I don't know what this means...

I'm visiting home for Christmas Break, so I am around my family a lot more than usual, ok?  Yesterday my mom said I sound like an anarchist when I talk about politics.  I don't think I'm an anarchist... I mean, I like infrastructure and such.  I would say I am a moral and economical conservative with definite libertarian leanings but who likes to consider issues from multiple sides and who does not like to be pigeon-holed into any specific group.  Ah, that's it!  A conservative independent!  Shoot--that's a specific group.  This is going to be harder than it seemed at first...

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead!

Hee hee.  This is petty funny.  How The Wizard of Oz Should Have Ended.  If you haven't seen any of these videos, well, you should.

As Vlad Taltos said, "I don't care what kind of hotshot wizard you are, a knife blade between the shoulder blades will seriously crimp your style."  I think that goes double for guns.

Merry Christ mas!

Remember, whether or not you believe in him, whether or not you think he is real, it is pure foolishness to dismiss the power of Jesus Christ.  Look at history, and how this one man has influenced everything from the time he was born, roughly 2000 years ago.  We would not be where we are today, for good or bad, without him.  Remember whose birthday we celebrate today--the very Son of God.

Buzzwords: Liberty

I have often thought that people often throw around powerful words without thinking about what they are saying.  So today I am going to briefly define a big one, or rather, I am going to let Noah Webster define it for me, straight from his 1828 dictionary.

Liberty:  "Freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will or mind. The body is at liberty, when not confined; the will or mind is at liberty, when not checked or controlled. A man enjoys liberty, when no physical force operates to restrain his actions or volitions."

More though is this: Civil Liberty, which is "an exemption from the arbitrary will of others, which exemption is secured by established laws, which restrain every man from injuring or controlling another. Hence the restraints of law are essential to civil liberty."

Another distinction is Political Liberty, which is "sometimes used as synonymous with civil liberty. But it more properly designates the liberty of a nation, the freedom of a nation or state from all unjust abridgment of its rights and independence by another nation."

So I hope that when you next hear or use Liberty, you remember exactly what is being said. 

Sherlock Holmes on Climategate

In "A Scandal in Bohemia,"  Sherlock Holmes states "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.  Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

I don't think anyone else can say any more than that.

Edit:  I just saw the new Sherlock Holmes Movie, and they totally used this line!  I works in so many situations...

Good line for a T-shirt

"Disco is not an option"

Feel free to let me know if you want to license it.