tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post3781036873224615235..comments2024-03-19T08:07:28.854-05:00Comments on Althouse: "I don't really care about politics. What I care about is how the pissant goings-on of political people affects the important things in this life..."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-66393451897343681302012-11-08T08:55:08.972-06:002012-11-08T08:55:08.972-06:00As for important things in life... are we counting...As for important things in life... are we counting down how long it will take for Tehran to finish developing and give their new bomb to their shi'ite friends and relatives, and how long it will take for Israel to pre-emptively defend herself?<br /><br />Romney could have had Condaleezza's speech in sound bites to remind us it's more than just a Fiscal Cliff.JALhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15503869597362866878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-44977618205467170422012-11-08T08:51:08.023-06:002012-11-08T08:51:08.023-06:00Jeffrey -- I think most people on this blog don...Jeffrey -- I think most people on this blog don't care about Meadehouse's finances and their choices. We like Meade and the Prof.<br /><br />It would appear that the commenters here represent a very wide range of incomes and lifestyles. Nice.<br /><br />We make choices along the way (speaking from the older end of the continuum) and it's a shoulder shrug. Our family has wealthy realtives and not. We are the not. We don't care. They don't seem to notice or care. We get mutually blessed and entertained by each others' being and persons.<br /><br />Beauty and love transcends stuff. And 'poor' people can appreciate and enjoy. So why the knock?<br /><br />If someone uses their material blessings (and achievement) to choose to live with beautiful stuff. So what?<br /><br />(As a silly aside I loved the Professor's red shoes from a few years back. Would never pay what she paid, but hey, they were cute and if I saw some like them that fit in my budget ... it was a go!)<br /><br />The benefits received from Althouse are numerous. <br /><br />Thanks guys.JALhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15503869597362866878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-77374007111168877792012-11-08T03:02:45.845-06:002012-11-08T03:02:45.845-06:00Bill Whittle on Going Galt<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s02SypCcYIc" rel="nofollow">Bill Whittle on Going Galt</a>Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11205752419540502278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-1679207417257031762012-11-08T02:44:30.542-06:002012-11-08T02:44:30.542-06:00Adding a trillion bucks per year to the national d...Adding a trillion bucks per year to the national debt guarantees that, sooner rather than later, our creditors will realize that the USA will never repay that debt or will repay that debt in depreciated dollars. Not long after that the dollar will cease to be the reserve currency of the world. Not long after that, the USA will plunge into a full fledged depression that will be very difficult to overcome. <br /><br />America gets tremendous benefit from the dollar being the reserve currency for the world. Losing that status will be a huge, permanent blow to our economy and standard of living.<br />Steve Kochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13077530042599697923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-81668186092056796822012-11-08T02:13:08.527-06:002012-11-08T02:13:08.527-06:00I went for a 3 hour bike ride today, most of it go...I went for a 3 hour bike ride today, most of it going through woods. Very pretty, great weather, great for thinking things through.<br /><br />The election was quite close. Romney did not get as many votes as McCain, I'm guessing that the religious right wing did not turn out is the main reason why.<br /><br />The right has to radically improve at the business of politics. Influencing the culture has to be a permanent process. The idea that you persuade people by drowning them in commercials right before an election is stupid. <br /><br />The right has to produce the TV shows, movies, web sites, music and other media to influence the culture on a perpetual, pervasive basis. Our culture is totally screwed up and won't be turned around rapidly so it is time to get started.<br /><br />The right has to realize that stupid or emotional or one issue voters' votes count just as much as the vote of a smart person. Rather than expect that everybody understand sophisticated economic arguments (for example), specific arguments have to be constructed that are tailored to the limitations of specific groups of voters. One size does not fit all.<br /> <br />The right has to attack the institutions of the left. For example, education from K through Phd is vulnerable to creative destruction because it is inefficient, performing poorly, and could be radically improved and made muuuch less expensive through use of computers to replace teachers. Lefty academics and teachers losing their jobs in huge numbers will hurt the left, both economically and by reducing their ability to force feed lefty propaganda to our kids. The right has to realize that we are in a war for the future of America. We have to do whatever it takes to win.