Edward Troy
I don't know if that is how Keith Jackson, college football's greatest announcer, would have said it, but that is how I remember it. But is this a game I am asking about? No, it is the economy. We are in serious trouble (duh), here's why;
In 1929 we had 129,000 of rail lines, the Mesabi Ranges of banded iron ore deposits were not played out, there was still a major dependence on barge traffic, people didn't travel that much unless it was by mass transit, or rail. By 1932 The Dust Bowl was in full fury a once in a 500 year or so event; agriculture therefore had great upside potential. The TVA and rural electrification had begun, enabling the use of telephones and the information age was ready to explode exponentially. The American people were the best educated and healthiest people in the world. So what is different this time?
Continue Reading November 20th, 2008
In this country there are enough demographically identified people classified as white to vote based on merit. This may be a tipping point for a hallowed future. Obama's election is a quantum leap of light years in a socio-political sense. People who deserve jobs may now start getting the OPPORTUNITY to get them and even to fail a few times and be given another chance elsewhere. It is nice to see people such as Michael Coniff and B. Jon Traylor people that I know who have mentioned either a fear of people of color or used dreaded racial epithets in the past, knowingly evolve into Americans -- not simple "white people." It is also nice to know that there are others joining the legions of evolving people who find it more important to be Americans than "white people." Along with that evolution there is the likely embrace of inclusion by merit regardless of what you look like.
Continue Reading November 17th, 2008
I continue to hear the arguement that not supporting some idiotic war is unpatriotic -- that somehow such dissent is being against the country. 57,000 dead Americans in Viet Nam (forget the 5million dead Vietnamese) was beneficial. This is a statement that the modern fraudulent incarnations of patriotism expect me to believe and recapitulate. Sorry it will never happen; I am not Winston Smith. Just in case ANY CONSERVATIVE thinks they can, I challenge any of them or anyone else to show me on any map, since 1975 the benefits of that war. Show me.
Continue Reading April 21st, 2008
Ah the reverend Wright and Ayers (I think that is how it is spelled) along with the good old Weather Underground my my. Poor Obama, what an association. I guess one can imagine Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Paine, Franklin and Adams wanting to have tea instead of throwing a tea party in our world of greatly reduced expectations for the vision of America. Sometimes saying the truth certainly in a venomous way shouldn't be done (Wright). Obviously, doing the things that our founding fathers did in the name of truth justice and the American way shouldn't be done either (Weather Underground using some very rough tactics going against a morally bankrupt government over Viet Nam and civil rights). Examining the veracity of what was said (not all wrong but wrongly said) and why what was done (bombings to stop the Viet Nam War where 57,000+ Americans and 5million Vietnamese died for some idiot reason) is horrifying is beyond reason unless the Nuremburg defense of taking orders suffices. I mean can anyone tell me, point to a map or something or anything to show what was gained in Viet Nam??
Continue Reading April 17th, 2008
What the heck is this? I brought it up about a month ago. Some have defend the concept and clearly embrace the idea without reservation. I seek to address those who would not see this as an ideal.
Certainly we are Smiths and Joneses and we are also assigned blackness and whiteness, men and women, old and young. Credit your parents, for you have done nothing to get these labels.
In the not too distant past some people were able to get a special social status -- a social entitlement. This is still true but to a lessor degree. John Stuart Mill concluded in On the Subjugation of Women that no country will be able to ignore the intellectual contributions of women and remain competitive. A cursory examination of such places where women are under subjugation and oppressed reveals a shocking backwardness and lack of competitiveness in value added products, many are in the Middle East.
Extrapolating this to the human condition, especially in recent history, shows that wherever subjugation happens and I go further to include oppression by demographic set, a lack of competitiveness exists. Our South is still recovering from slavery and Jim Crow, and our nation is still hobbled by the legacy of barrios, ghettoes and reservations.
Should anyone be a victim of their birth? Not in a civil government of the people by the people and for the people.
