Page 2 - Bretigne Shaffer\'s Truth and Fiction

If you've been following my attempts to unsubscribe from Bernie Sanders' mailing list, you should know that it was a nail-biting 48 hours as I waited to hear back from his team after my last missive on Thursday. So many thoughts went through my mind: Maybe they were tired of hearing from me; Maybe they weren't interested in what I had to say at all, maybe they had just been pretending all along; Maybe they were busy - we all get busy, right?; Or maybe they were all lying in a ditch somewhere! So it was with great relief that...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote19 5

Again, I do not share your love for more state violence as a response to problems caused by state violence. I am also less-than-impressed with your team's ability to perform pretty basic functions like unsubscribing people from your mailing list (this is now my third attempt). If you keep sending me your economically illiterate rantings, I might have to start sending you some of MY campaign information.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote7 5

Finally the day arrived when the cart was delivered to the apartment. There was a storage shed just off the courtyard where residents could store personal belongings and that is where it would stay at night and when it wasn’t being used. The friend of a friend of Chong’s cousin stood warily in the apartment as Nyaa handed him the deposit. He counted it out three times, licking his fingers each time and never smiling. He stood just as warily as she pulled the cart away from him in the courtyard. “Remember,” he growled, “any damage and you won’t see...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote4 0

Life is good, mused Billy Rainbow as he ambled across the wooden bridge to Kresge College. Sprinkles of sunlight drifted down through the redwoods and he could taste the scent of spring in the air - woody and fresh, with a hint of the sea that lay just below campus. Billy Rainbow had just taken some mushrooms. He had mixed them in peanut butter to eat them, and it left a funny taste in his mouth. It occurred to him that the one thing that could make his mouth taste better was chocolate. It also occurred to him that the...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote7 4

Earlier this year I spent a few days at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with my daughter who was having an EEG done. On our way home, I learned that there had been an outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant bacteria while we were there, that it had infected seven people and killed two of them. My daughter and I were fine - the infection having been limited to people using a particular kind of duodenoscope. When the story hit the news, I fully expected nationwide outcry similar to that inspired by the recent measles “epidemic” that began at Disneyland....

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote32 5

Matt Walsh has a good piece in response to the hysteria surrounding those of us who choose not to vaccinate our children, or to opt out of some vaccines. He writes: USA Today published a column recently that suggested all “anti-vaxx” parents should be put in prison. Of course Slate agrees. Forbes contested that parents who don’t vaccinate should be sued. A recent poll found that a majority of Americans believe vaccines should be forced, and a slightly smaller majority think unvaccinated kids should be banned from schools. The TV doctor on Fox News recently called on President Barack Obama to pass federal regulations mandating...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote14 2

There was a time when there were no police departments - and it wasn't that long ago.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote12 0

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQQpVCRLnKg&w=560&h=315]

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote10 4

As I write this, my son is running around the house naked, even though I’ve asked him twice to put his clothes on. I can hear the bathroom sink swooshing on and off as he makes a swimming pool for his zoo animals. I weigh getting up and possibly waking his baby sister, who is sleeping on my chest, against the lesser likelihood that he will catch a cold from running around the house naked and wet. I decide to stay put. The swooshing continues. I wonder how a man named Scott Oglesby would deal with my son’s exuberance, his...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote30 7

Something’s been bugging me about the discussions I see in libertarian circles about class and “privilege.” It’s not the fact that these things are being discussed - there’s nothing wrong with that - it’s what’s being omitted from most of the discussions.Take the recent debate between Cathy Reisenwitz and Julie Borowski on the pages of FEE’s The Freeman. Says Reisenwitz:“Libertarians have a choice: They can stay silent on the topic of class and privilege, and simply support policies such as ending the drug war, extending marriage to gays, and opening up immigration from a limited government perspective. Or they can...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote17 22

I wrote this nearly two years ago, at the end of the Republican National Convention after Mitt Romney had been given (yes, given) the nomination. As I see well-meaning people gearing up now for another election season (only two years away! Does the madness ever stop?), for getting "the right people" into office, I just want to repeat what I said here. If your goal is liberty, don't waste your time at the voting booth: I’ve seen many posts like this one today, from Antonia Litsinger: “Well, I'm not going to get into the classic insanity mode – doing things over and...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote6 0

