Posts (page 2)

Negative Campaigning

Here's an article about Obama and negative campaigning.


I hope he sticks to his principles on this.  And if he loses because of that, because the people respond best to negative campaigning, then we get exactly the government we deserve.  At least in that case we had a choice.

Meanwhile, here's one of the more solid analysis of the two democratic hopefuls that I've seen.

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I guess I'm strange

I love dogs and puppies, really I do.  I don't like to see them hurt.  But when I came across this story about a soldier tossing a puppy off a cliff, the first thing I thought was how overblown the reaction was.


I'm not saying it isn't awful.  It is awful.  But anyone who thinks that is the most unjust thing that a US military person has done recently is really not paying attention.  Can we get as collectively outraged about all the other horrors as we do about the puppy killing?

Of course, the last line of the first article nicely explains that the atrocities of war are okay, because... they're part of war.  Makes sense.  I would add to that that tossing puppies over cliffs is okay because... it's part of tossing puppies over cliffs.

Hey: the guys on American Idol are pretty good this year!

Post a comment Tags: war, puppies, american idol

Meat

I love meat.  Steak.  Chicken.  Pork.  Lamb.  Seafood.  Love it all.  Though I tried being a vegetarian a few times for various reasons, I couldn't stick to it.  A meal without meat is barely a meal.  So the following situation benefits me:



But even so, that just seems ridiculous.  Let the costs be reflected in the price.

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Intellectualism

In regard to my previous post about intellectualism, I got some feedback that implied I was coming across a bit full of myself.  I think it's worth pointing out that in context with the linked article, the bar for "intellectualism" is not set very high.  For example:


  "more than three years into the Iraq war, only 23 percent of those with some college could locate Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a map."

or knowing that the following statement is inaccurate:

  "[Perl Harbor] was when the Vietnamese dropped bombs in a harbor, and it started the Vietnam War"

Also, Europe is not a country.

So when I say I consider myself and most friends "intellectual", it's not exactly an elite group of geniuses.

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Economics

I don't claim to know jack shit about economics.  But check this out:



So I'm just going to make what I think is a sound logical connection here and say that essentially, in his opinion, government spending is good.  It doesn't matter what you're getting for your money: if the government buys equipment and people are working on stuff for the government, that should bolster the economy.  You can just go and burn the equipment, or blow up the stuff that is produced -- as long as money is flowing from the government to US business, we're good.

I actually like that belief.  If true, it would be a wonderful boon for our economy to just dump trillions into national healthcare.  Put an MRI on every corner, I say.  Or how about free Ferraris for everyone?  You could spend it on infrastructure, education, or Pokemon.  It just doesn't matter as long as we keep spending.

Somehow I think there's a flaw in this idea, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

And this passes for Republican these days?  

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Using Your Head

I don't think it's quite as bleak as this article implies, but it is kind of absurd and funny.  And to the degree that people actually disdain intellectualism, it's kind of sad.


I think that society functions quite well with a wide strata of intellectualism.  I think intellectuals are critical for the higher functioning of society, but non-intellectuals are critical for the lower functioning of society.  I don't intend the judgement implied by using the terms "higher" and "lower" -- in any case, they seem complimentary.

That's not to say that we shouldn't try to improve our education, or that more people caring would be a bad thing.  And certainly anyone who has the desire to learn should have the opportunity.  But I know that if everyone was like me and my intellectual friends, a lot of important shit wouldn't get done :)

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Around We Go

Congress votes to outlaw waterboarding and other physical interrogation methods (i.e. torture).  However our fine leader has vowed to veto it.  Sigh.

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Yay!

Looks like our waterboarding questions are all cleared up!


I hope everyone realizes that this statement essentially gives terrorists the justification to waterboard our military personnel.  Hard to bring together a war crimes trial for things you have declared legal.  I mean, personally, I think that's pretty fucked up.  But it's A-OK with our leaders.

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A respectful end

An interesting article about doctor assisted suicide.


I'm in favor.

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Thursday after Super Tuesday

So half the votes are in!  Ron is obviously getting hammered: he's doing far, far better than I expected when I started supporting him, but he's not doing quite as well as I might have dared to hope.  I was looking for at least one state win.  He took a fairly impressive 25% in Montana for second place, but got trounced.  It's interesting to see the breakdown of primary states vs. caucus states.  I suppose that means that his supporters are very active but not very common.


It's all good.  I just hope that a few more people heard him speak in the last debate.  I just really appreciate there being someone on stage to question the way we handle foreign policy and the economy.  Even if nobody agrees, at least they are confronted with the ideas.  Maybe a handful of people were made to think.

On the Democrats side I thought Obama was going to come out a more clear victor.  I really believe he's the only one who could beat McCain in a general election.  I know a couple registered Republicans who say they would vote for Obama over McCain, but McCain over Hillary.  Whether that is a general sentiment, I don't know... but it seems it might be.

I'm going to update my politics page with some good new videos I found.

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