In light of all the problems the postal service is having, and the fact they may need to drastically scale back service to "stay in business", does it really make sense that we remain all mail in our voting?
Bring back the polling booths.
]]>Nonetheless the Seattle Times was not done with the smear. Bright and early the following morning Joni Balter posted Turn down the hate speech in reaction to the shooting. "Sarah Palin is toast," Joni crowed. The next day the Times ran a similar column from EJ Dionne Jr. entitled "Drain the rhetorical swamp." The onslaught continued for about a week, with op-eds, letters, concocted 'news stories' etc. The TImes got in a few gratuitous swipes over the gun control angle as well, but was mostly focused on 'hate speech.'
Now contrast this to the reaction to Jimmy Hoffa's exhortation on Labor Day to "take these son [sic] of bitches out." Zip, zero, nada. In fact a google of 'Seattle Times+Hoffa' gives as the second result a story about a shotputter named Reese Hoffa. The first result is a 2 sentence, 36 word story about Hoffa's visit to Puyallup on Friday. No mention of Hoffa's angry rhetoric. No 'Et Cetera' blog posting by Balter-dash, no syndicated op-eds, no concocted 'news stories.' Zilch.
And this is from a paper that has a reputation of being anti-union. But much like 'blood is thicker than water,' it appears that a shared antipathy towards tea partiers trumps any disagreement over labor issues.
]]>Nonetheless the Seattle Times was not done with the smear. Bright and early the following morning Joni Balter posted Turn down the hate speech in reaction to the shooting. "Sarah Palin is toast," Joni crowed. The next day the Times ran a similar column from EJ Dionne Jr. entitled "Drain the rhetorical swamp." The onslaught continued for about a week, with op-eds, letters, concocted 'news stories' etc. The TImes got in a few gratuitous swipes over the gun control angle as well, but was mostly focused on 'hate speech.'
Now contrast this to the reaction to Jimmy Hoffa's exhortation on Labor Day to "take these son [sic] of bitches out." Zip, zero, nada. In fact a google of 'Seattle Times+Hoffa' gives as the second result a story about a shotputter named Reese Hoffa. The first result is a 2 sentence, 36 word story about Hoffa's visit to Puyallup on Friday. No mention of Hoffa's angry rhetoric. No 'Et Cetera' blog posting by Balter-dash, no syndicated op-eds, no concocted 'news stories.' Zilch.
And this is from a paper that has a reputation of being anti-union. But much like 'blood is thicker than water,' it appears that a shared antipathy towards tea partiers trumps any disagreement over labor issues.
]]>I felt compelled to say something and here is the text of a comment I wrote in the Washington Post.
The problem I have with this legislation if the change from First to Invent to First to Patent. This is offered as a "cost savings" measure....but isn't everything? What this is says is that the actual process of invention and the creator of inventions is completely detached from the US Patent Process. That is a very, very dangerous thing. That means that the Patent process can now be used by those with the means to "run the tables" to grab up any and all materials ever published or ideas spoken and claimed, before the actual creative person gets to. Even more chilling is that it closes out any recourse to that person to make a claim. It's as if I said, on Jan 1, 2012, I am creating a new Real Estate system. If you don't file a form to claim your house, then I can file for $10,000 and own it. So, no doubt, the Biggies will be scouring the Internet and doing the usual claim to own everything.
This legislation is completely at variance with the intent and will of the patent process espoused in the Constitution, which was simply to allow creative Americans a period of time to bring their ideas to market. There is no reason to stray or change that intent. I am deeply disappointed that this legislation was rammed through especially during a time of confusion this week and by so many "conservative" members of Congress. Do any of them realize what they've created?
Our last hope is that the President might actually read this egregious bill and veto it. I would hope that a sane Supreme Court would strike it down for the absolute injustice that it is.
Perry's penchant for corporate welfare/crony capitalism hasn't gotten much attention yet, but has been covered by Tim Carney, who wrote a book on the general topic about 5 years ago (The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money). Tim Carney has done several recent columns on Rick Perry, and it's not a pretty picture. One can be found here.
