Give in to the Dark Side, urged Darth Vader. I think I may already have. But the “dark side” is just Stuff – the material possessions that tie me to the system, make me behave.
Why don’t I tell the cop who has pulled me over for some manufactured offense to go inseminate himself? Because I know he’s got me over the proverbial barrel. I have Stuff he can take (like my car) and of course, my money.
And I dare not risk doing anything that might interfere with my ability to earn more money – in order to have money for cops (and other agents of the state) to take. It’s a clever trap that kind of sneaks up on you . . . and once it clamps down, you’re stuck. Unless you decide to gnaw off a leg.
I often wonder – from the standpoint of How Things Are Today (and where things are headed tomorrow) what I’d do if I had it to do all over again. If, rather than being a vested 40-something with lots of Stuff to lose – and having invested decades acquiring said Stuff – I were 20-something right now and sans the Stuff.
I think it would be liberating.
They can’t take what you don’t have, after all.
No house? No problem!
The worst they can do to a renter is toss him out. If The Man takes the place over . . . well, it’s not your place. No worries. Move on.
Maybe in an RV. Some of these are very nice – as nice as some fixed-in-situ homes. Only there’s no real estate tax to sweat. Just find a place to park and maybe pay for something you actually want and need, like water and electric hook-ups as opposed to the social-and-obedient-worker (per George Carlin) training of other people’s children.
If the neighborhood goes south – or you just want a change of scenery – all you’ve got to do is turn the key and drive. Not so easy with a house. And if you have a fixed address they know where you live, too. With an RV, who knows? Besides which, it’s a simpler life. Some of you may remember The Rockford Files, starring James Garner. Got himself a trailer and parked it by the sea. Not much investment – but a lot gained – and not much they can take, either.
You live a cash-only existence. Work as you need to. No more than you have to. Say good-bye to providing the government with minute and exacting details about your finances; April 15th is just another day. Throw their got-damned forms in the woods.
Obamacare means nothing to you because you’re not held hostage by the threat of losing your “refund” for failing to purchase the services -at-gunpoint of the health-care mafia. You need a doc, you go see the doc. Pay him directly. No dealing with the sour fraus who exist solely to midwife the insurance paperwork. Better yet, just stay healthy – easy enough to do when you’re not constantly stressed out by having to work like a railroad coolie so that they can take 30-40 percent off the top and then tell you what you may (and may not) do with whatever you buy using the remainder.
Being truly self-employed (working off-book, person to person) means not having to tithe 15 percent off the top, too. You might be poorer on paper, but a lot richer in actuality.
What price, after all, can one put on being free?
Free of being an indentured servant. Free of the daily galling ordeal of having to check your actions – and even your thoughts – in order to not offend the rules of the proverbial company town? Free to be able to do as you please, when you please.
Free – most of all – of them.
By not having Stuff, they have no power over you. Or a lot less power. You have far more freedom of action – far less to lose. When there’s not much they can do to you, there’s not much they can do to you. Remember your Solzenitsyn.
This is probably what it’s come down to – or coming down to.
Gen Xers like me are probably the last demographic cohort for whom the American Dream had any verisimilitude – and even that is fading fast. The next rung down – the Millennials – know full well how well and truly screwed they are. Which is why they Slack to a degree my “slacker” generation could only hope to aspire to. They live like college students in a group house, each paying a small amount of rent. They eschew cars – having done the math and realizing that there’s not much fun to be had there anymore, but a lot of hassle and expense. Get an easy job that pays the basic bills, but not enough to incur much tax liability.
Screw the cube farm – and the mortgage – because there’s no pay-off.
Ever.
Better to be free, if that’s all they’ll let us have.
Throw it in the Woods?
Twitter: LibertarianCarG
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>>”You live a cash-only existence. Work as you need to. No more than you have to. Say good-bye to providing the government with minute and exacting details about your finances; April 15th is just another day. Throw their got-damned forms in the woods.”<<
Wow! The story of my life! And I'm one of the lucky ones- as I figured this stuff out when I was a teen! Nothing illegal of course- I learned to keep my "income" below taxable levels…. But as a result of this lifestyle, I know more freedom than most Americans alive today have ever known; I don't have to waste the majority of my waking hours tethered to some job and earning a profit for someone else; nor give half of the fruit of my labor to our master, the gov't; I can sleep well, knowing that my labor is not going to support the police state/various wars/welfare programs for degenerates/ etc.
And ironically, for one who lives below the "poverty level", I live like a king; I have zero debts- everything I own is paid for(Including my vehicles and my home); and I can come up with more cash than people I know who make 10 times as much as i do.
Less is truly more.
Thank God I figured this out at an early age, and went against the established grain. I have a friend- middle-aged, like myself- who spent her life acquiring degrees and debt; and working in environments in which she was miserable (academia) and has only recently come to see the light…and is just now starting to live and cast off her former shackles- acknowledging that the last 40 years of her life were essentially a waste- and so now has to start out from square one, with virtually NOTHING to show for all the effort; misery; and time expended in the past.
I can totally relate to what you guys are writing on this thread. I’ve gone Minimalist myself a time or two. It’s joyful,… and liberating.
On the other hand, I’m reminded of this pile of metal-junk-scrap-shit my farmer grandfather had in the corner of his farm.
Add to that, the shelves of screws and do-hickies my other, ‘machine shop grandfather’ had. And I think: If you wanna fix stuff and create things, you need resources, a.k.a. “stuff”.
I’m reminded of a line I saw in a Western once, “I don’t “want” Money, I Just need it.”
I think a lot of people get confused between what they “need” and what they “want”. I live on 28 acres, so I need little more than the average minimalist- i.e a tractor and some equipment- but my neighbors seem to think they *need* a tractor with an air-conditioned cab (which costs more than my whole place!) and a few hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment to make a few bales of hay which they coulod buy for $20….
It’s amazing…my total net worth might be about $150K….yet I know people who are millionaires, who don’t live as good as i do; work much harder; and have nothing more to show for it- and I really don’t know how they can stand it, having to be worried about/constantly futzing with so many unnecessary annoyances.
The way I see it: Life is full of annoyances. The best life can be had by minimizing annoyances- but it seems that the average person thinks just the opposite: That life can be better by multiplying annoyances.
As to big men, I used to have a good friend from Tonga. He got fired and and then dragged thru domestic court by an unstable ex with a mental illness. These women get a free ride after they breakup, but I think they have to sell out their man so the gravy train keeps coming. Normally he was always joking around, but after that he completely withdrew, and didn’t want anyone to say anything to him, not even small talk.
I overheard him talking to one of the head honcho’s secretaries the last time I saw him. Sounded like the ex had accused him of touching their kid or something inappropriate by the bits I could overhear. They were both crying about it. He just kind of disappeared after that, last I knew he’s lives at his church which he was always very active in. Once you get captured in that net, you’re done for.
He was an offensive lineman in college. Must have been 450 or 500 pounds easy. Didn’t seem to hold him back any, strong as an ox, I think that was just normal for him. I think you could have run into him with a Prius, and he the car would have just crumpled around him.
What is Stockholm Syndrome? (Mental Health Guru)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riwHaBHnTi0
These Guru’s never look at themselves. In what ways is he a hostage, I wonder if he’s ever asked himself. Probably as much or maybe more than any bank hostage.
Seems to me we can be participate in things voluntarily in a sort of unanimous consenting contract. Or we can be hostages sort of like how an animal in a zoo ends up being. You’re provided for, but you have no autonomy or self-ownership. At this late date, I’m not going to cooperate as a hostage any longer.
My friends and family consent to being hostages as I see it. But I am only a visitor and passerby in their world. I don’t consider myself a part of it. Only a part of them. I am in a relationship with them specifically, but if push comes to shove, I’ll walk away from it all, rather than let anyone start shoving me.
Women and children in this country are 100% liberated as far as I’m concerned. I’ve liberated myself from them as well. I’m not you’re hostage, and you don’t owe me anything you don’t want to voluntarily give.
Just don’t expect me to really listen to your tales of being a hostage to this city or that company or family or whatever. I really couldn’t give a crap about the part of you that accepts being a hostage. To the degree that your identity involves being a corporate, relationship, or state hostage, is the degree to which you don’t even exist as far as I’m concerned.
Tor, I guess when it came time to pick my battles I probably picked them all. I guess that’s a personality trait or disorder, according to who views it. Got my ass for not praying, not taking my hat off, not standing up and say Hosanna’s to the flag, just for fairly much everything. Got my ass kicked by the state, the county and the feds. Tough ass sumbitch huh? Not so much, been fairly tenderized. But when I sit down on what’s left, I know it’s mine and not sold to any common precept everybody else follows or seems to anyway. You’ll know I saluted, put my hand over my heart, took my hat off, prayed to a false god and sang about a spangled banner when you see hell is truly frozen over…..and it’s not a done deal even then.
So yeh, I think I know where you’re coming from.
I hear what you’re saying eight, and those I willingly associate with, I absolutely consider kindred spirits. No matter what they do really. I reach permanent unconditional detente with them no matter what. No exceptions.
With the people at large, it has become a false detente. There are producers and providers of the Things That Be. Many of which I need or want. And others things which serve to keep the bastards occupied and their hands off me.
The general public who in any way infringe, and all who participate or subscribe to the legitimacies of the capture-bonders, I consider my mortal enemy. Always and foremost I seek to avoid and elude them. Worse case, I don’t see how I can extend the NAP to them, when they would kill or cage me on a whim.
– – –
Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome
These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness. The FBI’s Hostage Barricade Database System shows that roughly 8% of victims show evidence of Stockholm syndrome.
– I wonder if the FBI database has a percentage of victims who see abuse by those in costumes as an act of kindness?
I would say modern police state ameriKa has become an instance of Oslo syndrome.
