Chris Pollitt

While it’s certainly a controversial decision, I applaud the brave Judge for handing down this verdict. The simple fact is, you need to take tests and get a license to drive a car. In the state of New York, you even need a license to use a clothesline outdoors! But any old !@#$%^* can have a baby. Surely bringing a new human being into the world is infinitely more serious than these former cases. Why then is this most paramount activity left unregulated? I realize it is no simple matter and some solutions can be worse than the ailment, but surely there is something that can be done to prevent the thousands of unwanted and hence neglected children in the world. What do you think?

See stories here

Something that my wife and I have been doing for a few years now is beginning to really catch on. Here is a snippet of an article that really describes the “movement”:

Whatgoesaround is not so different from a wedding registry, except that instead of telling friends what flatware and tumblers you’d like, you tell them what charities you’d most like to support. Then when someone wants to give you a gift, she can go to the site, go to your ‘givelist’ and make a donation the point-and-click way.

Here are some links:

• The full article
• The website it talks about
• A Canadian equivalent

There is a new superpower in town, and it’s a force to be reckoned with. Who is this superpower you ask? You may already be a part of it. See here for the scoop.

There have been several international efforts over the years to try and make the world a better place:

• International Global Warming Treaty (Kyoto)
• International Ban on Land Mines Treaty
• International Criminal Court
• International Tobacco Control Treaty
• (and likely others)

And in every case, the U.S.A. not only adamantly refuses to join these initiatives, it tries to kill them.

In addition, the U.S.A. has a long history of unprovoked attacks on foreign nations:

• North American First Nations (1775-1890)
• Canada (1812)
• Mexico (1846-1848)
• Spain (1898)
• The Philippines (1899-1902)
• North Korea (1950-1953)
• Vietnam (1965-1975)
• Iraq (1990-1991)
• Afghanistan (2001-2002)

All this points to a nation that is out of control. What can be done about it?

• Educate yourself and others
• Write letters to the decision makers
• Vote (or Run for Office if you are able)
• Make informed decisions when purchasing products and services
• Sign petitions
• Join Marches
• (and more, be creative!)

It’s time to act.

1 Timothy 6

6 And religion does make your life rich, by making you content with what you have. 7 We didn’t bring anything into this world, and we won’t take anything with us when we leave. 8 So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes. 9 People who want to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. 10 The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.

The bit from the above that I want to focus in on is the line “we won’t take anything with us when we leave”. Now I would contend that we do indeed take stuff with us when we leave. Not physical things of course but important things none-the-less: namely skills and knowledge. Now you may say that any skills or knowledge that we may collect while on this side may be of no use on the other. I disagree. I think that wisdom is universally applicable as is the skill of unconditional love. What do you think?

OK so here are a few links I’ve found that I like:

• The MegaPenny Project gives you an idea of what big numbers look like.
• This is about why it’s important to vote(flash required)
• And here is where I got the previous two sites from

So Happy New Year! I know it’s been a while since I posted. It’s not that I haven’t had any bloggable thoughts, but rather that I have been lazy. In any case, I had something semi-interesting happen today at lunch time. I was having lunch at Subway when a Police officer walked in (they need to eat too it turns out). Anyway, you could feel the atmosphere change in the room (my state of mind certainly changed). It’s obvious why: he (it was a male in this case) has the power to arrest, hurt and even kill you. Not that he will of course (after all, you’ve done nothing wrong — at least not that he knows about), but that doesn’t change that fact that your mindset and even behaviour are altered when you are around those with visible power. So here comes my thought: how would we feel and act if God were in the room with us? I suppose it depends on our perception of what God is like. Of course, God is omnipresent and so is in the room at all times, it’s just that we cannot sense God’s presence. Perhaps not a new thought, but something to think about.

Here is a quote I recently pulled off of Slashdot:

History is curious stuff You’d think by now we had enough Yet the fact remains I fear They make more of it every year.

This got me to thinking of another quote:

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Which made me think:

We as humans certainly have more than enough history to enable us to never make another mistake again if we’d only learn to draw on the history we already have.

Sadly however, a final quote comes to mind:

History teaches us that history teaches us nothing.