Personal liberty is one of the great ideals upon which U.S. society is founded. Liberty of thought and belief are critical to the preservation of a free society. Freedom of expression and of the press are necessary to protection of them. But freedom of action must often be constrained to preserve a civil society. No [...]

Feng Shui, the Chinese art of arranging furniture so that it directs the energy flow in a room, is all the rage these days. Politicians have long practiced a related art: Deng Shui (pronounced “dung shway”)–the art of framing a discussion so that when the mud slinging begins (”mud” being a euphamism here…), the filth [...]

Congratulations to the people of Iraq, who in large numbers, showed courange in going to the polls in spite of the threat of violence, and took an important step to un-bust their part of the world! The best of success to them in the road ahead.
 

Some of those recently campaigning against gay marriage argued against applying the tradional term “marriage” to non-traditional unions. The term “domestic partnership” has achieved common usage, but I’ve got another idea: call it “farriage”. Using that name, homosexuals formalizing their union would be getting “farried”.
…or would that name discriminate against female homosexuals?
 

Listening to Talk of the Nation address the issue of religion in schools today, I wondered what those who oppose religion in schools would say if a church were established that taught evolution. Would they then opposing the teaching of evolution in schools? If not, how would they justify the exception? By saying that the [...]

Two-party politics has its virtue–it leads to greater stability because the parties don’t need to create and maintain coalitions in order to get enough power to get things done. However, it also has its problems.
When two parties dominate politics, choices are limited: you can choose one party or the other, or you can be marginalized. [...]

Well, I guess it’s time for all U.S. bloggers to announce who they are endorsing for president. My endoresement goes too…
…some else. I don’t know who, just that it’s neither Bush nor Kerry. If I had to pick between the two, if you wouldn’t let me off the hook, if you really twisted my arm, [...]

…Jim Lehrer. The debate was interesting. It was good to get a more clear picture of who John Kerry is. But when all is said and done, the person who impressed me most was the moderator. As a fan of the News Hour, I expected as much going in.
As far as the candidates go, it [...]

Sometimes, participation in the AtomPub Working Group can be awfully tedious. The discussion of some topics just seems to go on and on and on and on… While feeling the pain the other day, and started making a list of ineffective discussion methods that lead to these protracted discussions. I’ve augmented it with other communication [...]

If a politician speaks in the forest, and no one is there to hear him, is he still a liar?