A corollary of the Stockholm syndrome, was proposed by Kenneth Levin in his 2005 book The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege in which he argued that the syndrome can afflict an entire people. (aka Uncle Tom syndrome, Self-hating Jew, and White Male Privilege Guilt)
http://www.oslosyndrome.com/
Unlike Israel,ameriKans are under siege by their own government
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/The-two-state-psychosis-The-Oslo-Syndrome-revisited-311914
Tor, it wouldn’t surprise me if the FBI Did have statistics for people who viewed abuse as a kindness. I’m not saying they’d admit to it or share their results.
i had never heard of the Oslo Syndrome but I have read others who perpetuate the real idea of “women’s lib” as a CIA development to emasculate the men of this country. I’d say they’ve done a great job.
Mind you, I’m a firm believer in the NAP and while I don’t initiate violence, it doesn’t mean I have never been caught up in it. I first went to the oil patch in ’69 I think it was. It was wild and wooly and bar fights were just a way of life, often between crews of two different companies or individuals with history of each other and sometimes, just the random clash of personalities egged on by alcohol consumption and huge amounts of testosterone. You had to be in shape back then to do any of the work and you had to have some serious muscle. So high testosterone levels were the norm instead of the exception. 3 days and nights working solid will result in stressed people with little patience or sympathy for someone else reeking of that high degree of sex hormone, anathema to individual males.
I recently returned to trucking but this time, back in the patch. I’ve never seen such a bunch of big, fat boys in my life and nary a fight. I don’t mean some carrying extra weight but purely obese. Gee, a machine to do every job, piss tests and hair tests for drugs with anyone with half a ball is simply how it is now. Gloria Steinem must be basking in glory as she watches the big-titted crowd of MEN. And so must TPTB.
I have no problem believing the Oslo theory as I’ve heard people just being so happy the occifer cut them a break and didn’t give them a ticket for something such as speeding at the real mph they had been going. Of course they do this just to get compliance since it’s no hair off their ass to do so.
it’s not hard for anyone who pay attention to anything to see where this is going to end, abject slavery although everyone will have a big screen tv, an SUV and plenty alcohol and pharmaceuticals to keep them happy, The blue pill isn’t fiction, and hasn’t been for decades, it’s what everybody is taking now. And you and I are the one’s everybody’s waiting on to die off so they can sing along to nonsensical crap on the radio and dream of a new, bigger, better smart phone.
45 years ago Facebook would have been Face Down Book with everybody posting such bs as they do. Twitter would definitely have been reserved for the gay crowd. Twitter? “Boy, I don’t know what you’re tryin to say to me but you’d better not be calling me a twitter. I’ll kick your ass.” and if you persisted you’d have it demonstrated to you. I’m sure Cartman has a song to sum this up with although I don’t know which one.
We have met the enemy….and he is us….?
Somehow I knew something was up last time, eight. I made the DMV lady take my picture 32 times (IIRC). Each time I pretended not to know I wasn’t quite directly looking into the camera.
She sure was persistent, I imagine she had no choice. Just like at McD’s, it’s not over till the POS system tells her it’s over. Until IT verifies she’s enabled THEM to put a boot to my face at will. Gotta love the whole slave drivers license psyop.
AFAIK I never did look directly into the camera and she gave up. I hope that’s what happened. The wife was right there rolling her eyes at me the whole time too.
I’ve considered myself to be in counter intelligence and part of the resistance since I was 2 years old. I always felt something was awry.
Becoming a latch key kid a few years earlier than the Parents That Be had planned due to a red Tonka cement mixer truck.
Me and this older spoiled rich kid in daycare had a disagreement about who’s property my truck was. I resolved to settle the matter like a gentleman rather conclusively by submitting my proof of possession against the side of his cranium.
Sometimes a Game Of Toys duel is the only way to settle an argument to everyone’s satisfaction.
I read every scrap and found every hidden secret in that house, got to the truth of my familial incarceration without detection in a thorough fashion at a fairly young age.
Life is beautiful, like Roberto says, couldn’t ask for much more, but don’t let the Stockholm Syndrome blind you to the truth or stop you from doing what you really want to do with YOUR life, I’ve come to believe.
Tor, BTW, the old eye checking machine had new cables going to a computer also. DPS in Tx. just implements things, sometimes that the legislature has passed on, simply because they can. I’d bet there’s retina scan software in it now since their budget had been increased to the tune of $500B in the last 4 years. A great deal of that falls under “fatherland security”.
I can see fine with my eyes barely open so I use that ploy and haven’t been called out on it yet. I have had DL’s in the past where my eyes were closed when the flash went off and they didn’t catch it. I was bsing with the woman in charge I knew(a mother of a friend) and a couple of occifers just standing around and shooting the breeze. I told them and good joke and they were all belly laughing while I got my pic done……with my shades on. I still have that DL. This last time I was astutely listening to the woman who was running the office telling me of her near death experience involving a 16 yr old girl in a driving test turning in front of speeding traffic. I was very sympathetic and kept her talking as she hurriedly realized I had no code on my DL for wearing glasses…..so I slid by once again without it because I didn’t have to take the test or at least, didn’t take it. I could probably have passed it but it was nice to get some small victory as I saw it. The Stockholm Syndrome can work both ways I’ve found out. Many things can be overlooked if they view you as a kindred spirit. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. I can no longer take my truck and go home and do it my way so reaching detente is the only realistic way to endure……
Congrats on the eye victory, and it was a victory as I see it. No matter what DHS says, in a one on one contact, they still can’t quite come to think of older men as “the enemy”. For the most part they’re right too, in any physical way at least. I don’t show up with an AR slung across my back and they don’t see me as such. It’s a draw…..for now.
George Carlin on “Stuff”:
Of course at times we do not want to lose our stuff either.
Stuff is great . . . when it’s actually your stuff, free of encumbrances and expenses once paid for. To do with as you like, without being told how you may (and may not) use it.
Thus: A piece of land is great to own, if you can actually own it outright, once you’ve paid the seller. But you’ll never be able to pay off the government. You pay rent on “your” land for as long as you “own” it. And the moment you stop paying the rent, you’ll find out exactly who really does own it.
Also, it’d be great if you could do as you liked with “your” land – such as build an off-grid cabin, if such was your desire.
But, no. You are told exactly what sort of dwelling you may build on “your” land. Which is different exactly how from a landlord telling a renter what he may – and may not do… ? Well, there is this difference: You still pay rent (taxes) but don’t enjoy the renters privilege of walking away whenever it no longer suits you.
Same with cars, motorcycles, etc.
Nice to own them . . . if you actually do own them.
Which of course, we don’t.
Dear Eric,
“But, no. You are told exactly what sort of dwelling you may build on “your” land. ”
As Bill Clinton put it, “I feel your pain.” Joking aside, I do. It’s one reason I got disgusted with architecture.
But you know what’s mind-boggling? How many architects don’t feel any pain about it. They take all the clover regulations and professional licensing crap as “just the way things are.” Many of them in fact, wallow in it. They are clovers themselves. Like EPA clover, they have “done alright for themselves within the system.”
I never could. It always stuck in my craw. Needless to say, the concept of Galt’s Gulch had enormous appeal for me.
I’ll admit that if I didn’t have all my “stuff” I would have been gone a long time ago.
It’s all that keeps me playing along. That and having a wife.
If I were single, 25… and just had my motorcycle and bedroll….
Eightsouthman, Jean, Helot, you am not playing along with genius Bizarro self-improvement plan!
Me am trying fill self full bizarro hatred and cheer your screaming with laughter as you am destroyed.
But you meriKans am so folksy and likable me can’t stay full of psychotic curmudgeonly glee.
Pretty imperfect, huh?
Now what Bizarro meriKan am doing? Me am empty with certainty.
Hee sed lock da do!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx2YiMALbWY
Why am him not chimping? He no understand him am victim archetype? Me am confuse.
Tor, he do understand…..a couple years ago when the probation officer said, Hey, wait a minute, we just realized we don’t have your pic”. After 8 friggin years and many pics they don’t have it? They just don’t have it with the new computerized camera with facial recognition. I go in this year to get a new DL on a mixup so I just need to change the answer on a form for a Class A CDL and I’m gone. Only I had to give all ten fingerprints, no big deal for me since even Mayberry has mine but then I notice the new camera has all the things that facial recognition camera had. DPS in this state just does stuff without legislative approval since who’s gonna stop them? Just go to Grits for Breakfast and you can read the entire sordid story.
Nobody is even aware they’re having their pic done in facial recognition software so TPTB can access any cam, anywhere and compare to your features. A few people besides me caught on but I’d bet it’s not into the triple digits in this state of those aware of what’s going on….ok……not counting lawyers. So my big thing these days is how to make my face up to thwart this technology. I know it can be done without wearing a false beard but even that is illegal in this state. Yep, you can’t wear a false beard….if you’re trying to opt out or some other nefarious deed….such as not being recognized by public cams, i.e., convenience store, Wally, bank, etc. But no laws “yet” about wearing make-up. Hey, the women all do it to the point you can’t recognize them without it which is just the opposite of my goal. Sorry (insert female name), didn’t recognize you without your make-up. But there’s a double standard for non-split tails. I don’t give a damn if people stare. I’ll have a different “look” the next time they see me anyway. I just need to figure out how to do the makeup thing so I’m not recognizable by cameras. If I go into a store with a fake beard that goes to my sunglasses and I don’t do it so I can rip them off of any other unlawful thing am I still breaking the law? I’m sure they’ll be glad to answer that as soon as they can come up with some charges.
I gotta tell you Tor, I don’t wanna play anymore. I always got an S in citizenship anyway since I thought the other kids were idiots and would rather not play with them. I would have been much happier with all my trucks, trailers, dirt working equipment and the like. My big Tonka dump truck would dump itself even if I had to crank my excavator to load it. My road grader did an excellent job and someone else to run it just screwed things up. I don’t know if my mom understood this but I think she did. I know my dad did. He didn’t need anyone to help him with his work and resented anyone thinking they could somehow improve on it. He didn’t need some dumbass standing behind him patting him on the back and saying Good Job!. How would they know?
