Articles in category 'US'

  
Mood : Incredulous  Music : Ryan Cabrera - On The Way Down (Acoustic)

I’ve had several discussions with my friends about the death penalty. I found a site on the death penalty and its statistics. It seems that lethal injection is the execution method of choice, with alternatives if the death row inmate so chooses (Methods of Execution). Nebraska only executes by electrocution. Ouch. Burnt flesh. I remember watching Green Mile, and it was pretty horrific. There have been botched execution attempts as the prisoners needed multiple jolts to be killed. From the website, I noticed that lethal injection didn’t have a 100% quick kill rate either. Here is a site with Botched Executions since 1982. Scroll down to the recent ones. You would have thought they would have a fool-proof execution method by now. That’s not even the point.

For a forgiving religion, Christianity certainly makes a lot of exceptions. I’ve been given Genesis 9:6 (Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man) as an example. The current reasoning goes as “Eye for an Eye”. What the hell?! Are we freaking barbarians? I don’t know how “civilized” executions are. The same people who raise a storm about public executions in countries like Saudi Arabia, still condone executions in the US. What a friggin’ double standard.

People who support the death penalty use economics to counter life with no parole. They don’t want their tax payer’s money to be funding the survival of a murderer. It’s free food, free room, and free room to exercise. The prisoners are akin to animals in the zoo minus spectators. I guess it’s a valid argument, and it would seem economically favorable to execute the prisoners versus keeping him alive till they die a natural death. However, I have also been informed that it takes a decent amount of money for the process of execution. I need to verify that. Here is the website about the costs of death penalty.

Would starvation be a method of execution? Slow, painful. So, solitary confinement, without food. That’s inhumane, right? Inhumane compared to a quick death? How much of money would be spent in that chain of events?

Now to realistic alternative that would be developed eventually for maximal efficiency: Brainwashing, cognitive reprogramming, psychological reconditioning. I don’t think we have technology to achieve that now, but couldn’t a brutal person be made docile and useful by reprogramming? So, instead of execution, just change the person and put them to constructive use. Who knows, the diabolical genius could be a genius in other fronts too.. What’s future?

Anyway, what do you guys think?

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[Listening to: Rock Star Land - Yellowcard - Yellowcard (4:45)]
By indoloony, November 5, 2006, 9:00 am o'clock
  
Mood : chatty  Music : Morningwood - Jetsetter

Go figure ;) , I do have opinions about the usage of wars to eliminate macro-problems like terrorism. Hank’s post on Talks and Appeasement Bring War - War Brings Peace, but Liberals Never Learn That turned out to be a great spot for a discussion. To save time, I’m going to quote what started the debate, and then go on to list our thoughts and comments.

“The fact that native-born Muslim Europeans are committing terror acts within their own countries shows that this Islamist malignancy long predates Iraq, long predates Afghanistan and long predates 9/11. What Europe had incubated is an enemy within, a threat that for decades Europe simply refused to face.

I say:

I don’t think the EU is waiting out for the Islamic terrorist storm to pass over. This is a threat that needs to be eliminated now. Terrorism not only affects people’s lives, but it is bad for the economy. Until it is rooted out of existence, I wouldn’t want to invest in anything that is a potential terror target.

However that doesn’t mean full scale war on nations. It means a more pointed attack rather than brute force. It calls for finesse.

For my curiousity, could you point to one liberal, who says “Terrorism is inevitable, so I am going to sit back and let them get to me, and kill me?”. When you talk about Liberal appeasers, that question is what come to mind. If it were me, I would ask for more efficient anti-terrorism tactics than spend hundreds of billions of dollars, on wars.

Hank Dagny Says:

If you have a better solution for solving conflicts than war, Joy, the world would be all ears.
No one has found one yet. Winner dictates surrender to loser - then there is peace. Liberals who fail to learn this history lesson are basically sitting back hoping they get killed last. That is Winston’s point.

Appeasement, bribes, negotiating, talking, truces, treaties, resolutions, sanctions and threats of sanctions always produce nothing and just delay the inevitable - which now costs more as the time wasted on liberal attempts to prevent war, allowed the aggressor more time to get stronger.
The US military is playing ‘pinpoint attack’, which is why there is still pockets of resistance. Total and complete annihilaton of key areas would of ended all fighting months ago. Maybe even saved lives compared to now.

Now I understand your desire for a non-war solution to maniacs who want to kill all infidels. Heck, I would like one too. If you have one, let’s read it.
You want to eliminate it without war. Tell us how?

I say:

If I had a better idea, I would be in politics exercising those ideas. There is a reason why we elect people to run the administration. We think they are qualified to make sound decisions, without snap judgement. They are paid to think outside the box. War may not be easy on human life, but is the easy way out of a tough situation.

