Dream Not Of Today - Latest Comments

Re: A Tale of Two Upgrades

manny — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:29:08 -0000

nice comparison

i will still get a beer tho

Re: A Vile Uniquely Human

twitter-30761006 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:05:58 -0000

TDub,

I take it very personally that you would compare me to somebody like Glenn Beck, who is in love with the state as long as a Republican is president.

When I say that education is run by the "guns of the state," I mean that education is funded by state coercion against every individual who happens to live in that certain area. The government is nothing more than the power of brute force, and when an institution like education is run by violence, it should be opposed on this moral level.
For the utilitarian argument, all we have to do is look at the results that government education brings. It costs more and more every year, and we get less and less of it.
You are right by pointing out that education ultimately begins with the parents at home and the community, and any functioning education system has to have both elements. The important point is that all of these steps should be the product of free and voluntary associations.
Before we had a giant Leviathan state governing nearly every aspect of our lives, the US had thousands of voluntary guilds, unions, and groups that worked to address the complex and delicate problems that plague society (read "From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967," a life-changing book), and they were dealt with in a far better (and moral) way.
I am guessing you believe there should be government education, and though I vehemently disagree, I would never dream of using coercion against you to enforce my opinion. Would you give me, and others, the same respect?

Re: A Tale of Two Upgrades

warzauwynn — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:46:01 -0000

I dreamed about penguins the other night. It was a prophesy! Maybe I should get an ubuntu colored tuxedo to celebrate!

Re: A Vile Uniquely Human

TDub — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:10:16 -0000

Damn, man. There are times I swear you given Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace solid runs for their money, what with all the hyperbolic sensationalism. Borderline prisons? "Guns of the state"? And for Chrissake, dude. A bus is a fucking bus is a fucking bus.

None of that jives in the slightest with my experience working within the public school system, within an inner-city high school. None of that jives in the slightest with the experience I've had seeing my daughter all the way from Kindergarden to the now seventh grade. None of that jives in the slightest with the experiences and opinions of friends of mine who have taught. You, in a nutshell, are talking out of your ass. And we've enough of that in the mass media already. So cut it out already.

To explore the tangent however: The main problem public schools face, are largely rooted in the communities they're supposed to support, and that are supposed to support them. To wit: Education can not happen effectively, if children are not given the appropriate support, attention and awareness on the home front, from parents or legal guardians on the home front. It's a team effort. Too often however, one side isn't making much of an effort to keep up their end of the bargain. And it's certainly not the incredible men and women manning the chalkboards.

The world at large is an incredibly difficult one for a child to get through in one piece. Within the cities, that difficulty multiples exponentially, due to all the other influences they're beset with. Without the proper guidance, care, and love, those influences, simply, lay them the fuck out, and undermine any possible hope of learning how to build a brighter future for themselves. Inject those children into a school system then, and those influences are channeled directly into the educational systems bloodstream.

Teachers find themselves having to struggle to maintain order in the classroom more then they find themselves actually able to teach. Teachers find themselves called upon to often to play surrogate parent, which prevents them from filling their role as educator. And so the system fails because it is prevented from doing what it is supposed to do, often by the very people it's supposed to be helping and supporting.

You want a real example of the deterioration of our society? Look instead towards the role models and parents that we're producing. You want to know why shit's failing? That's a much better place to start.

Re: A Vile Uniquely Human

twitter-30761006 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:24:47 -0000

Great article, Rob. I definitely agree with your conclusion of certain things "remain[ing] beyond the reach of law to correct." To a libertarian, those words are bliss.
I think a point that isn't really brought up about incidents like the one in Richmond is how our modern schools are not educational facilities, but borderline prisons (school buses and prison buses even look the same!). Since most "education" is run by the guns of the state, it is an example of the deterioration of a society that is continuously dependent on the state as a savior and answer to our problems.

Re: A Vile Uniquely Human

HalaFurst — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:51:54 -0000

There is a tension between the first amendment and our legitimate societal desire for retribution. These crimes seem somehow worse than other violent crimes, because they grow not just out of the broken places in the perpetrator, as you put it, Rob, but out of a hatred that infects more than just that individual.

