The Erica Goldson speech video was posted online, so I thought I’d share it here. I still plan to transcribe our conversation soon and post some video clips from the discussion.

You can read the text at Erica’s blog.

A few weeks ago, Wolfgang got an opportunity to interview PJ O’Rourke. I didn’t post immediately because I was hoping to edit the video some, clean up the audio and such. I didn’t get it done so I figured why not just post it raw!

Next time I’ll work on getting better audio and video as I film so I don’t have to stress about editing! Anyway without further ado, here is the video AND the transcription. They discuss, homeschooling, bailouts, the Gulf Coast, journalism and Ron Paul.

ENJOY…

Wolf: You’ve got a new book called, Driving Like Crazy. I’ll be getting my license soon do you have any recommendations?

PJ: Yeah, don’t read it. (laughs) Everything in there is something you shouldn’t do with your new driver’s license. Buy it by all means of course. I mean I’m in the book selling business but let it set for 15 years ’til your, you know, over 30 - and then read it.

Wolf: Okay. What do you think of the situation in the Gulf?

PJ: Mmm. Oh, the Gulf of Mexico. I was thinking of the Persian Gulf…two very complicated situations. Um. Every thing we do for progress entails costs and risks there is no doubt about it. Even the simplest things like learning to read.

When we…when the human race learned to read they lost certain abilities to memorize and they lost a whole section of oral culture that was very valuable. I mean nobody wrote down the Iliad until about 500 years after somebody came up with. So, we don’t know what the Iliad was really like we lost the ability - when we gained the ability to read. So, it’s a shame, it’s awful, it should be fixed, if somebody did something wrong they should be liable for it and all that but we can’t expect human progress without costs and risks.

And I spent a long time as a foreign correspondent, 20 years foreign correspondent. I’ve seen a lot of really severe poverty and my biggest worry is about people being…not having enough to eat, of dying from simple diseases, of not having a place to live. The world’s biggest problem is poverty and the answer to poverty is progress. The only way to progress is from enterprise and you can’t do it without risks and costs.

I guess, suck it up is the ah - (laughs)

Wolf: How do you feel about homeschooling? Do you think it needs more regulations or less?

PJ: I don’t think it needs to be regulated. I’m all for it and I think that what homeschooling is in many cases is the creation in the home of an expensive private education, for a lot less money. We send our kids to a very small school, only 100 kids in the school, one class per grade, no more than 10 kids in a class - maybe 12. They all know each other personally. It’s sort of homeschooling away from home, is what it is.

Um, if we didn’t have that school available and if we couldn’t afford, though it’s not terribly expensive - it’s still not free, we would homeschool. In preference to public schooling, especially at the higher grades. Where we see public schooling falling down is as the kids get into more complicated things, things that need moral guidance, things that need discussion.

Then when you’ve got a set curriculum, maybe an uninvolved teacher, a large class, maybe a disruptive behavior - it starts to fall apart.

Wolf: How do you feel about requiring journalists to have a license and the government bailing out newspapers?

PJ: Well, as an unlicensed journalist, obviously I’m not in favor of going back to J school, which I never went to. I was an English major. I never took a journalism class in my life.

Um. Journalism is a trade. It’s not a profession and it’s not brain surgery. It’s a trade, like bricklaying, like being a carpenter. There is only one way to learn it which is by doing it. Used to be…some of the most famous journalists in the 20th century, guys like H. L. Mencken never went to college. They went straight from highschool. Highschool was a little more rigorous than it is now but they went straight from highschool to jobs as [inaudible] reporters.

It is a craft. And it used to be mostly a craft for people like myself that came out of working class backgrounds and if you didn’t want to get up early in the morning and lift things you could either become a priest or a journalist. (laughs) So, you had to decide which - which - you know whether you liked - woman and booze or just booze. (laughs)

Um, as for the government bailing out newspapers. The government shouldn’t be bailing out anything, really. I understand the impulse. I mean, you hate to see people out of work and if you are in government you feel it’s like your job to mitigate human suffering. But the real genius of capitalism isn’t the success it’s the real genius of capitalism is failure. If something is a bad idea, it doesn’t work.

