The Humble Libertarian original

1. Not every fan is going to be able to see the episode the night it comes out. 2. People checking their FB or Twitter feed might see anything I post, including spoilers about the episode. 3. The other fans want to enjoy every bit of the suspense that I got to enjoy when I watched the episode. 4. Even if a plot development may not be a total surprise, spoilers still KILL ALL suspense about that plot point. 4a. Even if you know something's probably going to happen, you don't know which episode you're going to get it in. 5. Game of Thrones is one of the most popular TV shows ever, with so many really devoted fans like me... 6. So when I'm excited about something that happened in a new episode, I discuss it in private conversations on social media or in person with other people who I know have already seen the episode. 7. Not on a public feed that someone casually scrolling through might have their experience ruined a little. 8. If you're a good fan...

This one goes out to all the students grade slaves who had to start a new week of school today. You are beautiful and worthy and good, and if you feel lonely or alienated or looked over or not understood, all that confusion and angst isn't your fault. You're feeling it because you're good and you know intuitively that all the crushing weight of the rigid system around you and the bullshit social pressures are not the way life should be or has to be. I love you and I think you are wonderful. "Subdivisions" Lyrics Sprawling on the fringes of the city In geometric order An insulated border In between the bright lights And the far unlit unknown Growing up it all seems so one-sided Opinions all provided The future pre-decided Detached and subdivided In the mass production zone Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone [Chorus:] (Subdivisions) In the high school halls In the shopping malls Conform or be cast out (Subdivisions) In the baseme...

Saw this meme today and I can't be sure about this, but I've got a feeling that if we were all truly free to spend all of our money exactly how we want, things like that ugly hunk of cement and metal above would never get built. Why not something more like:

From Wolfgang Gartner, Illmerica... Warning - graphic cartoon violence:

My mom was waiting on the other side of the TSA line with her camera ready, all excited about taking my picture on Uncle Sam's lap. Stupid. Sometimes she is so embarrassing. She made me step out of line and give her the jolly ranchers that fell out when the TSA officer made me empty my pockets. Those were my jolly ranchers. My friend Evan gave them to me at school. And I even traded him something that took me a whole hour to make with my other friends that we learned at camp. Then I had to go back through the security line twice! Like I'm a criminal or something. The mall Uncle Sam looked really fake this year. Half of his fake bushy eyebrow was coming off. I keep trying to tell everybody I'm too old for this, but I don't have the heart to tell my mom that I don't believe in Uncle Sam anymore. Plus I want the presents. My dad even told me if you don't believe in Uncle Sam, he won't visit and leave presents. I saw them wrapping one of the p...

Friends, I'm really not trying to bash Biblical Christianity here. I'm really not. I do struggle though, with how this collection of books doesn't merely document, but approves of and even requires some kinds of marriage that make little sense to me, seem unfair and preposterous and barbaric to me, make far less sense than the homosexuality that the same collection of writings so strongly disapproves of. Here's a great post I read recently that makes the point well at a blog called Post Traumatic God Disorder. Incidentally, reading the About Me section on the blog, my heart goes out this individual. Radical paradigm and worldview shifts are incredibly uncomfortable to say the least.

Saw this on Facebook: Left this comment: It's more thorough of a wash job than that. They don't just believe they are not brainwashed, the question has never occurred to them and as long as they keep reading TIME and watching MTV, it's *impossible* for the question to occur to them. Oh brave new world, that has such people in it. EDIT: And one more thing-- don't ever stop considering what questions it is currently impossible to occur to you . This is what I've been thinking about a lot lately and I'm worried just how large and numerous my own blindspots are. The only solution is to be as intellectually curious as possible. To learn voraciously. To read things that challenge us. To read things that are hard for us to understand and then try to understand them. To expose ourselves to ideas far removed from our present culture and place on the timeline. Read old books. Read foreign books. Turn off the TV. You have already absorbed its biases and blindspots. ...

