Just a few weeks ago my beloved dog Sandy came to the end of a long and debilitating struggle with kidney failure. My wife and I did everything we could to prolong her life and make her happy and comfortable, but none of us can cheat death, and eventually it was upon us.

One of the most difficult decisions of my life came when I was forced to choose to euthanize my faithful companion of more than a decade. It was compounded by a feeling of guilt – not that I had acted too soon, but that perhaps I had waited too long out of grief and a sense of personal loss. I remember wishing for days that she could tell me if it was worth living, or if she merely wished she could die.

When we finally had our vet come to the house and put her to rest it was a traumatic experience for the family, yet the death was so quite, fast and peaceful that not only did it remove any feeling of lingering doubt that we had done the right thing, but it made me consider my own mortality and caused me to realize that ultimately I would rather be able to go like this, than be imprisoned in a body stricken with ailments, waiting for death to take me.

Well, this is the situation that Sir Edward Downes, and his wife of 54 years, Lady Joan, found themselves in. And luckily for them, they were able to make the decision to leave this world on their own terms. I only wish that we had the freedom to choose for our selves here in the USA.
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Fantastic video on the progression of information technology, researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Bronman, remixed. I actually thought I posted this video previously, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. Even if I did, it’s worth taking another look.

The concept of the video is to throw out statistics at you which are shocking, enlightening, or just plain make you think. For example:

• If you are one in a million in China, there are 1,300 of you.
• The number of text messages sent daily exceeds the population of Earth.
• By 2013 supercomputers will be more powerful than the human brain.

So, what are we to make of all this?
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So what have we learned in two millennia?

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

– Cicero – 55 BC

…Evidently nothing.

Mark Cuban pitched an idea over on his blog in which he offers to fund business plans for people, but only if:

• People completely detail out their business plan in public.
• The businesses must show a profit within 90 days.
• You use the bank of Mark’s choice and allow him control over expenditures.

Unfortunately, I believe Mark is off base with this concept, and left the following comment over there on his blog. I doubt he’ll respond, but he did at least get people talking – even though he might have done more harm than good.
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Wow! I’m not sure if the letter below is legitimate or fabricated. It sounds like it could be from a real Marine, and so I’m going to publish it just in case. Either way, it gives you a lot to think about…

It’s freezing here. I’m sitting on hard, cold dirt between rocks and shrubs at the base of the Hindu Kush Mountains along the Dar ‘yoi Pomir River watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that leads to a cave. Stake out, my friend, and no pizza delivery for thousands of miles.

I also glance at the area around my ass every ten to fifteen seconds to avoid another scorpion sting. I’ve actually given up battling the chiggers and sand fleas, but them scorpions give a jolt like a cattle prod. Hurts like a bastard. The antidote tastes like transmission fluid but God bless the Marine Corps for the five vials of it in my pack.

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Today The United States of America took a profound step forward. I don’t believe that any of us can yet comprehend the gravity of the day, but I am certain that we witnessed an event that will be forever etched in history. We, the people, freely elected Barack Hussein Obama as our leader, and today he took control of the most powerful and prosperous nation, perhaps ever, on the planet.

The video below captured this historic event, including both the presidential inauguration and President Obama’s address to the nation. If you were unable to see it previously I suggest taking a look at it now. President Obama’s address was meant not only for the citizens of the United States, but for the people of the world.
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I have a very close friend (who shall go unnammed) that seems to admire Fidel Castro. Well my friend, I came across this post at IBD editorials about Cuba’s 50 years of failure, and I just had to share it!

Spare us the fireworks and media-parroted claims of Fidel Castro’s dictatorship bringing universal health care and education to Cuba. The real story is that a prosperous Cuba was turned into ruins in just five decades.

Its inflation-adjusted gross domestic product is a mere 5% of what it was in 1958, the year before Castro took over, according to Jorge Salazar-Carillo of Florida International University.

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Bill Maher seems to be following in Michael Moore’s footsteps by putting out a movie called Religulous. This film, which I’m certain will prove to be extremely divisive, makes the case that the most dangerous force on earth is religion.

Maher’s ultimate message is simple: Abandon religion… or we’ll all die.

In the clip that follows, Maher lays out the foundation of this statement. Here are a few choice quotes which I believe pretty much sum things up:

• “If one believes that the world is going to come to an end, does it not drain one’s motivation to improve life while we’re here?”
• “Religion must die for man to live.”
• “Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking.”
• “Those who preach faith and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders.”
• “Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings, who don’t have all the answers, to think they do.”
• “The only attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt.”
• “The solace and comfort that religion brings you, actually comes at a terrible price.”

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Here we are on the eve before we discover who will become the next President of the United States. Already it is set to be a historic election.

• We will either have the first African-American as Commander in Chief, or the oldest ever President and the first woman in an Executive office.
• We will see record voter turn out all over the US (California, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Louisiana, Minnesota and more…)
• We’ve been on the election trail for nearly two years… the longest and costliest campaign in US history.
• The next President follows Bush’s historically low approval ratings and many difficult challenges.

But what happens after tomorrow?
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Time magazine just put out an article about how a certain type of Pentecostal Evangelism likely put a large number of consumers more or less in harm’s way by preaching that “God will give you a house, if you first give to God (as in… make an offering to the church).”

The religious movement, spearheaded by Godatorium super-star Joel Osteen (who may also be the devil), is called Propserity Gospel – and teaches that, dammit, God wants you to be rich in this lifetime as well as the next!

And quite a few folks are apparently coming around to this idea…

In three of the Gospels, Jesus warns that each of his disciples may have to “deny himself” and even “take up his Cross.” In support of this alarming prediction, he forcefully contrasts the fleeting pleasures of today with the promise of eternity: “For what profit is it to a man,” he asks, “if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” It is one of the New Testament’s hardest teachings, yet generations of churchgoers have understood that being Christian, on some level, means being ready to sacrifice–money, autonomy or even their lives.

But for a growing number of Christians like George Adams, the question is better restated, “Why not gain the whole world plus my soul?“

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I was recently reminded of just how cool the U.S. Declaration of Independence was, and how it united the citizens of the original 13 colonies in the common goal of establishing freedom and abolishing the reign of a tyrannical dictator.

Since both of the major political parties are currently advocating “change”, it is apparent that the citizens of the United States are once again seeking a radical departure from our current ways. Here is how we did it once upon a time… back when we had some real cajones!

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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Since we’re in the process of selecting not only the new leaders of the United States, but also the new leaders of the Free World, I wanted to do a little research on their educational backgrounds. Personally I view wisdom as an important trait in a leader, and there can be no wisdom without knowledge. It also seems to me that humans have basically always universally held this belief, as we even see evidence dating back to Plato’s Republic in which the Guardians of the state required strict educational training.

I then decided that we should include the Vice Presidential candidates in the research because, after all, they are next in line for succession to the Presidency in case something terrible happens. On top of that, the Vice President of the United States is also the President of the US Senate. So, they’ve got one hell of an important job either way.
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