HLBenson W.'s Profile

I am not so much a fan of the Washington Post, as I am a fan of some of their columnists. For example, George Will. He shows liberals and conservatives alike how to think honestly and rationally. I only wish there were still more moral and thoughtful men like him. Read his columns here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032402294.html

Ross Douthat is the smart young voice of the American Right. I don't much care for the New York Times, but I will read Ross's column every week. They were smart to hire him. If you're a conservative that wants new ideas, look no further.

I very much enjoyed his book as well: http://www.amazon.com/Grand-New-Party-Republicans-American/dp/0385519435

Bill Buckley is sorely missed, but I still enjoy reading the analysis of the National Review for political news.

If the GOP can't dig up a better candidate than in 2008, I will be voting for Ron Paul in 2012.

This is the future of America. Don't like it? Too bad. It's here. Too long has our government messed up our country. It's time to take it back.

Kai Ryssdal doesn't know what he's talking about - I am proudly a Republican, but yet, I do appreciate some of the programming on <a href="http://npr.org&quot; target="_blank">National Public Radio</a>. It can be a bunch of softball liberal nonsense, but it can also be thoughtful good news radio. <a href="http://marketplace.publicradio.org&quot; target="_blank">Marketplace </a>hosted by <a href="http://marketplace.publicradio.org/about/cast_crew/ryssdal.html&quot; target="_blank">Kai Ryssdal </a>is not one of the good shows. It's meant to be like some consumer business news round-up, but I find it to be painfully pedestrian. I realize these shows are intended for a general audience, and Kai Ryssdal's style is sort of "laid-back-host," but his questions for his guests are terrible - at worst uninformed and at best trite. Other shows for general audiences like Charlie Rose or even super-liberal Fresh Air have much more insightful hosts who ask much better questions.

How to improve Marketplace? Make Kai read more books, or better yet, get a new host.

Karl Rove's very well done website - I realize most of your reading this probably have a strong opinion about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove&quot; target="_blank">Mr. Karl Rove</a>. Whether you admire him or hate him, it is hard to dispute his political genius and the magnitude of his impact on the country over the last eight years. But regardless of your political views, I think Karl Rove's website is worth a look. It's exceptionally well done - complete will all of his recent articles and media appearences. He also has a very nice <a href="http://www.rove.com/election&quot; target="_blank">election map and polling trend line</a>. And for those looking to get to know Karl a bit better, you can always <a href="http://www.rove.com/booking&quot; target="_blank">book an event with him.</a>

If only Maureen Dowd were as articulate as Peggy Noonan - It's hard to think of a clearer and more insightful commentator on the state of US politics than Peggy Noonan. Ms. Noonan is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Noonan&quot; target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Noonan&lt;/a&gt; and excels at leveling criticism at the hypocrisy of both political parties. Ms. Noonan is a moderate conservative but avoids the frivolous partisan bashing that often afflicts many lesser liberal commentators, such as Maureen Dowd.

Ms. Noonan's most recent piece on the Democratic National Convention is excellent
<a href="http://www.peggynoonan.com/article.php?article=425&quot; target="_blank">http://www.peggynoonan.com/article.php?article=425&lt;/a&gt;

If only the Left could produce such an articulate and thoughtful voice....

Read Ms. Noonan's column in the Wall Street Journal here: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/article/declarations.html&quot; target="_blank">http://online.wsj.com/public/article/declarations.html&lt;/a&gt;

Relatively scientific analysis of anti-aging science - Most people who write about anti-aging and longevity pills are a bunch of kooks. The authors of this book, Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman are not quite kooks:

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil&quot; target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil&lt;/a&gt;
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Grossman&quot; target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Grossman&lt;/a&gt;

But they are definitely out there. They believe the confluence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and computing, coupled with a greater understand of oxidative damage, disease and gene expression will begin to increase human life expectancy by greater than one year per year within the next 40 years.

While their rationale being able to achieve such a feat as increasing human life expectancy by greater than one year per year is not completely baseless, their claim of humanity being able to do so within 40 years comes across as arbitrary. I personally believe this may well happen, but it could just as easily take 400 years as 40.

Regardless, if you are interested in the science of life-extension this is one of the more credible books for general consumption. I enjoyed it well enough.

Free Wall Street Journal articles on your Blackberry - You can't read the Wall Street Journal online for free, but now you can read it on your Blackberry for free.

This is much better than any of those frivolous iPhone apps:

<a href="http://69.30.25.12/m/?u=&p=&server=&port=&w=1280&h=1024&plat=Win32&host=wsj.mwap.at&quot; target="_blank">http://69.30.25.12/m/?u=&p=&server=&port=&w=1280&h=1024&plat=Win32&host=wsj.mwap.at&lt;/a&gt;