Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

And you may ask why the title? Here is why. And yes the connection is rather tenuous. But so is Al Gore’s claim. H/T Watts Up With That Cross Posted at Power and Control

I’m reading around the ‘net and people touting various candidates say their candidate supports the Constitution. OK. It is good PR. But there is a test. Say to them: “I never noticed a Prohibition Amendment. Except for Alcohol.” So when a candidate supporter says “my candidate supports the Constitution” check them on it. Ask: “Where…

In A Dagger Pointed At The Heart Of The Church, I decried the lack of Church involvement in ending the Drug War. I said (in a round about way): People in chronic pain chronically take pain relievers And that it was morally wrong to be punishing such people for the illegal use of pain relievers.…

I realize Hurricane Irene has subsided, but I liked this headline so much that I wanted to share it: Right Wing Tries New Tactic To Soften Bush’s Katrina Debacle: Say Obama’s Leadership On Irene Is Just For Show Yes, the “right wing” is still wringing its collective hands over Bush’s handling of Katrina, and any…

Many of you know of my disdain for Christian “outreach” due to a long ago set of incidents when I was attending public schools. Well that was a long time ago and does not explain why that attitude of mine has not been more severely attenuated. So bear with me. I’m going to tell a…

Vanderleun has the story: The Green Gym will be the first of its kind. Nowhere else in the country have such innovations been implemented for the benefit of homeless citizens. In addition to standard fitness equipment such as two weight machines, boxing bags, and a treadmill, 10 Green Revolution Technology enabled stationary bikes will generate…

According to Sarah Palin Information (not an official Palin site), Sarah tweeted this video: I’ll be talking about this and more on September 3rd. http://fb.me/129u9eYLN I think she is in. You can find further links at the Sarah Palin Information site link above. BTW thanks to Frank a commenter here who was asking me if…

A Michele Bachmann fan I am not. But I do try to be fair, and I think this long, obsessive criticism of her choice in shoes is, well, downright sexist. …from the ankle down, Bachmann likes to show a little skin — many of her shoes are either sandals (often worn with pantyhose — argh)…

A commenter at my post Throwing The Election took umbrage at my comparing the morality of slavery to the morality of the Drug War and at my added point that the church was on the wrong side of that question. Fair enough. In the case of slavery some churches (in America) favored it and some…

Sometimes, very rarely, we mere mortals get to be at the outer periphery of contact with someone whom we know will be mentioned in the history books about this time, and whose influence and transformative presence will only grow. Nine or so years ago, I started reading Instapundit in the morning.  It seems like yesterday. …

Wow, is it really Glenn Reynolds’ birthday today? I guess it is. I won’t even ask how old he is lest I cause commotion in life extension circles. And as I thoroughly covered his Satanic astrological profile years ago, I guess don’t have much to add today, except Happy Birthday Glenn! I mean it. If…

In Christophobia I discussed how making the Republican 2012 Campaign for President a religious crusade could be a disaster. I gave the example of an election campaign for Federal Senator run on that basis. I looked at the numbers in Obama/Keyes vs Kerry/Bush and found that Keyes lost almost 60% of the votes of his…

Here in extremely liberal Ann Arbor, the city council and its various boards and commissions apparently have nothing better to do than harass citizens for driving. The latest proposal (which is being treated with utmost seriousness) is to make it a crime to idle the engine in your car. I am not making this up.…

If you have a gun, that’s when you most need it. So why on earth would a state pass a law making concealed carry permit holders criminals if they carry during emergencies? There is no logic to it. Unless they want people unable to be especially unable defend their lives and property during emergencies.

I have mixed feelings about Rick Perry. I like his economic philosophy, as well as his past strong statements of support for limited government, especially the Tenth Amendment. But I’ve been concerned about his positions on social issues, and I have been unable to get past my sour initial take — which is that I…

It’s not every day that I see a headline like this: Federal appeals court refuses to block invasive fish from Great Lakes Because of my unfortunate tendency to read things literally, I was initially taken aback, as I could not understand why anyone would think fish are capable of obeying court orders. But when I…

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Patriot Act was passed, and a giant new federal bureaucracy was created with vast new powers. The Department of Homeland Security. Like many libertarians, (as well as more than a few conservatives and liberals) I was worried about the threat to freedom posed by this unprecedented federal…

Of all the things that have been said so far about Rick Perry (and there will of course be many more) I think former president Clinton’s observation is the most interesting: Speaking at a fire fighter’s conference in midtown Manhattan this morning, Clinton said, “I got tickled by watching Governor Perry announce for governor, for…

So I’m having the usual discussion with a Socon and he accuses me of not liking Jesus. M. Simon, your post attacking me makes you sound like a “Christophobe.” Your logic shows your contempt for Christianity and distrust of us Christians. You got me. It was caused by me being FORCED in public school to…

Watts Up With That has the news the sceptic community has been waiting for. The CERN experiments done by Svensmark et. al. [Update: actually they were done by Kirkby but they validate the Svensmark hypothesis] show that clouds are significantly affected by cosmic rays. …it appears that a non-visible light irradiance effect on Earth’s cloud…