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 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 400, January 7, 2007 "Clumsily, the world's thinking mammals move towards liberty."
Send Letters to editor@ncc-1776.org
Al Newberry said: > You never fail to amuse me.
Dear Al— I'm going to run your note as a letter to the editor, since you basically accuse me of something which is not true. I know more about Christianity (and most other religions) than you can imagine. That's why I'm an atheist. I earned a BSA God & Country Award studying under a Lutheran minister who knew that I found religion silly. I studied for three years, when the average Scout studies for 18 months. So by the time I was in 8th grade, he knew that I knew enough to make that kind of decision wisely. Lutherans, in case it is your ignorance we're discussing here, are notoriously tough cookies, and I have always treasured my award as a significant part of the unique education that makes me me. I have read the Bible from front to back twice, along with numerous commentaries on it. I have also read the Book of Mormon and two different translations of the Koran. I have been exposed to Buddhism several different time, several different ways, the latest being three years of intensive Yoga in which the instructor was a Buddhist. (I confess I don't know much about the Hindu religion which often seems to me the silliest of all—although they came close to getting the age of the universe right. I know enough about history—including the history of religion—that readers often ask me if I'm an academic historian. (My primary academic interest is anthropology, paleontology, and especially human evolution, and they all show up in my books, too.) Since I was a little kid, and read The Shoes of the Fisherman the year it was published, I've also had what I regard as a somewhat perverse fascination with Catholic Church politics. I loved The Cardinal and The Monsignor. I also enjoy the genre I call "religious science fiction", stories like Constantine and Stigmata. So you're wrong, Al old pal, I am not ignorant of what Christmas is all about. In your own ignorance, you simply don't care for my conclusions and the facts that brought me to them. I reject the idea that we're all born filthy and slimy—what a sick, sick basis for a belief system—and that we need some kind of moral fix-up. Or the idea that the supreme joy a person can feel is nasty and inferior to one's infantile obsession with a Great Imaginary Playmae. All this amounts to is another cheap, stupid "full time employment for shamans" ploy. P.T. Barnum was right. The story of Mithras alone should be enough to tell you what a con-job Christianity is, so you'd better go somewhere and read up fast. There will be a test after the lecture. Happy Zagmuk! L. Neil Smith
Editor, Well, Jonathan convinced me. His article, "Your Lawn Looked Stupid This Year", made all clear to me. Despite low-income and fixed finances as well as general disability, I will be putting up an inflatable Christmas Season snow globe next year, as well as every electronic, glowing, flashing, insipid lawn decoration I can find. Sorry, Jonathan, but you do not have the Right to be free from offense at my lawn decorations. Deal with it. Derek Benner
Re: "Your Lawn Looked Stupid This Year", by Jonathan David Morris > But honestly. . . I shouldn't have to look at it. "You can protect your delicate sensibilities by turning the fuck away."
Seriously, what the hell is this doing in a "libertarian" publication? damaged justice
[Mr. Morris writes funny articles, that's what he's doing in this seriously libertarian publication—writing funny is not easy, anyone/everyone is invited to try, if Mr. Morris isn't "pure" enough for you. Please! We need more funny!—Editor] I'll begin with a strictly "commercial message". This past summer I had written TLE about my new flag design, the "Time's Up" flag; updating the Gadsden flag with the rattlesnake striking instead of just rattling. I now have these flags for sale. If anyone is interested, go here. Also, I have gotten into the dubious habit of blogging my thoughts as a symptom of my presidential campaign. You can get an almost daily dose of my writing if you don't already have enough anarchical rantings to read. My Blog Kent McManigal
Mr. Smith, I have noticed that you have said previously that you would not vote for a convicted felon, why? If you truly believe this government of ours to be corrupt six-ways-to-Sunday, then why would you take their word when it comes to felony convictions? Was this in response to the type of felony? I just wanted to ask, but if'n yore busy these questions can of course wait till later. Thanks for the consideration. Andrew G. Eggeleston Sr.
