Let's talk about government
Government should do things like build roads. You might think it also should support Head Start, PBS, national parks, Meals on Wheels, Pell grants to help poor high school graduates, Alzheimer's research, solar power experiments, subsidies for high-speed rail, drug safety etc. Do you know what percentage we spend on these things? Today it is 4% and in ten years CBO says it will drop to 2.7%.
» Continue reading "Let's talk about government"...When killing yourself makes sense
I think that most people fear death less than dying. And few people want to hang around severely handicapped or senile. One of my own fears is that the forestry enterprise I have built will be dissipated in caring for us in our old age. Better to die with your boots on than survive as a burden to everyone around you. And perhaps it makes sense to take active measures to hasten the inevitable.
» Continue reading "When killing yourself makes sense"...House Republicans Bucking Party Hierarchy
Immigration is the key issue on Capitol Hill right now and Senators and Representatives alike are heavily mired in the details of the legislation. While many on cable news and elsewhere are focusing on the scandals of the AP, IRS, and other notable problems of the current Administration, Congress is making plans for new immigration measures. In both the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats are debating on what to do next and much infighting is enveloping at least one of the parties in question. Republicans in the House are bucking the leadership of John Boehner (R-OH) and challenging his assertions on immigration.
» Continue reading "House Republicans Bucking Party Hierarchy"...Red Line Crossed: Now What?
The Obama Administration is facing an issue of over promising action in Syria with recent revelations out of the country. The Administration admitted this week that they had conclusive evidence that the Syrian President Bashar Asaad has used chemical weapons on his own citizenry. President Obama promised that there would be action if the proverbial red line was crossed and there was more than just speculation. Now that the admission has been made, the President is now facing a tough choice.
» Continue reading "Red Line Crossed: Now What?"...Automatic Weapons and Taxes: the IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has taken on new roles and connotations in American politics and political life. The once thought of tax agency is suddenly making headlines as an overreaching arm of the government. By now, the (alleged) claims that the IRS took unfair investigations into the behavior of conservative political groups and those with right leaning tendencies is known. New allegations, however, have arisen recently into just how powerful this agency is and how much fire power they may have backing them.
» Continue reading "Automatic Weapons and Taxes: the IRS"...Security or Liberty... you can't have both.
It is truly a sad state of affairs when 56% of the US population thinks that Government is right to spy and store data on all our communications (without our knowledge or consent) in a now-stated effort to prevent terrorism. The problem is this thing called the Constitution.
Help! I am not partisan enough
I have never been good at partisan attack. I am a better defender. During the Bush time, I defended my president and my country against what I felt were misguided attacks and lack of patriotism and I could be passionate. In all fairness, while I don't support Obama politically I believe that some of the attacks made on him are also misguided. I don't believe, for example, that the NSA and Libya are truly things we can legitimately lay at the president's feet, so I cannot write about them as you might want. The IRS scandal is horrible, but we need to wait for more information to make a judgement. I need somebody else to write on the Red Column.
» Continue reading "Help! I am not partisan enough"...You are consistent thing in all your bad relationships
Demanding people accept you all the time just makes you an asshole. A better course is to try to figure out how you can be pleasant or useful and invite people to accept you for those reasons. You really cannot expect people to like you when you get in their faces with your "personality." I hate unpleasant people like that and I try to avoid them.
» Continue reading "You are consistent thing in all your bad relationships"...The menace of getting too much for free
Most of us are willing to do things we like to do for little or no money. The payoff may be simple recognition. Passionate amateurs have made many great discoveries. Crowdsourcing is allowing us to tap into even wider expertise. Isn't great if people are willing to contribute their time to great endeavors such as Wikipedia or the search for intelligent life or any of the many other collective projects? Maybe not.
» Continue reading "The menace of getting too much for free"...What does racism mean
I know that lots of academics and activists make lots of money defining racism in new and complicated ways, but it really is just this simple. If you judge people by inborn characteristics, you are being racist. If you judge by behavior, you are not.
» Continue reading "What does racism mean"...Obama data mining Verison - good
It was the right thing to do when Bush did it and it is the right thing to do when Obama is doing it. Data mining shows trends. It threatens nobody, except maybe terrorists trying to harm our country. "Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats," said an Obama Administration official. He is right.
» Continue reading "Obama data mining Verison - good"...Obama's honesty
Most Americans have doubts about the Obama Administration's honesty but still don't hold the president personally responsible, according to a new WSJ/NBC poll. Obama's personal popularity remains about the same: just under half of the people approve of him personally. He is about where Bush was at this time in his presidency. There has been not much change among partisans, but Obama's support among independents has slipped seriously. The irony is that Obama remains above the fray party because people assume he just doesn't know what is going on. Or as Bill Clinton said, "Obama doesn't know how to be president"
» Continue reading "Obama's honesty"...Republicans Reiterate to Holder: Perjury Is a Crime
Attorney General Eric Holder is in a long line of Obama Administration Officials and appointees that currently have to deal with scandals. The leader of the most powerful law enforcement arm of the Federal Government has been accused by many in the Republican Party and in the public of acts of sheer stupidity. Though not a "convictable" offense alone, this lack of oversight and failure in judgment pertaining to his overt scrutiny of the media has led to an even bigger accusation: perjury.
» Continue reading "Republicans Reiterate to Holder: Perjury Is a Crime"...Green infrastructure
Nature provides lots of valuable services. Unfortunately, it is often hard to value them and even harder to figure out how to pay for them. Most of us have come to believe that things like water & air are free and/or belong to nobody. That attitude is what gets us in trouble. Things that are free or belong to nobody get wasted and ruined everybody. We need to think more systemically.
» Continue reading "Green infrastructure"...The future belongs to liberals
Many liberals gave up the term and preferred to be called progressives, since the word liberal became somewhat pejorative. Of course, the reason it had become pejorative is that many of these same people had soiled it. If a term accurately describes folks like them, it is bound to become pejorative. But they were not wrong to want to change their status. We should probably bring liberalism back to some of its original meanings and let progressives have the new permutations.
» Continue reading "The future belongs to liberals"...
