EckerNet.Com

LOL

It\’s a debate tactic that probably goes back further than the concept of debate.  If you have two variations of a concept, one of which is universally acceptable and one which is universally opposed, and you are arguing in favor of the latter, blur the line between the two.

This concept got used ad nauseum during the immigration debate a couple years ago.  Most of the public is opposed to illegal immigration but is generally in favor of legal immigration.  If you\’re supporting illegal immigration how do you win the public debate? Blur the line.  Never refer to \”illegal aliens\” or \”illegal immigrants\”, just \”immigrants\”.  Accuse your opponent of hating immigrants.  Nobody listens to them stammer about how they don\’t hate immigrants, they love immigrants, they just don\’t like illegal immigration because blah blah blah.  It\’s lazy, it\’s disingenuous and it\’s false, but it works and it\’s the last defense of those that have no other recourse.

And it\’s being put to great use in the climate change debate, this time by no other than the Obama White House.

Despite the incident, which rocked international headlines last week, climate science is sound, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stressed this afternoon, and the White House nonetheless believes \”climate change is happening.\”

\”I don\’t think that\’s anything that is, quite frankly, among most people, in dispute anymore,\” he said during Monday\’s press briefing.

Did you catch it?  It\’s just climate change, not man-made climate change, or anthromorphic climate change.

Sure I think most people accept that climate change is happening.  In the sense that it\’s happened for millions of years, and will continue happening for millions of years, whether we like it or not.  And more importantly even if we make an attempt to stop it, should we so desire.

When your science is exposed as bunk and your leading minds have been revealed to be fraudulent, blur the line.  Take that which is completely defensible and absorb it to defend that which has no defense.

It\’s especially transparent in this situation, because part of the reason why the Climate Research Unit (CRU) was fudging/hiding data in the first place, is because there is an awful lot of it which indicates that climate change may not necessarily by due to mankind\’s activities.

By why invent new hypotheses? Why see if the data supports that hypothesis? Why see if other minds can\’t poke holes in your ideas?  Why see if your results are repeatable? Why….well, follow the scientific method….when you can just blur the line and be done with it.

The science is far from settled, because what you\’re doing isn\’t science.  And at least parts of it are manufactured.

[Crossposted at True North]

For some reason after I graduated college and got a good job, I decided that it might make sense to go back to grad school and go for my Masters, which I finally completed after two years.  I learned a lot of various concepts during that time, but probably the thing that sticks with me most is that college makes you stupid.  Perfect example of what I\’m talking about:

We haven\’t heard from her in awhile.  Nice to know she\’s still up to her old antics even in these tough economic times.

The Israeli navy took control of a boat that violated an Israeli blockade and crossed into Gazan waters Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, while a Gaza group said the ship was carrying humanitarian aid, a former U.S. congresswoman and a Nobel laureate.

The boat\’s crew included former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, according to the Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group that sent the boat it calls \”Spirit of Humanity\” from Cyprus.

Anyone else picturing a small rowboat??

Although the truth isn\’t that different….it\’s basically a small cabin cruiser which wouldn\’t be out of place on a mid-sized suburban lake.  How much aid could one honestly provide in a small thing like that?  Especially when it supposedly had a \”crew\” of 20 people.  Where the hell you gonna put 20 people on that thing, much less any supplies?

But the real kicker is this quote by McKrazy,

\”President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that\’s exactly what we tried to do.\”

So because Obama said Israel should do it, they have to do it.  You\’re kinda fuzzy on the sovereignty concept are you?

Remember when the left criticized Bush for imposing his will on the rest of the world simply because he was leader of the United States?? Isn\’t that exactly what Cynthia McKrazy is implying Obama should be able to do?

And it\’s especially silly when:

\”Any organization or country that wishes to transfer humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip can legally do so via the established crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip with prior coordination,\” IDF said.

But hey, at least she\’s not looking for the alleged bodies of 5000 convicts in the Louisana swamps any more.

Attended the St. Paul Tea Party at the state capitol today.  Anywhere from 5000 to 10000 people showed up.  From having attended past rallies, for both sides of the political spectrums I know that conservatives generally just don\’t show up for these type of things and so it speaks volumes that over 5000 conservatives showed up.  Especially when one considers that there were at least a dozen other options at the same time in Minnesota.

