The latest controversy surrounding comments about autism made by radio talk show host Michael Savage bring several symptoms of our culture into plain view.

(1) Uninformed opinion and hyperbole can be dangerous; censorship is even more dangerous. America is filled with both.

(2) Left wing media and right wing talk show hosts are the yin and yang of the nation. They need each other to survive but the country needs neither. Liberty, peace, and prosperity are necessary for American survival unfortunately both government and the over-inflated egos of talk show hosts lead entertainers and politicians to believe they have the “solutions” to the country’s problems. The best solution, let people be and stop meddling.

(3) So-called “conservative” talk show hosts are not truly conservative nor compassionate. You are a fool if you believe “conservative” talk show hosts are truly conservative. They are certainly not when compared to the “Old Right” comprised of paleoconservatives and paleolibertarians who believe in hard money, sound banking, a non-interventionlist foreign policy, and true free market principles. Find one of those and you’ll find a true conservative.

(4) Some advertisers care only about profits. Anything that might remotely impact their profits negatively almost immediately makes them run for the hills.

(5) Talk show hosts often care more about ratings than truth. Some do but they are few and far between and nearly all of us suspect their motives since they occupy that blurry space called “infotainment.”

(6) A significant number of Americans are conditioned to react in a knee-jerk manner without thinking. You can thank government run schools, mass media controlled by a handful of companies, and disinterested parents for creating generations of Americans incapable or uninterested in thinking for themselves.

(7) Rational discussions concerning controversial issues are avoided by many, often shunned by the media, and almost never acknowledged by politicians.

(8) A broad sample of informed opinion from various medical doctors would mean more to me than the rantings of a talk show host.

(9) Foot in mouth disease afflicts many in public and private life. It happens, get over it.

(10) Some Americans have forgotten they are responsible for choosing what radio shows they will listen to, what books and newspapers they will read, and who they will trust.

If Pavlov had lived in modern America, he would not have needed a dog for his experiment.

The scenario for creating controversy works every time.

Say something “edgy,” let the media chastise you for it, ratings increase, advertisers see increased sales of their goods and services, talk show hosts make more money, and voila, the cycle starts again.

The whole truth or at least a rational discussion of the truth takes a lot more than a three hour radio show.

Members of the medical community have been debating autism and its diagnosis for years.

I would expect it to continue for years to come.

Perhaps someone will create a foundation to explore autism, challenge modern medicine’s consensus, and find other ways of treating the condition without medication or less medication.

That action would mean more than words especially from someone who makes millions of dollars a year and is in a position to affect positive change.

So much talk, so little action, so many to help.

In the ever-competitive cutthroat world of entertainment, those who take the time to mentor younger up-and-coming talent are few and far between but I was blessed to find a great friend and mentor in national headlining comedian Mike Irwin.

For the past several months, Mike had been battling stage IV bone cancer and a host of other medical complications but he lost his fight at noon today (Wednesday, July 9, 2008).

He was just 47 years old. He was much too young and much too good of a person to be taken so soon.

No matter how good or bad a show was or how good or bad you think you did, Mike always found something positive to reinforce. He taught me how to become a better comedy writer and a better comedian.

If memory serves me correctly, Mike had five rules about stand up comedy but the most important was the rule of the three “C’s.”

To make great comedy, you need to possess character, confidence, and conflict.

You need to clearly define who you are on stage, hence character.

You must have confidence in yourself and your material.

And every joke must center on conflict. The best jokes are the ones in which the conflicts are clearly defined and either resolved or heightened.

Mike truly cared how you fared in comedy. He was always pushing himself and his students to get outside of their comfort zone and to take chances both on stage and off.

I miss Mike dearly. I miss sharing my reviews of my shows, comparing notes, listening to his stories about the road, working with him on new bits, asking for his advice, and performing as his opening act from time to time.

Mike, you helped me to become more courageous, a better writer, a better comedian, but most of all a better person and a better friend.

I wish you peace, happiness, and joy in the afterlife. I will do my best to help those left behind.

You are missed dearly, my friend.

Thank you for everything!

Your comedic brother in arms,

With love,

Aaron

As a firm believer in Libertarian political ideals especially in one of the core components private property rights, I was recently involved in a discussion/potential argument in which a left leaning statist claimed Libertarians really did believe in the power of the state by expecting judges to enforce private property rights. At the time I was dumbstruck without a good comeback to what seemed to be a potentially killing argument to my Libertarian sensibilities but research reinforced my opinion of private property rights.

Libertarians ultimately believe private property rights exist in nature without state intervention and without the need for judges to determine private property but if need be we should have the right and the opportunity to appeal to the courts and to rely on the rule of law to reinforce nature’s private property rights.

So the accusation that Libertarians are closeted statists who really approve of and expect the state to intervene concerning private property rights is ultimately false and misses the point Libertarians make about private property rights in a free and open society based on the rule of law.

What statists frequently ignore or malign is that private property rights as well as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness existed well before the State did. They are naturally occurring rights simply reinforced by the courts and the rule of law.

Left leaning statists claim Libertarians reliy on state intervention because we expect unelected judges to enforce private property rights. This misses the point that in a truly Libertarian society, private property owners should and would be able to defend the misuse of their property by others on their own and work out their own solutions with other parties without interference from the State just as they did before the State existed.

Karen De Coster, CPA, a paleolibertarian freelance writer, graduate student in Austrian Economics, and a business professional from Michigan, writes in a recent article:

“As it stands now, without State interference, private property owners would be able to defend against intruders on either an individual basis or in a voluntary cooperative manner where defense is negotiated through private agreements and private companies. This means that individuals could freely defend their neighborhoods; landowners could forcibly remove violators; business owners could legitimately discriminate, hire, and fire; and private contractors – and not the collective police State – could provide legitimate protective and retribution services.”

As Gary North, author of Mises on Money, writes:

“As we have seen, Rothbard affirmed “the absolute right to exchange or give away the ownership to such titles to whoever is willing to exchange or receive them.” This is the foundation of the right of contract in his system.

He placed no limits on these rights, just so long as the exchange does not involve aggression against anyone else.

While opposing any and all private or group aggression against the rights of person and property, the libertarian sees that throughout history and into the present day, there has been one central, dominant, and overriding aggressor upon all of these rights: the State.

He saw nothing good coming out of the State. I mean nothing. If any policy or practice had its origin in the State, Rothbard opposed it, both axiomatically and operationally. This is what is unique about his social and ethical thought. For him, this is an axiom: State = bad, both morally and operationally.”