tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40562752024-03-13T04:19:39.073-07:00Distant View of America's FallThis blog has evidently mutated to focus on the increasing evidence that the (primarily political) damage is incurable and will eventually be fatal, not just to democracy as a political system in America, but perhaps to the nation, and conceivably even contributing to the extinction of our human species.
My new blogging approach is basically to write short sketches or outlines and expand them if readers show interest in the comments.shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-43983562000505451022017-04-17T02:52:00.000-07:002017-04-17T02:52:08.630-07:00Response to Krugman column on jobsHere is my response to today's Krugman column, but remember that if you follow the link, then the NY Times counts it against you... That's another problem I've written about.
Good column, but Professor Krugman needs to go deeper than a hope "we can and should ensure that a decent life endures even when a job doesn't." There are some deep truths there, but he seems to be missing them, even thoughshanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-9725999349963635412017-03-12T13:33:00.000-07:002017-03-12T13:33:13.303-07:00Latest struggles with our EVIL corporate overlords
The ONLY good part of my experience on the Starbucks website was that the second submission attempt did not try to route me to the FAQ again, but just accepted the message. Probably a bug, and the claim that the message was accepted was probably false.Visiting a corporate website should NOT make you dislike the company.
Starbucks offered usage-based d - shanen0 | ello
What
if Starbucksshanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-19842702721765170352017-02-01T16:48:00.002-08:002017-02-01T16:48:14.342-08:00The Muslim ban is a bad idea even for #PresidentTweetyDoes Trump owe his presidency to religious bigots and racists? Yes. #PresidentTweety's margin of so-called "winning" was so narrow that EVERY lunatic fringe that supported him can quite "reasonably" claim to have gifted him with the White House. Those Muslim haters (both of the religion and the "brown" peoples who are most likely to be Muslims) aren't a huge voting bloc, but Trump skulked into shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-68820024175071564822017-01-16T23:44:00.000-08:002017-01-16T23:44:19.338-08:00Predicted Harms of #PresidentTweety
17 January 2017
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? EVERYTHING!
Historical Context of my Presidential Predictions:
This first subsection is actually just a review of some predictions I made in 2000 when Dubya occupied the White House. I think I eventually got used to hearing his actual name in the same sentence as "president", but it always bothered me. It's as though he vanished 8 years ago and shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-61532695477170517652017-01-14T23:51:00.000-08:002017-01-16T23:56:36.897-08:00Predicted harms of Dubya from 2001 (partial)Below is a rather mangled copy of the text parts of an old Tripod webpage (originally created in 2000). As of this writing, it's still online at http://shanenj.tripod.com/bushharms.html, but Tripod seems to be on its last legs these days, so I wouldn't be surprised if it disappeared at any point. It's also on the Wayback Machine in the Internet Archives, but maybe they won't survive fleeing to shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-36022485312059633142014-04-04T18:05:00.003-07:002014-04-04T18:05:39.085-07:00Is the google listening?
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Is the google Listening?
This is actually a public and slightly redacted version of a message I sent to one of the google people I know:
If my mood does not improve, then I actually think I should avoid speaking to you .
Most of what you wrote was quite reasonable, but...
In
my Gmail I just received the most beautiful piece of phishing crap that
I've ever seen. Actually, I shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-31582216870088428952014-03-02T01:50:00.001-08:002014-03-02T01:50:23.072-08:00Nature versus Nuttier
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Nature Versus Nuttier in Texan Politics
Whenever I notice there is an election for which I am a qualified voter, especially an official governmental election, I feel obliged to participate. Recently two things reminded me that this is an election year in Texas. One was my voter registration certificate and the other was a bunch of unsolicited spam from rightwing lunatics. As a shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-45796229631358594622014-02-17T12:08:00.002-08:002014-02-17T12:09:24.500-08:00Trying to vote absentee in Texas
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Trying to Vote Absentee in Texas
Here is a now-open letter that I just sent to my voter registrar. Any questions?