Now many conservatives were there.  And the impressions from the conservatives point of view will be analyzed to death.  I\’m a little curious from the liberals point of view….what their thoughts were.  So I put on my waders and got a tetanus shot and waded into the cesspool of liberalism….the Democratic Underground.

Single sentence response to so-called Tea Parties:

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man\’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
—John Kenneth Galbraith

It\’s a fairly complex sentence, so that might confuse some of the Teabaggers, but then, they would have been confused by clear, rational, independent thought, regardless.

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No I understood it pretty well.  Actually I\’m more curious at where you got your definition of selfishness.  I\’d regard wanting to keep money OTHER people earned is more selfish than wanting to keep the money I earned.

Let\’s call these \”Tea Parties\” for what they really are – white power rallies

These idiots are nothing more than a bunch of pissed off rethugs and cowardly \”libertarians\” who are pissed off that a black president is spending \”their\” money. It eats them alive that their beloved decorated war hero didn\’t win, that Rove couldn\’t steal a 3rd presidential election, so now they\’re taking to the streets in protest. These morons are bound by their hatred of two things – Obama and brown-skinned immigrants. Listen to any right-wing talk show, and you\’ll hear hateful vitriol spewed forth on a daily basis towards both of these targets.

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Actually most of us were pissed off at Bush\’s spending far before Obama\’s election.  That\’s what the Porkbusters movement was all about.  That\’s why Bush had such low popularity even among conservatives.  That\’s why he faced revolt amongst conservatives about his drug plan.  Now we\’re beyond pissed off, when Obama is making Bush look like a penny-pincher.

And I challenge you to find me a mainstream right-wing radio show spewing hatred towards brown-skinned people.  And it\’s pretty intellectually vacant of you to automatically apply racist undertones towards honest disagreements with a President who happens to be black.  Project much??

BEST Case Scenario For The Teabaggers, Each Teabag Party Averaged 300 protesters

PJTV said over 700 Teabag Parties.

PJTV Says 208,058 people turned out nationwide.

That averages out to less than 298 people per Teabag Party if their estimates are correct.

And most likely, they\’re over-estimating turnout.

Just USing PJTV\’s Own Numbers.

BTW, that would be less than 0.07% of the population gave enough of a shit to come out and teabag.

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Oddly enough your anti-war rallies gathered similar numbers and at the time people like you claimed it was overwhelming public opinion.  It\’s was a national movement that symbolizes a growing swell of discontent.  Except that your protesters were paid for and organized at a national level by groups like Code Pink.

The Tea Parties are grassroots.  Nobody paid for them and no one organization organized them.  Despite your claims of funding and organization by Fox News.  Fox News and the rest of the networks jumped on the bandwagon AFTER this had been going on for months.

Since conservatives like to quote our forefathers on their ideals on liberty and freedom, they should be reminded that the original \”tea party\” was about taxation without representation.

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You are correct.  And that\’s why the populace hasn\’t revolted, in the real sense of the word, yet.

And we are expressing our displeasure to our elected representatives in a way that was specifically permitted by the very same people that took part in the original Tea Party.

As usual, liberals just don\’t get it.

[Crossposted at True North, comments welcome]

In the past few years crazy liberals have been labeled as being afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) since it drove them to do crazy things. Mass rallies where they really embarrassed themselves.  Cries of Nazism and Fascism at the slightest (or no) provocation.  It’s not hard to find plenty of examples of this rather strange syndrome.

After the election many conservatives warned others not to fall to Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS).  For the most part conservatives haven’t although there are exceptions (as always).  But that doesn’t mean ODS hasn’t still struck, except to the opposite people we expected.  Liberals have been simply besides themselves lately because well….this just wasn’t the way it was supposed to be!!

Guns were supposed to go out of style.  It was going to be a kinder, gentler world, hand delivered by our savior  Obama who was going to ride in on his white unicorn, farting rainbows and shitting puppies.  Instead we have obscenely high demands for firearms of all types.  Depressing shortages of ammunition of all calibers.  And support for gun control is falling as fast as gravity can take it.  And even accounting for factors such as the economy, there is no explanation other than Obama.