Made up characters that give you free stuff if you behave yourself. So I Googled " libertarian easter eggs ." I don't know what I was hoping to find. Maybe some egg dyed bright yellow with the words "DONT TREAD ON ME" stenciled on. Or a half black, half gold anarcho-capitalist Easter egg. Or a half black, half red anarcho-communist Easter egg. Or a red, white, and blue Easter egg. Or something. Anyway, I found this pretty cute article from Parents.com's DadaBase Blog by a libertarian dad about his two-year-old son's successful egg hunt. The dad thinks his son learned a subtle capitalist message. I don't know. I think an egg hunt is probably more mercantilist than anything. It's also definitely zero-sum. If you want to teach the kid a capitalist message, arrange to take him on a tour of a local family farm where they actually create new eggs. Have him buy a couple with some money he made doing simple age-appropriate chores. Take them hom...

“We Are the Future Rally” at the Sun Dome at the University of South Florida. ( Andrew Harnik/The Washington Time s By: Eric Sharp   The Sunday before the 2012 RNC, a unique political event took place. "We Are The Future Rally" with Ron Paul drew an overflow crowd of more than 10,000 young people. While the GOP Establishment was busy pushing Ron Paul's delegates to the margins with rule changes , the R3VOLUTION was making other plans. "We Are The Future" isn't just a name, it is a declaration. What we are looking at is a "libertarian long-march ", to borrow a Marxist term (it's pay back for stealing the word liberal). What this means is that the Ron Paul Revolutionaries are not going to quietly assimilate into the machine and become good cogs that do what they are told. They will " throw their bodies upon the gears ". They will keep pushing every way they can until a free society is achieved.  The method of each activist is ...

By: Carl Wicklander The fallout from Rush Limbaugh’s comments about a Georgetown University law student may finally be settling. Conservatives like L. Brent Bozell III took the occasion to demonstrate that liberals have said worse things about conservatives than Rush said about this young woman. I’m loathe to sound like my second grade teacher, but one can’t help noticing many are using bad behavior to defend or at least look past other bad behavior. A few perceptive conservatives have noted that Rush shifted the narrative in the health care debate with his poor choice of words. By referring to a young woman as a “slut” and “prostitute” for testifying in favor of subsidized contraceptives Rush made the narrative about his words and not the atrocity of taxpayer-funded birth control pills or the abridgment of religious liberty. This is a fair point to make and is indeed perceptive. Rush’s words were distracting and not for the first time. It just so happened to backfire. I...

In the wee early morning hours of February 2nd, 2012, Donald Trump emerged from his little burrow and scurried out into a field, but a bright light shining from the Ron Paul 2012 campaign cast a shadow on the field, and when the cute little Trump saw his own shadow, he spooked, ran back into his burrow, and refused to come out. Now there will be six more weeks of Newt Gingrich's campaign instead of a tidy little, post-Florida withdrawal. By then, Spring will come, bringing more bright light. Yes I wrote this late at night while very tired, grinning stupidly the entire time in careless self-satisfaction. And apparently I'm still writing. Stop, Wes. Get some sleep. Better hit "publish" first... Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

I'm no moral relativist, but I do think there are many judgments we make about other cultures that can be legitimately chalked up to cultural differences, not moral deficiencies, and hey, I hate to get radical here, but maybe some aspects of whatever your culture happens to be might not be so great after all. Maybe think about it a little before judging others. I've discovered in the last year of my life that extended overseas travel can be a powerful remedy to cultural jingoism. Thought I'd share the cartoon above to catalyze some introspection. Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Watch the trailer for George Lucas’ latest film, Red Tails , and you will be captivated ! Visually arresting , dramatically compelling , true to history – this action film will be a real treat for movie goers when it debuts this Friday, January 20th. George Lucas, who is famous for bringing the world one of Hollywood’s most epic and timeless offerings, the Star Wars saga , quips that with all of the action-packed, dog-fighting scenes in it, Red Tails will be the closest movie goers will ever get to viewing Episode 7 (of the Star Wars franchise)! That’s all this Star Wars fan needs to hear to purchase tickets. In the description on the YouTube page for one of the film’s trailers, Red Tails ‘ creators summarize it thusly: “1944. As the war in Europe continues to take its toll on Allied forces, the Pentagon brass has no recourse but to consider unorthodox options — including the untried and untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program. ...

