Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The Democrats are going to use prohibition induced violence to take away our gun rights. Because only criminals should be allowed to have guns or drugs. I have been saying for several decades that drug prohibition would lead to gun prohibition. Way to go Conservatives. Because like you know. Prohibition works. Cross Posted at Power…

Breasts and popular music. Now there is a topic that grabs my interest. It seems to have grabbed the interest of Discover Magazine as well. Except we are not talking Lenny Kravitz. We are talking 17th Century ballads. People who yearn for old-fashioned public decency might be surprised to talk to historian Angela McShane-Jones at…

In a piece asking whether voting matters anymore, Jeff Pope discusses political arrogance: Political arrogance is far more dangerous than social arrogance. In civil society arrogance is the simple disdain for others due to class, wealth, education, or breeding. It is a trait that America, being egalitarian from its founding, strongly rejects. Political arrogance, however,…

In his analysis of how the Rush Limbaugh controversy is dividing the GOP, Rick Moran makes the following observation: The right is in Dante’s ninth circle of hell, condemned to be encased in solid ice with only their heads showing, with those positioned next to each other forced to gnaw on their neighbors’ necks for…

Lest we forget that today is the fifth anniversary of the Madrid terror attacks, Jos&eacute Guardia has posted a memorial. Jos&eacute says that “sometimes it’s almost impossible to find the words, so this is what I could to as a tribute for the 5th anniversary of the Madrid terror attacks.” Remember those who died in…

The big news last night and today is the report of a man who killed his mother, burned down her house with her inside, then went on a shooting spree. No one seems to know why, but I expect a lot of people will be blaming the gun. Alabama State Trooper John Reese told “Good…

Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose is an excellent book that explains in simple language his philosophy and how he came by it. Here is a page of links to other Milton Friedman videos and articles. H/T Atlas Shrugs Cross Posted at Power and Control

Click for a larger view. The old time religion is declining in America. When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers. The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The…

TuringScan: InitClock00:00:00:00:00.01 InitInitInstructInit1. SetNum(Numb[?])TransL8:1337 ReInitVar42:CuzYTsezWNot[!]:{Meta}Re:Fish,”KThxLolz” … … (…) You like watching him… don’t you? IT,Instruction(Mark,value:=”0″); References, set? “Running Out?”:=Not likely Absurdity Inference Initiated… Commence… Bitches. (Take that any way you please; amusingly, all of them (possible ways) are intentionally offensive). The older you get, the more capable you are of noticing how ridiculously silly seeming…

Earlier I appeared on PJTV’s Roundtable, which you can watch absolutely free by clicking this link. I was honored to be on with Ed Driscoll and Rick Moran, and I’m just delighted that PJTV featured the post I wrote earlier: “The Obama Two Step.” If the above link doesn’t work, just go to PJTV and…

Even the New York Times was sounding the warning. Nine and a half years ago. In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders. The action, which will begin…

I’m surprised at Dave Weigel (a guy I usually respect, who’s a Contributing Editor of Reason Magazine — to which I am a loyal subscriber). Surprised and annoyed, and I’ll explain why. After citing Glenn Reynolds’ link to a Gateway Pundit story linking a WorldNetDaily report, Weigel says this in an update to a story…

While there’s no way to ascertain for sure whether Barack Obama’s disastrous economic policies are malevolent or incompetent, I found it interesting that yesterday he went out of his way to deny being a socialist (by pleading that he thought it was all a joke): “It was hard for me to believe that you were…

From Bob Krumm, a dire warning: Never in my lifetime have I seen the nation as ripe for a third-party takeover as it is now. But if President Obama and the Democratic Congress further propel the economy down a rat hole, the party that emerges might not be the kind we want. There would be…

My friends when Pat Buchanan says legalize drugs, political support for the drug war has collapsed. How does one win a drug war when millions of Americans who use recreational drugs are financing the cartels bribing, murdering and beheading to win the war and keep self-indulgent Americans supplied with drugs? There are two sure ways…

To FDR’s famous “we have nothing to fear but fear itself,” I’d offer an amendment: “We have nothing to get hysterical about but hysteria itself.” This morning, Drudge linked a “news” report from WorldNetDaily (where else?) which is little more than a regurgitation of a minister’s repeated claims that the end is near. Excerpt: AN…

Mr. Obama is big into alternative energy. Wind. Solar. Geothermal. However, even his supporters have doubts about his energy plans. I like Barack Obama but I have doubts about his presidency when I hear him saying that the US will “double the amount of energy that comes from renewable sources by the end of my…

I received a couple of emails from libertarianish readers which not only fit the general theme of this blog, but which might shed some light on the state of libertarianism today. I’ll start with one from Bill Goodwin (Editor of FreedomPolitics.com), who links “What it feels like to be a libertarian“: I’ll tell you. It…

I don’t generally write about things with which I am not fully conversant, and I haven’t been in Michigan long enough to consider myself an expert on Detroit. For starters, I still haven’t been there. I spent three months here in Ann Arbor, then three months in California, and I’ve only been back for a…

I’m not talking about the economy. That is already done for. I’m talking about Obama’s coming crack up. A commenter at Gateway Pundit makes an interesting observation. He thinks we’re all idiots who will swoon over him for eight straight years. Even so, he’s starting to have a kind of permanent sheen of flop sweat…