But as awful, as repugnant as hate motivated crimes are, there is an argument to be made that all crimes of this violent and brutal nature are motivated by some sort of hate. Not a hatred of a gender, or a sexual orientation, or a race or an ethnicity, but a hatred for humanity.

Instead of hate crime legislation, which to me and many other liberals feels a lot like thought policing, I would rather see legislation making homosexuals a protected class for civil rights suits. I would rather see marriage become legal for any two people (of the age of majority and not related to one another) that seek it. I would like to see our disgust at this sort of hate expressed at a time before it is allowed to fester and vent. I would rather we had protected Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. when there was still hope for them.

And as for the rape in Richmond, California. I could give some feminist reading of the situation, I could talk about failed parenting, or the glamorization of sexual violence, or the completely disconnected way in which teenagers (and even people our age) think about or have sex. But ultimately, all I can think about is this poor little girl. Hers was a hate crime too, but unfortunately the cause of 15 year old girls preyed upon in highschool is not a banner anyone has yet taken up. And no amount of legislation, no amount of prosecution is going to make it any better.

This is the essential problem with crime legislation. It presupposes that monsters like this think about the consequences of their actions before they commit these horrific crimes. But hatred usurps all ability to think clearly. A hatred that kills will not be stopped by the fear of prosecution. A hatred that kills will not be stopped by a second thought.

Re: Got a new equation for all your mathematics buffs …

swingtrading4 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:57:35 -0000

Interesting post. I have made a twitter post about this. My friends will enjoy reading it also.

Re: American Idoltry

swingtrading3 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:14:17 -0000

Interesting post. I have stumbled this for my friends. Hope others find it as interesting as I did.

Re: Eve Online Source Code Leaked

Anarchy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:49:02 -0000

i agree my dad played eve for 3 years in ATLAS alliance under the name futehr benzulden and i have been playing for 6 months this game has no problems that you can see and just recently the admins have been helping players with their problems

Re: Robert Benmosche Can Go Fuck Himself

wesleymhsiehbtl — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:44:05 -0000

There are lots of way to be healthy especially now a days even technology by means of such machines can help carhartt coats people stay fit equipments like the ones you can find on gyms

Re: Their Murderous Intent

swingtrading3 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:16:46 -0000

Insightful read. I have stumbled and twittered this for my friends. Others no doubt will like it like I did.

Re: Undead: A Pre-Existing Condition

TDub — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:17:05 -0000

I'm waiting for the Twilight LARP march through D.C. in protest of the government hiding microchips in the Swine Flu vaccines, and the Senate's delay in passing the bill to further extend unemployment benefits, myself.

Re: No We Can’t-abis (Part 1)

clintjcl — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:00:24 -0000

The thing is, it's a lot easier to grow some pot than it is to open a McDonald's. Lower investment = more mom and pops = less corpratization.

Re: Something Awful Users Goatse #iranelection

Name — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:08:57 -0000

shut up you faget

Re: Living in The Twilight Zone

TDub — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:35:38 -0000

"What I meant by that was the slow and deliberate process of American institutions of shaping young minds so that they think and act relatively the same."

Again, this hints at hyperbole. Do you have evidence of this? From my own experiences with both adults, and a diverse and broad selection of children - this wouldn't be an apt description. And that's not taking into account the tremendously broad spectrum of opinions about anything and everything, that's so widely publicized in the media, be it within the government, or the citizenry. It's almost safer and more accurate to argue that none of us can agree on anything.

"Jon Stewart called President Truman a war criminal...Yet he apologized the next day for refusing to conform to the public understanding."

I haven't seen the clip(s), so I'll admit I don't have first hand knowledge of the reference. Those were Jon Stewart's words? If so, it's interesting because such a change of tact would be at odds with his 'usual' stance and approach.

"The US may have a lot of outlets for speech, but in the public square, you must say the right things or you have no shot at furthering your career"

Absolutely. Why would one vote for somebody they adamantly disagreed with? It's nice we're not bound to. I think the ongoing issue is the ability to effectively monitor and hold elected officials accountable for their actions. The system is set up so that we simply don't reelect them to whatever office is in question. But politics as something that could have been an ethical and balanced system, had become really nothing more then who is better at sales and marketing. There are some who actively reject that approach, I'd offer up Obama though I can certainly understand why others wouldn't. But the public does deserve better, in general.

