Palin steps down as governor of Alaska

YukonJack

Time Out
Dec 26, 2008
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"What did you do to recover such loses?"

petros, I did what any responsible government should do (but never does): I spent less and scaled down our life style to have more modest expectations. Bought only what I could afford. Mac'n'cheese often replaced surf'n'turf.

I also grabbed all the overtime I could get. I am proud to say that during a four month strike by the Union, I worked an average of 60 hours per week, and had the pleasure of being called a scab.

"How so? That doesn't sound like things have improved if they are doomed. Does it? If you made it through the 18 and 10 you mention and they can't make it on 2.5 and 4 then how can you say things are better?"

I never said that my children are better off. With Obama economy flooding over to Canada, it is a lead-pipe cinch that they will be WORSE off than our generation. They may be paying 2.5- 4 % interest andsimilar interest rate but what good is it when most of their income will be confiscated to support the free-loaders.

At least until Obama is well-deservedly deposed.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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How did Obama make you work all that overtime and be a scab in the 80's? Did Obama sell your kids a house? Will he sell one to your grand kids? Who are these freeloaders? How did the freeloaders raise interest to 18% and put inflation at 10%? Why were you eating mac n' cheese if you still had work? Did you get a raise too after the strike? Did it help?
 

captain morgan

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Mar 28, 2009
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So Palin should definitely give herself a pat on the back for keeping ensuring subject-verb agreement, thus surpassing a holder of a Master's degree from Harvard.

Then again, looking at it that way, most elementary school children should give themselves a pat on the back too.


Good points Machjo... Seeing how we've seen ho well the academic crowd has managed to run nations, Trudeau, Dion, Iggy and let's not forget Obama - you'll recall that he is the one that applied for foreign-born student scholarships to make his way through post-secondary.

Thank you so much for clarifying the dramatic benefits of how well the scholars have guided society.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Good points Machjo... Seeing how we've seen ho well the academic crowd has managed to run nations, Trudeau, Dion, Iggy and let's not forget Obama - you'll recall that he is the one that applied for foreign-born student scholarships to make his way through post-secondary.

Thank you so much for clarifying the dramatic benefits of how well the scholars have guided society.
So lets elect the guy who works nights at the Shell on the corner?
 

Machjo

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Oct 19, 2004
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So lets elect the guy who works nights at the Shell on the corner?

Hey, I would have chosen Tolstoy over Bush any day, and Tolstoy was a university drop-out. Add to that that even Ghandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., both degree-holders, acknowledged their debt to Tolstoy for his philosophical and political insights. When degree-holders bow to university drop-outs, it says something there. At the end of the day, you have to judge the character of the person, not just his degree. We find similar with the Persian philosopher Abbas Effendi, who'd received most of his education from his father in prison, and spent about 40 years of his life in prison, only to be giving speeches to intellectuals around the world after the Young Turk rebellion led to his release. Also, some show their genious in a field completely unrelated to what they've studied. Zamenhof, though a trained oculist, was not particularly successful in that field, but outshined the linguists of his day even though he'd never studied linguistics.

I've also met people whose spouses exploited them for a degree. One occurence I've known of in some families is where one spouce works and pays to support the other through university expecting reciprocity, only for the other to abandon his/her responsibilities after the divorce. This means that we may have highly intelligent, trusting and hard-working intellectuals with big hearts not only without a degree, but also with first-hand experience of certain social injustices that need to be rectified and that few degree-holders would understand, while at the same time we have degree-holders who've only learnt how to swindle others. Some pay for their tuition through crime and dishonesty, while others lose their tuition trusting another.

Then we have those who choose not to go to university because they can't find an institution that teaches what it is exactly that they want to learn, or with the philosophy of which they disagree, while others go to university just to get a degree to help them find a job because their parents are paying for it anyway.

There are many factors besides intellect that can determine whether or not a person goes on to university. Many of those who do not go on to university may very well possess experiences that few who've gone to university would have, but which could bring a unique perspective to government policy.

In fact, I could even go further and say that in some cases, a person who may have proven himself relatively unsuccessful in life may have unique perspectives on certain social institutions, whether owing to particular structural injustices or whatnot, that could unjustly prevent persons such as himself from succeeding, perspectives unique to those who may have failed and that few of the most successful and most educated could know about.

Looking at it that way, it might even be useful to have such persons in government (assuming that they have some kind of proven compassion and intellect of course), owing to the unique perspectives they may have. After all, a direct experience of Canada's social services or obstacles to success could be useful. After all, who best to consult on the needs of the poor than the poor, assuming of course that we're dealing with the intellectual and caring poor. They may have identified certain insurmountable obstacles that the rest of us have failed to notice that could help them to finally succeed.

To take a perfect example of how higher academic education can blind politicians to the realities on the ground is Pierre Eliott Trudeau with some of his cultural policies that could only benefit the more educated while pushing the rest further to the margins of society. I'm sure he meant well, but owing to his always being surrounded by academics, he may have overlooked the fact that most Canadians could not possibly meet the various standards he expected in various policies of his, thus marginalizing the very people he was trying to include.

