Somewhat Facetious

Hey guys, now is a great time to start investing in the stock market!

Bailout Fails to Stem Global Stock Slump

I'm kind of joking - after all, who knows how far down the bottom is? But kind of not - now is when stocks are relatively cheap.

*end financial commentary*

And yet another article:

Why do people vote Republican?

Apologies to my many, many Republican readers for some of the more blunt passages, but I found it helpful/insightful in other ways.

Full of postings today

Hi folks.

So, what with the election and all, there are lots of interesting articles out there. First of all, a refreshing cheer for liberals from the NYTimes opinion section!

Hold Your Heads Up

Some highlights:

Without the many great and noble deeds of liberals over the past six or seven decades, America would hardly be recognizable to today’s young people. Liberals (including liberal Republicans, who have since been mostly drummed out of the party) ended legalized racial segregation and gender discrimination.

Humiliation imposed by custom and enforced by government had been the order of the day for blacks and women before men and women of good will and liberal persuasion stepped up their long (and not yet ended) campaign to change things. Liberals gave this country Head Start and legal services and the food stamp program. They fought for cleaner air (there was a time when you could barely see Los Angeles) and cleaner water (there were rivers in America that actually caught fire).

Liberals. Your food is safer because of them, and so are your children’s clothing and toys. Your workplace is safer. Your ability (or that of your children or grandchildren) to go to college is manifestly easier.

And then a very interesting blog post for my many, many libertarian readers. I don't necessarily agree that the government should be as small as humanly possible, but if you do believe that, then it's interesting to think through the consequences, in terms of deciding to vote for one or the other of the major party candidates.

Why Libertarians Should Vote for Obama

Salient quotes:

Have libertarians gained... in the past eight years? Not at all. Under the Republicans we have been sailing due South-West on the Nolan Chart – fewer civil liberties and more government, including the largest new government program in a generation, the Medicare prescription drug plan, and the biggest nationalization since the Great Depression. Tax cuts, the summum bonum of Republican economic policy, are a sham. The only way to cut taxes is to cut spending and that has not happened.

Lack of power is no guarantee of virtue but Republicans are a far better - more libertarian - party out-of-power than they are in power. When in the wilderness, Republicans turn naturally to a critique of power and they ratchet up libertarian rhetoric about free trade, free enterprise, abuse of government power and even the defense of civil liberties.

Sarah Palin/Gender Card

This is just too good to pass up: O'Reilly, Karl Rove, and others demonstrating how big a difference politics makes in the way they dispense judgement about candidate's experience, and what constitutes sexism.

Gender Card

Thanks, Daily Show!

Also, this is funny:

Rednecks for Obama

Now this is a Presidential Race!

So, a lot has been happening with the Presidential race, as you probably know, since this blog is a terrible source of up-to-the-minute news. Some thoughts on the VP picks:

Joe Biden: I saw him speak when I was finishing my undergrad in Delaware, and he impressed me then, explaining why it was important to renew the Violence Against Women Act. He's got strong foreign policy experience, and (hopefully) useful connections in Pennsylvania, a battleground state currently leaning Obama. Pulling from my dad's thoughts on these things, he's also been in the Senate long enough for people to owe him something, making it possible to get some stuff done.


Sarah Palin: This certainly mixes things up. A woman with strong, strong conservative credentials, and about a year and a half of experience as governor of Alaska. It's interesting that this is supposedly more experience than Obama has. Anywho, to me this feels a little like the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court appointment - put a black man in place to dismantle affirmative action, put a woman in place to dismantle abortion rights. To be fair, she takes the pro-life stance seriously - Palin recently gave birth to a child with Down's Syndrome, and her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant and set to marry the child's father. Article here (from FOX news, for the sake of balance :) ).