L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise: working to fulfill the promise of the American Revolution since 1995

Musings on Truth-Avoidance


Simon Jester	The Libertarian Enterprise A Feature of NetPlanetNews.com A Reader Supported Web Magazine Who is a libertarian? Receive an e-mail when this page changes	Simon Jester

THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 389, October 15, 2006
"Genuine libertarianism is the opposite of an ideology.
It's the absence of ideology."

Gun Control
by Darian Worden
darianworden.tripod.com

EDITORIAL MATTERS:

Well, now. SPAM—unsolicited email advertisements. We all hate it. But some people have been mentally unhinged by SPAM and have started going after it in really silly and irrational ways—such as the morons and half-wits at www.spamhaus.org.

Yes, "Spam Haus" ("Spam House"????) is one of those mail-block "services" that ISPs can subscribe to that automatically bounce any and all mail from IP Addresses proclaimed to be SPAM by someone. . . anyone, apparently. Even if the accused IP Address doesn't send SPAM, never has, never will, and hates SPAM just as much, but doesn't let that hate rot their insides.

You know where this is going, don't you? Yes, for some reason, somehow, someone has accused lneilsmith.org and ncc-1776.org of being SPAMmers. And now www.spamhaus.org blocks us. Mail to us as well as mail from us apparently. I've talked to Tech Support at our hosting service, and they've got another one of those crack "senior techs" on it. It's been over 24 hours and I see we're still being blocked, but what the hell, eh? It's just Truth, Justice, The American Way of Life, and our livelihood at risk here. Nothing to get in a hurry about, eh? Nah.

I'll tell you, there's somebody I hate more than SPAMmers (and have hated for many years now), and that's the self-righteous activist anti-SPAMmers, who just screw things up worse than they already are.

Idiots.

Anyway, if you don't find an issue of TLE next week, you'll know why. And speaking of livelihood at risk, I'm not kidding when I mention so frequently that this is a Reader-Supported publication. If you readers don't start sending in some of your hard-earned cash soon, we may vanish anyway. Things are getting grim around here now. Am I going to have to start sneaking into people's houses and rummaging around under their sofa cushions for coins to be able to eat? That would be unethical. Besides I might get shot. Keep me and mine alive and healthy by making a small cash donation! This page lists several ways:

http://www.ncc-1776.org/donate.html

And don't forget to use our Affiliate Links to buy you and yours the things you buy online anyway. That's another way to put some spare change in our pocket. You'll find those links all over this thing.

And now, without further whining, jump right in to the Three Hundred Eighty-Ninth issue of Reader-Supported TLE!

Ken Holder
Editor
editor@ncc-1776.org

Tom Paine Maru
by L. Neil Smith
Cover by Scott Bieser
First uncensored edition.
Originally published by Del Rey Books, 1984.
Adobe Acrobat PDF file, 1,845,243-bytes, 283 pages.
Download for $5.00, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Card, eCheck, or PayPal
DOWNLOAD FROM PAYLOADZ.COM
(This link may not work—we're trying to get it fixed)

The Probability Broach: The Graphic Novel
by L. Neil Smith
Illustrated by Scott Bieser
Published by Press, 2004
Amazon.com

ARTICLES

Letters to the Editor
from Bo Fredricsson and Claire Wolfe
• FULL STORY

Musings on Truth-Avoidance
by L. Neil Smith
It has been a source of considerable dismay to me, over the past 25 or 30 years, that—without really knowing me or very much about me—most of my professional colleagues don't seem to like me very much.
• FULL STORY

Isn't This Supposed to be Fun?
by Darian Worden
It is easy for libertarians to become frustrated, depressed, and angered when our efforts seem to do nothing to stop the advancing state. Activism in general has a tendency to frustrate when it doesn't change things quickly enough. This is only natural. When you care deeply about something it is easy to get so caught up in it that you lose sight of what is most important—living a good life. After all, isn't the point of being free to live better?
• FULL STORY

Where Art Thou, FCC?
by Jonathan David Morris
Dear Utterly Useless Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission: I'm sorry. I thought we paid you the big bucks to clean up the airwaves—not to sit around, sucking your thumbs all day. In case you haven't noticed, reality TV is a threat so real I can taste it. Where art thou, FCC? Are you not watching?
• FULL STORY

One Born Every Minute
by L. Neil Smith
Every now and again, I get a message that is so egregiously stupid, and in so many ways, that it begs to be shared with my readers.
• FULL STORY

Matthew Bracken on Borders, Books, and the Future of Freedom
Interview with Matthew Bracken by Lady Liberty
In 2003, author Matthew Bracken published Enemies Foreign and Domestic, the first novel of a planned trilogy. With its focus on a government set-up that resulted in draconian gun control measures, it gained good reviews and much appreciation from readers. As gun control advocates have continued in their efforts to disarm the law abiding, it also seemed to offer some chilling warnings.
• FULL STORY

In Defense of Civil Government
by Robert F. Hawes Jr.
The talk and action coming out of Washington D.C. where the so-called War on Terror is concerned has steadily gone from bad to worse as far as constitutional law and civil liberties are concerned. George W. Bush has clearly demonstrated that he considers himself above the law and thus free to act however he pleases. He has all but dared Congress and the American people to rein him in, and neither has elected to do so. Polling data consistently shows that Americans are terribly displeased with Bush and his Republican colleagues, but, to date, there have been no mass protests, no clarion calls for reform. A few congressional Republicans have expressed concern with Bush's policies, but when the time comes for action, they have mostly cowed to his wishes and towed the line in the name of party unity. The Supreme Court has offered some resistance, but it is difficult to tell whether that will continue and how far the justices will go.
• FULL STORY

False Child Support Case Exposes System's Failures
by Wendy McElroy
Viola Trevino is a walking-talking explanation of why the family court and child welfare systems across North America are widely accused of being part of the problem, not part of the solution, in resolving custody issues and protecting children.
• FULL STORY

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