A BETTER alternative

Well if you're looking at the presidential race and asking yourself if there's anyone else...



I'm still iffy on him on some issues. He was one of the original Republican Revolution politicians back when he was a solid conservative, and the GOP pledged to sanitize the Internet "for the sake of the children" as part of their Contract With America program. (Yes, I have the original version!) Yes he's now a libertarian. Yes he speaks strongly about freedom and he IS a member of the ACLU, but would he still support outlawing Playboy from the Internet?

Fighting online censorship is my pet project, along with fighting moralism, so I'm curious to see if the former Congressman would treat the freedom of speech like the National Rifle Association treats the Second Amendment.

By the way, he was my neighbor for a few months when I lived in Cobb County (aka "The Fallujah of Georgia") and he was just running for Congress.

Here we go again...

Well unbeknown to myself and RJ Evans, the ShockNet Radio computers decided to play a belated "April Fool's Day" joke on you the listeners and it cued up last week's show.

RJ apologizes profusely for this happening (again), and so do I...

So to make up for this, there will be a SPECIAL broadcast this coming MONDAY (04/07) at 7pm Eastern. Everything that I originally wanted to talk about for this weekend will still be there... and if you missed last week's show, don't worry, because I'll have that up in the radio archives by Monday.

So if you never heard my show before and you sorta-kinda have a life (you lucky devils) this is a prime opportunity to hear what you're missing.

It's time to get Brutally Honest... AGAIN!

The TRUTH behind unemployment

I’m going to let you in on a little secret about unemployment numbers… the numbers you’re hearing both from the media and from the White House about how strong the job market is… are fudged.

When you hear about unemployment claims being below 5%, you’re really not seeing the TRUE numbers of people out of work. All you’re seeing are the number of people applying for unemployment benefits. That’s the only way that our government can measure unemployment. They measure it by those signing up for government benefits and the companies that report the people who are hired (which they have to in order to pay the taxes on them).

But here’s the catch: unemployment benefits are not eternal! If you’re out of work and you file a claim for unemployment benefits, then you have a finite period of time before those benefits disappear, and you have to PROVE that you’re out there every day looking for work! You can’t just say “I’m unemployed” and get a check. You have to WORK to find WORK!

So what happens if you go through the finite period of time and you still can’t find work, no matter how hard you try? Well then you’re OFF the dole. You’re cut off from the money AND you’re off the unemployment roles.

In other words, the government PRESUMES that you are working, even though you aren’t!

So when you have enough people who can’t find a job get removed from the dole, the “unemployment” number goes DOWN, and politicians pat themselves on the back and take credit for “IMPROVING” the economy, when, in fact, nothing has really been improved!

Don’t surf away yet! It gets better!

The people who claim unemployment benefits may not be NEWLY unemployed! They could have lost their jobs several weeks, months, or even a YEAR or two previously and have been living off severance pay or early retirement packages. They could have been on disability and ended up losing their jobs because of it. The money ran out, and now they need to get help from the government.

So when the media claims that “more companies are laying off people” simply because the unemployment numbers are going UP, that’s really not the TRUTH. Likewise, when politicians claim that “the economy is going well” simply because unemployment numbers are going DOWN, that’s not really the TRUTH either.

In short, people, you can’t really count on the unemployment numbers to be a measurement of the strength of the economy! All you’re counting there are government payouts.

A more accurate measurement would be the number of layoffs, plant closings, plant opening, and new hires. Anytime a company outsources its services, you’re talking layoffs. Anytime a company relocates to a new area, the old place will experience layoffs and the new place will experience new hires.

But then again, that takes a valuable source of PR power AWAY from the politicians, and they don’t like having that happen, do they?

First Freedom First Simulcast now availible

If you didn't get a chance to check out the special event hosted by the First Freedom First group, here's your chance to watch it!

Click HERE to watch the video.

This was a great show filled with information, education, celebrities, and music too!

(And I never knew Kevin Bacon actually had some talent in something other than in being in movies! SERIOUSLY!)

Brutally Honest on ShockNet - 04/05/08 Show Notes

Hey guys... it's been a hell of a week for me. Normally I would have a ton of thing to talk about for my show, but instead I'm just going to let this image explain what is on tap for this week's show...

So I'll be talking about that, plus all the news that is "Off the Wire", including one news story that is a personal longtime pet peeve of mine. In fact, it is the kind of story that originally fired me up and got me going as a commentator.