Also, the world was supposed to love us again.  Instead we’ve gotten no additional assistance for allies and our enemies have not recoiled at blinding white light that is Obama.  Instead our enemies have been pushed their limits even more, positive they can get away with it, and so far there has been nothing to prove them wrong.  Our allies instead of falling victim to the spirit of cooperation, have instead been even more resistant to our pleas.  Some of that may be due to Obama’s rather unique (inept) form of diplomacy that seems to grant less courtesy to our allies than to others.  The treatment of the Queen of England versus the King of Saudi Arabia is only one small and recent, although convenient, example.

The American people were supposed to drown in a sea of utopian happiness.  Everyone was supposedly going to gladly offer up their hard earned wages and offer no protest to the Obama Administration’s outrageous spending proposals.  After all, it was all for the greater good and the community as a whole.  Instead, the growing trend of Tea Parties across the country were first ignored, and now just seem to stymie their best attempts to understand the phenomenon.  Instead they’ve tried to label the Tea Parties as funded by Fox News, or part of a vast right wing conspiracy, or [ insert next lunatic theory here ].  The idea of this being a true grassroots effort is truly beyond comprehension.  Ordinary people just weren’t supposed to do this in the Age of Obama!!

Obama Derangement Syndrome is here and it’s real, except it afflicts those previously afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome.  One would be tempted to simply call these people deranged and leave it at that.  Their world is falling apart.  They had built up this utopia in their mind and they’ve been fighting for it for over a generation now.  They controlled the House and the Senate, now they just needed a leader, nah, a messiah to lead this country into the promised land of utopian socialism.  Then comes Obama with his smooth voice and uplifting rhetoric, and they trifecta was complete!  But none of it is turning out the way they planned, and we’re likely to see the greatest temper tantrum this side of your average two-year-old.

[Crossposted At True North]

I\’ve waited several days for our local libby left to generate the necessary mouth-frothing outrage to comment on a recent revelation about one of our DC politicians.  I didn\’t want to miss it, it was going to be great.  And it was a topic I KNEW they were interested in.  After all, they\’ve already covered this topic.

Last fall, the local loony echochamber stirred themselves into a virtual shitstorm because Senator Norm Coleman was getting cheap rent from a pollster!!  The downward spiral into near orgasmic glee that they might have a scandal to pin on Coleman was epic.  Surely the fact that another DC politician has been found to be doing the same thing would be of interest and would renew the drooling self-gratification??

Apparently not….so far it\’s been only silence.  It\’s couldn\’t be because this time it involves Rahm Emanuel, Obama\’s Chief of Staff, could it??? Surely their ethical integrity is intact yeah??

Except while Coleman at least paid rent and utilities, Emanuel was living rent free.  If you want to make the argument that they are benefiting because of their position, you have to condemn both.  If you want to make the argument that a politician living with a pollster for their party, you have to condemn them both.  If you want to write long tiresome rants declaring the abject horror of such an act, you have to condemn them both.

Instead I\’ve seen total silence from the same liberal bloggers who so enthusiastically berated Coleman.  Another example that it\’s not the ethical violation they are really worried about.  Our local left, practices selective ethics.  Meaning that ethical rules only apply to Republicans and/or conservatives and function primarily as a way to score partisan points rather than truly pursue ethical behavior by our elected officials.

[Crossposted at True North]

The United States is unique, perhaps, in that in modern history it has never had to deal with a nation failing on it\’s borders.  In it\’s early history, the United States depended on the oceans for protection.  While World War II demonstrated that was no longer possible, and 9/11 confirmed it, we still rely on the oceans to provide us at least a degree of seperation from troubled nations.  Those days are coming to an end, at least if a report from the Defense Department is to be believed.

Mexico is one of two countries that \”bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse,\” according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.

The command\’s \”Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)\” report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. \”In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.

\”The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone.\”

This is a big deal for a number of reasons.  Certainly Mexico is an important trade partner as well as a stable presence in Central American.  But more importantly a failed state on our 2000 mile southern border creates a huge national security risk of such weight we haven\’t faced before.

Certainly it raises the importance of security on our southern border.  While the threat of invasion isn\’t likely, the threat of massive influx of refugees is.  More dangerous will be the anarchy that will rule afterwards, in which drug lords and terrorists would hold sway and undoubtably try to push their way into the southern United States.

