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Below are the most recent 16 friends' journal entries.
| Thursday, December 24th, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ ericthemage ]
|
3:48p |
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| Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ rightc0ast ]
|
4:04p |
Thought some here may want to know ... Michael Badnarik is unconscious and in serious condition
Your prayers are needed at this time for Michael Badnarik. Jessica, I just received word that the President of the 2009 Continental Congress and 2004 Presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party, Michael Badnarik had a Heart Attack this morning and in an unconscious state. His condition is serious. His Mother, Elaine, reported to me that Michael was in Madison, Wisconsin attending a hearing regarding a raw milk case. After the hearing he got in a car to go to lunch with friends, He then slumped over. His friends attempted CPR and contacted the paramedics. They attempted to revive him 3 times with no success. Upon the 4th attempt his heart was revived yet with erratic behavior. He was taken by helicopter to Gunderson Lutheran Hospital CCU in Lacrosse, WI. Please do no call or visit the hospital, only family is allowed. He has been fitted with a temporary pacemaker and a balloon pump to ease stress on his heart. I have no further details at this time. Please watch your email box for an update. Michael is a true asset and leader in our movement who works tirelessly and selflessly for freedom. Please pray for Michael at this time. In Freedom, Gary Franchi National Director Restore the Republic Linked to me from: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=223891 |
| Monday, December 21st, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ rotte_volf ]
|
6:33p |
New Caledonia: only wise policy would lead to independence.
I suppose, every libertarian should be against any state invasion in any issues. But the worst kind of state invasion is when one state impose its colonial rule to another nation. Therefore, I guess, every true libertarian has to support the fair struggle of Pacific Unity League for independance. If you can't or don't wish go to NC, then you might support PUL by donation. This large Pacific island was discovered by James Cook in 1774, and named Caledonia, the ancient name of Scotland, Cook's homeland. Favorable island climatic conditions and fertile soil had attracted the interest of European colonizers - traders, planters and missionaries. In 1853 France announced the island its colony. Then within 30 years the French government had deported many convicted criminals to New Caledonia. The struggle for independence of the Kanak people, indigenous people of New Caledonia, has a long and glorious history. A new stage of this struggle began in 1985 when “Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front”, led by the outstanding son of the Kanak people Jean-Marie Tjibaou, started its activity. FLNKS had advocated the establishment of an independent Kanak state. The events on the Ouvéa Island in 1988 became culmination of the struggle. FLNKS fighters had taken hostage 27 French gendarmes and judge and demanded immediate independence. The French colonial authorities sent a special commando unit. As a result of bloody clashes, the rebels were forced to let gendarmes off. Jean-Marie Tjibaou was assassinated. But the colonizers realized that they can not longer maintain their dominance in the previous form and made some concessions. According to the Matignon (1988) and Nouméa (1998) Accord, New Caledonia |
| Sunday, December 20th, 2009 |
roleplayers
[ tashiro ]
|
7:54p |
Looking for Artists and Writers and Reviewers
Grimoire #7 is out. In this magazine, I talk a bit about the Story Point System (which is what Fox Magic uses), and a few other things. This is the first time the magazine has been open for submissions, rather than just being a house organ. We're looking for artists, authors, writers, and reviewers for Grimoire #8, so if you'd like to publish any of your work in this magazine, please contact Kevin or Myself for details. Current Mood: creative |
roleplayers
[ classicsdoll ]
|
11:53p |
The new Doctor Who RPG
Hey, I noticed that a new Doctor Who RPG has just been released by Cubicle 7. I assume they must have a good reputation to work on this sort of property, but £35 seems a lot to shell out without knowing much about the system. Has anyone played it yet? What's it like? |
| Saturday, December 19th, 2009 |
roleplayers
[ azuresorrow ]
|
8:16p |
Tweaking an NPC and a dungeon.
As a follow up to this post, the subsequent encounter that followed was on board a ship with a total of 10 ghouls vs. the PC and his NPC allies. The encounter proved pretty easy, with the ghouls barely scratching into the HP of the hero. The ghouls appeared in two waves, 6 that were topdeck on the ship and four more that joined later after the ruckus started. The fighting arena was big enough to maneuver so that he was only ever facing 3-4 ghouls at a time, while his NPC buddies worked ranged weapons from a distance. With the benefit of a Protection from Evil spell, the main Hero enjoyed, for the majority of the combat an AC well into the negatives that the ghouls could only touch on a 20 anyways. The ghouls made up for this shortcoming a bit by having three attacks each, but they only connected two or three times, did minimal damage, and the hero saved against the paralysis. I suppose the danger of him failing the saving throw vs paralysis was the biggest threat, but we're using action die in the game, so a failed roll could be modified, if need be. Now, in the next session he'll be entering a dungeon, and will have the companion of one NPC ally rather than the two bards that were tailing him before. I'm trying to figure out the approximate level and strength of this NPC so that the hero is still, well, the Hero, but can have a powerful ally that makes up for his shortcomings. So, the Hero is a fighter (see original post linked above for stats)... I think a Cleric would be best so he has a healer and a pretty decent ally in combat (good combat values, hp, and AC). Now what I'm trying to work out is level and magical buffs. Suggestions? |
libertarianism
[ rick_day ]
|
11:45a |
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libertarianism
[ ghoststrider ]
|
9:15p |
There's no TIME like the present
TIME Magazine officially sucks.The TIME Person of the Year for 2009 is...Ben Bernanke. Ben fucking Bernanke. I missed it because I usually don't give a whit who is or isn't TIME's Person of the Year, considering my continual process of "waking up" and realizing these rags for what they are...but seriously?
