Thursday, February 13, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Why The GOP Surrendered On The Debt Ceiling
Politico has a good piece up about why the GOP caved on the debt ceiling. The political reality is obvious. The Senate and the White House weren't going to budge and if the federal government defaulted, that would be the end of the Republicans chances in this year's election. It's interesting to watch Reince Priebus riding herd over the nutters in his party. It will be interesting to see if he can keep the moonbats locked up for the next 9 odd months.
For those out there who feel that our debt is steering us into collapse, I have one simple question: does the debt of the United States outweigh our assets?
For those out there who feel that our debt is steering us into collapse, I have one simple question: does the debt of the United States outweigh our assets?
Thomas Jefferson's Bible
Conservatives love to heap adulation on the founding fathers and bloviate about how they were all Christians founding a Christian nation...at least their version of Christianity. Certainly, Thomas Jefferson, our nation's 3rd president, is one of those heroes who is held up as a champion of the Right and a defender of more local government power.
I have to wonder, though, what those same conservatives think about the fact that Jefferson created his own version of the New Testament.
Thomas Jefferson, together with several of his fellow founding fathers, was influenced by the principles of deism, a construct that envisioned a supreme being as a sort of watchmaker who had created the world but no longer intervened directly in daily life. A product of the Age of Enlightenment, Jefferson was keenly interested in science and the perplexing theological questions it raised. Although the author of the Declaration of Independence was one of the great champions of religious freedom, his belief system was sufficiently out of the mainstream that opponents in the 1800 presidential election labeled him a “howling Atheist.”
In fact, Jefferson was devoted to the teachings of Jesus Christ. But he didn’t always agree with how they were interpreted by biblical sources, including the writers of the four Gospels, whom he considered to be untrustworthy correspondents. So Jefferson created his own gospel by taking a sharp instrument, perhaps a penknife, to existing copies of the New Testament and pasting up his own account of Christ’s philosophy, distinguishing it from what he called “the corruption of schismatizing followers.”
In some ways, Jefferson had a point but I wouldn't go as far to cut and past my own version of the Bible nor accuse Christ's followers as corrupt. They were simply trying to understand something that was way beyond them which we can understand in greater clarity today. That's why I'm hoping that in a decade or two, we can leave behind the anti-science of the Right and start a new Age of Enlightenment in which we truly do "His works and greater than these." We can't allow angry, hateful, insecure, irrational people filled with fear to bully their way into being the "official" spokesmodels for God. He is much bigger than their petty obsessions with gay sex and lady parts which, honestly, is an extension of their own sexual hangups.
I wonder what would happen if Barack Obama did what Jefferson did with the Bible...:)
I have to wonder, though, what those same conservatives think about the fact that Jefferson created his own version of the New Testament.
Thomas Jefferson, together with several of his fellow founding fathers, was influenced by the principles of deism, a construct that envisioned a supreme being as a sort of watchmaker who had created the world but no longer intervened directly in daily life. A product of the Age of Enlightenment, Jefferson was keenly interested in science and the perplexing theological questions it raised. Although the author of the Declaration of Independence was one of the great champions of religious freedom, his belief system was sufficiently out of the mainstream that opponents in the 1800 presidential election labeled him a “howling Atheist.”
In fact, Jefferson was devoted to the teachings of Jesus Christ. But he didn’t always agree with how they were interpreted by biblical sources, including the writers of the four Gospels, whom he considered to be untrustworthy correspondents. So Jefferson created his own gospel by taking a sharp instrument, perhaps a penknife, to existing copies of the New Testament and pasting up his own account of Christ’s philosophy, distinguishing it from what he called “the corruption of schismatizing followers.”
