Even though I am (tentatively) a registered member of the GOP, I'm really starting to hate Republicans! Why? Because they're a bunch of pansies - that's why!!
Think about it... when the Democrats were in power, they rammed through health care, they rammed through stimulus, they stuck to their ideology in spite of public opinion, in spite of the ramifications (which were all too real.) Many of them lost their jobs over it, but they felt that this was the opportune time and they weren't going to miss it. And now, for better or worse, they may not have their jobs but they have a legacy. Health care is law! Stimulus is spent! When the liberals had a chance to advance liberalism in government - they took it! In short, the Democrats had the balls to put ideology before re-election.
Now take the Republicans... Voted into office vowing to stop debt, reduce spending and shrink the size of government, and---with the debt limit hit---given the perfect opportunity to do just that, what do they do? They immediately start to cave!! They're knocking each other over trying to come up with new ways to compromise with the Democrats! They're offering plan after plan that all end up raising the debt ceiling when they have, in their hot little hands, the silver bullet to kill the government debt beast!! All they have to do is nothing. All it would take to stop debt, reduce spending and shrink the size of government is for the Republican controlled House to stick to their guns and refuse to raise the debt ceiling no matter what. If they were true conservatives, they'd ignore the "impending doom" stories of government default and bad credit ratings, ignore the opinion polls, ignore everything that contradicts their conservative ideals and just take a principled stand for cryin' out loud!
If the Republicans in the House stand their ground, the government would not default, nor would it shut down, it would (get this) be forced to prioritize spending to exist on the $200+ billion that comes in every month. The debt would (by law) be paid first - so there's no danger of default. Social Security, the troops' salaries and Medicare could be paid next - so that part of the scare tactics melts away also. And then---with what's left over---the rest of the government gets paid for on an "essential services only" basis. Budgets would have to be slashed. Agencies would be discontinued. Government would shrink down to a manageable size that makes sense. Isn't that what conservatives want? Why then the rush to throw away the advantage and just give up?
Come on Republicans - get some balls!!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
J.Lo Hints at Divorce... Stock Market Reacts!
Why do news organizations constantly report some random news story then follow it by saying "the stock market reacted to the news in such and such a way" - as if the two events are connected? Who decides what news causes the stock market to react? If the Obama administration decides to have a press conference on debt, does that cause a bunch of random traders to go "I need to buy some Dell stock"? How can anyone say the entire market reacted to some news story? Who decides such things? How do they know it's not something as random as J.Lo hinting at divorce? I mean really.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Is it Time for a Libertarian President?
I think so. Yes. The Republicans had their shot with the middle-of-the-road, compassionate conservative, George W. Bush and the debt rose and government got bigger. Then the Democrats gave us their messiah, the Marxist/Leninist, throw-money-at-everything, government-is-the-solution, Barack H. Obama and the debt rises and the government gets bigger.
Now, even the Republicans are waving the white flag when it comes to the debt ceiling saying things like "we have to raise it" - as if it was a moral imperative to saddle our grandchildren with more debt just to keep their careers afloat.
Meanwhile, Libertarian candidates for President (on the Republican side) Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are the only ones saying "NO!" to more debt.
We've tried the "radical middle" Republican way, we've tried the "radical left" Democrat way, why not give the "radical right" a shot?
Now, even the Republicans are waving the white flag when it comes to the debt ceiling saying things like "we have to raise it" - as if it was a moral imperative to saddle our grandchildren with more debt just to keep their careers afloat.
Meanwhile, Libertarian candidates for President (on the Republican side) Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are the only ones saying "NO!" to more debt.
We've tried the "radical middle" Republican way, we've tried the "radical left" Democrat way, why not give the "radical right" a shot?
Friday, July 1, 2011
A Fool's Philosophy
So, I'm having this ongoing conversation with "Thought Provoker" in my Intelligent Design According to Thomas Aquinas thread and I'm trying to explain to him how you must counter philosophical arguments by disputing the premises or by showing that the conclusion doesn't logically follow from the premises. Now Thought Provoker (like most atheists) doesn't have much use for philosophy, so he brings up the following "philosophical" argument and then challenges me to "try to prove my premise is false or that my conclusion doesn't follow the premise". So here goes...
Thought Provoker's second premise then is: "The truth is what I think is reality is actually reality". Well, not in a rational universe it isn't. In a rational universe, truth is demonstrable. If someone gets drunk and sees pink elephants in the room, the rest of us can be sure that he is delusional. That's because, in a rational universe, just because he sees pink elephants it doesn't mean those elephants are actually there. We can see that there are no pink elephants in the room and we know from biology that pink elephants don't exist (unless painted that way). However, in an irrational universe, truth is not demonstrable. We can't know, in an irrational universe, whether there really are pink elephants or not. That's because, in an irrational universe, everything can be true and nothing can be true (remember it's irrational!) So Thought Provoker's second premise is only true in an irrational universe.
So what of his conclusion: "whatever I conclude is correct"? Well let's restate his argument and see if the conclusion logically follows:
Premise - I think, therefore I am.
The truth is what I think is reality is actually reality.
Conclusion - whatever I conclude is correct.
So let's examine this one statement at a time:
"Premise - I think, therefore I am." First off, this isn't a premise, it's a conclusion based on a condition - one frought with unintended implications. "I think, therefore I am" implies that thought is necessary for existence, and that "whatever doesn't think, doesn't exist". Perhaps he didn't mean it that way though. Perhaps our friend Thought Provoker just meant that thinking is evidence of existence? So, when he says "I (Thought Provoker) think, therefore I (Thought Provoker) am" he's essentially just saying "I (Thought Provoker) exist". Well, since I know he exists, I'll grant his first premise: "Thought Provoker exists".
Thought Provoker's second premise then is: "The truth is what I think is reality is actually reality". Well, not in a rational universe it isn't. In a rational universe, truth is demonstrable. If someone gets drunk and sees pink elephants in the room, the rest of us can be sure that he is delusional. That's because, in a rational universe, just because he sees pink elephants it doesn't mean those elephants are actually there. We can see that there are no pink elephants in the room and we know from biology that pink elephants don't exist (unless painted that way). However, in an irrational universe, truth is not demonstrable. We can't know, in an irrational universe, whether there really are pink elephants or not. That's because, in an irrational universe, everything can be true and nothing can be true (remember it's irrational!) So Thought Provoker's second premise is only true in an irrational universe.
So what of his conclusion: "whatever I conclude is correct"? Well let's restate his argument and see if the conclusion logically follows:
"I (Thought Provoker) exist in an irrational universe, therefore whatever I conclude is correct."Wow! What do you know? His conclusion does follow from his premises!