tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:38:01 +0000http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/noreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)Blogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-2275411428037639210Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:16:00 +00002009-08-05T20:38:01.713-07:00When Michael Jackson died just over a month ago, I wasn't surprised. What has subsequently surprised me is how upsetting and challenging his death has been. Initially, I thought that for all intents and purposes, Michael Jackson died years ago. That is to say that the Michael Jackson who made Off The Wall and Thriller has been long gone. The eccentricities and scandals had become so enormous thathttp://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/07/michael-jackson.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-5373968583282964570Sun, 03 May 2009 02:40:00 +00002009-05-03T20:10:22.131-07:00politicsContrary to some opinions, I have nothing against Republicans. In much the same way that Christianity isn't always best represented by people who call themselves "Christians", the Republican Party is a victim with many of those with whom it associates. As a result of allowing itself to become a merger of several large single issue public interest groups, the Republican Party is unable to http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/case-for-republicans.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-4164483611616975705Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:00:00 +00002009-05-01T11:52:36.105-07:00politicsI haven't wavered much on the usefulness of pursuing the torture issue. I still think President Obama should stay away from it. Whatever happens, I don't have any interest in prosecutions. That said...Why is the country debating torture? Does the debate we're having do us any good? Are we trying to figure which specific techniques constitute torture? Are we trying to figure out if torture http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/torture-has-destroyed-us-all.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-5703608462045231243Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:18:00 +00002009-04-28T19:29:23.332-07:00musicBack in the day, it was fine to grow up and be a teacher, or a construction worker, or a doctor. Rock stars have ruined all of that. I'm convinced that ever since the late 50s, a sizable portion of the world's youth has embarked upon hopelessly deluded and bitter lives due to the notion that they could be rock stars.It used to be that if someone was famous, they had to do something relatively http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/rock-n-roll-has-destroyed-us-all.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-4107626223237970894Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:58:00 +00002009-04-23T20:58:35.664-07:00Supposedly, blogs were an important factor in the 2008 and 2004 elections. I can't imagine why. I wouldn't trust anything I read in a blog. At least not without doing my own research. This pertains to sentiments with which I agree, and facts that support my positions. There simply is very little reason for a blog to be credible. Reputation doesn't matter because the writers of blogs are usually http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/blogs-will-save-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-172807508155653759Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:29:00 +00002009-04-21T13:27:13.107-07:00President Obama has come under some criticism for shaking hands with Hugo Chavez and warmly greeting him. I don't know how much time I should spend on these criticisms because they are all coming from politicians trying to score points with the base of their party. I would take the criticism more seriously if it came from real experts in foreign relations.The only reason this is even news is http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/shake-hand.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-1944168655317948860Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:13:00 +00002009-04-19T20:24:28.296-07:00When the Obama Administration innitially announced that the Justice Department would not prosecute CIA operatives who performed acts of torture I was sympathetic to the decision. I'm not sure that I'm not still sympathetic to that decision. However, it has recently come out that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in the month of March 2003 (he was captured on March 1, 2003), while http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/what-to-do-about-torture.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-1516629528344496729Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:00:00 +00002009-04-19T19:01:42.658-07:00politicsI happened to notice a small gathering of folks in my local burgh. A man was speaking in the rain, proclaiming that it was time to "get government out of our back pockets" and give the power back to "the people". He received moderate applause with this line and others like it. There were maybe a few hundred people standing around, mostly passersby at lunch. A bunch of others had some fantastic http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/teabags.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-1293797597279643184Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:17:00 +00002009-04-09T21:46:20.013-07:00Prior to the election in November, I caused my wife to lose precious sleep as I held forth on the power of the presidency. The gist of my political science lecture was that regardless of who becomes the next president, most of the new powers claimed by the executive branch under George W. Bush would be preserved. The subject at hand was related to the denial of information regarding surveillance http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/cogitive-dissonance-in-age-of-obama.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-9065767212123792177Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:56:00 +00002009-04-02T19:39:25.119-07:00Let me make this clear: I am a big fan of Barack Obama. I liked him as a politician and a public figure immediately. After reading a great deal about him, watching him deal with the strains of the primary, and listening to him discuss complicated subjects, I concluded that not only was Barack Obama the best choice for president, but that he was ideally suited to be the president at this point in http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/04/why-i-like-president-obama.