In some ways, Jefferson had a point but I wouldn't go as far to cut and past my own version of the Bible nor accuse Christ's followers as corrupt. They were simply trying to understand something that was way beyond them which we can understand in greater clarity today. That's why I'm hoping that in a decade or two, we can leave behind the anti-science of the Right and start a new Age of Enlightenment in which we truly do "His works and greater than these." We can't allow angry, hateful, insecure, irrational people filled with fear to bully their way into being the "official" spokesmodels for God. He is much bigger than their petty obsessions with gay sex and lady parts which, honestly, is an extension of their own sexual hangups.
I wonder what would happen if Barack Obama did what Jefferson did with the Bible...:)
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Debt Ceiling Raised
House passes clean debt ceiling bill
Yes, I believe they have learned the folly of their ways...especially in an election year.
Yes, I believe they have learned the folly of their ways...especially in an election year.
This Winter Alaska is Warmer than Atlanta on Some Days
About the same time thousands of Atlantans were stuck in their cars on a frozen freeway, NPR reports that the temperature in Seward, Alaska reached 61 degrees:
FEIDT: Alyeska is known for getting a lot of snow. The upper mountain averages more than 50 feet each season. But this winter is different. It's been nearly a month since any significant snow fell. And in January, the mountain, along with most of Alaska, endured two weeks of rainy, warm weather that's more typical of early June. The same weather pattern that sent the polar vortex diving into the lower 48 pushed warm air and moisture from the subtropics up into Alaska. The result? Temperatures that were hard to believe.
RICK THOMAN: Seward's 61 degrees, the warmest January temperature ever recorded.
FEIDT: Wait. Seward was 61 or 51?
THOMAN: Sixty-one.
FEIDT: What?
THOMAN: Six-one, yes. That's correct.
Now, the average high in July and August for Seward is just one degree higher, 62 degrees.
Computerized climate models have long predicted these sorts of counterintuitive weather patterns as a result of global warming; it's one of the reasons climatologists prefer to call it "climate change" instead of "global warming." Not all places will get warmer, but the climate pretty much everywhere will be changed somehow: some places will get more rain, others less rain. In general coastal areas will have higher sea levels. As higher temperatures and migrating insect infestations kill off trees, temperatures will get even higher, because vegetation is a very powerful cooling mechanism.
Locally, this winter's cold snap will help stave off the arboreal Armageddon facing Minnesota: up to 90% of the the emerald ash borers that have infested ash trees in Minnesota will be killed by the cold.
The old saw about the cold winters in Minnesota keeping out the riff-raff has a grain of truth after all.
Michael Sam Is An American Hero
Missouri defensive end Michael Sam told The New York Times and ESPN he is gay, and the 2014 NFL Draft prospect plans to become the first openly gay player in the NFL. Sam figures to be one of the top defensive draft picks this year. I was born in Columbia, Missouri and have been a Tiger fan since birth so his honesty makes me very proud indeed.
Some are saying that Sam has diminished his chances from being picked high in the draft but I don't. The people that run teams in the NFL want to win. Period. If Sam is a good player, he will get picked and it looks like he is top notch. He ranks among the top pass rushers in the SEC last year with 10.5 regular-season sacks (he had another one in the Cotton Bowl), boosting his NFL draft stock despite his lack of size for the defensive end position (6-foot-2, 255 pounds). He was also voted Team MVP by his coaches and teammates this year who have known for the past five seasons that he is gay.
Make no mistake about it, though, this is a big deal and Michael Sam, like Jackie Robinson before him, is an American hero. The NFL's culture is notoriously anti-gay with the locker room stuck in the 1950s. Most people under the age of 30 won't give a shit about this but the older folks might get bunged up. It will be interesting to see what happens. For me, it's just another wonderful indicator of the progress we have made as culture.
Michael, good luck with your career. I know it will be a bloody magnificent one!
Some are saying that Sam has diminished his chances from being picked high in the draft but I don't. The people that run teams in the NFL want to win. Period. If Sam is a good player, he will get picked and it looks like he is top notch. He ranks among the top pass rushers in the SEC last year with 10.5 regular-season sacks (he had another one in the Cotton Bowl), boosting his NFL draft stock despite his lack of size for the defensive end position (6-foot-2, 255 pounds). He was also voted Team MVP by his coaches and teammates this year who have known for the past five seasons that he is gay.
