2012-06-29
Thomas Votes Against The Others In SCOTUS
And the reaction from the left?
Nice people them.
I thought this stuff only happens on the right.
Oh, well.
Nice people them.
I thought this stuff only happens on the right.
Oh, well.
2012-06-28
Euro Semi-Final: Germany-Italy. It Is Time
And thus fell Mordred into King Arthur's arms.
The classic soccer rivalry is back. Two of the great super heavyweights are about to clash once more. Spain? Nouveau riche. Germany-Italy are old money when it comes to this sport.
Yes. Italy has never lost to Germany in a major competition but that's the past. More relevant is - aside boths side stuck with suspect backlines but deep midfields - the Germans are scoring goals in open play. Not so for Italy. It'll be awesome. It has to be. So it is.
Goethe v. Dante. Ferrari v. Porsche. Beethoven v. Vivaldi. Vico v. Hegel. Fiat v. Volkswagen. Beckenbauer v. Baresi. Ozil v. Pirlo.
The classic soccer rivalry is back. Two of the great super heavyweights are about to clash once more. Spain? Nouveau riche. Germany-Italy are old money when it comes to this sport.
Yes. Italy has never lost to Germany in a major competition but that's the past. More relevant is - aside boths side stuck with suspect backlines but deep midfields - the Germans are scoring goals in open play. Not so for Italy. It'll be awesome. It has to be. So it is.
Goethe v. Dante. Ferrari v. Porsche. Beethoven v. Vivaldi. Vico v. Hegel. Fiat v. Volkswagen. Beckenbauer v. Baresi. Ozil v. Pirlo.
Sports Headlines
This is why sports hype sucks:
Describing the Tour de France the "Most grueling event in sports."
It's no more difficult than Giro d'Italia as many cyclists have said many times over the years. It's just more prestigious of the three tours. That's it.
***
I may be chiming in with my thoughts about Euro 2012 soon. If I do, one thing for sure is England will take a tongue lashing from me.
Describing the Tour de France the "Most grueling event in sports."
It's no more difficult than Giro d'Italia as many cyclists have said many times over the years. It's just more prestigious of the three tours. That's it.
***
I may be chiming in with my thoughts about Euro 2012 soon. If I do, one thing for sure is England will take a tongue lashing from me.
2012-06-27
Twit Of The Day
It was between Khadir's perpetually angry daughter or this girl.
Oh. Her name is Penny Laurie and she's hilarious.
Others include...this person.
For you kids out there, just to make sure, DO NOT copy what is suggested by these folks. The only thing it'll guarantee you is a life of victimhood.
Oh. Her name is Penny Laurie and she's hilarious.
Others include...this person.
For you kids out there, just to make sure, DO NOT copy what is suggested by these folks. The only thing it'll guarantee you is a life of victimhood.
Comedy Hour At NPR
"See what his voice does? It clears up the weather, too. It clears up the economy, creates jobs, helps education, and straightens out the weather." Obama supporter talking about, well, Obama.
Right.
Full story here.
Right.
Full story here.
The Inconsitency Of Political Correct Logic
If you are apt to consider 'political correctness' as logic.
I sometimes read the soccer threads at ESPN during major tournaments.
The commenters detected the word 'Nazi' was banned. It was showing up as %#%^ as opposed to the word itself.
However, it's perfectly ok to say things like, "we will Blitzkrieg" and "beat those Italian mafiosi's."
Hilarious.
I sometimes read the soccer threads at ESPN during major tournaments.
The commenters detected the word 'Nazi' was banned. It was showing up as %#%^ as opposed to the word itself.
However, it's perfectly ok to say things like, "we will Blitzkrieg" and "beat those Italian mafiosi's."
Hilarious.
2012-06-26
But...What About The Environment?
Like most jurisdictions, my city often restricts watering lawns in the summer. Conservation and all that.
On my drive back from work on this rainy day, the one lane boulevard I use was backed up. Looking ahead, I noticed a city truck on the road. I figured they were working on one of our many infamously gigantic pot holes. They're always working on the roads. Quebec is huge on the "infrastructure creates jobs" philosophy.