Recently received my voter registration form, so I
decided to request my absentee ballots for any elections in which I am
entitled to vote. I just spent a while getting the runaround of your
various websites. Links can be useful, or they can be designed toshanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-40262017122155877742014-02-08T22:13:00.002-08:002014-02-08T22:14:07.083-08:00Bill Nye and the One-Legged Stool
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Bill Nye and the One-Legged Stool
Some alternative titles might have been "Bill Nye can't Tip a One-Legged Stool" or "The One-Legged Stool Beats Bill Nye", leading to the conclusions that he isn't much of a debater and that he took his opponent rather too lightly because he presumed too much upon the weakness of his opponent's position. The topic is actually his recent so-called shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-2547511552316235802014-01-13T01:04:00.001-08:002014-08-23T19:56:26.012-07:00All Your Attention is Belong to the Google
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All Your Attention is Belong to the Google
This one is actually based on a social meeting and email exchange with one of the googlers I know socially. For the sake of social convention, I think I have to protect his anonymity and also preface these comments with a caution that I think he disavows my conclusion, which is summarized in the title of this blog. However I also feel shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-18655142380434200342014-01-11T22:00:00.000-08:002014-01-13T00:24:49.665-08:00Neo-GOP Bully Christie versus Teddy
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Neo-GOP Bully Chris Christie versus Bully Pulpit Teddy Roosevelt of the Real GOP
This blog is mostly a response to a column on "BridgeGate" by John Dean. His surprising focus struck me as being on relatively trivial aspects, since there is an EXTREMELY direct link between the latest neo-GOP scandal and his own experiences with President Nixon. The only lesson the
neo-GOP "learnedshanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-36725467674829675262013-06-23T01:50:00.001-07:002013-06-23T01:50:36.921-07:00Candidates from Beyond the Absurd
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Candidates from Beyond the Absurd
The American political system is so broken these years that it has become impossible even to guess where to begin an attempt to fix it. There are just TOO many problems and flaws. Some of the systematic problems afflict both sides, and those are going to be especially hard to cure, because both sides are in effect equally committed to NOT curing shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-76730269911237515262013-04-22T11:47:00.001-07:002013-04-22T11:47:18.474-07:00Lock and Load your Will for Gun Safety
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Lock and Load your Will for Gun Safety
Not sure where to begin, but let me list a few obvious points:
Lots of Americans die by getting shot, at least 30,000 per year.
America's professional politicians are incapable of addressing the problem in any meaningful way.
Gun safety is not an unsolvable problem. I think every metric shows the United States has the worst record for gun shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-90564425908631650262012-12-09T01:30:00.000-08:002012-12-09T01:30:44.555-08:00Loss of the Republic of Franklin
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Franklin's Republic Lost
Probably another apocryphal quote, but Benjamin Franklin was supposed to have been asked what the new American government was, and his answer is widely reported as "A republic, if you can keep it." Well, we just lost it. Not because President Obama won reelection, though that was a widespread lament of the right-wing authoritarians--but sometimes there is shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-57142781028604365722012-11-10T23:04:00.000-08:002012-11-10T23:24:33.241-08:00Luck of Obama, but...
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The Luck of O'bama:
Is President Obama Secretly Irish?
This is basically a commentary on the election of 2012. I will explain why I think the outcome was mostly a matter of luck and why the entire thing (including most of the results) were just more symptoms of the ongoing sickness of democracy in modern America.
First I have to include a disclaimer to prevent neo-GOP shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-5865320795759447812012-07-06T18:14:00.000-07:002012-07-06T18:14:17.349-07:00There will be more change
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There Will be More Change
An open letter to Lloyd Doggett (and Dan Grant):
There was once a time when I felt that I was participating in America's
government and that my vote was just as good as the vote of any other
American. That was a long time ago, and you [Llyod Doggett] were my representative to Congress in those days.
There will be change.
One of the older shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-45914580239933085052012-06-20T12:23:00.003-07:002012-06-25T12:14:39.960-07:00There will be change
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There Will be Change
An open letter to President Obama:
America is dying, and it's my fault. I'm not a powerful person, so the degree of my fault is relatively small. However, insofar as America is a representative democracy and my vote is as good as yours, then I share that degree of blame with you.
