[podcast]
Via SoundCloud
Author: Patrick
Short Bio: I started blogging about politics in 2006, as a populist, skeptical left of center type, with a blog called simply, "The Populist."
I suspect, but cannot prove; that my blog might have been hacked by some evil neoconservatives. I cannot prove that at all and also too, around the same time. Hackers from China where attacking wordpress blogs. I believe either the Neocons or the Chinese got my site. I don't know honestly know which.
Either way, by 2007, I began to see that I really did not fit within the Democrat Party and liberal circles and after my blog was hacked; I created a blog called "Political Byline" and I kept writing; first as a Centrist and then as a Conservative Populist
For my long bio, see the "About Me" section on this blog.
The Next News Network interviews Lew Rockwell
I present this without commentary.
Rep. Peter King makes good sense
I can see where he is coming from, although, I think calling Cruz a “Fraud” is a bit over the top. I especially like one part, which I will bold and underline.
What offends Mr. King is that Mr. Cruz, whose office did not respond to an e-mail message, dared other Republicans to be as pure and relentless in their opposition to the health care program as he is, even though everyone knew his tactics were doomed. It also struck Mr. King as an unprincipled attempt to change the law without consent of the voters. Losing actually means something; Mr. King himself said he had voted against the Obama health care overhaul at every opportunity, then voted to repeal it, and thinks it’s a law that ought to be undone.
“But I also believe in democracy, and I don’t mean that in a Fourth of July way,” he said. “We’ve lost on the House floor, we lost on the Senate floor, the president signed the bill, the Supreme Court held it to be constitutional, and the 2012 election was run on Obamacare as much as any issue. President Obama won.
“I still think we should try to repeal the bill. But you repeal it the same way you passed it. You get bills through both houses of Congress, and you get the president to sign it. The only way we are going to do that is by electing more Republicans and winning the presidential election.”
About two-thirds of the Republicans in the House of Representatives agree with him, Mr. King asserted: “A lot of them are intimidated by the Ted Cruz wing. There were robocalls and efforts in districts throughout the country during August against Republicans, telling them why they had to support defunding Obamacare.
“What do you accomplish? You build up this mailing list for Cruz, and a fund-raising list. And you also are going to generate primaries against people who I would consider to be good Republicans, pretty solid conservative Republicans.”
I believe when Representative King refers to “Democracy” he is simply referring to the political process in general. The fact is though that we are a Constitutional Republic and we have a process and by the process we should go. This filibustering is nothing more than a sideshow for the Republicans and it will also be used as a fundraiser for pressure groups. King is right, the Democrats won the election, and they passed a bill, fair and square. Now, the Republicans need to win some elections, like 2014 and 2016 and get the bill removed. Which is basically what I said right here.
Others: Weasel Zippers,
Popular Science shuts off comments on its site
Not shocking at all, most liberals do not like being questioned.
Quote:
Comments can be bad for science. That’s why, here at PopularScience.com, we’re shutting them off.
It wasn’t a decision we made lightly. As the news arm of a 141-year-old science and technology magazine, we are as committed to fostering lively, intellectual debate as we are to spreading the word of science far and wide. The problem is when trolls and spambots overwhelm the former, diminishing our ability to do the latter.
[….]
But even a fractious minority wields enough power to skew a reader’s perception of a story, recent research suggests. In one study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Dominique Brossard, 1,183 Americans read a fake blog post on nanotechnology and revealed in survey questions how they felt about the subject (are they wary of the benefits or supportive?). Then, through a randomly assigned condition, they read either epithet- and insult-laden comments (“If you don’t see the benefits of using nanotechnology in these kinds of products, you’re an idiot” ) or civil comments.
[….]
A politically motivated, decades-long war on expertise has eroded the popular consensus on a wide variety of scientifically validated topics. Everything, from evolution to the origins of climate change, is mistakenly up for grabs again. Scientific certainty is just another thing for two people to “debate” on television. And because comments sections tend to be a grotesque reflection of the media culture surrounding them, the cynical work of undermining bedrock scientific doctrine is now being done beneath our own stories, within a website devoted to championing science.
Vox Day Saith:
Comments aren’t bad for science. Comments are bad for those who are stubbornly clinging to outdated scientific paradigms that are showing obvious cracks.
William Teach AKA Porter Good says:
I guess they haven’t heard of using methods like Bad Behavior, Akismet, Disqus, and others commenting blockers. They aren’t perfect, but certainly cut down quite a bit.
[….]
There are many Warmist websites I’m blocked from commenting at. Same with other Climate Realists like Steven Goddard, Tom Nelson, Anthony Watts, etc. Because Warmists do not want debate: they want people to sit down, shut up, and smile as Government becomes more intrusive and controlling. All based on a lie.
