• CLIMATE CHANGE AND GOP STUPIDITY

    Jon Stewart Rips Right-Wingers A New One
  • RIGHT-WINGERS BLAMING THE VICTIMS

    When Unarmed Blacks Are Killed By Cops
  • STILL NO SCANDAL

    No Wrongdoing With Benghazi
  • EBOLA AND ISIS

    Right-Wingers Fuel Racism And Paranoia

Thursday, September 22, 2011

No Skills? Then STARVE!

Thomas Lindaman writes:

This past weekend was the “Day of Rage” where Leftists stormed Wall Street (when the very people they were protesting weren't there)

It's a multi-day, camp-out protest, and you knew that. Isn't that why people are still there? Isn't that why it's still going on?

That's actually one of the benefits of starting on Saturday. If you set up your tent on Saturday and they let you camp Saturday night, then Sunday night, but evict you Monday because it bothers some traders, you've got a media win if you spin it right.

Yet again, Lindaman lies by omission.

and talked about “economic justice.” Of course, when pressed on it, these same seemingly intelligent people couldn't describe what economic justice is.

That's because economic justice is a slogan, not an actual plan. From what I understand of it, it's where everybody would be at the same economic level. The rich would become poorer, the poor would become richer, and the middle class would become...well, more middle class.

Guess which group made up the majority of the fans of economic justice during the “Day of Rage.”

You may have noticed this, but people have different abilities and skills. Naturally, that will make them better suited for certain tasks, which can put them in great demand. By the same token, they may have shortcomings where their skills wouldn't be desirable. You may want to pay an NBA superstar millions to dunk a basketball, but you wouldn't pay him to perform brain surgery. (Not to mention, the NBA star-come-brain surgeon might try to slam dunk a patient's brain back into the skull, which opens up a LOT of malpractice suits.)


Funny, you have no problem forming your opinion on man made global warming from statisticians and economists instead of fucking climatologists

But then, I'm dealing with a right-wing blogger that uses confirmation bias from places like The Samuel Adams Committee, who spews proven bullshit like Margaret Sanger being a racist.  Bullshit like the right-wing whisper campaign stating she was for black extermination.  Never mind that she was against false rumors of black extermination. Again: MLK supported Sanger and that holds more water than freepers with an agenda. The Samuel Adams Committee obviously thinks MLK was some dumb negro that got duped all that time.

What I'm saying in short is people are different and, thus, their ability to make money will also be different. When there are differences, equality can only come from two sources: by agreement, or by force. The former requires all parties to agree to an outcome. The latter requires at least one party to agree to an outcome and the subjugation of those who disagree. Right now, those who push for economic justice are trying to persuade. When that fails, and we know it will, it will require force to create a system of equality.

Of course, that's already been tried. Remember the former Soviet Union? Yeah, that didn't work out too well.

The Soviet Union learned the hard way the problems with forcing economic justice. The people involved with the “Day of Rage” on Wall Street haven't.

Maybe opinions from teabagger right-wingers could be taken seriously if you weren't saying sick leave is an entitlement.  And cheering letting the uninsured die.

These events bring people together even if they don't produce direct results.


They bolster the feeling of community and show people that are working towards a similar cause that they are not alone.

Also, you guys let Occam run all over you instead of challenging the basic underpinnings of a system that is working against the benefit of the majority over the minority. I believe the phrase at Nuremberg was, "The banality of evil." Everyone can't be an engineer or a CEO, there is a spectrum to human intelligence and all people should be taken care of in a first world society. Both for the benefit of the poor in the short run and the rich in the long run.

Business is supposed to be a tool that is used to benefit all the citizens of a country. Instead, it has become a way to funnel capital to a scarce few who tilt a corrupt political system in their favor to prevent themselves from being held accountable or even regulated to any significant degree. And it's kind of hard to get the needed skills if you're in a class of people that lack the ability to get the proper education (which isn't a problem in other civilized countries).

When there is no real left in the political discourse, don't be surprised when they turn to protests, and in fact it is a necessary function of political discourse. If you can continually exploit a group of people and have no fear of retaliation then what reason, other than your "good will", would you ever have for listening to the poor's voice?

The poor are the people who suffer the consequences of your ability to construct increasingly complicated financial schemes to enrich yourselves and avoid oversight.