But Bernanke also knows the economy would be much, much worse if the Fed had not taken such extreme measures to stop the panic. There's a vast difference between 10% and 25% unemployment, between anemic and negative growth. He wishes Americans understood that he helped save the irresponsible giants of Wall Street only to protect ordinary folks on Main Street. He knows better than anyone how financial crises spiral into global disasters, how the grass gets crushed when elephants fall. "We came very, very close to a depression ... The markets were in anaphylactic shock," he told TIME during one of three extended interviews. "I'm not happy with where we are, but it's a lot better than where we could be."
Yeah right. As if anything else needs to be said, I turn only to the first page of Mish's Global Economic Analysis, which reads: "Seven Banks Fail, 140 YTD total, Sheila Bair 'prepared to handle an ever-larger number of bank failures next year'". Uh-huh. I have no idea what to say, other than the obvious: the editors of TIME are twats. Current Mood:  infuriated |
| Friday, December 18th, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ gunslnger ]
|
11:09p |
A problem with government...
Couple’s tax transfer runs afoul of assessorBut the county assessor’s office denied their request because its appraisers believe the Seylers sold their house for more than it was really worth. The county believes the couple owe more than $5,500 in property taxes rather than the $2,000 they had planned on. The definition of the value of something is the price that is actually paid for it. The arrogance of government thinking that it can set a value in some manner other than that. This is a fundamental problem with giving the government so much power just because we want to get "free" stuff from other people. |
| Thursday, December 17th, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ lucy_chronicles ]
|
12:56p |
The education of Peter Schiff - ALERT
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/44912.htmlIt seems Peter needs to spend some more time w/ Ron Paul. The golden boy may know what he's talking about w/ economics but be on the PRO-PREEMPTIVE WAR bus, directly against the US constitutional mandate to 'keep out of it' so to speak. Send him a message to show your dismay/disapproval, wish to re-educate etc. ----------- Schiff just defended PREEMPTIVE WAR! He gave an example using the false claim that “If Iran was making a nuclear weapon as they are supposedly doing…,” then stated “I’d ask the Iranians to let our inspectors in, then if they didn’t we’d blow them up.” ----------- Information info@schiffforsenate.com Finance contributions@schiffforsenate.com Thanks to my Antiwar.com buddies. |
libertarianism
[ rotte_volf ]
|
9:36p |
Solomon Islands: we must not repeat mistakes.
 We have already written about the difficult fate of the Pacific state of Nauru after independence. It would be very unpleasant if another jewel of the Pacific - Solomon Islands, repeated the same mistakes. Solomon Islands achieved independence from Britain in 1978. This state with a population of over half million people consists nearly a thousand islands, whose total area is 28 thousand square km. A very significant part of the Solomon Islands population continues living in the conditions of traditional society, preserving its tribal and community structures. This is largely due to the fact that European colonizers settled on the Solomon Islands later than on the other Oceania archipelagos since they were given hard rebuff their activity. Only in the 60s years of the XIX century, the European traders, planters and missionaries succeeded a firm foothold on the islands. Since 1870, European slave traders and recruiters started to deliver the Solomon Islands inhabitants for working to the plantations in the Australian province of Queensland. The islanders were sold also to work on plantations in Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa. While the islanders put up armed resistance, the slave traders were mercilessly killing those who resist or those who tried to flee. They staged bloody punitive expeditions and burned villages. The thousands islanders were dead of poor conditions and diseases on the plantations. The legacy of the dark period Anglo-Australian colonization is a lopsided economy based on exports such goods as tropical timber, fish, copra and cocoa. But even this undeveloped economy has been undermined as a result of tribal conflict in 1999-2003. In fact, the country has only just regained its economy. The state is now at the crossroads. Solomon Islands, like Nauru, are rich in mineral resources. There are explored deposits of lead, zinc, nickel, gold, bauxite and phosphates. But the only |
| Monday, December 14th, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ lucy_chronicles ]
|
4:00p |
Yes Marjorie, more government monitoring
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/opinion/13sun2.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=Twitter&st=cseAnd we 'know' it must be even worse given the source liberal publication = NY Times. Someone has filed a suit. Whoppee... I hold out about as much hope for that changing anything as the Fed actually being abolished, our civil liberties restored or pulling out of any of the existing wars around the globe w/o bankrupting our country first. So what's the next source of monitoring to occur? Orwell's 1984 novel ala' through the television? Thanks to the big brother community for the original 'alert'.  |
| Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ ridleyreport ]
|
12:12a |
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| Monday, December 14th, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ rotte_volf ]
|
6:13p |
Sunland submits proposals to Nauru Government.