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-1967975882689756193Sat, 28 Mar 2009 20:00:00 +00002009-03-30T19:37:25.419-07:00politicsI'm not sure I'm actually a real "Bush Hater". First, the terminology is suspect at best. It's a Republican Party partisan epithet that has been in use since the inception of the Bush Administration. Tagging an individual or group as "Bush Haters" is/was meant to marginalize them as inherently irrational. It doesn't matter what irrational people think. They might as well be crazy. However, for http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/confessions-of-bush-hater.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-1474159905097102519Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:00:00 +00002009-03-27T22:26:43.206-07:00mediapoliticsBig Oil is terminally ill. You wouldn't know it by their profits, but the walking dead frequently appear just fine until you know about the disease. No one except those who own and/or work for Big Oil likes oil. It's now considered a necessary evil. When the product contains the word "evil" anywhere, you know the fat lady is about to sing. No one wants oil anymore. Everyone wants a cleaner, http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/oil-company-propaganda.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-2173640018288843120Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:59:00 +00002009-03-23T21:17:56.203-07:00lifeWith all of the discussion about how to fix the economy, is it surprising to anyone that no one ever asks what it means to be "fixed"? Is it surprising that there isn't any discussion about the nature of the world in which we live and whether we want it to be fixed? The world in which we live is one that is far too complicated for any of us to understand. We live in a world where the decisions ofhttp://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/imagine-less-stuff.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-404980260529449527Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:58:00 +00002009-03-25T19:52:21.112-07:00I have seen a lot of analogies and metaphors that try to explain Credit Default Swaps. They are so unusual that they can't be explained without examples. Here is mine...Pretend it's 2003:CastBeavis: Investor & lenderStuart: BorrowerButthead: Someone with a lot of money (in theory)Todd: Lender of money to BeavisBeavis: I see a house that I don't own. It is a nice $4.5 million house.Butthead: I, http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/what-is-credit-default-swap.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-5889084832363473726Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:02:00 +00002009-03-18T20:34:20.704-07:00The AIG Bonus "Scandal" is junk news. I refer to it as "news porn". I don't think I'm the first person to use that terminology. The bonus debacle isn't just news porn, however, it's news fetish porn, and not only is it distracting us from the main event, it's crippling our ability to manage the growing crisis. The real lurid action, what we all need to be watching, is in the bailout itself. How http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/time-to-panic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-4204047120652593553Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:34:00 +00002009-03-16T19:33:22.243-07:00financepoliticsAIG executives plan to award themselves 165 million in bonuses and retention pay. These aren't the regular run-of-the-mill executives (although they're getting their share too). The largest share of the bonus money is headed toward the derivatives division, the people who brought us Credit Default Swaps. Suddenly, everyone is surprised and shocked! In the world of income inequality, it's these http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/aig-in-bed-with-enemy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-7814238337496539318Sun, 15 Mar 2009 03:08:00 +00002009-03-16T14:18:07.711-07:00financepoliticsThis has been getting on my nerves for the past few weeks so I'm going to address it here. Don't let anyone tell you that "we" are responsible for the economic crisis. Don't let anyone tell you that "everyone" has to share in the blame. This is blatant establishment propaganda."Establishment Propaganda": What the hell is this socialist crap?! I'll tell you what it is. It's the reason why the http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/we-are-not-problem.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-6837582484129755950Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:04:00 +00002009-03-13T09:03:50.023-07:00Jennifer AnistonhatemediaOf course this requires a large font! Jennifer Aniston is easily the least interesting "celebrity" of our time. People like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian don't count because they barely attempt to portray themselves as little more than semi-literate retards. Aniston, on the other hand, would have us believe that she's a legitimate actress and generally an important person. This woman should http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/why-does-anyone-care-about-this-idiot_12.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-8449110014027247918Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:49:00 +00002009-03-15T19:01:00.890-07:00politicsI find Chris Matthews alternately frustrating and fascinating. He was positively ignorant last week while trying to express his frustration with the progress of the Obama Administration's response to the bank crisis. On the other hand, tonight he went after Ari Fleischer without mercy. This is the kind of interview one gives when they don't care if their guest never returns. Fleischer handles http://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/chris-matthews-asks-if-duck-quacks_11.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7096218890305773585.post-9135796414101628236Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:10:00 +00002009-03-15T19:00:45.759-07:00politicsThe first of probably a few commentaries on the destruction of everything we know and everything we do and why I'm scared to death.No one knows what's going to happen. Most people want retribution against those who cause this crisis. Some express righteous indignation at the notion of "bailing out" banks. Everyone is wrong. There is no other way to say it. Perhaps an analogy will help. The globalhttp://www.ant-in-a-hailstorm.com/2009/03/want-to-fix-economy-start-by-shutting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ant In A Hailstorm)1