Anarchy: The Basis for a Civilized Society, Part 2 | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.
Here’s the second part of the post I put up last night about Crispin Sartwell and his book Against the State.
The main part of the book is spent in destroying the classical arguments for the State, from thinkers like Hobbs, Locke, Hume, etc. Then he takes up the discussion of why anarchy?
There are plenty of reasons, not least of which, it has worked in the past and still works right now all over the world (example: bowling leagues, ‘invisible hand’ of the market, etc). That is the argument from utility. The other argument is from morality.
Is it better to argue for anarchy from utility or from morality? I agree with him that the moral position is better.
I think its pretty basic that (non masochist) people don’t want to have violence used against them. People are naturally OK with the Golden Rule. I think that’s a pretty good starting place for society. In fact, I think that’s pretty much the ONLY rule we really need to live in any society.
Sartwell talks about Lysander Spooner as a good person to refer to. Another writer/philosopher he talks about is Josiah Warren and his book The Practical Anarchist.
I would add Ayn Rand, her writing explained the reasons to value your self very simply. Try her book The Virtue of Selfishness. It’s very short. 😉 Self ownership is the basis for how I think humans should relate towards each other. Society is made up of individuals (duh). A strong, vibrant society is impossible without strong individuals who make it up. The only other alternative to self ownership is slavery and I will never agree with any form of slavery.
I hope more people start thinking about things like this, instead of just swallowing whatever they’re told in school or on the TV. It’s pretty important. If we don’t have any kind of basis, any foundation, any principles, then how can we expect our society to last? Like a house with a damaged foundation, it will fall down sooner than one with a strong one.
Our country was based on principles very close to anarchy. We had a VERY limited government, it was a minarchy. Now, we have a bloated beast of bureaucracy and it rules every tiny little detail of our lives.
I can’t count how many times people tell me that if I don’t like the government, I can move to Somalia where they don’t have one. OK, I’m not really up on the details of Somalia but I’ll give you my take anyway…
Somalia is only fighting over WHO is going to be in charge, not that there will or won’t be somebody in charge. So it’s not a stateless society at all, it’s a society with a competition of states. State is defined as the monopoly of the use of force.
So, Somalia is not a place to go if I don’t like government, it has an overabundance of them and will have to wait for the dust to settle and somebody wins. There’s no place on Earth that I’m aware of that has NO government, if there was, I would absolutely take them up on that and go there asap!
Arrrgggh Matey! Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
Check out the link and have some fun. 😉 http://talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
You can change your language on facebook from regular English to Pirate English. I don’t know if they translate from other languages (Spanish, French, German, etc) to Pirate. 😉
I did that last year for a while for fun. My computer has some kind of bug in it right now and I’m having huge problems with facebook. I have to go use a different computer to get on there so I haven’t done it this year. I was just on there trying to catch up a little bit.
By the time I get home to fix my buggy computer (hopefully fix it), Pirate Day will be long gone. So, enjoy it without me this time, me mateys- arrrrggh.
Have a cup of grog or a few shots of rum for me. 🙂
Anarchy: The Basis for a Civilized Society | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.
In an interview with Crispin Sartwell discussing anarchy and his latest book Against the State, Chris Mayer digs into the questions of what’s really so wrong with anarchy?
I’d really like to know. I agree with them that the left-right paradigm is a big mistake (a scam). All it does is divide us into warring parties and allows the people who really run things free latitude to do whatever they want while we’re distracted.
The reason I posted the Worlds Smallest Political Quiz (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/worlds-smallest-political-quiz/) as a sticky at the top of my blog was to get people to take the quiz and hopefully find out they might not really be what they’ve been labeled as. That there are other options out there other than just Democrat (left/liberal) and Republican (right/conservative).
It’s a real shame that our media has been taken over by the corporate world and so we never manage to get any real information about the choices we have during elections. Thank goodness for the internet. 🙂
We ALWAYS have more than just the Democrats and Republicans to choose from! We just have no way of finding that out until we see the other names on the ballot (if like most Americans, you get your information from the major media, TV, etc). By that time, it’s too late to make any kind of informed choice, so most people will vote for the same-old, same-old for no other reason than familiarity.
I’ve been a libertarian since I first heard of them. I’ve been fighting city hall since I was a kid. I believe in the principle of SELF ownership. I’ve always questioned authority and I find myself doing even more of that lately.
Who the hell says they’re authorities? Why?? How come the ‘authorities’ constantly screw things up yet still get treated as the best choice there is???? What makes them any better than the rest of us??? Why in the hell should somebody I’ve never even met who has NO idea what my life is like get to make ANY decisions about MY life????
OK, so maybe now I’m becoming an anarchist, even more than a libertarian. They are very close philosophically. I think its worth thinking about more. I definitely think the system we have now which is basically a corporatocracy (run by corporations) is terribly wrong and we need to get rid of it asap!
I don’t really think any sort of democracy is much better. Look what’s happened to our country since we all started acting like it’s a democracy (it’s NOT, it’s a Constitutional republic!). Democracy is really just 2 wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner. So who wants to be the sheep??
I don’t! Do you?
Homeless? No Food For You! : Personal Liberty™.
