Thursday, August 16, 2012
Romney Presidency? Chaos.
Eric Alterman has done his homework giving us a pretty clear, if nightmarish picture of what a Romney presidency would be like. The article is well worth your time, especially if you need facts to backup your anti Romney/Ryan arguments.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
VPs
I don't think it will come to this, but if it looks like Obama is going to lose Biden will go away and Hillary will be the VP candidate.
If I was Romney I would have picked Gary Sinise for the Republican VP run.
If I was Romney I would have picked Gary Sinise for the Republican VP run.
Nice night
Here in the northeastern edge of Appalachia it is a terrific evening. Cicadas, and after the thunder storms a wind shift to the lovely Northwest brings lower humidity and cool dry air. My three big dogs are sprawled around my chair, wife asleep on the couch, baseball on TV. Just right.
Ryan: Fraud? Crackpot? Both?
The Dweeb Team
Gawker has the goods on Ryan.
I think he was a rudderless dweeby, goody goody boy until he came across Ayn Rand and swallowed it as if it had been delivered to him via the second coming. Armed with Rand's nasty edged goofiness, Ryan the crackpot was launched.
When things are difficult and the problems complex there is always certain percentage of people who are especially vulnerable to those who espouse simple minded solutions. These distortions often are described as "common sense" which has no meaning at all but somehow empowers the most ignorant into equating simplicity with wisdom.
That's what we have here, Ryan's crackpot solutions to over simplified, fictional problems.
Ryan's fraud comes from his distortion of his past, his padded resume', his lack of private sector experience, his wealth derived from government sources, and his entire career as a government paid bureaucrat.
He's a fraud and a crackpot.
Gawker has the goods on Ryan.
I think he was a rudderless dweeby, goody goody boy until he came across Ayn Rand and swallowed it as if it had been delivered to him via the second coming. Armed with Rand's nasty edged goofiness, Ryan the crackpot was launched.
When things are difficult and the problems complex there is always certain percentage of people who are especially vulnerable to those who espouse simple minded solutions. These distortions often are described as "common sense" which has no meaning at all but somehow empowers the most ignorant into equating simplicity with wisdom.
That's what we have here, Ryan's crackpot solutions to over simplified, fictional problems.
Ryan's fraud comes from his distortion of his past, his padded resume', his lack of private sector experience, his wealth derived from government sources, and his entire career as a government paid bureaucrat.
He's a fraud and a crackpot.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Hunting
Thanks partly to rules here in Pennsylvania that protect "game" and leave predators exposed to open seasons we have exploded deer populations. It is a cinch for any hunter to kill
one or two and happy, successful hunters mean more gun, gear and license sales. In the off season hunters can shoot coyotes. It's all very popular and is a large industry connected to many dependent industries.
However, the sport of hunting in the greater metropolitan area, where I live, and anywhere else for that matter, depends on suspension of any sense of reality. Hunters pretend they are in wilderness practicing the same skills as those of our mythical forefathers and facing the same challenges. It is good for them to do this, they say, because it builds character and nurtures respect for nature and, for the same reasons, good for their children to be trained to shoot animals also. What hunters need to repress is the obvious reality that there is no wilderness, not anywhere, and they are hunting in managed parks, backyards, and "game lands," a kind of primitive holodeck and the hunt is a make believe adventure not so far removed from an evening of TV.
It is all make believe and like lotteries, fashion, car brands, wrist watches and the rest, exists to take our money by getting us hooked on the mental highways to fantasies that decorate the dullness of ordinary lives, keep us from doing real things, and help us avoid thoughts of over population, global warming and our own inevitable, though rarely acknowledged, death.
However, the sport of hunting in the greater metropolitan area, where I live, and anywhere else for that matter, depends on suspension of any sense of reality. Hunters pretend they are in wilderness practicing the same skills as those of our mythical forefathers and facing the same challenges. It is good for them to do this, they say, because it builds character and nurtures respect for nature and, for the same reasons, good for their children to be trained to shoot animals also. What hunters need to repress is the obvious reality that there is no wilderness, not anywhere, and they are hunting in managed parks, backyards, and "game lands," a kind of primitive holodeck and the hunt is a make believe adventure not so far removed from an evening of TV.
It is all make believe and like lotteries, fashion, car brands, wrist watches and the rest, exists to take our money by getting us hooked on the mental highways to fantasies that decorate the dullness of ordinary lives, keep us from doing real things, and help us avoid thoughts of over population, global warming and our own inevitable, though rarely acknowledged, death.
Big government
How do you address global warming, job shortages, pandemics, over population, without big government?
I don't get what is supposed to happen to poor, sick, and/or disabled people without a social safety net that takes care of the basics. Do we leave them to die in the street?
The days when simple self reliance was enough are long gone, along with wilderness and wide open spaces. There are not enough jobs, not enough even for the most qualified and motivated and there never will be in our lifetime and it is foolish to assume that any single unfortunate is so because of some personal failure. Such assumption should certainly not be a foundation for social policy or political principle.
All our lives are entwined and much of what happens anywhere on the planet affects the whole. That is how it is and without governments that learn to consider the whole in every act and policy we are left in chaos.
I don't get what is supposed to happen to poor, sick, and/or disabled people without a social safety net that takes care of the basics. Do we leave them to die in the street?
The days when simple self reliance was enough are long gone, along with wilderness and wide open spaces. There are not enough jobs, not enough even for the most qualified and motivated and there never will be in our lifetime and it is foolish to assume that any single unfortunate is so because of some personal failure. Such assumption should certainly not be a foundation for social policy or political principle.
All our lives are entwined and much of what happens anywhere on the planet affects the whole. That is how it is and without governments that learn to consider the whole in every act and policy we are left in chaos.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Paul Ryan is bad for most of us
Here's how Paul Ryan will screw you.
That is if given the chance. Curious how an average dork can read a novel, take it as gospel to govern by, and end up being called the leading Republican intellectual. He's either a dope or has taken Rand's fairy tale to heart and is cynically using politics to con billionaires into moving cash from their to his accounts.
And take a look at this showing Ryan at his best.
That is if given the chance. Curious how an average dork can read a novel, take it as gospel to govern by, and end up being called the leading Republican intellectual. He's either a dope or has taken Rand's fairy tale to heart and is cynically using politics to con billionaires into moving cash from their to his accounts.
And take a look at this showing Ryan at his best.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)