Archive for the ‘politics’ category

« Older Entries

Mind Puppet is Ready!

May 17th, 2012

Are you a Mind Puppet? Perhaps we all are. That’s one of the ideas covered in the latest book in my “At Your Own Risk Series.” Like the other books in the series it’s available for Kindle readers (and probably Barnes and Noble’s Nook by the time you read this). If you do not own a Kindle, you can get a free desktop reader on the sales page for the book, which is here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083IWDWE

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction:

Mind Puppet

“If you have ever felt compelled to do something which felt wrong, you will understand the basic premise of the first essay here. We are certainly led around by things going on below consciousness. But our conscious beliefs about things can mislead us just as much, as I point out with several true stories. If we believe that all laws should be respected, for example, and further believe in logic as the arbiter of truth, we will at some point be compelled to participate in atrocities merely because they are legislated. A mind puppet is a person who is led about by his or her mind, both consciously and unconsciously, especially in ways that do not result in good outcomes. We all fit that description at times.”

In other essays (there are ten total), I challenge the idea of retirement, argue that there is no corporate crime, and call the so-called “war on terror” a farce. I also look at the American Dream and ask at what point it becomes a nightmare (and whether living for a dream makes sense in any case).

The essay titled, “Sand Castles and Property Rights” explores the nature of property by starting with something we all can understand; a child’s right to have his sand castle left alone. I explain why we need to own things, why we need to respect other people’s ownership of their property, and why in practice we need to set limits on ownership. As with all my writing, I try to make my points very clear by using simple examples.

The sixth essay in the book has a title I will not repeat here, since doing so might get me on an FBI watch list. In it, I challenge » Read more: Mind Puppet is Ready!

Comments Off »

Posted in personal, philosophy, politics, writing

Tags:

Do I Love This Country?

May 14th, 2012

It makes me uncomfortable to say I love this country, but I do not hate it. In my book, Blue Snake, I have an essay titled, “Why Do They Hate Us?” It looks at why the United States is viewed so negatively in much of the world, using a fictional story and real examples of what the government has done to people in other countries over the years. Another essay is titled “I Have No Duty to My Country.” (In case you have not read the book, I should mention that it’s not all political; there are essays on guilt, how to quit a job, and how much evil lurks in good people, for example.) These, and other things I’ve written, may cause some people to think I hate America.

Blue Snake

I do not hate this county. It is true that I refuse to stand up for the national anthem, and that I think patriotism is a sickness. But that does not mean I hate the country. I just don’t pledge allegiance to strangers (I don’t know most of the people in the United States) or flags or governments. In my book “Mind Puppet” (coming soon), I explain it like this:

“I love this country in some sense; just not for reasons of patriotism. It feels more like home than other countries, probably because I was born and raised here. The mountains in the west are beautiful, as are the lakes and forests of the northeast. Some parts of the culture here are wonderful, and there are elements of what is called the “American spirit” that I identify with. I love some of the ideas which led to the creation of this nation. I think that respect for individual rights is a great ideal. The concepts of property rights that are part of the law here really benefit people. I appreciate that I can say what I like in this essay, on a website, or on the street.”

I feel that people are brainwashed from a young age about patriotism. First, they are convinced that » Read more: Do I Love This Country?

Comments Off »

Posted in personal, philosophy, politics, writing

Tags:

Blue Snake is Published!

May 10th, 2012

Blue Snake, the second of the books in my “At Your Own Risk Series,” is available (on Kindle for now, and on the Nook reader soon). I have received a couple negative emails about Gay Jesus, the first in the series, which was published last week, and as expected they were from people who had not read it. I would love to hear from those who have actually read those essays.

Blue Snake

Blue Snake is even more likely to upset some people, but this is not my intent. I feel there are good reasons to get these ideas out there. I really do think patriotism is a sickness, for example, so why wouldn’t I speak out? In the sixth essay of Blue Snake, titled, “I Have No Duty to My Country” I have this to say:

“I am not an American politically. I honestly don’t know how anyone can worship flags—this is a root of war and of death and injustice. And why would I feel an automatic commonality of identity or purpose with another person simply because somewhere on a map in the mists of history a line was drawn which today encircles us both?”

Yes, that will offend some readers, but then I find it offensive when people claim that myself or others owe them something in order to be free and have our rights respected (an obligation to a “country” logically is just an obligation to some particular people, so when people say you have a duty to their country, they generally mean to them–whether they know it or not). Here is a list of the essays in the book:

1. The Blue Snake – My “serpentine mother” rules the world, and after reading my “proof” see if you can offer better evidence for your own gods.

2. The Monsters Among Us – Even the most loving people you know are capable of monstrous acts.

3. How to Quit Your Job – One of my few areas of expertise.

4. Why Do They Hate Us? – Here is a story and » Read more: Blue Snake is Published!

Comments Off »

Posted in personal, philosophy, politics, ponderings

Tags:

What About Marriage and Immigration?

May 7th, 2012

In Gay Jesus, my book of essays, I proposed that we eliminate the legal institution of marriage. The whole idea that we need to seek approval or permission of a government to marry has always struck me as silly at best. In addition to arguing against this bad habit of allowing laws to dictate the terms of marriage, I also suggested some changes that would be necessary if we eliminated government involvement.

