If we ever needed evidence that politics in America is taking us down the drain to the everlasting septic tank, it is the latest from the Donald and the White House. Trump proclaims that he's going to ban all Muslims from coming to this country, and the White House says he's a terrible person for saying that, and besides--he has fake hair.
I can't even begin to describe how out of touch with the requirements of law the Donald's statement is. One of the founding principles of the American republic was and is--freedom of religion. I shudder to think what might happen to this country if someone with as little grasp of the requirements of law as the Donald seems to have ever gets to be president.
As for the White House. Why don't they stop name-calling, talking about people's personal appearance, filling out their March Madness brackets, trying to bully NFL teams into changing their names, shooting off their mouths about breaking news before they have all the facts, etc., etc., and try to look out for the best interests of the country for a change?
One small example of things left undone while the March Madness bracket gets filled out: If the White House had been paying attention about a year ago and done what was necessary to stamp out ISIS when it was a nascent organization [read "put boots on the ground"], instead of creating a power vacuum which Russia happily stepped in to fill, then we wouldn't be having the domestic terror problem we've got now and ISIS would be a distant memory. I guess it's more fun to talk about the Donald's hairpiece than to do something productive to provide for the common defense.
Showing posts with label Barak Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barak Obama. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
THE "HISTORIC" BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell just announced a "historic bipartisan agreement" to keep the country running until January 15, 2014. Break out the champagne! Shoot off fireworks! The country is saved! Until January 15, 2014. That's three months. Am I missing something here? Our government is rupturing at the seams and an agreement to slap some Scotch tape on it is a historic agreement?
Right about January 2, 2014, we're going to be right back where we are now, and Congress and the President will wrangle over the impending disaster until, on January 13, 2014, they all agree to slap another piece of tape on the problem. Who knows, if we're lucky the next piece of tape might even hold us together for six months.
They say in a democracy you get the government you deserve. I sincerely hope and pray that we don't actually deserve the mess we've had up on Capital Hill the past few years. Nobody wants to settle anything. They just want to stand around in a circle and point fingers at each other trying to blame someone else. There's enough blame for everyone. Who do I think is responsible? Democrats, Republicans, the President, and anyone else who subscribes to the whole Washington culture of confrontation. Everybody on every side portrays everyone on the other side as evil villains. Maybe they're all right. Maybe the whole lot of them are villains. The only other explanation I can come up with that fits the facts is that they're all idiots.
Right about January 2, 2014, we're going to be right back where we are now, and Congress and the President will wrangle over the impending disaster until, on January 13, 2014, they all agree to slap another piece of tape on the problem. Who knows, if we're lucky the next piece of tape might even hold us together for six months.
They say in a democracy you get the government you deserve. I sincerely hope and pray that we don't actually deserve the mess we've had up on Capital Hill the past few years. Nobody wants to settle anything. They just want to stand around in a circle and point fingers at each other trying to blame someone else. There's enough blame for everyone. Who do I think is responsible? Democrats, Republicans, the President, and anyone else who subscribes to the whole Washington culture of confrontation. Everybody on every side portrays everyone on the other side as evil villains. Maybe they're all right. Maybe the whole lot of them are villains. The only other explanation I can come up with that fits the facts is that they're all idiots.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
THE GUN CONTROL DEBATE: WARPING THE CARPENTER'S RULE
Over 2,000 years ago Aristotle wrote “It is not right to
pervert the judge by moving him to anger or envy or pity—one might as well warp
a carpenter's rule before using it.”[fn 1] What we saw yesterday in the gun
control debate was exactly that—both sides attempting to warp the carpenter’s
rule. President Obama appears to announce his gun control proposals surrounded
by children. Immediately the NRA responds with an ad accusing Obama of
hypocrisy and featuring his children protected by guns. Obama starts the debate
with argumentum ad misericordum and
the NRA responds with argumentum ad
hominem. The cyberverse explodes with photographs of Hitler surrounded by
children and purported quotes from Mein
Kampf that the best way to trick people into giving up their freedom is to
appeal to their love of children. My search of an online version of Mein Kampf failed to discover that
quote. [fn 2] It is clear that the leaders on both sides of the gun control
debate think that we cannot be swayed by appeals to reason, but must be
stampeded into action by appeals to emotion. This begs the question “Are we
that stupid?” Apparently President Obama and NRA President Keene think so.
[fn 1] Rhetoric, Book 1 Chapter 1 Paragraph 1354a. http://rhetoric.eserver.org/aristotle/rhet1-1.html.
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