tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140719332009-10-17T20:51:53.257-05:00a place for thoughts or a lack thereofSyrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.comBlogger241125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-2590620411470433982009-09-18T00:20:00.003-05:002009-09-18T00:23:34.935-05:00

I'm not sure what this says about me...And I'm really not sure what my finding it reasonably accurate saysabout me either... You are The Quartermaster You, me hearty, are a man or woman of action! And what action it is! Gruesome, awful, delightful action. You mete out punishment to friend and foe alike – well, mostly to foe, because your burning inner rage isn’t likely to

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-76377160179552260802009-09-07T18:53:00.002-05:002009-09-07T18:56:27.462-05:00

Since I have a hard time posting comments on the economist site (too much hostfile ad blocking methinks)...On the other hand it seems to be working now that I've switched from firefox to chrome. Odd... http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-cn-canada-medicare-for-all,0,3246185.story Just joining in the speculation about which Chicago Tribune article JBP might have been referring

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-37975112287623327722009-09-07T01:58:00.003-05:002009-09-07T02:00:18.275-05:00

So yeah... This looks a little scary.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-65370440417572913362009-08-28T18:39:00.003-05:002009-08-28T18:51:09.571-05:00

And once again the Scifi anthology that I was reading last month comes to the rescue with some interesting comentary on the news of the day. In this case results of avoiding mertit based promtion. The post is discussion public school teachers in the US, while The Highest Treason by Randall Garrett supposes a world so egalatarian that humans are unable to repulse an alien threat.But otherwise

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-73468370392433318832009-08-20T19:28:00.003-05:002009-08-20T19:36:12.712-05:00

I honestly didn't know what to think when I followed the link from a post titled "From the Department of Awesomeness" I expected to be disapointed... but I never ever expected that a wedding entrance could be awesome. It was.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-12839779444130707172009-08-10T21:27:00.003-05:002009-08-10T21:39:16.236-05:00

Just read the post linked to in the title and it struck me as an acute trouble with the hardline ideology of small govenenment. There needs to be some ideological slack where the private market is unable to do what needs doing, there are just some things that the profit incentive is simple ilsuited to deal with.An alternative is always something along the lines of issuing income guarantees at

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-69097220294097500592009-02-07T03:33:00.002-06:002009-02-07T03:36:08.881-06:00

So I just found this site: Readthestimulus.org [via Democracy in America] I haven't explored much yet.. but it seems like an interesting concept.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-62051112383246519232008-11-05T03:40:00.000-06:002008-11-05T03:41:00.124-06:00

Wow. Obama has a big job ahead of him now. :) and that's good news. Sohaving gotten the US election out of the way (yes i voted. Mailed fromWhangerei last week. So it'll be late but in time to count), Iregistered to vote here in NZ. I had thought that I wouldn't feelcomfortable with all the issues, but having been here for a month now,i think i may have an opinion. We shall see how it feels on

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-12945439248677484132008-10-16T03:25:00.001-05:002008-10-16T03:25:07.828-05:00

I don't have much to add and havn't read the linked articles but... I really want to.http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2008/10/william_ayers_a_shining_exampl.cfm -- Going to the ends of the earth.http://syrrys-in-nz.blogspot.com

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-85948727678891700682008-10-04T00:29:00.001-05:002008-10-04T00:32:07.681-05:00

Hi. I'm going to be away for a while. If you'd like to read about that, you can do so at http://syrrys-in-nz.blogspot.com

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-27121101823284343592008-09-19T11:14:00.000-05:002008-09-19T11:14:16.707-05:00

I think I've finally come to understand what I find so unsettling about Palin. "Richard Nixon with the redeeming features left out."

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-41441693837910923132008-09-16T17:50:00.001-05:002008-09-16T17:50:33.105-05:00

So I've seen a few opinions (summarized relatively well here and here) But the best actual discussion of the problems and what might be needed to fix them was by a gentleman by the name of Joeseph Stiglitz who had some pretty solid experience.  Anyway, so he was saying that actually the SEC wasn't lacking in regulatory power in most cases but, and this is the important part, when a regulator

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-50342198165965036302008-09-13T21:26:00.001-05:002008-09-13T21:26:28.323-05:00

As much as I hope that whomever wins this upcoming US election will be able to start fixing things... I still feel that heading for NZ is the best plan in the face of this sinking ship. -- Going to the ends of the earth.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-16425127659834960512008-09-12T15:44:00.001-05:002008-09-12T15:44:28.532-05:00

Even the NDP in Quebec!-- Going to the ends of the earth.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-13246202257869315132008-09-12T08:18:00.001-05:002008-09-12T08:18:52.272-05:00

Not 3 posts, but 3 elections.Yup, that's all three. Helen Clark has called an election in New Zealand for November 8th. So that goes with Canada on October 18th and of course the US on November 4th, which I'm not even going to look for a link for. I find this hilarious.-- Going to the ends of the earth.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-3864760785602129562008-09-11T15:39:00.002-05:002008-09-11T15:57:25.777-05:00

As much as I tend to dislike the propaganda that so frequently saturates the Huffington Post, Bob Barr has a pretty good piece on there today about rethinking the "War on Drugs" Update: yeah of course there is one more. This one has a Palin angle too (but also plenty of HuffPost bias as I read it).--Going to the ends of the earth.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-50664139852272230202008-09-11T15:20:00.002-05:002008-09-11T15:35:51.026-05:00

The tone (and (lack of) content) of so-called political discourse in this country makes me so angry.At least some people manage to make some rational points, but it's still sad that points like this need to be made at all.I'm also pleased to see that Canada will have a new (same?) government in place before the US even votes. But even there, that Harper so quickly went back on his law to limit

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-16753039859701245782008-09-05T12:06:00.001-05:002008-09-05T12:06:26.572-05:00

Hmmmm..... I suppose it's been a while again.New Zealand departure is in less than a month now. Which is probably why I've been finding US politics less important to write about!I'm sure there are things that have been happening that are worth writing about, but I can't really think of any right now. Work is frantic as I'm trying to finish up a month + worth of work in the next 2 weeks, but then

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-23228047414017153492008-07-25T12:13:00.002-05:002008-07-25T12:15:24.812-05:00

But here's something fun:Your browser doesn't support HTML iframes. You will not be able to see the Wired Celebrity Meter. Please try with a different browser.and we'll see if that works.my score is 70. That Probably means that I'm awesome.They're apparently using the Google Social Graph

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-12035535372564635512008-06-04T16:51:00.000-05:002008-06-04T16:51:13.404-05:00

Democracy in America | Economist.com: "if this evening's speeches were a video game, a wrinkled wizard would be hollering 'Finish Him!' to Barack Obama while a dizzied John McCain wobbled. And Hillary Clinton would be frenetically mashing the buttons on an unplugged controller."hehehehehehehehehehehehehGreat mental image there.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-4569675432973029512008-05-22T09:49:00.000-05:002008-05-22T09:49:05.609-05:00

Democracy in America once again has a link to another good idea.It would get her out of the way but still let her have something desirable enough to save face. It might be a slap in the face to some republicans but, well, they've never been all that concerned about what moderates and democrats might think about their Supreme Court Nominees... at least as far as I know.Better than having her on

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-3237379342731704322008-05-13T12:25:00.001-05:002008-05-13T12:25:56.153-05:00

So apparently there is now a spam bot(net) out there (at 88.232.98.61, 92.81.250.109, among others) that has harvested my work email as a sender address. This means that I'm getting about 2 or 3 bounce messages per hour telling me that "the addresses was unreachable" and that "our bulk email filter has rejected you email" etc. Lucky for me I seem to be mostly selling watches. But I'm pretty

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-68881806867056455192008-05-13T11:05:00.002-05:002008-05-13T11:07:37.637-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/opinion/12luttwak.html As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother's Christian background is irrelevant.His conversion, however, was a

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-80968157912835979032008-05-12T14:05:00.002-05:002008-05-13T11:06:18.860-05:00

http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=11332230 His leadership defects were especially exposed during the hinge of his premiership thus far: the weeks last autumn when he considered holding a general election. The game-playing exposed Mr Brown's efforts to appear ecumenical—the great Tory-hater taking tea with Lady Thatcher, for instance—as so much cynical manipulation.

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14071933.post-26513319962364297282008-05-05T12:52:00.003-05:002008-05-05T13:02:11.344-05:00

It's not quite a puff piece, although I suppose that I could understand how it might be seen as such.It is however the most eloquent explanation of why I think Barack is the most appealing person in politics.It's not far different from what I've said before, just that he is willing to adhere to his morality even when it may not be the most politically expedient thing to do.Favourite bits:It's

Syrryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16186792770865599327noreply@blogger.com0