Speaking about wars being the best solution, do you suggest India and Pakistan solve their conflict with a war? Are you advocating a method of solving a problem that involves losses in millions of lives and billions of dollars?

The problem with fighting a war here is that we are not fighting a nation, but rather an organization. They don’t just quit after surrender. An example is the continued terrorism occuring even after the Afganisthan war. Do you see that solving terrorism problems? In the process, an entire nation was destroyed, by devastating their critical infrastructure. The same thing is happening in Iraq. How are they to run their economy when it is unsafe to invest it that economy?

I don’t think treaties cost more money. Would a peaceful negotiation cost in the hundreds of billions of dollars? I don’t think so. When politicians go for war, in my mind, they have failed at their jobs (diplomacy). If wars were the answer for every conflict, then the military should run the government, as politics is riddled with conflicts.

US military is not playing pinpoint attack. I don’t think the Afganisthan and Iraq wars were pin point. The collateral damage in your solution scenario is tremendous. That is just not acceptable. For a nation of life-loving people, pro-life supporters, that is a horrid double standard. Is the life of civilians there less worthy than life in the US?

There is a reason why intelligence gets money to do what they do. They are supposed to provide information, to facilitate isolating and nullifying threats.

While we are talking about terrorism, I can’t seem to understand why terrorists hate the West so much. Is it because of the lifestyle? Religion? I am more inclined to think of cultural imperialism and foreign policies that are detrimental to their people. There is no justification for killing people in name of terrorism. Terrorists are cowardly criminals on get some kind of rush out of killing innocent people. And then, there are those brainwashed, and incapable of thinking through their decisions.

I say, the best solution is evening the gap between economic classes. Poverty, and desperation is a primal cause to try to appease the conditions. People resort to violence to get their points across. I think our society with such powerful religious influences is inherently screwed up.

That would be a reason why I advocate for a secular society. That would eliminate terrorism based on religious values..

Hank Dagny Says:

You are a classic liberal who ignores human history, human behavior and therefore human mental illness. I say this not to be insulting - but as a point of fact.

You expect elected leaders to be smarter than everyone who ever lived. They are not.

You expect governments to fix all the world’s problems. They do not.

You expect treaties to bring about peace. They never have.

You expect fanatics - whether religious, facist, communist or dictatorial - to act civilized. They cannot.

And you expect the world and life to be fair, even and nice. It never will be.

You also blame religion, poverty and desperation for the world’s woes. The world’s woes are from oppression - whether it is religious or governmental. Individual and capitalistic freedom is at it’s greatest on the planet in the United States. That is why we are the world’s lone super power - because of individual and capitalistic freedom.

You want world socialism. Socialism spreads misery evenly - except for the ‘leaders’. Capitalism spreads happiness unevenly, but everyone has a chance to do the best they can.

I’ll take a chance at the gold over a promise of misery. You have to be mentally defective to take the other option. But liberals do.

Hank Dagny Says:

Fourputt and Joy, I am calm and I said I was not being insulting. Liberals just don’t have a logic or common sense bone.

Let’s look at facts. All of Joy’s statements are wishes or failed policies - multiple centuries of failed policies. But liberals hang on to a fantasy - not real world.

Diplomacy has never worked. Name one time it did.

She, like all liberals, want to know why the terrorists hate us. Why worry about why? They want you and me dead. That is all I need to know. But if you want to know the reason we both have to die Joy, is because I am even having this discussion with you. You are a slut for talking to me and I am an infidel for not controlling women - penalty for both of us is death.

By the way Joy, I am not advocating for war. It is just what is needed to reach peace. The enemy wants to wipe out Israel and kill all infidels. You talk to them, pay ransom and live in fear and slavery. I choose to kill them before they kill me.

I say:

You bring up good points. Humans are by design, or evolution, a flawed species, in pursuit of living and surviving. That is a primal instinct. When that is messed with, it provokes a reaction. However, I don’t think we are that primal anymore. If we are, our intelligence is wasted. We should be able to exercise restraint to mollify conflicts. Yes, that’s a wish, but it is not an unreasonable one. When the fighting is restricted to military zones, and doesn’t involve major collateral damage, that’s a righteous war. However, when civilian casualities are not taken seriously, that’s callousness. Terrorists are cowards to use civilians as shields, but we are more evolved than them, and need to take the innocent civilians who will be killed into consideration.

If the elected leaders are not smart, why do we elect them? You mean to say that any ordinary person can become a politician without qualifications. If that is true, I feel sorry for what Politics has turned into.