“I don’t wanna play anymore.”
Helot, ever read any Carl Hiassen? It’s enjoyable writing and he points out time and again in countless circumstances the idiocy of nearly everything. He has a recurring character known as The Governor, a guy who actually was(in his books)a former Florida governor who couldn’t take the bs any longer and disappeared. He lives in the Everglades where he saves some, off’s others and dispenses backwoods justice to those who screw up the earth and other people. He’s the guy a lot of us deep down wish we were or could be. He eats off the land with plenty of fresh roadkill in the mix, wears what he wants, fairly much does what he wants(he’s the guy who takes care of the earth and the flora and fauna to some extent as well as culling those who need it). I don’t need the title but I’d like to live as he does to some extent. He needs nothing, no money, no bought food, wears clothes, to some extent, and fairly much gets what he needs from others offcast. This is one of the best characters I’ve had the pleasure to come across. Hiassen’s books are very entertaining. Try him(if you haven’t), I can’t help but think you’d like him…..and so would nearly every other free spirit I can think of. Now I gotta order a Kindle paper white so I can read Game of Thrones, another book(s) that’s come highly recommended to me by many.
Dear 8sm,
This Hiassen feller sounds mighty interesting! I’m going to check him out! Thanks!
Re: GOT
Just bought the books. Paperbacks. Each volume is as thick as the Christian Bible!
Haven’t started on them yet. But the TV series is true to the books according to those who have read them, and it is very good indeed.
BC
Dear 8sm,
Just found out I have already watched a film adaptation of one of Hiassen’s works.
Hoot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoot_%28film%29
Concern for the environment is great as long as it is consistent with the NAP, which it definitely can be.
The premise that “we must not foul our own nest” is a sound one. It’s all a matter of how one goes about it.
One approach consistent with libertarianism is that of the Nature Conservancy, which buys land on the free market and preserves it without resort to ED.
Bevin, Hoot is one I don’t recall reading and sounds like they could have saved money in making the film by calling it all off.
I saw the first season of Game and it was very good. I know others who have seen all made so far and read all books written who can’ stop raving about it.
I have always tried to be a good steward of the earth. I know many who think as I do. Too many of the younger generation though think nothing of chunking anything out the window or leaving trash lying. CJ and I were walking the driveway yesterday when a flash of sun off a foil packet nearly blinded me. I picked it up and it was a worthless kiddie fruit thing with some steroided baseball players mug on the front. I didn’t have to wonder where it came from nor the various cans, bottles and cigarette butts I find. It’s just not possible to find a renter any longer who absolutely doesn’t litter. They’re all too busy to clean up after themselves. I regularly pick up shotshells and encourage everyone to shoot side by side or over/under shotguns since these days all of them have extractor/ejectors so you can simply catch spent shells in the hand you’re using to insert new ones. For decades I hunted with a friend and then only way you could tell where we’d been was by footprints and bird feathers.
Dear 8sm,
” I regularly pick up shotshells and encourage everyone to shoot side by side or over/under shotguns since these days all of them have extractor/ejectors so you can simply catch spent shells in the hand you’re using to insert new ones. ”
Ditto. I shoot only automatics, so picking up my own brass or shotshells is more work for me, but I always do it.
Brass is expensive, and I reload all my calibers except of course .22 LR. The shotshells I don’t reload, but I give them to them to friends who do.
I can’t see leaving trash all over the place. One of the cruel ironies on Taiwan is that some of the shrillest political demagogues who talk about “loving Taiwan” hold political rallies that totally trash the venues they are held upon.
Bevin, long ago we started using plastic tarps when we were target practicing. Clean up is easy and quick. I’ve been reloading since I was young so even shotshells were once all kept for that. In the last couple decades I’ve been able to buy new shotshells and some brass ammo as cheaply as I can reload it and that sucks to be honest. I’d rather keep cycling that old WW through a shotgun or not have scads of 5.45 brass. We’re seeing powder and bullet prices come down some but primers are still expensive. At the same time new ammo has dropped a bit too. It won’t ever be the same old cheap ammo it was before Newtown and the gungrabber scares along that timeline. BO has been the best salesman for the gun and ammo industry ever.
SHTF math? Good luck trying to learn common core math techniques while living in a van down by the river. Skip ahead to 3:00. I’m here to help you learn to free. Just like Matt, I’m gonna bunk with you. We’re gonna be buddies.
http://vimeo.com/37818251
Go ahead throw your vote away. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAT_BuJAI70
For example I haven’t found a way around having to participate in the drivers’s license “your papers please” scam aside from possibly living in a city and not having a car.
There is a way but it involves time and paying cash for your car as well as insurance.
I certainly would never say how except to a person I know and never in writing.
I pay cash for just about everything, car and insurance included.
I certainly respect your not wanting to divulge details in a public forum that is populated by strangers. If you have a pointer to a site that you have no personal connection with that has some leads on the issue, let us know if you feel so inclined.
The driver’s license and registration, with the escalating conditions attached to them, are becoming one of the lynchpins in tyranny against individual freedom in the U.S. Since transportation is a necessity, it’s a tough nut to crack unless one wants to live in a city and only use public transit. (That of course has its own downsides.)
r u still SEDUCED by state?
13 year old boy ripped from family by CPS vultures. Mirror of the video little black dress wearing GAVEL BANGER ordered taken down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRjTjqCWMbo
In Loving Memory of Buddy Cook
http://www.lukesarmy.com/content/loving-memory-buddy-cook-who-died-adoption-aged-4-years-old
Judge Keith Dean this week ordered the removal of a YouTube video produced by a 13-year-old boy
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/11/Texas-Judge-Orders-Removal-of-YouTube-Video-Exposing-Abuse-in-Foster-Care-System/
“To be an Anarchist is a great idea” – Ron Paul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoSFarMaBsI
What is the free market?
So, so true about “stuff.”
The mrs. and I have been living in an RV for the last eight years and wouldn’t trade it for anything! It certainly limits how much stuff one can have, that’s for sure. As long as I have space for my two black powder cannon (I do), my rifle, pistols and shotgun and associated ammo (I do), I am happy. She has room for all of her gee-gaws and craft stuff, too.
If the people at the trailer park where I live piss me off, I hook up the trailer to the truck (2005 Chevy Silverado 2500) and move on.
What’s even better from my perspective, I own both truck and trailer and only have to worry about rent space and electric. Still, if the “big one” comes, the truck is outfitted with appropriate gear to survive for at least a month in the wilds.
Remember Chris Farley and his Van by the River skit? It doesn’t sound half bad these days…
All this talk about budda?
its easy to do just what you talk about in your article,
no DL no car insurance, no bank account, no possesions for the govt to steal, no taxable income for the govt to steal.
Just be an illegal immigrant.
boom! the govt can’t touch you and in fact coddles and encourages you to work a cash job, have no bank account and looks the other way when you get caught driving with no insurance and DL.
If you want, they’ll even fly you to your “family’s house” in Hawaii!
http://watchdog.org/162474/unaccompanied-alien-children-hawaii/
it’s not about buddha. it’s about choosing your own narratives. look at what you’ve written. it’s all them.
“drivers license. insurance. bank account. taxation. illegal immigrant. get caught.”
those are their concoctions. praise them, rage against them. it’s all the same to them. limiting yourself is what they need. you’re better off clicking the random article link on wikipedia. anything really, except letting them control you. define you. confine you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkappiyam_chapter_1-2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyauchi_Station
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zovuni
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorists:_The_Kids_They_Sentenced
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Decimus_Barraud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurabuprestis
6 random topics. something else to think about. what if THEY build a perfect matrix and no one cares.
You’re right, Jason.
It’s become obnoxious in the extreme.
Mind: I have no issue with people “getting away” with the things you mention. I’d just like to be able to “get away” with them also!
Justin, I tried to figure out how to do just that over a decade ago. It was obvious I’d have much more money and freedom if I only had the “illegal alien” moniker or green card status. How often would I be profiled to get pulled over? Never. Even if I did get checked out on some situation I’d be just as adept with the language as the occifer and could probably BS my way to simply go on. I liked the idea of free healthcare, money for rent, free food, etc. I don’t know how it gets any better and the cherry on top, you can buy anything you want with proper ID since banksters are all crazy as hell to sell an illegal or green card resident something so they can foreclose on it(their thinking).
eric, very pertinent article and well done. Short, concise, clean vertical blow to the horizontal plane of an impact fastener.
Only by the sheer luck of numbers has clover not experienced anything to change her mind. Once she’s been a victim, through no fault of her own…..like everyone else, will she come to maybe realize the injustice and wrongness of the entire system.
For the last several years I’ve come to view my holdings as liabilities.
I didn’t live at my parent’s house when I was 21 but I happened to be visiting when some kin arrived. I had an uncle who asked me how I was doing, that I was looking good although skinny.
I told him I was happier than I’d ever been. I had nothing except a car…and in those days it wasn’t a big deal to own one. I didn’t even need it since I had recently quit trucking(a brief lapse)and used my 10 speed bicycle to take me pretty much anywhere I wanted to go. I had no pause to cycle 20 miles one way, in fact, I loved it. I had other friends who would drop by after riding from Dallas to Lubbock on their bikes. We had a friend “drop in” on his bike after leaving Dallas one morning and we lived near Snyder, a fair piece.
I could never have guessed at my age I’d want out of all of it. One Fender flat top, an old pickup with a spot for CholleyJack and i’d be happy enough if I were single. I’ve been lucky in life that I’ve only had to bust ass and whip ass while my wife kept it all in line.
