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POPSMcCain backs gun decision, Obama straddles issue Since Obama is a constitutional lawyer by trade you have to think what his motive for playing the field with this one. He of all people should not only understand where the Con. stands on this, but also the reasons why the right to bear arms is even in it. Any argument that says he's just courting the conservatives doesn't hold any water. We have the right to bear arms specifically in the case that our government is usurped from us and we have to retaliate. The would never be any greater or more noble a reason than this. Any person who both says that we should trust him with the FISA compromise as well as consider the government's right to take our arms away smells like the enemy to me. I am not a gun owner myself but appreciate the reasoning this is in the Con. Obama is starting to scare me, he may be charming but his words belie a very disconcerting position on the role of government and seem fascist to me.
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POPSThe Price Of Food: 2007 Versus 2008 This page was unfortunately incredibly difficult to clip. I apologize for the terrible formatting of the info and encourage you to view the actual site. The numbers are interesting, especially with Field Crops.
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POPSCapitalism: Govt. Regulation Is Stifling Energy Innovation You can't maximize profits when you pay too much for R&D and the energy industry is run by interests who would rather make as much money as possible than provide forward thinking innovation. This is the continuing curse of capitalism. Capitalism encourages closed research. It's time we started thinking about shifting necessary industry away from this model and more towards open source. Everyone benefits when we share knowledge. Only the elite win when knowledge is corralled and controlled.
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POPSKill Switches in devices could lead to authorities having control over your gadgets. This is more of the erosion of property rights. Those in power would love it for no-one to own property. If you buy a device that can ultimately be deactivated by the manufacturer or other authorities, this means they can deprive you of the use of something you own. I've been monitoring the erosion of personal property and am still amazed at the myriad of ways industries come up with in depriving consumers of rights. First the RIAA decided you never own music, you license it, the same goes for software. Now it's moving to hardware.
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POPSObama Vows to Continue Bush's Assault on the Constitution! I am speechless. I was going to vote for Obama until I learned this. I simply can not vote for anyone who sells out our constitutional rights. I feel a little crushed right now (only a little, I am primarily an anarchist). I just wanted an eloquent, seemingly humanist, president for a change. but now I see my old belief still holds true; Obama is just another head of the same beast, all be it more literate and better dressed. This is beyond the pale! I guess I needed this to wake me from my romanticized stupor. I was swayed by his charisma but now see his true colors and they are not red, white and blue. The linked article summed it up best: "as a Constitutional Law Professor, he knows full well what a radical perversion of our Constitution this bill is, and yet he's supporting it anyway. Anyone who sugarcoats or justifies that is doing a real disservice to their claimed political values and to the truth. "
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POPSBoy Dies From Urinary Tract Infection While Parents Pray I never understood this logic. I mean, if you believe in the sheep-god, then surely you believe the sheep-god gave mankind the knowledge to heal. Healing is a positive thing right, so not likely of Satan. (Geez, trying to apply logic to Christianity is like trying to apply gauze to a porcupine.) So why avoid doctors? Ignorance can be fatal. When I was 14 and suffering from migraines my mother wanted me to go see a priest and get a "laying on of hands." I made it clear we should go see a doctor and I would have none of her medieval cures, that to me sounded about as good as passing a baby under a horse three times.
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POPSMcCain in 2005: Gitmo Detainees Deserve Trials Or Should Be Released This clip contains direct quotes from McCain when he appeared on Meet the Press almost exactly three years ago and is easily referenced in the Lexis/Nexis. McCain is a blatant doublespeaker. He will say whatever is necessary to garner the support he wants. It's not about right or wrong for him, it's not about ethics, hell, it's not even about what the American people want. It's purely about playing the game for him and you simply can not trust a person whose doublespeak is as egregious as his. He doesn't even believe his own words, those being fed to him by the "divinity" of the masters who rule him.
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POPSRecording Industry Decries AM-FM Broadcasting as 'A Form of Piracy' I'm sick of this word "Piracy". It's connotations of "stealing" as the RIAA likes to marry to the former. If I steal something I have deprived you of something as in stealing a car deprives you of said car. Theft of the material and tangible. But taking something that can be infinitely copied; seems brazen to call that stealing. The idea that the loss of "potential" profits doesn't stand with me either. To me that's just a way of saying "We have plenty, but we want even more." I'm fortunate that many of my favorite musicians have left this model behind (NIN, Radiohead to name two) and have taken the stance that music is meant to be heard and not hoarded.
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POPSStephen Hawking turned down knighthood
In an interview with Harlan Ellison I read recently at the Onion Av Club, he said something that mirrors this attitude but put a very fine point on it. After listening to a Jesuit priest give his personal interpretation of one of Ellison's stories, one that was terribly incorrect. Ellison took the stage and said this: "Well," I said, "what was your name again?" He said, "William," I said, "Well, look, Billy," because the minute you have to start calling someone "Father," you've lost the argument. And that's the problem with titles right there. The moment you have to call someone by one, you've already lost the argument. Where I work, I occasionally get doctors that insist with an air of arrogance that I refer to them by Dr. Well I work in a tech field and could care less what your damn title is. I know more than you if you are calling me for help and referring to you as such places me at a societal disadvantage. From that point on you don't even have a name to me. You are merely
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