Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Massive Do-Over

    I have been thinking and reading about political issues like congressional seats for Utah and Washington DC, where America currently stands on abortion, and the complexity and complaints about unfairness in our tax system. I’d love to write a post about almost all of these topics, but then I got to thinking – what if…

  • The Electoral College

    I have found Oval Office 2008 to be a great place to go for commentary on the 2008 Presidential elections. Normally they don’t get into politics outside of the presidential candidates, but today they made an exception. They reported that Maryland had enacted a law which would assign their electoral college votes to the winner…

  • Regional Transportation Plans

    Yesterday on Radio West the show was discussing the 2030 Transportation Plan. The 2030 transportation plan is focused on the Salt Lake Valley, but it includes the Mountain View Corridor and the Mountainland Association of Governments has a plan with a similar scope. I listened to the program with interest as many callers expressed concerns…

  • Uncivil War

    Today is the anniversary of the official surrender at Appomatox that ended the Civil War in 1865. That random tidbit struck home to me as I was reading The Passing of the Armies by Joshua Chamberlain (who officially received the arms and flags of the Confederate army in surrender). I had not realized until I…

  • Buying Local

    There is nothing completely new in the premise of Scott’s Buying Local Saves? I’m fairly sure that I have heard stories almost exactly like this one: . . . Kelly Cobb’s effort to make a suit of clothes using only resources available within a 100-mile radius of Philadelphia. ‘The suit took a team of 20…

  • Endorsement Update

    It’s time for my monthly update on candidate endorsements. From my last list I still have Barak Obama and Mitt Romney to cover. I said that I thought that most of the candidates were in at that point – I was surprised to find that there are 8 more candidates to add to the list…

  • Rudy Giuliani

    Another surprise in the endorsements. Before doing my homework I did not expect to find Rudy Giuliani to have good potential as a president. I knew that there were some positions he held which were not consistent with my own views though I do not expect to endorse only candidates whose views fully parallel mine.…

  • Political Prognostication

    A random train of thought today brought me to a very interesting destination. Let me preface this by saying that I am not among the ranks of those who would have anyone but Hillary for President although I have no intention of voting for her at this time. For all those in the anyone-but-Hillary camp…

  • Hillary Clinton

    Hillary Clinton is one of the most recognizable figures in American politics today. From a campaign standpoint that is generally a good thing. Hillary’s problem is that she is also one of the most divisive figures in American politics. She has worked hard to soften her image in preparation for this run, but whether she…

  • The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

    I enjoyed reading Scott’s It’s Worse, but It’s Also Better and then I was surprised to hear on NPR a piece on how our society is Going Ghetto. It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that our culture is going downhill fast which is why it was so refreshing to read Scott’s take…

Got any book recommendations?