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m o s t   r e c e n t   a r t i c l e s
599.   3/31/2010	Preserving the past and preventing the future
	I recently watched a TV show about the Canyonlands National Park in Utah. One scientist talked about, and demonstrated, the effect of one human footprint on the ecology of that area. That was done by using fans to blow across an area including one footprint, to show that the soil under the footprint blew away while the surrounding land didn't. The footprint crushed baterium that helps hold the soil together. Although the scientist didn't say so, I got the distinct impression that she would prefer to keep people off the land.
598.   1/24/2010	Capable of committing a crime
	Recently, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld a drunken driving conviction of a man (named Fleck) who was drunk, asleep in his car, in his apartment parking lot, with the car keys on the car's console. The conviction and affirmation were based on Minnesota law that makes it illegal to be in "physical control" of the vehicle... meaning that the drunken person COULD take control of the vehicle.
597.   12/30/2009	Property being taken by cops? Gosh, we're outraged!
	That the Minnesota Legislature should be up in arms about asset forfeiture now is complete hypocrisy. What they're really upset about is that the Gang Strike Force didn't keep good records, pushed it too far, and didn't spread the booty around properly to other government agencies. They didn't STEAL BY THE RULES.
596.   10/24/2009	Vacancy, U.S.A.
	What I saw today was distressing. Almost all of the buildings I remember are still there; what is missing is people. I drove around that section virtually alone... no traffic at all. The parking lots around buildings were equally vacant. The area not only didn't look dynamic... it looked dead.
595.   09/22/2009	Put your trust in the government
	How often are we told that we can't trust private businesses to produce safe products, because they're only interested in increasing their profit? The word greed is usually applied liberally in such reports. We're told that only the government can be trusted with our safety
594.   09/08/2009	The retardation of America - reprinted from 09/22/04, as Obama urges children to stay in school
	No public schools, no compulsory education, yet Americans of 1826 were more literate than we are today. Not just some, but a huge percentage of Americans were literate.
593.   08/15/2009	Opposing ObamaCare without understanding the plan
	I have to admit that I haven't spent much time trying to understand the President's health care proposal, yet I feel completely justified in being opposed to it. To some of you, what I just said should exclude me from even discussing the issue... how can you oppose something you know little about?
592.   08/02/2009	Baseball the way it oughta be
	Some readers may recall that I swore off watching the Minnesota Twins when they pushed through a new tax to support a new stadium. Many people, even those who opposed the stadium, think I'm nuts, but I am still not watching... even when they're on TV. It's a matter of principle. The stadium tax was wrong in every possible way, pushed through illegally, bypassing the legal and required referendum because legislators KNEW that the fans would oppose it if they were asked. So... they didn't ask.
591.   07/17/2009	Vote for Sale, Best Offer, As Is
	I took proud possession of this rare and precious model in 1960. It can only be used once every other year, so it has extremely low mileage. Came with a lifetime unconditional guarantee, but the guarantee has been "redefined" and "updated" often, and the manufacturer has long since stopped responding, so buy it "as is".
590.   05/12/2009	The perpetual motion legislative machine
	Has it ever occurred to you that elected officials must be insane? Have you wondered why so many kooky ideas are introduced as legislation? Here are just 3 reason why legislators get caught up with legislation that seems inane or just wrong.
589.   04/16/2009	Our minority President socks it to minorities
	On April 1st, our federal government BLASTED one small, poor minority group almost beyond belief. Most of you are not in that minority group, so you'll have a tendency to either stop reading or to hem and haw, thinking up excuses for the liar that has taxed beyond even a dictator's imagination. A 2000% increase in tax!
588.   04/3/2009	Iowa justices vote for justice!
	Perhaps I underestimate the sense of justice of Iowa citizens, but the issue of gay marriage should not be a matter of opinion, but must be, and has been, decided on the basis of equality of human rights.
587.   03/17/2009	A government agency that works?
	I expected a typical governmental organization, with lots of sitting around waiting, reams of paperwork, and delayed results. The huge parking lot, full to the far reaches, was right in line with what I expected. I played musical parking places for about 10 minutes, then got lucky. From the time I finally entered the big revolving doors, my experience changed, and it deserves description.
586.   02/22/2009	Meanwhile, over in the BIG house...
	Within one generation, people who used to live, work, and play side-by-side became the Haves righteously doling out favors to the Have-Nots, with a hug, while patting themselves on the back... and they're still doing it... with renewed righteousness... while trying to blame the problems on someone else.
585.   02/20/2009	Welfare - adding psychological damage to injury
	We had divided the nation with veteran's benefits, psychologically crushed the left-behinds with destructive welfare, and then insisted that they had a RIGHT to be "kept". Think about how similar that is to the treatment of slaves... except that the new slaves didn't have to work.
584.   02/18/2009	Government and the godawful greatest generation
	"Greatest generation" indeed... "privileged generation", in fact. Returning vets were adored, and benefits heaped upon them. Within a short time, being elected to any political office was almost impossible for anyone but a veteran.
583.   02/12/2009	Being poor ain't what it used to be
	How can being poor be a happy experience? It took me a lot of years to really understand why it's easier to be happy when you're poor than when you're not. People were forced to plan, to save, to skimp, and to be creative... to strive. Those are all creative, energetic challenges, and not one of them is at all demeaning.
582.   02/01/2009	Save the life of someone who deserves it
	I'm an organ donor. For most of my life I wasn't. Why, I reasoned, should I sign up to allow doctors to remove my organs and give them to some anonymous persons about whom I could never know anything? Suppose they were people I didn't like, or even might hate? Suppose they were people that, could I know, I would consider not deserving of my help. When I found out that about half of the people who receive donated organs weren't even donors themselves, I had no doubt that they didn't deserve MY donated organs.
581.   01/20/2009	Yet another coronation
	I hope I can look back in 4 years and accuse myself of having been cynical in what I wrote today. Only time will tell, but my advice to all those who are today yearning for Obama as Savior is... enjoy your blinded faith today; reality will resume tomorrow.
580.   10/15/2008	Political tinkering with the economy
	I recently listened to a group of reasonably intelligent people each insisting that the federal government must do something about the “health care crisis”. Uninsured people, expensive plans, pre-existing conditions all were mentioned. In a nutshell, their consensus was that the problem is big, that people are being hurt, and that government can fix it if it has the will to do so. Oh… and that voting for a “progressive” is the answer to getting it fixed.
579.   10/6/2008	We've had our chance, and muffed it
	That's what American voters are like these days... they talk a lot, but most of the talk is to justify to themselves and others the bad choice they intend to make. Americans have become gullible, placid, take-it-in-the-shorts suckers. I'm now convinced that will not change. Americans of the past, with far less money, free time, and access to information, had far more guts and interest in elections. We've muffed it completely, and we deserve what is coming.
578.   8/26/2008	Property taxes have got to go
	The overall effect of market-value-based property taxes is the widening of the gap between "haves" and "have-nots". It's a divisive effect that drives a wedge between those of differing income levels. It causes enormous waste. Houses are torn down before they need be, sometimes by eminent domain force, sometimes by driving the old owners out when they can't make property tax payments. When those old owners leave, those with money are likely to grab the property and build a new structure. Naturally, city governments love that result, since it "upgrades" their citizenry a bit and produces more tax revenue. Property tax creates strong incentives for cities to ignore and even harrass those with older property... to simply drive them out.