Make no mistake about it, though, this is a big deal and Michael Sam, like Jackie Robinson before him, is an American hero. The NFL's culture is notoriously anti-gay with the locker room stuck in the 1950s. Most people under the age of 30 won't give a shit about this but the older folks might get bunged up. It will be interesting to see what happens. For me, it's just another wonderful indicator of the progress we have made as culture.
Michael, good luck with your career. I know it will be a bloody magnificent one!
Monday, February 10, 2014
And the Band Plays On
My father-in-law asked me to record the Minnesota Orchestra concert last Friday. He has Parkinsons and couldn't listen to the concert live. This presented a problem: I, like most everyone else, don't have a tape recorder any more.
So I had to dig around for the right cable and hook my receiver up to a computer and use Audacity to record the program, then export it as an MP3 file, which I burned to a CD.
The program, directed by laureate conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, included the Star-Spangled Banner, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Strauss's Don Juan, and Beethoven's Third Symphony.
My father-in-law had subscribed to the Orchestra's concert series for decades. He's heard all this music a dozen times before. Why was this concert so special?
It was the first Minnesota Orchestra concert after a 16-month lockout. After spending $52 million dollars renovating Orchestra Hall, Michael Henson, CEO and president of the Minnesota Orchestra Association (MOA), thought there were too many players and they were making too much money.
Somehow Henson doesn't understand that standard orchestral repertoire, such as Mahler and Bruckner symphonies, can require more than a hundred players. Like the emperor in Amadeus, I suppose Henson thinks there are too many notes.
These players are world-class musicians, having spent decades perfecting their art, and commanding top salaries, in the neighborhood of $100-200K. While that's much more than the average American's salary, it's typical for trained professionals: engineers and programmers in California make about the same, and many lawyers and doctors make far more.
During the grueling lockout the players of the Minnesota Orchestra put on their own concerts at university and college halls around the cities. They were always sold out. Throughout the Twin Cities you could find orange signs supporting the musicians. Never once did I see anyone voicing support for management.
Former US senator George Mitchell, who helped broker the peace accord in Northern Ireland, was brought in to negotiate, but management was recalcitrant.
Exactly how good was the Minnesota Orchestra before the lockout? It just won a Grammy for a recording of two Sibelius symphonies on the BIS label, which were made before the lockout. Osmo Vänskä, the orchestra's former music director, is the leading interpreter of Sibelius in the world.
A few months ago Vänskä gave management an ultimatum: end the lockout or he would resign. Henson continued to dawdle, so Vänskä followed through. When the Minneapolis city council started to make noises about taking Orchestra Hall away from the MOA because they weren't putting on concerts, Henson capitulated. The new contract gives the players a 15% salary cut in the first year, with raises in the next two. It was exactly the sort of contract the the musicians would have accepted the whole time.
The lockout cost the Minnesota Orchestra a recording contract, a tour in top concert venues in Europe, a conductor, 30-odd players who had to move on, millions in lost ticket sales and charitable contributions, its world-class reputation and much good will. It will take many years to recover.
This story has become typical in America. Lockouts have now become the main tactic of management. In 2012 the NHL locked the players out. In 2011 the NBA locked the players out, and the NFL did the same. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra had a lockout in 2012. Companies have been using lockouts with increasing frequency, such as American Crystal Sugar, which locked out employees for years, and Kellogg cereals.
But the orchestra and sports lockouts are stunningly stupid, because the players are the product. Management can't step in and play the instruments or throw the football, and scabs are the ones who just don't make the cut. World-class musicians aren't interchangeable gears that just plug into the lowest rungs of the orchestra association's org chart.
The Minnesota Orchestra spent $52 million to upgrade Orchestra Hall, only to have it stand empty for a year and a half. Meanwhile, the players staged their own concerts around town, raising more than half a million dollars on their own.
