- The issues that we face are complex enough that good smart men could spend all their time trying to solve our problems, and still not solve them. We have not hope of solving our problems if corrupt politicians spend all their time raising money so they can distort the truth in 30 second commercials.
Sep 7, 2012
Elected officials should not go to fund raisers once they are in office
The Pitfalls of Feel-Good Voting in Contemporary Politics
Supporting Evidence
Logical Arguments:
- Long-term implications: Voting based solely on immediate emotional satisfaction can neglect long-term policy implications that affect daily life.
- Substance over style: Voting should prioritize the candidate's policy positions and qualifications over charisma or image.
Supporting Evidence (Data, Studies):
- Studies have shown that voters often prioritize short-term feelings over long-term policy outcomes. This includes the 'halo effect', where voters disproportionately favor charismatic candidates (Kinder, 1986).
Supporting Books:
- "Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government" by Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels
Supporting Videos:
- TED Talks like "The Irrationality of Politics" by Michael Huemer discuss the importance of rational decision-making in democracy.
Supporting Organizations and their Websites:
Supporting Podcasts:
- "The Weeds" by Vox discusses in-depth policy issues that can influence voter decisions.
Unbiased Experts:
- Political scientists such as Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels
Opposing Evidence
Logical Arguments:
- Emotional intelligence: Voting based on empathy and human connection can lead to more compassionate policies.
- Importance of motivation: Inspiring candidates can increase voter turnout and democratic participation.
Supporting Evidence (Data, Studies):
- Research shows that charismatic leaders can motivate increased civic participation (Campbell et al., 1960).
Supporting Books:
- "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion" by Jonathan Haidt
Supporting Videos:
- YouTube video "Why Do We Vote On Feelings?" by CGP Grey explores the importance of emotional appeal in elections.
Supporting Organizations and their Websites:
Supporting Podcasts:
- "Hidden Brain" by NPR often discusses the emotional aspects of decision-making, including voting.
Unbiased Experts:
- Psychologists like Jonathan Haidt
Further Exploration:
For a more comprehensive pro/con analysis and collective intelligence, visit Group Intel and Idea Stock Exchange.
Search Description:
"Examining the implications of feel-good voting in contemporary politics with evidence from various sources and perspectives."
Aug 13, 2012
Despite criticism of suburban sprawl kids have fun in their back yards
- Kids can have more unsupervised play in back yards than a city park.
- The fact that kids have fun in their back yards does not negate the criticisms of suburban sprawl. The question is if back yards have features that can not be obtained in a city park. Sure kids can have more unsupervised time in a back yard, but they get to meet more people at a suburban park. Everything has trade offs, and you can raise good kids in most environment.
Debt
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| One Hundred Dollars $100 - Most counterfeited money denomination in the world. Keeps the world moving. |
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| Ten Thousand Dollars $10,000 - Enough for a great vacation or to buy a used car. Approximately one year of work for the average human on earth. |
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| One Million Dollars $1,000,000 - Not as big of a pile as you thought, huh? Still this is 92 years of work for the average human on earth. |
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| One Hundred Million Dollars $100,000,000 - Plenty to go around for everyone. Fits nicely on an ISO / Military standard sized pallet. The couch is worth $46.7 million. Made out of crispy $100 bills. |
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| One Billion Dollars $1,000,000,000 - You will need some help when robbing the bank. Interesting fact: $1 million dollars weights 10kg exactly. You are looking at 10 tons of money on those pallets. |
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| One Trillion Dollars Comparison of $1,000,000,000,000 dollars to a standard sized American Football field. Say hello to the Boeing 747-400 transcontinental airliner that's hiding in the back. This was until recently the biggest passenger plane in the world. You can see the White House with both wings to the right. "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." - Thomas Jefferson |
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| One Trillion Dollars $1,000,000,000,000 The 2011 US federal deficit was $1.412 Trillion - 41% more than you see here. If you spent $1 million a day since Jesus was born, you would have not spent $1 trillion by now... but ~$700 billion- same amount the banks got during bailout. |