Carney writes " Judging by his record in Texas, Perrynomics might just be low-tax Obamanomics." Yeee-ouch...a low blow? Maybe not. Most conservatives think of the 'green jobs' scam as just that--a scam. Not Rick Perry:
From the above-linked Carney piece:
Perry also loves green corporate welfare. Perry was a featured speaker at the national wind lobby's 2008 conference, where he touted his 2005 law requiring Texans to purchase wind and solar energy -- all in the name of "job creation" and business growth.
I'm not sure yet whether the corporate welfare issue is enough to derail the Perry Express, given his other conservative credentials. I was happy to see him get in the race. But it's something that must be hashed out in the coming months. The last thing we need is a repeat of 2000-2006 when Republicans took over DC, only to out-Democrat the Democrats in spending, power-brokering, etc.
Because of the failures of Obama, Republicans now have a chance to redeem themselves. But it comes at a time when, as Palin says, the nation may be nearing a 'tipping point.' The GOP has got to get it right this time.
]]>Register for FREE Hillsdale Constitution web cast.
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]]>When I asked him if I could send it on by email and post it here, he asked only that I
"Send a copy to Jay Leno with the following joke I wrote for him:
"So, Obama was really banking on his response to Hurricane Irene to boost his poll numbers. Unfortunately, thanks to the National Weather Service, he's instead faced with another downgrade."
I have difficulty understanding the mindset that is so closed, so without experience and understanding of the give and take concept of CONVERSATION. Because that is exactly what posting and commenting here, or anywhere is - a conversation.
Blogs are like a gathering: a cocktail party, a dinner gathering, a barbeque. The hosts, Jim, Stefen, Warren, Tim, Pudge, Mark invite folks in and help get the conversations going with subjects that interest them and encourage others, their guests, to discuss them.
Conversations aren't static: they evolve, they grow, they branch to other subjects, especially when the group at the party has a wide assortment of people all whom have their own bias, opinions and experiences. It's that growth that makes the conversations interesting. It's that evolving that sparks new thoughts and ideas. It is especially the hope of new thoughts and ideas that is the genesis of brainstorming in the workplace, to bring new and better ideas, innovations and products into our lives.
I was in talking with a friend today about replacing hardwood floors: what wood to choose, which was the best way to finish the floor, how to find a reputable contractor. That led to discussing the housing downturn, the fear of over-investing in a property that's likely to lose value, the utter Obama economic failure, the fear that America is too foolish to give him the boot and right back around to the floors. In other words, a conversation.
What a boring cocktail party, dinner gathering and barbeque it would be if the host -or a guest- demanded everyone say on THAT subject, never to add anything, never to deviate. How deadly dull our lives would be, how stifled innovation would be and how much our world would be doing without.
I read a quote in a book once about a one sided conversation, that it was like playing catch with a brick wall. The wall never, ever throws back.
To those who demand no deviation, I suggest you get out more. Learn the give and take of conversation. Stop being brick walls.
This all goes back to a commisioned study that was conducted by a consulting company called The Schapiro group, which "advertises services ranging from customer satisfaction surveys to voter persuasion calls."
The study produced alarming numbers on underage prostitution, but unfortunately was not just bogus, it was amateurishly so. It was conducted by having people look at photos in on-line escort ads and guessing ages. A writer named Nick Pinto put together a critique for the Village Voice that slashed the study to ribbons.
Aside from the fact that the photos in the ads are often fake, the study's methods were bizarre. They claimed to have come up with a magic constant number, namely "any given 'young' looking girl who is selling sex has a 38 percent likelihood of being under age 18."
An Arizona State University professor reviewed the study, and remarked:
""This is a logical fallacy," says Steve Doig, the Knight Chair in Journalism at Arizona State University, who reviewed the study at our request. "Consider this analogy: Imagine that 100 people were shown pictures of various automobiles and asked to identify the make, and that 38 percent of the time people misidentified Fords as Chevrolets. Using the Schapiro logic, this would mean that 38 percent of Fords on the street actually are Chevys."."
