Comments for It's the 21st Century, Stupid!

Comment on Gary Gygax Did More Than You Know by Dyre42

Dyre42 — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:06:21 +0000

He also created the first major interactive medium that allowed people to explore different aspects of themselves in a safe and entertaining way.

Comment on Gary Gygax Did More Than You Know by runasim

runasim — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:28:42 +0000

“He wasn’t a saint, more of a curmudgeon in some ways”

It’s the curmudgeons, st times, who best shake up herd mentality and force conventional wisdom to look at itself in the mirror.

Comment on About That Wonderful, Honest Free Market Health Care System… by Tully

Tully — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:00:02 +0000

Good catch, Jim.

I keep saying we have the finest for-profit healthcare system in the world. It’s absolutely unequalled at producing profits.

Comment on About by bibomedia.com

bibomedia.com — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:28:46 +0000

Comment on Too Simple To Be True by sisuntas

sisuntas — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:23:24 +0000

Brooks’s ‘market ecology’ principle is but the latest example of the dangers of swearing allegience to an ideology to such an extent that when bad results rear up , the only reaction is to defend it, apologize for it, propose hopeful scenarios for a resolution sometime in the future, anything but examine the real life consequences and entertain possible solutions contradictory to the core ideoloby.

People are people, whether they are actors in the marketplace or in politics or any other arena. If social systems don’t self-correct why on earth would one expect markets to do so?

When we tackle social systems, the notion of justice is introduced, and justice is achieved(however imperfectly) with laws. There is no natural incentive for those with power to share power or to relinzuish it.

To imagine that the markets are any different is to claim that people change their basic character when they act in the market place. Considering that the markets are driven by naked greed, such a claim is beyond pollyannish, it’s bizarre. I don’t see any reason to suppose that those who stuffed their pockets with the profits from disasterous practices will now reconsider. The most natural. in character, reaction is far more likely to be that they just move on to finding other means to make the quick profit.

In markets, as in social systems, it’s a false dichotomy to frame the issue in terms of innovation stifling regulation vs no regualtion. As in all things, what is needed is a balance betwen opposing poles: enough regulation to check the worst practices, but not so much that innovation is stifled. To wait for markets to self-correct is the equivalent of just waiting for the social order in the world to self-correct with no intervention, and that hasn’t worked well, ever.

Comment on About That Wonderful, Honest Free Market Health Care System… by rdan

rdan — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:16:57 +0000

As you can see my d key is still stuck.

Comment on About That Wonderful, Honest Free Market Health Care System… by rdan

rdan — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:16:11 +0000

Good catch Jim. We need reminding. When I get to blogroll eits you go on the list.

Comment on I Decided. Have You? by runasim

runasim — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:16:05 +0000

I’m torn.
On the one hand, I think Hillary and Bill Clinton are being victimized by a highly prejudiced press and commentary. Certainly, they have faults, but who doesn’t? But when every word they speak is followed by wild speculation about their evil motives for it, things have gone too far. Part of me wants to stick with Hillary in the interests of fair play, although I have doubts about the wisdom of incurring the inevitale worst practices reaction by the Republicans.
Obama appears to be a hgihly intelligent and honorable man. He is much too vague on details, however. How does he plan to achieve the unity he preaches while railing against the current crop of Republcans at the same time?
Obama is too much chrisma for my comfort. I don’t want to adore my president; I want to support his plan of action. What does his ‘unity’ look like when it hits the ground?

I’m torn.

Comment on About by John Neal

John Neal — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:35:33 +0000

I was checking out your blog and wanted to invite you to cross link
with our political magazine: ToTheCenter.com.

We’re launching a blog roll and would love to list you there too. With
over 800K readers a month, I thought cross linking would be mutually
beneficial. We saw that you’re listing a lot of other political
magazines such as us so we hope you’ll list us too.

Comment on I Decided. Have You? by Jim Satterfield

Jim Satterfield — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:18:04 +0000

Interesting. And a rather sad choice for a name since it indicates a pride in hating an entire group of people based on their disagreement with your chosen set of political ideas. I used to vote purely on the basis of the individual candidate. Then came the Religious Right, followed soon by the current power structure of the Republican Party. I can’t vote for a Republican until there are many changes in their party and I honestly don’t expect to live to see the day.