What a Black Man Can Say That A White Man Can't...

I happened across Don Lemon's video, it was very interesting.  He makes a lot of sense to me.  Bill O'Reilly's comments were likely considered "racist" since he is a white guy...  Now what to think when Don Lemon, a black guy, agrees with him in many areas and goes even further.
CNN Don Lemon's 5 Things to Think About Video

It reminds me of my friend who immigrated from Ethiopia, learned English and earned an Engineering degree.  He was explaining to me the guff he got/gets from others of his own skin color who still see themselves as  limited / stuck, and how it frustrates him since he knows the solution is readily available to them if they get out of their own way and get to work.  Repeatedly he has expressed gratitude for all of the programs ear marked for minorities that helped him get his degree.

Watch the FOX video closely.  They have African American guests who have very different ideas on the issues.  I of course like the guy from Georgetown.
Is Fear of Robbery Racist?
The Real Black Issues
FOX News Problems Facing Problems
10 Biggest Problems Facing African Americans

Thoughts?

More Fun in Israel Palestine

Every time the Israel Palestine conflict comes up, I think of one of my favorite books.  " The Anatomy of Peace"...  It's back story is that one of the counselors is from Israel and the other is from Palestine.  They both hated the "other side" until they learned the truth about collusion.

With that in mind, do you think that the people in Israel understand their role in continuing the conflict that they say they hate?  And do you think the people in Palestine understand their role in continuing the conflict they say they hate?  Do you see any pending change coming that will improve the situation????

CNN Peace Talks
Anatomy of Peace Slides
Peace Players International
Tips for Well Being

Lame Duck President for 3.5 Years?

I am kind of betting that little will be done over the next 3+ years...  Though it does seems like we will be enjoying a lot of theatrics from both sides...  I sure hope the economy keeps improving despite or because of our "disfunctional" government.

Anyone out there have high hopes that things will change?

CNN Obama for Working Class Americans
Fox News Discontent Continues
Fox News Obama Rationalizing
USA Today Obama Vows

Originally I wrote 2.5 years...  Has it really only been 6 months...  It feels like at least 18 months...

Let's Get Ready To Rumble in Syria

I kind of wonder what the Russians and American peace lovers think of Obama right now?  Personally I find it amusing that Obama is following in the footsteps of Bush, Clinton & Bush.  Though I was just fine letting the 2 sides fight it out.  Thoughts?

CNN Obama to Arm Rebels
USA Today US to Ship Arms to Syria Rebels
Daily Kos Arming Syrian Rebels
Fox News Dempsey Outlines Syria Options
Fox News Obama's End Game
Fox News Iraq Cannot Stop Iran Arms Transfer
WAPO Approves Arms Aid

Transparency and Spying, Really???

Well apparently Senator Franken thinks our spies should share their techniques and methods...  Which of course makes little or no sense to me.  And apparently some folks think we need the NSA to curtail their activities.   What do you think?

And please note I linked to sources from across the bias spectrum.  Which is ironic since historically this seems to be a topic where the far right and left come together...

CNN Need Transparency Regarding Spying: Franken
CNN Concerned by Proposed NSA Limits
Fox News NSA Chief Lobbies Lawmakers
Fox News House Considers Limits
Mother Jones Vote to Defund
Mother Jones NSA Surveillance Programs
Daily Kos Vote on Curtailing NSA's Power

You Can't Handle The Truth !!!

 Laurie made the following idea comment on G2A Affirmative Action:

"Here is a new topic for you, John, if you are interested; Should or will Reid pursue Filibuster reform in the senate.

Mitch McConnell’s problem: How can he threaten to obstruct the Senate even more? 

I am finding what I is most interesting to me in reading your blog are attempts to deny or defend conservatism and the GOP in every instance. In this case I expect denial that the current GOP has been the most obstructionist senate in modern history (or ever.)

If you don't like that topic you could try your hand at defending conservative media with some weak claim that mainstream liberal media is no different (without any comparable examples of course).

