a cautionary tale

by russell

Ayn Rand vs nature cage match.  Guess who wins.

Don't let this happen in your town!!

:)

 

Comments

[hairshirthedonist]

This:

One of the original masterminds of the plan, a certain Larry Pendarvis, had written of his intention to create a space honoring the freedom to “traffic organs, the right to hold duels, and the God-given, underappreciated right to organize so-called bum fights.” He had also bemoaned the persecution of the “victimless crime” that is “consensual cannibalism.”

Reminds me of this:

Jebediah: People, our search is over! On this site we shall build a new town where we can worship freely, govern justly, and grow vast fields of hemp for making rope and blankets.

Shelbyville: Yes, and marry our cousins.

Jebediah: I was, what are you talking about Shelbyville? Why would we want to marry our cousins?

Shelbyville: Because they’re so attractive. I, I thought that was the whole point of this journey.

Jebediah: Absolutely not!

Shelbyville: I tell you, I won’t live in a town that robs men of the right to marry their cousins.

Jebediah: Well then, we’ll form our own town. Who will come and live a life devoted to chastity, abstinence, and a flavorless mush I call rootmarm?

[Janie]

Reminds me of another bozo who came to northern New England to found his utopia, which might have been libertarian, I have no idea, but which was first and foremost racist. This guy got hired as the mayor of Jackman, Maine, before people cottoned on to who he was, after which they promptly booted him from the job. They had more sense than Waterville, which kept its racist mayor even after a recall (although he at least wasn't a carpetbagger "from away").

Too lazy to make embedded links...and there are no bears in the story, so it's nowhere near as scary or complicated as the one at russell's link. Maine is not New Hampshire, after all, and we do have a functioning Inland Fisheries and Wildlife department.

https://bangordailynews.com/2018/01/19/news/state/maine-town-manager-promotes-racial-segregation/

https://bangordailynews.com/2018/01/23/news/jackman-town-manager-fired/

[John Thullen]

As Milton Friedman mandated, predators shall have only one purpose for their existence and shall not be circumscribed by regulation.

There are roughly 1500 two-legged mammals populating the town proper of Grafton.

But Reason Magazine counts over 2000 residents as subscribers, if you include the four-legged living in dens, burrows, and nests.

New Hampshire: Live free, or die. If it's the latter, at least come winter, we'll eat for free.

[cleek]

“Free Towners were finding that the situations that had been so easy to problem-solve in the abstract medium of message boards were difficult to resolve in person.”

the whole thing is so good.

good find, russell!

[Donald]

I read that the other day. I felt sorry for the kittens.

[wj]

When bears show up in higher-income communities like Hanover (home to Dartmouth College), Hongoltz-Hetling notes, they get parody Twitter accounts and are promptly evacuated to wildernesses in the north; poorer rural locales are left to fend for themselves, and the residents blamed for doing what they can.

In other words, the rich are buying their way out of trouble by foisting it off on the poor. For all that the folks in Hanover are likely far more liberal than the state average. (Being a college town can do that to you.)

[russell]

In other words, the rich are buying their way out of trouble by foisting it off on the poor.

NH is somewhat famous for providing only the most minimal public goods and services at the state level.

If you want that stuff, you need to move to a town that provides them, and has a tax and revenue base sufficient to fund them.

Live free or die.

[wj]

Live free or die

One might wonder, sometimes, whether that "live free" refers to liberty. Or, these days, to live by getting something for nothing (or at others' expense anyway).

[nous]

As a former Wisconsin resident, this is one of the few times that I will break a longstanding cultural taboo and root wholeheartedly for the bears...

[Snarki, child of Loki]

I think someone should arm those bears.

And yes, I feel really bad about those kittens.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

Another note: I wonder if the "new" residents of Graft-town (Grafton for short) would react poorly to a Canadian-style ordinance that prohibits the use of "door-handles" (as opposed to "door-knobs") on the outside doors of a house.

Are the Graft-town-ites dumber than a bag of doorknobs? One can but ask.

[CharlesWT]

I think someone should arm those bears...

...so that they can bear those arms...

[wj]

To preserve natures balance (i.e. the same as both unarmed), the bears should probable get something like anti-armor weapons. Mere AK-47s just wouldn't cut it.

[bobbyp]

Great read, russell. I'd buy the book, but that would involve the use of "fiat currency" which, by definition, is evil oppression incarnate.

too bad about the kittys.

[hairshirthedonist]

At least our kitty is armed.

[John Thullen]

It occurs to me that this post, if expanded into a novel or a movie, could be a mash-up of Atlas Shrugged and any number of John Irving novels, with their themes regarding characters in bear suits.

[russell]

"Ursus Shrugged"

:)

[cleek]

Darwin Shrugged