Here we go again

Summary: AARP (retired people) is against Social Security reform. In order to make them play nice a smear campaign is in progress a la McCain 2000 and Kerry 2004.

Here is something I don't get... why doesn't the slimed side do some sliming themselves? If you can't beat them - join them. Surely, being the bigger man and a loser doesn't mean much. If someone is throwing mud at you why stand there, take the hits and beg them to stop? The best defense is to attack back. The tactic "Swifties" used can be VERY easily replicated. It is no brain science. It involves finding out what irkes the electorate and then finding a way to attach that to your opponent - truth is usually fuzzy anyways. We really need a little pragmatism around here!
Update - Slate explores the responses from the blogosphere to an e-book touting succesful strategies conservatives have been (and can continue) using to get their way.
http://www.slate.com/id/2113945/

Value of life

I've had a number of conversations with various people in the past few months on the value of life. I am amazed with how many people value life over everything else. Once you focus so hard on anything it tends to become a self-defeating quest. Life becomes valued for no other reason than its pure existence.

We have turned capitalist even in our perceptions of humanity. Quantity is valued over quality. Why is there this intense focus on preserving life at all cost? Has anyone stopped and asked where's the utility? What is the point?

Instead of getting lost in a web of nebulous arguments let's look at some examples of what I'm talking about here.

1. Abortion. It was pointed out to me that the question of abortion comes down to the question of when life starts. That's examing the question from the quantity perspective again - preserving life at all cost. What about the quality? Shouldn't a mother have a right to decide whether she wants to carry a baby for nine months and nurture it for 15-20 years afterwards? What happens to her job/career? What if she's a single mom? What if she's been raped? What about the child that she's going to bring into this world. Can she support it? Is she willing to leave that child at the mercy of others through adoption? What about the quality of life for a child that's not wanted?

2. Euthanasia. We love life so much that we submit other people to a prolonged, torturous death by preventing them from dying. That's how much we love life. We'll drug you to the point where you won't know who you are, but we won't let you die. What's the point?

3. Danger. "Do not worry citizen! We're working dilligently on making sure you live a very long and dull life!" A person cannot ride a bike without a helmet. Cannot drive a car without a seatbelt. Cannot take "bad" drugs. Cannot drink alcohol until 21, but can enlist and command heavy weaponry in order to kill that precious life we work so hard to preserve. Certain sex acts are illegal for crying out loud - of course, only to protect people's moral fortitude.


All I have to say is that it would be nice to put a little more emphasis on the QUALITY and NOT QUANTITY when it comes to life. Reproducing is easy. Living a happy and fullfilled life is not!

Brilliant Strategy for Defeating Fundamentalists

We have a saying back home that says you cure a dog bite with dog hair. I think the equivalent in the United States is fight fire with fire. Neither of the expressions are supposed to be applied literaly. This is something that the United States often forgets when it attempts to fight terrorism with terror.

"If you beat these people up they become more stubborn. If you hit them, they will enjoy the pain and find something good in it - it is a part of their ideology. Instead, what we must do is erase what they have been taught and explain to them that terrorism will only harm Yemenis' jobs and prospects." says Faris Sanabani, a former adviser to President Abdullah Saleh and editor-in-chief of the Yemen Observer, a weekly English-language newspaper.

Or in the words of Mr. al-Hitar whose radically different approach to fighting Islamic fundamentalism played a key role in transforming Yemen (click on title to read full article).

"If you study terrorism in the world, you will see that it has an intellectual theory behind it," says Hitar. "And any kind of intellectual idea can be defeated by intellect."

Brilliant!! I'd love to see this approach used more widely when fighting fundamentalism of any kind!

Smoke and be fired

Believe it or not the smoking I'm referring to is of the legal kind - cigarettes. Not only is the government taxing the shit out of smokers and sponsoring an all-out campaign to stop smoking, now an employer in Michigan is using healthcare costs as an excuse to fire people who smoke on their own time. Check this - they are doing random nicotine testing!!!

Ridiculous!? You bet your fanny it is!

Portable digital for audiophiles

Great guide on building a great sounding portable digital system.

Also, here is a link to a review of earphones.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2109390/