 |
|
|
 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 848, November 22, 2015 Waiting is a tactical disadvantage, but it's the good-guy's burden.
From The Rust Belt to the Asteroid Belt: Latest News from Greater Appalachia
Attribute to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise Been a very busy summer going into a busy fall here between building new turtle pens and dealing with a number of husbandry issues as well as drought and other issues—each being a story in itself and no time to tell it all in coherent detail. The most recent projects included the cleaning and netting of ponds, which I did early before the onset of colder weather and am now glad for that! Planting of fall bulbs and other things and repair of the spring vault and dealing with plumbing problems including the drama of a salamander that got stuck briefly in the plumbing before—luckily its mangled body plopped into my bathtub!   And if that were not enough the chronically leaking bathtub facet turned onto a steady trickle that bled my spring dry during the latter phase of the drought and I had to stop the hemorrhage with a brass cap on the faucet. Soon to be removed along with all the copper pipes and replaced with a new Pex manifold system in the coming weeks. Last weekend I got the manifold up on the wall with the help of Bruce the Historian who devised a brilliant backstop in the form of a sheet of heavy duty plywood on which the system is mounted and is bolted to the floor joists with a piece of 2x4 on the upper edge. After that was another busy week of battening down the hatches and getting ready for winter. Last week I spent a day clearing the remaining firewood off my ramp to make way for a second load and then earlier this week putting that up to make way for a load of what Bruce says is good Pittsburg Seam coal! Which is as iconic to life in Greater Appalachia as spring vaults and suspicion toward government. I had another bout of the latter while working on the former a few weeks ago—much like the time last fall when I got a little freaked out by someone driving on my property—I suspect a state employee checking out the work of the loggers.   Which I suppose was ok as I have yet to hear from anyone. But the last day that I was patching up the outside of the spring house with some old concrete there was a truck with flashers sitting on the road which for a while that I noticed while in the process of gathering up tools and material to quit the site. Then more vehicles. It turned out to be the local volunteer fire department who came out to cut up a tree that fell onto the road. I had heard it come down earlier while enjoying the view from the vantage of my hillside springhouse and had a philosophical musing—if a tree falls in a time prior to the emergence of sapient life on Earth or any other planet for that matter—does it make a sound? So much for black helicopter moments. Speaking of—Jim Quinn—the local talk radio host of the late America's Morning Show who introduced me to reasons for having black helicopter moments—is back on the air on his own with Quinn in the Morning on 1480 AM out of Latrobe. And the news is getting spooky again but at least it is good for a few belly laughs when he does some of his famous heads up theme songs like the Elton John "Bitch Song" for Hillary or Kermit the Frog singing "It's Not Easy Being Green"!  It sure isn't. Making me think again of the bird and bat killing cuisine arts blighting the ridges. And then there's the subject of war which seems bound and determined to spoil the peace and serenity of the region. And the recently bye gone election that was so newsworthy that this time I did not even bother going let alone vote for none of the above like last year! Also missed out on the 9/12 meeting Thursday which I wanted to attend and scrubbed on the account of a hectic day and evening running errands and hitting some heavy traffic on the way that made me decide it might be better to abort before crossing the county line and diverted to a local restaurant for the sake of sanity and safety. I just wasn't up to rushing around anymore that day at risk of an accident or traffic citation thought the topics on tap were interesting. Mostly state issues—PA is looking to double the sales tax for temporary relief on property tax—which in a blue state like this one is surely temporary. And there was the issue of the refugees some of which are bound for my region. I signed the online petition circulated by Tea Party Patriots to oppose the government bringing people into the country and supporting them at taxpayer expense which I feel is not in conflict with Libertarian principle. We may believe that peaceful people ought to be able to cross borders freely (preferably on their own)—but that does not mean that other people ought to be robbed to pay for it. Anymore than Freedom of Speech enshrined in the First Amendment obligates anyone to provide someone else with radio time and a microphone! As for War and rumors of War—this thing with the Paris attacks and ISIS could be the milestone for the halfway point through the duration of the crisis era described by the Strauss/Howe theory as the 4th Turning. Where civic institutions are strong and individualism is weak. Or so goes the gospel. Wish I had more time this weekend to get into it more. Maybe a better as a topic on its own as it deserves more attention to detail. Soon as I catch up and catch my breath again post Crunch Time as things wind down. And I brace for the coming storms. Going into the second half of what some call a Winter of History and the beginning of Winter proper. Happy Turkey Day this week. At least there is still much to be thankful for despite the best efforts of those who seem out to ruin it all. The times may currently belong to them but nothing lasts forever.
Just click the red box (it's a button!) to pay the author
This site may receive compensation if a product is purchased
|
|
|
|
Previous
Contents
Next
