Well, all this is interesting to me, anyway, and that's what matters here. The Internet is a terrible thing for someone like me, who finds almost everything interesting.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
The problem with establishment Democrats
This is one thing that really, really pisses me off about "establishment Democrats" - they keep helping right-wing Republicans rewrite history.
Why is that? Well, as far as I can tell, they're simply so eager to bend over backwards appeasing right-wingers that they just 'go along to get along.' And Nancy Reagan is dead, so you have to say nice things about her, right? Even when they're not true?
Hillary Clinton has faced nonstop Republican opposition for an even longer period of time than Barack Obama has. At what point will they realize that it's hopeless, that Republicans will never like them no matter what they do?
I don't know. Is there any other explanation for this? Hillary Clinton has since apologized - more or less - but how could she be this clueless, anyway? She lived through the 1980s, just like I did. How can she remember the Reagan years like that?
I'm not one of the Clinton-haters. I'd be happy with either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton as president. But I certainly understand how maddening "establishment Democrats" can be. I don't get as hysterical about it as Sanders' supporters, but I certainly understand the feeling, I really do!
When she died that was my first thought that people were going to say nice things about her even though she was just as awful as her husband, maybe worse. People find it hard to speak ill of the dead but some people like Nancy Regan deserve to be reviled.
John, I don't mind people finding something good to say about someone who's recently died.
I'd rather be remembered for the good I've done, rather than the bad, myself. And once the funeral is over, the bashing can begin. :)
But it should be true, at least. And when it comes to people like Nancy Reagan, let the Republicans praise them. Democrats can express their regrets without this kind of thing.
I know that Democrats like Clinton and Obama are desperately trying to bring America together, but it's not going to work no matter what they say.
I wonder if they said nice things at Hitler's funeral? It's like Obama saying Scalia was a great supreme court justice. He said that again when he endorsed Merrick Garland. It just sounds so phony. You know he thought Scalia was a racist, sexist, homophobic jerk like the rest of us.
I don't know, John. I've heard people who vehemently disagree with his judicial opinions say that he was a nice guy.
I don't know anything about that. And although Scalia was an important Supreme Court justice, a big reason why the court has shifted so hugely to the right these past decades, I'd never call him "great."
Incidentally, John, I hear that Antonin Scalia was an affirmative action pick himself, as Ronald Reagan apparently liked the idea of appointing an Italian-American to the Supreme Court. Ironic, isn't it?
It's hard for me to think of him like that, since I despised him so. But I despised his political and judicial opinions. We can disagree without getting personal about it (sometimes, that's very hard to do, though).
I'm a skeptic. I think it makes sense to have reasons for what I believe, so I apportion my belief to the evidence. You're welcome to disagree. Please, tell me I'm wrong. I probably don't agree with anyone about everything. Why should disagreement be a problem? Check the Pages section below for series posts and links to book reviews and game posts, as well as contact info. Unfortunately, I rarely blog at all, anymore. So don't expect new posts. - Bill
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It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong - Richard Feynman
The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and commit to memory the one, and pass over the other. - Sir Francis Bacon
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. - Hal Clement
No matter how many times a theory meets its tests successfully, there can be no certainty that it will not be overthrown by the next observation. This, then, is a cornerstone of modern natural philosophy. It makes no claim of attaining ultimate truth. In fact, the phrase "ultimate truth" becomes meaningless, because there is no way in which enough observations can be made to make truth certain and, therefore, "ultimate". - Isaac Asimov
The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. - Treaty of Tripoli, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams (1797)
I don't doubt the sincerity of dowsers, but even after we've demonstrated that they can't produce results that are any better than chance they'll still go away believing in their abilities... It is like the mother whose son is caught shoplifting on tape. She wonders why someone would want to frame her child by producing a fake video. - James Randi
During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church ... imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. - Mark Twain
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. - Bertrand Russell
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Friedrich Nietzsche
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The formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat. - Shekhar Gupta
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We cannot absolutely prove that those are in error who tell us that society has reached a turning point, that we have seen our best days. But so said all who came before us and with just as much apparent reason. - Thomas Macauley, 1830
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We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men. - Edward R. Murrow
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Science is simply common sense at its best - that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic. - Thomas Huxley
There is no absurdity so obvious that it cannot be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to impose it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity. - Arthur Schopenhauer
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To be elected in America, no matter from what party, the candidates have no choice but to year after year pledge to lower taxes further and further. We have become the nation of Ken and Barbie, looking good but very poor at the math. - Rack Jite
Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. - Steve Eley
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In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. - H. L. Mencken
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5 comments:
When she died that was my first thought that people were going to say nice things about her even though she was just as awful as her husband, maybe worse. People find it hard to speak ill of the dead but some people like Nancy Regan deserve to be reviled.
John, I don't mind people finding something good to say about someone who's recently died.
I'd rather be remembered for the good I've done, rather than the bad, myself. And once the funeral is over, the bashing can begin. :)
But it should be true, at least. And when it comes to people like Nancy Reagan, let the Republicans praise them. Democrats can express their regrets without this kind of thing.
I know that Democrats like Clinton and Obama are desperately trying to bring America together, but it's not going to work no matter what they say.
I wonder if they said nice things at Hitler's funeral? It's like Obama saying Scalia was a great supreme court justice. He said that again when he endorsed Merrick Garland. It just sounds so phony. You know he thought Scalia was a racist, sexist, homophobic jerk like the rest of us.
I don't know, John. I've heard people who vehemently disagree with his judicial opinions say that he was a nice guy.
I don't know anything about that. And although Scalia was an important Supreme Court justice, a big reason why the court has shifted so hugely to the right these past decades, I'd never call him "great."
Incidentally, John, I hear that Antonin Scalia was an affirmative action pick himself, as Ronald Reagan apparently liked the idea of appointing an Italian-American to the Supreme Court. Ironic, isn't it?
Also, he was supposed to be not just personally charming but the funniest justice on the court.
It's hard for me to think of him like that, since I despised him so. But I despised his political and judicial opinions. We can disagree without getting personal about it (sometimes, that's very hard to do, though).
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