Governments are created to solve problems on a macro scale. If they don’t, they are failures.

If we solve every problem with fighting, there won’t be much to live for. I, for one, don’t want to live in a world devastated by human primality. I have more faith in the human race than to think we are still barbarians.

To deal with barbarians and fanatics, do we turn into them too? Yes, terrorists are cowards and need to be eliminated to keep world peace, but at the current mode of dealing with them, more terrorists are being created.

I don’t except world to be fair, but I assume we have come a long way in our 3000 years of intelligent evolution. Disease is not fair. Death is not fair. Life isn’t fair. But we deal with it in civilized and logical manner. War is not civilized. It is utterly barbaric. If people want to stoop to that level, that’s their perojective.

About oppression, you made my point. And US will not be the lone superpower at the way the current global economy is playing out. China is set to become a global superpower, if it has not become one already.. Yeah, capitalism is the reason for the rise of China and India in the global economy.

I don’t want socialism but we need public welfare. It is not fair to us who earn our money, but it is the way the world is. That’s being realistic. We can’t let a significant portion of our population die while we live in luxury..

If diplomacy has never worked, why do all the countries still have diplomatic missions in other countries?

Hank Dagny Says:

Governments are not constructed to solve problems. They are constructed to protect it’s citizens.

World problems have only been solved by fighting. There has never been a cease-fire or treaty that has lasted.

A cease-fire is only granted by the good guys (US and Israel), asked for by the bad guys (the UN and our enemies), which allows the bad guys time to recover and re-arm, and then the bad guys break the cease-fire again.

This happens time and time again and only liberals and peaceniks ignore this FACT.

China will not be a super-power until their communist government falls. Then, as capitalists, why fight their best customer - the United States? Shooting your customer is just bad business.

You do want socialism if you want public welfare. They are the same pig except one sounds like it is in a dress. Churches and charities are more than capable of helping the truly needy - and I would be glad to give. People who want their government to hand out the goodies - and obviously want the government to have the power to take from citizens to be able to do it - are by definition socialists at the very least and communists in all probability.

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By indoloony, September 19, 2006, 9:08 am o'clock
  
Mood : cynical  Music : Joseph Arthur - Honey and the Moon

Strategy behind using liquids to threaten planes

From Wondermark

This strip is funny but I actually agree with it. I think they really want to inconvenience the western countries rather than kill people. That lives further than just mindless violence. The mere thought causes a paranoia that reigns supreme and squashes all logic and rationality.. They are winning, and we are letting them get the better of us. They play, we lose. We need to change the trend.

By indoloony, August 30, 2006, 9:58 am o'clock
  
Mood : oddly apathetic  Music : The National - Trophy Wife

It is a sad state of affairs if the terror plot at British airports doesn’t scare me anymore (pictures here). It seemed second nature after the recent train bombings in India, and the constant turmoil in the Middle East. People need to understand that the Butterfly Effect is real. What happens in the Middle East affects all of us, in some subtle and some in-your-face ways.

This should dip the paranoia effect back to full throttle, and make hatemongers rejoice as one.

I suppose we should congratulate the security forces in the UK to nip this possible catastrophe in the bud. I can’t imagine how big of a financial hit this is going to be for the airlines, and the ripple effect across the next few weeks. I’m just glad that I have a confirmed flight later in August..

The weird coincidence is that I was supposed to fly to the US through Heathrow today morning. I would have been caught in this mess. God does indeed work in mysterious ways.

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By indoloony, August 10, 2006, 6:43 pm o'clock
  
  Music : Audioslave - The Curse

This show started with a scene where Dr. Louis Guillette is riding a boat looking for alligators in the night. He started on his research on effects of endocrine disruptors when he saw changes in reproductive system of alligators. He thinks that we could extrapolate the effects of endocrine disruptors on humans by studying wildlife. At a certain level I agree with Dr. Guillette about studying wildlife regarding effects since animal testing is an integral tool of experimentation on the effects of chemicals on our physiology. He found a visible sign of endocrine disruption in affected alligators as the penis length was shorter than those which have not be affected.

Read the complete article »

By indoloony, July 18, 2006, 10:41 pm o'clock
  
Mood : hopeful  Music : Everyday Sunday - Lose It Again

A Boston Legal episode dealt with the issue of personal privacy and it’s entanglement at the workplace. This is one of the few times that I have disagreed with the direction of the case. In this particular case, an employee was given 6 weeks to quit her smoking habit, or she would be fired. The boss was a health nut, and felt that he shouldn’t have to sustain increase in worker health insurance if the reason for that is a personal habit detrimental to health. I agree with the boss, and I would have made the same decision except for one situation, where the employee’s productivity was exceeding any costs incurred by the habit.