Insofar as you are a MORE powerful and influential person than I am, it is shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-16373738173773237472012-06-16T14:00:00.000-07:002012-06-16T14:00:34.893-07:00President Obama versus the neo-GOP Congress
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Is There Still a Path to the Survival of Democracy in America?
In the future, there will be change. If it is not change for the better, then it will be change for the worse.
If President Obama is going to help America change for the better, then
his only hope is to campaign against the Republican Congress. EVERY
Congressional race for a seat held by a neo-GOP politician must shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-51004810144209621492012-06-06T14:06:00.004-07:002012-06-06T14:06:53.604-07:00Truth, justice, and the American way in Wi$con$in
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Truth, justice, and the American way? You silly rabbit! How much cash do you have? Thanks, Wi$con$in, and go to the devil.
Basically just recording my initial reactions to the debacle of Wisconsin. Unleash the hounds of hell? Well, the big, bad money has certainly been unleashed and we'll see its full wrath in November.
One question is why the same math (shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-82470238898433827912012-06-02T19:22:00.000-07:002012-06-02T19:22:10.661-07:00Secret Millionaire is EVIL propaganda
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Secret Millionaire is EVIL Propaganda
Just feeling morally obliged to at least briefly record my reactions to my first exposures to this this show. Actually, I'd heard of it a few times over the years, but never actually saw it until about two weeks ago, and then saw a few minutes of a second episode today. I then wandered over to Wikipedia and around the Internet a bit, but shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-15883199700432579712012-03-20T00:18:00.005-07:002012-03-20T00:41:42.447-07:00Can Romney Lie His Way to the Presidency?
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Can Romney Lie His Way to the Presidency?
It seems to be time to make my prediction for this coming election. Pretty simple, actually. I think Romney will buy the GOP nomination and the neo-GOP will ride his coattails only because they sincerely hate President Obama, not because they think Romney is sincere about anything. It seems most likely that Romney will pivot SHARPLY to theshanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-5620185134005144362012-03-03T19:05:00.000-08:002012-03-03T21:03:11.017-08:00Death of a DoucheMostly I just wanted to react to a controversial public comment about the recent death of a prominent conservative agitator.
Reactions to "Death of a Douche" in the Rolling Stone
On one hand, I think it is not good to speak ill of the dead. On the other hand, I strongly believe in the Golden Rule. Not the neo-GOP version about people with gold making whatever rules they like by bribing the shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-4684668875120875362011-11-23T11:53:00.001-08:002011-11-23T13:19:45.627-08:00Young Aristotelian LibertariansVersion 0.3
Young Aristotelian Libertarians
Another lightbulb went on today as regards the crazed Libertarians in relation to the Aristotelian Principle from Rawls' book on justice. As a brief review, Rawls argued that people were naturally motivated to excel, to seek to be the best people they could be. At the time it struck me as a ridiculous notion because most Americans (and lots of peopleshanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-24428464550063000672011-11-20T11:56:00.001-08:002011-11-22T20:10:12.875-08:00Boycott Bloomberg of New York City
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Boycott Bloomberg of New York City!
Sort of a joke because I have no plans to visit the Big Apple or do any business there, even via the Web. My detachment and disassociation is not a boycott per se, but just a natural extension of my increasing incredulity at the fantasy-based state of America. However there is a special and higher disdain, disgust, and even a sort of threat (ofshanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056275.post-44888326355703672652011-10-15T22:36:00.000-07:002011-10-15T23:00:27.786-07:00Should Joe Biden Step Down as VP?Version 0.2
Should Joe Biden Step Down as VP?
This is actually based on a comment I added to an article about replacing Joe Biden as VP on Huffington Post. My own answer is yes, he should step aside, mainly for the reasons below, most of which were not addressed in the article.
This article raised the political considerations and then ignored the most important factor--the neo-GOP nominee.shanenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14051373688311508531noreply@blogger.com1