There have been numerous calls for Osmo Vänskä to return. He has stated that he will not come back unless CEO Michael Henson resigns.
Even if Vänskä doesn't come back, Henson has to go. He has demonstrated massive managerial incompetence and a destructively antagonistic attitude toward the artists that are the very product he is trying to sell. What decent conductor would work for a man like Henson?
To top it off, Henson is paid the big bucks: he got a $200K bonus in 2011, for a total of $619K in the year before the lockout. In 2012 he received $589,416, which was almost 2% of the orchestra's expenses, even though the musicians were locked out for the last three months of the year! Someone so incompetent has no right to that job, especially since the orchestra is a non-profit charity!
At more than half a mil, Henson is well-entrenched as a one-percenter. He seems to consider himself one of the elite, rubbing elbows with fellow one-percenters constantly, hitting them up for contributions. Like too many of that ilk, he seems to have made it his life's work to cut everyone else's salary while raising his own. Corporate hacks might be able to sell that line of bull to shareholders, but the CEO of a charitable organization needs to get a clue.
Henson -- like so many CEOs -- just doesn't understand that he's the one that's completely disposable: without musicians an empty hall stands silent; without a CEO the band plays on.
So I had to dig around for the right cable and hook my receiver up to a computer and use Audacity to record the program, then export it as an MP3 file, which I burned to a CD.
The program, directed by laureate conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, included the Star-Spangled Banner, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Strauss's Don Juan, and Beethoven's Third Symphony.
My father-in-law had subscribed to the Orchestra's concert series for decades. He's heard all this music a dozen times before. Why was this concert so special?
It was the first Minnesota Orchestra concert after a 16-month lockout. After spending $52 million dollars renovating Orchestra Hall, Michael Henson, CEO and president of the Minnesota Orchestra Association (MOA), thought there were too many players and they were making too much money.
Somehow Henson doesn't understand that standard orchestral repertoire, such as Mahler and Bruckner symphonies, can require more than a hundred players. Like the emperor in Amadeus, I suppose Henson thinks there are too many notes.
These players are world-class musicians, having spent decades perfecting their art, and commanding top salaries, in the neighborhood of $100-200K. While that's much more than the average American's salary, it's typical for trained professionals: engineers and programmers in California make about the same, and many lawyers and doctors make far more.
During the grueling lockout the players of the Minnesota Orchestra put on their own concerts at university and college halls around the cities. They were always sold out. Throughout the Twin Cities you could find orange signs supporting the musicians. Never once did I see anyone voicing support for management.
Former US senator George Mitchell, who helped broker the peace accord in Northern Ireland, was brought in to negotiate, but management was recalcitrant.
Exactly how good was the Minnesota Orchestra before the lockout? It just won a Grammy for a recording of two Sibelius symphonies on the BIS label, which were made before the lockout. Osmo Vänskä, the orchestra's former music director, is the leading interpreter of Sibelius in the world.
A few months ago Vänskä gave management an ultimatum: end the lockout or he would resign. Henson continued to dawdle, so Vänskä followed through. When the Minneapolis city council started to make noises about taking Orchestra Hall away from the MOA because they weren't putting on concerts, Henson capitulated. The new contract gives the players a 15% salary cut in the first year, with raises in the next two. It was exactly the sort of contract the the musicians would have accepted the whole time.
The lockout cost the Minnesota Orchestra a recording contract, a tour in top concert venues in Europe, a conductor, 30-odd players who had to move on, millions in lost ticket sales and charitable contributions, its world-class reputation and much good will. It will take many years to recover.
This story has become typical in America. Lockouts have now become the main tactic of management. In 2012 the NHL locked the players out. In 2011 the NBA locked the players out, and the NFL did the same. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra had a lockout in 2012. Companies have been using lockouts with increasing frequency, such as American Crystal Sugar, which locked out employees for years, and Kellogg cereals.
