we took over the world

institutions cannot have moral authority

05/30/2011

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authority can be a very valuable thing in many cases.  generally speaking, law enforcement officers work to keep people safe.  doctors work to keep people healthy.  IRS officials work to keep people honest.

people need leadership, direction and help; when those cases arise, authority can be a wonderful thing.

however, authority can also be horrific.  especially when individuals give themselves wholly to an authority that does not truly exist in the most fundamental sense of the word.

authority becomes a problem when we allow institutions to have it.  and it begs the question, why do we continue to give institutions authority when said institution has proven itself incapable of appropriate leadership?
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bailout money should have gone to individuals

05/25/2011

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during the economic collapse, our government moved quickly to inject funds into the economy in an effort to create jobs and prevent economic disaster.  the philosophy was that organizations injected with a surplus of cash would create jobs and working americans could return to doing what we've historically done best: consuming.

the problem, of course, is corporations are not, contrary to what the supreme court believes, people.  as such, they have no conscience.

with that in mind, it should come as no surprise that a large numbers of the companies that received bailout cash are behind on their taxes, to the tune of $750 million.
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there is no room in intelligent discourse for sanctimonious behavior

05/23/2011

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it happens all the time, right in front of our sometimes disgusted, but generally apathetic and unsurprised eyes.  an elected official who has preached moral superiority on the campaign trail or during his or her time in office is found guilty of the exact transgression they deem unethical.

or, at least, they've done something that directly contradicts a moral declaration they have made publicly and have tried to legislate.

what they tend to not realize until it's far too late is that hot-button issues might be great for grabbing votes from the ignorant, but there is no room for making laws based on subjective whims of conscience, at least not if you have any interest in being a good politician.
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big oil needs our help, planned parenthood can go to hell

05/18/2011

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the senate recently decided against repealing tax breaks amounting to $2 billion for the 5 largest oil companies.

one side argues that those $2 billion will help lower the deficit.

the other side says it's wasteful to spend time on legislation that will never pass.

in addition to the financial nonsense associated with this stance, the hypocrisy is just as harmful.

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model legislation might be the worst thing in american government

05/16/2011

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model legislation is a practice in which special interest groups, corporations, etc., deliberate, draft and promote bills they wrote to elected officials.  in fairness, politicians can't be blamed for this behavior taking place.  

groups and individuals constantly try to overstep their bounds in all arenas, politics is no different.

that doesn't make it okay, however, and we can blame our elected officials for the behavior of model legislation continuing.
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there's no conflict of interest here, move along

05/13/2011

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meredith attwell baker is leaving her post as FCC commissioner when her term expires in June 2011.

the biggest deal during her term as commissioner was the approval of a controversial merger between NBC Universal and Comcast.  at its worst, this merger will absolutely be an anti-trust nightmare, diluting the fair market of content distribution created by the internet.

attwell baker is leaving the FCC to become the sr. vice president of government affairs for NBC Universal.  seems she's already been working for them even while taxpayers were cutting her a paycheck.
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budgeting in our best interests

05/12/2011

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without breaking from the norm, our elected officials are ramping up for a battle over federal spending.  sticking with tradition, one group does not appear interested in the best interests of the american people.

this is becoming so egregious, it's worth addressing the above-linked reuters piece line by line.
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the government's secret budget is unacceptable

05/09/2011

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Matt Taibbi is probably the best thing contemporary american journalism has to offer.  his most recent piece talks about the unofficial national budget.  that's right, our government keeps a budget secret from us that is the same size as the monster budget with which we're all familiar.

recently, unelected government officials handed out a bunch of money to the wife of the chairman of Morgan Stanley and her "business partner", the widow of the former president of Morgan Stanley's investment banking division.

these women were given $220 million taxpayer dollars and we have to do something about it.


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protecting the institution of marriage

05/04/2011

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homosexual marriage has, in the past, been a talking point to drive voters to polls in spite of issues that really matter to the country.  bush jr. promised his base on several occasions gay marriage would never be legal in america, even dancing around conversations of constitutional amendments.

without postulating on the psychology of those for/opposed to gay marriage, a logical examination of the issue allows one to draw only one conclusion:
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apology accepted

05/02/2011

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Picture
this image doesn't belong to this website, but was too awesome to not publish.  credit goes to awesome random interneter, whoever you are.
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