Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
10 March 2009
Our lost decade
Over at Daily Kos, there is a GREAT essay on the last ten years and what we did with it. Go here. Read it. Thanks to JWalt for pointing it out.
26 June 2008
Conservative Justices -- I choose you!
Today!
The Supreme Court of the United States, just today, decided a case in a way that, while I think it's butt-obvious, is very, very pleasing to me. Below are some highlights from their decision (some of which I've been arguing for twenty years).
So this is me doing a happy dance!
The Supreme Court of the United States, just today, decided a case in a way that, while I think it's butt-obvious, is very, very pleasing to me. Below are some highlights from their decision (some of which I've been arguing for twenty years).
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.Hooray!
The “militia” comprised all males physicallycapable of acting in concert for the common defense.Ayup!
SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS,Ouch! I'm usually with the other guys. I still don't like that Alito, but Thomas seems like a good pick -- I wonder how GW pulled that off.
C. J., and KENNEDY, THOMAS, and ALITO, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SOUTER, GINSBURG, and BREYER, JJ., joined. BREYER, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which STEVENS, SOUTER, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined.
The Amendment’s prefatory clause announces a purpose, butdoes not limit or expand the scope of the second part, the operativeclause.This is specifically what I've been advocating. My friend Aaaron Hunsley helped me clarify my nascent thoughts on this in the early 90s.
So this is me doing a happy dance!
24 June 2008
Combatting obesity
So, I'm fat. Pretty fat, but not crazy fat, I think. And I shouldn't be. I know (intellectually) how not to be. I should go vegan -- eating two salads and five fruits per day and also swim for an hour. And obesity is a chronic epidemic -- spreading as the American diet spreads. I guess at some point I'll care enough about my failing health to get serious. Hopefully it won't be too late. But anyway, enough of my background regarding obesity -- I really want to talk about public policy.
Slashdot just cited new Japanese policy that will require employers to inspect waist size of employees and be fined if they are too big. My first thought was that this was a horrible invasion of privacy and personal liberty and yadda, yadda. You know what, though? Screw that! Sometimes the greater good has a cost to be paid and sometimes, a bit of personal liberty is a worthwhile expense. So, I think this would be a really stupid thing for the US to do, not because it's unjust but because it is pointless.
It would cause hostility and discrimination and enhance low self-esteem issues and further marginalize fat folks. Which isn't necessarily all bad if it would motivate people to effect positive change. But it wouldn't. See, most Americans have no clue. There are thirty popular diets at any given time -- all of them telling you (at least a little) different stuff. Not only that, but 95% of the food in the American supermarket is junk. Not just Chef Boy-R-Dee and the candy isle. Rice-a-Roni, Hamburger Helper, canned soup, all breakfast cereal, 99% of the bread, cow's milk and all meat. Everything. And, I hope it goes without saying, it is almost *literally* impossible to eat right eating out. (OK, go to Subway and get a salad -- none of the bread if nutritive and don't get any of the dressings (maybe a fat-free dressing is also devoid of carcinogenic chemicals, but I wouldn't count on it) and that's reasonably nutritive, but not particularly exciting -- it'll do in a pinch, for sure.) If you buy normal flour from the grocer and bake your own bread, it's still garbage. What if you get whole wheat flour? It's rancid and has lost much of the grain's native value. You have to grind your own and bake right then or freeze it (for not too long!).
I don't know what life is like in Japan. Are they living like this now too? It would be dumb to institute workplace fat-checks and maintain the way of life that we have built around e.g. corn syrup. It's a stupid band-aid which entirely fails to address the problem.
If the government wants to address obesity, there are things to remediate. Craft a sensible farm bill. Incentivize small family farms, (the good, permaculturish) organic methods and local farmers markets. For God's sake, how about requiring that schools stop poisoning our children! Tax fast food and give tax breaks to genuinely healthy restaurants. I'm sure there's lots of stuff.
Slashdot just cited new Japanese policy that will require employers to inspect waist size of employees and be fined if they are too big. My first thought was that this was a horrible invasion of privacy and personal liberty and yadda, yadda. You know what, though? Screw that! Sometimes the greater good has a cost to be paid and sometimes, a bit of personal liberty is a worthwhile expense. So, I think this would be a really stupid thing for the US to do, not because it's unjust but because it is pointless.
It would cause hostility and discrimination and enhance low self-esteem issues and further marginalize fat folks. Which isn't necessarily all bad if it would motivate people to effect positive change. But it wouldn't. See, most Americans have no clue. There are thirty popular diets at any given time -- all of them telling you (at least a little) different stuff. Not only that, but 95% of the food in the American supermarket is junk. Not just Chef Boy-R-Dee and the candy isle. Rice-a-Roni, Hamburger Helper, canned soup, all breakfast cereal, 99% of the bread, cow's milk and all meat. Everything. And, I hope it goes without saying, it is almost *literally* impossible to eat right eating out. (OK, go to Subway and get a salad -- none of the bread if nutritive and don't get any of the dressings (maybe a fat-free dressing is also devoid of carcinogenic chemicals, but I wouldn't count on it) and that's reasonably nutritive, but not particularly exciting -- it'll do in a pinch, for sure.) If you buy normal flour from the grocer and bake your own bread, it's still garbage. What if you get whole wheat flour? It's rancid and has lost much of the grain's native value. You have to grind your own and bake right then or freeze it (for not too long!).
I don't know what life is like in Japan. Are they living like this now too? It would be dumb to institute workplace fat-checks and maintain the way of life that we have built around e.g. corn syrup. It's a stupid band-aid which entirely fails to address the problem.
If the government wants to address obesity, there are things to remediate. Craft a sensible farm bill. Incentivize small family farms, (the good, permaculturish) organic methods and local farmers markets. For God's sake, how about requiring that schools stop poisoning our children! Tax fast food and give tax breaks to genuinely healthy restaurants. I'm sure there's lots of stuff.
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