I know right where people my age, dumping everything they have and hitting the road with no definite plans, are coming from now. Some of us oldsters are feign to present ID for any reason. I was incensed when I had to do the ten digit fingerprint on my last DL(not that every agency in the US doesn’t have it). I’m sorta amused at some of my old college buds who have been pretty hypocritical up until it now is their problem too.
Now there’s a bunch(usual suspects) wanting to make it mandatory for CDL holders as well as retina scans and DNA records. Count me out at that point. I have lived in a tent before although I had no dog or cats. Since I got run over and hurt in that recent wreck I can see us ducking out. My wife just had her second stroke in as many months. We see the writing on the wall and aren’t hot to deal with lawyers, LEO’s, IRS nor any other “official” entity.
Instead of saying “go fuck yourself”, now I simply remain silent. It unnerves them for you to simply not say anything. Or as I recently commented” Hey, a 20% raise across the board…..that’s gotta be nice”. The DPS in this state got a 20% pay increase last year…..no problem……we liked paying for it.
Well, at least there’s Obamacare to take care of us eight. I’m sure nurse Annie’ll know just what we need.
Misery (1990) Hobbling – Stephen King
Tor, that got my attention. I think of that every now and then after breaking my leg last year. Who the hell is that screaming? Oh, it’s me….never mind.
Well you gotta hang in there. Maybe I’ll chase down a clover tourist later tonight, and make a sacrificial offering of him as some kind of atonement on your behalf.
The worst pain a human is capable of enduring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it0V7xv9qu0
An Amazon tribes’ coming-of-age ritual: Bullet Ant gloves! The toxins released by the ants generates the worst pain a human is capable of experiencing.
Can it be used on a blowgun dart?
Here, piggy, piggy…. Here, Mayor, Mayor…
Give it to his mistress to “puff up his Johnson.”
African tribes do it intentionally…. (Not necessarliy same ants, but who cares, right? Ants are ants are ants…. 😉 )
I hear tell that Guadalahara is nice this time of year… ANY time of year! 🙂
Ask Fred…. (Reed, of course.)
$22 bullet ants shipped from ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/251474331549?lpid=82
I think they’re dead tho
Can you pass the bullet ant test?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwvIFO9srUw
eric,
great stuff reading this reminded of george carlin’s “stuff” and why we have houses.
http://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLac
it isn’t always the “stuff” you own, sometimes it is having people you love, wife, children etc…, the sociopaths and clovers will always use them to leverage and coerce you.
simplifying is great and noble but the greatest liabilities are also the greatest things to possess, its the perpetual double edged sword.
I’m living the lifestyle you’re describing in this post right now Eric. A few years back I bought a used 5th wheel on eBay, paid 3500 FRNs for it. 30 feet long with a 12 foot slide out, perfect size for one person. I’m set up in a park in the Peoples Republic of Florida where I pay $450 a month total for my lot rent which includes my water, sewer, and electricity, the only thing I pay separately for is propane for my stove and furnace in the winter. I got it out of state and never registered the thing, so I’ve never paid a dime to the motor vehicle extortionate department. If I ever decide to travel with it regularly I might put a plate on it. I work for cash so 4/15 is just a reminder that I need to buy my sister a birthday card.
I’m in my mid-thirties. I look at my friends and most of the people younger than me who are running on the treadmill for more money to pay for more stuff, pay big bucks for rent on apartments or houses (usually double what I’m paying a month), pay the bank for the house they “own”, pay monthly car payments for the next X number of years, pay for whatever and I just shake my head. I don’t believe in re-incarnation or the hereafter, I’m pretty convinced that this is the only life I’m going to have, so by Zeus, I’m going to enjoy this life. And I’ve found that, for me at least, the best way to do that is to simplify as much as possible. All I need is my truck, my movable house, my motorcycle and the tools of my trade. I’m pretty sure I’m happier than 99% of people who have the house and the picket fence.
Just my 2 satoshi, YMMV.
Keep up the good work, I love the site.
Mind if I ask what line of work you are in ? I’m in FLA also. I’m about your age and am exploring these options myself currently. I’m exactly in the situation you describe except all I do is save. Not interested in stuff, I’m interested in being free of these 4 office walls. Was trying to save to a point that I wouldn’t have to work within a few years and that goal just seems impossible at this point.
Any more details you were willing to offer would be appreciated.
These days it’s mostly scrap metal when my back and knee are up to it, and trading crypto-currencies online. I also paint, canvases, not houses, and I’m hoping that eventually, in the next couple of years, I can transition to the point that I’ll be doing that full time. Because my expenses are so low, (except for quality oil paint, that stuff is unbelievably costly) I can really move around without having to worry too much.
My suggestions would be, if you’re tech savvy, online trading, especially the new crypto-currency markets can be really profitable, but be careful, they’re profitable because they’re super volatile. Beyond that, if you know how to code or want to learn, it’s one of the most flexible ways to make money out there. I’m not a coder, but I know enough computers to occasionally pick up some work doing fixes, virus removals, killing bloat-ware on Android smart phones and things like that.
I wish I had some better advice for you. I can get along like this because I’m okay with just squeaking by, I don’t have much extra at all right now, but that will change over time. Best advice; 1) Cut your expenses to the bone, figure out where every penny you have coming in is going and eliminate anything that’s unnecessary. 2) Don’t save, invest. Find something you’re interested in/like and learn the market for it. It can be anything, real estate, stocks, commodities, art, technology, whatever. Just do your homework first, long before you put any money in anything, make sure you’re investing, not gambling. 3) Consider changing jobs. Can you sell? If you can do sales, really sell things on commission, you can make a ton of money. The best paid people I’ve ever met were salesmen.
I wish you the best of luck out there.
A Man’s A Man For A’ That
Robert Burns 1795
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that.
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man’s a Man for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that;
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that:
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that:
The man o’ independent mind
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that;
But an honest man’s abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their dignities an’ a’ that;
The pith o’ sense, an’ pride o’ worth,
Are higher rank than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a’ that,)
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s coming yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMRbOupoUfM
Should all advocations be forgot…
Should all the ancients be forgot…
Should all backwardations be forgot…
Should all complaintants be forgot…
Should all contagions be forgot…
Should all degredations be forgot…
Should all dictations be forgot…
Should all enslavements be forgot…
Should all frustrations be forgot…
Should all the hatreds be forgot…
Should all invasions be forgot….
Should all ligations be forgot…
Should all the nations be forgot….
Should all obligations be forgot…
Should all proclamations be forgot…
Should all recitations be forgot…
Should all self-negations be forgot…
Should all the patrons be forgot…
Should all prostrations be forgot…
Should all stipulations be forgot…
Should all usurpations be forgot…
Should all venerations be forgot…
Should all violations be forgot…
Should all westernizations be forgot…
AuldOld LangLong SynePast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U3w_zpiWSE
I think there is at least some tie-in here with the “love of silver” we were writing about here just a few days ago.
BTW, I’ve attended church for all of my nearly 64 years, and have often heard it mentioned that the problem is not ‘money,’ but ‘the love of money.’ But never before heard Rev’s explanation about the idiomatic phrase ‘love of silver.’ Good stuff.
One way to transcend seduction is thru Buddhism:
The Buddha was a man who lived some 2,600 years ago and who revolutionised religious thought. This way of thought spread widely and has now found its way to the West.
The word ‘buddha’ stands for the awakened state (literally it means ‘awakened’), so it is used in relation to waking up to truth, to becoming enlightened.
It is commonly agreed there are four truths: the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, and the path, the way to be free of suffering.
We suffer when life does not go our way, when our hopes are dashed, and when disappointment or tragedy strikes.
We also suffer when life does go our way. Why? Because we fear loss — loss of pleasure, wealth, family and friends. This is the truth of suffering.
The nature of belief is itself an important issue. Belief is to be seen as belief, not as fact. When we see our beliefs as facts, then we are deluding ourselves. When we see our beliefs as beliefs, then we are not.
Seeing things in their true light is the most important thing. Deluding ourselves is the cause of much suffering. So try to see beliefs as beliefs. You may still believe in certain things — that is your prerogative — but do not cling to those beliefs; do not mind or worry about whether their beliefs are true or not, nor try to prove that which you know cannot be proved.
Ideally, though, a Buddhist does not indulge in any kind of belief.
Rebirth can be explained in this way. Take away the notion of a soul or a being living inside the body; take away all ideas of self existing either inside or outside the body. Also take away notions of past, present and future; in fact take away all notions of time.
Now, without reference to time and self, there can be no before or after, no beginning or ending, no birth or death, no coming or going. Yet there is life! Rebirth is the experience of life in the moment, without birth, without death; it is the experience of life which is neither eternal nor subject to annihilation.
Does that mean there is no such thing as birth and death?
That which is born, dies. Forms come and go. All that comes into existence is impermanent. The physical body is impermanent; it is born and it dies. But the very essence of what ‘I’ am — buddha-nature — is unborn and undying.
You should be concerned with truth, not with belief, and to see things as they are. If you believe anything which has not been experienced, you should know what you are doing. When you do not understand something, then to maintain an open mind is the healthiest and wisest practice.
What happens when we die?
If you understand what the word ‘I’ really represents, you realise the answer to this question. Buddhism does not offer intellectual answers; it gives directions only for the experiencing of truth.
It possible to experience truth by understanding that ‘I’ and birth and death are notions, concepts, ideas, beliefs. It is the idea of a self living life through time which produces the idea of birth and death.
You have been conditioned into believing that you have come into existence and in due course you will cease to exist. If you see through these ideas and realise that this moment neither begins nor ends, you shall realise deathlessness.
When you get rid of ideas, you enable yourself to see deathlessness. The deathless is here all the while, but ideas block it out. It is like the sun on a cloudy day. We do not see the sun because of the clouds, but as soon as the clouds are cleared away, there is the sun.
Likewise, as soon as ideas are cleared away from the mind, there is the true state: birthless, deathless.
