Sunday Morning Ramble

Happy Sunday! We (my Dear Husband and I) watched the "Get Smart" re-make on DVD last night after our cozy supper date and really enjoyed it. Steve Carrell did a fantastic Maxwell Smart. I also spoke briefly with our new author on TRT and complimented him on a great first post ~ Mr. Espedal, we're so glad to have you aboard!

Our little Melkite Mission of Lincoln has its monthly Divine Liturgy this morning, followed by a meeting of Red State Eclectic's Dr. Laura Ebke's Campaign For Liberty group, which I have not yet visited since it changed from the Ron Paul for President group to a CFL group. I want to see what they are about, even though I don't put much stock in politics any more. Then its a family supper with our son Dan coming over for some family time (he's 24, a professional cook who lives here in town).

Some of you have asked me what sources news I like and read often, so here you go- it's a pretty eclectic group - ;D

The Distributist Review

Peak Oil-Life After the Oil Crash especially the breaking news section

Jim Kunstler's blog

AntiWar.com

RedStateEclectic

Spirit Daily

Have a wonderful day.

Deborah Yost

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Red State Eclectic: Back in the Saddle Again

NE 2008 election

I am once again a guest blogger over at Red State Eclectic, the little web site that can, and could, and does examine the big ideas in politics and economics and isn't scared to be un-PC. They're the good-guy libertarian/conservatives over there, not the scary ones who've been in power the last 8 years, and I'm proud to be back in the saddle again, providing a purple glow amidst the red eclectic. Suitable for our state, dontcha think?

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The View From RSE

Laura had this to say about the "bailout"over at Red State Eclectic:

QUOTE It appears that the federal government doesn't believe in austerity any more (if you don't have it, just print it and spend it, I guess), but perhaps a refusal by the government to bail out these banks would be a good way to force us all into a more austere mode. Maybe it will force us all to make better business decisions.
I wonder sometimes whether the presidential nomination process would have changed any had all of this been happening a year ago, before the primaries. Ron Paul is getting a lot of airtime lately, saying the same things he's been saying for the last 30 years--probably because he can actually speak with some authority and authenticity on the financial mess we're in. I suspect that things wouldn't have changed all that much in terms of political outcome--I'm not sure the American people really want to hear the hard answers. UNQUOTE
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The View From Here

As some of you know already, I am something of a tightrope walker politically and have good friends both staunch and true, who are nearly every political stripe there is. Many times these people would not even be comfortable in the same room together. The exception was early on in the Ron Paul presidential campaign when we bonded as antiwar, pro-Constitution, pro-civil liberty Paul-promoters. A unique and wonderful phenomenon it was, too.

Now that "the R3VOLUTION" is passing on and morphing into something else entirely our friend Laura at Red State Eclectic has issued a thoughtful analysis from a libertarian-GOP point of view. Take a look.

QUOTE My hope would be that people who are truly serious about liberty could form up as a coalition under the banner of the Campaign for Liberty--but that they could respect one another as they go about pursuing liberty in different ways. There is little (I speak from experience) that is more disheartening than to pour your time and efforts into changing things, only to be told by people who supposedly agree with you in principle that it's a waste of time because it's impossible to change that system, and that the system that you're working in--and you, by extension, I guess--are irreparably corrupt. Human institutions are all capable of changing. Political Parties are human institutions. Hence political parties are capable of changing.

Make a choice--work from within one of the two major parties, or from without. But how about we give our brothers and sisters fighting for liberty the benefit of the doubt? If they believe they can make change from wherever they are, let them have at it, without having to fight off criticism from other liberty lovers. Isn't following the path of your choosing sort of what liberty is about? Criticism from your own "family"--from the people whose respect and admiration you most want--will only reduce the resolve to make a difference; celebration of even small successes will encourage the continuation of the effort. UNQUOTE
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RSE's Rally For the Republic Synopsis

At last, here is the long-awaited synopsis of the Ron Paul Rally For Liberty in St. Paul, attended by Red State Eclectic's editor, Laura Ebke. While I haven't as much in common with the Campaign For Liberty as I thought I might (their paleo-conservatism is a few tics to the right of my posture on many issues) I have nothing but affection and respect for Dr. Paul and for RSE, where I used to blog some.

QUOTE The highlight, of course, was when Barry Goldwater Jr. introduced Ron Paul, and the good Doctor appeared on stage, and had red-white-blue confetti fall around him. The crowd went crazy--and a good chunk of us stood throughout his speech--in part because there wouldn't have been much point in sitting down, since we were on our feet cheering so much. It was a special time, and for an hour or so, it didn't matter what was happening on the other side of the river; we were there with OUR nominee accepting our nomination, we were celebrating our achievements, and we were committing ourselves to a long fight for liberty. UNQUOTE
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Law and Justice

Georg Thomas over at Red State Eclectic has an interesting post up on the people who built America, and law and justice. While Georg and I don't always see eye to eye, he makes some brilliant observations. Also while you are over there please check out the post Georg was responding to, The Emperor's New Clothes, and also their Think-Tank. There's a piece posted which I wrote on abortion, Towards A Comprehensive Pro-Life Meme (pardon the tooting of my own horn) as well as many other fine examples of American libertarian/conservative thought (and German thought; pardon me Georg!)

QUOTE The worst of all the powers that government has, if it is allowed to have it, is to spread the ignorance amongst the population as to what justice means.
If people, like the women and men who built America, but unlike our contemporaries, have a clear sense of what justice means, no government will be strong enough to break that force. America has been on the rise as long as that force was stronger than those trying to alienate it from its roots.
What worries me most is that government has made us accept the fact that we live without law, instead muddling through by calling things "politically correct" or "not politically correct". UNQUOTE