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mrkane
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Name: Matt
Country: United States
State: Indiana
Metro: Bloomington
Gender: Male
Interests: Wine, Coffee, Politics, Live Jazz, Irish Pubs, Working Out, Sleeping, Animals, Theology, Philosophy, Reading, Cooking, Computers, Web Mining, Sci Fi, AI, Computer Security and Visualization, Surviving grad school with my liver intact
Occupation: Student
Industry: Computers (Internet)
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
4/19/2006
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| People usually don't like taxes. Half the country wants to vote for a candidate who claims (s)he'll cut taxes. After all, the government is stealing our money, right?? THEN, a tornado hits, a bridge collapses, a hurricane destroys a city, a flood overtakes a valley. What happens next? CLEARLY, if the government can't get rescuers and aid to victims within a day then the government has failed. Not being provided food, water, and shelter by the government is an absurdity.
I DO think the government should help in situations like this. What drives me nuts is reading about people who complain to no end about taxes, then expect immediate handouts from the government. They want something for free, yet expect low taxes in return, apparently not realizing that There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Let's not even get started about cutting taxes and still wanting an overly bloated military and billions set aside to produce new atomic weapons. Military supplies and intervention aren't free either.
The Ike ordeal is even more pathetic. These people were warned well in advance about the hurricane. They were told to evacuate or be on their own (and probably die). Granted, Galveston isn't exactly the most conservative city in Texas, but the point still sticks: not only do many citizens hate taxes and demand that it gets reduced, not only do they ignore warnings from the government to get the hell out of there, they still cry foul when they aren't immediately rewarded with sufficient amounts of food and water right after a terrible natural disaster.
There are a lot of articles out there about this, but here's one example:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26695458/
Brief morals of the story:
1) If your government tells you to get the hell out, do it, and don't expect immediate aid and sympathy if you ignore the warnings.
2) Don't complain about taxes if you expect the government to instantaneously help you after a disaster strikes. Rescuers and aid aren't free.
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| First it was 100 years... http://youtube.com/watch?v=VFknKVjuyNk
Then, it was 2013... http://youtube.com/watch?v=jqAZ1UojZn0
NOW, he says 16 months is a good timetable... http://youtube.com/watch?v=5mvk_NV8-L4
While I'm sure Obama is flattered that McCain decided to switch his position and follow Obama, it amazes me that McCain could spend years arguing that timetables embolden the enemy and guarantee failure, then says something like this on national TV. The more McCain looks like an idiot on foreign policy (by far his best issue, or so the media would make you believe), the more amazed I am that his campaign hasn't imploded yet.
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| As if his Sunni/Shiite confusion (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/18/780688.aspx) wasn't bad enough, now McCain has forgotten about a little country between Iraq and Pakistan called Iran:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/21/mccain-warns-of-hard-struggle-on-the-iraq-pakistan-border/
Here is one possible interpretation for such a mistake:
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_iraqpakistan_border.php
Seriously, I thought foreign policy was supposed to be McCain's area of expertise? He's already admitted he doesn't feel very comfortable talking about the economy, so foreign policy was supposed to his key to a winning ticket. Perhaps he has dementia?
Okay, I'll give McCain the benefit of the doubt. I'll assume he actually meant the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Osama bin Laden is likely in that area, as well as a strengthening Taliban. Or am I being too generous?
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| http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/21/sean-hannity-gets-100-mil_n_114026.html
The fact that this media company thinks both Sean and Rush are worth this much money disgusts me. Look at the bright side, perhaps advertising revenue will dry up and the company will go bankrupt.
These guys are mere entertainers, not journalists. Real reporters and commentators don't get these kinds of deals, only actors. But hey, they're both college dropouts, so you should never give up on your dreams! I confess to listening to these guys on occasion, mainly to add some laughter to my day. The problem, though, is that many listeners actually take these guys seriously and use them as their primary information source. 
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| A recent Newsweek poll found that 26% of the country believe Obama is a Muslim and 12% believe he was sworn in on the Quran. Where on Earth do these people get their ideas? Fox Noise? Rush Limbaugh? | | |
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