About
Content
Store
Forum

Rebirth of Reason
War
People
Archives
Objectivism

Post to this threadMark all messages in this thread as readMark all messages in this thread as unreadPage 0Page 1Forward one pageLast Page


Post 0

Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 5:56amSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
That damn Bush.

Post 1

Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 10:06amSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
I'm shocked, shocked ... there are Muslims in Iraq! Guess what? It's not very different in Afghanistan.

Sanction: 11, No Sanction: 0
Sanction: 11, No Sanction: 0
Sanction: 11, No Sanction: 0
Post 2

Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 11:27amSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
RD,

Yes, that damn Bush. After the initial victory, what Iraq needed was a Polish-style transition to Capitalism, and an American-written Constitution like those we imposed on Japan and Germany. Instead, what we and the Iraqis got from the world's premier theocracy-pusher, was preservation of Saddam's Soviet-style command economy, and an Islamic republic that is bound to become more dedicated to Jihad than Saddam ever was. How long will it take to penetrate the thicker skulls around here that God-ridden government is now our main enemy, and that American God-thumpers are doing that enemy's work?

(Edited by Adam Reed
on 11/19, 9:40pm)


Post 3

Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 2:52pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
They'll have to suffer first-hand in the re-education camps of the People's Christian Republic of Amerika first, Adam.

Post 4

Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 6:37pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
RD,

yeah, Bush deserves a tiny, wee bit of responsibility for the current state of affairs in Iraq. Possibly. Maybe.

Sanction: 14, No Sanction: 0
Sanction: 14, No Sanction: 0
Sanction: 14, No Sanction: 0
Post 5

Sunday, November 20, 2005 - 6:26amSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
If one believes that all politicians are the same, it makes no difference which of them sits in the hot seat.  The personification of government shifts anger away from government per sae and fosters the inaccurate belief that if only another guy were in office it would make a difference.   Most people are stupid enough to think that if Bush would just go away their troubles would be over. How abysmally ignorant is that?


Post 6

Monday, November 21, 2005 - 12:26pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Well put, Wolf.

Ed


Post 7

Monday, November 21, 2005 - 3:52pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Thank you Ed, where have you been?

Post 8

Monday, November 21, 2005 - 4:26pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Robert D,
I agree with you to this extent: those inclined to enter government as a career, and who remain with it for some years, gradually become more alike in their corrupt views and practices.

Nevertheless, there are significant differences between individual politicians. Christopher Cox is very different from Bill Clinton who is very different from Ronald Reagan, who is very different from Barbara Boxer, who is very different from Rudy Guiliani, and so on. (And that's not counting many state and local politicians who cover more angles of the political rotunda.)

Special note: I'm not suggesting any of those above named are necessarily the sort I would like to see occupying office. I've not been satistfied since Jefferson left office, though Andrew Jackson had his good points.


Post 9

Monday, November 21, 2005 - 4:48pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
What? Ye didn't like Millard Fillmore?

Post 10

Monday, November 21, 2005 - 5:17pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Robert  M,
I confess, my knowledge of individual U.S. Presidents is very limited.


Post 11

Monday, November 21, 2005 - 7:56pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Wolf, I'm going through a transient, personal crisis at the moment. This makes me mentally "short-winded" regarding long or detailed correspondence. Also, my home computer is caput, so my posts are doubly sporadic (and I'm now "SOLOHQ-deficient" on the weekends). Sometimes I get the shakes, if I haven't been on SOLOHQ for awhile ...

Anyway, thanks for asking (it feels good to be missed, even if only casually),

Ed


Post 12

Monday, November 21, 2005 - 8:21pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Am not much better - Fillmore is remembered primarily for the Menken myth of having been the first president to put a bathtub in the white house... says a lot about the guy, doesn't it...

Post 13

Monday, November 21, 2005 - 10:30pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Says a lot ... about Fillmore or Mencken?

Sanction: 10, No Sanction: 0
Sanction: 10, No Sanction: 0
Sanction: 10, No Sanction: 0
Post 14

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 4:30pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Ed,

Sorry to hear of your difficulties.  My glass is raised in toast to a better year ahead for you.


Sanction: 5, No Sanction: 0
Sanction: 5, No Sanction: 0
Post 15

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 8:41pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Ed-
I just clinked my glass against Robert"s to sanction his sentiment. 


Post 16

Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - 2:23pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Jody & Wolf,

Thanks for the kind support, guys.

Ed
[end of thread hijack--let's go back to W's D]


Post 17

Thursday, November 24, 2005 - 5:30amSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Jeff,

The problem is systemic, and although the occasional demi-hero emerges, process continues unimpeded.  This problem in the US stems from layers of decisions made regarding the interpretation of  'provide for the general welfare', and the power to regulate interstate commerce, not to make regular as was intended, but to control.  Unless or until these aberrations are corrected individual politicians make absolutely no difference whatever.

(Edited by Robert Davison on 11/24, 3:19pm)


Post 18

Thursday, November 24, 2005 - 8:29amSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Robert D,
I respectfully disagree with the last part of your post. I agree that we have serious systemic problems. I.e. politics, and wider realms, are dominated by incorrect ideas and the consequent behavior.

Nevertheless, individual politicians can and do make a very large difference. It made a difference on 9/11 that George Bush was president rather than John Kerry. (And I'm no fan of either). It made a difference that Rudy Guiliani was mayor of New York rather than Ed Koch. (And I'm no fan of either.) It will make a difference whether Hillary Clinton is president or some middle-of-the-road dishwater libertarian-Republican, like Christopher Cox. Though in every case (Bush, Guiliani, Cox, or many others) the choice is far from ideal, the alternatives are radically worse.

When the dishwater politicians are in office, there is more time, money, etc available for propounding correct ideas and taking proper action. Less effort and attention need be spent. Freedom will be won by bits and pieces until a critical mass is achieved. The less damaging politicians do -- less damage. When someone is tearing down a dike, creating leaks you have to plug it makes a difference whether someone is using a pick ax or a bulldozer. In the meantime, others are building a new, better dam. If all hands have to attend the sandbags, none can be building that new dam.

To switch metaphors, given a choice to be bled by pin pricks or to have my arm chopped off with an ax I choose the former. That way I retain the means to increase the probability of removing the ax wielder and minimizing the manufacture of new ones.


Post 19

Thursday, November 24, 2005 - 3:24pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
To switch metaphors, given a choice to be bled by pin pricks or to have my arm chopped off with an ax I choose the former. That way I retain the means to increase the probability of removing the ax wielder and minimizing the manufacture of new ones.
Aye, therein lies the heart of the matter, I prefer the latter.  If it is inevitable you might as well get it over with.

Did you know that Shirley Temple instead of Judy Garland was almost cast in the Wizard of Oz?  What would have been the outcome do you think?



Post to this threadPage 0Page 1Forward one pageLast Page


User ID Password or create a free account.