The Quantum-Mechanic 2.0

My new website

2009-01-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hey family and friends, I am pleased to announce that I have a new website which will became the primary hub of my writing on the intersection of politics, government, and the Christian faith - LibertarianChristians.com. I hope that you will all consider checking it out and either subscribing to the RSS feed or the emails.

This blog will still be in operation but will be less frequent in updating, especially as I am building the site. But if you're looking for me on the World Wide Web, it won't be hard over at the new site! See you there!

The State silences pure talent

2008-12-08T16:19:00.001-08:00

Tell me, can you deny that this kid has talent? Of course not, but since the state owns this kid they can tell him what he can and cannot do...

The Right is wrong, part gazillion.

2008-12-03T14:56:00.001-08:00

From the DUH News department, we find out that Obama is appointing war hawks and idiots that are so bad even the Right likes them. Who is the more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him?

Right-Wingers and Neocons Love Obama's Cabinet Appointments | War on Iraq | AlterNet

As Barack Obama's opus, Team of Rivals, continues its rolling debut, the early reviews are in and the "critics" are full of praise for the cast:

"[T]he new administration is off to a good start."
-- Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.

"[S]uperb ... the best of the Washington insiders ... this will be a valedictocracy -- rule by those who graduate first in their high school classes."
-- David Brooks, conservative New York Times columnist

"[V]irtually perfect ... "
-- Senator Joe Lieberman, former Democrat and John McCain's top surrogate in the 2008 campaign.

"[R]eassuring."
-- Karl Rove, "Bush's brain."

"I am gobsmacked by these appointments, most of which could just as easily have come from a President McCain ... this all but puts an end to the 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, the unconditional summits with dictators, and other foolishness that once emanated from the Obama campaign ... [Hillary] Clinton and [James] Steinberg at State should be powerful voices for 'neo-liberalism' which is not so different in many respects from 'neo-conservativism.'"
-- Max Boot, neoconservative activist, former McCain staffer.

"I see them as being sort of center-right of the Democratic party."
-- James Baker, former Secretary of State and the man who led the theft of the 2000 election.

"[S]urprising continuity on foreign policy between President Bush's second term and the incoming administration ... certainly nothing that represents a drastic change in how Washington does business. The expectation is that Obama is set to continue the course set by Bush ... "
-- Michael Goldfarb of the neoconservative Weekly Standard.

"I certainly applaud many of the appointments ... "
-- Senator John McCain

"So far, so good."
-- Senator Lamar Alexander, senior Republican Congressional leader.

Hillary Clinton will be "outstanding" as Secretary of State
-- Henry Kissinger, war criminal

Rahm Emanuel is "a wise choice" in the role of Chief of Staff
-- Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, John McCain's best friend.

Obama's team shows "Our foreign policy is non-partisan."
-- Ed Rollins, top Republican strategist and Mike Huckabee's 2008 campaign manager

"The country will be in good hands."
-- Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush's Secretary of State

How to Establish Domestic Fascism

2008-12-01T09:52:00.001-08:00

So, anybody still not convinced that we are steadily moving towards totalitarianism?

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.

BSG Season 4.5 Preview ONLINE!

2008-11-28T14:52:00.001-08:00

The Epic Journey - Season 4.5 | Videos | SCI FI Video

Are you excited? I am thrilled because it's about time!

More terible news from the Fed

2008-11-26T07:27:00.001-08:00

FRB: Press Release-- Federal Reserve Announces Purchases of Direct Oblications from GSEs - November 25th, 2008

The Federal Reserve announced on Tuesday that it will initiate a program to purchase the direct obligations of housing-related government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)--Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks--and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. Spreads of rates on GSE debt and on GSE-guaranteed mortgages have widened appreciably of late. This action is being taken to reduce the cost and increase the availability of credit for the purchase of houses, which in turn should support housing markets and foster improved conditions in financial markets more generally.Purchases of up to $100 billion in GSE direct obligations under the program will be conducted with the Federal Reserve's primary dealers through a series of competitive auctions and will begin next week. Purchases of up to $500 billion in MBS will be conducted by asset managers selected via a competitive process with a goal of beginning these purchases before year-end. Purchases of both direct obligations and MBS are expected to take place over several quarters. Further information regarding the operational details of this program will be provided after consultation with market participants.

Whoo hoo!!! My mortgage is being paid for by EVERYBODY now! Ok not really, I was thrifty and didn't buy what I couldn't afford, so I'm in the clear. Nevertheless, once again the Fed proves they need to be eliminated. I just don't see how monetarists can think that their ideas work.

My new blog...

2008-11-25T22:09:00.001-08:00

i have begun a second blog for spreading ideas about political and economic liberty from a Christian point of view. I have been compiling ideas for posts, and I'll begin rolling them out in the near future. I'll be posting essays I have written, things to ponder, exegeses on Scripture, movie and book reviews, article links, and musings on current events. So far, I have been collecting some of my own writings and getting them ready to be posted here. Some of them can be rather long for a typical blog post, and I anticipate dividing them into multiple sections.

It will be quite different from what I normally write on this blog, but some of what I would you see here will henceforth be on the other blog. So take a look, read a little, and add it to your RSS feed reader!

Link: The Christian Libertarian.

Is this the end of the American economy?

2008-11-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

Bloomberg: Fed Pledges 7.4 Trillion in New Money.

This is it. The Fed has declared war on the economy and thereby every market participant, and they have prepped their weapons of mass destruction.

Quoting the article: “The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago. The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $2.8 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the only plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis.”

I already knew that 3 trillion in monetary expansion was in the works. I heard it live from the President of the Dallas Fed about a month ago when he came to Austin and talked about this “off the record”. I personally challenged him the about the wisdom of such a decision. I asked him how he could expect the same monetary policies that created this crisis could be used to solve it, and even if it did temporarily how he could expect that even in the mid-term horizon that the same problems would not occur all over again. He said in response, and I quote: “You just gotta have faith – faith in the Federal Reserve, faith in Congress that they will make the right decision, and faith in the Executive, whoever is elected, that he will make the right decision.”

I should have asked him how other faith-based initiatives have been working out for the government lately, or that I thought matters of faith should be reserved only for God, quantum mechanics, and the quality of frozen pizzas. Too bad I’m not THAT quick. Too bad I was too shocked to say anything at the time. Three trillion is disaster, seven trillion is… unspeakable.

They should have listened – to Mises, to Hayek, to Rothbard, to Ron Paul. Heck, even Milton Friedman more or less repudiated monetarism later in life. Instead, they chose Keynes, Stiglitz, Krugman, Greenspan, Bernanke, Paulson, McCain, and Obama. You reap what you sow.

Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

2008-11-20T05:29:00.001-08:00

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

I'm giving a lecture on business cycle theory today. This seems relevant... Note: there is a smidgen of language...

LHC more likely to find a black hole for cash than a higgs boson

2008-11-17T13:05:00.001-08:00

The Great Beyond: LHC repairs get pricier

More bad news from the Large Hadron Collider.

Repairing the damage from the electrical failure earlier this year will run to $21 million, according to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (AP). The original cost estimate for the repair was around $80,000, not including labour and the spares.

In addition, the particle collider will not be up and running before June. Previously it was suggested the particles could be whizzing round the ring by April (AFP).

“There is still a lot of work to do and we want to be sure that everything is in order before starting up,” says spokesman James Gillies (AFP / AP). “If we can do it sooner, all well and good. But I think we can do it realistically (in) early summer.”

Can you believe this garbage? This project originally cost the world economy about 10 billion dollars, an astronomical sum to say the least, and it isn't even getting close to accomplishing its mission. What a waste! This illustrates perfectly the problems of socialism -- that the central planners will tend not to choose projects that actually produce new goods and services efficiently because there is no adequate way to count the costs.

Need a laptop battery?

2008-11-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

I own an IBM Thinkpad X31 laptop, and I use it to do most of my work for UT, AGST, and the church. It has functioned as an excellent tool for a long time, save for one issue: battery life. From the start, it lasted only about an hour, and it continually declined in quality over time. Now, the battery only holds up for about 15 minutes. Pretty bad, eh?

So I started looking around the net for new batteries. They ain't cheap, lemme tell ya. But I found some nice sites that specialized in replacement batteries for electronics of all sorts. Enter AtBatt.com. Not only did they have some an excellent selection, but they also have a student discount program. I thought, "what the hey, maybe they're serious..." and filled out the app. Within a day, I got an email saying they were more than happy to give me a discounted new battery. I called their phone, and had a great conversation with one of their head guys (Steve). He's a Christian interested in doing more than good business - he's also looking to help the environment through free market means by promoting eco-friendly rechargeable batteries.

I think these guys are pretty smart. They bought me as a customer AND they're working to spread some good around. That's some swell business right there. This is one of the easiest and best online shopping experiences I've had. Maybe if you're looking for a new battery for your laptop, camera, cell phone, or pretty much any electronic device you can imagine, you can check them out too.

So yeah, this is kind of like a sales pitch, but so what? Why not commend these folks who are doing good, honest business and talk about how they helped me out? That's the stuff the free market is made of!

Best of luck to you, Steve and the crew...

Let the scorn begin, huzzah!

2008-11-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

I've seen a few very interesting articles in the last couple of days.

Restoring Reaganism by Deroy Murdock on National Review Online

Comrade George W. Bush has spearheaded the most aggressive federal expansion since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As a delivery system for socialism, he has been the most effective Trojan Horse since that pine steed rolled into Troy.When Bush arrived, Washington consumed 18.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Uncle Sam now devours 22.5 percent of the economy, reported Jon Ward in the October 19 Washington Times. “The country has gone from a $128 billion budget surplus when Mr. Bush took office to a deficit of at least $732 billion in fiscal 2009,” Ward writes. “No president since FDR — who offered a New Deal to pull the nation out of the Great Depression and then fought World War II — has presided over as rapid a growth in government when measured as a percentage of the total economy.” While much of Bush’s spending has funded defense and the War on Terror, most of it vanished into the furnaces of No Child Left Behind, the 2002 Farm Bill, the 2003 Medicare drug entitlement, the 2005 highway bill, the 2006 ethanol mandate, at least 69,341 earmarks, and much, much more. In 2001, Bush launched federal embryonic stem-cell research. By 2008, he added the word “nationalization” to the American vocabulary, and underscored it with nearly $1 trillion in bailouts and Third World—-style government ownership stakes in banks and financial houses.

