June 2007 Archives

Sometime Sunday night I noticed a huge spike in visitors to the site. Just after I said things seem slow. From the best digging into stats and whatnot, I've pinned the culprits on a forum board for an English 'football' club called the Saints. I can't find any reference point in the forum, but haven't dug too far into either. Pints and fish and chips are all great when I go to London, but its been almost five years.

It seems like either my Evil Genius piece (or at least the .jpg) or the other one about banning football may be the source of this sudden infusion of interest in this all too 'beta' blog. While I'm sometimes just as happy not having to respond to everything I write and post ( in other words I don't get many comments) I am curious about this bit of hijinks. I apologize a head of time for no contact or about information. Shrug. We're working on it ? So by all means drop a note or comment if you can.

Seems like a fairly boring summer in the blogosphere. I'll probably complete a couple book reviews I've been working on and do some book writing myself. Instead of the usual 800 page tome on some aspect of History I've decided to go back to some modern philosophical classics.

During a Hardfire debate last summer Ed Pell referenced Robert Nozick as the libertarian philosopher during the show. While its next to impossible to dispute such assertions in the heat of a debate, it did occur to me that perhaps Mr. Libertarian, Murray Rothbard, was once again not getting his due.

Michael Moore is extending his crusade to health care. The high school graduate, turned desperate documentarian in his late thirties has cast his glare on the 'system', whose obvious choice for big meany is insurance companies. Maybe it's the desperate 'Hey I'm from Michigan' thing that attracts viewers to his work. I only watch his videos on DVD at the low Netflix cost of about $.39, so I don't feel that I contribute too much to his success. I can almost guarantee that if you have any libertarian inclination 'Sicko' is not for you.

In Bowling for Columbine we watched Moore assail film legend Charlton Heston with a lame emotional plea that juxtapositioned a solid right to ownership with responsibility for a tragic event. The whole Fahrenheit 9/11 effort didn't reveal a single item or insight that wasn't out there on the Internet on some conspiratorial or legitimate level. I'm guessing Moore never goes after the legal system or the government's hand in recessitating the dying HMO organizations in the early seventies. 'Sicko' promises to be a ninety minute emotional bitchfest with one policy in mind. Single payer should be me, not some Albany or Washington agency.

Another installment from Rudy, Mitt's got my name now and LP Presidential hopeful Daniel Imperato is spending some big bucks on a new flyer via snail mail.

For Rudy it's all about the Democrats stopping at nothing to get back the White House. Mitt's got a big family and can't wait to showcase them. Imperato's got a lot of splain' to do if he wants my 'libertarian' support.

Some do. They can appreciate the lacuna between a group that fights a false war and those who call for it's end. When Dr. Paul called out Rudy with principle and reason in the second GOP debate, he remained just as consistent in the third by declaring the doctrine of preemptive war unjust and immoral. As his popularity snowballs in what was the sole province of progressive netroots activism , that group (and others) is now reacting against the libertarian movement in general. While I have few doubts of the libertarian's position (especially the economic ones) and it's ultimate verity, especially in relation to "Progressivism", it's worthy to note that they are indeed reacting where once they may have been conveniently ignored or dismissed as unrealistical, extremist, the Paul candidacy.

Some don't get it. They have been hardened by the vitriolic rancor of bi-partisan rule and engage in tactics which seek to vilify and discredit the person rather than the ideas. While it may be possible to review the legislative record of an individual over the years and cherry pick issues that fit into an indignant diary or YouTube post with little regard to the possible reasons or justification. Perhaps us third and fourth tier commentators have little influence on the process which ultimately favors celebrity, money and false hype. There is a realistic eye to be cast on the online fussing about the Paul campaign. One wonders if Kent Snyder has the acumen to grow and develop the effort like Joe Trippi did for the other unknown doctor who rocked the Net in the last POTUS race, polls and plain old regular people . . .