But only among “millenials,” that is (I think) people who “came of age” around 2000. So, don’t trust anyone over 30 … to rank social networking over porn.

And he’s only basing his data on searches, not on actual traffic. Because, well, until the government mandates tracking, accurate appraisals of real internet traffic are slightly impossible to achieve.

Even so, more searches for social network stuff than for naked people is a good thing, right?

I guess, in the way that eating deep-fried Twinkies is better for you than eating deep-fried shards of used petri dishes.

So, time that I could have spent writing on the blog has been frittered away on such non-essential tasks as helping family members out and preparing to start a new job (part time) and writing on my novel.

I have managed to post a couple pieces over at the Coalition for Clarity, though. So enjoy!
Love your neighbor as yourself
More fun with the death penalty

I’m worried about an FBI team who contacts an isolated individual who’s failing to make contact with jihadist radicals, teaches him how to make a bomb, helps him to plan and carry out an attack, and chooses a large and public venue to arrest him.

I’m worried about an Attorney General who claims “that if Mohamud hadn’t come in contact with the FBI, he ‘would have made his plans tragically real.’”

And I’m worried about mass media outlets that just repeat the line that this is a plot that has been “thwarted” or “foiled.”

For the record, it sounds to me like this Mohamud fellow may actually have become a threat on his own someday. He very well may have warranted observation by the FBI. But the way the Bureau pursued this investigation sounds very much like entrapment for Mohamud and fear-mongering for the rest of us.

“Look!” says the FBI & co., “here’s a home-grown terrorist you should be afraid of! It could be anybody! What’s a little inappropriate pat-down compared to the risk of being bombed while lighting a Christmas Tree? What’s a little warrantless wiretapping or email surveillance next to, you know, a west coast 9-11?”

What would have been wrong with just watching this kid, and seeing what he does on his own? At least then, he might have actually led investigators to a real terrorist cell, and could have led to some genuine intelligence of real plots to commit terrorist acts. And, when arrested, he might have been guilty of a real crime.

As it is, he’s just become the solitary target of an FBI plot to … to what? boost their own ratings? I hope not. To foil and thwart terrorist attacks? Not very effectively.

I want good security and I want active intelligence gathering on terrorist activities. But that’s not what this was. At best, this was a colossal mistake. If anyone in the FBI is reading this, please, don’t make the same mistake again.

My mother, drunk or sober

Here in Washington State, we have a “Find Your Legislator” feature on the website, as well as contact info for our elected officials. I happen to live in north Seattle, which is Washington’s 46th Legislative District (for state offices) and 7th Congressional District (for federal offices). That means the people I’ll be looking up are:

• U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell
• U.S. Senator Patty Murray
• U.S. Representative Jim McDermott
• U.S. President Barack Obama
• Washington Senator Scott White
• Washington Representative David Frockt
• Washington Representative Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney
• Washington Governor Christine Gregoire

These are all Democrats, so I expect most of my comments will end up directed toward the Democratic Party’s platform. I expect to have plenty of criticism, both of the party and of these individuals’ particular votes and speeches. However, I hope that it is clear that my being against (or for) something held by Democrats is not to be taken as being for (or against) anything held by Republicans. I have seen plenty of reprehensible behavior from members of both major parties, and I do hope to discover at least some noble behavior from my own elected officials. I hope to have my native cynicism about politics softened by real encounters with real public officials.

I plan to post my letters here on the blog. Should I receive responses to my letters, I will post them in their entirety. I hope it will encourage others to also write regularly to their elected officials. If you like what I say, or how I say it, feel free to copy any of my language and use it in your own letters. If you think I’m off base, don’t hesitate to tell me so. A democratic republic requires open and lively dialogue to remain free and true to itself.

More than that, I hope that doing a little research every week will build a solid foundation of knowledge for being a better citizen. Then, when the next election comes around in a couple years, I won’t have to scramble so much to figure out who and what to vote for.

Use with caution. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Hat tip to Mark, who’s forgotten more about the internet than I’ll ever know.

This Is Why I’ll Never Be an Adult.

‘Nuff said.

However, if you’re in the Seattle area and are beginning a freelance writing career, please do join us!

