We Celebrate the Births of TWO American Heroes This Week!

[BuddyRey]

Of course, we all know that tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but how many of us also know that Tuesday is Lysander Spooner Day?

Okay, okay...so I made up the idea of starting a holiday to honor Lysander Spooner. But I was thinking it would be fun if we used the Natural Rights Theorist and abolitionist attorney's 202nd birthday to raise awareness of the man and his vision by relating the story of the American Letter Mail Company, and of Spooner's brave defense of slaves in American courtrooms, to our friends and neighbors, as well as engaging in some free-market, outside-the-system activism of our own, in small groups or as individuals.

MLK Day honors a truly great man, that's for sure. But his Holiday has been so thoroughly co-opted by the establishment and used to make so many school kids feel guilty or at least responsible for the misdeeds of their ancestors that I figured it might be nice to provide yet another hero whose words could never be warped into supporting collectivist ideas; who also, like Dr. King, exhorted his fellows to judge individuals by the content of their character.

So, who's with me? Who'll help me celebrate the 1st Annual Lysander Spooner Day this Tuesday? :D

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Of course, we all know that tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but how many of us also know that Tuesday is Lysander Spooner Day?

Okay, okay...so I made up the idea of starting a holiday to honor Lysander Spooner. But I was thinking it would be fun if we used the Natural Rights Theorist and abolitionist attorney's 202nd birthday to raise awareness of the man and his vision by relating the story of the American Letter Mail Company, and of Spooner's brave defense of slaves in American courtrooms, to our friends and neighbors, as well as engaging in some free-market, outside-the-system activism of our own, in small groups or as individuals.

MLK Day honors a truly great man, that's for sure. But his Holiday has been so thoroughly co-opted by the establishment and used to make so many school kids feel guilty or at least responsible for the misdeeds of their ancestors that I figured it might be nice to provide yet another hero whose words could never be warped into supporting collectivist ideas; who also, like Dr. King, exhorted his fellows to judge individuals by the content of their character.

So, who's with me? Who'll help me celebrate the 1st Annual Lysander Spooner Day this Tuesday? :D

I'm game :p We shall henceforth remember Lysander Spooner. We can nix the holiday part though.

[sofia]

ML King was no "hero"

He was a Marxist demagogue.

He attended a communist trainsing school. Google: Highlander Folk School.

He plagiarized his doctoral thesis more than 60% word for word.

He enjoyed rough sex with white prostitutes on Saturday nights...then preached in church on Sundays. According to close friend Ralph Abernathy, King would bang these whores and shout "I'm fucking for the Lord!"

He said that Barry Goldwater (the Ron Paul of his day) was an American Hitler.

"Civil Rights" was his front for expanding the size and scope of the welfare state. He is a total phony. Had he not been shot, we'd be dismissing this old man today as a tired old Marxist.

And had he lived, he would no doubt be calling Ron Paul and all of us "Nazis"

Communist...pervert...false "Reverend"...plagiarist.....

If we have to glorify a black American, go with Frederick Douglass or Booker T Washingtom....not this piece of trash./

[BuddyRey]

If we have to glorify a black American, go with Frederick Douglass or Booker T Washingtom....not this piece of trash./

Duly noted, and I do agree to an extent that MLK's methods in achieving freedom were not always the best, which is why I propose Spooner Day as a supplement (or, if need be, an alternative) to MLK Day.

[Dieseler]

Tuesday is Robert E. Lee's birthday.
He don't get no day though.

[Matt Collins]

YouTube - Free At Last (Ron Paul, Martin Luther King) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWClI8zsH4)

[Chaohinon]

ML King was no "hero"

He was a Marxist demagogue.

He attended a communist trainsing school. Google: Highlander Folk School.

He plagiarized his doctoral thesis more than 60% word for word.

He enjoyed rough sex with white prostitutes on Saturday nights...then preached in church on Sundays. According to close friend Ralph Abernathy, King would bang these whores and shout "I'm fucking for the Lord!"

He said that Barry Goldwater (the Ron Paul of his day) was an American Hitler.

"Civil Rights" was his front for expanding the size and scope of the welfare state. He is a total phony. Had he not been shot, we'd be dismissing this old man today as a tired old Marxist.

