The Stopped Clock

They have! They just called me. I am a cancer surv...

2012-05-26T00:25:33.941-04:00

They have! They just called me. I am a cancer survivor and almost fell for it.

You can donate a car directly to a charity, withou...

2012-05-26T00:23:32.077-04:00

You can donate a car directly to a charity, without going through a "car donation" group. We donated ours to an organization in our state that promotes adoption of "unadoptable" children (after I checked them out, of course.) The car was picked up free by a local dealer, who gets a tax break and nothing more.

There has been a long campaign to suggest that Oba...

2012-05-20T13:21:03.588-04:00

There has been a long campaign to suggest that Obama is somehow less than masculine - see the referenced Kathleen Parker material. The most over-the-top example that I've heard to date came from Rand Paul.

Your problem is that you're looking at the facts - trusting your own stupid, lying eyes - instead of slupring up propaganda from less-than-stellar, seemingly desperate 'intellects' on the political right.

I'm not getting the "metrosexual" th...

2012-05-19T20:54:01.024-04:00

I'm not getting the "metrosexual" thing. I don't follow it all that closely, but isn't he happily married with two well adjusted children, no history of alcohol or drug abuse and no cheating on his wife? Sounds like a family values guy to me.

CWD

Your article almost fooled me since the question m...

2012-05-17T21:52:11.483-04:00

Your article almost fooled me since the question mark is missing from the title! It appeared to be a statement, not a question. You typo is only helping them. I returned my empty pledge envelope with a copy of this (with the ?).

Americans Elect is a defective concept. They expec...

2012-05-16T16:35:17.492-04:00

Americans Elect is a defective concept. They expected to attract a stellar politician to win millions of disaffected voters. Instead, they attracted political failures and unknowns who obtained a mere few thousand votes. Of course!

Stellar politicians today are either Republican or Democrat. A stellar politician would know that it is politically impossible to win the presidency as a third party candidate. The most a third party candidate could do would be to act as a spoiler, splitting the vote of his own party, Republican or Democrat, so the other party’s candidate would win. No stellar politician would want to be the cause of that “treachery” to his party compatriots.

If, by some miracle the AE candidate won, how could he/she ever accomplish anything as president? He would have no AE members in Congress to work with. Every member of Congress would be in the opposition party, with his former party members hating him the most. There would be increased gridlock as all of Congress would want the AE president to fail, proving the AE idea does not work.

AE should start at winning seats in state offices and in Congress, before aiming at the presidency. No athlete runs his first race at the Olympics. Why did the AE donors think they could start first at the highest political office?

The only reason Buddy Roemer is seeking the nomination is that he has had a failed political career and no party wants him.

He was one of the worst governors in Louisiana history. He could not get along with people, put together a competent staff, or pass legislation. He did not work hard and had no ability to govern. Read this history of LA governors, pages 259-268:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Y-0-kmu4vk0C&pg=PA259&lpg=PA259&dq=%22Often+wrong,%22+Roemer&source=bl&ots=GXt38E_jVv&sig=poXJMn9QbCUESjDIP2-foOb3YLY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n-xjT7CXDOORiQL8n_SiDw&ved=0CGMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%22Often%20wrong%2C%20but%20never%20in%20doubt%22%20Roemer&f=false

Even today, he is LA's most UNfavorite son. A recent PPP poll rated him the most unpopular presidential candidate, with a 2:1 unfavorable rating in his home state! http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/03/santorum-leads-by-14-in-louisiana.html#more

As a LA commentator quipped, in bayou style:
“Buddy Roemer, who has been out of politics for 19 years, couldn't win an election as a dogcatcher in Louisiana, much less the Presidency of the United States."
http://www.337post.com/yoyo/110309-roemer.html

Just got a call and googled while I spoke to the n...

2012-05-16T10:14:21.426-04:00

Just got a call and googled while I spoke to the nice but pushy rep. Seems this is just another charity scam.

BTW, my daughter is the founder and president of a not-for-profit 501(3)c corp, Art 4 Ninos, and although she is just 19 years old, she keeps fastidious records of all donations and never reimburses herself for anything other than travel costs (budget airfare, staying in cheap hostels) in order to deliver boxes and crates of educational supplies and "soon to be expired" medicines.

I received a call last week, fell for it and they ...

2012-05-16T09:29:36.726-04:00

I received a call last week, fell for it and they immediately wanted either my checking acct or credit card. I told them I don't give those #'s out. They sent me a donation pledge in the mail, followed up by a phone call yesterday asking if I received it. I am so thankful I checked this before sending a check. I will pay the postage to return their pledge with a nice little note!

Just got a call from this group and glad my instin...

2012-05-15T21:51:36.883-04:00

Just got a call from this group and glad my instinct was right.