But the orchestra and sports lockouts are stunningly stupid, because the players are the product. Management can't step in and play the instruments or throw the football, and scabs are the ones who just don't make the cut. World-class musicians aren't interchangeable gears that just plug into the lowest rungs of the orchestra association's org chart.
The Minnesota Orchestra spent $52 million to upgrade Orchestra Hall, only to have it stand empty for a year and a half. Meanwhile, the players staged their own concerts around town, raising more than half a million dollars on their own.
There have been numerous calls for Osmo Vänskä to return. He has stated that he will not come back unless CEO Michael Henson resigns.
Even if Vänskä doesn't come back, Henson has to go. He has demonstrated massive managerial incompetence and a destructively antagonistic attitude toward the artists that are the very product he is trying to sell. What decent conductor would work for a man like Henson?
To top it off, Henson is paid the big bucks: he got a $200K bonus in 2011, for a total of $619K in the year before the lockout. In 2012 he received $589,416, which was almost 2% of the orchestra's expenses, even though the musicians were locked out for the last three months of the year! Someone so incompetent has no right to that job, especially since the orchestra is a non-profit charity!
At more than half a mil, Henson is well-entrenched as a one-percenter. He seems to consider himself one of the elite, rubbing elbows with fellow one-percenters constantly, hitting them up for contributions. Like too many of that ilk, he seems to have made it his life's work to cut everyone else's salary while raising his own. Corporate hacks might be able to sell that line of bull to shareholders, but the CEO of a charitable organization needs to get a clue.
Henson -- like so many CEOs -- just doesn't understand that he's the one that's completely disposable: without musicians an empty hall stands silent; without a CEO the band plays on.
Wal Mart Takes A Hit
Wal Mart is closing stores and has a dim outlook for the future. The primary reason for this is the reduced food stamp benefits to millions of Americans. Competition from other big box stores like Costco and Amazon (where they pay their employees a decent wage) are also causes for bearish view of Wal Mart's future finances.
I wonder if the execs at Wal Mart are going to get the message. If you pay your employees more money, they will spend more money, not simply at Wal Mart, but in the economy at large. This will, in turn, lead to more people being hired at other firms and then...spending more money at Wal Mart. This means that the execs make more money anyway.
Perhaps a review of Adam Smith is in order for them.
I wonder if the execs at Wal Mart are going to get the message. If you pay your employees more money, they will spend more money, not simply at Wal Mart, but in the economy at large. This will, in turn, lead to more people being hired at other firms and then...spending more money at Wal Mart. This means that the execs make more money anyway.
Perhaps a review of Adam Smith is in order for them.
Sunday, February 09, 2014
Time, Frozen
Time is like a river, the old saying goes. Always changing, yet ever the same. Summer is like the river; an eternal now, always the same, one day indistinguishable from the next.
But come winter, time freezes. We can see in four dimensions. Last night a deer walked through the woods. It lay down here and slept with several of its fellows. Sometime around dawn a coyote bounded through the snow, chasing a rabbit. A squirrel climbed down this tree, ran across the driveway and went up that tree. Here, a skier fell down. There, a man walked his dog. He was an inconsiderate lout, based on what he left behind.
Winter gives us second sight and superhuman powers of locomotion: we can see through thick forests and find animal trails that are completely hidden in the summer. Mere mortals become expert trackers. We can stroll through marshy bogs and dense thickets with nary a scratch; winter has stripped the leaves away, snow has crushed the brambles, our coats are armor against the thorns. But lakes cloud our X-ray vision: they are still mysterious broad snowy expanses, seemingly solid, but slush and thin ice could be lurking out there anywhere.
On the river, time is frozen on the surface. Our vision still extends into the past. As we walk we can look back to see exactly where we've been. But beneath the snow and ice time is still flowing forward, always beyond our sight.
Winter gives us time to remember, to look back, and to look forward. Snow is a physical manifestation of memory. Looking back at their tracks in the snow, two men walking along a river must agree on where they have been.
