Tuesday Night Open Mic for June 29, 2010

We come to another Open Mic night with a full plate of topics out there. I know I could have simply picked out some of the big ones out there and ran with them. But everybody is doing that! So I decided to find some of the other stories out there and offer them up, with the full understanding that if it is a big story, someone else will be offering them up throughout the day. I intend to eventually write about Kagan, but I am not sure where I stand on her yet. The hearings aren’t giving me a lot of info. I am also going to write about the Court’s gun ruling when I can, because I think it is important, and will have a ripple effect on some other stuff. I also really wanted to offer something quick on the videos that JAC suggested, but I haven’t yet had a moment to sit down and watch them, and probably won’t have time until this weekend. But I will offer a link to them in a separate article tomorrow so look for that to make it easier for folks to find them. For tonight I offer the Federal Government boycotting Arizona, changes to the FMLA interpretations, an arrogant Congressman, and a question about what may turn out to be a nightmare for the GOP in Nevada.

Guest Commentary Mash-Up- Moral Law vs. Freedom Law

I thought that I would try something a little different this week with the guest commentary. I often present the guest commentary as simply that and allow it to stand on its own. This week’s topic is something that I hold a fairly strong opinion on and which I enjoy debating. So I proposed the idea to our guest commentator of my writing a short article myself beginning the discussion, and then after doing so, offer his article on the subject. Then, of course, we will be able to attack the subject in a more defined manner. He agreed to my altered format and has had a bit of a head start as he has already read what I wrote, and he wrote his piece before I wrote mine. Obviously, I also decided to post this on a different night than the regular Thursday night/Friday morning when the guest commentary is usually presented. This is a particularly relevant subject, as the idea of legislating morality has somehow managed to drill its way into the mindset of modern American politics. And this has had dangerous and disasterous consequences. Read on to get both my, and guest commentator Jon Smith’s, reasoning on why this is so.

Wednesday Night Open Mic for June 23, 2010

Open Mic again gets moved to Wednesday night this week. As many of you know, work has kept me extremely busy these last couple of weeks. It hasn’t gotten better yet, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is distant, but it is there. Let’s just hope it isn’t a freight train heading my way. On top of that I was really hoping to wait to weigh in on the whole Obama/McChrystal debacle until some sort of decision was announced. It would have been OK to speculate on what was going to happen, but I was more interested in commenting on what went down instead of what might go down. As for the other topics this week: We have Iran doing its best to ratchet up tensions in the Middle East. We have an Iowa school where some uptight parents are up in arms because their children were shown parts of the human anatomy. I will leave it at those three topics to start. They should be plenty to get things started. Then I can add to that throughout the day as the discussions dictate.

Alan Grayson… Idiot Child of the Left

I didn’t have a ton of time to write again tonight. I had actually decided that I was going to skip the night and try to get some other stuff I have been procrastinating on done. But then I stumbled across this article, another of the open letters Representative Alan Grayson seems so fond of writing over there at the Huffington Post (one of the few places that will give a voice to fruit cakes like Grayson). As you all know, I have no beef with HuffPo. They have some interesting articles and some good ideas that come from a very intelligent group of writers. Unfortunately, they also have become a place where hatemongers such as Bob Cesca and Fools such as Grayson are given a podium from which to spew their nonsense. What they will not do, however, is allow for any dissenting opinions to be offered to counter folks like Cesca and Grayson. And that is a shame, because the surest way to ensure that your writers won’t be taken seriously by anyone other than those who already agree with your ideas is to limit the ability to to offer rational responses.

No Spades Games Allowed… Chester’s Lockdown

I know that many of you read that headline and thought, “perhaps the old Weapon has finally lost his mind.” Come to think of that some of you may have begun thinking that the first day you checked in at SUFA. Spades? Chester? Who in the hell is Chester and why do we care if he is allowed to play spades? The Chester that I am referring to is a “where”, not a “who.” Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, is where. And Chester has some big problems at the moment. It seems that there have been four murders in Chester in the last eight days. In their panic, they have locked down the city. The Mayor declared a state of emergency for Chester, and as a result, it is now unlawful for gatherings of more than three people. A game of Spades takes four people. Thus, there will be no spades played in Chester in the immediate future. That is too much like a hate group plotting a murder, I suppose. What is going on in Chester? And what of this madness they are calling a “state of emergency, which sounds a lot like martial law to me?

Guest Commentary – Respecting the Founders

After doing the open mic we had the NBA Finals on Thursday night, and with my Celtics playing, I simply cannot miss watching those games. And to have it be game 7 as well… I will only say that I felt that the officiating was horrible, as evidenced by the fact that the Celtics had 5 players with 4 or more fouls with 3 minutes left. The Lakers had 1. The Lakers were sent to the line to shoot free throws 21 times in the 4th quarter. The Celtics only 6. 37-17 for the entire game. Refs just were determined to give the Lakers every chance they could to score. I am disgusted with the game. The Celtics beat them, the refs took it away. For the guest commentary, we have another appearance by Jon Smith. Jon has been sending me guest commentary articles regularly. I am always impressed with the way that he thinks out the issues, and I enjoy reading his articles. Certainly when I have other guest commentaries to post, I will do so. But I am never disappointed when I am posting Jon’s. For anyone who is not aware, Jon also has his own blog, which also usually feature the articles that we discuss here. You can visit Jon’s blog here: The Libertarian Blog (will open up a new window).

