johnsonroad.net Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. 2008-11-11T23:29:39Z WordPress http://johnsonroad.net/blog/feed/atom/ Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[Gay marriage is a question of love.]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=409 2008-11-11T23:29:39Z 2008-11-11T23:29:39Z Well said.

]]> 0 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[Obama’s Speech]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=407 2008-11-05T16:35:56Z 2008-11-05T16:35:56Z

]]> 0 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[John McCain on Attack Ads]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=404 2008-10-24T20:10:08Z 2008-10-24T20:08:28Z Well said, Senator. Your abstinence from running attack ads against your opponent during this election season has been an inspiration to us all.

via [MikeMonteiro.com]

]]> 0 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[Steal This Comic]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=401 2008-10-13T15:34:50Z 2008-10-13T15:34:50Z Reprinted with (explicit?) permission from xkcd:

]]> 0 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[Our National Shame]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=395 2008-10-06T13:31:51Z 2008-10-06T02:37:13Z People can do unspeakable things when they believe they won’t be held accountable for their actions. Civilians do it. Soldiers do it. Presidents do it. The difference with Presidents is that they have the power to cover up and pardon their own crimes. They don’t have to hope they won’t be caught. They can sign their own immunity into law.

  1. Assert that we must abandon our sense of decency if necessary to put the screws to the bad guys.
  2. Tacitly approve of torture while maintaining enough plausible deniability to keep oneself out of war crimes court.
  3. When the truth comes out, throw your loyal subordinates under the bus to leave them to feel the disgrace that you deserve.

Taxi to the Dark Side is a documentary about detainee abuse and murder at the hands of American soldiers: how it started; how it was allowed to continue; and its consequences for detainees, soldiers, officers, members of the Bush administration, and the perception of America to the rest of the world.

This is what our fear and jingoism have wrought. Human beings deserve better than this sort of treatment, and we as Americans deserve better than leaders who tell us that this is acceptable.

Please watch this film.

]]> 0 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[Sarah Palin in 30 Seconds]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=393 2008-10-05T23:53:00Z 2008-10-05T23:53:00Z She has nothing of substance to say and does a pretty poor job saying it. Ladies and gentlemen, a potential President of the United States:

Sarah Palin: an unqualified, inarticulate, superstitious, hypocritical marionette of the right wing.

]]> 1 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[Want inner peace? Have a stroke.]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=391 2008-09-19T18:10:07Z 2008-09-19T18:10:07Z Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist, had a stroke that effectively shut down the left hemisphere of her brain. It took her 8 years to fully recover. In this video she shares her experience of entirely losing her sense of herself as an individual being.

Mystics, meditators, and psychadelic explorers have been to that “place;” a bleeding brain took her there. To her it felt profoundly spiritual but also underscored her understanding of the vastly different roles of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Are we spiritual beings capable of having physical experiences or physical beings capable of having spiritual experiences? I think the way that we’re “wired” prevents us from being able to know which is true. Does such a dichotomy even serve us?

Science continues to demonstrate how electrical impulses and chemicals interact to create our perception, which can include vast experiences of consciousness. If we truly are nothing more than extraordinarily complex machines, does that really matter? We do know that what matters in our relation to others and the world is what we do in the physical realm.

[via Open Culture]

]]> 1 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[Students’ and Renters’ Votes Shouldn’t Be Counted?]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=385 2008-09-12T00:53:39Z 2008-09-12T00:05:42Z keep outRepublican Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is suing the Government Accountability Board to check all voter registrations back to Jan. 2006. A discrepancy that would make a voter appear ineligible to vote is mentioned in this Isthmus article: a difference in addresses between the voter registration and the DOT database.

The address on my driver’s license (renewed every, what, 7 years?) isn’t current. It has changed at least 3 or 4 times since I registered with the DOT. So I suppose I could expect to have my vote thrown out with no warning if I don’t go down to the DMV and update it. Is my vote “fraudulent” because of this mismatch?

What about students and other renters that move every year? Is it likely that their DOT address record matches their voter registration?

How do you wipe out large numbers of votes from young people and those that aren’t wealthy enough to own a home? Van Hollen knows.

Van Hollen is also the co-chair of McCain’s campaign in Wisconsin. Do you see a conflict of interest?

EDIT: Go to Voter Public Access to check your voter registration status.

]]> 2 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[National Priorities]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=382 2008-09-11T13:52:01Z 2008-09-11T13:51:39Z Using the figures from Death and Taxes I calculated that over the last month I personally contributed over $100 to the Global War on Terror. Over the same period about $36 went to the Department of Education.

The federal budget for 2009 is $1182 billion. $189 billion (16%) of that goes to the GWOT. $59 billion (5%) goes to Education. How much did you pay for each this month?

]]> 1 Jordan http://johnsonroad.net <![CDATA[The Difference Between Obama and McCain’s Tax Proposals]]> http://johnsonroad.net/blog/?p=380 2008-09-11T13:08:35Z 2008-09-11T13:08:35Z This graph shows how each candidate plans to distribute his bribes if elected.

[Washington Post via gruber]

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