How the Conservative Media Are Eating Up the Zimmerman Trial" Laurie

 To which I replied:

"I think you would only feel folks were in the middle if they capitulated and did what you believe is correct. It seems anyone that disagrees with you is "Conservative"."

To give some perspective and history, browse these:
G2A Eulogy Exercise
G2A Beliefs, Environment and Choices
G2A Snopes and Relativity
G2A Could I Be Mistaken?

Now with this in mind:

• What is the TRUTH?
• Where can one get the TRUTH?
• How would one prove it is the TRUTH?
• What is a FACT?
• Where can one get the FACTS?
• How would one know it is a FACT?
• How would evaluate BIAS?
• How would one balance the bias of different sources?

See my hard Left Liberal friends think Mother Jones, The Progressive, Daily Kos, Mn Prog Project, etc are news sources that tell the TRUTH, and all others are suspect or despicable liars out to serve some nefarious agenda... 

My hard Right Conservative friends think Rush, FOX News, Daily Caller, True North, etc are news sources that tell the TRUTH, and all others are suspect or despicable liars out to serve some nefarious agenda.

Then there are other "main stream" news sources like CNN, the Star Tribune, etc who get pummelled by both sides for conspiring with the enemy...  They just can't get no respect...

So if you were an alien who is new to Earth, one actually from outer space this time, where would you go to get the TRUTH and FACTS regarding our politics, economics, social issues, etc?

For extra credit, what about international issues, etc?  Or do the US news sources have the only truth regarding our planets reality?

Thoughts?

Zimmerman, Martin, SYG and Florida

What are your thoughts on this topic?  I am all commented out from my comments at MPP.  (see links)  So here are questions for thought:

• Was the jury racially biased or did they call it fairly?
• Did the prosecution screw up by going for murder instead of man slaughter?
• Did they go for murder because of the political pressure?
• Do you think Zimmerman had intent to kill Martin?
• Could Martin have done something different to de-escalate the situation, or is the escalation and disaster all on Zimmerman?
• Will anything change due to this disaster?
• Are the Zimmerman and Alexander the same or different? How?
• Other?

Rat's comments says it all for me... "I really can’t comment on the particulars of the other case. I’ve barely followed the one we’re talking about. I wasn’t on the scene or in the courtroom to see all the evidence and hear all the arguments. It seemed to me, the jury had several ways to convict Zimmerman and they couldn’t, in good conscience, do it. It was a sad case, and I’m sure a difficult decision for them. But I respect it."

MPP: SYG - White Hunting Privilege
MPP: Zimmerman Verdict Tragedy
MPP: Most FL Thieves are White
Daily KOS: 3 Facts should have Convicted
CNN: Fast Facts
Newsday: Disagree with Jury - Study the Facts
MI Radio: Stand Your Ground
USA: Stand Your Ground
NPR Stand Your Ground

FoxNews: Marissa Alexander
Huff Post: Marissa Alexander

What is the "Best Value" ?

Laurie and I have been having an interesting dialogue.(links below)  My perception is that she would like the Government to forcefully raise wages for American workers, punish companies that move jobs overseas, encourage the purchase of American Made products, take money from the "rich" to pay for it, mandate more expensive pollution control measures, etc. (ie the typical Liberal position...)  And it seems to me that she thinks the "rich" should pay more than the market requires to their employees.  Then she says something like this and I get so confused...

"I think our country needs a stronger, more comprehensive economic plan that buy American made products." Laurie  

"Now help me with this... "plan that buy American made products""  John 

"About buying an American car- I have nothing new to say. I prefer the best value on a car with less environmental impact." Laurie

Here are some questions that I have:

• What does "best value" mean? 
• Best for who? (See Eric's short sighted comment to me)
• Is it all about what is the "best value" for my wallet, or something more?
• Is it ok for "normal" people to seek the "best value" while insisting that the "rich" pay more than is necessary?  Or hypocritical?
• How about insisting that companies and/or the "rich" who ship jobs over seas are evil, self centered, etc monsters that need to be stopped while happily purchasing products that have almost 0% domestic development or manufactured content themselves?
• How would one evaluate "less environmental impact"?
• Is mpg the only measure? 
• What about manufacturing pollution in low cost countries?  Disposal of components?