By seeing ideas as ideas and not as truths; by being aware of mental and physical actions and reactions exactly as they occur. One clears away ideas and becomes aware. This awareness is meditation.
There are different exercises taught by teachers of traditions and schools. Many of these exercises can only be administered by experienced meditation teachers. For the average person, however, whose aim is to realise the teachings of the Buddha, meditation is a simple process of awareness and investigation.
By being fully aware as one thinks, speaks and acts, one practices this kind of meditation. Sitting meditation is the same. It is a question of being aware moment by moment. The opportunity for seeing truth is ever present, because truth is ever present.
Conditions are always just right for being aware
of the true situation. One has to be conscious of what is taking place within one and around one without making any judgments. If one ‘sees’ by being aware, then one will see very deeply into everything.
Sitting meditation is the shutting down of all sense stimuli in order to realise that the essence of one’s being is not a function of the senses or of the thinking process. It is practised by sitting quite still with the eyes closed (or not focusing on anything), by letting life be, by being conscious that the body is breathing (without altering the breath in any way), and by noticing subtle changes in the mind and body. It is not difficult or complicated.
The Buddha’s teaching can be the teacher and awareness can be the practice which will lead straight to liberation. You can be your own teacher.
Karma is cause and effect. When someone commits a crime, that person suffers the consequences. That is karma. When someone does good that person enjoys the consequences. That is karma. But karma runs deep; it affects our hearts and minds. From the beginning mind is absolutely pure. If we are unkind, deceitful, greedy or cruel, we defile that purity. Imagine a plain white cloth, beautiful, bright and clean.
And then imagine someone splattering it with black ink. The cloth is then spoilt. The mind is like the white cloth. Like and dislike, greed and hatred, are like the ink splattered across it. When the mind is unmarked and unspoilt, suffering and enjoyment do not exist. This is happiness beyond pleasure, beyond karma. All karma is impermanent and runs out in due course. A Buddhist will learn how to get off the karmic see-saw of pleasure and pain.
Frequently asked questions on Buddhism
http://buddhismnow.com/faq/
Truth is truth for everyone. Of course anyone can see the truth. The Buddha’s teaching was clear and simple. Anyone who makes the effort to be aware will realise his or her buddha-nature and be freed from suffering.
another note on this… obamacare. People don’t realize what it really it is.
It’s not just funneling our money to cronies. It’s not just a stepping stone to government take over of medical care. It’s slavery to the system.
They make “health insurance” so expensive one can only afford it with a good corporate job. Then they make “health insurance” mandatory.
They know what they are doing. No more just going off on your own because now you have to pay this huge cost of independent “health insurance”.
“F” ’em and feed ’em fish heads, Brent.
I’ve decided on my course: Rely on good genetics and a healthy lifestyle. With luck, I am counting on living the rest of my life without bothering with “heath care.”
I go to the dentist twice a year to get my teeth cleaned; that’s it.
I managed to go through my 20s and 30s without “health care.” I figure I can do it for the next 20 years, too. After that – well, time to punch the clock anyhow.
I plant to live – not exist.
If my body ever craps out on me – and “life” is reduced to endless doctor visits, taking pills, not being able to do anything anymore… then it’s time to say sayonara.
No sitting on a couch in some old folks’ home watching “Wheel of Fortune” all day….
“sitting on a couch in some old folks’ home watching “Wheel of Fortune” all day….” Whoa! WHat a nightmare That would be!
It could only be worse if you lived under a pathocracy.
Oh wait. …
The Tyranny of the Nanny State, Where the Government Knows What’s Best for You [A.k.a. pathocracy]
I wonder if it’s true: certain Arctic ice-bound people would help those who have lived beyond their means to feed themselves onto a small ice float while armed only with a knife and then shoved them out into a mine field of polar bears?
Not a bad way out, imho.
A number of the males in my families went out similarly,… a combine ate them. …Or, something like that. They, ‘went Out’ doing what they loved while living life.
The rest, … they went the hard way. The totally non-glamorous way,… sufferingly-slowly. Ugly. No bang for the Buck.
Some guys ( and girls, a Hot one (or two) in particular) I knew went out with a Bang in the 16 – 22 yr. old bracket via car crashes and motorcycle fuck ups. I used to feel like they missed out on something,… but now, I’m not so sure. …There’s something about, ‘going Out’ while on top, …unintentionally.
[Insert LiLila Rajiva story about – “blog has been discontinued permanently” – woman who couldn’t deal with the loneliness of watching Wheel of Fortune all day and wound up diving out her window. [The details are too gruesome to repeat.]
Pardon my walk on the seemingly morbid side, i drove past a couple of unmarked roadside markers today and talked to some Very old people and it got me to thinking.
I’m wanted to end this comment with a link to a 1980’s song about the Red Line (the discussion elsewhere of gauges made me think of it. Think: Tach) but I couldn’t find it or remember who sings it, this comes close:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCgMPhzXK5M
Dear helot,
“woman who couldn’t deal with the loneliness of watching Wheel of Fortune all day and wound up diving out her window. ”
That is doubly tragic and ironic.
Why?
The “Wheel of Fortune” is a metaphor for the “hamster wheel” of ordinary awareness. One runs and runs but never gets anywhere.
Some pretty esoteric Eastern Mystical concepts are involved here, such as Dharma, and Samsara, that I won’t go into now. But the film “Groundhog Day” popularized the essential concept quite well.
@Bevin:
F*@# “Groundhog Day,” I’m living it – WITHOUT the benefit of the do-overs! 😛 😉
I missed the dharma connection, though. Justice, perhaps – at the end. But not much destiny or fate. In fact, it was only by fighting against “destiny” that Bill Murray (As Phil Connors) finally succeeds in stopping the “reset.” He interrupted destiny.
Now, did you mean to imply it as reincarnation, rather than a “respawn point”? IE, reincarnate each day, on the same “day,” and try to live a proper dharma – and only when that proper dharma is achieved, do you move forward? That would be pretty esoteric, and I thinki might miss the mark, since it stretches the concept so far.
(For those who don’t know: Hindu caste system, if you live a proper life, a proper dharma, you are reincarnated as something higher. IE, an untouchable who accepted their lot in life and did the best they would in that role, would then be “promoted” in their next life to become a Shudra; successful Proper life as a Shudra, would then lead to reincarnation as a Vaishya, then proper dharma there would lead to a life in the Kshatriya caste, then proper dharma leads to reincarnation as a Brahman. (No idea where you go after that, but it’s a great way to get the peasants to accept their lot in life….)
(https://erikaearl.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/caste_indian.jpg)
Would you explain more, so I can understand what you meant? Email or forums works, if preferred. steyraug96 – at – yahoo.
Dear Jean,
Sorry I missed your reply. Sometimes the time delay from GMT +8 means I don’t see follow up comments.
Basically you got it. Without getting too esoteric, basically that’s it. You are more or less flunked and have to do the same grade over and over until you graduate to the next level.
You don’t have to take it literally. It can be seen as a metaphor for learning from one’s life experiences.
Dear helot,
Haven’t you ever heard the old Eskimo saying,
“Sometimes you eat the polar bears, and sometimes the polar bears eat you.”?
This is one reason I have no moral qualms about eating animals. No “vegan” guilt. One day they will eat me. And that will be okay. Cycle of life and all that, ya know?
RE: ““Sometimes you eat the polar bears, and sometimes the polar bears eat you.”?”
No, I never heard that one.
Makes sense.
It’s why I never understood the animal rights crowd.
Did they All miss the video of the lion eating the gazelle while it was still kicking?
Are they aware of how: hungry vultures would drop down onto the backs of a cow or calf and have at it?
The video of a whale floundering on the surface of the ocean while sharks take turns getting a bite, never enters the mind of an animal rights activists?
Do “animal rights” exists in nature?
I keep wondering why all animal rights activists aren’t naked and doing their best to live on a rock for fear they’d kill a bug or break a blade of grass?
i sooo don’t get why they’d drive a car, think of all the grasshoppers and mosquitoes they’d kill? Do they avoid walking down sidewalks to avoid killing ants? …Or, do they think: “some animals are more equal than others”?
Then I wonder, do animal rights activists smack mosquitoes which bite them, or do they just brush the mosquito away so it can take another bite later?
[That’s not to say I’m ok with kicking puppies. I’m not.
I’m not sure where the Red Line is, but to me it seems like it’s something different and far far from where the animal rights crowd says it is.]
For me, it’s an empathy issue – an awareness of our common capacity to suffer. A young child has no concept of its rights, either. Nor a senile old person. “Rights” – as I see them – are ethical concepts (per Bevin) sentient beings use as a guide for living with one another. But is it a one-way street with regard to non-sentient beings? That is: Is it our right (or ethically neutral) to harm other beings provided they are unable to assert their right not to be harmed?
How do we define that assertion of rights? Must it be a verbal (using ordered language) appeal? Please, do not hurt me! I am a human being! Or is it sufficient for the creature to clearly manifest fear and an awareness of impending suffering?
Does it not all come down to: Are we (humans) the Herrenvolk? Our cognitive superiority entitling us to do as we will?
I dunno. It’s a tough one.
Mind: I eat meat; I do not condemn meat eating. I understand that eating meat is part of the way nature works.
I’m just entertaining some uncomfortable questions, specifically – whether we can (or should) try to rise above that….
Dear helot,
Animal rights is what Rand called a “floating abstraction” or “stolen concept.”
Rights are ethical concepts. Rights require organisms with sufficient self-awareness and self-directedness able to understand and honor them.
Animals are not at the level at which they can either understand or honor them. That is why SF novelists have long written about “sentient beings” as the criterion for respecting rights among intelligent life in the universe.