Wow! Somebody in National Review calling Bush a socialist? Are we that close to Armageddon? Perhaps over the next few years the big NR will start actually calling for small government and being serious. But don't hold your breath. Those of us with a brain know that even Reagan wasn't that good on spending. His administration accounts for two of the top-5 latest in the year "Freedom from Government" days, the day when the GDP effectively stops paying for government action.

American Thinker: Barack Obama, Legal Scholar

Nobody can deny that Barack Obama has an impressive list of titles to his name as a lawyer. But when it comes to actual substance as a lawyer and a scholar, very few accomplishments can be pointed to. The pattern of leaving no footprints when it comes to ideas should raise questions in the eyes of voters still trying to understand the man behind the public persona of Barack Obama.

So basically, Obama being a legal demi-god is a myth. LOL.

Peter Hitchens: The night we waved goodbye to America...our last best hope on Earth | Mail Online

The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilisation. At least Mandela-worship – its nearest equivalent – is focused on a man who actually did something... Just look at his sermon by the shores of Lake Michigan. He really did talk about a ‘new dawn’, and a ‘timeless creed’ (which was ‘yes, we can’). He proclaimed that ‘change has come’. He revealed that, despite having edited the Harvard Law Review, he doesn’t know what ‘enormity’ means. He reached depths of oratorical drivel never even plumbed by our own Mr Blair, burbling about putting our hands on the arc of history (or was it the ark of history?) and bending it once more toward the hope of a better day (Don’t try this at home).I am not making this up. No wonder that awful old hack Jesse Jackson sobbed as he watched. How he must wish he, too, could get away with this sort of stuff.

This article comes from my dear friend Grant. The writing is excellent!

V for Vendetta as Orwellian Victory

2008-11-07T20:43:00.001-08:00

In honor of the recent passing of November the Fifth and the recent passing of power from one tyrant to the next, I just finished watching the movie V for Vendetta, one of my personal favorite films. V is excellent on so many levels, but only if you have the eyes to see.

"So if you see nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest you allow the Fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what i see; if you feel as i feel; and if you would seek as i seek, then I ask you to stand beside me."

This time, I was struck by how closely V resembles Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four. There is one critical difference, though. In Orwell, the bad guys win. Orwell missed something fundamental about human existence: the indefatigable human pursuit of liberty. In the end, tyranny cannot survive. In the end, truth wins. The Remnant will remind the world of what we were meant to be.

This is what excites us about V. The face under the mask doesn't matter, it is truth that stirs our passion.

"Beneath this mask is more than flesh. Beneath this mask is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof!"

Orwell's world ends with the protagonist's death and no hope in sight. It is nothing but a warning against a compelling and frightening future. That image has served us well, but it is not enough. V picks up the pieces and correctly constructs the philosophy that takes us forward.

"His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words - they are perspectives."

Do you get it yet? If you understand, you are one of the few. Freedom forever!

***
Edit 11/10:
Interested in the original graphic novel of V for Vendetta? Buy it on Amazon.com.

Who is to blame for Obamunism?

2008-11-04T05:54:00.001-08:00

In a few hours, America -- even "real America" -- will have elected one of the worst conceivable presidents ever. That's saying something considering the criticism I've laid against presidents in general for some time now. Well, some so-called conservatives, many of whom I interact with regularly, will ask themselves: How did this happen? The answer is simple, my friends.

You did it.

Conservatism died under Bush and the Republican controlled house and Senate from 2000 to 2006. And all the while, conservatives, you kept capitulating to the demands of a tyrant. November 4th, 2008 is the burial.

I know why you did it, too. You were afraid. V knew it too.

"Truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look in to a mirror. I know why you did it, I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease, there were a myriad of problems that conspired to corrupt your reason and cut off your common sense. Fear got the best of you."

I hope you wake up someday. Maybe November 5th?

"Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the annunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country."

V for Vendetta Televised Speech

UT Libertarians in the news

2008-10-29T21:53:00.001-07:00

The Daily Texan - Libertarians unite in Texas

Armed with ideals and alternatives, Stutsman was one of six national and local Libertarian Party candidates at a forum held by the Libertarian Longhorns in the Engineering Teaching Center Monday. Stutsman, a Libertarian congressional candidate, was joined by congressional candidates Matt Finkel and Jim Strohm, senatorial candidate Yvonne Schick, Texas House candidate Allen Hacker and county commissioner candidate Wes Benedict.

and then...The Daily Texan - Voters often overlook local candidates

Norman Horn, a graduate student and member of Libertarian Longhorns, said the group is open to endorsing candidates of every political stripe but encourages individual members to make their own decisions when it comes to supporting candidates.“Libertarian Longhorns is not specifically a partisan group,” he said. “We support any and all candidates who are liberty-minded,” which Horn explained was “freedom for the individual.”Horn cited the group’s endorsement of Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas, in the Republican primary earlier this year as the across-party-lines view of the Libertarian Longhorns.“The group as a whole represents a lot of different backgrounds,” he said. “We tend to withhold any endorsement unless we’re absolutely convinced of [a candidate’s] integrity.”

Pretty cool, eh?

I voted, praise me

2008-10-25T06:24:00.001-07:00

I voted, praise me
I participated in the democratic process
Or is it democratic fleecing?
To take from one man to give to another man
To abscond with power in subtle ways
To continue setting life and death in their hands
Praise me, that’s what the sticker says

***
My poor attempt at free-form poetry…
My conscience is clear as to how I voted, but I was more pleased to explain the Sumerian symbol of freedom on my t-shirt to the poll-worker than to cast my ballot.

An almost legitimate conspiracy theory?

2008-10-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

New York Fed to Discontinue Publication of its Weekly Statement of Condition - Federal Reserve Bank of New York

October 16, 2008 The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will cease publication of its weekly Statement of Condition with the October 30, 2008 release. The information will continue to be available on the Board of Governors’ Statistical Release H.4.1 Factors Affecting Reserve Balances, Table 5 Statement of Condition of Each Federal Reserve Bank.The H.4.1 is released each Thursday, generally at 4:30 p.m. ET.Contact:Public Affairs(212) 720-6130(646) 720-6130general.info@ny.frb.org

Uh huh. Sure. Just when the economy is at its worst in something like 30 years and the Federal Reserve and Federal Government have proposed the most socialistic policies ever devised on U.S. soil, the Fed ceases publishing its traditional weekly report. Riiiiight.

The United States: More Socialist than Canada

2008-09-28T14:25:00.001-07:00

The Associated Press: Who wins, who loses under proposed bailout plan?

So the passing of a bailout plan seems imminent, maybe as soon as tomorrow. Unbelievable, isn't it? That in a few short weeks, the bankruptcy of the system is exposed so deeply?

This bailout plan is beyond stupid. First, it is plainly political; the current regime HAS to do something, lest they get blamed and thrown out of power (which would be fine by many people I know). Like Ron Paul has said, when everybody in Washington gets together to do something big and "Bipartisan", you know we are headed for disaster.

Second, it is being done with extraordinary haste. The last time legislation was piecemealed together and passed so quickly, we got the Patriot Act. That sure worked well, didn't it?

Third, it is being done without proper knowledge of the causes. This insanity in the banking system is due to the monetary expansionist policy of the Federal Reserve, but this point seems to have escaped Washington. Quoting oh-so-daddy-dearest of the US of A, "There is now widespread agreement on the major principles. We must free up the flow of credit to consumers and businesses by reducing the risk posed by troubled assets."

Oh, Mr. President, I have three words for you...

GET A GRIP!

Jon Stewart: "What's a few more bad loans?"

2008-09-27T16:27:00.001-07:00

Pardon the censored french, but this segment from Jon Stewart is rather hilarious.

Libertarian Longhorns on "Live and Let Live"

2008-09-24T08:46:00.001-07:00

I'm sure some of you have been watching the workings of the market recently with great interest. A lot of strange things are going on with the virtual collapse of Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac, AIG, Goldman-Sachs, Morgan-Stanley, Wamu, and many, many more institutions. The effect is worldwide, and isn't going to end anytime soon. I recently was interviewed along with two of my college friends on the show "Live and Let Live", a local television show in Austin. We were there to talk about our campus group called the Libertarian Longhorns, but we spent about 35 minutes talking through the problems of socialism and the current recession. They also record and stream the show online, so if you're interested in learning a little about this stuff, here's a link to the show:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/727855

At about 19 minutes in, Daniel begins talking about the problems of socialism. At 26 minutes in (I think), we start getting into the causes of the financial crisis.

I'll try to embed it here...

A great ticket doesn't even need a vice president...

2008-09-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

Breaking News!!! McCain and Obama FAILED TO FILE IN TEXAS!!!

2008-08-27T19:03:00.001-07:00

This is huge and, if the media actually COVERED this, would be an amazing demonstration of whether or not governments will actually be HONEST (don't know about you, but I'm skeptical).

McCain and Obama have FAILED to file to be on the Texas general election ballot before the deadline. Now, they must BREAK THE RULES AND THE LAW in order to do it. So let's just see how much respect for the law they have.

2008 November General Election Candidates

At this very moment, I am watching the news announcing Obama as the OFFICIAL nominee of the Democratic Party. Whoop-ti-freaking-doo.

How to Eliminate War (with the Olympics)

2008-08-19T05:07:00.000-07:00

The Olympic Games have historically represented a time of peace for the world. The sacred city of Olympia, the site of the games of ancient Greece, forbade the possession of weapons within its borders. A special “Olympic Peace” was proclaimed throughout the land to allow spectators and athletes travel safely to and from the games.