But we as a nation have come to a juncture where those same two men, if they are from opposing political parties, will look back at the last few years and completely disagree on the basic facts of everything that has happened.
If we cannot agree on where we've been, how can we possibly hope to find a way forward?
But come winter, time freezes. We can see in four dimensions. Last night a deer walked through the woods. It lay down here and slept with several of its fellows. Sometime around dawn a coyote bounded through the snow, chasing a rabbit. A squirrel climbed down this tree, ran across the driveway and went up that tree. Here, a skier fell down. There, a man walked his dog. He was an inconsiderate lout, based on what he left behind.
Winter gives us second sight and superhuman powers of locomotion: we can see through thick forests and find animal trails that are completely hidden in the summer. Mere mortals become expert trackers. We can stroll through marshy bogs and dense thickets with nary a scratch; winter has stripped the leaves away, snow has crushed the brambles, our coats are armor against the thorns. But lakes cloud our X-ray vision: they are still mysterious broad snowy expanses, seemingly solid, but slush and thin ice could be lurking out there anywhere.
On the river, time is frozen on the surface. Our vision still extends into the past. As we walk we can look back to see exactly where we've been. But beneath the snow and ice time is still flowing forward, always beyond our sight.
Winter gives us time to remember, to look back, and to look forward. Snow is a physical manifestation of memory. Looking back at their tracks in the snow, two men walking along a river must agree on where they have been.
But we as a nation have come to a juncture where those same two men, if they are from opposing political parties, will look back at the last few years and completely disagree on the basic facts of everything that has happened.
If we cannot agree on where we've been, how can we possibly hope to find a way forward?
Rand Paul: Texas Will Turn Blue
Rand Paul is clearly gearing up for a presidential run. Yesterday he said the following
What I do believe is Texas is going to be a Democrat state within 10 years if we don’t change. That means we evolve, it doesn’t mean we give up on what we believe in, but it means we have to be a welcoming party.
Exactly right, Rand. Maybe now that you are saying it, some people will listen. Still, I wonder being more inclusive is going to be possible with people like this?
The core of the problem with the Right today is all they have is pettiness. That's what the majority of their base is all about. One need only look at my comments section for evidence of this. They are an angry, hateful, bitter and fearful people who have not matured past the adolescent level of development. I wonder if Rand Paul is the one to help them grow up. It sounds like he certainly is, in terms of immigration.
“We won’t all agree on it,” he said. “But I’ll tell you, what I will say and what I’ll continue to say, and it’s not an exact policy prescription … but if you want to work and you want a job and you want to be part of America, we’ll find a place for you.” This is the exact kind of positivity the Right needs right now. Will more follow suit?
What I do believe is Texas is going to be a Democrat state within 10 years if we don’t change. That means we evolve, it doesn’t mean we give up on what we believe in, but it means we have to be a welcoming party.
Exactly right, Rand. Maybe now that you are saying it, some people will listen. Still, I wonder being more inclusive is going to be possible with people like this?
The core of the problem with the Right today is all they have is pettiness. That's what the majority of their base is all about. One need only look at my comments section for evidence of this. They are an angry, hateful, bitter and fearful people who have not matured past the adolescent level of development. I wonder if Rand Paul is the one to help them grow up. It sounds like he certainly is, in terms of immigration.
“We won’t all agree on it,” he said. “But I’ll tell you, what I will say and what I’ll continue to say, and it’s not an exact policy prescription … but if you want to work and you want a job and you want to be part of America, we’ll find a place for you.” This is the exact kind of positivity the Right needs right now. Will more follow suit?
Going To Hell!
Right around this time of the year we talk about Charles Darwin in class and every year, I get a few students that question Darwin and evolution. This year, I was asked by a young woman what I thought.
"Evolution is scientific fact but that doesn't mean that God doesn't exist. What if He began the process for evolution? I think there is room for everyone to be right here."