<br /><br />As the founder of the GOP said:<br /><br />"Our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.<br />Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."<br /><br />The task of the right is to guarantee that America "shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."<br /><br />For conservatives, the point of this political civil war is to preserve liberty by forcing our government to obey the constitution.<br /><br /> Steve Kochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13077530042599697923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-4497876822754970102012-11-08T00:46:27.755-06:002012-11-08T00:46:27.755-06:00People are spoken to disrespectfully all the time....People are spoken to disrespectfully all the time. Being part of this forum is an invitation for people to express their opinions. It's often done disrespectfully because it's anonymous. <br />I sometimes comment on HuffPo and the disrespect there is off the charts worse than anything here. wyo sishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00985513448269574373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-16119808020536598532012-11-07T22:51:13.386-06:002012-11-07T22:51:13.386-06:00"Gloating is one thing, but why the anger? &q...<i>"Gloating is one thing, but why the anger? "<br /><br />Fear.</i><br /><br />Probably not fear as much as the disrespectful way lefties are talked to and about by so many righties here. sakredkowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15652250985982301492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-62667197192313164592012-11-07T21:23:30.715-06:002012-11-07T21:23:30.715-06:00"Gloating is one thing, but why the anger? &q..."Gloating is one thing, but why the anger? "<br /><br />Fear. <br /><br />They got what they asked for and they are already worried about what that means. Oddly enough, they are trying to connect. <br /><br />Remember - that is a good sign as it is the first step toward change. And our refraining from returning the anger will facilitate that change in 2014 and 16.<br /><br />Take good care. There is much work ahead. Meadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00117933390338651739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-73329779510306577052012-11-07T21:02:50.656-06:002012-11-07T21:02:50.656-06:00"You may not be interested in troubles, but t...<i>"You may not be interested in troubles, but troubles are interested in you."</i><br /><br />They're certainly interested in Greece, the country we're trying to emulate.<br /><br /><i>Amid some of the most violent demonstrations in Greece in months, the Parliament approved a sweeping set of austerity measures early Thursday that were aimed at keeping the country in the euro zone...<br /><br />The measures, which include sharp cuts to pensions, salaries and social services, as well as tax increases and raising the retirement age to 67 from 65 — is expected, but not guaranteed, to persuade Greece’s foreign creditors to unlock 31 billion euros in aid the country needs to meet expenses. <br /><br />In presenting the austerity measures, which total 17 billion euros, to Parliament, Mr. Samaras acknowledged that the new cuts to pensions and salaries were “unfair,” but added that Greece was bound by the terms of its agreement with creditors.<br /><br />“A lot of what we’re voting on today are measures we should have taken a long time ago,” he said, adding that they would be “the last, the last” such cuts. Future “adjustments,” he said, would come from a crackdown on tax evasion and public sector waste.<br /><br />Stella Dimitrakopolou, a 29-year-old graphic designer who donned a surgical mask to ward off tear gas in Wednesday’s demonstration, agreed. <br /><br />“These measures are inhumane,” she said. “The young generation has no future, and older people have no money and the measures do not help society economically.”</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/world/europe/greece-austerity-vote.html?_r=0" rel="nofollow">Greek Parliament Holds, Barely, on More Austerity</a>kcomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05629564026352741675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-5840518120283481742012-11-07T20:54:46.165-06:002012-11-07T20:54:46.165-06:00"People in these liberal enclaves would vote ..."People in these liberal enclaves would vote for a Nazi before they will vote for a Republican. "Republican" is a swear word to them. They want to believe whatever awful stuff the media...says about Republicans. War on women, war on Big Bird, war on kittens (Ok, I made that one up)-- it doesn't matter how absurd. They will eat it up. It makes them feel good about themselves. There is no escaping that."