So, if you for instance buy and ice cream truck drive it around the neighborhood, in New Hampshire, in February, and you didn’t get any sales. Capitalism is telling you, you had a stupid idea. You don’t want the government to come in there and bail you out, buy your ice cream.

Wolf: Do you consider yourself a libertarian?

PJ: Yeah, with a small l. Because capital L, Libertarians tend to rely on logic to the exclusion of almost everything else. And human life is not completely logical and we’re not that smart. Also, capital L, Libertarians tend to be a lot more - I mean - I go to church. And that’s like that’s not logical enough for many capital L, Libertarians. Many capital consider that to be illogical.

Also politics is illogical because it’s just people. It’s just people getting together. There is no starting point for politics. We’ve been getting together since we came down out of the trees. And politics will never end. There’s no, purpose to politics, really, except that we get along with each other. There is no overall purpose.

This sounds like a cynical thing to say but I don’t mean it that way - I mean - I simply mean that politics is the way people get along with each other and sort out their relationships. And naturally because emotions come into play it can’t all be rigidly logical.

And some capital L, Libertarians want it all to be rigidly logical.  I just don’t think that’s possible.

Wolf: Did you grow up wanting to be involved in politics?

PJ: Yes, my family was very political. Um, my great grandfather was a county sheriff in Illinois, very involved in Republican politics from back in the 19th century. So I got that whole side. My father - they weren’t as structured about it but they were - my grandfather was a small business man in a very union town and that turned him into a Republican.

Nothing was really well articulated but being very conservative because he had experienced - had trouble with all the sense of [inaudible] stuff. So it made him very conservative. He wasn’t very articulate.

My grandmother on my mother’s side was very articulate conservative and my grandfather was inarticulate conservative. Damn the all, kind of thing. (laughs) But I definitely grew up around politics.

Wolf: Do you think Ron Paul is going to run in 2012?

PJ: Um. I don’t know. I don’t know. It seems sort of that once they get bit by the itch to - ah - once they get the itch to run it’s very - ah - the have keep scratching it. All I can say about that is I have a great deal of respect for the man. We do have to face the fact that when it comes down to presidents, there can only be one president. And we can take a little lesson from the Democrats here - ah - Al Gore would have been president had it not been for Ralph Nader and so one thing I hope that Paul won’t do is run in such a way that we get a president maybe not as good as him but maybe a lot worse than the alternative.

You see, there is a real practical side to politics. You can’t always get the person you want. And of course you can’t always count on the person you want staying the person you want. The office changes him.

Wolf: Yeah, like Obama.

PJ: Ask any leftist about Obama. They are very very deeply disappointed with Obama. Because the circumstances, the fact of being president made him move toward the center. It may not look like that to us but to people that are way to the left of him.

Wolf: If you don’t mind me asking, would you vote for Ron Paul?

PJ: It would depend on the circumstances. Yes, if I felt he had a chance of winning. No, if I felt that voting for him would cause the worst of two evils.

Wolf: And that’s it. Thank-you!

PJ: You’re welcome. It’s good to meet you.

Thanks so much for taking the time to watch/listen/read about this little taste of our unschooling life.

Peace,

Kelly Halldorson

It was July 19th. Jeff and I were settling down for the night. He was reading. I was blogging/surfing. A friend on facebook had posted a link to a speech. Not just any speech. This one was written by a valedictorian at a High School in Athens, NY. Less than a paragraph before I stopped reading to ask Jeff if I could share it with him, he agreed.

And so I read.

…Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination…

That was the first line that choked me up. I took a deep breath, continued reading. My voice quivering as tears rolled down my cheeks

…I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contend that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave…

How was this young woman able to stand in front of so many people: peers, teachers, parents, community…. and  and ….to be able to say this…this TRUTH!? I difficulty even getting through reading it to my husband!

One of my favorites was this:

To illustrate this idea, doesn’t it perturb you to learn about the idea of “critical thinking?” Is there really such a thing as “uncritically thinking?” To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?