577.   8/20/2008	Protecting the visually-impaired from the rest of us
	I suppose somebody has to be the political "test kitchen", trying out new legislative recipes, and the California legislature seems to be determined to be the Betty Crocker of political ideas. Often though, they're more Crock than Crocker. Now the CA legislature has decreed that hybrid vehicles must make noise so that visually impaired people won't walk into them, and has created a committee to study the problem. Whatever "solution" they recommend, be prepared for national standards to make it mandatory nationwide. Even if that doesn't happen, auto makers generally cowtow to CA standards and inflict them on everyone for simplicity sake.
576.   8/3/2008	Socialism campaigning in disguise
	WORKING AMERICA, self-described as a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, has a subtitle of Building a Better Future for Working Families. Their BIG BULLET POINTS are GOOD JOBS, HEALTH CARE, RETIREMENT, and EDUCATION. Well… who doesn’t want those things? Naturally, I wondered “how can WORKING AMERICA, maybe with my help, produce those good results? ” OK, I didn’t really wonder that, but that’s what I was supposed to be wondering.
575.   7/21/2008	A free-market lesson from the art world
	Government support of "the arts" has caused severe distortions. Government loves to produce showcases... big impressive buildings. Consider the similarity between the architectural projects of Hitler's Third Reich and today's government subsidized buildings, or governments' own buildings. They are meant to impress... to overwhelm visitors... to make the visitor feel like a serf permitted to visit the Lord's castle.
574.   7/3/2008	A Real Choice
	Well, America... here's another great opportunity to put your money where your mouth is. According to polls and to those I talk with, we are all FED UP with our government and equally FED UP with McCain and Obama as candidates for the parties that not only got us into this mess, but who intend to KEEP US THERE.
573.   6/6/2008	Be careful who you help
	I doubt that the man entrapped by the undercover “consumer services” operative is likely to ever give a ride to anyone again. Anyone who knows of his story may reach the same conclusion. The fact that doing a small favor can have such destructive results will naturally lead people to not take the chance.
572.   5/17/2008	The false gods of politics  originally published 12/19/03
	The original expectation of the founders of our nation was that elected officials would be "citizen legislators", not career politicians. To them, the idea of someone making a career of politics would have been repulsive, because they understood that leaders must first be citizens, meaning that they must have real connections to the citizenry. They would have been suspicious of any man who actively sought to abandon "normal" life and stay in office for an extended time. They understood what should be obvious to all of us... that a leader must have been, and must remain, one of the people.
571.   5/2/2008	Smoking is important?
	Recently, I was a bit taken aback when someone commented to me that smoking seemed really important to me. The comment was from someone who would much rather pretend that smoking doesn't exist, or at least wouldn't invade her life. Later, it occurred to me that it's actually an interesting question; smoking is important to me. It wasn't always.
570.   4/19/2008	Miniscule monarchs of Metropolitan mortals
	St. Paul has an ordinance requiring fitness clubs to have a CPR-trained person "on duty" at all times, which they interpret as on the premises. The ordinance is a 1980's ordinance aimed at sex clubs, now being applied to fitness centers having nothing to do with sex (unless you consider sweat and bouncing flesh as sexy). The original ordinance was of course not concerned with public health but with harassing and hoping to eliminate sex clubs
569.   4/15/2008	The only honest excitement in Presidential politics
	Can the public be brought to understand and appreciate the colossal difference between the candidacies of McCain, Obama, and Clinton and the Libertarians seeking the same office? Can the public come to understand that Libertarian candidates are not allowed (nor do they desire) to talk in platitudes, circle around issues, or simply tell each audience what they think the audience wants to hear? Can the public understand that libertarian positions are long-standing, deeply considered, and cater to no hidden agenda?
568.   4/5/2008	Can you feel us swirling around the bowl?
	Power is concentrating in government, and in large corporations that thrive by taking advantage of government power. It has become a bitter joke that the closer one works to government, the higher the income, the greater the personal benefits, and the sloppier the work becomes. Government power eliminates free market competition and substitutes competitive lobbying.
567.   3/30/2008	I'm getting stimulated
	I'll be receiving $300 from the IRS one day soon. Ah, but there's the rub, isn't it? The money isn't from the IRS, or even from the federal government. The truth is that my $300 (and yours) will undoubtedly just get added to the national debt. Wouldn't it be nice to try to use that same convoluted argument with our credit card companies... "I'm not paying my bill... I've used that money to patriotically stimulate the economy, so you really should just erase my debt from your records." Sure, the stimulus payments are more government "magic money". They taketh, and sometimes they giveth some back. Will these payments stimulate the economy? No more than any debt will.
566.   3/24/2008	"Because you can" is a poor reason
	Government officials refuse to accept the title of this article. They believe that because they can do something that will sound good and even benefit some people, that they should do something. They are notorious for not looking into the future, because they know they will not be held accountable for future results, nor will the future losses affect them personally. Their natural tendency is to do whatever will please voters or contributors in the short run, at the expense of everyone else in the long run.
565.   3/15/2008	It's the economy, stupid !   originally published 3/15/04
	The only way politicians can help the U.S. economy is to stop what they've been doing and to undo what they've already done. They can help the economy by repealing regulations, repealing laws, repealing existing programs, reducing government expenditures, and reducing taxes. If you want to give them credit for doing less... fine, but that's like thanking someone for loosening their stranglehold on your neck.
564.   2/25/2008	Running the uphill playing field   originally published 7/26/03
	We no longer have vigorous and active third parties because Democratic and Republican state legislatures passed restrictive laws that make it exceedingly difficult for third parties to get on the ballot in many states.
563.   2/13/2008	Prisoner torture - not an aberration but what we've become
	The glorification of achieving results through force, no matter how benign it may seem when applied by a do-gooder to a specific aim, has the same root fallacy as achieving results through torture and abuse. That fallacy is that initiated force ever works to achieve good results.
562.   2/5/2008	Will power politics sink the Delta Queen
	While major issues may find the public divided, there are on occasion relatively small issues that can show us the real underlying stink of politics, especially by those legislators who have been around long enough to capture real political power. Here's one of those examples, and it smells bad enough to gag a maggot.
561.   1/30/2008	Come over here, you global-warming chicken-little
	As I arose this morning to go work out, the temp was again -14. That's inside a major city, and it was much colder out in the boonies. I've seen worse and survived, but I really could get along quite nicely with less frigid temps. So, certainly, could my 18-year-old car. Where in hell is that dreaded, inevitable global warming the politically-correct sheep keep harping about?
560.   1/23/2008	Vote for Sale, Best Offer, As Is (originally published Feb.2003 at Strike The Root)
	I took proud possession of this rare and precious model in 1960. It can only be used once every other year, so it has extremely low mileage. Came with a lifetime unconditional guarantee, but the guarantee has been "redefined" and "updated" often, and the manufacturer has long since stopped responding, so buy it "as is".
559.   1/13/2008	I think I'm feeling offended
	America has developed a subset of our population who have become sensitized to, and deliberately offended by much of the world outside of themselves... to words that offend them, to odors that offend them, to sights that offend them, and to ideas that offend them.
558.   1/8/2008	Reinventing the transportation boondoggle (reprinted from April 13, 2004)
	Subsidized transportation, like the LRT, is like me going to a potential employer and claiming that I should be hired even though I can't do the job well, and arguing that I'm sure to be of use once I'm hired. Once you're paying my salary, you'll find work for me because you'll have to. Even if the employer has to reorganize a bit and hire someone else just to keep me productive, it'll be just swell. I'll be employed and my presence will certainly produce some results. A politician might even claim that we "created a job".
557.   1/1/2008	It's all about FORCE (reprinted from March 10, 2004)
	We are a nation of extremely cooperative individuals who work together to accomplish so much, entering into voluntary agreements and contracts, and spending a lot of time and money helping each other. Yet, when government is involved, many of us are guilty of violating all the rules we live by privately... by supporting the use of force through government. It's wrong and it doesn't work.