Bridges less so.
I digress.
As I approached the truck, I noticed it was stopping at every flower pot. It was watering them.
Did I mention it was raining?
Isn't that, like, redundant?
Conservation, shmonservation.
On my drive back from work on this rainy day, the one lane boulevard I use was backed up. Looking ahead, I noticed a city truck on the road. I figured they were working on one of our many infamously gigantic pot holes. They're always working on the roads. Quebec is huge on the "infrastructure creates jobs" philosophy.
Bridges less so.
I digress.
As I approached the truck, I noticed it was stopping at every flower pot. It was watering them.
Did I mention it was raining?
Isn't that, like, redundant?
Conservation, shmonservation.
Envy Of The World...Giggle
Heard what I consider to be a vacuous statement on the radio today. In defending the notion of a tuition freeze:
"Quebec's education system and tuition is the envy of the world!"
No sources or citations to support this of course.
Poor Rick Moffat - former Montreal Canadiens announcer - and his pseudo-populist leanings.
Social contracts aside, you can't "freeze" anything when inflation rises. You can't watch the cost of a dollar increase while not raising the price of a product on the side of the coin. It's ludicrous and barbaric thinking I say!
The cost of education is not even matching inflation. Give me a break. If anything, the government is attempting to normalize - I know, the government of Quebec trying to be fiscally responsible - the situation.
I can't really think of anything Quebec has that would be the envy of the world when it comes to enlightened social policy. There are no advanced education ideas that originate here. If you consider "education on the cheap" to be a barometer of "envy" then I call bull shit.
French culture as a whole is highly politicized and I'm not so sure the results are that good I reckon.
I read a lot on what goes on in Europe and I don't see the Germans, Italians, Dutch, French (ok, maybe the French) and British saying. "we envy Quebec!" Nor have I seen any relevant American intellectual essays or journals who claim that either.
If anyone can set me straight on this, I'd be glad to listen.
"Quebec's education system and tuition is the envy of the world!"
No sources or citations to support this of course.
Poor Rick Moffat - former Montreal Canadiens announcer - and his pseudo-populist leanings.
Social contracts aside, you can't "freeze" anything when inflation rises. You can't watch the cost of a dollar increase while not raising the price of a product on the side of the coin. It's ludicrous and barbaric thinking I say!
The cost of education is not even matching inflation. Give me a break. If anything, the government is attempting to normalize - I know, the government of Quebec trying to be fiscally responsible - the situation.
I can't really think of anything Quebec has that would be the envy of the world when it comes to enlightened social policy. There are no advanced education ideas that originate here. If you consider "education on the cheap" to be a barometer of "envy" then I call bull shit.
French culture as a whole is highly politicized and I'm not so sure the results are that good I reckon.
I read a lot on what goes on in Europe and I don't see the Germans, Italians, Dutch, French (ok, maybe the French) and British saying. "we envy Quebec!" Nor have I seen any relevant American intellectual essays or journals who claim that either.
If anyone can set me straight on this, I'd be glad to listen.
Dreams Of My Nightmare
From IHT:
"...While most politicians write their stories once they’ve laid some claim to the spotlight and are already operating in its skeptical glare, Obama did so years in advance, setting the stage long before he strode onto it. The first edition of “Dreams From My Father,” a framing device for the campaigns and speeches to come, was published in 1995. He wasn’t even an Illinois state senator yet.
It was an act of careful and considered self-definition, and with the publication of David Maraniss’s new biography of Obama earlier this month, we learned just how careful and considered. Obama tailored characters to suit his themes and invented a few details of his family’s past, saying that a step-grandfather was killed in combat against Dutch troops in Indonesia when he really, according to Maraniss, died in a fall from a chair as he hung drapes..."
The narrative was indeed set before he did anything. I think this is where the skepticism gave from for those who dared to look beyond the script. It reached an absurd level when he won a peace prize for doing exactly nothing.
That and the "I inherited this mess" garbage. That logic is obliterated with a simple "yeah but no one forced you into this" line.