The buzz term “critical thinking” is one of the many phrases/words I’ve been ranting about over the last couple of years. And that the first time I heard someone else expressing that same (particular) frustration. The entire speech was not only evocative but compelling. It left me with a strong desire to talk with the person who wrote it.

I looked her up on facebook and sent her a message. I asked if she would be willing to do an interview with me for my blog? She replied saying not only would she but that she would also love to talk to me about unschooling.

And as coincidence would have it Jeff and I were asked to do some work in Albany, not far from the town where she lives. We decided to meet, in person.

On the way I decided I didn’t want to just interview her. I wanted to have a conversation with her. Since she had expressed interest in talking with me too, I asked how she felt about just recording a conversation instead of a traditional interview. She agreed and it seemed fitting since we both have a similar idea of how learning happens through communication and experiences as opposed to teaching and preaching.

You can listen to the whole conversation here:

Erica_Goldson_talks_with_Kelly_Halldorson_in_Albany_Coffee_Shop_July_27_2010.MP3

I also got some video* which I’ll post later, after I post Wolfgang’s PJ O’Rourke interview. But since Erica is the talk of the town right now, I thought people would like to at least hear this. It’s a discussion, so there is lots of me talking too. And I haven’t cleaned up the audio yet but you can hear us both pretty well.

We talk about her speech, inspiration, school, college, majors, life, foreign policy, liberty, corporations, NEA, teaching to a test, solutions, economics, commune, experience and so much more. If anyone is up for transcribing it before I get around to it PLEASE…send me a note…so I can link it here.

The funny thing is we talked for two hours. Maybe even a little more before and after I started recording. I still feel like there was so much more to be learned all around. I would have probably sat there talking for four hours, so much more to be discussed.

Erica told me it was her first official interview. I most certainly won’t be the last. This woman is going somewhere. She has a inspiring mind. I feel so lucky it all fell into place and allowed me the opportunity. The request for work we got less than 30 minutes from where she lived…right at the right time.

Serendipity. It’s a beautiful thing.

I was so very inspired by this lovely young woman. I’m grateful to have had such an opportunity not only to meet and talk with her but to have made a connection that I believe was the beginnings of a good friendship.

Thank-you Erica!

Peace,

Kelly Halldorson

*The video will be mostly Erica and her lovely thoughts. So, if you don’t have 2 hours to listen to this conversation you can wait for the video! It will be a LOT shorter.

Jeff came across this article in the Economist. The quotes in this entry are all from that article.

THREE pickup trucks pulled up outside George Norris’s home in Spring, Texas. Six armed police in flak jackets jumped out. Thinking they must have come to the wrong place, Mr Norris opened his front door, and was startled to be shoved against a wall and frisked for weapons. He was forced into a chair for four hours while officers ransacked his house. They pulled out drawers, rifled through papers, dumped things on the floor and eventually loaded 37 boxes of Mr Norris’s possessions onto their pickups. They refused to tell him what he had done wrong. “It wasn’t fun, I can tell you that,” he recalls.

Six armed police officers that refused to tell him what he had done wrong. What did he do, you ask?

Mr Norris was 65 years old at the time, and a collector of orchids. He eventually discovered that he was suspected of smuggling the flowers into America, an offence under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Can you imagine being locked up and called an international smuggling King Pin over orchids? Yes, orchids! FLOWERS?! Might that be an overreaction? How are any one of us made safer by that? What exactly are we protected from?

When so many people are technically breaking the law, it is up to prosecutors to decide whom to pursue.

When so many people are technically breaking the law is right. I’d argue that nearly every single adult in America breaks laws on a daily basis, probably a good amount of children too. Don’t believe me? Try me. Tell me where you live and talk to me about your life. I bet you I can find at least five laws you’ve broken over the last week, alone.

Why have laws if we are going to enforce them arbitrarily? That sets up for corruption and gives government and the enforcers scary power, something I argue here. Need we be reminded police, judges and prosecutors are all just people. They are humans vulnerable, moody and flawed like each and every one of us?

