September 27, 2008
Now if only they'd live up to it
I'm starting to think I've misjudged the Denver Police department, and more specifically, their union. This portrays a much better sense of humor than I ever gave them credit for.
Posted by DjDuk at 08:49 PM | Comments (617) | TrackBack
September 25, 2008
Green is the new Black.... Until ski season
According to a new study most people who claim to be environmentally friendly actually fail at being green.
"There is this middle class environmentalism where being green is part of the desired image."
"The findings indicate that even those people who appear to be very committed to environmental action find it difficult to transfer these behaviours into more problematic contexts."
Hopefully like other fads, "Pet rock anyone?", this to shall eventually die off.
Posted by Ripley at 09:54 AM | Comments (659) | TrackBack
September 19, 2008
A live pirate map
To honor International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a live map of actual pirating!!!
Posted by Ripley at 02:15 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Its like Christmas for Captain Morgan
Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
I'll start again.
Yar, it be time agin fer speakin' in th' fav'rit mode of all th' scurvy dogs what been out on th' high seas keel haulin' an piratin'
For those o' you lubbers too weak in th' liver ter make yer own way in this rough and tumble vernacular there be hope.
This fine example of th piratin' way o' speakin' might be a mite technical for some o' the good crew more in their cups wit Rum, so these fine gentlemen charted a more relaxedly fitted course.
Arrr!
Posted by DjDuk at 09:01 AM | Comments (626) | TrackBack
September 18, 2008
Baby Bubba Finds A New Mummy
A heart warming tale of a baby zombie in search of someone to love him.
Posted by Ripley at 12:21 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
September 17, 2008
List of do nothing presidents
I've recently put forward the idea that a President that doesn't do very much is preferable to a president of either party that is too active. To support that here's a shot list of illustrious do nothings, or at least do littles. I may bring this forward to modern presidents later on as well.
Washington: George Washington did a lot in his life time, but his main accomplishment as President was being President. He's also noted for refusing to be king and for using the armed forces to quell an armed uprising during his 8 year tenure. Personally. He left Washington, got on his horse, and joined the fighting. But that's about it. In 8 years he was most defined by one fight and by what he didn't do.
Monroe: James Monroe was President during a period of history referred to as "The Era of Good Feelings." Functionally what this meant was he did nothing, he used his veto power to keep congress from doing anything, and he famously asked Europe not to do anything either. His one real contribution to history, aside from 8 years of non-leadership is the Monroe Doctrine. This made it the official policy of the United States Government that Europe should fuck off. Not surprisingly this is still referenced and used to this day.
Jackson: Andrew Jackson follows the Clintonian mold very well. He tried to do a lot and got nothing done due to personal scandal and a contrary congress. What he did do was almost all bad, but there was just so little of it its hard to see that it matters. He rather famously beat up an insane man with his cane and had to be restrained by his cabinet. The man had tried to shoot him first, so I suppose he could be excused. This is only really significant because it had just about as much national impact as anything else he accomplished.
Posted by DjDuk at 02:11 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
I never would have imagined
A strange thing happened to me today. Something I never really thought could happen. I found myself missing Bill Clinton.
I think if I had the choice I'd vote for old Bill over any of the candidates we have today. I'm sure this seems like an odd statement since I popup a space on the political spectrum to the right of Attila the Hun, but the more I think about him, the more I realize Bill Clinton had a lot to offer.
First off Clinton was a fundamentally weak president. Quick, what did Bill Clinton do while he was in office? Now, what else did he do aside from an intern?
Fundamentally he did nothing. If you ask Mr. Bailey, who will stand in for a man on the street interview here at DJduk, I imagine he couldn't tell you too much of what the Clinton presidency was about. A short list: The intern thing, he wanted to do something with health care but he didn't, he bombed a place somewhere for some reason once. Normally I'd use this as a mockery of Bailey, but in this case that really is about all Clinton did. He did nothing.
Thomas Paine said "The Government is best which governs least." To my mind that makes the ideal situation one in which leaders are elected who will exercise restraint, remain out of most things but be available to take decisive action in the right circumstances. That would be ideal. Unfortunately the number of presidents in the history of the United States that did that can be counted on one hand.
The interesting thing about that idea is that it’s generally accepted by both parties. There's a pretty fair consensus among the American people, everywhere but Massachusetts anyway, that less government is a good thing. Today the primary differences between the parties are based around the priority given to "remain out of most things," versus "take decisive action in the right circumstances."
Republicans, until G.W. Bush, favored a hands off approach. Something along the lines of "better to do nothing than to do the right thing." That generally remains the case in the Bush presidency except in respect to the response to terrorism.
Democrats tend to pick the other side. “Even if we don’t do the right thing we’ve got to do something.” They’d rather have somebody take decisive action, in the right circumstances if possible but always in the right circumstance even if it means acting in the wrong from time to time.
Neither of these very general approaches is meant to completely cover the entire logos behind the political spectrum, just to point up one of the core value differences. It’s easy to point out counter examples, Republicans tend to follow the act now right or wrong stance in the face of national security challenges as an example. While that value difference is not an absolute predictor of political preference it does serve as a tool to understand how the political parties develop their platforms.
Which brings us to the current election. Both McCain and Obama have reputations as reformers. I’ll leave out commentary on whether those reputations are deserved for the moment, but both are promising change. And both of them seem to be embracing change for change’s sake. This runs exactly contrary to the typical Republican preference to do less with government.
Which brings us back to Bill Clinton. In 8 years in the Whitehouse Bill Clinton did nothing of substance. While he may have missed some opportunities to do some good things the fact remains he missed more opportunities, or was prevented by Congress, from doing a huge number of ‘wrong’ things. Clinton’s one and only driving conviction was that being President was fun and he wanted to do more of it. The way he did that was functionally to do less of everything. Even in his first to years with a compliant Congress his accomplishments were zero. Compared to McCain and Obama that sounds like a little bit of paradise.
Posted by DjDuk at 01:37 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack