NEURONTIN FOR SALE

June 19, 2013

Miscellaneous Rambling "Alteration between centralized and decentralized power is one of the cyclical rhythms of history, as if men tired alternately of immoderate liberty and excessive order." Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage. So where would we place the United States on this pendulum? Swinging hard toward excessive order, I'm afraid, after enjoying freedom for the first couple of hundred years (from colonial times until the Civil War, when the national government started its first serious forays into power). But are we witnessing "excessive order"? I suspect Durant missed one key libertarian insight (brought home--recently, by intellectual history standards--by Hoppe's Democracy, the God that Failed): centralization of power results in inequitable distribution of wealth (read: looting by the State, for the benefit of its allies (read: for the benefit of Wall Street and its favored institutions, like higher education and the medical establishment)) and other unfortunate phenomena, but it doesn't result in "excessive order." Far from it. As the breakdown of the USSR established: centralization of power leads to dissolution of society. Society is the adhesive that holds individuals together in a flexible order. As it breaks down, disorder spreads, which is hugely unfortunate since the order imposed by society is not an involuntary order, like the ersatz order imposed by the State and its police force. The order of society is largely voluntary: if you choose not to participate in that order, you might be ostracized and face economic consequences; you might even be viewed as a freak. But you're not put behind bars. The ersatz order of the State can impose only the sanctions of violence: fines, jail, and death--and the threat thereof. By comparison, the sanctions imposed by the order of society are mild and to be preferred.

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Tuesday

June 18, 2013

Public Victory Gardens I've often wondered why gardeners don't grow more edibles. I mean, if you're going to spend time in the garden, you might as well get some quality food out of it, plus I don't find ordinary plants very pretty (flowers, yes, but those ordinary little shrubs?). When I walk around town, I'm struck by the sheer quantity of yard space that could be devoted to fruits and vegetables, and it wouldn't take that much work, and it wouldn't be expensive, and it could be done somewhat tastefully (a few friends have commented on my goofy video yesterday and told me the vegetable garden looks nice). So anyway, it's no surprise that I read this story about the world's first public food garden with great interest: "Forget meadows. The city’s new park will be filled with edible plants, and everything from pears to herbs will be free for the taking." It sounds like a great idea. I haven't considered all the logistics involved, but as long as the kids will still have enough room to play touch football and Frisbee, why not? I'm kinda hoping my town does something similar and, truth be told, I have contemplated starting a 501(c)(3) dedicated solely to such a purpose, but I simply can't put the necessary time into it at this point in my life. But in ten years? Maybe. Definitely a maybe. Addendum Some gardens, of course, are beautiful. My church has a very nice little garden that I always enjoy when I walk past it.

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Monday

June 17, 2013

As of yesterday:

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Weather Hype

June 15, 2013

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Friday

June 14, 2013

BYCU I have four grape vines. I'm expecting (hoping/praying for) big things from them this year, since it's their third year. Everything looks good so far, with lots of bunches growing. They're all edible grapes, however. Nothing good for wine. If you're into the grape/wine scene, however, there's a publication just for you: Country Folks Wine & Grape Grower. It looks decent. Advice Some drinking advice from the Life Advice Lamp: "Want to save money when you're out drinking? Donate blood first."And: "Want to be popular at a bar? Tell people that you're the owner of the bar and their drinks are on the house." And: "Want to drink and drive? Do it during the night while the cops are sleeping." Viz With the alarming assortment of beers coming on the market, this could eventually be one of the neatest websites of the decade: Beer Viz:

If you're looking for a new brew to try, or just want to expand your palate a little bit, Beer Viz asks you a couple of questions about the beer you already enjoy and presents you with a plethora of alternatives that might suit you nicely. It's kind of like Pandora for beer. To get started, select the strength of beer you're interested in (light, medium, dark), and select whether you'd like to explore similar beers by aroma, taste, appearance, or overall (selected by default, and takes them all into consideration). From there, you're presented with a map to various beers in the category, organized by color and family so you can see which ones are like each other by type, and then with lines connecting the ones that are similar by taste, aroma, or the other parameters you selected. The size of the dot next to the beer's name indicates its popularity among beer drinkers, and you can hover over a beer's name with your mouse to read details about it, including its percent alcohol-by-volume, and its overall rating.

I tried it briefly. I can't say I was greatly impressed, but there's potential.

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Funny Conan

June 13, 2013

Marco Rubio announced a new bill that would require immigrants to learn English to become citizens. Many Americans already say it's the goodest news they have heard all year. The new PlayStation 4 is going to allow gamers to record their gaming and share it with friends. All the gamers would need is an Internet connection and friends.

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Wednesday

June 12, 2013

From the Notebooks I've started going back through books I read from about age 20 through age 40. The first book I pulled off my shelf was the first book I read when I decided (for whatever reason) that I needed to become much more erudite: Will Durant's Our Oriental Heritage (1935) (Volume One of his majestic The Story of Civilization). The book starts with an overview of the parts that comprise a civilization. In the section entitled "The State," I was startled to find that Durant subscribed to the view that the State is form of violence. It is, of course, the correct view, but it's not exactly mainstream and I've considered Durant pretty mainstream. I suspect he used to be, but in the wake of statism's growth over the past 75 years, he's floated outside the mainstream. Anyway, here are a few quotes from that section of the book. The first comes from Nock's favorite historian, Franz Oppenheimer:

"Everywhere we find some warlike tribe breaking through the boundaries of some less warlike people, settling down as nobility, and founding its state." Oppenheimer. "'Violence,' says Ratzenhofer, 'is the agent which has created the state.'" "The state, says Gumplowicz, is the result of conquest, the establishment of the victors as a ruling cast over the vanquished." "'The state,' says Sumner, 'is the product of force, and exists by force.'" "Every state begins in compulsion; but the habits of obedience become the contents of conscience, and soon every citizen thrills with loyalty to the flag."

