comments o mine

2003-11-19T01:18:00.000-08:00

doddpost doddcomment
I DISCRIMINATE against the WHITE, fatty milk for the OJ next to it. Every once in a while, too much milk gives me bad gas. You whiteys are lucky: most of us PURE-BLOOD east "Asians" will become lactose intolerant if we live long enough.

Another QUALITY post, Dodd. Keep up the good work. I've got a lengthy response on my admittedly most inferior site, if anyone's interested. (It presumes a RTWT of the article that Dodd linked.)

2003-05-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

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i think that market forces, with regulated labeling, could've handled this one instead. It worked in the case of margarine, for the same TFAs. I don't understand: the public responded well enough on their once they were educated that TFAs (which were initially thought to be healthy) were actually much worse than "regular" fat. The public just needs good media and accurate, easy-to-use labeling to exercise their liberty, sufficiently informed without horrendous effort.

2003-05-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

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Good points, but i've one problem. Perhaps, i'm not cynical enough yet, but i do not find it plausible that such a "they" (of democrats) work for stagnancy. I might have respected other claims: 1) of philosphical/pragmatic wrongheadedness of how to fix the economy, 2) of needing to feed a spending habit, 3) of a different/wrongheaded view of what services should government provide, or 4) of a kind of understated class warfare, that plays off of a perception (of some) that such a tax cut helps the rich disproportionately. But not simple malicious economy crashing to create a niche for them.

2003-05-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

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Honestly, nice points, Nathan.

---

OK, bad joke coming--don't make the mistake of taking it too seriously:

Texas Toast =
a) Liberty Toast
b) Civil Liberty Toast
c) Life Toast
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d) Justice Toast
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i just realized that "toast" could give a double-meaning.

2003-05-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

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d'oh...this leftish person feels pain...

2003-05-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

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I look @ Bret's view of Texas in a similar way as the view some conservatives have of Hollywood: funny, with something real but sometimes less important to point out.
Even though we've got the nonrandomized sample size of "1", I think blatant violation of civil liberties by police officers and (more alarmingly) a judge counts as important to point out.

If people can ridicule Hollywood for its flaky reputation (as one way of calling for change), why can't someone civilly ridicule Texas for its (longer than GWB) reputation of subpar care for civil liberties.

2003-04-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

mullings: tax = looting

Nice post, Dodd, and nice first spike from Mullings.

However, the follow-up made me twitch, "WTF?!? If 'redistribution of wealth' by taxation (broadly) = looting, then captial punishment = revenge killing (broadly)." Please. "Difference without a distinction "? When you're trying too hard to please, I guess it's easy to forget about those little notions of rule of law and governmental change by process not revolution. It makes me want to tearfully bellow "REPRESENT YOUR PEOPLE WELL!"

I'm definitely always up for clever, funny barbs at the various sides' expense, but that was not being clever--that was trying too hard to make something fit.

Still, Galen'll get site hits from me, because I find him good at other times (looted museum = museum--lmao!).

2003-04-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

for expatriates post

ouch...back to the expats: How likely do you all think that many of them will be driven by notions more self-interested than patriotic? Listened a bit ago to BBC World service, for an interview (granted a selected sample of size 1) with an expatriate who planned to visit Iraq soon in order to check on his family members but to not stay long. He felt that he wouldn't want to be physically be in Iraq during the rough and dangerous reconstruction period. He also understood that many other Iraqi expatriates felt the same way. On the other hand, he is currently working as an architect and perhaps he didn't see a market for his preferred type (or subtype) of work.

For a peacetime example of expatriates, this time from the Philippines and priorly from China, may I submit my family. 3 of the 4 doctors and about half of my parents and their siblings currently live in the U.S. and send substantial amounts home...

Shite. Am I supporting a case for a reduction of immigrants? "Don't hurt me, I'm 2nd generation." Doh, that doesn't protect me completely. That's right, you damm foreigners, stop sapping cash from our economy and go home to your own country to work...except when we have a shortage of docs and nice President Reagan says you can stay.

....There is a pull to follow economic opportunity as well as a loose basis on the generic east Asian family model: There is a diversified protection (verbalized by my family members) as when things go poorly in one country, the family members in the other country step up their family support contribution. So the mothership country gets a cash influx but brain- and human resource-drains.

