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Front Sight - World's Premiere Training for Self Defense and Personal Safety

Just How Stupid Are We?

Written by Larken Rose
Friday, 31 August 2007
My Fellow Americans, Much amusement has been had over the recent incoherent, air-headed ramblings of Miss South Carolina during the recent Miss Teen USA pageant. (Actually, I feel a little sorry for her, since I highly doubt that her profound cluelessness was entirely her own doing. Usually it takes a lot of co-conspirators -- teachers, parents, friends, etc. -- to result in such extreme bimbo-ness.) For those who haven't witnessed the gruesome event, when asked why a fifth of Americans couldn't find the U.S. on a world map, Miss South Carolina responded with what sounded like the output of a random-word generator. See the video below and you'll see what I mean. Normally, words are used to convey thoughts between people. In her case, the words seemed designed to convey the ILLUSION of thought, but without much success. She was, no doubt, trained to include certain catch words and phrases: "I personally believe," "such as," "our future," "Iraq," "Africa," etc. And she did. She just didn't bother including anything in between, which might have formed an actual concept or idea. But what disturbs me a lot more than that one display of ignorance - - - which is hardly unusual in modern America -- is the fact that when people do EXACTLY what Miss South Carolina did, only with more confidence and steadiness, we Americans usually grant them unlimited power over us. These days the megalomaniacs -- those who desire personal power and dominion over others -- dupe most people without even having to make a half-decent effort. Consider, as a randomly-chosen example, the following clip of Barrack Obama: Looking sincere and confident, he spends several minutes throwing out catch phrases which, taken as a whole, mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. If I have to watch someone spewing out words which convey no shred of thought, I'd much rather watch Miss South Carolina do it. Frankly, I'd also rather have her be the all-powerful ruler of the world than have what we have now, because no amount of good old-fashioned stupidity could ever do the damage which the love-of-dominion crowd does every day through its supposedly well-intentioned "solutions." In his sales pitch for himself, Mr. Obama spoke of wanting a "different kind of politics," and wanting to see the "change and progress that we so desperately need." He pretended to sympathize with the common folk who face concerns about health care costs, pensions and college bills, and said that partisanship was preventing people from "working together in a practical, common sense way." (Actually, "GOVERNMENT" is what prevents that.) He said he wanted us to "come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans." He said that engaged citizens working together can accomplish extraordinary things, and that he has great hope for the future, because he believes in you. Isn't that sweet? So what did we learn from all that? We learned that Mr. Obama knows how to echo the same meaningless rhetoric that all politicians in all countries throughout all of history have used. When's the last time you heard a politician say, "Ya know, I don't much care about your stupid concerns. You're a bunch of worthless twits who couldn't wipe your noses if not for government. I have no intention of changing the system at all, I just want to be the one in charge of it for as long as it lasts, before the poop really hits the fan and this whole silly charade comes crashing down"? (Come to think of it, I might vote for someone who said that.) And I picked Mr. Obama's stupid ramblings at random. The same could be said about the rhetoric of anyone else in government: Hillary, McCain, Giuliani, Bush, Kerry, Gore, Cheney, and so on, ad infinitum. EVERY politician in Washington (with the possible exception of Ron Paul) spews the same meaningless drivel, and it WORKS--as demonstrated by the fact that they're STILL THERE. So before you laugh too loudly at poor Miss South Carolina, who merely sought to win a pageant, look how many of your fellow Americans are eager to give unbridled power, over everyone and everything in the country, to people who do nothing more than parrot the same old meaningless catch-phrases that tyrants have used forever. The ignorance of Miss South Carolina doesn't hurt anyone but herself. The ignorance of the American voters, on the other hand, results in the robbery, extortion, harassment, terrorization, assault, wrongful imprisonment, and/or murder of MILLIONS of innocent human beings. And those same voters have the gall and hypocrisy to laugh at Miss South Carolina. Amazing. (0) Discuss this article in the forum
Last Updated ( Friday, 07 September 2007 )

Opening the Cage (Part 2)

