March 29, 2007
Tom DeLay was interviewed last week on NPR. I found the interview fascinating…in the way that watching an impending (or in his case past) train wreck fascinating. I’m not going to editorialize on this…I think DeLay’s words more than speak for themselves. This is an excerpt from the interview. Check out the whole interview here:
The K Street Strategy
DeLay: For 40 years, if you were an organization or company who hired lobbyists, you wanted to hire people who had access to the people in power, so you hired Democrats. And K Street was overwhelmingly Democratic.
Inskeep: Every firm would have republicans though of course.
DeLay: Yeah, but they were all tokens and we started the effort to convince people that if you wanted to bring your petition to the government you should bring somebody that believes the same things we do.
Inskeep:You said you weren’t going to meet with a lot of democrats specifically.
DeLay: I didn’t. I didn’t[meet with Democrats]
Inskeep: You said go hire a Republican and send him to me.
DeLay: Why would I meet with the enemy? Why would I meet with somebody that wanted to make me the minority whip and keep me from being the majority whip?
Inskeep: Somebody might say because he’s an American with an interest? DeLay: He’s not an American with my interest or the interest of the agenda we’re trying to promote From his book:
One more thing: Because liberals and the press are influenced by socialism’s hatred of the private sector, they speak of business people and corporations like they are the evil empire. Not only is this a silly lie that defies history and reason, the vital truth is that a congressman is sworn to represent the people in private industry just as surely as he is public school teachers and policemen. Not only should we be thankful for what the private sector has accomplished in this country, we should start recognizing that those who work in that sector have a right to political representation also. A close look at their spending on political lobbying will reveal that they actually spend less than labor unions do to achieve their political goals.
March 28, 2007
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
—Nietzsche; Aphorism 146
March 26, 2007
Story of the Day–Morning Edition 3/26
Posted by Sherpa under religion, story of the day[6] Comments
The past couple of days the subject of my religious and scientific beliefs have simmered up to the surface. I’ve never really had much of a quandry between the two, but every once in a while I think about what I believe when I read a discussion about it–a flip statement by a diehard Christian Conservative or an article like this. While my beliefs about God and predestination are different than this gentleman, its still food for thought.
March 25, 2007
The Handgun ban in DC has recently been overturned, and the law may make it up to the Supreme Court depending on the Appeals process. While the 2nd amendment crowd has been jumping cartwheels in the streets, NPR spoke with the DC Mayor about it. Anyway, it made for a very interesting read. Personally, I grew up in a “2nd amendment” household, have taken hunter safety and feel very comfortable about guns. That being said, many arguments of the diehard 2nd amendment crowd doesn’t cut it with me. When you use false correlations to prove a point, I don’t buy it. The emotional rhetoric–falls on my deaf ears. That being said, many of the arguments of the die-hard gun control crowd doesn’t cut it with me either. Fenty comes off pretty weak in this. So, like many topics; I end up in the middle.
The article is after the jump:
March 21, 2007
Newt–not only a possible Presidential Candidate, but also a self-help guru has the Five Reasons we should be helpful about the future. It’s sweet really. All I can say is whoever is running the blog failed how to set it up–which is sad really because it doesn’t take a genius to set up a proper wordpress blog. You don’t need to know any html and yet they’ve failed miserably. Oh well! That doesn’t mean we should be depressed about the future!
Newt’s Five Reasons to be Hopeful about the Future
Reason #1: Coming Explosion of Scientific Knowledge
In the next 25 years, there will be an explosion of scientific knowledge in the areas of health, energy, and the environment. We will be able to use that knowledge to combat disease, become energy independent, and work towards a better environment.
