“These Are MY Sons!” Charlie Anderson, a widowed father of six sons, was working on his ranch in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley when the Confederate patrol descended on his property. Displaying the reflexive hospitality of a natural gentleman, Charlie happily permitted Lt. Johnson and his soldiers to help themselves to the family well.Though both his men […]

Police Perjury, and Burglars with Badges “I’ve got a gun and a badge. I’m always right.”Sgt. Chuck Schoville of the Tempe police department probably thought he was being facetious when he made that remark to two men he had stopped on suspicion of littering. But “jokes” of this sort, like George W. Bush’s oft-repeated thigh-slapper […]

Pig-Men on Patrol “No question, now, what has happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, man to pig, and pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”George Orwell, Animal FarmThe first reaction of most people to the sight of a police […]

The Pointlessness of Prohibition (Pt. I) Last of the breed: Legendary Frontier Marshal Bill Tilghman, a casualty of our nation’s first “War on Drugs.”On this day (December 5) in 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified by Utah, thus bringing to a merciful end one of our nation’s most deranged experiments in social control: The federal […]

The Pointlessness of Prohibition, part II: The Prohibitionist Pharisees And He called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand; Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came His disciples, and said unto Him, Knowest Thou that the […]

The Way We Are Now: A Brief Photo Essay I’m grappling with a really nasty strain of the flu today, and will probably be back later with a more substantial offering. Until then, I present the following for discussion:A typical scene from “liberated” Baghdad. The feet belong to Jose Padilla, the Chicago gang-banger designated an […]

“How Much Does the State Weigh?” The persistence of evil: An aging adherent of Stalin’s personality cult loves him some Big Brother. During the Moscow Show Trials of the late 1930s, Soviet prosecutors ran across one particularly recalcitrant subject who simply refused to confess. The man maintained his innocence despite the demonic inventiveness of the […]

Hey — Take Your Time (Caveat lector: The following essay includes a photograph of an offensive gesture.I included it because it is relevant to the present subject.) In the vast inventory of George W. Bush’s contemptible traits, the most lethal may be his capacity for invincible self-delusion. Close kindred to that attribute is his apparently […]

Three Men “He died trying to save his family.”It is impossible for human hands to compose a nobler or more honorable epitaph.Two weeks ago I was only dimly aware of the late James Kim, senior editor for the on-line tech journal CNET, and former contributor to the now-defunct Tech TV cable network. Like many others, […]

Brief Notes on the Criminal Racket called “Government” “Everyone knows that the State claims and exercises [a] monopoly of crime … and that it makes this monopoly as strict as it can. It forbids private murder, but itself organizes murder on a colossal scale. It punishes private theft, but itself lays unscrupulous hands on anything […]

Is Real Money “Illegal”? [Publisher’s note: The following essay is adapted from an article I wrote for The New American and submitted for publication on October 2 — the day I was fired. I actually completed the first draft two hours after learning about my termination; while it was clear to me that it would […]

Snapshots of a Demented Regime (UPDATED; see the last item) One difference between a genuinely totalitarian ruling elite and criminal cliques of the sort that run more ordinary governments is this: Totalitarians display a thoroughgoing ignorance of basic human nature coupled with a demented belief in the State’s ability to re-arrange reality by decree. On […]

What Do We Do? Fight Them, Until We Can’t “… the liberty of my country is gone, and I go after it!” Patriot-martyr James Otis, reacting to a speech offered by Tory Timothy Ruggles during a meeting of the Massachusetts Assembly in 1769; Otis then dashed from the House as if in physical pursuit of […]

Is This How It Will Begin? Because of the unreasonable demands of unwise foreign deployments – chiefly the demented war of occupation in Iraq, but also the deepening morass in Afghanistan, as well as ongoing missions in the Balkans and elsewhere — the high-performance US military is becoming a 1989 minivan with a rolled-over odometer […]

How To Handle Draft-Nappers — A Fantasia Draft-Nappers, n: A collective designation for people — both private citizens and government parasites — who advocate or seek to enforce the practice of child-theft, servitude, and murder called conscription. “The United States military has a very big problem: Too many global conflicts and commitments – and too […]

From a Fissure to a Chasm “Turn with me to the third chapter of Ecclesiastes,” instructed our pastor. “Let’s leave,” I whispered tightly to my wife Korrin. She quietly but firmly shushed me, and she had a point. At the time – March 2003, the Sunday before the beginning of the most recent Gulf War […]

Somewhere southeast of Salt Lake City, Utah — In preparing to celebrate the Incarnation, I thought it appropriate to share these words, which were perfectly put to music by the incomparable Phil Keaggy (arguably the finest living guitarist, incontestably the finest living fingerstylist): The Maker of the universe, As Man, for man was made a […]

Enemy of the Almighty State: Ramon Perez, formerly an exemplary police officer in Austin, is seen here with his wife Michelle and their home-schooled children (from left) Victoria, Philip, Rachael, and Sarah. Ramon Perez was a rookie police officer in Austin, Texas when he responded to a domestic violence report in January 2005. When he […]