Q: How Does One Become Libertarian ?

 A: When one chooses to no longer force one's views upon others.
       ( aka - The Golden Rule )


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Four Fort Worth Texas police officers have been disciplined for various alcohol-related allegations of misconduct related to a birthday party at a bar that resulted in another officer facing intoxicated manslaughter charges after he was kicked out by an off-duty cop working security and allowed to drive home, causing a fatal accident that killed a female driver… this as there have been a number of alcohol-related arrests and misconduct within that department lately.

A Dallas Texas police officer has been indicted on official oppression and records tampering charges for injuring a man when he shoved him to the ground and then lying about it on his report.

A San Antonio Texas police officer was sentenced to a $1,000 fine and community service after pleading no contest to driving around a university campus and exposing himself to a female college student that he beckoned over to the car.



http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/


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"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear -­ kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervour ­- with the cry of grave national emergency. Always, there has been some terrible evil at home, or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it." -- General Douglas MacArthur
(1880-1964) WWII Supreme Allied Commander of the Southwest Pacific, Supreme United Nations Commander 1957 Source: Whan, ed. "A Soldier Speaks: Public Papers and Speeches of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur," (1965); Nation, August 17, 1957
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Douglas.MacArthur.Quote.FDF2


"From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step."
-- Fredrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Nobel Laureate of Economic Sciences 1974
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Fredrich.August.von.Hayek.Quote.BDC0


"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." -- Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Samuel.Johnson.Quote.2FEF

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(Showing 1 - 1 of 1 Comments)

By tim_lebsack posted 58 minutes and 34 seconds ago

                                 Next election day, Just Vote NO.

Flag/Report offensive Comment

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"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) US Founding Father
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Benjamin.Franklin.Quote.8ABC


"They [the founders] proclaimed to all the world the revolutionary doctrine of the divine rights of the common man. That doctrine has ever since been the heart of the American faith." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), 34th US President, WWII General
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Dwight.Eisenhower.Quote.70A7


"All might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they should."
-- Samuel Adams (1722-1803), was known as the "Father of the American Revolution."
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Samuel.Adams.Quote.731A

"I Am About To Be Your Best Friend"

Michael Badnarik looks the LP in the eye and says "Get Your Shit Together".

"Everybody knows what they want the other guy to do for liberty."

                                               

                                Glenn Nielsen chairs the Missouri Libertarian Party.

http://www.stlbeacon.org/content/view/102743/100/Photos by Jo Mannies | Beacon staff 
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"Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it."
-- Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Physicist and Professor, Nobel Prize 1921
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Albert.Einstein.Quote.D405


"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803), was known as the "Father of the American Revolution." 1780
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Samuel.Adams.Quote.414E


"Never give in. Never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield
to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." -- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Winston.Churchill.Quote.EB68


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How To Save A Dying Ocean

"A man may have to die for our country: but no man must, in any exclusive sense, live for his country. He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself." -- C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), British novelist
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/C..S..Lewis.Quote.8A66


"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."
-- Edward Abbey (1927-1989) American author and essayist
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Edward.Abbey.Quote.3FCB


"Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive." -- Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) Historian and author Source: Freedom and Order, 1966
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Henry.Commager.Quote.7181




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Texas Police Misconduct

A Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission police officer has been indicted on allegations that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl right after a sting operation that she was hired by the police to assist with.

A Houston Texas police officer was arrested by a SWAT team inside a local courthouse while she was preparing to testify in traffic cases that day over an outstanding warrant for theft charges.  Police officials say it’s standard procedure to use a tactical team to arrest officers but haven’t gone into detail about the charges laid out against the female officer who was arrested.

Beaumont Texas police are accused of withholding and/or destroying evidence in in a court filing made by the lawyer for a family suing the police over an accident between a speeding cop and their teenage daughter. Witnesses of the accident say the officer was speeding near 100mph and swerving in and out of traffic without lights or siren before he hit the teen but the police have filed a countersuit alleging the teen was at fault… apparently for being in the way.

A Fort Worth Texas police officer was arrested on public intoxication charges after he was found wandering about a mile and a half away from where he had left his damaged SUV on railroad tracks. Police discovered him after launching a search when his car was found abandoned with empty alcohol containers inside. Police say they expect more charges to be filed soon.


http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/

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Carwash and Discussion Questions

Car Washing Business with Discussion Questions

A man is approached by a beggar.  

"Hey, Boss.  I'm hungry and poor.  Can you spare $5 ?"

"I don't have $5 to spare but I'll pay you $5 to wash my vehicle.  Here is my automobile parked on my property.  That small building has buckets, rags, hoses, brushes, soap - everything you need to wash my automobile."

The newly employed man washed and shined until the Boss car looked magnificent - so good in fact that a neighbor stopped by and said, "How much for a car wash?"

"$10", replied the Boss.

"That is a fair exchange. Wash my car and I'll also inform my wife to bring her car here for a wash."

The man who started the day as a beggar left that evening with $15 in his pocket.  
"Come back tomorrow and we'll do it again" said the Boss.

The next morning started well. Another man saw the energetic labor and spoke to the Boss.  "I've got ten automobiles in my fleet that need frequent washing."  A deal was struck that day.