“You’re (probably) a federal criminal,” declares Alex Kozinski, an appeals-court judge, in a provocative essay of that title. Making a false statement to a federal official is an offence. So is lying to someone who then repeats your lie to a federal official. Failing to prevent your employees from breaking regulations you have never heard of can be a crime. A boss got six months in prison because one of his workers accidentally broke a pipe, causing oil to spill into a river. “It didn’t matter that he had no reason to learn about the [Clean Water Act’s] labyrinth of regulations, since he was merely a railroad-construction supervisor,” laments Judge Kozinski.

What do you think? Might we be unnecessarily imprisoning people? What kind of offences do you think should be punishable by lock-up? Does it do anyone any good locking up NON-violent criminals?

Jim Felman, a defence lawyer in Tampa, Florida, says America is conducting “an experiment in imprisoning first-time non-violent offenders for periods of time previously reserved only for those who had killed someone”.

Non-violent offenders. Why are these people even locked up? I mean that. Really think about it, what good comes of it?

“The founders viewed the criminal sanction as a last resort, reserved for serious offences, clearly defined, so ordinary citizens would know whether they were violating the law. Yet over the last 40 years, an unholy alliance of big-business-hating liberals and tough-on-crime conservatives has made criminalisation the first line of attack—a way to demonstrate seriousness about the social problem of the month, whether it’s corporate scandals or e-mail spam,” writes Gene Healy, a libertarian scholar. “You can serve federal time for interstate transport of water hyacinths, trafficking in unlicensed dentures, or misappropriating the likeness of Woodsy Owl.”

Serving time over flowers. Flowers. FLOWERS.

Peace,
Kelly Halldorson

About a week and a half ago I got an email message on one of my email lists about PJ O’Rourke speaking locally, specifically at the CNHT Picnic. I know Jane, the organizer, from the Ron Paul 2008 campaign. Wolfgang is a pretty big fan of PJ and so am I. Wolf is also very interested in being on camera, doing video work and even acting. We’ve actually been talking about (& semi-working on) putting together a kid’s liberty focused web show that we could submit to Reason Tv.  So, it occurred to me that Wolfgang might not only want to meet him but maybe he’d like to interview him.

I asked Wolfgang stressing that it might not be possible but if it was, would he be interested.

He said, REALLY? Yes!

I sent Jane an email asking if it would be okay if Wolf, 15 years old, interviewed PJ when he was here. She replied, absolutely.

Yesterday Jeff and I were down then as the week ended I checked on how much this was going to cost. With the kids, Jeff and I the cost was going to be $60 plus the cost of gas to drive up to Hillsborough an hour and a half away. There was no way we could swing that. SO, I dropped Jane another note. I asked if there was any way we could get a discount and that we would be more than willing to help out with anything that needed doing. She was gracious enough to give us her extra ticket and let the kids in for free. All we had to pay was $15.

On the way up this morning we all chatted about what questions Wolf was going to ask. He jotted them down on his iTouch.

When we got there this morning we helped out with the table set-up and then headed into the kitchen. Jeff cooked. Wolfgang cooked. Griffin prepped veggies, breads and salads. I helped fill up the cold trays with potato salad and cleaned the recyclables. Zoe worked in the kitchen too.

A little later I set up my computer to unload the video footage I had already taken and who walks by but PJ O’Rourke. With Wolf standing next to me I introduced myself and asked if my son Wolfgang could do a short interview with him. He happily agreed while poking fun, That’s your son? Pointing at Wolfgang. What were you a child bride?

Mr. O’Rourke thought right then would be the perfect opportunity. We looked around for a semi-quiet spot and headed over. He was patient, kind and just plain damn cool. He answered every one of Wolf’s questions, which included questions about homeschooling, libertarianism, the oil spill, Ron Paul and PJ’s new book, Driving Like Crazy (of which he told Wolf NOT to read but said he should go ahead and buy it, just don’t read it for at least 15 years).

