One Way to Read It

Politicians use similar scare tactics to trick voters. click here for more Get Fuzzy

Several companies are going to start selling jetpacks to the public in the next few years. Price tag will be over 100,000 bucks. That much money can't buy a home nowadays, but it can get you a jetpack, yeehaw. I'll live in the sky.

A Texas man went into a church during a children's play and shot several people . His motive: he thinks liberals are ruining our country and must die. He thought the church was liberal leaning, and gay.

The media's constant update on Obama's whereabouts and travel plans on his overseas tour gives terrorists useful information they could use to intercept and assassinate him. Perhaps someone has friends in the media who want him taken out. Rove ? Hillary ?

Here's a website for getting to know the constitution better: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

We should pledge allegiance to the Constitution instead of to the flag. The flag is not what makes the U.S. unique. Our constitution is the heirloom our founders left us. It is a shield against tyranny. When I put my hand over my heart and behold the flag, I can feel patriotic without thinking anything. An understanding of our founding document is the true test of patriotism. Those who are sworn into office, especially as President, should swear on the Constitution instead of the Bible. The Bible has its place among the hearts of Christians, but such a tradition sets the stage for an uncomfortable encounter when a Muslim or Hindu finally becomes president. And Presidents who are sworn in on the Constitution should be held accountable for how they uphold it. President Bush's current flouting of the Constitution would be punishable by expulsion from office and judged by a senatorial impeachment.

A discussion with a friend gave me this thought on abortion. There is argument and debate on when the fetus becomes a human. I think perhaps that since DNA is individual, in that no two persons share the same DNA, that DNA could be used to determine humanity. For example, DNA evidence is used in many trials to prove if the defendant is a criminal. In the same sense, DNA could be used to show that the fetus is a different person than either the mother or the father, and therefore has individual rights.

A friend told me that Mormons are too afraid to think. They think if they ask questions, then that means they doubt and do not have faith. But doubt actually leads to faith, and free thought to revelation. Three examples: 1. I was raised an atheist. I doubted my parents, gained faith, and was baptized. Doubt led directly to faith in this instance. 2. A few weeks ago I asked the question, "Was Joshua apostate?" I doubted whether Joshua of the Bible, successor of Moses and namesake of the book of Joshua, was inspired. It seems like most of the problems people have with the Old Testament begins with Joshua, who slaughtered the inhabitants of Palestine. Moses was definitely inspired. He spoke to God face to face, received the law, and lead Israel away from captivity. But when he died, maybe Joshua took over, and pretended to be inspired by that same God, but just did things his way. The Book of Mormon answered my question. I remember when Nephi spoke to his brothers, who...

In a former blog post- "cruel and unusual"- I wrote that, "if the government were ever to become incorrigibly corrupt, guns would give the people the power to change it." The founders wrote the second amendment, giving the common man the right to bear arms, to protect against tyranny. In Edward Gibbons 1776 classic "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," he says: "Stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies, form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against enterprises of an aspiring prince." (vol. 1:3, p. 41) 'Stubborn commons,' that's us. Us with guns keeps U.S. from tyranny. If common Chinese people were allowed to have guns, the massacre of Tiannamen square wouldn't have happened, and China might today be a democracy. This book gives greater insight into western civilization than even the Bible, for our government is more likely to obey ...

Part of our taxes go to the building and maintaining of roads. Roads are primarily used for cars. The car industry is therefore given a tax subsidy (your money) to help them disseminate their product. It's ridiculous. It's like the government taking your money to install mid-quality TV's in every home to facilitate the buying of Xbox 360s. Though a "free" TV does not sound bad, you would probably want a say in which brand of TV and of what quality you were forced to get. If the government gave you a black and white, with antenna reception, you would probably want your money back. That is the kind of roads we have. I want my money back. The problem with our roads is that they cater to one type of transportation: cars. They do not cater to bicycles. A strip of paint alongside a car lane does not qualify as a bike lane. The danger inherent with the inevitable collisions between a man on a bike moving with 200 lbs of force and a car with 4000 lbs of force is...

Toilet paper should be covered in writing. You know how sometimes sitting on the pot takes longer than expected, and you end up reading the back of a shampoo bottle, or finding new designs in the floor tile? Each square of toilet paper should have little anecdotes, factoids and and short stories. And for those of you who graduated in English, you could put your skills to use by giving the ultimate literary criticism. And then flush.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" These words , penned by a Jew from New York, are engraved on the Statue of Liberty, which was crafted and donated by the French to celebrate the alliance between our two countries. We both had cast off the tyranny of monarchy for the hope of liberty. The first line is usually omitted in references: it is easier to get into the U.S. if you are educated or wealthy. But the U.S. still accepts more legal immigrants as permanent residents than any other country in the world. Our fear of illegal immigrants, and the stumbling blocks placed before the poor and oppressed who wish to gain residence here, are unAmerican. The wall between the U.S. and Mexico is unAmerican. It should be torn...

When I was a kid, my uncle lived with us. He would administer daily "tortures" which consisted of repeatedly tapping the same spot of my chest, hanging me upside-down, bending my arms behind my back, or giving me an "indian" burn by twisting the skin on my arm in contrary directions. I literally had to cry uncle. Perhaps those experiences are what made soft on torture. Perhaps that's what makes me want to write a book on torture. Or perhaps this post is just an excuse to post this picture: By the way, the nytimes says that the U.S. stole its interrogation techniques from communist China. I had always heard of the dreaded Chinese water torture. I'm not sure it's worse than U.S. water boarding torture.

A History of Torture: All of the different ways humans have tortured each other, a detailed list with individual stories. American Dictators: Dictators that the U.S. has put in place, and country leaders that the U.S. has assassinated. Drugs Are Bad, For You: A history of how the American and British empires profited off of drug trade, and then turned against it when it was no longer economically convenient. Dear Finnish Pagans: A simple explanation of the gospel with excerpts from my missionary journal in Finnish. Has anyone read books like these? Leave a comment and let me know.