Clipmarks | ouyangwulong's Comments

Shaking things up on Clipmarks.com

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:55:57 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Please read the entire post by clicking the source link before reacting.

Clip Source: clipmarks.wordpress.com

Unfortunately, we have recently become increasingly concerned that the site has become overly antagonistic and inappropriately controlled by a disproportionately loud group of users. In all honesty, we no longer feel that the processes of our site are producing a unique, high quality blend of content. Instead, the magical blending of diverse topics on the Clipmarks home page has seemed to dissolve into a battleground for extremely hostile politically oriented users who are overwhelming the rest of the site. Because of this we are working on making some fundamental changes to the way the Clipmarks site works. We will do our best to make changes that improve the site and will continue to iterate until we are comfortable that it is just right.

Tags: clipmarks

Palin Runs A State, Obama Runs His Mouth

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:15:42 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.redstate.com

Mr. Hope and Change, who picked a 35+ year veteran of the Senate to cover his own inexperience has the gall to attack Palin for inexperience.

I'd also point out that, in addition to being elected for five years before Obama was first elected to any office, Palin has been balancing local and state government budgets while Obama was relying on Tony Rezko to balance his budget.

Where are the witnesses?

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:30:55 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.ibdeditorials.com

Barack Obama is an immensely talented man whose talents have been largely devoted to crafting, and chronicling, his own life. Not things. Not ideas. Not institutions. But himself.

So where are the colleagues? The buddies? The political or spiritual soul mates? His most important spiritual adviser and mentor was Jeremiah Wright. But he's out. Then there's William Ayers, with whom he served on a board. He's out. Where are the others?

The oddity of this convention is that its central figure is the ultimate self-made man, a dazzling mysterious Gatsby. The palpable apprehension is that the anointed is a stranger — a deeply engaging, elegant, brilliant stranger with whom the Democrats had a torrid affair.

Having slowly woken up, they see the ring and wonder who exactly they married last night.

I support Obama on Issues, not because of the Cult of Personality

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 06:08:45 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: I don't worship Barak Obama. I don't think he's a savior, or even an angel. Although the novelty of him being a "black" president is entertaining, I don't really care about that either. (Honestly, it seems a little strange that we are so self-congratulatory over 'voting for a black man,' as if that should be really impressive somehow.)

Why do I support Barak Obama? Because of all the people running for President, I believe he has the best ideas on what direction our country needs to take. I would like to see much of his platform made into reality, and because of that, I will vote for him.

I don't want to waste all our time arguing of personal slights and vauge rumors. Let's get to the issues. Here is why I support Barak Obama:

Clip Source: www.barackobama.com

Renewing American Diplomacy

Talk to our Foes and Friends: Obama is willing to meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe. He will do the careful preparation necessary, but will signal that America is ready to come to the table, and that he is willing to lead. And if America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like terrorism, and Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs.

Clip Source: www.barackobama.com

Restore Our Alliances

Organize to Help Our Partners and Allies in Need: An Obama administration will expand humanitarian activities that build friends and allies at the regional and local level (such as during the response to the tsunami in South and Southeast Asia), and win hearts and minds in the process.

Tags: obama, president, issues, serious, philosophy, experience, patriotism, iraq

Why Everyone Should Be in Favor of Reducing Taxes on the Rich

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:04:41 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: mises.org

Are the American people being primed to elect a home-grown version of Hugo Chavez, in the person of Barack Obama? This is a question one can come away with after reading "Obamanomics," the featured article in this last Sunday's (August 24, 2008) New York Times Magazine. Written by Times' columnist David Leonhardt, the article provides insight into Obama's thinking on economics and the economic policies he would be likely to pursue if he were elected President.

Obama's agenda, we are told in more detail, includes "a $500 cut in the payroll tax for most workers" and major middle- and lower-income tax credits, to the point of simply handing out government money to those for whom the tax credits more than eliminate the taxes they would otherwise have to pay. "These tax cuts," Leonhardt writes, "are really the essence of his market-oriented redistributionist philosophy (though he made it clear that he doesn't like the word 'redistributionist').