French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin created the International Olympic Committee in 1894 with the explicit goal of influencing the world for peace. Coubertin once said, “Wars break out because nations misunderstand each other. We shall not have peace until the prejudices which now separate the different races shall have been outlived. To attain this end, what better means than to bring the youth of all countries periodically together for amicable trials of muscular strength and agility?” The first Olympic games took place in 1896, but the IOC did not formalize the ideal of the Olympic truce until a century later, in 1992. Since 1993, the UN General Assembly adopts a resolution every two years that invites the member states to observe the truce during the games.

This tradition raises an interesting question: If we can call a truce for sixteen days so that the countries of the world can participate in the Olympic games, why hold the games only once every two years? Why not every year, and for a longer period of time? Why not thirty days? Surely that wouldn’t be very difficult. But then, why not three months? For that matter, why not hold the Olympics year-round? Then we could have peace (and sports) all the time!

“Whoa there, hold on!” you say. “Thirty days might be possible, but all the time? Surely you jest, oh silly Olympics fanatic! How could we afford year-round games? How could we solve international problems? How will disputes be arbitrated? How could we manage our imperialist ways?”

True, holding the Olympics year-round would be incredibly expensive. Running the Beijing games cost the Chinese over 1.8 billion dollars (1.22 billion Euros) minus revenues – and that’s just for sixteen days! Let’s make a liberal estimate on extended costs. For one month, it would cost roughly 3.5 billion dollars. Multiply that by 12, and you’re talking 42 billion dollars per year. That’s a lot of money... but it’s only a fraction of what the United States spends on Iraq. The war in Iraq has already cost United States taxpayers over $800 billion, and in this year alone the budget for the war is $196 billion. The Congressional Budget Office is even calling it the Trillion-Dollar War. I’m pretty sure it would be more affordable to just fund year-round Olympics than have year-round war.

True, countries could no longer point guns and set up blockades to coerce others into doing their bidding, but there would be a mechanism for resolving disputes – the games themselves! Suppose the United States and Russia get mad at each other (or rather, their governments get mad at each other) and they can’t reach a diplomatic solution. Instead of taking up arms and blowing cities to kingdom come, each country picks an event of their choice, and they agree on a third event. Best two out of three wins! They have to accept the result or other countries will ostracize them for being bad sports. And considering they just avoided massive financial losses from the wanton destruction of war, both are now better off!

Yes, it could get complicated, but we surely have to admit that perpetual sports is better than perpetual war. At least in the Olympics, no civilians die from stray shot-puts or loose javelins!

Think of the further advantages of this kind of system. First, the rules are well-defined, unlike in war, and there are no Geneva Conventions you can conveniently ignore when you need to “enhance” your interrogation techniques. Steroids might be a problem, but that could be dealt with if necessary. If an employer can take a urine sample correctly, I’m positive that the governments of the world can figure this out.

Second, the Olympic games are, quite simply, more fun for everyone. War is hell, as they say, and even though the Olympics aren’t heaven they surely are a step up from hell. Who doesn’t like sports? Certainly mothers and fathers would be much more comfortable sending their kids off to learn the backstroke than to learn how to kill en masse. International politics could become a family outing, rather than the untouchable subject at the dinner table. In fact, Olympic games politics might provide just the right incentive to get young people more civically involved – that’s what all the government schools want, right?

Third, the Olympic games could foster a sense of national unity better than a war ever could. Imagine the United States getting behind Michael Phelps swimming his way to resolving territory disputes, or the USA Basketball Team showing Britain that we do NOT want the Kyoto Protocol. Better yet, why not have the world leaders – the ones who think it’s their right to impose their will upon others – participate in the events? Bush versus Kim Jong-il – who gets to keep his nukes? In the team sports, let the administrations duke it out. Bush Co. versus Ahmadinejad-and-other-long-named-guys – be there and watch Cheney leap over Mahmoud to victory! Now that’s drama. Who could ask for more?
Alright, enough of all this strange and silly talk. We all know that perpetual Olympic games could never bring about world peace. Unfortunately, even participating countries have repeatedly broken resolutions they signed regarding the Olympic truce. Did Operation Iraqi Freedom stop for one moment during 2002, 2004, or 2006? Are current operations on hiatus? Absolutely not.

So what’s the point?

Politics from the very beginning has marred the renewed Olympic tradition. The paradox of rectifying international peace and nationalism continues to cast an eerie shadow over an experience that challenges people to look beyond borders. Most importantly, few of the participating countries have any desire to honor the Olympic truce, including the United States. Should this be any surprise? Not really. The nature of the state is antithetical to peace, as its very existence depends upon continual coercion against its citizens. As Randolph Bourne says, “War is the health of the state.” The state sets up a completely artificial us-them mentality based upon imaginary lines on a map. Those within the state are the good guys (unless they’re part of the other major party) and everybody else outside it is potentially a bloodthirsty fiend. In some sense, the Olympics could never on its own break through these barriers, but we can appreciate Coubertin’s vision for peace.

Although the symbolic truces of the Olympic games have some value, the nations of earth must realize that lasting peace is preserved not through millions of guns, but rather through the millions of goods and services they can trade with others. When we cooperate non-violently with one another as free people through free enterprise, we build relationships with a foundation of respect and mutual admiration. On the other hand, as we cease to interact peaceably we lay a foundation of enmity. Frederic Bastiat once said, “When goods don't cross borders, soldiers eventually will.” May we take heed of Bastiat’s wisdom and encourage peace through cooperation, Olympian and otherwise.

Blog Renovations...

2008-08-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

I'm trying to figure out ways to make my blog more visually appealing and interesting for all parties. I realize that I do not get much traffic, and that's primarily my fault. I simply have not been willing to put forward the time to make it as excellent as can be. However, I hope that during this Fall I can step it up and put forward some interesting information for all.

Suggestions are welcome. Oh small-number-of-readers, please comment on what you think I could do to make this blog better!

Texas Libertarians Dish It Out to Both Sides

2008-08-08T07:20:00.001-07:00

TRAIL BLAZERS Blog | The Dallas Morning News

Pat Dixon, Austin native and LP phenomenon, slaps down a Democrat criticism and tells Republicans that they have betrayed their principles. Respectfully, of course.

I hope someday that Pat Dixon runs for the LP nomination for President. Maybe I could be his running mate? LOL, that would be awesome!

Jimmy Durante and the NRA

2008-08-04T08:20:00.001-07:00

No, not that NRA. I'm talking about the National Recovery Administration established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which helped prolong the Great Depression for years. Follow the link below to see the promo that Jimmy Durante made for the NRA...

Internet Archive: Details: [National Recovery Administration (NRA) Promo]

The Mai Tai.

2008-07-15T21:17:00.001-07:00

This is what you drink when you're in Hawai'i...

Be jealous.

Two interesting and relevant Antiwar.com articles today...

2008-07-10T15:24:00.001-07:00

Reality Bites Back: Why the US Won't Attack Iran - by Tom Engelhardt

Fisking Feith's Faulty Case for War - by David R. Henderson

Barack O'Cain

2008-07-10T12:13:00.001-07:00

Totally awesome bumper sticker.

At least 69% of the Senate is PURE EVIL

2008-07-10T06:49:00.001-07:00

This is just unbelievable. If warrantless wiretapping were not unconstitutional, then why the blazes is it necessary to pass a bill guaranteeing immunity for the past, present, and future? The answer: it's necessary when you're demagogues and you know it. You gotta protect the power you have...

Oh, and by the way, Obama voted FOR the bill and McCain didn't vote at all. In fact, he didn't show up because he knew it was going to pass. Why else would he be away for an act so important to him that he said Congress was a disgrace for not passing it. What a chump, and he's even calling Obama a flip-flopper for it. What a stupid set of candidates we have.

Senate easily passes wiretap bill / Obama's 'yes' vote draws charge of flip-flop from McCain camp

Among the 69 senators who voted "yes" on final passage was Barack Obama of Illinois, who had opposed the immunity provision in earlier versions of the wiretapping bill, a rewrite of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said revisions to the legislation had alleviated his concerns, but Sen. John McCain's campaign seized on the reversal as a flip-flop of the first order.

Link Roundup 7/8

2008-07-08T07:05:00.001-07:00

Flying on the Cheap: Saving money on airfare - dealnews.com

The Myth About Abortion and Crime by John R. Lott, Jr.

Brothers' backfire saves family compound in Big Sur - Los Angeles Times

But they get arrested doing it... Can somebody please tell me why it is that if you protect your property you get arrested?

Lessons of the Paul Campaign - Krishna whispers in your ear: “It’s the left, stupid” « Chuck Young’s Weblog

A friend's interesting perspective on the Ron Paul Campaign.

Link Roundup 6/30

2008-07-06T06:45:00.001-07:00

Double-Minded Warmongers by Laurence M. Vance

The 'Higher Powers': Martial Law vs. Christian Responsibility by Robert F. Hawes Jr.

The Mises Review: A Century of War: Lincoln, Wilson, and Roosevelt by John V. Denson

Link Roundup 6/30

2008-06-30T09:03:00.001-07:00

The Squalid 14th Amendment

Not sure if I agree yet, but these are very interesting...

Link Roundup 6/30/2008

2008-06-30T07:13:00.001-07:00

America's Scary Non-Voters :: Views :: thetyee.ca

And a few things just for fun...

Valve: Why the PC is the future Article // PC /// Eurogamer

News from the Starcraft II panel at the Blizzard Invitational - Joystiq

Kaki King = Amazing Guitarist

2008-06-27T23:05:00.001-07:00

Kaki King is an extremely talented fingerstyle guitarist, and here's some of her amazingness:

"Pull Me Out Alive": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVYp2sgA9M0

Newest vid "Air and Kilometers": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsRpHKJnTGI

Live on Letterman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shYdqbJgQdc

Link Roundup for 6/27

2008-06-27T23:04:00.001-07:00

Power Plant Efficiency Hasn’t Improved Since 1957 : CleanTechnica

Just Do It, George by Don Bacon

What Would Jesus Steal? by Gary North

Ron Paul on the House floor

2008-06-27T08:03:00.001-07:00

Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature

2008-06-26T11:39:00.001-07:00

Murray Rothbard at his best.

How to Get a Lot Done – 7 Tips to Achieve More | Zen Habits

Link roundup 6/22

2008-06-23T10:06:00.001-07:00

Can McCain claim the Ron Paul votes? -- No, he can't.

