One Way to Read It

This is going to ruin your day. Your iPod and cellphone were made by a slave who was raped so that she'd stay submissive ( source ). I'm not talking about the factory worker who put the thing together, or anyone working for Apple, but about someone remotely connected to them—the mining slaves that dug up vital metals needed to make our gadgets. You may wish to ignore this, so that you can remain happy buying stuff, unaware of where it comes from. But we are guilty for this. We are guilty that we haven't demanded more transparency from the companies that make our stuff. "At present, it is virtually impossible for us to know the economic history or the ecological cost of the products we buy; the origins of the products are typically too distant and too scattered and the processes of trade, manufacture, transportation, and marketing too complicated. There are, moreover, too many good reasons for the industrial suppliers of these products not to want their histories to ...

Neoconservative Ralph Peters said "Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media." (from Crooks and Liars ) It is clearly not unthinkable, Mr. Peters, because you have thought it. Neocons hijacked the Republican party under Bush Jr., and they have instilled that party with the doctrine that anything goes in the name of safety. Safety has an exact inverse relationship with liberty. If we seek absolute security, we will lose our liberty entirely. If we would seek true liberty, we must disband our standing armies, and trust that God will protect us as he has promised. Otherwise we will reap what we have earned by mass-producing armaments from plowshares. On that note, Cat Stevens is back. He converted to Islam in the 70's and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. Here is the song I would play at my inauguration, were I ever president.

If this doesn't worry you, remember that when the government usurps power during a time of war, it rarely gives it back, and that this 'war on terror' will never end. Twenty, fifty, or a hundred years from now, this very well may be used against citizens, not just 'terrorists'. Also, habeas corpus, or the right to your body, is what Joseph Smith repeatedly used to get out of jail. Without this right, there might not have been a restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. This right gave Joseph Smith the liberty he needed to do the work he was called to do. We should have voted Ron Paul.

Pro-weed advocates need to start pushing this as a relief from menstrual cramps. We could get a whole army of menstruating women to march on Washington.

My friend Crystal asked me the difference between being proud of your country and being prideful. I found another helpful distinction: Patriotism vs. Nationalism. " Patriotism is the wholesome, constructive love of one's land and people. Nationalism is the unhealthy love of one's government, accompanied by the aggressive desire to put down others—which becomes in deracinated modern men a substitute for religious faith. Patriotism is an appropriate, indeed necessary, sentiment for people who wish to preserve their freedom; nationalism is not. " Quoted from Clyde Wilson, "The Yankee Problem in American History," in Wilson, Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture p.198. Found cited in Hamilton's Curse by DiLorenzo, p.13.