• Did you know there’s an organization called Dogs Against Romney? And that one of its members just got stopped by a cop for doing (in effigy) what Romney once did to his family dog?
• A courageous colonel busts hierarchy to tell truths about Afghanistan. (Tip o’ hat to M.)
• “Take that, Hobbes!”
• “Less lethal.” Yeah. In other words — more likely to be casually fired at people who irritate the cops.
• Help wanted at the TSA. :-)
• Oh, what to think? It’s a crime and a shame when innocent owners have their assets seized. But can they be called “innocent” when they’ve helped the fedgov seize others’ assets in the past?
• Tell me, please, are you even the teeny-tiniest bit surprised at this so-called news?
• Introducing the government’s latest unpaid spy. (Tip o’ hat to D.)
• Not sure what this implies about the U.S. electorate. But DA, who found the link, thinks it has more to do with feeling disenfranchised than with lack of interest. Might also speculate that in 2008 young people were excited by Obama, while these days the only person who could possibly be excited by him might be Michelle, in bed. And even that’s dubious.

Finally, last week I linked to a new National Geographic series that looked as if it might be about to profile all “doomsday preppers” as laughable loons. H, who first called my attention to it, has watched the first episodes and says it’s nowhere near as supercilious as it might have been.

He does wonder, though, about the wisdom of some of these folks, outing themselves …

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Bravo, El Neil, for such a simple, realistic vision of personal freedom. And thanks for the reminder.

We do have a habit of getting so focused on what we fear, dread, and hate in this scary world that we tend to forget — or sometimes not even know — what we want — what we would do with our freedom if we had it. (I’m talking about our “political freedom,” of course; we’ve already got the other sort with us.)

I know we’ve been here before, but it’s a place we need to revisit frequently if we’re working for something fulfilling and not merely against something evil.

What do you want and hope for from your freedom?

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…going on today. Just learned this via Dave Duffy’s blog.

This money bomb is specifically to give Paul a boost in South Carolina, where he’s not likely to make New Hampshire-like or Iowa-like v*te totals.

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… and a call for people to work on it.

The other day, I blogged about a smartphone app for boycotting firms that support SOPA and noted (I wasn’t the only one) that it could potentially be a powerful tool for boycotts of all kinds.

Well, who feels more strongly than gun owners about avoiding businesses who’d take away their fundamental rights? And who deserves more support than businesses that support our right to self defense?

An online acquaintance, Sandy Sandfort, has decided he wants to do something about that. He’s looking for people with the skills and interests to do the job:

1. Techies who could create the app

2. Techies who could create and maintain the database

3. Info gatherers to determine the status of companies (pro-gun, anti-gun, neutral)

A team would probably set some guidelines on making determinations about what qualifies as pro- or anti-gun.

Sandy envisions that developers and maintainers might split profits from sales of the app, but I’d be more inclined to think of this as a volunteer project, with the possibility of money being a plus.

I told him I’d help put out the word and put him in touch with interested folks. If you’re one of those, either email me at the special address for the purpose: boycottapp at hermit dot cotse dot net or put a note in the comment section. Give your correct email address where it asks; the address won’t show, but it’ll see it and pass it along.

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• Even lab rats, it seems, have empathy. Now, if only government agents could be raised to that level.
• I had no idea that my second favorite poem (and the one I most totally identify with) had such universal appeal.
• Only a government could manage to create a butter crisis.
• “The best way to understand the Euro Crisis is to get a DVD of “Animal House” starring John Belushi.” Snort!
• Open letter to some professorial tax eaters from Michael and Debra Jean Dean.
• The average household has a post-crash net worth of nearly $500,000??? Are you kidding? Where do I sign up to join the average class?
• The “I, Pencil” of food. (And apparently the writer never heard of “I, Pencil” until somebody mentioned it in the comment section of his piece.)

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• Shut up. When the Feds are involved. Because this is one way they trick you into becoming a felon, as Ken at Popehat knows.
• Incredible videos of bizarre natural phenomena.
• Freedom Feens Fun Forum. New kid on the block for freedomista discussion. From Michael W. Dean and Neema Vedadi.
• Dave Duffy blogged this first, but it’s encouraging enough to deserve repeating.
• “For your own good” is the same the world over. (Tip o’ hat to DA.)
• Standardized testing: it’s even worse than you might think. (Tip o’ hat to JS.)
• Bring health care back home.
• Tenting in the old backyard. Tom Knapp is doing it this winter. (Found via Brad at WendyMcElroy.com.)

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• This ad is in totally terrible bad taste. Which is what makes it so good. Seems this South African chicken restaurant has a history of similar terrible taste. And sometimes nicely pointed satire.
• A Rearden Steel case??? Please tell me you’re kidding.
• Kind of a shame that Stratfor feels the need to give such basic advice on situational awareness. And never mentions carrying something much better than a flashlight. (Tip o’ hat to A.)
• “Bailing out the Titanic with a Thimble.”
• And an interesting week ahead in Europe, heaven help us all.

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Sometimes when I write about freeing ourselves rather than joining mass movements or flinging ourselves into political campaigns, somebody will accuse me of being nihilistic or advocating me-me-me values.

If you’ve been around long enough, you know that’s not the point. The point is, of course, that true freedom can only arise from within the individual and spread from there. All “political” solutions are just band-aids on a wound if we’re not prepared to live free, to accord equal rights of freedom to our neighbors, and to personally oppose tyranny.

Still, it’s understandable that people who’ve always thought of freedom only in terms of mass action miss that point. After the recent blog, “Occupy Your Ownself,” that notion came up again.

I hate repeating myself, though after 15 years of doing what I do, I understand it’s a necessity. In this case, though, I stumbled upon an old Backwoods Home article that says some things that bear repeating.

I found it in one of the ancient issues of BHM that came with the house I bought last year. It wasn’t online and I had long ago lost any e-copy on my computer. Fortunately, webmaster Oliver keeps everything. And he kindly put it online for me a couple of days ago. He even took the initiative to add a good collection of links (thank you, Oliver).

So here is the first article I wrote for BHM after 9-11: “Freedom Tomorrow.”

It’s dated now, of course. But it’s still a pretty good statement on how the act of living free can build freedom in the broader sense.

—–

I’m going to take the next day or two off from work-work and blogging. I’ll be doing some projects around the house and hopefully also finishing J.D. Tuccille’s new novel High Desert Barbecue, which he was kind enough to send me in a really beautiful trade paperback form. It’s a terrific read so far and I’ll have more to say once I can finally make time to finish it.

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