"And the fact that someone brought an "assault" rifle around the president would not be cause for alarm in a free society, only in a society governed by fear and submission."

In the same fashion that someone bringing an unlicensed, concealed handgun into a nightclub in New York City wouldn't be cause for alarm?

"'When the people are afraid of their government, there's tyranny. When the government is afraid of the people, there's liberty.' -Thomas Jefferson"

I'm usually a big TJ fan, but this is one of his quotes I've never much cared for. Largely I think, because it doesn't translate well into modern times. Back then when you had a group of people fighting off the yoke of an oppressive monarchy - that's one thing. Not so much the case these days.

First, I don't know that a convincing argument can be made that your average American is scared of the government. Being raised to be cynical, distrustful, and to question the government openly and loudly is kind of something we're known for.

Our problem, I think, is that we're not terribly fair or balanced in our analysis and criticisms. Sometimes we hit it fairly, other times we're comparing an effort to provide public health care to an effort to exterminate a number of different races, ethnic groups and sexual orientations that was partially and horribly successful.

That's pretty fucked up, and is on us, not 'them'.

Second, fear should not be a part of the equation. A government afraid of its people can not be an effective government, any more then a parent can effectively parent if they are afraid of their children. And certainly a people can not prosper, evolve, learn and grow if they are afraid of their government. Which just springboards me back to the beginning of my first point.

Re: Living in The Twilight Zone

twitter-30761006 — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:20:26 -0000

What I meant by that was the slow and deliberate process of American institutions of shaping young minds so that they think and act relatively the same. We are told now how to think, but what to think, and we are asked to worship and praise people who have no business receiving our gratitude (most American presidents and public figures).
You are right that there is a lot of "speech" out there, but the content varies little. Anyone that falls off of the status-quo tracks is outcasted or asked to apologize. Jon Stewart called President Truman a war criminal, which even if one disagrees, is a legitimate claim backed by much evidence. Yet he apologized the next day for refusing to conform to the public understanding.
Or take a look at anyone who doesn't shout out elementary school understandings of Lincoln or FDR.
The US may have a lot of outlets for speech, but in the public square, you must say the right things or you have no shot at furthering your career.
And the fact that someone brought an "assault" rifle around the president would not be cause for alarm in a free society, only in a society governed by fear and submission.
As long as there is a government as large, dangerous, murderous, immoral, brutal, monopolistic, aggressive, and ever-expanding as DC's is (regardless of who's in charge), then I will always be wearing my tin-foil hat proudly.
'When the people are afraid of their government, there's tyranny. When the government is afraid of the people, there's liberty.' -Thomas Jefferson

Re: Living in The Twilight Zone

constant gina — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:11:47 -0000

What is so amazing is that 50 years later these shows hold up so well. Oh they are in black and white, which is really kind of cool. And occasionally you'll see the old cars or a dial telephone that gives away the time. Most of the time, they could have been shot yesterday.

Re: Living in The Twilight Zone

TDub — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:51:06 -0000

"American culture closely resembles this small Ohio town, where our speech and our thoughts are policed, monitored, controlled, directed, and molded until it’s PC-approved."

I'm curious as to the facts and figures you're basing this statement on as really, it simply sounds like baseless rhetoric and tin-foil hat wearing hyperbole. Both of which I think we've all had quite enough of from the media these days.

From Fox News, to CNN, to the New York Times, to the Daily Show. From Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace, to Arianna Huffington and Jon Stewart. The countless blogs (I don't imagine the Men In Black have stopped by to talk to you yet, for example. Have they?). The results of the recent 'Town Hall' meetings for the public health care initiative, in regards to the actions of those who attended (e.g. rolling in to see the President, carrying an assault rifle). Even looking at the various political statements made on the arts side of the spectrum between films being made, music being recorded, and books being written.

Not all of that are/were productive or positive methods of communicating or expressing one's self. But wherever one looks, it's easy to see the right to free speech at work. For better or worse. Hell, our right to free speech is so broad and all-encompassing, that we don't even have the right to hold people accountable for what they say, or demand responsible and accurate reporting (looking at you Fox News).