I realize that's kind of a cop out answer (everyone wins!) but being open minded is something I try to pass on to my students. After class was over, the young woman came up to me and said, "I didn't want to say anything in front of class but people that believe in evolution are going to hell." She stormed out of the room in all her seventh gradedness and left me pretty much speechless. What sort of parents does a person like this have to have to bring them to this point? Worse, this recent poll shows that Republican belief in evolution is actually falling. Seriously?!?
I guess in some ways I was hurt by what she said but as the next class rolled in, another young woman came up to me and asked me how old I was. I told her I was 47 next month. Her jaw dropped to the ground.
"Everyone thinks you are 35!"
Ah, the life of a teacher...
"Evolution is scientific fact but that doesn't mean that God doesn't exist. What if He began the process for evolution? I think there is room for everyone to be right here."
I realize that's kind of a cop out answer (everyone wins!) but being open minded is something I try to pass on to my students. After class was over, the young woman came up to me and said, "I didn't want to say anything in front of class but people that believe in evolution are going to hell." She stormed out of the room in all her seventh gradedness and left me pretty much speechless. What sort of parents does a person like this have to have to bring them to this point? Worse, this recent poll shows that Republican belief in evolution is actually falling. Seriously?!?
I guess in some ways I was hurt by what she said but as the next class rolled in, another young woman came up to me and asked me how old I was. I told her I was 47 next month. Her jaw dropped to the ground.
"Everyone thinks you are 35!"
Ah, the life of a teacher...
Saturday, February 08, 2014
Your Logical Fallacy Is....
Recently, Kent from Minnesota wrote me.
Hey, Mark, what's the deal with these standard responses that your commenters always quote. Aren't those all ad hominem?
Yes, Kent they are. It should also be pointed out that ad hominem is part of the genetic fallacy family of logical fallacies. Kent also sent along this link which I found to be most helpful.
ad hominem:
You attacked your opponent's character or personal traits in an attempt to undermine their argument. Ad hominem attacks can take the form of overtly attacking somebody, or more subtly casting doubt on their character or personal attributes as a way to discredit their argument. The result of an ad hom attack can be to undermine someone's case without actually having to engage with it.
Example: After Sally presents an eloquent and compelling case for a more equitable taxation system, Sam asks the audience whether we should believe anything from a woman who isn't married, was once arrested, and smells a bit weird.
And...
genetic:
You judged something as either good or bad on the basis of where it comes from, or from whom it came. This fallacy avoids the argument by shifting focus onto something's or someone's origins. It's similar to an ad hominem fallacy in that it leverages existing negative perceptions to make someone's argument look bad, without actually presenting a case for why the argument itself lacks merit.
Example: Accused on the 6 o'clock news of corruption and taking bribes, the senator said that we should all be very wary of the things we hear in the media, because we all know how very unreliable the media can be.
Click here for more illustrative examples of how the TSM commenters consistently use ad hom and genetic fallacy. As to why they do it, they are obviously insecure about their own arguments. This explains why they only criticize and never make any of their own, living in a constant state of terror that they might be "proved wrong."
What a sad and pathetic way to live your life...
Hey, Mark, what's the deal with these standard responses that your commenters always quote. Aren't those all ad hominem?
Yes, Kent they are. It should also be pointed out that ad hominem is part of the genetic fallacy family of logical fallacies. Kent also sent along this link which I found to be most helpful.
ad hominem:
You attacked your opponent's character or personal traits in an attempt to undermine their argument. Ad hominem attacks can take the form of overtly attacking somebody, or more subtly casting doubt on their character or personal attributes as a way to discredit their argument. The result of an ad hom attack can be to undermine someone's case without actually having to engage with it.
Example: After Sally presents an eloquent and compelling case for a more equitable taxation system, Sam asks the audience whether we should believe anything from a woman who isn't married, was once arrested, and smells a bit weird.