And had he lived, he would no doubt be calling Ron Paul and all of us "Nazis"

Communist...pervert...false "Reverend"...plagiarist.....

If we have to glorify a black American, go with Frederick Douglass or Booker T Washingtom....not this piece of trash./this is word-for-word from a stormfront propaganda site. eat shit

and even if these things were true, communists were among one of the most heavily oppressed groups of his time. 1960's communists were fighting for freedom then in much the same way we are now

[Matt Collins]

ML King was no "hero"

He was a Marxist demagogue.

He attended a communist trainsing school. Google: Highlander Folk School.

He plagiarized his doctoral thesis more than 60% word for word.

He enjoyed rough sex with white prostitutes on Saturday nights...then preached in church on Sundays. According to close friend Ralph Abernathy, King would bang these whores and shout "I'm fucking for the Lord!"

He said that Barry Goldwater (the Ron Paul of his day) was an American Hitler.

"Civil Rights" was his front for expanding the size and scope of the welfare state. He is a total phony. Had he not been shot, we'd be dismissing this old man today as a tired old Marxist.

And had he lived, he would no doubt be calling Ron Paul and all of us "Nazis"

Communist...pervert...false "Reverend"...plagiarist.....

If we have to glorify a black American, go with Frederick Douglass or Booker T Washingtom....not this piece of trash./
I don't know about all that... I have heard the rumors that he was unfaithful to his wife etc. I wasn't there, I don't know.

But let's not celebrate the man as much as we celebrate what he accomplished: a non-violent fight for equality under the law. The important part is that he was fighting for equal individual rights.

[sofia]

this is word-for-word from a stormfront propaganda site. eat shit

your'e just angry because deep down you are afraid it it's true...

and it is all true!

[low preference guy]

1960's communists were fighting for freedom...

LOL. Good one.

[low preference guy]

But let's not celebrate the man as much as we celebrate what he accomplished: a non-violent fight for equality under the law. The important part is that he was fighting for equal individual rights.

BS. His main accomplishment was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Barry Goldwater voted against it and Ron Paul is also rightly against it.

The bill of rights was already in the Constitution by the time of MLK. He should've just demanded its enforcement.

[Dieseler]

"We are now in a state of war which will yield to nothing. The whole south is in a state of revolution, into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has been drawn; and though I recognize no necessity for this state of things, and would have forborne and pleaded to the end for redress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own person I had to meet the question whether I should take part against my native state. With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the army, and, save in defense of my native state--with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed--I hope I may never be called upon to draw my sword."

[BuddyRey]

Guys, I appreciate the discussion; but this thread wasn't created with the intent to either applaud or denigrate MLK. It was created to draw the attention to the fact that somebody who had an even firmer grasp on concepts like equality and individual rights was also born this week, 202 years ago, and (so far) has no holiday to celebrate his life and works.

[low preference guy]

Well, the thread title says MLK is a hero.

[Chaohinon]

going toe-to-toe with southern police is pretty heroic

[BuddyRey]

Well, the thread title says MLK is a hero.

I was mostly trying to be tactful. :)

[Matt Collins]

BS. His main accomplishment was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Barry Goldwater voted against it and Ron Paul is also rightly against it.

The bill of rights was already in the Constitution by the time of MLK. He should've just demanded its enforcement.LBJ was behind it from my recollection.

[sofia]

going toe-to-toe with southern police is pretty heroic

not really....considering that King knew that the Feds and the media would have his back.

[low preference guy]

LBJ was behind it from my recollection.

This webpage (http://www.familyfunshop.com/martinlutherking.htm)lists MLK major contributions. Among them is, I quote, "Worked toward the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964".

[Dianne]

Take a few minutes to read this. Never heard of the guy, until I read this thread.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF LYSANDER SPOONER
This brief biography is based on the chapter, "Lysander Spooner, Dissident Among Dissidents," in the book Men Against The State by James J. Martin (Ralph Myles Publisher, Colorado Springs; 1970). I (Frederick Mann) first read The Constitution of no Authority (probably Spooner's most famous essay) in 1976. It had a profound effect on my thinking. First it became clear to me that there is no legitimate country called "The United States of America" - it is a gigantic hoax, a fraud, a nothing. Next I realized that all other pretended "countries" in the world were also hoaxes, frauds, or nothings - there were hucksters, hoaxes, and believers. The people who call themselves "governments" are liars and impostors - Spooner's essential message.

Lysander Spooner was born on January 19, 1808 in Athol, MA. He died in May, 1887 in Boston, MA. He grew up on a farm, which he left at age 25 to become a clerk in Worcester. Soon thereafter he started studying "law." His first seven years as a lawyer were spent in Ohio.

Spooner became involved in the Freethought movement as a pamphleteer during the thirties. In 1836 he wrote, "all men of common sense disregard authority." During the late 1830s he also became an ardent advocate for Free Banking and alternative currencies, and wrote extensively on these subjects over a period of thirty years.

In 1844 Spooner started his own postal service, the American Letter Mail Company, carrying letters between New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. In 1845 his postal company was "outlawed" by "the government." Benjamin Tucker called Spooner "the father of cheap postage in America." (Tucker was one of the most influential early American Anarchists. He said, "Liberty, to be effective, must find its first application in the realm of economics." James Martin devotes two chapters to Tucker in Men Against the State.)

Spooner opposed slavery. In 1845 and 1846 he published two booklets titled The Unconstitutionality of Slavery. Tucker described Spooner as "one of the profoundest political philosophers that ever added to the knowledge of mankind."

Spooner was also an advocate of natural law or common law. In 1846 he published Poverty: Its Illegal Causes and Legal Cure. He wrote that it was a principle of natural law that every man was entitled to "all the fruits of his own labor." He was a strong opponent of all violations of the right to make contracts, particularly the granting of monopolies by terrocrats (terrorist bureaucrats or coercive "government" agents).

In 1852 he published An Essay On The Trial By Jury. He asserted that there had never been a single legal jury trial in the United States since the adoption of the pretended "constitution." No one has explained as well as Spooner, what the phrase "trial by jury" means.

During his career as a dissident, Spooner gradually became more radical. Early on, much of his economic, financial, and political criticism was based on the argument that various measures were unconstitutional. Later on, he started to expose the illegality of the pretended "constitution" itself. Soon after the Civil War he began publishing a series of pamphlets under the title No Treason. The final one appeared in 1870 and was subtitled The Constitution of No Authority.

In my opinion, Lysander Spooner was the greatest lawyer there has ever been.

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS AND ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll can be regarded as introductions to the Spooner-insight.

In his Introduction to Gulliver's Travels, Michael Foot wrote, "It is an attempt to tear off the mask of imposture from the world..."

The essence of the Spooner-insight is that all the political systems in his time (1869) were fraudulent impostures. This is as true today as it was in Spooner's time.

THE SPOONER-INSIGHT
Note: In the rest of this essay, double quotation marks are used to invalidate the concept enclosed within quotation marks. For example, "constitution" indicates that the validity of the notion of a "U.S. Constitution" is being rejected. Sometimes 'pretended' is added to emphasize the rejection of the word, concept, or notion. It is vital that you understand this syntax (grammatical structure). Where, for example, 'pretended "president"' is written, it means that there is no real president - the idea that there is a real president is being rejected. In other words, the person masquerading as "president" is an impostor and a liar.

The Spooner-insight may be the most challenging viewpoint of political systems you have been confronted with. It is vital that you think it through in all its details and implications.

Because the basic political notions have been powerfully imprinted in your brain, you may be faced with a formidable challenge. In effect, what you may have to do to drastically change what has been 'burned into your brain' all your life. Because the basic political notions are represented by physical patterns in your brain, you may have to think about the Spooner-insight for at least 21 days before it 'sinks in'.

In order to fully understand the Spooner-insight, you will probably have to read this entire essay

[Dianne]

Oh by the way... take MLK out of the picture. Once I learned he was a whore mongeror, much like John Edwards, Bill Clinton, Larry Craig (the list goes on)... those beings lost total credibility with me.

We need to look into the past for the great minds and revelations of our future, that we never saw when we were growing up....although they knew it was coming.

