We comes from God, I from the Devil

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Libertarians and War: A Bibliographical Essay

laliberty:

Anthony Gregory does yeoman’s work collecting books, essays, and opinions on the libertarian stance on war.

Read it, click the copious embedded links and spent a few days reading those, and be sure to bookmark it for future reference. It’s a veritable bounty of knowledge and insight…

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astrodidact: Atheist Sees Image of Big Bang in Piece of Toast (ACPA-London) Excitement is growing in the Northern England town of Huddersfield following news that local atheist Donald Chapman saw an image of the Big-Bang in a piece of toast. In an exclusive interview with “The Huddersfield Express” Chapman, 36, explained that he was sitting down to eat breakfast when an unusual toast pattern caught his eye. “I was just about to spread the butter when I noticed a small hole in the middle of the bread surrounded by a burnt black ring,” said Chapman. “Then I saw the direction and splatter patterns of the crumbs - they were flowing outward from the center of a black hole, changing shades as their distance from the center grew. A perfect match to the chaotic-dynamic non-linear patterns that followed the Big-Bang. It’s the beginning of the world - right there in my breakfast!” Ever since news of the discovery made national headlines, local hoteliers have been overwhelmed by an influx of atheists from all over the country who have flocked to Huddersfield to catch a glimpse of the scientific relic. “I have always been an Atheist and to see my unbelief validated on a piece of toast is truly astounding,” exclaimed one guest at the Huddersfield Arms hotel. To the surprise of many, the UK Atheist Association has asked its members to ignore the story despite its potential to inspire less faith. “Given what the religious believe already, this is an easy sell,” complained one disgruntled activist who said he was going to Huddlesfield anyway noting that “Seeing is not believing.” http://www.satireandcomment.com/0208toast.html

astrodidact:

Atheist Sees Image of Big Bang in Piece of Toast

(ACPA-London) Excitement is growing in the Northern England town of Huddersfield following news that local atheist Donald Chapman saw an image of the Big-Bang in a piece of toast. In an exclusive interview with “The Huddersfield Express” Chapman, 36, explained that he was sitting down to eat breakfast when an unusual toast pattern caught his eye.

“I was just about to spread the butter when I noticed a small hole in the middle of the bread surrounded by a burnt black ring,” said Chapman. “Then I saw the direction and splatter patterns of the crumbs - they were flowing outward from the center of a black hole, changing shades as their distance from the center grew. A perfect match to the chaotic-dynamic non-linear patterns that followed the Big-Bang. It’s the beginning of the world - right there in my breakfast!”

Ever since news of the discovery made national headlines, local hoteliers have been overwhelmed by an influx of atheists from all over the country who have flocked to Huddersfield to catch a glimpse of the scientific relic. “I have always been an Atheist and to see my unbelief validated on a piece of toast is truly astounding,” exclaimed one guest at the Huddersfield Arms hotel.

To the surprise of many, the UK Atheist Association has asked its members to ignore the story despite its potential to inspire less faith. “Given what the religious believe already, this is an easy sell,” complained one disgruntled activist who said he was going to Huddlesfield anyway noting that “Seeing is not believing.”

http://www.satireandcomment.com/0208toast.html

(via betterwithchemistry)

70 notes

C4SS.ORG: Portland neighbors pave their own potholes

c4ss:

PORTLAND – A group of Southwest Portland residents decided they were tired of neighborhood potholes and hired a contractor to fix the problem. But the city might now charge those residents to bring those unpermitted repairs up to code.

Homeowner Peter Samson said that until about seven months ago he could barely even make it into his own driveway because the road in front of his Multnomah Village home—Southwest 37th Avenue–was unimproved.

He said driving home was like an off-road adventure. Neighbor Paul Hughes said the gullies created by the potholes channeled water into his home.

“It was obvious to all of us the city was never going to do anything on its own,” Hughes said.