And...
genetic:
You judged something as either good or bad on the basis of where it comes from, or from whom it came. This fallacy avoids the argument by shifting focus onto something's or someone's origins. It's similar to an ad hominem fallacy in that it leverages existing negative perceptions to make someone's argument look bad, without actually presenting a case for why the argument itself lacks merit.
Example: Accused on the 6 o'clock news of corruption and taking bribes, the senator said that we should all be very wary of the things we hear in the media, because we all know how very unreliable the media can be.
Click here for more illustrative examples of how the TSM commenters consistently use ad hom and genetic fallacy. As to why they do it, they are obviously insecure about their own arguments. This explains why they only criticize and never make any of their own, living in a constant state of terror that they might be "proved wrong."
What a sad and pathetic way to live your life...
Economic Growth Retreat
Great editorial in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about just how stupid the Republican Party is these days. After criticizing the president, they had this to say.
Conservatives and the GOP are as responsible for the failure on immigration. The populist wing of the party has talked itself into believing the zero-sum economics that immigrants steal jobs from U.S. citizens and reduce American living standards. Neither claim is true, but Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions and the Heritage Foundation might as well share research staffs with the AFL-CIO.
So great is the House GOP fear of a talk-radio backlash that it won't even pass smaller bills that 75% of Republicans agree on. There will be nothing to codify the legal status of children of illegal immigrants who have lived here for decades. And no expanded green cards for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges, a policy Mitt Romney endorsed. And no cleaning up the work-visa morass that has obliged U.S. farmers to hire illegals to harvest their crops.
The result of doing nothing will be a de facto "amnesty" in which 11 million illegal immigrants will continue to work using fake documents. Mr. Obama will look for ways to grant more of them legal status using executive power, and the GOP will look even more unwelcoming to minorities.
This last bit is all too revealing. Republicans actually do favor amnesty and are granting it every day by doing nothing. Further, they will end up making the president look even better than the fears of an immigration win would by forcing him to do all he can with his executive power.
The GOP has a real shot at taking back the Senate this year but without immigration reform, I don't see it happening. Louisiana, where Mary Landrieu is going to have a very tough race, Latinos make up over 5 percent of the population. The New Orleans metro area has the 3rd largest Honduran American population in the country. Arkansas also has a growing immigrant population and Mark Pryor is very beatable. Both of these states could turn on the Latino and Asian vote. Pass reform this year and you can say goodbye to both of these Democratic senators.
It seems that the fear is too great, though...
Conservatives and the GOP are as responsible for the failure on immigration. The populist wing of the party has talked itself into believing the zero-sum economics that immigrants steal jobs from U.S. citizens and reduce American living standards. Neither claim is true, but Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions and the Heritage Foundation might as well share research staffs with the AFL-CIO.
So great is the House GOP fear of a talk-radio backlash that it won't even pass smaller bills that 75% of Republicans agree on. There will be nothing to codify the legal status of children of illegal immigrants who have lived here for decades. And no expanded green cards for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges, a policy Mitt Romney endorsed. And no cleaning up the work-visa morass that has obliged U.S. farmers to hire illegals to harvest their crops.
The result of doing nothing will be a de facto "amnesty" in which 11 million illegal immigrants will continue to work using fake documents. Mr. Obama will look for ways to grant more of them legal status using executive power, and the GOP will look even more unwelcoming to minorities.
This last bit is all too revealing. Republicans actually do favor amnesty and are granting it every day by doing nothing. Further, they will end up making the president look even better than the fears of an immigration win would by forcing him to do all he can with his executive power.
The GOP has a real shot at taking back the Senate this year but without immigration reform, I don't see it happening. Louisiana, where Mary Landrieu is going to have a very tough race, Latinos make up over 5 percent of the population. The New Orleans metro area has the 3rd largest Honduran American population in the country. Arkansas also has a growing immigrant population and Mark Pryor is very beatable. Both of these states could turn on the Latino and Asian vote. Pass reform this year and you can say goodbye to both of these Democratic senators.
It seems that the fear is too great, though...
Friday, February 07, 2014
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