Sullivan Rounds Up Palin's Lies

Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish compiles all the various lies of Sarah Palin in one helpful place: The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin: A Round-Up.

I asked an intern to re-fact-check all of them to make sure new details hadn't emerged that might debunk some. And I also asked to get any subsequent statements by Palin that acknowledged that she had erred in any of these statements that are easily rebuttable by facts in the public record and apologized and corrected. She has not.

Just think - this fruitbat, bless her heart, could have been one stroke away from being sworn in as President of the United States...

The only way towards a liberal anarchy

You know what my main objection is to Libertarianism ? It's that I don't trust enough people to be egalitarian and, well... just plain good in a moral sense. Given human nature, a completely free, laissez-faire system would rapidly devolve into an oligarchy of the rich.

"But, but...we'd protect individual freedom!" Uh, yeah...right. When your values are primarily materialistic, power concentrates where material wealth does - in the hands of the (rich) elite.

But what if we lived in a post-scarcity society, like The Culture of Scottish SF writer Iain M. Banks ? Where society is governed by extremely powerful AI "Minds" that administer this affluence for the benefit of all and maintain an almost totally egalitarian, stable society without the use of any form of force or compulsion, except where necessary to protect others.

"In vesting all power in his individualistic, sometime eccentric, but always benign, AI Minds, Banks knew what he was doing; this is the only way a liberal anarchy could be achieved, by taking what is best in humans and placing it beyond corruption, which means out of human control." --- Chris Brown, Journal of International Studies, 2001

Indeed, Banks does know what he is doing, and apparently knows human nature pretty well, too. But until we can place "what is best in humans" outside of any chance of corruption, well...you'll have to forgive me if I don't get too excited by the more fringey forms of anarcho-capitalism.

A Zen Koan for the Financial Crisis

Will Dana, editor of Rolling Stone, encouraged blogger Douglas Rushkoff "to come up with one-liners that tell the truth about the economic/banking fiasco - but that do it in almost zen-koan fashion."

   Debt is not a good product

And, like I'm arguing in my book, this whole scheme [finance] was arranged by 14th Century monarchs as a way of making money by having money, rather than providing value. So "Debt is not a good product" helps encourage that line of thinking, sound-byte style.

The Clayton iHouse

This may be the coolest thing I've ever seen in the realm of affordable housing - to say nothing of it being manufactured housing as well:

the Clayton iHouse

There's also a good article about it on Yahoo! News and a blog devoted to it as well. And guess who thinks it's such a good idea that he bought the parent company ? Warren Buffet.

I want one out in the Hill Country on the West side of Austin :)

You May Live in Texas If...

Here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about folks from Texas . . .

• If you find 60 degrees "a little chilly," you may live in Texas.
  
• If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody is passing you, you may live in Texas.
  
• If "Vacation" means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas
  
• If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Texas.
  
• If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas.
  
• If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Texas.
  
• If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas.
  
• If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Texas.
  
• If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Texas.
  
• If someone in a Lowe's store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Texas.
  
• If you actually understand these jokes and forward them to all your Texas friends & others, you definitely live in Texas.
  

QotD for 4 May, 2009

I submit to you that cynics are critical to society's function. You see, cynics rarely start wars, we leave that to religion. Cynics end wars. Cynics are all around you, challenging society, the church and the powers that be. Cynics do what idealists talk about doing. --- Trevor Buvyer

Shamelessly stolen from the delightful Stephanie Hill Drury. Her blog Stuff Christian Culture Likes is endlessly amusing and insightful.

QotD for 30 Apr., 2009

We have enough youth. We need a fountain of smart. --- seen on a t-shirt at ThinkGeek