Gay Jesus

For example, since there are tax consequences to marriage at the moment (potentially good or bad depending on your circumstances), the law would have to be changed to simply tax our income as individuals. Also, the Social Security system currently gives a benefit to a spouse when a contributor dies–a benefit single people don’t get even though they may pay just as much into the system. This injustice is resolved when marriage is gone, but we might want to allow each contributor to designate a beneficiary regardless of relationship. Divorce and child custody would not change as much as you might think. As I explained in the essay, unmarried people who mix assets and then separate often already need the help of the courts to resolve who gets what, and judges can just arrange custody for the benefit of the children. I looked at issues regarding insurance as well.

What I forgot to address was the issue of marriage and immigration, which is somewhat ironic, since my wife is from Ecuador and only became a citizen because we are married. Without marriage as a legally-defined institution what do we do when people want to join their lives together and one of them lives in another country? How could immigration law be changed?

One way would be to simply have a » Read more: What About Marriage and Immigration?

Comments Off »

Posted in politics

Tags:

Discrimination Against Atheists

February 13th, 2012

Is there discrimination against atheists? Certainly there is in many Islamic countries, where those who do not believe in a god can have almost no legal status, preventing them from voting or even attending a college. Worse, if a Muslim becomes an atheist, which is apostasy, he or she can be sentenced to death in at least three countries. That’s some pretty sever discrimination, to say the least.

It is assumed there there is little discrimination against non-believers in western democracies, but is that true? Consider this recent quote from presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (during a televised debate in Las Vegas): “How can you have judgment if you have no faith? How can I trust you with power if you don’t pray?” Gingrich is essentially proposing a religious test for public office, something expressly forbidden by the Constitution (at least if done on more than an individual level).

According to a Wikipedia entry on the subject of discrimination against atheists, there are seven state constitutions which officially » Read more: Discrimination Against Atheists

Comments Off »

Posted in personal, politics

Tags:

Debt and Analogy

December 19th, 2011

I was forwarded the following email, and I liked it. It shows how a good analogy can make something very clear. It also can be used as an example of why making things clear is not always the same as understanding them more deeply. I’ll explain in a moment, but let’s look at the email first:

Reasons for the US government debt downgrade:

• Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
• Budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• Debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

Remove eight zeros and pretend » Read more: Debt and Analogy

Comments Off »

Posted in politics, ponderings

Tags:

We Avoid the Truth

September 26th, 2011

We often prefer to avoid the truth. Specifically, we avoid learning those truths which are inconvenient to our ideology or uncomfortable for us to acknowledge. Let’s look at some examples. We’ll start with the mundane, because these cases are easier to recognize in ourselves and in others.

For example, you’ve probably seen someone turn away or change the subject when it is suggested that something is very unhealthy. Of course, this can be a boring subject, but what about the times when the information is directly relevant to the listener, and he still turns away? Why would a man not want to hear that his sedentary lifestyle is causing his weight gain and the back problems that result? Because the knowledge makes him uncomfortable, since he must either change his habits–which is not easy–or feel the guilt of not doing what he thinks he should do.

Ignorance leaves us free of blame if we » Read more: We Avoid the Truth

Comments Off »

Posted in mind, philosophy, politics

Tags:

Immigrations Facts and Myths

September 16th, 2011

Time to add a few more immigration facts to the political conversation, and to bust a few more immigration myths as well.

The Myth of the Lazy Immigrant

The labor participation rate (the percentage of people working) in 2006 was not only higher for immigrants in general than for those born in the U.S., but dramatically higher for illegal immigrants. It was, for example, 83 percent for native born men versus 94 percent for illegal male immigrants. It seems obvious that people come here illegally primarily to work.

The Too Many/Too Fast Myth

Many immigrants came from Mexico in the 1990s, and the rate at which they came is seen as a big issue in terms of the short-term effects on the job markets and other areas where “absorbtion” is talked about. But » Read more: Immigrations Facts and Myths

Comments Off »

Posted in politics

Tags:

Immigration and Jobs

September 7th, 2011

Today I am going to once again irritate my xenophobic friends and family by pointing out some of the irrationality in the myths about immigration and jobs, and immigrants on welfare. The statistics mentioned are from Jason L. Riley’s book, Let Them In: The Case For Open Borders.

The Myth That Immigrants Steal Jobs

There were 146 million workers in the United States in 2006. Of these, 21 million were foreign born. Logically, if immigrants took jobs there should have been 21 million people unemployed. At the time the number was 7 million. And keep in mind that there will always be a few million between jobs in even the best economy, since people do quit and get fired or laid off, and it can take a few weeks to find the next job.

Cypress Semiconductors’ CEO T.J Rodgers notes that 37 percent of their 470 engineers are immigrants. Each engineer requires about five employees to administer, make and market the products he develops. He says, “Had we been prevented from hiring » Read more: Immigration and Jobs

Comments Off »

Posted in politics

Tags:

Why Are There False Confessions?

September 6th, 2011

The sad news is that false confessions may be far more common than we have suspected in the past.

Flickr photo by Dennis Crowley

Interrogation

You may have heard of the Innocence Project, a legal charity that fights to exonerate innocent people who are wrongly imprisoned. What you might not have heard is that of the hundreds of people they have now freed, around 25% actually confessed to the crime they were accused of. Why do innocent people confess? That question may not be fully answered anytime soon, but the fact that they do so is becoming more and more evident.

A recent article in the Economist Magazine reviewed the research that has been done in this area, and what they found is fascinating, and a little bit disturbing. For example…

“One of the most recent papers on the subject, published in Law and Human Behavior by Saul Kassin and Jennifer Perillo of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, used a group of 71 university students who were told » Read more: Why Are There False Confessions?

Comments Off »

Posted in politics

Tags: