Scragged - All Comments

re: How To Lie with Poverty Statistics

jonyfries — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:50:04 GMT

You stated in the article that some will be rich and successful and some will be poor and failures. There is the option of being rich and a failure as well as being poor and a success. It all depends on what your goals are.

re: How To Lie with Poverty Statistics

Petrarch — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:44:23 GMT

I do believe this has been repeatedly pointed out before, but for those of you still deluded enough as to think Scragged worships the Republican party, you have only to read our endorsement article for the 2008 Presidential election:

http://scragged.com/articles/scraggeds-endorsement-for-president.aspx

As far as MORAL examples go, John Calvin (a theologian, minister, and sometime public leader) is arguably a better one than Thomas Jefferson (whom, liberals claim, impregnated an enslaved girl in his possession.) Or does sexual immorality not count as wrong in liberals' eyes?

As POLITICAL leaders go, naturally I'd vote for Jefferson. But that's a different question entirely.

re: How To Lie with Poverty Statistics

irvnx — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:24:26 GMT

this begs the question that there is no need for right-wing, liberty-hating, anti-capitalist Republicans either, especially ones from Texas.. you would make an excellent lassiez-faire educator, except for your penchant for thinking Republicans are never wrong— which they are, especially in the last decade.
how about a commentary on the textbook scenario in Texas, wherein Thomas Jefferson is replaced with John Calvin as a moral example?

re: Snaky Politicians Doom the New Hampshire Advantage

cookiejar — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:08:09 GMT

The government really need to focus itself on serving and giving the people, not on getting rid of what they "should", "must" and "already" have as livelihood.

re: Obama Goes Off The Deep End, Bans Fishing?

aidan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:54:55 GMT

There are other MORE pressing matters at this time that the federal government should take care of. Things like the employment rate, poverty rate, international issues and environmental imbalance. I could go on and on but I think that government needs to do is to learn how to prioritize.

re: Snaky Politicians Doom the New Hampshire Advantage

jonyfries — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:28:37 GMT

Retroactive laws of any kind for any reason are destructive. Unless there is no down side to any person to the retroactive nature.

re: Snaky Politicians Doom the New Hampshire Advantage

anas — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:28:46 GMT

Premium pythons that could fetch $40,000 in 2007 now go for half that sum, breeders report. The price for a hypomelanistic boa constrictor, one with a mutation that lightens its skin tone, was $99 on Feb. 1, down from $5,000 in 2007, on Kingsnake.com, a classified-ad site that acts as a market-maker for snakes.
btw nice article!!!

re: Obama Goes Off The Deep End, Bans Fishing?

Chuckenheimer — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:12:27 GMT

I think we should just feed the lawyers to the fish!

re: The Chinese Way to Manage Stem-Cell Research

irvnx — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:59:29 GMT

Actually one cannot escape "trifles" like morality.. their political system of rights' abuses is not offset by a inquiring nature, which, like seeking truth, is of the highest moral calibre; are you suggesting it is wrong to investigate life, and methods of curing disease or trauma? Mr Bush obviously thought so, but he also thought Americans' rights as trifles as well, siding with the Chinese politicians in that citizens are fodder and worthy of contempt.
See? One cannot escape moral choices, but one can admit one is wrong and move on: supporting one's past foibles, knowing they are wrong, is still wrong...

re: The Chinese Way to Manage Stem-Cell Research

claire — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:38:40 GMT

That's a very practical point of view, to say the least. The Chinese do not bother themselves with trifle things like morality and ethics. That is why science blooms there profusely.

re: Betraying Our British Allies in the Falklands

Karl Ketzer — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:51:39 GMT

>Secondly if any ship passes through Argentine waters to go to the islands they should ask permission.

