tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post4523874987654103241..comments2024-03-18T21:52:45.757-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: The political circusDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-11699509107243312182015-11-23T20:04:08.884-08:002015-11-23T20:04:08.884-08:00I think the rise of the Donald may the event defin...I think the rise of the Donald may the event defining the 21st century. Dave I hope Trump is not the event of the fifteenth year you keep talking about. A regressive income tax, roundups of minorities, the handicapped etc are coming. Nazi Amerika here we come. <br />And yes I'm on the list of people who will be eliminated by several criteria.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65382385052624967482015-11-10T16:45:16.128-08:002015-11-10T16:45:16.128-08:00Hi Berial
I do not see what is wrong with simple ...Hi Berial<br /><br />I do not see what is wrong with simple paper ballots and hand counting <br /><br />If you have more voters then you can afford more countersduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83317052498217671042015-11-10T07:13:17.443-08:002015-11-10T07:13:17.443-08:00There really does need to be more oversight of vot...There really does need to be more oversight of voting machines and I'd be fine with that oversight in all states, but especially the red ones. I live in a very VERY red state and I've been upset with our voting machines since they introduced them. We at least need some poll workers to show a count of voters that have passed through their post and compare numbers of votes because THERE IS NO WAY TO VERIFY A VOTE! NONE!<br /><br />After making my selections the computer displays my selections, I hit the 'accept' button and then....am told to go away, because my vote has been recorded. NO paper trail. NOTHING except an entry in a database or spreadsheet on that voting machine. Something so simple to cheat as to be trivial. This is so simply subverted that is should be ILLEGAL! <br /><br />What I REALLY don't understand is all these 'small/anti-government' people in this state hate everything about government 'corruption and 'getting in their way' and yet they completely accept this mode of voting? I guess as long as team red keeps winning they'll be satisfied.Berialnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-42654538815488979782015-11-09T16:25:53.080-08:002015-11-09T16:25:53.080-08:00Gerrymandering
The easiest (and fairest) way is s...Gerrymandering<br /><br />The easiest (and fairest) way is some form of proportional representation<br /><br />First Past the Post is a terrible way of selecting a governmentduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68338299319034633532015-11-09T16:01:52.053-08:002015-11-09T16:01:52.053-08:00DF I have described many ways to elim gerrymanderi...DF I have described many ways to elim gerrymandering. But my own is way-simple. Let the legislature gerry to their hearts content, so long as:<br /><br />1) the area to perimeter ratio does not fall below some generally accepted minimum, and<br /><br />2) the boundaries of districts for state senate, assembly and congress must have the least possible overlap. They must be maximally different from each other. <br /><br />Now have fun. Gerrymander your way into perfect job security in the Assembly. You'll not succeed in thew other two.<br /><br />No onward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30230797721880893822015-11-09T13:28:38.917-08:002015-11-09T13:28:38.917-08:00By the end of this year I would like to see three ...By the end of this year I would like to see three people in prison: Bill Cosby, Matt Bevin and Chris Christie. That stooges for Bevin stole the Kentucky race (and will try the same very soon in Louisiana) is a given, but in such a visible, off-year election? That is ballsy! My theory is that Matt Bevin was probably going to squeak by with a narrow win, but his handlers panicked and decided to use some of the voting machine backdoors meant for the 2016 General Election. Either this was a fuckup by some Kentucky GOP underlings or a "test run" to see how far the Conservative Confederate Party can nudge a race without getting caught.<br /><br />Regardless of which Klown wins the Konfederate Klown Kar race, the Democratic candidate will have too sharp of a lead in Electoral College to be defeated in a fair fight. Hell even the usual amount of COP cheating will only narrow their inevitable defeat at the hands of Hillary or Bernie (or even Martin O'Malley!). So the Grand WIzards of the Konservative Konfederate Party know they will have to cheat BIG if they want to roll back the progress made by President Obama.<br /><br />We will have to fight tooth and nail to keep that from happening. The next Democratic president could put solar panels on every Federal building, push through an Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote for every citizen, and bestowing statehood on the residents of DC and Puerto Rico. Our glorious flag sure would look handsome with a few new stars on that field of blue!<br /><br />-AtomicZeppelinManAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-43376453489643880372015-11-09T12:34:16.368-08:002015-11-09T12:34:16.368-08:00Paul SB:
