We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
The country’s largely suburban and increasingly Southern electorate does not see big government as its friend or wise liberal mandarins as the source of its salvation. This sets up a potential political crisis between those who know what’s good and a presumptively ignorant majority. Obama is burdened, says Joe Klein of Time, by governing a “nation of dodos” that is “too dumb to thrive,” as the title of his story puts it, without the guidance of our president. But if the people are too deluded to cooperate, elements in the progressive tradition have a solution: European-style governance by a largely unelected bureaucratic class.
The tension between self-government and “good” government has existed since the origins of modern liberalism...
Las Vegas, away from some parts of the entertainment district, is a middle class town with a quality of life better than most American cities. Our vices, if they're more open, are less egregious than those of Hollywood or Wall Street.
Besides, if we want tourist money, we've got to put up with tourist vices.
If you want "sleazy underbelly" think Atlantic City.
re "Pills can cut heart attacks by 10% but raise risk of internal bleeding by nearly a third"
This kind of statement is a pet peeve of my mine.
Why can't they report the odds of affliction instead?
For example, if the increase of internal bleeding just raises the odds from 3% - 4%, it may be a risk many are willing to take.
I believe the intent of such statements is to hope the readers misinterpret the phrase, "by nearly a third' to read 'to nearly a third', a 33% chance that one will have internal bleeding.
It is an old trick and one that as long been used as ammunition to justify Government regulation of risk.
It leads me to distrust people who use statistics in that way.
Sorry. I have made up my mind. I WILL NOT BE FORCED into voting for Romney. I am set to find someone else, or I won't show up in November. I have had enough of this guy.
If Romney is the best we can do by November I'll be very disappointed, but you have to vote. If it helps, in November I'll call you at home and tell you to go out and vote for the not-Obama and then you can blame me for everything the next guy does wrong for the next four years.
Because it will be worse if Barry gets back in. Beyond your imagination worse.
#4.1
John the River
(Link)
on
2012-01-10 12:19
(Reply)
Bird Dog: The Death of Hopey-Change… By 2-1 Margin, Americans Not Only Reject But Fear Obama’s Reelection
Pretty poor misrepresentation of a poll; from Gateway Pundit via a blog on U.S. News and World Report, which links to another blog also on U.S. News and World Report with the title "Year Ends Happily for Obama". They don't link to the poll, but they are relying on the fact that this poll says that "33 percent said they fear four more years" while only 16 percent say they fear Obama won't get elected.
Frankly, that's just silly. Obama is garnering about 47% job approval, and has a very good chance of being reelected. People who support Obama don't fear him not being reelected if they think he will probably be reelected.
This is why so many on the right in the U.S. are hardly conservative in any real sense of the term. They are afraid to confront facts that are contrary to their narrative.
Is that what it means to be conservative: to be willing to face facts that don't fit one's narrative? That does explain the gulf between the two sides.
A conservative principle is a willingness to face the plain facts of life, to see longstanding institutions as bulwarks against the vagaries of human passion. The counterpart principle of liberalism is to understand that constructive change is possible, and that institutions can also act to impede progress.
http://zachriel.blogspot.com/2005/07/liberal-v-conservative.html
I would work for and vote for Alan Simpson in a minute. But, I won't vote for Romney! Not because of his stated claims to a particular ideology. But, rather because of his background, his experience, his personna, his lack of ideas, I think the guy has a mean streak. Mean is cowardice. Strong is a different story and this guy is not strong!
By the way if you would like me to point out current Republicans who have done incredibly liberal things, or who have no right to make a claim of moral intelligence, I will be happy to . Shall we start with this guy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Petro
Who is responsible for re-opening the most flawed university in America. The university that sought to bring the cop killer out of prison in order to give the keynote at graduation exercises. The university that offered an MBA with no-none-nada math required. The university that was already closed down when enrollment over the years had fallen to less than 30 students. The university whose student speaker at graduation made this statement:
There are very few people in life I hold up as true heroes, and I am Jewish, not Christian, but Father Damien (now Saint Damien) is one of those great heroes I deeply respect and admire. I'm not ashamed to admit that Damien's story is one of the few things that ever brings tears to my eyes.
No, no, no, no. It's the G1-X, not to be confused with the superb GX-1 MFT camera that Panasonic announced just a short while ago. Don't forget the X. All the Japanese camera companies love the X. It's hip. Anyway, I expect this is the beginning of a trend of having larger sensors in very compact cameras, which is good for improving the image quality, but it's too bad the zoom range is only 4X, which is very limiting. A zoom range of 10X (25-250mm equivalent in focal length to a 35mm full frame camera, say) is much more useful on a P&S camera like this.
I owned a Canon SX120 IS for a long time, and I was really happy with it. I recently bought a Canon EOS Rebel T3i with the 18-55mm kit lens for about the same cash as this point and shoot jobbie. I also purchased a 55-250 lens as well as a 24-85mm and a 50mm f1.8 prime lens, which added greatly to the cost of the camera, but for my purposes, this set up works very well most of the time.
The G1 would be nice to have for street photography and unobtrusive shooting. Unfortunately, a DSLR with even the really small 50mm prime lens tends to attract a lot of attention. The 55-250 with a lens hood almost guarantees posing or very reluctant subjects. A small, high quality camera would be nice, and I love Canon, but sheesh! $800 bucks for a point and shoot with a 4X zoom, and undersized sensor?
For that cash, I would be checking out the new ILC's by Olympus, or Sony or Nikon for about the same price.
The year 2012 should prove decisive for Russia. Will the anti-Americanism take Russia by the throat? Or will the KGB regime lose its grip? One year from today we should know the answer.
Tracked: Jan 10, 06:31