Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
FamilyFacts.org ~ New site from the Heritage Foundation: provides data on family and religious practice and analysis of their role in maintaining civil society in America. Turns out the traditional family does matter.
 
Planned Parenthood Teams Up With Occupy Wall St. Movement ~ Oh goody, free abortions for all the rape victims that the msm isn’t reporting on: Zuccotti anarchy – Does rape now go unreported at Zuccotti Park — and no one cares?. Well, the Washington Post isn’t too concerned: Post Ignores Sexual Assaults in Occupy Wall Street Protests.

And then we have these “Planned Perverts” in Maryland: ‘Mommy, this is strange candy’ – Abortion clinic staff gives children condoms for Halloween. 😯 Treats for tricks?
 
Time Magazine calls for censorship, blames victims of Islamic attack on French magazine that lampooned Muhammad ~ That’s the ticket! Cave, cower, capitulate. Slouching toward totalitarianism.
 
Archipod ~ A home office for hobbits? I think I want one.

The ‘Self-reliance’ Menace ~
Has freedom become too scary for Americans?

Problem is, an ever-expanding amount of America’s wealth is tied up in just making sure we have whatever it is we consider necessary now. When settlers relied on themselves, they devoted all their resources to getting ahead. That eventually led to this awesome country that has Disney World, the Internet and cheap and readily available nachos everywhere.
 
Maybe the fact that more and more of our resources are used for maintaining the status quo is partly why we’re in such doldrums: With so much of our wealth spent making sure we get basic necessities without having to be self-reliant, we have little left to put toward succeeding.
 
Because that’s what freedom is: a chance to succeed — married with a chance to fail. As a country, we’ve decided that success just isn’t worth the risk of failure.