Here’s the official blurb:

Join Seattle Writergrrls for a panel discussion on finding success as a freelance writer. Travel writer and instructor Amanda Castleman, journalist and author Candace Dempsey, and literary attorney Gary K. Marshall will discuss some of the legal and practical issues facing freelancers at the beginning of their careers. Learn how to kick-start your writing career, and how to maintain it in style!

WHEN: Thursday, November 11, 2010, 7pm
WHERE: Ravenna Third Place Books, 6504 20th Ave NE, Seattle, WA

Being a Catholic, and a fan of Gaudi’s architecture, the inaccuracy and bias in these stories is blatant and obvious to me.

If that’s how they report on stuff I know something about, why should I trust them on stuff I don’t know anything about? That’s why I’m always looking for accurate sources of information.

By the way, check out the pix of the building itself available at Wikimedia Commons. That’s where I found this one:

For the record, I’m very much of the “Subsidiarity means the right action taken by the right authority as close to the problem as possible” school. I think the “Subsidiarity = smaller government, but bigger private enterprise is okay” school misses the point. The point is, subsidiarity is a principle that guards against any kind of collectivization – public or private – in order to keep the focus of society where it belongs: on actual human beings.

Cutting through to the heart of the question

The profound James Chastek points out that James T. Kirk must have hated Greek drama:

The Greeks loved sticking characters in the midst of problem for which there is no right answer: Antigone must bury her brother and obey the king; Agamemnon must sail and love his daughter; and the fight between Achilles and Agamemnon is like the fight between the head coach and the star quarterback. The circumstances demand action but make every action wrong, or at least very problematic. This applies even to inaction : Achilles is doing something when he sits in his tent and lets his compatriots get slaughtered and pushed back to the ships.

In other words, the Greek playwrights loved exploring the dynamics of a no-win situation. The near-Greek Alexander the Great took matters to a new level by challenging the limits of the test: using a sword to loose the Gordian Knot.

But most of us don’t have the resources of an Alexander or a Kirk. Most of us, like Antigone or Agamemnon, are stuck facing powers greater than ourselves. Those powers don’t have to be gods; they could be banks, or governments, or even bosses.

And these are the kinds of situations that push all our moral buttons. What do I do when faced with an impossible choice? Do I pay my utilities or my mortgage? Do I alienate my best friend or my brother? Do I break the law or break my promise?

What is impossible?

The reason these situations can’t be easily resolved is because we are all limited, finite human beings. We are not all-powerful. We do not have bottomless bank accounts. We can’t be in two places at once. Eventually, we will die.

But I do have a certain power that is unlimited: that is my freedom. I am able to make choices without any restraint or encumbrance. I will always have to face the consequences of my actions, but my decisions are truly and completely my own.

How does this help anything? Freedom allows me to step away from the choice presented to me and ask another question entirely: what is the good that I can do here?

These situations are only impossible because they present every choice as something evil. But evil does not exist in itself: it is nothing but the loss or distortion of some good. And if the question turns to a choice, not between evils, but about the kind of good I can do – then I see what is truly possible, rather than fearing what is impossible.

Outwitting evil

Only two things are necessary to face any “no-win” decision: a clear understanding of what is good, and a clear knowledge of one’s own abilities.

Granted, gaining true clarity about those things could take a lifetime, or longer. But it shows what is important to look for, what the questions need asking and what questions are mere distractions.

Paying the bills with limited resources won’t get done by worrying about which axe will drop first. But it can be solved by overcoming fear and pride, talking to creditors, seeking different ways to gain income.

Maintaining close relationships with people who hate each other can’t happen by tip-toeing around the situation. But whatever is worth keeping in those relationships will remain if I seek love and honesty rather than avoiding hurt feelings.

It’s true, something will be lost or damaged, whatever choice I make. But this is true of all of life, not just the so-called “no-win” situations. But no good can be done by avoiding loss or hurt. The world is full of powers greater than any one of us, or even all of us together. Our goal is not to avoid suffering, but to do whatever good is possible. And because we can see the real good in the world, good made through our own efforts and those of others, we can trust that our work will not be in vain.