Persnickety

New RINOs must lead Republicans | The Journal News | LoHud.com | LoHud.com This article on RINOs says it all, so I'm just linking to it and leaving it at that.

NFL 2011: The Kansas City Chiefs' sad cavalcade of torn knee ligaments. (14) - By Tommy Craggs, Stefan Fatsis, Nate Jackson, Josh Levin, Drew Magary, Barry Petchesky, and Tom Scocca - Slate Magazine OK, so an NFL star spits up blood from a hit to the head. And what do people talk about? Fantasy football. And the chances of the guy's team winning. Check out the link and read the comments. Only one that I saw mentioned that football might be changed as a result of all these concussions (and I take his comment as nostalgic for the "good ol' days" when men were men and could kill anyone as a sign of manliness). The recent walk-out by the players included discussion of medical benefits. John Mackey's name was bandied about as a poster-child for what can happen to a player after he retires. There is a link between concussions and Alzheimer's like disease. The name for this is Pugilistic Dementia, named after the "sport" in which one tries to induce a c...

MarketWatch has an interesting article ("Follow the money, Mr. Speaker") that concerns a question I've had for some time. You may have noticed that the last couple of years we've heard a refrain from Republican leaders and pundits that speaks to the issue of large government deficits costing jobs, because (in the words of John Boehner, House Speaker), "The massive borrowing and spending by the Treasury Department crowded out private investment by American businesses of all sizes." But is this true? My initial reaction to this sort of thinking was that of course it wasn't. We'd have heard of this before now. This seemed some sort of catchphrase that someone in the media felt was pithy and could knock the democrats out. Rex Nutting, MarketWatch's commentary editor, checked into this and found that indeed there was no truth to the claim. But don't expect the Republican's to stop just because it isn't true; it's just too good a phrase...

So what then is a Republican? This question has come up since I have been weeded out by the core, extreme Republicans, as they have found my ideology wanting. I expressed the need for this country to finally solve the problem of caring for its sick, and doing away with the ugly for-profit health care "system" that exists currently, replacing it with a single-payer system and thus saving our country billions of dollars, and millions of lives. How do we define Republicanism? By the core? Should we allow it to be encircled by the focused interiority of those most fervent--and most fanatical? Should those who do not adhere to every single jot and tittle of the party platform hang our heads and retreat to the desert region of our foes? (And would they admit us, or also vanquish us as not being suitable for their use either?) Does fanaticism define the party unit, or something more reasonable, something more rationally defined? Let me consider for a bit the following position: Repu...

If there is one thing that the liberal left despises most about the conservative right, it is the attitude of preening exaltedness. Now, as a conservative myself, I usually find myself in the company of many on the right. However, I usually am quickly discovered as a closet liberal--judged so by my adherence to a single-payer system. Recently I have been captured, and interrogated by those on the extreme right on a very popular social site. (Why do I characterize them so, as extreme? Because those are there own words, how they describe themselves: extremism in the defense of liberty, yaddayadda.) Finding that I am not a Republican (though I am one), that my conservative credentials are expired--though they are not, they have tried and sentenced me. I, it seems, am really a liberal Democrat, much like Obama. Though I happen to disagree with him on many topics. Still, they say I am liberal. Now I also believe, quite forcefully at times, I admit, to being pro-life. I believe in conservati...

Marines Face Questions About Rescue of Officers in Libya - NYTimes.com I am concerned we may have lost the free press some time in recent history. This story, questioning the events surrounding the successful rescue of the pilots downed in Libya, is the only instance I have found that has been covered by a US press. There are many other published pieces across the world, but the US press is largely silent. Apparently as reported in the UK Daily Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8402156/Libya-US-warplanes-carried-out-strafing-runs-to-rescue-downed-pilot.html), Osprey helicopters rescued one of the pilots who had been given aid by friendly Libyans. Harrier jets apparently strafed the area around the rescue operation, injuring eight Libyans, one of whom reportedly lost a leg. There are two important questions here: Why would the military fire on obvious friendly targets, and why wouldn't the US press be all over this story?

Lives at Risk - Google Docs