Re: Meg Whitman For Governor

twitter-30761006 — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:19:34 -0000

Thanks, Max. If you click on the link on the bottom of my articles, it will send you to my libertarian examiner blog. On any of the posts, there's an option at the top for an "rss," and you can also subscribe.

Re: Skateboarding Is Not A Crime

dreamnotoftoday — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:00:15 -0000

All in a day's work around here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Re: Skateboarding Is Not A Crime

saywhatneedbesaid — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:16:13 -0000

Your defense, aside from being longer than your actual post, takes the form precisely as I predicted. It makes no sense, travels in circles trying to randomly defend some unclear point yet not addressing the points of the post you're replying too. For the second time you're still not following.

In short, your response offers says nothing about nothing trying to defend a ridiculous position that you're not able to follow. And this ain't rocket science.

Congratulations. You made par. Dazzling!

Re: Skateboarding Is Not A Crime

TDub — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:49:55 -0000

Fair enough! I think your last response to saysaysaysaywhatyouwantosay there, clarified your position perfectly (i.e. initially, it seems it was a little muddy for him/her too - maybe).

And pfft. When I hooked up with Patrick Kennedy at McCoy Stadium, I totally lobbied that driving around with the hobo you bagged tied to the hood of your car, be legalized. Those bastards are quicker then they look. We should be allowed to display the results of our ability to stalk the most dangerous game, fairly! You've been in SF too long. You've gotten too used to the hippies just sort of milling about aimlessly. No real challenge there.

Re: Skateboarding Is Not A Crime

dreamnotoftoday — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:16:27 -0000

I don't think the perspective is particularly dazzling and cannot at all see how it would be unexpected. To put the sentence another way, cops should expect the animosity of snot-nosed skatepunks just as snot-nosed skatepunks should expect to get harassed by the cops. Skaters are engaging willfully in a sport that has been declared illegal in this city. If they don't want to be abused by douchebag cops, they can choose to do something else. They can take up badminton or throw a frisbee in the park.

For some, the bullshit hassles aren't worth it. They choose to comply with the law, buy a fixed axle bicycle and make spectacularly poor fashion, facial hair and personal hygiene choices.

For others, the abuse from police is insufficient to deter them from doing what they enjoy. They choose to skate. Choosing to skate is signing up for grief; it is implicitly agreeing to suffer the abuse of folks like Officer Schwab.

Of the set making that choice, there are some who choose not to eat Officer Schwab's shit with a smile. They choose to resist. They choose to use plain language to describe how they feel they are being treated. And, obviously, with that choice comes more grief.

I'm not sure how that observation can be construed as an excuse or rationalization. It's not even news - this kind of exchange has become part of the skating culture.

What *is* news is that these exchanges can be documented and reach mass audiences, exposing jackass punk and jackhole cop for what they both are. Even five years ago, the cop would have done whatever it was he intended to do with the kid with no one but him, the kid and the half-dozen odd other folks standing around to know that he had lost his temper and threatened to break a kid's arm for being insulting.

This observation is about the power relationship between cop and skater - one hopelessly tilted in the former's favor - got evened by an inch.

Re: Skateboarding Is Not A Crime

saywhatneedbesaid — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:37:56 -0000

"...But they chose their life, and in so choosing agree to suffer our ire as we agree to suffer their abuse..."

By some odd chance do you have an unconventional definition of the word "ire?" Actually, no you probably don't because you likely had to rewrite that sentence, looking up alternatives so that you could describe the behavior of each party without using 'abuse' twice.

It's plain English, the sum of the post in one sentence. But I'm betting you'll dazzle us with some unexpectedly and clever perspective to argue.

Re: Skateboarding Is Not A Crime

dreamnotoftoday — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:01:05 -0000

I'm not sure the timbre or the substance of that article suggests anyone was noble or righteous. I don't think any more than you do that the video was heroic, but it - and the growing volume of videos like it - is telling the story of the long standing animosity between punkass skaters and purile cops that up until now has been more anecdote than documented fact. I don't think my language glamorized the disrespectful behavior of those kids. But, as punkass as it was, when weighing their sins objectively I don't think any one could credibly defend threatening to break an arm over it.

And before we air too much dirty laundry about the responsibilities of automobile registration on the Internet, maybe we can talk to your wife about the time she had to pick you up from the impound lot. ;)