Libertarians 'may send a message' to the GOP - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review -- That's more like it.

The Media Did Fail Us - by Alan Bock -- They were more interested in seeing if the White House strategy was working than challenging the rationale for the war.

Imperial 'Justice'- by Justin Raimondo -- When the Mafia kills a bunch of innocent people (and are subsequently let off in trial), no one hesitates to call it mass homicide. When it's the Marines and the "bunch of people" are overseas, it's considered patriotism. But either way, it's organized crime.

Reflections on the Origin and the Stability of the State by Hans-Hermann Hoppe -- A well-articulated argument against typical statist dogma.

I'm kinda sick, but here are some links...

2008-06-20T19:55:00.001-07:00

Ron Paul’s Campaign For Liberty » Blog Archive » Ron Paul on Glenn Beck

The Messenger Is the Message by Butler Shaffer

Why Don’t More People Realize That a Stable Statist Society Requires Belief? by Wilton D. Alston

Insults from another time...

2008-06-20T10:34:00.001-07:00

The exchange between Churchill and Lady Astor:
She said, "If you were my husband, I'd give you poison,"
And he said, "If you were my wife, I'd take it."

Gladstone, a member of Parliament, to Benjamin Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, sir," said Disraeli, "On whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about." - Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one."
- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." - Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." comedian Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt." - Robert Redford

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." - Thomas Brackett Reed

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork. - Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."- Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

Daily link roundup

2008-06-19T10:50:00.001-07:00

The Longing for War, Forever - David Gordon - Mises Institute

Religion and Libertarianism by Walter Block

John McCain, Torture Puppet - by Andy Worthington

Andy Worthington is a historian based in London. He is the author of The Guantánamo Files, the first book to tell the stories of all the detainees in Guantanámo. He writes regularly on issues related to Guantánamo and the "War on Terror" on his Web site.

Jon Stewart and Scott McClellan

2008-06-03T13:01:00.001-07:00

I never would have thought that a guy on Comedy Central could be one of the best reporters on television, but I am wrong. My opinion: Jon Stewart is currently the best serious interviewer on television, period.

Watch this interview with Scott McClellan, and I'll be darned if you aren't impressed. Can you find ANYBODY who does as good a job on standard cable news?

Jon Stewart grills Douglas Feith

2008-06-03T06:17:00.001-07:00

This is a very interesting interview.

The newest experts in private security: Target

2008-05-17T08:34:00.001-07:00

In what is to me a stunning example of how a corporation can use its security services for profit, none other than Target is now raking in $63 billion in revenues via their forensics department.

There are so many great points to make regarding this interesting facet of their business, but I'll make three quick points.

Target obviously thinks that the government sponsored "security" is not
enough to protect their assets. This may not be so significant because
there are plenty of businesses that do this, but look at the extent of
their operation!
Target believes that they can use their security service to make serious profit. Those who claim there is no incentive for security agencies to exist are off their rockers.
Target does it so well that even the government calls them up for help. In an age where government is looked upon as the caretaker of us all from cradle to grave, it is nice to see that some don't buy it.

Once again, Target shows itself to be in nearly a class by itself.

CSI: Target - Forbes.com

"Their crime lab would count as sophisticated if run by a police force. But this one, incongruously, is owned by a retail chain. The $63 billion (revenues) Target got into forensics as a way to combat shoplifting and such crimes but has taken its skills far beyond the department store. Its seven-person team of investigators, most of them former law enforcement officials, spend 70% of their time fighting theft, fraud and personal injury cases involving Target's 1,600 stores. But the lab is also frequently tapped by city, state and federal law-enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to solve big cases."

John McCain Exposed

2008-05-14T15:15:00.001-07:00

Self-explanatory. Stop embarrassing yourself, Senator McCain, drop out now! And McCain supporters, stop embarrassing yourselves and OPPOSE THE WAR.

Gun Free Zones

2008-05-07T12:41:00.001-07:00

YouTube - Gun Free Zones - 1/2 Hour News Hour

I can haz DNA now? K thx bye!

2008-05-07T07:03:00.001-07:00

National DNA database gets kickstart from feds

The universe must be operating under some undiscovered, but entirely predictable law: the closer you get to calling a Republican politician "conservative", the faster they will pull something completely anti-conservative.

(Of course, by "conservative" I mean something much different than the conventional definition of "conservative". What I mean is the Ron Paul style of conservatism.)

Let me be clear: I thought that Bush was "conservative" enough to not pass this monstrosity of a program. But... I was wrong again.

The Revolution lives on!

2008-04-30T06:26:00.001-07:00

Today is the official release date of Ron Paul's new book, The Revolution: A Manifesto.

If you haven't checked it out yet, you need to do so. Now. Then you need to buy the book. Then you need to read it.

Really, it will be worth your time. Oh, if you decide to buy, do it via my link, because I get a small kickback for every order that comes from my links...

I'll report further on the book as soon as I can!

If you haven't checked it out yet, you need to do so. Now. Then you need to buy the book. Then you need to read it.

Really, it will be worth your time. Oh, if you decide to buy, do it via my link, because I get a small kickback for every order that comes from my links...

I'll report further on the book as soon as I can!

Could laughter be the best medicine?

2008-04-29T20:13:00.001-07:00

YouTube - John Cleese reports on Laughter Laughing Laugh Yoga

I initially looked at this video because John Cleese is in it, but it was actually much more interesting than I had anticipated!

Fight for the Bacon Dog

2008-04-25T06:16:00.001-07:00

This would be classic comedic Drew Carey - if it weren't happening in real life.

I am the Very Model of a Presidential Candidate

2008-04-21T09:17:00.001-07:00

This is absolutely classic...

The song parodies Gilbert & Sullivan's "Modern Major General" tune, which I am pretty familiar with since I performed it years ago. It's a splendid piece, and this parody keeps quite well to the spirit of the song.

I am the very model of a Presidential candidate,
I flip and flop, and like a flounder, on the issues vacillate.
I listen to the polls and say exactly what they tell me to,
And hope to make you think I have precisely the same goals as you.
I look into opponents' closets, pull out every skeleton,
But question me on policy, I'll wobble just like gelatin.
I'm highly dedicated to all matters pure political,
Compared to which the country's welfare isn't very critical.

I'm very good at telling lies with unsurpassed sincerity,
Like "All I do, I do for you, to foster your prosperity."
In short, in matters economic, social, and those of the state,
I am the very model of a Presidential candidate.

I love our Constitution and know how to make it work for me.
The Bill of Rights is just a guide that I ignore selectively.
The laws of this great land of ours were written with a lot of thought,
So when I violate them, it's important that I not get caught.
I never miss a photo op because it's free publicity.
I smile, shake hands, kiss babies and praise everyone's ethnicity.
Then I can face my rival in a widely televised debate
And cast aspersions on his record, hygiene, wife, and running mate.

My promises are all cliche' and none of them are practical,
But tax cuts, health care, schools and trees are all issues quite tactical.
I tell you what you want to hear on matters to which you relate.
I am the very model of a Presidential candidate.

In fact, when I learn how to get essential legislation passed,
When I can get more countries to reduce the nukes they have amassed,
When my vast store of expertise can fill encyclopedias,
And my affairs with interns I can hide from all the media,
When economic crises I know how correctly to avert,
When I learn more of compromise, and enemies I can convert:
In short, when I earn the respect of people all across the land,
You'll say a better President has never been so close at hand.

For how to run a country, though I know how theoretically,
Is something that you can't be taught by doing it hypothetically.
But still I hope the voters think that I can learn to do it great.
I am the very model of a Presidential candidate.

Link to Parody Song Lyrics @ amiright.com

Disingenuous scientists

2008-04-10T11:26:00.001-07:00

I find it incredible that scientists often think they are so overwhelmingly valuable to society that they deserve the right to confiscate other's resources for their own uses. And even if their work results in some useful addition of knowledge to "society", whatever that may be, why then does it require the use of coercion?

Today I saw two articles that not only try and promulgate this scientific elitism upon people, but also contradict each other. BBC News reports that science funding is in a "precarious state". In particular, "a number of scientists said that astronomy was not being rewarded properly." Yeah, maybe in their view it isn't, but who is to judge? According to CNN, the average astronomer salary is a surprising $95,740. Honestly, unless you're saying they need to be paid less, how can this not be a proper reward?

Seriously, professors make a lot of money, compared to others who, on the average, must be subject to the market rather than state whim. And yet, in the BBC article a guy is quoted saying "If you cared about money you wouldn't be a scientist at all would you?"

C'mon, many people are losing their homes and livelihood due primarily to government intervention in the economy while these uppity state-funded scientists are sipping booze at 4 star restaurants while they wine-and-dine their associates, so I don't think they have anything to complain about.

Possible Road Privatization?

2008-03-21T06:29:00.001-07:00

Well, only partially, thanks to the Iraq War. Apparently, it is just too dog-gone expensive to carry on war and to build infrastructure at the same time. No joke. I'd say it's too "expensive" to do them both, but especially when the war is aggressive in nature.

I haven't posted in a while, but I hope to get back to regularly writing pretty soon. Per my friend's request, I need to post about the Austrian Scholar's Conference. I have not decided, though, on whether or not to talk about the entire thing in more of a journal format, or just post the highlights. Considering my busy schedule, I'm leaning towards the latter at this time.

This has been an extraordinarily busy semester. It's quite exciting, but I'll be glad when it's all over.

Romney to Endorse McCain

2008-02-14T14:24:00.001-08:00

Romney to Endorse McCain (and Give Away Delegates)

So for all you people who thought Romney was a good idea and that McCain is a pile'o'junk liberal (which he is, I won't dispute that, I just think Romney is only 1% less bad), how do you like that decision now?

WHY didn't you vote for the only conservative who has proven time and time again that he will not compromise for evil, Ron Paul?

Here's the embarrassing brand of "conservatism" you ended up supporting:

· It is permissible to print currency at will and distort the people’s money.

· Being in Iraq for 100 years isn’t out of the question.