This is just outrageous! If I lived in one of these cities, I would be down there at city hall hounding those people mercilessly (and probably get arrested- again). Just who the HELL do they think they are??!!
These good people, these charitable organizations are on PUBLIC property (which being public belongs to THEM as well as those homeless people they are trying to serve!). They even went to the trouble of approaching private property owners and getting permission to help people out there. The cops STILL chased them away and threatened them with arrest!
WTF is wrong with these people. Both the city officials who would make such idiotic “laws” and the cops that will try to enforce them? Don’t they have any brains left? How about a bit of humanity????
They make the point quite clearly at the end and I couldn’t agree more. These people could care less about anything but CONTROL!
How Chemistry Can Explain the Difference Between Bourbon and a Tennessee Whiskey | Food & Think.
Interesting article in Smithsonian online. I like a good whiskey every so often 😉 What sailor doesn’t (or at least a shot of rum)…
Is it really that important that we find out exactly what all 4000+ chemical compounds do for the drinks? I’d rather spend my time on simple taste tests. 😉
I’d LOVE to go wander the whiskey trail over in Scotland, or Ireland, or even Kentucky one of these days. 🙂
Maintaining the Ship of Mercy.
The Mercy ships are really doing such wonderful work around the world. I wish I could afford to work on one of them for a while. I haven’t been able to manage that (so far).
If anyone is interested in a fantastic experience and has some sort of sponsorship or can live without an income for a few months, this would be a great place to do something useful.
They don’t just need ships crew, they need all kinds of health care workers too. Maybe some other kinds of things would get you a spot on board. Worth checking them out if you’re at all interested. 🙂
Constitution Day: Celebrate it by Learning to Enforce It | Tenth Amendment Center
Constitution Day, September 17, 2013. Today is the day to celebrate the document which we hold responsible for ‘giving us our freedom’. If I was home, I would probably be trying to have some sort of party with my friends from our local Campaign for Liberty meetup group ( http://www.meetup.com/ronpaul-773/).
I’d like to be able to celebrate, but I find it hard now to find any reasons to celebrate. I feel a wake is more in order…
We have NOTHING left of the 4th amendment. Even before Edward Snowdens’ breaking the news of ‘our’ governments’ all encompassing spy programs, we had to put up with the DEA, TSA, IRS, FBI, etc. “Our” government has not paid the slightest attention to the 4th amendment for decades.
The 5th amendment has been totally trashed since we started using the ridiculous idea that ‘property’ is guilty and so can be stolen without even any charges being filed against the owner of said property. The government has been stealing BILLIONS of dollars worth of cash and real property using the tactic of ‘civil asset forfeiture’ for years-(check out the Institute for Justice on some of these cases www.ij.org). The (illegal, unconstitutional) drug war has done in the 5th amendment.
The 9th and 10th amendments were also victims of the war on (some) drugs. If anyone had ever paid any attention to either of those (9th- rights retained by the people)(10th- rights retained by the states), then there never could have been any drug war to begin with.
The 6th, 7th and 8th amendments were also victims of the war on (some) drugs. Because of the HUGE amount of people being arrested with no real crime committed, the justice system in this country has been completely corrupted and destroyed. Some ‘free’ country we are with more people in prison than anywhere else in the world by far! 🙁
The 2nd amendment is on the way out. With all the restrictions we have already on a RIGHT that “shall not be infringed”, it’s getting to be almost impossible for a law abiding citizen to “keep and bear arms”. The media works the public into a frenzy every time some nut job gets a hold of a gun and goes on a rampage. Hey, why not try to stop the crazies and not the rest of us??? Why not let the rest of us take out said nut job if he does manage to get hold of a gun??? These guys aren’t crazy enough to try their shit anyplace they might run into ARMED citizens! Who the hell said we have to get a permit to exercise a RIGHT??? A right NEVER needs any kind of permit in order to exercise it! Period!
When I get going on this stuff people always bring up the 1st amendment. Yeah, OK, we still have freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Yeah, I guess as long as you’re not a Rastafarian, or a Mormon, or OMG a Satanist!!! 😉 Of course the religious right says their rights are being infringed on too (by the atheists)- yep, that’s what they say. So, the freedom of religion is being eroded pretty badly too. You can still speak freely, except at work, or on a college campus, or unless you want to criticize the TSA for their bullshit NAZI tactics in the airport. It’s NOT freedom if you have to censor yourself!
Almost forgot about the 1st amendments guarantee of freedom of the press. Yeah, that mention of censorship reminded me. Freedom of the press, yeah right- they’re now all owned by the same big corporations and do NOT work in any way for our freedom. Sure, you have freedom of the press- if you have enough money to buy a major newspaper or TV station. Sure, that’s real freedom for the people.
So out of the first 10 amendments- our Bill of RIGHTS (which were NOT given to us by anyone- including any government!)- we can honestly say we have ONE left (the 3rd). I’m not aware of any soldiers being quartered in anyones’ houses (yet). One out of 10!
One out of 10??!! And no one seems to care. 🙁 I agree with the linked article, we need to do all we can right now, before it goes any further, and put a stop to this constant violation of our rights.
