Farewell Blogger

I've moved the blog to my new web domain at http://www.lifeloveandliberty.com/. I'd like to ask that those who have kindly linked me on their blogrolls refrain from changing the link connected to my blog until I email them. This is so new visitors can view my old writings until I have the new site spruced up a bit.

Anarchism in America: Thoughts on Hess's Comparison

Not much of a general movie review but a discussion on a particular comment made in the film. For a good general review, check out this one by James Garfield.

AK Press has done a great service in reissuing this documentary for our viewing pleasure. Its strongest suit is the immense variety of footage from protests to interviews with famous radical figures. Particularly interesting are the multiple scenes with late anarchist Karl Hess. The parallels he makes between political figures or factions seen as separate are intriguing. In discussing his post-Republican study of the American anarchists, he makes two provocative comparisons involving Emma Goldman. She is said to embody what Hess thought the republicans always stood for and the best of Ayn Rand with a better appreciation of the social aspects of existence. On the surface, this connection between socialist Goldman and capitalist Rand seems off yet is actually quite sensible upon deeper examination. Both were controversial female writers who display individualist themes in their work. Rand portrays independent heroines in both We the Living and Atlas Shrugged. In We the Living, the female protagonist Kira defies the norms of her family by vowing to become an engineer.

"But Kira! What will you do?" Maria Petrovona gasped.
"I'll be an engineer."
"Frankly," said Victor, annoyed, "I do not believe that engineering is a profession for women."
Pg.33, Signet edition 1959

This theme of a woman wanting to do what's traditionally considered a man's job reappears in Atlas Shrugged with railroad titan Dagny Taggert. Goldman's individualist streak was evident in her attraction to Friedrich Nietzsche and Max Stirner. Her pamphlet The Individual, Society, and the State contains tributes to individualism like the following.

The individual is the true reality in life. A cosmos in himself, he does not exist for the State, nor for that abstraction called "society," or the "nation," which is only a collection of individuals. Man, the individual, has always been and, necessarily is the sole source and motive power of evolution and progress. Civilization has been a continuous struggle of the individual or of groups of individuals against the State and even against "society," that is, against the majority subdued and hypnotized by the State and State worship.

One of her contributions to treating women as free individuals included promotion of birth control despite legal restrictions.

MLL Activist Site

Brad Spangler lets us know that a Movement of the Libertarian Left activism oriented site has gone public.

I previously mentioned that I’d have a couple of new projects to announce soon. The first of those announcements is the welcome message at a new MLL activism oriented site I’ve put together — MLL Online. There are still some rough edges and it is meant to supplement rather than replace the Left Libertarian Yahoo! Group (an indispensable resource).

Give it a look!

I've Been Memed-Questionnarie Time

Credit to Brad Spangler for tagging me with a literary meme. Being a voracious reader, providing some answers would be a pleasure.

One book that changed your life.
William Blum's history of U.S. foreign policy titled Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2 opened my eyes to crimes committed by the American state in the international arena.

-One book that you have read more than once.
Joseph Heller's classic Catch-22.

-One book that you would want on a desert island.
Mikhail Tal's famous autobiography The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.

-One book that made you laugh.
Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris.

-One book that made you cry.
Still waiting for the right one to come along.

-One book you wish had been written.
Samuel Edward Konkin's intended masterpiece "Agorism".

-One book you wish never had been written.
Anything by Ann Coulter.

-One book you are currently reading.
Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers by Thomas Szasz.

-One book you have been meaning to read.
Good News by Edward Abbey.

-Now tag five people

Arthur Silber

Chris Matthew Sciabarra

Lady Aster

Jake Freeman

Sheldon Richman

Thanks to Lady Aster

Just wanted to thank Lady Aster for listing me under her favorite links. I encourage others to check out her blog since she writes some very interesting pieces. Especially give the following a look:

For Her Own Good

Not Your Kind of World

Advice on Fighting Criminalisations

Wrong Priorities

Via Brendan O'Neil.

When NATO – with Clinton and Blair at the helm – bombed the headquarters of RTS (Serbian state television and radio) in central Belgrade on April 23, 1999, it was no joke. It was the real thing. In the middle of the night – at 2:20 a.m. – cruise missiles rained down on RTS headquarters, destroying the entrance and leaving at least one studio in ruins. Over 120 people were working in the building at the time; at least 16 were killed and another 16 were injured – all of them civilians, most of them technicians and support staff. The BBC's John Simpson described seeing "the body of a make-up artist … lying in a dressing room."

And the call for impeachment was over lying about a sex act? Guess mass murder just isn't a "serious" enough offense.

Hat tip to Arthur Silber.

July 4th Musings

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government"
-Edward Abbey

Hat tip to Brad Spangler for tuning me into this Edward Abbey quote. In reflecting on the meaning of Independence Day from British colonialism, one shouldn't forget that the battle for freedom from the Federal regime continues. Anarchists should reclaim the mantle of patriotism from those who idenify it with glorification of the nation-state and being lockstep behind government policies.

Looking through the blogosphere today, I've run across some choice July 4th posts by fellow rabble rousers.

-Kevin Carson chimes in with an excellent smackdown to those who credit the war machine for the existence of our freedoms. He provides a great list of genuinely patriotic quotes from classic hell raisers like Smedley Butler and Voltairine de Cleyre.

-Jake Freeman gives a nice run down on good reading with encouragement to be counter-economic and find some illegal fireworks.

Don't forget to consider buying a black flag or a Gadsden one.