The 2nd Amendment provides for an individual right to keep, and carry, weapons. All rights are subject to conditions that minimize the negative effects on other, more basic liberties. The classic example is the notion that one can’t yell “fire!” in a crowded theater; that speech is not protected speech. The abortion battle is a contest between supporters of two very different interpretations of individual rights; whatever side of that fence you fall on, you must understand that someone in that equation will have their rights limited. The question, on guns, is whether a balance can be found that effectively reduces the number of weapons in the hands of the criminal element, while preserving the full diversity of individual gun ownership. Continue reading

And yet still elsewhere, Jon Bon Jovi tore a calf muscle on stage Friday night, performing in his home state of New Jersey. These days, a 48 year old rocker is no big deal, but ripping and tearing is always painful, regardless of age. The sports team owner and philanthropist says the injury will not deter him from completing the current tour. Sure enough, tickets continue to sell and there’s no break in the action. Continue reading

The insurance industry is sure to be a volatile place for the next few years, and most estimates show 30-40 million individuals (out of 170 million employer-covered) being forced into plan changes. I won’t minimize the pain of change, but I will point out that switching insurance providers, changing doctors, and being forced into different drugs do to formulary changes have been a fact of American life for some time now. One of the goals of the law is to give those choices over to the consumer. Like all of the other benefits of the Affordable Care Act, the final answer to that question will not be heard for some time into the future. Continue reading

Engaging in baby talk with one another, and ignoring historical realities will not save us from what will be a continued degradation of our security, prosperity, humanity and dignity; promoting catastrophic damage to the earth and its inhabitants all in the name of Corporatism. We are all benign to the fact that our political system has drifted far to what was once considered the right. There is no more left in the traditional sense. There is no more right as we define it. There is a one party system that is gaining more and more control as we continue to divide ourselves. Continue reading

I hate to break the news to the hackysack crowd, but anthrax cultures and smart bombs are subject to the laws of supply and demand like any other product! It is simply bad business for Balls to have nothing but dirt huts in Afghanistan to blow up! Over there it looks roughly the same after the bomb hits than before! Continue reading

Larissa Riquelme has decided to run naked anyway. Blessed be the girl. The Paraguayan lingerie model has decided that despite her favorite World Cup team taking one in the teeth when those nasty Spaniards beat Paraguay on the way to their first World Cup final ever, she will run naked through the streets of Asuncion as a present to all of the players, and all of the people in Paraguay to enjoy. Continue reading

Consumption has been shoved down our throats since the post WWII baby boom, in fact, my parents — baby boomers — were influenced by this idea that Americans have the inalienable right to consume and spend and work and spend some more. Coming of age during the Reagan Administration of the 1980s, I too was sold this bill of goods and I bought it: I wanted to eat at McDonald’s and buy the newest/latest/greatest toy/video game/Air Jordans, etc… This idea that we could buy ourselves into a higher class strata was furthered by easy availability of credit to everyone of every income level. Continue reading

It’s that most heinous and un-American time of year again: Canada Day! Oh how I rue those wily Canucks with their Socialized Health Care system; their brightly coloured (SP!!) money with a portrait of the Queen; their bastardization of Football; their pronunciation of about (it’s: AH-BOW-T damn it! Not A-BOOT!) and most of all, I rue their bi-lingual impositions for the sake of those dastardly Quebecois (hey dummies; you’re not in France anymore)!! Continue reading

Modern Media Manipulation - Digital Propaganda My new article on The Todd Blog Blurb: The corporate media mindset has spread to the internet, infecting many whose intentions are indeed humanistic though wholly self-defeating within a broader context of manufactured conflict within a very narrow intellectual perspective of the world at... Continue reading

The end of the left. The end of the right. "When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a... Continue reading

Happy Happy Joy Joy. Happy Happy Joy Joy Whenever there are questions not to be found in books or through rational observation, cartoons will always give one the answer they seek. Continue reading

Can it be done? Well, Paul English is going to give it a shot. I signed up for the Google group and got a deluge of e-mail from persons interested in volunteering, from marketing people to tecchies to non-profit types. So much mail came through that I finally switched it... Continue reading

Impending Cognitive Dissonance for the Tea-Baggers?. Ah yes, the tea party. Why would reality stand in the way of their rhetoric? Continue reading

Dear Arlen Specter: SHUT UP!. Arlen Specter is a super great guy and my bfff. He needs your support--don't let him down! Continue reading

Teva: the death of quality generics?. Teva pharmaceuticals has been buying up almost all of the large generic drug manufactures and has largely been ignoring quality control, resulting in potentially dangerous reactions to the medications people rely on for many different conditions. Where is the FDA to do their job?... Continue reading

Net Neutrality: Did the FCC actually stand up for consumers?. Net Neutrality: Did the FCC actually stand up for consumers? Help the FCC stop powerful corporations from dictating the information we can access on the internet. Continue reading

Please read my latest article on the brand new and self-owned and administered: The Todd Blog The Prison Industrial Complex: Slavery for the 21st Century. The Prison Industrial Complex: Slavery for the 21st Century Continue reading

My new Site is up!!!!! Posted using ShareThis Continue reading

Important Things. Posted using ShareThis Continue reading

Well, it’s official now. I just purchased hosting for the new The Todd Blog website, to be found conveniently enough at TheToddBlog.com–if you go there right now, you won’t find much. I’m thinking it will take a couple weeks to get things set up the way I want them. I... Continue reading

New Beginnings Posted using ShareThis Continue reading

Google: Good Guys or Bad Guys? My Personal Experience Posted using ShareThis Continue reading

Re-kindling my artistic side--and turning into a capitalist(-; Posted using ShareThis Continue reading

The Bickering Left: Why are we Intent on Self-Marginalizing? Posted using ShareThis Continue reading