It is not going to happen in the ballot box (yes, if you can vote for a libertarian, then do- the rest of them aren’t worth the bother!). I hope it doesn’t have to happen through the cartridge box! Who wants that to happen??? We would be outgunned in a NY minute! We need to EDUCATE, we need to individually stand up and do whatever we can. NULLIFY!
I want the government people to get the hell out of my life, and yours. And the only way that’s going to happen is if we work together to nullify all of them into oblivion….Murry Rothbard
With this post, I feel like I’ve done what I can to help today. Make an effort… check out a couple of websites for groups that support the ideals of the Constitution. Here are a few to get started…
www.theadvocates.org The Advocates for Self Government
www.downsizedc.org Downsize DC
www.ij.org Institute for Justice
www.isil.org International Society for Individual Liberty
www.lp.org Libertarian Party
Here’s part III in Monkey Fists’ series for gcaptain on movies about sailors. This one looks especially good cause there are so many comedies. I LOVE comedies! Especially ‘stupid’ funny, like the Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, “I Love Lucy”, etc.
There are a couple of movies by Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy, and even a little history on Popeye at the end. Its not all about the comedy tho, there are some pretty interesting other films in this one too. Try “John Paul Jones” starring Robert Stack, “The Lady from Shanghai” starring Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, “The Last Detail” with Jack Nicholson.
It looks like a lot of really good choices this week. Good way to spend a rainy day, Maritime Monday Movies. 😉
Could Panda Poop Be the Secret to More Efficient Biofuel? | Surprising Science.
Interesting question! It sounds like it might just be feasible. I think it would be much better than using corn for all the reasons mentioned in the article (and more).
Only problem is, I had understood it was pretty hard to get those pandas to procreate. How many pandas will it take to produce the amount of poop needed to power one proper plane?
No, I’m just kidding around. Read the article, you’ll see, it really does make sense.
😉
Zombies, Celebrity Sideboobs, and Smart Social Commentary = Web Gold | Mother Jones.
Just found out about this in an email from Mother Jones. 🙂 I used to get Cracked sometimes when I was a kid. I much preferred Mad magazine, but would read Cracked if it was around. I didn’t know it was on the web, never thought to check.
Here it is…www.cracked.com. It looks like its grown up a bit but still looks to be very entertaining. In the MJ interview, they mention they are now ‘one of the webs most popular humor destinations.’
I’ll be checking up on them for sure. I really like their agenda, ‘train yourself to question everything.’ Yeah, definitely my kind of people there. 😉
Man and the Sea: A Longreads Digest | Mother Jones.
Here’s a nice little listing of interesting ‘sea stories’ from Mother Jones. The link is to a page with blurbs from a few (5) different articles. All previously published in places as diverse as the New York Times (A Son of the Bayou, Torn Over the Shrimping Life) to Popular Science (The Quest to Uncover the Secret Life of Sharks).
I think my favorite would have to be “A Sea Story” by William Langewiesche (The Atlantic). Its the story of the sinking of the ferry Estonia where over 850 people died in one of the deadliest maritime disasters of the century. I remember watching a movie, something in a safety class I think. This one would really be worth reading, lessons learned and all that…
Arctic Sea Ice Up 60 Percent in 2013.
Read it and do your own thinking.
I said a long time ago, scientists can’t prove (yet) that we are in the midst of “man-made” global warming. They tricked me once when I was a kid when they were all in agreement that we would all be frozen into ice cubes by now.
At this point in time, I want proof that…
1. People are the cause of global warming.
2. There is something effective that people can do to stop it.
So far, I have not seen enough evidence of either one of those propositions to make me want to do anything about the issue. I’m still waiting…
Maybe if I wait long enough, they’ll decide we’ll be freezing again. I only wish the governments of the world would stop trying to use this issue to force us into their ridiculous ideas of how we need to live.
Yeah, riiiighht, like any of them really know anything about MY life. Or yours (assuming you’re not at least a millionaire). Or even how to really LIVE life. You don’t learn about that when your life’s ambition is to control other people!
Hugs & CookiesXOXO: TRIPLE LAYER CHOCOLATE DIPPED STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE.
This just looks SO good. Oooey- gooey good. I’m just going to have to try this when I get home. It’s even gluten free! Not that I really care, but I have a friend who recently went on a gluten free diet and she’s already lost a TON of weight! 🙂
If you can have stuff like this on a gluten free diet, I just might get around to trying it myself. 😉
Our Fossil-Fueled Future – Environment – Utne Reader.
Love the picture they start this off with. Right off the bat they make out Exxon as the cause of all the worlds suffering. Yeah, riiiighht…
OK, for the record, I do NOT think we need to stop using fossil fuels! I do NOT think we need to stop the rest of the world from developing up to first world standards. In fact, I think that will be one thing that could help solve everything.
OK, I bet some people are pretty skeptical…
First point: rising incomes = lower birth rate. Lower birth rate + rising incomes = more resources to give a shit about something other than bare survival. So, the first thing we should do if we want to ‘save the planet’ is to help everyone in the world move up the economic ladder asap.