Ancient Chinese Bells

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:32:15 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

The importance of that discovery grows when we realize that it took the West a thousand years to develop the cathedral bell, and we didn't have it until the middle ages. Bells are very hard to make, yet China had these remarkably sophisticated Zhong bells during the Golden Age of Athens. The bells produce a rich tone, they take far less bronze to get it than a cathedral bell, and then they deliver two sounds for the cost of one.

It's easy to look right at something that's very sophisticated without seeing the sophistication. It took us eighty years to catch on to these remarkable, but unassuming, bells. The best inventions are like that. In the best inventions, elegance masquerades as simplicity.

Clip Source: www.uh.edu

Just after the turn of this century, archaeologists started finding curious sets of bronze bells in tombs throughout China. They range from 2000 to 3600 years old, and they have an odd shape.

They're called Zhong bells. Thousands of these bells had been unearthed by the late 1970s, and their strange secret still hadn't yet come to light.

The secret was actually seen and missed in 1957 when the National Music Research Institute in China played a set of these bells in concert.

The E-bell was missing in one octave. But then a player found he could get that sound by striking the C-bell on its side.

But twenty years later, Chinese musicologists, examining a set of these bells, discovered that every bell in the set had the same property -- it had two tones, either a third or a minor third apart. Then they found that many of these bells even had marks on the side to show players where to strike the bells to get the two tones. Each bell was, in fact, meant to be two bells in one.

Clip Source: www.uh.edu

Tags: music, history, china

Obama's Fair Tax

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:34:57 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

Mr. Warren, a man of the cloth, has done us a great service by asking the candidates to answer a pretty secular question: What kind of income makes an American "rich"? Maybe in the more secular setting of an upcoming debate, one of our nonpastor moderators could ask the candidates the moral question: What specific rate of individual taxation would it take for the rich to be paying their fair share?

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

He talks about it as a general theme: "It is time for folks like me who make more than $250,000 to pay our fair share."

He invokes it as a solution for Social Security: "[W]e will save Social Security for future generations by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share."

He points to how it guides his energy policy: "The first part of my plan is to tax the windfall profits of oil companies and use some of that money to help you pay the rising price of gas."

And he stuck to it on capital gains, even after ABC's Charlie Gibson noted that the record shows increased taxes on capital gains -- which would affect 100 million Americans -- would likely lead to a decrease in government revenues: "Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness."

It's not about robbing from the rich to give to the poor. Robbing from the rich will do, especially if it's done in the name of fairness.

Tags: taxes, election

Palin and Reagan

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 17:48:26 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.redstate.com

Dare I say it? Palin reminds me of Reagan in one critical respect: she thinks and acts like most Americans do or would like to, and she does it with a smile on her face. She’s the ultimate “one of us.”

The thing about people who come in promising “change” from the left/progressive side, is that they always seem to be something totally different from what most Americans really want deep-down, which is simply to get their work done, take care of their kids, be left in peace, and feel good about themselves at the end of a long, hard day.

The fantasy that this country should become a technocratic paradise for eggheads with advanced degrees and no robust experience of ordinary life appeals primarily to young people. And they mostly grow out of it.

Unlike Hillary

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:54:22 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: "Governor Palin also lives in a frontier state, a land about as far away from Washington as you can be and still hold political office in our republic. This is a theme that can resonate with voters. Delaware is right next to Washington: Biden commutes home after work. Chicago, the Daley Machine, does not seem to be much of an improvement. But Palin, and for that matter, McCain, come from another part of America completely. Alaska and Arizona are very distant from the capital whose machinations must be curbed. The image of two people from America's frontier cleaning up our nation's capital is potent."

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

Unlike Hillary, who rode into Washington on the back of her husband, Sarah Palin created her own career. Unlike Hillary, who dwells within a small family focused on politics, Sarah has a big family and focuses on life. As a conservative, Sarah Palin sees life as more than politics, election campaigns and litigation. Her husband has a real job in the real economy. Sarah is athletic, animated, alive. Her family seems very real to us. She seems very real to us.

Will Biden withdraw?

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:44:47 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: Seriously. I see the possibility strong. We know how much Obama likes do-overs considering how often he sought to have his vote changed in the Illinois Senate. He now needs Hillary more than ever. If there is a dramatic McCain surge after the convention that holds for over a week following the convention, I suggest we should ready ourselves for a Biden withdrawal.

