The Understanding Project
  • Logic
  • About
  • Author
  • Books

Fast, Furious, And Confused

7/17/2012

 
What was Fast And Furious? Who is to blame for the death of Brian Terry? Should Attorney General Eric Holder be impeached? Was Obama in on the conspiracy? You won’t find those answers here; that’s not the point of this blog. I’m here to discover and report on the arguments driving political opinion in the United States. The “Fast And Furious” scandal is becoming a divisive issue with many of us lining up on different sides to vent our anger at each other. Before we begin, it would probably be helpful if we were first aware of what the counterarguments are, and to question whether we really know what happened ourselves. There is a conspiracy theory out there that the operation was designed to increase gun violence as a pretext for increased gun control rules. Preaching this theory without hard evidence is reckless, dangerous, bad for the reasoned political debate essential to democracy, and sets us against each other needlessly. It has much the same effect as the conspiracy theory that elements of the US government were in on the 9/11 attacks as a pretext for war. There are also accusations out there that those trying to get to the bottom of the scandal are motivated solely to hurt President Obama politically, or even by racism. These accusations aren’t much help either, and only serve to divide us.

Read More

Random Tidbits

7/11/2012

 
Gridlock Forever

As is always the case with these things, I am skeptical of the methodology, but if this is true, it is disturbing.

Nature Makes Her Own Laws

Ah, the futility of environmental regulation…

Declaring Independence From The Republicrats

It’s about time.

Corporate Government

It seems that lobbyists are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to corporate influence over government. Campaign finance reform won’t fix it. The entire system needs an overhaul. The question is: to what?

More Alike Than You Think

We are told that the Tea Party is “conservative” and Occupy Wall Street is “liberal,” but are they really that different? It makes you wonder who the moderates are…

No, They Can’t

John Stossel has written a brilliant, interesting, easy-to-read book. I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand why libertarians think the way they do about economics, health care, education, drugs, the “marketplace of ideas,” and more. I leave you with this anecdote from page 178 of how some governments take censorship in the name of protecting us to ridiculous extremes.

“I wish future lawyers understood that America is a special country because we have free speech. In Ecuador, it’s illegal to criticize the tax system. In many Islamic countries, enforcers wander the streets on the lookout for blasphemous conversations. China’s Communist Party not only limits criticism of the government, but recently they even banned stories about time travel. A party official explained that such stories ‘have monstrous and weird plots, use absurd tactics, and promote feudalism, superstition, fatalism, and reincarnation.’”

It can’t be real. It’s like something from a Monty Python skit…

Restoring Love

I keep hearing that believers in limited government are selfish and don’t value community. This is far from the case. In fact, many recognize that it is selfishness that leads to crony capitalism, which leads to lobbyists, which leads to big government, which leads to the loss of liberty and prosperity for everyone – and they care about the liberty and prosperity of others. Glenn Beck’s audience is planning on strengthening the community by donating food (which is against the law in some cities).

Republicans Strike Again

7/11/2012

 
Well, this is a tough one to explain. At first glance it seems to be yet another example of Republican hypocrisy and political flip-flopping, but the Republicans do offer an interesting explanation that makes me wonder.

Read More

New Soda Rules May Cause More Consumption

7/6/2012

 
Everybody is talking about the new soda rules in New York. It seems you are no longer allowed to serve sodas of more than sixteen ounces, though you may serve more than one soda at a time. The reported aim of this rule is to decrease soda consumption, which theoretically will decrease the incidence of certain health problems. Unfortunately, I believe this rule will actually cause an increase in consumption.

Read More

We Need To Need Each Other

7/6/2012

 
I just came across a very interesting article in Yes Magazine that describes a way to meet everyone’s needs, achieve financial independence of individuals and communities, and halt (or even reverse) the growing concentration of effective wealth in the hands of the very few – and it does all this without erecting a supersized government or engaging in economic terrorism. This is an economic paradigm that virtually everybody of all ideologies should be able to get behind – and I almost missed it. Why, you ask? Well, it was packaged very poorly.

Read More

What Was Justice Roberts Thinking?

7/4/2012

 
By now, you should have heard that the Affordable Care Act was declared constitutional in a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court with generally considered “conservative” Justice Roberts siding with the “liberals” to write the official decision. The decision has been very controversial, to say the least, with many both for and against it, but that isn’t what has caught my attention this month. Instead, I noticed that even among those against the act, not all of them disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision.

Read More

Taxing Inactivity

7/4/2012

 
I have some points for us all to ponder to aid us in understanding why some people were against the health insurance mandate from the beginning and why relabeling it a “tax” doesn’t change the underlying issues people have with it.

Read More

    Author

    Hi, I'm Dan. I like chocolate, hiking, and politics.

    Archives

    November 2019
    April 2019
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    May 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    February 2012
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010

    Categories

    All
    Abortion
    Al Gore
    Anarchy
    Animals
    Ann Coulter
    Anti-Semitism
    Approval Rate
    Barack Obama
    Bias
    Bill Clinton
    Budget Deficit
    Bush Bashing
    Bush-Bashing
    Bush-bashing
    Capitalism
    Center
    Christmas
    Civility
    Code Words
    Coffee Parties
    Collectivism
    Compromise
    Conservative
    Constitution
    Court Rulings
    Culture
    Debate
    Democrats
    Dick Cheney
    Discrimination
    Donald Trump
    Drew Weston
    Economy
    Education
    Environment
    Eric Holder
    Euthanasia
    Experience
    Flag Burning
    France
    George W Bush
    Glenn Beck
    Global Warming
    Health Care
    Hillary Clinton
    Historical Narrative
    Holiday
    Homosexual
    Huffington Post
    Humor
    Hypocrisy
    Immigration
    Independent
    Insult
    Insurance
    Iraq
    Israel
    Jared Loughner
    Jimmy Buffet
    John Kerry
    John Mccain
    Jon Stewart
    Joseph Stark
    Journalism
    Judith Curry
    Julian Assange
    Koran
    Liberal
    Libya
    Marginalization
    Marketing
    Marriage
    Media
    Memes
    Mike Huckabee
    Military
    Mit Romney
    Monopoly
    National Debt
    Occupy Wall Street
    Osama Bin Laden
    Partisanship
    Political Spectrum
    Pragmatism
    Prejudice
    Privacy
    Psychology
    Rachel Maddow
    Racism
    Recession
    Religion
    Republicans
    Rights
    Rush Limbaugh
    Sarah Palin
    Sean Hannity
    Semantics
    Sex
    Sexism
    Socialism
    Sources
    State Rights
    State Secrets
    Stephen Colbert
    Suicide
    Taxes
    Tea Parties
    Term Limits
    Theory
    Tom Tancredo
    Torture
    Unions
    Van Jones
    Wikileaks

    RSS Feed

Please check out my books!

  • Logic
  • About
  • Author
  • Books