His retort suggests that he's the sort of law ...

2012-05-14T16:53:55.470-04:00

His retort suggests that he's the sort of law prof who likes to bully students in class but comes across like a floundering fool when that power dynamic is removed.

A law professor who is convinced that everything h...

2012-05-11T11:33:32.895-04:00

A law professor who is convinced that everything he writes comes from the highest authority, and that anybody who disagrees with him politically is wrong, wrong, wrong about everything?

How... unique.

Count me as another who nearly fell for this. Was ...

2012-04-25T11:39:10.765-04:00

Count me as another who nearly fell for this. Was about to write my check when I decided to google the group. Thanks to all who confirmed my suspicions. Renee in Wisconsin

The diploma mills don't have the fancy dining ...

2012-04-24T21:46:15.451-04:00

The diploma mills don't have the fancy dining halls and sports programs Brooks was talking about. That saves them a lot of money. It's usually the regents, often the Republican regents, who can't stand the thought of killing a public university's money-draining sports programs.

Republicans are schizophrenic about Medicare - one day trying to kill it or turn it into a voucher program and the next complaining that the Democrats want to cut Medicare spending. They're beholden to seniors.

Great write-up....eBay/PayPal is the only big one ...

2012-04-22T06:01:54.049-04:00

Great write-up....eBay/PayPal is the only big one missing from the lot....

"...You could write this as "Will...

2012-04-15T12:53:59.869-04:00
"...You could write this as "Will's __________ arguments for/against __________ make absolutely no sense" on just about any subject...."

No argument.

"... He's parleyed expertise in baseball into a pretense that he can speak meaningfully to any other topic whatsoever...."

Wait, isn't that Mitch Albom? ;-)

Will's economic arguments against legalizat...

2012-04-14T13:27:36.299-04:00
Will's economic arguments against legalization make absolutely no sense.

You could write this as "Will's __________ arguments for/against __________ make absolutely no sense" on just about any subject. He's parleyed expertise in baseball into a pretense that he can speak meaningfully to any other topic whatsoever.

While tax revenue from legalized drug sales can be...

2012-04-12T19:27:45.375-04:00
While tax revenue from legalized drug sales can be used to provide rehab, and perhaps a lot of it could be free, for a lot of addicts "rehab" is only the beginning - and for a lot, even if it is free and available, they won't enter, will quickly leave, or will relapse shortly after completing their programs. "Free rehab" is, alas, not a solution to addiction.

Let's also not confuse hemp with cannabis, any more than we confuse the ornamental poppies in your garden or the poppy seeds in your muffin with a crop of opium poppies. Yes, the war on cannabis also squelched most of the hemp market, but the biggest reason for the decline in hemp production (and the lack of a push-back when hemp became difficult to grow) was that nylon rope replaced hemp rope.

State budgets aren't typically "in the red", as states have to balance their budgets - although no doubt there have been problems (and some deficits or creative accounting) with the recession. (Every state but Vermont has some form of balanced budget requirement.) Assuming that marijuana is a $40 billion / year enterprise (see info here) and state taxes pulled back 30% of the proceeds, we would be talking about $12 billion per year. Total state funding is about $1.43 trillion per year. That is to say, it would be a drop in the bucket. Even if you were to assume a $100 billion market and were to further assume that states could pulling 40% of that in taxes, we're talking $40 billion / $1.43 trillion = less than .3% of spending. Granted, some law enforcement expenditures would go down but, again, we're not talking about something that is going to significantly change the budgetary picture for state governments.

The War on Drugs failed $1 Trillion ago! This mone...

2012-04-11T14:59:29.937-04:00
The War on Drugs failed $1 Trillion ago! This money could have been used for outreach programs to clean up the bad end of drug abuse by providing free HIV testing, free rehab, and clean needles. Harmless drugs like marijuana could be legalized to help boost our damaged economy. Cannabis can provide hemp for countless natural recourses and the tax revenue from sales alone would pull every state in our country out of the red! Vote Teapot, PASS IT, and legalize it. Voice you opinion with the movement and read more on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/01/vote-teapot-2011.html

You too? ;-) I'm half thinking that Romney wi...

2012-04-09T22:32:44.962-04:00
You too? ;-)

I'm half thinking that Romney will have to get somebody off of the B list. The A listers (or those thought of as A list candidates) would likely be reluctant to run if they think Romney is going to crash and burn. A candidate who isn't presently taken seriously as a national candidate may be willing to take that risk in order to push his name and face out to the nation. That puts somebody like Rand Paul into possible contention.

Wow, bullying the site admin with legal threats, b...