Written by Larken Rose
Friday, 31 August 2007
Once again, let's peek out the open door of the "authority" cage, and see what there is to see out in the world of "I own me." It's drastically different from how the world looks from inside the locked cage. "Countries" are but one concept that falls apart once we accept that we own ourselves. In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass (former slave) described how a lot of slaves back in those days were completely convinced that slaves are what they SHOULD be. Many, if not most, would even look down upon any slave who would be so despicable as to try to run away. To the radical like Mr. Douglass, however, who realized that no amount of whips, chains, or cages could change the fact that he rightfully owned HIMSELF, the world looked drastically difference. To him, the supposed "owner" was the enemy -- an evil thief committing both assault and theft on a daily basis. The world looks very different depending upon one's ideas about who he belonged to: himself or someone else. In hindsight, most of us look back at that time and sympathize with the lawless, disobedient "slaves" who were willing to break the LAW in order to assert their rights to be free. But most people refuse to accept the same principle as it applies today. It was not too many years ago that, when I heard the term "law enforcement," it had a positive connotation for me. The cops were the good guys, enforcing "the law" against those nasty criminals (defined as anyone who disobeys the "law"). However, now that I realize that I own myself, and that the same is true of every other individual, "police" appear to me as what they really are: people who commit evil far more often than they commit good. I'm not talking about when they break the law, which happens often, too -- I'm talking about when they enforce an immoral, unjustified "law," which is MOST of the time. The number of "laws" which simply formalize the use of inherently justified defensive force (such as "laws" against theft, murder, assault, etc.) are far outnumbered by the so-called "laws" which ADVOCATE theft, murder, and assault. (Warning: If you like your view from inside the cage, you may not want to continue reading.) I own me. You own you. Every person owns himself. If some guy wants to fry his brain, it is HIS to fry. So long as he doesn't go around messing with someone else's self-ownership -- whether out of malice or negligence -- NO ONE has the right to use force to stop him from frying his brain (though we have every right to try to talk him out of it, to call him a moron, etc.). And calling violence "law" has NO bearing on whether it is justified. When someone hiding behind the label of "authority" or "law enforcement" forces his way into someone's home, with the intention of catching the homeowner with an unapproved LEAF (e.g., marijuana), in order to drag that person away and put him in a cage for several years, the leaf-smoker has the absolute right to use any means necessary, including killing the intruder (the "cop"), to protect himself. The same holds true of the victims of ALL non-defensive "law enforcement." For example, Ed and Elaine Brown up in New Hampshire have the absolute moral right to use any means necessary, including deadly force, to prevent the authoritarian thugs from taking them hostage and putting them in cages. Even if they were guilty of the "crime" of "tax evasion," which I believe they are NOT, the Browns would still own themselves, and still have the absolute right to defend their self-ownership from thieves and terrorists, regardless of whether the theft and terrorism is "legal" or not. Surely I'm not defending the "cop-killer" mentality?! Actually, I am doing precisely that, when the so-called "cops" are the ones doing the robbery, assault, or kidnapping. Despite how radical that may sound, it was not at all an usual attitude among those who started this country. The Declaration of Independence says that the only legitimate purpose of government is to protect the unalienable rights of the individual, and when it "becomes destructive of those ends," it is both the right and duty of the people to overthrow it and start over. Here are a few other radical things Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration, also said: "No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him." "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others." (In other messages I'll explain why even "legitimate government" is impossible.) And when "government" force is used, not to defend those rights, but to infringe upon them, then what? Then, according to me and Thomas Jefferson, we have the right to FORCIBLY RESIST. Oddly, almost everyone agrees, when they're talking about some "authority" they DON'T worship, but they believe it's the ultimate blasphemy to suggest the same regarding the "authority" THEY bow to. For example, it was ILLEGAL in 1940's Germany for the various "undesirables" to hide from the Nazis. Those who did were law-breakers; those who found them and dragged them away were "law enforcers." And those "law enforcers" all deserved to have their damn heads blown off. And us modern Americans don't mind saying that out loud, and in public. How about Stalin's "law enforcers"? How about Mao's? How about the "law enforcers" of King George III? We dang near deify the lawless, traitorous rebels who resisted George's laws, and don't mind at all the idea of his "law enforcers" getting gunned down. Heck, we have a big celebration about it every July 4th. How about today? When thugs and terrorists put a MILLION people in cages for possessing a SUBSTANCE, who should we be cheering for? It depends who owns the individual. If each individual owns himself, then those horrible "drug dealers" are the GOOD GUYS, and the "cops" are the BAD GUYS. (If the drug dealers happened to also have committed a REAL crime -- the kind with an actual victim -- like theft or murder, then they are the bad guys, too, but NOT because they had some "illegal" stuff.) I warned you, if you accept the idea that you own yourself, the way the world looks changes drastically. Most people don't like to think, and don't like to face disturbing truths, so they look for excuses to REJECT the idea that they own themselves. They revere "authority" and "the law" -- superstitions which serve as a sort of philosophical crutch to help people not have to think and judge for themselves. Again, they see the open cage door, and they back away from it, thus guaranteeing their perpetual enslavement, in body and mind. (Those people then vigorously and passionately argue in favor of their own enslavement, which I find rather depressing.) But some of us choose something else. It's called freedom. (0) Discuss this article in the forum
Last Updated ( Friday, 07 September 2007 )