At this point, he reminds me of Tommy Hearns taking a hard left from Marvin Hagler. At this point, it's hard to believe Romney won't get elected.
"...Much has been made of his recent executive decision regarding young illegal immigrants as an act of sheer political calculation. It may well be. But I wonder if there wasn’t an emotional motivation as well — if he wasn’t trying to find one small patch of ground on which he could have his unchallenged say and way..."
He's an elected politician. Not a dictator. He shouldn't even be thinking this way. If he does, it says much about him.
2012-06-25
2012-06-22
The Growth Of American Executive Power
From Reason:
"...Today's Democratic logic goes like this: If Congress is unable to pass progressive agenda items with a simple majority of legislators (and thankfully, that's the case), the vote of a single person will do just fine. President Obama is, after all, on his "We Can't Wait" tour. "We can't wait for Congress to do its job," Obama told supporters on a recent campaign stop. "So where they won't act, I will. We're going to look every single day to figure out what we can do without Congress."
That's the spirit!
One might forgive a little autocratic hyperbole in the heat of a campaign season, but Obama isn't joking. He can't wait. Only recently, he circumvented Congress on college loans and mortgages; he directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act; through rulemaking, he empowered the Environmental Protection Agency to effectively institute legislation that Democrats could not pass; he involved the United States in military action in Libya (the right kind of warring, apparently) without congressional consent; he installed four recess appointments without a recess; and that's just for starters.
This week he couldn't wait again. Even if you agree substantively with Obama's decision to grant 800,000 young illegal immigrants a reprieve from deportation -- as I do -- having a president undo a perfectly legitimate legislative deadlock by simply ignoring the law is a precedent that should alarm everyone. So should Obama's invocation of executive privilege in the Fast and Furious gunrunning investigation regarding a document that he supposedly knew nothing about.
No, Obama isn't the first president to issue oodles of executive orders or expand and abuse the power of the presidency. Far from it. Yet, onlookers supposedly horrified by executive overreach a few years ago are doing a terrible job rationalizing it now..."
One of the unique features of the American system was its deliberate design to keep executive (Presidential) powers limited. As opposed to the Parliamentary system where the Prime Minister exercises more power. It's looking more and more like this line is getting blurred - the wrong way - in the United States.
I think, and this is just an observation, too much is put on ONE person. The President - that is, any President - seems to feel the need to impose, intervene or interject on too many issues that shouldn't really be of their concern. There's only so much one person can do.
I always understood the role of the President - as it was originally intended - to be an over seer. A "is everything ok, here?" type of approach. Moreover, a person of profound intelligence and knowledge tempered with wisdom and substantial life and employment experiences. A person equipped with just the right balance of confidence and humility to make them unique leaders.
"...Today's Democratic logic goes like this: If Congress is unable to pass progressive agenda items with a simple majority of legislators (and thankfully, that's the case), the vote of a single person will do just fine. President Obama is, after all, on his "We Can't Wait" tour. "We can't wait for Congress to do its job," Obama told supporters on a recent campaign stop. "So where they won't act, I will. We're going to look every single day to figure out what we can do without Congress."
That's the spirit!
One might forgive a little autocratic hyperbole in the heat of a campaign season, but Obama isn't joking. He can't wait. Only recently, he circumvented Congress on college loans and mortgages; he directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act; through rulemaking, he empowered the Environmental Protection Agency to effectively institute legislation that Democrats could not pass; he involved the United States in military action in Libya (the right kind of warring, apparently) without congressional consent; he installed four recess appointments without a recess; and that's just for starters.
This week he couldn't wait again. Even if you agree substantively with Obama's decision to grant 800,000 young illegal immigrants a reprieve from deportation -- as I do -- having a president undo a perfectly legitimate legislative deadlock by simply ignoring the law is a precedent that should alarm everyone. So should Obama's invocation of executive privilege in the Fast and Furious gunrunning investigation regarding a document that he supposedly knew nothing about.
No, Obama isn't the first president to issue oodles of executive orders or expand and abuse the power of the presidency. Far from it. Yet, onlookers supposedly horrified by executive overreach a few years ago are doing a terrible job rationalizing it now..."
