Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Ambitious Pronouncement
I’ve already stated that I believe the goal of using only energy from clean, renewable sources is attainable but I think the Green Prophet might be getting ahead of himself. {Al Gore} said the goal of producing all of the nation’s electricity from “renewable energy and truly clean, carbon-free sources” within 10 years is not…
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American Citizenship
I really liked this Deseret News profile of a naturalized citizen. Airman 1st Class Elena Dulger’s face lights up the room when she talks about her first chance to participate in a democratic election. Dulger, 21, is taking her oath of citizenship today, seven years and one day after meeting her father at JFK International…
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Raising Fiscal Awareness
Considering the importance of importance of fiscal policy it seems to evade any serious media coverage in favor of more exciting topics. Ross Perot has launched perotcharts.com to make the information accessible to people. Former Comptroller General, David Walker, has been lecturing around the country about the cliff we are speeding towards and now Peter…
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The Best Day to Vote
As a perpetual proponent of incresing voter turnout, I enjoyed considering the story on NPR about Rethinking The Tuesday Vote. I’m not sure when voters would be noticable less busy than Tuesday – especially considering that we would not want the vote to be on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday as each of those days is…
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Government and Religion
I was reading Doctrine and Covenants section 134 today. I have read it before on various occasions, but my perspective on government has sharpened considerably since the last time I read it and it struck a chord with me as a wonderful description of the proper interaction between government and religious organizations. We believe that…
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Energy Optimist
Considering that our homes use much more energy than our cars – it’s always nice to see improvements in how we can generate or use energy. I was reminded of that when I saw two articles on better/cheaper ways to harness the power of the sun. One would generate power from energy gathered at windows…
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Performance Pay – Round 1
The Legislature approved funds and loose guidelines for merit pay for teachers earlier this year. I really like the first news I have heard about the issue since then: Each district and charter school that wanted money had to come up with its own plan following broad guidelines lawmakers set earlier this year. . .…
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Congestion Tolls
The Deseret News is recommending congestion tolls to help pay for our transportation needs. I have previously stated my generic approval of tolling while recognizing that there are issues of fairness to be addressed. (Toll roads on the west side, but not the east side is not fair.) One comment on the editorial suggested a…
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Weak Representation
In a move that was anything but surprising, the Senate voted to gut the constitution rather than stand up against the politics of fear. Democrats control both houses of Congress and yet this bill passed by large margins in both chambers. Senator Obama thinks that the executive branch is using fear to extract more power…
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The Rule of Law or the Rule of Fear
I really liked this challenge from Obi wan Liberali related to the current FISA revision bill. So to my Republican friends, I lay the challenge before you. If you support the FISA bill going before the Senate, justify and defend that support. If you oppose the bill, speak up to your Republican U.S. Senators Orrin…
Got any book recommendations?