Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.John F. Kennedy

March 2010

  • Good for Google

    Google is standing up to China, more specifically its censorship policies and what they mean for freedom and democracy. Rather than accede to its demands to filter its search engines, it moved to more neutral Hong Kong, at some cost to itself. Soon after GoDaddy, a rather large concern itself announced it would no longer issue domain names in China. For years American and other large companies have humored China just so they could have a foothold in the large market it represents. Now that Google is taking a stand and that GoDaddy has followed, will others be similarly inclined? Many believe Google’s action signals that other Western corporations are ready to change their approach in their dealings with China. May they be right.
    P.S. This blog is hosted by Google. They are in the process of altering how it is brought to publication and to this effect initiated a migration tool. Having no choice but to use it, I did, only to find out it far from error free. In Google fashion there was no one to talk to or communicate with, leaving me with the feeling Google didn’t really care about people like me. While I do believe this is more a fact than a feeling, I must admit that standing up to China is ultimately more important.

  • The Real Danger?

    Why be afraid of the word democratic? The Texas State Board of Education has recently temporarily accepted new standards in social studies, history and economics. Although the final vote will be in May few doubt they will formally be accepted. These standards, which many have called far-right, will be taught to millions of students for at least the next decade. Since this far-right faction within the board has long had an agenda, the standards are meant to serve their purpose, to teach for example the Judeo-Christian influence of the nation’s Founding Fathers, but not to go into the philosophical reasons for the separation of church and state. Another example states that the U.S. government will be described as a “constitutional republic” rather than as being “democratic.” One suspects that the small d word is too close to the party of that name. One assumes they must feel that if one pushes democratic values, a cornerstone of American politics and culture, that in turn students will join the Democratic party and end up liberals and thus continue to weaken the decline of our culture. But isn’t bending facts, censoring knowledge, brainwashing young minds, misstating intent, omitting knowledge, far more dangerous than whatever it is liberals do, or more accurately are said to be doing? The faction is using democratic principles to inject non-democratic practices. Perhaps that’s the real danger.

  • It Looks Perverse

    Lawrence Reynolds, Jr., age 43, was sentenced to death for killing his neighbor in 1994. Late last Sunday night he was found unconscious, hours before he was to be executed. How he got the pills and tried to overdose in his death row cell at Ohio State Penitentiary is not known. Governor Ted Strickland has now postponed the execution.
    I don’t have much more facts than this, it was a small item in the L.A. Times, but if I did would the postponement of this execution look any less perverse? If he was scheduled to die, in this case a few hours hence, why not let him? Why rescue him only to execute him? Whether or not that’s legally permissible, it’s cruel, unnecessary and reflects our culture’s need for punishment at all costs. Will justice be better served now that he has to die by execution when her recovers?

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