Rush - Blossom Music Center 8/30/2007

Written by Kurt Tischer
Friday, 31 August 2007
Set List (video intro) Limelight Digital Man Entre Nous Mission Freewill The Main Monkey Business The Larger Bowl (w/ McKenzie Brothers Intro) Secret Touch Circumstances Between the Wheels (intermission) (video intro) Far Cry Workin' Them Angels Armor & Sword Spindrift The Way the Wind Blows Subdivisions Natural Science Witch Hunt Malignant Narcissism (Drum Solo) Hope Summertime Blues The Spirit of Radio Tom Sawyer (w/ video intro) Encore One Little Victory A Passage to Bangkok YYZ The setlist for this tour is quite a bit more varied than recent tours. Nine of the 13 tracks from the new album are played live and performing this many songs in support of a new album has not been done since the Power Windows tour. "Entre Nous" is played live for the first time ever. In addition, many songs are back after a long rest, such as "Circumstances" (tuned down a full step) not heard since the Hemispheres tour; "Digital Man" (with a new abbreviated arrangement) since the Grace Under Pressure tour, "Witch Hunt" since the Power Windows tour, and "Mission" since the Presto tour. To my knowledge, this is only the second tour to not include either "2112" or "La Villa Strangiato" in the setlist (the other time was the Counterparts tour), and it is also worthy to note that "Roll The Bones" is dropped for the first time ever since that tour. Keeping score on the songs played: only 5 songs are played from albums released between Moving Pictures and Vapor Trails (only 1 is from the 90's), and not including the drum solo, of the 27 songs played, 17 are from Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures or Snakes & Arrows, which is roughly 2/3 of the concert. It is also worth mentioning that between the last three tours, Rush has played 6/7ths of Moving Pictures live; with the notable exception being the one song that tops the lists and petitions of live requests from fans: "The Camera Eye". The coin-operated laundromat dryers from the previous tours on Geddy's side have been replaced by three rotisserie chicken roasters which are as tall as Alex's stacks of H&K amplifiers, and say "Hen House" across the front of them. Similar to the laundromat attendant who would pump the machines with quarters every so often, this time a chef comes out and bastes the chickens from time to time. The opening video begins with a dream sequence of Snakes and Arrows images, then Alex sits up in bed, saying, "Snakes? Who would dream about snakes, that's so creepy. Honey? Honey - wake up. I had this weirdest dream, it was a snake..." then the person lying next to him sits up and its Neil. They look at each other and yell in surpise 'AHHHHHHHHHHH", then Geddy wakes up in a chair and says "What did they do to my food?" and then in walks an old man in a Scottish kilt who speaks with a Scottish accent who tells Geddy he doesn't care how he is feeling, that the show must go on, and threatens him with humorous threats if he doesn't get up and go do the show to which they all ran out. The guy in the Scottish costume is actually Geddy, dressed in make up and wig. At the end of the show, another video of Scottish Geddy plays, where he tells people to go home because he wants to get back to eating his chicken. The video intro for the second set is all Alex in rare, comical form, playing several characters on a Snakes and Arrows Leela board. The board shifts around the screen and highlights certain lines to which Alex pops up and executes typical Alex rants. There is a video of Bob & Doug McKenzie to introduce The Larger Bowl. The Larger Bowl had video snippets showing alternating images between the rich and the poor, etc. Towards the end you see iron gates on 2 screens, but as they focus in on the buildings behind them you see that one is a mansion and the other is a prison. Workin' Them Angels had a video accompaniment similar to the album art of various types of workers and soldiers with angel wings. It's fairly obvious that Neil's friendship with South Park animators Matt Stone and Trey Parker has paid off since there is a South Park 'Lil Rush' video intro to Tom Sawyer. During the video, the South Park characters begin playing Tom Sawyer but Cartman sings the wrong lyrics, "A modern day warrior mean mean stride; Tom Sawyer traveled down the river with a black guy", which leads to an argument about the lyrics and Cartman saying that he's actually read the book and that's how the story goes, but then Stan quickly corrects him saying "that was Huckleberry Finn, fatass". Then Cartman says "Well, I'M GEDDY LEE and I can sing it however I want". So then they agree to start again "and this time, let's do it right" and count off the beginning where Rush takes over and plays. During "A Passage To Bangkok", a video plays showing footage of far east trains, poppy fields, marijuana plants and many other scenes that relate to the song lyrics. Alex plays a mandola mounted on an Omega stand during "Workin' Them Angels". The sound was fairly decent, considering that we weren't centrally located and also considering that Blossom basically sucks for rock concerts because it was built to naturally amplify the Cleveland Orchestra, not to support the high volume nature of a typical rock concert. The only "mistake" I noticed didn't even belong to anyone in the band. The first keyboard solo of "Subdivisions" was totally gone. Geddy played it and it LOOKED flawless on the big screen, but there must have been a problem at the desk because it was either muted or buried. The second solo was right out there where it was supposed to be, though. It woulda been nice to have heard something from "Presto", "Counterparts", and "Test For Echo", but it was a good show (as always). (0) Discuss this article in the forum
Last Updated ( Sunday, 30 September 2007 )

One in Four Adults Read No Books Last Year

Written by (msnbc.com)
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Of course not, no Harry Potter books were released last year. I would have guessed that ONLY one in four read a book last year. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20381678/ (0) Discuss this article in the forum
Last Updated ( Friday, 31 August 2007 )

MUST READ: Most U.S. Adults In The Dark About World Politics

Written by Webmaster
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Um, I know. I deal with this kind of ignorance all the time. While you're at it, read this, too http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070822/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticsvote_070822064927 (0) Discuss this article in the forum
Last Updated ( Friday, 31 August 2007 )

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