Commentary Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Dealing with Liberals and History

By John Silveira February 6, 2000 Years ago I hated talking politics with liberals. I have a good memory and a good sense of history, but whenever I mentioned any historical "fact" that countered their arguments,...

Personal guns getting to be in style

By Dave Duffy Issue #74 • March/April, 2002 Have you noticed how the mass media's attacks against gun ownership have gone way down since the terrorist attacks of September 11? Of course, it's kind of difficult...

Dark Winter — A simulated terrorist attack on three American cities using weaponized smallpox

By Dave Duffy Issue #81 • May/June, 2003 Historically, smallpox has been the most deadly of all diseases for humans, killing between 300 and 500 million in the last century alone, far more than the 111...

Things kids should learn before leaving high school, but don’t

By John Silveira Issue #159 • May/June, 2016 We send generations of American children to school hoping we're preparing them for adulthood. Among the least of our expectations are that they're going to be able to...

Getting the state out of marriage

By John Silveira Issue #127 • January/February, 2011 There's a new TV "reality" show on TLC called Sister Wives. It's about a polygamous family: Kody Brown, his 3 wives, their 13 children, and a soon-to-be (maybe...

Perspectives on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin shooting

By Massad Ayoob Issue #143 • September/October, 2013 The media told us a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain and wannabe cop with gun-derived courage was on patrol when he profiled a young child because he was black...

Why I Hated Santa Claus

By John Silveira December 21, 1999 Even as a little kid I didn't like Santa Claus. I liked the loot he brought; I wanted toys. With some trepidation, I even sat in his lap at the...

When “good” laws are bad

By John Silveira Issue #134 • March/April, 2012 I recently read an opinion piece on CNN's website titled, Edison would've loved the new light bulb law. It's supposed to be about the new law to force...

Guns Save Lives Chapter 1: Point Blank

By Robert Waters Issue #80 • March/April, 2003 "Why'd you shoot me, bitch?" Last words of home invader Shaarod Profitt, September 18, 1998. It was a cool fall evening in Little Rock, Arkansas, when Don Mosely heard...

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...

The Newtown atrocity and “gun control”

By Massad Ayoob Issue #140 • March/April, 2013 In mid-December of 2012, a mentally disturbed twenty-year-old whose escalating aberrant behavior had gone untreated and unchecked murdered his own mother, stole her guns, and entered the Sandy...

Why oil and other fossil fuels are good

By John Silveira Issue #152 • March/April, 2015 Last issue I concluded The Last Word saying I'd "... talk about the myth of oil destroying the environment." But between issues I thought about it and realized...

Book Review: Guns Save Lives — True Stories of Americans Defending Their Lives with...

Reviewed By John Silveira Issue #79 • January/February, 2003 I like movies with heroes: High Noon, Death Wish, Dirty Harry and the like where the good guy comes to the aid of guys like you and...

Helping crackpots kill kids

By John Silveira February 23, 2000 I've moved to Oregon and one of the first "privileges" in this state I intend to avail myself of is the state's easy-to-obtain concealed weapon permit. Never mind that the...

Libertarian and Conservative

By John Silveira Issue #133 • January/February, 2012 I cringe when I hear libertarians lumped with conservatives or at least today's conservatives. Liberals want you to view us as conservatives so you won't look any...

The Coming American Dictatorship revisited

By John Silveira Issue #77 • September/October, 2002 Mac's back. After a long absence our poker-playing friend from southern California, O.E. MacDougal, walked into the Oregon offices of Backwoods Home Magazine. Poof, and there he was. No...