October 3, 2008
Is it an illusion that reason and Western liberalism will win out over fanaticism? Truth or Lie?
Even when I take off the illusionary blinders of my culture, no real reason becomes visible that can explain why reason should prevail over fanaticism or why fanaticism should be thought of as culturally backward and something that will disappear over time.
Instead, I see myself as having been blinded by a cultural myth, blinded to the fact that the law of the jungle is very possibly stronger than reason and modernity and may win out in the long run.
What do you think?
September 22, 2008
Should taxpayers demand five conditions on trillion dollar blank check? truth or lie?
Robert Reich suggests that five conditions be added to the “blank check” the Bush Administration is requesting to bail out Wall Street:
The public doesn’t like a blank check. They think this whole bailout idea is nuts. They see fat cats on Wall Street who have raked in zillions for years, now extorting in effect $2,000 to $5,000 from every American family to make up for their own nonfeasance, malfeasance, greed, and just plain stupidity. Wall Street’s request for a blank check comes at the same time most of the public is worried about their jobs and declining wages, and having enough money to pay for gas and food and health insurance, meet their car payments and mortgage payments, and save for their retirement and childrens’ college education. And so the public is asking: Why should Wall Street get bailed out by me when I’m getting screwed?
So if you are a member of Congress, you just might be in a position to demand from Wall Street certain conditions in return for the blank check…
1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company shoves onto the public. So when and if Wall Street shares rise, taxpayers are rewarded for accepting so much risk.
2. Wall Street executives and directors of Wall Street firms relinquish their current stock options and this year’s other forms of compensation, and agree to future compensation linked to a rolling five-year average of firm profitability. Why should taxpayers feather their already amply-feathered nests?
3. All Wall Street executives immediately cease making campaign contributions to any candidate for public office in this election cycle or next, all Wall Street PACs be closed, and Wall Street lobbyists curtail their activities unless specifically asked for information by policymakers. Why should taxpayers finance Wall Street’s outsized political power – especially when that power is being exercised to get favorable terms from taxpayers?
4. Wall Street firms agree to comply with new regulations over disclosure, capital requirements, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. The regulations will emerge in ninety days from a bi-partisan working group, to be convened immediately. After all, inadequate regulation and lack of oversight got us into this mess.
5. Wall Street agrees to give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify the terms of primary mortgages, so homeowners have a fighting chance to keep their homes. Why should distressed homeowners lose their homes when Wall Streeters receive taxpayer money that helps them keep their fancy ones?
September 21, 2008
Politician Lies?
Give me a break! If there were a politician who had integrity and said the same thing to everyone, that politician would not get elected. Politicians lie because people do not want to hear the truth. People will only vote for politicians who tell them what they want to hear.
This is what I think:
If you want to get elected you are expected to lie about many things.
If you had an extra-marital affair, you are expected to lie.
If you smoked pot as half of all Americans have, you are expected to lie.
If you ever cheated on your taxes, you are expected to lie.
It seems that American’s are currently incapable of facing the reality that politician’s are human, that all politician’s have skeleton’s in their closet, relative to the expectations of the American public, that political parties will use these skeletons and if they can’t find any, the political parties will manufacturer them through negative public relations campaigns. Why should we expect our politicians to be somehow morally superior to us, the average citizen?
We elect politicians to do a job.
Our politicians should be qualified to do that job.
Our politicians should not be corrupt and should not have a record of corruption. This is not a simple matter. What determines if a politician is corrupt?
This is the definition of corruption per the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1. Impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle 2. Inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery) 3. A departure from the original or from what is pure or correct 4. An agency or influence that corrupts.
So good voters, study this definition well and study to determine if you think a politician fits this definition. If in your best judgement they do then – DO NOT vote for them. We don’t need corrupt politicians!
I predict most voters will continue to elect the politician who lies the most. I believe that is one of the main reasons we have so much corruption built into our political systems. It simply reflects the bad judgement of voters and the limited choices they are presented by our political system.
September 15, 2008
Count the Lies
Here at Lie of the day we typically just report random lies or maybe ask you if you think something is a truth or a lie.
The Democrats have a new idea that sort of relates to what we do. They have decided to Count the Lies
September 4, 2008
Is the end near? – Truth or Lie
Professor Obvious of WASU gave a lecture today on the state of the world:
Look toward our future! Today there are approximately 6.7 billion people on this little planet. In the next hundred years all these people will be dead, well most of them anyway. What a tragedy! Who will dispose of all these bodies? Think about this too, more people will be born during the next one hundred years and many of those people will die! And what about all the animals? Think about the great blue whales, how many of them will die? What about the lions and tigers and bears? We worry about war, oil, poverty, terrorists and politics but who thinks about the great disaster that is facing us all other than those of us here at WASU?
At WASU, we are thankful to those professor’s who both seek and expose the truth! Obviously, our favorite professor received thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the appreciative audience here at We’re All Screwed University.
Lie of the Day 