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September 30, 2007
Sorry 'bout that...
With due respect to Amanda, I think she's falling victim to a classic bit of blindness. The right is not simply trying to drum up war against Iran, they are not simply engaged in a propaganda effort to create horror in the American mind. It's a bit worse than that...
They really do believe that Iran presents an existential threat to America. They see an "Enemy" who had the effrontery to refuse to do what we told them decades ago, and thus prove that there are limits to even American power. Naturally this terrifies the Neo Cons. Naturally they will strike out blindly and always view the Iranian regime as the font of all evil. Except when said font of all evil is actually Iraq. Or China. Or Russia. Or...
Posted by Andrew at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2007
Life and times..
I could probably churn out good commentary by doing nothing but reading slacktivist and saying: "what he said". I'll try to keep that sort of thing to a minimum:
Here's the deal: Whatever the technical details of the case, whatever the particulars of the applicable immigration and customs laws, if you confiscate the entire life savings of a minimum-wage dishwasher, you're doing something wrong.
I'll go a step further. As soon as they discovered this guy-- a guy who was able to save US$59,000 as a dishwasher, they should have gotten a judge. That judge should have asked Mr. Zapeta if he wanted US citizenship and was willing to pay back taxes. If the answer to those questions was "yes", the judge should have administered the Citizenship oath right there and then...
If the answers to either of those questions was "no", we need to figure out why- and make the changes necessary to attract and and hold onto people of such outstanding character...
It's not too late, though. Perhaps we can trade Guatemala one for one: Lou Dobbs for Pedro Zapeta. We'd be getting the better end of the deal...
Posted by Andrew at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2007
Require Photo ID
At least in the Texas State Legislature...
Posted by Andrew at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2007
Bill O’Reilly Admits: "I am a racist"
How else would you characterize someone who expresses amazement that black people behave the same as white people in restaurants:
“I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship.”
Posted by Andrew at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2007
What he said:
Currently, if I want a bar of precious, precious gold, I have to pay a lot of money for it. If someone let me into Fort Knox and said the gold was on them, however, I'd take as much as I could possibly carry. I like gold! The more the better. That's not really the case with colonoscopies, or triple-bypasses. Now, you could make it so I can't afford colonoscopies, in which case I can't get them, but making it so I can have an unlimited number won't compel me to make them a weekly event.
I think this is the fundamental disconnect: Liberals want more health care and Conservatives want less of it. Anyone who is worried that they won't have health care when they need it ought to side strongly with the liberal position on this one. While we liberals may complain, fight, and argue with one another over the best form of health care, we all share the idea that everyone ought to be covered. Conservatives seem to be fine with the current "emergency room" system. As someone who has a permanent knee damage because the ER was out of my budget at one time, I tend to think they're full of it...
Posted by Andrew at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2007
Asking political questions = Tasering offense?
There are many disturbing things about this segment:
1) The student is forcibly removed from an auditorium for asking a (politically embarrassing) question
2) No one tries to help him
3) Other students applaud the suppression of said speech. (To be fair, many of them were probably tired annoyed with the speaker for making a speech in the form of a question)
4) A US Senator watches this suppression of free speech and makes no move to intervene. (again, to be fair, he does state that he would like to answer the questions)
5) The police use a taser on a student who cannot possible resist them.
Those are the ones that jump to mind. Perhaps the worst thing of all was the utter complacency of the student body. The bedrock principles of democracy were violated before the watching eyes of these students and they applauded that the annoyance was removed from their midst. Perhaps this isn't the death knell for democracy, but it sure isn't a promising sign...
Posted by Andrew at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2007
The Imp Song
Posted by Andrew at 07:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2007
Rosa Parks
Posted by Andrew at 06:49 PM | Comments (0)