Should government allow oppression? Not if there are expectations of contributing to the moral fiber of a social contract.
If life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are worthy of Our Declaration of Independence, are not we worthy of access to betterment? We are, unless those are words that ring of falsehoods.
It is easy to compromise potential for political expediency. Look around you.
Can responsibility be defined as making sure some people can't contribute through systematic social, legal and financial means, when faced with a dire economic need to compete with the ascendant might of other countries? Surely then in the competitive global economy, impediments to meritorious contributions must be considered anathema to American success. We simply cannot fail by not giving everyone access to being the best they can be and then having them succeed at their highest level of excellence and vocation, not mere competence.
Adam Smith's world ruthlessly eliminates inefficiencies, just as the modern incarnation of Confucianism elevates abilities. There are countries combining the two. Woe unto us if we do not do the same.
April 17th, 2008
Michael,
Happy 4th! Somehow I missed that, but just couldn't call a third time.
Ed
April 17th, 2008
I do not credit the Bush Administration with extraordinary honesty or intelligence. It takes very little of the latter in matters of self preservation -- witness the wildebeast fleeing the marauding lions, the sparrow fleeing the hawk and the grasshopper hopping in flight from the mantis. The Bush Administration was already in very deep trouble before 9-11; the collapse of the capital markets and loss of respect amongst those identified as political pundits.
Continue Reading April 17th, 2008
Jon writes: As I sit here in Mr. Troy's humble abode, intellectually shit-faced (and no, not from the alcohol.... yet!) but from chats ranging from the Athenian democracy to the fall of the Roman Empire to Lyndon Johnson to William F. Buckley to Barry Goldwater onwards to Ronald Reagan.... don't worry folks!... trust me.... I ain't no freakin' conservative.... but I, like Ed, am trying hard to understand what all has happened through time to lead us to where we presently are. In my opinion (sorry Ed), its not the fault of the Libs or Conservs, the Left or the Right. I'll pause here... its your turn Liberal Gladiator (but you folks know I gots an idea as to how and why we are where we are.... take over Ed:
Allow me (Ed) to run this ball up the middle, your basic 50Gut play, smashmouth in it's purest form and Woody Hayes above it all, (Jon, I know you are an Aggie)! I no longer expect, but do hope that even a tiny minority, of our fellow Americans will understand where we are coming from -- although I can think of a couple that do understand. America has fallen, and is making no attempt to get up and run the next play, or finish the round or inning. Pathetic! So-o-o-o.
Continue Reading November 7th, 2007
The Armenian Holocaust resolution or whatever ridiculous title passed by the Congress demonstrates the extreme level of simple minded idiocy our federal govt has when it comes to foreign policy. I am not saying it didn't happen -- it did. It is acknowleged in history text books with out this expression of stupidity.
So what next now that our flank is exposed to this type of retroactive official comment? Which N.A.T.O. Country will attack our very sordid history regarding slavery and reservations in American "Basutolands" for Amerindians.
Continue Reading October 11th, 2007
The jihadists have their own laws. Laws, that can be changed and interpreted, by fatwas and the like on a whim. Their laws clash sharply with our laws. The greed of our oil corporations and other corporate entities, clashes with the singular bloodthirsty aims for power that the jihadist leaders have. Naturally this clash can have bloody results. This does not bother the corporate investors, or jihadist leaders, enough to stop the process. They, and their children are not in danger, and do not fight on the frontlines. There are plenty of minion lumpen proletarians and semi literate stooges to do their bidding behind flags, patriotism and al Qurans. As a liberal, I see these types as fools in the absolute sense, fighting for what the sons and daughters and leaders themselves would not fight for.
Our country is founded on liberal principles. Can anyone find an instance since 1900, where our country fought against an established liberal government? Is Ahmadi Nejad a liberal? He sounded like David Duke; hating Jews/ Israel and gays, another damned idiot. Does anyone think David Duke is a liberal?
Continue Reading September 25th, 2007
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