Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Is there a conflict between freedom of speech and freedom of religion? I don’t think there is, but I think the courts may have screwed things up to the point where people are forgetting something about the nature of free speech. A recent example involves a group of high school cheerleaders in Florida who were…

Anyone remember this cartoon? Far be it from me to criticize artists, but in light of this news report, I think the bomb might be in the wrong place: (CBS) Al Qaeda has developed a new tactic that allows suicide bombers to breach even the tightest security, as CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports. Inside…

For over 14 years, I have been running 3 miles nearly every other day. I had to force myself when I started back in 1995, and I hated running then and now. Really, I hate it about as much now as I did when I started. What I have never quite been able to understand…

I just learned that old blogfriends Kim and Connie du Toit have a new radio show that promises to be most exciting. The Kim and Connie Show begins on Saturday October 3rd on BlogTalkRadio.com. According to Connie, they “hope to present something akin to a ‘Salon’ but the show will probably take on a life…

There are those who believe that taking the Bible literally can be a form of satire, and cartoonist R. Crumb is one of them: PARIS — Subversive US cartoonist Robert Crumb, whose take on the Bible is about to be released worldwide, says people are “totally nuts” for taking the book so seriously for so…

The speaker in the video is Mr. James Duane, a professor at Regent Law School and a former defense attorney. Yeah. Don’t talk. The Mafia Code of Omerta. Silence. The Video explains why. Here is Part 2 by a police officer in case you need more reasons. Which brings up this book: Three Felonies a…

According to The Daily Express UK Saudi Arabia has green lighted an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. INTELLIGENCE chief Sir John Scarlett has been told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb Iran’s new nuclear site. The head of MI6 discussed the issue in London with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and…

The ever-didactic newly-Mrs. McArdle, taking what we all hope is only a brief break from breeding a new race of libertarian superhumans (Suderhumans?), notes a disturbing trend: On the other end, requiring LTVs of 80-90% would have made the markets much less vulnerable to a correction. … Meanwhile, what’s actually happening? The percentage of FHA…

In a painfully thoughtful piece, Hollywood insider Roger L. Simon looks at the Roman Polanski case, and concludes that he is a metaphor for Hollywood: Look, Polanski is weak like the rest of us. But in the end, there is something about him that is a metaphor for Hollywood – despite that he has been…

Illinois Republicans are making efforts to connect the Democrats to the SEIU in the race for Obamas old Senate Seat. Roland “I am not a crook” Burris (D – Crook County) is currently keeping the seat warm. Illinois Republicans are using a union endorsement Democrat Alexi Giannoulias received Thursday to again try to make disgraced…

Bill Whittle has a marvelous video that you should watch. And what is Breitbart’s strategy for continuing the attack? In a word make ACORN sue him. Which it has done. What was O’Keefe and Gile’s response when a suit was first mooted? “Bring it on.” Kathleen Parker suggests the next front in the war. SEIU.…

An Indiana grandmother has been arrested for buying more sudafed than the law allows: CLINTON — When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs. Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is…

Gregory Kane thinks it would have been better for conservative bloggers to have ignored the Van Jones story in the hope that he would stay in office until shortly before the 2012 election– at which time his “exposure” could provide the much-needed ammo that the GOP will need to win: …did Republicans and conservatives do…

In her discussion of the amazing and incredible delay by the New York Times in reporting the ACORN child prostitution-enablement scandal, Ann Althouse derides this explanation from Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt: as more videos were posted and government authorities rushed to distance themselves from Acorn, The Times stood still. Its slow reflexes — closely…

I’m all for free speech, and I’ve criticized McCain-Feingold quite harshly. But this headline — “Supreme Court appears poised to allow corporate contributions” — worries me, because corporations aren’t the independent entities they once were. WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc sounded poised Wednesday to strike down on free-speech grounds the nation’s historic ban…

Texas is slated to get a really big battery to improve grid reliability. Electric Transmission Texas LLC (ETT) has completed a contract with NGK-Locke, Inc. for a state-of-the-art, sodium-sulfur 4-megawatt NAS battery system, which will be installed in Presidio, Texas. ETT is a joint venture between American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and MidAmerican Energy Holdings…

On Friday night I had dinner at a popular Ann Arbor pub, and my otherwise delightful evening was ruined by something very unpleasant on the widescreen TV — a long ESPN interview with dog torturer Michael Vick. I realize people say that by serving his sentence he “paid his dues” to society, but how does…

Linearthinker suggested this article on how LSD led to the discovery of DNA. FRANCIS CRICK, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced thedouble-helix structure of DNA nearly 50 years ago. The abrasive and unorthodox Crick and his brilliant American co-researcher James Watson famously celebrated their…

A thoughtful piece from BIll Ardolino over at Long War Journal, with an in-depth look at Iranian influence in Iraq — and its limits. I’m not trying to sugarcoat the fact that Iran is exerting significant influence of armed, economic, political, and religious varieties in a post-Saddam Iraq. And there is little doubt that as…

I was having a discussion about this and that at Talk Polywell and one of my correspondents said: …many of them both unnecessary and unsustainable. A truly civilized society would maintain an ecological balance and still be able to visit the planets. And I said: Humanity is unsustainable. We will go on for as long…