Paul SB:
Catfish Á la Mâconnaise
(Catfis...Paul SB:<br />Paul SB:<br /><i><br />Catfish Á la Mâconnaise<br />(Catfish in Red Wine Sauce)<br />...<br /></i><br />Paul, as you are at least passing familiar with comic books, I can say that your posting this reciepe reminds me of the early issues of Howard Chaykin's "American Flagg!" comic in the 1980s, in which recipes for the food that Flagg was preparing appeared elsewhere in the book.<br /><br />Good times.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73422051039939417192015-11-09T10:16:17.172-08:002015-11-09T10:16:17.172-08:00locumranch,
I never though I would thank you for ...locumranch,<br /><br />I never though I would thank you for anything but life still amazes me. You accuse me of "youthful exuberance". I am a 62 year-old man and you just gave me the best compliment a man my age can receive! I certainly hope I can keep this "exuberance" to the end of my life.<br /><br />As for "going Gault" I well know that it has been explored very much by many people but it still comes down to the same thing. Basing what you want to be on a fictional character just makes you a shadow of that character and since the character itself is fictional it just means you are shadow of a shadow. You are two orders removed from reality but if that is what you need to survive then I have no objections. After all it is your life. <br /><br />As for what I said to Anonymous you got it all wrong as usual. Anonymous sounds <br />like he is going through an existential crisis and all I said is let it run through its course and hopefully in the end he will believe in something, it does not matter if he believes in God or in Atheism or even in flying saucers as long as he believes in something that helps him find meaning in existence. Surely you can understand that. Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74363992211559809432015-11-09T09:45:21.987-08:002015-11-09T09:45:21.987-08:00Same stuff happening in WI. Apparently, it's n...Same stuff happening in WI. Apparently, it's not 'fair' to keep DMV and other offices open later hours in communities that can afford it. Very bad, zero-sum thinking.raitonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-46862805538576439962015-11-09T09:25:35.616-08:002015-11-09T09:25:35.616-08:00Regarding the closed DMV branches in Alabama, the ...Regarding the closed DMV branches in Alabama, the truth may be more complicated. The percentages of blacks in those counties might actually not be higher than in other counties.<br /><br />That said, I am still very suspicious. And at a minimum it will hurt all lower income people generally.<br /><br />http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/10/closer-look-alabamas-driver-license-office-closuresAndyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10918881673638295065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71756683028271700412015-11-09T09:25:14.126-08:002015-11-09T09:25:14.126-08:00Not to discount the youthful exuberance of Douglas...<br /><br /><br />Not to discount the youthful exuberance of Douglas, but the idea of 'Going Galt' (of self-separation & opting out of uncivil society) goes by many names, predates Ayn Rand by millennia, has been offered up as a solution to worldly strife by the likes of Hawthorne, Fielding, Johnson & Shakespeare and almost every paradisiacal religion, and is currently referred to in the contemporary western lexicon as 'retirement', and I highly recommend it, especially if you wish to escape the fate of Boxer from 'Animal Farm'. Either way, GK Chesterton is an old cynic who I approve of wholeheartedly.<br /><br />Best<br />______<br /><br />"You are just going through an existential crisis and questioning your deep beliefs" in Atheism?? As if Atheism represents a "deep (religious) belief". Such foolish credulism is appropriate only for children. Whereas I (and others) find the concept of God useful in the prevention of infinite regression, Anon's rejection and/or acceptance of the Church of Atheism is none of our concern, just as our beliefs are none of his.locumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74805792188816824022015-11-09T08:16:04.378-08:002015-11-09T08:16:04.378-08:00Anonymous,
