May 2012
56 posts
Another thought on the “where does anarchism lie on the ideological scale?” thing: It makes me laugh when I realise that being right-wing is so unpopular that even anarchists make it a point to vocally dissociate from the label. Lol, etc.
“Today, I am suspending the campaign, but suspending the campaign does not mean suspending citizenship.”
— Newt Gingrich, ending his campaign.
Well, now that he mentions it, suspending Newt Gingrich’s citizenship because he has to suspend his presidential bid sound just great to me. Add that to my progressive wish list.
Anarchism originally split from marxism, so obviously it is a left wing movement. Most anarchist are non-marxist communists.
Unpopular opinion time: This was in my Ask box for I-don’t-know-how long, even though it isn’t a question. I still disagree. Right-wingers, at least, here in the U.S., say they want a smaller government. Anarchists advocate the elimination of the state. Government can’t get any smaller than not existing at all.
The obvious response to this is to bring up the right-wing supporters who want a government so profoundly large that it legislates what goes on in people’s bedrooms and what they do to their own bodies. I really don’t know what to say about them.
April 2012
35 posts
“There’s a lot of anger, but people don’t know what they’re angry about. You know, from the end of the Vietnam War all the way up to 9/11, for the most part everyone was fat, dumb and happy. Then 9/11 happened and shattered all that. People became scared and anxious and out of control. They’d go to Wal-Mart and realize that everything they’ve been buying says ‘Made in China.’ They see the complete ineptitude of the federal government during Hurricane Katrina. They see some guy [Bernie Madoff] within the shadow of the SEC running a $50 billion scam - and who the hell is watching out for their $10,000 IRA? And then the banks melt down, the auto industry is taken over, and we pass this huge stimulus.
“All of this builds up and they’re saying, ‘What the hell can I possibly do about a $14 trillion national debt?’ But then it gets to health care. And they’re saying, ‘That’s me. That’s mine. It’s the first big issue that’s personalized. And that’s why we’re getting all this pent-up frustration and anger. Because when you explain the bill to ‘em, they say, ‘Well that doesn’t sound too bad.’ But it doesn’t matter. All their anger is focused on this, because it’s personal.
“Madam Speaker, what you need to do is break the bill down. Have a bill that covers preexisting conditions. Pass that - or make the Republicans vote against it - and then move onto another part. But you do this omnibus approach, they won’t know what the hell’s in it. And they’ll keep yelling at it.”
— Rep. John Tanner (D-TN), to Nancy Pelosi in August 2009, on the Affordable Care Act. This quote is from Robert Draper’s Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives.
“It is crucial that the lawmakers in Washington, D.C., understand that the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment.”
—Dr. Reese Halter
“Listening to Occupy the SEC discuss Volcker, you would have thought that a few jaded Wall Street traders were talking shop on their coffee break — which, in fact, wasn’t far from the truth.
Kline, one of the group’s resident wonks on financial transactions, is a former credit derivatives trader. Alexis Goldstein, another core member, was a business analyst for Deutsche Bank’s equity derivatives desk until 2010. Akshat Tewary, a lawyer in private practice, had come to the meeting straight from work, still dressed in a white button-down and dark dress slacks. The group also includes a few newbies who’ve gotten a crash course in banking regulation, including Corley Miller, a young aspiring novelist, and Eric Taylor, an unemployed anthropologist and part-time military officer.” —Occupy the regulatory system! - The Washington Post (via firthofforth)
Kline, one of the group’s resident wonks on financial transactions, is a former credit derivatives trader. Alexis Goldstein, another core member, was a business analyst for Deutsche Bank’s equity derivatives desk until 2010. Akshat Tewary, a lawyer in private practice, had come to the meeting straight from work, still dressed in a white button-down and dark dress slacks. The group also includes a few newbies who’ve gotten a crash course in banking regulation, including Corley Miller, a young aspiring novelist, and Eric Taylor, an unemployed anthropologist and part-time military officer.” —Occupy the regulatory system! - The Washington Post (via firthofforth)
“We understand the values of mainstream journalists, including the effort to report both sides of a story. But a balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality. If the political dynamics of Washington are unlikely to change anytime soon, at least we should change the way that reality is portrayed to the public.”
—Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein: Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.
A career first for me: Having a client’s op-ed censored away by the government of China. You can read it here.
Newt's campaign over? Reports suggest Gingrich will drop out Tuesday
- cause Facing an array of issues that suggested he didn’t have a shot — tons of campaign debt, unorthodox fundraising and media coverage that focused almost entirely on Mitt, Newt banked his hopes in last night’s primaries on Delaware — and didn’t win anything at all.
- effect Now, nearly a month after more realistic competitor Rick Santorum did the same thing, Newt is planning to drop out, according to multiple sources. The GOP candidate reportedly pans to drop out on Tuesday, and will likely endorse Mitt Romney. source
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Is it too flippant to say that Gingrich’s candidacy, for all intents and purposes, ended around mid-May of 2011, when he declared it?
“I’m not a pollster. I don’t know if the American people want to hear about policy. Perhaps they prefer gauzy generalities. Perhaps they’re more interested in what candidates think of America than what they want to do for America. But if this is what the general election is going to be like, then it’s not going to be a clash of visions. It’s going to be a clash of adjectives.”
—Ezra Klein: Vote for Romney. He loves America.
“Should doctors really have to follow drug prices like market analysts in order to care for their patients? Welcome to the free market in healthcare.”
—Daniel J. Stone, who practices internal medicine and geriatrics in Beverly Hills, explains what free-market healthcare would be like.
