EDITORIAL MATTERS:

You would think that at an altitude of 6,000-feet yer could enjoy a less-than-sweltering Second of July. Not so. It is hot, and the humidity goes from 8-percent to 30- or 40-percent based on how recent the last thunderstorm rolled through. Or missed but still got things muggy.

Another week has gone past, while we here at the high-altitude but hot and muggy production offices of TLE are still taking care of Associate Webmaster and Editor's Spouse's mom. Said mom is getting better, then not so much. And Arizona's little dehydration trick keeps sneaking up on her. On me, too, for that matter. I spent a day down with what I finally realized was dehydration—felt like I had the flu. Bird flu? Swine flu? Rabbit flu? Tadpole flu? After drinking water and Gatorade^® until I thought I was gonna puke I finally started feeling better. I does sneak up on you, all right.

That simple "movie" animated .gif file you see up there in the "TLE 'Toon" area is from a local tradition of where we live: firing the anvil. They do it at 4:00 AM or 5:00 AM on July 4th using an old anvil the original pioneers brought when they settled this area. It do look like fun, eh?

And please help keep TLE going by either donating some cash using the following link or else click on the links to our advertisers or affiliates and buy yourself something you want and need. You know you want it or need it, right? You know you're going to buy it, right? So do it from here and help put a little bit of commission cash in the sadly depleted coffer of TLE. That electric and phone bill doesn't pay itself you know.

http://www.ncc-1776.org/donate.html

And welcome to the three-hundred-seventy-fourth edition of The Libertarian Enterprise! Enjoy!

Ken Holder
Editor
editor@ncc-1776.org

Tom Paine Maru by L. Neil Smith Cover by Scott Bieser First uncensored edition. Originally published by Del Rey Books, 1984. Adobe Acrobat PDF file, 1,845,243-bytes, 283 pages. Download for $5.00, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Card, eCheck, or PayPal DOWNLOAD FROM PAYLOADZ.COM

The Probability Broach: The Graphic Novel by L. Neil Smith Illustrated by Scott Bieser Published by BigHead Press, 2004 Amazon.com

ARTICLES

Letters to the Editor
from Mike Blessing, Jim Davidson, Terry Wilson, Rex May, Ben F. Irvin, The Editor, Trebor Jackson, and Derek Benner
• FULL STORY

Born on the What of Who?
by L. Neil Smith
Another Fourth of July is upon us, the 230th. By rights, and to paraphrase an inscription on the sideplate of one of my Ruger sixguns, manufactured in 1976, it should have been "the 230th year of American liberty". Sad to say, it is far from that.
• FULL STORY

Father Knows Best
by Lady Liberty
Every June, we celebrate Father's Day. Well, every June since 1972, that is (although the origin of Father's Day dates back to 1909, it wasn't an official holiday until Richard Nixon declared it so). Despite its official status in the pantheon of holidays, I've long considered it a "Hallmark Holiday." By that, I mean that—sort of like Sweetest Day and Grandparents' Day—it's a pseudo-holiday intended mostly to make all of us buy cards and make phone calls, or feel really, really guilty if we don't. (For the record, I buy the card and make the phone call because I'd feel really, really guilty if I didn't.)
• FULL STORY

Why We Celebrate July 4th
by Tim Wingate
In 1776, fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence declaring that, "We hold these truths to be self-evident. . ." What truths were "these truths"?
• FULL STORY

One of the Greatest Cruelties
by Ron Beatty
I am becoming more and more disgusted with the so-called Moral Majority and the Christian Right. These people are so wrapped up in their 'morality' that they are willing to leave kids to suffer and feel unloved to fuel their hate and fear of homosexuals. In Arkansas, the state supreme court recently over-turned a ban forbidding gay parents to adopt or foster children. Not only the current governor, a so-called 'born-again' christian, but both leading candidates for the position in 2007, decried the ruling. To me, this doesn't make sense. In every state that I know of, adoptive parents must undergo a pretty thorough background check. They must be free of felonies, have no history of violent or abusive behavior, and no convictions for child abuse or pederasty. Even the slightest of allegations of tendencies toward such behavior is enough to derail the adoption process, in most cases.
• FULL STORY

Independence Day
by Kevin Tulppo
I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about the various and sundry Fourth of July celebrations happening all around me this year. In truth, I've long suspected that these annual festivities have served to rationalize and justify mindless, rabid nationalism much more than celebrate the ideals under which this country was founded. I know that every time I hear a politician even say the word "freedom" it makes me want to retch. The general idea seems to be that, just as everybody is Irish for a day on St. Patrick's Day, "my country, Right or Wrong" is an acceptable attitude for a day on July 4th.
• FULL STORY

How To Not Be An Aggressive Driver
by Jonathan David Morris
Do you honk? Do you changes lanes? Do you ever have visions of getting to where you're going while behind the wheel of a moving motor vehicle? If so, you may be one of a growing number of aggressive drivers on America's highways and byways. Unlike AIDS, date rape, and other largely fabricated causes, aggressive driving is a real and growing epidemic in this nation. "In fact, nearly eight out of 10 motorists say aggressive drivers are a greater danger than terrorists," according to a public safety group known as the Smooth Operator Program.
• FULL STORY

Wannabenazis
by L. Neil Smith
I live in a state where there are fires during hot, dry summers, a bit of flooding here and there, and an occasional calamitous blizzard. Now and again, somebody will go "postal" at work and start shooting the people he's labored beside peacefully for months or years or decades.
• FULL STORY

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