Kiss Blog's motto

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.

-Groucho Marx

"It's funny because it's true" part 2

"God is dead." -Nietzsche, 1882

"Nietzsche is dead." -God, 1900

From the "It's funny because it's true" file

The Supreme Court of the United States recently decided that local governments can take private property for use in development projects when they deem the project will benefit the community at large. I think this is a terrible ruling, and more than a little discussion can be found on news and commentary sites. However, we can always rely on Slashdot comments to bring an almost inappropriate level of humor to a sad event like this. Quoted form Instapundit:

STILL MORE: Slashdot: "Needless to say, the little guy loses to the commercial developer this case... "

Inevitable followup comment: "All your homes are belong to us."

Math is changing

Incredibly interesting article about the state of mathematics. It seems to me that many parts of mathematics, in particular those dealing with numerical methods, and engineering are already working in the way that this article describes. Thus, it's not surprising to me that high level theoretical mathematics could move this direction.

Not a lost cause yet

If you have not seen the pictures of the anti-Syria pro-democracy Beirut demonstration, take a look. It has been all over the news and is quite stunning. In case you don't know, this rally is in response to the 500,000 person pro-syria demonstration organized by Hezbolla just a little while ago. The estimates are at 800,000 for this one, clearly trumping the previous. This is great news because the party that wants reform and is most likely to end terrorist activities (i.e. not Hezbolla) has just shown their force and seems to have the ability to bring change. Moreover, the people in this demonstration feel they can do these things without fear of reprisal (as many commentators have pointed out, see the link above), and this is an important development in itself, as it helps lead to change without war.

Update: More good news.

The West Wing

I caught the West Wing on NBC the other night after not seeing it for quite awhile (the second time in three weeks, but probably years before that), and I have to say I am impressed with how well they have preserved the quality of the original award winning season(s). Jimmy Smits has been added to the cast (since the President will soon be out of office and they need a new character to fill the void). I highly reccommend watching both for the interesting points of view presented and the sheer quality of the show. I generally disagree with the opinions of the characters, but their portrayal and the intelligence given to them by the scripts overshadows any disagreements I might have with them.

Cloning

I want to draw attention to this essay by Charles Krauthammer. I agree with his opinion on this matter, and I also agree that there has been much disinformation put out by all the parties in this debate. Names of procedures are changed to hide what they truly entail, and the fundamental question of the morality of cloning is mixed up with the good results that it might produce. By all means, the results of not allowing cloning should be taken into account, but if the procedure is fundamentally flawed (in a moral sense), then I am hard pressed to see any reason good enough to justify it. Whether cloning is morally right is the central question of this whole issue, and it is the question that the public debate in this country has not yet answered or even really addressed.

Abortion

There is an excellent essay in Time about Abortion, written by Andrew Sullivan. I am ardently against abortion and, and as Mr. Sullivan states, "believe that all abortions are an immoral taking of human life". However, I find I am atleast partially swayed by this article. The object of opposing abortion is not a political victory but to save lives. If those of us who are pro-life ever find ourselves in a position that puts our political goals ahead of our moral imperatives, we need to rethink ourselves. (This statement in and of itself applies to those who are pro-choice as well, but here I am discussing those who are pro-life.) None of this is to say that we should compromise our goal of ending abortion, but if we can get closer to that goal through political compromises, why not do it?

A life for a life

Excellent article dealing with cloning and those people who are influencing the debate. I'm resolutely against creating embryos for medical research, and I'll be very interested to see whether Gov. Romney is for real or simply sees a political edge in taking this position.

The Wisdom of Russia

Here is an enlightening quote from Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking to President Bush in response to President Bush's criticism of Russia's freedom of the press (From Newsweek):

"We didn't criticize you when you fired those reporters at CBS."

Is he joking? I call this enlightening because I now understand a little clearer where Russia stands on this issue and how deeply entrenched the corruption of their press is. I'm not the most informed person when it comes to Russia, but I had assumed a higher level of understanding of the world around them on their part. And I had assumed they had atleast a minimal desire to move closer to a free country. This little glimpse into their thinking reveals to me that they are so far from having a free, uncorrupt press that they cannot even comprehend a system that is not so. Maybe that is harsh. Perhaps their lack of experience with a free system simply blinds them to the reality that is our free press. They take the few examples of corruption (most recently President Bush's foray into journalism) and assume that is characteristic of the true nature of our system. Thankfully they are wrong, and the fact that the heat is on President Bush and his columnists shows it.

Dark Matter

An extremely interesting scientific discovery, but I found the comments on Slashdot much more entertaining.

Mazda Miata

Autoblog has the new Mazda Miata. It looks like I'm still too big to fit in my favorite go kart with airbags.

First update, and is it ever lame.

Since I can't seem to get anything groundbreaking, or even remotely interesting, in my head to write about I'm moving ahead with my first update regardless of the consequences.

Best bumper sticker I saw this week:

A woman's place is in the House, and the Senate.

Yes, feel free to pat yourself on the back if you saw this and chuckled last year. I thought it was cute. This post is doubly lame because I didn't even actually see it. My wife told me about it.

Welcome!

Welcome everyone to the first posting of Kiss Blog. I hope your stay here is highly enjoyable.

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