As far as eating animals, I think so-called “primitive peoples” actually had it right. In “Dances with Wolves” the Indians ate buffalo, but they did not slaughter them wantonly, out of sadistic pleasure. They expressed gratitude to the animal for allowing them to live. To me that is a far more rational way to deal with the inescapable necessity of life feeding on life.
Dear Eric,
“Mind: I eat meat; I do not condemn meat eating. I understand that eating meat is part of the way nature works. ”
That is my own position too. I eat less meat than I used to, for health reasons, not for “animal rights” reasons.
I agree. It is a tough question that has profound moral implications. But I definitely don’t think we can automatically equate eating animals with Social Darwinism, racism, or to use the vegan PC term, “speciesism.”
So-called “deep ecologists” usually praise “primitive peoples” as “green” because they are “closer to the earth” and they lead a “sustainable” life style more in harmony with the ecosystem.
Therefore invoking the deep ecologists’ own logic, the fact that these same “primitive peoples” trap, hunt, fish and eat animals ought to give meat eating the environmentalist seal of approval. With the proviso of course that one does not trap, hunt, for fish them to extinction, and only takes what one needs.
Also, isn’t one of the cardinal sins, according to deep ecologists, is man’s “alienation from nature?” But in order to remain embedded within nature, and “unalienated from nature,” don’t we have to remain part of the food chain?
Or do the deep ecologists want us to synthesize nutrients artificially so that we no longer need to eat living organism. Animals? Even plants? If so, who would undertake that task? Monsanto? Big Agra? Isn’t that “alienating us from nature” even more? Even worse?
As I’m sure you’ll agree, the issue is not nearly as cut and dried as the militant vegan who recently commented here would have us believe.
@eric:
But is it a one-way street with regard to non-sentient beings? That is: Is it our right (or ethically neutral) to harm other beings provided they are unable to assert their right not to be harmed?
Most definitely not.
Not a one-way street, nor it is our right to harm other beings [period], nor ethically neutral.
I think it’s a question of how, though, more than If.
Metal seems to have a lot of songs that revolve on a common point: There are the Strong, and the Weak. Both are part of society.
In Western mythos, the knight was the protector of the realm, and the enforcer of the law (which in theroy was built on justice.)
In the East, the Samurai were supposed to be the equivalent. they seem more barbaric (if at the same time more refined) than their European counterparts, but it’s a question of meanings and degrees.
Samurai, Silk, esoteric sword-making in the East; armored, brute-force, “living steel” knights in the West. Similar code of ethics (ideal), actually.
Help the helpless. Protect those too weak to protect themselves.
Manowar’s “Defender”:
When you are old enough to read these words
Their meaning will unfold
These words are … all that’s left
And though we’ll never meet, my only son
I hope you know
That I would have been there – to watch you grow
But my call was heard, and I did go
Now your mission lies ahead of you
As it did mine so long ago
To help the helpless ones who all look up to you
And to defend them to the end
[…]
While Linkin Park more recently added the internal struggles, in some ways – “Crawling”, “Breaking the habit” – the point, in the non-psychotic amongst us, is usually about the same. I am strong (mentally, physically, morally, spiritually) not only for myself – but for the rest of society. For the woman I would/did marry; the children we did/will have; so that my country/state/nation/people/tribe will carry on, even if I fall on the field of battle (honor).
The psychopath seeks power for himself to master others. The warrior seeks power to master himself. By mastering himself, he enables the entire society to last.
What has happened in our modern woman/clover/government (psychotics) menage-a-trois?
There IS NO FUCKING SOCIETY!!!!! (insert full spittle-spewing, foma-flecked screaming tones)
White vs. Black vs. Asian vs. Hispanic.
Male vs. female.
Strong vs. weak (who make up in numbers what they lack in individual strength; think what would happen if a full warren of rabbits attacked a wolf?)
When EVERYONE is strong in one way or another, there is a future.
The Warriors protect the culture;
Merchants provide material needs and wants;
Farmers (may or may not ovelap with merchants) provide food,
As do hunters and gatherers.
Manufacturing, not sure how to place it, but those jobs are still skilled labor – tool and die maker, instead of just a hydraulic press operator (Push the button, Max!)
Teachers teach SUBJECTS, not Socialist Group-think.
Priests are a conduit to God for wisdom and spiritual guidance – not to worship he state’s idols, and wallow in the state’s “godhood.”
In other words, our society is about 179 degress out of synch with how it SHOULD be, and to even SPEAK of these Ideals outside of sheltered enclaves like the Libertarian-sphere or red-pill manosphere is to invite political censure and sometimes even dismissal or other attacks.
In that final inch is our hope – that we’re not QUITE there yet.
I see it similar to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.* The choices were (are) nuke the homeland, and make it obvious you can do so more than once, to ensure compliant surrender (much like the police now – who seem to have surpassed even the [Star Wars] Empire’s “Rules of engagement, of a 3:1 force ratio, in their need to ensure “compliant, unconditional surrender”); or to invade, and possibly face killing every man, woman, and child of Japan, and taking thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Allied casualties.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were abominations, being civilian targets. In the long run, they saved lives (not sure how the ongoing radioactivity and resultant cancers fit in.) So it was a “lesser of two evils,” an application of brute force to a compound problem.
As far as it goes, I see it as “valid”, qualified by the problem: It was an attack on CIVILIANS, dammit. The wrong is seperate from the right. Hitting Mt. Fuji would’ve communicated the same (it would’ve become the Fuji Plateau, say). nuking the civilian targets was wrong, and immoral, and ultimately evil. It’s a perversion of the entire warrior ethos from above – not just a mis-step, not just an accident, not just a lapse in judgement – it was evil. It was an intentional “We will do this wrong, JUST to show we can.” event.
We are in a similar stance now, though. We either face the problem – which, in this world, means: (1) there ARE no innocents, only useless/useful idiots; (2) violence is being fomented, so our options are (a) Prepare, or (b) die. Unlike WW2 US, we don’t have a powerful Soviet Union to “impress” with atomic bombs, nor a convenient Japan to nuke.**
But we have plenty of state actors to immolate just the same, and by removing the foundations and supports of the State Structure, we either force it to rebuild, stronger (and more vicious) than before – revealing true colors in obvious oppressor glories; or we remove enough supports, fast enough, that it collapses under its own weight.
Either way works. (And both work well when coupled with starving the monkeys, although starving monkeys do brutal, violent things, like resorting to cannibalism.)
*: I’m basing the argument on my “traditional” understanding.
As taught, the options were to invade Japan, and possibly face every man, woman, and child ready to fight to the death & die for the Emperor; or to bomb them with a weapon so horrifying, they would surrender.
More recently: Supposedly, Japan was willing to surrender, but not unconditionally, and US command would not allow them to surrender with any conditions. In which case, the example stands, but was premised on some wrong understanding. Please forgive the propagation of the false understanding, to allow the example.
**: Supposedly, another reason to use the Nukes was to send a message to Russia: We can do the same to you, so stop trying to expand your power base.
I will defend those I can, if they actually will defend themselves. think of a parapalegic, striking the police with his/her crutches. I will defend that person.
The parapalegic who bends over for the po-pos? Not so much. Collaterol damage happens (though it’d be best to time things so the civilian was gone & safe.) Words will do, too – the crutch image is a rhetorical device. Screaming about the Fourth and/or Fifth Amendment, or the Constitution, means that person is one of “ours.”
@Bevin:
I agree WRT “Dances with Wolves.” More importantly, it’s something we can see in most “primitive” cultures. We don’t need Hollywood(weird).
Most modern humans are too far removed from where their food comes from.
They think hamburgers grow at McDonalds.
THIS by itself is enough to make our culture implode.
Always remember, something DIED so that you might live. (applies to vegetables too.) And remember also, there are people who are starving – they’d give a testicle for a mouthful of what’s on your plate.
So be grateful for your food, and remember where it came from, and make sure to give it (and yourself, WRT GMO & fast foods) the respect you both deserve.
A high school friend of mine was killed one night when he lost control of his ’71 GTX in a curve, flipped it – and broke his neck. He was 17.
He’s been dead longer than he was alive. Frozen in time, forever young.
I sometimes think about him from the perspective of the present – and wonder what he’d think of his now middle-aged friend, who no longer “wants to get drunk and get loud”…
Helot, that was Foreigner, good song, lived that life at one time. I know what you mean about going out fast. It’s what I had in mind, always have I guess. After my broken leg sorta healed I went back to trucking intending on ending my days doing that until nearly 3 weeks ago when I got run over from behind by a big rig. It was almost a fast end since I had on a load of concrete culverts on a drop-deck lowboy dovetail trailer. The guy barely avoided climbing up it and over my tractor with his but caught my trailer with his, totaling my trailer and knocking me silly. Now I just got a bill from the ER this afternoon, the start of a long process since it knocked my vision crazy, did some bad stuff to my back, neck and shoulders, threw me over the steering wheel and knocked my rig 20′ down the highway with my foot on the brake.
Oh, what fun it is. I’ve been watching my old buds go slow the last few years and I wanted to avoid that, preferably with a quick, lethal type of thing. Of course that can come any second.
As a young adult, I was described by a friend’s mom as being over-enthusiastic. I took that as a compliment….beats hell out of being a slug.
Dear Eric,
I see some old folks around public plazas in wheelchairs, attended by maids from SE Asia.
Most are slumped over and drooling, or at least staring off blankly into the distance. That is not “living.”
If I ever get to that stage, I’m going to do the same thing as you.
The Polar Bear express.
Or, just live more dangerously? ..If it’s still “allowed” and permitted?
I saw a film once, a guy was taken over by an alien and as a result he stole Maserati’s, robbed banks, and had shoot outs with the cops.
It’s almost too bad I’m a Panarchist and just couldn’t allow myself to do that. …Property rights,… don’tchyaknow?
Morning, Bevin!
Yup.
The tragedy of modern medicine is its ability to sustain biologic life beyond the point at which living ceases to matter.