After the interview Wolfgang went and set up the video camera in front of the podium. We planned on videoing PJ speaking to the crowd.

Meanwhile Jeff was still working hard/hot in the kitchen and the other two kiddos were serving up food for the guests.

It was once again a great day and a fantastic example of what unschooling looks like in our home, facilitating interests and maximizing opportunity despite whatever struggles we may be having.

We went thinking…maybe…we might possibly….if everything went well…get to interview PJ O’Rourke. At a minimum we would get to hear him speak. What we got instead was we met a charming guy who was willing to give a 15 year old 15 minutes of his time, on camera! The kids got to work in a commercial kitchen, which Griffin told us repeatedly that he was loving it and having so much fun. He said if he had to do it every day he probably wouldn’t enjoy it though.

Wolfgang’s two favorite PJ quotes:

A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

My favorite:

America wasn’t founded so that we could all be better. America was founded so we could all be anything we damned well pleased

We shared. We laughed. We smiled. We learned.

Peace,

Kelly

4. Choices

• unschooling: Children are free to make their own choices, so long as they are not hurting another individual.
• libertarian philosophy: Adults are free to make their own choices, as long as they are not infringing on another’s rights.

Peace,

Kelly

Photo by: Wolfgang Halldorson, Model: Zoe Halldorson

Just a quick rundown of our really cool day.

I wake up. Jeff heats up my water for my shower. Zoe and Griffin are up. I take the moths out of the freezer that I caught last night so I can take some photos outside. Both moths are still alive and well and I get some pretty good shots!

I look up info on one of them and find it’s a Tiger Moth and it starts as a woolly bear caterpillar. It’s too cool. Woolly Bear Caterpillars are my favorite and this Tiger Moth is too! While searching I find an awesome website: What’s That Bug?

The kids catch me a butterfly and another caterpillar. I get good shots of both. All before 10:00 am.

I bathe. The kids bathe. We bring Wolfgang and Zoe to a job. Zoe is mother’s helper and Wolfgang is doing some yard work. Jeff and I take Griffin to Portsmouth to get his tooth fixed. It’s early so we stop at Starbucks. Who stops in but Tom Bergeron. Griffin asks him if he minds getting a photo with him.

We go to get the tooth fixed. It doesn’t go as we’d been told so there was a bit of a bump there. Griffin needs a root canal so they started that. He has to go back in 6 weeks. He was supposed to get the tooth built up but since it was hurting him they wouldn’t do it but instead started a root canal. I’m a little grumpy about all that but…it will work out.

Stop at Walmart so Griffin can look around. On the way out there were some young, hungry travelers looking for food. We stop and take their picture and give them some water and five dollars.  That felt good.

We pick up Zoe and Wolfgang then went to go check out an old school bus for sale in Rochester. It was really cool and blue.

We go do the laundry in Dover. The kids ask if they can walk around with my camera. They come back with lots of pictures and video. My favorite is at the top of the page.

After we finish the laundry Jeff and I take a walk and the kids go walk around on their own and video/interview people about libertarianism. We end up at La Festa and meet up with the Liberty Meet-up group. We meet Chris Sununu (his father used to sign your money…don’t believe me go pull out an older bill) and get to ask him lots of questions about his run for Executive Council. Apparently his wife is a Libertarian…if only we could give him a little reason.

We leave La Festa and head home. I make scrambled eggs (local NOT factory farmed) for all while Jeff, Zoe and Griffin get water for tomorrow. Wolfgang takes care of the dogs and goes online. Zoe heads to bed early. I go in the room and work on the computer while Jeff snoozes next to me. Griffin builds things with his legos and Wolfgang is busy making music on his computer, still.

