Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

What is it about sex and guns? For reasons that are still unclear to me, Andrew Sullivan attempted to drag Glenn Reynolds into a debate over a Wisconsin law I consider silly and sexist. In a post titled “Attention Instapundit” Sullivan issues a direct challenge: This attack on the Second Amendment cannot stand: “In Connorsville,…

While I don’t know what the implications are for the so-called “wisdom of repugnance,” I thought this news item was worth a yuck: LONDON, July 7 (UPI) — Toddlers who say “yuck” when given flavorful foreign food may be exhibiting racist behavior, a British government-sponsored organization says. What, precisely, is a “flavorful foreign food”? Haggis?…

I know this will sound like a paranoid conspiracy theory, but I really think the convoluted paranoid conspiracy claim about Obama not being a citizen may itself be the result of some sort of agent provocateurism originating with the Obama campaign — the idea being to game the paranoid WND types by giving them plenty…

Scientific research reveals that not only does having a dog seem to be good for you, but people who develop attachments to their dogs might not be as neurotic as commonly believed: The field of psychotherapy has traditionally viewed those whose closest relationships are with animals as somehow lacking, their affections pathologically misplaced, their devotion…

No, that’s not a reference to the Fifth Amendment, but to celebrating the Fourth of July on the Fifth. Which is what I did last night, because the fireworks have all been screwed up by rainstorms. Even though I was on a ship on the Delaware River with a perfect view of last night’s fireworks,…

When I saw the video of the Fourth of July disruption of Bush’s speech which Drudge linked, something about the appearance and the voice of the howling Code Pink bashee seemed familiar. Here she is: (Notice the young man in the front row is laughing.) And here’s the video: Sure enough, she was Desiree Farooz,…

I don’t know whether I questioned his patriotism or not, but when I wrote a post yesterday criticizing Chris Satullo for saying that “America doesn’t deserve to celebrate its birthday” and the Fourth of July should be canceled, I had not known that Rush Limbaugh had launched a national attack on Satullo. While this does…

On the heels of a week-long “SACRED GROUND” series (discussed in two posts), this morning I was greeted by an Inquirer editorial about “Two stories, one nation” in which the Inquirer belabors the tedious canard that the world only “discovered” that George Washington owned slaves as a result of excavating the foundation of the house…

Who are who? They! The people who run our lives. While “they” are hard to define, I’ve always thought of them as one of those “I know it when I see it” sort of phenomena, although I’ve searched for definitions, noting that Herman Kahn characterized them as “a vast group of intellectuals” said to “suffer…

I am sorry to see that John McCain has denied roughing up the Sandinistas: CARTAGENA, Colombia (AP) – John McCain denied a Republican colleague’s claim that he roughed up an associate of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on a diplomatic mission in 1987, saying the allegation was “simply not true.” Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., told a…

I criticize the Philadelphia Inquirer a lot, especially on the gun control issue. But today I was delighted to see some favorable coverage, if not of guns, at least of some gun owners, in the form of Natalie Pompilio’s review of photographer Kyle Cassidy’s Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes. From the…

Much as I wish people wouldn’t drag dogs into the 9/11 Truther business, I found this and thought I should share it so that readers whose compassion knows no bounds might be better able to understand the Truther mindset. The meaning of the above is explained here (although not quite to my satisfaction): Nathan Janes,…

I have Communists for Hillary (what a dumb thing to buy; it’s worthless), and I had Republicans for Obama (what a dumb thing to let go; it’s probably worth a fortune). But Communists for Obama? That’s taken and there’s even a blog at Barack Obama’s official web site. Damn. I never seem to get it…

For the third day in a row, the Philadelphia Inquirer has been promoting a newly evolved “SACRED GROUND” meme — the idea that soil once occupied by colonial slaves is sacred. Central to this belief (at least in Philadelphia) is the idea that slaves belonging to George Washington ought to be considered important historical characters…

The Sterling, Illinois man who went on a murder spree has been captured. GRANITE CITY, Ill. – Police and FBI agents captured an ex-convict suspected of killing eight people in two states as he smoked a cigarette outside of a southwestern Illinois bar Tuesday night. Nicholas T. Sheley, who was the subject of a multistate…

Noting the hopeless religious divide between Barack Obama and James Dobson, Pat Buchanan (on Dobson’s side, naturally) argues that peaceful coexistence is impossible: Can Americans ever come together if we are divided in our deepest beliefs about morality and truth, where one side believes gay marriage is moral progress, the other holds it a moral…

This post by Ann Althouse cracked me up. To no end. Well, maybe to some end, because it made me think about the gay replacement issue. Not that I really knew or cared all that much. If people don’t want to use the word “gay,” it’s a free country, and I’d never make them. As…

I was appalled to read that a small business owner in England (a woman who operates a “urban and edgy,” and “funky” hair salon) was sued by a devoutly religious Muslim woman who refused to work without her head covered. Which means the owner has “had to shell out $8,000 for hurting a veiled Muslim…

This is kind of old news, but I need a post today. So here goes. I used to know David Mamet from his time helping to get the St. Nicholas Theater on Halsted Street in Chicago going. I was actually living in the theater at the time and helped them set up their sound system.…