That point, of course, is subjective – for each individual to decide. There are people such as Stephen Hawking (who is almost completely paralyzed and wheelchair-bound) whose minds are not crippled and thus, the crippling of their bodies, though tragic, does not render their existence meaningless.
But a crippled mind in a crippled body?
Not for me, no thanks…
Dear Eric,
“Yes, Eric,” as clover would say. LOL.
It’s not the physical disability alone. These people I’m talking about are essentially comatose.
I’m of course not arguing for euthanasia. I’m merely saying for me, being non compos mentis on top of nearly paralyzed, is the final straw.
I would end it then and there.
Hawking has advantages most people do not. Not only the wealth to have the things that allow him to communicate but the recognition of others that his mind is still in there functioning. Few people in such condition have those advantages and without them a functional mind in a broken body would be torture.
I just spent a week with my aging parents. My father is in his mid 70s. His father died at 72 from a bad heart (he had a heart attack very young back in the days when the medical advice was to not “stress” the heart, basically guaranteeing a repeat heart attack later). My father is mostly healthy but has very high blood pressure, which I think is just because he worries too much about everything. I also think he might be in the early stages of alzheimer’s, as he seems to forget most of what we tell him and repeats the same stories over and over to me.
But then again, I know people the same age as him or older who are still sharp as a tack, ski black diamond runs all winter and hike 13,000 foot mountains all summer. One guy I know manages a retail/mail order store 40 hours a week.
My parents’ lives revolved around time and food. Entertainment was (and still is) a passive act, watching TV, reading books, etc. Food and eating was the first order of business for any family gathering (and we all look like it). Had to be at church at the right time, had to be at home in front of the TV at the right time, etc. Work, of course, was more important than anything else, because that was what was expected from you as a man. Even today, vacations involve complex timing because they bought a time share, which allows a check in only between 1:00pm and 5:00pm Sunday and you have to be gone by noon the following Sunday (and you’d better get there early to make sure you get the “good one” and also to “get your money’s worth.” Obviously they have accumulated a lot of “stuff” over the years. No week is complete without a visit to the Goodwill store, the flea market, the junk store.
What about the other “old men” I know? Well, they have a lot of stuff, but it seems like it’s associated with activities, not just for the sake of accumulation. Time is much less of a concern, at least when it comes to being prompt. They have RVs and 5th wheels instead of time shares, and spend a week or so in the desert watching the stars instead of hanging out around the pool at the resort. Food isn’t the primary focus, and quality trumps quantity. I’m sure they have medical problems, but I don’t know that any of them have ever mentioned them.
I’m trying to figure out what really makes the difference. For certain genetics play a role. But so does your approach to life.
The problem is the middle ground. It’s always the middle ground.
Not enough to buy freedom and too much to lose.
It could be different, but it needs an awakening of the masses, once again. A mass that has bought into the lie and refuses to recognize it.
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Dear Brent,
“If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. ”
Ain’t that the truth? I know from trying to get through to establishment intellectuals. Anyone who benefits sufficiently from the status quo, is going to be stubbornly resistant to any suggestion that “The system just doesn’t work!” It seems to have worked for him, so his attitude is “Don’t confuse me with the facts.”
Ed: Well, the system’s done all right by me.
Lewis: Oh yeah. You gotta nice job, you gotta a nice house, a nice wife, a nice kid.
“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.”
― Ayn Rand
Get Clarity: Rosh Hashanah: 9/25/2014 = 1/1/5775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCYRM7KYJY4
Kol Nidre: Yom Kippur: 10/4/2014 = 1/10/5775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IEDLZayfdU
Shakin’ the Lulav: Sukkot: 10/9/2014 = 1/15/5775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODQ0pgR64Y
Kosher Animal Song: Shemini Atzeret: 10/16/2014 = 1/22/5775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBP6w4y_glU
Rabbi MV: Simchat Torah: 10/17/2014 = 1/23/5775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXFxQTW–r4
Shine: Hanukkah:12/17/2014 = 3/25/5775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfieP6H47lc
If the slave declares, “I love my master, and my wife and children: I do not wish to go free,” his master shall take him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall then remain his slave for life. – Velveteen Rabbi – Rachel Barenblat
From the movie Office Space:
Peter Gibbons: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
Lawrence: I’ll tell you what I’d do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.
Peter Gibbons: That’s it? If you had a million dollars, you’d do two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I were a millionaire I could hook that up, too; ’cause chicks dig dudes with money.
Peter Gibbons: Well, not all chicks.
Lawrence: Well, the type of chicks that’d double up on a dude like me do.
Peter Gibbons: Good point.
Lawrence: Well, what about you now? What would you do?
Peter Gibbons: Besides two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Well, yeah.
Peter Gibbons: Nothing.
Lawrence: Nothing, huh?
Peter Gibbons: I would relax… I would sit on my ass all day… I would do nothing.
Lawrence: Well, you don’t need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Take a look at my cousin: he’s broke, don’t do shit.
The problem is that we’re all suckers. We could all be living on the government teat, but we all choose not to, because of our pesky moral compass. Of course, I’m not talking about taking welfare transfer payments because they’ll take everything away from you first, but the whole government contractor system. Multi-million dollar web sites that don’t work. Grants and handouts for dubious research that conveniently come to the conclusion that more research is needed (and another 5 years).
This year the fiscal budget is over 3 trillion(!) FRNs. Much of this spending is going to the war machine, social security and welfare transfer payments. Those of us who pay into the system are getting less and less out of it, while the incompetent but well connected get rich. If we choose not to play we end up homeless.
I often hear of ex-pats moving to South America, opting out without surrendering their possessions. They do have to burn their Imperial passport, but I imagine life is about the same as anywhere in the US, except maybe the corruption is a little more obvious.
But then again, there’s always the tiny house movement.
Eric, I’ve looked into moving to South America but it turns out written into the Patriot Act are a bunch of clauses that basically say if you have over a threshold in assets, you must be a criminal if you want to expatriate. Therefore, when you go to leave they will imprison you (and presumably take all your stuff).
I think nowadays you have to keep your Imperial passport and play like you are still a citizen. Which also means you have to file your income taxes to the US every April and they take their cut -even if your money is earned outside the US.
I think nowadays you have to keep your Imperial passport and play like you are still a citizen. Which also means you have to file your income taxes to the US every April and they take their cut -even if your money is earned outside the US.
Ryan,
That’s been true for some time now.
The solution, as I understand it (I’m limited here) is to make a multi-national corporation, and then control the corporation. Your assets are in fact owned by the corporation, and can be shipped around “easily,” I believe.
Whereas you, working as CEO of the corporation, get only a few thousand dollars a year as “salary,” the corporation pays for your travel, your education, etc., etc., etc.
I haven’t gotten to do this yet, so I might be talking out my rear-end. You’ll need to research it.
Pay special attention to “minimum taxes” (corporations have a minimum they must pay), and talk to an accoutnant about “imputed income” and how tog et around that – if you’re obviously getting red-carpet treatment everywhere from “the corporation,” you’ll likely get slammed with imputed income for every plane ticket, lunch, dinner, breakfast, call girl you engage in business meetings, etc.
OTOH, to get the corporation to pay for the $5,000/week education courses and only pay taxes (which I believe the company can absorb through a gross-up or such on a “bonus”, or which you can back-charge to the company for reimbursement?) can be VERY nice. (I speak in reference to a one-week certification I recently looked up for my field.)
Being seduced by stuff might be one of the greatest problems.
The other great problem is being seduced by state. And state solutions.
If we’re really going to live freedom, we have to relearn how to live without the things that will cease to exist without forced taxation and the state.
One of these is prisons. Is there a market solution where people with resources will pay to keep other people in cages, feed them, and take care of them for years on end? I would say this is highly unlikely.
One way to practice this, is to find alternate solutions in our dealings with animals of higher intelligence.
The next biggest problem (for some people) after the killing of animals for food. Is the caging of animals.
Confining cows or chickens is certainly an expedient solution for human needs. But what about the effects it has on the animal, and its quality of life. And what about keeping our dogs and cats indoors against their will, when they very much want to be allowed to go outside, and live their lives their own way.
I don’t mean consider these problems in an irrational or whim-worshipping manner. But rather, finding solutions that are rational and reasonable that can make our society a better place. Wise solutions we can implement voluntarily.
Prisons in a free market: “A market would never invent such a system.”
https://defacingcurrency.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/prisons-in-a-free-market/
The animal ghosts in our machine
http://www.theghostsinourmachine.com
The superior human: exploding the human bias
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/superior-human/
Following a vegan diet leads to more animal harm than a diet that includes consuming large ruminants
https://www.morehouse.edu/facstaff/nnobis/papers/Davis-LeastHarm.htm
Dear Eric,
There’s a lot of truth in what you mentioned.
“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose”
— Kris Kristofferson
“Joy comes not through possession or ownership…”
— Buddha
In truth, when I came to this world, I didn’t bring anything. After living out my life, I will leave empty handed from this earth. However, as I lived my life, I’ve accumulated my share of things, this and that. Of course, these things can be said to be of use in everyday life. However, are these so indispensable that I couldn’t live without them? When I think about it, there are many things I could do without.
We accumulate things because we need them, but sometimes our things cause us great aggravation. Thus, to possess something can mean to be possessed by that thing. When the things we accumulated through need have actually bound our freedom, we can say that subject and object have traded places and we become the object of possession. Therefore, having many possessions can be a source of pride, but at the same time there is an aspect of bondage in proportion to the number of possessions.
http://buddhismnow.com/2012/10/26/without-possession-by-beopjeon-sunim/
Dear Bevin,
I definitely agree with these buddhist observations:
Don’t take your life personally. Trust in awareness and find out for ourselves what it is to experience genuine liberation from mental anguish and suffering.