· Bomb, bomb, bomb… bomb, bomb, I-ran. (Don’t forget, over 10 US intelligence agencies reported in the last 4 months that Iran has no nuclear weapons program and hasn’t for over 5 years. Not that we can realistically afford the current war, let alone another.)

· You have the right to privacy… just not with your phones, your cars, your financial data, your ID cards, your work history, or your internet usage. Because, you know, you don’t have anything to hide, right?

· You have the right of habeas corpus… but only when El Presidente says so.

· You can the right of free speech… as long as it’s approved by the government first.

· Pre-emptive, undeclared war is… OK! Because we’re America, and we can do no wrong. We’re the world policeman, remember?

· Fascism is evil… except when we do it. Then it’s patriotic.

· Socialism is tyrannical… except when it’s for medicine, welfare, education, social security, stimulus packages, and your home loans. Then it’s “helping the little guy.” And if it just doesn’t work out the way we want, blame the free market.

So pardon me if I'm not impressed with your "principled" position of voting for the lesser of two evils in support of the "cause" (see above list for "cause" details).

Because guess what: you still voted for evil.

Write-in the right-guy in November, Ron Paul, and put an end to this charade.

Israel video!

2008-01-17T14:20:00.001-08:00

Watch Holly's mashup of various Israel clips, starring the Israel Crew!

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Jackass Mainstream Media

2007-12-18T07:39:00.001-08:00

On December 16th, 2007, the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, presidential candidate Ron Paul raised 6.04 million dollars in 24 hours. This is the largest single day donation for a presidential primary candidate in United States history, and the MSM is ignoring it. How much evidence do they need that Ron Paul is for real? What are they thinking, that we are still spammers?

How about this, MSM:
58,407 individual donors
24,915 first time donors
$102 average contribution

Okay, I wonder if any other candidate can inspire this sort of commitment? I mean, these contributors aren't big-wig corp execs who can drop 2300 bucks on a whim, these are people who are wondering if they can give $25 more and still feed their family from week to week.

Trust me, I know these people. We had around 1000 people out for a Tea Party on Ladybird Lake in Austin, TX that fabled Sunday afternoon. They come from all walks of life: young, old, African-American, white, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, high incomes, middle incomes, lower incomes - they are all there.

Why is this? Because freedom is popular. Because liberty brings dignity wherever you are in life. Because the message is universal.

So go jump, MSM. Get ready for some mega-blowback.

Ron Paul 2008 — Hope for America

Better beer attributed to global warming...

2007-12-13T07:35:00.001-08:00

As well as about 600 other things.

You would think this would get old after a while.

To set the record straight, I do think that global climate change is occurring, and I'm not talking about day-to-day variation. However, I do not think it is entirely certain that human activity is its cause, and I certainly do not think the alarmism of Al Gore and his ilk is worth the trouble.

I actually have recently written a paper that addresses this very topic from a libertarian perspective. I hope to publish it in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, and I will be presenting it at the Austrian Scholar's Conference next March.

And my reward in class? My professor is now effectively calling me an "interesting contrarian". In my opinion, that's a good thing.

Cory Doctorow on Facebook...

2007-12-07T07:00:00.001-08:00

How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook -- Facebook -- InformationWeek

In the real world, we don't articulate our social networks. Imagine how creepy it would be to wander into a co-worker's cubicle and discover the wall covered with tiny photos of everyone in the office, ranked by "friend" and "foe," with the top eight friends elevated to a small shrine decorated with Post-It roses and hearts. And yet, there's an undeniable attraction to corralling all your friends and friendly acquaintances, charting them and their relationship to you.

An interesting article from an interesting fellow...

The Ron Paul Blimp

2007-12-03T17:41:00.001-08:00

Huckabee may have Chuck Norris, but Ron Paul has a Blimp! Eat it, Chucky.

How to make a foot

2007-11-27T10:47:00.001-08:00

This is a fascinating video about designing robotic feet using biologically inspired design. Great stuff!

Marc Whittemore has a change of heart...

2007-11-25T11:25:00.001-08:00

Marc Whittemore, the guy who started ObamaLA.com, has thought a lot about the issues and thus has had a change of heart. He is now supporting none other than RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT!!!

This is the effect Ron has on people. How can this not be an evidence that Paul is a uniter around the traditional principles of American governance?

Would the real Giuliani please stand up?

2007-11-24T21:47:00.001-08:00

There are plenty of reasons not to support Rudy Giuliani. Check out
The REAL Rudy...

The iphone: completely hackable

2007-11-20T09:28:00.001-08:00

This has convinced me that buying a smart phone is NOT a good idea.

Don't we wish...

2007-11-14T08:43:00.001-08:00

U.S. Holds Going-Out-Of-Business Sale | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

BGG.Con 2007

2007-11-13T08:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend, my wife and I are going to Dallas for BGG.Con 2007, hosted by www.boardgamegeek.com (hence, the BGG). BGG is a fantastic website for board game information, pictures, discussions, trading, sales, and pretty much anything else you can imagine relating to non-video gaming. I became familiar with the site as an undergraduate, but I didn't really get into it until my wife and I began attending our Friday night gaming group at Great Hall Games in Austin.

We are really excited about going for many, many reasons. First off, you get to basically spend three days gaming your heart out. You can play in tournaments (such as the Tigris and Euphrates tournament on Saturday), test out prototype games that aren't even on the shelf yet, or just try out stuff with your friends from the game library that has over 1000 titles. Second, you're doing all this with great people who love games. We are particularly looking forward to hanging out with our dear friend Mischa from New Orleans once again. (I am anticipating some late night Jungle Speed, Mischa!!!) I hope that our group from Austin gets to do some fine dining at least once together. Third, it's like taking a mini-vacation -- in the middle of the semester! Nothing like taking off for an excursion in the middle of school. I have rarely done this, either as an undergrad or a grad student, so this is pretty cool.

We are participating in the "math trade" as well. This is basically a very complicated multi-person trade. In other words, A sends game to B, B sends game to C, C sends game to A -- except there are over 85 people involved. Mischa is running this one. I'm getting some really cool stuff, like Battlelore, Attika, and Colossal Arena. I'm trading away some good games, but I think K and I were interested in some new acquisitions anyway. This is a great way to do it!

I'll blog about what happened next week...

We have just begun to fight.

2007-11-12T14:09:00.001-08:00

All you skeptics out there who think Paul doesn't have a chance, start paying attention!

What Republican can raise 4.3 million bucks in 24 hours from 40,000 different donors?

Who else can claim first place for donation money from military men and women?

Who else has over 1000 meetup.com groups? Heck, who has over 100?

Who can claim strict constitutionalism as the hallmark of his campaign?

Who else can get 5000 people to come to a political rally these days?

Fred is dead. McCain is broke. Rudy and Mitt are not even conservative. And they're all statists.

There is only one: Ron Paul. It's not even worth telling you to get ready, because the rEVOLution is here. The message to you: get on board. Get involved. Get moving.

***
Ron Paul Philadelphia Veterans’ Rally Draws 5,000 - News - NBC13.com

Green is universal?

2007-11-04T17:12:00.001-08:00

I'm watching the pre-game show for the Cowboys-Eagles game that starts in 10 minutes. Amazingly, they are turning off the lights in the commentary studio in order to promote "being green" or something like that. Wow. Get real.

Mike isn't right...

2007-11-02T09:56:00.001-07:00

Chuck Baldwin at www.NewsWithViews.com says that Christians need to beware of Mike Huckabee. I totally agree with him.

Mike Huckabee is a statist.
Mike Huckabee doesn't believe in the Constitution.
Mike Huckabee supports a police state.
Mike Huckabee is a big spender.

Waaiiiiit a second... Isn't that everybody on the Republican and Democrat ticket? Oh yeah, except for one - Ron Paul. Duh.

The Song That Is Irresistible

2007-10-22T13:09:00.001-07:00

Robert Higgs' Schlarbaum Award Acceptance Speech (full text): The Song That Is Irresistible

This is arguably one of the best libertarian speeches/articles that I have ever read. Check it out when you have the time!

The poem cited is by Margaret Atwood, entitled "Siren Song" (1976).

This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

The song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see beached skulls

The song nobody knows
because anyone who had heard it
is dead, and the others cant remember.
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?

I dont enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I dont enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.

Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique

At last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.

Ron Paul on Health Care

2007-10-18T15:30:00.001-07:00

The reason I post this in full text is that the original page doesn't separate paragraphs very well. However, I give full attribution to A.S. Erickson and the Darthmouth Review for an excellent writeup.

The Dartmouth Review: Ron Paul, M.D. Speaks on Health Care

Ron Paul, M.D. Speaks on Health Care

Sunday, October 14, 2007

By A. S. Erickson

On September 29th Texas Congressman and Republican Presidential Candidate Dr. Ron Paul—the only candidate who is a doctor—spoke to students of Dartmouth Medical School about his health care platform. A palpable air of anticipation filled the room prior to Paul taking the lectern. The students in the room, predominately liberal, were actually excited to hear what this Republican had to say about health care. I’ve seen talking heads assign Paul’s popularity on college campuses to his stance on the Iraq War (decidedly non-interventionist), but in the auditorium students weren’t talking about foreign policy. Instead, praise for Paul abounded based on his honesty and integrity. Students knew that he said what he actually believed, and, if elected, he would act on what he has promised.

Paul began his remarks by telling students that, “the medical system is going well except for a few groups: the patients, the doctors, the hospitals, the labs, and the politicians. Everybody else is happy.”

Paul weaved commentary on the current health care situation into a short autobiographical speech. He spoke of getting drafted for the Vietnam War in 1962, fresh out of Duke Medical School. He commented that working for the Army wasn’t so bad as his pay went from $195 per month in residency to $700. While in the military he moonlighted three nights a month at the local hospital.