From The Telegraph : Celebrities prepare themselves for Golden Globe humiliation from Ricky Gervais Despite claiming that he would not be invited back after last year's jibe-laden speech, this weekend comedian Ricky Gervais is once again the host of the Golden Globes. ... While Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's presence, amongst the likes of fellow nominees Charlize Theron and George Clooney, will undoubtedly up the Globes' glamour quotient, it is the show's less telegenic host, Ricky Gervais, who will dominate global headlines, shunting more glamourous attendees out of the limelight once again. For his third presenting stint, the British comedian – who last year cracked jokes at Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr, and Bruce Willis, to name but a few – has promised some of his most caustic barbs yet, leading show producers to introduce a seven-second delay into the "live" telecast. The delay will reportedly be implemented by broadcasters NBC, who are said ...

It was October of 2009 near the end of President Obama’s first year in the White House. The Tea Party was at its zenith, raging across America in full swing in opposition to Washington’s Wall Street bailouts, the trillion dollar stimulus package from earlier that year, Obama’s health care plan, a lagging economy, and a 10-percent unemployment rate. The previous month, one million Tea Party activists swarmed Washington DC to make their voices heard ( yes, one million , probably more! ). Obama was under close scrutiny and facing strong criticism (some of it warranted, some of it maybe a little far-fetched) for every liberty he took, from his ritzy Valentine’s Day vacation with Michelle Obama, to his occasional indulgence of a cigarette, to his golf game. So of course, we all remember the fallout over Obama’s lavish, star-studded, Alice in Wonderland-themed Halloween party that October, right? No? That’s because the White House was awfully shy about publicizing the details o...

This time of year, adherents to the world's great religions celebrate a Great Light shining in the Darkness. The setting is perfect for inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere, who have lived through the darkest months of the year and now anticipate the bright days ahead. Absent its various sectarian interpretations, the symbolism should be especially meaningful for we libertarians, because we see our philosophy and way of life- which is the way of peace and mutual, voluntary cooperation among humankind- as a great light shining in the darkness of centuries of coercion, slavery, and war. I believe our very lives span the winter solstice of human history. The oldest among us have seen in their own life times, the very blackest horrors governments have ever conceived or perpetrated against humanity. The great darkness of absolute statism in all of its ugly forms, from fascism to communism to military dictatorship, has blanketed the earth in its foul, polluted mire for a century. ...

This Christmas season, to much fanfare, Walmart brought back their layaway program. For those Internet intellectuals among us too rich and separate from the ails of the working man to understand the incentives behind layaway plans, let me explain the concept. By purchasing an item on layaway, you select your item, put down a deposit and make regular payments until the item is fully paid off - without interest. Only then are you allowed to take the item home. ...wait, what? Yes, that's how layaway plans work. There is no "getting the item" early advantage as with a credit system. So, we are left with only 2 possible benefits for those participating. 1) Fear of the item running out of stock. Putting the item on layaway guarantees you securing the item once you are able to fully pay for it. However, unless the item in question is a hot Christmas toy, Walmart largely sells commodities. In the majority of scenarios, there is no real fear of the item going out of sto...

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta won a raffle on the dock landing ship Oak Hill to be the first to kiss a loved one on its return to port in Virginia Beach. Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell was waiting when she crossed the brow. Full story here . Hat tip: Memorandum UPDATE: Looking at this picture felt like déjà vu, and then I remembered that it reminded me of this scene from the 2009 film Watchmen . The musical lyrics are especially appropriate: Positively eerie resemblance, non ? Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

A very thoughtful, very merry video of best wishes and prayers from Senator Rand Paul and his wife Kelley Paul. Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

The image above is an actual screen shot from the website of Rick Perry's Texas governor's office. Link to the actual page here . I guess Rick Perry IS ashamed to be a Christian, which also makes him a liar . Happy Holidays ??? Seriously, Rick? "Happy Holidays" is the bane of every Christian conservative's existence. It's an example of secularism and political correctness run amok! It's a war on Christmas! And as governor of Texas, Rick Perry was apparently on the unAmerican side! Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page