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| $16.394 Trillion - 2012 US Debt Ceiling The US debt ceiling limit D-Day is estimated for September 14, 2012. US Debt has now surpassed the size of US economy in 2011-- rated @ $15,064 Trillion. Statue of Liberty seems rather worried as United States national debt is soon to pass 20% of the entire world's combined economy (GDP / Gross Domestic Product). “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” - Thomas Jefferson |
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| Trillion Dollars $122,100,000,000,000. - US unfunded liabilities by Dec 31, 2012. Abovet you can see the pillar of cold hard $100 bills that dwarfs the WTC & Empire State Building - both at one point world's tallest buildings. If you look carefully you can see the Statue of Liberty. The 122.1 Trillion dollar super-skyscraper wall is the amount of money the U.S. Government knows it does not have to fully fund the Medicare, Medicare Prescription Drug Program, Social Security, Military and civil servant pensions. It is the money USA knows it will not have to pay all its bills. If you live in USA this is also your personal credit card bill; you are responsible along with everyone else to pay this back. The citizens of USA created the U.S. Government to serve them, this is what the U.S. Government has done while serving The People. The unfunded liability is calculated on current tax and funding inputs, and future demographic shifts in US Population. Note: On the above 122.1T image the size of the bases of the money stacks are $10 billion, and 400 stories @ $4 trillion "It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." - Thomas Jefferson Everyone needs to see this. Source: Federal Reserve & www.USdebtclock.org - visit it to see the debt in real time and get a better grasp of this amazing number. |
Aug 10, 2012
Marriage should be used to help societies and individuals gain the long term benefits provided by monogamy +3
Reasons to agree
- Marriage helps people make commitments to each other.
- When people make commitments to each other, it helps them be monogamous.
- Monogamy is good for society. It is good for parents to stick with each other.
Reasons to disagree
Scriptures that agree
Scriptures that disagree
# of reasons to agree: 3
# of reasons to disagree: -0
# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0
# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0
Total Idea Score: 3
Images That agree
Images That disagree
Interest of those who agree
Interest of those who disagree
Common Interest
Opposing Interest
Videos That agree
Videos That disagree
Website that agree
Websites that disagree
Related arguments:
Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change
Aug 6, 2012
Our culture and wealth are related
Our culture and wealth are related
From here.
A 2002 United Nations report written by Arab intellectuals acknowledges the problems the Republican candidate pointed out.
By RICHARD LANDES
Mitt Romney caused a firestorm last week in Jerusalem by commenting on the cultural dimensions of Israeli economic growth. Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erekat, correctly seeing an implied criticism of Palestinian culture, called Mr. Romney a "racist" and complained that Palestinian economic woes are really caused by the Israeli occupation. Analysts said Mr. Erekat's reaction was a sign that Mr. Romney has disqualified himself as a broker for peace. The episode reveals as much about the dynamics of the Middle East conflict as about presidential politics.
In making his brief case, Mr. Romney cited two books: "Guns, Germs and Steel," by geographer Jared Diamond, and "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations," by economist David Landes (my father). As in other fields of social "science," economists argue about whether development derives from cultural advantages or from natural ones such as resistance to disease and access to primary resources. Prof. Diamond, whose book focuses on societies' natural advantages, last week wrote an op-ed in the New York Times emphasizing both culture and nature and trying to draw Prof. Landes in with him.
But Israel (which neither book examined) and the Arab world (which only the Landes book examined) illustrate the primacy of culture as both necessary and sufficient for economic development. Israel, a country with no natural resources, an economic backwater even in the Ottoman Empire, rose to the top of the developed world in a century on culture alone. The Arab nations, on the other hand, illustrate the necessity of a certain kind of culture: Even those with vast petrodollars still have among the least productive economies in the world.
Americans tend to assume that everyone shares their cultural attitudes—that everyone strives to get to "yes," to positive-sum, win-win, voluntary relations; that everyone holds productive work in high respect and prizes the principles of fairness embodied in the meritocratic principle of "equality before the law"; that everyone encourages criticism, treasures intellectual capital, promotes risk-taking, prizes transparency and fosters innovation. With institutions built on such values—with a culture dedicated to making, not taking, money—a society can make use of whatever primary products a land offers.
