Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

I just learned from Duane J. Oldsen about a book by Jane Jacobs, Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politicswhich was published in 1992. It is a fascinating look at the two major systems of morality that we find in the world. Commercial Morality and Guardian (Political) Morality. Or…

In a piece with the irresistible title of “What Me Mullah?”, Roger L. Simon looks at Barack Obama’s wild inconsistencies on Iran, and foreign policy in general. On Sunday, Obama told the throng at Pendleton, Oregon: “Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat…

Obama has allied himself with the Axis Powers. Suggested by dre in a comment to Classical Values post Heroes locked under Plexiglas. Picture originally hosted by Power Line. Power Line suggests you look at this image in case the association is not clear.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, on Saturday I went to the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum. Now, while I happen to think Frida Kahlo’s art is overrated as art and I abhor her and her husband’s Stalinist politics, I still find her art interesting. While she is not (despite what…

“Why don’t you care about the mercury?” So asks Ann Althouse in a post about CFL mercury dangers. I can’t resist why questions. Basically, my answer is the same that it has been to “Why don’t you care about the lead?” Because the dangers are overstated. But speaking of overstated dangers, I cannot help noticing…

The New Criterion has an article on romaticism in the public schools. It is not about the study of a literary genre but a look at how bad ideas coupled with good intentions are ruining our schools for all children. The children with limited abilities. Those in the middle and those at the top. It…

I hate the way Sunday has become official morality day. I say this not in criticism of organized religion or morality in general, but because I don’t like trickery, and I don’t like the way Sundays have become the official day for media to play preacher and promote morality — especially the newly manufactured morality…

Gone all day yesterday, but blogging was not forgotten. Far from it. After a trip to the Philadelphia Art Museum where I immersed myself in the morbidly self absorbed art of the unabashedly Stalinist surrealist Frida Kahlo, I got in my car and hightailed it to Baltimore for a very different event, and a more…

If you look at these two videos I’d have to say it is hard to tell the two comedians apart. Why do I say two comedians? Well there seems to be a little stretching of the truth going on here. Here is what John McCain said: “I think the United States should take a step…

President Bush gave a speech at the Israeli Parliament. Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared:…

McCain made a great point at the NRA convention and he changed my mind about my on again off again support for him. We owe it to those who have fought and died in Iraq. Senator Obama has said, if elected, he will withdraw Americans from Iraq quickly no matter what the situation on the…

Like a lot of people who have been using computers for over a decade, I have performed “upgrades” more times than I care to remember. Among the more mundane of these upgrades have been replacing hard drives — sometimes because they failed, but mostly because they eventually were filled to capacity. I’m kind of a…

The American Thinker asks: What do the Saudis want? Slowly but surely it is beginning to dawn on a world mesmerized by the Democratic primary contest that an oil cartel has been picking our pocket with impunity by willfully failing to adjust its output to the additional needs of China and India. More specifically, Americans…

Under the Endangered Species Act the polar bear is now listed as a threatened species. After 18 years of a law practice devoted to counseling landowners, home builders and commercial interests affected by the long arm and severe penalties of the Endangered Species Act, I am used to incredulous looks and outraged oaths from clients…

This one is the last straw for me. He wants to cripple the US economy over unproven theories when even the warmists say we have 10 years of cold coming. All this will do is send jobs to China and India. I used to be luke warm for McCain. Now I just don’t care any…

Be sure to check out my Pajamas Media post on the subject, and please feel free to leave a comment The bottom line is that while travel to Burma is generally considered unethical (because tourist money supports the tyrannical regime financially), the situation is so awful there right now that travel could hardly make things…

While I know Mike Huckabee was only kidding, remarks like this just don’t don’t work out too well in the world of politics. LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during his speech to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had…

“We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility.” So said Phil Edwards of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, quoted in a report linking obesity to global warming. “Hands off my steak!” is more like it. That was Andrew Bolt’s reaction. Bolt also supplied graphic evidence of “an enviro-menace who…

I do not admire disloyalty, so I was perturbed to read about a supposedly conscience-stricken young man [Matthis Chiroux] who, after years of military service in Afghanistan and elsewhere, suddenly says he “failed to report” “war crimes” and refuses deployment to Iraq. From his statement: This occupation is unconstitutional and illegal, and I hereby lawfully…