This is pretty much what I was thinking too. If you have a blog or a website; and you do not allow comments, what you basically have is a pulpit with an empty Church. Now, I moderate comments, because this blog sometimes like to attract the attention of some trollish folk who like to make appearances here. But, anyone can comment and as long as the comments don’t blatantly violate my comment policy, I will let them stand. This is because I do not mind people coming back and commenting. I also like it when they donate, but I digress. 😉
Video: News Channel Morning Edition: Sept. 24, 2013
Please note: At one point, I had thought about not posting these videos anymore. Mainly because of criticism from a well-known atheist. Well, after praying about it and really reflecting on it; I have decided that I am not going to allow other people tell me how to run this blog. It is mine, and I reserve the right to publish whatever I darned well please here. If fundamentalist atheists don’t not like it; too bad. This is a political blog, and not a Christian one; however, I will not hide my Christian beliefs, just to appease someone, who’s mission in life is to criticize with whom he disagrees with. I don’t work like that, never have, never will….
Video: The Truth About Common Core
As of late, I have been hearing a good deal about common core; including stuff like this here.
I also wondered what it was all about.
Well, once again Julie AKA The Token Libertarian Girl sorts it all out:
Just more of that progressive liberal education that the public school system is known for. 🙄
Video: CBN NewsWatch: September 23, 2013
(Via CBN)
Please note: At one point, I had thought about not posting these videos anymore. Mainly because of criticism from a well-known atheist. Well, after praying about it and really reflecting on it; I have decided that I am not going to allow other people tell me how to run this blog. It is mine, and I reserve the right to publish whatever I darned well please here. If fundamentalist atheists don’t not like it; too bad. This is a political blog, and not a Christian one; however, I will not hide my Christian beliefs, just to appease someone, who’s mission in life is to criticize with whom he disagrees with. I don’t work like that, never have, never will….
Good Reading: RIP, the middle class: 1946-2013
Now, I do not agree entirely on the premise of this article; which is that Government is the end-all solution. But, his facts are right-on.
Go Read: RIP, the middle class: 1946-2013 at Salon.com.
His Book:
Good Reading: Bipartisan Corporate Welfare by Veronique de Rugy
This is some seriously good stuff here:
On June 7, the Senate Banking Committee voted to back Fred Hochberg’s second term as president of the U.S. Export-Import Bank without bothering to ask the Obama administration about the future of that expensive, inefficient New Deal–era agency. The vote, in which 28 Republicans joined 54 Democrats in supporting Hochberg, was not a good sign for anyone hoping that the GOP’s latest promises of fiscal restraint would prove more trustworthy than all the broken promises before.
The bank, also known as “Ex-Im,” provides taxpayer-backed loans, loan guarantees, and insurance to foreign companies, such as Air China, to buy products from some of the richest U.S. exporters, such as Boeing. It is a textbook example of Washington’s bipartisan corporate welfare. Yet only two Republicans, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), voted against Hochberg. In an online statement Toomey explained his reasons for withholding support. “I opposed his nomination due to serious concerns that the Ex-Im Bank is using taxpayer-backed loan guarantees to help some companies at the expense of other U.S. companies,” he said. “The way to help U.S. exports is to reduce the tax and regulatory burden on businesses, not to pick winners and losers.”
Read the rest at: Bipartisan Corporate Welfare – Reason.com.
Ace has a rather good point
About the GOP:
But Cruz can’t drop the filibuster now because the go along, get along GOP would kill him for dropping it. Now they get to kill him for keeping it. Nice game they’ve got going on.
One thing we shouldn’t kid ourselves about is that if the House passed a clean CR and then included the delay plan in their budget ceiling bill it still wouldn’t have the votes in the Senate and we’d still be in the position of having to find them by having the House play chicken not with a government shutdown but with what would be called “defaulting” on the full faith and credit of the United States.
Given the level disingenuousness in the delay camp’s hits not on Obama or ObamaCare but the Devil known as Ted Cruz I’m seriously doubt they would do what they claimed. Right now it seems like one big shell game to avoid actually fighting against something they all claim to be against.
You know why Cruz is so popular? Because he’s actually fighting. Maybe it’s a losing fight, maybe it’s a fight to raise money (though let’s not pretend he’s the only one doing that) or to raise his popularity (the sight of professional politicians accusing anyone of self-aggrandizement is too precious) but at least he’s fighting.
Something I think we should all remember is that when the GOP had the House and the Senate before we never saw this kind of fight from the GOP. We saw a slightly less robust rush to bigger government than we did under the Democrats but we never saw Denny Hastret, Tom “There’s No Fat Left To Cut In The Federal Budget” Delay, Trent Lott and Bill Frist just muddle along without any energy or drive to bring the federal government under control. The professional Republican class wants to say, “hey we need more votes to do anything”, well a lot of us remember when you had more votes and not only did you not do anything, you made it worse. Remember “Pork Busters”? Yeah, we didn’t love you then and we don’t trust you now to do the right thing.
Dare I suggest that the GOP has not been truly Conservative in years? Their addiction to spending and their foreign policy proves that.