556.   12/22/2007	When are we going to stop S.W.A.T.?
	Another in a long line of botched SWAT-style police raids recently went sour in Minneapolis. Bad information from a "normally-accurate" confidential informant is the current excuse from police. They were told that three guns were concealed in basement rafters, and were executing a search warrant. The homeowner, in fear for the safety of his family, fired shotgun blasts at the intruders
555.   12/10/2007	Aging Housing Stock
	Three simple, innocuous words, combined into a phrase, used in a particular context, that is being used to justify a most slippery and destructive collectivist notion. The notion is that government is the real owner and controller of that property you call home and believe you own.
554.   12/3/2007	Will 2008 be the turnaround election?
	Will the Ron Paul revolution succeed? Few things would give me more pleasure than to see the GOP forced to accept Paul as their nominee. It could happen, but it would be a bitter pill for the GOP to swallow. It would be an explicit condemnation of what that party has stood for the past several decades. Oddly, Paul is, I think, the most likely of any of the current GOP candidates to be able to win the Presidency.
553.   11/26/2007	Is America a thought-free zone? (reprinted from 9/3/04)
	Most Americans have no excuse for a lack of understanding of political issues... except not wanting to take the time to THINK about them. Many of us have come to think about politics as of no more importance than choosing which restaurant to patronize tonight. Thus, we have a large number of people who couldn't begin to justify the "positions" they hold. They can tell you, in no uncertain terms, WHAT positions they've embraced, but have little idea WHY, or how their beliefs fit together or contradict each other.
552.   11/15/2007	Federal crooks attack their competition
	I sincerely regret to inform you that about 8:00 this morning a dozen FBI and Secret Service agents raided the Liberty Dollar office in Evansville [Indiana]. For approximately six hours they took all the gold, all the silver, all the platinum and almost two tons of Ron Paul Dollars that were just delivered last Friday. They also took all the files, all the computers and froze our bank accounts.
551.   11/11/2007	Still doubt that anti-smokers just fabricate data?
	There is a current advertisement that warns us that smoking a cigarette shortens your life by 26 minutes, or smoking a pack shortens it by 8 hours and 40 minutes. Yes, with 20 smokes in a pack, 26 X 20 is 520 minutes, which is 8.6666 hours, their two numbers agree. You're expected to be scared by those numbers, and you probably are. I decided to do a little calculating, which they obviously hope we won't do.
550.   11/5/2007	Distinguishing between a people and their government
	Will we, like so many other peoples before us, just ignore what our government is doing until we no longer have any choice? Will we continue to busy ourselves with increasing our already plentiful wealth as our remaining freedoms disappear? As I watch my fellow citizens, I have great difficulty remaining optimistic. As we concern ourselves with trivialities, our political control steadily reduces.
549.   10/29/2007	Institute for Justice scores again for liberty
	Can an entrenched cartel of Minneapolis taxi drivers violate the civil rights of entrepreneurs and consumers? No, according to U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin L. Noel. In an opinion released today, the judge recommended that a lawsuit brought by members of the taxi cartel to overturn the city’s free-market reforms be dismissed. “This is a victory for both aspiring taxi entrepreneurs and for Minneapolis consumers,” said Scott Bullock, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice who argued the case.
548.   10/22/2007	Blasting the Boomers
	The Boomer generation has had their way with our nation. Their size and the financial advantages bequeathed to them by their parents, the so-called "Greatest Generation", gave them the opportunity to do what they wanted. In retrospect, never has a generation shown so much promise and instead wrought so much destruction, and mostly from neglect.
547.   10/11/2007	The effects of grand governmental schemes
	In 1963, Minneapolis started removing a block-wide swath of homes in South Minneapolis. Forty-five blocks, each containing about 20 homes, were destroyed, replaced by a great canyon and walled off with sound barriers. Just on the south side of Minneapolis, 22 streets that once connected neighborhoods were closed. The result, over time, was to divide the south side of the city into two very distinct areas. Not coincidentally, that divide caused a separation by race... white on the west, non-white on the east.
546.   9/29/2007	Tear down that wall, Mr. Bush
	I think that my current view of immigration was formed when I realized that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my immigrating ancestors. I could have just as easily been born a German boy, and been one of millions killed during WWII bombing. If they hadn't come to America, my ancestors might have been active enemies of the Allies in WWII. Those are sobering thoughts.
546.   9/29/2007	Invasion of the workers
	There is a huge group of people invading my America. They're taking jobs that used to be available to me, and making it very difficult for me to find "good" work. Some of those people are pretty shady. Some are on welfare programs. Most of them are just so very different... they dress strangely, and are difficult to understand.
545.   9/23/2007	The 2007 No Force, No Fraud Award for Doublespeak
	Hillary's "American Health Choices Plan", regardless of its details, is quite the opposite of what its name implies. It would eliminate the choice we now have... the choice of paying someone else to manage our health versus managing it ourselves. It would be a disastrous elimination of choice, and a destructive reduction of freedom. While pretending to help those most in need, it would push still more people into needy situations.
544.   9/16/2007	Learning from a "third-world" society
	Many libertarians, especially those who consider themselves anarchists or mini-anarchists, are aware that Somolia has been without government for some time now, and is doing quite well. This paper describes just how well, but also introduces us to the remarkable "Rule of Law" that is traditional in Somalia... the Xeer.
543.   9/8/2007	Socialism with a human face
	The Russian people have a very long tradition of enduring, of striving and often succeeding under the worst of circumstances. Overcoming hardship, ghastly governmental oppression and corruption and pomposity, they have managed to hang on to basic human values. If one needs proof of the old adage "if it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger", one need look no further than the Russian people. Korchev shows us those qualities in his paintings, and he does so dramatically.
542.   9/6/2007	Taxi operators trapped in a government snare
	For many years, the city of Minneapolis had capped the number of cabs allowed to operate within the city limits, not issuing any new licenses. The result of that restrictive policy was greatly to the benefit of those who already had taxi licenses, and the "market value" of existing licenses rose to $25,000. There were many others who wished to enter and compete in that market, but the only way to do so was to deal with companies who already held licenses. The city policy had, in reality, created a cartel with a monopoly.
541.   9/2/2007	Who did Larry Craig harm?
	Nobody (except Larry Craig) was harmed by what occurred in the men's room, and it's hard to imagine how anyone could have been harmed by Craig's actions. The idea may disgust you, but we often see people doing disgusting things. We cannot make harmless but disgusting activity into crimes. More importantly, we should not allow law enforcement to use entrapment as a means of producing results. The idea of law enforcement people breaking laws in order to prompt illegal actions by others is ludicrous. The illegal act by the cop was the act with a victim... that's the crime in this case.
540.   8/29/2007	Welcome to our neighborhood maze
	Over time, we become accustomed to finding our way around freeways, at least until those plans become further thwarted by construction. Over the past few days, I've watched perhaps many dozens of cars come to the dead-end outside my window. Despite a DEAD END sign they missed or ignored, they slow, act perplexed for a second or two, then make one of two annoying choices... (1) turn around and go back, or (2) head the wrong way on a one-way street.
539.   8/22/2007	Revisiting the Twins of '87
	Baseball team success isn't about money, and it sure as hell isn't about stadium. When you force people to pay for a stadium against their will, you change your fan base. You lose fans who love the game, and gain some fans who like winners (and disappear the rest of the time), or just like the spendy spectacle. The taxpayers did not want to pay for the stadium, so they deliberately weren't allowed to vote on it.
