This goes beyond the theorizing, to reality. The last 2 or 3 minutes are the best. I sometimes do not articulate my personal beliefs well because they are not always some clean elegant little theory. It isn't because the gov't is 'inefficiant' that I oppose them, it is because they are standing in blood.
Please watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X78CYn_F6b8
Watching this only makes me want to vote...
for Ron Paul even more.
I watched this video this morning, David. Like a spear through my heart. His is the kind of rage that should fill us all.
I'm speechless. Thanks for posting this, David.
Quote from: Vitruvian on November 17, 2007, 10:54 PM NHFT
I watched this video this morning, David. Like a spear through my heart. His is the kind of rage that should fill us all.
And what are you
doing with that rage that fills you?
QuoteAnd what are you doing with that rage that fills you?
Flushing it down the toilet. How about you?
There might be some problems with some of the numbers this guy presented.
On the one about the homeless veterans. That could be a bogus number. First of all, one quarter of the homeless population being veterans seems rather high. I would expect a slightly higher rate but not something significantly higher. The study which was the story is based on was done by a homeless advocacy group. That is not to say that the study is incorrect. Just that it is suspicious.
Of course considering that one of the benefits provided by serving in the military is money for college, you would think that the rates of homelessness for those in the military would be less. It might cause someone to question the justification for providing such a benefit. If it exists simply as an incentive to get people to join, that is one thing. But if it is designed to help provide a means of social and economic advancement for the poor who typically join the military, then it might not be a success effort.
------------
About the suicide issue. There might be several problems here as well.
I haven't found the numbers to back this up but I believe that the suicide rates have always been higher for those in the military than among civilians. When you put people under more stress, in unfamiliar environments with unfamiliar people, you are almost guaranteed to have a higher suicide rate. Particularly when they haven't undergone any serious stress before in their lives.
for those who are getting out of the military, I think most of this would result from the increased stress that comes from transitioning from military to civilian life. It is more pronounced if you were in someplace like Iraq or Afghanistan.
Speaking about myself, being in Iraq didn't cause me any problems. That could be because I didn't see any combat and things like mortars and rockets were just annoyances cause it meant I would have to wake up for their idiotic head counts. It was being surrounded by absolute idiots really helped develop my charming personality and I found that the attitudes of the civilians that I encountered would piss me off really quickly.
Of course if they didn't ban whores and sex things wouldn't be so bad. If they allowed whore houses I think the morale of the troops would be much higher and the suicide rates would be even lower.
Wow. He belies the image of the "bomb-throwing" anarchist.
Just occurred to me. We need a smilie of one of those black 'bowling ball' bombs
This video articulates why I have a problem with Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving.
Vetrans Day I get, but Thanksgiving?
As of Sunday, November 18, 2007 the "New World" is no better than the old. In fact, it's much, much worse. Here we go having to take it back again. Maybe this time we won't kill the indigenous peoples or enslave the black man or let governments rule over us.
When we are successful I will begin a new Thanksgiving on the date of choice. For now I have a hard time getting worked up about coming to this new land.
Unless I missed the point again and Thanksgiving is really about eating and shopping. ;)
And here I've always held a pagan view of thanksgiving :icon_pirat:
Giving thanks to the earth and nature (and God, gods, Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc) for a bountiful harvest.
And by bringing together friends and family to share in that harvest, you better the world around you through that individual choice. Little as it may seem.
It's about individuals gathering together and edifying each other, not for the purpose of praise but, for showing appreciation and friendship.
Just keep the hippie hugging love will save the world through the collective universal mind and third eye crap out of it ;)
Started a Thanksgiving thread so we don't hijack this one too much.
Quote from: anthonybpugh on November 18, 2007, 01:03 AM NHFT
On the one about the homeless veterans. That could be a bogus number. First of all, one quarter of the homeless population being veterans seems rather high. I would expect a slightly higher rate but not something significantly higher. The study which was the story is based on was done by a homeless advocacy group. That is not to say that the study is incorrect. Just that it is suspicious.
Well, which is it? Is the number too high or not high enough? You seem to be disagreeing with yourself... :-\
Personally the number sounds about right to me.
I think I just didn't write what I intended to say clearly enough.
I would expect to see the rates of homelessness higher among veterans than among nonveterans. I would not expect to see the rates of homelessness to be as high as this study is claiming.
The study was put out by an advocacy group. They have an agenda and so they have an incentive to attempt to exaggerate the effect of whatever problem they are addressing. In am looking at things on their website and they do advocate for more government programs as they are presenting this information.
http://www.naeh.org/content/article/detail/1837
I would say, based on personal experience, that 25% of homeless people being veterans is in the right ballpark.
I'm not saying that it isn't. I personally don't know since I haven't much experience with homeless. I am just skeptical.
Quote from: Kat Kanning on November 18, 2007, 05:52 AM NHFT
Wow. He belies the image of the "bomb-throwing" anarchist.
Yea. Some of his writtings I very much admire. His analogies are really good, in his writtings.
Quote from: coffeeseven on November 18, 2007, 09:13 AM NHFT
As of Sunday, November 18, 2007 the "New World" is no better than the old. In fact, it's much, much worse. Here we go having to take it back again. Maybe this time we won't kill the indigenous peoples or enslave the black man or let governments rule over us.
When we are successful I will begin a new Thanksgiving on the date of choice. For now I have a hard time getting worked up about coming to this new land.
Unless I missed the point again and Thanksgiving is really about eating and shopping. ;)
Um, My great Grand Mom Brown, was full blood American. Nova Scotia, Canada. My Grand parents on my Moms side are De"S--------s/ Canadian blood.
