Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Commenter Kathy Kinsley made an excellent rejoinder to my comment at Reverse Gramscianism. Me The right lacks a heart and the left lacks a brain. And neither has the courage to change. Kathy “The right lacks a heart and the left lacks a brain.” And that’s how the Wizard of Oz got elected. ” Pay…

Progress! Polis’ measure would regulate marijuana the way the federal government handles alcohol: In states that legalize pot, growers would have to obtain a federal permit. Oversight of marijuana would be removed from the Drug Enforcement Administration and given to the newly renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms, and it would remain illegal…

The Republican speaker is at 19:50 in. She Makes the following points about Republicanism at about 21:00 in. 1. Limited Government 2. Fiscal Responsibility 3. Less Intrusion in your Private Life H/T Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and…

In my ongoing discussion with a socon I proposed a reverse Gramscian tactic. A return to Jesus if you will. As these discussions with that person often do the topic of drugs came up. Well I don’t fear cocaine. I don’t fear heroin. I don’t fear LSD. I don’t fear marijuana. I do fear big…

As a number of gun control advocates agree with the philosophy behind Jon Stewart’s remark that “when that constitution was written, people had muskets,” I thought it would be fun to apply the same thinking to the rest of our rights. When the Constitution was written, people had manually inked printing presses with type that…

I’m having a little discussion with a socon who accused me of being played by the left. I’m going to post excerpts from my half of that conversation: I do believe smaller government has a future and the DEA is my first target. It has always been my target. Fortunately I can work with the…

The Silver Tour Patients Out Of Time – The History Of Medical Cannabis Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Citizens Opposing Prohibition Dr. Raphael Mechoulam – video Dr. Andrew Weil – video Marijuana and Traffic Accidents Omega-3 oils & marijuana may stave off Alzheimer’s Lester Grinspoon, M.D. – Marijuana The Forbidden Medicine Index Of Medical Conditions Judge…

What brought this on? I just got told by ANOTHER Republican that I can’t be a fiscal conservative if I’m not a social conservative. Fine. I will no longer be a fiscal conservative. You don’t want my vote? You won’t get it. And no surprise – I got told direct that my vote is unwanted.…

The reaction of a lot of people to this report about a Big Brother “health” database is that it’s nothing to worry about as it’s not happening here: GPs are to be forced to hand over confidential records on all their patients’ drinking habits, waist sizes and illnesses. The files will be stored in a giant…

Nice video from the 60s. A real classic, which I think has a haunting quality.

Hey, I not only like dogs, I LOVE them. However, certain misguided animals are being used by their evil masters to destroy our constitutional rights: …even if you are neither a lawyer nor a super-libertarian, you might wonder 1) how often this sort of thing happens, 2) how it came to be that police can…

I ran across this: Conservatives Launch New Social Network to Escape Facebook ‘Censorship’. Here is the story: Fed up with the threat of “censorship” on Facebook, a group of a conservatives are launching their own social network called “The Tea Party Community.” The site, which doesn’t even officially go online until Saturday, has already attracted…

I was reading How The Republicans Lost The Election and about 1/4 of the way through the first thing I thought was – the Libertarian wing of the party could do this. And what was the first comment? The Libertarian wing of the Party can do this. And what does the “base” want? Fewer Libertarians…

The subject came up on this thread. This was my answer: I used to be a socialist. Until I figured out that the incentives were all wrong. In a static system – not too bad. In an advancing system you want the greatest rewards going to those making the greatest advances. And preferably you want…

Thinking I would “upgrade” the quality of my television viewing, I decided to replace my old, “outmoded” 30 inch flat screen HD CRT, and I bought a new 42″ LED HDTV. When I turned it on I thought I was going crazy. The picture was bigger, but blurrier. A lot blurrier. Jerkier too. And the…

Obviously believing that the 4th Amendment does not apply to them, the DEA is demanding access to patients’ supposedly “private” medical records: The Drug Enforcement Administration is trying to access private prescription records of patients in Oregon without a warrant, despite a state law forbidding it from doing so. The ACLU and its Oregon affiliate…

Huffington Post has a graphic up showing about 2,980 metric tons of pot confiscated in 2009. Let us assume that the authorities get 10% of the traffic. So multiply that by 9 to get the total consumption. That gives 26,820 metric tons consumed. A metric ton is about 2,200 lbs. So that is roughly 59,000,000…

When I saw this story linked by a Facebook friend — that in a few days it will be a federal crime to unlock your smartphone — I honestly thought it was a joke. Wrong. That’s right, starting this weekend it is illegal to unlock new phones to make them available on other carriers. I have deep…

There is an opinion piece about immigration that I made this comment to (in part as a response to other commenters): So let me see. We can not prevent smuggling of goods (neither could the USSR) but we can prevent the smuggling of people? “Conservatives” are insane. What would I do? Make it easier to…