I highly recommend David Sirota's Hostile Takeover -- just not for the reasons Mr.Sirota would probably prefer. First, it's considered a "must read" by Al Gore. Secondly, it gives clear insight into how some American liberals view economics and the world in general. To which I say, good for them. I love an open dialog with people of all political values. Mine are all over the place. Mr. Sirota's book outlines a number of problems with our society and prescribes specific solutions ...
I'm going to go into this more when I have more time. It saddens me a bit that people let their ideologies determine their realities to such a large degree. If we had a doctor writing articles about tips for better health, I would take those articles pretty seriously. At the risk of being an "arrogant prick" I think that having someone who started with nothing who is now "rich" providing observations on behaviors and about how the world actually works as opposed to how people wish it wor...
In 2004, Stardock released The Political Machine. In it, players picked a candidate and ran for President of the United States. Players could compete against either human controlled opponents over a LAN or via the Internet or against computer opponents controlled by Stardock's notorious computer AI. For 2008, Stardock has gone back and re-envisioned how the game should would. Using an all-new 3D engine, players can now design their own opponents (bobble-heads) and compete not just i...
Obama: I am for the things that are good and against the things that are bad. Hilary Clinton: Hahaahahahahahaahahahahahahaha!!!!! Hahahahaha! Hahahaha! Fred Thompson: I'm not your bro and I am going to taze you. Guilani: There are few problems that can't be solved with more killing. Huckabee: Vote for me or you're going to go to hell. McCain: Don't point out my massive flaws or I'll accuse you of playing dirty politics. Romney: I am for this unless you're against it in which ca...
Walter Williams has a great column demonstrating some of the myths regarding greed, need, and money. http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/01/02/greed,_need_and_money
Great Britain. The United States. Canada. Italy. Belgium. These are nation states. And their future is unclear. Nation states have historically provided 2 key benefits: The ability to pool resources for a common defense and a single market. Globalization and the slow pacification of the modern states of the world are taking away much of that benefit. For example, what exactly does Texas get out of being a state in the United States? What about British Columbia in Canada? W...
Since political debates on this site are so common and debate over the budget is very common, here's a handy link to detailed information on the 2007 Federal Budget: http://www.answers.com/topic/united-states-federal-budget-2007 Highlights: Below is federal spending and federal tax receipts by year:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-0593763-7135257?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Politically+INcorrect+Guide+to There's some interesting books coming out of this series in which the authors defend some of the minority views on different issues. The problem I'm having with the series is that even on issues I agree with, some of their arguments are really weak or (in my opinion) deceptive. Thus, I lose faith in the parts that I'm not as familiar with. For ...
The problem with our governmental tax system in the United States is that it has slowly been morphed into a coercive charity organization. Below is a chart of the 2007 federal budget courtesy of the CBO: If you look closely, "health" and "income security" (not to be confused with social security) now make up 25% of our budget and grow year after year. Those programs are essentially government charity programs in which we take from one person to give to another.
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The biggest reason the left and the right of American politics fight on issues of social policy has to do with the diverging views of what the role of the federal government is. To the right, the federal government is analogous to a neighborhood association (NA). In a NA, the residents get together and vote on common rules for everyone to follow as well as an association fee that each neighbor has to pay in to the general fund to pay for things such as trash pickup, snow removal, lawn car an...
How the federal government of the United States spends tax payer money has changed dramatically since 1960. The priorities of the federal government have shifted from national defense and interstate development to providing a social safety net. At the dawn of the 60s, national defense was 52% of our expenses. Social security and Medicare and Health were relatively small. A relatively new category of spending called "inc...
CO2 produced by humans is causing the recent increase in temperature is a hypothesis. But it has no evidence to support it. It's not even what one would label as a theory. It could be correct, it might not be correct. I have about the same opinion of it as I do for the hypothesis of "intelligent design". Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. But there isn't evidence. Given the movement's spotty record for yearly temperatures (it's actually gotten cooler since 1998 incidentally, not ...
Lifelong meterologist and the founder of the Weather Channel has written an article denouncing the "global warming" movement as nothing but the "greatest scam in history". Read the whole thing.
Exit polls are wonderful. They cut through all the speculation and inuendo and simply ask the actual people who voted what their opinions are on a variety of issues. The exit polls for the 2004 election are available here . Here, without commentary, are some of the results: Overall : Bush won 51% to Kerry's 49%. Bear this number in mind. Men: Bush: 55% to Kerry's 44%. Women: Kerry 51% to Bush's 48%. Income is less than $15,000: Kerry 63% to Bush's 36%. Income is gre...