You are just going through an existent...Anonymous,<br /><br />You are just going through an existential crisis and questioning your deep beliefs. When you get to the other side you will hopefully have a better foundation on which you build your life.Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54490913405802567462015-11-09T07:37:30.862-08:002015-11-09T07:37:30.862-08:00How do you explain me? I started questioning my at...How do you explain me? I started questioning my atheism based on my reading of scientific article. My first question hit me like a baseball bat. I read that scientists were claiming that there are more stars in the Universe than grains of sand on the earth. I have visited several places with tons of sand, river banks, beaches, deserts and dunes, which caused me to realize how insignificant I really am. Can I state with any authority that there is NO GOD? I read a paper describing the human body and all of its complex functions and made me question my belief in evolution. How could a handful of pond scum have evolved to a human body? There are many more readings but I feel too inferior to say there is or isn't a God.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-516060388640097252015-11-09T07:36:52.539-08:002015-11-09T07:36:52.539-08:00Douglas Fenton
I see Canada uses a similar system....Douglas Fenton<br />I see Canada uses a similar system. It has good acceptance in Australia and generally works well (but it has the advantage of building on historically reasonable boundaries). I could not find out how the appointment decision is made, but it is announced by a government minister, but the appointments are meant to be non-partisan. I haven't ever heard of anybody trying to make the electoral commission partisan but it is a good question as to what is to stop them (it may of course be subject to legal challenge). I suspect the appointment is generally made on the basis of government recommendation subject to leader of the opposition veto.reasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958786975015285323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-50636246025033457502015-11-09T07:16:34.786-08:002015-11-09T07:16:34.786-08:00reason,
I looked it over and it seems to be a goo...reason,<br /><br />I looked it over and it seems to be a good system. Whether it can be imported into the US is a different matter. From the document I see that the commission is made up by high civil servants that are appointed. Who appoints them and for how long and do they come under political pressure? Something like this could be introduced by one of the smaller, more homogenous states and see how it works. If it does then referendums to do the same thing in other states could be the way to overcome resistance from entrenched political parties. Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31127162634020636742015-11-09T06:30:51.007-08:002015-11-09T06:30:51.007-08:00oops
For Douglas Fenton, do be clear I meant Elect...oops<br />For Douglas Fenton, do be clear I meant Electoral Redistribution (Australian term, or if you like redistricting).reasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958786975015285323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78112375394945212652015-11-09T06:28:38.336-08:002015-11-09T06:28:38.336-08:00Duncan Cairncross
"IMHO the best way to fix t...Duncan Cairncross<br />"IMHO the best way to fix this is to feed money and resources to ALL of the poor - be totally colour blind but spend the amount of money that is required to redress the historic wrong<br />If slavery earned the early USA $20Trillion in 2015 money then that much money should be spent on all of the US poor"<br /><br />YES!!!! Somebody who gets it. Make the system redistributive and let the system work it out. Pass go and collect $200.<br /><br />Douglas Fenton<br />Re The Chesterton argument - to be honest I think other countries DO have pretty good answers to the redistribution question. I take it you are American. Americans often seem to have a "not invented here" problem. Smaller countries are used to looking at how other countries solve the same problem. For instance in Australia there is an independent electoral commission that redraws the boundaries based on fairly strict guidelines: http://www.aec.gov.au/electorates/Redistributions/steps.htm<br /><br />Nothing is fail safe, but good process can sure make a difference, and giving up before you start is a good way to ensure failure.<br /><br />reasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958786975015285323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68268786108119649872015-11-09T04:34:49.067-08:002015-11-09T04:34:49.067-08:00Catfish and Cod,
Good points! The Founders did no...Catfish and Cod,<br /><br />Good points! The Founders did not know how to make the right fence but they knew a fence was necessary, that it was something good, so we need to mend the fence and not tear it down before having a good idea on what would replace it.Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-70167354586375382532015-11-09T04:03:40.039-08:002015-11-09T04:03:40.039-08:00Duncan:
