Think About It

I've put some new links here at my page. Some are pretty generic while others go to pages where one can have some fun. But there's the new section entitled "Think About It". While it's still in progress, I've tried to assemble some link to sites which provide information that I think is important to political life in America today. That and I can put as many stupid, geeky links here as I please since it's my blog. Anyway, I'm left of center on the political spectrum and it is very easy to find information that is critical of the current administration in a variety of formats. There are lots of books, Air America on the radio, Democracy Now! on TV, as well as countless blogs like Liberal Oasis. I have links to information from these sources because they are important but I've tired of being alternately incredulous of and angry at the Bush administration. I plain just need a break from it all. Yet I cannot leave the arena totally so I've decided to step back a bit and take in a larger view. Not only one inclusive of the lands besides my own but also of times before my own. I listen to Air America a fair amount in my car and, while I agree with most of what is said, it saddens me that the historical perspective of the people hardly ever ventures beyond the Reagan era. If it does, it rarely goes further than the second half of the 20th century. While much of importance happened during this time, it is an incredibly narrow time frame and omits much of importance in the previous few hundred years, if not back further yet. If the past is prologue and Santayana is right that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, then it certainly seems that we are just another cycle in history.

There are lots of people that can quote a sentence or two from The Constitution about this right or that but they don't appreciate that there's so much more to it than bearing arms and free speech. And where did the notion of free speech come from, anyway? Do these people also realize that the Christian deity is nowhere to be found in The Constitution? The Founding Fathers were very intelligent men but they also picked and chose ideas culled very carefully from others. From whom? Why? Utilitarianism may seem like some obscure idea that only philosophers talk about but it's put into use everyday. The law puts a monetary value on human life - a very Utilitarian thing to do - so, when that value becomes too high for some folks, they call for "tort reform". When an automobile manufacturer decides it's cheaper to pay out a sum for those killed due to defects in their cars because it's cheaper than fixing the problem in all those cars - that's a form of Utilitarian calculus. Evolution is a theory that most people don't really understand even by many of those who embrace it. And evolution stands in the middle of the battle for a secular America that rages today. Finally, there are some links to information about Islam and the Middle East.

I'll keep adding for, if nothing else, it serves as a handy reference for me. And I will endeavor to put more minorities in there as well as some items that do not wholly deal with events and people who lived well before anyone living today.

If anyone dares read any of it, please let me know what you thought.