August 31, 2014

Labor Day 2014: U.S. Average Retail Price Of Gasoline

This year, the day before Labor Day (2014), the national average price of gasoline is $3.43 per gallon. Last Labor Day (2013) it was $3.59. You have to go back four years to 2010 to find Labor Day gas prices as low as they are now. You have to go back even further to find the all-time high national average price for gasoline. That would be during President Bush’s last year in office and during the economic meltdown. The all-time high national average price for gasoline (non-inflation adjusted) was $4.11 per gallon on July 7, 2008.

∼ Continue Reading ∼

• • •

August 30, 2014

Logic And Reason vs. The Immovable Iron Curtain Of Emotion

Sometimes when you find yourself on the logic and reason side of an argument, which is hopefully most of the time, you have to learn when to pack it up and call it a day. Because at some point you enter into the territory of hurt feelings and worse when the side of emotion feels they are being attacked or ganged up on. It is up to those of us who value logic and reason to recognize this, and then politely change the subject. Yeah, I know this is a counterintuitive, because after all, if not for logic and reason how will we ever solve problems and move forward. But when you encounter the immovable iron curtain of emotion, there is no amount of logic and reason that will overcome.

∼ Continue Reading ∼

• • •

August 29, 2014

Do Conservatives Understand Government Is NOT Inherently Corruptible?

Conservatives would like to weave you a tale of inevitably corruptible big government, but it is not government that is inherently corruptible, it is human beings who are inherently corruptible. And if you realize this truth, you realize distinctions should be made based on integrity, not on the line that divides public/private. Because it doesn’t matter whether it’s the public sector or the private sector, human beings can be compromised, human beings can be paid off, human beings can do the wrong things. Conservatives must move beyond their singular focus on corrupt government and understand that any human-based entity is corruptible. When conservatives come to this realization, they too will understand that we hold the public sector to a higher standard than the private sector.

∼ Continue Reading ∼

• • •

August 29, 2014

The United States Of America, A Super Power In Decline?

Your negative prejudice on big government is not helping. Your pessimism and cynicism against fellow man, yeah, I gotta tell ya, it’s not helping. Being the curmudgeon, the detractor, the scoffer, the doubting Thomas… Yeah, I’m talking to YOU… the person who is going to tell the rest of us how it is and why it doesn’t work, and why it can never work… Yeah, YOU! — You are part of the problem! You can continue to show your attitude, give us lip, tell me I’m being cliche by saying America is at a crossroads, but that is where we find ourselves. Either our best days ARE behind us, or many require a serious attitude adjustment.

∼ Continue Reading ∼

• • •

August 28, 2014

Yes Conservatives, The Police Can Be Wrong, Even If It Crushes Your World

Sorry conservatives, but the police are human beings, just like the people they protect and serve. And that means they are fallible just like other members of the community. Yes, the police can harm instead of serve. Yes, the police can commit crimes. And yes, sometimes the police can just be pricks, provoking a community that is grieving the death of an unarmed 18-year-old.

∼ Continue Reading ∼

• • •

August 27, 2014

Mitch McConnell And His Oligarchic Constituency

It’s a comforting realization that Senator Mitch McConnell, while attending a Koch Brothers hosted conference, told a crowd of millionaires and billionaires that they don’t have to worry about him wasting time on “gosh darn” things like voting on a minimum wage increase. It’s always good to see a member of congress looking out for his constituents. And in the newly christened oligarchy, formerly known as the United States of America, those constituents pay no less than $5,000 a plate.

∼ Continue Reading ∼

• • •

August 26, 2014

Libertarianism: The Not Ready For Prime Time Political Ideological

I’m sorry if this pisses people off, but the ideology of libertarianism, one that emphasizes the singular over the whole, to the detriment of the whole, is the political ideology of those who are not ready for political prime time. And I say this as someone who once had greater libertarian tendencies, so I feel I’m as qualified as anyone else to render this verdict.

∼ Continue Reading ∼

• • •
1 … 16 17 18 19 20 … 161