"Anybody trying to treat the Maori t...Duncan: <br />"Anybody trying to treat the Maori the way your Negros were treated would have ended up in the cook-pot" -- But the parallel to the Maori are not African-Americans, they're Native Americans. And honestly I have long admired your (not perfect but much better) relations in that respect, ever since our gracious host brought the Maori to my attention in EARTH.<br /><br />"If slavery earned the early USA $20Trillion in 2015 money then that much money should be spent on all of the US poor" -- There just isn't the will to sustain that much of a transfer for that reason; it feels like a violation of equality of opportunity, no matter whether it is or not. Attempts in the 1870s, 1930s, and 1970s to do that sort of thing all fell flat.<br /><br />"Before you do that you do need to fix your justice system so everybody is treated roughly equal now" -- Conversely, there IS the will to fix the justice system -- for fiscal reasons (keeping this much of the population incarcerated is expensive), social justice reasons (the unfairness of racial profiling), and safety reasons (no one wants out-of-control cops).<br /><br />Douglas: The problem with your Chesterton argument is that the Founders did not actually HAVE experience to draw upon when determining good boundaries. NO ONE had attempted electoral districts on this scale before in the whole history of the world! It was one of the reasons many observers inside and outside America were skeptical that the Federal Republic would work at all. <br /><br />American state legislatures had operated by apportioning by county, town, or city boundaries, a method that used land productivity and the speed of a horse to roughly ensure reasonable boundaries. It was trusted that representatives governing themselves and routinely redistricting would avoid the apportionment problem they knew -- that of "rotten boroughs", where failing to reapportion for centuries led to ludicrous districts where seven people in a dead township could elect two representatives but thousands in a new industrial city elected just one. The manipulation possible when districts are freely mutable over populations of hundreds of thousands were not imagined; for the Founders, that space would encompass entire states!<br /><br />Since they knew they were ignorant, they left the decision on districting to state legislatures, hoping experimentation would lead to new insights. And that is why your Chestertonian argument fails; the fence was built in this manner because <i>they did not know how to build a proper fence</i>. In such a case, rebuilding the fence is virtually mandatory.<br /><br />Paul: Thanks! I'll try it this week.Catfish N. Codnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-26937018134956967832015-11-09T03:52:48.717-08:002015-11-09T03:52:48.717-08:00Jumper,
He often used humor to help make his poin...Jumper,<br /><br />He often used humor to help make his point. G.K. Chesterton was a master at paradox questions. I think you would like his essay "The Twelve Men".<br /><br />You can find it here:<br /><br />http://www.chesterton.org/twelve-men/Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82769044384248257272015-11-09T03:39:20.900-08:002015-11-09T03:39:20.900-08:00That's great, Douglas, thanks! Especially &quo...That's great, Douglas, thanks! Especially " There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease." Made me laugh.<br />It's in line with what I note often as "wheel re-invention." For example "stand your ground" laws. Common law used to say if you are the only one with a gun, you say there was a fight, you are left alive to tell the story and the other man is dead from your bullet, unable to tell his side, and no other witnesses, you will be indicted. Wheel re-inventers think their short time pondering this enables them to come up with a better plan. Because all their fathers were fools.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53464686926964031322015-11-09T02:37:00.931-08:002015-11-09T02:37:00.931-08:00"I don't believe they are consciously pra..."<i>I don't believe they are consciously practicing doublethink, knowingly accepting the implication that the blacks they are keeping out are true competition for their own kind.</i>"<br /><br />Yes and no.<br />As I said, I've heard some nasty shit from upperclassmen (like declaration that lack of firepower was the only thing stopping the underclass from genociding the upper-class), and the existence of parasitic <b>individuals</b> is readily acknowledged: the big taboo, the one thing that's virtually never admitted is that that excessive concentration of wealth and privileges along dynastic lines <b>will</b> produce systemic parasitism.