Dear Mr. Brand, Let me start off by saying that I’m a huge fan. I haven’t seen your live show yet, but I’ve been really impressed by every one of your video appearances. You are brilliant, super sharp and I think have real empathy for people. I say this not to shower you with flattery but so you know that everything I say here comes from a place of genuine admiration and respect. Like you, I am a non-voter, and for much the same reasons. I’ve written about that here. You say you want a revolution. I do too. But...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote23 5

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yjUo5RUaek]

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote15 10

I must have been six or seven when my grandmother, a schoolteacher, explained to me “when we’re talking about boys and girls together, we call them all ‘he’.” I loved my Nana, but thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. When I got to college, I realized that many others felt the same way. Most people were saying “he or she” and writing “s/he” – unfazed by the ridicule of the few who hadn’t caught on. This isn’t something I thought about much over the years. But a recent comment by Sharon Presley, reminded me why sexism in...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote9 5

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sgUxEf-ijg]

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote8 7

I wrote this five years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. I think the main point is still relevant although I would add that of course a great deal has changed for the Chinese people since 1989 - economic reforms have transformed much of the country and brought the kind of growth in prosperity that took the west over a century to achieve. And in some very real ways, people in China are more free than people in the US (they don't have crazed drug warriors and people with badges routinely assaulting people in their homes and on the...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote10 1

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmm--f-fNUU&w=560&h=315]

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote6 0

"People don’t want to confront... that their government could have done something like this unless it was absolutely necessary. ...it’s almost like people find some sort of relief in the idea that sometimes you have to just mass murder tens, hundreds of thousands of innocent people... that it’s unrealistic to think the world could work differently." ~ Anthony Gregory In the summer of 1963, Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe was asked to go to Hiroshima to write about the Ninth World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs. Oe covered the conference and also met with some of the bomb’s surviving victims and...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote13 3

I remember when I pushed Genelle Grossman over. I was four or five, it was recess and we were all outside playing in the grass near some trees. She was walking with some friends and I thought they were all acting “girly.” I didn’t like “girly”. So I pushed her and she fell. There was crying and shouting and they all went and told the teacher and she came and found me sitting near the trees. The teacher asked me why I had done it and I couldn’t answer. All I could do was sit and push a stick...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote27 4

I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of “punishment” for teaching children. Early on, when our son was probably around two, and against my better judgement, my husband and I decided to try out having a “naughty spot” for our son to go when he had done something naughty. The night we tried it out I don’t even remember what his offense was - only that he stepped happily over to the “naughty spot” as if it were a game, and then looked over at us with a smile. I felt sick with myself. I could see what introducing “punishment”...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote7 9

Bretigne Shaffer's Truth and Fiction

My Correspondence with Team Bernie Continues Sep 12, 2015

Bernie Keeps Bugging Me! Sep 10, 2015

A Machine for Washing Clothes Sep 8, 2015

Billy Rainbow and the Sexual Justice Warriors Jun 20, 2015

First They Came for the Anti-Vaxxers Apr 27, 2015

Wow – Some Sanity on Vaccines Feb 9, 2015

Policing in Perspective Jan 16, 2015

Happy Halloween from Anarcho Soccer Mom Oct 8, 2014

Mere Anarchy Loosed Upon the World Jul 21, 2014

Libertarians and ‘Privilege’ Jul 7, 2014

The Revolution Is Over – Long Live the Revolution! Jul 4, 2014

How About a Real Revolution, Russell Brand? Jul 1, 2014

We’re Statists Jun 22, 2014

Privilege and Prejudice Jun 21, 2014

“A True Story of What Happens to Traitors” Jun 5, 2014

Tiananmen 25 Years Later – What Has Changed? Jun 4, 2014

Anarcho Soccer Mom on GMO Labeling Law Jun 3, 2014

Remembering Mr. Miyamoto May 17, 2014

How Spanking Serves the State May 13, 2014

On “Time Outs”, Rewards and Other Bad Parenting Behavior May 9, 2014