WendyMcElroy.com

Texas Inventories Children
by Wendy McElroy

[Note: To access the many embedded links please go to the original article on the highly recommended Future of Freedom Foundation site.]

Officials at Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, apparently view George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four as an instruction manual rather than a cautionary tale.

Over 6,000 students will be required to carry microchipped ID so that the district can track their movements in school and on school buses. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips will be embedded in student IDs. Doors within the two affected schools are presumably now fitted with sensors that track students as they move from class to class, from the cafeteria to the bathroom. The district’s administration is determined to increase student attendance.

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Walter Grinder writes, Yet another chapter in the current evangelical Christian story [an article entitled "The Templeton Effect"], and a most interesting one too. I'm not quite sure yet how they fit together; but it seems clear to me that this Templeton story complements Malcolm Gladwell's brilliant piece [now a classic] on the Rich Warren movement and empire. There are, it seems to me, some significant changes to America's cultural, social and political landscape bubbling just below the surface and, of course, in plain sight too all across the land. There is also much we real liberals can learn strategically from the evangelicals.

A MUST-ATTEND FREEDOM EVENT:
Presenting J.Neil Schulman and “Alongside Night”

Celebrate a joyous blow for freedom: the shooting of the movie “Alongside Night” has commenced! Written by Prometheus Award winning author J. Neil Schulman and starring Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, Kull the Conqueror), “Alongside Night” is a prophetic movie about the economic and social collapse of society. At its core, however, “Alongside Night” is an optimistic vision of rebellion and the triumph of freedom. The book is a libertarian masterpiece; the movie will be a blockbuster.

Come and applaud the movie, come and ask J.Neil questions, but be sure to come…
When: September 10, 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: Laissez Faire Books blog http://lfb.org/blog/
Moderated by Wendy McElroy

S.F. author L. Neil Smith will also be in attendance. For my review of the novel "Alongside Night" click here.

Introduction to "The God of the Machine"
by Wendy McElroy

Ayn Rand wrote that The God of the Machine (1943) by Isabel Paterson "does for capitalism what Das Kapital does for the Reds and what the Bible did for Christianity." The author of Paterson's first biography (2004) Professor Stephen D. Cox agreed, stating, “No one in the 1930s defended individualism more vigorously and consistently than Paterson.” The other founding mothers of modern libertarianism, Rand and Rose Wilder Lane, freely acknowledged the deep debt they owned to the irrepressible political theorist who also found time to write eight novels, to become a feared literary critic and a prominent journalist.

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In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has
been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
The Obituary follows:

America: Born 1776, Died 2012

Blog reader Don D. writes in to comment,

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From InfoWars: Video Shows TSA’s Bizarre New Security Policy. Federal agency tests drinks purchased inside airport

From Reuters: German court holds euro zone fate in its hands

From Nation of Change: It’s Not Just the LAPD: The Big Lie About Police Brutality is Claiming it’s Not Rampant

From Libertarian Alternative: Loompanics: A trip down memory lane

From the New York Times: U.S. Companies Brace for an Exit From the Euro by Greece

Happy Agorism Day! May we all live freedom in this unfree world. For more on Agorism Day, click here.

A substantial discussion of copyright and IP is underway at the Daily Anarchist. Posters include the inimitable Stephan Kinsella and graphic artist Scott Bieser. Join the fun by clicking here.

Nate Beeler's Obama Built This; Tim Eagan's Million Mitt March; Eric Allie's Racist; Bob Englehart's Monday; Chip Bok's Ron Paul's Delegates; Chuck Asay's So Many of Us; John Deering's I Like What I Hear; and, Bob Gorrell's Another Veiled Reference.

From the Charlotte Observer: Group says it found 30,000 dead North Carolinians registered to vote

From Yahoo Daily News: ICE chief of staff resigns amid misconduct claims

From the Weekly Standard: Bill Clinton on Obama: 'A Few Years Ago, This Guy Would Have Been Carrying Our Bags'

From WorldNetDaily: 2 consenting adults and a cow

From the Washington Times: House panel probing stimulus cash for MSNBC ads

From Jonathan Turley: LAPD Officers Caught On Video Body Slamming Nurse After Traffic Stop and Then Giving Each Other Celebratory Fist Bump

From the Observer: Desmond Tutu: Haul Bush, Blair in for ICC Trial

From the New York Times: Software Meant to Fight Crime Is Used to Spy on Dissidents

An article entitled "Thomas Jefferson Used Encryption" has just been posted at Laissez Faire Books Today. This one was FUN to write.Hope it is fun to read. Feel free to reprint and repost with link back to LFB. Click here.

From Politico: David Koch breaks from GOP on gay marriage, taxes, defense cuts

From Yahoo News: Rush of asylum-seekers before Australian crackdown

From Time: U.S. Scales-Back Military Exercise with Israel, Affecting Potential Iran Strike

From WCNC: Occupy Charlotte re-opens camp blocks from DNC site

I have just posted a new article entitled "The Basics of Copyright" at the Daily Anarchist. Come and leave a comment. I do reply to comments. Click here.

I love the new photo at the "Art of Being Free" site. As always, thanks Michael. My new book "The Art of Being Free" has been published by Laissez Faire Books. I urge everyone to check out the incredible community that is beginning to form at Laissez Faire Books. Click here to knock on the door.