Watch the White House Astroturf the Senate with Twitter

I just came across “Tweet Your Senator,” in which you can enter your ZIP code and send a tweet to one of your senators. Naturally, every message is in favor of the so-called “health care reform,” and the text of each message is only one of about five or so predefined messages. A fine example of astroturfing in our digital age.

Insane, Incompetent Government

If your name is James Robinson, then you’re in trouble.

Can anyone tell me with a straight face that this terror watch list is a good idea?

Never Delay a Prompting

Thomas S. Monson, sixteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, once said:

Never delay a prompting. When you honor a prompting and then stand back a pace, you realize that the Lord gave you the prompting. It makes me feel good that the Lord even knows who I am and knows me well enough to know that if He has an errand to be run and He prompts me to run the errand, the errand will get done. That’s the testimony of my life.

From the LDS Newsroom.

Technorati tags: charity, kindness, service, lds, mormon, christianity

Mike Gravel is a Libertarian(?)

Yesterday, on the campaign website of former long-shot Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel, we find A Personal Message from Mike. The upshot of the message is that he’s joined the Libertarian Party because “the Democratic Party today is no longer the party of FDR. It is a party that continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex and imperialism—all of which I find anathema to my views.”

Now, whether the Democratic Party is still the party of FDR is one thing, but certainly FDR sustained war, itching to get the United States into the second world war. Clearly he was not anti-war, and one might argue that his policies might have had a tinge of imperialism to them. Let us also not forget that World War II and the subsequent Cold War gave us the military-industrial complex.

Now, one would think that, from Gravel’s statement, that since the Democratic Party is, in his view, no longer the party of FDR, and he is leaving it and joining the Libertarian Party because of that, that he believes that the Libertarian Party is the party of FDR, or the closest thing to it.

But has he not read the party’s platform? Does he not know what libertarianism is? Remember that FDR gave us Social Security and the beginnings of the modern welfare state. Now, anyone with but a cursory understanding of libertarianism knows that the welfare state is anathema to the libertarian. See Article II of the party’s platform: “We believe that all individuals have the right to dispose of the fruits of their labor as they see fit and that government has no right to take such wealth. We oppose government-enforced charity such as welfare programs and subsidies….” It is a core principle of libertarianism, founded in the notion of individual rights (especially property rights) to do away with the welfare state. I doubt severely, though, that Mike Gravel wants to, given what he’s said and what he’s stood for from the past through the present.

If Mike Gravel really is looking for “the party of FDR,” he certainly hasn’t found it in the Libertarian Party.

Technorati tags: politics, mike gravel, libertarianism, libertarian party

Venezuela deploys troops to Colombian border

What I want to know is, whatever happened to the “democratic peace” theory?

From MSNBC.

Have I died in a knitting accident?

Or a blogging accident? Or in a Google traffic accident?

I wonder what Hillary Claus will bring me for Christmas!

But suppose I don’t want what she brings me?

Disgusting.

Muhammadolatry

I find Muslims’ reverence of their prophet fascinating. As I understand it, Islam forbids any graphical depiction of Muhammad because any such depictions might lead to idolatry. This prohibition against depicting Muhammad borders, it seems to me, on the idea that he is somehow ineffable, or too holy to be shown in imagery. But does this not belie the Muslims’ intent to prohibit the idolatrous worship of Muhammad? Have they made him too holy, too ineffable, too sacrosanct, and in so doing, are they knocking at the door of actual worship?

From Danish election ad reignites Muhammad cartoon controversy | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Delightful Star Trek News

It’s been revealed at Comic-Con in San Diego that Zachary Quinto of “Heroes” has been cast in the role of Spock in the upcoming Star Trek movie! Further, we have an official announcement from CBS that the remastered version of Star Trek: The Original Series will be available on DVD and HD-DVD on 20 November of this year!You know, as I examined pictures of Quinto, I could see some vague resemblance to Spock. Word also has it that Leonard Nimoy will be in the film, too, perhaps as an older Spock or maybe as Sarek or some other Vulcan (or in some other role altogether, for that matter).People thought that, with the end of Enterprise in 2005, Star Trek would fade away. How wrong they are. 

On Open Letter to Steve Jobs

I just came across An Open Letter to Steve Jobs, and I couldn’t agree more. The Mac Mini is an attractive machine, but if it were just a little more expandable….