a theory consistent with the facts

Who decided to print trillions of dollars and give them to banks? The Bush Administration. Who decided to print hundreds of billions of dollars and give them to AIG? The Bush Administration. Who decided not to tell General Motors and Chrysler to work out their problems in bankruptcy court like any other company not smart enough to recognize the implications of pension and health care guarantees (see While America Aged)? The Bush Administration started with the Detroit bailout.

A theory consistent with the facts is that King Bush II knew that the next president would be a Democrat, due to the endless depressing Iraq/Afghanistan war. He therefore intentionally wrecked the economy and then took over much of it in order to make the next administration look like socialists.

Going by the numbers and facts, an economic historian would have little choice but to classify the U.S. circa 2009 as a socialist nation. Government at all levels spends a greater percentage of GDP than does China’s (source), for example, and the government either directly owns or assumes financial risks for a lot of our largest enterprises. How did we get here? It was a Republican plot to make Obama look like a socialist, by the clever strategy of converting the U.S. into a fully socialist economy prior to January 20, 2009.

Republican Plot to Make Obama Look Like a Socialist Philip Greenspun

Republicons: the other socialist party in the US.

health care reform

Philip Greenspun wrote an essay on health care reform. Of course ideas that make sense will likely be shot down in congress since our elected officials are incapable of reasonable discourse and behavior (their constituencies aren't much better) but it's fun to dream. He's looking for feedback.

It's time to vote third party in all national elections. Democrats and Republicons are just subsidiaries.

And if you get cancer in the US, before buying in to the "best healthcare in the world" nonsense and going bankrupt, look into getting treatment in India or maybe even Mexico.

update

We've moved out of the aves and are now living in Sandy temporarily. We'll likely be in Newport, OR within the year. I'm building my company, working with a number of clients and doing more strategy and product design and less coding than previously. The upside is that I'm getting paid to think and write a lot more. The downside is that I'm not putting much energy into philosophy (or politics, thank the gods).

I'll get back to posting more regularly as things settle.

another strange book on Wittgenstein

"Wittgenstein and Theology" (NDPR)

Sounds pretty bizarre. h/t Methods of Projection

random Tillich quote

We'll likely be moving soon so we've been going through our stuff and throwing junk out. I have Paul Tillich's A History of Christian Thought in paperback and it's literally falling apart. A random quote someone had underlined before it goes:

The churches were the representatives of the ideologies which kept the ruling classes in power over against the working masses. This was the tragic situation. It is a great thing that in America this tragedy has happened on a much smaller scale. But in Europe it has led to the radical antireligious and anti-Christian attitudes of all labor movements, not only of the Communists but also of the social democrats. It was not the "bad athiests" --as propagandists call them-- who were responsible for this; it was the fact that the European churches, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Episcopalian, were without social sensitivity and direction. They were directed toward their own actualization; they were directed toward liturgical or dogmatic efforts and refinements, but the social problem was left to divine providence.

p. 483 - ISBN: 0-671-21426-8

google books integrating with creative commons

Here. One of the books recently made available is a quirky graphic novel written by a friend's former prof at UC Davis--

the chain email means of political education

These sorts of things aren't making us too popular with our allies.

on love

Love can sweep you off your feet and carry you along in a way you've never known before. But the ride always ends, and you end up feeling lonely and bitter.

Wait. . .

It's not love I'm describing. I'm thinking of a monorail.

Jack Handey

In case you need more Jack.

the mystical Wittgenstein

Another scathing NDPR review here. The small audience that reads contemporary academic philosophy is difficult to please.

h/t Methods of Projection

Update: more discussion at Strange Doctrines

what i've been reading

Project Management: Scrum, Timeboxing (wikipedia)

How to Start a Startup by Paul Graham (2005)

I'll get back to philosophy at some point. In the meantime, here's Paul Graham's take on philosophy (2007).