Quick Roundup 341

Another Take on Internet Portals and Content

Complementing my post yesterday about the relationship between freedom of speech, property rights, and government is a post by Robb concerning an aspect of the problem I did not look at, but which even further confuses the issue: the fact that lots of the more over-the-top restrictions on what customers can post are also due (often indirectly) to bad government:

[P]rivate companies have the right to delete content (which the article acknowledges), but the subtext never discussed here is that these companies aren't deleting "objectionable content" out of any desire to defend their own values (whatever corporate values are in today's world), but simply to avoid litigation by private parties and government agencies, who *illegitimately* threaten the First Amendment rights of the companies themselves to host web content. [bold added]

I'm glad Robb looked at that angle of the issue and recommend reading the entire thing, as well as Monica's additional commentary.

Also, you can now visit Robb's blog, Robbservations, from the side bar any time.

"It's a Good Life"

No. It's not the campaign slogan of either the McBama or the O'Cain campaign, but it should be, based on Chuck's review of the Twilight Zone episode bearing that title:

I've seen this episode before. But this time it struck me as an excellent description of life under an absolute ruler, whether a modern dictator, or a traditional monarch. Historically, such rulers had, and the modern ones continue to have, absolute power, including the power of life and death over all of his or her subjects, which could be, and often was, exercised at whim. So the subjects must all live in fear of the ruler, and pretend to be happy and agree with any whim of the ruler, lest they be sent to the cornfield. [bold added]

And be sure to read the end. We still have some freedom left in America, and we must use it to oppose whichever power luster wins in November in any way possible.

Every time I see a picture of Obama's crowds, it makes me think of the following quote by Ayn Rand from "Apollo and Dionysus":

The hippies are a desperate herd looking for a master, to be taken over by anyone; anyone who would tell them how to live, without demanding the effort of thinking. Theirs is the mentality ready for a Fuehrer.

These people are, in a sense, already "in the cornfield", as admissions like, "The Obama political campaign clearly qualifies as a social movement that is larger than the sum of its parts," would indicate. Its "parts" (cogs?) are individual human beings who want to "lose themselves" in a collective. Sad for them and dangerous for me.

Wall-e

How did I miss this review by Jennifer Snow?

Although elements that might, in other circumstances, point at consumerism and environmentalism are present in the movie, the movie is actually about virtue. It's an extremely complex theme for any sort of movie . . . in fact, I think it might have been a bit too complex for THIS movie, but damn if they didn't make an excellent run at it.

That is a huge relief since I've already promised to watch it with my wife the next time I'm in Bean Town! Read the whole thing if you haven't already.

I figured that the movie would be more of a mixture than it apparently is. Good! Less to overlook or try to ignore!

Pelosi's Terrorist Friends

Dismuke emails me that records recovered from Colombia's FARC terrorists show that Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, has been collaborating with terrorists. From the Power Line blog:

If this report is correct, Nancy Pelosi was carrying on her own foreign policy in opposition to that of the United States, trying to work with the socialist Hugo Chavez and the Communist FARC terrorists to undermine America's ally, Colombia. In normal times, this would be unthinkable. Given the crazed state of today's Democratic party, I'm not so sure.

I wouldn't expect our next President to do anything to rectify this situation.

-- CAV