My wife has been urging me to move back to the village of Kinderhook where she grew up. It's an ancient Dutch village in upstate NY that has grown in charming ways throughout the Republic's course. I'm happy 5 miles over in Niverville where our old houses are free to be modified without the insidious over sight of a citizen board seeking to 'preserve' history at my property's expense. In fact one of the earliest citizens of Niverville and subsequently Kinderhook never did the incorporation for Niverville and to this day has left it to the greater municipal functions of the larger town. If I were to want to move anywhere, it would be Hopkinton, NH. It's just outside Concord where I was this weekend to revel in the success of the Free State Project. It to is a charming colonial village just outside the State's capital. Just like home in general, but closer to one of the more exciting political experiments of the Century. Why move across town when you can strive for Liberty with like minded individuals ? It's a question I keep asking myself. 
I can't say that John Stossel is on my A-list of authors or commentators, but the promise of him and Congressman Ron Paul is bound to bring in quite a bit of excitement and all types of liberty folk. Indeed, prior to getting up there on Saturday the news that Michael Badnarik, had endorsed Ron Paul another former LP Presidential candidate had trickled into the blogs and was immediately known to the crew at Free Talk Live who announced it on the air. There was even talk that Paul might announce for the presidency on Sunday. While I was happy home with the wife and kids, the promise of these events only three hours away was too much to resist. This about the best it gets for the Liberty effort in America. I love the Free State Project.
February 2007 Archives
The Astronaut Farmer is being released this February. It stars Billy Bob Thorton as Charles Farmer, a former astronaut driven to space travel travel against the wishes of the government and perhaps his own better sense. Aside from the typical Hollywood heuristics and emotional prattling the issue of whether we will ever be able to travel the stars without the stultifying temperance of bureaucracy and its attendant misgivings and regulatory caution is not a new one. 
At this point such imagined behavior might seem down right noble compared to some recent antics in the astronaut corps. Robert Heinlein explored the idea of a manned presence in space with a public overseer in his classic The Man Who Sold the Moon published in 1951, before we even heard of Sputnik or strapped a hapless animal to a Von Braun rocket.
The inspiring part of this classic goes beyond the Walt Disney like drive of it's protagonist Delos D. Harriman, as it it underscores the importance of vision, investors and plain old engineering. Aside from these classic formulations a sense of dymanic fortitude in the face of caution and misgiving leads him to keep dreaming that he will eventually leave the Earthly gravity that binds his soul.
The recent flak about William Larkin's comments about troops etc. has reminded me of this piece back in June 2003. I've probably refined my thinking on this but will let it ride for it was.
Who is it that doesn’t support the troops when they are deployed by the United States ? Is it the snot nosed college kids ? Sure they protest, but I think you would be hard pressed to find them not supporting their friends who are currently serving. That sentiment is reserved for a few boomers who slammed their peers when returning from Vietnam. This is surely a different time. Is it the cranky middle-aged, middle income white guy ? Nope. He’s making sure FOX gets ratings, not shouting at the boys in uniform.
Is it the most extreme neo-fascist holed up in the woods waiting for Armageddon and spouting about the new world order ? Nope. We really don’t use the UN anymore. The fringe left-wing militants ? Perhaps. But it is awful hard to get one to speak coherently about his feelings for the actual troops. Even an ardent Libertarian who opposes the war based on his frugal taxpayer considerations or obstinate constitutionalism, does not complain about the public employee that is paid to kill the enemy. The policy wonks maintain control at the party levels, with its limited ideological spectrum. The rest is trickle-down beliefs and assertions.