Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Chuck Sweeny – a Rockford Register Star reporter that I know from his days of covering the local Libertarian Party – gets to the heart of the goings on in Madison and explains why it is so critical for the unions to win against Governor Walker and the Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature. But Democrats…

In a piece Glenn linked titled “Words you can’t say at the Pentagon,”Stewart Baker makes it clear that top Army bureaucrats (along with a large number of politically correct people in the ruling classes) only want Islam referred to with stultifyingly propagandistic terms such as “the religion of peace.” It’s easy to yell about free…

Qaddafi has fled to Venezuela. Libyan air force bombing civilians; two pilots refuse and fly to Malta. Clerics endorse rebellion. This follows on yesterday’s chaos. As usual, Wikipedia has one of the more thorough summaries of the situation.

Ann Arbor officially got 9.6 inches of snow last night, but it looks like a foot, and it is the heavy wet kind, so I am sick of shoveling. Besides, what’s the point of shoveling out my driveway when the street in front of the house has not been plowed? I can’t go anywhere, as…

Adam Carolla has a beautiful rant on the school systems. Don’t Miss It. If you only do the first five minutes it is worth it. Not Safe For Work Cross Posted at Power and Control

The unions in Wisconsin are making one argument that I agree with — that their struggle is about human rights. Hell yes, this is about human rights.  This is about the property rights of taxpayers being violated.  There is absolutely no reason why unions should be allowed to organize against people whose income is being…

It sure looks that way. Reports are that much of the east may already be under the control of protesters, with the armed forces joining the revolution. Meanwhile, tribal leaders are now openly challenging Qaddafi: The leader of the Al-Zuwayya tribe in eastern Libya threatened on Sunday to cut oil exports to Western countries within…

Kay Hymowitz has a new book — Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys — and Dr. Helen is questioning some of its premises at her blog, where she asks a question that made me chuckle: When someone tells you to “man-up,” what do you think they are trying to…

Alcohol prohibition corrupted the law enforcement apparatus of the United States. 4. Prohibition permanently corrupted law enforcement, the court system, and politics. During Prohibition, organized crime had on its payroll police, judges, prosecutors, and politicians. If mobsters couldn’t buy or successfully threaten someone in a powerful position, they either “wiped him out” or, following more…

A great point from M Simon here at Classical Values: the one country notably absent from the recent massive pro-democracy protests across the Mideast is… Iraq.  Hmmm, why might that be?  Oh right, they already have democracy.  The protests in Iraq, by contrast, are Tea Party-like demonstrations against corruption, bad economic policies, and lack of transparency. In fact,…

Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes covering public employees’ absences. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds of notes. Ummm, what?  Let’s say the Milwaukee Brewers put together a promotion in which they encouraged attendees to call in sick and provided…

As regular readers know, I get sick of the gay issue. Especially the “TEH GAY” issue. But what the hell. I seem to be stuck with it and no matter what I do, there exists a demand for gay related posts. What I find a little disturbing is that the demand is not created only…

There is large scale unrest all across the Middle East. Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Iran, Kuwait, Algeria, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and probably others. Which country (besides Israel) is not on the list? Iraq. And yet we were told by our anti-war and lefty friends that Iraq was the biggest military/foreign policy…

While I have long worried about the possibility of the government shutting down the Internet, recent events in Egypt show that what I have been told is technically impossible in this country has become possible — at least in other countries. The most ominous development to date is an actual proposal to have an Internet…

The title of this post is an ironic reference to a song by The Zombies. But the question has come up in reference to the Obama birth certificate question (not that again). And there are some strange alliances at work here. Gay run site Hill Buzz is quoting gay haters WND. Drudge has linked this…

Rick Santorum may be making a run for President. Back in September, I wrote a story about former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who was jetting around to Iowa and New Hampshire laying the obvious groundwork for a presidential run in 2012. But Google Santorum and some very ugly crap comes up. Similar results come up…

As you may or may not know 14 Wisconsin Senators were camped out in Rockford. The first mate and I had gone out today for a late Valentines Day lunch (we often celebrate holidays early or late depending) at Aunt Mary’s on State Street which is owned by Sam from Albania. We had the best…

[This was not written by me but by I friend who wishes to remain anonymous.  I realize it falls under taking a sledgehammer to an ant, but sometimes ants deserve to be crushed with excessive force.  This one certainly does.] You know, there’s a certain kind of political radical that, observed from a safe distance,…

On Valentine’s Day of last year, I wrote a post about the long tradition of political ridicule, in which I featured an unflattering political cartoon of Thomas Jefferson:   It’s not very nice. Disrespectful, even. But presidents have been subjected to innumerable comparisons with animals. George Bush was so routinely likened to a chimpanzee that…

There is a lot of craziness going around about healthy eating. Last night I saw a TV news clip showing that poor eating habits (mostly in the South) have led to poor medical outcomes. I think I have a solution. “The Pink Taco Diet” I’m waiting for the “The Pink Taco Diet Book – Illustrated”.…