538.   8/15/2007	Is video of the collapsing bridge being withheld?
	When I first wrote about the bridge collapse, I mentioned a very short video that actually showed part of the collapse as it happened. I also pointed out that there should be better video of the collapse since the local freeway system is covered by a large number of cameras. I've watched for the two weeks since the disaster and haven't seen any other video of the actual collapse, even though the local media has provided a multitude of post-collapse coverage.
537.   8/8/2007	The collapsed bridge is only the tip of the iceberg
	As politicians gathered around the collapsed bridge in Minneapolis, instead of eagerly waiting for their promises of prompt action, the crowd should have pelted them with a huge barrage of tomatoes... or rocks. Each of them, from the Mayor, Governor, to Federal officials and the President deserve no less. They are each and every one part of a corrupt system that CAUSED the bridge collapse through neglect.
536.   8/4/2007	Reassurances in Minneapolis
	Retrospection allows us to second-guess what MNDOT did or didn't do about the bridge that collapsed. I doubt that there was any serious inadequacy among MNDOT personnel, even though the overall effort was clearly inadequate. That's often the case within government agencies (and other big organizations). They're too big... too many projects... too many levels of communication... too much power, too much job security... and too political.
535.   8/1/2007	An unnatural disaster in Minneapolis
	It may be impolitic to talk of responsibility immediately after a tragedy, but it is not unreasonable. This bridge, the longest in the Twin Cities, the widest river bridge here, carried heavy traffic for 40 years. It collapsed under loads and conditions that were not unusual... in reasonable weather conditions. That naturally leads one to think that this collapse was avoidable. I'll wager that there are current and former MNDOT employees who are furious today, having warned about potential problems and been ignored. Government systems are notorious for subduing uncomfortable truths and silencing employees trying to get the truth aired. There are whistleblower laws in place to protect such employees, but government agencies can bring a lot of pressure to bear.
534.   7/31/2007	The Emperor's Circus 2008
	"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation". Who is not among that "mass of men"? Who is immune to the variety of setbacks the rest of us face? Who can we point to who have secured themselves beyond almost any threat... who have ensconced themselves in a self-protective cocoon... safe even from having to face their own illegal acts? Of course I'm talking about our elected representatives in Washington, DC, but we can also include many who aren't elected, but rather appointed by those elected, or given jobs by those elected. Many thousands have hitched their personal wagons to political power, and it makes them relatively immune to the dangers the rest of us face. Even worse, of course, they enjoy their security at our expense.
533.   7/23/2007	Hot dogs and defibrillators
	Neither the hot dog nor the defibrillator is perfect... nor will they ever be. Stuff happens. It happens with everything. Living is a gamble we choose to take every day (well, some few choose to fold). Anything that can go wrong will... to somebody, no matter how tiny the risk. We each like to think that it'll happen only to someone else, and go on our merry way. At least until something does go wrong. Then the "great American gotcha" rears it's self-righteous head... we'll sue somebody.
532.   7/15/2007	Losing talent for no good reason
	There was a time when Americans were willing to compete with anyone, but we've become gutless, fearful of even the most disadvantaged of those who want to come here and work. Any American worker who fears competition from a poor, uneducated immigrant, who probably doesn't even speak English, is an American worker who is nothing more than a coward. Frankly, if I could choose between that worker and the immigrant he fears competing with, I would much rather have the immigrant here.
531.   7/10/2007	Snooping on the snoops and spooks
	Extending the autonomy of human activists... nice-sounding slogan, isn't it? In a time when individuals are increasingly regulated, inspected, scanned, photographed, catalogued, tracked, and intruded on, anything that can add to our autonomy is worthwhile. One of the most interesting websites I've encountered is from the Institute for Applied Autonomy.
530.   7/4/2007	On this most historic of days
	When the political big-party candidates appear in your local parade, or make elaborate speeches on this historic day, trying to associate themselves with the grandeur of the formation of our nation... remind yourself that what those politicians seek is precisely what our ancestors fought to eliminate from the future. Cheer them? We should instead be throwing tomatoes at them, or worse.
529.   7/2/2007	Shunning government down
	Shunning can be a powerful action. It usually means that those doing the shunning simply act as if the person being shunned no longer exists. No conversation, no communication, no interaction... they're ignored. How effective the shunning is depends on how often the individual encounters shunning and how completely they're shunned. If enough American taxpayers openly expressed displeasure with government employees, and avoided dealing with them, as individuals, it could easily get the point across... that working for the government is just not acceptable.
528.   6/27/2007	That government monkey on your back
	If you're a private-sector American worker, you have a 25-pound monkey on your back, and it's costing you $583 every month. The particular monkey I'm talking about is a GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE. Each working person who doesn't work for the government is supporting 14.6% of a government employee... about 25 pounds worth, and heor she is an expensive burden. Your share of feeding that government employee is $583 each and every month.
527.   6/21/2007	Opportunity lost
	In thinking back over my considerable years, it seems to me that the only prior time that comes close to matching our current feelings of dissatisfaction, fear, and helplessness was during the Cold War. Then, as now, the American people were uncomfortably waiting for catastrophe to strike, and trying hard to ignore that threat. Back then it was fear that someone would trigger nuclear war. We knew that any one of a number of aggressive or even accidental acts could unleash a series of programmed responses that could literally destroy nations. Today, the threats hanging over our heads are less distinct and far more diverse.
526.   5/22/2007	The importance of Ron Paul
	The American people, as they now come to realize the sense and honesty of Ron Paul's ideology, need to be fully aware of how much they have lost by not making the effort to support libertarians over the past 35 years. Americans need to realize how easily they have been manipulated into supporting the "lesser of two evils" in elections. Americans need to understand how they have allowed two parties to restrict our choices... each election resulting in more power for the greedy major parties and less power for the citizens.
525.   5/17/2007	Brainwashing succeeds again
	You're not likely to believe it, or perhaps even care, but we have ALL been greatly harmed by the anti-smoking campaign. Science has been perverted. Media has been perverted. Politics has been perverted (although that happens so often that it barely needs saying). A majority of Americans evidently now believe the great deception... an INVENTED FEAR. It is comparable in scope and almost in severity to a deception of early America... that Indians are savages and must be destroyed to protect ourselves. We've all lost a chunk of our property rights in the process. Government has declared that they will decide what we can do and where... even on our own property... and they've done it based on the shabbiest, most deceptive big-money campaign in U.S. history
524.   5/10/2007	Watch the immigrant entrepreneurs vanish
	In just a few years, a massive government project , at enormous taxpayer expense, will put "light rail" down the middle of University Avenue, changing it completely. That transformation has all of the urban planning forces absolutely salivating at the potential profits for architects, planners, developers, builders, and construction unions. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small businesses will simply vanish from the scene, unable to afford the escalted real estate values and hiked-up property taxes.
523.   5/5/2007	What happens when the government plays favorites?
	The ethanol scam is a smelly example of government tinkering, of playing favorites, of causing problems worse than what they pretended to try to fix, and of making some people wealthy at the expense of the rest of us. It doesn't take much justifiable cynicism to suspect that a lot of key government officials have pushed ethanol subsidies in exchange for raw cash or sweetheart deals. Even if we were to delude ourselves into giving government the benefit of the doubt, that still leaves them as being dumb enough to buy into a scheme that isn't good enough to compete without subsidies.
522.   4/30/2007	Who owns your home?