 Nauru is the smallest republic in the world, located on the eponymous island in the Pacific. It has land area of 21.3 km ² and a population of 14 thousand people. To the misfortune of the islanders (alas, one can't say otherwise) the phosphorite reserves were discovered on the Island. Phosphate intensive mining has resulted in the destruction of soil cover and most of the island turned into a stone desert (later on, as a result of remediation activities it managed to restore 63% of vegetation cover of open pits). After achieving independence in 1968, the Nauru Government decided concentrate profits from its sole source of foreign exchange earnings to special Fund as the Government has foreseen phosphate reserves exhaustion. The funds were invested at buying property and financial services. The funds placement was given into the hands of so-called "experts" - financial managers from Australia and New Zealand. As a result of their well-paid "work" the islanders have find themselves with virtually nothing. In 90s the Nauruan stabilization fund dropped 10-fold - from 1.3 billion Australian dollars to 130 million. Easy money had disservice Nauruans because traditional economic activities were destroyed and people accustomed to the lifestyle of rentiers. Officially, 90% of islanders are unoccupied. Nauru is now in a very difficult situation and it would be very difficult to solve this package of problems even for the crisis manager out of the top drawer. We have some proposals for economic stabilization and development of Nauru, which were sent to the address almost all officials of this country. These proposals are complex, interrelated, and quite specific. |
libertarianism
[ lordshell ]
|
6:15a |
The Cato Institute chimes in about Climate Change . . .
Posted by Andrei Illarionov As the Copenhagen Climate Conference is taking place, it is appropriate to clarify once again what is more or less accurately known about the climate of our planet and about climate change. Obviously, a brief post can not substitute for detailed studies of professionals in a variety of scientific disciplines – climatology, atmospheric physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, and economics. However, a short post can summarize basic theses on the main trends in climate evolution, on its forecasts, and on its actual and projected effects. 1. The Earth’s climate is constantly changing. The climate was changing in the past, is changing now and, obviously, will be changing in the future – as long as our planet exists. 2. Climatic changes are largely cyclical in nature. There are various time horizons of climatic cycles – from the annual cycle known to everyone to cycles of 65-70 years, of 1,300 years, or of 100,000 years (the so called Milankovitch cycles). 3. There is no f undamental disagreement among scientists, public figures and governments about the fact that the climate is changing. There is a broad consensus that climate changes occur constantly. The myth, created by climate alarmists, that their opponents deny climate change is sheer propaganda. The rest is here |
| Sunday, December 13th, 2009 |
libertarianism
[ thrashbear ]
|
3:47a |
"I've been to the dark side..."
I got a buddy/roommate who is an ex-North Carolina sheriff's deputy. What with my issues revolving around law enforcement in general (which I will not go in depth here) let's just say we made friends after he left the force, and all is well.
In our many late-night conversations, he has alluded to what can be considered the foundation of Libertarian principles, from a LE perspective: reduced number of laws, reduced government power, ending the war on drugs, restoring power to the individual. He is aware that I am both politically and functionally a Libertarian, but has professed an ignorance about what it means.
He's not your stereotypical "bully cop", quite the opposite, in fact. To him, it was simply a job, not a way of life; none of this "once a cop always a cop" kind of stuff. He's exercised judgment and compassion, but was tough when necessary. He's admitted to occasionally selectively enforcing the law according to his values (i.e. ignoring the obvious smell of pot in the air). He has shared stories about how his bretheren personally benefitted from the laws they were supposed to enforce at the expense of the public. He has witnessed corruption, nepotism, favoritism, and fellow cops using the law as a weapon of harm rather than a tool of safety. He has "seen the dark side of law enforcement, and hated it" (his words).
Now, he's looking to take a different course in life. He's considering going back to school with a focus on being a public defender, social worker, or advocate. I think this is laudable, and also consider this my opportunity to cultivate his Libertarian values. I think he would be a good candidate for participation in our movement.
With both of us being new in town (Pittsburgh) I think this the perfect opportunity for us to start participating in the local circles. I have some experience in the Denver scene, and need to start getting to know some folks in our new town. I'd like to introduce my buddy to some like-minded people, and show him that there is, indeed, a group of folks looking to codify the values he shares with them. Pittsburgh is a heavy democratic stronghold, but for the most part seems friendly enough toward our way of thinking; haven't had much opportunity to pick a good verbal scrap at a local bar. Again, I'm new here, so maybe my impressions are a bit off base. Nobody's defaced my truck for having a Libertarian sticker on it yet :)
In conclusion, are there any things to do in Pittsburgh when you're Libertarian? Anyone on this list from here? Anybody? Beuller? |
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