philosophy

In today's global marketplace of ideas, the idea of "saving the planet" or "going green" are really two similar ideas that find their origins in the environmental movement, a movement based in part on animism - the belief system that not only do humans and animals have souls, but so do all things in nature including rocks, plants, trees, etc. By now you probably realize that I have a bias against environmentalism, "going green", and animistic practices, and you are right because I am a Christian, which is to say that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, the Bible (which was written by men throughout antiquity to teach us about who God is, and his plan of salvation for each individual through Jesus Christ), and the teachings of orthodox Christianity which comport with the teachings contained in the Bible.

Peter Jones grew up hanging out with John Lennon (seriously, listen to him say it in this interview!), wasn't a scholar, but went on to get all kinds of training in theology, philosophy, and culture from a historical perspective.  I think you will really enjoy this interview, even if you're not a Christian:

If you have been wondering why this current American-led financial crisis has been mostly focused on the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the disappearance of any strictly investment focused firms (rather than investment banks) on Wall St., then you need to think about how we deal with housing subsidies in this country. Housing subsidies are great for those of us in the middle and upper classes of earning power because we can afford to purchase a home, and in doing so we not only invest in appreciable assets (home prices have generally been excellent American investment vehicles over the long run) but also gain the mortgage interest tax benefits of owning a home.

There was an interesting link posted today on Slashdot regarding a post that Bruce Shneier recently wrote about a law journal article written by John Tehranian on the everyday copyright infringements we are all guilty of in America. If that seems like a lot of links, just focus on reading the last link which is the original PDF article from John Tehranian. It is full of good stuff.