not so cocky
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Kill Team
My 12y/o wanted to go out but we wouldn't let him until his room was clean. And really clean this time. Because for the last month instead of picking up his room he has been hiding the mess. Now he has a giant mess that will take forever for him to finish. My words of advice "Problems don't go away if you ignore them they get bigger. It is a good metaphor for life".
This morning the top story in the news is that there was a 'Kill Team' in Afghanistan. It shouldn't be shocking that there are soldiers committing atrocities on their civilians. It happened in Veitnam and it happened in World War II and it'll happen in Libya if we send ground forces there.
This is the result of several problems that politicians and the military keep hoping will go away on their own.
PTSD
For the vast majority of people suffering from PTSD it will just make them a little out of synch with the rest of us. It's something I've observed my whole life but don't entirely understand since I've never experienced it personally. The military, for most of it's history, has hoped the problem would go away without blowing up in their face. They should not be surprised that it hasn't.
You know the expression, 'going postal'? It came from the fact that there were postal workers snapping and shooting up their work from THE STRESS OF WORKING AT THE POST OFFICE. It doesn't take a futurist or a psychic to have predicted what THE STRESS OF THE BATTLEFIELD could lead to.
Politicians and top brass don't think about this stuff when they are busy pounding their chests and the war drums.
FORGETTING THE HEARTS AND MINDS
That twat Giuliani used to taunt liberals for not being willing to say "Islamic Extremist". What was forgotten in Afghanistan is that we were supposed to be "winning the hearts and minds" of the people. This is why we bombed them with food and propaganda instead of with bombs before we invaded. Bush had promised to send the peace corps in after the Taliban were ran out. What happened to that? Either Bush forgot about it or his understanding of war was too naive to realize it wouldn't work until it was too late.
I would go into more ways Bush screwed it up but I don't want those criticisms to be taken as props for Obama. The current administration is so afraid of making a political mistake they continue the inertia of what the previous administration begun.
Back to the point: You can not talk about the people you are trying to kill, while lumping them in with the people you are trying to protect. Especially if winning over the people you are trying to protect is the cornerstone of your strategy.
PRETENDING WE ARE BETTER
I find it funny that Americans can be so suspicious of their neighbors ("that guy was talking to my kid, he's probably a pervert") but if you send him to another country in uniform he is only suspected of sainthood ("look at that soldier giving those afghan kids candy on the news"). Many people in the military are there because they are trying to fulfill a calling. There is nothing I can think of more noble than that. But that does not mean that they are not human or can not fall.
Nor can we pretend that the people who grew up in countries other than ours are lesser. Yes because of our constitution and it's evolution Americans are exposed to a wonderful philosophy of liberty. But that does not mean that the people of other countries do not aspire to many of the same values.
Not every American is morally superior to other people in the world even if those people come from a country were they have many terrible aspects of their culture. This is especially true of the politicians who send our soldiers to war.
IGNORING HISTORY
As I said before. This kind of thing has happened before. Pretending it didn't happen in previous campaigns not only stops us from preventing future atrocities but it makes us opposed to war imagine it probably happens far more that it does and those who support war to imagine it happens far less.
There is another problem that is tied in with this issue, but I will present it as a solution. We tend to treat other countries as lesser. We tend to treat their sovereignty as less than ours. I propose that these twelve soldiers that killed random Afghans be available for extradition if the military finds that they are guilty. We didn't let the Japanese or Germans try their own soldiers after WWII. There is no reason why these guys should get that privilege.
This morning the top story in the news is that there was a 'Kill Team' in Afghanistan. It shouldn't be shocking that there are soldiers committing atrocities on their civilians. It happened in Veitnam and it happened in World War II and it'll happen in Libya if we send ground forces there.
This is the result of several problems that politicians and the military keep hoping will go away on their own.
PTSD
For the vast majority of people suffering from PTSD it will just make them a little out of synch with the rest of us. It's something I've observed my whole life but don't entirely understand since I've never experienced it personally. The military, for most of it's history, has hoped the problem would go away without blowing up in their face. They should not be surprised that it hasn't.