<br /><br />I'd say the phenomenon is more akin to groupthink than doublethink (yea for obtuse jargon!): that is: virtually everyone realize on an individual level what's happening, but nobody wants to be the first to point out the obvious from fear of having everyone else ganging up on them. The problem with mob mentality is not that people become stupid in groups: it's that more often than not they end up doing stupid things despite knowing better because they dread the consequences of rocking the boat.Laurent Weppenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36289052670554773832015-11-09T02:34:27.926-08:002015-11-09T02:34:27.926-08:00I think most people here would like to eliminate g...I think most people here would like to eliminate gerrymandering but what do we replace it with? Is there some type of automatic system that can be set up that takes into account changes in population and that would also guarantee fairness? I don’t see one on the horizon and an automatic system that can’t be changed can also over time creates its own distortions. If we change this system then we have to be very careful about what we change it into. I will not try to develop this idea because someone else has already done in it in a much better way than I could. <br /><br />In 1929 J. K. Chesterton wrote on the paradox of reform:<br /><br />“In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."<br /><br />This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulists who built it in their sleep. It is highly improbable that it was put there by escaped lunatics who were for some reason loose in the street. Some person had some reason for thinking it would be a good thing for somebody. And until we know what the reason was, we really cannot judge whether the reason was reasonable. It is extremely probable that we have overlooked some whole aspect of the question, if something set up by human beings like ourselves seems to be entirely meaningless and mysterious. There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease. But the truth is that nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really seen it as an historical institution. If he knows how it arose, and what purposes it was supposed to serve, he may really be able to say that they were bad purposes, that they have since become bad purposes, or that they are purposes which are no longer served. But if he simply stares at the thing as a senseless monstrosity that has somehow sprung up in his path, it is he and not the traditionalist who is suffering from an illusion.”<br /><br />Think about this a moment and come up with the reasons why the Founders set up this system which takes into account changes in population and its consequences on representation and then maybe we can discuss reforming it.<br />Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-48432187541041292872015-11-09T00:18:19.840-08:002015-11-09T00:18:19.840-08:00locumranch,
You said:
“Of course, some of us wil...locumranch,<br /><br />You said:<br /><br />“Of course, some of us will choose to 'Go Galt' and withdraw politely from impolite society (which has always been my intent),”<br /><br /> <br />So you want to “Go Gault”. You think you can be Gault by talking like him, dressing like him, walking like him and so forth thereby becoming him, the truly superior being above all the rest. What you want to be is a character in a book who never existed in reality. Ayn Rand made Gault up and gave him the qualities she wanted, put him into situations she wanted and wrote in the ending she wanted him to have. He is artificial from A to Z. This is unreal. If you want to emulate someone why don’t you choose somebody who really existed and who had to contend with the actual world with all its trials, contradictions, compromises, failures and successes? There are so many to choose from but I guess that would be too hard for you to do even although it would be much more valuable to you as a person to model yourself after a real individual. You are precisely like those people who dress up as Jedi Knights secretly hoping that by mimicking one in every detail that they will become one with all the Jedi powers. You are a wannabe of an imaginary character who never existed! Why not go for Batman or Indian Jones since we are at it? It’s the same thing. Pathetic!<br />Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1363110569042511942015-11-08T21:20:52.670-08:002015-11-08T21:20:52.670-08:00Racism
We have a relatively minor racism problem ...Racism<br /><br />We have a relatively minor racism problem here <br />(Anybody trying to treat the Maori the way your Negros were treated would have ended up in the cook-pot)<br />But we do have a period when the white settlers were able to steal from the locals leading to the Maori now owning much less of the country than they should.<br /><br />It's too late to fix it - the winners and losers are all dead<br /><br />Attempting to "fix it" by positive action in favor of the Maori hits a speed bump<br />Any positive discrimination just goes to feed the prejudice of the badly off "Pakeha" <br /><br />IMHO the best way to fix this is to feed money and resources to ALL of the poor - be totally color blind but spend the amount of money that is required to redress the historic wrong<br />If slavery earned the early USA $20Trillion in 2015 money then that much money should be spent on all of the US poor<br /><br />Before you do that you do need to fix your justice system so everybody is treated roughly equal now<br /> <br /><br />duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.com