All of that, this Saturday at 7pm Eastern on ShockNet Radio and simulcast on Freethought Radio!

And don't forget to stop by here afterwards and leave me a comment about what you think of this week's show.

It's time to get Brutally Honest... AGAIN!

12 Years and lasting longer than the Energizer Bunny!

It’s been HOW long?

12 years!

April 1^st, 1996, the ORIGINAL Brutally Honest column hit the Internet. The original website is still there, although I am in the long and slow and arduous process of moving all of the articles since then over to their new home.

Twelve years!

Seriously. No joking around.

I’m surprised that it’s been that long. It seems like only yesterday I was busy bashing Democrats and Republicans. I’ve heard all of the arguments then and still I hear them today, even when folks like me are proven to be right and the naysayers are proven to be liars and crooks.

I wish I could say that I’ve been the same since, but I think I’ve gotten to be a little more bitter, a little angrier, and a little more frustrated over the years. I’m watching criminals get away with their crimes, and I don’t mean the street punks and the chemical drug pushers. I mean the REAL criminals. The ones with titles by their names like “Senator” and “Congressman” and “Assemblyman” and “Councilman”. Or they’re friends of those people and they go by titles of “Doctor” or “Reverend” or “Chairman”. The ones who cause the most damage to society are not the ones on skid row. They’re the ones sitting in positions of power or are heavily connected to them. And every year they come up with more ways to criminalize OUR actions and steal OUR rights and OUR freedoms and OUR property. And every year they get away with outright CRIMINAL actions because it’s easier for them to do that than to EVER admit that GOVERNMENT COULD BE WRONG about ANYTHING!

No, I’m not bitter about that…. Yeah, like hell I’m not!

But I’m still here, and that’s the important part! The column is still going strong. The blog sites are still going strong. The audio shows had their ups and downs and ups. Talk Liberty sort of imploded, but I still kept the fire going on my own for a couple of years. Now I’m with ShockNet Radio and being simulcast on Freethought Radio and things are looking good.

For those who have been with it from day one, thank you immensely for your support. For those who have just heard about me, stick around, because I think you’ll like what’s coming.

And with that… here comes Lucky Year Thirteen!

Brutally Honest on ShockNet - 03/29/08 Show Notes

Well it's TAX TIME here in the United States, and the clock is ticking away for taxpayers to get their paperwork in order and send it all over to the IRS.

We all HATE paying taxes, and we certainly wish we could do something to fix this system, but no matter how many ideas we come up with, they really don't get too much support. Why is that?

Well this weekend you'll know why. I'll show you that there is a certain mentality in place that makes sure that we can't change the system.

Plus, of course, all the news that's "Off the Wire", including a major political announcement that you DID NOT hear about in the media, and something of a big announcement about the future of my own show. This is the announcement you've been wondering about, folks, and I think you'll like what I'll have in mind when you hear it.

Also just a word of warning, this week's show is going to be slightly LONGER than the usual 30 minutes. I'm hoping the folks at Freethought Radio will keep that in mind when they do the simulcast, and I hope that Lauren Floyd over there will be listening because the announcement WILL affect the simulcast as well.

All of that is THIS SATURDAY at 7pm Eastern on ShockNet Radio and simulcast on Freethought Radio. And be sure to drop by here afterwards to posit your thoughts about it.

It's time to get Brutally Honest... AGAIN!

Important ShockNet News

RJ Evans has issued some important news about his program on ShockNet Radio. I just wanted to let you know that his announcement really has no impact on my own show, "Brutally Honest on ShockNet", which will STILL be on the air in its usual time of Saturdays at 7pm Eastern.

In fact, by the time American Heathen® goes on hiatus, I should have everything ready to make the leap to the full-hour time-frame and that should happen at the start of May.

And now, here's RJ...

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American Heathen® to be re-tooled

The American Heathen® show will take a production hiatus until August after the "Whippin’ It Out Below The Bible Belt" special on April 25th.

According to RJ Evans, the host of the show, "I’ve done a lot of talking wth my producer, Carl Wood, and we have decided to give the show a complete makeover. The show is going to be slicker, more regimented, topical, and an hour shorter."