And as of conversations and learning today, some of the topics included…libertarianism, war, troops, peace, ideas for peace, girlfriends, relationships, moths, butterflies, stars, dancing with the stars, laughter, funny pictures, PJ O’Rourke, video interview questions, what makes a good web video, music, software, dogs, what kind of animals are around the house, how to get the water running faster, greenhouses, government, environmental programs, social programs, bodies of water, foreign policy, republican, democrat, governor’s council, elected offices, districts, distribution of powers, state vs. federal, drug war, drugs, troubled people, compassion, family, traveling, school buses, places to go, where to visit, when to leave, what to do on the road, life, purpose, goals, family, choices, reason, working, babysitting, mother’s helper, gardening, weeding, painting, inspiration, little kids, babies, breastfeeding, …and that is only one tiny tiny little piece of it.

Damn, I feel lucky.

Peace,

Kelly

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

I just stumbled across this comic. It was posted on a friend’s facebook page. I had just been contemplating writing a blog entry about libertarianism (purposely with a lowercase “l”) and women, or really the lack of women prominent women. Even this silly cartoon only has one woman and she’s the “arrogant” one. Grr.

Sure, you’re probably saying the modern day movement was all but founded by Ayn Rand and her Objectivist philosophy. Whatever…that was *one* women.

If you look at the Ron Paul movement…

Remember the Campaign for Liberty convention in St. Paul? The only women on stage there was the beautiful face, Aimee Allen. Not talking but singing…her (very cool) Ron Paul Revolution anthem.

Look at the Keynote speaker lineup for Freedom Fest 2010. Sixteen Keynote speakers, not a single woman.

The Reason Cruise only five announced speakers, all men.

The Cato Institute on the list of *experts* — is that two women’s names I see?

There are more examples but you get the point. Women step up. Men start listening. Sound good?

Oh wait I almost forgot, there are a few women in the movement….

Ron Paul Girl - Click here for the most popular videos

and the calendar girls…

I know there are tons of ladies of liberty out there. I wish the pool was a bit more diverse. I wish people (men) would listen not just to the pretty ones with no clothes on or the well-connected academics but also acknowledge the everyday, freedom-loving, family types.

Peace,
Kelly

Every time I sit down to write about peace and the wars, I get overwhelmed. Terribly overwhelmed.

There is much to write about yet I don’t want to hurt or offend anyone, especially, not any of our men and women overseas or their families wishing for their safety back here at home.

I want to write about it. I want to communicate about it. Despite my desire to do so mostly I’m not able to. I’ll end up posting links to articles and/or an occasional short thought/observational but nothing substantial.

I’m going to try today. Hopefully, I can do it in a way that shares my perspective without causing anyone pain.

PLEASE if this entry moves you in any way post a response. I want to hear what YOU think. I mean that genuinely, whether you agree with me or not. I’m nobody special, nobody uniquely important…I’m just a mother, a wife, a daughter, a woman…with some thoughts…some questions…some dreams…not to unlike you. Your thoughts are just as valid as mine.

Here political cartoon is from two years ago:

It was emailed to me through a Ron Paul group during the primary season in 2007/08. I remember hoping it didn’t represent a reality. Surely, the artist was exaggerating…Obama, Clinton and the rest of the Dems coulndn’t possibly be pro-war? Can/could anyone be pro-war really? I thought. Obviously, the answer is yes. Sadly.

I checked out Obama’s voting record. I listened to Edwards talk. I had heard enough from Hilary (since high school) to know she and McCain were so close on the political spectrum they might actually be the same person but I read what she had to say anyway.

I never had intension of voting for Obama. 2008 was the year I stopped voting for the lesser of two evils and started voting only for candidates that support peace and freedom. But even though I was never an Obama supporter I didn’t dislike him. I didn’t think he was a *liar* either but I did question him to some degree.

I remember when he was elected my kids asked me. Do you think he’ll bring the troops home like he said?

I replied, I think he’ll probably bring some home pretty quickly. They’ll make a big show of it then the rest will stay put or move over to Afghanistan.

I never anticipated we’d be digging ourselves in deeper and deeper into war. I never thought Obama would be *this* pro-war. I really didn’t. Call me crazy, I just didn’t. I thought negative Obama administration consequences would be more about social programs, added regulation of businesses and a monstrous healthcare plan, NOT an increased negative presence around the world.

Clearly I was misguided and/or too trusting.

