Thought of the moment:
On our "Latest Good Blogs (offsite)" page is a link to a very nice fiction piece:

Title -- The Coup: After Midnight
Author -- Claire Wolfe of Backwoods Home
Snippet --

"At that moment -- that very, precise moment -- a deadly slide has started.

"Truly civilized people will stop. They'll say, "Never again. Not one more innocent life will be considered disposable. We will not only stop this. We will stop the attitudes and actions that led to this -- for the sake of all that's decent and just."

"Uncivilized people will yawn and say, "What's on the other channel?" Or worse, they'll hope that the other channel will be playing a reality show in which face-masked cops kick down doors and throw people to the ground while screaming obscenities.

"A society that tolerates that kind of thing -- even once -- is sliding downhill on gravel and broken glass.

"You have to choose. One way or the other. If you make the lazy, ignoble, uncaring choice, you can't honestly call your society free. Or just. Or healthy. Because, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.'"

Hope it resonates with you as much as it did with me,

MJ Taylor

 - Current Article: -
An open letter to the 110th Congress, by Steve Kubby
http://www.reasontofreedom.com/an_open_letter_to_the_110th_congress.html
On January 3rd, our nation's 110th Congress opened its first session, following an election in which America's voters gave control of both bodies composing that institution to the Democratic Party for the first time in 12 years. Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that the "first 100 hours" of Congressional work time will be spent righting wrongs and pointing American government in a new direction. Change is in the air -- but what kind of change?

 - The Way-Back Machine - 207
SnooperChips and ToasterTaps, by Garry Reed
http://www.reasontofreedom.com/SnooperChips.html
Congressman Sensenbrenner knows how to win the Drug War. He wants to forcibly turn us all into Deputy Dawgs. His bill, introduced last May, would require every person in the USSA to rat out everyone who has ever so much as copped a contact high from a wayward puff of pot.

Anyone who fails to fink on family or friends lands in lockup. If Men won't inform on their Moms, if Dads don't denounce their daughters, if Lilo flinches at snitching on Stitch -- and then won't help convict them -- they become prison fodder themselves.

 - New Last Week (Wine Reviews): -
Dynamite 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon California
http://www.reasontofreedom.com/dynamite_2004_cabernet_sauvignon_california.h

 - Two Previous -
Are Atheists Normally Socialists?, by Sandra Price
http://www.reasontofreedom.com/are_atheists_normally_socialists.html
I am what most people call a generic Republican. I apparently fell for the: Limited Government, Individual Freedoms, Personal Responsibilities, and a Balanced Budget crap! ... Is there no hope left in America to try and keep our individual freedoms out of the hands of the religious right?

2006: Freedom in the rearview mire, by Garry Reed
http://www.reasontofreedom.com/2006_freedom_in_the_rearview_mire.html
It's time to play "Year in Review," that game beloved by the MSM (that's cybersay for mainstream media) because, come the new year, journalist types are hung over, bored, unimaginative, and generally find it easier to dig through old headlines than to write something original. No difference here. So, from a hungover, bored, unimaginative libertarian point of bleary view, here's looking at 2006 in the rearview mire.