t is no secret to anyone here that I come down rather hard on conspiracy theorists from left or right. Those who endorse and promote tham damage their own credibility.

I have already identified two neocon conspiracies on this very forum and no one, including yourself, has disagreed with me despite my explicitly asking for those who disagree to speak up.

I'll be happy to reiterate my reasoning if anyone needs to be reminded.

Conspiracies can and do happen, I've even been involved in a couple in my misspent youth.

"In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way." Franklin D. Roosevelt

9/11/2001 was nothing if not a political act.

Like Ron Paul, one of my first thoughts was that 9/11 would be used by the government to pursue an anti-freedom agenda.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, I know I did. I spent Christmas with my grandkids and was again reminded of why I spend so much of my time tilting at windmills.

Jesus saved me from everything, except, of course, the tendency to engage in incessant public displays of tone-deaf self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

Every single evangelical or born again I know (and I'm in the thick of them down here) has simply traded one addiction for another.

Of course they have to talk about their conversion, it's like being at an AA or NA meeting, people letting all their demons hang out..

Look at Huckabee, he once had a food addiction. Now he's addicted to running.. A practice which gives you an endorphin high.

Hillary Clinton: "said she could envision a day when 'you have to show proof to your employer that you're insured as a part of the job interview -- like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination,'

If you are out of work, how are you expected to get health insurance?

I wonder if Hillary can envision a day when politicians must show proof of health insurance to run for office?

Probably not.

No, I didn't read that one.. I spent the Christmas holidays with my grandchildren and stayed away from the computer. They always remind me of why I spend so much time tilting at windmills.

My core issue is not so much the drug war as ownership, that we in fact are the owners of our bodies.

Liberals seem to get this concept when it comes to abortion but are strangely tone deaf when it comes to drugs and even the right to die in the manner that you choose. If I own something then I may do with it as I please unless or until I violate the rights of another.

If I own something, I may smash and destroy it if I choose to do so and no one will complain unless I violate the rights of someone else (as in the case of arson for instance).

I could support a total and absolute ban on all mind altering drugs on the grounds that altered states of consciousness may lead one to violate the rights of another. The fact that alcohol is legal though, makes it absolutely clear that there is some other agenda at work.

Although, I'd be willing to guess that the distributors might be the more flexible of the group.

Perhaps, but you don't see railroads owning airlines.

Generally, when a brand new market opens up new companies arise to take advantage of that market.

But given that the drug war has become the state religion of the USA the entire subject is purely theoretical.

I found that the quickest way to establish a relationship with a child or teenager is to admit when you have made a mistake. What is it about culture or human nature that causes a parent or adult to teach children that mistakes are bad when we learn so much more from a mistake than we ever do from doing something right?

To err is human, to forgive divine.

To admit one's mistakes is to show one's humanity.

There is a quote that I completely agree which I have sadly forgotten the source of: If you wish to know the measure of a man, watch how small children treat him.

Wisdom comes from ignorance, when we are ignorant we make many mistakes, the intelligent person learns from those mistakes and slowly approaches wisdom.

You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find what is within himself. -Galileo Galilei

The first principle is not to fool yourself, and you are the easiest one to fool. -Richard Feynman

Happy New Year back atcha'

Let's hope that it is better than the last one, politically speaking.

And a happy and prosperous New Year to everyone else..

Is there some inverse relationship between one's standing on the national stage and their ability to understand reality?

I would answer in the affirmative..

The higher on the ladder one climbs, the less one's immediate surroundings resemble the reality that most of us have to live in.

You see the same effect to a somewhat lesser extent in business.

That is sad news indeed.

It was really only a matter of time though, she made a lot of powerful and implacable enemies.

You need to have your sarcasomometer taken in for recalibration..

Admittedly it is hard to tell sarcasm from trolldom these days though.

It makes me wonder if he is still abusing drugs and alcohol.

Are you always so redundant?

Alcohol is a drug.

The phrase you used is deliberately designed to separate alcohol from the other drugs in people's minds.

Language effects the way we think about things and the great majority of people are easily manipulated by controlling the language they use.

I think Chomsky has a few things to say about that.

A pretty compelling case for early-onset Alzheimer's can be made from looking at the deterioration in his speaking ability.

Alcohol dementia is the more likely diagnosis.