I saw John Mayer perform "Waiting On The World To Change" while watching the Steve Jobs iPhone introduction at Apple Macworld 2007.

Fanatics. Most everyone believes that fanatics are the problem. People who feel they are justified in using force to impose their will on others, disregarding truth and justice as irrelevant. Amanda B. Carpenter (humanevents.com) wrote a very interesting article on the movie "300". Amazingly to me many people mentally identify the Spartans as the US and the Persians as the Iranians/Arabs/Muslims. I can easily see the opposite with George Bush as King Xerxes and the Persian Army as the US soldiers sent to attack the rebellious Spartans. The rebels in Iraq fight occupying forces face supported with technology such as the AC-130 gunship and communication technology that one might believe would readily beat the navtive rebels into submission. The foreign based fighters, a combination of US soldiers, British soldiers, South Korean soldiers and private mercenaries hired by the US government patrol Iraq and occasionally are maimed or killed by the ingenuity of those rebels who refuse to surrender. Unfortunately in the real world evil is often plotted in green rooms by people who rarely resemble the villains as portrayed in the movies. Who is the hero and who is the villain takes a little bit more effort than assuming that "our side" are the good guys and "the others" are the bad guys. It has been 4 years since the US led coalition forces invaded Iraq, I wonder when Mr. Bush will decide that it is time to use some reason and logic and ask the question, "is the invasion and occupation worth it (and for whom)?"

Saturday I went to see the movie "300" with other members of the Phoenix Objectivist Study Group. Was it worth the price both of time and money? Yes.

From the real government of Iraq, the Multi-National Force of Iraq, (a bit less Multi-National now that Britain and Denmark declared that they intend to leave Iraq). MNF-I forces shoot at ?something? on Haifa Street, Baghdad, Iraq

Ron Paul Revolution - Phoenix

Freedom good, government bad, bad, bad.

Dennis Kucinich Urges Conversation about Impeachment

Watch this and reflect on the actions of the current POTUS and his demagoguery about Iran.

While this video is meant to tear down Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama would do well to reflect on what "V" said:

"And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror."

A timeless commentary on the nature of government and the collective.

If you can't afford a $44 ticket to go to the stage version of 1984, there are plenty of very affordable book and DVD versions available at amazon.com.

Whether you consider yourself a Republican, Libertarian or Democrat (or something else) the amazing influence of George Orwell on society cannot be denied. A stage performance of his story "1984" will be appearing in Scottsdale on Friday and Saturday (March 24th and 25th) at 8:00 PM. $44.00 per ticket.

I am all in favor of a pinch of salt. That is why I follow with interest the skeptic crowd which from my vantage point is headed by Penn Jillette. Mr. Jillette endorses James Randi and has had him on the Penn Radio show several times.

It is a sad day however when BoingBoing.net reports that James Randi claims that 36 homeopathic sleeping pills is a fatal dose. I would be hard pressed to find a reference *anywhere* that alleges that there is any dose of homeopathic medicine that will cause a negative side effect such as that claimed by Mr. Randi.

I would have no complaint if James Randi claimed that homeopathic medicine is ineffective (he is welcome to his considered opinion, one I happen to disagree with) but his current claim about homeopathic medicine is preposterous. If one takes webmd.com as a reasonably orthodox baseline, its article at most quotes medical figures and journals stating that homeopathic medicine is ineffective, not deadly.

Fix or scrap. In politics that is a question often posed and government will nearly always choose fix, euphimistically called "reform". Such is the case when it comes the the Arizona Clean Election system which the Arizona House of Representatives just voted to reform. 57 yes'es, 0 no's, 3 not voting. Sad-sad-sad.