Saturday, December 31, 2011

GOP candidates move to the right on abortion ahead of caucuses - The Hill's Healthwatch

GOP candidates move to the right on abortion ahead of caucuses - The Hill's Healthwatch

It seems that everywhere an article appears criticizing Ron Paul his defenders soon arrive in swarms to stand up valiantly (Or in many cases virulently, not valiantly) for their chosen candidate as a defender of the principles of the Constitution and a stalwart defender of individual rights. I tend to point out that in fact Ron Paul defends the rights of the states to suppress individual rights if they so choose so long as it's not done in a way that he believes violates the Constitution. These exceptions include any laws banning abortion and anything governing sexual activity. I have no doubt he has other exceptions he believes in since he supports the rights of non-government organizations to be as bigoted as they want.

That having been said, once again Paul has shown that those of his supporters who constantly claim that he does not support federal government action to push his anti-choice beliefs are completely wrong. Someone who wants to leave this issue to the states would not sign the Susan B. Anthony List's pledge, much less the Personhood U.S.A. pledge. But somehow, given what I've been reading from them in comments online I doubt very many of his supporters will acknowledge these facts.

Friday, December 30, 2011

George R.R. Martin is our Author of the Year – USATODAY.com

George R.R. Martin is our Author of the Year – USATODAY.com

This is really very cool though the columnist takes some well-deserved hits for the crack about the series having mostly young men as fans before HBO picked it up. George deserves all the kudos he gets for this. It would be nice if his other work is picked up by people who read A Song of Ice and Fire.

BP spill didn't end deepwater drilling – USATODAY.com

BP spill didn't end deepwater drilling – USATODAY.com

But, but....Obama has a moratorium on any of this happening! Just ask virtually any conservative in the United States. Or at least I haven't found one who disagrees with it.

Ron Paul, Conspiracy Theories, and the Right - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic

Ron Paul, Conspiracy Theories, and the Right - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic


This is a good piece but as is often the case with articles concerning Ron Paul the comment section is also very instructive. Rapid and rabid defenses of Paul pile up, many of them obviously having failed to read the entire article. Many of them go off in a tangent from the article into defending Paul on relatively minor points mentioned and some of them just prove the point of the writer. In this case he refers to the conspiracy theories that Paul and more mainstream members of the GOP push and sure enough, some of the comments defend them as fact.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Nerd? Who, me?

Why, yes, I guess I am. So this is my first post on a new blog where I'll write about my nerdier and geekier interests like science fiction, computers, comics and science. And anything else that I think is cool, of course.

Starting Over

So I decided to try and get going with this blog again and decided that one blog is not enough. Yes, I decided to split what I do into two blogs, with this one being largely about politics, economics, science and their intersections. My other blog, which I've just created and not even written my first post in, is The DemiNerd, where I'll post more about computers, science fiction, comics, fandom and my other interests.