They told KGW that when they spoke with city officials about the improvements they were told it would cost each homeowner about $20,000.

Instead the homeowners decided to take matters into their own hands. Last October they hired a paving company to do the job for only about $1,000 per resident. …

(via learnliberty)

27 notes

Baltimore Cops Sued (Again) For Destroying Citizen Footage of Them Caught in the Act of Being Themselves

laliberty:

[T]he Baltimore Police Department is being sued for attacking a woman and smashing her camera, marking the second time in two years it has been sued for destroying footage.

The first suit earned them a federal reprimand. The second will hopefully earn them a federal investigation. 

In that suit, which was filed last week, Makia Smith says she was stuck in stand-still rush hour traffic in March 2012 when she saw a group of cops beating up a man.

She stepped out of her car, stood on the door sill and began recording.

She was quickly confronted by an aggressive cop named Nathan Church, who grabbed her phone, threw it on the ground and smashed it with his foot.

“You want to film something, bitch? Film this,” he yelled.

He then proceeded to beat her.

Quoting from the suit as filed:

“Officer Church pulled plaintiff out of her car by her hair and beat her. Officers Pilkerton, Ulmer, and Campbell then ran to plaintiff’s car and joined Officer Church in beating plaintiff and arrested her using excessive force. At all times described herein, plaintiff’s two year old daughter witnessed her mother’s beating and arrest by the Officers, as did others.”


Smith claims the cops taunted her and threatened to take her daughter away…

“The officers, despite the pleas of plaintiff, refused to call plaintiff’s mother. Instead, the officers tormented plaintiff by telling her that her daughter would be taken from her and sent to Social Services. Seeing plaintiff’s distressful reaction to these tormenting threats, they continued,” the complaint states.
 Smith … claims she was arrested and taken to jail on bogus charges that she assaulted Church and resisted arrest.
 She claims Church failed to appear for her trial – twice, and prosecutors dropped the charges, but she had to hire a lawyer and spend more money recovering her impounded car.

77 notes

hipsterlibertarian: I have this bumper sticker on my car, and I was reminded of it while reading this wise article from Steve Horwitz, published by the Future of Freedom Foundation. Here’s an excerpt: [B]laming the failures of government on the “bad guys” who had power also ignores that the same failures are likely even if the “good guys” have the power. If the problem is with the institutions and rules, then it doesn’t matter which team the players are on. They will produce bad consequences either way. What matters is what sorts of interactions the rules of the game permit. Where the rules protect rights and promote peaceful exchange as the means to our ends, even the most self-interested of people will have no choice but to trade for mutual benefit. Where the rules fail at this task, predation, both public and private, will dominate. Rooting for your team or your favorite player is a recipe for social disaster; it encourages the creation of institutions of power that undermine progress now and that will be available to the “other guys” later, with equally unpleasant results. If we want to end the growth of the state and the erosion of our freedoms, we need to stop waiting for the star player to win the game and start talking about the need to change the rules.

hipsterlibertarian:

I have this bumper sticker on my car, and I was reminded of it while reading this wise article from Steve Horwitz, published by the Future of Freedom Foundation. Here’s an excerpt:

[B]laming the failures of government on the “bad guys” who had power also ignores that the same failures are likely even if the “good guys” have the power. If the problem is with the institutions and rules, then it doesn’t matter which team the players are on. They will produce bad consequences either way.

What matters is what sorts of interactions the rules of the game permit. Where the rules protect rights and promote peaceful exchange as the means to our ends, even the most self-interested of people will have no choice but to trade for mutual benefit. Where the rules fail at this task, predation, both public and private, will dominate.

Rooting for your team or your favorite player is a recipe for social disaster; it encourages the creation of institutions of power that undermine progress now and that will be available to the “other guys” later, with equally unpleasant results. If we want to end the growth of the state and the erosion of our freedoms, we need to stop waiting for the star player to win the game and start talking about the need to change the rules.

(via learnliberty)