Barrack Obama is young, handsome, intelligent and an extremely well-spoken orator. It’s really no wonder he was so convincing (even a little bit to me)….considering what we had before.

When he made this statement…did YOU believe him?

And what do you think now? Do you think he’s trying?

I know I don’t think so. I think, sadly, he’s all for the perpetual war. It doesn’t matter if we are fighting Oceania, Eurasia or Eastasia…

I recently read the Rolling Stone article, The Runaway General. It’s worth reading. The article painted a fascinating, albeit disturbing, picture of our mission (and mismanagement) in Afghanistan. And despite my disagreement with some of the author, Michael Hastings’, conclusions I found it on the whole to be remarkably informative. Leaving me feeling woefully less-informed than I’m comfortable with.

From the start, McChrystal was determined to place his personal stamp on Afghanistan, to use it as a laboratory for a controversial military strategy known as counterinsurgency. COIN as the theory is known.

COIN calls for sending huge numbers of ground troops not only to destroy the enemy, but to live among the civilian population and slowly rebuild, or build from scratch , another nation’s government - a process that even it’s staunchest advocates admit requires years, if not decades, to achieve.

I thought our troops were overseas to protect our freedom? I care deeply about our troops. I understand and appreciate how many men and women enlist hoping to help their fellow citizens. I see them risking their lives and it breaks my heart. I wish every one of them was safe with their families here at home.

Afghanistan has surpassed Vietnam as the longest war. I have two teen boys. One will be 16 by the end of this year. What happens if this war continues and we run out of young men and women to fight in it. Should I worry about my boys being drafted?

Even if I needn’t fear a draft. My sons are young and the military promises to make men out of boys. Might they listen? Who knows.

Here are some more tidbits from the Rolling Stone article…

Obama has quietly begun to back away from the deadline he set for withdrawing U.S. troops in July of next year. The president finds himself stuck in something even mroe insane than a quagmire: a quagmire he knowingly walked into, even though it’s precisely the knid of gigantic, mind-numbing, multi-generational nation-building project he explicitly said he didn’t want.

You think? And just in case you didn’t realize *who exactly* this General that Obama hired to be commander of the US & NATO troops…

When Donald Rumsfeld made his infamous “stuff happens” remark during the looting of Baghdad, McChrystal backed him up. A few days later, he echoed the president’s Mission Accomplished gaffe by insisting that major combat operations in Iraq were over.

After Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former-NFL-star-turned-Ranger, was accidentally killed by his own troops in Afghanistan in April 2004, McChrystal took an active role in creating the impression that Tillman had died at the hands of Taliban fighters. He signed off on a falsified recommendation for a Silver Star that suggested Tillman had been killed by enemy fire.

I often find myself questioning everything.

I am heartbroken, frustrated and deeply saddened by the escalation of violence and increasing meddling on foreign lands.

Please can we consider coming home?

And one last thing to read and think about from Orwell’s 1984. It’s shockingly relevant.

‘We didn’t ought to ‘ave trusted ‘em. I said so, Ma, didn’t I? That’s what comes of trusting ‘em. I said so all along. We didn’t ought to ‘ave trusted the buggers.’

But which buggers they didn’t ought to have trusted Winston could not now remember.

Since about that time, war had been literally continuous, though strictly speaking it had not always been the same war. For several months during his childhood there had been confused street fighting in London itself, some of which he remembered vividly. But to trace out the history of the whole period, to say who was fighting whom at any given moment, would have been utterly impossible, since no written record, and no spoken word, ever made mention of any other alignment than the existing one. At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

The frightening thing, he reflected for the ten thousandth time as he forced his shoulders painfully backward (with hands on hips, they were gyrating their bodies from the waist, an exercise that was supposed to be good for the back muscles)–the frightening thing was that it might all be true. If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, IT NEVER HAPPENED–that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death?

The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’ And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, ‘doublethink’.

I have so much more to say…but that’s the start. I want to stop being afraid to
speak for peace. Thank-you so much for taking the time to read my thoughts.

Peace,
Kelly Halldorson