But there are cultures whose favored mode is not voluntary but coerced and zero-sum relations, where the principle of "rule or be ruled" dominates political and economic life. The elites in such cultures hold hard work in contempt, and they distrust intellectual openness and uncontrolled innovation as subversive. They emphasize rote learning and unquestioning respect for those in authority.Protection rackets rather than law enforcement assure the public order and bleed the economy. Public criticism brings sharp retaliation. Powerful actors acquire wealth by taking, rather than making.
Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erekat.
Few cultures on the planet better illustrate the latter traits than the Arab world, a fact outlined in painful detail by a 2002 United Nations report written by Arab intellectuals. As "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" points out, Arab culture intensifies these problems with its attitude of hyper-jealousy and misogyny toward women, which turns out entitled sons and cloistered daughters.
Even the huge influx of petrodollars did not change the basic contours of Arab economies: Rather than fueling economic development that benefited all, it bloated corrupt and opaque elites. Oil-rich countries like Libya and Iraq have social structures akin to those of oil-bereft Egypt and Syria. Change may occur, but it is hindered by an authoritarian culture that fears it. Such societies impoverish the masses, while elites thrive on their debasement.
Strikingly, Palestinian culture compares favorably with that of other Arabs. Palestinians have higher education, a strong work ethic and successful entrepreneurs. Much of that comes from their close association with the Zionists, who (unlike Western imperialists) settled the land without conquest, by dint of making everyone more prosperous.
From the late 19th century, Arab populations grew and prospered where Jews settled (Tel Aviv, Hebron, Jerusalem) and remained stagnant and poor where they didn't (Gaza, Nablus, Nazareth). Many Arabs found the presence of Jews a great advantage. Thus the Palestinian diaspora is among the best-educated and most competent in the Arab world—and under Israeli rule (the notorious "occupation") the West Bank was one of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world in the 1980s.
Other Palestinians, however, found Jewish economic leadership an unbearable blow to their pride. Said one to the British Peel Commission in 1936: "You say we are better off: you say my house has been enriched by the strangers who have entered it. But it is my house, and I did not invite the strangers in, or ask them to enrich it, and I do not care how poor it is if I am only master of it."
Sooner rule in hell than share in heaven. These actors have dominated Palestinian political culture, and terrorized Israeli and Palestinian alike, for generations.
In calling Mr. Romney's remarks "racist" and blaming Palestinian economic difficulties on Israel's "occupation," Mr. Erekat illustrated one of David Landes's major points:Blaming others for one's own failures prolongs failure. Even though his own government daily chooses a culture of death, not life, Mr. Erekat wants to blame Israel for Palestine's woes; no admission here that he and his colleagues might have some role in the suffering of their own people.
So when Westerners denounce Mr. Romney for his "gaffe," they actually do a great disservice to the Palestinians. Palestinian entrepreneurs and administrators—the ones who wept when Yasser Arafat rejected Israel's peace offer at Camp David in 2000—know well the costs to their people's well-being engendered by their political leaders.
Had Western observers criticized Mr. Erekat for his silly and dishonest response, they might have strengthened those Palestinians who could lead their people to the promised land of independence and prosperity. Instead, they threw the real progressives, the ones who could put an end to the occupation by good faith negotiations, under the bus.
Mr. Landes, a medieval historian at Boston University, is author of "Heaven on Earth" (Oxford University Press, 2011). He blogs at theaugeanstables.com.
a) Beliefs one must also reject to reject this belief:
- Culture has no impact on an individual's or a community's economic status.
- Economic success is purely a result of individual effort, irrespective of cultural background.
- All cultures are equally conducive to wealth creation.
b) Alternate expressions (e.g., metatags, mottos, hashtags):
- #CultureAndWealth
- "Wealth is the child of culture."
- "Culture shapes economy."
- "The wealth of cultures."
c) Objective criteria to measure the strength of this belief:
- Economic disparity between different cultural groups within a society.
- Comparative studies on the wealth of nations with different dominant cultures.
- Research studies linking cultural aspects to economic behavior and outcomes.
d) Shared interests between those who agree/disagree:
- Both parties are interested in understanding the factors that contribute to wealth creation.
- Both agree on the importance of wealth for societal well-being and individual prosperity.
e) Key opposing interests between those who agree/disagree (that must be addressed for mutual understanding):
- Those who agree with the belief may focus on cultural reform as a pathway to economic development, while those who disagree might focus more on systemic factors like education, infrastructure, and policy reforms.