One of the unique features of the American system was its deliberate design to keep executive (Presidential) powers limited. As opposed to the Parliamentary system where the Prime Minister exercises more power. It's looking more and more like this line is getting blurred - the wrong way - in the United States.
I think, and this is just an observation, too much is put on ONE person. The President - that is, any President - seems to feel the need to impose, intervene or interject on too many issues that shouldn't really be of their concern. There's only so much one person can do.
I always understood the role of the President - as it was originally intended - to be an over seer. A "is everything ok, here?" type of approach. Moreover, a person of profound intelligence and knowledge tempered with wisdom and substantial life and employment experiences. A person equipped with just the right balance of confidence and humility to make them unique leaders.
2012-06-21
Nothing To See Here
No kidding.
Among non-Francophones, the STM is legendary for this sort of behavior experienced by a Montreal Impact player . In fact, it's hard to find someone who doesn't (including myself. So bad my experience I vowed never to use public transportation again - and never did) have a story to tell and if they don't it's because they never had the temerity to speak English.
Look, in Quebec, it's become normal to not equate linquistic discrimination with racism. Of course, to normal people, it is and it can't be distinguished. It's hilarious, for example, watching a sports writer rail against hiring a unilingual candidate to coach a lousy hockey team and then cry they're not racists after being challenged. Boobs. Quebec is queer that way.
Keepin' it real, brotha.
Look, in Quebec, it's become normal to not equate linquistic discrimination with racism. Of course, to normal people, it is and it can't be distinguished. It's hilarious, for example, watching a sports writer rail against hiring a unilingual candidate to coach a lousy hockey team and then cry they're not racists after being challenged. Boobs. Quebec is queer that way.
Keepin' it real, brotha.
Right-Wing Nuttery
Damn. Oh, well. I was kinda hoping it was the case. I just want to get the "anti-Christ" thing (whoever it may be), over and done with. Guess we'll just have to wait some more.
More on right-wing extremists over at Southern Poverty Law Center.
All this reminds me of a scene on Seinfeld from an episode title The Limo.
Specifically the part where George Costanza says, "You know who's responsible don't you? The Jews!"
More on right-wing extremists over at Southern Poverty Law Center.
All this reminds me of a scene on Seinfeld from an episode title The Limo.
Specifically the part where George Costanza says, "You know who's responsible don't you? The Jews!"
The UN And Bill 78
The UN should indeed butt out. They have enough clowns among their ranks to deal with.
But. I will say this. I don't know what their position was when Bill 22 and Bill 101 were enacted - each a form of anti-liberty (regardless of race, creed, and yes, language) legislation. In a way, they violate human rights since the government interferes directly on personal choice.
Never mind about the absolute nonsensical entity known as L'Office de La Langue Francais - a civil liberties travesty. Empowered nitwits.
But. I will say this. I don't know what their position was when Bill 22 and Bill 101 were enacted - each a form of anti-liberty (regardless of race, creed, and yes, language) legislation. In a way, they violate human rights since the government interferes directly on personal choice.
Never mind about the absolute nonsensical entity known as L'Office de La Langue Francais - a civil liberties travesty. Empowered nitwits.
2012-06-20
Obama In Images
I'm posting some of my personal favorites here/with commentary. Thanks to Reason magazine for introducing me to these. I don't read Newsweek or The New Yorker.
Faceless person: "Oh, you read The New Yorker?
T.C.:Yes, I do.
Faceless person: Oh.
T.C.: What do you read? The Bostonian? Haw-haw.
Faceless person: I like tits!"
Where's the third eye? Where is it?!
Let's rename Newsweek, Newsweak.
Not be outdone, The New Yorker got in on the act.
Latinos?
I like the tacos. Nice touch. Oh, yes. The Mexican flag on top of the White House too. $5 to the first Canadian who paints something similar only with Canadian symbols. My money is on Margaret Atwood.
I like this one. There's an understated dignity to it. He may look limpish but he's strong. Like Ukraine!
