Diggapedia

He’s baaaaaack.  Yes after months of personally imposed sequestration, Digg is back.  The last few months of inane absurdity by the media, government, and the general public has brought me back.  It’s not about you, it’s about me and my need for catharsis.  Now, let’s hit the pressure relief valve: Ebola: Any disease with no known cure and a mortality rate approaching 70% can be frightful.  But it is not easily transmitted.  If it were, the dozens of people who interacted with Thomas Eric Duncan before he died would also have contracted the disease.  The calls to ban flights from West Africa are a panic-driven response as there are NO direct flights from the hardest hit nations in West Africa.  Should we ban flights from Brussels, London, Paris, Frankfurt too?  These restrictions have never worked in the past.  To  combat the disease, WHO states “ Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Good outbre...

Syria…what to do about Syria. As the debate rages, opinions, perspectives, ideas, and arguments are flying for and against action.   It comes down to quite a few talking points I have tried to summarize as best as possible: 1)       There is insufficient proof that Assad used chemical weapons.   After the Iraq ginned-up debacle, Americans are naturally more skeptical of their government and the world is a lot more untrusting of American claims. 2)       We haven’t exhausted all diplomatic solutions.   How do you know when more talking is frivolous?   If you believe President Obama is a ‘reluctant warrior’, has he not reached the point that further discussion is pointless?   3)       We shouldn’t go it alone.   If neither NATO nor the UN have called for military action, then why should America be the military course of last resort? 4)       I...

News and Digganalysis 1.        Big week at the Supreme Court for same sex marriage.   On Tuesday, the court will hear arguments challenging the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and on Wednesday arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act will be heard.   In the meantime social conservatives like Ralph Reed will argue that the 58% of Americans, per recent polls, are wrong.   The time has come for conservatives to realize that same sex marriage and the commensurate benefits are not progressive ideals, but AMERICAN ideals.   I hope the old white men on the court also realize the same.   Civil rights for all IS American Exceptionalism. 2.        The story of the banking failure in Cyprus and the subsequent bailout from the troika of the IMF, EU, and ECB is a complex mélange of punishment, politics, and warning.    Warning #1: If your house-of-cards economy is based primarily o...

  I often ask who in their right mind would want to be President of the United States.   The stress, the personal attacks, the ungrateful electorate, subjecting the family to the microscope, and the constant second guessing.   Why on earth?   Why on earth would anyone want to seek a second term?   Well Barack Obama has successfully run for president twice and he will lead this nation for the next 4 years.   While expectations were higher in 2009, Monday’s inauguration speech certainly raised the hope of millions Americans.   Of course conservative commentators were quick to criticize and label the President’s speech as nothing more than liberal partisan talking points. But was the President’s inaugural address a liberal or progressive manifesto?   Was it derisive and contemptuous of Conservative ideals?   Did he spike the football?   Did he ignore the real economic problems facing the country?   Was it a laundry list sop t...

This is by no means an expansive review of the 2012 political year.   Nor is it a top ten list, as every cable news station and talk radio show has created their lists and checked them twice.   Instead, here are my thoughts on what was the political year. Let me start by saying that political tricks and shenanigans are like most movies and television shows: there is very little original material or innovation.   Pick any time in American History   and you will find the same wheeling and dealing, the same attack pieces, the same gamesmanship, the same special interests, and the same political manipulations.   In 2012 we were worried that the Citizens United decision would cause such an influx of special interests’ money that and that government of the people, by the people, for the people would no longer exist.   Irrespective of Citizens United, our government is unduly influenced by special interests and their lobbyists.   Every industry spends ...

  How will a second Obama term go?   Is it too soon to make a prediction considering the 2012 election outcome is still unknown?   Will congressional gridlock be the same, not as bad, or sadly worse?   Will Iran develop a nuclear weapon?   What will the cabinet look like?   How about the supreme court?   Will we go over   the fiscal cliff or just hang dangerously close to the edge? I believe President Obama will champion deficit cutting and attack the building debt.   Contrary to the pundits on the right, the president is not a tax and spend liberal (as opposed to a borrow and spend Republican).   He believes in fiscal responsibility, but also realizes that during deep recessions where the credit markets have seized, that it is up to the government to provide necessary stimulus.   However, unlike FDR, President Obama has fought the pressure to turn to austerity too soon, and as the economy continues to heal in 2013, expect...