Politics, the morality of voting, and the hope or hopelessness of Ron Paul’s candidacy aside … this is worth the donations that could put it (or its shorter versions) on television. ADDED: Dave Duffy has a fine editorial on Paul today, too.
Category: Mind and Spirit
Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.
Been collecting again … Your awwwwww story for the day: An unlikely mother. But this is pretty awww-some, too. Especially if you consider what would have happened had the government gotten to the money before an honest man did. The 10 jobs with the happiest workers. (And I’m in two of those jobs; I should be delirious with joy.) The dogs of Cat Island. This is in some ways a horrible story. Yet so weird it’s funny. BTW, this is from the Paladin Press blog, and if you poke around a bit you’ll find a few entries by somebody you…
It really doesn’t seem right to bring this up just before Christmas. Peace on earth and all that. But when Wendy McElroy linked to this article the other day, I knew I’d been remiss. When somebody has to write from Europe asking Americans if its time to resort to the infamous “fourth box” of freedom, I weird keeping my mouth shut or only mildly opinionating about the latest horror-news. When even Obama’s once-dedicated supporters are this angry over the tyrannical perfidy of peace-prize pols … it’s time. No, I’m not saying, “It’s time” in the sense of that phrase that…
No, not the Tea Party of the sort that recently sent a bunch of neo-connish politicians to Congress. The real one the original Boston tea party. (As Bennie so kindly pointed out in a comment.) And yesterday, of course, was Bill of Rights Day. Which I didn’t bother to highlight because … well, what’s the point of putting a spotlight on a rotting corpse, unless you’re directing a horror film?
Through the years, people who knew him told me he was a babbling drunk. Others hated him for his intransigent atheism. After 9-11, he defended some pretty awful political ideas. Yet to the end of his days he remained one of the most readable, gutsy, iconoclastic and strong-minded writers. His repeated debunkings of Mother Teresa were a breath of fresh air — not because the old nun was a bad woman (good or bad, I really don’t know; no doubt a mixed bag like all of us), but because she was the subject of absurdly unhealthy adulation and mythologizing. He…
Paul Allen and Burt Rutan have done it again. Whoohoo! We might make it seriously into space despite the government’s worst efforts. (Tip o’ hat to PT.) I don’t know what Cadbury Schwepps has to do with dogs in cars. But this is a thing of beauty. (And here are more dogs in cars in slow-motion if you liked that.) So. Why wasn’t the police officer charged with reckless endangerment or discharging a firearm in a somewhat inopportune place or …? Ron Paul overtaking Gingrich in Iowa? Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Speaking of Newt, didn’t you think it…
Even lab rats, it seems, have empathy. Now, if only government agents could be raised to that level. I had no idea that my second favorite poem (and the one I most totally identify with) had such universal appeal. Only a government could manage to create a butter crisis. “The best way to understand the Euro Crisis is to get a DVD of “Animal House” starring John Belushi.” Snort! Open letter to some professorial tax eaters from Michael and Debra Jean Dean. The average household has a post-crash net worth of nearly $500,000??? Are you kidding? Where do I sign…
Two on the military: Almost certainly too good to be true. But wouldn’t it be wonderful? (Tip o’ hat to JS.) Definitely true and far less good, particularly in light of the onrushing National Defense Authorization Act ADDED: Speaking of the NDAA, why are they continuing to be so secretive about it even now that it’s gone into conference committee? (Another h/t JS.) And speaking of “too good to be true,” if you were encouraged by the Obama administration’s threat to veto the bill if it contained the military law-enforcement and limitless detention provisions, you can stop now. Our Glorious…
(A rant.) Yesterday were were all supposed to pause and “remember” the bombing of Pearl Harbor, even though most of us weren’t alive then and therefore can’t actually remember it. Of course we should be aware of important historic events. But why is it always a matter of dates and photos and survivor accounts without context? And why must we genuflect only to certain dates? December 7, September 11, July 4? We perform our obeisances to the horrors and tragedies of December 7, 1941, then go about our business. How many of us ever even learned that the very next…
Here’s another oldie on the subject of resisting evil and stepping up to make the world just a tiny bit better. I’d forgotten all about having written it until a friend mentioned it the other day: “Sex, Drugs and Good Deeds.” I guess I can confess now that “Mrs. Smith” was me. Nobody here will be surprised.