Asked if the show would still embody the message of freedom, RJ said, "Yes, but it won’t be as crazy and as difficult to follow as it has been in the past. We’re going to tame it down a little and give it a little more substance. We’re also going to make an effort to attract the progressive believer. It’s still about the Constitution and the First Amendment, but we want to get more people interested in listening in. There’s too much division out there and this has limited our audience considerably. Many atheists have issues with the First Amendment. They want to see religion crushed. This kind of mentality is an attempt to usurp the First Amendment. I want to dispel the notion that all atheists share this narrow minded and bigoted view. The new show is going to address this on many different levels, as well as the warped fundamentalist religious views.

"But, we aren't going to abandon fun!"

American Heathen® listenership has dwindled over the past 8 months, and as a result, the production team is determined to make changes, returning in August with a better show. RJ will be joined by his co-host Carl Wood, aka Dr. Teddy in the current show format. Carl is a progressive believer and will be bringing his perspective to the new show. Predictably though, both RJ and Carl are staunch defenders of the Constitution and are not afraid to take on any fundamentalist ideology that threatens freedom.

Blog Against Theocracy 2008 Special Article

Using Religion As A Substitute
– a Blog Against Theocracy special by David Matthews 2

A friend of mine recently told me about a sign in front a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan…

HERE - GOOD FRIDAY - 7PM - LIVE CRUCIFIXION

And I thought about this for a moment and I realized that only organized religion can come up with something like that and not cause the townspeople to rise up with pitchforks and torches. You know that if someone posted that sign in their driveway that you’d have the police over there in a heartbeat eager to arrest somebody. Sure it’s a screw-up, and we all can presume that the church officials really don’t PLAN on having someone actually NAILED to a couple of pieces of wood and then left hanging for a few hours until their limbs break, their blood pools to their feet, and they die either from infection from the nails, shock from the injuries, or from the loss of blood.

We can laugh at the gaffe… but organized religion is really the only party that can make it and get away with it.

People of faith LOVE to talk about the supposed benefits of religion. Of course when they give their glowing affirmations of religion, it’s usually THEIR OWN religion that they have in mind, NOT just any odd group. You will not, for instance, hear a Baptist sing the praises of Islam or Judaism or Mormonism. They will, instead, stick to their own church.

There’s really no big mystery behind it, of course. They don’t want people to know that they’re biased towards THEIR own faith. And that pretty much applies to ALL faiths, not just Christians, or not just Muslims, or not just Mormons, etcetera and so forth.

And that brings us to one of the problems of organized religion… its insistence of religion as a SUBSTITUTE for everything in life.

Let’s get brutally honest here… ALL organized institutions, be they social, religious, or political, have within them the potential to become destructive collectivist enclaves; to become – for lack of a better word – cults. ALL of them do, without exceptions. If you think otherwise then you’re a damned liar both to yourself and to everyone else; because it is the nature of organized groups to become collectivist if it is left unrestrained.

And in order for organized religion to become collectivist, they have to sell their product… religion… to be the end-all-be-all universal solution to everything. Again, listen to the person who espouses their assertion (I won’t call it their argument because they really don’t want to argue about it) that religion is essential to everything in life. If “religion” (read: THEIR religion) isn’t hyped and glorified in society, then they assert that civilization itself collapses. Laws become meaningless. The bonds that keep society together supposedly implode. Anarchy supposedly rules the day.

Now they don’t just make that assertion in the most extreme of situations. They make that assertion ALL THE TIME, for ANY issue that THEIR religion has a stake in. It’s an all-or-nothing situation for them. Find an issue… Sunday liquor sales, abortion, stem cell research, the Theory of Evolution, prayer in schools… and you will hear this very assertion at some point. RELGION (specifically, their own) has to be the end-all-be-all to the matter, up-front, in the center of the whole mix, without question, THE FINAL ANSWER to everything… or civilization itself is DOOMED. Period.

To that end, we have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for things that it really has no business being a substitute for.

We have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for individuality. You are not a person. You are a follower of whatever faith you’re with, and you are EXPECTED to adhere to the dogma of your faith, without question and without hesitation.

We have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for reason and logic and science. Facts be damned, faith is all that matters. If any kind of information contradicts the “established” dogma, then that information is either condemned or suppressed.

We have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for education. Johnny may not be able to read, write, or do math, but he better be saying his prayers before the big football game if he expects his team to win! Oh, and by the way, the excuse why Johnny can’t read, write, or do math is supposedly BECAUSE he can’t pray in class.

We have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for ethics. Violence is wrong… unless it’s in defense of the faith. Murder is wrong… unless the person you killed did something to offend your faith. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, unless that opinion OFFENDS your faith… in which case that person must die, or at least be hounded out of town at all costs.

