Year-End Google Zeitgeist
Here soar
Not with wings,
But with your moving hands and feet
And sweating brows -
Standing by your Beloved's side
Reaching out to comfort this world
With your cup of solace
Drawn from your vast reservoir of Truth.
Here soar
Not with your eyes and senses
That turn their backs
On the earth's sweet stumbling dance
Which needs you.
Here love, O here love,
With your mouth tender and open upon your lover,
And with your heart on duty
To the souls of rivers, children, forest animals,
All the shy feathered ones and laughing, jumping,
Shining fish.
O here, pilgrim,
Love
On this holy battleground of life
Where there are bleeding men
Who are calling for a sacred drink,
A gentle word or touch from man
or God.
Hafiz, why just serve and play with angels?
They are already content.
Brew your knowledge well for men
With aching minds and guts,
And for those wayfarers who have gained
The rare courageous thirsts
That can never be relinquished
Until Union!
Hafiz,
Leave your recipes in golden drums.
Tie those barrels to the backs of camels
Who will keep circumambulating the worlds,
Giving nourishment
To all our tender wondrous spheres.
O here love, O love right here.
Find your happiness, dear wayfarer,
With your beautiful lips and body
So sweetly opened,
Yielding their vital gifts upon
This magnificent
Earth.
(The Subject Tonight Is Love, versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
Hans-Hermann Hoppe at LewRockwell.com - Anarcho-Capitalism: An Annotated Bibliography - a little heavy reading for the new year. Murray N. Rothbard, Justin Raimondo, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Randy E. Barnett, Bruce L. Benson, David D. Friedman, Anthony de Jasay, Morris and Linda Tannehill, Gustave de Molinari, Herbert Spencer, Auberon Herbert, Lysander Spooner, James J. Martin, Franz Oppenheimer, Albert J. Nock, and others. [lew]
Here is the essential reading on anarcho-capitalism, which might also be called the natural order, private-property anarchy, ordered anarchy, radical capitalism, the private-law society, or society without a state. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list. Indeed, only English-language works currently in print or forthcoming are included.
Ray Thomas at Sierra Times - Gun Hysteria Still Running Rampant - Steve Decker "had a disassembled hunting rifle, in a case, under the seat of his locked pickup truck, which was parked in the school parking lot." A dog sniffed it out. Mr. Decker was suspended without pay for 60 days. Another crock of s**t in Amerika's continuing helpless victim zone laws. [sierra]
Vin Suprynowicz - The Guild of Wistful and Outdated Uncles - part of The Libertarian series. Bemoans the death of reading amongst America's youth. Fear not, Vin. At least there's Harry Potter.
Vin Suprynowicz - Rooting up the plum trees - part of The Libertarian series. The feds rush in to buoy the falling price of prunes by paying farmers to destroy their plum trees. Look to me like time to eliminate the department of agriculture, raze its buildings, and spread salt on the ground where they once stood.
That's right, the taxpayers will pay them to destroy their own trees - in a conspiracy to fix prices which would probably bring prosecution under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act if it were undertaken without the government's blessing.
Google - Year-End Google Zeitgeist: Search patterns, trends, and surprises - 2001 in review from my favorite search engine. [cowlix]