My View: Grand Theory vs. Stark Reality
Dave Duffy
While visiting Boston between issues, my wife, Lenie, got into a conversation about preparedness. It was a brief, but telling, discussion because our host, like many people who live in cities, had not...
Freedom, guns, & boycotts
By Dave Duffy
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
The other day I walked into my local Ace Hardware store and cancelled this magazine's longstanding account.
"How come?" Dan, the owner asked surprised. I had shopped there ever...
A vast cultural divide exists between environmentalists and gun owners
By Dave Duffy
Issue #113 • September/October, 2008
Backwoods Home Magazine has had an exhibitor's booth at the MREA Fair in Wisconsin almost every year since its founding by Mick Sagrillo in 1989, which is the...
Lessons for My Children…Chapter 3: Hiding from the government
By Dave Duffy
Issue #138 • November/December, 2012
After opening the discussion in this column last issue about the underground economy, I thought it would be a good idea to explore it more thoroughly since it...
Preparing for a Temporary Catastrophe
By Dave Duffy
Issue #139 • January/February, 2013
November's Superstorm Sandy on the Northeastern coast of the United States was our most recent grand reminder that society is fragile, most people are not ready to take...
Which wars work best? The ones we fight or the ones we avoid?
By Dave Duffy
Issue #102 • November/December, 2006
History is supposed to teach us the lessons of wars past so we won't blunder into stupid wars in the present. Since I have mixed feelings about our...
Mousers and cat loonies
By Dave Duffy
Issue #83 • September/October, 2003
I must really be old fashioned. I live in the country and have plenty of rodents running around, just like many of you, so I need a few...
How do you save freedom in America?
By Dave Duffy
Issue #116 • March/April, 2009
Following is part of a letter I received from Ron Dugan of Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania:
"What is it that we can do to stop the loss of freedom in...
The attack on Colin Powell prompts questions I’m not supposed to ask
By Dave Duffy
Issue #79 • January/February, 2003
What's wrong with black Americans?
Provocative question, isn't it, especially when it's being asked by a white guy like me. We white guys aren't supposed to question what blacks...
How environmental ideology hurts the solar energy industry
By Dave Duffy
Issue #69 • May/June, 2001
Starting with our first issue 11 years ago, Backwoods Home Magazine has promoted renewable energies, especially solar energy, and for the past two years we have carried a...
Golf’s critical life lessons are under threat
By Dave Duffy
Issue #118 • July/August, 2009
I'm a golfer. Not a very skillful one, but a devoted player and follower of the game. I took it up for the relaxation and peace of mind...
Tackling the real problems that face us
By Dave Duffy
Issue #134 • March/April, 2012
Thank goodness most of the apocalyptic scenarios the doom and gloomers talk about are either founded upon faulty premises or, if based on science, are extremely rare occurrences....
If you want to survive an emergency, look to yourself, not the Government
By Dave Duffy
Issue #96 • November/December, 2005
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath said what I could not have said convincingly in ten thousand words: The government cannot protect you in a major emergency. It doesn't...
Animal rights loonies save the chickens but ruin the County Fair
By Dave Duffy
Issue #84 • November/December, 2003
We had our County Fair between issues.
It was a small Fair with just a few thousand in attendance, but no one in our town of 1500 would miss...
Defunding government is a sensible voter solution to reining in local government
By Dave Duffy
Issue #128 • March/April, 2011
Like so many other communities across the country, my community of Curry County on the southern Oregon coast has rejected efforts by local government to raise taxes in...
How a high school band triumphed over a bureaucracy and union that tried to...
By Dave Duffy
Issue #141 • May/June, 2013
The Gold Beach High School Band now practices in
the BHM building, after being forced out of the school.
There are few victories sweeter in life than that of young...