	Despite our nearly universal possessive attitudes about our homes... despite the money, time, and love we put into our homes, there are forces out there who really view us as merely temporary tenants with very little right to think of our castle as "ours". Those forces are local governments. While we take great pride and derive great satisfaction from our homes, local government has come to look upon our homes like little monopoly houses to be bought, sold, placed, moved, and even destroyed when they deem it desirable.
521.   4/28/2007	Oppressive little dictators
	Smoking bans have nothing to do with health. I'll get personal here... I'm 68 and I've been a heavy smoker for 52 years. I'll put my health up against anyone of ANY age. I've never been in a hospital overnight. I have no allergies, have had no surgery of any kind (except dental), and I work out every day. If a heavy smoker can be extremely healthy, how can a little secondhand smoke be deadly? The very simple and obvious answer is that it cannot be. Secondhand smoke is a complete invention by anti-smokers, and there is plenty of scientific evidence to support that.
520.   4/20/2007	Why is Minnesota stagnating?
	Minnesota officials are perplexed. Why are more people leaving than coming here? Why is Minnesota personal income growth one of the worst in the nation? Why is job growth low and getting lower? State job researchers don't know. The state's chief economist is asking "Why? Has something fundamentally changed?"
519.   4/14/2007	Inequality III - a natural state of affairs
	If we truly have sympathy for the poor, or want all of us to have more opportunity, we have to be courageous enough to stop trying to manipulate our economy and let ourselves run free. That means eliminating welfare programs, cutting taxes dramatically, and eliminating most regulations... all of which have combined to bring us to the dull, stagnant economy we're now stuck with.
518.   4/13/2007	Inequality II - what keeps us unequal?
	A relatively poor person spends a high percentage of their income on consumables. We eat and buy a few necessities... housing, clothing, utilities, and little else. Our earnings are in circulation, and we contribute to the economy, but we really don't add much to the growth of the economy. What I spend doesn't go far toward keeping others in their jobs.
517.   4/11/2007	Inequality I - why redistribution won't fix it
	You may have also noticed that people who propose redistribution of wealth seldom use themselves as an example... they don't talk about how it would help them (even if it would)... they use other, poorer folks as examples, because it's important to them to be thought of as caring, selfless people. Redistribution is always supposed to help someone else, at the expense of those who have more than they need.
516.   4/5/2007	We vote, things get worse
	Election after election, the voters turn out one party in favor of their only other choice, only to have to do it again next election. The Democratic and Republican parties have locked this nation into a two-party system to the point that neither of them feels responsible to the voters. For those two parties, no matter how much they cheat the citizenry, no matter how corrupt they become, their worst case is having the majority control shift to the other party for a few years. They know that the other party will do such a terrible job that they will have control returned to them. Back and forth, in and out and back in.
515.   3/28/2007	The only ban we need
	There are times, though, when councils just do truly dumb things for what have to be dumb reasons. Such is the proposal from two Minneapolis city council members. Council members Ralph Remington and Cam Gordon want to bar elephants, tigers and other exotic critters from circuses coming into Minneapolis. Gordon said the proposed ban in Minneapolis is the result of a long-term lobbying effort by animal rights activists.
514.   3/20/2007	Creating poverty - one thing government does successfully
	For years now, I've been pointing out that every time government, at any level, takes any of their typical "progressive" actions, they are harming citizens at the bottom of the economic ladder, and driving more people into that bottom category.
513.   3/13/2007	Outing Al (Chicken Little) Gore
	The Global Warming Swindle is a documentary each human needs to watch, before it's too late. There are many books and research supporting the same facts, but, being video, this presentation of only an hour and 16 minutes is a concentrated, well-done summary that is so easy to watch that, hopefully, it will reach many times more people around the world.
512.   3/7/2007	The taxicab religious wars
	Some of the Muslim taxi drivers serving our airport want to be able to refuse service to customers carrying liquor or customers with dogs, including guide dogs for the blind. They say that transporting such passengers involves them in a violation of their religious beliefs. About 5,000 refusals have occurred in the past 5 years.
511.   3/1/2007	Legalized irresponsibility
	Suppose you sent your children to an organization that negligently caused them to be injured, incurring large medical bills. Would it seem unreasonable to expect that organization to admit their negligence and foot the medical costs? If they didn't do so willingly, you might well file a lawsuit to cover the damages. That sort of scenario plays out every day, and damages usually get paid if the organization is truly negligent. Except... when the organization is the Minneapolis Public School system, the largest in Minnesota.
510.   2/18/2007	Returning to peace and freedom (reprinted from May 5th, 2004)
	The realization that our United States has perpetrated a totally unjustified war, with all the attendant repercussions we have yet to face, should sicken every thinking American. It should anger each of us, and we should be without mercy toward the "leaders" who have wrought this disgraceful state of affairs into being... IN OUR NAMES.
509.   2/18/2007	We'll set you free - even if it kills you  (reprinted from May 4th, 2004)
	Most of us would probably agree that if most or all nations were free, peace would be far more likely. Humans have a natural desire to be free. That means free to make our own choices, which means free from being forced by others. Freedom is a desirable goal, but force is a ridiculous means to try to achieve it. Use of force to effect freedom is completely self-contradicting.
508.   2/10/2007	Pay me now AND pay me later
	The scenario is repetitive ad nauseum... build a magnificent, expensive facility, facilitated by one or more levels of government, with funding and taxation that seems bearable at the time. Then, later, often many times, they return with proposals for more money to keep the facility open, or to prevent customers from abandoning it.
507.   2/3/2007	Can our species survive?
	There are times when I think our species is hopeless. In my fellow humans, I see high energy, bountiful creativity, and splendid innovation. I see that in our personal dealings, almost all of us treat each other with respect and fairness. We are superbly capable and talented beings, yet we have one flaw that is very likely to destroy our species if we don't recognize it and dispense with it.
506.   1/28/2007	and I didn't speak up
	I've worked with many people whose plans and dreams have been smashed by government actions. They frequently say that they didn't know it could happen to them. It had happened to many others before, but not to them. They assumed that bad things only happen to bad people
505.   1/15/2007	Good risk, bad risk
	As long as Americans insist on spending all they earn, and carrying heavy debt, it will seem sensible to take zero risk on health care, because there is little or no savings or disposable income. Many people who pride themselves on shopping for low prices are somehow able to ignore their overblown health insurance premiums. Others will even invest money while wasting other dollars on zero-risk health care coverage... wise enough to save and invest, but not wise enough to recognize how much they're throwing down a health care rathole.
504.   1/8/2007	Distinguishing between a people and their government
	Will we, like so many other peoples before us, just ignore what our government is doing until we no longer have any choice? Will we continue to busy ourselves with increasing our already plentiful wealth as our remaining freedoms disappear? As I watch my fellow citizens, I have great difficulty remaining optimistic. As we concern ourselves with trivialities, our political control steadily reduces.
503.   1/1/2007	Remember, terrorists hate our culture
	Terrorists hate our government... not our people, or our culture, or our way of life. In my opinion, these doctored aerial images confirm exactly that. The only images obscured are where our elected politicans work. Obviously, our government knows precisely who should be afraid of terrorists, and they're telling us clearly who they care about protecting... themselves.
502.   12/23/2006	An outrage we all need to know about
	When a friend alerted me to this subject, I was skeptical. Even my libertarian expect-the-worst-of-government attitude couldn't believe what I was coming to understand. What I was hearing was exploitation of completely innocent people, hidden back-door taxation, unapproved and unbudgeted government funding, kickbacks, and the worst sort of government-corporation conspired corruption.
501.   12/17/2006	The new Jim Crow laws
	With a new Democratic majority in Minnesota state government, liberals are hopeful that they can now force a law that will require businesses throughout the state to mount signs on their doors excluding an unwelcome minority group. Businesses that once welcomed all customers will be required to turn away some... not because the business doesn't want them, but because the newly powerful liberals don't want the businesses to BE open to all.