Second point: all of this increase in productivity and rising incomes (time/effort/money spent on other things than energy) depends on CHEAP energy. At this point in time, alternative energy (sources other than fossils) are NOT cheap. They are not anywhere near as efficient and they are not practical (yet). (I DO agree with technology like solar ovens replacing wood burning stoves- that is a GREAT use of solar power in the developing world and a great example of how solar will be able to help)
Third point: they talk about how the entrenched energy companies (meaning fossil fuel companies) earn “staggering profits”, which makes them somehow evil and so they should be either nationalized (BAD idea) or have their ‘profits’ stolen “for the better good” (another really bad idea).
First of all, they don’t make anything like what I would call staggering profits. They only sound like that because of the way they are reported. Which is intentionally to make you feel like something is wrong with it. They are manipulating you to make you want to punish those ‘evil’ corporations. Please read this article to get a more balanced perspective… http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/10/20/big-oil-isnt-as-profitable-as-everyone-thinks/
And to end my review of this article, I would like to point out my personal favorite way to ‘save the world’ with the least pain and anguish for everyone (and everyTHING) on the planet… start using BIRTH CONTROL!!!
If you really think about it, almost every problem you can come up with is minimized if you cut down the amount of people running around the planet. Global warming for instance. If you say that global warming is caused by the actions of people, then it could easily be solved by reducing the amount of people acting. Right?
YES! So, wouldn’t it be better to just use some birth control rather than kill off the people that are already here (through starvation, disease, war, pollution)???
China has done the world a great service with their one child policy (the only problem is their use of force instead of persuasion). If everyone around the world would think about this and resolve to just have one child voluntarily, it would solve a LOT of our problems. War, hunger, pollution, would all be just about eliminated, or at least minimized to the greatest possible extent.
Yes, it would take a while. But in the same time period they’re talking about 2040, we could make a huge, lasting impact, especially if people really came to value the rest of the planet instead of only humanity.
Personally, I would LOVE to see the use of non-polluting alternative energy sources grow to overtake the use of fossil fuels. I DO value this beautiful earth and all the other creatures living here with us.
I would be happy to use wind, solar, ocean current, fuel cell, or anything else that can match fossil fuels in price and efficiency. I am hoping they will come up with new technology that will allow me to make that choice sometime soon. So far, that day has not come. I’m doing what I can see as feasible in the meantime. No, I’m not going to be a martyr.
A friend forwarded me an email a few days ago that had this post in it.Tonight I read it and I was like, oh yeah, GOOD stuff here…
I might nit- pick a little bit on his numbers, but the truth is, he is absolutely correct. Those of us who are still working for somebody else ARE basically slaves. Most people never think of it that way. I never really thought too much about the employer part of it, which is why I say I have some small issues with his numbers. But I’ve been aware of the fact that I am a slave to the government for a long time now.
Yes, he is right. The government takes between 40-50% of your income. I will argue with that and say it is even more. Just to be nice, lets say it’s ‘only’ 40%. OK, if some bandit held you up on the street and told you that they would take 40% of everything you earned for the next 50 years of your life would you think he was turning you into a slave?
Yes, right, he DID just turn you into a slave. Having the government do the same thing, means that you are a slave to them instead of just a single robber. Whooo- hooo! Big deal! OK, so now we know we are all slaves to the government, lets look at what Mr Altucher says about your employer.
I’ve been working with temp agencies for the last couple of years. In this capacity, it is very explicit that exactly what Mr Altucher is saying is true about the employer/employee relationship. I get a day rate when my company sends me out to work for a client. That client pays my employer a LOT more money then my employer pays me. Yes, it’s VERY clear! The money I (and everybody else working as temps there) earn has to pay for the entire upkeep of the company!
It works the same way at EVERY company. If you are not worth a certain amount of money to them, they’ll either not hire you, fire you, or just pay you less. The arguments going on (again) about minimum wage are very relevant here.
I LOVE what he says about owning your time, owning your work, owning the value you create for others! This is very basic stuff. This is at the bottom of all my political beliefs- SELF ownership.
I want to find out how to break free. I’ve been trying to for a long time now but just by following the usual paths. Work hard, save money, buy a house, etc…. it’s just taking too long. Now I understand more about why that is. OK, yeah, if 90% of what I earn is being taken from me before I even see it, then yeah, I can see why I can’t break free. 🙁
In the article, he mentions a book but he didn’t give a name. I looked Mr James Altucher up on www.amazon.com and found out he has a few books. I am assuming it is the one called “Choose Yourself!”. I just downloaded it for my kindle. It’s only $2.99!
I can hardly wait to read it! 🙂
Are Weeds Healthier Than Farmed Veggies? | Mother Jones.
My guess would be yes. 🙂
We’ve had an expert on edible plants come out to lead our Campaign for Liberty meetup group on an expedition to hunt down local ‘weeds’. I’ve managed to miss it both times so far. I’d really like to know more about this and hoping I’ll be home the next time he can come to see us. We’re trying to get more involved with natural, organic, non-GMO foods.
I can’t manage a garden very well when I’m offshore most of the time. I’m pretty sure I could manage to grow weeds. In fact, I have a yard full of them already. I just need to know if any of them are good for eating. 😉
Animal Food Checkoff Programs and the Economics of Meat Production – Politics – Utne Reader.
Here is an interesting article from Utne Reader on the new book by David Robinson Simon: “Meatonomics”.
This exert from the book is mainly about the food “checkoff” programs. Those are programs where the federal government takes a certain percentage of every product sold, say every pound of beef or pork, or a dozen eggs, or a gallon of milk. They then use that money to “promote” those products. In other words, to manipulate the public through advertising to buy more of those products.
Milk- it does a body good.
Pork, the other white meat.
What’s for dinner? Beef.
The incredible, edible egg.
I’m sure you’ve seen these ads, they’ve been around for years. According to the article, they’ve been VERY effective. For instance, the dairy producers report they’ve increased per capita milk consumption 12% to 620 pounds since their program started in 1983. More than 7 billion extra pounds of milk sold!
I don’t really have a problem with food producers trying to promote the sale of their products. If they all just got together voluntarily and threw their money in a pool to spend on advertising that they all agreed on, then fine.
Where I have an issue is that this program is mandatory. The federal government does not allow anyone to opt out and it forces ALL producers to pay for whatever it is that the government decides to say. We’re talking $557 million yearly, that’s a lot of advertising.
Why in the world do we even need the federal government to promote ANY product? Is this in ANY way consistent with the LIMITED government we are supposed to have according to our Constitution? It IS still the supreme law of the land, no matter how many ‘laws’ have been written into the books to subvert it.
Looks like nobody really cares. There’s already been a case where some beef producers disagreed with an ad campaign (Johannes v. Livestock Marketing Association) that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Basically, the court ruled that the statements (ads) were being produced by the government, NOT the beef producers and so they had no standing to object (I’m not a lawyer but that’s my take on it).
Tough titties in other words 🙁
It looks like a book worth reading if you’re at all interested in our increasingly corporate food system. The more I learn, the more I DON’T like what I’m finding out. There has to be a better way.
Charts: How Big Debt on Campus Is Threatening Higher Ed | Mother Jones.
If you read my earlier post on the college degree arms race (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/disarming-the-college-degree-arms-race/), then you might like to read this as a follow up. It’s a little bit different take on the subject from Dave Gilson and Maggie Severns at Mother Jones.
They put out some good information. I’d like to see a chart there about how the amount of government aid correlates to increased prices for a college education. I have seen some work on that before. Maybe it was in a Reason magazine. Nope, I found it, it was in a Cato publication, heres a link to a summary page where you can read the whole thing if you’re so inclined (http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/making-college-more-expensive-unintended-consequences-federal-tuition-aid)
The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again 🙁
Liberator Online: There ought to be a law…?.
OK, I’m a little late getting this one out but here it is… the August issue of the Liberator Online, sent out by the Advocates for Self Government. As they say, it’s for “anyone who loves liberty”. 🙂
This one is pretty entertaining. I especially liked the articles on the “killer lurking in your kitchen”, and America’s nuttiest warning labels. There’s also a good video interview with Greg Glassman who founded CrossFit, along with the usual quotes, powerful pursuasion point, and libertarian response to corporate abuses by Dr Mary Ruwart. Enjoy…
“Privacy” Held Hostage By “Security” – Public Unimpressed | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.
Another great article from Laissez-Faire. This one on the supposed conflict between privacy and security. I agree completely with Mr Leahy, the real issue is between control and liberty. I don’t know about you, but I will side with liberty EVERY time on EVERY issue!
“Coupon Constitution” Threatens Fundamental Freedom by Bob Barr.
I couldn’t have said it better. Everything he says is the truth. It’s so sad what we have allowed to happen, what we have done to ourselves. It wasn’t Al-Qaeda that destroyed America, it was US!
Through our FEAR, we allowed everything America stood for to be shot down along with our enemies. We allowed the government to run rampant, in complete contrast to our founders intentions of an extremely LIMITED government with only a few areas of authority.
I hope one day the American people will come to their senses and take back our country before its too late.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
What TSA Really Stands For | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.
Thousands Standing Around, Trampling Several Amendments, Too Stupid for Arby’s, Touch Sex Army, Teaching Submission to Americans, Touchin’ Squeezin’ Arrestin’, Theatrical Security Agents, Touchin’ Sensitive Areas, Taking Scissors Away, Tough Shit America!, Totalitarian Security Agents, Tremendously Stupendous Arrogance, Taxpayer Supported Assault, Trampling Stupid Americans…..
Take your pick. I could go on (and on). They are nothing but a bunch of well paid (from our tax dollars) government goons. They have somehow been brainwashed to think (if I can use that word in this instance) that by violating our rights daily, they are actually doing some good. 🙁
To anyone who seriously believes that, I have a bridge to sell you!
Its all I can do to keep my mouth shut when I have to go to the airport. I’m sure one of these days they’re going to put me on the no-fly list and then that will be it for me. I’ll be unable to work and that will be that.
People tell me to just refuse to fly if I’m so against the TSA “keeping us safe”. Yeah, riiiiiiggght. Please tell me how I am supposed to get to work over in Singapore when I live in Texas without flying??? Oh, and by the way, the TSA is now in train stations, bus stations, ROAD BLOCKS, MALLS, STADIUMS, and they were even at the last presidential nominating conventions. So how the hell can I escape them???