- Addressing this disagreement may involve creating space for a multifaceted approach to economic development that incorporates cultural, systemic, and individual factors.
f) Solutions:
- Promoting cultural aspects that are conducive to economic growth, such as valuing education, hard work, and innovation.
- Implementing policies that mitigate any negative economic impacts associated with certain cultural practices.
- Facilitating a better understanding and appreciation of the economic implications of different cultural practices.
g) Strategies for encouraging commitment to a resolution to evidence-based solutions:
- Establishing dialogue between different cultural groups to foster mutual understanding and cooperation.
- Collaborating with local community leaders to promote cultural practices conducive to wealth creation.
- Implementing and promoting education programs that teach the economic implications of cultural practices.
- Advocating for policies that promote economic equality and opportunity for all cultural groups.
- Encouraging research into the relationship between culture and wealth, and using the findings to inform policy and practice.
Jul 29, 2012
The Laubs are good cooks
Images that agree:
Sub-argument: Megan is a good cook
Sub-argument: Megan is a good cook
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| Italian Breaded Pork Chops with Couscous and Applesauce (the sauce was necessary because the chops were dry) |
.JPG) 1. It takes thought, planning, creativity, caring, and love to be a good cook. The above cake shows that Megan poses those attributes. 2. Some frosting is gross. Megan makes good frosting. .JPG) |
| Image Background: My birthday, 2012. Asparagus with red peppers, chicken wrapped in bacon, and some artisan potatoes
Reason to agree that this image supports the above conclusion:
1. The above photo shows a healthy meal, which is required to be a trully good cook
 A cake Megan made for Ali on her 2nd B-Day  
Megan: "For dinner, we had Chicken in Tarragon Cream Sauce and White and Wild Rice with Walnuts. This is a Rachael Ray recipe—it was chosen because her recipes are easy and quick. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give this recipe an 8. It might have received a higher score if we could have eaten it piping hot, but the kids just had to have dinner first, so our precious meal cooled while the kids ate their beloved and bland TV dinners. If you do choose to make this recipe, I suggest you accompany the dish with a chilled bottle of aged root beer or cream soda. We chose A&W cream soda in diet flavor. The subtle hint of aspartame really complimented the anise-like flavor of the tarragon. For dessert, we heated up frozen chocolate lava cake and tried to pretty it up with caramel sauce and magic shell topping. The magic shell was too runny and ruined the overall look of the dessert, but it tasted magnifique. Our Valentine's Chaperone and Our Dinner ***Note: I removed the stems from the chocolate dipped strawberries because I didn't want the greenery getting in the way of my mouthful of yumminess. But as I gaze at the photo, I see that my decision drastically reduced the beauty of chocolate covered strawberries. I'm not for butchering beauty. I'll make sure to leave on the stems next time.***
Megan: "For dinner, we had calzones. A big thanks to my sister for pointing me in the direction of the calzone recipe. They turned out tasty and even looked like calzones. Mike gave the recipe a 10 out of 10. Here it is if you want to try it: Real Italian Calzones. I changed a couple things in the recipe, though. I used mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar, and I used black olives and tomatoes instead of mushrooms. The only fungus that ever touches my pizza, or its calzone cousin, is yeast. I salute you, yeast...you are the specks of sunshine in the moldy and decaying kingdom of Fungi."
Megan: "For his cake, I decided Phil needed a theme, and the theme would be bouncy balls. We bought him a ball popper machine and a big, blue beach ball. On the cake, I was going to write: "Happy Birthday, Phil! Have a Ball." However, I ran out of room and enthusiasm, so I shortened "Birthday" to "B-Day" and let the reader infer "Have a Ball" from the cake's decor (bouncy balls and Sixlets®). Just to be clear, though, the moment the bouncy balls were purchased, my kids inferred "Have a Ball," so mission accomplished."
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Sub-argument: James is a good cook
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| Image Background: In McCall we didn't have marshmallows for s'mores but we made due with what we had. |
Images that agree:
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| Image Background: 1995 in my parents basement. It has been a while sense I used Tupperware and a knife to cook a hot dog |
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