Finally, but not least sirbob, this one has been making the libertarian circles and it's too classic to not post here. Nothing wrong with Obama the Puffer but he's trying a little too hard in this picture.
Want more? Check this out.
Faceless person: "Oh, you read The New Yorker?
T.C.:Yes, I do.
Faceless person: Oh.
T.C.: What do you read? The Bostonian? Haw-haw.
Faceless person: I like tits!"
Where's the third eye? Where is it?!
Let's rename Newsweek, Newsweak.
Not be outdone, The New Yorker got in on the act.
Latinos?
I like the tacos. Nice touch. Oh, yes. The Mexican flag on top of the White House too. $5 to the first Canadian who paints something similar only with Canadian symbols. My money is on Margaret Atwood.
I like this one. There's an understated dignity to it. He may look limpish but he's strong. Like Ukraine!
Finally, but not least sirbob, this one has been making the libertarian circles and it's too classic to not post here. Nothing wrong with Obama the Puffer but he's trying a little too hard in this picture.
Want more? Check this out.
Reformulating The Meritocracy
Good review of Twilight of the Elites by Christopher Hayes from Dissent Magazine.
"...But meritocracy goes beyond this in limiting the possibilities of politics. A friend of mine at an Ivy League university teaches business students about John Rawls in a class on politics and leadership. The students are with Rawls when it comes to equality of opportunity. And some of them, especially the liberal ones, are with him on the idea that one doesn’t simply deserve whatever the market determines. But when Rawls gets to the parts about how people don’t deserve their natural talents, and how society should have a veto over their claims to their intelligence, the wheels come off the bus..."
We do tend to focus on penalizing or taxing the result as a means to reaching equality.
And
"...But reformulating our social structures to empower people broadly, rather than to allow mobility for a chosen few, must be the next step beyond meritocratic liberalism. As Alex Gourevitch and Aziz Rana have argued, a politics of social mobility ultimately fails because it only has room for a certain amount of people to “escape relations of dependence and control” found in the market. The aim should be to move all people from dependence to independence, and to eliminate all forms of domination. The current form of meritocratic social mobility is a zero-sum game, built on exclusivity and hierarchy..."
Isn't that, like, in the spirit of anarchism?
"...But meritocracy goes beyond this in limiting the possibilities of politics. A friend of mine at an Ivy League university teaches business students about John Rawls in a class on politics and leadership. The students are with Rawls when it comes to equality of opportunity. And some of them, especially the liberal ones, are with him on the idea that one doesn’t simply deserve whatever the market determines. But when Rawls gets to the parts about how people don’t deserve their natural talents, and how society should have a veto over their claims to their intelligence, the wheels come off the bus..."
We do tend to focus on penalizing or taxing the result as a means to reaching equality.
And
"...But reformulating our social structures to empower people broadly, rather than to allow mobility for a chosen few, must be the next step beyond meritocratic liberalism. As Alex Gourevitch and Aziz Rana have argued, a politics of social mobility ultimately fails because it only has room for a certain amount of people to “escape relations of dependence and control” found in the market. The aim should be to move all people from dependence to independence, and to eliminate all forms of domination. The current form of meritocratic social mobility is a zero-sum game, built on exclusivity and hierarchy..."
Isn't that, like, in the spirit of anarchism?
Those Callous Caribou-Eatin' Cheatin' Canadians!
Canada is not used to getting all this attention.
We're the bad guys now!
Weeee!
No soup-money for you Europe!
Marshall Plan, Smarshall Phlan.
And let's not over praise our banking system. It got a bail out and if we were ever to open the industry up to competition, abusive gouging and collusion by our banks would likely cease since competition could conceivably blow them out of the water.
The so-called "Big Six" have a "big captive" market thanks to how things are set up here.
We're the bad guys now!
Weeee!
No soup-money for you Europe!
Marshall Plan, Smarshall Phlan.
And let's not over praise our banking system. It got a bail out and if we were ever to open the industry up to competition, abusive gouging and collusion by our banks would likely cease since competition could conceivably blow them out of the water.
The so-called "Big Six" have a "big captive" market thanks to how things are set up here.
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