We have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for sound legislation. Laws are pushed for and enacted not based on any concept of freedom or reasonable balance between the needs of society and the dignity of the individual, but simply because a certain religious DOCUMENT declares it so. Why should liquor sales be banned on Sunday? It’s the same reason why all stores had to originally be banned from doing business on Sundays. Because that’s the day that everyone is supposed to go to CHURCH! Sure they can pull out a trillion studies about drunk driving and accident statistics, but they will NEVER come up with a simple, reasonable, LOGICAL and SECULAR explanation why ONE SPECIFIC day of the week should be singled out from all others. It is ALL based on RELIGION.

We have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for justice. If a preacher gets caught doing something unmentionable, it has to be covered up “for the sake of” religion. Ministers who preach that their followers “give ‘till it hurts” have luxury cars and diamond mines. They will launch an endless crusade to persecute those that “offend” them, but they will only give a half-hearted apology if their words or their deeds offend others and then expect that we simply accept it. And all of it is permitted because RELGION is more important than JUSTICE.

We have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for therapy. Look at some of the largest addiction groups in the country and see what they advocate as their “multi-step” treatment. The essential element in their “multi-step” treatment involves a certain church. Specifically THEIR church; the church that sponsors the treatment program. It basically advocates turning a person from one addition – drugs and/or alcohol – to another addition – religion. And judges have no qualms ordering anyone and everyone before them with drug or alcohol-related offenses to go to these “treatment” centers… even if they are of a different religion.

Finally, and most despicably, we have religion being used as a SUBSTITUTE for national identity. The constant mantra being uttered is that America is a “CHRISTIAN” nation, even though we have plenty of documents and statements from our founding fathers to the contrary. RELIGION is used as an essential qualification for holding public office, even though it is expressly FORBIDDEN in Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. Churches are given tax-exempt status and then use their pulpits to tell the followers how to vote. And even when the practice itself is outlawed, they find ways around that law.

ALL of it… every single instance where religion is being used as a SUBSTITUTE for essential qualities in life… is done so at the behest of and for the sole advancement of organized religion. It is done so that those in positions of power in that institution have what they have always yearned for… absolute and unquestionable power over others. The kind of unquestionable power that you currently see in third-world theocracies. The kind of power that was the source of much of the evil committed in human history.

It is for this reason, above all others, that the authors of the First Amendment made sure that the VERY FIRST prohibition of government was to prevent it from being used by organized religion for that very purpose.

“Congress shall make no law RESPECTING THE ESTABLISHMENT of religion…” (Note: emphasis added by the writer.)

That’s more than just prohibiting the government from officially ESTABLISHING a religion. That’s more than just prohibiting the government from FAVORING a religion. That prevents the government from acting as if such an establishment was ALREADY MADE!

Of course, as with all other rights, we as Americans have a hard time accepting some of these things, especially when they are in contradiction to everything that we have been brought up to believe in. But you take a look at how these substitutions are being made in this country, and then you take a look the end result in third world nations and ask yourself if their societies are any better because of it. If we are supposed to be “better” than them, then why are we trying to emulate their methods?

Perhaps someday we can look at that “LIVE CRUCIFIXION” gaffe again and know that ANYONE can make it and we would still get a good laugh at it. By then, of course, we would have put organized religion in its proper place in society… perhaps still respected, but certainly restrained.

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Brutally Honest on ShockNet - 03/22/08 Show Notes

"Beware the man with the diamond ring..."

What does that mean, you ask? Well it's a little cautionary tale that I've had in my head for a while to warn you about a certain "get rich" program... and it's one that even members of Congress are a bit skeptical of! What is it? We'll you'll just have to tune in and find out!

Also this week I'm debuting a new regular segment on my show called "Off the Wire". This will be all about news stories from the wire services that didn't make the cut from my regular "News Pundit Report" over on the "American Heathen®" program. Quite often these will be news stories that you probably never heard about because your nightly news show was spending time talking about Britney Spears or the latest American Idol contestant to get voted off. And of course because this IS a commentary program, I can't help but to interject my own two cents on each news report that I discuss. So what will be "Off the Wire" this week? Well, tune in and find out!

Fun stuff this week! "American Heathen®" may not be doing a show this week, but I'm certainly keeping things going, and it all happens this Saturday at 7pm Eastern on ShockNet Radio and simulcast on Freethough Radio!

It's time to get Brutally Honest... AGAIN!