[BuddyRey]

Take a few minutes to read this. Never heard of the guy, until I read this thread...

Woot! Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!

I've read "No Treason" and it's absolutely brilliant from cover to cover. No political book has ever shattered so many of my illusions in so brief a span of time.

[Matt Collins]

not really....considering that King knew that the Feds and the media would have his back.No he didn't. LBJ/JFK were not on his side, at least initially.

[BuddyRey]

We need to look into the past for the great minds and revelations of our future, that we never saw when we were growing up....although they knew it was coming.

Beautiful thought! :)

[BuddyRey]

Morning bump!

[BuddyRey]

Any takers?

[Elwar]

MLK was also a Republican.

[LibertyEagle]

this is word-for-word from a stormfront propaganda site. eat shit
Actually, MLK was at best a Communist sympathizer.


and even if these things were true, communists were among one of the most heavily oppressed groups of his time. 1960's communists were fighting for freedom then in much the same way we are now
:eek:

Is this what they're teaching in public schools? Seriously?

Communists in America in that day were being guided and subsidized by the government of the USSR and their goal was no less than to overthrow the U.S.' form of government and replace it with Communism.

That is about as opposite as "fighting for freedom" as you can get.

[MelissaWV]

On the bright side, if someone wants to argue Communists were severely oppressed in the '60s, we should take heart. Look at today's policies.

Liberty-lovers are severely oppressed today. In forty years, will we have a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't pair of parties full of liberty-lovers pushing their agendas?

* * *

Also: Lysander Spooner is excellent.

[erowe1]

I don't really get into MLK bashing, even if I acknowledge the sad truth of some of the facts that stand against him. MLK isn't remembered for those things. The MLK that is remembered may only be a caricature of who the man really was. But there's something to be said for appreciating a symbol just for what it symbolizes. What MLK symbolizes is pretty much stuff that I can agree with. And if there's any one genuine historical thing that most people attach in their minds to MLK, it's his I Have a Dream speech, which is full of profound truth we shouldn't have any trouble agreeing with. I think that speech also should stand out as an example of great oratory which, in being filled with thoughtful and convicting content, is very distinct from the kind of feel good vacuous cant that we're used to from Obama and that is supposed to exemplify good political rhetoric today.

And as for having a Lysander Spooner day. Here, here! You've inspired me to say "Happy Lysander Spooner Day!" in my Facebook status tomorrow.

[zade]

"Civil Rights" was his front for expanding the size and scope of the welfare state. He is a total phony.

Your entire post is stunningly ignorant as usual,
but this...this is one of the stupidest statements I've ever heard. Congrats

[jmdrake]

*yawn* If I judged Ron Paul by the same "guilt by association" and "smear campaign" standards that some here are using against MLK I wouldn't have voted for Paul. (Dennis Kucinich? Cynthia McKinney? Ralph Nader? Whoever wrote those newsletters?)

Regardless, what did others do to promote liberty today? I went out with a white friend (doesn't matter except for context) and passed out 80 copies (altogether) of America from Freedom to Fascism, Fall of the Republic and Endgame at an MLK parade and rally. My wife (not part of this movement) went to the chief of police and told him her position against tazing from a medical professional point of view. Doing things like this advances the cause of liberty. Sitting around on a forum trying to convince other people to dislike MLK doesn't. There are a lot of people that agree with the "hate MLK" position that voted for John McCain.

[Mini-Me]

*yawn* If I judged Ron Paul by the same "guilt by association" and "smear campaign" standards that some here are using against MLK I wouldn't have voted for Paul. (Dennis Kucinich? Cynthia McKinney? Ralph Nader? Whoever wrote those newsletters?)

Regardless, what did others do to promote liberty today? I went out with a white friend (doesn't matter except for context) and passed out 80 copies (altogether) of America from Freedom to Fascism, Fall of the Republic and Endgame at an MLK parade and rally. My wife (not part of this movement) went to the chief of police and told him her position against tazing from a medical professional point of view. Doing things like this advances the cause of liberty. Sitting around on a forum trying to convince other people to dislike MLK doesn't. There are a lot of people that agree with the "hate MLK" position that voted for John McCain.

