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

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

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….

War With Iran?

Today we learn that a former FBI agent has now gone missing in Iran. And now, a few questions naturally arise, such as:

1. What was this man doing there? The State Department claims that he was on private business in Iran, but was he really?
2. DId the Iranians capture him, too?
3. What are the Iranians up to?
4. What is the American government up to?
5. Two carrier battle groups were recently deployed to the Persian Gulf, and there have already been skirmishes between US/Coalition forces and Iranian assets in Iraq. Additionally, there are rumors that there are US intelligence operatives already in Iran, laying the groundwork for military operations, and that the US intends to strike next month on Good Friday. Add to that the fact of reports that President Ahmadinejad of Iran hopes to usher in the coming of the Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam. Could we be heading for an all-out war with Iran?
6. If we’re heading for war, what will the streets of Paris, London, Berlin and Rome look like?
7. If war erupts, what will the Russians and Chinese—both on cordial terms with Iran—do?

Gore Is Still a Hypocrite

Last week, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research discovered that Al Gore’s estate in Tennessee consumed large amounts of energy in 2006—more than 20 times the national household average of that year. Last August, Gore used 22,619 kW h of electricity—more than twice the annual national average.

Gore responded by saying that his family uses “green power” by signing up through Green Power Switch and using energy-efficient technologies in their home, and that his family purchases “carbon offsets” to bring their “carbon footprint” very near to zero.

Even though the Gore family does all of this, they are still hypocrites. To understand why, we must first understand the concept of the carbon offset.

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates certain pollution limits on producers, like factories, power plants, and so forth. Producers whose pollution exceeds these limits are fined and expected to comply with the limits. (The economic impact of that policy will not be discussed here; neither shall we here address the complete arbitrariness of these limits.) But some producers are able to keep their pollution considerably below the levels mandated by the EPA. Others who, for various reasons, cannot get their pollution levels beneath the EPA’s limits, can buy carbon offsets or carbon credits from these over-complying producers. These credits are essentially permission slips that allow the possessor to produce a certain amount of pollution over the mandated limits, on the assumption that somewhere else there is a producer that is coming in below the mandated pollution limit, so that the total pollution produced by the possessor of the credit and the seller of the credit is less than or equal to the sum of their allowed limits. Indeed, this is an elegant market-based distribution of resources.

So, Al Gore’s family purchases a number of carbon credits that “allow” his household to produce (directly or indirectly) pollution that is offset by some other entity that has kept its pollution levels some amount below the mandated limits.

Now we need to take a detour of sorts and discuss an apparently unrelated concept in philosophy, called the categorical imperative, and then we will return to environmental issues. The categorical imperative is the fundamental principle of the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and it is best summed up as follows:

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

Or, in other words, the categorical imperative requires that any action one takes should be generalizable and universalizable to everyone.

There are many theories of ethics; why should we pay attention to the categorical imperative? Because Al Gore’s insistence, based on his notions of global warming and environmentalism in general, require that every human being take certain ameliorative actions. These actions invariably reduce to the reduction of consumption. Therefore, Gore’s actions with respect to environmental issues should be universalizable.

But are they? The purchase of carbon credits is essentially the purchase of the permission to pollute above the mandatory limits. But this requires that there be carbon credits to purchase in the first place, and that requires that there are at least some producers who come in below their mandated limits, so that others can remain above them. Gore’s behavior relies on the “good graces,” so to speak, of certain producers so that he can maintain his high consumption. But if everyone were to try to buy carbon credits from everyone else, there could be no carbon credits to purchase. Therefore, Gore’s actions cannot be universalized.

Who, then, is allowed to purchase carbon offsets, and who may not? Invariably, the wealthy will largely be able to do so, and the middle and lower classes will not. If this does not smack of elitism on Gore’s part, I don’t know what would. Gore claims to have “taken initiative in creating the Internet”; why won’t he take initiative to lead the way with “bold leadership” and renounce a lifestyle that Thorstein Veblen would have had a field day with? Why doesn’t he sell his Tennessee estate and move into a hovel made of rubber tires and glass bottles, powered entirely by solar energy? Why won’t he sell his cars and use electric ones, or bicycles? Why doesn’t he give up the home theater, the two ovens, and the other energy drains that his estate surely has? Could it be that he is a fraud and a demagogue?

Back in the 2000 election cycle, I once heard Gore on 20/20, I believe, or one of the news shows, describing his life and ambitions. He once attended Harvard Divinity School, but found it to be unfulfilling and not for him. Eventually, after working in journalism, he turned to politics and found his true calling. After the 2000 election, it would appear that the political avenue toward changing the world has failed. Now, it seems, he has turned to global climate change as a means to “make a difference,” by which is usually meant “to influence people.” But suppose I don’t want to be influenced?

Official: Agency testing machine, but draft not imminent – CNN.com

Link to Official: Agency testing machine, but draft not imminent – CNN.com

The draft is evil, immoral and illegal. Consider Section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

The draft is, ipso facto, involuntary servitude.

But even if there were no Thirteenth Amendment, it would still be immoral, and it would fly, even as it does now, directly in the face of American ideals of the free society. “[A]ll men are created equal,” states the Declaration of Independence, “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” When a person is impressed into service, whether it be slavery, military conscription, or any other such thing, that person’s life and liberty are severely restricted. So also is that individual’s capacity to pursue happiness. Thus, such an institution, when it is not done as a punishment for crime, is inherently un-American and contrary to the very principles our free society is founded on.

“But how will we fight wars?” some may ask. I reply: If you cannot get your people to fight your war, then your war is not worth fighting.

Technorati tags: freedom, draft, war, liberty, libertarianism, free society

My Dream MP3 Player

So far as I know, My Dream MP3 Player does not yet exist. My Dream MP3 Player must play the following formats:

• MPEG audio (MP3)
• AAC/MP4
• WMA
• FLAC
• OGG

The lossless formats (i.e., not FLAC) should be playable at a range between 20 kb/s to 320 kb/s, and VBR should be supported as well as CBR. And bonus points to the OEM who provides WMA Lossless support as well. ID3 tag support is mandatory, and ReplayGain support would be a welcome extra.

So far, the TrekStor Vibez comes closest to my dream. But it comes short in these ways:

• No AAC/MP4 support
• Incomplete VBR support (MP3, OGG and FLAC only; not WMA)
• No WMA Lossless support
• No ReplayGain support

(I’ll admit that those last two features are not must-haves.) Perhaps the second-generation Vibez will have all of these features.

Technorati tags: digital, music, audio, mp3, player, trekstor vibez, vibez, trekstor, aac, wma, flac, ogg