Reason No. 2: The Metrics of Accountability
Metrics are vital for measuring and comparing the results of an action. Rudy Giuliani used CompStats to develop metrics for his police force when he was mayor. This kept police officers accountable for their job and as a result has made New York City 75% safer than it was in 1993. Metrics can be used for education, health care, and the effectiveness of government, but only when those responsible are held accountable to that metric.Reason No. 3: The Private Sector Revolution in Productivity and Quality
In the private sector, there is an ongoing revolution in quality and productivity. The government has not kept up with this and is stuck in a pre-information age landscape that is inconvenient and ineffective. If the government was able to take advantage of private sector improvements in productivity and use principles of outcome based metrics, the government will achieve real change. Not only that, but the costs of running government will substantially decrease.Reason No. 4: The Entrepreneurial Courage of America
One of the greatest aspects of America is ability to allow entrepreneurs to take their ideas and succeed with them. Some of the hurdles to entrepreneurship is bureaucracy and unionization. There are many teachers out there who want to do more for their students but are restricted by bureaucratic red tape. At NASA there are engineers who want to be more active in space but are restricted by cold war era rules and regulations. By removing this red tape America will see a flurry of scientific activity and the flourishing of creativity that hasn’t been seen in a long time.Reason No. 5: Citizens Out-Competing Bureaucracy
Today billions of dollars are spent on federal programs such as the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and NASA on trying to develop cutting edge technology through slow bureaucratic processes. This is highly ineffective. The X Prize for putting a vehicle into suborbital space is a perfect example of private sector creativity that pushed the limits of technology without spending tax payer dollars. Pushing government leaders to focus on prizes, metrics, and entrepreneurship, we would see humongous growth in productivity and effectiveness while cutting down the….http://votenewt.net/?q=newts-five-reasons-be-hopeful-about-future
March 20, 2007
Bush Phones Attorney General Gonzales to Reaffirm His Support
What does this mean? Well, if the past has taught us anything about President Bush giving his support to Administration Officials that are under fire……..Gonzales will be resigning by Friday (at the latest). Personally, I think he’ll announce it Thursday afternoon or at latest Friday afternoon using the ”take out the trash” tactic.
March 19, 2007
I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a few months. Tv on the Radio, a mainstream Indy band, accused the village voice of being racist because of this cover. You’ve got a cariacature of Dylan on one of those “old people vehicles” running over a black man.
Neither portrayal is much of a compliment– One of the members of Tv on the Radio said this about the image,
“Even in the post-Chappelle era of it being hip and edgy to discuss and portray ideas about race, there are still wrong, tasteless ways and this was one of them. Nowhere in the consciousness of Voice editors or illustrator David O’Keefe can we find memories of James Byrd, a black man who was dragged behind a truck to his death by white racists in Jasper, Texas, in 1998, or Arthur “J.R.” Warren, who was run over four times and killed for being black and gay in West Virginia in 2000, and all the other lynchings that happened in the U.S. before and since. These events are still fresh in the minds of black people, as well as in the hearts and minds of the rest of us who may not be directly victimized by these particular lynchings but who are nonetheless endangered by racism and committed to social justice and healing America of its sick racist condition.
“That this picture could be drawn and not questioned or vetoed by any of the people who saw it prior to publication shows the level of ignorance and racism that persists in leftist institutions like the Voice that continue to posture as hip and progressive.
Intentionally or not, this cover sends the all-too-familiar message to people of color: Make something too unique, make something outside of your assigned place-role, and get run over by a white man.”
Do you think TV on the Radio was overreacting?
March 14, 2007
Last night after getting a few chores around the house done, I settled in to watch the classic French documentary, “The Battle of Algiers.” I didn’t realize it was a recreation of actual events–and it had been a while (okay since I saw Patton the week before) that I’ve been affected by a movie. This morning I was listening to npr morning edition (like I do every workday) and was struck by a segment written by Captain Benjamin Tupper, a National Guardsmen who is currently embedded in Afghanistan as a trainer with the Afghan National Army. Although one could argue that the circumstances in Afghanistan and Algeria are different (and they are), however this piece by Capt Tupper is powerful in a way that makes you think about the depravity of war–and what drives people to engage in these acts.
The text is after the jump.