2012-04-09T14:33:26.917-04:00
Wow, bullying the site admin with legal threats, because you don't understand how blogspot works. Thanks for convincing me not to donate to your organization (I came to this site after making a conditional pledge on the phone, which I hereby rescind).

Not that he has much leverage in terms of delegate...

2012-04-09T13:55:11.804-04:00
Not that he has much leverage in terms of delegate count, but I suspect Ron Paul will be pushing his son Rand as VP. Picking Rand might be a rational move on Romney's part, since Rand Paul is a key tea partier.
But I am usually wrong about everything. Even the time.

Ah... I wasn't paying attention to the state. ...

2012-04-03T21:24:45.482-04:00
Ah... I wasn't paying attention to the state.

Although I concede that both exist, I think there's a distinction to be made between "public backlash" and "people protesting in the streets", just as there's a distinction to be made between "Zimmerman defender" and "White supremacist racist trash who hacks Martin's email account as part of a smear campaign." Also, although I haven't followed the protests, I doubt that all protesters or Internet 'ranters' are of uniform opinion on the subject of Zimmerman, and the craziest rants seem to be coming from... best call it the anti-Martin side, because I don't sense that many of them actually care about Zimmerman.

1. My hunch is that to the people protesting in t...

2012-04-03T20:34:43.254-04:00
1. My hunch is that to the people protesting in the streets, ranting on the Internet and just generally calling for Zimmerman's arrest and/or head - your distinction is lost.

2. My point was that before his retirment he was a magistrate in VA and the officials in question are in FL.

CWD

"...I’m guessing that the public backlash...

2012-04-03T12:05:53.628-04:00
"...I’m guessing that the public backlash for anybody taking Zimmerman’s side is pretty intense...."

Is that a reaction to their defense of Zimmerman or to their vilification of Martin? It's possible to do the former without doing the latter.

Magistrates are often assigned to such pleasant duties as signing warrants in the middle of the night so that the judges can sleep. The fact that he was a magistrate and not a judge does not mean that he has no relationships within the police department or prosecutor's office. I have seen no evidence, though, that Zimmerman's father actually did something to interfere with the police investigation or prosecutor's review of the case.

Mythago - The fact that the KKK and its fellow tra...

2012-04-02T20:51:26.312-04:00
Mythago - The fact that the KKK and its fellow travelers have done horrible things for decades doesn’t really much change my opinion of Reverend Sharpton and how he conducted himself in the Tawana Brawley case. As for my comment’s appropriateness, I sort of addressed that when I made it. The fact that the family brought him in doesn’t change the tragedy of what happened to their child or what the correct legal outcome of the case against Zimmerman is, it just impacts my sympathy for them.

As to your second point, assuming it’s directed at my comment – you seem to have missed my point. I didn’t offer an opinion on whether Zimmerman was a racist or not. I asked, rhetorically, if the people who “knee jerked” that the answer was 100% racism (as opposed to other potential causes) also suffered from the same sort of confirmation bias Aaron described in his post. I didn’t offer an opinion on the ultimate issue of what happened and why that night (or later through the justice system), because I don’t know. I’m inclined to agree with you about our societies biases against both teens in general and black teens in particular (I believe Jessie Jackson made some rather well known comments on the subject). If your second comment wasn’t directed at me, disregard.

As to your final point, I’m afraid I don’t have much to add. I agree with your analysis of the usefulness of the remarks – although I’ll at least give them points for courage if not brains for being willing to make any comments in public. I’m guessing that the public backlash for anybody taking Zimmerman’s side is pretty intense.

CWD

PS – the last news report I saw indicated that Zimmerman’s father was a retired magistrate from VA. If accurate, that would undercut my earlier comment.

The Stopped Clock

They have! They just called me. I am a cancer surv...

You can donate a car directly to a charity, withou...

There has been a long campaign to suggest that Oba...

I'm not getting the "metrosexual" th...

Your article almost fooled me since the question m...

Americans Elect is a defective concept. They expec...

Just got a call and googled while I spoke to the n...

I received a call last week, fell for it and they ...

Just got a call from this group and glad my instin...

His retort suggests that he's the sort of law ...

A law professor who is convinced that everything h...

Count me as another who nearly fell for this. Was ...

The diploma mills don't have the fancy dining ...

Great write-up....eBay/PayPal is the only big one ...

"...You could write this as "Will...

Will's economic arguments against legalizat...

While tax revenue from legalized drug sales can be...

The War on Drugs failed $1 Trillion ago! This mone...

You too? ;-) I'm half thinking that Romney wi...

Wow, bullying the site admin with legal threats, b...

Not that he has much leverage in terms of delegate...

Ah... I wasn't paying attention to the state. ...

1. My hunch is that to the people protesting in t...

"...I’m guessing that the public backlash...

Mythago - The fact that the KKK and its fellow tra...