500.   12/12/2006	42 months of gains and losses
	I don't know how to tally the results of these past 42 months. Some changes have been encouraging, others discouraging. The rightness of libertarian ideas makes them continue to become "mainstream" over time, but government continues to grow in size, destructiveness, and deviousness.
499.   12/5/2006	Those big bad corporations
	Politics is the more-corrupt party in the equation of corporate political influence. If politicians were known to be incorruptible, corporations would go away and concentrate their energies and money on just making more money. That isn't the case, though, and the corruption in government is so blatant that a big corporation would be a fool to ignore it and watch their competition take advantage.
498.   11/28/2006	Learn to love the wall
	Gradually, our borders are closing. Increasing regulation and inspection raises the delay and expense of moving goods across borders, which cannot help but damage our trade relations with other nations.
497.   11/19/2006	Just once, I'd love to see...
	A politician, with media present, say "I don't know". A politician say "That isn't any business of government" A professional or college athlete, or coach, correct a bad call that went in their favor A commercial that says "This isn't the best product, but it's priced lower and it will do the job"
496.   11/08/2006	Politics as football and fecal matter
	Politics is, crudely put, shit. We may be tagged as Blues and Reds, but politics is absolutely as brown as fecal matter. We all eat splendid-looking, colorful foods, in carefully planned, named, described, and presented dishes, but the remaining results we try to ignore as we flush are always about the same color, and don't smell anything like what we started with.
495.   11/06/2006	Which knee is jerking most?
	America... a nation that once had dozens of competing political parties... has meekly allowed two parties to strangle our political process and turn a once-great nation into a hated, aggressive monster. If you want that to stop, then GET OFF YOUR BUTT and do something about it. If this really is a nation OF, BY, and FOR the people, then take some action to get it back under our control. Stop excusing the crooks you voted for last time... stop falling for knee-jerk slogans that mean nothing, like "support our troops", "stay the course", and "cut and run", and stop accepting the fatal alternative of D or R. If you can't find someone else to vote for, then write in NOTA (none of the above) and exercise your voice that way. Write it boldly, like John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, to insure that the King didn't miss the message.
494.   10/27/2006	Why electing Democrats could be even worse
	A lot of voters are thinking that the Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress deserves to be ousted because of the unconscionable War in Iraq. Well... hell yes, they do deserve it, but tossing the rascals out and putting the Democrats in charge could produce even worse results.
493.   10/22/2006	Choice is being squeezed out of American politics
	What bothers me most about our elections is two facts about public opinion... that a large majority of voters believe government is too big, and that they DO want more election choices. Will we ever have those two desires satisfied? It should be clear that neither will come from the two major parties. Neither is in their own self-interest. Each election cycle, the D's and R's increase the power of government, which increases their own power... which further handicaps any competition to them.
492.   10/11/2006	Ethics as taught by the unethical
	It isn't likely that any organization based on force can perform ANY function well. Lack of competition alone is a debilitating factor, and the political underpinnings of public education constantly wreak havoc. It's no surprise that our government schools can't teach the basics well, but when they encroach into the ethics realm, they not only reduce the real learning skills further still, they're inflicting themselves into an area for which they have no qualification, no right, and only severely compromised experience.
491.   10/06/2006	One more industry freed
	In a triumph of liberty over entrenched private interests, the Minneapolis City Council voted 8-4 today to remove the artificial government-imposed cap on the number of taxis legally operating within Minneapolis city limits became effective.
490.   09/30/2006	Abortion, the polarizing issue
	If you are stuck on the position that a human life, with rights, begins at conception, then you do have alternatives, but those alternatives must not involve forcing pregnant women to deliver and take responsibility for the child.
489.   09/24/2006	The Neverending War
	Despite all the propagandizing about the need for our Middle East involvement, the simple truth is that war is good for politicians and all who deal with them. Government grows and profits, and firms who supply government grow and profit. The rest of us lose liberties, endure high taxes, and sacrifice our young people as war fodder while those involved with government get wealthy and gain still more power.
488.   09/18/2006	Peace through Victory
	One older man literally hurled "Peace through Victory" at me in summing up his arguments, and got me thinking about that old catch phrase. Caesar used it in expanding the Roman Empire. Although it is possible to have "victory" without war, the current usage clearly involves being victorious in armed combat. The catch phrase really means "Peace through War".
487.   09/10/2006	Save the life of someone who deserves it
	I'm an organ donor. For most of my life I wasn't. Why, I reasoned, should I sign up to allow doctors to remove my organs and give them to some anonymous persons about whom I could never know anything? Suppose they were people I didn't like, or even might hate? Suppose they were people that, could I know, I would consider not deserving of my help. When I found out that 80% of the people who receive donated organs weren't even donors themselves, I had no doubt that they didn't deserve MY donated organs.
486.   08/31/2006	Protecting our President
	I would choose to confine the President to the White House for his term of office. The Presidency is, after all, a job, very well paid, with luxurious and historic surroundings. The term of office is the same as most military people oblige themselves to, and they stay on the job for the whole term. The White House is a complete residence/office with abundant servants and staff. Anyone who wants to meet with the President can easily do so there, and being far less hated, none of them require such security. So, Mr. President – just stay at the magnificent home provided for you. Giving up a little freedom is simply necessary for security purposes. You’ve told us that it’s a small price to pay. Learn to live with it, like the rest of us.
485.   08/26/2006	I'm law-abiding... I'll be safe
	A Georgia survey found that 53% of the public agrees that most people arrested for a crime are guilty. Only 41% of the public disagree. 59% of whites believe that most people arrested are guilty, as compared with only 44% of blacks. You don't suppose that's because 56% of blacks KNOW someone who was falsely arrested?
484.   08/09/2006	The predictable happens again
	This week, another death occured on the Hiawatha Light Rail line, this time a young man on a bicycle, near 46th. This is the 3rd death on the 7.5 mile line that cost $715 million. Such deaths will occur with regularity; they are an inherent aspect of an antiquated mode of transportation.
483.   08/02/2006	Secondhand Bullshit
	There are so many oft-repeated lies about smoking and its effects that it has to be the most believed hoax in the history of man. There is no evidence that second-hand smoke has ever killed ONE person, much less the thousands that are claimed by anti-smokers. NO EVIDENCE, period. This whole hullabaloo is junk science... the art of fabricating results to justify another agenda.
482.   07/26/2006	The struggle for national definition
	The convention opened on May 5th, 1787, beginning with poor attendance, and only obtained a quorum- delegates of seven states - on May 25. Over the next 4 months, though, the 55 delegates who included most of the outstanding leaders of the new nation, effected a marathon of determined, patient, and rational work.
481.   07/22/2006	The Line in the Sand
	The Declaration of Independence drew the line in the sand. Although Parliament was primarily responsible for the complaints the colonies had against Britain, popular King George III reacted to the declaration with indignation at the challenge to his rule, and ordered a crackdown on the upstarts.
480.   07/12/2006	the united states
	That a few British colonies, thumbing their noses at the mightiest nation on earth, could even agree to declare themselves free and independent should be, to our current emasculated citizens, simply astounding. These were not "persecuted" citizens... their complaints against the King would seem piddly now, but a remarkable idea began to take hold... the idea that there is a better relationship between a people and its government. The idea was radical... that the PEOPLE would rule... not a king, nor a dictator, nor an aristocracy, nor an emperor, but... somehow... the citizens might govern themselves.
