Thursday, May 10, 2012
You Cannot Make This Stuff Up
Paul Ryan said today that we have to cut food stamp and cancer screening expenditures to get people out of poverty. So if I am a poor woman, I have to starve and not be screened for cancer so I can get out of poverty because I will get a job that some businessman is going to create in my ghetto with his tax cuts.
What is there to be afraid of?
There has been vigorous debate since Mr. Obama said he supported marriage rights for non-hetersexuals. Like the President's previous position, I have thought that Civil Unions achieved the same purpose, but then we got married by a Justice of the Peace (who happened to believe in ghosts) in the basement of Chicago City Hall. Other than a marriage certificate being issued for that, we could be existing in a civil union.
Anyway, a year or so ago, I decided if gay/lesbians wanted to be married, what difference does it make to me and it generally makes these people happy. So let it happen.
The primary two arguments presented on the News Hour last night against this were: (i) this will encourage young people to become gay or lesbian and (ii) it is a threat to the institution of marriage.
I could not believe my ears that this drivel was coming out of the mouth of somebody representing a church. Young people do not choose to be hetersexual or gay/lesbian. It just happens. So it must be genetically based. How does denying GLBT's the right to marry have any effect on the propensity of any individual to be GLBT? How does allowing them to do so harm the institution of marriage? It seems to me to enhance it since it is so important to these individuals that they want it more than almost anything else in social policy. That is showing respect for the institution of marriage.
And just to repeat, our Declaration of Independence does say: "All men are created equal". When they wrote that they met men and women without regard to sexual preference. If they did not mean that, they would have put in some exceptions, which they did not except for slave's. And that is certainly seen universally as a sorry exception from a pious point of view. How one can believe that denying slave's rights is wrong and then deny a GLBT from marrying is beyond me.
Let's discuss some real issues such as why doesn't the GOP want to raise revenues to repay the debt incurred to fight the war on terror.
Anyway, a year or so ago, I decided if gay/lesbians wanted to be married, what difference does it make to me and it generally makes these people happy. So let it happen.
The primary two arguments presented on the News Hour last night against this were: (i) this will encourage young people to become gay or lesbian and (ii) it is a threat to the institution of marriage.
I could not believe my ears that this drivel was coming out of the mouth of somebody representing a church. Young people do not choose to be hetersexual or gay/lesbian. It just happens. So it must be genetically based. How does denying GLBT's the right to marry have any effect on the propensity of any individual to be GLBT? How does allowing them to do so harm the institution of marriage? It seems to me to enhance it since it is so important to these individuals that they want it more than almost anything else in social policy. That is showing respect for the institution of marriage.
And just to repeat, our Declaration of Independence does say: "All men are created equal". When they wrote that they met men and women without regard to sexual preference. If they did not mean that, they would have put in some exceptions, which they did not except for slave's. And that is certainly seen universally as a sorry exception from a pious point of view. How one can believe that denying slave's rights is wrong and then deny a GLBT from marrying is beyond me.
Let's discuss some real issues such as why doesn't the GOP want to raise revenues to repay the debt incurred to fight the war on terror.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Chen Guangcheng
I am sorry the U.S. let Mr Chen leave the embassy, but you cannot hold him against his will. And I am glad that apparently the PRC will now let Mr. Chen and his family leave the country.
What I was most impressed by during this news cycle was how naive Mr. Chen appears to be. His goals are noble, but if you are under house arrest and you sneak away to the U.S. embassy, what do you expect the Communist Government, that does not know how to deal with any opposition, to do. They will use whatever they have to blackmail you back so they can control you.
Why would Mr. Chen ever think he would have more negotiating power within China then he would have as a resident of the U.S. Embassy? He should have stayed put in the Embassy.
What I was most impressed by during this news cycle was how naive Mr. Chen appears to be. His goals are noble, but if you are under house arrest and you sneak away to the U.S. embassy, what do you expect the Communist Government, that does not know how to deal with any opposition, to do. They will use whatever they have to blackmail you back so they can control you.
Why would Mr. Chen ever think he would have more negotiating power within China then he would have as a resident of the U.S. Embassy? He should have stayed put in the Embassy.
I cannot resist quoting this comment
The GOP campaign theme. Put us back into power so we can use the same policies that took the nation from record growth and surpluses to the greatest recession since the depression in just eight years--and now these policies will pull the country out of the nose dive faster than Obama's policies.
I don't know who I am rephrasing here but it is priceless.
I don't know who I am rephrasing here but it is priceless.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Just When I Thought the News Cycle was Slow
along comes some Republican actions that deserve comment.
1st, to Mitt Romney's credit he tried to hire a foreign policy advisor that worked in the Bush II administration and happened to be gay. Now that person has had to resign because the social conservatives could not stand a gay individual having a prominent position in the GOP campaign because they might advance gay rights. Are "All people created equal" or not? Apparently, social conservatives in the GOP do not believe in The Declaration of Independence.