You know the expression, 'going postal'? It came from the fact that there were postal workers snapping and shooting up their work from THE STRESS OF WORKING AT THE POST OFFICE. It doesn't take a futurist or a psychic to have predicted what THE STRESS OF THE BATTLEFIELD could lead to.
Politicians and top brass don't think about this stuff when they are busy pounding their chests and the war drums.
FORGETTING THE HEARTS AND MINDS
That twat Giuliani used to taunt liberals for not being willing to say "Islamic Extremist". What was forgotten in Afghanistan is that we were supposed to be "winning the hearts and minds" of the people. This is why we bombed them with food and propaganda instead of with bombs before we invaded. Bush had promised to send the peace corps in after the Taliban were ran out. What happened to that? Either Bush forgot about it or his understanding of war was too naive to realize it wouldn't work until it was too late.
I would go into more ways Bush screwed it up but I don't want those criticisms to be taken as props for Obama. The current administration is so afraid of making a political mistake they continue the inertia of what the previous administration begun.
Back to the point: You can not talk about the people you are trying to kill, while lumping them in with the people you are trying to protect. Especially if winning over the people you are trying to protect is the cornerstone of your strategy.
PRETENDING WE ARE BETTER
I find it funny that Americans can be so suspicious of their neighbors ("that guy was talking to my kid, he's probably a pervert") but if you send him to another country in uniform he is only suspected of sainthood ("look at that soldier giving those afghan kids candy on the news"). Many people in the military are there because they are trying to fulfill a calling. There is nothing I can think of more noble than that. But that does not mean that they are not human or can not fall.
Nor can we pretend that the people who grew up in countries other than ours are lesser. Yes because of our constitution and it's evolution Americans are exposed to a wonderful philosophy of liberty. But that does not mean that the people of other countries do not aspire to many of the same values.
Not every American is morally superior to other people in the world even if those people come from a country were they have many terrible aspects of their culture. This is especially true of the politicians who send our soldiers to war.
IGNORING HISTORY
As I said before. This kind of thing has happened before. Pretending it didn't happen in previous campaigns not only stops us from preventing future atrocities but it makes us opposed to war imagine it probably happens far more that it does and those who support war to imagine it happens far less.
There is another problem that is tied in with this issue, but I will present it as a solution. We tend to treat other countries as lesser. We tend to treat their sovereignty as less than ours. I propose that these twelve soldiers that killed random Afghans be available for extradition if the military finds that they are guilty. We didn't let the Japanese or Germans try their own soldiers after WWII. There is no reason why these guys should get that privilege.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Smoking ban X-Prize
A good chunk of my political philosophy is to find compromise. And not the kind Obama is doing- that is called caving. Currently here in Springfield MO there is a push to ban smoking. Part of me loves smoking bans. They instituted a smoking ban in Chicago when I lived there and it worked out really well FOR ME because I could go see a local band without smelling like ass.
But I have a libertarian streak in me that doesn't like the idea of telling business owners what they can do or allow their patrons to do. I am focused on the business owners because I have no interest in protecting what a guy from my home town refers to as "about the only thing you're allowed to do that makes other people smell".
My first idea for a compromise to an outright ban would be to propose a smoking license as an alternative. Businesses would then have a financial incentive to try a non smoking policy (and generate a little revenue). This still seemed a little big brother-y but at least offers another option if the ban is approved.
My new idea would be to create a competition amongst local bars to be smoke free. Through private donations the community could collect a pot of money. All the bars would be competing to see how long they could go smoke free without hurting their business- the business that lasts the longest gets the pot.
The hope would be that a few of the competing bars would get enough new business that it would make up for the smokers that they lose. Yes there would still be bars but it may diversify the market enough to get non-smokers to go out more often and for businesses to innovate to find ways to get people out for something other than a place to smoke.
But I have a libertarian streak in me that doesn't like the idea of telling business owners what they can do or allow their patrons to do. I am focused on the business owners because I have no interest in protecting what a guy from my home town refers to as "about the only thing you're allowed to do that makes other people smell".
My first idea for a compromise to an outright ban would be to propose a smoking license as an alternative. Businesses would then have a financial incentive to try a non smoking policy (and generate a little revenue). This still seemed a little big brother-y but at least offers another option if the ban is approved.
