Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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A Lame Duck Can Bite Harder
As illustrated by the current budget standoff, an unpopular lame duck president has powers that often elude presidents earlier in their tenure. Prior to 2006 Bush never vetoed anything. Now he has no re-election to worry about so he has nothing to lose by vetoing every bill Congress sends that is not in line with…
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Media Outlets Are Focused On Future Business
I’m not big on conspiracy theories nor do I subscribe to the belief that our elections are largely determined by the media so I don’t generally pay much attention to things like the dust-up between Huckabee and Romney. On the other hand I recognize that the media does have a good deal of influence on…
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More Is Not Always Better
In January I wrote my personal feelings about the value of all-day kindergarten. Today I learned a few things I didn’t know before. As a fan of irony I knew I would enjoy this when I read the opening: All-day kindergarten sounds like a great opportunity. The teacher really gets to know your child, and…
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This Should Tell Us Something
The idea that the government should be involved in my health care has always been disconcerting to me. When I read Health care: You can’t give it away I was not sure whether I should laugh or cry. Apparently the state CHIP program is losing more families than they are adding even as they expand…
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Winning the Oil Endgame
Is there anyone who would not want to see our nation profitably end its dependence on foreign oil? I doubt that there is anyone like that (not counting the Saudis of course). If you are anything like me that idea – profitably ending our dependence – sounds like a fairytale but that is exactly what…
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The FairTax
I began to take a closer look at the FairTax proposal because Mike Huckabee (currently the most visible supporter of the FairTax) is rising quickly in the polls and also because I have had some co-workers ask my opinion on the proposal. My immediate answer was, “I want more details.” I read two articles on…
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Playoffs vs Bowl Games
Before the BCS pairings were even announced yesterday I heard people talking about how this year should be conclusive evidence that we need to have a playoff for the National Championship in NCAA Football. I disagree. I think that Mike Lopresti got it right (again): So ends an entirely captivating, wildly absorbing, deliciously unpredictable college…
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Exercise Your Voting Muscles
I discovered Bob’s straw poll on the presidential candidates yesterday. Bob made the poll to serve two purposes but I am linking to it for one purpose – I like the fact that all 18 candidates who are registered for the Utah primaries are included in the poll and I would love to see the…
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Citizen Reactions
I would love to be able to contact Mike Wylie and Amiee Christensen and help them recognize why Lehi is doing things that make them feel “less desirable.” Their reactions to the idea of raising prices on non-residents for Lehi programs were published today in the Daily Herald. I’m not saying that their reactions were…
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Biting the Subsidizing Hand
A local example of the negative effect of subsidies is playing out right now. Lehi citizens have been paying taxes to support services that benefit people in Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. The result is that the people in those cities are unaware of the real costs of the services that many of them take…
Got any book recommendations?