The fact that they are shredding the entire constitution in the idiotic (impossible) quest to make us all “safe”, is not an issue to 99% of the people I see at the airport. I think THAT fact bothers me even worse then the TSA itself. That AMERICANS who are supposed to be so supportive of freedom that we will go halfway around the world to fight other peoples battles for them will not only accept these NAZI tactics, but cheer on the thugs. I can only shake my head and grit my teeth. What the hell has happened to us?
Yeah, the linked article is a little tongue in cheek but it does make some good points. Seriously.
I recently applied for the ‘trusted traveler’ program the Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) runs. Only so I can get through the lines faster. In hopes that will help me keep my “privilege” to travel for a while longer. It’s still in process (probably to be denied after this rant). The officer actually told me that because I have a criminal record (30+ years ago, another one 5+- neither of which had anything remotely to do with security) I might not be approved. WOW! She actually told me that my RIGHT to travel freely was NOT a right but only a privilege!
Well, NO! It is NOT a privilege! It IS a RIGHT!!!!
Despite the fact that I already have a TWIC (Transportation Worker Identity Card) which is given out by the TSA after a background check and is SUPPOSED to be so we can have UNESCORTED access through a PORT (airPORT), and also (had) a security clearance for work which also gave me a pretty thorough background check, I had to pay another $100 for the CBP background check for this program.
I asked the agent why with this being the THIRD background check, she was not able to see that I had been arrested and had a criminal record? Of course, she was not allowed to tell me that! 🙁
By this point I was getting pretty upset. She insisted I would have to trace down my own records and FAX them in to her within 30 days. OK, so I managed to get the records and tried for hours to fax them in. No luck, phone always busy. With all that money the government gets, they can’t do paperwork any other way but by fax? they can only afford one phone??? WTF???
I called and reached another officer (mine was off) and they gave me a different number to fax. No luck on that one either. So, here I am at work (offshore), we don’t have a fax. I have no mail or email that I can send the papers to. I only get off to go home the day before my time runs out. They sure make it easy to do something to help yourself instead of them. Yeah, riiiiiight. 🙁
Some free country we have… yeah, riiiiighhht. Sure you don’t want to take a look at that bridge?
Disarming the College Degree Arms Race – Politics – Utne Reader.
Although I found this article a little hard to read, I thought it made a lot of good points. Anyone thinking of going to college should read it through and really spend some time thinking about it. There are a few aspects to this issue that I haven’t seen come up anywhere else yet. I think we really should have some kind of national discussion about ‘credentialing’.
I noticed a long time ago how a high school diploma had warped into a bachelors degree. I mean, jobs you could get hired on for and do very well at with just a high school diploma back in the old days (before say 1990), now require at LEAST a bachelors degree.
I thought it must be because of how the schools have been dumbed down so much. I have a hard time understanding how/why a school would pass someone who failed all the tests. Someone who can’t either read or write. But apparently, the parents have demanded that their kids don’t deserve to fail. WTF???? If they failed the class, then yes, they DO deserve to fail!
The school systems gave in to the parents and pass pretty much everyone now. So a high school diploma has become pretty much totally worthless. I got a job tutoring people in college so that they could pass the remedial math and English classes, wow! Why were they accepted into college if they couldn’t pass BASIC math and English??? Now, anyone who wants a ‘decent’ job MUST go to college??!! So somehow we have to help them all get through it. Or at least that’s what we’re all told.
I have to disagree. I should NEVER have listened to my grandmother. She was one of those people who insisted “you’ll never be able to get a good job without a college degree”. I informed her that I already HAD a college degree (2 year AAS in Ocean Marine Technology). She insisted that “didn’t count”.
Why? I have no idea. I already HAD a ‘decent’ job. In fact, more than decent. It was a very well paying job, with way more than the usual time off, it had great benefits, and to top it off, I actually enjoyed it. I really looked forward to going back to work.
I was only a captain tho, and not on a cruise ship 🙁 Maybe if I HAD been working on a cruise ship instead of in the oilfield, my accomplishments would have been acceptable to my grandmother.
So, I quit my job as licensed master 1600 GT and went back to school. I started back at the local jr college where I got my AAS degree. I was going to go on to a university later for a degree in Chemical Engineering. Since I live in the middle of about a dozen chemical plants, I figured I would always be able to get a ‘decent’ job.
NOT the right thing to do!! I finally figured out that I was NOT going to be a chemical engineer after my 1st year at UT Austin! No way was I going to do that kind of work for the rest of my life! Now what? I had just spent 3 years in school (and a ton of money) and still no degree… I asked around and turns out that if I changed majors to math I would only need one more full year in school.
I was already BROKE again. I needed to go back to work. Back offshore where I could save some money again. So, I went back to the US Coast Guard only to find out they had changed the rules without telling anybody (which is against their own rules) and so I would have to start all over from the bottom.
I shipped out as an AB (on tankers) so I could start working my way back up again to only a 3rd mate unlimited license when the USCG had already given me a 2nd mates license (but then changed the rules and took it back). I did manage to earn my license and finally enough money to go back to school again.
I found that the University of St Thomas in Houston had a program where I could get almost all of my course work done without having to quit my job (offshore- 2 months on/2 off). I did have to quit finally to do one whole semester and got all my remaining math classes out of the way.
