Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
On Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment is one of those ideas that works better in theory than in practice. In theory, I have no problem with the state killing killers. In practice, the people doing the prosecuting achieve considerable political gain for pushing for the "we're all mad so let's kill somebody" solution instead of actual, you know, justice. Because actually killing the right person may be difficult if not impossible and we can't let that screw up our next election, now can we?
Blatant and well-publicised prosecutorial abuse doesn't even seem like much of a career detriment these days if the new Senator from the Great(ly screwed up) State of Illinois is anything to go by.
There's one exception where I think capital punishment is appropriate and necessary, prosecutorial misconduct be damned: Any legislator caught accepting bribes should be crucified (old-school) in front of their legislative building, and their body left in place to rot as a warning to the others. It gives a whole new meaning to "getting nailed." Or maybe death by impaling. Tough to decide which.
Blatant and well-publicised prosecutorial abuse doesn't even seem like much of a career detriment these days if the new Senator from the Great(ly screwed up) State of Illinois is anything to go by.
There's one exception where I think capital punishment is appropriate and necessary, prosecutorial misconduct be damned: Any legislator caught accepting bribes should be crucified (old-school) in front of their legislative building, and their body left in place to rot as a warning to the others. It gives a whole new meaning to "getting nailed." Or maybe death by impaling. Tough to decide which.
Pelosi - More abortion will help the economy
From an interview with George Sephanopolous at ABC News (via Yuval Levin at The Corner via DrewM at Ace of Spades), Nancy Pelosi delivers this little nugget of Progressive Truth:
It digs down to one of the most basic, core, fundamental differences between progressives and libertarians / conservatives.
Progressives see people as a liability - mouths to feed, drains on the limited resources of our fragile planet and benevolent state, etc.
Libertarians and conservatives see people as assets that can contribute to the economy with their work and the betterment of humankind with their inventive genius.
Of course if the people in these movements make these judgements based on their peers, it's easy to see why they feel this way.
It also underscores the real reason that Progressives fight so hard for the open borders and refuse to do anything about illegal immigration. People's political beliefs are often based on those of their parents. Progressives need to build new generations of people who are dependent on their largess to support their power base, and the numbers they gain jumping the fence are roughly the numbers they lose to "family planning" (I just love the way that euphemism drips with irony).
Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.
It digs down to one of the most basic, core, fundamental differences between progressives and libertarians / conservatives.
Progressives see people as a liability - mouths to feed, drains on the limited resources of our fragile planet and benevolent state, etc.
Libertarians and conservatives see people as assets that can contribute to the economy with their work and the betterment of humankind with their inventive genius.
Of course if the people in these movements make these judgements based on their peers, it's easy to see why they feel this way.
It also underscores the real reason that Progressives fight so hard for the open borders and refuse to do anything about illegal immigration. People's political beliefs are often based on those of their parents. Progressives need to build new generations of people who are dependent on their largess to support their power base, and the numbers they gain jumping the fence are roughly the numbers they lose to "family planning" (I just love the way that euphemism drips with irony).
Labels:
Conservatism,
Core Beliefs,
Libertarianism,
Progressivism
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Caroline Kennedy for Senate!
Caroline Kennedy's qualifications for the Senate are about the same as Paris Hilton's (minus the sex tape). And, come to think of it, I may owe Paris an apology for this one...
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State!
Another winner! Of course, she's got a pay-for-play scandal going too (via John Stephenson via Instapundit via Ace of Spades).
Such a shock! Am I the only person that remembers that the only Clinton-era scandals that Hillary wasn't elbow-deep in were the ones involving her husband's penis?
Such a shock! Am I the only person that remembers that the only Clinton-era scandals that Hillary wasn't elbow-deep in were the ones involving her husband's penis?
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Ahh... the $800 bajillion dollar stimulus bill passes the house. All 177 Republicans and a dozen or so Democrats oppose it. And the crowd goes wild!
Too bad the Republicans are a few years late and just under $1,800,000,000,000 short (Republicans bail out their Wall Street pals + Democrats buy themselves a couple million more votes). Nice to know the party’s representatives in Washington found their cajones when all they could offer was a meaningless gesture that didn’t even create a speed-bump in the house. Actually, never mind - meaningless gestures don’t require any guts. They’re just sucking up to try to salvage what’s left of their power, and their base is positively swooning over it. Pathetic.
What did their sudden discovery of fiscal responsibility accomplish? Exactly, precisely nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Losers who go around signing Internet petitions accomplished more than this.
But whose fault is this really? The congresscritters? Bush? Try the Republican base. They keep voting these ballot leeches back in - despite their miserable budgetary performances - year after year after year because of the abject terror of losing any ground on other issues. "Vote for us or gays will marry and babies will get aborted! Liberal judges will tell filthy hippies it's ok to smoke weed!" (Disclaimer: I'm actually for two of these four issues). Everyone just sort of forgot that when you spend the country into the ground, fail to stop the insane lending requirements that created the housing bubble, and then tell everyone you're regulating Wall Street when you're ummm... not... you create crisis that end up getting you voted out. Am I smoking crack, or did the Republicans control the House, Senate, and Presidency just a few years ago? They had full control; they could have fixed these things. Democrats may have created some of these policies, and share much of the blame, but doing nothing to solve these issues makes the Republicans their dim-witted co-conspirators. Responsibility for these problems falls on them, and now the monetary chickaaaahns.... are comin' home..... to roost! And you're still going to get gays marrying (fine with me) and drive-through partial-birth abortions for 12-year-olds without parental notification (not so cool with that). That's what sacrificing your principles and voting out of fear gets you.
Vote every single one of ‘em out and start over. Or better yet, just dump the Republican party and go somewhere else.