The random views of Scott Kissinger
"We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are" -- Talmud
I placed an order with the The North Face. I indicated that I do not want to receive marketing materials from them. I get the email below. What part of “NO” don’t they understand?
This is cynical marketing of the worst sort. It’s also highly unethical, in my opinion. Do Not Track and strong regulation of email marketing practices are, sadly, essential because companies cannot be trusted to self-regulate. They only have themselves to blame.
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There is something sweet about this result (click on the headline to see the article) …
And here is the most amazing quote, demonstrating how self-centered and out of touch these people are:
The staunchest opponents of Lucasfilm’s expansion are now being accused of driving away the filmmaker and opening the door to a low-income housing development. That has created an atmosphere that one opponent, who asked not to be identified, saying she feared for her safety, described as “sheer terror” and likened to “Syria.”
Low income housing in Marin, California == Syria ????
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Thankfully he had the courage to admit it. How many other bogus ‘studies’ are out there?
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America used to be the land of justice for all. Then Congress and the President decided that due process wasn’t really that important, and somehow got the courts to agree. Now we have warrantless tracking of citizens by their cellphones, or by GPS; the feds seeking backdoors in FaceBook and other social media sites for wiretapping; National Security Letters that let the feds do pretty much anything without the targets even being told of their investigations. All without any real accountability by law enforcement. The latest is an FBI seizure of computer servers, as described at the link. [Yes, in that case the Feds got a warrant, but they gave no notice and no explanation for what they did or why.]
And don’t get me started with the whole “enemy combatant” thing, renditions, and Guantanamo, or the memos rationalizing water boarding as something other than torture.
It’s all a travesty begun by Bush and—unexpectedly, sadly—perpetuated by Obama. It degrades respect for the government, makes oversight by citizens virtually impossible, and destroys any semblance of moral high ground we may have had with other countries.
We need to return—and quickly—to the rule of law, accountability of the government to its citizens, “innocent until proven guilty”, and common sense.
(Source: MSN)
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Hoosiers—and the nation—lost a voice of reason and a true leader when Indiana Republicans failed to elect Dick Lugar as their party’s candidate in the Senate election. Lugar’s farewell letter, available at this link, highlights everything that is wrong with partisan politics today. Politics, as they say, is the art of compromise. Without compromise there simply cannot be governance in a country as large and diverse as America is today. What will it take for the partisans—most on the right but also on the left—to see that their intractable positions are causing serious damage to the nation they profess to love? It’s bitterly disappointing and utterly frustrating.
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To be sure, even as it adopts a more pluralistic approach, the United States should defend not just its interests, but also its values. It should continue to promote democracy, stand resolute in the defense of human rights and do what it can to stop indiscriminate violence of the sort unleashed by Syria’s government.
But American leaders do their country no service when they trumpet a new American century or topple governments in the name of spreading Western values. Doing so will drive away the very nations the United States needs on its side to confront dangerous pariahs and manage a world in which power is broadly shared.
Standing by its own values while also recognizing that there are alternative forms of responsible and responsive governance would ultimately elevate the nation’s moral authority, making it more likely that other countries would be as respectful of America’s preferences as America should be of theirs.
”source:
Charles A. Kupchan - NYT editorial 7 April 2012
(Source: The New York Times)
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Not that you need another reason to hate bankers, but the article at the link above makes for some pretty entertaining (if not rage-inducing) reading. This is why the US Government’s failure to discipline Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis is inexcusable.
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Click on the link above to see the story. This is unconscionable. Why don’t they ask to read the applicants’ private letters and listen to their voicemails too? This is yet another example of the “we can do it, therefore we should do it” mentality.
Looking for the ACLU to help put a stop to this pronto.
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Click on the link above, then check out my comment at the end!
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Instead of posting individual links, I will instead collect useful links, organized topically, in collective posts.
Posted 24 Feb 2012 —
David Brooks: America is Europe
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/opinion/brooks-america-is-europe.html
Summary: the US government is bigger than it looks; need a better model of distributing wealth than tax breaks.
My take: lots of holes in the arguments, but the fundamental message is on point.
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