OK, so now I managed to FINALLY get an acceptable college degree! Whoo-hoo!! Did it do me any good at all??? NO!!! I have been on the lookout since I graduated (with honors) with a bachelors degree in MATH and I have not seen even ONE job advertised that would use it. Not even one!
Yeah, I could teach, but only if I went BACK to school for another couple of years for a teaching certificate! I’m sure my grandmother would love for me to do that so I could get a ‘decent’ job off the boats and live a ‘normal’ life. Get married, have kids and all that. She’s not around any more to tell me that so I do what I want with no guilt. 😉
Why in the world would I quit the job I have now to take one that pays only about 1/4 (or less), and works at least twice as much? It really doesn’t take a math major to figure out that equation just doesn’t work!
So, this whole idea of people having to go to college to get a decent job is a crock of sh*t as far as I’m concerned. Its too bad so many people (including me) have been suckered into spending so much time, effort, money for a piece of paper. People would probably be a heck of a lot better off finding something to do with their lives that they actually enjoyed doing. Maybe go to a trade school, or even ‘apprentice’ with someone. You don’t have to be in a school to learn something useful!
To anyone out there who’s thinking about college, take a lesson from me and don’t let anyone guilt you into something you’re not sure about. Take some time off- a gap year- and wander the world, think about life and what you want out of it. There are a million ways to earn a living, but you’re the only one that can figure out how you really want to do it. Go for it! 😉
Looking For Food Freedom In New York : Personal Liberty™.
First it’s cigarettes, then it’s sodas, now its food 🙁 Mayor Bloomberg is a creepy wanna-be dictator! I can’t believe the New Yorkers are still putting up with this idiot!
Why in the world would anyone allow someone else to tell them what they can eat or drink??? Have they all somehow mutated into some kind of zombie? They only LOOK like adults, but on the inside they’re still just whiny little babies that only want to be told what to do. They actually pay attention and follow orders just because someone else tells them its for their own good?
I used to spend some time around NYC when I was growing up. I graduated from the Oceanics School which was based in NYC. I used to help out there and would walk from the school down to the train station every day. I would stop and talk to people along the way. No, they were not all rude or dangerous. Most of them were friendly and really interesting to talk to. Very independent minded to say the least 😉 I can’t imagine how those people would react to this crap.
Have they all been somehow brainwashed? Maybe they all moved away due to the increasing infringements of their rights? I don’t know, but I would like see someone do a study on it. NY and CA seem to be the leaders of the rest of the country. I would HATE to see the rest of the states follow this leadership but I can already see it coming. Maybe if the study shows some kind of virus is eating up NYC residents brains, the rest of the country will quarantine that kind of ‘thinking’. I can only hope 🙁
Lecture Series | Mariners’ Museum.
I only just found out about this lecture series when I read the link on my earlier post on The Project. It will be part of this Lecture Series. It sounds like a pretty cool thing to do if you’re in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.
Each lecture has a presentation by the author and a Q & A session afterwards. They have them almost monthly and they pick some good ones. The Project about pirates sounds great. They have one on sea monsters coming up Oct 10 that sounds good too. 🙂
Check the link for more information. The website for the museum is www.marinersmuseum.org . Its FREE! 🙂
Light it Up: Another Weed Ship Goes Up in Smoke | gCaptain
Wow! What’s going on in Tanzania lately?? Have they taken over from Columbia or Hawaii as the worlds leading pot producer or something?
For the 2nd time in a week, a Tanzanian flag ship has been lit on fire to avoid being caught and charged with smuggling marijuana. This time, the French are the ones chasing them down.
But again it looks like its the house burning instead of the cargo holds.
I wonder how many fishermen are hanging out in the smoke trail along with the French Navy? 😉
Daily Prompt:Toy Story- What was your favorite plaything as a child? Do you see any connection between your life now, and your favorite childhood toy?
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/daily-prompt-memento/
I’m not sure if my sea snark qualifies as a toy but playing with it (sailing) was my favorite thing to do while I was growing up (other than reading).
I used to take my little sailboat our almost every day, usually after school. Sometimes, I would even sail it TO school 🙂
Made out of Styrofoam, it was indestructible. Unlike the Titanic, it was actually unsinkable 🙂 We DID test that quite regularly 😉
I had SO much fun with that little boat. 🙂 I would go by myself. I would take out my friends. My brother would run circles around me with his outboard powered dingy, but I didn’t care. I always loved just sailing. Letting the wind drive me where I wanted to go. It was so engaging, so peaceful, so enjoyable. I STILL love sailing and go out every chance I can.
As a kid, I never would have imagined that I would wind up ‘sailing’ for a living (that’s what we call shipping out- ‘sailing’). I was on track to be a doctor back then. My grandparents were both pharmacists. My fathers mother was one of the first female pharmacists in the state of NY 🙂 (I definitely take after her) 😉 I made straight A’s in school and I did love studying all my subjects in class, especially math and science.
What happened was: I got sick and tired of taking the same classes over and over again in school. For example, I had been taking algebra since at least 5th grade. I always made straight A’s. I just couldn’t see the point of taking it AGAIN in 9th grade.
So, I started skipping those classes that I’d already taken. I was still making good grades. I could still keep up with the work. After all, I HAD already taken those classes (more than once). I’ll never understand why parents put up with the school systems dumbing down their kids so much!