Allen’s argument was however that anything we do at home should be our choice. What he neglected was that the effect of the smoking carried over to the workplace. She would smell of smoke for one, and be prone to more health concerns. As a customer who couldn’t stand smoke, I would be bothered if she was my agent. Yeah, I could be assigned another agent who didn’t smoke, but what if that agent was not as good as the first one?

As for the client’s options, she can seek employment elsewhere where her smoking is not an issue.

What you do at home is your private business unless it has an external effect. For example, it’s against the law to drink and drive. Just because you have the right to drink at home in privacy, doesn’t give you the right to drive and be a liability on road. I view smoking in the same light with a lighter intensity. Smoking affects beyond the first person as second-hand smoke has been proven to be carcinogenic, and harmful as well. The disgusting odor is extremely annoying as well. Yes, before you go crazy, this is personal opinion, and so far don’t have the legal right to enforce it. But, it’s coming, sooner or later.

Here is a post about the inspiration for this Boston Legal episode and the issues of legality of the case. ACLU also has a blurb about lifestyle discrimination laws passed in 21 US states.

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Open Trackbacks: Samantha Burns OTA

By indoloony, June 25, 2006, 6:58 am o'clock
  
Mood : hopeful  Music : Far - The System

The United States is still the dominant force in technology, innovation, productivity and profits. But Americans don’t quite realize how fast the rest of the world is catching up.

read more | digg story

By indoloony, June 5, 2006, 11:20 am o'clock
  
  Music : Vertical Horizon - Angel Without Wings

Kevin Vranes from ScienceBlogs talks about policies on NSF funding being pushed through Congress pertaining to scientific and non-scientific reseach..

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By indoloony, May 21, 2006, 10:45 am o'clock
  
  Music : KT Tunstall - Miniature Disasters

The headlines are about low-wage illegals, but Mexico is swiftly upgrading its workforce. Another reason that US needs to worry about the outsourcing issue..

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By indoloony, May 20, 2006, 3:41 pm o'clock
  

Since my past update, I’ve gone with a bit with friends and partaked in the joyfulness of friendship and leisure at the end of one leg of life’s journey. Eating out, and another fantastic night of dancing at the Top of the Five made my weekend very enjoyable. Last week, I hung out with Kiki, and ate at Outback steakhouse, and drank a tall cup of beer. That felt good! The next night was with Kelly, on our little psuedo-date to the Taj Mahal (local Indian restaraunt), followed by an amazing night of dancing. It was an all-core Rugcutters group including a guest that I invited because I love dancing with her. This was the last time that I would get to dance with her for a long time, and it’s been a great second half of the semester dancing with her. Angela M is going to Costa Rica for May term. I hope she has all her shots ;) . The other two I enjoy dancing with are Kelly and Kiki. Kiki should be there this Saturday for my last Top of the Five for God knows how long..

Since then, I’ve been packing most of my stuff into boxes so that Jessi could come pick it up and take it home to store it over the summer. Her mum is going to mail it to me before I get to PSU. Jessi and I spent most of Tuesday going around Cedar Rapids doing errands, dropping my junk off at donation centres (Salvation Army, GoodWill), and weighing and sealing my boxes. Jessi is heading to DC with a place to stay and a few job prospects in democratic offices or non-profits. I wish I could have gone to DC with her because it would have been a lot of fun. I guess I’ll see her in three months.

I also got to talk to Andi for a while on skype. I love Skype! I wish I could discern how to video chat with Skype because it’s not very intuitive right now.. I also love the new free SkypeOut calls to any phone (landline or cellular) in the US or Canada. I used it to call Jenn and argue about the Spanish version of the American National Anthem. The discussion helped me fine tune my thoughts on the issue. She is so good to bounce opinions and ideas off because she thinks and responds with sharp counters.. So, my opinion on this issue now is that the Spanish version is not the National Anthem. It’s a variation, and not the actual thing. A analogy is that someone who alters a Beethoven composition, renders it non-Beethoven because the composition has changed and is not original anymore. However, people can express their patriotism for the country in any manner they choose as long as it is lawful. I should be able to praise the US in my native language if I was a legal resident or a citizen of the US. That’ s the Freedom of Speech. Wow, I digressed again..

Anyway, now I’ve been tinkering with my new self-hosted domain and blog, and uploading media onto flickr, youtube,and streaming music.. I’ve been on the look out for cool themes, and plugins to extend the functionality of WordPress.

[Listening to: mornington crescent - belle and sebastian - the life pursuit (5:40)]
By indoloony, May 18, 2006, 1:59 am o'clock