If it's "every man for himself" then we don't even have the most basic underpinnings of a society, and you deserve everything you have coming to you.  Someday the resistance won't just be protesting.  Hint: It won't be so peaceful.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

More Sky Fairy Nonsense

Thomas Lindaman writes:

This week, Palestine will be seeking official recognition from the United Nations as a state. On both sides of the debate, passions run hot. On the Left, we have people screaming about how Israel has oppressed the Palestinians, stolen their land, and committed all sorts of war crimes against them. On the Right, we have people screaming about Israel being attacked repeatedly by Palestinian terrorists with no regard for peace whatsoever.

Let me say for the sake of absolute clarity that I stand with Israel. For some, that will disqualify and discredit everything else I will say in this blog piece. For others, I will be speaking the gospel truth. Regardless of which side of the debate you're on, I ask for your indulgence as I express my thoughts on Palestinian statehood.

On the surface, it sounds like a good idea. Give the Palestinians (who have had as rough a go of it in some cases as Israel has as far as acceptance by other countries) a place to call their own, and let them stand or fall on their merits. Not as bad as it sounds, is it? For any Palestinian who wants statehood for the sake of finally having a country to call home, I say we roll out the welcome mat and allow them to join the UN as a state.

Where things get messy is when you consider other Palestinians who have ulterior motives. Let's not forget Palestinian terrorists have been launching missiles into Israel and then hiding behind women and children as human shields. These are not the types of people we would want as neighbors, right? Yet, these are a sizable portion of Israel's neighbors right now. Giving this group of Palestinians statehood is legitimizing their activities while giving them a base of operations by which to attack Israel and its allies.

So, which Palestine is pushing for statehood from the UN? We don't know. What we do know is the UN's long history of being anti-Israel, as well as the number of UN countries who would relish yet another ally in their rhetorical (and, in some cases, actual) battle against Israel. The United States has typically had Israel's back, but in recent years it's becoming more evident we're moving in a new direction, one that would leave Israel all but friendless in the world.

Because there is so much uncertainty on the part of the Palestinians, I cannot in good conscience say Palestinian statehood is a step in the right direction. It may be someday, but only once the Palestinians who want statehood for the sake of identity and not terrorism stand up and take control of their situation. As it stands, I just don't see it yet, and time is running short.

Given the Obama Administration's worldview, I feel their support of a Palestinian state being created is all but certain. They may not be able to say it in full yet, but their actions betray their true feelings on the matter. I wish I could say the Administration has given careful consideration to the implications of what I believe they are about to do, but I can't. Their support of the "Arab Spring" where more radical elements of Islam have overrun radical, yet manageable, leaders leaves me with little hope, but a full knowledge change is inevitable.

If Palestinian statehood is recognized, it's a door that can't be closed without a lot of effort and courage. With so many questions as to the heart of those pushing for statehood, I'm not sure we should be in a rush to open the door just yet.

Yet, America's hand is on the doorknob and just about ready to turn.


That is the problem with this situation; everyone involved is a douchebag, and all of them have blood on their hands. Things would go a lot better if the typical response is to stop white-knighting Israel like they are some sort innocent lamb. They're assholes. The Palestinians are assholes. Once we all can agree on that, then the whole process might go somewhere.

The Palestinians have recognized Israel ever since the reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas.

You idiots had years to come up with something, yet you petulant little charlatans couldn't come up with shit. A GOP president cannot produce a more desirable result for Israel. US is a great friend of Israel but it is losing its currency in middle east and elsewhere. Gone are the days when US and the West can dictate terms anywhere. We've moved from bipolar to unipolar and we're in a truly multipolar world right now. Israel needs to make new friends and Palestinians should figure on the top of their list.

What the UN should do is lock these two miscreants in a room and within 24 hrs come up with a solution. If they do not, then impose crippling sanctions, remove all international agencies from the area, and let them live in isolation as we do to North Korea.

Stop rewarding these hooligans. It is time to realize these two entities are attention whoring in the international community. They are not equipped to be civilized, their cultures for centuries have proved it. We are rewarding these clowns. The rest of humanity doesn't need to be dragged down just because they can't find an end to their thousands-of-years-old hissy fit.

Israel will be the new North Korea, a bunch of hopelessly isolated kooky zealots with nukes. Maybe without nukes, the Palestinians wouldn't have to resort to things like human shields.

It's hard to stick up for Israel when right-wing sacks of shit attempt to smear others as bigots without any evidence to back up that position and then hide behind the deaths of 6 million innocent souls to justify their abhorrent, sociopathic behaviour.

Yet again, it's because right-wingers want the Apocalypse. Including the main GOP contender.

All of you... stop believing in sky fairies!