Category: Politics

The stupidity to which American citizenship condemns us all.

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Unscientific Evidence of the Distribution of Intelligence

Out There: People Who Live Without TV | Yahoo! News

The entire argument hinges on this premise: recognizing that American television programming is garbage and failing to tolerate such garbage is a sign of intelligence. If one can accept this premise, then it would seem as if the very politically liberal are more likely to be intelligent than the very politically conservative. According to this fairly small survey, two-thirds of those who find television so insufferable that they refuse to keep onee in the house are politically liberal. 

The politically conservative cited in this survey may be more appropriately described as frightened, for they are turned off more by the perceived affronts emanating from television rather than the sheer stupidity of the programming that multibillion dollar corporations insist on producing and airing. In other words, the conservatives are more likely to fear what they see on television than to loathe it. 

And, if that premise is also true, and if one also accepts the premise that intelligent people are more likely to loathe stupidity than to fear it, then it is simply true that the politically liberal are more likely to be intelligent than the politically conservative. Fear and loathing may have made for a remarkable story in Las Vegas, but the two sentimens do define a stark line of demarkation between those who prefer to act on the merit of things and those who act on their fears and prejudices.

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Which Idiot Thought This Was “Unexpected”?

Jobless claims jump, productivity soars | Financial News | Yahoo! Finance

In light of the remarkable string of bad news that has emanated from the American economic system for the past three years, one wonders who on earth found the sudden increase in unemployment “unexpected”. When every major economic indicator has been heading down for over two years and the financial markets are in the middle of a complete metldown, why on earth would it be surprising that companies are shedding jobs because they have less business to conduct? 

We know that the economy has been shrinking because the “growth” of the last four years was nothing but a house of cards built on subprime mortgages. Unfortunately, American journalism is far too incompetent to keep up with what’s going on.

Liberal media, my ass!

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American Prestige

 

Americas new global status.
America's new global status.

Tom Toles’ genius is scarcely doubted by anyone anymore. One only wishes that  his cartoons did not constitute such eerily accurate portraiture of the United States and its  political system.  In that vein, it is hard to refute the fact that in the aftermath of the Cold War, Russia has just scored a significant victory.

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Sign of Intelligent Life

Sighted at the Ventura County Fair was this remarkable display of enthusiasm for the (arguably) most conservative of movements in the American political system. Granted, the Obama table was hardly more active, but it was comforting to see that the warped idealists who go by the moniker of Libertarian are finally getting their just desserts. People have the freedom to ignore them, it seems, and they seem to be mature enough to accept it.

At least at the Ventura County Fair.

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AIDS, Homelessness, Valor and Cowardice

U.S. Reports Drop in Homeless Population | NYTimes.com

The evil liberal media dominators at the New York Times report on a Bush initiative that has had an apparently remarkable impact on the chronically homeless in the United States. What is especially surprising is that all sides of the issue seem to be in agreement that the data are reliable. If such consensus is born of truth, then it is true that the chronically homeless population has declined by nearly 30% in the United States over the past four years.

Coupled to this report on PBS’s The News Hour about how resoundingly successful the President’s AIDS relief program in Africa has been, this astonishing development compels one to think of all the remarkable good that could have been achieved with the trillions of dollars (projected costs including interest) currently being squandered in Iraq. After all, the total cost of these programs ($15 billion for AIDS relief as cited by The News Hour report, and ostensibly no more than a few billions of dollars for the “housing first” program; I can’t presently find a citation) absolutely pales when compared with the $752 billion cited by the CBO for the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan thus far. Had such resources been allocated to AIDS relief and homelessness, the earth may well have been purged of both scourges.

Could the President be asking himself if the pursuit of the war in Iraq was a gross misappropriation of resources? After all, the three-quarters of a trillion dollars thus far spent in Iraq has had the sole effect of bringing the American economic engine to a halt by sending the price of crude oil into the stratosphere. Thus, the military operation in Iraq has, in effect, quashed all effective programs undertaken by the government in two ways. First, it has absorbed moneys that would otherwise have been dedicated to such effective programs like AIDS relief and housing first. Second, it has reduced the capability of the American economy to provide for any government program by reducing economic output.

Thus, the reasons why the neoconservatives keep insisting on the validity of the military operations in Iraq are almost understood. Any admission that moneys spent elsewhere would be more effective than the moneys squandered in Iraq would reveal these war mongers to be the frauds and the hucksters that they are. It is, therefore, nothing but an article of fear that compels the cowards who wage war to deny their misdeeds.