<br /><br />But they don't feel good. They come here and hate conservatives even after they win because conservatives here express a different point of view. That's not even rational. Gloating is one thing, but why the anger?wyo sishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00985513448269574373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-69868815130460282032012-11-07T18:47:38.405-06:002012-11-07T18:47:38.405-06:00(replace "at lease" with "at least&...(replace "at lease" with "at least")Carolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11577584676839171856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-88647598751331358052012-11-07T18:42:47.787-06:002012-11-07T18:42:47.787-06:00So my point, in case it wasn't clear, is that ...So my point, in case it wasn't clear, is that it isn't a problem with women, per se. It is more of a regional social bias. At lease from where I am sitting, in the bluest of blue states.Carolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11577584676839171856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-42503429802902084332012-11-07T18:35:30.967-06:002012-11-07T18:35:30.967-06:00RE: the "what's wrong with women" li...RE: the "what's wrong with women" line- On the east and west coast plenty of men voted for these "vagina" policies along with the women. My brother, and my sister's husband to name two I know personally, both said it was women's issues that drove their vote. <br /><br />People in these liberal enclaves would vote for a Nazi before they will vote for a Republican. "Republican" is a swear word to them. They <i>want</i> to believe whatever awful stuff the media-- and this includes the internet , facebook, twitter, the Daily Show, SNL - says about Republicans. War on women, war on Big Bird, war on kittens (Ok, I made that one up)-- it doesn't matter how absurd. They will eat it up. It makes them feel good about themselves. There is no escaping that. <br /><br /> Like I said the brand is ruined in these areas, probably irreversibly so. If I were a Republican politician in a blue state, I would switch to the Dem party, because I would be assured that I could commit murder and still get re-elected against a Republican opponent.Carolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11577584676839171856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-69981038833402471082012-11-07T17:53:53.122-06:002012-11-07T17:53:53.122-06:00No objection to pointing out that Romney and Ryan ...<i>No objection to pointing out that Romney and Ryan didn't support that idea, but in fact Republicans did (and still do) propose such a policy in droves...with screaming banshee-like adamancy.</i><br /><br />The only links I could find (too numerous to post) all dealt with the objection to the contraception mandate in the ACA, not any stand-alone bills that attempted to "cut contraception coverage"from government provided healthcare. <br /><br />I like how we've allowed men to pass the complete reproductive rights buck and burden on to women, as if we absolve ourselves of responsibility of the consequences of sex. <br /><br />The fact that so many women are okay with this is alarming. <br /><br />Known Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15029003649395214104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-8950957685683209442012-11-07T16:46:47.081-06:002012-11-07T16:46:47.081-06:00It's time to stop talking about the election a...<i>It's time to stop talking about the election and have our lives be about love and beauty.</i><br /><br />Sounds like something W. H. Auden would have said to Christopher Isherwood in 1939.Lydiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18380908751421386368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-51062528602156391262012-11-07T16:43:52.017-06:002012-11-07T16:43:52.017-06:00phx said...
@Marshal See? That's exactly what...<i>phx said... <br />@Marshal See? That's exactly what I was sayin'.</i><br /><br />You said the opposite of what you wrote? You should conentrate harder. <br />testhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09478829894294731159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-74837293541939168402012-11-07T16:41:21.944-06:002012-11-07T16:41:21.944-06:00I don't understand why we would pay for contra...<i>I don't understand why we would pay for contraceptives before we do universal food and housing. </i><br /><br />We do, don't we? It's called food stamp program and TANF. <br /><br />Oh, I'm sorry bagoh20. You want me to skip over your comments. Sorry, sorry, sorry...I'll get used to it. sakredkowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15652250985982301492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-76047665178835655472012-11-07T16:39:42.110-06:002012-11-07T16:39:42.110-06:00@Marshal See? That's exactly what I was sayin&...@Marshal See? That's <i>exactly</i> what I was sayin'.sakredkowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15652250985982301492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91985747771778360402012-11-07T16:30:52.383-06:002012-11-07T16:30:52.383-06:00phx said...