My new idea would be to create a competition amongst local bars to be smoke free. Through private donations the community could collect a pot of money. All the bars would be competing to see how long they could go smoke free without hurting their business- the business that lasts the longest gets the pot.
The hope would be that a few of the competing bars would get enough new business that it would make up for the smokers that they lose. Yes there would still be bars but it may diversify the market enough to get non-smokers to go out more often and for businesses to innovate to find ways to get people out for something other than a place to smoke.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Great minds (short reviews)
I found a great 'poem in comic form' on stumble upon. I've been interested in comic poems for a while and have done a number of them. This piece is also similar to my anthropomorphic work. It's from Deviant Art but I haven't figured out who actually created it yet. The drawing is lovely and over all done more elequent than I would have done it http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/232/3/f/3f50ac973aa4a2fcff7164dd48878923.jpg
Another seemingly familiar comic I found is Toilet Genie. It reminds me of my series Weight Of Eternity only it is going for a lighter side of macabre. Visually my work doesn't compare. Toilet Genie is a gorgeous series but it is weird to the point of confusion (WOE had the same problem), but that may fix it's self as the series progresses.
http://www.storyofthedoor.com/comics/729570/chapter-1-cover/
Another seemingly familiar comic I found is Toilet Genie. It reminds me of my series Weight Of Eternity only it is going for a lighter side of macabre. Visually my work doesn't compare. Toilet Genie is a gorgeous series but it is weird to the point of confusion (WOE had the same problem), but that may fix it's self as the series progresses.
http://www.storyofthedoor.com/comics/729570/chapter-1-cover/
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The almost nuclear agnostic
I am very close to being a nuclear agnostic. This has been a position I have held since the seventh grade when my science teacher Mrs. Powers (haha awesome) asked us which side we would like to debate. I said I didn't care and she put me on the pro-nuclear. Beth Richardson of the opposing camp got so enraged she continued following me around into the next period to continue the debate until I sicked my math teacher on her.
I say I am an almost nuclear agnostic because I do not have especially strong feelings one way or another on the issue, but the feelings I do have are against all things nuclear. My energy plan as a 2010 Congressional candidate was to focus on decentralized renewables http://www.nilvsdcbs.com/energypolicy.html
What confuses me on this issue is the Republican love of nuclear power. I'll assume it isn't a lobbying thing because it is the position of so many Republicans. They tend not to care or even believe in global warming, so I know it isn't that nuclear doesn't contribute to global warming (or at least directly).So I don't see any particular reason to be for it yet there is a very big anti-conservative reason not to be for it. No nuclear power plant in the history of ever has run without taxpayer dollars.
Last presidential election cycle John McCain was fond of pointing out that France is big on nuclear power, somehow forgetting that France is big on public funding of everything. I get and agree with the arguments against nuclear power, but I don't even know what the arguments for nuclear power is other than "it's not coal". We have plenty of alternatives to coal.
related article in local news today
http://politicmo.com/2011/03/21/nixon-tilley-together-on-nuclear-power/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter
I say I am an almost nuclear agnostic because I do not have especially strong feelings one way or another on the issue, but the feelings I do have are against all things nuclear. My energy plan as a 2010 Congressional candidate was to focus on decentralized renewables http://www.nilvsdcbs.com/energypolicy.html
What confuses me on this issue is the Republican love of nuclear power. I'll assume it isn't a lobbying thing because it is the position of so many Republicans. They tend not to care or even believe in global warming, so I know it isn't that nuclear doesn't contribute to global warming (or at least directly).So I don't see any particular reason to be for it yet there is a very big anti-conservative reason not to be for it. No nuclear power plant in the history of ever has run without taxpayer dollars.
Last presidential election cycle John McCain was fond of pointing out that France is big on nuclear power, somehow forgetting that France is big on public funding of everything. I get and agree with the arguments against nuclear power, but I don't even know what the arguments for nuclear power is other than "it's not coal". We have plenty of alternatives to coal.
related article in local news today
http://politicmo.com/2011/03/21/nixon-tilley-together-on-nuclear-power/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter
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