 Now I respect Laurie's choice and am happy that she loves her car.  It sounds like they are a great value, probably have excellent quality, a low price, etc.

Yet this Liberal inconsistency of preaching that "they" need to be controlled and punished for sending jobs overseas and decimating Unions, while happily insisting that "we" get to still drive our fashionable VW, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Toyota, Scion, Lexus, Yaris, Honda, Acura, Subaru, Nissan, Infiniti, Hyundai, etc cars because "we" want the best value for "our" wallet frustrates me to no end.

Thoughts?

G2A Where was Your Car Built?
G2A Burying Supply Side Economics?
G2A Prius vs Volt  FYI we had a recent comment from Richard in AZ on this post.

Is Affirmative Action Good or Bad?

Dog Gone at MPP and I are disagreeing again.  Go figure... 

Dog seems to think that our US Supreme Court is incompetent and has been played by those despicable Conservatives who are supposedly out to keep the unfortunate folks down.... 

"It seems a pretty fair statement that the angry white guy who funded this court case, one of many, wants to reverse the gains made by anyone who is not white, and affluent.  The anger at diversity, the anger in support of white supremacy, has been well documented on the right.  This is that hatred made manifest.  They want white domination, and to hinder minority competition, in every way they can." Dog Gone

Of course, I tend to have a bit more faith in our US Supreme Court.  I may not always agree with their rulings, however I am pretty sure they base their rulings on pretty complete information.  I mean they have both sides presenting their case as thoroughly as they can, and Lord knows they can get their every question answered.

MPP SCOTUS Decision Based on Lies  (I'd skim the post and read the comments...  They are more interesting)

• What do you think?
• Were the Justices played? 
• Is Dog smarter and less biased than some of America's most respected citizens?
• Is reverse discrimination / affirmative action a good / necessary thing? 
• Should it be discontinued?  When? 
• Should we encourage placing less qualified students in our best colleges and universities? Is it good or bad for America? Rationale?
• How can we eliminate the achievement gap and make this a non-issue? 
• Other?

Ironically I was just discussing a similar topic with a friend of mine who immigrated about ~8 years ago from an African country.  He worked very hard, learned the language, attended community college and then graduated with an engineering degree.  And yes his skin color is very dark, yet to me that does not matter.  What matters is that he wants the American dream, and has the determination and discipline to work for it.  Now to me that is what should be rewarded, not whether someone is black, white, Hispanic, male, female, Jewish, Christian, etc...  If we want a color blind country, then let's have one...

St Jewish Light Who Won AA Case
Dallas News Victory in Affirmative Action Case
HP Affirmative Action Case
The American Prospect AA's Ominous Future

G2A Blame vs Contributions
G2A Poor Kids Stupid or Unlucky?
G2A Why Are Poor People Poor?

ObamaCare Delay

No time today.  So Thoughts?

CNN Penalty Delay No Big Deal
CNN Business Wins We Lose
FOX News Subsidy Changes
FOX News Congress Questions Authority to Delay

Where Was Your Car Built?

I thought the AALA list was pretty interesting.  Only ~2+ pages of the 14 pages had 50% of their build content listed as USA/Canada...  And even the Volt came in at only 45%... (ie components from Japan/Korea)

Remember that build content is less than 50% of what you pay... 

AALA 2013 Listed By Percent
G2A GM Tops in Quality
G2A Prius vs Volt

Burying Supply Side Economics?

Laurie,
After skimming the article, this one is all yours...  Why should we believe this individual?  Her resume indicates she is about as biased a source as one could find.  Thoughts?