And, that is why their cowardice is almost understood. Those occupying positions of power must have the courage to make such admissions. It is their duty. It is, in fact, their legal obligation to confess to their mistakes so that these mistakes can be rectified or remedied before they erode the public’s trust and destroy the institutions that guarantee accountability and efficacy in governance. This very fact that persons vested with authority must carry a higher responsibility is the reason why such childish denials of fault in government are labeled high  crimes and misdemeanors, while those of the child who had broken a vase are labeled mere fibs.

If the constitutional mandate that punishments fit crimes were observed, then such high crimes and misdemeanors would merit harsher punishments than those meted out by parents for their children’s fibs. As it is, however, children are being held accountable for breaking vases, but politicians are exonerated for their squandering of the common wealth and the nation’s prestige. Who is measuring the merits of spending a pittance for the sake of the welfare of humanity against the spending of fortunes to increase the misery of mankind and opting for the latter?

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The Economic Oracles Speak

BBC NEWS | Business | US economy at a glance

Perhaps the only thing gloomier than this picture is the fact that no American news source can be bothered by the simple process of consulting publicly available data from the government. The Brits seem to have grasped the utility of the internet browser better than American journalists. Perhaps that’s because it was a Brit who invented the world wide web and the browser.

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Obama’s Vice Presidential Candidate

Let’s have some fun. I tend to be right on these matters, so I might as well publish these predictions and see how I fare against the “professionals”.

Barack Obama will choose either Bill Richardson or Wesley Clark as his running mate because both men are without peer in their respective fields. Richardson is peerless in issues of foreign affairs, and Clark is peerless in military affairs. Either man will round out the ticket nicely.

The most likely choice is Bill Richardson because he was the first to endorse Obama.

Sorry Hilary. You just blew it big time.

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Liberty Migrates to Europe

IP Addresses Are Personal Data, E.U. Regulator Says | washingtonpost.com

The diametrically opposed directions that the European Community and the United States are taking ought to be extremely disconcerting to those who reside in the United States. The United States, the country that invented the internet and the addressing protocol that identifies computers on the internet (known as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP), is moving rapidly to relegate TCP/IP to a means of spying on its citizens. The awful–perhaps nonexistent–regulatory regime in the US allows providers of network services to monitor what users do, to track their habits, and to share that information with just about any entity that requires. That entity could be marketers or the watchful eyes of the government.

Meanwhile, the EU is conducting the most rational debate on the status of the IP address of computers users. As the computer becomes a significant means of communication–through applications like Skype, Gizmo, Yahoo! MSN AIM and other instant messaging clients–the IP address will become as unique and as important as a telephone number. Hence, it ought to receive as much protection as a telephone number. Global governing bodies are beginning to realize this, but the different ways in which the US and the EU governing bodies are approaching the IP address’s significance is alarming.

The American government is actively extending and abusing the regulatory vacuum surrounding the IP address to let American companies and government bodies to gather information on every citizen. In contrast, the EU is actively discussing a regulatory regime that recognizes the importance of the IP address. While the US government is diminishing privacy, the EU bodies are seeking to protect and to expand privacy. Hence, the liberties in which Americans take excessive pride are being, in effect, exported to the European Union, where people can surf comfortably now and perhaps with even greater privacy in the future.

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War Politicization Begins

Pentagon announces Iraq, Afghanistan troop deployments | Yahoo! News

The animosity between George W Bush and John McCain is insufficient to moderate the latter’s desire for power.  Consequently, the former is conveniently building up troops in Iraq in order to aid McCain’s already lackluster campaign. The strategy is quite clear, and it will most likely become apparent when the troops who are slated to be relieved will be retained. It is an escalation of the military conflict that  will create a circus of fear and greed come September, and there is little doubt that McCain will gladly oblige W by continuing the fear mongering that has thus far guaranteed reelection for every Republican who is utterly bereft of creativity, desire for serving the nation and scruples.

Never before could it be said that the success of one man will guarantee failure for everyone else.

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Southern Evolution

ABC News: Florida Calls Evolution ‘Scientific Theory’

Does this mean that Floridians now view Barrack Obama differently? Does it mean that they intend to end the disenfranchisement of minorities?

It is somewhat comforting to note that people change over time.Â