“The amazing thing was it was the city hospital and there was no government; there [was] very little insurance and nobody was turned away whether they were illegal or legal, and nobody, nobody was quizzed. If you didn’t have the money, you didn’t pay, and people came in, and it wasn’t that bad. People didn’t lay on the side walks. You’re more likely to hear stories today of people being neglected in emergency rooms…and dying on stretchers—because we have managed care.” Paul often came back to this point in referencing the health problems of today. He is certain that the problems with today’s health care stem from too much government involvement, not too little. “This whole idea that we need centralized economic planning in anything is a fallacy, and it’s a temptation to say, ‘Yes, we can’t have central economic planning for electronics, televisions, and cell phones because we want efficiency of delivery service, but medicine is different.’”

A major problem with today’s society, according to Paul, is the confusion of “needs” and “rights”: “We have rights to our lives and liberty and we have a right to pursue our happiness and we should have the right to keep the fruits of our labor. We have a moral obligation to help our fellow man.” That doesn’t mean, however, that we have a right to affordable health care.

Paul noted that because of all these governmental programs “charity work doesn’t seem to exist anymore; yet there was a time when there was substantial charity work….We’ve gotten this way because the government put us this way.”

Accordingly Paul warned strongly against socialized medicine, which he feels is just around the corner, i.e. the current push for universal health care. One aspect of medicine that disappears with increased government tinkering is “the doctor patient relationship. That’s about dead in this country, and that to me is the most important thing in medicine.” The more the government gets involved, Paul explained, the farther we get away from that ideal.

Paul was also highly critical of current insurance schemes, claiming that the only things that should be insured are surgeries and other high cost possibilities. Instead of insurance for things like a check-up, Paul favored a medical savings account. “We should allow every individual to take a $3,000 tax credit, and they can put that away and use it to go and pay for their doctor visits.”

“We as a people have really lost confidence in freedom.” He noted that this misplaced confidence made no sense, sighting cell phones as an area where, because of freedom, costs have gone down, and availability has gone up. On the other side of the spectrum is the Katrina/Rita disaster—which was spearheaded by the government.

Perhaps surprisingly for a doctor, Paul encourages more competition in the field of medicine. Noting that many alternative methods of care have sprouted up in recent years, Paul said the competition would be in the best interest of the patients. The only thing he cautioned against was fraud, i.e. registered nurses putting M.D. behind their names. Once more coming back to his core principle Paul stated, “Politically, I believe in freedom of choice.” When Paul’s time at Dartmouth Medical School came to a close, the students responded by giving him a standing ovation. His message was simple: “Under the Constitution, government shouldn’t be in medicine.”

New Testament Theology of the State at LRC

2007-09-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I posted my first article ever on one of the leading libertarian websites in the world, www.lewrockwell.com. But it’s not really a “libertarian” article, rather, the paper is all about theology. It is entitled New Testament Theology of the State. If you have the RSS feed, the title Lew gave to the link is be The State is Not the Kingdom of God (to put it mildly). It has a nice ring to it…

The main point of the article is that one cannot use the famous “Render to Caesar” passages and Romans 13 as legitimate justifications for the actions of government. I’ll let you read on from there and see what you think. :-)

I’m thrilled to finally be counted among the ranks of the writers at LRC, and now that I have my “foot in the door” I hope to contribute more regularly. Many thanks to Lew Rockwell and to my professors at Austin Grad, they have all been excellent teachers.

If you would like a pdf copy of the article, let me know and I will gladly send one to you.

Sign the Ron Paul Registry

2007-09-21T12:25:00.001-07:00

Ron Paul Registry

Please add your name to the list!

The Values Voters Debate

2007-09-18T09:09:00.001-07:00

The so-called Values Voters Debate was held last night. Supposedly this was going to inform values voters on who would best represent them as President of the United States. But eerily consistent with the past six years, these Republicans have forgotten that aggressive war is not pro-life. If they understood this simple statement, they would see that Ron Paul is their only answer.

These Republicans have also forgotten that the freedom that we afford others to do what they will without aggression is the same freedom that protects our right to practice our religion without fear. When these voters come back to their roots, to true Christian values as they so often claim that they want, they will see. And eventually they will do so, it just takes time.

The results: Huckabee won with 219 votes, Ron Paul second with 44.

Here are some comments from the LewRockwell.com blog about the debate:
Chris Sinnard writes: "It's like comedic gold. It seems that Huckabee 'won' the debate according to the delegates, i.e. the religious right is ready to get behind Huck for VP and let him drag them kicking and screaming behind Frudy McRomney. The lady said it was a 'message from God' that the Huckster pulled through.

"The best part though had to be when the moderator asked them what Jesus would think of Ron invoking His name (i.e. calling him the Prince of Peace). The rabbi basically said that warmongering is ok because there is war in the Bible. They sat there and tried to justify their warmongering through religion; it was... interesting; and then the blonde from the panel claimed that Paul, and I quote, 'cherry picks' the Bible, you know, for the peacenik parts. Then more claiming that God wants Huckabee to run."

Anthony Gregory writes: Brownback also seems to think Clinton "saved" Muslims by murdering Serbs (and Muslims). Better to have a cheating, dishonest, treasonous, lecherous Democrat in the White House bombing civilians, than a humble man heading a humble foreign policy, apparently...
Ron just gave a great statement of his faith in God as the Prince of Peace and the problem with killing innocents in an unjust war in the name of God over things like secular geographical boundaries. I hope the quote is online soon, since it's a truly beautiful statement.

Michael Wagner writes: "I was at the Value Voters Debate. It was a tough crowd for Ron. I was sitting in the delegate section and was able to vote, unlike most of the audience. Most of the people around me had absolutely no idea what Ron was talking about. When he he answered a question about 'the homosexual agenda' and started talking about how we get our rights from our Creator as individuals not groups a lady behind me (a inister's wife, I think) said, 'Does he mean that they have a right to be homosexual?' I felt like getting up, confronting the woman. and saying, 'Yeah, homosexuals have rights, get over it. If you think it's a sin, minister to them but don't try to use government to enforce your prejudice.' I didn't, but I sure was tempted.

YouTube - Ron Paul at the Value Voters Debate

The Bush Speech...

2007-09-13T19:15:00.001-07:00

President Bush's speech an hour ago reminded me and my wife of being on hold...

"Your call is important to us, please stay on the line while I attempt to convince you that to stick around in this quagmire..."

Rick Perry is not a friend of Texans

2007-09-01T19:52:00.001-07:00

Rick Perry did not show up to the Texas Straw Poll today. Apparently, he sent a video. But here's the kicker: in his pre-recorded speech, he claimed there were no Texans on the presidential ballot. Did he just conveniently forget about Ron Paul? What's his deal?

Oh, I get it. Ron Paul challenges establishment Republicans. Rick Perry is an establishment Republican - and quite a corrupt one to boot (c.f. the immunization scandal over the last two years). How long will it take Texans to realize that Rick Perry is not their friend?

The bad always tries to drive out the good. Now you know that Ron Paul is one of the good guys...

Texas Pledge Dispute

2007-08-30T08:13:00.001-07:00

Governments have a nasty habit of diverting people's attention from real issues to side problems. For example, the Cato Institute reports that an atheist couple wants the word "God" out of the revised Texas state pledge, which is now being recited daily by students (civil religion, anyone?) in many Texas public schools.

If people truly wanted to reduce school conflicts, the solution isn't to enforce more government controls upon educational efforts. Rather, the government must exit education once for all.

Neal McCluskey has written an excellent policy analysis called "Why We Fight" explaining this position.

Throughout American history, public schooling
has produced political disputes, animosity, and
sometimes even bloodshed between diverse people.
Such clashes are inevitable in government-run
schooling because all Americans are required to
support the public schools, but only those with
the most political power control them. Political—
and sometimes even physical—conflict has thus
been an inescapable public schooling reality.

To end the fighting caused by state-run schooling,
we should transform our system from one in
which government establishes and controls
schools, to one in which individual parents are
empowered to select schools that share their moral
values and educational goals for their children.

Why You Need Hard Money

2007-08-29T13:12:00.001-07:00

Chris Brunner makes some fantastic points regarding Ron Paul's monetary policy and why it is good for everyone. Here's the #1 reason...
1. The Fed would not be causing artificial booms, inevitably followed by a busts Ever wonder where economic bubbles come from? The bubbles of modern times like the Great Depression of the 1930's, Dot-com boom of the late 90's, or the boom that's coming to an end now in the real estate market occur when central banks expand the money supply and dump new money into various sectors of the economy, often in the form of cheap credit. Banks loan the new money to consumers and entrepreneurs, including those who aren't credit worthy. In turn, they spend it or invest it, which causes prices to rise. As people see prices rise, they are drawn to invest, causing prices to rise further. Meanwhile, the Fed continues to inject new money. We've seen this lately in the form of house flipping. Eventually, the market begins to correct itself, and whoever owns the inflated property when the correction begins to occur gets stuck holding the bag. People all over the country are finding themselves in Adjustable Rate Mortgages they cannot afford. Many times this results in a foreclosure, which in turn causes problems for the fractional-reserve banks, who then begin to face insolvency. Insolvency manifests itself in the form of bank runs, and if it gets bad enough, leads to economic collapse. There is much to be explained here, but for now suffice to say that inflation from the Fed creates booms that are inevitably followed by busts.
LewRockwell.com Blog: Top 8 Ways Hard Money Would Change Your Life

Global Warming

2007-08-16T07:07:00.001-07:00

The Acton Institute is a Christian organization dedicated to promoting a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles. In the following linked article, they weigh in on global warming yet again.

The Global Warming Debate: Yada, Yada, Yada - Acton Institute PowerBlog

The problem, argues Samuelson and others like him (include me in their number), is quite simple. What really causes global warming and what can we do about it? What troubles me deeply is the way many evangelicals, to cite just one segment of the Church, want us to buy into the global warming theories and solutions as a matter of faith and morals. Here are the facts that make this approach pious nonsense:

1. Almost everyone who is sane about this issue knows that we can only cut emissions incrementally and that China and India will more than offset the small gains we can make in the US and Europe. But the blame America cry heard in all of this smacks of politics more than of real science and pragmatic workable solutions.

2. No single theory is the accepted scientific model that has been approved, or universally accepted. We are working off of various theories and hunches and the debate needs much more light and less heat, no pun intended.