Suddenly the value of border control obstacles and personnel take on added importance as they would begin to serve a dual role.  A fence would still act as a force multiplier and an effective barrier, much as it has for Israel, which has forced Palestinians to lob rockets rather then send suicide bombers.  Military forces on the border would likely become a critical component of national security, rather than a stop-gap measure to temporarily bolster our Border Control forces.  In the face of such uncertainty and potential threats, we need more security rather than less

In the context of all this, Democrats are seeking to kill further construction of the fence, and in some cases are even advocating that parts of it be torn down.  Some things never really do change, regardless of who is President.

FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All Employees

DATE: 4th November

RE: Christmas Party

I m happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23rd, starting at noon in the private function room at the Grill House. There will be a cash bar and plenty of drinks! We’ll have a small band playing traditional carols…please feel free to sing along.

And don’t be surprised if the Managing Director shows up dressed as Santa Claus! A Christmas tree will be lit at 1.00 p.m.

Exchange of gifts among employees can be done at that time; however, no gift should be over $10.00 to make the giving of gifts easy for everyone’s pockets.

This gathering is only for employees! The Managing Director will make a special announcement at the Party.

Merry Christmas to you and your Family.

Pauline

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FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All Employees

DATE: 5th November

RE: Holiday Party

In no way was yesterday s memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees. We recognize that Chanukah is an important holiday, which often coincides with Christmas, though unfortunately not this year. However, from now on we’re calling it our Holiday Party. The same policy applies to any other employees who are not Christians. There will be no Christmas tree or Christmas carols sung. We will have other types of music for your enjoyment.

Happy now?

Happy Holidays to you and your family,

Pauline.

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FROM; Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All Employees

DATE: 6th November

RE: Holiday Party

Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics Anonymous requesting a non-drinking table…you didn\’t sign your name. I m happy to accommodate this request, but if I put a sign on a table that reads, \”AA Only,\” you wouldn\’t be anonymous anymore!!!! How am I supposed to handle this? Somebody?

Forget about the gift exchange, no gift exchange allowed now since the Union Officials feel that $10.00 is too much money and Management believe $10.00 is a little cheap.

NO GIFT EXCHANGE WILL BE ALLOWED.

Pauline.

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FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All Employees

DATE: 7th November

RE: Holiday Party

What a diverse group we are! I had no idea that December 20th begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating and drinking during daylight hours. There goes the party! Seriously, we can appreciate how a luncheon at this time of year does not accommodate our Muslim employees’ beliefs, perhaps the Grill House can hold off on serving your meal until the end of the party – or else package everything up for you to take home in a little foil doggy bag. Will that work?

Meanwhile, I\’ve arranged for members of Weight Watchers to sit farthest from the dessert buffet and pregnant women will get the table closest to the toilets. people I love are allowed to sit with each other. Lesbians do not have to sit with pleasantly upbeat men. Each will have their own table. Yes, there will be flower arrangements for the pleasantly upbeat men’s table too.

To the person asking permission to cross dress – no cross dressing allowed. And No, no blow-up sheep.

We will have booster seats for short people. Low fat food will be available for those on a diet. We cannot control the salt used in the food. We suggest those people with high blood pressure taste the food first. There will be fresh fruits as dessert for Diabetics. The restaurant cannot supply \”No Sugar\” desserts. Sorry!

Did I miss anything?!?!?!?!?!

Pauline.

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FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director

TO: All F*ckin Employees

DATE: 8 November

RE: The F*ckin Holiday Party.

Vegetarian pricks I\’ve had it with you people!!! We’re going to keep this party at the Grill House whether you like it or not, so you can sit quietly at the table furthest from the \”grill of death\”, as you so quaintly put it. You’ll get your f*ckin salad bar, including organic tomatoes, but you know tomatoes have feeling, too. They scream when you slice them. I\’ve heard them scream. I’m f*ckin hearing them scream right NOW!!

Hope you all have a rotten holiday! Drink, drive and die!

The grumble and/or bemoan fate from HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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FROM: John Bishop – Acting Human Resources Director

DATE: 9th November

RE: Pauline Lewis and Holiday Party

I m sure I speak for all of us in wishing Pauline Lewis a speedy recovery, and I\’ll continue to forward your cards to her.

In the meantime, Management has decided to cancel our Holiday Party and instead, give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd December off with full pay.