Eventually, my family got tired of hearing about my transgressions from the school district. My grandmother decided I needed to go to a boarding school, to keep me from skipping 😉 Well, I give her credit. She tried. She really did.
Along with my Aunt Helen, my grandmother and I went on a road trip from Freeport NY, up through Niagara Falls (loved the Maid of the Mist) into Canada. We came back down through the Detroit area (went to a concert there- grandma wore earplugs 🙂 ). Visited family friends near Chicago. Stopped at a dozen fancy schools before we made it back to NY.
I have to admit, I was a total BITCH the entire trip. I didn’t want to go to any fancy-schmantzy rich kid boarding school! I would never fit in. I liked my life the way it was. I loved my town where I grew up and I could spend my days hanging out with my friends on the beach. Sailing, swimming, fishing, even sometimes jumping off the bridge to let the current carry me out to the Gulf so I could swim back in 😉
Yeah, I was also hanging out at the amusement parlor and the pool halls, sometimes the bars 😉 I was drinking and other things I wasn’t supposed to be doing.
It was really a lucky stroke of fate what happened when my grandmother got me back to her place in Freeport. She was so fed up with me after that search for an acceptable school for both me and her, she took me to the library and threw the book at me. Literally! She told me that it was a book listing ALL the accredited schools in the country and if I could find one in there that I liked, I could go there.
The book landed on a table in front of me. Opened to a page with a picture of a square-rigged ship in full sail. I was hooked! I grabbed that book and started reading that thing like my life depended on it (turned out it really did in a way).
The book gave details: the Oceanics School (http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19720827&id=nN1VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5eADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6581,6541976). Based in New York City, the school would charter these large traditional sailing ships for months long cruises with their students aboard. The ship sailed around the world and the students learned to operate the ship. They held classes on navigation, seamanship, oceanography, cultural studies and languages of all the countries the ship visited.
I was so excited. I told my grandmother “that’s it!”. That’s the one I want to go to!! She was aghast!! She told me “no way”. “No way are you going to ruin your life with those damn boats like your father did!!” Up til he bought his dream boat, the “Island Girl”, my father was an engineer. A ‘respectable’ professional career man. My grandmother would never forgive the Island Girl for my fathers decision to quit the corporate world.
When I got home and told my dad about the Oceanics school, he was almost as happy about it as I was. He said “you’re going”, and “while we’re at it, we’ll send your brother too”! “You can’t skip school when you’re on a boat in the middle of the ocean” 😉 So, soon enough my brother and I were off to sail around the world. We had some absolutely fantastic adventures sailing the 3- masted schooner Ariadne from Athens to Martinique!
That trip changed my life. I returned without my brother to sail the Ariadne again from Martinique back across the Atlantic. I had some incredible experiences with some wonderful people. It DID change my life.
I will be forever grateful to the Gallaghers (especially Stephanie) who took a chance on me and then helped me SO much. Even after I graduated from the Oceanics, Stephanie was instrumental in getting me set up in the Ocean Marine Technology program in Texas that got me started on the way to earning my license.
Because of the chance to go to the Oceanics, I am STILL sailing. Almost 35 years later. 🙂 I recently upgraded to Master Any Gross Tons and can sail pretty much any ship on the ocean. I still love the traditional sailing ships best but there just aren’t enough of them around to make a living on. Too bad 🙁
So, yeah, you could say my favorite plaything when I was young is still my favorite plaything now. 🙂
Here are a couple of great links. The first one is by Tim Harris of the ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl which he sailed on as a cadet with the Oceanics in the early 70s. The next one is of the same ship in a storm. The last is a link to the ship itself, in case you’re interested in sailing her 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=iokDVlHybtE
NSA’s Secret War Against Online Privacy Seekers.
Another interesting email from Global Wealth Protection this morning. I can’t say good, cause its NOT good. Its terrible! Its horrible that “our leaders” think of us as their “adversaries” now instead of their bosses (which we ARE)!!
It’s going to take a lot of effort on our part to have any sort of privacy now. I hope you take it into serious consideration. I’m not sure its worth it for me. I put a lot of my business right out in public (been posting on facebook for a while) and if they want to come and get me, they already know exactly where I am and what I’m doing. I’m a little surprised they haven’t come at me yet 😉
It still seriously bothers me that they’re doing this. Privacy is a basic human right (and NEED). We can not live together (peacefully) in society without it. The government has NO need! In fact, THEY are supposed to be open with what they’re doing. They’ve somehow managed to turn the tables and they hide everything they do and spy on everything we do.
They have absolutely NO authority (no matter what the hell they may try to scam you with)!! They are acting illegally and unconstitutionally and against every principle of a civilized society!
This kind of information gathering is about nothing but POWER and CONTROL (OF US). It has NEVER in the history of the world been used FOR the people, but ALWAYS against them! You give these power hungry psychopaths who fight tooth and nail to “get elected” to be “our rulers” this kind of power (“knowledge is power”) and you WILL regret it.
As they say in the article
“Make no mistake, this is the eye of Sauron. It is the empowerment of arrogance and power… and ultimately of death. You might think me dramatic but history doesn’t lie: Surveillance kills.”