3. What we can do is more research and development. We need to do this and we need to resist avoidance of the serious aspects of this matter.

4. We can find better ways to dispose of waste material than into the environment. Some of these are both safer and more cost effective. Real solutions will be found by those grapple with both sides of this equation.

5. Samuelson gets it right when he concludes: “The overriding reality seems almost un-American: we simply don’t have a solution for this problem.” This is hard for us to admit. We are so convinced that we can solve anything and everything, especially if we created the problem in the first place (as is assumed in this debate).

This is why Samuelson suggests that we steadfastly refuse to address this issue as “a morality tale.” Amen! Someone please tell this to Richard Cizik of NAE, or to Jim Wallis of Sojourners, or to Tony Campolo the prophetic screamer, and to all the others who have made this into one of the biggest moral issues of the day for Christians. We can all do a lot better in addressing this complex and real concern if we keep this type of rhetoric and silliness out of the picture. All it does is assign categories, or labels, and then we all know who the “good guys” really are. Game, set, match!

Absolutely nothing is resolved in this kind of zero-sum game of cheap moralizing.

Ron Paul Dominates YouTube

2007-08-15T21:58:00.001-07:00

What's the #1 most viewed, top rated, most discussed, and top favorite News and Politics video on YouTube? Yeah, it's Ron Paul at Ames...

LewRockwell.com Blog: Ron Paul Wins Iowa Straw Poll on YouTube

Integrity

2007-08-13T07:28:00.001-07:00

In the September 2007 issue of Tabletalk, there’s an article by R.C. Sproul called “Duty and Honor” with a great paragraph:
Now, these definitions [of integrity] describe persons who are almost as rare as the use of the term honor. In the first instance, integrity would describe someone whom we might call “a person of principle.” The person who is a person of principle is one, as the dictionary defines, who is uncompromising. The person is not uncompromising in every negotiation or discussion of important issues, but is uncompromising with respect to moral and ethical principles. This is a person who puts principle ahead of personal gain. The art of compromise is a virtue in a politically correct culture, which political correctness itself is modified by the adjectival qualifier political. To be political is often to be a person who compromises everything, including principle.
Good stuff.

More Ron Paul goodness...

2007-08-12T13:14:00.000-07:00
I follow the LRC blog closely, especially when GOP debates are happening and, of course, during the Ames Straw Poll.

Ron Paul placed 5th amongst Republicans yesterday. Sure, we could have hoped for better, but in reality this is quite good. Here's some comments from LRC...

Jay Roberts thinks that 5th place was a "stellar" result. I would tend to agree. All things considered, we must have shocked the establishment media by doing this well. Even as recently as six days ago Paul was predicted by the media to be no-show blip on the radar. Well, folks, we are here to stay. Get ready, because we're going to have a lot of fun doing good for this country.

Of course, there's always the jerks who intentionally exclude him from their reporting. If you weren't ticked off at Faux News before, now is the time.

On a side note, have you seen the new Bourne movie yet? I saw it on opening night (I'm a fan) and let me tell you -- it was awesome. Best of the series. Here's what Mark Thornton had to say about comparing the series to the Paul campaign.

Cross posted at Libertarian Longhorns.

Homeland Stupidity...

2007-08-12T13:01:00.001-07:00
Not to be confused with the libertarian blog of the same name...

Some recent blog posts have caught my eye...

Apparently, catching a baseball can be counted as taxable income by the IRS. That's right, the college student who caught Barry Bonds's 756th home run is going to get taxed in the highest bracket for the simple fact that he now owns the ball. What's particularly sad about this is that the receiving individual doesn't even get the choice to keep it without getting taxed. If he does so, how could one even place a value on it? You could estimate, but without actually making a sale one has no blinking idea what it actually would be sold at! He is now effectively forced to make a sale just to cover his expense of catching a !@%(#@^ ball.

In other sports news, did you know that money you pay to rent a car is used to finance stadiums? This always blows my mind, how is it that these people can afford to pay baseball players millions of dollars but cannot afford a stadium without taxing people? Does this make any sense to anybody?

Ethanol is such a scam.

Cross-posted at the new Libertarian Longhorns blog.

Bible and Government

2007-08-11T09:18:00.001-07:00

I have had some interesting "coincidences" occur recently. I was asked a while back to help lead a Bible study for the graduate engineering students on Romans 13:1-7, which are the verses on "submission to civil government." This Bible study kept getting pushed back due to travel conflicts and missed meetings. On the day of the study, it just so happened that our main leader, John, had some extra meetings that came up suddenly and I had the opportunity to lead the whole study instead of just half. We had a great time of learning and I think people went away with as many new questions as answers to old questions.

As this was developing, I had been taking a course at the Austin Graduate School of Theology in New Testament Theology with Dr. Thomas Olbricht, who happens to be a good friend of my grandfather's and a former teacher of my mother at ACU. I decided that I would capitalize on preparing this study and write a paper on Jesus' theology about civil government and what Paul and Peter do to expand upon this teaching. It is currently a work in progress.

Strangely enough, our campus ministry, Longhorns for Christ, recently decided that they wanted to have a study on the Bible and civil government. Guess who they wanted to ask lead it? Right. So now, this upcoming Wednesday I will be leading a discussion group in this topic.

I had been thinking about offering to teach on a Sunday night for University Avenue Church of Christ, my home congregation. But Jack, one of our elders, preempted me and asked me first. No kidding, he had no idea that I was interested in doing some more teaching. I told him I had a few ideas, and that I was currently working on a Bible and government paper. He thought it was great and so I'll be teaching again on Bible and government for the church.

Funny how all these things come together at once. I'd like to thank John Cobin for his wonderful books on the subject, may he live long and prosper!

Shame on you, HSLDA!

2007-08-02T13:04:00.001-07:00

For shame, for shame, Homeschool Legal Defense Association, for shame!

You have endorsed pro-war, pro-police state, pro-welfare, and pro-Bush Mike Huckabee because you think he's principled, but have ignored the most principled Congressman in the race with the record to back it up - Ron Paul. You seem to think Governors make good candidates, but can you honestly say this considering the last two debacle governor-presidents? Come on, get a grip. Endorse Ron Paul while you still can and save face. I'm ashamed that my fellow homeschoolers would do such a thing as endorse a man who only wants the status quo. Pick someone who actually will do the thing that homeschoolers want most - work to get rid of state hegemony over education.

Townhall.com - One Mom - HSLDA Supports Mike Huckabee

Covenant - Why Ron Paul is the Ultimate Friend of Homeschoolers

Ron Paul can WIN

2007-08-01T12:54:00.001-07:00

Ron Paul could easily take on the Democrats, what's going to keep him from becoming our next president is the simple fact that he must make it through the primary. Which means, my friends, we must do everything we can in order to promote ideas of liberty now - this is more important than ever before. Time to get to work...

Todd Seavey on Ron Paul on National Review Online: "But if we want a radically smaller government — precisely that thing that a Republican Congress neglected to do for the last twelve years, which has created the current mood of conservative frustration — we must support Ron Paul. Remember how small government was at the nation’s founding and consider how perhaps even conservatives have since then become de facto socialists, accepting the leviathan state as inevitable. But it’s not inevitable if they vote against it when history hands them that chance."

Libertarian Longhorns

2007-07-30T10:17:00.001-07:00

One of the very few student groups I have chosen to associate with is the Libertarian Longhorns. Very, very recently we have started a blog which I will assist in contributing to. This probably means that there will be fewer posts of a libertarian nature in my personal blog. We'll just have to see, perhaps I'll cross-post everything I write...

In the meantime, add the RSS feed for the Libertarian Longhorns blog to your feed reader and keep up with what's going on!

How the Death Star Works...

2007-07-28T22:00:00.001-07:00

The Galactic Empire tells all in a HowStuffWorks Exclusive!!!

But Timothy McSweeney is still skeptical about the trash compactor.

Ron Paul loves homeschoolers...

2007-07-27T08:15:00.001-07:00

"Dr. Ron Paul has been a consistent supporter of home schooling and
educational freedom while serving in Congress. He has introduced
several pieces of legislation which would return to parents the freedom
to teach their children at home and in the manner they think best.
Additionally, he has introduced bills that would provide tax credits
for American families to help pay for education expenses. As President,
Ron Paul will continue to fight for the rights of parents to provide
their children with the knowledge and values they believe are most
important."

Congressman Ron Paul on Home Schooling

This is HUGE

2007-07-25T10:37:00.001-07:00

This is a major breakthrough, although I doubt we will see any commercial items using this technology for a number of years. Wireless power would have a MAJOR effect upon electronics as we know it.

The Power of Induction: Science News Online, July 21, 2007
Excerpt:

When Soljacic first presented the principle, it was unproved. All he could show were his calculations. "I expected that some people would think I was a crackpot," says Soljacic, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). "This was pretty far out."

Perhaps it also didn't help that the participants at the symposium—a celebration of the 90th birthday of Charles Townes, who pioneered the laser in the 1950s—included 18 Nobel prize winners and dozens of other luminaries. Much to Soljacic's relief, he sold the scientists on his presentation.

A year and a half later, a bulb lit up in an MIT lab—unplugged. Soljacic and his collaborators had demonstrated a new way of coaxing magnetic fields into transferring power over a distance of several meters without dispersing as electromagnetic waves. The demonstration ushered in a technology that might eventually become as pervasive as the gadgets it could power. Laptops, cell phones, iPods, and digital cameras might someday recharge without power cords. With the proliferation of wireless electronics, perhaps it was just a matter of time before power transmission would go wireless, too.

The device that Soljacic and his collaborators put together had a disarming simplicity. On one side of the room, hanging from the ceiling, was a ring-shaped electrical circuit, about half a meter across, plugged into the wall. Hanging adjacent to the circuit, but with no physical connection to it, was a slightly larger copper coil looking like an oversize mattress spring. A few meters away hung a similar system with an ordinary lightbulb attached to the circuit. When the physicists sent power through the first circuit, the bulb lit up.

As expected, some energy was lost on its way to the lightbulb. However, a surprising amount reached its destination, the team reports in the July 6 Science. "The efficiency was 40 percent at the biggest distance we probed [more than 2 meters]," Soljacic says. At shorter distances, the efficiency was much higher.

