Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

North Korean Brinkmanship

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While there is unrest in a number of ‘hot spots’ throughout the world, the recent activity in North Korea—including a nuclear test and missile launches—is the most troubling. The pieces are falling into place for the reclusive, totalitarian North Korean government to pose a serious threat to the region, the United States, and the world.

Hot on the tails of the North Korean nuclear test at the end of last month, and the declaration that North Korea would no longer be bound by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, there’s more sabre-rattling going on. There are two stories related to North Korea that I am following very closely, as either may end up leading to war depending on how things are played by North Korea and our own government.

First, the USS John McCain—a U.S. Navy destroyer—is tracking a North Korean ship suspected of violating the terms of a sanctions-tightening U.N. Security Council resolution passed on Friday. North Korea has declared that the interception and boarding of its ships will be considered an act of war that would provoke retaliation. It is unclear at this point whether the ship will be intercepted.

Separately, North Korea is said to be preparing a new missile test which will possibly be launched in the direction of Hawaii on-or-around July 4. The U.S. military has stepped up our missile defense systems for Hawaii, but—cue the broken record—North Korea declares that any interception of its missile tests will be treated as an act of war. Of course, if a North Korean missile enters U.S. sovereign territory then North Korea will have already committed an act of war on their own.

Let’s hope and pray that these two incidents-in-the-making fizzle quietly, rather than escalating into a full-blown military conflict.

Straw Star

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strawstarI’m on the verge of catching a cold, I’m afraid, so in an effort to keep it at-bay I’m taking in a lot of vitamin C and green tea. Thankfully I’m not a Zicam user; I always found that stuff a bit suspicious and now the FDA has joined in my suspicion.

Yesterday afternoon, when I went to make a vat of green tea for the remainder of my day, I found the coffee straws in a bizarre, vaguely star-shaped jumble. For some reason, I found it very funny and chuckled about it for a while.

Isn’t it great how the dumbest little things can bring light into your day? I tend to be a fairly serious person and, as such, I can get a bit depressed as I follow world events, observe the moral degradation of society, fight with companies to provide appropriate levels of service, etc. I’m glad I can still laugh at straw stars.

The Redefinition of Love and Compassion

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I read an interesting article the other day by Jennifer Hartline for Catholic Online that pointed out that the word ‘compassion’ is often misused by Christians, particularly in discussion of contentious moral issues. I would go a bit further and say that the word ‘love’ is misused as well.

Consider, for a moment, a road-rager. He zips across lanes, tailgates, cuts people off, gestures, and so on as he drives on your local freeways. The road-rager, however, is a fine man—he has a wife and children, a respectable job, and volunteers at his local soup kitchen. Let’s say you live in the same neighborhood as this man, but don’t know him personally. In conversation with a mutual friend, you ask if he knows who the ‘guy in the black BMW’ is . . . you know, the one who tears around the neighborhood like a maniac and creates a dangerous situation on the highways. We should report him to the police, you say.

But the mutual neighbor, instead of agreeing with you, scolds you! The guy in the BMW is a good man, after all, and you then get a thirty-minute lecture on being more loving and compassionate toward your neighbor.

Read more . . .

Largest Ideological Group: Conservatives

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Despite all the blathering in the media about the death of ‘conservatism’ (especially in light of recent major gains by liberal politicians), a recent Gallup poll finds that the single largest ideological group between liberals, conservatives, and moderates is—surprise—conservatives. I have said a number of times that the population of the United States averages ‘center-right’, and the Gallup poll perfectly reflects this. According to Gallup, 9 percent are ‘very conservative’, 31 percent are ‘conservative’, 35 percent are ‘moderate’, 16 percent are ‘liberal’, and 5 percent are ‘very liberal’.

The fringes, left and right combined, account for only 14 percent of the population. Center-left (half of the moderates and the ‘liberals’) account for 33.5 percent of the population, while center-right (half of the moderates and the ‘conservatives’) account for 48.5 percent.

It’s easy to dismiss the ideals of conservatism—limited government, fiscal conservatism, traditional values, etc.—because of the trouncing of Republicans in the 2008 elections, but to do so would be to mis-read the situation. Yes, Republicans were slaughtered in the election across the board. But Republicans, under President George W. Bush, have hardly been acting like conservatives lately. Government spending grew under Bush. The country ran huge deficits under Bush. There was little movement in support of traditional values under Bush. The list goes on.

Read more . . .

The ‘Do Not Call’ Loophole

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loophole-callOne of the few good things our federal government has done for us in the realm of domestic policy in the last, oh, fifty years or so was the establishment of the National Do Not Call Registry. This registry allows you to declare your desire to not receive annoying telemarketing phone calls, and the nation’s telemarketers are required to comply (lest they be levied significant fines).

There are a couple of loop-holes. Politicians and non-profits can still bother you, for example, as can companies with which you have an ‘existing business relationship’ (whatever that means). But in my experience, I used to get tons of telemarketing calls on my cell phone (even though it was always illegal for them to call cell phones), and those calls have all-but-stopped since I signed up for the ‘do not call’ registry.

There’s one festering loop hole that I’ve run into a couple of times though. Companies can apparently call you with-impunity from Canada. For example, 204-975-3301—a Manitoba number—has called me thrice in the last week. I don’t answer numbers I don’t recognize, and they haven’t left messages, but a quick Google search reveals that lots of people get annoying, repetitive calls from these people.

Canada does have a ‘do not call’ registry, but it won’t accept U.S. numbers. I can file complaints with the appropriate U.S. and Canadian authorities, but I doubt it’ll do any good. A company in Manitoba is not subject to U.S. law, and what does the Canadian government care if a few people in the U.S. are being annoyed by one of their businesses?

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.