Look At It This Way (#LAITW)

Wait, what?!

Per the NY Times.

Is anyone paying attention?

And just in time!

Oh wait, maybe a little late.

Oh wait, this new czar knows nothing of Ebola or infectious diseases, or even medicine.

Oh.

Since the Great Society and with some 22 trillion dollars spent on the War on Poverty, poverty still exists in roughly the same percentages as it did then.

Big, centralized government is not the answer.

“Political correctness destroys common sense. Political correctness is a direct attack on achievement and success. It’s an attack on the extraordinary. It’s an attack on excellence. And that’s why it’s made to order for the Democrat Party, made to order for liberalism.” – Rush Limbaugh

I agree.

Providing for the common defense includes protecting this country’s citizens from illegal immigration. We have all the heard the litany: terrorism, criminals, and various drains on society. Do you not believe these are real problems?!

And now to that list we add communicable diseases, specifically ebola and an as-yet-unidentified virus plaguing children.

Open borders is one of the quickest ways to bring an otherwise thriving country to its knees.

It’s insane. It’s suicide.

This may be hard to swallow, particularly if you get most of your info from the mainstream media. But it’s true nonetheless: CO2 is not a pollutant.

It’s a mainstay for life on this planet. Ever hear of the carbon cycle? It’s what animals (including humans) breath out, it fuels the metabolism of plants, and it’s recycled on a grand scale by geologic processes.

And contrary to a common misconception, CO2 levels do not lead global temperatures, they follow them. Generally, CO2 levels go up AFTER global temperatures go up, and CO2 levels go down AFTER global temperatures go down.

Controlling carbon levels, carbon credits, etc. are total hooey, a total waste of resources that would be far better spent on real problems.

A good thing to establish at the outset of a political discussion is which participants believe in evil and which don’t. To the extent that someone does not believe in evil, there is little progress to be made for fighting evil.

Evil is not comforted by compassion or caring. It’s not soothed by politically correct speech. It is not quieted by how much you care. It is not turned back with the use of aggressive words.

This applies equally well to man-made evil (e.g. terrorists) and nature’s evils (e.g. ebola).

You have to kill it or contain it with whatever tools can be brought to bear. As quickly and as thoroughly as you possibly can.

“Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.” Albert Einstein

Why is that?

There are several traits that make up character, including Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. One list of character traits includes 638 items!

I’d like to put Honesty at the top of the list for this discussion. Honesty with yourself, honesty with others, honesty with Nature, etc. There is no room for politically correct pussyfooting around. There is no room for fudging the data to make some point.

I was trained to be honest about (in fact, to point out) every counterpoint I could possibly imagine to any point I might be trying to make, to any theory I might try to posit. In today’s discussions, it seems to me, not only are too many scientists willing to ignore “inconvenient” facts, but also will use all manner of fallacy to dismiss anyone that suggests anything negative about their position.

It’s a shame. But it can help you spot junk science, and junk scientists.

It’s cool to be against Big Oil. Cool to be against Big Food. Cool to be against Mansanto. Even cool to be against Capitalism.

If you’re against all those “bigs”, how in the world can government be the answer? Talk about big. Government is not only the biggest business on the face of the earth, but it also brandishes far more power than any corporation could ever imagine. You don’t have to do business with AT&T if you don’t want to, but you’ll go to jail if you don’t do business with the government when and where it wants.

Liberty. Freedom. Individual Responsibility. They’re the opposite of big government. And they’re what made this country great.

How’s that war on poverty comin’ along? That war on drugs? That war to prevent war on women? Racism?

If you look to government to solve the ills of a nation, you look in the wrong place. This video and short article sum up the discussion quite well. It happens to pick heavily on one politician, but it applies to far too many.

http://allenbwest.com/2014/10/must-watch-powerful-message-2014-midterms-video/