![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Oscillon
Nov. 12th, 2008
11:55 am - The best analysis of the Republican problem I've seen so far
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/1
I do not know what else Ron Paul stands so I cannot endorse him generally. But this essay is a pefect analysis of what went wrong and what needs to be fixed in order for the Republicans to check the Democratic agenda.
excerpts:
"Most Republicans endorsed this view in order to achieve victories at the polls. Limiting government power and size with less spending and a balanced budget as the goal used to be a "traditional" Republican value. This is what Goldwater and Reagan talked about. That is what the Contract with America stood for."
"Once the Republicans were in power, though, the promises faded, and all policies were directed at maintaining or increasing power by trying to whittle away at Democratic strength by acting like big-spending Democrats.
The Republican Congress never once stood up against the Bush/Rove machine that demanded support for unconstitutional wars, attacks on civil liberties here at home, and an economic policy based on more spending, more debt, and more inflation -- while constantly preaching the flawed doctrine that deficits don't matter as long as taxes aren't raised.
But what the Republican leadership didn't realize was that ALL spending is a tax on middle-class Americans through price inflation and that eventually the inevitable consequence is paying for the extravagance with a financial crisis.
Party leaders concentrated only on political tricks in order to maintain power and neglected the limited-government principles on which they were elected. The only solution for this is for Republicans to once again reassess their core beliefs and show how the country (not the party) can be put back on the right track. The problem, though, is regaining credibility.
After eight years of perpetual (and unnecessary and unconstitutional) war, persistent and expanded attacks on our privacy, runaway deficits, and now nationalization of the financial system, Republicans are going to have a tough time regaining the confidence of the American people. But that's what must be done. "
Nov. 4th, 2008
04:51 pm - Bad precidents
When Obama starts using this theory the Right is going to keep quite right?
Administration to Bypass Reporting Law
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/washi
Or when he starts using signing statements to ignore any part of a law he chooses even if he signs it.
Oct. 14th, 2008
09:25 am - McGovern speaks truth to his own party
It's nice to see a left wing democrat stand up against the unions.
My Party Should Respect Secret Union Ballots
By GEORGE MCGOVERN
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218155
Obama is on the wrong side of this one.
Sep. 18th, 2008
05:11 pm - Palin - this is who the republicans are cheering for?
Wall Stree Journal - Creamery Case Has Palin Critics
Taking Aim at Fiscal-Conservative Claim
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221526
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin promotes herself as a small-government conservative. But when Alaska government officials wanted to shut down a money-losing creamery, the governor overturned the decision after dairy farmers near her hometown complained the loss of subsidies would cripple them.
On June 8, 2007, a board overseeing the 71-year-old state-run Matanuska Maid creamery announced the business would close after amassing $1.5 million in red ink since 2005, the result of a run-up in milk prices and other essentials. "I feel we are safeguarding the public interest in the decision that has been made," Mac Carter, chairman of the Alaska Creamery Board, said in a letter to the Palin administration.
Gov. Sarah Palin overturned a decision to close a money-losing creamery.
On June 16, 2007, Gov. Palin attended a rally by dairy farmers near her hometown of Wasilla who pleaded that the creamery stay open to help them and other members of the local dairy industry. "Things are kind of a mess right now with what's happening with Mat-Maid, and we're going to clean it up," the governor said at the event.
She then sacked the creamery board and replaced it. The new board, headed by one of her childhood friends, ordered the creamery kept open. Six months later -- after the business racked up more than $800,000 in additional losses, according to state officials -- the new board ordered it closed again.
The candidate's handling of the matter has been fodder for some critics challenging her credentials as a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative. She has also been criticized for securing federal earmarks as mayor of Wasilla and, as governor, for raising taxes on oil-industry profits. "I think what happened here was her personal desire to satisfy a local constituency, versus what is right for the state," says Lyda Green, president of the Republican-run state senate and a political rival from Wasilla.
Sep. 2nd, 2008
10:03 am - Putin's Russia
Another in a long series of journalist critics of Russia being executed.
A Journalist in Russia Is Shot Dead After Arrest
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/w
The Russian prosecutor general’s office said the journalist, Magomed Yevloyev, was shot in the temple while being driven from the airport to a police station, and said it would open an investigation into an accidental death.
Other reports state he was dumped on the road after the accidental shot at point blank range to the temple.
Jul. 23rd, 2008
05:36 pm - I can't believe I may not vote for McCain.. he's lost it.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20
McCain: Give Bush credit for oil price drop
Posted: 01:20 PM ET
From CNN Election Center's Joe Von Kanel
McCain said Pres. Bush deserves more credit for oil price drop Wednesday.
(CNN) — John McCain — whose campaign launched an ad this week blaming Barack Obama for high prices at the pump — said Wednesday President Bush's new push for offshore oil drilling deserves the credit for the recent drop in crude oil prices.
"In case you missed it, soon as the President announced that we were going to end the moratorium on offshore drilling the price of a barrel of oil went down $10," the presumptive Republican nominee said at a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania town hall.
Crude oil prices are down about $20 a barrel from their record-setting intra-day high of $147.27 a barrel back on July 11.
President Bush announced on July 14 he was lifting executive ban on offshore drilling, although Congress has yet to act on his call to lift its own drilling ban.
Jul. 1st, 2008
11:35 am - Why Habeas is needed - duh!
Big surprise
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/washin
The court compared that to the absurd declaration of a character in the Lewis Carroll poem “The Hunting of the Snark”: “I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.”
“This comes perilously close to suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true,” said the panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
...
The panel included one of the court’s most conservative members, the chief judge, David B. Sentelle.
Jun. 30th, 2008
12:48 pm - New GI bill signed! about time.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/2
These veterans would receive what amounts to four year of college education at a state university, a benefit that could be transferred to their spouses or children. The cost of the program is roughly $63 billion over 11 years. Republicans had initially resisted the idea but agreed after House leaders dropped a plan to pay for the benefit with a tax on affluent Americans.
The education benefit would provide four years of in-state tuition at a public college, plus $1,000 a year for books and supplies. Veterans who served fewer than three years would receive a reduced benefit of 40 to 90 percent.
12:33 pm - Wall-E
Went to see Wall-E this weekend. I loved it. It is not your average american anime. It is a bit strange in that it mixes multiple movie genre's, multiple animation styles, etc, but it works. It can be taken as depressing, uplifting, or just fun. I like those weird Japanese anime's (the good ones anyway) but I can see how the normal audience might have some trouble with it.
Without metioning any plot spoilers, I think the movie should have been 5 minutes shorter.
12:22 pm - Answer to the Fermi paradox?
"Some fear debut of powerful atom-smasher"
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/30/doom
Where are all the little green men?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_para
Jun. 26th, 2008
09:55 am - Iacocca speaks out - good essay
http://www.polishnews.com/index.php?opt
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
Had Enough?
Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.
[follow the link for the full article]
Jun. 19th, 2008
03:50 pm - So post 9/11 we gave up on the constitution?
John McCain and the Republican National Committee have issued sharp words for Barack Obama this week after Obama suggested in an interview that the United States can combat terrorism "within the constraints of the Constitution."
One McCain adviser said such comments demonstrate Obama’s foreign policy "weakness" and his "September 10th mindset."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20
Mar. 12th, 2008
10:48 am - Torture: Anti-American, immoral and counterproductive
Bush's Veto Of Anti-Torture Bill Stands
House Democrats Fail To Override President's Veto Of Bill Banning Waterboarding
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/1
General David Petraeus, Commanding General of Iraq:
“Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. That would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary. Certainly, extreme physical action can make someone ‘talk;’ however, what the individual says may be of questionable value. In fact, our experience in applying the interrogations laid out in the Army Field Manual….that was published last year shows that the techniques in the manual work effectively and humanely in eliciting information from detainees.”
National Council of Churches
http://www.ncccusa.org/news/080221tortur
"Torture is an intrinsic evil. It exercises a corrosive effect on the very fabric of our society. It is to be rejected not only for the profound damage it wreaks upon the victim, but also because of the damage it inflicts, spiritual and physical, on those who are called upon to practice it and on the citizens of the country in whose name it is done. It contradicts the rule of law which must be a focal virtue for any society that seeks the security and well-being of its citizens.
The experience of humanity is clear: once torture has been permitted, it will spread. It will not be confined to rare cases. It will be broadly applied, despite all efforts to hold it in check. A society that embraces torture must inevitably accept moral breakdown as the outcome of its decision."
Ron Paul
http://frwebgate6.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/w
"Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in somewhat reluctant support of this
vote to override the President's veto of H.R. 2062, the Intelligence
Authorization Act of 2008. Although I voted against this authorization
when it first came to the floor, the main issue has now become whether
we as a Congress are to condone torture as official U.S. policy or
whether we will speak out against it. This bill was vetoed by the
President because of a measure added extending the prohibition of the
use of any interrogation treatment or technique not authorized by the
United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector
Operations to the U.S. intelligence community. Opposing this
prohibition is tantamount to endorsing the use of torture against those
in United States Government custody.
Mr. Speaker, we have all read the disturbing reports of individuals
apprehended and taken to secret prisons maintained by the United States
Government across the globe, tortured for months or even years, and
later released without charge. Khaled al-Masri, for example, a German
citizen, has recounted the story of his incarceration and torture by
U.S. intelligence in a secret facility in Afghanistan. His horror was
said to be simply a case of mistaken identity. We do not know how many
more similar cases there may be, but clearly it is not in the interest
of the United States to act in a manner so contrary to the values upon
which we pride ourselves.
My vote to override the President's veto is a vote to send a clear
message that I do not think the United States should be in the business
of torture. It is anti-American, immoral and counterproductive."
Jan. 4th, 2008
08:44 am - Ghost stories
Check this out...
http://www.kirotv.com/news/14972942/det
Dec. 21st, 2007
12:32 pm - Problems with probability - Mars asteroid impact
Astronomers: Asteroid could hit Mars in January
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/12/2
"Scientists tracking the asteroid, currently halfway between Earth and Mars, initially put the odds of impact at 1 in 350 but increased the chances this week (to 1 in 75). Scientists expect the odds to diminish again early next month after getting new observations of the asteroid's orbit, Chesley said."
If they expect the probability estimate of impact to go down next month, then isn't it down already? I think I'll invite Mr. Chesley to my next poker game :-)
Nov. 20th, 2007
04:52 pm - Let's support a real GI bill
Maybe this is something the left and right can support. Webb's bill is better than the current joke of a program. Personally, I think we should reenstate the WWII GI bill in full. Pay for college and living expenses in full.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/opini
Anybody know why Webb's bill isn't getting support?
Here is a private initiative. Awesome, but this is a shared responsibility.
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.c
Nov. 11th, 2007
06:34 pm - Iraq - I hope this is a sign of things to come.
"When the sectarian strife is over, then I will not fear the gangs who are running between the provinces," al-Maliki said, an apparent reference to al Qaeda and other Sunni religious extremists that have been driven from the capital.
"The majority of these terrorists are fleeing to nearby countries, and I warned our brothers in the Islamic and Arab countries to be aware in order that they not harm these countries," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/1
Nov. 6th, 2007
10:05 pm - I'll take Scowcroft over Rice any day
Ran across this when researching another issue. Brent Scowcroft on whether to invade Iraq. August 2002. Prescient, pragmatic, sensible.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/edito
Oct. 17th, 2007
11:18 am - Guns
I saw this on the morning news. It is a story about a shootout at a convenience store. In summary, it looks like a guy (white shirt) reached over to pick up the stuff he bought and that somehow set off another customer (blue shirt) enough that Mr. Blue went out to his car, got his gun, and approached Mr. White's car to shoot him. Mr. White sees him, grabs his own gun and drives the guy off in a barrage of bullitts. Turns out Mr White was an off duty police officer.
On one hand, I see this as an example of why citizens should be allowed to arm themselves. It was perfectly reasonable for Mr. White to defend himself (and satisfying to see).
On the other hand, I imagine my wife and two little kids standing at the gas pump behind them with shots going in all directions. Do I really want the general population going around armed and ready for battle at all times. I have no conclusion.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/200
Oct. 14th, 2007
11:02 pm - Sanchez followup
As expected, Senator Graham attacks the messenger. If a General says something at the time they fire him (Shinseki), if he waits till he's out, then they blame him for not saying anything at the time (Sanchez).
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRI
Navigate: (Previous 20 Entries)