Hey Neil, Type II diabetes is already cured by diet alteration. Read Ray Kurzweil's book Fantastic Voyage for the cure, and be done with it. Nobody has to gradually move towards diabetes, yet most "Americans" are. (Americans is in quotes because Americans are thought by me to be extinct. The people who killed redcoats in the American Rebellion were Americans. John Brown, Lysander Spooner and the other abolitionists were Americans. People willing to risk their lives to be free are Americans—but politicians have been killing the timid creatures that live in the USA for a long time with their FDA regulations, and no "Americans" have stepped forward to stop them. Except maybe one, named Peter, whom I'll get to later in my letter.—But I digress.) Ray Kurzweil is a scientist who studies pattern recognition. He recently (12 or so years ago) was told he'd have to go on dialysis for type II diabetes. This caused him to get as serious about his health as he was about studying pattern recognition, technology trends, and artificial intelligence in computers. He did a vast amount of scientific research regarding medicine. He reversed his type II diabetes completely within a matter of months, simply by altering his diet in accordance with his own research. As it turns out, the AMA, FDA, and other government medical authorities have been using their monopolies to churn out outdated health advice that is far from the cutting edge of medical science and engineering. US Doctors all belong to the AMA, and most are part of the problem of "information control". In Kurzweil's book, Fantastic Voyage he outlines how he completely reversed his type II diabetes, and is taking steps towards preventing cancer, heart disease, and stroke, based on his genetic predisposition to such diseases. I strongly recoomend that you pick up a copy of his book. You can get it used for $6.50 at Amazon.com. I wrote about one aspect of reversing type II diabetes in my last email that was published at TLE—the use of Stevia rebaudiana. In addition to Stevia, Lo Han Guo extract (high mogroside-5) can be used to simulate the sweetness of sugar on the human tongue, with no adverse effect on your blood sugar / pancreas. You can buy these extracts cheaply as "dietary supplements" in the USA, but—-due to the fact that the FDA has outlawed the first amendment in order to claim that its existence has a legitimate purpose—you cannot buy them labeled as "sweeteners". It is still illegal to print the simple, instantly-verifiable, truth on packaging of these products. (Gawb blass Uh-merikkka!) Moreover, if you use supplements effectively, in ONA (Optimal Nutritional Allowances) recommended by Kurzweil, (Rather than "RDA" or recommended daily allowances that are encouraged by the government), your body will be better able to maintain healthy replication of your DNA. This will cause you to live a longer, healthier life. (Another thing that it's illegal to print on packaging—resveratrol content and sirtuin-1 gene activity! Literally, the fountain of youth! I'm always amazed when libertarians (early adopters in politics), are the last to keep current with science. In addition to Kurzweil's books, he's also got an excellent "breaking news" page at: www.kurzweilai.net In addition to Kurzweil's additions to health knowledge, I strongly, strongly recommend these two libertarian authors within the movement towards a technological singularity: http://www.optimal.org—The page of Peter Voss, a libertarian computer scientist who has succesfully built on Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism. He has stated publicly that he will have created a functional strong general-knowledge artificial intelligence by the summer of 2007. He is well on his way. I also strongly recommend the peer-reviewed science-fiction novel The First Immortal by James Halperin. To my knowledge it is the only science-fiction novel to be peer-reviewed (and then revised) by the scientific community. Copies of the book are free online here:
If what Kurzweil and company are saying is true, 'big brother' doesn't have long to live. How will they maintain control of a superior intelligence?—They can't. Another thing that numbers their days is strong nanotech—unless their government scientists get there first (spooky stuff!) Eric Drexler's book "Engines of Creation" about the likely emergence of strong nanotech is online here for free:
I also suggest that you research William Dobelle, if you have not already. The man had to move his lab to Lisbon, Portugal to escape the FDA. Why did he need to do this?—Because he had integrated a computerized electronic video system with blind people's brains. . . and the FDA told him he would be shut down if he didn't stop curing blindness in the USA. . . So he fronted the money to move his entire operation to a country with more freedom than the USA—Portugal. Imagine if he hadn't had to bear the expense? . . .But he was a self-made millionaire and electronics engineer who paid his way through college by selling rare animal organs to universities. Why would we need multi-billion dollar government efforts to cure blindness if one man with a makeshift lab is more successful? Dobelle died recently. In my opinion, he died a hero. But, thanks to the US government, how many people know of his work? (Besides the formerly-blind canadian man who appeared on the cover of "Wired" magazine, sporting one of Dobelle's implants?) Not many. Dobelle died of diabetes in 2004, on the cusp of computational power increases that would have allowed him to permanently (and more perfectly) cure blindness. I wonder what the world would be like if the FDA had not eliminated the knowledge he needed to save himself from diabetes. See:
Before he died, Dobelle briefly entered politics as a Republican. His brother was a high ranking official in the Carter administration. Clumsily, the world's thinking mammals move towards liberty. Jake Witmer
Folks, Does anyone else who reads this and listens to the Penn Jillette radio show, pennradio.com (official) pennfans.net (unofficial), think it would be a good thing for El Neil to be interviewed by Penn on his show? If so, how about a note to that effect to pennradio@gmail.com Curt Howland
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—That's right sheep!—The government you pay for doesn't give a shit whether you live or die!)
