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April 29, 2008
America's race problem
Obama's former pastor is... radical. Obama met the man through his work in Chicago, helping feed the poor, that sort of thing. The man feels that, for America's shortcomings, America ought to be damned.
McCain has a pastor also. Chuck Hagee. McCain sought out Hagee a few months ago while trying to court the Religious right. Chuck Hagee believes that, for America's shortcomings, America ought to be damned.
Why is it that only one of these people is call out by his "race"? When will Chuck Hagee be known as a "Radical White Preacher"? Just thought I'd point that out.
Posted by Andrew at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2008
Quick thought on Immigration.
I know I've made this point before, but...
People walk a thousand miles to come to this country, through forests and deserts, entrusting their lives and fortunes to people with every incentive to kill and rob them. When they get here they find work as virtual slaves in a society that doesn't care to offer them the most basic protections. They do this to make a better life for their children.
Why aren't we welcoming them with open arms? Seems like the sensible thing to do...
Posted by Andrew at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2008
Over the river...
Off to have a very California Weekend-- camping and sun and Santa Cruz. Enjoy yourselves while I'm out...
Posted by Andrew at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2008
I don't even wanna feel like I did that day.
I'm pretty much a Rock and Roll sort of guy. And Jazz. I love Jazz. For a couple years, though, I've been feeling like a Sinatra fan in the time of the Beatles. But if a major presidential candidate can make a hip hop reference and expect that his audience will get it... I must be like a Sinatra fan in the time of Green Day.
Off to Download some of this "Jay-Z" guy. I hear he's awesome.
Posted by Andrew at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2008
An undeniable truth that the right cannot stand
Only 5% of the population has ever abstinent (warning, PDF) before marriage.
I say this because some people don't seem to understand that if your policy calls for a complete change in human nature, it is going to fail.
Abstinence-only is like communism that way, isn't it?
Posted by Andrew at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2008
Standing Armies
Of the many complaints issued against George III, Jefferson included that "he has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies [...]" This was a huge issue to the founders. During the "Quasi war" with France, they created an "additional army", so named to be clear that the army would be dissolved the instant it was no longer needed. Otherwise, the army would be a threat to liberty-- a drain on the public treasury, an invitation to foreign adventure, a temptation to tyranny.
Through the latter half of the 20th century, we Americans faced the existential threats of first the Axis powers, and then the Soviet Union. For 3 generations, we grew used to having a first-rate, well trained military capable of being anywhere in the world at any time. We no longer face those threats; the army lingers.
Should we cut the military in half? Perhaps gut the Army and Air force, but keep the navy? Such a thing would be unthinkable for any president to propose... Somewhere Hamilton is laughing at us.
Posted by Andrew at 07:20 AM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2008
Game Green, save green
Last summer, we made the decision only to plug in our chargers when we needed them, and to connect the majority of our electronics to power strips. Now, when I'm not using the PS3 or the Wii, I cut the power to both, as well as my TV. When we're not watching anything in the living room, we turn that power strip off. All it took was the negligible initial investment in the power strips, and the presence of mind to switch them off when we leave the room. It's not hard.
The result has been a reduction of as much as $30 to our monthly electric bill. That's $360 a year! In gaming terms, the energy savings could buy me six games. Or an Xbox 360 Pro. Or more than seven years of Xbox Live.
Posted by Andrew at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2008
Welcome to America, Bene...
Posted by Andrew at 05:38 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2008
Apotheosis of Apple
I hope the students behind this one got an A...
Posted by Andrew at 08:24 AM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2008
John McCain = George Bush
Let's just keep saying that until November.
Posted by Andrew at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2008
More on the Torch?
So, protesters are doing their thing. Which is good, I guess. There are bad things in the world, the Chinese government is doing some of them, letting the rest of us know about it is useful.
There are always bad things going on in the world. The Olympics are a time, once every 2 years, when the human species comes together and reminds itself that we're all part of the same species, that we inhabit the same small globe-- it is rare time of unity for our various peoples.
The games have only been canceled for World Wars. Planned disruptions of the events should be for equally momentous occasions...
Posted by Andrew at 07:20 AM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2008
The Torch
Until very recently, I thought the torch-- or at least the flame traveled from Greece to wherever the games were being held. That is, I didn't realize they marched a bit in a city, extinguished the flame, and then few it to a whole other city to repeat the process.
It would be so cool if they actually had a team of people walking, running, biking, etc a lit torch around the world. It would probably take too long, I guess.
Posted by Andrew at 07:13 AM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2008
Least-fun Mario ever...
Posted by Andrew at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2008
line of the day: Centrism
The only thing more annoying than Joe Lieberman himself is his conceit, which many people indulge out of habit, that he is some kind of "centrist." Perhaps if we think of the political spectrum as a series of rings surrounding a cavernous abyss (or perhaps a pit like the Sarlaac), then Lieberman and McCain can fairly be called "centrists."-Daniel Larison
Posted by Andrew at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
Surely this makes sense...
How about, in the future, we assume that regulations were not created in order to slow industry, but rather to solve real problems. Therefore before we deregulate, we must first ask ourselves A) what problems did the regulations solve, and B) how the new regulations will keep the problem form coming back.
As an example of this: Social Security exists because Americans hated seeing homelessness in literally 50% of our elder population. Today that problem doesn't exist. If anyone wants to change our current system, they need to first satisfy me that we're not going to see a return to the days of elder poverty.
The deregulation of the financial services sector, too should have been more carefully looked at. It's all well and good to look at a motor and say "well, if we remove the safety mechanisms, we can really increase the horsepower on this thing!" But if we've just guaranteed that the engine will explode at some point it's probably not worth it. Republicans and Libertarians always seem convinced that even though we've seen it blow up a dozen times before, this time will be different...
Posted by Andrew at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)