Durant, however, is not thoroughly libertarian, though he definitely has strong leanings. A few more quotes that show a conflict intellect:

"The citizen is right; for however the state begins, it soon becomes an indispensable prop to order." The state "spread the tentacles of its power and law over wider and wider areas, and though it made external war more destructive than before, it extended and maintained internal peace; the state may be defined as internal peace for external war. Men decided that it was better to pay taxes than to fight among themselves; better to pay tribute to one magnificent robber than to bribe them all."

That last quote might be the best: Men decided that it was better to pay taxes than to fight among themselves; better to pay tribute to one magnificent robber than to bribe them all. On the one hand, it shows that Durant understands that the State is a robber (a libertarian view, but again, one that is common sense when you think about it), but also shows that he agrees with the mainstream view that the State is necessary. I vehemently disagree with Durant on that point, but I give him credit for getting the facts straight.

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Tuesday

June 11, 2013

Background: When I was the editor of Gilbert Magazine, I was responsible for the "Tremendous Trifles" column. It was occasionally hard to find a sufficient amount of interesting GKC material to fill the page, so John Peterson sent me a file full of Chesterton ancedotes. They were idiosyncratic, historical, and Chestertonian. He gave me permission to use them here. I hope y'all find them as interesting as I have over the years. Most of them have never been published.

Chesterton Short(s) Early in 1927 the American writer Rex Stout had lunch with Chesterton at the Savoy Grill. Stout said later, "Chesterton thought I knew too little about revelation. And I thought he knew too much." A great admirer of Father Brown, Stout would in 1934 launch his own successful series of detective stories featuring Nero Wolfe. [John McAleer, Rex Stout: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1977, p. 22]

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Monday

June 10, 2013

Miscellany Why are the Catholics in the liberal media the most annoying (Colbert) and ridiculous (Chris Matthews). Herewith, the most recent installment of Chris Matthews idiocy: "Chris Matthews is baffled by opposition to President Obama as he faces a series of scandals, especially because the president has 'never done anything wrong in his life. . . . His whole life has been crystal clear, and clean as a whistle, and transparent,' Matthews said on his show earlier this week. 'He’s never done anything wrong in his life — legally, ethically, whatever.' Link. * * * * * * * I suspect there's something psychological-theological for this phenomenon--a self-righteousness that clashes with the Catholic ideal of humility, which spins wildly perverse when clothed with concepts of social justice?--but I can't put my finger on it. I'm not even convinced that my perception is correct, but boy, it seems I see a lot of anecdotal evidence in support. * * * * * * * Newest Twitter amusement: Proven Facts. A few entries don't make sense or are downright stupid/juvenile, but for the most part, the gist of the Tweets is humorous and clear: African Americans are usually not members of the KKK. Every hour in America, 60 minutes pass. If you took your own lungs out and laid them side by side, you will die. Twitter did not exist during World War II. Babies are not dishwasher safe. Carpet can be walked on.

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June 8, 2013

The 84-year-old woman who won the half-billion-dollar Powerball lottery asked for it to be received in a lump sum. Then she said, "Actually, can I get that in the next hour?" Conan

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Friday

June 7, 2013

Chesterton Short(s) To describe his appearance, or the visible impression Gilbert Chesterton made, George Bernard Shaw was driven to compare him to Gulliver as seen by the Liliputians and to note his resemblance to Honore de Balzac. "He is our Quinbus Flestrin, the young Man Mountain," Shaw wrote, "a large, abounding, gigantically cherubic person who is not only large in body and mind beyond all decency, but seems to be growing larger as you look at him—swellin' wisibly as Tony Weller puts it." [Complete Prefaces, V. I, Penguin: 1993, p. 188.]

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Thursday

June 6, 2013

Bullets Yet another reason why the American Empire is on the road to hell: Pope Francis says wasting food is like stealing from the poor. Abortion, gay marriage, screwing Mexicans out of their wages to prop up our broken social security system, unjust wars. Unfortunately, hubris is a formidable vigilante. * * * * * * * Speaking of unjust wars, I ran across this quote from historian Will Durant yesterday: The state "spread the tentacles of its power and law over wider and wider areas, and though it made external war more destructive than before, it extended and maintained internal peace; the state may be defined as internal peace for external war." * * * * * * * As a denizen of semi-rural America, this factoid caught my eye: "The population of rural and small-town America contracted over the past two years for the first time on record as young people left to search out work in the cities and birth rates fell." Link. I know my town and our neighbors have seen a slight population decrease, but I didn't realize it was a nation-wide phenomenon. I couldn't imagine living in an urban area, unless it was one with a lot of small-town attributes (like the upper west side of Manhattan), but that's apparently what a lot of young people want. * * * * * * * Based on the quality of young adults I still see around my town, I'm guessing the urban areas are pulling in most of our higher-quality people, leaving us with the white trash. When I attend my youngest son's little league games, I get downright depressed, sitting among the pierced and tattooed parents in the crowd. * * * * * * * Even more depressing: Some of the tattooed guys aren't all bad. I've ran into at least two who are downright polite and speak decent English, the kind of guys I'd drink a beer with . . . if it weren't for the tattoos. That just means tattoos are becoming more and more mainstream, which isn't a good sign. The practice is a throwback to barbarism, literally. Look it up.

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