Clip Source: cayankee.blogs.com

When will Biden withdraw from the 2008 presidential campaign?

BLOW YOUR MIND: They are just now checking Sarah Palin's background

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:37:36 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Now, the Republicans will jump to the defense of Sarah Palin and her family, because she is one of their own. However, if they were liberals, these kind of disclosures would be used to crucify them. That sad reality is more than a little depressing. For instance, Obama is repeatedly accused of "not loving America," but unlike Sarah Palin, he never joined a party who's goal was succession.

But the thing that really shocked me is that McCain seems to not be taking this seriously at all. Apparently, according to this article, they are just checking into her background NOW, after they put her on the ticket.

Is this the kind of judgment we want in a President? Honestly, although I am still a McCain fan, this shocked and disappointed me that he didn't have enough wherewithal to have all his ducks in a row.

It seems like he doesn't take running for President that seriously at all, which is too bad for America.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

On Monday morning, Ms. Palin

issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant

it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power

she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede

Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice

Tags: mccain, obama, palin, marijuana, sex, naked, hypocrisy, experience, judgment, hates america

Progressives aren't only hate group supporting Obama

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:16:34 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.myfoxkc.com

Racist organizations are backing Obama. Why? Because some prominent white supremacists feel a Barack Obama presidency could spring board dormant racist groups back into action.

It is estimated that some 200,000 people are currently active in white supremacy groups, a relatively minimal number. And a number that's not satisfactory among hate groups.

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke is among those who feel Obama, if elected president, could act as a "visual aid" for hate groups. He said he would be proof that whites have lost control of America.

Tags: obama

After Edwards, Huckabee most vile political creature

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:12:27 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: I asked the question during the primaries, is huckabee a bigot? The answer, I think, is yes.

Clip Source: www.politico.com

For the second consecutive day, Mike Huckabee made public statements suggesting John McCain ought not pick Mitt Romney as his running mate.

At the same time, Huckabee's Michigan supporters met with McCain social conservative liaison Marlys Popma last night in Saginaw. Though ostensibly held to discuss how Huckabee's loyalists can help McCain, supporters of the former Arkansas governor also used the get-together to warn against tapping Romney, according to an attendee.

"We made it clear that we want Huckabee to be recognized," said Sipfle, an Oakland County lawyer who chaired the Michigan effort of the volunteer "Huck's Army." "When you snub him, you snub GOP votes."

"The primaries are over," Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said when asked for comment about Huckabee's statements. "Now, the task of all Republicans is on uniting the party to help elect John McCain, not on sowing division."

How the East Was Lost

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:56:40 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: Outstanding article. Hard to find much with which to disagree here.

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

Today, China is a brash, tough power -- unfree, undemocratic, enthused with nationalistic self-importance, and hosting the Olympic Games with fake-smiles hiding feral teeth. Today, Russia is a cynical authoritarian state, rallying behind a former functionary of the KGB as its "leader" and pushing around smaller nations, like Georgia, to show who is boss. Today, Moslems believe overwhelmingly that America, the liberator of tens of millions of Moslems from godless Communism, is the "Great Satan." What happened?

World Opinion is Worthless

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:30:47 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: "The moment one recognizes "world opinion" for what it is — a statement of moral cowardice, one is longer enthralled by the term. That "world opinion" at this moment allegedly loathes America and Israel is a badge of honor to be worn proudly by those countries. It is when "world opinion" and its news media start liking you that you should wonder if you've lost your way. "

Clip Source: www.jewishworldreview.com

If you are ever morally confused about a major world issue, here is a rule that is almost never violated: Whenever you hear that "world opinion" holds a view, assume it is morally wrong.

And here is a related rule if your religious or national or ethnic group ever suffers horrific persecution: "World opinion" will never do a thing for you. Never.

"World opinion" has little or nothing to say about the world's greatest evils and regularly condemns those who fight evil.

The history of "world opinion" regarding the greatest mass murders and cruelties on the planet is one of relentless apathy.
Ask the 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Turks;

Ask any of these poor souls, or the hundreds of millions of others slaughtered, tortured, raped and enslaved in the last 100 years, if "world opinion" did anything for them.