Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments The Supreme Court puts our democracy in the hands of corporations Hey. Let’s just impeach Thomas, Scalia and Kennedy for throwing the 2000 election. We would only need 67 senators to go for that….. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 21, 2010 @ 11:34 pm America came out of the “Gilded Age”. We can beat this one too. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 21, 2010 @ 10:17 pm I thank all the Puritans who insisted that there was no difference between Gore and Bush. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 21, 2010 @ 10:16 pm …..Rage Against The Machine….. 50% turnout in a special election is very good. 25% is not uncommon. How the hell did we blow this one? » Posted By KevenSeven On January 24, 2010 @ 12:52 am Fundraising and Membership Drive – Winter 2010 Paypal is easy as pie, checking accounts and credit cards both. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 10:40 pm $500 will be easy, we have plenty of enthusiastic members. I really like making a point of cross posting at huff as a way to stick it to them. I’m pretty sure I have lead a dozen people here using that ploy. See you on the sunny side! » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 9:49 pm So, if you fed in the rate of growth into a spreadsheet, and extrapolated thru to the first year anniversary, how many comments/columns/members would we have? » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 6:16 pm Personally, I don’t see how they can, constitutionally, not wait for Brown. The current senator was appointed to replace Kennedy. If it was a matter of a lame duck who had been elected and lost reelection, that would be different. But this is an elected senator (gag) replacing a seat warmer. I think it would be an insult to all the ignorant fuckwits in Mass who voted for Brown to rush legislation thru. And I know the Rethugs would ram it right up our asses. No. The only solution is to take our medicine and abolish the filibuster. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 6:38 pm Matt Taibbi Calls Out David Brooks Not every aspect of what ails Haiti is external to Haiti. Much as an alchohalic would be better off not drinking, some cultures would be better off moving in one direction or another. I think it cannot be denied that things could be better in Haiti. I think that if the Haitians came to certain understandings, like the way America has generally come to the understanding that blacks and women should be treated with the same respect as whites and men. What exactly should the Haitians do differently? I don’t know. But I do know that what they are doing is not working for them. Hell. Look at Mexico and the way the narcotrafficers have ratcheted up the violence there over the last several years. That is obviously a cultural development that is not good. Russia has a culture of alchoholism. I defy anyone here to defend that. America has a culture of violence. That is not good. The Taliban has a culture of cutting off the noses or throwing acid in the faces of girls who dare to gain an education. Who wants to defend that? Anyone? No. What is the point of having values if you don’t value them? I am of the opinion that women and brown people and gays are as good as men and white people and straights. That is a value that I hold. In many cultures that is not the norm. I do not respect those cultures. And despite what has been said, I have never said that the Haitian people are inferior to anyone else. People are born into circumstances, and sometimes those circumstances suck. Every person can be better than he or she is. Every culture can be better as well. I do not approve of a permanent welfare state where people can live on the dole in perpetuity, as a policy for America. I would be happy for Haiti if some effort was taken to use this horrific tragedy to see reforms there. Lord knows those people need something, and a welfare check is not what the doctor is ordering just now. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 21, 2010 @ 10:09 pm Uh, huh. If you had a daughter, would you want for her to live under the rule of the Taliban? Cultures improve, cultures decline. America is better than it was during Jim Crow. America can get better. Haitian culture could evolve in a positive way, and that would be good for the Haitians. I don’t know why everybody fears recognizing that. And I think the Danes have a pretty excellent culture. Which is better than that of the Russians. Ask yourself, which culture do you find more appealing? » Posted By KevenSeven On January 21, 2010 @ 8:05 pm The Amazonians cited are not starving. They have a culture that works. I have no problem with them and their aboriginal lives. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 11:43 pm OK, everybody who feels the reflex to condemn the idea that some cultures are superior to others, tell me that you would be happy to magically become a woman living in Saudi Arabia. Or Taliban controlled Afghanistan. You know. Where female circumcision is commonplace. And hymen reconstruction surgery. Tell me that you would welcome such a change in your circumstances. Tell me of all the respect you have for those cultures. Or, while we are chatting, tell me of your respect for the cultural reflex in China to euthanize baby girls, because the govt has a one-child policy, and people value sons more than daughters. Do you respect that cultural trend? » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 9:34 pm All three of you: Tell me that you would willingly become a member of the economically lower 90% of Haitian society. Tell me that, and then I will know that you think that Haitian culture is equal to yours. If you would not be willing to join that group, then perhaps you will tell me what it is you are trying to say? Haitian culture is equal to yours, but you would not under any circumstances join it? I would be OK with being transported to Japan. I would really like transplanting to Barcelona. And Rome or Buenos Aires would be all right for many years. I would resist like hell moving to any part of Russia. Tell me that any of you would willingly become a Saudi woman living in Saudi Arabia. Or to become an Afghan woman living in Afghanistan, with the Taliban in control of your village. You know, places where female circumcision is commonplace? Tell me of your respect for those cultures. Show me how you think that all cultures are equal. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 9:01 pm People refusing to accept that some cultures are more advanced and beneficial to its members than others, trouble me. Anglo-Saxon culture produce Shakespeare. African American culture produced jazz. Haitian culture produced? » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 8:42 pm “Best not, perhaps, to let those bodies cool before we seize this opportunity to march in there and edify that bunch benighted cultural throwbacks » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 7:06 pm Don’t lump Brooks with Limpballs. That is plain careless. I am not endorsing any particular remedy to the troubles of Haiti. But I think I can observe without fear of contradiction that what we have done in the past has not worked. As my wife observed: the Haitians with any gitty-up and go have gotten up and gone. Unemployment in Haiti is at what? 80%? What a mess. And they are not poor because I am a mean asshole, even if I am a mean asshole. They are poor because their culture does not promote wealth and industry. Brooks is plumb lazy and wrong to compare the Chinese to the Haitians, in no small part because the Chinese have achieved what they have over the last two decades because they have a three thousand year history of an advanced nation state with a strong, dictatorial executive, and an effective and massive bureaucracy. The Haitians have a history of dictatorship, but that is it. The Chinese also have a culture that rewards industriousness. And I don’t give a rat’s pitoot if Taibbi does not like it. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 7:02 pm If you insist on waiting for the bodies to cool, America will forget that it had happened. I don’t think that the people of Haiti are going to read Brooks’ column, so I would not be too fussy about it being insensitive. An excellent way to avoid turning this massive tragedy into an opportunity is to insist that all of Haiti’s troubles are external. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 9:48 am Set aside Taibbi. Whatever Brooks wrote has no bearing on how sophomoric and stupid Taibbi was. Critique Brooks independently of Taibbi, if you feel so inclined. But I would defy you to show me a culture that features Voodoo as its primary mysticism, in which you would wish to be a common citizen. Not all cultures are equal. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 20, 2010 @ 8:43 am It would seem that Time Magazine is piling on: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100119/wl_time/08599195395900 » Posted By KevenSeven On January 19, 2010 @ 10:29 pm All Things Considered had a long investigation into Haitian structures and utter lack of a building code. They interviewed the only seismic/structural engineer in the whole country. He quite expressly said that there are no codes or enforcement in Haiti. Of any sort. For the obvious reasons: The nation is brutally impoverished. If the “government” were to enforce Miami or LA level codes, only about ten thousand Haitians would have any sort of roof over their heads. The same is true for Cairo, BTW. And apartment buildings collapse of their own weight on a regular basis. I dare say the same is true in every poor nation. Was All Things Considered racist for running a report on this topic? » Posted By KevenSeven On January 19, 2010 @ 10:26 pm I pretty much always find Brooks pompous, smug and disingenuous. However. Taibbi’s column is remarkably offensive. I would expect better of a Jr High School student. It is a classic and unattractive compilation of strawmen (putting words in the other guy’s mouth in order to debate a point not actually made) and pretty revolting ad hominen attacks. Really. Only an infant introduces into a debate: “but my penis is only four and a third inches long when fully engorged”. Brooks’ column was wide open to an intelligent criticism. Taibbi in no way delivered any such criticism. Taibbi’s column is an example of a lazy hit job. He probably dashed it off in ten minutes. I am perfectly unimpressed with Taibbi here. Perhaps he has actually written something deserving consideration, but this column is not an example there of. Oh. And I have made no comment here of Brooks’ column, beyond to say that it is wide open to criticism. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 19, 2010 @ 8:54 pm I don’t know. My brother-in-law lives near Princeton. I have always liked it up there. One winter we flew in to visit, there was like 18″ of snow falling just as we got there, and had all melted away when we left three days later. My kid loved it. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 19, 2010 @ 8:58 pm Democratic Navel-Gazing, or The Circular Firing Squad – Part I A fine essay, thanks. I have been saying of late that the Dems suffer from two challenges: To be a progressive is to try to get things done. To be a reactionary is to try to prevent things getting done. The second is a lot easier than the first. And as you say, we are the big tent. Dems represent 2/3rds of Americans, the Thugs 1/3rd. We have with us, (or they have recently left!) people who liked W for a while, then realized what a dolt he was. It is pretty damned tricky keeping 2/3rds of America happy. Like the more socialist among us who would prefer single payer, and the mods who were looking for only minimal HC reform, we just are having trouble marching in the same direction. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 18, 2010 @ 8:32 pm Logic abhors a whole lot of things….. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 17, 2010 @ 11:36 pm When Pope John Paul II got shot, he thanked The Lady of (Whatever, for those not Catholic, there are any number of “The Lady ofs xxx” out there, each one representing Jesus’s virgin mother) for causing the bullet to avoid any vital organs. Two questions arise: Why this particular Lady Of, rather than another? Was JPII looking to curry favor with this particular city? And if she could manage to cause the bullet to miss vital organs, why could she not prevent the bullet from hitting him at all? And remember, this guy was infallible. I’d like to try out that infallible thing. That sounds good. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 17, 2010 @ 10:34 pm The Melvins, the Subaru and Sorcerer Only 180k from your Toyota truck???? What sort of abuse is that???? My experience with Toyotas, and I have a bit, is that they seem to want to run forever. Possibly limping as they do it, but the engines seem to just last forever. But the Subbie sounds really cool. I wish I could afford a new car! » Posted By KevenSeven On January 15, 2010 @ 11:16 pm Hey, some restraints and a ball gag, and I might take a shot at that. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 14, 2010 @ 4:42 pm He hates himself. Go to youtube and listen to Janene Garapalo (sp?) on Olberman. » Posted By KevenSeven On January 14, 2010 @ 4:41 pm Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar: Sparkman Committed Suicide OK, at what point was he lying? When he said that he had been warned or when he said that he had not been warned? Which is it? » Posted By KevenSeven On January 24, 2010 @ 11:39 pm No. You did not say treason. I said treason. But can you define the act of allowing the nation to be attacked as anything else but treason? So why would you dispute me on this? » Posted By KevenSeven On January 23, 2010 @ 4:03 pmComments Posted By KevenSeven
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