479.   07/06/2006	Officials punish a landlord instead of themselves
	As long as we have politicians, there will never be any housing so safe that an accident will fail to raise a call for still more safety requirements... and even more expensive housing, leading inevitably to still more overcrowding and unsafe conditions. It's a vicious circle of the kind that only government can create. This tragedy was not caused by a landlord who let extra people share a space at a cost they could afford... it was caused by the wrongheaded belief that we can set minimum standards of housing high enough to avoid accidents.
478.   07/03/2006	Love Canal redux
	So, ExxonMobil, like Occidental 50 years earlier, is being forced, through eminent domain, to sell land they are positive should not be used for residential purposes. Why would they lie? Who knows more about the pollution in place there? Who knows more about pollution clean-up? Obviously (like the school board of Niagara Falls did) Dave Thune believes he does.
477.   06/27/2006	What does a "spoiler" spoil?
	The term "spoiler" is a loaded term that is continually used as a means of dismissing any opposition to the entrenched parties and their approved candidates. In this case, because the StarTribune is clearly in the "liberal" camp, the IP may "spoil" the Democrats chance at upsetting the incumbent Republican administration, because the IP is assumed to take more Democratic votes than Republican.
476.   06/21/2006	Malignant Dream-killers - the dulling of America
	My most frequent feelings from watching inane government machinations is disgust or anger. A conversation this week with members of a Twin Cities Hmong family is a prime example. You may recall media stories about the Hmong-American Shopping Mall in Brooklyn Center. and about the plans of owner Chafong Lee to transform it into a "Little Asia," with townhomes, retail space and an open-air celebration area.
475.   06/15/2006	Running the uphill playing field
	Some have tried to get the LP to adopt the methods of other parties, thinking that once we get control, we can return to our principles. In a very real sense, that is exactly what has happened to the D's and the R's, which were once, long ago, principled parties. Their use of political expediency has, naturally, turned them into mere propaganda facades disguising power-mongering control freaks who think they know better than you how to run your life, and everything connected to it.
474.   06/07/2006	Political Loyalists Anonymous
	Political party loyalty is addictive, and the old parties play it as well as any pusher does. They give you an occasional high, and celebrate your shared addiction with fabulous pomp and circumstance. When you're "coming down" they sympathize and tell you just need a little fix to get back on track. That's what Pawlenty's apology was... that little nip to get you through the current discomfort. Just like a drug, it makes kicking the habit a little bit harder by putting it off again. But... it does feel good.
473.   06/01/2006	Light Rail - the amazing government kluge
	Only my own political naïveté led me to ever think that the insane idea of "light rail transit" would not be implemented in the Twin Cities. It was a joke, I thought... that resurrection of an antiquated mode of transportation was even being proposed. Insane, I thought, that we might return to the past... to times of lines of cars waiting at railroad crossings, and to glossing over inevitable and crushing collisions. How could we be so addled as to again travel (by other modes) to wait at a few rail stations that led to a few limited destinations? Could cities that junked elaborate streetcar systems, return, not to that workable system, but to an LRT system that doesn't even come close to the utility of streetcars?
472.   05/29/2006	Our day of national mourning
	In my mind, our traditional Memorial Day holiday is a day of national shame... a day on which we remember the millions of young lives wasted in military actions that should never have occurred. Not one of those honored today was a life given in defense of our nation from invaders. Not one was truly lost in defense of our freedoms. Those phrases, those descriptions are no more than the lies we tell in a feeble attempt to make the tremendous loss of our young people seem righteous, worthwhile, or meaningful.
471.   05/24/2006	The myth of government job creation
	Some states have formal programs to entice corporations to locate within their borders. Minnesota's version is called JOBZ, short for Job Opportunity Building Zone. It has been in place for 2 years and is scheduled for 10 more years. JOBZ businesses do not have to pay property tax on improvements of the land they use, sales tax on what they use or consume, or corporate income tax. They may also receive tax credits if they pay their workers a high enough wage. To date, 200 JOBZ projects have been completed and 3,000 jobs "created". The businesses involved have reaped $6.4 million in tax benefits and breaks.
470.   05/17/2006	That big sucking sound you hear
	Government is like a severely spoiled kid; there are NO easy solutions. Ignoring the problem doesn't work. Expecting the kid to un-spoil himself is supremely unrealistic and an invitation to still more abuse. Cutting off the money is the only solution. I would suggest reducing your taxes as much as you can, through whatever means you're comfortable with, but even that isn't much of a solution.
469.   05/10/2006	Sue Jeffers...the Minnesota political buzz!
	At last... a little FUN in Minnesota politics. Sue Jeffers, candidate for Governor, has caused a lot of harumphs among Republicans. She's upset their comfy little applecart, by trying to challenge a sitting Governor from within his own party. GOP bloggers are attacking her and her Democrat campaign manager. I have news for the bloggers... Sue's campaign manager, Dan, is a old-style SOUTHERN Democrat, which makes him more conservative than most Minnesota Republicans.
468.   05/03/2006	Immigration Politics versus Reality
	It's so simple... some people need work (not jobs - work) and some other people have work to be done that they either can't do, or can't do alone, or don't want to do. Once they have found each other, the transaction is simple... an offer is made, accepted, and the work gets done quickly. No contracts, no union restrictions, no regulations or licensing to be concerned with... and no taxes involved. From a libertarian viewpoint, it's a perfect economic transaction, with all involved parties happy as pigs in mud. No force, no fraud, no government (yes, that's redundant). Government doesn't like it; aside from not receiving taxes on the income received, the workers may well be illegal immigrants.
467.   04/26/2006	The grinding weight of crooked politics
	Keeping a close eye on politics is not unlike being drawn to watch, again and again, films of Nazi concentration camps. It hurts every time I watch, but I am compelled, by my own sense of justice, to NOT turn away in resignation... to never allow myself to become accustomed to it. My horror at what I'm watching demands keeping that horror refreshed... never diminished. I also watch with the faint hope that I will gain some understanding of how such insanity could have happened, or to gain clues that will keep it from happening again.
466.   04/21/2006	Twins - you just lost a loyal fan
	I could blame the legislators, or the Hennepin County officials (and I do), for what appears to be a successful drive to have the taxpayers pay for yet another stadium for the Minnesota Twins, but it wouldn't have happened if the Twins hadn't demanded it, implying that the team would leave, and then spent a lot of money greasing the way to make it happen.
465.   04/21/2006	Putting a stop to politics-as-usual
	American politics has become nothing more than a sick game... a rigged contest between two factions of the same party, played, not with ideas, or positions, or vision, but instead with grandiose media appearances, hype, and double-talk. The D's and R's PLAY at being opponents, and they spend huge sums of OUR tax money to convince us to choose one or the other. If you vote either R or D, you really ARE wasting your vote, because the results will be the same regardless of which of them wins. They offer you no choice... just different names.
464.   04/18/2006	Tweedledum or Tweedledee
	Like Tweedledum and Tweedledee of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, the D and the R parties are virtually identical fat little men. It doesn't make any difference which one you talk with, they respond with replies that sound suspiciously like political answers.
463.   04/14/2006	The Protection Racket
	If you're a fan of old gangster movies, that phrase should evoke clear images of mobsters making their weekly rounds of stores in their "territory", extorting cash payments in return for not being beat up, blown up, or burned out.
462.   04/12/2006	Ideology, not politics
	The key piece of knowledge that seems to escape those who hold to all of the other political ideologies is that no government program ever works out the way it was intended... it never stops where you wanted it to stop, and it always has unintended consequences that eclipse any good it might accomplish.