For completeness, jump a few generations before my parents and you get economic migrants "escaping" from China. Most likely there is substantial support also here as one family member of my parents' generation visited for the first time as an adult to find an old picture (of himself) loving cared for (with candles and placement of fruit). A bit creepy.

I probably talk too much. What should I have cut out or shaped differently? For your infrequent viewing pleasure, if you please.

2003-03-28T06:39:00.000-08:00

Nice post, Dodd. I think it's the first I've heard currently on this side of enforcement of lawful orders by force topic.
Emotional disgust aside, I've recently re-heard the notion that "rules of war" frequently translates to "rules of war of the strong." I understand that, during the American Revolutionary War, tactics by American forces frequently strayed substantially from the prevailing military convention (i.e. sniping/taking potshots, not wearing easily-visible uniforms during battle, not lining up shoulder-to-shoulder in a line facing the enemy, not targeting officers, etc.). Granted, the Geneva Convention did not exist at that point; however, I understand that conventions akin to "rules of war" did exist in the Western tradition as far back as the Middle Ages.
Maybe I should restate that Saddam Hussein is on my "very bad person list", I am thankful that the U.S. exists its form today, and I am just as grateful for the valor, sacrifice, and ingenuity of our military forces past and present. Still, how do we justify (or look back at) our substantial deviation from the rules of war back in the day? Should we have followed established military convention in the ARW and substantially reduced our chances for victory?
Well, perhaps it is different as we now have the broadly accepted, often-enough quoted, Geneva Convention--or not. I don't understand our Administration to be emphasizing this document. It turns out that the latest version of the Geneva Convention has been signed by only half (that does not include the U.S. and Great Britain) of the nations that signed the previous (1949) version.
So it seems that we are left with what we and a coalition of the willing think is right in terms of rules of war. I might emphasize a wrong on my own: two-faced inconsistency of the Iraqi regime in claiming U.S. disregard of civilian life and even genocidal tendencies, while this regime often implicitly or by direct design places the most sensitive civilian targets in or near harm's way.
Another disclaimer: I recognize conceptionally and can only imagine what it must be like for our military personnel now to face all these "dirty tactics" by Iraqi forces.

2002-01-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

---cdharris.net entry:
The Art of Selective Horror
"The European elite has finally objected to the treatment of prisoners in Cuba. Of course, it's not the political prisoners tortured by Fidel Castro, but the captured Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay by the U.S." Which is, on the whole, quite instructive.

---My response:
3 things:
1) Though I do recognize that it works for the context of the nationalreview article, how complete of a story do you think the "European elite" moniker gives? For example, I understood there to be outcry in Britain from people on the street through several of their elected representatives (old drudgereport link)
2) time.com: Why Guantanamo Has Europe Hopping Mad: The handling of al Qaeda prisoners raises old fears of the U.S. making its own rules (please note the following Ctrl-F -ables [find function on web browser]: render, norms, pale)
3) good NationalReview.com article: Roots of American Self-Doubt Why can no American say “Who cares?” I thought it a worthwhile read for his perspective & some valid points, though I have a number of issues w/ this article, some to the level of identifying author VD Hanson's horseshit (signified by "hs")...ctrl-F -able: nuanced; misdiagnoses; precipitating [hs--see item 1 below]; obtuse [nice point, Hanson, honestly!]; replicated [I have mixed feelings--see item 2 below]

1--I think Hanson's proposed equivalence here is confusing the issue. He looks too much like a hawk riding new suspicions & recent tragedy (potential iraqi involvement & 9-11) to "win" a specific justification (for hostility in response to armistice violations) that has been lost to those of his viewpoint for a decade.}
2--I think that Hanson might have sketched a pretty good reading of a heartland & its healthy lack of neuroses. However:
A) I hope he doesn't neglect a healthy sense of vigilance that ensures that the government acts honorably not only towards us citizens, but also towards our neighbors & enemies.
B) Just as there is a notion of "local community standards" that perhaps may be applied to state & local levels against that at a national level, could there also be an application that international community standards need be respected to some degree? One need not be neurotic to do this...Instead of federal gov't intervention in desegregation at the local level in the South; an incorporation of some international recommendations by the U.S. as reported in the above Time article (Ctrl-F "brigadier")