Thursday, September 14, 2006

Speedlinking 9/14/06

Image of the day is from ~augustina at deviantART.

Let's start today with some politics:

~ Christopher Buckley, writing at Washington Monthly suggests that we should quit while we are behind. Money quote:
Who knew, in 2000, that “compassionate conservatism” meant bigger government, unrestricted government spending, government intrusion in personal matters, government ineptitude, and cronyism in disaster relief? Who knew, in 2000, that the only bill the president would veto, six years later, would be one on funding stem-cell research?

A more accurate term for Mr. Bush’s political philosophy might be incontinent conservatism.
~ Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post muses on Bush's declaration of a third awakening in American religion, which Bush claims has been spurred by the good vs. evil "war on terror."

~ John Podhoretz at The National Review's The Corner looks at Hillary's chances in 2008 in parts one and two.

~ Some of us just voted yesterday (and it amazes me that the GOP Congressional Committee is already running attack ads on the Democratic winner of yesterday's election in AZ CD8). Many people around the country will be voting in November and in 2008 on Diebold machines, which have been proven over and over to be hackable, and have been proven so again. These machines are made by companies that donate huge amounts of money to Bush and the GOP. How safe is your vote? Did you get a paper receipt proving who and what you voted for?

Meanwhile, in the sane world . . .

~ Steve Pavlina is grooving with the heavies, with a post called Understanding Jesus, Buddha, and Other Mystics. He argues that we should follow their advice as pointing out instructions, and that if we do so, it will fill our hearts with joy. I think it may take a little more work than that, but that's just me.

~ Via the P2P Foundation blog, Amnesty International is launching a campaign to end internet censorship around the world:

http://www.irrepressible.info/ is a campaign by Amnesty International to stop internet repression in countries like China, Vietnam, Tunisia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, where people are persecuted and imprisoned for self-expression. Irrepressible gives three suggested outlets for participation:

1. Sign our pledge on Internet freedom to call on all governments and companies to ensure the Internet is a force for political freedom, not repression.

2. Undermine censorship by publishing irrepressible fragments of censored material on your own site. The more people take part, the more we can defeat unwarranted censorship and create an unstoppable network of protest.

3.Put pressure on companies to protect freedom of information and expression. In China, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are supporting the government’s denial of fundamental freedoms. Act now.

~ David Jon at Zaadz adds part tres of his series on the sensitive man. He's arguing that men have been unfairly made to think (for the last 100 years or so) that they are the cause of all evil in the world. Here are links to parts one and two.

~ CJ Smith at Indistinctunion posts on some of the thinkers he thinks we should all have read in Meaning Meant. Making the list: Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, Emanuel Levinas, Martin Buber, Paul Ricoeur and Hans Georg Gadamar, Martin Heidegger, and Jurgen Habermas. Go read the post to see why.

~ Matthew Dallman has added Matt Yglesias to his list of "heavies." MD suggests that Yglesias will be more to the liking of his liberal-leaning readers, so I'll have to check him out.

~ Mike at Unknowing Mind offers his views on "How do you view karma, the thought that your actions in some way determine your experiences, in your spiritual path?" This is Interfaith Blog Event #1: Karma. To keep things fun, he also has links to articles from a Christian and pagan perspectives on the same question. Looks cool.

And with that, I am off to work.


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