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I still vividly remember being at work on 9/11/01 and watching the news feeds from my computer in my office as they replayed the planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers and thinking of the horror that must be going on within those structures. I, like most people across America, sat and felt utterly helpless as those towers fell to the ground. I was nearly reduced to tears thinking of the possible staggering loss of life and of the family’s of those affected by this attack. Ten years later I still have a feeling of great sympathy for those family’s and all the family’s since that have suffered through this deep grief as the nation went to war. It was, truly, one of those moments in the history of this country that we can all look back on and say, precisely, “This was the day it all changed.”
I consider myself an “amateur” historian so I rarely, if ever, look at anything as a singular instance. So as we mark the tenth anniversary of that day, we all need to reflect upon those tragic events, some of the reasons for the attacks and all that has transpired from that day to this. For nothing exists in an historical vacuum and this is usually where I end up being the “odd man out” of any discussion in such matters.
Recently, I’ve read several opinion pieces and letters to the editor which called these attacks “unprovoked”. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was our meddling in the affairs of the nations of the Middle East, it was our propping up of despots and then “throwing them under the bus” when they no longer served our needs, it was the fact Continue reading My thoughts 10 years later
Mark Young posted this in Arkansas, Drug War, Liberty, Rights on March 1st, 2011
In our Wise and Benevolent Overlords continued fight to rid us of the scourge of “illegal” drugs two new bills have been introduced in the Arkansas State Legislature. HB1444 and SB437 (both links are to PDF versions of the bills) that would make it impossible for the scurrilous among us to procure over the counter medications that contain the main ingredients necessary in making crystal meth. You know, those medications that go by the names of Chlor Trimeton, Dimetapp, Sudafed, Actifed, Alavert D, etc.
HB1444, sponsored by Rep. Marshall Wright (D – Forrest City), would require a prescription from a doctor to purchase these over the counter medications. SB437, which basically strengthens and clarifies existing Continue reading The War on Over The Counter Medications
Mark Young posted this in Liberty, Rights, Second Amendment on October 30th, 2010
I was reading this “letter to the editor” from the newsleader.com, a news organization that purportedly serves “the central Shenandoah valley (VA), website. As one might suspect I have a couple of issues with the whole premise of repealing any of the specific enumerated rights contained within the Bill of Rights.
1. You CAN NOT repeal the second amendment, period, end of story. Some folks may wish that it could be done, mainly because they are so enamored of the State they believe their rights result from various proclamations from the State, but that is not the case. Add to this the fact they have limited knowledge of what they speak and you get such asinine comments as the one spewed by this individual in this opinion piece.
2. The editorialist, in this instance, said until we the people “demand an end to the production, distribution, sale and ownership of handguns and assault weapons and the repeal of the Second Continue reading Repeal the Second Amendment?
Mark Young posted this in Uncategorized on September 22nd, 2010
Have you ever really stopped to think about all of the “Wars” America is fighting and the results of those “wars”?
Well let’s see there is the:
War on Poverty – Back in the 60′s the US government declared war on poverty, the results are as expected. We now have the highest percent (since . . . → Read More: America’s “wars”
You can thank your lucky stars, and the number crunchers, but the recession officially ended June of 2009. Yep, 15 months ago. Let’s all sing a chorus of “Happy Days are Here Again”.
Pay no attention to the fact that the official unemployment number, which by the way is bogus, is right at 10%. . . . → Read More: Well, it’s official, the recession ended more than a year ago!
What do they mean by building a mosque in New York, and right down there at Ground Zero no less! Why we can’t have that! So what if we have the unalienable right to worship as we see fit, that don’t mean *they* can build a mosque right down there on Ground Zero. They . . . → Read More: What are those sneaky Mooslums up to now?
Well, it seems that for all the commercials and bluster that Senator Lincoln piped on about during the primary elections she’s still more about back scratching than the moderate mantra, i.e. BS, of her primary electioneering.
In one of her commercials she said (and I’m mostly paraphrasing here) that she introduced some of the toughest banking reform regulations of any Senator in DC and “it’s gonna pass”. Well we are getting some of the details of her tough financial reform and how it’s going to operate. As usual it’s the same old crony crap that we expect out of our Continue reading Ms. Lincoln and more of the same
There has been much press this past week, and it probably will be continuing for some time, about Rand Paul and his statements concerning the Civil Rights Act and “institutionalized racism”, as one media pundit put it. I’ve watched the sound bites of what Rand said and fully understand why the media and “blogosphere” are all a buzz. I’ve seen the editorial comments, both for and against (mostly against). Nearly all of those in the nay column have pulled the race card, just like they did with his father, and proclaim that since he is against the Civil Rights Act, at least part of it anyway from some of his “clarifications” recently, he must be racist, for “institutionalized racism” or (and I love this one) a radical. I can understand where someone may take those positions, not understanding Libertarian philosophy, and contend that Rand Paul (again like his father) is a big business corporate lackey that doesn’t understand the rights of “the little guy”.
The problem, however, is not in Rand Paul’s understanding of rights, but the misconception of rights by the public at large. More importantly, a great portion of American citizens do not understand the difference between Natural and Civil rights. I would venture to guess, at least from conversations that I’ve had with “the public at large” they equivocate natural rights and civil rights. We, as Libertarians, understand the difference and we also understand that natural rights ALWAYS Continue reading Much ado about something
Mark Young posted this in Arkansas, LPAR on May 2nd, 2010
First my apologies to Kenneth Davis for not responding to his question of me at the convention yesterday. I must admit it caught me off guard and, at first, I thought it was rhetorical. As he asked others I got to thinking about the question and here is my response.
First off, Rodger Paxton set the goal for our district of quadrupling our membership. Rodger cannot do this on his own. Rodger and Jessica are fine folks and have the drive that will lead this party into the future, but to ask them to shoulder this burden while the rest of us sit idly by is neither fair nor practical. It will take everyone in our Continue reading How I’m going to help the LPoAR
I’m going to try to make this short and sweet, but it will be difficult given the subject matter.
Article 5 of the Constitution states:
“The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.” Continue reading The “unlawful” 14th Amendment
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