Clipmarks | akarra's clips

Leno calls out dems.

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:57:45 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Jay Leno: Well, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards as well as a number of other Democratic candidates say they will not participate in a presidential debate next month because the debate is on Fox News and Fox News is biased. Well, how are you going to stand up to terrorists when you're afraid of Fox News? [audience laughter]

Tags: politics, democrats, media, fox news, congressional black caucus, humor

On Beauty Pageants for Kids

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:27:32 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: A blogger gets pretty upset about kids in beauty pageants, and I think his rant is worth saving.

Clip Source: orderdisorder.blogspot.com

A little girl shouldn't be worrying about her weight, her make up, her "frown lines," or the wiggle in her buttock. This is beyond harmless fun and entering into a realm of fantasy and perversion. The parents of these girls need to ask why they make them do this? Believe me they do make these girls do it because none of these girls seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was the mothers who seemed most upset or happiest with the results, as if they were reliving all of their youthful daydreams. Disturbing! Then we wonder why so many kids grow up hating themselves and society.

Tags: beauty, pageants, children, parenting

European Newspapers Blame American Gun Culture for Massacre

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:43:15 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: There is a degree that guns, yes, are responsible for what happened. But the quotes in the article I have not cited seem to be going a different direction, going a "and this is why Europe is better than America direction..."

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

Across the continent on Tuesday, European media rubber-neck at Monday's massacre in the United States. Most seem to agree about one thing: The shooting at Virginia Tech is the result of America's woeful lack of serious gun control laws. In the strongest editorialized image of the day, German cable news broadcaster NTV flashed an image of the former head of the National Rifle Association, the US gun lobby: In other words, blame rifle-wielding Charlton Heston for the 33 dead.

Papers reserve their sharpest criticism for the 2004 expiration of a 10-year ban on 19 types of semiautomatic assault weapons under the then Republican-controlled Congress. Others comment on the pro-gun lobbying activities of Heston's NRA. Some papers also draw analogies between school shootings and Muslim fundamentalist suicide bombers.

Tags: guns, virginia tech, europe

Raise the Gas Tax!

Fri, 02 May 2008 22:47:14 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: A blogger argues that the gas tax needs to be higher to pay for transportation improvements that are long overdue.

Clip Source: orderdisorder.blogspot.com

I don't know how else to say it, no other way to make it clearer, other than just saying it. So, here it goes: Raise the gas tax stupid! Why this one amazingly simple and effective policy has found such resistance is honestly beyond me. I realize that Republicans, as a whole, are adverse to raising taxes, which I know makes me a bad Republican, but I cannot see any other way out of the transportation nightmare that we are just now entering. What really surprises me is the resistance of the Democrats to raising this tax.

Tags: gasoline, gas, oil, tax, transportation, politics

On Wittgenstein and Progress in Philosophy

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:06:37 GMT

clipped by: akarra

Clip Source: www.writingup.com

Which makes me wonder: Is progress in philosophy really possible? Wittgenstein has given us a picture of what it might look like, but he has not decisively routed the objection he posed, which is that some philosophical difficulties could cause the whole of past philosophy to be reconsidered. He has suggested that such a momentous happening would occur because of an emphasis on personal experience, but has used another metaphor, one again dependent on personal experience (imagine how hard it is to sort a library) to try to steer clear of the consequences of the other use of metaphor (again, its persuasiveness being reliant on personal experience).

Wittgenstein is very aware of all that is going on: The difficulty in philosophy is to say no more than we know (BB 45).

Tags: philosophy, wittgenstein

amoretti sonnet 6

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 03:40:31 GMT

clipped by: poetrygeek87

Clip Source: www.theotherpages.org

Be not dismayed that her unmoved mind: Doth still persist in her rebellious pride:; And love not like to lusts of baser kind,; The harder won, the firmer will abide.
The durefull Oak, whose sap is not yet dried,: Is long ere it conceive the kindling fire;; But when it once doth burn, it doth divide,; Great heat, and makes his flames to heaven aspire.
So hard it is to kindle new desire,: In gentle breast that shall endure for ever:; Deep is the wound, that dints the parts entire; With chaste affects, that naught but death can sever.
Then think not long in taking little pain,: To knit the knot, that ever shall remain.

Tags: poetry, spenser, amoretti, lyric, sonnet

How Can Conservatives Use The Internet Better?

Fri, 02 May 2008 05:04:52 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: The clip is just the conclusion, the article is rather long. There are links in the article, moreover, which provide sources for the article.

Clip Source: zardozz.com

We have a virtue as conservatives and centrists - we listen. We react instead of pushing our agenda first. And this means we have blogs that do an excellent job of critiquing media bias and stupid policies.

But it’s obvious we need something more: the floodgates are open. Bush bashing is just the tip of the iceberg: Does anyone seriously think the next President is going to be treated any more kindly? Does anyone seriously think that we, who are very mature in the conduct of our private lives, are showing anything like grace and decorum when it comes to our conduct politically?

4. We need the Internet to be educative, not merely a diversion for bored teenagers or angry Leftists and libertarians. In education, listening is an activity, and a type of faction arises which not only tolerates disagreement but creates an environment where more thoughtful disagreement can occur. We need to set things up so we always make each other better, and not tear each other down.

Tags: conservative, dailykos, politics, internet, education

Nietzsche on "Knowledge for its own sake"

Fri, 09 May 2008 01:58:53 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: Quote above from "Beyond Good and Evil," trans. Kaufmann.

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

"Knowledge for its own sake" - that is the last snare of morality: with that one becomes completely entangled in it once more.

Tags: nietzsche, philosophy, knowledge

Emily Dickinson's "Our Share of Night to Bear..."

Fri, 02 May 2008 02:02:17 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: Poem clipped, commentary at original URL

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

Our share of night to bear...

Emily Dickinson

Our share of night to bear,
Our share of morning,
Our blank in bliss to fill,

Our blank in scorning.

Here a star, and there a star
Some lose their way.
Here a mist, and there a mist,

Afterwards—day!

Tags: poetry, dickinson, romance, love

On Macbeth

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:26:32 GMT

clipped by: akarra

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

Banquo says, in act 1, scene 3, lines 79-80 that the earth has bubbles as water. The witches are tied to primordial chaos, they are the descendants of Cain whom God purportedly destroyed when he flooded the earth. From them come thunder, lightning, and rain, which is not merely Macbeth killing Duncan and then Macbeth being killed for Malcolm's sake, but also Malcolm being challenged by Fleance or Donalbain later. The wars will not end, for God is dead early on in Macbeth, and all men are tyrants, seeking mastery over Fortune. They can be placated, certainly, but this is the modern world that has been born, and it is literally a witches' brew. The witches don't disappear because they were only out to torment Macbeth; they disappear because they have set us in motion.

Tags: shakespeare, macbeth, drama, literature, poetry

Hating Keith Olbermann

Sun, 04 May 2008 01:56:16 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: A blogger, um, expresses his dislike for Mr. Olbermann.

Clipmarks is so left-wing it makes Kos look like Alexander Hamilton. This should be fun.

Clip Source: orderdisorder.blogspot.com

A Catholic priest defending his religion is a bigot to Mr. Olbermann. A returning vet that says there is progress in Iraq must be suffering post traumatic stress syndrome. You disagree with the whole "global warming is killing us" gang and you are a holocaust denier. Defend president Bush and he calls you a Nazi. That is some real hard hitting commentary, calling every body stupid, that he employs.

Tags: politics, olbermann, msnbc, media

The Will, Satan, and Evil

Mon, 05 May 2008 23:56:08 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: A blogger takes on the issue of what is the will and whether it can be evil, via St. Anselm, the author of the ontological proof.

Clip Source: orderdisorder.blogspot.com

Obviously, God created satan, and satan's will. It would seem that the will, and its turning from such good to such perversion is incomprehensible. Is it the will, and the turning of the will that is evil? Anselm starts to answer by showing that a will is neither the good nor evil that makes men good or evil. The will is real, maybe not in substance but in essence, and as such a good will is no more real than a bad will, nor is a good will more good than a bad will. Since neither can be more real than the other, and a bad will cannot be considered evil. For if a bad will is evil, it being no less real than a good will, a good will must be evil as well, which is to say it must be nothing - the definition of evil is literally nothing. A Good will cannot be nothing, and as such neither can a bad will be nothing. So, something else must be what makes a person to act evil. Rather person cannot of their will being good or evil be themselves good or evil.

Tags: anselm, philosophy, theology, religion, free will

Why Should Political Science Even Exist?

Sun, 04 May 2008 02:38:34 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: It seems that poli sci is just a major used to get some easy A's in school - why would anyone take the field seriously?

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

But it is true, that despite the best efforts of people to remain stubborn, that they do manage to feel humiliated when proven wrong. I submit that what connects the reasoning behind most people and the reasoning behind the empirical sciences is the idea of argument as a bludgeon. Truth is about something being absolutely true or absolutely wrong. Certainty is possible, because it has been assumed possible.

What if certainty were assumed impossible?

To have a science based on speech is to have a science based on uncertainty. We can only talk to each other because we do not know what the other is thinking. Underneath communication is a sort of skepticism; one has to assume that one has to work to understand another.

Political science starts from taking people's opinions about things seriously. Opinions stem from truth, and reflect it in some way always, but do not emphasize the finality of truth.

Tags: politics, political science, opinion

Why Is the Gettysburg Address Important?

Thu, 01 May 2008 22:56:02 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: Addresses two views of how equality should be established as a principle in American life.

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

Lincoln & Jefferson are agreed on the universal significance of the American enterprise, but there is divergence. This nation was "conceived in Liberty" & "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." "Conceived" implies that maybe not all governments are conceived such, that maybe Jefferson's notion that all governments derive their right from the consent of the governed is false. "Dedicated to the proposition" again implies a defect in Jefferson's formulation. For Jefferson, that all men are created equal is a matter of knowledge. It is self-evident truth.

But a "proposition" is something that has to be proved true or false. It is not necessarily true. To be dedicated to a proposition is a matter of belief. To be an American is to believe all men are created equal, to work to make that a truth as best one can.

Tags: lincoln, gettysburg, jefferson, politics, democracy, equality, civil war

Emily Dickinson, "What I Can Do, I Will"

Sun, 04 May 2008 01:09:40 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: Poem clipped, commentary if you follow the URL.

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

"What I can do - I will"

Emily Dickinson

What I can do -- I will --
Though it be little as a Daffodil --
That I cannot -- must be

Unknown to possibility --

Tags: dickinson, poetry