2nd, the GOP PAC's are trying to SWIFT Boat President Obama by saying he is overstating his case on the killing of Osama Bin Ladan. Fortunately, it has been well documented that the President overruled both the Secretary of Defense and the VP to order the raid. If the raid had been a disaster for the U.S., there is no doubt that failure would have been a call by the GOP to take over national defense in this election because the President was directly responsible for the failure of the mission. The GOP cannot have it both ways. Democratic success must be buried and only failure promoted.
Then I found a commentary saying the President's policies have not improved the economy. Wait, the stock market is near 2007 levels. Interest rates are low. Something like 50% of the fiscal stimulus was in the form of tax cuts. What would the GOP have done? Spend 100% of the fiscal stimulus on tax cuts. That would not have been as effective because I know I would have simply saved more money (and not spent it) because that is what I did with the tax cut I did get. Every other high earner would have done likewise. Fiscal stimulus requires spending.
Of course, these are the guys that have so successfully ruined John Kerry's military record that a Google search cannot give you any sign of what is true. These are also the people who believe that you can balance the budget by cutting entitlements and not raising revenue. These are the people who believe Health Insurance Exchanges amount to a government takeover of health care. These are the people who believe that CO2 does not raise the earth's temperature. In fact, these are the people who seem to believe that only they have an ownership of truth and everything else is false.
One can only hope the voters see through this in sufficient numbers.
1st, to Mitt Romney's credit he tried to hire a foreign policy advisor that worked in the Bush II administration and happened to be gay. Now that person has had to resign because the social conservatives could not stand a gay individual having a prominent position in the GOP campaign because they might advance gay rights. Are "All people created equal" or not? Apparently, social conservatives in the GOP do not believe in The Declaration of Independence.
2nd, the GOP PAC's are trying to SWIFT Boat President Obama by saying he is overstating his case on the killing of Osama Bin Ladan. Fortunately, it has been well documented that the President overruled both the Secretary of Defense and the VP to order the raid. If the raid had been a disaster for the U.S., there is no doubt that failure would have been a call by the GOP to take over national defense in this election because the President was directly responsible for the failure of the mission. The GOP cannot have it both ways. Democratic success must be buried and only failure promoted.
Then I found a commentary saying the President's policies have not improved the economy. Wait, the stock market is near 2007 levels. Interest rates are low. Something like 50% of the fiscal stimulus was in the form of tax cuts. What would the GOP have done? Spend 100% of the fiscal stimulus on tax cuts. That would not have been as effective because I know I would have simply saved more money (and not spent it) because that is what I did with the tax cut I did get. Every other high earner would have done likewise. Fiscal stimulus requires spending.
Of course, these are the guys that have so successfully ruined John Kerry's military record that a Google search cannot give you any sign of what is true. These are also the people who believe that you can balance the budget by cutting entitlements and not raising revenue. These are the people who believe Health Insurance Exchanges amount to a government takeover of health care. These are the people who believe that CO2 does not raise the earth's temperature. In fact, these are the people who seem to believe that only they have an ownership of truth and everything else is false.
One can only hope the voters see through this in sufficient numbers.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Clouds
There is a story today that the skeptics of global climate change who are actual scientists are now acknowledging that man is increasing CO2 in the atmosphere and that is causing the earth to warm. However, they are saying we don't need to do anything because this warming will change the cloud cover over the equator and send more of the warmth into outer space.
Somehow the prospect of creating deserts at the equator when those rain forests are the engine of oxygen production does not seem like a vision that we should aim for.
Perhaps it is time for humans to start to find some economic incentives to control green house gases.
After all, Cap & Trade was a conservative invention championed by Republican politicians originally. For that matter, Health Insurance Exchanges were a conservative invention championed by Republican politicians in Utah initially. Why is it the GOP opposes any idea of theirs that the Democrats agree to?
Somehow the prospect of creating deserts at the equator when those rain forests are the engine of oxygen production does not seem like a vision that we should aim for.
Perhaps it is time for humans to start to find some economic incentives to control green house gases.
After all, Cap & Trade was a conservative invention championed by Republican politicians originally. For that matter, Health Insurance Exchanges were a conservative invention championed by Republican politicians in Utah initially. Why is it the GOP opposes any idea of theirs that the Democrats agree to?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I wish I had won the mega millions so I could offset some of this absolutely astounding money flowing from people who have been so successful that they can give millions to political candidates with the only desired return a maintenance of their lower taxes.
As if the SuperPac donations for Newt and Rick were not amazing enough, now the embattled Wisconsin governor is getting mm's and hundred of k's from a few people and now has $25 mm in the bank for the next election. Then the money is used on shrill TV ad's and all real debate on the issues is transferred to sound bites and phony tag lines, if not outright lies.
It's enough to make me want to move to Windhoek, but I am not sure they have modern medical treatments there. And it is a bit far from our family.
As if the SuperPac donations for Newt and Rick were not amazing enough, now the embattled Wisconsin governor is getting mm's and hundred of k's from a few people and now has $25 mm in the bank for the next election. Then the money is used on shrill TV ad's and all real debate on the issues is transferred to sound bites and phony tag lines, if not outright lies.
It's enough to make me want to move to Windhoek, but I am not sure they have modern medical treatments there. And it is a bit far from our family.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)