Actually I'm not sure this analogy is quite right. But that's only because, according to Pinto, the study authors could not remember how they came up with the figure of 38.
When we asked Schapiro and Rusty Parker, the leader of the classifieds study, to fill in some of the missing pieces in their methodology, they had a hard time coming up with straight answers. In fact, Parker couldn't remember key information about how he constructed the study. When asked where he got the sample pictures used to calibrate the all-important 38 percent error rate, he wasn't sure.
"It was a while back," he says. "I forget exactly where we got them from."
Parker was equally fuzzy on how the researchers knew the ages of the people pictured in the control group.
"Um...I'm afraid I do not remember," he says
It's all a jumble. Nonetheless, the activist who was responsible for commisioning the study said that they used the study to convince legislators to fork over between $1.3 and $1.6 million in funding to further their efforts.
So why is McGinn still pressing on? In the first place, few people are going to pay attention to the details of the study. All they're going to hear is a 15 second sound bite on the 11PM news about McGinn's heroic fight against child prostitution.
Secondly, I would guess that it's a distraction ploy for McGinn. So much of the language in the crusade against prostitution reminds me of the gun control debate in the 90's which I followed pretty closely. I always wondered what the motives of some of the players were. Why, for example, was then-Congressman Rod Blagojevich so ardently anti-gun. Blago was a leader in the failed effort to get .50 caliber rifles banned, even though no Chicago criminal had ever used, or probably ever thought of using, one of the massive .50 cal rifles with mule-like kick. Later when Blago was busted by the FBI, I said to myself: "aha, it was a misdirection ploy." I don't mean to suggest that McGinn is as corrupt as Blago, but he does have plenty of issues that he would like to see displaced.
If McGinn really wanted to address the problem of underage prostitution, there's a fairly simple answer: legalize and regulate prostitution, similar to what has been done with strip clubs. It's virtually unheard of to find minors working in strip clubs. The strippers have to present ID when hired, and even if one has a fake ID, the clubs have every incentive to keep minors out. But so far McGinn shows zero interest in such a solution. After all, if he actually solved the problem, he would no longer have it as a distraction.
This is yet another example of how the liberal mind is prone to magical thinking. I've heard that crows, once shot at, will flee any humans carrying an implement with the form-factor of a rifle, whether it's a rake, broom, 2x4, or actual rifle. I guess it's the same with liberals and Texas governors.
And it's another example of liberals propensity to stereotype, the sure sign of a weak mind. They think all rural people are dumb (especially those from Alaska); all blacks are unable to fend for themselves without extensive government help; most of all, all Texas governors are equivalent.
]]>Go ahead..... Click below and have some fun!
Intercollegiate Studies Institute - Educating for Liberty
Yes, I am quite proud of myself: "You answered 29 out of 33 correctly -- 87.88 %"
The four I missed were one on fiscal policy, one on free markets, one on the Lincoln/Douglas debate and one on philosophers.
Tell us how YOU do ... and know you have to face yourself in the mirror if you inflate your grade!
Good grief. When you're done, look at the TABLE comparing citizens and politicians. The citizens outperform the pols on all but 4 questions - no wonder this country is in trouble!
Tyranny starts at the local local level
Think about this: discussing city business at your dinner table without council approval would be against the law, if this city council got its way. That is, you either get permission from Miss Sonja, or you face the wrath of the functionaries Miss Sonja sends after you.]]>
Ignore the video title: it's about so much more than being 'A Regretful Obama Voter'.
Please watch it and pass it on.
"My vote equals my freedom in this country. It's all I have. My vote has value, but I can only feel a connection to my sense of freedom when I feel like I can freely become an informed voter. And our media makes becoming an informed voter a full time job in this county. When you stifle my ability to be informed you stifle my sense of freedom."
"I should never have trusted either of you the way that way that I did but you have both messed with my sense of freedom and I don't sit back and play victim."