Talking to your kids about death
By Dave Duffy
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
How do you talk to a child about the death of someone they love? How do you explain the impossible? It's a task many of us parents have...
The parasitic nature of bureaucracy
By Dave Duffy
Issue #106 • July/August, 2007
As we go to print with this issue, my local newspaper's main page one headline reads: County tax levy soundly defeated. I applauded at my desk to the...
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...
The destruction of the mass print media will help save freedom in America
By Dave Duffy
Issue #119 • September/October, 2009
I tend to be an optimist, even though the state of America's economy and politics does not appear very promising right now. So I want to talk about...
Exercising with gadgets
By Dave Duffy
Issue #75 • May/June, 2002
We've all seen those TV commercials featuring all sorts of exercise gadgets that will get you that buff body or that rib-like belly with minimum effort. There are...
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...
Stumbling over your own stupidity
By John Silveira
Issue #64 • July/August, 2000
There are several morals to be found in this story. You can find most of them yourself. But I'm only interested in one of them. The story was...
The land of the unfree
By John Silveira
Issue #101 • September/October, 2006
It's official! The numbers are in once again! For I-don't-know-how-many-years-running, the United States, this so-called "land of the free," is imprisoning more people, in both absolute numbers and...
Beautiful Women
By John Silveira
August 10, 2001
Who are the 50 most beautiful women in the world? Askmen.com recently came up with a readers' list.
At the bottom and rounding out the list is Sandra Bullock (50th). They...
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...
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...
A history lesson from Ayn Rand
By Dave Duffy
Issue #44 • March/April, 1997
For the past several weeks I've been reading the Letters of Ayn Rand, which is a collection covering her letters from 1926, when she arrived in America from...
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...
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...
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...
Defending against terroristic mass murder
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #160 • July/August, 2016
My friend Rich Grassi is a retired cop, a masterful instructor, and one of the best writers in the tactical field today. He recently wrote that it would...