Democracy: Burying Supply Side Economics
Wiki Neera Tanden
Center of American Progress Neera Tanden

More on Supply Side Economics
Wiki Supply Side Economics
About: SSE
Forbes: SSE
VDare: SSE

In Mr Holt's words, it seems she is cherry picking...  Especially when she is trying to draw "causation" in the middle of a rapidly changing world where global competition is changing everything.

I think it may be easy to find some interesting "correlations".  However to prove "causation" seems pretty difficult...

G2A Causation vs Correlation

Edward Snowden: Hero or Villain?

I know you will find this surprising, but Grace and I have opposing views regarding a topic...  MPP Star Tribune Biased Again  Go figure...  (see comments for our dialogue)

Grace seems to see Edward Snowden as a whistle blowing hero who has stood up for our personal freedom and privacy against "Big Brother".  Whereas I see him as villain who leaked very sensitive information, while he resides in countries that are not necessarily friendly to the US or her citizens, that may cost the lives of American citizens.  If he had used the "whistle blower protocols" and stayed in the USA, I may have peceived him differently, but he didn't...

I am kind of thinking this is one of the topics where the extreme Right and extreme Left actually share a common view. That being that privacy is more important than national security and the safety of us citizens.  Am I correct?

If the 9/11 attacks could have been prevented via the NSA monitoring, would the trade of be worth it?  Why or why not?

A side topic that also came up is that Grace seems to fear "big government" monitoring, whereas she supports "big government" wealth transfer, regulations, healthcare, etc...  And of course I see the monitoring as not a big deal, and am against all the government fingers acting in our personal lives.  Thoughts?

I Am So Impressed !!!

Well I spent the last 2+ days preparing my home and yard to host a graduation party for my oldest daughter.  And the weather certainly was NOT cooperative!!!  2 nights in a row storms knocked down trees and branches that had to be cut, picked up and disposed of.  Thankfully our only casualty was my chain link fence where the neighbor's tree landed on it...  On the upside, I was planning to put a gate on that side, the tree just helped me decide where...  Well enough about the trials, I want to focus on the tribulations.

Sometimes my lovely daughter questions how proud I am of her.  I mean since I question some of her choices, express concerns about her housekeeping, and wonder about some of her financial priorities...  You know the typical things that good parents do.

For the record, I want to say that I believe my daughter is smart, beautiful, capable and simply incredible.  She pursued challenging curriculum and graduated with high honors while active in 2 sports.  Now she is headed to Iowa State in Ames to pursue a Chemical Engineering degree.  I am SO IMPRESSED with my daughter and I love her very much !!!

By the way, the party went GREAT and it did not get rained out.  Thank heavens for that, and my lovely daughter !!!

Farm Bill Defeated

I have to give Dan at MPP credit for drawing my attention to this. MPP Farm Bill Defeated  Unfortunately I apparently CAPS locked myself into getting locked out of their system.  (oops)  Hopefully it clears sometime, until then I figured I'd post my thoughts here.

CNN Farm Bill
FOX News Farm Bill
WP Farm Bill

I found Dan's summary most amusing:

"Though the proposed slashing of aid to those that need it most got the bulk of the attention, and rightly so, this bill was on the whole primarily a shameless gift to corporate ag and therefore replete with disastrous policy. Its underpinning, massive reliance on taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance programs, meant the continued plowing up of conservation lands and farmland price bubble-mongering, just for starters." (Dan Burns)

I mean $743,900,000 or 79.2% goes to food stamps and nutrition. (see WP link)  This huge gift / wealth transfer belongs in the Health and Human Services budget, since it is truly welfare.  And here he is chastising folks for having actual agriculture expenditures in the Farm Bill, go figure...

Now what do you think people would say if we actually moved all of the "welfare" money into the same bucket?  I am thinking that people would be shocked to see how many of their tax dollars go there...

And CNN said "House Democrats who opposed both the cuts to those food stamp programs and a GOP-backed amendment that added new work requirements for those applying for assistance."  Now I can understand their not wanting the cuts, but to fight ensuring that the people really deserve this free money.  C'mon now...

I think it is time for that Pelosi video again...

Thoughts?