Dream Not Of Today - Latest Comments

Re: Tales from the L Line

Louis Vuitton Handbags — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:45:50 -0000

Merry christmas to you and you family.

Re: Tales from the L Line

Louis Vuitton Handbags — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:45:25 -0000

Merry christmas to you and you family.

Re: The Real Crime of Katrina

twitter-30761006 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:09:18 -0000

The Army Corps of Engineers fortified New Orleans after the British tried to seize it during the War of 1812, but the city and territory itself was created by the efforts of private individuals going back at least to the early 18th century. the port of New Orleans was one of the busiest ports in the US, and was governed by the peaceful elements of commerce and trade.
My attack on the gun-confiscation at New Orleans was indeed a jab at the logic of gun control but my overall attempt was to show the gross mismanagement inherent in any state function. Herding over 10,000 people, like cattles, into a stadium was probably not the greatest idea in my opinion. Before we had the mega-state that exists in America today, there are plenty of examples of natural disasters (Chicago Fire of 1873, the Johnstown Flood of 1889, the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906) being handled far better by individuals and the great work of private charities and volunteers. This is because the growth of a state tends to create a sense of dependency, whether its education, defense, or floods.

Re: The Real Crime of Katrina

dreamnotoftoday — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:05:06 -0000

Let's not forget the city of New Orleans would not even exist with the Army Corps of Engineers and many other instruments of state and federal government. The entire region was shaped by public, not private, resources.

Re: The Real Crime of Katrina

HalaFurst — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:03:37 -0000

Ok, even I will grant you that the confiscation of fire arms in private homes was a gross overreaching of police power. But, I do not see a logical through line between that argument and the mismanagement of other government services. Are you positing that an armed populace would have done a better job of addressing the needs of the citizens harmed by Katrina, or are you just getting in a 2nd Amendment jab while making collateral points?

Moreover, can you really, really argue that weapons in the Superdome would have been a good idea? Not arguing through hindsight, and saying that perhaps some of the people who were raped or mugged while there would have been protected by private weapons, but by putting yourself in the moment. Thousands of angry, confused, scared, and recently-homeless individuals are being pent up for God knows how long. Do you really, even in your most libertarian of hearts, believe that thinking people would have made any decision other than to keep guns out of there?

Re: Obama’s Okinawa Problem

twitter-30761006 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:13:43 -0000

Thank you, Justin! You are making a lot of sense. We should definitely disband the military, since the existence of a professional military is the absolute death of liberty; it is the germ of every political disease.
When Robert MacNamara asked a Japanese general if they had any plans to invade the US, the Japanese general laughed out loud and said, "Of course not, their would be a rifle behind every blade of grass!"
This anecdote represents the best and only moral form of national defense there is: the people themselves. You ever wonder why Hitler never invaded the Swiss, despite the fact he wanted to be known as the "butcher of the Swiss?" Because they have a highly decentralized political system, and every single adult is armed to the teeth.* They also had booby traps set on major bridges and roads, and Hitler realized that it would be far too expensive to invade. We need rifles in every home, not a trillion dollar "defense" budget.
As for the "we'd all be speaking German argument," did occupied France speak German? Poland? Czech? No.
And as for thanking those who served, never. I don't blame the soldiers who thought they were serving their country when they were/are only serving the state, but here is an important question: if it is wrong for me or you to kill, why is it okay to do it while wearing a government uniform?

*and there's a low crime rate, peace, and prosperity. One more anecdote: during WW2, the Swiss had a 500,000 man militia ready if anyone was stupid enough to invade. When one of top Hitler's generals asked the Swiss president what they would do if Hitler invaded with a million men, the Swiss pres said they would shoot twice and go home. THAT is defense.

Re: Obama’s Okinawa Problem

justin_borden — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:45:48 -0000

Let us just see what would happen if we pulled all troops back home discharged them, cause we dont have a war here. hell why stop there lets just disband the millitary as a whole we are on a content basically be ourselves what do we have to fear from other countrys... oh yea they have planes ships and bomb that can reach anywhere in the country. Do like wheat bread let them blow up kansas there is nothing there dont like gay marrage blow up New Hampshire. We need the service members that are abroad as well as here. You should thank one some time cause hell you could be japanses right now if it were not for them. OR maybe german but then we would have some good beer and brats. I do agree that Obama ahould step to the plate and do something. He cant ride the blame Bush train if he wants to stay in office for 8 years.

Re: Obama’s Okinawa Problem

twitter-30761006 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:44:21 -0000

Japan may have struck first, but like every US war, they were provoked. The US had control of the Philippines and had them surrounded in the Pacific, were selling China planes that were killing Japanese, and imposed a cruel oil embargo on them. Japan, in desperation, attacks a US colony at Hawaii, an island much closer to Japan than to us. FDR got the war he wanted, and lied over and over again to do so ("Human Smoke" has a great pacifist look at the beginnings of WW2).
We have nothing to fear from China. In their long history, they have been the victims of invasion and have rarely if ever been imperial. The more we trade with them the better, because as the great Frederic Bastiat said, "if goods don't cross borders, soldiers will." If you look at any period of peace in history, it has been achieve by the spread of trade and (non-state funded) markets.
Japan is one of the richest countries in the world; it can easily defend itself. And what about the 50,000 troops we have stationed in South Korea just waiting to be tripwired inches off of China's borders? It seems to me these Asian deployments are nothing more than provocations for more conflict; and more conflict equals more F-22s to sell and an excuse to justify the garrisoning of the globe.
There is no reason, strategic or otherwise, to EVER deploy US troops on foreign soil.

Re: Obama’s Okinawa Problem

twitter-30761006 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:27:58 -0000

Re: Obama’s Okinawa Problem

dreamnotoftoday — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:11:23 -0000

I still don't think we can qualify the war with Japan as "unnecessary." For the many things that one could say in our conduct of the war that followed, it remains irrefutable that they attacked first.

One thing to consider with our troops in Japan - they are right next to one billion Chinese with a couple hundred generations of animosity. I think the small provisional force we maintain there is one of our few deployments that make strategic sense.

Re: How to Find a Pint

swingtrading3 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:10:35 -0000

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

Re: Rival Schools

teachtw — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:27:00 -0000

Interesting post. I have just bookmarked this at stumbleupon. Others no doubt will like it like I did.

Re: Public Service Announcement

justin_borden — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:42:46 -0000

I am with you on that 260 million can buy anything
there should be a salary cap in baseball then that might lvl the playing feild a bit. there is no excuse for that kind of money to be spent just because you are in the largest market in the country what about teams like tampa bay. royals, washington, toranto, and you cant forget the best small market team in base ball the Twins. to be able to come back form 7 games down in september to win a division with out the main guy Justin Mornue. Although they did have maur with the batting title and should hands down the mvp.

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: 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.