Recent comments

would be about 10-12 years ago that i decided to take a walk oceanside, was around 3am, the cops appeared and asked me what i was doing, "walking" i replied, "why" they asked, "because i can" i said, "isn't a little late to be taking a walk" they said "i never realised i had a limit" was my reply, they looked at me oddly and drove away, what was i in their eyes but a possible potential danger to something, well i wasn't but their work doesn't allowfor anything but foe, shame, but that was of local consiquence, and in a pretty peaceable area at that, it was irritating being seen as a danger, much as is handing over a passport and being frisked, but even more so when your just being used as an excuse for land grabbing /mineral theft/crusade.

Aargh… Democracy has devolved to a periodic contest regarding which team are legitimate predators (most guns) and, who are legitimate prey (weakest, least politically popular) using ever changing pretexts. The current system is on the same extermination path as the Nazis and differs only in degree and therefore, the amount of time it takes social / economic collapse to occur. The Nazis were fools. It is more economically efficient but equally foolish to enslave as opposed to exterminate your prey. I agree wholeheartedly that the reasons for “none of the above” votes (no valid choices able to achieve “consent of the governed”) needs to be expressed, however, the system is FUBAR. The system is insane because it lacks the discipline of reality and is therefore at war against reality. In any contest with natural law (actions have inevitable consequences), REALITY wins, a “slam dunk”. The only question is: who benefits by the choices and who pays for the consequences? The “rule of law” used to insure that those who made the choices, reaped the consequences, good or bad. No more. Now, some are able to make and profit by choices which are illegal to all persons but the state and their connected cronies. Since all such profit resolves to theft from the productive, the grim reaper of “Mathematics of Rule” is and will continue to determine consequences: http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/ross/ross1.html Our far wiser ancestors correctly diagnosed the root cause of the rise and fall of civilization (the rules by which we cooperate for MUTUAL self-interest) as perpetual war between the productive (those who produce more than they consume) versus the greedy (those who consume more than they produce). They discovered and enforced the “rule of law”, to protect civilization (honest people trading) from criminals (predators, who achieve goals by force / fraud). This is now rationalized away, by criminals on the bench: http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/ross/ross3.html Justice Defined: We are all free to profit or suffer and learn (adapt to excellence) by facing the consequences of our OWN choices. Injustice is to be forced to suffer the consequences of choices of unaccountable (irresponsible) others.. “The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. The law of liberty tends to abolish the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class.” ~ Lord Acton Charles Darwin also warned us: Survival EQUALS ability to adapt to environment EQUALS ability to choose correctly EQUALS freedom: http://www.strike-the-root.com/62/ross/ross1.html Returning to the democracy topic, there are two basic problems: choice is limited (a survival hit) and politics is not limited to “common interest” (all persons EQUALLY benefit and pay), creating a perpetual “divide and conquer war” between predators vying for “legitimacy”, to prey on the people. Until these two problems are solved, there is zero possibility that democracy can be “fixed”, ever. Natural factors “the unseen hand” are manifesting as social / economic collapse which MUST continue until the “rule of law” is re-asserted (or total collapse to anarchy) and predators reined in and democracy limited to “common interest”. Our ancestors suffered from “rule of corrupt man” and chose peace and survival for all over unchecked greed which inevitably leads to “survival for none”. Think about it: http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/ross/ross2.html

When any piece of journalism invokes 'al-Qaeda' it discredits itself in my mind. This article brought it up in the first sentence. Al Qaeda is a boogeyman. It does not exist. It's sole purpose is to induce fear in the lumpenproles, and to stifle discussion about the real sponsors of terror. Those real sponsors are the black ops agencies of governments pursuing an agenda of terrorizing the population so they won't resist other parts of the same agenda. The ultimate goal of the people invoking al Qaeda is world domination. It amazes me that Muslims fall for this deception. MKG

Quote : Such moral anesthesia is dangerous. It allows people who are scrupulously moral in their private lives to become rapacious plunderers in the voting booth. *If the libertarian movement did nothing other than strip away the euphemisms and get the electorate, including nonlibertarians, to come face-to-face with their moral tradeoffs, government would shrink dramatically* i see the above as the starting point, strip off the layers etc, plenty easier to make the change peacefully, otherwise keep an eye over your shoulder, big job and gradual methinks.

How to Win in Iraq and Afghanistan... ok if one want's to win i suppose, any losses ?

Really happy to see the changes to the site. Please keep up the good work! A new design might be a useful next step to make it more visually appealing.

Truth-Bringer; Jefferson only repealed internal taxes, not taxes per se. Government funding was still based on violence. So Jefferson's didn't prove Milsted's assertion false. What did was the various examples of complete absence of government, e.g. in western mining towns, early Pennsylvania, and medieval Iceland. Most of the assertions Milsted's article have been proven wrong, for instance that the US military prevents wars.

"The Zero Aggression Principle demands immediate elimination of all taxation, and perhaps monopoly government in general. Yet eliminating these things would result in tribalism, warfare, and eventually dictatorship — that is, increases in aggression." I noticed that too. One problem with his assertion, history has proven it false. Thomas Jefferson repealed all internal taxes and there was no net increase in aggression as a result, nor did the government collapse. It was merely bound to its very limited powers under the original intent of the Constitution. The details of his tax repeal are here starting in the 1800 section: http://www.tax.org/Museum/1777-1815.htm

When you compromise with evil, evil wins. The power of liberty is that it is inherently moral, lose that and you lose everything.

