http://lukescommonplacebook.tumblr.com/post/11033005
worldwithoutus.com
26 March 2008
15 March 2008
Sundries Of Saturday--Women
Must Read (Especially You, Katrina)
--Random Excellent Cullings--
Indexed
Stuff White People Like
Romantic Love
"700 wives, 300 Concubines...Solomon was one righteous dude!"
"One of the things my ex-wife used to hate about me..."
I'm sorry, really, I apologize, but I laughed for thirty minutes straight. For me and my house, I choose "The Thunderdome." And "The Great White Tuba."
--Random Excellent Cullings--
Indexed
Stuff White People Like
Romantic Love
"700 wives, 300 Concubines...Solomon was one righteous dude!"
"One of the things my ex-wife used to hate about me..."
I'm sorry, really, I apologize, but I laughed for thirty minutes straight. For me and my house, I choose "The Thunderdome." And "The Great White Tuba."
16 January 2008
15 January 2008
Oddly enough, this article reminds me of our attitude towards charity...
"When a man visits a prostitute, the mere act of handing over cash for services removes, in his mind, all emotional obligations to her."
Or when a society uses cash donations and somebody else's bureaucracies to remove any emotional, social or moral obligation to the poor and different. Please, just take the money and go away, so I can be safe and untouched and in control and comfortable...
Or when a society uses cash donations and somebody else's bureaucracies to remove any emotional, social or moral obligation to the poor and different. Please, just take the money and go away, so I can be safe and untouched and in control and comfortable...
04 January 2008
24 December 2007
17 August 2007
An Important (And Belated) Question
What are the long-term consequences of American unilateralism--namely, the willingness of President W. Bush to employ American military force unrestrained by international consensus or the United Nations?
The answer is increased global insecurity--no one knows who the US will decide to strike next. Additionally, the status quo rules for the use of armed force have changed. If it's acceptable for the US to pursue its interests abroad, unilaterally, using diplomatic, economic and military force to strong-arm lesser countries into compliance, then there is no moral ground to condemn countries such as Russia and China for doing the same. In fact, it's in their interest to cooperate, because the world's sole superpower is being downright bully-ish in pursuing its interests. And they can even use "security" and "combatting terrorism" to justify expansion into other spheres of influence.
The President's actions abroad (the global war on terror, the iraq war, ignoring the UN and global cooperation) and at home (encroachments on civil liberties and the right of habeas corpus, the Patriot Act, labeling dissidents as unpatriotic, labeling criticism as aiding and abetting the enemy) may not be actually immoral, unjustified, and a threat to human rights and the stability of the international community.
But they belong to--and by similarity tacitly lend approval to--the international rulebook of totalitarian and imperialistic government. They have placed the United States squarely into a moral grey and structural area where totalitarian states exercise military force to achieve their own interests unrestrained by the necessity of membership within an international community. In undermining the authority of international institutions like the United Nations and in ignoring treaty obligations, the cowboy president has made the world a distinctly less orderly, and potentially less peaceful, place.
This worries me in a world where basic democratic freedoms and institutions are disappearing under strongmen such as Hugo Chavez (yes, Steve, it does pain me to say it) and Vladimir Putin.
The answer is increased global insecurity--no one knows who the US will decide to strike next. Additionally, the status quo rules for the use of armed force have changed. If it's acceptable for the US to pursue its interests abroad, unilaterally, using diplomatic, economic and military force to strong-arm lesser countries into compliance, then there is no moral ground to condemn countries such as Russia and China for doing the same. In fact, it's in their interest to cooperate, because the world's sole superpower is being downright bully-ish in pursuing its interests. And they can even use "security" and "combatting terrorism" to justify expansion into other spheres of influence.
The President's actions abroad (the global war on terror, the iraq war, ignoring the UN and global cooperation) and at home (encroachments on civil liberties and the right of habeas corpus, the Patriot Act, labeling dissidents as unpatriotic, labeling criticism as aiding and abetting the enemy) may not be actually immoral, unjustified, and a threat to human rights and the stability of the international community.
But they belong to--and by similarity tacitly lend approval to--the international rulebook of totalitarian and imperialistic government. They have placed the United States squarely into a moral grey and structural area where totalitarian states exercise military force to achieve their own interests unrestrained by the necessity of membership within an international community. In undermining the authority of international institutions like the United Nations and in ignoring treaty obligations, the cowboy president has made the world a distinctly less orderly, and potentially less peaceful, place.
This worries me in a world where basic democratic freedoms and institutions are disappearing under strongmen such as Hugo Chavez (yes, Steve, it does pain me to say it) and Vladimir Putin.
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