Should I Vote?

Here's a really interesting and challenging article by a man who, based on ideological grounds, does not vote.

Ron Paul vs. the Bailout

Here are a couple of brief statements Ron Paul made yesterday to the Financial Services Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. Great explanations of how government intervention was primarily responsible for this mess and why the proposed bailout (i.e., more government intervention) is the wrong thing to do.

Dude, I voted!

A DJ on the radio today was promoting an online movie that is aimed at young adults - specifically "slackers" - to encourage them to vote. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with encouraging "slackers" to vote? Shouldn't we first encourage them to not be slackers - to be mentally active and reasonably informed before nudging them towards the ballot box?

Trusting the government

I think that most people in the US think that health and safety issues like safe drinking water has to be handled by the government, rather than through private means. Here's an article about an EPA decision regarding perchlorate levels in drinking water.

quote: The ingredient, perchlorate, has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental health risks, particularly for babies and fetuses, according to some scientists.
The EPA document says that mandating a clean-up level for perchlorate would not result in a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public-water systems."
....
Lenny Siegel, director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight in Mountain View, Calif., added: "This is an unconscionable decision not based upon science or law but on concern that a more stringent standard could cost the government significantly."
The Defense Department used perchlorate for decades in testing missiles and rockets, and most perchlorate contamination is the result of defense and aerospace activities, congressional investigators said last year.
The Pentagon could face liability if EPA set a national drinking water standard that forced water agencies around the country to undertake costly clean-up efforts. Defense officials have spent years questioning EPA's conclusions about the risks posed by perchlorate.

Now I don't know who's right here about the perchlorate levels, but what I do know is that when there is a "public system", there is no one we can "fire" if we don't like what they are doing. If I am unhappy with the quality of bottled water, I can buy another brand. If I don't like what's coming out of my tap, I can't switch to another provider. It's especially aggravating that we are trusting the government to be responsible for the environment, when the government itself is the biggest polluter!

Whoa.

The egg on the right is a pretty good-sized, normal egg. The egg on the left was laid by our hen named "Omelet" this morning and is the biggest chicken egg I've ever seen. And, no, I didn't hear any screaming coming from the coop! We haven't cracked it open yet to see what's inside.

Republocrat Theme Song

Very odd, but accurate!

Jumpin' Dobby

Hard to do...

In these days of vacillation, confusion of thought and corruption, we confess the true teaching of the Church regardless of the opinions held by those who might hear us, and disregarding the skepticism and faithlessness of our environment. If, for the sake of conforming to the errors of the times, we would suppress the truth or yet profess distorted doctrines to please the world, we would in fact be offering stones instead of bread. And the higher the position of one who would act in this way, the more profound the temptation and the more serious the consequences.

- St. Philaret the New Confessor