Want proof of luck, ESP, and psychic powers?
By John Silveira
Issue #40 • July/August, 1996
We were riding down the Pacific Coast Highway Mac, his girlfriend Carol, and I. Mac's the poker playing friend of Dave Duffy, the fellow who publishes this magazine....
Fake lawsuits, stacked juries, and LAWYERS!
By John Silveira
Issue #89 • September/October, 2004
Mac, that's O.E. MacDougal, our poker playing friend from Southern California, is back. He blew into town yesterday with the good weather and brought his fishing rods, his...
The tenuous hold of honesty in modern America
By John Silveira
Issue #87 • May/June, 2004
The other day I stopped in the middle of Myers Creek Road, just outside of Gold Beach, Oregon, and took some photos of my roommate. It was cold....
Do we need a Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights?
By John Silveira
Issue #53 • September/October, 1998
Once again there is a storm of complaints from American citizens concerning abuses and harassment on the part of a government agency. In the past the offending agencies...
Losing our rights as we watch television
By John Silveira
Issue #44 • March/April, 1997
Dave's poker playing friend, O.E. MacDougal, came back. I don't know where he's been and he doesn't volunteer much in that regard. I'd heard he'd been playing a...
The land of the unfree
By John Silveira
Issue #101 • September/October, 2006
It's official! The numbers are in once again! For I-don't-know-how-many-years-running, the United States, this so-called "land of the free," is imprisoning more people, in both absolute numbers and...
Book Review: Guns Save Lives — True Stories of Americans Defending Their Lives with...
Reviewed By John Silveira
Issue #79 • January/February, 2003
I like movies with heroes: High Noon, Death Wish, Dirty Harry and the like where the good guy comes to the aid of guys like you and...
The meltdown and the bailout: why, how, and what they mean
By John Silveira
Issue #115 • January/February, 2009
To understand how the recent meltdown and bailout came about, you have to know what brought them on. According to some, there are PhDs who have problems grasping...
Helping crackpots kill kids
By John Silveira
February 23, 2000
I've moved to Oregon and one of the first "privileges" in this state I intend to avail myself of is the state's easy-to-obtain concealed weapon permit. Never mind that the...
Questions about global warming
By John Silveira
Issue #108 • November/December, 2007
Global warming is in the news, infesting campaign rhetoric and the plot lines of many movies and TV programs. Our kids are being indoctrinated with its certainty in...
Chuck meets Bubba
By John Silveira
Issue #68 • March/April, 2001
What follows happened a decade and a half ago. I worked in a large corporation where I shared a large cubicle with two other guys. I'll call them...
Thai fried rice
Recipe of the Week
Thai fried rice
Courtesy of
John Silveira
You'll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.Click Here
Ingredients
6-8 oz. thinly sliced chicken (shrimp can be used *)
2-1/2 oz. cooking oil
1 egg
4 cups...
A reason for the Second Amendment
By John Silveira
Issue #141 • May/June, 2013
Right after the shooting of 20 children and 6 teachers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, I was asked by several people, "Does anyone really...
Real-life heroes
By John Silveira
January 15, 2000
TV programs and movies are often about heroes. Here's the thinnest of plots: someone's in trouble and a John Wayne-type character shows up to rescue him--or her. In the meantime...
Magnesium and the International Criminal Court
By John Silveira
Issue #125 • September/October, 2010
There was an interesting ad that ran in BHM for two issues, but it was pulled for lack of response. It was about magnesium, the lack of it...
Why oil and other fossil fuels are good
By John Silveira
Issue #152 • March/April, 2015
Last issue I concluded The Last Word saying I'd "... talk about the myth of oil destroying the environment." But between issues I thought about it and realized...