(screw off data miners)
My De"St'... are diplomats by nature.
My Dad, My Uncle on Moms side are old world warriors, I have herd of stories of sewisides brought on by alcohol, "lead" and by just sorrow.
I wonder if the Nazis who did this re shuffleing of the facts put their job discription in the mix, you know, the type of person who runs into trouble (to help) in stead of running away from the trouble.
It is my opinion that the people who run away from a problem are the ones that make it worse.
Quote from: Kat Kanning on November 18, 2007, 06:33 PM NHFT
Quote from: David on November 18, 2007, 06:26 PM NHFT
His analogies are really good
Such as?
On the topic of the futility of politics he was pointing out that political advocates can't even get their own parents to give up some of their power, so how are they supposed to get armed, paid, entrenched gov't employees to give up theirs.
"You are telling me about how your are going to slay the dragon and you can't even flick a gecko off your arm!"
Ah, I love Steph's funny analogies.
This was really good to watch...it's good to have a frank reminder sometimes, of why it is so important that we talk to people about these issues. It's so easy, in our society these days, to forget what death means. The way it is reported on TV has us all kind of zombie-ish about it....like it is just something that happens. This reminded me of how many people were not given the chance to speak and are now silenced forever. It reminded me of how many people are sitting on the other side of the world who are going through this every day...it never stops for them.
I wish there were more I could do. I wish I could really just make this whole thing stop...no more killing, no more starving, no more dying...just, stop it all now.
I wish reason and kindness and humility ruled all men. But it seems greed and agendas and power rule many.
The last minute really sums up the truth about our situation, difficult as it may be to accept.
"When you salute the flag, you stand in blood.
When you praise the military, you stand in blood.
When you praise a politician, when you join a political party, you stand in blood--you wade in blood.
When you say 'the government should do this' or 'the government should do that' you stand in rising blood--and it is almost covering our mouths, by now."
Yup.
Quote from: Kat Kanning on November 18, 2007, 06:33 PM NHFT
Quote from: David on November 18, 2007, 06:26 PM NHFT
His analogies are really good
Such as?
He made reference to his son being in the kkk. His son was working inside the kkk system to try to reform it from the inside. His reference of course is those that try to reform a system that is evil and violent by design.
That was his most shocking analagy. http://www.strike-the-root.com/71/molyneux/molyneux3.html
another one http://www.strike-the-root.com/62/molyneux/molyneux3.html
In one he uses an alien from outer space attack to illustrate a point.
an archive of his articles http://www.strike-the-root.com/archive/molyneux.html
He stated our efforts to challenge the violence of gov't should be like the efforts of the abolitionists when they railed against slavery. They didn't try to reduce it, or make it better, or make it more efficient, they thundered over and over again that it was a moral evil and should be abolished. On the following website, the second article,
Freedoms Failure, is one of the most thought provoking and overall best I have ever read. http://freedomain.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2005-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2006-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=42
Quote from: David on November 19, 2007, 10:26 PM NHFT
He made reference to his son being in the kkk. His son was working inside the kkk system to try to reform it from the inside. His reference of course is those that try to reform a system that is evil and violent by design.
That was his most shocking analagy. http://www.strike-the-root.com/71/molyneux/molyneux3.html
Someone posted that article (http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=8939.0) on this forum back in May.
I remember that Klan article being posted here. It went over like a friggin' lead balloon; got a few people here upset. When you question the morality of political action, a lot of people don't take too kindly to it.
Thanks for posting the video, I hadn't seen this one yet as I'm catching up on Stefan Molyneux's (the dude in the video) podcasts.
Stef is by far my favorite philosopher of late. He seems to have the logical and ethical side of freedom right with very tight arguments, and stresses the importance of freedom from obligation in your personal life as well as your political life. Most importantly to me as a philosophy guy, he has tackled the task of proving a rational ethic in his book "A Rational Proof of Secular Ethics."
I honestly and strongly believe that his argument from morality is among the most effective tools in the anarcho-capitalist/libertarian toolkit. Arguments from effect only show how government is bad one topic at a time. Arguments from morality show that the use of force is logically contradictory, and show that there's a gun in the room. Keep pointing out the gun in the room!
Quote from: Faber on November 19, 2007, 10:43 PM NHFT
I remember that Klan article being posted here. It went over like a friggin' lead balloon; got a few people here upset. When you question the morality of political action, a lot of people don't take too kindly to it.
Ain't that the truth.
Quote from: Faber on November 19, 2007, 10:43 PM NHFTWhen you question the morality of political action, a lot of people don't take too kindly to it.
Where would you get that idea?
;)
I'm a little confused....there seem to be two figures being thrown out, re: the number of civilian Iraqi deaths.
The death toll that come a little closer to the million mark, makes the most sense to me...I just can't see how, in all of this, it could be that we've not murdered that many people over there. But in a lot of articles I'm reading, the number thrown out is closer to 75,000 dead Iraqi civilians. Both numbers are atrocious...but is there any reason why I shouldn't believe the higher number? It seems credible to me....why the difference? Is it just that some people are choosing to go by gov't figures that have been thrown out or what? There is such a wild difference between the two figures, why?
Anyone have any insight?
The 75,000 figure probably comes from the Iraq Body Count (http://www.iraqbodycount.org/) site. The much larger figure probably comes from the the Lancet study (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_surveys_of_mortality_before_and_after_the_2003_invasion_of_Iraq).