This. Frankly, the entirety of our history has been so whitewashed, and the truth is so cloudy and mired in controversy, that I don't think we'll ever be able to agree on historical facts, including but not limited to those regarding MLK, Jr. At this point, trying to push a revisionist view about his legacy - whether correct or incorrect - is unlikely to be productive.

People today applaud MLK, Jr. for his role in the civil rights movement and non-violent activism, not for plagiarism, communism, or debauchery, much less any of Alan Stang's serious accusations of violence and manipulation (having orgies on people's lawns with his posse and committing all kinds of crimes in order to draw media attention to the inevitable backlash). Maybe people are almost entirely deceived, or maybe not, but at this point I see little danger in mainstream MLK reverence beyond their misplaced faith in some of the contract/freedom-restricting federal "civil rights" legislation. We may know he was a plagiarist, since it's part of university records, and it's an uncomfortable thing to keep on record. That's barely relevant to his later accomplishments though. It seems that he was probably also unfaithful to his wife, but exposing that isn't going to change mainstream opinion of him either, considering Bill Clinton is still so beloved. It's clear that he had strong socialist sympathies too, but that's hardly a "black mark on his record" in mainstream eyes today, and it's even understandable given circumstances at the time. When it comes to the more damning rumors - the truly serious accusations that would "change everything" if proven true - they're a lot more difficult to ascertain with any objective certainty, and we'll probably never know for sure what went down.

Besides, even if every negative rumor about MLK, Jr. is demonstrably true, what will "exposing the truth" even accomplish? People applaud the man for his association with the civil rights movement and federal civil rights legislation, NOT vice versa. Destroying the man's legacy is unlikely to change anyone's opinion about federal legislation anyway, nor is it likely to change anyone's political opinion on practically ANY other issue. Sure, if everything we know about MLK, Jr. is wrong and you can prove it to the satisfaction of the masses, maybe it would expose the more general fact that mainstream opinion has been manipulated on almost every conceivable subject. Still, if that's your goal, there are far easier ways to demonstrate this that will meet with much less resistance than attacking one of the most nigh-indestructible sacred cows there is! In other words, attacking MLK, Jr. is useless and probably counterproductive, regardless of whether your claims are true or not. It's much more useful to attack other media manipulations or educate people directly about issues and the principles of liberty.

[heavenlyboy34]

So, who's with me? Who'll help me celebrate the 1st Annual Lysander Spooner Day this Tuesday? :D

I'm down for that! :cool:

[BuddyRey]

And as for having a Lysander Spooner day. Here, here! You've inspired me to say "Happy Lysander Spooner Day!" in my Facebook status tomorrow.

I'm gonna do the same thing. Maybe we can get the guy some publicity and renewed interest!

I think I'll attach mine to a video, for instance, this one;

YouTube - Government is worse than a robber (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAiV6jk9Pl4)

[Matt Collins]

Regardless, what did others do to promote liberty today? I went out with a white friend (doesn't matter except for context) and passed out 80 copies (altogether) of America from Freedom to Fascism, Fall of the Republic and Endgame at an MLK parade and rally. Hey man, how was it received?

I wish the CFL had its act together here locally, but we're working on it.

[zade]

This. Frankly, the entirety of our history has been so whitewashed, and the truth is so cloudy and mired in controversy, that I don't think we'll ever be able to agree on historical facts, including but not limited to those regarding MLK, Jr. At this point, trying to push a revisionist view about his legacy - whether correct or incorrect - is unlikely to be productive.

People today applaud MLK, Jr. for his role in the civil rights movement and non-violent activism, not for plagiarism, communism, or debauchery, much less any of Alan Stang's serious accusations of violence and manipulation (having orgies on people's lawns with his posse and committing all kinds of crimes in order to draw media attention to the inevitable backlash). Maybe people are almost entirely deceived, or maybe not, but at this point I see little danger in mainstream MLK reverence beyond their misplaced faith in some of the contract/freedom-restricting federal "civil rights" legislation. We may know he was a plagiarist, since it's part of university records, and it's an uncomfortable thing to keep on record. That's barely relevant to his later accomplishments though. It seems that he was probably also unfaithful to his wife, but exposing that isn't going to change mainstream opinion of him either, considering Bill Clinton is still so beloved. It's clear that he had strong socialist sympathies too, but that's hardly a "black mark on his record" in mainstream eyes today, and it's even understandable given circumstances at the time. When it comes to the more damning rumors - the truly serious accusations that would "change everything" if proven true - they're a lot more difficult to ascertain with any objective certainty, and we'll probably never know for sure what went down.

