Superbowl commercials online

For those of you that decided not to waste precious hours of your time on the Superbowl but still want to participate in the commercialism, Google Video has all of the commercials online.

To err

The only direction given me by my father I believe to have been decidedly wrong was his advice to err on the side of conservatism. This has always been a temptation for me, for it has the sound of good advice, and taken to heart, would save one from the innumerable follies of “liberals.” But it is not Christian, and is no better than the advice always to err on the liberal side. It is what caused the Pharisees' blindness. I believe the narrow path Christ has marked out for us is to err on neither side, but to think and do the right thing at all times with his leading, for this is what he offers us with the Gift of his Spirit. Erring (and make no mistake, we all do it) on one side or the other is simply sin, which must be repented of before our footing on the Way is regained.

S. M. Hutchens

Your search history

Anyone interested in how Google (and other search engines) save your entire search history (which it could then make available to interested parties) should read When Google is not your friend.

Gun-toting motorists ruder

GUN lobbyists like to repeat the quote often attributed to American writer Robert Heinlein, that "an armed society is a polite society". But this is certainly not true for motorists.

A survey of 2400 drivers carried out by David Hemenway and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health shows that motorists who carry guns in their cars are far more likely to indulge in road rage - driving aggressively or making obscene gestures - than motorists without guns.
[...]
"Our findings indicate that the people driving around with guns in their cars are not among the most responsible and best-behaved people on the road," says Vriniotis. "In the interests of injury and violence prevention, it probably makes more sense to tighten rather than relax restrictions on gun carrying in motor vehicles." (New Scientist)

That'll be the day, when America's gun laws make sense.

Polarized politics

Polarization is not new to this country. It is hard to imagine a society more divided than ours was in 1800, when pro-British, pro-commerce New Englanders supported John Adams for the presidency while pro-French, pro-agriculture Southerners backed Thomas Jefferson. One sign of this hostility was the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798; another was that in 1800, just as in 2000, an extremely close election was settled by a struggle in one state (New York in 1800, Florida in 2000).

The fierce contest between Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan in 1864 signaled another national division, this one over the conduct of the Civil War. But thereafter, until recently, the nation ceased to be polarized in that sense.

James Q. Wilson

Universal daycare in Quebec

Those advocating universal daycare may want to look at a study that measures how it's affected Quebec (where it's implemented) vs. the rest of Canada (where it's not). It's not good!

As Lee Podles says, "Day care may be a necessary evil (because of irresponsible men) but it is an evil." I agree. There may be single mothers forced into using it, but I wouldn't do it just to increase my standard of living (as some dual income families are wont to do). But I do think it should be made available for those really in need.

State of the Union II

In one of his most striking declarations, Mr. Bush said "America is addicted to oil" and set a goal of replacing 75 percent of the nation's Mideast oil imports by 2025 with ethanol and other energy sources.

But even that goal was less ambitious than it might have appeared — the United States gets less than 20 percent of its oil from the Persian Gulf

NY Times

Our leader in spending

[President Bush] has added over $20 trillion in fiscal liabilities to the next generation. And he brags about alleged future savings of ... $40 billion. He makes the line-item veto the criterion for fiscal responsibility, knowing it will never pass. He says his proposal last year was designed to "save social security." But it had no long-term impact on the costs. To deal with the entitlement crunch, after five years in office, he proposes ... a commission! And urges Washington to avoid "partisan politics." I'm sorry but this is duplicitous when it isn't pathetic.

Andrew Sullivan

I'll buy a vowel, Pat

You gotta love it. Nissan recently sued Audi for daring to use the letter "Q" in a model name. (Too similar to Infiniti model names?) Now BMW is suing Nissan for using "M" in a Canadian ad. Karma's come to get you!

Depicting Mohammed

Remember when [Rolling Stone] magazine was actually cool? It hasn’t been since Hunter S. Thompson’s liver finally got larger than his cranium and they put P.J. O’Rourke out to pasture. Of course, for a long time now rock and roll culture has been less about subverting authority and more about moving units, so a minor controversy over disrespecting a tolerant religion is a valued as marketing ploy rather rather than a daring artistic decision. But as a few pundits noted with Kanye, if he wanted to be really rebellious, he would pose as Mohammed. Then we would see where the rubber meets the road when it comes to real artistic conviction.

Mollie Ziegler