Tuesday Night Open Mic for June 15, 2010

As I begin writing this introduction to the open mic for tonight, I am watching the Celtics versus the Lakers, and hoping that I can will my boys in green to the win and another NBA chamionship. By the time I post this to the site, we will know whether they were able to seal the deal or whether the Lakers managed to stop them and force a game 7. The open mic topics for tonight have a lot of questions for all of you. We are discussing Hydrogen Powered cars, North Korea’s threats against the United Nations, the Democrats chances of retaining 59 Senate seats, and the inability of today’s higher education institutions to prepare graduates to effectively adapt to the modern working world. The Hydrogen vehicle stuff is one where I am relying on some of you science minded folks to weigh in with your thoughts. Obviously, it is open mic, so feel free to fire away with topics of your own as well!

When Does a Threat Cross the Line?

I was intrigued with the conversation between the SUFA members around the shooting of the 15 year on the Mexican border. Our esteemed antagonist, Black Flag, took many of us to task for our positions. As is always the case for me, I do not fall into the category of someone who has a knee jerk reaction to things. I tend to think them out and try to eliminate my biases. This situation was no different. And listening to BF’s arguments was important, because I like to analyze my positions and see if I have come to an incorrect conclusion. In doing so I found that what I need to do is define, for myself, when a person is justified in using deadly force in self defense. This article is not meant to further debate the Israeli flotilla incident or the border incident. I will touch on those, but I am more interested in the general answer than I am in an answer for a specific case or two. The question becomes: How do we determine when it is justified to use deadly force in self defense?

Wednesday Night Open Mic for June 9, 2010

As promised, the one day delay on the open mic thread proves to be just the one day. As much as I hated pushing it off for a night, I was compelled to as I found the other topic interesting and pertinent given that we were on an election night in many places. I have enjoyed the conversations thus far this week, even though some have been frustrating with some periods of unwillingness on the part of some to even consider anything other than their opinion as plausible. For tonight’s open mic we have a host of topics. We will discuss a private Christian school firing a teacher for having sex and getting pregnant three weeks before her marriage. Additionally, we will discuss the 15 year old killed on the Mexico border, California’s referendum to allow open primaries, and another round of UN sanctions that are sure to have the desired effect on Iran….

Seeking False Purism…. Flaws in the American Mindset

I know, it is Tuesday night and everyone is opening up their browser this morning and expecting the open mic thread that usually greets them on Wednesday morning. I was sitting around reading news on my dinner break tonight, reviewing the different primary races out there, and the status of each prior to election day. It spurred some thought from me so I figured I would offer a quick article around that subject instead of the open mic thread. Fear not though, I will do the open mic on Wednesday night instead of Tuesday. Instead, I want to talk about an article that I read a couple of weeks ago and was reminded of this evening. The article was originally on Fox News. The subject was the fact that despite the deep partisan pitfalls that every voter says that they despise, the elections come closer and middle of the road candidates get thrown out in favor of those that fall further towards the “far” edge of the parties.

The Reality Around Israel

I know as I begin to write this that I am opening a can worms that I will struggle to keep contained as the discussion unfolds. But the reality for me is that it is a can that I am simply unable to ignore. I watched the debates and discussions last week as we talked about the incident between the activists who were looking for trouble and the defiant country more than willing to play its part in providing some. I will talk a little bit about that below, but I am am more interested in simply having an honest discussion around Israel. These days, it has become one of two mindsets in America. There are those that despise Israel. And on the other side, those that consider it pure blasphemy to say anything negative about them. I am one of those folks that simply don’t fall into either of those two camps. I am not a giant fan of Israel, but I certainly don’t dislike them either. I see them as an ally, but one that continues to push the bounds of what is acceptable behavior. The question for me, and I think for a growing segment of Americans, is when do we simply say we have had enough?

Guest Commentary: No Smoking Legislation

So we have reached yet another Thursday night, and with it another night featuring a guest commentary from one of our regular readers and participants. Jon Smith is at it again, challenging us to take another look at an issue that we have discussed a long time ago. This is an issue that hits somewhat close to home for me. I am not a fan at all of the way that smokers have been treated over the last decade. They fall into the category of “sinners” who get hit with “sin taxes”. Sin taxes are one of those things that simply infuriate me. That society as a whole accepts these types of taxes and legislative maneuvers around smoking points, in my opinion, to the absolute short-sightedness of the American voter. It’s that who law of mutuality thing hitting home again. When you deem it fair to infringe on the rights of one particular group, I have to silently hope that I am around when it becomes you that is in the next group attacked.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for June 1, 2010

I hope that everyone is sufficiently rested after a long holiday weekend for Memorial Day. Allow me to here say again thank you to all who have chosen to serve their country, and to pay a small tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for what they believed in. For this week’s open mic we have some interesting topics. Our first topic involves yet another anti-christian ruling in Connecticut. We are also delving into the flawed tactics of the census and how it is being used as a tool of manipulation rather than to accomplish its actual purposes. Add to that yet another jackass California local government entity deciding that they will ignore reality and boycott Arizona, while the leader of the country says nothing. Finally, we will hopefully get some input from the economically literate folks at SUFA as to why the Federal Reserve wants to stop regulations protecting small businesses but not consumers.