Besides, even if every negative rumor about MLK, Jr. is demonstrably true, what will "exposing the truth" even accomplish? People applaud the man for his association with the civil rights movement and federal civil rights legislation, NOT vice versa. Destroying the man's legacy is unlikely to change anyone's opinion about federal legislation anyway, nor is it likely to change anyone's political opinion on practically ANY other issue. Sure, if everything we know about MLK, Jr. is wrong and you can prove it to the satisfaction of the masses, maybe it would expose the more general fact that mainstream opinion has been manipulated on almost every conceivable subject. Still, if that's your goal, there are far easier ways to demonstrate this that will meet with much less resistance than attacking one of the most nigh-indestructible sacred cows there is! In other words, attacking MLK, Jr. is useless and probably counterproductive, regardless of whether your claims are true or not. It's much more useful to attack other media manipulations or educate people directly about issues and the principles of liberty.

Fine, but the reason I get so heated about these things is because I believe it's so necessary for the real movement to distance itself with as much conviction and heart as possible from the racist element latching onto us.

It's easy to spot them. If we're looking for libertarianism to go mainstream, the public has to see clearly that we're always putting up a decisive ideological wall, between ourselves and the people who support Ron Paul just because "states' rights" means that the south will get to return to the golden days where it was easy to lynch the n... nvm.

So a response like yours, "well, its hard to know what really happened, and besides its not really important" isn't going to cut it in the popular eye. First of all because it is important. But it will also be used to associate us with the radicalized religious right. Who can remember the heat Ron took during the election just for taking a picture with a Stormfront guy. And that's just a meaningless picture. Imagine how much worse if it became widely believed that there is no ideological disagreement going on there.

Of course, I'm speaking here of our activities off these forums. I know the public isn't roaming RPFs looking for ways to lampoon us. But the way we interact here should be, and probably is, a decent indicator of the way we conduct ourselves when talking politics in general.

If we want more people to listen to the message, first they have to see that libertarians are sane, humane, tolerant, open-minded individuals working to better all people. We have to spell it out for them.

[MelissaWV]

Bump in memory of Buddy

[jmdrake]

Hey man, how was it received?

I wish the CFL had its act together here locally, but we're working on it.

It went great! I'll do a formal write up on it at the CFL blog. J.R. got me moving on this. I probably wouldn't have ended up doing squat if he hadn't called me yesterday. I was over analyzing this. I never did get things set up like I wanted to, but he was like "If we just go out and pass out some DVDs that will be fine with me". So that's what we did. He burned them the night before. I did most of the talking. One guy asked how he could get in touch with us so we put an email on the cover. Then we started writing emails on all of the covers. J.R. was doing that while I was passing them out and then people came over to him unsolicited and started asking for them. This all took place in under 30 minutes. With a modest time/money investment we could have an even bigger impact next year. The Shriners had a table where they passed out water and hot chocolate. We could do the same and have materials at our table. And I should have had a "Free Sherry Jackson" sign. (Hopefully she'll by free by next year. If not...) I did talk to a couple of people about her. (Somebody had a "Free Paul Rose" t-shirt on. That's somebody on death row. That was a good bridge to talk about political prisoners.)

When I passed out AFTF I said it talked about the truth behind the income tax and the federal reserve. When I passed out FOTR I said it talked about how the international bankers were destroying our economy. When I passed out Endgame I said that it was about how terrorism was being used to take away our freedoms and justify these wars. I think there were only 3 people who didn't take a DVD. Some people took 2. The more people feel empowered to do small scale activism the more this movement will take off.

