I was on active duty in the U.S. Air Force a mere four years. I never got within 3,000 miles of hostile action against American forces. To top it off, my small contribution was decades ago. As a result, I am squeamishly uncomfortable accepting the appreciation when someone tells me “Thanks Read more…
Thought about putting on my blogs some cool patriotic visuals to celebrate the 239th anniversary of the greatest country in the world that has provided more political, economic, and religious freedom to more people than any country anywhere anytime. There are lots of nice looking things available on the ‘net.
Also thought about pulling up some photos of flags I’ve taken over the years and creating a visual celebration.
I decided to do something completely different.
Of the large number of freedoms that we humans have because we exist, which are also recognized by the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, I particularly cherish freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
So yesterday (which was the federal holiday), today (the actual anniversary), and tomorrow I exercise those freedoms.
(Cross-post from my other blog, Outrun Change.)
Freedom of speech
The first winter for the Pilgrims was terrible. Between starvation, pneumonia, and tuberculosis, about half died.
The second winter was terrible, again with little food. Those who survived the first two winters only did so by the goodness of the Native Americans who graciously shared their food.
The third winter was far better, with plenty of food. In a few years, there was enough abundance that the Pilgrims had paid off their debt to those who financed their trip. They were alive, thriving, and free of debt.
Those are a few highlights of the Pilgrims’ story told by Karl Denninger in his article from 2006, which is reposted at Market-Ticker: The Truth About Thanksgiving.
What caused the change from starving to thriving is the part of the story I never heard growing up.
I was on active duty during the Cold War and fulfilled my committment several years before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I recall with wonderful joy the day the Berlin Wall fell.
Been pondering today how thrilled I am to have:
(cross posted from my other blog, Outrun Change.)
That freedom is a rarity on the earth today and unheard of for all of history until around, oh, say 300 years ago.
Oh how I wish that everyone on the planet could be blessed with that economic, political, and religious freedom.
(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)
Recent news reports indicate federal intelligence agencies are gathering up a lot more information than we knew. That data is available to undisclosed lists of unknown people and will be retained for a very long time.
So what?
Here’s just a few circumstances in which you might not want access to your data by a long list of unidentified persons from various federal, state, or local agencies who were granted access to various unidentified parts of the various databases: (more…)
(Cross-post from my other blog, Outrun Change.) Seems like every morning there is a big story with details of the vast array of surveillance conducted by the federal government. Here is a broad overview of news in the last 2 weeks. First report was metadata of every phone call at Read more…
(Cross-post from my other blog, Outrun Change.)
Joke of the week – if my computer or website crashes, can I get a backup copy from NSA?
Lots of publicity this week on extensive federal monitoring of citizens and non citizens. No time to write a full post, so just a quick note to put some dots on the page. Hopefully will have time to connect them later
Four massive stories this week:
