An Excercise in Narcissism

If you thought we were saving the world, you missed something

2009-04-07T20:03:00.004+05:00

Currently I am doing a lot of reading, and obviously not a lot of writing. One of the books I am reading right now I borrowed from my dad. It's called Confessions Of An Economic Hitman. It documents the career of a man, John Perkins, who worked for an international energy company in the 1970's and 80's. His job was to go around the world and basically sucker developing nations into taking

Achmed, the little Chemist who could

2008-09-09T23:37:00.003+05:00

I don't have time to write much commentary on this one but please just read the articles listed below and ask yourself one question: Who is the real threat in this, as Borat so eloquently put it, "War of Terror"?Flunky Islamist Jihadist Terrorists get convicted of an impossible crimeMyth Busting a Terrorist Plot

"The United States does not torture"

2008-06-18T19:23:00.002+05:00

This is a quote from President Bush that has been repeated many times by himself and his staff, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The original and full quote came from a press conference in 2006 which is on the White House website, "I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our

Math can preserve your Liberty, if you care to pay attention

2008-05-21T03:34:00.005+05:00

Turns out that taking Statistics maybe wasn't such a waste of time after all. Scott, I am poaching this link. Sorry man, but I do give you full credit."You don't get to understand the statistics of rare events by intuition. It's something that has to be learned, through formal and informal instruction. If there's one thing the government and our educational institutions could do to keep us

What we could learn from the Dutch

2008-03-22T02:24:00.001+05:00

Alright, so its been awhile since we have heard from the boogey man, but he finally made himself known. Thanks to BBC, who has the balls to publish his missives in full, instead of commentating on fragments of what he says. Anyway, most of his threats this time are directed at several European entities, including the EU, the Pope and Dutch newspapers, for publishing depictions of the Prophet

And you thought you could trust your government

2008-03-08T02:26:00.002+05:00

Ok, I hate to keep bringing up the same topics over and over, but if Goebbels taught me anything, it's that repetition will pay off eventually. You may or may not remember that about 1 year ago, the FBI underwent an audit that revealed that they were abusing their powers to spy on law-abiding Americans without just cause. The most blatant abuses had to do with so-called National Security

Some Obama vs. Clinton Headlines

2008-02-22T02:55:00.002+05:00

My brother's recently created prObama Blog. Hit 'em up.

Why I am supporting Obama (but voting for Ron Paul)

2008-02-21T21:10:00.009+05:00

I know the Caucus is over in my state, and for better than half the country the excitement of the Primaries has gone on to other states like Texas and Ohio. But I continue to voice my support for Barack Obama to anyone and everyone who will listen. What is it about Obama that draws me to him like a college student to free food?Let me start by saying that I disagree with Mr. Obama on about 95% of

My absence is over....for now

2008-02-20T22:45:00.004+05:00

Sorry for the too long hiatus. It was born of many factors, some that I will admit and some that shall remain a mystery. Anyway, on with the show. The latest lie from your government...Please, this test is for your safety. Remain calmInteresting that we got pissed at the Chinese almost exactly a year ago for the exact same thing. Only they didn't pretend that it was for the safety of the public.

I Feel Safer Already

2007-07-20T23:16:00.000+05:00

As if I needed to continue to point out that “Safety” mantra that our government continues to feed us is an illusion, I have been pointed to several articles in the last few weeks that prove that we are in fact less safe than before this WAR on TERROR. Example #1 : This story from Albany, New York shows us that the highly competent TSA officers can find a water bottle in a piece of carry on

Fascism In 10 Easy Steps, a continuing series

2007-05-25T00:29:00.000+05:00

First let me say, apologies to the thousands of readers out there who have been wondering where I have been. Wait, make that the 2 readers. Anyway, I have just been super busy at work and haven't had time to write.Round three of “Fascist America In 10 Easy Steps” focuses our attention on the state of authority that we interact with on a local level. Without further delay, here is Step 3."Step 3.

Fascism in 10 Easy Steps, a continuing series

2007-05-09T02:11:00.000+05:00

Here is round 2 of Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps“Step 2 - Create a gulagOnce you have got everyone scared, the next step is to create a prison system outside the rule of law (as Bush put it, he wanted the American detention centre at Guantánamo Bay to be situated in legal "outer space") - where torture takes place.At first, the people who are sent there are seen by

It's All Fun And Games 'til Someone Dies

2007-05-02T00:02:00.000+05:00

The unspeakable tragedy at Virginia Tech warrants and introspective look at America and…..whoa whoa whoa. Hang on just a second. Did I say “unspeakable”? Well what I meant was shamelessly exploited tragedy. And rather than jump on the train that is headed to debate tougher gun laws, campus security, what could have been done and who is at fault, I’d rather talk about this editorial that ran

Fascism in 10 fun and easy steps

2007-05-01T21:45:00.000+05:00

It has been too long since my last post, sorry to all you out there who wait with baited breath for my every word to appear on your screen.I ran across this article on Plastic.com and discovered a concise yet poignant missive on what has been happening to our country since September 11, 2001. I am going to do a series of posts on this article, commenting on each step one at a time. There isn’t

The End Game of Surveillance, a response to a recent Comment

2007-04-11T21:12:00.000+05:00

“The standard reply to any example of real world consequences for the innocent is that such instances are rare and they are a small price to pay for security. No one claimed the system was perfect, all we are saying is that checking bags at random for no reason (http://www.silive.com/newsflash/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1175102054303320.xml&storylist=simetro)is obviously safer than not

When the FBI loses your luggage

2007-04-10T07:03:00.000+05:00

When I try to raise concern about the implications of the USA Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, breeches of free speech, and things of this nature the most common argument I hear from others is that “As long as I am not doing anything wrong, what do I have to worry about?” Since theoretical arguments about the nature of power and government do not seem to penetrate the narrow views of

The Real Roots of Terror

2007-04-04T23:36:00.000+05:00

I have been too busy to post in the last few days but I am back. I want to talk about a news article I ran across in TIME magazine about the US government’s involvement with “secret prisons” in Ethiopia. Apparently the US continues to deny any wrongdoing or consequential involvement with the practice of torturing suspected terrorists, even in the face of international evidence to the contrary.