Reflecting upon the miseries which all sentient beings suffer will encourage us to attain liberation.
Unless we are selfless and compassionate, we are likely to fall into the error of seeking liberation for ourselves alone.
See all beings as on the way to their slaughter.
Straightforward action will lead us to liberation directly.
Advice on Treading the Buddhist Path
http://buddhismnow.com/advice/
I think anarcho-buddhism would work as well, or maybe better than anarcho-judaism. I probably know 1/100th as much about buddhism, but it may well be worth learning more. In both cases, I mean only a modified, 100% voluntary version of these belief systems.
Under each of these philosophies, the need for market action might greatly decrease, which might be a very good strategy indeed.
I keep thinking about cetaceans, and how they work about 5 minutes each day, and then spend the rest of their day in leisure, pleasure, and enlightenment.
So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojydNb3Lrrs
Dear Tor,
Yes. I agree.
Buddhism is a philosophy (not a religion — no deities in Buddhism) that is highly compatible with libertarianism.
The reason is that it does not appeal to a “higher authority,” a Stalin in the Sky, who issues “Obey me, or else!” imperial edicts. No “Yahweh” or “God” or “Allah.”
Instead it It appeals to a “deeper authority” within the individual’s own psyche that is aware of the right thing to do.
It is closely parallel to the libertarian thought process.
The Gods of the copy paste proclaim:
Buddhism is a nontheistic religion that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices
The Buddha said that devas (translated as “gods”) do exist, but they were regarded as still being trapped in samsara, and are not necessarily wiser than us. In fact, the Buddha is often portrayed as a teacher of the gods, and superior to them
Questioned one day about the problem of the infinity of the world, the Buddha said, “Whether the world is finite or infinite, limited or unlimited, the problem of your liberation remains the same.”
Suppose a man is struck by a poisoned arrow and the doctor wishes to take out the arrow immediately. Suppose the man does not want the arrow removed until he knows who shot it, his age, his family name, and why he shot it. What would happen? If the doctor were to wait until all these questions have been answered, the man might die first.
Parable of the Poison Arrow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Poison_Arrow
The hungry dog of Indra
http://oaks.nvg.org/pastbud.html#hudog
Indra?
http://thedailyquirk.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/jenners-rebels-city-of-indra.png
Pilot episode was actually episod00
Rockford Files season01episod01
http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi935657497
SJ Cannel’s teleplay for 1st episod
http://soref.tv/rockford-files-the-kirkoff-case-s1-e1/
Rockford Files season01episod02
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7mgtk_the-rockford-files-the-dark-and-blo_shortfilms
Juanita Bartlett’s teleplay for 2nd episod
http://soref.tv/rockford-files-the-dark-and-bloody-ground-s1-e2/
Really enjoyed watching the first half and the ending of that pilot Rockford File. Amazing to see the way things were in Vegas & LA in 1974, only 40 years ago.
– – –
Greek tetradrachm dolphin coin from 2500 years ago
http://www.2-clicks-coins.com/images/image/Ancient%20dolphin%20Greek%20coin(1).jpg
Pure gold and pure silver coins were produced by the independent Greek city-states. Coins from one polis/citystate circulated in other citystates across Greece.
– – –
Silver coins were called drachmae (from the Greek word meaning “a handful”.) Each drachma is comprised of six obols.
– – –
Each polis had its own patron natural spirit depicted on their coinage.
Rockford Files season01episod01
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgWb2uk8NS4
SJ Cannel’s script for 1st episod
http://www.cannell.com/download-script/20/20-rockford-files-pilot-31331-wga-pdf.html
Thanks – I see I didn’t quite recall it correctly, the pilot shows Rockford’s trailer on a lot just off the PCH, on the same side as and overlooking the beach.
I think by the first actual (post-pilot) episode, the trailer was safely parked in the Sand Castle restaurant parking lot and Noah Beery was in as the Rocky that we all know and love.
The Sand Castle has since changed hands, probably multiple times. When I was out there years ago it was still the original and the inside was pretty much as pictured on the series.
“Okay, I’ll tell you. You want me to be Economic Dictator?”
“Yes!”
“And you’ll obey any order I give?”
“Implicitly!”
“Then start by abolishing all income taxes.”
“Oh no!” screamed Mr. Thompson, leaping to his feet. “We couldn’t do that! That’s . . . that’s not the field of production. That’s the field of distribution. How would we pay government employees?”
“Fire your government employees.”
“Oh, no! That’s politics! That’s not economics! You can’t interfere with politics! You can’t have everything!”
John Galt speaking in Atlas Shrugged.
Eric, RE The Rockford Files lifestyle. He lived on the beach in a Malibu restaurant parking lot. When I bought an old motorhome I asked around and wanted to do the same. In no uncertain terms I was told NO. Rats.
I love Rockford Files (and have been to Paradise Cove and eaten at the restaurant), but that trailer in the middle of a parking lot thing is just Hollywood fantasy. Maybe we’re supposed to presume that he’s allowed to stay there in exchange for services rendered. You’ll also notice that there are no utility hookups yet he has electric, phone, water, etc. (I’m pretty sure in some shots you can see under the trailer and there’s nothing under there either.)
In the pilot episode the trailer was situated on a more standard-type against the Pacific Coast Highway. In the Rockford TV movies the trailer is upgraded to a luxurious double-wide but it is still in the same location.
Closest you’ll come to a Rockford-style arrangement is that I understand Wal-Mart will permit you to park an RV in their lot overnight as long as there are no objections from the local tin-plated tyrants.
Oops, that should have been: “In the pilot episode the trailer was situated on a more standard-type lot up against the Pacific Coast Highway, across the street from the beach.” (I don’t see a way to edit/correct the original post!)
Dear Jason,
As a former architect who worked in SoCal for about 15 years, that legally impossible situation cracked me up too.
I liked the series, but no way would California clovers allow some PI to park his trailer on the beach like that.
The expression I remember is “if you ain’t got nuthin, you got nuthin to lose”. Was used in the context of letting us serfs have just enough to get by on without making us desperate enough to push back at the PTB. That day is fast approaching with the present track of the USSA.
Eric,
I’ve been living this way for over 30 years. Not in an RV (though it’s a great idea), but basically telling “the system” to get stuffed, working for myself, not directly owning anything of any consequence. April 15th? I forget what their damned forms even look like at this point. No 0bamacare either, as you say, I really don’t give a crap.
Of course it is not possible to escape the net entirely unless you really go off and live in the woods someplace. (For example I haven’t found a way around having to participate in the drivers’s license “your papers please” scam aside from possibly living in a city and not having a car.)
This is not for everyone, though. There’s always the possibility of having to do a stint at Club Fed, or one of the nastier little State “resorts.” It’s a lifestyle that can cause family stress, especially if one’s spouse is not really on board with freedom issues. (Choose carefully, guys!) Taking the red pill comes with consequences. The rabbit hole is very deep indeed. But at the end of the day, even after having to do without a lot of “stuff,” there is satisfaction in looking the Beast in the eye and telling it to go f*ck itself.
My 7 years in the Army were very lean on “stuff”, because we didn’t have the space to put much in there. I didn’t have much stuff at 20 (1988) when I joined. I think I had a guitar, computer, motorbike and a box full of keepsakes.
Since then, I’ve amassed a lot more but I find it interesting how possessive I am over some things that others would find mundane, trivial and easy come, easy go and, most of those things are simply basic tools, even down to the little keepsakes and handy items I keep in some drawers – none of which are photos.
Triumphal. Majestic. A masterpiece. Yes. THIS.
possible errata:
When there’s not much they can do to you, there’s not much they can do to you.
Is this a variant of: “it is what it is?”
Or do you more nearly mean: When there’s not much they can take from you, there’s not much they can do to you.
more Solzhenitsyn quotes (I’d say they apply to our own doomed system as well)
Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while, for many people in the West, it is still a living lion.
The clock of communism has stopped striking. But its concrete building has not yet come crashing down. For that reason, instead of freeing ourselves, we must try to save ourselves from being crushed by its rubble.
In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.
Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth.
Eric,
Spot on article!
It’s easy to get trapped by earthly possessions.
When one gets attached to one’s possessions, then in a sense one’s possessions own you.
Just the threat of taking away your valued possessions can be enough to get most people to tow the line. The more one possesses, then the more that can be taken away. It also gets harder for one to start over.
The quote by Solzenitsyn is excellent. TPTB can take much from the public provided they are careful not to take everything. Once they take it all away, then they lose their hold over the public.
Thanks, Mith!
I was in a dark mood yesterday and just tapped that one out… for stress relief, more than anything. I debated whether to publish and then decided, what the hell? One thing about EPautos that I value immensely is the editorial freedom I’ve got to write exactly what’s on my mind.
And also, as a venue for readers to post what’s on their minds, too.
Even Clover!
In a sense (I know I am probably stretching the point) Clover is the foil to the straight man in a comedic dual.
It is a shame clover is not a better writer (or more logical in his thinking). That you provide a better opportunity for others to fine tune their thinking and arguments when debating issues against him.
Back to the original topic
It is interesting what becomes must have when you become used to a higher standard of living.
In college it was easier to get with less since I did not have a choice. Lack of money made me do with less since I had less.
Today, there are many things that I consider necessary even though they really are wants. Cable is one example (although not for long going to OTA soon) — something that is nice to have, but not really economical considering what I get. (Using about a dozen channels yet paying for over 200. While the cable/phone/internet by itself is not too much, the costs do add up over time. ~$130/mth = ~ $1560/yr. Enough to pay the in mafia with some change.
I’m glad you published the article Eric, this has been nearly exactly what’s been on my mind for some time. A friend of mine and I had a similar conversation just a few days ago for a couple hours. I had been struggling with what to do for some time and very recently I’ve made the decision to basically go galt to the best of my ability which includes leaving my job. F going to work every day and killing myself like I have been for no payoff.