RexCurry.net is the site that exposes the Pledge of Allegiance as the origin of Adolf Hitler's "Nazi" salute under the National Socialist German Workers Party. The site also archives other discoveries of the historian and symbologist Dr. Rex Curry, author of the book "Pledge of Allegiance Secrets." Francis Bellamy (cousin of author Edward Bellamy) was a socialist in the Nationalism movement and authored the Pledge of Allegiance (1892). http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html The early pledge began with a military salute that was then extended out toward the flag. In practice, the second gesture was performed palm-down with a stiff-arm when the military salute was merely pointed out at the flag. Thus, the military salute led to the Nazi salute in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States. http://rexcurry.net/45th-infantry-division-swastika-sooner-soldiers.html It was not an ancient Roman salute. That is a myth debunked by Dr. Curry, who showed that the myth came from the Pledge. American national socialists (including Edward Bellamy), in cooperation with Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, popularized the use of the Swastika (an ancient symbol) as a modern symbol for socialism long before the symbol was adopted by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis). http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html The Bellamys influenced the National Socialist German Workers Party and its dogma, rituals and symbols (e.g. robotic collective chanting to flags; and the modern use of the swastika as crossed S-letters for "Socialism" under German National Socialism). Similar alphabetical symbolism was used under the NSDAP for the "SS" division, the "SA," the "NSV," et cetera and similar symbolism is visible today as the Volkswagen VW logo. http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter4a1a2a1.html The Bellamys wanted the government to take over all food, clothing, shelter, goods and services and create an "industrial army" to impose their "military socialism." See the video documentary at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BssWWZ3XEe4 It is the same dogma that led to the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): ~60 million killed under the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; ~50 million under the Peoples' Republic of China; ~20 million under the National Socialist German Workers' Party. http://rexcurry.net/socialists.html Today, the flag symbolizes authoritarianism in the USA. The historical facts above explain the enormous size and scope of government today, and the USA's police state, and why it is growing so rapidly. They are reasons for minarchy: massive reductions in government, taxation, spending and socialism.

The "conflict" between moralist and consequentialist libertarians appears to be artificially induced. Every "truth" movement or proven scientific fact which has the implication that arbitrary power has reality limits is infiltrated by lying intellectuals and media shills who are paid very well to introduce confusion, controversy, denial and delay the inevitable acknowledging of truth. On this particular issue, the moralists argue: cease aggression NOW, the consequentialists: too costly, anarchy and social / economic collapse results. The two POV's differ only in time preference. The cost of not ceasing aggression is inevitably: anarchy and social / economic collapse. We are living this now and, arbitrary power is TERRIFIED. The reason is that we live in an action precedes consequence reality. We are already free to do anything consistent with the laws of physics. The only choice of others, organized power included is: what do they choose to do in response? The dominant action / consequence relationship here is that aggressions of arbitrary power have taken on the laws of nature, in particular, human nature and will to live. People are going from "trust of state equals willing participation" to "distrust of state, choosing to not associate" to "state is a personal survival danger, active opposition". If you want to have a clue regarding what is going on, you need to align to reality and learn how to THINK: http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/ross/ross2.html Our far wiser ancestors once placed us on the path to civilization by discovering and enforcing the "rule of law", now rationalized and educationally subverted away. As a consequence, civilization collapses, since its basis of operation is opposed by criminals wielding the collective power of we, the people: http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/ross/ross3.html Our tyrants are TERRIFIED as they see all of their foul works collapsing and people waking up. Hopefully, what is coming will be dealt with intelligently and morally.

Increased repair costs and hassles caused by this IP over reach would make me very unlikely to buy a vehicle from companies that did this.

"The Zero Aggression Principle demands immediate elimination of all taxation, and perhaps monopoly government in general. Yet eliminating these things would result in tribalism, warfare, and eventually dictatorship — that is, increases in aggression. ZAP applied to government violates its own underlying value. Aggression will always be with us. Complete elimination of aggression is a fantasy." This is quite a paragraph. In the first two sentences he pronounces that it is a known fact that anarchy is chaos. He then 'proves' his assertion by making a ridiculous connection between the ZAP and pacifism, assuming that there would be no defense/justice services in an anarchical society, all because he clearly does not understand the meaning of the word 'aggression.' Equating a society that respects the ZAP with an impossible aggression-less society is what they call a straw man, I believe. He is a minarchist, pure and simple, and with all the baggage that position entails: Aggression is just fine as long as you believe the ends are justified. "Am I a libertarian?" Nope. I hope that eliminates any confusion in your mind, sir.

Mr. Milsted doesn't seem to be a libertarian to me. He also doesn't seem to have a very good grasp of Austrian economics. He said the "Austrian model of ordered preferences and diminishing marginal utility" is "a crude model of human decision making." With friends like these who needs enemies.

I am very happy to see the new advances. Anything that makes STR more friendly for our community of libertarians/anarchists/agorists is a good thing. I look forward to the addition of a discussion forum if possible, as in earlier days. Else how will I know what Log from Blamo thinks? -- Mitrik Spanner

So true , But god have we heard about the Detroit attempt; not that it wasn't terrible before, but god is flying going to be horrible now with whatever bullshit the TSA comes up with after this . Dogs sniffing your crotch and nude body scanners ... fun