Regards,

John M. Drake

P.S. There was a woman from the SEIU union taking petitions to fight the convention center. I don't know where mayor Dean is getting the support for this thing if even his base is against it. :confused:

[Matt Collins]

It went great! I'll do a formal write up on it at the CFL blog. That's awesome. Send it out to the Meetup too.




When I passed out AFTF I said it talked about the truth behind the income tax and the federal reserve. When I passed out FOTR I said it talked about how the international bankers were destroying our economy. When I passed out Endgame I said that it was about how terrorism was being used to take away our freedoms and justify these wars. I think there were only 3 people who didn't take a DVD. Some people took 2. The more people feel empowered to do small scale activism the more this movement will take off.Exactly. Those videos get people thinking outside of the box which is what we need/




P.S. There was a woman from the SEIU union taking petitions to fight the convention center. I don't know where mayor Dean is getting the support for this thing if even his base is against it. :confused:Yes I am surprised this is the case but glad to hear it.

Have you seen this? It's my writeup.
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=31304

[ChaosControl]

I was disappointed to find out this topic wasn't about Robert E Lee.

[Dieseler]

I was disappointed to find out this topic wasn't about Robert E Lee.

Contrast of Lee with other men will not be instituted, because there were indeed others great like himself, and he more than others would deplore a contest for premiership in fame. The most that can be said in any mingling of his name with other illustrious characters has been uttered in the wonderfully felicitous and graphic sentences of Benjamin H. Hill, which may be repeated here, because of their brilliant and true characterization:

"When the future historian shall come to survey the character of Lee he will find it rising like a huge mountain above the undulating plane of humanity, and he must lift his eyes high toward heaven to catch its summit. He possessed every virtue of other great commanders without their vices. He was a foe without hate; a friend without treachery; a soldier without cruelty; a victor without oppression; and a victim without murmuring. He was a public officer without vices; a private citizen without wrong; a neighbor without reproach; a Christian without hypocrisy and a man without guile. He was a Caesar without his ambition; Frederick without his tyranny; Napoleon without his selfishness; and Washington without his reward. He was obedient to authority as a servant, and royal in authority as a true king. He was gentle as a woman in life; modest and pure as a virgin in thought; watchful as a Roman vestal in duty; submissive to law as Socrates; and grand in battle as Achilles."

[BuddyRey]

Bump in memory of Buddy

Very sweet of you, but rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated! :)

[Athan]

Of course, we all know that tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but how many of us also know that Tuesday is Lysander Spooner Day?

Okay, okay...so I made up the idea of starting a holiday to honor Lysander Spooner. But I was thinking it would be fun if we used the Natural Rights Theorist and abolitionist attorney's 202nd birthday to raise awareness of the man and his vision by relating the story of the American Letter Mail Company, and of Spooner's brave defense of slaves in American courtrooms, to our friends and neighbors, as well as engaging in some free-market, outside-the-system activism of our own, in small groups or as individuals.

MLK Day honors a truly great man, that's for sure. But his Holiday has been so thoroughly co-opted by the establishment and used to make so many school kids feel guilty or at least responsible for the misdeeds of their ancestors that I figured it might be nice to provide yet another hero whose words could never be warped into supporting collectivist ideas; who also, like Dr. King, exhorted his fellows to judge individuals by the content of their character.

So, who's with me? Who'll help me celebrate the 1st Annual Lysander Spooner Day this Tuesday? :D

On this note we can start doing the same for Dr. Paul. Start having scheduled days off in observance of his birthday. I honestly believe he deserves a federal holiday in honor of him! Screw what the rest of the congress idiots think!

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

On this note we can start doing the same for Dr. Paul. Start having scheduled days off in observance of his birthday. I honestly believe he deserves a federal holiday in honor of him! Screw what the rest of the congress idiots think!

Wasn't it Thomas Jefferson who said we should not have a holiday for any man? I keenly remember the Founders deploring this. I don't want any holidays in name or recognition of any man. I would like for them to be remembered and to have a rememberance day, but never a holiday.

[Athan]

They already gave MLK a holiday. I say once we get back to the Constitution we can worry about details like that once we can actually influence the debate that way.

[UnReconstructed]

Did Spooner consider himself an American?

[BuddyRey]

Did Spooner consider himself an American?

Touché!