It Is So Ordered

I will proably have more to say about this later, but here is the opinion holding that the Second Amendment is an individual right (duh).

Pigeons Terminated

There is a fundamental fact of reality that distinguishes how one should deal with other human beings versus how one should deal with other entities. This distinction is the human capacity for thought. A human being can be persuaded, and this should be how one should initially try to deal with other human beings. Unlike a human being, a force of nature, such as a hurricane or a meteorite cannot be reasoned with. The only way to deal with non-human entities is with force. This includes the lower animals which do not possess the capacity of reason. Although it is possible that someday we will encounter a non-human with the capacity of reason, or, perhaps, even have sufficient evidence to suggest that some currently-known non-human organism possesses such a capacity (that's doubtful), human beings are the only currently known rational being. This fact means that an animal consciousness is more like a hurricane or other non-volitional entity, and must be dealt with by means of force. Just as a non-rational body of water can be diverted or dammed if it is inconvenient for human beings, so too can an animal be destroyed if it is inconvenient for human beings. It is with this in mind that I read with some amusement about the fretting of "animal rights" activists over the destruction of some pigeons at a tennis tournament in Great Britain. To me, this is like fretting over the damming of a river or, if we possessed the technology, the destruction of a hurricane headed towards one of our major cities.

A Good Example of Why You Never Consent To A Police Search

I have a blanket policy when it comes to the police: I don't consent to any search. If stopped by a cop, I don't say anything, other than "Am I free to go?", if not, I ask for my lawyer and stop talking. It doesn't matter how innocent I think I am. How do I know for certain that somebody hasn't planted or accidentally dropped contraband in my car or house? How do I know that the cop won't try to plant contraband? Yes, it does happen -remember the fake drugs scandal in Dallas? Anybody who thinks cops are more ethical or moral than the general population is a fool.

This article presents another facet of why you shouldn't voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement. In this case, a man was fired from his job and faced prosecution for possession of child pornography, all because his laptop had a virus on it that caused it to download child pornography off the Internet. If you consent to a search of your computer, you may end up in prison and branded as a sexual predator for life, when you are, in fact, 100% innocent.

Perry To Run in 2010: Don't Let It Happen!

I think Rick Perry is the poster boy for everything that is bad about the conservatives here in Texas. (Bush is the obvious candidate nationally.) Perry believes that non-Christians are going to hell when they die. In my personal life, my basic “litmus test” for a “good Christian” versus a “bad Christian” is whether they believe non-believers are going to hell –I won’t associate with the later type of Christian. This type of “you’re going straight to hell” Christian is essentially saying that only by rejecting man’s life and reason can you be saved when you die. He is setting up a direct contradiction between the requirements of this life and his religion, which I regard as a morally evil position (by the standard of man’s life). Furthermore, politically, Perry seems to care very little about private property rights and freedom of contract, but he vigorously pushes the conservative religious agenda –which is all they really care about.
Now, believing that he hasn't done enough to push Texas towards theocracy, Perry will be running for Governor again in 2010. This article also notes that Kay Bailey Hutchison is considering running against him in their party’s primary. A little Internet research revealed that she has a better record on abortion and stem cell research, which means I’d feel safer with her as Governor. Based on this article, I think my strategy would be to vote for Hutchison in the Republican Party primary, then vote for the Democrat in the general election. The next Governor will most likely be a Republican anyway, and this will help to ensure that anybody but Perry is elected.

Link to Amicus Brief in Moment of Silence Case

The following is a link to an amicus brief in the Texas Moment of Silence Appeal: http://www.au.org/site/DocServer/Texas_Moment_of_Silence_Brief.pdf?docID=2701. I'll probably add Americans United for Separation of Church and State to my list of single-issue organizations that I donate money to (along with Gun Owners of America and the National Taxpayer's Union). I prefer single-issue groups because I know that all of the money is going exclusively to a cause that I agree with.

Tolling Mockingbird Lane

Ideally, city services that do not involve police protection or the courts would be completely privatized. Under such a system, tolling city roads would make perfect sense, especially since the technology now exists to do this without toll booths. That is why I like the idea of tolling Mockingbird Lane in Dallas, but I suspect that so long as the road is ultimately owned by the State of Texas, this idea to toll Mockingbird Lane for nonresidents of the city may not be Constitutional due to something known as the "dormant commerce clause", and/or the "privileges and immunities clause". This Wikipedia article says that there is a "market participant" exception to the dormant commerce clause, but I don't know if the courts would say that it applies in this situation. There would still be an issue of the right to travel, which is recognized by Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The only way to avoid all of this would be to toll everyone who uses Mockingbird Lane, regardless of residency.