The former beggar brought a friend to work with him.  They split the $5 per vehicle but working as a team they were able to wash twice as many cars in a day.

A young lad approached the car wash.  "I'm small and efficient.  Let me clean the inside of each car while the outside is being washed."  

The lad was soon cleaning seats, carpet and dashboards for $1 per vehicle. 

The Boss now had two price points - $10 to wash the outside only or $12 for inside and outside.  His business thrived.

Discuss:

How soon before a nosy neighbor telephones the City Marshall to complain about the car wash up the street ?

What are the possible results of the Boss giving a job to a lad ? 

Was the Beggar treated unethically by the Boss ?

Will the Beggar get to keep the money he is earning or will it be taken from him ?

Is it possible in the USA to run a business in the described manner ?

Will Tony Soprano show up demanding payment ?

Which is preferable ? That the rich be made poorer or that the poor have access to opportunities to grow rich?

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"Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered
an old idea and thinks it is his own." -- Sydney J. Harris
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Sydney.Harris.Quote.3992


"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people."
-- W. C. Fields
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/W..C..Fields.Quote.2BD3


"My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular."
-- Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965)  Source: Speech, 1952
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Adlai.Stevenson.Quote.C8DC


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In the end there is only one real freedom... and that is whether or not we give ourselves -- freely -- to what each moment asks of us. -- Guy Finley

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Headlines

Police raid kissing booth at PikeFest.
Shootout with sorority sister wounds Communications major.

We Must Nationalize The Farm Equipment Industry
"John Deere, you're going down."
"It is important that we shift the costs of agricultural equipment to EVERYONE that eats, not just the lower class. It will be argued that everyone who ingests sustenance pays for this heavy equipment at the grocery store cash register - This is not enough - we must do more to insure that Americans get enough to eat."

Planting of Oats in Redwood National Forest hindered by pre-existing condition.

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Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of the truth. -- Mohandas K. Gandhi


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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." -- Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Source: Common Sense, February 14, 1776
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Thomas.Paine.Quote.5DE0


"The republic was not established by cowards, and cowards will not preserve it."
-- Elmer Davis (1800-1858), American writer, commentator
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Elmer.Davis.Quote.405D


"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." -- General George S. Patton, Jr. (1885-1945)
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/George.Patton.Quote.B74A









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2011 Dallas Bike Plan

DallasBikePlan.org

I attended the Dallas Bike Plan meeting last night. 

They asked for input via written suggestions and also gave each participant four votes to paste across a dozen or so goals that were written on the wall.  Overall I give them kudos for reaching out.  A few ideas popped into my head during the festivities and I'm sharing them with you.  I do not believe any of them were on the goal list created by the City.

In no particular order -

1)  Eliminate zoning.  This will promote community.  More people will cycle if they feel "community".

2) Don't waste money printing the "How To Fix A Flat Tire" flyer.

3) Bridges should be built suitable for automobiles, bicycles and pedestrians.

4) Encourage private businesses, private roads, neighborhoods to be bike friendly.  Private citizens can do in a month what government cannot do across years.  Let individual neighborhoods decide how bike friendly they want to be.  If they want designated bike lanes, provide designated bike lanes - If they want to prohibit cycling, allow it.

5) Sell DART - Yes, privatize it.  DART will be much more receptive to the customer if they have to live or die by the customer.  Let a private DART decide whether to offer services to cyclists and at what price point.  (While your at it, sell the Dallas Zoo and the radio station.  Your job is infrastructure not entertainment.)

6) EVERYONE should be allowed to use the roadways AND everyone should be responsible for their actions (and any damage they cause) while using the common roadway.

7) Clean up litter on the roads.  Cycling, and driving, works best when the gutter is not a litter receptacle.

8) Enforce the traffic signals.

9) Make Dallas streets the best engineered, best constructed, sturdiest, most reliable roadways in Texas.  Germany's Autobahn has no more accidents than the USA's Interstate Highways but traffic moves much faster.  Why ? - because they are twice as thick, better designed, stronger, more durable.

10) Stop creating city owned bike parking.  Bike parking is the responsibility of business owners who desire customers.  Your job is to help bikes move.  Abandon the education aspect also.  The private sector already has that covered.  You're wasting resources that could be used to aid bike movement.

11) Remove the plant boxes from the Central Expressway bridges.  Who's idea was it to use the walkway/bikeway as a garden ?

12) Get the parked cards out of the roadway.  I ride to work daily past privately owned cars parked/ taking up space in the road.  Have private citizens store their belongings on their private property, not on common property.  Business owners will provide for their customers - it's not the City's job.  Use the streets for transportation instead of automobile storage and cyclists will have much more room to ride.  Roads are for movement.

13) Remove the damn parking meters at City Hall.  Cool Hand Luke was cutting parking meters in 1967 - Get some technology.

14) Don't spend twenty minutes at the beginning of the presentation patting yourselves on the back.  This wasn't the awards banquet.

15) Remove Dallas Parks Department from this exercise.  Let the transportation department handle transportation and the Parks Department handle entertainment.  Better yet, sell the parks to the highest bidder.  Private industry will give customers what they want much better than government can ever do it.

16) Why do all the road surfaces serve as access points to the sewage system ?  Put the manholes somewhere else other than the middle of the street.


My favorite is #12.