Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

RIM Blackberry ‘Bold’ 9000

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bbe4I have made no secret over the past several months of my serious disdain for the status quo in the ‘smartphone’ universe. My desires are not especially complicated. I want a phone that is reliable, extensible, usable, compatible with IMAP push email, and has a physical keyboard. There are plenty of nice-to-haves—a decent camera, a stylish design and interface, 3G high-speed Internet access, a physical mute switch, long battery life, and more—but I would gladly sacrifice all of those for a phone that met each and every one of my simple primary desires.

After much comparison shopping and mounting frustration with my previous phone—a Windows Mobile-based AT&T 8525—I settled on the RIM BlackBerry ‘Bold’ 9000 as the phone to serve me for the next 18+ months. BlackBerrys, from Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM), have long been held in high esteem among corporate and government buyers as a mobile email powerhouse. The Bold, however, is aimed squarely at buyers like me: those who like the flash and finish of the iPhone, but want a phone that actually has some power under the gloss. Yes, we like web surfing and media capabilities, but we also want a solid, reliable device that has a full-function personal information manager (PIM) and can be extended without the express approval of the manufacturer or carrier.

The Bold came closest to meeting my requirements, but it did not meet them completely. I didn’t like the ‘BlackBerry Way’ of doing email and had some misgivings about the relatively limited PIM functions, but I went ahead and took the plunge because I could find nothing better. Much to my surprise, after a solid week-and-a-half as a BlackBerry user, I’m finding that I actually like it quite a bit and—dare I say—am completely satisfied with my choice.

Read more . . .

Auto ‘Rescue’ Bill In Peril

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It is becoming tiring to oppose our federal government’s binge of socialist bailouts, but it is a duty all thinking Americans have to our country. We are on a road to a repeat of Roosevelt’s ‘new deal’, a well-intentioned but horribly misguided policy of government economic intervention that prolonged the Great Depression instead of shortening it and saddled us—literally for generations—with unsustainable entitlement programs. Worse, our ever-growing federal government is accumulating more and more power and making toilet paper out of the Constitution.

Republicans in the Senate however, seem poised to oppose the 15 billion dollars ‘rescue’ (i.e., socialist bailout) of the big-three U.S. automakers who have made their bed and should now be expected to lie in it. Perhaps the wayward party of limited government, still stinging from an electoral defeat of their own making, has begun to find its bearings.

Of course, I’m not apt to get my hopes up. Congress seemed to come to its senses once before with regard to socialist bailouts, but then passed the much-derided 700 billion dollar plan that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (R) lied through his teeth to sell. These things change like the wind, and the wind on Capitol Hill seems lately to be blowing decisively away from capitalism, liberty, and limited, republican government.

You should write your congressional representatives and tell them to oppose this boondoggle, but these are (mostly) the same morons who passed the last boondoggle in the face of loud, constant opposition from their constituents so I’m not sure what good it will do.

I weep for the republic.

Update: The House of Representatives has passed a 14 billion dollar bailout for U.S. automakers. It now moves to the Senate for their action (or, preferably, inaction).

Illinois Governor Arrested; Charged With Corruption

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Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) was arrested today and is being charged with various crimes related to widespread political corruption. Blagojevich, who swept to power in part due to frustration with corruption and abuses by former Governor George Ryan (R-IL), is accused of trying to sell or trade the vacant U.S. Senate seat formerly held by President-elect Barack Obama (D) for personal gain. At this time, there is no reason to believe that Obama was aware of these events or has any connection to them whatsoever.

Blagojevich was subject of a month-long probe by law enforcement officials and was recorded on court-ordered wiretaps discussing payment for the Senate seat or even appointing himself to the seat to advance his own political career. “I’m going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain,” he said, adding that the seat is “a valuable thing—you just don’t give it away for nothing.”

Under Federal law, states have the authority to set their own procedures for replacing a U.S. Senator who leaves office during his term. Some states call for a special election, but Illinois—like many states—permits the governor to appoint a new Senator to serve the remainder of an open seat’s term. Obama officially resigned from his seat in the Senate on Nov. 16, less than two weeks after being elected the next President of the United States. Governor Blagojevich still has the authority to appoint the next Senator from his state, but in the event of his resignation, removal from office, or incapacitation before making an appointment the lieutenant governor, Pat Quinn (D-IL), would be responsible for doing so.

Diminishing Freedom

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What is happening to our civil liberties?

We have limits on political donations that prevent us from giving as much as we want to causes we support. We have a right to keep and bear arms that ‘shall not be infringed’ but you have to be granted a permit from the state to bear those arms concealed. We have free speech, so long as the government doesn’t label your speech as ‘hate’ speech. We have a right to be secure in our property, but local governments can take our property and hand it over to private businesses for development of malls or stadiums. We have a right to plot our own financial course, but mommy government will save us from our own mistakes and misjudgments so there’s no real risk (and soon, if this continues, there will be no real reward either).

This country was founded on a doctrine of individual self sufficiency. The founders of this great country recognized that the American people must be free to live their own lives and enjoy their freedoms and, as a result of their own decisions, succeed or fail on their own merits. To make sure we could succeed or fail without undue government molestation, they started with a simple premise: government derives its power from the people alone, and it only has a right to do those things the people specifically allow it to do.

The Constitution lays out the limited powers of government, and specifically explains that any powers it doesn’t give to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people. To be extra clear, the founders spelled out some (but not all) civil liberties that the government would theoretically never be able to trounce: free speech, free press, freedom of religion, the right to keep and bear arms, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, and more.

These values, I fear, are being lost. The federal government does not limit itself to those powers the Constitution granted to it and, more frighteningly, does not protect those particular liberties we are guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. When I see the government abandon its own founding principals and grossly overstep its authority, I fear for the future of our republic and the freedom of our people.

Tyranny comes in many forms, and the slow erosion of our rights is one of the most fearful forms of tyranny I can imagine. By the time most Americans notice they are no longer free—their property no longer secure, their defensive weapons outlawed, their churches closed for daring to preach moral teachings falsely labeled ‘hateful’, and their financial and political freedoms stifled—it will be too late.

Food for thought. . . .

Enjoying That Cheap Gas?

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I hope you’re enjoying the cheap gas (I am!), because it is probably coming to an end. Chakib Khelil, the president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has told the world that the members of his organization have consensus on a significant output cut at their meeting next week. OPEC, of course, is the international cartel that controls the majority of the world’s oil production. Many of its member nations are avowed enemies of the United States, Israel, and civilization in general.

With a decrease in production will come an increase in prices—simple economics—which certainly won’t help our economy or anybody else’s economy. OPEC, however, isn’t the type of organization to care. If they operated within the United States, they’d be shut down for illegal collusion under the Sherman Antitrust Act . . . but as an international cartel, they are not directly subject to our laws. Oil is one of those things that people have to use, and so long as it doesn’t spike too high people will continue to use it just as much as they always have. I have to drive to work the same distance every day whether gas is $1.02/gal or $5.02/gal.

And what are my alternatives? There is not a single practical alternative fuel vehicle available for my purchase. Perhaps, instead of giving 15 billion dollars to the ‘big three’ U.S. auto manufacturers, we should give the same amount of money to Tesla Motors—an electric car manufacturer based in California—so they can complete development and production of lower-priced, more affordable models beyond their slick $100,000 electric roadster.

It seems to me that companies like Tesla are more likely to save American auto manufacturing than G.M., Ford, or Chrysler are . . . and help get us off foreign oil and help us get away from indirectly funding terrorism. If we’re going to spend billions of tax dollars on private businesses, that might be a more prudent way to do it.

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.