Killing off 90 percent of humans

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ MPG standards ∙ incandescent bulb ∙ trade-offs ∙ compact florescent bulbs ∙ environmental impact ∙ global warming ∙ politicos ∙ black market

Cashing in on people's fear

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ speech wars ∙ E pluribus unum ∙ religion ∙ personal responsiblity ∙ Romney ∙ Christianity ∙ mala in se ∙ parity test ∙ freely chosen ∙ mala prohibita ∙ coercive power ∙ moral justification ∙ person of faith ∙ Barry Goldwater ∙ favorites

Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C127135145/E20071204130728

Supermarket theory of government

Demand your right to choose nothing and have it count

Sunni Maravillosa is part of a growing number of small "l" libertarians who believes that Ron Paul is no libertarian and voting for him sacrifices freedom.

I agree with her, but I don't think that is the whole problem. My answer is in the technopagan green.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still think the one True Answer is None of the Above.

If you HAVE to choose one from Column A OR one from Column B without the ability to walk away, that is not really a choice.

Oh, I may throw in refinements, like barring the losing candidates from serving in that office for the term of that office, or insisting that in order to "win" a candidate has to carry a majority of eligible voters and not just a majority of those who voted or a majority of registered voters. But in the end, it's the same thing.

Rejecting the choices offered is still a valid choice. Otherwise you're playing three-card monty and the red card is never where you think it is.

I call it the supermarket theory of government. I am not required to buy a cola, or even a soft drink, or any beverage at all. Indeed, I don't have to buy anything or even go into the store.

If there HAS to be a choice between 1, 2, or 3, there is no reason for 1, 2, or 3 to be significantly different unless there is a 0. And if it has to be 1, 2, or 3, there is no reason that the 1, 2, or 3 HAVE to appeal to the disaffected because 1, 2, or 3 will win no matter what the unhappy voters do.

I agree that RP is no libertarian. But he is a symptom, not the problem.

Posted: Tue - December 4, 2007 at 01:07 PMA class="pvc" HREF="http://www.paganvigil.com

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ NOTA ∙ election ∙ supermarket

Will getting rid of incandescent bulbs really save that much energy?

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ clipping ∙ ethanol ∙ corn ∙ hunger ∙ guest content

Nothing to do with morality and everything to do with vote pandering

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ classic ∙ Prohibition ∙ Great Depression ∙ income tax ∙ skimmed ∙ War on Drugs ∙ taxes

Does religion really define public morality? Should government control religion?

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ IRS ∙ religion ∙ coercive power ∙ person of faith ∙ multi-cultural ∙ parity test ∙ multi-apologetic

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C49491493/E20070715134558

An argument against gun control has much wider application than I realized

I had some friends over on Friday and dug out my DVD of Sergeant York for a movie and ice cream. Great film, some very nuanced performances there. Hardly anyone believes me when I tell them that Margaret Wycherly who plays Mother York was a classically trained stage actress.

Anyway, the film sparked a discussion on gun control. I dragged out standard libertarian argument 3B. "The people who pay attention to gun laws are not the ones you should be worried about."

Later battling insomnia sipping hot grapefruit juice (don't knock it till you have tried it), it occurred to me that was probably THE standard libertarian argument, not just against gun control but against almost every bad law.

Illegal drugs? "The people who pay attention to drug laws are not the ones you should be worried about."

Prostitution? Same thing.

Global warming?

Freedom of speech?

Unusual sexual practices?

Minority religions?

It applies to every single one.

For most people, making something illegal won't change their morality. It might prevent someone from abusing a freedom, but more likely it will just restrict the freedom of those who have already proved that they are responsible adults.

So at that point, don't these laws simply impose immoral and irresponsible conditions in the name of freedom?

The people who will obey the law will obey. And those taking advantage will simply break the law with no real consequences. The only things that increase are taxes and government power.

Who really benefits by making someone sign for cough medicine?

Posted: Sun - July 15, 2007 at 01:45 PM

Tags: standard libertarian argument ∙ illegal drugs ∙ prostitution ∙ global warming ∙ sex ∙ religion ∙ abuse ∙ freedom ∙ responsibility ∙ consequences ∙ cough medicine

Is it really all that different than the 1960s?

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ San Francisco ∙ homeless ∙ hippie ∙ flower child ∙ GenX ∙ Boomers ∙ bad choices ∙ personal freedom ∙ personal responsiblity ∙ compassion

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C1415225799/E20070520143152

Yahoo pulls the plug on fake profiles used by British police

It's hard to fault Yahoo! in this case.

““INTERNET companies including Yahoo! are hindering police investigations into child abuse by closing down the undercover identities used by officers to trap paedophiles.

British child protection police habitually pose as children online, using false profiles to ensnare abusers trying to groom girls and boys for sex.

But the companies say they will shut down all bogus identities on their sites even if they know they are being run to catch paedophiles.

“Everybody using our service, regardless of whether they are law enforcement agencies, has to abide by our terms of service and if they don’t we will close them down,” said Yahoo!.

Its terms of service state that all information used to make up a profile must be “true, accurate current and complete”.

The stipulations are intended to protect users from exploitation and abuse, but antiabuse campaigners say they are frustrating police sting operations on hardcore offenders.””

Why should police have special privileges not available to the general public? Why should a private company overlook abuses of services just because it is government agents?

