Who Am I?

Saturday Evening Blog Post – February Edition

Posted: March 5th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Misc | Comments Off on Saturday Evening Blog Post – February Edition

In this month’s edition of the Saturday Evening Blog Post, hosted by Elizabeth Esther, we are supposed to select our favorite post from February and share a link to it. I picked my post on Prayer, Evil, and the Nature of Things. It wasn’t as popular as the video (and multiple comments) I shared on Salvation, but I liked it.


Weekend Update 03-05-2011

Posted: March 5th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Weekend Update | 3 Comments »

Even blogs on Forbes are exposing Governor Walker’s blatant lies in Wisconsin. If you’re a Republican and you can’t even win over Forbes, what does that say?

Slate has a good analysis of the reasons men currently hold the upper hand among the younger demographics in defining the terms of sexual relationships. It’s worth reading.

Debunking the Myth of the Overcompensated Public Employee. Read it if you’re one of those who believes that fantasy. If you resist exposure to facts, then you are actively participating in your own delusion.

This is an intriguing article on the modern pre-adulthood stage and particularly the impact it’s had on men. Interesting pairing with the article above. Personally, I had two children and was twice married before I left my teens. I was married for the third (and last) time in my twenties. I had more children over the years. I never really had an adolescence, much less a “pre-adulthood.” It has at times made it difficult for me to know how to determine what my children were or weren’t ready to do. On it’s question about whether or not there are any good men out there, though, I think all my sons have grown into good men. They are very different from each other and aren’t all walking the same path. But they are definitely good men.

Rallies in Wisconsin grew last weekend and spread across the country. Let’s hope they aren’t too late.

These are not the words of a statesman. These are the words of a hooligan. That’s one of the best descriptions I’ve heard of Wisconsin Governor Walker’s refusal to negotiate.

This is a great column on keeping the Internet open from Scientific American.

Probably for the more technically-minded out there, but this presentation on “Bufferbloat” is intriguing.

A USA Today article on colleges and food allergies. Baylor has been great at accommodating my son and providing gluten free options. (Yes, celiac is not technically an allergy, but requires similar support from the dining halls.)

Yes, we waste billions of taxpayer dollars on federal contractors for jobs that could easily be done better and more cheaply by federal employees. And that wasted money goes largely unaudited and unreported. It’s another in a long list of silly ideological myths too many Americans actually believe these days.

At first I thought this article on a “Kid Force” bill was pure satire. Then I did a search for: gop “child labor” and found Republicans across the country talking positively about the repeal of child labor laws and in some states actually filing bills to do it. I live in a country where enough people actually vote for these idiots to elect them? God save us all.

Canada has a law that prohibits broadcast news from being false or misleading. Basically, it prohibits lying and calling it “news.” I find it amusing that the law keeps Fox News and its cohorts out of Canada. If anything is a blatant admission by Fox that it’s a propaganda machine rather than a news organization of any sort, this is it. It’s also telling that the right wing agenda can only be promulgated by lying. It’s particularly sad to see Christians buy into the whole propaganda. There is no deceit in God.

And here’s a good example why Fox can’t legally operate in Canada. It’s also sad that they believe there audience is too dumb to realize palm trees don’t grow in Wisconsin in February. It’s even sadder that they’re probably right.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stands with the workers in Wisconsin. It would be nice if more Christians did as well, but I’m not holding my breath for evangelicals to do the right thing. At this point, that seems almost like a lost cause.

Republican spending cuts would destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs. And they’re OK with that.

Walker’s huge credibility gap is only growing larger through his refusal to acknowledge his true motives — even after he was recorded saying them. Moreover, Walker doesn’t even have a majority of the citizens of his own state behind his efforts. Basically, he’s trying to run Wisconsin like his own little banana republic.

Wow. Are they just that gullible or are they really so ignorant? (I hesitate to use the word stupid, but it does come to mind.) A majority of likely GOP voters aren’t sure if President Obama was born in the US.

Krugman has a good column on the self-destructive way we are treating our children here in Texas. “The really striking thing about all this isn’t the cruelty — at this point you expect that — but the shortsightedness. What’s supposed to happen when today’s neglected children become tomorrow’s work force?

There’s a big fat debate going on. The truth? We know a lot less about what’s healthy for us than we thought.

Another good Robert Reich post looking at declining wages and benefits in the context of employment. I’ve been a federal employee now for 25 years and I’ve watched private benefits fall off the cliff he describes. It once was that my health insurance and other benefits were at best average. Now they are better than those of many of my friends in the private sector. And my benefits haven’t changed significantly over that time frame. I find it bizarre that Republicans have managed to convince so many people that teachers, firefighters, police officers, public sector nurses, and the host of other public sector workers are somehow the enemy. I thought I understood how the passion of envy operated, but seeing it actively inflamed the way it has been gives me a whole new appreciation for its destructive power.