The founder of the rock band Boston is enraged that Mike Huckabee is using his band’s hit “More Than a Feeling” on the campaign trail. He’s written a letter to Huckabee demanding the GOP candidate stop using it. “Boston has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for,” wrote Tom Scholz. “In fact, although I’m impressed you learned my bass guitar part on ‘More Than a Feeling,’ I am an Obama supporter.” 

hehe. 

Slashdot featured this article today, stating that the national helium reserves will be depleted within 8 years.  What is helium used for (besides blimps!)?  Here ya go:

Helium plays a role in nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectroscopy, welding, fiber optics and computer microchip production, among other technological applications. NASA uses large amounts annually to pressurize space shuttle fuel tanks.

“Helium is non-renewable and irreplaceable. Its properties are unique and unlike hydrocarbon fuels (natural gas or oil), there are no biosynthetic ways to make an alternative to helium. All should make better efforts to recycle it.”

I’m very interested to see what develops in the coming years.  Will the invisible hand step up to the plate, or will we learn that there are indeed limits to growth?

A thank you to Paul for the find.

Anonymity, privacy, and security are intertwined; you can’t just separate them out like that. And privacy isn’t opposed to security; privacy is part of security. And the value of privacy in a free society is enormous.

At what point will our politicians finally stop chanting that obnoxious mantra of ‘freedom’? I say never – they’ll just redefine it to suit their needs and use the symbolic power of the word to sway the people into doing whatever silly dance they want.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, a deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguards people’s private communications and financial information.

Read it in context, and tell me, does it sound like anything short of fascism? Do not let them redefine the term in such a diabolical manner.

Repeat after me (say this out loud, now):

Privacy protects you from abuses of power. It is the only thing that can ‘watch the watchers’. Tyranny is tyranny, no matter if originating abroad (threats of terrorism) or from your elected officials (declaring ownership of all details of your life).

Fair enough?

While my knee jerk reaction is to rant about what an a-hole the President is, I think that we should follow his advice this year and let the middle class feel the squeeze of our warfare state. Let the Democrats keep their pledge of fiscal responsibility, but use the opportunity to educate the people on where most of the government’s budget goes.

A future candidate’s platform – if you want more cash in your pocket and a solid safety net for the bad times, all we have to due is scale back on our military adventures. What do you say?