Yes, I know it is that old saw about "protecting the children," but without that justification, doesn't Yahoo! owe it's customers protection from frauds online?

Posted: Sun - May 20, 2007 at 02:31 PM

Tags: clipping ∙ Yahoo! ∙ Britain ∙ police ∙ children ∙ pedophile ∙ paedophile ∙ identity fraud ∙ government ∙ agents ∙ protect the children

Hidden costs in the popular environmental movement

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ clipping ∙ milk ∙ ethanol ∙ subsidies ∙ Rabobank Groep ∙ Larry Salathe ∙ Chicago Mercantile Exchange ∙ Erhard Richarts ∙ ZMP ∙ Chicago Board of Trade ∙ Joel Karlin ∙ alternative fuels ∙ government screw-up ∙ Sunni Marvillosa ∙ guest content

The costs that the global warming alarmists don't want you to know about

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ clipping ∙ ethanol ∙ gasoline ∙ corn ∙ subsidies ∙ USDA ∙ Earth Policy Institute ∙ government screw-up ∙ guest content

Chinese government tries to target bloggers

Tags: clipping ∙ United States ∙ Original Vigil ∙ Cuba ∙ Egypt ∙ Tunisia ∙ Reporters Without Borders ∙ blogging ∙ free press ∙ Robert Menard ∙ Syria ∙ Mesud Hamid ∙ equal rights

It makes you wonder what all those repressive nations are really afraid of, doesn't it?

Tags: internet ∙ China ∙ Original Vigil ∙ censorship ∙ mass medium ∙ John Gilmore ∙ libertarian ∙ Sun Microsystems ∙ Time magazine ∙ distributed network ∙ connectivity ∙ information ∙ restrictions ∙ clipping

Were the genocidal remarks misinterpreted?

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ trade-offs ∙ compact florescent bulbs ∙ CFL bulbs ∙ mercury ∙ environmental crusade ∙ clipping ∙ guest content

A new category and a story about defying government authority with the internet

Tags: China ∙ internet ∙ Original Vigil ∙ censorship ∙ OpenNet Initiative ∙ Harvard Law School ∙ University of Toronto ∙ Cambridge ∙ Oxford ∙ Berkman Center for Internet and Society ∙ John Palfrey ∙ clipping

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C1415225799/E20070313134228

Chinese government tries to target bloggers

Some will tell you that this article is bad news.

I don't agree.

What this tells me is despite ever increasing efforts to control the internet in China, it is slipping from government control and into the hands of individuals.

And the government is afraid. Very afraid.

Every time I look at articles about the internet and world wide web in China, I am amazed. It's self-organizing, capable of withstanding terrible tyranny, and incredibly adaptive.

The Chinese government can't put the genie back in the bottle.

Fun to watch them try though.

From shore to shore, let freedom ring.

Posted: Tue - March 13, 2007 at 01:42 PM

Tags: China ∙ internet ∙ Original Vigil ∙ goverment ∙ Chinese government ∙ clipping

Just the FAQs about my Vigil

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ favorites ∙ global warming ∙ classic ∙ climate change ∙ public science ∙ four questions

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C1415225799/E20070210153538

A new category and a story about defying government authority with the internet

““Zhang's ban, which was reported by several Chinese newspapers, was regarded as extreme even by the censorship authorities in Beijing. But it was emblematic of the Communist Party's determination to retain control of what this country's 1.3 billion people see, hear and read despite the vast changes in other realms brought on by economic reform over the last two decades.

Ever since Mao Zedong brought the party to power in 1949, information, art and entertainment have been regarded here as government property, distributed to the public -- or not -- according to what party officials think best. But in recent years, as the number of online Chinese climbed to 137 million by the end of 2006, the Internet has challenged this power in many ways. Zhang's experience in Gedong dramatized how robust the challenge has become.

Eager to speed modernization, China's leaders have professed a desire to see people use the Web widely to seek knowledge and economic advantage. But they also have expressed determination to keep it under party control. The goal, they have said, is to keep Chinese away from sites deemed unfit because of pornographic or politically sensitive content -- or, in the case of Fangshan County, because they waste teenagers' time with frivolous games.

"Whether we can cope with the Internet is a matter that affects the development of socialist culture, the security of information and the stability of the state," President Hu Jintao said at a Politburo study session last month, according to the state-controlled press. Hu, who also heads the party, said the solution is not to deter development of the Web but to "nurture a healthy online culture."

Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based media watchdog group, said Hu's government has deployed "armies of informants and cyber-police" and sophisticated computer programs to prevent Chinese Internet users from connecting with sites the party disapproves of or reading postings that stray from political orthodoxy. Sifting the acceptable from the unacceptable costs China "an enormous amount," the group said, without providing a specific number.””

The kids are finding a way. It's games today, but tomorrow it will be political.

And if the kids are finding a way and there are enough of them to get attention, there are plenty of adults who you haven't heard about who are networking and doing their best to undermine all the restrictions.

Let freedom ring.

Posted: Sat - February 10, 2007 at 03:35 PM

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ goverment ∙ authority ∙ internet ∙ freedom ∙ Firefly ∙ Babylon 5 ∙ China ∙ Gedong ∙ Zhang ∙ Reporters Without Borders ∙ clipping