The Lion, The Dentist, and The Market

By now most of us have heard about Cecil the Lion, The protected, beloved lion with a black mane in Zimbabwe who was killed by a trophy hunting dentist from Minnesota.

The 13-year-old lion was a star attraction at the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, out of which the hunters lured him with a carcass, and he wore a collar by which scientists at the University of Oxford had been tracking him since 2008. Cecil’s slaughter was the ire of many on social media, myself included. My beef, as it has been since I can remember, had to do with trophy hunting in general. I have always found it repulsive. When I worked at a photo lab, I developed photos for doctors from their “hunting” trips which were usually canned hunts. I have very strong opinions about such hunts. It is a personal opinion though like we all have.

FREEDOM’S ENEMY

 

There are some good points in this article by Jeffrey Tucker regarding the recent Mad Max movie – Fury Road. When I watch “post apocalyptic” movies such as this I roll my eyes at the vision: total lawlessness and chaos and violence. However, I remind myself that this is one person’s vision and imagination. I immensely enjoyed the imagery, the grittiness, the cars (which were all real as were most of the incredible car stunts). It was a fantastic joy ride.

LEGITIMIZED AGGRESSION

 

Abuse and killing by cops seems to be increasing or perhaps these incidents are just being exposed more thanks to technology. Here in Oklahoma we have had our share and the most recent incident involved a reserve sheriff’s deputy who shot a man. The reserve deputy claims he thought he grabbed his taser but instead he grabbed his gun “by mistake”, fired and then said, “I shot him! I’m sorry!”. Another officer was on top of the victim with his knee in the back of the victim’s head and while the victim pleaded that he couldn’t breathe, the officer responded with “F—k your breath”. The victim, Eric Harris, died from his injuries. This was a sting operation where the state agents set a man up to buy an “illegal” gun from him. The man ran, was apprehended and face down on the ground when he was shot. Read More.

THE BACKYARD REVOLUTION

 

With an ever encroaching government prying into our personal lives, mandating purchases for products we do not want, regulating, monitoring, and controlling nearly every aspect of our day to day living, maintaining, or even retaining, freedoms seems like a hopeless endeavor.