The Falkland Islands lie 300 miles off the South American coast - far outside Argentina's 200-mile exclusive economic zone. If President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's announcement means that all ships headed to the Falkland Island must first get permission from Buenos Aires, then she is in for a rude awakening.

re: America the Ungovernable?

irvnx — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:01:54 GMT

careful, Mr Shahzad: on this forum, Republicanism & Mssrs Bush Cheney are the unified deities— thou shalt have no other gods... even if they are war lovers, hate lovers, government lovers and anti-citizen, anti-capitalist & let's give the voters a false sense of security while suspecting everyone of being a terrorist paragons of the mind-set known as "statist", wherein rules are the order of the new millennium, and the more the better.
No, I think they are the evil side of the government coin, the other which side of which is just as bad, just more overt.. joke, get it? overt.. obverse?
Oh, well, like any good revolutionary, I bide my time while the fools self-destruct, though some are capable of introspection and role reversal, and even possess logic, which maybe when integrated into their values will effect a rational conclusion that this is the decade of False & Foolishness, and perhaps a phoenix of Reason will prevail.. a man can dream~!

re: America the Ungovernable?

Shahzad — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:39:14 GMT

Perhaps the greatest hindrance to good governance today is the Republican Party, which has adopted an agenda of pure nihilism for naked political gain. The most bizarre feature of post-Massachusetts political spin is that President Obama has done a poor job of reaching across the aisle. But any regular observer of Washington would conclude that congressional Republicans have no desire to be reached out to—because they aren't actually very interested in governing the country.

Take health care. During the 2000s, when the GOP held sway in Washington, they did nothing to arrest rising health-care costs or the uninsured population, which jumped from 39 million to approximately 46 million. Modest proposals to extend government-subsidized care for children were opposed and the extension of Medicare drug benefits did not help the larger health-care system

re: America the Ungovernable?

sam — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:13:53 GMT

The Times is griping about gridlock again, just because the Republicans won't go along with their wacko liberal ideas:

A One-Track Senate
By BARRY FRIEDMAN and ANDREW D. MARTIN
A 1970s fix for filibusters has helped cause today's Congressional gridlock.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/opinion/10martin.html

Gridlock is good! The fewer laws they pass, the less we get hurt.

re: America the Ungovernable?

irvnx — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:00:16 GMT

sounds like most of agree the past presidents have been pretty horrible..it's not just loss of liberties, or spending, or foreign wars, arrogance 7 irrationality, idiocy or compulsive behaviors, but all the above: why Americans love putting one fool in the Whit House, then reneging and sending another fool....if there is one saving grace it is that the Democrats cannot agree on anything; when Republicans ran the circus earlier in the decade all kinds of nastiness erupted, such as wars, spending, the un-Patriot Act, the TSA, Sarbanne Oxley, not to mention torture: disagreement may not effect an effective Congress, but it's better than the alternative nuts who see the American people as fodder for their controls.

re: America the Ungovernable?

James Stuart — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:36:46 GMT

Sajidkhan - Mr. Obama cannot of himself take action against the world's problems. To spend money, he has to ask Congress to vote to give him some. There are things he can do, but he can't take any serious actions by himself.

If you were advising him, however, what would you suggest that he do to solve the world's problems?

Han Fei

Those who regard Clinton as a decent president tend to know very little about foreign affairs. Domestically, he presided over an economic boom. As you so correctly point out, with respect to foreign affairs, he was more of a disaster than Carter, which is a high standard to meet.

re: America the Ungovernable?

Thomas — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:07:30 GMT

An "ungovernable" America may actually work in our favor. The coming bankruptcy of the US government as we know it may lead to a "partitioning" (note I didn't use the "s" word) into smaller, easier to "manage" (note I didn't say "govern") sovereign territories (note I didn't say "nation-states").

With that loss of unsustainable empire will come improved economic systems, stable currencies, a philosophy of non-intervention, and restoration of lost freedoms, as things like the DHS, TSA, and the Patriot Act will become distant memories.

What's not to like?

The last pre-soviet empire to collapse (Rome) led to 1000 years of darkness. We've more in common with Rome than the former USSR. I'd like to avoid that fate.

re: America the Ungovernable?

Han Fei — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:05:06 GMT

Clinton 'a pretty decent president'? The person who crippled our security and did most of the groundwork for the 9/11 conspirators? The person whose aggressive insistence on granting mortgages to all, even if you're getting foodstamps? The person who backed up one bogus multibillion dollar loan after another to the oligarchs of Russia and any other freeloaders who came down the pike?

No, he wasn't a pretty decent president. He was a horrendously bad president. Oh, and he was a sex addict and a liar too.

re: America the Ungovernable?

