Comments Posted By Aaron
Displaying 21 To 30 Of 60 Comments
"It perplexes me that people like Jones, whose radical past is filled with racist, bigoted, statements..."
I read this 3 times and my brain kept saying "bigtoed." Time for a long weekend.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 4.09.2009 @ 10:20
VIOLENCE AT TOWN HALLS PREDICTABLE AND DISTURBING
Fortunately there are some voices of sanity out there:
"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." -Sarah Palin
I hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm heading out to grab a beer and maybe euthanize some old people. Peace!
Comment Posted By Aaron On 7.08.2009 @ 17:02
NO, AMERICA -- YOU CAN'T KEEP THE HEALTH INSURANCE YOU HAVE NOW
The section in question defines the term "grandfathered" and absolutely does not prevent people from keeping the health care that they have.
Judging from Mr. Moran's normally high quality of work I suspect he's composing an update discussing the perils of jumping to conclusions, not doing one's homework, and trusting the NY Post about anything.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 17.07.2009 @ 10:53
'THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING HERE'
The republican position is clear: they like things the way they are. And any idea of introducing a public option will by met by an army of republican talking heads telling the lie that this is a government takeover rather then the competition with the private market that it is.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 18.06.2009 @ 18:01
IS THE GOP ANTI-SCIENCE? OR JUST ANTI-RATIONALIST?
Fantastic piece as usual Rick.
One thing that I don't believe you touched on is how Walken's column in some ways legitimizes the idea that "conservatives" are a homogeneous group. Whether Walken refutes or acknowledges the veracity of his questioners' perceptions, he perpetuates the idea that a single person can speak for all conservatives. Obviously, this is to some degree unavoidable when speaking of large groups, but conservatism has been increasingly portrayed as having an almost cultish uniformity of opinion and because of this it is becoming increasingly important to emphasize the fact that no single person (and no single faction) within conservatism can speak for the entity as a whole. Walken's responses, while free of the bombast and bile of a Limbaugh or a Coulter, do little (or nothing) to advance the idea of a heterogeneous conservatism. Until such an idea becomes prevalent, we cannot legitimately hope to be addressed as individuals, but rather will continue to be saddled with the stereotypes that are popular within a small subset of liberalism.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 12.05.2009 @ 09:50
GLENN BECK AND THE RADICAL RIGHT
"Aaron……you are moron!"
Wow, how can one argue against such a stunningly well-reasoned and thoughtful criticism of ideas?
And we wonder why the left thinks that we don't have any substantive basis for our beliefs. Then again, citing sources and creating logical arguments is so much like work...
Comment Posted By Aaron On 9.04.2009 @ 08:00
"Yet in the back of our minds we know that it is slightly possible that his prescience will be proven."
It's not prescience if he's just throwing a bunch of crazy theories out there and hoping one will stick. That's just a gambler playing percentages. If a blindfolded man throws enough darts, he will eventually hit the bull's eye and that's all Beck is doing. If a person is wrong 100 times and right once, he isn't "prescient", he's just lucky that one theory out of 101 happened to be close to sanity.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 8.04.2009 @ 20:13
"Does Glenn Beck being a kook affect you in any way?"
Yes. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.
The antics of Beck and his ilk only serve to make it increasingly difficult for rational conservative positions to be taken seriously. Everyone suffers from being associated with him. Whether it is a legitimate association or not, as long as a perception of association exists in people's minds (and it does), kooks like Beck are millstones around the neck of anyone who desires to engage in rational defense of conservatism.
Rick, keep carrying the banner of rational thought, we need more people like you in the fight.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 8.04.2009 @ 16:21
Belad - mathematical issues aside, I think the larger problem is that most people, myself included, have trouble comprehending the absurdly large dollar amounts involved in federal programs. I wish it were more common to present them in something like the number of days/months/years that the average person will have to work to pay for a particular program. That I can understand.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 31.12.2008 @ 14:50
Belad: Where am I going wrong here?
It looks like you're assuming that there are only 350 taxpaying households in the US. I believe the actual number is a bit higher than that.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 30.12.2008 @ 15:32