The coils of this demonstration device would be too big to fit inside a laptop, let alone a cell phone. But this was only the first and simplest of several prototypes that the physicists have in mind. More tests are to come. The MIT team and other physicists say that in principle they see no obstacle to making such devices more compact and more efficient.

Farscape is back?

2007-07-23T15:34:00.001-07:00

Is Farscape on another ticket to comeback? Maybe there is hope...

JUL. 23, 2007 | News | SCI FI Weekly

Farscape Revived On SCIFI.COM

SCI FI Channel will revive its popular original show Farscape as a Web-based series of short films on SCIFI.COM's SCI FI Pulse broadband network, part of a slate of new original online programming.

SCI FI has ordered 10 webisodes of Farscape, to be produced by Brian Henson and Robert Halmi Jr. and produced by The Jim Henson Co., in association with RHI Entertainment.

The series will expand the Farscape universe, but the network had no announcements on casting or premiere dates.

Other new online series include SCI FI Tech, a companion to SCIFI.COM's SCI FI Tech blog, and Invent This!, which sets out to find the world's quirkiest inventions and get into the minds of the inventors behind each creation.

Recent news on Battlestar Galactica

2007-07-16T16:29:00.001-07:00

From Scifi.com:

JUL. 16, 2007 | News | SCI FI Weekly

Battlestar Cylons May Surprise

Cast members of SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica told reporters that they weren't happy at first to discover that their characters were Cylons, but they have come to terms with the revelation in their own ways—and hinted the Cylons may not be what they appear.

"I've always thought to myself—I don't know if I said it out loud, I must have—that I sure am glad I'm not playing a Cylon," said Michael Hogan, who plays Col. Tigh, in a news conference in Vancouver, Canada. "I'm not happy about being a Cylon at all. But I don't imagine any of us who are being picked to be Cylons are happy about it. But the scripts and what we've been doing so far are great, and the only way that I can deal with it is as a human being. So far, that's all I've had to do. And I'm not sure what's going on."

Hogan added that the new information about his character has added a level of complexity to his performance and challenged him as an actor. "For Tigh so far, it is like a mental illness," he said. "It's like the ringing in the years and visions and constantly wondering what's going on. So [in] almost ... every scene we do now, it's that thing where you're thinking, ... if you've had a personal tragedy happen to you, then you've got to carry on with life: You kind of realize, 'Isn't this amazing that I'm actually talking to people?' But this is all going on inside."

Aaron Douglas, who plays Chief Tyrol, said at the same press conference that he came across the information by chance early on and has had a little more time to process the notion. "I found out months in advance, accidentally," he said. "I found a piece of paper lying around that I wasn't supposed to read, but I read it anyways. And I said, 'What the ... is this?' And [director Michael] Rymer went, 'Oh, you're not supposed to read that.' ... So I kept my mouth shut until it officially came out, and then I phoned [executive producer Ron Moore]. 'What the hell is this?'"

Douglas said he didn't like the news at first. "Because I thought you're taking a fan favorite, a character that's very identifiable, very human, that the fans really, really like, and you're really marginalizing him," he said. "So Ron spoke to me for, like, an hour and a half on the phone, and he explained the whys and the wherefores, and I was convinced at the end. Now I've embraced it, more than Michael has, I believe. And I don't mind going down in history as one of the Cylon gods and one of the 12 Cylon human forms."

Douglas also revealed a detail about the final five Cylons that had previously been kept under wraps. "The differentiation between the seven and the final five will become more clear," he said. "We're not like them. In all seriousness. We're Cylon, but we're not connected to these guys at all." —Cindy White
SCI FI Execs Talk Battlestar's End

Bonnie Hammer, president of USA Network and SCI FI Channel, said that it was the decision of executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, not the network's, to end the original series Battlestar Galactica in the fourth season and that the producers made the decision for creative reasons.

"There's been some stuff online where they're saying that it was really the network decision to go in this direction and that it's been coded by a certain level of appropriate politics by Ron and David, and that's not really the case," Hammer said in a press conference during SCI FI Channel's digital press tour in Vancouver, Canada. "These are people who are passionate about what they do, and they didn't want to be in a position where they were writing beyond where they believed they had true stories and true character arcs where they could take it without diminishing the quality of the writing and the quality of the show, and that really is rare. And this is definitely a decision that they believe in wholeheartedly, as opposed to something that was fed to them for any other reasons, from ratings or finance or anything else."

Battlestar Galactica is currently filming its fourth and final season, which kicks off in November with a special two-hour event entitled "Razor." The show's additional 20 episodes will return in early 2008.

A special sneak preview of "Razor" will air on July 10 during the second-season premiere of SCI FI's original series Eureka at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

At the same press conference, SCI FI Channel's executive vice president Mark Stern echoed the assertion that Moore and Eick were not influenced by any outside sources. "Anyone who knows Ron and David knows they are anything but network lapdogs," he said. "We only wish that they would do what we ask them to do, but that's never going to happen."

As for the future of the franchise once the fourth and final season comes to a close, Stern said that it remains unclear and that everyone involved in the production is more concerned about the present and giving the show a proper sendoff. "We are as sad as everybody else is to see season four coming," he said. "As for what follows, Caprica, the prequel, is out there. We haven't really decided what we're going to do with that yet. And there's always the theme-park ride." —Cindy White

Ron Paul: For Good or for Awesome?

2007-07-15T10:39:00.001-07:00
YouTube interviews Ron Paul. Great answer to the abortion issue question and of course, he is both good and AWESOME.

Conical hat tip to Nick.

Battlestar Galactica - Razor

2007-07-11T05:51:00.001-07:00

Here's a fresh preview of the Battlestar Galactica TV-movie-to-be, Razor. Not much is in it, but it may tide you over for a little while until more substantive previews are available. What you do get a flavor for, however, are some of the new characters, although you only get one name...

Razor | Videos | SCI FI Pulse

Surface Computing

2007-06-29T09:29:00.001-07:00

A fascinating new paradigm in computing... follow the link...

Microsoft Surface: Hands-on First Look

Possible News on Star Trek 11

2007-06-25T15:24:00.001-07:00

This just in from SciFi.com...

JUN. 25, 2007 | News | SCI FI Weekly

Trek Script Done, Shoots In Fall

Roberto Orci, who with writing partner Alex Kurtzman is scripting the new Star Trek movie, told SCI FI Wire that they have finished the script are in preproduction on the movie, which will go into production in November under director J.J. Abrams. "We're still casting," Orci said while promoting his next film, Michael Bay's Transformers. "We're in preproduction, actually, this month."

While revealing little about the 11th Trek film's top-secret plot, Orci offered a few tidbits. "Kirk is in the movie," he said. "Some kind of Kirk. ... We literally haven't cast them yet. It's actually one of the challenges, and so we're hoping to have something by Comic-Con [in San Diego in July], but we'll see."

Orci added that producers are wrestling with whom to cast. "That's one of the debates, you know?" he said. "Like, how much does a familiar face hurt or not?" As for rumors that Matt Damon is in line for Kirk or Adrien Brody for Spock, Orci would only smile. "I've read all those rumors, too."

Is the Trek movie being eyed as the kickoff of a possible TV series? "I'm sure CBS is thinking about that," he said. "That's not [something] we're thinking about. We're just thinking about the movie. Certainly, I don't know how they could not think about that." —Patrick Lee, News Editor

Remarkable technology

2007-06-14T07:51:00.001-07:00

This is an amazing video of new software that will undoubtedly transform the way we think and use digital images... Frankly, I'm stunned.

TED | Talks | Blaise Aguera y Arcas: Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo (video)

Best Rocketboom Ever

2007-06-13T11:55:00.001-07:00

... on Chaos Theory...

Rocketboom - 6/12/07

Ron Moore on the end of Battlestar Galactica

2007-06-11T16:27:00.001-07:00

This just in from SciFi.com:

JUN. 11, 2007 | News | SCI FI Weekly

Ron Moore, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's Battlestar Galactica, said that he and fellow executive producer David Eick are planning to send the series off on a note of finality at the end of the coming fourth season. "The plan is to end the show," Moore said in a conference call on June 1. "The plan is to bring us to a definitive conclusion. There's no plans or thoughts in our heads, really, of then doing a follow-up feature or any series or anything beyond that."

Moore and Eick announced on May 31 that they would wrap the acclaimed series at the end of the upcoming fourth season and elaborated on their decision in a call with journalists a day later.

Moore said that he and the writers have been thinking about how they wanted to end the series since the middle of the second season and began talking seriously about the conclusion toward the end of the third.

"Those ideas about where we were headed and what it all meant started to really sort of coalesce over the course of the third season," Moore said. "And in between seasons four and three is when we started talking in earnest about 'OK, if we do end it next year, what would it really be?' And it just felt like, yeah, this is the right time to do it. ... We're really sort of taking our cues from the story itself, and it just feels like the story has moved forward aggressively."

Moore said that he's proud that the show has been unafraid to take risks. "And it's been unafraid to move strongly forward instead of trying to sort of tread water," he said. "And it just feels like the momentum of the series is moving towards a conclusion."

Moore and Eick have not yet begun writing the script for the finale, but they have had some discussions about how they will wrap up the story. One thing that has been talked about is leaving some of the relationships open to interpretation.

"The intention is to certainly concentrate on the characters and their relationships and sort of bring them all to an end point," Moore said. "I don't know if we'll resolve every single thing about every relationship, and I think there's value in leaving some things open to the imagination and having some things that are sort of tantalizingly unresolved. But the intention is to move towards what is the final chapter." In November, a special two-hour Battlestar episode, "Razor," will air. The fourth season kicks off in early 2008. —Cindy White

Alabama declares most libertarians to be terrorists

2007-06-11T09:11:00.001-07:00

Watch out libertarians, because by the standards of Alabama's Homeland Security office, you might be a terrorist! After this information was digged all over the planet, Alabama decided it would be best to remove that page. Here's the latest from the Birmingham news...

State Web site prompts complaints- al.com