Sajidkhan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:16:38 GMT

I hope that the president of America Mr. Obara Will take an action against worlds major problems.

re: America the Ungovernable?

lfon — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:49:39 GMT

Great summary on the current February/March doldrums in Washington. We are very governable - the elites just need to sit down, shut up and let America return to its former glorious self. America doesn't work with elites and a ruling class and Washingtonian snobbery. It works with INDEPENDENT thinkers and workers.

re: Betraying Our British Allies in the Falklands

Ale — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:56:53 GMT

Why do you compare this conflict with the Iraq conflict?

Argentina has been claiming the islands long before there was any oil in the region. "In 1945, upon signing the UN Charter, Argentina stated that it reserved its right to sovereignty of the islands, as well as its right to recover them." [0]

Secondly if any ship passes through Argentine waters to go to the islands they should ask permission.

Secondly it's interesting to notice that while the US government supported the British attack on the islands later, the US government was supporting the dictatorship in Argentina [1]. Same dictatorship that started the war. Maybe it was because it was supporting this dictatorship that the US government said nothing at the beginning.

This is bad excuse to criticize Obamas' foreign policy.

In this article [2] it evens mentioned that US goverment during the war was helping the UK with inteligence! While telling the Argentinians that they are neutral!

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands#cite_note-7
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#US_involvement
[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/mar/02/hillary-clinton-argentina-falklands

re: Two Cheers for Bunning's Bunt

James — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:52:03 GMT

Fennoman:
The solution is simple - the government should get out of the way. EPA regulations, OSHA, zoning, talk of energy prices going up, talk of labor costs going up, all that makes nobody want to hire anyone.

When Reagan encouraged "animal spirits," Americans realized he wouldn't trash them with new laws when they got going. Obama threatens to tax the socks off everyone in the name of fairness.

re: Two Cheers for Bunning's Bunt

Fennoman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:43:57 GMT

So, dreamz,

What's your solution for solving the unemployment problem? (I know what mine is...)

re: Betraying Our British Allies in the Falklands

irvnx — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:42:50 GMT

You wrote: "Both [PMs] are testifying before an inquiry into their supposed war crimes and lies, a fate unlikely ever to befall Mr. Bush."
You are right— Americans seem to love lying and thieving politicians, and Bush & Obama are in the same category. The Brits' system of Parliament, wherein the party's leader becomes PM, is often disadvantageous: here in the US, when one party controls the White House & Congress, they engage in a feeding frenzy of anti-capitalist hate, spending like there is no tomorrow and attacking citizens and their rights as though their productivity is a crime. Being an ally of such a hate-mongering country of the US is no party, but then who loves a politician? It's a tough job being a tyrant~!
Even Sen Bunning showed— albeit briefly— he has a kinder, gentler, rational soul who abhors what dictatorships entail.

re: Two Cheers for Bunning's Bunt

dreamz — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:46:35 GMT

varun&fennonman

yes, i agree with you two.. that unemployed must be the first issue to be resolved. hopefully they'll realize it..

re: Two Cheers for Bunning's Bunt

yohana — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:01:19 GMT

many question

re: Two Cheers for Bunning's Bunt

Fennoman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:59:08 GMT

Varun,

I actually agree with you that the unemployed must be looked after, but disagree with the very premise that the federal government has any business doing it.

As I've repeated time after time, there is simply no constitutional authority for it. And there's a reason there's for that: governments are horrible at social policy. The historical record around the world is the primary evidence for this. No theory required.

re: Two Cheers for Bunning's Bunt

irvnx — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:40:32 GMT

it's too bad Republicans are still in their spend spend spend mode... Bunning relented anyway, so it is only a question of who is the bigger spender, which is really irrelevant since neither party wishes to seriously consider their addiction to wasting our money.

re: Two Cheers for Bunning's Bunt

Varun Kumar — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:46:35 GMT

I think that the Unemplyed must be looked after first before tackling other issues of national inerest.

re: The Chinese Way to Manage Stem-Cell Research

irvnx — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:58:01 GMT

@Isrul: you are saying it takes reason & thought to develop morals? You are so correct, they are not the domain of myth nor religion, but belong in the province of men's minds— have you a proposal?