Another example I remember from outside of politics had to do with a CIDA project in an African community, whereby the 'experts' decided to build a well to provide water for the thirsty locals. All refused to use the well, and these 'experts' couldn't figure it out until they finally consulted with the locals. As it turned out, the locals believed that the soles of their ancestors were buried underground and lived in the well water. So of course the well turned out to be a complete waste of time and money, and they then had to bield a sieve through which water could condense at night and drip into bucket. That worked, but had the 'experts' consulted with the 'uneducated locals', they may have avoided the problem in the first place.

A parallel in Canadian culture might be offering student loans to Muslims. Strict Mulsims would refuse to lend or take money at interest for religious reasons, so clearly loans would not work for such persons. I'm sure there are plenty of other examples in Canadian society. Others might have been raised to be ashamed of asking money from the government, and so when in need, even if legally entitled, they might hesitate to apply for help, etc.

All these various cultural factors could prevent persons from succeeding even though they may be intelligent. But if we refuse to even consider such 'failures' for government office, we may be blocking opportunities to finally solve longstanding problems that the academics have thus far failed to solve, they having come from the mainstream cultural milieau for which our socieity is designed, and so blind to these other factors. But if we insist on voting for the 'successful' only, how to solve these hidden problems?
 

Machjo

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Oct 19, 2004
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So lets elect the guy who works nights at the Shell on the corner?

The guy who works nights at the Shell on the corner might very well be an intellectual in his own right simply trying to support his family. I'd met a Pakistani engineer working in a corner store in Kitchener.
 

Machjo

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Oct 19, 2004
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Better off is not limited to money only, as is proven when a person turns down a high-paying job offer for a lower-paying one oon principle, for example. And it does happen.
 

Cannuck

Time Out
Feb 2, 2006
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I'd met a Pakistani engineer working in a corner store in Kitchener.

Is this the guy? I think I met him to.

 

Machjo

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Oct 19, 2004
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Another point I should make about the poor is that it's just as possible to meet a poor man running behind you to give you back your money you just dropped as it is to meet a rich man trying to swindle you.
 

ironsides

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Feb 13, 2009
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Even McCain believes she is not up to the task of being a USA leader, let alone a world leader of any kind.


Again you are making comments without any backing, I challenge you to show us exactly where and when McCain said and I quote you again.

"Even McCain believes she is not up to the task of being a USA leader, let alone a world leader of any kind."

I don't mean the blogs that are there quoting him saying it, they cannot or did not prove it either.
 

Machjo

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Oct 19, 2004
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By the way, Ironsides, I've just added a hymn for you in the anthems, hymns and prayers thread.
 

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
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Most of the pundits are saying this was more than likely the result of a looming scandal brought on by corruption or ineptitude in her administration. But i'm not so sure. I think she might be just fed up with frenzy around her. I have my doubts this was to facilitate a run at the White House in 2012. You are almost always better situated for that as an incumbent in a Governorship or the Senate.

I think she just might want out of the limelight. She's got a young family, a special needs infant, a single daughter and grandchild at home. The Republican Party has turned into a dog fight.. between social conservatives and economic libertarian neoconservatives.. with her and Rush Limbaugh as principle antagonists.

The neoconservatives have no use social conservatives. They found them useful for a while to lock up a predictable voting franchise, but they want no one actually focussed on issues like abortion, homosexual marriage, embryonic stem cell research. They consider that a distraction to the real cause of Republicans which is unfettered Free Markets, which many social conservatives have ambiguous attitudes toward. In fact they now see them as an impediment to presenting a 'moderate' Republican alterantive, unbeholden to religious conservatives.

Sarah, unless she becomes some type of spokeswoman for the cause, has left the field to Rush.
 
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Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Most of the pundits are saying this was more than likely the result of a looming scandal brought on by corruption or ineptitude in her administration. But i'm not so sure. I think she might be just fed up with frenzy around her. I have my doubts this was to facilitate a run at the White House in 2012. You are almost always better situated for that as an incumbent in a Governorship or the Senate.

I think she just might want out of the limelight. She's got a young family, a special needs infant, a single daughter and grandchild at home. The Republican Party has turned into a dog fight.. between social conservatives and economic libertarian neoconservatives.


The latter have no use social conservatism. They found them useful for a while to lock up a predictable voting franchise, but they want no-one actually focussed on issues like abortion, homosexual marriage, embryonic stem cell research. They consider that a distraction to the real cause of Republicans which is unfettered Free Markets.

Doesn't the US have the Libertarian Party for that? I've tended to associate the Republican Pary with the idea that the US is the world's police officer.
 

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
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Doesn't the US have the Libertarian Party for that? I've tended to associate the Republican Pary with the idea that the US is the world's police officer.

The Libertarian Party in U.S. are really anti-government ideologues. They probably have about 1% popular support, including survivalists, anarchists, and people who would like to dismantle the IRS and the Federal Reserve, and remove all gun restrictions and such.

The Republican neoconservatives are better described as Classic Economic Liberals (the original definition of Liberalism, based on the economics of Adam Smith), which is not really anti-government. They promote Free Trade, deregulation, privatization, laissez-faire policies on economic issues.. they are staunchly pro military spending. They just don't want any restrictions or social responsibilities put on big business, their primary sponsors.

The Free Trade lobby has strong connections to the Pax Americana. The imperial character of Globalism, backed by American military might, is much more an economic construct, than a fight against terrorism, which is why this World Police role is essential to preventing economic nationalism from taking root.
 
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