but in fact Republicans did (and stil...<i>phx said... <br />but in fact Republicans did (and still do) propose such a policy in droves...with screaming banshee-like adamancy.</i><br /><br />The only policy suggested on this topic was not requiring businesses cover birth control. So contra phx's bizarre insistence that this was something the Reps identified before anyone else was asked to sacrifice, it was a reaction to the Dems trying to pass legislation forcing people to offer what they had not been offering before.testhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09478829894294731159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-39253763677436003222012-11-07T16:27:51.386-06:002012-11-07T16:27:51.386-06:00I don't understand why we would pay for contra...I don't understand why we would pay for contraceptives before we do universal food and housing. Well, yea, I do - the homeless don't include enough votes.bagoh20https://www.blogger.com/profile/10915174575358413637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-2645582299767551722012-11-07T16:24:43.752-06:002012-11-07T16:24:43.752-06:00"Never give up, never give in. Not to the tak..."Never give up, never give in. Not to the takers' agenda, nor to their baroque and embarrassing emotional excesses, intellectual bankruptcy and divisive impulses."<br /><br />The above quote says it all.. This election is as bad as it can be and anyhow I hate losing. But I know from being a prolifer that you can't burn up inside when you lose. If the country doesn't understand your cause, then you do have to turn to truth and beauty (or, to put it another way, to grace) to survive. To survive. As we said in the Sixties, "Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind / Ain't life unkind/" Or this: "Too much of nothing/ Can turn a man into a liar/ It can cause one man to sleep on nails/ And another man to eat fire." <br />The Republican party needs work. Libertarians and those who hold traditional values have been tiptoeing around each other because the middle of an election is not the moment to thrash out differences when both think that government has overreached. We need a little more depth on the common values the two groups of Republicans hold. But the work that is needed to clarify the Republican platform 2016 is preferable to the non-work of being a blind follower of the Democratic party, a party which is completely committed to failing policies - some of which will fail in the next two years - referring here to financing social policies by debt as in California, Illinois and New York. Almost half the country understands these economic issues and these issues won't go away. Other issues are jobs, the schools and the collapse of the family - all issues of concern to the Tea Party and the value voters and all issues which are disproportionately impacting African-Americans and Hispanics.<br /> <br /><br /><br /> wildswanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11975129877750876072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-17869508265993178772012-11-07T16:22:21.556-06:002012-11-07T16:22:21.556-06:00Cutting contraceptives from health care coverage p...Cutting contraceptives from health care coverage provided by the government.sakredkowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15652250985982301492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-82863580939996602542012-11-07T16:14:32.420-06:002012-11-07T16:14:32.420-06:00"Read a kid a book"
And after you'r...<i>"Read a kid a book"</i><br /><br />And after you're done, the kid pays your mortgage, right? Is that how it works?<br />kcomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05629564026352741675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-74346580572961142342012-11-07T16:11:23.793-06:002012-11-07T16:11:23.793-06:00Another thing that really never happened.
No obje...<i>Another thing that really never happened.</i><br /><br />No objection to pointing out that Romney and Ryan didn't support that idea, but in fact Republicans <i>did</i> (and still do) propose such a policy in droves...with screaming banshee-like adamancy.sakredkowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15652250985982301492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-42588713474954890082012-11-07T16:09:56.668-06:002012-11-07T16:09:56.668-06:00Troofer Furious, how different you sound today tha...Troofer Furious, how different you sound today than in the last few weeks, subdued, it suits you. A bit of defeat is good for the overly cocky, being brought down a few notches is good for some folks, makes them understand and appreciate the finer things in life, their kids, their dogs, their gardens.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com