461.   04/06/2006	Put up or shut up
	We need to actually think of government as our enemy, because that is precisely what it has become. It's the big ugly dog that roams our block, making us nervous and crapping in our yard. Many of us have deluded ourselves into thinking of the dog as protecting us from other dogs, so we fearfully choose to placate the big dog with treats. That doesn't work with big bad dogs, and it doesn't work with government. In both cases, we end up as willing slaves to the dog.
460.   04/04/2006	A Nation of gutless blowhards
	WE ARE WHIPPED. All of us... from the rabid, macho phoners of talk radio, to the tough-talking sports fans, to those guzzling beer while cheering on "survivors" or "ultimate fighters", or even the bad-ass militia folks... we are ALL afraid to take on our own government. We willingly play the annual "send half of what you make" tax game. We turn our heads (or even help justify the offense) when our government extends its oppression over us. We've bought into the polarized two-party trap, accepting that slavery is OK if "our" slaver does it, rather than that evil "other" slaver.
459.   03/30/2006	When does enough finally become ENOUGH?
	Although Americans are opinionated, most are pathetic when it comes to taking action on political issues. I can't begin to count the number of times I've had one of those energetic discussions, resulting in the other person agreeing with me, but then found them unwilling to take any action to match their strong opinion. The action, no matter how small, seems to be disconnected from the opinion. We talk a good line, but seem exceedingly reluctant to act on our beliefs. It's fine to deal with an issue as an abstraction, but not as a concrete reality.
458.   03/28/2006	Stuff happens, but why?
	The lesson to be learned is clear: Concentrated power is not only dangerous, it's difficult to manage. Powerful top-down organizations are at best clumsy and wasteful, at worst they are simply disastrous. Our government proves that on a daily basis. The individual players make little difference; the size and power of the system is the Achilles heel that will, sooner or later, fail. The bigger government gets, the more power it wields, the worse the results will be.
457.   03/21/2006	V for Vengeance
	Like so many modern movies, V for Vendetta is filled with fast action to the point of making it fantasy rather than fiction. I hope that doesn't distract from the real lesson... that citizens must not just accept what "their" government does to them. The power we allow government to have will continually grow with our lack of attention, becoming more intrusive and oppressive. We ignore it at our own peril, until it becomes so dominating that only bloody revolt can have an effect. We in the United States have been traveling down that primrose path far too long, and the results are really starting to slap us in our collective face.
456.   03/16/2006	The Paper Curtain of government
	This is the story, beautifully documented over time by Bob Shaw of the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press, of a very large developer of high-end homes, trying to build a large innovative community of such homes on what was once the largest farm in the state. There is no eminent domain here, and no corruption... simply a developer with a vision designed to make their development more attractive than the competition. A profit motive, and one that would harm no others, obviously benefiting everyone in that area. The experienced developer knew that such an innovative project would be difficult in many ways, including dealing with the Lakeville "embedded controls". The story, for all of us to learn from, is that despite extensive experience and expensive preparation, those controls, and innumerable "interested parties" would almost kill the whole project.
455.   03/14/2006	Urban Planning - we need to stop it
	Any architect, and a great many amateurs, could design and build safe, attractive, livable homes at far lower cost than is now available, if only zoning and building codes were eliminated. Many have tried, only to be thwarted by governments. There are many building methods that simply are not allowed in our cities, where our poorest citizens must live. Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes were adapted decades ago into a form that could be built by an amateur, at very low cost. Blown concrete over inflatable domes is another inexpensive building method, as is pressed straw/mud construction, underground structures, and many others.
454.   03/10/2006	Killing communities with urban planning
	Urban planning and development inevitably raises the costs of operating within each development, destroying those individual businesses that used to be the American dream. Chain stores with better financing move in instead... often recruited by developers. If a chain store will help the image of a redevelopment, they may get special deals from the city... the exact opposite treatment the old stores received.
453.   03/07/2006	The Great American City?
	I moved to the area in 1965. By that time, "urban renewal" had demolished 40% of the downtown Minneapolis area... leveled it, destroying great chunks of history, many historic, usable structures, and driving a huge number of people away. Aside from the architectural and population loss, the mayor and city council renigged on promises to replace the low-cost housing being destroyed. That especially destructive period has been documented and mourned ever since, but the lessons were NOT learned... the grand planning destruction continues.
452.   03/02/2006	We lost a fine gentleman Harry Browne 1933-2006
	Sadly, Harry Browne, twice presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, died Wednesday night, March 1st, 2006. I can remember my initial impression of Harry Browne.
451.   03/02/2006	Compassion by using Force?
	For the most part, humans naturally care about others. Libertarians believe that to be true, or we would not be willing to trust others to do what they want. Americans in particular have demonstrated their charity magnanimously, through good times and tough times, by voluntarily contributing money and volunteer work.
450.   02/27/2006	On the ragged edge
	No, this ragged edge is not about government dragging us to the brink of total war, but it IS about politics. It is about what free people SHOULD be able to attend to, rather than having to concern ourselves with loss of liberty and hatred of our nation's foreign policy.
449.   02/21/2006	Why are we such suckers for government?
	When we have choices, we investigate them. We pick favorite places to shop and buy, and real shoppers know the best place to buy any individual item. Government is a different story. We don't have a choice. Once we've picked a place to live, we're stuck with ONE local and ONE state government, and the feds come down on all of us.
448.   02/16/2006	Living in your local feudal serfdom
	City government, put in place to handle a few tasks in service of the citizens, has become another out-of-control level of government that treats the people like serfs. Who is to blame? The ugly truth is that we, as citizens, are to blame. We have the mistaken notion that we can simply turn power over to someone else and expect them not to abuse it.
447.   02/14/2006	Insanity... once brain cell at a time
	I used to believe that the most painful place to visit is the local office of the Department of Motor Vehicles, but city council meetings have easily taken the lead. They are, without a doubt, the most insipid and boring meetings on earth.
446.   02/08/2006	Our Mayor, who art in City Hall...
	What liberals never seem to comprehend is that if you truly want to help the "have-nots", you need to stop TRYING to give them a shove, or a crutch, and just reduce the cost of LIVING HERE. Do that, and they'll do the rest by themselves.
445.   02/06/2006	The presumptious ego of politics
	I've watched the city deliberately drive many thousands of poor people and small businesses (those have-nots) OUT of the city, and sell the space to the highest bidders... corporations and "haves". It has been damned close to "ethnic cleansing".
444.   02/01/2006	Only 98% left behind
	Charter schools are, to be blunt, a half-assed solution to the public school problem. They're a wonderful choice, but only when compared to the miserable standard of public schools. If they were free of the regulation and bureaucracy of the public school system... free to really innovate... free to please nobody except the parents and their children, there is no doubt in my mind that they would take a giant stride forward in effectiveness.
443.   01/29/2006	We're still not safe from eminent domain
	Suddenly, everyone was outraged. Commentary proliferated all over the internet, and very quickly legislatures were busy drafting legislation to prevent eminent domain abuse in many states. Suddenly, people who had ignored the problem for years were up in arms and jumping on the bandwagon.
442.   01/24/2006	Back into the fray
	Politics is like a big elephant standing in your living room. Sure, you can walk around it, pretend not to hear it or smell it, and even ignore the accumulating dung pile until you have to move, but refusing to acknowledge it won't make it go away. Sooner or later, it will step on you.
441.   07/28/2005	Now that we all know what eminent domain is...
	[T]here are three aspects of eminent domain abuse that should arouse each of us: 1. It is happening right next door to you, right now. 2. It can happen to you too... make no mistake about it. 3. It is not that difficult to stop, despite what the Supreme Court said.