Art is individualism, and individualism is a disturbing
and disintegrating force. Therein lies its immense value
For what it seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery
of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to
the level of a machine.
- Oscar Wilde
For untold centuries, mankind has experimented with plant and animal life in an effort to produce organisms that might prove beneficial not only for human survival, but just ... (more)
It’s a sweet thing when Uncle Sam becomes a mega-buyer of your product.
While the price of oil continues to plunge to record lows, drivers are celebrating, and oil executives are sweating it out. But never fear, the government is running to the rescue -- of the oil industry. The Department of Energy is planning to enter the market with a purchase of 5 million barrels. It’s necessary for national security, don’t you know.
Oil prices have fallen 55 percent in the ... (more)
Advocates of the nanny state are undoubtedly suffering a bout of depression over their latest failure. According to the Los Angeles Times, a legal ban on fast-food restaurants in south Los Angeles has failed to reduce obesity.
In fact, it's worse than that. While obesity has increased in all parts of Los Angeles, the increase was largest in the section where the fast-food ban was in effect.... (more)
The American Empire has been long in the making. A green light was given in 1990 to finalize that goal. Dramatic events occurred that year that allowed the promoters of the American Empire to cheer. It also ushered in the current 25-year war to solidify the power necessary to manage a world empire. Most people in the world now recognize this fact and assume that the empire is here to stay for a long time. That remains to be seen.
Empires come and go. Some pop up quickly and disapp... (more)
There are few events more exciting in people's lives than the birth of a child.
Similarly, there is always a tremendous air of excitement that comes with the birth of a New Official Enemy of the U.S. national-security state.
This past week, the American people got to experience this exciting event in the life of the national-security state. Through an official decree issued by President Obama declaring that Venezuela now poses a grave threat to the "national securit... (more)
If you're like millions of other drone hobbyists in America who like to post their captured videos on Youtube then you could soon be receiving a legal notice from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Under existing FAA guidelines flying a drone for personal use is completely legal, as is recording video of your drone flight. But if you use the drone for commercial purposes, say for example to record an aerial view of a real estate property listing, then you'd be breaking the law.<... (more)
The headlines at Drudge are an excellent barometer of what's up with government and culture. Glancing over cops being killed by the other side of law enforcement (the people), Hillary's new Whitewater files (this time electronic), Army and Secret Service partying, drug use, and sex rings, the predictable result of partial "legalization" of pot (neighborhood informers), we find a report ... (more)
Conscription (i.e., “the draft”) was ended in the United States more than forty years ago, but it continues to be widely used outside North America and Western Europe. Recently, conscription in Ukraine has become an international issue as the Ukrainian state has reinstated the draft and met with significant opposition in many areas of the country.
Good for the Venezuelan domestic opponents of President Nicolas Maduro. Although fiercely opposed to Maduro, they have come out publicly against President Obama's meddling in Venezuela's internal affairs. According to the Washington Post,
Opposition leaders, who generally are close with the United States, s
Last month, the Federal Communications Commission launched a historic power grab over the Internet, euphemistically known as “net neutrality,” based on a Great Depression-era law to regulate public utilities. While entrepreneurs are pursuing cutting-edge business models and developing previously unimaginable technologies, Washington bureaucrats are reaching back eight decades to find a rationale to cont... (more)
We often hear that individual investors are myopic. They make decisions based on a relatively short time horizon, so forget about the long run. That’s why we need government officials to step in with regulations, as well as corrective taxes and subsidies, to guide the market toward long-term social goals. Or so the story goes.
Though this view of markets versus government is common, it has things exactly backwards: markets do contain sophisticated mechanisms for rewarding long-te... (more)
Don't be surprised if the prices for antidepressants soar even higher than they already are. That's because U.S. counterterrorism officials are horrible depressed about the results of their much-vaunted "war on terrorism."
Ever since the advent of the Cold War, U.S. officials have told us that it was necessary for the United States to adopt the totalitarian structure known as the national-security state in order to combat communist totalitarianism.
We are now witnessing a similar spectacle with respect to President Obama's exercise of dictatorial powers to deal with the socialist regime of President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. Obama's justification for his embrace of dictatorial powers would undoub... (more)
The human failing I would most like to correct is
aggression. It may have had survival advantage in
caveman days, to get more food, territory or partner
with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to
destroy us all.
– Stephen Hawking
The central premise of much of my writing over the years has been that the psychopathic nature of the political establishment has reached a critical mass. Like the nuclear weapons that so represent ... (more)
You'd think the average schmuck would think twice before calling an armed gunman to "help" them, but no, they don't, and nowhere is this more clear than in this entertaining comedic playlist from YouTube... (more)
On my way out from a dinner, I saw Lynn Ulbricht, Ross's wonderful and devoted mother, standing in the corner, talking on the phone. She waved me over.
"It's Ross on the line. Would you like to speak with him?"
Wow, big breath. Yes, of course. She handed me the phone.
Within seconds, I heard his voice. We had a quick conversation. I expressed my support and passed on the support of thousands of others. His voice was clear, with a pretty tenor intonat... (more)
The United States Export-Import Bank is scheduled to expire at the end of June 2015, and the elected representatives of both parties are tripping over themselves to reauthorize it, citing the importance of exports and strong private enterprise to the American economy.
“I’m a very strong supporter of the Ex-Im Bank, because it is a tool for us to be competitive in o... (more)
James Corbett of "The Corbett Report" explains how the awakening process that he underwent while diving deep into research eventually lead him to the belief that "the only valid basis for human interaction among adults is voluntary participation".
Most everyone would agree that China is not a free society. It is ruled by a brutal communist regime, one that has absolutely no regard for civil liberties and such criminal-justice principles as due process of law, trial by jury, right to counsel, and habeas corpus. When the state wants to go after someone, there are no institutional barriers that stand in its way.
China has something else: the war on drugs, the same war that the U.S. government has been waging for decades. ... (more)
"[F]irst of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory."
Many people will recognize these as the words of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After taking t... (more)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to Washington this week to prepare the American people for war against Iran. Backed by American neoconservatives, the Israel lobby, and assorted other war hawks, Netanyahu insists that Iran intends to build a nuclear weapon and thus is an "existential threat" to Israel. He has no confidence that President Obama will negotiate an agreement that once and for all will end Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions.