The Pentagon and the Memory Hole

2007-03-31T00:26:00.001+05:00

Breaking news, the Pentagon condemns the use of chlorine in Iraq by insurgents! This constitutes chemical warfare in the eyes of the United States. Everyone needs to express their outrage and hate those stinking terrorists even more! Those soulless beasts will do anything to kill and maim! Quoted, “What you have to understand is that chlorine bombs have more of a psychological effect than

Holy Inflammatory Actions Batman!

2007-03-30T18:52:00.000+05:00

I have not written about what is currently going on between Britain and Iran right now, but I have been trying to stay up on the facts. Well we have some new developments and the escalation continues. I ran across what I thought to be an excellent commentary on the context of this current crisis and how we have gotten to this point. Please read this article and ask yourself, "How have our

What does a Volvo have in common with the “War on Terror”?

2007-03-29T01:08:00.000+05:00

Paul Campos is a columnist for the Rocky Mountain News. Previously I have written to the paper to dispute an article he wrote about the Supreme Court. Neither the letter nor the article are archived, so I can’t show what the arguments were. Anyway, all this to say, I have strongly disagreed with him in the past. He often gets tagged as a Liberal, however if you read his columns with any

Democrats are flexing political muscles, forcing the President’s hand

2007-03-28T22:45:00.001+05:00

Steady forward progress is being made by the Democrats in Congress with theirwar spending plan. Some Republicans in Congress are starting to see the political light and are easing up on the firmness of their commitment to “No Artificial Timelines”. Bush is forced to threaten a veto of the bill if it reaches his desk with pullout language, and the steady intensity of his rhetoric dictates that he

"Patriot Act" response

2007-03-28T02:19:00.000+05:00

Since I haven't had time to write my own content in the last few days, I am just going to post one of the comments that I received on my post from last week, "Patriot Act Abused...." I feel it is a very good summation of the direction that our country is going. These changes may not happen in our lifetime, but we are responsible for the country that we leave to our children. I will keep the

Slow progress is still progress

2007-03-23T22:03:00.001+05:00

It looks like Liberals are accepting the pragmatism that they will need to move ahead with pulling the troops out of Iraq. The Democrats, namely Nancy Pelosi, have managed to swing some more votes to their Emergency Funding Bill in the House. I am still not convinced that the House measure is going to do much in the way of actually bringing troops home. It leaves major decisions in the hands of

Patriot Act Abused. In other obvious news : Breathing is good for you

2007-03-23T18:42:00.000+05:00

Turns out those whacky nuts who decried the dangers of the USA PATRIOT ACT were not totally misguided after all. Over the last couple of weeks or so the FBI has been stuttering and stammering in an attempt to explain their gross misconduct involving their use of National Security Letters. This is one of the issues that I am most passionate about when it comes to politics in general. The

Democrat’s War Spending Plan Struggling, Big Surprise

2007-03-22T01:06:00.000+05:00

It looks like despite the political tricks, the Democrat's plan for ending funding for the war is stumbling. This is despite intense lobbying by Pelosi and her gang. Democrats are again proving their inability to unite on anything important. While some Democrats say that this bill goes too far by strong-arming the funding for the war, others further left decry that this bill does not go far

Trying to get noticed

2007-03-21T19:26:00.000+05:00

If you are politically inclined, check out my Technorati Profile. I did this in an attempt to get some traffic to my blog. If you like my blog, please tell others. This blog has a few purposes but I would really like the focus to be politics and political debate. So please spread the word. All views are welcome. TELL THE WORLD!

Adoption : Episode I : The Application Process

2007-03-21T02:23:00.000+05:00

My wife Jen and I are planning on adopting a child from Ethiopia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia) soon. We have some big decisions coming up, mostly financial. If anyone out there is reading this, some suggestions about how to generate extra money would be helpful. And I don’t mean selling candles door to door. We are considering sending out fundraising letters. There are a lot of grants

Democrats pull a dirty trick

2007-03-21T01:28:00.001+05:00

After running their 2006 congressional campaigns, in part, on a platform of cleaning up politics in Washington and getting rid of legislative bills engorged with special interest spending tacked on, the Democrats are one-upping the former Republican majority with a low down dirty trick (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901615.html?nav=rss_politics). While I

Fight Night : Obama vs Clinton

2007-03-20T22:55:00.000+05:00

The ’08 Presidential race is in the early stages of downright nasty-not-niceness. Obama and Clinton are starting to throw the right hooks and haymakers ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031902165.html?nav=rss_politics ) and the blows are not landing on each other, but rather on the overall chances for a Democratic victory in November 2008. Everyone knows this

Welcome to This Lame Blog

2007-03-20T19:40:00.000+05:00

I am not sure who does this kind of thing. Who writes blogs? Apparently I do now. I was inspired by a friend of mine, Bmer. Anyway, the topics that this "blog" will be wide ranging and inclusive of all genders, races, creeds blah blah blah. I guess the main points will be what's going on with politics, office life and family life. Not necessarily in that order. I desperately want to sound smart