicity, Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It’s not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It’s encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way. – Carlos Barrios
Words of Wisdom for 2013
This has been a pretty slow year, slow is good though, lots of good things happened, a few “bad” things happened too, the biggest being my dad passing on this summer, that is the cornerstone of my year this year. Though I don’t consider death the end of life, in fact for me, it is just a transition into the next life, that is based on 2 things, 1st is my faith, my Christian faith, I am not “religious”, religion is how man screwed up the relationship with God, I do however have a great relationship with the Trinity of God, the 2nd thing is my NDE (near death experience), I drowned as a child, I remember all of it, I …
Merry Christmas 2012
Here’s wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy & safe New Year! All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, Thanks for visiting!
Happy Anniversary
EEEK, I just realized, I missed our 5 year anniversary, living off grid! This time of the year is always busy busy busy for me and yesterday just flat out got away from me. So I’ll write about it today, So, 5 years ago, December 22, 2007, we arrived at our property at about 3:30 in the morning, it was blowing a gale, it was about 14 degrees F, we had been driving for about 12 hours and we were exhausted. The reason it was so late, we had planned on getting an earlier start in the day, we were packed and ready to go, we were taking a final walkthru of the house to make sure we had everything we were going …
TEOTWAWKI on Dec 21, 2012 – or not…
I have always wanted to live off the grid, when I was a kid, I didn’t exactly know what that meant, I just knew that I wanted to live away from people and populated areas, I wanted to live off the land, to be free of society, to be self sufficient. There were no solar panels back then, at least none to be had by most people, I was willing to live in a small cabin using candles or kerosene lanterns for light, cooking on a wood stove or fireplace, living like a pioneer. Little did I know that the end of the world would come in my lifetime… I did know about solar…
Scratching That Itch
Have I told you? I have this itch, and sometimes it gets really bad, I’ve had it most of my life, at least as early as I can remember… sometimes it goes away for a while, but it always returns, and here lately it’s been pretty bad… What is this issue? Well, it’s art, I have really wanted to get back into drawing, a while back I purchased a big box of crayons, yes the ones that kids use 🙂 I have, in the past, used crayons to draw what would be considered “fine art”, ie it wasn’t kids stuff, and it has turned out pretty well…
Django Unwatched
By me, at least. Not at all eager to see “kill Whitey” screeds. We get enough of that on the news. Do you suppose this gawdawful movie will lead more Trayvons out there to, well, kill Whitey? If it does, will the media be concerned? Will the media even take notice of the fact that it’s a Black-on-White massacre, or will they, as they did in the case of Omar Thornton, speculate that he was driven to do it all by White racism? Blacks, you know, are always victims, even when they are perps.And sorry about the illustration. I’m old, and easily confused. I got “Django” mixed up with “Bojangles.” That’s not to put Sammy Davis, Jr. …
Hoplophobia again
One advantage to blogging about the gun issue is that there are plenty of cute illustrations available, thanks to our friends in Japan. But to the point. It’s all about power. You know the ‘power to the people’ chant the left used to be so fond of? They didn’t mean it. They couldn’t possibly have meant it, because their position has always been that the people should be disarmed. Sure, there are leftists who disagree with that, but they’re lonely. And without influence. No, the left is sure of one thing — Only the government should have guns. They’ve said it over and over again lately. Regular people don’t “need” one form of gun or another, or some sort …
Paul Gottfried is an Odd Duck
Really he is. There’s a spectrum on what I like to call the “Real Right,” from White Nationalists to paleoconservatives, to libertarians of various stripes, and Paul falls right in the middle, as a paleoconservative. The self-styled “neoconservatives” aren’t conservative in any sense of all, but are merely liberals who find themselves in real or imagined opposition to the liberal establishment. The differences between liberals and neoconservatives are like the differences between hogs and swine. Mostly terminological.Anyhow, there are lots of paleoconservatives around, but — and here’s why Paul is an odd duck — very few of them are, like Paul, Jewish. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of American Jews…
Fascism-Shmashism
Yeah, she’s got her thumb wrong.Back in the old days, when it was all Catholicism, the best name to pin on an enemy was “heretic.” Worked like a charm. It scared the crap out of your adversary, and he dropped everything else to defend himself against the charge, lest the Spanish Inquisition (which he damn well did expect) get him. “Witch” worked too, but it was sometimes too specific, and you needed more evidence, at least somewhat plausible, to get the witch name to stick. Today the two words are “fascist” and “racist.” The first, like “heretic,” is wonderfully vague, while “racist,” though effective, is…
Second Amendment Demonstration Feb 8
Find out more about this rally HERE. Feel free to reproduce and distribute the poster electronically or on hard copy.
Tired of waiting to go off grid?
Seems to me there are many looking to break free of mainstream societies ways, but also involve many obstacles to overcome. When considering our own ideals such as location,lifestyle and all sorts of other factors, finding suitable partnerships is not very likely to happen quickly. And even if it did, what do you do when its not working out as planned? I’ll tell you what I did. Bought myself a camper, didn’t spend alot, and started the transition to off grid on my own in the vast free land use of the Southwest. There are actually areas all over the country you…
Stops Along the Way: Part 2
Five o’clock quickly arrived at my desk on my first night as a full-time RVer. I left my office and walked into the dark parking lot knowing I would be home in less than 30 seconds. No one from work knew it. Since I land acting and print gigs on occasion, they believe my camper is to go on jobs out of town. Half-truths go a long way. I also made it a point for them to know that owning an RV has always been a dream of mine. I considered letting my co-workers know of my new lifestyle, but I’ve grown less …
Looking to move off grid
hello! I am Timmy a 28 year old male living in Florida currently. For the past 7 years I have dreamed of living off the grid. I am done running the rat race with my fellow man in this monetary system, I rather share and work together towards a common goal and create great friendships along the way. I was born and raised on a farm with horses goats and chickens leaving with knowledge and care for livestock, I can also ride as well. I am an avid hunter in florida. I also grow some of my own vegtables with the room i have. i am a very hard worker and dream to be free. i am saving for some land one day …
The Latest on Ron Paul
Found on FACEBOOK
Truman Lake MO, interested in sustainability
I’m interested in networking with people in my area to share ideas and possible resources. Solar energy and sustainable living are my main interests. I’m 56, work full-time at a job I plan to retire from, own and living on two small properties close to Truman Lake and I want to make one of the properties self-sufficient. No leeching lazies/druggies/drunks/or militants. Zero tolerance for drama.
Living on a school bus
With a $12,000 budget, a San Fransisco couple decided to turn a 39-foot school bus into a dream home – that sleeps ten people. To create their totally off-grid dwelling, Richard and Rachel, who run a blog, mounted six solar panels on the roof of the bus, installed a compost toilet, solar fridge and freezer and a propane-fed catalytic heater, stove and oven. Rachel, who says they live rent-free, paying just $100 per month for maintenance, admitted that family and friends were ‘confused’ by their decision. ‘My mom’s reaction was “this isn’t the sixties.” But as the duo explain on their blog, their dream was ‘to own our home, produce …
Nipton – self-powered town in California
One of the world’s biggest solar power collectors is being built next to the tiny town of Nipton, Calif., which is ironic because Nipton is the closet thing to an off-grid town – with 85 per cent of its energy coming from a set of solar panels installed by one of its 60 residents. Gerald Freeman unlocks the gate to the small power plant and goes inside. Three rows of solar collectors, elevated on troughs that track the sun’s arc like sunflowers, afford a glimpse of California’s possible energy future. This facility and a smaller version across the road produce …