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• Unacceptable Offering
• New Black Panthers Endorse Obama?
• Stuff White People Like
• Dad, what’s a libertarian?

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March 27, 2008

Things That Matter

I have the week off from work. I could be taking some time to discuss the housing market and other economic issues. I could be taking some time to discuss the shortcomings of each of the presidential candidates. I could be talking about China/Tibet or other matters of international politics.

I could even be talking about philosophy.

But it just doesn't feel compelling right now. I read the news and I hear the pundits and it seems to me that there is less dialogue going on than usual. There is of course a place for snarky mock-and-jaw blogging between the Right and the Left, but I prefer conversations that have some chance of actually going somewhere.

That being the case, I'm getting much more satisfaction from home improvement projects right now. Even though the ceiling fan project is hitting some unexpected snags.

Let me know when some more compelling issues come up.

Update: fully armed and operational. Surprise bonus: dimmer switch.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

March 22, 2008

Unacceptable Offering

Thoreau, who I enjoy reading despite not agreeing with many of his political thoughts, offers a silly suggestion:

Wars should only be declared if approved in a referendum…and before you freak out over the pathologies of democracy, the votes are recorded and only those who vote for it have to pay for it.
The way I see it, if you feel that you can only sleep soundly at night if troops are occupying some foreign land that’s no thread to us, you ought to pay extra for that.

Of course he is not serious. Right?

Well, actually, it is exactly the kind of thing that the Left and the libertarian-Democrats really do support. If you can only sleep soundly at night if you don't feel directly responsible for gunfire somewhere in the world, then you will spend a lot of time thinking of ways to rationalize your lack of responsibility for that gunfire. Iraqis killing Iraqis is just fine - but bring our troops home!

I left the following comment (the second paragraph addresses something brought up by another commenter):

Yay! I vote for no more wars, but I still get to have my life and property defended by the military others vote for... thus I subjugate my fellow citizens into paying for something from which we all benefit. Very libertarian.

Better yet is the plan to have corporate taxes pay for war, because we all know that if we raise corporate taxes, that money comes out of the profits - but only in a way that affects the CEOs and major shareholders - not employee-owned stock. Thankfully, no corporation would pass along tax hikes to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Take that, evil Republithugs!

Thoreau is a smart and interesting guy, but some of his political posts sound so off-the-cuff that they don't make sense. This definitely is one of those.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

March 19, 2008

New Black Panthers Endorse Obama?

I fear writing this on the basis of sounding like a racist, but it is too good to pass up. The New Black Panther Party has officially endorsed Barack Obama on his campaign's website. I think that everyone is entitled to choose which of the candidates to support this year, and organizations go through a lot to decide which candidate to endorse. I just have a small issue with this one.

How can a group that is self-proclaimed anti-government officially support a candidate for President? Wouldn't that be like the NRA supporting the ban of firearms? I don't get it.

Another interesting tidbit about the New Black Panther Party. If you look at their Ten Point Platform, which is what the Party stands for, number six is quite interesting:

We want all Black Men and Black Women to be exempt from military service. We believe that Black People should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that holds us captive and does not protect us.

Hey guys? You do realize military service is voluntary, right? In effect they are already exempt.

My message to the New Black Panther Party? Do what you have to do. When you do it, just make sense doing it, okay?

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 6, 2008

Stuff White People Like

This site is wonderfully funny, and it's now on our blogroll.

Be smart enough not to read the comments. The comments are pretty much a waste on most sites anyway (but not your blog, I assure you. Nor ours).

Also #27 is not funny.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 2, 2008

Dad, what’s a libertarian?

A conversation with my son, about one year ago:

Sam: Dad, what's a livertarian?

me: A libertarian is a person who believes that everybody should be allowed to do the things that they want to do. As long as they don't hurt anybody.

Sam: And you're a liver- a libertarian?

me: Yes.

Sam: Who else?

me: Most of my friends are libertarians. Mister Jon is a libertarian. Did you know that?

Sam: hmm. [pause] Maybe you and Mister Jon could be libertarians when Alex and I are playing a little rough at McDonald's. Okay?

Jon’s response via email: Priceless! So does he want us to practice our "live and let live" side, or the "stop people from hurting each other" side?

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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